ABCNews.com(PHILADELPHIA) -- With terrorist groups renewing calls for would-be attackers to target American rail lines, at least one local law enforcement agency in the U.S. is using drones to help guard against such a threat.



The police chief for the Philadelphia-area's mass-transit system said he has known for some time that more than 140,000 miles of rail lines crisscrossing America are "porous" and had thought for a while of using drones to monitor the agency's tracks.



He initiated the drone program after an article in the latest issue of al Qaeda's English-language publication gave step-by-step instructions for fashioning a "homemade derail tool" and claimed that railroads are among America's "easiest targets."



"It is time that we instill fear and make them impose strict security measures to trains as they did with their air transportation," the publication said.



The al Qaeda article prompted the federal Transportation Security Administration to send a security notice to law enforcement across the nation, ABC News has learned.



Amid this threat, Thomas Nestel, police chief for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, told ABC News' David Kerley, that drones are "a great way for us to patrol a track without walking on the track, putting officers in jeopardy safety-wise."



"Using the drone can cover a whole lot of area in a much faster span of time," he said.



"This was bouncing around in my head for a little while and then when that ... article came out, I pulled the trigger, I said, 'Let's do it,'" Nestel said.



The transit-agency's drone, which is equipped with a high-resolution camera, can help officers detect intruders or anomalies on the tracks and provide information that could lead authorities to stop trains before they reach a problem area.



John Cohen, a former counterterrorism coordinator for the Department of Homeland Security and an ABC News contributor said, "Al Qaeda and ISIS are very interested and are urging their followers to conduct attacks against our nation's rail infrastructure."



Cohen added, "Securing the rail infrastructure is an incredible challenge. There are literally thousands of miles of tracks. There are rail stations that are open to the public. It's a very difficult job."



Terrorists' targeting of trains is not new. From Madrid to London to Brussels, hundreds have been killed in attacks against commuter trains in Europe.



Threats of rail attacks have hit even closer to home.



In a journal recovered by U.S. Navy SEAL teams during the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader outlined a potential plot against the U.S. rail system to occur on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. (The rail attack never happened.)



In 2009, the FBI arrested a 25-year-old Afghani national living in Colorado for his role in an alleged conspiracy to bomb the subway system in Manhattan.



And in 2012, an undercover U.S. agent foiled an alleged plot to derail a New York-bound passenger train in Canada.



Still, Cohen said that "for TSA to send out a warning to law enforcement says that, 'We are concerned about this threat; we need you to be concerned about this threat as well,'" Cohen said.



"It's nice that they put out a magazine and let us know what suggestions they provide to their followers," Cohen said of the terror magazine. "Because we're already thinking about how to defeat attacks."

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
MOSCOW - China and Russia will enhance cooperation on digital economy, including big data, the Internet of Things and smart cities, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui told Xinhua in a recent interview.

While making continuous efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the sectors of energy, equipment manufacturing, agriculture and spaceflight, the two countries are eyeing digital economy as a new area of cooperation, Li said.

China and Russia will also continue their efforts to achieve substantial results from the alignment of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and development programs within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) led by Russia.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

The EEU, which groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, is an economic bloc aiming to optimize the flow of goods and services among its members.

Li said China and Russia will work to implement the project of an international transportation corridor in the Far East and jointly explore the Arctic shipping route to make it a "silk road on ice."

According to him, strategic mutual trust between the two countries is strengthening, while political, economic and people-to-people exchanges are developing robustly, forming a solid base for the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.

The partnership plays a special role in China's "major-country diplomacy" with Chinese characteristics and both countries will never waver in their determination to develop such a partnership no matter how the international and regional situations change, Li said.

Both China and Russia are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and important parties of the G20, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Li said, adding that the two countries share similar positions on many international affairs.

"I believe as long as we keep up with the times and seize the opportunities, China-Russia relations will be very productive," the ambassador said.

Next week, the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO will be held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

In Li's view, the SCO adheres to its founding values or the "Shanghai Spirit" featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development.

At the Astana summit in Kazakhstan in June, India and Pakistan completed their accession to the SCO, which also groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

After the expansion, the SCO covers about 44 percent of the world's population and over a fifth of the world's gross domestic product (GDP).

The SCO members have shown a strong will to cooperate in various sectors in the SCO framework, and the Belt and Road Initiative will create new economic propellers for the SCO members and contribute to regional prosperity against a backdrop of globalization, said Li.
1. Yes. The ordinance goes against state law and is not in the best interest of the cities.

2. Yes. At the very least, it should be amended to give police officers some discretion.

3. No. Voters approved the ordinance by large majorities; the councils cant ignore that fact.

4. No. The petition process has to be given a chance to work. Leave the ordinance alone.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the cities should move forward regarding the ordinance.

Vote

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Harry, fifth in line to the throne, will marry Ms Markle next spring and will live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London.

The couple, who have been dating since the summer of 2016, secretly got engaged earlier this month.

In a statement, Prince Charles said he was delighted to announce his sons news and that Harry had received the blessing of Ms Markles parents.

Only the Queen and other close members of his family initially knew of the engagement, which took place in London.

The announcement, issued by Clarence House, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwalls official residence, said details about the wedding day would be announced in due course.

Harry, 33 and Ms Markle, 36, made their first public appearance as a couple in September.

Their 16-month relationship began in July 2016 when they met through mutual friends in London.

By BBC-News
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady around 30. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 22F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.
The League of Women Voters La Crosse Area will host its monthly Lunch and Learn meeting at 11:45 a.m. Dec. 12, at Moxie's Restaurant, 1835 Rose St.

Guest speaker Mayor Tim Kabat will discuss water quality and it's impact on the La Crosse population and those who live along the Mississippi River. Mayors from cities along the Mississippi River have joined forces to create the Mississippi River Cities and Town Initiative.

The program is free, with lunch available at 11:30 a.m. for $13. To reserve a meal, email league@lwvlacrosse.org. by Dec. 6.
MINNEAPOLIS (TNS)  Sen. Al Franken broke an eight-day silence Sunday, reaching out to Minnesota media to talk about what hes done, and what hell do next.

President Trump stands firm in support for Roy Moore WASHINGTON (TNS)  President Donald Trump Sunday reiterated support for Roy Moore, the Repub

Im embarrassed and ashamed. Ive let a lot of people down and Im hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust, said Franken, who has kept a low profile since four women shared accounts of being groped, embarrassed and, in one case, forcibly kissed by the Minnesota Democrat.

Im looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow, he said.

Franken, who said he has posed for tens of thousands of photos over the years, says he does not remember any that ended with his hand sliding down to cup womens backsides, as several have alleged.

I dont remember these photographs, I dont, he said. This is not something I would intentionally do.

Franken said he has spent the past week thinking about how that could happen and I just recognize that I need to be more careful and a lot more sensitive in these situations.

Asked whether he expects any other women to step forward with similar groping allegations, Franken said: If you had asked me two weeks ago, Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect? I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise  I certainly hope not.

Franken has been communicating with his constituents and the media mainly through terse written statements since Nov. 16, when Los Angeles radio broadcaster Leeann Tweeden accused him of forcibly kissing her during a 2006 holiday USO war zone tour. Her Twitter post was accompanied by a photo of Franken, then months away from launching his Senate candidacy, mugging for the camera with his hands hovering suggestively over her chest as she slumped, apparently asleep, on a military transport.

Franken skipped the rest of that Thursdays Senate votes and retreated from public view as the Senate adjourned for the weeklong Thanksgiving recess. In the days that followed, three other women provided accounts of uncomfortable encounters with Franken.

Lindsay Menz told CNN that Franken grabbed her buttocks while they posed for a photo at the Minnesota State fair in 2010  an encounter she documented on social media at the time. Two other women gave similar anonymous accounts

Frankens past as an irreverent comedian and founding member of Saturday Night Live returned to haunt him during his first Senate campaign, where he found himself apologizing for raunchy writing and off-color jokes  including at least one rape joke pitched during a late-night session in the SNL writers room. Those apologies, Franken said, were sincere, and he set out to prove that I knew the difference between being a comedy writer and a comedian and being a senator, and that I was going to take being a senator very seriously, and I have.

Over the past eight years, Franken built up a reputation as an advocate for womens issues, a foil to Trump administration appointees, and a powerhouse fundraiser who could draw crowds and donations across the country. The allegations of sexual misconduct brought that image crashing down. A rape survivor from asked him to remove his name from legislation hed sponsored in her honor. Other politicians

Ive been a champion for women, and I know this makes this all the harder, he said. I know Ive let people down. I know Im not going to regain their trust immediately. Theres no magic words I can say here to make that happen.

Franken says he can still be an effective senator. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on President Donald Trumps nomination of Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Franken, who viewed Stras as highly qualified but too conservative for the post, blocked the nomination.

Franken has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to look into his behavior, but resisted comparisons between his behavior and that of Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Alabama, who has been accused of propositioning a number of underage girls over the years.

Im going to take responsibility. Im going to be held accountable through the ethics committee, Franken said. And Im going to hopefully be a voice in this that is helpful  Again, I respect women. What kills me about this is it gives people a reason to believe I dont respect women.

Winning back the publics trust wont be easy, he acknowledged.

This is not going to happen quickly. I have to earn this over time and thats what I plan to do, he said. Franken said he planned to work as hard as I can to regain the trust of people Ive let down, and that especially means the people of Minnesota, it means people whove been supporters of mine, and it means my colleagues.
Q: How are the National Weather Service and Wisconsin connected?

A: The roots of our National Weather Service have a distinctive Wisconsin flavor. Professor Increase A. Lapham, a University of Wisconsin professor at the time of the founding of the university, was the first official Smithsonian Institution weather observer in Milwaukee and long argued for the establishment of a national weather observation network.

With the election of President Ulysses S. Grant in November 1868, Lapham and Rep. Halbert Paine, the U.S. congressman from Milwaukee, thought the time was right to pursue this goal. Grant had developed a keen sense of the influence of weather on military operations through his experiences in the Civil War.

On Feb. 2, 1870, Paine introduced a Joint Congressional Resolution that tasked the Secretary of War  to provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories  and for giving notice on the northern [Great] lakes  of the approach and force of storms.

Congress passed the resolution with little hesitation and a week later, on Feb. 9, 1870, President Grant signed it into law  effectively establishing the first iteration of the National Weather Service (then called the U.S. Army Signal Service). Operation of the Signal Service began Nov. 1, 1870, and one week later, Lapham issued the first high wind warning for the Great Lakes from Chicago. The forecast was accurate and was credited with saving considerable property and protecting lives.

The Wisconsin connection to the National Weather Service continues to this day, as the current director of the NWS is a UW-Madison graduate, Dr. Louis Uccellini.
When state lawmakers voted in 2011 to approve a plan that would send the states most serious teenage criminals to one prison in the North Woods of Wisconsin, at least one lawmaker anticipated trouble.

Common sense would dictate when youre dealing with children the best way to give them any semblance of hope or chance to change, and not end up for a lifetime in our criminal justice system, is to keep them near family and community support, Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, said in a recent interview. When they voted to close Ethan Allen, I was worried about the future of Lincoln Hills.

Despite misgivings, Kleefisch voted for the plan.

The Ethan Allen School for Boys correctional facility in Wales was about 30 miles from Milwaukee, home to roughly half of the states most egregious juvenile offenders. By contrast, Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls in Irma are more than 200 miles away from the states largest city.

Six years later, some lawmakers from both parties have the same concerns as Kleefisch and are renewing a call to consider finding a way to keep juvenile offenders closer to home.

But a resolution is far from near: Lawmakers dont agree on what to do now  or later, if anything. A nearly four-year criminal investigation into alleged abuses at the prison isnt complete and a committee of lawmakers that will soon meet to start studying the long-term correctional facility needs will first tackle whether the state should build another adult prison.

Lawmakers are proposing a range of ideas including closing the youth prison within a year, closing it in future years, repurposing the facility, and keeping it open but adding regional facilities, too.

Some want fundamental changes now.

Lincoln Hills has become so problematic that it has become almost impossible to think of any type of plan that should allow it to remain open, said Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee. Its been over four years and when you look at the abuse and neglect that took place before the investigation was even launched. We have kept those kids in harms way for too long.

Others want a longer conversation. I think (Lincoln Hills) needs to be part of a broader discussion, said Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam. (Closing the prison) doesnt address any of the issues  it just moves the issues into a different building and that doesnt make any sense to me.

And Gov. Scott Walker has repeatedly expressed confidence in the prisons operations under DOC Secretary Jon Litscher who has said he is committed to keeping the facility as is. Both Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, declined to comment for this story.

A huge failure, really

Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, argued some state and legislative leaders approach of silence toward the allegations surrounding the facility and the lawsuits brought since they surfaced in 2015 make it virtually impossible to make changes through a Republican-controlled Legislature.

Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, introduced a bill nearly a year ago to require the DOC to study whether turning to a model of regional juvenile facilities would be preferable  but it went nowhere. While some Republican lawmakers have since expressed a desire to look at regional facilities, Hintz said the lack of support for Goykes bill is emblematic of the Legislatures attitude toward the allegations.

I think the first step of any challenge is to acknowledge you have a problem and I think that is what the biggest challenge has been, Hintz said. Its just been a huge failure, really  our juvenile correctional system (has) been an absolute disaster and its not like it hasnt received attention. Lets at least look at other options.

Goyke this week will unveil new pieces of legislation to address overcrowding in the states adult prisons and to close and repurpose the Irma facility.

Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said at the very least, DOC should find a way to fully staff the prison  which has had staffing shortages for years.

I think that the majority party has had missed opportunities to step up and address it, Shilling said. Theres no sense of urgency from this administration to address it and they really seem to have their heads in the sand and just ignore it.

DOC spokesman Tristan Cook rejected Hintzs and Shillings characterization of the Walker administrations response to the allegations.

The comments by Senator Shilling and Representative Hintz are not an accurate reflection of DOCs actions over the last two years, Cook said in an email. We have been extremely proactive and taken action in a number of areas ... We have made a host of changes that have boosted institution safety and security and enhanced education, treatment, mental health, and medical services provided to youth and we will continue to actively seek input from DOC staff and others to make further improvements.

Cook outlined more than two dozen changes Secretary Jon Litscher has made since taking over the department in 2016, including improving training, changing inmate complaint processes, hiring new staff to handle mental health issues, adding body and security cameras and reviewing all inmate and staff injuries.

Meanwhile, the way the states juvenile correctional model is funded could make it more difficult to remove inmates from Milwaukee County from the Irma facility, as county officials want to do.

We definitely have a long-term goal of serving our youth closer to home in smaller, regional, treatment-focused facilities that have a more diverse staff and improved education and programming, said Chris Abele, Milwaukee County executive. But right now the county lacks both the funding and the legislative authority to open and operate these types of facilities. Until we do, I believe Lincoln Hills should remain as an option for judges to sentence only the most serious cases.

Regional facilities favored

Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said a silver bullet to fix the youth prisons problems likely doesnt exist  but said adding regional facilities could be a positive change and could help staff at the Irma facility keep themselves and inmates safe from the daily misbehavior from more violent inmates.

Im not sure what the best way is to eliminate all of that but obviously if there are some individuals that we could cull out of that population that would do better in a regional facility, that should be the consideration right from the get-go, he said.

Abele said in the meantime, he has been working to reduce Milwaukee Countys reliance on this outdated and ineffective model for more than five years and accelerated the effort after allegations surfaced in 2015.

I have always believed that Lincoln Hills and institutions based on analogous models are ineffective at best, and immoral and counterproductive at worst, he said. We ultimately need to change the way we address youth who engage in delinquent acts. We cant incarcerate our way out of this problem.
For two years, Frank Ourada has been supporting our troops  more literally than most.

He has connected soldiers and veterans with food pantries, temporary housing and legal advice. He haggled with an insurance company when a soldiers home flooded. He helped a suicidal veteran find treatment.

Ourada basically ran triage for military families, connecting them with whatever services they need to survive.

This position, National Guard Family Assistance Center specialist, may be Ouradas most rewarding ever. The only rival was his time as an infantry Marine, which in 2009 left him disabled.

This work is my therapy, Ourada, 30, told me.

And yet last Friday he resigned. Because the job he loved so much had left him homeless.

Ourada had his pay slashed in March, from $20.08 hourly to $13.17. He soon fell behind on mortgage payments and lost his Minnesota home. Hes been crashing with friends and family since August; next week hell move in with a buddy in Utah, where he hopes to find better-paying work.

Ouradas situation is unusually dire, but hes far from alone.

Hundreds of his colleagues around the country also had their pay cut by 25 to 50 percent in March. About a third have quit, taking their networks and collective decades of experience, in an exodus that leaves American military families at risk of falling through the cracks.

The root of the problem? A bungled government contract.

In the decades since transitioning to a more professionalized, all-volunteer force, the military has added a host of support services for the growing number of long-term military families. One was the National Guards Family Assistance Centers.

When this programs contract was awarded in 2012, the Guard had advised companies bidding on the contract to pay wages roughly equivalent to GS-7 to GS-9 levels (about $35,000 to $56,000).

When the contract came up for bid last year, however, the Guard gave vendors different  and hazier  guidance. This time it merely instructed them to abide by the McNamara-OHara Service Contract Act.

This law requires the Labor Department to set minimum wages for hundreds of specific government contract occupations. The goal is to prevent a race to the bottom  to protect workers, but also to prevent contractors from cutting corners.

Unfortunately, Family Assistance Center occupations arent in the Labor Departments existing directory of jobs. And the National Guard never asked for them to be added, as it was supposed to do.

Confusion ensued.

One bidder, Cognitive Professional Services, found a junior job title that sounded vaguely related. It then built its bid around the wage floor for that occupation.

That pay level was not only substantially less than what workers such as Ourada had been making. It was even less than what janitors earn in many states.

The strategy worked. With its rock-bottom bid price, Cognitive won the contract and cut pay. (Cognitive did not respond to requests for comment.)

Unsurprisingly, workers quit en masse. At least 135 of 399 incumbent personnel left. And given the low pay, Cognitive has struggled to retain replacements. One position has been filled and vacated three times since March and is now empty again.

Hire and train, hire and train. Its been like that for the last three or four months, says Kevin McDonnell, a Rhode Island-based supervisor whose own pay was cut in half.

This isnt the first time a lowball bid led to draconian wage cuts and mass resignations on a military family support contract. Its at least the fifth case in as many years, according to Good Jobs Nation, a worker advocacy group that filed Labor Department complaints on behalf of employees on two such contracts.

After I wrote about this problem in April, lawmakers grilled the National Guard about whether military families were getting the support they deserved. The Guard told Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) that it was undertaking a contract review.

And then ... nothing.

On Tuesday, I called the Guard to ask what happened. Lo and behold, that very day, it decided to modify the contract!

Cognitive sent a cryptic email to workers Wednesday saying changes to job descriptions and salaries were forthcoming. No further details. No mention of any back pay for the past eight months.

A Guard spokesman told me that a different office will handle the next bid process, which begins next month. The Labor Department will be asked to come up with minimum wage rates for these occupations, as should have happened last year.

Which sounds like an improvement. But for military families left stranded in recent months and workers such as Ourada who were shortchanged and have already moved on, its cold comfort.
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20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (3) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (5) May 26 (7) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (6) May 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02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) 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(4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (2) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (5) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (1) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 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TWIN FALLS  Bullfrogs have fascinated Steve Rivas since he was 6 years old.

Everything about them fascinates me, Rivas said. About 15 years ago, his mother gave him a poster he had made in elementary school detailing the life cycle of a bullfrog. He keeps it hanging on his office wall.

One of the fascinating characteristics of bullfrogs is also what makes it difficult to grow them under farm conditions. Bullfrogs are aquatic herbivores as larva but become semi-aquatic carnivores as adults. Essentially they are two different animals in one body.

Rivas began experimenting with methods for raising bullfrogs in 1989 as soon as he graduated from the College of Southern Idahos Technical Aquaculture Program.

He remembers visiting Tolief Rangen after graduation to thank him for a scholarship. Rangen asked him what he planned to do and Rivas said he planned to get a job and turn bullfrogs into farm animals.

Rangen told him that bullfrogs wouldnt eat pellets, but if Rivas could figure out a way to get them to do it, he should come back and Rangen would manufacture the pellets for him.

It took five years of trial and error  and raising maggots in the living room  to get bullfrogs on pelleted feed. Tadpoles were easier to get on feed than the adults who rely heavily on movement to trigger feeding. But eventually Steve and his wife Lisa found a formula that worked and Rana Ranch Commercial Bullfrogs was in business.

At first Rivas expected to sell bullfrogs as pets or for pond stocking, but the medical community quickly evolved into the primary market for his stock. Since retiring from the CSI Hatchery in July 2015, Rivas has been focusing on his selective breeding program to develop uniform animals for medical research.

They are looking for cookie-cutter frogs, Rivas said. The frogs I supply this year must be the just like the frogs they got last year.

Even though most researchers dont tell him what they are working on, bullfrogs have qualities in their skin, eyes and ears that make them ideal subjects for research on hearing loss, nerve damage, Alzheimers and cancer. They shed their skin as they grow and researchers have discovered a fungus grows on that shed skin which may also have medicinal purposes.

Once he determined that medical researchers were his primary market, he had to rethink his production practices. Bullfrogs spawn like crazy but the breeding season is very short and he needs to supply different sized frogs to customers throughout the year.

Fortunately bullfrogs are poikilothermic which means their metabolism and growth can be regulated by temperature. Rivas takes advantage of their high fertility to spawn a large number of larva that he raises to a certain size and then holds at that size until he needs them to change into frogs. That ensures he has frogs of varying sizes throughout the year to meet customer needs. He is also using temperature to extend the spawning season.

Rivas refer to frogs by their spawn year, but they dont begin having birthdays until they go on feed and begin the morphology process. Most of his regular customers give him enough lead time to ensure he has enough frogs at the right size to meet demand.

Many researchers prefer using his farm-raised bullfrogs to wild caught ones because they are used to being handled and dont startle easily. He has designed his tanks to offer bullfrogs an environment that matches wild conditions as much as possible even under high stocking rates. He estimates that his bullfrogs have kept thousands of their wild cousins from being captured for use in medical labs.

Even though bullfrogs present unique challenges, Rivas says they are not that much different than other raising aquaculture species. Water and nutrition are key for growing both fish and bullfrogs.

Rivas has a permit to raise bullfrogs in Idaho, a requirement since bullfrogs are considered a non-native species in the state. He warns customers that releasing bullfrogs into areas where they historically have not been present can be a threat to native animals.

Still, he thinks there are other species that could make farm animals if someone has ambition and is willing to work hard. And it doesnt if the species is one a potential entrepreneur has been interested in since they were young.

(The medical community is) looking for cookie-cutter frogs. The frogs I supply this year must be the just like the frogs they got last year. Steve Rivas, bullfrog farmer
Twin Falls Senior Center

530 Shoshone St. W., Twin Falls. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $5, seniors 60 and older; $6, non-seniors; $3, children 9 and younger. Other items: cinnamon roll, $2; coffee 50 cents; soup to go, $3; lunch to go, $5.50. For lunch take-out, 11 a.m. to noon daily: 208-734-5084.

Today: Sweet and sour meatballs

Tuesday: Baked fish fillet

Wednesday: Chicken alfredo

Thursday: Chicken and sausage jambalaya

Friday: Menu not available

Today: Quilting, 9 a.m.

Fit and Fall Proof exercise, 10:30 a.m., free

Mega Monday game, 11:45 a.m.

City of Twin Falls discussion with Senior Citizens Advisory Commission, 12:15 p.m.

Tai Chi exercise class, 1 p.m., free

Bridge, 1 p.m.

Art class, 1:30 p.m.

TOPS meeting, 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday: Senior Health Insurance Benefits Advisors counseling, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; must schedule an appointment, 208-734-5084

Ticket Tuesday, 11:45 a.m.

Hand and foot canasta, 1 p.m.

Art classes, 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Pinochle, 6:30 p.m., cost is $2

Wednesday: Cinnamon roll sales, 7:30 a.m.

Quilting, 9 a.m.

Fit and Fall Proof, 10:30 a.m., free

Entertainment by Jeff and Sandy, 11:30 a.m.

Tai Chi exercise class, 1 p.m., free

Bridge, 1 p.m.

Laughter Therapy, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday: Senior Health Insurance Benefits Advisors counseling, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; schedule an appointment

Organ music by Pat Blessin, 11:30 a.m.

Thunder Thursday game, 11:50 a.m.

Visually Impaired Support Group meeting, 12:45 p.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m., cost is $2

Hand and foot canasta, 1 p.m.

Art classes, 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Ladies AA, 6 p.m.

Friday: Quilting, 9 a.m.

Fit and Fall Proof, 10:30 a.m., free

Bingo, 11:45 a.m.

Tai Chi exercise, 1 p.m., free

Art class, 1:30 p.m.

West End Senior Citizens Inc.

1010 Main St., Buhl. Lunch at noon, suggested donation: $5, seniors, 60 and older; $7, non-seniors; $7 for take-out dinners; and $4, children 10 and younger. Sunday buffet at 1 p.m.: $5, seniors, 60 and older; $7, non-seniors; $4, children 10 and younger. Bus for lunch pickup: 208-543-4577 by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Today: Chili

Tuesday: Chicken pot pie

Wednesday: Breakfast, hash browns with gravy, scrambled eggs, 8 to 10 a.m.

Thursday: Turkey noodles over potatoes

Sunday: Chicken roll-up

Today: SilverSneakers exercise program, 10:30 a.m.

Pinochle, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Board meeting, 1 p.m.

Wednesday: SilverSneakers, 10:30 a.m.

Bingo, early bird starts at 6:45 p.m., doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Sunday: Last Resort Band

Filer Senior Haven

222 Main St., Filer. Lunch at noon Tuesday through Thursday. Suggested donation: $5. 208-326-4608.

Menu not available

Today: Bingo, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Puzzles, 11:30 a.m.

Bingo, 12:45 p.m.

Wednesday: Puzzles, 11:30 a.m.

Thursday: Puzzles, 11:30 a.m.

Bingo, 12:45 p.m.

Ageless Senior Center

310 Main St. N., Kimberly. Salad bar at 11:30 a.m., lunch served at noon; take-out; home delivery. Seniors 60 and older, suggested donation is $6, under 60, $7.50 (not donations); meals to go, $7.50. 208-423-4338.

Wednesday: Chili with meat and beans

Thursday: Ham and potato casserole

Friday: Menu not available

Today: Exercise, 10 a.m.

AA meeting, 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Bible study, 1 p.m.

Snooker, 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Exercise, 10 a.m.

Thursday: Snooker, 1 p.m.

Friday: Exercise, 10 a.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Gooding Senior Citizen Center

308 Senior Ave., Gooding. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $3.50 for seniors. 208-934-5504.

Today: Hay stacks

Tuesday: Chicken noodle soup

Wednesday: Breaded fish fillet

Thursday: Curry chicken and rice

Today: Pool, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Fit and Fall Proof exercise, 11 a.m.

Pinochle, 12:30 p.m.

Tuesday: Pool, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Hand and foot, 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Pool, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Fit and Fall Proof, 11 a.m.

Shuffleboard, 3 p.m.

Thursday: Morning out, 9 a.m.

Pool, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Birthday party

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Friday: Pool, 9:30 a.m.

Bingo, 6 p.m.

Saturday: Breakfast, 7:30 to 10 a.m.

Wendell Senior Center

380 First Ave. E. Lunch served at noon. Suggested donation: $4 for seniors; $6 for under 60. 208-536-9951.

Today: Chili dogs

Friday: Potato bar

Hagerman Valley Senior and Community Center

140 E. Lake St., Hagerman. The center is open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $5, seniors 60 and older; $7, non-seniors. All take-outs, $6. 208-837-6120.

Today: Taco salad

Wednesday: Macaroni and cheese casserole

Friday: Meatloaf

Today: Blood draws (by doctors order), 8 to 10:30 a.m.

50/50 raffle and Bridge Club, 1 p.m.

Friday: Two bingo games

Jerome Senior Center

520 N. Lincoln St., Jerome. 208-324-5642. Salad bar at 11:30 a.m.; lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $4, seniors (age 60 and older); $5, non-seniors; $3, children under 12.

Today: Beef stew

Tuesday: Meatloaf

Wednesday: Beef tips over noodles

Thursday: Hot turkey sandwich

Friday: Pork loin

Today: Fitness classes with certified instructors, 10:30 a.m. and 5:20 p.m.

Music by Ricki Lee, 11:30 a.m.

Bridge, 12:30 p.m.

Bunco, 12:45 p.m.

Tuesday: Fitness class, 10:30 a.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Fitness class, 10:30 a.m.

Country Boys Band

Stitch in Time, 1 p.m.

Womens pool, 1 p.m.

Pinochle, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday: Yoga, 10:30 a.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Hand and foot, 1 p.m.

Fitness class, 5:20 p.m.

Womens pool, 7 p.m.

Friday: Fitness class, 10:30 a.m.

Joski Insurance

Music by the Fiddlers at lunch

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Bingo, 6 p.m., doors open at 5 p.m.

Sunday: Potluck and dance with the Music Melody Masters, 2 to 5 p.m.; cost is $5

Silver and Gold Senior Center

210 E. Wilson, Eden. Lunch at noon Tuesday and Thursday. Breakfast at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Suggested donation: $5, seniors (age 60 and older); $6.50, non-seniors. 208-825-5662.

Today: Coffee, 7 a.m.

Tuesday: Coffee, 7 a.m.

Pork roast

Birthdays and anniversaries

Fit and Fall Proof exercise class, 10:30 a.m. at the fire station across the street

Wednesday: Bible study, 7 a.m.

Breakfast, biscuits and gravy, loaded eggs, 8 a.m.

Thursday: Coffee, 7 a.m.

Stew

Fit and Fall Proof exercise, 10:30 a.m. at the fire station

Friday: Coffee, 7 a.m.

Richfield Senior Center

130 S. Main, Richfield. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $4, seniors; $5.50, under 60.

Today: Pork roast

Thursday: Toasted tuna sandwich, tomato soup

Golden Years Senior Citizens Inc.

218 N. Rail St. W., Shoshone. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $4, seniors 60 and older; $5.50, non-seniors. 208-886-2369.

Tuesday: Tuna casserole

Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup, corn dogs

Friday: Chicken with mushroom sauce and rice

Today: Quilting, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tuesday: Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Friday: Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Camas County Senior Center

129 Willow Ave. W., Fairfield. Breakfast, 7:30-11 a.m. Monday through Friday. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $4, seniors 60 and older; $5, non-seniors; $2.50, children 10 and younger. 208-764-2226.

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: Lasagna

Friday: Barbecued chicken

Tuesday: Exercise class, 9 a.m.

Quilting, 10 a.m.

Cards after lunch

Wednesday: Exercise class, 9 a.m.

Cards after lunch

Thursday: Art class, 10 a.m.

Friday: Exercise, 9 a.m.

Quilting, 10 a.m.

Book Club, 10:30 a.m.

Cards after lunch

Tree lighting, 6 p.m.

Blaine County Senior Center

721 Third Ave. S., Hailey. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $5, seniors; $7, non-seniors. 208-788-3468.

Today: Beef burgundy

Tuesday: Greek-style chicken

Wednesday: Pork cutlets

Thursday: Ketchup glazed meatloaf

Friday: Baked haddock

Today: Fit and Fall Proof exercise, 11 a.m.

Connection Club, 11 a.m.

Tuesday: Fit and Fall exercise, Carey, 10 a.m.

Foot clinic, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Connection Club, 11 a.m.

Bingo, 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Fit and Fall exercise, 11 a.m.

Kiwanis lunch, 11:30 a.m.

Thursday: Fit and Fall exercise, Carey, 10 a.m.

Connection Club, 11 a.m.

Card games, 1 p.m.

Member fitness, 1:15 p.m.

Friday: Connection Club, 11 a.m.

Card games, 1 p.m.

Minidoka County Senior Citizens Center

702 11th St., Rupert. Lunch at noon. Suggested donation: $5, seniors; $6, non-seniors; $3, children 10 and younger; $4.50, home delivery. 208-436-9107.

Today: Chili

Tuesday: Sweet and sour chicken

Wednesday: Baked potato bar

Thursday: Stuffed bell peppers

Friday: Menu not available

Thursday: Pinochle, 6 p.m.

Friday: Bingo, 7 p.m.

The Senior Junction

2421 Overland Ave., Burley. Lunch at noon Monday through Friday. Suggested donation: $5, seniors and children 12 and younger; $6, non-seniors.208-878-8646.

Menu not available

Today: Open billiards, 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Chair yoga, 10:45 a.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Tuesday: Woodcarvers, 8:30 a.m.

Wednesday: Open billiards, 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Chair yoga, 10:45 a.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Thursday: Art with Shirley, 1 p.m.

Pinochle, 6 p.m.

Friday: Open billiards, 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Pinochle, 1 p.m.

Lorna Reed Senior Center

424 Market St., Albion. Open Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; lunch at noon. Suggested donation, $5 seniors, $6 non-seniors. Take-out available ($8.50), call by 11:30 a.m. 208-673-6210.

Wednesday: Chili
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., Twin Falls. Stretch and strengthen your muscles through yoga.

Free to the community. Information: ymcatf.com or 208-733-4384.

Happy babies

Happiest Baby on the Block class, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Oak Room 2-4 on the lower level of St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls.

Learn a step-by-step approach to soothing your baby, and receive a parenting kit to use at home.

Cost is $15; pre-registration is 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.

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 Medical Center, 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.

Blood drive

CSI Idaho Student Nurses Association is hosting a blood drive, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in the CSI Recreation Center upstairs gym, 315 Falls Ave., Twin Falls.

Schedule an appointment: redcrossblood.org, 208-921-2242 or skylarpasta@eaglemail.csi.edu.

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.

Grief support

Visions of Hope meeting, 5 p.m. every Thursday at Hospice Visions, 1770 Park View Drive, Twin Falls.

This grief support group is open to everyone in the community.

Information: 208-735-0121.

Mental health support

Mental Health Support Group will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursdays at 826 Eastland Drive in Twin Falls. The free support group is open to Magic Valley residents.

Information: 208-539-7492.

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.

Grief support

Griefshare meeting, 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lighthouse Church, 960 Eastland Drive, Twin Falls. The series will continue on Thursdays through Feb. 15.

Anyone who has lost a loved one or friend is welcome to attend any session. A separate class for teens will begin at the same time. Enter through the east doors at the rear of the main building.

Information: 208-737-4667.

Recovery support

Safe Harbor will hold Recovery group meetings at 7 p.m. Thursdays at 213 Fifth Ave. W. in Twin Falls. A donation meal begins at 6 p.m.

Information: 208-735-8787.

Childbirth

St. Lukes Magic Valley prepared childbirth bootcamp, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Oak Room at St. Lukes, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls. This session is for those unable to attend the five-week prepared childbirth classes.

Topics: wellness during pregnancy; labor process with relaxation and breathing techniques; videos of deliveries and labor positions; and care of the postpartum mother and newborn. Bring a labor support person if possible.

Cost is $25 and pre-registration is required, 208-814-0402.

Bariatric support

Magic Valley Bariatric Support Group, 7 p.m. Dec. 4 in Oak Room 1 on the lower level of St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center, 801 Pole Line Road W., Twin Falls.

The meetings are facilitated by licensed bariatric health-care professionals.

Registration isnt required. Information: 208-381-3641.

Brain injury support

Traumatic Brain Injury Group meeting, 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 5 in the College of Southern Idahos Taylor Building, room 276.

The group is hosted by Michael Howell, with an objective to provide informational sessions, speakers and other local resources to those suffering from traumatic brain injury. Howell experienced this type of injury after being in an ATV accident that led to brain injuries.

Individuals of all injury levels are welcome to attend. The group meets on the first Tuesday of each month.

Information: Amy Barker, CSI office specialist, 208-732-6800.

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. Dec. 9 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.
On his Facebook stream, first district congressional candidate Russ Fulcher of Meridian has posted an item noting he has always lived in that district. And: Fun Fact: Russ Fulchers family has lived in what is now Idahos first Congressional District since 1886, four years before Idaho became a state.

He is making more than a biographical point. His chief opponent, former attorney general and lieutenant governor David Leroy, currently lives outside the district. Leroy is not far from it; he lives in Boise, just not the portion now carved into the first. He has lived in the first before, and has said he plans to maintain a residence inside the first.

But from Fulchers implicit pointIm a resident of the district, and he isnttwo ideas emerge.

The first is, you dont have to live in the CD to represent it. You do have to live in the same state. The U.S. Constitution, which sets only a few requirements for serving in the House (at least 25 years old and a United States citizen for seven years) does require a person to be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. State yes, but being in the same district, no.

The issue came up this spring in the high-profile House race for an open seat in Georgia, where Democrat Jon Ossoff famously lived several miles outside his suburban Atlanta district. No one charged he couldnt legally serve, but the point about his living elsewhere was hammered around persistently through the campaign.

Several months ago, the Washington Post researched congressional residences and found 20 incumbent members of Congress who live outside their districts. In some cases a member originally elected from a district where he was a resident, saw the district boundaries shifting away, and opted not to run in the district which now included his house. In some cases it becomes no big issue, and in others candidates have lost races at least partly because of it. Specifics matter.

The newest member of the House from Washington state, Pramila Jayapal, lived about two miles outside the district she was running to represent when she was elected; it wasnt a big issue there. Then there was Oregons Delia Lopez, a resident of the small rural community of Oakland, about 150 miles south of Portland. She was running to represent Oregons third district, which mostly is central urban Portland, about two hours by freeway from her house. She lost overwhelmingly, though the fact that she was a Republican in a district even more Democratic than Idaho is Republican, also had a lot to do with it.

Lopez case was like, in Idaho terms, someone living in Arco running for the first district, which runs along the west side of the state from Canada to Nevada. Theres not much connection.

Leroys case is a little different. Boise, in whole or in part, has been within the Idaho first congressional district for half a century. Boiseans are legally divided between the districts but as a more practical matter they have a foot in each of them. Leroys first district credentials are in reasonable order: He grew up in Lewiston, attended the University of Idaho at Moscow and has lived in the 1st at various points through his decades of residence in Boise. And he ran for the first district seat once before, in 1994 (when he lost the Republican nomination to Helen Chenoweth).

Of course, in a thinly divided and closely contested contest, as this one is shaping up to be, every issue matters. Including the matter of 10 or 15 minutes travel time.
May 16, 2015: Tiffani Streling and her new boyfriend James McLaws retrieve her belongings from her fathers house so she can move in with McLaws. They find Tiffanis ex-boyfriend and her deceased babys father, Jordan Defilippis, hiding in the closet. After a confrontation between McLaws and Defilippis at a boat dock near Bedke Boulevard, Tiffany, who was at McLaws home, is not heard from again.

May 17: McLaws reports Streling missing at the Cassia County Sheriffs Office.

May 23: Defilippis and another person report finding Strelings clothes at the tree in Heyburn. The clothes are given to a private investigator hired by the family and they are given to the sheriffs office.

May 24: A search by law enforcement, family and friends are held at the tree where her clothing was supposedly discovered, but nothing is found. McLaws has dinner at Tiffanis mother, Melissa Belts, house where the family questions him on his confrontation with Defilippis and Tiffanis disappearance.

June 2: William Streling and Stephanie Albert, Tiffanis stepmother, offer a $5,000 reward for information on their daughters whereabouts.

June 6: William Streling and Albert organize a search in Twin Falls.

June 10: William Streling and Albert begin raising funds for future searches. They begin selling shirts that say Bring Tiffani home.

June 30: Dave Haley, former attorney for McLaws, says his client is a person of interest in Strelings disappearance because he was the last person to see her.

July 6: McLaws, serving probation for unrelated charges, takes off his ankle monitor and flees to Twin Falls. He hits a car, jumps out and runs from police but is later found. He is arrested and admits to smoking marijuana and methamphetamine.

Dec. 16: Family holds a candle light vigil in Burley for Tiffani.

May 3, 2016: McLaws is sentenced in Twin Falls to 4-15 years in prison for possession of a controlled substance.

May 10: McLaws is sentenced during a probation violation status hearing in Cassia County to 2-4 years in prison for possession of a controlled substance.

May 14: Tiffanis family holds a candle light vigil at Lex Kunau Park.

May 13, 2017: Family and friends gather at Lex Kunau Park to remember Tiffani.

May 16, 2017: Two year anniversary of Tiffanis disappearance.

Nov 17, 2017: Human remains are found in a rural part of Jerome County

Nov. 27, 2017: Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall confirms that the remains found in Jerome County were Tiffani Streling.
BUDAPEST - As Chinese Premier Li Keqiang heads to Budapest on Sunday for the sixth meeting of heads of government of China-Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries, the once lagging behind part of Europe gets another chance to showcase its new title -- the fastest growing region in Europe.

Data from the European Union (EU) lists Romania (8.6 percent in Q3, 2017), Latvia (6.2 percent), Poland and Czech Republic (both 5.0 percent) as top four fastest growing economies in the Union, which happen to be members of the China-CEE cooperation framework and take the lion's share of China's investment in the region.

China is assisting Europe in transforming its once economically backward countries into its new growth engines.

From 2009 to 2014, CEE countries' exports to China grew by 173 percent, while total trade exchange with China grew by 86 percent, according to Luxemburger Wort daily. In the first four months of 2017, CEE countries exported $5.48 billion worth of product to China, marking an 18.9 percentage increase year-on-year.

Every year, over 800,000 Chinese tourists spend their vacations in CEE countries, with countries like Bulgaria witnessing a 50-percentage-point surge in visitors year-on-year in the first half of 2017. Furthermore, over $8 billion of investment has been brought into the region due to China's Belt and Road Initiative, according to figures from the Chinese government.

It is not these countries alone that have benefitted from the cooperation, the EU has too.

For one, by addressing uneven development among member states, Chinese investment is beneficial in promoting EU integration. In addition, many of the primary materials exported from CEE countries to western and northern Europe are processed and exported to China, which also contributes to the development of Europe.

Not to mention, with the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway, China-Europe Land-Sea Express and more logistic centers in the region, China is helping further enhance CEE countries' role as a transport hub over the Eurasian Land Bridge.

Taking full advantage of their geographic location, connecting the Asian and European continents, CEE countries can play a critical role in infrastructure and connectivity building as well as global production capacity cooperation, thus contributing to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

In short, it's a win-win game. The China-EU relationship is currently at a historical peak, with bilateral trade reaching levels that beggar belief ( Ambassador Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, puts it at more than $1 million every minute). Over 600 flights shuttle between the two sides every week, with more than 6.6 million mutual visits recorded last year alone.

Despite overall healthy relations, the EU has sometimes -- and unfortunately so -- treated China with anxiety and accusation.

By depicting China's investment as espionage targeting European companies' high technology and a way to "buy political influence" from CEE countries, some EU politicians seem to fear that robust China-CEE cooperation would sow discord between the EU and its eastern partners.

However, the only thing the EU has to fear is fear itself.

For those who describe China's investment as espionage, they neglect, if not intentionally, the following figures.

Since 2010, China has had the world's fastest supercomputer. In 2016, China had ten universities in the world's top 50 for engineering/technology and computer science. In the same year, China launched the world's first quantum satellite. And over the past five years, artificial intelligence patents lodged by China jumped by 186 percent. On this measure China is now second only to the United States, and well ahead of the EU and Japan, said the Sydney Morning Herald.

Faced with such data, any notion that China might be seeking to take over European companies in a bid to steal technology is laughable and stems from either ignorance or cultural arrogance.

The same attitude can be easily traced behind the smear campaign against the Belt and Road Initiative. In fact, European countries such as Greece, Poland and Siberia have greatly benefited from the initiative. However, regrettably, deeply-rooted zero-sum mentality and an ideological bias against China have made some politicians and some media turn a blind eye to these achievements.

During their talks in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, on Nov 14, Premier Li told Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, that the two sides should solve their old problems with greater wisdom. EU's apparent worry over growing China-CEE cooperation is definitely one of the "old problems."

As more and more European countries show interest in Chinese investment and the Belt and Road Initiative, old-fashioned mentalities and bias put the whole continent's prosperity at risk. A more confident, open-minded attitude by the EU towards China surely benefits all. And that's probably the "greater wisdom" for which Li had asked.
JAKARTAGreenpeace slammed Indonesias palm oil industry Monday for failing to live up to a pledge to halt deforestation, as the lucrative sector faces possible restrictions in Europe over environmental concerns.

Palm oil is used in everything from soap to frozen pizza, but a consumer backlash has forced dozens of the worlds largest food and drink manufacturers to address its ecological impact.

Vast swathes of rainforest are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, threatening endangered species and pushing indigenous people off their lands.

International corporations, including Unilever, Kellogg and Mondelez, have pledged to adopt environmentally friendly supply chains by 2020.

But Greenpeace said in a report published on Monday that large palm oil traders are failing on that commitment.

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The environmental group found that most of the 11 major traders operating in Indonesia did not have strict systems to monitor the origin of their goods and were not calling out non-compliant producers.

Broadly, the palm oil industry has agreed to end deforestation. The issueand it is a critical oneis only two of the 11 [traders] we looked at was actually able to say when they are going to end deforestation, Richard George, a UK-based forest campaigner at Greenpeace, told AFP.

None of the firms contacted by AFP replied to requests for comment on the report.

The Greenpeace report comes against the backdrop of mounting concerns about palm oils environmental impact.

The European Union, the worlds second largest consumer after India, passed a resolution in April calling for tougher environmental standards for palm oil linked to deforestation.

Indonesia and Malaysiathe worlds two largest producershave been lobbying against the resolution.

Both countries have slammed possible EU import restrictions as unfair, and a move that would harm millions of mostly small-scale farmers. AFP

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Bolstered by the setback of the Kurdish independence endeavor in Iraq, Ankara is set to halt US support for the Kurds of Syria who have been emboldened by their recent inroads against the Islamic State.

During the Sochi summit convened by Putin with the participation of Irans President Rohani and President Erdogan, the latter put pressure to exclude the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), in any solution process in Syria.

We project that all groups and all fractions in Syria will be invited, Erdogan said following the summit, while stressing that Turkeys position on terrorist organizations such as the YPG and the PYD is clear.

Shortly after the Sochi summit, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said President Donald Trump had made the promise to halt military support to the Kurds in Syria during a phone call with Erdogan.

For its part, the White House said it was making adjustments to its support for partners inside Syria but did not explicitly name the YPG.

The YPG has been key in Washington anti-IS strategy in Syria, but Ankara views the Kurdish group as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group it has been fighting for decades in south-eastern Turkey.
Iraq announced that it plans to build a new pipeline that will ship oil from Kirkuks oilfields to the Ceyhan port in Turkey, in an attempt to reduce dependence on the pipeline crossing the territories under the administration of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

Iraqs Oil Ministry explained in a statement that the new pipeline will replace an old and severely damaged section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline.

It will start from the nearby city of Baiji and continue until the Fishkhabour border area with Turkey, the ministry added.

Iraq stopped shipping oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline in 2014 after the region was overrun by Islamic State militants and subsequently recaptured by US-backed Iraqi forces over the past two years.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, aka MbS, who was hosting a meeting of top defense officials of Muslim-majority countries Sunday in Riyadh, urged for stronger action to erase terrorism from the surface of the earth.

The Sunday gathering, held in the wake of the terror attack on a mosque in Egypts Sinai that killed over 300 people, brought together defense officials of the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition made up of 41 Muslim or Muslim-dominated countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

In his keynote address, MbS, who is also Saudi Arabias defense minister, said In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries with no coordination among national authoritiesThis ends today, with this alliance.

The coalition was set up in 2015, but its Sunday meeting was its first.

The Friday bloody attack in the Sinai was a very painful occurrence and must make us contemplate in an international and powerful way the role of this terrorism and extremism.

Beyond the killing of innocent people and the spread of hatred, terrorism and extremism distort the image of our religion, he added.

A group of about 30 gunmen attacked al-Rawda mosque in the Sinai killing at least 300 people, in the worst attack in the restive peninsula.

Saudi Arabia is leading an international coalition of Muslim countries in Yemen with the aim of restoring the internationally recognized President Mansour Hadi battled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The gathering also came amid recent regional crises hyped by the rivalry between the Saudi kingdom and Shia-dominated Iran, that Riyadh holds responsible for terrorist attacks in the region and round the world.

Syria and Iraq are not member of the coalition because of their leaders close ties with Tehran. Qatar is member of the alliance, but has not been invited because of the rift with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt.

The alliance according to retired Pakistani general Raheel Sharif, who has been appointed its commander-in-chief, aims to mobilize and coordinate the use of resources, facilitate the exchange of information and help member countries build their own counter-terrorism capacity.

Saudi Arabia will house the alliances future center. The kingdom has vowed $107 million for the project.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Sunday confessed to a Saudi media that his country cannot do anything to numb Hezbollahs might adding that a solution can only come from regional powers, Middle East Monitor reports.

The solution for Hezbollahs arms is a regional solution, not a domestic one. For that, we [Lebanon] cannot do anything about the issue, Hariri told a Saudi Magazine few days following his two-week stay in the kingdom.

Hezbollah does not have the ability to manage a country. Its strength comes from the arms provided by Iran, he added.

Hariri returned to Lebanon late Tuesday after announcing his resignation from his role of Prime Minister in a broadcast on a Saudi television, on November 4.

The Lebanese Sunni leader had blamed in his resignation address the Lebanese Shia movement and its patron for spreading strife in the region. He also hinted at alleged assassination plot against him.

Upon his return to Beirut and after meeting with President Michel Aoun who refused to accept his resignation, Hariri put his decision on hold indicating that he wanted to give a chance to negotiations and demands for Lebanons neutrality in the region.

President Michel Aoun, Hezbollah and several Lebanese political figures believed Hariri was forced to resign by Riyadh which aimed to ignite Lebanon.

Hariri has been leading a year-old cabinet encompassing Hezbollah whose armed wing has been fighting in Syria on the side of Iran to shore up the Bashar Assad regime.

The Shia movement has been supporting militia groups in Iraq fighting the Islamic State group (IS) and lending support to Hamas in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia and its allies believe that Hezbollah helped the Yemen Houthi rebels launch a ballistic missile which was intercepted near Riyadh international airport early November, and which paired with Hariris resignation.
Iran and Turkey Sunday bolstered commercial ties with Qatar, isolated by its regional neighbors over alleged support for terrorism, under an agreement signed Sunday.

The agreement underlines greater cooperation between the three coungtries, announced the Iranian state television.

According to the media, the agreement provides for the creation of a joint working group to facilitate the transit of goods between the three countries.

The signing countries could now export goods across borders easily, the media further notes.

The Sunday move further enables Qatar to break its isolation by neighboring countries and regional allies.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt on June 5 severed ties with Qatar, cutting off air, sea and ground links. The action disrupted Qatars importation roads; cutting off the countrys food needs supply.

The boycotting countries accuse Doha of cozying up to Iran and sponsoring terrorism. Turkey on the other hand ramped up its military presence in the Gulf country under military deal between the two countries.

Doha re-established diplomatic channels with Iran after cutting down ties following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran early last year.
South Africas President Jacob Zuma on Monday, called on the countrys Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba to identify concrete measures to urgently address the economic challenges of the southern African nation, the presidency said in a statement.

The move comes three days after S&P Global Ratings downgraded local currency debt to sub-investment grade. Moodys has also placed the local currency debt rating on the lowest investment grade rating of BBB-minus.

Moodys said the decision to place the rating on review for downgrade was prompted by a series of recent developments, which suggest that South Africas economic and fiscal challenges are more pronounced than Moodys had previously assumed.

Rating agencies have repeatedly highlighted structural impediments to a higher growth trajectory as being among their main concerns in assessing South Africas sovereign creditworthiness.

The government is considering measures over the next two weeks that will combine tax increases and spending cuts to save 40 billion rand in the 2019 fiscal year.

As a reminder, Africas most industrialized economy entered recession in March after two consecutive quarters of contraction.

The countrys economic woes have been exacerbated by President Jacob Zumas dismissal of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, which led to Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings cutting the nations foreign-currency debt in April.
President Emmanuel Macron of France is starting his first African tour on Monday, with a first stop in Burkina Faso, the French presidency said in a statement.

The French head of state will later on visit Cote dIvoire and Ghana in an effort to revitalize his countrys image on the continent and boost its ties with Africa.

This summer, the French president set up a committee to advise him on Africa policy.

In Burkina Faso, the 39-year old President will deliver a speech on his Africa policy in front of 800 students at Ouagadougou University on Tuesday.

Macron is also expected at the European Union-Africa Union summit to be held on Wednesday and Thursday in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, where he will also be seeking international backing for a new, five-nation African counter-terrorism force, G-5 Sahel, which France hopes to see eventually take over the fight against jihadist groups in the Sahel region.

French soldiers and MINUSMA are battling for control over large tracts of Mali under attack in spite of a peace accord signed with Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the jihadists. Since 2015, jihadist attacks have spread, including latterly to neighboring countries, particularly Burkina Faso and Niger.

Macron will also lay the foundation stone of the Abidjan metro, a project being undertaken by French-Korean consortium Bouygues-Dongsan and supported by a 1.4 billion-French loan.

The French leaders visit to the continent coincides with the growing anger across Africa about failure to do more to clamp down on human trafficking and slave auctions in Libya.

In a brief statement last week, Macron called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council this week, saying such auction houses are a crime against humanity.
Georgian Blueberries to Hit Dubai Supermarket Shelves

(DUBAI) -- Shoppers at several in Dubai will soon be able to purchase Georgian blueberries after Tbilisi-based exporter Agrolanestruck a deal with the Dubai Lulu hypermarket network to sell agricultural products in the United Arab Emirates.Georgian company The deal came through after Agrolanemet with Lulu representatives following the 2017 GULFOOD exhibition.LuLu operates 138 outlets in the Gulf region.
Georgias Justice Minister Slams Public Defender

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

(TBILISI) -- Georgias Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani publicly criticized the countrys public defender, labelling him unfair and unfit for office.Tsulukanis stinging comments came only days after Public Defender Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili issued a preliminary report on a highly publicized attempted murder case involving members of the Georgian Orthodox Church.In his report released Wednesday, Nanuashvili that the prosecution committed several fundamental violations that eventually led, in his opinion, to an unfair guilty verdict and a nine-year prison sentence forpriest who attempted to poison a colleague with Cyanide. Nanuashvili claims the defense team worked under unfair conditions after being denied access to certain pieces of evidence.Nanuashvili is acting as the first unfair and prejudiced public defender in the history of Georgia, Tsulukiani said.Tsulukianis statement echoed those of the chief prosecutor in the case, Jarji Tsiklauri, who called Nanuashvilis report as incompetent and groundless.The Tbilisi City Court also released a statement, saying Nanuashvili, whose five-year term in office ends in December, had exceeded his powers and made groundless statements regarding the verdict.Opposition party officials and member of civil society claim the leadership of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition is trying to deliberately discredit Nanuashvili and cover-up violations committed by the district attorneys office.There are a lot of people in the government who still do not understand the public defenders obligation and role, said human rights advisor Kakha Kozhoridze.The Head of Georgias Bar Association, Zaza Khatiashvili, told reporters that the Georgian Dreams attempt to force the public defender to carry out its orders is an extremely negative development for democracy in Georgia.Since coming to the publics attention in February, the highly publicized case has touched a raw nerve in Georgian society after it shed light on the dark internal politics of the powerful Georgian Orthodox Partriarchate.In early February, Georgias Chief Prosecutor announced that they detained Father GiorgiMamaladze - the deputy head of the Patriarchates Property Management Service and director general of the Patriarchates medical center - at Tbilisi International Airport.According to the prosecution, he was attempting to flee to Germany when apprehended.Georgian Patriarch Ilia II was in Germany at the time to undergo an operation for bladder-related complications.Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze said that Mamaladze had attempted to acquire cyanide form a close friend and distant relative - journalist Irakli Mamaladze.Mamaladze informed the police that the former the priest intended to kill a high ranking spiritual figure.Suspicion about who Mamaladze planned to murder grew when Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that the country had avoided a huge tragedy.The Prosecutors office later stated that the alleged target was the Ilia IIs secretary, Shorena Tetruashvili, and that Mamaladze sought personal revenge against her.Mamaladzes family, lawyers and some clergymen say he had information about violations in the Patriarchate, backed by Tetruashvili and others.
The News in Brief

CoEHuman Rights Commissioner Wants Verbal Attacks on Georgias Public Defender to Stop



(TBILISI) -- The Human Rights Commissioner for the Council of Europe, Nils Muiznieks, condemned the recent verbal attacks by Georgias justice minister Tea Tsulukiani against public defender Ucha Nanuashvili after the latter released a report criticizing the governments handing of a high profile attempted murder case that involved members of the powerful Georgian Orthodox clergy.



I understand that a series of negative statements have been made by certain high-ranking officials in Georgia against the Public Defender. I am very concerned about the harm that such sustained verbal attacks can cause to the standing and effectiveness of this important institution. Like all Ombudsmen, the role of the Public Defender is to act in defense of human rights, be a check on government power and to help improve the quality of governance their role is to independently identify all possible shortcomings in the law and issue reports and recommendations, said Muiznieks. He later added For I consider verbal attacks on the institution of the Public Defender unacceptable. I strongly urge all participants of the public debate in Georgia to demonstrate responsibility and to refrain from making any statements that could damage the reputation of the Public Defender or the Office, or have a negative impact on the public perception of their activities.



In comments late last week, Tsulukiani labelled the ombudsman unjust and incompetent.

(IPN)







Three Deputy Interior Ministers Appointed



(TBILISI)  Newly appointed Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia on November 16 named three Deputy Ministers to serve in his administration.



The former Deputy Head of the Counter Terrorist Center of the State Security Service,



Kakhaber Sabanadze, was appointed First Deputy Interior Minister, as was Nino Javakhadze, who served as the Deputy Economy Minister under Gakharia.



According to the interior ministry, Javakhadze will be supervising the Ministrys international relations, reforms, strategic communications and public relations activities. She will also be in charge of overseeing the work of the Interior Ministrys Academy.



Gakharia retained Merab Malania as his only Deputy Interior Minister. Malania, who was appointed to the post in 2016, will be in charge of supervising the Special Tasks Department, the Strategic Pipelines Protection Department, the Migration Department, as well as the Emergency Situations Management Agency.



Gakharia became Interior Minister on November 13 as part of Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvilis recently announced structural and staff changes to the cabinet.

(civil.ge)







Memorial Dedicated to Abkhaz War to be Restored in Scottish Town



(KILMARNOCK, UK) -- A controversial memorial stone in Scotland and dedicated to victims of the1992-93 Georgian-Abkhaz will be restored, Tbilisis Deputy Foreign Minister David Dondua said late last week.



Located in the town of Kilmarnock was recently taken down after a complaint from Georgias ambassador to the UK because it was decorated with the green, red and white rebel flag of the pro-Russian breakaway republic of Abkhazia.



The stone will be placed in the same location, Dondua said Thursday, presumably without the secessionist flag that symbolizes the breakaway region (pictured right).



Dondua added that Tbilisi never demanded that Kilmarnocks authorities take down the memorial.



Nobody meant for it to be demolished or dismantled, Dondua said. We simply pointed out to the local authorities [in Kilmarnock] that the memorial contains politicized symbols and does not correspond to the policy of the UK with respect to the territorial integrity of Georgia. In view of this, the local authorities promised to bring everything in line. As a result, the memorial was temporarily dismantled and will be restored to its place once its changed.



Tamar Beruchashvili, Georgias ambassador to the UK, said she became aware of the monument through the internet and persuaded Scottish authorities to look into the issue during her visit to Scotland in October.



They fully accepted the information provided and agreed with the approach by the British state regarding Georgias territorial integrity. The local council decided to dismantle the monument a few days ago, Beruchashvili said.



The removal of the monument sparked outrage in Abkhazia, where rebel authorities released an angry statement on November 10.



The Republic of Abkhazias Ministry of Foreign Affairs regards such barbaric moves by the Georgian leadership as another vivid confirmation of the aggressive and inhumane character of Georgias policy towards Abkhazia and its people. We regard this as an act of vandalism aimed at destroying the historical memory of the Abkhaz people, against whom Georgia committed ethnic cleansing and genocide, the statement reads.



Although the separatist government referred to the monument as dedicated to Abkhaz warriors, the text on it does not contain a reference to ethnicity and in not seen as anti-Georgian from Tbilisis perspective. The only problem is the separatist flag toward the top of the memorial stone.



In memory of those from our twin town of Sukhumi who died in the Abkhazian/Georgian conflict 1992-1993, the text on the monument reads.



Nearly 60,000 people were killed or wounded during the bloody 14-month war between Georgian government troops and Russian-backed separatists in Abkhazia. War crimes were committed by both sides during the war, including massacres and forced deportations. After Georgian forces were defeated by Abkhaz rebels and regular Russian military units in September 1993, more than a quarter of a million ethnic Georgians were ethnically cleansed from the region

(dfwatch.net)




Years before the late John H. Toole served as mayor of Missoula in the 1980s; long before he was vice president of the Montana Constitutional Convention in 1972; even before he fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, he was an ambitious 19-year-old working for the BFPA.

The Blackfoot Forest Protective Association was a collection of private landowners formed in 1920 by Kenneth Ross, Tooles grandfather and longtime general manager of the Anaconda Co.s lumber mill in Bonner. Its purpose was to stamp out fires in the Blackfoot River region before they destroyed valuable timber land.

Tooles BFPA story is set in 1937. For literary perspective, it was the same summer Norman and Paul Maclean went fishing together up the Blackfoot for the last time before Pauls brutal murder in Chicago the following May. (See Normans A River Runs Through It.)

Among Tooles many gifts was that of a cut-above storyteller, in the same vein as his little brother. K. Ross Toole, who passed away in 1981, is regarded as the most influential Montana historian of the 20th century. This tale came from John Tooles The Baron, the Logger, the Miner and Me.

BFPA headquarters were in the two-story Bonner Hall, which stood on whats now a vacant lot across Montana Highway 200 from the new KettleHouse Brewery and Amphitheater. Later they were moved to the brick office building of the Western Lumber Co. mill in West Riverside, home today of the River City Grill.

As Toole told it, July was hot that year, with sultry nights when the skies lit up in brilliant, eerie flashes, with thunder rolling off in the distance like the boom of huge guns.

The phone rang on one such evening and dispatcher Frank Schaeffer took the call.

He turned to us and said, A lady in Missoula says theres a fire burning on the top of University Mountain,'  Toole wrote.

University Mountain was, and still is, the next big hump behind Mount Sentinel on Missoulas eastern edge.

It is brutally steep, Toole said, rising over 2,000 feet from the valley floor.

Tom Harper said he was too old and tired to make that climb and told me to take a couple of men up and put out the fire, he recalled. It was long before the days of smokejumpers, but we were young and we raced down the streets of Bonner, crossed the Milwaukee Railroad Bridge and went up on a bee line to the top.

We pawed the trees aside, slipped on the big clumps of grass, and after two hours clawed our way into the clearing on the mountains top.

You may have seen that clearing. Among other things its the turnaround point for the grueling Pengelly Double Dip trail race that starts each June on the University of Montana campus. Toole and friends climbed up from the other side, and when they got there, We couldnt believe what we saw, he wrote. There was a huge steel tower on top of the mountain and on top of it was a brilliant white and red light slowly revolving.

Tooles account of their reaction included some realistic but salty dialogue. Eventually, young Toole himself said, Hell, I know what it is. Its a beacon to guide airplanes.

Sure enough, Frank Inman made a call to Hale Field, the Missoula airport on the east edge of the county fairgrounds.

By God, youre right, he told Toole. They just installed it yesterday. Whats the world coming to? Think of the cost of that light, and all at the taxpayers expense!

The rest of us were all mad about our wild goose chase, and plumb worn out, Toole concluded. We slept the rest of the day.

The account doesnt square precisely with the record. Jon Axline, historian for the Montana Department of Transportation, said the University Mountain beacon and all the others in Montana were installed in 1935, when Toole was 17 years old, not in 1937.

As part of a nomination to place Montanas remaining airway beacons on the National Register of Historic Places, Axline quoted the Helena Independent from February and March of 1935.

Pack trains plodded up Pattee Canyon ... bearing steel, sand, gravel and other material for the beacons ... the Helena newspaper said.

Forest Service packers and mules from the Nine Mile Remount Station hauled nearly 14,000 pounds of material up the steep mountainsides to the construction site. Materials included two generators, a fuel tank and a timer.

The timers activated the rotating course lights at darkness.

Each beacon had a different Morse code, so you knew where you were at if you were a pilot, Axline said. They all had generator sheds and on the top of the shed was painted the station number, so that was visible in the day time. That told you that you were on the right route.

Years passed. The BFPA continued fighting fires for decades, staffing up to four lookouts at some points, before relinquishing fire protection responsibilities to the state on July 1, 1971. With a well-stocked pool of funding remaining and accruing interest, boards of directors met annually under the leadership of president George Neff. In the subsequent 29 years they dispersed more than $800,000 in forestry-related scholarships and donations, including $25,000 in 1990 to the fledgling National Forest Service Museum. In April 2000 the BFPA board voted to dissolve. Its last $7,133 went to the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula.

John Toole authored several books before his death in 1989. He published The Baron, The Logger, the Miner and Me in 1984, the same year he tried and failed as Missoula mayor to force a city takeover of its water system.

As for that fire on the mountain? No matter when it happened, its a good story, well-spun.

University Mountains beacon was one of some 22,000 installed nationwide by 1937, 39 of them in Montana to serve multiple airways for night navigation.

They were the beginning of defined airways. Missoulas was part of the Northern Transcontinental Airway route between Seattle and Minneapolis. Improved technology rendered the beacons obsolete by the mid-1960s, when the Federal Aviation Administration began decommissioning them. The FAA withdrew all support by the early 1970s, whereupon Montana took over operation of 17 beacons. They included towers in western Montana near Lookout Pass, St. Regis, Alberton, Bonita (between Rock Creek and Beavertail Hill), Ramsay, and Avon.

Montana remains the only state in the country with operating airway beacons. But now that distinction has a time stamp. Over protests from some pilot organizations, MDTs Aeronautics Division announced last December the decommissioning of all but three beacons to save roughly $30,000 a year in operational and maintenance costs.

The University Mountain beacon didnt make the cut, nor did the others west of the divide. Aeronautics, after dialogue with pilots, announced it would continue to maintain easily accessible beacons on MacDonald Pass, Spokane Bench east of Helena and Strawberry Hills near Logan, northwest of Bozeman. The beacons would light a path from the pass to Helena to Townsend to Bozeman to provide nostalgic aviators the opportunity to experience a segment of the historic Northern Transcontinental Airway Route, the aeronautics division says on its website.

In May, MDT established a working group to help decide the future of the remaining beacons. Meetings were held in Billings, Missoula and Helena. They drew a total of 36 people.

Late last month, MDT director Mike Tooley announced the department will continue to operate only the MacDonald Pass beacon, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. Tooley said Spokane Hills and Strawberry Butte will be phased out by June 30, 2019.

Debbie Alke, the retiring administrator of the Aeronautics Division, said the division is working with individual landowners on plans for the rest of the towers, which sit on land leased by the state all those years ago. The state is offering the towers for adoption and reuse. Some may have to be dismantled.

Surrounded as it is by seven other cell and radio/television towers, the University Mountain beacon has a pretty good chance of not being demolished, Axline speculated.

Eighty years later, even most of those living and working under the beacon have failed to notice it flashes its beams across the sky no more, and hasnt, according to Axline, since at least October 2015.

We havent turned it off. It just quit working, he said. Some of them havent worked for a while, but none of them have been intentionally shut down yet.
The Missoula Police Department has scheduled its next "Coffee with a Cop"  an informal chance for the public to meet members of the police force and have their questions answered, for the last week of November.

It will be held Thursday at the Dog and Bicycle cafe in the Old Sawmill District from 8:30 to 10 a.m.

This is the third time the Missoula Police Department has held the event, with the prior two occurring downtown over the summer. Sgt. Travis Welsh, public information officer, said the hope is to have them every other month.

Dog and Bicycle reached out to the department asking to host the next one, and Welsh said that fit in well with the plan to move the event around the city and host it in different neighborhoods.

Members of the police administration will be at the event, and uniformed patrol officers and detectives will come through to chat as their schedules allow, Welsh said.
MyStudentInNeed.org is a website that provides a private way for teachers and staff members of Missoula County Public Schools to ask for help for a student in need, and a way for the community to give back.

***

Current needs include:

A 12th-grade boy, age 17, is in need of a stroller and a case of wipes for his newborn baby. Because of the concern for safety, the stroller must be new. Therefore, if you would like to help, you are asked to make a donation of any amount up to $150 and we will buy a gift card so the teacher can take the student shopping for a new stroller and baby wipes. Big Sky No. 2656.

An 11th-grade male student, age 17, is in need of replacement items following a theft incident. This student has qualified as homeless since eighth grade and has lived in multiple environments since. His in need of some warm clothing including a hoodie. If you can help, you are asked to make a donation of $100 to My Student in Need and we will buy a gift card so the teacher can take him shopping. No. 2654.

As we move into the holiday season, Missoula County Public Schools would like to thank each and every one of you for your generous donations and of the support you give to our families in need. We are so blessed to be a part of this amazing community! Happy Holidays!

***

If you would like to help, visit mystudentinneed.org/Missoula-MT. Scroll down to the list of schools. The number next to the school represents the number of current needs at that school. The number of needs can change daily. Click on the name of the school, find a need request and click on the "Fulfill This Need" button. Complete the donor form and press the "Submit" button. A member of our team will contact you. You can also call 406-750-2542.

Operational costs for My Student in Need are underwritten by a sponsorship from Montana Farmers Union and our Partners in Dignity.
POLSON  Lake Countys jail system will go under review by a national organization this week.

Sheriff Don Bell hopes the National Institute of Corrections evaluation will put the need for a new facility in the spotlight.

I think it will be a tool to show the community that we need a new jail facility, Bell said.

The National Institute of Corrections will be in Polson on Wednesday and Thursday to interview local entities surrounding the jail and justice system in Lake County. Officials with the organization will also conduct an inspection of the jail and take a look at the procedures and policies the county uses to manage the facility.

On Friday, from 8 a.m. to noon, the NIC team will host a town hall meeting at the Lake County Courthouses third-floor conference room to share its findings.

The countys jail was constructed in 1923, with a remodel in the 1990s that added a recreation room and some cells following a lawsuit by ACLU focused on crowding.

Under the consent decree that followed, Bell said the facility was limited to 46 prisoners.

Its rare that were under that number, he said.

Due to the limited space, the jail mostly houses medium- to maximum-risk prisoners.

Its a rare occasion that we have a low-risk prisoner in the jail, Bell said. Its a rarity that we have someone with misdemeanor charges. Ninety percent of our prisoners are there on felony charges.

The lack of space in the jail has been an issue in Lake County for decades, said the sheriff who has served in law enforcement in the county in some capacity for 26 years.

Ive been working the jail issue since I started as sheriff three years ago, Bell said. The commissioners need to have certain things accomplished before they can put the jail issue to a vote. This should give the commissioners a tool to show the public that our need way exceeds what we have in capacity.

Right now, we dont have even an official visitors room where a prisoner can meet with their attorney, he said. It is a really old facility.
Budget woes have stressed programs at the University of Montana, even to the point of putting the future accreditation of some at risk.

The chemistry undergraduate program, for instance, has seen a 71 percent decrease to operating budgets and expenditures over five years, according to reviewer reports that are part of UM's prioritization process.

But faculty and students are performing ahead of benchmarks in many cases and continue to earn national accolades.

Undergraduates in music, for example, exceed national teaching test scores by 1.19 percent, and 100 percent of music education students found public school employment last year.

In the past five years, the wildlife biology program has received 22 "prominent awards," all while experiencing cuts.

UM is undergoing a process to set academic and administrative priorities, and reviewer reports produced as part of the project underscore some known themes about the campus, such as its financial struggles and academic achievements.

But a partial review of those reports also offers other insights into the Missoula flagship. For example, the threads that tie UM's faculty and students to Montana  and to service  are strong.

Students enrolled in the gerontology minor count nearly 3,000 hours a year in service to older adults, according to reviewer reports.

Some 60 percent of students getting a master's in "teaching middle school mathematics" are serving rural or tribal populations, according to the same reports.

And more than 90 percent of graduates from the Alexander Blewett III School of Law stay in Montana "to serve business, government and nonprofits."

"As I was reviewing, what I was struck with is there is a lot of really, really good work being done at the University of Montana that directly benefits the citizens of Montana," said Mary-Ann Bowman, chair of the Faculty Senate.

"This is place where people, instead of maybe grandstanding or showboating, they put their heads down, and they work hard, and they are trying to make a difference."

***

The reviewer reports, posted online, put a point on some of the effects of the recent budget cuts at UM  and potential effects of ongoing reductions.

UM has seen a drop in overall enrollment since 2010. While it's seeing signs that show the ship is righting, the campus is still making reductions in response to the decline.

The graduate program in social work has received national recognition for its quality and affordability, for instance. It also admits just 25 percent of applicants due to enrollment caps compared to the national average of 60 percent admission.

But the loss of a faculty line is a problem for maintaining the appropriate student-to-faculty ratio, according to a reviewer report.

"MSW is stretched and at the cliff of possibly violating CSWE (Council on Social Work) accreditation because of losing a faculty line," according to the report.

In undergraduate chemistry, the steep drop in expenditures means faculty and instructor phone and internet connections were canceled or are being paid for through grant money for indirect costs, "which reduced funding to support research activities." The report notes "all undergraduate student employees were terminated."

The program "will struggle to maintain accreditation with continuing budget shortfall," according to a review.

Bowman, herself a reviewer for the project, said although some reports indicate budgets are shrinking, some departments have been able to shift resources. In general, she said it's difficult to understand a program's complete budget picture only from reports associated with the prioritization process.

At the same time, she said UM needs a new plan for how it manages financial cuts, and the process underway is among a series of new approaches UM is taking.

"This process is just one part of a different plan for how to deal with budget realities at the University of Montana," Bowman said.

***

Despite budget cuts at UM, faculty have continued to earn awards, and the institution is still ranked high nationally when it comes to academics.

In public and community health sciences, the core faculty have brought in roughly $20 million since 2013, according to a reviewer report.

Students in accounting in the College of Business do exceptionally well compared to their peers nationally when it comes to passing the CPA exam. A report on the graduate program notes the passage rate is 74 percent compared to the national average of 54 percent.

The program is "lean" and "highly productive." As with other program reviews, though, the leanness cuts both ways; UM is efficient compared to its peers, but shoestring budgets can't get much shorter without consequences.

"Faculty are stretched as thinly as any on campus; the ability to sustain high quality is at risk," reads the report on graduate accounting.

In the graduate program in systems ecology, eight faculty counted more than 100 invited presentations, 147 published peer reviewed papers, and 135 grants totaling $18.4 million over five years, according to a report.

The productivity in that program mirrors that of other programs, and Bowman said the good work identified in the reports reflects her view of UM. She sees much positive enterprise on campus despite a focus sometimes on negative issues.

"The University of Montana, from my perspective, is a vibrant, compassionate, exciting place. It's not this doom and gloom," she said.

***

Reviewer reports show a lot of the work taking place at the public institution or by graduates contributes to the social fabric of Montana, and UM maintains ties to tribal communities as well. The bachelor's of social work program is one example.

"The program instills leadership values in its students, is involved in at least 50 healthcare agencies in Western Montana, and as actively involved in helping students from tribal colleges in the state complete their bachelor's degrees," according to one reviewer report.

UM graduates account for 40 percent of the physical therapy workforce in Montana, one report said.

The interdisciplinary graduate program notes 42 percent to 57 percent of its students are Native American, "supporting the value of diversity."

And students in the accounting program help Montanans with their tax returns, according to another review.

"One great example of the program's service and outreach is its participation in the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, (VITA)," notes the report. "Students are able to work in this volunteer program, which provides free assistance in tax return preparation to low income, elderly and disabled persons."

The report notes the students serve some 600 to 800 people every year.

In this regard, too, Bowman said the reports reflect well on the type of work that's being done at UM. She said academic professionals are at UM because they believe in its mission of service.

"So many faculty could make so much more money someplace else. But they choose to dedicate their lives to making a difference," Bowman said.

As planned, a task force will deliver recommendations for campus priorities by Thursday. In December, the Faculty Senate will hold a public hearing on the matter at a special meeting.
An attorney for the reporter who was assaulted by Rep. Greg Gianforte on the eve of his election last May has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the congressman and his spokesman asking them to stop falsely saying the reporter initiated the physical attack.

Gianforte admitted in court in June to assaulting Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, when Jacobs tried to ask Gianforte his views about a health care bill before Congress. When pleading guilty to the misdemeanor assault in Gallatin County District Court, Gianforte said Jacobs "did not initiate any physical contact with me." He also wrote a letter to Jacobs saying the reporter did not start the physical altercation.

A press release sent out by Gianforte's campaign in the hours after the assault falsely blamed the attack on Jacobs, saying the reporter grabbed the candidate's wrists.

Gianforte apologized to Jacobs and as a part of his sentence performed community service, completed anger management and paid a fine and restitution. He also donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists to avoid a civil case.

Earlier this month, Gallatin County District Court released hundreds of pages of records of the investigation into the assault. The records show Gianforte misled investigators, saying it was an attempt by the "liberal media" that was "trying to make a story" of what happened.

In the letter posted online by the Independent Journalism Review, Geoffrey Genth, Jacobs' attorney, asked Gianforte and his spokesman Travis Hall to "immediately cease and desist from making any further false and defamatory statements about Mr. Jacobs."

Genth wrote that the letter was prompted by recent news quoting a statement from Hall that "no one was misled, and anyone who says otherwise was mistaken." That statement was in response to coverage of the documents released by the Bozeman court.

"It is unacceptable and actionable for Rep. Gianforte, Mr. Hall, or any other persons working for or affiliated with Rep. Gianforte or his campaign to make false and defamatory statements about the May 24 assault," Genth wrote.

The letter was sent to Bill Mercer of Holland and Hart, the Billings law firm that represented Gianforte in the assault case. Mercer and Hall were contacted for comment and to confirm they have received the letter, but did not otherwise respond.

Gianforte has announced he will run to keep his seat in Congress in 2018. Six Democrats have announced they will run in the primary for that race.

In 2016, when Gianforte was running for governor, he sent cease-and-desist letters to television stations around the state saying they broadcast false advertising that claimed he is a "millionaire from New Jersey."

The letter said Gianforte had lived in Montana two decades. It also disputed the ad's claim that "Gianforte sued to eliminate a popular access spot."
Nothing kicks off spring in Big Sky country like a road trip to eastern Montana. Back in the day  before marriage and kids  I wouldnt think of missing a Miles City Bucking Horse Sale. Nowadays, during the third full weekend of May, instead of waking up and having bacon and eggs at the Range Riders Breakfast or enjoying a cheeseburger grilled to perfection at the Kiwanis BBQ in Riverside Park, I find myself on the sidelines of a soccer field in Bozeman, Helena or some other southwestern Montana town, cheering on my middle schoolers and wishing I was raising a glass while trailing Custer & the Seventh Calvary Drum and Bugle Corps as it winds its way through downtown Miles City.
Last summer we learned that outdoor recreation in Montana accounts for $7 billion in consumer spending, supports 70,000 jobs and generates $286 million in state and local taxes. Outdoor recreation is now far and above the biggest sector of Montanas economy. That sector depends on public lands, especially those managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

We learned these numbers while Montana was experiencing one of its most devastating fire seasons in recent memory, threatening our communities and the outdoor recreation economy those communities depend on. Summer season business in Seeley Lake, for instance, came to an abrupt standstill soon after the Rice Ridge Fire erupted in late July. The most profitable time of year turned into a bust.

The supreme role that outdoor recreation plays in our economy and the increasing severity of our fire season underscore the need for smart forest reform legislation that enables the Forest Service to foster jobs and protect communities from wildfire.

The most urgent need is fixing how the Forest Service funds firefighting, because the current method is bankrupting the agency. Currently, the agency spends more than half its budget on fighting fires, having to plunder non-fire funds to pay the costs. This leaves the agency unable to conduct forest restoration projects that protects communities along the urban-wildland interface and unable to maintain campgrounds, trails and other outdoor infrastructure.

The fix for this funding crisis is the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (S. 1842), which would grant land managers access to federal disaster funding instead of having to rob non-fire related forest management funds. This bill has bipartisan support, including from U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, and could easily pass before the next fire season.

A second critical step is properly funding the Forest Service. For years, Congress has stripped the agencys budget to the bone. Following a tough fire year, President Trump proposed cutting the Forest Services budget by 16 percent, including a staggering 84 percent cut to trail funding and 56 percent cut to road maintenance. These cuts would break the agencys back and make it impossible for it to conduct even its most basic functions.

Finally, Congress needs to reauthorize the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. This program empowers collaborative efforts across Montana, including the Southwestern Crown Collaborative, which has created over 150 jobs, secured over $50 million in investments, reduced fire risk near communities, and restored tens of thousands of acres of forests.

Instead of supporting these common-sense solutions, U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines are pushing unreasonable bills to rewrite national forest management from the top-down. Gianforte has signed on to a bill (HR 2936) written by a congressman from Arkansas that would eliminate public input and environmental review on projects of up to 46 square miles. The Senate is attempting to negotiate a slightly more realistic bill, but the leading proposal there (S. 2068) would still curtail public input while requiring the Forest Service to double timber production, regardless of funding or market conditions.

Given the current political gridlock, the outlook for bipartisan agreement on a complete rewrite of national forest management is dim. That means another year of no action to reduce fire risk or address the crisis in fire funding that threatens our outdoor economy and thousands of Montana jobs.

Daines and Gianforte have repeatedly blamed environmental extremists for our states wildfires. Scapegoating and divisive rhetoric wont improve the health of our forests, reduce the severity of our wildfires, make our communities safer, or bolster our outdoor economy.

What will help are realistic solutions and real leadership to address the issues facing our forests. Anything less is selling the people of Montana, and our forests, short.
We greatly appreciate Perry Backus (Nov. 19) article about the Flathead National Forests failure to annually inspect stream-bearing culverts in its logging roads so they dont blow out and dump sediment into bull trout streams. Forest Supervisor Chip Weber, however, makes a false claim in the article: "Weber said the Flathead National Forest has been proactive in its restoration efforts, which is reflected in the fact that there are no impaired watersheds on the forest."

In fact there are quite a few watersheds on the Flathead listed by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality as "impaired." Among them and relative to bull trout are Big Creek, Coal Creek, Jim Creek, Goat Creek and Swan Lake  and they are impaired in part by logging and/or logging roads. Other watersheds important to aquatic life, like Sheppard and Logan creeks, are similarly impaired.

Had the Flathead National Forest and logging companies like Plum Creek been proactive, these watersheds wouldnt have needed to be listed as "impaired" in the first place. The Flathead fortunately does have remaining strongholds of bull trout, largely because significant portions of the Flathead have remained roadless, unlogged and protected as wilderness.

This isnt the first time weve had to put the Flathead on notice that it isnt following its promises. As reported in the Missoulian on Nov. 24, 1999, we had to challenge the Flatheads attempts to ignore its own forest plan requirement that culverts be removed from decommissioned roads. According to Flathead spokesman Allen Rowley, we talked it over with our attorney and we decided they (conservation groups) were right.

If you want to read up on how the Flathead has failed to abide by its road management rules and see photos of some of the damage, simply search online for Swan View Coalitions Roads to Ruin report.
Whats the one major drainage basin in Montana that remains free from any sign of invasive zebra and quagga mussels? Whats the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi? Wheres the one place in Montana where Republicans and Democrats have worked together to preserve the environment for nearly 40 years? And finally, whats the long-standing organization that has led the way to protect these Montana treasures?

The answers to the questions above are, in order: The Columbia River Basin, Flathead Lake, the Flathead drainage basin, and the Flathead Basin Commission. So why would Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and John Tubbs, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, want to defund the work of the Flathead Basin Commission?

Yet, thats just what they did in the recently concluded special legislative session  and theyve kicked up a hornets nest of anger while showing their disregard for protecting one of the states most outstanding natural treasures.

The Flathead Basin Commission was established as an independent commission by law in 1983. It is attached to the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for administrative purposes only. Its funding is about $150,000 a year  which pays for one full-time position, which generates about a half million dollars a year through grants, and the travel expenses for the other 23 members.

The commission has an outstanding track record of achievement and is not just another advisory committee. Its an independent body not only capable of independent action, but with a long history of doing so.

When Canadians wanted to mine coal that would have severely diminished the water quality of the North Fork of the Flathead, it was the commission that worked with the International Joint Commission to stop the mines and avoid the cross-boundary pollution. As Montanas former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said in a recent interview: We couldnt have done it without the Flathead Basin Commission.

Only two years after it was established, the commission weighed in to support a phosphate detergent ban authorized by the 1985 Legislature in a bill sponsored by Whitefish legislator Ben Cohen. They fought Proctor and Gamble, who sent hordes of lobbyists to the Capitol to kill the bill and, failing there, to the Flathead County Commission to kill the implementation.

Fighting mega-corporate giants like Proctor and Gable is no easy task, but while the detergent company blathered on about ring around the collar the Democrats, Republicans and citizens of the Flathead were much more worried about ring around the lake  and against all odds they won. That lasting legacy helps keep Flathead Lake clean to this day and will do so into the future.

Theres speculation that Bullock gutted the commissions budget because its members were highly critical of the states slow response after invasive mussels were detected in Tiber Reservoir, which is just over the divide from Flathead Lake. That the Commission worked with the Blackfeet Nation to set up their own inspection stations  and immediately found and stopped numerous contaminated boats  gives credence to their claims. But it made the Bullock administration look bad, hence the fiscal blowback because Governor Bullock doesnt like being criticized.

But really, this is as dumb a move as anyone could ever make if preserving the Flathead Basins pristine water quality is important  which it is. The governor has the ability to move funds around on an emergency basis and even has an Environmental Contingency Fund he can tap. Its time to stop Bullocks petty political vendetta and fund the important work of the Flathead Basin Commission.
TWO ASSAULTS

Police arrested Emil Longneck, 58, of Butte, for a misdemeanor charge of sexual assault, and Anthony Davis, 46, of Butte, for a misdemeanor charge of simple assault in the 900 block of Lewisohn Street between 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Saturday. Longneck allegedly groped a female in the chest area in a bathroom. Davis allegedly grabbed Longneck and threw him out of the house.

SIMPLE ASSAULT

Police arrested Tangee Jessen, 46, of Butte, for simple assault, a misdemeanor, at St. James Healthcare, 400 S. Clark St., at 5 p.m. Friday. Medical professionals were attending to Jessen when she allegedly struck both a nurse and a security guard.

DANGEROUS DRUGS

Police arrested Zane Werner, 34, of Butte, at the Town Pump, 531 S. Montana Street, at 5 p.m. Sunday on a felony charge of possession of dangerous drugs, a felony criminal contempt warrant, and two misdemeanor charges: resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said they noticed Werner gaming and that there was a warrant out for his arrest. When police attempted to arrest him, Werner resisted and swallowed drugs, according to the report. Police found drug paraphernalia and a small bag of methamphetamine in his possession, police said.

DUI REFUSAL

Police allegedly found Robin Phillips, 64, of Butte, parked in the middle of the road at Buffalo and Montana asleep at the wheel at 2 p.m. Friday. Police arrested Phillips for DUI refusal, a misdemeanor, because she allegedly refused a Breathalyzer test.

OUTSTANDING WARRANTS

Police arrested the following people:

Martin Houle, 39, of Butte, during a traffic stop in the 1300 block of East Second Street at 6:40 p.m. Friday for one outstanding felony warrant out of Cascade County, and three misdemeanors: driving on a suspended license, no liability insurance and failure to transfer plates.

Felicia Henderson-Wilks, 45, no address, in the 2500 block of Harrison Avenue at 4 p.m. Sunday for five misdemeanor charges: driving with plates assigned to another vehicle, an outstanding warrant from Yellowstone County, driving with a suspended license and no liability insurance.

Jazzmin Block, 22, of Butte, at 2:30 a.m. Saturday at Town Pump, 531 S. Montana St., for three outstanding misdemeanor warrants from Butte City Court.

Carlos Martinez, 29, of Butte, in the 700 block of Front Street at about 10 p.m. Sunday for three outstanding misdemeanor criminal contempt warrants.

Nathan Kolberg, 32, of Port Orchard, Washington, at 12:30 a.m. Monday at Walmart, 3901 Harrison Avenue, for one outstanding misdemeanor criminal contempt warrant. While police were patrolling the parking lot, Kolberg allegedly ducked his head while sitting in his vehicle.

Toni Baker, 37, of Butte, in the 200 block of West Park Street at about 5:30 a.m. Monday for two outstanding charges of criminal contempt. Police were called to the area because Baker was screaming and yelling at the top of a stairway.
In line with increasing rates of drug and alcohol abuse, sober living houses are picking up steam in Billings, with five new homes opening up in the past year alone.

Sober living houses are transitional homes where people fighting addiction can live communally, often with supportive programming. Theyre designed for temporary stays, anywhere from six to 18 months, before people live independently. Many entering sober living have recently completed residential treatment or a pre-release program.

Theres often a waitlist for the homes, as demand has increased in recent years, along with drug- and alcohol-related crimes. Felony drug possession charges in Yellowstone County went from 198 in 2012 to 546 in 2016. One in 10 Montanans abuses alcohol or drugs, according to a recent report by the attorney generals office, which calls the states growing substance abuse problem an epidemic.

In Billings, some form of sober living has existed as early as 1986, when Clapham House, a sober home for men leaving prison, opened. Rimrock opened its first of two homes in 2004, and private organizations have followed the trend, with Ignatias House opening four homes in the past year, and Community Support Project opening its first in the past few months.

Coralee Goni, who manages sober living at Rimrock Foundation, said she knows of more groups working to open houses in Billings.

There are so few options out there, and sober living houses fill up so fast, Goni said.

The sober housing shortage is worse for women, she said. At Hannahs House, a womens sober living home run by South Side nonprofit CLDI, 78 women applied last year for just four openings. The program at Hannah House is geared toward women working to reunite with their children. Children can live at the home with their mothers as long as a state social worker approves.

Billings has at least 114 beds in 16 sober living homes spread throughout Billings, many on the South Side.

House rules

The houses all operate differently. Some have a Christian focus and some do not. Some have unpaid, live-in managers  and sometimes those managers spouses and children stay with them  while others are staffed with paid house directors who do not live on-site.

All have strict rules for residents, which usually include a nightly curfew and requirements that residents obtain jobs and attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Its not just a get-out-of prison house or a flophouse or a place to lay your head, said Richard Todd, who runs Ignatias House.

Rachel Leslie, who manages Hannah House, said the women who live there typically havent had much structure in their lives and so programming and rules are necessary. The house connects women with legal, educational and job search services, and mandates a weekly house meeting, meal and Bible study.

Because the homes are structured as programs and not boarding facilities, the residents do not enjoy standard tenant rights. At most of the homes, residents sign an agreement upon move-in that says house managers can search their rooms if deemed necessary, and that drug or alcohol use can result in immediate termination from the program. A standard 30-day eviction notice is not given.

But house managers say the rules are necessary to maintain a sober house, and that relapses are considered on a case-by-case basis. For instance, most house managers will meet with the person who has relapsed and try to determine whether they are able to regain their sobriety and remain in the house without compromising others sobriety.

But if someone is kicked out, it can happen in as little as a day.

Theres a real thin line between helping and enabling, and we are definitely not Ignatias House of Enabling, said program director Richard Todd.

Lack of regulation

The facilities have created problems in other cities in the U.S. In New York, for example, one sober living facility required residents to relapse in order to retain their bed. Thats because the manager of the facility received kickbacks for referring residents to a certain treatment center. Similar abuses in Florida led to 32 arrests there, the Sun-Sentinel reported in August.

In Los Angeles, neighbors complained that the houses were a public nuisance, with overcrowded homes, added noise and traffic and drug paraphernalia left in the area.

Spurred by such problems, other states have attempted to regulate the homes.

Massachusetts has regulated sober homes for a year now, and while obtaining a state certification is still optional there, no state agency or contracted organization can make referrals to non-certified sober homes in Massachusetts.

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would assign oversight of sober homes to the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

But in Montana, no such regulation or certification exists. Sober homes do not receive money from the state, and they are treated as private residences by the city, so are not subject to regulation by the Department of Public Health and Human Services as public accommodations.

One local resident, Catherine Card, is concerned about the lack of regulation and has been raising the issue at neighborhood task force meetings and with the sober homeowners themselves.

Card, a pastor, lives on the South Side near many of the homes. Her concern is that the lack of oversight could put already vulnerable people in situations where they have little recourse to address problems.

My concern is although some may be well-meaning in offering housing to people coming out of treatment or prison, the owners of these houses have the upper hand over the residents, she said.

Card is also concerned about a potential conflict of interest at the citys newest home, which is next door to Cards home.

Community Support Project LLC opened a home for men in September. Lisa and John Noteboom, co-owners of the home, are the parents of Coralee Goni, the Rimrock employee who manages sober living. Goni has no involvement in the operation.

Rimrock has referred patients whove completed treatment to the home run by Community Support Project.

But Goni says thats simply due to the shortage of sober housing in Billings, and that referrals to her parents home are no different from or more frequent than referrals to other homes.

The new wave of sober homes opening isnt about business, Goni said, but about answering a growing demand.

Different people are seeing this need and seeing an opportunity to help, Goni said.
An attorney for the reporter who was assaulted by Rep. Greg Gianforte on the eve of his election last May has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the congressman and his spokesman asking them to stop falsely saying the reporter initiated the physical attack.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is encouraging people and groups wanting to protect critical wetlands, agricultural lands and grasslands to consider enrolling their property into conservation easements.

This year, USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) plans to invest $250 million in technical and financial assistance to help private landowners, tribes, land trusts, and other groups protect these valuable lands.

The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) focuses on restoring and protecting wetlands as well as conserving productive agricultural lands and grasslands. Landowners are compensated for enrolling their land in easements.

Protecting these lands preserves Montanas heritage, natural resources and open space, said Tom Hedt, NRCS acting state conservationist in Montana. Easements are also important tools for people who are trying to improve the management of their land.

Applications for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program are taken on a continuous basis, and they are ranked and considered for funding several times per year. The next deadline is March 1, 2018.

The 2014 Farm Bill created ACEP, merging together several easement programs into one. In the past year, easements have protected nearly 102,000 acres in Montana, which is one-third of the national total.

Through ACEP wetland reserve easements, NRCS helps landowners and tribes restore and protect wetland ecosystems. Wetlands are one of natures most productive ecosystems providing many ecological, societal and economic benefits.

Seventy-five percent of the nation's wetlands are situated on private and tribal lands, Hedt said. Wetlands provide many benefits, including critical habitat for a wide array of wildlife species. They also store floodwaters, clean and recharge groundwater, sequester carbon, trap sediment, and filter pollutants for clean water.

Wetland conservation easements are either permanent or for 30 years. Eligible lands include farmed or converted wetlands that can successfully be restored, croplands or grasslands subject to flooding, and riparian areas that link protected wetland areas. As part of the easement, NRCS and the landowner work together to develop a plan for the restoration and maintenance of the wetland.

Through ACEP agricultural land easements, NRCS provides funds to conservation partners to purchase conservation easements on private working lands. This program helps keep working lands working, especially in areas experiencing development pressure.

In Montana, agricultural land easements are also a large part of the NRCS strategy for addressing threats to sage grouse, especially in areas at high risk of cropland conversion or exurban development. Montana NRCS, landowners, and land trust partners collaborated in 2017 to bring an unprecedented number of applications to the table. NRCS has received approval on nearly 92,000 acres of easements in sage-grouse habitat totaling around $22 million.

Partners include state or local agencies, non-profits and tribes. Landowners continue to own their property but voluntarily enter into a legal agreement with a cooperating entity to purchase an easement. The cooperating entity applies for matching funds from NRCS for the purchase of an easement from the landowner, permanently protecting its agricultural use and conservation values. Landowners do not apply directly to NRCS for funding under this program.

Easements are permanent. Eligible lands include privately owned cropland, rangeland, grassland, pastureland, and forestlands.

Landowners and tribes interested in wetland reserve easements and partners interested in agricultural easements should contact the Ravalli County USDA service center at 363-1444.
On November 12 and 13, the fourth of five Youth Days Conferences was held in Helena. For the second consecutive year this site experienced record student participation with numbers upward of 270. Twenty-Nine different schools from 17 different districts were represented at this student leadership assembly.

Students had the opportunity to work with national speaker Oscar McBride from California, standout educator and wellness strategist Bruce Colton, Jamie Williamson and Megan Hill along with their Special Olympics Youth Activation Committee, a team of students from Colstrip, and hundreds of their peers from around the region.

I have the honor of being the MBI -- Montana Behavioral Initiative -- consultant for the Butte School District. The district is in its fourth year of a climate grant (also referred to as the SOARS grant) which focuses on both behavioral and academic supports for students. Under the leadership of Jim ONeill, Butte schools continue to expand those supports and speak the MBI language. We proponents of the MBI process believe that student voice is a critical component of a positive school climate, and that MBI Youth Days is one platform for that voice, as well as a place to develop and refine leadership skills. Thanks to Mr. ONeill, Judy Jonart, and the School Board, the Butte schools were approved to attend this years Helena Youth Days.

My involvement with Youth Days spans over a period of 11 years. For six of those years I brought students from my middle school in Bozeman, and for the last five years I have been the facilitator for the conference throughout the state. In all of my time being involved with MBI Youth Days (approaching 40 different conferences), I have never been more impressed with a district than I was recently with Butte. Fifty-five Butte students attended, representing all nine public schools. Students took the opportunity to network with other schools, present a brief showcase about the positive things that are going on at their schools, speak about Helena service learning, and share action planning. I would describe their overall performance as exemplary! They were all very respectful, attentive, participatory, poised and confident. I was so very proud of how they represented their schools, district, community and themselves. What a delight to watch them soar!

Please believe me when I tell you that this group of young people genuinely renew my faith in humanity. They are now charged with continuing to contribute to the positive climate of their schools, to engage in a community project, and to continue to cultivate their leadership abilities.

Again, I would like to especially thank Mr. Jim ONeill for promoting Buttes involvement in Youth Days, giving up his Sunday to chaperone the students, being away from his office on Monday, and bringing six other outstanding staff members who made the same sacrifices. Those staff members include: Jennifer Luoma, Keith Miller, Brenda Miner (all part of the administrative team) Tony Hoffman, Chris Kebe, and Kerry Weigle. It is such a pleasure to work with all of you! Your student behavior and participation is reflective of your quality leadership and the work that all of your fellow staff members do so very well.

On behalf of the Office of Public Instruction, the MBI division, Virg Hale, Kelley Brown, Pam Cambell, Leslie Jorgenson and the entire Youth Day staff, Thank You!

-- Joe Moriarty, Bozeman, is a consultant for the Montana Behavioral Initiative.
The First Amendment recognizes and guarantees the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. That certainly was the purpose behind the recent Restore Our Creek rally in Butte. Buttes citizens assuredly have a lot to petition for redress regarding the Superfund cleanup.

Recent developments show the ineptitude of EPAs and MDEQs remediation efforts: MDEQ is slowing down the cleanup of the Clark Fork because it is running out of money; MDEQ is running out of money for the cleanup of the Montana Pole Plant and may not be able to operate the water treatment plant for as long as is needed; EPA has utterly failed to properly characterize the contamination in Anaconda even after decades. EPA and MDEQ dawdle and dissemble over removing the tailings from Silver Bow Creek. Pervasive secrecy still shrouds EPA cleanup negotiations with the responsible parties. Westside Priority Soils has languished for years and EPA doesnt even know the boundary for the site. The list goes on and on. EPA and MDEQ had at best only a token presence at the Restore Our Creek rally and no high level decision makers were present. All we hear from the agencies is that Butte citizens should persevere and keep up the good work. It is time to see food on our plate.

While it would be nice if government did the right thing automatically, it doesnt work that way. Citizens must constantly hold government accountable. It is a duty of citizens to be involved in politics and government. Such involvement is needed now more than ever and the Restore Our Creek coalition and the other groups and individuals working for a real cleanup cant do it alone. Citizens have a right to feel weary; this incompetent and inept approach to cleanup has been going on for too long.

As long as the toxic waste in Butte remains unremediated, that waste is a clear and present threat to the public health of Butte and surrounding communities. (Just look at Anaconda.) As long as the toxic waste in Butte remains unremediated, economic development will be chimerical and elusive. The preferred remedy of cap, fence and declare off limits need not be tolerated. The good words uttered at the Restore Our Creek rally must produce citizen action by all of us. Be great in act, as you have been in thought  Suit the action to the word and the word to the action. (Shakespeare)

What is to be done?

1. Support groups working for a real cleanup. As great as they are, they cant do it alone.

2. Apply positive pressure to elected government officials on a local, state and national level. Local government needs to be a proactive and forceful force for a good cleanup. It was heartening that Chief Executive Palmer committed the local government to support the efforts of Restore Our Creek but action is needed. Contact your representative on the Council of Commissioners. Dont forget state government. Contact our local senators and representatives, in person if possible, and demand that they make sure MDEQ lives up to its obligation under the Montana Constitution to provide citizens with a clean and healthy natural environment. Federally, we have two senators and one representative. Senator Tester has been an active proponent of a good cleanup. Senator Daines has verbally expressed his support. Ask them to act to pressure EPA. Agencies are more likely to respond to elected officials who control their budget than they are to ordinary citizens. We need to get our representatives to act with persistent pressure.

3. This will be controversial  Perhaps we need to start considering litigation. When agencies are impervious to citizen comment, litigation will get them to pay attention and has been effective. If agencies did the right thing, litigation would be unnecessary but the agencies are not doing right by Butte and dont seem willing to change. Litigation is the last resort of the exasperated and we are exasperated. Just a thought.

We all need to follow through on the good thoughts and words presented at the Restore Our Creek rally. "Our grand business is to do what lies clearly at hand. (Carlyle)

-- John W. Ray, Ph.D, teaches classes in political science and public policy at Montana Tech. He is chairperson of Citizens for Labor and Environmental Justice in Butte and is a board member of the Citizens Technical Environmental Committee also in Butte. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of Montana Tech, CTEC or Citizens for Labor and Environmental Justice.
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Public meetings

Monday, Nov 27

Wilton City Council meeting, Wilton City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27, at Wilton City Hall, 104 E 4th St., Wilton..

Friday, Dec 01

Muscatine County Board of Adjustment, The Muscatine County Board of Adjustment will conduct a public hearing at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 1, in the Board of Supervisors Office in the Muscatine County Administration Building, 414 E. 3rd St., Muscatine.

Monday, Dec 11

Morning Sun School Board meeting, The Morning Sun School Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11, in the school library, 311 E Division St, Morning Sun.

Conesville City Council meeting, The Conesville City Council meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11, at Conesville City Hall, 102 3rd St., Conesville.

Rockridge School Board meeting, Rockridge School Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11, at Rockridge High School, 14110 134th Ave. W., Taylor Ridge, Illinois.

Muscatine School Board meeting, The Muscatine School Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11, at Muscatine City Hall, 215 Sycamore St., Muscatine.
NBC News fired "Today" show host Matt Lauer for what it said Wednesday was "inappropriate sexual behavior" with a colleague, making him perhaps the most familiar figure in America brought down so far by the misconduct accusations that have swept through Hollywood and the media over the past two months.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Following two allegations of sexual harassment against him, actor Jeffrey Tambor says he doesn't see how he can return to the Amazon series "Transparent."

In an ambiguous statement Sunday that heavily implies, though doesn't confirm, an imminent departure from the Emmy-winning series, Tambor referenced what he calls a "politicized atmosphere" that has afflicted the set. He said that this is "no longer the job I signed up for four years ago."

Two women have come forward over the past few weeks to accuse Tambor of sexual harassment, including "Transparent" actress Trace Lysette and his former assistant, who Tambor said was disgruntled.

"I've already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue," Tambor said Sunday.

He has repeatedly denied the allegations made against him, which are both under investigation by Amazon Studios. Representatives for Amazon did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Tambor has won two Emmys for portraying Maura Pfefferman in the highly regarded show, which is now in its fourth season. The allegations made against Tambor have put its future in jeopardy.
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 []
OLE Health made a rare move  it returned a $1 million donation.

Napa County gave the money in October 2016. Officials with the nonprofit asked for the county to contribute to its $15 million fundraising drive for a $30 million health care campus. The remaining $15 million would come from a federal loan program.

That 30,000-square-foot health center is under construction on Hartle Court near South Napa Marketplace. But its being built without the countys gift.

At the Napa Valley Registers request, the county released a July 18 letter from OLE Healths then-Chief Executive Officer Tanir Ami saying the donation was no longer needed. OLE Health had exceeded its fundraising goal.

Please find a check for $1 million enclosed, Ami wrote to the county.

OLE Health spokesman Fernando Diaz said another factor was also involved in the donation return.

OLE Health sought a $15 million loan for the health campus under the federal New Market Tax Credits program. Among other incentives, the borrower receives approximately 25 percent loan forgiveness after seven years.

We wanted to take advantage of that, because of the favorable incentives, Diaz said. We had to move quickly because of their deadline.

Napa County government, like all counties, is subject to state prevailing wage laws for construction projects. Diaz said OLE Health would have had to spend the county donation using prevailing wages. OLE Health was uncertain how this would affect the projects cost and timeline for the tax credits.

In June, OLE Heaths Board of Directors decided that returning the money would be in the best interests of the other donors and the projects timeline, he said.

Danny Bernardini of Napa Solano Building Trades Council said the group brought the prevailing wage issue up with OLE Health earlier this year. He said he thinks OLE Health should have kept the countys money and paid the prevailing wage.

Its whats right for working people, he said. Why would anyone pay an employee less than whats considered a living wage?

Diaz said Ledcor Construction  which has a Napa County branchis the project manager. Forty percent of the projects construction contracts are to local companies.

We went into the project with a commitment to hire local, Diaz said.

The California Department of Industrial Relations says the prevailing wage law ensures that companies bidding for public works contracts dont win by paying lower wages than competitors. The department figures out the prevailing wage for the various crafts and classifications of workers.

Critics say the prevailing wage law adds costs to public projects at taxpayers expense. Supporters say it guarantees labor workers receive fair compensation. The law doesnt apply to private development paid for with private money.

Diaz said the health care building should be completed in about a year-and-a-half.

Its on schedule; were on budget, he said. Everything is working out pretty nicely.

Even though OLE Health returned the countys $1 million, the donation may have served a purpose.

OLE Health officials in October 2016 told the Board of Supervisors that a $1 million county donation would help attract more fundraising dollars. At the time, the nonprofit had only about $4 million toward its $15 million target.

Diaz recently said that the countys donation achieved this goal. It helped show OLE Health had a bigger force behind it, a coalition of different people headed toward the same goal of community health.

Napa County took the $1 million out of its Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement money that it receives annually from a lawsuit settlement involving 46 states and the tobacco industry.

Each year, the county hands out about $1.1 million annually in grants to nonprofit groups from the fund. It also saves $8 million as a hedge against the day the annual settlement money is reduced. The $1 million OLE Health donation came from these savings and, when returned, went back to these savings.

Were still committed to OLE Health and all that they do, county Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht said on Tuesday. Well figure out ways of supporting OLE Health in the future.

OLE Healths $30 million, three-story medical building is to have 22 exam rooms, nine dental chairs, a vision center, an in-house pharmacy, a laboratory, triage space, five classrooms and an outdoor patio overlooking wetlands.
It should be evident by now that the Capitols sexual harassment issue isnt going to fade away.

In the past, accusations of harassment by a political figure either were covered up or attracted only momentary public and media attention. But those days are over.

An open letter signed by dozens, and then hundreds, of women working in and around the Capitol, declaring that they would no longer countenance the communitys pervasive harassment and its tolerance has radically changed the atmosphere.

It generated exposure of past cases, such as one involving Democratic state Sen. Raul Bocanegra when he was a Capitol staffer, and encouraged more women to come forth with specific complaints.

The latest, revealed by the Sacramento Bee, involves Democratic state Sen. Tony Mendoza and allegations by a 23-year-old legislative aide of his efforts to have a relationship with her. The allegations included inviting her to meet him at the Sacramento-area house he shared with Kevin de Leon, the president pro tem of the Senate during the three or four days each week the Legislature is in session.

And to demonstrate that its not a partisan issue, the Assembly has reportedly hired a law firm to investigate harassment allegations against Republican Assemblyman Devon Mathis, including one from a former staff member who cited instances of witnessing poor behavior in his resignation letter. Mathis has denied the allegations.

The Visalia Times-Delta reported that emails from attorney Jennifer Shaw, founder of Shaw Law Group, to possible witnesses confirmed that she had been retained. Shaw also investigated the Bocanegra case for the Assembly.

The allegations have already drained support for Mathis in Tulare County as he runs for re-election next year. Last week, the countys GOP central committee demanded that he resign.

The Assembly appears to have been more willing for years to bring in independent investigators, since the Bocanegra case is nine years old. The Senate, however, has persisted in handling harassment allegations internally, as the Mendoza case illustrates  but that case also has brought about belated change.

Startlingly, de Leon professed ignorance both about Mendozas alleged behavior and the Senate Rules Committee investigation into the allegations against him  even though de Leon chairs that committee.

When the news broke, de Leons spokesman, Jonathan Underland, said, He was shocked and troubled by the new allegations over the weekend.

De Leon quickly moved out of the house and said that hitherto, investigations of sexual harassment allegations would be done by an outside law firm.

This state Senate is a sacred place of public service and it must also be a safe place for everyone who works here, de Leon said in a statement. The people who work here and the public we serve must have complete confidence that no public official is above the law or our strict zero-tolerance harassment policies. Those who violate these policies will be held to account  swiftly and justly.

Too little too late?

While the incidents being cited are not partisan, Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, so their leaders bear the onus for dealing with the situation. The Assembly appears to have been doing it correctly while the Senate, under de Leon and his predecessors, dragged its feet.

De Leon is especially vulnerable to criticism because hes running uphill for the U.S. Senate and trying to unseat a woman of his own party, Dianne Feinstein. The Feinstein camp is already hanging the issue around de Leons neck, and it could strangle his ambitions.
Michael Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump's national security adviser for just 24 days before being cut loose, may be the key figure to unraveling the entire Russia scandal. If that's true, the president just got some very, very bad news in the form of a New York Times report:

Lawyers for Flynn notified the president's legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel's investigation, according to four people involved in the case - an indication that Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal.

Flynn's lawyers had been sharing information with Trump's lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is examining whether anyone around Trump was involved in Russian efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

That agreement has been terminated, the four people said. Defense lawyers frequently share information during investigations, but they must stop when doing so would pose a conflict of interest. It is unethical for lawyers to work together when one client is cooperating with prosecutors and another is still under investigation.

We should be clear that this news is not definitive proof that Flynn is cooperating with Mueller. It may mean only that he is in the process of negotiating a deal to avoid prosecution, and that deal might or might not involve giving information on other figures in the investigation. But if Flynn is indeed cooperating, Trump is in big trouble.

That's because if Flynn is cooperating, it can only be because he has information to offer Mueller on someone more important than himself. That's how it works. And who is more important than Flynn? Only a very small number of people. Among those implicated in this whole affair, that group may consist of Jared Kushner and Trump, and that's about it.

Which means we may be getting closer to answering a question I've been asking for a long time: Why was President Trump so intensely focused on protecting Michael Flynn?

You'll recall that Flynn was supposedly fired because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign and the transition, claiming he had only exchanged pleasantries with them when in fact they had discussed substantive policy matters, something Pence then repeated to the media. This was always an odd explanation for the firing. Even more odd was the fact that immediately, Trump began telling anyone who would listen what a great guy Michael Flynn is and how unfair the whole mess was to him.

Given that Trump is not known for being loyal to those who work for him, that was rather curious. Donald Trump looks out for Donald Trump, and if you become a liability to him, he'll very quickly start acting as though he barely knew you. Now consider what Trump proceeded to do with regard to Flynn:

The day after Flynn resigned, Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to stop investigating the former national security adviser. "I hope you can let this go," Comey reported Trump saying in a memo he wrote immediately after their meeting.

Trump asked Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats to intervene with Comey to get him to back off his investigation of Flynn.

Unlike with previous aides who have displeased him, after he fired Flynn, Trump made a very public show of praising him to the media.

Months after Flynn was fired and as the investigation was accelerating, Trump kept in contact with Flynn. "I just got a message from the president to stay strong," Flynn told friends at a dinner in April.

In May, Trump scolded his staff for criticizing Flynn to the media and had his spokesmen issue statements lavishly praising Flynn.

It's almost as though Trump wanted to make sure Flynn didn't turn on him.

But if Flynn is turning on Trump, it's because he is in a whole lot of legal trouble, probably more than anyone involved in this scandal with the exception of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Let's remember that shortly after the Trump administration began, acting attorney general Sally Yates went to the White House and informed officials that Flynn had lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials (which they knew because they were monitoring the Russian ambassador's communications) and that because of those lies, he was susceptible to blackmail. For some reason, Flynn spent 18 more days in the White House before being fired.

By taking a large fee from Russia for giving a speech in late 2015, Flynn appears to have violated a law that requires retired generals getting such payments to receive prior approval. He also was hiding the fact that he was paid more than half a million dollars by allies of the Turkish government to promote Turkey's interests while advising the Trump campaign (he later registered retroactively as an agent of a foreign government; failing to register is a felony). He failed to include payments from Russia on his financial disclosure forms and may have lied about it to investigators. During the transition, he managed to delay a military operation against the Islamic State that Turkey objected to while he was secretly receiving those Turkish payments, a story that has gotten strangely little attention. He was even reportedly involved in planning for a bizarre plot to kidnap the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen in Pennsylvania and return him to Turkey, for which Flynn and his son were allegedly to be paid $15 million.

In short, Flynn appears to have violated multiple laws in multiple ways and could be looking at the possibility of serious time behind bars. He may have information Mueller could use in a case against Kushner, Trump or others, relating to multiple strands of the investigation. He may know things about the campaign's relationship with the Russian government or about an obstruction of justice case related to Comey's firing. Don't forget that Trump admitted on national television that he fired Comey to shut down the Russia investigation, then shortly thereafter told the Russian foreign minister and ambassador that with his firing of Comey, "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

Here's what we should watch for now: If the White House suddenly changes how it talks about Flynn, disparaging him instead of saying what an admirable fellow he is, that'll be a good indication of a change in Trump's feelings. And it looks as though he has a lot to be nervous about.
A gunman on a rampage. A shootout with police. Multiple deaths. A stunned and grief-stricken country. A community asking, How could this happen?

This has become an all-too-familiar occurrence.

However, in Tehama County, where tragedy struck this month, the warning signs were there: A person struggling with mental illness, described as unhinged. Repeated run-ins with law enforcement. A restraining order.

We have seen where the media narrative will take us now. Mental health experts will contradict the headlines, citing studies that most people with mental illness are not dangerous. Others will focus on the pervasiveness of guns in society, demanding stricter background checks for those with mental illnesses. The debate will devolve, and solutions will become even more elusive.

Maybe we are all just missing the real point: Our treatment system abandons people like Kevin Neal.

He was a man beset by delusions, well known to first responders, and frequently involved with the criminal justice system. If, despite his actions and obvious illness, he could not get appropriate psychiatric care, what hope does anyone with a serious mental illness have?

According to the gunmans sister, Neal had suffered from delusions for decades. Deputies labeled him not law enforcement-friendly after repeated encounters. On more than one occasion, they even placed his home under surveillance.

Still, he slipped through the cracks.

If only Kevin Neals experience was unique. As we know, it is not.

Towns and cities across California are besieged with chronically homeless men and women. It is clear to anyone that many of them are desperately in need of psychiatric care, but they are unable to access appropriate treatment. So they waste away.

Meanwhile, people with mental illness have overrun emergency rooms  facilities equipped only to respond to immediate crisis, not long-term need  and jails, which have become the new asylums, an awful last refuge for those the system has no other place for.

Californias treatment system must become serious about prioritizing care for people with severe mental illness, both at the point of crisis and throughout their lives.

Legislative proposals to divert those with mental illness into treatment after arrest are gaining traction. Similarly, initiatives that incorporate sound mental health practices and coordinate responses across the mental health and criminal justice systems are poised to help break down the silos that too often characterize the current process of care. There is real recognition that we must reduce the unnecessary criminalization of the mentally ill.

The irony, however, is that Tehama County already had a tool at its disposal to provide people like Kevin Neal with treatment; it just didnt use it.

In California, Lauras Law, which was borne out of another senseless tragedy, has helped counties successfully care for the most severely ill in the community. The program, known nationally as assisted outpatient treatment, specifically focuses on individuals who repeatedly cycle in and out of the system because of their mental illnesses.

Nineteen California counties have successfully adopted  or are in the process of adopting  some form of Lauras Law, including small, rural counties.

Yolo County reported a 50 percent reduction in police calls involving individuals in the treated program, and a 90 percent reduction in the time spent homeless. Nevada County saw similar drops in incarceration, hospitalization and homelessness, and significant cost savings.

Larger communities have also recognized the benefits of assisted outpatient treatment. At his state of the city speech this year, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee highlighted the program, explaining, Lauras Law works.

Orange County, too, reported decreases in important indicators like the number of days spent homeless or incarcerated.

However, Tehama County, Sacramento County and 37 other counties, representing approximately one-third of the states population, have yet to implement lifesaving programs. County officials must not wait any longer.

We know many people are suffering in similar ways and not receiving the care they need. Whether or not they will become violent should not be our primary concern. Doing everything possible to ensure those obviously in need of care receive treatment should be.

Editors note: Napa County reports that various agencies are studying Lauras Law and will make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on whether to adopt it sometime soon.
What if truth is not an absolute thing, rather a muscle that grows weaker with neglect?

Poet and scholar Kevin Young poses that question in his timely new book, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News (Graywolf Press, 2017), a sprawling exploration into fakery, falsehoods and the hucksters who perpetrate them.

As much an expansive history lesson as a cultural critique, Youngs latest work carefully tracks the phenomenon of the hoax in the United States, from P.T. Barnums circus sideshows to the current political arena. Yet despite recent dialogue surrounding so-called fake news and alternative facts, Youngs interest in the topic actually took root long ago.

I worked with someone who kind of hoaxed us when we were in college and working together, recalls Young, Emory University Distinguished Professor, who now serves as director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and is the newly named poetry editor of the New Yorker magazine.

Like many people, I find that kind of deceit and con artistry fascinating," he says. "Just look at Hollywood, it seems like every other movie is about another con artist or neer do well."

What began as a slim meditation on a few hoaxers Ive known ended up as a deep, six-year dive into the world of deliberate deception and what drives it.

And much of that research was conducted at Emory, where a sabbatical first helped me see what the book could be, he says, adding that the university's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library provided an important home.

One of the things that helped me, and I think it is important to mention, is that I did so much research using Emorys collections, both the special collections, where I was curator, and regular collections, says Young, former curator of literary collections for the Rose Library and Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing, who taught at Emory from 2005 to 2016. "To write about hoaxes in full  is to track down the books that often contain them."

And so he did, drawing from an expansive well of iconic hoaxes that includes Barnums sideshow figures, turn-of-the-century spiritualists, racial fraud, journalistic plagiarism, made-up memoirs and outright identity theft.

I set out to track down a lot of hoaxes in as original form as possible, Young explains.

Most of the books I could find in the library, which was a big boon, he says. Libraries like Emorys and the Schomburg Center are some of the best places to start looking for good information from a multitude of sources, tracking down primary materials, which are often complicated.

Along the way, Young practiced what he preaches. His chapters are supported by a thick trove of documentation, including 69 pages of notes and a 26-page annotated bibliography.

In a post-fact world  he dubs it the Age of Euphemism  the ability to prove your point with the support of primary evidence has become more critical than ever.

Race: The most dangerous hoax of all?

Early in his research, Young had a hunch about hoaxes, suspecting they were often about race. Was it possible, he wondered, that race was the most dangerous hoax of all?

The more Young read, the more obvious it became: hoax was racisms native tongue.

Con artists may draw upon gaining your confidence, but a hoax builds upon assumptions, suspicion and stereotypes, he found. In fact, hoaxes often depended upon race to accomplish a lot of what they wanted to get done, Young contends.

He writes of how circus promoter P.T. Barnum used ethnic sideshow figures such as Joice Heth, a black women presented as the 161-year-old nursemaid of George Washington; the supposed Fiji Cannibals; and What Is It?, an African American man said to be a newly discovered missing link in evolution.

Then there was the Great Moon Hoax of 1835  newspaper reports that blazed through New York that identified lunar man-bats living on the moon. In the racial coding of the day, descriptions of the hairy humanoids sounded stereotypically black, Young notes, citing the research of Emory English professor Benjamin Reiss in his book The Showman and the Slave: Race, Death and Memory in Barnums America.

Racism is one of the more pernicious hoaxes of our time, Young explains. Its built on shaky ground to begin with  not as a biological thing, but a social one. But as a fake thing, it has life and death consequences, and so do hoaxes. Racism makes use of hoaxism, quite literally.

Studying examples throughout history, Young was less surprised by the sheer quantity of hoaxes that have permeated the American landscape as he was by how people would write entire books about hoaxes and not have a single footnote, which duplicates the problem, he asserts.

Mainly, I had a hunch that hoaxes were now more frequent and indeed, worse, Young says. Im sad to report that is entirely true.

Hoaxes: Overexposed, underexplored

Why has the American public been, as Young puts it, so willing to deceive and believe? Does it mark a profound cultural shift? Or is it just who we are as humans  both gullible and deceptive?

Its a little of both, Young says. I think that hoaxes are as old as writing, which isnt to say they werent there before writing. But I do think their flavor has changed now. In the past 20 years, the past century, the hoax has become more nefarious and tragic.

Today Young finds hoaxes are both overexposed and underexplored, coming at us faster and faster, he notes, as we move from a world of half-hoaxes to a full-time one. Todays hoaxes rely less on human nature or collective memory than cultural amnesia, Young writes.

Technology  from the faceless accessibility of the internet to impulsive tweets  makes it all the easier for us to lose our radar for truth. The thing that becomes troubling when it comes to perpetuating a hoax is that retweeting something can be just as bad as creating it, Young says.

What responsibility do we have? As soon as a hoax is revealed it can seem pretty ludicrous, which tells us something about ourselves and what we choose to believe about each other.

Maybe, truth isnt like a pure thing but a muscle you have to exercise, Young concludes. I do think there is a way of building it back up, which is what the book is about.

Released this month, Bunk has already garnered enthusiastic reviews and was recently longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Youngs next book, due out in April, is a collection of poems titled Brown, which explores different kinds of brown-ness, from James Brown to John Brown, he says.

As part of his publicity tour, Young will speak about Bunk at Emorys Rose Library on Jan. 18.
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Ruling out any possibility of entering politics, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that he is happy being a professor and it's the job he likes.

On being asked if he had an offer from the Aam Aadmi Party to join the Rajya Sabha, he said, "No comments on whether I was offered anything. When I was in the RBI, people were desperate to get me off to the IMF, when I am back as professor, people are desperate to see me elsewhere. I am very happy being a professor. I have my brain working many hours of day. It is a job I like."

On possibility to join politics, Rajan said, "The answer is no...on issue of politics my wife says very clearly no."

The AAP had approached Rajan offering him a Rajya Sabha seat from Delhi, which was reportedly rejected by the ex-RBI governor.

In a recorded interview played at the Times Litfest in New Delhi, Rajan, without disclosing much details, said he is working on another book.

This book will be "an attempt to understand better the world we live in. The issue of identity, issue of community and how it impinges on the broader process of economic integration and growth", he said.

His last book, titled 'I do what I do' was released in September, touched various aspects of the Indian economy.

He also talked about issues like tolerance and connection between political freedom and prosperity in the book, which was a collection of essays and speeches during his stint as the RBI governor.

Talking about the Goods and Services Tax, Rajan said it is good in the long run even though there are some issues.

"There is need to remove the glitches," he observed.

On the relationship between the RBI and the government, the former central bank governor said that it has been developed over the years and it is largely of mutual respect.

"Yes, there are frictions which are always there in any relationship," he said.

To a question if autonomy of the RBI as an institution compromised, he said, he is not alarmed.

The RBI functions under the government and complete independence is not possible, he said. -- PTI
An airplane of British Airways is about to land at the Heathrow Airport in London, capital of Britain. (Xinhua/Zeng Yi)

LONDON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Police in Britain will be given new powers to prevent the unsafe or criminal use of drones as part of a new package of legislation announced Sunday.

Banning drones from flying near airports or above 122 meters will also form part of the new regulations.

New drone-safety laws will help put the UK at the forefront of drone technology development, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.

New measures will also make it mandatory for drone owners to register to improve accountability. And drone operators will be required to use apps - so they can access the information needed to make sure any planned flight can be made safely and legally.

The clampdown aims to allow drone users to continue flying safely and legally, helping to place the UK at the forefront of the fast-growing drone industry. It will also pave the way for the devices to be harnessed for a range of uses by businesses and public services.

The draft Drone Bill, which will be published next spring, will give officers the right to order operators to ground drones where necessary. Officers will also be able to seize drone parts to prove it has been used to commit an offence.

The news comes as funding for a pioneering new drones program was announced to help cities shape the way drone technology operates.

Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg said: "Drones have great potential and we want to do everything possible to harness the benefits of this technology as it develops. But if we are to realise the full potential of this incredibly exciting technology, we have to take steps to stop illegal use of these devices and address safety and privacy concerns."

"These new laws strike a balance, to allow the vast majority of drone users to continue flying safely and responsibly, while also paving the way for drone technology to revolutionise businesses and public services."

Changes to the law will mean that drone users will have to sit for safety awareness tests. Users of drones weighing 250 grams and over will have to be registered, while the government is also working closely with drone manufacturers to use geo-fencing to prevent drones from entering restricted zones.

A government-funded Flying High Challenge is to launch Monday when up to five British cities will be supported in the research and development of drone technology.

The research could transform critical services in emergency health services and the transport of human organs for transplants. It could also lead to essential transport infrastructure assessment and repair, and parcel delivery and logistics.

Assistant Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said, the national police spokesperson for the criminal misuse of drones, said: "We are working with relevant partners to understand the threats this new technology can pose when used irresponsibly or illegally. If you use a drone to invade people's privacy or engage in disruptive behavior, you could face serious criminal charges."

Tim Johnson, Policy Director at the Civil Aviation Authority welcomed plans to increase drone operator training and the creation of no-fly zones.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 08:42:36|Editor: liuxin

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SYDNEY, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Scientists in Australia have successfully bred baby coral on the Great Barrier Reef, offering hope the World Heritage Site can survive in the face of increasing environmental threats.

The Southern Cross University project raises the prospect of restoring damaged coral populations.

Coral eggs and sperm were collected from Heron Island's reef during last November's coral spawning to produce more than a million larvae.

The larvae were returned to the wild and placed on to reef patches in underwater mesh tents, with 100 surviving and growing successfully.

These methods have brought similar success in the Philippines, where the use of explosives to kill schools of fish has destroyed coral.

Peter Harrison, the project's lead researcher and the man who discovered mass coral spawning in the 1980s, described the "results as very promising."

"The success of this new research not only applies to the Great Barrier Reef, but has potential global significance," Harrison told Australian Associated Press on Monday

"It may be one of the answers to some of the problems in the Great Barrier Reef. It's a glimmer of hope."

The world's largest coral reef system lies off the coast of Queensland and supports a wide diversity of marine life but in recent decades has been threatened by the effects of climate change, water pollution and commercial fishing.

The reef has already been subject to several coral bleaching episodes attributed to climate change, whereby rises in atmospheric temperatures have been followed by increased sea surface temperatures.

Seasonal flood waters bring runoff containing chemicals from mining operations, and agricultural fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides from coastal sugar cane and cattle farms.

In June this year, UNESCO expressed serious concern about the impact of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.

Anna Marsden, managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, said the results achieved by the Southern Cross team were an important step but should not deflect attention from the need to address climate change and its impact on the reef.

"There is much more to be done, but this is definitely a great leap forward for the reef, and for the restoration and repair of reefs worldwide," she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 10:08:01|Editor: liuxin

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CANBERRA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A group of Australia's most senior doctors have offered to fly to the processing center on Manus Island to treat refugees for free.

In an open letter to the Federal Government released on Monday, the 18 leading doctors, surgeons and psychiatrists expressed their concern "about the ongoing health and wellbeing of the former detainees still based on Manus Island."

The Manus Regional Processing Center was closed by the Australian government at the end of October with essential services being cut off immediately.

Hundreds of men remained in the center, however, saying they feared for their safety in alternative accommodation arranged by the Papua New Guinean government.

The men, most of who were detained on Manus when they tried to arrive in Australia by boat, survived off rainwater and small amounts of food provided by Manus Island residents.

Those that chose to remain were forcibly removed from the camp on Saturday and moved to a new camp but there has been conjecture over whether that facility is up to standard.

Signatories to the open letter included Nick Talley, editor of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry and Bastian Seidel, president of the College of General Practitioners (GPs).

"We believe that there should be an immediate, independent review of the health status of those still on Manus," they wrote.

"We are willing to conduct this review pro-bono, arranging the appropriate mix of clinical specialties."

The group called on the Federal Government to facilitate diplomatic permission for their visit.

"There are reports of poor hygiene and sanitation, limited supply of electricity and inadequate living conditions," the letter said.

"All of these exacerbate disease and ill-health."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed concerns over the situation after receiving reports that several men had been severely injured by police.

"The situation still unfolding on Manus Island presents a grave risk of further deterioration, and of further damage to extremely vulnerable human beings," UNHCR regional representative Thomas Albrecht said on Saturday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 10:13:07|Editor: liuxin

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- A bail worth more than 1 million U.S. dollars has been set for a man arrested for a deadly multi-car crash that killed four people on an interstate highway in San Francisco on the western U.S. coast, local reports said Sunday.

The 47-year-old man, identified as Fred Lowe, was arrested Saturday night by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) following a hit-and-run collision that instantly killed four people and injured six others on Interstate 80 highway in the Bay Area, north of San Francisco.

The man fled the scene before police arrived, but witnesses informed the police of the suspect vehicle, according to a spokesman for the CHP Oakland division.

The suspect man and vehicle were soon caught by police for being involved in another hit-and-run car collision at another place. He was detained and charged with drunken driving and driving on a suspended license.

His bail was set at 1.15 million dollars, the reports quoted jail officials as saying.

In California, a bail amount depends on the charge and on the jurisdiction where the charge is filed.

Typically, bail amounts of 20,000 and 50,000 dollars are often set for less serious offenses, but the most serious crimes can carry a bail of up to 1 million dollars or more.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 10:18:09|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Cold lava from Mount Agung volcano flows on the river Yeh Sah in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 27, 2017. Indonesia has raised alert for Mount Agung volcano to the highest level 4, disaster management sources said on Monday. (Xinhua/Muhammad Fauzy Chaniago)

JAKARTA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has raised alert for Mount Agung volcano to the highest level 4, disaster management sources said on Monday.

Authorities shut the main airport in Bali island after powerful eruptions on Sunday, spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Xinhua.

The level of eruption rose to magmatic stage from phreatic stage with a gigantic fires displayed during the night and its rumbling reaching 12 km from the crater, the spokesman said.

"In anticipating the risks the volcanologists have raised the alert status to the highest level," he said through text message.

Mount Agung alert status was downgraded to the second highest on Oct. 19 after the volcanologists upgraded it to the highest on Sept. 22.

The volcano erupted on Saturday with the highest height of ash spewed by up to 4 km to the sky.

Sutopo said that all villagers in the no-go zone must immediately be evacuated.

Ngurah Rai international airport has been closed since 07:00 a.m. local time Monday (2300 GMT Sunday) and evaluation will be undertaken for every 6 hours by flight authorities, secretary of air transport of the transport ministry Pramintohadi Sukarno said on Monday.

The closure was conducted after the meteorology and geophysics agency said that the airspace around the airport is within the volcano ash spread, he said.

"Ngurah Rai airport has been impacted and it is in the area of volcanic ash spread of Mount Agung. Therefore the directorate general of air transport decides to close the airport for flight safety reason," said Pramintohadi.

The center of volcanology and geological hazard mitigation (PVMBG) has also raised volcano observatory notice for aviation or VONA to the highest red level.

Over 200,000 foreign visitors visit Bali island every month, according to the national statistics bureau.

Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing 1,100 people. It is one of Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 10:33:14|Editor: Mengjie

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CANBERRA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Australia's citrus fruit industry has experienced a boom on the back of high demand from China, a recent report by Citrus Australia revealed.

Australian citrus exports for the 12 months ending in September were worth 286 million U.S. dollars, a 31-percent increase on the 12 months prior.

Export volumes also rose considerably, up 18 percent to 220,754 tonnes of fruit.

The average price per kg of Australian citrus fruit has risen from 78 U.S. cents in 2011 to 1.29 U.S. dollars in 2017.

China represented the biggest growth opportunity with 45,000 tonnes being exported to China alone, a 52-percent increase.

"The numbers into China are now off the charts," Citrus Australia chairwoman Tania Chapman told Fairfax Media on Monday.

"If we talk about China, six or seven years ago zero containers (of Australian citrus) went into the front door of China. Now we're looking down the barrel of 80,000 tonnes this season.

"There's a large number of companies in China wanting to buy the Valencias so that they can juice them."

"The industry certainly is on a high and is performing well ... Not only are we exporting record volume, but growers are actually being paid more for that produce. So that's really important for the industry."

Chapman said that the boom had been so profound that growers were now facing waiting lists of up to four years to get citrus trees from nurseries.

The Australian Security Exchange (ASX) listed Costa Group has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the boom. The company's share price has soared from 1.71 U.S. dollars when it was first listed to 4.78 U.S. dollars currently.

Costa Group owns five farms in New South Wales (NSW) with more than 1,900 hectares of citrus trees.

"An indication of growth in demand from overseas is that only a few years ago we were exporting 45 to 55 per cent of the crop. This season it will be 70 percent," Costa Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Harry Debney said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 10:58:21|Editor: Mengjie

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Nepalese Officials have identified three potential infrastructure projects to be implemented under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The projects discussed by officials on Sunday include a cross-border railway project connecting China's bordering town Kerung with Nepal's capital Kathmandu, electricity transmission line connecting Kerung with Nepal's Galchhi in Dhading district, a neighboring district of Kathmandu and the Sunsari-Marin Diversion Irrigation Project in eastern Nepal, according to a press statement of Nepal's Finance Ministry.

During a meeting of the Project Development and Facilitation Committee to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Nepal and China related to the Belt and Road Initiative, officials from ministries including finance, physical infrastructure and transport, energy, irrigation, urban development, agriculture and tourism discussed these projects.

"Although we have identified these as potential projects to be implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative, we have not finalized them yet," Yugraj Pandey, under secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Finance, told Xinhua on Sunday.

At the meeting, Finance Secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari urged officials from other ministries to submit the potential projects which are ready for implementation within the next five days.

"A consensus reached among the officials is that the Finance Ministry will propose the projects to the Chinese government based on national priority and necessity of the country," the ministry said in the statement.

Also at the meeting, Economic Advisor to Nepali Prime Minister Gyan Chandra Acharya urged the ministries to propose projects that could promote connectivity with productivity so as to reap as much as benefit from the the initiative.

A Cabinet meeting of the Nepali government on Aug. 15 also asked the Energy Ministry to seek the Chinese support to build reservoir projects and transmission lines under the initiative.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 11:43:29|Editor: Lifang

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ISLAMABAD, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Law Minister Zahid Hamid resigned late Sunday after a religion-related bill caused a prolonged sit-in protest and clashes between protestors and police forces, Pakistani official PTV reported early Monday.

"In order to restore peace in the country, I have decided to step down from my position," local media quoted the outgoing minister as reporting. It's not clear whether Prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will accept or reject his resignation.

After his resignation, the government and protestors signed an agreement to put an end to the three-week long sit-in protest which has blocked major traffic conjunction between Islamabad and its sister city of Rawalpindi, according to local reports.

The religious groups who staged the protest are also likely to make an announcement to end the protest, said Geo News.

The Pakistani government last month passed a religion-related bill which triggered strong opposition from religious community. The government later retracted the bill, but some religious groups further demanded the resignation of the law minister and staged the sit-in protest for almost three weeks.

The government took a clearance operation on Saturday after several rounds of negotiations with the protestors. However, the operation triggered more protests in major cities across the country.

Later the Pakistani Army was called out to help maintain order in Islamabad, and local reports quoted sources as saying that the final agreement between the government and protestors was brokered by the army.

Several were killed and hundreds were injured during the Saturday clearance operation in Islamabad and clashes in other cities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 12:08:32|Editor: Lifang

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MUMBAI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Indian markets opened marginally lower Monday, weighed by banks after the S&P retained its India's rating at BBB- and outlook stable.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex opened at 33,601.99, 77.25 points or 0.25 percent down compared to its previous close at 33,679.24.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 13:04:05|Editor: liuxin

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NEW DELHI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Doctors in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in a rare surgery removed iron objects including coins and needles weighing around five kg from a man's stomach, health officials said Monday.

The surgery was performed by a team of six doctors in Rewa district at state-run Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and hospital.

"Doctors here during a surgery removed a chain, 263 coins, four needles and 12 shaving blades, besides shreds of glass, weighing five kg, from stomach of a man identified as 32-year-old Mohammed Maqsood," a health official said. "The man is currently in hospital under observation."

Maqsood was hospitalised on Nov. 18 in the hospital after he complained of a stomach pain.

Doctors told media x-ray and several other tests helped them to identify the cause behind Maqsood's stomachache.

According to health officials Maqsood was being treated for the stomach pain for last six months.

"It seems the patient was not in a good frame of mind and had swallowed these objects secretly," Dr Priyank Sharma told media.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 13:09:09|Editor: liuxin

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HANOI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam Airlines plans to launch direct flights to the United States late next year, but local experts said the air route will cause big losses for the national flag carrier, local media reported on Monday.

"The direct air route (between Vietnam and the United States) will be heavily loss-making. Vietnam Airlines can endure that if its other air routes compensate for the loss," online newspaper VietNamNet quoted an aviation expert as saying.

A representative of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said that the country will not force carriers to open direct routes to the United States, and that they can drop plans if the future routes do not meet their expectations.

In 2007, the administration predicted that if Vietnam Airlines opened direct routes to the United States, it would incur losses of some 30 million U.S. dollars in the first five years of running the service, but its prestige and competitiveness would be enhanced.

As fuel prices are declining, and demand for travel and trade exchange is increasing, the potential loss will be streamlined, said local experts.

Vietnam's aviation sector served 38.3 million passengers in the first 10 months of this year, up 11.4 percent year-on-year, said Vietnam's General Statistics Office.

The sector also transported 262,100 tons of cargoes in 10 months, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, the office said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 13:24:17|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of TerraPower, has been elected as a foreign academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), one of China's top science think tanks.

He was among the 18 new foreign academicians at the institution, the CAE announced Monday.

The academy published the list of 85 newly-elected academicians on its website.

Gates is the founder and chairman of TerraPower, a leading nuclear innovation company.

The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are the country's two top think tanks that advise government and industry on key scientific and technological issues.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 13:54:25|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China should continue to upgrade the country's toilets as part of its "toilet revolution" aimed at developing domestic tourism and improving people's life quality, Chinese President Xi Jinping said.

The construction of clean toilets is an important part of pushing urban and rural civilization, and more efforts should be made in both cities and rural areas to upgrade toilets, Xi said in a recent instruction on the achievement of toilet revolution carried out in the tourism sector.

Along with toilet revolution, China should construct better public facilities and services to boost the tourism industry, Xi said.

Xi has long stressed the importance of the toilet revolution in enhancing the quality of the tourism industry. Officials are urged to make consistent efforts and take tailored measures to tackle long-standing issues and correct bad habits in tourism.

Local authorities are now more aware of the important role toilets play, believing better toilets are not only beneficial for tourism, but can also improve the environment that people work and live in, and enhance the overall level of civilization of society.

While visiting rural areas, Xi used to ask local residents about the conditions of the toilets they use, and stressed many times that clean toilets for rural residents are important for the building of a "new countryside."

China launched a toilet revolution across the country in 2015 with an aim to make such facilities cleaner and more regulated.

Toilets in the countryside and at tourist sites previously had a bad reputation.

In rural areas, some toilets were little more than makeshift shelters surrounded by bunches of cornstalks, and some were open pits next to pigsties. At tourist sites, visitors were angered by insufficient toilets, unhygienic conditions and lack of sanitation workers.

By the end of October this year, China had installed or upgraded 68,000 toilets at tourist destinations, 19.3 percent more than the target number.

The toilet revolution has been expanding gradually from tourist sites to cover the whole country, from cities to rural areas.

The country planned to install or upgrade another 64,000 toilets at tourist destinations from 2018 to 2020, according to an action plan released by the China National Tourism Administration.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 14:04:27|Editor: liuxin

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Moody's Investor Service said Monday it expects a material decline in Malaysian property prices as market valuation adjusts to reflect the lack of demand in the event of a protracted period of supply overhang.

The rating agency said in its credit outlook report, the suspending new property development will not correct the oversupply situation over the next five years, when property projects now in development enter the market.

"The increasing oversupply and the prospects of a material property price correction will continue to build as new supply enters the market and poses a risk to Malaysian banks' asset quality," it said.

The report came after the Malaysian government imposed a freeze order on Nov. 1 on new development of shopping malls, commercial complexes and condominiums priced above 1 million ringgit (242,895 U.S. dollars), to address oversupply in the property market.

Moody's also said, these developments are credit negative for Malaysian banks, and the quality of housing loans with high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios are most at risk.

According to Bank Negara Malaysia, the banking system's total loan exposures to property segments with acute oversupply (i.e., commercial property and high-end high-rise residential) account for 8 percent of total bank lending, and the impaired loan ratios for the segments are low at 1.1 percent to 1.2 percent.

Moody's estimated from its rated banks in Malaysia that 20 percent to 30 percent of mortgages booked each year have LTV ratios of 90 percent or higher at the time of origination.

It is noted that much of the new supply is in Malaysia's key states, include Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor, where supply-demand imbalances in various segments of the property market, including residential housing, commercial office and retail shopping complex, have occurred since 2015.

Johor has the largest share of unsold residential units in Malaysia (27 percent), followed by Selangor (21 percent), Kuala Lumpur (14 percent) and Penang (8 percent), according to the report.

Meanwhile, the vacancy rates for the commercial office could rise to 32 percent by 2021, from 24 percent in the first-quarter, considering the large development projects such as Tun Razak Exchange and Bukit Bintang City Centre in Kuala Lumpur that are underway.

On the retail shopping complex segment, total retail space per capita has increased sharply in key Malaysian states over the years, and now surpasses regional markets such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, said the report.

"The large incoming supply of retail space will exacerbate the oversupply situation and raise the vacancy rates across Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor from current levels of 13 percent to 30 percent," it said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 14:09:29|Editor: Zhou Xin

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A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Havana, Cuba, on Nov. 26, 2017. Cubans started to cast their ballots at polling stations as municipal elections kicked off in the Caribbean nation on Sunday, marking the first step towards a general election to choose incumbent President Raul Castro's successor. (Xinhua/Str)

HAVANA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua)-- Cubans started to cast their ballots at polling stations as municipal elections kicked off in the Caribbean nation on Sunday, marking the first step towards a general election to choose incumbent President Raul Castro's successor.

Over 24,000 polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) across the country, allowing Cubans to elect delegates to 168 municipal assemblies from among 27,221 candidates, said local media.

The first phase of the general election process, previously scheduled for Oct. 22, was delayed as a result of the damage caused to this Caribbean nation by Hurricane Irma early this month.

This time, the polls are being followed with particular attention, since the process will conclude in February with the approximately 600 members of the newly-formed legislative assembly electing the nation's top leader when the second five-year term of Raul Castro ends in February 2018.

After voting near his home, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, vice-president and second secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, congratulated electoral authorities.

"In general, it has been a high quality process, which is developing satisfactorily, despite the effects caused by Hurricane Irma, which forced the schedule to be modified," said Machado.

He added the elected municipal deputies will face many important challenges, since they will have to work in the midst of adverse economic conditions and the reinforcement of the U.S. embargo against the island.

After voting, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told reporters that the Cuban electoral process represents an alternative to "other electoral processes ruled by money and corporations."

In Cuba, candidates are forbidden from actual political campaigning, with only their photos and biographies exhibited for voters to select.

The local elections came a day after the first anniversary of the death of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who put into force in 1976 the current political electoral system, defended by the Cuban authorities as "democratic and transparent."

"The participation of the people in the municipal elections, is a tribute to the Commander in Chief on the first anniversary of his physical disappearance," said Natalia Ricardo, president of a polling station in the municipality of Playa.

"Although Fidel Castro is not with us today, his legacy and the values he instilled in the people will persist forever," Ricardo said, "Going to the polls is contributing to the country and revolution."

Nearly 2.5 million Cubans had voted by 9 a.m. local time (1400 GMT), said Maria Bacallao, secretary of the National Electoral Commission.

Cuba holds municipal elections every two and a half years, while provincial and national deputies are elected for five-year terms.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 14:19:36|Editor: Liu

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WUHAN, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Police in central China's Hubei Province have detained 90 suspects in connection to an alleged telecommunications fraud case.

The suspects were caught at four major locations in the city of Enshi. More than 100 computers were confiscated, according to police in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, which administers the city.

An initial investigation found that most of the suspects are neighbors and classmates who illegally purchased personal information of members of the public. They extorted money from victims in various provinces using web phones.

The group had conducted more than 4,000 events of fraud before being detained.

Further investigation is under way.

Earlier this year, seven people were sentenced to prison in east China's Shandong Province for involvement in a telecom fraud case linked to the death of a teenager.

Xu Yuyu, a high school graduate from Linyi, died of cardiac arrest in August 2016 after being defrauded out of 9,900 yuan (1,500 U.S. dollars), which she intended to use to pay university tuition fees.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 14:49:46|Editor: Yamei

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Hi, here is what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours.

BEIJING -- China should continue to upgrade the country's toilets as part of its "toilet revolution" aimed at developing domestic tourism and improving people's life quality, Chinese President Xi Jinping said.

The construction of clean toilets is an important part of pushing urban and rural civilization, and more efforts should be made in both cities and rural areas to upgrade toilets, Xi said in a recent instruction on the achievement of toilet revolution carried out in the tourism sector.

- - - -

BEIJING -- Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of TerraPower, has been elected as a foreign academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), one of China's top science think tanks.

He was among the 18 new foreign academicians at the institution, the CAE announced Monday.

- - - -

CANBERRA -- Australia's citrus fruit industry has experienced a boom on the back of high demand from China, a recent report by Citrus Australia revealed.

Australian citrus exports for the 12 months ending in September were worth 286 million U.S. dollars, a 31-percent increase on the 12 months prior.

Export volumes also rose considerably, up 18 percent to 220,754 tonnes of fruit.

- - - -

BEIJING -- China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang has called on the country's courts to make full use of big data to modernize the justice system, the People's Court Daily reported Saturday.

Zhou, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), said that courts nationwide need to use big data to modernize the justice system, improve their work and provide better service in the country's development, according to the newspaper run by the SPC.

- - - -

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- China and Brunei reached consensus on the strengthening of prosecution cooperation on Saturday during a visit here by Cao Jianming, Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China.

Cao, who led a Chinese delegation consisting of several provincial chief procurators, met with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at Istana Nurul Iman, Brunei's royal palace. He thanked the Sultan for attaching great importance to strengthening procuratorial exchanges between the two countries and for his support for hosting the Eleventh China-ASEAN Procecutors-General Conference.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 14:59:49|Editor: Yamei

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SHENYANG, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 animals have received traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments since a TCM consulting room was established at a veterinary clinic in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, 10 months ago.

The attending physicians are always fully booked, said Zhang Hong, director of the clinic.

"Our TCM clinic primarily treats pets suffering paralysis, nerve damage, diarrhea and some diseases that cannot be cured by Western medicine," Zhang said.

TCM therapies such as electric acupuncture and moxibustion can help animals recover, he added.

Xu Yanqiu, owner of a five-month-old Golden Retriever, brought her dog Moka to the clinic for treatment after the dog's leg was injured in a car accident one month ago.

Xu said Moka had a surgery in a veterinary hospital immediately after the accident, however, the dog became lame and recovered slowly. She decided to give her dog TCM treatment after receiving a recommendation for Zhang's hospital.

Moka's doctor diagnosed waist nerve damage resulting in restricted movement of the left leg. The doctor then treated Moka with silver electric acupuncture and moxibustion, as well as laser therapy.

"After one day of treatment, Moka's left leg can move slightly," said Xu.

TCM has been increasingly applied to pets across the country in recent years. Veterinary hospitals offering TCM treatment in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities have attracted many pet owners.

Guo Yang, a doctor at Veterinary Medicine College of Shenyang Agricultural University, said vets usually recommend surgery for damaged nerves. However, acupuncture can decrease the risk for animals, often even has better success

As the number of pet owners increases in China, TCM should see a prosperous future in the veterinary industry, Guo said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 15:14:54|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HOHHOT, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- An ethnic clothing competition opened in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Monday, with the aim to promote ethnic cultures.

The five-day event is being held in Hohhot, the regional capital, and has drawn 149 domestic and foreign teams displaying ethnic Mongolian clothing.

The contestants and models include herdsmen, entrepreneurs and researchers of ethnic cultures, according to Zhang Yujun, a tourism official.

"Of the competing groups presenting their traditional clothing, 142 come from Chinese provinces and regions, including Jilin, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Inner Mongolia," Zhang said. "Three groups are from Chinese ethnic nationalities, including the Oroqen and Daur, and four international groups come from Russia and Mongolia."

Prizes will be awarded to encourage innovation in the making of ethnic clothing. Seminars are being held to discuss about the status quo, future trends, protection and market for ethnic clothing, Zhang said.

Traditional Mongolian clothing has more than 800 years of history. The regional government has issued a standard to help protect the clothing.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 15:14:56|Editor: Zhou Xin

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JAKARTA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of villagers living in extended dangerous zone must be evacuated and over 400 flights have been affected after Mount Agung volcano in Bali strongly erupted, officials said on Monday.

Authorities in Bali have removed a total of about 40,000 villagers from the new evacuation zone and will evacuate about 50,000 to 60,000 others from the area, spokesman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

Israwadi Adi Sutjipto, corporate secretary of Angkasa Pura, operator of the international Ngurah Rai airport in Bali, said a total of 196 flights for international routes and 249 for domestic routes will be aborted.

"We predict as many as 445 flight schedules will be cancelled," he said in a statement.

Ngurah Rai international airport has been closed since 7 a.m. local time Monday (2300 GMT Sunday).
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 15:40:00|Editor: Xiang Bo

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YANGON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi will attend the upcoming Communist Party of China (CPC) in Dialogue with World Political Parties' High-Level Meeting in Beijing, the Myanmar News Agency reported Monday.

According to the official announcement, Suu Kyi will also pay a visit to China on the occasion to strengthen bilateral relations between Myanmar and China.

Suu Kyi last visited China in August 2016.

Myanmar attaches high importance to the development of Myanmar-China ties, anticipating that her visit to China would further raise the level of the two countries' cooperation level.

Suu Kyi also expressed wishes of her National League for Democracy (NLD) to deepen the exchange with the CPC and continuously strengthen their mutual trust and cooperation.

Leaders from more than 200 parties and political organizations in more than 120 countries have registered for the meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 3.
Photo taken on Nov. 25, 2017 shows al Rawda mosque where a terrorist attack took place in Bir al-Abed of North Sinai, Egypt. The death toll in the terrorist attack here on Friday has risen to 305, including 27 children, and 128 others were wounded, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday. (Xinhua Photo)

ISMAILIA, Egypt, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- "The whole thing started with a grenade thrown from the window, then masked militants rushed into the mosque, showering us with bullets, leaving dead bodies scattered everywhere," Mohamed Ali described the Friday attack on a mosque that killed 305 people in Egypt's North Sinai.

It was a real inferno, said the 33-year-old man, who was shot with two bullets in the legs. He is now receiving medical treatment in Ismailia province by the Suez Canal, southwest of terror-stricken North Sinai.

Ali, a father of four who works as salesman at a grocery in al-Rawda village, where the attack took place, told Xinhua that he still could not believe that he survived this "heinous massacre."

The militants attacked the mosque minutes after the preacher started his sermon, he said with a low fatigued voice as he struggled his pains.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

A man injured in a mosque attack in Egypt's North Sinai province receives medical treatment at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, on Nov. 24, 2017. The death toll in an attack on Friday on a mosque in Egypt's North Sinai province rose to 235, Egypt's state TV reported. (Xinhua Photo)

However, fingers are pointed at a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group, which has claimed most of the large terrorist operations in Egypt over the past few years and whose affiliates are currently facing massive security crackdown in Syria and Iraq.

It is the first time a mosque is targeted by militants in Egypt. But dozens of Christians have been killed in similar attacks on churches across Egypt.

North Sinai province, a mostly desert area bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, has been experiencing waves of anti-security attacks that killed hundreds of police and army men since the army-led ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 in response to mass protests against his rule.

"The terrorists threw bombs from the windows and doors of the mosque, besieging us inside and started to shoot randomly," he recalled. "Bodies of the dead and panicked injured worshippers lied motionless with blood splattered across the Mosque."

Ali said he was praying on the front-line chairs near the preacher's rostrum, which he used as a cover from the terrorists' showers of gunshots.

"The pulpit did not protect me as I was injured with two bullets, but at least it saved my life," Ali said, looking at the central venous line placed into his arm.

When some worshippers attempted to get out of the mosque, He went on saying, some masked men finished them with rounds from their machine guns.

"It was horrible and chaotic...they showed no mercy, it was an act of genocide," he said as tears rolled down his pale cheeks. "Three brothers from my neighborhood were killed in cold blood."

On Saturday, the Egyptian general prosecutor announced that the death toll in the Mosque attack climbed to 305 killed, including 27 children, and 128 others were wounded,

Meanwhile, the Egyptian military spokesman said air forces jets hit a number of vehicles loaded with terrorists involved in the deadly attack.

In addition, the air forces targeted a number of hideouts containing weapons and ammunition that belong to the extremists, the spokesman added.

The airstrikes came hours after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi vowed to respond fiercely against terrorists who carried out the attack.

"The army and police will avenge our martyrs and return security and stability with force in the coming short period," he said in a televised speech.

Egyptian acting Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli (C) and Health Minister Ahmed Rady (R) visit a man injured in a mosque attack at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, on Nov. 24, 2017. The death toll in an attack on Friday on a mosque in Egypt's North Sinai province rose to 235, Egypt's state TV reported. (Xinhua Photo)

Outside the Suez Canal University's Hospital in Ismailia, long queues of the victims' relatives laid on the ground, some covered with blankets.

"My 23-years old nephew, Amir, who was working as a nurse was murdered in the attack," said Samy Mohammed, who came from Delta Menoufia province to Ismailia after he was told about the death of his nephew.

The father of Amir, Magdy, a 45-year-old teacher has also been wounded in the attack by three bullets, two in his legs and one in his right arm, Mohammed told Xinhua while waiting outside the hospital.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 17:40:34|Editor: Zhou Xin

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WARSAW, NOV. 27 (Xinhua) -- This is encouraging. The Smederevo Steel Mill, a plant of Serbian national pride, finally started to make profit by the end of 2016 after a seven-year loss. It happened only eight months after Chinese HeSteel Group poured investment therein, vowing to make it one of the most competitive in Europe.

It comes as one example in a larger picture where China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) have quickened their economic exchange under the "16+1" cooperation format in realizing goals of the Belt and Road Initiative that is intended to improve infrastructure and trade between China and Europe and Africa.

Also in Serbia, the first phrase of Expressway E763, built by a Chinese company, is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Another upbeat story like the one in Serbia was also told in Poland when China's Liugong Group, five years after acquiring the machinery unit of Poland's Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW), remade it into a profitable joint venture that has paid taxes and dues for about 68 million U.S. dollars during past four years while creating jobs.

China's Hongbo Group invested 100 million U.S. dollars to build a LED lamp factory in that country.

In the Czech Republic, you may have to make an appointment until half a year later in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital that is keenly sought after among locals.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in 2016, total trade between China and the 16 CEEC increased by 9.5 percent, marking a remarkable boost while China's trade with Europe and the world as a whole dipped in the same period.

It makes the "16+1" cooperation a model for the Belt and Road Initiative and China-Europe ties.

Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

GAINING MOMENTUM

The China-CEEC cooperation is gaining momentum, tapping the huge market potential in an area home to many emerging economies.

China General Nuclear Power Corporation is negotiating to build two additional nuclear power units in Cernavoda in southeast Romania. The 7-billion-Euro or 8.3-billion-dollar project will be the largest one so far between China and CEEC.

The Hungary-Serbia high-speed railway, a flagship project for regional inter-connectivity, is also on the agenda.

Zivadin Jovanovic, a Serbian expert on international affairs, told Xinhua, "Serbia and China will expand cooperation in infrastructure building, manufacturing, food processing and other sectors."

Wang Yiwei, an expert on Europe with Renmin University of China, said that the building of the Belt and Road could improve the "16+1" format which was launched in Warsaw in 2012.

"The format serves a framework that we can realize the win-win scenario for China and the European Union," Wang said.

Czech President Milos Zeman said that efforts to push forward the Belt and Road Initiative within the framework of the "16+1" format will bring more opportunities to this region.

MUTUAL BENEFITS

The China-CEEC cooperation comes with reciprocity. Chinese investment in CEEC is now over 9 billion U.S. dollars while CEEC invested 1.4 billion dollars in China.

In the first three quarters of this year, the China-CEEC trade exceeded 49 billion dollars, marking an increase of 14.5 percent year-on-year while China's imports from CEEC rose 21.9 percent.

The increasing demand from China means a huge market for CEEC manufacturers. A Chinese company which bought in Lobkowicz Brewery Group in the Czech Republic not only helped preserve its traditional brewery skills, but also hopefully brought the prestigious Czech beer to Chinese groceries through China-Europe regular freight trains.

The CEEC along the China-Europe railway connect the Asian and European continents and make up nearly one fourth of the countries along the Belt and Road.

Jan Kohout, advisor to the Czech president, said the Belt and Road Initiative is one of the highlights of China's foreign policies, playing an important role in European and Asian development.

"China and CEEC are making headway, building a community of shared future with practical actions," Wang said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 17:55:38|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HARARE, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean security services on Monday warned Zimbabweans to abide by the country's laws and desist from criminal behavior following the deposing of former President Robert Mugabe.

"Let us all remain united and peaceful and respectful of our national laws and by laws. Law enforcement agents are already receiving reports of looting and illegal occupation of other people's properties, particularly farms and houses," said Zimbabwe Defense Forces spokesperson colonel Overson Mugwisi at a joint press conference with the police.

"This behavior is criminal and against the spirit of non vengeful retribution and will be met by the full wrath of the law," Mugwisi said.

Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson Charity Charamba said the situation in the country had returned to normal following the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as interim president on Nov. 24.

She said police were therefore resuming their normal duties after stopping them when the military launched an operation on Nov. 15 that culminated in the resignation of Mugabe on Nov. 21.

"We wish therefore to advise the nation that the ZRP is now assuming its role as stipulated in the Constitution of Zimbabwe," Charamba said.

"You will soon notice the ZDF and ZRP members conducting joint patrols especially in Harare's central business district. We urge you all progressive Zimbabweans to respect the country's laws and cooperate with our officers as they perform their duties," she said.

Unconfirmed media reports last week said a wheat farm belonging to Mugabe's daughter Bona had been burnt down by unknown assailants while the homes of some cabinet ministers targeted by the military operation had been raided.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:05:44|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, said Monday it has extended a currency swap agreement with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The size of the swap line is 400 billion yuan (60.6 billion U.S. dollars) or 470 billion Hong Kong dollars, according to a PBOC statement.

The two parties believe the extension will help maintain regional financial stability, support trade and investment between the mainland and Hong Kong, and develop Hong Kong's offshore yuan market, the PBOC said.

The pact is valid for three years and can be extended upon mutual consent.

A currency swap deal allows two institutions to exchange payments in one currency for equivalent amounts in the other to facilitate bilateral trade settlements and provide liquidity support to financial markets.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:05:44|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HANOI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnamese government is striving to accelerate the development of the internet, the digital content industry and value-added applications on the internet to benefit more enterprises and people.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Hong Hai made the statement on Monday at the 2017 Vietnam Internet Forum entitled "Digital For Good," held in Hanoi by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Swedish Embassy.

Vietnam, which joined the internet in December 1997, currently has over 50 million frequent internet users, or 54 percent of the country's total population, higher than the world's average rate, he said.

According to many local corporate officials, rapid changes in information technology, especially in Internet connection, artificial intelligence and big data are offering great opportunities to enterprises and people.

At a recent business meeting in Vietnam, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the birth of new technologies like the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robot technology, nanotechnology and 3D printing technology are changing mindsets as well as the way of making wealth and the lives of people.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:10:47|Editor: Xiang Bo

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PHNOM PENH, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's National Assembly declared on Monday the validity of 44 new lawmakers from three parties to replace seats of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) after it was dissolved by the Supreme Court.

A total of 67 lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People's Party ratified the eligibility of those lawmakers for memberships of the National Assembly.

The declaration came after The National Election Committee announced on Thursday that CNRP's 55 parliamentary seats had been redistributed to five minor parties: the Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh got 41 seats, the League for Democracy Party six, the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party five, the Cambodian Nationality Party two and the Khmer Economic Development Party one.

However, the League for Democracy Party and the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party refused to take up the seats.

Earlier in the week, the ruling Cambodian People's Party said that they will take 11 seats that were rejected by League for Democracy Party and the Khmer Anti-Poverty Party.

The National Assembly consists of 123 seats in which 68 are possessed by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.

The Supreme Court ordered on Nov. 16 dissolution of the CNRP and banned its 118 senior leaders from politics for five years after its leader Kem Sokha was arrested on Sept. 3 and charged with "treason."

Kem Sokha, 64, was accused of plotting the overthrow of the government.

The CNRP dissolution left 55 CNRP lawmakers and 5,007 commune councilors lost their positions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:35:56|Editor: Jiaxin

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar will pay his first official visit to China from Dec. 3 to 5, less than two months after Mongolia's new government was formed.

"The new Mongolian government has taken a positive attitude towards China, and China is willing to work with Mongolia to promote bilateral relations and pragmatic cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing.

During the visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will hold talks with Tsogtbaatar on strengthening political mutual trust, practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, Geng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:51:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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DHAKA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A High Court Division Bench in Bangladesh on Monday upheld death sentence for 139 convicts and life imprisonment for 185 others in the mutiny case in 2009 which left 74 people dead, including 57 officers from the army.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:56:05|Editor: Jiaxin

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MOSCOW, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The China-Russia joint construction of the "Silk Road on Ice" (SRI) will facilitate the pairing of their strategic initiatives and promote comprehensive cooperation of the two countries in the Arctic area, a Russian expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The initiative to create the Eurasian Economic Partnership and to conjugate it with the Belt and Road Initiative is becoming a global initiative to change the existing world order radically," said Vladimir Remyga, chairman of the Coordination Council for Cooperation with Business Associations of Asia of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ICIE).

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

In December 2015, in his annual state of the union address to the Russian Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced the idea of a greater Eurasian partnership, which is based on the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) officially established in January 2015.

The Russia-led EEU, which groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, is an economic bloc aiming to optimize the flow of goods and services among its members.

During a visit to Moscow in May 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an agreement with Putin on aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with the EEU.

Noting that Russia is an important partner in the construction of the Belt and Road, Xi in July urged the two countries to carry out the Northern Sea Route cooperation so as to realize an "Ice Silk Road."

The SRI refers to a shortcut between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans through the Arctic. It is widely seen as the third arch of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, which is originally composed of one route spanning westward from China to Europe, and the other extending from the country's eastern coastline down to the Indian Ocean.

As leading players in pushing forward the global initiative, Russia and China have advanced from general agreements to practical implementation, including a joint feasibility study of the Eurasian Economic Partnership Agreement expected to be ready by the end of 2017, Remyga said.

"During the meeting of the heads of governments of Russia and China in early November, joint construction of the SRI was actively discussed as an important part of the formation of the Great Eurasian Partnership and the Belt and Road Initiative," Remyga said.

According to Remyga, the discussion on the joint construction of the SRI was given a significant impetus by the adoption of Russia's new program for the development of the Arctic zone until 2025, with a budget financing of over 16 billion rubles (274 million U.S. dollars).

"Cooperation with China is largely considered as an important driver for the implementation of this program," he said.8 Within this context, joint development of oil and gas fields as well as the construction of various types of infrastructure facilities like railways and ports are being explored by the two countries, the expert said.

"The core cooperation area is the development of the infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route and the establishment of cargo transportation through it, in order to transform the route into a global competitive transport artery," Remyga said.

The Northern Sea Route, a strategic shipping passage between Asia and Europe that runs along Russia's Arctic coast, is seen as a fundamental part of the SRI.

It is estimated that if fully opened, the Arctic route will cut the annual costs of international maritime trade by 53.3-127.4 billion dollars by 2020.

Despite progress in cooperation, there are problems in exploiting the Northern Sea Route and implementing relevant infrastructure projects, including a significant shortage of ice-class cargo ships, Remyga said.

"Construction of the new powerful nuclear icebreakers has begun in Russia. The first of the three ships, the icebreaker Arktika, will be launched soon, to be followed by Siberia in 2019 and Ural in 2020. But the construction of ice-class cargo ships has not yet begun," he said.

According to Remyga, China and Russia are currently conducting negotiations on setting up a joint-venture company for the construction of ice-class cargo vessels as well as the upgrade of ports and overall navigation infrastructure.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 18:56:06|Editor: Zhou Xin

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ZARANJ, Afghanistan, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Nine soldiers were killed after Taliban insurgents attacked an army checkpoint in Afghanistan's western province of Nimroz on Monday, a local official said.

"Armed militants attacked the checkpoint in the morning in Khash Rod district along a main road, killing nine army soldiers," Ahmad Arab provincial government spokesman told Xinhua.

Several militants were also killed and wounded during the gun battle, but their number could not be exactly specified as the militants evacuated their casualties after the fighting, he said.

One army trooper was also wounded and the checkpoint was destroyed.

The Taliban insurgency has been on the rampage since the beginning of 2015 when the Afghan security forces assumed full responsibilities of security from the U.S. and NATO troops.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:01:08|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MADRID, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Police in Catalonia (Mossos d'Esquadra) detained two people in an operation against a suspected jihadist recruitment cell in the early hours of Monday, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said.

The operation took place in Sant Pere de Ribes, about 30 km south of Barcelona.

"Two people were detained for supporting DAESH (Islamic State) in an operation carried out by the Mossos in Barcelona," Zoido tweeted.

Police sources have confirmed that the operation began at 4:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) and is still going on, possibly with more captures.

The operation on Monday brings the total number of suspected jihadists detained in Spain since the beginning of 2015 to 256.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:06:10|Editor: Zhou Xin

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GAZA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Monday called on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to lift the sanctions, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas imposed on the Gaza Strip in June.

Khalil al-Hayyah, deputy chief of Hamas in Gaza told a news conference that the PNA and Abbas Fatah Party should stop linking between lifting the sanctions and enabling the PNA consensus government to take full control in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas has been always flexible towards reconciliation and will be so. We don't regret for what we did and we will carry on with reconciliation," said al-Hayyah.

Last week, Hamas, Abbas Fatah Party and 11 other Palestinian factions held a round of two-day broader reconciliation dialogue, which failed to discuss or resolve crucial issues to end more than ten years of internal Palestinian split.

"We went to Cairo in accordance to October 12 reconciliation agreement to discuss all issues of reconciliation which were mentioned in Cairo agreement signed in May 2011," he said, adding "but Fatah had different opinion."

On October 12, Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in Cairo, where part of it was implemented, which is related to handing over all ministries and crossing points to the consensus government of Hamdallah.

However, the government complained that security is still in the hands of Hamas, where disputes and arguments between the two rival groups went up to the surface. The ministry of interior is the only ministry that still in the grip of Hamas.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:11:13|Editor: Zhou Xin

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JERUSALEM, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli government approved Sunday a decision to build a tourist trail along the length and breadth of Israel that exposes the landscapes and cultural diversity of the country.

A budget of NIS 10 million (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars) will be allocated according to the decision, and the Israeli Tourism Ministry will head a development team for it.

It is the first time that the Israeli government has taken part in such a project, which has tourist and historical implications.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the project is needed for the country's tourism potential. "This is an outstanding enterprise."

The proposed route will leverage tourism throughout the country -- the north, which is characterized by verdant landscapes and water sources, and the south, with its desert landscapes, as well as offering tourists the possibility to hike between the holy sites.

The Ministry of Tourism will submit to the Israeli government within 120 days its recommendations for a strategic plan to develop the trail.

The decision states that the economic potential of such tourism to the periphery is significant with the ability to generate increases in hospitality options, eating places, tourist attractions and more.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said the decision to construct a tourist trail throughout Israel is an important decision against the background of the all-time record breaking figures in incoming tourism and the efforts to add tourist attractions that will benefit visitors and tourists in Israel.

According to the ministry, the path will expose tourists to Israel's landscapes and sites and will bring hikers to all parts of the country, including the periphery, thereby making significant economic contributions to these areas.

The proposal also details the economic potential of the trans-Israel trail both for domestic and incoming tourism.

Israel's three millionth tourist this year landed in Israel on Nov. 7, marking a new all-time record for incoming tourism in Israel.

Figures from the ministry show that the number of tourists (including day visitors) totaled 3.17 million during the first 10 months of this year, up 27 percent compared with the same period of 2016.

Since the beginning of 2017, tourism has become one of the most significant economic engines in the Israeli economy and revenue from incoming tourism stands at about NIS 17 billion (about 4.9 billion dollars). The average expenditure of a tourist in Israel is about 1,500 dollars.
BEIRUT - Union of Lebanon's Tripoli Municipalities signed an agreement with China's Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce (SRCIC) on Saturday to join the SRCIC for active role in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Head of Union of Tripoli's Municipalities Ahmad Qamareddine and Chairman of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce (SRCIC) Lu Jianzhong signed the agreement.

The agreement signing was also attended by Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian and other officials.

Kassar hailed the Union of Tripoli's municipalities for joining the SRCICI, pointing to the "special importance of Tripoli and its huge potentials not only for Lebanon but for the whole region which enables it to enhance trade with China."

He added "we will not spare any effort in boosting Tripoli's standing and it openness on Chinese markets and such an alliance will prepare it to become a special hub for cooperation with China within the Belt and Road initiative."

Kassar pointed to the strategic location of Tripoli and its seaport on the Mediterranean and it human resources and infrastructure including the airport and railroads and logistic services it provides.

He stressed "I am fully prepared to put my historic and long relations with China in the service of boosting the mutual benefits between Lebanon and China."

For his part, Qamareddine hailed Qassar's efforts in promoting Tripoli to become "an important economic location on the SRCIC map and in boosting the city to become an economical capital of Lebanon and a main hub for the reconstruction of Syria."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:11:14|Editor: Zhou Xin

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PYONGYANG, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has sent condolences to Egypt over the deadly terrorist attack in Sinai last week, said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Monday.

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, sent a message of sympathy to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, expressing condolences to the Middle East country, according to the KCNA.

DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho also sent a message of sympathy to his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on Sunday, it said.

Militants reportedly carrying the flag of the Islamic State (IS) launched the bomb and gun attack on a mosque in Egypt's North Sinai province, killing at least 304 people and injuring 120 more.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:16:15|Editor: Zhou Xin

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DHAKA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A High Court Division Bench in Bangladesh on Monday upheld death sentence for 139 convicts and life imprisonment for 185 others of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), previously known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), for a 2009 mutiny which left 74 people dead, including 57 officers from the army.

The division bench of Justice Nazrul Islam, Justice Shawkat Hossain and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique delivered the verdict.

The High Court division also upheld jail terms ranging from three to 10 years to 196 border guards.

A total of 850 people, including 823 BDR jawans and 23 civilians, were accused in the case.

Of the accused, 813 were detained, 13 were on bail, 20 were on the run while four died in custody.

It was not known immediately whether any of the civilians accused in the case was awarded death sentence.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:21:18|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MOGADISHU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Intensified fighting between Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers and Al-Shabaab militants has forced more than 10,000 people to flee in Somalia's southern region in November, the UN said on Monday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the displacements were caused by both aerial bombardment and ground fighting which occurred in Middle and Lower Shabelle regions.

"Confrontations between government forces and the militant group have also considerably intensified in several other parts of the region. At the same time, tensions remain increasingly high in outlying villages along the Bal'ad/Afgoye axis that connect Middle and Lower Shabelle regions," said the UNHCR in its latest displacement report.

According to UNHCR's Protection & Return Monitoring Network (PRMN), these continuing military operations have heightened insecurity, prompting a wave of new displacements in addition to destruction of livelihood and shelter assets.

"This generalized insecurity, which has led to a sharp increase in the number of road blocks and checkpoints, has also precipitated movement restrictions, extortion, torture and sexual abuse by all parties," the UNHCR said.

According to the UN, over 1 million people have been internally displaced in Somalia since January, mainly due to drought, but also because of conflict, insecurity and flooding.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:36:23|Editor: Zhou Xin

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NEW DELHI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- India and Greece on Monday signed an air services agreement and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy, officials said.

The agreement was signed in New Delhi between India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her visiting Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias.

The two top diplomats held detailed discussions on all aspects of the bilateral relationship.

The pacts were inked after talks between the two sides, India's state-run broadcaster All India Radio reported.

"They also re-affirmed commitment to further expanding cooperation in mutually beneficial spheres," the report said.

Kotzias arrived here Saturday night on a three-day visit to India.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:41:25|Editor: pengying

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Prince Harry (L) and Meghan Markle attend an official photocall to announce their engagement in London, Britain, on Nov. 27, 2017. British royal family confirmed Monday that Prince Harry has already been engaged with his girlfriend Meghan Markle earlier this month in London. (Xinhua)

LONDON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- British royal family confirmed Monday that Prince Harry has already been engaged with his girlfriend Meghan Markle earlier this month in London.

The announcement, issued by Clarence House, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall's official residence, said the wedding will be held in spring next year and details about the wedding day would be "announced in due course".

The fifth in line to the British throne said that he has proposed to the American actress following a one year relationship and she's happily accepted.

The couple will live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London after married.

In a statement, Prince Charles said he was "delighted to announce" his son's news and that Harry had received the blessing of Markle's parents.

It's believed that Harry would have asked his grandmother The Queen's permission before popping the question.

Harry first confirmed his relationship with Markle in November 2016, in a statement from Kensington Palace attacking the media for subjecting her to a "wave of abuse and harassment". The two made their first public appearance as a couple in September this year.

Markle, who played Rachel Zane in U.S. TV drama Suits, was born on 4 August 1981 and grew up in Los Angeles but now lives in Toronto.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:46:27|Editor: Zhou Xin

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's innovation-driven economic development in recent years received high attention in the first NEXT Summit held in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, on Monday.

China's high-speed railway network, e-commerce, new energy products, and bicycle sharing were hot topics in the summit where some 400 delegates from the academic and business circles discussed international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013.

Sun Zhuangzhi, deputy director of the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the summit that China is "the most successful practitioner and the biggest beneficiary of innovation-driven growth."

Yang Yong of the Caroline Sunrise Cruise introduced the idea of combining cruise tourism with the pension industry, which will help Chinese elders to reach out to the world.

At the summit, many Chinese enterprises and universities signed memorandums of cooperation with their New Zealand counterparts in fields such as education and tourism.

New Zealand companies have expressed their hope of enhancing cooperation with Chinese enterprises on innovative development.

Sun said that with the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative, innovation-driven growth will first bring benefits to countries along the route and help boost the transformation and development of their economies.

"The solution offered by China will create a new opportunity for the entire Asia-Pacific economy," he said.

The NEXT Summit, organized by the Oceania Silk Road Network along with New Zealand Green Industry Association and New Zealand Chinese Scientists Association, aims to promote international resource mobilization and capacity building through innovative cooperation among countries and regions, deepen international trade cooperation, and promote sustainable development.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 19:56:31|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HANGZHOU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have developed a 3D bio-printer that makes it possible to mass produce human tissue, including skin, cartilage and liver.

Measuring 1.6 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.9 meters tall, the printer was developed by a research team led by Hangzhou Regenovo Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

"Mass production of medical materials as well as quality and safe printed products are two requirements for the clinical use of 3D printing," said the company's chairman, Xu Ming'en.

3D printing is not yet ubiquitous. Many bio-printers on the market remain too slow for mass production, or the printed products are not up to standards.

Xu said that the new printer, equipped with a variety of nozzles, can print more types of biological materials in a given period.

Different parts of the printer can control their own temperatures, ranging from minus 20 degrees Celsius to 260 degrees Celsius, to help preserve cell function and viability.

In addition, it has an infrared laser scanning head with micron-level accuracy, which can check the quality of the inner structure of products while printing, according to Wang Ling, associate professor with Hangzhou Dianzi University. Wang is also the developer of the scanning head.

The new 3D bio-printer will contribute to the clinical application of artificial tissues and organs. The 3D printed tissues and organs can also be used to test new medicines.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 20:01:35|Editor: Zhou Xin

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DHAKA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A High Court Division Bench in Bangladesh on Monday upheld death sentence for 139 convicts and life imprisonment for 185 others of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), previously known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), for a 2009 mutiny which left 74 people dead including 57 officers from the Army.

Amid tight security, the High Court division bench of Justice Nazrul Islam, Justice Shawkat Hossain and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique delivered the mass verdict in the mutiny murder case, which is considered the largest of its type in the world.

The High Court division also awarded jail terms ranging from three to 10 years to 196 border guards.

Another 49 were acquitted of all charges.

The High Court bench led by Justice Shawkat Hossain started announcing the 10,000-page verdict, with observations of over 1,000 pages, on Sunday morning.

All the accused have the right to appeal with the apex court against their convictions.

The former border guards had been accused of such offenses as killings, attempted murder, looting and arson committed during the horrendous mutiny.

The special courts of the BGB had earlier awarded jail terms ranging from four months to seven years to nearly 6,000 border guards.

The trial of Bangladesh's border guards facing charges of mutiny crimes at the paramilitary force's headquarters began in 2011.

A Dhaka court on Nov. 5, 2013 awarded death to 152 BGB personnel. Some 161 people, including two leaders of ruling Bangladesh Awami League party and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The BDR revolt, which took place less than two months after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office for the second time, threatened the stability of her government and raised fears of military intervention.

The BDR soldiers staged revolt against their army officers reportedly over salary and other benefits.

An official probe into the mutiny said the incident is the outburst of many years of pent up grievances of the BDR soldiers over ignored pleas for pay hikes.

Prime Minister Hasina chose a negotiated settlement instead of calling in the army to quell the revolt.

During the mutiny, over 7,000 BDR personnel were reportedly at the headquarters of the paramilitary force which, with around 67,000 members, is guarding the country's long border line of 4,427 km with India and Myanmar.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 20:11:37|Editor: Xiang Bo

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YANGON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese higher education exhibition was held in Myanmar's Yangon on Monday to offer Myanmar students access to modern education at Chinese universities.

The fourth Chinese high-level education show, held at the Summit Parkview Hotel, was attended by about 100 Myanmar students.

Central Executive Member of Myanmar-China Friendship Association U Sein Nyunt told the opening ceremony that under the agreement of the two governments, Myanmar had sent 200 students to 10 schools in China to learn professional education in 2016-17 and such sending will continue, urging students to learn Chinese language.

Headmaster of Fuqing Confucius Center Tun Naing said that Chinese language is currently a key world language, calling on students to pursue the language up to Doctor Degree with the support of scholarship and by mastering the language, it will get better job opportunities and higher pay.

Cai Li of Shanghai Ocean University's International Relations Department, who is responsible for student enrollment, told Xinhua that students, who are graduated with their related major, are welcome to pursue master degree or even doctor degree at the university.

He invited scholars and researchers of Myanmar to join the higher education teaching program of the Shanghai Ocean University launched in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 20:21:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ZAGREB, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Croatia is ready to welcome more cooperation with China, local experts told Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) on Monday morning.

The sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries is underway in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, with the attendance of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plankovic.

Jasna Plevnik, a senior specialist at the Croatian Chamber of Economy, said on HRT that Croatia had all fundamentals for the further development of relations with China.

At last year's summit in Riga, she mentioned, Croatia and China signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the matter of ports and port industrial parks, and the Croatian government is ready to cooperate with China under the Belt and Road Initiative.

"Until 2014, Croatia was passive in terms of the relations with China. Now I see positive steps and the Croatian government shows interest for better relations," according to Plevnik.

She said it was time for a significant shift in terms of economic relations. The Croatian Chamber of Economy is preparing to open an office in Shanghai that should be helpful over Croatian exports.

"There is an interest in food industry products, tourism, pharmaceutical products. Croatia could attract Chinese investments in agriculture," Plevnik said.

Dario Kuntic, a political analyst, said on HRT that China had become a very important economic power whose ambitions are more than regional. "China is exploiting its economic capacities. It is investing huge money in the world and Europe," Kuntic said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 20:51:49|Editor: Xiang Bo

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by Xinhua writer Wang Lili

SINGAPORE, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Exhibits of the Tang Shipwreck at Singapore's Asian Civilizations Museum displayed the amazing wisdom of the Ancient Chinese, said the American Volunteer guide there Darlene Kasten.

With a marketing MBA, Kasten noted in a recent interview with Xinhua that the exhibits demonstrated that the Chinese people in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) had learnt to "customize for the customers on a mass scale," while people elsewhere had seldom done that before.

"I am always respectful of China, but it's amazing their innovation in terms of marketing and production dated that far back," she added.

In 1998, a shipwreck was discovered off Belitung Island in the Java Sea southeast of Singapore. Bound for Iran and Iraq, it contained a remarkable cargo of more than 60,000 ceramics produced in China during the Tang Dynasty, as well as luxurious objects of gold and silver.

The Tang Shipwreck was acquired through a donation from the Estate of Khoo Teck Puat in honor of the late Singaporean Khoo Teck Puat and was open to the public at the end of 2015.

Some of the exhibits bear evidence of influence from the exotic cultures, which experts believe to be a testimony of both the commercial and cultural links between China and the outside world, Kasten said.

Kasten cited her favorite amongst the discovery -- a golden Octagonal cup with images of musicians and a dancer as an example.

According to her, it combines the old land silk road and the maritime silk road in one object. She elaborated that the cup depicts scenes from the land silk road and was found on a ship on the maritime silk road, thus embodying the entire experience of globalization.

Much of the cargo aboard the ship was kept intact, which was very lucky, Kasten said, adding that "it's absolutely an amazing discovery" and she loved to guide on that.

Kasten has been living in Singapore for nearly two years. Last September, when she heard of the volunteer training program, she enrolled in.

"Even though it's a volunteer job, you are putting 20 to 30 hours a week, between lectures and trips and a lot of reading," she said of her formal training which ended at the end of March.

Then she wrote a paper highlighting three galleries of the Asian Civilizations Museum and presented it before being qualified for a volunteer guide this May.

This year, Kasten acted as the co-head for the new batch of guide applicants, with a total of 30 coming from Europe, America, China, Japan, Russia, the Netherlands and Singapore.

Glad to share her knowledge on the exhibits with new comers and visitors, Kasten admitted that she had never heard of the shipwreck before, and deemed it to deserve more attention.

Kasten was happy to learn that 78 pieces of the shipwreck collections were on display earlier this year in New York's Asia Society.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 21:11:52|Editor: Xiang Bo

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by Xinhua writer Zhu Sheng

DUISBURG, Germany, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The city of Duisburg, Germany's biggest inland port, is on one end of the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe rail line, which opened in 2011 from the Chinese southwest city of Chongqing.

In recent years, more and more trains operated by the China Railway Express (CRE) from Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou, Yiwu and other Chinese cities are arriving here.

It takes only 13 days for goods to arrive in Duisburg from Chongqing by rail, 30 days less than by sea, and at a fifth of the cost of air freight.

According to industry experts, the China-Europe freight train services have been providing solutions for the international logistics industry and promoting international trade ties and economic development along the Belt and Road Initiative countries.

CRE conducts freight transportation between China and Europe. The trains bring unlimited business opportunity and bring Duisburg and China much closer, Mayor of Duisburg Soeren Link told Xinhua in a written interview.

More and more frequently, Duisburg is called as "China City", he added.

THRIVING CITY

In 2014, Link witnessed the arrival of China-Europe trains at the Duisburg Intermodal Terminal (DIT), together with Chinese leaders. At that time, there were three trains operating to and from Duisburg and Chongqing every week. Today, the number has increased to over 25 per week.

Daniel Thomas, of DIT Duisburg Intermodal Terminal, said that among them, 17 trains are westbound (from China to Europe), while another eight are eastbound.

According to data from consultants GFW Duisburg, the number of Chinese businesses has grown steadily since 2014. More than 100 Chinese companies have so far settled here. At the same time, around 50,000 import and export containers were transported by CRE trains in 2016, almost four times of the amount in 2014.

"These numbers show the Belt and Road Initiative has brought many economic development opportunities to Duisburg," Link said.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims to build a trade, investment and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes.

CHANGING TIMES

As CRE business continues to flourish, DIT management is considering how to improve efficiency as business changes over the years.

Eight years ago, DIT terminal were using waterways and trains much more frequently than trucking. Now with CRE, the company needs more trucking services, Thomas said, adding they need to truck 10 containers per week.

"Our trucking service has to change. We need more drivers who are willing to drive long distance," Thomas continued.

In addition, DIT needs to deal with long-standing empty containers because of the imbalance between eastbound and westbound trains.

Shan Jing, business development manager of Far East Land Bridge Ltd (FELB), said that custom clearance has become more efficient and FELB, as a railway operator, has also received support from local Chinese governments because of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The Belt and Road Initiative supplies new development opportunities. It improves transit efficiency and helps to enlarge our service portfolio," Shan added.

IMPROVING PROCESSES

So far, most CRE trains were mainly to and from Germany via the Polish village of Mataszewicze, which could lead to congestion and further affect the punctuality of the trains.

All sides are trying their best to overcome the logistical challenges, which sometimes impact clients.

Shan advised improving the network and creating direct connections between EU borders and terminals in other countries. He believed this would create new cargo options and reduce congestion in some main terminals.

"The issue should be dealt with a development perspective. CRE is always growing and expanding. There are many possibilities considering the change of requirements from customers and the market. CRE will definitely continue developing its potential," Shan said.

Thomas is also optimistic about the future. "In general, I think there is a bright future for CRE trains as an alternative for deep-sea transport and air freight."

Link said that Chinese investment, and the jobs and economic vitality it brings, are welcome in Duisburg.

"I'm very glad to see that Duisburg is marked on the strategic map of the Belt and Road Initiative. The city will be a model for German-Sino cooperation," Link said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 21:21:55|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HONG KONG, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Food safety authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced Monday to suspend import of poultry meat from a district in the State of Lower Saxony in Germany.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) of the HKSAR government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said that in view of a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of low-pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in the District of Rotenburg, State of Lower Saxony in Germany, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend import of poultry meat and products, including poultry eggs, from the district with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

A CFS spokesman said that in the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong imported about 1,700 tons of frozen poultry meat and 1.1 million poultry eggs from Germany.

"The CFS has contacted the German authorities over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE on avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 21:41:59|Editor: Xiang Bo

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DUBAI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and U.S. demand for petrochemicals will drive the global demand for oil next year, expert said on Monday at the three-day Gulf Petrochemical and Chemical Association Forum.

Demand for oil in China and the U.S. is expected to continue to grow next year, Vice President of Refining and Chemicals at research firm Wood Mackenzie Alan Gelder said, "and globally, we see 3.5 percent growth for petrochemical products in 2018."

The growth of oil-related manufacturing like the production of ethane and propane, which are basic materials for plastic, was the main driver for the demand of the "black gold."

A dip in demand for oil as seen in the third quarter of 2017 "was a one-off mostly driven by Hurricane Harvey which hit demand for petrochemicals in the United States," Gelder added.

Harvey lasted from Aug. 17 to Sept. 3 in the southwest of the United States and was, with 200 billion U.S. dollars in damage, the costliest storm on record, topping Katrina from 2005.

Gelder also mentioned that the slight slowing down of China's economic growth, saying it "does not mean China's economy is declining, in fact it keeps growing."

Asia's oil demand growth remains strong, and more balanced between gasoline and diesel/gas oil, said the analyst. Earlier in October, the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for China's economic growth in 2017 and 2018, saying the Chinese economy would climb 6.8 percent this year and 6.5 percent next year, both 0.1 percentage point higher than its previous forecast in July, citing the stronger-than-expected performance in the first half of the year and continuous policy support.

Nevertheless Wood Mackzenzie does not expect the price of oil to rise sharply, but it anticipates Brent to trade at 65 dollars per barrel by 2020, despite the agreement between OEPC and Russia to cap production to lift the price.

"That is because OPEC (the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries) members Libya and Nigeria increase their production levels which mitigate OPEC and Russian production restraints, albeit OPEC adherence to cuts was strong in the first half," Gelder pointed out. Currently, Brent trades around 60 dollars per barrel.

On Nov. 30, the 14 OPEC members will gather for their 173rd ordinary meeting and their third OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting at the cartel's headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

On the top of the agenda is the discussion point whether the 14 OPEC member states and the 11 non-OPEC members led by Russia will extend their pact from January this year to cut oil production by a combined 1.8 million barrels per day in order to squeeze oversupplied global stockpiles and thus to lift prices. The agreed production volume of oil was set at 32 million barrels per day since then.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:07:08|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party (CPWDP), one of China's eight non-communist political parties, will elect a new leadership during its 16th National Congress, which opened here Monday.

Chen Zhu, chairman of the CPWDP Central Committee, called on party members to learn the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) earnestly and adhere to the CPC leadership, while delivering a work report at the opening session.

The CPWDP should contribute more wisdom and power to the country's "two centenary goals" and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, said Chen, also vice-chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

Also on Monday, Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, met with the delegates to the congress and gave a congratulatory speech on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.

Li affirmed the contributions made by the CPWDP members over the past five years in the fields of healthcare, population resources and ecological protection.

The CPC will uphold and improve the system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation in accordance with the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, Li said.

In handling its relationships with other political parties, "the CPC would adhere to the principle of long-term coexistence, mutual oversight, treating each other with sincerity and sharing of both good and bad times," according to Li.

Li said the CPC would support these parties in performing their duties in accordance with the requirements of the Chinese socialist system for their participation in governance, and consolidate and develop the broadest possible patriotic united front.

Li called on the CPWDP members to closely unite around the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core, bring their professional advantages into full play, conduct in-depth research and give more advices.

During the CPWDP national congress, delegates would hear and deliberate the report of the party's 15th Central Committee, review and approve an amendment to the CPWDP Constitution, and elect a new leadership.

Founded in August 1930 in Shanghai, the CPWDP is comprised of members who are mainly intellectuals in the fields of healthcare, population resources and ecological protection.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:12:09|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BERLIN, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The German Social Democrats (SPD) have begun staking out their conditions for the renewal of a "grand coalition" with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) on Monday.

Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel, SPD vice president, insisted that his party's tax reform plans would have to be implemented if it were to form another government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).

The SPD's electoral manifesto on taxes constituted "the basis" for any possible cooperation, Schaefer-Guembel told the newspaper "Rheinische Post", demanding higher taxes for top income earners, as well as greater efforts to combat tax evasion.

Merkel and leading CDU politicians met earlier on Sunday, deciding that they would determine their own negotiation strategy after the upcoming SPD party conference held in Berlin from December 7 until December 9.

Germany's policy towards Europe is a particular source of tension and highlights the potentially far-reaching international implications of the outcome of negotiations between the CDU and SPD.

According to German media, Merkel urged her party on Sunday night to arrive at position in response to the widely-publicized proposals for European reform made by French president Emmanuel Macron, anticipating that the SPD could demand a commitment to support Macron as a condition for their domestic legislative support.

The collapse of "Jamaica" coalition talks only a little over a week ago has thrust traditionally stable Germany into a rare moment of political crisis. Merkel's CDU has since preferred another legislative alliance with the SPD over holding re-elections or attempting to form a minority government.

"We have the firm intention to form a government with the capability to act," Daniel Guenther (CDU), governor of Schleswig-Holstein, told press on Sunday night after a four-hour consultation with leading party members.

"That (government) is the grand coalition," Guenther said. The CDU would only reassess its stance if the negotiations with the SPD failed. Earlier, the SPD had surprisingly retracted its pledge to return to the Federal Parliament's (Bundestag) opposition benches made by party leader Schulz immediately after his electoral defeat in September. At the time, the SPD, as well as the CDU and CSU seemed to have little desire for another "grand coalition".

Following the Free Democratic Party's (FDP) abandonment of "Jamaica" coalition talks with the CDU, CSU and Greens (Gruene), however, the political arithmetic in Berlin has changed dramatically.

CSU leader Horst Seehofer went as far as to describe a legislative pact between his party, the CDU and SPD as the "best option for Germany".

By contrast, Schulz and some other SPD politicians have been much more hesitant to embrace the possibility of forming another "grand coalition".

German media cited widespread concerns in the SPD that the party would emerged weakened even further from another legislative term in the shadow of veteran Chancellor Merkel.

Schulz was only persuaded to hold coalition talks with the CDU and CSU after an emergency plea by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The first such official discussion is to take place together with Steinmeier at the presidential palace in Berlin on Thursday.

The Social Democrats appear divided as Malu Dreyer (SPD), Governor of Rhineland-Palatinate, said on the public broadcaster "ZDF" that she wanted to prevent a re-run of the "grand coalition". Instead, Dreyer proposed supporting a CDU/CSU minority government.

Frictions were also already apparent between the two parties. Volker Bouffier (CDU), Governor of Hesse, attacked the SPD for drawing red lines in an overly-enthusiastic fashion. Rather than "continuously demanding", Bouffier urged the SPD "not to overdo it".

Senior CDU politician Julia Kloeckner voiced a similar concern, calling on the SPD to compose "realistic wish-lists" despite the fact that Christmas was "only four weeks away".
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:12:11|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tariff cuts on a wide range of consumer goods will give a boost to foreign brands in the Chinese market, and in the long run, should benefit domestic producers.

Effective next month, tariffs on 187 product categories such as baby formula, diapers and cosmetics will be reduced from 17.3 percent to 7.7 percent on average, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.

Tariffs on some types of baby formula and disposable diapers will be cut to zero.

The reduction will allow consumers cheaper access to high-quality or specialty products that can not be produced at home to meet increasing domestic demand, the ministry said.

The new plan echoes government's pledge to bolster imports, open up domestic market, and strike a balanced trade.

The move will help companies such as Nestle SA and Danone, as Chinese parents prefer foreign brands after a series of issues with domestic baby products.

Research by GF Securities showed foreign branded infant formula accounting for about 50 percent of China's market, down from a peak of 57 percent after a 2008 scandal.

However, foreign brands hold a prominent say in the first and second-tier cities. According to the Analysis.cn, a market data provider, 73 percent of the first-tier city consumers favor imported infant formula over domestic ones.

Buoyed by the news, shares of Nestle SA and Danone gained on Friday.

According to a Goldman Sachs, China's diary industry sales should increase by about 15 percent to 123 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020.

Procter & Gamble is among the foreign companies poised to benefit.

"While P&G products for Chinese consumers are largely manufactured in China, this will allow Chinese consumers even more access to our latest global innovations," Bloomberg quoted P&G's Rene Co as saying.

China plans to increase imports to meet domestic demand and appease complaints about its massive trade surplus.

To bolster imports, Wang Bingnan, Vice Minister of Commerce, promised fiscal and monetary policy support for lower tariffs on consumer goods, faster customs clearance and reduced paperwork.

Tariffs have been cut four times on imported consumer goods since 2015, with taxes on 152 categories of products lowered by an average of 50 percent.

Analysts said lower tariff will encourage people to buy imported products at home instead of overseas, which boosts domestic consumption.

According to the World Tourism Organization, Chinese tourists spent 261 billion U.S. dollars overseas in 2016, up 12 percent year on year.

If one third of that consumption could be turned into domestic consumption, experts say, it would lift the contribution of consumption to GDP by one percentage point.

While the new move may be a blow to domestic producers in the short run, it should mean improved quality and lower prices in the long run.

The milk industry has been in the shadow of a safety scandal since 2008, when infant formula produced by Sanlu Group, then a leading dairy company in northern China's Hebei Province, was found to contain the chemical melamine, which killed six babies and left thousands seriously ill.

The eventual outcome was that domestic infant formula producers improved their production and delivery processes.

The Dairy Association of China has said that 99.5 percent of dairy products checked in 2016 were up to standard and no illegal additives, such as melamine, had been detected in fresh milk for seven years.

Yang Zhiyong, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is hoped that lower tariffs will bring good competition between domestic and foreign brands, which creates opportunities for domestic producers.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:17:12|Editor: liuxin

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Julie Bishop, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, announces the winners of the 2017 New Colombo Plan scholarship at the Great Hall of the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Nov. 27, 2017. Fifteen Australian undergraduate students will have a chance to study and intern in Chinese mainland thanks to the Australian government's New Colombo Plan. (Xinhua/Xu Haijing)

by Xu Haijing, Zhao Bo

CANBERRA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen Australian undergraduate students will have a chance to study and intern in Chinese mainland thanks to the Australian government's New Colombo Plan.

They are among 120 winners of the 2017 New Colombo Plan scholarship, including 15 others who are going to study in universities in China's Hong Kong.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop made the announcement of the 120-strong list Monday at the Great Hall of the Parliament House in Canberra.

China is one of the most popular destinations of the New Colombo Plan, said Bishop last Thursday at a dinner party celebrating the 45th anniversary of the founding of diplomatic relations between Australian and the People's Republic of China in 1972.

"I know that China is making leaps and bounds and leading the way in the industry of computer science. China is making emphasis on pushing on innovation, " said Conor Gould from Griffith University, who won the scholarship to study in a university in Beijing.

He hoped to find a Beijing company for internship and learn more about data science and machine-learning.

"China is an important country especially in global politics. I'm studying environment and law and China is doing some really interesting things in environment conservation. The idea is to build ecological civilization. I think it's really fascinating," said Tess Van Geelan from Queensland University of Technology, also a winner to study in China.

The 120 Australian students will study in 20 host countries and regions, including for the first time, Tonga, the Federated States of Micronesia and New Caledonia.

"The New Colombo Plan is for Australian undergraduates and strives to reflect the diversity of our nation -- students from our cities, regional and remote areas, and from a wide range of backgrounds," said Bishop at the awarding ceremony.

She also thanked the business community for its ongoing engagement, including scholarships sponsored by PwC and QBE, as well as private sector support for student internships and other work-based learning.

Minister Birmingham said the program highlighted the important contribution international exchanges made to Australia's education engagement with the region.

"Scholars build connections with their peers, get real-life work experience and boost their employability in the graduate job market."

Launched in 2014, the New Colombo Plan is a signature initiative of the Coalition Government. By the end of 2018, more than 30,000 students will have been supported under the program.
Israel plans to build a tourist trail along the length and breadth of Israel that exposes more luring landscapes and cultural diversity of the country. (AFP Photo)

JERUSALEM, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli government approved Sunday a decision to build a tourist trail along the length and breadth of Israel that exposes the landscapes and cultural diversity of the country.

A budget of NIS 10 million (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars) will be allocated according to the decision, and the Israeli Tourism Ministry will head a development team for it.

It is the first time that the Israeli government has taken part in such a project, which has tourist and historical implications.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the project is needed for the country's tourism potential. "This is an outstanding enterprise."

The proposed route will leverage tourism throughout the country -- the north, which is characterized by verdant landscapes and water sources, and the south, with its desert landscapes, as well as offering tourists the possibility to hike between the holy sites.

The Ministry of Tourism will submit to the Israeli government within 120 days its recommendations for a strategic plan to develop the trail.

The decision states that the economic potential of such tourism to the periphery is significant with the ability to generate increases in hospitality options, eating places, tourist attractions and more.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said the decision to construct a tourist trail throughout Israel is an important decision against the background of the all-time record breaking figures in incoming tourism and the efforts to add tourist attractions that will benefit visitors and tourists in Israel.

According to the ministry, the path will expose tourists to Israel's landscapes and sites and will bring hikers to all parts of the country, including the periphery, thereby making significant economic contributions to these areas.

The proposal also details the economic potential of the trans-Israel trail both for domestic and incoming tourism.

Israel's three millionth tourist this year landed in Israel on Nov. 7, marking a new all-time record for incoming tourism in Israel.

Figures from the ministry show that the number of tourists (including day visitors) totaled 3.17 million during the first 10 months of this year, up 27 percent compared with the same period of 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:22:14|Editor: Zhou Xin

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RABAT, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The members of the Pan-African Council of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) has decided to hold Africities Summit in Morocco in December 2018, local media reported on Monday.

The decision was made at the UCLG Africa Executive Committee meeting on Nov. 25 in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire, said the official MAP news agency.

"The holding of this important meeting in Morocco is recognition of the kingdom's efforts in reinforcing decentralization and regionalization," the President of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils Mohamed Boudra said.

The organization of the summit in Morocco comes after the Congolese city of Brazzaville Congo had withdrawn from hosting the summit, due to the current financial difficulties that the country is experiencing.

The UCLG AFRICA is the umbrella organization and the united voice and representative of local government in Africa.

It is an institution that gathers 40 national associations of local governments from all regions of Africa as well as the 2000 cities that have more than 100,000 inhabitants.

UCLG AFRICA is a founding member of the United Cities and Local Governments world organization, and its regional section for Africa.

UCLG AFRICA is currently headquartered in the Moroccan capital Rabat, where it enjoys a diplomatic status as a Pan-African International Organization.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:27:16|Editor: Zhou Xin

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NAIROBI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations agency on human settlements said Monday it will assist East Africa states to adopt green housing techniques as a way to promote climate change.

Fredrick Ochieng, Energy Expert at the UN-Habitat, told Xinhua in Nairobi that his agency is providing technical advice to the region on how to construct buildings that reduce energy consumption.

"The UN is implementing the regional program on promoting energy efficiency in buildings in East Africa so as to mainstream energy efficiency measures into the building codes, building policies and building practices," Ochieng said on the sidelines of the Stakeholders Forum on Validation of Kenya Building Research Institute Bill and Strategic Plan.

The UN-Habitat is conducting the exercise in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi where it hopes to catalyze the construction of 600,000 green buildings over a period of five years.

Ochieng noted that currently, construction and maintenance of houses consume 60 percent of all energy used in East African.

"We want to help the region to improve its efficiency as a way to reduce the amount of green house gases emitted into the atmosphere," he added.

The program on promoting green house principles is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and has provided technical assistance in the area of green building, house finance and national building codes for Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda as well as provided input in the development of new building permits in Tanzania.

The regional program also trained over 500 architects and quantity surveyors in the field of energy efficiency in buildings.

Ochieng noted that the program is responding to the need for more energy savings during the design, construction and operation of buildings.

One of the major achievements of the program is the adoption by 10 universities in East Africa of a handbook on sustainable building design for tropical countries as a constituent part of their teaching materials for architects.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:37:20|Editor: yan

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PYONGYANG, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has congratulated Zimbabwe's new president Emmerson Mnangagwa on his inauguration as the head of state, the official Korean Central News Agency said Monday.

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, on Saturday sent a congratulatory message to Mnangagwa, wishing the latter big success in his work for the country's stability and prosperity, as well as regional peace and development.

Kim also expressed his belief that the long-standing, traditional, friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would continue to strengthen in the future.

The DPRK and Zimbabwe maintained close relationship during the rule of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 22:52:25|Editor: pengying

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Bangladeshi security members stand guard around Bangladeshi Supreme Court in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, ahead of mutiny trial verdict on Nov. 27, 2017. A High Court Division Bench in Bangladesh has upheld penalty for hundreds in a mutiny case and in its observation recommended a fresh probe into the failure of the intelligence for the carnage which left 74 people dead including 57 officers deputed from the Army. (Xinhua/Salim Reza)

by Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A High Court Division Bench in Bangladesh has upheld penalty for hundreds in a mutiny case and in its observation recommended a fresh probe into the failure of the intelligence for the carnage which left 74 people dead including 57 officers deputed from the Army.

The court's observation came on the second day of delivering the 10,000-page verdict over the killings during the two-day mutiny inside the headquarters of the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), previously known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), eight years ago.

Amid tight security, the High Court division bench of Justice Nazrul Islam, Justice Shawkat Hossain and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique on Monday delivered the mass verdict in the 2009 BDR mutiny murder case, which is considered the largest of its type in world history.

The division upheld death sentence for 139 convicts and life terms for 185 others of the BGB.

The High Court division also awarded jail terms ranging from three to 10 years to 196 border guards.

Another 49 were acquitted of all charges.

All the accused have the right to appeal with the apex court against their convictions.

The High Court bench led by Justice Shawkat Hossain started announcing the verdict, with observations of over 1,000 pages, on Sunday morning.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told journalists shortly after the verdict that the court in its observation recommended launching a probe into the intelligence failures about the 2009 mutiny at the paramilitary force's headquarters.

"The court asked to form a committee to investigate why the then BDR's security ( intelligence) unit failed to inform the government timely about the mutiny," said Alam.

He mentioned that the court stressed the need for maintaining good relationships among all BGB members and advised for holding regular basis discussion meeting.

Alam said the court observation instructed for dealing with grievances of members if any with priority and clearing arrears of soldiers if any without delay.

The court observed that the mutiny was aimed at creating an instability in the country and deterring democratic process, he said, adding the court in its observation also mentioned that from the entire case circumstances it seems that there was an internal or external plot to uproot, dethrone and depose Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's newly formed government following the general election in 2008.

BDR soldiers staged revolt against their army officers reportedly over salary and other benefits.

An official probe into the mutiny blamed that the incident is the outburst of many years of pent up grievances of the BDR soldiers over ignored pleas for pay hikes.

The Bangladeshi government had earlier decided to try the accused for such offenses as killings, attempted murder, looting and arson committed during the mutiny under the penal code.

Other offenses include breach of discipline and defying superiors' orders at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka and other stations of the force across the country under BDR laws through formation of the special courts.

The special courts of the BGB had earlier awarded jail terms ranging from four months to seven years to nearly 6,000 border guards of the force's 57 units.

The trial of Bangladesh's border guards facing charges of serious mutiny crimes at the paramilitary force's headquarters began in 2011 in a court in Dhaka.

A Dhaka court on Nov. 5, 2013 awarded death to 152 BGB personnel, while 161 people including two leaders of ruling Bangladesh Awami League party and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party were then sentenced to life imprisonment.

On the first day of the two-day bloody mutiny, on Feb. 25-26, 2009, the head of BDR Major General Shakil Ahmed was shot dead by mutineers.

The BDR revolt, which took place less than two months after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office for the second time, threatened the stability of her government and raised fears of military intervention.

Hasina chose a negotiated settlement instead of calling in the army to quell the revolt.

During the mutiny, over 7,000 BDR personnel were reportedly present at the headquarters of the paramilitary force which, with around 67,000 members, is guarding the country's long border line of 4,427 km with India and Myanmar.
Composite photo taken on Dec. 10, 2016 shows a quantum communication ground station in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

VIENNA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The landmark breakthrough on intercontinental quantum-encrypted communications made by Chinese scientists opens the window for global quantum communications, turning the once-doubted quantum phenomena into reality, a world leading quantum physicist told Xinhua.

Renowned scientist Anton Zeilinger, seen as a pioneer in the field of quantum information and of the foundations of quantum mechanics, believes the landmark quantum-encrypted intercontinental video call between China and Austria is very important and impressive.

Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to encrypt data. Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

"I see this as a part of the goal of building a future quantum internet, where in this case China enabled a worldwide quantum-secure communication," the physicist said.

Zeilinger has cooperated with Chinese physicists on quantum communications such as the Chinese "quantum experiments at space scale" (QESS) project.

On Sept. 29, a team of Chinese scientists in Beijing led by Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, held a half-hour video call with Zeilinger, who happens to be the president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues in Vienna, using quantum encryption developed from the quantum phenomena called quantum entanglement that secures the communications.

Zeilinger was particularly impressed by how smoothly the tests ran, and how good the quality of the connection was between satellites and the ground stations.

"What was really impressive was that the connection was of such high quality. I was really impressed by the fact that the data collection via the satellites worked, I would say, even better than we expected," said Zeilinger.

ONE UP ON EINSTEIN

For many quantum physicists, this practical application of the technology is undoubtedly an important milestone in the history of quantum mechanics, as the so-called mysterious quantum entanglement phenomena was made real.

The phenomena were the subject of a 1935 paper by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen. However, Einstein and others considered such behavior to be impossible, as it violated the local realist view of causality, and Einstein described it as "spooky action at a distance".

"Einstein himself would be really surprised," Zeilinger laughed, saying, "Because these concepts like entanglement now find practical application -- he would never have expected that."

He said the important point was that these quantum phenomena are no longer a matter of philosophical curiosity, but also an actual technology with real applications.

In practice, the first main application of the technology is secure communications, which Zeilinger believes could be used by banks, governments, and a select few smaller institutions within the next ten years, to safely exchange data and communications.

The stage is now set for the cutting-edge technology to be implemented worldwide.

With espionage and hacking of great concern, particularly when it comes to state secrets or important commercial information, the technology will be of high importance to such institutions.

Over the next 20 years, the University of Vienna professor expects the technology to spread worldwide, initially parallel to the current internet, and may later even take over as the "new quantum internet".

Quantum computers could also be employed together with the internet and satellites to form the basis of the new technology.

Zeilinger said China's success in conducting the QESS project and other cutting-edge scientific endeavors is in part due to an ability to make decisions on such projects more quickly than in Europe.

Its system sets a focus on technology, and makes sure people working on projects can reach their goals, and receive enough financial and institutional support. At present its research capacity also matches that of Europe and the United States, Zeilinger believes.

China invested a lot in quantum-related projects, and has successfully sent a quantum satellite Micius into space, while having several receiving stations domestically.

"I am convinced that this is the first step for worldwide quantum communication, so the investment is certainly well-placed for China; no question," Zeilinger said.

SCIENTIFIC TALENT

However, he stressed that talented Chinese scientists are crucial for this project, such Chinese quantum physicist Pan Jianwei, also the project leader.

In examining the beginnings of the quantum communications project, Zeilinger said one must look back some 20 years, when Pan conducted his university studies in Austria, in the cities of Vienna and Innsbruck.

Pan was recommended to him by the prestigious University of Science and Technology in China (USTC) in Hefei, and subsequently the talented student surprised his professor as he undertook a PhD in Austria.

Zeilinger is "very proud" of Pan, who was always enthusiastic about his work, and has now achieved technical success for the project.

He added that Pan, one of his best students, initially had a much stronger foundation in mathematical theory. Zeilinger encouraged Pan to undertake experiments, which was then on a small scale in the lab, but which are now changing the world.

The act of bridging theory with experiments proved to be something that Pan had a talent for. Some of the first ideas, concepts, experiments, and realizations of the present technology inside the Micius satellite were conceived back then, Zeilinger said.

Pan has in turn been a role model and mentor to new generations of talented young scientists in the fields of quantum computation and information. Zeilinger noted he is impressed by the level of science in China, as seen at numerous Chinese universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nanjing University.

It was much later, some five or six years ago, that Pan returned to China and was asked if he would like to collaborate in conjunction with the Austrian team, to which he subsequently agreed.

Pan was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011 and the World Academy of Sciences in 2012.

He won the international quantum communication award in 2012. His team's work on double quantum-teleportation was selected as the Physics world top breakthrough of the year in 2015. His team won the state natural science first class award in 2016.

The world's first quantum satellite was launched successfully by China in August 2016 as part of the QESS international research project, and Pan made great contribution to this project.

FUTURE VIEW

For further development of the advanced quantum mechanics project, Zeilinger said it is important to have more ground stations in Europe, and also a ground network based on fiber optics -- something China is doing now.

Quantum communications will be carried out just like the present internet -- via fiber optics, computers, and satellites in many countries. In the end, he anticipates global collaboration, just as with the internet.

But for a distances of greater than 2,000 km, it is better to use a satellite for quantum communication, Zeilinger told Xinhua, saying ground stations connected via fiber optics can work over a few hundred kilometers, but otherwise lose too many photons.

China presently has plans to build more satellites for this purpose and other countries will have them too.

"I am convinced there will be broad cooperation, like ground stations will be able to maybe talk to a Chinese satellite, and maybe at other times a European satellite, and so on," Zeilinger said.

"We will certainly continue to collaborate in various ways. For example, a test is planned soon in China and the Canary Islands, which are located west of the African coast," he added.

Some challenges for the technology remain, such as to improve data transmission rates, which he conceded were presently "not very much". For this, broadband communications are required, with improvements to various transmission and receiving equipment such as satellites being deemed necessary.

At present, satellite communications are only made from one location to another. In future, Zeilinger said whole user networks -- such as one in China, and one in Europe -- should be connected with each other via satellite, and this would be considered another breakthrough in quantum communications.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:07:34|Editor: yan

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PYONGYANG, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of Russian lawmakers arrived here Monday for an official visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the official Korean Central News Agency said.

The joint delegation of political parties of the State Duma was headed by Kazbek Taysaev, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who is also the head of the Russia-DPRK Friendship Parliamentary Group of the Russian lower house of parliament.

According to earlier reports by Russian media, during the visit until Dec. 1, four lawmakers will visit some installations and hold talks with DPRK officials at the Russian embassy here on the situation in the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia region.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:12:37|Editor: yan

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ANKARA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A businessman known as the "money vault" of the Gulen Movement has been escorted back to Turkey from Sudan on Monday, state media reported.

Memduh Cikmaz, allegedly a senior figure with interests in petrol retail and brick production, is accused of giving millions to the movement run by U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Ankara claims orchestrated the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Cikmaz was captured in a joint operation involving Sudanese intelligence after the Turkish National Intelligence Organization located him two months earlier, security sources told Anadolu news agency.

The report said MIT had created a team of specialists to locate suspected Gulenists abroad.

Turkey accuses Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, of orchestrating the abortive putsch in July 2016. Gulen has denied involvement and condemned the coup attempt.

More than 50,000 supporters of Gulen have been arrested over suspected links to the cleric since the coup attempt.

Ankara also accuses Fethullahist Terror Organization of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
A businessman known as the "money vault" of the Gulen Movement has been escorted back to Turkey from Sudan on Monday. (Reuters Photo)

ANKARA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A businessman known as the "money vault" of the Gulen Movement has been escorted back to Turkey from Sudan on Monday, state media reported.

Memduh Cikmaz, allegedly a senior figure with interests in petrol retail and brick production, is accused of giving millions to the movement run by U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Ankara claims orchestrated the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Cikmaz was captured in a joint operation involving Sudanese intelligence after the Turkish National Intelligence Organization located him two months earlier, security sources told Anadolu news agency.

The report said MIT had created a team of specialists to locate suspected Gulenists abroad.

Turkey accuses Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, of orchestrating the abortive putsch in July 2016. Gulen has denied involvement and condemned the coup attempt.

More than 50,000 supporters of Gulen have been arrested over suspected links to the cleric since the coup attempt.

Ankara also accuses Fethullahist Terror Organization of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:22:41|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A cargo train carrying molten sulfur derailed early Monday in central Florida, the southeastern U.S. state, according to rail operator CSX Corporation.

"Approximately nine rail cars" derailed near Lakeland, Polk County, Florida, said CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle, describing molten sulfur as "a hazardous material used in making rubber, detergent and fertilizers."

The CSX said no injuries have been reported and that it's investigating the cause of the derailment.

Several cars were left "rolled over and mangled," said Polk County Fire Rescue.

The fire rescue agency warned local residents to stay indoors, close their windows and turn off their air conditioning units.

However, "at this time there are no evacuations," said the agency.

The derailment occurred near a residential area along a divided four-lane highway that links suburban and rural neighborhoods to Lakeland, according to a National Public Radio report. The train track runs parallel to the road.

The train, travelling from Waycross, Georgia, to Winston, Florida, was comprised of three locomotives and nearly 200 rail cars, among them 120 loaded and 70 empty, said the operator.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:27:43|Editor: yan

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The second of two inmates who fled a courthouse about three weeks ago in San Francisco, western California of the United states, was arrested again, police said Sunday.

The 47-year-old man, identified as John Bivins, was taken into custody on Sunday after staying at large for nearly three weeks, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office of San Francisco was quoted by local media as saying.

On Nov. 6, Bivins' accomplice Tramel McClough was detained when California Highway Patrol officers stopped the two men's car on an interstate freeway. However, Bivins managed to dodge the police's attempts to capture him.

Both men escaped from Santa Clara County Superior Court in Palo Alto, about 50 km south of San Francisco, where they were to stand for a hearing.

The two were handcuffed when they were escorted to the courthouse, but managed to break free with the help of their friends, a 54-year-old man and a 44-year old woman.

Police on the following day detained the two persons who helped arrange the escape of Bivins and McClough.

Bivins and McClough were previously charged with robbing a cell phone store in Santa Clara in southern San Francisco in February.

Police said the two men took away more than 64,000 U.S. dollars worth of cell phones and other merchandise in the store.

The two were arrested later and booked in a detention facility before they were brought to the court hearing in Palo Alto early this month.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:32:46|Editor: yan

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HEFEI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC Motors) and Volkswagen Monday signed a memorandum on a joint venture to develop and market multi-function vehicles.

The two companies will discuss possible options for a joint venture which will develop pickup trucks, MPVs and electric cars.

The venture will be half-owned by JAC and half-owned by Volkswagen. It will be based in Hefei, capital city of central China's Anhui Province, hometown of JAC.

It will be the second joint venture between JAC and Volkswagen, as the two companies signed an agreement in Germany in June to establish a 50-50 joint venture to develop, produce and market new energy cars and related mobility services.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:32:47|Editor: yan

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by Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government on Monday launched a China-funded program to boost training and mentorship for youth keen to work in the country's blossoming construction industry.

Senior officials witnessed the launch of season four of the African Technology Challenge (ATC), funded by Chinese firm AVIC International. The program's goal is to refine the technical expertise of young people and enhance their employability in building and construction sectors.

"We are proud to witness this year's Africa Technology Challenge focus on civil engineering disciplines like masonry, carpentry and steel works. The challenge will empower youth from different backgrounds," said Dinah Mwinzi, principal secretary in the State Department of Technical and Vocational Training under the Ministry of Education.

The fourth edition of ATC program, dubbed "Jenga Vijana," or empower the youth, combines skills upgrade and employment opportunities for Kenyan youth in the construction sector.

Mwinzi said that a public-private partnership is key to helping bridge skills gap in the construction sector that has thrived against a backdrop of massive capital injection from local and foreign investors.

"We need skilled personnel to work in critical sectors like housing. The youth who are trained in masonry or carpentry can also apply their skills outside the country," Mwinzi said.

She added that highly trained youth will help the government tackle an annual shortfall of 200,000 housing units in the country.

Zhao Leilei, project manager with AVIC International Kenya, said improving civil engineering expertise among Kenyan youth is key to promoting economic growth and industrialization in the country.

"This year's Africa Technology Challenge will see the participants advance their civil construction skills while earning an income throughout the competition period," Zhao said.

More than 100 Kenyan youth will benefit from advanced training in civil engineering disciplines like carpentry, steel works and brick laying, to be provided by AVIC International.

Lynette Mwende, from AVIC International Kenya, said the youth enrolled in the one-month training program will acquire skills as they work at a construction site in Nairobi where the company is setting up apartment blocks.

"We decided to train the youth on construction-based skills. This year's Africa Technology Challenge is like an apprenticeship program where trainees are provided with a platform to perfect their skills as they earn an income," said Mwende.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:37:48|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Russian servicemen prepare a Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jet before a departure for a mission at the Russian Hmeimin military base in Latakia province, in the northwest of Syria, on December 16, 2015. (Xinhua/AFP)

MOSCOW, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russian Defense Ministry on Monday denied a report that Russian air strikes had killed dozens of civilians in airstrikes against terrorist targets in the village of Al-Shafah in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zour province.

"The aircraft of the Russian air force were not used against the village of Al-Shafah," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the strikes "are applied outside settlements and exclusively against targets of international terrorist groups."

Data on such targets are checked and confirmed in real time via several channels: from the ground and unmanned means of objective control ahead of a strike, the ministry said.

France's AFP news agency said earlier Monday that at least 53 civilians, including 21 children, died early Sunday morning when Russian air strikes hit residential buildings in a village held by the Islamic State (IS) group in eastern Syria.

It quoted the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying the strikes hit the village of Al-Shafah in Deir al-Zour province, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

On Sunday, Russian Defense Ministry said its six long-range TU-22M3 bombers had launched airstrikes on IS targets in the province of Deir al-Zour hitting "terrorists' strongholds and areas with high concentration of militants in the Euphrates valley."

It said Russian warplanes made around 530 sorties in Syria, destroying over 1,320 terrorist facilities in the last seven days.

So far, 98 percent of the Syrian territory have been liberated from IS militants, the ministry said in a separate statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:42:52|Editor: yan

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CHANGSHA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS sherpas on Monday agreed to take the Xiamen Summit as a new starting point, and renew the commitment to work even harder for another "Golden Decade" of BRICS cooperation.

The pledge came as the fifth BRICS sherpa's meeting was held on Monday in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.

The meeting was chaired by Li Baodong, sherpa for BRICS affairs and vice foreign minister of China, and attended by sherpas of BRICS countries and representatives of the New Development Bank.

Participants in the meeting reviewed the progress of BRICS cooperation in key areas such as trade, finance and politics this year.

BRICS Xiamen Summit was held in China's eastern coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian Province from Sept. 3 to 5.

BRICS groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. China holds the BRICS presidency this year, and South Africa will hold the presidency next year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:47:54|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- An international incubation union was set up in Beijing on Monday to boost technological cooperation between countries along the Belt and Road.

The union will explore mew incubation models for startups and seek win-win cooperation between Chinese and foreign companies.

Twenty Chinese institutions including China International Economic Cooperation and Investment Inc and 20 science parks from countries along the Belt and Road set up the union at the Beijing International Technology Transfer Convention which opened on Monday.

Members are from 15 countries. Chinese companies have already invested in a number of cross-border incubation platforms in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. European companies also plan to build centers for innovation and startups in the Chinese capital.

International cooperation will expand the depth and width of technological innovation, help Chinese companies into the international market and promote the application of advanced technology in China, said Xu Jie with China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Beijing technology transfer meeting, co-sponsored by the ministry and Beijing municipal government, promotes technological cooperation in such fields as agriculture, energy and health.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:47:55|Editor: yan

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SANAA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Yemeni court controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels in the capital Sanaa sentenced two al-Qaida suspects to death, Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported on Monday.

The court also sentenced four other suspects to prison terms ranging from 3 to 10 years, according to Saba.

The defendants were accused of involving in terrorist and criminal acts against security and military facilities in the southeastern province of Hadramout, and attacking the headquarters of the defence ministry in the capital Sanaa in 2013.

Al-Qaida branch in Yemen has been taking advantage from turmoil in the Arab country since 2011.

The terrorist group has also extended control over swath of territories in the country's south and northeast provinces since the civil war erupted after the the Shiite Houthi rebels stormed the capital Sanaa in late 2014 and drove the legitimate government into exile.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:52:57|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for continued efforts to upgrade the country's toilets as part of an ongoing "toilet revolution" campaign.

Why has China started this campaign, and why has China's top leader personally spoken out on this seemingly petty issue? Xi's latest instructions provide some answers.

To understand it better, it is necessary to look into what Chinese toilets were in the past and the far-reaching impact of the toilet renovation.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Although China has become the world's second-largest economy, some toilets in poor rural areas are still little more than makeshift shelters surrounded by bunches of cornstalks, while others are open pits next to pigsties, leading to problems such as contamination and pollution from human waste.

While the living standards in cities have drastically improved with China's stellar economic growth, more attention is needed to improve the living environment for the country's 600 million rural people.

That is why the government has invested big to build new toilets in the poorest parts of the country. From 2004 to 2013, the investment totaled 8.27 billion yuan. By the end of 2015, some 75 percent of rural homes had flush toilets or dry toilets with underground storage tanks that had walls, roofs, doors, windows and were at least two square meters in size.

But obviously it's not enough. China launched a "toilet revolution" nationwide in 2015 to make such facilities cleaner and more regulated.

As toilets are a part of everyday life and affect quality of life of the Chinese people, the Chinese government, which has promised to dedicate itself to the well-being of all citizens, must squarely face the problem.

While visiting rural areas, Xi has asked local residents about the conditions of the toilets they use, and stressed many times that clean toilets for rural residents are important for building a "new countryside."

TOURISM AND ECONOMY

While China has rich tourism resources, unhygienic toilet facilities at the country's tourist sites have long been a big put-off for visitors.

At a time when traditional growth drivers are losing steam, China has pinned hopes on services, including tourism, as a new force to support economic growth, and improving public facilities at tourist sites has become an urgent task.

A three-year "toilet revolution" launched in 2015 saw over 20 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) invested in installing or renovating 68,000 toilets at tourist sites, exceeding the target of 57,000 toilets.

For the coming three years, authorities aim to add 47,000 toilets and renovate 17,000, according to a plan released by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

"Compared with the rapid growth of the tourism industry and people's increasing demand for better lives, the development [of toilets] is unbalanced and inadequate. Another three-year program is urgently needed," said Li Jinzao, head of the CNTA.

China's domestic tourism industry earned about 3.9 trillion yuan in 2016, and the country plans to raise tourism revenue to 7 trillion yuan by 2020.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MADE-IN-CHINA

In recent years, there has a frenzy among middle-class Chinese to buy smart toilets during trips to Japan, even though many of these items are actually made in China.

Hoping to ride the wave of China's "toilet revolution," many Chinese companies are making efforts to manufacture and market high-end products on their own.

According to a report by China Household Electrical Appliances Association, the market size for China's domestic smart toilet sector has grown by 59 percent year on year to reach 3.1 million units in 2016.

But the penetration is as low as 1 percent, meaning there is still an immense potential market in China, according to the report.

The ongoing "toilet revolution," against the backdrop of a broader campaign to upgrade Made-in-China products, will hopefully bring changes that reach beyond the industry.

Related:

China should push "toilet revolution": Xi

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China should continue to upgrade the country's toilets as part of its "toilet revolution" aimed at developing domestic tourism and improving people's life quality, Chinese President Xi Jinping said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-27 23:52:58|Editor: ZD

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the seventh China and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) Economic and Trade Forum in Budapest, Hungary, Nov. 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BUDAPEST, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday called for advancing cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), also known as the 16+1 cooperation.

As an important part of and a helpful complement to China-Europe ties, 16+1 cooperation has promoted the development of China-Europe relations, Li said in a keynote speech to the seventh China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum held in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest.

The premier called for docking the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of the CEEC and taking the lead in implementing the results of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe.

Speaking to over 1,000 entrepreneurs from China and the CEEC at the opening ceremony of the forum, Li also demanded efforts to accelerate the building of connectivity projects such as the Hungary-Serbia railway and promote the healthy development of China-Europe freight train services.

Production capacity is also an area where the two sides should expand cooperation, said Li, calling for jointly building economic and trade cooperation zones and creating an industrial chain, value chain and logistics chain featuring closer integration, stronger drive and wider benefit.

Li also called upon the two sides to boost trade and investment liberalization and facilitation by strengthening customs cooperation and speeding up logistics, and to promote cooperation in the fields of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Chinese premier urged the two sides to expand financing channels to support China-CEEC cooperation.

In the speech, Li announced the establishment of China-CEEC Inter-Bank Association and the second phase of China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund.

The China Development Bank will provide an equivalent amount of 2 billion euros (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) as development-oriented financial cooperation loans for the inter-bank association, Li said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese premier said the second phase of the investment cooperation fund that totaled 1 billion dollars will be mainly invested in Central and Eastern Europe.

China supports commercial and development financial institutions to provide finance for bilateral cooperation projects and supports the two sides to conduct renminbi-denominated financing business for their cooperation projects, Li said.

China's economy has been transformed from a phase of high-speed growth to high-quality development, and this will surely create opportunities for all countries in the world including the CEEC in terms of bigger market, stronger growth, more investment and cooperation, Li said.

On his part, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said 16+1 cooperation has covered economy and trade, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in the past five years, which not only benefited the CEEC's development, but also became an effective mechanism and integral part of Europe-China mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

In the context of a changing world political order and economic landscape, 16 Central and Eastern European countries are willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with China and take this as the opportunity for development, in line with the spirit of equal treatment and mutual respect, Orban said.

Orban also said the CEEC will actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and create better environment for Chinese companies investing and developing in Central and Eastern Europe.

Li arrived in Budapest on Sunday for an official visit to Hungary and for the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries.

During his stay in Hungary, Li will hold bilateral meetings with CEEC leaders and work with them to outline future cooperation. He will also witness the signing of a series of cooperation documents and celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the 16+1 cooperation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 00:03:02|Editor: yan

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LAMU, Kenya, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's security forces on Monday destroyed six Al-Shabaab training camps in an ongoing operation to flush out militants from the vast Boni forest in the coastal town of Lamu.

Director of Operation Linda Boni Joseph Kanyiri said weapons including AK-47 rifles, bomb-making materials, food and medicine were recovered during the operation in the forest that lies along the border with Somalia.

"We have destroyed six Al-Shabaab camps inside Boni Forest. The temporary camps were used as hideouts for the terrorists to conduct attacks in various parts of Lamu," said Kanyiri.

He said "many" Al-Shabaab militants were killed and others injured during the operation.

"We have killed many Al-Shabaab terrorists and many others fled with gunshot wounds. We are in hot pursuit," he Kanyiri.

Kanyiri urged Al-Shabaab returnees who have secretly slipped back into Kenya to voluntarily avail themselves for rehabilitation so they are not treated as suspects.

A good number of Al-Shabaab militants have been killed by Kenyan security forces since the start of Operation Linda Boni in 2015.

Most of the militants who had infiltrated the forest have abandoned the camps and fled to Somalia, according to military and police sources.

Militants of the 300-man Jeysh Ayman, an Al-Shabaab cell, used the vast Boni forest as an operational base for recruiting and waging terror attacks in the Coast region.

A number of people, including security officers, have been killed in attacks by militants who often use improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 00:08:06|Editor: liuxin

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Zhang Dejiang (R), chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee, shakes hands with Serbian National Assembly Speaker Maja Gojkovic in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China and Serbia agreed in Beijing on Monday to boost parliamentary exchanges and share experience in governance, the development of democracy and rule of law.

The agreement was reached in the talks between China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang and visiting Serbian National Assembly Speaker Maja Gojkovic.

They signed a protocol on setting up a cooperation committee from members of both countries' legislative bodies.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, said the protocol is a new platform for bilateral cooperation and boosting exchanges between legislative bodies.

He called on closer parliamentary exchanges among various levels, to consolidate political foundation for bilateral ties.

Zhang encouraged legislative bodies to offer more consistent and reliable policies and legal environment for China-Serbia cooperation, and step up cultural exchanges and local cooperation.

He recalled the exchange of state visits between the two countries' state leaders, adding China is ready to work with Serbia to implement leaders' consensus, combine development strategies, deepen win-win cooperation and build a better future for both countries and peoples.

Gojkovic, in her turn, congratulated the success of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

She said the Serbian National Assembly hopes to make full use of the cooperation committee to cement parliamentary exchanges and bilateral friendship at the new stage.

China's top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng also met with Gojkovic earlier on Monday. Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said the CPPCC expects to enhance exchanges and cooperation with the Serbian National Assembly, to boost sustained and stable growth of bilateral ties.

Gojkovic is visiting China from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 00:23:11|Editor: yan

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KHARTOUM, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Defence Ministry on Monday announced the arrest of Sheikh Musa Hilal, an important tribal leader in Sudan's Darfur region.

"Leader of the Awakening Revolutionary Council (ARC) Musa Hilal and his son Habeeb have been arrested," Sudan's State Minister for Defense Ali Mohamed Salem told reporters.

"They will be transported to El Fasher, capital of North Darfur State and from there to the capital Khartoum," he added.

Salem further stressed on the stability of the security situations at Mistariha, home area of Hilal.

On Sunday, armed clashes took place at Mistariha area in North Darfur State between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an affiliate of the Sudanese army, and the ARC fighters.

Hilal has strongly opposed the recent government campaign for the collection of arms in Darfur despite the fact that he was an ally of the government until very recently.

Hilal refused to surrender ARC's weapons to the government and opposed the assignment of the arms collection to the rapid support forces.

The government insisted on collecting the arms from all militias and tribes in Darfur so that the weapons would be in the hands of the regular forces only.

Hilal has allied with the Khartoum government to fight rebels in the region since the outbreak of war in 2003.

The West and human rights organization Human Rights Watch blamed Hilal for forming the Janjaweed militias which are accused of committing war crimes in Darfur.

The UN Security Council decided in 2006 to impose sanctions on Musa Hilal and three others, including travel ban and freeze of funds.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 01:23:34|Editor: yan

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VILNIUS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite appointed on Monday Virginijus Sinkevicius as the country's new economy minister.

Sinkevicius currently serves as the chairman of the parliamentary Economic committee and is a member of the ruling party Lithuanian farmers and greens union (LVZS). Earlier this month he turned 27 and will be the youngest minister in Lithuania's post-independence history.

"I will represent the young people and the generation of independence," Sinkevicius was quoted as saying by news website vz.lt. He was born in 1990, the year when the Baltic state declared its independence.

The new minister told local media one of his first tasks in the cabinet would be improving performance of tourism authorities and bringing more transparency into public procurement process.

The Lithuanian president also urged the new economy minister to cut red tape and bureaucracy.

"Businesses are not happy about being monitored by 57 different institutions," Lina Antanaviciene, the President's senior adviser, told local press conference after Grybauskaite met with Sinkevicius.

Cabinet members in Lithuania are appointed by the president under proposal of the prime minister.

Before his approval, Sinkevicius and Grybauskaite discussed priorities for the ministry of economy.

The new minister of economy has been appointed following the departure of Mindaugas Sinkevicius. Mindaugas Sinkevicius, who was delegated to the position by the social democratic party, resigned following his party's decision to leave the ruling coalition.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 01:23:35|Editor: yan

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ABUJA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Monday said it has worked very hard to battle endemic corruption in the most populous African country.

Lai Mohammed, the minister of information, told reporters in Abuja that under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria is winning the war against corruption.

"Yes, corruption is fighting back furiously, but it cannot match the courage, the determination and the commitment of this administration, nor can it dampen the leadership of President Buhari," Mohammed said.

He said with the government's vigor in tackling corruption, Nigeria had added 500 million U.S. dollars to its Sovereign Wealth Fund and raised the foreign reserves from 23 billion dollars to 35 billion dollars, including stopping the payment of phantom subsidy running into billions of dollars to independent oil marketers.

According to government data, anti-graft agencies in the country have so far recovered 2.9 billion dollars from looters.

At least 43 million dollars and 56 houses were recovered from one former government official.

A whistle-blower policy recently introduced by the government had led to the recovery of 151 million dollars in looted funds from three sources, Mohammed said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 01:58:41|Editor: yan

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by Ronald Njoroge

NAIROBI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese phone maker OPPO plans to target Kenya's high-end consumer market by introducing cost-effective smartphones, the company said on Monday.

Andrew Peng, CEO of OPPO Kenya, told journalists in Nairobi the devices will retail for 150 to 500 U.S. dollars.

"We are targeting the premium market for smartphones that has been under-served by phone vendors," Peng said when OPPO started selling one of its latest smartphones, the OPPO F5, in the Kenyan market.

The device, which OPPS says can "capture the real you," is retailing across the country at a price of 320 dollars.

The OPPO F5' standout features include a six-inch full screen, facial recognition, a 20MP selfie camera and the artificial intelligence (AI) "beauty technology" that promises to bring selfies to life.

Peng said the OPPO F5 is part of the company's commitment to focusing on delivering mid- and high-range smartphones with the best possible camera technology with its F series of smartphones.

"The pioneer of the series, the OPPO F1, has been selling in the local market for two years now," he said.

Most of the phones in Kenya retail for less than 150 dollars.

The CEO noted that rising income levels has led to increased demand for higher quality smartphones.

"We have launched the OPPO F5, given that consumers are demanding a camera phone that overcomes challenges and clicks perfect selfies," he added.

OPPO has been in the Kenyan market since March 2015, when it debuted three smartphone models, the premium N3 and R5 and the entry-level Neo 3.
A herd of reindeer pasture beside the road of Kaamasentie in Lapland area, northern Finland, 55 km away from Norway border on Oct. 28, 2013. (Xinhua/Li Jizhi)

OSLO, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A total of 106 reindeer were killed by freight trains during the course of three days along a railway line in northern Norway, public broadcaster NRK reported Monday.

Bane NOR, the government agency responsible for operation of railway network, had previously ensured owner Ole Henrik Kappfjell that trains would run slower in the area where the reindeer were situated.

However, the message, never reached the trains, according to NRK. As a result, several trains on the Nordland Line through Helgeland ran into the herd at full speed, killing a total of 106 reindeer over three days.

"We, reindeer owners, have a close relationship with our animals. I am so angry that I am almost dizzy," Kappfjell told NRK.

He added that one of the tortured animals was hanging fast on the locomotive all the way to the station in Mosjoen.

"This is a completely meaningless animal tragedy. We are going through a mental nightmare now," he said.

According to Torstein Appfjell, leader of Jillen-Njaarke reindeer herding area, where the tragedy happened, 26 reindeer were run down by train on Wednesday, 15 on Friday, and 65 on Saturday.

Owners of reindeer are working these days to bring their animals to Sjamoen to separate them and to transport them to the coast for winter pastures.

Area Director of Bane NOR, Thor Braekkan, expressed regret that the message about reindeer on the railway track had not been forwarded, due to "a technical failure".

Braekkan told NRK that Kappfjell did everything right when he contacted them.

"He notified us and the message was added to the system. Unfortunately, this message never reached the train due to a technical failure. When it was discovered that the message had disappeared, the company tried to call the train. Unfortunately, it was too late," Braekkan explained.

"This happens very rarely. The routines work well, but, unfortunately, a technical failure happened," he added.

Between 2013 and 2016, more than 2,000 animals were hit along the Nordland Line, NRK reported.

Several of these animals belonged to Kappfjell in Grane. He was very critical of the fact that there have been no more fences lifted along the railway.

"This happens every year. It is a riddle for me that this is constantly postponed," he said.

Braekkan emphasized concern of the company about doing something to solve the problem.

"However, for the time being, no money has been allocated for the construction of reindeer fences along this stretch," he said.

"It was a nightmare to look at. The worst was to see the animals that did not die after being hit. They lay there and suffered. There were several kilometers of bloodbath, something I will never forget," said Jon Erling Utsi, a documentary filmmaker who filmed the dead animals on Saturday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 02:53:55|Editor: yan

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by Bedah Mengo

NAIROBI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Mobile money use in Kenya dropped in the third quarter of the year by 2 percent, the time when the country was in an electioneering period.

Central Bank of Kenya data released on Monday shows that the east African nation's citizens transacted on their mobile phones about 8.7 billion U.S. dollars during the period, down from 8.9 billion dollars in the second quarter.

The slight decline is attributed to the elections, with Kenyans having gone to the first polls on Aug. 8, the presidential results of the elections were however cancelled on Sept. 1 by the Supreme Court.

The apex court ordered a repeat poll which was done on Oct. 26, but in September, the country experienced a lot of political bickering that led to slowdown of the economy.

During the period, there was fear of violence with people cutting down on spending and business, therefore, on movement of money.

In the three months, the least transactions were done in August, where a record low of 2.8 billion dollars being transacted. In July, transactions stood at 3 billion dollars and rose marginally in September to 2.9 billion dollars.

Ernest Manuyo, a business management lecturer in Nairobi, noted that decline in transaction was expected as business slows down when the political climate is unfavourable.

"During such times, all the people think about is their safety, therefore, in case they have disposable income, they cannot send it to others but keep for emergencies. That is how elections are disruptive but the 2 percent decline is marginal," he said.

In 2016, Kenyans transacted 26 billion dollars on their mobile phones, with the figure expected to rise this year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:09:00|Editor: yan

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TRIPOLI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Ghassan Salame met on Monday with head of the Higher Council of State over the amendment of the political agreement.

Salame held separate talks with Abdurrahman Swehli, head of Libyan Higher Council of State and head of the eastern-based parliament's dialogue committee in Tripoli on the UN initiative to end the political division in Libya.

"During the meeting with the head of the parliament dialogue committee, Salame stressed the importance of the parliament's recent agreement on the amendment formula, which is the outcome of the two rounds of dialogue in Tunisia," parliament member Ismail Al-Sherif told Xinhua.

"We have agreed on a formula that we and the Higher Council of State discussed with all details," Sherif added.

Salame also on Monday met with the UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj in Tripoli.

"Salame presented a summary of his briefing at the recent UN Security Council session on the political situation in Libya," the media office of the Prime Minister said.

"The meeting discussed mechanisms to support the Libyan Commission of Elections and to create environment for the Commission's work. Serraj stressed the need to start registration of voters as soon as possible to complete the election," the office added.

Representatives of the Parliament and the Tripoli-based Higher Council of State have recently held UN-sponsored negotiation meetings in Tunisia to amend the political agreement.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a UN-proposed amendment. However, its rival Higher Council of State rejected the amendment, announcing possibility of holding elections within six months to appoint a government of technocrats.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:14:03|Editor: yan

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MOGADISHU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. airstrike killed one terrorist in northeastern Somalia on Monday, military officials said.

The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement the U.S. forces conducted the airstrike in coordination with the Somalia government at about 3 p.m. local time.

"In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike against ISIS, in northeastern Somalia on Nov. 27, killing one terrorist," AFRICOM said, referring to the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

The U.S. military vowed to sustain airstrikes by using all authorized and appropriate measures to protect Americans and to disable terrorist threats by partnering with African Union and Somali security forces.

"Our political and security goals in Somalia are the same -- a reconstituted Somali state at peace internally and able to address all threats within its territory," it said.

U.S. forces carried out a series of drone strikes in the past month in Somalia, targeting IS and Al-Shabaab fighters as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping mission prepares to exit the country.

Somali and AMISOM forces have also intensified military operations against the insurgents, flushing them in their Lower and Middle Shabelle region bases amid an expected recall of 1,000 African Union troops by end of December.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:19:05|Editor: yan

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by Alexia Vlachou

ATHENS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A total amount of 35,000 euros (4,164 U.S. dollars) raised during a charity concert in Brussels to support the initiative "Fuel for Schools" was handed over to Greece on Monday to provide heating fuel to schools in remote villages in the northern part of Greece.

For the sixth year, the nonprofit association "12 Hours for Greece" organized a sold-out music concert with the participation of exceptional artists from Greece on Nov. 11 in the European capital. Hundreds of people attended the event.

"With the support of the Greek community in Belgium, Belgian and other foreign citizens who are fond of Greece, we managed to collect 31,000 euros last year, and we helped supply with fuel 40 schools in the north of Greece. In those 40 schools, there are approximately 7,000 children," Jimmy Jamar, head of the European Commission Representation in Belgium and organizer of the "12 Hours for Greece" initiative told a press conference here on Monday.

The check with the 35,000 euros was handed over to Aspasia Leventis, founder and president of "International Foundation for Greece" which has undertaken the task to deliver fuel to schools in remote villages in the northern part of Greece.

"This year we have 250 applications from schools," Leventis stressed. Every year the foundation receives more and more requests to join the program, as she added.

"It is our moral duty to support such wonderful initiatives that promote Greece and help financially Greek organizations that do not have the means," Panos Carvounis, head of European Commission Representation in Greece said.

The association was created in the spring of 2012 with two main objectives.

"We try not only to bring the fuel, we also try in these villages in northern Greece to create some links between the schools in Greece and the schools and municipalities in Belgium. This is important to create some ties," Jammar said.

Due to economic crisis that has hit the country, hundreds of schools do not have the means to purchase heating fuel for the classrooms.

During the last months, the situation was alarming due to heavy storms that hit many parts of Greece, Samothrace included.

Jammar announced that part of the money raised will be allocated to help families in Samothrace whose houses were damaged by the storms. In addition, they work with the Greek authorities to support the flood victims in the suburb of Mandra in western Attica that were severely damaged by the deadly floods two weeks ago through programs developed in the European Commission. (1 euro=1.19 U.S. dollar)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:24:08|Editor: Xiang Bo

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File photo taken on Oct. 2, 2017 shows a damaged room of a police station that was targeted by suicide bombings in Midan neighborhood in Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

GENEVA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) special envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, said Monday that the Syrian government had not committed to attending the next round of peace talks due to start Tuesday, where both sides are expected to be ready to negotiate.

"The (Syrian) government did not yet confirm its participation in Geneva, but indicated that we would be hearing from them soon," said De Mistura, briefing the UN Security Council via a video conference from Geneva as he was preparing for round eight of the UN-convened Syrian talks on Nov. 28.

De Mistura said he had called on the parties in the Geneva negotiations to "prepare for real talks" and "real diplomacy."

He had said the Syrian government should come ready to negotiate and there needs to be a "united opposition delegation with common positions that comes ready to negotiate."

De Mistura also stressed that the negotiations should take place in Geneva without any preconditions and focus on the essential principles and the constitutional and election baskets, towards the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2254.

The UN envoy noted that prior to the latest round of talks, "we have seen signals on all these points, and we will now see what happens in Geneva."

He referred to recent talks that had taken place in DaNang in Vietnam, the Russian city of Sochi, and the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh as "important meetings...that might help us."

The upcoming Geneva talks also take place just days after the leaders of Iran, Turkey, and Russia met in Sochi, where they supported a comprehensive dialogue for Syria.

"International players are clearly looking for some common ground based on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2254, and are urging Syrians to begin to find some common ground too," said De Mistura.

The Syrian armed conflict broke out in 2011 and quickly turned into a full-fledged war. UN figures show that the Syrian war has killed more than 330,000 people and displaced millions.

De Mistura's deputy, Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi, had said in Damascus on Nov. 25 that four baskets would be under discussion in talks staring on Tuesday in Geneva, adding that the focus would be on the second and third baskets, pertaining the elections and constitution.

Ramzi also told reporters that the political process in Syria would not be an easy task, but said he hoped they "could be conducive in pushing the political process forward."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:39:12|Editor: yan

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by Ronald Njoroge

NAIROBI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to launch a 20 billion U.S. dollar social housing project to ease the housing deficit, a senior government official said on Monday.

James Macharia, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, told a media briefing in Nairobi that a request for interest has been issued to international and domestic firms to undertake the mass low-cost housing venture.

"We have received interest from over 60 firms that have undertaken similar social housing projects elsewhere and we will soon award the contract after completion of the tender process," Macharia said during the Stakeholders Forum on Validation of Kenya Building Research Centers Strategic Plan 2017 to 2022.

Under the project, the east African nation plans to construct one million low-cost houses at a cost of 20,000 dollars each, over the next five years.

"We are going to borrow heavily from nations such as China that have been able to construct high-rise apartments which are safe for human occupation at an affordable cost in order to roll out a high number of quality houses," he said.

Macharia noted that Kenya currently has a housing deficit of 1.85 million houses due to rapid urbanization.

"This has led to the proliferation of slums as supply cannot cope with the rising demand," he added.

The cabinet secretary said that the social houses will be built through a public-private partnership as government resources are not sufficient to construct the houses.

The private sector will be offered a number of incentives and subsidies in order to ensure the houses are affordable to ordinary citizens.

The ministry of infrastructure, housing and urban development is fast tracking the enactment of the Kenya Building Research Institute bill that will create a research organization to spearhead innovation of the latest technology to lower the cost of construction in the country.
A Bangladeshi man helps Rohingya Muslim refugees to disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi shoreline of the Naf river after crossing the border from Myanmar in Teknaf on September 30, 2017. (Xinhua/AFP)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 has reached 624,000, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Monday.

An average of 430 Rohingya refugees entered Bangladesh per day this past week, a slowdown compared to the previous week.

The Rohingyas fled their homes in northern Rakhine State of Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh after deadly attacks staged by the rebel Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on police posts on Aug. 25 allegedly touched off a wave of retribution by government and vigilante forces.

Rohingyas arriving in refugee camps -- some having traversed an inlet of the Bay of Bengal on makeshift rafts and boats -- reported widespread violence against them.

On reports of an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the repatriation of the refugees, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it is important that people are able to return to the place they came from "in a safe, dignified and protected manner."

The ethnic Rohingyas are denied citizenship in the largely Buddhist nation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:49:14|Editor: yan

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by Li Jizhi

HELSINKI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- While the vision of accelerated development in the Arctic region is close at hand, Finland's Arctic ambassador Aleksi Harkonen said Monday the biggest challenges concerning the international cooperation on Arctic issues were related to the climate change.

In an interview with Xinhua, he described the challenge was in "how to make the Arctic perspectives better known in the global efforts to mitigate climate change, how to help the Arctic inhabitants adapt to the expected changes, and how to make the Arctic communities more resilient to meet the challenges posed by the warming climate".

Climate change is a global issue, but it is most greatly felt in the Arctic, noted Harkonen. For example, the excessive emissions originating from the rest of the world not only cause local pollution, but also cause atmospheric pollution in the Arctic region when the black carbon falls on snow and ice, accelerating melting, and absorbing sunlight, therefore, warming the climate, he elaborated.

Finland took over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council from the United States as of May 2017, and has adopted two issues as its main tasks: the first is climate change, and the other is sustainable development, said Harkonen.

FINANCIAL GAP

During the two-year term that Finland is chairing the Arctic Council, the Nordic country wants to harmonize the policies of the Arctic countries with the Paris Agreement reached among the international community two years ago.

The agreement has amounted to a guidebook, and the guidebook is most appreciated in the Arctic as climate change has affected this region in particular.

Harkonen recalled the happy moment when the government led by former U.S. president Barack Obama made efforts to encourage Arctic countries to contribute to the action against climate change, but worried about Washington withdrawing from the Paris agreement and causing a deficit in funding climate policies.

"If one big party leaves, that will leave the others with obligation to fill the gap," he said.

Harkonen expected most countries, including China and European Union (EU) member states, would stay and shoulder the mission to fight climate change. "The biggest of them is the People's Republic of China. And of course this would offer China an opportunity to become a leading proponent of the actions against climate change," he said.

EFFORTS NEEDED

Finland works to see how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) required in the UN Agenda 2030 could be best applied in the Arctic region. As part of the Arctic Council program, a conference was organized in Rovaniemi, northern Finland, in mid-November by regional politicians, city planners, university researchers, and business elites to discuss the application of SDGs in the Arctic.

The conference was the first occasion when the SDGs in the Arctic were discussed, said Harkonen, and it chose environmental protection and education as the two main topics under the theme of sustainable development.

Any development should be sustainable, which means that the environment is well protected against any type of pollutions such as microplastics, black carbon and acidification of oceans, noted Harkonen.

Education was also underlined, considering "the Arctic region should not be developed so that the workforce is brought in from outside and then taken back, leaving the local inhabitants without employment," he added.

There are remote communities in the Arctic region where it is difficult to get a good education, and modern technical solutions such as e-learning would be helpful in such cases.

ECONOMIC VIABILITY

The past a few years have witnessed increasing traffic in the Arctic Ocean, due to the longer ice-free period in the summer. Another reason was the natural gas production project on the Yamal peninsula in northern Russia, and construction materials were transported there via the northeastern route.

However, Harkonen did not see economic viability so far concerning Arctic maritime transportation." Many companies have tried the northern sea routes and decided other routes are still better," he said.

Neither did he favor the exploitation of energy resources in the Arctic region as a whole, as "it is not quite sure whether it is feasible or whether it makes sense to utilize them." He believed there were other alternatives like renewable energy which would be competitive.

"We should apply precautionary principle rather than hasten to do something which may cause damage," he suggested.

Finland is working on projects to promote an Arctic Sea cable going under the Arctic Ocean from Europe to Asia, and a railway line linking the Arctic shore to the harbors in Helsinki and further to the European continent via an undersea tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn, so as to contribute to better connectivity.

Feasibility reports are being prepared, and, if things go right, the sea cable may be the most hopeful to finalize among all the initiatives. The cable will shorten the time needed to pass information between different points in Asia and Europe, according to Harkonen.

Harkonen also praised China's Belt and Road Initiative, hailing it "a very good goal to unite the peoples of Asia and Europe".

Unlike in history, when Chinese silk, porcelain and other innovations were brought to Europe, the initiative brings more exchanges between continents via sea, air, land and the internet. It will be natural for the business world to harmonize the initiative with the strategies of the Arctic countries, said Harkonen.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:59:17|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Monday that he believed that the "moment of truth" had arrived for the Syria talks.

He made the remarks while briefing the UN Security Council by videolink about the preparations for the round of talks on Syria that are to begin in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday.

The talks should begin in Geneva without preconditions, said the envoy.

Initially, he said, the participants should focus on a work plan, on principles as well as the constitutional and election "baskets" towards the implementation of Security Council resolution 2254.

He added that all other initiatives should support the UN mediation process, which the Security Council has mandated the United Nations to conduct, and no one else.

As Da'esh, or the Islamic State, is being defeated, he said, neither side should turn to violence in the de-escalation zones, and he expressed concern about the latest violence in eastern Ghouta.

Regarding the situation in eastern Ghouta, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that a UN/Syrian Arab Red Crescent inter-agency convoy was not able to enter Nashabieh in eastern Ghouta on Monday due to fighting in the area.

The convoy contained food, health and nutrition items for 7,200 people in need.

While guarantees of safe passage had been granted before the humanitarian convoy moved, it was forced to turn back following shelling and explosions in the area.

The United Nations is to resume the peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in Geneva on Tuesday.

The opposition's delegation arrived Monday, after publishing a communique last week that said it was ready for talks "without preconditions."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:19:22|Editor: yan

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LUANDA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni Silveri said here on Monday that the choice of Angola as the first stop of his Africa tour confirms the importance of the friendly ties between Italy and Angola.

Paolo Gentiloni Silveri, who arrived in the Angolan capital on a two-day working visit on Sunday, told a joint press conference with Angolan President Joao Lourenco at the end of their talks that there is a lot to be done to consolidate cooperation between the two countries.

The Italian leader said the future of Europe goes through Africa, pointing out the influence of the Mediterranean in the culture of the two continents.

For his part, Angolan President Lourenco urged small and medium-sized Italian enterprises to invest in Angola and contribute to the diversification of the country's economy.

Lourenco said it is essential that Angola's cooperation with Italy extends to the agriculture-industry and fisheries sectors.

Angola is Italy's third largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.

Italy was the first European country to recognize the independence of Angola, on Feb. 18, 1976.
Members of China's research team set up an ocean profiling float at a short-term data acquisition location near the icebreaker Xuelong, or "Snow Dragon", in the Arctic Ocean, Aug. 18, 2016. (Xinhua/Wu Yue)

MOSCOW, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The China-Russia joint construction of the "Silk Road on Ice" (SRI) will facilitate the pairing of their strategic initiatives and promote comprehensive cooperation of the two countries in the Arctic area, a Russian expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The initiative to create the Eurasian Economic Partnership and to conjugate it with the Belt and Road Initiative is becoming a global initiative to change the existing world order radically," said Vladimir Remyga, chairman of the Coordination Council for Cooperation with Business Associations of Asia of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ICIE).

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

In December 2015, in his annual state of the union address to the Russian Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced the idea of a greater Eurasian partnership, which is based on the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) officially established in January 2015.

The Russia-led EEU, which groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, is an economic bloc aiming to optimize the flow of goods and services among its members.

During a visit to Moscow in May 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an agreement with Putin on aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with the EEU.

Noting that Russia is an important partner in the construction of the Belt and Road, Xi in July urged the two countries to carry out the Northern Sea Route cooperation so as to realize an "Ice Silk Road."

The SRI refers to a shortcut between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans through the Arctic. It is widely seen as the third arch of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, which is originally composed of one route spanning westward from China to Europe, and the other extending from the country's eastern coastline down to the Indian Ocean.

As leading players in pushing forward the global initiative, Russia and China have advanced from general agreements to practical implementation, including a joint feasibility study of the Eurasian Economic Partnership Agreement expected to be ready by the end of 2017, Remyga said.

"During the meeting of the heads of governments of Russia and China in early November, joint construction of the SRI was actively discussed as an important part of the formation of the Great Eurasian Partnership and the Belt and Road Initiative," Remyga said.

According to Remyga, the discussion on the joint construction of the SRI was given a significant impetus by the adoption of Russia's new program for the development of the Arctic zone until 2025, with a budget financing of over 16 billion rubles (274 million U.S. dollars).

"Cooperation with China is largely considered as an important driver for the implementation of this program," he said.8 Within this context, joint development of oil and gas fields as well as the construction of various types of infrastructure facilities like railways and ports are being explored by the two countries, the expert said.

"The core cooperation area is the development of the infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route and the establishment of cargo transportation through it, in order to transform the route into a global competitive transport artery," Remyga said.

The Northern Sea Route, a strategic shipping passage between Asia and Europe that runs along Russia's Arctic coast, is seen as a fundamental part of the SRI.

It is estimated that if fully opened, the Arctic route will cut the annual costs of international maritime trade by 53.3-127.4 billion dollars by 2020.

Despite progress in cooperation, there are problems in exploiting the Northern Sea Route and implementing relevant infrastructure projects, including a significant shortage of ice-class cargo ships, Remyga said.

"Construction of the new powerful nuclear icebreakers has begun in Russia. The first of the three ships, the icebreaker Arktika, will be launched soon, to be followed by Siberia in 2019 and Ural in 2020. But the construction of ice-class cargo ships has not yet begun," he said.

According to Remyga, China and Russia are currently conducting negotiations on setting up a joint-venture company for the construction of ice-class cargo vessels as well as the upgrade of ports and overall navigation infrastructure.
File Photo: Syrian army soldiers fire an artillery on the Islamic State (IS) positions near the city of al-Bukamal in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province, Syria, on Nov. 10, 2017. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Monday that he believed that the "moment of truth" had arrived for the Syria talks.

He made the remarks while briefing the UN Security Council by videolink about the preparations for the round of talks on Syria that are to begin in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday.

The talks should begin in Geneva without preconditions, said the envoy.

Initially, he said, the participants should focus on a work plan, on principles as well as the constitutional and election "baskets" towards the implementation of Security Council resolution 2254.

He added that all other initiatives should support the UN mediation process, which the Security Council has mandated the United Nations to conduct, and no one else.

As Da'esh, or the Islamic State, is being defeated, he said, neither side should turn to violence in the de-escalation zones, and he expressed concern about the latest violence in eastern Ghouta.

Regarding the situation in eastern Ghouta, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that a UN/Syrian Arab Red Crescent inter-agency convoy was not able to enter Nashabieh in eastern Ghouta on Monday due to fighting in the area.

The convoy contained food, health and nutrition items for 7,200 people in need.

While guarantees of safe passage had been granted before the humanitarian convoy moved, it was forced to turn back following shelling and explosions in the area.

The United Nations is to resume the peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in Geneva on Tuesday.

The opposition's delegation arrived Monday, after publishing a communique last week that said it was ready for talks "without preconditions."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:34:27|Editor: yan

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TUNIS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi will take part in the 5th edition of the African Union - EU summit, scheduled for November 29-30 in Abidjan, the Presidency of the Tunisian Republic announced Monday.

According to the same source, President Caid Essebsi will attend the summit, on the invitation of his Ivorian counterpart, Alassan Ouatara, as well as the president of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki.

Beji Caid Essebsi will deliver a speech at the opening of the summit and hold talks with African and European heads of state and governments.

Under the title's theme: "Investing in Youth for a Sustainable Future," this African Union - EU summit will convene senior African and European leaders to report concrete and effective responses to the aspirations of African youth in various fields.

Other files will also be investigated including the fight against terrorism, extremism and illegal emigration in addition to the promotion of European investments in Africa.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:39:30|Editor: yan

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RIGA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian financial police broke up a criminal group in November that had defrauded the state budget of more than 900,000 euros by avoiding to pay value added tax (VAT) and laundering proceeds from crime, the Latvian State Revenue Service informed on Monday.

The illegal activities had been going on from April 2016 until mid-November 2017, the tax authority said.

More than 20 companies in Latvia were involved in the scheme, as well as several enterprises in Lithuania, Britain, the Czech Republic, and Poland that were selling office equipment and stationery goods.

In order to reduce their VAT payments and legalize proceeds from crime, the "clients" included nonexistent transactions with fictitious companies in their reports to the tax authority.

As part of the criminal probe into the scheme, financial police conducted 14 searches at suspects' offices, homes, and motor vehicles in Riga and elsewhere in Latvia, seizing substantial evidence, as well as freezing a bank account.

Two individuals with a previous criminal records are suspects in the case.

The Latvian authorities would not give any more details about the case, citing the necessity to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:44:32|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- One U.S. soldier had been killed in a non-combat-related incident in Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense said on Monday.

The man, who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq, was killed on Saturday in Baghdad as a result of a non-combat-related incident, said the Pentagon in a statement.

The soldier was assigned to the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss in Texas, according to the statement.

The incident is still under investigation.

The Operation Inherent Resolve is the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:49:33|Editor: yan

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LONDON, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tributes were paid on Monday to 31 Chinese sailors who for 70 years have lain, virtually forgotten, in a cemetery, thousands of kilometers from their homes.

A special dedication ceremony was held at Anfield Cemetery in Liverpool at the site where the sailors are buried. They had all served in the Dutch navy, carrying essential goods and supplies from North America to Europe in the force of hostile enemy action by German U-boat submarines.

"They've lain here for 70 years or more, largely forgotten, and their sacrifice unacknowledged. Until now, most have not even had a gravestone as a permanent marker of their presence," said Walter Fung from the Society for Anglo Chinese Understanding in a eulogy to the sailors.

Roel Broer from the Dutch War Graves Foundation lay flowers at a memorial to the sailors who all died during World War II or shortly thereafter.

He said the graves of those who died in the war should be cared for and the history about what happened told to today's young people.

Liverpool ceremonial Lord Mayor Malcolm Kennedy led civic tributes to the sailors at the ceremony, with a large contingent of the city's Chinese community in attendance.

Events to mark the centenary of World War I has thrown a spotlight on civilian victims of the two world wars as well as the military.

In his tribute, added he hoped the new headstones would bring attention to the sacrifice they made and act as a permanent record of their lives and their great contribution to the freedom of the world.

Moira Kenny from the Liverpool organisation The Sound Agents, who organised the event, said: "John Campbell and I have spent many years recording the history of the Chinese community in our city. It is great that after so long these brave men have been remembered for their actions in what must have been one of the most terrifying battle grounds of the war, the Atlantic Ocean."

"Most of these brave men died and even though they were with the Dutch navy. The Netherlands was still occupied, so they were brought for burial at the closest port, Liverpool," added Kenny.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:49:35|Editor: yan

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MEXICO CITY, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 18 people have been killed after a truck overturned in the central Mexican state of Puebla, the police said on Monday.

The accident occurred on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. local time, along a mountain road in municipality of Tepango de Rodriguez in the north of the state, showed an official report released by Puebla's public security authorities.

Nine men and nine women were killed, most of whom were travelling in the cargo section of the truck.

Local authorities told Xinhua that the victims lived in the village of Casco Chueco and were returning home after delivering a religious image to a neighboring community.

A preliminary police report found that the vehicle seemed to have a brake failure, which caused it to crash and roll over, adding that the death toll could rise to 19 as one victim was in critical condition in hospital.

Prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the cause of the accident.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 04:54:38|Editor: yan

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DOHA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- An official symposium, sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Qatar, was held on Monday to discuss policies related to Chinese labor in Qatar and visa permits.

Chinese Ambassador to Qatar Li Chen, Qatar's senior officials of major governmental departments and representatives of Chinese companies attended the discussion.

The talk covered topics including the new labor law, the cancellation of sponsorship system and the new visa exemption offered by Qatari government to 80 countries including China.

They also exchanged opinions on a new system which will allow the Chinese workers to receive medical examination and sign contracts in their home countries before coming to Qatar.

Li stressed that it is important to have a regular communication between the Chinese community and Qatari officials.
An Israeli soldier keeps watch by an Iron Dome rocket interceptor battery deployed near central Gaza Strip, southern Israel October 31, 2017. (REUTERS PHOTO)

JERUSALEM, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel's naval Iron Dome, a rocket defense system aimed at securing the country's offshore gas fields, was declared operational on Monday, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

Israel's security forces have "successfully completed a naval exercise, in which the Naval 'Iron Dome' Aerial Defense System was deemed qualified for operational use in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)," the statement read.

According to the military, over the past few days, the Israeli Navy and the Israeli Air Force conducted a number of preplanned exercises to test the system's operational abilities. The exercises included launchings of Grad rockets, similar to those that had been fired from the Gaza Strip.

The system's "Adir" radar identified the rockets and the "Tamir" interceptor missile that was launched by the Iron Dome to intercept them, the spokesperson said.

"The exercise was successful and the projectiles that simulated a threat posed to the strategic assets in the sea were intercepted," according to the spokesperson.

The military believes that the new system "will significantly improve the Navy's existing tools used to protect Israel's strategic assets in the sea, as well as the naval troops operating in the area."

The sea-based Iron Dome is part of Israel's multi-layer defense doctrine, which includes a land-based Iron Dome system, aimed to intercept short-range rockets from Gaza; David's Sling, which can intercept medium-range missiles owned by the Iran-backed Hezbollah organization in southern Lebanon; and the long-range Arrow-3 anti-ballistic-missiles system.

According to Israel, Gaza militants fired rockets towards Israel's natural gas fields in the Mediterranean during the last round of war between Israel and Hamas in 2014 but failed to cause any damage.
File photo taken on Oct. 2, 2017 shows a damaged room of a police station that was targeted by suicide bombings in Midan neighborhood in Damascus. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday called for progress in the UN-brokered Geneva talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.

"The members of the Security Council look forward to a new round of talks that will start tomorrow (Tuesday) in Geneva," Sebastiano Cardi, president of the Security Council, told reporters after the council held closed-door consultations on Syria following an open meeting.

The council members urged all Syrian parties to participate actively and with no preconditions in the Geneva political process and to support efforts to ensure its success, said Cardi, the Italian ambassador to the United Nations.

The council reiterated that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and confirmed that a political solution must be forged through the Geneva process, he said. They also stressed respect for Syria's sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity.

The Syrian opposition has formed a unified group for Geneva talks following negotiations among them in Riyadh, while the Syrian government has not confirmed its attendance at the new round of Geneva talks.

"The meeting will start tomorrow and we really hope that all parties, including the Syrian government, will be present," said Cardi.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 05:09:43|Editor: yan

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HELSINKI, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Finland plans to acquire a new surface-to-air defense missiles system that would restore its vertical missile range to some 20 km, newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported on Monday.

The Finnish surface-to-air vertical distance shrunk some years ago, when Finland scrapped its Russian-made Buk missiles that reached this 20-km distance.

Finland gave up the Buk system and purchased the Nasams system developed in the United States and Norway. Its vertical reach is said to be 10 km.

Interviewed by the Helsingin Sanomat, Colonel Ari Groonroos, inspector of anti-aircraft operations at the Finnish defense forces, played down the U.S. Patriots surface-to-air system as Finland's next choice.

"Patriot is fairly expensive," Helsingin Sanomat quoted Groonroos as saying.

Weeks ago, Finland's western neighbour Sweden announced it would buy the Patriots.

Groonroos told Helsingin Sanomat that Finland wants to "double its reach in height", but refused to speculate about the choice.

Since the phasing out of the Buks, Finnish air defense at the height of over 10 km has been based on the deployment of its Hornet F-18s.

Helsingin Sanomat reported that Finland would be sending requests of tenders to missile manufacturers soon, possibly at the end of 2017. The country will make its choice in 2019 when tests would begin. The successful candidates will replace the Hornet fighters.

Earlier media speculation was that Finland would update its Nasams system with the latest Amraam-ER. But Groonroos said this would not necessarily be the case.

When Sweden announced the purchase of the Patriots, it underlined that Patriots would also repel ballistic missiles.

Groonsroos said that being able to counter ballistic missiles was not Finland's primary aim. He said defense against ballistic missiles would not be feasible over wide areas.

He also said ballistic missiles were constantly developed to be able to penetrate defense.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 05:14:44|Editor: yan

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BAGHDAD, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and 37 others wounded Monday in a suicide attack in southeast Baghdad, a local security official said.

Two militants armed with explosive belts and guns attacked the Nahrawan Health Center in Baghdad and opened fire at civilians, an Interior Ministry official told Xinhua.

Security guards in the health center exchanged fire with the attackers and killed one of them. The other one rushed into a nearby coffee shop and detonated his explosive belt.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) group, in most cases, is responsible for such suicide bombings which usually targeted security forces or crowded areas like markets, cafes and mosques.

Iraqi forces liberated the last IS urban stronghold in Rawa, Anbar province on Nov. 17 and are still carrying out military operations to wipe out remaining IS militants from their hideouts in the desert in western Iraq.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 06:09:55|Editor: yan

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BUDAPEST, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Xiang Ou Express Budapest-Changsha return freight train carrying Central European cargo containers to Changsha, China, was launched from here for the first time on Monday.

The train carries 41 containers of red wine, beer, cereals, milk powder and hardware accessories made in Hungary and its neighboring countries.

The launching ceremony was attended by Laszlo Mosoczi, deputy state secretary of the Hungarian ministry for national development, Hunan province Vice Governor He Baoxiang, and Xu Xiangping, head of the department of commerce for the Hunan province.

Mosoczi said Hungarian export to China reached a record of 2.25 billion U.S. dollars last year, while the export of food products increased by 1.5 times from 2015. The data of the first eight months showed that further increase -- double digits in several areas -- is to be expected, he added.

Xu said it is a major move to promote the smooth flow of trade, adding that "it is also an important way for the Hunan province to build a new pattern of opening to the outside world."

On June 16 this year, the first freight train from Changsha arrived in Budapest.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 06:19:59|Editor: yan

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- 2017 will be a year of bumper harvest for relations between China and Kuwait, Chinese Ambassador to Kuwait Wang Di said here on Monday.

Wang made the remarks when speaking at a seminar, themed "Developing the China-Kuwait relationship and improving the links between the development strategies."

The ambassador said Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah have reached broad consensus on strengthening cooperation between the two countries, attaching great importance to the development of bilateral relations.

The collective value of construction projects, signed between China and Kuwait from January to September this year, has hit 2.8 billion U.S. dollars, Wang said.

He said the trade between the two countries has reached 8.3 billion U.S. dollars and China has imported 12.5 million tons of crude oil from Kuwait.

China and Kuwait have become friends of mutual trust and good partners for win-win cooperation, the ambassador said.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, first put forward in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, concurs with the vision of Kuwaiti emir to transform Kuwait into a global center for finance and commerce, said Wang.

Noting that Kuwait is one of the first Arab countries to have signed a cooperation agreement with China under the Belt and Road Initiative, Wang said the two sides have maintained close exchanges and cooperation within the framework of the Initiative.

He said he believes that similar development concepts and strategies, complementary economic advantages will create important opportunities and open up brighter prospects for further development of ties between China and Kuwait.

"China is prepared to contribute to the implementation of major construction projects of Kuwait so as to better benefit the two peoples and build a community of shared future for mankind," Wang said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 07:25:09|Editor: liuxin

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Participants of the fifth BRICS Sherpa Meeting pose for a group photo in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Nov. 27, 2017. The meeting was chaired by Li Baodong, sherpa for BRICS affairs and vice foreign minister of China, and attended by sherpas of BRICS countries and representatives from the New Development Bank. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)
An advisory body to the Japan Sumo Association has agreed on the need for aextremely harsh punishmenta to be meted out to grand champion Harumafuji over his assault of a lower-ranked wrestler, the head of the council said Monday.

"Tremendous damage has been caused (to sumo). It let fans down," said Masato Kitamura, chairman of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, referring to an incident where Harumafuji assaulted Takanoiwa in a drinking session at a restaurant-bar in the western Japan city of Tottori during a regional tour late last month.

Punitive actions that the JSA can take include dismissal, recommending the yokozuna retire or suspending his participation in tournaments.

The powerful yokozuna council is tasked with making recommendations to the JSA over yokozuna promotions in sumo's elite makuuchi division and other related matters concerning grand sumo champions.

In 2010, a recommendation made to the JSA led to the retirement of Mongolian grand champion Asashoryu following reports that he injured a man in a drunken rampage.

Kitamura said some council members also made an issue of the behavior of Hakuho, another grand champion, as "unfitting of a yokozuna," as the JSA says wrestlers of that stature must have good character, not just physical strength.

Hakuho, who clinched his 40th career title in the just-concluded tournament in Fukuoka, told spectators Sunday that he wants Harumafuji and Takanoiwa, who were absent from the tournament, both to return to the ring and urged spectators to shout banzai in unison. Hakuho, Harumafuji and Takanoiwa are all from Mongolia.
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Battered by a sharp fall in hydrocarbon revenues, Algeria resorted to lifting subsidies on key commodities such as gasoline and diesel in a bid to shore up state finances.

The Algerian parliament has taken the unpopular decision of cutting gasoline and diesel subsidies for the third as part of the 2018 budget in an attempt to compensate for dwindling state revenues against the backdrop of staggering oil prices in international markets.

The budget was approved in the lower house and is expected to be passed in the Senate, where the government also has a majority of seats.

Since the end of the expensive oil era in June 2014, Algerias foreign exchange reserves are expected to hit a low level of $97 billion in 2017, down from $193 billion in 2014, official data shows.

To fend off an impending crisis that will see the state resort to foreign debt, Algeria has announced plans to reform its subsidy system, which covers almost everything from basic foodstuffs and drugs to energy.

The government has also taken measures to restrict imports of 30 goods, such as cars, some food products and raw materials. It targeted a reduction of $15 billion this year.

As a result of the recent cuts, imports reached $38.18 billion in the first 10 months of 2017, down just 1.8 percent from the same period in 2016. Food imports actually rose, by 4.5 percent to $7.12 billion.

However, analysts see the governments import restriction policy as doomed to fail due to the lack of domestic production.

Importers are warning that limiting imports on such vital products such as medicine will result in serious shortages. Queues already started in front of some pharmacies where citizens line up to buy rare medicine.
Morocco has voiced its firm support to the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) during a meeting held Sunday in Riyadh by top Islamic defense officials.

The Moroccan backing to the IMCTC was expressed by minister delegate in charge of the National Defense Administration Abdellatif Loudiy. He said the North African Kingdom offers to the Islamic alliance its sound experience in the fight against extremism and terrorism to combat extremist organizations.

He also renewed Moroccos continued solidarity with Saudi Arabia in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, affirming that Rabat supports all Saudi measures taken to ensure the countrys security and stability.

At the end of their gathering, the Islamic defense ministers agreed to step up cooperation to cut off the terror groups financing and underlined the importance of social media in combating extremist ideology and propaganda.

In their final statement, the ministers stressed the importance of the militarys role in combating terrorism, enhancing security and peace in the Coalition member countries, and contributing to regional and international security and peace.

They reaffirmed their determination to work with every possible means to confront extremism and terrorism. The defense ministers renewed their determination to address terror threats through education and promote the moderate values of Islam.

The ministers emphasized the importance of draining the sources of terrorist funding and cutting off any financial support to terror operations and activities.

This can be achieved by coordinating efforts to combat terrorist funding said the Ministers joint statement, calling for more action to improve compliance with international standards.

According to Gen. Raheel Sharif, a retired Pakistani General who has been appointed commander in-chief of the IMCTC, the greatest challenge to peace and stability in the 21st century, especially in the Islamic world, is to address the terrorist threats.

He stressed the need for Islamic countries to unite and work together to defeat terrorism and its extremist ideology, mobilize and coordinate the use of resources, facilitate the exchange of information and help member countries build their own counter-terrorism capacity.

The Sunday meeting, the coalitions first, was held in the wake of the terror attack on a mosque in Egypts Sinai that killed over 300 people.

The Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition made up of 41 Muslim or Muslim-dominated countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia was set up in 2015.

Saudi Arabia, which pledged to contribute $107 million to the project, will house the Coalitions future center.
Marrakech is hosting the second China-Africa Investment Forum (CAIF) which opened on Monday with the participation of some 500 high-level Chinese and African business leaders.

The event aims to facilitate business meetings between the main stakeholders of trade and investment between China and African countries in order to foster sustainable partnerships with high added value, particularly in the industrial sector.

Special attention will be paid to financial implications for African economies and making the continent a true industrial platform.

Alongside the conferences, practical workshops will shed light on Chinese and African economic policies and operational environments.

Overall 10,000 Chinese companies operate in the continent generating $60 billion a year in industrial production.

Trade between Africa and Chine hit $122 billion while Chinese non-financial direct investments in the continent reached $2.5 billion in 2016.

The event is also reflective of Moroccos clout in the continent and its ambition to act as a gateway and as a hub for Chinese exports and investments to Africa.

Minister of industry, investment, trade and digital economy Moulay Hafid Elalamy said, at the opening of the event, that Morocco ambitions to promote a balanced partnership between China and the continent.

He recalled that King Mohammed VI stressed in his address to the first CAIF in Johannesburg the importance of deepening the south-south cooperation dimension between Morocco, China and Africa.

At the bilateral level, relations between Morocco and China have been bolstered with the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to speed up the achievement of the goals under the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.

In a speech addressed to the Summit of the Forum on Sino-African Cooperation, held in December 2015, King Mohammed VI welcomed the Chinese Presidents launch of the Belt and Road initiative, which constitutes a genuine strategic vision in bilateral and multilateral relations and aims to connect Asian, European and African countries more closely.

Chinese investments in Morocco have increased following King Mohammed VIs visit to China in 2016, rising from $220,000 in 2011 to nearly $42 million in 2015.
Mick Mulvaney is very eager to run the agency he considers a sick, sad joke. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Finding a new director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sounds pretty dull, but since the Trump administration doesnt do noncontroversial, the process involves a partisan battle over the presidents attempt to undermine his predecessor, a dramatic showdown involving dueling appointees showing up to the job on Monday, and now, a lawsuit.

The agency  which was conceived of by Senator Elizabeth Warren when she was a bankruptcy professor at Harvard Law School  aims to prevent financial institutions from scamming Americans. Thats made it popular with the public, but despised by banks, credit-card companies, and the Republican lawmakers who love them.

CFPB directors serve five-year terms, and Obama appointee Richard Cordray  the first person to hold that position  was set to serve through July of next year. But Cordray triggered a succession crisis when he announced his resignation on November 15.

The eventual permanent CFPB director must be confirmed by the Senate, but the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which created the agency, says that in the meantime the deputy director will take over if the director steps down. Last week, Cordray appointed his chief of staff, Leandra English, as his deputy, intending for her to serve as acting director until Trump makes his nomination.

But the president had other ideas. Citing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which lets the president fill an open executive-agency leadership position with any Senate-confirmed member of his administration, Trump said that budget director Mick Mulvaney would assume the role. Mulvaney, who once called the CFPB a sick, sad joke was expected to continue heading the Office of Management and Budget and delegate the work of running the agency (presumably, into the ground).

So now, with two CFPB directors expected to show up to work on Monday, the matter is headed to the courts. On Sunday, English filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of D.C. calling herself the rightful acting director and requesting a temporary restraining order to prevent Mulvaney from being appointed to the job.

Ms. English has a clear entitlement to the position of acting director of the CFPB, the lawsuit claims. The Presidents purported or intended appointment of defendant Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB is unlawful.

English said in a statement: The talented and hard-working CFPB staff stand up for consumers every day. As Acting Director, I am filing this lawsuit to stand up for the CFPB.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded with a jab at Cordray, whos expected to run for governor of Ohio. It is unfortunate that Mr. Cordray decided to put his political ambition above the interests of consumers with this stunt, Sanders said. Director Mulvaney will bring a more serious and professional approach to running the CFPB.

Dodd-Frank says that the CFPBs deputy director shall serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the director. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act says that it only applies to agencies that lack a provision that designates an officer or employee to perform the functions and duties of a specified office temporarily in an acting capacity. An earlier version of Dodd-Frank said the Federal Vacancies Reform Act applied to the CFPB, but that language was stripped out of the final legislation, indicating Congress purposely outlined a different succession process. Several anti-Trump legal scholars say the law is on Englishs side:

Ive now read the 3-pg internal memo dated 11/25/17 by Mary McLeod supporting @POTUSs power to override the specific Dodd-Frank provision making Leandra English Acting Director of CFPB. The memo mustve been written in great haste. Its weakly reasoned and wholly unconvincing.  Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) November 27, 2017

From the horses mouth re @CFPB succession. This is not a close one folks. Most blatant usurpation of rule of law since early days of admin (Muslim Ban, Emoluments, sanctuary cities). #Leandra. https://t.co/yc4vAc8mJP  Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) November 27, 2017

For every American who has been ripped off by a lender or unfairly denied credit this is the top news story. CFPB was your friend in Washington. But not for long if Trump has his way. https://t.co/Z9KUPeWHXa  Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) November 26, 2017

But the White House says its simply following the reasoning of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, which issued an eight-page opinion on Saturday supporting Mulvaneys appointment. It also shared a letter from Mary McLeod, CFPBs general counsel, that tells the agencys senior leadership that Trump has the right to name an interim director. I advise all Bureau personnel to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB, McLeod said.

Congressional reaction has fallen along partisan lines. Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, Republican senator Lindsey Graham said he supports Mulvaneys appointment and called the CFPB the most out-of-control, unaccountable federal agency in D.C. On the same program, Democratic senator Dick Durbin said Dodd-Frank is clear, and English should run the agency. Remember, this was the agency that fined Wells Fargo $100 million for defrauding the people who were creating phony accounts, he said. Its a watchdog agency. Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water.

But even if English prevails in court, its likely the victory will be short-lived. Trump is expected to appoint a permanent director in a matter of weeks, and it seems likely that Senate Republicans will confirm whoever he picks (even, perhaps, an unqualified ghost hunter). One way or another, it seems Trump is going to be gutting the CFPB.
Franken. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Senator Al Franken told multiple Minnesota news outlets on Sunday that he was remorseful after several allegations of sexual misconduct, in his first round of interviews since the initial accusation. But Franken did not show any signs of quitting his office, saying that he looked forward to going back to work on Monday.

Im embarrassed and ashamed. Ive let a lot of people down and Im hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust, Franken told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Asked if the public could expect more stories to surface, Franken responded, If you had asked me two weeks ago, Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect? I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise  I certainly hope not.

Although four women have recounted Frankens inappropriate behavior toward them, no Democratic lawmakers have demanded Frankens resignation. Many have instead deflected questions by citing an upcoming Senate Ethics Committee investigation  which Franken invited in his first statement apologizing for his actions.

The Ethics Committee is looking into all of this and I will cooperate fully with it, Franken told Minnesota Public Radio.

Franken was first accused of misconduct on November 16 by broadcaster Leeann Tweeden, who alleged that he forcibly kissed her during rehearsals for a USO comedy sketch in 2007, the year before Franken was first elected to the Senate. Tweeden also produced a photo of Franken grabbing, or pretending to grab, her breasts while she was sleeping.

A second woman, Lindsay Menz, told CNN days later that Franken had grabbed her buttocks at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010. And two more women anonymously told HuffPost that Franken had also grabbed their buttocks in separate incidents in 2007 and 2008. One also said that Franken had invited her to join him in a bathroom, an allegation Franken denied on Sunday.

He did not deny the other allegations, but said, I dont remember these photographs, I dont. This is not something I would intentionally do.

Franken  and the Democrats who support him  may be hoping that his offenses will be overshadowed by more dire revelations about other lawmakers. On Sunday, 88-year-old Democratic congressman John Conyers stepped down from the House Judiciary Committee after a BuzzFeed report alleged that he had paid a former staffer to stay silent about his sexual advances. The Alabama Senate election features a candidate who has been accused of preying on 14-year-olds. And there is likely much more to come, as the postHarvey Weinstein fallout ripples through the political world.

Still, Democrats who might have successfully dismissed Frankens misconduct as a one-off after the first allegation are treading on potentially dangerous ground. Some already think their minimizing of his behavior looks less like a reasonable interpretation of the facts and more like a double standard. Such criticism will only grow louder if more women come forward. And thats not to mention that Minnesota voters have quickly soured on the senator, at least for now. (He is next up for reelection in 2020.)

Franken, as he acknowledged on Sunday, has a long road ahead of him.

I know Im not going to regain their trust immediately, he said. Theres no magic words I can say here to make that happen.
Bob Corker. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Senate GOPs plan to overhaul the American tax system has been around for less than two weeks. The party has not held a single hearing on the bills macroeconomic effects (even as experts warn that these could include a health-care crisis and housing market crash). Large majorities of the public disapprove of the legislation. Even small-business owners  ostensibly, one of the tax packages chief beneficiaries  appear to oppose it.

And Mitch McConnell plans to pass the bill out of the Senate by weeks end.

As of this writing, at least nine Republican senators arent sure that thats a good idea. Ron Johnson and Steve Daines worry the bill favors corporations over (so-called) small businesses. James Lankford, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and John McCain have all expressed reservations about the legislations (enormous) impact on the deficit. Jerry Moran isnt crazy about killing Obamacares individual mandate. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins are Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.

To stay on schedule, McConnell needs to pacify Corker and Johnson by Tuesday. Thats when the Budget Committee plans to vote on whether to advance the tax package to the Senate floor. Assuming he pulls that off, the Majority Leader will need to win over five of the remaining seven holdouts by Friday (McConnell can only afford to lose two votes). If the Senate GOP cant find consensus on a bill by weeks end, the Trump tax cuts could get kicked to next year, since the government will run out funding in 11 days, and Republicans still need to hammer out a bipartisan spending bill to avert a shutdown.

If the tax legislation is pushed to 2018, the GOP leadership will spend the holidays getting chewed out by disgruntled donors, while the bills losers would have time to get informed and organized. Most critically, McConnells margin for error could shrink to one in January, thanks to Roy Moore.

So, Republicans want to get this done now. Heres how they plan to do that:

Make the bill even better for rich business owners, to win over Johnson and Daines.

Most firms in the United States dont pay the corporate income tax. Instead, theses companies profits pass through to their owners individual returns. This means that, at present, highly profitable pass-through businesses are taxed at the top individual rate of 39.6 percent, while corporations (statutorily) pay 35 percent.

The House tax bill would slash the corporate rate to 20 percent, and the pass-through rate to 25. The Senate version includes that same corporate cut  but establishes no new, special rate for pass-throughs.

Instead, the bill creates a 17.4 percent income-tax deduction for owners of pass-through businesses, no matter their income level. This change actually makes the Senate bill better for genuinely small businesses than the House version was: Right now, the vast majority of small business owners pay 25 percent or less on their (modest) business income. So, for them, a large tax deduction is worth way more than a ten-point cut in the top rate.

But for rich, pass-through business owners  like, say, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin  the Senate bill is a disappointment. I just have in my heart a real affinity for these owner-operated pass-throughs, Johnson recently told the New York Times. Montana senator Steve Daines shares Johnsons concerns.

McConnell hopes to win them over by increasing the tax deduction for pass-throughs from 17.4 to 20 percent.

Put in a $10,000 property tax deduction  and scrap the state-and-local tax deduction for corporations  to win over Susan Collins.

Collinss biggest objection to the bill appears to be its repeal of Obamacares individual mandate. And Kansas senator Jerry Moran has also expressed opposition to that measure. But killing the mandate generates $300 billion in much-needed revenue. Thus, the GOP leadership hopes to appease Maines favorite moderate by honoring one of her other requests  a $10,000 property tax deduction.

Right now, the Senate bill would abolish the state-and-local tax (SALT) deduction. This provision would add more than $1 trillion in revenue by hammering upper-middle-class households high-tax (a.k.a. blue) states. In the House, the GOPs reliance on Republican lawmakers from New York, New Jersey, and California has forced the party to soften the blow to these areas, by preserving a $10,000 property tax deduction.

Since no Senate Republicans represent those coastal elites, McConnells initial bill scrapped SALT in its entirety. Now, Susan Collins wants what the House is having. And the Senate Majority Leader is inclined to give it to her  after all, putting the property tax deduction back in would make it easier for Paul Ryan to pass the Senate bill through the lower chamber.

But theres a catch: Including a property tax deduction would make the Senate bill upwards of $100 billion more expensive over the next decade. And McConnell only has about $80 billion to play with  and thats before factoring in the cost of making the bill more generous to pass-through businesses.

The Senate leadership thinks it can (partially) solve this problem  and address one of the bills biggest public-relations headaches  simultaneously. Currently, the Senate bill allows corporations to retain the state-and-local tax deduction, even as it forces middle-class families to do without it. This has provided Democrats with (yet another) easy attack line. Now, Republicans are thinking about taking SALT away from corporations, and using the new revenue to meet their holdouts demands.

Give Lisa Murkowski some oil.

The Alaska senator has long called for opening her states national wildlife refuge to oil drilling. Republicans are expected to add a provision to their tax bill that would do just that.

Let the deficit hawks eat wildly optimistic growth projections.

Four Senate Republicans have expressed concerns about the bills (enormous) impact on the deficit. Three of these senators  Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and John McCain  have nothing to lose in tanking the bill (politically, anyway). And it is impossible for McConnell to meaningfully address their concerns.

As written, the Senate tax bill would add $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. The legislation is deficit-neutral after that  but only because it phases out all of its middle-class tax cuts in 2026, while keeping many middle-class tax increases in place. And the GOP leadership has been assuring the public that it will be politically impossible for any future administration  Democratic or Republican  to let those popular tax breaks expire. Which is to say: McConnells official line is that his bill isnt actually a deficit-neutral plan to finance a corporate tax cut by soaking the middle class  its just a giant, unfunded, across-the-board cut loaded with budget gimmicks that mask its true price.

There is no fiscally conservative version of this legislation. You cant deliver giant corporate and individual tax cuts  while maintaining defense and entitlement spending at their current levels  without drastically increasing the the national debt. And the GOP doesnt have the votes to buck the Pentagon, or their own elderly base.

Thus, Republicans have to hope that their deficit hawks are all squawk, no bite  or else willing to believe that the bill would generate so much growth, the tax package would pay for itself.

For the moment, the hawks dont seem to be buying it.
Three decades after graduation, Scaramucci remains The Tufts Dailys most loyal reader. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Despite being fired after just ten days as the White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci remains a big fan of President Trump. In an AP interview last week, Scaramucci said he still talks to members of Trumps inner circle regularly and expects to be part of the Trump reelection effort in some capacity.

I have very good relationships there still, and you have to remember we were a team for 18 months, and so we all had different roles. And so Im still playing my role frankly. Im an advocate for the president, media surrogate when I need to be, he said.

For now, Scaramucci is focused on his business dealings, but hes still emulating his old boss. Just as Trump threatened to sue the New York Times after several women accused him of sexual assault, the Mooch is threatening legal action against a newspaper that printed some unflattering remarks about him. But while Trump took aim at the newspaper of record, Scaramucci is targeting the student newspaper from his alma mater, Tufts University.

On November 6, Tufts graduate student Camilo A. Caballero penned an op-ed in The Tufts Daily newspaper calling on the universitys Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy to drop Scaramucci from its advisory board, which hes served on since 2016. It read, in part:

However, there sits on the Board of Advisors of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts a man whose career and ideals are diametrically opposed to those ideas and who sullies the vision of the University.

This is Anthony Scaramucci, a man who began his infamously short career as the White House communications director by uttering profanity-laced comments on national news outlets, the man who sold his soul in contradiction to his own purported beliefs for a seat in that White House and a man who makes his Twitter accessible to friends interested in giving comfort to Holocaust deniers.

A man who is irresponsible, inconsistent, an unethical opportunist and who exuded the highest degree of disreputability should not be on the Fletcher Board. The Board of Advisors plays a critical role in building the spirit of our school and also, in more practical terms, board members define and oversee our schools operations.

After more than 240 students and administrators signed an online petition calling for Scaramuccis removal, the school announced that he had been invited to speak on campus. Caballero responded with a second op-ed, which referred to Scaramuccis unethical behavior.

The Boston Globe reports that days later, Scaramucci sent Caballero an email in which he took issue with the 26-year-olds use of that phrase.

So either back it up or you will hear from my lawyer, Scaramucci wrote. You may have a difference of opinion from me politically which I respect but you cant make spurious claims about my reputation and integrity.

That was followed by a letter from Scaramuccis attorney demanding that Caballero and The Tufts Daily retract false and defamatory allegations of fact about his client and issue an apology.

The letter claims that while the pieces are clearly labeled op-ed, theyre still defamatory under Massachusetts law because the claims about Scaramuccis morals and ethics are not presented as opinion but rather as false facts.

However, T. Barton Carter, a communications and law professor at Boston University, told the Globe he doesnt think Scaramucci has much of a case.

First of all, he would have to prove that they said something factual  not something thats an opinion  defamatory, and inaccurate, Carter said. And then he still has to prove that they had knowledge it was false, or at least had serious doubts.

Carter noted that such legal threats often go nowhere  for instance Trumps suit against the Times never materialized.

However, there have already been consequences to Scaramuccis legal threat. Tufts postponed his talk at the university, which was scheduled for Monday, until the legal matters are settled. Were disappointed that Mr. Scaramucci has taken this action, university spokesperson Patrick Collins said in the statement.

But the Mooch will not be silenced. In a series of tweets late on Sunday night, he defended himself, explaining that no one questions his integrity and gets away with it  not even The Tufts Daily.

Daniel I was ready to come to the school, thats an open debate. Nobody is going to call my ethics into question without a fight. An apology will suffice. https://t.co/XWx0Q8XP6r  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

I didnt back out of speaking at Tufts. The provost cancelled my invitation. Invite me and I will come out at anytime. https://t.co/QRAuXwvN0u  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

I asked for an apology for defamatory statements. That is a teachable moment professor. The student is an adult, let his actions stand without any coddling. You cant defame people in America because you dont like their political views. https://t.co/q5fi8wszqn  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017
The president clearly wants to help Roy Moore, but not at the risk of another failed appearance in Alabama. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg; Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Last week, the president conspicuously opened the door to the possibility of personally campaigning in Alabama for embattled GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore. After basically endorsing Moore in comments to reporters after an unrelated White House event, Trump said in response to a question about campaigning for Judge Moore that hed be letting you know [about it] next week. He also continued tweeting condemnations of Moores Democratic opponent Doug Jones over the weekend.

The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017

But today, the Associated Press is reporting from White House sources that Trump will not being going to Alabama to thump the tubs for Moore.

No reason was offered for this decision, though several seem plausible. Trump may be hedging his bets on Moore given the close and conflicted polling of the Moore/Jones race. He could also know something the rest of us dont know about additional allegations still to come against the Ayatollah of Alabama. Maybe hes uncomfortable with cozying up too much to a candidate who is constantly bashing Senate Republicans at a time when Mitch McConnell is laboring to pass a tax bill. Or perhaps hes brooding over his very unsuccessful personal appearance for Luther Strange before Moore dispatched the appointed senator in a September runoff, and doesnt want to go 0-for-Alabama in 2017 by campaigning for another loser.

What makes this whole situation odd is that Alabama is supposed to be a state where Trump walks on water. At this point, hes just splashing around in the surf at the periphery of a crucial Senate race, unsure whether to dive in to save his partys unsavory nominee. He only has 15 days to hit the right balance between throwing Roy Moore life preservers or looking the other way if he sinks.
Photo: f

Want to finish your holiday shopping while killing time in your cubicle? Cyber Monday has you covered. After combing through hundreds of sales, here are some of the best gadget deals out there.

Panasonic Ergofit Earbuds

Im a big fan of cheap earbuds, and the Panasonic Ergofits are my favorite: a stellar combo of good sound and low price. Amazon has dropped the price on the version with a mic (the TCM125s) by $3, and the version without (the HJE120s) by $2. Im grabbing three or four for myself.

Google Home Mini

Walmarts Google Home Mini deal has a slick coupon embedded in it. Not only do you get a tiny little Google Home for $20 off, if you link up your Walmart account to Google Express, you nab a $25 coupon  bringing the effective price down to $4. Not bad!

Bose QuietComfort 25 Noise-Canceling Headphones

Great for the cubicle dweller in an open office, or someone who takes a lot of long flights, these Bose headphones get $100 knocked off their normal list price, making them just $179.

Sennheiser HD-1 Wireless Noise Cancelling On-Ear Headphones

One of the best headphone deals going down on Cyber Monday is a steep price drop on the on-ear version of the Sennheiser HD-1s. Great sound with enough noise-canceling to keep out the road of the city, luxe retro styling, and, with $100 off of its normal price, just $250.

Bose SoundSport Wireless Headphones

My pick for the best workout headphones out there, the Bose SoundSports has a nice price drop, down from $129 to $99.

1More Triple and Quad Driver in-Ear Headphones

1More is a relatively new company out of San Diego thats already built up a reputation for great-sounding and stylish earbuds on a budget. This Cyber Monday deal knocks down the price on their Triple and Quad Driver earbuds  the Triple Driver goes down to $71.50 from $100, and the higher-quality Quads go down from $250 to $150. Both are great headphones, made better by solid discounts.

Brother Printer EHLL2320D Compact Laser Printer

Your life may be mainly digital, but old-school institutions like banks, hospitals, and auto dealers still require a ton of paperwork  like, actual paper. Having a printer at home saves you from that awkward moment of printing out personal info on your shared work printer, and at just a tiny footprint and $30 off its normal price, this laser printer is a steal.

Oculus Rift Headset and Touch Controllers

A year ago, getting virtual reality up and running was a pricey proposition. Now, VR-ready headsets have dropped dramatically in price. The Oculus Rift headset is even cheaper on Cyber Monday, down $50 from $400 to $350.

Sony X720E 4K Ultra HD LED TVs

Theres deep discounts across a range of Sony X720Es, its mid-range 4K TV. Sleek styling, HDR, and Sonys much-improved smart TV functionality all come built-in. The 43-inch model gets a discount of $70, down from $548 to $478. The 49-inch gets a $70 drop, from $598 to $528. And the 55-inch sees a $100 knocked off its price, from $698 to $598.

Samsung 40-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV

Perfect for a smaller apartment (or a second TV), this 40-inch Samsung has 4K and HDR, and gets $50 knocked off its asking price, bringing it down from $400 to $350.

LG C7P OLED 4K Ultra HD TVs

Far and away the best TV on the market, this is the cheapest Ive ever seen LG go on their superb OLED screens. You can get a 55-inch screen for $1,696, and a 65-inch panel for $2,696.

Acer Chromebook 11

If youre looking for a Chromebook on the cheap, it doesnt get much better than the Acer Chromebook 11. It checks all the boxes you need (good keyboard, decent screen, enough RAM it wont choke when loading up Netflix or YouTube) without even coming close to breaking the bank  especially with $70 off, down from $200 to just $130.

Asus Chromebook Flip

One the years best-reviewed Chromebooks, this two-in-one can swing 360 degrees to transform into a tablet, has an HD touchscreen, weighs just 2.65 pounds, and get ten hours of battery life off a charge. If you want a Chromebook that doesnt feel like a compromise, this is it  especially with $65 off its normal price, down from $450 to $385.

Razer Blade 14-Inch Gaming Laptop

Razers Blade series, bad pun aside, is at the top of the gaming laptop heap. It manages to pack in a ton of power (seventh-gen i7 processor, a discrete GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, more RAM than many desktop gaming rigs), but it doesnt have the ugly Mountain Dewish styling of many gaming laptops. You can get it up to $200 on various models on Cyber Monday.

Heads-up: If you buy stuff through our links, New York may earn a commission. That said, we dont recommend anything we wouldnt buy for ourselves.
Professionals last week agreed that the enactment of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act (PPDA Act), had brought about a significant improvement in procurement procedures in the country.

However, they insist that unless the Institute of Procurement Professionals of Uganda (IPPU) is given a wider mandate to supervise and certify procurement professionals through amending the Institute of Supply Chain Management Act, the sector will continue to struggle with inefficient operations.

The IPPU is a professional body established to bring together public and private sector procurement professionals in Uganda. Together with the PPDA, the institute aims at ensuring that procurement practitioners maintain best procurement practices.

Edgar Agaba, a member of the IPPU council, decried of the restrictive mandate accorded to the institute after passing of Supply Chain Management Bill 2015.

He explained that unlike other professional institutions like the Uganda Medical Association and Law Society, the IPPU is restricted from supervising practitioners by the very law that creates it.

Without the mandate to supervise procurement practitioners many people continue to practice procurement in an adhoc manner, which is costly to the country, Agaba said during IPPUs 6th annual dinner in Kampala recently.

David Kalitani, IPPUs executive secretary noted that the lack of supervision of practitioners and students had resulted into flawed procurement, loss of public funds, poor service delivery and breeds impunity.

Given the mandate to supervise, IPPU will be able to not only certify procurement professionals but also enable sanctioning of professionals who do malpractice by deregistering them or enacting disciplinary action.

Over 50 per cent of Ugandas annual budget is spent on procurement and disposal of public assets. Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development has decried the delays caused by bureaucracy and inflexible of procurement laws saying that they have gone a long way in denying the country economies of scale on projects invested on, but dont seem to kick off or end.

He expressed optimism in the amendments to add flexibility and professionalism to the sector.

If we do not ensure professionalism of the people handling the sector, you and I stand to lose, Kasaija said in his statement.

Kasaija however promised to ensure that procurement laws are amended soon to among others, reduce bureaucracy, reduce turnaround time to less than 90 days, but also inculcate professionalism in the sector increasing the mandate for IPPU.
For his work in the fight against the destructive impact of HIV/Aids, specifically in rural communities, Herbert Mugumya deserves an award.

Mugumya, a younger brother to former police spokesperson Asan Kasingye, is the Country Representative for Management Sciences for Health (MSH).

MSH is an international organization that helps governments in strengthening health systems globally, with its presence in over 36 countries, majorly in Africa.

Herbert Mugumya

The organisation offers technical assistance in health pharmaceuticals, infectious diseases, family health and on leadership, management and governance at different government levels including health facilities.

When you meet Mugumya, you will be impressed by the passion with which he speaks to make healthcare services better in a country that has seen the health sector budget reducing almost every financial year.

Born in Kibingo in Sheema district, Mugumya grew up in a family, he says, that had nothing to be proud of in a rural setting. He explains that growing up, there was no need to have role models as the case is in this generation.

In our days, we didnt have dreams, he says. But I grew up largely to understand life during [former president Idi] Amins time. The schools those days were much better than the current ones [because we were provided with all scholastic materials.]

But after his primary school, getting a good secondary school specifically in the western part of the country was a challenge in the 1970s and 1980s. This was the period when there were wars that saw the eventual overthrow of Idi Amins regime.

The few good schools at the time, such as Ntare School, set the bar so high that many students could not easily meet the standards.

I started secondary school from Ruyonza School in Bushenyi in 1982, not because I liked it, but because it was the only option available having tried to make it to Ntare School, [in vain], narrates Mugumya.

The Bishop of West Ankole diocese opened schools around the district to take those who could not make it to the best schools.

But because they only had a day section, these schools didnt impress Mugumya. He could not manage to transport himself daily because it was far from home. His father, John Kairukabi, was a trader who only operated in mobile markets to fend for a family of more than a dozen people. As a result, he could not meet extra costs.

After the first year, Mugumya shifted to Kyeizooba secondary school which had a boarding section. But again as fate would have it, there was another political disruption. That very year, the school turned into a girls-only.

Herbert Mugumya addressing a gathering recently

By the time he joined Nganwa high school, Kabwohe, in senior three, his classmates were far ahead of him. Playing catch-up with some subjects such as physics was very challenging. In 1985/6, and 1988 when they eventually sat for their final O and A-level examinations respectively, Mugumya found himself opting for arts.



GETTING INTO HEALTH

While at Nganwa high school, Mugumya developed a sense of maturity and direction.

I was made a health prefect, and that to me was a turning point. So, I was responsible for ensuring environmental and body hygiene among the students, he says.

In that position, Mugumya started thinking critically on issues related to health that affected students around the school. The school nurse turned out to be one of his good friends; thus, he would spend most of his time in the school clinic.

I started realizing it was a mistake for me to drop physics, he says. But I had no option because it was already dropped.

Mugumya joined St Kagwa high school, Bushenyi for A-level and offered a combination of arts subjects. In 1988, when senior six examinations results were released, Mugumya had passed top of his class. He then joined Makerere University for a bachelors degree in Social Work and Social Administration (SWSA).

Joining Makerere saw him go to Kampala for the first time. He explains that during their time at Makerere, students were always given good termly and annual allowances to facilitate research work.

This was because the SWSA students would spend much of their time doing fieldwork and internship in different organizations or companies.



HIV/AIDS CRUSADER

When I started making choices for the fieldwork, I went in the health field. Those were the days when community healthcare was valued, and then the emergence of Aids. It started killing so many people, and then The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) came in about 1988, and Aids Information Centre in 1990, he says.

One of his fieldwork placements as an intern was in Rakai through the Ministry of Healths Aids control programme. HIV had become an epidemic in Rakai.

But this marked another turning point in Mugumyas life to pursue a career in the health sector regardless of what he was studying at the time.

People were dying day in, day out. Burials were everywhere. And that changed my whole life. When I came back, I became an agent of the Aids control programme of the ministry of health in the university, he says.

In the same period, the government had embarked on a massive campaign aimed at sensitizing the masses to abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage, monogamy and using condoms as a last resort.

Mugumyas work was to distribute condoms freely to fellow students, and his efforts were noticed by various agencies fighting HIV/Aids. Towards the end of his three-year course, Mugumya had started receiving several opportunities to work with various local NGOs. By the time he graduated, he was lost for choice.

Herbert Mugumya (L) with Margaret Sancho, USAID Ugandas Health and HIV office director (C) and minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng

His first job was in 1991 with Aids Information Centre. He was posted at a new branch in Mbarara, which was amongst the first HIV testing centers in the entire country outside Kampala.

During that period, his father and mother also contracted HIV and died in 1992  shortly after his graduation and few months into his formal job posting.

When one fell sick at the time, they would not spend much time because majority of the communities had no idea on prevention and treatment measures to shield themselves from the epidemic.

My mother was the first victim and my father died a few months later. My last great moments with them was on my graduation daymanaging sick people shaped my ability to be able to work in the health sector, he says.



CONCERNS ON THE HEALTH SECTOR

The ongoing strike by health workers across all public hospitals countrywide is a problem, he says, government should address immediately lest many Ugandans start self-medication or resort to traditional healthcare means.

Ugandans [who cannot access essential medical services] are going back to traditional health care which is absolutely not regulated. This puts patients at increased risk, Mugumya warns.

He adds that some will start sharing medication among family members because they are desperate. Every symptom seen as a failed system in this government is because there is insufficient information to guide government in decision-making.

Whether it is the cost of medicine, reasonable salaries for health workers or renovations of health facilities, it all rotates around the availability of information and resources, according to Mugumya.

When we are dilly- dallying with politics, disease multiplication is increasing, he warns.



CAREER GROWTH

In 1996, he got another job with Care International, an organization which is jointly funded by USAID. The project that covered the whole of Kigezi sub-region was community reproductive health.

In 2002, given his good performance and work ethic, he was given a scholarship in the Netherlands to study for a Masters degree in Population and Health, with focus on reproductive health.

My exposure in the Netherlands was extremely good because they are very good in research, Mugumya says.

When he returned in 2004, Save the Children offered him a job as the programmes manager for HIV/Aids. Mugumya was mainly overseeing program activities in northern and western Uganda, which was at the time a hot bed of conflicts due to Joseph Konys Lords Resistance Army and the Allied Democratic Forces insurgencies.

His task was to accelerate support for children and develop community- based programmes.

USAID team realized I would be more instrumental in developing programs for HIV beyond the conflict, he recalls.

Herbert Mugumya takes the Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, on a tour of the drug resistant TB ward at Lira Regional referral hospital

After serving two years, he moved to USAID Uganda as a program management specialist and technical advisor under the health and HIV department.

I worked in the USAID mission for five years up to 2010 when I got another opportunity to go to Tanzania to work for Africare, which again was implementing a USAID-funded project, he says. I spent close to seven years in Tanzania and returned [to Uganda] in December last year.

With his experience in healthcare, Mugumya has a lot to share about the key areas of intervention that government should focus on, which he says, have largely been affected by limited funding.

Andrew Kyambadde, a health system team leader at USAID describes Mugumya as a charismatic and calm person. He says, Mugumya is capable of fitting into any particular situation, regardless of how difficult one might presume it could turn out to be.

Kyambadde has worked with Mugumya for about five years at USAID.

He is a good person at writing reports and developing programmes. Most of the directors for these foreign organizations are normally expatriates, but for Herberts sake, it shows how good and passionate he is about the health sector, Kyambadde says.

Mugumya is passionate to support government realise health sector objectives through strengthening health systems such as health workforce, medicines and essential health supplies, governance, and health information to guide service delivery and improve health outcomes to all citizens.



alitwaha@observer.ug
Botswana's President Seretse Khama Ian Khama was the first African head of state to call on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to step down during the recent crisis in that country.

Prior to Mugabe's resignation, the Botswana leader said Zimbabweans have been subjected to untold suffering for a long time, due to what he says is poor governance under Mugabe's leadership.

Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama

Khama spoke to VOA's Peter Clottey about the recent developments in Zimbabwe. The transcript of the interview has been edited for length and clarity.

On Mugabe's decision to step aside

My reaction to that is that is long overdue because for too long has he presided over a poor government in that country, which has led it to the state it has found itself today. And with millions of his people having to seek opportunities in other countries.

And also the deficit, the huge deficit in democracy that country has, so its just been, unfortunately, from the days of independence 37 years ago, all those years have been lost when Zimbabwe could by now have been far ahead and economically politically, and in many senses, even the lives of Zimbabweans could have been much higher  enjoying a much higher standard of living than the situation today.



Well, Mr. President you have been at the forefront calling for democracy in Africa. Youve called on President Mugabe, when he was leading, that it was about time he left.

When you meet your colleague heads of state who want to stay there in perpetuity, what do you tell them, Mr president?

Im not going to mention names but youd be surprised to know that on occasion when I have met some of them and Im not saying this applies to all, but when I have met some of them, on one on one, they actually agree with what Im saying. But unfortunately dont go on to express those same views in public.

So Mr. President, why do you think African leaders try to stay in power for a long time, despite the fact that citizens in the country get tired of them.

They voice it out, yet they come up with arguments to say the people want them to stay. They change the constitution. Why arent they following examples of Botswana, Ghana, and Benin and a few other countries, who are charting the course of democracy on the continent?

First of all, I would say its not only African leaders, there are, I think, many other examples in other parts of the world where leaders try to stay in power beyond the time that they should.

But then in many cases you find that they have used their positions as leaders for self-benefits, for self-interest, and then they lose sight of why they were put in those positions. And I think its the issue of power, and I said to someone else recently that, you know, it was [former British PM] Tony Blair, I think who said that the best way to deal with power is to relinquish it.

So, when youre in office, the trappings that come with it, the benefits that come with it, and everything like that, to then see yourself one day just as an ordinary citizen once again, for some its probably just too much of culture shock, and therefore they just want to hang on and go on forever.



What are your hopes for Zimbabwe?

Well, I think, I think my hope for Zimbabwe is to be able to really reach its full potential for the benefit of its citizens. We would, like as I said earlier on, you know, they have been long suffering, and I know, being a neighbor, that country has immense potential.

And Im pretty sure that if (new leader Emmerson) Mnangagwa really sets his sights on encouraging investments through providing a window of opportunity, embracing democracy, youre going to find domestic and foreign investors coming back into that country in a big way. And I think very soon, theyll be back on their feet again.

So, they just need to be able to get over this political intolerance that they have had for so many years, where the opposition is seen as enemies



What is your message to the people of Zimbabwe as they head in to unchartered waters at the moment?

I think they have tasted, even if its just been for a week, theyve tasted what democracy can bring them. Theyve been able to go onto the streets without being beaten up. Theyve been able to voice their opinions about President Mugabe when he was still in office without any crack down.

The papers have been able to write whatever they want, so theyve experienced it and I would say to them, they should hang on for their lives to this.

What they have already tasted they should build on and not allow politicians to ruin their lives that. Im sure many people who have been outside the country also want to come back into their country and make a living there.

I dont think it was by choice necessarily that they left their country, so Im sure they all want to come back and now when you saw the celebration on the streets in various centers in Zimbabwe that should have been an indication to anybody how much they want change. It will be a very brave person who tries to take them back to where they were before, during Mugabes era.
A wide-ranging inquiry into mistreatment of employees by investors is being considered as the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) plans to clamp-down on an increase in violation of workers rights.

Mayuge Sugar Factory in Busoga is set to become the first target of the EOC, whose chairperson, Sylvia Ntambi Muwemba, recently said that there is an urgent need to protect workers from unfair treatment and corporate impunity.

We will institute an inquiry at Mayuge factory. We were made to understand that on top of having no leave and the harsh working conditions, anyone who suffers any kind of body injury was terminated instead of being compensated, Muwemba said.

She cited the troubling case of a former worker who was given only Shs 20,000 and terminated after losing his hand in the line of duty at Mayuge sugar factory. Speaking at the launch of a report on Human Rights and Corporate Accountability in Uganda at Hotel Africana, Muwemba said that the EOC will expand its inquiry to ensure that corporations involved in human rights abuse are held accountable.

The report describes how Ugandans continue to suffer injustice and unfair treatment at the hands of investors. It highlights challenges of land grabbing and eviction without compensation. In August, more than 50,000 artisanal miners were evicted from the Kitumbi and Bukuya mining sites in Mubende by the soldiers and police after a protracted struggle to have their rights respected.

In the same period, over 130 families (1,000 people) in Chawente sub-county of Apac district were forcefully evicted from their customary land  reportedly to pave way for an investor.

Sylvia Namubiru Mukasa, the executive director, Legal Aid Service Providers Network (Laspnet) said that human rights defender, who take up cases of violations, are threatened, arrested, stigmatised and criminalised.

With support from Action Aid, Laspnet has studied this problem. Gerald Tushabe, Laspnets consultant and a lecturer at Makerere University, said that the report examines the issue of corporate accountability and the risks and challenges human rights defenders face.

There is need for both the state and non-state actors to bridge the gap between upholding human rights and economic investments, noted Tushabe.

He recommends an increase in knowledge and protection mechanisms, and a strengthening of legislative framework. Usher Owere, who heads the National Organisation of Trade Unions (Notu), gloomily speaks about the widespread abuse of workers rights.

This is entirely due to the lack of administrators to handle it, the ministry of Gender and Labour is thin on the ground. They are supposed to do inspections, said Owere.

Owere also told The Observer that Notu has recently taken measures to protect employees, especially in the areas of salary, welfare, working gear and the type of chemicals used in factories. He was, however, sceptical about the planned inquiry.

Jolly Kaguhangire, the executive director Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), said that there are labour laws which govern how employers should relate with their employees, but there is a supervision and monitoring gap.

The ministry of labour doesnt have the capacity to monitor employers because they are thin on ground and we as UIA also dont have a direct law that empowers us to monitor employers, said Kaguhangire.

She was however quick to note that some agencies, mostly private ones, have been keeping an eye on the issue.

The cabinet created a committee, [on which UIA sits], to look into employee issues. They are starting with the minimum wage and they will move on to other issues, said Kaguhangire.



pbaike@yahoo.com
BAKER BATTE LULE assesses the tricky road ahead for outgoing FDC president and how Patrick Amuriat's presidency may impact key positions of the party leadership in parliament.



As the dust raised by the unexpected triumph of Patrick Amuriat Oboi over Gen Mugisha Muntu settles down, rumors are swirling over the political future of not only Muntu but also that of the opposition leadership in parliament.

Amuriat, widely backed by Dr Kizza Besigye, won with 641 votes against Muntus 463. In his concession speech, Muntu hinted at a possibility of either pulling back from actively participating in party work or perhaps forming his own party.

Gen Mugisha Muntu campaigning at Namboole on Saturday

After it became clear that Amuriat was destined for victory, heartbroken Muntu supporters cocooned around him urging him to leave FDC now that it had been unambiguous that people dont like him.

These are mafias, they have showed that they dont want you in their party what do you want from them? When we return to Fort Portal we are going to close FDC offices, an angry Muntu supporter said.

We should form our own party and leave FDC to Besigye, it seems he bought it, another said. In response to such statements, Muntu who looked calm and composed, urged his supporters to remain calm. This has been a battle within a war; calm down, we shall figure out what to do.

I take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to those who dont trust me. It wasnt my intension to waste your time all this time. It has been a pleasure working with you all for the last five years. Where we are heading, its going to be an interesting time to go to. To those who believe in my method, approach, I urge you not to be frustrated, dont get provoked, dont give haste statements Muntu said.

There are decisions that I have got to make because while I congratulate Hon Amuriat Oboi, I also recognize that within the party, there might be irreconcilable differences either ideological or methods or approaches. Im an honest man, Im always honest to myself I would like to be honest to you as well, Muntu said.

He added that he joined the struggle for a better Uganda at age 23 and he intends not to backtrack but said he can no longer work in an environment where he feels he is not trusted. I dont want to be unfair to you nor would I want to say that you are being unfair to me but the tasks ahead of us are heavy, Muntu.

Kasiano Wadri, former MP for Terego county told whoever cared to listen that as founding members of FDC, they cannot allow their party to be taken over by a group of selfish individuals.

Im a founder member of this party and we must not allow it to be taken over by a few individuals for selfish interests. We must sit and find a way forward to deal with what has happened today. Otherwise, this party we sacrificed so much for risks disintegrating, Wadri said.

On his part, Amuriat read in Muntus speech a resignation tone which he addressed in his own victory speech.

I will never stop respecting you as president that I looked up to. I have listened carefully to your remarks and I believe once the dust has settled, you and I need to have a discussion, Amuriat said amidst a thunderous applause from the delegates.

We need each other in FDC and for me the day I see people taking decisions to abandon the party, then it is going to be my greatest day of sadness. I pledged to you earlier in the day that I will be your president who will pull the party together. I will extend an olive branch because the party that we founded together, Gen. Muntu, has not yet got power.

Speaking to The Observer after the delegates conference, Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, who has been the co-chairman of the Muntu taskforce, said Muntu is capable of taking any decision.

A person who went to the bush at 23 years when his own father was working in the same government, a person who abandons Museveni at a time when he could be appointed anything, to join the opposition where there is nothing is capable of doing anything including leaving FDC, he said.



Fate of Opposition leadership

During campaigns, Amuriat repeatedly said it was wrong for FDC to appoint an opposition leadership in parliament since he contends Dr Besigye won the 2016 general election.

However, speaking after he was declared winner, Amuriat said FDC MPs are a great asset to the party; therefore, they must forge a good working relationship as each of them does their work.

I know some of you didnt trust me to run this party but this is something now in the past. You have a president before you and we need to work together.

I understand that the pressures that you experience everyday running your activities because I was part of you but that notwithstandingthe battle for the liberation of this country is not going to happen there [parliament] it will happen here wherepeople of Uganda will, together with you, determine their destiny, Amuriat said.

Gen Mugisha Muntu (R) shares a light moment with Patrick Amuriat at Namboole last weekend

Notably, Amuriat had few MPs that openly supported him. They include Francis Mwijukye, who was the deputy chairman of the campaign team, Betty Aol, [Gulu], Gilbert Olanya, [Kilak], Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, William Nzoghu and Mubarak Munyagwa.

Currently, what is unclear is whether Amuriat will not follow his predecessor to sack the partys top hierarchy in parliament led by Winnie Kiiza, the leader of opposition and Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, the chief whip.

When he was elected president in 2012, Muntu sacked the then leader of opposition, Nandala Mafabi, who had been appointed by Besigye, and replaced him with Wafula Oguttu. Speaking on Saturday, Mwijukye said it was too early to talk about the fate of Kiiza and Ssemujju and other committee chairpersons, who are all appointed by the FDC president.

We dont expect a shakeup in parliament really soon. From the angle of party cohesion, we cant say now you go away... We still remain the same party, the same people and we only need to see how to realign our forces, Mwijukye said.

We need to have the leadership in parliament clearly and strategically working with the peoples government and all other efforts geared towards liberating our country. So, the question is: how do we bring the two to work together such that the parliamentary leadership works hand in hand to cause change in this country, Mwijukye said.

On his part, Ssemujju said it is within Amuriats powers to retain or dump them.

I belong to an institution that takes decisions through party structures; if anyone thinks that the leadership is now going to take decisions unilaterally, I will also have learnt that and I will respect those decisions. Im a decent person if anybody thinks that he is uncomfortable working with me, he needs not to make any proposals. Let him just tell me so and I will immediately hand over the office, Ssemujju said.

If they choose to realign the team in parliament, they will find us very obedient. If they want another leader of opposition, we will clean the office for him and hand over as soon as we are told.



bakerbatte@observer.ug
Ruling party leaders are understood to be studying a report compiled for NRM chairman Yoweri Museveni, which gauges its chances of seeing through the age limit bill in Parliament.

Knowledgeable insiders have told The Observer that the intelligence services were instructed, at the highest level, to poll NRM members of parliament so as to establish level of support amongst their 307 majority.

Under the current provisions of Article 102(b) of the Constitution, the 73-year-old Museveni will be ineligible to stand for re-election in 2021.

Opponents say scrapping it will satisfy Musevenis desire to be president for life, a situation which would imperil Uganda.

Forum for Democratic Change delegates donning red ribbons and caps over the weekend ahead of elections for party president. Red ribbons are a national symbol against age limit amendment

The age limit bill was tabled privately by Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi on October 4; less than a week after suspected commandos from the Special Forces Command (SFC), Musevenis elite guard formation, raided Parliament and assaulted and dragged out MPs opposed to the bill.

After its controversial tabling, Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga suspended parliamentary sittings to allow MPs go consult their constituents, an exercise that has forced a number of NRM MPs to get a change of heart.

A source familiar with the contents of the intelligence report told The Observer on November 24 that there is a remarkable fall in the bills support among NRM MPs, which is largely attributed to pressure from the electorate.

In Buganda region alone, we have lost the support of about 22 MPs due to pressure from their voters, the source said.

Among the Buganda MPs that the report mentions as having succumbed to pressure from their constituencies are Sarah Nakawunde Temulanda (Mpigi Woman), Caroline Birungi Nanyondo (Kyamuswa), Jennifer Nantume Egunyu (Buvuma Woman), Idah Nabayiga (Kalangala Woman) and Julius Mukasa Opondo (Bujumba), among others.

Before the consultations, the source said, the named MPs supported the amendment but have since denounced the Magyezi bill.

There are various reasons being given but the most outstanding is the unfulfilled presidential promises, the source said.

Temulanda and her Mawokota North counterpart, Trade and Industry minister Amelia Kyambadde had a tough time on October 31 when they were forced to unceremoniously abandon their consultative meeting at Mpigi town council following a vote where locals opposed to the bill outnumbered those in favour.

Interviewed on November 21, Temulanda said that she was still analysing the outcome of her consultative meetings before she can make her position clearly known.

The whole of Mawokota South rejected it and in Mawokota North, there are areas that rejected it and others that said that we should amend. I need time to analyse the outcome of my consultations, after that, I will go by what the majority are saying, the Mpigi Woman MP said.

Despite being part of the initial team that worked on the amendment, Mawokota South MP John Bosco Lubyaayi was forced to wear a red headband (the national symbol of those who want age limits retained) at all his consultative meetings, owing to wide opposition to the bill in the constituency.

The Kalangala trio of Nanyondo, Nabayiga and Mukasa had a change of heart after tasting the wrath of their constituents.

MP Idah Nabayiga

Nabayiga was chased from Kyeserwa, Nkose, Butulume and Kyamuswa days after she had successfully convened a closed-door meeting of NRM leaders in Kalangala town Council.

Shaken, she later told journalists that; I am not ready to suffer alone with the voters, if President Museveni so much wants this amendment, he should put it to a referendum and go around the country campaigning for it.

Nanyondos Kyamuswa county is especially bitter that Museveni has not lived up to his decades long promise of improving transport between most of the islands in the district as well as healthcare services.

There are three ferries running between the districts main island, Buggala, to the mainland, but none serves any of the other 83 islands in the district. Besides Buganda, the other areas pointed out in the report include Kigezi, Lango and Teso sub-regions.

Langos growing opposition to the amendment is attributed to the influence of Dokolo South MP Felix Okot Ogong as chair of the Lango Parliamentary Group. Ogong is backed by Sylvia Akello (Otuke Woman) in a campaign against the amendment, which has left the ruling party not sure of the support of some of its Lango MPs such as Hamson Obua (Ajuri).

Monica Amoding (Kumi Woman) and her Ngora counterpart David Abala are on the other hand blamed for the hardening of opposition amongst the Teso MPs.

While the party enjoys overwhelming support among MPs from the western region, the influence of Shadow Attorney General Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East) and Andrew Baryayanga Aja (Kabale Municipality) is something not to be ignored.

Both men are said to be working with a group of MPs that have been branded Mbabazi MPs to campaign against the amendment.

According to sources, there are MPs within the NRM caucus who were sponsored by former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi. Mbabazi fell out badly with Museveni over differences of opinion on the succession which saw him make an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2016

Among these are Micheal Timuzigu Kamugisha (Kajara), James Kaberuka (Kinkiizi West), Denis Sabiti (Rubanda West) and Innocent Pentagon Kamusiime (Butemba).

Kaberuka succeeded Mbabazi in Kinkiizi West and has been openly working with the rebel MPs led by Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Buyaga Wests Barnabas Tinkasiimire, the lone dissenting voice from Bunyoro according to the political intelligence report.

Pentagon Kamusiime came as a surprise given that the proposal to scrap age limits was first passed in July 2016 by the Kyankwanzi NRM district conference where he is a member.

He attended the meeting that passed the resolution and he was with us when we presented it to the president on August 2 at Kyankwanzi [National leadership institute], Anna Maria Nankabirwa, the Kyankwanzi Woman MP, who also doubles as the NRM chairperson in the district, said in an interview at Parliament last week.

According to Nankabirwa, Pentagon has since gone as far as facilitating youth groups in the district to turn against his colleagues who support the bill. Pentagon accused Nankabirwa of being so cheap and desperate for a ministerial appointment.

It is so unfortunate that somebody at the position of an MP is not satisfied with what they have that they have to sacrifice their colleagues to gain political favour from the appointing authority, Pentagon said on Saturday.

He added that his stand on the bill is based on the outcome of consultations he held in his constituency.

I did open consultations as opposed to closed ones which she conducted, and, I tolerated all sides at my meetings. Maybe she feels a little frustrated because she called a few people to a closed meeting, the youthful MP said.

According to the report, all MPs from the districts of greater Mbabara around where Museveni hails, and greater Bushenyi, support the amendment.

Besides Tinkasiimire, all MPs from Bunyoro are also said to be behind Magyezi while in Busoga, only seven out of the 37 MPs from the sub-region are opposed.

We are engaging our colleagues who are still opposed to the bill, we have decided to be as persuasive as possible to get them to our side because this bill is not one you can pass with a simple majority but with a fixed portion of the House, an NRM MP who preferred anonymity said.

Under Article 262 of the Constitution, the bill requires not less than two-thirds of all members of Parliament at the second and third readings for the bill to pass.

Given the opposition to the bill, cabinet last month set up a ministerial sub-committee headed by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to oversee parliamentary activities that were previously coordinated by a team led by Parliamentary Commissioners Arinaitwe Rwakajara (Workers), Robina Nabbanja (Kakumiro Woman) and Peter Ogwang (Usuk).

The sub-committee has Frank Tumwebaze (ICT and national guidance), Kahinda Otafiire (Justice and Constitutional Affairs), William Byaruhanga (Attorney General), Mwesigwa Rukutana (deputy Attorney General), state ministers David Bahati (Planning) and Evelyn Anite (Investments and Privatisation) and government chief whip Ruth Nankabirwa.

Neither Rugunda nor Nankabirwa answered our calls on Saturday. It is, however, understood that the sub-committee plans to reach out to the MPs opposed to the bill although some have indicated that they may not honour any invitations.

There is nothing new they are going to tell us. I think that is a tired strategy because we have previously listened to promises from the president that have never been fulfilled, said an MP from Buganda.



sadabkk@observer.ug
Premier Li Keqiang addresses an economic forum attended by 16 Central and Eastern European leaders on Monday in Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Orban Viktor (center) and Bulgarian Premier Boyko Borisov also spoke. ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP

Premier said financing will grow for joint projects with Central, Eastern Europe

Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday that China would increase agricultural imports from Central and Eastern European countries and provide greater financial support to China-CEEC cooperative projects.

He made the announcement during the seventh China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum, which attracted more than 1,000 business people to Hungary's capital, Budapest.

China wants to import more agricultural goods like meat and dairy products, honey and fruit, Li said.

"Next year, an import exposition will be hosted by China, and  I hope CEE nations will take part in it and win Chinese consumers," he said.

Li said that the financing should be expanded. China supports the financing of cooperative projects by commercial financial institutions and supports enterprises from CEE nations issuing panda bonds in China, he said. A panda bond is a renminbi-denominated bond from a non-Chinese issuer. He said renminbi financing will be supported for cooperative projects.

Li also announced the establishment of a China-CEEC bank consortium, to which the China Development Bank will grant loans worth 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion).

Li said a second round of the China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund, initiated by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China last year, has been completed to raise $1 billion. The fund will mainly invest in CEE nations.

In the past five years, China-CEEC cooperation has registered achievements that benefit people from both sides, Li said on his arrival on Sunday. As part of China-Europe ties, China-CEEC cooperation has promoted the development of countries in the subregion, balanced development for all of Europe and the continent's process of integration, he said.

The measures were the latest move in financial cooperation. A financial holding company was established in November 2016 to fund projects that promote Chinese-made equipment and products after the fifth Meeting of Heads of Government of China-Central and Eastern European Countries in Riga, Latvia.

Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said that the first such forum was held in Budapest six years ago and the event has played a vital role in boosting economic ties and promoting cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at the forum that European countries now need technological and financial support from China and Asia, and the China-CEEC mechanism, also known as "16+1" cooperation, will benefit the EU and all of Europe. Orban said large enterprises in Asia are increasingly participating in the Western market with first-class technologies, which has played a key role in the development of CEE nations.

Wang Yiwei, a professor of international studies at Renmin University of China, said CEE countries are still in the process of changing from socialist economies into market economies and they want to attract more investment from China.

Investing in the area will also provide opportunity for China to enter the West European market, he said. Also, "16+1" cooperation is a highlight in Belt and Road cooperation, and the initiative will promote level and significant "16 + 1" cooperation, he added.

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.

huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn
When Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) delegates on Friday night dropped Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu as party president in favour of Patrick Oboi Amuriat a.k.a POA, the former Kumi Member of Parliament; the shadow of the partys founding father, Dr Kizza Besigye, again loomed large over proceedings.



To observers, it was a reaffirmation that Besigye retains an overarching influence on FDC members, just like President Museveni does in the ruling NRM. So, POA won with 641 votes while Muntu managed 463. Moses Byamugisha came third with three votes while Malcom Matsiko got two votes.



What kicked off as a mild competition between Muntu and POA as frontrunners picked pace and rapidly evolved into a referendum on Besigye. The POA group gradually projected itself as the pro-defiance choice, a reference to the post- 2016 election political message Besigye has customised.

Patrick Amuriat carried by supporters at Namboole

Not long after POA declared that Besigye cannot be wished away, the founding father was his man.



He is the brand of the party that must be utilised to get victory for the party...I will bring him back to the party, Amuriat said.

Muntu, throughout the campaigns, warned against elevating any individual.



What has bedevilled this country is not the lack of strongmen but strong institutions. This is what I am interested in, Muntu said.



It looks like a combination of two main factors sealed the former army commanders fate. One; some members became impatient with his more sedate style and, two; influence of the affectionately called people's president.



Marina Okoi, a delegate from Jinja, would later tell The Observer that Muntu had goofed by attacking Besigye in his campaign speech.



How do you attack the peoples president from here and think we can forgive you? We have shown him that this is our party and we the delegates have spoken; we have made the statement that Besigye cant be attacked in FDC, he said.



Okois view is shared by Mubarak Munyagwa, the Kawempe South MP, who said: People have also shown that you simply cant attack the peoples president and founder member of FDC and they forgive you. It was wrong for Muntu to turn his heat on Besigye.



Speaking to the media after casting his vote, Besigye said that he cannot be blamed for moving alongside POA.



POA was the only person who invited me to his rallies...And he had no problem with my message. Perhaps other people did not invite me because they were uncomfortable with my message, Besigye said.



In the immediate aftermath of the happenings at Mandela National Stadium in Namboole, some feared that Besigyes dominance could eventually stand in the way of prospects for internal democracy inside FDC.



As a member of the party, he enjoys the right to choose any candidate but because of his influence, he can cause polarisation and for the good of the party, he should have kept his choice secret, if in any case he believes in building institutions, said one senior leader who belongs to the Muntu group.



SENTIMENTAL VOTE OR RATIONALITY



Other delegates disagree that POAs win was about Besigyes control. Sulaiman Magumba, the FDC chairman for Iganga district, suggested that Muntu may have been undone by something more insular and notoriously disruptive: tribe.



I have interacted with some of my colleagues, especially those from Eastern Uganda [where POA hails from], and most of them think that voting Hon Amuriat in any away symbolises power balance within the party.



Well, that could be a valid argument but it is wrong in the sense that it lowers the qualification of being a party president to which region does one come from, which is wrong, Magumba said.



In 2012, Magumba supported Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, the FDC secretary general, against Muntu, but this time switched sides.



There is no doubt that since the formation of FDC, it has been under the leadership of people hailing from the same region. But the most important thing is the quality it of leadership those individuals offer.

Amuriat with his supporters at Namboole

Godfrey Yeheyo, another delegate from Wakiso district, proposes that its unfair to hold Besigye wholly responsible for Muntus exit.



Voters are rational. Why did they vote him the other time? I come from Western Uganda but I voted POA. The reason is very simple. For the last five years, [Muntu] has been in charge of the party but he does not show us the structures he keeps talking about. Where are they? We have repeatedly asked him the total membership of FDC but he cannot say it, Yeheyo says.



To delegates like Yeheyo, Muntu came across as too academic and unsuited for the harsh reality of opposition politics under Museveni.



Those statements make sense to people in the urban areas or at the top but the people in the village want your presence. That is the only way they will feel the party, he said.



Karl-Marx Wamugeni, a member from the diaspora, agrees.



By the time I was at the secretariat, we used to have a data bank and registers for members, which were always renewed annually. This is all non-existent [today]. What happened? Do you want to blame all this on Besigye? We used to fundraise and recruit through selling party cards. Is this still the case? Wamugeni said.



Muntu told The Observer last week that membership of FDC has exponentially grown over the years, but still his attention has been focused on party structures.



Numbers are not enough. You need the structures and that was my concern. Since I took over, I made sure that structures are put in place. For instance, at the national, district and constituency level, we are a hundred percent. We are lacking at the sub-county, parish and village level, where our performance is below 60 per cent. We have to be everywhere so that all the support can be galvanised by the structures, he said.



Muntu argued that when the structures are in place and there are values that would attract people, it would be very easy to recruit and fundraise.



His supporters point out that it is through these structures that Besigye won the 2016 election which his defiance group talks about.

But POA supporters insist that the former party and his mainly elite supporters failed to understand the constituency they were talking to.



Delegates conferences of most political parties in Uganda are largely rural, unlike the National Executive Committee which convenes leaders at the national level. In this respect, POA presented himself as a villagers president on the advice of Besigye, a man whom a portion of Ugandas masses acknowledge as the peoples president.



HEALING OR MORE TROUBLE



Now that POA is in the chair, his biggest challenge is reconciling the ideologically opposed factions within the party. In 2012, when Nandala lost to Muntu, the party went through a similar soul-searching, sometimes teetering on the edge of an outright split, when Nandalas group refused to concede defeat.



Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the Kira municipality MP, also FDC spokesperson and opposition chief whip in Parliament, says he has seen the same fault lines emerging but prays that they do not widen.



I hope we dont experience the same thing. Our collective responsibility will be the thread that will tie us together.

Amuriat said: that is a challenge that is why in my campaign I focused on cohesion and unity.



In his concession speech, Muntu said that he hopes POA does not go through the same kind of environment he operated under.



I dont want you to go through that environment I went through... Continue building democracy within our party but if you lose those values that we believe in, you will lose the party. If at any time you find that your words are different from your actions you will become history, Muntu said.



Throughout his term, the outgoing president has been severely hobbled by internal strife, suspected Besigye apologists undermining his work and an overwhelming mistrust of his opposition bona fides.



And so, he urged POA to find out the forces behind the turbulence within the party. Bugweri MP Abdu Katuntu, a prominent supporter of Muntu, said the main challenge for the new man will be in how he tolerates the differences in opinion.



As individuals, we cant agree all the time and in cases where there are differences, we should embrace them in good faith. I think that our biggest challenge has always been the failure on our part to agree that we are different and cant be the same, he said.



Katuntu says it is time for the opposed groups to face the stark reality.



We have always argued about defiance on one side, and the other approach of organisation and institutional building. The latter view that I belong to has lost. So, it is time to let the winners work and not like it was the case before, he said.



Another challenge is framing the FDCs ideological identity since it remains shrouded in fall-out from the internal dispute. There is also a lack of coherence on policy matters.

Then the issue of fundraising. Tellingly, Francis Mwijukye, the Buhweju MP and Besigye loyalist, was voted the new deputy treasurer in charge of general fundraising.



skakaire@observer.ug

bakerbatte@observer.ug


Five directors and three editors of Red Pepper Publications have today, Monday been arraigned in Buganda Road court, almost a week after they were arrested over a tabloid story about relations between Uganda and Rwanda.

They have been charged with offensive communication, publication of information prejudicial to security and libel over last week's story about the plot to overthrow the Rwandan government.



Among the charged are; Arinaitwe Rugyendo (director/secretary and chief marketing officer), Richard Kintu (deputy news editor), James Mujuni (journalist), Patrick Mugumya (director operations), Richard Tusiime (managing director), Johnson Musingunzi (director finance), Ben Byarabaha (senior editor), Francis Tumusiime (special project editor).

The suspects in dock

The story titled M7 plotting to overthrow Kagame - Rwanda (Monday, November 20) with the kicker Kigali intelligence also pins Saleh, Tumukunde & France on Kagame coup plot seemed to have rubbed government the wrong way. It has since labelled the story as false.



The following day on Tuesday, police raided the Red Pepper offices and arrested the eight proprietors and editors, detaining them at the dreaded Nalufenya detention facility. Their homes were also searched, all office computers and mobile phones taken and police reportedly forced them to reveal passwords for their computers and emails.

Prosecution alleges that the accused injured the reputation of Lt. General Henry Tumukunde and also subjected him to hatred, contempt and ridicule.



Under offensive communication charge, the suspects are accused of disturbing the peace, quiet and privacy of Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, his brother Gen Salim Saleh and security minister Gen Tumukunde by portraying them as plotting to over Rwanda President, Paul Kagame.

Earlier, police had intimidated that it would charge the suspects with treason, but that seems to have been dropped by the Director of Public Prosecution, Mike Chibita.
Debt-ridden Essar Group on Friday announced the closure of its BPO arm Aegis sale for Rs 2,000 crore and said it has been able to pare debt by Rs 75,000 crore, thanks to the proceeds from the recent sale of its refinery business.

The company announced the conclusion of the Rs 2,000-crore sale of Aegis to Capital Square Partners (CSP), marking its exit from the business process outsourcing (BPO) business.

In July this year, the total debt of the group was Rs 1.38 lakh crore. A Businees Today report had earlier said that Rosneft deal alone would bring down Essar's debt to around Rs 70,000 crore.

In 2014, Essar sold its BPO business in the US, Aegis USA Inc, to Frances Teleperformance for $610 million. Early this year, Essar exited the BPO business by selling assets in 10 countries to Singapore-based private equity firm Capital Square Partners for $300 million (Rs 1,950 crore). Essar had acquired US-based Aegis Communications in November 2003.

The diversified conglomerate has been selling off assets to pare its high debt, which has seen it exiting the oil business and also sell realty holdings, apart from Aegis, the BPO arm. Earlier, it had concluded a $13 billion deal to sell its oil business to Russia's Rosneft.

"Net proceeds from this sale (of Aegis)...will be used to retire our debt at the group level," Essar said in statement.

"The closure of this transaction is in line with Essar's intent to reduce leverage that is complemented by an asset monetisation programme. The proceeds from the sale of Aegis and Essar Oil have enabled Essar to retire almost Rs 75,000 crore of debt," it added.

The Aegis sale was announced on this April 3 and involved AGC Holdings Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global, selling 100 per cent stake in ESM Holdings Mauritius, the holding company of Aegis, to CSP, a Singapore-based private equity fund.

The statement said Essar had acquired Aegis Communication in 2003 and it has now grown over tenfold to become a significant player in the outsourcing industry.

Aegis is present in nine countries, including India, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, England, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Peru and Malaysia. Under Essar, it carried out 19 acquisitions and all of them were successful, the statement said.

"The closure of this transaction is yet another validation of Essar Global Fund's commitment to reduce its leverage by monetising the non-core businesses," Uday Gujadhur, director of AGC Holding, said in the statement.

"We are keenly looking forward to working with the Aegis management team to grow its global footprint and enhance its capabilities and excellence in service to its customers," CSP managing partners Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda said in a joint statement.
What good is a government drive to deal with the Rs 10 trillion of toxic assets (bad loans and restructured loans) choking the banking system if the same promoters and wilful defaulters responsible for bankrupting a company get a chance to return to the helm? At a hugely discounted price at that. President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday gave his assent to ordinance amending Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Take the case of Essar Steel, which is facing insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) with a default of Rs 37,284 crore. Its promoters have openly bid for the assets of its 10-million-tonne plant in Hazira, Gujarat, along with a Russian partner, VTB Bank. Another controversial example is Synergies Dooray Automotive Ltd, the first case resolved under IBC. Back in September, Mint reported that the resolution plan for Synergies Dooray involved merging the company with a creditor and related party, Synergies Castings Ltd, holding 75% of debt of the defaulter. Synergies Casting transferred a significant chunk of loans to a non-related party called Millennium Finance Ltd. Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Co. had appealed against the resolution claiming that this move enabled Synergies Castings to put in place a proxy in the creditor committee.

The criticism against this loophole in the IBC further peaked earlier this month, when Rajnish Kumar, chairman of State Bank of India, claimed that promoters of companies facing insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings are within their rights to bid for their own assets.

Against this backdrop, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) issued a notification on November 7, amending the corporate insolvency resolution process regulations. The revised regulations ensure that applicants, including promoters, are put to a stringent test with respect to their credit worthiness and credibility, prior to the approval of a resolution plan. Henceforth, the resolution applicants' details in terms of "convictions, disqualifications, criminal proceedings, categorisation as wilful defaulter as per RBI guidelines, debarment imposed by Sebi, if any", would have to be disclosed, according to a statement by IBBI. This move will go a long way in preventing promoters from using shell companies to regain control of their defaulting companies.

At the same time, the government recognised that the IBC needed to be amended since the curbs on promoters bidding would not hold up in court. So, yesterday, the Union Cabinet cleared the ordinance-currently awaiting presidential assent-for making amendments in the IBC to prevent willful defaulters from bidding for stressed assets. The government opted for the ordinance route weeks before the winter session of Parliament as some defaulting cases are likely to come up for resolution soon.

According to the Hindu Business Line, as per the proposed changes in the ordinance, a new section will be inserted to list persons ineligible to be 'Resolution Applicants'. These would include wilful defaulters, undischarged insolvents, disqualified directors, persons who have indulged in preferential transactions or under-valued transactions or fraudulent transactions as determined by the adjudicating authority, and persons who are promoters or in the control of such persons whose account is classified as non-performing assets by the Reserve Bank of India for a year or more. This means the roughly 3 lakh directors who were recently disqualified following the government drive against shell firms will also be disallowed, quotes the Financial Express, unless they manage to get reprieve from the relevant authority (judicial or otherwise).

The Ordinance reportedly would also prescribe basic eligibility criteria for resolution applications, depending on the size of the business and provide a robust due diligence framework to help the Committee of Creditors assess creditworthiness, credibility and other parameters.

But many feel that not much will change even after the Ordinance comes into effect. According to sources quoted by The Economic Times, given that the criteria to define a willful defaulter or fraudulent promoter remains the same, most of the promoters remain eligible to bid for the companies. Forensic audits done on them during the earlier corporate debt restructuring and Strategic Debt Restructuring have acquitted most promoters.
US President Donald Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump is all set to visit India tomorrow for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad. Ivanka Trump will be leading a delegation of senior administrative officers and entrepreneurs. This year's summit, the first in South Asia, is co-hosted by India and America and is likely to be attended by 1500 business leaders from 170 countries out of which more than 50 percent attendees would be women, reports mention. Trump will be here to promote female entrepreneurship and economic power in the summit that will go on from November 28 to 30.

Trump will be part of two panels and will be in conversation with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and ICICI CEO Chanda Kochar, amongst other leaders. Ivanka Trump will also give a keynote speech in at the summit that is themed 'Women First, Prosperity for All'.

Moreover prominent personalities from 35 countries such as John Chambers, Prem Watsa, Marcus Wallenberg, Anousheh Ansari, Sibongile Sambo, Carlo Ratti and Danielle Wood, Ritesh Agarwal, Sonam Wangchuk, Piyush Pandey, Chatri Sityodtong, Sania Mirza, Pullela Gopichand and Vikas Khanna would be speaking at the summit.

According to reports, five per cent of entrepreneurs at GES are 30 years or younger. The youngest entrepreneur is 13, while the oldest is 84.

PM Modi is scheduled to have a meeting with Ivanka Trump before the inauguration of the GES. In fact, he himself invited Trump to support this year's GES. After Ivanka's keynote speech, PM Modi will address the gathering. PM Modi will also meet several dignitaries one on one before they head to Taj Falaknuma, said to be world's largest dining hall for dinner. At Taj Falaknuma, Indian fabric and crafts will be showcased and there will be a live show on the cultural heritage of India for the visitors.



However, long before the summit, Ivanka Trump's visit has garnered bad press because of reports that claim that authorities in Hyderabad have been rounding up beggars to put them out of sight of the Ivanka Trump-led delegation. There have been reports that stray dogs have been poisoned to clean the city before Ivanka's visit, who might take a trip to Charminar. Annie Gowen, India bureau chief of the Washington Post also tweeted that a bridge in Hyderabad has been painted in multiple colours because Trump is set to take that route.

The Indian city of Hyderabad painted a bridge rainbow colors just because @IvankaTrump will be passing by @GES2017pic.twitter.com/RZTc1Olp9V - Annie Gowen (@anniegowen) November 27, 2017

The hall is half empty as Ivanka Trump gives a speech in Tokyo at the Japanese government's "World Assembly for Women" (WAW!) pic.twitter.com/8OchiSzgHa - Anna Fifield (@annafifield) November 2, 2017

Not very unlike this was the fanfare that Ivanka Trump experienced ahead of World Assembly of Women organised by the Japanese government. However, the actual event saw a jarring lack of attendees at the event. According to The Guardian, Ivanka Trump was greeted with "boos and hisses" at the W20 summit held in Berlin as she boasted of her father being a "tremendous champion of supporting families".It remains to be seen how the GES ends up for Ivanka.
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said the Centre will support iPhone maker Apple to set up manufacturing unit in the country and is awaiting a formal proposal from them.

"Let us get a good proposal from them..We will be very happy to receive Apple, one of the top brands in the world. We are willing to find out if there is any difficulty they may face. We will be more than happy to resolve that difficulty.

So we will await a formal proposal," Prabhu told PTI in an interview.

He also said that the Centre is willing to call all state chief ministers who are willing to give them the best deal.

The Cupertino-based iPhone and iPad manufacturer Apple has asked for certain concessions for setting up manufacturing unit in the country.

The government had sought investment and job creation details from the iPhone maker to facilitate setting up its proposed manufacturing facility in India.

In March, the then Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had informed the Rajya Sabha said that the government has not accepted 'most of the demands' of the company, which wants to set up manufacturing unit in India.

Apple India had sought concessions, including duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for smartphone manufacturing and service/repair for a period of 15 years.

The company also wants relaxation in the mandated 30 per cent local sourcing of components besides reduction in customs duties on completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked-down units of devices that are to be assembled in the country.

Apple does not manufacture devices on its own but gets the job done through contract manufacturers. It sells its products through company-owned retail stores in countries like China, Germany, the US, the UK and France, among others.

It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro.
Cytecare, which runs a Cancer care hospital in Bangalore, is planning to expand its footprint by entering other major metros across the country according to Dr Ferzaan Engineer, co-founder and Chairman of Cytecare Cancer Hospitals. Cytecare has raised $30 million primarily from HNI's (high networth individuals) for its Bangalore hospital and is now looking to raise an additional $75 million from private equity players to fund its expansion. The 150 -bed Bangalore-based hospital, which was launched a year back, will break even soon according to Engineer, and is now in the process of identifying the second city in the country to launch its hospital.

"Cytecare is an organ-based hospital. The entire hospital is running according to protocols, with every case discussed by the Tumor Board. This allows us to customise and optimise care for each individual patient. There is also a lot of attention given to the non-clinical aspects of cancer care. Cancer can be a life-changing event, which deeply impacts both the patient and the family. Hence, Cytecare places a lot of emphasis on holistic treatment. We want to take the same standard of care that we provide here to patients across the country and thus a hospital chain," says Engineer.

"India's huge burden of disease, growing middle class and health insurance at an inflection point make(s) the hospital sector an attractive investment option. The Cytecare hospital project combines social impact with clinical excellence. The team's background in global clinical research should enable the creation of a world-class institution in India. Cancer care is undergoing a transformation worldwide due to advances in genetic sciences, immunotherapy and AI. Cytecare is led by individuals with deep expertise in clinical sciences, research and technology," Prof Oppel BW Greeff, one of the investors in Cytecare, explains why he chose to invest in the company.

Engineer says that with India emerging as a popular health tourism destination, Cytecare already attracts about 15 per cent of its clientele from international markets. The company caters to patients from the Maldives, Bangladesh, Middle East, Eastern Europe and several African countries. "Cytecare is about treating cancer the right way and we want to ensure that the latest and best treatment is available to patients across the country."
Zahid Hamid resigned,Islamabad sit-in end

ISLAMABAD: After the Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid voluntary resigned late Sunday, government officials and the Faizabad protesters reached an agreement on Monday to end the sit-in being held at Islamabads Faizabad interchange.



TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi has also ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home. He also announced an end to the strike being observed today and called for opening businesses and shops.



The agreement states that the government is to release a report made by the committee set-up to find out who made the amendment and why was the Finality of Prophethood declaration amended for the electoral candidates in the Elections Act 2017 and there is also a clause to hold the person or party accountable for such an error.



The agreement reached between protesters and govt.

It also includes the condition that the workers of religious parties that have been arrested since November 6, 2017, be released and cases registered against them be dismissed.



It is also stated in the agreement that an inquiry board will be set up to probe the events surrounding the government action against protesters on November 25 and fix responsibility.



The document credits Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and his representative team for their special efforts that led to the agreement being signed.



We are thankful to him [Gen Bajwa] for saving the nation from a big catastrophe, the document concludes.



Late Sunday night, Zahid Hamid voluntarily stepped down. the minister tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, which is expected to be accepted later today.It is pertinent to mention here that the protesters first demand was the resignation of the law minister.



Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday decided against the use of force to disperse protesters in Islamabad. The top military and civilian leaders have agreed to engage in political negotiations with agitators in the capital.



As agitation in the federal capital enters the second day, a high-level meeting was underway at the Prime Ministers House in Islamabad to discuss the law and order situation in the capital, media reports said on Sunday.



Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence were also present in the meeting.



Punjab Rangers on Sunday were called in by the federal government to clear the Faizabad area occupied by the protesters.They are given the task of handling the agitated law and order situation prevailing in Islamabad.



Punjab Rangers DG Maj Gen Azhar Naveed was in charge of the whole operation, a notification issued by the ministry of interior stated.



Around 1,000 Rangers personnel, who were deployed in the capital yesterday, were repositioned to the frontlines of the security operation.



Replying to federal governments request to the military to deploy its troops in Islamabad to restore peace, Army on Sunday said that it is fully ready to assist the government in an operation against protesters.



On Saturday, after a day-long operation against the agitators, the Interior Ministry had sent out a formal requisition for the deployment of military troops in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.



Responding to governments request, military officials sent a letter to the ministry of interior, saying the army was fully ready to discharge its constitutional responsibility of assisting the government.



However, the letter states that before troops are deployed, there are a few aspects meriting deliberation, such as how the police has not been utilized to its full capacity in dealing with the religious protesters.



It points out that the Pakistan Rangers have not been given written instructions.



Citing orders passed by the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court earlier this week, the letter also highlights that the Army is not a force traditionally used to disperse crowds or protesters. The statement has then asked for a clarification on the matter.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
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Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association

Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America.
I've always thought the cabin on top of Thomas Mountain in Bolton would be a fun place to spend a night. The mountain is atop a heavily hiked trail system overseen by Lake George Land Conservancy and there are often more people there than I want to see when hiking, but it seems like it would be a great place to watch the sun rise.

A couple of hikers spent part of Saturday night in that cool, one-room cabin. But they hadn't planned to.

State forest rangers were called to the mountain late Saturday afternoon because a couple of hikers from the New York City area got lost on the mountain as dusk arrived. They didn't have flashlights, but were able to find the cabin and call for help.

They were escorted off the mountain later Saturday night.

It's really mind-boggling to me that anyone heads into the woods this time of the year without a flashlight or light source. Darkness arrives much earlier in the woods than it does in your front yard. (Unless, of course, your front yard is in the woods.)

For all intents and purposes, it is winter here in the Adirondacks. I left my house to hike to Black Mountain and the ponds around it on Saturday morning, and it was 45 degrees at my house. I arrived at the trailhead and found ice and temperatures in the mid-30s, and the higher up I got there was more snow and ice and it was very windy. Extra layers and a light source are non-negotiable at this time of year.

Below is the weekly DEC forest ranger report, which includes the Thomas Mountain rescue and some other local calls.

-- Don Lehman

Town of Salem

Washington County

Wildfire: Three Forest Rangers helped county volunteer firefighters extinguish a wildfire that burned through three acres of woodlands. The fire was caused by a resident dumping woodstove ashes outside without first making sure there were no burning coals. The homeowner was issued a ticket for leaving burning materials outside in a manner that can cause a wildfire.

Town of Bolton

Warren County

Wildland Rescue: At 4:45 p.m. on Nov. 25, DEC Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from two New York City hikers lost on Thomas Mountain. The hikers could not find the trail but eventually made their way to a cabin near the summit. Unprepared to navigate at night, the pair remained at the cabin while Forest Ranger Art Perryman hiked to their location, provided necessary flashlights, and escorted the hikers back to their vehicle. By 7 p.m., all were back at the parking lot and the incident was concluded.

Town of Mayfield

Fulton County

Wildland Search: At 6:28 p.m. on Nov. 25, Environmental Conservation Police Officer (ECO) Shane Manns was alerted to a hunter lost on Tolmantown Road. The 16-year-old male hunter became separated from his hunting party and was disoriented. Manns, Fulton County Sheriffs Deputies, and Forest Rangers Dave Kallen and Andrew Lewis searched the area. At 9:26 p.m., the hunter was found and escorted out of the woods without further need of assistance.

Town of Indian Lake

Hamilton County

Wildland Search: At 4:15 p.m. on Nov. 25, DEC Ray Brook Dispatch was notified of a 70-year-old man hunting in the Jessup River Wild Forest who had not returned to his hunting party. Four Forest Rangers began their search, which included a boat patrol along the shore of Indian Lake while Sheriffs Deputies patrolled the state highway. At 11:08 p.m., the hunter was found in good health and escorted back to his vehicle.
FORT EDWARD  Very few musicians play the kind of gigs Jim and Devin Cuddy and the Holiday Train Band have embarked upon.

To start with, they play four or more times a day in a specially designed train car that drops its front wall to create a stage.

They play their set, fairly smooth and refined at this point in the tour, then pull in their instruments, step back and watch the wall go back up.

The last thing seen by the crowd  in this case, well over 200 people at the Fort Edward train station  when the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train pulls out is Santa waving from the caboose.

What the train left behind in Fort Edward was a check for $4,000 to the Fort Edward Community Food Pantry, accepted by pantry coordinator Lynn Griffin, along with dozens of boxes of donated food brought by spectators.

The crowd got to see Santa Claus and hear the band, which includes Canadian country star Kelly Prescott.

This will definitely see us through a few months, Jim Austin said about the donations.

The stop at Fort Edward was the first of several scheduled for the train on Monday. It was heading to stops in Ticonderoga, Port Henry, Plattsburgh and Rouses Point, then into Canada, where it will turn west and eventually return to the U.S. and visit Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North Dakota before going back to Canada.

Canadian Pacific, which launched the holiday train in 1999, is also running a second train on its more northerly tracks that stay entirely within Canada.

Canadian Pacific owns the tracks that run from Saratoga Springs to Montreal, which Amtrak uses for its passenger routes.

The Fort Edward station will host another train Sunday when the Capital Region Toys for Tots train rolls through.

That train will start Sunday in Saratoga Springs at 8:55 a.m., then move on to Fort Edward at 10:10 a.m. and Whitehall at 10:55 a.m. From Whitehall, the train will stop at Port Henry, Port Kent and Rouses Point. Most of the toys will be distributed to social services agencies.
CLIFTON PARK  A South Glens Falls woman who was sentenced to probation earlier this month for a felony drug conviction was jailed Saturday night after another drug arrest, police records show.

Tammy A. Reed-Corson, 55, was arrested at about 8:15 p.m. after State Police encountered her and another woman on Grooms Road in Clifton Park, the State Police public information website showed.

Reed-Corson was charged with felony counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and tampering with physical evidence and misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia, the website showed. The drug she allegedly possessed was not specified.

A woman who was with Reed-Corson, Kimberly L. Goodson, 48, of Queensbury, was charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance and noncriminal unlawful possession of marijuana, the website showed.

Reed-Corson was arraigned and sent to Saratoga County Jail for lack of bail, while Goodson was released.

Reed-Corson was sentenced to 5 years on probation earlier this month in Washington County Court in connection with a felony arrest last December in Kingsbury. She was charged in that case after she was found to have heroin and cocaine.
GLENS FALLS  A Glens Falls man was jailed Monday for burglarizing a convenience store twice and trying to burglarize it a third time, stealing thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes he later sold, police said.

Michael L. Murray Jr., 49, was arrested shortly after he tried to break into Lukoil on Ridge Street early Monday morning, according to Glens Falls Police.

The business had been burglarized twice earlier in the month, and Glens Falls Police Officer Donnie Long noticed a broken window there at about 1 a.m. Monday and began checking the area, Glens Falls Police Detective Lt. Peter Casertino said.

He found Murray, who had been staying at a home nearby on Traver Street, walking in the area, and surveillance video helped police link him to the attempted break-in, Casertino said.

Further questioning led police to determine that Murray was responsible for burglaries at the business on Nov. 14 and Nov. 17, when more than $1,000 worth of cigarettes was stolen each time, police said.

We believe he had been selling them on the street, Casertino said.

Murray did not succeed in getting into the store on Monday, according to police. Police do not have any evidence that he was involved in other recent burglaries in the area.

Murray was also found to be staying at the home of a person who had an order of protection against him, which resulted in additional charges.

In all, he faces 10 felonies and two misdemeanors, including counts of burglary, attempted burglary, grand larceny, criminal mischief, criminal contempt and aggravated family offense, police said.

Murray was arraigned and sent to Warren County Jail for lack of bail.
HEBRON  Town Justice James Curran was admonished earlier this month for his actions when presiding over a 2015 domestic violence case that involved a former employee of his wifes business.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct issued the written public admonishment, the commissions least weighty public disciplinary action, after an investigation into a complaint made by an unspecified party in his handling of a case in which a man was accused of choking a woman.

The commission found that Curran, who is a lawyer, relied on unsworn evidence from a party outside the court and had an appearance of bias against the defendant and victim. The victim formerly worked at Bedlam Corners Store, run by Virginia Curran, who serves as Hebron Town Courts clerk.

James Curran, who has been town justice since 2012 and ran on the Republican line for Washington County Family Court judge in 2014, agreed to the admonition. It does not affect his ability to serve as judge.

He failed to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety; engaged in, considered and failed to report improper ex parte communications; and conveyed the appearance of bias against the defendant and/or the alleged victim in the case, the commission found.

The victim had sought to have the order of protection against her alleged batterer modified, but Curran acknowledged he received information outside of court that he did not provide to lawyers in the case and considered when ruling on the case.

The disposition of the case was not disclosed in the commissions documents.

A judge must insure that all parties have a fair opportunity to be heard, which includes the right to hear and challenge evidence on which the court relies, commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian wrote. This fundamental obligation of fairness is defeated when a judge engages in private substantive conversation about a case with individuals outside court, fails to advise the parties of it, then appears to rely on it in rendering decision.

Curran did not respond to phone messages left at his court and law office on Monday. A woman who identified herself as Virginia Curran returned one of the calls and said the judge could not comment on the matter.

But the commissions finding summarized his response to the allegations:

Respondent (Curran) acknowledges that, after disclosing the source and substance of the ex parte information to the parties, he should then have entertained objections regarding his continuing to preside over the case, the commission order reads. Respondent avers that his statements to the defendant were intended as a warning to Mr. Eastman against violating the order of protection in the future. Respondent nevertheless acknowledges that it was inappropriate to rely on such unsubstantiated and undisclosed ex parte information in this manner.

Documents issued by the commission are attached to the online version of this article.
SOUTH GLENS FALLS  An abandoned and boarded-up building could create a village center and a vibrant riverfront.

The villages comprehensive plan committee toured the site off First Street, which features the bandstand, museum and an abandoned building known as the Carriage House.

The committee focused on that building, which was given to the village. Inside, it has room for about six small vendors. Outdoors, there could be a farmers market, food trucks or seating overlooking the river. The boat launch could be the perfect site for a boat rental operation.

Its a hidden gem, committee member Brigid Martin said. Grab a bite to eat, then sit out here and eat by the river. There could be kayak rentals. Maybe Segway rentals. Tourists up from New York City would do that.

Committee members were enthusiastic, and Planning Board Chairman Dave Linehan is working on the wording for a zone change for the site. Its zoned industrial, but he will propose a change to retail commercial.

The other problem is the building itself. The village received two grants for it  one to shore it up structurally and another to determine everything that needs to be done to reopen it. But a third grant will be needed to do that work, and until it is done, the building can only be used for storage. Among the items to be fixed: the buildings many windows are boarded up and broken and the roof has a hole. On the positive side, it has electricity.

It needs more work. But we could start outside, Martin said. It has to be rezoned. Open it up!

She also likes that the building is close to the bridge to Glens Falls.

We need people to cross the bridge, she said.

Some are drawn to the summer concerts at the bandstand. Regular activity at the nearby Carriage House could build on that audience.

It could be a focal point, she said.

The building would also likely be only a three-season location. But Martin said the village could recruit entrepreneurs and pitch the location as a business incubator.

It is small in there, she said. You start here. People could start out small. Then you say, This is great, I want to do it in winter, and you move out and another one moves in.

She wants the village to write a grant request now, while working on rezoning and then drawing in outdoor vendors who use the Carriage Building for storage. Then, after it is rebuilt, the village could move on to phase two with a business incubator.

Village Board members attended the tour and were enthusiastic about the ideas. The comprehensive plan committee is still working on the plan, which is supposed to be updated next year.
New data gathered by the Department of Environmental Conservation show that PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are still heavily contaminating the Hudson River, the state says.

The news comes after a seven-year cleanup paid for by General Electric Co. decades after it dumped PCBs into the river.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on the brink of announcing that GEs job is done, except for maintaining vegetation and continuing to pay for sampling.

But state officials have insisted the dredging did not do enough to clean the river. The state conducted its own study of the river this year after a dispute with EPA.

The state said EPA should take 1,800 samples to fully test the level of PCB contamination in the river. EPA intended to take 375 samples.

In the end, the state took more than 1,400 samples on its own. EPA agreed to take an additional 100 samples above the number it had previously planned to do.

DEC is still waiting for data on its sampling. The initial evaluation of every sample was completed less than two weeks ago. Now analysts must look closely at all of the data to determine any conclusions. The state plans to issue a report in January or February.

But one thing is clear, DEC officials said: The river is still sick. It is much more contaminated than EPA had expected it to be after dredging.

So the state urged EPA not to issue a certificate saying General Electric had completed the cleanup.

Its clear from the states ongoing research that EPAs job is not done and they cannot declare that this remediation is complete, said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. If the federal government fails New York, we will explore all legal options to challenge the EPAs decision and ensure this river is not left to suffer the consequences of pollution for generations to come.

He also sent a letter to EPA, detailing the preliminary results of the sampling.

In it, he wrote, recent sampling by the state suggests that River Section 2 is two to three times more contaminated than EPA estimated it would be at the completion of the dredging remedy, and there are other areas of the Upper Hudson where levels of PCB left behind are well above 50 parts per million (ppm) at the surface, and likely higher levels just below the surface. If these levels of PCB were found on land they would be regulated under the Toxic Control Substance Act, and EPA would require that they be disposed of in a permitted hazardous waste landfill.

Last week was the deadline to submit any arguments for or against a Certificate of Completion. While EPA officials have said for a year that the dredging is over, they have been studying the river before issuing the certificate.

EPA officials said Monday they would make a decision about the certificate by the end of the year. In the meantime, they will look at DECs data.

EPA will carefully consider the recent letters from Commissioner Seggos and Attorney General Schneiderman in reaching a decision on GEs request for the Certificate of Completion, said EPA spokeswoman Larisa Romanowski.

She noted that the certificate would confirm that GE had completed all actions required in a consent decree regarding the cleanup. The decree did not assume the river would be PCB-free at the end of the dredging.

Still, state officials said the river is much less clean than the decree intended, and that the eventual recovery will take much longer than expected. The ultimate goal in the decree  fish safe to eat  wont be met for at least 55 years, according to current data, DEC officials said.

Also, some fish have such high PCB concentrations that DEC officials said it is a near certainty they will never recover as much as was ordered in the decree.

The state asked EPA to plan out remedial dredging in certain areas, based on the higher-than-expected PCB contamination results in data gathered during and after dredging.

Much more PCB (than expected) was found in the river during both project design and project implementation, and the state has confirmed that more PCB was left behind than was intended when the remedy was selected, Seggos wrote. Despite persistent calls throughout the remediation from the state, NOAA and other stakeholders, EPA has never considered adjusting the remedial work to take the increases in known PCB mass into account. EPA has not provided any sound scientific basis for dismissing such consideration. EPA has an obligation to consider the science, and the new data that the state has collected, before making any determination about relieving GE of its liability for the ongoing contamination of the Hudson River.

Seggos also called for EPA to begin investigating PCB contamination in the Lower Hudson River, south of the Troy dam. The 150-mile stretch of river has contaminated fish that arent getting better, he said.

In light of the overwhelming evidence and data that the remedy is not protective of human health and the environment, EPA legally cannot certify the PCB remedy for the Upper Hudson River as complete, he wrote. EPA must instead move forward with gathering additional data and performing the evaluations necessary to determine how much further sediment removal is necessary to meet the ROD (Record of Decision) goals, ensure habitat reconstruction is performed properly, and at the same time move forward with the needed investigation work in the Lower Hudson. The state stands ready to work with and support EPA in accomplishing these tasks.

General Electric disagreed with the states assessment and issued its own statement in response.

GE successfully completed the Hudson River dredging project in 2015, having removed all of the PCBs that EPA targeted for removal, and having met all of our commitments to EPA and New York state, said Mark Behan of Behan Communications, which was hired by GE to handle media coverage related to the PCBs issue.

Behan also noted that the state was involved in the entire cleanup.

The state played an instrumental role in every major decision related to the dredging project and approved and oversaw the work, he said in the statement. The EPAs latest report shows PCBs have already declined by more than 70 percent. EPA found the dredging remedy is functioning as intended and will protect human health and the environment. EPA is not recommending additional dredging.
GLENS FALLS  Chapman Historical Museum Executive Director Timothy Weidner is amazed with the quality of 19th-century photographer Seneca Ray Stoddards work, given he was photographing Lake George using the tools of the time period.

When youre photographing around water, you have to be really sensitive to the impact of the light in that setting. Theres a lot of reflected light. Its a real challenging subject, Weidner said. Stoddard was working with equipment that was far less sophisticated than what people are working with now and he had mastered that technique.

His skill in capturing the right light is reflected in the title of a book published by the museum containing 150 of his photographs: Water & Light: S.R. Stoddards Lake George.

Weidner said the idea really came to life following the museums strategic planning process.

We wanted to improve the visibility of our Seneca Ray Stoddard collection, he said.

The Stoddard collection is one of the museums most important assets, with about 3,000 images as well as maps and other archival material, according to Weidner. He said a book would gain Stoddard more visibility, not just locally but on a regional and national level.

The process took about a year. Weidner selected photographs that are representative of Stoddards work and Joseph Cutshall-King, former director of the museum, wrote the essay and accompanying copy in the book.

Weidner said he did digital scans of the original prints and worked to sharpen the images. They are very yellow, which happens with age and humidity.

We wanted to try to recreate their original appearance, he said.

Museum officials took out the yellow and added more contrast to the images, according to Weidner.

Weidner said museum staff members had several criteria used when selecting photographs. They wanted the entire length of Lake George and communities to be represented in the book.

The second factor was picking images that would showcase Stoddards abilities.

The book contains some biographical information about the photographer. Stoddard was born in Wilton and his family moved around in his youth. He began his artistic career in Troy, where he worked as a mural painter on railroad cars. He then established himself in the Glens Falls area as a sign painter and muralist. Eventually, that led to photography.

Stoddard was located in Glens Falls in the 1860s and set up his home and studio on Elm Street, according to Weidner. In the early 1870s, he started traveling through Lake George and the Adirondacks to make notes and take photographs for guidebooks.

Weidner said what makes Stoddard different from other photographers of the era is that he became a landscape photographer instead of focusing on portraiture. He also stayed tied to the Adirondacks, unlike some of the other great photographers.

They tracked out West, where there was new vast landscapes that most people had never seen, he said.

There is a chapter about Stoddards career and his artistic abilities and other endeavors, such as writing maps and guidebooks of the Adirondacks and Lake George.

The remainder of the book is organized geographically with photographs starting at the south end of the lake and working up to the north, according to Weidner.

Stoddards work had been forgotten about for much of the early 20th century before being rediscovered in the mid-1980s. Stoddards photos evoke a similar mood to that of a group of artists described as luminists, according to Weidner.

A lot of Hudson River School painters were treating the atmosphere in a way that created a mood in their paintings, he said.

In his later years, Stoddard traveled around the world and did travelogues. He took a 2,000-mile-water voyage from New York City to the Bay of Fundy in Canada in five increments, from 1883 to 1887. He photographed sites along the way.

Stoddard also took a rare nighttime picture of what was then called Liberty Enlightening the World.

He had to rig a whole series of trays of flash powder on cable and then trigger them so they would, in sequence, light up the front of the Statue of Liberty, which he would photograph from a boat. It was quite an accomplishment for that period, he said.

Stoddard was also an environmentalist who was a fervent advocate for creating the Adirondack Park and protecting it from threats from the paper industry.

Weidner said Stoddard first came to his attention when he was doing graduate work in history and found a collection of scrapbooks of the American Canoe Association. Stoddard was an early member and the organizations official photographer.

That collection included dozens of photographs that Stoddard had taken in 1880s of American Canoe Association meets. The first few were in Lake George, he said.

Weidner said he was aware the Chapman museum had a large collection of Stoddard works and that was a selling point for him to apply for the executive directors position.

Over the almost 20 years since, its been an ongoing experience of discovering new things in the collection, he said.

As other institutions have digitized their collections and posted them online, Weidner said there is more information available than ever before. For example, he found an article that Stoddard had submitted to a photography journal in which he described his process.

Stoddards wife and other assistants printed most of the photos using a process where the negatives were put in glass plates on photographic paper and left to sit out in the sun for a few minutes.

The book should be available in about two to three weeks, according to Weidner. Initially, the book will be sold exclusively at the Chapman Historical Museum. The softcover version will be $29.95 and the hardcover version will cost $49.95.

The museum plans to do a formal kickoff event in the coming weeks.

What we really want people to do is look at his photography and enjoy the lake of that era, Weidner said. They can get a sense of how some things have remained the same and others have changed.
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Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against a Downers Grove, Ill.-based home improvement business accusing it of defrauding and misleading hundreds of homeowners, including residents in Rock Island, Knox and Whiteside counties.

Madigan filed a lawsuit against American Dream Home Improvement Inc. The suit, filed Nov. 16 in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that American Dream Home deceived homeowners in 12 Illinois counties into hiring the company for home repair work that the residents did not realize they agreed to and may not have wanted.

According to the complaint, American Dream Home sales representatives went door-to-door, usually following severe weather, offering free property inspections, home repair services and public adjusting services. Residents were pressured to sign forms believing they were only agreeing to home inspections.

Shortly after, American Dream Home appeared at the homes to conduct repairs. Residents who proceeded with the home repairs later contacted Madigans office to report shoddy or incomplete work.

In addition to the Quad-City region counties, Madigan said the scheme impacted homeowners in these counties: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Peoria, Will and Winnebago.

"American Dream Home has been more of a nightmare for hundreds of Illinois homeowners," Madigan said in a news release. "The company has a history of scamming people into expensive repair work they did not want, and todays lawsuit should put an end to their deceptive practices."

Madigan alleged that American Dream Home's salespeople frequently pressured homeowners into signing forms to authorize free damage inspections when the company actually intended to enforce the documents as contracts. In addition, the forms were misleading and many homeowners were unaware that the forms included language leaving them responsible for paying additional costs above what their insurance would cover.

Despite a 2012 agreement with the state to comply with state laws, the firm has continued its fraudulent practices, Madigan said. Since 2012, her office has received more than 100 complaints and the Better Business Bureau received more than 250 complaints in the past three years.

The suit asks the court to provide restitution to impacted homeowners, ban the company from doing business in Illinois and impose civil penalties.

Homeowners who believe they may have been defrauded by American Dream Home or other contractors should contact Madigan's Consumer Fraud Hotline at 1-800-386-5438 (Chicago).

Assistant Attorneys General Janice Parker and Tracy Walsh are handling the case.
INDEPENDENCE  A district court judge will decide if charges against reality TV star Chris Soules will be dismissed following a Monday morning hearing.

Soules is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash in the April collision that claimed the life of Kenneth Mosher on Aurora. Authorities said Soules left the scene in a truck that someone, investigators believe a relative, provided before law enforcement arrived.

On Monday, defense attorney Robert Montgomery said Soules called 911, identified himself and rendered aid at the scene, and he said the statute doesn't require a driver to remain to be sized up by a cop.

Montgomery said the statute is ambiguous and urged the court to rule in favor of the defense.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown said Soules left the scene after about 14 minutes and argued that most people involved in fender benders remain on the scene longer that Soules did in the fatal crash.

He said because the collision was fatal, law enforcement needed to make face-to-face contact with those involved.

The state has until tomorrow to file a response to a defense outline of the facts, and Judge Andrea Dryer will rule on the matter at a later date.
Leland Searles wasn't expecting much when he was hired by Scott County to identify the plants growing in the ditches along its 564 miles of secondary roads.

What he found turned out to be "a bit of a surprise."

Searles' survey revealed 259 native plant species and 90 "exotic," non-native species.

While those 90 exotics accounted for the majority of plants  about 95 percent of road ditches are covered in non-natives  Searles was heartened by the number of natives, and their rarity.

"I thought this was going to be a pretty boring job, to be honest," he said. "I gained an appreciation for what's still out there."

Searles' survey was one of the first steps in establishing a countywide roadside vegetation management plan, adopted by the county board in April 2016. The goal is to preserve, plant and maintain native plants along county roads, which are all the gravel and paved roads that are not maintained by the state or a city.

The county is responsible for mowing/spraying/removing trees in these rights-of-way. But under the program, if native plants are identified, a farmer/landowner could fill out a form requesting that the county not mow (or spray). A "no mow, no spray" sign would be installed, and the landowner would assume responsibility for maintenance, Jon Burgstrum, director of the secondary roads department, explained.

The reason for promoting native plants is for their environmental benefits. Because of their deep roots, they enhance rainfall infiltration, slow runoff, trap sediment, reduce erosion and create habitat for pollinators (whose numbers have been declining), nesting and other wildlife.

Another goal of the county plan is to reduce the numbers of non-native species and stem the spread of the worst invasives, including the giant reed known as phragmites australis, thistles and reed canary grass.

This will be accomplished through careful use of herbicides, spot mowing, prescribed burning and mechanical tree and brush removal, Burgstrum said.

The county has hired a new employee, Brian Burkholder, to spearhead the plan. Among his duties will be to conduct educational programs, plant native seed in disturbed areas, apply for grants to help support the program and work with the county's conservation department to help manage prairie areas in the parks.

"Natives help everything," Burkholder said. "My goal is to leave the world a better place." His dream would be to have all road ditches growing half native plants and half everything else. "That's a huge goal, but you've got to set your sights high."

The county will not begin digging up existing vegetation to plant natives, but will take advantage of opportunities where ground is disturbed in the normal course of replacing culverts or bridges, he said.

About six areas have been seeded already, he said.

While his salary is paid by the county (the position pays in the $49,000 to $66,000 range), seven private individuals donated a total of $33,200 over three years to get the program started.

Tony and Joyce Singh, of rural LeClaire, both deeply concerned about the environment and pollinators in particular, rounded up a group of like-minded people and arranged for a meeting in August of 2015 at the Davenport Public Works department to get the ball rolling. Included were representatives from the secondary roads department, Nahant Marsh, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Tallgrass Prairie Center operated by the University of Northern Iowa and the Iowa Roadway Living Trust Fund.

The donors' money paid for initial work and provided leverage to land two grants, $2,370 for GPS equipment and $5,000 to help pay for the Searles' survey, Burgstrum said.

Searles surveyed all the paved roads last summer (May to September) and all the gravel roads this summer.

His work was made very much easier by the development of a software program by the county's IT department, he said. The software allowed him to call up his location by quarter-mile increments and input the plants he found in that area.

Burkholder hopes that by January, the survey results will be online so that landowners can call up their address and see what Searles found in their ditches.

Of the exotics Searles found in his survey, 18 stand out as most numerous, including smooth brome, reed canary grass, wild parsnip, Canada thistle, musk thistle, Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot), plume grass (miscanthus) and giant reed (phrgamites australis).

Phragmites australis grows so thick that animals won't even try to venture into a stand, so it provides no benefit at all, Burkholder said.
My mom likes to tell the story of my first day of kindergarten: When we arrived, she had to restrain me from running off to join the crowd of kids pouring through the front door.

She always caps her story with: "I couldn't stop crying and you didn't even want to say goodbye to me because you were in such a hurry to get into school."

I was so eager, in fact, that even before kindergarten, I vividly recall driving by the nursery school down the street, hungering to be let into what I was convinced was a magical wonderland of toys and stories a la "The Electric Company."

But when I asked my parents why I couldn't go to preschool, they looked at me like I'd grown an extra head. It wasn't for us -- I had family at home to take care of me. That's just how it was done way back then in the Hispanic community; the babies stayed home with mom or grandma until formal schooling started.

To this day, Hispanic kids continue to be underrepresented in preschools. There are lots of reasons, not the least of which are cultural and language-related. But the biggest and least surmountable is that there simply aren't enough spots in affordable, high-quality preschool centers to go around.

The shortage is so acute for Latino kids that, according to Salud America!, a national Latino advocacy organization focusing on families, only 40 percent of Hispanic kids attend preschool, compared to 53 percent of white kids.

The effects of Latinos being more likely to live in child care deserts, and therefore less likely to attend preschool, are chilling because they are coupled with multiple factors that make for a shockingly rough start in life.

According to a new report from Salud America!, "The State of Latino Early Childhood Development," Hispanic kids begin life with birth weights and developmental capacities that are similar to those of white children. But by 24 months, their capacities to reason, remember tasks, communicate verbally and identify letters, numbers, and shapes lessen significantly compared to white children. And these deficits "appear even more prevalent in Mexican-American children than in other nationality subgroups."

The authors cite the usual suspects: lower education levels among Hispanic parents, larger family sizes in which individual children get a smaller slice of available attention, unemployment or underemployment, and the higher incidence of depression among Hispanic mothers. These, combined with the cultural assumptions that teachers are the only experts suited to teach kids literacy and numeracy skills, and low or no English skills create a perfect storm for Hispanic kids' underperformance when they start kindergarten.

And those, sadly, are the best-case scenarios -- the statistics get even more dire when you factor in other hardships, many of which are quite prevalent.

Salud America! says that 28 percent of Latino youth suffer four or more traumatic experiences such as parental domestic violence, substance abuse, mental illness, criminal justice involvement, child abuse, neglect, poverty/homelessness, or parental death.

It's difficult to write about such harrowing statistics. They reinforce the negative stereotypes that people, especially educators, have about Latino children, feeding the sense that these kids are beyond hope, while ignoring that not all Hispanic kids are disadvantaged.

But the truth is that even though you don't have to look very far to find Hispanic valedictorians, and successful Latino business owners, brain surgeons and astronauts, a great deal of Hispanic children are in crisis. The bright side is that more widely available preschool for Latino kids can help close academic gaps before they become a life sentence of low achievement.

Universal preschool is not a magic bullet for all that ails public schools or low-income families. But it can be a much-needed intervention for the most vulnerable of Hispanic students, who are expected to make up about a third of all public-school students by the year 2026.

As of now, only 14 cents of every public education dollar are spent on early childhood education. This gives the edge to parents and families who can afford to put their kids in high-quality, unsubsidized preschool programs, while leaving the needy even further behind.

The low funding represents a lack of foresight and an ignorance of well-established research showing that the prekindergarten years are the most important, developmentally, for all children.

But ultimately, any money dedicated to preventing Hispanic infants from falling two years behind their peers before kindergarten even starts is peanuts compared to the costs of remedial education, social welfare programs and incarceration.
YANKTON | Efforts are underway in a southeast South Dakota city to memorialize former Gov. William H. McMaster.

A statue honoring the former Republican governor is on track to be unveiled in Yankton this June, the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan reported. McMaster, who moved to Yankton in 1901, served as the state's governor from 1921 to 1925, and later served in the U.S. Senate. He also served in the state Legislature and as lieutenant governor.

The Yankton County Historic Preservation Commission is working with a local business to make the memorial unique. The marker will be attached to the Meridian Bridge because McMaster helped build bridges across the Missouri River. McMaster also presided over the dedication of Meridian Bridge, which will be noted in his marker.

"The marker is being made as we speak," said Bernie Hunhoff, a member of the commission. "Instead of just sticking (the plaque) on a metal pole, we're going to do something a little more creative."

Yankton officials have been trying to honor McMaster for the past three years.

Tony Venhuizen, the current governor's chief of staff, said some of South Dakota's former governors were honored with historic markers in their hometowns, while others were not.

"It was really just a matter of whether a given town had taken the initiative and put it up or not," Venhuizen said.

The county's historic preservation commission voted unanimously in May to memorialize McMaster and fundraise between $2,000 and $3,000 for the project.

Hunhoff said commissioners nearly met their fundraising goals to pay for the marker, though they could still use donations to cover final expenses. He said local residents have been very giving.

"It's not surprising," Hunhoff said. "Yankton is a community that is, first of all, always generous, and secondly, very interested in preserving the community's history."
After 139 years, an early Black Hills settler could lose his right to all the water in French Creek above a point near Custer.

The Water Rights Program of the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources is recommending the cancellation of a water right filed in 1878 by Robert Wittke. The state Water Management Board is scheduled to conduct a hearing on the recommendation Dec. 7 in Pierre.

An investigation into the status of the water right was triggered in late 2016 when Wittkes great-granddaughter, Martha Carr, of Burbank, Calif., contacted the DENR. She had been told about the water right and had found it listed in an online DENR database, and she wondered if she might have inherited any rights to the water.

State laws says that if a water right is not used for three years, it is considered abandoned and may be recommended for cancellation. A DENR employee reviewed modern and historical documents and visited French Creek to investigate the Wittke water right. No evidence of any use was found.

The water right was recorded Oct 5, 1878. The original document, which is in the DENRs files, says the water right applied to all the water in French Creek on and above this Grave Yard dam for mining, milling, ditching, fluming and domestic purposes.

The DENRs investigation determined that a graveyard may have existed along French Creek about one mile downstream of the center of Custer, but the graves were eventually moved to another cemetery and there is no modern remnant of any activity Wittke may have conducted there.

The Wittke water right appears to be the ninth-oldest of 432 so-called ghost claims in South Dakota that are probably abandoned or forfeited but are still technically in force, because they were filed prior to the enactment of state water-use laws in 1907. DENR officials occasionally investigate the ghost claims and recommend them for cancellation.

The DENRs file on the Wittke water right contains little biographical information on the man, other than a letter from Carr that says Wittke had a mining claim in 1877. Records maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management show that Wittke purchased land from the federal government in 1888 and 1889 in an area that is now part of Wind Cave National Park. A historical study of the park published in 2003 says Wittke formed a partnership with rancher August Sanson in 1882 and later sold out to Sanson. The land continued to be used for ranching for many decades before it became part of the park.
As a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, one of my priorities has been to relieve community banks and credit unions from the unnecessary regulatory burdens imposed on them.

I recently joined Banking Committee members to introduce a bill that would improve our nations financial regulatory framework. Since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank act, which was an overreaction to the 2008 financial crisis, our financial institutions and our economy have suffered. Our proposal begins to roll back some of Dodd-Franks one-size-fits-all regulations, which have been disproportionally hurting small-and-medium sized institutions who had nothing to do with the financial crisis. While there is still work to be done, our proposal is a good step toward allowing community banks and credit unions to expand.

Included in the bill is the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act, which provides small banks and credit unions with data reporting relief. It also includes relief from Dodd-Frank capital rules that allows banks to count high-quality municipal bonds toward capital requirements. This will help banks and local governments that issue debt.

Our legislation also contains provisions of my Community Bank Access to Capital Act that would free small banks from having to go through arduous and expensive tests mandated under Dodd-Frank and make it easier for banks with less than $3 billion in assets to raise capital. It includes language that protects the credit of military veterans who await delayed payments from the VA Choice program. Lastly, it provides rural appraisal relief for situations when borrowers apply for a loan of less than $400,000 and have trouble finding a qualified appraiser.

I have also continued working to move my TAILOR Act forward in the Senate. It would require regulatory agencies to take into account the risk profile and business models of individual financial institutions and tailor their regulations accordingly.

Making sure South Dakota families and businesses have access to credit when they need it is critical as we work to grow a healthy American economy. Every step we can take to provide relief to our lenders is a win for South Dakota families and businesses who rely on them for credit.
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Guwahati: At least five persons were killed and 14 others injured in three road mishaps in Assam in past 24 hours.

According to the reports, four persons killed, while head on collision between an Alto car and Dumper vehicle at Borkhola area in Cachar district on Saturday.

A top police official of Cachar district said that, all four persons, those travelled in the Alto car were killed on spot.

On the other hand, a bike rider was killed on spot while the bike hit back side of a roadside parked vehicle at Raha in central Assams Nagaon district.

In separate incident, at least 14 people were injured while a speedy Bolero Max pickup van rolled down at National Highway 37 at Sonapur in Kamrup (Metro) district on Saturday evening.

The injured persons were rushed to nearest hospital and Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH).

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
*Guwahati, November 27 : Security forces had apprehended an arms dealer in Nagalands Kohima, officials said.*

*Based on specific intelligence regarding movement of illegal arms dealer 9 Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) along with police representative established a vehicle check post in general area High School Junction and Teenpati Junction, Kohima. *

*During the search, the troops had apprehended one arms peddler along with a point 22 Pistol and one magazine. *

*The apprehended arms dealer was identified as Seyie Khrielie alias Alo Zao.*

*The arms dealer along with recovered items was handed over to Kohima (North) Police Station for further investigation.*

*(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)*
Guwahati, November 27 : Raising and fearing over possible diversion of Siang river (Brahmaputra) by China in Tibet (Tsangpo river), an Arunachal Pradesh MP has recently raised the serious issue and sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and appealed Modi to raise the issue in international forum.

Ninong Ering, Lok Sabha MP representing from Eastern Arunachal constituency had recently sent a letter to PM Modi and raising concern about sudden change in water quality of Siang river.

The Arunachal Pradesh MP said that, the water level of Siang river (Brahmaputra) is dramatically receding and it is unusual in this winter season.

The recent report said that, the Chinese government has constructed a 1000 km long tunnel  the worlds longest - to divert the Siang river (Tsangpo in Tibet) from Sangri in Sothern Tibet to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang is likely to be true though the Chinese government had denied it, Ninong Ering said.

In his letter sent to the PM on November 25 last, Ninong Ering said that, a few months back a report which was denied by the Chinese government is regard to the diverting a channel over Tsangpo (Siang/Brahmaputra) in Tibet has become an issue of concern.

After the report the river Siang has become muddy and slushy and it is already two months that, the river Siang is black contaminated. It is unusual phenomena and reason for the river dirty is unknown. I have already put questions and also under rule 377 to be discussed in the parliament but as it was not in session. I am requesting you to use your good office to seek the reason of the river being muddy in this season where the water is crystal clear. A 600 km long tunnel is already started in the Yunnan province as a rehearsal, Ninong Ering said in his letter.

The Arunachal Pradesh MP further said that, there is no other reason that,the mighty Siang river tributary of Brahmaputra should be dirty in the month of November, but has occurred due to heavy land excavation in the Chinese side which has to be verified by an international team to ascertain the international treaty.

When I saw the water, it looks like cement mixed water. It is a very serious issue and the Centre must to take it seriously, the Arunachal Pradesh MP said.

Ninong Ering said that, a large scale of fish had died in the Siang river in recent times and he got it confirmed from Tuting and Geling areas in Upper Siang district close to China border.

The Arunachal Pradesh MP also appealed the External Affairs ministry and Water Resources ministry to expedite measures to check the diversion issue.

Earlier, media reports said that, China is planning to build a 1000 km long tunnel to divert water from the Brahmaputra river (Tsangpo) in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh to the parched Xinjiang region.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati, 25 November: As part of Guwahati Press Clubs continuing initiative for regular health check-up and instilling proper health awareness among mediapersons, its Evening with a Doctor program this Saturday featured city-based Dispur Hospital conducting the weekly evening OPD clinic at the Press Club premises. This camp witnessed the participation of over 40 mediapersons receiving consultation from Dr Kashyap Kumar Das free of cost.

The weight, blood sugar level and blood pressure of participants were screened, along with collection of their blood samples for testing of thyroid levels, reports of which will be available at the Press Club

office by Tuesday.

Nurse Jonprabha Deuri, health workers Biswajit Das and Umar Faruque and office staff Deben Sah assisted in conducting the camp.

Till date, physicians from Apollo Chennai Hospital, Chennai SIMS Hospital, Manipal Bangalore Hospital, Fortis Hospital Bangalore, Medanta the Medicity Hospital, Down Town Hospital, GNRC Hospitals,

Nemcare Hospital, Hayat Hospital, Ayursundra Hospital, Sun Valley Hospital, Sight First Eye-Clinic, Barthakur Clinic, Wintrobe Hospital etc have attended the camps.
*Guwahati, November 27 : As a prelude to the first ever Global Investors Summit slated to be held in the month of February next year, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday launched a road show at a city hotel in Kolkata to elicit participation from the industrialists and prospective investors. *

*Business delegates from as many as 60 countries across the world participated in the event which was organised to present the inherent potential, prosperities and possibilities of Assam. *

*A power point presentation was given to make the foreign industrialists aware of Assam and the business opportunities and geo strategic location that the State enjoys to become the gateway to the 10 South East Asian countries. *

*As a part of the global investors summit, Sonowal held one to one discussion with industrialists and investors to woo investments in the State. *

*The business to business discussion was held in a congenial atmosphere where Sonowal apprised the industrialists of the States turn around to a growing economy with a promise to expedite economic growth potential to social empowerment. *

*The Assam CM drew the attention of the investors to Assams pro-business and investment friendly climate like ease of doing business and creation of land bank for development of industries etc. *

*Infusing confidence in the investors, Sonowal informed them that ever since the new dispensation in the state came to power the Assam accumulated investment to the tune of Rs. 6500 crore. *

*The discussion specifically focussed on sectoral developments with special emphasis on tea, food processing, handloom and textile, tourism and hospitality, health, agriculture and allied industries, bamboo, jute, plastic industries etc. *

*He also said that the law and order situation of the State has improved considerably which is conducive to investment. *

*He said that he had requested the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to extend ambit of the UDAN scheme so that flight connectivity between Assam with other ASEAN countries increases so that Centres Act East Policy reached its logical conclusion. *

*Closer engagement with the ASEAN countries would augur well to spearhead a new paradigm of development and revive business and investment cycle, Sonowal said. *

*Business groups like Laxmi Group, Haldiram Bhujiawala Limited, Glaze Infrastructure, Indian Plastic Federation, Century Ply, Techno Group, Larica, ITC, Indian Jute Mill Association, Global Health Care Systems, Merchants Chamber of Commerce and many others discussed their business plan and expressed their inclination to investment in Assam. *

*Later talking to foreign business delegates and investors at a programme titled Horasis Asia Meeting the Assam CM gave a broad overview of State Governments initiatives to bolster complete transformation of the State to become an epicentre of countrys economy. *

*He also said that to leverage the true potential of Assam, the State Government is organising Global Investors Summit: Advantaged Assam and he invited all the business delegates to be present at the summit and explore the business and investors friendly potential of Assam and be a part of State Governments growth agenda. *

*It may be noted that countries like USA, Japan, Australia, Brazil expressed their desire to bring in their business delegation in big numbers to participate in investors summit and investment in Assam. *

*Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, Additional Chief Secretary Industry and Commerce Ravi Capoor, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sanjay Lohiya along with a host of dignitaries were present on the occasion.*

*(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)*
sacw.net - 28 November 2017

Prefatory Note

Demonetisation is, beyond doubt, the most talked of action taken by the incumbent Narendra Modi regime, as yet, which came to be in place in May 20141, just over three and a half years back replacing the UPA regime, with the Congress at the head, soundly defeating it in the national poll held a while earlier.2, 3, 4

One of the major promises made by Narendra Modi, and his party BJP, during the poll campaign was to end the policy paralysis under the UPA-II5, led by, scholarly, soft-spoken and rather reticent Dr. Manmohan Singh, who, btw, had never ever won a direct election, at whatever level.

The alleged paralysis, in turn, was at least partly an outcome of the various corruption scandals that the old regime got embroiled in.6

Modi, a fiery and raucous orator, a complete contrast from the public persona of Singh - in very many ways, rather expectedly used this opportunity to the hilt.7

Be that as it may, November 8 2017 was observed by the various opposition parties, including the Congress, as a black day, terming demonetisation as a Modi-made disaster. The BJP, on the other, celebrated it, in response, as the anti-black money day.8, 9, 10

So, itd be quite in the fitness of things to make a factual evaluation, even if from a specific standpoint, of the measure, its actual impacts and to what extents it has succeeded or failed to meet its initially, and also subsequently, stated goals over the span of the last one year.

The announcement

In a shock and awe move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced [today, Nov. 8, late evening] withdrawal of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes in a bid to check black money and cross-border monetary transactions of counterfeit currency. aNotes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 not valid from midnight November 8, 2016,a said Modi in a late-evening address to the nation, evoking strong reactions from the man on the street to his political opponents.11

Prefaced with some pep talk which included a laundry list of the various welfare schemes introduced by his government ostensibly for the benefit of common Indians and his determination to fight corruption, the shock and awe rather burst forth:

To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016.12

While the tag shock and awe was quite apt if the reaction of the lay public is taken as the criterion, the other qualifier surgical strike  as emblazoned in the very caption of the subject news report, implying precision targeted lethal attack (with no, or at the most rather minimal, collateral damage), was quite visibly utterly misplaced.

Reportedly, as a consequence of the move, 86% of the currency was overnight sucked out of the Indian economic system, which had been heavily cash dependent - with the cash-to-GDP ratio being over 13%13A and, as per one recent estimate,14 97% of retail transactions are cash-based.15

Thus, the announcement just triggered panic and chaos all around16 as regards how to go on with ones daily, even if in so many cases rather miserable, life.

Critics, however, did compare the move with firing cannonballs to kill mosquitoes.17, 18

The goals of this earth-shaking measure were, however, pretty tersely laid down:

This step will strengthen the hands of the common man in the fight against [I] corruption, [II] black money and [III] fake currency.12

He, however, had also, elsewhere, talked of four goals:

fight against corruption, black money, fake notes and terrorism.12

So, fight against terrorism constituted the fourth goal.

The rest of the speech was made up of a list of modalities of implementation and a final emphatic appeal to Indian citizens to ignore the temporary hardship in order to fight corruption and black money so as to ensure that the nations wealth benefits the poor.

The Political Context

In early 2011, India saw the triggering of a series of massive protests against corruption in high places at the initiative and under the leadership of Anna Hazare, a self-styled Gandhian from Maharashtra backwater. The central demand was to get a new law legislated and enacted to appoint a (non-elected) non-party effective overseeing body, both at the central and state levels, in order to monitor and eradicate corruption.

The campaign spilled into 2012, because of perceived government apathy and, at times, active hostility.

Eventually, however, the government and the parliament had to give in, at least very substantially, and the Parliament of India enacted the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 in December 2013.19

But, by that time, the image of the then incumbent regime had got severely soiled.

And, this anti-corruption campaign provided strong tailwind to the main opposition, Hindu nationalist, BJP and its prime leader Narendra Modi in the early 2014 poll campaign.

Along with the theme of Hindu nationalism, good governance, development, job creation etc. etc. the issue of black money was also emphatically harped upon.

In one video clip, which has since gone viral, the Prime Ministerial aspirant Modi is heard claiming, in his signature style, that if the black money stashed in foreign banks by thieves and looters is brought back to the country then every poor of the country is going to get richer by Rs. 15-20 lakh just like that. Of course, the Congress was the culprit overseeing and effecting this loot. And if he comes to power hell immediately ensure bringing this huge heap of wealth back to the country.20

The then national president of the BJP, Rajnath Singh had reportedly promised to do this in the firstA 150 days.21 As per another, he had promised to do that in just 100 days.22

It is rather needless to point out here that after the BJP in fact coming to power nothing of that sort happened.

Of course,A a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed to unearth black money stashed in foreign banks, in July 2014, but only under the instructions of the Supreme Court.23

But, not a single rupee of black money came back from foreign banks.

Not a single list of people having suspicious accounts in foreign banks was made public by the government.

Not till November 8 2016.

(Not till today.)

On the other, a major high-profile economic offender, Vijay Mallya, with a number of serious charges pending against him, had smoothly slipped away to London, in early 2016, from under the very nose of this regime.24

Prior to that, another high profile economic offender, Lalit Modi, publicly acknowledged having sought and received help from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje while in the UK, where he had earlier escaped to.25

After coming to power at the Centre, Modi persisted with developing an unabashedly business-friendly image promoting development, without, of course, abandoning the theme of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism).

A rather revealing representative illustration is how this regime persistently tried to nullify the peasant-friendly amendment effected via the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 by repeatedly issuing ordinances to bypass the hurdles posed by the upper house of the Indian parliament.26

Another poor-friendly Act, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, had been publicly scoffed at by Modi.27

All these led to the government being labelled as a Suit-Boot ki Sarkar.28

The label appeared to have stuck all the more as Modi had strutted in an allegedly Rs. 10 lakh suit with his own name written all over with gold thread to greet the then US President Barack Obama, on a three-day trip to India having been invited as the Chief Guest at the Republic Day function in 2015.29

Even Modis pre-election promise, sort of further endorsed by the then BJP national President Rajnath Singh, of bringing back Rs. 15 lakh for every (poor) Indian from the foreign banks turned into a popular butt of a joke in the social media and also in the real world.

So much so, the new BJP President Amit Shah, considered to be too thick with Modi, was constrained to issue a clarification of sorts that it was only a political jumla (or customary empty campaign rhetoric).30, 31

This, in turn, would attract a hail of flak.

More importantly, soon after, in an early February poll for the Delhi assembly, the BJP had to suffer a humiliating defeat.32

This was further accentuated by a resounding loss in a Bihar poll by the end of the year.33

An astute politician that Modi is, that set the stage for repositioning the brand Modi, without too much tweaking the product itself.

Apart from continuing with the image of an unrelenting (economic) Reformist, as has been currently highlighted in the act of single-minded pursuit of the (disruptive) GST34 (and also, for that matter, the celebratory din over the, apparently economically unviable,35, 36 Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train,37A Indias markedly improved ranking by the World Bank in terms of ease of doing business38, 39 and upgrading of Indias sovereign ratings by Moodys,40 while maintaining stoic silence over the slippage in Global Hunger Index41 and the widening gender inequity,42 which rather compellingly underlines that ease of doing business and ease of living life are just not the one and the same thing), albeit with a somewhat fluctuating emphasis, a calibrated dose of populism, with two interconnected constitutive elements, is to be added now.43

One is a pro-poor stance, and the other is an enhanced emphasis on Hindutva, as would be graphically illustrated in the choice of Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath, a fire-eating and utterly controversial head priest of a major Hindu temple, as the Chief Minister44, 45 of UP, the most populous Indian state with the highest number of parliamentary seats and the subsequent virtual ban order46 on cattle sale in cattle markets.

The rather stunning act of demonetisation is the most dramatic and eye-catching component of the former element.47

Past History of Demonetisation in India

There were two demonetisations in the past.

The first time India had demonetisation under British rule on January 12 1946.

In the post-war scenario, demonetisation of high denomination notes was effected following in the footsteps of several foreign countries, including France, Belgium and the UK itself, ostensibly to fight against black market money and tax evasions which had understandably assumed enormous proportions.

Interestingly, even then the Reserve Bank was reportedly not in alignment and the outcome appeared to be a failure:

The measure did not succeed, as by the end of 1947, out of a total issue of Rs. 143.97 crores [sic] of the high denomination notes, notes of the value of Rs. 134.9 crores [sic] were exchanged. Thus, notes worth only Rs. 9.07 crores [sic] were probably ademonetised a, not having been presented.48

The next time, it was on January 16 1978, under the Morarji Desai government (of the Janata Party) with H M Patel as the Finance Minister.

The declared aim was broadly similar. Rs. 1000, Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10000 notes, a rather rarity in those days, were demonetised. Understandably, the common people were not at all affected. Yet, it triggered chaos and long queues before the banks. Only three days had been allowed for exchange of old notes.

The then RBI Governor, I G Patel, had very interestingly noted:

such an exercise seldom produces striking results. Most people who accept illegal gratification or are otherwise the recipients of black money do not keep their ill-gotten earnings in the form of currency for long. The idea that black money or wealth is held in the form of notes tucked away in suit cases [sic] or pillow cases is naAve. And in any case, even those who are caught nappingaor waitingawill have the chance to convert the notes through paid agents as some provision has to be made to convert at par notes tendered in small amounts for which explanations cannot be reasonably sought. But the gesture had to be made, and produced much work and little gain .48

Governor Patel, additionally, indicated that for some people in the Janata government the demonetisation was a measure specifically targeted against the allegedly corrupt predecessor governments or government leaders.

The outcome, apparently, was nothing to talk of.48

Whose Idea, This Time?

While, in absence of any definitive info, it is hard to pinpoint wherefrom the idea emanated this time. One can only engage in informed speculations.

But, even then, one is on a far surer ground as regards whose idea it was not.

Raghuram Rajan, an economist of considerable international repute, who was the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor from Sept. 5 2013 to Sept 4 2016,49, 50 i.e. almost up to two months before the declaration of demonetisation, has since gone on record saying that on being asked he had opined against the move both verbally and also in writing making out that the short term costs of the measure would considerably outweigh its long term gains. Yet, he had listed out a number of necessary steps to be taken for best implementationA in the event of his advice being ignored. These also appeared to have been just overlooked.

"I was asked by the government in February 2016 for my views on demonetisation, which I gave orally. Although there might be long-term benefits, I felt the likely short-term economic costs would outweigh them and there were potentially better alternatives to achieve the main goals. I made these views known in [no] uncertain terms," Rajan wrote. He added that he had handed over a note to the government outlining the potential cost and benefits of demonetisation as well as alternatives to achieve similar aims. He further said: "If the government, on weighing the pros and cons, still decided to go ahead with demonetisation, the note outlined the preparation that would be needed and the time that the preparation would take. The RBI flagged what would happen if preparation was inadequate."51

His successor Urjit Patel was, at that time, quite new in his seat, occupying it for just over two months.A So, plausibly, he could have had not played a major role here.

In any case, here is a report giving out the official RBI version52 of its role in the decision making:

SO far, the Government has suggested that the decision to withdraw 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee notes came from the Reserve Bank of India. But in its submission to a Parliamentary panel late last month, the RBI, agreeing with the Governments rationale behind the move, has made it clear that it was the Government which aadviseda it to do so. aGovernment, on 7th November, 2016, [just the day before making the announcement, not by the RBI, not by the Finance Minister, but by the Prime Minister] advised the Reserve Bank that to mitigate the triple problems of counterfeiting, terrorist financing and black money, the Central Board of the Reserve Bank may consider withdrawal of the legal tender status of the notes in high denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000,a said the RBI in a seven-page note submitted on December 22 [2016] to the Parliaments Department Related Committee of Finance headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily.

Here is another interesting nugget from an analytical note:53

But in this case, Central Board [is supposed to have] played a crucial role as demonetisation happened on their recommendation. That is [at least] what [the] law says as per Section 26 (2) of RBI Act. Again repeating it: (2) On recommendation of the Central Board the [Central Government (in original text)] may, by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be legal tender... I mean the whole exercise is so confusing. One knows that just 2 persons from RBI (Governor and 1 DG) knew of the exercise. They were part of the Central Board but not the board. The Full Board as we know was informed by the government at 6 PM on 8 Nov 2016. So [that] one can say: aThe Central Board based on government orders recommended the government to declare that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency have ceased to be legal tender....a . . . . Previous two denominations [read: demonetisations] were via ordinances and did not require RBI Board recommendation as government ceased them via fiat. This time also it was fiat but in a round about [sic] way.

As regards whose idea, there are (somewhat divergent) reports that one Anil Bokil, a mechanical engineer turned financial theorist and currently heading a Pune-based group Arthakranti Sansthan that advocates financial reforms in India, had suggested it to an attentive Modi back in 2015.

As per his claim, he had put forward a, more than sixteen-year old five-point plan, including one of replacing all taxes by a single point 2% tax on all transactions that should be routed only through banks.

None of the other points appear to have been paid any heed to. He had also recommended scrapping of Rs.100 notes.54, 55, 56

It makes a nice story for the media, but thats all as it appears.

Here is quite another story,57 apparently, planted by the regimes spin doctors:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi handpicked a trusted bureaucrat, little known outside Indias financial circles, to spearhead a radical move to abolish 86 percent of the countrys cash overnight and take aim at the huge shadow economy. Hasmukh Adhia, the bureaucrat, [then Revenue Secretary and now appointed as Finance Secretary on Nov. 6 201758] and five others privy to the plan were sworn to utmost secrecy, say sources with knowledge of the matter. They were supported by a young team of researchers working in two rooms at Prime Minister Modis residence, as he plotted his boldest reform since coming to power in 2014. When announced, the abolition of high-value banknotes of 500 and 1,000 rupees came as a bolt from the blue. . . . The 58-year-old served as principal secretary to Mr Modi from 2003-06 when he was chief minister of Gujarat, establishing a relationship of trust with his boss and introducing him to yoga. . . . Mr Adhia was named revenue secretary in September 2015, reporting formally to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. In reality, he had a direct line to Prime Minister Modi and they would speak in Gujarati when they met to discuss issues in depth. . . . Immediately after the address, Mr Adhia sent a tweet: "This is the biggest and the boldest step by the Government for containing black money." The boast harked back to Prime Minister Modis election vow to recover black money that had resonated with voters fed up with the corruption scandals that plagued the previous Congress government. Over more than a year, Prime Minister Modi commissioned research from officials at the finance ministry, the Reserve Bank and think-tanks on how to advance his fight against black money, a close aide said. . . . Under Mr Adhias oversight, the team of researchers assembled and modeled [sic] the findings in what was, for it, a theoretical exercise.

(A more elaborate and further touched up version59 has been repeated later, on the eve of the first anniversary of demonetisation.)

So, here, a major credit is attributed to a trusted career bureaucrat - of course of Gujarat cadre, having a PhD in yoga (currently) in the Finance Ministry, not an economist, by any stretch. Presumably, to neutralise the criticism that no independent expert input did go into, not even of the Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian,60 and no due diligence was undertaken in the run-up to the allegedly rash and reckless move.

Of course, at that time the story of completely ignoring the advice of Raghuram Rajan, the preceding RBI Chairman and a noted economist, was yet to become public.

Finally, itd be worth taking note of an observation61 of an analyst carried by the Times of India website on the first anniversary of demonetisation:

Evidence emerging over the last fortnight clearly indicates that not a single economists [sic] of any significance has been consulted while conducting this demonetization exercise.

A Noteworthy Critical Response to the Announcement

Within the very first week of the announcement, a number of well-known, and not-so-well-known, social activists, including a few prominent Leftist economists and other luminaries, came out with a fairly detailed critique62 of the move - pretty harsh in tone.

It asserted, among other things:

Black money is generated through evasion of taxes on income from lawful activities and money generated from illegal activities. In the absence of steps to curb the generation of black money, demonetization is a futile exercise, as it proved to be in 1978.

And, further underlined:

In the last 5 years, IT raids have found that only 5-6% of black money is kept in hard cash. Moreover, those who have amassed sizable black money are equipped to find ways around demonetization by converting their existing cash to bullion, gold jewellery, real estate and foreign currencies through brokers and middle-men. In fact, organized middle-men and touts have already emerged to convert black money into white for a commission.

It listed out a number of instances allegedly establishing the governments utter insincerity as regards the fight against black money.

It made a special mention:

A key campaign promise was to bring back black money stashed abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh each from the proceeds in the account of every citizen. Why has the Government not made public the names held by it of Indian account holders in offshore banks?

It emphatically claimed:

It is evident that demonetisation will not achieve its stated intent of eliminating black money but has thrown the entire countrys economic system in disarray. Related developments also call into question Governments [very] intentions.

The RBI Annual Report

While speculations and debates were raging over the net outcome of demonetisation, especially because of the RBI stonewalling various queries on the issue from various quarters,63, 64, 65, 66 on August 30, the RBI came out with its (routine) Annual Report (2016-17)67.

And:

On page 195 of this years Reserve Bank of India (RBI) annual report lies the answer to the question many Indians have been asking for close to 10 months.68

It67puts rather blandly:

Until June 30, 2017, SBNs were received by the Reserve Bank either directly or from bank branches/post offices through the currency chest mechanism. Some of these SBNs are still lying in the currency chests. The value of the SBNs received by the currency chests has been credited to the banks account on asaid to contain basisa . Till such time these notes are processed by the Reserve Bank for their numerical accuracy and authenticity, only an estimation of SBNs received back is possible. Subject to future corrections based on verification process when completed, the estimated value of SBNs [Specified Bank Notes] received as on June 30, 2017 is (Rs.) 15.28 trillion. ... Therefore, the value of notes in circulation is subject to adjustments to be made after the completion of the verification process of the SBNs received as also for the notes to be received from DCCBs [District Cooperative Banks] and Nepalese citizens/ Financial Institutions.

It is quite noteworthy that only after the release of the Report, the RBI shared this info with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance:

Last week in its annual report, the RBI finally made public the details of the junked notes that have come back into the system putting the figure at Rs 15.28 (rpt) 15.28 lakh crore. The same figure has now been shared with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.

And, even then:

The RBI has told a parliamentary panel that it has "no information" on how much black money has been extinguished as a result of demonetisation of Rs 500/1,000 notes or about unaccounted cash legitimised through exchange of currency post note ban.69

Be that as it may, the sum and substance of the subject disclosure is rather crisply captured here:

According to Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) annual report released Wednesday, 98.96% of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes (by value) that were invalidated due to the demonetisation exercise had been returned by the end of June. . . . The RBI annual report said that asubject to future corrections based on verification process when completed,a the estimated value of the banned notes it areceiveda was Rs 15.28 trillion. This compares with the Rs 15.44 trillion of the invalidated notes that were in circulation as of 8 November, according to data provided by minister of state for finance Arjun Meghwal to Parliament on 21 January.70

The significance of 99.96% of banned notes amounting to Rs. 16,000 crore coming back to the banks, which, with the possibility of some more amounts lying with the various DCBs and Nepali citizens, even if not the amounts still lying with Indian citizens for a variety of reasons, coming back to the system, may still further go up, even if only marginally, comes out rather starkly when read together with the following:

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modis surprise announcement of the invalidation of old high-value currency notes on 8 November, estimates suggested that around Rs 3 trillion would not return to the banking system because it was unaccounted or black money. While defending demonetisation in the Supreme Court in November, then attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said around Rs 4-5 trillion would probably not find its way back into the system.70

There are also other reports endorsing the same narrative.71

So, against an anticipated Rs 4-5 trillion (i.e. 4-5 lakh crore), or at least 3 lakh crore, only an amount of Rs. 16,000 crore, which may still get a bit further reduced, has eventually not come back.

No amount of spin is going to alter this core fact.

Lets not forget, its the AG, the highest law officer of the Union Government, who had claimed before the highest court of the land that Rs. 400-500 lakh crore is expected to be extinguished because of demonetisation.

And, it eventually turned out to just Rs. 16,000 crore.

Thats the essential unvarnished fact.

There were, of course, very many other unofficial estimates.

Here is one by the Indias leading pink paper, known to be generally supportive of the incumbent regimes economic policies:

According to initial estimates, a significant chunk of the Rs. 15 lakh crore in high-denomination currency was not expected to come back into the system. But that estimate has been steadily scaled back with some pegging the returned amount at as much as Rs 10 lakh crore. This hasnt been independently verified. In any case, the unreturned amount is likely to be less than early estimates as the government has allowed a settlement option at 50% tax for unaccounted income. Some estimate that amount of unreturned notes will be Rs 3-4 lakh crore.72A

Seizure of Fake Currency

In his late evening address to the nation on Nov. 8 last year, announcing the momentous decision of demonetisation, the Prime Minister had clearly identified fight against fake currency as one of the three (or four) drivers listed by him on that occasion.

And, this is also a claim that is the easiest to evaluate.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said detection of counterfeit notes in 2016-17 was 20.4 per cent higher than the previous year. Barring Rs 100 notes, the detection of counterfeit notes increased across denominations a notably Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 a during 2016-17, the RBI said in its Annual Report. The value of fake demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was around Rs 41 crore. According to the RBI,2,56,324 Rs 1,000 notes valued at Rs 25.63 crore were detected during FY17. It reported that 3,17,567 Rs 500 notes valued at Rs 15.87 crore were detected.73 Interestingly, even the new Rs 2,000 notes, issued after demonetisation, are already being counterfeited. The report says 638 fakes of this denomenation [sic] were detected.74

Not only that:

In the nearly one year since Rs 2,000 and new Rs 500 notes were introduced, their counterfeit versions have improved from easily identifiable in the beginning to ahighest qualitya in recent times, according to [the Department of Revenue Intelligence] officials who track FICN (fake Indian currency notes) cases. . .. ...A [According to a senior DRI official,] a(c)urrency seized just after demonetisation were of low quality, visible to the naked eye, but the quality of the notes recently seized have improved and a common man now cannot immediately distinguish whether it is fake or genuine.a 75

Yet another, still more recent, report further confirms this trend.76

Two points, here, need be noted.

One, of Rs. 15.28 lakh crore which came back to the banks out of a total of Rs. 15.44 lakh crore demonetised, the value of fake notes actually detected is only Rs. 41.50 (= 25.63 + 15.87) crore.

Thats too measly a sum, just 0.0027% of the notes returned, in terms of value.

Its regardless of the various estimates of fake notes circulating in Indian economy.77, 78, 79

Here, one has to keep in mind that, at any given point of time, the overwhelming bulk of the fake notes would be in circulation as the creators of these notes, regardless of their specific motive(s) - plain (illicit) financial gain or sabotaging the Indian economy or both or whatever else, would have no interest in keeping these notes piled up on their tables.

So, these would, mostly, be in the hands of unsuspecting possessors.

And, there is no reason to suspect that these people, quite unaware of the counterfeit nature of these notes, shied away from rushing to the bank branches to deposit these back along with the rest of the demonetised notes, as everybody else did.

Only those directly linked to the fake note network would scrupulously stay away.

The second point of interest is that:

638 counterfeit notes of new Rs 2,000 notes [amounting to Rs. 12.76 lakh] ... were also detected.

(And, the quality of counterfeiting has considerably improved over the last one year making it difficult for a lay person to tell a fake note from a genuine one.)

So, the inescapable conclusions that follow are:

One, the quantum of fake notes circulating in the Indian economy is too miniscule to justify the hugely disruptive demonetisation.

Two, even then, demonetisation has made actually little, if at all any, impact on generation and transmission of fake notes

The Other Two, of the First Three, Goals: How Have These Fared?

These two goals as enunciated by the Prime Minister on the momentous evening of November 8 last year areA to:

strengthen the hands of the common man [read government] in the fight against [I] corruption, [II] black money.

As corruption is a generic term, wed first take up the issue black money.

Fighting (or Eliminating?) Black Money

Black money is generated through evasion of taxes on income from lawful activities and money generated from illegal activities.62

It has been pointed out by umpteen number of knowledgeable commentators that only a minor fragment of the black money is held in hard Indian currency.

As far back as in 1978, the then RBI Governor, I G Patel, as regards the efficacy of the demonetisation undertaken then had opined, as already pointed out above:

The idea that black money or wealth is held in the form of notes tucked away in suit cases [sic] or pillow cases is naAve.48

Here is a more contemporary observation by a knowledgeable commentator:

people do not hold all their black money in the form of cash in their homes. They convert it into gold and real estate, and move it abroad to tax havens. From there it comes back through Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and is invested in the stock market as well as debt market.80

He further illustrates and buttresses his argument by providing in a tabular form the figures related to the outcomes of the search and seizure operations carried out by the Income Tax Department over a period of six years (2006-07 - 2011-12) and summarises as under:

If we look at data for the period of six years of close to 24,000 seizure and search operations, cash formed 4.9 per cent of the undisclosed wealth. Also, the proportion varied from 3.7 per cent to 7.4 per cent over the years. What this data tells us is that people who have black money do not store it in the form of cash. There are better ways of storing that wealth.

Here is another:

Cash recovery has been less than 6% of the undisclosed income seized from tax evaders, shows an HT analysis of data from tax raids from financial year 2012-13 onwards.81

Apart from the fact that demonetisation was in no way, repeat no way, a move towards bringing back allegedly stashed black money in foreign banks, as had been promised by the PM aspirant Modi, the data cited above underline a big basic flaw in conceptualising demonetisation as the most effective way to fight black money.

Be that as it may, as had been pointed out earlier, the then Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi, had informed the Supreme Court of India:

around Rs 4-5 trillion (4-5 lakh crore) would probably not find its way back into the system.71

The leading pink paper of India, the Economic Times, known to be generally supportive of the incumbent regimes economic policies, almost a month after demonetisation, carried a speculative report as regards a possible government move to issue an ordinance to enable the RBI to extinguish, i.e. cancel, the demonetised notes that are not returned by December 30.

In this it propositioned:

Only when the unreturned currency is cancelled can it be made available to the government, possibly via a dividend paid by RBI. Once this is done, the government could consider the amount so recovered for its budget thats scheduled to be presented on February 1.82

In this specific context, it further noted:

According to initial estimates, a significant chunk of the Rs 15 lakh crore in high-denomination currency was not expected to come back into the system. But that estimate has been steadily scaled back with some pegging the returned amount at as much as Rs 10 lakh crore [emphasis added]. This hasnt been independently verified.A In any case, the unreturned amount is likely to be less than early estimates as the government has allowed a settlement option at 50% tax for unaccounted income. Some estimate that amount of unreturned notes will be Rs 3-4 lakh crore [emphasis added].

Based on such unreal estimates, which would soon turn out to be simply absurd, there were also inspired speculations in the media that every Jan Dhan account, at least those with zero balance, would be credited with Rs 10,000.00, or some such sum, out of the windfall gain.83, 84, 85

On the ground, rumours that Rs 50,000 or Rs 75,000 would be deposited were reported by a sceptical reporter.86

What a grand example of wild daydreaming!

But must be quite reflective of the anticipations in the official circles in those days, as testified by the AGs remark before the Supreme Court.

Hence, the demonetisation, clearly, turned out to be a huge flop as far as mopping up of black money is concerned, in terms of the original projections and hopes raised.

That did not, however, stop the spin doctors of the regime from going on an overdrive to prove that white is black.

A report in the Times of India, the leading national newspaper of India, which very much unabashedly reads like an unedited government handout carried on the day after the release of the RBI Report, boldly proclaims:

The Government had expected all the SBNs [Specified Bank Notes] to come back to the Banking system to become effectively usable currency.87

The obvious question, apart from the stark mismatch with the expectations aired earlier, that arises is that if the governments intention, all the while, was to make the black money come back to the system then what was the need for so much of secrecy and drama88, or why the District Cooperative Banks were not being allowed to return the SBNs accepted by them from Nov. 10-14 201689, 90, till they were specifically barred, whyA ordinary Indian citizens have been debarred from returning these notes to the RBI till March 31st this year, beyond 30th December last,91 thereby trashing the original commitment92by the Prime Minister himself?

On the day of the first anniversary of demonetisation, the Indian Express, a leading national newspaper, has carried an article by a prominent member of the freshly formed Economic Advisory Council.93 The author, Surjit S. Bhalla, tells us with a straight face, in a way echoing the handout, in the very caption of the article:94

It (demonetisation) is an acknowledged political success and early areturns indicate an economic success story as well.

Now the reworked refrain is essentially twofold.

One, with almost all the SBNs (Specified Bank Notes) having come back, the tax base has expanded.

Two, the operation unearthing black money has really started now and is in full swing with the identification of the suspicious amounts deposited.A

Well, in the following, examine both the claims, one after the other.

Expanded Tax Base (and Gain)

In a front-paged report,95 evidently based on official inputs, carried by the Indian Express, on this November 7, i.e. the eve of the first anniversary of demonetisation, it is claimed:

Tax compliance also got a boost in the months following demonetisation. A scrutiny of tax department data available until June 30, 2017 shows that for financial year 2016-17, 1.26 crore new taxpayers, including return filers and non-filers making tax payments, were added to the tax base of the country. The total number of all returns, electronic as well as paper, filed during the entire financial year 2016-17 was 5.43 crore, 17.3 per cent more than the returns filed during 2015-16. The number of e-returns of individual taxpayers filed till the due date of August 5, 2017 increased to 2.79 crore from 2.22 crore returns filed during the corresponding period last year, an increase of about 25.3 per cent. . . . The benefits of addition of new taxpayers, however, did not translate into a rise in tax payments, as was stated in the second volume of the Economic Survey, which was released in August. The Survey stated that the growth of taxpayers post-demonetisation was significantly greater at 45 per cent as against 25 per cent than in the previous year. aThe addition amounted to about 5.4 lakh taxpayers [emphasis added] or 1 per cent of all individual taxpayers in just a few months,a it said. The addition to thereported taxable income of these new taxpayers, however, was about Rs 10,600 crore. aThe tax base did expand after demonetisation. It is, however, interesting that the average income reported of the new taxpayers a Rs 2.7 lakh a was not far above the tax threshold of Rs. 2.5 lakh[emphasis added], so the immediate impact on tax collections was muted,a the Survey authored by Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said.

If we keep aside the increase in number of taxpayers and rather focus on additional amount of actual (income) tax payable on account of enhanced reporting, the following emerges.

5.4 lakh additional tax payers are to pay tax each on an (average) amount of Rs. 20,000 (= Rs. 2.7 lakh -A Rs. 2.5 lakh) @ 5%96, the lowest tax slab.

That works out to just Rs. 54 crore. What a princely sum!

This had been noted, in slightly different words, in an earlier analysis97 as well:

The latest Economic Survey estimated that demonetisation added 5.4 lakh new taxpayers in the financial year 2016-17. However, the average income quoted by these new tax payers is only Rs 2.7 lakh, which would mean that they were required to pay tax for an income of Rs 20,000 only, as income upto Rs 2.5 lakh is granted exemption.

Interestingly, the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has in an interview98 posited:

As a result of organised efforts under operation clean money, both tax collections as well as the tax base have shown a growing trend post-demonetisation. There is increase of 17.6% in number of ITRs filed under all categories till October 30, with 23% increase in ITRs filed by individuals. The increase in number of ITRs and tax collection [emphasis added] shows the positive effect of demonetisation.

The point to be noted is that while giving out figures related to increase in number of ITRs filed, there is just no mention of how much of additional tax has actually been paid and collected. Quite strange, considering the fact that the taxpayers are to pay their due taxes, as calculated by them, while filing the income tax returns.

Not too strange, of course, if the relevant figure is Rs. 54 crore or of that order.

Operation Unearthing Black Money

The ministry is probing deposits of over $1 billion [i.e. about Rs. 6,500 crore] made by around 20,000 companies during the cash ban last year, while its Serious Fraud Investigation Office is investigating 1,505 companies for allegedly violating the Companies Act. It is examining another 809 listed companies, found untraceable by SEBI, to check their status, existence of their offices and directors, the minister said.99

And, the Chairman of the CBDT informed,97 presumably on Nov. 7 this year:

Apart from taking punitive actions, tax department has shared data of over 22,000 beneficiaries identified in the enforcement actions, evading income of over Rs 13,300 crore through 1,155 shell companies. Criminal prosecution complaints were filed in 47 cases and actions for criminal prosecutions in more than 100 cases of entry operators/ beneficiaries identified is under way.

He did further add:

During this year we have selected less than 1% cases for scrutiny [emphasis added, obviously the department is constrained by its limited resources, if not anything else as well] out of returns filed in last year, accepting 99% cases [emphasis added]. This shows that the department largely believes in tax payers and cases are taken up for scrutiny only where there is prima facie evidence of tax evasion.

A Press Information Bureau (PIB), a Union Government wing, on August 1 2017, in a press release,100 informed as under:

There was no official estimation of quantum of black money in India. However, post demonetization, the Income Tax Department (ITD) conducted searches in 900 groups of persons during November 2016 to March, 2017 leading to seizure of Rs 900 crores and admission of undisclosed income of Rs 7961 crores. During the same period, 8239 surveys were conducted leading to detection of undisclosed income of Rs 6745 crores. Information of various kinds of wrong-doings by about 400 persons was also shared with other law enforcement agencies such as Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation for appropriate action. Further, during the current financial year (01.04.2017 to 30.06.2017) the ITD has conducted searches in 102 groups, seizing assets worth Rs. 103 crore. The persons searched have admitted undisclosed income of Rs. 2670 crore. During the same period surveys conducted in 202 cases (01.04.2017 to 31.05.2017) led to detection of Rs. 150 crore as undisclosed income.A The Department has also launched aOperation Clean Money on 31st January 2017 with the mission to acreate a tax compliant society through a fair, transparent and non-intrusive tax administration where every Indian takes pride in paying taxesa . Broad outcome of the operation so far is as under: i. About 18 lakh persons whose cash transactions did not appear in line with their tax profile were identified and approached through email/sms.A ii. More than 9.27 lakh responses were received giving information on 13.33 lakh accounts involving cash deposits of around Rs.2.89 lakh crore. Out of this record number of 5.27 lakh responses were received in the first 12 days of the operation. iii. Advance data analytics tools were deployed which further identified 5.56 lakhs new cases and about 1 lakh those cases in which either partial or no response was received in the earlier phase. Besides, about 200 high risk clusters of persons were identified for appropriate action. This was stated by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

These claims have been duly picked up, and sensationalised, by the nedia.101

More or less very similar claims have been made in a more recent communication,102 apparently mass emailed on November 10 2017, by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO).

Thats, undoubtedly, all very good as far as it goes.

What, however, in this context, one ought to keep in mind has been pretty succinctly captured by an analyst:103

The amounts under investigation so far, however, constitute a drop in the ocean. Yes, demonetisation delivered leads, but establishing criminal evasion and ensuring that the corrupt are punished is a monumental effort. Plus, the tax departments past record of proving evasion is unlikely to be giving offenders nightmares. The faulty system is skewed in their favour. Procedures are time-consuming; there are limitations of administrative and judicial capacity, handicaps the government seems to be grossly underestimating. It could well be years before any serious large-scale clean-up is accomplished, representing at best a promise of a deferred payback from demonetisation [emphasis added]. Another challenge is that of measurement. Although the chief goal of demonetisation was to place a check on black money, the central theme of the Prime Ministers policy agenda, the government has no official estimate of the size of the black economy. Unofficial estimates range from a third of the white economy to as much as the countrys GDP. Without an official estimate, it is impossible to meaningfully evaluate by how much demonetisation successfully down-sized the black economy, if at all.

But, by far the most enlightening revelation94 has come from none other than Bhalla, a senior functionary of the regime and also its consistent backer.

At a moment of unusual candour, he has noted, with a palpable degree of resignation:

In my view, it is very positive that all the cash got returned because now the black money can be identified as black. This is [now entirely] up to the tax authorities and a legitimate legal process is underway. Only if [emphasis added] the income tax authorities are with the anti-corruption programme will DM be a grand success. Everyone knows that the Indian tax authorities have been accomplices in tax evasion. If they change, India will change for the better, faster [emphasis added].

He has, though, provided no clue whatever why the Indian tax authorities would change post-demonetisation.

Any comment on the implications of Bhallas observation would be rather superfluous.

All in all, the actual outcome of the much trumpeted actions, as listed above, lies very much in the womb of some undefined and uncertain future.

And, the past track records do not leave much room for optimism.

Fighting Corruption

As had been pointed out above, corruption is a rather generic term.

In case of demonetisation, the demon of corruption was meant to be worsted via the elimination of black money, in turn, achieved through demonetisation.

In the foregoing, the fight against black money has already been dealt with, in considerable details.

Here, additionally, wed list out just five landmark facts exemplifying the actual attitude of the incumbent regimeA towards corruption, as distinct from its customary shrill rhetoric.

I. First, lets have a look at the plight of the The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

The Act was eventually passed by the previous UPA government, after much feet shuffling, under the impact of the huge anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare, which had received the full-throated support of the BJP, in December 2013 and came into force on Jan. 16 2014.104

Almost three and a half years have elapsed since Modi taking over power as the Prime Minister of India.

Yet nothing has been done towards selecting the Lokpal, let alone making the actual appointment, despite specific directive105 issued by the Supreme Court of India in April this year.

II. The business-politics nexus is widely acknowledged as a major driver of corruption and black money in India.

Heres a terse comment,106 to that effect, by a former Chief Election Commissioner of India:

Money power is the only unsolved problem in Indian elections, the root cause of all corruption. If a candidate spends crores on an election, he will collect a lot more once in office a through government contracts, licences, quotas, extortion, etc.

Transparency and accountability is understandably a major tool to combat it.

III. Yet, in the very midst of all the loud claims as regards fight against corruption and black money, the incumbent regime tweaked the relevant rule to let corporations anonymously donate unlimited amounts of cash to the political party of their choice.107

That too was done as a part of the Finance Bill, to dodge effective oversight by the Rajya Sabha and, then again, through a last moment amendment108, 109 to escape any meaningful deliberations on this specific move even in the Lok Sabha.

IV. The BJP had, of course, even earlier reversed its previous stand to oppose the plea for applicability of the Right to Information (RTI) Act soon after coming to power at the Centre.110, 111

V. Recent disclosure of the Paradise Papers112 has again put the spotlight on such disclosures, by private agencies, and the inaction or evasive actions on the part of the Indian government:

Congress said Liechtenstein documents, and Panama and Paradise papers have named 2,432 account holders and the government should disclose those names.113

Though a recent report,114 dtd. Nov. 19 2017, claims, quoting unidentified official sources, that the IT Department has now slapped criminal charges under the new anti-black money Act and launched fresh assessment of stashed offshore income against over half-a-dozen Indian entities in the (Panama Papers) list, yet the identities of those presumably charged remain undisclosed.

So, this report, authentic or not, makes hardly any impact on the overall picture of lack of governmental actions in this regard.

Demonetisation to Fight Terrorism

Its hardly any wonder that the government would claim remarkable success even on this front.

Unsurprisingly, this is almost solely based on the claim that demonetisation has hit the terrorists by depriving them of the funds to carry out their nefarious activities and very thin, if at all any, actual evidence.

The headline115of a news report carried by the India Today on the occasion of the first anniversary of demonetisation is a typical illustration:

Arun Jaitley calls demonetisation a success, says terrorists hit by fund shortage

Rather interestingly, the actual report does not at all touch upon the issue of "terrorism".

The then Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, had also made similar claims soon after demonetisation. Here is an analytical note116tearing apart his arguments and listing out the string of actual instances of numerous terrorist attacks committed in the immediate wake of the move: Demonetisations Strike on Terrorism is another Blatant Lie by the Government.

Now, a communication,117 apparently mass emailed, by the PMO (Prime Ministers Office) has claimed:

Stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir came down by 75% from the previous year as one of the multi-dimensional benefits of DEMONETISATION!

As if stone pelting in Kashmir Valley was supposed to continue for eternity but for the demonetisation.

In any case, here is a very different account118 offered by none other than Indias Chief of the Army Staff:

Stone pelting in Kashmir has come down "to some extent" said Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat today (Nov. 10 2017). The army chief said that combined efforts of the Indian Army, BSF, CRPF, and the J&K Police has helped. "Solution to this cant be achieved overnight. Government, intelligence agencies, state administration all are making efforts. Will be successful if things go in this direction, can say this with belief," he added.

No mention of demonetisation, just none!

And, at any rate, stone-pelting cannot be counted under the category of terrorism.

Furthermore, P Chidambaram, a senior Congress leader and former Union Finance and Home Minister, has recently testified:119

"As of November 10, the number of infiltrations, the number of militants neutralised, the number of civilians killed and the number of jawans martyred, all are larger than the numbers for the corresponding period in 2016."

And, this public testimony, by no Tom, Dick or Harry, remains uncontradicted.

Subsequently Added Objectives

Formalisation of Informal Sectors and Less-Cash Economy

The proponents of demonetisation have (now) given a new spin [emphasis added] (as almost 99 per cent of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore of the demonetised currency returned to governments coffers). They portray the return of the notes as a success. They claim that those with black money were forced to deposit their illegal hoards in the banks and they can now be caught by the tax department and made to pay additional taxes. This, the argument goes, would expand the tax base. Further, they argue that the idle black money is now in the banks and that would lead to efficiency because the cash-to-GDP ratio would decline. They believe there is a formalisation of the informal economy and that the economy is moving towards a less cash economy. These are the long-term benefits even if there was short-term pain [emphasis added].120

Its on November 27 2016, eighteen days after the launch of demonetisation, the PM had made his first public appeal121 to the nation through his monthly radio programme Mann ki Baat, the youth of India in particular, to take a pledge to become part of a Aashless society for a corruption less, black money-free India.

This was done against the backdrop of common peoples dire struggle to cope up with the severe cash crunch, badly affecting their daily lives, triggered by demonetisation.

From that point onward, moving towards a cashless economy was, by and by, added122 as another virtuous goal of demonetisation.

The cashless would, however, in view of its sheer absurdity as highlighted by the critics of demonetisation, be, after a rather short while, modified123, 124 to less-cash.

This does not, however, necessarily rule out, or for that matter rule in, the possibility that this goal had already been in the minds of those launching demonetisation.125, 125a, 126

One may, here, like to recall the full front-paged ads 127 in leading newspapers that the leading e-wallet company Paytm came up with, on the very morning following the announcement, congratulating PM Modi.

But, to be sure, the goal of moving towards a cashless, or rather less-cash, economy did figure nowhere in the November 8 speech.127a

Its subsequent addition, whatever be the driver(s), strongly suggests an admission, even if only indirect, of the failure of meeting the originally announced goals. (So is, arguably, Jaitleys branding128, 129 of demonetisation, on the eve of its first anniversary, as ethical and moral decision.

Similarly, the goal of formalising the informal sectors of the Indian economy would also be added while on the go.

And, it gained considerable traction with a World Bank report, reported widely by Indian media in early June, strongly championing130 the cause of demonetisation as a driver for formalising the informal economy.

The twin objectives of moving towards a less-cash economy and formalisation of informal economy are fairly interlinked.

A formal economy provides a better ecosystem for the emergence of a less-cash economy and, conversely, a less-cash economy provides a nudge towards formalisation.

Before we proceed to examine the success or otherwise in meeting these two goals, it is necessary to briefly look into their essential rationale and desirability.

Manmohan Singh, in a recent interview,131 in his characteristic soft tone has put it this way:

We are a nation of small and medium enterprises. There are certain characteristics inherent in these small and medium businesses. They tend to be less organised, more informal and use cash as the primary mode of transaction. The underlying economic policy objective in our country should be to find ways to help these small businesses become larger which will then help us reap the efficiencies of scale economies. But we need to be able to achieve these objectives without any disruption to these small enterprises in their current form. Objectives such as a lesscash or digital economy are laudable pursuits. But we also need to get our economic priorities right. It is unclear that these goals of cashless economy will indeed help small enterprises become larger and achieve scale efficiencies. That should be our priority. These small and medium enterprises are the backbone of Indias economy and labour markets.

He has further added:

In India, we refer to an informal economy as one that is not officially registered, is outside the tax net but plays an important role in the economic value chain. I do not think India is unique among emerging economies in its share of the informal economy. Given our size of the overall economy, the absolute size of the informal economy seems very large. The value created by the informal sector will be captured in the form of income, wealth or consumption effects. Hence, we must be cautious about sweeping generalisations about the informal economy and passing moral judgments about the entire sector. Having said all this, it is very important for a nation such as ours to build strong state capacity to lift our standards of governance. This is possible only when we increase our share of tax revenues. If formalisation of the informal sector means widening of the tax base, it should be welcomed. But the means is as important as the ends.

(Never mind the irony of Manmohan Singh mouthing the need to protect small and medium enterprises.)

Prior to that, Raghuram Rajan had put it132rather crisply:

aOne has to be careful on separating intent from cost,a Rajan said. aIntent is to reduce the extent of non-compliance with taxation, which in the long run would be good in terms of generating more revenue. The problem is at what cost?a Rajan asked.

Here is a more hardline view:133

The informal sector, however, is not an aberration in our growth process. It is an integral part of the process of transition from a traditional economy to a modern economy. While it may not pay taxesand is largely dependent on cash, it plays an important role in providing jobs to millions of first-time workers and to millions of others who are moving out of agriculture to the non-agricultural sector. It provides the first exposure to many of these illiterate and low-skilled workers to the new economy. At the same time, it is also the biggest agency which does the painful task of re-skilling the majority of these workersamuch more than any government scheme. Any attempt to reduce the role of the informal sector is only going to make the transition arduous and difficult for the economy. But in the rhetoric of aeverybody is a thief, the real casualty are the informal enterprises. Attempts at forcing informal enterprises to become formal may kill the golden goose which has been taking care of the transitional pains of the economy by providing jobs. It has also acted as a sponge, creating incomes and demand when the agricultural sector was in stress. The short-term benefit of formalisation of the economy is at the cost of long-term loss of the crucial agency of the informal sector. The net benefits to the economy through income generation, employment creation and re-skilling of labour by the informal sector far outweighs any short-term benefits of tax collection through a process of forced formalisation. The need of the hour is to protect and nurture the informal sector and handhold it to become formal in the process of growth rather than through surgical strikes a la demonetisation.

Yet another134 of broadly the same genre:

In public discussion, aformalisation of the informal emerged as a new rationale for Demonetisation 2016 after the event. Demonetisation and then digitalisation of monetary transactions would compel, it was argued, the informal sector to be henceforth more tax compliant. It was also argued that the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would only strengthen this process. It is indeed well-known that in large sections of the informal sectorareal estate, retail and wholesale trade, and professional servicesapayment of taxes is often not the norm. Demonetisation and digitalisation may drag these economic agents into the formal sector and lead to greater tax compliance. However, the fundamental problem with the aformalisation of the informal argument is that the much larger informal sector that ekes out its livelihood on the margins does not avoid paying taxes, it just earns too little to fall into the tax bracket. Formalisation of production by the tiny enterprises inindustry, road-side service establishments, and by small- and medium-sized farmers would not lead to a gain to society. It would, in fact, put an additional burden on these producers who are already struggling by earning low incomes.

The foregoing, if nothing else, at least clearly demonstrates that the view put across by the said World Bank report, also very much shared and propagated by the proponents of the incumbent regime, is by no stretch an uncontested one.

In fact, there is a large body of opinions, arguably no less informed than that of the World Bank, which strongly holds that coerced formalisation of Indias informal economy, which is estimated to employ 90% of Indias workforce,135, 136 poses the very palpable and serious danger of proving traumatic for the sector and would, in that event, trigger large scale misery and, maybe, even social unrest. Notwithstanding the lure of better tax compliance and resultant enhanced tax revenue going to the government coffers.

But then, it could very well be that the real aim is just that: Destroy the micro, small and medium enterprises to clear the field for indigenous and global corporates.125a

Apart from that, analysts after analysts have shown that there obtains no definite correlationship between the cash-to-GDP ratio and either corruption or development.

A most recent example137 is: Demonetisation Has Failed to Tackle Black Money by Karan Thapar. And, also noteworthy:138 Economic Rationale of aDemonetisation: Scrutiny of the Governments Claims by Vineet Kohli and R Ramakumar.

Here are two insightful short excerpts from the Karan Thapars article:

I. The country with the highest cash to GDP ratio is Japan with a figure of 19.40%. It also happens to be one of the least corrupt. Almost at the bottom is Nigeria, with a cash to GDP ratio of 1.55%. Its one of the worlds most corrupt. According to the same ranking, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the whole of the Eurozone have cash to GDP ratios significantly above Indias. Theyre also significantly less corrupt. On the other hand, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa and Brazil have cash to GDP ratios that are around half or less Indias but theyre perceived to be as corrupt. The truth is the cash to GDP ratio is not a test of corruption or corruptibility because how much cash you hold doesnt make or tempt you to be corrupt. II. The total value of digital transactions according to the NPCI in November 2016 was [Rs.] 94 lakh crore. They reached a high point of 149 lakh crore in March 2017 and then fell to 107 lakh crore in July 2017. In August, they were almost the same at 109 lakh crore. However, in September, they rose to 124 lakh crore but collapsed in October to 99 lakh crore. The October figure is accurate only until the 29th of that month. Much the same is true of the volume of digital transactions. They were 671.49 million in November 2016, rising to 957.50 million in December, before falling to 862.38 million in July and, thereafter, remaining stable. In October they were 863.9 million. So, the NPCI data shows that in value terms, digital transactions in October 2017 were almost exactly what they were in November last year [emphasis added]. In volume terms, however, they increased by nearly 42% between November and December but, thereafter, declined significantly and flattened out. More importantly, the NCPI data includes all debit and credit card usage as well as pre-paid instruments and NEFT. It also includes Bhim and UPI, e-wallets and Paytm.

The second one, obviously, deals with the level of success in bringing about digitisation of Indian economy, regardless of its merit or otherwise, via demonetisation.139, 140

As regards formalisation of informal sectors, it is necessary to note here, right or wrong, the GST is the tool to effect it.

Demonetisation is at the utmost, a rather superfluous, auxiliary measure.

And, there is no hard evidence to suggest any significant formalisation of the informal sectors of the economy over the last one year.

Shoddy Implementation

Despite the much well-orchestrated projection ofA a super-efficient Mody - a Rambo Modi,141 over the last few years, the implementation was nothing less than shoddy making the resultant chaos even more chaotic.

It clearly spoke of lack of preparations and well thought out plans notwithstanding fabricated claims59 to the contrary.

There were problems from the very word go.

The sizes of the new Rs. 500 and 2,000 notes, meant to replace the now scrapped old Rs. 500 and 1,000 notes, were changed, for no apparent good reasons.

That necessitated recalibration of the cassettes holding the notes to be dispensed via more than 2.15 lakh ATM machines142 spread all over India causing additional delay.143

Then, going against the very grain of the move to eliminate black money, the Rs. 1,000 notes were replaced by notes of still higher denomination - Rs. 2,000.144

Apparently, to hasten up the process of remonetisation.145

But, during the initial days, these notes, in the absence of sufficient Rs. 500 notes in circulation, were virtually useless scraps of paper in the hands of commoners who needed currencies to make small purchases for day-to-day needs.146

And, then the RBI kept on changing the rules only too frequently.

Between Nov. 8 2016 and the following March 31st the rules were changed/reframed no less than 21 times, excluding the notifications issued on Nov. 8 itself.147

Arguably, the two most significant of these notifications were: (i) on November 14, the RBI debarred the District Cooperative Banks from accepting the scrapped notes148 and (ii) the withdrawal of facility, as had been committed by the Prime Minister on November 8, to ordinary resident Indians to exchange SBNs at RBI branches beyond Dec. 31 till June 30th149 showing valid reasons for delay.

These changes caused a lot of additional difficulties for a large number of people and also for the District Cooperative Banks as the RBI had refused to accept the scrapped notes received by them since demonetisation till Nov. 14th.

All these only go to show the sheer shoddiness of the implementation process further exacerbated by serious inadequacies in advance planning and due diligence.

Quite interestingly, a leading and extremely vocal and voluble BJP MP, Subramanian Swamy, even if known for being a sort of loose cannon, had also publicly aired such a view.150

Nobel laureate Richard Thaler, one of the very few eminent economists applauding the idea of demonetisation, would also note that the rollout was deeply flawed.151

The Negative Outcomes Following Demonetisation

The list is rather long.

The main points are, however, summarised as under.

I. In a heavily cash-dependent economy, overnight scrapping of 86% of all currencies threw life of a common Indian into utter turmoil.

A funny Tamil song in video format,152 released recently, provides an effective peek into that profoundly unfunny situation.

II. More than 100 people reportedly died standing in the queues.153

III. An estimated 1.5 million jobs were lost in first four months of 2017. 154, 155

IV. Disastrous effects on the MSMEs, the unorganised sector, in particular.

Herere a few fragments of noteworthy observation.

A. The unorganized sector in India will be the worst hit by the November demonetization of high value currency, while lots of industries in the organized sector would be impacted by the shortage of cash required to run business, a market analyst said on Monday. "The unorganized sector is expected to bear higher brunt of demonetization. Within the organized space, a lot of industries would get impacted owing to the sucking out of daily liquidity needed to run the business," Centrum Wealth Research said in a report.156 B. The above propositions (including the one that the growth rate of the informal sector would be even lower than overall because of the predominant use of cash in sales and purchase in this sector, and its overwhelming dependence on informal cash credit) are not just based on armchair theorising, but are supported by newspaper reports and independent surveys. In Ranchi, a survey led by Jean DrAze (Delhi School of Economics and University of Ranchi) reports a 45% decline in earnings of small shopkeepers/businesses; in Amritsar, Prateek Sibal (Paris Institute of Political Studies) reports a similar figure of 46%. In Delhi, a survey of small shopkeepers and casual labourers by Vyom Anil (Jawaharlal Nehru University) finds a much larger drop in average income about 60%. Another study for Delhi, by social activist Harsh Mander, points to a 60% cut in supply of jobs to labourers, a decline in wages, and loss in profits for small shops.A In Mumbai, Deepa Krishnan (SP Jain Institute of Management) and Stephan Siegel (Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington) report a very significant loss of 44% in the earnings (relative to the pre-note ban period) of the self-employed in slum areas. Some of the surveys also indicate huge income losses for casual workers: 50-70% in Jaipur (conducted by PUCL Rajasthan), and 72% among domestic workers in Delhi (by Vyom Anil). A larger survey by India Development Foundation (IDF) covering nine states asked owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) whether there were output and job losses (Chaddha et al. 2017). With regard to output loss, 61% of respondents in Telengana [sic], 94% in Andhra, and 80% in Gujarat answered in the affirmative. For job losses, the corresponding incidence was similar in Telengana [sic] and Gujarat, slightly lower in Andhra, but very high in Uttar Pradesh (87.5%), which also saw significant wage decline. The income losses reported by these independent surveys are large and mutually consistent. There is also no sign of remission over the weeks since demonetisation; some newspaper reports even suggest that the ban is biting more with the passage of time and there are spillover effects onthe formal sector. These adverse changes have been accompanied by a 60% spike in the demand for MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) work in December 2016 (as per report of the Ministry of Rural Development), confirming the accuracy of independent surveys, and necessitating urgent policy action.157

V. The District Cooperative Banks (DCBs) got financially crippled.158

VI. In the latest financial quarter (April-June), the GDP has slipped by 2.2 percentage points, from 7.9% to 5.7%, year-on-year basis.159

Subsequently, it is reported160 that :

Indias trade deficit widened to its highest in 35 months in October (2017) as merchandise exports declined for the first time in 14 months, government data showed. Exports during October 2017 were valued at US $23,098.18 million as compared to $23,360.61 million during October 2016, registering a decline of 1.12%, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday (Nov. 14 2017). Imports, meanwhile, expanded at the slowest pace in 10 months, at 7.6%. Imports during October 2017 were valued at US $37,117.01 million as compared to US $34,495.09 million in the same period in 2016.

VII. RBI profit dwindled and instead of ballooning dividend payout to the government, as had been initially expected (discussed above), it actually radically shrivelled.161

Demonetisation was the one of the main reasons for Reserve Bank of Indias lower-than-usual profits. The government too received a lesser dividend from the central bank as compared to what it received in theprevious financial year. RBI transferred a meagre Rs 30,659 crore as dividend to the government for the year ended June 2017, which is less than half of what it gave to government a year ago, Rs 65,880 crore to be precise[emphasis added]. While income for the year 2016-17 decreased by 23.56 per cent, the expenditure increased by 107.84 per cent. The year ended with an overall surplus of Rs 30,659 crore as against Rs 65,876 crore in the previous year, representing a decline of 53.46 per cent. The net income from domestic sources decreased by 17.11 per cent from Rs 52,157 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 43,232 crore in 2016-17 mainly due to higher net expenditure on interest on account of absorption of surplus liquidity in the banking system post withdrawal of Specified Bank Notes [emphasis added]. RBI incurred a total expenditure of Rs 7,965 crore on printing currency notes in 2016-17 [emphasis added], [as against Rs. 16,000 crore not returned] which is more than double the Rs 3,420 crore spent year before that. The rise in cost of printing could be attributed to printing of new currency notes during remonetisation. "The upsurge in expenditure during the year was on account of change in the production plan of printing presses due to the introduction of new design notes in higher denominations as well as the requirement of larger volume of notes for replacement of the demonetised currency," RBI said in its annual report.

Conclusion

1. To begin with, demonetisation was a measure adopted going against the express opinion sought and obtained from the then RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.

No recognised economist, not even the Union Governments Chief Economic Advisor, was known to have been taken into confidence.

And, it was, of course, no move towards bringing back illegal money allegedly stashed in foreign banks, as had been promised by Modi, as the Prime Ministerial aspirant.

2. It was pretty shoddily implemented.

3. It has decisively failed to mop up black money as had been initially projected and expected.

A miniscule amount of fake currencies was detected. And new fake currencies are already back.

No visible impact on terrorism.

4. It has, of course, opened up the possibility of identifying sizeable amounts of earlier undeclared black money and thereby, eventually, jacking up tax revenue.

But the actual prospect, right at this point of time, remains pretty much a big question mark.

More so, given the quantum of data/cases involved and the past track record of the concerned departments, the IT, in particular.

Not only that, given the already established track record162 of the incumbent regime, there is room for very reasonable apprehensions that these cases may only be selectively pursued in order to blackmail, silence and arm-twist.

5. As regards the subsequently added goals, no appreciable rise in digitisation of economy.

Formalisation of informal sector has presumably been initiated under the impact of GST, again badly planned. No appreciable impact of demonetisation demonstrated.

It is yet another matter that the very desirability of forcing the pace of these two goals, under current Indian conditions, remains a much contested issue.

6. The actions by the regime, especially, in refraining from selecting and appointing a Lokpal, even after three and half years, and allowing uncapped anonymous corporate donations to political parties, that too craftily dodging any effective parliamentary scrutiny, raise serious doubts as regards its real intentions vis-A -vis fighting corruptions.

So, does the lack of actions as regards various so-called papers leaked by private parties giving out details pertaining to a large number of Indians and Indian entities parking money in secretive foreign bank accounts.

And, also the fact that the Gross NPAs (Non-Performing Assets  bad unrecoverable loans, mostly lent to large corporates) of the Public Sector Banks (PSBs), under the watch of the incumbent regime, rose from Rs. 234,583 crore, in June 2014, to Rs. 733,136 crore, in June 2017.163A more than three-fold rise, over a period of three years.

Even if we, for the moment, just opt to set aside the various alleged scams,164-167 of pretty serious nature, that have surfaced only recently directly involving the Modi regime and the BJP National President, on the ground that these charges yet remain to be duly established before a court of law.

7. The impact on the economy, as a whole, at least on the short term, was decidedly negative.

The impact on the unorganised sectors, employing about 90% of the workforce, was just disastrous.

8. Day-to-day lives of ordinary Indians were severely affected.

More than a hundred reportedly lost lives.

Millions lost means of livelihood.

9. All in all, it appears to be primarily a political move, meant to reap political dividends, with scant regard for actual economic consequences, though packaged very much in those terms.168

10. Finally, it also indicates a degree of readiness on the part of the BJP, led by Modi-Shah duo, to tweak its traditional core constituency and, in the process, even hurt the small and medium business - in the interest of big money169 and also to occasionally play to the gallery of the Indian have-nots, even if not all of them.

25 11 2017

Notes and References:

1. Ref.: Narendra Modi takes oath as Indias 15th Prime Minister, dtd. May 26 2014, at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/live-narendra-modi-swearing-in-ceremony-today-may-26/

2. Ref.: Everything you need to know about Lok Sabha Verdict 2014 explained in 40 charts, dtd. Jun 06 2014, at https://scroll.in/article/666049/everything-you-need-to-know-about-lok-sabha-verdict-2014-explained-in-40-charts

3. Ref.: How the BJP won this election, dtd. May 17 2014, at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/how-the-bjp-won-this-election/article6020712.ece

4. Ref.: BJPs 31% lowest vote share of any party to win majority, dtd. May 19 2014, at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/BJPs-31-lowest-vote-share-of-any-party-to-win-majority/articleshow/35315930.cms

5. Ref.: BJP releases manifesto, promises to improve economy, end policy paralysis, dtd. Apr. 7 2014, at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/BJP-releases-manifesto-promises-to-improve-economy-end-policy-paralysis/articleshow/33374512.cms

6. Ref.: Policy Paralysis, dtd. Sept. 13 2013, at http://socialsciences.in/article/policy-paralysis

7. Watch, e.g.: Shri Narendra Modi promises to people 15-20 lakh as BJP will bring the black money back to India at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LiS2InsUKY

8. Ref.: Boon or tragedy? Government, opposition parties battle it out on note ban anniversary, dtd. Nov. 8 2017, at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/tragedy-or-boon-government-opposition-parties-battle-it-out-on-note-ban-anniversary/articleshow/61565603.cms

9. Ref.: Opposition to observe November 8, note ban anniversary, as black day, dtd. Oct. 24 2017, at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/opposition-parties-to-observe-black-day-on-november-8/article19912080.ece

10. Ref.: Nov. 8 anti-black money day: Jaitley, dtd. Oct. 25 2017, at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nov-8-anti-black-money-day-jaitley/article19919456.ece

11. Source: Modis surgical strike on black money, dtd. Nov. 8 2016, at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/currency-notes-rs-500-1000-cease-to-be-legal-tender/article9320586.ece

12. Ref.: Heres The Full Text Of Modis Speech On The Discontinuation Of a500 And a1,000 Bank Notes, dtd. Nov. 9 2016, at http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/11/08/heres-the-full-text-of-modis-speech-on-the-discontinuation-of_a_21601525/

13. Ref.:

Indias cash-to-GDP ratio was over 13% before the November 2016 note ban, which is now estimated to be at around 11% of the GDP.

(Source: Cash in use 26% less than November 8 levels, withdrawals fall for fourth week, dtd. Apr. 10 2017, at

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/cash-in-use-still-26-less-than-november-8-levels-withdrawals-fall-for-fourth-week/articleshow/58099149.cms)

14. A Ref.: Ninety seven per cent of retail transactions still cash-based, says USAID report, dtd. Jan. 22 2016, at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-business/Ninety-seven-per-cent-of-retail-transactions-still-cash-based-says-USAID-report/article14013134.ece

15. Also:

About 98 percent of all consumer payments in India use cash, and the high frequency of handling forces the monetary authority to withdraw about 75 percent of its notes in circulation in a typical year - more than the number of bank notes collectively produced by all countries taken together with the exception of China.

(Source: What government plans to do with the old Rs 500, 1,000 notes, dtd. Nov. 23 2016, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/economy/what-government-plans-to-do-with-the-old-rs-500-1000-notes/how-to-get-rid-of-old-notes/slideshow/55579484.cms)

16. Ref., e.g.: Your moneys no good: rupee note cancellation plunges India into panic, dtd. Nov. 10 2016, at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/10/rupee-note-cancellation-panic-in-india-banks-500-1000

17. Ref.:

Featured are summary views, solicited by The Tribune, on the governments demonetisation move from nine economists of impeccable credentials, differing ages, a spectrum of ideological persuasions, and a variety of locations. We encounter amidst this diversity of backgrounds a profound sameness of opinion, as reflected in unanimous denunciation of the governments action in sentiments and assessments such as: aessentially political move,...insensitive,...,gratuitous,..,appallinga ; afiring cannonballs to kill mosquitoesa [emphasis added]; aarrogance and insensitivitya ; aan exercise in Manichean economicsa ; aauthoritarian quackerya ; aheavy cost to the economya ; afrightening abandonment of reasona ; athrowing the baby out while retaining the bathwatera ; and aa cavalier or even cynical political calculationa Heres a cross-section of A scholarly opinion.

(Source: Economists speak up on demonetisation, dtd. Dec. 5 2016, at http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/economists-speak-up-on-demonetisation/332432.html)

18. Also: Demonetization: Winners, losers, and the utterly devastated, Dtd. Dec. 22 2016, at http://www.atimes.com/demonetization-winners-losers-utterly-devastated/

19. Ref.: 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Indian_anti-corruption_movement

20. Watch: Reality of 15 lakh promise by Narendra Modi, dtd. Feb. 12 2015, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHPcapJqbQk

It has been uploaded by a self-confessed supporter of Narendra Modi, interspersing the original video clip (ref. note 6 above) with textual commentaries.

21. Ref.: Well bring back black money in 150 days: BJP president Rajnath Singh, dtd. April 21 2014, at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Well-bring-back-black-money-in-150-days-BJP-president-Rajnath-Singh/articleshow/34016640.cms

22. Watch: Will bring back black money in 100 days: BJP chief Rajnath Singh, dtd. A April 1 2014, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ8FfN0E4lQ

23. See: Timeline of black money issue and formation of Special Investigation Team, dtd. Feb. 9 2015, at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/highlights-of-special-investigation-team-and-black-money/1/417859.html

24. Ref.: How Vijay Mallya flew to London via Delhi, dtd. March 11 2016, at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/vijay-mallyas-great-escape-via-delhi/1/617331.html

25. Ref.: Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje helped me: Lalit Modi, dtd. June 17 2015, at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sushma-swaraj-vasundhara-raje-helped-me-lalit-modi/article7323174.ece

26. Ref.:

In 2014, the Central government introduced amendments to the 2013 Act diluting the stringent provisions of social impact assessment and consent clauses in the 2013 Act by the promulgation of the Land Acquisition Ordinance under Article 123 on the last day of December 2014. The provisions of the ordinance were sought to be kept alive by repeated promulgation on April 3 and May 30 of 2015.

(Source: Cloud over Land Acquisition Act, dtd. Aug. 11 2017, at http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-cloud-over-land-acquisition-act-2526044

27. Ref.: From aLiving Monument of UPA Failure,Has MNREGA Become PM Modis Fav Tool?, dtd. Feb. 1 2017, at http://www.news18.com/news/business/from-living-monument-of-upa-failure-has-nrega-become-pm-modis-fav-tool-1343802.html

28. Ref.: Yours is a Suit-Boot ki Sarkar, Rahul Gandhi Attacks Government in Parliament, dtd. April 20 2015, at https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/yours-is-a-suit-boot-ki-sarkar-rahul-gandhi-attacks-government-in-parliament-756595

29. Ref.:

The cloth, made by the longstanding manufacturers Holland & Sherry which supplies much of Savile Row, has to be specially made at a minimum of nine metres  this is enough for Allens company to make two suits, which would cost upwards of A15,000 (more for cloth with gold thread).

(Source: Narendra Modis style tip for world leaders: wear a suit with your name written on it: For his recent meeting with Barack Obama, Indias prime minister wore a suit with his name written in the pinstripes, dtd. Jan. 26 2015, at https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2015/jan/26/narendra-modi-personlised-pinstripe-suit-fashion-india-barack-obama)

30. Ref.: Modiji on Rs 15 lakh returning to accounts was a political jumla: Amit Shah to ABP News, dtd. Feb. 5 2015, at http://www.abplive.in/india-news/modiji-on-rs-15-lakh-returning-to-accounts-was-a-political-jumla-amit-shah-to-abp-news-150752

31. Watch: Modijis statement on Rs 15 lakh returning was just a political jumla : Amit Shah to ABP News, dtd. Feb. 5 2015, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo9EN-dlZns

32. Ref.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Legislative_Assembly_election,_2015#Summary

33. Ref.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bihar_Legislative_Assembly_election,_2015#Result

34. Ref.:

The historic Central Hall of Parliament will host a midnight function on June 30 to launch the sweeping tax reform of GST, reminiscent of Indias tryst with destiny on the midnight of August 15, 1947.

(Source: Midnight Parliament central hall event to mark GST rollout, dtd. June 19 2017, at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/midnight-parliament-central-hall-event-to-mark-gst-rollout/articleshow/59219913.cms)

35. Ref.: Shooting in the dark: The Bullet Train project is economically unviable, will not lead to a transfer of technology and serve only a minuscule proportion of rail passengers by Anil Dharker, dtd. A Sept. 23 2017, at http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/shooting-in-the-dark-bullet-train-japan-india-4856672/

36. Ref.: Bullet trains: Far too costly for India by Yogi Aggarwal, dtd. Sept. 28 2017, at http://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/280917/bullet-trains-far-too-costly-for-india.html

37. Ref.: LIVE: Bullet train project signifies Indias progress, says Narendra Modi, dtd. Sept. 14 2017, at http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Q22Jltt7WXZUdiI0Ape8BP/Bullet-train-project-launched-Narendra-Modi-Shinzo-Abe-lay.html

38. Ref.: PIB press release: Indias rank rises to 100 in World Banks doing Business Report, 2018, dtd. Oct. 31 2017, at http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=173116

39. Ref.: Ease of business ranking also represents aease of living life, says PM Modi, dtd. Nov. 5 2017, at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ease-of-business-ranking-also-represents-ease-of-living-life-pm-modi-4923035/

40. Ref.: Moodys Upgrade Endorsement Of Reforms, Says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, dtd. Nov. 17 2017, at https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/finance-minister-arun-jaitley-press-conference-on-moodys-upgradation-of-indias-rating-highlights-1776649

Also relevant: Modi government should not cheer Moodys recent upgrade. Read why by MC Govardhana Rangan and Joel Rebello, dtd. Nov. 22 2017, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/heres-why-modi-govt-should-not-celebrate-moodys-recent-upgrade/articleshow/61743958.cms?utm_source=AMPusers&utm_medium=fbshare&utm_campaign=socialsharebutton&from=mdr

41. Ref.: India slips 3 notches to 100 on Global Hunger Index; trails N Korea, Iraq, dtd. Oct. 15 2017, at http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/global-hunger-index-india-slips-3-positions-to-100th-among-119-nations-117101200345_1.html

42. Ref.: India falls to 108 on World Economic Forums gender gap index, dtd. Nov. 2 2017, at http://www.livemint.com/Industry/uqpgStT7tyv3r87e202QJN/India-falls-to-108-on-World-Economic-Forums-gender-gap-inde.html

43. Ref.:

aTherefore, ahead of the 2019 hustings, we expect Modis policy initiatives to evolve around three aCs  combating corruption; completing existing policy priorities (resolving NPAs, fine-tuning GST, completing infra projects etc; and communication to highlight how his various initiatives are helping the common man, especially in rural areas,a Saynal [read: Sanyal] says.

(Source: Modi May Shun Major Reforms Till 2019: Barclays Siddhartha Sanyal, dtd. Aug. 13 2017, at A https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/2017/08/13/modi-may-shun-major-reforms-till-2019-polls-barclays-siddhartha-sanyal )

Also relevant:

aCloser to the polls, Modi might consider deploying his political capital more to boost BJPs a[Hindu?] nationalist credentials rather than its areformist imagea , argues Sanyal.

44. Ref.: Mr. Modis Perilous Embrace of Hindu Extremists by (The New York Times) Editorial Board, dtd. March 23 2017, at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/opinion/mr-modis-perilous-embrace-of-hindu-extremists.html

45. Ref.: Decoded! Why Amit Shah and Modi picked Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister by Aman Dwivedi, dtd. March 19 2017, at http://www.financialexpress.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017/decoded-why-yogi-adityanath-is-made-up-chief-minister-by-amit-shah-and-narendra-modi/593269/

46. Ref.: Government bans sale of cows for slaughter at cattle markets, restricts trade, dtd. May 26 2017, at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sale-of-cattle-for-slaughter-banned-at-markets-across-the-country-environment-ministry/1/963683.html

47. Ref.: Garib hatao: How the poor are being tricked with demonetisation, dtd. Nov. 22 2016, at https://www.dailyo.in/politics/demonetisation-black-money-indira-gandhi-garibi-hatao-poverty-elimination-bjp-meeting/story/1/14173.html

48. Source: Digging through India demonetization history a 12 Jan 1946 (Saturday) and 16 Jan 1978 (Monday) at https://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/digging-through-india-demonetization-history-12-jan-1946-saturday-and-16-jan-1978-monday/

49. Ref.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghuram_Rajan

50. Ref.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Reserve_Bank_of_India

51. Source: Short-term note ban costs to outweigh long-term benefits:Rajan, dtd. Sept. 4 2017, at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/short-term-note-ban-costs-to-outweigh-long-term-benefitsrajan/articleshow/60361465.cms

52. Source: Demonetisation: On Nov 7, it was Govt which aadvised RBI to aconsider note ban, got RBI nod next day, dtd. Jan. 10 2017, at http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/demonetisation-on-november-7-it-was-govt-which-advised-rbi-to-consider-note-ban-got-rbi-nod-the-next-day-rajya-sabha-4467235/

53. Ref.: Understanding RBI Boards role in Demonetisation 2016... at https://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/understanding-rbi-boards-role-in-demonetisation-2016/

54. Ref.: Arthakranti Proposal: 5-Point Plan To Revolutionalise India, dtd. Nov. 10 2016, at http://www.newsworldindia.in/business/arthakranti-proposal-5-point-plan-to-revolutionalise-india/234964/

55. Ref.: THE MAN WHO GAVE MODI THE IDEA OF DEMONETISATION SLAMS IMPLEMENTATION, dtd. Nov. 22 2016, at https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/the-man-who-gave-modi-the-idea-of-demonetisation-slams-implementation/articleshow/55551131.cms

56. Ref.: This Is Not What We Suggested, Says Anil Bokil, The Man Credited With The Idea Of Demonetisation, dtd. Nov. 22 2016, at http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/11/22/this-is-not-what-we-suggested-says-anil-bokil-the-man-credit_a_21611547/

57. Ref.: Behind Notes Ban, Team Of 6 Worked Secretly At PM Narendra Modis Home: Report, dtd. Dec. 9 2016, at https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/who-knew-pm-narendra-modis-black-money-move-kept-a-closely-guarded-secret-1635822

58. Ref.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmukh_Adhia

59. Ref.: One year of note ban: The ultra-secret move that no one came to know for several months, dtd. Nov. 7 2017, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/one-year-of-note-ban-the-ultra-secret-move-that-no-one-came-to-know-for-several-months/articleshow/61528334.cms

60. Ref.: Why is Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian Missing in Action? by Hemindra Hazari, dtd. Nov. 30 2016, at https://thewire.in/83452/chief-economic-adviser-arvind-subramanian-missing-action/

61. Source: Who advised Demonetisation? by Brijesh Kalappa, dtd. Nov. 8 2017, at https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/emphasis/who-advised-demonetisation-2/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIBlogs

62. A Ref.: India: Citizens Statement on De-monetisation (November 15, 2016) at http://www.sacw.net/article13025.html

63. Ref.: House panel criticises RBI governor for inability to answer demonetisation questions, dtd. Jan. 18 2017, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/rs-9-2-lakh-crore-remonetised-till-date-rbi-governor-urjit-patel-to-parliamentary-panel/articleshow/56645451.cms?from=mdr

64. Ref.: After 6 months, RBI still in dark on junked notes, dtd. May 10 2017, at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/rbi-still-in-dark-on-junked-notes/article9691626.ece

65. Ref.: Disclosing Reasons for Demonetisation Will Hurt India, Says RBI, dtd. Dec. 29 2016, at https://thewire.in/90462/rbi-refuses-give-reasons-behind-demonetisation/

66. Ref.: No clue on note ban impact on black money: RBI, Sept. 4 2017, at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/631412/no-info-black-money-removed.html

67. See: https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/RBIAR201617_FE1DA2F97D61249B1B21C4EA66250841F.PDF

68. Source: Viewpoint: Why Modis currency gamble was epic failure by Vivek Kaul , dtd. August 30 2017, at http://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-41100610

69. Source: No clue on note ban impact on black money: RBI, dtd. Sept. 4 2017, at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/631412/no-info-black-money-removed.html

70. Source: RBI says 98.96% of Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes returned after demonetisation, dtd. Aug. 31 2017, at http://www.livemint.com/Industry/e73ZjH3vLuj6tlIn2b6wSJ/RBI-89-million-out-of-67-billion-Rs-1000-notes-not-return.html

71. See, e.g.: RBIasays 99% of demonetised Rs 500, Rs 1,000 returned to banking system, dtd. Aug. 31 2017, at http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/rbi-says-99-of-demonetised-rs-500-rs-1000-returned-to-banking-system-after-pm-modi-s-surprise-move/story-jPFYdNpNw5nuEYcFNunknI.html

72. Source: Demonetisation: Government may take ordinance route to cancel unreturned currency, dtd. Dec. 7 2016, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/demonetisation-government-may-take-ordinance-route-to-cancel-unreturned-currency/articleshow/55843084.cms

73. Source: Demonetisation: Value of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 fakes around Rs 41 crore, says RBI Annual Report, dtd. Aug. 31 2017, at http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/value-of-rs-500-and-rs-1000-fakes-around-rs-41-crore-rbi-annual-report-4821458

74. Source: RBI Data Shows Amount Of Fake Currency Insignificant, dtd. Aug 30 2017, at https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/2017/08/30/rbi-annual-report-demonetisation-detection-of-fake-counterfeit-currency-jumps-rise-in-suspicious-transaction-reports

75. Source: One year of demonetisation: Rs 2,000, Rs 500 fakes are now of ahighest quality, dtd. Nov. 8 2017, at http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/demonetisation-narendra-modi-fake-notes-currency-pakistan-terror-funding-black-money-4927210/

76. Ref.: Fake Rs 2,000 notes seized: Heres how similar they are to real currency, dtd. Nov. 18 2017, at http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/fake-rs-2-000-notes-seized-here-s-out-how-similar-they-are-to-real-currency/story-daxE7QAOQ2cMyAyQsSBfIM.html

77. Ref.: Fake notes more than double of what was estimated: RBI, dtd. Aug. 30 2017, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/7-62-lakh-pieces-of-counterfeit-notes-detected-in-fy17-rbi/articleshow/60294718.cms

78. Ref.: Secret study pegs value of fake notes in circulation at Rs 400 crore, dtd. Nov. 15 2016, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/secret-study-pegs-value-of-fake-notes-in-circulation-at-rs-400-crore/articleshow/55424455.cms

79. Ref.: ANSWER (a), on p. 1 at http://164.100.47.190/loksabhaquestions/annex/9/AU3285.pdf

(As per the answer provided by the concerned Minister of State in the Lok Sabha, on, presumably, Aug. 5 2016, the combined value of seized counterfeit Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes in the year 2015 was Rs. 32.78 crore.)

80. Ref.: Demonetisation: How Much of Black Money is in Cash by Vivek Kaul, dtd. Dec. 13 2016, at https://www.equitymaster.com/diary/detail.asp?date=12/13/2016&story=3&title=Demonetisation-How-Much-of-Black-Money-is-in-Cash

81. Source: Why govts demonetisation move may fail to win the war against black money, dtd. Feb. 16 2017, at http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cash-has-only-6-share-in-black-money-seizures-reveals-income-tax-data/story-JfFuTiJYtxKwJQhz2ApxlL.html

82. Source: Demonetisation: Government may take ordinance route to cancel unreturned currency, dtd. Dec. 7 2016, at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/demonetisation-government-may-take-ordinance-route-to-cancel-unreturned-currency/articleshow/55843084.cms

83. Ref.:

After demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the government is considering depositing Rs 10,000 in the Jan Dhan accounts, particularly those with zero balance. This grand, populist gesture of turning a political jumla into a tangible benefit for people, could be carried out before the crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa.

There are nearly 25 crore Jan Dhan accounts in the country, of which nearly 5.8 crore are zero-balance accounts.

Depositing Rs 10,000 in zero balance Jan Dhan accounts is expected to cost the government nearly Rs 58,000 crore. Analysts have calculated that the governments demonetisation move will result in a windfall of Rs 3 lakh crore
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 Is California finally going to get it machinery of death operational come 2018? | Main | Ohio getting started on Justice Reinvestment 2.0 to confront latest criminal justice challenges 

This recent post from the Supreme Court of Tennessee Blog reports on an interesting constitutional challenge to the severe mandatory sentence that goes with the application of Tennessees "Drug Free School Zone" law. Here is an excerpt from the post by Daniel Horwitz (who happens to represent the defendant). Links are from the original post:

A groundbreaking constitutional challenge has been filed regarding Tennessees Drug Free School Zone Act, a flawed but well-intentioned law that has recently come under fire by several conservative groups because it ensnare[s] many individuals who fall outside of the scope and purpose of the law and has resulted in significant collateral consequences that have been passed on to taxpayers without any public safety returns. The law has long been a target of criminal justice reformers, who have argued that the severe, mandatory minimum penalties contemplated by Tennessees School Zone law fail to make appropriate distinctions between people who sell drugs to children and people who dont....

The governments informant had thirty-nine (39) separate convictions on his record in Davidson County alone at the time of the drug sales at issuemany of them violent felonies. Even so, the informant was paid more than $1,000 in taxpayer money and avoided jailtime in exchange for helping secure Mr. Bryants conviction. Mr. Bryants first trial ended in a hung jury after several jurors concluded that Mr. Bryant had been entrapped. After his second trial, however, Mr. Bryant was convicted of selling drugs.

Even though it was a first-time, non-violent offense  Mr. Bryant had no other criminal history of any kind  because Mr. Bryants residence was located within 1,000 feet of a school, Mr. Bryant received a mandatory minimum sentence of seventeen (17) years in prison. As a result, Mr. Bryant received a considerably longer sentence for committing a first-time, non-violent drug offense than he would have received if he had committed a severe, violent crime such as Rape, Second Degree Murder, Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, or Attempted First Degree Murder. Mr. Bryant has been incarcerated for the past decade. He has at least six years in prison left to serve.

Given the extraordinary circumstances of his prosecution, Mr. Bryant has filed a novel constitutional challenge to the application of Tennessees intensely punitive Drug Free School Zone law to his case. Notably, even the District Attorney who prosecuted Mr. Bryant has submitted an affidavit supporting his early release, stating that: I fail to see how an additional six years of incarceration will improve Mr. Bryants amenability to correction or would be required to maintain public safety. I additionally fail to see how his release at a time earlier than 2023  and after over nine years of incarceration  will deprecate the seriousness of the offenses for which he was convicted or significantly imperil public safety.

Tennessees intensely punitive Drug Free School Zone law was designed to keep drugs away from children. Nobody disputes that this is a laudable goal. However, many people, including several elected officials and judges in Tennessee, have disputed whether the law was ever intended to apply to drug sales between adults inside an adults residence and outside of school hours  especially when a government informant has set up a drug transaction inside a school zone on purpose ....

Mr. Bryants petition paints a heartbreaking picture of a law that was never intended for cases like his but which applied to him anyway. In Davidson County, he notes, so-called drug free zones cover[] almost every habitable portion of Nashville and [nearly] all of its urban core. As a result, based solely on a prosecutors discretion, the law can be applied to virtually every drug sale that takes place in Nashville. Even so, in the approximately two decades since the law was enacted, only 62 defendants have ever been punished with the school zone sentencing enhancement in Davidson County, which upgrades a defendants conviction by a full felony class and renders defendants ineligible for parole for decades. Although, as a general matter, the law has been used sparingly to punish dangerous or repeat offenders, Mr. Bryants petition notes that he has the dubious distinction of being the only defendant in the history of this jurisdiction to receive Tenn. Code Ann.  39-17-432s sentencing enhancement for a first-time offense....

Mr. Bryant notes that in the time since his conviction, Tenn. Code Ann.  39-17-432 has been reformed both judicially and operationally to avoid precisely the type of strict liability penalty that applied in his case. Consequently, if Mr. Bryant had committed the exact same offense today, then he would likely have been subject to a maximum sentence of between two and eight years in prison, rather than seventeen years. Further, given his status as a first-time, non-violent offender, Mr. Bryant may well have avoided prison time at all.

Mr. Bryant has asked Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier to declare his sentence unconstitutional as applied to the unique circumstances of Mr. Bryants case, arguing that these circumstances render his sentence excessive under both the Eighth Amendment and Article 1, Section 16 of the Tennessee Constitution. Mr. Bryant has also petitioned Judge Dozier for release while he submits an application for a pardon or commutation. More than a dozen supporters  including Mr. Bryants own prosecutor, local politicians, business owners, friends, family members, and civil rights activists  have also filed affidavits in support of Mr. Bryants early release. A hearing on Mr. Bryants petition is set for December 15, 2017 in Davidson County Criminal Court, Division 1.
 Interesting Eighth Amendment attack waged against extreme application of Tennessee's "Drug Free School Zone" law | Main | Record sex-trafficking sentence, 472 years of imprisonment, imposed in Colorado court 

November 27, 2017

Ohio getting started on Justice Reinvestment 2.0 to confront latest criminal justice challenges

For more than a decade, the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Justice Department and the Pew Public Safety Performance Project have worked on "Justice Reinvestment" projects in numerous states. These projects generally involve careful study of state and local criminal case processing in order to identify inefficient use of limited prison space and efforts to reduce prison admission and reinvest resulting savings to services that would achieve better public safety outcomes at a lower cost. Now, as this local article from Ohio highlights, it at least one state a second generation of this project is underway:

Amid a glut of nonviolent drug offenders and probation violators serving time in state prisons, Ohio again is taking a look at criminal-justice reform. The effort seeks to tweak the system and criminal sentencing to account for the impact of violent crime and opioid-fueled offenses while enhancing public safety. The 24-member Justice Reinvestment committee also hopes to reduce recidivism while pursuing schemes to better route offenders to the right place, whether prison or local community control programs. Emphasis will explicitly focus on what is happening before prison, or in other words, the systems front end, where many decisions are made that impact both future judicial and corrections practices, said Michael Buenger, administrative director of the Ohio Supreme Court. The committee, which includes [State corrections Director Gary] Mohr, [Union County Prosecutor David] Phillips, [Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Charles] Schneider and other judges, prosecutors, lawmakers and state and local officials, is scheduled to submit a report and recommendations to the General Assembly in the fall of 2018. The group began its work this month with a report from the Council of State Governments Justice Center that laid out the scope of its challenge:  Reflecting the opioid addiction crisis, drug-abuse arrests increased 12 percent in Ohio to more than 32,000 annually between 2011 and 2016. Only North Dakota and South Dakota saw a higher increase. A total of 5,609 drug offenders were committed to state prisons last year alone.  Property crime decreased 23 percent between 2011 and 2016 but violent crime ticked up 6 percent over 2015 and 2016, mostly because of increases in Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo. Low-level crimes drive arrest activity and limit law enforcements capacity to respond to violent crime.  Ohio has the nations third-highest rate of people on probation and parole, nearly 244,000 at the end of 2015. Offenders released and then sent back to prison for probation violations account for 23 percent of annual commitments to state prisons. Ohio still lacks a coherent strategy for recidivism reduction.  The number of offenders in the $1.8 billion-a-year prison system grew by 9 percent between 2000 and 2016, with the population generally holding steady since 2007 around 50,000 to 51,000. Offenders, in general, also are serving longer stretches in prison. Prison crowding and costs remain high.  Ohios criminal sentencing scheme has contributed to crowded prisons and large misdemeanor and felony probation populations. ... Ohio law shows a micromanaged approach to sentencing policy that is needlessly complex. State prisons housed 8,300 offenders when Mohr joined the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction as a teachers aide in 1974. By the middle of last year, that number had increased six-fold to 51,014 prisoners (just a tad off the all-time high), who cost an average of $72 a day to house. Think about the budget, the amount of investment, the reason why were still on this path, Mohr said. I think there are too many Ohioans incarcerated. Its a much better investment to place nonviolent offenders in community programs. All evidence shows its twice as effective at one-third the cost. Mohr is encouraged by a community-alternative program in which the state is spending up to $58 million over two years to divert low-level, nonviolent felony offenders, many convicted of drug possession, from state prisons to local programs. Since the middle of last year, the prison population has dropped nearly 5 percent to 48,799. Forty-eight participating counties are using work-release, substance-abuse treatment, intensive supervision and other programs. Franklin and other large counties still are deciding whether to participate. Mohr said the state should invest in the lives of low-level offenders earlier in their lives in local corrections programs to help address employment, behavioral health and substance-abuse issues before they lead to more serious offenses and state prison time. All of the counties that have tried it loved it. Ohio is, in my mind, safer than it was before. Part of the groups discussions should center on taking some low-level felonies, such as simple drug possession, that are contributing to prison packing and making them misdemeanors to be handled locally, and improved probation services, Mohr said. Judge Schneider said that judges are chafing under some criminal sentencing guidelines. Mandatory sentencing makes sense for crimes like murder and rapes, but some of the drug charges where it is mandatory is frustrating, he said. Judges should be free to tailor sentences for lower-level offenses to match the offender and his crime if you can articulate specific facts whether a prison sentence is appropriate or not, he said. If you want us to treat certain (felony) offenses as misdemeanors, then make them misdemeanors. Quite frankly, the legislature doesnt have the will to do that, Schneider said, adding, for example, that the current fifth-degree felony threshold of $500 in a theft offense should be raised. Lawmakers, he said, are too fond of creating new offenses and tinkering with prison sentences. The states current scheme also is schizophrenic about drug addicts, the judge said. We say its not his fault, its a disease. But when that person breaks into a house to fund that disease, it becomes a serious crime. Its the same person, folks, Schneider said. Union Countys Phillips said that, from the perspective of prosecutors, our primary interest is public safety, No. 1, and holding offenders accountable, No. 2. He differed from Mohrs assertion that prison is not appropriate for some. You should talk to victims of crime and see if they think that is true. Community control sanctions do not work for some people and they need to go to prison.

At the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission's website, one can now find these background documents with more information concerning the state's reinvestment in justice reinvestment:

Ohio Justice Reinvestment Ad Hoc Committee Kicks off Review of Criminal Justice System

Justice Reinvestment in Ohio: Overview

Justice Reinvestment 2.0 in Ohio: Launch Presentation

November 27, 2017 at 10:24 AM | Permalink

Comments

Drop in property crime and rise of violent crime are both the result of the opioid epidemic. Fewer addicts need to steal, being deceased. More competition for fewer customers is fueling the murder of competitors. The lawyer loves to use the phrase, non-violent drug offense. I suggest his trying to sell drugs in the territory of a competitor, as an experiment, with waivers from the prosecutor. See what happens. The police is nearly gone from these neighborhoods, and they are not the worry.

Posted by: David Behar | Nov 27, 2017 11:26:07 AM

I am a rape survivor reading your blog!

After reading an article in today's Dispatch about this committee, I had to do something about trying to voice what many crime victims feel on these issues. Are there any crime victims asked to present their opinions on re-offenders up for parole before serving their sentence? My rapist is a repeat, serial rapist, Robert Blankenship, A212646 and he is up for parole, AGAIN, early 2018. My appointment with one parole board member is on December 7th, at 11:00 AM. If I could, I would have the whole committee be present for this appointment.

As Union County Prosecutor David Phillips says above, State Corrections Director Gary Mohr, and others, should talk to victims of crime and hear what they have to say! I feel we are being left out of these important discussions

and I feel this is not right.

Is there an email address to use for this special committee?

Sincerely,

C.L.

Posted by: C.L. | Nov 27, 2017 3:01:38 PM

CL. See this post advocating much less punishment for rape. Crazy, no?

http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2017/11/what-rape-reform-needs-more-convictions-less-punishment.html

Posted by: David Behar | Nov 28, 2017 8:08:12 AM

David B.

I checked out the post that you added. (copied and put it in my "parole file") Thank you.

How many of you reading this blog have a parole file for your very own case? What I see, over and over again, are people thinking we need to do this and that for these criminals. My thoughts are generally on rapists due to my rape in 1988. Robert Blankenship was paroled early from his first sentence of rape and burglary. He served only 7 years of his 15-75 year sentence. Good behavior. One condition of his release was to go to sex offender counseling. When I asked his parole officer if he attend any of these sessions I was told he did not.

Eight months after his early release, he raped me. I can't say if I was the first but I was not the last. I believe he was arrested early 1989.

Rehabilitate this man? I don't think so! New sentence 49-165 years. He is up for early release, for the third time, in 2018! My sentence is a life sentence!

Now, my important question I have for all of you... if you are involved in sentencing and/or changing laws and polices for these criminals, how many of you have ever spoken with a few rape victims or shooting victims, etc., before making these changes?

This "man" came into my HOME and raped me. And what if it had been your sister, your mother, your daughter?

You have me at a very difficult time because I have to go plead my case, again, to the parole board.

Another item I will bring up at this time... plea bargaining. I never got MY day in court in front of this animal.

Yes, there may be times when some victims don't want/need to do this but THIS victim wanted/needed a day in court. Don't always feel as if you are saving this person from having to do this. I wanted him to have to listen to ME!

And lastly... for now... IF we are to let these people out of prison early, and again, I am talking rapists, there must be some way of keeping track of them! In the past year we have the Reagan Tokes case. HER rapist, Brian Golsby, was wearing a GPS unit that didn't even monitor him in "real time"?? We now know that he committed robberies between January 24th thru February 7th. Why didn't someone know where this man was and what he was doing?

Reagan was raped and murdered on February 8th. There aren't enough people to track them! This has to change before we talk about letting them back on the streets.

C.L.



Posted by: C.L. | Nov 28, 2017 10:10:51 AM

CL. These are my personal feelings after your brief description.

1) The parole board that released him early in 1988 is 100% responsible for your rape, in 1989;

2) these sexual predators likely have dozens of unreported victims, each;

3) if he has done well in prison, he should not be deprived of the effective reason, supervision and structure. A well managed diabetic should not be deprived of diet and insulin, be released on the street, to stop insulin and to wolf down cake;

4) if you have symptoms of PTSD (nightmares, intrusive waking memories, excess startle, and avoidance of reminders), you will be re-traumatized by his release, not by a mental symptom, but by realistic fear of being assaulted by the released prisoner. If he has contacted you in any way, bring the evidence. It means, he still wants you;

5) if any officials have daughters in the home, demand their home addresses. He should be moved into the house next to theirs if any votes for release;

6) will he be listed on a sex offender registry? These are total regulatory quackery, and absolutely worthless. If one so much as criticizes the listed sex offender, one may be arrested for harassment of the sex offender. They would not have protected the little girls after which they were named. Megan opened the door to her neighbor and was taken. Jessica was taken from her bed, with her plush dolphin toy;

7) all votes for parole should be made public. You should take an ad out on Facebook, with the names, home addresses, phone numbers, work numbers, names of supervisors, political party affiliation of any official voting for release; you will place the ad on the Pantsuit Nation Facebook page. They will be hearing from thousands of shrieking, pussy hatted feminists, in front of their homes;

8) buy a gun, and shoot the parolee on sight, if he ever comes around, do it into the gut, first, then in the genitals. Say he kept coming. Do not mention this plan at a parole hearing.

You should understand something deep. Those officials owe him their jobs. They owe you nothing. They care about their jobs, and nothing about your safety. So, they will protect, privilege, and empower the criminal, and not the crime victim. If he is imprisoned again, they get to spend a lot of money to do so, and they get that money. If he had been deceased from the beginning, they would have no jobs in criminal justice.

Posted by: David Behar | Nov 28, 2017 11:25:53 PM

David B.

I appreciate the time it took you to list some of your personal feelings as a reply to my post.

Your #3 on the list was a very meaningful comparison to the reason this rapist might be doing well in prison. He is supervised, daily, hourly at times. Yes, THIS can work. Let's not let him out to have his cake!

Many of your other points have gone around in my mind for years. I've already been speaking with those available to help victims about IF he gets out and will he be coming after me.

In checking out some of the other listings from this site, I found articles on Governors basically bragging about meeting face to face with criminals in maximum security. So far I've not found where they sit with victims of crime when deciding on changing their laws and how to go about it.

Also, I would like a Governor/lawyer/judge or two to sit down at a computer, pretend they make minimum wage or slightly more and try and find a safe area of town to live. Check out the maps that show where these criminals are living. Years ago you could actually see a difference in areas but most, now, are full of these registered criminals OR the cost of rent is way too high.

Since I don't understand "blogs" and I'm not sure who I'm going back and forth with, I think I'll sign off.

Keep me in mind/prayers as I go through this time, again. Anyone is free to write a letter to the parole board in my support. I would love to have Robert Blankenship's folder overflowing with letters against his release.

If you don't know already, if you do write, his name and his prison number must be on each page that you send.

(A212646) Send off to the Parole Board, 770 West Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43222.

Professor Berman, after reading your web profile, I'm wondering if you are on this new committee.

If so, please do your best to present some victims of crime that are willing to speak about these issues.

If you are not, I'm guessing you know a few others that are. Reagan Tokes' parents need to be in on this!

C.L.

Posted by: C.L. | Nov 29, 2017 10:49:19 AM

Prof. Berman has never been to a conference where the real interest of victims has been represented. He supports the impact statement. However, the real interest is to not be victimized.

I have thought of starting a crime victim organization, along the lines of the AARP for the elderly. There are 30 million crime victims a year. They would provide advocacy, and services of genuine value to victims. It would have a real conservative bent. So it would not be feminist, but would go after the sexual predators and their protectors, with hammer and tongs. it would target lawyers, judges and legislators, which are the real cause of all crimes.

Would you join such an organization for $15 a year?

Posted by: David Behar | Nov 30, 2017 11:02:57 PM

Post a comment
The train's organization aimed to intensify trade between the two countries, said the VNR.

According to the VNR's calculations, the train reduces transport time to only four days with quick and convenient customs procedures while it takes 15 days by sea.



After the first pilot run, it is expected that the two sides will organize one train trip a week and then increase to three trips a week.

The train starts from Huanggang station, Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, China and arrives at Yen Vien station, Hanoi, Vietnam, transporting 33 containers of export items such as office furniture, food and auto parts. Afterwards, it returns back to China with Vietnamese goods such as farm produce, minerals and electronic products.

Vietnam Railways said that it would continue opening more trains from Vietnam to other cities of China in the upcoming time. The two sides are making efforts to connect with customers to organize transit goods trips from European and Central Asian nations to Vietnam through China and vice versa.

By BICH QUYEN  Translated by Hai Mien
Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment jointly organized the seminar.



EuroCham Executive Director Almut Roessner said that Vietnam and the European Union signed a free trade agreement, the EVFTA, which will takes effect in 2018.

The agreement will bring more opportunities to access to state-of-the art technologies and machines as well as improve labor skills resulting in creating more employment.

Attracting foreign investment not only helps local firms in transferring technology but also build up and establish localities to provide materials.

Additionally, EuroCham promised to continue support investors aiming to further two sides commercial cooperation.

By DANG CONG  Translated by UYEN PHUONG
If you've ever had sticky rice, you've probably tasted cuisine from the Southeast Asian country of Laos.

Located about 300 miles to the north of Thailand, Laos is the home country of Phouthone "Lay" Ngadouangrath, the new owner of Sioux City's Diamond Thai Cuisine.

According to Ngadouangrath, sticky rice -- which is actually called "sweet rice" or "glutinous rice" -- is a staple food in Lao cuisine and goes best with Larb, a meaty salad that has been deemed the national food of the country.

Along with his wife Viengkhone "Kee" Seummalavanh, Ngadouangrath )took over the popular 515 West Seventh St. restaurant from original owner Pete Uttahchoo earlier this fall.

Diamond Thai's new owners will be profiled in the Wednesday food section of the Sioux City Journal.

So far, Ngadouangrath has messed with the menu created by Utthachoo (a native of Thailand), he'll be making some changes in time.

Which begs the simple question: how does traditional Lao food differ from the cuisine of Thailand.

Although Ngadouangrath said the dishes might have similarities, the actual cuisine differ as well.

1. Thai food is spicier and sweeter than food from Laos

With an emphasis on curries and coconut milk, Thai food is often spicier or sweeter than food from their northern neighbor.

2. Laotian food is saltier and a but more pungent

Authentic Lao food contains a lot of fish sauce, making it slightly more salty than Thai food.

3. Both cuisines consists of rich sauces and exotic herbs

While Thai food is more accessible to Western tastes, traditional Lao cuisine share many of the same ingredients. Such common ingredients include ginger, lemongrass, turmeric and galangal.

Ngadouangrath said dinners who enjoy Thai food will also enjoy authentic Lao dishes.

"Both are very flavorful and delicious" he said.
PETERSON, Iowa | A Calumet, Iowa women is in the hospital following an accident that occurred at 1050 460th St. on Nov. 24.

At approximately 2:15 p.m., the Clay County Sheriff's Office received a call about an accident involving a pickup and a tractor.

Upon arrival, deputies determined that Steven Biedenfeld, of Peterson, Iowa, was pulling out from a field drive and attempted to cross 460th Street from the north in a 1978 International 1486 tractor.

Lynda Hoermann was eastbound on 460th Street, driving a 1999 Dodge Dakota. Neither Biedenfeld nor Hoermann saw each other, according to a news release, and Hoermann broadsided the tractor.

Hoermann was taken from the scene to Spencer Hospital and was later airlifted to Avera Hospital in Sioux Falls with serious injuries. Biedenfeld was not injured in the accident.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office was assisted on the scene by Spencer Ambulance, Peterson Fire & Rescue, Royal Fire & Rescue, Sutherland Fire & Rescue, the Sutherland Police Department, O'Brien County Sheriff's Office and Bud's Service.
The U.S. Marshals Service Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force is seeking the public's assistance in locating the following person:

* Larry Brown, 34. Brown is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 170 pounds. He is wanted by the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office for violating his probation. He is on probation for possession of offensive weapons. According to a news release, Brown has several tattoos, including one that reads "My Pain, My Life" on his forearms.
PRIMGHAR, Iowa | Three men were arrested Nov. 21 following an assault and burglary that occurred in Calumet, Iowa, Nov. 9.

According to the O'Brien County Sheriff's Office, a resident called to report that three men entered his residence and assaulted him, causing bodily injury. The victim was treated for his injuries at a local medical facility and later released.

Following an investigation, Jesse Christopherson, 21, of Primghar, was charged with burglary in the first degree (class B felony) and assault causing bodily injury (serious misdemeanor). Walker Buck, 19, of Primghar, and Austin Eads, 22, of Primghar, were both charged with assault causing bodily injury.

All three men were booked into the O'Brien County Jail. Eads and Buck were released after each posted a $1,000 bond. After making an initial appearance before O'Brien County Magistrate Jeffrey Queck, Christopherson was released after posting an unsecured bond.

All three men will make an appearance in district court to answer the charges.
STORM LAKE, Iowa | A Washta, Iowa, man was arrested following a traffic stop Friday after a Storm Lake Police officer alleged he had an unloaded handgun behind his driver's seat and an unloaded AR-15 rifle with a magazine and ammunition in the back seat of his vehicle.

During the investigation, investigators determined that Cody Ray, 32, was a defendant in a current order of protection issued out of Cherokee County, Iowa, which prohibited him from possessing weapons.

Ray was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (class D felony); and carrying weapons (aggravated misdemeanor).

Ray was booked into the Buena Vista County Jail on a $5,000 bond and both weapons were seized.
SIOUX CITY | A 33-year-old Sioux City man faces an aggravated assault charge after police say he put his father in a choke hold and caused him to pass out.

Sioux City Police arrested Brandon William Scott Sewalson early Monday morning, according to court documents. He now faces a charge of aggravated assault.

Documents say around 11 p.m. Sunday night, Sewalson put his father in a choke hold from the rear, causing his father to lose consciousness and bodily functions. The victim showed injuries to the neck where blood vessels appeared to have burst under the skin, documents say.

Documents say Sewalson told police he had assaulted his father because he had been standing in his way.

Sewalson was being held in the Woodbury County Jail on $2,000 bond.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to asking a 15-year-old girl to send him nude photos of herself through the internet.

Charles Jackson, 33, entered his plea Monday in Woodbury County District Court to single counts of attempt to entice a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor.

According to court documents, Jackson sent numerous messages to the girl from July 12 through Oct. 7 asking her to send nude photos of herself to him over the internet via Facebook messaging.

During a police interview, Jackson said he got to know the girl through her family and admitted that he had solicited the photos, court documents said.
Two watchdog organizations filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Iowa Department of Human Services officials, asserting youths placed in the state juvenile facility in Eldora, Iowa, are subject to excessive use of seclusion rooms and restraints and do not receive adequate mental health care.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Disability Rights Iowa and the national Childrens Rights organization. The complaint contends that residents in the Boys State Training School  Iowas main center for delinquent boys  are subjected to illegal practices by staff.

The school acts in the role of parents for these children, said Harry Frischer, the lead attorney for Childrens Rights. Its supposed to provide rehabilitation and treatment, and what these kids get is exactly the opposite of that.

The Department of Human Services declined to comment, citing a policy of not speaking on ongoing lawsuits.

The training school holds up to 130 boys ages 12 to 18, most of whom have significant mental health issues, Nathan Kirstein, a Disability Rights Iowa attorney, told The Gazette.

The complaint states defendants dont provide facility residents with adequate mental health care, and also administer dangerous psychotropic medication without adequate oversight or informed consent, and unlawfully subject these children to solitary confinement and mechanical restraints as physical punishment for minor infractions of the rules.

The lawsuit was filed against Jerry Foxhoven, director of Human Services; Richard Shults, administrator of the division of mental health and disability services; and Mark Day, superintendent of the school.

The lawsuit comes after Disability Rights Iowa released a report in August critical of the facility, outlining issues that are addressed in the complaint.

The report did not call for the closure of the school, but instead a reform on its practices.

The reason weve got to the point of filing a legal complaint is because weve tried anything else and DHS remains obstinate, Kirstein said.

The lawsuit focuses on mental health care at the school. Across the country, up to 70 percent of youths involved in the juvenile justice system have a mental health disorder due to exposure to adverse childhood experiences, including abuse, according to the lawsuit.

Officials at Disability Rights Iowa and Childrens Rights say there is no independent licensure of the school and therefore no oversight  unlike any private juvenile facility that must have a license from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.

In addition, the lawsuit says the department fails to employ adequate mental health professions.

The school employs one psychologist  who is not licensed to practice in Iowa  to offer wide-ranging mental health services that include diagnosis and treatment, the lawsuit asserts.

Iowa law does allow a license exception for psychologists providing those services in state facilities. However, the complaint states that by relying on an unlicensed psychologist, as well as other untrained assistants and counselors, the department departs from accepted standards and subjects the residents to substantial risk of serious harm.

Disability Rights Iowa and Childrens Rights estimate about 66 percent of the facilitys residents per month are given psychotropic medicine.

The suit contends the drugs are given to residents without appropriate consent and without informing the youth and their parents of potential side effects or alternatives, Frischer said.

The lawsuit also contends the use of seclusion rooms and a 14-point restraint bed further aggravates mental health conditions.

Boys there are placed in seclusion for a variety of reasons, Frischer said, that include minor infractions such as raising their voices or talking in the shower.

The fact that DHS writes rules and regulations for other juvenile facilities limiting these practices shows department officials are aware of long-term harm, Kirstein said.

Its one piece of many pieces of evidence that shows that the Department of Human Services is well aware of the harms caused by the use of restraint, the use of seclusion, Kirstein said. Its why they write regulations to begin with on how much that can be used, and the reporting requirements when you do use it.

Thats not just to make people jump through hoops. They do that because they know of the harms associated with it. And yet they dont do that with their own facility.
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa  Reality TV star Chris Soules sat quietly in the courtroom looking down with his hands folded on Monday as he listened to the 911 call he made following the April crash that killed 66-year-old Kenneth Mosher.

In the recording, Soules can be heard telling the dispatcher that he cant tell if Mosher is breathing, and the dispatcher offers to talk him through CPR.

The 911 tape was played Monday as Souless defense team asked District Court Judge Andrea Dryer to throw out a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Authorities said Soules rear ended Moshers tractor on Slater Avenue north of Aurora and left before law enforcement arrived on the scene.

Defense attorney Robert Montgomery said Soules shouldn't be charged because he did what was required following the collision.

Chris Soules did the morally responsible thing here. Chris Soules did the legally responsible and legally required thing. After this unfortunate accident  Chris Soules did everything he could for the victim of this unfortunate accident, Mr. Mosher, Montgomery said.

He said Soules called 911, identified himself, provided aid and remained until medics arrived.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown argued that the law requires drivers to remain at the scene and allows only two reasons a driver can leave a fatal crash - to seek help or to report the emergency to law enforcement.

Our position is that the remain at the scene infers that the person shall remain until those two things happen --- rescuers arrive to assist that person who is injured and law enforcement authorities arrive. Mr. Soules did not wait for the police, Brown said.

Brown said Soules remained on the scene for only about 14 minutes, leaving before a Buchanan County sheriffs deputy arrived and while other witnesses were still there.

I would submit that people who have a fender bender are at a crash scene longer than Mr. Soules, Brown said.

He said there is an expectation that information about a fatal crash is collected to the best of law enforcements ability, and police cant do that if one of the drivers involves leaves.

Mr. Soules leaving the scene leaves many ambiguities as to why and how the crash occurred. Thats why we have this statute. Thats why he should have remained at the scene, Brown said.

Montgomery also argued that Iowas leaving the scene statute --- which was rewritten in the 1970s before the advent of cell phones --- is vague and is unconstitutional as it applies to Souless right to move about.

No citizen is required to stay even longer, after complying with the requirements of the statute  after doing all those, which Chris Soules did, no citizen is required to remain even longer just so police can get a preferred peek at them, Montgomery said.

Judge Dryer will rule on the matter at a later date.

In other developments, Dryer on Monday modified the conditions of release, removing the requirement for electronic GPS monitoring. The defense had asked that the monitoring no longer be required, and the state didnt resist the request.
Civil servants from African countries learn how to paint pandas at the Chinese culture course at the Chinese Academy of Governance. Zou Hong/China Daily

Overseas civil servants receive training in political, social systems at academy

James Kur Muorwel said confidence in the future is the most important thing he will take back to his home country following his participation in a training program about China's system of governance.

Muorwel, the director of Asian and Australian Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in South Sudan, was one of 192 civil servants from 35 countries who visited Beijing this month to study the latest developments in China's political and social systems at the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Previously stationed in Sweden and Norway, Muorwel had never visited China before.

"It's the first time I have been to China. The country's development is truly unbelievable. More important, China has not hesitated to share its experiences with the rest of the world," he said while displaying a painting of a panda he had just completed with a brush and ink.

Yang Keqin, deputy director of the government-funded academy, said since the training programs began in 2000, more than 8,500 administrators and diplomats from 159 countries have participated in the courses, which are designed to help people understand the "real China".

Established in 1994, the academy is important in training senior and middle-level civil servants, along with high-level administrators and policy researchers. It also is a center for research, particularly studies related to theories of public administration and innovation in government administration.

In recent years, training programs for foreign administrators have become increasingly popular, especially among those from developing countries. Every year, the academy organizes about 50 classes for 3,000 foreign civil servants to meet the rising demand for information about the latest developments in China and the secrets of the country's success, according to Liu Hongyi, director of the academy's training center.

"Many trainees are asked to brief their own country's leaders about the things they learned at the academy," he said.

Each training program lasts between two and three weeks, and includes lectures, seminars in Beijing and field trips to other cities so the trainees can see different parts of the country.

Before the students arrive in China, the academy designs courses to meet each country's specific requirements. For example, the latest Cuban course mainly focuses on structural reform of government because that is the topic most in demand among the country's trainees, Liu Gang, deputy director of the academy's training center, said.
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.
(WB) Charlie Craig and David Mullins didnt expect to be the new face of the LGBT rights movement, but that responsibility will be thrust upon them in a matter of weeks as the U.S. Supreme Court hears their case over being denied a wedding cake in Colorado at Masterpiece Cakeshop.

The two are key figures in the case challenging Colorados non-discrimination law, which bars discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused to make a wedding cake for the Denver-based couple on the basis that it would violate his religious beliefs as a Christian.

In an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade, Craig, 37, and Mullins, 33, said theyve been anticipating the oral arguments in the case  set for Dec. 5  with intense emotions.

Mullins said hes been filled with trepidation and excitement since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the lawsuit in June.

I will definitely say I dont think anyone in the country is prepared to hear that a case they are party to is going to be argued before the Supreme Court, Mullins said. That was definitely a hard thing for us to wrap our minds around.

The day of oral arguments for the court on Dec. 5 is actually the anniversary for the first date of the couple seven years ago. (Recognizing the occasion, Craig said maybe its good luck.)

Craig said the two met through a mutual best friend and were friends for a good year before dating. At a time when same-sex marriage was legal in limited places and not in their home state of Colorado, the two nonetheless decided to marry.

Although many couples arrange dramatic engagement proposals, Mullins said the couple had a cute story that wasnt very dramatic.

In all reality, we were just lying on the couch together one Sunday morning, Mullins said. I think it was Charlie who turned me. He was like, You know. I really would marry you. And I thought about it and I was like, I would marry you, too. And we sort of sat there for a minute and we were like, So should we get married? And we decided to get married. It was a very natural, casual moment, which was really kind of how our relationship was.

Craig added he later discovered Mullins had been socking away money to buy wedding rings. (The two have a pair of three-diamond rings. Craigs is made of white gold, but Mullinss is comprised of cobalt because hes allergic to silver and gold.)

Because same-sex marriage wasnt yet legal in Colorado, the couple decided to marry in Provincetown, Mass. The Bay State, first in the country with marriage equality, legalized same-sex marriage as a result of a court order by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 2003.

The two planned to have 30 friends and family members fly up to Massachusetts for the ceremony, and have a hometown reception in Colorado. But then there was the matter of the wedding cake.

Craig said the host for the Denver reception party used Masterpiece Cakeshop for earlier clients and recommended the bakery based on its service and close proximity.

We looked up the website and were like, yeah, OK, they look like something that we would want, Craig said.

On the fateful day, July 19, 2012, Mullins and Craig proceeded to Masterpiece Cakeshop and brought along Craigs mother. Because she doesnt live in Denver and was in town for a conference that day, the wedding cake purchase would be her only opportunity to take part in the planning.

Mullins said the three went in really excited and Craig came in with a binder of ideas, but it all went wrong immediately after they sat down with Phillips.

He immediately asked us who the cake was for and we said it was for us, and he told us he would not make a cake for a same-sex wedding, Mullins said. And what followed was a horrible pregnant pause. We were just mortified and embarrassed and quickly we just got up and we left.

When the couple entered the parking lot, Mullins said they became emotional and broke down in tears  a moment they said was all the more painful and profoundly embarrassing because Craigs mother was present.

The couple said they had no idea Phillips sought to operate his business consistent with this Christian beliefs, nor that he had a policy of refusing wedding cakes to same-sex couples.

Craig and Mullins quickly found relief from the LGBT community and supporters after a Facebook post, which quickly went viral worldwide in a couple days.

As a result of the Facebook post, a friend informed the couple that Phillips actions were a violation of state law in Colorado  something Mullins said the couple wasnt aware of previously.

We actually were unaware that there was a law in Colorado against what happened, Mullins said. It actually took a relative of Charlies looking something up and connecting us the next day to actually tell us there was an anti-discrimination statute in Colorado that covered public accommodations discrimination.

Another Colorado shop, Loras Donuts & Bakery Shop, offered to provide the wedding cake the couple ultimately used for their celebration. The cake had rainbow layering to represent solidarity with the LGBT community.

But there still was the matter of the discrimination. Mullins said the couple spoke with the LGBT legal group Lambda Legal about their rights under state law, then the American Civil Liberties Union  which represents them in the case  helped them further and filed a complaint on their behalf in 2013.

Eventually, someone at the ACLU found us and we spoke to them, and we decided to move forward with the complaint, Mullins said. They sort of helped us file the paperwork a little bit, and then after that and much discussion on their part, they decided to take up the case.

Prior to the complaint, the couple hadnt had significant experience in LGBT advocacy. Craig, an alumnus of University of Wyoming in Laramie, said 15 years ago he was a board member of a student LGBT group that sought to raise awareness for the Matthew Shepard Foundation and HIV testing, and Mullins said he couldnt recall any instance of prior LGBT work.

This was kind of my awakening, Mullins said.

James Esseks, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project, said by filing a complaint, the couple took the lead in the fight to ensure equal rights for LGBT people.

No one should ever have to experience the kind of pain and humiliation that Charlie and Dave were put through, Esseks said. Theyve shown real courage to stand up for the rights of all of us and were proud to stand with them as they take this fight to the Supreme Court. We all deserve the freedom to go out in public without being turned away because of who we are.

At the state level, the couple had success many times over. In December 2013, an administrative judge ruled the bakery had illegally discriminated against the couple  a decision affirmed by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Masterpiece Cakeshop wasnt penalized with monetary damages, but required to take remedial measures to comply with the law, institute comprehensive staff training and issue quarterly compliance reports for two years on these corrections in addition to documenting all patrons denied service at the bakery.

Mullins said the litigation is not about whether or not theres somewhere else we could get a cake when asked why the couple is insistent Masterpiece Cakeshop be required to serve wedding cakes to same-sex couples.

Our case is about basic access to public accommodations, Mullins added. We were not turned away from Masterpiece Cakeshop because of any design we asked for, we were turned away because were a gay couple, and we pursued this because we didnt want another couple to go through what we had gone through.

Mullins said if Masterpiece Cakeshop followed state law we would have received the same service that any other person would have received, we would have been treated with respect.

As litigation proceeded, Craig said the couple discovered Masterpiece Cakeshop turned away four or five same-sex couples before them. Although court documents say Phillips had offered the couple any ready-made product in the store in lieu of a wedding cake, Craig said one of these couples had sought cupcakes and were denied service.

In 2015, a three-judge panel on the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the commission. Later, the Colorado Supreme Court refused to hear the case upon appeal from Masterpiece Cakeshop.

That seemed like the end of the road for Masterpiece Cakeshop, But in a last ditch effort, the bakery, represented by the anti-LGBT legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review, citing issues of freedom of religion and expression.

To the surprise of just about everyone, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to accept the petition in June. (The petition had remained pending before the Supreme Court for some time and was taken up shortly after confirmation to the bench of U.S. Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.)

Why did the Supreme Court agree to take up the case? After consistent rulings at the state level in favor of the couple, could justices have in mind overturning those decisions in favor of allowing anti-LGBT discrimination?

The answer, Mullins said, is completely in the minds of the Supreme Court justices and no one else  at least until justices render their decision in the case.

Obviously there have been numerous public accommodations cases that have happened in numerous states, and in my wholly un-legal opinion, I think that maybe the reason they took our case was because there was no disagreement over the facts of how anything went down, Mullins said. Its also possible that they just felt it was time to take up one and ours was the one that was on their desk when they made that decision.

Mullins and Craig  with Craigs mother in tow  plan to travel to D.C. to witness the oral arguments firsthand at the Supreme Court on Dec. 5. Mullins expressed excitement about seeing Ruth Bader Ginsburgs neckpiece while hearing the case.

The couple has a busy schedule planned for the time theyre in D.C., which includes three speeches at different rallies. Thats consistent with the nearly 150 media interviews in which the couple has participated, ranging from the LGBT press to the New York Times.

I think its important for people to see us just for the fact of were standing up for ourselves, Craig said. We experienced discrimination and experienced what it means to follow it through this far.

During the arguments, the ACLU will represent the couple, another attorney will represent the Colorado Civil Rights Commission in defense of the non-discrimination and Alliance Defending Freedom will make Masterpiece Cakeshops arguments.

But another lawyer from the U.S. Justice Department under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions may also take part: U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco. Francisco sought time to speak before the Supreme Court after the Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of Masterpiece Cakeshop.

Mullins said the participation of the Trump administration in the litigation is definitely notable, but ultimately the Supreme Court will be making the decision in the case.

In the end, the Supreme Court is nine justices and nine votes and they will make their decisions, and so, in the end, the buck stops with them, Mullins said.

Contrary to the experiences of many plaintiffs in LGBT rights cases, Mullins said the couple hasnt faced significant backlash since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.

If anything, I feel like it made the story larger and it helped reach some people and changed some minds, of people who werent as aware of the story beforehand, Mullins said.

The Supreme Court ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop will likely be issued next year and could be a milestone for the LGBT rights movement.

Craig, however, said the impact is difficult to determine because the ruling could affect just Colorado law or similar statutes nationwide.

In the smallest sense they can validate what Colorado has already said, that he violated anti-discrimination laws here, and that would set a precedent for Colorado, Craig said. It could also set a precedent for the other 20 states that have the same public accommodations laws, or it could be as big as theyre sending a message to the whole nation that discriminating against gay people is wrong.

In the event of a loss before the Supreme Court, Mullins said the decision would have deleterious consequences not just for LGBT people, but other marginalized groups.

If the Supreme Court found that a business owner could refuse to serve someone based on their strongly held religious beliefs, could a hotel owner refuse to rent a room to an interracial couple because his faith believed the races were not meant to mix, or could a business owner refuse to hire a single mother because his faith believed that mothers should be married? Mullins said. A loss at the Supreme Court could open the door to many forms of discrimination that have long been considered wrong in our society, and not just ones that involve LGBT people.

Win or lose, Craig said the lawsuit will be worth the effort because it means not just standing up for the thousands of people whove told the couple about their own discrimination stories as the litigation proceeded.

I feel like of course were standing up for ourselves, but the important thing is and what the Supreme Court decision is going to decide, is were standing up for these thousands of other people who are discriminated against all the time, and thats really what keeps us going, Craig said.

 Chris Johnson, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.
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Officials with the Hambletonian Society have announced that some new personnel changes are now in effect.

Moira Fanning, director of publicity and event operations for the Hambletonian Society, has been named COO by the executive committee of the society, effective immediately.

Fanning has been with the society since 1988 and will take over many of the administrative duties performed by former president and CEO Tom Charters. Earlier this year, Charters announced his retirement and the board elected John Campbell, the sports leading money-winning driver, to succeed him as president.

This is a well-deserved promotion for Moira, said Campbell. She has been a tremendous asset for the society for many years and her professionalism, talent and commitment are unparalleled in our industry. It has been a pleasure working with and learning from her these last few months and I feel fortunate we will be working together for the foreseeable future.

In addition, David Janes, who has been the staking assistant and IT manager for the past year, has been promoted to stakes manager, replacing the recently retired Callie Davies-Gooch. He will be responsible for the staking arm of the society, which currently services 131 important stakes, closers and events across North America.

Janes has been with the society since 2009 and recently completed his B.A. in Information Technology and Informatics from Rutgers. He has gained experience in all facets of the harness racing business through his involvement in the VIP Internet Stable, one of the most successful and long-running racehorse syndication partnerships, which his father, Tom Janes, co-manages with founder Ed OConnor.

The Hambletonian Society is a not-for-profit organization which supports and encourages the breeding of Standardbred horses by sponsoring and administering stakes and other special events in harness racing. The society was founded in 1924 to organize the Hambletonian Stake, one of 37 races it currently owns. These races are some of the richest and most prestigious racing events across North America, held at 14 different racetracks, involving the processing of more than 54,108 individual payments totaling $12.3 million and responsible for the disbursement of more than $16.7 million in purses.

(Hambletonian Society)
Franken Must Take His Own Medicine

Contact: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191, pr@catholicleague.org

NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Sen. Al Franken:

Yesterday, Sen. Al Franken broke his silence and did a media tour explaining away his sexual offenses. "I'm looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow," he said. He should instead take some of his own medicine and resign.

Five years ago, Franken co-sponsored a bill, the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act, to strengthen federal legislation on human trafficking, which includes sexual exploitation. The bill, which was approved by the Senate in December 2012, was necessitated because of the failure of the existing "zero tolerance" policy.

In July 2013, Franken co-sponsored another bill, the Military Justice Improvement Act, to deal with the "epidemic of sexual assault in the military." It was necessitated because of the failure of the existing "zero tolerance" policy.

It was noble of Franken to support going beyond "zero tolerance" to combat sexual abuse by government contractors and subcontractors who operate overseas. Similarly, it was noble of him to support going beyond "zero tolerance" to combat sexual molestation in the armed forces.

It was ignoble of him to go back to work today. Does he think that his support for legislation combating sexual abuse should not extend to him? He has admitted to one act of sexual abuse, and is accused by three other women of violating them.

Ironically, it was the Catholic Church that first instituted a "zero tolerance" policy for abusers. And what did Franken do? He mocked it.

Now that Franken has proven that he has no integrity left, it is up to the Senate to show him the door. He is utterly shameless.
Victims File Complaint Today Confirming Patient Safety Issues Related to Doctors' Training at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, After NBC Exposes FDA Cover-up of Testing

Press Conference Today at noon, ACGME office, street level front doors: 401 N Michigan, Chicago IL, 60611 a copy of the complaint will be available to any members of the press who attend the conference.



Contact: Nalini M. Rajamannan, 312-498-9496



CHICAGO, Nov. 27, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Medicine Residency training program exposed physicians in training to unauthorized testing of heart valve devices in hundreds of unknowing patients from 2004 to the present.



From 2004 to the present, hundreds of patients were enrolled in secret clinical experimental surgical trials without consent and without FDA approval. Delays in submitting this report, were due to the fact that until September 2017, the FDA never admitted in public the fact that human experiments were ongoing to test the unauthorized heart devices model 4100 and model 5100.



ACGME, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, procedures requirements as of July 2017 emphasize patient safety. Moreover, the ACGME require that all complaints undergo submission, only after all available reporting agencies, Local and National have evaluated the complaint.



After submitting several complaints to Northwestern University and Hospital, from the office of human subjects to the Board of Trustees, and local investigative agencies, no effort has been made to to stop the testing without consent and to inform the citizens of Chicago and across the United States regarding the illegal sales of these unregistered devices in interstate commerce without FDA approval, prior to 2008. The head of the General Counsel earlier in 2017, denied Dr. Rajamannan a meeting to discuss the patient safety issues related to the clinical trial performed at Northwestern University and hospital without consent and without FDA authorization.



In 2017, the most recent investigations began in the State of WI, where the eye witness, Dr. Nalini Rajamannan, a former Cardiologist at Northwestern University Fienberg School of Medicine, VA Lakeside, and currently a Cardiologist at Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology, Sheboygan WI, CorVita, Chicago IL, Global Heart Valves, and Visiting Scientist at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN, contacted Sheboygan's Congressman Glenn Grothman, who immediately sent letters to the FDA, followed by questions from Senator Ron Johnson of WI, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee to the Office of the Inspector General, for delays in reviewing allegations submitted since 2014, as reported by WHBL Radio Sheboygan, WI.



According to the NBC investigation in September 2017, the FDA in 2009 reportedly asked NMH CEO to inform the patients of the testing of the model 5100 and the model 4100 after both devices were placed on a voluntary recall due to the unauthorized sales in the USA from 2003-2008, according to NBC26 reporter Max Grossfeld.



However, according to the NBC news report the letters written by the CEO for Northwestern Memorial Healthcare, did not reveal the fact that the device was experimental at the time of the test surgeries and that the model 4100 and the model 5100 were under a voluntary recall as of January 2009 when the CEO sent the patient letters.



After a series of interviews on local radio, NBC, and ABC, the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services confirmed in early October 2017, that they are investigating the sales of the devices across state lines using Medicare and Medicaid dollars for the price of the test surgeries as reported by ABC Milwaukee in October 2017.



Since 2008, the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees under Senator Grassley, investigated the testing of the non-approved devices in patients during open heart surgery without informed consent. However, key documents surrounding the patients' testing were withheld from the Senate Committee, the FDA, and the patients, which required further investigations by the Senate Judiciary Committee.



Today, as of November 27, 2017, after the FDA confirmation of the experimental testing and the OIG investigation of the unauthorized use of Medicare and Medicaid funds for the sales of the unauthorized devices, Dr. Rajamannan and three patients who learned of their experimental heart surgeries after the fact, are filing a complaint with the ACGME, in order to get immediate help for the other 664 victims, and to inform the ACGME of the dangerous conditions for the training of young physicians during their residency program at Northwestern University, Northwestern Fienberg School of Medicine and the various hospitals associated with these entities.


The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
It has been a long while since I last updated this blog and I was glad to be able to meet up old friends again from my class and also our seniors. This me...

7 years ago
Mira Costa became the first team this season to win a set against Cathedral Catholic, but the Mustangs eventually fell in four sets in the CIF SoCal Regional final Tuesday night.
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The talk of nuclear war is more prevalent today than in decades.

North Korea has tested missiles with the apparent objective of achieving the capability to use nuclear weapons to strike as far away as the United States. The back-and-forth rhetoric between the North Korean dictator and U.S. President Donald Trump is disturbing.

As the same time, the Chinese have nuclear weapons next door to the Koreas. The Russian nuclear arsenal remains larger than Americas. The prospect that countries such as Iran will acquire nuclear weapons over time remains real. And the likelihood of a terrorist attack involving some kind of nuclear device has never been more probable.

No wonder the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists earlier this year moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward to 2-1/2 minutes to midnight, the most dangerous setting since 1953. Midnight on the clock, created in 1947, represents "doomsday."

The minute hand is assessed each year, and the clock's time "conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making. In 2015, the clock was moved to "three minutes to midnight" from its place at "five minutes to midnight" in 2014.

To determine this year's time, scientists considered factors including "strident nationalism worldwide, President Donald Trumps comments on nuclear arms and climate issues prior to his inauguration on Jan. 20, a darkening global security landscape that is colored by increasingly sophisticated technology, and a growing disregard for scientific expertise," the Bulletins editors said.

Trumps comments then and since have raised eyebrows, so much so that the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing recently on authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. The panel, led by Tennessee Sen. and Trump critic Bob Corker, featured testimony from a former head of the Pentagon's nuclear war-fighting command and other witnesses.

"This discussion is long overdue," Corker said in announcing the hearing, which produced conflicting opinions on just how absolute a presidential decision to launch a nuclear war would be.

Officially, the decision is in the hands of the president, whether launching missiles would be in retaliation or a first strike.

Bruce Blair, a former nuclear missile launch officer and expert on nuclear command and control, has said, "The protocol for ordering the use of nuclear weapons endows every president with civilization-ending power." Trump, he wrote in a Washington Post column last summer, "has unchecked authority to order a preventive nuclear strike against any nation he wants with a single verbal direction to the Pentagon war room."

Or as reported by The Associated Press, then-Vice President Dick Cheney said in December 2008 that the president "could launch a kind of devastating attack the world's never seen. He doesn't have to check with anybody. He doesn't have to call the Congress. He doesn't have to check with the courts."

And that is good reason to pursue new safeguards  and not just because of Trump and his words. A nuclear launch resulting from poor or mistaken judgment must be prevented now and in the future.

The U.S. Congress should move to change the system.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., have been pushing legislation requiring that any first use of nuclear weapons require a declaration of war by Congress. Thus, a decision to use nukes  except in response to a nuclear attack  would require the approval of elected officials and would not be solely up to the president. At the very minimum, a change should be made to mandate a system in which more officials than just the president must be involved in ordering use of nuclear arms.

Hollywood has made famous fictitious stories about nuclear war nearly beginning by mistake. And in reality, false alarms have plagued the system in the past. Giving the president only about 10 minutes to decide whether to launch makes no sense.

A change in U.S. procedure will not prevent action by another country, but it will be insurance against the U.S. arsenal being misused or used by mistake.
By Azernews





By Rashid Shirinov

Italian Roma hosted a conference of NATO Parliamentary Assembly on 23-24 November, where the delegation of Azerbaijans Parliament took part along other participants.

Member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, MP Malahat Ibrahimgizi told APA on November 25 that in her speech, she stated that Azerbaijan has been suffering from the occupation and terror by the neighboring state, Armenia, for many years.

As a result of the investigation of these terrorist acts, it always turns out that they have been supported by the Armenian intelligence. Despite the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, which is reflected in the documents of international organizations, Armenia still supports terrorist acts, she noted at the event.

Ibrahimgizi regretted that everyone turns a blind eye to the fact that Azerbaijan suffer from terror, while the country is one of the first states that joined international anti-terrorism activities, and condemns all forms of terrorism.

The MP further protested against the fact that when talking about the threats of terror, nobody remembers ASALA, whose terrorist activities were proven by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) terrorist group operated actively in 1973-1985. Forty-two Turkish diplomats were killed as a result of ASALA attacks, while the terrorist organization committed about 110 terror acts in total. Since the late 1980s, Armenian terrorist organizations and intelligence agencies, including ASALA, have committed more than 32 terrorist attacks in the transport system and other public facilities of Azerbaijan.

After the speech of the Azerbaijani side, several participants of the conference noted the importance of conducting investigations on the activities of such organizations, exchange of information, and underlined the importance of avoiding a unilateral approach towards the terrorist threat. Concerned about this, the MP from the Armenian delegation Koryun Nahapetyan tried to express reaction to the speech of the Azerbaijani delegation, but he was not given the floor. However, in the next session, he accused the Azerbaijani MPs of evading the topic. The moderator warned the Armenian MP.

In her next speech, Ibrahimgizi, responding to the provocation of the Armenian MP, once again showed the CIA documents and reminded that the question was raised on the basis of official statistics.

You can reject the report of the CIA, but this is an official document. You still do not know that the country you represent has occupied the neighboring countrys lands, violating several international documents, she stressed.

The MP added that the whole world recognizes Armenia as an aggressor and occupier, and it once again proved this at the conference.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia still continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
By Trend





President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili.

I was deeply saddened by the news of casualties and injuries as a fire broke out at a hotel in Batumi, President Aliyev told the Georgian counterpart in his letter.

Over this tragedy, on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, and on my own behalf I extend deep condolences to you, families and the loved ones of those who died, and all the people of Georgia, and wish the injured swiftest possible recovery, added the head of state.
By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

Russia, being an active player on the world political stage, developed a road map for the settlement of the situation on Korean peninsula.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov presented the Russian stage-by-stage plan for the settlement of the situation on the Korean Peninsula while speaking at the opening of the 8th Asian Conference of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Seoul, TASS reported.

The reduction of military tension should become the first step, according to the diplomat.

This is possible, I am absolutely sure of it, in case North Korea abandons missile and nuclear tests while the scale and intensity of the American-South Korean exercises simultaneously reduces. You can quite rightly tell me that these are phenomena of different order as the exercise is a legitimate form of international activity, while North Korea's tests are illegal and banned by the UN Security Council, he said.

However, the mutual negative impact of both North Korea's nuclear tests and U.S. military exercises is undeniable, according to Morgulov.

He stressed that this idea constitutes the first stage of the road map for the Korean settlement proposed by Russia.

North Korea should stop nuclear and missile exercises, and the U.S. and its allies should reduce at least the scale of ongoing regular military exercises in the region, the deputy minister underlined.

The second stage should involve the beginning of direct negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea.

However, this step can be achieved if the restraint shown by Pyongyang during the last two months - the country did not conduct any tests or launches since September 15 - will be met by appropriate reciprocal steps on the part of the U.S. and its allies.

Is it possible? I am absolutely sure that it is possible. The topic of these talks would be very simple - the principles of peaceful coexistence. I am sure that the absence of such an agreement generates mutual hostility and distrust among the parties, Morgulov said.

Refraining from the threat of use of force, developing the bases for further cooperation and normalizing relations would eliminate the bulk of the prerequisites for new rounds of tension, according to the diplomat.

At the second stage, the resumption of the inter-Korean dialogue would also have a positive effect, he noted.

These two states have something to discuss. I know that our South Korean partners are ready for such a dialogue and show a constant interest in launching it, he added.

Finally, at the third stage, after such negotiations take place, it would be necessary to launch a process which will gather all the countries involved to discuss the entire complex of issues of collective security in Asia, the deputy foreign minister said.

This includes the issues of denuclearization of North Korea, since without this it makes no sense to launch the whole process of dialogue, according to the deputy minister.

Moscow is working actively with Pyongyang to ensure that its unilateral moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests lasted as long as possible, he added.

We positively estimate that for two months now there has been a regime of silence on the part of North Korea, and Russia is actively working with them so that this regime lasts as long as possible, the diplomat said.

In fact, this means that Pyongyang has begun to implement the first point of the Russian road map for resolving the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, according to Morgulov.

At the same time, against the backdrop of two months of silence, the U.S. not only does not plan to reduce the scale of maneuvers, but also to hold unplanned military exercises.

Unfortunately, this is the answer that North Korea receives from the U.S. in response to its two-month silence, Morgulov said, adding that Moscow assesses this negatively.

Russian MPs are currently on their official visit to North Korea which will last until December 1.

The delegation, which includes representatives of all four Duma factions, is headed by the coordinator of the parliamentary friendship group with North Korea, the MP from the Communist Party Kazbek Taisaev.

In the course of the visit, they intend to discuss with the North Korean colleagues peaceful ways of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the termination of the militarization of the region.

The active phase of the crisis on the Korean peninsula began in August 2017, when Pyongyang tested ballistic missiles and announced the successful testing of the hydrogen bomb.

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously imposed a set of sanctions against North Korea on September 11 over the countrys hydrogen bomb test which was conducted on September 3.

The sanctions included limits on import of crude oil and oil products, a ban on textile exports and new visas for North Korean oversees workers.

However, North Korea tested another missile on September 15 in response to the latest set of sanctions imposed by the UN.
By Kamila Aliyeva

A protocol on cooperation in the gas industry for 2018 between Kazakhstan and Russia was agreed upon and signed following the negotiations in Almaty held with the participation of KazMunaiGas oil and gas company, Gazprom PJSC, Gazprom Export and KazTransGas JSC, the company's press service reported.

The agreements reached envisage partnerships and cooperation in the areas of processing, supply to the domestic market, export and transit of gas. In addition, the protocol provides for an increase in exports to Russia compared to the previous years, the message said.

The document was signed by Kairat Sharipbayev, executive vice president for gas transportation and marketing at KazMunaiGas JSC, and Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom PJSC.

Russias Gazprom and Kazakhstans KazTransGas have been fruitfully cooperating for many years in the gas sector.

To date, KazTransGas JSC, which is the national operator in the gas and gas supply sector, fully meets domestic requirements for the commodity gas, annually increases its export potential and expands the transit through the territory of the country.

KazTransGas is the main gas-energy and gas transportation company of Kazakhstan, representing the interests of the state both on the domestic and foreign gas market.

The company manages a centralized infrastructure for the transport of marketable gas through gas trunklines and gas distribution networks, provides international transit and sells gas on the domestic and foreign markets, develops, finances, builds and operates pipelines and gas storage facilities.

Kazakhstan holds 0.8 percent of the worlds natural gas proven reserves, and produces 0.6 percent of the worlds total gas output, according to the BPs statistics 2015.

A majority of Kazakhstans proved natural gas reserves and natural gas production is possible thanks to the Karachaganak field. The Karachaganak field's gas reserves are estimated at 1.35 trillion cubic meters while oil and liquid condensates around 1.2 billion tons.

About 49 percent of Kazakhstan's gas production and 18 percent of its produced oil are extracted from this field.

The country serves as a major transit country for gas exports from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan that are destined to Russia and China.
By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

Kazakhstan exported 23.4 million tons of coal in January-October 2017, Kazinform reported.

This was stated by the Kazakh Energy Minister, Kanat Bozumbayev, during a press conference at the Central Communications Service.

First of all, Kazakhstans coal is exported to Russia, Central Asia and several European countries. This year, a good amount of coal - more than 2.4 million tons - was exported to Finland. The export of coal to Japan was launched, he said.

As for the coal supply situation in Kazakhstan, according to the minister, 61.8 million tons of coal was delivered to the domestic market within ten months.

Of the total volume, 74.4 percent, that is 45.9 million tons of coal, was shipped to power plants. As many as 9.6 million tons of coal were supplied to households and the population showing a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The price of coal for domestic needs is formed from the price of shipment of the cut - from 2,000 to 5,000 tenge, railway tariffs for transportation -- 1,000-1,500 tenge, the exchange value of coal, as well as the margins of intermediary organizations and individuals. The coal is shipped under direct contracts between electric stations and coal companies, he added.

He noted that a headquarters was established for the case of extraordinary situations of coal shipment for domestic needs and the population.

Kazakhstan produced 98 million tons of coal in 2016. As much as 71.8 million tons of this volume was supplied to domestic market, 26.2 million tons sent to export. In 2017 Kazakhstan plans to produce 100 million tons.
Almas Nexus, an alternative investments fintech company, has signed a signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) to cooperate in the field of fintech innovation.



Almass platform will be made available to wealth advisors and institutions in Bahrain as well as across the GCC, Europe and Asia. Through long-term cooperation, the EDB and Almas will also look to develop local and regional talent to enhance Bahrains position as a key incubator for cutting-edge financial technology solutions.



David Parker, executive director of Financial Services at the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: We are very pleased to announce this cooperation with Almas. We witness real momentum for fintech in the region, where businesses and start-ups are looking to develop innovative products and services to meet growing demands. Strategic relationships like this one are vital to ensuring the right ecosystem is in place to continue this momentum.



Mark Nichols, CEO, Almas, stated: We are honoured to be entering into a collaboration with the Bahrain Economic Development Board. Our aim is to offer wealth managers and institutional investors premium sources of alpha from around the world, many of which would otherwise be inaccessible. The support from the EDB is a powerful endorsement of our proposition and the potential for future growth.



Almas was created to extract unique sources of investment returns and seamlessly deliver that alpha to its established, global network of investors via a proprietary technology platform. Its senior management team unites strong institutional investment management expertise with innovative product development, global distribution and advanced technology solutions.



Almas is the first global fintech investment platform with a strong presence in the Gulf, and is rolling out regional sales hubs to connect and service its international network of clients and partners on a 24/7 basis.



The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) is an investment promotion agency with overall responsibility for attracting investment into the Kingdom and supporting initiatives that enhance the investment climate.  TradeArabia News Service
A still image, taken from video footage and released by Russia's Defence Ministry on August 18, 2016, shows a Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bomber based at Iran's Hamadan air base dropping off bombs at Islamic State and Nusra Front targets according to the ministry, in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - Six long-range TU-22M3 bombers on Sunday launched airstrikes on targets of Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the province of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said.



"After taking off from an airfield on the Russian territory, the aircraft hit terrorists'strongholds and areas with high concentration of militants in the Euphrates valley," the ministry said in a statement.



The destruction of all targets was recorded by unmanned aerial vehicles, the ministry said.



Su-30SM and Su-35S fighter jets based at the Khmeimim airbase in western Syria provided air cover for the bombers, it added.



The Russian military have launched dozens of strikes on terrorists in Syria since the beginning of November.



According to the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, the fight against IS in Syria will possibly be over by the end of the year and Russia may be able to withdraw its air force.
Saudi Aramco, a world leader in integrated energy and Sabic, a global leader in diversified chemicals, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build a fully-integrated crude oil to chemicals (COTC) complex in Saudi Arabia.



The MoU governs the execution of the front end engineering design (FEED) before a final investment decision is made.



The COTC complex is expected to process 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil, which will produce approximately nine million tons of chemicals and base oils annually and is expected to start operations in 2025.



Saudi Aramco president and CEO Amin H Nasser said: This project converges the commercial and strategic interests of both Saudi Aramco and Sabic, while reinforcing Saudi Aramcos efforts to optimize the investment of our petroleum resources. COTC will also help expand our downstream portfolio, reducing our focus on the transportation sector and securing new and promising commercial opportunities.



Sabic vice chairman and CEO Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan said: "This venture will contribute to the realization of one of the major aspirations of Saudi Vision 2030, namely achieving economic prosperity by boosting our investment capacity, diversifying the economy and creating jobs for Saudi nationals. It will help strengthen our economic growth and attract world-class quality investments thanks to our unique and strategic geographic location."



"Today is a historic day, marking the complementary nature of the relationship between Sabic and Saudi Aramco because it is the first time the two largest economic entities in Saudi Arabia jointly enter into a strategic partnership to achieve a pioneering and innovative new technology.



Once completed, this project will not only be the largest crude oil to chemicals complex in the world, it will also set a new competitive threshold thanks to the project's mass scale and the benefits derived from our joint collaboration. The project will, therefore, help achieve the respective growth ambitions of Sabic and Saudi Aramco and further establishes the Kingdom as one of the pioneers in the petrochemicals industry, Al-Benyan added.



This announcement marks a historic alliance between the two largest Saudi global entities, in addition to solidifying the Kingdoms position as a global leader in chemicals by substantially increasing production and further maximizing value across the entire hydrocarbons chain through integration. The COTC complex will be constructed based on an innovative configuration that achieves crude oil to chemicals conversion that is unprecedented in the industry.



This MoU follows the Heads of Agreement (HoA) signed in June 2016 between the two companies, which governed the feasibility study for the development of a fully integrated petrochemicals complex in the Kingdom. A Saudi team developed innovative COTC configurations derived from best-in-class refining and chemical technologies.



The complex is expected to create an estimated 30,000 direct and indirect jobs, further stimulating the Kingdoms economic diversification. By 2030 the COTC complex is expected to have 1.5 per cent impact on the Kingdoms Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with investments being shared equally by both companies.



Consistent with the Kingdoms Vision 2030 economic transformation program, this project will support the creation of a world-leading downstream sector in Saudi Arabia, built on four key drivers: maximizing value from the Kingdoms crude oil production via integration across the hydrocarbon chain; enabling the creation of conversion industries to produce semi-finished and finished goods to help diversify the economy; developing advanced technologies and innovation; and enabling sustainable development in alignment with the Kingdoms National Transformation Program.  TradeArabia News Service
There has been a sharp increase in the number of international exhibitors, mainly from European Union, at this year's Big 5 construction expo owing to the continued expansion of building activities in the GCC region, said the event organisers.



"Over 2,500 companies from 60 countries have chosen to come and exhibit their construction products and solutions at The Big 5 in Dubai this year. Some of these are participating to the event for the first time proving that the UAE are now more than ever the place to be for international construction players, remarked Josine Heijmans, the portfolio event director of The Big 5.



More than that, we expect 79,000 visitors from over 140 countries to attend the 38th edition of the show; thats a clear proof of Dubais recognized role as a leading business hub, which extends well beyond the Middle East region, stated Heijmans.



The UAE has witnessed a 17.4 per cent growth in the number of active construction projects this year compared to 2016, and an 8.6 per cent increase in terms of value, which surged to $818 billion, said the organisers citing the latest statistics by BNC Network.



In 2016, the UAE imported construction products and materials worth approximately $13 billion to complete the 11,755 projects currently under development across the country.



China ranked number one among the UAEs international suppliers, with a 30 per cent market share and exports of about $3.9 billion last year, followed by Germany and the US.



With a market share of 6.9 per cent and a total value of $890 million in 2016, Italy is UAEs fourth supplier in the construction sector. The premier market in the Middle East for Italian exports, the UAE last year imported products from Italy worth $6.3 billion, and the trend in the first half of 2017 keeps growing.



Almost 350 Italian companies are showcasing their solutions for the built environment at The Big 5 this year, confirming Italys strong involvement in the UAEs construction sector.



For the first time, the Italian region of Sicily also participates at the event, with over 30 Sicilian exhibitors showcasing interior and exterior furnishings and decoration made of marble, wrought iron, ceramics, textiles, stone and wood.



Gianpaolo Bruno, Italian Trade Commissioner to the UAE, Oman and Pakistan, ICE (Italian Trade Commission) said: "Italy is proudly present at Big5 2017 with a massive participation of more than 300 companies specialized in a wide spectrum of activities within the construction industry value chain."



"For Italy the UAE and the Gulf region have always been a strategic market of paramount importance for our firms whose competitive edge resides in great quality of products and services, systematic innovation driven by intense R&D investment, design and aesthetic excellence and high degree of flexibility to adapt to clients' needs," observed Bruno.



Germany, UAEs second largest supplier of construction products and materials, holding a 7.9 per cent share in a market, participates at The Big 5 2017 with over 140 companies. From Baden-Wurttemberg, Leichtbau BW has brought to the event several exhibitors focused on lightweight construction.



Dr Wolfgang Seeliger, the managing director of Leichtbau Baden-Wurttemberg, said: "The UAE is an innovative and interesting market for new ideas, technologies and materials. The Big 5 is a good platform to show this and present the knowledge and competence of companies from Baden-Wurttemberg to a wide range of visitors and experts."



"We see lightweight construction as a holistic technology that still has untapped potential in the construction sector: by reducing mass, lightweight design can reduce the amount of concrete required for construction," he added.



With over 240 companies, Turkey is one of the top exhibiting countries at The Big 5 2017. Estimated at $9 billion in 2016, Turkish bilateral trade with the UAE is intensifying, and in the first half of 2017 only, Turkey has more than doubled its market share in the Gulf country, jumping from 2.2 to 5.5 per cent, said the organisers.



The construction sector is no exception: the total volume of projects that Turkish contractors have undertaken over the past 15 years in the UAE amounts to $9.7 billion.



France, Saudi Arabia, China and Spain have also significant representation at The Big 5 this year, they added.-TradeArabia News Service
A high-profile panel at the fourth annual Knowledge Summit in Dubai highlighted the importance of data gathering and the inaugural Global Knowledge Index released recently.



The summit was organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) under the patronage of HH Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and the directives of MBRF chairman HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.



It was held under the theme Knowledge and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, yesterday (November 22), at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



The panel brought together the leading figures on the Index, namely: MBRFs CEO Jamal bin Huwaireb; Dr Hany Torky, chief technical advisor of the Arab Knowledge Project; and Michael ONeill, assistant secretary general of the United Nations.



Bin Huwaireb said: What cant be measured cannot be improved. We began our efforts to quantify and measure knowledge with reports, which grew into indices covering all Arab countries and now, weve expanded the Index to become international, covering 131 countries.



The index is an instrument to help decision-makers in management and administration, as well as in preparing for the future, he said.



If were well prepared, we can make sure our future is bright. If not, we risk losing time and resources. The Arab world is not lacking in universities, we have highly acclaimed universities in all Arab countries. What we need is research centres  we must invest in science and research to improve knowledge, he added.



Knowledge is essential to plan for the future. The UAE has made great strides in that regard: at the countrys inception in 1971, illiteracy was very common among Emiratis; now, it is almost non-existent, he concluded.



The Global Knowledge Index was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and seeks to support knowledge projects, as well as economic and community development strategies around the world, while serving as a roadmap for the sustainable development of societies.



UN assistant secretary general Michael ONeill said: It is impossible to overstate the importance of data gathering. It is the first step for setting effective policies and this is what makes this Index such an important initiative that offers pertinent data spanning multiple sectors. At the end of the day, what cant be measured cant be managed.



The United Nations can play an important role in helping national governments efficiently utilise data, he said.



We can connect developing countries with governments such as the UAEs and others who have succeeded in that regard. The UAE demonstrates the effects of visionary leadership: the country now ranks 25th on the Knowledge Index and second in the economy sector  a commendable progress, he added.



The final index includes 131 countries from all regions of the world and comprises a total of 133 distinct variables, from different sources, and with strict data availability inclusion rules. Plans are underway to increase data availability and include more countries in the future, said a statement.



Dr Torky said: There isnt a knowledge gap between Arab countries and the rest of the world, rather there is a data gap, which has limited the ability to measure knowledge in the region. The reason behind this gap in some of the countries in the region stems from disproportionate investment in select sectors with insufficient funds going to others.



To prepare the Index, we look at specific sectors that affect knowledge, regardless of which country it is. The parameters we examine include higher education; pre-university education; technical/vocational training and continued education; information and communication technology; scientific research and innovation; economics; and enabling environments, he said.



If countries only think about providing the basics for their citizens, they will not be able to sustain themselves, he added.



If governments invest in knowledge, they empower their citizens to provide for themselves. This is where this index can be of great assistance: it allows governments to determine the sectors they really need to focus on, he concluded.



The summits sessions discuss the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the history of the previous industrial revolutions, as well as their impact on decision-making processes.



Moreover, experts look into the future of these developments, their effects on knowledge and other aspects of human life, and their impact on media, technology, education, healthcare and the economy, it added.  TradeArabia News Service
Biesse Group, the regional subsidiary of the global leader in wood, glass, stone, plastic, and metal processing technology, has opened its regional headquarters for the Middle East in Dubai Silicon Oasis, a free zone technology park.



A three-day event marked the launch of the new facility showcasing Made-in-Biesse technology solutions and offering visitors a chance to interact with experts in the field, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency.



Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, deputy CEO, Operations and Client Affairs, at Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), said: "Growing bilateral trade shows that Italy is one of the most important trading partners of the UAE in the European Union today, with the country counting amongst Italy's primary trade partners in the Arab region.



The UAE Ministry of Economy revealed that non-oil trade between the two countries reached about $8.2 billion in 2016, up from $7.8 billion in 2015. Biesse Group is the 39th Italian company to choose Dubai Silicon Oasis as its regional operations base, and we are confident the latest addition to our hi-tech park will significantly benefit from available offerings at our Light Industrial Units complex."



Renato Manganelli, Biesse Middle East managing director said: "Our new facility enables us to provide our customers with continuous training, enhance our support services, and maintain a significant stockpile of spare parts in Dubai. In fact, our desire to provide first-class services to our large customer base in the region is a crucial reason for our decision to make this important investment.



Our support will soon reach an advanced level of efficiency with the deployment of Sophia, our innovative IoT platform. We are confident these varied elements will give us an important advantage over our competitors."
Bahrains value of imports reached nearly BD439 million ($1.160 billion) in October this year, while the value of exported national origin goods reached BD170 million ($449.3 million).



The top 10 countries account for 67 per cent of the imports value, according to the Foreign Trade Report of October 2017 issued by Bahrains Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA). It covers balance of trade, imports, exports and re-exports (national origin) goods.



According to the report, China topped the list of exporters to Bahrain with BD53 million ($140.1 million); the UAE came second with BD36 million ($95.16 million) and Japan ranked third with BD35 million ($92.5 million).



Non-agglomerated ores and concentrates emerged as the top product imported to Bahrain with BD24 million ($63.4 million), while four-wheel drive cars came second with BD23 million ($60.8 million), and AC generators stood third with BD14 million ($37.01 million).



The top 10 countries account for 82 per cent of the exported national origin goods. Saudi Arabia ranked top among the countries importing from Bahrain with BD41 million ($108.3 million); Oman stood second with BD26 million ($68.7 million) and the US was placed third with BD16 million ($42.2 million).



As for exported products, agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top products exported in October 2017 with BD32 million ($84.5 million); aluminium wires ranked second with a value of BD23 million ($60.8 million); whereas semi-finishing iron and steel came in at third place for exported products with BD15 million ($39.6 million).



Additionally, the value of the re-exported products reached BD47 million ($124.2 million). The top 10 countries account for 93 per cent of the re-exported value and 7 per cent for other countries.



Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country to re-export from Bahrain with BD22 million ($58.1 million), China came in second with BD8 million ($21.1 million), and the UAE came third with BD6 million ($15.8 million).



Four-wheel drive cars emerged as the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD11.3 million ($29.8 million), cigarettes came as second products with BD3 million ($7.93 million) and public type vehicles with compression-ignition comes in as third with BD2.1 million ($5.55 million).



The trade deficit increased in in October 2017 and reached BD222 million ($586.8 million), it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
The GCC chemical industry contributed around $43.8 billion to the GCC economy in 2016, equal to almost one third of manufacturing value added and 29 per cent of manufacturing revenue, according to a recent report.



The data released in the new report, titled 2016 GCC Petrochemical and Chemical Industry Facts and Figures by the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), highlighted the role of the chemical industry in diversifying the regional economy and accelerating non-oil economic growth.



The report was released ahead of the 12th Annual GPCA Forum taking place from November 27 to 29 at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.



Dr Abdulwahab Al Sadoun, secretary general, GPCA, who met with key regional media during a roundtable, said: The sectors contribution to economic growth has also been exemplary, which highlights the role of the industry as a key enabler in the journey towards economic diversification.



For every job created in the industry, there are about three jobs created in other sectors. To sustain this growth, chemical output from the region has had to grow by 9.2 per cent over the past decade, he added.



GCC chemicals output grew at the fastest pace in five years, with chemical production growing 8.5 per cent from 2015 levels, reaching 158.8 million tonnes.



In 2016, the GCC chemical industry reported $77 billion in sales revenue, down 3 per cent from the previous year as a result of changes in global petrochemical prices.



The chemicals industry directly employs 152,100 people in the GCC, while investing $584 million in research and development, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
The defence ministers of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) states have vowed to coordinate and unite their efforts, to ward off the dangers of terrorism and take a united stand against it.

Concluding a meeting in Saudi capital Riyadh, they underlined the importance of joint efforts, concerted collective actions, and comprehensive strategic planning to deal with the threat of terrorism, and put an end to those who seek to fuel conflicts and sectarianism, and spread chaos, strife and unrest within their countries, said a Wam news agency report.

''Terrorism represents a constant and growing challenge and threat to peace, security and regional and international stability, as it has transcended the borders of countries, while casting aside all values. Terrorism has become deadlier than ever before, particularly in our Islamic world, which suffers from the crimes of terrorism, leaving heavy losses in property and lives, and has shattered the dreams of broad sectors of societies trying to live in peace and tranquility," according to the closing declaration of the meeting.

Cognizant of the importance of activating the fight against terrorism across the various domains, the IMCTC Ministers of Defence Council has agreed on the following:

First: Combating Terrorism in the Ideology Domain

* The ministers affirmed their determination to work with every possible means to confront extremism and terrorism, in all their ideological notions and perceptions, to reveal their truth. Furthermore, they plan to expose extremist misuse of legitimate texts and events through delusion, allegation, false methods and deceit. The ministers are aware of the terrorists blind obsession, false thoughts, and misinterpretations of religious texts, and are acutely aware of the perils posed by ideological extremism, its ability to spread, and its profound impact on individuals and society.

* The ministers uphold their determination to address terrorism through education and knowledge, to highlight correct Islamic concepts, and to establish the truth of moderate Islam, which is consistent with human nature and common values, and peaceful and just coexistence with the global community that ensures security and prosperity.

Second: Combating terrorism in the Communications Domain

* The ministers emphasised the crucial role played by the media, and the importance of embracing this channel in fighting terrorism and exposing its agenda. Governments will work with the media to counter terrorist propaganda, by destroying its foundations to reduce its influence. Cognizant of the seriousness of terrorist actions and its dangerous impacts, they commit to prevent the terrorists from delivering their message using the media.

* The ministers stressed the importance of empowering the media to combat extremist ideology from any source, counter terrorist propaganda and symbols of extremist thought, and expose terrorist methods used to promote their deviant ideas. The ministers committed to direct media efforts to present the terrorists true nature and exposing their beliefs that call for death and destruction, and dismantling mechanisms for propagation.

* The ministers stressed the importance of investing in digital media platforms to raise awareness among members of society and prevent them from succumbing to terrorist messaging.

Third: Combating terrorism in the Counter Terrorist Financing Domain

* The ministers emphasised the importance of draining the sources of terrorist financing and cutting off any financial support for its operations and activities. This can be achieved by coordinating efforts and accelerating necessary measures and procedures to combat terrorist funding and shutting down the flow permanently. Monetary policies, legislation and financial controls must be developed and enforced, and improve compliance to align with international standards.

* The ministers called for increased coordination and technical and security cooperation in the exchange of data and information, and the transfer of knowledge and expertise, in areas focused on combating the financing of terrorism.

* The ministers stressed the importance of ensuring the adequacy and effectiveness of systems and procedures to block terrorist financing. Increased levels of awareness of the various ways terrorists finance their operations must be enhanced, in order to find the best and most successful solution to eliminate terrorist financing.

Fourth: Combating Terrorism in the Military Domain

* The ministers stressed the importance of the military role in combating the threat of terrorism, enhancing security and peace in the Coalition member countries and contributing to regional and international security and peace.

* The ministers emphasise the importance of providing the necessary military capabilities to ensure that terrorist organisations are weakened, dismantled, eliminated and deprived of the opportunity to reorganise. Within the framework of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, the participation of the coalition states will be defined in accordance with each countrys capabilities and resources, as well as in accordance with each countrys desire to participate in a given military operation.

* The ministers agreed on the importance of the role of the IMCTC Counter Terrorism Center in coordinating and integrating military efforts, the exchange of information and intelligence, and conducting training courses and joint exercises.

Fifth: The Coalition working mechanism: The ministers commended the efforts of Saudi Arabia in leading the formation of the coalition and agree to the following:

* To secure the center headquarters for the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition in Riyadh, provided that Saudi Arabia will meet the coalitions needs and complete all necessary legal and regulatory requirements to enable it to carry out the tasks entrusted to its care.

* The IMCTC Ministers of Defense Council will meet annually and whenever necessary to follow up on the strategies, policies, plans and programs to achieve the IMCTCs objectives, and to review the reports submitted by the IMCTC Counter Terrorism Center, in order to pursue concerted efforts in various areas to combat terrorism.

* The ministers intend to redouble their efforts to promote joint action in operations, programmes and initiatives within the framework of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition; and in line with the IMCTCs organisational structure and mechanisms.

In conclusion, the ministers applauded the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that prevailed throughout the meeting and the alignment with the vision and positions on the need to eliminate terrorism through a unified and lasting regional and international effort that respects the principles of international law. The ministers adopted a comprehensive and multifaceted approach to defeat the phenomenon of terrorism. They expressed their hopes and aspirations that the combined efforts and integrated vision will achieve the IMCTC's objectives of eliminating terrorism.
Expedia Lodging Partner Services (LPS) hosted its annual Wanderlust summit in Dubai recently at the Taj Hotel.

This years summit was attended by over 300 delegates and partners across Expedias network in the Middle East.

The summit was hosted by Johan Svanstrom, President of Hotels.com and Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN); Ait Voncke, Vice President Europe Middle East Africa Market Management, and Paula de Keijzer, Senior Director Market Management - Middle East, Africa, Greece and Turkey.

During the event, Expedia LPS presented the latest technologies they have available to their hotel partners through Expedia Partner Central that allow them to connect to customers. This toolkit of technology, marketing and data offerings is designed to help hotel partners drive knowledge and efficiencies to grow their business through the leveraging of data to optimise revenue. Expedia also shared insights into trends in the Middle East and the region highlighting growth opportunities in the region.

Paula de Keijzer, Senior Director Market Management Middle East, Indian Ocean, Africa, Greece & Turkey at Expedia, said: We are thrilled to host our annual Wanderlust conference in the presence of our Dubai hotels partners. With the sharing and exchange of knowledge we believe we can help our hotel partners better leverage trends and plan to anticipate and respond to travellers needs. - TradeArabia News Service
Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village
Have an event, trend or general energy happening youd like to see in the Energy Journal newsletter? Send it to Star-Tribune energy reporter Heather Richards at heather.richards@trib.com. Sign up for the newsletter at www.trib.com/energyjournal.

Last week in numbers

Friday oil prices: West Texas Intermediate (WTI) $58.01 Brent (ICE) $63.32

Natural gas weekly averages: Henry Hub $3.06, Wyoming Pool $2.72, Opal $2.76

Baker Hughes rig count: U.S. 923, Wyoming 25

Quote of the week

We probably need to move away from the mindset that states need to prove they are doing their job." -- Doug Benevento, Region 8 administrator for the EPA, on building a new relationship with Wyoming.

A new era

Very little of what the new regional EPA administrator in the West has to say will cause alarm for most of Wyoming.

He echoes what politicians and state regulators and energy companies have said for some time, that the feds should let the states take the lead on issues close to home.

Environmental advocates have pushed back on the direction of the EPA under President Donald Trump, and worried over the sweeping, and rapid, rollbacks the administration has attempted.

But as far as politics go, Benevento is right in line with the state on some issues.

Take the Clean Power Plan, which he said wasn't a sound or cost-effective regulation.

In an interview with the Star-Tribune, Benevento said climate change regulationss dominated the EPA's work in recent years, downgrading other important priorities like clean drinking water.

That is changing, he said.

You can listen to the full conversation here.

Sequestration inflation?

Wyoming doesn't need to lose anymore revenue, but the tax bills going through Congress right now threaten mandatory sequestration of funds -- including mineral payments owed to states.

The state only gets under half of the money from federal oil and gas leases, fees and royalties, another bone some have to pick with the state-fed deal.

And right now the state gets delayed payments on about 7 percent of that income.

It's not clear what sequestration would mean for Wyoming, whether it would increase the percentage of cuts going on currently or create a double whammy.

The state's delegation says not to worry, they wrote the rules and they can work around them.

Too much, too soon at Two Elk

A group of investors still wants to build a coal facility at the old Two Elk site despite its bad reputation. But it retreated on a request to Campbell County to use $100 million of its tax exempt industrial bonds.

The group felt pressured by the deadline and by hesitation from county commissioners who wanted answers in regard to one of the investors' business baggage up in Montana.

Ultimately, the bonds are just a tool to attract investment. They don't risk the county except in name if the deal goes south. The push to treat Powder River Basin coal and make it more valuable continues. They may ask again next year.

Neither up nor down

Casper's economy has shrunk, and the sector that serves the oil and gas fields has too. But the holdouts through the difficult years of low oil prices, layoffs and bankruptcies say things are improving, albeit slowly.

Following suit

Most are familiar with the Bureau of Land Managements sage grouse protections, and that those management plans may be up for some big changes.

But the Forest Services has cooperative management with the BLM. It's lands have sage grouse restrictions, too.

So, they too are up for review, the agency announced last week.
Wyoming disliked the Environmental Protection Agencys Clean Power Plan, a 2015 proposed regulation on utilities that aimed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 30 percent.

State economists said the plan would take a painful bite out of Wyomings coal production. At worst, production could see a 50 percent cut as states turned away from coal-fired power, some estimated.

But the last couple years were unkind to coal, anyway. Wyoming coal production shrank by about one-quarter in a tumultuous market, while the CPP bounced through courts with years to go before its implementation. No one is sure of the plans fate since the change of administration in Washington has promised its repeal, and few expect coal production to come charging back with or without the federal regulation.

Either way, the EPAs reputation in Wyoming is complicated to say the least.

The Clean Power Plan is a perfect analogy for the changes working their way through the agency now, said Doug Benevento, the new regional administrator for the EPA in the Rockies and the High Plains.

He sat down for an interview with the Casper Star-Tribune on Tuesday to talk about the agencys direction under the new administration and what that will mean for environmental issues in the energy dependent state of Wyoming.

The central focus on climate change is being replaced at the EPA, Benevento said. It distracted the agency away from some of its core responsibilities, he said, mentioning the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where locals are still reporting a host of serious health effects due to lead in the water.

You look at Flint, and you say that was the failure of the agency, he said. I want to make [drinking water] a focus and I think thats a focus thats more immediate to people than implementation of the Clean Power Plan.

***

The Trump-appointee has been on both sides of regulations, he said. He has held a number of public positions from the school board to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Before filling the EPA role, Benevento was the energy policy director for Xcel Energy, a utility based in Minneapolis, that like many across the country is currently transitioning away from coal-fired power.

His Wyoming visit included meetings with state regulators at the Department of Environmental Quality and the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. He also spoke with the governor and various industry groups including the Wyoming Mining association.

He did not meet with the environmental groups active in the Cowboy State, but said he would like to.

***

Wyoming has a strange relationship with the EPA, traditionally preferring to establish primacy over as many regulatory issues as possible, from air quality to ground water. The agency regulates drinking water and some industrial wells, and its rules set a baseline for environmental regulations in the state on a host of issues.

Otherwise, its treated as a funding arm for state programs.

About 30 percent of the states Department of Environmental Quality budget is paid for with federal dollars, some through the EPA. The federal agency also contributes millions in grants annually to various projects in Wyoming, such as cleaning up the residual flow of toxins carried into streams. The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission also receives EPA funds to carry out its programs.

Benevento shares what many in Wyoming say is the EPAs role: provide money and oversight, but step back and let states regulate themselves day to day.

He balked at the word oversee in regard to state oversight.

We probably need to move away from the mindset that states need to prove they are doing their job, he said. We need to ask the right questions. We need to assume that Todd Parfitt (of the Wyoming DEQ) or the folks of South Dakota are concerned about their environment probably more than I am sitting in Denver.

But the funding issue is a central one. Proposed cuts to the EPA from the Trump Administration, and more modest cuts in current budget proposals from Congress, have caused some concern in Wyoming.

A number of state programs are dictated by federal law and carried out with federal dollars. But Benevento said he did not believe the most recently proposed cuts would hinder Wyoming.

They are anticipating a tighter budget, he said.

From Denver, the EPA is looking at ways to reduce red tape and duplicative demands that can cost states unnecessary dollars or manpower.

***

In recent years, Wyoming and the EPA have had different takes on some key issues.

In the gas fields of Pavillion, homeowners said fracking and relating practices had polluted their water and turned to the EPA for help.

The federal agency draft report found that gas actives were likely a cause of the pollution. After Wyoming took over that investigation, the state published a finding disagreeing with the EPAs conclusion. Pavillion remains a matter of contention in Wyoming. Finding out who was right depends on who you ask.

For some locals, Wyoming bent to pressure from industry where the federal agents were unwilling to bend. The story was further complicated by reporting from the Star-Tribune that revealed reticence from Washington to come down on fracking had pushed the issue back to the states.

So, for Beneventos EPA, will the agency speak as an outside voice?

Yes, he said, with the caveat that based on his own experience there is no inherent conflict between states and their industries.

In our view, there is not a contradiction between wise energy development and environmental [stewardship,] he said.

Ultimately, Benevento said he believes that the federal agencys primary responsibility is human health and environmental protections that are guided by science. But second to that is seeking out common sense ways to accomplish environmental goals that are feasible, he said circling back to the way the EPA had approached the carbon dioxide issue and Wyomings least favorite of the EPAs rules.

I dont think the Clean Power Plan was sound, he said. There are better ways to do things.
CASPER  These were recorded at Wyoming Medical Center. The Star-Tribune prints all births that occur at Wyoming Medical Center, released by the hospital with consent of the mother; as well as home births, and births that may take place outside of Casper to Casper and Glenrock residents because of military deployment, medical reasons or temporary employment. In the case of unmarried parents, a paternity form must be on file at the hospital for the father to be listed.
Monday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 2 p.m, 917 N. Beech; 5:30 p.m., 328 E. A; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 6 p.m., 456 S. Walnut; 7 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 8 p.m., 328 E. A. Douglas: 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688.

Al-Anon: Noon, 701 S. Wolcott, St. Marks Church, main entrance, left to library.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 7 p.m., 302 E. 2nd, Methodist Church; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Nicotine Anonymous: 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club. Info: Pam M., 577-0518.

Teen Addiction Anonymous: 3:30-4:30 p.m., Boys & Girls Club Teen Center. Info: 258-7439.

Adult Children of Alcoholics: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott St., Suite 200.

TOPS Weight Loss: 5:30 p.m., Weight Loss Support Group TOPS #246, Wyoming Oil & Gas Building, 2211 King Blvd. Use NE door entry. Info: 265-1486.

Learn Facebook 101

The Natrona County Library will offer a Facebook 101 class from 3 to 5 p.m. Learn the basics of Facebook, including how to create an account, adjust privacy settings, share photos, and message and add friends. Call 577-READ x2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Tween Book Club meets

The Natrona County Librarys Tween Book Club will meet at 4 p.m. Students in grades 4-6 will discuss Terror at Bottle Creek by Watt Key. Please register in advance by calling 577.READ x5 or sign up when you stop by the Childrens Department to pick up a copy of Terror at Bottle Creek.

Nativity display downtown

A collection of nativities will be on display in downtown Casper through December 16 at 118 E. Second St., formerly Ayres Jewelry. The display will be open on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Mondays from 5 to 8 p.m. Stop by as you do your Christmas shopping, and enjoy this lovely Christmas display that the whole family will enjoy. The display is sponsored by First Christian Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Twelve Days of Christmas open

The 12 Days of Christmas is open for its 44th year at 1743 E. Yellowstone Highway. Regular hours will be Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., through Saturday, Dec. 23. Shop the 30 different artisans and crafters displaying this year. Enjoy the quilting, fiber arts and jewelry, along with glass antiques and food items. See crafters from throughout the state displaying their crafts.
GILLETTE  A liberal amount of gray is flecked in the beard and hair of Norman Randall, 54.

Its not from the paint the Cheyenne man is applying to signs at the AVA Community Art Center in Gillette, though. It may be more about his age and his business: Hand-painting signs.

He bills himself as the Old School Sign Painter. In the 1980s, the advent of vinyl signs spelled the doom of the art of sign painting throughout the United States.

Now, though, the practice is coming back, and that brought Randall back to Gillette in September. He wants to teach a workshop on sign painting in Gillette in the future, if others want to learn the art.

The art of signs

And it is an art, one Randall started at age 8 or 9 in the late 1960s when he helped his brother paint a sign for a Dairy Queen in Dry Prong, Louisiana.

That was his first job, one that included misspelling the word dining and instead painting dinning. His mother noticed the error and the family offered to repaint the sign. The business owner didnt want that, however. He told Randall that he wouldnt believe the number of people who came to the Dairy Queen to tell him about the misspelled word and also bought something to eat or drink while they were there.

Since then, Randall went on to paint signs in Louisiana and Texas before closing his shop in 1983 when vinyl signs took over the industry. Everybody was competing for a $10 job. Lately, though, theres been a resurgence, Randall said.

Back in business

So he moved to Cheyenne a few years ago and decided to open a new shop. Now his mantra is have paint, will travel.

Youve got to be a gypsy, Randall said.

Thats not such a bad thing. It brought him and his love of sign painting to Gillette, where he applied blue letters and black dots to a white background on a former garage door on the side of the former Wyoming Department of Transportation building that now is a center for art in the community.

He was brought to the community by artist Dara Corkery, who was looking for a new sign at AVA and wanted it done old style instead of on vinyl.

To demonstrate what he does and promote the sign-painting workshops, Corkery and Randall combined for a movie and popcorn day at AVA on Sunday afternoon. Folks also watched Randall paint, something that drew sign painters in a passing pickup to give him a few whistles and thumbs-up.

An AVA supporter donated the money for the signs and to bring Randall to Gillette. The signs face West Second Street in front of the building.

I believe a computer will never replace a human, he said. Im not an artist. I couldnt paint a picture of that tree.

But he knows how to use negative space to make the words pop out at those driving by in a rush.

And he knows a sign painter is, by nature, a counselor and educator who leaves his mark on the world with each sign he paints.

Thats why people collect them.

Old painted signs are collectors items now, Randall said. Like me, they get better looking with age.

Meant to be

Corkery had seen some hand-painted signs in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and wanted to bring that art to Gillette. She also felt the AVA Community Art Center needed a new sign.

Executive Director Sarah Warne agreed. She even had a location for the sign, although a horse stood in the way  one of those painted for a fundraiser in years past through AVA.

Then a woman who originally had wanted to buy that painted horse  who couldnt afford it at the time  made another offer. Now the horse is gone and the location for a new sign became available.

It was a sign that Randalls work was meant to be.

Valuable real estate

He began by designing the signs in his shop in Cheyenne, then using a seamstress tool to outline the lettering, creating small dots. He chalked the letters onto the space of the sign  using math to make sure the lines were straight  and then began painting.

The paint is specially made to withstand the elements, weather and aging.

Hell teach all of that to anyone whod like to learn the trade.

I hope to teach an old-school workshop, Randall said. Ill teach them what I know.

Thats something hes never done, although he said there are lettering workshops offered throughout England and Scotland, where hand-painted signs are back in vogue.

A sign is valuable real estate, he added, relating the tale of how a sign painter advised a businessman to cut the words he didnt need in a Fresh Fish Sold Here sign to just Fish. Obviously, he said, the fish had to be fresh or no one would sell it, and just as obvious was where it was sold. The word sold also wasnt needed because the businessman wasnt a philanthropist.

No matter how you describe it, this is a profession for the ages.

Ive always enjoyed it, Randall said. I get to play with paint.

Thousands of signs later, Randall is still doing what he loves.

His hand-lettered signs are still on display in Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Cheyenne, Gordon County, Colorado, California and now Gillette.
Happy belated Thanksgiving, and welcome to the second 307 Politics newsletter! This one is being filed early, so check trib.com/307politics in case any news broke over the holiday break. Please encourage friends to sign-up for the newsletter at trib.com/emails.

URANIUM ONE AND BARRASSO -- I just wanted to make sure that none of our uranium got sent to Russia, Wyoming U.S. Sen. John Barrasso told the Star-Tribune in 2010 about a series of letters he sent to federal regulators regarding the sale of Uranium One Inc. to a state-owned Russian company.

Amid the federal investigation into President Donald Trumps ties to Russia during the 2016 election, right-wing media has begun fostering a conspiracy related to Hillary Clintons role in the Uranium One transaction. The premise is that Clinton sold some huge share of American uranium reserves to the Russians. That theory has been pretty widely debunked by outlets including Fox News, though Barrasso has been concerned about the deal since well before it was fodder for Breitbart. Barrasso asked the Justice Department last month for any information that DOJ sent to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which approved the purchase of Uranium One.

-- DISHEARTENED AND DISTURBED: "I am extremely disheartened and disturbed by recent reports indicating that CFIUS approved the Russia-Uranium One deal despite the fact that the Department of Justice, a member of CFIUS, possessed evidence of corruption by Russian nuclear energy officials in the United States," Barrasso said, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

-- WHAT TO BELIEVE? Like many of the real and alleged scandals swirling around the Clintons, the Uranium One deal sits somewhere between news and rumor. But with Barrasso chasing documents related to the deal this is something to keep an eye on.

*** Know something? Say something. Tips to arno.rosenfeld@trib.com ***

LAWMAKERS REJECT FEE INCREASE -- Secretary of State Ed Murray was celebrating after the Legislatures Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voted not to increase the states business filing fee from $50 to $75 last week.

Its the wrong time and not necessary, Murray told me. "The elasticity with the price increases is so sensitive that a fee increase actually leads to a decrease in the revenue due to decisions to not refile."

Murray has long opposed raising filing fees or making it harder to incorporate business in Wyoming despite concern that the state might be serving as a tax haven, a notion the secretary disputes.

-- WELL KNOW BY JANUARY: Murray, a prospective candidate for governor, said hes hoping to make a decision on whether to run by the end of the year. Thats sooner than State Treasurer Mark Gordon is expected to decide. Gordon has said before that he expects to announce his decision after the Legislature finishes its session in March. Murray and Gordon, both Republicans, are the frontrunners to replace Gov. Matt Mead.

-- ANOTHER NAME: Cheyenne attorney Harriet Hageman is considering joining the race and has create an exploratory committee, according to the Tribune Eagles Joel Funk. Hageman, a member of the rules committee at the Republican National Convention last year, said she has not decided whether to run.

I think its false to say that some of the decisions over last few years were fiscally conservative. I would call them fiscally stupid, Democratic candidate for governor Mary Throne told the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

-- While the top potential GOP candidates sit on their hands, Throne has been quietly campaigning on a message of economic diversification and support for local government. It's an uphill battle for any statewide Democratic candidate in Wyoming but Throne does has the ability to lay any dissatisfaction voters have with Wyoming government at the feet of Republicans, who dominate the Legislature and control all statewide offices.

BEAR ATTACK! -- Four people have been attacked by bears in Wyoming in this year. You have an increased density of bears, humans in the picture because of hunting season thats potentially one of the reasons this year was high conflict, Wyoming Chief Game Warden Brian Nesvik told the Star-Tribune.

REFORM PASSES HURDLE -- Maybe that whole issue of criminal justice reform can be tackled in increments, Rep. Dan Kirkbride, R-Chugwater, said at a Joint Judiciary Committee meeting last week. WyoFile's Andrew Graham reports that the committee advanced a bill that would allow people on probation or parole to remain free even if they commit minor criminal offenses. The bill would create a system of incentives as well of sanctions for those on parole.

MAKE NAFTA GREAT AGAIN? -- ENZI URGES CAUTION: Wyomings U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi was one of the three Republican senators to urge U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to avoid inserting an expiration or sunset clause into any renegotiated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"We commend the Trump administration's enthusiasm to ensure that past trade agreements continue to promote U.S. interests. However, it should be clear that any need for a 'sunset' provision in the trade agreements is unnecessary," Enzi wrote in the letter, which was also signed by Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and John Thune of South Dakota. NAFTA negotiations have been ongoing in Mexico City.

ERIK PRINCE WATCH -- Last week I asked what was behind Foster Friess contradictory statements on launching a challenge to Barrasso in next years GOP Senate primary. But many political watchers consider Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who doesnt live in Wyoming, to be the more serious contender.

-- BROTHERLY LOVE: Princes sister, Betsy DeVos, is Education Secretary and Education Week reached out to both the department and DeVos herself to ask whether shed be able to campaign or support her brothers campaign. The department declined to comment, but her personal spokesman Greg McNeilly had some choice words for the EdWeek reporters.

Betsy does not respond to outlandish hypotheticals churned by ne'er-do-wells of fake news; if the question is does she love her brother, 'yes' is the answer," McNeilly said.

Readers may remember that DeVos visited Wyoming earlier this fall.

-- INTERESTING COMPANY: In a reminder that Princes founding of the controversial (notorious?) private security contractor Blackwater may crop back up if he chooses to run for senate, the company has ended up playing a bit part in the weird disappearance and reemergence of Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri earlier this month. Hariri traveled to Saudi Arabia to announce his resignation and rumors quickly began swirling that he had been detained in the kingdom.

Hariri has since left Saudi Arabia, but while he was there Lebanons President Michael Aoun claimed Hariri was being detained and was under guard by security contractors from Blackwater, which no longer exists by that name.

"Vice President Mike Pence is putting his imprint on the 2018 midterm elections, doling out contributions to three dozen Republican candidates  many of whom have been steadfast allies of the White House... Among those getting checks is ... Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso," Alex Isenstadt of Politico reports.

SEE NO CLIMATE CHANGE... -- Wyoming Lawmakers Don't Care About The Climate Report, reports Wyoming Public Medias Washington correspondent Matt Laslo. Despite the White House approving a federal climate report that cited humans as the primary cause of climate change, Barrasso, Enzi and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney are unswayed. Cheney said previous climate change gave Wyoming its coal deposits.

-- Theres no question that the climate is changing. Our state of Wyoming, clearly we wouldnt have the resources we have, we wouldnt have coal for example, if the climate hadnt changed significantly. Thats the source of all fossil fuels, she said.

***

Several of you wrote in with feedback (and some kind words) after last week's newsletter launch. Much appreciated. Keep the ideas coming. And most of all, send me tips! I wont publish your name without permission. You can reach me at arno.rosenfeld@trib.com or 307-266-0634 and find me on Twitter @arnorosenfeld. If you're receiving this email from a friend or are reading it online and want to subscribe, you can do so at trib.com/email.
Four environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service Monday, charging that its approval of the proposed Rosemont Mine violated 10 environmental laws and seeking to have the approval overturned.

The 75-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, directly challenges the service's statement in its June decision approving the mine that it won't violate environmental laws.

The Forest Service has long stated that it can't say "no" to the mine as long as it meets all applicable federal laws and regulations.

Coronado Forest Supervisor Kerwin Dewberry declined to comment on the suit Monday, saying the agency typically doesn't comment on pending litigation except in formal legal responses.

The suit alleged that the mine will violate various water laws and standards, for instance, by reducing flows to Cienega Creek and its tributary Empire Gulch. The suit also warns of water quality violations due to mine discharges of pollutants such as arsenic, iron and mercury into Barrel Canyon, a tributary to Davidson Canyon which in turn flows into Cienega Creek.

The suit also says the Forest Service is legally wrong in saying that it can't stop the mine due to a host of laws dating back to the 1872 Mining Act. The service says those laws essentially provide a right for people and companies to mine resources from federal lands as long as they meet environmental laws and rules.

But the lawsuit says these laws only apply when a mining company shows it has filed valid mining claims to the federal land. Such claims are only valid if the company has shown publicly that it can mine the area's copper at a profit, which the suit says it hasn't done.

The suit was filed by the Tucson-based Save the Scenic Santa Ritas and Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter and the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition.
Re: the Nov. 25 article "4 Marana cops leave force after on-duty sex scandal."

Not only did their actions and lies demand they be fired, not allowed to resign, they all need to face criminal charges. This is taxpayer monies we're talking about here, taxpayer equipment, and taxpayer funded training. The true cost needs to calculated and assigned to these four, the cost of all the investigations, the training and hiring of replacement officers, and even a monetary value attached to the damaged reputation of the department.

It's the same thing with politicians, they can get away with so much because it's not a crime to lie. Make any job that directly pays a person their salary with taxpayer monies more strict in every way and hold them accountable for any related costs should they try to cheat the taxpayers out of performing a good, honest job. Just to say these four's lives are ruined is not enough, it never is, this kind of thing has been going on forever, from police officers to representatives to Presidents!

It will continue until the punishment is such that a person would never consider doing this sort of thing and anything less than a prison sentence AND reimbursement of all monies is a slap to the face of all taxpayers. I am NOT paying for them to to go out on duty and fool around and not do their job, nor the time and dollars to investigate their lies.

Charles Mitchell

Marana
Every time I hear Donald Trump proclaim, "God bless (insert subject)," it calls to mind God's rejection of the offering made by Adam's first-born son. Given the fate of Abel, we can all be thankful that God doesn't answer Trump's prayers. Last week Trump pardoned two more turkeys, although unlike Joe Arpaio, Drumstick and Wishbone were innocent on all counts. Clearly, tradition forced Trump's hand in this case, because he has never shown any inclination towards mercy.
Re: the Nov. 26 letter to the editor "What you get when you vote Republican."

This letter is typical of the sophomoric viewpoints that always seem to get published. A diatribe of name calling and ad hominem attacks totally devoid of policy enlightenment. Just what is it the letter writer objects to? Is it three percent GDP growth, projected to go to four if tax overhaul is passed? More people in the workforce, lower unemployment and rising wages?

Perhaps it's record home sales, consumer confidence at its highest in many years and business confidence booming. Maybe she wants more people on food stamps rather than less, as is the case today. Wait, I know! It's border enforcement. There's fewer immigrants entering the country than before Trump. Yep! Us "deplorables" and Bannonite anarchists fell for the snake-oil and look at what's happened to the country without a single major congressional accomplishment.

Brad Adair

SaddleBrooke
Im thrilled by everyones outrage at President Trumps decision to reverse the ban on importing elephant trophies into the U.S., which, thankfully, is now on hold and being reevaluated. I cant help but contemplate, however, that if those same people cared even a fraction about the dead animals on their plates, this world would be a much better place.
Help India!

By TCN News

New Delhi: Campus Front of India organized a seminar on Reclaiming the Constitution: Religious freedom, Secularism and Democracy at Indian International Centre, New Delhi on Saturday, November 25.

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Senior Supreme Court Advocate Dushyant Dave inaugurated the programme and expressed his reservation on the topic. He said, Instead of reclaiming the constitution we should reaffirm the Constitution.

We are witnessing the downfall of the constitutional morality in the recent decades. Few decades back judges were honest towards constitution but in the recent period there has been erosion of those values within the lawyers community also, he said.

Dr. Ghazala Jamil indicated towards the politics in the definition of minority in Indian constitution. She mentioned the recent conspiracies in the Indic and Non-indic religions wherein Muslims and Christians are being considered as cultural outsiders.

Umar Khalid, the student activist from Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, Whosoever is raising voice are being threatened or silenced, by citing the mysterious death of justice Loya.

P V Shuhaib, national president at Campus Front of India, said in his concluding remark that despite of many discussion on religious freedom the issue of Hadiya is not getting due attention.

He said that Hadiya is going through house arrest because she has willingly converted from Akhila to Hadiya. Further, he added that mainstream civil society and feminist activists are maintaining conspicuous silence on this very important issue.
Help India!

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

The Sabarmati Riverfront has been for many, one of the crowning jewels of the Gujarat government during the period of Narendra Modi as its Chief Minister. The riverfront, in Ahmedabad, has been used time and again to show the development that the state has witnessed under the leadership of the BJP. In truth, however, the Riverfront is nothing short of an ecological disaster, with the project denying thousands of Gujarat residents the right to drinking water.

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On the first look, it is evident that the Sabarmati Riverfront developed in Ahmedabad gives a new look to the Sabarmati river, which, like most rivers in urban India, had been on the verge of death. But revealed to the public in 2005, the riverfront is drawing water from drought-prone Kutch area of Gujarat to keep the riverfront alive and beautiful.

A tweet trail by twitter user Jayesh Bhatia (@bjayesh9) caught our attention, so we thought to research a bit go the story.

As the Sabarmati is a seasonal river and only gets the water during the Monsoon season, the water body has to get the water from Narmada river. And the water from the Narmada comes via Narmada Canal, which was inaugurated in 2008 for irrigation purposes.

Various ecological experts and research scholars have already raised the question on the kind of development brought about by the riverfront, but very few have shown concern with the people of Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat, who first have the rights on the water of Narmada river.

Amruta Pradhan, a research associate with SANDRP (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People), wrote in her field study report, City of Ahmedabad or Sabarmati River has no right on Narmada River Water, its the water meant for drought-prone areas of Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat. Thus the water we see in Sabarmati in Ahmedabad is water deprived of the drought-prone areas.

The purpose of building Narmada canal was to have a channel so that excess water from Sardar Sarovar Dam could be extracted into Narmada river to avoid the flood. But soon after the riverfront work started, it was a challenge to maintain the flow into the Sabarmati river.

The Narmada Canal, as we had showed in our story earlier this month, has also been built at a great cost for the local farmers of the Narmada district. While the canal, which is over 500 km long, feeds water to the rest of Gujarat, the locals allege that they still have to depend on monsoon for irrigation. They also allege that despite losing thousands of acres of land in the canal project, they have received no benefits from the canal and like the Sardar Sarovar Dam, this project too has only led to the destruction of their livelihoods.

To ensure the river flow in Sabarmati river, specifically in Ahmedabad region, Gujarat government took two extreme decisions. One, it reduced the width of Sabarmati river to 275 meters from the original 382 meters, and two, it started drawing water from Narmada river through Narmada canal.

So for developing riverfront, the original Sabarmati river was reduced to a canal.

Another factor hindering into the riverfront project was to keep Sabarmati free of sewage water and let only one hundred percent treated sewage water enter into the Sabarmati water. To meet this demand, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) started working and claimed very recently that it has succeeded in treating every amount of sewage coming down to Sabarmati.

But it was revealed in a field study in 2014 that Gujarat government did not actually treat the sewage water, but was dumping the untreated sewage water into Sabarmati few kilometres downstream of Ahmedabad at Vasna Barrage.

Himanshu Thakkar, the coordinator at SANDRP talked with TwoCircles.net over the issue. He said, The Gujarat government has been saying that they have rejuvenated the Sabarmati by developing a riverfront, but it seems that they are basically lying.

If you look at the facts, the river is a dry stream upstream of Ahmedabad and a sewage body downstream of Ahmedabad. It only looks fancy during the riverfront stretch, which Gujarat government has made by containing it in concrete walls, said Thakkar.

The Rs 1,150 crore project of Narendra Modi  who was serving as a chief minister of the state by then  also compelled Akhilesh Yadav, ex-chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to develop the same riverfront at Varuna and Yamuna river in the state. But what has been ignored that by developing and maintaining the riverfront, the governments have been actually killing fastened the pace of killing the river.

Thakkar said, The government basically snatched the water which was meant to help people in times of drought and it is the cleverness of the government that anyone hardly knows about this in Gujarat or in the country.

Saurashtra and Kutch regions of the state have been fighting hard for many years to cope up with the state economy, even after receiving low rainfall than the states average. Moreover, it was the cotton and groundnut farmers of the Saurashtra who joined the farmers protest happened in most of the Indian states mid of 2017.

The issue of Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the condition of groundnut and cotton farmers of Saurashtra region prevail in current Gujarat election. The state BJP government has been accused of not caring about the farmers who have been delivering despite low rainfall. But the farmers know very little about whereabouts of the Narmada river water. They are not aware of the fact that Narmadas water is being directed to keep riverfront alive.

In 2014, after several complaints of mosquito problem in Ahmedabad arose because of stagnant water, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation introduced mosquito repellant inside the river water, making the water even more unusable to use. Officials also claimed that the mosquitoes were harmless and non-infectious, contrary to the scientific findings that mosquitoes were Culex: a carrier for filariasis.

Sabarmati riverfront, which is constantly being loaded with several market plaza and amusement setups, is also not immune to the excess flow of water during monsoons.

In July this year, the lower promenade of the riverfront drowned after 1.3 lakh cusecs water was released from Dharoi dam, and authorities came under questioning. In the years 2006, 2011, and 2015, the lower promenade was submerged because of the same reason.

When TwoCircles.net tried to contact Babubhai Bokhiria, the water resource minister of Gujarat, he put the blame on the local body for allowing the untreated sewage to go into the river body.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation) Yojana in April this year, the tender for which is still to come out. Talking about the same, Bokhiria told TwoCircles.net, We had Sauni scheme in 2012 also. But this time we are more determined to make it possible.

The responsibility of Gujarat government  irrespective of incoming or outgoing one  the task is bigger to deliver a more ecological and socially efficient and healthy development setup to the people of Gujarat.
What Momentum has already done to the Labour Party is dangerous, even though they have plenty of 'momentum' for their Trotskyist organisation on their side. With the Conservative Party failing to establish a sensible alternative to this popular movement, for now it is looking likely this group will propel Jeremy Corbyn to power after a better-than-expected general election performance this year.

"Our democracy is being further diluted"

Boasting a membership base of 31,000, the Young Conservatives could only dream of having numbers like this. Their influence over Labour is staggering.

Take the election of Jared O'Mara in Sheffield Hallam this year. Any party wishes they could brag they scooped Nick Clegg's former seat after his dreadful leadership of the Liberal Democrats in 2007-15, but the people of his former constituency would be more fortunate to have the former Liberal Democrat leader representing them. Mr O'Mara's past comments were reported by media outlets for weeks last month, but if this is the sort of caliber Momentum is forcing upon local Labour groups, our democracy is being further diluted.

It is not just their candidates that lack substance, but their ideas too. What they are proposing in Bristol would take the UK back to the 1970s. Trebling council tax for Band H properties to 10,000-a-year is only likely to force these property-owners to flee to neighbouring districts where they would pay substantially less council tax.

It is a counter-productive proposal that would fail to generate the revenue Momentum desires. This measure, alongside their other crazy ideas like raising parking costs, introducing a congestion charge and a tourism tax, would transform Britain into a socialist haven, as opposed to a tax haven. The UK must be heading towards the latter destination if this nation is to thrive post-Brexit and a Corbyn government being elected so soon after leaving the EU is the worst prospect for an independent nation.

"It is their hypocrisy that sets a bad precedent for our democracy too"

Alongside their policies and poor candidates, it is their hypocrisy that sets a bad precedent for our democracy too. Guido Fawkes disclosed that Labour has failed to pay any tax on their new headquarters. It is as if it is alright for everyone to pay high taxes, but it is fine for the Labour Party to not pay any.

For these reasons, Momentum must be stopped. Given the stranglehold they now have over Britain's second largest party, it is likely that in the near future, Her Majesty's Opposition will remain a Marxist party.
Since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader, Momentum has placed a gun at the heart of the Labour Party. The Independent reported on Saturday that the far-left group has pledged to support candidates who back its aims and values through an oath of loyalty. Considering the vast resources and members the group has, it is impossible for would-be Labour MPs to refuse the help Momentum can provide them with.

"It is a purge"

This oath of allegiance is not only an agreement that the pro-Corbyn group will provide assistance to those who support the Labour Leader's vision of the country; it is a purge of those who do not.

How can moderate Labour MPs like Yvette Cooper and Caroline Flint access Momentum's bank of activists unless they sign up to the organisation's values? To receive such support would provide Labour candidates with substantial support that none of the other parties can match for now, even if it comes at a price. But how many Labour members can honestly say they support Momentum's vision? Without Momentum-backing, moderate Labour candidates are at a huge disadvantage. If they won't be ousted by pro-Corbyn members, the electorate may remove them instead. Either way, those who do not share Mr. Corbyn's views lose in the long-term.

"He has created a new kind of politics"

Mr. Corbyn has been true to his word in one aspect; he has created a new kind of politics.

But it is not one which provides much hope for British democracy. With ideas that would end capitalism and an operation that has infiltrated democracy without the need for a revolution, they have achieved what their socialist predecessors did not in the past. What they are planning will make New Labour MPs politically homeless.

They will hijack the Labour Party. It will not be long before they reverse all the steps Neil Kinnock, John Smith and Tony Blair took to moderate this party. Clause IV may be reintroduced and the trade unions' grip over Labour may strengthen. The long-term prospects for moderate socialism are dire.

Mr. Corbyn and Momentum do not care though.

They know those millennials they are appealing to do not remember the Soviet Union. They know this generation is angry they do not have the same opportunities as their parents because of a recession the Labour Leader is blaming on the neo-liberalism that made the latter wealthy in the first place. It is a culture of envy they are breeding.

Marxism is the most evil ideology ever created. It is a philosophy of failure. Thanks to a few Labour MPs who felt sorry for Mr. Corbyn, a failed socialist has now become the most powerful man on the left of British politics. The Labour Leader's re-election last year proved how unstoppable he is. He is a poisonous cancer that will not go away in the near future.

Tory policies must combat this dogma, otherwise capitalism will be consigned to the dustbin of history. And if that happens, to echo The Sun's words in 1992, would the last person leaving Britain please remember to turn off the lights?
One thing that is true of Britain since 1945, as Dean Acheson famously said, is "Great Britain has lost an Empire and has not yet found a role." We have tried to tell ourselves we are still a great power by latching on to the Americans' coat tails and possessing incredibly expensive nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, that is no longer enough. When Britain leaves the European Union, we have a unique opportunity to break out of that 70-year stupor and chart our own course. That, however, means we need to have a reality check. No longer can we rely on creative accounting and luck, we must spend more on our armed forces before it is too late.

I wrote some time ago it is folly to think we can march into countries and be able to force our will onto them - as the disasters in Iraq and Libya show. We are not that country anymore. The world is not at our beck and call. Even so, we must spend more on our defences or accept we can no longer afford to carry out the basic tasks that nation statehood entails.

Where have all the good men gone?

Fortunately, this is an issue that has (finally) been noticed at Westminster. Out has gone the affable, grey man Sir Michael Fallon, the Government's resident bearer-of-bad-news, in has come Gavin Williamson. I don't expect Mr Williamson to be any different, he will follow one of our worst defence secretaries (which takes some going) in dutifully hanging the Forces out to dry when another round of spending cuts comes around.

What has changed though is a new generation of MPs is coming through. We saw this week the personally courageous Tobias Ellwood, a minister in the MoD, allegedly threatened to resign if any more cuts were imposed on defence. Thank goodness, someone eventually had the backbone to say something.

It goes unnoticed, although, it should not when admirals write in newspapers the cuts have gone too far.

I suspect with the heart-warming news about the impending royal wedding, Mr Ellwood's alleged threat will be quickly forgotten. If anyone paid attention at all. No one has had the guts to give up their cushy government job yet, as far as we know, and the new Michael Fallon, Liam Fox, has been wheeled out to play down talk of a rebellion on the issue.

Quite why Mrs May even bothers to try to explain away these splits, when most of us are sick to the back teeth of hearing about them, is beyond me. No longer can we pretend this rotten government is on the side of our brave servicemen and women, or that of our proud military history.

An opportunity to right the wrongs

The Royal Navy, once the most powerful in the world, is now a shadow of its former self. The Army is painfully small and the RAF quietly goes about its business because nobody wants to listen. This is dangerous. Maybe not for this government, or even for the next, but one day we will be caught with our trousers down. We were supposed to have learnt this from the inter-war period when the politicians who tell us that they are modern-day Churchills and would never appease evil while slashing away with the precision of the axe-man.

They have consistently missed the insurance payments, and their short-term outlook will damn them. Then again, maybe they are Churchills, the Churchill of the 1920s who mercilessly decimated The Royal Navy.

We'll be bombarded with the adverts about it being like a family because nobody wants to join up. And who can blame them? You'll be sent to risk your life and then left to the mercy of unscrupulous human rights lawyers. These unimaginably brave men and women who put their lives on the line are not protected by the sickly platitudes of men in suits. If we can't afford to support adequate armed forces, why are we maintaining a nuclear deterrent? This is the weapon of the superpower, we are not a superpower, we have very simple decisions to make. We must face up to it soon.
When a bride and groom decide to get married, usually they schedule the wedding date that is convenient for them. It is considered rude to schedule a wedding without thinking about the guests who will attend. The couple should plan to make their special day a time that will not put a lot of stress and strain on those who are expected to attend the wedding.

The bride and groom might think their wedding on a long weekend will be great because people won't have to use vacation time to travel. A lot of people would rather use their extra day doing something they want to do on their own instead of having the day planned for them.

Holiday weddings

Some holiday weddings are appropriate, but some should be off limits. Not too many people want to attend a Fourth of July wedding. When people get a four-day weekend, they want to do what they want to do without feeling obligated to go to a wedding of a family member or friend. While it might sound like lots of fun to have a Fourth of July wedding, most people would like to go to the beach instead of dressing up and going to a wedding. USA Today has ranked eight Holidays either acceptable or rude to schedule a wedding.

Appropriate days

New Year's Eve is an acceptable time for a wedding. Some couples want to get married before the year comes to an end. Since a lot of people like to go out on New Year's Eve, attending a wedding is acceptable.

It cuts down on the cost of going out to a party. Besides, the food and drinks are free at the reception.

Weddings scheduled around Columbus Day, President's Day and Martin Luther King Day are appropriate times because those holidays are usually on a Monday, and the wedding will probably be on the Saturday before the official holiday.

Inappropriate times

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and a sacred day for families. Labor Day is the end of summer. It is when people are ending their summer vacation, and parents are getting their children ready to return to school. Attending a wedding might not be at the top of their list. A bride and groom might be inconsiderate to expect family and friends to give up their plans to attend somebody's wedding on those holidays.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the worst times to schedule a wedding. People think the bride and groom who plan their wedding on either one of those days are really inconsiderate. For obvious reasons, they should choose another day instead of either one of those popular holidays.

Brides and grooms should be mindful of others when planning their wedding. Wedding planners should help couples plan their date without it interfering with a major holiday that will inconvenient their guests.
Donald Trump has been outspoken over a variety of issues, with illegal immigration being at the top of the list. Many have since accused the president of engaging in prejudice in regards to his immigration proposals, including Pope Francis who appeared to take at Trump during a recent statement.

Pope on Trump

Back in June 2015, Donald Trump stood on the floor of Trump Tower with his family by his side and caused a media frenzy by officially announcing his plans to run for president. During his campaign announcement, Trump faced massive backlash after he referred to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers." Trump's wording caused a quick divide among the American people, which has only escalated in the two and a half years that have followed.

Trump supporters were quick to defend him, as they finally found someone who didn't sugarcoat how they felt on the issue of immigration, specifically the notion of building a border wall and possibly signing off on mass deportation. Critics of the president, however, have since accused him of "racism," "xenophobia," Islamophobia," and other forms of prejudice. As expected, the president has denied the negative labels, but the backlash against him has only grown which has been reflective in his 35 percent approval rating. As reported by The Hill on November 26, Pope Francis has delivered a statement that pushes back against much of what Trump has promoted.

Pope Francis condemns politicians who use immigration to spread violence and racism https://t.co/bKyTeALilg pic.twitter.com/9BRnpBkVcf  The Hill (@thehill) November 27, 2017

In a message that was prepared to be delivered on January 1 in honor of the Roman Catholic Church's "World Day of Peace," Pope Francis has put together what has been titled "Migrants and Refugees: Men and Women in Search of Peace." The pope warned against aggressive backlash to immigrants and refugees, saying that "doing so demeans the human dignity due to all as sons and daughters."

"Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination and xenophobia," Pope Francis notes, calling it "matters of great worry for all those concerned about the safety of every human being."

Pope calls anti-immigrant rhetoric 'demeaning [to] human dignity' https://t.co/UdIc5Em8Wq  The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 24, 2017

Pope Francis didn't stop there, as he expressed the importance to help those incoming immigrants and refugees assimilate, suggesting people "welcome, promote, protect, integrate" the new arrivals.

This isn't the first time that the pope has taken a direct, or indirect shot at Donald Trump. Earlier this year, Francis said the president was "not Christian," and urged him to reverse course on ending the DACA program for "DREAMers."

Next up

While Pope Francis and others continue to hit back at Donald Trump over his immigration plans, only time will tell if the president will even have enough support to make a move on the issue. Despite Republicans holding the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Trump has been unable to get on the same page with enough of his own party to pass much legislation.
When Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore was accused of sexual assault with underage women, many wondered how Donald Trump would respond. As the president came to his defense, it appears as if there is even more to the story than meets the eye.

Trump on Moore

It was one month before Election Day last year when Donald Trump was hit with an October surprise. For the former host of "The Apprentice," his poll numbers had dropped as he was trailing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by sizable margins. Then came the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape, which recorded the president during an interview with then host Billy Bush back in 2005.

During the audio recording, Trump could be heard laughing about using his fame and fortune to touch women as he pleased, with the president saying, "when you're famous, they let you do it." Trump would go on to gloat about being able to touch women at will, even saying, "grab em' by the pu**y." Fast forward to preset day and Trump was recently forced to make a decision as to whether or not he would support Roy Moore following the Washington Post report that accused the Republican from Alabama of engaging in sexual activity with various underage women for decades. Trump delayed his comments, but came out in support of Moore earlier this week while speaking to reporters at the White House. According to a report in the New York Times on November 25, which was later doubled down by The Hill, Trump has been telling people that he believes the "Access Hollywood" tape was not authentic.

JUST IN: Trump privately claiming infamous "Access Hollywood" tape isn't authentic: report https://t.co/JaKCyFkkgS pic.twitter.com/nCITyqHuwS  The Hill (@thehill) November 25, 2017

As reported by the New York Times, Donald Trump believes that the allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and child molestation against Roy Moore could all be a politically motivated smear attack on the Republican.

The New York Times notes that Trump has been telling his advisers that the "Access Hollywood" tape could be a fake and that his voice is not the one that was recorded.

Trump told a senator earlier this year he wasn't certain the "Access Hollywood" tape, which he acknowledged was him in Oct 2016, was authentic. He told another adviser something similar recently https://t.co/oI6lmniw5h  Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 25, 2017

This isn't the first time that the former host of "The Apprentice" has said this, apparently, as he's been reported to have repeated that claim to an anonymous senator earlier this year.

Donald Trump's dilemma with Moore dates back to the weeks following the aforementioned "Access Hollywood" tape when a dozen women came forward to accuse the billionaire real estate mogul of a wide range of sexual assault and harassment. Like Roy Moore, Trump has denied each and every accusation.

Next up

While Donald Trump struggles with how to move forward with Roy Moore, he has other pressing issues on his plate. As health care and tax reform hang in the balance, special counsel Robert Mueller is moving fast in the Russian investigation, which has already indicted several associates of the president from the past and present.
Donald Trump has never been shy about his thoughts on his own presidency. After gloating once again on Twitter, critics of the commander in chief wasted no time firing back.

Trump on himself

When Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president back in the summer of 2015, most people didn't give him a realistic chance for success. As the months moved on, the former host of "The Apprentice" picked up steam and rode that momentum to the GOP nomination at the Republican National Convention. Just a few months later and Trump was able pull off the shocking upset over Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States, in what has become one of the most controversial election results in American history.

Since then, Trump's presidency has been marred by inaction, in-fighting within the GOP, as well as the cloud of Russian election interference hanging over his entire administration. With little to no progress being made on his core campaign promises, the billionaire real estate mogul has watched his approval rating drop under 40 percent in the most recent round of polling. Despite this, Trump has dismissed the notion that he's had a rough start to his time in the White House, which continued during a self-congratulatory tweet on November 26.

Since the first day I took office, all you hear is the phony Democrat excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia,Russia. Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017

Taking to Twitter on Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump decided to give himself a much-needed ego boost.

"Since the first day I took office, all you hear is the phony Democrat excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia,Russia," Trump tweeted out.

In the second half of his tweet, Donald Trump went on to claim that he's had the best start to a presidency in the history of the United States. "Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President," he wrote, before concluding, "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Twitter responds

Immediately after Donald Trump gave himself a compliment on social media, those who oppose the president were quick to react.

"I agree! You are easily the best and most accomplished Russian dictator weve ever had. Thank you Good Sir!" one tweet read with humor.

Dont you think hes the BEST self-praiser though? The most AMAZING self-praiser??!!!  Shields Cartoons (@shieldscartoons) November 26, 2017

You really dont know how things work do you? You are working UNDER the Obama budget you inherited when you came to office. When yours is I acted the economy will crash and as for Russia you will be exposed and tried!  Dasani (@Dasani_01) November 26, 2017

By doing more do you mean playing more golf than any other President in history?  Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) November 26, 2017

"Discrediting the media and making it appear as though Obamas economy is really your economy wont save you from the wrath of Mueller," another Twitter user wrote.

"Getting nervous, comrade? 'Russia, Russia,Russia' will mean the end of your comical reign as America's head stooge," an additional tweet noted.

LoL, our economy was just fine before you had the Russians steal the election for you. YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING!  phillfoss (@phillfoss1) November 26, 2017

Keep in mind that all of the economic enhancements you brag about were put in motion well before you too office, so youre basically taking credit for Obamas work, a man died because he couldnt afford $50 for insulin under your watch, you are the biggest joke that has ever sat  Jordan Crisman (@Captainjiggy) November 26, 2017

Oh dear, is someone feeling a little unloved again?  Jon Snow (@jonsnowC4) November 26, 2017

"Oh dear, is someone feeling a little unloved again?" news anchor Jon Snow posted.

"LoL, our economy was just fine before you had the Russians steal the election for you. YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING!" a follow-up tweet pointed out. The backlash continued to pour in as the opposition to Donald Trump and his ego showed no signs of coming to an end.
Christopher R. Gattis, 58, reportedly gunned down his wife, stepdaughter, and his stepdaughters boyfriend on Thanksgiving. Gattis, a full-time youth pastor Grace Lutheran Church, was arrested at his family home by Chesterfield County Police Department officers.

Gattis was arrested on-scene late Thanksgiving evening without incident, according to the police. Gattis is on a no-bond hold at the county jail, charged with three counts of first-degree murder, along with three counts of using a firearm while committing a felony, according to WTVR.

Police arrived at the familys home in Chester, VA, located roughly 20 minutes from Richmond.

Officers were responding to a call concerning a reported alarm when they found three gunshot wound victims.

Victims lived with alleged killer

The victims are Jeanette L. Gattis, 50, Candice L. Kunze, and Andrew E. Buthorn, 36. The bodies of the mother and daughter were discovered inside the familys home, while Buthorn's body was found in the front yard. The victims died as a result of their gunshot wounds, according to People. Additionally, the victims and the accused killer shared the home, according to police and the Washington Post.

Neighbors didnt sleep Thanksgiving night, unaware family having problems

Darius Williams, a neighbor, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he heard a bang, which his nephew mistook for a firecracker.

Williams, however, stated that he realized that it was not a firecracker. He stated, as well, that he didnt see anything and didnt think much of it.

The familys home is situated within a block that has a cul-de-sac, the Post noted. The block was reportedly flooded with flashing police lights. The crime scene was lit up with the police lights and so, too, was Buthorns body, which remained in the yard for hours.

Denise Patton, whose home is across the street from the Gattis gray house, said she and her husband, Larry Patton, didnt sleep on Thanksgiving night.

Though she didnt know which victim it was, she said, I looked at that body all night, according to the Post.

When the Pattons moved to the Dogwood Ridge Court neighborhood around two years ago, Larry Patton stated that the couple welcomed them and they frequently shared meals. Its just sad, he said, their Thanksgiving ended that way, the Post wrote.

He also stated that he wasnt aware of any disagreements within the Gattis household.

Another of the Gattis neighbors said he was stunned by the shooting deaths, WTVR reported. He described the accused killer as a friend who was a gentle man. He, too, said that he had no idea that the family was having problems. He qualified his statement by noting behind closed doors is behind closed doors.

Church members deeply saddened, killings domestic-related police say

On Thanksgiving Day, the accused murderer was at Grace Lutheran Church, according to a church member and WTVR. He reportedly attended the congregations holiday feast. A church deacon confirmed that Gattis was a youth pastor.

On Friday, the church issued a statement, which relayed that congregation members are deeply saddened by the loss of lives on November 23.

Gattis is currently in custody at the Chesterfield County Jail. He is scheduled for a court hearing on Monday in the General District Court. As well, on Tuesday, he is set to appear in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, the Washington Post reported. Police have attributed the homicides as domestic-related.
Oakland, California, is a fun weekend destination where you can spend your morning at a museum, the afternoon admiring majestic redwoods, followed by a great meal at one of the restaurants, and an evening at the theater. The city is home to beautiful parks and diverse activities and unique attractions such as Chabot Space & Science Center where you can look at the stars through a telescope. Best things to do in Oakland with kids include the Oakland Zoo which houses rare animals, and the USS Potomac where you can learn about the life of the 32nd President of the United States.

We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.

1. Chabot Space and Science Center  Courtesy of Chabot Space and Science Center

Chabot Space & Science Center is one of the best educational centers in the U.S. and one of the top Oakland attractions, where visitors learn about the Universe and our planet. Originally founded in 1883 as an observatory, and named after the benefactor of the original observatory, Anthony Chabot, today the center offers an array of innovative exhibits and displays that explore life on earth and in the universe around us. Surrounded by a beautiful forest of redwood trees in the hills above Oakland, Chabot offers scholars, students, visitors and amateur astronomers a range of interactive programs, activity-filled classes, hands-on workshops and special events, as well as a Space and Science Camp for enthusiastic learners. The center boasts three magnificent telescopes, namely Nellie, Rachel and Leah that are open to the public and allow visitors to experience the wonder of the distant stars, planets and comets that make up the universe around us. 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland, California 94619, Phone: 510-336-7300

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2. Lake Merritt  Courtesy of Crin - Fotolia.com

Home to the first official and oldest designated wildlife refuge in the United States, Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon surrounded by lush green parkland and urban city neighborhoods in the center of Oakland. Featuring several artificial islands, which are home to a variety of bird species, the heart-shaped lake in the center of the city has 3.4 miles of grassy-lined shoreline, along which wind paths and walkways ideal for walking, hiking and running. If you are wondering what to do in Oakland CA with kids, this is a great place to visit. The lake features a modern boating center where rowboats, canoes and sailboats can be rented and sailing classes can be enjoyed, a themed amusement park for fairy-tale fans called Childrens Fairyland and a beautiful seven-acre collection of themed gardens known as The Gardens at Lake Merritt. Established more than a half century ago, the Gardens serve as a display of outstanding horticulture and historic preservation and provide a variety of enriching public programs.

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3. Things to Do in Oakland, California: Morcom Rose Garden  Morcom Rose Garden

The Morcom Rose Garden is a beautifully manicured garden featuring intricate paths and walkways, a reflecting pool, cascading fountain and thousands of roses. Named after Mayor Frank Morcom, who planted the first rose in 1933, the garden has been a sanctuary of peace and tranquility, as well as a beautiful venue for special occasions such as weddings. The Morcom Rose Garden is one of the best romantic things to do in Oakland. The roses are tended by a group of volunteers called the Dedicated Deadheaders,' who care for the garden and help to keep it in pristine condition. 700 Jean Street, Oakland, California 94610, Phone: 510-238-3187



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4. Edible Excursions, Oakland, California  Edible Excursions



Uncover Oakland one bite at a time with a fun-filled foodie tour with Edible Excursions. Offering unique and intimate culinary strolls through some of San Franciscos most famous districts, Edible Excursions is an award-winning food tour company that aims to educate visitors about the citys fabulous foodie scene. Led by founder Lisa Rogovin and a team of expert epicurean guides, tours range from exploring the famous Ferry Building Marketplace, followed by a trip to the infamous Alcatraz, to a wander through the the historic district of Japantown and joining the fray in downtown's craft cocktail bar scene. For gourmands and food aficionados, a tour of North Berkeleys iconic Gourmet Ghetto is a must, as well as a walk through Uptown Oakland's theatre and arts-oriented neighborhood with a visit to Temescal. Tours include meeting the owners and artisans of well-known establishments en route, along with tastings of their delicious fare. Private tours for corporate functions and special events can also be arranged, as well as team-building activities.

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5. Fox Theater, Oakland, California  Fox Theater



Designed with an intriguing and mystical resemblance to an Indian temple, the Fox Oakland Theatre is one of downtown Oaklands most fascinating attractions. Located on Telegraph Avenue, the former movie theater-turned-concert hall presented films through 1970, until it fell into disrepair and was closed for nearly 40 years. After receiving a welcome grant, restoration work began on the theater and the newly renovated theater was opened again in 2009. Today, the 2,800-seat concert hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is home to the Oakland School for the Arts. If you are looking for romantic date night ideas in Oakland, the Fox Oakland Theatre is a great place to visit. This prominent live concert venue hosts performances by notable artists, including Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Kylie Minogue, Alice in Chains and B.B. King. 1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612, Phone: 510-302-2250

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6. Oakland Museum of California  Rue Flaherty/Oakland Museum of California



The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is dedicated to telling the story of California. Established in the mid-1960s with the aim of inspiring all Californians to create a better future for themselves and their communities, the museum showcases nearly two million objects dedicated to the natural science, art and history of California. Situated in downtown Oakland, close to Lake Merritt, the museum has an array of exhibits, displays and programs featuring historical artifacts, natural specimens, ethnographic objects and photographs that explore the factors that shaped the state of California into what it is today. Explore magnificent natural landscapes, unique cultures, and the rich history of migration that is an important part of Californias heritage. 1000 Oak St, Oakland, California 94607, Phone: 510-318-8400

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7. Bellanico Restaurant and Wine Bar  Bellanico

Located in the Glenview district of Oakland and sister to the ever-popular Aperto in San Franciscos Potrero Hill, Bellanico Restaurant and Wine Bar serves rustic Italian seasonal dishes made from locally sourced, sustainable and organic products. Bellanicos brunch, lunch and dinner menus feature Fulton Valley Poultry, natural Australian Lamb, and wild-caught fish and shrimp. Bellanico has a wine bar that offers Old World wines with an emphasis on indigenous Italian varieties. Wines are served by the glass or in various flight sizes so that they can easily be tasted and compared. 4238 Park Blvd., Oakland, California 94602, Phone: 510-336-1180



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8. Oakland Zoo, Oakland, California  Oakland Zoo

The Oakland Zoo is a beautiful animal sanctuary in southeastern Oakland that is home to 440 animals. Covering 100 acres, the zoo features modern exhibits and natural habitats in which the animals live, as well as interactive displays and educational programs for visitors to learn about the zoos inhabitants. Nationally known for its excellent elephant exhibit, where the stately giants roam freely, the zoo also features the Valley Children's Zoo, which boasts interactive play structures for children and is home to a range of unusual animals, including ring-tailed lemurs, century-old Aldabra tortoises, pot-bellied pigs, and bats. The Childrens Zoo has a modern Reptile and Amphibian Discovery Room and Bug Room, which is a favorite with younger visitors. 9777 Golf Links Road, Oakland, California 94605, Phone: 510-632-9525



9. Things to Do in Oakland, California: Hive Oakland  Hive Oakland

Hive Oakland is a unique mixed-use gathering place in Oakland's hip Uptown District, known for its clever specialty restaurants, holistic fitness options, and inviting co-working spaces. The local favorite dining, retail, and work space repurposes historic buildings along the district's Broadway corridor, including the former Drake's Dealership Dodge car dealer space, which has been converted into a delicious 32-tap beer garden and modern gastropub dining spot. Other dining options include Mexican restaurant Calavera, noted for its extensive mezcal and tequila lists, one of the largest and most acclaimed liquor selections of its kind in the country. Visitors can work out at the Truve wellness center or attend a wide variety of events at the Impact Hub Oakland, including events held in conjunction with the city's First Friday art and community evenings. 2335 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612

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10. Things to Do in Oakland, California: USS Potomac  USS Potomac

Known as the Floating White House, the USS Potomac served as the official presidential yacht for Franklin Delano Roosevelt until 1945. The USS Potomac, now a National Historic Landmark, was opened to the public in 1995 and is only one of three presidential yachts that still exist today. Standing as a memorial to one of Americas most influential presidents, the USS Potomac offers guided cruises to different islands in the bay, including The Bridges of the Bay, Angel Island, the Islands of the Bay, and The Bay Model. Learn about the history of San Francisco Bay and the vital role Franklin Roosevelt played in its development, as well as that of the nation as a whole. 540 Water Street, Oakland, California 94607, Phone: 510-627-1215



11. Pro Arts Gallery and COMMONS  Pro Arts Gallery and COMMONS

Pro Arts Gallery and COMMONS is a unique multi-use art space and gallery in downtown Oakland, originally founded in 1974 as the Alameda County Neighborhood Arts Program. Since 1981, the gallery has focused on showcasing experimental works following in the tradition of the alternative arts organization movement of the 1970s. All exhibitions are created as collaborations between artists, activists, and art commoners, rejecting the traditional model of gallery curation for one emphasizing critiques and commentary on the region's social issues. Visitors can view site-specific works on display or attend a wide variety of special event programming throughout the year, including film screenings, literary events, symposia, and community debates. Culture and art-related workshops and courses are also offered throughout the year, along with open maker space time for visitors. 150 Frank H Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612

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12. Art and Soul Oakland  Art and Soul Oakland

Art and Soul Oakland is an annual summer festival that celebrates local art, music, and food. Held at the Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland, the festival runs for two days and features a variety of local music artists and bands, as well as exhibitions of various visual art elements and dance. Past festivals have seen the likes of Lisa Loeb, Toni Toni Tone, the Pacific Mambo Orchestra, The Lost Prophets and Vintage Trouble, to name but a few. Food vendors offer homemade snacks, light meals, and beverages. An array of activities make the festival suitable for the whole family. 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, California 94612, Phone: 510-444-2489



13. Nido Kitchen and Bar, Oakland, CA  Nido Kitchen and Bar

Nido Kitchen and Bar is a cozy Mexican restaurant located on the edge of Jack London Square, serving modern, farm-to-table Mexican cuisine and drinks. Translated as nest in Spanish, Nido draws influence and inspiration from Mexicos central and Pacific coast, serving seasonally prepared dishes that echo the bold flavors and tastes of this vibrant country. The unassuming interior boasts scarred concrete and plaster walls, rugged benches and rippled metal doors from industrial storage containers, however, its the sublime food that grabs the attention here. Poultry, pork, and beef are sourced from local producers in support of the community and prepared in-house to ensure absolute freshness, such as their famous hand-made corn tortillas and creamy guacamole. Nidos bar serves an extensive cocktail menu, as well as a variety of tequila, wine, and beers. 444 Oak St., Oakland, California 94607, Phone: 510-444-6436



14. Swans Market, Oakland, CA  Swans Market

For more than 60 years, Swans Market was the heart of Old Oakland and its major shopping destination. After closing in 1983, the city block that housed the market stood abandoned and dilapidated until the developer EBALDC came up with an award-winning and inspired redevelopment design of the entire block. Todays Swans Market has once more become the place where the neighborhood gathers, eats, celebrates, and shops. Swans contains 18 affordable rental apartments, market-rate condominiums, and a range of businesses. Some of Swans renowned residents are the innovative Mexican Cosecha Cafe, Japanese Izakaya, Rosmunde and Taylors Sausages, and so much more. It now has the best Bay Area food court and is not only the heart of a revived neighborhood but also a destination for foodies from all over town. 538 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607, Phone: 510-287-5353



15. Dog-Friendly Restaurants in Oakland: Grand Lake Kitchen  Grand Lake Kitchen



Featuring locally sourced meals served in a casual space, Grand Lake Kitchen is a favorite sport for gourmet deli in Oakland, CA. Perched right at the tip of Lake Merritt, the dog-friendly friendly neighborhood deli is a very convenient spot for those who are looking for breakfast, a good sandwich, or to pick up some goodies to go. 576 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610, Phone: 510-922-9582

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16. Rockridge Neighborhood Heritage & Walking Food Tour  Rockridge Neighborhood Heritage & Walking Food Tour



The Rockridge Neighborhood Heritage & Walking Food Tour is a three-hour guided tour that covers one and a half miles and stops at six Rockridge eateries. Visitors learn about the food culture, the architecture, and the history of the European-inspired area as they walk through the area and taste the samples. Established in 2014 by Lauren Herpich, the company offers both public tours as well as private tours. Some of the food you can sample during the walking tour includes French pastries, Italian delicacies, dishes prepared by a local butcher, local and international cheeses, Chicago-style pizza, and ice cream. 3527 Mt. Diablo Boulevard #430, Lafayette, California 94549, Phone: 510-604-6546



17. Things to Do in Oakland, California: Esqueleto  Esqueleto



Esqueleto is a hip boutique opened in 2011 by popular New York City jewelry designer Lauren Wolf, offering two locations in downtown Oakland and in Los Angeles' Echo Park. The store strives to showcase the unique works of trendy independent jewelers and artists throughout the United States, many of whom are personal friends of the store's owners and employees. All of the store's staff are artists, carefully selecting merchandise according to their own artistic eye based on what they would wear and display in their own homes. In-house custom design services are offered by the store, along with personalizations of designs sold by artists. 482A 49th St Suite A, Oakland, CA 94609, Phone: 510-629-6216

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18. Things to Do in Oakland, California: The Terrace Room  The Terrace Room



The Terrace Room is one of Oakland's best-kept dinner secrets, housed within the gorgeous 1927 Lake Merritt Hotel building in a space originally opened in 1934 as the Cascade Terrace restaurant. Throughout the 20th century, the historic venue became known as one of Oakland's trendiest nightlife destinations, attracting major celebrities to listen to broadcasts of its live KLX radio shows and dance to performances by big band artists such as Count Basie. Today, the Art Deco-style supper club offers some of the city's most beautiful lakefront views and serves up reinvented American classics prepared with locally-sourced ingredients. Delicious land and sea fare served up at dinner ranges from gourmet fare such as petit filet mignon and health-conscious options such as Impossible burgers to Cajun-inspired options such as blackened catfish and Creole red beans and rice. 1800 Madison St, Oakland, CA 94612, Phone: 510-903-3771



19. Hopscotch  Hopscotch



Hopscotch is a charming Japanese-American-fusion diner in Uptown Oakland, originally opened in 2012 by owners Jenny Schwarz and Kyle Itani. The diner, which has been acclaimed as one of the Bay Area's top 100 dining spots by The San Francisco Chronicle, serves a seasonally-changing menu of classic American fare infused with traditional Japanese flavors and cooking techniques, highlighting favorites such as griddled beef tongue burgers with sesame aioli and buttermilk fried chicken prepared with chicory, fennel, and pomegranate. Brunch platters are served up daily during the morning and early afternoon hours, including soba biscuits and sausage gravy, pork belly Benedict with jidori eggs and yuzu-infused hollandaise, and tonkatsu sandwiches with cabbage slaw. Craft cocktails favor Japanese influences as well, with a full menu of coffee, tea, and sodas available as non-alcoholic options. 1915 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA 94612, Phone: 510-788-6217

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20. East Bay Regional Park District  Courtesy of Yuval Helfman - Fotolia.com



East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a vast system of pristine public parks and trails covering the Alameda and Contra Costa counties on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. Spanning more than 120,000 acres, the district boasts 65 parks, some of which are wilderness areas, while others offer a variety of outdoor activities such as swimming, boating, camping and fishing. The parks offer more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of trails, which link the parks together and are ideal for hiking, biking and horse riding. Within the East Bay Regional Park District is the Redwood Park, which is a tranquil, hidden redwood forest, which offers a peaceful place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. 2950 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, California 94605, Phone: 888-327-2757



21. Duende Restaurant & Bodega, Oakland, California  Duende Restaurant



A slice of Spanish heaven in the heart of Oakland, Duende is a cozy restaurant that serves authentic regional Spanish cuisine in a warm and friendly setting. Combining traditional and local influences with contemporary flair, a dynamic menu includes a variety of Spanish favorites such as Tapas and Pintxos, selections of Raciones and pans of Paella and Fideua. Striving to capture the spirit of Duende in a glass, the bar offers an impressive cocktail program made with fresh juices, a carefully selected list of Spanish-based wines and beers, and over 20 sherry offerings served by the glass. In addition to sublime Spanish cuisine and fine wine, Duende has a specialty cafe and retail shop called Bodega, which can be booked for private lunches, parties, and special events, and where Duendes collection of Spanish wines, coffee brewing gear, and delicious olive oils can be purchased. 468 19th Street, Oakland, California 94612, Phone: 510-893-0174



22. Things to Do in Oakland, California: Gray Loft Gallery  Gray Loft Gallery



Gray Loft Gallery has been acclaimed by Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle as one of Jingletown's don't-miss spots, originally founded in 2012 on the third floor of one of Oakland's most prominent live-work warehouse spaces. The gallery space, which was named as Oakland Magazine's Reader's Choice best art gallery in 2016 and 2017, strives to provide an alternative to the traditional gallery model for artists living and working in the Bay Area, showcasing rotating exhibitions in a non-traditional art space. Works by emerging, mid-career, and established artists are presented throughout the year as an attempt to engage the Bay Area community and promote the idea that art belongs to all. 2889 Ford Street, third floor, Oakland, CA 94601, Phone: 510-499-3445

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23. Things to Do in Oakland, California: Minimo  Minimo Minimo is one of Oakland's premiere independent wine shops. Named after the Italian word for "minimal, it focuses on natural wines and ciders from small, independent producers. A 12-foot communal table offers space for consuming purchased wines on site, with corkage fees waived on bottles over $20. Wines by the glass are offered daily. Visitors should note that the shop's tasting area is for guests 21 and older, and that walk-in groups of more than eight will be accommodated based on seating availability. Themed wine tastings are held on certain days. Guests can also rent the shop's tasting area for private events. 420 3rd Street, Oakland, CA 94607, Phone: 510-891-1024



24. Chop Bar, Oakland, California  Chop Bar Located near Oakland's Jack London Square, Chop Bar is a neighborhood favorite serving breakfast, weekend brunch, lunch and dinner. The menu features dishes made with locally sourced and sustainable ingredients from local vendors, farmers, and producers, supporting and giving back to the community where they can. A comfortable bar serves unique custom-made cocktails using seasonal ingredients, fresh juices and a selection of craft beers and drafts, while a new wine-on-tap system offers a choice of fine wines. 190 4th St, Oakland, CA 94607, Phone: 510-834-2467 More trip ideas: Top 10 Things to Do in San Francisco & Oakland with Kids.



25. Johansson Projects  Johansson Projects Johansson Projects is a contemporary art gallery located in Oakland and housing a rotating array of exhibitions from local and regional aspiring artists, as well as internationally renowned creators working in a variety of mediums. The gallery is well-known for offering a truly one of a kind space for the display of visual arts and innovative exhibitions due to the unique design and architecture of the gallery itself. Exhibitions here are typically displayed and organized in inventive, out of the box ways so as to provide visitors with unparalleled experiences that cannot be found anywhere else in the Bay Area. A true curatorial laboratory, Johansson Projects is a premier destination for curators, artists, collectors, and general art enthusiasts to appreciate, connect, reflect, and discuss great works, while also engaging with the wider art community on both a local and national level. The Johansson Projects contemporary art gallery is located at 2300 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612. The gallery is located in the Uptown neighborhood, easily accessed off I-980. If you're traveling to the gallery by public transport, there are several bus stops in the local area, only a few minutes away from the gallery entrance. Phone: 510 444 9140



25 Best Things to Do in Oakland, California

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TrueBurger, Oakland, California

Owned by two local Bay Area cooks, Greg Eng and Jason Low, TrueBurger is a stylish, contemporary burger bar that serves classic American burgers, fresh milkshakes and crispy fries. Made with daily ground and hand-formed pasture-raised beef without hormones or antibiotics, seasoned and seared diner-style on a fresh bun, its no wonder that TrueBurger is one of the best in area.

Accompanied by piles of crispy, golden, thinly-cut fries, and freshly whipped milkshakes made with premium ice cream and unique mix-ins such as toasted marshmallows, peanut butter, Twinkies, and Oreos, this is real American dining at its best.

146 Grand Ave., Oakland, California94612, Phone: 510-208-5678

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Whether you are looking for a last minute weekend getaway or planning to attend one of the famous annual events in the area, Santa Fe, New Mexico, is an exciting vacation destination, filled with beautiful architecture, a diverse selection of art galleries, shopping, fantastic restaurants and fun activities. Take a cooking class, watch an opera performance and explore colorful art galleries while learning about the towns rich cultural heritage. Here are the best things to do in Santa Fe, NM on a day trip or weekend getaway.

We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.

1. Canyon Road Arts, Santa Fe, NM  Photo Credit, Chris Corrie

Nestled at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Canyon Road is a picturesque trail showcasing the heritage of Santa Fes famous arts scene, with a fantastic selection of arts, crafts, shopping and cuisine to explore. Traditional adobe architecture reflects old world charm along the half-mile route, which is home to over 100 galleries, artists studios, quirky clothing boutiques, stylish jewelry shops and handcrafted furniture stores. Art collectors will delight in the variety of genres, ranging from modern and abstract to figurative and Native American, displayed in the galleries along the way, as well as an array of other art, sculptures and graphics. If you are wondering what to see in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Canyon Road is a great place to start exploring. Handmade gold jewelry and traditional Santa Fe silverwork glistens on display, while beautiful pieces of handcrafted furniture, Native American pottery, handwoven rugs and colorful Folk Art highlights the history of the region. If you are wondering what to do in Santa Fe, Canyon Road is a great place to start exploring. A number of restaurants and cafes along the trail offer delicious local and international cuisine in elegant or casual settings, with beautiful views of the surrounding landscape.

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2. New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM  Courtesy of John Tomaselli - Fotolia.com

Formerly known as the Museum of Fine Arts, the New Mexico Museum of Ar is the oldest art museum in New Mexico and showcases traditional, regional and contemporary artworks. Designed in a traditional pueblo style, the building in which the museum is housed played an important role in the Pueblo Spanish Revival style of architecture, for which Santa Fe is well known. Home to a permanent collection of over 20,000 works, the museum features works by Southwestern artists from the historic Taos and Santa Fe colonies, such as the Cinco Pintores collection, and the Taos Society of Artists, as well as new-age contemporary art from around the world. Contemporary collections include works by Gustave Baumann and Lucy Lippard, as well as well-known American photographer Jane Reeves and some Georgia OKeeffe paintings. Located within the museum is the St. Francis Auditorium, which hosts a variety of cultural and musical organizations, including the Santa Fe Community Orchestra. 107 West Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-476-5072

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3. Georgia OKeeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico  Georgia OKeeffe Museum

Named after one of the most compelling artists of the 20th century, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is the only museum in the United States dedicated to the world-renowned female artist. The museum is home to the largest single collection of O'Keeffe's work in the world - over 1,000 works, including paintings, drawings, and sculptures dating from 1901 to 1984, until the artist began to lose her eyesight. OKeeffes images are instantly recognizable in their large abstract forms. The museum also displays works of her famous contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock, as well as by living artists of distinction, and has a world-renowned Museum Research Center that is the only research facility in the world dedicated to the study of the American Modernism movement. 217 Johnson St, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-946-1000



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4. The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian  The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian



Founded in 1937 by Mary Cabot Wheelwright and Navajo medicine man, Hastin Klah, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian is devoted to showcasing contemporary and historic Native American art. The museum maintains a variety of important collections relating to the Native American Navajo and other tribes of the Southwest, as well as exhibitions of contemporary and traditional Native American arts, featuring celebrated artists. The museum has also achieved a reputation for showcasing new and little known artists through vibrant, creative and expressive displays of art works and other Navajo traditions such as beadwork, basketry, weaving and embroidery. Turning 75 this year, the museum is the oldest private, non-profit museum in New Mexico. 704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505, Phone: 505-982-4636 or Toll Free: 800-607-4636

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5. Santa Fe Farmers Market, Santa Fe, NM  Courtesy of s1rus - Fotolia.com



Established in the late 1960s by a small group of farmers, the Santa Fe Farmers Market now represents over 150 vendors and is New Mexicos largest farmers market. Operating year-round on Saturdays due to the demand for fresh, local produce, the market offers an incredible variety of agricultural products, from farm-fresh produce and nursery plants to handcrafted items and baked goods. If you are wondering what to do in Santa Fe on a Saturday morning, this is a great place to soak up the local vibe. All of the products at the market are grown or made in New Mexico. Since reselling is not allowed, all the products are grown or made by the vendors selling them, supporting sustainable farming and the local surrounding communities. If you are looking for things to do in Santa Fe with kids, this is a great place to visit. 1607 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-983-4098

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6. Santa Fe International New Media Festival  Courtesy of Gordon Bussiek - Fotolia.com



Santa Fe International New Media Festival is an annual media festival that takes place in Santa Fe that unites and celebrates both established and emerging artists from all over the world. The festival showcases artists works through a variety of mediums, including exhibitions, presentations, panels and workshops, and multi-media performances, all of which are free to the public to enjoy. Historically renowned for being a destination for the arts and technology, as well as its exceptional environmental beauty, New Mexico has fast become a popular gathering place for new media artists from around the globe to join forces and work towards the development and enhancement of art, science and technology.

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7. Heritage Inspiration Santa Fe  Roques Jean Chris/stock.adobe.com

Heritage Inspirations provides all-inclusive guided itineraries deep into New Mexico, combining adventure, culture, art, heritage, and nature of this magical part of the country. Their exclusive tours can be a full or half day and include meals, lodging, activities, and transportation. The tours of the Santa Fe region include the Bandelier National Monument Hiking Tour, Kasha  Katuwe Tent Rocks plus Wine Tasting Hiking Tour, Historic Architecture & Interiors Walking and Wine Tasting Tour, the Fashionista Shopping and Wine Tasting Tour, and Magical Heirlooms of Chimayo Tour. The groups are small in order to provide full attention to each client. The tours are luxurious, authentic, and sophisticated and introduce a New Mexico that regular tourists do not experience. Phone: 575-779-5516



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8. Santa Fe Indian Market  Courtesy of Santa Fe Indian Market - Fotolia.com

Taking place during the second week in August, the Santa Fe Indian Market is a Native art market and cultural celebration held in Santa Fe each year. Produced by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), the market has been running for 93 years and is the largest cultural event in the Southwest. Held each year in August, over a thousand Native artists come to Santa Fe to display their works in a week-long celebration of Native arts and crafts. The market draws visitors from all over the world to view and purchase the art, as well as learn about contemporary Indian arts and cultures. The market is preceded by Indian Market Week, which is a series of events that focus on the rich heritage and culture of the Native American people, and features Native film, music, literature, fashion and visual art. 215 Washington Ave, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504, Phone: 505-983-5220



9. Kakawa Chocolate House  Kakawa Chocolate House

Kakawa (meaning cacao or chocolate) Chocolate House is an artisanal chocolate company in Santa Fe that produces and sells exquisite handmade chocolates, rich drinking chocolate elixirs, and homemade ice cream. Drawing inspiration from chocolates long history, Kakawa fuses original Mesoamerican and Colonial chocolate recipes with fresh, seasonal ingredients to recreate new and innovative delights, including one-of-a-kind truffles and dark chocolates, rich drinking chocolate elixirs, regional agave caramels, and melt-in-your-mouth homemade ice cream. The chocolate aficionados boast a variety of contemporary flavors, such as Cherry-Chili and Acai, Pomegranate, Hibiscus flower, and Mescal, as well as an array of classic European-style truffles, such as Earl Grey, Espresso, and Classic French Dark. If you are looking for things to do in Santa Fe NM with kids, this is a great stop. 1050 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-982-0388

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10. The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art  The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art

The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art is the United States' only museum focusing on the art of the Spanish Colonial period, with an emphasis on works created by Hispanic Southwest artists. The museum, which was opened to the public in Santa Fe in 2002 in a beautiful Spanish Pueblo Revival-style building designed by architect John Gaw Meem, showcases an impressive collection of visual art, furniture, and textiles, including collections of devotional and decorative artworks. Exhibits include La Casa Delgado, which recreates the estate inventory of noted captain and merchant Manuel Delgado. Young visitors can try on traditional historical outfits at the museum's Costume Corner, including Spanish Colonial and 19th-century pioneer garb. Rotating special art exhibits are showcased, including national traveling exhibits focusing on Spanish Colonial art. 750 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Phone: 505-982-2226



11. Things to Do in Santa Fe: Astronomy Adventures  Courtesy of raydaddy - Fotolia.com

Experience the magnificent New Mexican night sky with a stargazing tour with Astronomy Adventures. Enjoying its second decade of star-spotting, Astronomy Adventures offers educational and entertaining guided night sky tours. Experience the breath-taking grandeur of twinkling stars on a pitch-black canvas without the interruption of city lights. Tours are led by a friendly, professional guide, who uses a large Newtonian reflector telescope to highlight interesting objects in the night sky and help make sense of what is being seen. With a diameter of 20 inches (.51 meter), this extremely powerful telescope can show impressive amounts of detail on the moon and surrounding planets, as well as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. Tours are offered throughout the year at the Astronomy Adventures dark site, which is a short drive from Santa Fe. If you are looking for fun family things to do in Santa Fe, this is a great activity. Your own transport is required.

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12. Things to Do in Santa Fe: Compound Restaurant  Compound Restaurant

Designed by Alexander Girard and headed up by Executive Chef, Mark Kiffin, the Compound Restaurant has become one of the region's go-to eateries for its distinctive style, elegant charm, and outstanding cuisine. Embracing the restaurant's rich heritage and regional influences, Kiffin celebrates these factors in his menu, which consists of an award-winning mix of Southwestern ingredients and New World flavors in dishes, such as braised pork-filled ravioli tossed in a Parmesan cream and black truffle sauce. Adorned with classic folk art and exuding a laid-back, distinctly Santa Fe feel, the restaurants has since been the recipient of many awards and continues to be one of the towns most popular eateries. Open all year round, The Compound Restaurant serves lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday. 653 Canyon Rd, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-982-4353



13. Jambo Cafe  Jambo Cafe

Meaning hello in Swahili, Jambo Cafe is an effusive mix of award-winning African-Arabic inspired cuisine served in a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere, and warm and welcoming hospitality from owner-chef Ahmed Obo. Hailing from the tiny island of Lamu, off the coast of Kenya, Obo draws inspiration from his deep African roots and his mothers aromatic kitchen, where he learnt everything he knows, to produce his very own exotic fusion of Swahili fare. Exuding aromatic spices, scents, flavors from around the world, with rich Arabic, Indian and European influences, Obos mouth-watering fare draws visitors from afar to dine on his unique dishes in a distinctly African ambiance. Tuck into fragrant, cinnamon-dusted plantains, spicy chicken curry or goat stew, or coconut-peanut kebabs surrounded by warm ochre walls adorned with paintings of lions on the Serengeti. 2010 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505, Phone: 505-473-1269



14. What to Do in Santa Fe: Second Street Brewery  master1305/stock.adobe.com

Second Street Brewery is one of Santa Fe's premiere brewpubs, originally opened to the public in 2010. Today, the brewery offers three locations throughout the city, including its Rufina Taproom in the city's industrial zone and a location within the Santa Fe Farmer's Market. A constantly-rotating selection of brews are served up at all three locations, including refreshing flagship favorites such as the company's 2920 IPA, Agua Fria Pilsner, and Boneshaker Special Bitter. Seasonal and experimental brews are also available at all locations, along with menus of high-quality gastropub fare. Burgers, sandwiches, and wraps are served up throughout the day, along with shareables such as New Mexico farmer's plates, buttermilk tempura calamari, and the brewery's signature beer-steamed mussels. 2920 Rufina St, Santa Fe, NM 87507, Phone: 505-982-3030



15. Santa Fe Opera  Courtesy of lapandr - Fotolia.com



The Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American-owned opera company that features a wide range of operatic repertoires, and hosts popular cultural festivals each summer. Established in 1956 by founding director John Crosby, the Opera Association of New Mexico began to present operas from its newly built Santa Fe Opera House and has since staged numerous American and international premieres, with several new operas in commission. Commanding breath-taking vistas of the surrounding mountains, the state-of-the-art, open-air Crosby Theater is a modern fusion of traditional materials with contemporary style, a fine example of an award-winning architectural design. The theater is surrounded by 155 acres of beautifully manicured campus grounds, also home to the Stieren Orchestra Hall. If you are looking for romantic things to do in Santa Fe in the evening, the Santa Fe Opera is a great place to go. 301 Opera Dr, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87506, Phone: 505-986-5955

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16. Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen  Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen



Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen is a global fusion dining spot in Santa Fe, owned and operated by Fiona Wong and Soma Franks since 2012. The seasonally-inspired restaurant offers excellent breakfast and lunch fare served up in an airy space in the city's Midtown district, crafted with fresh, natural ingredients that are sourced organic and sustainable whenever possible. High-quality dinner entrees include East Indian daal, chile rellenos, Salmon donburi, kimchi fried rice, and bison burgers, served up alongside shareable plates such as Korean-style drunken shrimp, patatas bravas, and yucca root flatbread pizza. Many vegetarian, vegan, Paleo, and gluten-free dishes are offered to accommodate diners of all dietary needs. An extensive menu of craft brews is available, served up alongside imported sakes and organic and biodynamic wines. 1512 Pacheco St Bldg B, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Phone: 505-795-7383



17. Things to Do in Santa Fe: Santa Fe School of Cooking  Courtesy of exclusive-design - Fotolia.com



Food-lovers, aficionados and gourmands will delight in the offerings at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, where you can experience Santa Fe's rich culinary traditions, learn the techniques of master chefs, and of course taste the towns unique mouth-watering cuisine. The school offers a range of culinary-based experiences, including regular cooking classes, demonstration classes by professional and award-winning chefs, hands-on classes and specialty classes, which focus on cuisine from a certain region. Enjoy fantastic Restaurant Walking Tours, where, under the expert guidance of one of the schools knowledgeable staff, you take a leisurely stroll to the restaurant of your choice to watch the chef prepare the delectable dishes you will be served for lunch or dinner before dining in style. The school has partnered with some of the best restaurants in Santa Fe to offer these unforgettable culinary journeys. You can also enjoy a Shop Walking Tour, where you can learn about local products and other appetizing treats before purchasing them for your own kitchen.



18. Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, NM  Turner Carroll Gallery



Turner Carroll Gallery is a world-class art gallery that was originally opened in 1991 by Tonya Turner Carroll and Michael E.S. Carroll, experienced art connoisseurs and gallery operators. The gallery focuses on international contemporary art pieces by established artists with museum resumes, including Robert Rauschenberg, Mavis McClure, Deborah Oropallo, Wanxin Zhang, and Fausto Fernandez. Many artists have been showcased at top museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Vatican Museum. Diverse works from around the world are highlighted, including important collections of pieces from Romania, Ireland, and Mexico. New exhibits are showcased monthly, with special events hosted periodically, including cocktail tastings, exhibition openings, and holiday events. 725 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, Phone: 505-986-9800

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19. Kokopelli Rafting Adventures  Courtesy of Alexey Achepovsky - Fotolia.com



Enjoy an exhilarating white-water rafting adventure on the Rio Grande River with Kokopelli Rafting Adventures. Whether you are looking for a challenging adrenalin fix or a relaxing amble down the river, Kokopelli has a variety of trips to suit every taste. The Racecourse: Kokopellis most popular rafting trip, the Racecourse is ideal for both beginners and experienced rafters, with tours ranging from a wild Class III+ ride during the high water levels of the spring, to a more challenging run as the water recedes in during the months of July and August. The tour takes you through a magnificent basalt gorge near the historic site of the Pueblo revolt of 1854. This fantastic trip also offers the opportunity for boat surfing and swimming along the way. Rio Grande Float: For a mellow meander, the Rio Grande Float trip is ideal. Float past rolling hillsides and rugged rock canyons in an oar-powered raft or paddleboat, where you can relax and soak up the beautiful natural scenery floating past.



20. What to Do in Santa Fe: Santa Fe Art Tours  Santa Fe Art Tours



Santa Fe Art Tours offers engaging experiential tours of Santa Fe's lively arts and culture scene, available Wednesday-Friday throughout the year. Private tours are available by request as well. The tour company, which was founded by Elaine Ritchel, showcases the city's top art galleries and museums as part of public or private walking tours for small groups. Tours prioritize quality over quantity, spending more time at each location to provide an in-depth art experience. Standard tour options include a two-hour exploration of Santa Fe's Canyon Road arts district, a tour through the city's historic downtown plaza area, and a sensory-focused tour experience that includes chocolate elixir tastings at the Kakawa Chocolate House. Special tour experiences offered throughout the year include art and yoga tours, Railyard district maker art tours, and culinary and art tours offering wine and cheese tastings. Phone: 505-985 5298, santafearttours.com



21. Rooftop Pizzeria  Rooftop Pizzeria



Perfectly located on the rooftop of the Santa Fe Arcade shopping center above the bustling streets of Santa Fe, Rooftop Pizzeria is an ideal spot to catch the sunset over delicious gourmet pizzas, homemade pastas and a mouth-watering array of antipasti and salads. Delicious antipasti such as smoked duck drizzled with balsamic and sesame vinaigrette and topped with roasted red pepper cream cheese or oven-baked prosciutto and stuffed Crimini mushrooms with melted mozzarella make the perfect start to a main course of Lobster Linguini or gourmet pizza with artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives and goats cheese. Wine is served by the glass or the bottle, of which there is an extensive menu of both local and international vintages, as well as bottled beer, ciders, and beer-on-tap. 60 East San Francisco St. # 301, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-984-0008

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22. Tomasitas  Tomasitas Boasting the best Red Chile, Green Chile and chilled Margaritas, Tomasitas is one of Santa Fes oldest restaurants, serving classic northern New Mexican cuisine for over 40 years. Located in the century-old brick building that was once home to the famous Chile Line, Tomasitas is owned by the Maryol/Gundrey family whose passion for New Mexico and its regional flavors shines through the restaurants warm and welcoming ambiance and heavenly menu. Casual and relaxed, high ceilings and worn wooden floors feature a station-like spaciousness with cozy booths, round tables and paper napkins. Live mariachi music accompanies the great food and long list of margaritas on Tuesday nights and food is served in authentic red or green ceramic bowls. Dont visit without trying Sopaipillas, The Bowl, chicken enchiladas with egg, and anything Christmas. 500 S Guadalupe St, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, Phone: 505-983-5721



23. Things to Do in Santa Fe: Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe  Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe Located just west of Santa Fes historical downtown district and surrounded by magnificent panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristos, Sandia, Ortiz and Jemez mountains, Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe offers a fantastic golf experience. Designed by master landscape architect Baxter Spann, the 18-hole championship golf course and executive par 3 course called The Great 28 has received several awards. The course is home to a 35-station all-grass driving range, manicured practice greens and a bunker. Professional staff and PGA certified teaching professionals are on hand to offer help and advice, a Pro Shop provides all the latest equipment and rentals, and The Links Bar and Grill is an ideal gathering place after a game. 205 Caja del Rio Road, Off Highway 599, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507, Phone: 505-955-4400



24. Peyton Wright Gallery  weris7554/stock.adobe.com Peyton Wright Gallery houses one of Santa Fe's most significant collections of modern and historic art, with a focus on 20th-century post-war and modern American artworks. The gallery, which is housed within the National Register of Historic Places-listed Spiegelberg House, is anchored around the estate works of Herbert Bayer and Stanton MacDonald Wright, known for its museum-quality showcases of Spanish Colonial art. Significant holdings include 17th, 18th, and 19th-century Viceregal paintings, pre-Columbian textiles and artifacts, and impressive collections of Spanish Colonial silver and furniture. Works by noted Modernist artists are also showcased, including pieces by William Lumpkins and Oskar Fischinger. 237 E Palace Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87501, Phone: 505-989-9888



25 Best Things to Do in Santa Fe, New Mexico

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Santa Fe Independent Film Festival

The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival was established in 2008 to advance innovative, independent, and cutting-edge cinema. For five days, the diverse community of Santa Fe, New Mexico, becomes a mecca for cinephiles and filmmakers and is the most attended area film festival. The festival promotes both emerging and established filmmakers by showcasing their feature and short films in the relaxed and unassuming atmosphere of downtown Santa Fe. Artists can meet their peers and fans every night at a different venue, enjoy the festival atmosphere, and form professional connections. Santa Fe has become one of the worlds biggest theater cities, with the 11-screen Violet Crown, the historic Lensic Theater, George R. R. Martins Jean Cocteau Cinema, the Center for Contemporary Arts, and The Screen.

418 Montezuma Ave Office 22, Santa Fe, NM 87501

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Around 4,000 people queued up outside and a total of 10,000 visited on the opening day of Swedish brand H&M . Photo vnexpress.net

Compiled by Thien Ly

Early in November NEM Vietnam, the second largest womens apparel maker in the country, said on its website that it and Stripe International, a Japanese fashion retailer, had begun negotiations for the latter to acquire a stake in NEM.

According to Hanoitimes, Stripe wants to take over the fashion business of NEM since it owns the NEM womens fashion brand, which has huge potential with 44 stores across the country and its target customers being women aged 20-40. NEMs revenue is expected to rise by 20 per cent this year to US$26 million.

The newspaper also quoted Yasuhary Ishikawa, the president of Stripe, as saying the acquisition of NEM is part of the companys plans to enter the Vietnamese fashion market.

Though NEM has not made an official statement yet on the deal, analysts expressed concern that the fashion industry could possibly be taken over by foreign businesses in the near future.

Industry insiders said the worry is not without basis since Vietnamese consumers, particularly young people, love foreign fashion brands.

For instance, when Swedish brand H&M opened its first store last September 9, a two-storey 2,200-square-metre flagship at Vincom ong Khoi in Ho Chi Minh, 4,000 people queued up outside and a total of 10,000 visited on the opening day.

When Zara opened its first store in the same mall last year, it reportedly achieved sales of VND 5.5 billion (US$246,000) on the first day.

Other popular fashion brands, such as Topshop and Mango have also recently entered the affordable segment in Viet Nam, with the former opening four stores.

Why exactly are such famous foreign fashion brands interested in the Vietnamese market?

A recent Nielsen survey found that fashion is one of the categories people are most interested in, with fashion third behind only food and savings as a destination for peoples money.

On average, Vietnamese spend VN100 trillion (US$4.05 billion) on clothing every year.

Viet Nam has the third largest number of people with a passion for branded clothes in the world after China and India.

Data from the Viet Nam Textile and Garment Group shows that the apparel industry is growing at a whopping 20 per cent a. The value of the market now is $4.5 billion a year.

The entry of famous foreign fashion brands is naturally intensifying the battle over prices, designs and international features.

The Viet Nam Retail Association said there are more than 200 foreign fashion brands, making up more than 60 per cent of the market, selling a range of products from popular to luxury.

Some once very famous local brands like Blue, Foci, Viet Thy, Ninomaxx, N&M, Sifa, PT 2000, Sanding, and an Chau are seeing their space shrink and have had to downsize.

For instance, Thoi Trang Viet Company, which used to be a phenomenon in the fashion market, has reduced its number of stores from hundreds at one time to just 60 now.

Viet Thy has only five stores left, Maxx Style is gone, Blue and PT 200 have to rent spaces at supermarkets and malls instead of having their own shops on high streets as they used to.

Some analysts say this situation is not just due to the consumers fondness for foreign brands but also domestic players lack of competiveness.

A majority lack deep pockets, talented designers and good management skills and persist with outdated marketing strategies. Thus, the domestic players cannot compete with foreign brands either on quality or on price.

Banks woo foreign investors

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, vice president of the Ho Chi Minh Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank), has revealed that her bank plans to sell 20 per cent stake for US$300 million to foreign investors before listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange early next year.

She said the stakes would be sold to several foreign investors from Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Viet Nam only allows a foreign investor to own a maximum of 5 per cent in a bank.

HDBank is now traded on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market at VN27,000-28,000.

For the first nine months of this year the lender reported nearly VN2 trillion (US$88.2 million) in pre-tax profit, three time the profit in the same period last year. Its assets top VN174 trillion ($7.67 billion).

For the full year HDBank expects pre-tax profit of VN2.4 trillion ($105.8 million), which is expected to jump to VN3.9 trillion (roughly US$172 million) next year.

Sai Gon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) also said it was in talks with some banks, investment funds and insurance companies from Norway, Indonesia, Taiwan, and mainland China to identify strategic investors.

It hopes to find players from the finance industry so that they can help improve its financial capacity, speed up its restructuring and bad debt settlement efforts and accelerate its development.

SCBs biggest attraction is that it is the first lender to be allowed by the Government to sell a 50 per cent stake to foreign partners, which is expected to bring in at least US$700 million.

VPBank also plans to sell 5 per cent of its total common stock, the maximum it is allowed to under the law, to the World Banks International Finance Corporation as approved at a shareholders meeting a few months ago.

The move is expected to help VPBank, whose foreign shareholding is now at 22.34 per cent, convert its commercial loans into equity.

Analysts said the biggest obstacle to banks efforts to find foreign strategic investors remains Decree No.69/2007/N-CP, which stipulates a cap on foreign ownership.

It limits foreign investment to 30 per cent in case of banks.

The limit takes away the attraction foreign investors have for banks since they have little chance of influencing the management.

Many bankers have proposed that the cap be raised to 35-40 per cent.

SBV Governor Le Minh Hung has also stressed the need to increase the foreign ownership cap at banks, saying it encourages lenders to attract investors with deep pockets.

For banks, increasing their chartered capital is a key task in implementing the high benchmarks of the Basel II Accords in the coming years.

Hung said however that increasing the foreign ownership cap is a complicated issue since it has been thoroughly discussed since Viet Nam acceded to the World Trade Organisation and so needs to be considered carefully before being changed.

The Government grants special approval for higher foreign ownership on a case-by-case basis.

Banks who want to have their foreign ownership caps increased need to seek permission with proper reasons. VNS
The revenue of Viet Nams retail sales market will reach over VN11 quadrillion (US$484.58 billion) by 2025 and nearly VN44 quadrillion ($1.938 trillion) by 2035. Photo vneconomy.vn

HA NOI  The revenue of Viet Nams retail sales market will reach over VN11 quadrillion (US$484.58 billion) by 2025 and nearly VN44 quadrillion ($1.938 trillion) by 2035.

This was revealed in the Ministry of Industry and Trades draft strategy on domestic trade development, which is being publicised for recommendations.

According to the draft, the GDP of the domestic trade sector will be more than VN419 trillion by 2020, VN700 trillion by 2025, and VN2.3 quadrillion by 2035, contributing roughly 15.5-16 per cent to Viet Nams GDP by 2030.

The annual growth rate (excluding the price factor) of the countrys total revenue from retail sales of goods and services for the period from now to 2020 will average at 13 per cent per year, and rise to 14 per cent in 2021-25. The value will reach some VN5.8 quadrillion by 2020, VN11 quadrillion by 2025 and VND44 quadrillion by 2035.

Domestic economic sector will account for some 80 per cent of the countrys total retail sales revenue by 2020, while the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector will make up about 20 per cent before rising to 70 per cent by 2025.

The proportion of modern trade models will be roughly 30 per cent, or nearly VN1.7 quadrillion, by 2020. It will rise to 35 per cent or VN3.8 quadrillion by 2025 and 50 percent or VN22 quadrillion by 2035.

Modern trade models such as commodity exchanges, auction centres and franchises will be also developed, and e-commerce will be boosted to have more than 60 per cent of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participating in e-commerce by 2020 and 80-90 percent by 2035.

For the period after 2025, the GDP of the domestic trade sector will reach some VN2.3 quadrillion by 2035, contributing some 15.5-16 percent to Viet Nams GDP by 2030.

The annual growth rate of total retail sales of goods and services will average at 14.5 percent per year in the period and reach over VN11 trillion by 2025 and VN44 quadrillion by 2035.

The trade system in the countrys urban areas will be streamlined to meet the standards of ASEAN 4 by 2035.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the strategy was drafted based on data during the period from 2011 to 2015 when the GDP growth rate of the domestic trade sector was 9.05 per cent per year. Besides, the ministry also based its strategy on the evaluation and forecast of commercial trends in the domestic and global markets.

Viet Nam last year was ranked by A.T. Kearney among the worlds top 30 retail markets with the best opportunities. The countrys retail market last year rose 10.2 per cent over the previous year to VN3.5 quadrillion, according to the General Statistics Office.

The market has been an attractive destination for foreign investors thanks to its relatively young population, a rapidly expanding middle class and high living standards.

Almost 60 per cent of Viet Nams population of roughly 93 million people is under the age of 35, and is becoming better educated and richer. The countrys average income last year jumped to $2,200 from a meager $433 in 2000, according to official data.

The World Bank forecast that Viet Nams $200 billion economy is likely to grow to a trillion dollars by 2035, with more than half of its population, compared to only 11 per cent today, expected to join the ranks of the global middle class with the consumption of $15 a day or more. - VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) will begin selling diesel under Euro 5 standard, the highest quality of the product in Viet Nam, from the beginning of 2018.

Tran Ngoc Nam, Petrolimexs deputy general director, said at a meeting with the Viet Nam Automobile Association (VAMA) held in Ha Noi last week that the group would sell the diesel at 1,750 out of its 2,500 petrol stations nationwide.

In addition, it would also encourage its agencies and franchised stations to sell diesel under the Euro 5 standard.

Currently, Petrolimex is preparing the necessary conditions to ensure the implementation.

Nguyen ang Phuong, production and technology director of Hino Motors Viet Nam Plant, said that automobiles designed to use diesel under the Euro 2 standard, can also use diesel with higher standards, such as Euro 4 and 5.

However, the use of fuel of lower standards in automobiles using higher standard ones, could cause technical incidents due to a high sulfur content.

This could also cause serious effects such as destroying cylinder liners and engine pistons, Phuong added.

He said that diesel under Euro 4 standard has not been widely sold in the market, thus making it expensive, at VN430,000 (US$18) per litre. It might also need to be borrowed from the Viet Nam Registration for experiment production of automobile samples.

It is for this reason that auto producers hoped that Petrolimex would sell the diesel under Euro 4 and 5 standards as soon as possible.A representative from VAMA said they proposed to the government to terminate the selling of diesel under the Euro 2 standard, when applying diesel Euro 4 standard. The parallel sale of the two types of diesel could cause confusion for consumers.

According to a roadmap set in Decision No 49/2011/Q-TTg promulgated on September 1, 2011, on applying emission standard, tourism cars and buses using diesel are required to use Euro 4 from the beginning of this year and trucks are required to use diesel of Euro 4 standard from 2022.  VNS
HA NOI  The Vietnamese Government is set to rein in the role of the State in the economy and encourage private sector-led growth.

This move is due to the countrys rising public debt and State-owned enterprises dominating the development and management of infrastructure projects.

The information is evaluated by Asian Development Bank in its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Monitor report that tracks the development of the PPP business environment across ADB member countries and provides insights for governments on structuring a sound environment for PPPs.

This is the first edition of the report, which will be released annually. It surveyed nine countries in the region, including Bangladesh, China, India and Indonesia, as well as Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. It will be expanded to include additional countries in subsequent annual editions.

The report aims to benefit both policymakers and investors by providing in-depth information and data on the business environment for PPPs over time, enabling infrastructure developers to assess opportunities across countries and sectors. Annual updates to the report will flag important reforms that could attract or deter investors, allowing policymakers to monitor progress in the PPP environment.

In Viet Nam, the PPP regulations (Decree 15) enacted in 2015 establish a legal framework aimed to attract more private investment toward the development of national infrastructure.

The PPP Monitor outlines the key advances in the PPP framework, which include enabling availability/performance-based payment schemes, removal of the previous limit on viability gap funding of 49 per cent of total investment cost, enabling wider scope of infrastructure projects to be procured as PPPs and establishing processes for PPP project identification, appraisal and approval.

From 1990 to 2016, the country closed 84 PPP projects amounting to $16.2 billion, with 79 per cent of the projects in the energy sector. However, there have been no PPP projects that have been implemented under this latest framework.

The PPP Monitor finds that current challenges include foreign lenders security issues, as the framework for credit enhancements and guarantee mechanisms remains unclear and the restrictions on mortgage over land-use rights in favor of foreign banks where land is conferred on a rent-free basis.

ADB President, Takehiko Nakao, said PPPs were crucial contributors to the development of countries in the Asia and Pacific region, but an enabling environment is required for these projects to succeed.

This report will help both policymakers and investors make informed decisions, manage risk better and ensure a more stable environment for PPPs, said Nakao.

The report reveals that India, the Philippines and Thailand have the most developed financial markets, which can provide longer-tenor loans (above 10 years) in local currency to support infrastructure. These markets also have a wide array of financing options, including project bond financing.

The report finds that China has the most PPP projects that reach financial close; but there is scope to scale up PPPs in the country by drawing on more private sector companies.

Among the key trends identified in this years report is that energy generation is one of the most successful sectors in developing PPP frameworks. Thermal and renewable power generation are the dominant sectors for the majority of the countries surveyed in the PPP Monitor. The water sector is also a major area for PPP investment, with over 40 per cent of PPP projects in the PRC in this sector.

Challenges remain for further PPP development, including enhanced development of financial facilities, further diversification of the investor base, managing the risk of fluctuating traffic in transport projects, developing a credible pipeline of PPP projects and expanding toward sectors beyond energy.

There are many ways countries can overcome challenges to PPP development, said Alexander N. Jett, PPP Specialist in the Office of Public Private Partnership.

He said among the solutions are greater use of credit enhancements to attract better financing terms, reducing restrictions on foreign ownership in PPP contracts and introducing annuity payment systems that are based on performance instead of traffic volume to mitigate traffic risk

Strengthening the institutional capacity to screen and prioritize projects can also help countries develop a credible pipeline of PPPs, while the development of sector-specific regulations for non-energy sectors would address concerns about key bankability issues, such as foreign exchange risk, said Jett.  VNS
HA NOI  The value of foreign direct investment (FDI) capital in Viet Nam reached US$33.09 billion in the first 11 months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 82.8 per cent.

The FDI value mainly came from new projects, additional investment capital and buying stake, the Ministry of Planning and Investments Foreign Investment Agency reported. Specifically, the ministry licensed 2,293 new projects worth $19.8 billion, up 52 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Some 1,100 available projects raised investment capital with total value of $8 billion, posting a year-on-year increase of 57.6 per cent. Foreign investors also contributed capital or bought stake with total value of $5.29 billion, up 57.6 per cent.

The Foreign Investment Agency estimated foreign direct investment projects disbursed $16 billion, up 11.9 per cent over the same period in 2016.

During the period, the processing and manufacturing sectors received the highest capital with $14.95 billion, equivalent to 45.2 per cent of the total. It was followed by electricity production and distribution and real estate business, with total values of $8.37 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively.

Of a total 112 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam, Japan led with total investment capital of $8.94 billion, 27 per cent of the total, followed by the Republic of Korea and Singapore with total registered capital of $8.18 billion and $4.69 billion, accounting for 24.7 per cent and 14.2 per cent of total investment, respectively.

Of the 59 provinces and cities where foreign investors have put in capital, HCM City has attracted the most foreign investment capital, with total registered capital of $5.68 billion, accounting for 17.2 per cent of the total investment capital. Bac Ninh Province ranked second with total registered capital of $3.28 billion, 9.9 per cent of the total. Thanh Hoa Province ranked third with total registered capital of $3.16 billion, equivalent to 9.5 per cent of total investment.  VNS
NINH BINH  Floodwater from recent typhoons have damaged thousands of one-to-four-year-old peach blossom trees in Tam iep City in ong Son Commune in the northern province of Ninh Binh.

The trees were being prepared for the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival which falls in mid-February, but have wilted and died, creating big losses for local farmers.

There is a large area of peach-blossom trees in Tam iep City. This is the time of year when farmers enthusiastically get ready for the Tet holiday. However, the trees were submerged in flood water for a week last month, destroying 43ha out of 150ha.

Pham inh Thao, a farmer in Village No 7, said that this year his family planted more than 130 peach blossom trees.

Before the typhoon, the trees grew well and maintained beautiful postures which were expected to bring high profits, he said.

But during the typhoons, more than 100 trees died, and the remainder are starting to wilt.

Thaos family estimates it lost hundreds of millions of ong (VN100 million equals US$4,400).

Another grower, Ninh Van Manh, a senior planter in the commune, said peach-blossom trees were very dependent on climate, so they were easily affected in the typhoons.

More than 50 trees of Manhs family were submerged.

To limit losses, Manhs family is putting great effort into caring for the remaining trees.

According to preliminary statistics of the ong Son Commune Peoples Committee, more than 4,000 peach blossom trees died since last month.

Chairman of the commune Farmers Association, Le Van Sy, said peach-blossom trees were a famous product of the commune.

Sy said that in the short term, local authorities and the association advised farmers to replace the dead trees with new ones.

They also suggested that farmers should dig drainage ditches and earth-up the trees more to cope with the abnormal weather.

With the remainder of the trees, Sy said farmers should give them more fertiliser so they would develop roots.

As well as destroying peach blossom trees, the prolonged typhoon last month also caused serious landslides in Tam iep City, affecting more than 30 households.

Pham inh Cu, chairman of the ong Son Commune Peoples Committee, said that in the past, peach blossom trees had been the most valuable plant in the commune. On average, local farmers sell 4,000-10,000 trees per year at prices of at least VN300,000 ($13) per tree. The trees are sold in nearby provinces and cities such as Ha Noi, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Nam inh.

Last year, the total income from selling peach blossom trees in the commune reached VN10 billion ($444,400).

The trees create work for nearly 800 households with nearly 1,000 people in the commune.

Head of the Tam iep City Economy Division, inh Huy Hieu, said that to develop the tree industry, since 2015, city authorities had supported local farmers with capital and technical guidance.  VNS
A NANG  Filmmakers and cinema experts at the seminar Viet Nam Film Festival in National Cinema Development, held alongside the 20th National Film Festival, agreed that the event has evolved over the years to increasingly reach international standards.

The seminar attracted managers, filmmakers, experts, producers and artists from the whole country. Though the film festival was first held in 1970, this year marked the first time it has included an event to review the role and significance of the festival in the history of Viet Nams cinema development.

"The film festival has been meaningful to encourage and orient filmmakers making their contributions to develop the national cinema industry," said Ngo Phuong Lan, head of the Viet Nam Department of Cinema, at the seminar. "The film festival has changed its slogan to suit each period of its nearly 50-year history. It is closely approaching standards of international film festivals in the world."

At the seminar, participants discussed the role of the national film festival in recognising and promoting the countrys best cinematographic works before and after unification in 1975. The festival supported revolutionary heroism-themed movies and honoured them during the war time. After the war and during the renewal period, the film festivals have highlighted movies that addressed contemporary social issues and the struggles of post-war society.

"The film festivals have shown movies which help movie-goers get to know more about the national history," said Peoples Artist ang Nhat Minh.

Awarding-winning works at the film festivals have not only become subjects for researchers and curricula at art schools, but also represent Vietnamese cinema at the regional and international film festivals and film awards.

The 20th film festival launches the ASEAN Film Awards for the first time to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN. The two festivals illustrate the potential for national film festivals to support regional and international integration, according to film critic Tran Luan Kim, former chairman of Viet Nam Cinema Association.

"Screening and awarding ASEAN movies within the festivals framework is a good idea," said Kim.

The ASEAN Film Awards will honour the best movie from nine submissions by Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The awards will be announced at the film festival closing ceremony on Tuesday.

The participants also discussed how to make the film festival popular and the importance of having favourable conditions for promoting filmmaking. Film producers also expressed that they need support from the cinema department to increase their competitiveness and reduce financial pressure.

Themed Building A Modern and Human Movie Industry, the 20th National Film Festival includes activities such as free outdoor screenings, seminars, an exhibition on Vietnamese cinema and exchanges between actors, directors, producers and audiences.  VNS
HA NOI  Valuable documents are being displayed at an exhibition titled A Century Alongside The Nations History to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the National Library of Viet Nam.

Items include ancient books made from buong leaves of the Cham people and a collection of Han-Nom books, which were written by hand in Nom script (the ideographic Vietnamese script that was widely used between the 15th-19th century) and feature facts and information on geography, history, culture and education.

Documents are displayed across four main themes  the establishment and development of the library; products and services the library offers; valuable documents stored in the library; and the honourable awards granted to the library by the Government which include labour orders, first, second and third class; and independence order, first, second and third class.

With more than 500 characteristic documents selected from more than 2.5 million, the exhibition will offer visitors an insight into the history of the library as well as the contributions it has made to the country over the last century.

The exhibition is open until December 17 at the National Library of Viet Nam, 31 Trang Thi Street.  VNS
Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapores Minister of Foreign Affairs and 2018 chair of ASEAN, tells journalists that to understand the blocs history and challenges, it is important to examine the external environment and strategic forces that have shaped it over the last 50 years.

What is your assessment of where ASEAN stands today and the future and present challenges it faces?

Today, ASEAN-10 has a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion and a population of 628 million people, which is larger than the European Union.

As always, ASEAN continues to be affected by external developments. Number one, the geo-strategic balance of power is changing again. The key change is the rise of China. And that will continue over the next couple of decades. Another key external factor is that the previous global consensus in favour of trade liberalisation, of economic integration, of investments is becoming very shaky.

The third thing which has changed is technology. Its transforming the way we live, work and play. Old jobs are disappearing, middle class wages are under pressure, and there are new jobs being created, but there is a skills mismatch. And it is why governments need to restructure economies, upgrade the workforce, upgrade infrastructure in order to create new jobs, and expand capabilities and skills in our people so as to provide them with new jobs.

The fourth factor is more an internal factor; which is whether ASEAN will continue to prioritise unity, cohesion, and consensus. Without ASEAN unity, there will be no ASEAN centrality. And today, when we have an ASEAN Summit, an East Asia Summit, we have top leaders from America, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and even the EU. If ASEAN was not successful, dynamic, united, and there was no centrality, I dont think all these people would bother to come.

So this is another thing which ASEAN member states will need to decide, because of our unique way of making decisions and achieving consensus. We must get the balance right between protecting our own national interests vis a vis advancing regional interests and making ourselves collectively have a louder voice, greater weight and more relevance to the rest of the world.

Otherwise what we have achieved so far will become irrelevant. So my point is: if you look at the geo-strategic balance of power, you look at the fundamentals of economic growth, you look at the digital revolution and then you look at ourselves internally, and look at whether we will remain united  all these are fundamental challenges.

What will be priorities for Singapore as ASEAN Chair in 2018?

So bearing these (above-mentioned) things in mind, when Singapore becomes the rotating chair of ASEAN next year, we have decided to focus on two themes  resilience and innovation.

Resilience because we have to deal with both short-term and urgent problems like terrorism, extremism, security threats, and even natural disasters  typhoons, floods. So ASEAN  both individual member states and collectively  we need to be resilient and be able to cope with all these crises.

The other area is innovation because there is a digital revolution. There is an urgent need to restructure economies to upgrade and up-skill our people, and to find new engines of growth. We hope that by addressing these challenges collectively, by interconnecting and sharing ideas, and creating a network of enterprises, entrepreneurs, smart cities, we will be able to harvest these new digital opportunities more effectively because we do so as one ASEAN.

So thats why we will focus on these two themes of resilience and innovation.

How important is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and what would be Singapores push for it next year?

We believe in economic liberalisation, we believe in free trade, we believe in an inter-dependent world where we are all invested and cross-invested with each other. We believe this has been a formula that over the past 70 years, has been able to achieve both peace and prosperity and that ASEAN member states have been key beneficiaries of such a system: a multilateral, rules-based system, trade liberalisation and international law.

We continue to believe in this and our first priority has been ASEAN integration, and thats why we have the ASEAN Economic Community.

The point Im making is that we start at home first by making sure that there is optimal trade and investment within ASEAN. Now, having done that, ASEAN has free trade agreements. I talk about ASEAN as a whole - with six other parties, and these six other parties are China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India.

So in a sense, the RCEP is actually just one more step beyond the existing agreements that ASEAN already has with these six. Its a very ambitious agreement because if you actually put RCEP together, I think its something like 40 per cent of the worlds GDP, nearly 30 per cent of global trade, its a very big bloc.

Singapore obviously believes and supports this; we are doing our best to help facilitate the conclusion of these negotiations. Actually. we dont just believe in having a RCEP, our larger vision is to achieve a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). And we believe that the RCEP is one of the avenues through which we can achieve this.

Singapore and Viet Nam this year jointly proposed the annualisation of ADMM-plus from 2017 onwards. Can you elaborate on this initiative?

Well, I cant go into details but basically the ASEAN Defence Ministers have been meeting regularly and I think that their view is that there are more challenges, for instance, dealing with terrorism, and extremism. They felt that closer and more regular interaction will enable them to be able to respond more effectively collectively.

And its good for our defence security agencies to meet, to communicate and to collaborate more effectively -thats the genesis behind it.

How realistic is a borderless ASEAN community?

No other multilateral organisation has members who are as different, as diverse, as ASEAN. If you look at the EU, or you look at other international groupings, no grouping has as much diversity as ASEAN. We have to recognise that.

Thats why we have the ASEAN Way  consensus, consultation, compromise. We may take a lot longer to make decisions, and we dont engage in megaphone diplomacy. But sooner or later we will get there. So I think one very important lesson is: dont run ahead before you can walk. We dont want to make mistakes, like, say the EU.

So I dont think we are going to get to a borderless ASEAN where we dont need passports and all that. But we can have a more integrated ASEAN. We can lower trade barriers. We can enable our entrepreneurs and our companies to work together more effectively to expand their business opportunities.

I see it as a gradual process of integration, of interdependence, rather than, you know  we are not going to have a common currency, we are not going to be borderless, you know, you will still need your passport. So thats our vision. So well do it in the proper sequence. - VNS
The Vietnamese Government has focused on housing policy over the last decade, in particular building cheap apartments or reconstructing old or deteriorating houses.  Photo cafef.vn

Education, health care and housing are all essential needs. The Vietnamese Government has focused on housing policy over the last decade, in particular building cheap apartments or reconstructing old or deteriorating houses. Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) newspaper talks to some experts on how to address increasing housing demand.

Vu Van Phan, deputy director of the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Agency

Housing development is the responsibility of the Government, society and people as a whole.

In its strategy for housing development by 2020, Viet Nam aims to build some 12.5 million m2 floor space of social houses in urban areas and meet the housing demand for about 80 per cent of university/college students and some 70 per cent of workers in industrial parks. In addition, we also hope to help some 500,000 poor households in rural areas refurbish their houses.

From now till the year 2030, Viet Nam will continue its efforts to improve the quality of social housing projects, particularly those for labourers. These residential areas will have essential infrastructure like transport, health care, education and cultural facilities.

In the National Strategy for Housing Development by 2020 with a vision to 2030, the Government will also focus on building more commercial houses to address the needs of better off people.

Under the current Housing Law, investment in housing development, particularly in cheap commercial housing projects, has to follow the market economy, with no subsidisation from the State.

Nguyen Chi Dung, deputy director of the Ha Noi Construction Department

Ha Noi faces many challenges in renovating its old buildings.

The city recently called for investment in a project to renovate 28 old residential buildings. Up to now, 18 investors have expressed interest in the project.

A principle in renovating the old buildings is that renovation costs should be borne by enterprises and residents. In other words, the interests of the people and the enterprises must be harmonised. At present, project financial problems have been settled between enterprises and residents, but planning has got stuck as many older residents dont want to leave.

Following initial surveys, some investors find that twice as many people as are permitted to live in these residential buildings are occupying them. This had become a big problem for investors.

Ha Noi authorities have called for the Governments help to solve the problem to ensure the project can be executed and the people and enterprises rights are protected.

According to the law, in any old building classified as the D level all residents in that building must move elsewhere with support from local authorities. But many refuse to co-operate with local authorities and insist in living in their old apartments.

If we want to renovate old buildings, besides having good mechanism or policy we also need to win support from people living in the buildings.

Nguyen Manh Ha, President of the Viet Nam Association for Property Brokers

Viet Nam has rather comprehensive mechanisms and policies on social housing development. They are appropriate with the countrys current socio-economic conditions. But applying these policies to reality remains a conundrum.

Enterprises investing in real estate should consider it their responsibility to participate in the Governments policy of social housing development and in some other segments of the industry.

Social policies, including social housing development, plays a very important role and is a driving force in the course of national development. Of course, to achieve the goal of developing social housing development as written in the National Strategy on Housing Development, we also need the involvement of the political system as well as the beneficiaries.

Nguyen Xuan Quang, President of the Nam Long Investment Joint Stock Company

Social housing and low cost commercial housing projects are important components in the national strategy for housing development and management. Of course, they are also closely associated with the urban development and management plan.

In the last decade, we have made a very good legal corridor for the development and management of social housing schemes nationwide.

Government Decree 100/N-CP/2015 on social housing management and development has achieved certain successes. It has helped many people with low incomes get apartments of their own in major cities like Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

However, there remain two stumbling blocks in the course of social housing development. For one, land clearance and compensation fees are still high and the Government should give a framework on the costs for infrastructure construction and other activities in social housing development projects  VNS.
HA NOI  The Vietnam News Agency on Monday opened a photo exhibition featuring the traditional friendship and solidarity between Viet Nam and Laos in Ha Noi.

The exhibition entitled "Viet Nam - Laos relations forever stronger than mountains and rivers" is part of activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of relations and the 40th year since the signing of the Viet Nam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty.

Member of Politburo and Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue , General o Ba Ty who is also member of the Party Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, representatives of Lao embassy in Viet Nam and many officials from ministries and authorities attended the exhibition.  VNS
The Finance Ministrys proposal that employers pay taxes and social insurance to one agency to simplify things has met with a mixed response.  Photo VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc

HA NOI  The Finance Ministrys proposal that employers pay taxes and social insurance to one agency to simplify things has met with a mixed response.

While the ministry feels that tax and social insurance agencies should be merged to simplify public administration and administrative procedures, opponents say they have vastly different, non-overlapping functions.

The ministry argues that the merger would allow employers to fill tax and social insurance information in one application and send it to one agency, instead of two.

It is also proposing that tax agencies inspect employers on both tax and social insurance issues, thus subjecting them to fewer inspections.

The ministry is collecting public feedback on this and other draft amendments to the Law on Tax Management.

According to the ministry, as of last year, tax and social insurance agencies were respectively overseeing around 600,000 employers and 300,000 enterprises or agencies who have to contribute social insurance for their employees.

Different objectives

Commenting on the Finance Ministrys proposal, Viet Nam Social Security General Director Nguyen Thi Minh said that objectives of tax agencies and social insurance agencies were different.

Tax agencies mainly focused on enterprises/employers while social insurance agencies followed employees during their working tenures and retirement until their death, she noted.

Minh stressed that social insurance was not merely a matter of collecting money. It also included advising, instructing, listing, assessing and paying the correct premiums. "This work cannot be transferred to tax agencies," she said.

The deputy head of Social Insurance Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Tran Hai Nam, noted that tax agencies did collect premiums on behalf of insurance agencies in some countries, but they were not merged into one.

"When tax agencies help collect premiums, administrative procedures and costs will be reduced, but there are other functions that will still have to be carried out by social insurance agencies," Nam said.

Former Deputy Minister of Labour, Pham Minh Huan, said a positive impact of the merger would be that tax agencies have information about labour-related costs, so employers would find it difficult to make fraudulent social insurance payments.

Former director of the Institute for Labour Science and Social Affairs, Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, also said that tax agencies could collect premiums on behalf of social insurance agencies, but they should not be merged.

Taxes are for the State budget but social insurance is for employees who would benefit later, she said.

If the agencies were merged, what would happen to health insurance or voluntary social insurance where participants pay the premiums on their own, she asked.

There are three elements in the Vietnamese social security system that employers are required to cover: social insurance, unemployment insurance and health insurance.

For social insurance, employers have to contribute 17 percent of an employees salary plus an additional 0.5 percent towards insurance against occupational hazards and accidents and disease insurance fund. Health insurance and unemployment insurance premiums are collected at three and one per cent of the workers wages, respectively.

Employees also contribute social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance premiums at 8 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 1 per cent of their wages, respectively.  VNS
This week, three videos were posted online by a mother in northern Ha Nam Province showing a domestic helper slapping a one-month old infant on her face, head and back, throwing the girl in the air and putting a towel in her mouth.  Photo vov.vn

HA NOI  This week, three videos were posted online by a mother in northern Ha Nam Province showing a domestic helper slapping a one-month old infant on her face, head and back, throwing the girl in the air and putting a towel in her mouth.

The domestic helper was arrested and said she had lost self-control during the incident. She hit the infant when the parents were away because the infant cried so hard that she could not do housework. The case raises big questions about the skills of local domestic helpers in Viet Nam.

According to a survey by the Gender, Family and Community Development (GFCD) Centre in 2015, 90 per cent of Vietnamese domestic helpers do not have professional training.

The survey also showed that nearly 90 per cent of domestic helpers didnt have labour contracts with their employers, leaving them unable to claim benefits.

Ngo Thi Ngoc Anh, GFCD director, said 98.6 per cent of domestic helpers are female, with an average age of 44.8. Each works about 11 hours a day.

Due to limited awareness, many of them are afraid of attending training classes and signing work contracts as they would be restricted by the rules in such contracts.

According to Nguyen Trong An, former deputy head of the Department of Child Protection and Care under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) there are no specific regulations on selecting domestic helpers, especially those hired to take care of children.

Domestic helpers may demonstrate bad behaviour such as stealing, being lazy and commit more serious acts of violence against children. These violent actions may stem from a helpers psychological disorder, he said.

Domestic helpers in countries such as the Philippines and the Republic of Korea must undergo health checks. In Viet Nam, due to demand outstripping supply, many families hire untrained helpers or those with unclear resumes, he said.

Families find helpers by themselves or ask for an introduction from others. They might not know that their domestic helpers are infected with communicable diseases or suffer from mental illnesses. Families must be careful when selecting such employees, he said.

According to Tong Thi Minh, head of MoLISAs Labour and Salary Department, domestic helpers have made important contributions to the global economy in caring for the elderly, children and the disabled.

However, there remain some problems. Many unskilled domestic helpers steal things or become violent. In Viet Nam, a legal framework on the matter has been issued but in fact, both employers and employees are not fully aware of the labour laws. The content in work contracts is unclear.

Criteria

Ngo Thi Ngoc Anh, GFCD director, recommended five criteria to select domestic helpers. Firstly, domestic helpers must have a clear resume verified by authorities and must provide their relatives address so host families can contact them if necessary.

The second tip is to check helpers skills in the sector. The employers should check helpers health to ensure they are not infected with communicable diseases that could be transmitted to family members as well as other illnesses.

The helpers cautiousness, enthusiasm, personality and lifestyles should be taken into consideration. Last but not least, a work contract must be signed to clarify the responsibilities of the helper and the family. - VNS
Innovative manufacturing is key to increasing productivity and sustainability as Viet Nam confronts the fourth industrial revolution ( Industry 4.0) challenges .  Photo baocongthuong.  n

HA NOI  Innovative manufacturing is key to increasing productivity and sustainability as Viet Nam confronts the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) challenges, experts say.

They said at a roundtable discussion and workshop last Friday that keeping up with the latest trends and technologies was imperative for the economy to remain relevant and competitive.

Organised by Viet Nams Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Embassy of Sweden and Business Sweden the Swedish Trade and Investment Council, the event aimed to strengthen collaboration between the two countries by sharing experiences and practices on technological innovations.

Swedish Ambassador Pereric Hogberg said that trade and investment between the two countries had been growing steadily, but there was room for further increase.

The challenges that Viet Nam faces in ensuring sustainable manufacturing and establishing itself as a global hub can be met effectively with expertise and solutions from Swedish companies, he said.

Innovation was an important factor in Swedens success, he added, noting that the country was ranked second in the Global Innovation Index.

Deputy Director General of Viet Nam Industry Agency under Ministry of Industry and Trade, Pham Anh Tuan, said that with the orientation towards industrialisation as the core economic momentum, manufacturing was receiving significant attention from both the Government and private sector.

Over the past few years, Viet Nam has seen a fast growing food and beverage manufacturing sector. Electronics and automotive components manufacturing were also growing quickly, fueled by major companies like Samsung moving their manufacturing and assembly operations to Viet Nam, he said.

Staying relevant

However, in order to stay competitive and relevant, Viet Nam needs to keep up with the latest trends and technologies in manufacturing, he added.

Tuan said that Sweden was considered one of the most sustainable and innovative countries in the world and its companies had a long history of providing world-class manufacturing solutions within assembly tools, packing equipment, automation, digitalisation and information technology.

Sweden is seen as one of the leading nations in applying Industry 4.0.

Brian Hull, general director of ABB Viet Nam, said that Industry 4.0 did not mean the removal of all existing manufacturing infrastructure and building something new.

The matter is to upgrade and improve existing ones, to keep innovating to increase efficiency, productivity and sustainability, according to Hull.

"No single company can adapt to Industry 4.0 alone; it requires co-operative work," he added.

For example, the ABB uses Microsoft platforms to develop and provide solutions to its clients. In Viet Nam, ABB has provided Heineken with medium voltage products, transformers, motor control centres, compact secondary substations, engineering packages, site management and so on.

The ABB has provided Vinasoy  a food company, with with automated pouch pick and place and box palletting systems that have resulted in greater safety and hygiene, consistency and precision in packing and less manpower.

The use of robots for various applications in electronics manufacturer including pick and place, materials handling and machine handling can generate better quality and reliability, as also locally responsive support combination.

Importance of data

Alan Fam, Business Line Manager, General Industry at Atlas Copco, said that data was the most important factor in Industry 4.0. "Data has to be collected, processed and used to provide smarter and more efficient manufacturing solutions," he said.

Fam spoke of manufacturing intelligence  a software to gather a corporations manufacturing data from many sources for reporting, analysis and communication between enterprise-level and plant-floor systems. He said the softwares primary goal was to turn amounts of manufacturing data into real knowledge, driving business productivity.

Nguyen Hoang Viet, manager of Technology Department at Thai Nguyen Province-based Song Cong Diesel Company said that the company provided mechanical parts for both domestic and international partners.

He said his company was looking for investment and co-operation to improve its manufacturing technology towards improved productivity and efficiency while meeting domestic and international requirements.

Nguyen Chi Hung, deputy director of Ha Noi-based Viet Nam Automatic Machinery Manufacturing said that many Vietnamese enterprises needed innovations, and his company consulted and provided suitable technologies to its customers.

By learning about innovations and new technologies from major manufacturers, his company could become a bridge to connect technology providers with users, he said.

Low starting point

Earlier on Friday, in his meeting with the Swedish manufacturing delegation, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Hoang Quoc Vuong, said that Viet Nams readiness for Industry 4.0 was relatively modest because its starting point was low and not much value had been added to its industrial production process.

Viet Nam wanted to develop its manufacturing sector with reasonable structure, and use advanced technologies to become more competitive so that it can join the global value chain at least in some industries, Vuong said.

He also said that Viet Nam had been fostering the application of information technologies in management and operations, considering it a priority in its industrialisation and modernisation process.

The country was also paying a lot of attention to preparing its human resources to master modern technologies and become innovative, he said.

He noted that small and medium sized enterprises in Viet Nam faced difficulties in accessing credit and acquiring management skills especially in shifting to new modern technologies.  VNS
HAI DUONG  Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am has called on society as a whole to collaborate in meeting the United Nations 90-90-90 Goals in HIV/AIDS prevention and control by 2020.

am made the call during a meeting held in the northern province of Hai Duong yesterday in response to the National Action Month for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control (November 10  December 10) and World AIDS Day (December 1).

The UN 90-90-90 Goals mean that by 2020, 90 per cent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 per cent of all people with a diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, while 90 per cent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

In his speech, am said HIV/AIDS epidemics appeared for the first time 35 years ago, and was discovered in Viet Nam 25 years ago with 250,000 infection cases and over 90,000 deaths reported so far.

Thanks to efforts of departments, agencies and organisations, HIV/AIDS infections and deaths have fallen in recent years. On top of international support, the Vietnamese government will allocate more budget for the fight against the epidemic and issue health insurance for HIV patients, the Deputy PM noted.

Viet Nam is the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to commit to the UN 90-90-90 Goals, he said, adding that awareness campaigns should be enhanced to make it easier for HIV carriers to be treated with ARV and protect them from discrimination.

According to the Health Ministrys Viet Nam Authority of HIV/AIDS Control, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS reported that there are more than 36.7 million living HIV carriers now and around 35 million have died of the disease.

2017 is the 10th consecutive year that Viet Nam has seen decreases in the number of newly-discovered HIV infections, the number of transmissions to full-blown AIDS and the number of AIDS-caused deaths. Each year, about 10,000 new HIV infection cases are discovered in the country, with most infections transmitted through sexual contact.

After the meeting, students and members of the armed forces took part in a parade to call on organisations and people to join the fight against HIV/AIDS.

On the occasion, the Health Ministrys Fund in Support of HIV/AIDS Patients granted VN200,000 to 60 children under treatment in the provincial Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control.

Representatives from organisations and businesses also offered gifts to local children living with HIV.  VNS
HCM CITY  The HCM City Peoples Committee on Sunday hosted an investment seminar on its waste-to-energy project.

Speaking at the event, ang Huy ong, deputy minister of planning and investment, said that burning garbage to produce electricity was similar to coal power technology. Therefore, the city authority has to carefully consider proposals submitted by investors to ensure technical parameters and capacity before signing contracts. Moreover, innovation also needs to be fostered for better environment protection, he said.

A representative of HCM City said it plans to call for private sectors investments instead of allocating the State budget for development projects.

By funding the project, investors can enjoy the land free for 11 years or a reduction of 70 per cent on land rent. Also, the city will adopt the subsidy policy for incineration generator projects.

On the occasion, several experts stressed on waste-to-energy as the innovative solution in waste management. International and domestic companies also expressed their interest in the project.

At present, the daily solid waste in HCM City is 8,700 tonnes, of which 76 per cent is to be buried and 14.7 per cent is for composite production. Additionally, there are about 2,000 tonnes of industrial waste, 400 tonnes of hazardous waste and 22 tonnes of medical waste. These numbers are expected to rise by 5 to 10 per cent in one year. HCM City aims to reduce the amount of buried waste to 20 per cent by 2025.

All project bidding will be publicly organised.  VNS
U.S. schools have been trying for years to encourage more reading of nonfiction, but its not working. The national What Kids Are Reading report says childrens nonfiction reading is up less than 10 percent since 2009. No more than 30 percent of K-12 students read that stuff.

What to do? Here are some clues as to what nonfiction seems most attractive to children these days.

The best information comes from Renaissance, owner of the Accelerated Reader system encouraging reading of all kinds and all levels in more than 30,000 schools.

The latest What Kids Are Reading report, based on Accelerated Reader data from nearly 10 million K-12 students during the 2015-2016 school year, shows third- through seventh- graders drawn to fiction classics such as Charlottes Web and Because of Winn-Dixie. They also like the 21st century childrens fiction juggernaut, the Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney.

No nonfiction books appear on the reports top 25 list for third-graders. Just two nonfiction works show up on the fourth-, fifth- and six-grade lists: Smile and Sisters, graphic novels about the childhood of author Raina Telgemeier, a San Francisco cartoonist.

The seventh-grade list has no nonfiction. The eighth-grade list has just one such book, Night, Elie Wiesels story of his childhood in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. The report includes books both assigned and unassigned by teachers, and this 1960 classic has been taught for many decades.

Night is joined on the top 25 lists for ninth through 12th grade by just one other nonfiction book, A Child Called It  Dave Pelzers tale of his childhood of abuse. It has withstood denials from some of Pelzers family and continues to connect with children.

While nonfiction books didnt stand much of a chance among the top 25 overall, there are books that rank highly in the nonfiction category compiled by Renaissance.

In the third grade, Penguin Chick by Betty Tatham is listed. Also highly ranked were Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates by Jonah Winter, Yonder Mountain: A Cherokee Legend by Robert H. Bushyhead, The Story of Ruby Bridges (a black first-grader at an all-white school in 1960) by Robert Coles and Young Thomas Edison by Michael Dooling.
NEW HARTFORD  Two Chinook helicopters touch down deep in a valley in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, in 2011 and 40 soldiers in full combat gear run out. Bullets start flying in from all directions. Everyone is pinned down.

Unlike an elaborate sound stage on a Hollywood film set, this scene had no actors or stuntmen. This was real. Enemy forces had taken the Do Ab District and a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) was needed to conduct reconnaissance of the area.

While planning for the mission, the more I thought about it, the more I thought, something just wasnt right, said Capt. Justin Foote, a Clive resident formerly of New Hartford and Nashua, then first lieutenant and Reconnaissance Platoon Leader, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 34th Infantry Division (Red Bull Division), Iowa Army National Guard. I just had that gut feeling. I dont know why that is. God works in mysterious ways.

Footes gut instinct was accurate. The only place the CH-47 (Chinook) helicopters could drop them off was in a pinch point between a raging river and multiple mountains.

Everyone was taking shots at us from all directions, Foote said. We were all alone on the valley floor with towering mountain peaks on both sides of us. I sat down behind a large rock and told myself that this is it, the last time that I will be alive and I wasnt going to go down without a fight.

Against all odds, these Red Bull soldiers, along with active duty aviation forces and a small force from the Afghan National Army, took back the district center of Do Ab. Footes platoon sustained minor injuries. Some had bullet holes in their uniforms and gear, but other than that, the group survived unscathed.

Being in a combat zone can be very stressful, Foote said. Constantly being on stand-by as a member of the Reconnaissance Platoon made for some long days.

However, Footes deployment was more than combat. With the help of his father-in-law and many other supporters, Foote gathered a few donated items to hand out to local children. As a father himself, it was hard for Foote to see so many children without the basic needs.

Clothes, shoes, socks, school supplies, anything I could think of, I had shipped to me, Foote said. I would just pull off to the side of the road in a town and put new shoes on kids.

Foote and his platoon gave out hundreds of items to local children they encountered while on patrols.

It did not matter to them if it was a new pair of Under Armour shoes, or a rugged pair of hand-me-downs. They liked them just the same, Foote said. I think that was one of the best parts of Afghanistan. It was something I could personally do to make an impact.

After his year-long deployment, Foote returned home to his wife and children. He faced challenges in ways many returning Soldiers do. His own children did not know him. His daughter was now 18 months old and his son was just three.

It was hard to be a stranger to my own kids, Foote said. Reintegration to civilian life with family and friends was difficult for me.

Foote decided to seek help for his reintegration issues.

A lot of people dont seek help and struggle silently for too long, Foote said.

As Foote maneuvered through reintegration, he remembered what he did in Afghanistan that brought him joy. Helping others.

He started volunteering in his civilian life to help his fellow veterans. Now, Foote participates in a number of nonprofit organizations including Operation Middle Ground, Cedar Falls AMVETS, the American Legion in Parkersburg, and Retrieving Freedom Inc., which helps train service dogs for veterans and children with autism.

I just wanted to do the right thing for my community, in Iowa too.

Whether its through heroism or helping hands, Footes leadership was recognized and he was awarded the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. Foote and his wife, Laura, attended the award ceremony in June, held at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

One of the highlights of my career so far, was to have my wife by my side as I received the MacArthur Award, Foote said.

With nearly 20 years of service, Foote continues to serve in the Iowa National Guard and volunteer in his community. His military experiences have allowed him to see the needs of those around him and offer support where he can. Foote attributes his reintegration success and recognition to giving back to the community.

On Nov. 7, he continued his community service with a program paying tribute to a fellow veteran who committed suicide.
WATERLOO  American Legion Post 138 at 728 Commercial St. has several events planned.

Today, tenderloins, burgers and fries will be served from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tuesday there will be bingo at 6:15 and 7 p.m., with food from 6 to 8 p.m. Brats, hot dogs and pork chops are planned at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

A pepper tournament will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, and bingo is planned at 1:15 and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Kiwanis Club

meets Tuesday

WATERLOO -- The Waterloo Noon Kiwanis Club will meet at noon Tuesday at the Waterloo Elks Lodge.

Dr. Ruselle DeBonis will speak on "Poverty, Social Determinants and Health."

Guests are always welcome to visit club meetings. Call President Julie Versluis, 233-1900 ext. 2016, for more information.

Holiday activity

set in Brandon

BRANDON -- A Christmas "Winter Wonderland' open house will be open from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Bear Creek Church, 5177 26th Ave., south of Brandon.

Music will be provided by Barb Riggle on the keyboard, and guests are invited to sing along.

Waverly cafe

opens Dec. 5





WAVERLY -- Volunteers are gearing up to open the 506 Cafe again from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5.

The fundraiser lunch takes place at the Waverly Senior Center and supports both Rally Point Cedar Valley Veterans and the Waverly Senior Center.

For $10, one can enjoy a holiday style meal with Christmas Eve chowder, turkey and beef sandwiches with poppy seed/mustard spread, swiss cheese and pickle spear, fresh lettuce salad, tater tots or sweet potato fries and pie.

Lunch reservations are not required, but help in planning. Call 352-5678 for reservations and carry-out meals.

AMVETS host

cookie walk

CEDAR FALLS -- The AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary will host a cookie walk from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Post No. 49, 1934 Irving St.

There will be free coffee and hot cocoa. Proceeds go toward the Auxiliaries Hospitalized Veterans projects.

Church will host

community meal

WATERLOO -- First Baptist Church, West Fourth and Baltimore, will host a free community meal from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday in the church social hall.

Parking is available in the church parking lot. Call the church with any questions at 234-1537.

The free meal is held the last Wednesday of every month.

Cheese festival

set at Hansen's

WATERLOO  Hansens Dairy will have its fourth annual Festival of Cheese from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Hansens Dairy Waterloo, 3015 Kimball Ave.

Attendees can sample cheeses and hams and receive a discount for cheese purchased during the event. There will be free peppermint soft-serve cones, Sidecar Coffee and Hansens hot chocolate and egg nog. Attendees can register to win a cheese basket or Hansens ham. There will be crafts for the kids.

The event is free and open to the public.

Library hosts

Santa event

FORT ATKINSON -- The Fort Atkinson Library will host its annual fundraiser event, Supper with Santa, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Fort Atkinson Community Center.

On the menu will be Dave's famous chili, Norske's chicken noodle, Norske's cream of broccoli, sandwiches, dessert and beverages. Carry-outs are available.

Cost for adults will be $6.50 in advance and $7 at the door; children 10 and younger will be $4 in advance and at the door.

Tickets are available from board members, Jeff Schmitt, Janice Myers, Theresa Burke, Bernice Pavlovec, Mary Schwamman and Penney Neuzil or at the Fort Atkinson Public Library, Citizen's Savings Bank and Lickety Split.

Basket raffle tickets are available for $1, or 6 for $5. Kids' activities and "minute to win it" competitions will be held in the upper level of the community center for $1 per child.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo woman said there was no reason for a sheriffs deputy to shoot at her husband during an early Wednesday vehicle chase.

Authorities said the deputy, who was on foot trying to set up anti-tire devices to end the pursuit, fired when the fleeing truck left the roadway and drove near him.

Miranda Norelius said Eric J. Norelius, 35, was driving to work at Tysons when a Waterloo police officer attempted to stop him for speeding on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. She said Eric Norelius was barred from driving, and he didnt want to have her Ford F-150 pickup impounded, so he refused to pull over and had planned to return to his home on Allen Street and leave the vehicle.

He went all over the place hoping he could lose the police, said Miranda Norelius, who talked to Norelius in the Black Hawk County Jail following the incident. He was trying to lose the police and then bring the car home. But thats still no reason why you shoot at someone that is unarmed.

One sheriffs deputy has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings, and the Waterloo Police Department is investigating the shooting aspect, which is also standard procedure.

I want him fired. You dont fire on someone who doesnt have a weapon, Miranda Norelius said.

Eric Norelius, who wasnt injured by the gunfire, was arrested for misdemeanor eluding, driving while barred and interference, also misdemeanors. His bond was set at $3,600, cash only.

The investigation is ongoing.

Police said the pursuit started at about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday and lasted about half an hour along a route that wound into rural Black Hawk County and then returned to Waterloo and ultimately ending in front of his home.

Miranda Norelius said authorities shot out the trucks tires and passenger-side window and Tasered and pepper sprayed Eric Norelius when he finally stopped on Allen Street.

That was after the chase when the truck was in the front yard, Miranda Norelius said. She said she was home and heard the gunfire.

Sgt. Gus Farmer with the Waterloo Police Department said there was no gunfire when the truck pulled over on Allen Street at 5:15 a.m., but that a deputy had fired at the vehicle about 20 minutes into the case as it passed through the area of Cedar Bend Street and Longfellow Avenue  which is miles away from Allen Street.

According to Waterloo police, as the fleeing truck traveled on Cedar Bend, a Waterloo officer and a deputy were out of their vehicles attempting to place Stop Sticks ahead of the chase. The truck drove across a grassy area off of the road, continuing the chase, and as the truck crossed the grassy area near the deputy, the deputy fired his service weapon in the direction of the truck. The pursuit continued for about 10 more minutes.

After the chase ended, authorities seized the truck as part of the investigation.

He said he just wanted to get the truck home, Miranda Norelius said. As long as the truck was home, they couldnt take it. Well, they took it anyway because it was used in a crime because he let the police chase him.
APPANOOSE COUNTY  Authorities are asking the public to exercise caution after a Cedar Falls deer hunter was found dead over the weekend.

The Appanoose County Sheriff's Office said on Sunday it had found the body of 31-year-old Curtis Ross, who went missing while hunting over the weekend.

An autopsy was conducted on Monday at the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny. The full autopsy results are pending laboratory tests, and the death is being investigated as a homicide, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

DCI official said the suspect or suspects are still at large and should be considered armed and dangerous. With shotgun deer season is approaching, authorities are asking for the public to be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity.

Rosss body was found in a remote rural area of Appanoose County in the public hunting land around Lake Rathbun at 115th Avenue near Sandy Branch, according to the DCI.

The case is currently under investigation by the Appanoose County Sheriffs office, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Appanoose County Attorney, Appanoose County Medical Examiners office, Office of State Medical Examiner and the Wayne County Sheriffs office.

The public is being asked for help in the investigation, and anyone with information is asked to call the Appanoose County Law Enforcement Center at (641) 437-7100.
Kim Reynolds said last week she would not rule out campaigning with President Donald Trump next year as she seeks to remain Iowas governor.

Not all of Reynolds GOP gubernatorial colleagues across the country feel the same as they prepare to navigate next years elections.

Reynolds recently attended a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Texas, where GOP governors discussed winning in next years mid-term elections while potentially facing some national political headwinds.

A decisive victory for the Democrat in Virginias recent gubernatorial election grabbed the attention of some Republican governors, according to a New York Times report from the governors associations meeting.

And other GOP governors acknowledged the challenge of running while the Republican president has an historically low approval rating.

Trumps approval rating is just 39 percent nationally, according to Real Clear Politics average of recent polls.

Any time the titular head of the party is underwater, obviously theres going to be issues there. You cant just ignore that, said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, according to the Times.

Reynolds does not appear to share Sununus concerns. Last week, she did not rule out campaigning with Trump next year, assuming she secures the Republican Partys nomination in the June primary election.

Well take a look at that moving forward, but I wouldnt say no, Reynolds said.

The disparity between Sununus and Reynolds perspectives may simply boil down to voter behavior in their respective states.

In Sununus New Hampshire, Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by less than half a percentage point.

In Reynolds Iowa, Trump defeated Clinton by more than 9 percentage points.

Reynolds, along with then-Gov. Terry Branstad, did not shy away from supporting Trump during the 2016 campaign, even when other prominent Republicans were less enthusiastic about embracing their partys candidate. And it does not appear Reynolds feels any differently now.

What kind of impact that could have on next years gubernatorial campaign  if any  remains to be seen.

Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University, said he could see multiple scenarios play out.

On the one hand, Goldford said, voter turnout historically drops in midterm elections, which then become more about appealing to the parties base supporters.

In that regard, to the extent that Trump appeals to that more populist base, that could help (Reynolds), Goldford said.

On the other hand, he added, campaigning with Trump could subject Reynolds to questions about the authenticity of her support for preventing and addressing sexual harassment and sexual assault. Trump has been accused of harassment by at least a dozen women and has supported Alabamas GOP U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by eight women.

Campaigning with Trump also could motivate more Democratic and no-party voters to turn out and vote against Reynolds, Goldford said.

It raises questions of her commitment to the prohibition and prevention of sexual harassment, and could continue energizing likely voters that might not have turned out otherwise, Goldford said.

Reynolds is between a political rock and a hard place when it comes to campaigning with Trump, said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University.

Because Iowa voted for Trump, Reynolds needs to appeal to those voters, Schmidt said. But, he added, she also must appeal to no-party voters, the type polls show are not happy with Trump.

Iowa voted for Trump, so she needs to harvest the voters that turned out for him. They like him. The base of the party in Iowa and around the country is still on board with Trump, Schmidt said. She also needs to argue that she can get enough of a slice of nonparty voters compared to the other GOP contenders, because there are not enough Republicans to win an election. ... Can she campaign with Trump and then pivot away from him for the general election?
Iowa once envisioned four private companies managing its formerly state-run $4.3 billion Medicaid system, which serves 600,000.

Thats down to two with one at capacity, leaving 215,000 people recently abandoned by a departing company in the lurch. Federal rules require more than one choice.

The Medicaid health program was established in 1965 (along with Medicare) to assist those with low incomes, the disabled, children and people living in nursing homes.

The federal government and states share costs. The program initially was administered by state employees, but is now managed by private companies in various degrees in 39 states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The PwC consulting firm reported 54.7 million of the 70 million enrolled in Medicaid were in privately managed programs in 2016.

Iowas switch from a well-run state program to privatization was the brainchild of former Gov. Terry Branstad  without legislative input  in December 2015. He cited undocumented savings of $51 million in the first six months, $110 million the first year and $232 million the next  fanciful then and now.

Companies were required to spend at least 88 percent on health services  a monthly allotment for each person managed determined by numerous factors, including disability level. The remaining 12 percent  around $500 million  was for administrative expenses.

Iowa contracted with WellCare, AmeriHealth Caritas, Amerigroup Iowa and UnitedHealthcare of the River Valley to manage Medicaid.

Before the transition in April 2016, WellCare was out.

An administrative law judge recommended rejecting it for failing to disclose three executives were convicted of misusing Medicaid money and it had paid $138 million to resolve overbilling Medicare and Medicaid.

Earlier this year, the remaining three companies complained about staggering losses, each exceeding $100 million during the first year: AmeriHealth Caritas nearly $300 million; Amerigroup Iowa, $133 million and UnitedHealthcare of the River Valley more than $100 million.

Now AmeriHealth Caritas is gone, too.

The Philadelphia-based company managed care for 215,000, including most of the severely disabled. Its departure followed a dispute with the Iowa Department of Human Services, which wouldnt provide the data to justify Medicaid payment rates.

According to the Des Moines Register, AmeriHealth market president Cheryl Harding wrote then-DHS Director Chuck Palmer in June that the states rates do not support a sustainable Medicaid managed-care program.

The dispute focused on 11,250 people in the Intellectual Disability Waiver program requiring expensive services, including adult daycare to remain at home. Based on a consultants report, AmeriHealth  which managed 80 percent of that group  maintained it was shorted $53 million for nine months in 2016.

On the other hand, AmeriHealth didnt make a great impression.

It had threatened to stop reimbursing the 2,000 physicians and practitioners in the Mercy Health Network, a group of Catholic hospitals and clinics including Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo and Sartori Memorial Hospital in Cedar Falls.

Neal Siegel, a former West Liberty financial consultant who suffered severe brain injuries after a hit-and-run bicycle crash, sued the state after AmeriHealth cut his home health-care reimbursement from more than $7,000 to nearly $3,000. Six other Medicaid recipients are part of that action.

Amerigroup has informed the state it cant take any AmeriHealths patients, which  even if UnitedHealthcare can  violates federal rules requiring more than one option.

Meanwhile, privatization complaints have abounded, including the failure to pay providers in a timely fashion and cuts in services. During a three-month period ending last March, they soared from 343 to 1,268.

Earlier this month, UnityPoint Health, which includes Allen Hospital in Waterloo, notified its nearly 54,000 Medicaid patients they could need new health-care providers because of a contract impasse with Amerigroup. (The Mercy Health Network resolved contract differences with AmeriHealth last spring after warning its 123,000 Medicaid patients.)

Now the DHS has given the Medicaid reins to Michael Randol, formerly head of KanCare, Kansas privatized Medicaid program, which the Obama administration determined was substantially out of compliance.

The Wichita Eagle reported, The states failure to ensure effective oversight of the program put the lives of enrollees at risk and made it difficult for them to navigate their benefits, the investigators found. They cited concerns about the transparency and effectiveness.

Among the findings, Public feedback consistently describes a lack of engagement and adversarial communication from the state.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback blamed political bias, but Rachelle Colombo, the Kansas Medical Societys director of government affairs, disagreed. These are not new issues that are being brought to light. They deserve serious reconciliation, she said.

That doesnt inspire confidence in Randol, aside from Kansas mind-boggling governmental incompetence.

With Gov. Kim Reynolds predicting, We are anticipating another tough budget year, it will be imperative for privatization supporters to right the Medicaid ship as soon as possible.
Q: Should you tip the carryout person that carries your groceries out to the car? If so, how much should you tip? And do they get to keep these tips?

A: We checked with local staff at Fareway and Hy-Vee, who said tips are not expected and employees are not supposed to accept them.

Q: Do Fareway, Hy-Vee and Aldis all accept Apply Pay?

A: According to calls to the local stores, Hy-Vee does not accept it right now, while Fareway does. The Aldis corporate office did not return a request for information.

Q: Can you print the phone number of the lady who was an artist at the Festival of Trees that displayed her paintings there with one that had a beautiful Christmas tree?

A: It was artist Alice Dolgener; you can find her contact information on her website, http://artbyalicedolgener.com.

Q: Is Hy-Vee corporate-run or employee-owned?

A: Its both. An employee profit-sharing plan was established in 1960, letting employees share in the ownership of the company. At the same time, Hy-Vee is a corporation with some 240 supermarkets throughout the Midwest.

Q: Do the people of Puerto Rico pay taxes?

A: According to a recent New York Time report, Most people in Puerto Rico dont pay federal income taxes, but they do pay Social Security, Medicare, import, export and commodity taxes. Their federal tax bills add up to more than $3 billion a year.

Q: Does the law that says you cant text while driving also apply to reading texts, or does it just ban sending them?

A: Under the law, police can pull over drivers they suspect of using their phone while behind the wheel, writing, sending or viewing an electronic message.

Q: Who owns United Technologies, the company buying out Rockwell Collins? Where are its headquarters?

A: United Technologies is a publicly traded conglomerate based in Farmington, Conn.

Q: How do they decide who gets called for jury duty?

A: Jurors are randomly identified from a master jury list using an electronic data processing system. The master jury list is composed of names of citizens who are on the current voter registration list provided by the secretary of state or the current motor vehicle operators list or the nonoperator identification list provided by the Department of Transportation. The master jury list is updated on an annual basis. The master jury list may be supplemented with names from any other comprehensive list of persons residing in the county if deemed appropriate by the state court administrator, according to the Iowa Judicial Branch.
Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Nov. 22, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Nov. 22, 2017 | 11:48 AM | PADUCAH, KY

A West Paducah man was arrested Tuesday after police noticed a Facebook post in which he bragged about shooting a deer illegally.



The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says detectives learned 35-year-old Robert Morris Sr. of West Paducah had killed a deer and posted a picture of the deer and rifle on Facebook. Morris, a convicted felon, is unable to lawfully possess a firearm or ammunition.



Deputies went to Morris' home on Childress Road and saw the truck matching the one in his Facebook post. Detectives saw Morris standing beside the truck in hunting attire, and he reportedly admitted that he had rifle in the truck. They also found ammunition on him during a search.



A search of the truck revealed a .243 bolt action hunting rifle, antlers from a deer and numerous other items used for hunting.



Morris was arrested and booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, hunting without a license and illegal taking of a deer.
By The Associated Press Nov. 27, 2017 | 04:52 AM | BIRMINGHAM, AL

President Donald Trump came to the aid of embattled Republican Roy Moore by criticizing Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee in the hotly contested Alabama Senate race.

In a pair of Sunday tweets, Trump said it would be a "disaster" for a Democrat to win the Dec. 12 election.

The president's words could be a boost to Moore. Two women have accused Moore of sexually assaulting or molesting them decades ago, when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers. At least five others have said he pursued romantic relationships when they were teenagers and he was a prosecutor. He's denied the allegations.

Moore quickly touted Trump's words on social media and in a fundraising appeal to supporters.

Jones' campaign said Moore was "unfit" for office even before the allegations surfaced.
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UK Industrial Strategy highlights 'vital part' of nuclear power

27 November 2017

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The nuclear sector is "integral to increasing productivity and driving growth" in the UK, according to the government's Industrial Strategy White Paper launched today. In the UK, a White Paper is a government report giving information or proposals on an issue.

Unveiling the White Paper, Business Secretary Greg Clark said the strategy sets out a long-term vision for how Britain can build on its economic strengths, address its productivity performance, embrace technological change and boost the earning power of people across the UK.

"Nuclear is a vital part of our energy mix, providing low-carbon power now and into the future," the document says, adding that the safe and efficient decommissioning of the country's nuclear legacy is an area of "world leading expertise".

The nuclear sector, under the leadership of Lord (John) Hutton, is "in advanced discussions with the government on a range of ambitious proposals to increase competitiveness and achieve greater value at both national and regional levels", it says.

Together with Richard Harrington, the minister for energy and industrial strategy at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Hutton co-chairs the Nuclear Industry Council (NIC), which was re-established in February 2017 following a review by government and industry. The NIC's primary role is to provide strategic leadership to the nuclear industry. Among its responsibilities is oversight of the development and delivery of a nuclear Sector Deal as part of the government's Industrial Strategy.

Sector Deal



The strategy states that industry-led proposals for a nuclear Sector Deal focus on how, working with the government, substantial cost reductions can be achieved across the UK's new build and decommissioning programmes.

"There are shared interests in improving productivity and the opportunities to improve the UK's competitiveness, domestic capability and export growth. The sector's proposals cover the supply chain, nuclear R&D and skills, where the aim of the deal is to help deliver the diverse workforce needed for the future, supporting a potential 100,000 jobs from Cumbria, north Wales, Somerset, Essex and Suffolk," it says.

Further details of their ongoing discussions will be announced in the coming weeks, it adds.

Hutton, who is also chairman of the UK's Nuclear Industry Association, said the government's Industrial Strategy "recognises both that low-carbon, secure and reliable nuclear power is a 'vital part of our energy mix' and the wider economic contribution the nuclear industry can continue to make across the UK".

He added: "Every year our power stations have generated home grown electricity for homes, businesses and public services, provided tens of thousands of skilled long-term jobs and avoided the emission of millions of tonnes of CO2. As we build new capacity to replace retiring power stations, and decommission old ones, the UK is well placed to develop supply chains, skills and international opportunities for the long term. Industry has made significant progress with government towards agreeing a sector deal which will maximise those opportunities and help improve productivity, foster innovation and reduce cost."

Clean growth



In its Industrial Strategy, the government has identified four "grand challenges", meaning global trends that will shape the country's "rapidly changing future". These include 'clean growth', which the government explained in its Clean Growth Strategy, issued by BEIS on 12 October.

That strategy states the UK played a central role in securing the 2015 Paris Agreement in which, for the first time, 195 countries (representing over 90% of global economic activity) agreed stretching national targets to keep the global temperature rise below two degrees.

BEIS said it had welcomed early work on sector deals in nuclear, auto manufacturing and industrial digitalisation, all of which are "central to productivity in the low-carbon economy". The strategy highlights the delivery of new nuclear capacity through the final investment decision last year on Hinkley Point C - under construction in Somerset, England - and the government's intention to "progress discussions with developers to secure a competitive price for future projects in the pipeline". It states the need to bring down the costs of nuclear power while maintaining safety by investing in innovation that will help plants to be built to time and budget.

The government has asked the Nuclear Innovation and Research Office to convene a new advisory board, building on the success of the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board. The board will provide independent expertise and advice to support and inform the government's Nuclear Innovation Programme.

The government also announced in that strategy that it will invest GBP7.0 million ($9.3 million) to further develop the capability and capacity of nuclear regulators to support the development of advanced technologies.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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MEXICO CITY - Four American hikers stuck on Mexico's Citlaltepetl volcano, located at the border of the states of Puebla and Veracruz, have been rescued, while a fifth is still missing, Puebla's office of civil protection announced on Sunday.

This handout photo released by the Health Ministry of the state of Puebla and the Advanced Medical Emergencies System (SUMA) shows paramedics moving on a stretcher one of four US citizens rescued when they were injured while climbing the inactive Citlaltepetl volcano in Puebla state, Mexico on November 26, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Two of the five mountaineers were found on Saturday night, before being taken for treatment at a Mexico City hospital. On Sunday, rescue workers found two more of the group, who are currently being treated at a medical center in Puebla."A fifth man is missing, who can only be rescued by land, and Mexico's mountain rescue service is handling it," said the civil protection office on Twitter.On Saturday, the five climbers were reported as stuck towards the summit of Citlalteptel, with several sources reporting they were in the area known as El Sarcofago (The Sarcophagus), 5,200m above sea level.The Citlaltepetl is Mexico's highest volcano and mountain and is more commonly known as Pico de Orizaba.
Nov 27, 2017 | By Benedict

A man in China recently became the first patient in the world to receive a 3D printed tantalum knee joint implant during knee surgery. The procedure was carried out at First Hospital Affiliated to Southwest Hospital, a hospital in Chongqing municipality in southwest China.

It seems not a day goes by without some impressive milestone being reached in medical 3D printing. November 21 was no different, and that days breakthrough involved Zhang Jingui, an 84-year-old Chinese man, who was fitted with a 3D printed knee joint made from tantalum, a hard silver-gray metal.

Carried out by doctors from the First Hospital Affiliated to Southwest Hospital, the procedure involved filling a large bone defect with the 3D printed implant.

In a general sense, knee surgery of this kind isnt rare: a whopping 62 per cent of people in their fifties are afflicted with some sort of arthritis, and 2.2 to 3.5 per cent of Chinese people have reported suffering from knee osteoarthritis.

These high numbers mean that Southwest Hospital alone performs around 400 knee replacement surgeries per year.

Total knee replacement is the most effective way to treat late-stage knee diseases, as it can reduce the pain for patients and improve their quality of life, commented Yang Liu, a professor and head of surgery at Southwest Hospital and member of the National Key Research and Development Program of China.

Traditionally, knee replacement procedures have involved the use of cement implants or bone grafts, both of which can cause problems that affect the lifespan and stability of the implant.

Whats exciting about this latest procedure is that 3D printing was used to create the patient-specific implant, and that tantaluma hard metal that is less commonly used than titaniumwas used to fabricate the medical device.

Usually, the high melting point of tantalum (3,020C) makes it impractical to use on metal 3D printers. However, with specialist equipment, Southwest Hospital was able to 3D print Zhang Jinguis knee implant in the material.

One of the secrets to making it 3D printable was designing a porous 3D model, which was also tailor-made for the patients particular knee problem using visual data from CT scans. Using the scan data, staff were able to digitally reconstruct the defective knee before virtually simulating the implantation procedure.

The 3D printing itself was carried out in collaboration with a local 3D printing bureau.

According to the surgeons involved, the 3D printed tantalum implant is more compact and stable than a titanium implant would have been, factors that simplified the surgical procedure and reduced the risk of complication.

Tantalum also offers better biocompatibility and improved bone ingrowth, meaning the patient can hopefully look forward to better freedom of movement and a longer life for his new knee.

Despite being 84 years old, the history-making patient has already been able to complete some basic leg movements, and could be up and walking out of the hospital in just four to five days.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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by Paul Braterman

EVOLUTION: What the Fossils Say and why it Matters, Donald R. Prothero (2nd edition)

If you are interested in evolution, get this book. And make sure that your library gets it. And your children's high school library. Incidentally, it's incredible value; list price $35.00/27.95 from Columbia University Press, with over 400 lavishly illustrated pages.

The book is a comprehensive survey of the fossil record, supplemented at times with other evidence, and framed as one long argument against creationism. It opens with a general discussion of the ideas behind current evolutionary thinking, moves on to a survey of specific topics in (mainly animal) evolution, from the origins of life to the emergence of humanity, and concludes with a brief discussion of the threat that creationism poses to rational thinking. The argument is laid out clearly in the seemingly artless prose of an accomplished writer in love with his subject matter, with plain language explanations that presume no prior knowledge, while the detailed discussions of specific topics give enough detail to be of value, I would imagine, even to a professional in the field. The author is an experienced educator and researcher, with thirty books ranging from the highly technical to the popular, some 300 research papers, and numerous public appearances to his credit, and the work is copiously illustrated with photos, diagrams, and drawings by the author's colleague, Carl Buell. These illustrations are an integral part of the work, graphically displaying the richness of the data at the heart of the argument.

The first edition of this book appeared in 2007, when it was the year's American Association of Publishers outstanding book in earth science, and while progress in the past decade has been less dramatic than in the two decades preceding, nonetheless this update is most timely.

The author's Prologue lays out the agenda: "Instead of the embarrassingly poor [fossil] record that Darwin faced in 1859, we now have an embarrassment of riches." To which one might now also add the records in molecular biology, embryology, and historical biogeography. The final paragraphs of the book summarise the motivation: "Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the pre-eminent story of our age, an epic saga about who we are, where we come from, and where we are going."

As an integral part of the author's strategy, we have quotations from creationist writers that show their arguments to be at best uninformed, at worst consciously dishonest. To a UK audience, this may seem excessive. In a US context, I fear it is not. In any case, the creationists' errors serve to clarify the logic of the genuine science. There is an extensive bibliography at the end, and additional reading suggestions at the end of each chapter, although I would have welcomed some way of relating these to specifics in the text.

We start with a chapter on The Nature of Science, where the author follows the usual line. Science, he tells us, Is distinguished from other forms of knowledge by its use of Popper's hypothetico-deductive method, based on the principle of falsifiability, while the word "theory" is only used in science for a hypothesis that is well-corroborated. And since our scientific knowledge is always revisable in the face of further information, we cannot strictly speaking use the term "fact" within science.

I think this analysis is wrong, and damaging. It is of course correct to emphasise the central role of observational testing, but it gives far too narrow an account of the richness and boldness of the scientific process (see for example Carol Cleland's favourable comparison of the methods of scientific exploration of the specifics of the past, with those of the scientific search for time-independent general laws ). It reinforces the damaging impression, convincingly rebutted by Maarten Boudry among others, that science is qualitatively different from other ways of acquiring knowledge about the world. It is also demonstrably untrue that within science we reserve the term "theory" for what is well-corroborated (consider, for example, phlogiston theory, or the classical Greek theory of the Four Elements). Finally, this approach invites confusion, much exploited by creationists, between falsification (rare) and modification (commonplace, and essential to the development of science). We are not required to discard valuable theories merely because they are falsified in some detail. Instead, we accept in advance that they may need modification. But that this is no excuse for timidity. All our claims to knowledge of the world are in principle open to change, but this should not stop us from saying that, on the evidence, evolution is an established fact.

One striking example of modification, discussed by Prothero, is the replacement of Darwinian gradualism in current thinking by what is known as punctuated equilibrium, where significant change occurs most frequently over short timespans in small isolated populations. So the fossil record is usually a series of (small) jumps, rather than a smooth continuum. Creationists, as we might expect, represent this shift as falsification of the central Darwinian doctrine of common descent, whereas in reality it is a logical consequence of population genetics.

The reference to Darwin brings me to my one pedagogical problem with this book; the heavy emphasis placed on Darwin's own writings. Admitted, these were profound and prescient, and admitted, in addition, that he is much quote-mined and distorted, and that these distortions illustrate creationist tactics at their crudest, but to start from what Darwin said in 1859 is to place ourselves on the defensive, making everything we have learnt since look like an afterthought and leaving us fighting on ground of our opponents' choosing.

In Chapter 2, Science and Creationism, the author describes creationism as peculiar to the US. If only this were true. The pseudoscientific creationism that rose to prominence in the US from the 1960s on has merged, in the UK as it has in the US, with old-fashioned biblical literalism. Nor is it limited to Christianity. It is being explicitly promoted within Islam by Adnan Oktar ("Harun Yahya"), and has been adopted by the pseudo-orthodox and fiercely anti-modern Haredi Jewish movement.

I like the author's sympathetic treatment in this chapter of Genesis as a myth worthy of respect, fulfilling important emotional needs, as do the creation myths found in every society. At the same time, he tells us why on internal evidence we should regard Genesis as a composite multi-authored document. This undermines the naive biblical literalism on which creationism depends.

The author returns to creationism in the final chapter, Chapter 16, Why does it matter? The chapter is subtitled Deceit in the Name of the Lord, and is the result of many years of discussion and argument.

It is clear from the examples Prothero gives there that creationists knowingly lie, repeating falsehoods even when well aware of the counter-evidence. This shocks him, as it should.

We lie to ourselves in order to protect valued core beliefs. And so, as he says, "Mountains of evidence about evolution will not shake them or make them pay attention, when they believe eternal torture in the underworld is the alternative." Other factors involved are confirmation bias, tribalism, and voluntary isolation from critics. I would add what philosophers call essentialism, the idea that things can be rigidly separated into different kinds. So creationists may disagree about whether Archaeopteryx is a flying lizard, or a bird with teeth and tail, but will be unanimous that it must be one or the other.

As to why this matters, a democracy needs a citizenry who respect and understand science. Teaching creationism in US public schools is an attack on the Constitution. The attack on evolution is really an attack on all of science. Geology, palaeontology, astronomy, anthropology are all inconsistent with a literal reading of Genesis, and supernaturalism undermines science at its root.

So how to proceed? Reach out to people who may be open to reason. This is now easier than ever, and the author speaks of hearing from people who realised, from reading his book, that their pastors were lying, or who had been appalled by their intolerance towards questioning.

Prothero complains that professors in many smaller colleges are bullied by creationists. Here he greatly understates the problem. There are US universities totally committed to creationism, and one nationally recognised accreditation agency, Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), actually insists that its accredited colleges adhere to the doctrine of "The full historicity and perspicuity of the biblical record of primeval history, includingthe literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse on the creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin ofnations and languages at the tower of Babel."

The American public is appallingly ignorant in basic science, and the US is the only advanced nation where less than half the population accept that "human beings, as we know them, evolved from an earlier species of animals", although questionnaire wording is crucial and this may overestimate the problem.

America's falling behind in technology undermines its economic future. Evolution denial threatens health and well-being, which depend on recognising evolutionary relationships. Ideological suppression of science corrupts society (consider e.g. Lysenkoism), and, as Prothero points out, the US now has creationists at the heart of government. An understanding of our place in the Universe depends on accepting the science, and this understanding is liberating and uplifting.

In between the preliminary and final chapters, we have the meat of the text. A comprehensive summary of such highly informative material is impossible, so I will just pick out aspects that I found particularly interesting.

Chapter 3, The Fossil Record, mentions the role of devout churchmen in establishing the reality of deep time, and their abandonment of 6-day literalism by the early 19th Century. A discussion of the Grand Canyon, and how crudely it is misdescribed by creationists, leads to a detailed description of its actual complex sedimentology, and of the faults and distortions of the rocks in the surrounding area. This gives us a taste of real geology, as opposed to the creationists' Flood Geology. There is a brisk dismissal of the absurdities of Noah's Ark, and a sideswipe at the bad Hebrew of baraminology, (bara min does not mean "created kind", but "he-created a-kind-of") the pseudoscience that purports to trace the present diversity of life to biblical "kinds" that could have fit inside the Ark. This chapter also explains the basics of radiometric dating, and mentions other problems with Young Earth chronology, such as tree ring counting, and annual layers in ice cores going back 680,000 years.

Chapters 4 and 5 are the intellectual pivot of the book. Chapter 4, The Evolution of Evolution, links pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought to Enlightenment thinking, progress in other sciences, the discovery of serial succession in the fossil record, and the abandonment of belief among the educated (including the clergy) in a young Earth and a literal universal Flood. We have a history of Darwin's evolving thought, and his crucial contributions in extrapolating from artificial to natural selection, and in suggesting such selection as the agent of change.

Next, the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis built around population genetics, dominant by the late 1940s. This defined evolution as change in allele (gene type) frequency in a population, and assumed gradualism, and that all changes were driven by selection. There is an excellent section on how radically this view has now been modified, with neutral drift, horizontal gene transfer, incorporation of viral genetic material, possible environmental influences, and junk DNA. Duplications in the genetic code ensure that some changes in DNA will leave its message unchanged, and such neutral mutations are especially useful as a molecular clock. The persistence of unused genes testifies to evolutionary pathways, while changes in regulatory genes can cause large changes even in a single generation.

Kinds of evidence: the family tree of life, homology (evident in forelimbs), embryology, biogeography (placentals vs marsupials). Observed evolution in real time: Darwin's finches in the 1970s, diversification of European house sparrows in North America, salmon adapting to new habitats, lake versus ocean sticklebacks, industrial melanism, drug resistance in bacteria, pesticide resistance in insects and weeds.

Chapter 5, Systematics and Evolution, clarifies the confusing relationship between the 18th-century (Linnaeus) classification of species, genus etc based on resemblances, and the new approach of cladistics.

Cladistics demystifies classification by a simple idea derived from evolution. A clade consists of a parent species and all its descendants, and inherited features are used to define family trees. Traditional classification by specific characters was to some extent arbitrary, because it might depend on what characters you focus on, and any particular organism is a mosaic of what are now called primitive features, present in the ancestral species, and more recently evolved derived features. (These terms are unfortunate, because of the lingering suggestion that evolution corresponds to progress, but that is the vocabulary that we are stuck with, and the meaning is generally quite clear.)

A cladogram is a branching diagram showing how species are related. Extinct species are shown as side-branches, to emphasise the fact that we can't know whether we are dealing with direct or collateral ancestors, grandparents or great-uncles. Cladistics puts in visual form the answer to the ever popular question "If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" by showing modern humans and modern monkeys at exactly the same distance from their last common ancestor. Molecular comparisons, especially using the advances in DNA sequencing that have taken place over the past few decades, also allow us to establish cladograms completely independent of anatomical examination or the fossil record. One example is the placing of whales as a sister group to even-toed hoofed mammals of the pig-hippo family, first suggested on molecular evidence and only later confirmed from the anatomical structure of the ankle bones in whales' four-footed ancestors. The remarkable fact, of which Prothero could perhaps have made more, is the general overall agreement, of which this is just one example, between the phylogenies (family trees) derived using such different criteria. On a fine scale, or during periods of very rapid spreading out into new niches, the details of phylogeny remain fuzzy, perhaps inevitably so since populations are intrinsically diverse, but the overall correspondence is undeniable.

Part II, Evolution? The fossils say yes, makes up the bulk of the book, and displays the enormous weight of the fossil evidence. Chapter 6, Life's Origins, is the one that overlaps most strongly with my own research interests. Here Prothero follows the general view among palaeontologists, a view that seems to me rather too optimistic. He is however up-to-date and well-informed, aware of the evidence for the deep antiquity of life, and of the reasons for believing that if already established, life could have survived the late heavy bombardment that the Earth experienced around 4 billion years ago. He gives more prominence than I would have liked to the Urey-Miller experiment, on the spontaneous generation of the building blocks of life, whose shortcomings1 are regularly pointed out by creationists. He also underestimates the difficulties with the "RNA world" hypothesis, and does not mention the central problem that information-carrying molecules (be they DNA, RNA, protein, or something else altogether) require the variable components to be lined up in the right order, like letters in words. Once we have any variable system that can replicate and undergo selection between variants, evolution becomes inevitable, but the origins of life problem is, precisely, how we ever got to that stage.

Philosophically, Prothero is certainly correct in saying that creationists at this point regularly commit two major fallacies. They presume that because the origin of life problem has not yet been solved, that is good reason to think it insoluble, and they believe that the appropriate response to this situation is to invoke a miracle-working deity. This last belief in particular is pernicious, because such "explanation" can be used to answer any question whatsoever, leaving us with no motivation to do science. My own approach here is to say that the origin of life is indeed an incompletely solved problem, because it is a very difficult one, but that this is no objection to biological evolution, much as the origin of the elements was an incompletely solved problem until the 1950s, but that was not a reason for rejecting chemistry.

Chapter 7 is titled Cambrian "explosion"  or "slow fuse"? Here the creationist myth, based on a mass of half-truths, is that all major animal phyla (arthropods, nematodes, chordates, echinoderms, molluscs etc) somehow sprang into existence independently during the Cambrian. This, they claim, is evidence for separate creation, and by implication makes separate creation more credible throughout the entire record. Such is the claim put forward in Darwin's Doubt, a major publication from the Intelligent Design creationist Discovery Institute.

As Prothero points out here, and has also pointed out in a devastating review of that book, all of this is simply untrue. Life had been around since 3.8 billion years before present, if not earlier. Before the Cambrian we had what is now called the Ediacaran fauna, complex organisms with strange shapes, so that the "explosion", which itself required some twenty million years, was part of an overall process that took four times that long. All of which has been known, at least an outline, for 70 years, so that the creationist appeal to the sudden appearance of life's diversity is at best wilfully ignorant, at worst knowingly dishonest. (There is also evidence in the next chapter, which could have been mentioned here, of how the various phyla are not independent at all, but related through Precambrian common ancestors.)

The next few chapters discuss, in considerable detail, the evolution of invertebrates, chordates (the phylum that includes all vertebrates), amphibian and land vertebrates, dinosaurs (including of course birds), and mammals.

Invertebrates make up 99% of the animal kingdom. Marine microfossils provide a continuous record of evolution, with worldwide correlation of sediments giving a timeline that has been calibrated using radiometric and palaeomagnetic dating. This is not, as creationists claim, circular reasoning, but its very opposite, independent confirmation using different methods, and the timeline is well enough established to be used in oil exploration.

We have examples of intermediates between the different invertebrate phyla, evidence of their common deep ancestry. Such relationships, originally deduced from anatomy and from the fossil record, are now increasingly confirmed by molecular phylogeny. Examples include intermediates between molluscs and their worm-like ancestors, and between many-segmented worms and arthropods.

As for chordates, the phylum that includes all vertebrates, embryos have been found from as far back as 600 million years ago, and molecular and developmental information suggests an even older deep relationship between chordates and echinoderms, the phylum that includes sea urchins. Further evidence against the separate creation of different phyla, and against the special role that creationists give to the Cambrian.

We are shown how the characteristic tetrapod limb structure (one upper arm bone, two forearm bones, connecting bones in the wrist, digits) is present in the mid-Devonian Tiktaalik, emerges step-by-step from numerous well-documented earlier forms, and is in turn ancestral, step-by-step, to everything from a bird's wing to a human hand to a horse's hoof.

Prothero tells the story of Archaeoraptor, to illustrate science in action, and creationist distortion. It was a composite put together by a fraudulent dealer from two genuine fossils, and although it was described in National Geographic in 1999, it was exposed before ever making it to a peer reviewed scientific publication. This successful piece of scientific detective work has not stopped creationists from using the episode for years afterwards in their attempts to discredit the science.

I used to think that mammals had evolved from reptiles. I was wrong. Synapsids, the line that gave rise to mammals, branched off very early from the line that gave rise to reptiles. The defining difference is in the shape of the mammalian skull, where bones that in reptiles form part of the jaw have migrated to the middle ear. We have intermediate fossils showing both the old-style jaw joint still present in reptiles, and the style characteristic of mammals. Mammals recapitulate this migration of the ear bones from the jaw in the womb.

The different placental mammal orders diverged rapidly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, and although the relationships between these orders are still rather ambiguous, within each order we have very clear lines of descent. For example, there are striking similarities in the early Eocene between the ancestors of horses, rhinos, and tapirs, although by the late Eocene these were clearly distinct. A very clear example of intermediate forms, in the most demanding sense of being intermediate between two groups that later separated. Palaeobiogeography complements the fossil record; camelids originated in North America, and spread to South America some 3 million years ago to give rise to llamas and alpacas and to Eurasia 7 million years ago.

And so to Chapter 15, The Ape's Reflection?  The Only Transition That Really Matters. Here is where people have the greatest problems in coming to terms with the science, since we correctly see ourselves as special, as moral agents, and (for some of us) as the possessors of souls. Creationists pay particular attention to this stage of our evolution, and Prothero gives numerous examples of how they misdescribe the record.

The human fossil record dates back some seven million years, to the point where we diverged from our sister species, which gave rise to today's chimpanzees and bonobos. The diagram given in the text for the human fossil record shows more than twenty recognised species, two of them new additions in the 2nd edition. Fossils, for some of these species, are numerous (something else creationists regularly lie about), and the rooting of the hominin family tree among the apes is confirmed in detail by DNA comparisons. Human and chimpanzee DNA are more than 97% identical, and humans in the womb have monkey-like tails, with which, very occasionally, they are actually born. It is thought that for the small differences between chimpanzee and human DNA to have such dramatic effect, they must involve control genes, which affect how and when other genes manifest themselves, and baby chimpanzees are provocatively much more similar to humans than adults are. See for yourself in the image below, used by Prothero, and first published in 1926.

To deny evolution is to deny reality.





1] The reaction requires a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, now thought unlikely on the early Earth. It produces a complex mixture of simple products in low concentration, and does not show how these could have been persuaded to join up to make biological polymers, let alone the well-ordered polymers required for biological activity.

You will find more of my writing at Primate's progress, paulbraterman.wordpress.com.
by Ashutosh Jogalekar

Primitive science began when mankind looked upward at the sky and downward at the earth and asked why. Modern science began when Galileo and Kepler and Newton answered these questions using the language of mathematics and started codifying them into general scientific laws. Since then scientific discovery has been constantly driven by curiosity, and many of the most important answers have come from questions of the kind asked by a child: Why is the sky blue? Why is grass green? Why do monkeys look similar to us? How does a hummingbird flap its wings? With the powerful tool of curiosity came the even more powerful fulcrum of creativity around which all of science hinged. Einsteins imagining himself on a light beam was a thoroughly creative act; so were Ada Lovelaces thoughts about a calculating machine as doing something beyond mere calculation, James Watson and Francis Cricks DNA model-building exercise, Enrico Fermis sudden decision to put a block of paraffin wax in the path of neutrons.

What is common to all these flights of fancy is that they were spontaneous, often spur-of-the-moment, informed at best by meager data and mostly by intuition. If Einstein, Lovelace and Fermi had paused to reconsider their thoughts because of the absence of hard evidence or statistical data, they might at the very least been discouraged from exploring these creative ideas further. And yet that is what I think the future Einsteins and Lovelaces of our day are in danger of doing. They are in danger of doing this because they are increasingly living in a world where statistics and data-driven decisions are becoming the beginning and end of everything, where young minds are constantly cautioned to not speculate before they have enough data.

We live in an age where Big Data, More Data and Still More Data seem to be all consuming, looming over decisions both big and mundane; from driving to ordering pet food to getting a mammogram. We are being told that we should not make any decision pending its substantiation through statistics and large-scale data analysis. Now, I will be the first one to advocate making decisions based on data and statistics, especially in an era where sloppy thinking and speculation based on incomplete or non-existent data seems to have turned into the very air which the media and large segments of the population breathe. Statistics has especially been found to be both paramount and sorely lacking in making decisions, and books like Daniel Kahnemans Thinking Fast and Slow and Nate Silvers The Signal and the Noise have stressed how humans are intrinsically bad at probabilistic and statistical thinking and how this disadvantage leads to them consistently making wrong decisions. It seems that a restructuring of our collective thinking process that is grounded in data would be a good thing for everyone.

But there are inherent problems with implementing this principle, quite apart from the severe limitations on creative speculation that an excess of data-based thinking imposes.

Firstly, except in rare cases, we simply dont have all the data that is necessary for making a good decision. Data itself is not insight, its simply raw material for insight. This problem is seen in the nature of the scientific process itself; in the words of the scientist and humanist Jacob Bronowski, in every scientific investigation we decide where to make a cut in nature, a cut that isolates the system of interest from the rest of the universe. Even late into the process, we can never truly know whether the part of the universe we have left out is relevant. Our knowledge of what we have left out is thus not just a known unknown but often an unknown unknown. Secondly and equally importantly, the quality of the data often takes second stage to its quantity; too many companies and research organizations seem to think that more data is always good, even when more data can mean more bad data. Thirdly, even with a vast amount of data, human beings are incapable of digesting this surfeit and making sure that their decisions include all of it. And fourthly and most importantly, making decisions based on data is often a self-fulfilling prophecy; the hypothesis we form and the conclusions we reach are inherently constrained by the data. We get obsessed with the data that we have and develop tunnel vision, and we ignore the importance of the data that we dont have. This means that all our results are only going to be as good as the existing data.

Consider a seminal basic scientific discovery like the detection of the Higgs Boson, forty years after the prediction was made. There is little doubt that this was a supreme achievement, a technical tour de force that came about only because of the collective intelligence and collaboration of hundreds of scientists, engineers, technicians, bureaucrats and governments. The finding was of course a textbook example of how everyday science works: a theory makes a prediction and a well-designed experiment confirms or refutes the prediction. But how much more novelty the LHC would have found had the parameters been significantly tweaked, if the imagination of the collider and its operator been set loose? Maybe it would not have found the Higgs then, but it would have discovered something wholly different and unexpected. There would certainly have been more noise, but there would also have been more signal that would have led to discoveries which nobody predicted and which might have charted new vistas in physics. One of the major complaints about modern fundamental physics, especially in areas like string theory, is that it is experiment-poor and theory-rich. But experiments can only find something new when they dont stay too close to the theoretical framework. You cannot always let prevailing theory dictate what experiments should do.

The success of the LHC in finding the Higgs and nothing but the Higgs points to the self-fulfilling prophecy of data that I mentioned: the experiment was set up to find or disprove the Higgs and the data contained within it the existence or absence of the Higgs. True creative science comes from generating hypotheses beyond the domain of the initial hypotheses and the resulting data. These hypotheses have to be confined within the boundaries of the known laws of nature, but there still has to be enough wiggle room to at least push against these boundaries, if not try to break free of them. My contention is that we are gradually becoming so enamored of data that it is clipping and tying down our wings, not allowing us to roam free in the air and explore daring new intellectual landscapes. Its very much a case of the drunk under the lamppost, looking for his keys there because thats where the light is.

A related problem with the religion of dataism is the tendency to dismiss anything that constitutes anecdotal evidence, even if it can lead to creative exploration. Yes, but thats an n of 1 is a refrain that you must have heard from many a data-entranced statistics geek. Its important to not regard anecdotal evidence as sacrosanct, but its equally wrong in my opinion to simply dismiss it and move on. Isaac Asimov reminded us that great discoveries in science are made when an odd observation or fact makes someone go, Hmm, thats interesting. But if instead, the reaction is going to be Interesting, but thats just an n of 1, so I am going to move on, you are potentially giving up on hidden gems of discovery.

With anecdotal data also comes storytelling which has always been an integral part not just of science but of the human experience. Both arouse our sense of wonder and curiosity; we are left fascinated and free to imagine and explore precisely because of the paucity of data and the lone voice from the deep. Very few scientists and thinkers drove home the importance of taking anecdotal storytelling seriously as well as the late Oliver Sacks. If one reads Sackss books, every one of them is populated with fascinating stories of individual men and women with neurological deficits or abilities that shed valuable light on the workings of the brain. If Sacks had dismissed these anecdotes as insufficiently data-rich, he would have missed discovering the essence of important neurological disorders. Sacks also extolled the value of looking at historical data, another source of wisdom that would very easily be dismissed by hard scientists who think all historical data suspect because of its absence of large-scale statistical validation. Sacks regarded historical reports as especially neglected and refreshingly valuable sources of novel insights; in his early days, his insistence that his hospitals weekly journal club discuss the papers of their nineteenth century forebears was met largely with indifference. But this exploration off the beaten track paid dividends. For instance, he once realized that he had rediscovered a key hallucinogenic aspect of severe migraines when he came across a paper on similar self-reported symptoms by the English astronomer John Herschel, written more than a hundred years ago. A data scientist would surely dismiss Herschels report as nothing more than a fluke.

The dismissal of historical data is especially visible in our modern system of medicine which ignores many medical reports of the kind that people like Sacks found valuable. It does an even better job ignoring the vast amount of information contained in the medical repositories of ancient systems of medicines, such as the Chinese and Indian pharmacopeias. Now, admittedly there are a lot of inconsistencies in these reports so they cannot all be taken literally, but neither is the process of ignoring them fruitful. Like all uncertain but potentially useful data, they need to be dug up, investigated and validated so that we can keep the gold and throw out the dross. The great potential value of ancient systems of medicine was made apparent when two years ago, the Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to Chinese medicinal chemist Tu Youyou for her lifesaving discovery of the antimalarial drug artemisinin. Youyou was inspired to make the discovery when she found a process for low-temperature chemical extraction of the drug in a 1600-year-old Chinese text titled Emergency Prescriptions Kept Up Ones Sleeve. This obscure and low-visibility data point would have been certainly dismissed by statistics-enamored medicinal chemists in the West, even if they had known where to find it. Part of recognizing the importance of Eastern systems of medicine consists in recognizing their very different philosophy; while Western medicine seeks to attack the disease and is highly reductionist, Eastern medicine takes a much more holistic approach in which it seeks to modify the physiology of the individual itself. This kind of philosophy is harder to study in the traditional double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial that has been the mainstay of successful Western medicine, but the difficulty of implementing a particular scientific paradigm should not be an argument against its serious study or adoption. As Sackss and Youyous examples demonstrate, gems of discovery still lie hidden in anecdotal and historical reports, especially in medicine where even today we understand so little about entities like the human brain.

Whether its the LHC or medical research, the practice of gathering data and relying only on that data is making us stay close to the ground when we could have been soaring high in the air without these constraints. Data is critical for substantiating a scientific idea, but I would argue that it actually makes it harder to explore wild, creative scientific ideas in the first place, ideas that often come from anecdotal evidence, storytelling and speculation. A bigger place for data leaves increasingly smaller room for authentic and spontaneous creativity. Sadly, todays publishing culture also rooms little room for pure speculation-driven hypothesizing. As just one example of how different things have become in the last forty years, in 1960 the physicist Freeman Dyson wrote a paper in Science speculating on possible ways to detect alien civilizations based on their capture of heat energy from their parent star. Dysons paper contained enough calculations to make it at least a mildly serious piece of work, but I feel confident that in 2017 his paper would probably get rejected from major journals like Science and Nature which have lost their taste for interesting speculation and have become obsessed with data-driven research.

Speculation and curiosity have been mainstays of human thinking since our origins. When our ancestors sat around fires and told stories of gods, demons and spirit animals to their grandchildren, it made the wide-eyed children wonder and want to know more about these mysterious entities that their elders were describing. This feeling of wonder led the children to ask questions. Many of these questions led down wrong alleys, but the ones that survived later scrutiny launched important ideas. Today we would dismiss these undisciplined mental meanderings as superstition, but there is little doubt that they involve the same kind of basic curiosity that drives a scientist. There is perhaps no better example of a civilization that went down this path than ancient Greece. Greece was a civilization full of animated spirits and Gods that controlled mens destinies and the forces of nature. The Greeks certainly found memorable ways to enshrine these beliefs in their plays and literature, but the same cauldron that imagined Zeus and Athena also created Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle and Platos universe was a universe of causes and humors, of earth and water, of abstract geometrical entities divorced from real world substantiation. Both men speculated with fierce abandon. And yet both made seminal contributions to Western science and philosophy even as their ideas were accepted, circulated, refined and refuted for the next two thousand years. Now imagine if Aristotle and Plato had refused to speculate on causes and human anatomy and physiology because they had insufficient data, if they had turned away from imagining because the evidence wasnt there.

We need to remember that much of science arose as poetic speculations on the cosmos. Data kills the poetic urge in science, an urge that the humanities have recognized for a long time and which science has had in plenty. Richard Feynman once wrote,

Poets say that science takes away the beauty of the stars and turns them into mere globs of gas atoms. But nothing is mere. I too can see the stars on a desert night, but do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination; stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old lightWhat men are poets who can speak of Jupiter as if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?

Feynman was speaking to the sense of wonder that science should evoke in all of us. Carl Sagan realized this too when he said that not only is science compatible with spirituality, but its a profound source of spirituality. To realize that the world is a multilayered, many-splendored thing, to realize that everything around us is connected through particles and forces, to realize that every time we take a breath or fly on a plane we are being held alive and aloft by the wonderful and weird principles of mechanics and electromagnetism and atomic physics, and to realize that these phenomena are actually real as opposed to the fictional revelations of religion, should be as much a spiritual experience as anything else in ones life. In this sense, knowing about quantum mechanics or molecular biology is no different from listening to the Goldberg Variations or gazing up at the Sistine Chapel. But this spiritual experience can come only when we let our imaginations run free, constraining them in the straitjacket of skepticism only after they have furiously streaked across the sky of wonder. The first woman, when she asked what the stars were made of, did not ask for a p value.
by Max Sirak

(Click here or scroll down for audio version.)

"As above, so below" is possibly the best known Hermetic aphorism. The phrase itself comes from The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. An actual tablet that was translated into Latin during the 12th Century and quickly became a favorite of medieval alchemists, and then a bit later someone whom you may have heard of.

His name was Isaac Newton. You know, the guy with the apple who "discovered" gravity. Well, turns out Ol' Zac was quite the mystic. In fact, some believe "As above, so below" is the seed which sparked Newton to begin searching for the similarities between ourselves and the stars.

This principle is said to be represented symbolically in a couple places. One is the six-pointed Star of David, with its two equilateral triangles overlapping and pointing in opposite directions. Another is in the Tarot. The Magician card raises one arm above his head to the sky and drops the other below his waist to the ground.

While I can't necessarily speak, authoritatively, to the origins of symbols that pre-date me, one by many thousands of years, or what precisely motivated a luminary of science to put forth ideas forever changing they way we look at our world, I do think the phrase "As above, so below" could use an addendum:

"As it begins, so too it ends."

In the last couple of years I've noticed six similarities between the beginnings of our lives and their ends. It's almost as though life is like one of those nifty pieces of art where a centerline divides two identical-though-reversed images creating a spectacular and intricate pattern when viewed together.

I don't remember my birth and early development. And I'm not yet dead. I don't have any children of my own. And I've been fortunate enough to not lose anyone in my immediate family. However, I have thrown dirt on three grandparents and I've watched a majority of my friends trudge along the roads of parenthood.

My dad's mom is 93. She's not as spry as she once was, but she's here and kicking. Albeit, not as swiftly. And, I've also got some kids running through my life becoming little people.

Here, I sit. Perched at a midpoint, legs hanging and swinging, I watch. To my left, a slide into abysmal eternity. To my right, rug rats running the ramp to maturity. And I am in the middle, free like Newton, glancing in both directions and "discovering" enough similarities to say, "As it begins, so too it ends."

Driving

My birthday is in July. This means my parents had a choice. They could either make me one of the older kids in my school grade or a younger one. I was pushed ahead and therefore the last of my friends to hit any age-related milestones.

By the time I could legally drink in bars, I was entering my senior year in college. I wasn't able to vote until after high school. My awkward fat-kid phase felt like it lasted forever, on account of being a late-bloomer. It also meant I was the last to get a drivers license. By the time I was behind the wheel, my friends had been zooming around for a year or more.

I remember how exciting it was, piling into Josh's car, when he got his license. It was great! The freedom. The adventure. The ability to go where we wanted, when we wanted, with no dependence on mom or dad.

As we age, similar situations arise. Only in reverse. Instead of moving toward liberation, we capitulate toward captivity as our licenses and our abilities to drive are revoked.

Eventually, there comes a time when, again, there's only one person in our peer group who's able to drive. And, like it was when we were teens, we pile into his or her car, still savoring those feelings of freedom and adventure. Until they too are gone as our last friend is no longer able to operate the auto, then it's back to relying on others to get us where we want to go.

Social Life

Want to know a sick, sad truth? One "privilege" the longest lived of us get to look forward to is watching our friends die. Cool, huh?

My grandma has been blessed/cursed to outlast em all. She has no social life. Or, as she likes to say, "I used to play cards. But now I don't. My friends are dead."

This too is kind of like how it is at the beginning. We don't get any sort of say about who we do and don't spend our time with as babes. We come into this world and there are people already here. They choose who we see. We certainly don't.

Then, one day, we are ushered off to a different place with more people our own age. When we're young it's daycare or pre-school. When we're old it's an assisted living facility or a nursing home.

Acting out

See, grandma likes to gamble. And when one of her home healthcare workers refuses to take her to the casino down the street, she gets nasty.

Not unlike a child you might see in the ice cream aisle of the grocery store in mid meltdown. You know the scene: Tears stream. Voices scream. Hugging the ankles of their father or mother as said parent refuses to give them whatever the kid wants but shouldn't have.

Yeah. Grandma doesn't need to spend any more time in her "casino." Even calling it that is generous. The place isn't some glitzy, glamorous temple to lady luck with slot machines ringing and cheers around tables. It's in a strip mall. It's a dark. It's dingy. If there were more teenagers, cigarette smoke, and energy drinks you'd swear it was a Chinese internet gaming den.

Walking

Oh man  watching a kid learn to walk is the best. They're like tiny drunk people, all unsteady and swervy. Little steps. Irregular gait. Poor balance. No rhythm.

(Wait. Am I talking about me dancing?)

And all the while, mom and dad are nervous. Looking on they see every toddle, worry over every wobble, and quickly assess any dangers; a flight of stairs here, a sharp corner there. A fall, especially in certain places, could be disastrous.

In September my parents came to visit. While here my dad got a call. His mom fell. She lost her balance while trying to open a drawer. Backwards she plopped. Luckily, she didn't break anything. Granda's hearty. But falls for seniors don't normally bode well.

When we're born it's our parents who are vigilant. Toward our end it's a different set of caretakers. Only the watchfulness remains the same.

Eating

From milk or formula to pureed plants to the soft and gumable to sticky, hard, and crunchy. It makes sense. Babes don't have teeth when they come into this world. When it's time for us to go, baring stellar dental care, we may not have any when we shove off.

It seems as though the sensitivity of our stomachs also flow and ebb with age. I've seen many of my parent friends be very careful about the level of spice in their children's food. Makes sense to me. It's mom and dad who are dealing with diapers. They're on the front lines of the back end.

Similar stuff happens with seasoning as we season. Our tolerance for such, or our willingness to deal with the consequences of our culinary choices, seems to diminish with age. At each restaurant grandma and I ate, she made a point of making sure whatever she ordered was as bland as the chef would allow.

(I assume this is because my grandmother is a delicate flower. Lord knows, bowel movements aren't quite couth discussion among our family.)

Expectations

Mike Tyson said it best. "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

Ain't that the truth

I'm not anti-preparation and planning. Both are good uses of time and have their place. But life (and death) are bigger than us and don't conform to our ideas about what they should be like.

I've watched my first-time parent friends study and read. They took classes and flooded themselves with as much information, from as many sources as they could, in hopes of being ready for when the lil' en arrived. And you know what?

All those plans got thrown out the window. Dealing with their newborn in real time wasn't the same as imagining it. There's a difference between on paper and in hand. The gap between knowing something on an intellectual level and feeling what it's like to go through it on a physical one is wide indeed.

It's the same with losing a loved one. We all know our parents, friends, and family are going to die. And, in the instance of a slow decline, we may even think we've prepared for their departure. But guess what?

Knowing it's going to happen isn't the same as it happening. Understanding in the abstract doesn't make the absence more bearable. It doesn't stave the strife.

Practicing What I Preach

This column has been about symmetry. The parallels between the various milestones of how lives start and end. And this principal, the end mirroring the beginning as beginning foreshadows the end, is something I keep in mind when writing.

The best conclusions call back to their introductions. Referencing how a speech, essay, paper, etc. begins at it's end ties the work together and contains it. Like bookends, matching objects opposing each other while imposing continuity and order for what's shelved between.

Newton's imagination and view of the world may very well have been colored by a Hermetic idea. Reconciling the forces and movements of the stars in the sky and the ground at his feet was kind of his jam. "As above, so below."

Me? I'm more into the horizontal. Understanding our movements along the axis of life lived and coming to terms with them is what gets my creative juices flowing. Which is why I'm for adding a corollary to Hermes Trismegistus' vertical wisdom.

"As it begins, so too it ends."

I guess it's time to start working on a four-armed Magician card and a 12-pointed star

***

Max is a book doula (Ghostwriter) with a podcast and a Twitter account.

***

Audio Version

Photo Credits

1) Tree  http://prozit.com/na/218982169/on-flipboard-httpswww/218982/

2) Floral image  designed by Freepik from flaticon  https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/floral-design-with-vertical-and-horizontal-symmetry_30127

3) Fat-Kid Max  whoever took my 7th grade school photo

4) Mike Tyson  Punch Out!! by Nintendo

***

Research

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-11-09/sports/sfl-mike-tyson-explains-one-of-his-most-famous-quotes-20121109_1_mike-tyson-undisputed-truth-famous-quotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician_(Tarot_card)
by G. M. Trujillo, Jr.

Among the gray crags and russet stalagmites of Hades, Sisyphus heaves a boulder. Zeus, the king god, banished him there after he tricked Thanatos and Persephone, thus making a fool of death and rebirth. He thwarted the gods, so they thwart him. He must endlessly haul the rock up a mountain, but before it reaches the crest, the enchanted boulder crashes back to the base. Sisyphus must retreat, heave again. Toil upward, slump downward. Already in the underworld, not even death may liberate him. So there he trembles and labors. His sinews creak; his lungs gasp. The gods tremble and gasp as well. With laughter.

Homer and Ovid immortalized these poetic images, but why has Sisyphus inspired so much philosophical reflection? Traditionally, philosophers analyze the myth to understand the meaning of life. We see ourselves in Sisyphus and muse about the implications. Here, I continue that tradition by asking: how can Sisyphus endure his struggle yet judge his life worthwhile? I argue that Sisyphuss life is meaningful because of the relationships he has with others. The myth of Sisyphus affirms that social activity consecrates our lives with significance.

Many interpretations consider Sisyphus only as an individual and thus neglect the fact that he lived with others, just as we do. Theories about meaning in life should reflect the profound and intricate nature of the social interactions we cherish. By exploring the social aspects of life, we stumble upon an insight: a persons life may be made meaningful when others view it as such, when we enjoy rich relationships with others. Maybe Sisyphus could find his life meaningful through an act of reflective defiance, constructing meaning for and through himself. Maybe his participation in rituals of the Greek afterlife contributes meaning to his existence. However, even when subjective interpretation or objective activities fail, our friends, family, and lovers anoint our lives with meaning.

Imagine Sisyphuss exertion, heaving the rock without even the satisfaction of time to orient the monotonous drudgery. Watch as his thoughts and resolve pale like his skin in the sunless underworld. Feel the dirt cake around his ankles and in his matted beard. The grime of Tartarus not only shrouds his body but even his deepest memoriesolives on his tongue, love on his lips, the floods of passionate reason that welled inside him before his defiance. Now imagine that, in their devotion and love, his friends send him a signal. Maybe they petition Gaia to part her earthen body and guide a single ray of sun to him. Maybe they commission Daedalus to craft a songbird to navigate Hades, find Sisyphus, and sing. Maybe they bribe Hermes to send a message: Charon forbade us journey when we mentioned we wanted to heave the stone to give you solace. So we commemorate your feats each solstice by hurling boulders down Olympus. May you gain fortitude when you hear the rumbles. In each case, if Sisyphus, entranced by his exhaustion, feels the sun sear his shoulders or a melody caress his ear, he would remember his actions and his reasons for them. I am fated to heave a rock ceaselessly, he may resign. But teeth would glint through beard when he recognizes, The severity of my punishment testifies to the greatness of my schemes, for the gods torment only the exceptional. My friends remember this. His mortal cleverness that defied the immortal gods lived on as a symbol to his friends and community. And if his friends sent a sign, he would remember the meaning that belongs to his life. Such a sign given to us by others can make even a Sisyphean life worthwhile.

Others anoint our lives when they value us. Meanings in life emerge from friendships and memberships in communities. An acknowledging smile at a stranger, a wave at a friend from afar, the pursuit of a mutual interest with a partnerall baptize our lives at varying depths in the river of lifes meanings. Social rituals and practices imbue life with significance by reminding us of our personhood and relation to others. The communities affected by us share meaning with us.

Aristotle theorized that social ties and friendship are essential to living well. He was so certain of this he argued that no one would choose a life without friends, even if that life promised wealth, fame, health, and all other possible goods. The Stoicssages of self-sufficiency and champions of tranquility in the direst circumstancescelebrated friendship and human sympathy during adversity. We were never meant to endure life alone. We do not live by ourselves and should not. Even the most resolute of human beings falter under the stress of life. And during these times our friends are the ones who help us carry on, just as Sisyphuss closest friends would bear the rock for a moment to give him respite if they could. It is precisely from these relationships that meanings for life emerge.

Negatively, divorce and death attest to the impact of social meanings in lives. Breaking up with a partner signifies not only a loss of time and life with that person, but also the withering of the part of the self that was animated by the beloved. The romantic total greater than the two lovers vanishes with the relationships end. Parting with a lover parallels the death of a loved one, though the finality amplifies the effect. People mourn the loss of beloved others not only because their friends are gone, but also because an aspect of themselvesthem as they were with their friendsatrophies and decays. The salience of their absence indicates the significance of their presence. Because we play supporting roles in each others lives, the story changes significantly when characters exit.

We are at our best when we are around others we care about, especially when we help each other accomplish goals we value mutually. Relationships give meaning to our lives. The myth of Sisyphus disturbs us not because he must repeatedly and futilely heave a boulder up a mountain. The heart of its terror lies in the isolation that smothers Sisyphus. He interacts with nothing that reminds him that he is part of a community. Moreover, if Sisyphus were given a companion who suffered the same fate, maybe Tantalus or Prometheus must also roll boulders nearby, then we would judge Sisyphuss fate as more tolerable.

Even if we do not find subjective significance, others adorn our lives with meaning when we enter social relationships. Life may corrode meaning, or reduce it to rubble, but our friends retrieve, polish, and present it to us. For example, wearied by war and travel and trapped on Calypsos island, Odysseuss life did not lose all meaning. Because his wife Penelope awaited his homecoming, and because his patroness Athena pled to Zeus for his return, Odysseuss life was meaningful in spite of his own inaction. Argos, his dog, was the first to remind him of this meaning when he again set foot on Ithacas shore.

However, others may also play negative roles in our lives. If as individuals we can sanctify the lives of others with meaning, we may also deteriorate lives in apathy or vitriol. If the Fates spin for someone a Sisyphean existence, others may not only help her to recover, but they may also contribute to her torment. Imagine, if instead of Sisyphuss friends sending a ray of sunshine or a songbird, his enemies summoned a deluge of waste or a vulture to tear at his knuckles each time he grasped the rock. Even the most resolved defiance would evaporate in such torrid cruelty. Just as we can consecrate lives with meaning, we can condemn others if we show they are unloved or unacknowledged.

The potency of our relations with others places a profound responsibility on us. We must consider our social interactions carefully. We should err on the side of sympathy and imbuing lives with meaning, rather than indifference or contempt. Let us hope that when our resolve fails, our friends find us first. We all have toiled as Sisyphus, and none of us saved ourselves. As readers of classics and philosophy in the leisure it takes to do so, we are not heaving boulders. But we know someone who is. We could abandon or ignore them. Or we could send for Gaia, Daedalus, or Hermes.

* * *


Al Hadeetha Copper Project Update

Perth, Nov 27, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Alara Resources Limited ( ASX:AUQ ) ( ALULF:OTCMKTS ) (Alara or Company) hits major milestones on path toward construction of a 1Mtpa copper concentration plant at the Al Hadeetha Copper in Oman (the Project).



Yesterday, Alara reported the Public Authority of Mining (PAM) had given clearance to the Ministry of Commerce to include mining activities on the commercial registration of Al Hadeetha Resources (see Note 1 below). This important step by PAM is seen as indicative of impending favourable action relative to the issuance of the Project Mining Licence and follows the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs granting a "no objection" for the Project earlier this month (see Note 2 below).



Alara announced its maiden Ore Reserve (9.7Mt @ 0.88% Cu and 0.22g/t Au, 0.3% cut-off) for the Project's Washihi deposit in December last year (see Note 3 below). The Ore Reserve is based on the Company's Washihi mineral resource estimate (see Note 4 below) summarized in Table 1 (see link below).



The Project includes three (3) exploration licences (i.e. Washihi, Mullaq and Al Ajal - see Figure 1 below) and entails development of the Washihi deposit by means of a single open pit mine and 1Mtpa processing facility to produce copper concentrates for export to overseas and/or a domestic smelter. The Project has an initial mine life of 10 years and NPV of US$97m (see Note 5 below).



Oman has a history of copper mining that dates back thousands of years. However, the sector has become dormant in recent times as global investment in mineral exploration declined and operating mines were closed. Alara's six year investment into the Al Hadeetha Copper Project looks set to pay off as the Project is developed at a time when the Omani government are taking steps (see Note 6 below) to diversify the Sultanate's revenue streams and reignite the mining sector as a pillar of the Omani economy.



Rising copper prices and these other recent developments bode well for the Project as it moves toward production, with copper supply deficits forecast to further deepen next year (see Note 7 below).



Notes:



1 The Project company, Al Hadeetha Resources, is owned 70% Alara Oman Operations Pty Ltd and 30% Al Hadeetha Investments LLC.70%



2 Refer Alara's ASX Announcement of 2 November 2017



3 Refer Alara's ASX Announcement of 15 December 2016



4 Refer Alara's ASX announcement of 19 September 2016,



5 Based on copper prices ranging from $5,593/t to $7,000/t - refer Alara's Quarterly Activity Report dated 31 January and ASX Announcement of 24 January 2017.



6 Tanfeedh is a government initiative that aims at linking the strategies of the main vital sectors of Manufacturing, Tourism, Transport & Logistics, Mining and Fisheries to each other in order to diversify the national income resources and fulfil the objectives of the Ninth Five Year Development Plan 2016 - 2020. The establishment of Mining Development Oman by Oman's large sovereign wealth funds is another example.



7 ICSG forecast a 105,000 tonne shortfall in 2018



To view figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/F9DC90DA





About Alara Resources Limited





Alara Resources Limited (ASX:AUQ) (OTCMKTS:ALULF) is an Australian minerals exploration company with a portfolio of projects in Saudi Arabia and Oman. Alara has completed a Definitive Feasibility Study on the Khnaiguiyah Zinc-Copper Project in Saudi Arabia, an Advanced Scoping Study on the Daris and Washihi, Mullaq and Al Ajal exploration licences in Oman and a Feasibility Study for the Al Hadeetha Copper Gold Project, Washihi ore reserve. The Company is transitioning to establish itself as a base and precious metals mine development and production company. For more information, please visit: www.alararesources.com
Company Forecast 6,800 U.S Customers by end of FY18 with Revenue Run Rate of US$15.3m



Announce U.S. Update

Sydney, Nov 27, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Big Un Limited ( ASX:BIG ) (or 'the Company') is pleased to provide an update on operational and sales activity following US expansion in Austin, TX and Los Angeles, CA. This quarter, over 800 US customers have been on-boarded to date. Following the establishment of two sales centres with a total of 29 seats, BIG anticipate on-boarding a further 600 US customers by the end of the quarter resulting in 1400 signed agreements by 31st December 2017.



BIG US Sales Model



Contracts on-boarded require a customer to sign a conditional agreement to take video technology and marketing products ranging in value from USD1,000 to USD12,000 pa. To date the sales team has been successful in converting customers into unconditional contracts at a rate of 50% and the ARPU of US customers is currently US$4,500 (AU$5,900).



In addition to the 800 signed agreements achieved in Q1, and the expected 1,400 signed agreements in Q2 and the company expect to deliver a further 4,600 signed agreements by 30 June 2017 resulting in 6,800 signed agreements for FY17/18. At a conversion rate of 50% and an ARPU of $4,500 this would represent US$15.3m in sales revenue.



The Company plan to expand US sales seats to 100 by the end of Q3 and therefore the above projections are conservative. Cash deposits in the US continue to grow and are expected to exceed Q1 FY18. Further updates will be provided in December 2017.



US Sales Strategy



The US sales team began offering high value video licensing packages to US customers in Q4 FY17. The Company offer video content as an integral element of a Big Review TV membership package, placing the emphasis on a 12 month membership experience based upon social video marketing across all three pillars of the business. US customers are not incentivized to pay money upfront and are signed onto a SaaS monthly payment arrangement, thus making it easier to on-board customers and facilitating faster growth than that experienced in Australia. US contracts are not discounted and the Company is actively in negotiations to secure US sponsorship options to further monetize the offer and increase cash flow.



Expansion Strategy



The Company began exploratory operations to build its video content library in the US in 2015 and is operational in New York, California and Texas. The early proof of concept phase resulted in over 1200 US businesses being filmed and BIG now owns approximately 25 terabytes of US content for its video content library. Following appraisal of US opportunities by the executive team, the Company has expanded its sales operations in the US by establishing a 15 seat sales office in Austin, TX and more recently a 14 seat sales office in Los Angeles, CA. with plans to increase to 100 seats Q3.



In line with the Company's global expansion strategy, on 16/11/17 the Company announced the proposed acquisition of Tipsly LLC (Tipsly), a US hospitality platform. BIG's global expansion strategy includes partnering with local, trusted aggregators to facilitate swift and cost effective market penetration. The proposed acquisition of Tipsly was negotiated immediately prior to Tipsly's intended US launch and provides the Company with "ready to implement", sophisticated mobile and platform application code.



Jason Short, Global CTO of Big Review TV Ltd commented "We are excited about our timely technology acquisition of Tipsly and expect their contribution to catapult our mobile strategy. Technology features such as GEO targeted content, ratings, following contributors, and commenting will provide not only us, but also our customers the ability to interact with our users directly".



The Tipsly code is currently being integrated into BIG's video review app and is anticipated to be ready for soft launch in March quarter 2018. The launch will be fully backed with both digital and experiential marketing campaigns.



"We have been developing Tipsly's code, application and platform over the last 3 years and were planning to launch in late 2017. When we realized that the missing link was the ability to incorporate video content into the business model, we started discussions with the management team at BIG. Following BETA testing, Tipsly had everything ready to launch including relationships with advertisers, marketing agencies, an Uber ride-share program and a database of over 140,000 SMEs. By partnering with BIG, I feel that we have struck a win/win situation for both companies" says Tipsly Co-Founder and CEO Ryan O'Rear who will remain with BIG to help run the US hospitality vertical using the new BIG mobile video review app that incorporates Tipsly technology.



The Company previously advised on 16/11/17 that due diligence regarding the second part of the Tipsly acquisition is ongoing.



US Business Strategy & Three Pillar Application



Pillar One - Video Licensing Subscription



- 5.2 million US SMEs suitable for BIG packages



- Sales expansion planned to target key US states



- Negotiations on foot with US partners to target US SME space



Pillar Two - Video Content Curation & Monetisation



- Significant opportunity and demand for short form native video content e.g. Facebook



- BIG video library and ability to re-purpose and market content for US brand sponsorship



- Negotiations commenced with US partners to monetize video content



Pillar Three - Video Platform & App



- Significant US market opportunity for incentivized user generated reviews



- Negotiations underway with high profile US brand ambassadors to promote large volumes of BIG app downloads



- Significant market opportunity to monetise consumer analytics and Big Data



US Outlook



Commenting on the US outlook, Hugh Massie Chairman of Big Un Limited said, "The US outlook is huge. The sales process and metrics developed by the Company are highly scalable and exceptionally reliable. We have experienced 3 years of robust Australian sales data and we are now seeing these metrics mirrored and even surpassed by the recent US sales results. I am very excited by the Australian sales results that have been achieved to date. The sales revenue uplift from boosting our sales team headcount can now be predicted with a high degree of certainty. By taking a considered and strategic approach to rolling out our business model with targeted expansion in the US market we have ensured that expansion costs have been carefully managed with the foundation properly laid for a strong roll-out. The Company is now cash flow positive and at a tipping point. The resources and market opportunity in the US for BIG is exceptional. We have now established sales operations in Texas and California and plan further expans ion on the East Coast during 2018. We genuinely look forward to BIG becoming a successful and recognised brand in the US market in 2018".



The Company is laser focused on rolling out the BIG business model into the US and will provide further updates on US operations and marketing plans in the coming weeks. BIG's US public relations campaign commenced on 22/11/17 with encouraging US media coverage to date including TV interviews and online coverage supplemented by brand promotion across the front of the NASDQ building in Times Square. See: http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/OFYWL9CP



The Company anticipates further news on the launch and marketing of its Apple TV application, to be released before the end of the year.



To view figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/W8CTGP6O





About Big Un Ltd





Big Un Ltd (ASX:BIG) is the parent company of Big Review TV Ltd. Big Review TV are innovative disruptors in the online video space delivering subscription based video technology products and services. The Company has operations across Australia and in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vancouver and was listed on the ASX in December 2014.


Drilling Results Extend Baden Powell Mineralisation

Perth, Nov 28, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Intermin Resources Limited ( ASX:IRC ) ("Intermin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce reverse circulation ("RC") drilling results from the 100% owned Baden Powell gold project located 60km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia. The drilling was designed to test for shallow strike extensions to previously identified mineralisation adjacent to an historic shallow open pit mine (see Figure 1 in link below).



HIGHLIGHTS



- Stage 2 drilling comprising three holes for 590m has been completed at the 100% owned Baden Powell prospect on the Bardoc Tectonic Zone (BTZ) 60km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder



- Reverse circulation drilling intercepted significant mineralisation ~120m north along strike of hole BPRC1703 which returned 17m @ 3.00 g/t Au from 104m downhole including a high grade core of 7m @ 5.95g/t Au from 111m (see Note 1 below)



- Best downhole intercepts include (see Note 2 below):



o 14m @ 1.87 g/t Au from 129m (BPRC1708)



o 10m @ 1.30 g/t Au from 183m (BPRC1701)



-- includes 2m @ 3.93 g/t Au from 183m



Commenting on the drilling results, Intermin's Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:



"The results from Baden Powell are encouraging given they have extended the strike length of the mineralisation and demonstrated the system is developing at depth. Follow up work is planned for the second half of 2018.



The Company is certainly spoilt for choice as we plan the large scale self-funded drilling program for 2018. Anthill and Jacques Find will be prioritised given recent drilling success and we eagerly await results from the current drilling at Blister Dam due early in the March Quarter."



Overview



The 2017 drilling program at Baden Powell comprised eight RC holes for 1,164m and was completed in two parts. The first five holes were reported to the ASX (29 August 2017) and highlighted the new discovery in BPRC1703 (17m @ 3.0 g/t Au from 104m). The final three holes for 590m were only recently completed.



Hole BPRC1708 and BPRC1702 were drilled north of the old pit with both holes returning thick mineralised intersections. The results are encouraging as it shows the Baden Powell system developing at depth. BPRC1702, 40m north of BPRC1702 returned 1m @ 0.56 g/t Au. Unlike BPRC1703, this hole lacked the quartz and sulphide veining and appears to be part of a "barren zone".



Next Steps



The results from the 2017 program are encouraging as most holes intersected significant mineralisation at depth. These holes are the deepest completed at the project and have provided encouragement to conduct further drilling.



It is likely that given the Company's recent drilling success at the Anthill and Jacques Find projects these will be prioritised for substantial follow up in 2018. Intermin will instead focus on low level exploration work at Baden Powell, namely completing a soils-mapping program over M24/959 and possibly an Induced Polarisation ("IP") survey. The IP survey may help fast track targeting of potential locations of an interpreted high grade structure intercepted in hole BPRC1703. Any IP targets discovered would be drill tested early in 2019.



All gold assay results from the program have been received with drill hole collar details and significant downhole intervals >1.00g/t Au included in Table 1 (see link below).



Notes:



1 See ASX announcement dated 29th August 2017



2 See Table 1 on Page 3, Competent Persons Statements on Page 5, Forward Looking Statement on Page 6 and JORC Tables on Page 7



To view tables and figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/606I3HAO





About Horizon Minerals Limited





Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
Czech optical specialist Meopta will support vital line-of-sight technology for BAE Systems' CV90 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) as part of a Memorandum of Understanding with defence and security company Saab.





Above: The CV90 vehicle.

Copyright  2017 BAE Systems



The agreement, signed at NATO Days 2017 in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, will cover potential local production of key components for the CV90s fire control system, of which Meopta and Saab are subcontractors.



The Universal Tank and Anti-Aircraft Fire Control System (UTAAS), developed by Saab with production supplier Meopta, is produced specifically for the combat-proven CV90. There are more than 1,200 CV90s in operation with seven nations: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. BAE Systems is offering the CV90 to replace the Czech Armys fleet of BMP II IFVs and has joined forces with Czech industry to strengthen the offer while promoting local investment and job creation. Adding Meopta to a team already consisting of numerous Czech companies, among them VOP CZ and Ray Service, further builds on BAE Systems relationship with Czech industry.



BAE Systems is committed to offering the Czech Army a modern, adaptable combat vehicle with cutting edge technologies, said Tommy Gustafsson-Rask, general manager of BAE Systems Hagglunds business. As we continue to pursue the BMP II replacement programme, we are pleased to see one of our key suppliers expand their own range of services in support of one of the nations most important defence programmes.



The modular integrated UTAAS technology provides direct fire capability, which is a critical operational feature. This allows the CV90s gunner to take aim independently of the vehicles movements while the fire control system automatically aligns the gun. In combat situations, this means firing can commence quicker than with conventional target alignment technology, providing a crucial advantage in battle. Meoptas participation in BAE Systems Czech CV90 offering could extend to other future opportunities.



BAE Systems recently participated in the Czech-Swedish Industry Days organised by the Czech Ministry of Defence in Prague. Representatives from 20 local Czech companies  including Meopta, Ray Service, and VOP CZ  were joined by Swedish businesses for a three-day event focused on building local industry relationships across the defence sector.


Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail! Format for print or mobile Zimbabwe: After Mugabe, Looking Forward AfricaFocus Bulletin

November 27, 2017 (171127)

(Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note "While Zimbabweans understandably embraced military intervention because it led to the ouster of Mugabe and prevented his wife Grace from succeeding him, they must also embrace the fact that it comes with further, less palatable consequences. The episode demonstrated once again that the military is a critical arm of the state which has become the kingmaker in Zimbabwean politics." - Alex T. Magaisa The trend lines for searches for Zimbabwe and for Mugabe both rose dramatically in the last two weeks (see http://tinyurl.com/ycnmc33s for a Google search graph). Predictably, global attention has begun to decline. But the juxtaposition of hope and pessimism has been a recurrent theme, with varying degrees of nuance and depth. While the consensus now seems to be that the transition primarily features continuing control by ZANU-PF and the military rather than more far-reaching changes, new President Emmerson Mnangagwa faces formidable challenges of economic crisis and high public expectation for meaningful change. Key tests over the next months are likely to be whether the new administration begins to address day-to-day economic issues and whether it refrains from closing off the space newly opened for free expression by the press, civil society, and ordinary Zimbabweans. The two AfricaFocus Bulletins released today contain a selection of links and excerpts from commentators who provide insights going beyond most news coverage, both looking back and looking forward. This Bulletin, looking forward, includes a summary report from Harare from IRIN News, additional links particularly on the economic challenges ahead, and excerpts from an essay written after the inauguration of the new President Emmerson Mnangagwa by commentator Alex T. Magaisa. Another Bulletin, looking back, highlights a Reuters special report on the events leading to Mugabe's downfall, an article by Sarah Ladipo Manyika on the best (fiction) books of the Mugabe years, a short personal essay by Petina Gappah, one of the authors cited by Manyika, followed by excerpts from an extensive historical review by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and from a passionate personal reflection by Leon Jamie Mighti. It is available on-line at http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/zim1711a.php. Also a very useful overview analysis is Tim Scarnecchia, "The New Old Man in Zimbabwe," Nov. 25, 2017 http://africasacountry.com  direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/y9aahsdg This statement from civil society groups expresses widely shared sentiments, but implementation will be at best piecemeal. "Expectations of and Requests to the Emerging Government of Zimbabwe From the Civil Society in Zimbabwe," Kubatana.net (Harare), Nov. 23, 2017 http://allafrica.com/stories/201711240390.html For a detailed news report on the economic situation facing Zimbabwe, see Felix Njini and Michael Cohen,"Mnangagwa's Task: Rebuild Zimbabwe's Economy From the Ground Up," Bloomberg, Nov. 23, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/y8wduxpr Also including commentary and links on the economic options facing Zimbabwe is Patrick Bond, "Zimbabwe witnessing an elite transition as economic meltdown looms," Pambazuka News, Nov. 23, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/y8l2xy7x For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Zimbabwe, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/zimbabwe.php ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++ Is Zimbabwe's new president up to the task? IRIN, 24 November 2017 http://www.irinnews.org/ - direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/y9pvnwzt President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Credit: IRIN file photo. Harare - After a tumultuous two weeks of political brinkmanship, Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in today as Zimbabwe's new president, replacing the ageing Robert Mugabe who has led the country since independence. In his inauguration at a packed national stadium, Mnangagwa delivered a positive speech promising to "rebuild our great country", to crack down on corruption, strengthen the "pillars of democracy", attract foreign investment, and to hold elections as scheduled in 2018. "He gave reassurances that he would re-engage international partners," said political analyst Ibbo Mandaza. "That is all because the international community is insisting on that because it's backing him." But how much change is really on the cards and what are the major challenges ahead? Mnangagwa, 75, will lead a deeply divided party, seemingly bankrupt of fresh ideas, but with the weight of the country's hopes for better times on his shoulders. Mnangagwa served Mugabe for four decades as his enforcer and heir apparent, but after a spectacular falling out and dismissal as vice-president, he left for South Africa until a palace coup cleared the way this week for his return. He arrived in Harare on Tuesday to rock star status as jubilant crowds cheered Mugabe's resignation  but it was novel celebrity standing for a man more usually feared as a former spy chief and ruling party hardliner. Mnangagwa himself seemed swept up in the moment. He told supporters at ZANU-PF party headquarters: "I appeal to all genuine, patriotic Zimbabweans to come together; we work together. No one is more important than the other. We are all Zimbabweans." Despite trying to cultivate a new, kinder image, the lawyer and former guerrilla leader repeated the same old revolutionary slogans at party headquarters, including "Pasi nemandu!" or "Death to the enemy!" "Mnangagwa has a lot to prove," said Kuda Hove, a Harare-based lawyer. "People are already sceptical, because it's still ZANU-PF in form and deed." Mugabe's exit "certainly represents the end of a painful era, but then it is also possible that Mnangagwa's entry could usher in a new error", he added. National unity? ZANU-PF looks set to govern alone. Mnangagwa has now spurned calls for the repeat of a coalition with the Movement for Democratic Change that led to a period of economic stability after deeply flawed elections in 2008. The country's trade union movement and the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a 115-member civil society grouping, had both urged the creation of a broad-based transitional administration until fresh elections. "It is time to open a new page," said trade union secretary-general Japhet Moyo, and condemned what he fears will be the retention of "career ministers" by Mnangagwa, some of whom were well known "thieves and thugs". Will next year's elections be free and fair? "The military has helped steal elections before and there is no reason to suspect that it will not help [to do so] in future elections, whenever they are held," noted Mandaza. Opposition MDC spokesman Obert Gutu said political reforms are urgently needed to remove the "pillars of repression and oppression" put in place by Mugabe, but added that he was "cautiously optimistic" that this could be achieved. University of Zimbabwe political science researcher Eldred Masunungure told IRIN that any changes, especially to the working of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, would need time to be "internalised and institutionalised". He said he feared Mnangagwa might "put big and heavy spanners in the reform works". Elections next year could not come at a worse time for the MDC. Veteran leader Morgan Tsvangirai is gravely ill, and the succession issue within his party is far from settled. he biggest challenge for Mnangagwa is the state of the economy. Zimbabwe has been in crisis for close to two decades. Unemployment is sky-high (90 percent is the oftencited figure, although the data is disputed), and there are biting cash shortages and crumbling social services. Between 2000 and 2008 Zimbabwe's GDP nearly halved, the sharpest contraction of its kind in a peacetime economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. As a consequence, one in five Zimbabweans lives in "extreme poverty". Mnangagwa recognises the challenge. "We want jobs, jobs, jobs!" he told the crowd at ZANU-PF headquarters. "We need also the cooperation of our neighbours in [the regional development bloc] SADC, the cooperation of the continent of Africa; we need the cooperation of our friends outside the continent." The problem is that the structural reforms needed to attract foreign support will be painful. The World Bank has called for a sharp reining in of public spending, including cuts to public sector salaries and moves to tackle Zimbabwe's debt. The country owes $9 billion to foreign lenders and has been in default for nearly 20 years. "It looks like workers' woes might persist," said Tafadzwa Choto, who heads the Zimbabwe Labour Centre, a pro-workers NGO. "There is need to reconfigure parastatals (state-linked companies) and remove cronyism and nepotism, but this will not be easy for [Mnangagwa] because he has too many people to accommodate in the new dispensation." Zimbabweans are expecting free  and improved  social services. Years of neglect have starved a once-proud health service, and left power and sanitation systems unable to cope with demand. Rudo Gaidzanwa, a sociology professor, has a list of what she considers "essentials" for the government to spend its money on, and it's long  from better transport to refuse collection. "The new government must also be able to provide free medical care and schooling up to secondary school, in addition to [better] housing and other infrastructure," she told IRIN. Such high public spending would be diametrically opposed to the cost-cutting regimen the IMF and the World Bank has in mind. Matabeleland massacre The people of Matabeleland are a constituency Mnangagwa will struggle to win over. As minister of state security, he was responsible along with Mugabe and current Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, for the killing of an estimated 20,000 Ndebele people between 1983 and 1987. The campaign, known as Operation Gukurahundi (the rains that wash the chaff), was carried out by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade made up of mainly Shonaspeaking soldiers. Whole villages were purged with incredible brutality for the merest suspicion of supporting a small dissident armed group backed by apartheid South Africa. It still remains an emotive issue in Zimbabwe between the Shona and the minority Ndebele, who make up roughly 20 percent of the population. "It is very important for the administration to acknowledge and address the issue of the Gukurahundi massacres as we have never felt a part of the nation since the genocide," explained civil society campaigner Dumisani Nkomo. Stability If Mnangagwa is to make headway with this long list of challenges, he is going to the need political support. But ZANU-PF is badly divided. The succession issue pitted Grace Mugabe and her so-called Generation 40 supporters against Mnangagwa's Team Lacoste. Key G40 members were on the military's arrest list when they rolled their armoured vehicles onto the streets. The split within the ZANU-PF is also along regional lines. It was Mnangagwa's Masvingo and Midlands Karanga powerbase that challenged the continued rule of Mugabe's Zezuru Mashonaland-based clan. The Karanga are the largest Shona clan. There are also concerns that the military's decision to step in to support Mnangagwa  despite their insistence (with one eye on the region and the other on Western donors) that it was not a coup  has reinforced its already influential position. The hard truth emerging for many Zimbabweans is that they're already seeing strong similarities between the Mnangagwa era ahead and the Mugabe era that just ended, or as Mandaza put it: "The securocrats will remain in charge of state systems and processes, and the politicians will serve at their pleasure, as has been the case for a long time." strs-oa/ag Legal charade threatens new government Big Saturday Read, November 24, 2017 Alex T. Magaisa https://www.bigsr.co.uk  Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/yctybnrw [Excerpts only] November's drama In Zimbabwe, November is known as Mbudzi, the month of the goat. Traditionally, it is a sacred month. No rituals can be performed during the month of Mbudzi. No matter how big the event, tradition prescribes that the month of Mbudzi must be avoided. However urgent it might be, it has to wait. It is ironic that the most dramatic political transition in a generation chose the sacred month as one mighty figure fell by the wayside, while another rose to take the throne. Emmerson Mnangagwa became Zimbabwe's new leader at a grand ceremony in Harare on 24th November 2017. The event completed a dramatic series of events that began three weeks earlier when he was sacked as Vice President by his then boss, Robert Mugabe when he was President of the country. Mugabe stayed away from his protege's crowning moment. The veteran politician's world collapsed on Tuesday 21st November when circumstances left him with no choice but to resign. After 37 years in power, his own party had commenced proceedings to remove him from office. It was a dishonourable end to a long and controversial career. Mugabe's resignation followed an extraordinary military intervention on 15th November. There were mass protests on Saturday 18th November in Harare and Bulawayo, calling for Mugabe's resignation. On Sunday, Mugabe stunned the world when, against all odds, he refused to resign. This prompted an ultimatum from his party to resign or face impeachment. The party also sacked him from his position as leader. Unable to hold the tide, Mugabe was eventually forced to jump, his letter arriving midway through the joint parliamentary seating which was considering his removal. Mnangagwa, who had taken temporary exile following his sacking, returned home on Wednesday 22nd November. Two days later, he was sworn into office as president. It completed a dramatic power struggle in the ruling party, ZANU PF, which revolved around Mugabe's succession. On the one side was G40, a faction which backed President Mugabe's wife, Grace and on the other, there was Lacoste, which favoured Mnangagwa. For a while, it seemed G40 had won the political battle, with Lacoste seemingly buried after Mnangagwa's sacking. Lacoste then made a stunning comeback when it invoked the force of the gun as the military intervened. In the end, the gun led the politics. Rented power While Zimbabweans understandably embraced military intervention because it led to the ouster of Mugabe and prevented his wife Grace from succeeding him, they must also embrace the fact that it comes with further, less palatable consequences. The episode demonstrated once again that the military is a critical arm of the state which has become the kingmaker in Zimbabwean politics. While the drama that accompanied the latest intervention surprised many people, it was by no means the first time that the military had played a decisive role in Zimbabwean politics. In 2008, the military intervened after Mugabe was defeated by his nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai. The intervention ensured that Mugabe retained his position as president, but it also meant he would forever be indebted to the military. Despite the charade of elections, Mugabe's source of power was no longer the people but the military, who refer to themselves as "stockholders". However, Mugabe seems to have forgotten this and when he saw the huge crowds that attended his rallies, he thought it was out of love and respect. He did not realise the majority of these people attended out of fear or coercion. He forgot that the power he was renting had landlords who could evict him at any time. They had stopped Tsvangirai in 2008 and now they evicted him and installed their own choice at a time when Mugabe wanted to promote his wife. ... Futility of elections? More importantly, the events of the past three weeks are a grim reminder of the reality that the military will step in to determine the course of politics, including the outcome of the next election. After taking such drastic measures to protect Mnangagwa, stretching and in some ways, breaking the boundaries of the law, it is impossible to imagine the military standing by and watching their preferred candidate lose an election and power. Not after taking such risks. Their intervention in 2008 was critical and without their intervention last week, Mnangagwa would not have taken the oath of office yesterday. The difference is that the 2008 intervention was widely condemned while the 2017 intervention was generally accepted and celebrated. Should it become necessary to intervene again if their preferred candidate lose in 2018, there will be nothing to stop them. Nevertheless, the military might not even need to intervene in 2018 if Mnangagwa plays his cards right and does not squander the opportunities between now and the next election in less than 10 months. For someone who has come to power through a tenuous legal path, Mnangagwa is enjoying a huge amount of goodwill both among Zimbabweans and the international community. After years of suffering under Mugabe's rule, there are many Zimbabweans who are willing him to succeed because his success would translate into material benefits for them. They are tired of the politics and want to get on with their lives. Nations within the international community are also trying to place themselves strategically in relation to the country. Thus, there is promise of re-engagement between Zimbabwe and the West after years of a toxic relationship. China, Zimbabwe's all-weather friend is also hoping to maximise on its established position. Opposition's new challenge In addition, the irony of what has happened in the last three weeks is that it is now ZANU PF that has undergone radical renewal while the opposition is now stuck with the negative label of failing to embrace change. With Mugabe now off the stage, the "Mugabe Must Go" slogan is gone too. With the 93-year old gone, the argument that ZANU PF is led by an old man has also lost traction. ZANU PF is experiencing a new verve that it last enjoyed in the eighties, after a victorious liberation war. It is the opposition that is now lumbered with accusations of failing to renew and embrace change. The fact that ZANU PF has undergone leadership change is now placing enormous pressure upon the opposition to also consider a similar path. Indeed, if Mnangagwa walks the talk and manages to create a picture of a country that respects the rule of law, property rights and civil liberties, he will begin to appear like a born again democrat in some eyes. In particular, if Mnangagwa delivers on the economic and social front, he could well win the next election without having to rig or rely on the gun. But rest assured, the gun will always be there in reserve, should it become necessary to prevent the loss of power. This belief that he can turn things around and the might of the gun behind him have given Mnangagwa the confidence to declare that elections will be held as scheduled  less than 10 months after assuming a long-awaited office. It's the conduct of a man who knows the momentum is with him. The opposition must now reorganise itself because this election will be a lot harder against Mnangagwa and the new ZANU PF that it would have been against Mugabe and decaying and disaffected ZANU PF. Legal oddities One of the most conspicuous features of these dramatic three weeks has been the persistent struggle that the authors of Mugabe's ouster have had over the legality of their actions. Right from the beginning, they have endeavoured to create a veneer of legality even where the boundaries of the law have been straddled. Hence, when took over the television station and announced their intervention, they included a disclaimer that it was not a coup. Even as Mugabe told South African President Jacob Zuma that he was under house arrest, the military still maintained a facade of civilian control. They allowed him to participate in the rituals of his office, including officiating at a graduation ceremony and even calling a Cabinet meeting when it was an exercise in futility. This performance was designed to demonstrate that the President was still in charge and that there had been no unlawful change of government, notwithstanding the fact that the military was the de facto authority. However, efforts to create the veneer of legality continued even on the day that Mnangawa was inaugurated. Over at the courts, the Judge President, Justice George Chiweshe issued two court orders which can be summed up collectively as a legal oddity. The represent a desperate effort to present a facade of legality over the events of the past three weeks. [detailed explanation in full article at http://tinyurl.com/yctybnrw. The two court orders refer to nullification of the sacking of Mnangagwa by Mugabe on 6 November and to another court judgement that "effectively endorses an interpretation given by the military generals to section 212 of the constitution that it permits military intervention in the affairs of the executive in order to defend the constitution."] All in all, if they are allowed to stand, both judgments may come to haunt Mnangagwa's government. The second order is more sinister because it gives an odd interpretation to the constitution and upsets the constitutional order by effectively legalising military intervention in the affairs of government. It says the military can take over governmental functions that would still be constitutional and legal. In the extreme form it is tantamount to legalising a coup. This is a dangerous precedent which upsets and undermines the command structure as provided for under the constitution. It is hard to imagine why any president would want a command structure that is upside down, where he must always look behind his back to check what the boys in uniform are doing. It is prudent for the new government and any other rights groups to defend the constitution by referring this matter to the Constitutional Court, which is the highest court in the land, for a definitive and wiser interpretation. Otherwise, in a misguided effort to legalise the new government and sanitise the military intervention, this judgment actually creates a dangerous concoction which could poison the government from the very beginning. AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org
King Mohamed VI of Morocco touched down Sunday in Abidjan for a state visit in the build-up to the European Union-Africa summit to take place in Abidjan late this month.

The trip comes on top of several other visits by the monarch in the West African country known as one of the regions economic powerhouses.

The King has kick-started several projects covering several areas including economy. The kingdom and the Ivorian government in 2015 signed an agreement for rehabilitation of Cocody Bay including the construction of four dams and the restoration of four others.

The agreement allocated the sum of 425 million euro for the projects which will cover a four-year period.

King Mohamed VI was welcomed by President Alassane Drame Ouattara; one of the Moroccan monarchs staunch allies on the continent.

Both leaders will hold a meeting on today Monday at noon at the Ivorian state house.

King Mohamed on 29-30 will take part in summit. The King who has become undoubtedly an icon figure on the continent since Morocco returned to the African Union; 33 years after withdrawing from Organization of the African Unity.

This will be the kings first ever participation in such an event which will bolster partnership between the African continent and the EU bloc in many areas including security, peace and migration.

King Mohamed VI will be attending the event despite the presence of the Western Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) proclaimed in 1976 by the Front Polisario. The EU does not recognize the SADR and has backed Moroccos peaceful autonomy plan.








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Date: 10 November, 2017.

Place: White Rock, Province of British Columbia, Canada.

Just a couple of weeks ago, on 10 November, a very strange incident was witnessed near the small city of White Rock, British Columbia.

According to an anonymous report published on Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) online database, a Canadian family affirmed to have seen three red orbs moving across the sky.

At approximately 10:30 pm, we returned home and were in our family room, when my son said: hey! Look at the bright red light outside. I thought he was kidding around, but when I looked out the window sure enough there was a large red orb sitting stationary over Blaine, Washington [United States]. We live in White Rock, British Columbia, overlooking Semiahmoo Bay which faces Blaine, the author of the report affirmed.

According to the witness, the object did not have any edges; it had a perfect round-shaped appearance. I quickly grabbed my high power spotting scope to see if I could get a better look to see if there was a definitive shape or hard edges to the object, as it just looked like a red ball. Even with the scope, that is all it looked like zoomed in, he stated.

As I watched the orb start to ascend, I noticed another one a bit lower down and to the left appear, and was ascending towards the higher one. After watching for about a minute or so, a third one appeared coming from the Canadian side of the border and it looked like it flew right over the customs border checkpoint at about 300 feet or so off the ground, the British Columbia resident explained. As I watched this unfold, the first one began to go into a fairly large cloud over Blaine, and as it disappeared, the second had caught up a bit and went into the cloud nearby. The third started to ascend after I watched it fly level for about half a mile or so and followed the other two into the same approximate area of the cloud, he added.

Finally, all three objects disappeared into the strange cloud, and never came back. I watched for quite a while after they went into the cloud, but they didnt return. The whole sighting lasted about 4 or 5 minutes from the time we first saw the orbs, the Canadian citizen asserted.

Draw your own conclusions

For more information: https://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=view_long_desc&id=87924&rnd=

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Airlines have cancelled all flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali due to volcanic activity.

However, the threatened eruption of Mount Agung has so far had only a localised effect, with no sign yet of the wider disruption to global air travel on the scale of Eyjafjallajokull incident in Iceland in 2010.

Airlines including Cathay Pacific, Air France KLM, Qantas, Virgin, Air Asia, Jetstart and Garuda Indonesia were reported to have halted all their flights to and from Denpasar Ngurah Rai International Airport on Bali.

Indonesian flag carrier Garuda said that all flights to Bali, and to the neighbouring island of Lombok, would be cancelled until 07.00 28 November.

Cathay Pacific Cargo said its operations at Denpasar had been affected by the with volcanic ash cloud reported in the vicinity of the airport, causing limited visibility and potentially difficult conditions for flight operations.

The airport had been closed by the Indonesian Authorities until further notice, with all Cathay flights cancelled until further notice.

The carrier added: The situation remains volatile and can change very quickly.

Indonesia has issued its highest red alert for aircraft, warning that the ash cloud could reach 19,654 feet or higher.

However, the problem appears, for the present at least, to be localised and there are no signs as yet of a wider shut-down of operations as occurred in the wake of the Icelandic eruption in 2010.

Then, carriers grounded flights as a safety precaution for fear that aircraft engines could ingest particles of ash that had been spread over a wide area due to the climatic conditions.

Meanwhile the Indonesian authorities were reported to be evacuating people from the immediate vicinity of Mount Agung. The last full-scale eruption of Mount Agung was in 1963, when more than 1,100 people died.

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Birmingham's Karen Davis has been named Lake Homes Realty's new national director of brokerage operations.

Lake Homes Realty is the largest lake-focused real estate company in the United States, headquartered in Birmingham, with licensed real estate brokerage operations in 16 states.

The company says Davis will oversee existing and new real estate brokerages, assist brokers and agents, manage the compliance team and refine brokerage back-office operations.

"I have been watching the growth of Lake Homes Realty since the beginning and was very impressed with what had been accomplished and the plans for the future," Davis said in a statement. "When they approached me about coming to work here, I saw it as an opportunity to be a part of something exciting that had really never been done before in real estate."

Davis, a licensed broker in Alabama and Georgia, has more than 20 years of experience in the real estate industry, having worked for Birmingham's Signature Homes, a multi-state construction and real estate company.

Lake Homes Realty CEO Glenn S. Phillips said Davis is "a fantastic addition to our management team. We've known her for several years and have seen her be an incredible professional, as well as a genuine and caring person."
Honda says its electric vehicles will be able to charge within 15 minutes by 2022.

Nikkei Asian Review is reporting the Japanese automaker will release a selection of fully electric automobiles within five years that can run for 150 miles on a 15-minute charge.

One of the biggest hurdles to the expansion of the electric vehicle market, analysts say, is the time needed to recharge electric batteries in comparison to filling up the gas tank. Many electric vehicles take about 30 minutes to reach only an 80 percent charge when using a higher-speed charger, Nikkei reports.

Honda plans to release mass-market electric vehicles in Europe in 2019 and in Japan the following year. It is one of several automakers, like Mercedes-Benz, making the push.

There were 470,000 electric vehicles around the world last year, according to the Tokyo-based research firm Fuji Keizai, which is about half of one percent of the total number. That share is expected to climb to only 4.6 percent by 2035.
It's been nearly a year since Onur Genc took over as CEO of BBVA Compass, and that year has seen the company position itself both in its traditional bank locations and for the digital future.

"It's been fun," Genc said during a phone interview. "These have been exciting times for us."

Genc oversees the bank, which reported an 8 percent increase in net income for the third quarter despite the effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. BBVA Compass encompasses more than 10,500 employees at 649 branches across seven states.

Genc said the company continues to invest in its branches. Turnover among employees is down significantly in the company over the last two quarters, and he thinks that's due to an emphasis on the personal side of business.

"The key challenge is to make sure we're all on the same page," he said. "We are people serving people. As an executive, you're trying to make sure we all act along the same lines and have the same vision. If we all share the same passion of customer service, we're going to be successful."

But while at the same time emphasizing the flesh and blood of banking, BBVA Compass is also exploring the digital. The company's mobile banking app has been rated the best in the world in terms of its functionality and ease of use, by the Javelin Strategy & Research's 2017 Mobile Banking Scorecard.

Genc said most customers still prefer banking through branches, taking advantage of personal interaction to get questions answered about banking products.

However, the millennial market is a different story, which means the future could potentially be very different. Close to 40 percent of millennials have not visited a bank branch in the last year, Genc said. "There's a correlation with age, because the ratio is reversed in other demographics," he said.

That means BBVA Compass is working toward satisfying this market with easy-to-use digital portals to access banking products. For example, the BBVA Compass app allows customers to check their balance with the bank, or with other bank accounts at different institutions. It also allows quick withdrawals, digital deposits, balance transfers and quick online applications for digital express personal loans, among other features.

"You don't need to go to the branch," he said. "It's something that has been very successful through the mobile channel. We're very excited about the numbers."

Funds from these express loans can be accessed the same day as the application for some applicants. To familiarize customers with the features and the application process, BBVA Compass began mailouts earlier this month to customers.

Genc was previously the deputy CEO of Garanti Bank, the second largest private bank in Turkey, of which BBVA is the largest shareholder. Before that, he started out as a financial controller for American Airlines and had leadership roles with McKinsey & Company, rising to senior partner.

Genc said he's seen many different banking markets around the globe. The competition in the U.S. market makes it a different animal.

But banking is a "noble profession," Genc said, which makes a personal connection that much more important.

"We are in the people business," he said.

This post was corrected at 3 p.m. Nov. 27 to give the number of bank branches and the name of the mobile app study.
A Gadsden man was arrested Sunday on drug and attempted sex abuse charges in Auburn.

Auburn police responded to a suspicious incident call at a bar in the 100 block of East Magnolia Street about 2 a.m., according to authorities. When officers arrived on the scene, they were met by employees of the bar who were detaining the suspect identified Monday as 22-year-old Devonte Rashaud Hunter.

Investigators learned that a 20-year-old female patron of the bar reported that she was forced into a restroom by Hunter. Once in the bathroom, she said Hunter grabbed her, threatened her with a handgun in an attempt to coerce her to perform a sexual act.

She fled and notified bar security. Hunter was identified and detained until police arrived. Officials said he also was in possession of marijuana.

Hunter is charged with first-degree attempted sodomy and second-degree possession of marijuana. He was booked into the Lee County Jail with bond set at $15,000.
A convicted felon is in trouble again, this time accused of being in possession of about 100 pounds of synthetic marijuana.

Derrick Traylor, 39, is charged with drug trafficking, said Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit Deputy Commander Phil Sims. The arrest took place on Nov. 21, and was announced Monday.

Traylor was previously convicted of first-degree robbery and unlawful possession of a controlled substance in Etowah County.

On Nov. 21, drug agents intercepted two packages that were set to be delivered to a home in east Gadsden, Sims said. The packages contained about 100 pounds of Spice that was being shipped into Alabama from another state.

Lawmen set up surveillance on the home while other agents conducted a controlled delivery. The packages were left on the front porch when no one answered the door, he said.

A short time later, a grey SUV driven by Taylor arrived at the home. He got out of the SUV, picked up the packages and put them in his vehicle. Authorities then approached him and took him into custody without incident.

He was taken to the Etowah County Detention with bond set $100,000.

Agencies that took part in the investigation include the Gadsden Police Special Projects Team, Alabama National Guard Counterdrug Program, and FBI North Alabama Safe Streets Task Force.
The suspect in four killings Sunday in Louisiana was captured Monday morning in Alabama.

Taurus Ike Hamilton, 23, was taken into custody about 11 a.m. at Walmart in Tuscaloosa, according to Louisiana lawmen. Hamilton's mother, Belinda Folse, was also arrested, Zacary Police Chief David McDavid told AL.com.

The first shooting happened about 4:35 p.m. at a gas station at the intersection of Main Street and Plank Road. The chief said a fight erupted, subsided and then flared up again. That is when authorities say the suspect - later identified as Hamilton - pulled a gun and shot and killed Christopher Price.

McDavid said they were working that investigation when they heard of another homicide investigation not far away - just a few miles. "We learned there was another shooting up the roadway,'' McDavid said.

The triple shooting happened at a home in East Feliciana Parish. Sheriff Jeff Travis said all three victims had been fatally shot. On Monday, he identified them as Gerald Tate, Gerald Parker and Laquan Whitfield.

The sheriff told AL.com Monday they were quickly able to identify Hamilton as a suspect in their homicide investigation as well. Hamilton, he said, was the father of Whitfield's four children. Whitfield was currently dating Gerald Tate. Parker was Tate's father, and the owner of the home where the triple murder took place.

Authorities said they don't know of any link between the victim at the gas station and the three victims at the East Feliciana home.

Travis said his agency, along with Zachary police and state investigators worked throughout the night trying to track down Hamilton. Their investigation led them to believe he was in Alabama, and that is when they joined forces with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, its Metro Homicide Unit and Tuscaloosa police.

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy said deputies were giving information that Hamilton and Folse were possibly traveling on Interstate 20/59. He said deputies spotted the suspect vehicle at the 62 mile marker near Fosters and confirmed it was the suspect by the tag number. They stopped the vehicle at mile marker 64 at the Black Warrior River Bridge.

Folse was taken into custody. They then determined Hamilton was at another location off of Skyland Boulevard - Walmart. Abernathy said a perimeter was set up and Hamilton was arrested.

Zachary police have charged Hamilton with second-degree murder in the gas station shooting. They have charged his mother with accessory to second-degree murder because McDavid said she drove her son away from the gas station.

East Feliciana Parish authorities have charged him with three counts of first-degree murder. Hamilton and Folse are being held in Tuscaloosa awaiting extradition to Louisiana.

Louisiana authorities said they are thankful for Hamilton's arrest. "We figured he would go out and kill more people,'' McDavid said.

Travis said his parish only recently had a serial killer. That, followed by a triple killing, is unusual for their rural county. "It's a sign of the times,'' the sheriff said. "Violence is reaching out inter every corner of the country."
Alabama traffic fatalities over the long holiday weekend dropped dramatically compared to deaths for the same time period last year.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Monday reported it investigated six traffic deaths, which is 10 fewer than the 16 reported last year. Those numbers do not include deadly crashes worked by municipal police departments, county sheriff's offices or any other law enforcement agency.

For ALEA, the holiday period began at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22, and ended at midnight on Sunday, Nov. 26. Troopers said there were two days during which there no fatalities.

The six fatalities happened in Bibb, Sumter, Butler and Autauga counties. The majority, authorities said, were single-vehicle crashes but one of them included a passenger vehicle and a train.

That incident happened at 8:32 p.m. on Thanksgiving night in Butler County. Authorities on Monday identified one of the victims as Brittany Harris, 22, of Greeneville. Harris and another passenger were killed when the 2003 Ford Explorer driven by Justin Dewayne Stinson, 30, of Greenville struck a CSX Train on Solomon Hill Rd. The passengers, who were not using seatbelts, were ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Stinson was transported by life flight to Baptist South in Montgomery due to injuries sustained in the crash. The second passenger has not been positively identified.

Of the six fatalities, five were passengers and one was driver. Only of the victims was using a seat belt.

For the same time period last year, troopers investigated 16 traffic fatalities. ALEA originally reported 14, but two of the injured later died.

In the days leading up to, and during, this year's holiday travel period, ALEA promoted #ArriveAliveAlabama.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it won't hear the appeal of an Alabama death row inmate who was convicted in the 2007 killings of his parents in Tuscaloosa.

James Scott Largin, 46, earlier this year had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court a December 2015 ruling by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upholding his conviction and death sentence.

On Monday the high court, without opinion, refused to review his case.

Largin was sentenced to death by a Tuscaloosa County judge in 2009 for his capital murder conviction in the deaths of his parents, Jimmy, 68, and Peggy, 56.

"Peggy and Jimmy Largin were at home on the night of March 15, 2007, when they were shot multiple times with a .22 caliber rifle and their bodies were thrown down the stairs leading to the cellar in their home. Autopsy results showed that both victims died as the result of close-range gunshot wounds to the head," according to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruling.

"This Court has independently weighed the aggravating and the mitigating circumstances as required by (Alabama law) ... We are convinced, as was the circuit court, that death was the appropriate sentence for Largin's capital crimes," the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals stated in its order.

He was arrested after University of Alabama police found his parents' car near the campus a few days after the murders, the Associated Press reported at the time.

A prosecutor at Largin's original trial said Largin showed no remorse over the murders. The judge agreed with the jury's recommendation that Largin be given the death penalty. His defense attorneys argued for life in prison without parole.
Thousands of felons across Alabama have registered to vote in recent weeks, according to Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, who is heading up a statewide effort to get felons to the voting booth.

Glasgow's goal is to get as many felons as possible signed up to vote before the end of the day Monday, the deadline to be able to cast a ballot in Alabama's Dec. 12 U.S. Senate special election.

"In the last month, I think we registered at least five- to ten-thousand people all over the state," Glasgow, president of Dothan's The Ordinary People Society (TOPS) advocacy group, said Monday. "I've got people all over the state registering people with my TOPS branches in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery, Enterprise, Dothan, Abbeville, Geneva, Gordon, Bessemer, we have a lot."

For generations, most Alabamians convicted of a felony were barred from ever voting in the state again, but the Definition of Moral Turpitude Act, a new law passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in May, cleared the way for thousands of felons to restore their voting rights.

The law lists several dozen felony convictions that are considered crimes "of moral turpitude," which means that anyone convicted of one of them loses the right to vote; other felons are now eligible to restore that right. Previously, the list of crimes that some registrars considered to be "of moral turpitude" was not clearly defined, and many felons simply believed they could never regain the franchise.

AL.com tagged along with Glasgow earlier this year as he helped register a felon at Dothan City Jail to vote.

Spencer Trawick lost the franchise in 2015 when he was convicted of third-degree burglary, a felony. But Glasgow informed Trawick in June - while he was still incarcerated at the Dothan jail - that he was able to regain his voting rights due to the passage of the Definition of Moral Turpitude Act. And Trawick went ahead that same day and filled out the required registration forms as Glasgow watched.

"I'm actually delighted about it, really," Trawick said at the time. "A lot of people get felonies and they just feel like their whole world's shattered because there's a lot of things that you can't do, but now that they passed that law a lot of people are going to run towards it."
A retired Marine colonel who once served as a top aide to White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly plans to launch a long shot write-in campaign Monday afternoon to become Alabama's next senator, with just 15 days left in the campaign.

Lee Busby, 60, of Tuscaloosa said he thinks that the allegations of sexual impropriety against Republican nominee Roy Moore have created an opportunity for a centrist candidate to win more than a third of the state's votes in the Dec. 12 special election.

"I think you can flip this thing. If this were a military operation, the left flank and the right flank are heavily guarded," Busby said. "I think that gives you an opportunity to run straight up the middle."

Busby, who was lacking any formal campaign structure or even a working website as of Monday morning, said he is counting on social media to spread the word about his campaign. He said he plans to run as an independent on his record as an investment banker, military leader and defense contractor and entrepreneur. He spent the weekend working on a logo and said he is just starting to explore the legal requirements for raising money for a campaign.

Busby retired from the Marine Corps in 2013, and has focused on his most recent passion, as a sculptor in clay of U.S. military veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars. His artistic work was recently featured in Southern Living.

"I just don't believe that either one of them are qualified to be in the U.S. Senate," Busby said of Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones, noting that both men's professional experience was in the law. He said he attended a fundraiser for Jones this year but did not donate.

As for the allegations of Moore having inappropriate contact with teenage girls, which Moore has denied, Busby said he was not certain of the truth.

"It has created enough distaste in my mind," he said. "As a voter, I don't need to get to the bottom of it."

Republican leaders in Washington and Alabama have effectively ruled out running a write-in campaign against Moore because they think it would split the Republican vote, all but ensuring a victory for Jones. Busby, who is divorced with four grown children, argued that his campaign could attract voters from Jones as well as Moore supporters.

"The people of Alabama are not going to be represented by someone who supports a liberal abortion policy," Busby said. "I'm extremely concerned about the Democratic Party in Alabama. I don't think they reflect Alabama's views."

Polls suggest that the race has tightened in recent weeks as Republican leaders in Washington have cut ties with Moore after the allegations against him were circulated. A Nov. 21 survey for the Raycom News Network found that about 3 percent of the state's voters planned to write in a candidate's name on Election Day. Under state law, write-in candidates will be counted as long as they are for a living person otherwise eligible for the office.

Busby said he voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 Republican primary, and Donald Trump in the general election. He said he supports Republican efforts to lower taxes, though he has not examined the House and Senate tax reform proposals. He said he wants to repeal Obamacare and that life begins at conception, though there should be exceptions in antiabortion laws for cases of rape, incest or threats to the life of the mother.

"At some point, it becomes a human life," he said of an unborn fetus. "And you have to protect those who can't protect themselves."

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Busby served as an officer in Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq, and later worked as a defense contractor training soldiers in Afghanistan. He served as the vice chief of staff to John Kelly, when the current White House chief of staff was a three-star lieutenant general commanding the Marine Forces Reserve.

Busby said he had not spoken to Kelly about his plans, but he foresees talking with him if his last-minute campaign gains traction.

"It may make an interesting phone call," he said.
Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a rumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be imminent.

The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancellations could be extended.

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, and its airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesias eastern archipelago.
Formation of an independent Kurdistan would be disastrous for all peoples of the region, including the Kurds themselves.

Who can blame the Iraqi Kurds for wishing to establish a separate and autonomous state for themselves? Certainly no Iraqi who still cares to remember the murderous history of Saddam Husseins Anfal genocide and Halabja massacre of the Kurdish population, predicated on a long history of denying their identity and trying to Arabise them.

Who can blame the Kurds in Iran if they too wanted to join forces with their fellow Kurds across the border and form a new country with them? Certainly, no Iranian who cares to recall the slaughter of Kurds early in the course of the Islamic revolution, and in fact their systematic repression before it  all of that rooted indeed in a ghastly racist history of Persian-supremacy denigrating the very language and proud culture of the Kurdish people.

Who can blame the Kurds in Turkey if they too wanted to join Iraqi and Iranian Kurds to form a nation-state of their own? Certainly not Recept Tayyip Erdogan and his supporters of their brand of Turkish nationalism and an entire history of the persecution of their own Kurdish population, again trying to deny their history and identity and calling them Mountain Turks?

Who can blame the Syrian Kurds if they too wished to join other Kurds and break away from Syria? Certainly no Syrian who still suffers through the bloody regime of Bashar al-Assad and the long and languorous history of denying Kurds their civil liberties and rights.

Who can blame any Kurd anywhere in the Arab and Muslim world demanding a state of their own? Certainly, no American administration that has historically used and abused the Kurds for their own imperial and strategic purposes, most recently to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and then abandoned them to their own devices when it comes to their wish for independence.

The perils and promises of Kurdish nationalism

The cause of Kurdish separatism in any country where Kurds currently live is of course perfectly understandable, but it is alas no cause for celebration in a region already plagued with ethnic nationalism of multiple vintages.

The partition and dismantling of four sovereign states  Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran  to carve an autonomous Kurdistan (much to the delight of the Israeli settler colony) is as much disastrous for the entirety of the region as for the Kurds remaining within these states and is enormously consequential for the eventual resurrection of multiple, pluralistic, tolerant, and cosmopolitan nations.

No Iranian, Turk, or Arab can or should even try to pontificate to Kurds about Kurdish independence. Only Kurds themselves can critically think through and act upon their decisions. They need to ask themselves if the racialised ethnic nationalism of their own kind is indeed an answer to the calamitous racialised ethnic chauvinism from which they are justly running away.

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Suppose to Benjamin Netanyahus utter delight all these nation-states built around the Kurds completely broke down to all their racialised, ethnicised, communities. Instead of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria as we know them now  all of them multilingual, multicultural, multifaceted mosaics of people ploughing through the thick and thin of their shared postcolonial history  we were to have myriads of ethnically pure Kurdish, Baluchi, Arab, Persian, Turk, Turkmen, Yazidi, Azeri, ad absurdum ethnic states.

Who will benefit from the fragmentation of this Bantustan? Will this potential scenario advance or hinder the cause of peace, justice, democracy, and prosperity for the people of these fragmentations? What will these fragments have gained, what will have they lost?

Israelification of the Arab and Muslim world

I have lost count of how many pieces the bastion of liberal Zionism Haaretz has published in support of Kurdish independence  how much ludicrous crocodile tears and false solidarity going deep into Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, believe it or not! They simply have no shame.

But why would this lasting vestige of European colonialism in Palestine be so adamant in its support for an independent Kurdistan? There are many wicked reasons for it but one in particular is important to highlight.

The Israeli settler colony is constitutionally discomforted by any pluralistic nation in the region for it exposes the ethnic racism at the roots of Zionism. The more ethnically fragmented the region in which they live the paler will appear the European settler colony in their midst. Let the entire Arab and Muslim world break down and fracture into tiny ethnic, xenophobic, racist colonies so Israel feels perfectly at home in Palestine. Divide them to their tiniest racialised denominators so you can rule them better.

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That the liberal Zionist gang gathered at Haaretz is now leading the pro-Kurdish independence chorus in English is the clearest indication that when it comes to greasing the brutish machinery of Zionist colonisation of Palestine and active destruction of historical nation-states in the region, they are more hardcore than their hardcore comrades on the right.

Israel, however, is not the only entity opposing that multicultural cosmopolitanism. Every single long-standing ethnic nationalism dominant in the region and their ruling regimes  Arab, Iranian, or Turkish  have historically brutalised the Kurds (along with other populations) in their midst precisely because their rule is so constitutionally illegitimate in face of the truth and reality of that pluralistic cosmopolitanism.

But neither the Zionist support for an autonomous Kurdistan nor the anti-Kurdish hysteria opposing it should detract an iota of attention from the fact that a whole history of Kurdish suffering in the hands of these states has given them every moral right to demand and exact a measure of autonomy for themselves.

But, and there is the rub, the addition of yet another state-sponsored ethnic nationalism on the model of the four states in which Kurds are located will not be a recipe of political liberation or cultural emancipation. Quite to the contrary: It will do precisely the opposite and entrap the Kurds within a smaller gathering inside multiple encampments of religious and ethnic sectarianism in the region. Adding a Kurdish ethnic nationalism to the already metastasised Turkish, Arab, and Iranian chauvinism will turn the entire region even more pronouncedly into the mirror image of the militant sectarianism of the Zionist settler colony.

The battle for democratic pluralism

The bloody persecution of Iranian Kurds early in the course of the Islamic revolution in Iran (1977-1979) was not because they were separatists. It was because the Iranian Kurdistan had become the cornerstone of a potential revolutionary opposition to the militant Islamists in Tehran brutalising the revolution towards their sectarian monopoly. That emancipatory politics should always remain the model of Kurdish democratic aspirations.

If Kurds were to remain where they are and become integral to the transnational liberation movements of their respective countries, by their very presence they will force those states to transform their wretched identity-politics into emancipatory civic liberties. If they remain and struggle for their civil liberties, they will liberate their cause from ethnic nationalism and set an example for those with whom they share their fate. If they partition and leave, they will replicate and exacerbate the ethnic racism from which they are running away. If they stay and fight for their liberty in the company of those around them (Arabs, Iranians, or Turks), they will pivot towards a far more emancipatory future.

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In the face of the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan one cannot be absolutist, pessimistic, or nihilist. The alternative to an independent Kurdistan in Iraq cannot and should not be business as usual and the dissolution of Kurdish communal or even national aspirations into the larger frame of dysfunctional or despotic ruling regimes.

However justified, Kurdish ethnic nationalism is reactive and reactionary, not proactive and progressive. It plunges the region, Kurds included, further down the drain of retrograde parochialism, racism, nativism, ethnic nationalism, and hateful jingoism. It is a reaction that the ruling regimes in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey deserve, but that will irreparably damage the future of a democratic pluralism for Arabs, Iranians, Turks, and particularly for Kurds themselves.

The intensification of Kurdish separatism in Iraq is a symptom not a cause of the further disintegration of the Arab and Muslim world. If the response to the legitimate desire of Kurds for autonomy is military manoeuvres armed confrontation, shutting down of water resources, and even more racist anti-Kurdish jingoism the dismantling of the current map of the region does not need any help from the Israeli settler colony.

Palestinian uprising against the colonial occupation of their homeland is a blueprint for national liberation movements around the globe. As they carved a Zionist settler colony in Palestine, European colonialists could have easily mapped a Kurdistan in the region. That they did not do so was because of their own colonial interests.

The political map of every single country in the region today is the result of the encounter between the last Muslim empires  Mughal India, Qajar Iran, and the Ottoman Empire  confronting French and British imperialism. The result is the cluster of the current nation-states, in all of which the state is there to repress not to represent the nation. The addition of yet another repressive nation-state abusing and misrepresenting its people will not solve that historical problem. It will only exacerbate it.

The battle for democratic pluralism must be fought for and won from within these very colonial states. In that perfectly plausible aspiration, Kurds and their democratic dreams will travel precisely in the opposite direction of the wishes of the Israeli settler colony and become a model for Europe now facing its own degenerative separatist movements all the way from Cyprus to Catalonia.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
In a depressing turn of events, the government of Pakistan surrendered to hardliners on Monday morning and accepted their demands for the resignation of the countrys law minister Zahid Hamid. This capitulation of the democratically elected government came after countrywide clashes between the police and protesters which resulted in at least six deaths and hundreds injured.

Protesters believed that the law minister had amended the declaration of faith which confirmed belief in the finality of Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad in the Election Act of 2017. Therefore, to them, he insulted Islam and his actions amounted to blasphemy. The parliament undid the amendment and called it a clerical error.

Hardline political party Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) organised a weeks-long sit-in which escalated into clashes the past few days. Ordinary citizens looked on helplessly at the chaotic unravelling of the state. Cable news channels and social media networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were blocked across Pakistan for over 24 hours. The crisis was resolved through the arbitration of the military.

Hamid was intimidated into releasing a video on social media in which he apologised for hurting religious sentiments and reassured the sectarian hardliners that the persecuted religious minority Ahmadis of Pakistan are non-Muslims to him. It was a statement which was supposed to highlight the strength of the ministers faith.

The governments capitulation to TLYRs demands sends yet again a message to ambitious clerics that the use of religion in Pakistan for political gain works.

Appeasing hardliners

Interestingly, the TLYRs supporters belong to a South Asian Islamic movement of the Hanafi school called the Barelvi, which traditionally has been considered tolerant and closer to Sufi thought. Since 9/11 the Pakistani government and Western countries engaged in the war on terror and invasion of Afghanistan have labelled them as moderates.

They have been perceived as a counterforce to more extreme and sectarian militant outfits. The US even gave funding to Barelvi groups for denouncing terrorist attacks in Pakistan. But the deliberate ideological weaponisation of conservative religious groups perceived as moderates did not neutralise fighter groups as expected.

Instead, they were empowered and allowed to grow increasingly conservative and confrontational.

For decades they were allowed to practise their bigotry on non-Muslim citizens. They have been allowed to use religion in politics and themselves have been used in power games between various civilian and military forces. Today, their tactics of fabricating alleged incidents of blasphemy to trap minorities and even Muslims to gain popularity and whip up religious sentiments for political or economic gains are being used on the government.

The events of the last few weeks have demonstrated exactly how effective of a tool they are. They are easily able to mobilise large groups of men, wreak havoc, attack government officials houses, block highways, get ministers to resign and destabilise governments.

What is clear is that the state has not learned anything from its history of appeasement of hardliners and has again given in.

It has simply failed to enforce its writ where it most needed to, but it has no qualms in treating voices critical of its policies without mercy. The hypocrisy is what is utterly soul-crushing.

A year of human rights violations

The reason why this entire episode hurts the civil society, media and minorities so much is that 2017 has already been a year of a deteriorating human rights situation. It started with the abduction of five activist bloggers, four of whom were released after torture and scathing smear campaigns. The four fled the country and one is still missing.

Then a Muslim progressive student was brutally lynched to death in broad daylight by his fellows inside the universitys vicinity over allegations of insulting Islam on Facebook which he hadnt done.

Throughout the year there were other forced disappearances of activists, academics and journalists, faith-based target killings of religious minorities, and violence against journalists and human rights defenders. And of course, there was continuous political manipulation of religious issues, inciting hate and dangerous speech against persecuted groups.

The government has kept instilling fear among citizens by making it clear that Pakistani online spaces will be monitored for blasphemous content. The state authorities frequently sent mass text messages to citizens asking them to report blasphemous speech on the internet and in the press.

Interestingly, Pakistani political leaders, including disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, have repeatedly spoken out against Islamophobia in the West. But they havent expressed any sincere concerns over religious tolerance and rights of marginalised minorities in their own homeland.

If Pakistan could give any advice to the West on Islamophobia, it would be this: Do not take our example, be more inclusive and do not let the political or religious right dictate government agenda!

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
AJ+ tells the story of the divide between those who live off the land and those who want to profit from its oil.

Alaska is usually in the news for one of two reasons: its oil industry or climate change, or sometimes both.

While the effects of climate change  permafrost melting and villages along the coastline eroding away  are real, for Alaska, whose economy has thrived on oil for the past 50 years, simply stopping the drilling for oil is out of the question.

But for many Alaska Natives, the indigenous people of Alaska who encompass 227 different tribes and speak 20 distinct languages, living off the land is still a way of life.

Alaska Natives are hit first and hit hardest by global warming and climate change, says Faith Gemmill, who is an Alaska Native Neetsai Gwichin, and the executive director of environmental group Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL).

Many Alaska Natives still live in villages off the road system. They still hunt and gather for sustenance. Despite the billions of dollars of oil profits the state has seen, dozens of Alaska Native villages have never been equipped with basic resources, like running water, leaving residents to use outhouses and honey-buckets, and to refill giant barrels of water in their homes.

We are in a resource state, and we live in third-world conditions, says Gemmill.

But not all Alaska Natives live this way.

Some work for Alaska Native-owned corporations, which can make big profits from the oil industry.

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The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which made Forbes list of Americas Largest Private Companies, had revenue of $2.4bn last year. This means that Alaska Natives in that north slope region of Alaska, each of whom are shareholders in ASRC, benefited from those profits.

This has created a divide between those who live off of the land, making little money from the oil industry and seeing the effects of climate change firsthand, and those who profit from its natural resources.

AJ+ travelled to Alaska to explore this divide in its latest installment of its Untold America series.

In Part 1, AJ+ explores the complicated relationship between Native corporations and the oil industry, and asked how Alaska Natives ended up with corporations  not reservations  in the first place.

In Part 2, AJ+ introduces the Alaska Natives fighting to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), where a 40-year battle over whether to drill for oil has resurfaced.

Earlier this month, legislation to allow drilling in ANWR was pushed forward in Congress. A Senate committee approved that legislation on November 15, moving it towards a full Senate vote.

The refuge is a critical habitat for polar bears, and its the calving grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, which has the longest migration route of any animal on earth. The Alaska Native Gwichin people depend upon the caribou to survive.

AJ+ travelled to Arctic Village, which sits on the southern edge of the refuge, to learn about the importance of this fight.

In Part 3, AJ+ explores how Alaska Native women are healing from generations of trauma.

One of the women taking the lead is Marjorie Tahbone, or Kunaq as she is known in her native Inupiaq language.

Tahbone, whos from Nome, Alaska, is a graduate student at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She is bringing back the traditional art of facial tattooing for women  a practice once banned by Christian missionaries in Alaska  to help women heal.

And in Part 4, AJ+ asked Alaska Natives: What do people get wrong about your community.
Greece plans to sell 66m euros worth of surplus bombs and missiles to Saudi Arabia amid ongoing war in Yemen.

Athens, Greece  A political dispute in Greece over a controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia is deepening, with opposition politicians and critics decrying plans to sell 66m euros ($78.7m) worth of surplus missiles and bombs to the Arab Gulf country.

Opposition politicians have accused the government, which is currently headed by the leftist Syriza party, of not following the proper procedures for an international agreement, while critics have decried selling weapons to a country engaged in war.

Saudi Arabia is currently leading a coalition of countries waging war in neighbouring Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab region.

Legislators from New Democracy, the centre-right opposition party, claim that Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, illegally employed a private broker to negotiate the terms of the agreement with Saudi Arabia, a charge the defence minister denies.

Greek law stipulates that such agreements must be handled by government officials.

New Democracy has previously called for Kammenos to resign over the deal, saying in a statement that provocative agreement was executed without a trace of transparency.

During a heated debate in the Greek parliament on Monday, New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for an investigation into the arms deal and the alleged role of a private broker.

In response, Alexis Tsipras, prime minister, accused New Democracy and a media lobby of using the deal to unfairly target the government.

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Tsipras claimed the broker, Greek national Vassilis Papadopoulos, was procured by Saudi Arabia, an assertion that country has previously denied in media statements.

Meanwhile, the deal has also prompted internal objections from a handful of Syriza members, such as legislator Giorgos Kyritsis, who argued that Greece should not sell weapons to Saudi Arabia on political and moral grounds.

The legal objections are a spin by New Democracy, and they wont get anywhere with it, he told Al Jazeera, but political part of the story is that we shouldnt sell arms to countries that may use them in wars, especially when there are situations with violations of human rights.

Kyritsis said: Me and [some] other members of Syriza think that it would be better if we scrap this deal because there is no reason for us  even if we need the money  to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia  They could be used against Yemenis.

At the time of publication, Nikos Voutsis, president of the Hellenic Parliament [the parliament of Greece], and Kammenos had not replied to Al Jazeeras requests for a comment.

War in Yemen

The US and the UK have supported the Saudi government as it continues to lead a coalition of countries blockading and bombing Yemen, where it says it is fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Last week, the Saudi-led coalition said it would ease its air-tight blockade of Yemen.

More than 8,600 people have been killed and 49,960 injured during the ongoing war in Yemen, which started in March 2015, according to the United Nations. Of the total number of deaths, 60 percent are civilians.

More than 20 million Yemenis  among them 11 million children  are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to UN agencies.

The Saudi embassy in Athens had not replied to Al Jazeeras request for a comment at the time of publication.

On Monday, the Greek branch of Amnesty International published a statement calling on the government to abandon the deal.

According to Greeces Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in March 2016, the government should not sell weapons or military equipment to any country that will likely use them to violate international law, the rights group said.

Amnesty International urges Greece to immediately withdraw the sale and transfer of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, the statement said, adding that no conventional weapons, ammunition and military equipment should be sold to any parties involved in the conflict in Yemen.

Thanos Dokos, the director of the Athens-based Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy think-tank, said that the deal is not indicative of Greek plans to expand its role in the Middle East.

It was just an opportunity for the Greek government to sell surplus weaponry and cover financial needs and for the other side [Saudi Arabia] to obtain more weaponry for the war in Yemen, he told Al Jazeera.

Explaining that the debate is multi-pronged, Dokos said: The communist party [and other leftists] are delighted to find an opportunity to criticise the government on ethical grounds and moving forward it will probably be used by the opposition [New Democracy] in its wider criticism of the government.

The opposition is basically saying youve accused of being corrupt in the past, but you are no better yourselves.

Dark side to these transactions

Syriza came to power in January 2015 after campaigning on a left-wing programme.

Yet, it became the target of criticism for reneging on pledges to end the countrys austerity measures, fumbling the mass influx of refugees since 2015 and maintaining close military ties with Israel, among other grievances.

Savas Michael-Matsas, leader of the leftwing Revolutionary Workers Party, argued that both the government and the opposition were attempting to hide the truth.

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There is always a dark side to these transactions, he told Al Jazeera. We are against selling weapons to Saudi Arabia as they kill the Yemeni people and foment war all over the Middle East, whether its by the Greek government or the United States.

Nonetheless, Michael-Matsas argued that New Democracy has focused on the alleged role of a private broker to score political points.

New Democracy and the rightwing have been involved in a thousand scandals, he continued.

Its important to note that they are not criticising the criminal act of selling arms to a country [Saudi Arabia] which is carrying out a genocidal war in Yemen, preparing for a war in Iran and inciting more war in Lebanon.

Earlier this month, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) also decried the deal in a statement. The KKE firmly opposes agreements of military character that Greek governments sign with countries which participate in interventions against other people, such as the case of Saudi Arabia [in Yemen], the party said in a statement.

Seraphim Seferiades, a politics professor at Panteion University in Athens, said the Saudi arms deal is only the latest move in a long list of policies former supporters of the Syriza government perceive as betrayals.

People have stopped measuring the party up to the notion of leftwing government, he told Al Jazeera. Despite the fact that Syriza is still employing left-wing rhetoric, they have been doing the exact opposite in reality.
Harare, Zimbabwe  Zimbabwes former minister of finance and economic development has been denied bail in his corruption trial.

Ignatius Chombo, an ally of ousted Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, is being held in the interests of his safety and to prevent any interference with state witnesses, a magistrates court said on Monday evening.

Chombo was arrested on Friday and charged with corruption and abuse of power.

Speaking after the hearing, Chombos lawyer, Lovemore Madhuku, told Al Jazeera that he was very disappointed with the courts decision.

There was absolutely no basis for the assertion that he will interfere with state witnesses, nor was there reason to assert that he would abscond and escape the charges, he said.

Madhuku said Chombo could be remanded at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, just outside the capital, Harare, until December 8.

However, Madhuku said he would be preparing an urgent motion with Zimbabwes High Court to have the ruling overturned within the next 48 hours.

The charges against Chombo stem from his time as minister of higher education from 1995 to 2000, and as minister of local government, public works and urban development from 2000 to 2015.

They come after a military operation led to Mugabes resignation last Tuesday, ending his nearly four decades in power.

Mugabes successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was inaugurated as the countrys new president on Friday.

Chipangas bail denied

Also on Monday, Kudzanai Chipanga, the head of the ruling ZANU-PF Youth League, was denied bail and will be remanded in custody until December 8.

Magistrate Josephine Sande refused to grant Chipanga bail, on the grounds that his security may be at risk if he is released.

Shortly before his arrest on the weekend, Chipanga, a close associate of former First Lady Grace Mugabe, was confronted by protesters who shouted threats at him for his pro-Mugabe stance.

He faces charges of fraud and slander for his criticism of the head of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, General Constantino Chiwenga.

The charges carry a potential 20-year prison sentence.

Chiwenga had cautioned the then president against carrying out a series of purges within his ruling ZANU-PF regime, shortly before the military action that led to Mugabes resignation.

As part of that action, known as Operation Restore Legacy, the military arrested several of Mugabes allies.

At least four ministers, including Mugabes nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, the former minister of public service, labour and social welfare, have fled the country.

An army spokesperson, Colonel Overson Mugwisi, said some government officials are still in military custody, but said details of their detention will be given at a later stage.

Follow Tendai on Twitter and Instagram, @i_amten.
Assad delegation yet to confirm attendance in Geneva talks, UN envoy says, amid ongoing bombardment of Eastern Ghouta.

The UN special envoy for Syria says the government delegation has not yet confirmed that it will attend the latest round of UN-mediated talks with the opposition in Geneva.

The eighth round of Geneva talks is supposed to focus on the issue of elections and a constitution, two of the four so-called baskets of reforms laid out by the UN for a political settlement to the Syria crisis.

The government did not yet confirm its participation in Geneva but indicated that we would be hearing from them soon, Staffan De Mistura said.

Naturally we hope and indeed expect that the government will be on its way shortly.

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De Mistura said there was a real danger of the concrete fragmentation of Syria, and that he was ready to engage with all those who came to the talks.

Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from Geneva, said that the talks in the Swiss city, due to begin on Tuesday, were probably not going to start on time.

The opposition are already here, he said.

The Syrian government delegates have postponed their flight to Geneva because they are angry that the opposition still say that [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad must go.

Syrias opposition groups agreed last week, following a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to send a united delegation to Geneva, a move seen as a boost to prospects for a breakthrough.

However, our correspondent said there are some who believe there is another reason why the government delegation has delayed its arrival.

The @UN Special Envoy for #Syria Staffan de Mistura will brief the UN Security Council today 27 November at 16.00 CET

> Watch here now: https://t.co/TMoKiPmFcw #SyriaTalks pic.twitter.com/SIXtkU3SXv  UN Geneva (@UNGeneva) November 27, 2017

Its also been suggested that maybe they want to continue the bombardment on Eastern Ghouta for a little longer before they come to the negotiating table, potentially with a strengthened hand, he said.

During a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi last Monday, al-Assad said he was ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syrias six-year war, and over half of its population has been displaced.
Veteran opposition leader and former presidential candidate was accused of incitement and spreading fake news.

An Egyptian court has dropped a case against prominent opposition leader Ayman Nour that sought to strip him of his citizenship.

The veteran opposition leader told Al Jazeera that the case against him was politically motivated and that it never had a legal basis.

Legal action should be taken against the lawyers who bring forward these kinds of malicious cases and abuse the right of litigation These cases are clearly malicious and have no legal or constitutional basis, he said.

This is perhaps the third time Ive had such a case against me It is a form of blackmail and a form of distortion.





Nour, who ran against former President Hosni Mubarak in 2005, was accused of incitement against the state and its institutions through a private TV channel he operates from Turkey.

According to the lawsuit, the Al Sharq television channel, which is owned and managed by Nour, was used as a tool to spread false news and incite violence against the Egyptian state.

Nour told Al Jazeera in a separate interview, before the charges were dropped, that several cases had been brought against him asking for the revocation of [his] citizenship.

He added: Egyptian citizenship obtained by a natural-born citizen cannot be revoked These talks only reflect the states ignorance of the law.

Nour, the leader of the Ghad al-Thawra (Tomorrows Revolution) party, had previously voiced fears about the Egyptian government going after a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) he had established.

I have a charity centre called the Nour Cultural Centre which I founded, he said.

I built this centre in the heart of Cairo with my own money in 1995.

After 22 years, I found out last week that they want to demolish the centre because it has Nour in its name, and a governor made statements claiming the name is inappropriate.

So I sent out a tweet that infuriated them. I said Im happy to change the name of the centre, you can name it the Sisi centre or the Mohamed bin Zayed centre or the Mohamed bin Salman centre.

If one of those names pleases you, then I approve. Just leave the centre so people can benefit from it.

Nours background

Nour first rose to prominence in 2005, when he ran in Egypts first multi-candidate presidential election. He lost to Hosni Mubarak, obtaining 7.6 percent of the vote, in a ballot widely regarded as not free.

Months after the election, he was sentenced to five years in jail on forgery charges, in what many saw as a politically-motivated conviction. He was released in early 2009.

Nour received a full pardon by the former military government three years later, but, due to legal reasons, he failed to qualify to run for president during the 2012 election, according to local media.

A year later, when Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power during a military coup, Nour left Egypt for Lebanon.

From there, he went to Turkey after learning that his life may be in danger, a move he says was prompted by a tip-off from Lebanese intelligence.

The opposition leader has been in Turkey since 2015, with an expired passport which has not been renewed.

Until now, I do not have freedom of movement and freedom to return to my country, Nour told Al Jazeera.

I want to return to Egypt. I cant because I dont have a passport. I want to return and live in my country.
Al Jazeeras Mohammed Vall has visited the site of the $5bn project, which will one day be Africas biggest hydroelectric dam.

Ethiopia is pushing on with construction of its massive new dam, despite growing objections from Egypt.

The controversial project has strained relations between the two nations, because Egypt, which lies downstream, sees it as a risk to its water supply from the Blue Nile.

Egypt has long held the majority rights to the Nile and relies almost entirely on the river for its water needs.

Construction has never stopped, and will never stop, until the project is completed [] We are not concerned by what Egypt thinks  Ethiopia is committed to benefitting from its water resources without causing harm to anyone, Ethiopias Minister of Irrigation, Water and Electricty, Seleshi Bekele, said.

Once completed, The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will be Africas largest hydroelectric power plant and will help solve a national energy crisis in Ethiopia.

As rhetoric over the project heightens, sources have told Al Jazeera that there is maximum security around the dam, with an undeclared no-fly zone and anti-aircraft defenses.

There have also been rumors on social media in Ethiopia about possible air strikes by Egypt aiming to destroy the 1.7 kilometre dam.

More than 60 percent of the dams construction has already been completed, according to engineers on the site.

The final capacity of the dam will exceed 6,000 megawatts, which will allow Ethiopia not only to satisy domestic power needs, but will also allow it to become a major exporter of electricity to regions as far away as South Africa and Western Europe.

Al Jazeeras Mohammed Vall has visited the site of the $5bn project, which will one day be Africas biggest hydroelectric dam.
After months of stalemate, talks are expected to focus on new constitution and elections.

Syrias government and opposition will start a new round of UN-brokered talks in Geneva on Tuesday, but there is little optimism for progress towards ending the seven-year conflict.

After months of stalemate, the talks are expected to focus primarily on a new constitution and elections, two of the four so-called baskets of reforms laid out by the United Nations for a political settlement to the Syria crisis.

The UNs special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he hoped the warring factions would start a fresh round of negotiations without preconditions and within the framework of the UN Security Councils resolutions.

We are all moving, I hope, in the direction of implementing Resolution 2254 and a political solution long overdue in Syria, said De Mistura from Moscow on Friday, at the end of a frantic week spent between the Saudi and Russian capitals in a bid to ensure that both the government and the opposition would come to Geneva ready to lay the groundwork for a political solution.

De Mistura announced earlier that he would press hard for particular up-front attention on a new constitution and UN-supervised elections, two of the four baskets, which also include a non-sectarian transitional government and counterterrorism measures.

Discussions will also address the issue of detainees, abductees and missing persons, De Mistura said, along with the need for full humanitarian access in any besieged or hard-to-reach-areas, including Eastern Ghouta.

De Mistura said a follow-up round of talks would likely take place in December.

The opposition front

Some 50 delegates representing different factions within the Syrian opposition arrived in the Swiss city of Geneva over the weekend in preparation for the talks.

The unity of the opposition front will be put to the test on Tuesday. Disagreement over the future role of President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government has considerably weakened the oppositions capability to negotiate a favourable way out of the crisis over the past few months.

Statements issued by the opposition after a two-day meeting in Riyadh last week did not clarify how this critical issue would play out.





According to a statement issued by the Riyadh conference on Friday, the participants stressed that the transition cannot happen without the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his circle at the start of the interim period. Hours later, however, Nasr Hariri, the new chief negotiator for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Syrias main opposition group, told reporters that the opposition was ready to discuss everything on the negotiating table without preconditions.

Early last week, Hariri replaced Riyad Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister, who led the HNC for almost two years. Hijab, a hardliner, hinted in a statement that the HNC had faced pressure to make concessions in favour of Assad. His departure led to speculation that the group may soften its stance towards the Syrian president and his role in the transitional period.

Significantly, Hijabs resignation came as Assad made a televised appearance next to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, where the Russian leader, a staunch supporter of Assad, held a meeting with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts to discuss the Syria crisis.

It is important to reach a political settlement now, and Assad is ready to work with anyone who wants peace, said the Russian president, who later announced he would convene a Syria Congress at the beginning of December in Sochi.

Appearing strong in the wake of the successful fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and major territorial gains after two years of Russian and Iranian military interventions that reversed the conquests of the opposition, Assad now has the upper hand in the negotiations.

Lasting conflict

Analysts were sceptical that the Geneva talks would make any progress towards a political settlement.

There will not be a formal Geneva-style diplomatic settlement, whether under UN auspices or other, said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. According to Sayigh, the Russia-backed Astana talks, a parallel track to the UN-sponsored peace process, aim to reintegrate the Syrian opposition under the current state system.

Marwan Kabalan, an analyst with the Doha Institute, noted that the fate of Assad would long remain a contentious issue: A significant part of the country in the north and south, holding most of the oil and water reserves, is not under the control of the regime. This means the conflict will last much, much longer than people expect.

The final communique from the opposition in Riyadh focused primarily on rejecting Irans interference in Syria. Saudi Arabia has thrown its weight behind a number of opposition groups and has pushed for the removal of Assad in a bid to contain Irans growing hegemony in the region.

But the Sochi meeting was emblematic of a new geopolitical reality, wherein Assad and his allies will continue to play a dominant role in Syria and the rest of the region.

Humanitarian crisis

Syrias civil war, now in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created the worlds worst refugee crisis, driving more than 11 million people from their homes.

In its 2018 Humanitarian Needs Overview on Syria, published last week, the UN said that the scale and severity of needs across Syria remain overwhelming. Some 13 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 5.6 million in acute need due to limited access to basic goods and services.

Of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees worldwide, most of whom remain in neighbouring countries, a very limited number have returned to Syria. In 2017, around 720,000 people returned to their areas of origin.
The Palestinian faction Fatah has denied making the disarmament of Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades, a condition for ongoing Palestinian reconciliation talks.

Osama al-Qawasmi, spokesman for Fatah, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the weapons of the resistance were a red line.

Pointing out that it is only Hamas that has spoken to the news media on the disarmament question, al-Qawasmi said: Fatah wants to discuss with Hamas the issue of security.

The Palestinian government will not be able to operate and implement its projects and security plans in the Gaza Strip if it is without a security arm.

Al-Qawasmis statement followed a press conference earlier on Monday by a senior Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, in the Gaza Strip, who elaborated on the results of the reconciliation talks held in Cairo a few days ago.

The meeting was attended by all 13 Palestinian political factions, led by Fatah and Hamas.

Al-Qawasmi said implementation of the reconciliation agreement that was signed on October 12 in Cairo is progressing slowly, adding that Fatah has maintained from the outset that the path of ending the division, which lasted for 11 years, is not paved with flowers.

For his part, al-Hayya said that the subject of the weapons of resistance is not up for discussion and that ending the long-running blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt remains a priority.

Hamas will push the Palestinian government to lift sanctions on the Gaza Strip, al-Hayya said, adding that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian people will be able to wait until Fatah is convinced of what it calls the empowerment of the government.

He also called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to attend the reconciliation talks and to set the date of the general elections, which Hamas is prepared for at any time.
The strategy to undermine the Riyal has failed but could backfire on the other dollar-linked currencies in the region.

Ever since the blockade was imposed on Qatar, Qatari officials observed concerted efforts to harm its economy.

In March, the Qatari Central Bank asked the United States to investigate UAE-owned banks in the US for engaging in bogus foreign exchange deals aimed at undermining the Qatari riyal.

Khalid Alkhater from Qatars central bank explained what is happening, in a November interview with Reuters.

Alkhater was the architect of Qatars monetary policy in the 2008 global financial crisis.

Illiquid bonds

Artificially low prices: Alkhater said part of the strategy to undermine the Riyal involved trading Qatar government bonds at artificially low prices to suggest the economy was in trouble.

This failed because the market in Qatari bonds was illiquid, so trading in high volumes was difficult, and because Qatar had taken precautionary steps, said Alkhater.

Email leaks: According to The Intercept, a plan for the UAE to weaken Qatars economy was found in the email account of Yousef-al-Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the United States.

Investigation: In March 18, Qatars central bank requested US regulators to investigate NBAD Americas, the US subsidiary of First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) for waging financial warfare against it.

The investigation was launched by Qatar in December 2017, for what it said were attempts to harm Qatari economy through the manipulation of its currency.

We know blockading countries and their agents are attempting to manipulate and undermine our currency, securities and derivatives, as part of a coordinated strategy to damage Qatars economy, Qatars Central Bank Governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani said in a December statement.

We will not stand by while our country is attacked in this manner, he added.

Its deliberate economic warfare, a strategy to cause fear or panic among the public and investors to destabilise the economy.

Gas reserves

Sell in Riyals. Alkhater said that Qatar, the worlds top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, could consider taking payments for LNG exports in Riyals rather than dollars, which would create global demand for its currency.

No risk of devaluation. Most independent analysts think Qatars economy, with huge gas and financial reserves, can weather the storm and do not see any serious risk of a devaluation of the Riyal, whose dollar peg of 3.64 Riyals has been enshrined in law since 2001.

Central bank governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani, in office since 2006, said last month that the government and the central bank could support the banking system with both state reserves and the holdings of Qatars sovereign wealth fund.

Offshore banks

Bank manipulation. Alkhater blamed low quotes for Qatars Riyal in the offshore market on some banks  which he said were from nations boycotting Qatar, without naming the institutions  seeking to manipulate the market by exchanging the currency at weaker levels than on the onshore market. He did not provide evidence.

According to The Intercept, a plan to weaken Qatars economy was prepared for the UAE by Banque Havilland, a Luxembourg-based bank. However, there is no conclusive evidence that the plan was indeed executed.

Offshore rate. The Riyal changed hands onshore last week very close to its official peg of 3.64 to the US dollar, but on November 21 it traded as low as 3.8950 offshore on the Reuters conversational dealing platform.

Effect on stock market. Equity index compiler MSCI cited this gap on November 22 when it said it might use offshore foreign exchange rates to value Qatars stock market, potentially changing the weighting of Qatari equities in MSCIs emerging market index.

MSCI said it would take feedback from the investment community on the proposed currency shift until December 1, and would announce its final decision by December 5.

said it would take feedback from the investment community on the proposed currency shift until December 1, and would announce its final decision by December 5. Qatars central bank responded by saying it would provide currency needs to all investors and was working with banks to ensure transactions could be conducted normally.

Mutual destruction

Oil prices. It could spark contagion across a region which is tied to the US through dollar pegs, and which is already suffering from financial distress and economic difficulties due to low oil prices, he said, calling attacks on Qatars Riyal a weapon of mutual destruction.
French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to transform his countrys strained relationship with Africa. The comments come as he begins a four-day visit to the continent.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to transform his countrys strained relationship with Africa. The comments come as he begins a four-day visit to the continent.

France is often criticised for its colonisation of some African nations, but Macron wants to improve his countrys ties to Africa.

Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler reports from Paris.
Lawyers of pro-independence protesters dismiss move as meaningless, as most of the accused are booked in multiple cases.

Indian-administered Kashmir  The Indian government has offered amnesty to first-time stone-throwers in Indian-administered Kashmir, a move legal experts dismissed as meaningless since most of the accused were framed in multiple cases.

Lawyers for the pro-independence protesters in Kashmir say this would provide little relief to those who are facing jail for mostly minor offences committed in a period following the first wave of unrest in 2008.

This announcement of amnesty is a drama, Shafaqat Hussain, a lawyer who has been fighting human rights cases in Kashmir for two decades, told Al Jazeera.

I have handled thousands of such cases, and in my experience, most of these young people have been booked in multiple cases in multiple police stations. Even minors are not spared, they have been booked in many cases, he said.

Hussain said that in most instances, the state fails to provide evidence and the court honourably acquits these youngsters but it ruins their life because it takes years of trials in the court.

They already suffer the punishment, he said, adding that these people are not able to get passports or jobs in government departments.

Mere political stunt

Lawyer Mir Urfi, who has argued hundreds of such cases in court, said that people charged in cases in 2010  when the second civilian unrest led to a lengthy shutdown and protests  have already faced six to seven years of court proceedings.

Who will compensate their years? At the end they are being acquitted by the court, she said. Only people who have been booked in 2015, 2016 will benefit, but among them, no case has been withdrawn so far.

Urfi said that she had seen many cases where people are given amnesty from legal procedures, but they continue to face unofficial harassment from the police.

When there is a strike call, these people are called to police stations a night before. If there is an amnesty in real sense, then all this harassment should end, which will help the young people lead a normal life, she said.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani called the amnesty a mere political stunt.

In a bid to label those pursuing freedom as stone throwers, the authorities in New Delhi and their puppets in the state were annoyed and dejected when people vehemently took to the streets to protest against the forced occupation from 2008 to 2016, Geelani said in a statement on Saturday.

Fifteen-year-old Yaseen, a resident of Kashmirs main city, Srinagar, was charged in a stone-throwing case last year. His cousin, Ali, said that the government has time and again made false promises.

He is facing a court trial, and he has been booked with seven charges. The police has no video or photo evidence against him, but he has been falsely implicated even though he is a minor, Ali said. His education has been impacted. He is not able to lead a normal life due to the mental trauma he is facing.

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Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehboooba Mufti, who announced the amnesty last week, said that it had been made on the recommendation of the New Delhi-appointed interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma, a former intelligence chief who recently visited Kashmir for a dialogue with stakeholders in the region.

Sharma, who is currently on his second visit to Jammu and Kashmir, has been tasked with holding talks with Kashmiri leaders including separatists  a departure from the Modi governments rigid policy in the past three years.

Kashmir police chief Munir Khan told Al Jazeera that they had started the process of withdrawing cases against first-time offenders who were charged between 2010 and 2017, but he did not disclose how many cases are being withdrawn.

The cases of students and other young men will be reviewed. The process will take another five to six days to complete, Khan said.

Last year, the region was rocked by some of the most widespread civilian uprisings in the two decades of conflict following the death of rebel commander Burhan Wani.

In the crackdown that followed, more than 100 civilians were killed and hundreds were blinded by police who shot at the protesters with iron pellets. Several thousand civilians were charged, mostly for rioting.

Civilian uprisings have become the main feature of the conflict in the past decade as rebel groups, which have been active since 1989, have declined in strength.

The rebels are fighting for the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir to either become independent or merge with Pakistan. India maintains roughly half a million soldiers in the territory.

Before last years unrest, amnesty for stone-throwers was announced after the 2010 uprising by the then-government in the disputed region. But human rights defender Khurram Parvez said that it was not implemented, either.

How can we trust the amnesty announced by the government. A similar amnesty was announced by the state in 2011, but nothing was done on the ground. We have not seen any cases being withdrawn. There are people as old as 70 who have been booked in stone-throwing cases; this means nothing, Parvez said.

Dr Radha Kumar, an Indian academic and author who was appointed as an interlocutor to Kashmir in 2011 by the Congress-led government in New Delhi, described the amnesty as a much-needed step and said it needs to be taken forward in shape of a political dialogue.

If we dont take the step towards political dialogue, there is high risk that the violence will start again; political problems need to be acknowledged. Lessons need to be learned from past experiences in Kashmir, Kumar told Al Jazeera.
Amid rising attacks on UN soldiers, government says election to be held in April next year, not as previously scheduled.

Mali has announced the postponement of regional elections scheduled for December to April, amid security concerns following attacks by armed groups.

The announcement comes two days after four UN peacekeepers and a Malian soldier were killed and more than 21 others injured in two separate attacks. The deadly attacks were claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen.

Fridays attacks took place while troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MINUSMA, were carrying out a joint operation with Malian forces near the border with Niger.

We have decided to reschedule the elections to the month of April 2018 in order to have more time to organise absolutely inclusive elections, Tieman Hubert Coulibaly, minister for territorial administration, said on Sunday.

The West African country is set to hold a presidential election in July, and it is not clear if the delay in the regional polls will have an effect on the vote.

Armed groups seized the countrys vast desert north in 2012 before being forced back by French military intervention in 2013. France has 4,000 soldiers in its former colony.

But, over the last two years, armed groups have re-emerged as a major threat to security in Mali and across its vast, porous desert borders in Niger, Burkina Faso and beyond.

The UN mission, which has more than 11,000 troops and was established in 2013, is one of the most dangerous peacekeeping operations in the world, with troops and convoys regularly coming under attack from armed groups.

According to UN figures, more than 146 members of the mission have lost their lives since 2013.

Last month, three UN peacekeepers from Chad were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine. A fourth peacekeeper died later from his wounds.
Footage shot by refugees appears to show police and Papua New Guinean immigration officers hitting refugees with metal bars.

Papua New Guinea police have evicted the remaining 328 men from the former Australian-run camp on Friday, and in some cases by force.

Footage shot by refugees appears to show police and Papua New Guinean immigration officers hitting refugees with metal bars.

One refugee told Al Jazeera he was beaten with wooden and iron bars.

Al Jazeeras Andrew Thomas reports from Manus Island.
Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade will step down on Monday, as the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) gears up to pick its candidate for the 2018 presidential election, two well-informed sources have told Reuters.

One of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Meade would announce his intention to seek the presidency of the PRI when resigning.

The office of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto late on Sunday said it would hold an event at 10am local time on Monday, without specifying what it entailed. Several Mexican media said Meade would announce his resignation at 10am.

A spokesman for Meades office said he was unaware of any plans for the minister to resign on Monday.

Pena Nieto is barred by law from seeking a second term, and his party faces a major challenge from twice presidential runner-up, former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist who has led early polls for the July 2018 election.

Meade would be replaced as finance minister by Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, currently head of state oil firm Pemex, one of the two sources said.

Meade has, for months, been one of the leading prospective PRI candidates, both due to his reputation for competence as a minister across two rival administrations, and because he has avoided the taint of corruption that has battered the party.

The 48-year-old has also been a top pick to succeed the departing Agustin Carstens at the helm of the Mexican central bank. The second sources added that if Meade was not stepping down to run for the PRI, he would be going into that job.

Meade is not a member of the centrist PRI, which changed its statutes in August to make it easier for outsiders to run for the presidency. Officials say his reputation for honesty and cross-party appeal will be vital if he hopes to defeat Lopez Obrador.

On Thursday, the PRI announced it would begin registering presidential hopefuls on December 3, and that a national convention would formally elect the candidate on February 18.

Education Minister Aurelio Nuno, 39, Pena Nietos former chief-of-staff and one of his closest allies, as well as Health Minister Jose Narro, are the most likely alternatives to Meade if he does not seek the candidacy, senior officials say.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras  Hondurans remain on edge hours after polls closed in the presidential election as official results were suspended and two candidates declared themselves the next president of the Central American country.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) released its first report of preliminary results nearly 10 hours after polls closed showing Opposition Alliance candidate Salvador Nasralla in the lead with 45.17 percent with 57 percent of the ballot boxes counted.

By early on Wendesday, Nasrallas lead had dropped to under one percentage point with just over 75 percent of the ballot boxes counted.

Nasralla leads 42.63 percent of the vote, followed by President Juan Orlando Hernandez with 41.66 percent.

Ramiro Lobo, the magistrate of the tribunal told media on Monday morning that the trend of the results was irreversible.

Political analyst Victor Meza, director of the Honduran investigative centre known as CEDOH and former interior minister, agreed.

The trend is irreversible and Mr. Nasralla won the election, Meza said.

The victory of the opposition represents the defeat of presidential continuity, political authoritarianism, and also the defeat of corruption, he added.

The Liberal Partys Zelaya acknowledged Nasrallas victory on Monday. Hernandez has not accepted defeat.

The electoral body has said complete official results, including for Congress and other offices, may not be released until Thursday.

But additional preliminary results of the presidential race could be presented later on Monday.

We hope that they do it based on the real results and that there will not be any attempt to falsify the statistics to make it appear that the defeated president still has the possibility to achieve victory, Meza said.

Both candidates claim victory

Hernandez of the ruling conservative National Party had claimed victory early, while Nasralla also alleged on Sunday night that he had enough information, despite the lack of official results, to declare himself president.

The election, which marked the first time a president has sought re-election, was marred by controversy before the polls had opened.

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The opposition, which had claimed during the campaign that the government was preparing to rig the elections, raised concerns of electoral fraud after the polls closed.

They already stole the election from us once, Xiomara Castro told Al Jazeera, referring to her 2013 presidential bid as a candidate with the left-wing Libre Party. Hernandez won over Castro amid opposition accusations of electoral fraud.

We must not allow four more years of suffering and pain like we have had to live these past four years with the government of Juan Orlando Hernandez, continued Castro, former First Lady of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was removed in the 2009 US-backed military coup.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal was expected to release preliminary results around 7pm local time (01:00 GMT), but the body suspended the process for nearly seven hours, saying that it would be irresponsible to release partial results when there could be a dramatic change in the trend of the results.

Despite the lack of official results, Hernandez declared himself the winner at approximately 8pm local time (02:00 GMT). Hours later, Nasralla, who said he had information from inside the vote counting process, claimed victory.

Supporters at the Opposition Alliance headquarters broke into chants of Out with JOH.

The Liberal Party, which throughout the campaign remained in a distant third place, also raised concerns about irregularities.

Unusual decision

An unusual decision that has never happened in the history of Honduras, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal decided to close voting at 4pm when it always gets extended for another hour, Octavio Pineda, general secretary of the Liberal Party, told Al Jazeera.

This indicates in some way the manipulation of the Tribunal by the governing party, he added.

Opposition Alliance supporters celebrated outside the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in the early hours of Monday morning as riot police lined the premises.

The coalition called for its supporters to take to the streets in front of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to defend their vote on Monday afternoon.

Hernandez is controversially seeking a second term in office despite a constitutional ban on re-election. He has justified his re-election bid through a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the article of the constitution on presidential term limits, which critics say was illegal.

The president, a close US ally, has championed economic policies focused on attracting foreign private investment.

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Hernandez has also strongly advocated militarisation as the solution to the countrys public security woes.

His term in office has been rocked by controversy. A massive corruption scandal came to light in 2015 implicating the National Party in an embezzlement scheme that allegedly funnelled millions of dollars from the resource-strapped social security institute into Hernandezs 2013 presidential campaign.

About 6.2 million Hondurans were eligible to vote on Sunday for president, 128 members of Congress, 20 representatives to the Central American parliament, 298 mayors, and other local officials.
Federal law minister steps down, acceding to key demand by hardline religious groups who blocked Islamabad highway.

Islamabad  Pakistans federal law minister has resigned, acceding to a key demand made by thousands of protesters who have blocked a major highway into the Pakistani capital for weeks, the state radio broadcaster reported.

An agreement has been signed that would see the demonstrators in Islamabad and other cities disperse, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal told the Islamabad High Court during a hearing on Monday, ending a weeks-long standoff that threatened to escalate into countrywide violence.

On the assurance of the Chief of Army Staff, we are calling off the sit-in, Muslim scholar and protest leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi told a crowd of around 2,500 demonstrators in Islamabad on Monday, AFP news agency reported.

The agreement would also see all protesters who were arrested during the sit-in, which began on November 8, be released within three days.

The government will also take responsibility for paying for any damage caused to both public and private property during the protest.

An inquiry will also be ordered into a government security crackdown on Saturday which saw thousands of riot police fire tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon in an attempt to disperse the protesters.

Demonstrators fought back with stones, sticks and metal rods, and were able to beat back the authorities.

At least five people were killed and more than 217  mostly members of the security forces  wounded in those clashes.

Minister accused of blasphemy

Law Minister Zahid Hamid had been accused by clerics of committing blasphemy due to a change in the wording of an oath taken by parliamentarians in the South Asian country.

The protesters, led by Rizvi and other scholars, perceived the change in wording as representing a softening of the states position against members of the Ahmadi sect, who are not permitted to identify themselves as Muslims in Pakistan.

The oath was hastily amended back to its original wording, but protesters held the capital under siege for weeks, demanding that Hamid resign from the cabinet.

According to the agreement signed on Monday, the government will also make public an internal inquiry into how the wording of the parliamentary oath was changed.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) political party, led by Rizvi, has also agreed not to issue any religious edicts [fatwas] against Hamid.

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, and certain forms of it can carry the death sentence. Increasingly, those accused of blasphemy have also been subjected to violent attacks by mobs and charged protesters.

Since 1990, at least 73 people have been killed over alleged blasphemy, according to an Al Jazeera tally. They include those accused of blasphemy, members of their families, lawyers who have defended them and judges.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim.
The pontiff who has earlier spoken against military atrocities is under pressure not to use the word Rohingya.

Pope Francis has arrived in Myanmar on his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation, where tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees have faced brutal military crackdown in the past three months.

His trip comes as the Myanmar government is accused of ethnically cleansing its Rohingya Muslim minority, more than 600,000 of whom have taken shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The 80-year-old leader of Roman Catholic Church who has spoken against persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters in the past has been advised not use the word Rohingya.

On his first day in Myanmar, Francis met general Min Aung Hlaing, a senior army commander who is in part behind the persecution of the Rohingyas in Myanmar.

In a post on his Facebook page, Hlaing wrote that he told the Pope that there was no religious discrimination in the country.

Neither Francis nor general Hliang clarified if the Rohingya issue was discussed.

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Ro Mayyu Ali, a Rohingya Muslim who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh in September, said he hoped the pope would use his visit to speak up for the persecuted minority.

I will never forget the moment you stopped your white popemobile and kissed the separation wall, a barrier between Palestine and Israel, during your visit to Bethlehem in 2014. It was a massive political statement, Ali told Al Jazeera.

I hope you use this opportunity to use speak up for some of the 620,000 Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh and witnessed gang rape, mass killing, and seen their children burned alive.





Francis has previously condemned the atrocities, including mass killings and gang rapes, committed against the Muslim minority. He is also expected to meet with refugees in the coming days.

Rohingya is a very sensitive topic, it is a very sensitive word here in Myanmar, particularly when it comes to dealing with the government, said Al Jazeeras Scott Heidler, reporting from outside the archbishops house in the countrys largest city of Yangon.

The archbishop himself has advised the pope not to use that term here because it is something the government doesnt recognise, Heidler added.

Ethnic cleansing

According to the United Nations, security forces in Myanmar reportedly burned down entire villages and opened fire at people fleeing burning homes.

Myanmars ruling party has objected to the use of the term Rohingya to identify the mostly Muslim minority, demanding that they be called Bengalis despite the persecuted group living there for generations.

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But what a lot of people are saying herewhat they really want is for him [Francis] to focus on peace in this nation, the Al Jazeera correspondent said.

Obviously, the international community expects him to focus on the Rohingya issue because that is a crisis viewed by the worldas ethnic cleansing, he said.

Besides senior general Hliang, the pontiff is also expected to meet Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has blamed the Rohingya for the crisis.

The UN, as well as the United States, have said the violent actions taken by Myanmars armed forces and local vigilantes amount to ethnic cleansing against its Rohingya minority.

In 2012, Myanmars armed forces began to force Rohingya into refugee camps, both in Rakhine state and across the border into Bangladesh.

The ongoing crisis is being described as the worlds biggest forced exodus this year.

Last week Bangladesh government signed a deal with Myanmar on the repatriation of Rohingya but details of the deal have still not been made public.
 Now we have order and prosperity  and time has come for changes in the Chechen Republic

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen Republic, said he was ready to step down, leaving it to the Kremlin to choose his successor.

Kadyrov, 41, has been accused by human rights bodies of arbitrary arrests and torture of opponents, zero tolerance of sexual minorities and tough political declarations that have embarrassed the Kremlin.

A former rebel who had led Chechnya since 2007, he was endorsed by President Vladimir Putin in March last year to carry on in the job, while being warned that Russian law must be strictly enforced in the majority-Muslim region.

Asked in a TV interview if he was prepared to resign, Kadyrov replied: It is possible to say that it is my dream.

Once there was a need for people like me to fight, to put things in order. Now we have order and prosperity  and time has come for changes in the Chechen Republic, he told Rossiya 1 nationwide channel in comments aired early on Monday in central Russia.

Asked about his would-be successor, Kadyrov replied: This is the prerogative of the state leadership.

If I am asked  there are several people who are 100 percent capable of carrying out these duties at the highest level. He did not elaborate.

Kadyrovs unexpected statement comes as Putin, 65, is widely expected to announce he will run for his fourth term as president in elections due in March.

The former KGB spy is widely expected to win by a landslide if he chooses to seek re-election, but some analysts have said his association with politicians like Kadyrov may be exploited by opponents during the campaign.

Chechnya, devastated by two wars in which government troops fought pro-independence rebels, has been rebuilt thanks to generous financial handouts from Russias budget coffers. It remains one of Russias most heavily subsidised regions.

Describing Putin as his idol, Kadyrov said in the interview: I am ready to die for him, to fulfill any order.

Kadyrov also strongly denied a Chechen link to the killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in 2015.

In June, a Moscow court convicted five Chechen men of murdering Nemtsov, one of Putins most vocal critics. Nemtsov had been working on a report examining Russias role in Ukraine. His murder sent a chill through opposition circles.

I am more than confident  these (Chechen) guys had nothing to do with that. According to my information, they are innocent, Kadyrov said in the interview.
An agreement signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar concerning the voluntary repatriation of more than 600,000 Rohingya, exonerates Myanmars security forces of any responsibility for their displacement, and places the persecuted minority in harms way, according to a Bangladeshi opposition politician.

Bangladeshs main opposition party criticised the government for selling itself to the Myanmar government in order to get an agreement to remove the Rohingya.

Where are you sending the Rohingyas? They fled from the grasp of a tiger in fear of death, but youre again pushing them towards the same tiger, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP secretary-general, said on Sunday.

One will get an impression going through the deal that the government has accepted whatever Myanmar said.

With whole villages burned to the ground, where will the Rohingya live? by Olof Blomqvist, Amnesty International

The agreement, signed on November 23 by the countrys two foreign ministers, blames a Rohingya rebel group rather than Myanmars army, which carried out a campaign of arson and murder against the persecuted minority.

The text of the agreement contradicts the nearly unanimous conclusion of the international community, including that of Bangladesh, which blamed the mass exodus on atrocities by the Myanmar military.

At an OIC Contact Group meeting in New York in October, Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh prime minister, described the events in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing and stated that the ongoing military operations by the Myanmar authorities have created havoc in the Rakhine State.

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Human rights organisations told Al Jazeera there were several concerns with the agreement which also suggested that Myanmar had taken the necessary measures to halt the outflow [of the Rohingya].

Olof Blomqvist, a researcher with Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera it was far too premature to start talking about repatriating the community.

With whole villages burned to the ground, where will the Rohingya live? he said.

Rohingya are still fleeing across the border into Bangladesh on a daily basis, and back in Myanmar, they are living under a system of state-sponsored discrimination and segregation that amounts to apartheid.

While Rohingya refugees have the right to return to Myanmar, under international law, no one should be forced back to a situation where they could face persecution or serious rights violations.

Textbook case of ethnic cleansing

The seven-page agreement stated that the Rohingya  which are only referred to as Muslims  had taken shelter in Bangladesh following the terrorist attacks on 9 October 2016 and 25 August 2017.

These dates refer to the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on law police and security posts in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

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In October 2016, the ARSA attacked three police posts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships killing nine police officers and in August 2017, it attacked about 30 security posts in the state.

However, following both incidents, the international community blamed the exodus  about 87,000 after October 2016 and over 600,000 since August 2017  on human rights violations carried out by Myanmar security forces.

In September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called the actions of the Myanmar army a textbook case of ethnic cleansing a view subsequently echoed by the US.

A UN report also concluded that the Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the property of the Rohingyas [and] scorched their dwellings and entire villages in northern Rakhine State, not only to drive the population out in droves but also to prevent the fleeing Rohingya victims from returning to their homes.

There are also significant concerns about the practicalities of the agreement which says that the Myanmar government will encourage those who have left Myanmar to return voluntarily and safely to their households and original places of residence or to a safe and secure place nearest to it of their choice and will not have to be settled in temporary places for a long period of time.





Although the Myanmar government has pledged to construct new houses, no timeline has been set. There is a real risk that returnees, like tens of thousands of other Rohingya in Rakhine state, will end up in displacement camps in deplorable conditions, not least because the government continues to restrict aid groups access, Blomqvist said.

The agreement also requires that the Rohingya prove that they are resident of Myanmar and sets out a list of documents that can be used as evidence of residency.

But Amnesty International considers it completely unrealistic to ask many of the fleeing Rohingya to prove residency who will have lost crucial documents during their flight in panic into Bangladesh.

This insistence on verification could likely make it impossible for many thousands to return, Blomqvist added.
Use of clip of Palestinian fighter at Islamic Coalition against Terrorism conference in Riyadh stirs social media storm.

Palestinians and Arabs on social media have reacted with anger after a newly formed, self-proclaimed anti-terrorism coalition opened their first meeting in Riyadh with a video that included a scene of a Palestinian fighting Israeli occupation forces.

Mondays summit of the Islamic Coalition Against Terrorism was attended by representatives from 41 Muslim countries and was led by Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

It is unclear whether the inclusion of the clip was deliberate.

People on social media characterised the incident as a form of Arab normalisation with the Israeli occupation, at the expense of Palestinians.

The image of the Palestinian dates back to 2001, during the second Palestinian uprising (intifada) against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Social media lit up after the video presentation, with many Palestinians and Arabs showing their discontent on Twitter about the usage of the image.

           "      "  #   2001         # !

    ..    #__ pic.twitter.com/Nrj3dxnNrY    (@mohamed_mdn) November 27, 2017

This image from the video that was shown in the opening session of the Council of ministers of defence of the Islamic Coalition to Combat Terrorism in Saudi Arabia is from 2001 and is a Palestinian resistance fighter clashing with the occupation army in the south of occupied Jerusalem. To those who are hurrying to normalise with the occupation, it was and will always be: resistance is not terrorism, one Twitter user wrote.

       .#         .

       "   pic.twitter.com/m5KYi4BSPK  Izzadeen Ahmad () (@IzzadeenAhmad) November 26, 2017

This is resistance and the highest degree of honour and dignity, which you lack. Terrorism is what you have carried out against your oppressed people for decades, another tweeted.

https://twitter.com/Q8BRA/status/934794220140990465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

People do not care what your criteria for classifying terrorism is. Terrorism is all who normalise with Israel. Palestinian resistance has more honour than you.

https://twitter.com/IsmaelAhmed11/status/932572443021070336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The heads of Arab states have no values when they call those who lift our [Arab and Islamic states] heads high, terrorists.

Others said there was no question that the usage of the image was deliberate.

https://twitter.com/HichamLuxe/status/934816189351686144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Do you think it was a mistake or a coincidence? No; it was intentional to strike Palestinian resistance and to normalise with the Zionists, and this is only to pave the way.

Avichay Adraee, Israeli army spokesperson, also weighed in, describing the inclusion of the clip as proof of agreement over what is terrorism.

The Arabs speak the truth, whether it was a mistake or intentional. Terrorism is terrorism [] There is no need for Hamas and its supporters to be angered, for no one should be ashamed of what they are. What happened today is that the disease was detected. Will it be eradicated? he said on Twitter.

The incident comes as Saudi Arabia is facing criticism from Palestinians after Israeli officials openly discussed covert ties and normalisation with Riyadh.

In June, the Arab world reacted similarly after the Saudi foreign minister called on Qatar to end its support of Hamas, the Gaza-based movement.

Adel al-Jubeir characterised Hamas as a terrorist organisation amid a rift between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.

Thousands of social media users stressed that resistance is the right of the Palestinian people in order to gain freedom from Israeli occupation.

They also said that speaking about Hamas as a terrorist movement is doing a service to Israel and echoes the statements of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister.

At the time, Salim al-Menhali, a UAE-based professor of international relations, said: It is normal that Hamas is resistance, not terrorism, for it does not attack anyone; it defends Palestine from the occupiers What is not normal is for Hamas to be attacked to please the enemy.
Suspected Russian and Syrian warplanes target the east and south of the country, despite de-escalation agreement.

At least 80 people have been killed in just over 24 hours in suspected Russian and Syrian government shelling in the eastern and southern parts of Syria.

The majority of those killed were civilians.

In the eastern province of Deir Az Zor, suspected Russian warplanes hit al-Shafah village on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River on Sunday, killing about 51 people.

Four others were killed in an attack on the village of al-Darnaj, also on Sunday, raising the death toll in the province to 55.

Deir Az Zor province is one of the final Syrian redoubts of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) after the armed group was pushed out of its main strongholds, including Raqqa and Deir Az Zor city.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Ghouta, a district just outside the capital Damascus, at least 25 people were killed in alleged Russian and Syrian government shelling on several opposition-held areas on Sunday.

The attacks targeted a local market in the residential neighbourhood of Misraba, where 16 people were killed.

At least nine others were killed in shelling on the neighbourhoods of Medyara and Douma.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a war monitoring group, the figure of 25 includes five children and three women.

Deal violated

Eastern Ghouta has consistently been targeted despite being listed as a de-escalation zone, where military activity is prohibited under an agreement endorsed by Turkey, Russia and Iran, which was signed in September.

But due to its strategic location near the capital, where the government of President Bashar al-Assad sits, the attacks there have not halted, in violation of the agreement.

Fadel Abdul Ghany, head of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, said Eastern Ghouta was the main target for the Syrian government now.

The regime is not interested in de-escalating. After they took back Aleppo, they went to Deir Az Zor, and now its Ghouta. Its their main target now, Abdul Ghany told Al Jazeera.

Since the implementation of the agreement, at least 250 people have been killed in suspected Russian and Syrian government air raids in the district, according to medical centres and civil defence workers.

The armed opposition in Eastern Ghouta has managed to keep Syrian government forces at bay during the war. In turn, the government has imposed a siege on the area to pressure the armed opposition, causing a humanitarian crisis, with severe shortages of food and medicine.

Under the so-called de-escalation zones agreement, opposition groups and government forces are required to halt hostilities, including air raids, for a period of six months, to protect civilians living in those areas.

More than 2.5 million people are believed to be living in the zones, which include, fully or partially, Eastern Ghouta and the provinces of Idlib, Homs, Latakia, Aleppo and Hama.

Syrias conflict evolved from a violent government crackdown on protests against the president in 2011 to become a devastating war that has drawn in world powers, including Russia and a US-led international coalition.

Russia has led negotiations on finding a solution to the conflict since its game-changing military intervention on the side of al-Assad in 2015.
President Donald Trump has referred to US Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas at a ceremony to honour Native Americans who helped win World War II on Monday.

You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas, Trump said to the code talkers, Native Americans who used their languages such as Navajo, Choctaw and Seminole to transmit sensitive military plans that US enemies could not translate.

Though the term code talkers is most closely associated with the Navajo men honoured on Monday for their service in World War II, Native Americans of various tribes were instrumental in securing US victories in both world wars through the use of their languages.

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Pocahontas is a reference to a teenage Native American who, according to historical anecdote, saved the life of one of the first English colonists in present-day Virginia.

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Pocahontas story is popular in the US, especially after Disney produced a 1995 animated film based on historical legend.

Trump has used the name to disparage Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts known for her consumer protection policies. Warren claimed in the past that she was 1/32 Cherokee, though this was based on stories told to her by her parents and grandparents.

Warren was a professor at Harvard Law School and was counted as a Native American by former spokesperson Mike Chmura when asked about the lack of diversity in the schools faculty.

Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be a Native American in order to advance her career. Very racist! Trump tweeted in 2016.

Trump last used the term to describe Warren on November 3, a few days into National Native American Heritage Month.

The use of Pocahontas is controversial among Native Americans, some of whom think Disneys portrayal and use of the historical figure are degrading.

Al Jazeera contacted the Cherokee Nation for comment on Trumps use of the term in front of the Native American veterans, but requests were not immediately returned.
Allies of former president have also been arrested as part of Operation Restore Legacy that saw Mugabe quit his post.

Harare, Zimbabwe  The military in Zimbabwe have announced the end of an operation that saw the army place former President Robert Mugabe under military confinement resulting in his resignation.

The announcement came after the inauguration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday.

As part of the mission named Operation Restore Legacy launched on November 15, the African countrys military also arrested allies of Mugabe, including former Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

Robert Mugabe resigned last week after nearly four decades as the countrys leader following his dismissal as the leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

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Army spokesperson Colonel Overson Mugwisi said there were some government officials still being held in military custody, but details on those detentions would be given at a later stage.

Earlier, former Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ignatius Chombo, arrived at the Harare Magistrates Court for his bail hearing under heavy military escort and in handcuffs.

Chombo, an ally of the former president, was arrested on Friday and charged with corruption and abuse of power. The charges stem from his time served as minister of local government, public works and urban development from 2000 to 2015.

Head of the ZANU-PF Youth League, Kudzanai Chipanga, a close associate of former First Lady Grace Mugabe, also appeared and is due to have his bail hearing later on Monday.

Chipanga faces charges of fraud and slander for his criticism of the head of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, General Constantino Chiwenga.

Shortly before the military action, Chiwenga issued a caution to the then President Mugabe against the series of purges in the ruling ZANU-PF regime.

Dangerous precedent

This precipitated a military takeover and an operation targeting criminals surrounding the former president on November 15.

Mugabe was then held under house arrest, and his eventual resignation led to Mnangagwa taking over as the countrys third president since independence in 1980.

It seems there is selective application of the law depending on whether one has fallen out politically with those who are running things by Beatrice Mtetwa, Human Rights lawyer

Amid reports that farms and houses owned by allies of Mugabe were attacked, army spokesperson Colonel Mugwisi said looting and illegal occupation of properties will be met with the full wrath of the law.

But human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa believes the military superseded the constitution.

Mtetwa told Al Jazeera she was extremely worried by the High Courts recent judgement legalising the military operation, adding that it set a dangerous precedent for the future.

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Whats the point of having a constitution if youre not going to respect whats in the constitution? she asked.

The human rights lawyer added that it seemed there was an attempt to sanitise the military operations, particularly the detention of certain top officials in the ruling party, including Chombo whose corruption charges date back to the 2000s.

It seems there is selective application of the law depending on whether one has fallen out politically with those who are running things, she said.

Mnangagwa, Mugabes longtime heir, is expected to name his cabinet shortly.

Follow Tendai on Twitter and Instagram @i_amten
Carvell Wallace talks to Americans grappling with the state of the union while dealing with his own fractured history.
YouTube accused of running ads next to inappropriate videos of children that attract many paedophiles.

YouTube is the worlds most popular video-sharing site. Billions of users watch and upload videos on the website, which makes it a natural fit for advertisers.

But the company has come under fire after a UK-based newspaper found adverts running alongside inappropriate videos of children and comments.

The Times investigation found there were many videos of pre-teen girls, which were then liked and commented on by hundreds of paedophiles.

One such clip of a young girl drew 6.5 million views. Several companies, including chocolate maker MARS and Deutsche bank, have pulled their ads from YouTube in response.

The newspaper said the website allowed sexualised imagery of children to be easily searchable.

It also criticised the company for not monitoring its content.

So, will YouTube do more to monitor and remove certain content?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Nishanth Sastry  Senior Lecturer in Informatics at Kings College London.

Susan Rose  Marketing and Reputation Expert at Henley Business School.

Aral Balkan  Who describes himself as a cyborg rights activist.
A government minister steps down after days of disruptive protests over accusations of blasphemy.

Thousands of Pakistanis have ended a three-week sit-in near the capital after a government minister resigned following accusations of blasphemy.

Law Minister Zahid Hamid stepped down after facing criticism for changing the wording in an electoral oath.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan political party, (TLP), said the words I believe, which replaced the clause I solemnly swear in a proclamation of Muhammad as Islams last prophet, amounted to blasphemy.

Hamid apologised on Monday, and called the change a clerical error.

The TLP says the change in wording represented a softening of the states position against the Ahmadi sect. Ahmadis were banned from identifying as Muslim within Pakistan in 1974.

So, what is the role of religious movements in Pakistan, and how powerful are they?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Naveed Ahmad  investigative journalist and academic

Ahmed Rashid  writer and author of Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia

Nadia Rahman  Relief and Protection Manager, Amnesty International
Meet the Tunisian woman who revived the traditional art of carpet weaving that had all but disappeared in her village.

The small town of Mansoura is a Tunisian town that is seldom visited by those who live outside. But it is a place where an ancient North African craft has found new life.

Sihem Ben Aissa learned the art of carpet weaving from her mother. She has passed on the skill to her two daughters, Sarah and Nour, who help her with designs for modern versions of traditional carpets.

Growing up with a mother like mine influenced me. We do see the world differently, but the customs and the traditions we were taught remain the same, says Sarah Bouzayene, Ben Aissas eldest daughter.

If I find a loom dumped outside I want to bring it home with me, I swear. Because it runs in my blood. by Sihem Ben Aissa

Ben Aissa has managed to revive a craft that had all but disappeared from her village. She works with four or five other women weaving carpets and distributes these through a crafters network.

I dont want to work for a merchant. I dream of having a big carpet company. My own carpet company Thats my dream, thats my wish, she says.

But keeping the carpet trade alive is no easy task.

Before we used to make good money, thank God. But not anymore, Ben Aissa says.

All our crafters have the same problems, but we cant abandon out handcraft. Youll see, if I find a loom dumped outside I want to bring it home with me, I swear. Because it runs in my blood.










English News Leniency towards USA / UN will prove costly to India due to Pakistan, China and Sunni-NATO

Alwihda Info | Par Hem Raj Jain - 27 Novembre 2017



Bengaluru, India

Dear Editor



Sub:- (i)- India (despite UN) foolishly entering into US camp against China (ii)-Sunni-NATO (headed by General Sharif) meeting at Riyadh should be eye-opener to India (iii)- Release of Hafiz Saeed bound to be security challenge for India due to unresolved Kashmir problem (iv)- PM Modi turning-out to be paper tiger, poverty-phil and anti-Globalization (v)- PM Modi unnecessarily lenient towards USA / UN (vi)- UN veto-wielding permanent members are more a problem than solution to global problems (vii)- Obeisance by poverty-loving PM Modi to exclusive-private-capitalist Prez Trump depriving India of ~ $ 16 Trillion State-capital (viii)- Not solving Kashmir problem (by retrieve of PoK) is proving PM Modi to be merely a paper tiger (ix)- India unnecessarily allowing UN permanent member China to be irresponsible by not pressing for UN Judicial Commission for Indo-China border settlement (x)- India dangerously overlooking danger to Globalization by imminent Sunni-Shia war by not demanding UNPKF and UNEC for solution of NAME region (xi)- India is unnecessarily not demanding global currency (with proper asset back-up) through UN, a sine-quo-non for globalization



---People of India had very high hopes from PM Modi but sadly he is turning-out to be paper tiger, poverty-lover, anti-Globalization and unnecessarily obeisant to USA and if PM Modi does not do course correction in view of the following then it may be too late for India as mentioned below:-



(1)- India is foolishly entering into US camp (including Japan, Australia, South Korea etc of Pacific region) against China especially when there is United Nation through which all the global problems should be solved. USA is incapable of solving such and other problems through UN due to two reasons (i)- USA is pathetically incompetent to develop international laws through UN and (ii)- The present system of veto to 5 permanent members of UN is creating more global problems than solving these as is evident from Ukraine / Crimea problem, Problems in NAME region, South China Sea problem etc - all these problems in which permanent members of UN are mainly responsible / culprits.



(2)- Sunni-NATO (as popularly known, headed by General Sharif of Pakistan and sponsored by Saudi Arabia) meeting at Riyadh should be eye-opener to India. On November, 26 there was a meeting of Sunni-NATO of 41 Sunni Muslim countries in Saudi Arabia about which Pakistans former army chief and the coalitions military commander, Gen Raheel Sharif reportedly said that A number of our member countries are under tremendous pressure while fighting well established terrorist organizations due to capacity shortages of their armed forces and law enforcement agencies". How much time Pakistan will take in succeeding at Sunni-NATO to include India also in one of such well-established terrorist organizations / countries [due to alleged excesses by security forces (under protection of unnecessarily draconian laws like AFSPA, SPA etc) of Hindu India on mostly Sunni Muslim Kashmiris] is any bodys guess.



(3)- It is adding to the problems of India with Pakistan especially in present situation when Hafiz Saeed (designated terrorist responsible for 26/11 too) is freed by court of Pakistan. India is such a naive & foolish country that it has not pressurized foreign countries including USA (whos citizens were killed in 26/11 at Mumbai) to initiate criminal proceedings in their countries against Pakistan and its militant-Jihadis responsible for 26/11. With the result Hafiz Saeed is coming closer and closer to wielding reins of power in Pakistan through elections (by his political party) where he may not become King (PM or CM) but certainly the King-maker given the fact that he enjoys substantial support among Pakistanis due to his support to Kashmir cause and his philanthropic NGOs all across Pakistan. In a nutshell the release of Hafiz Saeed is bound to be security challenge for India due to unresolved Kashmir problem. Over-dependence on USA to bailout India on Kashmir is self-defeating and cowardice on the part of India especially when Pakistan (and its militant-Jihadis) much smaller than India talks 24x7 openly about snatching Indian side of Kashmir from India. Not solving Kashmir problem (by retrieving PoK militarily if necessarily) is proving PM Modi (with self-boasted 56 inch chest) to be merely a paper tiger.



(4)- China with merely ~ $ 4 Trillion spare capital has become world power hence what India will become with ~ $ 16 Trillion spare State-capital is any bodys guess. But such a graceless obeisance by poverty-loving PM Modi to exclusive-private-capitalist Prez Trump is depriving India of ~ $ 16 Trillion State-capital. Americanism is nothing but joint-capitalism where in addition to private capital the State-capital is also deployed profitably for the welfare of the people. But Prez Trump is against State-capital (which he calls socialism) without realizing that it is anti-Americanism and which is evident from his this years speech at UNGA (though USA has used State-capital born out of fiscal deficits which has increased public debt up-to ~ $ 16 Trillion. Like other countries USA has also squandered this State-capital by not deploying it profitably especially for the purpose of removing unemployment). Now PM Modi has gone one step further in his allegiance to exclusively-private capitalism when he is not recovering State-capital of ~ $ 16 Trillion as mentioned at http://www.alwihdainfo.com/Now-India-bound-to-get-Rs--1000-Trillion-income-tax-as-Delhi-Police-steps-in_a31456.html and http://www.newsnation.in/article/121125-news-nation-disclosure-on-blackmoney-kharabpati-farmers-take-agriculture-route-t.html . It is hoped PM Modi will cease to be poverty-loving and will recover and use this State capital of ~ $ 16 Trillion for converting presently-poor-India [where there is huge unemployment and farmers (especially small and marginal) are practically starving and reportedly over 12,000 farmers are commit suicide every year] into prosperous-India.



(5)- Unlike dispute with Pakistan (which is a political dispute about Kashmir) the dispute with China is a legal dispute about international-border and which can easily be resolved by referring it to UN Judicial Commission for Indo-China border settlement. But India is unnecessarily allowing UN permanent member China to be irresponsible by not pressing for said UN Judicial Commission especially given the fact that China is a permanent member of UN hence enjoying all the privileges of permanent member of UN hence under legal obligation to resolve Indo-China border dispute especially when it can easily be solved though UN Judicial Commission. But India is foolishly allowing China to be an adversary (especially through Pakistan) and which has engendered security scenario of India.



(6)- Prez trump is against Globalization and is trying to drag USA in isolationism for the simple reason that USA is pathetically incompetent to develop international laws through UN. But India (a secular democracy of ~ 1.3 billion people and that too in Asia hence needs Globalization) should work for Globalization. For this India should understand that without global political order and without global currency Globalization is impossible. Hence India should demand global currency (with proper asset back-up) through Central Bank at UN and its branches in every member country of UN.



(7)- India is dangerously overlooking danger to Globalization by imminent Sunni-Shia war encouraged by USA. While addressing ~ 50 Muslim countries at Riyadh, on May 21, 2017 the US President Trump instigated these Muslim countries to take the responsibility of changing regime in Iran and eradicating Shia terrorism from NAME region (directly and not through UN). This speech of Trump at Riyadh was made in the backdrop of Sunni-NATO which is bound to trigger global-Shia-Sunni-war. Prez Trump is thus acting unethically therefore India should demand that:-



(i)- Instead of present veto system there should be voting rights to every member commensurate with its contribution of men (including martial), money and material to UN and its record about human rights.



(ii)- Instead of creating more global problems through Sunni-NATO, the problem in NAME region should be solved through UN Peace Keeping Force (UNPKF) & UN Election Commission (UNEC) in which India can contribute immensely by providing manpower (military, paramilitary, police and civilians) in millions.



(iii)- There should be International Political Parties (IIP) registered at UN because in many countries (especially in Muslim countries) if politics is left to local people then it ultimately comes under the strangulating influence of the medieval-thinking religious leaders and blood-thirsty-Jihadis (who do not understand the true meaning of Jihad) in these countries.



(iv)- Merely democracy is not enough to ensure human rights in any country as is evident from the case of India too where communal rights (rather massacre of minorities) have taken place in the past (like 1984 Delhi riots, 2002 Gujarat riots etc) and may take place in near future also at all India level in view of Hindus obstinacy to build temple of Lord Rama at the site of destructed Babri Mosque (even if Supreme Court judgment goes in favor of Muslims). Hence instead of optional-protocol OP-1 (at UN) there should be mandatory-protocol MP-1 of ICCPR at UN where individual citizen can move UN for securing his / her human rights even by military intervention of UN in any erring member of UN.



(v)- Nukes of all member countries should be brought under one command & control of UN for ultimate elimination of nuclear & other WMDs.



Let us hope that PM Modi will stop (to be unnecessary obeisant to US, paper tiger, poverty -lover and anti-Globalization) by giving-up his self-defeating policies and instead will do the above mentioned so that India not only has a chance to survive in this age of radical Islamic terrorism (sponsored by Pakistan and irresponsibly supported by UN permanent member China, as far as India is concerned) but will be able to contribute substantially in ushering the mankind in peaceful, just and prosperous Globalization through UN.



Regards



Hem Raj Jain



(Author of Betrayal of Americanism)



Bengaluru, India





Dans la meme rubrique : < > Small county in NW China scores big with soccer China sees prosperous development of offshore wind power generation China speeds up efforts to expand, renovate expressways Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
Two disturbing scientific reports have surfaced recently from Europe. The first is that a plume of radioactive particles has been detected drifting across northern Europe with a suspected source from within Russia. The second report is a post-mortem concerning the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility meltdown, in that report, it was concluded that the very first explosion at the nuclear facility was the result of a supercritical, rapid, and uncontrolled nuclear fission chain reaction, or as the popular press calls it, a nuclear explosion. These reports derive their conclusions from the detection of an isotope of Xenon gas which can only be produced by nuclear fission.

There are currently over 400 Uranium-based nuclear reactors operating all over the industrialized world. Since the introduction of nuclear power plants, four have had serious malfunctions. The first of these was in 1959 in Simi Valley, California when a liquid sodium cooled reactor suffered a partial meltdown. The next accident occurred in 1979 at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania when another partial meltdown occurred. Following that accident was the Chernobyl disaster, which was then followed by the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan which suffered a meltdown.

Uranium-based reactors have numerous safety features built into their designs, yet catastrophic failures have occurred.

Considering the alternative is fraught with difficulties. The long shadows of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima have made the debate over nuclear power a minefield for politicians and policymakers alike. All the incidents from 1959 to present have a common thread and that is that they were all designed on the principle of using solid fuel Uranium rods. The lesson to be learned from these incidents is that it does not matter how many safety precautions are in place; eventually Murphys Law will prevail, and an unanticipated scenario will occur and cause a problem. This is because conventional solid fuel reactors cannot be designed to failsafe, no matter how hard we try.

But there is a solution to this problem: Generation IV reactors based upon Thorium instead of Uranium.

In 1942, the first-generation nuclear reactor design was successfully operated at the University of Chicago. The fuel was made of Uranium, with graphite bricks moderating the nuclear reaction to ensure against a runaway chain reaction. It was understood very quickly that using graphite presented a serious fire risk (case in point: the Chernobyl reactor used graphite as the moderator) so the designers began looking for other nonflammable ways to moderate the nuclear reaction.

As an alternative to the graphite-moderated reactor design, work began on a second-generation heavy water reactor. The first of these was put into operation in 1944 at the Argonne National Laboratory. The problem with the heavy water reactor is that it had to be operated under extremely high pressure, giving rise to the possibility of piping failure or a radioactive steam explosion risk. This is the design that was employed at Three Mile Island and Fukushima.

The third generation reactor design was the result of the Cold War arms race between East and West. These political tensions created a significant demand for Plutonium as a weapons material, Fast Breeder Reactors designs satisfied this demand. The Fast Breeder Reactor relies on liquid sodium as a coolant. The first liquid-sodium cooled reactor was built in 1957 in Simi Valley, California. The risk with this design is that sodium is explosive when it comes into contact with water. This design is inherently unsafe since the liquid-sodium piping is used to create steam for power by passing the piping through a boiler filled with water. The wall of the piping is all that stands between the liquid sodium and the water; a leak in that piping would be disastrous.

Continuing this trend was an insanely bad idea that fathered a fourth generation of nuclear reactor design. Someone in the U.S. Air Force hierarchy decided that if the Navy has nuclear-powered vessels, then the Air Force should have nuclear-powered bombers. Even though the scientists involved thought that this was a bad idea, they did see an opportunity to design a new type of reactor which did not use Uranium fuel rods. To head the project, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) selected Dr. Alvin Weinberg, the same scientist that taught Admiral Rickover how to operate the Navys nuclear fleet.

This crazy idea began to get traction, and therefore funding from Washington. Dr. Weinberg knew that a flying nuclear reactor had to be exceptionally safe, lightweight, and small to operate for aviation applications. His solution was to go into an entirely new direction than the standard Uranium reactor. Dr. Weinberg decided to use liquid fluoride-thorium salt as the fuel. The advantages of this design over Uranium reactors are numerous; but most important was inherent safety. Thorium is a metal which, when combined with Fluoride, forms an insoluble salt; and when it is heated, it turns into a stable liquid. While it may seem as though molten salts are dangerous, in fact, such salts are currently used as the heat exchange medium for solar power generation in California. Additionally, there is an experimental molten salt solar concentrator at Sandia National Laboratory, so the idea of using molten salt to provide energy is not as farfetched as it might seem.

Unlike conventional nuclear reactors, the molten salt reactor can be designed to failsafe. An experimental Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) was designed and built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1964 under the project title of Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). Developed by Dr. Weinberg, the reactor was so inherently safe that operation of the reactor almost boring.

Even the waste products from a LFTR design are safer. They do not need long-term storage (e.g. 10,000 years for Uranium waste products). Safe storage is only needed for 300 years before becoming inert.

MSRE was operated successfully from 1965 to 1969. However, as with many successful projects that the government embarks upon, the MSRE project was ended and the reports were shelved.

Within the pages of those dusty reports, it is revealed that there are numerous advantages of LFTR designs over solid fuel Uranium reactors. For Instance, the melting point of the Fluoride-Thorium salt is in excess of 2000o F. If a reactor containment vessel breach were to occur and the molten salt were to spill out of containment, it would quickly solidify and plug the leak.

During operation, a failsafe salt plug at the bottom of the reactor vessel is actively cooled so that it will remain in a solid state. This cooled plug keeps the molten salt from draining into a fail-safe tank which would stop the reaction. In the event of a power failure, like the one in that occurred in Japan at the Fukushima facility, the lack of power would result in this salt plug melting, and the molten salt would drain into a fail-safe tank where it would cool and solidify without an incident.

The LFTR design has proven to be self-correcting. In one instance, there were indications that the reactor began to overclock and approach dangerously high temperatures. Before the operators could react and correct the problem, the molten salt began to thermally expand and decrease the density of the nuclear material. The nuclear reaction slowed down, dropping temperatures. The problem self-corrected before the operator could intervene.

Now that the Twenty-First Century has dawned, this may be the time to renew interest in molten salt reactors for three very good reasons. The first is that the United States will be retiring many of the 99 nuclear power plants currently in operation at a more accelerated rate in the coming decade, and these power plants are not being replaced.

Secondly, Thorium is three times more abundant than Uranium.

Perhaps the most surprising reason for renewed interest is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not telling the industry what direction to take, a significant departure from the past.

As demands upon the electrical power grid continue to grow, the LFTR design is poised to provide a safer solution for future power needs not just in the U.S. but worldwide.
The case of Second Lt. Spenser Rapone, West Point graduate and U.S. Army officer, has raised a number of issues relative to our military, our Bill of Rights, and our common defense.

Lt. Rapone is the West Point graduate who displayed, while in uniform, expressions of support for communism and socialism. He allegedly was critical of national command authority as well.

The Army has begun an investigation into how this young officers perspectives and anti-authority leanings were not uncovered prior to his graduation despite concerns from some of his academic officers at West Point.

When I personally condemned his actions and recommended disciplinary action, I received a number of widely varying comments on social media about the young officers actions and the discipline suggested. The vast majority condemned him and called for various forms of punishment. Most agreed with my perspective that he should be dismissed from the military and forced to repay the cost of his West Point education.

A number of other people suggested that taking any action against this person was unconstitutional because it violated his freedom of speech. When myself and fellow veterans noted that military personnel, while in uniform, have limits on our freedom of speech, the debate went viral.

There are three documents that are relevant to this discussion. One is the Constitutions Bill of Rights, one is the oath of office as a commissioned officer in the U.S. military, and the other is the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

First, as a cadet Rapone would have taken an oath of office upon joining the U.S. military and again when he was commissioned at graduation from West Point.

That oath of office states: I, _____, having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."

Once an officer is commissioned, the UCMJ is the standard under which all in the military submit.

In the case of Lt. Rapone the following are some of the provisions of the UCMJ that he would be suspected of violating. Please note that I am not an attorney; however, I am a retired Marine Reserve Colonel and former commanding officer and would have recommended such an investigation of violating the following articles of the UCMJ by any one in a similar situation to Lt. Rapone.

Article 83  fraudulent enlistment, appointment, or separation

Article 84  unlawful enlistment, appointment or separation

Article 88  contempt towards officials

Article 89  disrespect toward senior commissioned officer

Article 94  mutiny or sedition

Article 107  false statements

Article 117  provoking speeches or gestures

Article 133 - conduct unbecoming an officer a gentleman

Article 134  General article

Finally, with the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution states in the First Amendment that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

The Bill of Rights says that Congress shall make no law relating to these rights. It does not mean that an employer or the military cannot regulate such freedoms, while you are in that organizations employ as well as place other restrictions on your conduct that reflect poorly on the organization you work for.

What this young officer allegedly did was serious. It undermined the entire fabric of military discipline. It undermined command-and-control and potentially put soldiers at risk.

All officers and enlisted personnels Bill of Rights are limited once we take that oath of enlistment or office. The misguided perception in our society that you can say whatever you want whenever you want is perhaps even more troubling.

A society that lacks discipline in the very forces that it relies upon to defend it in times of national crisis is in grave danger. Misunderstanding your Bill of Rights wreaks havoc on young persons lives when they use it inappropriately.

I am stunned that this officer could have made it through a screening process to get the West Point, four years at West Point, and the security clearance review for a secret clearance and his anti-U.S. beliefs not have been uncovered.

This failure is symptomatic of a societal failure at understanding our Bill of Rights, our responsibilities when we take an oath of allegiance and office, and a systemic failure of the control mechanisms designed to protect us.

This seemingly trivial event at a West Point graduation warrants a full-scale congressional investigation of how it happened. Is the next September 11 crisis just ahead of us because of the failures of the very systems designed to protect us from an enemy within?

Col. Frank Ryan, CPA, USMCR (Ret) represents the 101st District in the PA House of Representatives. He is a retired Marine Reserve Colonel and served in Iraq and briefly in Afghanistan and specializes in corporate restructuring. He has served on numerous boards of publicly traded and non-profit organizations. He can be reached at FRYAN1951@aol.com.
In case you missed it -- which, sadly, no less than the U.S. Secretary of State made difficult --November 20 was International Transgender Day of Remembrance. The day focuses on memorializing the worlds gender-deluded who were victims of violence. By my estimate -- I didnt count them all -- the list contains about 300 people.

Likewise, many liberal outlets in the American mainstream media -- redundant, I know -- took the opportunity to paint violence against the gender-deluded as some sort of epidemic. The headline in the largest newspaper in my state declared, Violence against transgender people at all-time high in Georgia, nationally.

Evidently an annual all-time high when it comes to the murder of individuals in the U.S. who choose to live a gender lie is 25. After the 11th death, which occurred in May of this year, one news outlet quoted a transgender activist declaring, We are facing a national epidemic of violence [against transgenders]. More American Christians were recently killed in a single day as they peacefully gathered to worship their Creator. Following this horrific event, virtually no one in the mainstream American media wanted to talk about how Christians in the U.S. are suffering an epidemic of violence or even that we are merely increasingly under attack.

To further the perverse LGBT agenda, the liberal American media would rather promote a lie than reveal the plight of Americans who seek the Truth. Of course, an agenda built on lies must be furthered with lies. Murder is always tragic, and leave it to liberals to use the death of murdered Americans deceptively in order to advance their preferred -- and again false -- narrative. Whats more, worldwide, tens of thousands of Christians are martyred every year and the liberal-led media typically -- and predictably -- yawns.

Throughout the stories highlighting International Transgender Day of Remembrance was the implication that transgenders are being killed as the result of hate toward those who foolishly choose to live as the opposite sex. This was certainly the case with the American media and the 25 transgenders killed in the United States.

Of course, an additional implication is that this hate is the result of ignorant and irrational bias against the gender-deluded from conservatives and Christians. As is often the case with liberal narratives, few things could be further from the truth.

I examined online reports of each of the 25 American individuals on the Human Rights Campaigns Violence Against the Transgender Community list for 2017. I looked specifically for mainstream media accounts -- such as the Chicago Tribune, the Times Picayune (more than once), the Baltimore Sun, the Miami Herald, and so on. In other words, I looked for news publications that had almost every reason in the world to stick to the LGBT agenda on transgender deaths. Though the articles often hopefully hinted that a possible hate criminal was behind the murders, there was not one single person the media could definitively claim was the victim of a hate crime.

Quite the contrary, more than one transgender person died as the result of violently attacking the police. Others were involved in dangerous activities such as prostitution, gang activity, or drug use, and still others had shown themselves to be prone to violence. In other words, much -- if not most -- of the violence against transgenders is due to the poor lifestyle choices of those who reject simple science and morality.

If the mainstream media really wanted to tell the truth when it comes to death and the gender-deluded, it would do well to note the dangers of denying basic biology and the tragic results that often accompany attempting the impossibletransitioning from one sex to another. Instead, the media again embraces a lie and is guilty of malpractice.

Along with the dangerous and sometimes deadly consequences of mutilating an otherwise healthy body with unnecessary drugs and surgeries, those who suffer from gender delusions face a whole host of health issues that a media that truly cared should be eager to report. For example, the risk of cancer significantly increases when ones body is subjected to gender reorientation drugs.

The suicide rate among the gender-deluded is far above that of the general population. A staggering number of youth who struggle with their gender engage in self harm. Worse still, many parents whove bought the liberal lie on gender are guilty of child abuse. Because their parents, their schools, their churches, and their media refused to tell them the truth about their gender, many older teens and young adults have found themselves scarred for life.

Death, disease, and despair do stalk the gender-deluded community, but not for the reasons most corrupted by liberalism would have us believe. Again, those struggling with their gender identity need serious physical, mental, and spiritual help. They do not need accommodation in living a lie.

Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.

www.trevorgrantthomas.com

Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America

tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
At the end of his eminently important and succinct book, titled Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War, author Dr. Sebastian Gorka includes the original secret telegram written in 1946 at the onset of the Cold War, wherein the American diplomat and Russia expert George Kennan explains "how the behavior of the Soviet Union cannot be understood unless an individual understands the totalitarian ideology that drives it. This 'fanatical' ideology of communism is absolutist and global and will not countenance peaceful coexistence with America or any democracy." Keenan describes how "Democratic-progressive" elements abroad are to be utilized to maximum to bring pressure to bear on capitalist governments along lines agreeable to Soviet interests."

In a book purchased in the USSR in the early 1960s, titled Face to Face: The Story of N.S. Khrushchov's Visit to the U.S.A., a young American, who later became my husband, came face to face with the propaganda of communism when he read "that with great patience and persistence, the head of the Soviet Government continued to discharge the great mission he had undertaken, to remove the ice piled up by the 'cold war,' to open the eyes of people deluded by malicious [American] propaganda, to explain to them the essence of the idea of peaceful coexistence to blaze the trail to peace and friendship among all peoples irrespective of what social system they live under." Only one problem: the book neglected to mention the 50 million people who would perish under communism or this so-called peaceful coexistence. Just ask the Victims of Communism.

And almost sixty years later, as American leftists align themselves with communist ideology, we can see that they act, not in the interests of America, but in the interest of an ideology that has always sought to destroy America.

And, horrifyingly, as W. August Mayer has written in Islamic Jihad, Cultural Marxism and the Transformation of the West, "the morphing of the Democrat party over the last century from the conservative, traditional liberalism of President Grover Cleveland to the statism of Barack Hussein Obama" is a "downward slope to totalitarian rule towards which political gravity irresistibly draws us ever nearer."

Only a few years before the Keenan analysis, a document was carefully hidden and preserved in a kerosene can in the hopes that it would be discovered once World War II concluded. In his searing diary written under the most excruciatingly difficult times, Chaim A. Kaplan in his Scroll of Agony: The Warsaw Diary wrote an "extraordinary first person record of the Nazi occupation and destruction of Warsaw's Jewish community." Kaplan is believed to have died in late 1942 or early 1943, but his words reverberate to this day.

These documents stand as testaments to the nature of totalitarianism  whether it be Nazi socialism, Russian communism, or jihadist fascism. As Kaplan wrote:

If anyone in the democratic lands is attempting to write a book on the nature of Nazism, I know without seeing it that the author will not be able to express the truth of Nazism's cruelty and barbarism. Nazism has two faces. On the one hand, it is full of hypocrisy and submissiveness when it is necessary to obtain some benefit from someone; and on the other hand, it is full of brutal strength, trampling all humanism under foot, hardening its heart against the most elementary human emotions.

Reading the above, it is impossible not to substitute Nazism for Islamic jihadism. In fact, as has been well documented, the two have been intertwined since the beginning of World War II, when, in November 1941, the grand mufti met with Hitler, who told him the Jews were his foremost enemy. The mufti offered Hitler his "thanks for the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially Palestinian cause, and to which he had given clear expression in his public speeches[.] The Arabs were Germany's natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely ... the Jews[.]"

As a result of this meeting, "Germany would furnish positive and practical aid to the Arabs involved in the same struggle [since] Germany's objective [was] ... solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere[.]" In return, the mufti recruited "20,000 Muslim volunteers for the SS, who participated in the killing of Jews in Croatia and Hungary." In a "letter released by the National Library of Israel Archives in March 2017, SS Chief Heinrich Himmler heaps praise upon Mufti al-Husseini, stating that the Nazi leadership has been closely following the battle of freedom-seeking Arabs  and especially in Palestine  against the Jewish invaders. Himmler ends the letter by bidding the Mufti warm wishes for the continuation of your battle until the big victory. This letter was delivered in the Fall of 1943, two years after the Mufti's famous meeting with Adolf Hitler."

Many writers have meticulously examined the close philosophical ties between the jihadists and the Nazis, but "only one who feels the taste of Nazi rule in all his 248 organs and 365 sinews; only one who has bared his back to the lashes of its whips; only one who has examined the various nuances of its administrative and legal tactics in relation to the Jews, unequaled in hard-heartedness, sadistic cruelty, warped sensibility, petrification of human feeling, and stupidity  only such a writer ... might be able to give a true description of this pathological phenomenon called Nazism."

Daily, the West hears of the atrocities committed against young Christian and Yazidi women by ISIS and other jihadist murderers, and little is done for these people. At the same time, alleged Muslim refugees are allowed into western Europe only to wreak havoc on France, Germany, and Great Britain because the leaders of these countries will not acknowledge "this pathological phenomenon." These feckless leaders will not state outright that "only those afflicted with a disease of the soul are capable of being joined to a party such as this. Only one who has a defect of the soul and the senses is able to be numbered in its ranks. It is not impossible for an entire class of human beings to suffer a mental illness, and attempt to put into practice a diseased, unclean ideology by such barbaric means as the human race has never recognized and never known, and which it would have been incapable of inventing even in the remotest Dark Ages." Will the remnants of these communities write about their own people as did Kaplan?

The gigantic catastrophe which has descended on Polish Jewry has no parallel, even in the darkest periods of Jewish history. First, is in the depth of the hatred. This is not just hatred whose source is in a party platform, and which was invented for political purposes. It is a hatred of emotion, whose source is some psychopathic malady.

This is the face of jihadist terror today. Despite the overwhelming acts of terror around the globe, the world still appears to be in denial. Thus, Dr. Gorka repeatedly reiterates that unless we perceive the endgame as the jihadists do, we are not mentally, tactically, or physically ready to save ourselves. Every person who opposes the sickening aspect of jihadist terror must realize that this war they have unleashed "serves only one purpose: the realization of Allah's sovereignty here on earth." Nothing else will suffice. The infidel must be overcome or murdered since, in the jihadist mindset, "all war must serve only the objective of re-creating the caliphate, the theocratic empire of Islam, so that Allah's writ may once again reign supreme." And the most critical target of importance in this war of ideas is the "soul of the enemy. The infidel foe must be converted to Islam or crushed."

So when American schools start by teaching the practice of Islam, which, in essence, is the indoctrination of the religion; when hijab day is celebrated so as to make the head cloth a fashion statement; when legitimate concerns about mass Muslim immigration to the United States are fluffed away as "not being who we are," let that person be reminded of mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who revealed that "al Qaeda's plan to kill the United States was not through military attacks but immigration and 'outbreeding non-Muslims' who would use the legal system to install sharia law," we need to fight tooth and nail to thwart each and every attempt to islamify this country.

The fact that "jihadism" can be substituted for USSR "in a threat analysis from seventy years ago without any loss of accuracy" and that Nazism can also be substituted without any loss of truth exemplifies the unholy alliance among these three hateful ideologies.

Consequently, political correctness and a distorted sense of morality only aids the enemy. While it is critical not to do a "disservice to those Muslims who are most immanently in danger" by the jihadists, it is equally incumbent upon every congressional leader and the president to rectify the deliberate erasure under Obama of any reference to jihad. That is, "the politically motivated censorship of government analysis, training, and education must end." How can our analysts, armed services, and FBI know how to perceive the enemy when all references to their ideology and ultimate goals are deliberately scrubbed? Moreover, the Muslim Brotherhood must be designated as a terrorist organization.

Subversion, infiltration, and intimidation are always the weapons of choice by those who despise Western values. If we don't lose our souls, we can and will win this war that threatens us  but only if we stay strong and understand that this totalitarian, religiously motivated cancer must be completely eradicated will we be victorious.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.
The Senate is facing a small window of opportunity to pass tax reform before other, vital Senate business takes precedence. Chief among the other issues the Senate must address is a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on December 8.

But it is tax reform that has taken on a serious urgency. Without passage by the Senate in the next few days, the issue is likely to die before the next Congress is seated in early January. And for Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, that scenario is simply unacceptable. Many observers  including many GOP lawmakers on the Hill  see passage of the tax reform bill as essential to their hopes to hang on to the House in the 2018 election.

McConnell faces a daunting tax. At least a half dozen GOP senators have serious issues with the tax reform package as it is currently written. Senator Ron Johnson has already come out against the bill, objecting to small business "pass through" language that would raise taxes on many companies.

The Senate can't fix the pass through language without breaking the rules on tax reform, which require specific targets to be met while not raising the deficit over a ten-year period past a certain point.

Politico:

An influential and independent-minded bloc of deficit hawks, including Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona, have aired deep concerns about the tax bill's red ink, even accounting for any economic growth that a tax overhaul might generate. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Jerry Moran of Kansas have voiced concerns about including in the tax proposal language that would repeal Obamacare's individual mandate. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), so far the only declared "no" on the tax legislation, has argued that the overhaul unfairly disadvantages small businesses  although to fix the bill to his liking, the changes would likely cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) has expressed similar concerns on so-called pass-throughs, according to Republicans. GOP aides expect changes this week to the version of the tax plan that passed the Senate Finance Committee. Those adjustments could come before the legislation hits the floor or through amendments as the bill is considered. Senate Republicans are discussing an increase in a tax deduction for pass-through businesses in an effort to win over Johnson and Daines, according to a person familiar with the talks. Allowing taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes, as proposed in the House bill, is also under consideration, as is barring corporations from writing off their state and local taxes. The proposed changes were first reported by The Washington Post. Finding the money to pay for those changes could be an issue, too. Republicans can cut taxes by no more than $1.5 trillion over a decade  meaning that as of right now, they have well under $100 billion to play with in the Senate bill. Thune stressed that some Senate Republicans have raised "legitimate concerns," and said senators will have "plenty of opportunities" to change the bill when it comes to the floor later this week. But Republicans also believe that the need for a big legislative accomplishment ahead of next year's midterm elections will help sway any holdouts. "For every Republican senator, the fate of the party is in our hands, as well as that of the economy," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The "deficit hawks" are a day late and a couple of hundred billion dollars short. The numbers being used by the GOP are fantasy numbers, bearing no relationship with the reality of what the bill will actually cost us in increased budget deficits over the next decade. But this is the way the government operates these days  using smoke and mirrors to get the result it wants.

Along with objections to tax reform issues, there is also the personality conflict with Trump by Senators Corker and Cornyn to consider. Both senators are retiring, and given the viciousness of the war among those three personalities, it is not impossible to imagine one or both of them blowing up tax reform just to hurt Trump.

Trump will pay a visit to the Senate on Tuesday, ostensibly to lobby for the bill. Whatever negotiating skills Trump has will have to be put to good use as he tries to fashion a bill that a majority of GOP senators can get behind. McConnell won't bring the bill to the floor for a vote unless he is assured of passage. At this point, that seems a tall order to fill.
It was some time since I had been to Magalluf. Coming in along the coast from Palmanova, was to realise that it still has the power to, depe...
Thirty-five hundred years ago, slaves toiling in the harsh mines of the Sinai scribbled some graffiti on the desert rocks. One of them wrote: "Moses then provoked astonishment." That, plus a lot of other inscriptions, deserves more than a passing glance.

Most of us know about the Exodus and Moses, courtesy of Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston. But archaeological evidence of those events has been slow to come by. Now, in a new book, The World's Oldest Alphabet, Douglas Petrovich has deciphered the Sinai inscriptions, and for the first time outside the Bible, we can read how the slaves looked at things:

"He sought occasion to cut away to barrenness our great number, our swelling without measure." (Sinai 349) "Our bond servitude had lingered. Moses then provoked astonishment. It is a year of astonishment." (Sinai 361)

Anyone familiar with the Book of Exodus will immediately spot parallels with the account of Pharaoh's attempt to reduce the number of newborn Israelites and the subsequent actions of Moses. (Many of the Sinai inscriptions can be viewed with a simple Google search.)

So much, then, for the dismissive arguments that the Israelites could never have numbered enough to be considered a threat to Egypt. Or that there never was an Exodus. Or that Moses never existed.

So much, then, for the JEPD theory of the Pentateuch (written, according to the theory, by a variety of late authors with varying concepts about the nature of God). So much for the idea that the Israelites never lived in Egypt at all, or were just a group of wandering tribes who made up most of their history centuries later. All washed away like Pharaoh's chariots.

All this should be headlines, but it isn't.

Petrovich also demonstrates how the first alphabet was likely created not by paleo-Canaanites or Phoenicians, but by the Hebrews, who developed it by adapting Egyptian picture images for their own use during their 400-year stay in Egypt. This, in fact, was probably the world's first truly phonetic alphabet. History, which usually credits that to the merchants in the Levant, may have to be revised on this score also.

The book is not an easy read. It is a scholarly work, laden to overflowing with citations, notes, references, and cross-checking. It is a philologist's delight. It is not written for a popular audience. (The author intends to follow it up with another volume on the Israelites in Egypt.)

If we were less preoccupied with safe spaces, trigger warnings, the introduction of all-inclusive pronouns, gender-neutral everything, and the latest Hollywood scandals, we might have taken notice of more important discoveries. But a self-absorbed society and the mainstream media's agendas have kept the focus elsewhere. This is to be regretted, because in the meantime, genuinely significant news has been passing us by.
The archbishop of Canterbury justified a possible meeting with President Trump (apparently to appease those who might consider it abhorrent) by rationalizing that he meets lots of people he disagrees with, including mass murderers. The Most Reverend Justin Welby went on to say it's his job to do this, as he testifies to the love of Christ and "draws people in a different way"  in which it seems he means in a different direction from the one in which they are headed. If you read his original remarks as reported on ITV, I think you'll agree with my paraphrasing.

You might also agree that the controversial principal leader of the Church of England is comparing the democratically elected president of the United States to mass murderers. Additionally, he seems to be contradicting our president's own claim of being a Christian  because it sounds as if the archbishop wants to pull Trump "to the love of Christ"  inferring that Trump does not now know the love of Christ.

The original Associated Press (AP) article focused mainly on the archbishop's remarks during an ITV interview, in which he stated that "he 'really genuinely' can't comprehend why fundamentalists have provided such a strong base for Trump." (In the same interview, and in his usual way of playing the sneering globalist who chases everyone with a hot poker, he also made controversial remarks on Brexit, the Irish border dispute, and the British economy.)

The Drudge Report chose to link to the NBC story, which was the original Associated Press story with a little tweaking. One sentence in the NBC story stuck out like no other:

He (the archbishop) noted that he's met with worse people than the president of the United States.

This didn't sound like the good journalism of yesteryear (God rest its soul). It's a pretty heavily weighted sentence to be thrown in the middle of a straight news story with no directly attributable quote from the archbishop to back it up. But had the archbishop really said something so similar as to justify such a broad, geopolitically demeaning sentence, or was something taken slightly out of context? I can't be sure, as of this writing, because I can't find the entire interview online. However, it still struck me as odd until I glanced at the bottom of the report, which said NBC intern Yelena Dzhanova had "contributed to the story." (Later it was switched to say only, "Contributor: Yelena Dzhanova.")

A quick search found the Baruch College grad on LinkedIn. Another quick search revealed the kind of liberal snowflakes NBC is hiring to tweak its AP stories into particularly loathsome anti-Trump drivel. In a digital media project for Baruch, still published online, we see Ms. Dzhanova's "Abstract Response to The Handmaid's Tale," which no doubt reflects her own views. In it she says:

In the beginning, women created the earth ... and women said 'let there be light' ... and women said 'let there be a firmament ... let there be land and water and grass and a fruit tree' ... and women said 'let there be day and night' ... and women then said 'go forth, be fruitful and multiply.' Multiply, create more humankind or don't. The choice is yours. If you marry among one another ... and a heterosexual marriage can dilute or eliminate a lesbian experience ... You are given no boundaries, no constraints, no borders, no boxes, no limits. Now that you have risen, you can live on this earth and depend on one another[.]

At the end of the short, chaotic social justice rant, Dzhanova credits "Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Existence," "The Handmaid's Tale," and "Identity, Complicity and Resistance in The Handmaid's Tale."

I wonder if Dzhanova would be so bold as to rewrite portions of the Quran instead of the Bible to better fit her LGBT feminist agenda?

It seems that it was also NBC writer Dzhanova who tweaked the end of the AP article, adding: "Though he said he'd meet Trump, [the archbishop] also said, 'It'd be unlikely I'd do more than shake hands with him.'"

Overall, one can see that despite the archbishop's comments being overtly insulting to a sitting U.S. president and the people who elected him, NBC news has no problem hiring interns so steeped in pre-existing agendas that they can easily grind salt into an existing AP story  just to make sure any open wounds are painfully exploited to their full potential.
Some terrorists being held at the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba were allowed to create artworks while whiling away the hours during their incarceration.

Now some of that artwork is on display at John Jay College, and the Pentagon is none too pleased. It appears that the school is not only facilitating the showing of this "art," but also involved in the potential sale of several pieces.

The Pentagon wants to incinerate the artwork, but some professors have started a petition to stop it.

New York Post:

Thirty-six paintings and sculptures by Gitmo detainees have been on display at John Jay College, but the Department of Defense now wants them destroyed, and administrators at the taxpayer-funded school are bracing for a possible seizure of the works. In the last few days, more than 350 people rushed to sign a John Jay professor's online petition protesting a Pentagon policy that would see most of the Gitmo Picassos' works incinerated. "Let them know that burning art is something done by fascist and terrorist regimes  but not by the American people," reads the petition to the Department of Defense, President Trump and the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, among other branches of the military. "Art is an expression of the soul. This art belongs to the detainees and to the world."

Art is, indeed, an expression of the soul. But you would think it a prerequisite in defining art for the artist to possess a "soul" in the first place. These are conscienceless, cold-blooded killers. If they had any kind of a "soul," they wouldn't have helped bring down the Twin Towers or murder other innocents to satisfy their bloodlust in service to their twisted ideology.

The exhibit, titled "Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantanamo Bay," opened Oct. 2 on the Upper West Side campus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Curated by John Jay art crime professor Erin Thompson with archivist Paige Laino and artist and poet Charles Shields, the free exhibit is on view in the President's Gallery until the end of January. The exhibition catalog includes an e-mail address for people interested in buying the art. "Please contact curator@artfromguantanamo.com if you are interested in purchasing artwork made at Guantanamo by artists who have since been cleared by military tribunals and released," it reads. The art was obtained through the detainees' lawyers. Ramzi Kassem, one of the lawyers and a professor at CUNY School of Law who works with a legal clinic that represents Guantanamo detainees, recently told The Miami Herald that, as a result of the school's exhibit, "art would not be allowed out of the prison . . . and would be incinerated instead." In the past, prisoners at Guantanamo could fill out a form to have their art reviewed by prison authorities for release to their lawyers. The lawyers could safeguard the work until their release or send it on to the families of the detainees. Now that process has been halted. The Department of Defense's abrupt change in policy has further politicized the already-controversial exhibit at John Jay.

In 2015, artworks by Adolf Hitler sold for $450,000. There is obviously a market for terrorist art  some of it created by people who helped al-Qaeda carry out its attacks on the U.S. in 2001. How do you think the families of 9/11 victims would respond to the terrorist-sympathizing professors at John Jay?

"A lot of guys who passed away during 9/11 went to John Jay College, including my brother. I can't understand how this college in particular would allow such a thing. Where's their decency? Where's their dignity? They're delivering the completely wrong message. It's denying and softening what happened. What's next, hanging up the art of John Wayne Gacy?"  Michael Burke, of The Bronx, whose brother, FDNY Capt. Billy Burke, 46, died on 9/11 "It's like a slap in the face, completely out of nowhere. Let them display that at Guantanamo, not here. It's a terrible precedent to set."  Jim McCaffrey, of Yonkers, retired FDNY lieutenant whose brother-in-law, FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, 45, died on 9/11 "I feel completely betrayed. Someone's job should be on the line for this. Using taxpayer money to hang the artwork of criminals in our college for criminal justice makes my blood boil. This is going way too far and is rubbing our noses in the loss we have to carry with us every day."  Rosaleen Tallon, of Yonkers, stay-at-home mother whose brother, firefighter Sean Tallon, 26, died on 9/11 "I think it's sick and insulting. I was down in Guantanamo and saw these guys in court. [They] have no respect for anyone. They murdered our kids and families and don't deserve their art shown anywhere. The families weren't consulted about this at all. It's like having Hitler do a drawing and hanging his work up. It's a complete disgrace. [Mayor] de Blasio and [Gov.] Cuomo should be held accountable."  Jim Riches (right), of Brooklyn, retired FDNY deputy chief whose son, firefighter Jimmy Riches, 29, died on 9/11

Displaying the art by Guantanamo detainees is a political statement, not an artistic endeavor. John Jay College claims that many of the prisoners were tortured  at least, that's the story we hear from their lawyers. It is impossible to independently verify torture because so many of the detainees had been injured attacking guards and even trying to escape. But the very existence of Gitmo is an affront to many of the John Jay professors. Hence the political statement in arrogantly displaying their "art."

These terrorists displayed no regret for their actions and no sympathy for their victims. Perhaps someone should inform the administration at John Jay that art has context, and in this case, the context is abhorrent.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on the war path. Sunday night, the CFPB's deputy director, Leandra English, filed a lawsuit against President Trump for seeking to replace her with his own candidate. In her mind, that position is hers, like some sort of owned property, and she isn't about to be dislodged.

It goes to show the tremendous problem President Trump will have in clearing the swamp.

The CFPB situation is a bit worse than other cases of Obama holdovers unwilling to leave their posts. The Los Angeles Times reports:

The battle over control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau escalated Sunday as the deputy director sued to stop President Trump from installing his own appointee as temporary head of the agency.Leandra English, who was promoted to deputy director Friday, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying Trumps appointment of Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the bureau was unlawful. She requested a temporary restraining order to block him from taking the position.

It's absolutely incredible that a full-blown lawsuit would be filed to retain the position of acting director, a mere transitory post that is sure to be replaced with a real director when the Senate confirms one.

Evidently, she's counting on Congress being unable to confirm a new director, confident Democrats will obstruct any Trump nominee, leaving her in the catbird seat. Or else there are documents to destroy, and she and her cronies need more time. It's absolutely odd that she would fight this hard for a transitory job. She must think there's something big at stake.

It's also quite likely she won't win her case on legal merits, though she may be betting on a left-wing judge who will bend the law any way he wants. The dispute between Trump, who has named Mick Mulvaney acting director, and English, who was named deputy director and thus acting director under her own interpretation of the law in the wake of Richard Cordray's exit from the director's job, has been judged in favor of Trump by none other than CFPB's own left-wing attorney.

And still she persists.

As I noted here, the CFPB is a monster of an agency, notable in its structure of being of the Democrats, by the Democrats, and for the Democrats.

Ronald L. Rubin, a former CFPB attorney, wrote in National Review last September that the independent agency was structured by Democrats in 2009 to maintain total Democrat power over the agency no matter who is president.

This lawsuit absolutely demonstrates that entrenchment fighting to stay entrenched.
Looks as though the long arm of Robert Mueller may extend to Paris. Seems French police arrested a sitting Russian senator for tax evasion in violation of his diplomatic immunity. Suleiman Kerimov was grabbed by French authorities, to the great displeasure of Russian officials.

There may be more to the story.

According to Itar-Tass:

Meanwhile, the press service of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) did not provide a clear-cut answer when asked by Izvestia whether Kerimovs arrest could be linked to the so-called "Russiagate investigation" in the US led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It said that the FBI could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the probe and could not comment on the issue.



According to the US media, Kerimov had contacts with Russian citizen Rinat Akhmetshin whose activities were aimed at upholding Moscows interests. According to The New York Times, Akhmetshin, who received US citizenship in 2009, has close ties with the Russian government and "is associated with a former deputy head of the Russian intelligence service, the FSB." For his part, Akhmetshin has rejected these allegations.



Meanwhile, RBCs source in the Russian Federation Council said that the senators arrest could become "a new stumbling block in relations between Russia and the West. "Of course, this indicates that any high-ranking member of the Russian elite can be caught in the crossfire. That can been seen as an element of [Western] pressure in the run-up to the presidential election," Yevgeny Minchenko, head of Minchenko Consulting Communication Group, said in an interview with the paper[.]

If this theory is correct, it means American intelligence is tampering with Russian elections. It also means they are trying to strong-arm the Russians into giving Mueller dirt to bring down Donald Trump. While we all know there is a conspiracy in the Deep State to find grounds to impeach the president, it appears that the Deep State is actually working overseas and using national security assets and friendly foreign agents.

The selective moral outrage at Russia for "tampering" with U.S. elections is beyond hypocritical; the Obama administration tampered with numerous elections. Obama spent U.S. tax dollars to promote the election of Raila Odinga in Kenya and to likewise enshrine abortion in the Kenyan constitution in violation of the Hyde Amendment. He meddled in the Israeli elections to oust Benjamin Netanyahu. He helped push Hosni Mubarak out of Egypt and Moammar Gaddafi out of Libya. He meddled in Macedonia and in Albania. In fact, a number of senators are demanding an investigation into Obama-era election tampering.

It should also be pointed out that seizing a foreign legislator can be interpreted as an act of war. It certainly will not serve American or European interests to start a series of retaliatory arrests. The Russians can play that game, too. This is a dangerous act of brinkmanship.

This is a story that will probably not have legs here in the American media, but it certainly something we should worry about, as it shows just what lengths the Deep State is willing to go to in order to keep power and remove the duly elected president.

Read more from Tim at The Aviary: www.tbirdnow.
When I hear the term "white privilege," it is as if someone just scraped his fingernails down a chalkboard.

My white family comes from the Appalachian coal regions of Pennsylvania and for generations never had "privilege." My maternal grandfather immigrated from Ukraine when he was only fifteen years old, became a coal miner, and never went to high school. He faced prejudice and bigotry for having an accent and for being of Slavic heritage. He endured incredible hardship for decades and died at 62 from black lung disease.

Good health care was lacking, and two of his six children died in early childhood. For much of his life, he went to work in the dark, worked all day in the dark, and then came home in the dark. He befriended rats in the coal mines, since experience taught him how rat behavior could alert you to impending danger.

My grandfather's history is not unique. White immigrants such as Italians, Irish, Polish, and other Slavic peoples also struggled in poverty and faced ethnic hatred and bigotry in America.

Professor Ed Falco writes, "[T]he largest mass lynching in U.S. history took place in New Orleans in 1891  and it wasn't African-Americans who were lynched[.] ... It was Italian-Americans.

"After nine Italians were tried and found not guilty of murdering New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy, a mob dragged them from jail, along with two other Italians being held on unrelated charges, and lynched them all."

An editorial in the New York Times referred to the victims of the lynchings as "sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins."

Did you know that during World War II, Italian-Americans who were believed to be loyal to Italy were put in internment camps in the U.S.? Thousands of others with Italian heritage in the U.S. were also placed under surveillance. Italian-Americans never received any reparations from our government.

Jay Dolan, a writer from Notre Dame University, noted that the Irish in America in the 1840s and '50s "were preferred to the [African-American] slaves when it came to working on the docks, because, as one official put it, 'The niggers are worth too much to be risked here; if the Paddies are knocked overboard, or get their backs broke, nobody loses anything.'"

Anyone who lived during the 1960s and '70s in America must remember the relentless derogatory ethnic "Polack" jokes. The Polish jokes in the 1970s were particularly offensive  so much so that the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs complained to the U.S. State Department.

Poor white folks have been slurred from the very beginning days of our nation, being called "crackers" and "squatters." The term "white trash" was first coined in our country in 1821.

Today, 17.3 million white Americans (about twice as many as African-Americans) are listed as living in poverty. More than 4 million white children live in poverty. These unprivileged white people live desperately, with widespread alcoholism, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and unemployment. Their children can only dream of a college education.

Is it white privilege to be called "trailer trash"?

Is it white privilege to be a hopeless unemployed white American in the crumbling Rust Belt region?

Where is the privilege in the white ghettos of Appalachian America?

Charles Murray, a conservative scholar, wrote Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, a book on the plight of white America. He recently attempted to discuss this book with college students at elite Middlebury College and was violently prevented from speaking.

Do liberal Democrats even care about the struggles of the millions of impoverished, unprivileged, and forgotten white people in our country whom Hillary Clinton labeled as "deplorables"?

Charles Murray warns, "Our nation is coming apart at the seams."
Nobody better represents the Washington, D.C. political-media establishment than Cokie Roberts. For those who don't know, the NPR correspondent and ABC News commentator is the daughter of two former Democrat members of the House of Representatives, her mother replacing her father after his death. Her father was the majority leader of the Democrat Caucus during the long period where the Democrats ran everything in the House. Had he not perished in a plane crash in 1972, he might well have become speaker. And her husband, Steve Roberts, is another member of the D.C. media establishment.

In a moment of casual honesty yesterday, Cokie Roberts admitted on This Week that everyone knew about the dangers of being groped by John Conyers, who "icon" Nancy Pelosi seems to believe should be allowed his perversions and even crimes, on the model of other progressive "icons" like Ted Kennedy.

RADDATZ: But they probably will be talking about.

And what about Conyers and Franken? Nothing's happened since. What happens to them?

BACON: It's not clear that any Democrat so far have said they should resign. You saw Kathleen Rice. Other than that, you haven't seen a lot of them.

I'm curious. My question of this whole process is, saying it should go to the ethic committee a real thing or is it just a stalling tactic? And that's what we don't know yet. They've set up a process, but does the process matter, and is the process going to the lead  like it's hard for me to see...

ROBERTS: It's like rehab, you know  he's going to rehab.

BACON: ...going to do anything other than the obviously. We know what happened, essentially. So, does that lead to a resignation, or does that just lead to a stalling process? And that's what I don't know yet.

KLEIN: Can they weather the storm, right? One of these happens, another one happens. And if it just becomes noise, then maybe they can hang on.

ROBERTS: And you know they are so used to it. I mean, the culture of Capitol Hill for so many decades was men being bad. And...

RADDATZ: So, we talk about that. We have talked about it weeks and weeks. But does anything really change?

ROBERTS: No.

RADDATZ: We ask that question. I mean, this seems unprecedented how many. But do you think people are really talking about it as if things will change?

PALMER: I don't think that the culture has  we haven't seen major shift, right? And I would also just point out, members policing themselves, a very bad track record of it, whether it's about these kind of scandals, whether it's about how they use their finances. There is  nobody is saying that they're going to change the whole process by which this is done, that they're going to throw out members if they actually have sexual harassment cases. This is a big problem for them.

ROBERTS: The fact that people are willing to be public can change things. I mean, we all talked about for years

RADDATZ: A little bit at a time.

ROBERTS: Don't get in the elevator with him, you know, and the whole every female in the press corps knew that, right, don't get in elevator with him. Now people are saying it out loud. And I think that does make a difference.

[Rush transcript via Grabien.]
Sherlock Holmes noticed the dog that didn't bark. Americans should pay close attention to the scandal that didn't leak.

Information from the Mueller investigation leaks like a sieve.

Information from intelligence committees and intelligence agencies has a way of showing up in newspapers.

It seems every private conversation anyone surrounding Trump had with Russians and any meeting and inadvertent handshake shows up in the press.

The illegal unmasking of information around people who know Trump is rampant.

Ben Rhodes has said the White House could plant lies about the Iran deal with selective reporters, and they would just print what they were told.

We know from DNC leaked emails that there were reporters that would just print what Democrats allowed.

Fusion GPS was able to plant false information with the media that was paid for by Democrats, and the media just reported it as genuine intelligence.

Somehow, Washington Post reporters magically were able to come up with a story about four women in Alabama from around 40 years ago after Roy Moore won a primary.

But no one seems to have ever leaked a story or reported a story about an over 20-year-old slush fund where politicians paid off people who complained  with taxpayers' money. We don't know how the fund was set up, where the appropriation came from, who approved each payoff and how the amount was decided, who drew up the documents that required secrecy, and whom the complaints were about. Why will Congress leak so many classified documents but nothing about the slush fund?

So long as nobody is watching, politicians from both parties do not care about using taxpayer money to pay off people, nor do they actually care about anyone who was abused. Otherwise, there would have been many expulsions relating to the claims paid. They care about protecting themselves  nothing else.

The swamp is extremely deep. It consists of politicians from both parties, bureaucrats, a bevy of reporters who will report what they are told, lobbyists, and others. They have amassed a great deal of power, and they will not let an outsider take that away.

Reporters should be digging deep into this slush fund, but they seem to have as much interest in that as they do in who killed Seth Rich and why.
We hear about this surge in Obamacare enrollments.

The San Francisco Chronicle is even asserting that "the public embrace of the Affordable Care Act amounts to a stark rejection of administration and Republican policy."

Maybe we can call it something like the revenge of the ACA.

The editorial spends a lot of time bashing Trump, but it does not say anything about the economic state of the people signing up. In other words, are these ACA policyholders going to pay their own premiums, or will they be subsidized in some fashion?

We don't know, and the answer matters a lot.

A week ago, the New York Times wrote another article about Obamacare. It gave us a glimpse about the dilemma of the middle class, or the people who have to pay their own way. This is how they described the state of the ACA:

The situation here in Charlottesville is an extreme example of a pattern that can be seen in other places around the country. The Affordable Care Act is working fairly well for people who receive subsidies in the form of tax credits, said Doug Gray, the executive director of the Virginia Association of Health Plans, which represents insurers. But for many others, especially many middle-class families, he said, "the premium is outrageous, and it's unaffordable."

The New York Times is simply stating the case I hear from friends and acquaintances. In other words, the people subsidized can get a policy, whereas the people required to pay can't afford it.

As I have seen, many people are simply avoiding signing up and hoping they pay the fine or work out a pay arrangement with the hospital.

Enrollment surge or not, the premiums are way too expensive.

And that's the Affordable Care Act for you!

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
In 1787, Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, was scheduled for a grand tour of the newly acquired lands of Crimea and New Russianow part of Ukrainewhich she gained by defeating the Ottoman Empire and after signing peace treaties with the Cossack Hetmanate. The trip was to be arranged by Gregory Potemkin, the governor of the region, who was clearly Catherine's favorite and one of her numerous lovers.

The region had been devastated by the war, and one of Potemkin's major tasks were to rebuild it and bring in Russian settlers. In 1787, as a new war was about to break out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Catherine II with her court and several ambassadors made an unprecedented six-month trip to New Russia. The purpose of this trip was to impress Russia's allies prior to the war.

Fireworks in honor of Catherine the Great on the Dnieper River.

As soon as Potemkin heard of the upcoming visit, the cunning governor put of a big show of sham prosperity by hastily erecting many fake villages on the banks of the Dnieper River and along Catherine's route in order to impress the Empress and her diplomatic friends. The story goes that as soon as the barge carrying the Empress and ambassadors arrived, Potemkin's men, dressed as peasants, would populate the village. Once the barge left, the village was disassembled, then rebuilt downstream overnight.

Modern historians agree that these accounts are mostly exaggerated, at best, or completely fictionalized, at worst. Still, the legend stuck. Today, the term "Potemkin village" has come to signify any deceptive or false construct meant to deceive others into thinking that a situation is much better than it really is.

Time and again various regimes and government have used such fakery with varying degree of success. In 1944, when delegates from Red Cross came for inspection of the Theresienstadt concentration camp, the Nazis presented Theresienstadt as a model Jewish settlement. Prior to the visit, the Nazis deported many Jews to Auschwitz to minimize overcrowding. They built fake shops and cafes to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort. In reality, more than 33,000 inmates died there as a result of malnutrition, disease, or the sadistic treatment by their captors.

In 2010, in Cleveland, USA, fake doors and windows painted on plywood panels were used to disguise vacant houses in a blighted part of the city. Take a close look at the windows of this house. The flowers are painted on wooden boards to fool passersby into believing that the house is sound and occupied. Photo credit: Chuck Crow

Photo credit: Chuck Crow

In Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, during the 2013 G8 summit, large photographs were put up in the windows of closed shops in the town so as to give the appearance of thriving businesses for visitors driving past them. Here, you can see a "pretend" butcher shop in the village of Belcoo in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, near Enniskillen. Some vacant stores and shops in the village have large wraparound stickers on the windows to make them look occupied. Photo credit: Bryan O'Brien / The Irish Times

A "pretend" office supplies shop in the village of Belcoo in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, near the site of G8 summit. Photo credit: Bryan O'Brien / The Irish Times

Recently, in a new book, photographer Gregor Sailer documents the phenomenon of Potemkin Villages from around the world. Sailer photographed faithful replicas of European cities in China to mock towns built for vehicle testing or combat training. The following images are from the book.

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer

Photo credit: Gregor Sailer
Madeleine McCann: Luisa Todorov gets scoured

Madeleine McCann was not kidnapped by Luisa Todorov. It wasnt me, says the woman. You will recall that criminologist Heriberto Janosch Gonzalez featured in the Daily Mirror beneath the words: Maddie hunt woman is awaitress.

Scotland Yard detectives want to speak to a female dressed in purple who was seen by two people standing outside the youngsters apartment, said the Mirror. And criminologist Heriberto Janosch Gonzalez claims to have identified the woman as Bulgarian waitress Luisa Todorov.

News was that 58-year-old Luisa and her husband, Stefan, 50, were working at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished in 2007. Both gave statement to the police at the time. They both denied having any knowledge of the case and have not been spoken to again for over a decade. Why police would have spoken with either of them again is moot, as the Mirror gave readers the side-eye and stated: British police are now scouring the globe for the pair so they can ask them if they saw anything suspicious.

Scouring the globe? Not looking to speak with them. Scouring. Thats what you do when you want to reveal whats beneath the dirt and grime. You scour. Is scouring the way to find two innocent people? The paper then noted: Luisa is believed to be the woman seen standing by a lamp post just outside the apartment at 8pm on May 3, 2007.

Gonzalez was quoted:

Examining all the known statements it seems highly likely the police are seeking the Todorovs. They are the only known people with a clear link to Bulgaria. I have been unable to trace them in Portugal and believe they could have moved away. It is widely known that many workers at the Ocean Club were made redundant so it is possible they went to Bulgaria seeking work.

And to todays Mirror news, we get an update. Get this:

A criminologist claimed to have identified Luisa Todorov as the mystery person police are said to be searching for. And we discovered she lives less than a mile from Praia da Luz in the Algarve, where Maddie disappeared.

She isnt living in Bulgaria. No-one had to scour the globe to find her. And she isnt the woman in purple. Indeed, who is? And why is she newsworthy? It was British expat Jenny Murat who introduced us to her. She said: She caught my eye because she was dressed in purple-plum clothes. It struck me as strange. Its so usual for anyone, particularly a woman, to be standing alone on the street in our resort, just watching a building. The next morning, we heard that a little girl had gone missing, and I later told police about the woman Id seen right outside. I didnt recognise her and dont have a clue who she is, but she seems a bit suspicious.

Murat is, of course, mother to the innocent Robert Murat, who was monstered and libelled. Odd that her words are now being used to zoom in on another foreigner living an working in Portugal. Indeed, it was Mirror journalist who introduced us to Robert Murat, telling readers that he found him creepy. Now Luisa is in the crosshairs.

These are some of the reactions to her name:

Madeleine McCann: Mystery woman in purple sought by Met police identified as waitress  Indy Woman in purple mystery witness tracked to Bulgaria. Waitress Luisa Todorov, seen twice near the holiday apartment on the night Maddie disappeared, could be a significant witness  International Business Times Madeleine McCann mystery woman spotted outside Portugal apartment is identified  Leicester Mercury MADDIE CLUES  Madeleine McCann cops hunt Bulgaria for waitress believed to be woman in purple  The Sun Madeleine McCann: Police hunt waitress believed to be mysterious woman in purple  Daily Express

Today she tells the Mirror: Ive no idea about any woman in purple. It wasnt me. I spoke to the police a long time ago about the Madeleine case. I dont really want to talk about it, nobody around here does, it brings back lots of bad memories. Nobody knows what happened to her. If the British police want to speak to me thats fine, but I dont know anything.

The restaurant worker, originally from Madeira, gave a statement to Portuguese police five days after Maddies disappearance, along with husband Stefan, 50. He also worked at the Ocean Club resort, in the kitchens, and is believed to have returned to his native Bulgaria without being quizzed again.

He worked in the kitchens? But the Express told us:

Luisas husband Stefan Todorov, 50, was working at the Tapas bar, where the McCanns and their seven holiday friends were dining when Madeleine was abducted.

Over in the Sun, Luisa Todorovs innocence is a twist as waitress denies she is the mysterious woman in purple. Its not a twist, is it. Its woman stating a fact.

Luisa Todorov was named as the woman that police wanted to speak to, after a shadowy figure was spotted by witnesses the night the three-year-old went missing.

Can you be shadowy dressed distinctively in purple and standing in full view?

But the hung continues. after all, the Indy reported:

Detectives working on Madeleine McCanns case have travelled to Bulgaria in search of a paedophiles widow known as the woman in purple On the evening of Madeleines disappearance an eyewitness saw a woman startng [sic] intently at the apartment block next to where the McCanns were staying in Portugal. The woman is believed to have been the wife of a man of a convicted peadophile, who has is now believed to be dead.

Such are the facts.

Anorak

Posted: 27th, November 2017 | In: Madeleine McCann, Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Venice, November 27 - The 57th edition of Venice's international art Biennale that closed on Sunday registered a record 615,000 visitors, up 23% from the previous edition, its president, Paolo Baratta, said Monday.

Overall, 31% of visitors were under 26 years of age while 15% were students.

Christine Macel was the curator of this edition of the event called "Viva Arte Viva", which opened on May 13.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini expressed pride for the "beauty and quality" of the artwork exhibited at the Biennale, calling it an "excellence in the international art scenario that contributes to the image and prestige of Italy in the world".

Visitors included President Sergio Mattarella and Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini.

Wrapping up the event, Baratta hailed the public's "growing familiarity with contemporary art".

"We like to think that this attendance is the outcome of a desire to have art and artists as travel companions", he continued.

The Biennale president said he was interested in the "growing desire to know" contemporary art rather than the value of contemporary artworks on the market.

"For this reason, we consider important data like the fact that there more visitors for as many as nine weeks than during opening days".

"The Biennale maintains its mission if it knows how to go along its path, or rather its crest, arming itself and visitors with the necessary foil to avoid temptations, banality, conformism and to discuss different truths that artists want to express for us and, finally, verify and appreciate the artwork".

The event showcased the work of 120 artists.

A total of 86 nations participated including, for the first time, Antigua and Barbuda, Kiribati and Nigeria.

Three countries were also present after a long absence, including Bolivia, which had attended in 1966, Malta (the last time was in 1999) and Tunisia (first and last time in 1958).

photo: an installation by US artist Sheila Hicks
Exhibits: Egyptian archaeological treasures in Viterbo Palazzo dei Papi to host copy of Tutankamun's treasure

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, NOVEMBER 27 - An exhibit will be held in Viterbo from May until November next year on copies of Egyptian archaeological treasures, the Italian fundraising society Societa Italiana di Beneficienza (SID) has announced. SID is the sponsor of the initiative presented as an unprecedented event in Italy.



The exhibit will be held in the Palazzo dei Papi, the president of SIB, Sicilian philanthropist Eugenio Benedetti Gaglio, told ANSAmed.



The exhibit will showcase, among others, perfect copies of the entire treasure of Tutankhamun, with the famous golden death mask, the sarcophagus of the Pharaoh who died young and became a symbol of Egyptomania.



Now Benedetti Gaglio has said that the exhibition will include some 150 pieces such as ''the eight Sphynxes, a perfect marble copy of those in the triumphal entry to the great temple of Karnak'' in Luxor. The pieces of the treasure of Tutankhamun to be exhibited will also include the ''lid with the canopic jar, the famous little Pharaoh throne, the great 'naos' and the collection of jewels presents''.



The reproductions, at the end of the show, will be put on sale and, in particular, there is a ''deluge of requests'' for the sphynxes, said Gaglio. These are very expensive large pieces that can only be afforded by companies, institutions and the wealthy. Visitors will be able to buy ''2-3,000 replicas of objects of small dimension, which are exactly similar to the originals extracted from Egyptian tombs, all with a certificate of authenticity put on sale through us at a special price by the Egyptian ministry of antiquities'', said the former businessman.



The economic aspect, the foundation stressed, is only marginal: the spirit of the initiative is to renew relations between Italy and Egypt that are currently damaged, through an archaeology that is accessible to almost everybody, without necessarily needing to go to Cairo to admire it.



The choice of setting it up in Etruscan Lazio, with its almost unique parallelism to the Egyptian cult of the dead, gives further meaning to the show that is part of two other initiatives organized by SIB next year in Italy, aimed at promoting cultural and religious dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean. They are an exhibition of Coptic art, with the reproduction of rare icons in a holy Italian site still to be defined, and a series of four Egyptian folk music concerts. (ANSAmed).




'The Preacher', film on moderate imam, still divides Egypt Cairo festival showcases difficult regime-religion relations

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, NOVEMBER 27 - From a Salafi imam to a moderate popular preacher: the Cairo International Film Festival is showing both Amr Salama's 'Sheikh Jackson' (2017) and Magdy Ahmed Ali's 'The Preacher' (2016). The festival runs through November 30. The film, adapted from a novel by Ibrahim Eissa and a box-office hit, focuses on the story of a famous television preacher, Sheikh Hatem, who is also moderate and tolerant. He is young, brilliant and deals with religious issues with intelligence and irony.



He is successful, has a beautiful wife, a child and a luxurious home.



The film focuses on relations between the religious establishment and state bodies, the media, extremism, relations with Christians and intolerance towards other types of Islam.



Sheikh Hatem's mentor is a Sufi master who is killed with some others of his religious order, burned in the home where they were meeting. A bomb then explodes in a Coptic church in Cairo, where the film was shot. In order to quell the indignation of the Christian community, imams meet with their Coptic counterparts and Sheikh Hatem's last preaching was inside a church. Its screening has been banned in Kuwait and some parts have been censored in Lebanon. The trailer can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IaKxXC5sgg. (ANSAmed).




(by Patrizio Nissirio)

CISTERNINO (BRINDISI) - The need to keep Mediterranean cities and towns open to tourism while making it sustainable to preserve their rich artistic and archaeological heritage, the environment and residents' lives was at the center of the last day of the Fifth Conference 'The most beautiful towns of the Mediterranean' in the Puglia town of Cisternino, near Brindisi.

Cisternino is a place that welcomes a high number of tourists with high-quality facilities offering, among other things, gastronomic excellence that can set the example at an international level.

The municipality, in cooperation with the association ''I Borghi piu Belli d'Italia'' (Italy's most beautiful villages) and the Puglia region, hosted three days of events with administrators, professionals and operators in the historic, artistic-architectural and food sector who shared their experience to focus on development and conservation strategies.

No aspect was neglected: from historic and cultural issues to bureaucracy and the difficulty to create a network with operators in the same region or various Mediterranean countries.

During the last day of events, journalists, academics, diplomats and culture ministry officials stressed that specific strategies can be immediately implemented to improve what is offered to visitors while limiting the dramatic impact for certain areas - including downtown Rome and Venice, the island of Santorini or the most touristic cities of Morocco or Puglia - that risks to change these sites. The idea is to invest in high-quality services that attract visitors not interested in cheap souvenirs.

The conference was also an occasion for Cisternino, as well as other centers in the area, like Ceglie Messapica and Ostuni, to promote their extraordinary culture and food to an international audience. A virtuous example is represented in Cisternino by the Frantolio D'Amico, inspired by Puglia's ancient olive oil-making tradition. The high-quality oil mill has opened its doors to visitors and tourists as well as to students to make them discover this local treasure.

''The driving force is passion, but we also carry out research, in connection with the university, to improve quality'', said Piero D'Amico, whose oil mill has a century-old tradition. ''We also work on communication, on which we spend about 29% of our budget, including the site, packaging, etc. We work with other producers to carry out tests together''. The result is an olive oil of great quality with 0.01% of acidity, 75% of which is exported.
ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities are continuing to carry out a large number of arrests under a state of emergency following a failed coup in July last year. Over the past week, a total of 1,291 people were detained on ''terrorism'' charges, according to the Turkish interior ministry.

Over half of those arrested, a reported 663, are suspected of ties with the alleged network of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for the coup, a regular occurrence since July 2016.

Massive operations against suspected members of the Kurdish PKK have also been carried out with 486 arrests during an operation in which, according to Ankara, 14 militants were ''neutralized'', including three who were killed.

In addition, 133 suspected ISIS affiliates and nine alleged members of far-left groups were detained.

Over 50,000 people have been arrested on terrorism charges in Turkey since the attempted coup.


BRUSSELS - Roughly 60% of Africa's population is under 25 years of age - a driving force for potential growth that is however in part migrating to Europe with Italy as the first country of arrival. And the need to invest in youths in Africa is at the top of the agenda of the fifth EU-African Union summit scheduled on November 29-30 in the Ivory Coast, which will gather heads of State and government from the European Union and African Union.

Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni is scheduled to travel to the capital Abidjan, in the last leg of an African tour that will take him to Tunisia, Angola, Ghana and the Ivory Coast - a sign of the value Italy gives to relations with Africa. Other European leaders at the summit will include Emmanuel Macron, Mariano Rajoy and EU leaders Jean Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk, Antonio Tajani, Federica Mogherini. Angela Merkel has not yet been confirmed as a participant.

The year 2017, also from Brussels' perspective, must end as a key year in relations between the two continents: the summit vies to define priorities as far as economic cooperation is concerned, the creation of jobs, security, the management of migrants and the fight against climate change.

The European Parliament, with President Antonio Tajani, over the past few months has in particular stressed the need for a new EU-Africa partnership. Tajani organized over the past few days, ahead of the summit in Abijan, a conference with different 'playmakers' that will be in the Ivory Coast.

''Africa's problems are also Europe's problems - said Tajani -. The time has come to put Africa on top of the Union's agenda''. The proposal brought forward by Tajani is to push forward the investment fund for Africa to at least 40 billion in the next EU budget, from the current 33. The estimate in the EP is that, starting with these funds, thanks to joint efforts with the European Investment Bank, it is possible to mobilize public and private investments for some 500 billion.

''The continent's transition towards a sustainable industrial basis, an efficient agriculture, renewable sources, adequate infrastructure for water, energy, mobility, logistics or digital - concluded Tajani - need to be supported through a 'Marshall plan'. The European Union needs to contribute in its own interest''.
The declaration, also signed by institutions such as ACI, AFRAA, AASA and London Heathrow Airport, is aiming to stop the illegal wildlife trade of tusk, rhino horn, tortoise shell etc. as well as increasing passenger, customer, client, and staff awareness about the nature, scale, and consequences of the illegal wildlife trade.

The declaration was approved today by Turkish Airlines at a signing ceremony held at the Turkish Airlines Istanbul Headquarters, attended by Bilal Eksi, Turkish Airlines Deputy Chairman and CEO, and IATA Director General, Alexandre de Juniac.

With this declaration, we as Turkish Airlines are not only underlining one of the most important environmental issues of our times, trafficking of wildlife, but we are also setting an example of responsibility. Today with this signature we hope that we are contributing to the level of awareness on the issue and smoothing the path for legal enforcement procedures against the traffickers. quoted Mr. Bilal Eksi, Turkish Airlines Deputy Chairman and CEO during the signing ceremony.

IATA Director General, Alexandre de Juniac said; The illegal wildlife trade threatens to extinguish many of the worlds most iconic and special creatures. The global connectivity built by the aviation industry is being exploited by traffickers, but through coordinated action with our industry partners, and assisting the proper authorities, we can help to end this dreadful trade. We welcome Turkish Airlines commitment to join this fight, symbolized in its signature to the Buckingham Palace declaration.
Shekhar Kapur speaks about the source of inspiration for artistes, his first days as a filmmaker and how the Indian Constitution saved Bandit Queen.

Shekhar Kapur has spent over 40 years in the film industry, growing as a filmmaker and a creative individual. However, there is nothing he would like more than to go back to the naivete of his Masoom days.

When I was making Masoom, I did not know the very basics of filmmaking, but people still tell me that it was my best work. Sometimes, I truly wish to get back some of that naivete that I had as a filmmaker  because I didnt know. So, anything was possible, he said, while speaking at a masterclass at The International Film Festival of Goa.

It is this unknowing state of mind that the filmmaker spoke of when Sushant Singh Rajput, who was introducing him asked him a rather convoluted question, Do you know what it is you are doing, when you do what you do?

Shekhar promptly answered that he doesnt know. Asked about his process as a director, he said that it is a process of panic. I constantly try to bring myself to a state of panic. Because it is only in these moments of panic that you truly gain creative inspiration, he mused. So, when I am making a film, I always ask the actor what they would want to do with the scene. It also creates a chance for the actors point of view to challenge my own, and it is when I am challenging myself that I am creating, he explains.

Each profession has its own riyaz. Asked what the riyaz can be for a filmmaker, Shekhar responds that its in the storytelling. We are all constantly telling stories. For a filmmaker, however, those stories have to have conflict. Any contradiction or conflict is a story. An artiste creates harmony in that conflict. For me personally, the story of an individual also has to tell the story of society at large, he explains.

Speaking about patterns in storytelling, Shekhar says that each individual on a set tells a different story. For instance, when I was working with Pyarelalji for Mr India, there is a scene where Anil Kapoor is helping those kids wash up and brush their teeth. Its a funny scene, so I asked him to make some funny music. Instead, he composed an emotional, heart-wrenching score for that part. The reasoning was that it was a foreshadowing of the fact that Mr India loses them in the end. Thats what I look for in a music director, Shekhar said, excitedly.

Though he had to fight for years for the release of his movie Bandit Queen, the director still believes in the power of the system. Although I had to go through years of struggle on different levels for Bandit Queen to release, I still believe that a certain censorship is needed for films. And ultimately, it is the intent behind the scene that matters. Our own Constitution says that. Our Constitution saved the movie, he grins, winningly, before he is bombarded with the next volley of questions.
Smugglers somehow sensed the presence of SSB personnel nearby and they ran leaving behind the sack which had 12.5 kg of charas.

Charas that has been recovered is worth Rs 2.5 crore in international market near Indo-Nepal border. (Photo: Representational)

Bettiah: The Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) has recovered a huge quantity of charas, worth around Rs 2.5 crore in the international market, near the Indo-Nepal border in West Champaran district, an official said on Monday.

"About 12.5 kg of charas, worth Rs 2.5 crore, was seized near the Inarva border out post late last night. Although the smugglers were spotted by SSB personnel, they fled dropping the sack containing the narcotic", Deputy Commandant, 44th Battalion SSB, Ajay Kumar Rajak, said.

He said "we had received information that some narcotics were being smuggled into the Indian territory along the Don Canal. Accordingly, Assistant Commandant Rajiv Kumar was directed to conduct a search in the area. His team spotted some persons carrying a sack".

However, the smugglers somehow sensed the presence of the SSB personnel nearby and they ran away leaving the sack behind. The sack contained 12.5 kgs of charas.

The contraband has been handed over to Inarwa police.

Further investigations are on, Rajak said.
The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of celebrating the recent release of 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind, terrorist Hafiz Saeed.

Further intensifying his attack on the Opposition Congress, Modi said the grand old party did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region and has always wanted Gujarat to lag behind. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

Bhuj: Launching his political campaign in poll-bound Gujarat on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at Congress and said, "India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri. You can see how India responded in wake of both attacks. This explains difference between their (Congress) government and ours (BJP). Indian Express reported that on that side, dead bodies were taken in trucks so at least you (Cong) don't lie."

The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of celebrating the recent release of 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind, terrorist Hafiz Saeed.

"A Pakistani court released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating. I was surprised why. And this same Congress refused to believe our own Army on surgical strikes and preferred to believe the Chinese Ambassador," Modi said.

Invoking the "Iron Man of India," Modi accused the Congress of insulting Sardar Patel. "We are not here for power, we are here for 125 crore Indians. We want to take India to new heights of glory," he said.

"Congress is unhappy about demonetisation. They keep attacking me but I want to tell them... I have grown up in the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted," he said.

The Prime Minister also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Rahul had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics," the Prime Minister said.

Taking another dig at the Opposition party, which is making all efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Doklam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The Prime Minister also attacked the Congress over dynastic politics.

"On one side there is Vikas (development) and Vishwas (trust) while on the other side there is Vanshwad (dynasty). Gujarat will never forgive the Congress party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind," Modi said.

"Does any Congress leader talk about Kamraj, Acharya Kripalani, Subhas Babu, UN Dhebar (who belonged to Gujarat)...no because they only talk about one family," the PM said.

Further intensifying his attack on the Opposition Congress, Modi said the grand old party did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region.

"Officers did not want to get posted to Kutch region as the water here was black in colour. Congress did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region. What if the Narmada waters had come to Kutch 30 years earlier? It would have made such a big difference," the Prime Minister said.

Referring to the 2001 earthquake in Kutch, Modi said, "When earthquake struck Kutch region in 2001, Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent me to the region to work among its people and that taught me a lot."

"The development work in Kutch after the 2001 quake is for all to see. Who imagined that Kutch can do so well in agriculture. People from the nation are coming here to enjoy the Rann Utsav," the Prime Minister said.

Narendra Modi praised the people of Kutch for their resilience.

"When big earthquakes take place, people say see this building has fallen but in Kutch people say this school, this hospital, these buildings were made after the earthquake. All this was done on war footing by the Army of Kutch which consists of its people," Modi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address between 32 and 35 rallies in his home state Gujarat in the coming fortnight, where Assembly elections for a total of 182 seats will be held in two phase - December 9 and 14.

Later on Monday, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Jasdan town of Rajkot, Dhari in Amreli and Kamrej in Surat district. Amreli is dominated by the powerful Patel community.
The Prime Minister 'requested' the grand old party to 'not mock the poor and my poor origins'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the people of Jasdan to not let the Congress destroy the composite culture of Gujarat. (Photo: Twitter/ANI)

Rajkot: Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he took a swipe at the Congress party during a campaign rally in election-bound Gujarat on Monday.

Modi, who is leading the BJP's campaign in his home state that is going to polls on December 9, was addressing the rally in Jasdan, Rajkot, when he accused the Congress of defaming Gujarat.

Modi also said that the Congress dislikes him because of his poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation, he said.

The Prime Minister requested the grand old party to not mock the poor and my poor origins.

Further attacking the Congress, Modi said the party has the tendency of pitting one caste against the other. He asked the people of Jasdan to not let the Congress destroy the composite culture of Gujarat.

Read: Difference in response to Uri, 26/11 terror attacks tells about Cong: Modi bats for BJP

Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister had alluded to allegations that the Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, made against him during poll campaigns.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," Modi had said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Rahul had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

Modi will address between 32 and 35 rallies in his home state, Gujarat, in the coming fortnight, where Assembly elections for a total of 182 seats will be held in two phase  December 9 and 14.

Later on Monday, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Dhari in Amreli and Kamrej in Surat district. Amreli is dominated by the powerful Patel community.
Hadiya, who flew from Kochi to Delhi under tight security, is expected to tell judges if she married Shafin of her own free will.

Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya was in college when she met Shafin Jahan, 26, who had returned to Kerala from the Middle East, through an Islamist matrimonial website. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: All eyes are set on the Supreme Court's hearing in Kerala 'love jihad' case due on Monday. Hadiya, the young woman from Kerala who married a Muslim man, will speak before the Supreme Court on her family's allegation that she was kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam for the purpose of terror recruitment.

The 25-year-old flew from Kochi to New Delhi under tight security for the hearing. Hadiya is expected to tell judges if she married Shafin Jahan of her own free will.

A look into the Kerala 'love jihad' case:

- On her way to Delhi from Kochi on Saturday, Hadiya told reporters at the airport: I am Muslim. I want to go with my husband. Nobody forced me to convert

- Hadiya's husband Shafin Jahan filed a complaint stating that attempts were being made to reconvert her to Hinduism

- Parents of Hadiya, whose marriage to a Muslim man has been annulled by the Kerala High Court, allege that she is incapable of taking independent decisions because she is mentally unstable

- Hadiya had said she embraced Islam on her own and the court should ensure her adequate protection to live with her husband Shafin Jahan

- Ever since the Kerala High Court annulled Hadiya's marriage in May, she has been under virtual house arrest at home in TV Puram, Kottayam

- Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya was in college when she met Shafin Jahan, 26, who had returned to Kerala from the Middle East, through an Islamist matrimonial website. The site is affiliated to the Popular Front of India, which, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) alleges, has links to terror

- Hadiya's father contested the marriage and alleged that Shafin Jehan was trying to recruit her for terror and take her to Syria. On his petition, the marriage was cancelled by the Kerala High Court

- Shafin Jahan challenged the annulment in the Supreme Court, which said it wants to hear her version. In October, the apex court had said Hadiya's consent as an adult is "prime".

- Hadiya's father has demanded for an in-camera hearing or one that is closed to the media, alleging that a public hearing would turn into a "reality show". The judges have said they will decide only when Hadiya arrives to testify

- Earlier in November, a team of the National Commission of Women (NCW) visited Hadiya in her father's house and declared her "happy and safe". The team's visit followed activist Rahul Easwar sharing a video in which she accused her father of physically abusing her

- NIA recently questioned Hadiya's husband Shafin Jahan for six hours. The country's top anti-terror agency is inquiring into 89 Hindu-Muslim marriages in Kerala.
Tej Pratap Yadav's enraged comment came with the scale-down in Lalu's Z-Plus security and withdrawal of National Security Guards.

This is not the first threat to a political leader by Tej Pratap, who earlier had threatened the Bihar deputy CM after being invited to his son's wedding. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: Former Bihar cabinet minister and the older son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tej Pratap has said that he will get Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'skinned' if any harm is done to his father Lalu Prasad.

Tej Pratap's remark comes in the wake of the Centre's decision to scale-down the Z-Plus security of Lalu Prasad Yadav and withdrawing of National Security Guards (NSG) from the Bihar leader's protection.

"This is a conspiracy to get him (Lalu) murdered, but we will give a befitting reply to them (the Centre). We will get Narendra Modi skinned (Hum Narendra Modi ki khaal udedhva denge); go and tell him," Tej Pratap said.

When media persons sought clarification over his derogatory remarks for the Prime Minister, Tej Pratap reacted and said, "If something happens to my father then will you (media) take responsibility? Who will take responsibility if he is murdered? Isn't my father's life precious?"

Also read: Public will teach Tej Pratap lesson for threatening PM: Bihar deputy CM

The Centre reportedly thinned down the security of the RJD leader after the home ministry reviewed the security of the VIPs.

However, more than 30 personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will still provide a shield to the RJD supremo.

This is not the first threat to a political leader by Tej Pratap.

Last week, after being invited to the wedding of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi's son, Tej Pratap said if he were to grace the occasion, it would be to assault Sushil Modi, who is a senior BJP leader, and "expose him".

Sushil Modi responded by relocating the wedding for "security reasons." Apparently satisfied with his impact, Tej Pratap generously said the BJP leader should proceed with his plans "without fear".

On Sunday, Lalu Prasad Yadav was removed from the group of VVIPS who are given Z plus security, the maximum protection offered to politicians.

The Z-plus cover is viewed often as a status symbol.

Tej Pratap and his brother Tejashwi Yadav were given top positions in the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar till July because their father's party RJD had the maximum seats in the Bihar legislature.

But after the Yadavs were named in a corruption case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), they were dumped by Nitish Kumar as allies, along with the Congress.

Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife and former chief minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, last week warned that there is no paucity of people in Bihar who are willing to assault the Prime Minister - her assertion was in response to a senior BJP leader demanding that criticism of Modi should be met with "hands being chopped off".
The girl, raped on the pretext of marriage, was expelled because the school said she would tarnish their reputation.

The 15-year-old victim, a class 11 student, had allegedly been raped by an Army man on the pretext of marriage. (Photo: ANI)

Latur (Maharashtra): A rape victim on Monday was expelled from a school in Maharashtra's Latur district in the name of maintaining dignity of the institution.

The 15-year-old victim, a class 11 student, had allegedly been raped by an Army man on the pretext of marriage.

The victim, on Monday, said, "My school has suspended my admission saying their reputation can be tarnished if I continue to study here."

Meanwhile, the victim's uncle alleged that when they went to a police station to lodge an FIR, the police demanded Rs 50, 000 bribe to lodge their complaint.

Later, the victim approached Latur's Superintendent of Police (SP) Shivaji Rathor and hence the FIR was registered on Sunday.

A medical examination of the victim has been conducted and a case under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in this regard.
Chittor was the scene of the battle that took place between Alauddin Khilji and Rajput king Ratan Singh.

Members of Film and Television Industry hold placards as they shout slogans during a protest to demand the release Padmavati in Mumbai. (Photo: PTI)

Jaipur: Over 300 people, including 20 women, were detained and later released in Rajasthans Chittorgarh on Sunday during a protest against Bollywood film Padmavati, which is mired in a major controversy.

The locals held a protest rally from Padanpole to the collectors office but the police prevented them and 304 persons courted arrest.

These included 20 women, SHO, Chittorgarh police station, Om Prakash said. He said the action was taken under Section 129 of CrPC (Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force) and those detained were taken to the Indira Gandhi stadium and released.

The protest was peaceful and elaborate security arrangements were in place for maintaining the law and order, he added. Chittor was the scene of the battle that took place between Alauddin Khilji and Rajput king Ratan Singh.

Amid rumours of a romantic dream sequence between Rajput queen Padmavati and Khiljis characters in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed film, many Rajput groups have been up in arms against the movie, alleging that it distorts history. Historians, however, are divided on whether Rani Padmavati existed.
The forces currently deployed in the strife-torn parts of West Bengal are to be shifted to poll-bound Gujarat.

The Calcutta HC had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling hills, a scene of unrest over statehood demand. (Photo: File/AP)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Centre to withdraw four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll-bound Gujarat.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to the Centre's plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state.

The apex court had earlier on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for deployment along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states and to the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The Calcutta High Court had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till October 27 after the state government approached it opposing the Centre's decision.
The court had earlier issued a notice and had sought the Centres response.

New Delhi: Within a day of Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad cautioning the courts not to encroach into policy domain, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a PIL filed by Ashwini Kumar, a former law minister, for a direction to ratify UN Convention Against Torture.

A bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud told Mr Kumar it respects the governments political compulsions and will not compel the Centre to ratify the UN Convent-ion against Torture or command it to frame a standalone anti-torture legislation. The court had earlier issued a notice and had sought the Centres response.

The CJI asked Mr Kumar, How can we compel the government to make a law? Can we ask the government to ratify a treaty by way of a mandamus? The government has to take a political decision on whether it should ratify the treaty or not.

Mr Kumar said the government has given a commitment to the international community to address torture, especially custodial torture. The government has made a commitment to the international community.

Justice Chandrachud said, It is conscious of its obligations. We would be crossing judicial limits by issuing a mandamus to the government. We have to respect the political compulsions of the government.

Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal submitted that the government is considering an anti-torture law. The Law Commission of India has already recommended the Centre to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Torture and frame a standalone anti-torture law, directly making the State responsible for any injury inflicted by its agents on citizens.

The former law minister argued that the government was in breach of its constitutional obligations under Article 21 and also in breach of its international treaty obligations under Articles 51 and 253 of the Constitution and said that the NHRC was helpless since it cannot enforce its directions nor can it accurately record all the cases of torture in custody.
The banned JuD head, who carries a $10-million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free on Friday.

Last week, the US had also demanded immediate re-arrest and prosecution of Hafiz Saeed. (Photo: File | AP)

New Delhi: After the US, France has also reportedly conveyed its anguish to Pakistan over the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who heads the United Nations-proscribed outfit of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). French diplomatic sources were cited on Monday by news agencies as saying that France has conveyed its deep concern to Pakistan over the release of Saeed, adding that France and India will continue their relentless efforts to combat terrorism. Incidentally, French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit New Delhi early next year.

According to reports last week, the US had also demanded immediate re-arrest and prosecution of Saeed, warning Islamabad that there would be repercussions for bilateral ties if it fails to take decisive action against the notorious terrorist.

Expressing outrage that a UN-proscribed terrorist is being allowed to walk free in Pakistan, India had last Thursday described the move by a Pakistani court to release Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed as an attempt by the Paklistani system to mainstream proscribed terrorists, adding that Pakistan has not changed its policy of shielding terrorists.

In its statement, the ministry of external affairs had said, His release confirms once again the lack of seriousness on the part of Pakistani government in bringing to justice perpetrators of heinous acts of terrorism, including by individuals and entities designated by the United Nations. It also appears to be an attempt by the Pakistani system to mainstream proscribed terrorists.

The banned JuD head, who carries a $10-million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free on Friday.
This was announced by Madhya Pradesh education minister Vijay Shah here on Monday.

Earlier, the new practice of answering roll call by students with Jai Hind was introduced in Satna district in MP.

Bhopal: Students of government as well as private schools in Madhya Pradesh will now be required to answer roll calls in their classes with chant of Jai Hind.

This was announced by Madhya Pradesh education minister Vijay Shah here on Monday.

Earlier, the new practice of answering roll call by students with Jai Hind was introduced in Satna district in MP.

The state government has now decided to extend the system to all the government schools in MP.

Even the private schools will also be asked to introduce the practice for their students, the minister said.

More than one lakh students studying in the government-run schools in the state will now answer the roll calls with Jai Hind, official sources said. From January one this year, the MP school education department has made singing of national anthem and hoisting of national flag mandatory for all the schools in the state.
Victim would record her statement in front of magistrate after her medical examination.

The girl, a class 6 student, resident of Tailiyo ka Mohalla in Khanpur town, was allegedly abducted on Sunday by Vijay Singh (22) while she was playing outside her home. (Photo: Representational)

Kota: A 12-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly abducted and raped by her neighbour on the pretext of taking her to a relatives birthday party in Jhalawar district, police said on Monday.

The girl, a class 6 student, resident of Tailiyo ka Mohalla in Khanpur town, was allegedly abducted on Sunday by Vijay Singh (22) while she was playing outside her home, Sub Inspector (SI) at Khanpur police station Surendra Singh said. The accused fled from the town after committing the crime, he said.

The minor girl was alone at home as her parents are daily wage labourers and were on work when the accused took her on his motorcycle on the pretext of taking her to a birthday party, the official said. The victim narrated the plight to her parents following which they approached the police and lodged a case against the accused, he said.

Meanwhile, the police van of the Khanpur police station, taking the victim and her parents overturned on Monday on the way to a community health centre (CHC), he said. However, none of the six in the van sustained injuries besides the father of the victim, who sustained minor hand injuries, the official said.

The girl has now been sent to district headquarter Jhalawar for medical examination, he added.

The accused has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the SI said. The victims statements would be recorded before the magistrate after the medical examination, he said, adding the accused has been absconding and efforts were underway to nab him.
An Australian woman owes her life to these alert officers who quite literally rescued her from being crushed.

The dramatic footage shows the exact moment she was rescued. (Photo: Youtube/CGTN)

An Australian woman owes her life to these alert officers who quite literally rescued her from being crushed.

The unidentified woman in her drunken state was attempting to cross the train tracks at a suburban station in Melbourne late at night and did not see the oncoming train.

The dramatic footage shows the exact moment she was rescued.

The three Protective Services Officers (PSOs) rushed to the help, and pulled her up just seconds before the train arrived.

Two of the officers have been identified as officer Steve Goldman and officer Ben Mitchell, all three received official commendations for their bravery.

A senior officer of Victoria Police, Deputy Commissioner of Regional Operations Andrew Crisp called the officers' quick-thinking "extremely brave" and termed the woman's choice to cross the track "irresponsible."
According to her, the remaining ones would be met in the next few months.

Kolkata: Giving a clarion call for investments in West Ben-gal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday described that the state has become a favourite destination for industrialists. She also claimed the environment to be business-friendly. Blaming the former Left Front government, Ms Banerjee, however, noted that it would take some time for some legacy issues to disappear.

Bengal is progressing like anything. It is emerging as an industrial destination now. We do not allow any strike or lockout... In Bengal we have our own infrastructural facilities. In terms of ease of doing business we were at number 30 earlier, Ms Banerjee said in her address to Horasis Asia conference in New Town.

She elaborated, Three years ago we came to down to 15. Now we are third in India. In a bid to draw investments Ms Banerjee told the industrialists, If you want to invest here, there is a tremendous potential. In the engineering industry we were number one earlier. Enough scope is there in the jute industry, textile industry, manufacturing industry, service oriented industry, IT industry, mining industry, agriculture industry and tourism industry.

She added, Wherever you think it is fit for you, you can invest. Come and invest. Join like our family members. Please do not forget Bengal. This is the future. Ms Banerjee informed that the state has met 336 of the 372 parameters of ease of doing business.

According to her, the remaining ones would be met in the next few months.
Every towing vehicle will now have an officer above the rank of assistant sub-inspector who will have e-challan equipment and walky-talky.

The new rule is issued because woman was feeding her baby in the car while her car was being towed in Malad. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: Before towing away a vehicle from no-parking area, police should make an announcement on megaphone and ask if its owner is around, as per the new set of rules issued by the Mumbai traffic police.

Further, a vehicle should not be towed away even from no-parking area if someone is sitting inside, the new rules say categorically.

Presently, a vehicle parked in no-parking area is towed away without inquiring if the owner is nearby, and the owner has to visit the concerned police station to get it released by paying fine plus towing charges.

With the new rule, the vehicle owner, if he or she is nearby, can rush to the vehicle, pay the fine on the spot and drive away. He or she won't have to pay towing charges.

Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Amitesh Kumar issued these new guidelines to traffic cops.

This new rule is issued by the authorities due to a controversial incident that happened in suburban Malad where a car was towed away when a woman and her baby were sitting inside.

Every towing vehicle will now have an officer above the rank of assistant sub-inspector (ASI).

Every official on the towing vehicle will have e-challan equipment and walky-talky.
Modi in the 38th edition of his 'Mann ki Baat' address, shared the boy's story with the country.

Tushar, an eight-year-old 'Divyang' boy from Madhya Pradesh's Kumhari village, made headlines for his single-handed efforts in making his village open defecation-free (ODF). (Photo: ANI)

Balaghat: Tushar, an eight-year-old 'Divyang' boy of Madhya Pradesh's Kumhari village, made headlines on Sunday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 'Mann ki Baat' narrated an account of the lad's single-handed efforts in making his village open defecation-free (ODF).

The honour of being mentioned by the Prime Minster has brought joy to the whole village, and especially the parents of the boy.

"It's a matter of pride for us that my son, who is mute and deaf, brought laurels to our village," Tushar's mother, Anju Urade said.

Since Tushar is a differently-abled boy, his mother also appealed to Prime Minister Modi to help in his treatment.

"We can't afford his treatment. We appeal to Modiji if he can help us in getting him operated in India or outside, if his condition can be treated," she said.

Tushar's mother wants him to reach greater heights in life, and requested the government to also provide money to aid his education.

Santosh Urade, the proud father of the child, said that Tushar's achievement would be an inspiration to all.

Earlier on Sunday, the Prime Minister in the 38th edition of his 'Mann ki Baat' address, shared the boy's story with the country.

"You will be amazed to know that Tushar, an eight year old differently-abled, 'Divyang' boy from Madhya Pradesh, had taken a firm resolve to make his village Open defecation free. Such a young child, but his grit and determination were larger and mightier. He cannot speak but he made a whistle his weapon," Prime Minister Modi said.

He told that Tushar woke up every morning at 5 am, and awoke everyone else by visiting households of his village and using gesticulation to convey the message to others of not defecating in the open.

"He visited 30-40 households each day, and gradually Kumahari village became open defecation free," PM Modi continued.

"Our Divyang brothers and sisters are firm in their resolve; they are competent, capable, courageous and determined. Today, they are doing well in every field," the Prime Minster added.
Homosexuality is not outlawed in Egypt, but gays have previously been charged with debauchery in the deeply conservative Muslim society.

The stepped-up measures follow an outdoor concert in Cairo on September 22 by Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila, when the flag representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community was raised.(Photo: AP/Representational)

Cairo: An Egyptian court Monday sentenced 14 men convicted of being homosexuals to three years in jail each for "abnormal" sexual relations, a defence lawyer said.

Ishaq Wadie said the men were released on bail of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (USD 283, 230 euros) each until an appeals trial.

The trial of three other suspects was delayed over procedural reasons, the lawyer said.

Homosexuality is not expressly outlawed in Egypt, but gays have previously been charged with debauchery in the deeply conservative Muslim society.

In recent months, authorities have cracked down on people who practice so-called "abnormal" sexual relations, which in Egypt means homosexuality, or for inciting debauchery.

The stepped-up measures follow an outdoor concert in Cairo on September 22 by Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila, when the flag representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community was raised.

Thirty-one people have been arrested since the show, 10 directly linked with the event, according to judicial and security officials.

London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International said the number was more than 70 people, some of whom had been subjected to anal examinations.

On November 9, Amnesty condemned a draft bill in the Egyptian parliament that would criminalise homosexuality.

The bill lays jail terms of between one and three years for first time offenders, whether the act takes place in public or a private place. Repeat offenders would receive five years.

"This deeply discriminatory bill would be a huge setback for human rights and another nail in the coffin for sexual rights in Egypt," said Najia Bounaim, North Africa campaigns director at Amnesty.
Pontiff meets Army Chief who faces charges of grave atrocities against Rohingyas.

Pope Francis is welcomed upon his arrival at the airport in Yangon. (Photo: AP)

Yangon: Pope Francis met Myanmars powerful Army Chief on Monday at the start of a highly sensitive trip to the majority-Buddhist country, which is under fire internationally for a brutal army crackdown that sparked an exodus of Rohingya Muslims.

The 80-year-old Pope, the first to travel to Myanmar, received senior General Min Aung Hlaing at the archbishops residence in Yangon, where the pontiff will stay during his visit.

The UN and US accuse the Army which the general controls of ethnic cleansing in a campaign that has driven more than 620,000 Rohingya from Myanmars northern Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh since August.

The military crackdown on the reviled Rohingya looms large over the popes four-day trip. He has called the Rohingya his brothers and sisters in repeated entreaties to ease their plight.

During a 15-minute meeting the Pontiff and the Army Chief spoke of the great responsibility of the countrys authorities in this moment of transition, the Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said.

Myanmar was ruled by a junta for five decades until a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi came to power last year.

Earlier on Monday Pope was welcomed at Yangons airport by children from different minority groups in bright bejewelled clothes, who gave him flowers and received a papal embrace in return.

Nuns in white habits were among devotees waving flags as his motorcade swept past the golden Shwedagon Pagoda.

I saw the Pope... I was so pleased, I cried! Christina Aye Aye Sein, 48, told AFP after the popes convoy received a warm but modest welcome.

His face looked very lovely and sweet... He is coming here for peace.

Myanmars estimated 700,000 Catholics make up just over one percent of the countrys 51 million people.
India and Russia signed a key agreement, asserting that there are no good or bad terrorists and the menace should be fought jointly.

The agreement between the two countries was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev after they held wide-ranging talks. (Photo: PTI)

Moscow: India and Russia Monday agreed to help each other in combating terrorism as the two strategic partners signed a key agreement, asserting that there are no good or bad terrorists and the menace should be fought jointly.

The agreement between the two countries for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev after they held wide-ranging talks.

The ministers underlined that cooperation in the field of security is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship further strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and radicalism, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said.

They agreed that terrorism must be fought in unification and there were no good or bad terrorists, it said.

"The new agreement between India's MHA and Russia's interior ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security," Singh tweeted after signing the pact.

The Indian embassy statement said the two leaders agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhance exchange of information, cooperate in building a data base and in training of police and investigative agencies.

Indian and Russian representatives also signed the joint action plan for countering the threat posed by narcotics and the agreement will provide legal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.

The pact was signed by Indian ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran and deputy minister for internal affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Zubov in presence of Singh and Kolokoltsev.

The agreement on internal security is an updated and more comprehensive agreement on cooperation on security between the MHA and the Russian ministry of interior.

This pact provides a comprehensive approach for help in security related issues, including information technology crimes, counterfeiting currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in human beings, economic crimes, crimes related to intellectual property, cultural property amongst others, the statement said.

During the meeting, the ministers emphasised the strength of the relationship between India and Russia that has been consolidated in the past 70 years in all areas.

Before leaving for Russia, Singh said India and Russia share a special relationship which has withstood the test of time over the decades.

Singh was scheduled to visit Russia on September 18, 2016, but he had cancelled it following a terror attack on that day at the Brigade headquarters in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 19 Army soldiers were killed.
Pope Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue following last week's tentative agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The Pope hopes to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many Rohingyas forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh. (Photo: AFP)

Rome: Pope Francis set off on his 21st and possibly most delicate overseas trip yet, a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis.

The 80-year-old pontiff's plane left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar's main city, shortly after 2100 GMT.

He will touch down around 0700 GMT Monday hoping to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar, forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.

"I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope," Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter's Square, shortly before packing his bags for the diplomatically fraught trip.

Some 620,000 Rohingya, more than half their total number, have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.

Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week's tentative agreement between the two countries to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
The IMCTC is a coalition of 41 Muslims countries and currently led by former Pakistan Army Chief General.

Since IMCTC only includes Sunni Muslim countries and so far excluded Iran, Iraq and Syria, it was feared that it could be considered as anti-Shiite grouping. (Photo: AFP)

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa Monday left for Riyadh to attend a counter-terror conference hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar are also accompanying the prime minister and the Chief of Army Staff on a day-long tour, Radio Pakistan reported.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opened the maiden meeting of defense ministers of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition in Riyadh Sunday.

Read: Saudi Arabia begins first Islamic counter-terrorism summit

The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) is a coalition of 41 Muslims countries and currently led by former Pakistan Army Chief General (retd) Raheel Shareef.

The Saudi Crown Prince had announced about the formation of IMCTC in 2015 but it took more than two years to take it a shape.

Since IMCTC only includes Sunni Muslim countries and so far excluded Iran, Iraq and Syria, it was feared that it could be considered as anti-Shiite grouping.

Shareef, in his address to IMCTC defence ministers Sunday, had said that it was a counter-terrorism alliance and not against any country or any sect.

The delegation, led by the prime minister, is expected to hold meetings with the Crown Prince and other officials.

During the meetings, bilateral relations, regional and international situation would be reviewed, it said.
by Mathias Hariyadi

At least five thousand passengers and tourists are looking for alternative ways to leave the island. Ash and debris have reached 4,000 metres. Several villages are in the dark. When Mount Agung erupted in 1963 and 1964, thousands died.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  Denpasar International Airport has announced the cancellation of at least 445 flights  including 196 international flights  because of the dense cloud and smoke over the area as the Mount Agung continues to spew dangerous volcanic ash and steam ahead of an expected major eruption.

The volcano is the highest mountain and most active volcano of the island of Bali, Indonesias main tourist destination. Some five thousand passengers are grounded and seeking alternative ways to get off the island.

Indonesia has a number of airports capable of handling international flights: Juanda in Surabaya (East Java), Lombok Praya (Lombok Island), Sultan Hasanuddin of Makassar (South Sulawesi), Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan in Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Adi Soemarmo in Surakarta, Ahmad Yani at Semarang, Adopted in Yogyakarta (all three in Central Java).

The decision to close Denpasars Ngurah Rai International Airport was taken early this morning.

The volcano began erupting last Friday, billowing ash and rock debris up to 4,000 metres above the mountain summit, enveloping the area in ash clouds.

The falling ash has darkened the area around the airport and created problems for three villages, Besakih, Pempatan and Rendang. Winds have also pushed the ash to the southeast, affecting the villages of Amlapura, Amed, and Padangbai.

Mount Agung began erupting in September, threatening Balis tourism industry. Locals were forced to flee the most dangerous areas, seeking safety in emergency shelters.

Thousands of people and their pets spent time in shelters and then returned until they were forced to evacuate again on Friday.

On the slopes of Mount Agung lies the ancient Hindu temple of Besakih, which is likely to have suffered damages from the falling ash.

The latest major series of eruption occurred in 1963 and 1964, killing thousands.
by Loula Lahham

The dead include 27 children. There are 128 wounded. The mosque attack is the first of its kind and the deadliest in the history of modern Egypt. More attacks are feared. It is impossible to protect all mosques. The goal is to weaken the government ahead of next years presidential elections. Survivors tell their stories. Gunmen shot at people fleeing.

Cairo (AsiaNews)  The last group of victims was buried on Sunday. Local authorities issued 309 death certificates for the families of the victims, a first in the history of Egypt. The death toll includes 27 children, whilst the number of wounded reached 128, distributed in six hospitals in northern Egypt and Cairo.

Fridays carnage in the Sinai Peninsula is the first of its kind since Islamist President Mohamad Morsi was removed from office in July 2013. It could happen again, given the large number of mosques filled with millions of believers for Friday prayers.

"It is impossible to avoid this kind of attack because it is almost impossible for police forces to secure the mosques, said Hani Al-Aassar, a national security specialist at the Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies. The latter have become easy targets for terrorists. The aim of this type of operation is to turn the war on terror into chaos and allow all elements of society to enter the battle so that it can become a civil war. Thus, the state will no longer be able to fight terrorism and any collaboration by citizens with the security forces will be punished by the Islamic State."

For Ahmad Zaghloul, a researcher specialising in Islamist groups, deadly attacks like the one against the Sinai mosque have already taken place in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Africa by the terrorist group Boko Haram. "I think that the carnage of the Al-Radwa mosque is the work of the Wilayah Sina (Sinai Province), the Egyptian branch of the so-called Islamic State group, because Al-Qaeda has always opted against attacking mosques."

Finally, researcher Samir Ramzi believes that terrorists will expand the range of possible targets to include Sunni civilians. "They will possibly target gatherings of people, regardless of religion, especially with the approach of the presidential elections in 2018. They will be smart to pick unusual targets, other than churches and security points to weaken the state."

As experts express their views, witnesses, wounded but able to speak about what exactly happened, are starting to tell their stories.

"As soon as I went up to the pulpit to say the sermon I had prepared for the Friday prayer, the grenades exploded, said Abdel-Fattah Rezeik, imam of the mosque that was attacked. Of course, that stopped me. There was chaos everywhere. I fell to the ground because the body of worshipper fell on me. The terrorists thought I was dead. Those who managed to get out of one of the three doors of the mosque were gunned down by automatic weapons."

The militarys reply was quick. The Interior Ministry declared the highest level of alert in all governorates and air strikes were carried out in northern and central Sinai Peninsula, killing 45 terrorists.

To recapitulate, last Friday, during the usual prayers, masked terrorists attacked the Al-Rawda mosque in Bir Al-Abd, a village west of Al-Arish, in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, with explosives and automatic weapons, killing 309, including 27 children, and wounding 128 others. The victims included soldiers and Sufis.

No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the carnage, but observers believe that it is probably the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant  Sinai Province (Arabic: ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah fi 'l-Iraq wa-sh-Sham  Wilayah Sina)

Since Islamist President Mohamad Morsi was ousted in 2013, Egypt has been the scene of attacks by Islamist groups against the security forces in several parts of the country, especially in northern Sinai, where the Islamic State group is particularly active.

Behind the scenes of the attack and revelations

 The terrorists shouted Allahu akbar (God is [the] greatest), as children screamed in fear.

 No Egyptian broadcaster cited messages of condolence sent to the authorities by Pope Francis, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches of Egypt. For an Egyptian Catholic journalist, this is a significant fact.

 Three hundred and nine deaths are the second highest death toll in a terrorist act, worldwide as well, after the events of September 11 in the United States.

 This is the highest death toll in the history of modern Egypt. The explosion of the Russian airplane over the Sinai killed 224. The Assiut attack in 1981 left 118 people dead, the Sharm Al-Sheikh explosions of 2005 killed 88, whilst the Luxor attack in 1997 saw 62 tourists killed.

 All the witnesses described the attackers in the same way: very young, wearing military trousers and black t-shirts, hooded, long hair and bushy beards. Two of them carried black flags with There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God written on them.

 Other witnesses said that the attackers surrounded the mosque with 4x4 vehicles and threw bombs inside the building. After they exploded, the gunmen shot at the panicked worshippers trying to flee and set fire to their cars to block the streets leading to the mosque.

 The attacked mosque belongs to the Sufi community (a moderate spiritual Islamic movement to which approximately 60 per cent of the Egyptian population belongs, but are considered heretical by the Islamic State). In 2016, the latter beheaded one of the greatest Sufi spiritual leaders  he was 98 years old.

 According to the Islamic State security chief, Sufis are dangerous because of their rituals and close collaboration with the Egyptian security forces.

 During the funeral of most of the victims on Saturday, during the midday prayer, bells tolled in every Egyptian church.

 The border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which was set to reopen on Saturday, will remain closed until further notice, a Palestinian official said on Friday.

 Clean-up and repairs at the mosque are currently underway. Prominent Egyptians plan to pray at the mosque next Friday as a sign of solidarity.

 A mother lost her husband and three children in this massacre.

They said

Today, everyone accuses others of being apostate. We shall not finish with such accusations.

Khaled Montasser, doctor and secular thinker

We condemn this crime and ask for heavenly mercy on behalf of our dead brothers and sisters. Together, Christians and Muslims, we shall fight terrorism.

Father Benyamin, pastor in Anba Rweiss

The Coptic Orthodox Church and her spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, and our Holy Synod, offer their sincerest condolences to our Muslim brothers and sisters. We stand wholeheartedly with them because we went through the same tragedies.

Father Boulos Halim, spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church

We have celebrated the prayer of the deceased in all of Egypts mosques and we feel united in the fight against terrorism.

Sheikh Hani Saad, imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque

The Armed Forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and bring security and stability with force very soon. The Air Force destroyed several vehicles used in the attack and targeted several terrorist homes with weapons and ammunition.

Tamer Al-Rifai, military spokesman
by Vladimir Rozanskij

A decision by the parliament of Kiev. 30% of families celebrate Christmas as in the West. For the Orthodox Church under Moscow this is a move to marginalize the Church of the Russian "invaders". Fears the celebration will be swamped by consumerism. Gratitude among mixed Catholic and Orthodox families. The fruit of the "two lungs" of Christianity.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Ukrainian Parliament, the Rada, has included a new holiday in the National Labor Law: December 25, Christian Christmas according to Western tradition, which is added to the orthodox festival of January 7, for the Julian calendar. In exchange, May 2, the day after Labour Day, has been removed.

Parliament's decision has triggered many reactions, very critical from the orthodox world. Metropolitan Agafangel (Pahkovskij), head of a secessionist branch of Ukrainian orthodoxy, opposes the move saying he has "lost hope that Ukraine could one day become an Orthodox country." According to the prelate, this will unleash the propaganda of Western Christmas to make it become the main national religious festival, with the complicity of the orthodox Patriarchate of Kiev, who will demand that the Gregorian calendar bee accepted in keeping with their "masters in Istanbul" , that is, the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

According to representatives of the leading Ukrainian orthodox community, who are obedient to the Moscow Patriarchate, the Rada's decision does not correspond to the real orientation of the population. In this sense, the head of information of the pro-Russian Church, Archbishop Kliment of Irpensk expressed himself. Recalling that the January 7 Christmas is also traditionally observed by Russians, Georgians, Serbs, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and even the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, Kliment emphasized that "Christ was born for us once, not twice ... with this decision Rada has shown that it does not take the opinion of the Ukrainians into account. According to all polls, the overwhelming majority of people celebrate January 7, or at least it was so until the election of these new deputies, and so it will be after them. The Bishop spokesman explained the data that 80% of Ukrainians believe Christmas and Easter are the most significant celebrations in the calendar year, and the same percentage of citizens "does not trust these MPs; there is the impression that this is an attempt to transform Christmas from a religious event into a farce, to weaken people's trust in the Orthodox Church and thereby regain consensus.

Indeed, for months harsh words have been exchanged between the orthodox obedient to Moscow, which represents half of all the country's orthodox, and the protagonists of Ukrainian politics, starting with President Petro Poroshenko, accused of harassing the Church of the Russian invaders. The controversy widened to relations with other confessions, especially the patriarchate of Kiev and the Greek-Catholics, accused of illegally throwing pro-Russian priests out of churches and expropriating them. The MPs justified their decision by recalling that, according to official data, about 30% of religious communities registered in the country celebrate Christmas on December 25, and they must be granted this right. For example, in the western region of Sub Carpathian Rus, December 25th has been a holiday for several years.

Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, head of the Roman Catholic episcopate in Ukraine, commented on the Rada decision expressing gratitude for a move which, in his view, was highly anticipated by believers of Latin tradition. "We reflected a great deal before submitting this request," said Msgr. Mokrzycki - "we discussed this at all levels. Christmas proclamation on December 25 is not just a gift to Latin Catholics: Protestants, many Greek-Catholics, and many Orthodox people join us in this celebration." Catholics of Latin and Byzantine rites have always celebrated Christmas twice, without creating any scandal, and "this is why we rejoice today, because Christmas can really bring together all the families, especially the many families of mixed traditions; so far, many Latin Catholics were forced to go to work on Christmas Day, and many parishes were forced to move the celebrations to the evening. Now we can experience a real holiday feeling throughout our homeland, throughout Ukraine, "concluded the bishop.

Even in Russia December 25, despite being a working day has become increasingly important in recent decades, if not for commercial reasons. The "Christmas" of December 25 is associated with New Year's Eve and the figure of Santa Claus (the "Grandfather of the Russian Fables"), while Christmas Day is celebrated on of January 7 followed by the weeks of "Carnival celebrations" complete with costumes and masks. Among the Eastern Slavs, in general, the contamination of Eastern and Western Christmas traditions expresses the "bivalent" nature of Christianitys "two lungs", Eastern and Western, and the traditions of these lands.
by John Ai

Online videos showing protests, criticisms of the authorities, and complaints, have been censored. Parents have complained of sexual abuse involving their children. Naked doctors are said to have examined naked children. The military and Meng Jianzhu, a former secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China, are said to be involved. The government plans a nationwide inspection of all nursery schools.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Public outrage continues over a case of child abuse, where children may have been drugged and made to stand naked at a nursery in Beijing run by educational services provider RYB Education. Many want the truth and accuse the authorities and the military of being implicated.

Police arrested a 22-year-old RYB teacher on Saturday and the head of the RYB nursery school was fired. Official media have reported that many people are apologising on the web for spreading unverified claims, yet comments and videos on the matter have been censored.

Online reports indicate that Meng Jianzhu, a former secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China, went to Hainan to inspect a RYB nursery. Meng Liang, a shareholder in RYB Education, is suspected by many of having ties to Meng Jianzhu.

Official media have reported that a Beijing woman and a Shenzhen man spread rumours about the involvement of government officials. The police found them and forced them to apologise. But the articles did not mention the name of Meng Jianzhu.

Members of the military are also suspected of involvement in the scandal. The husband of the nursery director once served in the Tiger Regiment.

The nursery stands on land that belongs to the military and members of the military have been accused of molesting children.

The Tiger Regiment has denied the allegations, noting that when someone leaves the military he no longer has any connection with it.

Official media have reported that the arrest of a woman named Liu who published pictures of soldiers molesting children.

Government authorities and nursery administrators have rejected requests by the parents to see videos from the nurserys own CCTV videos.

A woman has said that the children were stripped for "medical visits" by naked "doctors". Parents have also said that their children were given injections and pills. The videos parents posted online accusing the nursery were all censored.

Official media have focused on child abuse, but have refrained from mentioning claims of sexual abuse.

RYB Education Inc. is the first Chinese educational services provider to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. After the scandal became public, the value of its shares plunged.

The company plans to spend US $ 50 million to buy back shares to stabilise their value. Some lawyers have offered their services to the childrens families to sue the company in New York.

In October 2016, four teachers employed at the RYB nursery school in Siping were convicted on charges of abuse. In early November, another child abuse scandal broke out at a Shanghai nursery.

The authorities have announced a nationwide inspection of pre-school facilities to prevent any abuse.
Yangon (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis is in Myanmar. The papal plane landed in Yangon, the first stop of his trip, at 13.22 local time.

Thus begins his 21st apostolic journey that will then take him to Bangladesh. The Pope was welcomed aboard the plane by the Apostolic Nuncio Msgr. Paul Tschang In-Nam and the head of the protocol.

The Pope was officially at Yangon welcomed by a Minister of the President of the Republic Htin Kyaw. Bishops from Myanmar and a hundred children and ethnic groups in a traditional dress were also present. The welcome ceremony was a Guard of Honor, without any speeches. The Pope then headed to the Archbishopric of Yangon where he will reside during his stay in Myanmar. After the celebration of Mass in private, dinner and a period of rest is scheduled.
A ship has sailed to the port of Saleef, in an area controlled by Houthi Shiite rebels. At the United Nations cargo there was a commercial vessel containing 5,500 tonnes of wheat flour. WFP: loosening the blockade "positive signal". Unicef: 11 million children in "desperate need".

Sana'a (AsiaNews / Agencies) - During these hours, a United Nations ship loaded with food and first aid supplies is sailing into a Yemen port, in an area controlled by Houthi Shiite rebels. For the first time since the Saudi blockade at the beginning of the month and following numerous appeals, the top international body has been able to complete aid delivery to a war-torn population.

On November 25, a plane containing medicines was able to land at Sana'a International Airport, in the Yemen capital. Inside, there were 1.9 million doses of vaccines; however, for UNICEF experts it is only a small fraction of what is needed.

Yesterday, however, an UN cargo containing thousands of tons of food arrived at the port of Saleef. According to Stephen Anderson, Yemeni Director of the World Food Program (WFP), it carries enough food for 1.8 million people in the northern areas of the country, controlled by the Houthi.

Because of the Saudi blockade, the ship has been moored for more than two weeks off the coast while waiting for permission to enter. Th UN cargo was carried by a commercial vessel containing 5,500 tons of grain flour, which was moored at the port of Hudaydah, south of Saleef, also controlled by the Houthi.

"This is a positive signal," says Anderson, "because humanitarian aid alone will fail to respond to the overall needs of the North Yemen population."

Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody civil war opposing the countrys Sunni elites led by former President Hadi, backed by Riyadh, and Shia Houthi rebels, who are close to Iran.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led Arab coalition began attacking the rebels, sparking criticism from the United Nations over heavy casualties, including many children. So far, some 10,000 people, including more than 3,700 civilians, have been killed, and at least 2.5 million have been displaced. In recent days, the apostolic vicar also confirmed to AsiaNews the gravity of the "disaster".

The war has particularly affected children. According to UNICEF experts 11 million are in the "desperate need" of humanitarian aid. Geert Cappelaere, regional director of the UN childrens organization, points out that "today it is easy to say that Yemen is one of the worst places on Earth to be a child." "Today's - he concludes - estimates say that every 10 minutes a child dies in Yemen from an easily curable illnesses."
Amazons Australian warehouse is finally open: so what?





So, Amazon opened its first fulfilment warehouse in Australia last Thursday, to the sounds of the incumbent retailers either telling us that they will have no effect, or just not acknowledging the appearance of a giant shadow on the landscape.

Back in 2015, Whole Foods founder John Mackey waved off Amazon, observing that groceries were a step too far for them. Pity for him he was absolutely wrong, and now works for Jeff Bezos.

Does that sound like Gerry Harvey recently?

It seems to me that the most valuable warehouse Amazon has is not the new behemoth outside Melbourne, but the data warehouse that has been capturing our digital footprints for the last decade.

Last Christmas, my wife of 35 years was moaning that she did not know what to get me, while Amazon was regularly making suggestions of things I might like, and they were usually pretty good suggestions based on the data they collected. In one sense at least, Amazon knows me better than my wife.

Scary, but just another example of the value of data. Via Amazon Web Services, the biggest in the cloud services business, and growing like crazy, Amazon has their hands around the throats of a huge pile of data on all of us. Add to that the data Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Twitter, and all the rest have on us that can be leveraged, and the world of boring old retail in a shop is no longer.

Harvey Norman has a current market capitalisation of $A4.3 billion, Coles about 18 Billion, and Woolworths 35 Billion, and all are struggling. Amazon has a current capitalisation of almost $US1.6 Trillion, (a trillion is a million, million, I had to look it up to be sure) and rising steadily. Amazon is more than a huge retailer, it is a collection of businesses and dreams that spans a huge range of activities and interests of Jeff Bezos, who has built this giant in 21 years from a simple book selling landing page in 1996.

We always think about on line as being about convenience and price, but it is more than that, it is an immersive experience, we are becoming digital natives. Our addiction to the screens and devices is advancing at a rapid rate. Nir Eyal documents the means by which we become addicted to technology, but as a suggestion, ask your teenager to switch of the notifications on their phone, and there would be a revolution.

So, digital has become immersive, but that is what Bricks and Mortar retail currently has as their primary competitive advantage, you can go in, and touch, feel, try on the stuff, it is a tactile experience.

What will happen as AI and VR explodes onto the scene, you may be able to try on clothes at home, change sizes, colours, combinations, how immersive will that be??

The reality is that Amazon could buy Woolies and Coles out of petty cash and barley notice the bump in their cash flow. The same could be said about Alibaba, Chinas answer to Amazon, that is in fact bigger on most measures, but is an entirely different business model, so is unlikely to venture into the space Amazon is carving out.

Last Thursday was no more than just another day, the opening of Amazons warehouse, just another small brick in the wall Amazon is building. We all knew the opening was coming, but it is just that the pace is picking up, and the retail incumbents are being left behind, as our lives change.

Allen Roberts is a guest contributor to Australian Food News and writes another of his regular articles here. He is the Director of Strategy Audit www.strategyaudit.com.au and has worked in the food sector for more than 35 years. To read his full biography click HERE.

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Health Star Ratings increasingly popular with shoppers





Independent monitoring conducted by the National Heart Foundation has found the Health Star Rating System is increasingly popular with shoppers.

The Heart Foundation found that more than three in five Australians who brought a product with a Health Star rating (HSR) said it influenced their purchasing choice.

One in two shoppers said they had brought a product they normally would not because of the HSR.

Australians trust the HSR to inform healthy food choices

The Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, the Assistant Minister for Health, Dr David Gillespie, said the findings showed Australians trust the HSR system to inform healthy food choices.

They understand it. And, more and more, theyre using it to inform their choice of food products when they walk along the supermarket aisle, Minister Gillespie said.

At least 150 companies are now using the HSR system with more than 8, 400 supermarket products displaying a HSR.

Most Australians find HSR easy to understand finds study

The survey found most Australians (74 per cent) find the HSR easy to understand and 75 per cent find it easy to use.

The study findings were based off an online survey which was answered by 2, 500 shoppers. The HSR was first implemented three years ago.

In a release, the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation said the Heart Foundations findings showed that the HSR is being adopted as a natural part of Australias food buying behaviour.

The findings also indicate the food industrys uptake of and adherence to the system and its guidance documents, the release said.

Five-year review of HSR underway

The forum said the implementation of HSR has been progressing well but said there is always room for improvement.

The formal five year review of the Health Star Rating system is currently underway. The Ministerial Forum encourages stakeholders to participate in consultations and looks forward to receiving the report of the independent review in 2019, the forum said in its statement.

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Melbourne Polytechnic now offering qualifications in greengrocery





A Melbourne TAFE is now offering courses in greengrocery.

From February 2018, Melbourne Polytechnic is offering a Certificate II and Certificate III in Greengrocery.

Melbourne Polytechnic says it is the first education facilities in the world to offer qualifications in greengrocery.

Fotina Babalis, Melbourne Polytechnic Service Delivery Manager at Melbourne Market Authority, said there are a number of outcomes to the new study course.

There are a number of outcomes, but one of the most important outcomes is that we have employees that will be trained to work and remain within the wholesale or retail arm of greengrocery, Babalis said.

It has been very challenging to retain employees; [store owners] would train them in-house and theyd work for a while and then theyd leave for other opportunities.

Babalis said the qualifications is something the industry has needed for some time.

This industry has a high turnover of staff and so we are hoping that by undertaking these courses, staff can be properly trained and be retained throughout the industry.

The certificates were developed in partnership with Melbourne Polytechnic, Melbourne Market Authority and skilled greengrocers.

Throughout their studies, students will learn how to identify different fruit and vegetable varieties and how to give advice to customers. The students will also learn how to package and display items, how to handle and store produce and how to place orders from suppliers.

Anyone from school leavers right through to those already in the industry can undertake either of the available certificates.

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SA Food 2017 industry award winners announced



Recipient of The University of Adelaide Education and Training Award  Haighs Chocolates at the FoodSA awards Gala dinner 2017. Pic James Knowler / JK+Crew

The winners of the 2017 South Australian Food Industry Awards have been announced.

Taking home this years Duncan MacGillivray Entrepreneur Award was Tom Robinson and Roger Edwards for turning pipis into a gourmet food product.

The 2017 San Remo Hall of Fame inductee was Nippys beverages.

Food South Australia Chief Executive Officer, Catherine Sayer, said the 2017 winners typify the diverse range of food and beverage products manufactured in South Australia.

Our state is home to highly skilled entrepreneurs and to businesses of all sizes who are contributing significantly, and consistently, to South Australias economic growth, Sayer said.

It is critical to recognise and build on best practice, and this is something our industry does well, partly through these awards.

The South Australian Food Industry Awards program, hosted by Food South Australia, and supported each year by Primary Industries and Regions SA, has become a benchmark for industry excellence, she said.

The awards have been running for 19 years.

Complete list of winners

The full list of the 2017 South Australian Food Industry Award Wines are as follows:

San Remo Hall of Fame Inductee: Nippys

Duncan MacGillivray Entrepreneur Award: Tom Robinson and Roger Edwards

Bickfords Group Leader Award: Kris Lloyd

University of Adelaide Education Award: Haighs Chocolates

Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Education Foundation of South Australia Business Excellence Award: Beerenberg Farm (More than 15 FTEs) and Skara Smallgoods (15 FTEs or less)

(More than 15 FTEs) and (15 FTEs or less) Visy Export Award: Beston Global Food Company

South Australian Research and Development Institute Innovation  Food Award: Raw Nation Wholefoods  (More than 15 FTEs) and Greenwheat Freekeh (15 FTEs or less)

(More than 15 FTEs) and (15 FTEs or less) Food Processing Equipment Innovation  Business Award: Wakefield Grange

Foodland SA New Product Award: MOO Premium Foods  Boysenberry and Super Acai Yoghurt (More than 15 FTEs) and Section28 Artisan Cheeses  Los Hermanos cheese (15 FTEs or less)

Boysenberry and Super Acai Yoghurt (More than 15 FTEs) and Los Hermanos cheese (15 FTEs or less) Peats Soil and Garden Supplies Sustainability Award: Ceravolo Orchards (More than 15 FTEs) and Skara Smallgoods (15 FTEs or less)

(More than 15 FTEs) and (15 FTEs or less) Thomas Foods International Primary Producer Award: Ceravolo Orchards (More than 15 FTEs) and Bultarra Saltbush Lamb (15 FTEs or less)

(More than 15 FTEs) and (15 FTEs or less) Moore Stephens South Australia Service Provider Award: HMPS (More than 15 FTEs) and Wakefield Grange (15 FTEs or less)

(More than 15 FTEs) and (15 FTEs or less) PIRSA Regional Award: Sundrop Farms

Statewide Super Consumer Award: Robern Menz

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By Feras Dayoub, Research Fellow with the Australian centre for robotic vision, Queensland University of Technology

Besjunior/Shutterstock

Industrial robots have existed since the 1960s, when the first Unimate robotic arm was installed at a General Motors plant in the United States. Nearly six decades on, why dont we have capable robots in our homes, beyond a few simple domestic gadgets?

One of the reasons is that the rules and conventions that govern our everyday lives are not as perfect as the rules that govern the process of, say, assembling a car.

Our everyday rules do not cover all possible scenarios. This makes them filled with inconsistencies that will render useless any robot that strictly follows them.

Read more: Will technology take your job? New analysis says more of us are safer than we thought, but not all

For robots to play a more involved role in our lives, such as personal caregivers or reliable home cooks and chefs, they will have to move away from following the simple rule-based operating procedures used by current robots.









Lets improvise

One potential solution is to build robots in a way that when they face a tricky situation, they can improvise.

They would do this by using their past experiences from training, combined with some context of their current situation. This approach will most likely lead to them making very complex decisions.

But there is no guarantee that the robot will choose an action that follows the social norms. These actions may appear to us humans as cheating and sometimes rude or even unfair.

So how are we going to teach a robot to act in a courteous, ethical and honourable way? Is this even a reasonable expectation?

Can robots improvise?

Consider your washing machine. One morning you are late, and in a hurry you put your clothes into the machine and pick the wrong washing program. A machine that simply follows the programmed rules will happily run and potentially ruin your favourite clothes. How annoying.

For an artificial intelligence (AI) powered washing machine to avoid this situation, it would have to go through a complex decision process to improvise. The machine might use its cameras to detect the brands of the clothes youre putting in the machine and then look them up online to find out the best washing program.

But you were in a hurry and you mixed multiple types of fabric together. This means that one washing program will be fine for some clothes but completely ruin others. A simple AI might decide to pause the machine and message you to ask for your decision.

Ah, but because you were in a hurry, you have left your phone behind. And the AI knows you need that washing done today so again, it must improvise.

Decision time

The next level of decision is for the AI to decide which of your clothes is the most sentimental to you, and save it. This is a much more complex process.

The AI now has to go through years of your recorded history to detect significant moments in your life and check if you were wearing any of the clothes you mindlessly put in the machine. But what is a significant moment and how can an AI detect it?

The AI-powered washing machine has now decided which washing program to run. It is for your heavily dirty white cotton t-shirt from your first year in college. It is using hot water and a long rinse.

This improvised decision may have ruined some of the other clothing but it resulted in you having your favourite t-shirt ready for you to wear that evening to a reunion with old friends (the AI had checked your diary).

How likely is all of this?

Robotics and AI researchers around the world are already demonstrating robots that can learn and improvise.

The robotic marimba player Shimon has played in a jazz band since 2015 to packed music venues. It listens to the music of the human band members as they improvise, and joins in.









Improvising musical robots are one thing, but cheating or deceitful robots are an altogether scarier idea.

In 2010 researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology demonstrated how one robot could deceive another robot by exploiting its vulnerabilities. The experiments involved the robots playing hide-and-seek. One robot would pretend it was in one location while secretly hiding in another.









The benefits of enabling robots and AI to cheat are studied as part of research in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Some of the results reported so far reveal that a cheating robot has more human-like attributes, that lead to a more natural interaction between it and the people with whom it interacts.

The philosophical debate

This topic of machine morality is deep and complex with no straightforward answers but its a recipe for a debate that emerges from the philosophy of morality.

This debate began with the science fiction literature from the mid-20th century  specifically Isaac Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics introduced in his 1942 short story Runaround. As robots and AI become more capable, this debate is becoming central to our lives.

Read more: An AI professor explains: three concerns about granting citizenship to robot Sophia

Philosophical thinkers have already been asking questions about the challenge of moral machines and machines and moral reasoning with a message to the HRI community that we should:

[] be careful what one wishes for  it may come true. Therefore, we should be very careful about what abilities we program into computers, and what responsibilities we assign to them. In the end, if the machines are coming, it is humans who are constructing them.

We are still asking questions today about the morality of machines, and whether we can teach AI and robots to understand about right and wrong.

We have a long way to go before we can build sophisticated robots with a moral compass.

The ongoing debate on the issue will not only help us build better robots but it will also make us reflect on our own ethical practices, hopefully leading us towards a better humanity.

Jonathan Roberts is a Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Professor Michael Milford is a Chief Investigator at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow and Founding Director of the education startup Math Thrills Pty Ltd. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Government, Caterpillar Corporation, Mining3, Microsoft, the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development and AMP.

Feras Dayoub does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Photo: Tesla

Tesla has posted the prices for its upcoming electric truck, the Tesla Semi, showing a base price of $150,000 for the base model.

The base model will have a 300-mile range, less than the 500-mile figure given by company founder and CEO Elon Musk at the Tesla Semis introduction in late November. The 500-mile range version will sell for $180,000. The company is already accepting reservations for the vehicle at $20,000 a pop. The truck is expected to go into production in 2019.

If you balked at the aforementioned base prices, Tesla will also offer a limited-edition Founders Series truck for $200,000, requiring a $200,000 reservation. Tesla will only produce 1,000 Founders Series Tesla Semis.

Teslas vice president of truck and programs, Jerome Guillen, gave a presentation at an electric truck conference in Europe. While he was speaking about the Tesla Semis future in the European market, he did offer a few more details about the truck.

For one thing, Guillen said Tesla would be its own first customer, using the Tesla Semi to haul cargo between its facilities in Freemont, Calififornia, and its Gigafactory just outside of Reno, Nevada, a route of about 260 miles.

Most of what Guillen presented to the audience in Europe was a rehash of specs and expected performance marks that were given at Teslas official launch. However, he did comment that the truck would have a similar cargo capacity to diesel trucks, implying that the weight of the Tesla Semi would not be significantly more or less than an average Class 8 truck  something many skeptics doubt is possible.

Guillen did not give an expected launch date for the Tesla Semi in the European market, but promised a vague timing that would come after things are good in the U.S.
Erich Sixt, CEO of Sixt SE, spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Sixt's new North American headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. Photo courtesy of Sixt.

If you ask the CEOs of global companies  particularly the ones representing mainline industries  where they see the growth potential for their brands, they might mention the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries.

With a footprint in 118 countries, Pullach, Germany-based Sixt SE is the fifth largest car rental company in the world, but its growth aspirations arent concentrated on emerging markets. Its the U.S. in the next decade, said Erich Sixt, CEO of Sixt SE, from the companys new U.S. headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, which he came to christen on Nov. 17.

Sixt bought the building and spent $10.4 million to renovate it, and the move is expected to create 300 local jobs. This new headquarters shows our commitment to the United States, Sixt said. It has room for expansion, which were planning.

When asked about the challenge to grow in the U.S., the oldest car rental market, Sixt replied: When I started in Munich in 1969, I was a lonely cowboy with one location and 200 cars. There were the global companies, Hertz, Avis, and Europcar. [To grow] we took pieces of the cake away from the competition.

Sixts U.S. fleet has grown three times as fast as it did from 1969, Sixt said. Sixt referenced the companys market share in Miami, which has grown to 11.8% since opening in 2011.

Growth Now

In the U.S., Sixt first planted its flag in leisure destinations popular with Europeans, particularly in Florida. But to be a relevant national player, We have to expand as quickly as possible into the major U.S. airports; its a must for us, Sixt said.

Sixts goal is to open in the top 30 airports and then concentrate on growing its corporate business. In addition to contracted international accounts, the corporate focus would also be on small to midsize companies that are service-oriented but less price sensitive: The lawyers, the auditors, people who like to drive nice cars, Sixt said.

Airport locations would be complemented by downtown locations. Insurance replacement business will come, but only after the company has achieved greater nationwide coverage, Sixt said.

Sixts original U.S. plan included growth through franchising. Many of those initial franchises have been bought back by Sixt, though a franchisee base remains. The immediate goal now is to expand through corporate-owned stores. Once weve reached our goal of covering the major airports, we can revert back to franchising, but not in the near future, Sixt said.

While the immediate focus in Europe and the U.S. will be on corporate growth, franchising will still be part of the strategy in the rest of the world, Sixt said.

Growth How?

The Sixt European fleet is comprised of 61% premium vehicles; the U.S. fleet is slightly less but trending upward, Sixt said. Sixt claims the largest BMW and Mercedes-Benz fleet worldwide. The Sixt value proposition is predicated on renting these types of premium vehicles for economy car prices.

Along with a high-touch employee base and premium branding cues such as orange-lit counters, this would seem to present greater cost-management challenges than other rental companies. This is where managing overall vehicle depreciation is paramount, Sixt said, which is accomplished through smart fleet buys as well as its state-of-the-art pricing and yield management systems, developed by hundreds of programmers in Ukraine, India, and southern Germany.

If youre smart, the depreciation on a luxury car can be less than on an economy car, Sixt said. If you purchase the right car with the right equipment and understand what the consumer wants, you can have low depreciation.

Sixt has grown in the U.S. without traditional marketing, and that strategy wont be altered. If I were to invest $50 million in marketing now, wed have a growth rate we simply could not digest, Sixt said.

Sixt said the companys U.S. operations are profitable. On pricing, Sixt sees the U.S. competition acting rationally, which bodes well for 2018.

Evolution Ready

Regarding the potential disruption brought on by the evolution of transportation, Sixt believes there is more noise than action at this point, and that the majority of renters still want the human factor found at the rental counter.

People are talking and talking, he said. Autonomous driving will come later than most people think. For us, it doesnt matter if they drive the car or its driven by a computer. They still need a car.

That said, Sixt referenced the companys present mobility initiatives  DriveNow, its carsharing partnership with BMW, and myDriver, a premium ride-hailing service  that complement Sixts fleet management and retail leasing businesses. Sixt has the telematics capabilities to turn the traditional fleet to carsharing at any given moment  If we can do it profitably, he said.

For now, Sixt is concentrating on the potential to grow in the U.S., embodied by the new headquarters. It looks better than our headquarters in Germany, Sixt said. Its like walking into a start-up company. Ive become younger here.

On the importance of the U.S. market, Sixt doesnt mince words. In 10 years time, Europe will be a branch of the U.S. he said. The place where were sitting right now could be the headquarters of Sixt worldwide  and the CEO will move from Germany to Florida.
A meditation and sharing support group that brings together the practice of meditation, Buddhist teachings and the 12 steps of recovery integrating the basic sanity of the Dharma and the basic goodness of meditation.

The Heart of Recovery is a meditation and sharing support group with the purpose of bringing together the practice of meditation, the Shambhala and Buddhist teachings, and the Twelve Steps of Recovery with the goal of integrating the basic sanity of the Dharma and the basic goodness of meditation with our commitment to abstinence. We welcome all those who wish to share in these common interests.

There are no requirements to attend our meetings.

Suggested donation: $5

The Heart of Recovery is a meditation and sharing support group with the purpose of bringing together the practice of meditation, the Shambhala and Buddhist teachings, and the Twelve Steps of Recovery with the goal of integrating the basic sanity of the Dharma and the basic goodness of meditation with our commitment to abstinence. We welcome all those who wish to share in these common interests.

There are no requirements to attend our meetings.

Suggested donation: $5
Kenyans have nothing to lose if Raila Odinga retires peacefully. -BUZEKI said. PHOTO| FILE

Raila Odinga has been urged to respect the rule of law and go down for President-Elect Uhuru Kenyatta. He was called to stop the National resistance movement as it will kill the economy of Kenya which is now staggering already.Bundotich Zedekia Kiprop, popularly known as Buzeki, said in Kuresoi on Sunday that Raila should spare Kenyans the agony, go home and leave citizens to chart their destiny."The swearing in of a President is respected globally and if Raila will interrupt it, he deserves to be dealt with properly," he said at a church service."We owe him nothing in his twenty years of seeking the presidency. He should now spare us and retire in peace."He said Kenyans have been rallying behind Raila since 1997 and hence he should let go of the claim to the presidency after the unsuccessful attempts.When I failed to secure Uasin Gishu governor seat, I supported Mandago," Kiprop said adding despite being out of office, he still feels he is a leader."I have been serving people several years back before I contested for governor. I will still do because I am a leader, " he said.He said that Raila Odinga has nothing to show to Kenyans that why he keeps on failing and Kenyans have nothing to lose and mind if he goes home in Bondo.BUZEKI who failed to get the Uasin Gishu top seat to Jackson Mandago urged the people of Kenya to deny any calls from Raila Odinga as he is the "Lord of Poverty and debts".
Nicholas Mrima Wanyepe arrested and detained in Kilifi police cells. PHOTO | Courtesy

GSU officers disperse angry supporters of Nicholas Wanyepe who were on April 23, 2017 protesting at the ODM Kilifi officers after he lost the Kilifi South parliamentary ticket to businessman Ken Chonga. PHOTO | KAZUNGU SAMUEL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Kilifi south ODM candidate Nicholas Mrima Wanyepe spends his night in police cells in Kilifi Police station following orders to arrest him from "above". Wanyepe was arrested following allegations that he knew where Raila Odinga will be swearing-in tomorrow.The Police claim that he had clue and evidence to show that Raila Odinga swearing-in ceremony will be conducted tomorrow. "We heard that you know where the swearing ceremony for Raila Odinga is already set." one Police officer said.Nicholas Mrima Wanyepe, who contested the partys primaries early this year but was defeated by current Kilifi South MP Ken Chonga was arrested on Saturday in Mtwapa and transferred to Kilifi Police Station.Police said he was arrested for possessing material that may incite the public against the Government. But local activists said Wanyepe was detained for handing out NASAs branded National Resistance Movement NRM T-shirts."I had no intention or any information about where Raila Odinga will be swearing in. I even do not anything regarding the ceremony. Nairobi ODM leaders will be in a good position to explain that. " Said Wanyepe.Kilifi County Commander Ben Kogo said Wanyepe would be arraigned in court today. I am out of Kilifi but that is what I was briefed. He is in custody and we shall take him to court on Monday, said Kogo.According to Charles Omollo, a youth leader from Kilifi, Wanyepe was arrested while coming from church. According to the charges, the police claim he knows where NASA leader Raila Odinga will be sworn in, said Omolo.Police also are in Man-hunt for another ODM official in Kilifi who declared that they do not recognize Uhuru Kenyatta as the President of Kenya in Public. The Man named by the coast region coordinator Nelson Marwa is among the people who pushed for Peoples assembly in Kilifi county assembly.
Some drivers are taking matters into their own hands to keep from waiting in line at a busy Bradenton intersection.

No right turn lane on 43rd Street at Cortez Boulevard

Some drivers cut through businesses, which is illegal

Have a Traffic Inbox story for Chuck? Click here



The problem area is southbound on 43rd Street into the light at Cortez Boulevard.

"All the way to the next light, probably at least a half a mile," resident Rick Blevins said when asked about the traffic backup.

There are two southbound lanes at the light: one left-turn lane and the through lane.

A right on red is legal at the through lane, but drivers apparently get impatient at the stopped cars in front of them. A right turn lane would make the overall wait less for everyone.

Blevins said some drivers get creative to keep from waiting in line.

"You do see a lot of people cutting through CVS, or sometimes if you're smart enough, people cutting through Ironwood and Pinebrook to get to Cortez," he said.

A blue Corvette was one of several vehicles observed by Spectrum Bay News 9 entering the parking lot off 43rd Street and out on the other side at Cortez.

That action is illegal in Florida and could result in a $158 fine and driver's license points.

"Just widen it up a little bit and put a right turn lane in," Blevins said. "You've got the folks here in the middle that can go straight, people in the right turn lane can turn right and everybody can get to where they're going, on time."

There is plenty of available right of way on both sides of the road. According to Nick Azzara with Manatee County, they are budgeting now for many new projects.

Real Time Traffic Expert Chuck Henson looked at the list of projects on the books funded by the half-cent tax. Almost $16 million has been allocated for improvements on 43rd Street, but that work does not include the intersection.
An Orlando man accused of shooting at two people during a road rage incident on Floridas Turnpike Saturday has been arrested, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Suspect arrested in road rage shooting

Kwanza Jermaine Donald charged with 2 counts attempted murder



RELATED: Troopers search for suspect in road rage shooting on Florida's Turnpike



Kwanza Jermaine Donald, 33, is charged with two counts of attempted murder.

Troopers said he fired 13 rounds from his gun Saturday while driving southbound on the turnpike near State Road 50.

A 37-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl from Miami in a Chevrolet Impala were shot.

Both were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.



Donald contacted law enforcement earlier Sunday, according to Sgt. Kim Montes. He said he shot at people he believed were trying to kill him, an arrest report said.

Donald told investigators someone was trying to kill him while he worked for FedEx in Houston, Texas. When asked why he fired at the other vehicle on the turnpike on Saturday, Donald told investigators the vehicle "resembled the vehicle that had been shooting at him in Texas."

He has been commuting back and forth from Florida to Texas, the report said.

After being interviewed by troopers, Donald was placed under arrest.

A handgun was also located inside his vehicle, troopers said.

Troopers reviewed surveillance video from the scene and were able to identify his vehicle.

Donald is being held in the Lake County Jail.
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Sitting outside her motorhome at Indian Springs Campground and RV Park in Kountze, one word came to Lyska Shaffer's mind while reflecting on 85 years of life: Perfect.

"I think I've pretty much lived a perfect life," Shaffer said. "I'd do it all over again."

Shaffer knew she was a thrill-seeker from a young age, and as the years went by, her desire to take off on daring adventures only grew.

Growing up in Beaumont, she once jumped off the roof of her garage with arms spread wide while holding a bedspread like she was skydiving.

Decades later, Shaffer no longer pretends. She's jumped from planes, ridden across the country on her motorcycle and done just about anything else she could think of to get an adrenaline rush.

"I want to be scared," Shaffer said. "That's why I do these things, I like that feeling in my stomach that let's me know I'm alive."

Shaffer, a South Park High School graduate, married her now late husband, Grady, on her 17th birthday in 1949. The couple had four boys in the next five years.

Once the children were old enough to travel, Shaffer was eager to make up for lost time. The entire family would pile into their motorhome with a cross-country destination circled on the map.

"We'd just pack up and hit the road," said Kent Shaffer, the youngest of Lyska Shaffer's boys. "It didn't matter where we were going, we all loved to travel together."

A trip to Yellowstone National Park particularly sticks out in Lyska Shaffer's memory, camping in the woods and sleeping by the fire in tents.

"All we had was a little gas money and about $30 to spend," she said. "That was the most fun I've ever had. We were poor, but we didn't know it."

It was on one of these cross-country trips that Lyska Shaffer first found the inspiration to ride motorcycles. While camping in Colorado, she met a woman riding a motorcycle by herself through the countryside.

"I sized her up and thought, 'If she can do it, I can do it,'" she said.

So when her husband gave her a diamond watch a few years after, Lyska sold it and bought a Yamaha 500 motorcycle. Six weeks later, she had her motorcycle license and was riding across the country with her 10-year-old adopted daughter on the back.

Lyska kept riding that motorcycle until she bought a new Honda 500 about 15 years ago. That was around the same time she had both her knees artificially replaced.

Still, she wanted more. So she went back to her childhood dream of skydiving.

Lyska first started looking for places to skydive five years ago, but her search was more difficult than anticipated. She was turned down by multiple skydiving locations because of her age and her artificial knees created a health risk.

In 2014, she finally found a company that would let her jump. Lyska traveled to Skydive Spaceland outside of Houston, flew thousands of feet up in the air, then took the plunge along with an instructor on a tandem dive.

"They made me do the tandem because my knees probably couldn't take the landing," Lyska said. "After that first moment of truth jumping out, it's kind of boring to be honest."

Christy West, communications director for Skydive Spaceland, said customers Lyska's age and older are not uncommon. The company's had people in their mid-90s make the jump, West said.

"It's absolutely a bucket-list item for a lot of people that age," West said. "It's pretty great to see people living their lives the way they want to and not holding anything back."

Lyska has jumped multiple times since then, but said she now only goes back if someone she knows wants to try it for the first time. Skydiving costs about $200 dollars per jump, and Lyska has more important things to spend her money on, she said.

Lyska's Bevil Oaks home, which her husband built just a few years after they were married, was flooded during Tropical Storm Harvey. She lost everything inside and outside of the home, including her 1977 Dodge van with red, white and blue interior.

"Bevil Oaks flooded before and the house was completely fine," Lyska said. "I didn't realize how different this time would be."

So Lyska took her motorhome, which she financed in February, and evacuated to Indian Springs Campground and RV Park. Her brother Ronnie Stockholm owns and operates the campground. Stockholm, 71, is just a few years older than Lyska's children and often took trips with the family.

"Ronnie is like one of my boys," Lyska said. "He has so much goodness in his heart."

Lyska hopes to move into a smaller home in Beaumont by Christmas. For now, she's planning her next thrill while living full-time at the campground. She wants to go white-water rafting and ride donkeys down through the Grand Canyon.

"I'm not afraid of anything, and I want to try everything," Lyska said. "That's always how I lived my life, and I'm not going to stop now."

MFaye@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/mattGfaye
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For days after Harvey flooded her Sour Lake neighborhood, Deanna Coburn's farm was silent, without its usual chorus of bleating goats and crowing roosters.

Her chickens fled to the highest parts of the roosts, the ducks struggled to keep their head above the strong current of water pouring out of Pine Island Bayou, and her goats and pigs took refuge on stacks of pallets and hay, barely above the water.

Once the water receded, she hoped the worst was over, but months later, she's still worrying about Harvey's effects on Cozy Critters Farm. She checks the goats' eyelids daily for signs of infection and her chickens took weeks to start laying eggs again. When it rains, they're skittish and scared. She's lost several goats already, and isn't sure how many more she'll lose.

> > ICYMI: Man behind 'MTV Cribs: Harvey Edition' video helped others with donations

Across Southeast Texas, Harvey's toll on animals and agriculture is still unclear. Jefferson County Agriculture Agent Allen Homann said he still can't estimate how many animals died in the floods, and how many died later even after they were rescued by boats from swamped pastures.

The impact of the storm on land will likely cause future problems. Flooding damaged grass that ranchers were relying on to feed their cattle through the fall, forcing them to spend more on hay and feed, Homann said.

Business will hurt, too. Some who lost cattle may decide to sell the rest of the herd and leave the industry, while others will need to spend money to replenish their numbers.

"It's been two months of just trying to get by and keep the cattle going," Hamshire rancher Harold Clubb said. "Basically what we're going to have to do is just try to get by until spring."

The parasite threat

As Kirby, a goat bottle-fed as a kid, rubbed his head against the fence, looking for attention, Coburn held his face still and checked his eyes, looking at the colors of his eyelids. "If it's white, it's too late," she said. The color indicates a parasite causing anemia.

Barber pole worms, which can be deadly, thrive in grass in warm, humid conditions, and infect the goats that eat the grass.

> > MORE: PA plant had largest wastewater spill in Texas after Harvey

Harvey and the weather that followed - cool, dry days before a stretch of heat and humidity - created perfect conditions for parasites and insects to thrive, Homann said.

"That's kind of just mother nature at its finest," he said. "With the amount of water running through and flooding, you can't control stuff that's that extreme."

Rancher Mike Doguet said an infestation of armyworms followed the storm.

"We got the flood, then we got armyworms, the only thing left was locusts," he said. The worms "eat everything green," and destroy fields, he said. While the insects are an annual occurrence, this year's infestation was far worse than normal, forcing him to treat his ranch and turf farm.

Coburn is hoping for a cold, dry winter to kill the parasites, so she won't still be dealing with them come spring.

Animals standing in floodwaters and being forced to swim has brought about other concerns. Hoof and skin rot and swollen legs were common among animals in flooded pastures.

Doguet, who was able to move his cattle to higher ground for most of Harvey, said he had to treat his herd for pneumonia after the storm.

> > HARVEY AFTERMATH: Beaumont ISD trustee resigns due to Harvey

It was caused by the water and stress, he said. "We had calves starting to get sniffy noses, you can tell. We did have to give them antibiotics to get them back in good shape."

Several of Coburn's goats have died from other bacteria issues despite her best efforts at de-worming, she said, and some of her pregnant goats lost their kids.

Clubb said some of his cattle lost 200 to 300 pounds, both because they couldn't eat and from stress.

"After the storm, they just stood there for a while," Clubb said. "You couldn't move them or drive them. They'd been in water where they had to swim, you just couldn't get them to move. They were afraid to go anywhere, because it got worse in any direction they went."

"It's just been hard on them. A lot of them got lame, some lost weight. It's hard to describe the full effect it has on a cow," Clubb said,

Coburn estimates it will take a good year or so for the animals to fully recover.

"If it rains, they freak out," she said. "They run, they have PTSD."

Impact on diet

"The main long-term effect for the agriculture side is the supplemental feeding of the animals through the winter," Homann said. That's due to two problems. Hay that was stored was flooded and destroyed, and the flooding and oxygen depletion damaged the grass.

"Just like people, you can only hold your breath for so long because it goes downhill," he said. When grass is deep underwater without air, it loses nutrients and the root structure is damaged, he said.

> > MORE: SETX town tops state for FEMA assistance applications post-Harvey

He's suggesting that people aerate their fields to let oxygen back into the roots, which will help the grass grow back better in the spring. Homann also recommends getting soil tested to see what nutrients are lacking, so they can target it with the right fertilizer in the spring. He admits that's a long-term approach to an immediate problem.

"We basically won't have regular grazing until next April or May," Clubb said. For now, "it's just trying to get by." He estimated that he'll use twice as much hay as in a normal year, an extra expense to take on after the storm.

Businesses hurting

Business will take time to bounce back, as well. Clubb said he'll have fewer cows to sell this year, and will need to spend more to buy more to replace those who drowned or died after the storm.

"You've got added expenses and less potential income, you've got to get friendly with your banker," he said.

Smaller-scale businesses like Coburn's are hurting, too. She's got fewer chickens and turkeys to sell, because the storm hit when she would normally have been incubating them. There aren't many buyers for animals or eggs, either, she said, because money is tight and people are focused on rebuilding more than anything else.

The animals she has been able to sell have been at a loss. Buyers paid $25 each for piglets that usually sell for more than $100, she said.

She's thinking about downsizing the farm, because she and her husband need to focus time and money on repairing their home and barn, and caring for the remaining animals.

That's the same decision many ranchers are going to be considering, Homann said. "Those guys that lost cattle are deciding, 'do we buy more, do we start over, do we sell the rest of what we've got?'" he said.

Harvey's long-term effects on agriculture in the area won't be known for at least a year, he said.

"We'll have to have a year or two of data to see the kind of local markets and if they've changed," he said.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they will not hear the Jefferson County Courthouse shooter's appeal of his 2013 death penalty conviction.

Bartholomew Granger, 46, filed an appeal with the nation's highest court on Aug. 15, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied his appeal in May.
A North Carolina man that led police on vehicle chase through Vidor was held at gunpoint by a Southeast Texas motorist after trying to steal his vehicle, according to information from the Vidor Police Department.

Diego Gomez, 22, has been charged with evading arrest and aggravated kidnapping. The Monroe, N.C. man may also face charges in Louisiana.
Bengali Muslims in the northeastern Indian state of Assam await the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) later this year, as millions of alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh face the risk of being rendered stateless.

The NRC, which is being updated for the first time since 1951, is aimed at detecting and deporting an estimated 20 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in India, according to the government. The updated registry is slated to be released on Dec. 31.

In Dhaka, government officials repeatedly refuted New Delhis claim of an illegal influx, making deportation almost impossible since Bangladesh does not accept those who have crossed into India as its citizens.

We are having sleepless nights, Faiz Rehman, a resident of Assams Muslim-dominated Barpeta district, told BenarNews. I have been living in India since the 1960s, but I have no documents to prove it. If my name is left off the NRC, where will I go? he said.

Rehman is one of almost 500,000 Bangladeshi-origin Muslims living in Assam who fear being left out of the NRC since Indias ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state last year while promising to flush out all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

The NRC is being updated to include names of people, or their descendants, who are in the 1951 registry and those with legally admissible documents issued up to March 24, 1971, the state government said. It aims to detect and expunge all undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants and those who settled in India after the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

About 265 km (165 miles) of Indias 4,096-km (2,545-mile) border with Bangladesh is in Assam, which boasts the second highest number of Muslims  34 percent  among all Indian states. The government admitted that many poverty-stricken Assam residents who did not have valid identification documents would bear the brunt of the NRC.

But it is the only way to check the illegal influx of Bangladeshis, Prateek Haleja, an NRC coordinator in Assam, told BenarNews.

No genuine Indian citizen will be left out of the final list. But those who came from Bangladesh before1971 should have known that they will be asked to show documents sooner or later, he said.

Haleja said those who could prove their family members were listed in Indias electoral rolls from 1952 to 1971 would be considered genuine Indian citizens.

Threats of protests

Assams minority rights groups have threatened statewide protests if the states Muslim population is excluded from the NRC.

Assam will burn if 500,000 Muslims are left out of the NRC, Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, said at a news conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The BJP wants to throw Muslims out of the country. When [thousands] of people are left out of the NRC and branded as foreigners there will be repercussions among the people, Madani said.

The BJP said that Madanis statement indicated some groups are against a smooth transition of the registrys update.

How come Madani knows that 500,000 people will be excluded from the register when the draft has not been prepared. BJP has, time and again, made it very clear that no foreigners name will be included and no Indian citizens name will be excluded from the NRC, BJP spokesman Pramod Swami was quoted as saying in the Times of India.

The All Assam Minority Students Union said it plans to mobilize a crowd of almost 12 million people for a rally in Guwahati, the states capital, on Nov. 27 to exert pressure on the government to ensure that no genuine Indian citizen is left out of the NRC.

We will see to it that the names of each and every genuine Indian Muslim are included in the list, Ainuddin, general-secretary of the students union, told BenarNews.

The state government has asked New Delhi for additional security forces following reports that some groups may try to instigate communal tensions leading to the registry publication, an Assam government official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
Rebel Bangladesh Rifles soldiers take position in front of their headquarters in Dhaka during a mutiny that killed 74 people, Feb. 25, 2009.

Bangladeshs High Court on Monday upheld death sentences for 139 people, mostly members of the former Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), who were involved in a mutiny and massacre in February 2009.

As many as 57 army officers were killed during the massacre of 74 people that took place over two days at the Dhaka headquarters of BDR, which was later renamed the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

The court observed that the carnage was pre-planned and was carried out to destabilize the then newly elected government and the country as well, Attorney Gen. Mahbubey Alam told reporters, quoting from the 1,000-page verdict and referring to the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who remains in power eight years on.

In 2013, a trial court in Dhaka sentenced 152 people to death and 160 others to life in prison over the mutiny. Four received seven-year jail terms and 69 were acquitted. Never had so many defendants been tried in a single case in the history of Bangladesh, which was born in 1971.

On Monday, High Court justices Md Nazrul Islam Talukder, Md Shawkat Hossain and Md Abu Zafor Siddique High court acquitted four of the 152 on death row and commuted the sentences of eight others to life in prison. One prisoner had died already, bringing the count to 139.

Of the 160 originally sentenced to life, 146 saw their sentences upheld. Along with the eight who had been on death row and 31 who had been acquitted by the trial court, the total number of defendants serving life sentences is 185.

The court wrapped up the judgment at around 4:30 p.m. Monday, a day after it started pronouncing the verdict.

All the three judges are unanimous in the verdict, Alam told reporters. The High Court has delivered an appropriate judgment.

The defendants can appeal to Bangladeshs Supreme Court.

Reactions mixed

The mutiny began during an officers meeting at BDR headquarters on Feb. 25, 2009. At 9:27 a.m., one of mutineers entered the meeting and pointed a gun at then-border guard chief Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed.

Other mutineers stole thousands of weapons from BDR headquarters before embarking on a killing spree in the barracks. In addition, mutineers stormed the BDR chiefs home, killing his wife, guests and staff before burning down the building.

Relatives of the slain army officers said they were satisfied by the courts verdict and eager to proceed with the executions.

We have lost everything during the mutiny. The court, though late, has given its judgment. We became hopeless and [were relying entirely] on the state, Nehrin Ferdaus, the widow of slain Lt. Col. Md Mujibul Huq, told BenarNews. Now we want to see implementation of the verdict.

Relatives of defendants, on the other hand, gathered in the court area beginning on Sunday, hoping for acquittals or to see death sentences commuted.

Nayek Subedar Ali Akbar, who has been in the prison for seven years, was among those acquitted by the high court.

We were in pain. The allegation of my husbands involvement in such a heinous crime made us ashamed. We were humiliated in the society. But I knew it well that my husband was innocent, his wife, Rehana Akter, said through tears.

Courts ruling

In its verdict, the court found that an intelligence failure led to the BDR mutiny, and it urged the government to investigate the cause of the uprising.

The BGB authorities should make an inquiry into the matter by forming a probe committee.  They should make the probe report public as early as possible, the court said.

Either internal or external quarters were involved in hatching a conspiracy to uproot, dethrone and depose the newly formed government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following the parliamentary election in 2008, the court observed.

The mutineers hatched a conspiracy to destabilise the country, damage the countrys internal security and stability and hamper Bangladeshs participation in the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The court also issued a seven-point recommendation to avoid any recurrence in the future.

The authorities should provide fast decision or reply to all problems of BGB members, pay outstanding dues, consider leave matters and mitigate all the grievances, if any, the court said, listing some of its recommendations.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Hassan Mahmud Ali (left), shakes hands with Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmars union minister for the Office of the State Counselor, after they signed an agreement on the return of Rohingya Muslim refugees, in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Nov. 23, 2017.

Retired Bangladeshi diplomats, refugees and opposition leaders cast doubt Monday on the implementation of a new agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmars Rakhine state since October 2016.

Reactions from a cross-section of the Bangladeshi society came after officials in Dhaka revealed details of the agreement, which stipulates that the two countries will work together to start the voluntary repatriation process within two months from Nov. 23, the day they signed the document in Naypyidaw.

We want to go back to our homeland Arakan if our security and safety are ensured, Mohammad Nur, general secretary of the Kutupalong camp in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazar district that houses about 300,000 Rohingya refugees, told BenarNews. Arakan is the old name for Rakhine state.

The agreement does not identify the Rohingya by their ethnic groups name and covers only about 700,000 members of the minority who escaped to southeastern Bangladesh in two waves since late last year, including more than 620,000 who fled from an outbreak of violence in Rakhine in late August 2017.

Another 300,000 or so refugees, who fled earlier cycles of violence, are sheltering across the border in Bangladesh.

Buddhist majority Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as one of the countrys official ethnic groups. It has denied the group citizenship in Myanmar since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless.

We, the Rohingya, must be recognized as one of the 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar and our citizenship must be given back, Nur said.

Mustafa Kamal, a former Bangladeshi foreign secretary, questioned whether the bilateral agreement could ensure the safety of refugees who opt to return to Myanmar.

The agreement was signed in line with the demands of Myanmar, he told BenarNews. This agreement cannot ensure the safety, security and dignity of the Rohingya. So, I think hardly any Rohingya would go back.

Only U.N. peacekeepers could ensure the security of returning refugees, he said.

Bangladesh has made a mistake by agreeing to resolve the problem bilaterally. We should have internationalized the issue. The agreement reflected the desire of Myanmar, not Bangladesh, Kamal added.

The United States and the United Nations have accused members of Myanmars military of carrying out ethnic cleansing after launching a brutal counter-offensive at the end of August, when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents attacked police and army posts in Rakhine.

Human rights groups had documented cases of rape, killing and burning of Rohingya homes and villages in Rakhine.

Terms of deal

The signed memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and Myanmar, a copy of which was obtained by BenarNews, does not state a deadline for finishing the repatriation process. Its also unclear how many refugees would want to return after fleeing from the violence.

The document states there will be no legal consequences for refugees who decide to return to Myanmar unless they were involved with ARSA insurgents who were labeled as terrorists in the agreement.

Myanmar will not criminalize (prosecute or penalize) returnees for illegal exit and return unless there are specific involvement in terrorist or criminal activities, the document said.

The agreement also required the refugees to show proof of past residence in Myanmar.

But, according to Rohingya activists, documents kept by many refugees were burned in their houses when they fled.

The reality is different

On Saturday, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said the returnees would live in temporary shelters in Myanmar for a short time. He did not provide details.

The agreement has protected Bangladeshs interests. We are happy with it, he told a news conference. The main issue is Myanmar has agreed to take its nationals back.

Ali said the two sides had also agreed to allow the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to participate in the repatriation process.

But Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman, told CNN on Monday that the U.N. agency had not been consulted about the agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh, even though the memorandum calls for significant UNHCR involvement.

Humayun Kabir, a former Bangladesh ambassador to the United States, questioned Alis claim that the repatriation deal would serve Dhakas interests.

We can expect that the Rohingya would go back. But the reality is different. Their houses were burned down. Their women were killed and raped by the military and the Buddhist groups, said Kabir, who is now vice president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, a private think-tank.

The Rohingya are unlikely to go back, unless there were guarantees from the international community, Kabir told BenarNews.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, agreed that the repatriation deal was skewed in favor of Myanmars interests.

We are too upset.  How much will they [Rohingya] have to go back? We do not know whether they would be safe in Myanmar, and would not be the victims of genocide again, he said.

Anas Madani, the likely future leader of the conservative Muslim group Hefazat-e-Islam, told BenarNews that its members would like to see the Rohingya Muslims go back to Myanmar.

But their safety and security must be ensured. Their government, with the support from the international community, must work out a mechanism to ensure the safety and security of our Rohingya brothers, he said.

Human rights groups, meanwhile, have described the bilateral agreement as a public relations stunt.

Six hundred twenty thousand Rohingya refugees have only just escaped one of the most brutal cases of mass persecution in recent times, Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. The idea that Burma will now welcome them back to their smoldering villages with open arms is laughable.
Passengers gather at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali after flights were canceled because of volcanic activity at Mount Agung, Nov. 27, 2017. (AFP)

Balinese Hindus take part in a prayer ceremony in hopes of preventing Mount Agung from erupting, Nov. 26, 2017. (AP)

A disaster management officer places a mask on a child at a shelter in Bebandem Village in Bali, Nov. 26, 2017. (Antara Foto/Nyoman Budhiana/via Reuters)

A tourist poses for a photo at a temple in Karangasem, Indonesia as Mount Agung erupts in the background, Nov. 27, 2017. (AP)

Villagers walk to pray near their makeshift shelter in a camp, Nov. 27, 2017. (Reuters)

Women wait for customers at a market as smoke rises from the volcano, Nov. 27, 2017. (AP)

The Indonesian government issued its highest alert on Monday for Mount Agung, a volcano on Bali that began to erupt a few days ago, forcing mass evacuations, closing the islands main airport and stranding tourists.

Nearly 30,000 local residents have already left their homes for makeshift shelters on the island, which is Indonesias top tourist destination. The number of evacuees could reach 150,000 as thick smoke shoots from the spewing volcano, the Bali Disaster Management Agency reported.

Agung means great in Indonesian. The volcano last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people.

In recent weeks, Balinese authorities have been closely monitoring volcanic tremors at Mount Agung, warning of a possible eruption after these had picked up in intensity.

Resident Nengah Narti, 45, evacuated three days ago from Besakih Village to a center about 5 km (3.1 miles) away.

This was her second evacuation. She was able to return to the village about 6 km (3.7 miles) in late October after a risk alert issued in September had been lowered.

At that time, I went back to my home because there were no more tremors, she told BenarNews.

She questioned the governments response in assisting evacuees.

The government says that we have to stay here to make it easier to get assistance, but in reality I have not received anything, she said.

Meanwhile, Balis Ngurah Rai International Airport closed on Monday and could reopen later this week, depending on conditions.

We will always update and offer the latest information to all the airlines patrons, airport General Manager Yanus Suprayogi told BenarNews.

We do not want to take risks if we stay open with the current conditions, he told a press conference a day earlier.
The Bible has been under attack in the western world for over 200 years but never more intensely than today. These attacks have taken different forms and have come from many different corners of the academic world, from philosophers, to scientists, to textual critics. In the specialized world of archaeology the attacks have increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Once a specialization filled with Bible believing individuals, the field of archaeology is now overrun with atheists and skeptics, agnostics and those committed to the destruction of the Bible as a source of true historical information.

These attacks on the Bible are a part of a sweeping movement in western culture. Spearheaded by academic elitists in the university and the public educational system, the news and popular media, and the entertainment industry, these revisionists cloak themselves with supposed objectivity, purity of motives, and the superiority of science over the "uninformed", "unscientific", religious community.

They regularly mock those who question their world-view and their conclusions by name-calling and the worst forms of anti-Bible and anti-Christian propaganda. They have powerfully infected the church by turning Bible believing Christians against the very Scripture which is the foundation of truth and life in this world. Instead of contending for the Bible, Christian academics, pastors, and lay-persons are making egregious accommodations to these destroyers of faith and truth.

In these days of intense spiritual battle, God has called ABR to step into the gap to contend for the truth and to assist the church in this critical hour. ABR is a non-profit ministry dedicated to demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible and to give answers to questions being asked by believers and non-believers alike. We do this by using original archaeological fieldwork and research along with studies in other apologetic disciplines. We take on the bold claims of skeptics and critics. We challenge the bizarre anti-biblical propaganda that is purveyed upon the public as gospel through television and print media. We uphold the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is God's message for the salvation of all mankind!
Translations on this website are prepared by a third-party provider. Some portions may be incorrect. Some itemsincluding downloadable files or imagescannot be translated at all. No liability is assumed by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for any errors or omissions. Any user who relies on translated content does so at his/her own risk.
This country takes in the most refugees

Von: By DIRK HOEREN

Germany takes in by far the most refugees being resettled within the EU.

Since the beginning of the EU programmes in 2015, 13 122 refugees have been moved to Germany from Greece, Italy, and Turkey  more than twice as many as, for example, to France (5868).

From Greece, 5198 refugees were brought to us. 4127 refugees came from Italy.

In the context of the EU-Turkey-deal (in force since April 2016), we took in 3797 Syrian refugees from Turkey.

Half of the EU states have not taken in any refugees from Turkey, including Denmark, the UK, and Poland.

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For Immediate Release, November 27, 2017



Contact: David Steele, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, (520) 321-1111 (o), (520) 970-2620 (m), davidss@simginc.com

Marc Fink, Center for Biological Diversity, (218) 464-0539 (o), mfink@biologicaldiversity.org

Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club  Grand Canyon Chapter, (602) 253-8633 (o), (602) 999-5790 (m), sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org

Roger Featherstone, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, (520) 777-9500 (w), (520) 548-9302 (m), roger@azminingreform.org Lawsuit Filed to Overturn Approval of Destructive Arizona Copper Mine Outstanding Arizona Waters At Risk TUCSON, Ariz. Four conservation groups filed suit in federal court today to overturn the U.S. Forest Services approval of a controversial open-pit copper mine in southern Arizonas Santa Rita Mountains. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the massive Rosemont Copper Mine would violate nearly a dozen state and federal laws, threaten critical water resources and destroy Coronado National Forest land. The lawsuit was filed by Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition and the Sierra Clubs Grand Canyon Chapter. We finally have our day in court before an impartial judge who will consider all the facts and render justice, said Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas. We are confident that once all of the facts are presented in court, the Rosemont mine will be found to be illegal and not allowed to proceed. Hudbay Minerals, Rosemonts Canadian owner, wants to blast a mile-wide, half-mile-deep pit in the Santa Rita Mountains and pile potentially toxic mine tailings and waste rock hundreds of feet high in the Cienega Creek watershed, which replenishes Tucsons groundwater basin. More than 5,000 acres would be harmed by the mine, including nearly 4,000 acres of public land that would be covered by the mines waste dumps, open pit, processing plant and infrastructure. The pit and waste dumps would remain as a permanent scar and environmental hazard on public land. The mine also would destroy prime jaguar habitat, land thats critical to the survival and recovery of jaguars in the United States. Earlier this year the Forest Service approved the record of decision for the Rosemont mine, declaring that the project complies with environmental laws and regulations and should proceed. The decision authorizes Rosemont to build and operate the mine for its projected life of 30 years. The Rosemont mine would permanently destroy endangered species habitat and pollute some of Arizonas most important waterways, said Marc Fink, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. The Forest Service should be working to protect rivers, streams and wildlife in the Coronado National Forest, not greenlighting this destructive project. Todays lawsuit urges the court to overturn the Forest Services approval of the Rosemont mine and prevent the project from proceeding. This mine is being proposed in the heart of important wildlife habitat and an important watershed that feeds several Arizona waters, including Davidson Canyon, an outstanding Arizona water,  said Sandy Bahr, chapter director for Sierra Clubs Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. Arizonas waters and wildlife are too precious to risk for the short-term profits of a foreign mining company, especially as the consequences will last for centuries. Once these waters are degraded and the streams eliminated, the damage is done and irreparable. We need to stop this mine, now. This mine proposal is the wrong mine, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, said Roger Featherstone, Director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition. Since the Forest Service chooses to protect the mining companys interests instead of our communities and the environment, we have no choice but to go to court. The suit spells out the devastating illegal impacts that will be caused by the proposed Rosemont Mine, including: The mine pit would be pumped or dewatered during the active mining phase and then would act as a hydraulic sink to the regional aquifer in perpetuity. The mine would reverse the natural direction of groundwater flow toward and into the mine pit, forming a lake in the pit more than 1,200 feet deep, permanently altering the hydrology of the Santa Rita Mountains. The mines dewatering is predicted to severely reduce or eliminate streams within the Cienega Creek Natural Preserve, the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, Davidson Canyon, and other springs and seeps including designated Outstanding Arizona Waters, as well as local residential wells. The mine would use more than 30 billion gallons of precious southern Arizona water (4.8 million gallons per day). After active mining ends, up to 230 gallons per minute would be lost due to evaporation from the pit lake. The Forest Service approval of the Rosemont Mine would allow for the creation of the mine pit lake after active mining ends. This pit lake is predicted to be extremely hazardous to wildlife due to the toxicity of pit lake water resulting from chemical pollution and the physical disturbance of naturally occurring substances. According to the environmental impact statement, the mine pit lake water quality could exceed standards for cadmium, lead, copper, mercury, selenium, and zinc, among other pollutants. The Arizona Game and Fish Department formally objected to the Forest Services approval, stating that the contaminated pit lake would violate federal and state wildlife protection laws. The Forest Service failed to require any mitigation for harm to wildlife from contact with the toxic pit lake water. Despite not knowing where the smelting or processing of the concentrated copper ore would occur, the Forest Service authorized Hudbay to transport the ore for decades via more than 50 trucks trips per day, seven days a week. Tucson, Douglas, Naco and Nogales are all potential targets for this heavy truck traffic. Rosemont is awaiting a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision on its Clean Water Act Sec. 404 permit for the project. The district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District recommended denial of the permit, which is now under consideration by the division commander. The mine also faces another lawsuit filed in September by the Center for Biological Diversity that challenges the biological opinion prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which led to the approval of the Rosemont mine by the Forest Service in June. Read about the Center for Biological Diversity's numerous other lawsuits against the Trump administration.
NAIROBI, Kenya - The InfoTrade in Kenya web portal has been officially launched to ensure increased international trade efficiency.

 RAJESH RAJENDRAN NAIR via 123RF

Traders in Kenya stand to benefit from increased efficiency following the launch of InfoTrade in Kenya, which has consolidated more than 120 documents and procedures required for import and export business in Kenya on one online platform.

The portal is estimated to serve at least 1.5 million users per month and consolidates 73 documents under exports, 52 under imports and one under transits (cross border trade) thus ensuring a shorter period in the export and import processes. It will now take a trader a maximum of five minutes to access summarised information on international trade procedures in Kenya.

Completion and launch of the information portal makes Kenya the first country in the East Africa Community (EAC) to fulfil Article 1 of WTO Trade Facilitation agreement which requires member states to publish their trade procedures online, displaying them step-by-step, with contact information on enquiry points, access to forms and other required documents and all relevant trade and customs laws.

Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) implemented the portal with financial support of approximately US$ 498, 000 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through TradeMark East Africa (TMEA). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) provided technical assistance.

Presiding over the launch, the National Treasury principal secretary, Dr Kamau Thugge said, The InfoTrade Kenya portal is part of the Governments initiative to facilitate trade in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation, to which Kenya is a signatory and obliges governments to be transparent and to provide information to businesses.

He explained that the Government has been at the forefront in streamlining international trade procedures through the implementation of National Electronic Single Window System also known as KENYA TRADENET that has seen improvement of Kenyas rating in the latest World Bank Ease of Business Index. Kenya advanced by 12 points to position 80, emerging third in Sub Saharan Africa after Rwanda and Mauritius in the Trading Across Borders category.

Trade facilitation

The InfoTrade Kenya portal is part of the Governments initiative to facilitate trade in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation

Principal Secretary, State Department of Trade, Dr Chris Kiptoo who also attended the event noted that the InfoTradeKenya platform was complimentary to the Kenya Trade Portal which was launched in October 2017. The latter, he clarified, is aimed at promoting Kenyan suppliers to the international market by linking them to global traders.

On the other hand, the InfoTrade Kenya portal was intended to increase access to information on international trade procedures and regulations, cut back unwarranted penalties resulting from documentation errors and enhance trade efficiency. Dr Kiptoo said that the two portals will be integrated in order to offer seamless information to traders.

Also speaking at the launch KENTRADE CEO Mr. Amos Wangora said If you are a trader, the portal will enable you to access all the relevant documentation requirements for imports and/or exports of your respective commodities from the comfort of your office or place of business. Our aim is to boost Kenyas efforts to become a globally competitive player in the overall share of trade in the world. It provides the current, potential traders and other stakeholders with total transparency on rules and procedures pertaining to import and export formalities, through detailed, practical and up-to-date descriptions of steps to go through, as seen from the users point of view to assist them to make informed business decisions.

Wangora added that the InfoTrade Kenya Portal together with the Kenya Trade Net System (National Electronic Single Window System) would provide an end to end solution on regulatory and documentation requirements in the country and to streamline and simplify trade processes for the business community.

TradeMark East Africa, chief executive officer, Frank Matsaert, said, Reducing the barriers to trade in Kenya to increase its trading opportunities internationally remains a key mandate for TMEA. We are proud to have partnered with KenTrade and UNCTAD to provide a portal that makes international trade information available, thus simplify the process of exports and imports and reduce the time taken. This portal complements TMEAs other work with government agencies including improving roads, the port, border posts and automation of key trade processes. Ultimately, these interventions will create a conducive business environment in Kenya, promoting job creation and reducing poverty.

UNCTADs head of the business facilitation programme, Frank Grozel, said that the portal uses UNCTADSs eRegulation content management system that enables transparency and efficiency in Trade therefore helping decision makers and implementers objectively analyse their progress towards effective trade facilitation.

Benefits of the InfoTradeKenya portal to traders and government include:
The Cape continues to experience rampant shack fires that devastate those with property in the informal sector. Dave Lindup, managing director of Magnastruct, however, has come up with a green solution.

Fire is a serious hazard throughout South Africa in informal settlements and it is estimated that, on average, over the last five years there have been 10 shack fires a day, with someone dying as a result every other day, says Lindup whose Cape-based company manufactures boards designed to help prevent the spread of fires.

Magnaboards are made from magnesium oxide, which Lindup says is superior in every category compared to traditional wood, gypsum and cement-based products.

Zero-flame spread

Magnaboard has a zero-flame spread and smoke development rating, a huge advantage considering that informal houses are generally built very close to each other, so fires can easily spread very rapidly from one to another, says Lindup.

In a fire test held at an informal housing settlement in Pniel near Stellenbosch, one of the homes was made out of Magnaboard while the other shacks were constructed with conventional materials. When the fires were started the shacks made of conventional materials burnt, buckled and collapsed, whereas the fire in the informal house made of Magnaboard could be contained and extinguished.

Lindup says Magnaboard is a green recyclable product with many characteristics welcomed by the built industry.

The fire retardant application has been a breakthrough for local government, business and NGOs so there is no excuse for not using fire retardant materials for building, particularly when it comes to informal housing, says Lindup.
The directors of Nova Property Group, which arose from the failed Sharemax scheme, have agreed to seek an independent "fairness opinion" on the structure of their proposal to list the group's R2.25bn property portfolio on the JSE.

Under pressure from angry debenture holders in Nova, the board said on Friday it would seek the opinion of independent auditors. This would give a view on whether Nova properties had been correctly valued and whether it is reasonable that Nova's seven directors receive a 43.1% stake in the listed entity while 19,700 debenture holders receive 34.45%.

Nova took on Sharemax's property assets in 2012, after the Reserve Bank shut Sharemax for unlawfully taking deposits. By that time, about 20,000 people, most of whom would become debenture holders in Nova, had invested nearly R5bn into Sharemax properties.

The debenture holders, most of them pensioners, met in Pretoria on Friday to debate the merits of a proposal to convert their debentures into shares in a new company holding Nova's property assets, which is to list on the JSE.

This would not only capitalise their claims against Nova, which total R1.68bn, but potentially give them more liquid, valuable instruments.

The listed entity would have a net asset value per share on listing of about 52c.

Attorney Graeme Polson, who chaired Friday's meeting, repeatedly asked debenture holders, many of who lost millions in Sharemax investments, to refrain from making emotional statements or attacking the morality of Nova's directors.

"There are people in their graves without money and their children are here fighting for what you've stolen from them," retorted one debenture holder.

MD Dominique Haese and chairman Connie Myburgh have faced criticism from debenture holders over the handsome salaries they have paid themselves, as well as the 97% stake in Nova that they bagged in 2012 at no cost.

This was due to the decision by most Sharemax investors to receive debentures rather than shares in Nova.

This arrangement was made clear to then Sharemax investors at investor meetings and in the scheme circular, Haese said on Friday.

But debenture holders again took issue with the historical arrangement at the meeting, suggesting that it was a sleight of hand on the part of Nova's directors and that they were not aware of it at the time.

Voting on the proposed listing has been postponed to March 2018, before which time the fairness opinion would be made available.

An investor that is to inject R400m of equity into the group was still undertaking a due diligence, said Myburgh.

Source: Business Day
The global upswing in economic activity is strengthening - economic growth is projected to rise to 3.6% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2018, driven by rising consumer and business confidence - according to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook Report.

Brian Jackson via 123RF

The question is how will this growth impact South Africa's travel and hospitality industry going forward?

Sigal Geva, COO at Premier Hotels & Resorts shares: As global economic growth is currently being led by Japan, Russia, emerging European markets such as Hungary and Croatia, along with emerging Asian markets like India and China, we anticipate an increase in tourism from these countries. Furthermore, China is expected to become the country with the highest propensity for travel abroad by 2022 and one of our biggest source markets.

The easing of South Africas visa requirements has already seen enormous growth in Chinese visitor numbers and we foresee this to be a continuing trend. China is already the largest source of tourism expenditure in the world, with this set to grow by 10.9% over the next five years, propelled largely by GDP per capita and the increase in middle-class households.

On the other hand, with downward growth in the United States and the United Kingdom - due to the rocky Trump administration and Brexit - we believe that there may be a slowdown in tourists from these markets. That said, the rands devaluation has made South Africa a highly affordable, and therefore attractive travel destination, adds Geva.

Prices impact decissions of travellers

With global economic growth gaining momentum, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) predicts higher demand for its crude oil. This demand, in turn, influences oil prices which are expected to rise by 5% in 2018. Airline prices will consequently be affected, with a 3% increase predicted for air prices in the Middle East and Africa region. Geva says that this increase, which is slightly lower than the global projection of 3.5%, could possibly impact the decision of cost-conscious international tourists to visit South Africa, given the 0.3% increase forecasted for Latin America.

She continues: They might be willing to overlook this, however, with hotel prices in the MEA region set to increase by only 0.6% in 2018, in contrast to the global prediction of 3.7%. PwCs Hotels Outlook: 2017-2021 forecasts moderating growth in tourism to South Africa, with the result being the average daily rate rising from R1,160 in 2016 to R1,650 in 2021. The report also projects that despite the slowdown in tourism, guest nights will grow faster than room supply and the occupancy rate for hotels will rise to 64.3% in 2021.

Car rental prices will also be affected as the global industry improves, with market growth estimated at a compound annual growth rate of 5.5% from 2017 to 2022, fuelled by a broader economic recovery. In the New Year, the MEA region will see the price of car rentals, as well as ridesharing, increase by 1%.

In 2018, global economic growth will see new markets being introduced to South Africa, taking advantage of relatively low price increases affecting our air travel, accommodation and road transport. Domestic tourism is also likely to flourish due to the global rise of travel and lodging prices far exceeding those in South Africa, coupled with the countrys depreciating currency. The growth of the global economy can help bolster the South African travel and hospitality industry and ultimately, our own economy, concludes Geva.
MSC Cruises has added a new marine safari experience destination to its South Africa itineraries, Pomene Bay in Mozambique, with MSC Sinfonia calling there for the first time as part of her inaugural season in the region.

Image Supplied

Pomene Bay is a remote and unspoiled peninsula, 605km north of Mozambiques Capital Maputo and 170km south of Vilanculos. It will offer a unique marine safari experience, complete with its own beach club, the MSC Pomene Safari Beach Club, exclusively for MSC Cruises guests sailing on MSC Sinfonia from Durban, South Africa.

Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Cruises executive chairman said: The addition to South African itineraries of Pomene Bay will be a game-changer for cruise holidays in the region. It is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to innovation, also when it comes to destinations and guest experiences.

Preservation of marine environment top of mind

Vago continued: Our vision for creating this unique marine safari experience is to give our guests exclusive access to some of the most beautiful and remote destinations in the world, as we are already doing for example with the Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in the Caribbean. We want guests to discover the rich and varied marine life that inhabits the waters around Pomene Bay within a context that puts the preservation and respect of the local environment as our top, uncompromising priority.

At MSC Cruises, as a company with over 300 years of seafaring tradition we have a passion for the sea and we respect the environment in which we operate, concluded Vago. For this reason, wherever possible we create opportunities to protect and preserve the natural habitat of some of the amazing destinations that we have the privilege to call. We hope that in the future we can establish Pomene Bay as an official marine reserve. In the meantime, we committed to developing its facilities in harmony with the natural surroundings and with a strong environmental focus. We are also working with the local community to ensure a positive, long-term impact.

MSC Cruises developed this destination with careful consideration of the local ecology and economy and in close cooperation with the local community. There is a no trash policy and all garbage will be taken back on board and delivered to the adequate port facilities in Durban. All construction and refurbishing works have been carried out in a way to protect the environmental integrity of the peninsula and an energy-efficient infrastructure will help put a sustainable operation in place. To create a positive economic impact, MSC Cruises employed local people for the renovation and construction work and will employ local people to deliver the shore excursions and activities, upskilling them to meet international tourism standards.

The development of Pomene Bay is part of an unprecedented, ten-plus-year 9bn investment plan, which includes the building of up to 11 next-generation smart ships, coming into service between 2017 and 2026, as well as the development of the Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in the Bahamas.

More reasons to cruise

Ross Volk, MSC Cruises country manager South Africa said: The addition of Pomene Bay will give guests more reasons to cruise with MSC Cruises. Portuguese Island represents a day of fun and festivities, Pomene Bay will enhance the cruise experience with an element of tranquillity, serenity and discovery, bringing something fresh and exciting to our itineraries.

Image Supplied

Pomene Bay, Mozambiques hidden gem, is one of the most beautiful and unspoiled destinations in the region. Uniquely positioned in the Mozambique Channel, the beautiful stretch of coastline offers breath-taking white sandy beaches and crystal clear, blue waters. Thanks to the warm currents from the Indian Ocean, the area is home to a rich variety of marine life; plants and birds, with a wide variety of tropical fish, turtles, dugongs and flamingos, to name just a few. The spectacular mangrove forests surrounding the bay are part of the Pomene Nature Reserve, a protected marine area that has managed to preserve its authentic and wild beauty thanks to its remote location. MSC Sinfonia will call once a week for a full day as part of an itinerary that also includes the Inhaca Archipelago on Portuguese Island.

The MSC Pomene Safari Beach Club, will offer a range of facilities dedicated to the guests, including a Club House complete with swimming pool, three beach bars and spa services from the MSC Aurea Spa in two private cabanas. A further eight cabanas able to accommodate up to six people each and six private cabanas can be booked for the day. For the kids, there is a jungle gym play area that will host animations, games and activities. To ensure an authentic look and feel, local artists have provided carvings and light fittings for the buildings and many of the furnishings have been made locally. Guests are able to visit a nearby fishing village, where they can purchase local handicrafts.

During their day at the beach, guests can choose to explore the area at their leisure and rent equipment to discover the ocean with snorkels, kayaks or stand-up paddle boards. A whole range of quality organised excursions are available, designed to meet differing holiday needs and showcase the highlights of the bay.
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Tanaiste and Minister for Business Frances Fitzgerald today announced 40 new jobs in Dublin.

The jobs come as US firm Md7 doubles the size of its International HQ in Dublin.

Md7 is a turnkey site development and real estate optimization company serving the telecommunications industry since 2003.

"The roles we are creating here include a range of skill sets, all of which will require third level qualifications. We have expanded in order to support the operations of our growing business and to serve our customers in Ireland, the UK and Europe," said Md7 President and CTO Mark Christenson.

Minister Fitzgerald described the announcement as "very good news".

"All these jobs require third level qualifications and the development builds on the Governments policy of developing new niche areas in the telecommunications sector," she said.
A Brazilian man who killed an Irish man in October of last year after being beaten up and racially abused by him has been jailed for eight years.

Juraci Da Silva was living at Park Lane apartments in Waterford having moved to Ireland for work a few months beforehand.

Mr Da Silva moved to Waterford in August 2016 after being recruited to work in a local meat factory.

Just before 3am on Oct 8, 2016, his trial heard he met James Banville and Conor Hogan in an alleyway known as Cross Lanes.

Mr Da Silva had never met them before and was attacked for no reason. Witnesses said they used racial insults.

They attacked him a second time near his home just 20 minutes later.

Afterwards, Mr Da Silva chased after them and stabbed both men. Mr. Banville did not survive.

Mr Da Silva was cleared of murder last month but found guilty of manslaughter.

Judge Michael White said it was an aggravating factor that he went after the men at a time when he was no longer under threat.

He said he had a 14 year sentence in mind but considering all the mitigating factors, he decided to jail him for eight years.
A dog walker has described coming to the assistance of a student who alleges she was attacked by a man she met on Tinder.

The 36-year-old Dublin man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault of the foreign national at UCD campus, Belfield, south Dublin on July 23, 2014.

On day five of the trial, Criona Cullen told Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, that she was out walking her dogs around the campus at around 10pm on that night.

She saw a woman who called to her can you help me, she testified. She said the woman's English was very poor.

She asked the woman was she hurt and the woman explained, in bad English, that she had met a man on Tinder and he had brought her to the campus but she didn't know where she was.

Ms Cullen said that the woman told her she had been in a car with the man and he had tried to have sex with her but she didn't want to. She told Ms Cullen that she managed to get away, the witness said.

Ms Cullen told counsel that the woman looked distressed. She said she told the woman she would help her and offered to either organise to get her home from her house or help her get a taxi from the campus.

She had no idea where she was. She said she wanted to go home, Ms Cullen said.

The witness said she hailed a taxi down for the woman. She gave her phone number to the taxi driver and told him if there was any issue with the woman being able to pay for the fare, she was happy to pay it.

A flatmate of the complainant told the trial that he met the complainant in the taxi when it arrived at their premises in Dublin city centre. He said she seemed really scared and afraid.

Something serious had happened. She said that a guy tried to rape her, the man said. He told Paul Flannery SC, defending, that his flatmate told him the man had taken her to an abandoned area.

The trial continues before Judge Cormac Quinn and a jury of six men and six women.
The Health and Safety Authority is investigating after a man drowned in Leitrim yesterday afternoon.

Its understood the married man in his 50s was involved in an incident while examining a lock on the Shannon-Erne waterway near Leitrim village.

The HSA has confirmed an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mans death is underway, after his body was recovered from the River Shannon at approximately 7pm last night.

In a statement to Shannonside FM this afternoon Waterways Ireland has offered sympathies to the family and friends of the man who they have described as their "esteemed colleague".
By Ann OLoughlin

The sister of a man whose body was taken from the River Liffey in 2008 claims her family are not being afforded fair procedures in an official inquiry into the garda investigation into his death, the High Court has heard.

The body of 24-year-old John Kelly, from Tallaght, Dublin, was recovered from Britain Quay on October 16, 2008.

His family campaigned for an inquiry into his death and last May, then Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald appointed former High Court judge, Daniel Herbert, to head an inquiry.

It was to look at, among other things, the content and significance of information provided by the gardai in relation to the injuries of Mr Kelly and the condition and whereabouts of his clothes, along with any forensic examination of those clothes.

The inquiry was also to look at any testimonies given by witnesses to the death and the response of gardai to emergency phone calls surrounding the death.

Today Mr Justice Donald Binchy granted Michael Lynn SC, for Mr Kellys sister Emer, permission to bring judicial review proceedings challenging the procedures of the inquiry. The application was on a one-side only represented basis.

Ms Kelly claims the family have been given inadequate notices of witnesses being called by the inquiry.

They got 24-hours notice that a doctor who was to give evidence and were unable to attend to cross examine him, Mr Lynn said.

The doctors evidence was not taken and when the re-arranged sitting to hear him was to take place, they got just two days notice, he said.

The challenge was being brought on the constitutional right to fair procedures grounds and under the European Convention on Human Rights entitlement of right to life, counsel said.

Mr Justice Binchy granted leave to bring proceedings but said he would not grant an order halting the inquiry until he heard from the other side.

He adjourned that matter to next week.
A family-of-six endured a horrific and terrifying ordeal when a number of men broke into their home in Pallasgreen in Limerick in April 2012.

The men threatened them at gunpoint and assaulted them.

Weeks later, Gerry and Ann Garveys three elderly neighbours were subjected to a brutal and frightening assault when they were attacked and robbed by the same men.

On Friday the three men, 54-year-old Patrick Roche, his son Philip Roche aged 24, both with addresses in Clondalkin in Dublin, and a son-in-law Alan Freeman with an address in Tipperary town were given lengthy prison sentences for their parts in the two violent robberies.

Gerry and Ann Garvey spoke on Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1 this morning to tell their story.

Gerry told Sean about being pinned to the ground with the butt of a shotgun pressed against his forehead for some time.

"It's quite a frightening moment, you feel completely helpless, there's absolutely nothing you can do to help yourself or your family," he said.

Ann spoke of how the men returned six weeks later, and how her neighbours were left for dead as a result of the assault upon them.

"Those three people, they were left for dead. It was an incredible situation, it went on for two and a half hours," she said.

"Nearly six years on, they don't go out. We don't see them."

Speaking of the cost to the tax payer, Gerry said that the trial of the three men cost was over 1 million.

He spoke of prevention being better than cure, looking for even half of that to be put towards preventative measures that would help gardai, that that would be money better spent.

Listen to the interview in full here:
An air strike on a Syrian village held by the Islamic State group has killed at least 25 people, all of them civilians, according to activists.

The Deir Ezzor 24 activist group blamed Russian warplanes for the strike yesterday on the village of Shaafa in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

The village is near the town of Boukamal, which Syrian troops and their allies captured this month.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a higher death toll, saying 53 people were killed, including 21 children.

The Russian defence ministry said six Tu-22M3 long-range bombers scrambled from Russia and carried out an air strike on "terrorists' objects" in Deir el-Zour.

Syria's violence has not abated ahead of the resumption of UN peace talks in Geneva tomorrow.

More to follow.

The peace talks will begin as scheduled even though the government delegation might not arrive on time, a diplomat has said.

The opposition had announced last week it was prepared to enter direct talks with the government without preconditions, although some opposition figures have demanded President Bashar Assad relinquish power once the country enters a transitional period.

The government has not named its delegation to the talks and the pro-government Al-Watan daily said the state's team is not expected to head to Geneva on Monday as scheduled, claiming the opposition demands for Assad to leave are "hidden conditions".

In Geneva, a diplomatic official close to the negotiations said that despite indications the government delegation had delayed its arrival, there was nothing to suggest the talks would not start on Tuesday as scheduled.

The UN's deputy envoy to Syria, Ramzy Ramzy, said after meeting Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad on Saturday in Damascus that the talks would cover four main topics, a new constitution, governance, elections and combating terrorism.
The UK government has been warned it faces a "very substantial rebellion" from Tory MPs if it fails to find the money needed for the armed forces.

New British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was urged to ensure Chancellor Philip Hammond "digs deep in his pockets" and tells Theresa May about her duty to defend the country.

UK Conservative James Gray's warnings of a rebellion came after Mr Williamson sidestepped questions over accusations he did not make any formal representations to Mr Hammond for more defence money before last week's Budget.

Mr Williamson, making his debut at the despatch box in his new role, said he wanted to understand the threats faced by the UK, with a defence review ongoing across the British government.

The UK Labour party joined senior Tory MP Julian Lewis in putting fresh pressure on Mr Williamson about potential cuts at Defence questions.

UK shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said Tory backbenchers were in "open rebellion" on the issue, with reports over the weekend that defence minister Tobias Ellwood could quit.

Mr Williamson told MPs he was yet to have a formal meeting with the Chancellor.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Gray said of Mr Williamson: "His background ideally suits him to fighting the corner in the review that's coming along.

"So will he please speak to the Prime Minister and remind her that her primary duty is the defence of the realm?

"Will he speak to the national security adviser, and indeed the Secretary of State at the Cabinet Office, to remind them that they must not use this review as some kind of camouflage to cut our services?

"Will he speak to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make sure he digs deep in his pockets to produce the money we need?

"And above all, will he speak to the Chief Whip to remind him if he does not do so he's going to be facing a very substantial rebellion?"

Mr Williamson replied: "I can assure him I will speak to every single one of those people that he has outlined.

"As he rightly points out, the defence of our nation is the first and primary responsibility of every government - that is one I take exceptionally seriously."

Mr Williamson added he would "do everything I can" to deliver for the armed forces.

UK Conservative former defence minister Mark Francois also told Mr Williamson: "The defence of the realm is the first duty of government above all others."

Mr Ellwood was earlier cheered by Labour MPs as he rose to answer a question about cadets.

UK Labour former minister Chris Bryant asked the minister to visit his Rhondda constituency, noting "he may have some spare time in the near future".

Mr Ellwood replied: "I'm not sure how useful I'd be if I had spare time in the future."

For Labour, Ms Griffith warned it was not possible to "do security on the cheap" and said it was "surreal" to hear suggestions that Mr Williamson had made no formal pre-Budget requests to the Chancellor for more money.

In response to whether he did make any representations, Mr Williamson replied: "What we have to do is to ensure that we understand what the needs are for our defence, our armed forces, going forward.

"She may wish to rush into things and actually just demand and demand and demand.

"What I want to do is to make sure that we have the arguments ready, understand the threats that this country faces and make sure that we deliver for our armed forces.

"That is what the focus is going to be. I have many conversations with the Chancellor and I'm looking forward to many, many more going forward."

Ms Griffith said she would "take that as a no", adding: "We are hearing the marines may be cut by 15% and the Army reduced to 70,000, something which would seriously put our international credibility at risk.

"With his own backbenchers in open rebellion and one of his ministers threatening to quit over cuts, just how bad do things have to get before the Secretary of State does his job, stands up for defence and tells the Prime Minister and Chancellor that enough is enough."

Mr Williamson said it was "a little bit rich" for Labour to lecture the Tories on defence and the Government was committed to increasing defence spending

Mr Lewis, chairman of the UK Defence Select Committee, told Mr Williamson: "When he does speak to the Chancellor, will he take the opportunity of reminding him that in the Cold War years we spent 5% of GDP on defence.

"Now, we spend barely 2% of GDP on defence, and perhaps a target nearer to 3% of GDP on defence might prevent our armed forces being further hollowed out?"

Mr Williamson replied: "I've always seen 2% as a base as against a ceiling, and I will certainly be taking on board his thoughts and comments going forward."
Families of the British men held in an Indian jail on weapons charges for four years have spoken of their relief and said their "dreams had come true" after all six were acquitted.

The men, known as the Chennai Six, were first jailed in October 2013 while working as security guards on a ship to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean.

The family of Nick Dunn, from Ashington, Northumberland, gathered together as they awaited news from the court in India.

On hearing the men had been cleared his sister Lisa said: "The longer it went on, as much as you still have an element of hope, it does dwindle after having so many delays and setbacks.

"But that hasn't happened today and we've had the best news ever.

"It will make all of our Christmases, all of our dreams have come true today."

Mr Dunn's father, Jim, said: "Absolutely fantastic, the best news in the world.

"We haven't been a full family for a long time now. Nick won't fully realise it's over until his feet touch down in Newcastle."

Customs officials initially boarded the vessel and were said to have found 35 guns and almost 6000 rounds of ammunition.

Charges against the British men were dropped but they were forced to remain in India while prosecutors pursued an appeal.

The men were Billy Irving, 37, from Argyll and Bute, Mr Dunn, 31, John Armstrong, 30, of Wigton, Cumbria, Nicholas Simpson, 47, of Catterick, North Yorkshire, Ray Tindall, 42, of Chester, and Paul Towers, 54, of Pocklington, East Yorkshire.

Yvonne McHugh, partner of Billy Irving, said she was "over the moon" the men had been acquitted and also that it was a "dream come true".

She added: "We are just waiting to hear how soon they'll be home.

"That's the biggest hurdle we faced and all of them have been acquitted."

Although the men have been cleared, Ms McHugh said she would be unable to speak to Mr Irving as he is not yet out of prison and does not have a phone.

She said: "I won't be able to speak to him until he's out of prison, we just want them home as soon as possible.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic and feel proud we've managed to do this after four years."

A post on "The Chennai 6" Facebook page earlier said families were "understandably delighted" at the news.

They are now waiting to hear when they will be allowed home from India to their families.

The post said: "We now wait to hear as and when the men will be allowed home to their families.

"This may take some time whilst the authorities decide whether they agree with the outcome or wish to appeal.

"If they wish to appeal the men might be released from prison but not allowed back to the UK.

"But the families are delighted that finally common sense and justice has prevailed."

News of their acquittal reached Downing Street which said it will continue to offer consular assistance to the men.

Theresa May's official spokesman said: "The government, from the Prime Minister down, has worked hard for over four years to support the men and their families and we share their happiness at the court's decision to give a full acquittal to each of the men.

"We are now working with the Indian authorities to discuss the next steps. We will continue to offer the men and their families consular assistance for as long as it is needed."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "Since I became Foreign Secretary, this case has been a top priority for everybody at the Foreign Office (FCO) and today's verdict is fantastic news.

"The FCO has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families. The importance the UK Government places on their case cannot be understated.

"The men, their families and their supporters, who have campaigned unrelentingly, must be overjoyed.

"I share their delight and I hope they can return home as soon as possible."
President Donald Trump used an event honouring Native American veterans to hit out at Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he has long derided as Pocahontas.

Mr Trump welcomed three Navajo code talkers from the Second World War to the Oval Office.

He called them "incredible" and "very special people".

During remarks on Monday praising their service, Mr Trump said: "We have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago.

"They call her Pocahontas.

"But you know what, I like you."

Trump made a "Pocahontas" jab at Elizabeth Warren while honoring Native American war veterans pic.twitter.com/tnpC0Urt7X  BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) November 27, 2017

The Republican president has repeatedly mocked the Massachusetts senator for claims she has made about being part Native American.

Native American leaders have called Mr Trump's past attacks on Ms Warren offensive and distasteful.

Some Democrats have called the remark racist.

Ms Warren quickly denounced Mr Trump's comments.

"This was supposed to be an event to honour heroes, people who put it all on the line for our country, who, because of their incredible work, saved the lives of countless Americans and our allies," Ms Warren said in an interview on MSNBC.

"It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honouring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur."

The president has long feuded with Ms Warren, an outspoken Wall Street critic who levelled blistering attacks on Mr Trump during the campaign.

He has seized in particular on questions about her heritage, which surfaced during her 2012 Senate race challenging incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown.

During that campaign, law school directories from the Association of American Law Schools from 1986 to 1995 surfaced that put Ms Warren on the association's list of "minority law teachers" when she was teaching at the University of Texas and the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms Warren said she listed herself with Native American heritage because she hoped to meet people with similar roots.

In a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, Ms Warren said she and her brothers were told of the family's heritage by their parents, the late Don and Pauline Herring.

Mr Brown pressed Ms Warren to release more information about how she described her heritage to potential employers.

Ms Warren said she never sought proof of ancestry because she did not think it was necessary.

AP
Three children and two men in the UK who died in a horror crash in a suburban street were all travelling in the same stolen car when it hit a tree, according to the police officer leading the investigation.

British Detective Chief Inspector Jim Griffiths described the "catastrophic" scene he witnessed after the collision on Stonegate Road, in Leeds on Saturday night.

Brothers Ellis and Elliott Thornton, aged 12 and 14, died in the collision along with 15-year-old Darnell Harte, Anthoney Armour, 24, and Robbie Meerun, also 24.

Speaking at the scene on Monday, Mr Griffiths said all five were in the black Renault Clio when it crashed.

It is understood a total of six people were in the car at the time. The sixth person, a 15-year-old boy, was arrested and remains in police custody.

It is believed he is hospital in a serious, but not life-threatening, condition.

A second 15-year-old, who is understood not to have been in the car, was arrested in the area but later released under investigation.

Mr Griffiths said: "When I arrived here in the early hours of Sunday morning this was a catastrophic scene.

"All the witnesses, all the police officers, all the emergency services that were here would have seen, absolutely, a scene of total carnage.

"It would have been a horrendous situation for anyone."

People living nearby have described a terrible scene of bodies lying in the road and a car reduced to a mangled wreck, barely recognisable as a vehicle.

Mr Griffiths said: "The car was in a terrible state when I arrived. It's difficult to describe it, really.

"It was a vehicle that had obviously been involved in a very serious crash, with very tragic consequences."

The detective said the car had been stolen in the Headingley area of Leeds at about 6.30pm on Saturday.

He said it was "believed to have been driven around the Leeds area during that time".

Mr Griffiths appealed for anyone who saw it between that time and the crash, just before 10pm, to contact him.

He said: "We are continuing to carry out inquiries to establish the full circumstances of the collision itself and the circumstances surrounding it.

"At this stage we believe that all those involved were travelling in the Clio at the time of the collision and that it was the only vehicle involved.

"We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who has seen the Clio and the manner of its driving in the time leading up to the collision."

Superintendent Matt Davison, who heads neighbourhood policing for the Leeds District, said: "This is a very tragic set of circumstances and our thoughts and condolences go out to everyone who has been affected by it."

He said: "Clearly the families have suffered a devastating loss and we appreciate that emotions will be running high in the community.

"We would ask that people focus on supporting each other and on supporting the police investigation, which will ensure that the circumstances of this incident are fully explored and that the criminal justice process is satisfied."

Relatives of the brothers were among a succession of people who went to look at the growing shrine of flowers, balloons, candles and messages at the scene in Stonegate Road.
Update 1.39pm: Pope Francis has arrived on a visit to Burma and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's poorest people, but the big question was whether he would utter the word "Rohingya".

Francis immediately dived into the Rohingya Muslim crisis by meeting Burma's powerful military leader, General Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations.

The general is in charge of the security operation in Rakhine state, where a military crackdown against the Muslim minority has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke did not provide details of the private 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence, other than to say: "They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the UN says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in Rakhine.

Burma's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohingya" because it is shunned by many locally as the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country.

However, Francis has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters", and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Burma's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalised.

Mr Burke did not say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

Upon arrival in Rangoon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Burma's Catholics, who lined the roads wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children in traditional dress greeted him as he drove in a simple blue car, chanting "Viva il papa!" (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Burmese and Holy See flags.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologised for the expected heat, which was 32C on his arrival and is expected to rise.

On Tuesday, he will begin the main protocol portion of his week-long trip, meeting the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and delivering a speech to other Burmese authorities and diplomats.

He will greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Burmese security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

AP

Ealier: Pope arrives in Myanmar to Catholic crowds but will he use the word 'Rohingya'?

Pope Francis has arrived in Myanmar in the start of a tour which will include visiting Catholic communities in neighbouring Bangladesh but the big question is whether he will utter the word "Rohingya".

The pontiff's trip has been designed to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's most peripheral and poor.

But the "will he or won't he?" issue has dominated debate before the trip, which began on Monday and ends with a youth rally in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on December 2.

Upon arrival in Yangon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed thousands of Myanmar's Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.

In Myanmar, Francis will meet separately with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, its powerful military chief and Buddhist monks.

He will greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka.

Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohingya", which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country.

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in poverty-wracked Rakhine state.

Francis, though, has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters," and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalised of society, no matter how impolitic.

"Being a religious leader - Catholic leader - means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, 'OK, he just came to meddle,'" said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner.

"So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations."

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine.

Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

The signals from the Vatican going into the trip were mixed: The Vatican spokesman used the term "Rohingya" in a pre-trip briefing and said "It's not a prohibited word" as far as the Vatican was concerned.

But the Holy See's top diplomat, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, avoided it in an interview with Vatican media on the eve of the trip.

The debate is not just semantic: Myanmar's government and most of the Buddhist majority consider them Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have lived there for generations.

"It's going to be a tricky situation (if he uses the word), I think because most of the people can't accept it," said farmer Win Myaing.

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term "Rohingya" carries so much political weight for all of Myanmar's people.

"But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people aren't going to like the pope anymore," he said.
Tens of thousands of travellers have been stranded in Bali after the threat from a volcano closed the tourist island's international airport.

Indonesian authorities raised the alert for Mount Agung to the highest level on Monday, and said the airport would be closed for 24 hours.

The volcano has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) into the atmosphere since the weekend.

Video released by the national disaster agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcano's slopes.

Tests indicated ash had reached the island's airspace, leaving tourists facing flight information boards showing rows of cancellations as they arrived at the busy airport expecting to catch flights home.

Airport spokesman Air Ahsanurrohim said 445 flights were cancelled, affecting about 59,000 travellers. The closure is in effect until Tuesday morning, but officials said the situation would be reviewed every six hours.

Bali is Indonesia's top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about five million visitors a year.

Geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised because the volcano had shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions.

"We don't expect a big eruption but we have to stay alert and anticipate," he said on Indonesian TV.

The exclusion zone around the crater was widened to six miles, from a previous three to five miles.

Ash up to half a centimetre (less than half an inch) thick settled on villages around the volcano over the weekend, and soldiers and police distributed masks.

The volcano's last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

Indonesia sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" and has more than 120 active volcanoes.

Mount Agung's alert status was raised to the highest level in September following a dramatic increase in tremors from the volcano, which doubled the exclusion zone around the crater and prompted more than 140,000 people to leave the area. The alert was lowered on October 29 after a decrease in activity, but about 25,000 people remained in evacuation centres.

Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says as many as 100,000 villagers need to leave the expanded danger zone, but that less than half that number have left.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affected 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

Nugroho said about 40,000 people had evacuated but others had not left because they felt safe or did not want to abandon their livestock.
Under-fire US senator Al Franken has said he does not remember whether he touched women inappropriately while having his picture taken with them at campaign events.

The Minnesota Democrat's comments are the latest indication that he has no plans to step down amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

One woman claims he forcibly kissed her on a visit to entertain US troops in Afghanistan and took a sexually suggestive photo while she was sleeping.

Three others allege he grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photos during separate campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

"I take thousands and thousands of pictures, sometimes in chaotic and crowded situations," Mr Franken said in an interview aired by CBS. "I can't say I haven't done that. I'm very sorry if these women experienced that."

He added that he has to be "a lot more sensitive, and a lot more careful" when he poses for pictures and when he meets someone: "I'm going to make sure that this does not happen again."

His interviews with Minnesota media outlets over the weekend were his first since he was swept into a nationwide tide of sexual misconduct allegations.

Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is accused of initiating sexual conduct with teenagers during the 1970s, and Michigan Representative John Conyers is giving up his leadership position as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee amid a congressional probe into claims of sexual harassment. Both men deny the allegations.

Mr Franken told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he does not remember the specific photos, but said such groping is "not something I would intentionally do".

Asked whether he expected other women to step forward with similar allegations, he said: "If you had asked me two weeks ago, 'Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect?', I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise. ... I certainly hope not."

The first woman to come forward was Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden. She released a photo earlier this month showing the then-comedian grinning while reaching out towards her chest, as if to grope her, as she slept on a military aircraft in 2006.

Mr Franken told Minnesota Public Radio on Sunday the photo was "inexcusable".

"What my intention was doesn't matter. What matters is that I am chained to that photo," he said.

"She ... didn't have any ability to consent. She had every right to feel violated by that photo. I have apologised to her, and I was very grateful that she accepted my apology."

Ms Tweeden said he also forcibly kissed her while rehearsing for a show, but Franken has said he has a different recollection of the rehearsal.

He faces a Senate ethics investigation - which he welcomed in the wake of Ms Tweeden's allegation - athough it is unclear when that may begin.

Mr Franken, who has not faced widespread calls to resign, said he will fully co-operate.

He missed Senate votes after the first accusations were made public. He said he spent the holiday break with his wife and the rest of his family, and when he goes back to work he will ask tough questions about proposed tax legislation that "would affect Minnesota and the rest of the country in a terrible way".

AP
Zimbabwe's security forces have reported incidents of looting and illegal occupation of farms and houses following the resignation of Robert Mugabe and the inauguration of his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

However, the military and police said in a joint statement that the "situation in our country has returned to normalcy" after a crisis during which the military staged a takeover and crowds demonstrated against Mugabe at the end of his 37-year rule.

Police, largely absent from the streets of Harare during the tumultuous leadership transition, will assume its role "as stipulated in the constitution" and conduct joint patrols with the military, including in the capital's central business district, the statement said.

Many Zimbabweans applauded the military for its role in Mugabe's resignation on November 21, but resent the police for alleged corruption.

At Mr Mnangagwa's inauguration as president on Friday, military commander General Constantino Chiwenga drew cheers from tens of thousands of spectators in a sports stadium, while the police commissioner, General Augustine Chihuri, was booed.

Mr Mnangagwa, once a close confidant of Mugabe whose November 6 dismissal as vice president led to Zimbabwe's momentous leadership change, has urged people not to settle old scores as a new government seeks to rebuild the economically struggling country.

However, the statement from the security forces said there were some problems.

"Law enforcement agents are already receiving reports of looting and illegal occupation of other people's properties, particularly farms and houses," it said.

The statement described such actions as criminal and against the spirit of reconciliation that the new government seeks to build, saying they "will be met by the full wrath of the law".

Colonel Overson Mugwisi and Charity Charamba.

Land is a contentious issue in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe's government, starting around 2000, initiated land seizures and evictions of farmers from Zimbabwe's white minority, which relinquished power in 1980 after a guerrilla war by black nationalists.

Mugabe said the often-violent reform programme was meant to redistribute resources to poor blacks, but many prime farms instead ended up in the hands of ruling Zanu-PF party leaders, party loyalists, security chiefs, relatives and cronies.

More recently, the situation was further complicated by rifts within the ruling party that led to the military intervention and the victory of Mr Mnangagwa over a faction linked to Mugabe's wife Grace, who previously had presidential ambitions.

AP
Latest News MFAA elects board members One re-elected, two newcomers welcomed

ANZ raises fixed rates Forty other lenders have hiked at least one fixed rate in the last month, data shows

National Australia Bank ( NAB ) has reached the fifth anniversary of NAB Commercial Broker by celebrating a number of key milestones.First established in 2012, the channel has grown to represent around a quarter of the banks new business lending flows and accounts for around 22% of the broader commercial market.This upwards trajectory includes year-on-year settlement growth of over 40% with the number of broker loans written increasing by 27% annually.NAB Commercial Broker formed its first aggregator partnership with FAST in 2012. It now has agreements with 20 aggregators with around 1,300 brokers writing loans for the platform.NAB Commercial Broker was created in recognition of the growing trend towards the use of commercial brokers and these figures clearly demonstrate the success of brokers in catering to Australias business community, said general manager of NAB Commercial Broker, Chris Thomas.The group has also expanded its broker support team to 60 staff members who service NAB Business Bank, NAB Asset Finance as well as Small Business, Franchise, Agribusiness, Health, Private and Corporate.Throughout the year, the bank has expanding its support for brokers within the commercial and small business lending space including through its Hows Business? campaign which launched in July.Our small business team has received terrific feedback from many brokers who are now assisting a client with their business needs, where in the past the client only sought their help for a home loan, Thomas told Australian Broker.Diversifying into commercial lending can offer brokers access to additional revenue streams while expanding their value proposition beyond mortgages, he said.Our aim is to make diversification a real possibility for brokers, by continually improving our digital lodgment process to ensure it is smooth and simple.With a growth mindset amongst small business owners, there is an increased demand for brokers who offer a diverse range of services, he added.In the coming year, NAB will continue to invest in its business development managers to provide a greater on-the-ground presence for brokers in capital cities and regional communities.We are also investing in improved technology to enable a digital experience to complement the personal relationships we have with brokers via the many business banking centres we have across the country.
A 24-year-old man is facing a slew of felony charges for illegal straw purchase of 21 guns at gun stores, almost exclusively in Bucks County. Leonard Truesdale was arraigned on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, on 21 counts each of making false statements on firearm purchase forms, criminal conspiracy to make false statements on firearm purchase forms and selling or transferring...
This NCIS: Los Angeles episode sees Joelle Taylor pop up in Callens life again, this time with claims that she was kidnapped and hes the only one she can trust. But can he trust her?

Fool Me Twice sees the team refuse to be played by Joelle yet again, but as they learn once the truth comes out, something they thought was over for them may not be.

NCIS: Los Angeles Recap: How Does Kensi React to Seeing Asakeem Again?>>>

What to Do When Your Ex Needs to Wear Your Girlfriends Clothes

A woman with a hood over her head attacks her interrogator. Two guards come in to chain her to the floor. But as the interrogator cleans up, he realizes hes missing a collar stay. When he gets back to the room, the guards are dead and the prisoner is gone. That prisoner is Joelle, who goes to Callen and tells him she needs his help.

Joelle claims she quit the CIA and didnt know everything the rogue group was doing. To her displeasure, Callen just puts Kensi and Deeks on overwatch with her family. He doesnt trust her, but theres a kid involved. While he says that whatever trouble shes in has nothing to do with him, she disagrees, saying, It has to do with national security.

Joelle tells Sam and Callen that she let her guard down and got into a routine a couple months out of the CIA. She was grabbed at a stop sign after dropping her kid off at school, and she thinks that someone drove her car away. She never saw their faces; they put a hood on her right away. Based on what she was asked by someone with an American accent, shed say he worked for a foreign intelligence agency. She gave them the intel she had, but it was six months old. She tells them how she escaped and where she was held, but she doubts theyre still there and worries theyll go to her house.

Once alone, Callen asks his partner what he thinks. Sam says Joelle would be the perfect target (former CIA, falls into a routine, history of corruptibility), but maybe shes too perfect. They cant ignore the threat, especially not with video of her kidnapping (but was it staged?), Mosley says, but warns them, She fooled you once, boys. Dont let it happen again.

Her husband, Nick, knows enough not to ask questions, Joelle tells Callen. But when they get to her house, Nick reluctantly accepts that shell explain later when she sends him and their son with Kensi and Deeks. While she wants to stay at home, Callen refuses to give her home field advantage and takes her to Sams boat.

Meanwhile, Sam and Harley check out the warehouse where Joelle was held. But just as he notices a camera on in the corner of the room where she was held, a steel door slides shut, closing them in as a fire starts. Sam breaks through a wall and gets them out of there, but hes really worried about his boat now. He doesnt trust much when it comes to Joelle, especially since, as Harley points out, she played them for years, which no one has done before.

Quiz: Who is Your TV Boss?>>>

And You (and They) Thought They Were Done with That Rogue CIA Group

It mustve been meant for her, Joelle says when Callen informs her of what happened and continues to insist shes not lying. But when she goes to leave, he warns her that if she does, her family goes back home. She stays.

Kensi questions Nick about an affair he had, but he tells her that it ended three months ago, shes not a threat and his wife knew the entire time and just didnt stop it. It killed him when Joelle slept with other men for her job, but he couldnt do anything about it. She couldve stopped him and didnt, making him wonder if everything was based on a lie.

After finding out from Sabatino that Joelle lied about leaving the CIA and is still active, Sam and Callen confront her. She didnt think Callen would help if he knew the truth, she says, admitting that she was kidnapped by the rogue CIA group to which she used to belong. They took them down, they argue. No, not the man behind the curtain, she reveals, and he wants to rebuild. Join or die, he told her, but shes done with them. She doesnt need them to trust her. She just needs them to keep her family safe. Thats what gets them to believe her; shes been consistent about wanting to protect her family. Then cameras in Callens house pick up men who look like Joelles kidnappers.

Theyre gone by the time LAPD and agents get there. Mosley wants to turn it all over to the CIA, claiming its not their problem. But Sam argues that if the rogue group is still active, theyre a threat to NCIS. He buys the team two hours when he points out that they have to investigate the kill room in the warehouse that almost took out him and Harley, and a burned router inside leads to an international mining company that did business with the corporation that owned the warehouse.

The team sets up at the company, with Kensi and Deeks going around the office with 3D microphones so Joelle can listen to voices to see if the man who interrogated her is inside. While waiting, she calls Callen out on not approving of her having a family and her job, even bringing up Sam being in the same position and what happened to Michelle, but Callen points out that Sams wife knew the risks. Does Joelles husband?

Joelle recognizes the voice of her interrogator. Hes Colton Leach, the VP of Operations of the company, but theres no indication that hes CIA. The company has interests in the Middle East, where the rogue group did their wet work, but its not enough for them to move on him. Then more masked men show up and box in the food truck that Callen and Joelle are in. While everyone starts shooting, Joelle runs inside to go after Leach after Callen gives her a gun.

When Kensi tries to stop Leach from leaving, even showing her badge, he chooses to go with his own men, and Callen ends up finding him and Joelle on the roof. Leach has been shot in the stomach, but he warns Joelle that hes not it. Hes part of a group called the Syndicate, and theyre not CIA. They just own a piece of the agency, but it turns out that the CIA isnt good at securing the Middle East.

They want Joelle to be part of their new, better plan. But just as shes lowering her gun after he tells her the CIA doesnt understand that shes not made for civilian life, Leach pulls a gun. Callen shoots him, but Joelle is shot  and Sam tells the team when he returns to the office that she didnt make it.

As for how the men found Joelle, Harley discovers that there was an app running in the background on Nicks phones, tracing his calls, and Callen had let Joelle call her husband. It leads back to the woman with whom he was having the affair, and shes MIA. She was keeping an eye on Joelle through Nick.

Speaking of Joelle  shes not really dead. She just believes that her family will be safer if they believe she is while she hunts down the Syndicate.

Are you disappointed that theres another piece to that rogue CIA group? Do you want to see Joelle again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 airs Sundays at 9/8c on CBS. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.

(Image courtesy of CBS)
In this episode of Outlander, titled Uncharted, Claire meets an unusual man on the island of Saint-Domingue and worries how shell reunite with Jamie, the Artemis encounters rough waters and a couple weds.

Claire successfully escapes the Porpoise and makes landfall on an island. Shes a bit discouraged since she has no idea where she is or how or where to find Jamie. A more immediate concern is the lack of fresh water. (She didnt think to grab a flask of water before jumping ship?) As a doctor, Claire knows she can only survive three days without it.

Outlander Recap: Claire Learns Life or Death News About Jamie>>>





Is This Outlander or Survivor?

She wanders inland, hoping for a road where she can hitch a ride to a nearby port and buy passage to Jamaica. After a day, it looks like this island could be of the Gilligans Island variety. Her first night in the wilderness, shes able to use two stones and light a fire but wakes up with her legs covered in fire ants.

Claire ventures into the jungle and spots some cocunuts, but theyre too high for her to reach. She falls asleep at the base of a tree and awakens to a giant snake slithering across her body (literally a snake, not a certain part of Jamies anatomy). Unlike most women  myself included  who would jump up and start screaming bloody murder, Claire maintains her composure until the snake goes merrily on its way.

Everybodys Gone Nuts

By day three, Claire is becoming a bit delirious and stumbles upon a man preaching and then passes out. When she opens her eyes, there are no snakes, but she is tied to a bed. A woman, Mamacita (Vivi Lepori), gives her some water and explains that she cant free Claire or shell scratch her ant bites, which the woman has treated with some green paste. Mamacita removes Claires clothes and takes a keen interest in the zipper on the corset.

Claire passes out again, and the next time she wakes up, shes greeted by a very cheerful Englishman, who introduces himself as Father Fogden (Nick Fletcher) and welcomes her to Hacienda de la Fuente. Fogden proves to be a solicitous and gracious host. He unties Claire and offers her food and water, warning her to drink slowly. She tells him shes a doctor, and hes shocked, but Claire insists its quite common in the American colonies. Fogden believes Claires arrival to be a good omen since one of his goats just gave birth  the first newborn in some time.

Claire learns that shes on the island of Saint-Domingue. Claire explains that her husband is traveling to Jamaica, and she needs to find him. There is a village a days walk away where she can catch a ride on a fishing boat. Claire is ready to leave immediately, but Father Fogden insists it is too dangerous. More specifically, Coco  an actual coconut  thinks its not a good idea. (Yes, Coco bears a resemblance to Wilson the volleyball.)

This island has an unsavory element known as Maroons  escaped slaves who have fled their masters and seek refuge in the hills. Father Fogden also warns of pirates. So, all in all, either Claire takes her chances with Maroons and pirates if Father Fogden is telling the truth, which is unlikely since he talks to coconuts or she hangs out with a guy who  talks to coconuts.

Claire, Father Fogden and Mamacita sit down to dinner, and while Mamacita is no fan of Claires, Father Fogden opens up about his past. Fifteen years prior, Fogden was working with the poor in Cuba. He met a woman, Emenegilda, and they fell in love. In addition to Emenegilda being married to a very cruel and wealthy man, Fogden was a priest, so they were forced to flee Cuba and ended up on Saint-Domingue. Unfortunately, Emenegilda became ill not long after their arrival and died.

Fogden offers Claire some yupa to smoke, which he promises has some euphoric effects. This probably explains why the guy is talking to a coconut  hes high all the time.

Claire wisely refuses and asks how to get to the nearby village. She plans to leave in the morning. Fogden wont let Claire make the trip alone; he insists on accompanying her. He also doesnt want her to leave for at least a week. Claire emphasizes the urgency of her journey, but Fogden isnt swayed. Mamacita, on the other hand, wants Claire out immediately. She thinks Claire is a whore. (Why does every woman who meets Claire in the 18th century immediately call her a whore?)

Mamacita thinks theyve done their Catholic duty, but Fogden argues that Claire has brought them good fortune and is welcome. The two argue because Mamacita is convinced that Fogden is hoping Claire will replace her daughter, Emenegilda. In this particular hacienda, Mamacita has the last word  well, her and Coco.

Quiz: Which TV Sidekick Are You?>>>

Arabella, Abandawe and the Artemis

The following morning, Mamacita brings Fogden the skinned head of one of his goats, Arabella, claiming a sailor is responsible for the beloved goats death. Fogden retrieves a jar of black insects and dumps them on Arabellas skull, and they immediately begin to consume what remains. Fogden tells Claire they come from a sacred cave known as Abandawe. This rings a bell with Claire because the fortune teller in Edinburgh warned her of this very place. Fogden says Abandawe is a place of great power, and many have disappeared there.

Fogden laments that his Arabella was killed by a Chinaman. (Mamacita broke this news in Spanish, one language Claire doesnt speak.) Claire suspects the man in question could be Willoughby and learns there were many sailors and broken sails on the beach. Claire asks how to get to the ship, and while Fogden is distracted by goat grief, Mamacita instructs Claire to run through the jungle and just keep on going.

The Artemis ran into some trouble and broke one of the main sails. Many crew members died, including Captain Raines. Jamie, Fergus, Lesley and Hayes, along with the rest of the survivors, repair the mast and prepare to set sail.

Claire rushes through the jungle towards the beach and gashes open her arm on a branch along the way. She reaches the beach and sees the Artemis in the distance and begins to scream Jamies name, but hes too far away. Claire stole a small mirror from Fogdens house and uses it to catch the light, sending a signal to the boat. Jamie spots his wife and goes rushing back for her. Hayes and Lesley comment how Jamies wife has a tendency to turn up in the most unlikely places. (Thats putting it mildly.)

Willoughby stitches up Claires arm, and she tells her husband about the warrants. Willoughby regrets that they didnt cut the body up, leaving nothing for anyone to find. (Hes a dark one.) Claire assures her husband that Captain Leonard is an ambitious man, and he wont stop until he finds Jamie, but Jamie has no intention of stopping until he finds Ian.

On a less dismal note, Jamie shares with Claire that he has given Fergus and Marsali his blessing. He thinks that with all the death and suffering, it might be a good time to find some joy  a wedding. Good thing Claire knows a priest.

First, Willoughby has to apologize for Arabella. He offers up a chicken as a mea culpa. To his credit, Fogden decides to let bygones be bygones, citing that he too was once a stranger in a strange land. Then they get high on yupa.

Claire tends to Marsali before the ceremony, asking if theres anything Marsali wants to know. Shes a bit surprised when Marsali inquires about birth control. She does want babies, but she saw how unhappy her mother and Jamie were together, and she wants what Jamie and Claire have. She wants some alone time with her new hubby before pushing out bairns. Claire assures Marsali she can be of assistance in that area.

During the ceremony, Fogden asks Fergus for his full name, but like Madonna and Prince, Fergus explains that hes just Fergus. Fogden insists that a surname is necessary, so Jamie informs the priest that Fergus full name is Fergus Claudel Fraser.

Please, Sir, May I Have Some More?

Back on the ship, Claire enjoys some turtle soup made for her especially by Willoughby. It contains a whole lot of sherry, so Claire is buzzed. Shes also got a huge gash in her arm and has a fever. Good thing she brought that penicillin from the future. Jamie tries to give his wife the shot but cant bring himself to stick her with the needle. (Insert filthy joke here.)

Once shes full of antibiotics, Claire really starts to feel frisky. And when Jamie talks about her nipples being like big, round cherries, all of us ladies know why. He does make a valiant attempt to fight off his drunken, infected spouse, but the power of the turtle overwhelms them, and sex ensues.

How will Claire and Jamie avoid Captain Leonard? Are the bones that Abernathy and Claire examined in Boston related to Abandawe? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Outlander season 3 airs Sundays at 8/7c on Starz. Want more news? Like BuddyTVs Facebook page.

(Image courtesy of Starz)
India  Americans shopping on .com this holiday season may find that the best deals for popular gifts like leather shoes and luxury bedding are coming from an unexpected source: Indian merchants.
Over the coming weeks, over 4 crore Tata Teleservices customers will be automatically shifted to the Airtel network under an intra-circle roaming (ICR) arrangement, according to the two companies. However, Telecom regulator Trai is looking to raise objections to the transition.
The embattled Essar Group on Monday announced the closure of its BPO arm Aegis sale for Rs 2,000 crore and said it has been able to pare debt by Rs 75,000 crore, thanks to the proceeds from the recent sale of its refinery business.

The company announced the conclusion of the Rs 2,000- crore sale of Aegis to Capital Square Partners (CSP), marking its exit from the business process outsourcing (BPO) business. Earlier, it had concluded a $13 billion deal to sell its oil business to Russia's Rosneft.

A July media report had pegged the total debt of the group at Rs 1.38 trillion. Some reports had said the Rosneft deal alone would have helped it pare debt by Rs 70,000 crore.

However, it was not immediately clear about the levels to which the debt of the group has come down to.

The diversified conglomerate has been selling off assets to pare its high debt, which has seen it exiting the oil business and also sell realty holdings, apart from Aegis, the BPO arm.

"Net proceeds from this sale (of Aegis)...will be used to retire our debt at the group level," Essar said in a statement.

"The closure of this transaction is in line with Essar's intent to reduce the leverage that is complemented by an asset monetisation programme. The proceeds from the sale of Aegis and Essar Oil have enabled Essar to retire almost Rs 75,000 crore of debt," it added.

The Aegis sale was announced on this April 3 and involved AGC Holdings Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global, selling 100 per cent stake in ESM Holdings Mauritius, the holding company of Aegis, to CSP, a Singapore-based private equity fund.

The statement said Essar had acquired Aegis Communication in 2003 and it has now grown over tenfold to become a significant player in the outsourcing industry.

Aegis is present in nine countries, including India, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, England, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Peru and Malaysia.

Under Essar, it carried out 19 acquisitions and all of them were successful, the statement said.

"The closure of this transaction is yet another validation of Essar Global Fund's commitment to reduce its leverage by monetising the non-core businesses," Uday Gujadhur, director of AGC Holding, said in the statement.

"We are keenly looking forward to working with the Aegis management team to grow its global footprint and enhance



its capabilities and excellence in service to its customers," CSP managing partners Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda said in a joint statement.
Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, is all dressed up to welcome Ivanka Trump, whos leading the US delegation for the eighth edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. From Taj Falaknuma, venue for state dinner to be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to Hitec City, where the summit is being organised for the next three days, Ivanka is the theme. But thats not the only global attention that the city has been getting.

A senior official in the Telangana government pointed out that leading global brands such as Amazon, Walmart and IKEA are investing top dollars here. American retail major Walmart, which set up its first Hyderabad store a few years ago before Telangana happened, is gearing up to open two to three more cash and carry outlets in the city. Hyderabad is a three-to-four-store market for Walmart, a company executive told Business Standard. Theres no other city in India that Walmart has so far identified as a three-to-four-store market. Agra and Bhopal have two Walmart stores each and thats the highest so far for any city.





ALSO READ: GES 2017: Ambani, Godrej, Adani to join PM Modi at Ivanka dinner

Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon, too, has been upbeat on Telangana. The Jeff Bezos-led group set up Indias biggest fulfilment centre in Hyderabad some six months ago, spread over nearly 400,000 sq ft with close to 2.1 million cubic feet of storage space. Along with this, Amazon has five fulfilment centres in Telangana offering around 3.2 million cubic feet of storage. Also, its biggest campus, anywhere outside the US, will be ready at Gachibowli (Hyderabad) in 2019.

Company executives at Walmart and Amazon, corporate rivals, attributed the global brands interest in Telangana to transparent industrial policy, single-window clearance and overall ease of doing business. In fact, IT minister in the state

K T Rama Rao or KTR as hes popularly known, and son of chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, is just one phone call away, an industry representative said. Top bureaucrats in the ministry, too, are readily accessible, he added.

Swedish furniture major IKEA, too, recently launched its first experience centre in India in Hyderabad. Its first signature store in the country, spread over around 400,000 sq ft, is also coming up in Hyderabad next year. IKEA has committed the largest single-brand retail investment in India till now at Rs 10,500 crore.

Multinationals in IT sector such as Microsoft, Apple and Google have major presence as well in Hyderabad.



Amazon set up Indias biggest fulfilment centre, spread over 400,000 sq ft with close to 2.1 million cubic feet of storage space, in Hyderabad some six months ago. Photo: Bloomberg

B V P Rao, advisor to the Telangana government, said, while Hyderabad has been known for its information technology and pharmaceuticals prowess, we are consciously developing defence & aerospace as a new pillar. Whether its for manufacturing, servicing or training in defence & aerospace, the Telangana government is on an overdrive to make it big. The states focus on logistics and warehousing is also attracting industry in a significant way, Rao said.

The largest incubator in the country, t-hub, located in the Hitec City of Hyderabad, is another example of how Telangana is dealing with industry. In the past two years, since its inception, t-hub has assisted around 350 start-ups. Work has already begun for the second phase of expansion of t-hub which will mean shifting into a building spread over 365,000 sq ft space. According to CEO of t-hub, Jay Krishnan, in the next three years, Hyderabad will be among the top 10 global start-up destinations. While t-hubs current five-storey office is already attracting global investors and start-ups from across the world, Krishnan is clear that e-commerce is kept out of the way at the incubator because that is an over-crowded space already.




The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) will be shifting its imported cargo to Mumbai Port Trust warehouses from January to reduce the cost and time taken in transactions.
Gains from sale-and-lease-back of aircraft helped GoAir post a 36 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit during FY 2017. Net profit for fiscal-year 2017 was Rs 205.25 crore as against Rs 150.24 crore in the previous year.
Chinese mobile handset major Xiaomi has replaced Samsung at the top position in the countrys urban market. The Beijing-headquartered company, which entered India three years ago, has managed to garner a higher market share in the top 50 cities during the September quarter.
Terrorism has become a constant global threat and humanitarian forced will have to fight unitedly to defeat it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday as the country paid tributes to those who sacrificed their lives during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a convention to mark the party's 5th Foundation Day at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

Delhi Chief Minister on Sunday accused the BJP of dividing India on Hindu-Muslim lines and said it had done in three years what Pakistan and its ISI could not do in 60 years.

"Pakistan's biggest dream is to divide Hindustan on the lines of Hindus and Muslims. Those who're dividing the country on the lines of Hindus and Muslims are ISI agents," the Aam Aadmi Party leader said at the party's Conference here.

"Under the veil of patriots, they're anti-nationals. They want to weaken the country. This dream has been harboured by Pakistan. What Inter-Services Intelligence could not do in 60 years, the BJP has done in three years," he said and asked voters in Gujarat to defeat the BJP.

Thousands of party workers participated in the conference at the Ramlila Maidan here, from where the India Against Corruption movement led by Anna Hazare started and later gave birth to the AAP party in 2012. The event drew participation from 22 states.

Talking about the December Gujarat elections, Kejriwal said: "I request the people of Gujarat to give your vote to the candidate or party who can defeat the BJP."

"If somewhere, the AAP is winning, give your vote to AAP. If any other party is winning, give the vote to them. But defeat the BJP," Kejriwal said.

Speaking on the occasion, AAP founder-member Kumar Vishwas said the party had moved away from the path it set out on and has to find the right way forward.

"Don't you think we have gone somewhere else from where we were moving to five years ago? We have to find the right way," the AAP leader said.

He also called for introspection on the part of the AAP leadership and cadres. "We should think about ourselves as to where we started five years ago and where we are now."A

Vishwas said some party leaders do not talk about social activist Anna Hazare, under whose leadership many of them participated in the 2011 anti-corruption movement. "Anna was the creator of this campaign."

Referring to the AAP Council meeting held this month, he said his name was not in the list of speakers at the event. However, he said, he will not go anywhere and stay in the party.

In October, AAP revoked the suspension of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who had accused Vishwas of being a traitor. In May, Khan was suspended, days after making the accusation and Vishwas was named AAP incharge of Rajasthan.

While thousands of party volunteers in the crowd sported the trademark AAP white cap with the party symbol "broom", many like Munesh Rani, 53, had the broom symbol and "AAP" painted on their cheeks.

AAP party flags with Kejriwal's face and party symbol dotted the ground as volunteers waved them as AAP leaders spoke from the stage.

Party leaders, including Delhi Ministers Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai, AAP Spokesperson Ashutosh, Secretary Pankaj Gupta, as well as Punjab MP Bhagwant Mann spoke on the occasion, as were a large number of AAP MLAs from Delhi and Punjab as well as AAP corporators from the national capital.
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The Madras High Court today acquitted 35 crew members of a private US ship, who were convicted by a trial court last year, for illegally entering Indian waters with weapons in 2013.

Allowing their appeal, Justice M Basheer Ahamed set aside the lower court's January 11, 2016 order which sentenced the crew to five years rigorous imprisonment. The high court held that the charges against them had not been proved.

The arrested included 10 Indians.

The lower court in Tuticorin had found the crew of US company owned ship 'Seaman Guard Ohio' guilty of violating Indian laws by possessing weapons. It had also slapped a fine of Rs 3,000 on each of them.

Justice Ahamed also directed that the fine amount paid by the crew members be returned.

'Q' branch police had filed the case against the crew members for illegally entering Indian waters with weapons.

The crew, arrested on October 18, 2013, after their ship was intercepted by the Coast Guard off Tuticorin port, were granted conditional bail by the High court Bench here in March 2014.

They were arrested after the Coast Guard found the ship carrying arms illegally in Indian waters off Tuticorin.

They faced charges under the Arms Act and the Essential Commodities Act which was invoked as the ship had allegedly bought diesel from a local agent in violation of law.

US firm 'AdvanFort International', which owns the ship, has maintained that the vessel was involved in anti-piracy operations and had not strayed into Indian waters.
Pushing the Bharatiya Janata Partys campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was ready to sell tea but would never sell the country.
Prime Minister on Sunday suggested installing "justice clocks", which would rank the best performing courts of the country, at various court premises to encourage competition among judges in disposing of cases.

Addressing a gathering at a Law Day event in New Delhi, Modi said competition helps in faster development.

As of now, such a clock is installed at the office of the department of justice here, which shows the best disposal of cases among courts.
Two events happening in Hyderabad on Tuesday underscore the importance of this southern city as a booming tech hub, a key centre for entrepreneurship and the top ranking city in terms of quality of life.
Kerala Police has said that they are monitoring messages on social media as a lot of threat messages are spreading through social media, claiming to be that of .

"Every aspect of such messages is being enquired into by Police, including the veracity of them. While enquiring into such aspects, we also normally give certain alert messages to the authorities concerned, as a precaution and to remain alert. We are keeping a watch on the critical infrastructures of public interest. We are alert," stated a press statement from the state police chief Loknath Behera.

The press release further stated that the above mentioned things are part of "normal policing activities."

"In this context I would like to inform the public that these are part of normal policing activities and there is no need to panic," stated the state police chief.

He further requested people to not to fall for such messages and help the police to keep them from spreading.
A package of measures to reduce air pollution levels significantly in the National Capital Region (NCR) around Delhi by the winter of 2018 is expected to be formulated soon and implemented within a specified time frame.
The Kerala Police has said that it was looking into the "threat messages", claiming to be that of the Islamic State terror group, being spread on social media and asked people not to panic.

The official statement was released by the police yesterday after some "threat messages" were reportedly being circulated through social media.

"The police was on an alert and also requested people not to fall prey to such messages and keep off from spreading them," Kerala Director General of Police Loknath Behra said.

"A lot of threat messages are spread through social media, claiming to be that of the ISIS...Every aspect of such messages are being inquired into by the police, including the veracity of them," Behra said in a statement here.

The state police chief further said that while probing into such aspects, the police also normally give certain "alert messages" to the authorities concerned as a precaution and to remain alert.

"We are keeping a watch on critical infrastructures of public interest...We are alert," he said, adding they were part of the normal policing activities and there was no need to panic.
Pushing the BJP's campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi why his party applauded the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

Modi, who started his high-voltage campaign with a rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town, launched a stinging attack against the Congress party.

"You are happy to hug Chinese ambassador, you are clapping on the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Army's surgical strike. But why did you speak up about it? You could have just remained silent," he said.

Gandhi had recently tweeted: "Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed."



The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed by a Pakistan court.

Modi said the election in his home state is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics



He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

"Recently Pakistani court released a terrorist, I cannot understand why these Congress people are clapping here," Modi said in his speech delivered in Gujarati.

He also alluded to allegations by Congress leaders, including the Congress vice president.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

Taking a dig at the opposition party, which is making all out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers... were standing eye-to-eye against the Chinese soldiers for over 70 days, at that time you were hugging the Chinese ambassador here...

"For whose benefit did you do this? I am asking you," Modi said, without taking any name.

He referred to the Mumbai 26/11 terror strike and the attack in Uri and asked what was the difference between one government and another, one leader and other.

The meaning of living and dying for the country can be known by the response, Modi said.

"They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks," he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress raised questions on the surgical strike in September 2016.

"They could not respect Indian Army, they asked questions like none of our soldiers was injured? None of them died? Have you any photo or video evidence? Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan?" he said.

"When you go to the house of the poor and eat rotis, you ensure that you are filmed, but does that mean that a surgical strike should be filmed?" the prime minister asked.

Modi will address a series of campaign meetings today and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The second phase of elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on 14. The votes will be counted on December 18.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Moscow on Sunday for a three-day visit. The high-level visit is going to focus on strategic and security partnerships between the two countries.
Sunday happens to be the birth anniversary of Verghese Kurien, the man known for his work towards revolutionising India's dairy industry. He is called the 'Father of White Revolution' in India for transforming the country from a milk powder importer to the world's largest milk producer and an exporter. During his association with India's dairy industry, its annual milk production increased from 20 million tonnes in 1970 to 80 million tonnes in the 1990s.
Retired Admiral L Ramdas on Monday sought a special judicial enquiry to investigate the sudden death of a CBI Special Judge Brijmohan H Loya on December 1, 2014 when he was on a private trip to Nagpur.

At the time of his death, Justice Loya, 48, was hearing the politically sensitive Sohrabuddin A. Sheikh 'encounter' case while he was in custody of the Gujarat Police in November 2005 in which an accused was BJP President Amit Shah, later acquitted.

In his letter dated November 24 to Chief Justice Dipak Misra and released to the media on Monday, Admiral Ramdas said: "Justice Loya, appointed by the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to investigate the murder of Sohrabuddin (A. Sheikh), dies under mysterious circumstance while on a visit to Nagpur."

The silence of the two judges, who apparently persuaded the late Justice Loya to travel to Nagpur (Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Sunil Shukre) and accompanied him, was very disturbing, to say the least, he added.

"The inaction of the judiciary about this sequence of events thus far is indeed surprising. This is all the more puzzling in the context of recent revelations by family members of the late Justice Loya who have raised certain questions, apprehending foul play in the circumstances leading to his sudden death," Admiral Ramdas said in his letter.

He added that a judicial probe at this point, at least to respond to the queries raised by the family and to uphold the image of the judiciary in the eyes of the people, was "absolutely necessary".

"As a former Chief of Indian Navy, I feel strongly that it is critically important to clear any doubts about this entire incident. Therefore, in the larger interests of the nation and its people, and above all in upholding the Constitution and the image of our entire legal system, a high-level judicial enquiry should be initiated immediately," Admiral Ramdas said.
Scientists have taken an important step forward in their quest to develop an effective vaccine against - the world's deadliest infectious disease.

(TB) kills more people than any other infection, with an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide dying from it every year, researchers said.

The airborne disease is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, but despite 20 years of intense global efforts no effective vaccine has been developed, they said.

Recent efforts have focused on the response of conventional human T cells - a type of white blood cell essential to fighting off infection - to protein fragments found in Mycobacterium (Mtb), the bacteria that causes TB.

Now, researchers from the universities of Southampton and Bangor in the UK, have shown that certain lipids - fatty substances essential to cell structure that are found in abundance in Mtb - could trigger an immune response from other, 'unconventional' types of T cells.

In the study published in the journal PNAS, the team showed that a group of lipids called mycolic acids - a major component of the Mtb cellular envelope - could be key to determining an immune response.

The study showed that the geometry, chemical make-up and movement of the mycolic acids' long lipid 'tails' when they are embedded in a type of human protein called CD1b determines the response of the body's unconventional T cells.

"This is an exciting discovery with potential therapeutic implications for TB patients. We have shown that synthetic lipids related to those in the cell wall of Mtb are selectively targeted by T-cells," said Salah Mansour, from the University of Southampton.

"Our findings could help drive advances in vaccine development through the intelligent design of the lipid components of future TB vaccines," said Mansour.

"This is a very exciting result of a collaboration between organic chemists and immunologists, which could provide a real opportunity for improved protection against TB," Juma'a Al Dulayymi, from Bangor University added.
Restrictions were today imposed in parts of Srinagar to maintain law and order in view of a strike called by separatists.

Restrictions have been imposed in seven police station areas of Srinagar, District Magistrate (deputy commissioner), Srinagar, Syed Abid Rashid Shah told PTI.

Shah said while strict restrictions have been imposed in Rainawar, Safakadal, Nowhatta, Khanyar and M R Gunj police station areas of the city, partial restrictions were in force in Maisuma and Kralkhud areas.

The curbs have been imposed as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order, he said.

The separatists, chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chief Yasin Malik, have called for a shutdown today to protest the alleged harassment of people in the valley by security forces and ill-treatment of youth languishing in jails.

The strike affected normal life across the valley.

Most of the shops, fuel stations and other business establishments were shut across Kashmir, officials said.

They said public transport was off the roads at most places, but private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were seen plying.
Jagtar Singh Johal, a Sikh born and raised in Scotland visiting India for his wedding, was taken into custody by the Punjab police along with three other men on November 4. The case has raised alarm among Sikhs in India and across the Sikh diaspora with concerns being raised about the due process around Johals arrest and subsequent allegations of torture.
The states which recently announced farm loan waivers are unlikely to see any impact on their market borrowings through state development loans (SDLs), says a report.

States borrow from the markets through state development loans (SDLs) to fund their fiscal deficit. Five states--Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh--have announced farm waivers involving over Rs 1.2 trillion bank loans to tens of millions of farmers.

When these states will raise their market borrowings through SDLs, the yield will be higher comparing to those states which have not announced farm loan waivers, according to a weekend report by SBI Research.

"Interestingly, our findings suggest that, has no impact on the yield of these states. In FY18 till November 14, data suggests that Maharashtra is borrowing at a low yield rate than the median range of 7.43 per cent," the report said.

It said markets do not differentiate between different financial conditions of the states, notwithstanding their very different financial conditions.

"All the states that are fiscally better managed may explore the feasibility of disseminating their best fiscal practices through various channels to attract lower yield," the report said.

State development loans are issued by RBI through an auction-based system since 2006-07. Though these bonds are backed by government guarantee the yields on SDLs varies from one states to another and largely remain above the government securities yield.

Such a yield differential could possibly be attributed to the fiscal marksmanship of individual states, the report said, adding state-wise data on SDLs borrowing indicate that the bigger states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, UP, Gujarat, Bengal, Andhra and Karnataka borrow more than 60 per cent of the market borrowings through SDLs.

Northeastern states borrow the least because of more Central assistance. Karnataka, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand are the states which have seen a rapid spurt in market borrowings over the years.

In FY12, total amount of SDLs borrowed from the market was Rs 1.6 trillion that jumped rapidly to Rs 3.6 trillion in FY17, clipping at 18.2 per cent per annum.

The weighted average yield of SDLs on yearly basis of all the states has come down from 9.17 per cent in FY14 to 7.60 per cent in November 2017.

States that frequently borrow from markets with higher ticket size are attracting better yield than those states which are not frequent in the market, it added.
Reacting to relatively better price realisation as compared to other varieties of pulses, farmers had till last week planted gram (chana) on around 1.3 million hectares, around 14 per cent more than in the same period last year.
West Bengal's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, on Monday said her government is going to invest $15 billion in the next five years to improve infrastructure to encourage investments.

Not only will it help to construct roads, flyovers, ports, power and several other projects but it will also boost industrial development and investor confidence.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is inviting applications for the post of Specialist Grade-III (Radio-diagnosis) under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Candidates willing to take up the post can apply for the same till November 30, 2017 (Thursday). The number of vacancy is 10 reserved for UR (1), OBC (6), SC (2) and ST (1). The qualified candidates would be paid as Rs.15, 600-39,100 with Grade Pay Rs.6600/- plus N.P.A as admissible. So far the job location is concerned, the candidate would be liable to serve anywhere in India. The post carries probation of one year.
In a stinging attack on the Congress in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the upcoming Assembly election is a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

He also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics," the prime minister said at the rally.

Taking another dig at the opposition party, which is making all-out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."



The Prime Minister will address a series of campaign meetings on Monday and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be on December 18.
In an apparent bid to scuttle dissent, the Congress has asked around 50 of its candidates over phone to file their nominations tomorrow, the last date for filing of nominations for the second phase of Assembly polls in Gujarat, party sources said.

Monday is the last date for filing of nominations for the second phase of Gujarat polls, but the Congress is yet to announce its list of candidates for all the 93 seats of north and central Gujarat which would go to polls on December 14.

The sources said that all the sitting Congress legislators including Kalol MLA Baldevji Thakor and MLA from Kadi(SC) seat Ramesh Chavda have been given the "mandate" by the party on Sunday.

"We have already given mandates to 50 of our candidates. They have been informed over phone that they are selected," said a senior party leader.

Narendra Ravat will contest from Sayajigunj seat of Vadodara, currently held by the BJP.

"I was informed over the phone that I am selected for Sayajigunj seat," Ravat told PTI, adding that he has already started his preparations and will file his nomination tomorrow.

Similarly, Thakor and Chavda too admitted that they have been given mandate by the party.

"The mandate is now in my possession and I will file my nomination tomorrow," said Thakor.

The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat, having total 182 seats, will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18.

Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.
Frank Micelotta/Hulton ArchiveLast year, word came that Frances Bean Cobain and her estranged husband, Isaiah Silva, were arguing over ownership of Kurt Cobain's Martin D-18E guitar, which the late Nirvana frontman famously played during the band's MTV Unplugged performance. Well, the ex-couple is still fighting about it -- and now, mom is getting involved.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Frances plans to call her mom Courtney Love as a witness to testify about the guitar, which Silva claims Frances gave him as a wedding present in 2014. The guitar is estimated to be worth more than a million bucks. Frances denies giving Silva the instrument, and is demanding its return.

Last year, Courtney told TMZ that the guitar is a "treasured heirloom of the family," and described Silva's relationship with her daughter as "very dangerous and toxic."

In addition to Courtney's testimony, The Blast reports that Frances will also provide evidence that includes pictures of the guitar, receipts for its purchase, and text message from Silva to an unnamed third party.

Frances and Silva broke up in March of 2016.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit poll-bound Gujarat on November 27 and 29 to spearhead the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign for the Assembly elections.

On Monday, he is scheduled to visit Kutch and Saurashtra region to address four public meetings ahead of the December 9 and 14 elections.

He will arrive in Bhuj on Monday morning to address a public gathering at R R Lalan College's ground around 9 a.m.

Thereafter, he will visit Saurashtra region's Jasdan and address a public meeting at Vichhiya Road at 11 am.

Around 1 pm, he will visit Chalala and address a public gathering at the Gayatri Mandir Maidan on the Chalala-Dhari Road.

His last public address will be at Kadodra Aankdamukhi Hanumanji Mandir at around 3 pm, after which he will fly back to Delhi. He will return to the state on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday continue the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Gujarat campaign blitz with a rally in Bhuj. This will be followed by several public meetings in Kutch, Jasdan, Dhari, and Kamrej.
A group of students from Arunachal Pradesh on an excursion tour sponsored by ITBP, called on the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju, here today. Shri Rijiju inspired the students to reach new heights in their career by following the ideals of hard work and discipline. He exhorted the students to excel in their education and to be role models in their life. He emphasised on instilling qualities with a sense of responsibility and accountability towards society and nation as a whole. He said, a learning mind can help prosper the growth and development of country. .

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The Minister said that learning and knowledge with mastery in specialization can be drivers for their success in future. Shri Rijiju emphasised on learning the cultural heritage of country with an attitude to societal transformational change for betterment of the country. .

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The students of classes 9th to 12th from Government Secondary Senior School and presently studying demonstrated their eagerness to learn and to be Champions of change for societal and nation building. .

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When seen from the perspective of reason and rationale, the gift of life is the ultimate gift that one could give and organ donation is, therefore, a God like act and needs to be encouraged." This was stated by Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State (HFW) on the occasion of 8th Indian Organ Donation Day, organised by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), here today. Urging all to come forward and donate their organs, Smt. Anupriya Patel said that apart from promoting organ donation, it is important to improve infrastructure and capacity of Government Hospitals for undertaking transplantation so that even those who cannot afford transplantation may also benefit. Smt. Anupriya Patel also administered the pledge to the participants to donate organs. Dr. C. Vijaya Baskar, Minister of Health, Government of Tamil Nadu was also present at the function. .

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Speaking at the function, Smt Anupriya Patel stated that it is important to understand that in India it is mainly the living donors who are donating organs and only about 23% of the organ transplant is being done with organs obtained from the cadavers. There is a need to promote cadaver or deceased organ donation rather than relying on living donors in order to avoid the risk of commercial trading of organs and also to avoid the inherent risk to the health of the living donor, Smt Anupriya Patel added. .

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Dr. C. Vijaya Baskar, Minister of Health, Government of Tamil Nadu, expressed happiness at the announcement of Tamil Nadu being adjudged the Best State in Organ Donation for the third time in a row. He highlighted the exemplary work that Tamil Nadu had done by retrieving 5933 organs from 1056 donors; and had been the first state in India for various initiatives like mandatory certification of Brain Stem Death, streamlining organ distribution and setting up green corridors. He informed the participants that Tamil Nadu is also supplying free immunosuppressant drugs and is providing sanctions of upto Rs. 35 Lakh under the Chief Minister Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme for facilitating organ transplants in the private sector. .

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Smt Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health), applauded Shri K. K. Sharma, Director General, BSF, for his efforts towards motivating 70,000 personnel to pledge their organs, and also congratulated the state of Tamil Nadu for leading the nation in the field of organ donation. She urged the religious leaders and youth to take forward the movement of organ donation and highlighted the importance of ownership at the highest level, and connectivity at the lowest level to build up a successful and transparent organ donation program in the country. She not only pledged her organs, but also reaffirmed her commitment towards the cause. .

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At the event, Smt. Anupriya Patel felicitated Shri K.K. Sharma, DG, BSF, and the families of deceased organ donors from various parts of the country. The best performing states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Telangana also received awards whereas JIPMER, Puducherry was announced as the Best Budding performer in Organ Donation and Transplantation. Yashoda Hospital, Telangana, PGI, Chandigarh and Sahidri Speciality Hospital, Pune were declared as the top three Best Hospitals in the country for their contribution. Transplant co-ordinators, Dr. Patricia Namitha Maria Viego, Karnataka; Dr. P. Periyanayagam, TN; Ms. Sangeeta Sherawat from Safdarjung Hospital and Mr Balram from AIIMS bagged the prizes for best transplant co-ordinators. Non-government organisations like the Mohan Foundation, Organ India, NSS, and Kidney Foundation of India were also felicitated for their efforts. .

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Also present at the event were Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Director General Health Services, Dr. R.K. Vats, Addl. Secretary, Health Dr Sudhir Kumar, Joint Secretary, MoHFW, Shri K. K. Sharma, Director General BSF, Dr. Vimal Bhandari, Director, NOTTO and senior officers from BSF, CRPF and the students and representatives of various development organizations. .

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The alert for a volcano belching huge plumes of smoke on Indonesia's resort island of Bali has been raised to the highest level, officials said on Monday, with fears a significant eruption could be imminent. .

"The volcano's alert level has been raised to the highest level," said senior state volcanologist Gede Suantika. "Constant tremors can be felt.

The closure of I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport on the Indonesian island of Bali due to a volcanic eruption has affected 445 flights, including 196 routes, its operator said on Monday.

PT Angkasa Pura, the operator, has prepared five alternative airports for airlines to divert their inbound flights, including ones in neighboring provinces, it said in a statement.

Bali airport's official website showed flights operated by Singapore Airlines, Sriwijaya, Garuda Indonesia , Tiger Air, Malaysian Airlines and Jetstar had been cancelled.

Malaysia Airlines will cancel all flights between Kuala Lumpur and Denpasar-Bali today following the volcanic activity at Mount Agung in Bali.

"The airline is monitoring the situation closely and will adjust its flight operations into and out of Ngurah Rai Airport when necessary," a statement by Malaysia Airlines read.

Thereafter, Malaysia Airlines will allow affected passengers to - apart from a full refund or deferment of travel until end of February 2018 - a change of destination (subject to seat availability) to Jakarta, Surabaya or any ASEAN destination the airline flies to.

Jet Airways 9W4622 from Bali Denpasar Airport (DPS) to Singapore has also reportedly been cancelled.

Indonesia has raised an alert for the volcano on the tourist island of Bali and have ordered evacuation of people within 10 kilometres.

The eruption at Mount Agung has become magmatic, the country's disaster management agency said, warning that a larger eruption could be imminent. As a result, the alert status for the surrounding area has been raised to level 4, the highest level.

Mount Agung spewed smoke reportedly as high as 4,000 m above its summit and disrupted at least 28 flights departing and arriving at the island.

The region around Mount Agung has been on alert since late September when more than 140,000 people were told to evacuate over fears of an imminent eruption.

Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing nearly 1,600 people in one of Indonesia's most devastating eruptions.
More than a decade ago I wrote a play called Breakfast with Mugabe which was directed by Antony Sher and produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company in 2005. The play suggests why the former Zimbabwean leader spiralled into paranoia  and then remarkably recovered in the build-up to the 2001 presidential elections in Zimbabwe.
The Oxford and Cambridge Club, one of the UK's most elite gentlemen's clubs open to alumni of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, has called in the police and private investigators after being hit by the theft of online data of its 5,000 members.

A backup computer drive, described as the size of a toaster, was taken from a locked room inside the club's headquarters in Pall Mall, central London, earlier this month.

The information on the hard drive includes members' names, home and email addresses, phone numbers, some bank account details, dates of birth and even photographs.

Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, and son, Prince Charles, who are both honorary members, are not affected by the break-in, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Alistair Telfer, the club's secretary, has written to all members by email and followed it up with a letter seen by the newspaper urging them to check bank accounts regularly for "suspicious activity".

"We have been advised that we should write to confirm that there may have been a data breach at the Club which could possibly result in disclosure of your personal data held on the Club computer system," he wrote.

He adds: "This situation has arisen as a result of the theft of a storage disk, and not as a breach of the cybersecurity system, and although the data contained on the disk is protected by multiple layers of security and heavy password protection, we have been advised by data specialists that there is a very remote chance that information could be obtained.

"The management team would like to extend their apologies for the inconvenience caused by this unfortunate incident."



The club stressed that no credit or debit card details were contained in the database.

The club's management has called in Scotland Yard and also hired private investigators to get to the bottom of the theft.

Metropolitan Police officers are studying CCTV footage as part of their investigation.
The young Egyptian imam who survived the Sinai mosque massacre that killed 305 people vowed today from his hospital bed to go back and resume the sermon he never finished.

Mohammed Abdel Fattah, 26, was delivering the Friday sermon at the North Sinai Rawda mosque when blasts erupted.

"I was only two minutes into my sermon when I heard two explosions outside the mosque, and then I saw worshippers running in horror," he said.

"Then people entered the mosque and began firing at everyone who was still standing," the preacher said from his hospital bed in the Nile Delta town of Al-Husayniya.

Abdel Fattah -- who has been imam for two years at the Rawda mosque frequented by Sufis -- said his sermon on that tragic day was about "Mohammed, the prophet of humanity".

The imam fell from the raised minbar, or pulpit, when the attack broke out and was trampled by worshippers who tried to flee the carnage.

And when he hit the ground, people stepped over him, before the bodies of those shot by the attackers piled on top of him, pinning him down and preventing him from lifting his head to see what was going on.

"As soon as the shooting started I fell. I didn't see or feel anything except for the two or three bloodied bodies that fell on top of me," he said.

Among the first casualties was 62-year-old Fathy Ismail, the mosque's muezzin who called the faithful to prayer.

Authorities said up to 30 militants in camouflage clothing and flying the black banner of the Islamic State group surrounded the mosque and opened fire on the faithful during the main weekly prayers.

Abdel Fattah suffered bruising, but his health appears to be improving and he hopes to be back on his feet to continue the sermon that was brutally interrupted.

"If my health allows it, I will return next Friday week (to Rawda mosque) and finish my sermon," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
arrived in Myanmar on Monday on his first papal visit to the country as part of a six-day two-nation South Asia tour.

Francis has become the first pope to ever visit Myanmar. His visit comes amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis after the Myanmar military carried out operations against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine forcing some 620,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh.

He arrived in Yangon where he will stay at the archdiocese's headquarters where he will hold an interfaith dialogue with Myanmar religious leaders, reports Efe news.

On Tuesday, the pontiff will head to the capital city Nay Pyi Taw, where he will be officially welcomed by President Htin Kyaw and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

is also scheduled to attend a major Mass on Wednesday, after which he will hold a meeting with the Supreme Council of Myanmar's Buddhist monks and another meeting with bishops.

On Thursday, he will officiate a new Mass dedicated to the children at the Cathedral of Santa Maria, and then meet Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing.

According to some observers, the Pope is likely to act as a mediator for the humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh, which the UN has dubbed a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

The military operation - which has killed hundreds of people and led to multiple rapes, burning of villages as well as crops since the end of August - has forced more than 620,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh.

The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Myanmar, Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang, did not deny the Pope's possible role in mediation.

The Holy Father can accelerate the reconciliation process between the two parties, the Bishop told Efe.

The visit was organised before the crisis, when the Pope met Suu Kyi at the Vatican in May.

After Myanmar, the pope will travel to Bangladesh on Thursday, becoming the first Catholic leader to visit Dhaka since 1986.

In Bangladesh, Francis is scheduled to meet a small group of Rohingya refugees in a symbolic gesture.
Pope Francis set off on his 21st and possibly most delicate overseas trip yet, a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis.

The 80-year-old pontiff's plane left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar's main city, shortly after 2100 GMT.

He will touch down around 0700 GMT on hoping to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar, forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.

"I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope," Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter's Square, shortly before packing his bags for the diplomatically fraught trip.

Some 620,000 Rohingya, more than half their total number, have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.

Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week's tentative agreement between the two countries to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
Reporters working inside Myanmar's Rakhine state to document the Rohingya crisis have gone missing, raising fears that they have been deliberately targeted by the military, a media report said on Monday.

Young Rohingya volunteers had been secretly reporting on the persecution of the Muslim minority in Myanmar since 2012, sending photos, videos and audio clips out of the country using smartphones, the Guardian report said.

Human rights groups have claimed the Myanmar military have killed and abducted many of the reporters to "sabotage" the networks and that there was now very little reporting on what is happening in the closed state of Rakhine.

Rohingya refugee Mohammad Rafique, who edits the Rohingya community news portal The Stateless, said that "over 95 per cent" of Rakhine's mobile reporters had gone missing since the crackdown began.

"Security forces and Rakhine militia are still committing rapes, killings and arson in the Rohingya villages. But (as) the Rohingya mobile reporter network (is) dysfunctional there now, the detailed information of the violence, which we need to produce credible media reports, is not reaching us.

" media reporters and human rights activists too gather persecution and violence-related information from the Rohingya mobile network. They all, including our community's media outlets, are being starved of information from Rakhine now," the Guardian quoted Rafique as saying.

When riots broke out between Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine in 2012, the authorities deployed the military, with allegations surfacing that the Army committed human rights abuses in the Rohingya villages.

The Rohingya community leaders then set up the network of undercover citizen reporters, who began documenting incidents and sending reports out of the country, mostly for use by Rohingya media outlets.

Ko Ko Linn, a Bangladesh-based Rohingya community spokesperson, said 2,000 had been active in 2016.

Noor Hossain, 25, a former mobile reporter who fled to Bangladesh in early September, said they took extraordinary risks to gather information.

Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, said: "With Rohingya reporters being absent on the ground, much of the eyewitness video and other information they provided has been lost...

"It's clear that the Myanmar military has been systematically committing atrocities against the Rohingya - but the community's own monitors are not there to report it anymore."

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Saudi Arabia's assertive crown prince on Sunday opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led alliance of Muslim nations against terrorism, vowing that extremists will no longer "tarnish our beautiful religion."



Mohammed bin Salman's words come as the Islamic State group, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria.

However, the alliance doesn't include Iran, Iraq or Syria, while member nation Qatar sent no one to attend the one-day Riyadh gathering amid a diplomatic standoff between Doha and four Arab nations led by the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia announced the alliance in December 2015, when the crown prince was still only the kingdom's defence minister.

Since then, his father King Salman has elevated the 32- year-old prince to be next in line for the throne in the oil- rich kingdom. The crown prince also recently put a number of wealthy princes, businessmen, military leaders and under arrest over corruption allegations at various luxury hotels in Riyadh.

The alliance initially announced with 34 nations, now includes 41, according to the Saudi government. Addressing the defence ministers and other high-ranking officials, Crown Prince Mohammed said today's meeting sends "a strong signal that we are going to work together and coordinate together to support each other."



"The biggest danger of this terrorism and extremism is the tarnishing of the reputation of our beloved religion. ... We will not allow this to happen," he said. "Today we start the pursuit of terrorism and we see its defeat in many facets around, the world especially in Muslim countries. ... We will continue to fight it until we see its defeat."



The crown prince also offered his condolences to Egypt, which suffered an attack Friday by Islamic militants on a mosque in northern Sinai that killed 305 people.

"This is indeed a painful event and it is a recurrent and strong reminder the dangers of this terrorism," he said.

The meeting did not include Iran, which has aided embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's civil war and backed Shiite militias crucial in pushing the Islamic State group out of Iraq.

The Sunni kingdom is the Shiite power's archrival in the Mideast and remains concerned about its influence in the region after Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Saudi Arabia also leads a coalition of nations fighting in Yemen against Shiite rebels there who have Iran's backing. Saudi Arabia also made a point to put Qatar, absent from the gathering, at the end of the list of 41 countries that belong to the anti-terrorism alliance.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties to Doha in June, partly over allegations that Doha supports extremists and has too-close ties to Iran. Saudi Arabia also closed its land borders, seaports and airspace to Qatar.
Zimbabwe has a new leader. Robert Mugabe is out. His former ally turned rival, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is in. What now?
Pakistan's Law Minister Zahid Hamid has tendered his resignation following the deadly clashes across the country between police and protesters belonging to hardline religious groups, the state broadcaster said on Monday.

The protesters had staged a sit-in in the capital for about three weeks demanding the removal of Hamid for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017. They alleged the action undermined Islamic beliefs and linked it to blasphemy.

ALSO READ: Pakistani police battle Islamist hardliners near Islamabad

Hamid, the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, presented his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis", Radio Pakistan reported.

The resignation came as part of an agreement reached between the government and the protesters overnight. The deal came after a two-day face-off in Islamabad and other parts of the country between protesters and security forces that saw at least six people killed and hundreds injured.
Outstation cab aggregator start-up AHA Taxis on Monday announced receiving of pre-series A funding by Lead Angels and its investors ah! Ventures for an amount undisclosed.

Aha Taxis, which is operational in over 4000 destinations across India, will utilize the funds in technology and further expansion in Bihar, Jharkhand and pilgrimage destinations in India.

Working on the USP of offering one-way fare for hiring taxis for outstation trips, whereas the trade norm used to be to charge the return fare, AHA Taxis achieved BREAK EVEN with scale and reach to geographies where likes of UBER and OLA is not operating.

"AHA Taxis has been positively changing the dynamics of outstation taxi market in India. With thousands of driver partners and pan India presence, we are now providing outstation taxis service in more than 4000 cities across India. Making it possible to travel from anywhere to anywhere in India with AHA Taxis isn't small achievement team," said CEO Amit Grover.

"We are working on algorithms to optimize reverse fill rates. Auto allocation; taxi routing, shortest path algo to control pricing and availability. With the help of machine learning, the system would be able to learn seasonal demand, price and supply relation, and predict upcoming demand from selected cities and routes," said CTO AHA Taxis, Praveen Samariya.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A massive anti-Pakistan protest was held in the Tarar Khel area of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as locals, including women and children, raised slogans demanding an end of Pakistani occupation.

A march was carried out by the protestors shouting pro-independence slogans blaming the Pakistan Army and the police for atrocities on innocent civilians.

They blamed Islamabad for its discriminatory policies for the past 70 years.

The protest was held after a successful district convention of Sudhnotti at Tarar Khel led by former senior vice chairperson of United Kashmir People's National Party (UKPNP) Naila Khaneen.

A large number of political activists, members of civil society and students participated in the convention.

The residents of the PoK have been facing numerous issues as they allege they are treated as second-class citizens under the Pakistani occupation.

In recent days, several incidents have been reported where the security forces kidnapped and tortured the political activists, especially the youth, who raised their voices against the Pakistani occupation and exploitation of their natural resources.

Earlier in the month, the UKPNP held a series of demonstrations and conventions against the kidnapping of political activists from the PoK.

People held banners that said: "Stop abductions and enforced disappearances in so-called Azad Kashmir," and carried out a rally in Rawalpindi.

They shouted slogans for freedom from Pakistan and also asked China to leave their occupied territory.

A convention was also held at the Rawalpindi Press Club, wherein the speakers raised several issues concerning the people of PoK.

People chanted anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded an end to forceful occupation of the PoK and Gilgit Baltistan.

They also called for an immediate withdrawal of Pakistani forces from their territory as per the United Nations Security Council resolution.

The Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, also known as 'Azad Kashmir', has a prime minister and a president, but is ruled from Islamabad.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is the chairman and chief executive of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council who manages all affairs related to the PoK.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lashed out at the Congress Party and said Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) drive against corruption rattled the grand old party.

While addressing a rally here, Modi said "Our efforts against corruption have naturally troubled the Congress".

Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the endeavours of the BJP which strengthened the economic condition of Amreli district.

"Amreli district is on the coast and it is the BJP Government in Gujarat that worked on harnessing the coastal strengths of this district. We focused on the blue economy".

"The BJP Government in Gujarat got dairies to Saurashtra. Amreli is emerging as a hub for dairy and cooperative sectors over the last two decades," PM Modi added.

Earlier in the day too, Prime Minister Modi attacked the Congress over numerous scams that allegedly took place under the UPA's tenure.

The prime minister said he might have sold tea to earn a living, but never sold his nation.

"The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origin. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become the prime minister. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation," Prime Minister Modi said, while addressing a rally in Rajkot.

The elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. While, the counting of votes will be on December 18.

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FICCI has been appointed by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) as National Guaranteeing Association under the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under the Cover of TIR Carnets or the operation of TIR System in India.

TIR is an internationally successful customs transit system that enables movement of goods between countries affiliated to the TIR Convention, a 1975 UN-ratified agreement allowing for duty-free movement of freight across nations. It is overseen by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and managed by IRU, Geneva. TIR stands for "Transports Internationaux Routiers."

India ratified the convention on June 15, 2017, and today, it has 71 contracting parties and 58 operational countries, including India. It covers the whole of Europe and reaches out to North Africa and the Middle East. More than 35,000 operators are authorized to use the TIR system and in 2016 around 1.5 million TIR Carnets were issued. Ultimately, the system facilitates and encourages international trade, and thereby creates benefits for individuals and nations.

TIR will be a boon to India's trade and aims to integrate the economy with global and regional production networks through better connectivity. It can be an instrument for movement of goods along the International "North-South" Transport (INSTC) Corridor and would be helpful in boosting trade with the Central Asian Republics and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), particularly using ports in Iran like the Chabahar port.

"I would like to acknowledge and thank the CBEC for its proactive role in early ratification of TIR system in India. He stated that the system which removes cross-border barriers is one of the successful examples of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) Model in international trade facilitation and will effectively contribute Government of India's 'Ease of doing - Make in India' initiative," said Dr. Sanjaya Baru, Secretary General, FICCI.

"FICCI will deliver its best for the smooth implementation in India and look forward to working closely with CBEC and IRU for the successful first TIR pilot in early 2018," added Nirankar Saxena, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI.

FICCI, in its capacity as an apex organisation is already recognised as National Guaranteeing Association of India under the ATA Carnet System since 1989. ATA Carnet covers several areas for use including trade fairs, shows, exhibitions, meetings etc. for temporary export / import into a country, which is a signatory to the conventions governing ATA Carnets. It is administered worldwide by the World ATA Carnet Council (WATAC), Paris in association with the World Customs Organization (WCO).

At present 77 countries recognise ATA Carnet including India. A large number of Indian exporters are benefited and a number of Carnets were issued by FICCI contributing to the growth of exports from India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that Congress was scared of defeat in ensuing Gujarat elections.

"After campaigning in Kutch, Rajkot, Amreli districts, I have come to Surat. I am seeing energetic response from people. I also see that Congress is scared of defeat and unable to match the Bharatiya Janata Party's focus on development and good governance," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing a rally here.

The Prime Minister also said the arrogance of the Congress party was at a record high even after so many years have passed since they ruled in Gujarat 22 years ago.

"Things are very different in Gujarat from the time they ruled in Gujarat 22 years ago. Society is no longer divided, there is progress now," Prime Minister Modi said.

Earlier, while addressing a rally in Bhuj, Prime Minister Modi also launched a scathing attack on the Congress for criticising the Centre for the release of 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed from house arrest.

"A Pakistani court released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating and calling it our failure. I don't know why they are celebrating this," the Prime Minister said.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had, earlier, taken a dig at Prime Minister Modi following the release of Saeed, saying that the former's 'Hugplomacy' with U.S. President Donald Trump has failed.

Addressing a rally in Rajkot, Prime Minister Modi took a dig at the Congress for making a reference to his beginning as a tea vendor in a picture tweeted by their "volunteer" group last week.

He attacked the grand-old-party over the numerous scams that allegedly took place under the UPA's tenure.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to attend at least 20 public meetings and rallies in the next 15 days ahead of the assembly polls to be held on December 9 and 14.

Gujarat has a total number of 182 assembly seats and the polling will be held in two phases. Voting in 89 constituencies of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region will be held in the first phase while the remaining 93 constituencies in central and northern regions will be held in the second phase. The votes will be counted on December 18.

The Congress is eyeing to dethrone the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. The last Congress government in Gujarat was led by Chhabildas Mehta from February 17, 1994 to March 13, 1995.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a veiled attack at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi saying those "slinging mud on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will help the lotus bloom even more," referring to the saffron party's election symbol - the lotus.

Alluding to Rahul, the prime minister said a large number of people had tried to malign the image of the state.

"I am grateful for all the kichad (muck) being thrown at me. After all, a 'lotus' blooms only in kichad. So, I don't mind if more is thrown at me. Those slinging mud on us will help the 'lotus' bloom even more," he said, while addressing a rally in Bhuj of Gujarat's Kutch district.

Urging the crowd to vote for them, the prime minister said the battle for Gujarat was between development (vikas) and dynasty politics (vanshvaad).

The prime minister slammed the Congress further, saying that "Gujarat has never accepted the Congress, because it has meted out injustice since the time of Sardar Vallabhai Patel."

He also urged the people to give a befitting reply to the insults made by the Congress and said they would not pardon the party.

"How does the Congress have courage to come and disrespect people of Gujarat?" he questioned.

Taking a jibe at the Congress, the prime minister said that some people love to spread negativity and pessimism. "My appeal to them is to stop doing that. They lack Neeti, Niyat, a Neta and a Naata with the people."

Prime Minister Modi also accused the Congress of not being serious about development and said the Narmada waters could have reached Kutch 30 years ago, but didn't.

"Officers did not want to get posted to Kutch region as the water here was black in colour. The Congress did not allow Narmada water to come to the Kutch region. What if the Narmada waters had come to Kutch 30 years earlier? It would have made such a big difference," the prime minister added.

The Prime Minister also slammed the Congress for criticizing their demonetisation move and said, "I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted."

Recalling the devastating earthquake that struck the Kutch distrcit in 2001, the Prime Minister said the mishap gave him valuable lessons.

"When an earthquake struck Kutch region in 2001, Atal Bihar Vajpayee sent me to the region to work among its people and that taught me a lot," he said.

Expressing his love for Gujarat, the Prime Minister said, "Gujarat is my Atma (soul), Bharat is my Parmatma.(God). This land of Gujarat has cared for me, Gujarat has given me strength."

Prime Minister Modi, who is on a three-day visit to his home state, is expected to attend at least 20 public meetings and rallies in the next 15 days ahead of the assembly polls to be held on December 9 and 14.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said Monday that his country fully supports India for the membership of the United Nations Security Council as a new balance of power is emerging in the world.

"We fully support India for the UN Council, but not other proposed countries," Kotzias remarked while replying to a question after delivering a special address on "Greece as a pillar of stability in southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean", organised by Observer Research Foundation and the Embassy of Greece in India.

He noted that the old powers are declining while a new balance of power is emerging with countries like India and China.

"It is a transformation time and difficult time" with forces of fundamentalism and terrorism trying to destabilise the world.

He said for countries like India, it is in fact a coming back into top economies of the world, as it used share a dominant part of the GDP before colonisation - nearly one third of the world GDP.

He said Greece and India could play specific role in stabilisation of the West Asia and also the eastern Mediterranean region. He said Greece is working with the policy of five lines of stabilisation in the region, with special focus on Egypt, Israel and Jordan to achieve it.

ORF Chairman Sunjoy Joshi said India and Greece should work together to face the challenges of the times, like extremism, terrorism, and anti-globalisation forces.

He also mentioned about the increasing prospects of economic cooperation between the countries, especially after the economic reforms introduced by the Indian Prime Minister which has considerably improved doing business in India. "We both stand to benefit as the new financial year begins," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a bid to ensure compliance with the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Masters India partnered with BSNL to come up with 'GST Suvidha Kendras', across the country.

Aiming to ease GST compliance in tier II and tier III cities, Masters India plans to ramp up the expansion by the end of this year. These Suvidha Kendras are powered by team of CAs and subject matter experts, so no queries and questions remain unanswered.

The organisation has also released a mobile application which is available on Google app store so now you can create digital invoices on the go. The mobile app is in sync with our web application, so now you can very easily create GST ready invoices and file GST return.

Prior to this, Masters India had collaborated with BSNL to provide a veritable set of solutions for the latter's user base. These solutions are exclusively crafted for BSNL users- both landline and mobile, available on a PAN-India level and have already brought GST compliance for the SME market.

"The idea is to offer assisted filing environment for businesses so they can transit from previous taxation regime to GST with little difficulty. Through such Suvidha Kendra, we plan to help businesses with their GST related needs. We aim to provide registration, filing, and tax payment facility with excellent support, performance and data security while remaining to be an economical solution provider for most businesses," said Nishank Goyal, CEO, Masters India.

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China will host Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi even as global criticism continues to mount against her and the Myamarese Government of their handling of the Rohingya refugee crisis.

China is among the few nations that has supported Myanmar's counter-insurgency operation in northern Rakhine state, and even vetoed a resolution on the crisis at the UN Security Council. It has termed the security operation in that country has legitimate.

The state-run daily Global New Light of Myanmar said Suu Kyi would 'soon' depart to attend a Communist Party of China-hosted forum of political leaders in Beijing. Last week Myanmar's powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing visited Beijing and pledged closer cooperation between the two countries.

Myanmar is in the international spotlight this week as Pope Francis makes the first visit by a head of the Roman Catholic church to the Buddhist-majority country.

He has previously spoken out about the treatment of minority Muslims to whom Myanmar denies citizenship, but some

Many in Myanmar refuse to recognise the name Rohingya, preferring to call them 'Bengalis' to suggest they belong in neighbouring Bangladesh.

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Dubbing the Nahargarh Fort incident as a conspiracy to instigate communal tension, Shri Rajput Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi on Monday demanded for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the matter.

On November 24, a body was found hanging on the ramparts of Jaipur's Nahargarh Fort with a threat note engraved on the rocks against the protester of the movie 'Padmavati'.

Kalvi said the message engraved on the stone seems to be a threat for the Karni Sena.

"The Nahargarh incident was just to rake communal tension in the country. The threat has been issued for us. I want CBI to probe the case. CBI should probe whether Sanjay Leela Bhansali's people are involved in this matter," he told ANI.

The death was initially speculated to be a suicide case, but when the police reached the spot they found a message written on the rocks stating - "We not hang effigies only, in protest of Padmavati".

The brother of the deceased has also demanded an investigation into his death and alleged it to be a case of murder.

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Pakistan's federal government on late Sunday night signed an agreement with the Tehreek-e-Labaik Yah Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLYRAP), laying down, apart from the suspension of Law Minister Zahid Hamid, a number of agreed demands.

The development came in the face of the growing countrywide protests by religious zealots over the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat clause fiasco, after Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his team intervened following the military stepping-in to resolve the Faizabad sit-in through negotiations.

The 'Faizabad dharna' started after the cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, and his followers demanded resignation of Hamid, as they saw the change in the words of an oath taken by the lawmakers as blasphemy. Though the change was reversed, the protestors continued to demand Hamid's resignation.

The document, signed by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Interior Secretary Arshad Mirza, Khadim Hussein Rizvi, Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri, Muhammad Waheed Noor and senior ISI official Major-General Faiz Hamid, said the government had agreed to the terms put forth by the religious staging sit-in for three weeks.

In the agreement, the TLYRAP has said that they were only expressing their opinion on the amendment in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat clause and regretted the government's use of force on November 25, The Express Tribune reported.

The provisions, as reported by The Express Tribune, are:

- Law minister Zahid Hamid is suspended, the TLYRAP will not issue any 'fatwa' against him

- The government had already reinstated amendments to the Election Act 2017 clauses 7A and 7B relating to Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (the finality of the prophethood). They had 30 days to release the Raja Zafarul Haq report. TLYRAP has demanded the government prosecute those responsible for the 'clerical mistake' under the law and constitution of Pakistan

- All the workers and participants of the sit-in who have been arrested by security officials since its start on November 6 should be released and all the cases against them be dropped.

- Formation of an inquiry team to investigate the security action against TLYRAP sit-in on November 25. Those responsible should be prosecuted within 30 days

- The federal and provincial government should compensate for all personal and public damages caused in the entire duration of the sit-in

- The Punjab Government should fulfill demands previously agreed upon

Hamid had earlier tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. His resignation will be accepted later in the day.

Upon the declaration of demands from the concerned authorities, the religious party will end the protest and will also urge their allies to maintain peace in Pakistan.

The protests which took place in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resulted in at least one death and left dozens injured, besides the 250 injuries reported in Islamabad.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had warned it would not cover Faizabad sit-in during a police crackdown on the protestors. Following the PEMRA order, there was a media blackout in Islamabad, where almost all leading private TV channels went off air.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Law Minister Zahid Hamid has tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in the face of the growing countrywide protests by religious zealots over the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat clause fiasco.

The protests followed Saturday's crackdown by the police and paramilitary personnel on Islamabad sit-in staged by a religious group.

Hamid's resignation will be accepted later in the day, sources told Geo News.

"I was not directly responsible for the introduction of the controversial amendment to the Finality of Prophethood declaration for electoral candidates," said Hamid, adding, "In order to restore peace in the country, I have decided to step down from my position."

Earlier on Sunday, Hamid also called on Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif in c to share his views on the present situation in Pakistan.

The 'Faizabad dharna' started after the cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, and his followers demanded resignation of Hamid, as they saw the change in the words of an oath taken by the lawmakers as blasphemy.

Though the change was reversed, the protestors continued to demand Hamid's resignation.

The protests which took place in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resulted in at least one death and left dozens injured, besides the 250 injuries reported in Islamabad.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had warned it would not cover Faizabad sit-in during a police crackdown on the protestors. Following the PEMRA order, there was a media blackout in Islamabad, where almost all leading private TV channels went off air.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A conference of the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance will see the participation of Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa.

The conference will be held in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh today.

It is expected that the focus of the conference will be crucial meetings related to the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), besides a review of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the Express Tribune has reported.

On Sunday, defence ministers of 41 nations forming the IMCTC unveiled the terms of reference of the alliance.

Defence Minister Khurrum Dastagir represented Pakistan at the day-long meeting presided over by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

Pakistan had principally agreed to be part of the coalition but withheld its decision regarding the extent of its role till the Terms of Reference were finalised.

Meanwhile IMCTC chief and former Pakistan army chief General (retired) Raheel Sharif has rejected the impression that the group was sectarian in nature and had any sinister plans.

He said the sole objective of the alliance was to counter terrorism.

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In a yet another gloating bid, United States President Donald Trump boasted about his administration's progress, saying that he has 'the economy booming' and that he has 'possibly done more than any 10 month President.'

"Since the first day I took office, all you hear is the phony Democrat excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia, Russia. Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump tweeted.

Trump's tweet comes in the backdrop of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, reported the Hill.

The President's tweet also comes as he returns to Washington after spending his Thanksgiving holiday at the 'winter White House,' Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump is expected to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday ahead of a possible vote on tax reform this week.

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Another royal wedding looms as England's Prince Harry and American television actress Meghan Markle have announced they are engaged. The announcement came from Clarence Palace.

The couple met last year, and their relationship was confirmed by Kensington Palace in November after months of speculation, reports The Guardian.

The official statement posted on Kensington Palace's official Twitter handle read, "His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle. The wedding will take place in spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course."

Adding, "His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace."

Fifth in line to the throne Harry, 33, has been dating the 36-year-old star, who found fame in the US drama 'Suits', since the summer of 2016.

The couple's 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends in London and the pair have been almost inseparable in recent months, with Markle said to have virtually moved in to Harry's home at Kensington Palace.

The 'Suits' actress was said to be in the process of moving to Kensington Palace amid speculation that Prince Harry could have already proposed.

Markle spoke openly about her relationship for the first time in a Vanity Fair interview in early September.

She noted, "We are a couple. We are in love. I'm sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us."

The wedding will be Markle's second. She was previously married to movie producer Trevor Engelson.

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A rape victim on Monday was expelled from a school in Maharashtra's Latur district in the name of maintaining dignity of the institution.

The 15-year-old victim, a Class 11 student, had allegedly been raped by an army man on the pretext of marriage.

The victim, on Monday, said, "My school has suspended my admission saying their reputation can be tarnished if I continue to study here."

Meanwhile, the victim's uncle alleged that when they went to a police station to lodge an FIR, the police demanded Rs. 50, 000 bribe to lodge their complaint.

Later, the victim approached Latur's Superintendent of Police (SP) Shivaji Rathor and hence the FIR was registered yesterday.

A medical examination of the victim has been conducted and a case under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in this regard.

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Former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has been appointed as India's G 20 Sherpa for the development track surrounding the summit.

He will hold the position till December 31, 2018, the Ministry of Finance tweeted on Monday.

There are two tracks in G 20- Finance Track and Development Track.

While the Finance track is managed by Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary (Economic Affairs) as India's deputy to G -20, the Development track is coordinated by the Sherpa.

"The Department of Economic Affairs will provide necessary support to the Sherpa," the Finance Ministry said.

Das retired as Economic Affairs Secretary in May.

Das has been associated with the Government of India for almost 37 years.

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Tej Pratap Yadav on Monday drew flaks after he threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi for downgrading his father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's security cover.

While the union ministers demanded apology from Tej Pratap, Bihar ministers also slammed him for his derogatory remark.

Speaking to ANI, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "These statements by Tej Pratap showed that the corruption shops of Congress and its allies have been shut down. And that is why they are venting out their anger like this. These people will destroy their party."

Union Minister Giriraj Singh also tore into Tej Pratap and sought his apology in the regard.

"I think Lalu Prasad will have to answer this. We are getting to see Lalu's true faces since he is out of politics. The nation will not accept this. He should seek apology for this statement. I think Lalu ji is making his wife and son say such things, Singh told ANI.

Former Bihar cabinet minister, Tej Pratap, earlier in the day, threatened to skin Prime Minister Modi for scaling down his father's security cover.

Meanwhile, Bihar Urban Development Minister Suresh Sharma branded Tej Pratap Yadav 'mentally unstable.'

Speaking to ANI, Sharma said "Only a person who is mentally unstable will make such statements, a politically sane person will never make such statements".

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi also reacted strongly to his statement and said he would be taught a lesson by the public.

Tej Pratap, earlier in the day, threatened to skin Prime Minister Modi for scaling down his father's security cover.

"This is a conspiracy to get him (Lalu) murdered, but we will give a befitting reply to them (the Centre). We will get Narendra Modi skinned (Hum Narendra Modi ki khaal udedhva denge); go and tell him," Tej Pratap said

Tej Pratap's remark came in the wake of the Centre's decision to downgrade his Z-Plus security cover and withdraw the NSG ( Security Guard) security cover provided to Lalu Yadav.

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The United Kingdom's International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, pledged the support of her government to stranded Rohingya refugees and the Government of Bangladesh.

London has announced an aid-related support of 12 million pounds that will help around 750,000 Rohingya women and girls globally over the next three years.

Mordaunt, according to a daily Star report, has also pledged to help increase protection for Rohingya women and girls against sexual violence and exploitation

The UK's total support is now 59 million pounds since 25 August 2017, a British High Commission statement issued in Dhaka said.

Mordaunt recently visited the refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, but had then warned that global funds for the Rohingya crisis would be drying up in 100 days.

Mordaunt praised the Bangladesh government and local communities for their continued generosity in helping the Rohingya people. She also urged other countries to follow the UK's lead by promising longer-term support to avert disaster.

"We cannot turn our backs on those trapped in crisis. Other countries must follow our lead and do even more to help children overcome the trauma of war, reunite them with their families and give a future to the next generation," she said.

Mordaunt pledged to help increase protection for Rohingya women and girls against sexual violence and exploitation and

She met some of the 624,000 innocent men, women and children on November 25 who have been tragically driven from their homes in Myanmar and forced to make the treacherous journey to Bangladesh, relying on aid to survive and heard harrowing stories of brutal abuse.

She also met UK experts delivering life-saving treatment including medical, counseling and psychosocial support to female survivors.

She said the UK is absolutely determined to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and we are increasing protection for Rohingya women and girls against sexual violence and exploitation.

"We're stepping up our leadership - working closely with women leaders and grassroots charities - to help more survivors in some of the world's poorest countries overcome the traumas of violence," she said.

On Sunday, Mordaunt met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and praised the role of Bangladesh government in dealing the Rohingya crisis and appreciated the generous approach of Bangladeshi people towards the Rohingya people.

Shahriar appreciated the active role of the UK government in mounting pressure on Myanmar Government on Rohingya issue.

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Pakistan may soon be asked by the Government of the United States to ink a proposal aimed at formalising procedures to return deported Pakistani citizens from the United States.

Pakistan is expected to enter into first round of negotiations on an initial draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) proposed by Washington, reports the Express Tribune.

The draft of the proposal has been handed over to the Pakistan Foreign Office. Copies of the same have reportedly been forwarded to the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, and the Interior Ministry to get their comments. Further negotiations will take place thereafter.

American law provides that if an individual is ordered removed from the country but they do not have travel documents - which people facing deportation often deliberately 'lose' - the authorities cannot deport them back to their home country. The same applies if a person's home country cannot be determined.

Since 2012, half-a-million Pakistanis have been deported from the United States.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is required by the US laws to secure travel documents of the person ordered removed from the country before undertaking the process of physical deportation. Simply put, it usually means 'no passport - no deportation'.

The draft MoU, available with The Express Tribune says that the purpose of this agreement is "to cooperate on the efficient and timely issuance of travel documents for Pakistani nationals ordered removed from the United States".

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Kerala woman Hadiya, who has been at the centre of 'love jihad' controversy, on Monday told the Supreme Court that she wanted to be with her husband Shafin Jahan.

The 24-year-old has been in the headlines after she became a Muslim following her marriage to Jahan.

Hadiya said she had married Jahan out of her own will and not forcibly.

The apex court will now hear the case in the third week of January.

During the course of hearing, Hadiya, who was born as Akhila Ashokan, also said she wanted freedom and see her husband after the top court asked whether she would prefer to continue studies.

The top court has now directed Hadiya, who, currently, is in the custody of her parents, be taken to college for her studies and that college should allow facility of hostel to her.

Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Hadiya's husband Jahan argued that when Hadiya was here, the court should listen to her, not the NIA, and that she was entitled to make decisions of her life.

Sibal further said that instead of asking Hadiya what "she wants everyone is talking about the venom filled in news channels".

The top court also ordered Hadiya's college dean to be her guardian after she requested for it.

Meanwhile, counsel for Hadiya's father, Rajendran, argued that the material submitted by Investigation Agency (NIA) should be looked into while saying a modus operandi exists for conversion.

Earlier, the NIA had submitted a status report in a sealed cover to the top court in connection with the case.

The apex court has been hearing Hadiya's case after Jahan approached the top court following Kerala High Court annulling his marriage with Hadiya.

While Hadiya's parents have been alleging that her marriage was a case of love jihad and that she was converted to Islam forcibly, Hadiya has refuted these claims so far.

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On 9 December 2017

Krishna Ventures will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 9 December 2017, to consider the Un-audited Financial Results for the quarter and half year ended on 30th September, 2017 and such other matters with the permission of the chair.

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L&T rose 0.58% to Rs 1223.30 at 11:06 IST on BSE after the company said its construction arm has won orders worth Rs 3572 crore across various business segments.

The announcement was made before trading hours today, 27 November 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 90.03 points, or 0.27% to 33,589.21.

On the BSE, 27,000 shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 1.94 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 1,230 and a low of Rs 1,217 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 1,274 on 10 November 2017. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 868.43 on 23 December 2016.

The transportation infrastructure business of L&T Construction won contract worth Rs 1358 crore for the construction of a new South Parallel runway, apron and associated works at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, on EPC basis from Bangalore International Airport.

The metallurgical & material handling business of L&T Construction bagged orders worth Rs 1264 crore.

The power transmission & distribution business of L&T Construction has bagged orders worth Rs 595 crore in the international market.

The buildings & factories business of L&T Construction bagged orders worth Rs 355 crore.

L&T's consolidated net profit surged 31.86% to Rs 2020.30 crore on 6.40% rise in net sales to Rs 26446.76 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016.

L&T is a major Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services.

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Ramco Systems was up 3.36% to Rs 427.30 at 12:08 IST on BSE after the company said it has won an order from Al Jazeera Support Services Company.

The announcement was made during market hours today, 27 November 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 92.58 points or 0.27% at 33,586.66.

On the BSE, 10,000 shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 9,790 shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 435 and a low of Rs 415 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 467.95 on 2 November 2017 and a 52-week low of Rs 286 on 15 December 2016.

Ramco Systems said it has won an order from Al Jazeera Support Services Company, a closed joint stock company, providing rental manpower needed by government, business sectors and individuals, to implement Ramco ERP for services suite.

On a consolidated basis, Ramco Systems reported net profit of Rs 6.50 crore in Q2 September 2017 compared with net loss of Rs 1.10 crore in Q2 September 2016. Net sales rose 2.5% to Rs 115.15 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016.

Ramco Systems is a fast-growing enterprise software player disrupting the market with its multi-tenant cloud and mobile-based enterprise software in the area of HCM and global payroll, ERP and M&E MRO for aviation.

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With effect from 25 November 2017

Sarthak Industries announced that Sartajsing Chhabra Pratamsing has resigned from the post of Director of the Company from the closing hours of 25 November, 2017 due to his personal pre-occupation.

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Nine soldiers were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked an Army checkpoint in Afghanistan's Nimroz province on Monday.

"Armed militants attacked the checkpoint in Khash Rod district along a main road, killing nine soldiers," a government spokesman told Xinhua news agency.

Several militants were also killed and wounded during the gun battle, but their number could not be verified, he said.

One trooper was also wounded and the checkpoint was destroyed.

--IANS

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A local court on Monday sent an Army Colonel arrested on charges of raping a fellow officer's daughter to 12 days in judicial remand.

The 21-year-old woman, an adopted daughter of a Lt Colonel, filed a police complaint on November 20 against the 56-year-old accused posted at the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) here. The Lt Colonel is also posted at the ARTRAC.

After preliminary investigations, a case under the Indian Penal Code was registered and the Colonel arrested on November 22.

In her complaint, the woman said she was called by the Colonel to his residence with a promise to introduce her to people associated with the modelling industry.

She accused the Colonel of forcing her to drink alcohol and raping her. He even allegedly threatened to 'ruin' her father's career if she revealed the crime to anyone.

A police official said the medical examination and forensic lab reports of the young woman were awaited.

Police did not disclose the identity of the accused officer.

--IANS

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Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland Ltd on Monday said it has entered into a Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Japan's Hino Motors Ltd for engine technology.

In a statement issued here, Ashok Leyland said under the agreement, it will utilise Hino's engine technology for Euro-VI development. The Indian company will also support in development of Hino's engine parts purchasing in India for its global operations.

Hino and Ashok Leyland have had a cooperative agreement for engine production in India since 1986. By this mutual cooperation agreement, both companies will leverage each other's strengths in diesel engines to enhance their competitiveness, the statement said.

Ashok Leyland will enhance its competitiveness by jointly developing engines for BS-VI compliance in India through the engine technology of Hino Motors.

"We believe in long term partnerships, and have great respect for Hino Motors. This cooperation between our companies would be mutually beneficial and enable both of us to produce globally competitive products," Vinod K Dasari, Managing Director & CEO, Ashok Leyland was quoted as saying in the statement.

"We believe this cooperation with Ashok Leyland takes advantage of the strengths that the two companies have cultivated.A Hino will enhance its global competitiveness by utilising Ashok Leyland's parts procurement capabilities in India," Yoshio Shimo, President & CEO, Hino Motors was quoted as saying in the statement.

--IANS

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The Ngurah Rai International Airport on the Indonesian island of Bali suspended operations on Monday due to an increased alert level of the Agung volcano on the island.

Mount Agung, which has been ejecting ash and lava since November 25, has now an "imminent" risk of a major eruption, Efe news reported quoting an official.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, and tens of thousands of passengers have been affected.

The airport closed early on Monday and will remain so till Tuesday with regular six-hour checks, said the Director of Information for the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, in a statement.

"Due to the closure, all flights both arriving and departing from Ngurah Rai Airport will be cancelled until further notice," the statement said.

"Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions accompanied by a weak sound of boom," Nugroho added.

The decision to close the airport came one hour after authorities raised the eruption alert level from three to four (the maximum) and extended the safety radius around the crater of the volcano to 10 km.

Located in the east of the island, in the district of Karangasem and far from most tourist attractions, Mount Agung has been spewing ash between 2,000 and 3,400 metres high into the sky in the last few hours.

The ash cloud also caused the closure of the international airport on the island of Lombok on Sunday afternoon, which triggered the authorities to recommend the use of protective masks for the population.

Residents of Karangasem district who have not left the security zone on their own are being evacuated, although the authorities have not yet provided a number of those affected.

This is Mount Agung's first volcanic eruption since 1963, when the ejection of magma lasted almost a year and caused more than 1,100 deaths.

Bali is the main tourist destination in Indonesia, with an annual influx of around 5.4 million foreign tourists, according to official data.

The Indonesian archipelago sits within the so-called "Ring of Fire" of the Pacific, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by thousands of tremors every year, most of small magnitude.

--IANS

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Microsoft Corporation co-founder Bill Gates has been elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the organisation announced on Monday.

The government-backed academy has named a total of 67 experts from the country and 18 foreigners, including Gates, who besides his well-known engagement in the technological sector also owns the firm TerraPower, which is involved in designing nuclear reactors, reports Efe bews.

The organisation said that with the election of its new members it seeks to promote international exchange and collaboration for building a first rate global academy.

The US philanthropist and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang recently signed an agreement for collaboration on the development of nuclear technology.

The agreement led to the creation of Global Innovation Nuclear Energy Technology, made up of the China National Nuclear Corporation and TerraPower, with the aim of completing the design of a TMR reactor, which reduces the need for uranium enrichment and re-processing.

China and the US began discussing the TMR reactor project in 2011.

--IANS

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China should continue to upgrade public toilets as part of its "toilet revolution" aimed at developing domestic tourism, President Xi Jinping said.

"The construction of clean toilets is an important part of pushing urban and rural civilisation, and more efforts should be made in both cities and rural areas to upgrade public toilets to improve people's quality of life," Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying on Monday.

Along with the "toilet revolution", China should construct better public facilities and services to boost the tourism industry, the President added.

The China National Tourism Administration launched an action plan last month to install or upgrade 64,000 toilets at tourist destinations across the country from 2018 to 2020.

The "toilet revolution" was launched in 2015 and China's tourism industry has upgraded 68,000 toilets since then.

Toilets at China's tourist sites have a bad reputation, with visitors often angered by insufficient toilets, unhygienic conditions and lack of sanitation workers.

--IANS

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A 33-year-old contract killer involved in over two dozen cases of murder, robbery and extortion was arrested here early on Monday, police said.

The arrest was made around 2 a.m when Abdul Munnar, a native of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, was heading to Okhla with an accomplice.

"We were looking for Munnar for the last few days. We received a tip that he would come to Moolchand (area). We laid a trap after barricading all major roads," a police officer said.

When Munnar and his accomplice neared the Lady Sri Ram College on a motorcycle, police teams asked them to stop, but they tried to escape.

"Our men chased them. The accomplice fired at the police. However, the police officers were able to overpower Munnar. But his accomplice managed to escape. A pistol and three cartridges were recovered from Munnar," Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said.

Munnar is an associate of notorious Uttar Pradesh-based gangsters Shaukat Pasha and Satya Prakash. He was also wanted in sensational Samajwadi Party leader Md. Zaid murder case of Lucknow, the officer added.

Munnar told the police that he had taken a "contract" to kill his friend Md. Zaki in Delhi's Okhla area.

On Thursday night, he shot Zaki in his leg near Okhla Mandi Road as he had received only Rs 50,000 as advance payment for executing the job out of Rs 5 lakh offered by Zaki's wife. He was waiting for full payment to eliminate him, Baaniya added.

"During interrogation, Munnar disclosed that Zaki's wife gave him contract to kill her husband as the couple has a matrimonial dispute. She wanted to leave Zaki but he was not ready," he said.

"In fact, the woman wanted to settle in Dubai after marrying one of her 'Facebook' friends.

"Munnar did not trust her and wanted full payment in advance as she was planning to flee to Dubai. He shot Zaki in his leg to win her trust that he can actually kill him once paid the entire amount," the officer added.

--IANS

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A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper was injured in a petrol bomb attack here on Monday, police said.

Police said the attack on CRPF personnel took place in the city's Safa Kadal.

"A CRPF jawan sustained minor injuries when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at CRPF personnel deployed on law and order duty in Safa Kadal area of Srinagar. The trooper was discharged from the hospital after first aid," a police officer said.

Authorities had imposed restrictions in Safa Kadal on Monday to foil protests called by separatist leaders.

--IANS

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Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Monday announced he will contest the Gujarat Assembly elections as independent candidate from Vadgam constituency in Banaskantha district.

The Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch leader, social activist and lawyer made the announcement on his Twitter handle, hours after the opposition Congress declared its third list of 76 candidates, which failed to show candidature for Vadgam.

Mevani had earlier shown disinterest in contesting the elections and had expressed support for the Congress.

His announcement came after the Congress brought out its third list of candidates for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections. In a tweet, he said: "Friends, I'm contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win."

The Congress in its third list failed to show any candidature for Vadgam constituency, which will be contested on December 14.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Mevani and expressed his best wishes to the young activist.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in an official statement said, "When the Dalit agitation leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting the Vadgam seat as an independent, the AAP won't be fielding any contestant for the seat and as appealed by him, the party believes that it should be a straight fight between him and the BJP."

Mevani will file his nomination papers on Monday, the last day for filing nominations for the second phase of the elections.

The young Dalit leader had made the headlines after he led the Dalit pride march from Ahmedabad to Una to protest the thrashing of Dalit skinners from Saurashtra region who were attacked by cow vigilantes last year.

Earlier, he had expressed his wish not to join any political party or contest. He had also met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and announced his support for the grand old party.

--IANS

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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued notice to the Gandhinagar Archbishop Thomas Macwan and asked him to explain the reasons for writing a letter to the Bishops of the country to pray that only such people are elected in Gujarat who would remain faithful to the Indian Constitution and respect every human being without any discrimination.

The ECI has through the District Collector issued notice to the Archbishop, asking him to explain the intention and aim in writing the letter in which he had asked Bishops to organise prayer services in the country for the Gujarat elections.

In his letter to the Bishops, Macwan had written, "The results of the Gujarat elections are significant and will influence the future course of our country. The secular and democratic fabric of our country is at stake. Human rights are violated and the constitutional rights are trampled. There is a growing sense of insecurity among the minorities, Other Backward Caste (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC), poor et al. And nationalist forces are on the verge of taking over the country."

"In his letter he had written that nationalist parties are damaging the country. So we want to ask him how they are damaging the country. We have just called him up to give us an explanation for the writing of such a letter to the community," Collector, Gandhinagar, Satish Patel, told IANS.

Thomas Macwan had earlier told IANS: "By so-called nationalist forces, I just referred to all those people who are narrow minded in their thinking of nationalism. They are narrow minded in terms of language, caste, creed, religion, financial status. And that's why I have written that letter. There is no controversy, whatever I have asked for the bishops is to pray for the betterment of the country that's all."

--IANS

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Luanda, Nov 27 (IANS/AKI) Italy's economic recovery offers an opportunity to strengthen its trade links in the energy and defence sectors but also in new ones including agriculture and infrastructure, Premier Paolo Gentiloni said on Monday.

"Now that the Italian economy is picking up, it is the moment to build closer ties with friendly countries in the traditional sectors of defence and energy and also in new ones," Gentiloni said during a visit to Angola.

"These include agriculture and animal husbandry, but (bilateral) cooperation could also be extended to sectors like infrastructure, transport and training," he said.

Gentiloni earlier on Monday hailed a deal inked during his visit to Angola between its state oil company Sonangol and Italian oil and energy giant Eni under which Eni will expand its operations in the African country.

He said that the two "key" accords signalled the expansion of Eni's operations in Angola and its development of a joint energy strategy with Angola's state oil company.

"The choice of Angola as the first leg of my visit to Africa is not fortuitous but stems from our long-standing relations," Gentiloni said at a press conference with Angolan President Joao Lourenco.

Besides their "historic cooperation" in the fields of energy and defence, Italy and Angola have potential to do business in the food and agriculture sectors, said Gentiloni, who is visiting Angola, Tunisia, Ghana and Ivory Coast on his five-day African trip which concludes on Wednesday.

Eni on Monday inked an agreement to strengthen its presence in Angola's upsteam, downsteam, trading and renewable sectors and deepen its strategic alliance with Sonangol, Eni said.

It will operate the Cabinda North block and control 48 percent of the block's rights under the deal as against 15 per cent so far, as per the deal signed by Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and Sonangol Chairman Carlos Saturnino in Luanda in the presence of Gentiloni and Goncalves, the statement said.

Eni has been present in Angola since 1980 through its subsidiary Eni Angola and currently produces 155,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the company stated.

--IANS/AKI

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A group of Egyptian journalists gathered here for a silent vigil to honour the victims of last week's attack on a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula that killed more than 300 people.

Despite a ban on public demonstrations, more than a dozen people congregated outside the offices of the journalists union in Cairo on Monday amid a large police presence, Efe news reported.

Participants, holding candles and Egyptian flags, condemned the attack as contrary to the teachings of all religions.

Last Friday's assault on al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abd, 40 km west of the North Sinai capital of el-Arish, left 305 people dead -- including 27 children -- and 128 others wounded.

As many as 30 assailants, one of them carrying an Islamic State banner, surrounded the mosque and opened fire on worshippers from the windows and door before entering the sanctuary to continue the slaughter, according to Egypt's public prosecutor.

Witnesses said the perpetrators fled before security forces could reach the scene of the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt's recent history.

Several militant groups are active in that area of Sinai, including Al-Wilayat Sinai, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) and has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks.

The al-Rawdah mosque is attended by adherents of the current of Islam known as Sufism, which some fundamentalist Sunnis regard as heretical.

--IANS

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The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe into killing of Junaid Khan on a train in Haryana's Faridabad in June this year.

Junaid was stabbed by the accused following an argument on board.

Justice Rajan Gupta rejected the plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe saying that there was no evidence to show that the police investigation into the killing was not proper.

Junaid's father, Jalaluddin, had filed the petition on October 26 through his counsel, seeking a probe by an independent agency. He had demanded a stay on the trial in a Faridabad court in this regard.

The 16-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death on a local train at Ballabhgarh in June this year following an argument over seats. The murder triggered nationwide outrage.

Junaid and his cousins Hasim Moin and Shakir Moin had boarded the EMU train going from Ghaziabad to Mathura after Eid shopping on June 22. The accused, along with around a dozen other persons, boarded the train at Okhla and ordered Junaid and his brothers to give them their seats. When they refused, they brutally beat the three and also stabbed them and dumped them at Asaoti railway station in Palwal district.

Police made five arrests in the case.

--IANS

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A court here on Monday deferred hearing on the bail plea of alleged hawala dealer Muhammad Aslam Wani, accused in a money laundering case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma deferred the hearing for December 1 as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought more time to file a reply on the plea.

Wani's counsel M.S. Khan has moved the bail stating that "since the section 45 PMLA has been declared unconstitutional, the present application is being filed in view of this changed circumstance".

The Supreme Court last Thursday struck down Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), paving the way for accused to get out on bail as per the provision applicable to other offences.

The ED in September filed a charge sheet against Wani and Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah under the provisions of the PMLA.

Wani was arrested on August 6. He had reportedly confessed that he had passed on hawala money amounting to Rs 2.25 crore to Shabir Shah.

Shah was arrested on July 25 on charges of money laundering in a case dating back to 2005 when the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Wani.

In the 2005 case lodged by the Special Cell, the court had acquitted co-accused Wani of the charges of criminal conspiracy and other offences but convicted him under the Arms Act, his defence counsel told the court.

The ED submitted that conviction under the Arms Act is a triggering point to take action under PMLA.

Both of them have denied the charges.

--IANS

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Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin's son Syed Shahid, arrested in a six-year-old terror funding case, on Monday moved a bail plea in a court here.

District Judge Poonam Bamba, during the in-camera proceedings, asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file a reply on his bail plea and listed the matter for December 15 for further hearing.

The court also extended his judicial custody till December 22.

Shahid, 42, a Jammu and Kashmir government employee, was arrested here on October 24 after he was called for questioning at the NIA headquarters.

The agency alleged that Shahid was collecting funds from Aijaz Bhat, a Srinagar resident now based in Saudi Arabia and a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, on the direction of his father Salahuddin, who is on the run.

The NIA said Shahid was one of Bhat's several contacts who were in telephonic touch "to receive the money transfer codes". The money was meant to fund Hizbul Mujahideen's militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shahid, who lives with his family in Soibugh village of J&K's Budgam district, works as a village agricultural assistant in the state Agriculture Department. His contractual job was confirmed by the government in March this year.

The 2011 terror funding case pertains to terror money sent through hawala channels by militants based in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to Jammu and Kashmir.

The NIA had filed two chargesheets against six accused in the case in 2011. Four of them -- Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, one of the closest aides of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Sidiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmad Dagga -- are currently in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Two of the accused, Mohammad Maqbool Pandit and Aijaz Bhat, are on the run and have been declared proclaimed offenders. Pandit, like Aijaz Bhat, has been an active Hizbul Mujahideen militant and is currently based in Pakistan.

Aijaz Bhat, according to NIA records, received arms training with the Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK) in the early 1990s.

He never returned to Srinagar and began working for the militant group in Pakistan. He is said to have stayed in Sialkot before shifting to Saudi Arabia for generating funds for the group's activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

An NIA official said the agency, through phone records, found that he was in touch with Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, a Srinagar-based lawyer, in 2011.

According to NIA, the lawyer separatist had procured over Rs 4.50 crore from Pakistan through hawala channels within three years after 2008 for funding militant activities in the Kashmir valley.

Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, Ganai, Liloo and Dagga were arrested on January 22, 2011 and Rs 21.20 lakh was recovered from them.

After their arrest, Aijaz Bhat used to send money to Shahid. The Hizbul founder's son, according to an NIA official, received at least four instalments of money in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Shahid is the third son of Salahuddin, who also heads the United Jehad Council, the amalgam of Kashmir militant groups based in Muzaffarabad in PaK.

Salahuddin unsuccessfully fought the 1987 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He then crossed over to Pakistan and founded the Hizbul Mujahideen -- the largest militant group in Jammu and Kashmir. Salahuddin has five sons and two daughters, who are all employed with the state government.

--IANS

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US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster on Monday described Hyderabad as marvel for ease of doing business and a model for the rest of India.

The pat for the southern city came at a news conference he addressed on the eve of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), beginning here on Tuesday.

He said he was impressed with the policies launched in Hyderabad to attract investment.

"Enormous amount of US investment has come into this city. Major US tech firms have their significant hubs here and this city is a marvel for ease of doing business," said Juster referring to the transformation since 2004 when he had last visited Hyderabad.

He lauded the Telangana government's industrial policy, which provides for all approvals for a business in 15 days and also holds officials accountable for their actions.

"It is the model for rest of country. When you see this type of reform process undertaken, the response from private sector will be increased investment as seen in Hyderabad. We hope to see elsewhere in the country as well," said Juster who is attending the first major event after taking over as the new Ambassador.

Asked about Moody's upgrading India rating, he complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for significantly moving India up the ladder in terms of ease of doing business.

"This is very important part in terms of economic reforms process that will help encourage US investment but the investment decisions are made by the private sector and not by the governments. These are really driven by the market place," he added.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, said five states had applied to host GES and two of them were shortlisted. He said Hyderabad was selected purely on the basis of merit.

Stating that Hyderabad has created energy, tremendous vibrancy and huge amount of dynamism, he said it could beat other cities hands down.

--IANS

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"Yes, I sold tea but not the nation", said Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying back Congress in the same coin for its "chaiwala" jibe.

"The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become Prime Minister. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not commit the sin of selling the nation," Modi said while addressing a rally here in Gujarat.

"They (Congress) have insulted the poverty...they have insulted the mother... I am son of this soil and have been your friend of good and bad days," he added.

Modi's remarks come in the wake of a Youth Congress magazine publishing a meme calling Narendra Modi a "chaiwala" (tea vendor). Modi has himself said that he used to sell tea along with his father at their small tea stall in Gujarat before he joined .

Accusing the Congress of spreading lies, Modi said that the opposition party has been engaged in creating an atmosphere of pessimism.

"Gujarat is my Atma, Bharat is my Parmatma. This land of Gujarat has cared for me; Gujarat has given me strength... They are coming to Gujarat and spreading lies about a son of Gujarat. Earlier they did that with Sardar Patel also. Gujarat will never accept this. No Gujarati will accept the lies that they are spreading," he said.

--IANS

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India and Denmark reviewed various of aspects of bilateral ties during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Anders Samuelsen here on Monday.

"The two Ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"The discussions between the two Ministers focused on building of cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, science and technology, environment and renewable energy, shipping, food processing, healthcare, culture, tourism etc.," it said.

The meeting also assumes significance as India is negotiating a free trade agreement with the European Union

India's economic ties with Denmark have strengthened with growing trade and investments from both sides. Annual bilateral trade has increased to around $2.8 billion.

Indian companies have established their presence in Denmark's IT, renewable energy and biotechnology sectors, while over 125 Danish companies have invested significantly in sectors like renewable energy, shipping, IT and food processing in India.

The Scandinavian country was also a partner country at the World Food India 2017 held in New Delhi.

Samuelsen will visit Hyderabad to participate in the Eighth Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 to be held from November 28 to 30.

He will speak at Master Class Session of GES 2017 on the theme aEasy Entrepreneurship - Public Sector Perspective' on November 29.

The visiting minister is also likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

--IANS

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Doctors from city-based BLK Super Specialty Hospital said on Monday that they successfully performed the first ever kidney transplant in Tanzania in partnership with Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

"It is a matter of great honour that the first ever kidney transplant in Tanzania was performed by a team of Indian doctors," Naresh Kapoor, Executive Director, BLK Super Specialty Hospital, said in a statement.

"Such surgeries are enormously complicated with significant risks. Hence, the success of this first ever kidney transplant enlivens hope for the people of Tanzania. I congratulate our team on the success," Kapoor said.

The surgery was conducted on a 30-year-old Tanzanian woman who was suffering from end-stage kidney disease and was on haemodialysis for over a year.

"The kidney donor was her 27-year-old brother," said H S Bhatyal, Head of Urology and Kidney Transplantation at the hospital.

The doctors also acknowledged the support of a team of doctors at Muhimbili National Hospital in conducting the surgery.

"Both donor and recipient are recuperating well and should return to normal activities soon. They are under our care and supervision," Sunil Prakash, Director & Head of Nephrology at BLK hospital said.

With a broader aim to promote cooperation and mutual understanding between the two countries, the New Delhi-based hospital established partnerships with Muhimbili National Hospital as well as other healthcare institutes in the region such as the JakayaKikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) and Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute.

"We have established credible linkage with countries in Africa through a number of collaborative programmes with an objective to build healthcare capacities locally in the countries such as Tanzania," Kapoor said.

"This surgery will certainly boost Indo-Tanzanian relationship in the field of healthcare," he added.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Monday asked a batch of petitioners to mention next week their plea for extension of interim relief on linking bank accounts and mobile numbers with the Aadhaar scheme.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked senior counsel Shyam Diwan to mention the matter next week.

The deadlines for linking of bank accounts and mobile numbers with Aadhaar are December 31, 2017 and February 6, 2018 respectively.

The court had earlier said that it would commence the hearing on the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar in the last week of November.

Former Karnataka High Court judge Justice K.S. Puttuswamy and others have challenged the validity of Aadhaar Act on the ground it violates the fundamental right to privacy.

--IANS

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Ishaan Khatter was named the Best Actor for his debut film "Beyond The Clouds" at the International Bosphorus Film Festival in Turkey. The actor dedicated the accolade to his mother and actress Neelima Azeem and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi.

"This is an absolute honour. My mother is here in the audience -- Everything I earn from my work will always, first and foremost, be dedicated to you. Thank you for giving me the gift of life and art. Firstly (for this piece of work) the award goes out to Majid Majidi - the masterful, wonderful, absolute legend of a man.. who trusted me and gave me this film as my first leading performance," Ishaan said after receiving the award.

"Thank you sir and I will forever be indebted to you for that. I have to thank the cast and crew of this movie, we did this together. Malavika Mohanan -- you and I will always share this experience. And thank you to Shareen, our producer. Thank you all," he added.

Majidi's maiden India set project "Beyond The Clouds", which celebrates the triumph and adoration of life against a Mumbai backdrop, was screened at the International Bosphorus Film Festival in Istanbul, and was competing as part of the International Feature Film Category, read a statement.

The film won Hassan Hassandoost the Best Editing award.

Ishaan was present at the festival in support of his film along with Majidi, Malavika, producers Shareen Mantri Kedia (from Namah Pictures) and Vibha Chopra from (Zee Studios International) along with Neelima.

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who is producing Ishaan's next film "Dhadak", also congratulated the whole team, and tweeted: "Huge congratulations to Ishaan on his very first Best Actor award! So proud of you!!! And many more to come."

"Beyond The Clouds" had its Indian premiere as it was the opening movie of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on November 20.

Produced by Zee Studios and Shareen Mantri Kedia and Kishor Arora of Namah Pictures, "Beyond The Clouds" narrates a heart-warming tale of a brother and sister, and how they find happiness in separation and turbulent time.

The film explores serious issues like separation, but Majidi has not narrated a depressing tale, but with a ray of hope.

"Beyond The Clouds" is scheduled early 2018. The music of the film is given by award-winning composer A.R. Rahman, cinematography by Anil Mehta and Hindi dialogues have been penned by Vishal Bhardwaj.

--IANS

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Actor John Boyega, who will revisit his character of Finn in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi", says walking onto the sets of the upcoming film felt like visiting Disneyland.

"It's amazing. The fundamental thing is unity on a set like this. It's so massive, so many ideas, so many challenges... It's good to have unity of cast and crew who believe in the same vision of making a great movie and have a great time doing it.

"That's the fundamental goal, so if something goes wrong, there is a fixation on how to get around the obstacle. And that's something I enjoy on a 'Star Wars' set. When the people are solid, it's smooth," Boyega said in a statement.

Asked about walking onto a set like this, he said: "Totally immersed. Like a 12-year-old kid that goes to Disneyland, but Disneyland is on level 10. That's what it's like but then you have to do your job because you are part of it.

"I've tried to do fan stuff and be an actor in the film. I think I'm doing well so far with the balance, but it's crazy because there is so much going on. There are major sets on this one and practical effects again. They have outdone themselves with the sets they built. It makes me feel like I'm on another planet, which is good."

The film also stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o and Andy Serkis.

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi", written and directed by Rian Johnson, will release on December 15.

--IANS

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A CRPF constable was killed and two of his colleagues were injured when Maoists opened fire on security forces in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, an official said on Monday.

The attack took place on Sunday around 7.50 p.m. in Talwargarh area. The dead constable was identified as Manjunath Jakkanavar, 31, a resident of Dharwad in Karnataka.

The two injured Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were flown by helicopter along with the body of the slain constable, CRPF Deputy Inspector General M. Dinakaran told IANS.

Dinakaran said the Maoists attacked a CRPF unit and the Maharashtra Police when they were searching the area.

The Maoists first attacked the security forces around 5.40 p.m. But the troops retaliated.

"The Maoists fled the scene but returned again around 7.50 p.m. in larger numbers. They fired on the troops. The security forces again retaliated but lost our constable," Dinakaran said.

--IANS

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The condition of 90-year-old Buddhist monk Pragyanand, who gave "diksha" to Bhim Rao Ambedkar continues to be critical, doctors at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) said here on Monday.

He was admitted to the medical college after he complained of breathlessness and chest pain.

Doctors said he had been shifted from the trauma centre to the Gandhi Ward where he was under 24x7 observation by experts.

Pragyanand was born in Sri Lanka and has been staying in India since 1942. He was one of the seven Buddhist monks who gave the "diksha" to Ambedkar on April 14, 1956 at Nagpur.

His close aide Bhante Suman told IANS that while the monk had been suffering from many old age-related diseases for the past two years, his condition became critical in the last two days following severe chest congestion and difficulty in breathing.

Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of KGMU Dr. S.N. Shankhwar told the media that Guru Pragyanand was critical and that efforts were underway to "ease out the congestion" and improve his serious physical condition.

--IANS

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North Korea has fortified a part of its border with South Korea from where one of its soldiers defected to Seoul earlier this month, a media report said on Monday.

A photograph posted on Twitter by Acting US Ambassador to South Korea Marc Knapper showed a small group of civilian workers, monitored by North Korean soldiers, digging a deep trench at the point where the defector abandoned his vehicle and ran across the demarcation line separating the two countries on November 13, the Guardian report said.

Security camera footage released by the UN command last week showed the soldier, who is known only by his surname Oh, get out of the vehicle after getting it stuck in a shallow ditch.

He then runs across the border in the Joint Security Area (JSA) as his compatriots shoot at him from behind.

The soldier, who was shot five times, collapses in a pile of leaves near a wall, before being dragged to safety by South Korean forces.

Oh is currently in a stable condition after undergoing operations to treat his wounds and remove parasitic worms, according to Lee Cook-jong, a surgeon at Ajou University hospital south of Seoul.

North Korea has also erected a gate on the bridge the soldier used during his high-speed drive towards the JSA, according to the Korea Times.

The regime has also placed more machine guns in the area.

South Korean military officials will question Oh as soon as he has recovered from his injuries.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday urged people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing urban body polls and not to focus on the candidates.

Addressing a public rally in Balrampur, Aditynath said people should focus on the party symbol "lotus" and not see the candidates the party had fielded.

"We are committed to development of the entire state and will light up Uttar Pradesh towns and cities as we did in Ayodhya on Diwali-eve," he said while also promising 14 lakh jobs for the unemployed youth in the coming days.

The previous Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) governments and their leaders worked only for their own prosperity and development and did not focus on the people, he alleged.

He also said that the state government was committed to the welfare of farmers and doubling their income by 2022, as declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Adityanath also detailed the works undertaken by his government in the past seven months in the field of power and said very soon the result of the projects and schemes initiated would start showing results.

--IANS

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To help existing on-premises VMware workloads move to Azure Cloud, Microsoft on Monday announced new migration offerings for customers as additional solutions.

This includes migrating VMware-based applications to Azure, integrating with Azure, and deploying VMware virtualisation on Azure hardware, the company said in a blog post.

"On November 27, Azure Migrate, a free service, will be broadly available to all Azure customers. While most cloud vendors offer single server migration capabilities, 'Azure Migrate' helps you through the journey of migrating an entire multi-server application," the post read.

"Azure Migrate" will help VMware customers through the journey of migrating an entire multi-server application.

"There are many Azure services that you can use together with VMware workloads without any migration or deployment, enabling you to keep your entire environment secure and well-managed across cloud and on-premises," said Corey Sanders, Director of Compute, Azure.

Azure Migrate can discover on-premises VMware-based applications without requiring any changes to the VMware environment.

Azure is the Hybrid Cloud that enables consistency across application development, management, security, data, and identity.

--IANS

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The Islamabad High Court on Monday strongly criticised the Pakistan Army for mediating between the government and anti-blasphemy protesters, who have been blocking a key highway for 20 days demanding the resignation of the country's Law Minister over the recent amendment to a federal law that referenced to Prophet Mohammed.

The government finally caved in to the demands of the hardline Islamist protesters, led by the Tehreek-e-Labaik party, earlier on Monday with the resignation of Zahid Hamid and the release of arrested protesters, Efe news agency reported.

"Who is the Army to play the role of mediator?" asked judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui during a hearing where Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was summoned to explain the developments related to the Islamist protests that have been roiling the country for over three weeks, court spokesperson Adnan Majeed told Efe.

The judge expressed alarm that the agreement was signed by an Army officer, Major General Faiz Hameed, among others, according to a court order accessed by Efe.

This is the same court that had ordered the government on Saturday to clear the highway blockade by the protesters, who considered the amendment -- that was withdrawn later -- an act of blasphemy, a serious crime in Pakistan that carries the death penalty.

Following the order, the Pakistani police had cracked down on the protesters resulting in clashes that killed six people and injured hundreds, but failed to disperse the protesters.

The government had subsequently ordered an Army deployment to control the situation. However, Siddiqui confirmed on Sunday that Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa played the role of a mediator instead of deploying troops to control the situation.

"The Army needs to stay within their Constitutional duties, it is baffling how the Army remained neutral in the office of law-breaking protesters in the country," the judge said.

--IANS

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The Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered from an "unhealthy mentality" and accused him of making irresponsible statements.

"The Prime Minister suffers from an unhealthy mentality, which is an issue of national concern," party spokesperson Anand Sharma told the media here.

"He feels that nothing happened in Gujarat and the country before he came," he said, adding that he was making his comments with "respect" to Modi's office.

"Unhealthy mentality is when a person says the universe was not created before me, India did not have an identity before I came... He (Modi) always says this is happening for the first time.

"He needs to be told that India became a nuclear power in 1974, we went to space, Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan had already been launched... India was recognised worldwide.

"If he feels nothing happened before he came, it is the responsibility of the opposition to correct him," Sharma said.

Sharma countered the BJP charge of dynastic in the Congress, saying the last member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to take oath of an important post was when Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister in 1984.

"It means 32-33 years have gone... For 10 years, Congress was in power and I need to remind him (Modi) that Rahul Gandhi is an elected member of Parliament," Sharma added.

--IANS

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The Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered from an "unhealthy mentality" and accused him of making irresponsible and untrue statements.

The party also accused Modi of misleading the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru.

"The Prime Minister has said the country's first Prime Minister had not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from the truth. We condemn it," party spokesperson Anand Sharma told the media here.

The Prime Minister suffers from an "unhealthy mentality, which is an issue of national concern", Sharma said.

"He feels that nothing happened in Gujarat and the country before he came," he said.

"Unhealthy mentality is when a person says the universe was not created before me, India did not have an identity before I came... He (Modi) always says this is happening for the first time.

"He needs to be told that India became a nuclear power in 1974, we went to space, Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan had already been launched... India was recognised worldwide.

"If he feels nothing happened before he came, it is the responsibility of the opposition to correct him. Whatever he is saying is untrue. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is very nervous. They are rattled over the increasing support for the Congress in Gujarat."

Sharma countered the BJP charge of dynastic in the Congress, saying the last member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to take oath of an important post was when Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister in 1984.

"It means 32-33 years have gone... For 10 years, Congress was in power and I need to remind him (Modi) that Rahul Gandhi is an elected member of Parliament.

"He has forgotten that the Congress gave Prime Ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh who came from humble backgrounds."

He added: "The Congress has never told the BJP who it should elect as its leader. The Prime Minister should stop worrying about the Congress and focus on his party instead."

The Prime Minister was trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and trying to lure the voters, Sharma said.

"He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his own government."

Attcking the Modi government for delaying the winter session of Parliament, Sharma said: "The Modi government is running away from accountability. That is why the Prime Minister never convened Parliament ahead of the Gujarat polls."

--IANS

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Pope Francis on Sunday began a trip that will take him to Myanmar and Bangladesh, where he will be until December 2 and on which he will meet with representatives of other faiths with the harsh persecution of the local Muslim Rohingya minority in the background.

The Alitalia Airbus A330 took off from Rome's Fiumicino Airport at 10:10 pm with the Vatican delegation and 69 journalists on board, Efe news agency reported.

Among the members of the Curia accompanying the pontiff are Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Filoni.

The aircraft is scheduled to land in Yangon, Myanmar - formerly known as Rangoon - on Monday at 1:30 pm and afterwards the pope will be ferried to the local archbishopric to rest.

Although nothing is on the pontiff's agenda for Monday, Francis might surprise people with a last-minute visit or event of some kind.

On Tuesday, Francis will begin his official agenda and will meet with Myanmar President Htin Kyaw and with Nobel Peace Prize winner and de facto government opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Naipyidaw, the Burmese capital.

Some 650,000 Catholics live in Myanmar representing a little more than 1 percent of the population of 53 million. Overall, Christians make up just over 6 percent of the country's population.

The pope will also meet with local Buddhists and will celebrate two Masses for the Catholic faithful in Myanmar.

In contrast to Rohingya Muslims, Christians in Myanmar have not faced significant violence or persecution and local Christian leaders say that they enjoy "peaceful coexistence" in the largely Buddhist country formerly known as Burma, which was ruled by the British for about a century until its independence in 1948.

On November 30, the pontiff will fly to Bangladesh on the second leg of his Asia trip.

--IANS

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Protesters clashed with security forces in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, in which a woman was injured, police said.

The clashes erupted after security forces launched an operation against militants in Hajin area.

Police said as security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in Hajin area, protesters clashed with them to disrupt it.

The woman, who sustained pellet injuries in her legs, was shifted to a hospital for treatment.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Centre to withdraw upto four companies of the central security forces from the trouble-torn areas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud allowed the withdrawal as Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the court that the situation in these districts was under control.

Venugopal also told the court that there was free movement of traffic and goods, including fuel on the highway going to Sikkim.

In fact the Centre wanted to withdraw all the central security forces from the trouble-torn areas of the state facing agitation for a separate Gorkha State.

As the plea was opposed by the West Bengal government, the Centre told the bench that the central government alone could decide on the deployment or withdrawal of security forces depending on the assessment of the ground situation.

Earlier the court had permitted the Centre to withdraw seven companies of its security forces for deployment in then election-bound Himachal Pradesh and other areas.

The court on Monday was told by the West Bengal government that since elections in Himachal Pradesh were over, there was no requirement for withdrawing the security forces from Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

The Centre has moved the top court challenging a Calcutta High court verdict setting aside the central government's order for withdrawing the security forces from the trouble-torn districts facing the Gorkha agitation.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday ordered a probe into the alleged irregularities in the voter list for the Sunday municipal body polls and asked Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Anil Garg to investigate, officials said.

State Election Commissioner S.K. Agarwal has asked Garg to submit the report by December 15.

There have been many complaints of missing names in the voters list and even many prominent political personalities like former Union Minister Kalraj Mishra and three-time Lucknow Mayor Dauji Gupta were deprived from voting because their names did not figure in the list.

Lucknow, along with 24 other urban municipal bodies, went to the polls on Sunday.

SEC officials said that prima facie it appears that the district administration did not discharge its duties well enough and hence the probe. "No one found guilty will be spared," Agarwal said.

Former Bharatiya Janata Party chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit, Laxmikant Bajpayi, and other politicians have openly aired their disenchantment with the voter list.

Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also tweeted on how the missing names of even senior BJP leaders spoke volumes of the chaos in the urban body polls.

With regard to similar complaints received from other places too, poll panel officials said they would also be reviewed and if needed orders for a probe issued.

Two phases of polling for the urban bodies have already taken place on November 22 and 26 and the third and final phase will be held on Wednesday, campaigning for which ended on Monday evening.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself is spearheading the BJP's campaign in what is being seen as a test of his government's functioning in the last seven months.

--IANS

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A decade-and-a-half back he had ruffled many feathers in West Bengal's Left Front establishment with his bold play "Winkle Twinkle". Now a senior minister in Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government, Bratya Basu, whom many regard as the most powerful contemporary Bengali playwright, concedes the twin roles at times trigger conflict of interest.

But the playwright-actor-director averred he finds a way out using metaphors in his writings when faced with such a conflict.

"Yes, there is a conflict. But when I'm determined that I want to write, a metaphor comes, so there's a way out," the minister, celebrated for his writings that break free of straitjacketed norms, told IANS in an interview here on the sidelines of the Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsav.

For example, in the Kaushik Ganguly directed "Darjiparar Marjinara", penned by Bratya, prostitution is used as metaphor for exploitation and oppression.

Or consider the play "Boma" (2015), said to be a take on modern-day politics, based on the 1908 Alipore bomb case in which nationalists such as Aurobindo Ghosh were among the 33 on trial in the wake of the attempt on the life of Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford at Muzaffarpur by Bengali revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki in April that year.

Notwithstanding the political undertones in his writings, Bratya said he keeps separate from theatre.

"It is going parallel... I don't know what will happen when both (theatre and politics) come face to face," said the 48-year-old multifaceted man, whose expanding oeuvre is now embellished with acting roles and directorial ventures in films.

An academician, armed with a post-graduate degree in Bengali literature, Bratya now handles the crucial Information Technology portfolio in the state cabinet, after stints with the high profile education and tourism ministries since 2011 when he entered the assembly by humbling CPI-M heavyweight Gautam Deb.

Bratya is equally adept at "balancing the stage", having started out with the theatre group Ganakrishti while in college to launching his career as a dramatist with the play "Ashaleen" (1996), described by theatre critics as the first post-modernist Bengali play.

In 2008, he formed the Bengali theatre group "Bratyajon". He has constantly pushed the envelope, introduced new socio-political trends and not shied away from speaking the truth with plays such as "Aranyadeb", "Winkle-Twinkle" (an allusion to Washington Irving's classic Rip van Winkle) and the anti-establishment play "Ruddhasangeet" (Stifled Songs of the Marginalised).

Apart from directing films like "Raasta", "Teesta" and "Tara", Bratya has also stepped in front of the camera to act in several movies including "Kaalbela", "Hemlock Society" and "Muktodhara".

Having flirted with ultra-left during his student days at Presidency College (now university) -- "I was one of the founder members of (student body) Independent Consolidation (IC) at Presidency" -- Bratya found himself in the vortex of Bengal's political cauldron towards the second half of the last decade when he joined the growing tribe of civil society representatives upset with the Left Front's handling of anti-land acquisition peasant movements in Singur and Nandigram. He soon emerged as one of the most powerful anti-Left Front voices in television debates and public meetings.

It was not long before an impressed Banerjee requested him to contest the assembly polls.

"I don't think it was my conscious effort or my choice to join . It was the situation. In 2011, she (Banerjee) asked me to fight the elections and I won. I'm still enjoying this," the minister said pensively, but pointed out he has never set aside theatre for politics.

How does he see through his commitments in both arenas?

"I don't know how I balance. Each has a different facet. I ask myself how would I balance, how do I manage it? I am still an agnostic. This is all part of life; so I am enjoying living it. I ask myself every day, 'What you do, is it fulfilling?'," he observed in-between puffs of smoke.

Bratya said he was ignorant of politics from 1990 till 2002, when he wrote "Winkle Twinkle". The play was sharply criticised by the CPI-M mouthpiece, Ganashakti.

It revolves around a political prisoner shot dead in police custody in January 1976 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Akin to Rip van Winkle, he returned in the year 2002 and discovered everything had changed.

"I don't consider 'Winkle Twinkle' an anti-Left play... this is the depiction of two different time periods. It shows a conflict between two different times. Politics is a part of this. It is not hardcore political theatre... I won't believe that," he averred.

Bratya concedes politics has deepened his understanding of society.

"I've learnt a lot from politics. I've matured as a human being. I've actually learnt how people are living in this world.... politics is an eye opener."

Theatre, he said, has taught him discipline.

"From theatre I have learnt discipline, time management and to obey your leader because when I am doing theatre... there I am a leader. So when I am doing politics there should be a leader," he said.

(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in <mailto:sahana.g@ians.in>)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Denouncing the protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming film "Padmavati", the Bengali film fraternity on Monday called for a "15-minute black out" in the entire industry on Tuesday afternoon.

Terming it a token protest against the ongoing agitation in parts of the country over the release of Padmavati, National Award winning Bengali filmmaker Gautam Ghose said the industry would welcome a debate over the film only after it was released and seen by people.

"As a token protest against the untoward incidents that are happening surrounding Padmavati, we will hold a blackout for 15 minutes from 12 noon to 12. 15 p.m tomorrow (Tuesday). It would be a complete blackout of all departments starting from the studio to post-production units," Ghose said at a press conference on Monday.

Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, producer Shrikant Mohta and other heavyweights of the industry were also present.

"It is true that in a democratic country, there should be voices of dissent and debate. We welcome the debate about Padmavati. But the debate should start after the release of the film," Ghose clarified.

"It is important that we find out why this is happening. This has no logic. Let us first see the film. There is a censor board to take care of things," he said.

On Sunday, Indian Films & Television Directors' Association (IFTDA)'s president Ashok Pandit called for a 15-minute tools-down for the entire Indian film industry opposing the escalated Padmavati protests.

The members of the film fraternity also criticised BJP leader Surajpal Amu's comments against state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for welcoming the film in Bengal.

"In West Bengal, our Chief Minister has taken a different stand. She has invited the Padmavati unit to release the film here. And now, bad things are being said against her. Where are we heading with all this. It seems we have gone back to the medieval ages," Ghose said.

"The Chief Minister has only talked about releasing the film here. She has not hurt or said anything wrong about anyone. The comments against her are shameful," Mohta added.

On November 25, Haryana BJP leader Amu threatened West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that she would meet the same fate as "Shurpanakha", a demoness from the epic Ramayana whose nose was cut off by Lakshman.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US-India Business Council (USIBC) has launched a collaborative initiative with key women leaders to offer leadership, mentoring, and development opportunities for women entrepreneurs and innovators.

The announcement was made during USIBC's Road to GES event "Creating the Foundations of Innovation" that saw participation from industry and government leaders who will spearhead this initiative. They include Nivruti Rai, country head, Intel India; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman & MD, Biocon Limited; Vanitha Narayanan, chairman, IBM India; Vani Kola, managing director, Kalaari Capital; and Amita Vyas, producer, Girl Rising.

The USIBC initiative titled Women for Women Innovators, Social Leaders & Entrepreneurs (WISE)will work with the vision of "women supporting women to participate in creating the future of India".

"We are delighted to work with an esteemed group of women leaders as part this collaborative initiative in equipping today's women entrepreneurs with the skills and direction they need to drive India's economy forward," said USIBC President Nisha Biswal.

"The US-India commercial corridor is driven by innovation and women entrepreneurs are central to this endeavour. However, women still remain under-represented in the economy. USIBC remains committed to working with industry partners and the government of India to encourage women entrepreneurship to grow and succeed," she said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Longest-serving member of the US Congress John Conyers has said he is stepping aside as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while sexual harassment allegations are investigated.

Denying the accusations again, Conyers said on Sunday he was stepping down "to clear his name", the BBC reported.

A staff member had alleged she was fired for refusing to "succumb to sexual advances" from the Michigan Democrat.

A prominent civil rights leader, Conyers first joined the Congress in 1965.

The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and age discrimination involving the staff.

On Sunday, Conyers, 88, tweeted that he would like to remain as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, but that he could not "in good conscience" allow the charges to "undermine" House colleagues.

It was reported on Tuesday that he had paid $27,000 in 2015 in exchange for the confidentiality of a former staff member, who alleged she was fired for rejecting sexual advances, the BBC said.

Conyers was also accused of repeatedly making sexual advances and inappropriately touching other female employees, according to signed legal documents seen by Buzzfeed.

Conyers said that many of the allegations "were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger".

--IANS

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Major publishing houses from 16 countries have signed memorandums with China's Foreign Languages Press (FLP) to translate and publish the second volume of President Xi Jinping's book on governance.

The countries are: Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Albania, Romania, Kenya, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, according to the FLP.

Published in both Chinese and English on November 7, the second volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" is also in the process of being translated and published in other languages including French, Russian and Spanish, reports Xinhua.

The new volume comprises 99 of Xi's speeches, conversations, instructions and letters. The articles are divided into 17 topics, and the book adds some annotations.

The second volume depicts the practices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Xi at the core in uniting and leading Chinese people to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era, the FLP said.

The newly-published volume is expected to help the international community better understand Xi's thought, the FLP added.

The first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" has sold 6.6 million copies in 24 languages around the world since it was published in 2014.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The wedding venue of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modis son Utkarsh, slated for December 3, has been shifted to the Veterinary College ground in Patna. A statement issued by Modis personal assistant said the decision to move the location from Sakha Maidan in Rajendra Nagar was taken after weighing the threat perception. Readers of Whispers might remember an earlier post in the section about the emergence of a video purportedly showing Tej Pratap, former minister and elder son of Lalu Prasad, threatening to disrupt the wedding. Prasad had, however, dismissed the alleged threat and assured the deputy CM there was nothing to worry.
This fortnight is likely to be driven by macro-data and news flow. The bulk of Second Quarter 2017-18 (Q2, July-September 2017) results are in. The GDP data is released this week. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has a policy review next week and PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) data will also come in.
The consumer sentiments index has risen sharply during November. It is likely that the index would end up being about 6 per cent higher than its level in October. This would be a substantial jump during a month because ever since the index was launched in January 2016, it increased by more than 3 per cent during a month only once. The average monthly increase in the index has been negative. The mean monthly change in the index has been -0.32 per cent and the median, -0.53 per cent. The increase in the consumer sentiment index during November is therefore extraordinary.
Change is afoot in Saudi Arabia Shyam Saran

The West Asian kingdom is rapidly shedding its image as an insular Islamic state. Nowhere is this change more ...
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which was founded on November 26, 2012, turned five this Sunday. At a public rally to mark the occasion, party chief Arvind Kejriwal asked people in Gujarat to vote for any party that could defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress is the principal opposition party in Gujarat and the only party in the state with the wherewithal to challenge the BJP.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra demanded CBI probe in the murder of two journalists, Santanu Bhowmik and Sudip Dutta Bhowmik in Tripura.

Patra, who arrived here on Saturday, is on a two-day visit to the state, where he will interact with party workers and locals to learn about the present law and order situation in the state.

"Why this double standard, if Chief Minister Manik Sarkar could demand for CBI probe in the murder of Bangalore-based journalist Gauri Lankesh why he is not proposing for it in the murders of two journalists who are son of the soil, is you because as people are suspecting that you are involved in them?" asked Patra, while addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.

Tipura is seeing agitation from journalists after two journalists were killed in a span of two months time.

Patra further alleged that there have been efforts to cover up the murder of Sudip Dutta Bhowmik right from the beginning because "Sudip might be having some documents, publishing which the Chief Minister would face the consequences."

The BJP leader also said Manik Sarkar has "blessed and given coverage" to those who have murdered the journalist, which is why the culprits are bold enough to commit such heinous crime.

Patra added, "Tripura under Manik Sarkar is the best example of the popular saying that wherever there is Left there is nothing left for the economy. The Chief Minister's own constituency Dhanpur lack basic amenities like drinking water, employment and hospital."

He also targeted Sarkar for the Rose Valley scam and not handing the Rs 35,000 crores scam to the CBI for investigation.

"Since he is complicated himself, which can be easily understood as intentionally the money involved was shown as just Rs 15, 000," he added.

The BJP leader also wanted to know from Sarkar who are the other three Ministers (other than himself and Bijita Nath) who are involved with the Rose Valley.

The BJP leader declared that the BJP will not call the Left Front government henceforth because it has become an "organised syndicate of crime, corruption and cayed (suppression of freedom of speech)."

"Tripura should have been a place of joy because of its natural resources but the Left government has brought a sense of 'Bhoy' (insecurity)", he said.

Earlier on November 23, normal life was totally paralyzed due to the dawn-to-dusk strike called by the Opposition BJP and Congress in Tripura to protest the killing of journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik.

Bhowmik was allegedly killed by the Tripura State Rifles after calling him inside the Commandants office of the second battalion at R K Nagar.
Pushing the BJP's campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi why his party applauded the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam standoff.
Two Chinese cargo ships collided off the coast of south China's Guangdong Province today, leaving 12 crew members missing.

A bulk ship carrying 5,000 tonnes of sand sank in the sea waters near the Pearl River estuary after colliding with a ship loaded with 5,038 tonnes of steel at about 3 am, the Guangzhou maritime search and rescue centre said.

Two crew members from the sunken ship have been rescued but the rest 12 remain missing. Eleven sailors from the steel ship have also been rescued.

Thirty rescue ships, one helicopter and other ships nearby have joined in the search for the missing ones, state- run Xinhua agency reported.

The two ships were registered in the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Fujian.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fourteen Naxals were arrested from separate places in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district today during anti-Maoist operations by different teams of security forces, the police said.

Five Naxals each were arrested from Chintalnar and Chintagufa police station limits, while four were held from Chhindgarh police station area, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Dantewada range) Sundarraj P told PTI.

Joint squads of personnel belonging to District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and district force were involved in the operations, he said.

The arrested ultras were active as janmiltia members and belonged to Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan (DAKMS) - a frontal wing of the Maoists, the officer said.

They were allegedly involved in various incident, including attacks on police personnel and killings, the DIG said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
For the first time after resumption of the cross-LoC bus service on the Poonch-Rawalakot route this month, 21 residents of Jammu and Kashmir today travelled across the border to meet their relatives, officials said.

As many as 51 Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) residents also arrived here, while four PoK residents returned by the bus, they said.

The weekly bus service, popularly known as 'paigam-e- amun' or message of peace, resumed on November 6 after remaining suspended for nearly four months owing to heavy Pakistani shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.

While 126 residents of PoK came to this side since the resumption of the service, nobody travelled from here apparently due to apprehension of ceasefire violation and subsequent suspension of the service, the officials said.

Of the 126 PoK residents, 14 returned last week.

With the arrival of a fresh batch of 51 PoK residents today, a total of 177 passengers have arrived here from across the border.

Billed as the biggest confidence building measure, the bus service was started on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route in the Kashmir Valley in April 2005 and the Poonch-Rawalakot route in the Jammu region on June 20, 2006 to facilitate easier trade and travel between the divided families of Jammu and Kashmir and PoK.

The trade between the two parts of Kashmir started in October 2008 on barter system.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today said three Pakistani nationals, including a nine-year-old girl, would be given visa for their medical treatment in India.

Responding to a request by Danish Memon for a visa to his nine-year-old daughter Maria for treatment of thalassemia here, she asked the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue the travel document immediately.

"Maria Danish - I am asking Indian High Commission in Pakistan to issue your visa immediately," she tweeted.

Replying to another request by one Mariam Asim for medical visa for her father, Swaraj said India would issue the visa.

"Pls contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan with your papers. We will issue the visa," she tweeted.

The external affairs minister also assured another Pakistani woman, Fariha Usman, of granting visa after she requested her for it.

Pakistan earlier accused India of "politicising" humanitarian issues.

On Thursday, Pakistan had accused India of selectively issuing medical visa to its citizens and that it was not a gesture of compassion but "cold blooded politicking".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A car swerved out of control and fell into a canal killing five persons in the Aligarh district, police said here today.

A police spokesperson said that the incident took place on the Aligarh-Palwal Road in the Khair area yesterday night.

The deceased have been identified as Naveen, Bharat, Ankit, Akash and Ankit. All of them are in the age group of 17-35 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least five members of a family were killed and two others injured when motorcycle-borne armed men opened fired at them in the restive northwest Pakistan today, police said.

The family was attacked apparently for an old enmity in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering north and south waziristan tribal agencies.

The head of the family, a former personal secretaryof the National Assembly member Ayesha Gulalai, was also killed by motorcycle-borne armed men a few weeks ago.

The injured were rushed to district hospital while the dead bodies were handed over to relatives after post-mortem, the police said, adding that an FIR had also been registered.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is one of the four administrative provinces of Pakistan, located in the northwestern region of the country along the international border with Afghanistan.

For decades, the city of Peshawar, capital of the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has faced the threat of militants, due to its proximity to the restless tribal areas and the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

In September, at least three policemen were killed by two Taliban gunmen in the province.

Last week, a Pakistan Army Major was killed in a shootout with militants during a raid on a terrorist hideout in the tribal region of Dera Ismail Khan.

On November 13, an Army Captain along with a soldier was killed in a cross-border attack by terrorists from Afghanistan in Bajaur Agency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leading discount brokerage firm 5Paisa Capital today said it is looking at increasing its customer base by 50,000 over the next year and unveiled a unique investor education initiative 5P School to leverage rise in new investor numbers over the next two years.

The online courses offered by 5P School are free of cost and are aimed at educating a broad range of people such as long-term investors, traders and particularly the novice market players seeking to enter the market.

*********** Mylan launches cancer drug Bevacizumab *



Mylan Pharmaceuticals today launched ABEVMY (injection Bevacizumab), an anti-angiogenic drug approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

The drug is used to treat metastatic colorectal, non-small-cell lung carcinoma, glioblastoma, ovarian, cervical and renal cancer as part of specific regimens for Indian patients, a statement said.

A benefit for patients is its price for each therapy cycle, which is comparatively lower than the existing options, it added.

*************** Mirc Electronics introduces 15 new washing machine models *



Mirc Electronics, the manufacturer of Onida appliances today said it has strengthened its washing machines product portfolio has launched 15 new washing machine models in front load, top load and semi- automatic category.

The company's facility in Roorkee, can manufacture 7.20 lakhs washing machines per annum on three shift basis, the company statement said.

Onida has sold 1.80 lakhs washing machines during the last financial year and with launching these new models, the company is expecting this number rise.

******************* MTV Dropout winners funded by Amit Patni, Venture Catalysts *



Integrated incubator Venture Catalysts today said it has invested Rs 25 lakh in the start-up idea pitched by ERA, the winning team on the reality show MTV Dropout.

Venture Catalysts also served as the investor and incubation partner for the show, which enables aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their disruptive ideas into a viable business, a statement said. Venture Catalysts will mentor the entrepreneurs and host the team at its co-working facility for 6 months, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gold weighing 804 grams has been seized by customs officials from a passenger who arrived at Mangaluru International airport from Dubai.

The passenger,identified as Ahmed Tahir fromKasaragod in Kerala, was intercepted by the officials on suspicion yesterday. A check revealed the gold concealed under the sole of his footwear.

The value of the seized gold was Rs 24 lakh, customs officials said.

They said that the passenger, on being questioned, admitted that he smuggled the gold on the directions of another person.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A delegation of BJP legislators today met Lt Governor Anil Baijal and sought his intervention in the matter related to reconstitution of the Delhi Waqf Board by the Arvind Kejirwal government.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, who led the delegation, alleged the government was reconstituting the Board in "violation" of the Waqf Act, 1995.

"The Delhi government is bent on reconstituting the Waqf Board in utter violation of the Waqf Act 1995 and the Waqf (Amendment) Act of 2013, throwing moral propriety and ethical considerations to the winds," Gupta said in a statement.

He also charged that Amantullah Khan, the "tainted" former chairman of the Waqf Board, was being reappointed to the post.

Khan is facing cases of criminal breach of trust which are being probed by the CBI, he alleged.

The delegation also complained to the LG that "ineligible" persons were being nominated to the Board.

Section 14 of the Waqf Act stipulates nomination of a Muslim person having professional experience in town planning, business management, social work, finance or revenue, agriculture and development activities, to the Board by the government.

"But it has come to our notice that a woman politician without any formal or professional degree has been nominated as a member of the Board," Gupta alleged.

Section 14 also stipulated nomination of one person -- a recognized scholar in the Shia and Sunni Islamic theology. "This rule is being violated as no such person has been nominated to the Board," the BJP legislators claimed.

The Delhi Waqf Board comprises seven members, who elect the chairman. Khan was elected as a member of the Board last week.

The AAP MLA was chairman of the Waqf Board for 6 months last year. He had resigned amid allegations of irregularities during his tenure and raids on the office of the Board by the Anti-Corruption Branch in September 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Malayalam film actor Dileep, facing charge of conspiracy in the abduction and sexual assault of a south Indian actress, today moved a court alleging the police leaked the copy of the supplementary charge sheet to media before submitting it to the court.

In his petition filed at the judicial magistrate's court in nearby Angamaly, the actor submitted that an explanation should be sought from the investigating officer of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case.

Dileeps counsel submitted that the contents of the charge sheet were reported by the media before it was submitted in the court.

The SIT had on November 22 filed a nearly 1500-page supplementary charge sheet against five people, including Dileep.

It had earlier filed a charge sheet against seven others including prime accused Pulsar Suni.

Dileep, who faces different charges including that of conspiracy, has been named the eighth accused.

Four other people have also been arraigned in the charge sheet, taking the number of accused in the case to 12.

Dileep's former wife and Malayalam actress Manju Warrier, whose statement was recorded by the police in connection with case, is a witness.

The actor was granted bail by the high court on October 3 with stringent conditions, 85 days after his arrest.

The police have charged Dileep with hatching the conspiracy with other accused to abduct and assault the actress in a moving car and film the act.

The actress, who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly sexually assaulted inside her car for two hours by Pulsar Suni and his accomplice, who had forced their way into the vehicle on February 17 night and later escaped.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian energy giant Adani's controversy-hit Carmichael coal mine project in Australia may not receive a 900 million dollar loan after the Labour party- led Queensland government said it will exercise its veto to not support the financial assistance.

The 16.5 billion dollar Carmichael coal mine project, one of the world's largest, will start construction after being given the green light by the federal and Queensland state governments.

The Adani group had applied for Northern Australia Infrastructure facility loan (NAIF) worth 900 million dollars for building a train line to connect its mine to the coast.

Earlier this month before the election day, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that her Labor party would veto the NAIF loan if it retains the power in the state.

However, after reports of conflict of interest emerged, Palaszczuk said her government will exercise its 'veto' to not support the NAIF loan to remove doubt about any perception of conflict.

"This afternoon I announce that my government has had no role to date in the Federal Government's assessment process for Adani now we will have no role in the future," she said and denied any conflict of interest.

"To action my decision, I propose to write to the Prime Minister to notify him that my government will exercise its 'veto' to not support the NAIF loan and to remove doubt about any perception of conflict," she was quoted by 'The Australian' as saying.

Yesterday, media reports said that Labour could form a majority government with Palaszczuk on track to win the necessary 48 seats.

A spokesman for the premier was quoted by a media report as saying that it was now up to Adani to ensure the project was financed.

"We expect them to get on with it," he said.

Palaszczuk's team has won 43 seats in the 93 seat parliament and is leading in four of the undecided electorates, which would be enough to form the government. More than 800,000 people voting before election day, according to the Queensland Electoral Commission.

Meanwhile, in a statement released today, Adani said job creation for regional Queensland was well underway across Adani's mine, rail and port projects.

It also announced the next step in its regional employment strategy which would involve Downer Group, the major mine contractors, who will be touring parts of regional Queensland to meet directly with jobseekers at employment fairs over the next several weeks.

Adani said it hoped that this regional employment roadshow will help to create a positive outlook for the regions moving forward into 2018.

"As our project continues to move forward, we are excited to bring regional Queensland workers on board to help us start building our mine, rail and port projects," said Jeyakumar Janakaraj, CEO and Country Head of the Adani group.

"Groups hoping to stop us have failed, because we have already started," he said.

The Carmichael project, expected to create hundreds of jobs in Australia, has been facing opposition from environmentalists and indigenous groups.

The Indian energy giant has for more than five years battled the opposition to any expansion of the Abbot Point port, saying it will cut into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

The Adani group entered Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north.

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The Asian Development Bank will provide a USD 150 million loan to Nepal to improve its urban infrastructure, Finance Ministry said today.

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Nepal's Ministry of Finance signed the loan agreement in Kathmandu, a ministry statement said.

Shankar Prasad Adhikari, Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, and ADB country director Mukhtor Khamaudkhanov signed the agreement for investment that will cover eight municipalities located in southern Terai and far west of Nepal.

The ADB is ever ready to collaborate with Nepal in the implementation of Nepal Government's national urban development strategy, Khamudkhanov said.

The ADB has pledged to provide a loan assistance of USD 150 million, around Rs 15.4 billion, to Nepal for the implementation of Regional Urban Development Projects, the statement said.

The Ministry of Urban Development is the executing agency of the project while implementing agencies are the concerned municipalities and the Kailali-based office of Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, the statement said.

The project will be completed within five years and is expected to enhance urban infrastructure in the Terai region, reduce the flooding duration to less than an hour in its eight municipalities.

It includes the construction and rehabilitation of 200-km storm water drains, improvement of 240-km-long roads, construction of at least 40-km-long footpaths, building four sanitary landfills and resource recovery centers, as well as construction of 20-km-long sewers.

Earlier, the ABD said it will provide USD 152 million to Nepal for the implementation and enhancement of its power transmission and distribution.

The bank had approved a USD 80 million loan in 2013 to Nepal to rehabilitate its sewerage network and build treatment plants to deal with over 90 million litres of wastewater a day in the capital Kathmandu.

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An alleged criminal, wanted in cases of contract killings, was arrested following a shootout in south Delhi, police said today.

The police received an information about Munnar alias Khalifa's presence in Moolchand last night, they said.

He was going on a motorcycle with an accomplice when he was tracked by the police team, the police said.

He fired at the police team but was arrested while his accomplice fled from the spot, they said, adding he was nabbed from the service road near Moolchand Metro station.

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An Amsterdam-bound Indian passenger was today apprehended at the Delhi airport for allegedly carrying a live bullet in his bag, official sources said.

The man, identified as Rajinder P, was going through security checks at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport at about 12:40 AM when a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel detected a bullet-like object in his cabin luggage, they said.

A bullet were seized from the man's bag. He was handed over to the police as he could not produce valid documents for carrying the ammunition, the sources said.

He was travelling to Amsterdam, they said.

Carrying arms and ammunition on board an aircraft without authorisation is banned.

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In a fresh jolt to the YSR Congress, yet another MLA from the party today crossed over to the Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh, taking the total count of legislators who have switched loyalty to 23.

Giddi Eeswari, the tribal legislator from Paderu constituency in Visakhapatnam district, joined the ruling party here, with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu formally welcoming her into the TDP fold.

Incidentally, Eeswari once reportedly threatened to "chop off" Naidu's head if he went ahead with permitting bauxite mining in the Araku-Paderu Agency area of Visakhapatnam district.

Last year, when legislators from the Jaganmohan Reddy- headed YSRC were making a beeline to join the Naidu-led party, Eeswari alleged she was offered "crores of rupees" to shift loyalty to the TDP but refused.

"Now they (the YSRC) are accusing me of receiving Rs 25 crore for jumping over to the TDP. This is totally false. I was a teacher and a tribal who follow ethics. It is untrue that I was offered the money," the first-time MLA told reporters after meeting the chief minister.

Eeswari said she joined the TDP "with a lot of pain" as (YSRC chief) "Jagan let us down".

"We have toiled for the YSRC for years but now Jagan is bringing in tribals from the plains and thrusting on us. We tried to prevail on him against it but to no avail. Hence, I decided to join the TDP," she said.

"I placed only one demand before the Chief Minister - that bauxite mining be not permitted at any cost in the Agency area and safeguard the interests of tribals," the MLA said.

Defection from the YSRC, the only opposition party in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, began in February 2016 and so far 23 lawmakers have crossed over.

One of them, however, passed away in March this year.

Of the remaining 22 legislators, four were made ministers in the Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet.

Petitions seeking disqualification of these lawmakers were pending before Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao. The speaker, however, has pointed out that the issue was held up because of an ongoing litigation in court.

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Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat today held talks with Kyrgyz armed forces chief General Raimberdi Duishenbiyev on ways to expand security and defence cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides deliberated on the current security scenario in the region and explored ways to deepen existing cooperation, official sources said.

Gen Duishenbiyev, who is the Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan, arrived here yesterday on a six- day India visit.

Bilateral defence cooperation between India and Kyrgyzstan has been on an upswing with armed forces of the two countries having regular joint exercises.

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I have just spoken to Pradeep Rawat Indian Ambassador in Jakarta @IndianEmbJkt. We have set up a facilitation centre at the airport and are providing assistance to the stranded Indian nationals there. I am in constant touch with our mission. @cgibali  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) November 28, 2017

Just got report that airport is closed today as well.  India in Bali (@cgibali) November 27, 2017

As Indonesia raised alert to the highest level, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said she was monitoring the situation closely and that the Indian Mission there would provide assistance to Indians requiring help.The Indian Consulate in Bali has opened a help desk at the city airport to provide any assistance to the Indians stuck there.Swaraj said she was in touch with Pradeep Rawat, the countrys ambassador to Indonesia, and the consulate on the resort island.Massive columns of thick grey smoke that have been belching from Mount Agung since last week have now begun shooting more than three kilometres (two miles) into the sky, forcing flights to be grounded.The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed, a move expected to affect tens of thousands of passengers.

Indonesian officials say Agung continues to erupt and spew water vapour and ash between 2,000 and 3,400 metres high above the crater.

There is also seismic activity in the area.

The Bali airport on Monday cancelled 445 domestic and international flights, leaving at least 59,000 passengers stranded. Bali is the main tourist draw in Indonesia, with an annual influx of around 5.4 million foreign tourists, according to official data.

At least 22 towns near the mountain have been affected by the ash and authorities have recommended the use of protective masks for the population. Located in the east of the island, in Karangasem district, Mount Agung is far from most tourist attractions.
The Bangladesh High Court today upheld the death sentence of 139 and the life imprisonment of 146 convicted soldiers of the then Bangladesh Rifles over the killing of 74 people, including 57 Army officers, during the 2009 mutiny.

The judgement comes after the court started delivering the verdict yesterday in the death sentence of the total 152 convicted soldiers at the border guards' headquarters here.

"One thirty nine will have to walk to gallows and 146 will be imprisoned for life," attorney general Mahbubey Alam told a media briefing, quoting the long verdict delivered by a three-judge High Court bench.

The judgement comes four years after a lower court in Dhaka handed down capital punishment to 152 and life term to 158 soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).

A bench yesterday started reading out the entire judgement on the death reference and appeal hearing of the trial of what is said to Bangladesh's biggest ever criminal case.

A Dhaka court had awarded death penalty to 152 jawans and non-commissioned officers of the BDR, which was renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), in November 2013.

The court had sentenced 158 to life imprisonment, 251 to imprisonments up to 10 years for the February 25-26, 2009 carnage, when 74 people, including 57 military officers serving in the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), were killed.

"It appears from discussions and reviews before and after the BDR mutiny that it was a conspiracy by a quarter with vested interest to hamper the stability of the state and socio-economic safety," said the bench in its observation part of the judgement.

The bench observed that it was "an attempt to destroy a trained and skilled professional force through conspiracy".

The BDR jawans had been accused of masterminding the mutiny plots, torturing and killing their officers, looting their belongings or keeping their family members captive during the rebellion.

They had also killed eight civilians, eight fellow BDR soldiers who apparently were opposed to the revolt and an army soldier apart from the 57 military officers.

Legal experts had called it the country's biggest ever criminal trial in which some 800 ex-paramilitary soldiers had been accused of the murder of 74 people, including 57 military officers during the revolt in February 2009.
The BJP today announced its Maharashtra unit vice-president Prasad Lad as its candidate for the Legislative Council bypoll slated for December 7.

Soon after his candidature was announceed this morning, Lad, who joined BJP last year, filed his nomination papers at Vidhan Bhawan.

There was speculation till recently that BJP may field former chief minister Narayan Rane but mounting pressure from Shiv Sena to the proposal forced the party leadership to drop the plan.

The bypoll is being held for the seat vacated by Rane who quit the Congress party in September. On October1 Rane had formed a new political party called Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, saying he would support the BJP-led NDA.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a meeting with senior party leaders, including state unit chief Raosaheb Danve, at his official residence Varsha in south Mumbai.

Fadnavis was in Gujarat today addressing BJP campaign rallies.

Congress has fielded former legislator from Solapur Dilip Mane, who filed his nomination today, to take on Lad, who was with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) earlier.

The winner will need votes of at least 145 MLAs in the 288-member Lower House.

In the Assembly, the BJP has 122 members, followed by Shiv Sena (63), Congress (42), and NCP (41).

Though the Congress-NCP alliance is behind the ruling combine in the Assembly in terms of number of members, MPCC chief Ashok Chavan told reporters here today that Mane will emerge victorious due to an 'invisible arrow'. The bow and arrow is the symbol of Shiv Sena.

"Sena is unhappy over issues like farmers loan waiver. It recently repeated its threat to pull out of the government. Going by the political situation, the 'invisible arrow' will help Congress win the poll," Chavan said.

On November 23, senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, ahead of the Council bypoll.

The candidature of Lad, said to be close to Fadnavis, has come as a disappointment for some in the BJP who felt the party's state unit chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari deserved the Council bypoll nomination.

Fadnavis had recently said Rane would be made a cabinet minister from the BJP quota. The cabinet expansion now looks unlikely before the winter session of state legislature, beginning in Nagpur on December 11.

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today accused BJP of spreading 'lies' over the murder of a panchayat member in Dharwad to tarnishthe image of minister Vinay Kulkarni as he was involved in a movement seeking religion tag to the Lingayat community.

His comments came on a day when BJP staged protests in different parts of the state demanding the resignation of Kulkarni and a CBI probe into the case.

Kulkarni is at the forefront of the movement, demanding separatereligion tag to dominant Lingayat community, which isconsidered to be the BJP's support base in north Karnataka.

"It is a conspiracy by (state BJP President B S) Yeddyurappa and his party totarnish his (Vinay Kulkarni) image as he is involved in the Lingayat movement. There is nothing against him," Siddaramaiahtold reporters in Gadag district.

BJP during the recently concluded Assemblysession had raised the issue of "pressure" exerted on thefamily of Yogish Gowda, who was hacked to death last year, towithdraw the case allegedly at the behest of Kulkarni, a charge denied by him.

Siddaramaiah dismissed allegations that the Adviser to the Home Minister was trying to cover up the issue.

"They (BJP) are just going around spreading lies. BJP people have made spreading lies their profession. They don't know to speak the truth," he alleged.

Hitting the streets over the issue, BJP staged demonstrations demanding resignation of Kulkarni.

Yeddyurappa led the brief protest in Vijayapura district and said similar agitation was staged in all districts.

BJP raised the issue in the assembly last week in the backdrop of the family recently claiming that they were beingpressurised by a police officer to withdraw the case allegedly at the behest of District in-chargeMinister Kulkarni.

The minister has been maintaining that he was in noway connected with the case and the charge was an attempt to malign him.

Meanwhile, an audio clip in which the minister duringa telephonic talk purportedly put pressure on the advocate of the victim was also aired by local TV channels.

Kulkarni had denied the charge and said he was not even aware of it (theaudio clip).

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Britain today appointed Karen Pierce as its new Ambassador to the UN, replacing incumbent Matthew Rycroft under whom it suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of India in the recent election to the Court of Justice.

Pierce is the first woman appointed to this role, and is uniquely suited for the position having previously served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and more recently as the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, the UK Mission to the UN said in a statement.

Britain's Permanent Mission to the United Nations did not give any reason for appointing Pierce as new ambassador to the world body, which comes days after it failed to get its judge Christopher Greenwood elected to the Court of Justice (ICJ) after India's Judge Dalveer Bhandari consistently received nearly two-third of the votes in the UN General Assembly.

Bhandari was on Tuesday re-elected to the ICJ as the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly threw its weight behind him, forcing Britain to withdraw its candidate from the hard- fought race to the world court.

This is for the first time in 70 years that Britain would have no judge in the 15-member panel of the ICJ.

Political analysts and editorials in British media have described it as a diplomatic failure of the Therasa May government.

"Britain has a proud history of working for positive change through the United Nations, not least in addressing the problems in Libya and Syria," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement without addressing the reason for sudden replacement of Rycroft.

Rycroft has been in the post since 2015 and will handover in January 2018 when he returns to London to take up his new role as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Development.

"I know Karen has the diplomatic skills, energy and patience to continue this vital work, and I congratulate her on her appointment," Johnson said.

In a statement, Pierce said the UK had long been a strong supporter of the UN and its role at the heart of the global rules-based international system at a time when it is coming under challenge.

"Through our role as a permanent member of the Security Council and position as the UN's third largest donor, the UK will continue to work with to tackle the pressing security, stability, development and prosperity challenges of today," she said.

"Our security and economic interests depend to a large extent on a strong and effective United Nations...I undertake to ensure we are an active force in New York for progress and partnership," Pierce said.
A parliamentary panel today questioned top officials of the government and a paramilitary force over the imposition of AFSPA in Assam, saying whether it can be restricted to only sensitive districts of the state.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, was today briefed by Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officials of the Assam Rifles on the "security situation in the northeastern states of India".

During the meeting, the panel members asked the officials about the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act or the AFSPA in Assam and the present situation, a member who was present in the meeting said.

"Panel members also asked whether the AFSPA can be scaled down to a few sensitive districts in Assam as was done in Arunachal Pradesh," the member said.

The panel also questioned the officials about various insurgent groups active in the state, especially the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

The government officials said that the situation in the state was better after the imposition of the AFSPA, the member said.

The controversial AFSPA was extended for six more months beginning September this year in the entire Assam by declaring the state "disturbed".

The stringent law was first imposed in the state in 1990 after violence perpetuated by the ULFA had created severe law and order crisis.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the AFSPA has been imposed in two districts -- Tirap and Changlang -- and some police station areas in a few other districts due to the presence of ULFA, NDFB and several Naga insurgent groups.

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The Centre has withdrawn RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's 'Z+' VIP security cover of NSG commandos, drawing an angry reaction from his son, who accused the NDA government of hatching a "murder conspiracy".

The former Bihar chief minister will now be given 'Z' category security and be guarded by an armed commando squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, in accordance with the protocol of the scaled down cover, official sources said.

Yadav will not have National Security Guard black cat commandos guarding him any more. The NSG only provides 'Z+' security cover.

The decision was taken after the Union home ministry recently reviewed the threat levels of various VIP protectees, the sources said.

Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav, a former minister and an MLA, hit out at the move.

"They are hatching a murder conspiracy against him (Lalu)," an angry Tej Pratap told reporters outside the state Assembly.

"If my father is killed who will take responsibility for this?" he asked.

If there is any physical attack on Lalu Prasad, the blame shall lie with prime minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Tej Pratap said.

Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy chief minister and the younger son of the RJD supremo, also attacked the Centre for downgrading Lalu Prasad's security.

"By downgrading his security, the Centre is trying to frighten Lalu, who is working towards opposition unity. This is very mean-minded politics on the part of the BJP-led NDA government," Tejashwi Yadav told reporters.

He also expressed apprehension that with a less strong security cover, the RJD chief had become vulnerable and "now the Centre shall be held solely responsible if anything happens to Lalu".

Tej Pratap's remarks against the prime minister come days after he made objectionable comments against Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, threatening to disrupt the marriage ceremony of his son on December 3.

Citing security reasons, Sushil Modi changed the venue of his son's wedding to Veterinary College ground from Shakha field in Rajendra Nagar in the state capital.

Sushil Modi scoffed at protests over the scaling down of Lalu Prasad's security, saying, "Lalu se log darte hain...Lalu ko kisse dar lagta hai (People are scared of Lalu. Who does he fear)'".

Besides, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Centre also decided to withdraw 'Z+' CRPF VIP security cover of former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Hindustani Awam Morcha president Manjhi told reporters, "I do not know on the basis of whose report the Centre has taken such a decision. I still face threat to my life."



Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha is a part of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar.

The winter session of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature began today.

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An auto-rickshaw driver, the prime accused in the case of raping a woman here a few days ago, allegedly attempted suicide inside a jail today by stabbing himself with a "piece of broken glass", police said.

Mohd Irfan (29) was arrested on Friday in the case, almost a week after raping the 22-year-old woman along with his two accomplices.

"He was taken to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here, where his condition was stated to be out of danger," Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Ranjodh Singh said.

Irfan, who was lodged in the Burail jail here, allegedly broke a mirror installed outside the barrack for inmates, he said.

"He stabbed himself multiple times in the stomach with a peice of broken glass," Singh said.

After his fellow inmates raised an alarm, Irfan was taken to a dispensary in the jail premises. Later, he was taken to the GMCH in sector 32 here, he said.

"His condition is stable," the SHO said, adding Irfan will be booked for attempt to commit suicide.

Irfan, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, was residing in Zirakpur, near here.

The Chandigarh Police on Saturday nabbed two accomplices Kismat Ali and Mohammad Garib -- (both 21 years old) of Irfan from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi and Faizabad districts, respectively.

The police had yesterday all the three accused had planned to rape the woman, hailing from Dehradun, on November 17.

She had taken the auto rickshaw after attending a stenography class from sector 37 here.

Ali and Garib were already sitting in the auto, according to a complaint filed by the woman, the police had said.

Irfan allegedly drove her to an isolated place in sector 53 here, instead of taking her to Mohali where she had been staying as a paying guest, they had said.

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made clear today that China would keep pouring billions of euros into central and eastern Europe despite EU concerns, as he attended a regional summit in Hungary.

Li said that China's Development Bank would make available the equivalent of two billion euros (USD 2.4 billion) to a new interbank association between the region and China to be inaugurated later in the day.

In addition a second stage of an investment fund has been launched, capitalised with USD 1 billion, "most of which will be channeled to CEE countries," he said in Budapest.

The sixth annual gathering of the Central and Eastern European Countries group (CEEC) brings Li together with counterparts from 16 nations that have already benefitted from vast amounts of Chinese investment.

This has raised worries in Brussels and in western Europe about growing Chinese influence in these countries, many of which are members of the European Union or are hoping to become so.

The investments have focused on infrastructure projects that will help bring Chinese goods into the region, part of President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road Initiative".

Li said however that the EU had no reason for concern.

"Our cooperation is open and transparent. We have seen to it that it is conducted in the broader context of China-EU relations, by keeping the relevant EU regulations and... international regulations," he said.

Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has often been at odds with Brussels over a range of issues, said that Chinese investments were a "great opportunity" and that "all of Europe will benefit".

"The EU shouldn't close its doors," Orban said. "The world is changing. China has the resources to enable developments that would be impossible with EU funding alone."



After Hungary Li was due to travel to Russia for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Sochi on Thursday and Friday.

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The Congress has claimed credit for the Hyderabad metro rail project, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow, but the ruling TRS hit back at the opposition for allegedly not planning it properly.

Claiming that Hyderabad metro rail is an "achievement of Congress", Telangana Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged yesterday that the present TRS government was wrongly trying to take credit for the project.

Congress held a power-point presentation on the Hyderabad metro project its office here yesterday.

Reddy also alleged that neither the TRS government in Telangana nor the BJP government at the Centre made any contribution to the project.

The present launch is a case of 'hard work for caterpillar, publicity for butterfly', he claimed.

Reddy said the then Chief Minister (of undivided Andhra Pradesh) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy secured approval for metro rail from the Centre in 2007.

The Concession Agreement was signed on September 4, 2010 and the metro rail works were launched by the then CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy on December 25, 2012, he said.

Countering the Congress comments, state Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav said the previous Congress governments could not plan the project properly.

"Could not understand what is your claim. Yesterday, you made some noise. What for? (You say) it is a project done by us. Ok. Because, you had governments then. You could not do even proper planning," he said.

The much-awaited Hyderabad Metro Rail will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister tomorrow and start commercial operations from November 29.

The 30-km-long first phase of the metro rail project between Miyapur and Nagole, having 24 stations, would be launched by the prime minister at 2.15 pm tomorrow at Miyapur station.

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The Congress and the BJP today demanded a probe into the AAP's funding after the ruling party in Delhi was issued a notice of Rs 30 crore by the Income Tax department over the donations received by it.

At a press conference, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said the centre should order a thorough probe into the funding of the Aam Aadmi Party.

"The Centre should order a probe instead of doing a lip service and going soft on the AAP," he said.

It is strange that the AAP, which professed to change politics by being transparent in its fund collection has been issued a notice for Rs 30.7 crore by the I-T department for recovery of taxes, he said.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said instead of indulging in blame game, the AAP should satisfy the authorities over the issue of the notice served to them by the I-T department.

"Right from its formation, the AAP's financial issues have been under suspicion and today's notice comes after a long hearing at the Income Tax department. So the party has no reason to claim innocence," he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party was today served a notice of Rs 30 crore by the Income Tax department over the donations received by it, a move Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dubbed as the "height of political vendetta".

Income Tax Department sources said the notice was issued by the assessing officer under section 156 (notice of demand). They said it was issued in the "normal course", where ITRs are picked up for scrutiny by the assessing officer.

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A CPI(M) lawmaker of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has courted controversy after a video clip showing him insulting a woman deputy collector in the district went viral.

The incident happened yesterday during a protest by local residents at the nearby Parassala town seeking compensation for the families of two workers killed in a quarry mishap on Friday.

When Deputy Collector S J Vijaya reached the spot to announce the compensation to end the road blockade, MLA CK Hareendran allegedly began gesticulating and shouting at her over the compensation amount to be given the victims' family.

The incident led to an outcry and protest from various quarters, following which Hareendran, representing Parassala Assembly segment, tendered an apology today.

"If any of my words had caused pain to the official, I apologise unconditionally," Hareendran told a television channel.

Kerala Women's Commission Chairperson M C Josephine also intervened and sought an explanation from Hareendran.

Josephine said public servants should not use "unsavoury" words especially towards a woman even though they lose temper.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala condemned the MLA's behaviour and demanded that a criminal case be registered against him for "insulting" womanhood.

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A CRPF jawan received minor injuries in a petrol bomb attack by miscreants in the Safakadal area of the city today, the police said.

Unidentified miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at the CRPF personnel deployed on law-and-order duty at the Malik Angan locality of Safakadal, resulting in minor injuries to one of the jawans, a police official said.

The injured jawan was taken to the police hospital here, from where he was discharged after receiving first aid, he added.

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Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today announced to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat in Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with the indirect support of the Congress.

Mevani, the face of last year's Dalit agitation in Gujarat, also received the backing of the AAP.

He declared his candidature as sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state unit of the Congress had asked him not to enter the fray "as a part of an agreement" with the Dalit activist.

Vaghela said the Congress had given its indirect support to Mevani for the Vadgam seat, reserved for scheduled caste (SC) candidates.

"The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the poll as an Independent, he will have the Congress support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

Mevani has been a vehement critic of the ruling BJP in the state. He shot to fame when he led a massive protest against the Una Dalit flogging incident last year.

Later in the day, the Aam Admi Party said it will not field any candidate against Mevani.

"The AAP has decided not to field any candidate from Vadgam from where Dalit protest leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as an Independent candidate.

"Looking at the appeal made by him, the party believes that the contest should be between the BJP and Jignesh Mevani," the party said in a statement.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal extended best wishes to the 34-year-old Mevani through Twitter.

Mevani also took to the micro-blogging site to announce his candidature. He wrote, "Friends, I'm contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win."



"All political parties opposed to the BJP are saying that Jignesh Mevani is a symbol of struggle against the ruling BJP, and they believe the contest should be between these two people only.

"We have appealed to all political parties to support me," Mevani told reporters.

The AAP has announced candidates for over 30 seats in Gujarat so far. The Delhi-headquartered party has maintained its contest is with the ruling BJP.

In a message posted on social media, Mevani claimed that he decided to jump into the poll fray after being "persuaded" by youths and numerous agitators.

He even requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers.

"As the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request the aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file papers so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is people's battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election," he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP's Vijay Chakravarthi.

Earlier this month, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat.

After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party assured him that more than 90 per cent of his demands would be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat the BJP in the Gujarat polls.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The success in divestments and encouraging goods and services tax collections will help government reduce pressure on the fiscal math, says a report.

"Disinvestment drive and GST rollout will reduce pressure on fiscal arithmetic," domestic rating agency India Ratings said in a report today.

It can be noted that government has reiterated its commitment to narrow down the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent for fiscal 2018.

Front-loading of expenditure, where government has exhausted 96 per cent of the deficit by August, and also a slowdown in growth which led it to even mull a stimulus, had put question marks over whether it government will be able to meet the fiscal deficit target or not.

The report said successful subscription of Bharat 22 exchange traded fund launched last week has helped government move closer to its FY18 divestment target of Rs 72,500 crore and it has raised Rs 52,300 crore by the end of November.

It said government can exceed its capital receipts target through divestment alone in the remaining four months, depending on ONGC's acquisition of 51.11 per cent government stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. This will bring in at least an additional Rs 32,000 crore to divestment kitty.

Without elaborating, the report said the divestment strategy has a potential to generate Rs 1 trillion and also provide buffer against lower surplus transferred by the Reserve Bank and the likely shortfall from the telecom sector.

On GST, it said even though there can be an adverse impact of Rs 11,000 crore on the Central finances due to a commitment of a 14 per cent revenue sharing with the state from central GST to meet their projected shortfall, the final results will not be so bad.

"However, GST collection is encouraging and likely to further improve going forward with higher return filing compliance," it said.

The agency said government front-loaded capital expenditure and the same is now slowing down.

It said the proposed bank recapitalisation and highway building work under the Bharatmala scheme will not entail any budgetary allocation this year.
A DMK MLA today moved the Madras High Court against erection of hoardings, arches and flex boards on roads for the centenary celebrations of late AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran in Coimbatore, alleging they posed a safety hazard and cited the death of a techie in an accident.

In his public interest litigation petition, N Karthick sought that these structures be declared illegal.

He made the plea while referring to the November 25 death of a software engineer after being run over by a heavy vehicle.

The accident occurred when he fell down from his two-wheeler allegedly after hitting a wooden structure erected for the centenary celebration on a main road.

The MLA, who represents Singanallur constituency in Coimbatore, also prayed for a direction to the government to pay compensation to the family of 32-year old Raghupathy, who was working in the US and had come here on a vacation.

He alleged that Raghupathy met with the accident after hitting a wooden structure erected by the AIADMK for setting up a huge decorative arch on the Avinashi Road in connection with the MGR centenary function to be held on December 3.

Raghupathy fell down and was run over by an unidentified heavy vehicle, resulting in his death on the spot, the petitioner said, adding those who erected the arch should be brought to book.

He claimed that similar incidents were taking place in the state wherein the lives of the public had been taken away in accidents due to the illegal erection of hoardings, banners, arches and flex-boards on public roads.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Malaysian doctor has testified in the trial of two women accused of murdering the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader that the victim's pupils contracted and his underwear was soiled with feces, both signs of poisoning.

Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, the only suspects in custody, pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial on October 2.

They were accused of smearing the banned VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on February 13, killing him within two hours.

Nurliza Abdullah, a government doctor who conducted the autopsy on Kim's body, told the court Monday that the pupil constriction and the large excrement found in Kim's underwear both pointed to poisoning.

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The Congress today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to give a lesson on terrorism to a party whose history was full of lives lost in fighting terrorism.

Accusing the BJP of trying to politicise the issue of terrorism, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also questioned Modi over his "silence" on the issue of corruption.

Surjewala targeted Modi for saying at a poll rally in Gujarat today that the Congress had applauded the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and party vice president Rahul Gandhi hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

"At least don't give lessons to a party whose history is replete with sacrifices while fighting terrorists," he told the BJP.

The Congress spokesperson, while talking to reporters here, hurled several charges and questions at the BJP.

"Wasn't the ISI, which is behind terrorist activities in India, brought to Pathankot and Uri by the Modi government after terror incidents there," Surjewala asked.

"Haven't terror incidents increased during the (rule of) the Modi government? Hasn't the PDP-BJP government in J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) made separatist and terror sympathiser Asiya Andrabi a poster girl? Wasn't a BJP official found to be an ISI agent," he asked.

He said the entire country was united in its fight against terrorism.

"The BJP might see politics in terrorism, but I would like to tell my BJP friends and PM Modi that the history of the Congress is full of martyrdom in fighting terrorism and thousands and lakhs of Congressmen have sacrificed their lives for India," he said.

Surjewala also attacked Modi over "corruption in the case of BJP President Amit Shah's son Jay and national security advisor Ajit Doval's son Shaurya, among others".

The prime minister did not fulfil promises made to the people of Kutch in 2013 on providing water to their land, he said, responding to Modi's remark that the Congress had stalled water supply to the region.

"Why did Narmada water not reach the land of Kutch? Has he (Modi) forgotten that he said in 2013 all dams and canals will be made in 16 months," he asked.

Surjewala believed Modi looked "worried" while addressing the people of Gujarat.

"Modiji was looking worried and agitated. Don't be frightened. Just tell us what happened in 22 years in Gujarat? What happened to Gujarat businesses (after note ban and GST)? Why are traders in Surat and Rajkot, farmers of Kutch- Saurashtra feeling cheated? Just answer these questions," he said.

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A signed letter written by German scientist to his closest friend Michele Besso, expressing joy at the success of his theory of relativity, may fetch up to $30,000 at an auction.

The letter is postmarked Berlin and dates December 10, 1915.

"The boldest dreams have now been fulfilled," Einstein wrote in the letter, rejoicing in his theory's success.

Einstein had set out the key elements of the general theory of relativity in four magisterial papers submitted to the Prussian Academy of Sciences between November 4 and 25, according to the British auction house Christie's.

Einstein's general theory of relativity is one of most important developments of 20th-century physics.

Published in 1916, it explains that gravity is in fact curvature of space and time.

Recent observation of gravitational waves - ripples in the fabric of space and time - successfully confirmed this theory, 100 years after it was put forward by the renowned scientist.

The postcard, written in German, opens with news of an intended journey to Switzerland, after Einstein was assured that his eldest son, Hans Albert, wished to spend time with him.

Einstein signed off the letter with 'greetings from your happy but rather worn out Albert'.

The postcard is a part of a collection of letters written by Einstein to his college friend Besso currently up for online auction at Christie's. The bidding for the items in this collection closes on December 6.
The Bombay High Court today asked the Maharashtra government and the local civic body to explain under what provisions they had leased an area measuring 11,551 square metres for one rupee per annum for the construction of a memorial for Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray.

A bench of justices Naresh Patil and Rajesh Ketkar was presiding over the final hearing of two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed earlier this year by two social activists opposing the construction of the memorial.

The bench has now directed the state to file an affidavit within two weeks clearing its stand on the issue.

"The state and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have to explain to us under what provisions did they lease the land for just rupee one. Can this be done as per existing statutes?" the bench said.

As per the BMC's admission in court, the Thackeray Memorial Trust headed by Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray was constituted and a plot of land in Dadar, which currently hosts the Mayor's bungalow, belonging to the BMC was given to the trust on lease for construction of a memorial for Bal Thackeray.

In April this year, the Maharashtra legislative assembly decided to lease the land to the trust at the rate of rupee one per annum for 30 years.

The PILs alleged that the approval for the memorial violates a previous Supreme Court order and a circular issued by the Centre that prohibits the conversion of government bungalows into memorials.

The pleas claim that if such a memorial is to be constructed at all, it must be funded by the followers of Bal Thackeray and not by taxpayers' money.

The state government, however, has maintained that the plot was chosen for the memorial after due deliberation.

"A high-level committee was set up in 2014. The committee held various meetings and explored the possibility of setting up such a memorial at various places including the premises in contention - the mayor's bungalow. The said property belongs to the BMC and this proposal was accepted by the government," an affidavit filed by the state last month in the HC contended.

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The families of six formerBritish soldiers lodged in a Tamil Nadujail expressed "sheer relief" after an Indian court acquitted them over an illegal weapons charge today.

The so-called "Chennai Six" had been arrested in October 2013 and sentenced for carrying arms on a commercial US ship.

They were held while working for an anti-piracy security company protecting commercial ships off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean and have pleaded their innocence ever since.

"I just feel sheer relief finally we are getting our family back together," said Yvonne MacHugh, the fianc of Billy Irving, one of the six men.

"Finally all the men are going to be home with their families. They have been acquitted of all charges, so they have done no wrongdoing and finally we have proven that," she said.

The Madras High Court today ruled that all charges against the six men and 29 others arrested with them be dropped with immediate effect, and the fines they were ordered to pay be refunded.

The Madurai bench directed that all crew members of MV Seaman Guard Ohio can apply to the Indian authorities to get back their passports after which they will be able to travel home to the UK.

"They still need to get police clearance before they can come home, so there are steps being taken to try to ensure that everything's in place," said Joanne Tomlinson, the sister of another British ex-soldier John Armstrong.

She was among the friends and family members who had been leading a campaign in the UK, including lobbying ministers and Downing Street, to secure the release of the men.

Besides Armstrong and Irving, the other British former soldiers who have been in a Chennai jail for four years include NickDunn, Ray Tindall, Paul Towers, and Nicholas Simpson.

In October 2013, Indian coastguards boarded their vessel and arrested them along with 29 other crew members for taking weapons into India's territorial waters.

The charges were initially quashed when the men argued the weapons were lawfully held for anti-piracy purposes and their paperwork, issued by theUK government, was in order.

But a lower court reinstated the prosecution and they were convicted in January last year and sentenced to five years injail.

Since then there have been a series of appeals, includingBritish Prime Minister Theresa May raising the matter with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during her visit to India in November 2016 as well as Britain's High Commissioner in India, Dominic Asquith, visiting the men injailinChennai.

The sailors were aboard the American-owned ship which reportedly offered armed protection to vessels sailing through an area known as "pirates' alley" between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

US firm 'AdvanFort International', which owns the ship, has maintained that the vessel was involved in anti-piracy operations and had not strayed into Indian waters.

Customs officials and police found 35 guns, including semi-automatic weapons, and almost 6,000 rounds of ammunition on board the ship, which allegedly did not have permission to be in Indian waters.

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A day before the Winter session is scheduled to get underway in the State Assembly, all the three major political parties of Odisha today launched agitations centering on farmers' issues.

While the ruling BJD and opposition Congress leaders submitted memorandums to the Preisdent of India through the Odisha governor, the BJP activists staged a demonstration here.

Although both the BJD and the Congress demanded a hike in the minimum support price (MSP) on paddy from Rs 1,550 per quintal to Rs 2,930 per quintal, the saffron brigade demanded Rs 500 bonus for farmers on sale of every quintal of paddy.

The ruling party members, inclduing ministers and MLAs, participated in a dharna near Raj Bhavan before a delegation met Odisha governor S C Jamir.

The BJD leaders also said the party would intensify its stir for the enhanced MSP.

"We will take the agitation to the gram panchayat level," said BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra.

Government chief whip and senior BJD leader Amar Prasad Satpathy said the state Assembly had earlier passed an unanimous resolution to demand paddy MSP at Rs 2,930 per quintal.

A House Committee headed by Assembly Speaker had also decided to meet the prime minister to press the demand. However, the prime minister did not give time to meet the delegation from Odisha.

The BJD has asked the Centre to seek apology from farmers. If the Centre fails to meet our demand by November 27, we will start agitating in all 30 districts, BJD general secretary Sanjay Das Burma had said.

A face-off ensued between the agitating BJP activists and police near the Rabindra Mandap here while the former were trying to barge into the State Secretariat after breaking the barricades.

The BJP agitators wanted to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Secretariat and were marching towards the office building when they were stopped by police following which a minor scuffle ensued.

A number of BJP leaders were arrested by the police after the face-off.

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The Hyderabad Police today arrested five persons in connection with the Basheerbagh robbery incident wherein three employees of a Mysuru-based gold unit were robbed off cash worth Rs 1.26 crore yesterday.

The incident occurred last evening when the trio were leaving for Mysuru when a gang of five persons attacked them and snatched the bags containing cash.

The trio had come to Hyderabad on November 25 to purchase gold, but had decided to return after they couldn't get the precious metal at the desired rate, a release from Hyderabad Police said.

"Due to swift action with the use of technology and by verifying the CCTV cameras, the Hyderabad Police cracked the dacioty case within six hours of lodging of the complaint and apprehended five persons and recovered the total cash of Rs 1.26 crore," it said.

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Following are the key quotes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rallies in Bhuj and Jasdan in Gujarat today:



On the 'chaiwala' meme posted by the Youth Congress and his humble origins:



"They are feeling uneasy because a chaiwala (tea seller) became the PM. We used to read in books how downtrodden gets harassed by those in the higher strata. But I never imagined they would stoop so low. It is the misfortune of this country that some are hell bent on stooping as low as they can.

"Some people send me messages regularly and threaten me that they will once again turn me into a tea seller. I want to tell them that I am Modi, who is ready to sell tea but will never commit the sin of selling the entire country.

"You should not complain if a poor man's son becomes the Prime Minister of this country. Are you unhappy because a tea seller has taken away your throne? Were you under the impression that it was your inherited property?



"Why are you mocking poverty? Why are you insulting a poor mother?"



On the Dokalam standoff and Hafiz Saeed:



"When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador? For whose benefit did you do this?



"You are happy to hug the Chinese ambassador, you are clapping at the release of Hafiz Saeed (LeT founder). You cannot respect Indian Army's surgical strike. But why did you speak up about it? You could have just remained silent.

"Recently a Pakistani court released a terrorist, I cannot understand why these Congress people are clapping here."



On the Uri terror attack and surgical strike:



"They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks."



On Congress raising questions over the surgical strike:



"They could not respect the Indian Army, they asked questions like none of our soldiers was injured? None of them died? Have you any photo or video evidence? Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan?



"When you go to the house of the poor and eat rotis, you ensure that you are filmed, but does that mean that a surgical strike should be filmed?"



On allegations levelled against him by the Congress:



"I had written a poem, which said Gujarat is my atma (soul), while Bharat is my parmatma (God). Gujarat is my mother and I am her son, I have grown up in this soil, you Gujaratis know my plus and minus points, what was good in me has evolved due to this 'mitti' (soil) due to my mother (Gujarat).

"But, they have the courage to abuse the son of Gujarat who has no stain on his public life. You come to this land and make baseless allegations.

"You think that any Gujarati will forgive you? Can Gujarat forgive this attack on its child?



"The Congress should understand, the day when you committed atrocities on Sardar Patel, Gujarat tolerated the insults, but times have changed...they will not do so again.

"Many leaders have come here and sprayed 'kichad' (muck). Farmers prepare their land before the start of the monsoon season. In the same way too much muck has been sprayed here. It is good as it will help kamal (BJP's election symbol lotus) to bloom in this muck."



On issues in Gujarat elections:



"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics."



On Congress' treatment of Patel Chief Ministers:



"The first Janta Morcha government was formed before the Emergency (1975-77), when the entire country was turned into a jail by (then PM) Indira Gandhi.

"Babubhai Jashbhai Patel become the first Patel CM of Gujarat because the Jan Sangh was in his support. But, the Congress did not like this and dislodged him within nine months (June 1975 to March 1976).

"The fourth CM was the daughter of the Patel community. They (Congress) once again started conspiring against her using money power and by instigating people.

"They fanned violence to disturb her. This Congress party harassed four Patidar CMs, just because the people of Gujarat never accepted the party. They can take any path to bring disrepute to the state."



On the AAP and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal:



"Some years back, a new party (AAP) came to power in Delhi. At that time, people thought that good days will come. Now, that person has a habit of running away after throwing a stone on someone, hiding away after abusing someone and going away after spitting on someone."



"He is doing that daily. But, I was under the impression that leaders of Congress, a 132-year-old party, will, at least, not learn such bad habits. But, they might have thought that this is the best way to get cheap publicity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four employees of Tripura Gramin Bank, who were kidnapped from Gomati district three days ago, are still untraced but police have recovered the car and the motor bike in which they were travelling.

Sub-divisional police officer of Ambassa, Pranab Debnath said the car was recovered from near Ambassa municipality office in neighbouring Dhalai district and the bike was recovered from South Maharanipur in Gomati district last evening.

The Taidu branch of Gramin Bank has been closed indefinitely after the kidnap at Taidu on Friday when the four were on way here after office hours and a notice has been put up in the bank's notice board communicating it.

Superintendent of police of Gomati district, Bijoy Debbarma said a massive search operation by police and paramilitary Tripura State Rifles (TSR) is on at Taidu and adjacent Ambassa to trace the kidnapped bank employees.

BSF was alerted so that the kidnappers cannot sneak into neighbouring Bangladesh with the captives.

State Director General of Police A K Shukla, Inspector General (Law and order), K V Srijesh and Deputy Inspector General (Southern Range) Arindam Nath yesterday visited the spot at Taidu and the adjacent areas yesterday.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Sudip Burman said the party would launch a movement from tomorrow unless the kidnapped persons returned home unharmed.

"We will review the situation in the evening today and take decision on the movement we will launch from tomorrow," Burman said.

The four kidnapped were the manager of Taidu branch of Gramin bank Tanmoy Bhattacharya, assistant manager Sujit Dey and two other staff members Raktim Bhowmick and Subrata Debbarma.

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After the US, France has also conveyed its anguish to Pakistan over the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN- proscribed outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD).

French diplomatic sources said here that Paris has conveyed its deep concern to Pakistan over the release of Saeed whose outfit was listed as a terror group by the Sanctions Committee of the UN.

They said France and India will continue their "relentless" efforts to combat terrorism, and enhancing cooperation to deal with the menace will be an important aspect of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit here in early 2018.

In a strong reaction, India on Friday expressed outrage over Saeed's release, calling it an attempt by Pakistan to mainstream proscribed terrorists and a reflection of its continuing support to non-state actors.

On Saturday, the US also demanded immediate re-arrest and prosecution of Saeed, warning Islamabad that there would be "repercussions" for bilateral ties if it fails to take "decisive action" against the notorious terrorist.

The banned JuD head, who carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free on Friday after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

He was under house arrest since January this year.

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A state-owned French rail company today submitted its report on upgrading the Delhi-Chandigarh railway route and reducing travel time between the two cities by almost an hour and 30 minutes.

The 245-km corridor project will be the first semi-high speed venture of the Railways with French aid which would enable some trains to run at a maximum speed of 200 kmph.

"SNCF, France's state-owned rail company, started the study in January 2016 and submitted the final report today," Railway spokesperson Anil Saxena said.

The study was under the consideration of the railway board, he told PTI.

Sources said that in its over 1500-page report, the company stated that the upgrading of the route would cost more than Rs 10,000 crore. The figure, however, could not be confirmed officially.

The journey, which is at present covered in three hours and 30 minutes by the Shatabdi, travelling at a maximum speed of 110 kmph, will take around two hours and two minutes with a halt in Panipat and Ambala after the upgrade.

The project is expected to be launched in January 2018 when French President Emmanuel Macron is likely to visit India, officials said.

The Railways plans to upgrade 4000 kilometres of networks across seven routes, which include Mumbai-Goa, Chennai- Hyderabad, Mysuru-Chennai and Delhi-Kanpur.

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The city is all set to host the eighth edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which will be inaugurated by Prime Minster Narendra Modi tomorrow.

Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nirmala Sitharaman and Suresh Prabhu will be attending the summit, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant today told reporters here at a joint press conference with US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster.

After the inauguration, US President Donald Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump and Indian Defence Minister Sitharaman will be participating in a panel discussion on opening up of opportunities for women entrepreneurs, Kant said.

The discussion will be moderated by John Chambers, Chairman Emeritus CISCO, he said.

Ivanka will lead a delegation from the US at the three- day event.

The closing session of the GES will bring together key influencers who support, promote and fund women entrepreneurs, Kant said.

The closing session will be moderated by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, he said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will also participate in the GES, he said.

More than 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel, will be represented by their all-women delegation at the summit, Kant said.

With the theme of 'Women First, Prosperity for All', this will be the first GES in which women are expected to be majority (52.5 per cent) of the participants, he said.

The theme of this year's summit demonstrates the commitment of the US and the Indian governments to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, he said.

"Women entrepreneurs help drive innovation and job creation as well as address the world's greatest and most critical challenges," Kant said.

Replying to a query, Juster lauded Modi for the recent World Bank's ranking of India on the ease of doing business index.

"The important point is that the economic reform process will obviously increase US investments (in India)," he said.

He however said the investment decisions are made by the private sector and are driven by market forces.

On the GES, Juster said both India and the US focus on innovation and events like this will boost the process further in this regard.

Refusing to speak on the recent H1B visa issue in the US, Juster said his country is doing a comprehensive review of the visa policy, which is yet to be announced.

He however said the visa policy is not specific to any country and is aimed at attracting talent and innovation to the US.

The three-day GES will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre.

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Noted activist Aires Rodrigues was booked by the Goa Police today for allegedly sexually harassing a woman by linking her with a state minister through his social media posts.

The middle-aged married woman, a resident of Siolim village, has lodged a formal complaint against Rodrigues with the Anjuna Police this evening.

Police have registered an FIR against Rodrigues under sections 354 (A) (iv)(sexual harassment), 509 (words or gesture to insult modesty of a woman), and 500 (punishment for defamation), an official said.

The woman alleged that Rodrigues on November 4 circulated a video on social media purportedly showing the minister with the woman.

On November 5, Rodrigues circulated a message that he had sought an appointment with Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to update her on the alleged sex scandal, according to the complaint.

"The complainant said Rodrigues circulated her picture on whatsapp linking her to the alleged sex scandal on November 7," the official said quoting the complaint.

The woman said she was not able to move out of her house after she came to know about the post.

She alleged that her image was tarnished by the post which has disturbed her marital life.

"The complainant states that due to the said act of Aires Rodrigues, her family has been disturbed and through this act her modesty has been outraged in public life," the official said.

The woman claimed that she and her husband confronted Rodrigues at his office and that he admitted that he had circulated the said post without any basis and facts.

When contacted, the minister Vinod Paliencar, who represents Siolim seat, lashed out at Rodrigues.

"It is wrong if any woman's name is being tarnished by certain individual at the behest of someone. All my voters in Siolim are my people. I meet hundreds of people everyday," he said.

Paliencar said the incident shows the "culture and upbringing of the social activist who also has a daughter".

Rodrigues could not be contacted for his reaction.

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Goa Congress president Shantaram Naik today accused the BJP-led state government of harming the rights of traditional fishermen by not preparing the Coastal Zone Management Plan.

He said the government has "delayed" sending the plan to the Centre.

Addressing reporters, the Congress leader claimed the state government was delaying the approval to the Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management's draft plan.

The Pune bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently directed the Goa government as well as other states against granting new construction licences in violation of CRZ Regulations within 100 metres of the High Tide Line (HTL) until July 2018.

Naik said the facilities required for local fishing communities such as fish drying yards, auction halls, net mending yards, traditional boat building yards, ice plants, ice crushing units, fish curing facilities are permitted under the Coastal Regulation Zone notification.

He said the CRZ notification provides protection for turtle breeding, protection of mangroves, sand dunes, khazan lands and others.

The Congress leader also asked the government to clear the air on the "delay" in approving Coastal Zone Management Plan.

"A balance has to be maintained between the rights of communities residing in the coastal areas and the tourism and environment," Naik said.

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The Centre is determined to not let the Delhi smog-like situation recur, Environment Secretary C K Mishra said here today and asserted that no single authority can be held responsible.

If harsh measures are called for, "so be it", Mishra said at an event hosted by WWF India where he launched a report on 'Clean Energy Innovation Ecosystem in the SME sector in India'.

"We recently witnessed the Delhi smog, but no single authority can be held responsible for it. If the government has failed, then those who are emitting should also take responsibility," he said.

To address environmental issues, individual efforts need to galvanise into a collective goal for the government and society as whole, Mishra, who also holds the portfolio of climate change, said.

"But, as a government, we are determined to not let the Delhi smog-like situation happen again. And, we are concerned not just for the capital but for the whole India.

"If harsh measures are needed to ensure that, then so be it. Because we care for human lives," he said.
The government should provide financial assistance and support to people who are the victims of their inaction and omissions, including wrongful incarceration, the Delhi High Court said today.

The court's observation came as it asked the AAP government and the legal services authority here to examine the feasibility of framing a scheme to compensate the victims of inaction or omission by the authorities.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued the directions while noting that groundwater in Mustafabad locality of Shiv Vihar area of northeast Delhi has been polluted by carcinogenic discharge from industrial units which are allegedly illegally operating there, due to the inaction of the local authorities.

The court said that as a result of the polluted groundwater, several persons of the area are suffering from cancer.

"The court is concerned with the inaction and omissions of the local authorities, resulting in contamination of groundwater which has resulted in several people suffering from cancer.

"It cannot be denied that it is the responsibility of the authorities to provide financial assistance and support to the victims and their family," it said and asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) to give their recommendations in four weeks.

The direction came during the hearing of a PIL initiated by the court after a news report highlighted the plight of the residents of the colony.

The report had said that the untreated effluents were contaminating groundwater, the main source of drinking water in the area, and it was linked to the high rate of cancer in that area.

Two deaths and eight suspected tumour cases have been detected in the locality, it had said.

The bench from time to time has been issuing directions, including ordering a CBI probe into how the industrial units were allowed to operate there as well as calling for testing of water samples to find a solution to the problem.

The court today issued the notice to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and the power distribution company of the area, asking them to indicate the procedure followed by them while granting water and electricity connections to such units.

"In view of the nature and magnitude of the problem, the issues need consideration," the bench said while making DJB and the discoms of the area a part of the public interest litigation.

The DJB and the discoms have to indicate their stands before the next date of hearing on December 20.

The court told the CBI to start taking action against those who have violated the law by setting up illegal industrial units and those who allowed it to happen.

The direction was also issued to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to provide the reports of the water sample tests to environmentalist Sunita Narain who has been appointed as amicus curiae by the court.

DPCC, represented by advocate Sanjeev Ralli, said the reports will be ready in 15 days.

The Delhi government, represented by standing counsel Ramesh Singh, said 28 families have been identified in the area for grant of compensation under its various welfare schemes.

The CBI said its probe was underway as the court asked it to file a status report by January.
The government has transferred worth nearly Rs 507 crore to Bharat 22 ETF, says a regulatory filing.

"The Ministry of Coal... on behalf of the President of India has transferred 1,92,99,613 equity shares to 'Bharat 22 ETF' at a value of Rs 5,06,51,14,597, which is 0.31 per cent of total equity share capital of the company," Coal India said in a filing to BSE.

"Post transfer, holding of President of India is 4,87,56,71,716 equity shares, which is 78.546 per cent of equity share capital of the company," the filing said.

The Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), comprising scrips of 22 blue-chip companies, this month attracted robust bids, with the portion reserved for anchor investors getting subscribed six times to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore on the opening day.

The ICICI Prudential MF-managed Bharat 22 ETF's new fund offer (NFO) has a size of over Rs 8,000 crore.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Greece today advocated reforms in the United Nations and backed India's bid for permanent membership in the Security Council, asserting that New Delhi "cannot be kept out" of one of the most important world bodies.

Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece Nikos Kotzias said that his country fully supports India for the membership of the UNSC as a new balance of power is emerging in the world.

The minister noted that the old powers are declining while a new balance of power is emerging with countries such as India and China.

"We support reforms in the United Nations and India's seat in the Security Council. We are not supporting other proposals," Kotzias said.

He was responding to a question after delivering a lecture on "Greece as a pillar of stability in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean", an event organised by the Observer Foundation Research and the Embassy of Greece.

"India is the second most populous nation. In 10-20 years, or even before, it will be the most populous state. You cannot keep such a nation-state outside the Security Council," the foreign minister added.

The minister said Greece and India could play specific role in stabilisation of the West Asia and also the eastern Mediterranean region.

He said Greece is working with the policy of five lines of stabilisation in the region, with special focus on Egypt, Israel and Jordan to achieve stability in the region.

Asked whether Greece would be able to play a leading role in the region, considering the economic slowdown it witnessed, the minister said the GDP of Greece is very small, nearly Euros 250 billion, in comparison to the world, medium in regards to European Union, but large in regards to the region.

He asserted that despite the economic slump, the country has strong democracy which is "embedded" in the Greek society.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Greece today agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in a range of key areas including trade, maritime security and energy and inked a pact for launching the first direct flight service between the two countries.

Greece also extended support to India's bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias held extensive talks covering the entire expanse of bilateral relations besides delving into major regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.

In a statement, the external affairs ministry said the discussions between the two ministers focused on building closer cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture, maritime sector, culture and tourism.

"The two ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest," the ministry said.

Later, speaking at a think tank, Kotzias said that Greece fully supports India's bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council as a "new balance of power" is emerging in the world.

Observing that the world was passing through a difficult time, he said forces of fundamentalism and terrorism are trying to destabilise the world.

After their talks, Swaraj and Kotzias inked an air services agreement and another pact on cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy.

The air services agreement will allow Indian airlines to operate to Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion. Similarly, the Greek airlines will also be able to launch flight services to major Indian cities.

At present there is no direct air connectivity between India and the southeastern European nation.

On talks between the two ministers, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the discussions covered all aspects of bilateral relationship and that the two leaders reaffirmed commitment to further expand cooperation in mutually beneficial spheres.

The volume of bilateral trade has gradually declined, primarily due to the economic recession faced by Greece. The country has been dependent on bailout packages to deal with its borrowing needs since 2011.

The size of bilateral trade between India and Greece was USD 606.93 million in 2009-10 which fell to USD 445 million in 2015-16.

Greece's exports to India include cotton, marble and granite, aluminium foils and calcium carbonate while main Indian exports are petroleum products, automobile components, electrical transformers, frozen shrimps and cashew nuts.

Indian companies have established their presence in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and steel sectors in Greece while the Greek companies are present in the fields of IT and construction in India.

"The sectors such as agriculture, shipping and tourism also offer scope for cooperation," the ministry said.

About 10,000 Indian nationals are living in Greece and most of them are employed in factories or in construction sector.

Kotzias is on a four-day visit to India which will conclude tomorrow.

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A team of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Gujarat police today took away, for interrogation, terror suspect Tauseef Khan, an accused in the Ahmedabad serial blasts of 2008.

Tauseef, who was arrested here by the Bihar ATS a few months ago, had been lodged in the Gaya Central Jail. He was taken to Ahmedabad by a chartered plane amid tight security. The ATS team was led by inspector S L Chaudhary.

"Tauseef is named in a total of 39 cases, all relating to terrorist activities, in various police stations of Ahmedabad and Surat", Chaudhary told reporters.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (City), Gaya, Alok Kumar Singh, "Tauseef was arrested, along with two of his associates, on September 14 from the Bhagat Singh Chowk under Civil Lines police station area".

"He has been taken to Ahmedabad for interrogation by the Gujarat ATS team, which arrived here yesterday and obtained transit remand from a local court", Singh said.

An engineering graduate, Tauseef worked as a teacher in a school in a Gaya village where he allegedly promoted anti-national sentiments among his students.

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Turkish spies working in Sudan have repatriated a businessman accused of links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen after he was caught in a joint operation, state media reported today.

Memduh Cikmaz is accused of giving millions to the movement run by US-based Gulen, who Ankara claims ordered the July 15, 2016 attempt to end President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule.

Cikmaz was captured in a joint operation involving Sudanese intelligence after the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) located him two months earlier, security sources told Anadolu agency.

Cikmaz, with business interests in petrol stations and brick factories, was returned to Turkey early today, the agency said.

He had gone to Sudan in January 2016 but sources told Anadolu he continued to send millions of dollars to the movement.

Cikmaz was accused of "managing an armed terror organisation" in a previous arrest warrant. Anadolu described him as the Gulen group's "money vault".

The agency said MIT had created a special team to locate suspected Gulenists abroad.

Turkey refers to Gulen's group as the "Fethullah Terrorist Organisation" (FETO) but the movement insists it is peaceful and promotes education, denying any terror links.

Its network stretches from Turkey to Africa and Central Asia to the United States.

Gulen denies Turkey's accusations of involvement in last year's failed coup.

Ankara launched a widespread crackdown on the group, arresting more than 50,000 people over alleged links since July last year.

During high-level diplomatic visits, Ankara has also urged Pakistan and Tanzania to crackdown on the Gulen network, especially its schools.

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In yet another controversial remark, Jammu and Kashmir's former chief minister today dared the Centre to hoist the flag at Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar city before talking about unfurling it in PoK.

Abdullah's remarks drew criticism from the BJP, with Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh saying the Conference leader was strengthening the separatists and militants. He said the tricolour was being hoisted in all parts of the state, including Lal Chowk.

Abdullah, who had recently claimed Pakistan Occupied Kashmir cannot become a part of India, said he only told facts and that what he spoke about PoK was the "truth".

"They (Centre and BJP) are talking about raising flag in PoK. I ask them first you go and raise the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. They cant even do that here and they are talking about PoK," he said.

"If you dont like to hear the truth, then live in the untruth.

The truth is that (PoK) is not our part and this (J&K) is not their part. That is the truth," Abdullah said defending his comment that PoK does not belong to India.

He was speaking to reporters after paying floral tributes to Congress leader and MP the late G L Dogra on his 30th death anniversary.

Asked whether he was not hurting the Indian sentiment by making such comments, he retorted, asking "What is Indian sentiment? You think I am not an Indian?



"Whose sentiments are you talking about? Those crooks, who dont sees our miseries. Who dont see the miseries of our border people? How they suffer when shelling starts?"



When asked to comment on the recent killing of an armyman on leave, he said the Centre should be asked the question as it claimed peace had returned to Kashmir after demonetisation.

Abdullah deprecated the incident where two students did not get up when the anthem was being sung in Rajouri district a few days ago.

Honour to the nation is important and national anthem is most honourable, he said, adding the government should take action against them until they apologised and gave an undertaking that they would not repeat it.

The National Conference leader said he was not aware if cases against stone pelters were being withdrawn.

He wished "good luck" to the Centre's special representative Dineshwar Sharma who is holding talks with stakeholders to restore peace in the restive state.

Abdullah's comments on PoK and the national flag prompted criticism from Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

" is strengthening separatists and militants with his controversial remarks because he is frustrated. He has forgotten that tricolour is being unfurled in all parts of the state including Lal Chowk", told reporters.
Pushing the BJP's campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today attacked the Congress and said he is ready to sell tea but will never sell the country, and asked Rahul Gandhi why he had applauded the release of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.

Modi, who started his high voltage campaign with rallies in Bhuj in Kutch district, Jasdan in Rajkot, Chalala in Amreli and Kadodara near Surat, took on the opposition party on issues related to China, Lashkar-e-Taiba's Hafiz Saeed, the surgical strike as well as corruption.

He accused the Congress vice president of applauding the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and asked why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

"You are happy to hug the Chinese ambassador, you are clapping at the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Army's surgical strike... But why did you speak about it? You could have just remained silent," he said in Bhuj, not specifying how and where Gandhi had hailed Saeed's release.

Gandhi had recently tweeted: "Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed."



The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Saeed by a Pakistan court.

Hitting out at the Congress over a recent meme targeting his "chaiwala" past, the prime minister said in Jasdan that he is being targeted by the main opposition party because of his humble background and for being born to a "poor mother".

"They are feeling uneasy because a chaiwala became the PM. We used to read in books how the downtrodden get harassed by those in higher strata. But I never imagined they would stoop so low," Modi said in his speech in Gujarati at Jasdan ahead of the first round of polling on December 9.

He said he gets messages from people threatening him that they would once again turn him into a tea-seller.

"I want to tell them that I am Modi, who is ready to sell tea but will never commit the sin of selling the entire country," he said, in an apparent reference to scams during the Congress-led UPA rule.

"Why are you mocking poverty? Why are you insulting a poor mother?" he asked.

In an apparent bid to woo the influential Patidars, who seem to be drifting towards the opposition party, Modi said the Congress "harassed" four former chief ministers of the community because of a "grudge" against Gujarat.

Babubhai Jashbhai Patel, Chimanbhai Patel, Keshubhai Patel and Anandiben Patel belonged to the Patidar community.

Without directly accusing the Congress of fanning the protests, Modi said the opposition had done everything to "disturb" the BJP's Anandiben Patel-led government.

"They fanned violence to disturb her. This Congress party harassed four Patidar CMs just because the people of Gujarat never accepted the party."



At the Bhuj rally, Modi pitched the election as a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He asked the people of Gujarat not to forgive Congress leaders as they had levelled baseless allegations on the "son of Gujarat" who has a stainless public life.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

He also alleged during his campaign that Modi is not a "chowkidar" (watchman) but a bhagidar (partner) in "corrupt" practices in BJP president Amit Shah's son Jay Shah's company.

Modi said he had written a poem, saying that Gujarat is his 'atma' (soul), while Bharat is his 'parmatma' (God), that Gujarat is his mother and he her son.

"I have grown up on this soil, you Gujaratis know my plus and minus points, what was good in me has evolved due to this 'mitti' (soil) due to my mother (Gujarat)," he said, seeking to emotionally connect with voters.

The prime minister said Gujaratis will not forgive those attacking its child.

Recalling Sardar Patel, he said the Congress should understand that Gujarat tolerated insults when atrocities were committed against him but the times had changed and they would not do so again.

Modi said many people have come here for election campaigning and "sprayed muck".

"Farmers prepare their land before the start of the monsoon season. In the same way, much muck has been sprayed here. It is good as it will help the lotus (BJP's election symbol) bloom."



Modi referred to the 26/11 terror strike and the attack in Uri and asked what the difference was between one government and another, one leader and another.

"They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks," he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress raised questions on the surgical strike in September 2016.

"They could not respect Indian Army, they asked questions like none of our soldiers was injured? None of them died? Have you any photo or video evidence? Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan?" he said.

The second phase of elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 14. The votes will be counted on December 18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Legendary actor Susan Sarandon said if Hillary Clinton had won last year's US Presidential Elections, the US would be in war zone today.

In an interview with The Guardian, the 71-year-old actor said she still sticks to her comment on the Democrat representative, when she said Clinton was more "dangerous" than current US President, Donald Trump.

"Not exactly, but I don't mind that quote...

"I did think she (Clinton) was very, very dangerous. We would still be fracking, we would be at war (if she was president). It wouldn't be much smoother," Sarandon said.

Indirectly defending Trump on the charge of deporting immigrants, the "Feud: Bette and Joan" star took on former POTUS Barack Obama, saying he did the same but "sneakily".

"Look what happened under Obama that we didn't notice. She would've done it the way Obama did it, which was sneakily. He deported more people than have been deported now. How he got the Nobel peace prize I don't know.

"I think it was very important to have a black family in the White House and I think some of the stuff he did was good. He tried really hard about healthcare. But he didn't go all the way because of big pharma," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Denmark today decided to ramp up cooperation in key sectors such as trade and investment, energy and shipping, during talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Danish counterpart Anders Samuelsen.

The external affairs ministry said two ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.

"The discussions between the two ministers focused on building of cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, science and technology, environment and renewable energy, shipping, food processing, healthcare, culture and tourism," the ministry said.

Samuelsen is on a five-day India visit from November 26- 30. He is also travelling to Hyderabad to participate at the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

Today's talks between Swaraj and Samuelsen were focused on boosting bilateral trade and investment.

India's economic ties with Denmark are on an upward trajectory.

The annual bilateral trade has increased to around USD 2.8 billion. Indian companies have established their presence in IT, renewable energy and biotechnology sectors of Denmark.

Over 125 Danish companies have invested significantly in the sectors of renewable energy, shipping, IT and food processing in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Russia today agreed to help each other in combating terrorism as the two strategic partners signed a key agreement, asserting that there are no good or bad terrorists and the menace should be fought jointly.

The agreement between the two countries forcooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev here after they held wide-ranging talks.

The ministers underlined that cooperation in the field of security is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship further strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and radicalism, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said.

They agreed that terrorism must be fought unitedly and there were no good or bad terrorists, it said.

"The new agreement between India's MHA and Russia's interior ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security," Singh tweeted after signing the pact.

The Indian embassy statement said the two leaders agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhance exchange of information, cooperate in building a data base and in training of police and investigative agencies.

Indian and Russian representatives also signed the joint action plan for countering the threat posed by narcotics and the agreement will provide legal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.

The pact was signed by Indian ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran and deputy minister for internal affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Zubov in presence of Singh and Kolokoltsev.

The agreement on internal security is an updated and more comprehensive agreement on cooperation on security between the MHA and the Russian ministry of interior.

This pact provides a comprehensive approach for help in security related issues, including information technology crimes, counterfeiting currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in human beings, economic crimes, crimes related to intellectual property, cultural property amongst others, the statement said.

During the meeting, the ministers emphasised the strength of the relationship between India and Russia that has been consolidated in the past 70 years in all areas.

Before leaving for Russia, Singh said India and Russia share a special relationship which has withstood the test of time over the decades.

Singh was scheduled to visit Russia on September 18, 2016, but he had cancelled it following a terror attack on that day at the Brigade headquarters in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 19 Army soldiers were killed.

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A team of doctors from India, in collaboration with a hospital in Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam, has performed the "first ever" kidney transplant in the African country.

According to a statement issued by the Delhi-based BLK Super Speciality hospital, the surgery was conducted at the Muhimbili National Hospital on a 30-year-old Tanzanian woman, who was suffering from an end-stage kidney disease.

"It is a matter of great honour that the first ever kidney transplant in Tanzania was performed by a team of Indian doctors," said Naresh Kapoor, executive director of the BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

"We have established a credible linkage with African countries through a number of collaborative programmes, with an objective to build healthcare capacities locally in countries such as Tanzania. This surgery will certainly boost the Indo-Tanzanian relationships in the field of healthcare," he added.

The woman, on whom the surgery was performed, was on haemodialysis for over a year.

"The donor was her 27-year-old brother, who donated one of his kidneys to save his sister's life," said Dr H S Bhatyal, the head of the Urology and Kidney Transplantation department at the BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

Both the donor and the recipient were recuperating well and should return to normal activities soon, Dr Sunil Prakash, director and head of the Nephrology department at the BLK Super Speciality Hospital, said.

According to the statement, while announcing the historical medical achievement, the health minister of Tanzania, Ummi Mwalimu, said, "We are very thankful to the Indian doctors as such surgeries would provide cost relief and enable many Tanzanians to access world-class health services. The success of this kidney transplant has laid a noble foundation for the introduction of other organ transplantations in the country.

"This brings hope to a number of patients waiting for transplant operations in the African nation. The medical collaboration (between India and Tanzania) is set to grow stronger in the coming days.

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Ivanka Trump, the advisor and daughter of US President Donald Trump, has said the Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by India and America is a testament to their growing economic and security partnership.

Ivanka will be leading a delegation of senior Trump administration officials and entrepreneurs at the three-day Summit in Hyderabad beginning tomorrow.

To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 1200 young entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are women, from 127 countries would attend the summit.

In addition some 300 investors and ecosystem supporters are also attending the mega event.

The worlds largest gathering of young entrepreneurs is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

It is "a testament to the strong friendship between our two people and the growing economic and security partnership between our two nations," Ivanka Trump told reporters during a preview of her India visit.

Ivanka, 36, has travelled to India before, but this is her maiden trip to the country as a senior presidential advisor.

Accompanied by several top administrations official, a large number of Indian Americans are part of her delegation, which numbers 350 from 38 states.

Prime Minister Modi had personally invited Ivanka to participate in the GES, which is being held in India for the first time, when he travelled to the US in June.

This year's summit theme, 'Women First, Prosperity for All', demonstrates the Trump administrations commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, she told reporters last week.

Five per cent of entrepreneurs at GES are 30 years or younger. The youngest entrepreneur is 13 and the oldest entrepreneur is 84.

Ivanka said she aims for this summit to serve as an open and collaborative environment for the exchange of ideas, to broaden networks, and to empower entrepreneurs to take their ideas and passion to the next level.

"The US and India will continue to work together to increase economic opportunities and inclusive growth. I very much look forward to my visit and to seeing Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Swaraj once again," she said.

The summit would also be the first major engagement of the new American Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

"Amazing first week in India! Thanks so much for the warm welcome. Looking forward to exploring this fascinating country. Excited to begin my journey in Hyderabad at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit!" he tweeted last week.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today announced his decision to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat of Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with outside support of the Congress.

The moves comes after sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state Congress asked him not to contest the polls from the seat "as a part of an agreement" with Mevani.

Vaghela said the Congress has given an indirect support to Mevani for Vadgam seat, reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate.

"The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congress' support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

Mevani today announced that he will file his nomination as an Independent candidate for the Vadgam seat.

In a message posted on social media, the face of the Dalit agitation in Gujarat claimed that he decided to jump into the poll battle after being "persuaded" by youth and numerous agitators.

He even requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers.

"Since the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file their papers, so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is people's battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election," he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP's Vijay Chakravarthi.

Earlier this month, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat.

After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 per cent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.

Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district today extended till December 11 the judicial custody of senior journalist Vinod Verma, arrested in connection with a case of alleged blackmailing and extortion.

The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhavesh Kumar Watti extended the judicial remand of Verma till December 11. This is for the second time that his judicial remand has been extended, the journalist's lawyer Faisal Rizvi told reporters.

Verma was produced in the court after his judicial remand ended today, he said.

Following the journalist's arrest on October 27 from his Ghaziabad residence by the Chhattisgarh Police, he was sent to judicial custody on October 31 for 14 days. Later, his judicial remand was extended up to November 27.

After his arrest, Verma had said that he had a sex tape of a Chhattisgarh minister.

According to the Raipur police, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station based on a complaint by a BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who said he "was being harassed over the phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his 'aka' (master)".

After investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was held from Ghaziabad in this connection, the police had said and also claimed to have recovered 500 "porn" CDs, a pen drive and a laptop from him.

The Chhattisgarh government had recommended a CBI probe.

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An irate mob today allegedly ransacked a private hospital in Kalyan following the death of a 22-year-old man, police said.

Rohit Bhoir from Warap was admitted to the hospital after he suffered a heart attack on Sunday, a senior police official said.

Warap died at the hospital today. Following his demise, his relatives ransacked the hospital, the official said, adding a case would be registered at the MFC police station.

Meanwhile, Bhoir's kin also allegedly thrashed a local scribe, who had gone to cover the incident, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Centre has withdrawn Lalu Prasad's Z plus VIP security cover of NSG commandos, evoking angry reactions from the RJD supremo and his two sons, who cried conspiracy, with one even threatening to "skin" Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lalu Prasad accused the Narendra Modi government of hatching a "conspiracy" to frighten him so that he gives up his "relentless fight for preserving communal harmony and social justice".

The RJD chief, addressing a press conference in Patna, said, "Lalu is not someone who can be frightened into submission. The public of Bihar will protect me. But if anything happens to me, the Nitish Kumar government in the state and the Modi government at the Centre shall be jointly responsible".

His two sons  Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav  reacted angrily to the government's decision.

Tej Pratap, the elder son of the RJD boss, went ballistic, threatening to get Modi "skinned".

"They are hatching a murder conspiracy against him (Lalu)...If something happens to him, we will get the prime minister skinned (khal utarwa lenge)," an angry Tej Pratap Yadav told reporters outside the state Assembly.

"If my father is killed who will take responsibility for this?" asked Tej Pratap, a former minister and sitting MLA.

When reporters said he was making derogatory remarks against the prime minister, he defended his comments and told the media persons to "go and tell him (PM)".

Asked about Tej Pratap's remarks, Lalu Prasad diapproved of the kind of language he used against Modi but noted "the blood of anybody will boil if he finds his father at the receiving end of such a conspiracy".

Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy chief minister and the younger son of the RJD supremo, also attacked the Centre for downgrading Lalu Prasad's security.

"By downgrading his security, the Centre is trying to frighten Lalu, who is working towards opposition unity. This is very mean-minded politics on the part of the BJP-led NDA government," Tejashwi Yadav told reporters.

He also expressed apprehension that with a less strong security cover, the RJD chief had become vulnerable and "now the Centre shall be held solely responsible if anything happens to Lalu".

The former Bihar chief minister will now be given 'Z' category security and be guarded by an armed commando squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, in accordance with the protocol of the scaled down cover, official sources said in New Delhi.

Yadav will not have Security Guard black cat commandos guarding him any more as they were withdrawn yesterday. The NSG only provides 'Z+' security cover.

The decision was taken after the Union home ministry recently reviewed the threat levels of various VIP protectees, the sources said.

Hitting out at the central government, Lalu Prasad said, "We are the most vocal opponents of the Modi government which is driving the country towards dictatorship. Democracy is under threat."



"We have been fighting them resolutely. That is why my family and I have been implicated in so many false cases...so that we get scared of the possibility of going to jail and give up our fight," he said.

Lalu Prasad claimed that the decision to downgrade his security cover, which was provided to him under the UPA government, was another conspiracy by the Modi government to silence him.

"What else explains the move. They have not run short of security personnel. Every two-bit BJP leader enjoys Z plus security," the RJD chief alleged.

"I am travelling far and wide as part of my 'BJP bhagao, desh bachao' campaign. This has rattled the party which thinks that by making me worry about my own safety it will be able to contain me," he said, adding that he would not give up his fight.

Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi scoffed at the remonstrations over the scaling down of Lalu Prasad's security, saying, "Lalu se log darte hain...Lalu ko kisse dar lagta hai (People are scared of Lalu. Who does he fear?)'".

On Sushil Modi's jibe, Lalu retorted, "BJP leaders are always darpok (cowards)".

Besides Lalu Prasad, the Centre also decided to withdraw 'Z+' CRPF VIP security cover of former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

The Hindustani Awam Morcha president Manjhi told reporters, "I do not know on the basis of whose report the Centre has taken such a decision. I still face threat to my life."



Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha is a part of the Democratic Alliance in Bihar.

Lalu Prasad also questioned the withdrawal of security cover of Manjhi, saying, "It is well-known that he faces threat to his life from naxals."



Tej Pratap's remarks against the prime minister come days after he made objectionable comments against Sushil Modi, threatening to disrupt the marriage ceremony of his son on December 3.

Citing security reasons, Sushil Modi changed the venue of his son's wedding to Veterinary College ground from Shakha field in Rajendra Nagar in the state capital.
As many as 20 states saved Rs 500 crore in the last one year on their electricity bill, an official of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) said.

Nearly 40 lakh LED street lights were installed by 20 states which helped 20 states in saving Rs 500 crore in last one year, EESL managing director Saurabh Kumar said at a press conference here today while throwing International Symposium to Promote Innovation and Research in Energy Efficiency (Inspire-2017) open.

Inspire-2017 will culminate on December 1.

He said that Rajasthan saved Rs 144 crore in last three years by installing LED street lights.

More than a hundred international delegates representing countries such as the United States, Singapore, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Korea, Turkey, Nepal, Thailand, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, and the UK will attend the symposium.

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The Supreme Court today freed a Kerala woman, alleged to be a victim of 'love jihad', from the custody of her parents and sent her to college to pursue her studies, even as she pleaded that she should be allowed to go with her husband.

After a prolonged proceedings in the open courtroom, the top court did not accede to Hadiya's plea that she should be allowed to go with her husband. She also told the court she wanted "freedom" to live and profess Islamic faith.

The apex court, which interacted with 25-year old Hadiya for nearly half-an-hour in the courtroom against the wishes of her father who had sought an in-camera interaction, directed the Kerala police to provide her security and ensure that she travelled at the earliest to Salem in Tamil Nadu to pursue homepathy studies at Sivaraj Medical College there.

Hadiya was in the custody of her parents for almost six months, after the Kerala High Court had on May 29 anulled her 'nikah' with Shafin Jahan. Hadiya, a Hindu by birth, had converted to Islam several months before her marriage.

The court fixed the plea of Jahan, challenging Kerala High Court's order annulling his marriage with Hadiya, for hearing in the third week of January next year.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also appointed the dean of the college as her local guardian and granted him liberty to approach it in case of any problem.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, directed that Hadiya should be treated as any other student in the college.

The top court also acceded to the request of Hadiya that she be first allowed to visit her friend's home as she has been mentally harrassed for past 11 months and allowed her to visit her friend before going to Salem to attend college.

Hadiya, when asked by the bench to name any nearest relative or acquaintance at Salem to be named as the local guardian, said she only needed her husband in that role.

She said her husband can take care of her expenses of studies and she does not need state's expenses to pursue her professional course.

The bench posed questions in English, while Hadiya replied in Malyalam, which was translated by senior advocate V Giri who appeared for Kerala government.

During the hearing, which continued for almost two-and- half hours till 5.30 PM, Hadiya's parents, her in-laws and her husband were present in the packed courtroom.

The bench asked questions about her ambitions, life, studies and hobbies, which she replied comfortably and said she wanted to do internship of house surgeonship, a course of 11 months and wanted to stand on her own in life.

The court directed the college and the university to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities.

At the outset, senior advocate Shyam Diwan, appearing for Hadiya's father Asokan K M, said his daughter should be questioned in-camera as this was a case of indoctrination backed by huge organisational support.

He claimed there was a highly communally charged atmosphere which could have wider ramifications and insisted on his plea for in-camera proceedings.

Diwan also placed an alleged transcript of conversation between one alleged offshore ISIS handler and Hadiya's husband, saying it showed that Jahan had links with an organisation called Popular Front of India and a larger conspiracy of indoctrination was happening on the ground.

He said in social networking sites, there was a conversation between one Abdul Rashid and Jahan in which he has been found asking how much money he can get to make a person join the ranks of militant outfit ISIS.

Additional Solcitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for NIA, said there were compelling evidence to show a well-oiled machinery which indulges in indoctrination and coversion.

"NIA's job was to give solid facts and it has been found during investigation that 11 cases were detected by Kerala police and seven such cases involved the same organisation and person.

"The real question is how to establish whether a person is indoctrinated, brain-washed or programmed due to which his or her individual autonomy is compromised," Singh said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jahan, said this audio recording was nothing new and was being in circulation for past one year.

"What indoctrination? She has been with her parents for past 11 months. National Commission of Women, NIA all interrogated her but state commission for women was not allowed. She is entitled to speak her mind and has her own individual autonomy and the court should hear her,"Sibal said.

The bench intially said it would first decide whether to interact with her first and then peruse materials of NIA or first peruse the material and then hear her.

"It is a question of what comes first. We have to decide that first. Her father says it is a larger conspiracy but this is also a matter between two adults. Would this case not have the bearing on other cases," the court observed.

Justice Chandrachud posed at what stage the autonomy of an individual is breached, what could be the impact and at what time can the court intervene.

He also referred to the 'Stockholm syndrome' where a person, who is a hostage, starts believing in his kidnappers.

"Although this is not your case, but in such cases there is a free consent of person who is major, but due to this syndrome, he can't take decisions freely. His individual autonomy is broken," Justice Chandrachud said.

The Kerala government said the court should first peruse the materials and then talk to the woman.

"The sequence has to be different at the appellate court. We as a state deal with this scenario everyday at ground level. The court should first look into the material and then talk to her," Kerala counsel Giri said.

To this, the bench said "we are under oath to protect the constitutional values. Constitution does not give us the power to abdicate from hearing a case. We are trying to figure out a way to proceed. We don't see such cases every day."



The bench then called Hadiya and asked questions while making it clear that case will be heard on merits in the third week of January.

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A Delhi court has sent a 40- year old man to jail for 14 years for raping an 8-year old girl, saying such people had perverted minds, carried "animal streak" who would ravish anyone.

Asserting that they should be dealt with firmly, Additional Sessions Judge Seema Maini, while awarding rigorous imprisonment to north Delhi resident RajvinderSingh , said the victim was of tender years and "her suffering at the hands of the convict cannot be expressed in words."



The victim "has been left to lead a life devoid of life," the judge said in her verdict, adding that such victims "lose interest in life" and develop misandry, hating men all their lives and losing faith and trust in all relationships.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict to be given to the victim child, who would also be given Rs three lakh as compensation as per the provisions under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

"It needs to be kept in mind that a penetrative sexual assault/rape are offences, which are the outcome of perverted and evil minds of people who not just lack sensitivity and emotions but are carriers of animal streak in them, who ravish anyone who comes in their sight ... irrespective of the victim's age and circumstance. Such sexual offences have far reaching ramifications," the court said.

According to the complaint, Singh, a neighbour of the victim had on August 18, 2014, taken the girl to his house and raped her.

Singh claimed that beinganeighbour,the victim's parentsoftenquarrelledwithhimduetowhichhehasbeen falsely implicatedinthecase.He also sought leniency saying his wife had expired and has to take care of his four minor children.

Dismissing his contention as flimsy, the court said "such an offence having been committed with the child, makes it imperative that the offender is dealt with a firm hand and the mitigating circumstances of the convict cannot be given precedence over the pain, suffering and trauma of the victim child.

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A 55-year-old man today allegedly jumped before a Delhi Metro train today in an apparent suicide bid, officials said.

The incident occurred around 12:45 pm at ITO station. V K Anand, a resident of Tilak Nagar area in west Delhi, jumped before a train going to Escorts Mujesar from platform number one, officials said.

He was rushed to a hospital by metro authorities with injuries on his head and legs.

Apparently, it is an attempt to suicide. The police are probing the matter, the officials said.

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A 29-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death by his friend following a quarrel over a jacket in east Delhi's Anand Vihar, the police said today.

The accused, Shankar (30), was arrested from the spot.

Yesterday, Shankar had gone to drop Balbir to Anand Vihar from where the latter was to catch a bus to his village in Uttar Pradesh for attending a wedding, the police said.

When they reached the bus stop, they consumed liquor. Balbir then asked Shankar for his jacket which he refused leading to a quarrel, they said.

During the quarrel, Shankar hit Balbir on the head with a stick and the latter lost consciousness. Shankar was nabbed from the spot while Balbir was rushed to LBS Hospital, where he was declared brought dead, the police said.

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The Sensex today scrambled for ways, but closed above the base line for the eighth straight session even as Standard and Poor's kept India's sovereign credit rating unchanged.

The broader too moved sideways multiple times before ending a tad higher.

"Market traded in a narrow range due to status quo in sovereign rating where investors expected a positive revision. Later, the market reversed from the day's low and managed to close on positive note with an expectation of improvement in Q2 GDP data during the week," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

The outcome of the upcoming OPEC meeting on oil supply and F&O expiry this week kept investors on the sidelines.

The 30-share barometer opened lower and stayed in the red for the most part of the day. But sudden buying in the last one hour of trading took it to 33,724.44, up 45.20 points, or 0.13 per cent, from its previous close.

The index had risen 918.80 points in the past seven sessions.

The 50-share ended flat, up by 9.85 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 10,399.55. Intra-day, it moved between 10,340.20 and 10,407.15.

The market floated on domestic institutional buying and positive leads from Europe.

The uptrend in the previous seven sessions came on the back of Moody's upgrading India sovereign rating and better- than-estimated earnings by some blue-chip companies.

Investors turned cautious as Standard and Poor's kept its sovereign rating for India unchanged at 'BBB-minus' with 'stable' outlook, citing vulnerabilities stemming from low per capita income and high government debt. The rating decision came after trading hours on Friday.

Marked by volatility, power, realty, infrastructure, consumer durables and capital goods stocks saw gains, helping both the key indices close higher for the eighth straight day -- their longest winning run since June 23, 2015.

Domestic institutional investors stood firm as they purchased shares worth Rs 427.63 crore on Friday, provisional data showed. But foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth Rs 416.28 crore.

Other Asian closed lower, ignoring a strong lead from Wall Street. European shares were in the green.

Market heavyweight NTPC surged the most by 3.13 per cent. Axis Bank came in second, up 2.73 per cent. ONGC, SBI, Wipro and L&T too advanced.

The BSE realty index was the prime mover, rising 1.24 per cent, followed by power, infrastructure and consumer durables.

Pace of buying picked up in broader markets, lifting the BSE small-cap index by 0.77 per cent and mid-cap 0.52 per cent.

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Larsen&Toubro has sought "additional financial support" from Telangana to cover cost overruns in the Rs 16,000-crore metro rail project that stemmed from delays in its implementation, sources privy to the development said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the first phase of the 72-km project tomorrow, touted to be the world's largest such project on public-private partnership in the sector.

L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd, the developer of the project, has sought "additional financial support" from the Telangana government to cover the cost overruns due to delays in projects, leading to an extension of time, the sources said.

The cost overruns work out to over Rs 3,000 crore, the sources added.

"The company is also learnt to have sought an extension period of two years," an industry source said, adding that any decision is likely after consultation with the Centre as the urban development ministry is also part of the project.

The project, which was originally slated to go on stream in July this year, was extended till November 2018 and Telangana minister K T Rama Rao recently confirmed it.

Conceived in 2009, the 72-km project has overcome many hurdles such as default by first concessionaire Maytas Infra-led consortium and now, the present developer and subsequent developments, crucial land acquisition by the state government and logjam for some time over route alignment, among others.

L&T, however, did not respond to the queries in this regard.

A senior state government official said, "There would be cost escalations as the project got delayed."



He, however, said the government issues will be settled in accordance with the concession agreement.

The project has got stuck in delays as L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) had over three years ago written a letter to the Telangana government offering to quit the Rs 16,000-plus crore project as the last resort if "issues" were not resolved.

When asked if L&T offered to hand over the project to the government, the then chief executive and MD V B Gadgil had replied: "In case, the issues do not get settled."



"That (to quit) is one solution we have told them in case both of us are not able to resolve," he had said after a meeting with the chief minister and the chief secretary in 2014.

L&T has also written a letter to the state government on the matter.

L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) is an L&T subsidiary, which is developing the metro at a total cost is Rs 16,375-Rs 14,132 crores for the metro rail system and another Rs 2,243 crore for the real estate development.

According to available data, the concession agreement for the project totalling 72 km metro lines with 66 stations was executed in September 2010 while financial closure was achieved in April 2011.

The first phase comprises 30 km and 24 stations while the second phase of the remaining corridor barring a 6-km stretch -- near Charminar -- is expected to be commissioned by November 2018.
Russia's Defence Ministry today denied a report that alleged Moscow's air strikes had killed 34 civilians in the Syrian village of Al-Shafah.

It called the report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights "another falsehood," adding the Russian military targets "only unpopulated areas and international terrorist groups."



"Russian army planes did not hit Al-Shafah in the Deir Ezzor province," it said in a statement.

Yesterday, the Britain-based monitor accused Moscow of killing 34 civilians, among them 15 children, in an air strike on the village Al-Shafah which lies on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determined whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

Russia is a close ally of Syria's President Bashar al- Assad, and in September 2015 began a military intervention in support of his government that has gradually helped Damascus regain territory.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

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Mumbai trounced underdogs Tripura by 10 wickets in their Group C Ranji Trophy game on the third and penultimate day here today to storm into the quarter finals of the national tournament.

The 41-time champions chased a paltry target of 63 in just 6.2 overs with young find Prithvi Shaw (50 not out) and first innings centurion Jay Bista (13 not out) taking them home.

Shaw, who was at his best, laced his 26-ball innings with eight hits to the fence as Mumbai raced to a thumping victory at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai bagged seven points, including the bonus point, to leapfrog earlier leaders Andhra Pradesh (19 points) and book a knock-out berth with a tally of 21 points. The second spot in the group is a toss-up between Andhra and Madhya Pradesh.

Mumbai declared at their overnight score of 421 for 8 to take a huge 226-run first innings lead before their bowlers put up a spirited show to bundle out Tripura for 288 in their second innings.

For the visitors, only Yashpal Singh (82 off 127 balls) and keeper Smith Patel (68 off 111 balls) showed some resistance, but all their lower-order batsmen failed to make a mark, making a beeline to the pavilion.

For the hosts, left-arm spinner Karsh Kothari (4-72) and pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (4-69) were the chief wicket takers.

Kothari, stuck at the stroke of tea and then after the break. At tea, Tripura were 222 for 5, four runs behind Mumbai.

After tea, Kothari removed Mura Singh off the first ball, caught by Surya Kumar Yadav. He then dismissed a well-set Yashpal Sharma, stumped by skipper Aditya Tare.

At one stage in their second innings, Tripura were struggling at 84-3, but then Patel and Sharma put on a 129-run stand for the fourth wicket.

While Patel brought up his fifty in 83 balls, Sharma completed his half century in 68 balls.

But before tea, Mumbai bounced back, dismissing Patel and new man Gurinder Singh (1). First it was Jay Bista who broke the Sharma-Patel stand after he cleaned up Patel, who struck 10 fours.

And within no time, Kothari removed Gurinder, who was caught brilliantly by Surya Kumar Yadav in the slips.

Earlier in the morning, Kulkarni gave the hosts their first breakthrough dismissing Tripura opener Samarat Singha who edged to wicket-keeper Tare on 7.

Udiyan Bose (34) got involved in a 65-run second wicket stand with Ghosh before their partnership was broken by Kulkarni who had Bose caught at square-leg.

At lunch, Tripura were 84 for 2 and after lunch, off the second ball, medium-pacer Akash Parkar, who picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in the Tripura first innings, cleaned up Ghosh (38).

Brief scores:



Tripura 195 and 288 (Yashpal Singh 82, Smit Patel 68; Karsh Kothari 4 for 72, Dhawal Kulkarni 4 for 69) lost to Mumbai 421 for 8 declared and 64 for no loss (Prithvi Shaw 50 not out, Jay Bista 13 not out).

Mumbai 7 points, Tripura 0.

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Myanmar's State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi will tour China, days after the visit of the Myanmarese military chief as Beijing seeks to deepen ties with Naypyidaw, amid the Rohingya refugee crisis.

While Beijing has not confirmed the visit, Myanmar's state-run daily Global New Light today reported that Nobel laureate Suu Kyi who is facing criticism following a global outcry over the Rohingya crisis would visit China "soon".

Asked about her visit, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) is organising a global political dialogue from November 30 to December 3 on 'Forging of Community for Shared Future for Mankind and the Responsibility of Political Parties'.

Several leaders of political parties from different countries are expected to attend the meeting, he said.

"The details of who is going to attend I am not aware," Geng said.

Leaders from over 200 parties and political organisations from more than 120 countries are expected to attend the meeting, state-run Xinhua agency had reported earlier.

Suu Kyi's visit to China comes close on the heels of Myanmarese military chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing's visit to Beijing last week during which he met President Xi Jinping besides top Chinese military officials.

The visits are taking place when Myanmar is facing severe global pressure over the plight of 600,000 Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh from Rakhine state in recent months after alleged atrocities by Myanmar's military.

China enjoyed longstanding and close ties with the Myanmar military for decades when Suu Kyi, as pro-democracy leader was under prolonged house arrest, and Beijing is seeking to play a mediatory role between Myanmar and Bangladesh to resolve the crisis.

Since her election, Suu Kyi too has made efforts to improve ties with China with her visits to Beijing earlier.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who recently visited both countries, proposed a three-point plan to deal with the crisis which included a ceasefire in Rakhine state.

Meanwhile, both Myanmar and Bangladesh reached an agreement for steady repatriation of refugees though no time table has been set for its completion.

During his meeting with Hlaing on November 24, Xi said China pays great attention to the peace process in Myanmar, and is willing to play a constructive role in this regard for the security and stability in their border areas.

Xi said the recent once-in-five-years Congress of the ruling CPC which endorsed a second term for him has adopted a blueprint for China's economic and social reform and development in the years to come.

"It will not only inject great vitality into China's own development, but also bring new opportunities for various countries, including Myanmar, in their cooperation with China," he said.

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Alarmed at the receding water levels of the Naini lake, a freshwater body that caters to the drinking water needs of residents and visitors in Nainital, Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today called for developing a definite strategy to save it.

The pressure on the famous eye-shaped lake, a showpiece attraction for tourists in the hill city, is immense. It is the only source of supply to Nainital, which derives its name from the lake.

Though the lake receives flows from surrounding catchment basin, comprising the hill slopes and springs of the embracing Kumaon Hills, the water level fell 18 feet below the normal this summer.

"We need to get into action mode for the conservation of Naini lake," Governor Paul said.

"A number of seminars have been held on the subject from time to time and experts have come up with a slew of suggestions. It is time a definite strategy was drawn up in light of those suggestions and implemented to save the lake," he said at a workshop organised at the Raj Bhavan here by the United Nations Development Programme.

The UNDP workshop discussed scientific and technological ways to conserve Naini lake.

Citing Dhansa, Badkal and Surajkund, once counted among Delhi's major lakes, Paul said it was the "collective responsibility of everyone" to ensure that Naini lake does not meet the same fate.

He said city residents could play an important role in conserving the lake. "Residents using their common sense can also make significant contributions to save Naini lake."



At the event, Chief Minister Rawat said seminars were not enough. "It was time to devise well-defined strategies to save dying lakes like Naini, and revive old rivers like Rispana and Bindal," he said, referring to the rivers of the state capital Dehradun.

"Target oriented, serious efforts need to be made in a time-bound manner to achieve the goal," Rawat said.

The Uttarakhand government runs a "Rispana se Rishiparna" mission to facilitate the revival of the Rispana river.

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The screening of the Tehelka sting CD in the 2002 Naroda Gam case had to be deferred by the special SIT court today after it was told that the video was with the Gujarat High Court.

The court had made arrangements to screen the the CD of "Operation Kalank", which was published by Tehelka magazine in its November 7, 2002 issue, and also aired by Hindi channel 'Aaj Tak' in order to consider certain parts of it as evidence in the case.

The court was told that the CD was currently with the High Court, which heard a batch of appeals against the verdict in the 2002 Naroda Patiya case.

Special judge P B Desai said the screening will be held when the CD is brought back, and ordered arguments over the deposition made by journalist Ashish Khetan, who had carried out the sting operation.

The court will hear the case again tomorrow.

Former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and VHP leader Jaideep Patel - both of whom are facing trial in the case - figure in the sting operation.

Bajrangi is reportedly seen in the video saying that Hindu organisations operating in Naroda Gam, Naroda Patiya, and Gulberg housing society, the scene of the post-Godhra riots, were mobilised to avenge the Godhra train burning incident in which 59 kar sevaks were killed.

Naroda Gam massacre is one of the nine major communal riots cases investigated by the Special Investigation Team.

Eleven Muslims were killed in Naroda Gam in Ahmedabad during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning incident.

Altogether 82 people are facing trial in the case.

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Mizoram Commerce and Industries Minister H Rohluna today said there is a need to increase production in agriculture and allied sectors, especially in view of trade expansion with south east Asian countries.

Rohluna said entrepreneurship would be given thrust through the state government's New Economic Development Policy (NEDP), to enable young entrepreneurs prepare for trade linkage with such countries.

On the crucial Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) that connects with Myanmar, the minister said it was making speedy progress on the Indian side.

"The KMMTTP is a road project...which would open the waterway to the Sittwe port in Myanmar for the land-locked north eastern states," he said.

Rohluna was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a summit organised jointly by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Export-Import Bank of India.

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There should be a mechanism in place under which legal aid is given to both the victim and the accused of sexual offences, the Delhi High Court said today.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also asked the counsel for the Delhi government to inform it about such a mechanism.

It further suggested that when a case of sexual violence is reported to the police, they should also evolve a procedure of intimating the Delhi State Legal Service Authority (DSLSA).

"We are concerned with the protection of legal rights of the accused as well as the victim," the bench observed.

The court's suggestion came during the hearing of a plea by social worker Prashant Kumar, who has highlighted the absence of due care and a framework for appointment of personnel and volunteers at the special home for visually- impaired minor inmates.

The plea, filed through advocate Ajay Verma, has urged the court to issue order to formulate regulation for the volunteers and donors who visit the special schools.

The plea was filed in the backdrop of the arrest of 54- year-old Murray Dennis Ward, who has been remanded in judicial custody in a case of alleged sexual assault on three visually- impaired minor inmates of the National Association for the Blind (NAB) here.

Acting on which the bench had asked the DSLSA to inform it about the compensation being paid to the three victims under the victim compensation scheme and legal aid was also provided to them.

It had also sought to know whether legal aid was provided to them.

To which, the DSLSA today informed the court that the victims were paid the compensation amount.

Delhi Police's standing counsel Rahul Mehra said that the probe in the case was almost complete and the agency would be filing the charge sheet before the trial court soon. The court listed the matter for hearing on December 6.

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Netflix has partnered with Ronnie Screwvala's company RSVP to release Bollywood project "Love Per Square Foot", starring "Masaan" actor Vicky Kaushal.

It will be the Bollywood debut of Angira Dhar and features veteran actor Ratna Pathak, Supriya Pathak and Raghuvir Yadav.

The film is expected to release on Netflix in early 2018.

"Love Per Square Foot" marks the directorial debut of Anand Tiwari. It is a quirky romantic comedy that revolves around a two people, who enter a marriage of convenience to buy a flat in Mumbai.

"How, where and when great stories are watched is changing every day. Our younger audiences chose their mediums. We love to disrupt and innovate in this space and this is a first of its kind for South Asia.

"We are thrilled to come together with Netflix and break new ground by reaching film-lovers around the world directly with Netflix," said Screwvala, who founded the UTV group.

Calling it a "gem", Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings said the streaming giant is looking for stories to bring joy to its subscribers.

"We're always looking for stories that bring joy to Netflix members, and 'Love Per Square Foot' is a gem that we're proud to have on the service.

"RSVP is a visionary partner, and we want to continue working with them and the best of Bollywood to deliver compelling stories to consumers around the world," Hastings said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A newly-wed Pakistani couple who married without the consent of their elders have been killed allegedly on the orders of a jirga, police said today, in the latest honour killing incident in the country.

Abdul Hadi and Hussaini Bibi, who hailed from Kohistan in Sindh province married without permission from their elders about a month and a half ago, Dawn quoted Mominabad police as saying.

They had rented a house within the jurisdiction of the Mominabad police station earlier this month.

The murders took place some three days back, but the incident did not come to light earlier as family members of the couple kept the incident a secret.

On November 24, some residents of the area spotted blood around the house that had been rented by the couple and reported it to the police.

The victims' bodies were recovered by police from the Qaimkhani graveyard in Ittehad Town and sent to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Senior Superintendent of Police Orangi Abid Baloch said nine people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder and subsequent burial of a newly wed couple in Karachi on the directives of a jirga, an informal council of elders.

Baloch said the two families as well as the girl's fiancee were involved in the murder, the Express Tribune reported.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah expressed anger over the couple's murder.

"This is Karachi, not a tribal area. How was a jirga held here?" he asked.

Shah directed Inspector General (IG) of Police A D Khawaja to conduct a thorough investigation and present a detailed report of the incident as soon as possible.

He also ordered the IGP to find out how a jirga was able to operate in the city, the report said.

In September, police had exhumed bodies of a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, who had reportedly been electrocuted by their families on the orders of a jirga in Karachi.

Activists say around a thousand Pakistani women fall victims to so-called honour killings every year in which the victims, mostly a woman, are usually killed by a relative for bringing dishonour to the family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Green Tribunal has restrained the Delhi government from carrying out any construction activity on a pond in a southwest Delhi colony after a plea alleged that the authorities were damaging the water body and destroying the green cover there.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the AAP government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Public Works Department (PWD) and others while seeking their reply within two weeks.

The green panel's order came on a plea filed by local residents Rajinder Singh and Hari Prakash seeking restoration of a pond in village Asalatpur Khadar in Janakpuri here.

"... Respondent no 5 (PWD) particularly respondent nos 1 (Delhi govt) and 2 (DDA) are directed not to carry on any construction activity in violation to the directions contained in our order dated September 22," the bench said.

The plea has sought execution of its September 22 order directing the Delhi government and other authorities to ensure protection of the pond and pass relevant directions.

"Till date, no order has been passed by any of the respondents. It is submitted that the applicant had sent a letter to respondents informing them about the directions of this tribunal and also about non-compliance with the same since more than four weeks had passed since order was passed. Despite this, the respondents have not taken any steps in compliance of order," the plea alleged.

The petition, filed through advocates Rahul Chaudhary and Meera Gopal, claimed that rather than taking any steps for the revival of the pond, the authorities have started construction work at the site and destroyed the existing green cover by using JCBs (mechanical excavators).

"Pass an order imposing penalty under Section 28 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 on the respondents for the failing to comply with the directions contained in order," the plea said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today took the custody of a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist who was arrested along the Line of Control (LoC) in Handwara area of North Kashmir recently, officials here said.

The terrorist, identified as Mohammed Amir Awan, was arrested by the Army on November 24 during an intensive search launched after an encounter in the area on November 21 that left three Lashkar militants dead.

One soldier was also killed during the encounter.

The matter was transferred to the NIA which registered a case yesterday and took the custody of the terrorist.

During initial interrogation, the terrorist identified himself as Mohammed Amir Awan whose code in the Lashkar terror group was 'Abu Haamaz', the officials said.

The terrorist told his interrogators that he hailed from Bardiya town of the port-city Karachi in Pakistan and was recruited and trained by the terror group.

He was pushed into the Kashmir valley from Pakistan- occupied-Kashmir (PoK) for carrying out attacks on various important installations in the Valley, the officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A day after a powerful blast hit China's port city of Ningbo, police has ruled out the possibility of a human error behind the incident in which two people were killed and many injured.

The explosion occurred early morning at a demolished factory in Jiangbei district of Ningbo City in Zhejiang province and also left two persons missing.

It was country's worst industrial explosion in three years which also damaged nearby buildings and vehicles.

The Chinese police today ruled out the possibility of a human error behind it and said further investigation was required into the cause of the blast, state-run People's Daily reported.

Ningbo is one of China's major international cargo and container shipping ports.

China had a number of industrial accidents in the course of its massive economic growth.

Today's explosion resembled a series of explosions in 2015 in Tianjin port city which ripped through a warehouse, leaving 165 people dead, eight missing and 798 injured.

The majority of those killed were firefighting crews who had gone to douse the flames.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turkish-Iranian gold mogul Reza Zarrab will not stand trial in New York for allegedly defying sanctions on Iran, a US judge confirmed today at the start of jury selection.

In a case that has inflamed tensions between Turkey and the United States, all signs now suggest that the 34-year-old businessman has cut a deal with prosecutors and agreed to plead guilty, which could potentially still see him testify.

US District Judge Richard Berman told the start of jury selection in a federal court in Manhattan that Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla would be the only defendant in what is expected to be a three to four week trial.

"He is the only defendant in this trial," said Berman of 47-year-old Atilla, charged on six counts of violating US sanctions on Iran, bribery and money laundering charges.

Atilla, the deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, was in court today. There was no sign of Zarrab.

If Zarrab has indeed agreed to cooperate with US prosecutors, he could potentially be called as a witness in the case, a potential embarrassment for the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has railed against the trial.

His name was included on a nine-page list of people and entities that could either be mentioned or called to testify at Atilla's trial, listed as "alleged co-conspirator," according to The New York Times.

The case has provoked the ire of Erdogan who has raised the issue repeatedly in official talks with US administrations under Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.

Earlier today, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag urged Washington to drop the case, saying it had "no legal basis" and should be "dropped or terminated".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Odisha will get three Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) within a fortnight and 20 such facilities by the end of 2018, official sources said.

The secretary for Consular, Passport, Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs of External Affairs Ministry, Dnyaneshwar Mulay said that the three PSKs will come up in Balasore, Bhawanipatna and Berhampur by the next fortnight.

During a meeting between the chief minister and Mulay, Naveen Patnaik requested him to begin e-VISA service at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar.

Patnaik also urged him to take action to bring back the 14 Odia labourers struck in Malaysia.

"I will take up these issues and we will be able to tackle them with the help of minister of home affairs." Mulay said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The protesters belonging to the hardline religious groups today called off the sit-in in Islamabad and several other cities after Pakistan law minister Zahid Hamid resigned, meeting one of their key demands.

Hamid's resignation comes in the aftermath of Saturday's deadly clashes between security forces and protesters, who had paralysed the national capital for three weeks. Six people were killed and hundreds injured in the clashes.

An official of the Prime Minister House confirmed that the law minister last night sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who accepted it.

Hamid's resignation cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the capital by protesters who demanded his removal for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017.

Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) religious groups started protests three weeks ago.

Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.

Following the agreement and the subsequent resignation of Hamid, TLY chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home.

"We have decided to end the protest after assurance by the army chief and an agreement with government," he said at Faizabad interchange, where he was camping with over 2,000 supporters for last three weeks.

He said that law minister resigned and government agreed to take action against those who were responsible for making changes in the oath about finality of prophethood.

The right wing cleric, who parlayed life in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi, said his party was not in favour of violence. He said all of his supporters arrested during crackdown would be released by the government.

He also expressed anger at media for not showing his announcement live and threatened that media persons would not be allowed to leave the venue until his announcement was shown on channels. But he later allowed reporters to go.

Meanwhile, government opened the Islamabad Expressway linking the capital with its only airport and thickly populated suburban areas along the highway. The Murree Road has also been cleared but its link with Club Road is still not operational.

Local channels showed sanitary workers sweeping the roads and cleaning the area of garbage dumped by the protesters.

Radio Pakistan said that Hamid, the minister for law and parliamentary affairs, "voluntarily" presented his resignation to Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis".

The protesters were demanding Hamid's ouster over his alleged role for changes in the oath about finality of prophethood in the recently passed elections laws.

They had linked the action to blasphemy -- a highly contentious issue in the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Hamid said in resignation that the Election Act was formulated by a parliamentary committee comprising members belonging to all political parties.

According to the agreement, government would take back all cases against protesters and make public the probe regarding the changes in the oath and also punish those who were responsible for crackdown on protesters.

The agreement lauded efforts of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for playing key role in peacefully ending the stand-off, which became possible after an important meeting between Bajwa and Abassi yesterday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A top Pakistani court today lashed out at the government and the country's powerful military for the role assigned to the Army as the "mediator" in striking a deal with the hardline religious groups to end their prolonged sit-in in Islamabad and several other cities.

According to official sources, Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid resigned as part of an agreement reached between the government and the protesters overnight. The protesters then called off the three weeks long protests.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court (IH) heard the case about the protests that claimed the lives of six people and injured over 100 others.

On Friday, he had issued contempt notice against Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal for failing to end protests.

Justice Siddiqui expressed strong displeasure at the minister for failing to appear for the hearing and issued orders that he should present himself within 15 minutes.

When the minister arrived after sometime, the judge pulled him up for failing to clear the roads by using state authority and instead making a deal with the protestors.

"The court had asked the government to clear the roads and not for an agreement with protestors. What you have done is surrender," he said.

He also used strong words against army's role to mediate the agreement, when the minister said the agreement with the protestors was reached with the help of the Army.

"Who is the Army to play the role of mediator?...Where does the law assign this role to a Major General?" he asked.

Justice Siddiqui told Iqbal that the government had constitutional right to call in Army to help civil administration in any emergency situation.

Referring to ongoing Radd-ul-Fassad operation against militants and their supporters, the judge said: "Where is their Radd-ul-Fasaad now? Did they not see any Fasaad (anarchy) in this protest?"



In more scathing words, the judge said the protestors could not sit at Faizabad if it were located closer to the Army's headquarters.

He said that if someone in the Army loved politics, then he should resign and join politics.

"Soldiers who are inclined towards politics should turn in their weapons," the judge said in his hard-hitting remarks.

He also said that the "Army chief is an officer in an institution that comes under the state" and rhetorically asked "Is he above the law?"



Talking about the agreement, the judge told the minister that "you have embarrassed the police and the administration."



He further said, "You are supporting the impression that the Army is the cure for all illnesses."



The judge also expressed fear for his life.

"I know that after these remarks, I will also become a 'missing person' or get killed," he said.

The powerful army, which enjoys considerable influence over policy decisions in Pakistan, has ruled the country for much of its life since it gained independence 70 years ago.

The court also picked several faults in the agreement and said how the government can set free those protestors who have been booked under anti-terrorism laws.

He also said that why an apology by the protestors was not included in the agreement for criticising judiciary.

He adjourned the hearing until next Monday and ordered a probe report about who made changes in the law which resulted in the unrest should be presented in the court.

Inspector General Khalid Khattak, Chief Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Deputy Commissioner Captain (retired) Mushtaq, Director General Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan and secretary commander of the Inter-Services Intelligence were also present in the court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid has resigned after countrywide violent protests by hardline religious groups over his alleged role for changes in the oath about finality of prophethood in the recently passed elections laws, officials said today.

Hamid's resignation was a key demand of the protesters who had staged sit-in in the capital for about three weeks and virtually paralysed Islamabad.

An official of Prime Minister House confirmed that the law minister sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last night.

"The minister offered resignation to end the tension in the country," the official said.

Radio Pakistan also reported that Hamid, the minister for law and parliamentary affairs, presented his resignation to Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis". It said the minister presented his resignation "voluntarily".

Hamid's resignation has cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the capital by protesters who demanded his removal for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017.

They linked the action to blasphemy -- a highly contentious issue in the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Hamid said in resignation that the Election Act was formulated by a parliamentary committee comprising members belonging to all political parties.

The minister is also expected to issue a detailed statement later, Radio Pakistan said.

Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters in Islamabad to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.

State-media reported that government has succeeded to convince the protesters to disperse.

So far there was no formal announcement about any agreement, but its copy has been circulated on social media.

According to the agreement, government would take back all cases against protesters and make public the probe regarding the changes in the oath and also punish those who were responsible for crackdown on protesters.

The agreement lauded efforts of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for playing key role in peacefully ending the stand-off, which became possible after an important meeting between Bajwa and Abassi yesterday.

Meanwhile, protests are still going on in different parts of the country and the protesters have refused to disperse until a formal announcement by their leaders.

Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) religious groups started protests three weeks ago.

They braved a massive operation on Saturday when more than 8,000 personnel of police aided by paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Constabulary lunched crackdown against protesters that saw at least six people killed and hundreds injured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid today quit as the government "surrendered" to hardline religious groups, who called off their violent protests in Islamabad that had left six people dead and hundreds injured.

An official of the Prime Minister House confirmed that the law minister last night sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who accepted it today.

Hamid's resignation cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the capital by protesters who demanded his removal for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017.

His resignation comes in the aftermath of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters during the weekend, that killed six people and injured hundreds. The sit-in had paralysed the national capital for three weeks.

Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) religious groups started protests three weeks ago.

Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.

Following the agreement and the subsequent resignation of Hamid, TLY chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home.

"We have decided to end the protest after assurance by the army chief and an agreement with government," he said at Faizabad interchange, where he was camping with over 2,000 supporters for last three weeks.

He said that law minister resigned and government agreed to take action against those who were responsible for making changes in the oath about finality of prophethood.

The right wing cleric, who parlayed life in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi, said his party was not in favour of violence. He said all of his supporters arrested during crackdown would be released by the government.

He also expressed anger at media for not showing his announcement live and threatened that media persons would not be allowed to leave the venue until his announcement was shown on channels. But he later allowed reporters to go.

Meanwhile, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court lashed out at the government and the powerful military for the role assigned to the Army as the "mediator" in striking the deal with the protesters to end their sit-in.

"The court had asked the government to clear the roads and not for an agreement with protestors. What you have done is surrender," the judge told Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

He also used strong words against army's role to mediate the agreement, when the minister said the agreement with the protesters was reached with the help of the Army.

"Who is the Army to play the role of mediator?...Where does the law assign this role to a Major General?" he asked.

In more scathing words, the judge said the protesters could not sit at Faizabad if it were located closer to the Army's headquarters.

Justice Siddiqui told Iqbal that the government had constitutional right to call in Army to help civil administration in any emergency situation.

He also said the "Army chief is an officer in an institution that comes under the state" and rhetorically asked "Is he above the law?"



Later in the day, the government opened the Islamabad Expressway linking the capital with its only airport and thickly populated suburban areas along the highway.

Radio Pakistan said that Hamid, the minister for law and parliamentary affairs, "voluntarily" presented his resignation to Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis".

The protesters were demanding Hamid's ouster over his alleged role for changes in the oath about finality of prophethood in the recently passed elections laws.

They had linked the action to blasphemy -- a highly contentious issue in the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Hamid said in resignation that the Election Act was formulated by a parliamentary committee comprising members belonging to all political parties.

According to the agreement, government would take back all cases against protesters and make public the probe regarding the changes in the oath and also punish those who were responsible for crackdown on protesters.

The agreement lauded efforts of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for playing key role in peacefully ending the stand-off, which became possible after an important meeting between Bajwa and Abassi yesterday.

Citing military sources, Dawn reported that the army chief had opposed use of force against its own people since the population's trust in the institution of the army "can't be compromised for little gains".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa today left for Riyadh to attend a counter-terror conference hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar are also accompanying the prime minister and the Chief of Army Staff on a day-long tour, Radio Pakistan reported.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opened the maiden meeting of defense ministers of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition in Riyadh yesterday.

The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) is a coalition of 41 Muslims countries and currently led by former Pakistan Army Chief General (retd) Raheel Shareef.

The Saudi Crown Prince had announced about the formation of IMCTC in 2015 but it took more than two years to take it a shape.

Since IMCTC only includes Sunni Muslim countries and so far excluded Iran, Iraq and Syria, it was feared that it could be considered as anti-Shiite grouping.

Shareef, in his address to IMCTC defence ministers yesterday, had said that it was a counter-terrorism alliance and not against any country or any sect.

The delegation, led by the prime minister, is expected to hold meetings with the Crown Prince and other officials.

During the meetings, bilateral relations, regional and international situation would be reviewed, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistani troops opened fire at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district tonight in violation of the ceasefire, police said.

"Pakistani troops resorted to firing in Jhangar forward area from 1845 hours to 1900 hours," a senior police officer said, adding that further details were awaited.

Today's violation of the ceasefire came after a lull of over a week in firing by Pakistani troops at Indian posts.

Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire for three consecutive days between November 15 and November 17 in Jammu and Poonch districts. An Army jawan was injured in the exchange of fire in Poonch.

On November 2, a BSF jawan was killed when Pakistan Rangers attacked a patrol party along the International Border in Samba district.

A girl was injured when Pakistani troops opened fire from small arms along the LoC in Karmara belt of Poonch district on October 31.

On October 18, eight civilians, including a two-year-old child, were injured in heavy Pakistani shelling in Poonch.

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Organ donation is a "godlike act", Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said today, stressing the need to improve infrastructure and capacity of government hospitals for undertaking transplantation for the benefit of those who cannot afford it.

She said there was a need to promote cadaver or deceased organ donation rather than relying on living donors to avoid the likelihood of commercial trading of organs and the inherent risk to the health of the living donor.

"When seen from the perspective of reason and rationale, the gift of life is the ultimate gift that one could give and organ donation is therefore a 'godlike act' and needs to be encouraged," she said.

Patel was speaking at the '8th Indian Organ Donation Day', organised by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO).

"Apart from promoting organ donation, it is important to improve infrastructure and capacity of government hospitals for undertaking transplantation so that even those who cannot afford transplantation may also benefit," she said while urging all to come forward and donate their organs.

She said it is important to understand that in India it is mainly the living donors who are donating organs and only about 23 per cent of the organ transplant is being done with organs obtained from the cadavers.

"There is a need to promote cadaver or deceased organ donation rather than relying on living donors in order to avoid the risk of commercial trading of organs and also to avoid the inherent risk to the health of the living donor," she said.

Health secretary Preeti Sudan applauded K K Sharma, Director General, BSF, for his efforts towards motivating 70,000 personnel to pledge their organs, and also congratulated Tamil Nadu for leading the nation in the field of organ donation.

She urged religious leaders and youths to take forward the movement of organ donation and highlighted the importance of ownership at the highest level, and connectivity at the lowest level to create a successful and transparent organ donation program in the country.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar highlighted the exemplary work that Tamil Nadu did by retrieving 5,933 organs from 1,056 donors.

He said Tamil Nadu was the first state in India for various initiatives such as mandatory certification of brainstem death, streamlining organ distribution and setting up green corridors.

He said that Tamil Nadu was also supplying free immunosuppressant drugs and providing sanctions of up to Rs 35 lakh under the Chief Minister Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme for facilitating organ transplants in the private sector.

Patel felicitated K K Sharma, DG, BSF, and the families of deceased organ donors from various parts of the country.

The best performing states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Telangana also received awards while JIPMER, Puducherry, was announced as the best budding performer in organ donation and transplantation.

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On the first day of the winter session, the Punjab Assembly today paid tributes to those who laid down their lives on the line of duty, debt-ridden farmers and farm labourers who committed suicide, and the victims of the Ludhiana fire incident.

Homage was also paid to political and other eminent personalities who had passed away since the last session of the Assembly.

The House also paid respects to the students killed in the November 8 Bathinda road accident, as well as the teachers who lost their lives in another accident on Ferozepur-Fazilka road the day before.

The Assembly also paid respects to soldiers from Punjab who died in Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rich tributes were paid by the members of the Assembly to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's mother Rajmata Mohinder Kaur, and other deceased ex-MPs - Kanwar Vishvjit Prithvijit Singh and Mohinder Singh Kalyan.

A two-minute silence was observed in the memory of the departed souls during the obituary references at the Assembly.

After obituary references to 20 eminent personalities, Assembly Speaker Rana Kanwarpal Singh passed a resolution for conveying the condolences of the House to their respective families. The resolution was passed by voice vote.

Apart from the three former MPs, the other eminent personalities to whom the House paid its respects were ex-MLAs Harmohinder Singh Pradhan, Balwant Singh, Raja Singh, Balbir Singh, Surjan Singh Joga and Raj Kumar.

The suggestion to pay homage to the farmers who had committed suicide, as well as the teachers and students who died in the road accidents, came from the leader of the Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira, which the Speaker accepted.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal attended the Assembly session for the first time after the formation of the Congress-led government in the state.

Talking to reporters later, the SAD patron sought an increase in the duration of the winter session to discuss burning issues of the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to mislead the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru with his "untrue" statements and said it reflected his "unhealthy mindset".

Hitting back at Modi over his charge that the Congress propagated dynastic politics, the party's senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the prime minister "has forgotten" that the Congress gave prime ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh, who came from a humble background.

Defending the Nehru-Gandhi family, the former Union Minister said none of the Gandhis were part of the government since the last almost three decades.

He condemned Modi's claims that the Congress and country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru did nothing for Gujarat and alleged that such a campaign emanated from the BJP's frustration due to its "impending defeat".

"The prime minister has said that the country's first prime minister has not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from truth. We condemn it.

"The prime minister is having an 'aswasth mansikta' (unhealthy mindset) which is an issue of grave concern for the country," he told reporters.

Sharma said that the Prime Minister's remarks at an election rally in Gujarat today were "untrue".

"The BJP is disturbed over the increasing support for the Congress in the state," he claimed.

Sharma cited several projects initiated by Nehru in Gujarat like Amul cooperative movement, IIM Ahmedabad, Institute of Design, formation of Gandhinagar, the state's capital, ONGC's complex at Ankleswar and development of ports like Kandla and Dahej, besides setting up of airports.

"It is not right on the part of the prime minister to speak like this. He should abstain from giving such statements as the Congress is capable of denying them with facts.

"The prime minister is trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and is trying to lure the people of the state ahead of assembly elections," he alleged.

Sharma asked what the Modi government had done for Gujarat and said it should be left to the people of the state and the country to judge its performance.

"He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his government," he said, alleging that the government was full of "tainted" people and was trying "to put a lid on big scams".

"The Modi government is running away from accountability and that is why the prime minister never convened Parliament session ahead of Gujarat assembly polls and neither did he answer any of our questions," the Congress leader said.

On Modi's charge of dynastic politics, Sharma said the Congress was led by stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gopal Kishna Gokhala and Madan Mohan Malviya.

Countering the prime minister's attack on Nehru-Gandhi family, he said Rahul Gandhi, being an elected representative, was asked by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh to join him, but he did not do so during the 10 years of UPA government.

"The Congress has never told the BJP whom it should elect as its chief. The prime minister should stop worrying about the Congress and focus on his party instead," he said.

On the Rafale aircraft deal, he said the prime minister had no right to cancel the previous deal signed between the governments of India and France during the UPA.

He alleged a scam in the deal as a public sector undertaking was ignored and a private entity without any experience in the defence sector was brought in.

Earlier the prime minister, while campaigning in Gujarat today, hit out at the Congress over dynastic and alleged that the party did not do anything for the state.

"On one side there is 'Vikas' (development) and 'Vishwas' (faith) while on the other side there is 'Vanshwad' (nepotism). Gujarat will never forgive the Congress Party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind," Modi said while campaigning in Kutchh region.

Modi also alleged "Congress has shown contempt for Gujarat. They prevented Narmada waters from reaching people across the state, their reign was characterised by poor law and order, and they destabilised Chief Ministers from the Patel community be it Babubhai, Chimanbhai, Keshubhai and Anandiben.
The Congress today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to mislead the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru with his "untrue" statements and said it reflected his "unhealthy mindset".

Hitting back at Modi over his charge that the Congress propagated dynastic politics, the party's senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the prime minister "has forgotten" that the Congress gave prime ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh, who came from a humble background.

Defending the Nehru-Gandhi family, the former Union Minister said none of the Gandhis were part of the government since the last almost three decades.

He condemned Modi's claims that the Congress and country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru did nothing for Gujarat and alleged that such a campaign emanated from the BJP's frustration due to its "impending defeat".

"The prime minister has said that the country's first prime minister has not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from truth. We condemn it.

"The prime minister is afflicted with an unhealthy mindset (aswasth mansikta) which is an issue of national concern," he told reporters.

"I am saying it with respect. An unhealthy mindset is when a person says that the world was not created before him and India had no identity....

"He (Modi) always says that there was no achievement in India before him. Narendra Modi needs to be told that India was a nuclear power in 1974, India had ventured into space.... It is the Opposition's duty to correct him," the Congress leader said.

Sharma said that the prime minister's remarks at an election rally in Gujarat today were "untrue".

"The BJP is disturbed over the increasing support for the Congress in the state," he claimed.

Sharma cited several projects initiated by Nehru in Gujarat like Amul cooperative movement, IIM Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design, formation of Gandhinagar, the state's capital, ONGC's complex at Ankleswar and development of ports like Kandla and Dahej, besides setting up of airports.

"It is not right on the part of the prime minister to speak like this. He should abstain from giving such statements as the Congress is capable of denying them with facts.

"The prime minister is trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and is trying to lure the people of the state ahead of assembly elections," he alleged.

Sharma asked what the Modi government had done for Gujarat and said it should be left to the people of the state and the country to judge its performance.

"He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his government," he said, alleging that the government was full of "tainted" people and was trying "to put a lid on big scams".

"The Modi government is running away from accountability and that is why the prime minister never convened Parliament session ahead of Gujarat assembly polls and neither did he answer any of our questions," the Congress leader said.

On Modi's charge of dynastic politics, Sharma said the Congress was led by stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gopal Kishna Gokhala and Madan Mohan Malviya.

Countering the prime minister's attack on Nehru-Gandhi family, he said Rahul Gandhi, being an elected representative, was asked by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh to join him, but he did not do so during the 10 years of UPA government.

"The Congress has never told the BJP whom it should elect as its chief. The prime minister should stop worrying about the Congress and focus on his party instead," he said.

On the Rafale aircraft deal, he said the prime minister had no right to cancel the previous deal signed between the governments of India and France during the UPA.

He alleged a scam in the deal as a public sector undertaking was ignored and a private entity without any experience in the defence sector was brought in.

Earlier the prime minister, while campaigning in Gujarat today, hit out at the Congress over dynastic politics and alleged that the party did not do anything for the state.

"On one side there is 'Vikas' (development) and 'Vishwas' (faith) while on the other side there is 'Vanshwad' (nepotism). Gujarat will never forgive the Congress Party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind," Modi said while campaigning in Kutchh region.

Modi also alleged "Congress has shown contempt for Gujarat. They prevented Narmada waters from reaching people across the state, their reign was characterised by poor law and order, and they destabilised chief ministers from the Patel community be it Babubhai, Chimanbhai, Keshubhai and Anandiben.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government today granted clearance to ICMR chief Soumya Swaminathan to take up a foreign assignment as deputy director-general of the WHO in Geneva, according to an official order.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved grant of cadre clearance to Swaminathan to take up the new assignment from December 1, 2017 to November 18, 2019, it said.

Swaminathan is at present Director General Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-cum-Secretary, Department of Health Research.

The ACC has also approved curtailment of deputation tenure of Swaminathan as DG ICMR to enable her to take up the assignment at the World Health Organisation (WHO), the order said.

It has also approved a search-cum selection committee headed by cabinet secretary P K Sinha to identify Swaminathan's successor.

P K Mishra, additional principal secretary to the prime minister, Prof P Balaram, former director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, T Ramasami, former secretary, department of science and technology and P N Tandon, emeritus professor, neurosurgery, AIIMS, are other members of the panel.

Swaminathan's appointment as the deputy director-general for programmes was announced early last month by the World Health Organisation.

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A Delhi court today granted three days to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response to a bail application filed by alleged hawala dealer Mohammad Aslam Wani, arrested in a money laundering case involving Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah.

The accused, who was earlier refused the relief, has moved a fresh bail plea, citing a recent Supreme Court judgement striking down a stringent condition for securing bail in money laundering cases.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma posted the matter for December 1 after the advocate appearing for the central probe agency said he needed time to go through the apex court judgement.

The application said the court had denied the bail while applying the rigour of Section 45(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which was struck down by the Supreme Court last week on the grounds that it was "manifestly arbitrary" and "unconstitutional" as it drastically intruded into the fundamental rights of the accused.

"Since the section has been declared unconstitutional, the present application is being filed in view of this changed circumstance," the application, filed today by advocate M S Khan, said.

The trial court had denied bail to the accused, terming the alleged offence as "grave and serious".

The fresh application filed today submitted that a 2010 trial court judgement clearing Wani of terror funding charges in 2005 case, based on which the current money laundering case was lodged in 2007, was confirmed by the Delhi High Court on October 31.

"The effect of confirmation of acquittal of the applicant (Wani) is that there is no material left to connect him with the co-accused (Shah) as it was not proved that money was recovered or was meant to be used for any illegal purpose (hawala)," the plea said.

The ED had in September filed a charge sheet against Wani and Shah, whose bail application in the case was also dismissed on August 22.

Wani was arrested by the ED from Srinagar on August 6 and is currently in judicial custody. Shabir Shah was arrested by the agency from Srinagar on July 26.

The ED action against the two was in pursuance of an August 2005 case in which the Delhi Police's Special Cell had arrested Wani, who is alleged to have claimed he had passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.

In 2010, a Delhi court had cleared Wani of terror funding charges but convicted him under the Arms Act. The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Shah and Wani.

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Commerce & Industry Minister has asked the industry to set a timeline for achieving a $1 trillion in manufacturing revenue and take its share in GDP to 20 per cent.

The share of manufacturing in GDP has been trending at 16-17 per cent for some years now and the previous Manmohan Singh government had set a target of taking this share to 25 per cent of GDP by the turn of 2025.

"The government aims to increase the share of manufacturing in GDP to 20 per cent," the minister told a CII-organised event on the topic here today without offering a timeline to achieve the same. But instead he asked the industry to set a timeline for themselves to achieve this as also to take the value of manufacturing GDP to $1 trillion.

"Without a number it is not possible for the industry to prepare a roadmap for achieving this milestone," he said.

To help achieve this, the minister said government is working on getting into the top 50 slot in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings.

"We have jumped 30 slots to 100 in the ease of doing business ranking in 2018 (of the World Bank), and we want to be among the top 50. We are on the verge of a big economic growth and the recent upgrading by credit rating agency is also a recognition of a series of reforms undertaken by the government," he said.

It can be noted that early this month, the World Bank ranked the country at the 100th slot in its ease of doing business report for 2018, climbing 30 notches from 2017 citing the central and state reforms.

Prabhu also expressed optimism that exports will gather momentum going forward on the back of the revival in the economy which is on course to double to $5 trillion and become the world's third largest in over the next few years.

He pointed out that government is establishing relationships with top Fortune 500 companies and will welcome all sorts of foreign investments that help in creating jobs.

Promising to ease the problems being faced by exporters under the new tax regime, he admitted that "exporters are facing challenges in the goods and services tax (GST) regime and that his ministry is taking up the issue with the authorities concerned."



"It is not possible for a small businessman to sit here and do business globally. We want to create a support system, especially for small businesses, by creating a brand equity for India globally. Linkages with global markets are necessary for promoting our products and we will do that," the minister said.

He also said government is identifying specific products that can be sold in specific geographies globally through market research with the help of the Exim Bank, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

Taking note of the potential of countries like Russia and other geographies, he said, "we are working on a strategy for each of these markets. We are also looking at opening offices in 10 geographies to penetrate in global markets."



He said his ministry will work on developing global supply chains for the agriculture sector. "We've the right to access global markets for our farm produce by removing all trade restrictive practices," he said.
President Ram Nath Kovind today conferred the third Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) distinguished Indologist Award on Professor Hiroshi Marui of Japan at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Addressing the gathering, Kovind said Indian culture and its many attributes have evolved over centuries.

He said the depth of time has given it a unique strength and character and it is integral, holistic, synthetic and accommodating.

That is why it could survive the onslaughts of time and transcend the limits of space, he said.

"Indianness is characterised by inclusive pluralism; it is rooted in the principle of 'Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah' that is -- dharma or the virtuous order, which when protected, protects all without exclusion," he said.

Kovind said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the third distinguished Indology Award has been conferred on a scholar from Japan, a country with which India has had cross- flow of ideas, art, literature and religious philosophy for ages.

"These have led to deep spiritual affinity and cultural understanding between the two peoples," he said.

He said with Okakura Tenshin and his association with Swami Vivekananda and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, a new chapter unfolded in the Indo-Japanese understanding.

"Professor Hiroshi Marui has spent over 40 years working on Indian philosophy and Buddhist Studies. His many acclaimed publications and research papers are considered final authority on several subjects the world over," he said.

Kovind said as the President of Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Marui has made significant contribution to propagate Indology amongst the youth in Japan.

"I congratulate him for receiving this prestigious award and warmly thank him for his exemplary contribution to Indology," he said.

Kovind said Indologists over generations have helped in a deeper understanding of India's history and civilisation.

"We are truly grateful to Professor Hiroshi Marui for his contribution to Indology," he said.

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President Ram Nath Kovind will arrive here tomorrow on his four-day maiden visit to West Bengal, Mizoram and Nagaland after assuming office.

After his arrival here, the President would be given a civic reception by the West Bengal government and Kolkata Municipal Corporation at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Mayor Sovan Chatterjee would be present.

The president is also scheduled to interact with the scientific community on 'Vigyan Chintan - Scientific Ecosystem' at the Council Hall of the Raj Bhavan here tomorrow.

On November 29, Kovind would visit the birth place of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko and Netaji Bhavan, the residence of nationalist leader Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

He would then attend the closing ceremony of centenary celebrations of Bose Institute, a premier research institute established by Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose.

The president would visit the global headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission and Math at Belur Math on the same day before leaving for Mizoram's capital city Aizawl.

Kovind is slated to inaugurate housing complexes for economically weaker sections under the 'Basic Services to Urban Poor Scheme' at Aizawl Raj Bhavan, on that day.

On November 30, the president would address a special session of the Mizoram Legislative Assembly.

He would later that day interact with various prominent citizens and NGOs in Kohima, the capital of Nagaland.

On December 1, the concluding day of his visit, the president is scheduled to inaugurate the Hornbill Festival and State Formation Day celebrations of Nagaland, before leaving for Delhi.

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President Ram Nath Kovind will arrive here tomorrow on his two-day maiden visit to West Bengal after assuming office.

After his arrival the President would be given a civic reception by the West Bengal government and Kolkata Municipal Corporation at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and city Mayor Sovan Chatterjee would be present.

The president is also scheduled to interact with scientific community on 'Vigyan Chintan - Scientific Ecosystem' at the Council Hall of the Raj Bhavan here tomorrow.

He would also visit the birth place of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko and Netaji Bhavan, the residence of the nationalist leader Netjai Subhas Chandra Bose on November 29.

He would also attend the closing ceremony of centenary celebrations of Bose Institute, a premier research institute of the country established by Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose on that day.

The president would visit global headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission and Math at Belur Math on November 29 before leaving for New Delhi.

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A priest of a temple in a village here was murdered by unknown assailants, police said today.

The incident happened last night in Burja village, under the jurisdiction of Mant police station, Deputy Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar Yadav said.

"It appears that Ramdas (60) was engaged in cooking when his throat was slit," DSP Yadav said.

Ramdas, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, was a priest of a temple in the village, he said.

He was involved in a dispute over a plot of land with another villager and the case is pending in a court, Yadav said, adding that the body was sent for postmortem.

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Britain's Prince Harry is to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle, after they got engaged earlier this month, according to an official announcement today.

Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, is engaged to Markle, confirming months of rumours that the couple was close to tying the knot.

Markle a mixed-race American raised in California, an outspoken full-time actress, and a divorcee makes a surprising addition to Britain's monarchy.

"The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle," Clarence House said in a statement on behalf of Harry's father Prince Charles.

"The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course," it adds.

The announcement confirms that the couple had got engaged earlier this month and that the 33-year-old Harry had informed Queen Elizabeth II of his intention to marry Markle.

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace," Clarence House said.

Harry has been dating 36-year-old Markle since July 2016 and there has been increasing speculation of a wedding in the New Year ever since the actress moved her dogs to the UK from her Canadian home in Toronto.

The star of the US legal drama 'Suits' has virtually moved into Kensington Palace and had been photographed shopping in Chelsea in London last week. It is unclear if the wedding will be a full church wedding, given that Markle is a divorcee.

Historically, Britain's royals have frowned upon such weddings but that changed as the Queen gave her consent in 2005 for Prince Charles to marry Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who was also a divorcee.

UK bookmaker Ladbrokes had stopped taking bets on the engagement last week and some press reports over the weekend indicated that British Prime Minister Theresa May had "cleared her diary" in expectation of an announcement.

It had been reported last month that the couple went for tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, which was seen as a meeting to seek the monarch's blessing for an engagement.

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Giving a fillip to its industrial development agenda, the Punjab government today signed 50 MoUs, with a total investment of Rs 1200 crore, for the upcoming plastic clusters in the state, an official statement said here.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, in whose presence the MoUs were signed here, said the Congress government had already taken various initiatives, including elimination of truck cartels, to aid industrial development.

The chief minister released a document titled "Investment Opportunities in the Plastic Sector", outlining the government's plans to promote investment in the plastic sector and the fiscal incentives for the MSME Plastic Processing Units, the release said.

He said the government was mulling 50 per cent reduction in fixed charges of power for the industry.

Singh added that industrial power tariff of Rs 5/unit would be effective from November 1, 2017, as was announced by the state government.

Amarinder lauded the HMEL's World Class Cracker and Petrochemical Complex at Bathinda, which he said would open up vast opportunities in the plastic processing, plastic machinery, additives and related industries in Punjab.

HMEL has already invested Rs 32000 crore in the state and is planning to invest of Rs 23000 crore more, which will facilitate Punjab's industrial development, the chief minister was quoted as saying. He added that the increase in availability of plastic raw materials would offer immense opportunities of exponential growth to the plastic processing industry.

The state sought to develop plastic industry clusters in Sangrur, Patiala, Bathinda and Ludhiana, Singh said.

The chief minister assured the plastic industry of full support in getting clearances at the district level by setting up a single-window system at the district level under the deputy commissioner.

He further said his government will seek the Centre's assistance under Plastics Parks Development scheme to develop infrastructure for the industry.

The MoUs, signed today by the Department of Industries and Commerce, envisage the creation of about 6000 jobs, the release said.

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Five state-run procurement agencies have purchased 26,174 lakh MT paddy in the state so far this season, the Punjab government said today.

With the Reserve Bank of India releasing cash credit limit amounting to Rs 33,800.22 crore for procurement, the state government has paid Rs 27,409 crore to farmers and 'arthiyas' (commission agents) till November 26, the state cabinet was informed today.

The Punjab Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, today reviewed the progress of paddy procurement in the state in the current season, which began on October 1 and will end on December 15.

A detailed presentation was made to apprise the cabinet about the progress of ongoing paddy procurement.

The cabinet expressed satisfaction over the procurement process, an official spokesperson said.

The cabinet meeting was informed that as of November, 26,174 lakh MT Paddy had been procured by five state procurement agencies -- PUNGRAIN, MARKFED, PUNSUP, PSWC, PAFC and FCI, selected for procurement on MSP as per specification laid down by the Central government.

The Centre has fixed Rs 1550 for common variety and Rs 1590 for 'A' grade paddy per quintal as minimum support price during Kharif Marketing season 2017-18.

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Railway Minister was hospitalised today after he complained of uneasiness but was doing "fine" now, a senior railway official said.

Before hospitalisation, Goyal visited suburban Elphinstone Road and Currey Road stations to take stock of ongoing construction of the Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) by the Army.

Goyal complained of uneasiness after addressing a review meeting of senior Central and Western Railway officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus this evening.

"After holding a review meeting with the officials, the minister complained of uneasiness due to acidity. An ambulance was called as part of protocol though he was fit enough to walk and preferred to travel in his own vehicle," the official.

"He (Goyal) has been admitted to a private hospital and is fine now," he added.

Goyal did not attend a scheduled press conference due to ill health.

"Visited Elphinstone Road railway station and reviewed the progress of foot overbridge's construction. The Army has been working tirelessly to build the infrastructure within the given timeline," Goyal said in a tweet tonight.
The Rajasthan Police has arrested 4,452 people in the past seven days in connection with various criminal activities in different districts of the state.

At a meeting via video-conferencing, the police headquarters recently directed all district superintendents of police to act against criminals involved in bootlegging, crime against women, betting and illegal arms cases.

Among those arrested, seven people were held for molestation of women, 124 for bootlegging, 253 for betting, and 68 for possession of illegal arms, according to a police statement.

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Renewed Syrian army bombardment of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus today killed 14 people, despite a ceasefire deal for the region, a monitor said.

Eastern Ghouta, one of the last remaining opposition strongholds in Syria, is among four so-called "de-escalation zones" set up earlier this year under a deal agreed by regime allies Russia and Iran, and rebel supporter Turkey.

But despite the deal, violence has spiralled in the area in recent days.

Today, air strikes and artillery fire on several parts of Eastern Ghouta killed at least 14 civilians, the Britain-based monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The deaths come a day after at least 23 civilians were killed in the region in regime air strikes and artillery fire, among them four children.

The Observatory says regime bombardment of Eastern Ghouta has killed more than 100 people in the past two weeks.

Rebels have also fired from the area into Damascus in deadly attacks of a kind rarely seen in the capital.

Eastern Ghouta is already in the grip of a humanitarian crisis caused by a crushing regime siege of the area since 2013 that has caused severe food and medical shortages.

Humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta has remained limited despite the implementation of the ceasefire zone, and a United Nations official has named the region as the "epicentre of suffering" in Syria.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since its conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

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A research by IIT Kharagpur faculty in collaboration with the University of Rochester and ICTS, Bengaluru have paved way for futuristic technology development.

Calling it a path breaking research, an IIT Kharagpur statement today said it has opened up possibilities for the development of quantum devices.

Prof Sajal Dhara who joined the Department of Physics at IITKGP in 2016, has discovered along with his collaborators negative mass particles of polaritons which are composed of half-light and half-matter.

Mass of such polaritons thus created is lighter than the mass of an electron by a factor of 0.00001, the statement said.

Prof Dhara and his collaborators at University of Rochester and ICTS (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences) have discovered new insights on the mass of such particles which will lead to a giant leap towards futuristic technology development, the statement said.

The research has been featured in the esteemed Nature Physics journal in their October 2017 issue.

The collaborators involved in this work are Dr C Chakraborty, Dr K M Goodfellow, Dr L Qiu, Dr T A OLoughlin, Prof G W Wicks, Prof A N Vamivakas, all from University of Rochester and Prof Subhro Bhattacharjee from ICTS which is a centre of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

Elaborating on the research, the statement said, scientists can artificially create a combined particle state that is made of half-light and half-matter, known as polaritons.

Light is an electromagnetic wave but it also shows particle properties with zero mass. On the other hand, matters are made of atoms with certain mass, the statement said.

"The area of research is itself a promising field for the development of a future generation of technologies at room temperature," he said.

The aim is to look for a particle other than electron to build advanced devices. This will witness a giant leap from smart electronic to smart polaritonic devices promising to increase manifold the speed and storage capacity at which tomorrow's devices like laptops and smart phones work.

Polaritonics is an intermediate regime between photonics and sub-microwave electronics.

Dhara has received substantial funding from MHRD, ISIRD (International Society of Invertebrate Reproduction and Development and the SERB (Science & Engineering Research Board) Ramanujan Fellowship research grant for developing his lab facilities at IIT Kharagpur.

One of the long term goals of his 'Nanoscale Optoelectronics lab (set up for understanding the optical, electronic, and quantum properties of novel solid state nano-structures by nanoscale device design) would be to investigate the light-matter interaction for the development of futuristic technologies and basic science.

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Five armed and masked robbers allegedly looted around Rs 63 lakh cash from the office of a private company in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district, police said today.

The robbers barged into the office of Writer safeguard Pvt Ltd, which deals in protecting and collecting cash and valuables, located under Champa police station area late last night and looted Rs 63 lakh by breaking off one of the lockers,Janjgir-Champa Superintendent of Police Ajay Yadav told PTI.

The armed men, with their faces covered, arrived there on three motorcycles and took the key of the entrance of the office from two guards deployed there at gun-point, the officer said.

According to Yadav, after committing the robbery, they escaped.

The company has the contract of collecting cash from liquor shops. Usually, the firm immediately deposits the collected cash in the bank but as it was a Sunday the cash wasn't deposited, he said.

A case was lodged against unidentified persons and probe was underway, Yadav added.

Police teams were being sent to different locations to identify and trace the accused, he said.

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A court in Russia's second city Saint Petersburg sentenced a man to two years in a penal colony today for insulting high-ranking state officials on social media.

Vladimir Timoshenko, 43, was found guilty of writing a post on popular Russian social network Vkontakte that "contained text of humiliating and insulting nature towards high placed officials," the court said in a statement.

Timoshenko wrote the post in 2015 while serving a six year prison sentence, the statement added without clarifying what his previous conviction was.

In the post, which has since disappeared from Vkontakte, Timoshenko called on Russians to rise up against an "unpopular regime."



Prison terms for social media posts are not uncommon in Russia. In December 2016, a internet user was sentenced to two years in a penal colony for publishing an article criticising Russia's bombing campaign in Syria online.

In May 2016, a Russian engineer was given two years and three months in a camp for sharing pro-Ukrainian articles on social media.

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Russian air strikes on Monday morning killed at least 53 civilians, including 21 children, in a village held by the Islamic State group in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, a monitor said in a new toll.

"The toll increased after removing the debris in a long day of rescue operation," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, adding the strikes hit "residential buildings" in the village of Al-Shafah on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The monitor previously gave a toll of 34.
The Supreme Court today permitted the Centre to withdraw four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll- bound Gujarat.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to the Centre's plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state after being told that the situation in country's eastern part was returning to normal.

"We will leave it to the government," the bench said after Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench that the matter should be decided by the government.

"We (government) have elections in Gujarat. These matters are to be decided by the government and the court should not venture here," Venugopal said.

He said the Union of India was alive to the situation prevailing in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts and now "the situation there is returning to normalcy".

The apex court considered the statement and permitted the Centre to withdraw maximum four out of eight CAPF companies.

The court had on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll- bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

Observing that law and order was a "state subject", the court had stayed the Calcutta High Court order restraining the Centre from relocating the paramilitary forces from the state and had asked the state government to respond to the Centre's appeal within a week.

The High Court had asked the Centre to allow all 15 companies of paramilitary forces to remain in the state.

The apex court on October 25 had agreed to hear the Centre's plea challenging the High Court order on withdrawal of security forces.

The Calcutta High Court had stayed the withdrawal of paramilitary forces from Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till October 27 after the state government approached it opposing the Centre's decision.

The Centre had said it needed to deploy the forces in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, besides the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states.

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The Supreme Court today spoke to a Kerala woman in the alleged love-jihad case and sent her to Salem in Tamil Nadu to enable her pursue homoeopathic studies.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the Kerala police to provide Hadiya with security and ensure that she travelled to Salem at the earliest.

The apex court appointed the dean of the Salem-based homoeopathic college as Hadiya's guardian and granted him liberty to approach it in case of any problem. Hadiya has been staying at her parental home for several weeks.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, directed the college and the university to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities.

During the hearing which went for over-two hours, the woman said she wanted to go with her husband Shafin Jahan.

The top court fixed the hearing on Jahan's plea against Kerala HC order annulling his marriage with Hadiya to third week of January next year.

Jahan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him.

The Kerala High Court had annulled the marriage terming it as an instance of 'love jihad', following which he had approached the apex court.

The top court had on August 16 directed the NIA to probe the incident under the supervision of retired apex court judge, Justice R V Raveendran.

Jahan, who had married a Hindu woman in last December, had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.

The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.

Ashokan K M, the father of the woman, had alleged that there was a "well-oiled systematic mechanism" for conversion and Islamic radicalisation.

The high court, while declaring the marriage as "null and void", had described the case as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered the state police to conduct probe into such cases.
Markets regulator Sebi today imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Finalysis Credit & Guarantee Company for failure to redress investor grievances.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), 13 complaints related to non-receipt of shares after transfer, among others, were pending against the firm.

All the complaints were filed with the regulator during the period from February to May, 2013 in Sebi Complaints Redressal System (SCORES).

"The lack of response by the noticee (Finalysis Credit & Guarantee Company Ltd) in resolving the complaint/ responding to Sebi has resulted in delay of more than four years in all the thirteen complaints and all the thirteen complaints continue to be pending as on date.

"This is a deliberate act by the noticee and detrimental to the interest of the securities market and Sebi's endeavour for speedy redressal of investor grievance," the regulator said in an order.

The regulator also noted that by not responding to its direction to appear before it for discussion regarding redressal of investor complaints, the firm has clearly indicated its unwillingness and disregard towards its responsibility to redress investor complaints.

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Separatist JKLF leader Mohammad Yasin Malik was today arrested by the police and shifted to the central jail here as a preventive measure, his organisation claimed.

"Police today cordoned the residence of Malik and arrested him. He was immediately shifted to the central jail, Srinagar," a JKLF spokesman said in a statement.

He said that several JKLF activists including Bashir Ahmad Rather, Ghulam Geelani Rather, Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Mushtaq Ahmad Wani were already in police custody.

The spokesman claimed that the arrest was carried out in the wake of a strike called by separatists.

A blanket ban on the peaceful political activities of separatist leaders, arresting Malik and placing Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest has become a common practice, he alleged.

A police official, however, refused to give details.

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A Lok Sabha member from Arunachal has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to take up with the Chinese government the unusual receding of Siang river at Pasighat and a sudden change in its water quality.

Ninong Ering, Congress MP from the East Constituency, apprehended that the change in water quality, which is unusual during the winter saeson, could be due to a possible diversion of the river in Tibet.

While visiting the Siang River at Pasighat in East Siang district on Saturday, Ering said that the recent report of China constructing a tunnel of 1,000 km to divert the Siang (Brahmaputra) water to the Xinjiang province to the Taklamakan desert is likely to be true although China had denied it.

He mentioned in the letter sent on Saturday, the report of Tsangpo (Siang/Brahmaputra) being diverted had appeared a few months back. Althogh China denied it, the matter remains an area of concern with the river suddenly undergoing a change in its appearance and character.

After the report appeared, the river Siang has become muddy and slushy. It is already two months that the Siang has turned black and contaminated. It is an unusual phenomenon.

"The reason for the river getting dirty is unknown. I have already put questions for discussions in Parliament under rule 377. But since it is not in session, I am requesting you to use your good office to seek the reason of the river being muddy in this season when the water is crystal clear. Construction of a 600-km long tunnel has already started in the Yunnan province as a rehearsal, Ering said in his letter.

The Congress MP further said there is no other reason for the mighty Siang getting dirty in the month of November other than a heavy land excavation in the Chinese side and that has to be verified by an international team.

When I saw the water, it looked like it was mixed with cement. It is a very serious issue and the Centre must take it seriously, the MP said.

Ering said a large number of fish has also died in the Siang river in recent times and he got it confirmed from Tuting and Geling areas in Upper Siang district close to China border.

He has also appealed to the External Affairs ministry and the Water Resources ministry to expedite measures to check the diversion.

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As it confronts the problem of rising air pollution and smog, the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana is looking at renewable energy plants to convert crop residue into electricity.

Renewable energy plants are being established for utilising crop residue and there is a plan to generate 50 MW electricity from them, according to a state government release.

In a meeting of a committee constituted to reduce pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), chaired by Haryana Chief Secretary D S Dhesi here today, it also emerged that 2,955 cases of crop residue burning had come to light this year and 236 FIRs were registered, the statement said.

Compared to last year, the cases of crop residue burning are considerably less this year, it said.

The Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state will provide a subsidy of Rs 61 crore to farmers for optimum utilisation of crop residue by December 2017, it added.

In the meeting, officials of the agriculture department said that farmers were being encouraged not to burn crop residue.

Renewable energy plants are being set up for utilising the crop residue and there is a plan to generate 50MW electricity from these plants, the statement said.

The urban local bodies department informed that a plantation drive was being planned in Gurgaon and Faridabad, and plantation was being carried out on sectors of dividing roads.

The chief secretary directed the police commissioners of Gurgaon and Faridabad that the vehicles of people visiting shopping malls should be parked in the designated parking space and not on roads.

He also directed making pollution checking centres online. Dhesi said that these centres would be established at all petrol pumps in the state for which the deputy commissioner concerned would issue licenses.

The Haryana and Punjab governments have imposed a ban on burning paddy residue. The state authorities are providing subsidy on farm implements like happy seeder, rotavators and straw reapers for managing straw in a sustainable manner to stop the practice.

The problem of crop stubble burning has assumed alarming proportions as it leads to severe air pollution levels. Only, recently, large parts of north India including New Delhi suffered under a thick blanket of smog for several days.

Burning of paddy residue causes air pollution, smog and also lead to serious medical problems such as breathing issues, allergies and asthma attacks.

It causes emission of smoke and toxic gases such as carbondioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and nitrous oxide. It also leads to poor soil health as the phenomenon eliminates essential nutrients, experts said.

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today said the ongoing Inter-Regional Media Interaction Programme between Myanmar and India marks the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral relations of the two countries.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Biren said the interaction would strengthen ties through "people-to-people" connectivity between the two neighbours.

Talking about the media, the chief minister said in a democracy, it should be strengthened to play a crucial role in delivering good governance and creating good civic sense among the masses.

The two-day programme will also focus on the media's role in promoting India's Act East Policy, and its role in highlighting about connectivity and trade between Myanmar and India.

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Ten members of Sudan's controversial counter-insurgency unit have been killed in clashes with fighters loyal to a powerful militia leader in war-torn Darfur, the official SUNA agency reported today.

Clashes between troops from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and fighters loyal to Musa Hilal erupted when a unit of RSF was ambushed near the hometown of Hilal in the state of North Darfur.

"An RSF commander and nine other members were martyred when they were ambushed near Mustariaha," SUNA reported.

Mustariaha is the hometown and bastion of Hilal, whose fighters have reportedly clashed with RSF troops in Darfur several times in recent months.

The RSF commander and nine others were "ambushed by outlaws" when they had gone to check another ambush in the same area, the report said, referring to Hilal's fighters as outlaws.

"The incident occurred when the RSF unit was in the area as part of the government's arms collection programme," it said.

A separate statement issued by RSF confirmed the death toll.

Tribal sources in the region said the clashes were fierce as both sides used light and heavy weapons.

Darfur, a region of the size of France, has been awash with weapons since 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of economic and political marginalisation.

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Sudan's counter-insurgency forces have arrested a powerful militia chief from Darfur accused by the United Nations of human rights abuses in the war-torn region, the official agency said today.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrested Musa Hilal, a former aide to President Omar al-Bashir, near his hometown of Mustariaha in the state of North Darfur, said State Minister of Defence Lieutenant General Ali Mohamed Salem in a statement to parliament carried by SUNA.

Mohamed Salem said Hilal's son Habeeb was also detained, but did not specify when exactly the arrests took place.

"They were arrested after clashes in the area but the security situation there is now stable," Mohamed Salem said. "They will soon be brought to Khartoum."



Yesterday, fierce fighting erupted between fighters loyal to Hilal and an RSF unit near Mustariaha, in which the RSF said it lost 10 members including a commander.

Mustariaha is the hometown and bastion of Hilal, whose fighters from the Arab Mahamid tribe have regularly clashed with RSF troops in Darfur in recent months.

The fighting Sunday had erupted when an RSF unit was ambushed as it oversaw a weapons hand-in near Mustariaha under a disarmament programme launched by the government across Darfur after it announced the conflict had ended early this year.

Darfur, a region of the size of France, has been awash with weapons since 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of economic and political discrimination.

The weapons are held by tribal militias, including some backed by government forces, and authorities now want them to be surrendered.

But Hilal -- a former aide of Bashir -- and his fighters have refused to hand in their arms.

During the initial years of the conflict in Darfur, Hilal and his fighters had fought on the side of government forces against black African rebels in the region.

He is under a UN travel ban and on a list of individuals sanctioned for "human rights atrocities" during the early years of the conflict.

The UN and rights groups have accused him of attacking several villages and even displaced people's camps.

The UN and Washington say he played a key role in mobilising pro-government Arab militias that attacked black African rebels and villagers who had allegedly backed rebel groups.

Hilal denies these accusations, saying that he organised his tribesmen in order to defend their lands and properties following a call by Khartoum.

In 2008 Hilal was appointed as an adviser to Bashir, but a few years later a rift erupted between him and the government when he accused Khartoum of ignoring his political demands.

Since then, he and hundreds of his fighters have often clashed with the RSF in Darfur, threatening the recent gains achieved in the region.

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Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a market on Baghdad's outskirts today, leaving 11 people dead, a security official said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

"Five suicide bombers attacked a market and shops in the Nahrawan area" east of the Iraqi capital, a police captain told AFP.

"The police killed three of them but the other two blew themselves up" killing 11 civilians and wounding 31, he said.

He added that the blasts also wounded two security personnel in the district, 35 kilometres east of the Iraqi capital.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on its Amaq propaganda channel.

IS said the assault had targeted members of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance and claimed it had killed 35 people.

The mostly Shiite Hashed fighters are at the forefront of the battle against the Sunni jihadists.

IS has suffered a string of military defeats in both Syria and Iraq, where in 2014 it proclaimed a "caliphate" after seizing territories the size of Italy.

Last week it lost control of the last town it had held in Iraq.

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Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a market on Baghdad's outskirts today, leaving eight people dead, a security official said, adding police killed three other assailants.

"Five suicide bombers attacked a market and shops in the Nahrawan area" east of the Iraqi capital, a police captain told AFP.

"The police killed three of them but the other two blew themselves up, killing eight civilians and wounding nine," he said.

He added that two security personnel were also wounded in the blast in the district, 35 kilometres southeast of the Iraqi capital.

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Syrian peace talks set to open in Geneva this week hit a roadblock when President Bashar al-Assad's government refused to confirm it was attending and instead told the United Nations that no delegation would be arriving today.

The eighth round of UN-led talks, scheduled to begin today, was seen as an opportunity to achieve progress toward ending the devastating six-year war after the opposition sent a united delegation to Geneva.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, however, told the Security Council that during weekend talks with his deputy, "the government did not yet confirm its participation in Geneva but indicated that we would be hearing from them soon."



"Last night, we received a message that the government would not travel to Geneva today," De Mistura said via videoconference from the Swiss city.

Assad said last week, after a meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin, that he was ready for talks.

"Naturally we know, and indeed expect, that the government will be on its way shortly," De Mistura said, "particularly in light of President Assad's commitment to President Putin when they met in Sochi."



Amid the uncertainty over the Geneva talks, Russia has proposed holding a "congress" to bring together the government and opposition in Sochi, the Russian resort city on the Black Sea. But so far it has set no date for that gathering.

Moscow is seeking UN support for the Sochi meeting, but De Mistura told the council that it was "premature" for him to declare his backing for the initiative.

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Notwithstanding a government ban, the 63rd birth anniversary of the slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran was celebrated by some leaders of a pro-Tamil party in his home town in northern Sri Lanka.

Member of Northern Provincial Council M K Shivajilingam of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led the commemoration event held at Velvettiturai, where the LTTE leader's house was originally located prior to the end of the civil war in 2009, Tamil sources said.

The participants cut a cake at a function which was attended by some TNA leaders and public, they said.

Prabakaran's death in 2009 signaled the end to the three decade-long armed struggle by his organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

During the civil war days, Prabhakaran used to deliver speech on the LTTE's annual policy on November 27.

Meanwhile, the government announced that it was illegal to commemorate Prabhakaran's birth anniversary.

"The LTTE is a banned organisation and remembering Prabakaran, who caused a lot of misery to even Tamil people should not be celebrated," Deputy minister of power and energy Ajith P Perera said.

The government has also initiated a probe into the use of funds from the state's decentralised budget to renovate a cemetery for slain LTTE cadres.

State minister of national policies and economic affairs Niroshan Perera said that a probe was launched following reports that TNA MP S Sridharan had allocated Rs 4 million out of his decentralised budget to renovate the LTTE heroes cemetery in Kilinochchi.

He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been informed about the move and an investigation has now been launched.

He said that there are certain guidelines which need to be followed when utilising funds from the decentralised budget.

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The badly decomposed remains of ten people have been found on Japan's coast across the sea from North Korea, along with the wreckage of two boats, officials said today.

The discovery comes just days after a group of eight fishermen, who said they were from North Korea, washed up on the same shore.

Police said two cadavers were found in separate places on the edge of the surf on Sado island, which lies around 750 kilometres (450 miles) from North Korea across the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The bodies had begun to putrefy, and had nothing to identify them, senior local police official Hideaki Sakyo told AFP.

However, he added, there were boxes of North Korean tobacco as well as boat parts and life jackets with Korean script nearby.

A wrecked wooden boat with squid-fishing equipment was also found on the coastline.

Separately, coastguard officials spotted eight bodies inside a battered wooden boat off northern Akita prefecture.

High waves had prevented officials from investigating since the boat was first spotted on Friday, they said.

Television footage showed a wrecked vessel with an eight-digit number on it, which washed up on Oga peninsula on Sunday.

"Nothing else was found on the beach nearby, and so far we haven't found anything" that suggests a definite link with North Korea, a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

Dozens of North Korean fishing vessels wash up on Japan's coast every year.

Sometimes the boats' occupants have already died at sea, a phenomenon local media refer to as "ghost ships".

Experts say some North Korean fishermen travel far out to sea in order to satisfy government mandates for bigger catches.

But their old and poorly equipped vessels are prone to mechanical and other problems, including running out of fuel, and there are few ways for them to call for rescue.

Surviving drifters frequently request to be sent home, but some of them are defectors who are eventually sent to South Korea.

Japan and North Korea have a tense relationship, with Pyongyang routinely issuing verbal threats as well as firing missiles near or above Japan.

But the Japanese coastguard occasionally rescues North Korean fishermen in maritime accidents in regional waters.

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Authorities ordered a mass evacuation of people Monday from an expanded danger zone around an erupting volcano on Bali that has forced the Indonesian island's airport to close, stranding tens of thousands of travellers.

Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) into the atmosphere since the weekend. A mudflow of volcanic debris and water are known as a lahar was filmed moving down the volcano's slopes.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency raised the alert to the highest level on Monday and expanded the danger zone to 10 kilometres in places from the previous maximum of 7.5 kilometres. It said in a statement that a larger eruption is possible.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

He said about 40,000 people have evacuated but have not left because they feel safe or don't want to abandon their livestock.

"Authorities will comb the area to persuade them," he said. "If needed we will forcibly evacuate them." About 25,000 people were already living in evacuation centres after an increase in tremors from the mountain in September sparked an evacuation.

Bali's airport was closed early Monday after ash reached its airspace. Flight information boards showed rows of cancellations as tourists arrived at the busy airport expecting to catch flights home.

Airport spokesman Air Ahsanurrohim said 445 flights were cancelled, stranding about 59,000 travellers. The closure is in effect until Tuesday morning though officials said the situation will be reviewed every six hours.

Bali is Indonesia's top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about 5 million visitors a year.

Some flights to and from Bali were cancelled on Saturday and Sunday but most had continued to operate normally as the towering ash clouds were moving east toward the neighbouring island of Lombok.

"We now have to find a hotel and spend more of our money that they're not going to cover us for when we get home, unfortunately," said Canadian tourist Brandon Olsen who was stranded at Bali's airport with his girlfriend.

Indonesia's Directorate General of Land Transportation said 100 buses are being deployed to Bali's airport and to ferry terminals to help travellers stranded by the eruption of Mount Agung.

The agency's chief, Budi, said major ferry crossing points have been advised to prepare for a surge in passengers and vehicles. Stranded tourists could leave Bali by taking a ferry to neighbouring Java and then travel by land to the nearest airports.

The geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised because the volcano has shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions. He told Indonesian television on Monday morning that he did not expect a big eruption but added: "we have to stay alert and anticipate."



The volcano's last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

Ash has settled on villages and resorts around the volcano and soldiers and police distributed masks on the weekend.

In Karangasem district that surrounds the volcano, tourists stopped to watch the towering plumes of ash as children made their way to their schools.

Indonesia sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" and has more than 120 active volcanoes.

Mount Agung's alert status was raised to the highest level in September following a dramatic increase in tremors from the volcano, which doubled the exclusion zone around the crater and prompted more than 140,000 people to leave the area.

The alert was lowered on October 29 after a decrease in activity but about 25,000 people remained in evacuation centres.

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A Delhi court today extended the judicial custody of Syed Shahid Yousuf, son of globally-wanted terrorist Syed Salahuddin, in a 2011 terror funding case till December 22.

District Judge Poonam A Bamba also decided to hear the bail application oved by Yousuf, arrested and currently in the judicial custody, on December 16.

In his bail application, the accused said he was not required for the purpose of investigation and no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody.

The NIA had earlier alleged that the accused had links with proscribed terrorist organisation like Hizb-ul-Mujahedin.

It had said the case was registered on the basis of information regarding funds from Pakistan being sent to Jammu and Kashmir through hawala channels via Delhi to fund terrorism.

The NIA had in 2011 arrested several persons including one Ghulam Mohd Bhat with Rs 21.2 lakh, alleging that Yousuf was "one of the several Indian contacts of Bhat" who had been in telephonic contact with him for receiving money transfer codes.

It had alleged that Yousuf's involvement was found in collecting funds from a terrorist outfit in Saudi Arabia as well as from other accused on directions of his father Mohd Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, self-styled supreme commander of the Hizb-Ul-Mujahiddin.

Syed Salahuddin was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department of State in June this year.

The NIA has claimed that so far Yousuf has received a total of nearly Rs 4.5 lakh through eight international wire transfers.

The agency has filed two charge sheets against six people including Bhat, a close aide of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga.

The NIA had also registered two other cases related to terror funding -- one in November 2011 and the other in May this year. It had filed a charge sheet against 10 people including Salahuddin in the April 2011 case.

In the recent case, the NIA arrested 10 people including some close relatives and aides of Geelani.

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The textile industry in the region at any given time requires three lakh to five lakh workers, a member of Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) said today.

The industry in and around Coimbatore, Tirupur, Karur and part of Bengaluru was facing shortage of labour, particularly skilled workers, ITF board member Srihari Balakrishnan said.

He was speaking at a function organised to distribute certificates and appointment orders in ITF member mills trained under Skill Development Programme.

Balakrishnan further said ITF has organised a job mela where 1,000 trained candidates were given certificates and 170 received appointment orders.

Giving details of the scheme under Prime Minister Kaushal Vikas Yojna, ITF convenor Prabhu Dhamodaran said in the pilot phase the member-mills have skill-trained 18,500 workers and for the second, it has signed an MoU with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to train and employ 50,000 candidates.

Tirupur Exporters' Association president Raja M Shanmugham said there was a need to tap the real potential of the textile industry in India, which has only four per cent share in the international market.

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A rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali could erupt at any moment, authorities warned today as they raised alert levels to maximum, accelerated a mass evacuation and closed the main airport, leaving tourists stranded.

Massive columns of thick grey smoke that have been belching from Mount Agung since last week hae now begun shooting more than three kilometres (two miles) into the sky, forcing flights to be grounded.

Some 40,000 frightened people have fled their homes around the volcano but as many as 100,000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials said after raising the alert to its highest level.

The exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta, has also been widened to 10 kilometres.

"Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions and a weak booming sound," the National Board for Disaster Management said.

"The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent."



Agung rumbled back to life in September, forcing the evacuation of 140,000 people living nearby. Its activity decreased in late October and many returned to their homes.

However, on Saturday the mountain sent smoke up into the air for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption -- caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.

Then on Monday so-called cold lava flows appeared -- similar to mud flows and often a prelude to the blazing orange lava seen in many volcanic eruptions.

"I'm very concerned because I left my house behind and I'm also worried about family," said 36-year-old farmer Putu Suyasa, who fled with some of his relatives from a village eight kilometres away from the volcano.

"The mountain is spewing thicker smoke than before."



Mt Agung last erupted in 1963, killing about 1,600 people in one of the deadliest eruptions in a country that has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed, a move expected to affect tens of thousands of passengers.

"I have to make sure that the runway has no ash," said Bali airport's general manager Yanus Suorayogi.

While there was dismay from some tourists who were unable to return to their homes and jobs, others took events in their stride.

"What can I say? We have to cooperate because this is a natural disaster," said Indian visitor Krisna Mustafa.

Many were told that even in the best scenario it would be several days before they could leave.

"My 7:00 am flight this morning got cancelled, just when we were about to board," said 23-year-old Indonesian tourist Merry Handayani Tumanggor.

"Now we have to stay in Bali again -- the earliest we can go is on Friday, they say."



The airport on nearby Lombok island -- also a popular tourist destination east of Bali -- closed on Sunday as ash from Mount Agung headed in that direction, but reopened today.

The Australian government put out a travel advisory on Sunday instructing travellers to exercise a high degree of caution.

"Volcanic activity may escalate with little or no notice," it said."Past eruptions of Mount Agung have shown this volcano's potential to cause significant impacts... including the potential for widespread ash fall outside the declared danger area."



Dozens of Balinese Hindus took part in ceremonies near the volcano on Sunday, offering prayers in the hope of preventing an eruption.

Officials have said the activity could be a magmatic eruption -- one which involves the decompression of gas and results in the spewing of ash -- and advised people near the mountain to wear masks.

Indonesia is the world's most active volcanic region. The archipelago nation with over 17,000 islands lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.

Last year, seven were killed after Mt. Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra erupted, while 16 were left dead by a Sinabung eruption in 2014.

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Scientists have developed a swarm of robots measuring about the size of a blood cell that can be remotely operated to diagnose and treat illness in hard-to- reach areas of the human body.

The robots, manufactured by coating tiny algae with magnetic particles, can be tracked in tissue close to the skin's surface by imaging the algae's natural fluorescence, and in hard-to-reach deeper tissue by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In tests, a swarm of robots a few millionths of a metre in length were guided magnetically to sites in the stomach of rats.

Researchers, led by those from Chinese University of Hong Kong, developed micro-robots by coating a microscopic algae with non-harmful, biocompatible magnetic particles.

The devices were tested in the stomach of rats and can smoothly swim in biological fluids, such as dilute blood and gastric fluid, according to the study published in the journal Science Robotics.

Scientists, including those from Universities of Edinburgh and Manchester in the UK, suggest that the advance may lead to a way to deliver drugs to parts of the body that are otherwise difficult to treat.

The robots could also sense chemical changes linked to the onset of illness within parts of the body, which makes them potentially useful as probes for remote diagnosis.

The time taken for the robots to function and biodegrade within the body could be tailored by adjusting the thickness of their manufactured coating.

In lab tests, the devices were found to release potent compounds from the algae core during degradation, which selectively attacked cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Further research could show whether this might have potential as a treatment, researchers said.

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US President Donald Trump today slammed the allegedly biased news coverage of his administration, saying the media - except for Fox News - should compete for the "Fake News Trophy".

"We should have a contest as to which of the networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favourite President (me)," Trump said on Twitter.

"They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!" Trump wrote on his account which he uses daily to communicate with his large support base.

Trump returned to the White House last night after spending the Thanksgiving weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

He also said he is now focusing on the tax cut bill, which once passed by the Congress would bring in massive tax relief to the middle class.

"The Tax Cut Bill is coming along very well, great support. With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings and the pass-through provision becomes simpler and really works well!" he said.
President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans scrambled today to make changes to a Republican tax bill in an effort to win over holdout GOP senators and pass a tax package by the end of the year.

In a morning tweet, the president said, "With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings."



Trump and Senate leaders are trying to balance competing demands, as some senators fear the package would add to the nation's mounting debt, while others want more generous tax breaks for businesses. In a boost for the legislation, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would back the measure.

Trump hosted Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee at the White House today.

Afterward, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said the plan is to vote on the current tax bill this week, then work out the differences between the Senate bill and one passed by the House earlier this month.

"We think the Senate bill made some substantial improvements over the House bill but we'll work through those when we get to a conference committee with the House," Cornyn told reporters.

But as of today, GOP leaders were still trying to round up the votes in the Senate to pass the bill.

"We always have to deal with everybody. It's not any one particular person," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Finance Committee. "These are tough times, these are tough issues, they're hard to deal with and we've had to deal with them."



Trump suggested he is open to making unspecified changes to the way millions of "pass-through" businesses are taxed, a sticking point for some lawmakers. These are businesses in which profits are passed onto the owners, who report the income on their individual tax returns. The vast majority of US businesses, big and small, are taxed this way.

Sen Ron Johnson, R-Wis, has already declared his opposition to the current bill, saying it doesn't cut business taxes enough for these types of partnerships and corporations. Johnson gets substantial income from such companies, including a manufacturer he helped found in Wisconsin and a commercial real estate company, according to his financial disclosure statements.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
America's first family will celebrate its first White House Christmas with a nod to tradition, as First Lady Melania Trump gives a personal touch to the annual celebrations.

In fact, this year's theme - 'Time-Honoured Traditions' - was designed by First Lady Melania Trump to mark 200 years of holiday traditions at the White House.

"The President, Barron, and I are very excited for our first Christmas in the White House," the First Lady said.

Throughout December, the White House will host more than 100 open houses and many receptions. More than 25,000 visitors will walk the halls taking part in public tours.

"As with many families across the country, holiday traditions are very important to us. I hope when visiting the People's House this year, visitors will get a sense of being home for the holidays. On behalf of my husband and Barron, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and joyous holiday season," the First Lady said today as the White House previewed the decorations.

The highlight is the Christmas Tree which has come from Endeavor, Wisconsin. Measuring 18 feet and six inches tall, it features ornaments bearing seals from every state and territory.

This year's gingerbread house highlights First Ladys vision for classic Christmas decor and reflects the southern exterior of the Executive Residence with her signature wreaths.

More than 150 volunteers from 29 states spent 1,600 hours in decoration of the White House this year. In addition to the main Christmas tree, there are 53 other Christmas trees of various shapes and sizes and as many as 71 signature wreaths of the First Lady have been used, along with more than 1,000 feet of garlands, 18,000 feet of lights, more than 12,000 ornaments and more than 3,100 years of ribbon.

For the several thousand guests who would be visiting the White House during the month-long Christmas celebrations at the White House, as many as 36 chefs and pastry chefs have been pressed into service.

They have baked 31,000 cookies, 15,000 sugar cookies, 6,000 snowflake cookies, 4,000 First Lady star cookies, 2,000 Pecan Butterballs, 2,000 Walnut Thumbprints and Hazelnut Linzer bars.

The gingerbread house required 200 lbs of baked dough, 100 lbs of pastillage dough, 5 lbs of gum paste, 20 lbs of chocolate and 20 lbs of icing.

In the East Wing, visitors will find a tribute to armed forces members and their families with the Gold Star Family Tree, which has been decorated with gold stars and patriotic ribbon.

Visitors here would be encouraged to write a message to their loved ones who are on duty or abroad on the digital tablets provided.

After passing through the East colonnade, visitors will see the China Room, which honours the holiday traditions of dining and hospitality.

The room is set up for a family Christmas dinner, with the table displaying the china from President Ronald Reagan.

Then, visitors will see the Library, which features President Franklin D Roosevelt's 1866 edition of 'A Christmas Carol', as they recall the time-honoured custom of reading Christmas stories to loved ones.

On the State Floor of the White House, the Grand Foyer and Cross Hall celebrated the first themed White House Christmas, which was the 'Nutcracker Suite' in 1961.

The Green Room honours the festivities of crafts, paper, and classic design. The Blue Room holds the official White House Christmas tree, which is decorated with glass ornaments depicting the seal of each state and territory.

The Red Room hosts delightful holiday treats, and has been decorated with peppermints, candy, and cookies. The State Dining Room holds a traditional gingerbread house, which depicts the south facade of the White House and features the first lady's signature Christmas wreaths.

President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams hosted the first White House Christmas party in December, 1800.

It was in 1953 that President Dwight D Eisenhower sent the first official White House Christmas card. This year marks the 50th year on display of the White House creche in the East Room.

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The tussle between the executive and the judiciary continues to hog the headlines with the former reminding the latter of the separation of powers and the latter saying no arm of democracy can claim supremacy and there should be mutual respect among them.

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the judiciary and the executive were part of the same family and should work to strengthen each other, the tussle has once again come to the fore in speeches made by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra yesterday.

Some legal experts today said public sparring on such critical issues should be avoided and neither the judiciary, nor the executive should step on each other's shoes in the interest of democracy.

At a function to mark the Constitution Day yesterday, Prasad had reminded the judiciary of the principle of separation of powers between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive. He had said the concept of separation of power was as binding on the judiciary as it was on the executive.

Responding to the remarks, the Chief Justice had said that "there should be mutual respect and there cannot be any claim for supremacy by any of the wings".

Justice Misra had also said "we are not really interested to bring any kind of policy. ... But the moment the policies are formed, we are allowed to interpret and see that they are implemented."



A day before, at another event, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the courts cannot perform the functions of the executive and the independence of the two will have to strictly maintained.

Responding to questions on the debate, senior advocate Dushyant Dave told PTI it would be good for democracy if both judiciary and executive do not spar in public, as both have their own respective rights.

"The government must realise that the judiciary has a role and they certainly can ask questions from the executive and the latter should not shy away from answering. The judiciary also needs to introspect and try not to interfere in the arena exclusively meant for the executive," Dave said.

Senior advocate Aman Lekhi said each wing of the State has a well defined role under the Constitution and the role of the courts was to ensure rule of law.

"I will not call it a tussle. The judiciary and the executive both are doing their work. The role of courts are absolutely different and they have a role to enforce the law. No government can claim immunity from scrutiny. The role of the court requires intervention if the situation demands," Lekhi also told PTI.

Another senior advocate Raj Panjwani termed the scenario of tussle as 'unfortunate' and said proper caution should be maintained by both the wings.

"This is unfortunate that basic principles of law have become a bone of contention. However, judiciary needs to refrain from stepping into the shoes of the executive. One of the modes which the executive could have resorted to is by filing appropriate application before the court instead of chest thumping in public," Panjwani said.

On earlier occasions too, there have been instances where the executive and the judiciary disagreed with each other.

Some months ago, then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had asserted that the judiciary intervened only when the executive failed in its constitutional duties.

In 2016, Justice Thakur had also cautioned that no organ of government should cross the "lakshman rekha" and stressed that the judiciary has been given the duty to watch that everything remained within the limit.

Speaking at a function to celebrate Constitution Day last year, Thakur had also said the judiciary had every right to set aside any law made by Parliament, if it was against the Constitution or beyond the limits granted by the statute book.

Recently, the apex court in a detailed judgement had held that privacy was a "fundamental right" when the government had argued that the citizens have a right to privacy but that was not absolute.

In 2015, the top court and the government had been at loggerheads over the manner in which the appointment of judges was to be carried out.

The apex court had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and asked the government to draft a new Memorandum of Procedure to lay down guidelines for appointments to the higher judiciary in consultation with the CJI and the collegium.

This was followed by the subsequent embarrassments for the Union government in the Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh cases where the proclamation to impose central rule was challenged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Legal experts today cautioned that public sparring between the judiciary and the executive could be detrimental to democracy, a day after the Chief Justice of India and the Law Minister openly disagreed over judicial powers in the presence of the prime minister.

At a function to mark the Constitution Day yesterday, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had wondered why the judiciary doesn't trust him and the prime minister to appoint "fair judges," in a reference to the National Judicial Appointments Commission judgement reviving the Supreme Court Collegium.

In response, Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that "there should be mutual respect and there cannot be any claim for supremacy by any of the wings". Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the function in the national capital.

A day before, at another event on Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also said the courts cannot perform the functions of the executive and the independence of the two will have to strictly maintained.

Responding to questions on the debate, senior advocate Dushyant Dave told PTI it would be good for democracy if both judiciary and executive do not spar in public, as both have their own respective rights.

"The government must realise that the judiciary has a role and they certainly can ask questions from the executive and the latter should not shy away from answering," Dave said.

"The judiciary also needs to introspect and try not to interfere in the arena exclusively meant for the executive," he added.

Another senior advocate Raj Panjwani termed the scenario of tussle as 'unfortunate' and said proper caution should be maintained by both the wings.

"This is unfortunate that basic principles of law have become a bone of contention. However, judiciary needs to refrain from stepping into the shoes of the executive. One of the modes which the executive could have resorted to is by filing appropriate application before the court instead of chest thumping in public," Panjwani said.

Senior advocate Aman Lekhi said he will not prefer to call the public sparring a "tussle".

"I will not call it a tussle," he told PTI.

"The judiciary and the executive both are doing their work. The role of courts is absolutely different and they have a role to enforce the law. No government can claim immunity from scrutiny. The role of the court requires intervention if the situation demands," Lekhi added.

This is not the first time that the two branches have had disagreements.

Some months ago, then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had asserted that the judiciary intervened only when the executive failed in its constitutional duties.

In 2016, Justice Thakur had also cautioned that no organ of government should cross the "lakshman rekha" and stressed that the judiciary has been given the duty to watch that everything remained within the limit.

Speaking at a function to celebrate Constitution Day last year, Thakur had also said the judiciary had every right to set aside any law made by Parliament, if it was against the Constitution or beyond the limits granted by the statute book.

Recently, the apex court in a detailed judgement had held that privacy was a "fundamental right" when the government had argued that the citizens have a right to privacy but that was not absolute.

In 2015, the top court and the government had been at loggerheads over the manner in which the appointment of judges was to be carried out.

The apex court had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and asked the government to draft a new Memorandum of Procedure to lay down guidelines for appointments to the higher judiciary in consultation with the CJI and the collegium.

This was followed by the subsequent embarrassments for the Union government in the Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh cases. The apex court had quashed President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh while in Uttarakhand it ordered floor test in the state Assembly which subsequently led to reinstatement of the Congress government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two more persons were arrested in connection with a kidney transplant racket busted at a charitable hospital in Dehradun district in September, the police said today.

A doctor couple -- Dr Sanjay Das and Dr Sushma -- were arrested late last evening from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti said.

They were on the run ever since the racket was unearthed on September 11, she added.

A court here has sent the two to a 14-day judicial custody.

Both the accused, natives of Bihar, used to work as anaesthetists at the Gangotri hospital, from where the racket was being operated, the SSP said.

The latest arrests take the number of persons held in connection with the case to 14.

Twelve persons, including the kingpin of the racket, Amit, were arrested earlier, Doiwala Station House Officer (SHO) Om Vir Singh Rawat said.

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The United Nations said today that the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has eased restrictions at the main airport and two key ports, allowing the resumption of some humanitarian aid to the conflict- wracked country after a three-week blockade.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said three humanitarian flights landed and took off from the capital of Sanaa on Saturday, the first commercial cargo vessel docked in the port of Hodeida on Sunday, and a UN-chartered vessel docked at the port in Salif today.

Despite the resumption, he warned that rapidly dwindling fuel stocks and the dire humanitarian situation are pushing at least 7 million people toward famine.

Dujarric said the commercial ship carried 5,500 metric tons of wheat flour and the UN-chartered vessel carried 25,000 metric tons of bulk wheat.

But he stressed that "it is important that there is unimpeded access for both humanitarian and commercial cargo to enter Hodeida and Salif ports, including those carrying fuel."



"Fuel is urgently required to operate generators for hospitals, water well pumps and sanitation units and to facilitate the trucking of drinking water and staple food" to some 21 million Yemenis who need humanitarian assistance, he said.

Dujarric said one of the flights Saturday delivered 1.9 million doses of diphtheria vaccines, enough to protect 600,000 children against whooping cough, tuberculosis, pneumonia and meningitis.

"These vaccines will help to contain the current outbreak of diphtheria, which since August has seen more than 170 suspected cases and at least 14 deaths recorded in Ibb governorate," he said.

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A city-based university will launch a six-month cost effective certificate programme for valuation professionals.

As per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) norms company registered valuation professionals will have to get a six months certificate program from a university, Institution Of Valuers national vice-president Sandip Kumar Deb said.

The international valuation standards 2017 became effective from 1st July 2017 and so far only Techno India has come forward for introducing the certificate course, he said.

"Universities offer degree programme and above. But, we are introducing a certificate course of six months for valuation professionals to become company registered valuers in association with the Institution Of Valuers," Techno India university director & CEO Sujoy Biswas told PTI.

IBBI is the authority with respect to registration, recognition and ancillary matters related to valuers until a statutory body Council of Valuation is created, Deb said.

Biswas said once the certificate course is stabilised, masters programme of valuation studies will be introduced by the university.

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The United States Justice Department today indicted three Chinese nationals for hacking American corporations, including Moody's Analytics and Siemens AG, for commercial advantages.

Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei conspired to hack private corporate entities to maintain unauthorised access to, and steal sensitive internal documents and communications from those entities' computers, federal prosecutors alleged.

For one victim, information that the defendants targeted and stole between December 2015 and March 2016 contained trade secrets, the Department of Justice said.

"Defendants Wu, Dong and Xia launched coordinated and targeted cyber intrusions against businesses operating in the United States, including here in the Western District of Pennsylvania, in order to steal confidential business information," said Acting US Attorney Soo C Song for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

He said, "These conspirators masked their criminal conspiracy by exploiting unwitting computers, called 'hop points', conducting 'spearphish' email campaigns to gain unauthorised access to corporate computers, and deploying malicious code to infiltrate the victim computer networks."



Among the victims were Moody's Analytics, Siemens AG and Trimble.

The conspiracy began as early as 2011 and continued to May 2017.

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The US Justice Department charged three Chinese computer security experts on Monday with hacking and stealing materials from Moody's Analytics, Siemens, and Trimple, a GPS technology firm.

The three were associated with Guangdong-based Guangzhou Boyu Information Technology Company, known as Boyusec, which some Western security analysts allege has links to the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

The indictment named Boyusec co-founder Wu Yingzhuo, executive director Dong Hao, and Xia Lei, an employee.

It said they hacked the email server of Moody's Analytics in 2011, obtaining access to the emails of a person described as a high-profile economist who represented the Moody's brand -- a description that matches Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi.

Moody's did not confirm or deny that but said it had "worked closely" with the investigation, and had not lost any customer or employee data to the hackers.

In 2014 the three Chinese hackers broke into German industrial giant Siemens' computer networks, stealing large amounts of files and data from its energy, technology and transportation businesses, according to the US indictment.

It added that in 2015-2016 they stole newly developed hardware and software information from a new global satellite navigation system being developed by Trimble.

The three were charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, and theft of trade secrets.

The indictment did not say what Boyusec did with the information, some of which had clear commercial value.

"Once again, the Justice Department and the FBI have demonstrated that hackers around the world who are seeking to steal our companies' most sensitive and valuable information can and will be exposed and held accountable," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Dana Boente.
A group of Sikh Americans today announced their support to the Panthic Front led by Sukhdev Singh Bhaur for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) election.

The group in a joint statement said that the Panthic Front offers a credible opposition to the domination of the Akali Dal's Badal family in the SGPC power structure.

"It is so critical that this institution is run efficiently by people who have a vision rather than by the people who are a rubber stamp in the hands of corrupt politicians," said Rajwant Singh, secretary of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and founder of the National Sikh Campaign.

Inder Paul Singh Gadh, chairman of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation in Washington, alleged that the current Akali leaders have ruined Punjab economically and have done enormous damage to the respect of Sikh institutions.

"Sikhi spirit is down among the youth and they have no role models. All the 'jathedars' and religious leaders have a tarnished image. It is about time we ask our SGPC members to vote for the right people. So we urgently appeal to all SGPC members to vote for the Panthic Front candidate," he said.

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US Vice President Mike Pence today met King Abdullah II of Jordan during which the two leaders discusses how best to move forward to ensure a stable and safe Middle East.

"The meeting provided the vice president the opportunity to thank the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan for its steadfast leadership in the region, and its efforts in defeating ISIS and countering Iranian influence," the White House said.

"Other important topics the two leaders discussed included the strengthening of the bilateral relationship and how to best move forward to ensure a stable and safe Middle East," it said.

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A villager was injured after being attacked by a bear in Jammu and Kashmirs Ramban district today, police said.

Ghulam Nabi Mir, an employee of the state Public Health Engineering (PHE) department was attacked by the bear while he was on way home in the mountains of Darshipure in the Banihal area of Ramban, they said.

He was rescued by locals and admitted to a hospital, police added.

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Violation of fundamental, human and legal rights of prisoners, who have alleged they were subjected to severe physical torture at the Tihar Jail here, today came under the Delhi High Court's scanner as it ordered an enquiry into the incident.

The high court termed as "very disturbing" the alleged attack on inmates lodged in a high-risk ward in jail number 1 of the central jail on the night of November 21.

"We need to take a call. It (the incident) is completely unjustifiable. If this is the situation in Delhi, what about other places," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar remarked.

It said the issue was "extremely serious" and required a "serious probe", before an intervention by this court.

It appointed a three-member fact-finding committee, headed by a District Judge of a trial court, to enquire into the incident, in which 18 inmates were allegedly beaten up by the jail staff, and submit their report before it.

"It is our duty to ensure their (inmates) life is safe and secure even though they are accused of serious offences," the bench said.

The high court was hearing a PIL by an advocate Chinmay Kanojia, who has alleged that his client Shahid Husuf, currently being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and undergoing trial, was beaten up without any reason by the Tihar Jail staff.

The plea by advocate Jawahar Raja said a particular community, including Husuf, were being targeted by the jail staff causing serious injuries to him and others.

Moved by the plight of the inmates in various jails and the poor living conditions there, the bench asked the AAP government and Tihar Jail authorities "which law says that the prisoners should sleep on the floor".

When the incident was brought to the attention of the high court on November 22, the court had set up a committee of senior high court judicial officers to look into the matter.

The committee, in its report, opined that the inmates were beaten up without any justifiable reason.

It said that despite unequivocal statutory guidelines, an incident has been perpetrated where prisoners were beaten up with such severity that it had resulted in them harbouring a constant fear of being killed by the prison authorities on one pretext or another.

Taking note of report, the bench directed the fact finding committee that the 18 prisoners, who have received injuries, be produced before the medical superintendent of the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

It said that medical superintendent should set up a board to conduct medical tests of the inmates and give their report to the fact finding committee.

The high court also asked the authorities and committee to preserve the CCTV footage of incident at the Tihar Jail.

It fixed the matter for further hearing on December 19 and directed the authorities to ensure safety and security of the persons, who have been beaten up.

During the hearing, the bench also expressed concern over less jails in Delhi and said the authorities should consider increasing the number of prisons.

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Miss World Manushi Chillar says she would love to work in an Aamir Khan film as the superstar is known to make socially-relevant movies.

Manushi was recently crowned Miss World 2017 at a grand event held in Sanya, China.

The medical studen from Haryana said she finds all the actors in Bollywood beautiful but Aamir and former Miss World Priyanka Chopra are her favourites.

"I'll definitely want to work in an Aamir Khan film. I think he has some really challenging roles that he gives you. At the same time, his movies have a message and a connect to the society. So it'll be very interesting to do. In the actresses, my favourite is Priyanka Chopra," she told reporters here.

Interestingly, the coveted title was last won by Priyanka for India in 2000, just a year after Yukta Mookhey brought the crown home.

Manushi, a 20-year-old medical student from Haryana, had won Femina Miss India World 2017 in May this year.

When asked if she has Bollywood plans up next, she said the film industry was not on her mind right now.

"I am very excited how this year will turn out. I'll be travelling, visiting continents. We will be spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene where I'll be joined by my other Miss World sisters. That's what I am excited about right now.

"Bollywood is something which isn't on my mind as of now. I really can't say anything about it," she added.

Manushi said in the initial weeks of the beauty pageant, several contestants thought her to be an actor.

"In the first week of the pageant they thought I was a Bollywood actress. But jokes apart, we all are very similar. We didn't have any pre conceived notions about each other. We go there with a fresh mind, there's a lot of curiosity to know each other," she said.

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As Telangana readies to host White House advisor Ivanka Trump for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 (GES) tomorrow, strenuous efforts made by Andhra Pradesh to invite US President Donald Trump's daughter failed to bring results.

Ivanka attending the much-hyped three-day event at Hyderabad will be Telangana's pride, but Andhra Pradesh's envy.

The United States authorities had turned down the requests made by the Chandrababu Naidu-led Andhra government to make Ivanka visit the 'sunrise' state, highly-placed sources said.

AP's Economic Development Board (EDB) chief executive J Krishna Kishore pursued the issue with the US authorities on behalf of the state government, but to no avail, they said.

The Andhra government, as part of its "brand building" efforts, had felt that a visit by the US president's daughter would bolster the southern state's image internationally.

It also wanted to line up several US companies for investments in Andhra Pradesh, the sources said.

The state government had informed the US Consulate authorities that they were ready to organise the event either in Amaravati or Visakhapatnam, and had sought Ivanka's time.

Hyderabad: Security men checking the vehicles with sniffer dogs outside the venue of (GES-2017) in Hyderabad on Monday. PTI Photo

The EDB CEO could not be reached for comment.

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 will be inaugurated by Prime Minster Narendra Modi. Ivanka will lead a delegation from her country at the event.

Over 1,500 delegates, including entrepreneurs and investors and CEOs of major knowledge-based companies, are expected to attend the summit.
Xenophobic British citizens who believe that immigrants threaten their values and way of life were more likely to have voted in favour of the UK to leave the European Union, a study has found.

The research shows that xenophobia was a strong predictor of a Brexit vote regardless of people's age, gender or education.

In June 2016, almost 52 per cent of British citizens who participated in a referendum on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, commonly known as Brexit, voted to leave.

Following this largely unexpected result, some explanations pointed to the role of a voter's age, gender or education in their voting behaviour while others wondered whether the "Leave campaign" might have mobilised xenophobic attitudes by emphasising a fear of foreigners.

To investigate these questions further, researchers led by Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, at the Goldsmiths, University of London, measured the effect of xenophobia - or the belief that immigrants to the UK threaten the country - on voting behaviour.

They found that this belief was strongly related to the tendency to vote in favour of Brexit and to be happy with the referendum's outcome, regardless of age, gender or education.

The researchers then tried to establish what kind of people believe that immigrants threaten the UK.

They found three distinct groups: authoritarians, who fear other groups will threaten the traditional status quo in their country; people high in social dominance orientation, who compete for their group's dominance over immigrants; and collective narcissists, who believe the UK is so great it is entitled to privileged treatment but complain this 'true importance and value' is not recognised by other countries.

The research also found that people who just thought it was great to be British or just valued their British identity were not more likely to reject immigrants or vote for Brexit.

Although other studies have implicated right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in voting for radical right-wing parties because of the perceived threat of immigrants, collective narcissism has almost never been examined in the context of political behaviours such as voting.

The research introduces collective narcissism as a new variable to consider when making predictions for political behaviour.

"From Brexit, Trump and support for Vladimir Putin in Russia to the nationalist, ultra- conservative government in Poland, studies from our and other labs show that collective narcissism systematically predicts prejudice, aggression and a tendency to interpret innocent behaviours as provocation to the national group," said Golec de Zavala.

The researchers caution that as the study was conducted after the Brexit referendum, it may be that the 'yes' vote increased people's xenophobia.

It is clear from the research that the vote was associated with prejudice, but this relationship might have been strengthened by the outcome of the referendum because people felt more empowered to express xenophobic attitudes.

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India's Adani Enterprises Ltd faces a likely block on an A$900 million ($684 million) government loan to help build a giant coal mine in Australia, with the left-leaning Labor Party on track for re-election in a state poll.

Queensland state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who originally supported Adani's application for the federally funded loan to build a rail coal haulage line, said three weeks ago her government would veto the concessional loan.

The Labor party, which faced a strong challenge to return to power, was leading after three-quarters of votes were counted following Saturday's poll, according to Australia Broadcasting Corp.

The mine's location 400 km (250 miles) from a Pacific Ocean shipping terminal means the challenge of financing infrastructure costs has been at the forefront of the debate over the project's economic viability.

"The Adani coal mine could be complicated by a position taken by Labor during the campaign to block any financing of related infrastructure," Australia & New Zealand Bank said in a note on Monday.

The loan amounts to only a fraction of the overall A$16.5 billion cost of constructing the Carmichael mine but was seen as a first step in reaching financial close on a project that has been delayed for years by environmental opposition.

Adani was not immediately available for comment.

Palaszczuk, who supports Adani and its promise of 10,000 mine and construction jobs, amended her party's position in the run-up to the election to oppose the taxpayer-funded loan under the A$5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility

Although the funds would come from the federal government, Queensland state retains the power of veto over applications made for projects inside the state.

Adani is also seeking A$2 billion in outside financing to construct the first stage of the mine and was in talks with China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC)

A number of lenders, including Deutsche Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, have publicly said they will not provide funding, given opposition to investment in fossil fuels.

"If the loan is blocked, it is a signal to potential investors that Adani's mega-mine is very, very risky, both politically and economically," said Maggie Mckeown, a campaigner for the Mackay Conservation Group, which is opposed to the mine.

($1 = 1.3163 Australian dollars)
By Paul Sandle and Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain pitched a new strategy for industry on Monday, pledging greater state intervention to tackle weak productivity and to help the world's sixth largest economy cope with the upheaval of leaving the European Union.

Prime Minister Theresa May flagged the plan in January, seven months after Britain voted to leave the EU, adopting a hands-on approach to business that had largely been abandoned by her predecessors from the time of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

The 131-page document aims to reposition Britain so it can profit from the technological revolution by increasing research and development investment, improving technical education and building better infrastructure.

"At its heart it epitomises my belief in a strong and strategic state that intervenes decisively wherever it makes a difference," Prime Minister Theresa May said in a forward to the strategy, entitled "Building a Britain fit for the future".

May revived the once unfashionable concept of industrial strategy shortly before she won the top job in the political turmoil that accompanied the shock Brexit vote of 2016.

In an attempt to underscore the importance of the new strategy, Britain said it had secured major investments from global healthcare company MSD, known as Merck & Co in the United States, and German-based diagnostics company Qiagen .

While the Financial Times estimated the value of the investments at more than 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion), MSD said it was too early to give an investment figure and Qiagen also gave no number.

Life sciences is one of four sectors being targeted by the government, which will also focus on construction, artificial intelligence and the automotive industry.

"There is a pipeline of new announcements of investments over the weeks ahead that we now expect," Business Minister Greg Clark said.

MSD's UK and Ireland managing director Louise Houson said the company was working in collaboration with the UK government to build on its "forward thinking and ambitious" strategy.

Under pressure to soothe uncertainty over the impact of Britain's March 2019 EU exit, May said the strategy heralded a new approach to how government and business could work together. The launch, however, was overshadowed by Prince Harry's announcement that he is engaged to U.S. actress Meghan Markle.

GLOBAL BRITAIN?

Clark said Britain has some of the world's best universities and research institutions, as well as leading companies in sectors ranging from advanced manufacturing to financial services, life sciences and creative industries.

But he said Britain's poor productivity - the amount of output per worker over a given period - was one of the weaknesses that it had to address. Employers say it is difficult to find workers with the skills they require and bottlenecks in infrastructure like roads and railways hinder business.

Last week, budget forecasters cut the country's growth estimates for the next five years, largely because of reduced projections for productivity, the Achilles' heel of the economy for generations.

Britain's economy is expected to grow by 1.5 percent in 2018, weaker than 2.0 percent growth among the world's advanced economies as a whole, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, a business spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said the strategy was short on detail.

"This is a White Paper made up of re-announced policies and old spending commitments, showing once again that this is a Government short on details and new ideas," Long-Bailey said.

"Nothing in the White Paper will help give businesses the certainty or incentives they need to invest in the face of the government's catastrophic handling of Brexit."

MSD said it would open a state-of-the-art life sciences discovery research facility in London by 2020, focusing on early bioscience discovery and entrepreneurial innovation.

MSD said it viewed Britain as a world-leader in science, although a spokeswoman said Brexit raised "some very real concerns" for the supply chain, drug regulation and the ability to attract talent to Britain.

The U.S. drugmaker intends to create 150 new research roles in London and move around 800 existing UK jobs to the capital.

Qiagen said its plans to develop a genomics and diagnostics campus in Manchester, northern England, had the potential to create 800 jobs.

The vote of confidence in Britain's life sciences sector was welcomed by the government after the last week that the European Medicines Agency would move from London to Amsterdam when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

Brexit remains by far the biggest concern for British companies and multinationals with operations in Britain. With only months to go before many businesses need to make decisions on future investment, they are eager for clarity on how Brexit will work.

However, talks with the European Union have made slow progress, and the government has only been able to reiterate its plan to seek a transition deal as soon as possible.

($1 = 0.7507 pounds)

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The next meeting of U.S., Mexican and Canadian officials to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will begin on Dec. 11 in Washington, and they could reach agreement on some major chapters of the deal, Mexico's economy minister said on Monday.

Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said that the Washington round, at which ministers will not participate, should register more advances in topics such as telecoms, e-commerce, technical barriers to trade and regulatory practices.

"There are things we can make progress on," he told Reuters, adding that those chapters could close during the discussions.

Guajardo said the talks would extend through the week from Dec. 11. Two other NAFTA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks were scheduled from Dec. 11-15. One said they could involve meetings before and after those dates.

The talks follow a round in Mexico this month where the three sides failed to make major breakthroughs on the most contentious issues, prompting the Trump administration to complain about the lack of progress. [nL3N1NR4K2]

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA unless he can rework it in favour of the United States, spooking investors and putting pressure on the Mexican peso.

Mexican officials had hoped to close chapters on telecoms and e-commerce in the November round.

However, discussions over telecommunications became mired in disagreement over how to incorporate Mexico's 2013-14 reform, which imposed regulatory curbs on America Movil, the Carlos Slim-controlled company that dominates the market.

A major element of the reform was struck down by the Mexican Supreme Court in August, yet U.S. negotiators wanted the NAFTA chapter to include the original version, officials say.

Guajardo said he was confident that agreement could be reached in wording the telecoms chapter in a way that applied the rules for all three nations, not singling out Mexico.

"I don't see it as an obstacle," he said. "It's simply a case of fine-tuning on how we express it."

Mexico has major reservations about a number of U.S. proposals, none more so than a plan to raise the required North American content in autos to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, as well as ensure half the total content is from the United States.

Guajardo said after the previous talks that Mexico would make a counter-suggestion on the auto proposal once the United States had explained the feasibility of its plans. [nS0N1LV03D]

Mexico made a tit-for-tat counterproposal to one U.S. plan to limit Mexican and Canadian access to public tenders, earning words of grudging respect from the U.S. side. However, Guajardo said that strategy would not work on all the tough issues.

"We can't project this solution for everything. Because there are things that are deep in our neighbours' hearts," he said, pointing to the auto content proposal.

(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Tova Cohen and Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's new chief executive officer ousted the company's three top division heads on Monday as he works to turn around and streamline the operations of the debt-laden drugmaker.

CEO Kare Schultz, who joined Teva on Nov. 1, said he will combine the Israeli company's generic and specialty drugs business, as well as the research and development groups for those units.

Shares in the world's largest generic drugmaker, which have been in a year-long freefall due to narrowing profit margins in generics and a series of pricey acquisitions, jumped as much as 6.4 percent in New York trading on Monday.

Various media had reported last week that Teva planned to cut up to one-quarter of its 6,860-strong workforce in Israel, and a few thousand more staff in the United States.

"Teva is taking decisive and immediate action to address external pressures and internal inefficiencies," Schultz said, adding that the company is working on a detailed restructuring plan to be unveiled in mid-December.

Teva said Michael Hayden, the chief scientific officer, Rob Koremans, head of global specialty medicines, and Dipankar Bhattacharjee, head of the global generic medicines group, would step down at the end of the year.

The company is saddled with nearly $35 billion in debt after its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan Plc's generic drug business Actavis last year. Profits from generics have slumped since that deal closed, and the CEO who engineered the purchase was forced to step down earlier this year.

The company also appointed Michael McClellan as permanent chief financial officer, after he held the role on an interim basis since July, and made five other executive changes at the top of the company.

"It appears to us that the new CEO is approaching Teva with an ax in each hand, not hedge clippers or pruning shears," Wells Fargo analyst David Maris said in a research note. "We think the market will like this in the short run, but will eventually have serious questions as to whether this approach is cutting fat or muscle."

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli Knesset's State Control Committee called an emergency meeting to discuss the reports of upcoming job cuts. Teva responded with a letter to parliament, saying it needs to take significant and comprehensive actions in order to secure its future.

Teva, which has been selling off assets to help meet its debt payments, said in the letter it needed "deep, meaningful steps around the world," but did not give details.

U.S.-traded shares rose 6.1 percent to $14.44 in mid-day trading and were up 3.6 percent to 5,042 Israeli shekels in Tel Aviv trading.

(Additional reporting by Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Mark Potter and Jeffrey Benkoe)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan made a strong case for broad-basing economic growth and generating more employment opportunities, arguing that short-term political solutions to the job reservation issue can damage the fabric of the country.

On the solution to the problem of majority of people feeling discriminated, he said, "The only way to solve this is to broad-base economic growth. We need to focus on that as the ultimate solution rather than emphasise grievances.. (they are) politically in short-term very convenient but have potential to bring apart the fabric of this country."

Rajan made these comments referring to rising populist nationalism and also agitation by powerful communities, including Patidar community in Gujarat which is feeling discriminated and is seeking reservation in jobs.

"It (populist nationalism) has a potential to damage. I would define very simply as the majority community feeling aggrieved that it is being discriminated against. It exists across the world. It exists in India also. There are often underlying issues, for example an issue of job," the ex- Reserve Bank governor said in a recorded interview played at the Times Lit Fest 2017 here.

Some strong communities in India have started protesting to press for reservations because they are not finding jobs, he said, adding that it is very important to tackle underlying economic issues, including unemployment.

On the issue of "illiberal democracy, he said, it is worrying and this system needs to be tackled.

"Illiberal democracy is not only function of leader, function of system which cowed out very easily to strong leader... the press, the business group, all of them tend towards bowing even though there are exceptions because their interests are all aligned," Rajan said.

There are cosy relationships between political and corporate establishments, he said adding that often press is also owned by corporate establishment and independent voices tend to get suppressed.

On increasing incidences of censorships and bans, the former central bank chief said, these are not a feature of any particular government and have happened again and again since independence.

It is important to recognise that as a tolerant society India is better off having free speech with the provision that it should not propagate violence, Rajan said.

On criticism from various quarters faced during his stint as RBI governor, he said, "We have to develop thicker skins."

Citing example of flag burning incidents in the US, he said, once the Supreme Court decided to allow this as part of protest, the incidences slowly diminished.

Rajan also said that India is a vibrant democracy and it has to be seen as a strength rather than as a weakness.

"Growth in democracy is much more stable unlike authoritarian rule. It is beneficial because it tends to be egalitarian. It tends to take people along with. Democracy gives right, allows people to protest," he said.

On the threat to Hinduism due to rising intolerance, Rajan said "it is a vast house and it can survive".

"Hinduism is a tolerant religion which is the way it has always structured or evolved. So, I think specific incidence of intolerance is overstating the risk. My sense is that we have gone through this but Hinduism has survived," he added.
The decisions contained in different decrees signed on Friday, November 24, 2017 concern mainly the Universities of Bamenda, Buea, Dschang, Yaounde I and Ngaoundere.

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Since November 24, 2017, Cameroons higher educational landscape has been enriched with new specialized higher institutions of learning following a series of decrees signed by the President of the Republic Paul Biya. This concerns some of the countrys State universities.



University of Bamenda

President Paul Biya is one of the decrees created the National Higher Polytechnic Institute attached to the University of Bamenda. This is the first of its kind in the English Sub system of education and comes to satisfy one of the demands of the teacher trade unions of this sub system of education. In Decree N2017/582 of 24 November 2017 to amend and supplement some provisions of Decree N 2011/45 of 8 March 2011 to organise the University of Bamenda, the National Higher Polytechnic Institute is included among the faculties and institutions of the university. Another decree lays down the administrative and academic organization of the institute.



University of Dschang

From November 24, 2017, the University of Dschang has a Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences created by the decree of the President of the Republic Paul Biya. The decree further specifies the administrative and academic organization, as well as other modalities for the functioning of the faculty.



University of Buea

The President of the Republic in a separate decree transferred the Department of Law and the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences to the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the University of Buea. The students, lecturers, non-teaching staff, equipment and materials are also transferred to the Faculty of Law and Political Science.



University of Yaounde I

The President of the Republic, Paul Biya still on Friday, November 24, 2017 signed a decree to amend and supplement some provisions of the University of Yaounde I. He created the Higher Technical Teachers Training College in Ebolowa attached to the University of Yaounde I.



University of Ngaoundere

In decree N. 2017/584 of 24 November 2017, the President of the Republic laws down the administrative and academic organisation of the Geology and Mining Exploitation School of the University of Ngaoundere.



Emmanuel KENDEMEH

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| BY Ricki Green |

As Eyeota, the global leader in audience data, continues to gather momentum in Asia Pacific, the company has sourced industry veteran Peter Hunter to lead ANZ as general manager.

Hunter brings more than 20 years experience across agency and sales with his skills in digital strategy, managing business growth, leadership, media, search and direct marketing. He will report directly to Andrew Tu, managing director Eyeota APAC, who is based in Singapore.

Prior to joining Eyeota Hunter was commercial director at Quantcast ANZ where he led the rapid development of the team to establish them as one of the key new players in data-driven advertising. In addition to his ad tech experience, Hunter was an established regional leader in the advertising and performance marketing industry where, in 1999, he founded his first agency which he subsequently sold to TBWA in NZ. He has also served as CEO of Aegis Medias performance media company, iProspect, for APAC. and just before Quantcast, held a series of leadership roles within PHD with his last role as national head of business planning.

Says Tu: With programmatic moving towards being mainstream in the ANZ region, Peters extensive knowledge and experience partnering with the largest brands and agencies will be critical in helping everyone navigate audience targeting and how best to maximize its impact on their business and commercial goals.

Says Hunter: Having experience in both agency and sales has afforded me the chance to be at the forefront of our industry, first in fully addressable media and now in the complex nature of audience data, a critical piece at the center of advertising campaigns. Moving to Eyeota gives me the opportunity to play a key role in driving change and data innovation in the industry in what will be a pivotal time in marketing.
| BY Ricki Green |

New Zealand Police need to attract hundreds of new recruits  a diverse range who can form a team that represents and understands all communities of New Zealand. So, Ogilvy and the NZ Police have teamed up to make this fast-paced recruitment video that speaks to a wide variety of New Zealanders. But, how do you choose a singular spokesperson when youre trying to talk to everyone? You dont.

Thats why this recruitment film features over 70 actual cops. The Police band, Police dogs and cats, Eagle helicopter, the AOS, William Waiirua, Black Ferns and the police commissioner Mike Bush, all put their hands (or paws) up to be involved in the video to encourage New Zealanders to join NZ Police.

Says Bush: New Zealand Police are striving to increase our overall staff numbers over next three years to meet our objective of being the safest country, and to deliver on the Governments signalled staffing increase.

Says Karen Jones, deputy chief executive public affairs: We want to attract people who bring their own skill set, like problem solving and working in a team, and who are fit, or prepared to get fit. Most importantly we want people who care about making our communities safe.

There are more than 30 different career paths within New Zealand Police and we will invest time in training these people to ensure they have the skills to handle any situation.

Says Lisa Fedyszyn, group creative director, Ogilvy NZ: It was an extremely fun, yet at the same time, challenging project to bring to life. There were many important puzzle pieces we kept moving around to guarantee we delivered the right message with the right tone.

Says Regan Grafton, executive creative director, Ogilvy NZ: We believe this video celebrates the kind of recruits New Zealand Police want on their team  ones who bring their own unique and diverse qualities, skills and quirks to the job.

The three minute video directed by Damien Shatford from The Sweet Shop, has been released on the New Zealand Police Facebook page, and recruitment site, with different durations rolling out in coming weeks over other media.

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, New Zealand

Client: New Zealand Police.

Deputy Chief Executive: Karen Jones

Strategic Communications Manager: Jane Archibald

Senior Marketing Advisor: Helen Flannery

Media Support: Garry Boles

Executive Creative Director: Regan Grafton

Group Creative Director: Lisa Fedyszyn

Group Creative Director: Jonathan McMahon

Art Director: Sam Henderson

Copywriter: Kent Briggs

Design Director: Danny Carlsen

Design Producer: Dave Preece

Head of Operations: Siobhan Burke

Agency Film Producer: Steen Beech

Executive Director: Wendy Schrijvers

Account Director: Christina Opferkuch

Planning Director: Ben Fielding

Group Media Director: Denelle Joyce

Digital Media Manager: Nick Pickering

Media Manager: Stephen May

Production Company: The Sweet Shop

Director: Damien Shatford

Executive Producer: Ben Dailey

Managing Director: Fiona King

DOP: Andrew Stroud

DA: Alistair MacDonald

Senior Editor: Ben Marshall

Head of Post Production: Martin Spencer

Colourist: Dave Gibson

Sound: Liquid Studios

Executive Producer: Tamara ONeill

Head Composer: Peter van der Fluit
| BY Ricki Green |

Advertising professionals became editorial experts last week as Fairfax Media hosted the Sydney Morning Herald Breaking the Story Agency Newsroom Challenge, a fun activity to engage agencies, deepen understanding of Fairfaxs premium positioning and quality independent journalism, as well as build brand advocacy.

Fairfax editorial, commercial and marketing teams hosted 100 agency planners and buyers from 11 agencies for the amazing race / cluedo style challenge to create a distinct and interactive experience, and showcase high profile editorial talent, how it creates quality journalism, and its importance in todays society. Starcom was named overall winner.

Participants included PHD, Bohemia, Wavemaker, Starcom, SPARK Foundry, Havas Media, Vizeum, Carat, OMD, M2M, Blue 449 and Medialab. Fairfax Media congratulates the following category award winners:

Best story: Starcom

Most factually correct: Carat

Best headline: PHD

Best photography: Blue 449

Says Andrew Mudgway, national agency sales director at Fairfax Media: In a world of busy, its easy for people to get lost in the siloes of their own world, but we know that the value for media agencies and clients comes from opening up and reminding people of our premium audiences and content. Were proud of our incredible editorial teams, and we wanted to bring agency planners and buyers into the fold and expose them to what our award-winning editorial team members are tasked with, hourly, and daily  and that is creating high quality, independent journalism.

The agencies competed with one another in a cluedo / amazing race style challenge around the streets of Sydney to crack the case and shape the biggest story of the year. Participants produced a quality piece of investigative journalism which was submitted to a team of Fairfaxs editorial talent including award-winning investigative journalist, Kate McClymont, SMH editor, Lisa Davies, Weekend Features Editor, Aparna Khopkar, and SMH News Editor, Nick Ralston.
In a regular week, about 150 patrons would spend time at the club on its greens, while others use it as a venue for fundraisers fetching up to $40,000 in donations for their causes. End-of-year functions would bring in an additional 50-130 people each event.
Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper.
Well, not quite, but it could be after this bride and groom were spotted rowing to their ceremony in the middle of Lake Burley Griffin on the weekend.
Welcome to Tuesday. We're in for a partly cloudy day with a medium chance of showers in the afternoon and the chance of a thunderstorm with a top of 28 degrees. The rest of the week is looking the same, with the start of summer forecast to be wet.
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.
Photo: Contributed

If you are a fan of ReminderFox, I have some bad news for you. Also, how do you know where your packages are?

Reminders

Last week, I mentioned the new version of Firefox was rolling out and judging by the email this week, lots of you have already upgraded.

The overhaul to Firefox resulted in a sleeker, faster browsing experience, but it also broke some extensions.

I find myself missing Shareaholic, but by far the most mentioned extension in my email is ReminderFox, which many of you love, but none of you can use any more.

The authors made it quite clear that they have no intention of updating ReminderFox.

So, what now?

People are desperate to be reminded of things. If you use a reminder browser extension, what is it? Why do you like it? If you have another reminder program, please write and share what you use and why you like it.

Send email to [email protected] and Ill let everyone know.

In the meantime, although I never used ReminderFox, I have a great reminder/calendar system that I use. Google Calendar is excellent for calendar appointments and for reminders.

I like it because I access the same calendar in my browser and on my phone, and I add/change/delete events from anywhere I can use the internet or on my cellphone.

If you were a ReminderFox fan because it ran in your browser, youll be happy to hear that Google Calendar does that, too. You can pin the Google Calendar tab in any modern browser, so its always there, one click away.

If you want a calendar thats a computer program rather than on the web, theres a lovely calendar app built into Windows 10.

Click on Start, then on Calendar to begin using it. Someone made an informative video tutorial, available here.

If you like the idea of a built-in, always available desktop app, but you use Google Calendar (or another online calendar) you can easily import that calendar into the app. I wrote about this earlier this year.



Packages

Its the time of year when we send and receive packages. Wouldnt it be great to know where those packages are?

If you have a community mailbox as I do, it can be very handy to know your stuff has been delivered to that box when you need to answer the question, Should I stop and check the mail in the driving rain/swirling snow on my way home tonight?

Of course, you can track every package that has a tracking number by visiting the website of the company shipping the package. But its more convenient to visit one website and track all your stuff from there.

Packagetrackr is the one I like best. When you create an account there (Its free.) you can list all your packages and Packagetrackr remembers them.

You can set it so you receive an email when things are delivered. You can also mark outgoing shipments to keep track of stuff youve sent or ordered for someone else.

Ive been using PackageTrackr for years, but I have to admit it stumbles on some carriers. I tried ParcelMonitor, and it was better at tracking a package being shipped from China.

As I write this, I am wearing the boots that Packagetrackr thinks are still in Edmonton. ParcelMonitor not only knows they were delivered, it knew when they were on the truck.

ParcelMonitor isnt as full-featured as Packagetrackr, but when timeliness and accuracy are important, its great to have this site bookmarked.



As the Holiday Stress Season approaches, please take care of yourselves and one another. Its important. Maybe set a reminder!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Contributed

One man is in hospital after an apparent stabbing in Burnaby, early Saturday morning.

Just after 1:15 a.m. emergency crews arrived on scene at 142 Ellesmere Avenue.

A man was in the back of a police car when firefighters arrived, according to the Burnaby Fire Department. The man was bleeding, so firefighters applied direct pressure until an ambulance came and transported him to hospital.

The Burnaby RCMP and the fire department would not comment on what happened that led the man to be injured.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Officials in Maple Ridge say they will work with a group of homeless residents to increase safety at a local tent city.

The city issued a news release Sunday saying staff had come to an agreement with lawyers for the campers and the agreement will see steps taken to address "life safety issues" identified during regular inspections of the site.

The city was scheduled to appear in court on Monday to ask for an injunction to shut down the camp and had said in court documents that the site brought noise, odours, human waste and hypodermic needles to the neighbourhood.

Lawyers representing the camp's approximately 80 residents had argued in court documents that dismantling the so-called tent city would cause significant harm because there is not enough shelter space or permanent affordable housing in Maple Ridge.

Lawyers for both the city and the campers are not scheduled to appear in court on Monday to make the new agreement legally binding.

The city says the deal will allow the province and homeless advocates time to help create a plan that will provide the campers with housing solutions.

The B.C. government announced in September that it would spend $291 million on 2,000 modular housing units in an attempt to tackle the growing issue of homelessness across the province.
Photo: Google Maps

Officials say a loaded fuel barge that broke away from its tug off British Columbia's central coast is now being towed to a safe location and no pollution has been observed.

Lt. Melissa Kia of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre says another tug, the Gulf Cajun, began towing the 128-metre barge on Monday.

A U.S.-registered tug boat, the Jake Shearer, was pushing the barge through Queen Charlotte Sound when it broke free southwest of Bella Bella on Sunday.

The centre says the barge is the Zidell Marine 277, and is loaded with 3.5 million litres of diesel and 468,000 litres of gasoline.

It says two crew members from the tug were able to board the barge, despite strong winds and rough seas, and they dropped an anchor off Goose Island. Kia says both people are safe on board the barge.

The rescue co-ordination centre says winds have eased to about 37 kilometres per hour, with two-metre swells.

Tweets from members of the nearby Heiltsuk Nation say improved conditions were a relief but the band's members continued to monitor the situation.

Heiltsuk spokeswoman Jess Housty posted messages on social media saying they were responding with their best people who have experience from last year's sinking of the Nathan E. Stewart, which resulted in a spill of 110,000 litres of diesel.

The rescue co-ordination centre said two Canadian Coast Guard vessels were at the scene.

A B.C. Environment Ministry spokesman said because there hasn't been a spill, federal officials were leading the response.
Photo: Pamela Webster

UPDATE: 3:46 p.m.

Bill and Pamela Webster of Naramata are ecstatic after watching their son, Matt Webster and his team win a Grey Cup.

The Toronto Argonauts won their CFL best 17th Grey Cup, 27-24 over the Calgary Stampeders in the 105th Grey Cup and the Webster family was right there with them!

"It was fabulous to see your child achieve their dreams," said Pamela Webster, mother.

When Castanet asked Pamela if Matt will be bringing the cup home to Naramata, she seemed optimistic.

"We haven't even thought that far ahead but if thats something that people would like we certainly can talk to Matt and see," she said. "We have never been Grey Cup parents before, so we dont know whats possible."

Bill and Pamela Webster watched the game from the snowy, cold stands in Ottawa, but watching their son take the victory made the terrible weather more bearable, according to Pamela.

Matt was drafted by Saskatchewan and played for Queen's in the CIS.

Original: 7:43 a.m.

The Toronto Argonauts won their CFL best 17th Grey Cup, 27-24 over the Calgary Stampeders in the 105th Grey Cup and the Webster family was right there with them!

Bill and Pamela Webster of Naramata were on hand in Ottawa to celebrate the Grey Cup victory of the Toronto Argos with their son Matt Webster who plays defensive back for the Argos.

Matt was drafted by Saskatchewan and played for Queen's in the CIS.
Photo: Contributed George Thorogood to play the SOEC next year

George Thorogood and the Destroyers are coming to the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton on May 10.

The Rock Party Tour announced 23 new North American dates Monday. Proceeds from the tour are going to support he Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to help find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients.

Over the course of the last four decades, George Thorogood, with his longtime legendary band, The Destroyers, has sold more than 15 million albums, released 16 studio albums  including six gold and two platinum discs  and performed more than 8,000 live shows.

George Thorogood and the Destroyers catalog of hits include: Who Do You Love?, I Drink Alone, One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, Move It On Over, Get A Haircut, and the anthemic Bad To The Bone.

Tickets go on sale Friday December 1 at 10 a.m., starting at $36.
UPDATE: 5:10 p.m.

Searchers narrowed their hunt, Monday, for a single-engine plane missing en route from Penticton to Edmonton.

The search area near Revelstoke has been reduced in size to a smaller area north of Revelstoke.

Pilot Dominic Neron did not issue a mayday call, officials say.

Neron, 28, a journeyman electrician from Spruce Grove, Alta., and his girlfriend, Ashley Bourgeault, 31, were on board the aircraft.

UPDATE: 5 p.m.

The search for a small plane that went missing after leaving Penticton Saturday has been called off for the evening.

Katelyn Moores with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria says searchers are completely reliant on daylight and will resume tomorrow at first light.

The B.C.-wide volunteer-run Provincial Emergency Air Program also tweeted it has suspended its search for the night, with plans to resume tomorrow.

Poor visibility hampered the search Monday, which focused on an area about 45 kilometres northeast of Revelstoke where pilot Dominic Nerons cellphone was last pinged.

UPDATE: 1:45 p.m.

The former owner of a plane that went missing near Revelstoke says the terrain in the area where the aircraft was last heard from is rugged and forested.

"The valleys are very close in  It's very rough terrain," Eldon Gjesdal told CTV.

He sold the single-engine Mooney to Dominic Neron of Spruce Grove, Alta., earlier this year.

"We're just hoping and praying that he found a safe place to land," said Gjesdal.

 with files from CTV Vancouver

ORIGINAL: 10:20 a.m.

The search for two people on board a small plane that went missing out of Penticton over the weekend continues today.

Dominic Neron and girlfriend Ashley Bourgeault took off from Penticton Regional Airport in the single-engine Mooney aircraft about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. They never arrived in Edmonton.

Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Victoria reported the plane overdue at 10:40 p.m. Saturday and began the search that night.

JRCCV has tasked four aircraft to (a) search area, which is approximately 25 nautical miles northeast of Revelstoke in the Rogers Pass area, said Lieut. Melissa Kia.

The pilot's cellphone last pinged about 32 kilometres northeast of Revelstoke.

During the opening of winter season, you are going to see really low-lying cloud, and icing and precipitation becomes an issue for any type of search and rescue aircraft that would be in the area, said Kia.

Weather conditions are hampering visibility today, making it difficult for spotters looking for debris or signs of a crash.

You really have to be right over it to see it, she said. You are looking for a very small target.

A Cormorant helicopter, one Civil Air Search and Rescue Association and two Parks Canada helicopters, one out of Arrow in Revelstoke and the second from Alpine in Golden, are searching right now.

Nerons sister is praying that her brother is OK.

"I pray he is OK," Tammy Neron said. "I don't know anything, and they haven't had any luck so far."

Neron, of Spruce Grove, Alta., has owned the aircraft since Sept. 9, 2017. The Mooney aircraft was manufactured in 1963.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the two individuals and with their families, said Kia.
Photo: CTV

A car crash in Burnaby claimed a life and seriously injured a second person Sunday evening.

The car hit several other vehicles before crashing into a tree at Kensington Avenue and Joe Sakic Way about 6 p.m.

The compact vehicle was heavily damaged in the collision.

Firefighters found one person deceased and the other in critical condition.

Kensington Avenue was closed for several hours as police investigated the scene.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Colin Dacre

The B.C. Supreme Court upheld a publication ban Monday on the identity of a man accused of sex crimes against a South Okanagan minor in 2012.

Following an unsuccessful challenge by local media in Penticton court, Justice Alison Beames reiterated the publication ban on the opening day of the trial.

Beames dismissed the argument of local reporters who noted there is no familial link between the accused and alleged victim, and naming the accused would not identify the victim. The reporters said the publication ban application by the defence sought to protect the reputation of the accused, not the victim.

The victim's father testified Monday against the publication ban.

However, both the Crown and defence argued in favour of the ban, saying the victim and accused were often seen in public together in the unnamed small community where both live.

Freedom of the press is obviously critical, Justice Beames said, adding she is mindful of the mandate of the open court system. On the other hand, in this case we have a young complainant who has not yet reached adulthood.

She sided with the lawyers, and found that naming the accused increased the likelihood too much of the victims identity being known. Several other aspects of the trial are also covered under a ban.

The accused is charged with sexual touching of a person under 16, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

The trial will likely run all week.
Photo: Okanagan College Allan and Evelyn Markin

A pair of former educators have made a $2,500 donation to the new Okanagan College childcare centre in Penticton.

Allan and Evelyn Markin have been advocates of the college for years, with Allan serving as campus principal more than 15 years ago.

I was involved in some of the early conversations where we recognized there were mature students and College employees with children, explains Markin. The need for child care was acute and is still an obstacle for parents in the region.

Allan said during his time at the college between 1988 and 2003, he saw firsthand the sacrifices parents made for their kids, often at the expense of pursuing education.

Its wonderful to see the centre develop from an idea to become a reality, and to see families in Penticton already benefitting from it, he adds.

Specifically, the pair is supporting one of the kitchen spaces at the centre.

You need to feed the mind to learn well, said Evelyn.

The daycare opened in September through a partnership between Okanagan College and the Penticton and District Community Resources Society. See Castanets previous feature on the high-tech building here.
South OkanaganWest Kootenay MP Richard Cannings is continuing to campaign for his private member's bill to require the federal government to consider the use of wood in federal infrastructure projects.

The House of Commons held its first hour of debate on the bill Monday.

Im happy to bring this bill forward for debate and want to thank all of my colleagues in all parties who have come to speak with me about their support for C-354 said Cannings. Wood technologies have come a long way, and as companies like Structurlam have shown us, we can build amazing structures with wood that are beautiful, environmentally friendly and cost competitive. Bill C-354 will help to further promote these advances and help to support forestry communities all across the country.

The bill was initially introduced in April, and would also compel the federal government to consider reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through use of wood products.

During the first hour of debate I heard many supportive words and some concerns raised about my proposal said Cannings, calling on other MPs to support the bill.

We have a chance to help the Canadian forestry sector grow and flourish for decades to come.
Erik Lamela of Tottenham Hotspur in action during a Premier League 2 match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur training ground on November 18, 2017 in Enfield, England. (Harry Hubbard / Getty Images)

LONDON  Erik Lamela is in line to make his Tottenham Hotspur return after over a year on the sidelines through injury, manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed on Monday.

Argentinian winger Lamela, a 30 million ($40.1 million, 33.6 million euros) signing from Roma in August 2013, last played in October 2016, having since undergone surgery on both hips.

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He returned to training at the beginning of last month and is expected to be on the bench for Spurs' trip to Leicester City in the Premier League on Tuesday.

"It is very good news because he is in contention for tomorrow," Pochettino told a press conference at Spurs' north London training centre.

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"It's because after the training today he felt good and said, 'OK, I am ready to move on and be available if you want.'"

Lamela's recovery period has been less than straightforward, with the 25-year-old even spending time undergoing treatment at former club Roma in January.

He also had to rush to Argentina last December after his brother was hospitalised.

Despite Lamela's long absence, Pochettino says he never lost faith in his compatriot's chances of making a full recovery.

"No, never doubts. We trusted in our medical staff and him that he's a very competitive player, always focused on his recovery," Pochettino said.

"After a year it's difficult for a player to be fit. It's not easy and the expectations need to be low.

"Maybe similar to Danny Rose, after 10 months or a year it's similar. You need to provide them the time to be fit.

"There's no pressure on him, only to feel he's a player in the competition again."

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Midfielder Harry Winks is a doubt for the trip to Leicester due to illness, while centre-back Toby Alderweireld (hamstring) and midfield enforcer Victor Wanyama (knee) are both out.

Spurs have fallen 13 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City after one win in their last four league games, but Pochettino said it was important not to lose sight of how far his team have come.

"I think if you remember everything that happened three years ago, no-one would believe we would be talking about finishing first, beating (Borussia) Dortmund and Real Madrid and finishing first in the Champions League (group) and having the capacity in the last three seasons to fight for the top four and the Premier League," he said.

"We were talking about in the next three or four seasons arriving to the new stadium and trying to reduce the gap to the top four and now we are involved in the battle for the best competitions in the world."
After proposing to dismantle net neutrality rules, and setting off a firestorm of criticism, Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said his family has become the target of harassment.

During an interview Monday on "Fox & Friends," viewers were shown cardboard signs that host Steve Doocy said were put up at Pai's home in suburban Virginia. One sign, appearing to refer to Pai's children, read: "They will come to know the truth. Dad murdered Democracy in cold blood."

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Pai said those signs crossed a line, even as he noted the charged debate over net neutrality. "I understand that people are passionate about policy, but the one thing in America that should remain sacred is that families, wives and kids, should remain out of it. And stop harassing us at our homes."

Last week Pai took aim at the signature Obama-era regulation designed to ensure that all websites are treated equally by internet providers. Under Pai's plan, those rules would be stripped, granting internet providers broad powers to determine what websites and online services their customers see and use. Republicans hold three out of five seats at the FCC. And Pai said he expects the plan to pass at a Dec. 14 meeting on a party-line vote.

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Pai has said his proposal would restore a "light-touch" regulatory framework for internet services and would stop the government from micromanaging the internet. Broadband and wireless companies such as Comcast and Verizon applauded Pai's move. But internet companies and activists see the undoing of net neutrality as an invitation for corporate abuse, in which service providers block websites they do not like and charge Web companies for speedier delivery of their content.

"They've listed your children's names on the signs and said that you were an evil man who murdered democracy," said Doocy. "How freaked out were your kids to know that whoever left that there knew who they were?"

"It was a little nerve-wracking, especially for my wife," Pai said.

Pai suggested that the intense criticism leveled at him for targeting neutrality rules can lead to the type of harassment his family experienced. "That's one of the things I think is very unfortunate about all the vitriol and hot air that's out there is that if you keep going out there and peddling this misinformation like, 'This is the guy who is going to break the internet and destroy democracy,' it's not surprising that some people get alarmed by it."

A spokesman for the FCC did not respond to a request for comment about the incident.

Craig Aaron, the president of Free Press, an advocacy group that supports diverse media ownership, told The Washington Post: "We condemn any racist comments or harassing messages sent to the chairman of the FCC. We don't think there is any place for that in the debate." Aaron said his group was not involved in the sign-posting incident at Pai's home.

Critics of the Trump-era FCC have scrutinized the agency's handling of public comments submitted to provide feedback on the net neutrality proposal. Some advocates and officials, including New York Attorney Genera Eric Schneiderman, say thousands of fake or automated comments submitted to the FCC have unfairly skewed the policymaking process. The FCC has said that it lacks the resources to review every comment and that automated feedback came from both opponents of net neutrality and supporters.

While the criticism over fake comments may not alter the commission's upcoming vote to repeal the rules, some experts say it may benefit supporters of the rules in any legal challenge to the FCC's plan.
Armitage Avenue in the Lincoln Park area has become the go-to destination for online retailers to open bricks-and-mortar stores. Online home furnishings retailer Serena & Lily plans to move into a two-level shop, at right, next to Warby Parker. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Armitage Avenue is adding yet another online retailer, reinforcing the streets reputation as Chicagos go-to spot for expanding from cyberspace to retail space.

Online home furnishings retailer Serena & Lily plans to move into a two-level shop on the Lincoln Park street, according to its landlord, Acadia Realty Trust.

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Serena & Lily leased the 4,743-square-foot space at 853 W. Armitage Ave., where it plans to open a shop in the spring, said Chris Conlon, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Acadia Realty Trust. The space previously was leased to BCBG, a clothing-store brand that went bankrupt.

Serena & Lily, based in Sausalito, Calif., currently has just six shops and one outlet store, none of which are in the Midwest, according to the companys website.

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The tenants immediately east of its planned Chicago space, Warby Parker, Marine Layer and Bonobos, are among a growing list of Armitage retailers that were primarily e-commerce companies before branching out into retail spaces to increase sales and brand awareness.

Theyre not the only 21st-century companies settling into Armitages 19th-century architecture.

Other brands on the street include Tie Bar, Interior Define, Peruvian Connection, Foxtrot and Black Tux. Streets near Armitage also have welcomed online brands in recent years, including a Blu Dot furniture store on Clybourn Avenue and a Monica + Andy childrens store on Halsted Street.

When e-tailers like Serena & Lily tour the street, they like that other e-tailers are already there, said retail broker John Vance, a principal at Stone Real Estate, who was not involved in the Serena & Lily lease. It used to be that Banana Republic would go next to J.Crew, which would go next to White House Black Market, which would go next to Chicos. Now e-tailers dont want to be next to brands that have 200 stores unless that 200-store brand is really cool. They have like-minded customers.

Higher-end brands also are choosing Armitage because demographics studies show high household incomes and large numbers of online orders coming from Lincoln Park, Vance said.

Acadia Realty Trust was represented in the lease by brokers Anthony Campagni and Elan Rasansky of RKF. The Rye, N.Y.-based real estate investment trust owns several Armitage buildings, as well as retail properties throughout Chicago and other major U.S. markets.

A spokeswoman for Serena & Lily, which sells a broad range of indoor and outdoor home furnishings, declined to comment.

Serena & Lily, founded in 2003, has three shops and an outlet in California, and also has shops in Westport, Conn.; Wainscott, N.Y.; and Atlanta. The company plans to open a store soon in Summit, N.J., according to its website.

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The clicks-to-bricks trend has boosted retail leasing at a time when many retail chains, disrupted by online shopping and fresh concepts, are paring their store counts  or in some cases, going out of business entirely.

Chicago is part of a broader national trend in which online brands often lease space near one another, Conlon said. Warby Parker and Bonobos are real success stories, and other brands want to gather around them, Conlon said. They feel like, If Warby Parker can do well there, thats also our customer, so I should be there too. Its not just about e-commerce. Its all about relevant brands wanting to be around each other.

rori@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Ryan_Ori
Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah, left, and President Shradha Agarwal. Founded as ContextMedia in 2006, the medical advertising firm exploded in growth. Now investors are accusing it of lying about its performance to secure nearly $500 million in funding. (Chicago Tribune)

A court has temporarily barred Outcome Healths founders from tapping $225 million they received from big-name investors, a ruling that company attorneys previously warned could further destabilize the troubled company.

A Delaware Chancery Court judge on Wednesday granted the request by investors  including units of Goldman Sachs and Googles parent Alphabet and a fund co-founded by Illinois gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker  as part of their lawsuit filed Nov. 16 against Gravitas, an Outcome Holdings subsidiary that held the $225 million. The funds were set to be distributed to CEO Rishi Shah and President Shradha Agarwal, who control Gravitas, according to the complaint.

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The Delaware suit followed a lawsuit investors filed earlier this month in New York against Chicago-based Outcome Health, Shah and Agarwal, alleging fraud as the company secured $487.5 million in funding earlier this year and rose to a valuation of $5.5 billion. The New York suit asked the court to order that $225 million of those funds, set to be distributed to Shah and Agarwal, remain available. After a New York judge denied the request, the investors filed the Delaware suit, which asked the court to temporarily restrain Gravitas and its managers from moving the money.

Sanford Michelman, attorney for Outcome Health and Gravitas, said the judges decision served to maintain the status quo until evidence can be reviewed. He also pointed out that Gravitas and Outcome Health are two separate entities and the $225 million is not part of the companys operating funds. The plaintiffs, I believe, very irresponsible actions are stifling the growth of the company because of their own misunderstandings, he said.

Before the judges ruling, Gravitas said in a court filing that granting the investors request would feed into a vicious media cycle and further destabilize the company.

Outcome Health places screens in doctors offices that run educational content about health topics for patients along with advertisements from drug companies. The screens and educational content are free to doctors. Outcome Health makes money off the ads.

Since The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Outcome Health employees had misled advertisers about the companys performance, hospitals and advertisers have backed away from the fast-growing company, and investors have filed court documents indicating they received subpoenas from the Justice Department. Last week, more than one-third of Outcome Healths roughly 535 employees took a buyout.

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In a court filing, the Goldman Sachs fund said before it made its investment, Outcome Holdings told the fund about a whistleblower letter sent to Shah last year. Outcome Holdings told the fund the claim did not have merit, according to the filing.

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The letter said customers were purchasing services from the company, then called ContextMedia, based on false misrepresentations that it reaches thousands of physicians/practices when, in fact, Context reaches significantly less, the filing stated.

Spokesmen from Goldman, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Alphabets CapitalG declined to comment.

amarotti@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @AllyMarotti
The Glencoe Park District is considering a plan to repair the Breakwater sculpture. ( Daniel I. Dorfman / Pioneer Press )

Glencoe's "Breakwater" sculpture is one step closer to being repaired, but questions about its future remain.

At their Nov. 21 board meeting, Glencoe Park District commissioners tentatively directed staff to pay Barry Tinsley  the Chicago-based artist who created the piece in the 1970s  as much as $4,000 to fund part of the restoration of the sculpture, which has been deemed in poor condition by the Park District.

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The Park District funds would be combined with a potential donation of as much as $5,000 from a member of the Hirsch family, which purchased the sculpture from Tinsley in the 1970s, according to the Park District.

The family's foundation donated "Breakwater" to the Park District in the early 1980s and it has since been at its Old Green Bay Road location, just east of the village's Metra station.

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The park district board directed staff in the fall to pay Tinsley to remove the sculpture for $3,720, instead of spending $2,000 to dispose of it, with commissioners reluctant to simply toss away artwork.

But following news reports about the planned removal, members of the Hirsch family contacted the Park District seeking to keep it in town, according to Park District officials.

Executive Director Lisa Sheppard said at the meeting she received phone calls expressing disappointment about the sculpture's removal and was aware of an informal social media campaign to keep it.

The Park District held off removing the sculpture and Tinsley then met with Park District officials. In an October letter to Sheppard, he reported that $8,500 should fund one week of the restoration, which he said would involve welding connecting joints that would prevent water damage and thus he believed it would keep the sculpture in good condition for as long as 40 years.

However, it remains unclear what would happen if the restoration costs exceed $9,000, as park board members said at the meeting they did not want to spend more than $4,000. Therefore, the deal has yet to be finalized.

"We are still working out the logistics of the restoration," Park District spokeswoman Erin Maassen said in an email.

Another question is if there would be a maintenance fund for future repair costs. Maassen said such a fund is being explored and officials are looking for donations. To prevent damage from children playing on the sculpture, Maassen said additional signs would be posted and other unspecified measures would be taken.

It was also not clear when the restoration would begin, Maassen said.

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Park board commissioners said it would be good for Tinsley to keep the piece out in the public, and not have it removed.

"There is an advantage for him to keep a work of his out in the public sphere," Commissioner Steve Gaines said.

Tinsley did not return messages requesting comment.

Meanwhile, Park Board President Dudley Onderdonk, who said at the October board meeting that he did not think the sculpture was a good fit for Glencoe, said if it remains in place, there could be a marketing shift to get people to view the sculpture.

"Perhaps we can do more to promote it if we are going to continue to own it," Onderdonk said.

Also at the meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a 2.36 percent increase for its 2017 property tax levy. Finance Director Carol Mensinger said the Park District represents approximately 7 percent of a Glencoe resident's property tax bill.

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Commissioners also unanimously agreed to a nearly $50,000 contract with Chicago-based landscape architectural firm Altamanu Inc., for design services to reconfigure the Takiff Center parking lot, with a goal of adding spaces and better traffic flow.

In separate action, Altamanu representatives are scheduled to attend a Dec. 5 meeting at the Takiff Center to show preliminary playground plans for Vernon and Jefferson Park, Woodlawn Park, and Old Elm Park. Park District officials say they are seeking public input on the initial designs. The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, demonstrates in front of the Shia Islamic Centre of England in London on Nov. 25, 2017, calling for her release from prison. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in Iran since April 2016, accused of spying. (Jonathan Brady / AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Iranian state television aired videos Sunday targeting a Briton and an American serving time on espionage charges, likely trying to pressure the U.S. and Britain as London considers making a $530 million payment to Tehran.

The case of Iranian-British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gained momentum in recent weeks as British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson faces tremendous criticism at home over his handling of it.

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Meanwhile, state television aired footage of an emotional Chinese-American national Xiyue Wang as U.S. President Donald Trump continues his hard line against Tehran and its nuclear deal with world powers.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, already serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government while traveling there with her toddler daughter, faces new charges that could add 16 years to her prison term.

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On Thursday, Iranian state television aired a seven-minute special report on Zaghari-Ratcliffe. It included close-ups of an April 2010 pay stub from her previous employer, the BBC World Service Trust.

It also included an email from June 2010 in which she wrote about the "ZigZag Academy," a BBC World Service Trust project in which the trust trained "young aspiring journalists from Iran and Afghanistan through a secure online platform."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe left the BBC in 2011 and then joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency. Both her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and Thomson Reuters repeatedly have stressed she was not training journalists or involved in any work regarding Iran while there.

The state television report comes as the British foreign minister faces criticism after he told a parliamentary committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was "teaching people journalism" when she was arrested last year. Though Johnson later corrected himself, the Iranian television report made a point to highlight them.

Speaking to The Associated Press on Sunday, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said the report and other Iranian comments about his wife seemed timed to exert as much pressure as possible on the British government. He said the material appeared to be from his wife's email, which investigators from the hard-line Revolutionary Guard immediately got access to after her arrest.

"It's trying to justify the new charges," Ratcliffe said.

The report comes as Britain and Iran discuss the release of some 400 million pounds held by London, a payment Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered. The shah abandoned the throne in 1979 and the Islamic Revolution soon installed the clerically overseen system that endures today.

Authorities in London and Tehran deny that the payment has any link to Zaghari-Ratcliffe. However, a prisoner exchange in January 2016 that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans also saw the United States make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran the same day. That money too involved undelivered military equipment from the shah's era, though some U.S. politicians have criticized the delivery as a ransom payment.

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Late Sunday, Iranian state TV aired a feature focused on Wang, a Chinese-born American graduate student at Princeton who is accused of passing confidential information about Iran to the U.S. State Department. He was arrested while conducting research on the Qajar dynasty that once ruled Iran for his doctorate in late 19th and early 20th century Eurasian history, according to Princeton officials, who confirmed to the AP that he was in Iran to learn Farsi and conduct research for his dissertation.

Authorities have alleged he scanned some 4,500 pages of digital documents, paid thousands of dollars to access archives he needed and sought access to confidential areas of Tehran libraries. State TV aired footage of him in what appeared to be an Iranian courtroom, those around him blurred out, as well as footage of him emotional and later talking to a camera, as well as an image of his Iranian visa and a school ID.

"About Iran in that regard, the more knowledge the United States possesses about Iran, the better for its policy toward Iran," he said in the footage. "There is no doubt about it. It is quite obvious."

Wang was arrested on Aug. 8, 2016. Princeton, his wife and others had been quietly working toward his release when Iran publicly announced his prison sentence in July.

Wang's wife, Hua Qu, told The Associated Press on Sunday that she hasn't spoken with the U.S. State Department about the video but she's reiterating the allegations against her husband are untrue. Qu notes the video's airing come just before the mid-December deadline for Congress to decide whether economic sanctions lifted under the Iran nuclear accord should be re-imposed.

Analysts and family members of those detained in Iran have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic's security agencies use the prisoners as bargaining chips for money or influence. A U.N. panel in September described "an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals" in Iran.

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Others with ties to the West detained in Iran include Iranian-Canadian national Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, a member of Iran's 2015 nuclear negotiating team, is believed to be serving a five-year prison sentence on espionage charges.

Iranian businessman Siamak Namazi and his 81-year-old father Baquer, a former UNICEF representative who served as governor of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province under the U.S.-backed shah, are both serving 10-year prison sentences on espionage.

Iranian-American Robin Shahini was released on bail last year after staging a hunger strike while serving an 18-year prison sentence for "collaboration with a hostile government." Shahini is believed to still be in Iran.

Also in an Iranian prison is Nizar Zakka, a U.S. permanent resident from Lebanon who advocates for internet freedom and has done work for the U.S. government. He was sentenced to 10 years last year on espionage-related charges.

In addition, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission, remains missing.

Bruce Shipkowski in New Jersey contributed to this report.
College of Lake County police moved Lakeshore Campus operations to the Madison Street Mall area in Waukegan for better visibility, according to CLC Police Chief Tom Guenther. (Frank Abderholden / News-Sun )

Recent changes in security and structures for the College of Lake County's Lakeshore Campus in downtown Waukegan has helped cut down the number of incidents and made things safer, according to officials.

"All of our campuses are safe statistically," said CLC Police Chief Tom Guenther, adding that with the recent improvements at the college's parking garage on Sheridan Road, "We think it's probably one of the most secure facilities in Lake County."

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Improvements began in 2016, when police at the campus were moved to a new facility on the Madison Street Mall. In the new location, a retro facade stands out, with three old-style glass globes with "POLICE" stenciled on them, and the U.S. and Illinois flags prominently displayed above a large window that lets officers look out onto the mall.

The visible storefront at 128 W. Madison increased foot patrols, and the removal of benches that encouraged loitering and public alcohol use have cut the number incidents police respond to in the mall area.

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"Our calls are down 10 percent, unwanted-subjects calls were down 18 percent, suspicious incidents or subjects (are) down 50 percent, disturbances are down 33 percent, and alcohol-related incidents were down 300 percent," Guenther said.

According to 2016 statistics for all three campuses posted at the CLC Police Department's website, the biggest percentage of incidents were thefts, at 39 percent, followed by trespass incidents at 26 percent and criminal damage to property at 20 percent.

Students, faculty or visitors used the police department's escort service 230 times in 2016 at all three campuses, according to CLC police.

The college also approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Waukegan Police Department that grants jurisdictional powers to CLC police officers in the Madison Street Mall area of the city's downtown.

New fencing now closes off the Sheridan Road parking garage at the College of Lake Countys Lakeshore Campus in Waukegan to help reduce crime, according to CLC Police Chief Tom Guenther. (Frank Abderholden / News-Sun )

Changes were also installed at the campus parking garage, purchased from the city over a year ago, with the most visual being tall black gates that now surround the garage and allow the college to lock up the facility overnight.

"When it was unsecured overnight, that led to access for people to do things out of the public's view," Guenther said.

Other improvements at the garage include the installation of 12 security call boxes that put callers in touch with CLC police dispatchers. Other improvements include more LED lighting and increased patrols.

"We also have plans to increase the (security) camera presence," he said.

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As of Nov. 17, the four-level, 500-space garage with access off Sheridan will be open from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. It is closed on Sundays and on college holidays.

Visitors must have a CLC hang-tag, sticker or daily pass displayed to use the facility, and those items are available at the Lakeshore Campus front desk at 33. N. Genesee St. Students need a printed copy of their CLC class schedule and a photo ID to get a parking sticker, and visitors must pick up a daily parking pass at the office.

Any vehicle left within the garage after closing hours will remain overnight and can be accessed the following college business day, according to CLC policy.

"The new hours and procedures are part of our ongoing effort to keep the Lakeshore Campus safe for all stakeholders," Guenther said. "All these improvements have significantly lowered crime, resulting in a much safer and more secure downtown Waukegan campus."

fabderholden@tribpub.com

Twitter @abderholden
Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich will visit Puerto Rico on behalf of Pope Francis, as the island struggles to recover from the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Maria. (Rob Dicker / Lake County News-Sun)

Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich will visit Puerto Rico on behalf of Pope Francis, as the island struggles to recover from the devastation by Hurricane Maria.

In a letter to priests Monday, the archdiocese said Pope Francis asked Cupich to make the trip in the days before Christmas as a means of drawing close to the people and their pastors.

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Cupich also serves as chancellor of Catholic Extension, a papal society that serves poor mission dioceses. Just days after Hurricane Maria made landfall Sept. 20, Catholic Extension provided $350,000 in emergency funding to the six dioceses on the island that have no other sources of income. In many dioceses, the local Catholic church is the main source of humanitarian relief such as food and shelter.

While other relief organizations are sending funds and supplies en masse, Catholic Extension is focusing its efforts on keeping churches up and running so that they, in turn, can deploy resources and supplies to help the community, Catholic Extension said in a statement.

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Rebuilding and repairing churches in Puerto Rico will be a priority down the road, Catholic Extension said. In the meantime, Cupich will head there for a three-day visit on Sunday.

Pope Francis has asked Cardinal Cupich to express his deep concern, as a father would have for his sons and daughters suffering in his family, the archdiocese said in its announcement, and to let the people and pastors know that their situation weighs heavily on him.

mbrachear@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @TribSeeker

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An illustration from the M.F.K. Fisher translation of "The Physiology of Taste" fronts a chapter (or meditation) on gourmands. (Bill Hogan, Chicago Tribune)

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was a French judge and politician who managed to survive revolution, the Napoleonic wars and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, all the while exercising a considerable and nuanced appreciation for the pleasures of the table. He died at 70 in Paris in February 1826  shortly after publication of the book that would make him an immortal in the food world: "The Physiology of Taste or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy."

Immediately popular then and considered a classic now, the book is an influential and oft-quoted source for all things culinary  and more.

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"He is one of the most important figures in history culinarily,'' says Jan Longone, adjunct curator of American culinary history at the University of Michigan's Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library in Ann Arbor.

Some of the most respected voices of 20th-century culinary writing held his book in high regard. "It is a well-balanced expression of one thinking man's attitude toward life," wrote M.F.K. Fisher, the famed American food writer, after finishing her famous translation, published in 1949. And Craig Claiborne, former food editor of The New York Times, described it in 1978 as "the ultimate volume on the art of dining.  It should be read by anybody who cares about food."

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"The Physiology of Taste" is, as the subtitle promises, a series of meditations on topics ranging from the role of taste, the function of appetite, gastronomy and gourmets, obesity and fasting, death, cooking and restaurateurs.

Giles MacDonogh, a London-based writer and author of a 1992 biography, "Brillat-Savarin: The Judge and His Stomach," says "Physiology" is one of the first books of popular science to explore food. The work acts as a filter for the various theories and research of the late 18th and early 19th century, he says, adding, "People today avoid the science bits.''

Much of the charm in "Physiology" for today's readers lies in what MacDonogh describes as "lyrical passages" where Brillat-Savarin tells stories of life lived and food enjoyed. (American readers will be fascinated by Brillat-Savarin's tale of exile in the young United States, where he played the violin in a New York City theater orchestra and went wild turkey hunting in the Connecticut countryside.)

Brillat-Savarin's book has sociological value too. MacDonogh, speaking by phone from London, views it as an attempt to bring gastronomy to the newly emergent middle class in the years after the French Revolution.

"Food had been the province of the nobility to 1789," he said. "All the chefs worked for the nobility until the revolution put these chefs out on the street. They went out and started restaurants and they altered the faces of Paris, France and the gastronomic world." The chefs' new customers, made rich by the revolution, were "interested in knowing how to spend money on the material pleasures  the girls, ladies and food  previously reserved for the upper class."

This book, which Fisher notes was written over 25 years with no fanfare, surprised Brillat-Savarin's friends when it was finally published "for he had never flashed before them in its full colors the rich tapestry of his mind, but had instead woven quietly and in secret peace."

Yet Brillat-Savarin became such a gastronomic legend that his name has entered the lexicon  and the kitchen. A savarin is a ring-shaped cake often filled with pastry cream, creme chantilly or fruit, according to "The New Food Lover's Companion." Chef and cookbook author Jacques Pepin points to the garniture Brillat-Savarin of classic French cooking, a side dish always featuring truffles. And in the 1930s, a French cheesemaker developed a triple-creme cheese and named it Brillat-Savarin.

"He was a man of many interests and lived a good, long life," says Longone of Brillat-Savarin. "You could not meet anyone with an interest in gastronomy who would not say he's the bible."

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In his words

Brillat-Savarin's "The Physiology of Taste" is best known for a series of 20 aphorisms that serve, or so he writes, "as a preamble to his work and as a lasting foundation for the science of gastronomy." Here are some of those aphorisms from M.F.K. Fisher's translation:

"Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are."

"Animals feed themselves; men eat; but only wise men know the art of eating."

"Good living is an act of intelligence, by which we choose things which have an agreeable taste rather than those which do not."

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

"The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star."

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"Men who stuff themselves and grow tipsy know neither how to eat nor how to drink."

"A dinner which ends without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye."

"We can learn to be cooks, but we must be born knowing how to roast."

"A host who makes all his guests wait for one late-comer is careless of their well-being."

wdaley@tribpub.com

Twitter @billdaley
A rock apologia for she of the 40 whacks, Lizzie is the first production from Chicagos new Firebrand Theatre, which declares itself to be the worlds first and foremost feminist musical theater company.

With an audacious claim like that youd better come roaring out of the den, and thats exactly what happens with the dynamic Lizzie, a thrilling all-female production that takes what generally has been perceived as a camp and pulpy piece of singing splatter theater and recasts it as a furiously performed declaration of feminist strength and survivorship in the face of abuse.

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As directed by Victoria Bussert (a director with a level of experience you dont usually see working in a small studio in Wicker Park), Lizzie is a show tailor-made for its moment. With four fabulously committed, and technically accomplished, vocal performances from Liz Chidester, Jacquelyne Jones, Camille Robinson and Leah Davis, Lizzie deserves to be a smash hit for Firebrand, an Equity-affiliated company and the brainchild of the actress Harmony France. On Sunday afternoon, the Bookspan Theatre at the Den on Milwaukee Avenue was filled with people roaring their approval.

This is the first Chicago production of the musical by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Alan Stevens Hewitt and Tim Maner based, of course, on the tabloid story of Lizzie Borden, the infamous ax-wielding murderess of Fall River, Mass., who perhaps bludgeoned her stepmother and father in 1892. (She did not give them 40 and 41 respective whacks, for the record, but far less, if it was in fact she who whacked them at all.) The true-crime sensation has been dramatized many times: There are at least two additional musicals, an opera, a ballet, several TV movies, an upcoming Hollywood release, a play, a Freudian novel, a prequel and sequel and, well, you get the idea. Lizzie Borden is a long-standing thing.

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The show owes something to Chicago and Sweeney Todd, of course. But musically speaking, with its combination of thrashy cords and outre lyrics masking a little clutch of poignant melodies, Lizzie most resembles Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a show with which it shares an origin in the 1990s. Lizzie came from an era when the notion of what could be a Broadway musical was less elastic, and thus it was developed in stages in downtown New York. Its one of those pieces that has been around for a while (Bussert has staged it before) but never really hit the mainstream like Hedwig. Ive long known about it and heard the score, but, prior to Sunday, I had never previously had the pleasure live.

Its not a subtle piece, and you wait in vain for it to complicate its own themes, rather than merely intensify them as you go. Lizzie accepts the guilt of the title character  even though she was acquitted  and ascribes her violent acts to sexual abuse on the part of her father, coupled with the passion of her relationship with her neighbor and friend, Alice. (None of this likely was true, but so what?)

Its actually not an easy needle to thread, making the anti-heroine sympathetic and credible while also staging a show that requires the front row to wear plastic garb, lest they get hit with blood and guts.

But Bussert makes it work  her most potent weapon is a killer, no-holds-barred performance from Chidester thats as forceful as anything you can see on a Chicago stage at present, a performance thats supported vocally and emotionally on three sides. The dominant energy of this musical sisterhood (Andra Velis Simon conducts an all-woman rock band) is defiance. The piece is constructed to be a great collective cry of passion and self-actualization and a warning of painful consequence for the patriarchy. And yet even with all of that, theres just enough of that historical (and glam-rock infused) distance to give the audience permission to enjoy the amped-up juice of the storytelling without fearing for their skulls.

So Lizzie has been ignited by a Firebrand. Betcha those flames now will lick beyond Chicago.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: Lizzie (3.5 stars)

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When: Through Jan. 14

Where: The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Tickets: $45 at www.firebrandtheatre.org

Enjoy someone else's drama A great theater city deserves a great theater critic. Enter Chris Jones. Subscribe now and get 4 weeks of full access for only 99.

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On NBCs Chicago P.D., cops often lose their cool and rough up a suspect or two. But Officer Kevin Atwater, played by LaRoyce Hawkins, is something of an outlier. Unlike his co-workers, Atwater lives in a predominantly African-American neighborhood where gun violence is a reality. And perhaps this is what has made him a little more thoughtful about his approach to the job.

Im grateful to be that voice to speak for both cultures, Hawkins said, the black culture and the cop culture.

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As for Atwater: When they told me the character could be from Harvey? That was the most valuable gift they could give me as an actor because then I knew exactly who he was. Im from Harvey myself. I grew up with guys like him. I pull references for this character from Harvey, Illinois  which in my humble opinion is one of the greatest microcosms of Chicago. Theres good, theres bad, theres ugly. But its where Im from. Harvey raised me. And its what breathes life into this character.

As a theater major at Illinois State University, he realized something else about himself: I discovered that I was a soft narcoleptic. If you leave me alone long enough with my eyes closed in a dark space, it just kind of happens, whether Im supposed to be asleep or not. I just kind of knock out. My colleagues now at Chicago P.D., well go to the movies and theyll just know for a fact that Im going to be asleep by the the middle of it.

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One time, it happened on stage.

My worst moment 

Im in college and Im in this anti-war play called Bury the Dead by Irwin Shaw that features dead soldiers who sort of come back to life at the beginning of the play. I was the lead soldier  Soldier No. 1  and when I rise from the dead, I inspire the other soldiers to rise from the dead. So chronologically, nobody else can rise until I do.

It was the night before opening night and we were doing a dress rehearsal in front of faculty and staff and a few special students. And the way the director set it up was, he wanted us to be on stage already when the audience walked into the theater; youd see these dead soldiers slumped over and it sets the tone of what youre about to see. So we basically have to play dead for 15 or 20 minutes before the actual show starts.

And what do I do, at the most important show before we open? I fall asleep. Like, a deep sleep. Like a meditative state. Mind you, the play has started and Im supposed to be waiting on my cue to rise  and no other dead soldiers can rise until I do.

So I started getting nudged by the other guys. We were all kind of laying on top of each other, like we were about to be buried in a ditch. Theres a priest saying a prayer over us and in the middle of the prayer, Im supposed to get up. And Im taking a nap.

I guess the dramatic tension came and went and it was like, Oh, theres a mistake happening right now. The director had to yell cut because they couldnt wake me up! Im a very hard sleeper. They had to turn the lights on and I think for a minute people were worried. They were like, Wait, is he really dead? So we had to start the play over.

What was going through his mind ...

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I was mortified! And thats kind of haunted me ever since. Even now on set Im known for falling asleep in between takes. If you look at our Instagram for the show, its a running joke: Theres pictures of me falling asleep all over the set. But the thing is, I dont feel tired before it happens. I just fall asleep.

What people dont know about actors is that our nightmares consist of us doing stuff like that  missing cues or showing up late for work. Those are the days that I dread. If I was to ever wake up two hours after my call time on Chicago P.D.  you might lose the only black actor on the show, because you just cant be that late on a job.

The takeaway 

Naturally it made me more aware. Nobody let me fall asleep after that dress rehearsal. While we were lying there, I was always getting pinched. And since I was so worried about it, I kind of scared myself out of falling asleep.

That play was the first time anything like that had happened and I didnt know I had a problem until then. If Im conscious about it, I can try to stay awake, but not always. I just fell asleep on somebody the other day who was trying to drop something off. Before I knew it, it was 2 in the morning, I woke up, I had missed all these texts.

Later on in my college career, I was in a musical called The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and I played the comfort counselor (who hands out juice boxes and consolation to students who have been eliminated) and for maybe 65 percent of the play I had to just sit there and watch these kids, and it would be very easy for me to fall asleep. So I decided my character was going to knit. I learned how to knit and I knitted for most of the play, just to keep me from falling asleep.

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What was interesting was that my character was on probation from jail, so to see this tough guy knitting, I was like, This is going to be dope! And it kept my brain occupied.

nmetz@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Nina_Metz

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So there is more to Ricks plan than sneak attacks, zombie sieges and profligate gunfire barrages. Thats what we learned at the outset of Sundays The Walking Dead, an episode that returned to the wide-angle view of the inter-tribal goings on in Virginia in the months after the mass infection.

Instead of zooming in on one or two stories as in recent episodes, Sundays edition of the AMC series had viewers hopping all over the map: Alexandria, the Kingdom, the Hilltop, even the trash dump where the Scavengers live.

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And right away we learned  spoiler alert  that the plan Rick and his compatriots hatched for defeating Negan and his Saviors has a second phase that involves him paying a sales call on the Scavengers.

This is perhaps imprudent, given that this group of grand-scale dumpster divers has already betrayed Rick once. And sure enough, after a not-really negotiation, he ends up a prisoner  which maybe is part of the plan.

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Given that the episode opened with a bunch of informational and encouraging notes exchanged between the good-guy leaders, Rick might be hoping to use his no-longer-free time to compose his Letter from a Scavenger Jail. But life goes on without him.

Son Carl is roaming the woods, looking for a friend. Michonne and Rosita are going a little stir crazy recovering from their wounds while a war is being fought. Aaron is still pining for deceased partner Eric. Daryl and Tara may be on the verge of going rogue. Maggie decides what to do with the Savior prisoners. And Ezekiel has slipped entirely out of his king character; one bad review, and he refuses to finish the run of the play.

So a lot went on Sunday. Here are five thoughts recapping The Walking Dead Seasion 8 Episode 6, the One that Reminded Us How Many Balls this Show Is Trying to Keep in the Air:

1. While Maggie has done what Jesus would do, its not necessarily for the same reasons. The big will-she-or-wont-she has been whether Maggie would kill or imprison the passel of Savior prisoners Jesus decided to bring her, because the thought of killing them would be bad karma for the better world theyre trying to build.

But in this world a few dozen murderous baddies present a logistical problem. Not only do they need to eat in a place where there are only so many turnips to go around, but as living enemy soldiers they are a steady existential threat.

Maggies kept them outside the Hilltop gates while she ponders. First, she gets to hear the arguments again, probably the third or fourth time that the show has laid them out. (Walking Dead is getting as caught up in telling the audience information it already knows as, say, House Hunters.)

After some consultation with Gregory, the slimy former Hilltop leader shes replaced, she comes to a decision. Lock em up inside the gates, she says. And lock Gregory up too! This is a surprise to the sport-coated one, but once inside the post-and-wire prison yard, you can already see his beady eyes thinking up ways to start trouble.

When Jesus thanks Maggie for heeding his advice, she says it isnt quite like that. Shes thinking the prisoners might be needed as bargaining chips, but if not, we cant leave them here.

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2. Somebody get Ezekiel a new tiger, please. Because of his failure in battle and the loss of his pet tiger (d., zombies), this guy says hes done playing the part of king. But you were great at it, says Carol. You got people to believe in you and build the Kingdom society and follow you into battle.

Zeke, though, knew all along he was just playing a part, and now hes full of doubt. The stakes were these peoples lives, he says. I still played the part. I knew. And yet I smiled. Cant do it no more.

Carol says she plays a part every day: We just have to act like everything is normal until it is.

And Ezekiel still says no. But if you look at the tableau hes composed for wallowing in his sorrow  man in darkened theater, alone, the chains from his former pet tiger on his lap  you have to suspect that he wont be able to resist a return to the stage.

3. Anybody else not feeling the full impact of the shows almost routine near-death situations? This week we saw Carl and new pal Sadiq almost join the ranks of the flesh-munchers, and ditto for Michonne and Rosita. It was tense, it was terrifying, and then they were OK. You know, like usual.

Sadiq is the guy Carl spotted briefly hunting food at ye olde gas station earlier this season. Hes tracked him down in the woods and brought him more food. In an at first wary conversation, it turns out theyre both the kinds of guys who try to do good things, like their parents told them to.

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That this may not be the best indicator of ability to survive is quickly proven out. Sadiq likes to kill walkers to free their souls. When they come upon a few feasting on a deer carcass, they decide to offer up some liberty. But Carl and Sadiq are soon outnumbered and nearly bitten. Its going really badly until Carl, Indiana Jones-style, remembers he has a gun.

Now hes bringing Sadiq back to the home base of Alexandria, even though itll make Rick, his dad, mad. It probably wont do much, either, for viewers who need to read a couple of recaps just to remember who all the characters are each week.

Meanwhile, the recovering Michonne and Rosita, who are patients but not patient, decided they needed to see the Saviors besieged compound for themselves. So they go out on a little (Sunday? Do they even have days anymore?) drive. En route, they hear loud opera music, go to investigate and discover two Saviors who had been out scavenging when the attacks began. They nearly kill our heroines. But, of course, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and neither was the weaponry in use.

So they live and, it seems, come up with a stash of big powerful weapons in the process. Curiosity didnt kill the cat, it rewarded it with a bazooka.

4. Daryl and Tara are maybe going to mess up this whole plan. Daryl, remember, got in a fight with Rick last week about wanting to deviate from the plan, to use newfound big weapons and blow a hole in the Saviors compound, the Sanctuary, so the zombies outside will make short work of them.

But the Rick-Daryl set-to ended with them blowing up the new weapons. This is why they cant have powerful things, you thought.

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But when Daryl and Tara connect this episode with Michonne and Rosita  after theyve apparently found new big guns  it seems like his Rick-defying plan may be back on. At episodes end, all four of them are in a big truck scoping out the Sanctuary and talking about making things happen  well in advance of Ricks official plan to meet at the Sanctuary and finish them off two days later.

Rick, who has apparently got himself taken prisoner on purpose to help make his plan work, probably isnt going to like any freelancing. Hes been stripped and imprisoned by the Scavangers, who write an A on the outside of one of his cell wells, a letter that keeps popping up, cryptically, in the series. One things for certain: Its not a grade for Ricks planning skills.

5. We are heading toward a big conclusion. I guess. After Sunday, there are two episodes left till the midseason finale, which typically brings some sort of plot catharsis or cliffhanger or both.

So this episode was mostly about moving the chess pieces  or the explosives-filled trucks?  into place for the next two. While it didnt have that tight focus of previous chapters, it did a good job filling in some blanks with characters we havent seen in a while, such as Michonne, Rosita and Carl.

And it laid out more explicitly than in the past just what is going on in the battle against the Neganites. Now its up to us to settle in and hope this ride toward a semi-conclusion is one worth taking.

sajohnson@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @StevenKJohnson

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Luvvie Ajayi will sign copies of Im Judging You: The Do-Better Manual 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Seminary Co-op, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave., in Chicago. (Essence)

Luvvie Ajayi captured the attention of Shonda Rhimes, Oprah Winfrey and millions of readers with her 2016 New York Times best-seller, Im Judging You: The Do-Better Manual.

Now the books been rereleased in hardcover, and Ajayi  who wrapped up the recent Together Live tour with Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach just in time to grab a 2017 outstanding leader award from YWCA Metropolitan Chicago  has thoughts.

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I dont think weve done better since, she told me last week. At all.

She finished writing her book  a collection of essays on race, gender, pop culture, rape culture, celebrity culture and the fleeting nature of fame  in October 2015. Donald Trump was just one of a bunch of guys running for president. Harvey Weinstein was still co-chairman of The Weinstein Co. White supremacists were two years from brandishing tiki torches in Charlottesville, Va.

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Our country wasnt perfect  far from it. But we werent coming face-to-face with our shortcomings on the daily.

I wanted this book to be timely, but I wish it wasnt so relevant, because it means that we are failing on massive scales, Ajayi writes in a postscript for the hardcover edition.

I could write a whole other book called Im Judging You, America! I still might. Who knows? But this dumpster fire we find ourselves in feels wholly unnecessary. It feels like it could have been avoided. But maybe not. Maybe it is necessary. This feels like a reckoning.

Ajayi is not one of the many social commentators sputtering in daily disbelief at this nations state of affairs. Shes been pointing out room for our improvement  on her Awesomely Luvvie blog, at the talks she gives across the country, through her philanthropic work  for far too long to be caught off guard.

Its really interesting how shocked people are at whats happening right now because they thought we were past all of it, she told me. A lot of people had constructed what the world looks like in their minds and didnt believe people who told them it doesnt look the way they said it looked. Weve kind of been telling you all along, but now its out in the open for you to see.

The flood of sexual assault and harassment allegations. The uptick in hate crimes. The moves to curtail transgender rights.

At the same time, shes encouraged by the growing awareness.

This moment of reckoning has the potential to change things, she said. We cant just let this die in a month and have Harvey Weinstein back producing movies and Kevin Spacey back on House of Cards. The fact that Mel Gibson is being cast in family-friendly movies shows how even when we have these really loud moments, we have short memories.

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At the end of this week, Ajayi is participating in the Teen Vogue Summit in Los Angeles, where shell encourage young people to keep the momentum going.

I want them to keep carrying the torch of speaking up in ways that our generation was sort of scared out of and the generations above us were definitely scared out of, she said. I want them to look at the world and know they have more control than they might realize.

Control, she said, they shouldnt be afraid to seize.

I want them to look at the world and know, No one has the right to hurt me, and Im not obligated to stay silent, she said. This moment in history can only continue if we embolden the next generation not to keep quiet about people who try to hurt them.

I attended the YWCA luncheon where Ajayi received that leadership award last month.

In a world that wants women to whisper, she told the crowd, I choose to yell.

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The place erupted in applause. I hope we can find the courage to follow that up with action.

Luvvie Ajayi will sign copies of Im Judging You: The Do-Better Manual 6-7:30 p.m Wednesday at The Seminary Co-op, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. More information at www.semcoop.com.

hstevens@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @heidistevens13

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Matthew Hale, the imprisoned white supremacist convicted of plotting to kill a Chicago federal judge, endorsed Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Monday.

There is no evidence Roy Moore committed sexual harassment against any of the woman (sic) that have made these accusations or that Roy Moore is a sexual predator, a news release with the headline Political Prisoner Matt Hale endorses Moore states.

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The news release, issued by Hales mother, compares Matthew Hales legal woes  insisting that hes innocent  to the sexual harassment accusations against Moore.

Anybody can accuse anyone of anything but that doesnt make it true, Hale, who is serving a 40-year sentence at a supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo., is quoted as saying. I know from my own experience.

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The attempted connections between his case and the accusations of sexual misconduct leveled against Moore began and ended there.

Hale, 46, formerly of downstate East Peoria, was convicted by a federal jury in 2004 of plotting the death of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow after she ruled against him and ordered his supremacist group to change its name in a trademark-infringement case. No attempt was made on Lefkows life, but the following year the judges husband and mother were slain in an unrelated tragedy by a disgruntled litigant.

Hale has maintained his innocence, accusing the government of manufacturing evidence and framing him, and he remained consistent about that in Mondays statement.

I went to law school, passed the Bar and was refused my license to practice law in Illinois, Hale wrote, failing to note he was denied a license to practice because of his racist views.

mkloub@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @LessIsMoh
Four people were shot, one fatally, on the South and West Sides on Monday.

A 29-year-old man died after suffering a gunshot wound to the face in the 1100 block of East 73rd Street in the citys Grand Crossing neighborhood at about 9 a.m., according to Chicago police.

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The victim was arguing with the assailant, who he knew, when the assailant pulled a gun and shot him in the face, police said.

Later at about 1 p.m., an 18-year-old man was shot in the right foot in the first block of North Lotus Avenue in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Police said the assailant fired multiple rounds at the victim, who was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

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Also in the Austin neighborhood, someone shot a 22-year-old man as he was walking in the 300 block of North Central Avenue just before 9:30 a.m. The man was taken to an area hospital where his condition had stabilized, police said.

At 11:40 a.m., a 16-year-old boy was shot in the back in the 1600 block of South Drake Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition.

Police reported no arrests but detectives are investigating.
Santino Hernandez, 18, was ordered held without bail Sunday during a bond hearing. He faces a charge of first-degree murder in a shooting that left a 15-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old boy wounded. (Chicago Police Department)

An 18-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy and wounding another teen was wearing an electronic ankle monitor when the shooting took place last month on the city's Southwest Side, according to prosecutors.

Santino Hernandez, who faces a charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, was ordered held without bail by Cook County Judge Mary Marubio on Sunday during a bond hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. He is the third person charged in the Oct. 26 double shooting that left 15-year-old Jeyson Gonzalez dead and wounded a 14-year-old boy.

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Ariel Mena, 17, and Flora Perez, 18, also face murder charges in the case. Hernandez and Mena are alleged members of the Gangster Two-Six gang, and the shooting took place in Satan Disciples territory in the Brighton Park neighborhood, according to prosecutors.

About 3:30 p.m. Oct. 26, Gonzalez, the 14-year-old boy and three others were walking home from Kelly High School in the 4400 block of South Maplewood Avenue when a Pontiac minivan passed by.

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Mena, who was inside the van with Perez and Herndanez, flashed a gang sign at the group, prompting Gonzalez to flash a Satan Disciples gang signal back, according to prosecutors. Herenandez and Mena then told Perez to drive the minivan around the block and into a nearby alley.

Hernandez and Mena got out of the van, and Hernandez talked to Gonzalez about the Satan Disciples. As Gonzalez was walking away, Hernandez pulled out a gun and opened fire, striking Gonzalez three times on his side, prosecutors said in court. The 14-year-old boy was shot once in the back.

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Surveillance video later showed the minivan, which was registered to Hernandez's mother, speeding away from the crime scene, according to prosecutors.

Gonzalez, of the 5700 block of South Damen Avenue in West Englewood, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, and the 14-year-old boy was taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital.

Police officers searching Hernandez's home found a revolver in his bedroom that ballistics testing indicated was the gun used during the shooting, according to prosecutors.

During the shooting, Hernandez was wearing an electronic ankle monitor because of a 2016 juvenile case stemming from a charge of unlawful use of a weapon, according to prosecutors.

In addition, detectives reviewed Facebook messages between Mena and Hernandez before and after the shooting. Mena sent one message that included the photo of the slain teen and wrote "LMAO," according to prosecutors.

Hernandez is a senior at Innovations High School. No one in the courtroom gallery stood up to indicate they were relatives when the case was called. He is expected to appear again in court later this week.

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Chicago Tribune's William Lee contributed.
Every June, without fail, Diane Walker got a mammogram. Cancer ran in her family, she said. Even her mother had it. Determined not to be next, she went year after year. She tested negative, year after year.

But in 2003, freshly retired, Walker and her husband went on a traveling spree. Walker went to the Bahamas, Bowling Green, Ky., back to her hometown of Waycross, Ga. So caught up relishing her retirement, she said, she went everywhere, except to her doctors office.

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Walker next had a mammogram in mid-2004. Expecting her usual result, she said she was floored when she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ  cancer in her milk ducts. She was 64.

Nearly 15 years since her diagnosis, Walker, 78, has survived cancer. It cost her a breast, but she refuses to complain, considering how often black women like herself die of breast cancer each year.

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Yeah, I lost a breast, Walker said. But whats a breast if youre gonna live? I decided that I was gonna live.

In the early 1980s, black and white women with breast cancer in Chicago died at roughly the same rate. Thanks to improvements in detection and treatment in the 1990s, the mortality rate for white women fell sharply  but it stayed about the same for black women. Between 2005 and 2007, the death rate for black Chicago women with breast cancer was 62 percent higher on average than for white women, according to a report by the Sinai Urban Health Institute in Chicago. From 1999 to 2005 in Chicago, an average of 90 more black women died of breast cancer than white women annually, according to a local task force.

Experts attributed the troubling trend  the widest breast cancer mortality gap of any major city in the nation  to a number of causes, key among them a lack of access to quality mammography and less access to quality treatment once diagnosed.

But in the past 10 years, Chicago has narrowed the disparity gap in deaths among black and white women.

Partnerships between the city and groups like the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force, founded in 2007, were created to reduce these numbers. Chicago now leads the nation in reducing the disparity in deaths among black women, said Anne Marie Murphy, the task forces executive director  down from that high of 62 percent to 39 percent between 2011 and 2013, the most current period for which data are available.

When we started, Chicago had disparity in breast cancer mortality that was higher than (the national) average, said Murphy, who holds a doctorate in molecular genetics. And though women biologically havent changed in that nine years, the system has.

Now, Murphy said, Chicago is addressing the disparity with increased funding for quality mammograms, enhanced education and outreach programs, and other supportive services. This year, the city Department of Public Health invested $700,000 to increase breast health services for populations that have faced difficulties accessing quality care.

Murphys organization recently hosted its annual Beyond October event, which featured sign-ups for free mammograms, workshops, freebies and handouts from roughly 50 groups including the YWCA, Planned Parenthood and the American Cancer Society.

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The event also featured massages, open enrollment help for those seeking health care and dance classes, all in support of the groups goal: Encourage healthy habits beyond October.

Getting screened needs to be happening all year round, it cant be just an October thing, Murphy said. Every month should be breast cancer awareness month.

Murphy was one of a handful of speakers at the event, which included U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson and Dr. Julie Morita, Chicagos health department commissioner. Speakers, some of them survivors, articulated their difficult experiences with the disease as black women.

You feel very much alone, said Chris-Tia Donaldson, chief executive of the hair care company TGIN and a breast cancer survivor.

Donaldson, a graduate of Harvard Law School, was only 36 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Initially horrified that she would lose her hair just as her hair care products were making their way into major retailers, Donaldson, now 38, soon realized the loneliness she felt as a young woman with the condition was just as bad. Whereas older women may have established careers and dedicated support systems, younger women with breast cancer often have to put all that on hold to deal with their disease, she said.

This year, Donaldsons company coordinated a social media campaign which encouraged survivors, many of them young, to share their stories. When talking about breast cancer, such varied perspectives are important, Donaldson said, as are those of low-income women, who sometimes have to trade-off between rent and treatment, she said.

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A lot of people dont have paid sick days, she added.

Worse still, experts said, many black women dying from breast cancer in the past lacked health insurance, which had long been a major roadblock to quality, ongoing treatment.

The Affordable Care Act reduced some barriers, but it may be harder for many uninsured Chicagoans to get covered this year, Morita said. Ninety percent of the federal budget for promoting and raising awareness for open enrollment has been cut, Morita said, and this years health insurance sign-up deadline comes on Dec. 15, weeks ahead of prior years.

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As a result, she said her department has tried to fill the void, hosting more targeted events to reach the communities most in need of care, like the working poor.

We're trying to be strategic, Morita said. We know what neighborhoods would really benefit from the marketplace. Special efforts have been made, she said, to host open enrollment programming at health centers, libraries and aldermanic offices.

Though experts say its not immediately clear how much of an effect changes to the open enrollment period might have on the progress made against breast cancer in Chicago, there is reason to be hopeful, many agreed. Less than 10 percent of Chicago residents are uninsured  a record low, Morita said. And as the breast cancer mortality gap shrinks in Chicago, an October American Cancer Society study shows breast cancer death rates appear to be declining nationally. From 1989 to 2015, the studys authors said, overall breast cancer death rates fell by 39 percent, something they attribute to advances in treatment and early disease detection.

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Things were far different when Walker was diagnosed. She and her husband, who married in 1964, are planning a move to Las Vegas. They are lucky, she said, and always have been.

Im still here, she said. Not all of us die.

eolumhense@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @essayolumhense

[ RELATED: Melanoma more common in whites, but minorities less likely to survive ]

[ How life changes  again  when cancer recurs ]

[ Breast cancer death rate drops almost 40 percent, saving 322,000 lives, study says ]
Georgiana Rose Simpson arrived at the University of Chicago in 1907. Simpson went on to become one of the first black women in the country to graduate with a doctorate. (Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University)

When Georgiana Rose Simpson arrived to the University of Chicago in 1907, her presence in a dorm caused an uproar among some of the other students because she was black, and she was eventually asked to move off campus.

Undeterred, Simpson continued her studies by commuting to campus and corresponding from afar and went on to become one of the first black women in the country to graduate with a doctorate, records show.

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For decades, Simpsons role as the first black woman to finish a doctorate from U. of C. has gone largely unknown.

But on Tuesday, two university students will unveil a bust of Simpson atop a pedestal at the Reynolds Club, the universitys student center, which was once accessible only by white males. For Asya Akca and Shae Omonijo, the move is an effort to give Simpson her rightful place in university, and Chicago, history.

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The University of Chicago is on the South Side in a predominantly African-American community, and yet there is not that much African-American history represented on our campus, Omonijo said. This is despite the fact that so many prominent black scholars came from this institution.

Its important to see and know her.  Classes may be hard, you might fail a midterm or not know what to major in. ... But at the end of the day, if she pushed through, you can make it and graduate, Omonijo said.

With the Simpson statue, Akca and Omonijo are entering a larger conversation about the role of monuments and statues in the nations history and how the images affect the consciousness and esteem of the people who see them.

Nationally, there are few statues that recognize the historical contributions of women. In Chicago, there are memorials that honor women like Jane Addams  but few statues or busts that present an actual image of a notable woman. According to the Smithsonian Institutes archives, only about 8 percent of publicly displayed statues depict women.

Women  real women, not symbolic and allegorical figures  are practically invisible in American memorial culture, said Erika Doss, a professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the author of the book Memorial Mania.

Memorials have changed in America in recent decades due to increasing numbers of Americans claiming the public sphere to represent their issues, she said in an email. Today, we see a shift from statues of great men to memorials dedicated to subjects previously excluded from public art  like the Rosie the Riveter Memorial in Richmond, California, which is dedicated to the female defense industry workers of World War II.

Rather than pushing for the removal of monuments with a dark history, Omonijo and Akca say they want to work to develop new ones of women and minorities who have long gone unrecognized for their contributions. For them, its about making sure history is accurately depicted.

Oftentimes womens history is untold and underrepresented in our world, Akca said. Thats something we both want to fix. This is a problem, not only in Chicago, but in Washington, D.C., and Louisville (Ky.) and everywhere else.

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Preston Jackson stands next to a wax sculpture of Georgiana Rose Simpson shortly before it was cast in bronze. (Preston Jackson photo)

The story of how Simpsons legacy is being revived is also the story of two young women finding their voices and developing a close friendship along the way.

Omonijo and Akca, both 21-year-old political science students, met as freshmen living in the same dorm in 2014.

Akca, of Louisville, has an interest in how women are depicted in monuments and statues because she believes the lack of images blocks girls from seeing how they can impact society. Omonijo, of Baltimore, is passionate about black history and specifically black women whose contributions have been overlooked and sometimes erased.

The two students stumbled upon Simpsons story.

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As they researched  digging into the universitys archives, the University of Massachusetts archives and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, D.C.  they learned about Simpsons accomplishments and how she was treated. They both felt strongly she deserved to be represented by a statue.

Not only did she face discrimination because of her race, but because she was studying German at the height of World War I and there was a lot of anti-German hysteria that she faced as a result of her chosen topic, Omonijo said. But she continued on.

In the late 1800s, Georgiana Simpson was among a wave of black educators who were groomed at Miner Normal School and she worked at a segregated high school in Washington, D.C. She was already established in her career when she uprooted and came to Chicago, first to get her undergraduate degree.

She arrived and moved into a dormitory, but was later instructed by the universitys president to move out. Simpson took summer courses and corresponded by mail to avoid the hostile racism.

After she finished her bachelors degree, Simpson returned to Washington and continued teaching at what would become the famed Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. She returned to Chicago and finished her masters in 1920 and her doctorate in 1921. She was 55.

When she graduated, a portrait of her in cap and gown was published in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples publication The Crisis.

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Its important to see and know her.  Shae Omonijo, University of Chicago student

As a scholar, Simpson wrote articles for W.E.B. Du Bois publications and was an ally of African-American historian Carter G. Woodson. She retired as a college professor teaching German at Howard. She never married, and had no children or descendants to trumpet her role in history.

She was an extensive traveler. She visited Europe and studied in France and Germany, said Loann J. King, a regional historian with Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, a group Simpson became a member of while she was in Chicago. She wanted to be a beacon of light to other African-American women and encourage them to meet challenges with dignity and forge ahead.

Local members of the sorority raised thousands of dollars to help the college students with their project.

Omonijo and Akca dug up a letter Simpson wrote to Du Bois, found her original passport and tracked down the only remaining portrait of her. For more than three years they have been raising money to pay for the bust, which cost nearly $50,000. They hired the sculptor Preston Jackson, scouted a spot for the display and obtained permission from the university to have the statue installed.

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Together they have formed the Monumental Women Project to create more statues honoring women.

It took Jackson four months to sculpt the bust of Simpson. He said the project was layered with meaning.

Jackson, who was a longtime instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, said black artists still struggle to contribute their ideas to the mainstream.

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As an African-American artist, very few commissions are given to us in Chicago, or anywhere. This project shows that we are out here and we have the ability, he said.

At the Reynolds Club, the bronze bust of Simpson will be permanently placed on a tall platform, making her stand eye-level in the hallway outside of a major gathering space.

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U. of Chicago gets hundreds of visitors from across the world and U.S. touring the campus. They always go inside Reynolds Club, Akca said. The fact that Georgina Simpson will be there, in that hallway, means all those people who are coming to visit will see that the students here, and the university, values womens history. This is the push in that direction.

The statue will be positioned directly across from a bronze relief honoring Harry Pratt Judson  the college president who made her move off campus.

Her bust has her standing tall.  Her chin is up and shes grinning a little bit, Omonijo said. Its like shes saying, You may have kicked me out of the dorm, made it difficult for me, but I still got my degree. And Im still influencing the next generation of academic scholars. 

lbowean@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lollybowean
Kenosha, Wis.  The Kenosha County (Wis.) district attorney is considering charges against a man accused of killing two brothers after a fight at a bar in Twin Lakes, just across the Illinois border.

Kenneth Samuel III, 31, and his 28-year-old brother, Richard Samuel, were fatally shot about 2 a.m. Friday when a fight inside the Beach Bar spilled out into the parking lot.

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Witnesses said the two victims and suspect had been fighting before the shooting.

Twin Lakes police Capt. Dennis Linn said the suspect being held in the Kenosha County Jail could be charged Monday. Linn said the village of 4,700 people has not had an intentional homicide case since the 1980s.

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Several people at the Beach Bar, which overlooks Lake Mary, told the Kenosha News that the Samuel brothers were regulars at the establishment and were well-liked in the community.

The suspect fled the scene and was later arrested in Monroe County.
Chicago police are asking for the public's help in finding a 15-year-old girl who went missing from the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the Far North Side.

Calista Oritz, 15, was reported missing about 4 a.m. Sunday from the 7300 block of North Ridge Avenue, police said.

Ortiz, who is 5-foot-6 and 145 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, was last seen wearing a white sweatshirt with "koala ears'' on its hood, green sweatpants and white Jordan gym shoes, police said.

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She was carrying a black pack with a Jamaican flag on it, according to police.

Anyone with information should contact Area North detectives at 312-744-8266.
Chicago saw its second most violent Thanksgiving holiday in recent years, with nearly four dozen shootings over the long weekend.



From Wednesday afternoon to early Monday, 44 people were shot in the city, eight of them fatally, according to data kept by the Tribune.



That's down from the 70 people shot during the holiday weekend last year, but it's nearly double the 28 people shot in 2015 and more than twice the 19 in 2014.



The homicide count for the year follows a similar pattern: There have been 621 homicides in Chicago as of Monday, 100 fewer than this time last year but well above previous years. The count was 450 at this time in 2015, 402 in 2014 and 400 in 2013, according to Tribune data.



At least 3,322 people have been shot this year, about 690 fewer than last year but more than 1,000 above the count for 2014, 2013 and 2012 at this point.



The first casualty of this year's holiday weekend was a 38-year-old man.



James Jones was shot in the head around 1:35 a.m. Thursday in the 400 block of East 77th Street in the South Side's Chatham neighborhood. Jones was found dead in his car after police said he was shot by three people.



About 24 hours later, an 18-year-old man was killed about half a mile away in the same neighborhood. The man was shot when he refused to comply with a robbery, according to police.



A 61-year-old man was killed over the weekend in what police characterized as a domestic incident. Carl Edmundson was found in the basement of a Far South Side home with head injuries and lacerations to his groin area, according to police. Investigators were questioning a relative.
Cook County Board Commissioner Dennis Deer, 2nd, is first in line to file his re-election petitions at the Cook County Administration Building in Chicago on Nov. 27, 2017. A line formed before dawn as candidates waited to begin filing nomination papers for the upcoming primary election for the Cook County offices of board president, clerk, treasurer, sheriff, assessor, county commissioners, the County Board of Review for Districts 2 and 3, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and township committeemen. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle filed her re-election paperwork Monday, vowing to play hardball against challengers who could include former board President Todd Stroger.

Preckwinkle is trying for a third term despite a public backlash against her pop tax, which the County Board has voted to repeal. Seeking to capitalize on Preckwinkles weakened political standing are Stroger and Bob Fioretti, a former Chicago alderman.

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Fioretti told the Tribune hes still collecting the 8,236 signatures needed to run for countywide office and will be submitting soon, while Stroger could not be reached for comment on when hes planning to file to get on the ballot.

Preckwinkle said she is planning to challenge the validity of her opponents signatures, a tactic that sometimes results in candidates being removed from the ballot because they didnt get enough legitimate names.

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I have a strong record and Im going to run on it, Preckwinkle said while talking to reporters before filing.

Preckwinkle was among the crowd of candidates vying for Cook County government seats up and down the March primary ballot who took part in the political theater of lining up early Monday morning to turn in their petitions.

Its considered a slight advantage to appear first on the list of names on the ballot, an honor that goes to the first candidate to file petitions for a given office. And its a sign of political power and commitment to the race to turn up on the first day of filing with many more signatures than required.

Also in the line that snaked through the basement of the County Building downtown was Assessor Joseph Berrios, who doubles as county Democratic chairman. Berrios has drawn a primary challenge from Fritz Kaegi, an asset manager who has been hitting the incumbent over what he says are problems in the tax assessment system highlighted this year by the Tribune.

People are dissatisfied with the corruption they see in the process, thats in the pay-to-play and the nepotism, the favoritism and the indifference to neighborhoods that have been impacted by the housing crisis, Kaegi said.

Berrios did not speak to reporters after appearing with Preckwinkle and Recorder Karen Yarbrough for the photo-op of turning in their big piles of petitions. Yarbrough is running for county clerk after voters decided last year to merge her recorders office into the clerks office. Longtime Clerk David Orr is not seeking re-election.

At the County Board, the planned retirement of longtime Commissioner Jerry Iceman Butler has thrown open the doors for hopefuls in the 3rd District, which stretches from north of downtown south through Hyde Park and South Shore before hooking west to take in parts of Chatham and Gresham.

Attorney Bill Lowry was on hand to turn in his petitions to succeed Butler. Lowry lists Allen King, the husband of 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, as his campaign chairman. And Preckwinkle is backing his candidacy, according to Scott Kastrup, Preckwinkles political director.

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Also filing for the chance to succeed Butler is Charise Williams, who works for Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs and has the backing of veteran 34th Ward Ald. Carrie Austin and others.

In addition, three other candidates for that contest: Patricia Horton, a former Water Reclamation District commissioner and failed aldermanic candidate; Joshua Gray, advocacy director for a charter school group; and Steven R. Wolfe. None has filed the state papers required of those who raise or spend $5,000 or more to run for office.

Commissioner Richard Boykin, who helped lead opposition to Preckwinkles pop tax, is being challenged by Brandon Johnson, a Chicago Teachers Union political organizer.

Johnson said he will try to paint Boykin as supporting big business over working residents. Last week, the County Board passed a budget that relies on laying off more than 300 government employees to make up for the money lost when the beverage tax got rolled back.

We have a current commissioner that has aligned himself with the Republican Party, protecting the interests of corporations while scores of folks continue to get laid off, Johnson said.

Boykin said he welcomes the challenge. I believe the voters will send us back overwhelmingly because they like the record, and they like the fact that were independent, and they like the fact that were a progressive Democrat he said while waiting in line to file his petitions.

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Five-term Treasurer Maria Pappas, who was endorsed by the county Democratic Party, also picked up a challenger.

Peter Gariepy, 34, an accountant, is making his first bid for public office. He stood in line to file a tall stack of petitions, saying he had collected 30,000 signatures. Gariepy said he wants to be a taxpayer advocate, a role Pappas also has fashioned for herself during her time in office.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

hdardick@chicagotribune.com

RELATED

[ Preckwinkle agrees to fewer Cook County job cuts; hundreds of layoffs still in works ]

[ Ex-Cook County Board President Todd Stroger says he's running again ]

[ Former Ald. Fioretti announces Preckwinkle challenge ]
Springfield  Billionaire Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker reported nearly $15 million in state taxable income last year while rival Chris Kennedy listed $1.2 million, according to partial income tax returns both campaigns released Monday.

Though its not required by Illinois law, the issue of releasing tax return information has gained prominence because of the wealth of Pritzker and Kennedy, as well as Republican President Donald Trumps refusal last year to release his personal tax information during the presidential campaign.

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Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy private equity investor, has regularly released partial income tax returns. That includes those for last year, which showed he had more than $91 million in state taxable income, a significant drop from the $188 million he and wife, Diana, reported a year earlier. The Rauners paid $19.5 million in federal income taxes and $3.2 million in state income taxes.

Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and entrepreneur, released three years of partial tax returns that showed the candidate and wife Mary Kathryn nearly quintupled their income from 2014, when they had a federal adjusted gross income of $3.1 million, to $14.95 million last year. The couple paid $4.1 million in federal taxes for 2016.

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Pritzkers income grew prominently the past three years largely through money from partnerships and trusts, which totaled $13.2 million last year compared with $5.9 million the year before. In 2014 the Pritzkers reported $2.7 million in business income as their primary source of money.

Pritzker spokeswoman Galia Slayen said the rise was based on investments and disbursements from trusts. Some trusts are required to give distributions every year and in some years they did better, some years they did worse, she said.

The returns also showed that in 2014, the couple paid no state income taxes after taking nearly $150,000 in tax credits for research and development, as well as for property taxes and educational expenses. Last year, the Pritzkers reported paying more than $456,000 in Illinois income taxes and in 2015 paid $180,000 to the state treasury, the documents show.

Asked why Pritzker paid no Illinois income tax in 2014, Slayen said the candidate made personal venture capital investments in Illinois companies, which qualified him for angel investment tax credits.

Pritzker, a co-founder of the 1871 technology hub, is worth $3.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine. The Pritzkers listed itemized deductions last year of $5.3 million to reduce their federal taxable income to nearly $9.7 million. In 2014 the couple reported itemized deductions of $274,000 and reduced their taxable income to $2.9 million, the records show. The campaign did not release the schedules or more detailed information, so its unclear what those deductions were.

Kennedy, an heir of the iconic Massachusetts political family, and wife Sheila paid $174,000 in federal income taxes and $43,127 in state income taxes last year. The campaign did not make available tax records from previous years or schedules showing deductions. Records for last year show the couple had $810,000 in itemized deductions to reduce their federal taxable income to $433,644. A campaign spokeswoman said the large deduction figure was the result of a donation to Top Box, the nonprofit food company Kennedy and his wife run.

Pritzker has spent $35.2 million of his own money on his campaign, while Kennedy has spent more than $761,000 on his bid. Since 2014, Rauner has given $95.3 million to his political bank account  including $50 million at the end of 2016.

State Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston, another contender for the Democratic nomination for governor, repeatedly had pushed for Pritzker and Kennedy to release their income tax information. Biss, seeking the support of populist progressives, released five years of federal tax returns in April. Those returns showed that in two of the years, including last year, Biss did not owe federal taxes.

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In a statement, Biss contended Pritzker and Kennedy fell short of their vow to release tax information after both spent months hiding their returns and using the same excuses we hear from Donald Trump.

A short summary from only a year or two doesnt give a full picture. It only raises more questions, Biss said. Voters deserve an explanation of why it took so long to release so little, and what Pritzker and Kennedy are hiding from the people whose trust they are asking for.

The release of the tax information came on the same day that the governor candidates joined with hundreds of other politicians to submit candidacy petitions with the State Board of Elections to appear on the March 20 primary ballot.

Some candidates had camped out overnight, and staff with the Democratic Party of Illinois arrived days before to get a spot at the front of the line. Candidates clutched large stacks of petitions and joked about their arms being tired as they posed for photos.

Standing near the front door, Democratic Rep. Theresa Mah of Chicago marveled at the difference a few years make, noting that she was at the back of the line when she first ran for office in 2015. Back then she didnt have the backing of the Democratic Party, which is run by longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan.

I am taking advantage of the benefits of incumbency. I was way in the back of the line two years ago, I didnt have the party support, and now I do, Mah said. I get to hop to the front of the line.

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I think the speakers staff, the Democratic Party, theyve been here since Thanksgiving from what I understand, Mah said.

In the governors contest, Pritzker, Kennedy and Biss filed their paperwork, meaning there will be a lottery to determine which name is first on the ballot. Rauner wont have to worry about his ballot position after he was the lone Republican to file Monday. State Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, a three-term lawmaker, said she will submit her petitions to challenge Rauner in the GOP primary later. The deadline is Dec. 4.

There also was plenty of competition among Democrats for the primary nomination for attorney general, a seat Lisa Madigan is giving up after four terms. Filing was former Gov. Pat Quinn, whom Rauner ousted in 2014, along with state Sen. Kwame Raoul, state Rep. Scott Drury, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and attorney Renato Mariotti. Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold of Urbana also filed.

Rick Pearson and David Heinzmann reported from Chicago.

rap30@aol.com

dheinzmann@chicagotribune.com

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mcgarcia@chicagotribune.com

RELATED

[ Chris Kennedy's troubled Cleveland deal: Taxes raised, company collected millions ]

[ Dem gov. debate: Kennedy, Biss bash Madigan; Pritzker won't say if it's time for speaker to go ]

[ Pritzker gave Blagojevich campaign $100,000; Holocaust museum got $1M grant ]
A Lake Forest businessman has given $100,000 since September to the Proven Conservatives PAC, which airs ads on behalf of Alabama Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, above. Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers while in his 30s. (Brynn Anderson / AP)

The chief donor to a super political action committee airing ads on behalf of embattled Alabama Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore is a familiar name in Illinois political circles: Richard Uihlein.

The Lake Forest businessman has given $100,000 to the pro-Moore Proven Conservatives PAC since September.

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Moore, now 70, has been accused of sexually molesting or assaulting teens ages 14 and 16  and trying to date several others  while he was in his 30s. Moore has denied the allegations of misconduct and said he never dated underage women.

Moore is running in a Dec. 12 special election against Democrat Doug Jones to fill the vacancy created when President Donald Trump named Jeff Sessions attorney general. Trump has voiced opposition to Jones and noted that Moore totally denies the allegations, but on Monday the White House said the president will not campaign for Moore.

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Federal election records show Uihlein first gave the pro-Moore PAC $50,000 on Sept. 8. Thats prior to The Washington Posts Nov. 9 report on Moore, and prior to Moore defeating appointed Sen. Luther Strange in a runoff for the GOP nomination on Sept. 26. Uihlein gave the PAC another $50,000 on Nov. 22, after the allegations were raised. The Daily Beast first reported on the new pro-Moore super PAC filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Uihlein is CEO of Uline Inc., a distributor of shipping materials, and he has become a major conservative donor at the state and federal level. Uihleins state candidate contributions total more than $16.6 million since 1998, records at the State Board of Elections show.

One of the largest beneficiaries of Uihleins donations has been Dan Proft, the unsuccessful 2010 candidate for the Republican nomination for governor and current talk show host.

Uihlein gave Profts personal campaign committee $595,000. But hes also given the Proft-run Liberty Principles PAC more than $9 million, including $2 million in September. The Liberty Principles PAC is running cable ads touting Burr Ridge Mayor Mickey Straubs primary campaign against House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs.

Uihlein also has been a big contributor to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, giving his campaign fund more than $2.6 million, state campaign finance records show.

Previously, Proft had used his various political operations to serve as a Rauner ally. But Proft is now backing three-term Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton against Rauner in the 2018 GOP governor primary. Uihlein has not donated any money to Ives fledgling governor campaign.

rap30@aol.com

Twitter @rap30

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[ From prison, white supremacist Matthew Hale endorses Roy Moore ]

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As nuclear tensions between North Korea and the United States grow, officials in Hawaii are walking a delicate line, quietly planning for a catastrophe while assuring residents and tourists alike that they can keep sipping beverages from coconuts without alarm.

The "without alarm" part gets harder Thursday.

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That is when the government is set to bring back a statewide nuclear attack siren, a relic of the Cold War that will notify islanders that a missile is headed toward them. Officials will test the system for the first time on Dec. 1 just before lunchtime, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

If the alarm goes off at any other time, by the way, it means that residents have 15 minutes before a nuclear bomb destroys Hawaii as we know it. The tests will be conducted on the first business day of every month for the foreseeable future.

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The siren tests are an audible example of the growing strife with North Korea, which has spooked other communities in the still-hypothetical line of fire. Guam distributed a pamphlet on nuclear attack preparedness that encouraged people to avoid using conditioner, "as it will bind the toxins to your hair." A 16-page bulletin released by emergency management authorities in California warned people to beware of radioactive pets.

And Hawaii's warnings about a possible nuclear attack have been understandably grim.

"There will be no time to call our loved ones, pick up our kids, and find a designated shelter," Vern Miyagi, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said in an interview with the Star-Advertiser. "We should all prepare and exercise a plan ahead of time so we can take some comfort in knowing what our loved ones are doing."

Miyagi is a mainstay in many emergency management videos, including the latest one about the nuclear siren. He wears an Aloha shirt, speaks in a soft, even tone and is accompanied by the gentle strumming of a ukulele as he essentially describes the last sound Hawaiians will hear as a ballistic missile streaks toward the 50th state.

The video wasn't the only one that tried to balance a message of calm with a message about a worst-case scenario.

In October, the University of Hawaii sent an email to 50,000 students and 10,000 employees that spoke about growing tensions between the United States and North Korea and the rogue nation's nuclear ambitions, according to The Washington Post's Nick Anderson.

"In light of concerns about North Korea missile tests, state and federal agencies are providing information about nuclear threats and what to do in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack and radiation emergency," the email said.

After hitting "send" on the apocalyptic-sounding message, the communications official responsible for it was immediately wishing for a do-over, saying, "It was a mistake on my part."

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Of course, terrifying, totally-on-purpose anecdotes abound.

In September, North Korea's foreign minister warned that a strike against the U.S. mainland is "inevitable" after President Donald Trump mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with the nickname "Little Rocket Man." Trump, meanwhile, has said that the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea, warning Pyongyang that it would be met with "fire and fury," if threats continue.

As Sam Kim and Kanga Kong reported for Bloomberg News this month, North Korea's nuclear program escalated this year:

"It test-fired long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles twice and said the entire U.S. was now in range; it fired missiles over Japan twice; it threatened the U.S. territory of Guam; and it carried out its sixth nuclear test, detonating what it said was a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted onto an ICBM.

". . . North Korea, which is thought to have six to 20 nuclear warheads, describes its weapons as a "precious sword of justice" against invaders and points out the demise of Iraqi and Libyan regimes after they gave up on nuclear arms."

Hawaii has previously been depicted as a target by North Korea. Oahu is home to the Navy's U.S. Pacific Command. Hawaii is about 4,600 miles from North Korea. The contiguous U.S. mainland is less than 5,000 miles from North Korea.

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Emergency management officials' theories about what would happen during an attack are horrifyingly detailed. The state estimated that a 150-kiloton-yield nuclear warhead detonated over Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam would kill 18,000 people and injure up to 120,000, according to the Star-Advertiser.

But that's a worst case, Miyagi said. Authorities believe North Korea would attack closer targets, such as South Korea or Japan - or instead aim for the U.S. mainland.

Kim Jong Un "has a limited amount of missiles, and there are many, many closer-in targets that he is guaranteed of hitting, such as Japan and South Korea," Miyagi said, noting that "Hawaii is a very tiny target."
But looming over her visit will be an uncomfortable question that Trump's company has refused to answer: What are the work conditions for laborers in India who have pieced together clothes for her fashion line?

Trump has called for more support for working women around the world, but she has remained silent about the largely female garment workforce in India and other Asian countries that makes her clothing.

Her brand  which Trump no longer runs day-to-day but continues to own  has declined to identify the factories that produce her goods or detail how the workers are treated or paid.

The India trip will further elevate Trump as one of the administration's biggest stars. Her advocacy for women on an international stage has become a key element of her political profile and personal image.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president's eldest daughter "has been a champion of women's economic empowerment not just in words but in action," adding that she helped launch a World Bank initiative to help female entrepreneurs gain better access to capital, "which will empower women across the developing world to start their own businesses."

In a phone call with reporters Tuesday to preview her trip, Trump talked about "the administration's commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive." She will give the keynote address to an entrepreneur summit that is themed "Women First, Prosperity for All."

Trump will be greeted in the Indian tech capital of Hyderabad with trappings befitting a royal dignitary, including a gala dinner with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a restored palace, where guests will gather around a massive teak dining table that seats 101 people.

It will be a world away from India's garment industry, in which laborers earn about $100 a month, some amid punishing workloads, verbal abuse and sexual harassment, according to union organizers and industry experts.

"On the positive side, it's a huge employer for women, but the systematic issue is that we don't treat women properly, otherwise they would not be working in this kind of system," said Anita Cheria, director of the social justice group Open Space, which works with garment workers in the southern city of Bangalore. "These industries can do much better for women."

Trump's trip throws a spotlight on her company and persistent questions about whether its practices match her rhetoric about improving opportunities for women in the developing world.

A Washington Post examination in July found Trump's brand relies solely on foreign workers to produce its goods and lags behind many in the clothing industry when it comes to overseeing the treatment of workers in its supply chain.

At the time, executives told The Post that the brand had started looking into hiring a nonprofit workers' rights group to increase oversight and help improve factory conditions. Brand president Abigail Klem said she was planning her first trip to tour facilities that make Ivanka Trump products.

"We recognize that our brand name carries a special responsibility," she said.

But four months later, it is unclear if the company pursued any of those steps. Asked about the status of Klem's trip or the hiring of a workers' rights group, the company declined to comment.

Executives referred to a statement earlier this year from Klem, who said the company "is committed to only working with licensees who maintain internationally recognized labor standards across their supply chains."

Using clothing labels and shipping records earlier this year, The Post traced Trump's products to Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

But it remains a mystery which Indian factories produce Trump's goods, including an array of Indian-made cotton blouses sold at department stores such as Lord & Taylor this spring.

The Post sought to identify the facilities by interviewing Indian garment industry officials, union organizers and workers in New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and the state of Punjab, but was unable to locate the facilities.

G-III, a large clothing distributor that makes Trump products, recently expanded into Bangalore, a major hub for the Indian garment industry, according to people who work in the industry and a G-III employee in Bangalore, who declined to discuss its operations.

A spokesman for G-III declined to identify the factories it uses in India, noting the company works with independent manufacturers in countries throughout Asia and Central and South America.

More than 20 labor and human rights groups co-signed a letter to Trump this month urging her brand to disclose the names of its supplier factories and allow independent groups to monitor its conditions, among other steps. She has not yet responded.

International human-rights and labor advocates say Trump is failing to use her platform to illuminate the conditions facing female garment workers around the world.

"If Ivanka truly wants her legacy to include protecting working women," said Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum, "she needs to start with the women in her supply chain."

Earlier this year, an attorney for Trump told The Post that because of her White House role, she "has been advised that she cannot ask the government to act in an issue involving the brand in any way, constraining her ability to intervene personally."

India's textile industry is one of its largest employers, accounting for 15 percent of total exports and bringing in $17 billion for ready-made garments between 2016 and 2017, government data show.

Garment factories are spread across India, with a concentration around the capital city of New Delhi and the states of Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Women make up 60 percent of India's garment sector, according to government data cited by the industry-backed Clean Clothes Campaign, though that does not count the large informal sector of women who sew from home.

The Garment Labor Union in Bangalore says women make up 85 percent of its total workforce, with unskilled and semiskilled laborers earning about $4.60 to $4.70 a day. Workers are often crammed into noisy factories without air conditioning  unbearable in India's summer heat, when temperatures soar to 120 degrees. They churn out hundreds of shirts and jeans per day, with little time for water breaks, advocates said.

Despite the difficult working conditions, the industry overall has a good record in compliance checks for child labor, fire safety and overtime, experts said.

For her part, Ivanka Trump is increasingly playing a prominent diplomatic role in her father's administration, frequently representing the U.S. among foreign dignitaries and heads of state.

In September, during a session of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump met with India's foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, whom she said in a tweet she has "long respected."

She has faced mixed reception abroad. In Japan earlier this month, she spoke to a half-empty auditorium, and she was booed by some in a Berlin audience this spring when she described her father as a "tremendous champion of supporting families."

During her visit to India, Trump will lead the U.S. delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, a city of more than 6 million people and home to office campuses for Google, Facebook and Amazon.

The summit was launched in 2010 by the Obama administration as a way to link entrepreneurs with Muslim communities around the world. This year's summit, co-hosted by India and the U.S., is expected to host 1,500 business leaders and other attendees from 170 countries. More than 50 percent of the entrepreneurs in attendance will be women, organizers said.

Ivanka Trump will speak Tuesday at the summit's plenary session, "Be the Change: Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership," and will appear the following day for a session titled, "We Can Do It! Innovations in Workforce Development and Skills Training." In her speech, Trump is expected to touch on themes such as women's economic empowerment.

On the first day of the summit, Modi will host Trump at a gala dinner in the restored Falaknuma Palace, a luxury hotel previously owned by one of the monarchs, or nizams, who ruled Hyderabad before India's independence.

Guests are traditionally ferried to the sprawling Italian-marble palace in a horse-drawn carriage and sprinkled with rose petals. The president's daughter will dine with Modi and other dignitaries at a 101-seat teak table once known as the world's longest dining table.

The city of Hyderabad has spent weeks preparing for the visit, doing an estimated $1.85 million in road repairs alone, according to municipal commissioner Harichandana Dasari.

Giant potholes have been repaired, and a bridge that Trump is scheduled to pass was painted in the colors of a rainbow. A local paper also reported that the ranks of stray dogs, ubiquitous in Indian cities, have mysteriously thinned.

Hundreds of panhandlers have been rounded up and swept out of sight, tucked in a shelter house run by a local ashram, according to local officials.

"We were told Ivanka is coming from America, and they want to round up the beggars," said Gattu Giri, the joint secretary of the Amma Nanna Anada Ashramam, which has picked up the homeless in a $20,000 bus paid for by the State Bank of India.

Harwell reported from Washington. Gowen reported from New Delhi. Gupta reported from Bangalore.
Near the summit of Comb Ridge, in a high-desert region of dancing shadow and red rock splendor, serrated peaks form one of southeast Utahs most recognizable landmarks.

It is hallowed ground for the Navajo and other Native American tribes whose ancestors scaled cliffs to build stone settlements on ledges and alcoves beneath trackless mesas.

Eleven months ago, descendants of these ancient people notched one of the great political achievements in Native American history. Following 14 months of government-to-government negotiation between the United States and five Native American tribes, President Obama signed Proclamation 9558.

The proclamation, made under the presidential authority of the Antiquities Act to protect public lands, conserves over 100,000 Native American archaeological and cultural sites within the newly established 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument.

Much of the history of Native Americans in the centuries after European settlement is a ledger of lost land  getting pushed off lands they considered sacred. This time, they gained protection for their land in a way that had never happened before.

That achievement is now under siege by the Trump administration, also in an unprecedented way.

He may not have known it at the time, but when Obama signed Proclamation 9558, he set in motion a far-reaching confrontation over land, resources and political influence that could reshape rural communities and decide stewardship of the Wests public domain for the rest of the century.

Reviving debate over Bears Ears National Monument also revives racial tension in a remote corner of Utah 

Utahs Republican congressional delegation immediately vowed to amend the Antiquities Act to strip its authority for presidents to act on their own to protect large expanses of federal land. A bill to do that, sponsored by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and supported by the Trump administration, cleared the House Natural Resources Committee, which he chairs, five days after it was introduced in October. No hearing was held.

Its passage would mark a decided tilt in favor of industrial and political forces that have worked for decades in the West to dismantle safeguards for federal land and the environment. Its defeat would strengthen the influence of conservationists and tribes to develop and install new safeguards.

President Trumps antipathy to the antiquities law and the new monument has galvanized Native American groups, who see the standoff as another test of their strength a year after the confrontation over the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota  another instance in which Trump reversed an Obama decision that favored a native tribe.

We understood that it would provoke a reaction, said Shaun Chapoose, a Ute Tribal Business Committee member, referring to the Bears Ears designation. He is a member of the Bears Ears Commission of Tribes that Obama established to help manage the monument.

Next month, Trump is expected to go to Utah to announce his formal decision to change the boundaries of Bears Ears and several other monuments, including the neighboring 1.9-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The president has already informed Republican Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah that he intends to shrink both.

To some extent, the differences between Obama and Trump in managing the public domain are familiar for the West. Recent Democratic presidents have tended to side with environmental and Native American advocates, Republicans with grazing, mining and energy interests that support greater development of public lands.

Other facets of the division, though, are new. Obama designated 29 new national monuments, more than any other president. And although previous presidents have adjusted boundaries, legal scholars say no president before Trump has considered such a sweeping declassification of national monuments nor attacked the premise of the antiquities law.

In April, the president signed an executive order that directed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review boundary and management changes for 27 national monuments established under the Antiquities Act since 1996, most of them by Democratic presidents Obama and Clinton.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visits Bears Ears National Monument. Scott G Winterton / Associated Press

The Trump administrations review fits with its other ambitions for the Wests public lands. The president and his aides have set out to reverse Obama-era restrictions on mining in the Grand Canyon, repeal rules for improving oil and gas leasing practices on public lands, and promote a program of American energy dominance that could open boundary regions of national parks and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

The presidents public lands program has deep support in the regions of the rural West, like San Juan County, Utah, where grazing, mining, and oil and gas production still have economic relevance. It reflects long-standing frustration about federal management practices that are perceived as heavy-handed.

The truth is, youve got a community of people who care about each other and care about the land and have protected it, said Phil Lyman, a 53-year-old accountant and San Juan County commissioner whose opposition to federal land managers has gained national prominence. All we want to do is be peaceful and have quiet enjoyment of our surroundings. This monument designation dramatically affects that.

How? By encouraging thousands more people to visit a culturally and historically important preserve that is not prepared to handle them.

The Antiquities Act is intended to preserve items of antiquity, Lyman said. You start using it as a massive landscape management tool and youre going to lose it for what it was designed to do. He argued that industrialized recreation at Bears Ears stands to destroy the very thing the monument purports to preserve.

Opposing the Trump administration is a nationwide counterforce of environmental lawyers, Democratic lawmakers, recreational and tourism business leaders and Native American tribes. These groups are united by several goals. One is to strengthen existing safeguards and develop a new, ecologically sensitive, energy-efficient economy. A second is to preserve sensitive lands that are sacred ground for Native Americans.

Petroglyphs marred by bullet holes. Native Americans sought monument status to protect ancient cultural sites. Keith Schneider / Los Angeles TImes

Willie Grayeyes, a Navajo leader and chairman of Utah Dine Bikeyah, a nonprofit policy group formed by Utahs Navajo community leaders. Keith Schneider / Los Angeles TImes

These lands offer a form of healing that we want people to accept so we can live in harmony together, said Willie Grayeyes, a Navajo leader and chairman of Utah Dine Bikeyah, a nonprofit policy group formed by Utahs Navajo community leaders to advocate and organize support for the Bears Ears monument.

The outcome of this clash, the most intense since the Reagan administration, will determine whether the presidents goal to limit restrictions over the Wests land and natural resources is a sound strategy for economic development or a treacherous exploitation policy that has outlived its economic worth.

The town of Bluff, a scratch in the desert near the Arizona border with 258 residents, is the front line in the monument struggle. Established in 1880 by Mormon settlers, Bluff served briefly as a southern Utah outpost for a uranium boom that pocked the landscape with doghole mines after World War II to supply nuclear electricity generation and atomic weapons production.

San Juan Countys 17,000 residents are about evenly divided between whites and Navajo. Both groups see Bluff as a launch point for hikes and camping, Jeep excursions on rough dirt roads, and trips to forage for wood and herbs in one of the worlds most breathtaking landscapes.

Its massive. Its stars in the night sky. Its silence. Its that kind of place, said Jim Hook, the owner of Recapture Lodge, one of several comfortable hostelries in the town. Its so incredible. Your mind just goes crazy with the distance.

A bluff cemetery, on a rise overlooking the town of 258 residents, holds the remains of a number of the first Mormon settlers. Keith Schneider / Los Angeles TImes

Bluff, Utah, the unexpected front line in the momentous standoff driven by President Trump's disdain for national monuments. Keith Schneider / Los Angeles TImes

Most Bluff residents long ago decided they were firmly on the side of the Native American tribes that wanted to preserve ruins and halt looting of artifacts from Bears Ears, and the environmentalists who wanted to preserve wildlands. Besides the lodges, the tiny settlement has several restaurants and shops that sell Native American art and crafts. Sales have increased with the monument designation.

Twenty-five miles north is Blanding, the biggest town in Utahs largest county, and the epicenter of resistance to Bears Ears and federal land management agencies in southeast Utah. The countrys lone uranium ore processing plant still operates near Blanding, and the towns business and political leaders, and many of its 4,000 residents  including Navajo and Ute families  resist what they see as insensitive and overly aggressive federal oversight of public lands.

But Blandings pro-development activism has not paid off economically. It has lagged behind other towns, such as Moab, 75 miles to the north, that have staked their claim on environmentally friendly tourism.

We love visitors. Who wouldnt? said Lyman, the county commissioner. But he and the countys two other commissioners join with Utahs congressional delegation in asserting that establishing Bears Ears was an abuse of federal authority and the Antiquities Act.

Its not constitutional, Lyman said. Decisions have to be made at a local level. Its like having kids. I will decide how to manage my child, not some other person.

That view sharply diverges from the one held by the coalition of five tribes that negotiated the monuments boundaries.

Bears Ears National Monument is where the full measure of southeast Utah's high desert of dancing shadow and red rock splendor unfolds. Keith Schneider / Los Angeles TImes

San Juan Countys western mesas and canyons, home to the distinctive rock formations known as Bears Ears, are where the Navajo believe their people rose from the earth.

For years, the leaders of the Navajo and four other tribes  Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe, Hopi and Zuni  spoke among themselves about protecting their home ground. But they feared that making those concerns public would invite government action to restrict access. It wasnt until 2010, when they were invited by former Utah Sen. Bob Bennett to join a congressional public lands initiative, that the tribes got involved in a government process to decide how to use the land.

Ultimately, though, the tribal leaders said their ideas were consistently blocked or ignored. In 2015, convinced they couldnt prevail, the tribes abandoned the congressional initiative and pursued a new course. Mindful that Obama and Sally Jewell , the Interior secretary, were sympathetic to their cause, and that Obamas presidency was close to its end, the tribes focused on the Antiquities Act as a vehicle to secure Bears Ears.

In October 2015, the five tribes formally proposed setting aside 1.9 million acres in San Juan County and neighboring Grand County for the monument.

This proposal is unique and wholly unprecedented, said its authors.

Fourteen months later, Obama decided on a smaller monument and prepared a declaration that established a five-member tribal commission to work with federal agencies to draw up plans. The language of the proclamation, say historians, also put the tribes and the chief executive in closer spiritual alignment than any agreement ever signed by a U.S. president.

Abundant rock art, ancient cliff dwellings, ceremonial sites, and countless other artifacts provide an extraordinary archaeological and cultural record that is important to us all, said the proclamation, but most notably the land is profoundly sacred to many Native American tribes.... The area's human history is as vibrant and diverse as the ruggedly beautiful landscape.

While opponents in Blanding, Washington and Salt Lake City condemned the monument, tribal leaders celebrated. We were finally heard, said Nizhone Meza, the Utah Dine Bikeyah legal and policy director.

They also prepared for a new struggle to defend Bears Ears from a new administration. Mark Maryboy, a Navajo leader, and other activists say tribes and environmental groups are ready to unleash lawsuits in federal courts once Trump formally declares his decision.

Lets just say we have a lawsuit in the hopper right now, Maryboy said.

A protest in Kanab, Utah, greets Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in May. George Frey / Getty Images

keith.schneider@latimes.com

Schneider is a special correspondent.

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So what's behind the recent fraternity hazing incidents on college campuses nationwide?
WASHINGTON  One came bearing doughnuts. The other brandishing a lawsuit.

Two officials with starkly different views of the job staked claims Monday to be the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a dramatic showdown over the leadership of the independent watchdog that spilled into a federal courtroom.

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"It's a mess," said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "It creates uncertainty about the future of the agency."

President Trump's designee, Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, arrived carrying a large bag from Dunkin' Donuts in hopes of soothing over potential hard feelings given his stated opposition to the bureau's aggressive regulatory approach.

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But he first had to walk past consumer advocates stationed outside the bureau's headquarters to protest his appointment.

Before the day was over, he had settled into his new office and ordered a 30-day halt to any regulations from the federal agency.

"Rumors that I'm going to set the place on fire or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false," Mulvaney said at an afternoon news conference, adding that Trump wants him to fix the bureau so it "can protect people without trampling on capitalism."

The other person claiming to be the lawful acting chief, bureau Deputy Director Leandra English, greeted her colleagues with an email saying she hoped everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. She signed it with "acting director" after her name.

English, a bureau veteran and supporter of tough consumer protection enforcement, spent the holiday weekend being promoted on Friday by outgoing Director Richard Cordray, and then filing a lawsuit seeking to stop Mulvaney from taking over.

As Mulvaney was briefing reporters as acting director at the agency's headquarters, English was meeting with senators on Capitol Hill in her capacity as acting director.

"Just met with Leandra English, fellow Marylander and the rightful Acting Director of the @CFPB," tweeted Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

At about the same time, a federal judge in Washington listened to arguments about who lawfully should be at the bureau's helm. He made no decision Monday.

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"It's creating chaos at the agency." Alan S. Kaplinsky, head of the consumer financial services group at the Ballard Spahr law firm, said of the dispute. "Who are the employees supposed to listen to?"

Mulvaney said he will remain as OMB director while also overseeing the consumer bureau until a permanent director is confirmed and sworn in. He said during his news conference that he would be working six-day weeks, three days at each agency.

The dueling afternoon developments followed a morning of high drama that Mulvaney acknowledged caused consternation among CFPB staffers Monday.

"Folks asked questions, very candidly," he said at the news conference. "I told them, 'Look, I'm not here to shut the place down because the law doesn't allow me to do that. That being said, we're going to run it differently than the previous administration.'"

Cordray, a Democrat who submitted his formal resignation Friday, wanted to keep the agency running like it had during the Obama administration for as long as possible.

In promoting English, his chief of staff and a longtime ally, Cordray told the bureau he was trying to "minimize operational disruption and provide for a smooth transition." He said English would serve as acting director until Trump nominated a permanent replacement and the Senate confirmed that choice.

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Trump tapped Mulvaney for the acting leadership post shortly thereafter.

English filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sunday, challenging Trump's appointment of Mulvaney as unlawful. She requested a temporary restraining order to block him from taking the position and declaring her the lawful acting director.

The case was randomly assigned to Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was nominated by Trump this year and took his seat on the bench in September.

At the hearing, Kelly said he hoped to have a decision soon. But he expressed some skepticism about granting a restraining order that would "enjoin the president" from filling an executive branch position.

"That's an extraordinary remedy," Kelly told Deepak Gupta, English's attorney.

Brett Shumate, deputy assistant attorney general for federal programs, declined to give Kelly any assurance that English would not be fired as the request for a restraining order is considered. Gupta said that worried him.

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Mulvaney said he had no plans to fire English, but said she did not show up at bureau headquarters on Monday. Gupta said she did before traveling to Capitol Hill.

Mulvaney reportedly also sent an email to the bureau's staff, telling them to "please disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as acting director" and encouraging them to stop by the director's office on the fourth floor "to say hello and grab a donut."

Trump named Mulvaney as acting director under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.

That law allows the president to designate someone who already has been confirmed by the Senate  in Mulvaney's case as OMB director  to perform acting duties until a permanent choice is nominated and confirmed by the Senate.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel agreed with the administration's interpretation of the law, as did the bureau's general counsel, Mary McLeod.

McLeod sent a memo to the bureau's senior leadership team on Saturday that it was her opinion that Trump has the authority to appoint an acting director, and she advised agency personnel "to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the acting director of the CFPB."

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Senior Trump administration officials said the 1998 law superseded a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the agency in 2010, that states that the deputy director shall "serve as acting director in the absence or unavailability of the director."

But that position is disputed by English and other supporters of the bureau.

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the co-author of the law that bears his name, said Monday that the intention was for the deputy director to become the bureau's acting chief.

"We knew this is a very tough job this agency has politically. To do its job, we wanted to give it as much insulation as possible" from the political process, Frank said. If the intention had been for the Vacancies Act to dictate the process, lawmakers wouldn't have included the provision in Dodd-Frank, he said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a constitutional law professor at American University's Washington College of Law, joined protesters outside the CFPB on Monday. He said that English is the rightful acting director under Dodd-Frank and that Trump is trying to "destroy the independence of the bureau."

Mulvaney has been an outspoken opponent of the bureau, having said in a 2014 interview that it was a "joke  in a sad, sick kind of way" and that he "would like to get rid of it." He and many Republicans, including Trump, have said the bureau has restricted consumer access to credit by being overly aggressive in pursuing financial institutions and establishing new regulations.

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The bureau has provided consumers about $12 billion in refunds, mortgage principal reductions and other relief from financial institutions since opening in 2011. The bureau also played a key role in penalizing Wells Fargo & Co. for its creation of unauthorized accounts.

Kaplinksy said that whoever ends up as acting director should be hesitant to take any regulatory steps that could be legally challenged.

"Until things get clarified by the courts, I don't think they should do anything other than to give out donuts to their employees and make sure they don't leave" for other jobs, he said.

Los Angeles Staff reporter Noah Bierman contributed to this report.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera
Leaders of both parties have publicly played down the possibility of a showdown next month. Funding expires Dec. 8, and both sides have floated the possibility of a short-term stopgap to push negotiations until just before Christmas.

"There shouldn't be any discussion about shutting down the government. We can make this thing work. We just need to get people at the table, negotiate it," Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican senator, said on "Fox News Sunday."

But informal talks have been abortive, and bitter partisan divides over spending, health care and immigration threaten to set up an impasse.

The tone could be set quickly. Congressional leaders of both parties are set to meet Tuesday with President Donald Trump at the White House in a summit that could smooth the path for the month ahead  or inflame simmering fights.

The last time Trump met with those top leaders  House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.  he sided with the Democrats ahead of a September deadline, averting a standoff over spending and the federal debt limit.

Trump has not indicated whether this time he will be as amenable. Multiple aides in both parties cautioned that the meeting might not yield an agreement  partly because key issues bedeviling the leaders remain unresolved and also because Republicans want to keep the focus this week on their sweeping tax bill.

While Republicans try to wrap up their tax effort, they must negotiate with Democrats on the litany of other governing items. The first step toward a resolution will be reaching an agreement on government spending levels for 2018 and perhaps beyond, lifting caps imposed under a bipartisan 2011 budget deal.

"I just say, be ready for a potentially wild month in December," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee who for months has pushed GOP leaders to reach a spending accord with Democrats. "This is going to get a bit complicated.

Under current law, Congress may appropriate no more than $549 billion for defense programs and $516 billion for nondefense programs next year, a cut from current levels.

But the Trump administration and defense hawks want to boost defense spending to more than $600 billion, and Democrats are demanding a dollar-for-dollar increase in nondefense spending. Because Senate Democrats can filibuster any spending bill, party leaders have leverage to force a deal.

"We're going to need their help," Dent said of Democrats. "And the question for the Democrats is: Are they going to play ball with us?"

Talks before the Thanksgiving holiday focused on raising spending levels somewhere between $180 billion and $200 billion over the next two fiscal years combined but went nowhere, according to multiple people familiar with the negotiations. Aides from both parties warned that if a spending accord is not reached this week, hopes for the passage of a broad appropriations bill before Christmas would be dim.

The GOP tax bill, which is being considered under special procedures that do not require bipartisan cooperation, has made some Democrats increasingly resistant to collaborating with Republicans in any sense.

"The decisions made during the next month will affect Americans' economic well-being for the next decade," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Sunday. "Our job is to break through all the tweets and the noise and focus on the economics at hand."

Aside from the basic task of keeping the government open, lawmakers also are pushing to deliver tens of billions of dollars in additional federal aid to disaster victims across the country before the year ends, including those affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as by western wildfires. The White House requested another $44 billion in aid this month and asked that the increased spending be offset by unrelated spending cuts, a proposal that quickly earned bipartisan criticism.

Complicating the passage of any spending deal are the highly charged politics of health care and immigration.

Democrats have pushed for the passage of bipartisan legislation drafted in the Senate that would help stabilize the market for individual insurance coverage established under the 2009 Affordable Care Act by appropriating funds that allow insurers to reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income Americans. Trump canceled the payments, which had previously been made absent congressional appropriation, in October.

But conservative Republicans have opposed any attempt to shore up the ACA, and the GOP tax bill could eliminate a core provision of the law: the tax penalty meant to compel Americans to secure insurance coverage. Moderate Republican senators Susan Collins, Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, have said they would like to see the stabilization bill pass alongside any repeal of the ACA mandate, but Schumer has said Democrats would not support passing the stabilization bill under those circumstances.

In a declaration that could put Democrats on edge, Trump said in a Thanksgiving Day tweet that he would continue pushing to repeal the law entirely in the new year: "Even though the Dems want to Obstruct, we will Repeal & Replace right after Tax Cuts!"

Immigration could be an even more emotionally charged issue for Democrats. Dozens of liberal lawmakers have vowed to withhold their votes for any spending bill if Trump and Republicans refuse to use the must-pass legislation up for consideration this month as a way to provide legal protections to hundreds of thousands of "dreamers," the young children of undocumented immigrants.

Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in September, giving Congress until March to codify protections for the young immigrants the program protects or risk their eventual deportation. Given the leverage Democrats have in the House and Senate, some of their most liberal members  including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.  are calling on Schumer and Pelosi to force the issue this month in talks with Trump, McConnell and Ryan.

Trump, meanwhile, continues to push for funding for a Mexican border wall  a request Democratic leaders have so far rejected outright. It remains on the administration's wish list for a year-end spending deal.

While dozens of Republican lawmakers have joined Democrats in calling for a resolution to the "dreamer" issue, senior GOP aides continue to dismiss the idea that an immigration agreement can be included alongside complex fiscal concerns.

"There is no immediate deadline for DACA," one senior Republican aide said, dismissing Democrats' vows to withhold support. Another senior aide called the push for a resolution this month "nonsense," given the March deadline.

Ryan told reporters earlier this month that he wants to complete a 2018 spending bill before lawmakers break for Christmas. But a key conservative leader said Sunday that he considered such a schedule "highly unlikely," given the amount of unfinished business on the GOP agenda.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, suggested that a stopgap should instead extend spending talks into January. That would give Republicans time to complete the tax bill and focus on preserving GOP priorities in any deal with Democrats.

"To suggest that the Democrats are driving the narrative under a Republican administration and can demand whatever they want for an end-of-the-year spending bill would beg the question: What's different from this administration to prior administrations?" he said. "It would be very problematic for most of the voters that turned out to vote for a change" in last year's presidential election.

Looming over everything is the Dec. 12 special election in Alabama, which could narrow the already tight Republican majority in the Senate. Republican nominee Roy Moore, running to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has been fighting allegations of sexual misconduct. Democratic nominee Doug Jones leads in some polls.

A Jones victory could spell doom for the GOP tax bill if it is not passed into law by the time he would be seated, probably in late December or early January. A Moore victory would carry its own risks, given his enmity for McConnell and GOP establishment leaders.

"If Roy Moore wins and he comes into the Senate in January, there's going to immediately be an ethics investigation, which is going to be a cloud ... and is going to be a distraction for us and our agenda," Thune said Sunday.

Besides the spending battle, other major deadlines are approaching.

The Children's Health Insurance Program expired Sept. 30, and Congress has yet to come to a bipartisan agreement to reauthorize it, leaving health coverage for nearly 9 million in limbo. While states have been able to continue their programs using surplus funds, at least five states say they will inform families that their coverage is in jeopardy and begin winding down their programs if Congress does not act in coming weeks.

A federal law that allows intelligence agencies to gather foreign electronic communications on U.S. soil will expire Dec. 31, potentially taking away what the National Security Agency has called "the single most important operational statute" at its disposal unless Congress acts to renew it. Several lawmakers want to constrain the government's authority to search intelligence gathered under the program for information about Americans. While there are bipartisan bills to revise and extend the law, no agreement has been reached to advance them.

Congress also is under pressure to decide whether it wishes to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, following Trump's October declaration that Tehran was not in compliance with the pact's terms.

The 60-day window for Congress to decide expires in December, but leading Republican senators have already indicated a preference to maintain the deal while passing new legislation to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon once the deal expires. That still sets up a potential January deadline for action on Iran, as Trump must continue to waive certain sanctions at that point to keep the nuclear pact intact.

The Washington Post's Damian Paletta and Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
"If you look, the media and corporate America has been firing people," Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," noting the swift dismissal by CBS and PBS of Charlie Rose after The Washington Post's report of harassment allegations. "We have to have the same kind of standards."

In recent days, both parties have faced allegations against prominent male members, with ethics inquiries into harassment opened against Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich, and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. The political future of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, was thrown into question when nude photos of the congressman surfaced on social media, and a former girlfriend said he had threatened to report her to the Capitol Police if she exposed his behavior.

The first sign of intensifying pressure on leadership came Sunday, when Conyers, the longest-serving member of Congress, stepped aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

Behind the scenes, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had tried to guide Conyers to give up the leadership post, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the process. Conyers' resistance to the effort was backed by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which Conyers co-founded more than 45 years ago.

On Sunday, Pelosi appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" and struggled to handle questions about Conyers, 88, a onetime civil rights leader.

At first, Pelosi, the first female House speaker, stressed that he needed to have "due process" and called Conyers "an icon of history." Then she hinted that eventually Conyers would "do the right thing."

By lunchtime, Conyers announced he would step down from the committee post. "I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics," he wrote in a statement that Pelosi's advisers circulated to the media.

Some women members had demanded that Conyers resign from his job. Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., who last week called for him to step down, told CNN Friday that voters are "sick and tired of the rules in Washington" being different than for the rest of America.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who is leading a fight for tougher sanctions against lawmakers, stopped short of demanding that Conyers resign in her Sunday appearance on "This Week." But she joined her colleagues in criticizing the ethics committee process as too slow in handling most investigations.

She advocated that the panel receive more funding so it could "move very swiftly, not wait years," to investigate the Conyers allegations.

Speier said there needed to be an entire shift in culture, from the bottom up, which would make it easier for victims to come forward and would end the process of allowing lawmakers to use taxpayer funds to secretly settle these cases.

"We say zero tolerance, but I don't believe that we put our money where our mouths are," she said.

Later this week the House is slated to vote on a measure sponsored by Speier and Comstock that would require mandatory training on harassment and discrimination for all lawmakers, staff and interns who work in Congress.

Many staff have said they have no idea how to file complaints, and those that have gone through that process have described it as cumbersome. Comstock said she and Speier were just beginning their work on the issue, promising further action after this first bill passes.

In particular, she singled out how Conyers settled a sexual harassment complaint brought by a former staffer in 2015, leaving the woman on the payroll as a temporary employee and paying out just under $30,000. That payout came from the lawmaker's regular allowance for staff salaries and other administrative costs, different from a separate account overseen by the Office of Compliance, which has paid out more than $15 million in settlements of sexual harassment and other cases of discrimination.

"No more secret payments," Comstock said.

After more than a week in seclusion, Franken gave his first interviews to his home-state media, defending himself against allegations that he inappropriately groped or forcibly kissed four women. The Senate's ethics panel is investigating.

Franken pledged to return to the Capitol Monday in a bid to win over his state's voters, declining to resign after allegations that he groped several women in photo opportunities and that he forcibly kissed an entertainer while on a USO tour in 2006 before he was a senator.

"I'm embarrassed and ashamed. I've let a lot of people down, and I'm hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust," Franken told the Star Tribune, his first interview since the allegations emerged Nov. 16.

He denied that he intentionally grabbed women's backsides during photos, saying that he did not remember the particular pictures in question.

Pelosi also suggested that the Franken case was partly different because one of his alleged victims has publicly accepted his apology  in contrast to women in Alabama who have said Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore tried to have sexual relationships with them while they were teenagers and he was in his 30s working as a local prosecutor.

"I don't think that you can equate Senator Franken with Roy Moore. It's two different things," the Democratic leader said.

The allegations against Barton involved consensual behavior. He apologized last week after a nude picture of him appeared on social media, part of what The Washington Post later reported was a years-long relationship with a woman who threatened to expose him publicly. Barton has not discussed the allegations.

Barton, 68, has until Dec. 11 to file for reelection to Texas's 6th District, which includes his hometown, Ennis, and portions of the cities of Arlington and Fort Worth. As of Sunday, the only candidate listed on Texas's Secretary of State website was the Democrat who Barton defeated by nearly 20 percentage points last year.

Last week Barton told the Texas Tribune he was still deliberating whether to run for another term.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump returned to his own kind of code talking Monday by deriding Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas" at a White House event honoring Native American war heroes.

"You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said as he honored three Navajo code talkers from World War II. And then he added, without naming Warren: "We have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. But you know what, I like you."

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In fact, Trump deployed that nickname for the Massachusetts senator repeatedly during the 2016 presidential campaign and, as president, as recently as a Nov. 3 tweet. Native American leaders have called Trump's past attacks on Warren offensive and distasteful. Some Democrats have called the nickname racist.

Trump made the comment as he stood near a portrait of President Andrew Jackson, which he hung in the Oval Office in January. Trump admires the seventh president's populism. But Jackson also is known for signing the Indian Removal Act of 1830, in which the Cherokee Nation was removed from its lands in what is now known as the "trail of tears."

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The Navajo Nation suggested Trump's remark Monday was an example of "cultural insensitivity" and resolved to stay out of the "ongoing feud between the senator and President Trump."

"All tribal nations still battle insensitive references to our people. The prejudice that Native American people face is an unfortunate historical legacy," Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said in a statement. He added that the Navajo Nation remains honored by the White House recognition of the code talkers.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked about criticism of Trump's remarks, said a racial slur "was certainly not the president's intent."

But the remark is the latest in a long list of remarks Trump has made about people from specific ethnic and racial groups. Announcing his long shot campaign for president in 2015, Trump said many Mexican immigrants are rapists. He's sought to ban immigrants from certain Muslim majority nations. He's come under fire for what some said was a too-slow federal response to hurricane damage in Puerto Rico. Trump also raised eyebrows for apparently having some fun in October with the name of the U.S. territory  "Puerrrto Rico," he said  at an East Room event for Puerto Ricans.

Those in the Oval Office for Monday's event gave no visible reaction to Trump's "Pocahontas" comments. But Warren and other Democrats were quick to respond.

"This was supposed to be an event to honor heroes, people who put it all on the line for our country, who, because of their incredible work, saved the lives of countless Americans and our allies," Warren said in an interview on MSNBC. "It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur."

New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, vice chairman of the Indian Affairs committee, added: "Donald Trump's latest racist joke  during Native American Heritage Month no less  demeaned the contributions that the code talkers and countless other Native American patriots and citizens have made to our great country."

The president has long feuded with Warren, an outspoken Wall Street critic who leveled blistering attacks on Trump during the campaign. Trump seized on questions about Warren's heritage, which surfaced during her 2012 Senate race challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

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During that campaign, law school directories from the Association of American Law Schools from 1986 to 1995 surfaced that put Warren on the association's list of "minority law teachers" when she was teaching at the University of Texas and the University of Pennsylvania. Warren said she listed herself with Native American heritage because she hoped to meet people with similar roots.

In a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, Warren said she and her brothers were told of the family's heritage by their parents, the late Don and Pauline Herring.

Brown pressed Warren to release more information about how she described her heritage to potential employers. Warren said she never sought proof of ancestry because she didn't think it was necessary.

Sanders said Monday that Warren was the offensive one when "she lied about something specifically to advance her career."
The juiciest possible meaning of a decision by Michael Flynn's legal team to cut off communication with President Donald Trump's team is that Flynn, the former White House national security adviser, is about to roll over and provide incriminating information about Trump or members of his inner circle to special counsel Robert Mueller.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that "the notification led Mr. Trump's lawyers to believe that Mr. Flynn  who, along with his son, is seen as having significant criminal exposure  has, at the least, begun discussions with Mr. Mueller about cooperating." That's a logical conclusion because, as the Times' Michael Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo and Maggie Haberman explained, "it is unethical for lawyers to work together when one client is cooperating with prosecutors and another is still under investigation."

Norman Eisen  President Barack Obama's White House ethics czar, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution  tweeted that personal experience with Mueller leads him to believe that Flynn could implicate Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner or even the president himself.

Trump should be nervous, but he need not hit the panic button yet. Here's why:

As The Washington Post's Carol Leonnig and Rosalind Helderman pointed out in their report on Flynn's move, "even if Flynn has begun discussions with Mueller's office, there is no guarantee he will ultimately reach a deal with prosecutors." Mueller might demand more information than Flynn is willing to give or Flynn's knowledge might prove unworthy of favorable treatment by Mueller. It's hard to know whether a deal involving Flynn could hurt Trump when we don't know whether there will be a deal at all.

Could Flynn merely offer incriminating information about himself, in an effort to protect his son? Not likely, said Jeffrey Jacobovitz, a partner at Arnall Golden Gregory in Washington who specializes in white-collar criminal defense.

"I don't think Mueller would offer him a deal, if that were the case," Jacobovitz told me. "I think it would have to be some higher-ups that Flynn would be able to provide information about."

Someone higher up does not necessarily mean the president or a member of his family, however. An alternative target: Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, against whom Mueller already has secured an indictment.

"That would be valuable because Manafort, at this point, is still going to trial," Jacobovitz said, adding that Mueller "would take all the help he can get" in that case.

Trump has effectively turned his back on Manafort. On the day Mueller announced charges against the man who once headed Trump's campaign, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the indictment "has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president's campaign or campaign activity."

Don't expect the president to feel too bad if the result of Flynn's possible cooperation with Mueller is more trouble for Manafort.

It also is possible that Flynn could spill damaging information about Trump that is unrelated to collusion with Russia.

"It could be related to obstruction," Jacobovitz told me, pointing to James Comey's claim that Trump asked the then-director of the FBI to drop its investigation of Flynn.

That would be bad for the president, but it would not indicate that his campaign aided Russia's effort to meddle in the presidential election. It would not, in other words, undermine the validity of Trump's victory, which seems to be Trump's primary concern about Mueller's probe.
A photo taken on Nov. 20, 2017, shows the Memorial Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica. The international court has finished its work and Bosnian Serb wartime military chief Ratko Mladic will end his days in prison. (Elvis Barukcic / AFP/Getty Images)

They are lying! You are lying! Those were the words Nov. 22 of former Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic, a defendant who could not contain his anger at being held to account for his crimes.

As a judge read aloud the final trial judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Mladic, a man once known as the Butcher of Bosnia, demanded that he stop reading the list of convictions: guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. I am very distraught, Mladic shouted in the courtroom in The Hague in the Netherlands. Everything that you have said is pure lies. Shame on you.

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Yet as guards pulled his hands behind his back and removed him from the courtroom, the shame was on Mladic, a man who used to boast he would choose suicide over being tried in a foreign court. In part, the verdict meant that the bodies finally caught up with him. His conviction rested on a near-tidal wave of evidence: hundreds of witness statements, documents, public statements, recorded phone calls and television appearances.

But it was the bodies of the people he had killed that gave life to his trial. Although digital techniques are changing the nature of war crimes investigations, Mladics conviction is a reminder that the bodies of victims have a unique power even in death.

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Mladics bodies started haunting him more than two decades ago. On Aug. 10, 1995, the 15-member United Nations Security Council met for an emergency closed-door session. Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., clicked through eight photographs, each blown up on a projector screen.

One photo, from July 7 of that year, showed an empty, grassy field in an area 20 miles from the Bosnian city of Srebrenica. A second, from July 27, showed the same road, but the field was unrecognizable, crisscrossed by heavy machinery tracks and pockmarked with piles of dirt and newly dug holes. Together, they formed a two-picture flipbook of mass murder: before and after.

Despite the presence of U.N. peacekeeping troops, Srebrenica had fallen July 11, when Mladic, then a swaggering Bosnian Serb general, entered the town with his troops, celebrating, shaking hands and tearing down Bosnian flags. We give this town to the Serb people as a gift, an ecstatic Mladic told a television journalist. The time has come to take revenge on the Turks (a reference to Muslim Bosnians) in this region.

The photos, taken by a U-2 spy plane, suggested that revenge came swiftly. After the Security Council meeting that August, Albright told reporters that the photographs made a compelling case that there were widescale atrocities committed in the area against defenseless civilians, away from the battlefield area.

Forensic investigations the following summer offered confirmation: graves spotted the landscape around Srebrenica. Investigators  including the longtime deputy chief of the Cook County medical examiners office, Robert Kirschner  found scores of bodies, many of them clearly executed, with bullet wounds through the head. They also found evidence that graves had been dug up, moved and reburied; rattled by the spy plane photos, Bosnian Serb leaders had tried to conceal their crimes.

Human remains have a powerful effect in international courtrooms that prosecute crimes such as genocide or mass murder, because the scale of human suffering they reveal can otherwise easily be lost in a fog of legal technicalities. When I observed Mladics trial in the summer of 2014, the hearing dragged for hours on seemingly minute details from witnesses testimonies and statements: spelling, grammar, dates.

Mladic sat on the left side of the courtroom, wearing a dark suit and wire-rimmed glasses, drinking an espresso and looking bored. There was only one other person in the large public gallery, a Bosnian journalist faithfully taking notes on the light green pages of a stenographers pad. We all know the banality of evil; this was the banality of justice.

But human remains are anything but banal. A prosecutor from an international criminal tribunal once told me, It is the bodies that make the whole thing real. Concrete evidence, like that provided by bodies, bones, graves and the experts who work with them, wakes us up.

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The forensic effort to locate the bodies from the Bosnian conflicts is the most ambitious ever attempted  and arguably the most successful. An estimated 90 percent of those killed in Srebrenica have been found. Although medical forensic efforts are expensive and time consuming, they are worth the investment.

The International Criminal Court lately has invested more in its digital forensics capacity  improving its ability to analyze cellphone videos, social media, hard drives or data in the cloud. It has focused far less on the recovery of human remains, and builds convincing cases without them. But although atrocities can be proven without human remains, something is lost in those cases.

Bodies, the physical result of mass violence, are important not only for what they can prove legally  though, as Mladic found out all too well, they can provide critical evidence in a court of law. They matter also to families and survivor communities, who may find some relief in knowing their loved ones fate.

Justice requires that international organizations continue to seek the bodies  not only to help prove atrocities, but to bear witness to history, conflict and the destructive potential of human nature.

Peggy ODonnell is the postdoctoral instructor at the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights at the University of Chicago.
There is a house in Spring, Texas, just outside of Houston, that has achieved a certain distinction for being flooded again and again. Over the years, reports The New York Times, it has been repaired no fewer than 19 times, costing the federal flood insurance program $912,732. Its actual value? Just $42,000.

But thats not such a rare distinction. A house near Baton Rouge, La., worth $56,000 has flooded 40 times, according to The Washington Post, racking up $428,000 in claims. A property near St. Louis assessed at $90,000 has sopped up $608,000 in payouts.

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There is a clear if maddening logic to this pattern. Jimmy Williams, a former lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors, explained that when a hurricane hits and your house is flooded, your flood insurance reimburses you for the damage. Then the federal government says, in his words, We know that you live in a place where hurricanes hit all the time, so why dont you just keep rebuilding there?

The National Flood Insurance Program is under enormous strain right now because of the devastation wrought by hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. But it was in trouble already  nearly $25 billion in debt and obligated to provide coverage in places and on terms that guarantee more heavy losses.

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The federal program was established in 1968 to provide coverage that private insurers had abandoned. It serves the important purpose of saving property owners hit by unforeseen disasters from financial ruin. But it has failed to protect taxpayers from endless unnecessary claims in areas prone to flooding, notably along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River.

Unreasonably low rates mandated by Congress are one problem. Another is the eligibility of policy holders for repeated payouts. Repetitive loss properties account for 1 percent of those covered but nearly a third of reimbursements.

Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense told The Atlantic, Here you have a program that is subsidizing people to live and develop in harms way. Much of the acreage under water after Harvey, for example, was in marshy low-lying areas that should have been left as habitat for frogs, not humans.

Absent reform, things will only get worse, as rising temperatures and sea levels put more land at risk of episodes of high water  even as the demand for housing creates pressure to develop those lands. The good news is that there are plenty of people who recognize the need for change.

A coalition of advocacy groups from across the political spectrum, from the Sierra Club to the National Taxpayers Union, is pushing to overhaul the flood insurance program. The Trump administration has suggested denying coverage to properties prone to repeated flooding if the owners insist on staying in the same place.

On Nov. 14, the U.S. House approved the 21st Century Flood Reform Act, which makes a start on putting the program on a more solid footing. It would end payouts going forward for properties once they accrue claims adding up to more than triple their value. It would open the market to private insurers. It would allow aid for owners to take measures, such as elevating their homes, that reduce the risk of future damage. One of the chief advocates of change is House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling. Well pay for your house twice, he said recently, but after that its either time to mitigate or you might want to consider relocating somewhere else.

Whether the Senate will go along is far from certain. Past efforts to make the program sustainable have foundered on the unwillingness of politicians to raise premiums and limit coverage. Taxpayers, however, may finally be figuring out that they are getting soaked by a shortsighted and indulgent policy whose consequences are unaffordable.

We cant prevent nature from doing its worst. But sound programs can minimize the damage it does. If anything good comes out of the terrible hurricanes this year, it may be a new resolve to keep the cost of such disasters from rising still higher.
Harvey Weinstein and all others like him who have been accused of sexual misconduct and want to apologize, should make the following statement:

"I am sorry for the pathetic abuses of power and indefensible behavior that I have exhibited, causing many people a lifelong experience of post-traumatic stress because of the life ambushes that they experienced. How I got this way I will continue to explore. One doesn't simply become cruel and abusive by accident. Can I repair myself, reclaim much of myself, and become a reasonable, civil human being? We will see, but I think that I can. I do wish to believe, and hope, that one's history does not imply one's destiny.

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"My issues go much further than legal concerns  my transgressions, of course, have legal dimensions, but much more important, they have ethical, moral and humanitarian dimensions. I may never be able to undo and make right what I have done, but I vow to do everything I know how (legal and moral) to become a reasonable human being. And I will do all I can, and am permitted to do, to make recompense to those I've wronged and harmed.

"Thank you for permitting me to learn to do the right thing."

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 Leon J. Hoffman, Chicago

Hands-free

I am 15 years old, and I just started driver's education. For a class assignment, I had to observe an intersection and look for drivers' errors. I saw lots of people talking on their cellphones or texting while they were driving. I am shocked by how many people do this, because it is so dangerous. I wish people would get a hands-free answering device or just pull over. That way we could all be safer.

 Michael Roth, Chicago

A sluggish response

The Republicans in Congress are completely and morally bankrupt. They do not have the guts to deal with long overdue serious gun control after the horrific massacres in Las Vegas, Newtown, Conn., and so many other assaults on innocents. And with the recent Texas church slaughter, their response has been sluggish, inert.

In matters of science, they can't seem to process the fact that climate change is real and creating cataclysmic events in our country and worldwide.

What will it take? When is the time right to do the responsible and right thing for them to meet these challenges?

Our very lives depend on action with the greatest possible urgency. God help us  because our Republican legislators will not.

 Dorothy Dumelle, Oak Park

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The right aid

The processes of enacting meaningful legislation in the wake of gun violence or attempting to effectively replan cities to reduce the inevitable devastation caused by natural disasters have one thing in common: They're attempts to solve a problem in hindsight. This prompts the obvious question: Why don't we change our behavior to solve these knowable problems before tragedy comes knocking? This can be said for a variety of societal concerns, both foreign and domestic.

It seems that our inherent altruistic sensors only go off when crises are happening on American soil, but why? Just because something doesn't appear to affect you doesn't mean you shouldn't care about it. As then-state Sen. Barack Obama once said, "If there's a child on the South Side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child."

Therefore, if there's a child who isn't allowed to go to school because she's a girl, that should matter to you, even if it's not your child.

If there's a family of five struggling to live on less than 50 cents a day, that should matter to you, even if it's not your family.

If there are a billion people across the world without access to clean drinking water, that should matter to you, even if your water is safe to drink.

If a child is starving and has no choice but to turn to a terrorist organization for food, clean water and a living wage, that should matter to you too.

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And yes, there are problems in our own country, but it is also true that the livelihood of people living in developing nations has a direct impact on our economy and national security. The right kind of aid can increase standards of living for the world's poorest; it can provide stability to struggling families; it can help families climb out of the cycle of poverty and help reduce the political instability in some of the more vulnerable nations in the world.

 Tim Sonnefeldt, Chicago

When?

Every time there is a mass shooting, politicians (and others) say that "this is not the right time to discuss gun control."

What is the correct time?

Police and the FBI spend days and weeks trying to determine what was behind a shooting. Let's assume that after their investigations, they have a 100 percent-correct profile of the shooter. What do they do with that information? Who gets it? Whom do they target based on this profile? How does this prevent the next shooting?

It's a very safe bet that there will be another mass shooting. Only the time and place are not known.

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What if the next 10, 20 or 30 victims were U.S. senators or U.S. representatives? Would it then be the correct time? Or would it depend upon which victims received donations from the National Rifle Assocation?

 John Fink, Huntley
The Nov. 23 piece Judicial picks show little diversity by Catherine Lucey and Meghan Hoyer reminded me of an exchange between a reporter and the late Mayor Harold Washington.

A reporter asked the newly elected first black mayor of Chicago back in 1983 if he was going to go out of his way to use affirmative action to fill all of his appointments with women and minorities. He seemed bemused. In a city this large and loaded with this much talent, he said he would have to go out of his way not to fill positions with women and minorities. He went on to say how his appointments should reflect the citys diverse population and the merits of the citys workforce. His untimely death 30 years ago this week made me feel the loss more keenly as I read Lucey and Hoyers piece.

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It seems as though the president and the Republicans in the U.S. Senate have gone out of their way to turn back the clock on judicial diversity. And the fact that the president has many judicial positions to fill speaks to the conspiracy of those same Republicans who violated their oath to uphold the Constitution. There is nothing in the Constitution that says to wait to fill those vacancies if the current president is in his last year of office and he happens to be in the opposition party. There is nothing in the Constitution that says two presidential terms is equal to seven years.

Federal courts are the place that citizens go in search of justice. They are the courts of last resort. If those judges are sitting on the bench due to funky math, dereliction of duty, or due to a president who wishes it were 1950, we are in for a very rocky 40 years  since federal judges serve for life.

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 Jan Goldberg, Riverside
All votes in the CO-3 election won't be counted until the end of this week
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A poster of "Old Beast" [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Chinese mainland actor Tu Men won the best leading actor award at the 54th Golden Horse Awards Saturday evening for his performance in "Old Beast."

In the film, which won best original screenplay, Tu plays an elderly businessman who steals money from his children to pay a debt.

Mainland director and film producer Vivian Qu won best director for her dark drama "Angels Wear White," which touches on the theme of child sexual abuse.

Hong Kong's Kara Wai and the Taiwan-born Vicky Chen took home best leading actress and supporting actress awards respectively, with their performances in crime thriller "The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful," which won best feature.

Taiwanese satire "The Great Buddha +" was the biggest winner of the night, grabbing five awards including best new director and best original score.
The oil painting 29.01.64, created by Chinese-French painter Zao Wou-ki incorporating the kuangcao (wild cursive) style of Chinese calligraphy, fetched HK$ 202.6 million ($26 million) at a Christie's auction Saturday night.





It set a record for Zao's works at auction. What now ranks second is 29.09.64, which sold HK$ 152.9 million in May, also at a Christie's auction.





Zao was born in Beijing and moved to Paris in the late 1940s, where he rose to become an internationally acclaimed artist.





He started to blend Chinese calligraphy into his oil paintings in 1957. He set aside focusing on the meanings of characters, instead exploring the variations of calligraphic forms and how to merge them into his world of abstract art.





His change that year came after a yearlong trip he made to New York, a rising world art center, as well as Hong Kong in China and Japan. He had in-depth communications with artists he met along the way, especially abstract expressionists in the United States. They provided him with novel perspectives to push forward his endeavors to paint in an abstract style.




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Six people were killed and nine injured in a rock fall on a mountain road in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Sunday, according to local authorities.

The rocks fell in the township of Zhoulu in Mashan County at around 9 a.m., hitting pedestrians and vehicles, according to county government sources.

The injured were taken to hospital.
The booming live-streaming industry offers money-making opportunities to many ordinary Chinese people. A popular female anchor named "northeastern narcissus sister-in-law", however, saw her road to fame and fortune end in police handcuffs.

The "Langyou" live-streaming platform is unavailable now. [Screenshot]

The young woman had enjoyed widespread popularity online by giving obscene performances on the "Langyou" platform. The live-streaming app recruited over 1,000 female presenters and sold pornographic content to 177,000 registered users for more than 10 million yuan (US$1.51 million).

The break-up of this channel promoting pornography is a major progress in China's latest ongoing campaign to purify the online environment.

Appealing users by porn performances

In June, some netizens reported to the police that the "Langyou" platform was spreading indecent content. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications took it seriously and organized an investigation.

According to the investigation, a large number of female presenters broadcast live pornographic performances on the platform, receiving fees and virtual gifts from users. The live-streaming app, which was available in both Android and iOS operating systems, produced and spread more than two billion pornographic videos.

To probe deeper into this "especially serious" case, the police went to many provinces including Guangdong, Sichuan, Shandong, Hunan, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang to collect evidence.

This revealed it was a cross-province crime in cyberspace. A technological company in Yueyang, Hunan province, operated the platform, while another company in Shanghai provided broadcast and storage solutions. The server of the system was in Ningbo, Zhejiang, but the maintenance staff were in the neighboring city of Hangzhou. The suspects built a live-streaming network with registered users across the country.

Repeatedly changing platforms to avoid punishment

Live-streaming anchors earn a living mainly through soliciting "virtual gifts" which the audience buy with real money. Some anchors make use of their sex appeal to encourage such gift-giving, and the platforms indulge the illegal conduct to rack up views.

To avoid being punished, the suspects repeatedly changed platforms. Within 30 days, the "Langyou" platform was upgraded for times, and its domain name and download address were changed for over 10 times. In addition, online porn performers registered with fake information and applied for bank accounts using other people's ID.

Many of the porn viewers are teenagers. Tong Lihua, director of Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research Center said pornographic live-streaming was "a tumor of cyberspace". It undermined teenagers' physical and mental health, and induced them to commit crimes.

Taking multiple measures to combat online pornography

The Chinese government is determined to remove this particular tumor. In its crackdown on online pornography this year, dozens of live-streaming platforms have been shut down.

The internet has become a major channel of spreading pornographic content, said Xue Songyan, deputy chief of the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications. Although a majority of the platforms have not been operating very long, they have made a lot of money and had adverse social impact.

The governmental departments, internet enterprises and professional organizations should work together to exercise cyberspace regulation, Tong Lihua added.

The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications and the Cyberspace Administration of China have established a long-term joint conference system covering central governmental departments as well as internet regulators at provincial and municipal level.

Website operators around the country are exercising around-the-clock supervision and intensifying their content censorship. A "blacklist" system and a notification mechanism have been established, barring anchors who violated regulations from the livestreaming industry.

"We will maintain a tough stance on online pornography, thoroughly investigating the cases and severely punishing violators," Xue Songyan said.
Premier Li Keqiang heard a report on the domestic efforts for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to take effect and get implemented when chairing the State Council executive meeting on Wednesday, and called for deepening reform and opening-up to promote industrial upgrading.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday urged enterprises to carry forward the professional spirit and craftsman's spirit and strive for excellence in order to produce more internationally well-known name brands of China's own.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday said that China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) should make good use of platforms such as the governor meeting to enhance communication and cooperation, and advance bilateral ties.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with former British Prime Minister David Cameron in Beijing Tuesday, saying China stands ready to work with Britain to strengthen bilateral ties in order to benefit both countries and peoples.

China is willing to promote bilateral trade and people-to-people exchanges with the Dominican Republic, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Friday.

China supports enterprises from both China and Croatia to make use of their complementary advantages and strengthen cooperation in areas including ports, railway infrastructure construction and shipbuilding, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Friday.

Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday urged Communist Party of China leaders and government officials at local levels to enhance capabilities in preventing and controlling work safety risks.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday inspected southwest China's Guizhou Province ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's latest overseas tour has further consolidated the China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership and invigorated BRICS cooperation in various fields, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.

China stands ready to work with Nepal in advancing friendly cooperation and opening a new chapter for bilateral ties, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Sunday to the Chinese women's volleyball team, after they claimed the World Cup title in the Japanese city of Osaka.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov on Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping stressed firm implementation of major reforms at the seventh meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform Tuesday.

President Xi Jinping on Friday said training and selecting outstanding young officials is vital to the fate of the Party, state and Chinese nation, and to the people's wellbeing, calling it an important task for generations to come.
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Beijing has been ranked as the best tourism city on the Chinese mainland, according to a study jointly issued by Jiemian.com and toutiao.com.

Cities on the Chinese mainland were evaluated based on five aspects: number of visitors, tourism revenue and its contribution to the local economy, traffic and tourism infrastructure.

It's not surprising that Beijing, China's capital city, came out on top.

In 2016, Beijing received 280 million domestic tourists and 4.16 million foreign visitors. Its tourism revenue amounted to about 502.1 billion yuan, 20 percent of the city's total GDP.

Travel in Beijing is very convenient as its highways, railways and airlines connect with many locations.

With a history of more than 3,000 years, Beijing is a metropolis with abundant natural and cultural resources.





It houses 244 national A-class scenic spots and eight are five-A, the top grade of the country's tourist site classification system. There are 554 starred hotels, 64 of which are five-star alongside 2,204 travel agencies who provide diversified services to visitors.

Receiving 450 million visitors in 2016, Chongqing, China's "hotpot capital", was the most visited. Its tourism revenue totaled 264.5 billion yuan, accounting for 15 percent of its GDP.

As a transport hub in the southwest region, Chongqing has a developed traffic network consisting of highways, railways, waterways and airlines.

The mountainous city embraces 214 national A-class scenic spots and seven are five-A grade. Approximately 227 starred hotels and 479 travel agencies are available to visitors.

Shanghai comes third on the list. In 2016, the metropolis was the second most visited city with 300 million visitors recorded. Its tourism industry had registered revenue of 389.7 billion yuan last year, contributing to 14 percent of its GDP.

As China's economic center, Shanghai has a perfect traffic network but it offers relatively less in terms of natural and cultural resources compared to Beijing and Chongqing. Nevertheless, the newly opened Disneyland Resort has added much more glamour for tourists.

Significantly, the research found that five cities can truly be labeled as tourism cities as the contribution of the tourism industry to their local economies exceeds 60 percent.

They are Lijiang City of Yunnan Province, Huangshan City of Anhui Province, Sanya City of Hainan Province, Jinzhong City of Shanxi Province, and Shangrao City of Jiangxi Province,

Here is the list of the top ten tourism cities on the Chinese mainland.

Nanjing





Confucius Temple in Nanjing. As one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (the other three being Beijing, Luoyang and Xi'an), Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history. [nanjing.gov.cn]




China's first Eurochestries Festival will open in Qingdao
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A ship carrying 5,500 tons of flour docked in Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah on Sunday, after 20-day military blockade from Saudi-led coalition, a security official at the port said.

"It's the first commercial ship docked in the port after 20 days of blockade," Houthi official Khalid Jomaey told Xinhua by phone.

He said "another aid ship carrying wheat from the United Nations World Food Programme is sailing near the port and is set to dock within hours."

The delivery is the first commercial shipment to be allowed by the coalition into the rebel-controlled seaport.

The move came one day after the coalition allowed aid flights to the rebel-held Sanaa airport.

On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemeni dominant Shiite Houthi rebels said it would allow access of humanitarian supply planes to Sanaa and ships carrying aid to the Red Sea port of Hodeidah.

Jens Laerke, spokesman of the UN humanitarian aid coordination agency OCHA, said last Friday that what really matters is that "we can get the ports in Hodeidah and Saleef open both for humanitarian aid and for commercial imports."

The coalition has been facing escalating criticisms from senior UN officials and humanitarian agencies who expressed mounting concerns over already worsening humanitarian catastrophes in the war-torn Arab country which largely depends on humanitarian aid supplies and food imports.

The coalition, which intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to back the Sunni government of the Yemeni exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said it is planning to give clearance to aid ships only.

Around 10,000 Yemeni people, mostly civilians, were killed in the war that triggered the worst humanitarian crisis and pushed the country into the brink of famine.
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The "China-CEE 16+1" concept was adopted in 2012 by China and 16 Central and Eastern European or CEE countries. Focused primarily on economy and trade, one of the keys to expanding the links are the series of express trains which run between China and Europe.

The 1,000th freight train linking China and Europe in 2017 departs from the Yiwu West Railway Station in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, May 13, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Since the launch of the first China-Europe freight rail line linking Chongqing with Duisburg, Germany in March 2011, freight volume between China and European countries has risen in each of the last six years.

Thanks to the series of new routes launched by China-Europe Railway Express, more and more Chinese companies are now choosing to use rail to import goods from Europe.

Kevin Wang is the European market sales director for the Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus Company. He said the company started to use the China-Europe freight trains in 2014, and often uses the railways to import engines and other components from Western Europe such as Italy. They are also planning to start shipping their buses to Eastern Europe via the rail lines.

Compared with air and sea freight, the trains have their own advantages. Kevin Wang said previously the company mainly shipped products by sea. Since 2014, however, the bus manufacturer has benefited from the trains between China and Europe, as the rails are cheaper than air freight while being faster and more punctual than transportation by sea.

The China-Europe freight train is a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

Kevin Wang said that the Belt and Road Initiative has opened up new opportunities not only for Chinese companies, buy also European ones.

He takes his company as an example, saying that "producing buses usually requires very high-cost investment. In Eastern Europe, people were used to buying second-hand buses from Western Europe; but now, with the support of the special initiative, they can pay the same amount of money and get brand-new buses. It's a good move to help Chinese enterprises go abroad."

Apart from bringing opportunities for domestic companies, the China-Europe freight trains also promote economic exchanges along the Silk Road.

Wang Yiwei, Director of Center for EU Studies of Renmin University of China, says rail routes have boosted connectivity between China and Europe.

"China-Europe Railway Express has been boosting the logistics and transportation, and a new type of the business between China and Europe. Most importantly, it's about the new value chain distribution, because it's located in the heartland of China and European cities. It helps China to cooperate with European local governments."

In addition, he suggests that China-Europe freight trains can narrow the gap between the 16 European nations, as well as the rail links should also help with the integration of Europe itself.

China now has 57 China-Europe freight train routes, with trains from 35 Chinese cities traveling to 12 European countries.
A LNG container ship docks at Tianjin port.China is importing more natural gas to satisfy the rising demand. [Photo/Xinhua]

Rising use of natural gas brings benefits to consumers, industry and economy

Millions of residents in northern Chinese cities will literally breathe easy this winter as the air will likely be a lot cleaner, and smog a lot thinner, given that natural gas will increasingly replace dirtier coal as power plant fuel in the region.

Natural gas sales are expected to rise more than 20 percent to 13.9 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) this year, according to China National Petroleum Corp or CNPC, the country's largest oil and gas supplier and producer.

Consumption of natural gas, which emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide than coal, will rise as demand is set to surge. China's commitment to smog-free air and green power is good news for not just electricity consumers and green campaigners, but those who thrive on gas imports.

The efforts to ensure adequate supplies of natural gas will involve creation or expansion of infrastructure like pipelines, ports with suitable terminals, storage facilities and transportation networks.

Existing Chinese investments in overseas energy assets like oil and gas fields will likely be augmented, and fresh targets identified.

Given the implications for the entire economy, winter is warming the cockles of the power industry players' hearts. Nowhere is this more palpable than in the Chinese capital.

Downtown Beijing will shutter four major coal-fired power plants in its vicinity, and keep itself warm in the winter with four gas-fired plants at a cost of around 50 billion yuan.

Hebei, one of the most polluting provinces in northern China, has also phased out 33,600 small coal-fired boilers.

Tianjin, one of China's four municipalities besides Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, said it planned to further cut coal consumption and increase the supply of natural gas for both indoor heating and vehicle fuel purposes.

Analysts believe China's determination to move away from coal and other fossil fuels to address air pollution will be a long-term positive for the natural gas sector.

Joseph Jacobelli, a senior analyst tracking Asia utilities at Bloomberg Intelligence, said although clean energy won't completely replace coal-fired power generation at least for the next 30 years, the share of gas-fired generation in the overall electricity mix will increase steadily.

"We're already seeing that clean generation accounts for a greater proportion of newly installed capacity compared with the coal-fired ones."

On the back of continued policy support from Beijing and the industry's coal-to-gas transition, the liquefied natural gas or LNG market in China has witnessed sharp growth this year.

According to the CNPC Research Institute of Economics and Technology, LNG consumption reached 167.6 billion cubic meters during the January-September period, up 16.6 percent year-on-year. Full-year growth in 2016 was 7 percent.

The peak season of winter, and even the period between summer and winter months, witnessed a pick-up in gas consumption as well, said Duan Zhaofang, chief engineer of the natural gas market research department of the institute.

Power industry insiders believe the demand will continue to surge in the coming years. Marc Howson, director of the LNG market development division of S&P Global Platts, an energy industry information service, said Chinese LNG imports will continue to grow toward 50 million tons in 2018.

China's LNG imports rose 32.8 percent to 26.06 million tons in 2016.

Contracts for LNG supply to China, mainly from western and eastern Australia, and the US Gulf Coast, are up nearly 50 percent year-on-year this year as the government steps up efforts for cleaner burning fuel, he said.

S&P Global Platts forecasts that by 2018, China will surpass South Korea to become the world's second largest LNG importer, trailing only Japan.

As for natural gas, domestic output rose from 50 billion cu m in 2005 to 135 billion cu m in 2016.

China's natural gas use will exceed 360 billion cu m by 2020, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.

That would be more than 10 percent of China's energy consumption by 2020, up from 7 percent now, according to the commission.

By 2040, China is expected to import as much as Japan, about 311.5 million cu m of natural gas a day, according to the International Energy Agency.

Rising demand for non-fossil fuel has prompted the country's energy behemoths to step up efforts to secure adequate supplies of LNG through imports. They are continuing negotiations with some resource-rich Central Asian nations for additional stocks.

Qu Guangxue, spokesman for CNPC, which accounts for over 70 percent of the natural gas supplied in China, said the company's natural gas demand is expected to reach 81.3 billion cu m this year, up 11.7 percent from 2016.

According to CNPC, the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline that it built, and which runs through China, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, will have transported a total of 200 billion cu m of natural gas by the end of this month since 2009, equivalent to the total annual natural gas consumption of China or 11 years of natural gas supply for Beijing.

China started importing natural gas through a pipeline from Turkmenistan in 2010 and has since then imported natural gas also from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, terminals and infrastructure are also being boosted to meet the upsurge in demand. The country's natural gas pipeline network in 2015 reached 64,000 km, and is expected to reach 163,000 km by 2025.

China is also increasing its presence in the Arctic region's natural gas sector, with CNPC participating in the Yamal LNG project with Novatek, Russia's independent natural gas producer, which will ensure CNPC at least 3 million tons of LNG per year.

Li Li, energy research director at consulting firm ICIS China, said the country would also continue to buy considerable LNG from the US till this year-end and beyond, considering the latter's willingness to increase export of its natural resources.

The US would benefit from China's new demand for natural gas and is already a net exporter, she said.
There was a time when every winter, as the heating season kicked off in Beijing, my olfactory senses would recoil from the hideous odor of burnt coal in the air, especially during the night.

My post-dinner strolls would turn into deep meditations on the masculine violence of technology-powered industry on Mother Nature, and the ghostly offspring they produced, the infamous smog.

Not this winter though. Surprise, surprisethe Beijing air no longer chokes as badly. The coal-fired power plants that help supply heat to the capital are making way for gas-based utilities.

In the past, coal accounted for more than 60 percent of China's primary energy consumption. In northern China, the ratio was as high as 80 percent, according to the International Energy Association. To be sure, the black gold produced copious amounts of gray smog.

This winter, however, 28 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and nearby areas are steering clear of coal and using only natural gas, electricity and renewable energy for heating.

Other regions in the north will be persuaded to phase out the use of inferior coal, which is widely used in rural areas due to its low cost.

Authorities have also ordered producers of steel, cement and aluminum, among others, in numerous cities in northern China to reduce output during the heating season which could last till March-end.

Consequently, Beijing smells better, public health issues are fewer and a more sustainable economic development suddenly appears to be a realistic goal.

China's environmental policies are designed to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions. But they are not limited to replacing coal and oil with natural gas. China tops countries with renewable energy capacity, in terms of wind, solar and hydropower.

According to the IEA, half of all additions to China's electricity generation capacity since 2013 have been renewable or nuclear.

By 2040, the renewable energy sector will account for 40 percent of total power generation, with coal expected to fall to 40 percent from 67 percent now.

China will account for a third of new wind and solar power installations. Its coal use peaked four years ago and solar is expected to become China's cheapest source of new electricity additions, even surpassing natural gas by 2020 and coal by 2030.

But all that appears far in the distance, not in the immediate future. Yet, I believe the ongoing coal-to-renewable transition will have a positive and lasting impact on air quality.

China's energy mix is entering a new era. Energy policy emphasis is now on green electricity, natural gas and cleaner, high-efficiency digital technologies.

China's commitment to clean air and healthy environment is expected to set the tone for the rest of the world, accelerating the global transition to green energy. Winter might be fun again.
Technicians check wind power facilities in Tianchang, Anhui province.[Photo by Song Weixing/for China Daily]

It should be feasible to scrap the subsidy support for China's wind power development by 2022 given the expected decline in generation costs from lower turbine costs and higher production yields, analysts said.

Considering that turbine costs should decline further and new generation turbines should produce more kilowatt-hour for the same capacity, it is highly likely that the wind power sector will continue its healthy development without governmental subsidy support, said Joseph Jacobelli, a senior analyst of Asia utilities at Bloomberg Intelligence.

The suspension of subsidy has been discussed for many years, and 2022 might be the time when that would really happen, he said.

Beijing plans to phase out subsidies for wind turbine makers by 2020 or 2022. An unidentified government official was quoted by several media outlets that manufacturers should "actively improve technology to cut costs in order to gain market share, instead of depending on government subsidies".

According to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for wind power development, by 2020, electricity prices from wind power will be reduced to 0.4 yuan per kWh, those from solar to 0.6 yuan per kWh, similar to the cost of traditional power sources.

"China can stop providing subsidies for wind power by 2020, as the price of wind-based electricity is already relatively low. That would make it more competitive compared with electricity generated from other sources," said Han Xiaoping, chief information officer of China Energy Net Consulting Co Ltd.

"An alternative to government subsidy would be to require electricity retailers to buy renewable energy certificates from producers of wind and solar power," Han said.

According to Liang Zhipeng, vice-director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department, which is a part of the National Energy Administration, China has made significant progress in terms of wind power technology, which directly reduced the cost of wind-based electricity.

"We have manufactured bigger, taller wind turbines with larger installed capacity," said Liang. "Wind turbines with a diameter of 110 meters, height of 120 or even 140 meters, have been widely used in offshore wind farms in China. They have 5 gigawatts of capacity and some companies are developing wind turbines with 10 gigawatts of capacity," he said.

According to Jacobelli, the growth of China's wind power generation has been astonishing in terms of absolute capacity, to over 150,000 megawatts in 2016 from about 10 mW in 2006.

China had 157,000 mW of installed wind power capacity at September-end, up 13 percent year-on-year, according to the National Energy Administration.

"The very high pace of growth created some unique challenges, especially curtailment. But the majority of the issues should not be regarded as long-term problems, but more like teething troubles," Jacobelli said.

Other challenges that wind power generation currently faces include addressing the funding of the subsidies, ensuring that wind power does not disrupt supply stability and low share of wind power in the energy mix.

The wind power's contribution to total generation only accounted for 4 percent in 2016, according to the NEA.

However, in certain provinces and regions, wind power made up more than 10 percent of the total energy mix.

In the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu province, the figure even reached 16 percent.

However, these are also regions with high curtailment rate, meaning that wind power is not bought by the grid for use by customers.

NEA data showed 10.4 billion kWh of wind power in Gansu province was curtailed in 2016, accounting for 43 percent of the total wind power generation, making it the region with highest curtailment rate.

Xinjiang ranked second with 38 percent of wind power wasted, followed by Jilin with 30 percent and Inner Mongolia with 21 percent.

In response, the government made great efforts to address these issues. On the curtailment front, authorities are making good progress in ensuring that more output from existing production facilities is dispatched.

In the first three quarters of this year, national average wind curtailment decreased by 10.3 billion kWh, down 6.7 percent year-on-year.

On subsidy funding, the government is working hard setting up the green certificates market.

On supply disruption, there is much better coordination now between the developer and the provincial or central planners, which should help ensure safe supply, industry experts said.
Prospective tenants visit the public rental housing at the Xinyue apartments in Shanghai, on May 15, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Alipay and China UnionPay, two of China's online payment service providers, are using their credit rating system to improve the house rental market.

This is expected to help regulate how house owners and tenants operate in the market. But its efficacy remains a question, experts said.

Alipay, a subsidiary of China's internet giant Alibaba Group, announced its property rental foray via a new platform in October.

The Alipay platform allows tenants with a 650-point score on Zhima Credit, a rating system founded by Alibaba, to pay in advance one month's rent without any deposit and lease an apartment, according to Wang Bo, general manager of the innovation and smart service department of Ant Financial, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba.

The Alipay service does away with the common practice of one-month rent as deposit and three-month rent toward house owners required by the rental agreement.

Statistics from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development showed about 160 million Chinese residents rent houses in cities, accounting for 21 percent of the urban population.

College graduates and migrant workers are major tenants. However, most people do not have a pleasant experience when renting apartments.

Common complaints against landlords are dishonest behavior, peddling fake information about the condition or ownership of the property, over-charging and raising the rent unreasonably.

So, the online system aims to simplify the process of renting a home, particularly for young people like fresh graduates about to enter the workforce, Ant Financial said. At the same time, it would rein in unethical, coercive or unfair practices of landlords.

According to a report on housing conditions of young people in Beijing, only about 26 percent interviewees said they felt their rights were not violated in rental issues.

Wang of Ant Financial said the advantage of having Alipay in the rental market is its ability to control risks.

The new rental platform can evaluate prospective tenants' credibility and trustworthiness by analyzing their record in financial transactions.

In addition, home-owners and tenants can influence each other's credit ratings through online comments.

But industry insiders said it is still early days to judge such services.

Wang Pengbo, a financial analyst of research firm Analysys, said though the idea of combining individual credit with mobile payments is good, many other elements need to be taken into consideration to give a precise evaluation as well as a feasible solution to problems.

"For instance, if a tenant violates the contract, what can we do without the constraint of the deposit?" Wang said.

Geng Juan, an analyst with the Nanjing branch of real estate agency 5i5j, agreed. "What if the tenant refuses to pay the water or electricity bills, or compensate for damaged home appliances? Besides, how could the system actually avoid fake information from unethical intermediaries?"

Alipay plans to channel about 10 long-term rental brands, such as Mogoroom and Danke Department, in the following years, to list about 2 or 3 million city apartments, including those in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu.

Among the 1 million rental apartments listed on Alipay, about 85 percent still seek deposits, it said.

According to an industry insider, deposit-free rentals based on personal credit scores are limited to a certain group of customers with Zhima Credit account. Since cash flows through Alipay are key to its very business, it is possible that not all rental listings would be deposit-free.

Guo Yi, marketing director of real estate consultancy Yahao, said, "There's still a long way to go for financial or credit tools before they become integral to rental services. A single credit rating system cannot overturn the current system. But I believe the rental market will become better in the future, facilitated by strengthened supervision."

In July, the central government strengthened supervision in 12 cities, some of which established monitoring platforms to help solve problems of fake information and unscrupulous realty agents.

After Alipay launched its house rental service in cooperation with the Hangzhou city government, others follows suit. For instance, JD Group, China's second largest e-commerce giant, joined the rental supervisory platform in Beijing in late October.

JD said it expects to provide services for real estate developers and agencies, covering commercial, industrial, tourism, pension and overseas properties.

China UnionPay followed it up in early November through cooperation agreements with Shenyang and Wuhan city governments.

Ren Tianfeng, real estate general manager of the commercial services department of China UnionPay, said the firm will support evaluation of individuals' credit on the government's rental monitoring platform.

China's rental market size is expected to jump from 1.1 trillion yuan ($166 billion) in 2016 to 4.6 trillion yuan in 2030, according to real estate agent Homelink's research department.
A prospective customer makes enquiries at a booth of CreditEase at a financial services exhibition in Beijing.[Photo by A Jing/China Daily]

Chinese financial technology or fintech firms are expected to lead industry innovation and facilitate growth of small and medium-sized enterprises or SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region, said an executive of a leading Chinese fintech company.

Tang Ning, founder and CEO of Beijing-based CreditEase, said tremendous development opportunities await fintech firms as well as peer-to-peer or P2P lenders in the next decade despite a stricter regulatory environment.

After more than 10 years of development, China's fintech has entered the world's top league. Its innovation in terms of technology and the business model will continue to improve the drive for financial inclusion and efficiency in financing, which will better serve the real economy, Tang said on the sidelines of the APEC CEO Summit in Vietnam earlier this month.

"The growth of fintech companies in the Asia-Pacific economies will keep momentum in the coming years, especially focusing on helping raise funds for small-scale businesses," he said.

"After the rapid development over the past decade, Chinese fintech firms, which mainly offer online payments, online transaction and P2P lending, have entered a mature stage, thanks to the backing of some global leaders such as Alibaba and Tencent. They can be seen as examples of fintech success."

In the next decade, Tang predicted, fintech will continue to develop, especially in insurance, artificial intelligence for wealth management, health care and pension industries.

The basic infrastructure for fintech development would include a national credit information system, which is expected to store non-banking personal financial trading data and individual credit records, he said.

"It will support the stable development of fintech and peer-to-peer lending in the next decade, preventing a personal credit crisis like that in South Korea and China's Taiwan."

Personal credit crisis always emerges when the same person borrows from many different lenders without an assessment of the accumulated total withdrawal risk.

To prevent any financial crisis arising from online lending activities or other innovative fintech businesses, China has tightened regulation since 2015.

Stricter supervision is expected following a recent article by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, who warned inappropriate innovation in fintech may lead to systemic risks.

In July 2015, the China Banking Regulatory Commission together with nine other regulatory agencies jointly issued a series of policy measures, which formally introduced for the first time the regulatory framework and basic principles for administering the online lending information intermediary service industry in China.

The CBRC issued another set of regulations in August 2016 to further oversee online lending activities, saying local financial regulatory departments have the power to assess and classify the online lending information intermediaries. Such lenders must apply for appropriate business license before providing their services, it said.

CreditEase is focusing on providing inclusive finance and wealth management products and services in China, Tang said.

"As a fintech company, we should proactively comply with relevant regulations, which will benefit the industry's long-term, high-quality and sustainable development while preventing moral hazards."

Yirendai Ltd, a subsidiary of CreditEase, launched its online platform in March 2012, aiming to address demand from underserved investors and individual borrowers, match borrowers with lenders, and execute loan transactions.

Yirendai made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2015, thus becoming the first Chinese fintech company to list overseas.

In the third quarter, Yirendai facilitated 12.19 billion yuan ($1.83 billion) of loans to 192,725 qualified individual borrowers through its online platform, representing a year-on-year growth of 117 percent, according to its financial report.

Yirendai predicted that by the end of this year, its total loans facilitated will be as high as 40.5 billion yuan, with a possible net revenue of 5.3 billion yuan.
Luo Han, a sneaker designer, holds a pair of sneakers he redesigned in Beijing on June 13, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

In his 300-square meter studio located in Songzhuang, an art community in Beijing's eastern suburbs, Luo Han, a sneaker designer, was busy recoloring a pair of branded shoes in accordance with a customer's request.

From design, stripping the shoes' skin, underpainting to coloring, it takes anywhere from two days to a month for Luo and his team to finish a redesign for a pair of shoes.

"Shi xie ru ming", the four Chinese characters printed on Luo's T-shirt, mean "love shoes like life itself".

To guarantee he does his best work when designing sneakers, Luo purchased a 1 million yuan ($151,566) insurance policy for his hands.

Back in 2011 when Luo had just graduated from university, he posted a photo of his graduation project, "Doomsday Shoes", on some major online forums. The photo got comments and retweets from tens of thousands of people, some of whom even invited him to redesign their shoes for them.

After changing his job several times, five years ago Luo finally decided to focus on his interest and opened an online store to sell custom-designed shoes.

His team has since expanded, as many fans came to his studio out of admiration to learn from him.

The design fee for a pair of shoes from his studio ranges from 600 to 1,500 yuan.
Charles Bowman wants the City to play a large role in the Belt and Road Initiative. Right, a Chinese float at his parade. [Photo/China Daily]

The City of London's new lord mayor will push for the United Kingdom's main financial district to do more business with China.

Charles Bowman, who became the 690th Lord Mayor of the City of London on Nov 10, said he would like to leave two "China legacies" during his year in office.

"I'm really keen to grow financial and professional services engagement between China and the UK, and promote London as a natural Western hub for the Belt and Road Initiative," Bowman said.

His call follows China announcing unprecedented

access to its markets for foreign financial

companies. The Lord Mayor of London represents the capital's financial district and is also leader of the City of London Corporation. The role differs from the much more powerful Mayor of London, who is elected and oversees the whole of Greater London.

Bowman has already felt China's strong presence in the financial district. Three elaborate floats staged by Chinese groups took part in the Lord Mayor's Show on Nov 11 to celebrate the start of his year in office.

And, two days later, Prime Minister Theresa May said during the Lord Mayor's Banquet that she was committed to "maintaining the 'golden era' relationship with China".

The "golden era" was a phrase coined during President Xi Jinping's 2015 state visit to the UK. It describes the fresh impetus for bilateral investment and trade. So far, $18 billion of Chinese investment has gone into non-financial sectors in the UK, which is more than China has invested in any other European country.

Further growth is imminent, especially because many UK banks and asset managers are now making plans to invest in China, in light of announcements by the Chinese government on Nov 10 stating that the country is allowing foreign financial companies to own up to 51 percent majority stake in financial joint-ventures.

Bowman said other areas of tremendous opportunity for UK companies include London's continued growth as an off shore renminbi hub and the growing number of Chinese financial institutions establishing subsidiaries in the City of London.

He traveled to China three times prior to taking up his role as lord mayor. He supported former lord mayor Jeffrey Mountevans' visit to Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Hong Kong last year, attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in May, and the China Wealth Forum in June.

"I came back inspired," Bowman said, recalling hearing Xi talk about his vision for the Belt and Road Initiative.

"I recognized all that we in the UK can do to support that vision," he said, adding that he hopes the City's whole spectrum of financial businesses can get involved- including law, finance, engineering consulting, accounting, project management and others.

Bowman, who has built a successful career as a partner at the accounting firm PwC, has witnessed London's financial center change throughout the decades. He said one major change was the fast expansion of Chinese institutions and the emergence of Chinese talents, both playing an important role in the Square Mile's diversity and international engagement.

The City of London now hosts around 30 Chinese companies, including banks, security firms, insurance companies and investment funds. The Bank of China's UK chief executive, Sun Yu, is chairman of the Association of Foreign Banks, which demonstrates the significant role Chinese financial companies play in London, Bowman added.
Leap Motor, founded in December 2015, unveils its sub-compact full electric coupe on Nov 10 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo by Hao Yan/China Daily]

China is planning to drive upgrades in power battery technology by categorizing subsidy-eligible new energy models according to more specific details, including driving range, battery density and energy consumption.

The new energy subsidy program has been through panel discussions at four national ministries and now features a reduced amount of subsidies. Local media cited sources familiar with the matter, saying that a renewed plan is coming very soon.

This might involve segmenting eligibility levels according to 50-kilometer driving range tiers. The new plan might give more subsidies to electric cars that incur higher costs given their larger battery packs.

According to the sources, fully electric cars that can drive farther than 350 km will be eligible for a 50,000 yuan ($7,572) subsidy in 2018, 13.6 percent more than that offered this year; those with a driving range between 300 km and 350 km will receive a 45,000 yuan subsidy, 1,000 yuan more than this year.

On the other hand, the central government will give less to vehicles with a driving range lower than 300 km, while those below 150 km will not receive a penny.

Shu Chang, a Shanghai-based partner of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, told China Daily that the new plan clearly demonstrates a determination to push forward new energy vehicle development.

He said: "The refreshed subsidy plan targets vehicle driving ranges, and aims to promote upgrades in the new energy vehicle industry."

China currently offers subsidies in three tiers to full-electric passenger cars: 20,000 yuan to those driving further than 100 km but less than 150 km; 36,000 yuan to those with a range between 150 km and 250 km; and 44,000 yuan to those capable of driving farther than 250 km.

Those with subsidy packages at above 100,000 yuan, with bigger battery packs, were not so popular in recent years, as the subsidies offered to buyers were similar to those for cheaper models with smaller batteries.

As a result, electric cars are usually only used for short-range driving, and customers have less confidence in them when driving longer distances.

The other focus of the new plan is to encourage the development of higher-density power batteries by leveling up the battery density thresholds, according to the sources cited by local media. Currently, logistics vehicles need to have a 90 watt-hours per kilogram battery installed, but the requirement is set to increase to 115 Wh/kg. That figure will rise to from 120 Wh/kg to 140 Wh/kg for buses.

Shu said he sees the required higher battery density as an approach to avoid falling into the subsidy fraud trap.

In October, another batch of new energy vehicle manufacturers were penalized for fraudulently claiming subsidies. As of February, the country had retrieved subsidies and imposed penalties of 2.3 billion yuan in total.

"This upcoming action aims to switch the driving force away from policies and regulations, and automakers will take their momentum from the market in the future," he said.

Liu Bin, chief expert at the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, shared his forecasts for future policy changes at the Global Future Mobility Forum earlier this month.

He said he expects that the government will set multiple targets for the development of new energy vehicles with quick dynamic adjustments.

"The government might accelerate competition to rule out weak carmakers, rather than providing protections as it did in the earlier stages," Liu said.

"New energy vehicle development has stepped into a stage of industry-wide competition, which requires automakers' rivalry in the market," Liu added. The three-day Global Future Mobility Forum, held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center in the capital of Zhejiang province, was supported by automobile-related government bodies and local governments. It took place alongside a new energy auto show.

Chen Qingtai, an automobile expert with the Development Research Center of the State Council, called on the government to prepare for ramping up market expansion in the near future. "The government has to design a profound top-level policy, to embrace the immense power of technological progress and industrial upgrades."

China overtook the United States last year as the world's largest new energy vehicle market, with total annual sales of 507,000 vehicles.

The country achieved a sales volume of 490,000 vehicles in the first 10 months of this year, up 45.4 percent from the same period of last year. The industry forecasts China will have 80 million new energy vehicles running on its roads by 2030.
Workers assemble cars at a Ford production line in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.[Photo by Liu Yang/China Daily]

Ford Motor Co is poised to accelerate in China now that the United States carmaker has put in place a Chinese-speaking chief to better gauge the pulse of the world's largest auto market.

Ford will offer products and services that better meet local demands, become faster in its response to market changes, and explore smart mobility and new energy cars, said Ford China President and CEO Jason Luo, who was born and raised in China.

Before he was appointed in September to head the carmaker's China operations, Luo was CEO of Key Safety Systems, the world's fourth-largest airbag-maker by sales.

"As you know, young people have strong demand for personalized items, so offering personalized cars and services will be a focus in our job," said Luo. For example, he expects all Ford models in China to feature onboard connectivity by 2019.

Ford's recent partnership with Chinese carmaker Zotye is intended to produce economy electric cars that better suit young customers. The 5 billion yuan ($754.4 million) deal, which was signed during US President Donald Trump's visit to China earlier this month, is a key step by Ford towards its vision of a cleaner, more environmentally sustainable future. The US carmaker announced earlier this year at least 70 percent of Ford-branded vehicles sold in China will offer electrified powertrain options by 2025.

A plug-in Mondeo, the first plug-in hybrid to be produced at its passenger car joint venture Changan Ford, was unveiled at the recently concluded Guangzhou auto show. Ford also plans to offer an electric SUV in China in five years.

Luo said Ford will make some exciting moves in 2018, including introducing the Ranger pickup into the Chinese market. The Ranger follows the F150, which has been well received after its entry into China in April.

"We have sold more than 800 vehicles so far. That is something we can take pride in for a high-performance pickup," said Luo.

Ford's premium arm Lincoln will prepare itself to localize an SUV model in 2019 at Changan Ford.

SUVs are the sole growing segment in China this year, and Lincoln has been the fastest-growing premium brand so far in the market.

It sold 45,729 vehicles in the first 10 months of 2017, surging 85 percent year-on-year.

Ford is also planning some moves in the commercial car market, which has been dominated so far by local carmakers.

Luo said the company will do something in terms of mobility and smart logistics, and reshuffle its current lineup. He added that Ford is also considering moves in the car segment.

"We will definitely introduce new cars to better serve the market. In fact, we are speeding up not only in product offerings but also in investment," said Luo.

Ford's 680 million yuan testing center in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, opened on Friday.

It is the first whole car testing center the carmaker has built in the country. Ford said it will speed up the development of cars to better meet the needs of customers in China and even Asia as a whole.
BEIJING - The management committee of Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing has released an industrial incubation plan to promote the development of the AI industry.

"Zhongguancun will strive to make breakthroughs in the core technology of the AI industry, and build innovation platforms for AI technology research and development in the following years," according to the plan released Friday.

The plan will introduce measures to enhance AI cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutions.

Zhongguancun Science Park has been making efforts to develop its AI industry in recent years.

The high-tech zone has about 250 AI enterprises with 7,800 AI patents. Nearly 43 percent of China's AI startups companies are from Zhongguancun.

By 2020, Zhongguancun is expected to have five internationally competitive AI enterprises, and more than 500 AI enterprises, with the AI industry valued at 500 billion yuan ($76 billion).
Entrepreneurs from various industries shared their insights into artificial intelligence at the Futureturing Summit held at the China National Convention Center in Beijing on Saturday.

Zhang Chen, CTO of China's e-commerce giant JD.com, said in his speech at the summit AI technologies have considerably increased the company's efficiency and flexibility.

"We have developed AI technologies in every aspect, from user experience to marketing to supply chain to drone delivery, autonomous warehousing and autonomous trucks," Zhang said.

Earlier in November, JD.com's financial arm JD Finance launched an enterprise-level cloud services platform to use AI technologies, such as face recognition and graph calculation, to enhance work efficiency for financial institutions.

In April, the company established JD Logistics, aiming to use AI, big data and automation to redefine the potential of e-commerce logistics.

Jing Kun, general manager of DuerOS, an AI department of domestic internet giant Baidu Inc, said at the summit natural language-based human-machine interaction devices will be popular in the future.

Citing data from market research firm IDC, he said 52 percent of vehicles will be able to conduct a driver-car dialogue by 2020.

Baidu, aiming at transforming approaches to human-machine interaction, launched its Project Prometheus featuring its natural language processing intelligent system DuerOS, similar to Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, at Silicon Valley on Nov 9.

China's AI industry has been growing at a tremendous speed. The number of AI companies has increased from 57 in 2007 to 592 by June 2017, more than tenfold over the past 10 years, according to a report released by Tencent Research Institute.

The Chinese government has positioned AI as a national strategic priority and a core drive for industrial transformation. Mentioned in President Xi Jinping's report to the 19th National Congress, AI is part of the plan to promote integration with the real economy.

In its New Generation AI Development Plan, the State Council, the country's Cabinet, has declared an ambitious goal of becoming a world leader in AI innovation with a market size of over one trillion yuan ($151 billion) by 2030.

In addition, policies such as Made in China 2025 and the Three-year Guidance for Internet Plus AI plan are all top-down initiatives aiming to take the nation's AI technology forward.

The summit was co-hosted by AI-focused Futureturing and Caishi Media.

Hu Xinyi contributed to the story.




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A firefighter checks the site on Sunday of the Nov 18 fire that killed 19 people and injured eight others in Xinjian village, Beijing's Daxing district. [Zou Hong/China Daily]

Migrant workers told to move from unsafe homes over blaze risks

Beijing's latest citywide campaign to eliminate safety hazards in crowded apartments and warehouses must be carried out to prevent tragedies like the fatal fire of Nov 18, the city's work safety commission said on Sunday.

It added that officials should improve the way they explain things as they communicate with residents who are required to move out of danger.

On Nov 18, a fire in an apartment building with more than 400 residents in Xinjian village of Beijing's Daxing district killed 19 people and injured eight.

"The building was a severe fire risk. Its ceilings were made of polystyrene, a flammable material that burns rapidly and sends off lots of poisonous gases," Wei Yiyu, director of fire supervision for Daxing's fire detachment, said on Sunday at the building, which had been emptied.

Gas and smoke would have spread to every room of the building quickly because the rooms' partitions didn't reach the ceiling. That dramatically reduced the time people had to escape, he said.

"In addition, the building was very crowdedthree to five people per 10 square meters," he said. "And a majority of rooms had no windows, so it was hard to escape as poisonous gas filled the air," Wei said.

Additionally, many residents had carried out do-it-yourself splicing of electrical wiring, raising fire risks, he added.

After the fire, the city government launched a 40-day citywide campaign to eliminate fire and other safety hazards, in crowded apartments and warehouses that function as storage areas, workshops or residences for workers, the Beijing Work Safety Commission said.

Many densely clustered properties in former industrial areas in the suburbs of Beijing have been modified illegally, the commission said. In general, such properties cannot pass health and safety inspections, yet cheap rents continue to draw people in. In some old warehouses, flammable materials were used as partitions to create living spaces for several hundred people without official approval, it said.

So far, 25,309 safety hazards have been found citywide, the commission said.

People who have been living in unsafe dwellings have been asked to move out during the campaign. Some said on social media that local authorities cut their electricity and water and told them to evacuate the next day, leaving them no time to find another home. Others said they should have been given more time to relocate because of the arrival of cold weather.

The commission said it found that enforcement measures in some areas were "simple and blunt", and urged officials to issue notices in advance and better explain the safety campaign to the public.

It denied accusations that the goal of the campaign has been to force "low-end" workers out of Beijing, adding that many migrants unknowingly stay and work in unsafe conditions.

Caibang, a company that supplies vegetables for restaurants and hotels in Beijing, posted a notice on social media on Saturday saying it will offer free moving services to those forced to move during the campaign.

"We have helped about 60 people move with our trucks so far," said Li Chunmei, an employee at Caibang. "Our boss is a migrant worker, so he understands their plight."

Niu Xingwei, 25, who left his home in Jilin province to work at a human resources agency about five years ago sought help from Caibang to relocate on Saturday.

"I received a notice on Tuesday saying I had to leave my old apartment in Yizhuang by Sunday because it didn't meet health and safety standards. I know it is because of the fire in Daxing," Niu said.

"The rent for my new apartment is 3,000 yuan ($454), almost double the rent for my old one," said Niu. "But there is more opportunity in Beijing, so I still want to give it a shot."

Experts suggested that the city needs to draft regulations and strictly follow them to prevent disasters such as the Xinjian fire.

Although multipurpose warehouses are not safe, they exist because of high demand, Liu Tiemin, a researcher at the China Academy of Safety Sciences and Technology, told China Central Television on Saturday. Perhaps the city government can create safe spaces in warehouses, Liu said.
With more than 30 years of development, the cooperation between China's State Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office has evolved from a technical partnership to a strategic one, EPO President Benoit Battistelli said in a recent news conference in Beijing.

The two sides signed a new comprehensive strategic partnership agreement on Nov 23 with the aim of strengthening cooperation between the two offices and providing better services for global intellectual property users and contributing to improvements in the world's IP system.

"SIPO and the EPO are equal partners sharing similar views and objectives for the development of the global IP system," said Battistelli.

These objectives include the highest quality and legal certainty for granted patents, efficient and informed use of the patent system, optimized resources deployment, improved efficiency of patent search and examination tools and more interaction with users and the industry to provide more professional services, he said.

When China and Europe established their patent cooperation in 1985, China just started to build its IP system, but now it has "developed significantly".

"I'm very impressed by the progress that China has made in recent years and the quality of the granted patents in China," he said. "Within a few years, SIPO has become a leading office in the world."

SIPO, the EPO, the Japan Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Officeknown as the IP5 in the industryare the world's five largest patent administrations, representing roughly 85 percent of global patent applications.

More than 2,000 Chinese patent examiners and other related professionals have been trained at the EPO, and the EPO has helped SIPO use tools in patent search and examination.

SIPO and the EPO have developed "common positions" in their joint effort to simplify and improve the patent granting procedure. One example is the Global Dossier, a public service that enables users to monitor via a single online source how a family of patent applications is progressing at the IP5 offices.

"This is a one-stop access to work products from all patent offices, and the EPO and SIPO have been the first two offices to implement the Global Dossier," said Battistelli.

Last year, Chinese companies applied for 7,150 patents at the EPO, accounting for about 5 percent of the total applications and ranking No 6 among all origins. The number showed the strongest growth, 24.8 percent, among the top 10 leading countries at the EPO, making China "the main driver of growth in applications at the EPO", according to the office's 2016 annual report.

With 2,390 applications, Chinese IT giant Huawei moved two places ahead to become the second-largest patent applicant at the EPO last year, only after Philips.

Also last year, Chinese companies were granted 2,513 patents from the EPO, up 78.7 percent. Battistelli said the Chinese applications' approval rate is at about the same level of other regions.

However, he said there is still "a big margin of progress" for China. "The US and European markets represent more or less the same importance for Chinese companies, each has 20 percent of Chinese exports, but if we look at the patent applications, Chinese companies applied four times more in the US than in Europe."

Battistelli also said that Chinese patent applications at the EPO are concentrated in the information and communications technology sector, which parallels the strength of the Chinese economy. He said he expects more applications from other technical fields.

He said Chinese companies will find it easy to apply for patents in Europe, as the legal and administrative rules at the EPO are similar to those at SIPO.

He said the Unitary Patent system will be applied next year, which is an improvement on the current European patent system, as it will make it possible to get patent protections in 26 European Union members by submitting a single request to the EPO. It will not only simplify patent granting procedures, but also cut the application costs by 70 percent.
The RYB kindergarten Xintiandi branch in Beijing, Nov 23, 2017. [Photo/IC]

The head of RYB kindergarten Xintiandi branch in Beijing and a female teacher suspected of child abuse have been fired, the company announced in a statement on Saturday.

RYB said further investigation at the kindergarten will begin immediately in cooperation with police and authorities.

The kindergarten will also communicate with parents and invite mental health experts to provide help for children involved.

On Wednesday, several parents of Xintiandi kindergarten students, all about 3 years old, reported to police that their children had suspicious marks on their bodies that looked like needle pricks, and that they had repeatedly been given white pills.

Beijing police and authorities said on Saturday a 22-year-old female teacher, surnamed Liu, from Hebei province, had been detained and that a 31-year-old Beijing woman, also surnamed Liu, had been detained on suspicion of spreading rumors about molestation.

The Chaoyang district government had ordered RYB Education to immediately dismiss the head of the kindergarten and punish anyone found responsible.

Officials went to the kindergarten to investigate potential safety risks, and the school was asked to communicate with the parents to make certain the children were safe, according to the Chaoyang government.

The education commission of Beijing's Chaoyang district, which oversees the kindergarten, strongly condemned the situation and asked districts and kindergartens concerned to cooperate with judicial authorities for improvements.

"We consider this an extreme case in which children were harmed, generating serious social repercussions," a spokesman for Chaoyang district government said.

A thorough investigation was conducted in Chaoyang to verify kindergartens' qualifications, the district government said.

The Ministry of Education has begun an inspection of kindergarten management nationwide and has told local education authorities to take measures to improve teachers' morality and tighten supervision, according to a news release on Thursday.

Last year, RYB Education was China's largest early years education service provider by revenue, according to industry analysis consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

On Friday, shares in the company plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange by 38 percent by the close of trading, almost wiping out the company's 44 percent gains since it went public in September.

This has been the third reported child abuse case this month. On Nov 13, Shanghai police detained a person surnamed Zheng who was in charge of a day care center where staff were caught on camera abusing toddlers. Three other staff members were detained, according to Shanghai police.

At about the same time, Golden Cradle Education and Technology Group, which has more than 700 kindergartens and schools nationwide, became involved in a similar accusation as parents said teachers at one of its kindergartens in Beijing abused children. Police are investigating, but no details have been released.

xinwen@chinadaily.com.cn
Child abuse allegations against an employee at a Beijing kindergarten run by RYB Education are the latest in a series episodes that have plagued the company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

On Saturday, China Central Television disclosed details of a 2015 child abuse case that took place at an RYB kindergarten in Siping, Jilin province. That case involved 17 children and saw four teachers convicted of abusing the children.

"I was helping my son take a shower and was shocked to find red dots on his buttocks," a parent identified only as Fan told CCTV on Saturday.

"I asked what happened. He didn't want to tell me at first, but he finally opened up and said his teacher poked him (with a sharp object) in front of his classmates," Wei said. "I was devastated to even imagine such a thing, so I immediately reported it to the police."

Other parents said they found red dots and marks on their children. Some said their children were having recurring nightmares.

A case was filed against teachers charged with abusing 17 children, who were examined by doctors who confirmed the marks on their bodies. The children's families were represented in court by the lawyer Chen Yuwei.

"Doctors later confirmed those marks were caused by needles, screwdrivers, nails, and wood clippers," Chen told CCTV. The evidence was "comprehensive and overwhelming", he said, coming from the children, parents, and examination reports from the hospital and police.

In October 2016, the teachers Wang Lu and Sun Yanhua were sentenced to two and half years in prison, and their colleagues Wang Yujiao and Song Ruiqi each received sentences of two years and 10 months.

They filed for an appeal two months later, but it was denied after the court reviewed the evidence.

The civil procedures in the case concluded on Nov 17, and the families of each child will receive 30,000 yuan ($4,500) in compensation, Chen said.

Two of the children are receiving counseling, and some subsequently refused to go to kindergarten out of fear, he said, adding that two families were so distressed by the events that they left the city.

zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn
By Han Junhong in Changchun and Zhou Huiying in Harbin | China Daily | Updated: 2017-11-27 07:32

Xiaolei (center) with his classmates at Jilin Orphan School in Changchun, Jilin province. Ji Wang and Luo Hao/For China Daily

Abandonment and bereavement have proved no obstacles as plucky youngster restarts school

A 12-year-old orphan, whose story of strength has touched millions online, started a new chapter in his life last week when he was enrolled at boarding school.

Xiaolei (not his real name) became a hot topic on the internet after a video emerged of him obtaining his father's death certificate at a police station in Changchun, Jilin province, on Nov 17.

His father died in late October, and he needed the document to apply for a place at Jilin Orphan School. However, netizens - and people involved in handling his case - were moved by his stoic attitude.

"I've never seen a boy come alone for such a thing in my 13-year career," said police officer Zhao Jianjie, who was on duty on Nov 17 when the boy picked up the certificate. "As a mother, I was moved by his bravery.

"It was obvious he needed help, but he never showed emotion."

On Nov 20, Xiaolei started classes at his new school after the local community rallied around to support him.

"I have three half-brothers, age 45, 43 and 41," he told China Daily. "They are living in difficult conditions, and I don't want to become a burden to them. So I chose the orphan school for a chance to study."

He said his father ran a welding repair shop until rheumatoid arthritis, tracheitis and emphysema forced him to give up work in 2012. After that, he relied on relatives and local government allowances.

Xiaolei's mother left in 2014. "I will never forget the date: Oct 19. Even though I had a high fever, my mother walked out without saying goodbye," he said, adding that his father had also been left virtually bedridden six months later in a traffic accident.

It meant the boy was forced to juggle his studies at Qinghua Shiyan Middle School with caring for his father, who passed away of heart failure age 65 on Oct 20.

However, despite the challenging circumstances, he was a remarkable student, according to Liu Lijie, his middle school principal.

"Xiaolei consistently ranked top in his class, despite the time and energy he spent caring for his father," he said, although he added that the boy sometimes had to ask for days off.

With support from the city's civil affairs bureau, Jilin Orphan School fast-tracked Xiaolei's application so he could resume his studies as soon as possible.

"He has been assigned to a new class, and a dormitory has been arranged," said Gao Shufan, director of the school's admission office. "We will provide a guarantee for Xiaolei's life and studies."

Contact the writers at zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn
The Association for Medical Education in Europe, an organization with members in more than 90 countries and regions, opened an office in China on Sunday and released a Mandarin version of its journal Medical Teacher.

The association's China office is intended to assist the development of the medical education sector through the use of its resources, including literature, conferences and guides to produce better healthcare practitioners, said Trevor Gibbs, a development officer for the association.

Although Chinese medical education has produced some excellent doctors, it remains a traditional, lecture-based activity that could be improved by different techniques, Gibbs said.

Medical education "has evolved into a system that looks at students and how they learn, bringing new theories along with different innovations", he said.

The association, established in 1972, is based in Dundee, Scotland. Half its members are outside Europe.

"It's very appropriate to start looking outside of Europe," Gibbs said, adding that his organization will open its second satellite office in Moscow next year.

Qualified doctors are key to meeting healthcare challenges in China, such as the aging population, cancer, diabetes and the demand for better care for women and children, said Xiao Haipeng, president of First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, which houses the association's China office.

Of the 3 million registered doctors in the country, only half hold academic certificates at university graduate level or above. Master's and doctoral degrees for medical teaching majors are not available in the country, he said.

"We are going to work closely to jointly educate and prepare our medical students to become more competent doctors, allowing more opportunities to learn modernized educational theories and methodologies, with more hands-on practice, more standardized programs designed for resident training, more formative assessments and more outcome-based assessments to address key competencies," Xiao said.

The use of such things as objectively structured clinical examination, problem-based learning, best-evidence-based medical education and many other innovations will be put in place in the not-too-distant future, he said.

China is making great strides in a lot of areas, particularly innovation, said Simon Mellon, consul for trade and investment at the British consulate in Guangzhou. It is particularly strong in digital innovation, he said.

The Guangdong government has invested heavily in its university sector to increase the standing of the province's universities worldwide, he said.

"That is an opportunity to look at the healthcare sector, to bring British and worldwide excellence through an international organization like AMEE to China and to bring Chinese expertise to the world," Mellon said.

Fifteen British institutions are scheduled to visit hospitals and clinics in Guangzhou, he said.
A man witnesses identified as the shooter who killed three people and wounded six in a township of Raoping county, Chaozhou, Guangdong province, was detained on Sunday in Dongguan, according to a police officer at the Chaozhou public security bureau.

Two guns and 29 rounds of ammunition were seized by the police.

The alleged killer, Lin Zhonghong, 40, escaped to Dongguan, a Pearl River Delta city, also in Guangdong, after he shot nine people in Jingzhou township on Tuesday, the police officer said.

Police in Raoping county, which governs Jingzhou, doubled their reward on Saturday to 200,000 yuan ($30,300) for information leading to Lin's capture. Witnesses said Lin was the man who opened fire in the township at 7:53 pm on Tuesday.

In a statement released by the Raoping county bureau of public security, local residents and witnesses were asked to provide information on Lin's whereabouts, as he was considered dangerous.

Police officers were sent to the scene after reports of gunfire on Tuesday. According to a witness, the first two victims were brothers, aged 47 and 49. Both were shot in the head.

The shootings reportedly took place after Lin failed to reach agreement with the victims about opening secret casinos. The men had quarreled the previous night.

After shooting the brothers and fleeing, Lin opened fire on people chasing him, wounding seven of them. A 20-year-old man who was severely wounded died in the hospital.

One of the wounded was a 13-year-old boy, Lin Xuanhong. All were males and residents of Jingzhou. The oldest person wounded was Lin Yuxi, 55.
Tianjin hosted three briefing sessions on the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China specifically for expats who wanted to learn more about the country.

The sessions held in the municipality in North China won applause from foreign attendees, including experts, students, businesspeople and members of NGOs.

Jay S. Siegel, dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology at Tianjin University, was pleased that foreign faculty members had equal access to the briefing.

"It is important to know about the Party congress because it laid out the policy where China wants to go in the next five years," he said, adding that more than half of the school's faculty hails from overseas.

"We could encounter problems if we don't know the policies concerning higher education."

One briefing session was held at Siegel's school. Feng Cuiling, Party secretary of the school and a delegate at the congress, attended the session as a speaker to introduce reports and documents from the congress and share her impressions of it.

Robert P. Borris, the school's vice-dean, said he appreciated Feng's support, not just for the local faculty but also the international faculty.

Du Yunfei, professor of medicinal chemistry at the school, said foreign teachers and students were keen to learn about the event, so the school prepared 300 copies of the report delivered at the opening session by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

"They were all gone in an instant," he said.

Thepkanchana Thepkaew, a doctoral student from Thailand at Tianjin Normal University, was interested in the briefing because Thailand is on the route of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"I wanted to know how the initiative proposed by China will be pushed forward in the future, so I came to Feng's briefing," she said.

To help inform the public, briefing sessions have been held nationwide on the spirit of the landmark congress, which outlined China's road map for future development.

Feng needed an interpreter to translate her speech into English, but the two other speakers shared their understanding of the congress spirit with the foreign audience in English.

Zhang Yuzhuo, Party secretary of Tianjin Binhai New Area, delivered a speech to dozens of elite businesspeople from foreign enterprises and shared what he had learned as a delegate to the congress.

Zhang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, worked as chairman of Shenhua Group, the country's leading coal producer, before becoming Party chief of Tianjin Binhai New Area in March. At the lecture, he talked about the Party congress and offered his views on local development.

After listening to Zhang's speech, Reinaldo Costa, vice-president of Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer, said the CPC's goal of "improving people's quality of life" resonates with his company's mission.

He added that China has become more open in the past five years, with a host of new policies designed to make things more convenient for expats living in the country, such as new procedures for work permits that were introduced in April, and that he and his colleagues have benefited from the reform.

Although Yan Chunhua, vice-president of Nankai University, was not a delegate at the congress, the member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences shared his understanding of the policies it promoted to an audience of more than 200 people from 70 countries and regions.

Mohamed Jihad Mohamed Moustafa, a student from Egypt, said he learned about the development of science and technology in China through Yan's elaboration of the policies. He hopes to study China's mobile payment system and set up a similar program in his hometown.

Attendees said the briefings provided them with a deeper understanding of the direction of China's development, and they were more confident about staying in the country.

"I know that China is continuing to comprehensively deepen reform and ensuring that every dimension of governance is law-based. All those things are reassuring the confidence of investors, not just in the US but in general," said Martin Winchell, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China in Tianjin.

Xinhua
Bill Gates is seen at Peking University on March 24, 2017. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

US billionaire Bill Gates has been elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chinas highest honor in the field of engineering.

The Microsoft co-founder, 62, is one of 18 new foreign members, the academy said on Monday. He is the only one who does not work at a university or research institute.

Gates was nominated for his work at TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company he helped establish in 2008.

In late 2015, the company signed a deal with China National Nuclear Corp to build a reactor unit in Fujian province. The project is scheduled to start next year and be completed in 2025.

The academy now has 66 foreign academicians.
TOKYO/SEOUL/ULAN BATOR -- A Chinese delegation introducing the achievements of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) ended its three-nation Asia tour on Sunday, which has taken them to Mongolia, South Korea and Japan.

The delegation, headed by He Yiting, executive vice president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, met with local political party leaders and held briefing sessions with party officials, friendly groups, major media and think tanks in the three countries to introduce the spirit and significance of the CPC party congress.

On their parts, the host countries congratulated on the success of the 19th CPC National Congress and vowed to enhance bilateral relations.

During its stay from Thursday to Sunday in Japan, the delegation, invited by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner the Komeito party, met with Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the LDP, Yoshihisa Inoue, secretary-general of the Komeito party, and Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren).

The Japanese side spoke highly of the achievements and significance of the CPC congress and expressed the wishes for continued improvement and development of bilateral relations.

At the invitation of the South Korean foreign ministry, the delegation visited South Korea from Tuesday to Thursday and met with officials from South Korea's National Assembly, political parties and the government.

The South Korean side lauded the influence of the party congress to the world.

They agreed the visit has enhanced South Korea's understanding of the CPC party congress and China's future development, and that the country stands ready to promote development of South Korea-China relations.

Before the two countries, the delegation also visited Mongolia on Nov. 19-21 and the Mongolian side spoke highly of the historic achievements made by China and expected to push for greater development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
WUHAN - Police in Central China's Hubei province have detained 90 suspects in connection to an alleged telecommunications fraud case.

The suspects were caught at four major locations in the city of Enshi. More than 100 computers were confiscated, according to police in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, which administers the city.

An initial investigation found that most of the suspects are neighbors and classmates who illegally purchased personal information of members of the public. They extorted money from victims in various provinces using web phones.

The group had conducted more than 4,000 events of fraud before being detained.

Further investigation is under way.

Earlier this year, seven people were sentenced to prison in East China's Shandong province for involvement in a telecom fraud case linked to the death of a teenager.

Xu Yuyu, a high school graduate from Linyi, died of cardiac arrest in August 2016 after being defrauded out of 9,900 yuan (1,500 US dollars), which she intended to use to pay university tuition fees.
Kindergartens in all districts in Beijing are required to increase their surveillance cameras to make sure that every corner is covered, Beijing Youth Daily reported Monday, following the widely discussed child abuse claims at a RYB kindergarten.

Authorities in all districts of Beijing have investigated the availability of cameras and their monitoring in kindergartens, and have deployed measures to increase security in these places.

In some districts, the kindergarten monitoring systems are connected with the local police monitoring systems.

"Cameras are installed in our kindergarten. It is required that every classroom should have at least one camera. For classrooms that have suites, some of them have two cameras. Corridors on every floor are installed with cameras as well, one on both sides. Every camera can cover a full circular range of 360 degrees," said a kindergarten principal in Haidian district.

The principal added that the monitoring system is also required to be connected to the police monitoring system.

Another principal of a kindergarten in Dongcheng district said that they are increasing the number of cameras in their kindergarten. The principal said that previously every place except toilets -- including aisles, the playground, classrooms and the kitchen -- had been installed with cameras.

"We used to have just one camera in every classroom and now we will have two for each for better coverage." The principal said that the kindergarten's monitoring system has been connected with the system in the local police station.

Zhou Hongyi, founder of the Chinese internet security company Qihoo 360, has recently posted an article on his Sina Weibo account, urging all kindergartens across the country to install cameras and enable parents to view the video recordings on their mobile phones anytime anywhere.

"The technology is not a problem. Companies like Qihoo 360 can provide them with intelligent camera equipment. The picture is clear and it doesn't cost much. Qihoo 360 can offer free cameras and free delivery and installation service for kindergartens," said Zhou.

A principal of a kindergarten in Fengtai district said they also increased the number of cameras. "All the playrooms are now installed with cameras - two in each playroom and two in each bedroom. Even washrooms should not be left alone in order to achieve full coverage." Previously the kindergarten did not have cameras in playrooms.

A teacher working in a kindergarten in Shijingshan district said their monitoring facility is connected to the intranet of the local education commission.

It is reported that some kindergartens have set up monitoring rooms with full-time staff in charge of all the video records. "Our strict rules forbid any teacher from entering the monitoring room. Only administrators with permission have access to it. "

"Parents can apply for the right to view our video records if they have concerns over their child's situation here, and we will accompany them through the whole process." The principal also said those records cannot be clipped or edited so parents need not worry about authenticity.
A set of bamboo slips featuring Chinese family names on sale in a bookstore in Beijing in 2007. [Photo/VCG]

Baby with controversial surname draws attention to the rights of a person to be properly named

A child, named Beiyan Yunyi (loosely translated as north-bound wild goose in the clouds), was denied household registration in 2009 by local public security authorities in Jinan, Shandong province, on the grounds that she was not named after her parents.

The girl was born in 2009. Her parents Lyv Xiaofeng and Zhang Ruizheng were both poetry aficionados.

The father Lyv filed a lawsuit in December 2009 to the Lixia district court of Jinan in the name of his daughter, claiming there should be no interference in her name rights. The case was the country's first administrative case related to name rights. It was later submitted to the Supreme People's Court and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

According to the Supreme People's Court, a person should be named in line with social ethics and parents should not create family names for children at their will.

Articles in the Marriage Law and the General Provisions of Civil Law stipulate that a person should be named after his parents in principle. Exceptions include situations when one is named after an immediate family member or an adoptive parent, or using another surname other than that of his parents for "justifiable reason which is not against social customs".

Based on this principle, in 2015 the Lixia district court of Jinan rejected the appeal of Beiyan Yunyi to be registered.

It is not the first time that weird names have made headlines in China.

In September, a newborn whose name is Wangzhe Rongyao, or King of Glory, a popular online game, went viral. And a college student in Chongqing became famous because of her name Huangpu Junxiao, or Whampoa Military Academy, the first modern military school in China.

There are thousands of surnames in China. And according to the latest national population census in 2010, the top five most commonly seen family names - Li (), Wang (), Zhang (), Liu () and Chen () - make up nearly one-third of the total population.
SHENYANG -- More than 100 animals have received traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments since a TCM consulting room was established at a veterinary clinic in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province, 10 months ago.

The attending physicians are always fully booked, said Zhang Hong, director of the clinic.

"Our TCM clinic primarily treats pets suffering paralysis, nerve damage, diarrhea and some diseases that cannot be cured by Western medicine," Zhang said.

TCM therapies such as electric acupuncture and moxibustion can help animals recover, he added.

Xu Yanqiu, owner of a five-month-old Golden Retriever, brought her dog Moka to the clinic for treatment after the dog's leg was injured in a car accident one month ago.

Xu said Moka had a surgery in a veterinary hospital immediately after the accident, however, the dog became lame and recovered slowly. She decided to give her dog TCM treatment after receiving a recommendation for Zhang's hospital.

Moka's doctor diagnosed waist nerve damage resulting in restricted movement of the left leg. The doctor then treated Moka with silver electric acupuncture and moxibustion, as well as laser therapy.

"After one day of treatment, Moka's left leg can move slightly," said Xu.

TCM has been increasingly applied to pets across the country in recent years. Veterinary hospitals offering TCM treatment in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities have attracted many pet owners.

Guo Yang, a doctor at Veterinary Medicine College of Shenyang Agricultural University, said vets usually recommend surgery for damaged nerves. However, acupuncture can decrease the risk for animals, often even has better success

As the number of pet owners increases in China, TCM should see a prosperous future in the veterinary industry, Guo said.
MACAO -- The general unemployment rate for August-October this year in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) went down to 1.9 percent compared with that of the previous period (July-September 2017), according to statistics released by the SAR government on Monday.

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) also indicated that the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.6 percent; meanwhile, the underemployment rate was 0.5 percent.

All the three indicators dropped by 0.1 percentage point from the previous period.

The total labor force was 387,200 and the labor force participation rate stood at 70.8 percent. Total employment was 379,800 and employed residents totalled 279,900, down by 1,400 and 1,300 respectively from the previous period.

Analyzed by industry, employment in gaming and junket activities registered an increase, while that in hotels, restaurants and similar activities, wholesale and retail showed decreases, the DSEC said.

The number of the unemployed was 7,400, down by 300 from the previous period.

Fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 14.8 percent of the total unemployed, the same proportion as in the previous period.

In comparison with August-October last year, the unemployment rate stayed unchanged, while the labor force participation rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 1.5 and 0.2 percentage point respectively.
By Liu Xiaoli in Shenzhen and Ma Zhiping in Haikou | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-11-27 19:58

Leaders of Buddhist communities from 10 countries reach a consensus in Shenzhen to set up the South China Sea Silk Road Fund, Nov 26, 2017. [Photo by Liu Xiaoli/China Daily]

Leaders of Buddhist communities from 10 countries, including China, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Canada and the United States, reached a consensus in Shenzhen on Sunday to support the establishment of the South China Sea Silk Road Fund.

The South China Sea Silk Road Fund, to be established in the near future, will help promote academic research on Buddhism in the region, according to the 2017 South China Sea Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable held in Shenzhen on Sunday.

The fund will support translation of Buddhist texts, educational cooperation, Buddhist service exchanges and charitable endeavors across Buddhist communities in the South China Sea region, and encouraging people-to-people exchanges while consolidating international friendship, according to the roundtable memorandum.

The South China Sea Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable, initiated by master monk Yin Shun last year, serves as a platform to exchange views and promote the sustainable development of Buddhism in the region.

The Buddhist community leaders also agreed to support development of the South China Sea Buddhist Culture Research Institute, which was established in Sanya, South China's Hainan province in March.

The institute was launched to conduct research on major theoretical and practical matters associated with the construction of the Maritime Silk Road, provide strategic insights and initiate international exchanges, among other endeavors, according to the memorandum.

The institute was also designed to serve as a platform to advocate cooperation in the region.

The South China Sea region is regarded as the core region of Buddhism, with three branches in the area. Buddhism is considered a strong bond that holds the region together.

"Buddhism can bring harmony to the region and overcome any conflicts and tensions," Phraprommasith, vice-sangharaja of Thailand Buddhism said at the roundtable.

Last year, the South China Sea Buddhism Shenzhen Roundtable issued a Shenzhen declaration from which solid progress has been made.

"The roundtable has created a favorable condition to jointly safeguard the harmony and peace of Buddhist countries in the South China Sea region," Wang Zuo'an, head of China's State Administration of Religious Affairs, said at the roundtable.

The roundtable will be held in Shenzhen on an annual basis and a secretariat to take charge of daily affairs will be established.

"We will work together to contribute to the safeguarding of the well-being of people in the South China Sea region, and dedicate our efforts to promoting closer ties among the Buddhist communities in all countries and enhancing mutual exchanges and cooperation in the region," said master Yin Shun.
The fire that killed 19 people in Beijing's Daxing district on Nov 18 was caused by an electrical fault, ruling out arson, Beijing police said on Monday, and 20 people suspected of having liability for the conditions that led to the fire have been detained.

The fire broke out in a building with more than 400 residents in the village of Xinjian in Xihongmen township. Eight were injured in the incident.

The building, which has two stories in some parts and three in others and a basement, housed workshops and living spaces and was rife with safety hazards, officials say. A person identified only by the surname Fan began building the structure in 2002.

Fan began installing a refrigeration facility in the basement in March, and it was undergoing testing before the fire. The blaze was traced to a faulty wire in a wall built with flammable material. Fan was among those detained, police said.

After the fire, the city government launched a 40-day citywide campaign aimed primarily at eliminating fire hazards and other safety problems in crowded apartments and warehouses that function as storage areas, workshops or residences for workers.

Cai Qi, Party chief of Beijing, said in a meeting on Monday that removing all fire hazards takes time and cannot be accomplished within a short period, Beijing Daily reported. He also said it is necessary to draft a three-year plan to fundamentally solve the problem.

Cai urged authorities to be patient toward those affected by the government's efforts and give them more time to resettle.

On Monday, a job fair was held in Xihongmen to offer employment opportunities to people who lost their jobs when their employers were told to shut down unsafe factories or warehouses during the campaign.

More than 508 vacancies including driver, security guard and cleaner were offered by 27 companies at the job fair, and more fairs will be held in the area, the township government said.

Many warehouses in Xihongmen failed to pass fire and safety assessments and had to be closed. The fairs are mainly for those who became unemployed as a result, Chen Yongqiang, deputy head of the township, said at the job fair.

"For migrant workers who have decided not to work in Beijing anymore, we will provide temporary accommodation and train or bus tickets to go home," Chen said.

"We prefer the employers taking part in the job fair provide accommodation for employees," said Li Hualong, deputy head of the Daxing district human resource and social security bureau.

Zhao Chuanxin, 28, who had been working and living in a small clothing workshop in Xinjian where the fire happened, found a job at the job fair.

"The workshop was closed three days ago because of the campaign, so I had to find a new job and a place for me and my wife to live," said Zhao, from Shandong province. They have been staying in inexpensive hotels.

He signed a contract with a logistics company that provides meals and accommodation and soon he will start working as a driver. "I thought about going home but I am actually more familiar with Beijing," he said.
Overseas civil servants receive training in political, social systems at academy

James Kur Muorwel said confidence in the future is the most important thing he will take back to his home country following his participation in a training program about China's system of governance.

Muorwel, the director of Asian and Australian Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in South Sudan, was one of 192 civil servants from 35 countries who visited Beijing this month to study the latest developments in China's political and social systems at the Chinese Academy of Governance.
KATHMANDU, Nepal - Voting began to elect Nepal's parliament and provincial assemblies on Sunday in the country's northern 32 mountainous and hilly districts in the first phase. Another round of elections will take place on Dec 7 in the remaining 45 districts of southern plain and hilly districts.

Despite a number of bomb blasts targeting the candidates and their campaigns in the run-up to the elections, Nepal's Election Commission said the voting is taking place peacefully in all districts where polls are being held with exciting participation of voters.

"There is no report of disturbances in polls in the early hours of voting," said EC spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal.

In the recent bomb attacks, former speaker of Nepal's parliament Ram Chandra Poudel, former Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat, another former Finance Minister Barsaman Pun, former Home Minister Janardan Sharma and former Information and Communication Minister Sher Dhan Rai were targeted but not harmed.

Nepal's Home Ministry said "effective and reliable" security has been arranged for the polls, urging voters to participate in the elections without fear.

These elections are taking place to elect the federal legislatures at central and provincial levels as envisioned by the Nepal's new constitution promulgated in September 2015.

The Himalayan country had earlier held local elections as first step toward implementing the new constitution.

"Elections for federal parliament and provincial assembly are important step towards implementing the constitution which was promulgated by the Constituent Assembly for the first time in Nepal's history," said political scientist Lokraj Baral.

There are 3,191,945 eligible voters for the first phase of elections. As many as 702 candidates are contesting both polls under a first-past-the-post election system. There are 5,838 candidates under proportional election system for both phases of elections, according to Nepal's election authority.

Xinhua

(China Daily 11/27/2017 page11)
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily and China Daily website.

During one of my journeys to Montreal, my hometown in Canada, I had the chance to meet a Chinese who was supposed to be studying in Canada, yet he was working at the counter of a Subway outlet in downtown Montreal.

From his appearance, I inferred that he was a student, which prompted my inquisitive nature to have a chat with him. He reminded me of myself when I was working and studying in my youth.

I asked him about his major or field of studies. His response bewildered and confused me. He said that he was supposed to be studying for his master's degree in chemistry.

I asked him to elaborate on his response, to which he obliged. He said that he came to Montreal one year ago to study at one of Montreal's universities for his master's degree but he could not survive the language barrier in an academic setting. He felt isolated due to his lack of sufficient English to interact with other students.

He decided to quit his studies. For fear of losing face in front of his parents and neighbors, he opted to stay in Montreal to save enough money to go back to study English, which would give him a chance to finish what he came for, obtaining his master's degree in chemistry.

I praised his attitude and complimented his English skills before wishing him good luck in his endeavor. By interacting with Canadians on a daily basis, he enhanced his English skills and learned to barely communicate in French.

Caught in the daily struggle of surviving the hardships of today's lifestyles, I forgot about my chat with him until recently.

During the past few weeks, I was going through interviews with some of the private schools in China. During each interview, I usually ask about the objectives of the school pertinent to the future of their students.

I am sad enough to mention that most schools emphasized that they prepare their students to pass an international English exam to be able to attend a school, a college or a university abroad.

When I asked them about ensuring that their students finish their studies abroad successfully, they stated that is not their job. They emphasized that accomplishing that depends upon many factors which will be out of their control, such as the attitude of the student, the field of studies and the grading system of the intended university, among other factors.

I attempted to explain to them in vain the fact that a student who wishes to study abroad must be able to survive inside the academic circle and in the outside environment in which he or she will live during the span of their studies.

They justified their lack of enthusiasm for my point of view by stating that parents bring their kids to their schools for the sole objective of passing the exam that would qualify them to attend a school abroad.

During my teaching assignments, I had the opportunity to meet with few parents who were unhappy when I mentioned that my fundamental objective was building a solid foundation of the English language, which would permit them to complete their studies abroad successfully. They insisted that my job was to prepare them for passing their international English test of choice.

Parents believe that passing an international exam with high scores will enhance their chances of being accepted at a university abroad and subsequently guarantee bright futures for them. That is what the private schools persuade them to believe. No one can blame parents for wishing the best for their children.

Knowing that parents would gladly sacrifice everything to secure the future of their kids, some private school charge exaggerated school fees without any effort to guarantee the success of their future endeavors to study abroad.

With these kinds of fees, private schools must attempt to prepare their students to survive inside and outside the academic circle, which would enhance their chances of completing their studies successfully. Otherwise, they would be selling pipe dreams to the parents of their students.

Sava Hassan is a Canadian Egyptian educator.
Any member of staff at Beijing's RYB kindergarten, if proved by a police investigation to be involved in child abuse, should be shown no leniency in terms of legal penalties. And RYB Education, a New York listed company, to which the kindergarten is affiliated, should also receive deserved punishment for its lack of proper management.

This is not the first incident of its kind. There have been similar reports concerning other kindergartens in recent years. Neither is it the first one involving a kindergarten of RYB Education. Four teachers at an RYB kindergarten in Siping, Northeast China's Jilin province, received prison sentences for jabbing 17 children with needles last year.

True, a lack of qualified teachers has long been a headache for kindergartens, whose number has been increasing rapidly. The development of preschool education in the country still lags far behind the boom in demand. It is thus natural for some kindergartens to recruit teachers who have never received the training required for the job.

Yet, it is still unimaginably horrendous that some kindergarten teachers should force the children in their care to ingest pharmaceutical drugs they are not supposed to eat, give them injections for untold purposes, and physically and psychologically abuse the youngsters.

It is not a matter of simply teachers being qualified or unqualified. It is matter of them having not a smattering of professional ethics and having lowered themselves below the standards of being a decent person with their actions.

How can a kindergarten recruit such teachers? Does a kindergarten have rules for teachers to abide by when it comes to how they should treat the children placed in their care? It is imperative that kindergartens employ those who have been trained for the work.

It is never enough to just punish the teachers once a child abuse case occurs in a kindergarten. Neither is it justifiable to cite the lack of qualified teachers as an excuse for the poor and sloppy management on the part of both kindergartens and the education authority of a local government.

Strict requirements must be in place that both public and private kindergartens have to abide by when it comes to the qualification of teachers, as well as other aspects of kindergarten care.

The investigation into the RYB kindergarten scandal is still going on. It is hoped that the publication of the results will give the lie to the rumors rampant on the internet about the scandal. It is also hoped that the supervision and management of kindergartens will be effectively tightened nationwide for children to get the care they deserve.
The Supreme People's Court announced on Thursday that China has launched a national information-sharing platform for paroles and the commuting of sentences, which will be completed by the end of next year.

This is a significant judicial measure that aims to promote the transparency of China's judicial system and further safeguard judicial fairness.

The platform will not only help Chinese courts collect and locate information but also serve to connect courts, prosecutors and prisons, according to the top court.

Xia Daohu, chief judge of the trial and supervision tribunal of the top court, said it will enable prison management departments to record the performance of inmates and submit applications and other materials for parole or commuting their sentences.

After an application is received by the court, judges will then be able to read, file and hear the cases through video on the platform and disclose their judgments to the public.

"It's a way to increase our work efficiency and allow public supervision," Xia said.

Statistics show that Chinese courts handle more than 600,000 parole and sentence reduction appeals every year, with many provincial high people's courts and intermediate people's courts tackling more than 5,000 cases a year.

The platform will not only be more efficient and convenient, but is also expected to curb fraudulent practices that undermine the public's confidence in judicial fairness.
Zunyi Airport - flight from Beijing. [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

Traveling by train is often a good way to view a country, to look not just at the landscape but also the levels of development. In 1995 a journey from Beijing to Kunming led me from Hunan through Guiyang, Anshun and Liupanshui. Later rail journeys took me through central and southwestern Guizhou. Although never actually staying in the province, the impression was of an economic and lifestyle disparity between fast growing eastern cities and what then was a relatively remote mountainous part of China. Guizhou was often touted as one of the least developed, poorer provinces. However, it appeared to me that most deprivation was concentrated mainly within mountainous rural villages often lacking adequate road connections. Access was along rough tracks, transport by packhorse. These upland areas were home to ethnic nationality groups. However I did feel there was potential for Guizhou due to its stunning topography: a geology featuring large limestone caves and dramatic waterfalls, a climate allowing lengthy periods of cultivation, and of course the ethnic diversity which has long been a draw for tourists. Later I would discover Guizhou's close association with the famed Long March in 1935. I believed that if a modern infrastructure was laid down then the area's potential could be unleashed.

Accepting a recent invitation from China Daily to visit Guizhou, I still expected lingering rural poverty. On arrival my preconceptions were quickly dispelled.

A modern Airbus jet connected Beijing to Zunyi, Guizhou's second city, in under three hours. A 40-minute journey from the airport to downtown by expressway was an eye opener. Initially the route along a forested valley passed modern villages - there were very few signs of the older wooden buildings I remembered. This gave way to a new area of modern university campuses, high-tech zones, smart hotels and a mixture of real estate development. Environmental work included a network of cycleways weaving through well-maintained parklands. A far cry from what I had imagined for Zunyi. Closer to downtown, administrative buildings and a new cultural centre rose above squares and landscaped lakes within a clean, well-maintained setting. Indeed what I saw could easily replicate longer-developed eastern cities although lower land prices and less urban pressure meant more space for extensive green environments, including Xinpu Wetland Park. I did however notice a significant number of women with babies strapped to their backs - Guizhou' s ethnic nationalities were not subject to the two-child policy  and there appeared to be many young people.
A new assembly plant jointly built by China National Heavy Duty Truck Group and Ethiopia's N.A. Metal Industry & Engineering Co, started operation in Addis Ababa on Saturday.

Ethiopia's leading automaker invested about $9 million in the plant, while partner Sinotruk, one of China's largest heavy truck manufacturers, will provide its African partner with equipment and regular technological training. The new factory is expected to assemble 600 trucks annually.

"The African market, especially the Ethiopian market, plays a decisive role in Sinotruk's 'going global' strategy. We have long been committed to developing close ties with our partners and customers in the region," said Zhang Yuzong, head of the African office of Sinotruk.

"The collaboration between the two sides will offer more product selections to local customers, create more job opportunities for local workers and transfer solid skills to them," Zhang said. "It will also add a sharp competitive edge to Sinotruk and facilitate its further expansion in Ethiopia by saving transport costs, lowering import tariff."

Sinotruk said it currently occupies 85 percent market share in Ethiopia. During the first eight months, it sold over 5,000 vehicles there, up by 120 percent year-on-year.

"We are trying to further expand the Ethiopian market with our high-end products, such as the Sitrak series of trucks which is designed to compete with foreign top brands," Zhang said.

The main competitors in Africa are European truck makers such as Volvo Car Group and Germany's Mercedes-Benz. Many of these European trucks are secondhand, widely used in construction work and logistics services, Zhang added.

Nebiyou Assefa, chairman of N.A. Metal Industry & Engineering, said: "The goal of engaging with Sinotruk is to eventually produce most of the parts in Ethiopia then exporting the product to the Eastern Africa region."

Alemu Sime Feyisa, State Minister of Ethiopia Ministry of Industry, said Ethiopia should learn from China.

"It's very important that Ethiopian companies seek closer cooperation with Chinese firms that have experience and technical strength."

To date, Sinotruk has built a global market network in more than 100 countries and regions, including 43 African nations. Its exports to the African market increased to 16,000 vehicles in 2017 from 2,000 in 2010, thanks to demand from fast-growing markets like Angola, Niger, Ethiopia and South Africa.

jingshuiyu@chinadaily.com.cn
BEIRUT - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's decision to postpone his resignation has provided Lebanon with the chance to maintain political stability, with Hezbollah showing pragmatism and the possibility of compromise, analysts said.

When Saudi TV news channel al-Arabiya broadcast a recording of Hariri announcing, in Riyadh on Nov. 4, his decision to step down as prime minister, Lebanon's one-year-old government was once again plunged into uncertainty.

A year prior, on Oct. 31, Michel Aoun was elected Lebanon's president, officially ending two and a half years of presidential vacuum and political stagnation.

The new government established by Hezbollah-backed Aoun and the Sauditied Hariri promised to maintain a "national accord", and de-escalate the political rivalries halting advancements in the country.

Hariri's resignation announcement three weeks ago was a strong departure from his repeated promises to maintain political unity. His aggressive rhetoric calling for Iran and Hezbollah to step away from regional affairs stirred up widespread rumors that Saudi Arabia had written the speech and forced the prime minister's resignation.

Despite the unpredicted move, Lebanon's government responded with overwhelming calls for peace and unity in uncertain times.

Change of tone

In the first of three speeches following the resignation, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah urged for nationwide "calm and patience until things are clear".

Assuring listeners that "there is nothing to fear", Nasrallah's tone diverged considerably from routine rallying cries.

Analysts speculate that Hariri's announcement on Wednesday that he will delay stepping down has opened an avenue to maintaining internal stability.

"The next few months are going to be quite delicate for Prime Minister Hariri because he's going to have to maintain consensus with the other Lebanese parties," said Karim Bitar, director of research at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.

"Hariri is still the official head of the national unity government in Lebanon, which includes Hezbollah. Simultaneously, he will have to make sure that Saudi Arabia's strategic interests are taken care of."

Despite the major role of Saudi Arabia and Iran, countries such as France and Egypt have also involved themselves to ensure continued stability in Lebanon, and to prevent further destabilization in the region.

Halim Shebaya, a political analyst based in Beirut, underlined this international support as a key aspect in keeping the Lebanese government together.

"There is a cautious optimism in Lebanon with regards to reports of a French-Egyptian initiative that would 'save' the presidential settlement or the Aoun-Hariri rapprochement," Shebaya said.

Xinhua
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday proposed a raft of measures to combat "horrific and shameful" violence against women, as leaders and activists around the globe spoke out on the issue.

"Our entire society is sick with sexism," Macron said in Paris, pledging to make gender equality a major theme of his administration.

He spoke as rallies were held from Brazil to Kosovo to mark the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is intended to raise awareness of the dangers women face.

Those hazards have been front-page news this year as highlighted by the fall of powerful men in the US and beyond following sexual misconduct allegations, starting with movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Weeks after the Weinstein story emerged, the #MeToo hashtag burst into the social media spotlight and snowballed into an online movement as women across the world reveal similar experiences.

When Macron spoke on Saturday he began with a minute of silence to remember the 123 women killed in 2016 in France by their partner or ex-partner.

"France must no longer be one of those countries where women are afraid," he said.

AFP
Tanzanian President John Magufuli (3rd R, front) inspects the guards of honor aboard Chinese hospital ship Peace Ark in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Nov. 26, 2017. Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Sunday thanked Chinese doctors for treating more than 6,000 patients in the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark during its eight-day stay in Tanzania's Dar es Salaam. [Photo/Xinhua]

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Sunday thanked Chinese doctors for treating more than 6,000 patients in the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark during its eight-day stay in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.



Magufuli made a visit to the Peace Ark on Sunday to see off the Chinese doctors and navy soldiers.

The ship arrived in Dar es Salaam on Nov. 19, the second in seven years, on a humanitarian mission of providing free medical services to local residents.



During its stay in Tanzania, a total of 6,441 patients were treated by the Chinese doctors.



Magufuli said the move by the Chinese government to send the Peace Ark to Tanzania has futher improved the relationship between the two countries.



"The coming of the ship has written a new history in the cordial relationship of the two countries," he said.



Chinese ambassador to Tanzania Wang Ke hailed President Magufuli for his commitment toward improving people's lives.

In 2010-2015, the Peace Ark paid visits to Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. Around 120,000 people from a total of 29 countries and regions received free on-board medical and humanitarian services.



The current tour took the Peace Ark to Djibouti, Gabon, Sierra Leone, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Mozambique before sailing to Tanzania.
Irish border emerges as flashpoint of Brexit deal

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-11-27 09:49

LONDON - The border between the Republic of Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland became a major flashpoint Sunday with British Prime Minister Theresa May urged to change her Brexit plans to prevent a mounting crisis.



Phil Hogan, Ireland's European Union (EU) commissioner warned the border issue could derail May's hopes of agreeing a trade deal with the EU after Britain leaves the bloc.



The Observer newspaper in London said May had effectively been handed just days to give stronger guarantees over the border issue.



The newspaper said the threat of a hard Irish border has emerged as a major obstacle to May's aim of securing the green light for Brexit trade talks at a crucial summit only weeks away.



Hogan, who is the EU's agriculture commissioner, told the Observer that Britain remaining inside the EU's single market and customs union, or allowing Northern Ireland to do so, would end the standoff.



However, May and her Brexit ministers have insisted that Britain, including Northern Ireland, will leave the single market and customs union in March, 2019 when it ceases to be an EU member state.



Hogan warned in his interview that there was blind faith from some British ministers that Britain would secure a comprehensive Brexit free trade deal. He warned that Ireland would continue to play tough to the end over its threat to veto trade talks until it had guarantees over the border.



The Irish government has insisted on a written guarantee that there will be no hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.



Britain's International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told Sky News Sunday that a final decision on the border issue can not be made until a UK-EU trade deal has been agreed.



Fox said: "We don't want there to be a hard border, but the UK is going to be leaving the customs union and the (EU) single market."



Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he was concerned by Fox's comments, warning they could put talks ahead of the crucial December summit of EU leaders in jeopardy.



Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Barry Gardiner said in a Sunday television interview his party had not ruled out Britain staying in the EU single market and agreeing a new customs union with Brussels.



To add to the wrangle, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Arlene Foster expressed confidence at the party's annual conference in Belfast Saturday that May's government will not agree to any post-Brexit special status for Northern Ireland.



Foster was cheered as she told delegates: "We joined the then-European Community as one nation, will leave as one United Kingdom."



Currently, May's minority government is being propped up by the 10 DUP politicians at Westminster.



The EU has given May until Dec. 4 to come up with further proposals on issues including the Northern Ireland border, the Brexit divorce bill and citizens' rights. Proposals are being demanded by Brussels before European leaders agree to starting EU-UK talks on the future trading arrangements.
BERLIN - Leaders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party agreed on Sunday to pursue a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats (SPD) to break the political deadlock in Europe's biggest economy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a news conference after a Eastern Partnership summit at the European Council Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 24, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

Merkel, whose fourth term was plunged into doubt a week ago when three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens collapsed, was handed a political lifeline by the SPD on Friday.

Under intense pressure to preserve stability and avoid new elections, the SPD reversed its position and agreed to talk to Merkel, raising the prospect of a new grand coalition, which has ruled for the past four years, or a minority government.

"We have the firm intention of having an effective government," Daniel Guenther, conservative premier of the state of Schleswig Holstein, told reporters after a four-hour meeting of leading members of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

"We firmly believe that this is not a minority government but that it is an alliance with a parliamentary majority. That is a grand coalition," he said.

The meeting came after the conservative state premier of Bavaria threw his weight behind a new right-left tie-up.

"An alliance of the conservatives and SPD is the best option for Germany - better anyway than a coalition with the Free Democrats and Greens, new elections or a minority government," Horst Seehofer, head of the Bavarian CSU, told Bild am Sonntag.

An Emnid poll also showed on Sunday that 52 percent of Germans backed a grand coalition.

Several European leaders have emphasised the importance of getting a stable German government in place quickly so the bloc can discuss its future, including proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron on euro zone reforms and Brexit.

Merkel, who made clear on Saturday she would pursue a grand coalition, says that an acting government under her leadership can do business until a new coalition is formed.

The youth wing of Merkel's conservatives raised pressure on the parties to get a deal done by Christmas, saying if there was no deal, the conservatives should opt for a minority government.

In an indication, however, that the process will take time, the CDU agreed on Sunday evening to delay a conference in mid-December that had been due to vote on the three-way coalition.

The SPD premier of the state of Lower Saxony said he feared there was no way a decision would be reached this year. "It is a long path for the SPD," said Stephan Weil on ARD television.

Merkel is against going down the route of a minority government because of its inherent instability, but pundits have said one possibility is for the conservatives and Greens to form a minority government with informal SPD support. The Greens have said they are open to a minority government.

POLICY SPATS

Even before any talks get under way, the two blocs have started to spar over policy priorities.

Merkel, whose conservatives won most parliamentary seats in a Sept. 24 vote but bled support to the far right, has said she wants to maintain sound finances in Germany, cut some taxes and invest in digital infrastructure.

She has to keep Bavaria's CSU on board by sticking to a tougher migrant policy that may also help win back conservatives who switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The SPD needs a platform for its policies after its poorest election showing since 1933. Leading SPD figures have outlined conditions including investment in education and homes, changes in health insurance and no cap on asylum seekers.

Most experts believe the SPD has the stronger hand and several prominent economists said they expected the SPD to wield significant influence in a new grand coalition.

"If there is a grand coalition or even if there is toleration (of a minority government) I would expect more emphasis on the SPD's programme," Clemens Fuest, president of the Ifo institute, told business newspaper Handelsblatt.

That would mean higher state spending and smaller tax cuts than would have been agreed with other potential partners.

The SPD is divided, with some members arguing that a grand coalition has had its day.

The SPD premier of the state of Rhineland Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, said she preferred the idea of the SPD "tolerating" a minority government over a grand coalition, making clear that the party would not agree to a deal at any price.

Agencies
LONDON - Police in Britain will be given new powers to prevent the unsafe or criminal use of drones as part of a new package of legislation announced Sunday.

British Airways planes are parked at Heathrow Terminal 5 in London, Britain May 27, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua]

Banning drones from flying near airports or above 122 meters will also form part of the new regulations.New drone-safety laws will help put the UK at the forefront of drone technology development, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.New measures will also make it mandatory for drone owners to register to improve accountability. And drone operators will be required to use apps - so they can access the information needed to make sure any planned flight can be made safely and legally.The clampdown aims to allow drone users to continue flying safely and legally, helping to place the UK at the forefront of the fast-growing drone industry. It will also pave the way for the devices to be harnessed for a range of uses by businesses and public services.The draft Drone Bill, which will be published next spring, will give officers the right to order operators to ground drones where necessary. Officers will also be able to seize drone parts to prove it has been used to commit an offence.The news comes as funding for a pioneering new drones program was announced to help cities shape the way drone technology operates.Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg said: "Drones have great potential and we want to do everything possible to harness the benefits of this technology as it develops. But if we are to realise the full potential of this incredibly exciting technology, we have to take steps to stop illegal use of these devices and address safety and privacy concerns.""These new laws strike a balance, to allow the vast majority of drone users to continue flying safely and responsibly, while also paving the way for drone technology to revolutionise businesses and public services."Changes to the law will mean that drone users will have to sit for safety awareness tests. Users of drones weighing 250 grams and over will have to be registered, while the government is also working closely with drone manufacturers to use geo-fencing to prevent drones from entering restricted zones.A government-funded Flying High Challenge is to launch Monday when up to five British cities will be supported in the research and development of drone technology.The research could transform critical services in emergency health services and the transport of human organs for transplants. It could also lead to essential transport infrastructure assessment and repair, and parcel delivery and logistics.Assistant Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said, the national police spokesperson for the criminal misuse of drones, said: "We are working with relevant partners to understand the threats this new technology can pose when used irresponsibly or illegally. If you use a drone to invade people's privacy or engage in disruptive behavior, you could face serious criminal charges."Tim Johnson, Policy Director at the Civil Aviation Authority welcomed plans to increase drone operator training and the creation of no-fly zones.
Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar will pay an official visit to China from Dec 3-5 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced on Monday.

It will be the Mongolian minister's first visit to China since a new government in Mongolia was established in October.

Wang will meet with Tsogtbaatar, Geng said, and both will hold a joint media briefing.

The two countries will exchange in-depth views on consolidating political mutual trust, deepening practical cooperation, expanding people-to-people exchanges, as well as promoting bilateral ties, Geng told a daily media conference in Beijing.

"China and Mongolia are important neighbors and developing the China-Mongolia relationship conforms to the interests of both countries and their people," Geng said. "And the new government, led by the Mongolian People's Party, has shown a positive attitude toward its ties with China since it took office."

"China is willing to work with Mongolia to push forward the bilateral relationship and practical cooperation," he added.

Tsogtbaatar will also meet with Chinese leaders and authorities in charge of other related departments.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will pay an official visit to China from Dec 3-7 and attend the second annual prime ministers' meeting between the two countries at the invitation of Premier Li Keqiang, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced on Monday. This marks Trudeau's second visit to China since taking up the post.

Geng said that China and Canada, both important countries in the Asia-Pacific region, share common interests as well as huge potential for bilateral cooperation. At present, Sino-Canadian relations are developing with a good momentum and face key opportunities.

He said the two countries have kept close high-level exchanges and reached positive achievement in pragmatic cooperation. China is willing to enhance political trust with Canada and deepen pragmatic cooperation and expand people-to-people exchanges to put China-Canada strategic cooperation to a higher level.

During the visit, Trudeau will also meet with President Xi Jinping and top legislator Zhang Dejiang. Leaders of the two countries will exchange views on issues of common concern, as well as regional and international issues.

"I believe Trudeau's visit will inject new momentum to the strategic partnership between the two countries," Geng said.
At start of 4-day visit, premier is met at airport by Hungarian counterpart

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in the Hungarian capital Budapest on Sunday to attend the sixth Meeting of Heads of Government of China-Central and Eastern European Countries and make his first visit to Hungary as premier. [Photo/Xinhua]

Premier Li Keqiang arrived in the Hungarian capital Budapest on Sunday to attend the sixth Meeting of Heads of Government of China-Central and Eastern European Countries and make his first visit to Hungary as premier.

On his arrival at Budapest Airport, he was greeted by Hungarian Prime Minister Orban Viktor.

Li is scheduled to attend a leaders' roundtable meeting, the seventh China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum, and also witness the signing of cooperative agreements between China and the 16 CEE countries.

Leaders of these countries will discuss how to promote cooperation in areas such as connectivity, trade and investment, finance, green economy, and technological innovation. They will also exchange views on global issues of common concern.

After the meeting, a Budapest guideline will be released directing China-CEEC cooperation, along with a list of achievements for this year and the past five years.

Li is expected to make an official visit to Hungary. He will attend a welcoming ceremony hosted by Orban, and they will have talks, witness the signing of various cooperative agreements and meet with media. Li will also meet with Hungarian President Ader Janos and Speaker of the National Assembly Kover Laszlo.

Hungary was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with the New China in Oct 1949. There have been frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries.

Hungary was the first European country to sign a cooperative document with China to align itself with the Belt and Road Initiative, Li said in a signed article published by the Hungarian Times on Saturday. The two countries have made outstanding achievements in cooperation in such areas as investment, finance and agriculture, he said.

Li received Orban during the latter's two official visits to China, in Feb 2014 and May of this year. The two countries' bilateral relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership during the visit in May, when Orban attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Li and Orban have met each year at China-CEECfor example, in Bucharest, Romania, in November 2013, and Belgrade, Serbia, in December 2014. In Nov 2015, Orban traveled to Suzhou, Jiangsu province, for the fourth China-CEEC meeting. The latest such meeting was in Riga, the Latvian capital, last November.

The premier's trip, which comes after the conclusion of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the "16+1"cooperation, between China and CEE countries, is vital to promoting a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Europe, Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Chao said at a news briefing last week.

Upon completing his trip to Hungary, the premier will fly to Russia to attend the 16th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments (Prime Minister) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization before the Chinese delegation heads back to Beijing over the weekend.
Premier Li Keqiang vowed to expand financing channels for the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries as he attended the seventh China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum on Monday in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

Li said the financing channels should be expanded. China supports commercial financial institutions to finance cooperative projects and supports enterprises from CEE nations to issue panda bonds in China, he said. A panda bond is a renminbi-denominated bond for a non-Chinese issuer.

Li also said renminbi financing will be supported for cooperative projects.

Premier Li said the China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund, initiated by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China last year, has market-oriented financing channels and received well-judged feedback.

He announced the establishment of the China-CEEC Bank Consortium to which the China Development Bank will grant loans worth 2 billion euros. He also announced that a second round of the fund has been completed to raise $1 billion, which will be mainly invested in the CEE nations.
When 1,200 youth gathered for the first Chinese Urbana-style missions conference this fall, 300 pledged to become full-time missionaries.

This is one of those historic moments, said David Ro, director of the Wilson Center for World Missions at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. There are lots of challenges ahead, on the mission field and in China. And yet God is doing somethingwhile they are being attacked, they are still moving forward.

The gathering was a unique opportunity to witness the authentic demonstration of a vibrantly growing Chinese church under dynamic indigenous leadership, said Nana Yaw Offei Awuku, a field ministry director with Scripture Union Ghana who spoke at the event. The beauty of intentional intergenerational leadership was at its best.

Held in Thailand, the conference was part of Mission China, a movement of unregistered churches to send out 20,000 missionaries by 2030.

Its an ambitious goal for churches that have yet to obtain legal status. And it may have run into a snag this summer when two young Chinese Christianswho traveled to Pakistan to teach Mandarin at a private schoolwere kidnapped and killed by ISIS.

The incident put China in a tough spot. As it seeks to expand its influence westward, its leaders need to be able to protect the 70,000 Chinese who were issued visas to Pakistan last year. But its atheist government also doesnt want to be exporting Christianity.

The Chinese authorities are in a very difficult position, said Chinese religion expert and Purdue University professor Fenggang Yang. [Most] didnt realize that Christians had become active in west and central Asia. Its the first time that has been brought to their attention, and it may take a while for them to sort out and make some policy adjustments.

One adjustment has already been made. In September, China finally nailed down religious restrictions introduced last year. The numerous regulations, made in the name of national security, prohibit unregistered groups from teaching about religion or taking part in trainings or meetings outside the country (like the Thailand conference), beginning in February 2018.

In addition, no religious activitiesincluding the publication of religious materials, the acceptance of donations, any international religious exchanges, and renting space to an unregistered churchcan happen without the approval of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA).

It was a big disappointment, said Brent Fulton, president of ChinaSource. In theory, were taking a big step back.

The big question, of course, is enforcement. SARA as an organization is not really known for being overly effective, he said. [So its] trying to reassert its authority as an institution, saying religion is a serious national problem and we need to do something about it.

In a security-conscious environment, SARA is pushing all the right buttons, saying the law is really important, he said. But how are they going to enforce this?

Over the past 30 years, unregistered churches in China have inched further into public view; many now have their own sizable buildings, their own staff, and their own websites. At the same time, the number of Chinese Christians has surged to about 70 million, according to the latest calculation by the Pew Research Center.

The police also need to take care of other things, Yang said. Trying to stop Christian missions would be costly to the government. And whats the benefit?

Even if authorities do clamp down as fully as the new restrictions allow, the model of meeting in homes hasnt been forgotten. Some pastors Yang has talked to arent taking active preparation but already have fellowship groups within the congregation, so [they said] it shouldnt be too hard to meet in small groups in case thats necessary.

Article continues below

Last time, going underground multiplied church growth, Fulton said. It may also multiply missionaries.

Chinese Christians assumed if they had a sympathetic government and a period of stability, theyd be able to see huge growth in the church, he said. None of that happened. Yet we saw huge growth in the church in China.

In the same way, We would assume greater openness would give the Chinese church greater freedom to send missionaries, Fulton said. Now we see the opposite happening internally, but the vision is still there. So what does that mean for training and supporting missionaries?

Some argue that persecution actually prepares Chinese Christians to be better missionaries in other sensitive areas.

Its Chinese-style missionary work, one Chinese pastor told the Financial Times. His church has sent 20 missionaries to teach Chinese or work at state-owned companies in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. We dont build churches, and we dont need much organizational structure, he said. We survived the Cultural Revolution. So we have experience.

One missionary in Iraq even told the South China Morning Post that he actually feel[s] safer here than when he was working in an unregistered church in China. Hes youngjust 25 years old; the two killed in Pakistan were 24 and 26.

Their youth is bound to irritate some Chinese officials. In four provinces this past summer, children were banned from attending Christian summer camps.

It is forbidden to force or tempt juveniles to believe in any religion, officials told churches in Fuzhou. And it is also forbidden to conduct religious activities in non-registered religious venues without approval.

The new rules come down especially hard on religious schoolsrequiring them to apply for government approval, have their own funding and facilities, and hire full-time staff.

The government has liberalized education and encouraged the development of private schools, but now theyre realizing theyre losing control of the educational system, and religious groups are moving in and working in that space, Fulton said. Thats creating a conflict.

Chinas Communist Party is especially sensitive to children because it remembers its own roots were in the youth movement in the 1920s, he said.

Even Mission China kept its conference quiet. It invited participants through networks of churches and student ministries and also limited attendance to those who were at least seniors in high school. The system worked fine, and the end result was quite acceptable, one of the organizers told CT. It is sensitive to put these two topics together. And that exactly is the reason we decided to make such a huge effort to do this face-to-face system at last.

One of the speakers was Paul Borthwick, missions professor at Gordon College and senior consultant for Development Associates International. Ive been praying for China since 1971, he said. I told my wife, Please pray that when I stand up and look at this audience, I dont just burst into tears. For my generation, its kind of like watching the wall come down in Berlin.

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra is a contributing editor for Christianity Today.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.
Millions of Americans will donate to charity tomorrow for Giving Tuesday, the kickoff of the final weeks to make tax-deductible donations for 2017.

But will the campaignestimated to garner $175 million this yearcontinue to boost charitable giving next year? The answer depends on the Republican tax plan now making its way through Congress.

Evangelical leaders have raised concerns that the current reform bills in the House and Senate would reduce the incentives that compel givers to donate to churches and other nonprofits.

Currently, taxpayers must itemize their deductions in order to take advantage of the tax breaks for charitable giving. Since the proposed GOP tax reforms would increase the standard deduction, fewer Americans are expected to itemize as a resultdropping from 30 percent of taxpayers to just 5 percent, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

Doubling the standard deduction means 30 million Americans would no longer benefit from a deduction for their charitable giving, a change that is predicted to reduce giving by $13 billion annually, according to Indiana Universitys Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

The drop would hurt ministries and religious nonprofits that rely on tax-free tithes and donations to operate. Dan Busby, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), previously told CT that the change in the standard deduction stood to make the biggest impact on middle-income taxpayers.

This is a huge step toward eliminating the benefits and incentives of the charitable deduction altogether, stated the Faith & Giving Coalition, of which ECFA is a member, in talking points released last week. It also is a major step toward reversing our nations policy favoring and incentivizing charitable giving, which has been working well for over 100 years. This is devastating for our charitable organization and organizations like ours throughout the country.

Several leaders of evangelical nonprofits have worried about the effects of the proposed standard deduction shift, and have lobbied for greater protections for charitable giving.

Please pray for your senators who next week will vote on a tax bill that may have a major impact on our economy, our national debt, and on the level of charitable giving to your church and ministries, wrote National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) president Leith Anderson, urging supporters to contact their senators with concerns that the current bills will dramatically reduce the benefit of the charitable deduction.

Both the NAE and ECFA have critiqued the current tax reform bills for their negative impact on charitable giving, and instead are promoting a charitable deduction for givers who do not itemizeas proposed by Republican Senator James Lankford, a Baptist from Oklahoma.

Lankfords Universal Charitable Giving Act would allow taxpayers who make or give too little to itemize (particularly those in low- and middle-income brackets) to still reduce their taxable income due to their giving. Representative Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican, has introduced a companion bill in the House.

This bill will allow Americans to give to the thousands of charitable and faith-based organizations across the country that assist in times of need, said Lankford. All Americans should be offered the same incentive and tax benefit to give for what they believe in, not just the wealthy.

The NAE hopes Lankfords proposal will be included as an amendment today before sending it to the full Senate for a vote.

We have a very short window of opportunity to influence this critical decision, wrote Anderson. Every senator needs to hear from his or her constituents over this recess week, or at the latest by Monday morning, asking that the Universal Charitable Giving Act be added to the Managers Amendment to the tax bill.

The proportion of Americans who itemize their taxes under the current tax codenearly a thirdwere responsible for 60 percent of all donations to charity in 2015.

As CT reported in September:

While a higher standard deduction would likely have a dampening effect on giving, it wont destroy it, said James Bakke, executive director of the Barnabas Foundation, which provides planned giving and stewardship services to Christian organizations. Most of our donors arent motivated primarily by taxes. Theyre almost always motivated by the mission of the organization and by doing something good with their money. Indeed, one Grey Matter study showed that while 37 percent of Protestant churchgoing donors thought eliminating the deduction would decrease giving by a lot, only 8 percent said it would decrease their own giving by a lot. People committed to tithing will continue to do it regardless of tax structures, Bakke said. And the 75 percent of taxpayers who already take the standard deduction or who will continue to itemize (even after the raised limits) wont be affected.

The end of the year has traditionally been a popular time for charitable giving, both due to holiday campaigns and the desire to qualify for tax deductions within the calendar year. This year marks the fifth Giving Tuesday, an annual observance designed to kick off the year-end giving season. Last year, over $177 million was donated to charities online as a part of Giving Tuesday campaigns.

Earlier this year, ECFA found that millennial givers donate more when asked to give a meaningful contribution, while older generations respond with bigger checks for a generous gift. And evangelicals are making tax-deductible donations to a range of nonprofits; most NAE leaders said in a recent survey that tithing doesnt have to exclusively go to local congregations. CTs December cover story focuses on charitable giving, and whether its best to give directly to the poor.

CT has previously reported how the new tax plan has generated attention from Christians over its proposed elimination of the adoption tax credit, a change allowing unborn babies to be named as beneficiaries, and the repeal of the Johnson Amendment for churches.
Pope Francis landed in Myanmar on Monday to start his six-day visit to Southeast Asia, raising the hopes of Christians there that he will address the issues they face in the majority-Buddhist nation formerly known as Burma.

Among those welcoming the pontiff in Yangon were more than 7,000 ethnic Kachin from the conflict-torn state in northern Myanmar, who had travelled down for the occasion, according to Catholic news agency UCAN.

The predominantly Christian Kachin, together with the Karen ethnic minority, live in conflict zones along the countrys borders and have faced years of government oppression.

John Hong Khong, from Kachin, told UCAN they expected to get peace through the Popes visit as we believe he will raise peace issues and push the countrys leaders for ending ethnic conflicts.

Leading up to the visit, Myanmars Catholic Cardinal Bo said he hoped Pope Francis trip would help heal the wounds of his country, especially for minorities under attack, adding that the Rohingya situation is a great tragedy [but] the country needs healing on various fronts.

During his three days in Myanmar, the Pope will visit the current and former capitals, Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, and meet, among others, the countrys leaderin all but titleAung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel Prize winner has come under pressure in recent months because of her handling of the Rohingya crisis. Since August more than 600,000 people belonging to the Rohingya Muslim minority have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh following attacks by the army which, according to the UN, amount to ethnic cleansing. The Pope is also due to visit Muslim-majority Bangladesh during this trip.

It is expected he will address the plight of the Rohingya, with some fearing that this might lead to repercussions for Myanmars Christians.

In October, two Kachin Baptist pastors who helped a journalist to photograph a Catholic churchapparently bombed by Myanmars army in 2016were sentenced to two years in prison for their alleged support of the Kachin Independence Army.

Relationships between the Kachin and the military are strained not only by the conflict, but also by slow progress in identifying and prosecuting perpetrators of the many documented cases of sexual abuse by Myanmar troops in the region. Two Kachin Baptist women teachers were raped and murdered in February 2015, and no-one has ever been tried or convicted for their deaths.

During a visit to the UK parliament in 2016, Cardinal Bo said: The majority of the Kachin, Chin  and a significant proportion of the Karen, are Christiansand over the decades of armed conflict, the military has turned religion into a tool of oppression.

In Chin state, for example, crosses have been destroyed and Christians have been forced to construct Buddhist pagodas in their place. At least 66 churches in Kachin state have been destroyed since the conflict reignited in 2011.

In Karen, Christians have also been threatened by a spate of Buddhist nationalists illegally building pagodas on church grounds.

Christianity is viewed by many as a colonial belief after the country was ruled by the British for a century until its independence in 1948. Likewise, the separation of church and state is considered a foreign imposition, according to AP journalist Julhas Alam.

Around one-sixth of Myanmars Christians, who altogether account for around six percent of the population, are Catholics. According to Mariano Soe Naing, a spokesman for Myanmars Bishops Conference, there are always challenges to stand up as Catholic and to have strong faith here, and pressure comes in many different forms.

To be honest, if you are a Christian in this country, you will never get promoted, Mariano said. There are no Catholics in the government administration or in any significant leadership positions.

According to Benedict Rogers, a human rights activist, Myanmar has seen a significant rise of religious intolerance, which has come from within society, although theres evidence  that if not the military as a whole, then elements of the military-backed political parties are also involved in this.

An example is the extremist Buddhist movement called Ma Ba Tha (Committee for the Protection of Race and Religion) whichso farhas mostly targeted Muslim groups in the country through hate speech, but this has a knock-on effect on Christians as well, Rogers says.

Ma Ba Tha is not just anti-Muslim, it is Buddhist nationalist, so Christians could come increasingly into its focus, according to Thomas Muller, analyst for the World Watch Research unit of Christian charity Open Doors.

A census, conducted in 2014, showed a rise in the number of Christians (6.2 percent, up from 4.9 percent in 1983) and a fall in the popularity of Buddhism, although 88 percent still identified with the countrys most popular religion.

The delayed release of the census by nearly two years was, some commentators said, to avoid a backlash from nationalists anticipating a sharp rise in non-Buddhist religions, which they feel threaten Myanmars Buddhist identity.

Myanmar is No. 28 on Open Doorss 2017 World Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians are most under pressure for their faith.
home World Church of Sweden denies banning the use of male pronouns for God

An official from the Church of Sweden has denied reports that it will no longer refer to God as "he" or "Lord" in a bid to be more inclusive.

Several news outlets have reported on Friday that the Swedish Church will now only refer to God in gender-neutral terms following an update to its 31-year-old handbook.

"It's not true," Sofija Pedersen Videke, head of the Church's service of worship committee, told The Local.

On Thursday, the 251-member Church Assembly voted with a large majority to update The Church Handbook, which provides guidance on how services, baptisms, weddings and funerals should be conducted, in language, liturgy, theology and music. The update, which will take effect on May 20 during Pentecost, reportedly includes the Church's aim to use language that is "more inclusive."

"The old handbook is from 1986 and the new edition is much more in line with the Swedish Bible translation made in 2000. God is beyond 'she' and 'he', God is so much more," Pedersen Videke said. "We want variation when it comes to how you express yourself, just like in the Bible," she added.

According to Telegraph, the update will allow clergy to use either the traditional "Father, son and Holy Ghost" or the gender-neutral phrase "in the name of God and the Holy Trinity" to open worship services.

The assembly had also agreed to use the female grammatical gender for the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the 2000 Swedish Bible translation.

The decision has drawn criticism from some theologians, including Christer Pahlmblad, who said that it was "undermining the doctrine of the Trinity and the community with the other Christian churches."

"It really isn't smart if the Church of Sweden becomes known as a church that does not respect the common theology heritage," Pahlmblad, an associate theology professor at Lund University in Sweden, went on to say.

However, Pedersen Videke, whose committee was heavily involved in the work on the new handbook before it went before the Church Assembly, stressed that the change is not all-encompassing. "Everyone who wants to call God 'Lord' can remain calm. It is still there in many places in the new handbook. We have replaced 'he' with 'God' in one place, that's all," she explained.

She insisted that the reports that the Church will stop referring to God as "he" or "Lord" was "fake news."

The Church of Sweden, which has 6.1 million baptized members in a country of 10 million, has ordained women as priests since 1960. Women reportedly comprise 45 percent of the ordained clergy and have an even greater share of the church leadership, according to Russia Today.
When you look at a Canova piece, you know

The rediscovery of a portrait bust of Joachim Murat, King of Naples, by the great Italian sculptor, is hugely significant for scholars. Ahead of its sale on 28 November, specialist Isabelle d'Amecourt describes how she came to identify it

By 1813, Italian Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova was the most celebrated artist in Europe. The son and grandson of quarry-owning stonemasons, his reputation had grown enough to secure pivotal commissions from popes, royals and even the government of the fledgling United States. At the same time, Joachim Murat, then King of Naples, was at the pinnacle of his own career. The son of an innkeeper, Murat had climbed the French military ranks to become one of Napoleons most trusted advisors  so much so that the French Emperor offered Murat his sister Carolines hand in marriage. The Murats fostered a glittering artistic court in Naples, and one of the highlights of their patronage was to commission their own portraits in marble from Canova.

Open a larger version of this image Canova produced engravings for most of the sculptures and busts he worked on

In 1813 the pair summoned the artist to Naples, where he completed two initial busts from plaster. He then returned to his studio in Rome, where he rendered the works in his preferred material, Carrara marble. Further documentation reveals that the finished marble busts of Joachim and Caroline Murat were delivered to Naples in the spring of 1814, as recorded in a letter from the Archbishop of Taranto to Canova in May of that year. Murat was apparently so pleased with the result that he gave Canova a series of books as a token of his gratitude. In 1815, continental Europe descended into war; the busts seemingly followed Caroline Murat when she fled to Trieste. They were recorded at her sister Elisa Baciocchis villa nearby, after which time trace of them is lost. Joachim Murat was executed in 1815; Canova, for his part, turned to the more politically stable England for royal patronage.

As soon as this work was uncrated in the office of Isabelle d'Amecourt, specialist in Early European Sculpture and Works of Art at Christies in Paris, she had a hunch that it could be one of the long lost busts. I thought, I'm in front of something very important, d'Amecourt says. When you look at a Canova piece, you know. It's in the chiselling, the purity of the line. Canova had a great talent for bringing a sculpture to life. Looking for clues, d'Amecourt travelled to Canovas birth town of Possagno, where his archives are known to contain some of the original plaster models. In the Canova Museum, she examined the preliminary plaster portrait of Murat. Every detail perfectly matched the marble bust in her office, confirming it as the original which had been missing for more than 200 years.

Open a larger version of this image The original plaster model of the bust of Murat at the Canova Museum in Possagno, Italy
Collecting guide: Ming-dynasty art and furniture

An introduction to the exceptionally varied artistic production of this golden age of Chinese culture, from its ceramics and metalware to painting and calligraphy. Illustrated with forthcoming lots and others previously sold at Christies

Founded by Zhu Yuanzhang (later known as the Hongwu Emperor), Chinas Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was the last dynasty ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. With the ousting of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) and the return of indigenous Chinese leadership came the introduction of artistic themes determined by the imperial courts. Birds, flowers and landscapes were among the motifs of choice taken up by painters who were urged to work in a realistic, narrative style that recalled the output of the 12th-13th century Southern Song dynasty. Calligraphy flourished, as did the work of scholar-painters who, for the first time, were encouraged to add something of their own personalities to their art. Interaction with foreign cultures gave rise to new designs, such as those on blue-and-white porcelain and objects in enamel. Considered a golden age of Chinese furniture production, the period was also known for its exquisite ceramics, in addition to works in metal, lacquer and textiles. Here we take a look at the range and depth of Ming-dynasty artistic production, illustrated with 11 key pieces. 1. The Ming imperial kilns were established in the Hongwu period (1368-98). But as a result of a disruption of international trade, supplies of high-grade Middle Eastern cobalt dried up. Consequently, the Hongwu reign is the only one in the Ming dynasty during which copper was the chief colourant on imperial porcelain.

Copper produces a red colour when fired in the right conditions, but is far more difficult to control than cobalt, which produces a blue colour. The cup stand above is an example of a successfully-fired underglaze red decoration. The oval chrysanthemum flowers that make up the main design are characteristic of the Hongwu period. 2. The Yongle reign (1403-24) was one of the most dynamic in Chinese history. This is reflected in the quality and diversity of artworks produced to imperial order in this period.

Imperial porcelain began to reflect the influence of foreign cultures and religions, especially that of Islam, of which the blue and white basin above is an example. Its distinctive form, previously unknown in China, was made in metal and glass in Egypt and Syria from about the 13th century onward. 3. The Yongle Emperor (who reigned from 1402 to 1424) was a fervent Buddhist. This was reflected in the numerous ceramics of the period that feature Buddhist references, or that are decorated with Buddhist motifs.

The succeeding Xuande Emperor was equally devout: during his reign, record numbers of Tibetan lamas came to reside in the monasteries in the Chinese capital. The Yongle and Xuande emperors commissioned gilt bronzes, images and ritual objects for personal religious practice, and as gifts for the Tibetan emissaries whose Vajrayana Buddhism they followed. 4. In the Yongle period, imperial workshops excelled in the production of carved cinnabar-red lacquer. The box and cover below is a fine example of the almost three-dimensional quality of the lacquer of the period. The blooms are shown from different angles and in different stages of development; the leaves are dense and lush. On the sides are other flower species, including lotus, chrysanthemum and camellia.

Whereas only a minute proportion of Yongle imperial porcelain featured a reign mark, lacquer that met the imperial standard regularly included one. Here the Yongle mark is inscribed, as was typical, in small characters in a single column at the side of the base.

5. New glazes were developed in the early 15th century, including the imperial yellow glaze. The use of the imperial yellow colour on any material was restricted to the emperor.

Open a larger version of this image A fine and extremely rare yellow-enamelled bowl, Xuande incised six-character mark within a double circle and of the period (1426-1435). 6 in (15.2 cm) diam. Sold for HK$1,670,000 on 25 October 1993 at Christies in Hong Kong

This restriction was especially relevant to textiles and porcelain. The above Xuande-period (1426-1435) inverted bell-shaped enamelled bowl features this imperial yellow glaze  a rare combination of form and colour. 6. In the history of Chinese ceramics, the Xuande period is generally considered the high point of blue-and-white porcelain production. This was due to a combination of enthusiastic imperial patronage, technical ingenuity and the finest artistry.

Xuande-period porcelains were low in calcium and high in potassium, which made them especially translucent. The glaze was rich and lustrous, while the underglaze decoration demonstrated complete mastery of painting in cobalt on porcelain. Many connoisseurs consider the painting of dragons on Xuande imperial porcelain to be the finest in the history of Chinese porcelain. 7. In Chinese, the term wucai means five colours. On porcelain, the vivid wucai colour scheme reached its peak in the Jiajing period (1522-66) when the overglaze colours  yellow, iron-red and green, with black outlines  were used in combination with underglaze blue.

Among the various forms and sizes of wucai porcelain made for the court, the jar and cover represents the largest and most ambitious type. The design on the jar above reflects the Jiajing Emperors strong Daoist beliefs. In Daosim, fish symbolise surplus and wealth. The jar also features eight fish  eight being an auspicious number in Chinese culture  while the cover has four. Added together, they possibly represent the 12 earthly branches  a Chinese system for the calculation of time. 8. The subject of children at play was favoured by the Jiajing Emperor. On the jar below, eight boys are at play with various toys, including a hobby horse and a model pagoda.

While the subject of boys at play was very popular on imperial Jiajing porcelain, those decorated in the richer wucai palette are very rare. The design continued into the Wanli period (1572-1620).

9. The red-and-yellow combination is a distinctive Jiajing colour scheme. Three firings were required to achieve this result: first at around 1300C for clear-glazed porcelain, then at a lower temperature for the yellow overglaze enamel, and finally at a still lower temperature for the black outlines and the iron-red background.

The process was laborious and required meticulous attention to detail, contributing to the high failure rate and the rarity of these jars. 10. The mid- to late-Ming dynasty witnessed the spread of the Neo-Confucianist philosophy known as the School of Mind, introduced by Wang Shouren. According to this paradigm, the material world was the extension of a single principle that existed in human consciousness.

This philosophy promoted an inward exploration of thought, and a new aesthetic that emphasised self-expression. A letter written by Wang discussing the School of Mind reflects the philosophical transformation experienced by the literati during this period. 11. Driven by their frustration with officialdom, while at the same time enjoying unprecedented material wealth, the literati of the mid- to late-Ming-era devoted their energy to painting, calligraphy and poetry.

Artists such as Shen Zhou (1427-1509), Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) and Zhu Yunming (1460-1526) became the tastemakers of the day. 12. Among their successors, Chen Hongshou (1598-1652) was one of the most visually exciting artists of his time. Born in Zhejiang, Chen was extraordinary in his creativity. He is most celebrated for his paintings of vividly coloured flowers and birds, as well as highly stylised figures.

Open a larger version of this image Chen Hongshou (1598-1652), Insects and Flowers. Album of eight leaves, ink and colour on silk. Each 20 x 13.4 cm (7  x 5  in). Sold for HK$6,660,000 on 28 November 2016 at Christie's in Hong Kong

Chen left the court shortly after the fall of the Ming dynasty, and died in 1652 at the age of 54. Chens calligraphy left a lasting impact on artists such as Yun Shouping (1633-1690), Ren Xiong (1820-1857), Ren Xun (1835-1893), Yu Feian (1888-1959) and Xie Zhiliu (1910-1997). 13. The literati influenced the design of everyday objects, particularly furniture for the scholars studio.
Ruben Lien, specialist in Chinese ceramics at Christies in Hong Kong, explains why he is captivated by the mystery of archaic Chinese jades

As there are no records about these prehistoric objects, we can only guess at their original use, says Ruben Lien, specialist in Chinese ceramics at Christies in Hong Kong. The fact that they are so mysterious, Lien says, is what draws me to them.

What is known about archaic Chinese jade, however, is that it was regarded as sacred, Lien says. The pieces made from this material were highly important objects, rather than decorations. They are significant religious objects, and every piece has a story, the specialist continues  although that story has often long since been lost to us.

In some cases, however, pieces of the story have come through. One particularly beautiful archaic jade piece, Lien explains, is believed to be a hair ornament of a shaman. By inserting it upright into the hair, the shaman would be able to connect with heaven.

Another of Liens favourites, from the Hongshan culture, is shaped like a dragon. Unlike the fully grown dragons more commonly seen in Chinese art, this creature looks like an embryo, and represents the evolution of life.

Archaic jades can be divided into two categories, according to the geographical zone in which they were found. Personally I prefer the Eastern Chinese (Huatong) archaic jades, Lien says, because their familiar human or animal patterns touch me in a more direct way.

The evolution in form of archaic jades from the Hongshan culture (circa 4700 to 2900 BC), to the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC), is fascinating, says Lien. If we are lucky enough to see two pieces side by side, we can see the transformation.

A collection of archaic jades will be offered on 29 November, as part of a series of dedicated sales of Chinese ceramics and archaic jades at Christies in Hong Kong.
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Houston police Monday released new details in the Black Friday stabbing and shooting at Willowbrook Mall - including the names of the victims.

The incident started as a fight in the parking lot near Sears, where police say Christian Martinez, 21, and his girlfriend were walking toward a store about 12:20 p.m. Friday.
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Some online comments remarked on the historical significance of the match. Others rejoiced in the fact that the future in-law of the British Royal Family wears dreadlocks.

A few distilled the news that Prince Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and fifth in line to the British throne, will marry Meghan Markle, a biracial American actress, to two simple words: "Black Princess."

"We got us a Black princess ya'll. You really can't tell me a damn thing for the rest of the day because it won't matter. Shout out to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Their wedding will be my Super Bowl," posted @sheistyler.

The wedding will take place sometime in the spring, according to a statement from Clarence House.

Many see the match between 33-year-old Prince Harry and 36-year-old Markle as a sign of the growing modernization of the Royal Family.

According to TIME, the Queen herself had to give her blessings for the marriage. "I think the Queen would have done so, happily," Anna Whitelock, a royal expert and director of the London Centre for Public History and Heritage, told the magazine. "I don't think her being mixed race would have been at all significant for the Queen."

Some watchers believe the coming marriage will usher in a more inclusive attitude and help the Royal family remain relevant. But the relationship has also seen a fair share of racist backlash, including descriptions of Markle as "Straight Outta Compton."

The criticism led Prince Harry to issue a statement last November condemning "the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments."

But this week, social media was filled with messages celebrating the union of the couple, who will be known after marriage as the duke and duchess of Sussex.

"Prince Harry's future mother-in-law is a black woman with dreadlocks. There are no words for this kind of joy," tweeted @Samara_Linton.
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Much of old Conroe is long gone, but one of the oldest residences in the community has survived - evolving from a historical home where children played and ate cookies to a fine restaurant serving international cuisine.

The historic Cochran house, located at 603 N. Thompson Street, was once considered the edge of town in Conroe. While the original homes around it have been torn down, this structure has survived because its owners sensed its value to the community - and were willing to be creative in repurposing the building.

"The house used to be surrounded by some lovely Victorian homes," said Anne Meadows Meneffe who remembers visiting her great-grandmother Laura Grogan Cochran there. "But Conroe used to have a bad habit of tearing anything old down - they're all gone now."

The house was built for Nancy Lewis Grogan, the widow of Richard Grogan, around 1918, soon after the Grogan Cochran Lumber Company was established near Conroe. The house was passed on to Laura and her husband Terrell, co-founder of Grogan-Cochran Sawmill in the area now known as The Woodlands.

The Grogan-Cochran Sawmill was a major business enterprise in the region and a major employer. In 1964, Mitchell Gas & Oil Corporation bought 50,000 acres, from which the master planned community known as The Woodlands was created.

"My great grandmother had asthma and was something of a shut-in" recalled Meneffe. "I remember visiting her at the house on Sunday afternoons and hearing stories from when she was young. Those are good memories."

Bill Cochran Jr. of Conroe recalled visiting his great uncle Fred Cochran at the house on Thompson Street and enjoying glasses of cold lemonade and freshly baked cookies in his youth.

"There was a place where people used to practice parallel parking across the street," said Cochran. "It was a lot of fun to sit with Uncle Fred and watch - it could be quite humorous."

Cochran said he is pleased the house has survived.

"It's nice when people can take an older structure and keep it as part of the community," he said.

In 1998, attorney Anthony Bernardino purchased the residence and spent 10 months renovating it for use as a law office, according to an article in The Courier. The original appearance of the house was retained as much as possible.

Later, the historic home would be repurposed again when restaurateur Norma Coronelli took over the building for her Villa Italia restaurant previously located in downtown Conroe.

Coronelli, who was born and raised in Sicily, developed a lunch and dinner following for her authentic Italian cuisine.

When Coronelli passed away, the restaurant was taken over by Jose Jrameldo and is now named Jose's Villa Italia - reportedly using the same recipes created by Coronelli.

For information visit them on Facebook or call 936-539-5599.

"It pleases me that the building is still around and in use," said Meneffe. "Sometimes it's the little things in life that are special and meaningful."

For more information on the history of Conroe and the surrounding area, visit the Heritage Museum of Montgomery County, located at 1506 N. I-45.

For information, visit www.heritagemuseum.us or call 936-539-6873.

There is a display related to the Cochran and Grogan family inside the Heritage Museum.

This article by Brad Meyer was first published in The Courier in January 2013.
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Gucci Mane, the rapper once rumored to be a government clone, headlines Spotify's RapCaviar Live date in Houston.

The Dec. 14 show at Revention Music Center also features Tory Lanez, Trae tha Truth, Maxo Kream, Trill Sammy and YBN Nahmir. Houston's go-to guy for pretty much anything, Bun B, hosts the night.

STORMY WEATHER: Texans star, Houston rapper at odds over Harvey relief

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 12 via Ticketmaster. They're priced at $5 each "to make the popular show accessible to all local music fans."

Spotify is also using the show to spearhead some of its own local relief efforts.

In support of the relief efforts in Houston, Spotify and Live Nation Urban will dedicate the week leading up to the show to charitable activities benefitting local Houston communities in the recovery following Hurricane Harvey. Partnered with Samsung, both brands will work to bring music and community together to support and tell the stories of one of Hip Hop's most influential cities - while connecting artists and fans in the process.

RapCaviar is a Spotify playlist that boasts more than 8 million followers. The Houston date is the fifth of a six-city tour.
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Maison Pucha Bistro, a stylish French restaurant in the former Black & White space at 1001 Studewood, is now open for business in the Heights.

Chef Manuel Pucha announced in the summer he was leaving his post as executive chef at La Table in the Galleria area to realize his dream of owning his first restaurant. He managed to convince two of his brothers, Victor, a French-trained pastry chef, and Cristian, a budding sommelier and bar manager, to give up their jobs in New York to move to Houston to collaborate on the project. The restaurant had a soft opening last week during the busy Thanksgiving rush.

Manuel Pucha's menu is technique-driven French with a few flourishes of his native Ecuador and a whole lot of visual flair. All his years in fine-dining kitchens (Bistro Moderne, Philippe Restaurant & Lounge, La Table) are evident in his dishes at the bistro.

The debut menu touts starters such as crab and avocado in a ponzu and green apple dressing; Akaushi beef tartare; beet and goat cheese salad with baby arugula; lobster bisque; lobster tortellini in a Thai lobster sauce; foie gras duo (seared and terrine) with a port wine reduction and brioche; and classic French onion soup. Pucha's promise to incorporate flavors of South America and his native Ecuador show up in fish tiradito with aji amarillo and Peruvian corn, as well as his Ecuadorian-style ceviche of lightly poached shrimp in orange, lime, and lemon juices served with crispy plantain chips.

The mains include classic bistro fare: steak frites (hanger with sauce Bearnasie); coq au vin; duck confit with salad frisee and duck fat potatoes; lamb navarin; trout almandine with brown butter and saffron potatoes; roasted chicken with pommes puree; filet mignon with gratin dauphinoise; branzino en papillote; and a showy bouillabaisse with broth poured tableside. For special occasions there is a grand presentation of chateaubriand for two, available on Friday and Saturday only.

Victor Pucha's dessert list is tres French, too: Tarte Tatin and profiteroles. But he also works with Ecuadorian products such as chocolate, which shows up in his souffle and in his chocolate cake, as well as coffee from his homeland, which flavors his creme brulee served with vanilla-orange Madeleines.

The Puchas promise to bring more flavors and foods from Ecuador (native spices and vegetables) once the restaurant is properly established. It will always be, however, a place where the refinements of French cooking can be found.

Manuel Pucha said he is happy with the first few days of service last week, and the plates coming out of his kitchen, open to the dining room. "It has color, passion, and movement," he said. "It's cooking from the heart."

Maison Pucha Bistro, 1001 Studewood, 713-637-4976; maisonpucha.com. Open for dinner Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 11 p.m., Sunday 5 to 9 p.m.
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University of Texas-Austin astronomers will be among the first in the world to use NASA's brand new, $8.8 billion telescope after it launches in 2019 -- a piece of technology one says will "revolutionize all areas of astronomy."

The James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, has been under development for decades.

And with less than two years until its expected launch date, the Space Telescope Science Institute (the science operations center for the Hubble and Webb telescopes) in Baltimore has released the list of the first 13 projects that will test the telescope in space. UT-Austin's Steve Finkelstein found himself, and his Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, on that list.

"This will be the first time anyone has had access to this brand new telescope that is in some ways 100 times better than Hubble," said Finkelstein, an associate astronomy professor at the university. "This telescope will reveal enormous truths the moment we turn it on."

The CEERS will build upon Finkelstein's previous work with the Hubble telescope of examining the oldest galaxies in the universe as a way to understand how quickly stars formed into the galaxies and how they evolve overtime. More than 100 astronomers from 10 countries are involved in the project, including astronomers at Texas A&M.

Finkelstein said Webb will allow astronomers to see galaxies as they existed 13.4 billion years ago. His project will take place in the telescope's first five months of science operations, likely to begin in late fall, early winter 2019.

"To be among the first to use it is incredible," he said, adding that his research will take 62 hours to complete.

Other projects chosen include an examination of Jupiter and its moons and weighing supermassive black holes, according to NASA. UT-Austin researchers are involved to some degree in five of the 13 projects.

"We were impressed by the high quality of the proposals received," said Ken Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a Nov. 13 NASA web update. "These observing programs not only will generate great science, but also will be a unique resource for demonstrating the investigative capabilities of this extraordinary observatory to the worldwide scientific community."

Projects will receive funding, but Finkelstein said they have not yet been told how much. Up to $5 million has been allotted for all 13 projects, he added.

Webb is projected to launch in spring 2019 from Kourou, French Guiana and is expected to carry out its mission for 5 to 10 years. The telescope is named after James E. Webb, NASA's second administrator who lead the Apollo space missions that landed the first humans on the moon.

Unlike Hubble, which launched 27 years ago and orbits the earth, Webb will orbit the sun 1 million miles away from earth. Hubble mainly observes visible light, while Webb will operate in the infrared, enabling it to study some of the faintest, youngest galaxies.

Using Webb, "we will discover the most distant galaxies ever seen  galaxies that were literally invisible to Hubble," Finkelstein said.

This month, about 100 days of cryogenic testing -- to ensure the telescope functions as intended in an extreme cold and airless environment -- was completed at Johnson Space Center.

But the telescope still must undergo more testing before it can be launched into space. It now will be transported to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, where it "will be integrated with the spacecraft element," according to a Nov. 20 NASA web update.

It will then undergo even more testing, "the last exposure to a simulated launch environment before flight and deployment testing on the whole observatory," the update states.

The Webb telescope is an international project lead by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Alex Stuckey covers NASA, science and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
Houston police sent out a SWAT team late Sunday when a man assaulted his estranged wife and then barricaded himself in a back bedroom of an east Houston home. The man told the police he'd taken 19 Ambien sleeping pills in an attempt to kill himself.

Patrol officers responded to a family disturbance call about 11 p.m. Sunday in the 6800 block of Avenue V. A woman told police her estranged husband had choked and assaulted her.
Hundreds of Fort Bend County residents representing a diverse circle of faith groups gathered to celebrate the third annual Fort Bend Interfaith Community Thanksgiving at St. Laurence Catholic Church Monday (Nov. 20).

Reverend William Starkweather, Pastor at St. Martin's Lutheran Church, delivered the Homily.

"It seems to me that recently hope has been hard for a lot of folks to come by. It's only been a couple months since Hurricane Harvey wrought devastation on our community, along with many others, There are folks among us tonight who are still doing repair work; real recovery will take much longer," Starkweather said. "Just a couple weeks ago we heard about the heinous act of violence that took place at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and even as we prayed for the victims, we were aware that it was not the first place of worship to be the scene of such violence, and we feared that it will not be the last. Knowing how many faith communities have been targeted by such horrific acts of violence, perhaps we even wrestled with the fear that our own faith communities would be next."

Starkweather encouraged those at the service to share their challenges with others and find new friends.

"I see the light of hope shining tonight, in this beautifully diverse community that has come together with one voice to give thanks for what we have and to speak hope about what we will yet be," he said.

Murad Ajani, president of the Ismaili Council for the Southwestern United States, read "We Are One" By His Highness the Aga Khan.

"In an increasingly cosmopolitan world, it is essential that we live by a 'cosmopolitan ethic,' one that addresses the age-old need to balance the particular and the universal, to honor both human rights and social duties, to advance personal freedom and to accept human responsibility," Desai read. "It is in that spirit that we can nurture bonds of confidence across different peoples and unique individuals, welcoming the growing diversity of our world, even in matters of faith, as a gift of the divine."

Aga Khan is the current Imam of Nizari Ismailism, a denomination of Isma'ilism within Shia Islam.

Speakers included representatives from Congregation Beth El, Christ Chugurch UMC, St. Laurence Catholic Church, First Unitarian Universalist, Maryam Mosque of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center, Baha'i Faith, First United Methodist, Bapas Hindu Temple, New Hope Lutheran, St. Martin's Lutheran Church and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The program featured spiritual poetry, readings from the Bible, the Holy Quran, the Book of Mormon, a spiritual reflection in Spanish and musical performances by the Interfaith Choir and Assembly and a children's choir.

One of the highlights of the service was a performance by the Ismail Muslim Choir of "Islamic Hand  A Poem of Praise." Ismaili is a tradition of Shia Islam.

Pushpa Desai delivered a reading in Hindu with a translation from The Upanishads and Amanda Siroosian read a Baha'i Prayer.

Rabbi Josh Lobel of Congregation Beth El in Missouri City gave the closing benediction.

People attending the Thanksgiving event brought non-perishable food items to be donated to East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry and Second Mile Mission.

Cookies and punch were served in the parish hall after the service.
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Edwin Ospino thinks the media is making too much of his random shooting, but his firing of shots at homes near a Heights-area park was posted to Snapchat and led to his arrest on felony charges.

The 22-year-old gunman caught on social media allegedly firing a semi-automatic pistol last week maintained his innocence outside a Harris County courtroom Monday.

"I'm not who you all are making me out to be," Edwin Ospino said before being arraigned by state District Judge George Powell.

It is the second Houston shooting posted to social media that resulted in charges in three months.

In and out of court Monday, Ospino seemed more interested in building a following for his aspiring music career than in explaining what happened. Instead of answering questions from reporters, he said people should follow him on social media, where he recently posted videos about releasing music.

Ospino even arrived with his 20-year-old brother Christopher, who was wearing a t-shirt with Ospino's Snapchat handle "@MixBreedPapi" written across the front. On the social media platform, he encouraged followers to use the hashtag #ShapchatShooter and offered to sell the t-shirts.

Now Playing: Isiah Factor Uncensored Video: KRIV

Ospino said little else as he arrived to court on a charge of deadly conduct, in connection with a shooting recorded on Snapchat near Cottage Grove Park on Nov. 20 around 10:15 p.m.

After the brief hearing, Ospino, who has not hired an attorney, declined to comment to reporters. Instead, he walked away from several television cameras and opened the Snapchat app on his phone to record a message to his followers. He told them not to believe what they had heard about his case.

Ospino was arrested Wednesday after a tip to Crime Stoppers of Houston, which offered a $5,000 reward for information, according to the Houston Police Department.

Authorities investigating reports about the shooting saw the video, which went viral, and arrested Ospino, accusing him of recklessly shooting at a home and building without regard to the possibility of people inside. If convicted of the third-degree felony, he could face 10 years in prison.

On Monday, Ospino was free on a $20,000 bail, a high amount requested by prosecutors because Ospino was on probation for resisting arrest. He also has a conviction for theft and possession of marijuana. In court records for his other cases, Ospino is also listed as Edwin Alexander Ospino-Soto and Edwin Soto Ospino.

The judge put several conditions on his bond, including random drug testing, prohibiting the possession of firearms and a curfew.The self-incriminating social media post is the second high-profile Snapchat arrest in three months.

In a separate case in September, Houston rapper "Money Mike" and a woman companion were allegedly depicted on Snapchat video firing shots from a car as they drove through a west Houston neighborhood. Michael Anthony Cuellar, 29, and Sierra Tarbutton, 27 were charged with felony criminal mischief and deadly conduct for their actions.

Those cases are still pending.
Imagine for a moment that you're riding on the MetroRail rather than sitting in your car on your drive in on the North Freeway.

Had the planets all been aligned, this imagination could have been a reality. CityLab published a series of old transit maps that show a "what would've been" if transportation authorities had their way, or as Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Gray calls it, "The heartbreak of old transit maps."
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The University of Texas at Austin settled a lawsuit from a suspended student who accused the state flagship's president of unfairly swaying the outcome of his internal sexual misconduct case.

The settlement followed UT-Austin's decision to reverse the student's suspension in an effort to "avoid disruption to the university," the university said in court documents.

The student, identified only as John Doe, accused UT-Austin President Greg Fenves of unfairly intervening in his case because he feared that UT-Austin would "suffer the same public relations disaster that occurred at nearby Baylor University" if administrators did not appear to take the crime seriously, according to court documents.

Now Playing: With a nearly daily barrage of high-profile claims of sexual misconduct against entertainers, politicians and other famous people, one law professor says more women are coming forward with their stories in part because of the platform the internet is Video: KTVU

Doe was accused of rape by a female college student, identified as Jane Roe.

HoustonChronicle.com: Texas students latest to push against sex assault hearings

The students were college sophomores in April 2016 when the female student invited him to be her date at a sorority formal. They drank alcohol at the event, and afterward, the two went back to the male student's apartment, where both students said she consented to having sex.

The female student later said her judgment was impaired and accused the male student of rape because she was incapacitated. A hearing panel sided with the male student in February 2017, and the female student appealed the decision.

Fenves then stepped in. Responding in a seven-page letter, he concluded that it was more likely than not that the male student assaulted the female student "while she was too intoxicated to give consent," according to court documents. Doe was suspended for five semesters, which was reversed amid the litigation.

"To avoid this litigation's disruption to the university, UT has reinstated John Doe as a student, lifted his suspension, and will route the appeal to a third-party other than President Fenves for adjudication," court filings read. "He may register for classes for the spring semester."

HoustonChronicle.com: Baylor sexual assault victims met with skepticism, little assistance from university

Brian Roark, an attorney for the male student, had previously written in court documents that the suspension's reversal does not clear Doe's name or reverse the "procedural due process violation."

Universities require a "preponderance of the evidence" standard in sexual assault cases, lower than the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard in criminal cases.

UT-Austin defines incapacitation as "a state of being that prevents an individual from having the capacity to give consent." Incapacitation, according to the university, could stem from a person's use of drugs or alcohol, being asleep or unconscious or because of an intellectual or other disability.

Roark did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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A trail of blood led police to the body of a man who was shot and killed on the East Side Monday morning.

Authorities were notified of the shooting around 6:20 a.m. when a woman said she saw blood in the middle of the 100 block of Sample Street.

Officers found a blood trail leading from a broken window in a home on the south side of the street to a spot where the body of a man was lying in the yard of a yellow home on the north side of the street.

RELATED: Police searching for suspect who allegedly threatened to kill employee while stealing cell phone

Now Playing: A trail of blood led police to the body of a man who was shot to death on the East Side Monday morning, Nov. 27. Video: San Antonio Express-News

Michelle Ramos, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Police Department said the victim, who hasn't been officially identified, was shot inside the home, fled through the window and then died across the street.

"He was able to get out of his house, made it across the street and that was it," said Sgt. Marshall Campbell. "He collapsed. That was it."

Campbell said there were no witnesses to the shooting and police have no suspects.

People in the neighborhood told police they heard some commotion around 12:30 to 1 a.m. at the home where the shooting took place, which Ramos described as a "known location for drug activity and individuals who live high-risk lifestyles."

It is unclear how long the victim's body lay in the yard before he was discovered.

The shooting is the latest in a string of killings that has once again hit the East Side, a sector of the city that regularly flares up with violence. Ramos said the latest group of shootings on the East Side appear to be unconnected.

"We don't believe any of these shootings or murders are related to one another," Ramos said. "We're just having a hard time keeping up."

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
Roy McClure had been gone for days. Calls to his phone had gone to voice mail, his wife wrote in a Thursday Facebook post asking people to let her know if anyone had seen her husband.

Denise McClure learned on the same day that Roy was killed in a hit-and-run crash days earlier, on Nov. 17, seven weeks after he survived the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre.

Roy McClure was in Pahrump in southern Nevada, about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, the day he was killed. He had a fight with a friend and took off about 2 a.m. and was not heard from since, Denise McClure wrote on Facebook.

The crash occurred at Homestead Road and Highway 160 in Pahrump, NBC affiliate KSNV reported. A spokesman for the Nevada Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to a call and email from The Washington Post, but the agency told local media that McClure was walking illegally on the highway when the crash occurred.

Roy McClure left behind not only his wife, but also two sisters, Denise McClure said.

The Washington Post was not able to immediately reach McClure on Sunday, but she told KSNV that her husband had been attending therapy sessions since the Route 91 Harvest festival massacre.

On that day in October, a gunman on the 32nd floor hotel suite of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino rained down bullets on thousands of concertgoers. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, was found later found dead inside the suite. Nearly 60 people were killed and hundreds were injured. The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in the country's recent history.

Denise McClure said she and her husband were at the concert. As they were escaping from bullets, Roy McClure stopped along the way to help people, she told KSNV.

"Those who knew him know he had his battles but also knew he had a big heart. He was a survivor of the Route 91 shooting, instead of running away he went back in. He helped transport people to the hospital. Roy also loved helping people and would literally give the shirt off his back," Denise McClure wrote on Facebook.

Criminal charges are pending against the driver, KSNV reported. It's unclear why the driver fled or whether alcohol was involved.

"This isn't what I wanted for him," Denise McClure told the TV station. "I don't understand why he wasn't taken at the shooting, but a month later he was taken this way. I hope my husband found peace and he's safe now."

A month before Roy McClure's death, a California couple who also survived the Las Vegas shooting died outside their Southern California home in Murrieta.

Dennis and Lorraine Carver were killed in a fiery crash just before 11 p.m. on Oct. 16.

Dennis Carver was trying to round a curve when the 2010 Mercedes-Benz sedan he was driving veered off the roadway and into a grassy area, said Officer William Strom, a traffic officer for the California Highway Patrol. The car crashed into a metal intercom speaker. Its back struck a brick column that was part of a fence; the impact ripped the car's rear axle and ruptured the gas tank, Strom said. The car struck another brick column, rolled onto its side and caught fire.

Strom said the couple died immediately. Police do not suspect foul play.

The couple, who lived part-time in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, left behind two daughters, ages 20 and 16.

lasvegas-survivor
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are seriously considering several last-minute changes to their tax legislation in an effort to mollify wavering members, four people familiar with the discussions said, as GOP leaders seek to keep their members from defecting ahead of crucial votes this week.

The lawmakers attracting the most concern from leadership and the White House are Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., who say the current version of the bill favors corporations over other businesses.

There are numerous members demanding changes, and their needs don't all overlap. Together, the requests put Republican leaders in a difficult position, as they attempt to accommodate individual holdouts on a one-off basis without losing other members or creating a situation in which the bill collapses under the weight of disparate demands.

Adding to the leaders' difficulty, the total size of the tax plan cannot be more than $1.5 trillion over a decade, so adding new benefits could force Republicans to find ways to raise additional revenue. Presently, they only have roughly $80 billion in wiggle room to use, a small sum because many of the changes would be spread out over 10 years.

The four people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal discussions.

Johnson and Daines want changes to the bill they believe would help certain companies that file through the individual income tax code. These companies, often known as "pass-throughs," can be small businesses but also include larger firms with many employees. There are millions of such companies in the United States, and they account for the bulk of U.S. firms.

Currently, in the Senate bill, these companies are allowed to deduct 17.4 percent of their income from their tax liability. Negotiators are looking at expanding that credit up to about 20 percent, two of the people said.

It's unclear if Johnson would accept these changes as sufficient, and a final decision hasn't been made. If Republican leaders believe Johnson's demands have become too unreasonable, they could try and forge ahead without his vote.

Spokesmen for Johnson and Daines didn't have an immediate comment on the discussions.

There are 52 Republicans in the 100-seat Senate, and GOP leaders can only afford to lose two votes if they want to pass their bill because Democrats are expected to unite in opposition against it. Typically, tax bills require 60 votes in order to clear procedural hurdles, but Republicans are trying to pass the package through a process known as "reconciliation" that only requires a majority of votes.

At least six GOP members have raised concerns about specific provisions in the GOP tax bill, though none has flatly said they plan to vote against it this week. Johnson came closest, saying he opposed the measure but later suggesting he could support it with changes.

Senate Republicans have received criticism because their tax plan does not allow individuals, families, and pass-through companies to deduct their state and local taxes from their taxable income. The tax plan does allow firms that pay corporate income taxes to deduct their state and local taxes.

To create more parity, negotiators are considering putting new curbs on the ability of corporations to deduct state and local taxes from their income. The money this change frees up could be used for other tax benefits for companies.

Senate Republicans are also seriously considering a change requested by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, which would allow Americans to deduct $10,000 in local property taxes from their taxable income. This provision was in a bill that passed the House of Representatives, but it is not in the Senate bill. Though Collins has voiced the most concerns about its absence, other members have quietly said they also want the change to be made.

Making this change could cost more than $100 billion over 10 years and would probably require Republicans to find new money to offset it.

The changes could be made - or attempted to be made - over the course of the week.

Voting on the tax measure is scheduled to begin Tuesday, as the Senate Budget Committee plans to take a procedural step that afternoon that would effectively send the tax bill to the Senate floor. But Johnson is on the budget panel, and he could demand changes by Tuesday in order to win his vote. If he blocks the tax bill in the Budget Committee and is joined by Sen. Bob Corker, (R-Tenn.), who has raised separate concerns, the package could quickly die.

The tax package is a combination of changes for companies and individuals that would lower rates in a way Republicans say would lead to more growth and hiring. But Democrats have said the tax changes are uneven, offering long-term benefits for companies and the wealthy and temporary tax cuts for individuals and families. It would add between $1.4 trillion and $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years, budget forecasters have said, though Democrats and Republicans differ over how much economic growth the plan would trigger.
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WASHINGTON  More than a decade ago, Congressman Al Green had a "romantic encounter" with a former aide in Houston, which later led to an allegation of sexual assault and talk of lawsuits and employee discrimination.

As quickly as the incident popped up, it quieted down again in a 2008 agreement between the two.

Resolved or not, the episode was back in the news Monday as Green put out a statement explaining that he and the woman, Lucinda Daniels, are "consenting friends" and "regret [their] former claims"  and that there was no payment ever made in the case.

Now Playing: Rep. Al Green announces a very special / early Christmas gift for those in favor of impeachment! Video: NowThis News

"In the present climate, we wish to jointly quiet any curious minds about our former and present relationship with one another," Green and Daniels said in a joint statement, which Green signed in trademark green ink. "We are friends, and have long been friends. At an unfortunate time in our lives, when both of our feelings were hurt, we hastily made allegations against one another that have been absolutely resolved."

The statement came amid heightened sensitivities about sexual harassment and misbehavior in Congress, following high-profile accusations of harassment against business and media celebrities.

Hours before Green's office sent out the statement unbidden, Minnesota Democrat Al Franken publicly apologized outside his Senate office for past harassment allegations involving two different women.

It also came days after Michigan U.S. Rep. John Conyers agreed to step down as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee over allegations of sexual harassment, and less than a week after Texas U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, a Dallas-area Republican, apologized for a nude photo he admitted sending to a woman with whom he was having an extra-marital affair two years ago.

Another Texas congressman, Blake Farenthold, faced sexual harassment allegations in 2014 brought by a fired former staffer. The Corpus Christi Republican denied any wrongdoing and the case was settled out of court.

The full House is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution requiring all members and their staffs to complete a program of training in workplace rights and responsibilities.

An aide said Green, 70, simply wanted to clear the air in light of recent attacks on conservative social media and news sites  principally the One America News Network  in the month since he introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

One America posted a three-minute report on Oct. 19 covering Green's long-forgotten case, titled "Democrat Rep. Al Green's secret sexual assault allegation." Among the viewer comments was one suggesting Green should be "lynched and left hanging in the woods as 'strange fruit,'" an echo of the death threats Green received over his impeachment move.

Like Conyers, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Green is African-American.

The aide said the decade-old allegations did not involve Green's congressional office nor the taxpayer-funded Office of House Employment Counsel. Nor were they secret.

Green publicly withdrew a lawsuit in December 2008 that he had filed three months earlier asking a federal judge to find that he never discriminated against Daniels, the former director of his Houston office.

Ben Hall, an attorney representing Green, asked that the case be dismissed because Daniels had signed a written agreement dropping all claims against congressman without payment or promise of money. Green and Daniels also released a public statement at the time saying they had "resolved their respective disputes" and "wish each other well."

Green's lawsuit had alleged that Daniels was threatening to sue him for workplace discrimination if he didn't pay her.

But Daniels' never filed the suit. In late October of that year, days before Green faced an election in southwest Houston's Ninth District, her attorney, Chip Lewis, called but then cancelled a news conference to talk about the congressman.

A spokesman for Green, who was first elected in 2004, acknowledged at the time that Green and Daniels had a "romantic encounter" at her home in May, 2007. But Green denied any claims of sexual assault.

Neither Green nor Daniels were giving interviews Monday. In their joint statement, they said that "as friends, we have both agreed that we see no need to make further statements regarding this absolutely resolved matter."
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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AKRON, Ohio - The Akron Symphony Orchestra will host "Home for the Holidays with Helen Welch" Dec. 8 at the University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall.

The performance, which begins at 7:30 p.m., features holiday favorites, inspirational songs and traditional carols performed by Welch and the Akron Symphony Orchestra.

A critically acclaimed vocalist, Welch has performed at venues both locally and throughout the world, according to a news release.

The concert also features a winter carnival in the lobby, with an appearance and photo opportunity with Elsa of "Frozen," crafts, performances from the Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Royal Ringers and the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School Choir and a visit from Santa. The carnival begins at 6 p.m. and admission is included in the ticket price.

Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased at www.akronsymphony.org or by calling 330-535-8131. Tickets will also be available at the door before the performance, if available.

An after-party featuring drink specials and live music will take place following the concert at Jilly's Music Room, 111 N. Main St., Akron.

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BEDFORD, Ohio -- Xellia Pharmaceuticals, the Danish company that took over the former Ben Venue Laboratories complex in Bedford two years ago, is hiring 70 employees as it prepares to begin manufacturing in 2018.

Xellia expects to hold an invitation-only hiring event Dec. 13 to fill openings for mechanics and operators at the facility, where the company will produce sterile injectable drugs. Prospective candidates must apply online. Xellia will contact the applicants the company wants to interview in person. For details, visit http://bit.ly/2A549wU.

Niels Lynge Agerbaek, the plant's general manager, said the company prefers people with experience in the field; however, candidates with transferable skills, such as past employment packaging food into sterile containers, also could be a fit.

"If you don't have any pharmaceutical operations experience, but maybe you have an aseptic experience from the food industry, or if you have manufacturing experience, we are going to take that into consideration," Agerbaek said.

Though Xellia is targeting a limited array of workers now, the company could make additional hires, in engineering, quality assurance and supply-chain functions, during the next few months.

A global business headquartered in Copenhagen, Xellia specializes in anti-infective treatments. The company began hiring in Bedford about a year ago, after getting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start packaging and distribution operations at the former Ben Venue labs, which ceased operations in 2013. So far, the company has hired 130 people to work in its laboratories and its warehouse and distribution center.

Xellia still needs FDA approval to manufacture here. Most of the products being packaged and distributed in Bedford come from the company's European facilities. Agerbaek said the Xellia is on schedule to receive FDA approval in 2018.

"A huge amount of renovation has been going on. We're operating with upgraded equipment and we're getting all the paperwork together to make sure we are in compliance to pass inspection," he said.

"We have been having a very close dialogue with the FDA," Agerbaek added, noting that the agency performed a pre-inspection during the summer in preparation for the final inspection next year.

Xellia Pharmaceuticals on Northfield Road in Bedford.

The company anticipates growing to 200 workers in Bedford next year, at a facility where Ben Venue employed about 1,100 people just a few years ago.

"We have future plans for the site, but they are still under development," Agerbaek said.

Bedford City Manager Michael Mallis will be delighted if Xellia surpasses that 200-employee mark. He considers it promising that the company has made Bedford the center of its U.S. distribution operation.

"They were very up front with us with both their short-term and their larger goals," Mallis said of Xellia. "They're calling Bedford home.

"At the end of the day, they're making a major commitment to development, a major commitment to manufacturing and a major commitment to job creation in Northeast Ohio," he said. "That is something that we are very, very excited about. It is an honor to call them a corporate partner. We're thrilled."
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Creation of a voluntary furlough program and the restoration of money for demolitions are among Cuyahoga County Council's proposed amendments to the 2018-2019 budget.

Other proposed changes to Executive Armond Budish's budget include keeping MetroHealth as the medical provider at the county jail, not outsourcing food service at the jail and providing more money for the public defender's office and juvenile court.

Council agreed with Budish and did not increase the budget for the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services board to address the opioid crisis.

But council added funds for two new programs:

$50,000 a year to the Spanish American Committee to provide services to Puerto Ricans who have relocated following Hurricane Maria.

$40,000 in 2018 for a pilot drug awareness and prevention program in the Parma School District, at the request of the Medical Examiner's office.

Council found money to add or reinstate programs through several measures, including reducing a contingency fund by $2 million each of the two years and reducing the economic development fund by $1.5 million a year which would be covered by expected higher repayments of outstanding loans.

Council approved the amendments and is expected to approve the final budget at its Dec. 12 meeting.

See the proposed changes below or click here if on a mobile device.

Here are the highlights:

A 10-day voluntary furlough program in 2018 and 2019: The county had a mandatory five-day furlough program in 2010 and 2011. A voluntary program in 2012 and 2013 saved about $1 million a year. The budget estimates the program would save $500,000 a year, which could be conservative.

Restore funds for the demolition program: The move would involve using this year's $8 million balance in 2018 and add $9 million in 2019.

Retain MetroHealth: Council members said they would rather maintain their strong relationship with the MetroHealth System than save $1.5 million a year by changing medical providers at the county jail.

Homeless services: Provide more funds for the county's homeless, primarily focusing on the Norma Herr Women's Center, where concerns have been raised about crowding, lack of services, poor food and inattentive staff. The program, currently run by FrontLine Service, will be operated by the YWCA beginning in May.

Fine imposed for not registering rental properties: The proposed fine would be $50 instead of the $150 suggested by administrators.

Senior and adult services: Provide $300,000 in 2019 for a proposed faith-based program to work with seniors.

Juvenile Court: Provide a total of $4.8 million from the general fund and tax revenues from health and human services levies for 2018 at the request of Administrative Judge Kristin Sweeney, but work to adjust the funding for 2019.

Public Defender's Office: Add $1.3 million a year. Public Defender Mark Stanton made an impassioned plea to council for more staff, technology, training and publications.

Internal Auditor and Inspector General: Provide $300,000 a year to hire three employees for the two independent investigative offices.

Department of Development: Eliminate five of six proposed positions.

Information Technology Department: Reduce personnel costs by $1.1 million a year.

Enterprise Resource Planning Department: Freeze hiring until a consultant determines appropriate staffing.

This story has been corrected. The YWCA will take over operations of the women's shelter.
America went and did it: We put a troll in charge of the country. And surprise! Things are not working out well. But to be fair, this isn't the first time. See, four score and however many more you need to add to make it 156 years ago, there was another smack-talking, shit-stirring prankster jackass leading the country. That man was Abraham Lincoln. He was America's first, and greatest, President Troll.

6 Lincoln Opened The Emancipation Proclamation With A Comedy Routine

The Emancipation Proclamation is one of Lincoln's greatest accomplishments, second only to actually pulling off a stovepipe hat. The executive order is best-known for freeing countless enslaved human beings, so that's neat, but the whole thing was rather unprecedented from start to finish. Lincoln drafted the order himself, and then presented it to his Cabinet as something he had already decided to do. That's the 19th-century equivalent of announcing major military policy changes over Twitter. Aware of the bomb he was about to drop, Lincoln kicked it all off with an opening monologue. A ... comedic opening monologue.

To the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln called his Cabinet together for a monumental, history-changing meeting, but first he made them sit through a comedy routine. It was a story titled "A High-Handed Outrage in Utica," by Artemus Ward, a popular 19th-century humorist. An excerpt:

"What under the son are you abowt?" cried I.

Sez he, "What did you bring this pussylanermus cuss here fur?" & he hit the wax figger another tremenjus blow on the hed.
Cloud News

CRN Exclusive: Nexla Unleashes Data Store Support For Amazon Athena, Redshift

Gina Narcisi

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Nexla, a data operations provider, said at AWS Re:Invent that its platform now supports Apache Parquet, which will let businesses convert data into Parquet for optimized, cost-effective queries in Amazon Athena and Redshift Spectrum. The startup said it is also seeking out more channel partners as demand grows for hybrid networking and multi-cloud solutions.

Founded in 2016, Millbrae, Calif.-based Nexla has developed a data operations platform that uses machine-learning technology to monitor, adapt and securely move data between companies in real time.

Now with Parquet support, Nexla's platform can transform and convert any data source into the open-source column-oriented data store for 45 percent lower query costs on average and 25 times faster query speeds, Jarah Euston, Nexla's co-founder and vice president, told CRN.

[Related: The 10 Coolest Big Data Startups Of 2017 (So Far)]

By supporting Parquet, customers using Amazon Athena or Redshift Spectrum will directly benefit. That's because both big data services base pricing on the amount of data scanned during a query. Converting data into Parquet can give users a significant cost and performance benefit because technology like Parquet ensures that only relevant columns of data are scanned, Euston explained.

"This can dramatically reduce query costs for customers because Amazon Athena doesn't have to query all files," she said.

At the same time, businesses using the Nexla platform don't need a data engineer to integrate third-party data sources or maintain and write ETL scripts, she said.

Nexla's Software-as-a-Service-based platform has an intercompany focus compared with competing data operations vendors, Euston said.

"Businesses more and more often need to integrate with data from partners, whether it's customers, suppliers or other third-party data sources, and a lot of other tools on the market aren't really set up to help integrate with data sources that you can't control," Euston said.

Today, Nexla works with a small group of MSP and ISV partners, but the company is looking to expand its partner program.

"We're still really early stage with developing our channel program partnership, but we see the channel as something that will be very important for us," she said.

For its part, Nexla wants to help businesses and data scientists take advantage of services from players such as Amazon without having to wait in a data engineering queue, Euston said.

"We really want to put the power in the hands of the data-aware business user. What we are able to do with [Amazon] Athena and Parquet is just one example," she added.

Nexla first caught the attention of the industry in March when it won the top prize in the Startup Showcase at the Strata + Hadoop World conference.

In May, the company said it had raised $3.5 million in funding led by Blumberg Capital with participation from Storm Ventures, Engineering Capital and Correlation Ventures.
Data center News

CRN Exclusive: Dell Global Channels President Byrne Moves To Top North America Sales Job; Dell Veteran Taking Global Channel Chief Post

Mark Haranas

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Dell EMC President of Global Channels John Byrne, the hard-charging channel advocate that drove robust partner sales growth during his tenure as channel chief, is taking a new job running Dell's North America commercial sales.

Joyce Mullen, an 18-year Dell veteran who is currently senior vice president of OEM and Internet of Things solutions, is taking on the global channel chief job running Dell's $43 billion global channels business, effective immediately. Her new title is president of global channels, OEM and IoT Solutions.

Byrne, who took the global channel job in July, 2016, is credited by partners with playing a crucial role in integrating Dell's and EMC's partner programs in the wake of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell's $58 billion merger with EMC, the largest tech merger in history. Americas sales accounts for about 50 percent of Dell's annual sales.

[Related: Dell EMC's Cook On New Tier Thresholds, Potential VMware Program Integration, VeloCloud, And Pushing Partners To Go 'All In']

Dell President and Chief Commercial Officer Marius Haas, who oversees both the global channel organization and North America sales, said he and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell made the decision to put Byrne into the sales job to "drive a transformation" in what is the largest and most intensely competitive region for the company. "With the results that John has driven in conjunction with the channel team, this was a slam-dunk, easy decision to make," he said. "This was a no brainer."

As for Mullen, who will now run a combined OEM, IoT and Global Channels organization, Haas called her one of the brightest and talented executives in the company. He said she is an "action-oriented individual" who is a go-to person in the company to get things done.

"She is on it like a pit bull," said Haas. "We are excited that we have this talent in-house, and we are excited about the next phase of the journey we are embarking on."

Byrne said one of his top priorities will be aggressively driving partners to grow Dell storage sales, which experienced a mid-single digit decline in orders in the most recent quarter. "We will aggressively attack the market, gain share, drive improvements and attack services like crazy across all routes to markets. We're going to attack the living daylights out of all things storage from hyper-converged to arrays," said Byrne. "Expect all those foundational things we built in the channel organizations to be a 'rinse and repeat' into the North America organization. It is the biggest region within our partner community. It's the biggest opportunity around the globe."

Mullen, who has played key roles overseeing global strategy, planning and software alliances, said she is looking forward to the "great opportunity" to lead partners into the future. "We have a great foundation. We're going to keep building on that," she told CRN. "There should be no expectation for a change of priorities or a change in how we're thinking about the channel or any of that. We're going to continue to build on the great foundation that John and his team have built."

Under Byrne's leadership, Dell's percentage of sales through partners has increased dramatically to about 55 percent of an anticipated $78.5 billion in sales this year. Before the acquisition of EMC, Dell's channel sales amounted to about 33 percent of its commercial business. What's more, 80 percent of Dell partners are now selling multiple products lines, up considerably since the merger.

Dell CEO Michael Dell told CRN during his appearance at the Best of Breed conference earlier this year that 70 percent of Dell Technologies partners earned higher payouts this year than they did last year.

Mullen has been with Dell since 1999 in various executive positions and has lead the OEM channel partner program that supports thousands of OEM customers since its conception in 2012. She leads a team of sales, operations, engineering, marketing and operational professionals for the multi-billion-dollar division, according to her bio on Dell's website.

"The whole plan for the next several weeks is to just listen to partners and to understand from our team members and our partner community the good, the bad and the ugly," she told CRN. "What do we need to do better? What are we doing well? What is really not working? I am starting with huge ears listening, trying to figure out where we should put our energies and our focus."
Mobility News

Review: Lenovo's Yoga 920 Is A Windows 2-in-1 That Could Lure MacBook Pro Fans

Kyle Alspach

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We'll skip to the bottom line on Lenovo's Yoga 920: It's as good as they come for Windows 2-in-1s this year.

The 13.9-inch convertible notebook has style, performance and some useful extras  along with fixes to flaws that appeared in its predecessor, the Yoga 910.

[Related: Lenovo's New ThinkPad X1 Carbon Is A Highly Portable Workhorse]

The Yoga 920 also has plenty you won't find in Apple's latest MacBook Pro. Our tryout in the CRN Test Center suggests the Yoga 920 may be Lenovo's most serious alternative yet to the MacBook Pro, even as Apple's workhorse laptop sees a resurgence in sales.

For creative professionals that gravitate toward the Apple universe, the Yoga 920 might be tempting for a few reasons.

To start, the laptop works with Lenovo's Active Pen 2, marking the first time a Yoga 900 series laptop supports the digital pen. We found the pen to work smoothly in our tryout for such things as drawing, scribbling notes and highlighting text. The MacBook Pro, of course, doesn't have an option for a touch-screen display and can't offer this sort of functionality to creatives.

While we're talking about the display, the Yoga 920 also has an option for higher resolution than the MacBook Pro  4K/UHD (3,840 x 2,160)--along with an entry-level FHD model. The MacBook Pro, by contrast, offers 2,560 x 1,600 for its 13-inch model and 2,880 x 1,800 for its 15-inch model.

Ultrasharp and bright, the Yoga 920's 4K display is the best we've tried on a Windows laptop this year.

It's also worth noting that the 13.9-inch size continues feeling to us like the ideal size for a laptop display, in terms of providing a good amount of screen space without getting too bulky overall. Creative pros, in particular, may appreciate having more room to work on the Yoga 920 display than they'd get on the Dell XPS 13 or the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Lenovo, of course, pioneered the 2-in-1 notebook with its Yoga product line. And it's clear to us that the company continues to lead the category with the addition of Yoga 920 -- featuring the sturdy, metallic watchband hinge for 360 degrees of display flexibility.

We especially like having the 2-in-1 capability for plane rides and other cramped spaces. It's a real game-changer to be able to fold the screen halfway or all the way back for easier reading or Netflixing on a long flight.

Lenovo delivers a highly appealing design with the aluminum body on the Yoga 920, which was redesigned from past models. Our unit came with the "platinum" (i.e., silver) color, which resembles that of the MacBook Pro color scheme, while the Yoga 920 is also available in bronze.

We should mention here two of the Yoga 910's flaws that Lenovo corrects in the Yoga 920.

The biggest is on the keyboard. With the Yoga 910, we were among the many that observed that the crucial shift key was in a strange place on the right-hand side. What Lenovo had done was reduce the size of the right shift to make room for a larger up arrow key  but for us and others, that just led to constant typing mistakes.

Lenovo includes a mea culpa in its guide for reviewers: "Customer feedback showed that many traditional typists preferred a full-sized shift key as opposed to the larger directional arrow keys." Thus the shift key is back where it belongs on the Yoga 920.

Overall we had a good experience with the keyboard. The keys are not all that deep, so it's not the best laptop keyboard we've ever used, but it's still superior in our view to the shallow MacBook Pro keyboard.

Mea culpa No. 2 is on the camera, which had been located underneath the display on the Yoga 910. In the reviewers' guide, Lenovo notes that this "meant that during videoconferencing, the camera showed a less flattering view." For the 920, the camera is put in its usual place above the display.

As for the internal specs on the Yoga 920, there's little to disappoint. The laptop is one of the first on the market to feature Intel's eighth-gen Core processors, and the performance was ultra-speedy in our tryout, with web pages and applications loading in an instant. Our unit included the Core i7 chip and 16 GB of RAM. Notably, in Intel's eighth-generation chips (aka Kaby Lake R), even the Core i5 processors are quad-core for boosted performance. As the Yoga 920 comes with an option for either eighth-gen Core i5 or i7, even the entry-level model of the laptop will come with a speedy four-core chip.

In the ever-important area of battery life, the Yoga 920 yielded seven hours on a charge for us, with 75 percent brightness and heavy usage. That's a great result for a 4K touch-screen laptop, and the battery life could of course be extended further with the battery saver mode and less touch-screen use.

Cutting back on using the touch screen won't be a huge issue because the touchpad on the Yoga 920 is fantastic -- nearly as good as that of the superb MacBook Pro touchpad. The only disadvantage in comparison is a little bit of latency in Google's Chrome browser, a persistent issue with Windows laptops that isn't a problem in the macOS universe.

On portability, the Yoga 920 weighs the same amount as the 13-inch MacBook Pro  3.02 pounds. So it's not the lightest notebook you'll find, a trade-off for including the premium metal materials.

The Yoga 920 is pretty thin however, at 0.55 of an inch thick, versus the 13-inch MacBook Pro (0.59 of an inch thick) and 15-inch MacBook Pro (0.61 of an inch).

The only significant concern we have with the Yoga 920 is the fan, which typically came on during charging and then stayed on for much of the charging process. It wasn't exactly quiet, either. This was an issue that we'd noticed with the Yoga 910 as well. We wouldn't consider it a deal-breaker with the Yoga 920, though, since you often won't be around when the laptop is charging (we didn't notice it while using the laptop unplugged).

On price, even though it has many features the MacBook Pro doesn't have  such as the convertible touch-screen display, digital pen and eighth-gen Intel processor -- the Yoga 920 is still more affordable. The starting price for the Yoga 920 is $1,200 (with FHD display, eighth-gen Core i5, 8 GB RAM). The entry-level MacBook Pro (with a notably slower seventh-gen Core i5 and 8 GB of RAM) starts at $1,299.

The Yoga 920 with UHD display starts at $1,800 (which also brings eighth-gen Core i7 and 16 GB RAM). By comparison, that's roughly the same price as the 13-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro (which has a seventh-gen Core i5 processor, half the RAM, and a smaller, lower-res non-touch display).

Compared to Apple's latest MacBook Pro, the Yoga 920 offers a lot more value for the money  so long as you're OK going with Windows over macOS.
The Week Ending Sept. 15

At the top of this week's roundup of those having a tough week is Brocade, which will shed hundreds of employees as its acquisition by Broadcom approaches.

Also making the list are Tech Data, for its Hurricane Irma-related difficulties; Google, which lost its channel chief; Kaspersky Lab; for its federal government worries; and Equifax, for its ongoing helplessness following one of the worst data breaches in modern IT history.

Not everyone in the IT industry was having a rough go of it this week. For a rundown of companies that made smart decisions, executed savvy strategic moves  or just had good luck  check out this week's Five Companies That Came To Win roundup.
It's that time of year again. Santa is making his rounds in southwestern Connecticut.

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. According to History.com, "it is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick."
MILFORD  A Bridgeport woman is accused of leaving two children alone in the food court of the Connecticut Post shopping mall on Friday afternoon.

According to the Milford Police Department, officers responded to the mall shortly after 4:15 p.m. Friday on a report of an unattended juvenile. An investigation let to the discovery of Hasenah Alessi, 30, of Golden Hill Street, who allegedly left a 2-year-old and an 8-year-old unattended in the food court while Alessi shopped at Macys.
Contributed / Contributed

DERBY  Mutual Security Credit Union recently donated $1,000 to Griffin Hospitals Valley Goes Pink campaign to help improve breast cancer services in the Lower Naugatuck Valley area.

The donation was collected through the sale of pink bracelets at Mutual Securitys branches. Originally founded in 1954, Mutual Security is now one of the largest state-charted, community-based credit unions in Connecticut.
In this Americas Small-Business Heroes edition of The Fix, Entrepreneur Associate Editor Lydia Belanger shares her conversations with founders and executives who have solved problems while keeping social impact in mind.

Pickles might seem like one of the simplest foods out there, but making them is hard work. McClures Pickles co-founder Joe McClure is no stranger to the arduous labor the process involves. He and his brother and co-founder, Bob, spent their childhoods helping their mom and dad with batches of their great-grandma Lala's recipe, and they used to run McClures production from their respective homes in Michigan and New York when they first started, before they moved their entire operation to their hometown of Detroit and scaled up there.

Still, in spring 2017, McClure had a wake-up call about the strain of making pickles when an employee quit because of it. The man had been responsible for lifting more than 500 40-pound boxes of full jars per day, sometimes moving them from the ground to a height of five feet to place them onto pallets. After three and a half years, he was worn out and in pain from the job.

I took it for granted, McClure says of his employees work, because Im not in that position all day.

Related: These Are the Most Common, and Expensive, Injuries at Work

Despite distributing its products, which include pickles, relish, bloody mary, chips and brine, to more than 4,000 retailers in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, the company has just 33 employees today (plus eight seasonal workers). Many of them have been with the company for years. When someone quits -- and fewer than five people have done so due to injury over the course of 11 years -- the small team feels the reverberations.

Image credit: McClure's Pickles



In addition to coming to terms with the unfortunate fact that an employee had been injured on the job and that the company would be losing a valued team member, McClure also was faced with hiring someone to do the same strenuous job.

This moment changed how McClure thought about not only the people running his operation, but also the machines.

The fix

All of the cucumber slicing, jar-filling and lid twisting that goes into pickle making takes its toll on the body. To combat this, the 11-year-old company has added machines to assist with some of that work over the years, with the goal of scaling the operation and while also minimizing tedious, sometimes dangerous tasks.

First, McClures added a machine, back in 2009, to add labels to its jars. Before this, McClure says, three to four employees would spend afternoons hand-labeling them and stamping each with a batch code. This created a huge bottleneck of jars waiting for the finishing touches before they could be shipped, and the company often couldnt get orders out the door on time for this reason.

In 2010, the company purchased its first slicing machine. For the first four years, employees had sliced all pickles by hand, and while no fingers were lost, McClure says, time was.

It was hard to prep and cut enough cucumbers for the demand that we had, McClure says. Our hours would get longer and longer, we werent fulfilling our ecommerce orders and customers would get upset. Although adding a slicing machine dramatically reduced cuts and injuries, the primary motive for implementing it was to streamline the operation.

McClures later added brine-filling and lid-capping machines as a result of inefficiency, this time more directly due to worker injuries. These processes were previously limited by workers capacities to perform the jobs. The company had to rotate people out every hour throughout their six-hour shifts, assigning them to a different workstation in the facility while they recovered from the repetitive tasks of twisting lids and pouring heavy pitchers of hot brine. In addition to these forms of automation, the company has a conveyor to move jars from station to station.

Image credit: McClure's Pickles



The next piece, though, will be McClures first robot, which the company expects will be working by January. Its a robotic arm that will help with the box-lifting job. McClure did some research when his employee quit and came upon this solution. He says he hopes to learn how to program it, then teach employees to do so. That way, McClures wont replace a human with a robot -- just a physically demanding job with a cognitively demanding one.

Related: Here's How This Company Is Adding Robots But Also Keeping Its Workers

The results

Remember the employee who quit six months ago because his back hurt? Well, McClure reached out to him, told him about the robot, as well as the opportunity to program it, and he told the company hed love to give it a shot. Now, hes back on board.

Automation has increased output for McClures without decreasing jobs, despite the fact that many people associate robots with job-stealing. When the company had just five employees and no automation in 2006, it produced 600 units of product per day. In 2010, with 20 employees and 20 percent of its facility automated, it was churning out 2,000 units a day, and today, with the robot still pending, McClures operations are 60 percent automated, and about 41 employees (including seasonal) produce 6,500 units a day.

Thanks to machinery thats made production more efficient, as well as the longtime employees who have worked alongside it, the companys sales have grown between 10 and 20 percent annually since its founding in 2006.

McClure adds, above all, when the box-lifter temporarily resigned, a lightbulb went off for him. It taught him the importance of listening to his employees and what their experience is like day in and day out.

We have more frequent and regular meetings and a very open-dialogue environment, a roundtable with not only the managers, but a lot of people doing the mundane tasks, McClure says. Issues that have come up include shift start and end times, sanitation concerns and equipment malfunctions.

Image credit: McClure's Pickles



Sometimes, they might even launch a brainstorm about how to speed up an aspect of the production process. The people doing it know the frustrations and can figure it out better than me sitting from afar, McClure says, and with automation, he foresees hiring more workers that will be able to spend more time thinking about process efficiency than doing the labor itself.

He also says that his employees tell him they feel encouraged by improvements such as tools that make their jobs easier.

If we stayed kind of stagnant and static, I think we would've lost a lot more people, because they wouldnt have seen us changing, McClure says. We are a fairly rapidly changing company, and I think that helps retain a lot of the key associates. A lot of people on the production side have been here since we started the company.

Image credit: McClure's Pickles

In line with this thinking, the company has room for improvement. McClure notes the problem of a bottleneck of products as automation makes some parts of the assembly line more efficient than others. He says the company tries to minimize this, as well as out-of-stock issues, but they still happen. Thats part of the reason its brought on seasonal workers.

To get where we want to go in the next five to 10 years, more and more automation needs to come on, McClure says. Its kind of a double-edged sword: Well never be able to grow without automation, and growth means hiring more people.

Another take

From a safety standpoint, robots are one of many solutions that have the potential to minimize worker injuries. U.S. companies spend $170 billion a year on costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

However, companies planning to add new machinery or even processes to boost efficiency, safety or both should keep in mind that these might come with new risks, says John Dony, who serves as director of environmental, health, safety and sustainability at the nonprofit National Safety Council (the organization responsible for the Click It or Ticket seatbelt campaign in the 1970s), as well as director of the Campbell Institute within the Council.

You often introduce some new risks and hazards when you bring in a piece of equipment, he says. Youve got moving parts, youve got things that are rotating, youve got heavy arms that are manipulating things. So you always have to be cautious that youre not removing one set of hazards and introducing a worse set. Thats very often not the case, but you do have to control for all of those sorts of things.

Similarly, Dony says, a company opens the door to safety hazards whenever it redesigns, disrupts or adds a process. Those managing the change should look from the start to the end point of the workflow to identify and prevent problems.

If a company is adding a machine, Dony notes, it should be careful not to over-rely on it. In warehousing, I think a lot of organizations in the logistics space have really aggressive goals and targets for the individuals that work those jobs, because theres so much help from automation, Dony says. That leads to issues that arent directly physical, like stress and anxiety. He explains that in the last five to 10 years, hes noticed a trend reshaping how people approach workplace safety to account for these factors, and that Germany has recently began enforcing a limit on the quantified level of stress employers can put employees under.

Estimates for return on business investments toward safety vary widely, Dony has found in his 10 years with the Council, in terms of money these efforts save businesses in medical and insurance costs, worker absences due to injury and worker turnover and retraining. Plus, its even more difficult to quantify the ROI of company morale and reputation when incidents are minimized. He says someone asks him a question related to the costs of safety breaches nearly every day.

Despite the research thats been done on it, despite the fact that people can feel it in their guts, its still something that feels like it needs to be justified, Dony says. Most mature organizations are balancing out that lagging look with leading indicators of, How can we prevent the next incident from happening? and What data is going to tell us, This is where were going to see a problem?

Related video: 7 Mistakes Sales Managers Make That Cost Them Time, Money and Employees

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While moms all over the world face a whole host of struggles when it comes to the workplace, this office is actually rewarding them.

Bumble - the ladies first dating app launched by ex-Tinder founder Whitney Wolfe - has just opened its shiny new headquarters in Austin, Texas, and Femail got an inside look into what is probably the most women-friendly office in existence.

Here, there is no such thing as a 9-5 working day, free blowouts and manicures are among the perks, its equipped with a Mommy Bar for nursing, and every new mother is gifted a $1,000 breast pump voucher when they give birth.

Dream office: Bumble's new headquarters in Austin, Texas, is focused on its female employees - and includes a salon and a nursing room

Lifting spirits: Every mother at the company is given a $1,000 breast pump voucher when they give birth

An open space: The company's founder, Whitney Wolfe, co-founded the company two years ago, eager to create a dating app that gave women the control over conversations

Whitney, a 27-year-old Austin native who just graced the cover of Forbes 30 Under 30 issue, recently moved with her team of 70, of which only six are men, into a large new office space that they have dubbed The Hive.

The move comes just a few years after Whitney launched Bumble - which now boasts more than 24 million users and is rumored to be valued at $1billion - back in 2014, after leaving rival dating app Tinder.

Whitney co-founded the original matchmaking service two years prior, but quit over claims of sexual harassment, suing the company, and using text message conversations with her co-founder - and then-boyfriend - Justin Mateen as evidence.

In her lawsuit, she stated that Tinder removed her title as co-founder after she broke up with Justin, and Whitney's suit also targeted Tinder CEO Sean Rad, who allegedly heard Mr Mateen call Whitney a 'w****' and did nothing.

She isnt allowed to discuss the case for legal reasons, but settled out of court and went on to set up Bumble, which works the same way as Tinder, except that only women can initiate a new chat with a match.

Bumble also recently launched a professional networking function to its app called Bizz, a similar swipe-based offering to rival LinkedIn that hopes to combat sexual harassment and inequality in the workplace by letting only women initiate a conversation. Supermodel Karlie Kloss is a their ambassador.

Bright and bold: The colorful space is called the 'Hive'

Pun-tastic: It is also full of bee-themed phrases that link with the name of the company - even in the bathroom

Fun and games: Bumble's office space even comes equipped with its own claw machine that is full of fun prizes for employees to win

And you can find echoes of this forward-thinking attitude everywhere you look at the new Texas Hive. Make the first move is emblazoned on the wall in huge neon yellow capitals - the first thing you see as you enter the building.

I had a personal pain point with female-to-male connecting, Whitney told Femail, discussing why she started Bumble in the first place.

Entrepreneur: Whitney, 27, founded Bumble after leaving Tinder amid accusations of sexual harassment

I always felt it was a disadvantage to me and to women in general. I wanted to be able to text a man first, if I wanted to, or pay for dinner. Basically, I wanted to feel empowered, and for others to as well.

All the light switches in this Willy Wonka-esque office space have a different motto inscribed onto them, like Hustle, Bee creative and Breathe. Bee kind is a motto that appears on almost every wall.

Equality and kindness, she explains, are Bumbles core values. We actively exclude mean people, both when it comes to hiring within the company, and the people who use the app. Users who dont play by the rules, she says, are swiftly punished or simply blocked.

The Mommy Bar, though, is perhaps the Hives most stand-out feature.

Its a private lactation space for our nursing mamas, she explains. We've been known to have employee's children frequent the office during team events, or when theyre simply under the weather.

Changing perceptions: The office space is intended to be a welcoming environment, for both employees and their children

Empowering: All the light switches in this Willy Wonka-esque office space have a different motto inscribed onto them, like Hustle, Bee creative and Breathe

Celebration: Bumble's new space opened earlier this year to much fanfare and excitement

This spacious room also functions as an on-site salon, its walls lined with softly-lit mirrors and beauty facilities.

We provide free blowouts, hair trims, and manicures every other week to show appreciation for our busy bees, Whitney informs us.

Theres no strict nine-to-five, so long as the work gets done, and the holiday program includes a remote-working week over Christmas.

Dogs are welcome, of course, and theres a full bar, locally-sourced healthy lunches, with beer and kombucha (whichever you are partial to) on tap.

Dress code? There is none. I don't believe there is a correlation between what you wear and how successful or how dedicated of an employee you are, Whitney says. What matters is what makes you feel comfortable and confident.

All in all, its a pretty appealing offering. Want in? Whitney has committed to hiring ten new employees sourced through the apps new function, Bizz. On the condition, of course, that you make the first move.
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Meghan Markle will be marrying into the world's most famous family and be able to call the Queen her grandmother-in-law and the future King, Prince George, her nephew.

But Meghan, 36, isn't the only one to be embracing a new family, with Prince Harry gaining a set of in-laws in the form of the Markle family.

Harry, 33, has already met Doria, most notably at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September, but it is unclear whether any of his fiance's other relatives have been introduced.

A far-cry from the Middleton millionaire entrepreneurs that Prince William calls in-laws, it is fair to say that Meghan's is one of the more unconventional families to be linked to the royals.

From the lottery-winning father who helped to fund Meghan's acting career to the estranged half-sister convinced she won't receive an invite to the wedding, FEMAIL introduced Prince Harry's in-laws.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured at the Invictus Games) announced their engagement on Friday after dating for over a year. Here we reveal what Harry can expect from his in-laws

MOTHER - DORIA RAGLAND

As the only known member of Meghan's family to meet the prince, Doria Ragland has already had an introduction to her daughter's royal romance.

But while the 61-year-old has seen glimpses of the showbiz lifestyle, joining her daughter on the red carpet of premiers, Doria came from humble beginnings.

Like many African Americans, her distant ancestors were slaves. Put to work in the Deep South plantations, her great-great-great-great grandfather was freed after the Abolition in 1865. When he was permitted to choose a new name to mark his emancipation he called himself Wisdom.

Her forebears then strove to improve their station, such that Miss Raglands father, Alvin, became a prosperous antiques dealer. A larger-than-life character with a fondness for fancy cars and pretty women, his fortunes fluctuated, but at one time he ran a string of shops in Los Angeles.

Meghan has listed her mother Doria Ragland (pictured with her daughter) as an inspiration, as well as a ' beautiful woman'

Meghan's mother went back to university as a mature student and earned a masters degree in social work

Doria has already been introduced to her daughter's fiance, having met Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in September

It is believed he had two daughters, but if so, Meghans maternal aunt has not yet been traced.

Dorias father, Alvin, ran an antiques shop and her mother was a nurse. The modest family home was in a black middle-class area of Los Angeles.

After leaving school, Doria worked as an air stewardess, then as a make-up artist, which is how she met Meghan's father.

Doria at the age of 16 when attending the Fairfax High School in Los Angeles

At the age of 23, Doria met Thomas Markle, a handsome Hollywood lighting director 12 years her senior.

Meghan has previously said of their romance: I like to think he was drawn to her sweet eyes and her afro plus their shared love of antiques. Whatever it was, they married and had me.

The pair married in 1979. And two years later their beloved only daughter Meghan was born.

Suits star Meghan credits her remarkable parents for her success in life. She has talked about growing up in a bi-racial family and embracing her heritage.

Though they divorced in 1987, when Meghan was just six, Tom and Doria remained friends.

Meghan calls her mother, who went back to university as a mature student and earned a masters degree in social work, her inspiration. On Mothers Day last year she posted a picture of Doria on Instagram, writing: Always proud of this beautiful woman.

A few years ago, Meghans mother was struggling to make ends meet, with her credit cards seriously overdrawn. She then filed for bankruptcy, declaring debts of $42,900 against assets of just over $17,000.

Admirably, however, she reinvented herself as a yoga therapist, working for a respected Los Angeles charity, specialising in helping people who had suffered brain injuries. She now lives in Crenshaw.

FATHER - TOM MARKLE

While the Middletons have been happily married with three children for several decades, Megan's father, Thomas Markle, doesn't have quite the same history. When he met Meghan's mother, he was a 39-year-old divorcee with two children.

Tom, who is now a retired 73-year-old living in Mexico, attended Newport High School in the working-class town of Newport, Pennsylvania.

Thomas Markle was 39-years-old and divorced with two children when he met Meghan's mother, Doria. Pictured: Tom with Meghan (right) at the age of 11. Meghan's nephew, Tyler Dooley, is on his lap

The former lighting director has a passion for performance and when he won a large sum on the lottery he helped to fund Meghan's ambition as an actress - the pair are pictured together

He was heavily involved in school plays and is listed as a member of the drama club, choir and journalism club. In the caption next to his photo, he lists his interests as old cars, hunting and reading, before adding the catchphrase: The show must go on!

The 6ft 4in man was already a success in Hollywood, working as a lighting director on hit US television shows when he met Doria, who was working as a makeup artist, on set.

A picture of Tom taken from his high school year book

He married Doria in 1979 and Meghan, his youngest child, was born two years later.

Tom was earning good money, about $200,000 a year, when Meghan was in junior school.

With his passion for performing, Tom was happy to support Meghan's ambitions sending her to Hollywood's private Little Red Schoolhouse, whose old students include Elizabeth Taylor.

He and Doria split in 1987 when Meghan was six but the family, including Meghan's two half-siblings Samantha and Tom, stayed close.

In 1990 Tom, scooped $750,000 (around 565,000) in a lottery when Meghan was nine  a secret windfall that helped her to pursue dreams of fame and stardom with the 'laser focus' that has taken her to the top.

According to Meghan's step-brother, Tom Jnr, the money helped send Meghan to the $16,000-a-year Immaculate Heart Catholic School, one of LA's finest, followed by Northwestern University where she studied drama: 'Meg won scholarships to other universities but she wanted to go to Northwestern so she did,' her brother adds.

Yet last year, Tom Snr declared bankruptcy, which his son blames on the poor investments made by a business partner.

HALF - BROTHER - TOM MARKLE JNR

Tom Markle Jnr, 51, is the half-brother of the US actress and his life is a far cry from that of his 36-year-old sibling.

Living in his hometown of Grant's Pass, Oregon, Tom works as a window fitter and lives in a modest rented cottage with his fiancee, Darlene, 36.

Tom and his sister Samantha, 53, are the product of Tom Snr marriage to Roslyn, whom he met in 1964 after moving from his native Pennsylvania to Chicago to work as a lighting director for a local television station.

The family moved into a bungalow in the middle-class Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles: 'Dad was a workaholic,' Tom recalled in an interview with the Daily Mail earlier this year.

Tom Markle Jnr, 51, is the half-brother of the US actress and says that he is estranged from his sister but says there was no 'big falling out'

'Like Meghan, he has an incredible work ethic. Emotionally he's shy and can be cut off. He had a room which was locked that no one could enter. He needed private space. He says little, but was besotted by Meg.'

Tom proudly watched his sister work her way up the Hollywood ranks, with a role in the TV detective show Castle in which she played a killer who dressed as Sleeping Beauty.

Tom says he and Meghan drifted apart after 2011, the year their paternal grandmother, Dorothy, died and Meghan went to Toronto to start work on Suits.

But he says: 'There was no big falling out. Suits took her to a whole other level of fame. She got new friends, mixed in fancy circles. I was married and living my life. We stopped being close.'

Tom says the family remains estranged from Samantha, who is writing a tell-all book Diary Of A Pushy Princess. Last year Tom was arrested after a drunken altercation with his fiancee. However, two charges against Tom Markle Jr were dismissed.

HALF-SISTER - SAMANTHA GRANT

The estranged half-sister of Meghan, Samantha Grant, has easily been the most vocal member of the actress' family since her royal romance to Prince Harry was announced a year ago.

Samantha was born in 1964 and her brother, Tom Jnr, arrived two years later.

Samantha 52, admits she hadn't spoken to Meghan for some years but denies a rift and has confessed to writing 'tell all' book Diary Of A Princess Pushy.

The estranged half-sister of Meghan, Samantha Grant, has easily been the most vocal member of the actress' family

Samantha has previously criticised her sibling for not reaching out to her when she was diagnosed with Grant's MS and says that she doesn't expect an invite to the wedding

Grant has previously criticised her famous sibling for allegedly not contacting her after she was diagnosed with the serious illness.

She said divorcee Meghan, 36, who has been dating Prince Harry since last summer, hadn't been in touch for nine years despite knowing about Grant's MS diagnosis.

In April, she told the Australian radio hosts that she was particularly upset that Meghan hadn't acknowledged her medical condition despite being heavily involved with charities.

Grant offered: 'It's not about the money, it's more about general consideration and support.'

She added: 'Humanitarianism begins at home. That doesn't mean monetary, it means reaching out.'

Continuing, she said: 'I am in a wheelchair and she did meet Harry at the Invictus Games. I felt like it was an opportunity to be a voice and bring a lot of awareness to it [disability].'

She also previously gushed about how 'lovely' her sister is, how much she'll bring to her role within the royal family and how she won't be offended if she doesn't score an invite to Meghan and Harry's wedding.
It is a show that delves into the most personal aspects of his marriage and private life, but it appears Prince Philip has very little interest in watching The Crown.

The Duke of Edinburgh reportedly told a dinner party guest, 'don't be ridiculous' when he asked the royal whether he had ever watched the hit Netflix show.

Speaking to The Observer, actor Matt Smith, who plays Philip in the series, recalled how a friend of his had attended an event hosted by the Queen and Prince Philip and received the typically feisty response when he worked up the courage to ask.

Prince Philip referred to The Crown as the 'Crown thing' and said it was 'ridiculous' to suggest that he'd watched it after he was questioned by a guest at a dinner party

Matt Smith plays the Duke of Edinburgh in the Netflix series, and called the royal a 'cool cat'. He revealed it was his friend who had asked Philip about whether he had watched the show

According to Smith, Philip also refers to the drama as the 'Crown thing'.

Smith said a friend of his in the film industry had been dining with the royal couple when Philip brought up the matter of The Crown, asking: 'Are you involved in this... Crown thing?'

The friend, who was not named, explained that he wasn't but could not resist asking the duke about his views on the show later in the evening.

Smith explained that his friend asked Philip if he or the Queen had seen it, prompting the royal to 'glower' and respond: 'Don't. Be. Ridiculous.'

But the actor, who will stand down as the Duke of Edinburgh after the second season, appeared undeterred by the dismissal and said he still admires the duke.

The series delves into the intimate details of the royal couple's private life. Pictured Matt Smith and Claire Foy as the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen in The Crown

The new season is already causing controversy by reigniting rumours of Prince Philip's supposed roving eye

He added: 'Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but I just think he's a bit of a cool cat.'

While The Crown has been showered with critical praise, it has also stirred up much controversy, by reigniting rumours of Prince Philip's supposed roving eye.

The trailer for the new season sees the Queen say: 'I have learnt more about humiliation in the past few weeks than I hoped I would in a lifetime,' and according to the show's creator, Peter Morgan, season two features 'a lot more' of the suggestion that her husband was sometimes distracted.

The Queen and Prince Philip are seen posing in a new set of three photos released by Buckingham Palace to mark their 70th wedding anniversary

Certainly it does nothing to dispel the reputation of the Prince as a seasoned flirt  with Jodi Balfour's Jackie Kennedy playing a pivotal, and receptive, role.

'The Queen and Jackie don't get off to a good start in the series because of Philip,' Balfour told Event magazine.

'The Prince is just a flirt [with her] and I don't think there's any intention behind it, but he's going through a phase of liking a lot of women, as is [her husband] JFK.'

The series returns to Netflix on December 8.
If the thought of a big, white wedding that costs thousands of dollars fills you with dread, you're not alone.

In fact, the microwedding is the latest buzzword in nuptials - with couples seeking more laid-back, minimalist and crucially, less expensive affairs.

'Microweddings are that nice, happy medium between a secret elopement with just the two of you and a bigger, more traditional affair,' the editor of popular Australian wedding blog, Polka Dot Bride, Dorothy Polka, told FEMAIL.

'The microwedding allows you to keep things small and pressure-free while still involving your favourite people and the special touches you have dreamed about.'

The microwedding is the latest buzzword in nuptials - with couples seeking more laid-back, minimalist and crucially, less expensive affairs (stock image)

'Microweddings are that nice, happy medium between a secret elopement with just the two of you and a bigger, more traditional affair,' wedding expert, Dorothy Polka, told FEMAIL (pictured: a wedding shot by Just for Love Photography)

'The microwedding allows you to keep things small and pressure-free while still involving your favourite people and the special touches you have dreamed about,' Ms Polka explained (pictured is a wedding shot by Amanda Kilbourn)

The microwedding is basically everything you want in a wedding, but less of the fat and excess trimmings - it might see around 15 guests and cost as little as AUD $5,000 (stock image)

It allows host to prioritise the things they care about in a wedding ceremony and reception, and leave out everything else that is less important (pictured: a wedding shot by Daisy Chain weddings)

So just what is the microwedding?

Australian weddings in 2017 - the costs and breakdown * The average Australian wedding in 2017 costs around AUD $65,000. * The average microwedding costs around $5,000 - $10,000. * For $5,000-$10,000 you can create a much more bespoke package - including floral arrangements, table settings, food and more. * It is all about prioritising what you want to make a big deal in the ceremony, and getting rid of the rest. Advertisement

The microwedding is basically everything you want in a wedding, but less of the fat and excess trimmings.

You might have around 15 guests present, as well as a bespoke experience that everyone present can enjoy and remember.

It allows host to prioritise the things they care about in a wedding ceremony and reception, and leave out everything else.

Typically, microweddings cost as little as AUD $5,000 meaning they are far less expensive than the average Aussie ceremony and reception, which can chime in at $65,000 as an average.

Ms Polka said she's noticed an upturn in couples looking for smaller, more intimate affairs in recent years:

'With couples becoming more and more comfortable creating a wedding that is completely reflective of them, they're comfortable in choosing elements of a wedding that suits their own personalities,' she explained.

Ms Polka said she's noticed an upturn in couples looking for smaller, more intimate affairs in recent years (pictured is a wedding shot by Angus Porter Photography, styling by ELK Prints)

Ms Polka also added that microweddings have countless benefits, insofar as they are a step up from elopements and allow your favourite people to attend (stock image)

Ms Polka also added that microweddings have countless benefits.

They are a step up from elopements and allow your favourite people to attend, and they also allow you to 'choose higher-quality things, like that incredible cake, without all the other expense, or worry and pressure from guests'.

'With such a small guest list, the sky becomes the limit,' Ms Polka added.

'You can choose a registry office ceremony and have a lovely dinner, or find a stunning mountaintop only accessible by helicopter.'

'With such a small guest list, the sky becomes the limit,' Ms Polka added (a picture from Amanda Kilbourn's portfolio)

Speaking about her tips for hosting a microwedding, Ms Polka said it's all about putting in the necessary thought and due consideration to your ceremony (pictured: Amanda Kilbourn's image)

Tips for hosting your own microwedding * Put in the necessary thought about who you are going to invite, and who you are going to leave out. * Consider the post-wedding relationships among your nearest and dearest. Then, set expectations among them beforehand. * Choose what matters most to you, outside of the vows, and let go of the rest of it. * Contact professional suppliers for the individual elements, such as cakes and flowers, which can really set your wedding apart. Advertisement

Speaking about her tips for hosting a microwedding, Ms Polka said it's all about putting in the necessary thought and due consideration.

'The same thought that goes into weddings needs to apply to your immediate family,' she said.

'Will excluding them completely cause ramifications which continue long after the wedding if you're inviting others?'.

With such a small guest list, she said you need to consider the post-wedding relationships among your nearest and dearest.

'Set expectations with family and friends ahead of time to head off upset guests,' she said - adding that you need to explain why you want a smaller wedding.

Again, as with a regular wedding, Ms Polka said you need to 'choose what matters most to you - outside of the obvious vows - and let go of the rest' (pictured: Amanda Kilbourn's images)

Again, as with a regular wedding, Ms Polka said you need to 'choose what matters most to you - outside of the obvious vows - and let go of the rest'.

Whether you dream of an incredible sit-down dinner, a designer gown or beautiful setting, you can have what you want - provided you prioritise.

Ms Polka also recommended contacting professional suppliers 'for individual elements' such as cakes, flowers and wedding packages, and said you should never forgo a photographer.

Not only will a microwedding help you to save a whole load of cash, but you'll also be able to spend quality time with the people you really love (pictured: Amanda Kilbourn's image)

An illustration of Dorothy Polka from Polka Dot Bride is pictured

Of course, the reasons as to why these ceremonies are booming are myriad.

Not only will a microwedding help you to save a whole load of cash, but you'll also be able to spend quality time with the people you really love:

'They are so much more of a flexible option than the regular white wedding,' Ms Polka concluded.

'If you've always wanted to serve your favourite champagne or fancied using vintage crockery, you can,' she said.

'With a smaller group, you can spend time and dollars on the elements you really love and adore.'

To read more from Dorothy Polka and Polka Dot Bride, please click here.

If you had a microwedding and would like to share your story, you can also contact FemailAU@mailonline.com
A winter floral dress? I know, a bit counter-intuitive. But at a dinner party the other night, I was among three party guests wearing midi-length dark flowery frocks.

We all gave each other little side glances as if to say: Got the memo!. Because not only were we looking on-trend in our moody hues, long sleeves and calf-grazing hemlines, we were warm.

Winter florals are everywhere right now, from sumptuous catwalk looks (Erdem, Mulberry, Gucci) to a myriad brilliant High Street examples. You probably have something that will fit the bill hiding away in the back of your wardrobe.

Although, a word of caution: this is not about repurposing your summer frock.

Flower queen: Claire Foy (pictured) embraced the winter floral trend recently at a premiere

Wear anything too light, too pastel or too wafty to a festive cocktail party and you could easily end up looking like a woman whos forgotten to get dressed and is still in her nightie, which is not what were going for here.

Look instead for a print with a dusky base colour  forest green, midnight blue or even black.

The good news is that prints with darker hues look more expensive on winter High Street fabrics than their summer cousins. (Just one of the reasons the dark floral party dresses in the H&M collaboration with designer Erdem flew off the rails).

If you missed these, may I guide you to Warehouses dreamy Devore number (99, warehouse.co.uk) or the Boden Icons Hettie dress (250, boden.co.uk).

I trace fashions current love affair with these romantic, slightly retro prints back to Valentinos absolute gem of a collection for pre-autumn 2015, when the Italian house collaborated with British textile queen and ex-wife of Ossie Clark, Celia Birtwell.

She created exquisite prints and embroideries based on Sandro Botticellis famous Primavera painting that became instant collectors items. Their joyous influence soon trickled down to the High Street.

Another perhaps less obvious inspiration is upholstery fabric (stay with me here).

WINTER FLORAL: THE RULES Look for prints with a dusky base colour: forest green, midnight blue or black.

winter floral doesnt mean a summer dress with a turtle neck underneath!

If it looks like curtain fabric, great: brocades and jacquard are perfect.

Opt for floral boots if youre nervous of flowers. Advertisement

There are some fabulous brocades and jacquard weaves in the shops now that would look equally smashing as a pair of curtains. To wit, the gorgeous floral trousers at Massimo Dutti. (69.95, massimodutti.com).

Let us remember that the interplay of interior design and fashion has a long and illustrious history, as anyone who headed to Chatsworth House this summer for the amazing House Style exhibition knows.

In fact, the fashion/homewares crossover is a huge retail trend, with companies including Gucci producing ultra-luxe cushions and china that make my heart skip a beat.

British favourites Preen has launched a range of cushions and eiderdowns in splashy, extravagant prints that echo the bold, romantic stylings of its womenswear (preenby thorntonbregazzi.com).

But back to fashion and the business of accessorising. An ankle boot will give your winter floral frock a bit of oomph, whether you choose a spike-heeled sockboot, a Seventies knee-high or something with more stomp.

And if you are still uncertain about whether you can go the whole hog, try a winter accessory like a brocade boot  Uterque has the dream pair (150, uterque.com).

My stylist friend tells me she plans to wear her chiffony, print Celia Birtwell dress with flirty heels on Christmas Day, then adapt it for more dress-down days with a navy cashmere boyfriend pullover and trainers or biker boots.

Perfect! I say. Insouciant modern glamour and no cold shoulders.
Looking for a dress this party season, but finances not quite matching expectations?

You could do worse than rent your dream outfit.

Aussie start-up, GlamCorner, is on track to turn over AUD $50 million dollars worth of designer fashion by the end of this year - with thousands of women turning to the Internet to hire designer gear they would never be able to afford otherwise.

FEMAIL spoke to GlamCorner to find out what the top five dresses are on the site right now - to help to give you some inspiration this December.

Aussie start-up, GlamCorner (pictured: one of their designs), is on track to turn over AUD $50 million dollars worth of designer fashion by the end of this year

Thousands of women turn to the Internet to hire designer gear they would never be able to afford otherwise (pictured)

Two of the top dresses which are always on loan from GlamCorner are a Zimmermann playsuit (pictured left) and an Alice McCall floral dress (right) - both are available to rent for four days

The site also highlighted a bright yellow Thurley mini dress (pictured) as one of the sell-out styles - which retails for $649 and is on Glamcorner for $119.20

First on GlamCorner's most-borrowed list is a folly neck tie playsuit by popular Australian label, Zimmermann.

What is GlamCorner? * GlamCorner is a dress rental site, boasting thousands of designers and styles. * You simply choose a design you like, rent the dress for four to eight days ans pay a fraction of the price. * All dresses come with $100 accidental damage insurance and ensure you look fabulous at your event. Advertisement

While the elaborate floral design retails for $650, it costs just $119.20 to rent for four days on GlamCorner.

Elsewhere, a similar flower-laden outfit, the Oh Oh Dress by Alice McCall, costs just $95.20 to rent, whereas it would set you back $590 to buy.

The site also highlighted a bright yellow Thurley mini dress as one of the sell-out styles - which retails for $649 and is on Glamcorner for $119.20.

It label, Self Portrait, also got a look-in, via the Guipure Frill Mini Dress in blue (RRP $500; $95.20 rental).

Elliatt rounded out the top five - with the white Freesia dress (RRP $194; rental $39.20).

It label, Self Portrait, also got a look-in, via the Guipure Frill Mini Dress in blue (RRP $500; $95.20 rental, pictured left), and Elliatt rounded out the top five - with the white Freesia dress (RRP $194; rental $39.20, pictured right)

Speaking to FEMAIL about the rise of Glamcorner, co-founder of the business, Dean Jones, said: 'GlamCorner is essentially the sharing economy meets people's wardrobes'

He explained: 'There's an appetite for things like it out there. Instagram and social media have definitely contributed  customers don't get as much mileage from outfits as they used to'

Speaking previously to FEMAIL about the rise of Glamcorner and other dress rental sites, co-founder of the business, Dean Jones, said: 'GlamCorner is essentially the sharing economy meets people's wardrobes.

'There's a real appetite for things like it out there. Instagram and the rise of social media have definitely contributed  customers don't get as much mileage from their outfits as they used to.

'But we also attract women in search of those "wear-once dresses" that they would later struggle to get rid of if they were bought.

'We don't really go for everyday staples  instead we choose those incredible items regular Australian women want to wear, and give women access to labels and clothes they might not otherwise be able to afford.'

Pictured are the husband and wife co-founders of GlamCorner, Dean Jones and Audrey Jones

GLAMCORNER'S GLAMOROUS COUNTERPARTS Rent the Runway Rent the Runway is an American dress rental site founded in the United States in 2009. Bag Borrow or Steal Bag Borrow or Steal is an American company which rents out designer handbags and accessories. If you find the perfect outfit, you can purchase it and make it yours forever. Something Borrowed Something Borrowed is a fellow Australian company that lets you hire dresses online. It includes dresses from Alex Perry, Manning Cartell and Something Beyond. Girl Meets Dress Girl Meets Dress is a leading UK dress rental site with a variety of dresses for different occasions. Her Wardrobe Her Wardrobe is an Aussie dress and accessories rental site featuring the likes of Self Portrait and Aurelio Costarella. Advertisement

Recent statistics suggest that it has rented out the retail equivalent of $30 million of designer clothing - with that figure estimated to be $50 million by the end of the year

GlamCorner are not alone in their success - there are other models around the world including Bag, Borrow Steal and Rent the Runway

Since the launch in 2012, GlamCorner has more than quadrupled in size.

Recent statistics suggest that it has rented out the retail equivalent of $30 million of designer clothing - with that figure estimated to be $50 million by the end of the year.

Of course, they are not alone. The business is 'unashamedly' modelled on the American success story, Rent the Runway.

Elsewhere, other big names in the rental industry include Bag Borrow or Steal, Something Borrowed and Girl Meets Dress.

And with some success, obviously comes some controversy.

Earlier this month, fellow rental company Borrow My Balmain came under fire when several of their popular Dior items were found to be fakes.

The site offers more designers than ever - from Alex Perry to Camilla, Zimmermann and international names like Erdem and Herve Leger

Meanwhile, the 2017 spring racing season saw five times the number of rentals as the same period last year

However, over at GlamCorner, things have remained plain sailing.

The site offers more designers than ever - from Alex Perry to Camilla, Zimmermann and international names like Erdem and Herve Leger.

Meanwhile, the 2017 spring racing season saw five times the number of rentals as the same period last year, with GlamCorner telling FEMAIL that tens of thousands of Aussie women collectively saved $8-$19 million of retail clothing they would likely have worn once.

'We are very data and research driven,' Dean Jones explained previously.

'But there is also an overwhelming gut feeling for what will sell, which comes from my wife and business partner, Audrey.

'You need a good gut feeling in the fashion industry as sometimes you can have all the statistics you want and still be in search of that dress that will sell like hotcakes.'

To visit the GlamCorner website, please click here.
Youve read the books, applauded the plays and seen the films, so why not take an Agatha Christie-inspired holiday?

AT HOME WITH AGATHA

Immerse yourself in the place Agatha Christie believed was the loveliest in the world, her holiday home in Devon

Agatha Christie described Greenway, her Devon holiday home overlooking the River Dart, as the loveliest place in the world. Immerse yourself in her story by staying in the house itself.

INSIDER TIP: Get in character by taking the Dartmouth Steam Railway from Paignton to Kingswear.

DETAILS: The apartment sleeps eight, from 540 for a three-night stay, nationaltrust.org.uk

ART DECO OFF DEVON

Find the inspiration of her novels, Evil Under The Sun and And Then There Were None at The Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel off the coast of Devon

The Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel, on a tidal outcrop off the coast of Devon, is where Christie wrote Evil Under The Sun and And Then There Were None, hunkering down in the Beach House. Both novels are set on the island.

INSIDER TIP: Guests dress up for dinner, so pack your finery.

DETAILS: The Beach House is priced from 680 per night for dinner, bed and breakfast, burghisland.com

ISTANBUL INTRIGUE

Share the views she enjoyed whilst writing Murder On The Orient Express at Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul

Room 411 of the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul is where Christie wrote Murder On The Orient Express. The room enjoys views over the city.

INSIDER TIP: The opulent hotel was built in 1892 for passengers arriving on the legendary Orient Express.

DETAILS: Rooms cost from 222 a night, jumeirah.com. Flights to Istanbul from 102 return, britishairways.com
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When Kristie Philp walked down the aisle, most of the guests didn't know it was the second time her husband-to-be Mark had seen his bride on their wedding day.

The Sunshine Coast couple didn't believe in the old superstition that it was bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony.

Instead Mark Paitry, 35, and Kristie, 34, decided they wanted that special moment to occur just between the two of them.

Mark Paitry, 35, and Kristie Philp, 34, chose to have a First Look photo session and see each other before Kristie walked down the aisle on their wedding day

For the shoot Kristie walked up behind Mark and slipped her hand into his for the big reveal, photographed by Amy Hinks

The photographer was there to capture the moment Mark laid eyes on his bride for the very first time on their wedding day

The couple opted to have a First Look Portrait Session, seeing each other for the first time in front of the old beach shack they had lived in for seven years.

Kristie told Daily Mail Australia that Mark 'happily agreed' when she approached him with the unique idea.

'For the both of us, the most important thing about our wedding was that it was a fun celebration of our love with only our closest family and friends,' she said.

'Neither of us likes to be the centre of attention. We decided that, for us, that very first moment when he saw me was one that we wanted to share together.'

Both Mark and Kristie were grateful to have a moment where they could just soak it all in together, without their guests around

The couple had a chance to embrace and talk and smile and laugh before their big day ahead in front of 50 family and friends

'We wanted those first few moments to chat, smile, hug, and laugh together.'

The couple had their photo shoot on a cliff overlooking their ceremony at Moffat Beach, where they could see their guests gathering below.

As the photo shoot began, Kristie walked behind Mark, slipped her hand into his, and he turned around to see his bride-to-be.

'He was smiling and happy and I could see in his eyes he thought I looked beautiful,' Kristie recalled.

'Mark said he felt so nervous and excited he was lost for words in that moment,' Kristie told Daily Mail Australia

Kristie said the couple's photographer Amy Hinks was so 'super stealthy' that they completely forgot she was there

'Without that first look, I'm not sure Mark and I would have had five minutes to ourselves just taking it all in. We were able to solely focus on each other the whole time. It just made us so excited to actually get married,' Kristie said

'Mark said he felt so nervous and excited he was lost for words in that moment.'

'He was glad it didn't happen in front of everyone at the ceremony, as he could tell me how beautiful I looked, how happy he was, and how much the day ahead meant to him, something he would not have been able to express if we hadn't had that first look.'

And both Mark and Kristie were grateful to have a moment where they could just soak it all in together.

'The day goes so fast and there are so many people to spend time with,' Kristie said.

'Without that first look, I'm not sure Mark and I would have had five minutes to ourselves just taking it all in. We were able to solely focus on each other the whole time. It just made us so excited to actually get married.'

And Kristie, who wasn't worried about superstitions, said it was just as special when she saw Mark at the ceremony

'We were able to take it all in and really got to appreciate our friends and family watching on, the way the ceremony was styled, the amazing surroundings. We could just actually take in how wonderful that exact moment was,' she recalled

Kristie said the couple's photography, Amy Hinks, was so 'super stealthy' that they completely forgot she was there.

And it was also a chance for the couple to calm their nerves. It wasn't cold feet they were worried about, but rather having to be the center of attention.

So when Kristie walked down the aisle, both the bride and groom felt lucky to have that special moment twice.

'I walked down the aisle with the biggest smile on my face and was so calm and excited,' Kristie said.

'We were able to take it all in and really got to appreciate our friends and family watching on, the way the ceremony was styled, the amazing surroundings.'

'We could just actually take in how wonderful that exact moment was.'

The gorgeous couple tied the knot in front of crashing waves and an altar decorated with flowers and palm fronds

And the couple were all smiles as they walked down the aisle, showered in flower petals, as they family and friends cheered

It was a beautiful beginning for a couple who were a decade in the making.

Mark and Kristie first met in their teens, when he was visiting family in Mooloolaba from Sydney over the Christmas holidays.

Three years later, Mark moved to the Sunshine Coast and drove past the house where the two had first met.

He scribbled a note on the back of an envelope asking if Kristie still lived there and to give him a call.

The house was being rented at the time but the tenants passed the note on to the real estate agent, who passed it on to Kristie's mum.

That note led to the couple dating for four years, but then they parted ways for five years when Kristie went to do her country service for teaching.

It was a beautiful beginning for a couple who were a decade in the making, meeting for the first time when she was just 18

Kristie had just returned to the Sunshine Coast in 2014 when Mark called his accountant one day and the phone happened to be answered by her mum.

It brought them back together again, for the third and final time.

After Mark proposed last year, the couple knew they wanted a wedding that was devoid of all the usual traditions like wedding parties.

'Mark and I really wanted to be fun and simple, we didn't want to choose fancy at the expense of fun!' Kristie said.

'We wanted the day to be a celebration without a timeline to follow. We chose not to have speeches, a cake cutting photo, or a first dance at the ceremony.'

After Mark proposed last year, the couple knew they wanted a wedding that was devoid of all the usual traditions

But there were a couple of surprises, including impromptu speeches from family members and a surprise rendition of Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud from Kristie's best friend Hannah

'We just wanted that part to be where the people we knew loved us got to relax, laugh and have fun!'

But there were a couple of surprises, including impromptu speeches from family members and a surprise rendition of Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud from Kristie's best friend Hannah.

And although the beautiful day is now in the past, Kristie and Mark are grateful to have two unique sets of wedding photos that will forever last.

'I truly love the ones that capture that very first moment that Mark turned around,' Kristie said. 'They're so different to the photos I've seen with traditional walk down the aisle shots.'

'We were in our favourite place and you can see the moment unfolding, and it's just the two of us.'
Popular Australian fashion brand Lover has gone into voluntary administration.

Ferrier Hodgson partners Morgan Kelly and Ryan Eagle were appointed as administrators of Lover Clothing Pty Limited on Thursday, November 23 and called for buyers expressions of interest.

Administrator Morgan Kelly said that it would be business as usual whilst the fashion company was assessed.

Bridget Malcolm models a Lover outfit at the David Jones Autumn Winter 2017 Collections Launch

'Lover is an iconic and well-established fashion brand that represents a unique opportunity for interested parties,' Mr Kelly said in a statement.

'We plan to work closely with Lover's management team to find an acquirer for this popular brand,' he added.

Lover's online shop is still operating, but all items have been reduced.

Nic Briand and Susien Chong started their brand at Bondi Markets in 2001. Their unique lace designs were worn by celebrities including Jesinta Campbell, Jennifer Lopez and Candice Swanepoel.

Nic Briand and Susien Chong started the Lover brand at Bondi Markets and went on to stock their designs in David Jones (pictured Samantha Harris and a model wearing Lover)

Lover is known for its lace and feminine designs (pictured a model wearing a floral Lover dress)

Vogue Australia called the brand 'One of Australias most successful labels'.

An employee of Lover, who wished to remain anonymous, said that staff were worried that they could miss out on wages and superannuation because they are paid monthly.

'I am extremely upset with how the company has handled this,' the employee told Daily Mail Australia.
It was ten minutes that clinched Paul Hollywood one of the biggest jobs on British television - but the star judge has trouble watching it back.

In 2010, Hollywood was asked to complete an ad-lib screen test for a new, unknown show called the Great British Bake Off.

The 51-year-old judge admits in his latest offering for Channel 4, Paul Hollywood: A Baker's Life, that he doesn't like watching himself on camera.

The self-critical baker has few choice words for his former self: 'Get your jumper off, change jeans, and lose weight... and get your hair cut. I look like a muppet.'

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Faithful or following the dough: The GBBO judge appeared on all seven series during its time on the BBC and remained with with the show when it moved to Channel 4

Hollywood, who is newly single after his split from his wife of 20 years, Alexandra, explains in the show how he was plucked from obscurity for GBBO, while 'running a small business in Kent'.

After a seven series run, the much-loved show controversially moved from the BBC to Channel 4, with only Hollywood remaining from the original line-up.

He said he felt 'sad' that Mary Berry, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc decided to leave, saying: 'For the three of them to walk away from me, and to walk away from the tent, it felt like they had abandoned the Bake Off.'

Revisiting the first series of the much-loved baking competition, Paul, who is now worth 10million, bagged himself the role as judge on the BBC series which began in the same year.

The baking competition run by Love Productions announced it was to switch channels in 2016 for the eighth series, moving from the BBC to Channel 4.

Paul was the only star of the show to stick with it, with Mary Berry and hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins choosing to step down.

The baking guru says of his decision to remain with the show: 'To be honest it was my livelihood, the Bake Off, leading up to that.

Way back when! Paul Hollywood appears in his first ever audition for The Great British Bake Off, the footage was filmed in 2010

'To lose that I thought "what am I going to do now?" I felt really sad that Mel and Sue had stopped, and I felt really sad that Mary had gone because we were like a dysfunctional family, we sort of worked.

'Three people walked out of the tent and one person stayed. Why am I getting called a traitor?' he said of backlash he received.

'I was loyal to the Great British Bake Off and when it moved to Channel 4, I was still loyal to the Great British Bake Off. I worked for the production company and not the BBC. My job hadn't changed.'

Paul said he felt 'sad' that Mary Berry has chosen to leave the show and that his fellow judge and hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc had 'abandoned' Bake Off

New line-up: The baking guru remained with the programme and the eight series aired with new judge Prue Leith and hosts Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig

In his original screen test, a grey-haired Paul stands in the kitchen of a plush cottage where he critiques a pale knotted bread loaf.

Witnessing the birth of his steely and often cutting remarks he says: 'I wouldn't feed this to my dog.'

As Paul settled in to watch the footage for the first time, he admitted: 'I don't like watching myself on camera. It's awkward.'

Paul reveals he 'couldn't believe his luck' when he received a call back, and in the new series, which takes a look over his career, he is seen completing a further audition with Mary Berry.

'I saw Mary Berry sitting outside the room and we gave each other a big hug, from that moment on we were having a right laugh,' he said of their first meeting.

Paul had to ad-lib about bread during the screen test, making cutting remarks about the pale colour of the loaf

The 51-year-old baking guru admitted he felt 'awkward' watching himself on camera and joked that he should have changed his clothes and 'lost weight'

'I think they already had Mary sorted, she was the fluffy one, the soft one, and for me to have the tough angle, then they had the full deck.'

Paul recalled how the Bake Off tent was decorated like a village fete and that it was 'very cute'.

He said he was surprised at the meteoric rise of the show after initial critique from the media: 'I thought to myself "I can't see the British public liking this". We were all pretty shocked.'

Former Bake Off contestants Val Stones and Selasi Gbormittah also appear in the series and turn the table on the judge, challenging him to bake a pistachio and rose petal roulade in the famous tent.

Paul Hollywood: A Baker's Life airs tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm
Viewers tuning into last night's episode of Countryfile were left shocked by the reality of intensive chicken farming in the UK.

One of the show's presenters, Tom Heap, was seen visiting farmer Claire Bragg in Somerset, where 28,000 chickens are reared for slaughter in a large barn.

Many viewers watching the segment, which showed the chickens existing in highly cramped conditions, were offended by Bragg's suggestion that the poultry were 'happy' with enough room to roam.

Shock: Some viewers tuning in to last night's episode of Countryfile felt anger towards Claire Bragg, a Somerset farmer who intensively rears chickens for slaughter

Countryfile presenter Tom Heap and Claire Bragg chatted as they walked through the shed that houses some 38,000 chickens at the Somerset farm. Bragg came under fire for claiming that the chickens she rears for slaughter are 'happy'

After the presenter and the farmer are seen striding through the enormous chicken shed, Bragg is asked about the conditions the 28,000 poultry, which aren't seen at full-size, live in.

She said: 'They don't look like they're suffering. There's a lovely noise going on here, they're happy, they can get to food, they can get to water. They're getting everything they need.'

Many on social media passionately disagreed with Bragg's views.

@HelenElizaBee wrote: 'Absolutely horrified with #Countryfile presenter and that heartless excuse for a human, standing amongst those poor chickens all crammed in together. They clearly dont have 'everything they need' just look at them FFS!'

@holidaysforhens added: 'Giving chickens exactly what they need' really?! 10000s crammed in a shed?'

@revivewarwick raged: 'Wow that woman on #Countryfile is seriously deluded saying those chickens crammed in like that are happy. Lots of room to move my a***'

The BBC programme's footage then progressed to one of the country's biggest chicken production plants, Cargills in Herefordshire.

Agricultural director John Reed explained to viewers how the animals are slaughtered.

The birds are carried in darkness into chambers where oxygen is reduced until they 'gently go to sleep, from which they don't recover.'

The birds are then gutted, plucked and steam cleaned, with the factory processing a staggering 23,000 birds every hour.

While many viewers took the farmer to task for her views on how her chickens are reared, others claimed that they were being naive if they thought the industry could be sustained without intensive farming

The show revealed how there are more chickens than people in the UK, with the appetite for eating poultry growing year on year

While many found the programme shocking to watch, others suggested that people were being naive if they thought the billion-pound UK chicken industry could operate in any other way.

@mowermanjimmy wrote: 'Outrage from all the town folk who think that chickens roam around the countryside for a couple of years before they are gently put to sleep #countryfile'

@sarahkirbyblog also hit back, saying: 'Or how about get your own chickens, rear them yourself and then slaughter them. Not comfortable with that? Then you shouldnt be eating it!'
Emily Frigo, a mother of four from Cincinatti, Ohio, who works as a photographer and doula, has had six miscarriages

A mother-of-four who suffered six heartbreaking miscarriages has candidly revealed how all 10 of her pregnancies pregnancies affected her body.

Bravely showing off her post-baby body in a very open Instagram post, Emily Frigo, a 26-year-old birth photographer and Doula from Cincinnati, Ohio, shared with her followers that, despite her hardships and body hang ups, she has 'never loved myself more'.

In the caption accompanying the honest and heartfelt picture, she wrote: 'In my womb, Ive grown 10 babies. Only four were born alive, but how f**king miraculous nonetheless.'

Brave: Emily Frigo, a mother of four from Cincinnati, Ohio,has shared her touching miscarriage story on Instagram by posting a picture of her post-baby body

Happy family: The mother-of-four who works as a birth photographer, Doula and bereavement support, has suffered six miscarriages

Self love: Emily says she loves her 'stretch mark stomach' and 'deflated breasts' and has never felt more feminine, sparking huge support on social media

She added: 'And Ive never loved myself more. Ive never felt more feminine. Shaved head. Stretch mark stomach. Deflated breasts. Thighs that touch. Society does not defy me. My inner self does.'

Her children, all boys, are aged seven, three, two and one.

Hundreds of women have responded to the post, thanking Emily for sharing her story, with many deciding to share their own miscarriage and fertility issues.

Instagram user venusandthelunarchild wrote: 'You are absolutely beautiful! You have been inspiring me every single day as a mother and as a woman! Thank you for all of this wonderful heart medicine!!'

A sentiment shared by maxinabird: 'This is amazing Emily I should be brave enough to show mine and how I have taken on adjusting to my body! Thank you!!'

And alephantstudio wrote: 'You are so beautiful. You are so inspiring. You are so strong. It's refreshing! Thank you for inspiring me every day'.

The picture went viral after Jessica Zucker, the creator of the #IHadaMiscarriage campaign, posted it on her account.

Hands full: Emily's four boys are seven, three, two and one

Support: Emily provides support to pregnant women or those who have just suffered a miscarriage on her website

Happy ever after: The mom-of-four shares candid pictures of her children online and also blogs about family life

There, erinsingalong wrote: 'I dont know you, but your words, beauty and power go straight to my heart. I have two boys.

'One is my rainbow baby after two losses. Even after having a successful pregnancy after loss, it terrifies me still to ever try again. But Im meant for more babies, I know it. Thank you for sharing.'

Another Instagram user wtf_lins agreed: 'You are amazing. Growing a life is not an easy task. What we do as women is a beautiful blessing. I see beauty and raw strength.'

Frigo who also works in bereavement support, has shared more details of her journey on her website Wise + Wild.

There she wrote: 'I am so, so sorry you have found yourself on this journey. Please know that you are not alone. I am here to honor you. I honor your baby. I honor your birth.'

She added: 'In my own personal journey, I have experienced a stillbirth and five late term miscarriages.

'Through these, I have learned so much about these difficult stories.'

On her blog, she has also shared how in March 2014, she gave birth to her son, Clayton, now aged three, after five miscarriages.

When Clayton was nearly six weeks old, Emily revealed he nearly died after falling unconscious at home.

However, because she is trained in neonatal resuscitation, she was able to save her baby boy's life before an ambulance arrived and transported him to hospital.
Whatever the Duchess of Cambridge wears turns to gold and it seems that Meghan Markle is already having the same effect on the retail world since joining the royal family.

After stepping out in a white belted coat by Canadian brand, Line the Label, the retailer's website completely crashed.

Fashion aficionados rushed to the style portal in an attempt to get their hands on the jacket - even though it's not being sold online.

In a nod to her previous home of Toronto, Meghan chose to wear a coat from the Canadian brand. While the exact price of the piece isn't known, a similar style is retailing for 450.

Line the Label's website has crashed after Miss Markle wore a 450 coat from the Canadian brand for her official engagement announcement with Prince Harry

Founded in 2000 by friends John Muscat And Jennifer Wells, the brand is known for its stylish knitwear and use of sumptuous materials and counts actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Bosworth among its A-list fans.

Meghan has donned the brand before, most notably to the Invictus Games earlier this year.

Wrapping up against the cold, Meghan offered only a glimpse of her dress beneath her white coat. The forest green frock was designed by P.A.R.O.S.H, the brainchild of Italian designer Paolo Rossello. The brand channels a classically mod aesthetic that is revamped with playful patterning and bold, vibrant colours.

Meghan chose to support Canadian fine jewellery brand Birks for her official engagement photocall. She donned a pair of 850 18K yellow gold and opal earrings from Birks in the official announcement, taken outdoors, in the grounds at Kensington Palace.

The white coat is by the Canadian brand and fashion aficionados rushed to the style portal in an attempt to get their hands on the jacket - even though it's not being sold online

Meghan donned vertiginous 369 Matilde Crisscross Nude Suede Pumps by Aquazzura heels as she cosied up to her prince charming

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made their first appearance together after announcing their engagement. Prince Harry designed the diamond engagement ring with one stone from Botswana and two diamonds from Dianas personal collection

The Duchess of Cambridge had the same effect on the high street after her engagement announcement in 2011.

The now-iconic royal blue wrap dress by London-based label Issa flew off the shelves after the 33-year-old wore it, while delivering the news of her future nuptials to media at St James's Palace.

The dress was created by Brazilian-born designer Daniella Issa Helayel who has dressed everyone from Naomi Campbell and Madonna, to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

It was after the big announcement that the 'Kate effect' took off with fans rushing to copy the brunette's style - even before she became a member of the royal family.

Brands such as L.K. Bennett, Hobbs, Alexander McQueen, Jenny Packham, Reiss, Zara and J Brand have all benefited from the Duchess wearing their garments.

Meghan looked resplendent in a chic belted white coat dress and vertiginous heels as she cosied up to her prince charming

Prince Harry designed the engagement ring, which was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen

The royal looked nervous but happy and his fiancee stroked his arm lovingly as they spoke to reporters, who asked him: 'When did you know she was the one?' and he replied: 'From the very first time we met'
The Duchess of Cambridge is known for being thrifty when it comes to her fashion choices, and it appears her future sister-in-law is taking a similar approach.

Meghan Markle, 36, stepped out wearing a favourite pair of nude heels as she joined Prince Harry, 33, for the engagement announcement photo call in the grounds of Kensington Palace today.

The actress looked the picture of elegance in the 550 heels by Aquazzura, which she has previously worn on several occasions.

She paired the heels with a chic white coat by Canadian designer Line the Label, which she wore over a green knee-length dress.

Today: Meghan Markle, 36, wore a favourite pair of Aquazzura heels as she joined Prince Harry, 33, for the engagement announcement in the grounds of Kensington Palace today

Elegant: The lace-up 'Matilde' shoes feature a pointed toe and a touch of gold at the end of each of the slinky straps which wrapped neatly around Miss Markle's ankle

The lace-up 'Matilde' shoes feature a pointed toe and a touch of gold at the end of each of the slinky straps which wrapped neatly around Miss Markle's ankle.

She was previously seen wearing the elegant heels for the One Young World Summit in Ottawa, Canada, in September last year, where she was photographed for Vanity Fair.

Indeed Meghan likes the shoes so much that she even bought them in black.

She was seen showing them off the darker pair at ELLE's 6th Annual Women In Television Dinner in Los Angeles in January last year.

On that occasion, she wore the heels with a red brocade dress with a mirrored silver clutch.

September 2016: The actress previously wore the lace-up heels to the One Young World Summit in Ottawa in September 2016, where she was photographed by Vanity Fair (above). Pictured Meghan with Mary Robinson, Fatima Bhutto and Loujain al-Hathloul at the event

January 2016: Meghan loves the timeless shoes so much she also bought them in black, as seen above at ELLE's Women In Television Dinner in Los Angeles in January last year

Today Meghan looked resplendent in a chic belted white coat dress from Line the Label, which she wore over a 437 dress by Parosh.

The Suits actress showcased the stunning ring designed by Prince Harry himself with one stone from Botswana, where he and Meghan recently holidayed, and two diamonds from Dianas personal collection.

The ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen.

Meghan looked resplendent in a chic belted white coat dress and vertiginous heels as she cosied up to her prince charming

Sparkle for Markle: Prince Harry designed the diamond engagement ring with one stone from Botswana and two diamonds from Dianas personal collection

Prince Harry designed the engagement ring, which was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen

At its centre is a diamond from Botswana, a country that holds special significance for Prince Harry who has visited many times since he was a child. It is also a place the couple has spent time together over the last year and a half.

The ring features two outside stones, which are diamonds from the personal collection of Prince Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

In a nod to her previous home of Toronto, Meghan chose to wear a coat from Canadian brand Line The Label.

Harry and Meghan got engaged in London earlier this month and to marry in Spring 2018, Prince Charles said

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended a photocall to announce their engagement at Kensington Palace, London

Founded in 2000 by friends John Muscat And Jennifer Wells, the brand is known for its stylish knitwear and use of sumptuous materials and counts actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Bosworth among its A-list fans.

Wrapping up against the cold, Meghan offered only a glimpse of her dress beneath her white coat. The forest green frock was designed by P.A.R.O.S.H, the brainchild of Italian designer Paolo Rossello. The brand channels a classically mod aesthetic that is revamped with playful patterning and bold, vibrant colours.

Meghan chose to support Canadian fine jewellery brand Birks for her official engagement photocall. She donned a pair of 850 18K yellow gold and opal earrings from Birks in the official announcement, taken outdoors, in the grounds at Kensington Palace.
She is known for her flamboyant fashion sense, and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands did not disappoint when she stepped out for an awards ceremony in Amsterdam tonight.

Dressed to impress in a sparkling midnight blue dress with a feathered collar, the Dutch royal certainly made an entrance as she arrived at the Prince Bernhard Cultuurfonds Awards.

The dress is believed to be a bespoke piece from Belgian designer Natan, one of the queen consort's favourite labels.

Maxima, 46, wore her hair in a loose chignon for the event and ramped up the glam factor with a statement smoky eye, silver drop earrings and a sumptuous velvet clutch bag.

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Ramping up the glamour: Dressed to impress in a sparkling midnight blue dress with a feathered collar, the Dutch royal certainly made an entrance as she arrived at the awards

To complete her look, the mother-of-three added a pair of vertiginous stilettos and some silver bangles.

Held each few years since 1940, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfond Awards recognises young talent in the theatre and visual arts.

The winner, who must be aged under 35, is awarded the Charlotte Kohler Prize, worth 30,000 (26,800).

An international financier by training, Maxima was born in Argentina and married into the Dutch royal family in 2002, three years after meeting her husband-to-be in Seville, Spain.

Style statement: Maxima, 46, wore her hair in a loose chignon for the event and ramped up the glam factor with a statement smoky eye, silver drop earrings and a sumptuous velvet clutch

A modern fairytale: Maxima was born in Argentina and married into the Dutch royal family in 2002, three years after meeting her husband-to-be in Seville, Spain

Important tradition: Held each few years since 1940, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfond Awards recognises young talent in the theatre and visual arts

Despite reportedly having no inkling that Willem-Alexander was heir to the throne when the pair first met, she eventually became Queen consort when her husband ascended to the throne.

Willem-Alexander became king after his mother, Beatrix, abdicated in April 2013 after 33 years as reigning monarch.

The couple are parents to Princess Amalia, Alexia and Ariane - affectionately dubbed 'the A team' by their doting father.
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be a sophisticated affair, attended by some of the world's most influential figures.

But one photographer has imagined what it might look like if the pair were to tie the knot in a rather different setting - in a cheap Las Vegas chapel without any witnesses.

Acclaimed photographer Alison Jackson has used lookalikes to create a tongue-in-cheek sneak peek of what the royal wedding could look like if Harry, 33, and Meghan, 36, were to jet off to Nevada to elope in a $300 (220) ceremony.

What happens in Vegas! Photographer Alison Jackson imagined what it might look like if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were to tie the knot in a $300 Las Vegas ceremony, pictured

Cheeky chappy: The tongue-in-cheek images show 'Prince Harry' pinching his bride's bottom as they stand side-by-side at the altar. In reality, Harry and Meghan will wed next spring

Newly engaged: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the grounds of Kensington Palace today

The images show the couple misbehaving as they are married by a female minister who can't resist snapping a picture of the bride and groom on her mobile phone.

One particularly cheeky shot shows Harry, who is seen wearing military dress, pinching his bride's bottom as they stand side-by-side at the altar.

Another captures a delighted 'Meghan' throwing her bouquet of white flowers over her head - and the minister scrambling to catch them.

As thoughts start to turn to what the bride might wear when the couple do tie the knot next spring, Jackson offers her own take, dressing her Meghan lookalike in a princess style wedding dress with delicate capped lace sleeves.

The photos emerged just hours after the prince and Miss Markle announced their engagement in a public statement.

Caught on camera: As the newlyweds gaze lovingly into each other's eyes after exchanging vows, the nosy minister can't resist snapping a picture on her mobile phone

Dead ringers: 'Meghan', wearing a princess-style dress with capped sleeves, places a ring on her royal husband's finger. The real Meghan and Harry announced their engagement today

You may now kiss the bride: The royal newlyweds are captured in a close embrace. Meghan and Harry are understood to be planning a church wedding for spring next year

The couple later appeared together for a photo call in the grounds of Kensington Palace and took part in their first joint interview, which was broadcast this evening.

In the interview, Harry said Princess Diana and his fiancee would have been 'best friends' as he paid a poignant tribute to his mother .

Harry said the pair would be as 'thick as thieves' during his first official interview with Miss Markle, after their engagement announcement today.

The Prince also revealed how his Suits star girlfriend said 'yes' immediately when he got down on one knee.

Prince Harry designed the engagement ring, which was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen

Meghan looked resplendent in a chic belted white coat dress and vertiginous heels as she cosied up to her prince charming

Harry and Meghan got engaged in London earlier this month and to marry in Spring 2018, Prince Charles said

The couple were roasting chicken on a 'cosy night' in, at Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace, a few weeks ago when he popped the question.

The Suits actress, 36, showcased the stunning ring designed by Prince Harry himself with one stone from Botswana, where he and Meghan recently holidayed, and two diamonds from Dianas personal collection.

The ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen. At its centre is a diamond from Botswana, a country that holds special significance for Prince Harry who has visited many times since he was a child. It is also a place the couple has spent time together over the last year and a half.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made their first appearance together after announcing their engagement. Prince Harry designed the diamond engagement ring with one stone from Botswana and two diamonds from Dianas personal collection

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended a photocall to announce their engagement at Kensington Palace, London

The ring features two outside stones, which are diamonds from the personal collection of Prince Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Prince Harry later revealed in the couple's first joint television interview that he mounted the stones on yellow gold because it is her 'favourite'.

They will plan a wedding for spring, it was announced.
A woman with Down syndrome has been showered with praise and accolades after becoming the first person with the condition to compete in a Miss USA State pageant.

Mikayla Holmgren, 22, from Stillwater, Minnesota, stole the show this weekend as she took to the Ames Center's stage in Burnsville as a contestent for the Miss Minnesota USA Pageant.

The blonde beauty not only made history at the event, but also walked away with the Spirit of Miss USA Award and the Director's Award after a standing ovation from the audience.

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Big moment: Mikayla Holmgren, center, accepts the Spirit Award during the 2018 Miss Minnesota USA after becoming the first woman with Down syndrome to compete

Blazing a trail: The 22-year-old is seen chatting backstage with fellow competitors before the start of the contest in Burnsville

'You make people smile every time you talk, cheer, smile, and dance. You exude the spirit of Miss USA by always being true to yourself and putting others first,' executive state director Denise Wallace Heitkamp, told Mikayla as she presented the Spirit Award.

'You have selflessness, humility, and the ability to overcome obstacles with a smile on your face and excitement in your heart.'

The Bethel University student wore a stunning floor-length blue gown and wiped away tears as she accepted the awards.

Mikayla got her start on the stage by taking up dancing at the age of just six years old, and came to the attention of the Miss Minnesota organizers after winning Minnesota Miss Amazing, a pageant for women with disabilities, in 2015.

All smiles: The young woman was overcome with emotion as she took to the stage in a sweeping blue gown

Megawatt smile: Mikayla won Minnesota Miss Amazing, a pageant for women with disabilities, in 2015

Working up: She received a letter in the mail about the Miss Minnesota pageant and proceeding to 'bug' her mother for days to let her enter

Right on: The organizers called her back immediately, saying that they wanted Mikayla to be apart of the event

Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Mikayla's mom Sandi Holmgren described the moment her daughter received a letter about Miss Minnesota and wouldn't let up on the idea for days.

'I wrote that she had Down syndrome and thought they would pass her by but they decided they wanted her to be a part of it,' she said.

'I didn't realize it was part of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageant and it took me a few weeks to realize the enormity of it and what a big deal it was for her to be in.'

On her way: Mikayla is seen working with beauty pageant coach Wendi Russo back in May

Rising star: Mikayla's appearance saw numerous other women with Down syndrome to come watch her take the stage

Next steps: Mikayla was praised for 'always being true to yourself and putting others first'

Big steps: The Miss Minnesota pageant broke through barriers last year with semi-finalist Halima Aden (left), the first to compete in a hijab - inspiring others to do the same this year

Her inclusion turned out to be not only a big deal for Mikayla herself, but also for other young women with Down syndrome, many of whom showed up with their parents to see the young beauty take the stage.

Although the crown of Miss Minnesota went to Kalie Wright, of Eagle Bend, Mikayla plans to continue inspiring others by competing in pageants in the future.

It's the second year in a row that the Miss Minnesota state pageant has seen a 'first' with last year's semi-finalist Halima Aden becoming the first woman to wear a hijab and burkini during competition.

Several other muslim women followed Halima's example at this year's event.
Gigi Gorgeous is hinting that she and her billionaire heiress girlfriend Nats Getty have welcomed their first child.

The YouTube star, 25, who rose to fame while candidly detailing her life as a transgender woman, took to Instagram on Sunday to share a photo of herself with Nats, 24, and a baby boy.

'Thank you so much to our beautiful surrogate,' she wrote in the caption, implying that she and Nats, whom she has been dating for more than a year after a brief break-up in December 2016, had become parents.

Message: Gigi Gorgeous took to Instagram on Sunday to share this photo of herself with girlfriend Nats Getty, 24, and a baby, writing: 'Thank you so much to our beautiful surrogate'

Trio: Nats, who is an heiress to the Getty Oil fortune, posted a similar snap on her own Instagram account, calling the baby 'our angel' in the caption

Footage: On Instagram Story, Nats shared a video of herself rocking the baby, showing a sign that reads partly 'Welcome Baby Enzo' in the background

Questions: Gigi's and Nats' posts have gathered plenty of attention and mounting speculation over whether the announcement is to be taken seriously, since Gigi often jokes online

Tiny clothes: The model and designer also posted snaps of two onesies she appears to have customized herself, which also read 'Enzo'

Nats, who is an heiress to the Getty Oil fortune, posted a similar snap on her own Instagram account.

That snap shows her holding the baby while Gigi sits close to her and supports the newborn with her left hand.

In the caption, Nats called the baby 'our angel' and used two heart emoji on each side of her message.

Nats shared a video of herself rocking the baby in her Instagram Story, showing a sign that reads partly 'Welcome Baby Enzo' in the background.

The model and designer also posted snaps of two onesies she appears to have customized herself, which also read 'Enzo'.

Gigi's post, which went out to her 2.3 million Instagram followers and to the 315,000 people who follow her on Twitter, has gathered plenty of attention and mounting speculation over whether the announcement is to be taken seriously.

More photos: Make-up artist Hilary Montez, who has worked with Gigi in the past, contributed a photo of her own, identifying the baby as her 'nephew'

Duo: Gigi, a native of Montreal in Canada, began dating Nats in 2016. After a few months of romance, the pair split briefly in December of that year, but promptly reunited

Pair: Nats (pictured with Gigi on Halloween) has made several appearances on Gigi's YouTube channel, which has an impressive 2.7 million subscribers

Secret: Gigi (pictured with Nats), who is usually very open about her personal life on her YouTube channel, hasn't discussed any plans to start a family

More than 184,000 people have liked her photo on Instagram, with thousands of congratulatory comments.

But Gigi has been known to joke on social media, and some are wondering whether the baby photos are meant to be understood as a tongue-in-cheek announcement.

'Is this for real? If so, that's awesome,' one person wrote, while many others pointed out they were gobsmacked by the news, especially since Gigi, who is usually very open about her personal life on her YouTube channel, hasn't discussed any plans to start a family.

Make-up artist Hilary Montez, who has worked with Gigi in the past, contributed a photo of her own, identifying the baby as her 'nephew'.

Montez can be seen in the snap holding the newborn, who is wrapped in the same blanket as in Gigi's and Nats' pictures.

Gigi, a native of Montreal in Canada, began dating Nats in 2016. After a few months of romance, the pair split briefly in December of that year, but promptly reunited and has appeared smitten ever since.

Nats has made several appearances on Gigi's YouTube channel, which has an impressive 2.7 million subscribers.

The YouTube star, however, has yet to dedicate a video providing more information about the baby photos.
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Their engagement came just hours ago, but already speculation is rife. Who will design the future Princess, Meghan Markle's, wedding dress?

With a date set for next spring, all eyes are certain to be locked on Ms Markle. And if the search hasn't already begun for a bridal gown, it's sure to be top of the Suits actress's to-do list.

Here, FEMAIL speaks exclusively to leading Australian designers and bridal stylists to find out how they would style Meghan Markle for the ultimate Royal wedding.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement on Monday, explaining that they got engaged earlier this month at a photocall at Kensington Palace (pictured)

With a date set for next spring, all eyes are certain to be locked on Ms Markle - and if the search hasn't already begun for a wedding dress, it's sure to be top of the Suits actress's to-do list (pictured on the red carpet)

Here, FEMAIL speaks exclusively to leading Australian designers and bridal stylists to find out how they would style Meghan Markle for the ultimate Royal wedding (pictured: bridal gown by Sydney-based designer, Moira Hughes)

There will certainly be countless international heavyweights vying for her attentions, and here some of Australia's finest pitch their regal ideas (pictured: Grace Loves Lace design)

Renowned as one of Australia's leading designers, specialising in bridal and red carpet gowns, Steven Khalil would be a popular Antipodean choice for the soon-to-be Princess - he and Alexandra Nea conducted this sketch

STEVEN KHALIL

Renowned as one of Australia's leading designers, specialising in bridal and red carpet gowns, Steven Khalil would be a popular Antipodean choice for the soon-to-be Princess.

'If I was dressing Meghan for the Royal wedding, I'd opt for something traditional but modern with elegant lines and a dramatic silhouette,' Steven told FEMAIL

And with his fairy tale beautiful gowns and his experience with dressing celebrities and Royalty (he dressed Princess Olympia of Greece with a piece from the runway for her 21st birthday), he comes with some serious sartorial pedigree.

'If I was dressing Meghan for the Royal wedding, I'd opt for something traditional but modern with elegant lines and a dramatic silhouette,' Steven told FEMAIL.

'Being an actress and humanitarian Meghan is a very contemporary woman but with the eyes of the world watching her on her big day I think she would still want a gown with the Wow factor.

'She could also opt for some embellishment and texture to really make the gown shine.'

Alongside his vision for the future Princess, Steven supplied an exclusive sketch conducted by Alexandra Nea.

In the resplendent drawing, Meghan can be seen wearing an elaborate design complete with bejewelled bodice, full skirt and train.

'Being an actress and humanitarian Meghan is a very contemporary woman but with the eyes of the world watching her on her big day I think she would still want a gown with the Wow factor,' Steven explained (pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Toronto a couple of months ago)

At the cutting edge of Antipodean design sits J'Aton Couture, who pitched this incredible gown - with detachable skirt - for the soon-to-be Princess - this Baroque gown features 'exquisite French lace carved into a structured corseted sheath gown'

J'ATON COUTURE

At the cutting edge of Antipodean design sits J'Aton Couture, who include the likes of international pop star, Kylie Minogue, British society It girl, Poppy Delevingne and Beyonce, in their roll call of famous fans.

In Australia, they are a household name for dramatic red carpet dressing - indeed, Australian TV host, Rebecca Judd's, wedding gown took months to produce, with every detail being painstakingly designed.

'We see Meghan wearing something quite traditional but with a slight modern edge to it,' co-designers, Jacob Luppino and Anthony Pittorino, told FEMAIL exclusively.

'With her beautiful skin tone and exotic features, she will be breathtaking in anything she wears.

'We think Meghan would look incredible in a structured and tailored gown to emphasise her stunning frame and enhance her natural beauty.'

The pair explained that they just finished a stunning collection, made in Italy, which was steeped in their 'own heritage with strong references to our cultural background'.

'If we were to see Meghan in a gown fit for Royalty, we would choose the Baroque gown that pays homage to the Italian 17th Century Baroque Architecture. No beading, no embroidery, just layers upon layers of fine Italian antique and flesh-toned tulle and exquisite French lace all carved into a structured corseted sheath gown'.

The pair highlighted their idea for their design with a photograph of the dress, adding that 'the dramatic overskirt is detachable for the evening, which allows the bride to comfortably dance the night away in all her refinery'.

'A lux Bohemian princess and the integrating of cultures... a bygone era with modern day dreams, hopes and desires.'

'A lux Bohemian princess and the integrating of cultures... a bygone era with modern day dreams, hopes and desires,' J'Aton designers, Jacob Luppino and Anthony Pittorino, told FEMAIL exclusively (pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Kensington Palace on Monday)

With an aesthetic that features perfectly-form fitting gowns and a keen eye for detail, Sydney-based designer, Moira Hughes, is a firm favourite with the East Coast bridal set - she supplied this sumptuous sketch (pictured)

MOIRA HUGHES

With an aesthetic that features perfectly-form fitting gowns and a keen eye for detail, Sydney-based designer, Moira Hughes, is a firm favourite with the East Coast bridal set looking for something luxurious.

'Meghan has an incredible body so I wanted to design a gown to highlight her feminine silhouette,' Moira told FEMAIL

Her feminine designs would look beautiful on Meghan Markle.

'I was inspired to design a gown for Meghan based on her previous red-carpet gowns and past Royal weddings,' Moira told FEMAIL.

'Meghan has an incredible body so I wanted to design a gown to highlight her feminine silhouette.'

In designing the incredible gown, Moira explained that 'I incorporated our signature sculpted skirt to give Meghan a shape to rival Pippa Middleton's, and added a modern twist in the detachable silk chiffon skirt.

'This would create a translucent effect and reveal glimmers of her figure below, as she walked down the Cathedral aisle to her Prince. Not only would this give Meghan a magical effect, but it would also allow her to later take it off and dance the night away.'

Moira said she also added 'an English rose-style lace, to grow and wind up from the wrists and waist into nothing just below her collarbone.

'Being able to see the skin below would keep the translucent feel and give the illusion that lace is floating on her body. This idea is mirrored onto the skirt and onto a lower sheer lace back.'

The talented designer concluded by telling FEMAIL: 'Meghan is an independent new-age bride and this design gives her a modern twist on a timeless, classic gown that even HRH Queen Elizabeth would love'.

Her accompanying sketches and images show off the gown to its full capacity - and would be certain to chime well with the actress's love of showstopping gowns.

The talented designer concluded by telling FEMAIL: 'Meghan is an independent new-age bride and this design gives her a modern twist on a timeless, classic gown that even HRH Queen Elizabeth would love'

When it comes to a truly modern and laidback bridal look, Grace Loves Lace is the Australian go-to (pictured: Grace Loves Lace Arden dress, which retails for AUD $2,600.00 (GBP 1484.26; USD $1976.87)

'She's got beautiful skin, legs for days and a stunning face, so I imagine something sexy and classic using a contemporary embroidery with a cool, clean silhouette would really suit her,' Grace Loves Lace designer, Megan Ziems, told FEMAIL (pictured: the Arden dress)

GRACE LOVES LACE

When it comes to a truly modern and laidback bridal look, Grace Loves Lace is the Australian go-to.

With designer, Megan Ziems', love of bohemian styles and elegant looks, one of her outfits would look just perfect on Meghan Markle.

'Meghan is divine,' Megan told FEMAIL.

'I would love to dress her in our Arden, Rosa or Camille gowns,' she added. The designer shot these looks earlier this year in the British capital.

'She's got beautiful skin, legs for days and a stunning face, so I imagine something sexy and classic using a contemporary embroidery with a cool, clean silhouette would really suit her.

'She's like a modern-day Grace Kelly.'

The dresses highlighted by Megan Ziems cost AUD $2,400 (GBP 1900; USD $1970) for the Rosa, AUD $3,190.00 (GBP 2,530, USD $2610) for the Camille and AUD $2,600.00 (GBP 2,060; USD $2,130) for the Arden.

'I would love to dress her in our Arden, Rosa or Camille gowns,' Megan added (pictured: the Rosa; AUD $2,181.92; GBP 1245.54; USD $1658.91)

The Camille dress is pictured here, shot in London earlier in the year (AUD $3,190.00; GBP 1821.08, USD $2425.47)

When it comes to online bridal destination based in Australia, Sophie Westley of Love Find Co told FEMAIL she would love to dress Meghan Markle in international heavyweights such as Oscar de la Renta (left) and Caroline Herrera (right)

Monique L'Huillier (pictured) would also be a fabulous option for the soon-to-be Princess

LOVE FIND CO

Lastly, FEMAIL spoke to Aussie online bridal destination, Love Find Co, and principally their founder and style director, Sophie Westley, for how the international site might kit out Meghan for the big day.

'Meghan Markle's overall wedding look will be something combining modern romance with a timeless classic silhouette,' Sophie explained.

'I predict Meghan will wear something a little less traditional than Kate as she is a divorcee, so adding elements like a hint of colour, a V neck or an exposed back would create a modern yet timeless look.'

Sophie cited international heavyweights including Monique L'Huillier, Oscar de la Renta and Caroline Herrera as being designers 'who provide that polished Royal look'.

She supplied several photographs of their beautiful, luxurious designs.
Ovarian tissue frozen 11 years ago has been transplanted back into the womb of a 26-year-old cancer survivor using a robot.

The woman was 15 when she decided to have her eggs removed so she could have a chance of starting a family despite undergoing fertility-crushing chemotherapy to cure her recurrent leukemia.

Her tissue was removed by Dr Kutluk Oktay, the pioneering NYU Winthrop reproductive specialist and ovarian biologist who invented the precise freezing procedure in 1999.

Now newly-married, the patient - who wishes to remain unidentified until she conceives - has returned to Dr Oktay's clinic to have her tissue thawed and re-implanted so she can start a family.

'This procedure is literally life-changing. I now have the chance to have my own children,' she said, days after the operation which was the first of its kind performed on Long Island, the first of its kind performed on an outpatient basis, and the first using a Da Vinci robotic surgeon.

Dr Oktay told Daily Mail Online everything looked good in a follow-up five days later, and he expects she will be able to try for a baby within three to six months.

Landmark operation: Dr Kutluk Oktay (pictured using a Da Vinci robot) implanted a 26-year-old cancer survivor's ovarian tissue last week using a Da Vinci robot

'We actually started talking more than a year ago, about one-and-a-half years ago,' Dr Oktay told Daily Mail Online.

'We started the process, then we picked a date, and just did it!

'Everything is looking good now. We will have to wait for her to start ovulating, but everything went well.'

The patient, who is not from New York state and still lives in her hometown, suffered from leukemia three times as a child.

The third time, in her early teens, doctors were forced to induce a month-long coma as cancer cells swelled her brain.

They said her only chance of beating the blood disease was a bone marrow transplant - replacing her immune system with stem cells from a donor. However, to do so, she would first need a grueling round of chemotherapy which often leaves patients infertile.

'It is a very strong drug, it puts even children into early menopause,' Dr Oktay explained.

Her parents researched options for cancer patients to preserve their fertility, and found Dr Oktay, whose groundbreaking operation to freeze ovarian tissue in 1999 was hailed as one of the 10 biggest medical breakthroughs in history.

The family contacted Dr Oktay, who was and is based at NYU Winthrop - and 72 hours later, the patient underwent an ovary removal.

'I did a surgery to remove one of her ovaries and that was frozen in little slivers,' Dr Oktay explained.

'You have the mantle of the ovary has a little shelf which contains all the eggs. Since it's not possible to freeze a whole ovary, we have to break it into 15 to 20 slivers containing over half a million eggs.'

Ovary freezing is different to egg freezing, and Dr Oktay has performed the operation on patients as young as one year old.

In the ovarian tissue harvesting procedure, one ovary is removed, and slivers of the ovarian tissue are preserved with a cryoprotective agent and then frozen with an automated machine.

The tissue is then stored at a temperature of minus 270 degrees Celsius (about minus 518 degrees Fahrenheit), with no time limit for storage.

Later, following remission of cancer, the tissue can be transplanted back into a woman to restore fertility.

In that procedure, approximately 15 to 20 slivers of ovarian tissue are thawed and grafted on to the woman's remaining ovary, with that transplanted tissue connected to existing ovary blood vessels.

To reinsert the tissue, Dr Oktay used a Da Vinci robot, a four-armed cyborg surgeon which allows the surgeon to navigate while watching a high-definition 3D image of the surgical site.

While Da Vincis are now commonplace in most hospitals, Dr Oktay was the first to use it for laparoscopic operations in gynecology.

The mantle of the ovary has a little shelf which contains all the eggs. Since it's not possible to freeze a whole ovary, it has to be broken into 15 to 20 slivers containing over half a million eggs

Even now, reminiscing about his first go with the robot, he sounds gleeful: 'I jumped at the chance! People were nervous, but I could see the potential, I wanted to try it.'

Now, he has performed the operation on a handful of patients, and helps write the guidelines for oncologists recommending options for cancer patients' fertility. But this was the first ovarian tissue transplant he had performed with the robot.

'The ovarian transplant that I pioneered should be presented as a medical option for any young girl or woman who risks losing her fertility due to chemotherapy or radiation treatments,' he said.

'An ovarian transplant should be viewed in disciplines such as oncology as preventative care, since the procedure can prevent the loss of fertility.

'Diseases such as cancer are devastating enough when occurring in children, let alone when a family is faced with the prospects of their girl never having the chance to bear her own children.'
A woman has revealed she turned into a recluse after her doctor described her acne-ridden skin as the 'worst case he had ever seen'.

Charlotte Hall was so self-conscious about her appearance which became blemished from the age of 12 that she did not have a boyfriend until she was 24.

Now 27, the after school assistant tried all kinds of treatments  including antibiotics and the controversial drug Roaccutane but nothing had any long-term effect.

Charlotte finally found relief after using a 12.95 cream which contains colloidal silver  and has found the confidence to date.

Silver Serum claims to kill the bad skin bacteria which causes acne while increasing the good bacteria that combats the condition.

Sales of products containing the ingredient  water infused with particles of the metal  have soared since Strictly star Debbie McGee, 59, revealed it's the secret to her age-defying agility.

Charlotte Hall suffered with the skin condition since the age of 12 and didn't have a boyfriend until she was 24

The 27-year-old has now found cream claimed to kill bad skin bacteria without harming the Dgood bacteria

CELEBRITIES WHO SWEAR BY COLLOIDAL SILVER Debbie McGee is a fan of colloidal silver Sales of colloidal silver products have rocketed thanks to the 'Debbie effect'. The 59-year-old widow of magician Paul Daniels credits a supplement called Active Silver with keeping her youthful. One of the favourites for the Strictly Come Dancing crown this year, she revealed she starts each day with a spoonful of finely ground silver particles. Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow is also a fan and uses hers as a spray when she goes on flights to ward off germs, she revealed on her lifestyle website, Goop recently. Many believe the ingredient helps fight bacteria and viruses, boosts the immune system and can be used to treat everything from acne to eye infections. Advertisement

Charlotte, from Ashford in Kent, said: 'Until relatively recently my life revolved around my acne and an almost OCD-like routine with make-up and cleansers to try to disguise it.

'I barely dared to leave my house because I was so self-conscious about my skin and I didn't have a boyfriend until I was 24.

'I felt I looked so disgusting I could barely even speak to boys, let alone go on a date or be intimate in any way.

'I'm not exaggerating when I say that my entire world has changed since my acne cleared up and if I hadn't discovered Silver Serum for my skin I don't know where I'd be now.'

Social phobia

Charlotte says she was laughed at at school because her face was so incredibly oily  causing her to rush to the toilet every hour to blot her face.

She would spend hours before going to school or leaving the house trying to mask her spots.

'I'd wear gallons of make-up to try and cover up my acne but it would slide off my face within a few hours and I'd have to replace it,' she said.

'I was worried about anyone seeing my skin without make up. That was out of the question. I didn't even want my parents or my twin brother to see me bare-faced.

'As a teenager that meant saying no to invites from friends and sleep-overs.'

By her late teens, Charlotte's acne had gone from bad to worse and her dermatologist told her it was 'the worst case of acne he'd ever seen'.

'I'd developed a serious social phobia about going out at all,' she said.

'I was completely psychologically scarred about my skin. I didn't even like to go down to the corner shop near my house and I'd only ever leave the house if I absolutely had to.'

'Going to school was an emotional hurdle every day. It was challenging trying to maintain friendships and any semblance of a social life. It's claimed a lot of my youth.'

Endless treatments

Charlotte was prescribed antibiotics, the contraceptive pill and many creams and gels over the years, but nothing worked.

During a bad flare up in the first few weeks of university, her GP prescribed her with accutane.

The drug  marketed under the brand name Roaccutane in the UK  is known for it's dramatic effect of clearing up acne but comes with potentially serious side effects including suicidal ideation and pancreatitis.

Charlotte says that within two months of using Silver Serum daily  along with prescribed retinol cream  her skin was about 60 per cent better

'My skin improved a little on Roaccutane but the side effects were awful and I felt tired, depressed and ill all the time,' explained Charlotte.

'There were several points at which I didnt feel I could carry on at all.'

Charlotte then tried a course of microdermabrasion and light therapy but described the treatment as 'agony'.

'It was like being shot in the face several times, I was crying so much I could not carry on. I just felt like never leaving the house ever again.'

Natural remedy

It was while reading endless blogs and articles on-line while shut away in her room that Charlotte came across Silver Serum.

Feeling sceptical but at her wits' end, Charlotte ordered herself a pot.

'I had already tried a number of natural alternatives, including garlic gel, honey and oatmeal, and some did have a mild effect but nothing close to the results I was hoping for,' she said.

The after school assistant says she didn't have a boyfriend until age 24 but now has the confidence to date

She said that when people look at her now they wouldn't know that she has acne

Silver Serum claims to work by helping increase the skin's good bacteria to naturally fight the bacteria that causes acne.

She now uses the product in combination with a prescribed retinol cream every day and says the difference is 'incredible'.

'I was genuinely surprised when within a week I could start to see a difference. The serum was immediately soothing on my skin and within days the redness and inflammation had started to calm down.

'Within two weeks my spots had started to decrease. Within two months of daily use I would say my skin was about 60 per cent better.'

'When people look at me now they wouldn't say I have acne. In fact people have even told me I have lovely skin.

'As my skin has improved so has my social life. I'm always out with my friends, I travel at least three times a year and I've been on some amazing adventures to countries I never thought possible.

'Getting rid of my acne has literally opened up a whole new world to me.'
Controversial vaginal mesh implants should be banned, NICE says.

The health watchdog recommends the 'gold standard' implants should not be routinely offered for treating organ prolapse but instead just used for research or after patients are made aware of the risks, according to the BBC's flagshipVictoria Derbyshire show.

One expert said it is highly likely the NHS will take up NICE's recommendation, which will be published next month, however, it is not obligated to do so.

The verdict from NICE comes after the Government released its three-year investigation into the mesh scandal and rejected calls for a widespread ban on the implants last September.

More than 800 women are suing the NHS and the implants' manufacturers after complaining of crippling pain.

The NHS has even been accused of sweeping such complications under the carpet in an effort to dodge media attention.

After previously denying their implants were causing women discomfort, mesh manufacturer Johnson & Johnson paid out $57 million to a sufferer from Philadelphia last month after a jury found the company to be negligent and its product defective.

Many women who have been fitted the mesh implants have complained of being in such severe agony they are unable to work, walk or have sex, with some even being on the brink of suicide.

Julie Gilsennan was told she would need up to six weeks off work after having the mesh fitted, however, she has been unable to return to work as a paramedic and instead works from home processing complaints to the ambulance service

Angela Young (pictured), a 47-year-old hairdresser from Stockport, described the pain of a vaginal mesh as: Its as if you have a handful of needles shoved between your legs

Controversial vaginal mesh implants (pictured) should be banned, according to NICE

WHAT ARE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS? Vaginal mesh implants are devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence in women. Usually made from synthetic polypropylene, a type of plastic, the implants are intended to repair damaged or weakened tissue in the vagina wall. Other fabrics include polyester, human tissue and absorbable synthetic materials. Some women report severe and constant abdominal and vaginal pain after the surgery. In some, the pain is so severe they are unable to have sex. Infections, bleeding and even organ erosion has also been reported. Advertisement

Ban comes too late for many

In a series of documents about vaginal mesh implants to be published in December, NICE said that 'evidence of long-term efficacy is inadequate in quality and quantity'.

It added that 'when complications occur, these can be serious and have life-changing consequences'

Yet, NICE also said most women do not report complications after being fitted with such implants.

The health watchdog only commented on organ prolapse and not urinary incontinence or hernias, which implants are also used for.

Current recommendations state the procedure 'should only be used with special arrangements for clinical governance, consent and audit or research'.

And doctors wishing to undertake this surgical repair should 'ensure that patients understand that there is uncertainty about the long-term results and there is a risk of complications, including sexual dysfunction and erosion into the vagina, which would require additional procedures'.

Professor Carl Heneghan, an expert in the subject from the University of Oxford, said NICE's comments are an admission that health services had 'got this wrong', but said a potential ban comes to late for many sufferers, the BBC reported.

Action from the Department of Health and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is required before a ban can come into place.

Liz Adelanwa, digital media manager at NICE told MailOnline: 'Our official guidance on the use of vaginal mesh is not due out until 20 December. NICEs remit means we cannot ban treatments or procedures'

The NHS declined to comment.

Mother-of-two Denise Davis (pictured), 52, from Gorsley, Herefordshire, says she considered suicide because of the pain after she had the mesh implanted in 2010 for incontinence

Ella Ebaugh (pictured), 51, was awarded $57 million after her vaginal mesh implant caused her extreme pain and burning. Johnson & Johnson is under fire for selling multiple implants

Sylvia Litchfield (pictured before the surgery in 2014), 61, claims the only reason she is still alive today is because her three cats and grandchildren gave her a purpose to live for

'A public health scandal'

Sharon Hodgson MP, Labour's Shadow Public Health Minister, said: 'Mesh implants have left women in permanent pain, unable to walk, and unable to work. This is an ongoing public health scandal and the Government need to do much more to support those affected.

'Mesh implants should be taken off the market now until we know more about the threat they pose to women's safety.

'The Government have failed to answer big questions about the extent of this public health scandal, including how many women have been affected and why a product with such terrible risks was allowed into the market in the first place.

'Labour is calling for a full inquiry to uncover the extent of the harm done by mesh implants so we can be sure that this never happens again.'

'I'VE BEEN ON THE BRINK OF SUICIDE. MY KIDS KEPT ME GOING' Janette Nelson, 43, was on the brink of suicide after suffering agonising pain from a vaginal mesh implant she had fitted A mother-of-three has revealed she was on the brink of suicide after suffering agonising pain from a vaginal mesh implant she had fitted. Janette Nelson, 43, from Newtownards, Northern Ireland, said the only think that kept her going was her children, but she still battles guilt every day as she depends on them to help her wash, dress and even catheterise after the procedure left her unable to control her bladder. The former hairdresser also blames her implant for the breakdown of her relationship as her boyfriend left her when the pain was too severe for her to have sex. Unable to work, her career has also been destroyed. 'My children lost their mummy' Ms Nelson had the most common type of mesh, known as TVT, fitted in March 2012 in an attempt to cure her urinary stress incontinence. She said: 'Immediately once my tape was fitted I woke up with excruciating pain in my groin; its indescribable.' Just one week later, Ms Nelson wet herself while out with her children and now relies on her eldest daughter to help her catheterise every day. Due to the excruciating pain of the mesh, Ms Nelson has been forced to rely on her mother and sister to help her raise her children. She said: 'My children lost their mummy. I've been on the brink of suicide. 'My kids kept me going. I was useless as a mum but I'm still their mum. It's all been about me for the past few years.' Ms Nelson, 43, pictured with her daughters Bryanne (bottom), 17, and Zofie, 12 'My boyfriend left me because of it' As well as affecting her as a parent, Ms Nelson also blames the implant for the loss of her love life and career. She said: 'I had a boyfriend when this started but the sex was excruciating, neither of us could cope with it. My boyfriend left me because of it. 'I used to work as a hairdresser; always on my feet, always very confident, but now I can hardly walk and I can't control my bladder so I can't work. It's really knocked my confidence.' Advertisement

NHS DODGING MEDIA ATTENTION The NHS tried to dodge media attention over the vaginal mesh implants that left hundreds of women in agony, it was revealed in April. The procedure cut into women's vaginas and left many in discomfort so severe they have been left unable to work, walk or have sex. It emerged the NHS actively sought to avoid courting headlines over the matter after minutes from an NHS meeting in October were leaked. The minutes showed an agreement to 'take the press element out of' a campaign for women experiencing complications from the devices. Seen by the Press Association, the minutes outlined the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) yellow card campaign, which targets under-reporting of mesh complications. Officials said they should 'look into taking the press element out of the mesh yellow card campaign' and 'investigate whether there can be a general yellow card campaign, of which mesh is one element, to avoid media attention on mesh'. Advertisement

Government previously rejected a ban

Last September the Government released its three-year investigation into the mesh scandal and rejected calls for a widespread ban on the implants, which can shrink, twist and curl at the edges, leading to nerve damage.

Vaginal mesh has been considered a high-risk device for nearly a decade in the US, with bodies accepting up to 40 per cent of women may experience side effects.

Some studies, published in an array of scientific journals, have shown that pain, erosion and perforation from the surgery can affect up to 75 per cent of women.

The alarming evidence prompted officials in three US states to suspend the practice and saw them call for an urgent review into its safety.

Previously suspended in Scotland

Mesh implants continue to be used in Scotland despite calls from the health secretary for their suspension.

The mesh, introduced 20 years ago, was promoted as a quick, cheap alternative to complex surgery for incontinence. It was dubbed the 'gold-standard' treatment.

Due to it not requiring specialist training to implant, outraged women have since called for tougher regulations in order to conduct such surgery.

More than 10,000 women a year have the procedure. Some 7,800 have suffered lacerations and nerve damage from the mesh breaking into tiny fragments.
A toddler from India with protruding eyes who was slowly going blind until generous donations from around the world funded treatment has sadly died.

The plight of Zailian Kaipeng hit international headlines two months ago and touched hearts across the globe with more than 10,000 poured in to save the boy.

The two-year-old had been 'constant pain' with his swollen eyes since he was two months old but his parents were too poor to fund treatment. After finally getting medical attention, he was diagnosed with blood cancer last month and began chemotherapy.

But the boy caught an infection late last week which turned into pneumonia, and he lost his battle last Saturday.

His father, Neirbanglal Kaipeng, 28, a daily labourer, said: Im shattered. My child has left me. Despite so much hard work by everyone, he is gone. It is devastating.

Zailian Kaipeng, pictured with his father Neirbanglal Kaipeng, 28, and grandmother Thaponti Kaipeng, 65, was receiving treatment after being diagnosed with blood cancer

The boy was in 'constant pain' with his swollen eyes since he was two months old

The toddler, pictured here after chemotherapy had improved his eye swelling, caught an infection late last week which turned into pneumonia

Critical condition

Zailian travelled to Delhi, on October 12, with his father and grandmother Thaponti, 65, after press agency Cover Asia Press started a fund raising page for his treatment, on September 25.

He was admitted to Artemis Healthcare Hospital, in Gurugram, outside Delhi, where he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and chemotherapy was quickly begun.

Doctors were also discussing the possibility of a bone marrow transplant.

Zailian is pictured with his grandmother Thaponti Kaipeng. Doctors had hope as his swollen eyes had drastically reduced due to treatment

The youngster had an aggressive type of cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia

However, he was admitted into intensive care late last week then suffered a cardiac arrest.

Dr Randeep Singh, the head of medical oncology the hospital, said: His death has left us all in shock. We moved him to the intensive care unit after his white blood cell count (WBC) dropped massively and he had high fever but his condition worsened due to severe pneumonia.

'He unfortunately succumbed to his disease despite strong antibiotics and treatment.'

The medic said that the boy's cancer was very aggressive and he entered a critical condition after his WBC count dropped.

His case was not easy, he had serious leukemia,' he said. 'WBC usually drops during chemotherapy and the body is prone to infections, especially bacterial infections.

After a crowdfunding page was set up 10,000 was raised in the first ten hours

The boy's family had revealed they felt so helpless they stared at their son and cried

'Zailian was incubated for nearly 12 hours but nothing helped. He was really ill and it is extremely tragic and sad to see him leave this world at such an early age.

'There were so many associated with him who came forward to help. He has left all of us heartbroken.

Zailians body was today airlifted from Delhi back to his home of Tripura, in the north east, and his funeral will take place in a traditional ceremony on Tuesday.

His mother, Changmaite, 25, a homemaker, could not be with her son when he was sent for treatment as she had to remain at home to take care of her other two children, son Ringdamte, 10, and nine-month-old daughter Naote.

Doctors said they they were waiting to see if the chemotherapy would work and had previously stressed his chances hung in the balance

Mother could not be there

Tragically, she did not see Zailian before he died.

Neirbanglal added: I understand everybody tried and I am really thankful to everyone who came forward to try to save my child.

'I am grateful to them for their love and support. He was destined to live only this long. I hope with everyones prayers, his soul rests in peace. He will always be remembered and we will miss him always.
Garlic could ward off hospital superbugs, new research reveals.

A compound in the pungent kitchen-staple, known as ajoene, breaks down resistant bacteria, allowing antibiotics to work again, a study found.

It does this by disrupting a gene that microbes require to stick to human tissue, without which they cannot reproduce, the Danish research adds.

Researchers hope the breakthrough could fight incurable cystic fibrosis and chronic wounds in diabetes sufferers, as well as tackling Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other common hospital infections.

Around 30 per cent of people carry the the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which is responsible for MRSA and resistant to widely-used antibiotics, on their skin or in their noses, which can invade the bloodstream and release poisonous toxins that kill up to one-fifth of patients.

Garlic could ward off hospital superbugs by breaking down bacteria; allowing drugs to work

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANCE IS NOT CONFINED TO HOSPITALS: SOME 30% CARRY DEADLY BACTERIA WITHOUT KNOWING IT Antibiotic-resistant MRSA is spreading outside hospitals having left its usual breeding grounds, research revealed last month. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which kills up to one-fifth of infected individuals, is affecting people throughout Britain by going undetected in communities, a study found. Although the infection is typically associated with hospitals, many sufferers are unaware they carry MRSA, which is symptomless unless it enters the bloodstream. This allows them to spread the life-threatening bacteria through skin-to-skin contact when out and about, the research adds. Despite patients being routinely screened for the bacteria upon hospital admission, the test is fairly inaccurate, which further encourages the infection to spread. Dr Jonathan Pearce, head of infections and immunity at the Medical Research Council, who was not involved in the study, said: 'This study sheds light on MRSA transmission within and between hospitals and the community, which could help strengthen infection prevention and control measures.' Advertisement

Enables the body to fight infection

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen found ajoene suppresses a particular gene that leads to the destruction of bacterial 'biofilm'; which is required to stick to human tissue.

Although this does not kill bacteria, it prevents them from communicating with other microbes, which they need to do in order for their numbers to grow.

This enables antibiotics and the body's immune system to fight infections more effectively.

'Treatment of patients who have poor prospects'

Study author Professor Tim Holm Jakobsen said: 'We really believe this method can lead to [the] treatment of patients who otherwise have poor prospects.

'Chronic infections like cystic fibrosis can be very robust. But now we, together with a private company, have enough knowledge to further develop the garlic drug and test it on patients.'

'The two types of bacteria we have studied are very important. They are called Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

'The garlic compound is able to fight both at once and therefore may prove an effective drug when used together with antibiotics.'

The findings were published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

'Garlic drug' to be tested

The study builds on previous work that, since 2005, demonstrates garlic's ability to inhibit bacteria, with ajoene being found to be responsible in 2012.

Previous studies also found garlic appears to offer the most powerful, naturally-occurring resistance to bacteria.

In 2012 the researchers took out a patent on the use of ajoene to fight bacterial infections, with the pharma firm Neem Biotech later buying the licence to use the patent.

Their drug, NX-AS-401, which aims to treat patients with cystic fibrosis, is set to be trialed in clinical studies within the next two years.
Drinking bottled water to avoid lead contamination is damaging the dental health of American children, according to a new study.

People who drink tap water are much more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, but most tap water is treated with fluoride, which helps prevent tooth decay and cavities.

Bottled water sales soared following the Flint, Michigan water crisis, as Americans became increasingly distrustful of their tap water.

The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill study found that while only three percent of people between two and 19 had lead in their blood, almost 50 percent had tooth decay.

In the aftermath of the water crisis, more children like this little girl are drinking solely bottled water in Flint, Michigan and around the country. But bottled water is not fluoridated like tap, leaving children at greater risk of tooth decay and cavities, a study reports

Americans are afraid of their tap water, and increasingly turning to bottles for a 'safer' drinking option.

Flint's crisis led to investigations of water in places like New York City and Detroit, where dangerous levels of lead were also found.

In 2016, bottled water sales outpaced soda for the first time, surging by 16 percent over the previous year.

Flint, Michigan resident Jessica Owens held a baby bottle of contaminated water during a rally in Washington, D.C. last year. Parents like Owens protect their children from lead poisoning by giving them tap water, but risk their dental health

Tooth decay, however, is an extremely common phenomenon in American children, and can have its own long-term health, financial and educational consequences.

About 40 percent of children in the US have had at least one cavity by the time they get to kindergarten.

One in every five children does not receive regular dental care, according to America's Toothfairy, a foundation advocating for children's oral health.

To help prevent tooth decay, a very low concentration of fluoride was introduced to the tap water of Grand Rapids, Michigan (just 100 miles from Flint) in 1945, and the practice has since spread throughout the country.

As of 2012, 75 percent of US cities had fluoridated water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports that fluoridation reduces the prevalence of tooth decay by about 25 percent.

Tooth decay can cause severe pain, and accounted for $2.1 billion worth of emergency room visits in 2010. Left untreated, cavities can lead to infections and lost teeth.

This study echoed the findings of previous research that drinking only bottled water is most common among American minorities and people living below the poverty line.

Emergency deliveries of bottled water were made to Flint, Michigan after the crisis. Studies have shown that non-white and low-income Americans are more likely to distrust their drinking water and give their children exclusively bottled water

A map details the number of drinking water violations were documented in each state in 2016

One in five impoverished children, one in four African Americans and one in three Mexican Americans surveyed do not drink tap water.

The toxic lead levels in the water in Flint, Michigan, and how it impacted the residents Flint, Michigan, experienced a contamination problem with its water supply after the city started using the Flint River The city was originally getting its water from Detroit, but made the switch to the river in April 2014. Children living in Flint then started to experience an extreme increase in lead levels in the blood. A study showed lead levels in children doubled after the city made the switch. This toxic chemical is damaging to a child's brain development and growth. The mayor of Flint declared the city in a state of emergency in December 2015 as officials scrambled to figure out a solution to the increase in lead. Residents in the city protested until the government switched the water supply back to coming from Detroit. But the increased lead exposure could have irreversible effects on the people most affected. Officials don't know if it will ever be safe for residents to ingest the water from Flint. Advertisement

These groups, according to past research, are more likely to believe that their tap water is not safe to drink.

That concern is fueled by incidents like the Flint water crisis. Many have theorized that the cost-cutting water switch there went unnoticed for so long because it primarily affected poorer, minority residents.

Tooth decay also disproportionately affects none-white children. According to recent studies, Mexican American children have the poorest dental health in the country, followed by black and then white children.

After 99,000 residents - 14,000 of whom were children - of Flint, Michigan were exposed to lead by drinking tap water there, bottled water looked better than ever.

A court even ordered the state to deliver bottled water to Flint residents.

The CDC confirmed that children who had drunk tap water after the 2014 water source switch were at a 50 percent greater risk of having dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.

Lead poisoning can lead to developmental and cognitive delays, especially in children, who are most vulnerable to the contaminant.

Though this study was not able to document exactly which children that did report drinking tap water received fluoridated water, its authors write that the study 'draws attention to a critical trade-off for parents: children who drink tap water are more likely to have elevated blood lead levels, yet children who avoid tap water are more likely to have tooth decay,' said co-author Dr Gary Slade.

'Community water fluoridation benefits all people, irrespective of their income or ability to obtain routine dental care. Yet we jeopardize this public good when people have any reason to believe their drinking water is unsafe,' he concluded.
The City paid a record 72billion in taxes last year in a fresh sign that Britains crucial financial services sector remains in rude health.

This accounted for 11 per cent of total taxes raked in by the Exchequer and was 700million more than in the previous 12 months.

The figure suggests the Brexit vote has had no discernible impact on big banks and insurers money-making capabilities or the number of people they employ.

Shining example: The figure suggests the Brexit vote has had no discernible impact on big banks and insurers money-making capabilities or the number of people they employ

And although it highlights the importance of Londons financial powerhouse to public finances, critics said the huge tax take shows there is an urgent need to rebalance the economy away from an over-reliance on banking.

The last Labour government had encouraged a catastrophic boom in the industry which eventually forced taxpayers to make multi-billion-pound bailouts to Lloyds, Northern Rock and Royal Bank of Scotland.

John Longworth, a former head of the British Chambers of Commerce who is now joint chairman of eurosceptic group Leave Means Leave, said: This demonstrates that Brexit has had no effect on City performance  you could almost say its had a positive impact.

But although the City is a cash cow for tax, it is also a drag on the rest of the country. The City should be there to serve the rest of the country, rather than driving its own performance, and being overly reliant on financial services has left the UK taxpayer with a massive debt burden.

TOURISTS FLOOD IN The post-Brexit fall in the pound has helped Britains hotels become more financially secure as tourists flood in, research shows. It means fewer than 1 per cent of hotels are now at risk of going insolvent, according to accountant Moore Stephens, which studied data from the Insolvency Service. Official figures show that there were 10.9million international visits to Britain in the three months to June 30, up 8.9 per cent on a year earlier.

The figures, compiled by accountant PwC for the City of London Corporation, show that the financial services sector paid 72.1billion in the year to March 31, up 1 per cent and the highest recorded in the decade that data has been collected.

Employment taxes paid by bankers and other professionals made up the largest proportion of this figure at 31.4billion, while corporation tax raised 11.6billion.

The rest came from VAT payments and other smaller bills such as stamp duty and business rates. In total, the sector has handed 649 billion to the taxman in the past decade.

Banks had claimed they could shift jobs out of London because of Brexit  but many have since backed away from mass relocations.

Andrew Kail of PwC said: London will remain one of the most important and attractive international centres for financial services and global business.

However, the financial firepower of the UKs regions is also put into sharp relief by this report.

To underpin this great performance, there must be a strong supply of local talent with the relevant skills, competitive costs and high productivity.
Lake Windermere shimmers with golden flecks reflecting the crisp blue sky, while the surrounding hills are bathed in a rich autumnal glow. Its a perfect day for stomping about in a pair of mud-caked walking boots or basking in the late afternoon sun outside a tea room with a cup of tea and a scone.

So what are a psychotherapist, solicitor, IT executive and a biology lecturer doing shut up together in a bare-walled university meeting room?

They and thirty-odd others have come from all over the country to spend the weekend discussing monetary policy. And there is barely an economist in sight.

Positive outlook: Participants getting into rethinking monetary policy on a Sunday afternoon

Rob Moore, the IT executive, often does charitable work in his community. But he'd like to help create a society where there is no need for food banks.

Solicitor Jim Murray wants to tackle the inequality and housing shortage he sees on a daily basis in Liverpool.

Psychotherapist Joanne would like people to be free from stress-inducing jobs and biologist Tim Doheny Adams wants to see technology used to prevent environmental disaster.

The solution all of them have come up with: change the way money is created.

They want to take it out of the hands of the banks  and even create money to help in society where it is needed most.

Few of us give how money is created a second thought. We happily  or unhappily  earn it, owe it, trade with it, and dream of more of it.

But at the annual retreat of Positive Money, a not-for-profit organisation, attendees take a step back and question how it is made and whether or not this is working.

Positive Money argues, banks have a magic money tree, which it believes the government should control instead

At the moment, money is created by banks issuing loans to people  they dont need to actually have the cash to make a loan. In effect, Positive Money argues, they have a magic money tree, which it believes the government should control instead.

Few of the attendees on this three-day retreat have come to Positive Money through an interest in finance itself.

Instead, most started by identifying issues for which  when they take a step back - they have a gnawing feeling the nature of money itself is the underlying culprit.

Its an alluring notion  the idea that so many social injustices and issues could be fixed with one single, albeit hefty, tweak.

Raising questions: Participants have come from across the country to discuss money creation

An IT executive with a young daughter, Rob is a busy man. He works full time and helps out in his community. Lots of my family work with people in the community, for example handing out food, he says.

I admire what they do, but I dont want to do that if I could do something more systemic.

Rather than fixing the symptoms, what if we could change the root causes?

He explains that he is on the retreat to find out if changing the way money is created is the answer. Fix that and you might not even need food banks, is the logic. Money could be created to help people pay off debts and improve living standards for the poorest.

Supporters: Attendees were picked from Positive Money's 35 local groups around the country

Meanwhile, Jim Murray believes that changing money creation could help alleviate social problems from unaffordable house prices, to instability in the banking system, to inequality.

He believes that if money creation is no longer in the hands of the banks, it would finally mark the end of boom and bust, as the money creators would lose their incentive to create as much as they can thereby repeatedly creating unsustainable levels of debt.

Like many attendees he found Positive Money while looking for answers after the financial crisis.

The system is built for the ten per cent, he says. We need to change things to stop the inequality of opportunity between the 90 per cent and the ten per cent  to democratise opportunities.

Inequality, high levels of consumer debt, the environment and our mental health: could money creation be the underlying cause of so many of societys issues? Or is it all just wishful thinking?

Walk and talk: Participants did find time for a walk - but money creation was still the main topic of conversation

Inspiration: Attendees enjoyed a few hours out of their campus lecture room

How money is created

To answer whether money creation is the problem, we really need to start by looking at how money is created at the moment.

As much as 97 per cent of the money circulating in the UK is created by banks issuing loans, according to the organisation.

Heres how they do it.

Say, for example, you wanted to borrow to buy a house, or to invest in your business. You would go to your bank and ask them for the cash.

A common misconception is that the bank would then look at how much money it had in its coffers brought in from peoples savings and then decide whether or not to make you a loan from it. The amount it lent would be restricted by the amount of money it had in the pot.

But this is not the case. Banks do not need to match savings deposits with loans.

If it considers your request to be viable, the bank eventually just pops the money in your account  often done simply by making an entry on a computer system. And voila  money is created.

Positive Moneys argument is that this does not work.

Banks work in their own interests and those of its shareholders  the current system does not incentivise them to do what is best for individuals and society, it says.

Tackling the big issues: Conversations for Friday night included the state of the economy, politics, cryptocurrencies and the psychology of debt

And if you want proof of this, says Positive Money, just cast your mind back to the financial crisis in 2008 when we taxpayers had to bailout the banks to the tune of billions of pounds.

Creating money through increasing levels of debt is disastrous as well, it says  just look at the levels of consumer debt households are now burdened with.

After the financial crash, Positive Money called for money creation to be taken out of the hands of the banks, many of which had proven themselves ineffective stewards  and into the hands of the state.

It believes this single move would solve so many of the problems identified by its supporters.

For Jim, Peoples QE would enable people to pay their debts. It would inject money to Joe Public rather than the banks and financial markets and the top ten per cent.

Tim, who teaches biology at York University, sees it as a solution to the environmental issues he cares about.

Back to basics: Positive Money's Rachel Oliver gives a run through of how money is created

As evening falls on day one of the retreat and participants discuss cryptocurrencies, debt, and the state of the economy over pizza and homemade wine, Tim tells me: I think it permeates everything.

For example, we know that the environmental damaged caused by someone who does not eat meat is a lot less than someone who does. But eating meat is good for the economy, although not in the long term.

Sovereign money [money created by the state rather than by private banks] would allow us to "invest in things that are not profitable", such as green technology or campaigns, into things that benefit people directly as a whole.

Coming up with a strategy: Participants shared their experiences from local groups around the country

Is it going to happen?

Even the charity admits, changing how money is created is a tall order.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, its strategy has evolved over recent years to incorporate several stepping stones in the direction of its eventual goal.

Right now, its committed to the idea of peoples quantitative easing as its next aim.

Conventional quantitative easing sees the Bank of England effectively print money to flood the financial system in the hope that it will feed into all areas of the economy and give it a shot in the arm when its looking sickly.

In the UK, it was done mainly by buying government bonds from financial institutions in the hope that a trickle down effect would see that money flow into riskier assets and ultimately through to the economy.

Peoples QE is different because the money created is used in what Positive Money calls the real economy  rather than bunging it into the financial system and hoping it reaches the people who need it eventually.

The money could be given out to households to help them pay off their often-insurmountable debts, or to invest in renewable energy, or other funds that have a direct, positive impact on society.

At the retreat, while many seemed determined that the ultimate goal could be reached, they feared the resistance of the banks, politicians and central banks against whom these moves would work.

Too good to be true, surely?

While its ideas strike a chord with a substantial and widening supporter base, Positive Moneys wishlist is sniffed at by many  and at the highest levels.

Theresa May revealed her view when, asked by a nurse in a pre-election debate why public sector workers could not have a pay rise she responded there is no magic money tree.

Positive Money has been arguing vehemently since then that there is one  or rather two  the banks and the central banks.

When governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney was asked last year about peoples QE  sometimes referred to as helicopter money  he called it flights of fancy and another time warned it would create a compounded ponzi scheme.

The magic money tree line has also been used to criticise the spending and People's QE plans put forward by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Even some who are sympathetic to Positive Moneys ideas question whether putting money creation into the hands of a load of politicians or bureaucrats would really be any more effective than leaving it with the banks.

Will it happen?

Even the most fervent Positive Money supporters at this retreat had questions over any chance of success. Many spoke of the powers of the banks and the opposition that would inevitably be faced asking them to relinquish it.

But sentiment has been changing.

Not so long ago, had you mentioned helicopter money or Peoples QE you would have been laughed out of most rooms.

The day after the retreat, at the Royal Society of Arts in London, Positive Money hosted a debate with Financial Times economics editor Martin Wolf and former shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.

Martin Wolf has for a long time been sympathetic to the views of Positive Money. And Ed Balls said: If Martin thinks something is a good idea you should take it very seriously, and also you should always be open to radical ideas so therefore I genuinely have an open mind about whether in fact this is the right solution. Im not sure, but I have an open mind.

You should always be open to radical ideas so therefore I genuinely have an open mind about whether in fact this is the right solution Ed Balls

The Labour party has been considering peoples QE, and talks more freely than it has for some years about spending money despite levels of existing debt.

Positive Money certainly believes its ideas are gaining traction.

More than 966,000 people viewed its video explainer on the magic money tree  thanks to its supporter networks. Thirty five local groups meet every week to discuss ideas and strategise. Like the retreat attendees they come from all walks of life, most with little interest in finance itself.

Positive Money lead organiser Rachel Oliver says they believe helicopter money will happen in the next five years.

She adds: Because we have so many people behind us it gives us access to the corridors of power.'

Sceptical: Prime Minister debate told a nurse in the pre-election debates that there 'is no magic money tree' - an idea that Positive Money contests

And in the meantime?

After three days of sharing ideas and coming up with plans for spreading the word, participants disperse again around the country and to share their experiences with their local Positive Money group  or set up a new one.

They wont overhaul the way money is created overnight; some would question whether they might ever. But what feels powerful is these are not experts or economists taking on the economy. Theyre doctors, students, retirees, lawyers, grandparents  members of the Conservative party, Labour party, Green party  and independent candidates.

The issues that are dealt with by economists are not esoteric or distant or academic, theyre about people, their jobs, their homes, their families and how we interact with each other. Whether you agree with them or not, Positive Money supporters are getting stuck in and stirring up the debate.

Beer, pizza and economic policy: Participants get in on an unusual Friday night

Shared experiences: Conversations often diverted into talk of cryptocurrencies, the nature of government bonds and quantitative easing

And while the retreat stirs up big ideas and ambitions, who knows whether the small, achievable changes will have just as much of an impact.

Janet Barlow is off home to North Wales after the retreat to dig out a bunch of paperwork.

Ive been meaning to join a credit union for ages, she says. And move my money into a better bank account. And maybe Ill set up a direct debit to Positive Money too.

Rethinking: Emily Maitlis chairs a panel with Positive Money executive director Fran Boait, Ed Balls and Martin Wolf

It will be interesting to see what would happen should we have another financial crisis.

Money is a manmade construction. So it doesnt make sense that it doesnt work for so many people

With questions still hanging over the response to the last and whether or not it has worked, perhaps ideas that still feel radical to many will become more palatable as other alternatives are sought.

As night descends on Ambleside, stillness descends on the lake while energy rises on campus room as ideas questions debates whirr around.

Rachel Oliver muses: Money is a manmade construction. So it doesnt make sense that it doesnt work for so many people. Surely there is another way?
An eight-year-old girl was hospitalized with serious injuries last week after a car crashed in upstate New York as the child steered the vehicle while sitting on her father's lap.

State police say 36-year-old Brett Reynolds, of Whitehall, took his mother's silver Honda sedan for a joyride late Tuesday without permission and allowed his daughter to steer while Reynolds worked the pedals.

Troopers say the girl, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered a fractured arm and rib, a punctured lung and head injuries when the car hit an embankment and then a tree.

Brett Reynolds is accused of taking his mother's car on a joyride and allowing his eight-year-old daughter to sit on his lap and steer the car, resulting in a crash

Wrecked: The silver Honda sedan ended hitting an embankment and then a tree in Whitehall, New York, on Tuesday night

Police say Reynolds then left his injured daughter crying outside of a family member's home in Whitehall at around 11.30pm, before fleeing the scene.

The eight-year-old was rushed to Albany Medical Center to be treated for her injuries, which are not life-threatening, reported Glens Falls Post-Star.

Reynolds was arrested by police the next day on an unrelated warrant while seeking treatment at Glens Falls Hospital for facial injuries.

In a booking photo taken after his arrest, the 36-year-old's left eye appears dark-purple and swollen, and he seems to have multiple cuts to the left side of his face.

Reynold's daughter, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered a fractured arm and rib, a punctured lung and head injuries

The dad ran off after the crash, leaving his injured daughter crying. Pictured: The car belonging to the man's mother is seen with extensive damage

Reynolds previously served time in state prison on a 2011 felony DUI conviction

The 36-year-old dad was charged with first-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle, first-degree vehicular assault, leaving the scene of a serious personal injury accident and endangering the welfare of a child. Additional charges against Reynolds are pending.

He's being held in Washington County Jail without bail.

Reynolds has a long criminal history that includes a felony DUI conviction from 2011 that sent him to state prison.
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Meghan Markle has a sprawling - and complicated - family tree which means she will have to make some tough decisions about how many family members are invited to her newly-announced London wedding to Prince Harry.

The Los Angeles-born actress has relatives scattered across the U.S. while her father spends most of his time in Mexico, to which he retired after a Hollywood career.

She is known to be close to her mother, who was with her when she and Prince Harry attended his Invictus Games together in Toronto.

It is also understood that she is close to her father, although she has not been seen with him in public, while she has half-siblings from his first marriage with whom she has had little recent contact, in one case, from whom she and the rest of her family are bitterly estranged.

The extended Markle family is possibly the most unusual to marry into the House of Windsor so far.

The traditional scale of royal weddings means that Meghan Markle will not be short of space in the church to invite her extended family, but which members will get to go will be the source of months of fascination on both sides of the Atlantic.

Here we present a guide to the Markles.

Meet the parents - an Emmy-winner and a social worker

Parents: Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle married and had their daughter Meghan Markle in Los Angeles. Although they divorced when Meghan was just six she has spoken about how they co-parented and she felt equally loved by them.

In the fold: Doria Ragland was with Harry and Meghan Markle as they all watched the closing ceremony of his Invictus Games in Toronto in September

Likely to be among the first names on the guest list, Meghan's parents are Doria Ragland, 61, and Thomas Markle Sr, 73.

Like many relationships, theirs was one that began at work with Doria meeting Thomas Sr on the set of medical drama General Hospital in Los Angeles, California.

She was a 21-year-old make-up artist, while he was a 33-year-old lighting director with one marriage and two children already under his belt.

He also had an Emmy award, televisions's equivalent of an Oscar, a few years earlier.

In 1975, he won a Chicago Emmy for his work in lighting design on Chicago public TV station Channel 11 WTTW's Made In Chicago series.

The smitten couple later married in a quiet ceremony in LA in December 1979. Their only child, Rachel Meghan Markle, arrived just over a year later in August 1981.

Thanks to my mom: Meghan Markle shared this image of her mother Doria Ragland when she graduated from UCLA with a master's degree in social work

But the union was not to last and the pair divorced when Meghan was six, although her half-brother Tom Jr later told DailyMail.com that the couple went to great lengths to make sure she 'knew she was loved'.

And the former couple have remained close  raising their daughter together and still speaking regularly to this day.

After the divorce, both went on to achieve some career success  Doria becoming a yoga instructor while in 2011, Thomas Sr remained part of Hollywood, continuing to work on General Hospital.

But both also suffered financial problems, with Tennessee-born Doria declaring bankruptcy in 2002 over a $52,750 credit card bill.

Last year, Thomas Sr also declared himself bankrupt; this time over a debt of $30,000.

Thomas Sr, who is originally from Pennsylvania, now lives in Mexico and is understood to be in regular contact with his daughter by phone. He is also thought to have met Prince Harry.

Doria, meanwhile, still lives in Los Angeles, where she has a small bungalow home in the Windsor Hills neighborhood, close to Inglewood and the city's main airport, LAX.

She is understood to have met Harry on several occasions and joined the pair very publicly, being in their box during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto at the end of September.

Neither Thomas Sr nor Doria have commented publicly on their daughter's boyfriend, with Doria telling DailyMail.com 'look, I really can't say anything' when approached after news of the relationship broke last year.

She did, however, chuckle and smile broadly when told her daughter would make history if she becomes the UK's first mixed race princess  an outcome that appears increasingly likely.

Oh brother! The half-siblings who are angling for invites

Big brother: Thomas Markle Jr is Meghan's brother form her father's first marriage. He is also newly engaged, to Darlene Blount, 46, despite being arrested after pointing a gun at her during a drink-fueled argument. Thomas Markle Jr was a teenager when his sister Meghan was born

Arrest: This was Thomas Markle Jr's mugshot after his arrest. Charges were dropped when Darlene Blount declined to proceed and the couple are now engaged

Outspoken and out of the fold: Samantha Grant is estranged from the rest of the Markle family, but is planning to write an expose of her half sister

Meghan has an older half-sister and half-brother from her father's first marriage to Roslyn Loveless, now 72.

The eldest of the two is daughter Yvonne, who later changed her first name to Samantha and her second to Grant; although she has recently begun using Markle again.

Samantha, who is now 53 and lives in Silver Springs, Florida, was one of the first to speak out after news of the relationship broke, telling reporters that Prince Harry 'would be appalled by what she's done to her own family'.

She added: 'The truth would kill her relationship with Prince Harry, he wouldn't want to date her anymore because it puts her in a bad public light.'

She also accused the actress of being 'narcissistic and selfish' and called her 'a shallow social climber' with 'a soft spot for gingers'.

Days later, Samantha backtracked on her comments  claiming she was misquoted and subsequently gave a series of gushing interviews declaring her love for her sister.

By contrast, Thomas Jr, 51, has never had anything bad to say about Meghan and, speaking from his home in Grants Pass, Oregon, recently told DailyMailTV that his sister has 'always been a princess'.

He added: 'I do have a sense of pride in Meghan being successful. It was just obvious from day one that she was destined to be somewhere really big.

'She's always been a princess. She's carried herself on that level from day one.'

But while their approach to Meghan differs, the pair are united in loathing each other and have been estranged for many years.

Both have also suffered legal troubles: in Samantha's case a bitter divorce and custody battle with second husband Scott Rasmussen, 57, that led to her being charged with 'using a phone to terrify/intimidate' in 2011. The charges were later dropped.

And in January, Tom Jr was arrested for putting a gun to his girlfriend Darlene Blount's head during a drunken late night altercation. The charges were dropped a month later.

Samantha is now writing a book about growing up with Meghan called 'The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister' much to the horror of the rest of the Markle clan who told DailyMail.com that the content is likely to be 'lies'.

Samantha, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has been confined to a wheelchair for close to a decade, occasionally still works as a freelance writer.

Like her half-sister, she had wanted to become an actress and a few walk on parts on medical soap The Doctors.

Later she trained as a counselor and graduated in 2008  the ceremony being the last time she saw Meghan.

Window fitter Tom Jr, meanwhile, has got past his legal troubles and has an extended Harry and Megan an invitation to his own wedding to Darlene, 37.

Despite the January gun incident, Tom Jr told DailyMailTV in September: 'Me and Darlene, we're meant for each other.'

Two very different uncles - one with his own church...

Meet the uncles: Fred Markle, 75, Thomas Markle's older brother, is also know as Bishop Dismas and is leader of his own tiny church in Florida. Alvin Joffrey Ragland is Doria Ragland's half-brother, but at 34 is two years younger than his niece Meghan Markle

Although Meghan's mother was raised as an only child, she does have a younger half-brother from her father Alvin's second marriage to retired teacher Ava Burrow, 63.

Born in September 1983, 34-year-old Alvin Joffrey Ragland - who goes by his middle name - is younger than his niece Meghan but remains close to both her and Doria.

A freelance graphic designer working in fashion, he was brought up in Chattanooga, Tennessee but now lives in Los Angeles.

Meghan's other uncle is 75-year-old Frederick Markle, who lives in Sanford, Florida  a small town approximately 27 miles from Orlando.

Although the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, or another senor cleric, is likely to perform the ceremony when Meghan marries Harry, Frederick could also conduct the ceremony thanks to his role as leader of the 'Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church In America'.

Known as Bishop Dismas to his dwindling flock, Frederick's church has a single tumbledown chapel and he is the sole clergyman.

And while the church had around 40 members in its 1980s heyday, one former worshiper told DailyMail.com in July he's not sure if a single person attends services there anymore.

Harry's future in-laws also include the Bishop's 66-year-old wife Theresa Huckabone and Meghan's 38-year-old cousin Nick who lives at the $80,000 family home.

Frederick's second son David, 34, lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Jackie, 42, and their three young children.

Uncle Fred's family: Meghan's uncle is married to Teresa, 66 (second from left). The couple have two sons, Nick, 38 (left), and David, 34, (right) who lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Jackie, 43, (second from right) and their three young children.

... and her step-grandmother who's a big fan

State of disbelief: Ava Burrow, who married Meghan Markle's grandfather when the Suits actress was just a baby, told the Daily Mail: 'I'm kind of expecting a visit from the men in black suits [the FBI] to check us out.'

On Doria's side, Meghan has a step-grandmother in the shape of Ava Burrow: a 63-year-old retired teacher who lives in Indio, California.

Ava came into Doria's life when she married Alvin Ragland in May 1983. She was 29, Alvin was 53 and less than four months later, their son Joffrey was born.

She remains close to her step-daughter Doria and has nothing but good things to say about Meghan, although she did admit to being surprised when she realized who the actress was dating.

Laughing, she told the Daily Mail: 'Meggie marrying a prince? Who'd have thunk! I'm kind of expecting a visit from the men in black suits [the FBI] to check us out.

'I guess it's like your Downtown Abbey  and we're the folks downstairs.'

But she added: 'Meggie is just a wonderful person. Very clever, very pretty, a gifted actress, and she has done incredible work for women and the UN. I think she would be a great addition to anybody's family.'

The next generation of Markles and their complicated ties

Family together: Meghan Markle was an 11-year-old when she posed with her father Thomas Markle, and her two nephews Thomas Dooley (left) and Tyler Dooley (right), and her then sister-in-law, Tracey Dooley (far right). Tracey Dooley had married her brother Thomas Markle Snr, and had the two boys, making her an aunt while she was still in elementary school

Niece: Noelle Rasmussen (left) is the daughter of Meghan's older sister, Samantha Grant, but is bitterly estranged from her mother. Instead Noelle, 18, lives with her grandmother Roslyn Markle, 71, (center), who was Meghan's father's first wife. After her divorce from Thomas Markle, she went on to have a son, Bobby Lucero, 36, (right) who is Meghan's half-siblings' half-brother. He was born the same year as Meghan and now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Although Meghan has no children of her own, her father Thomas Sr is already a grandfather five times over thanks to her half-siblings.

Samantha has three children, the eldest two from her first marriage to Los Angeles lawyer Earl Hale  Ashleigh, 32 and Christopher, 30.

Meet the exes: Scott Rasmussen was Meghan Markle's brother in law while he was married to Samantha, her elder sister, and Tracey Dooley was her sister in law through her married to Thomas Markle, which ended in divorce

According to family sources, the pair had little to do with Samantha following their parents' divorce which happened when they were very young.

The two were taken to live in Virginia by their father and are thought to occasionally speak with their mother by phone. However, both are understood to be close to their aunt Meghan.

Samantha is a lawyer in Virginia who has a master's degree in law from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Samantha's youngest child is Noelle, 19, a student who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, close to her father Scott Rasmussen, 57, and her grandmother Roslyn.

Noelle and Samantha's relationship is also difficult: after her parents split in 2003, Noelle became the subject of a bitter custody battle and later accused her mother of being abusive to her.

In April, she told DailyMail.com that her mother would pull her hair, scratch her and spit at her when she was a young child.

She also claimed to be scared of Samantha's boyfriend Mark Phillips, 59, and said he had once threatened to punch her.

Call her Aunt Meghan: Thomas (left) and Tyler (right) Dooley are the royal fiancee's nephews by brother Thomas Markle Jr

Grant and Phillips denied the claims but in May 2015, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department issued a certified letter which said allegations of abuse by both against Noelle were substantiated. It was entered into court proceedings without objection from the couple.

Like his sister, Tom Jr also has a fraught relationship with his own two sons  the product of his first marriage to Tracey Dooley, 52.

Eldest son Thomas is a 26-year-old store manager for Domino's Pizza and lives in Mammoth Lakes, California, with his husband Ronnie, 41.

In October, he said a feud between his father and grandfather meant he is no longer in contact with Meghan, who would babysit for him and his brother Tyler, 25, when they were children.

He added: 'My dad and aunt are crazy. I feel terrible for Meghan. Me and my brother Tyler have nothing to do with our dad.

'His behaviour since Meghan began dating Prince Harry has been completely appalling. I want people to know I have nothing to do with it and just apologise to her.'

Thomas, whose younger brother Tyler lives close to their parents in Grants Pass, Oregon, also told the Mirror newspaper that he misses his aunt and still hopes to be invited to the wedding.

He said: 'I would like to see my aunt again  hopefully even before she got married. But if that's the chance I get to see her, I would love it.'

Grandparents who faced war and depression

None of Meghan's grandparents are still alive, although two were very much present in her life until relatively recently.

She was close to her Markle grandmother Doris and her Ragland grandfather Alvin prior to their deaths in quick succession in 2011.

Along with Doris, her other Markle grandparent was Gordon; a military veteran who served during the Second World War.

Before the war he had been hit by the Depression, describing in the census of 1940 how he had worked only a few weeks in the previous year in his then job, a gas station attendant in his native Pennsylvania, and when he registered for the draft, said he was unemployed. He married Doris Sanders in 1941.

Gordon went on to be a cobbler, and died in the early 1980s with Doris then leaving their Newport, Pennsylvania home to live with her elder son Frederick in Florida.

Later, she moved to Los Angeles to join Thomas Sr and his three children, living with her younger son until her death at the age of 91 in 2011.

On the Ragland side, Meghan has her step-grandmother Ava Burrow and, until 2011, a grandfather she adored in the shape of Alvin Ragland.

Close until the end: Meghan Markle's grandmother Doris lived in Los Angeles and Meghan was close to her until she died, aged 91 in 2011.

Come through the Depression: Gordon Markle had dealt with unemployment before World War II and died in the early 1980s, too early for Meghan Markle to know him. He was a loving grandfather to Samantha Grant (left), then known as Yvonne Markle, and Thomas Markle Jr (right)

Alvin was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and had two older sisters: Lillie and Dora. Life was not easy for an African-American family in the Jim Crow South, and they faced the ingrained and institutionalized racial divide of the time.

Both his older sisters, however, were able to get to college. Alvin's first job was working in a hotel and later he served in the military before being discharged and beginning a new career as an antiques dealer in Los Angeles.

The name of Doria's mother remains unknown. But by 1983, he was living in Los Angeles where he met and married Ava Burrows, and with whom he had a son, Joffrey, Meghan's uncle.

Together, the pair returned to Chattanooga, where Ava taught in a local school, until their marriage broke down and he moved to LA.

Despite their differences, Ava described him to DailyMail.com as a devoted father and grandfather, who adored both Joffrey and Meghan.

He also cared for Meghan's great-aunt Lillie, who made him the executor of his will when she died in 2004 and left him the home that Doria occupies today.

But, like his daughter, he was also prone to financial woes  getting evicted and struggling to live on his meager military pension before inheriting the house.

Alvin, who suffered from glaucoma in his later years, died in 2011.
A pair of cheeky koalas have taken the idea of a lazy weekend to heart, after they were filmed relaxing and dozing off on a South Australian deck.

Adorable footage shows one furry friend resting his head on a brick windowsill while another impatiently calls out for him to wake up.

The video was shot by local man Mark Blyth in Burnside, near Adelaide, before it and was uploaded to the official South Australia Facebook page on Saturday.

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Adorable footage has arisen of a pair of cheeky koalas, with one furry friend seen dozing off and resting his head on a brick windowsill on a South Australian deck

'Weve all done it... After a BIG night out at the work Christmas party, Kev and his mate have been spotted re-enacting 'The Hangover, Part Tree' in Adelaide...' the cute moment was captioned.

The video, which has been viewed nearly 75,000 times, ends with the tuckered-out friend being roused, before gradually deciding to get up.

'Wouldn't that be a buzz, waking up to find these darlings on your verandah,' one person commented about the video.

While another jokingly added: 'Definitely too many eucalyptus leaves for these two'.

In the clip shot near Adelaide, the other koala sits impatiently in front of the sleeping marsupial, calling out and grunting as he waits for him to wake up

Other suggested the sound one of the marsupials was making indicated they could be gearing up for mating season.

'Two together is unusual. They must be mating, hence all the noise and crashing to sleep,' one user said.

Koalas are mostly nocturnal making their appearance even more rare, with the marsupials usually sleeping up to 20 hours a day.

The Australian Koala Foundation cites habitat loss as one of the biggest threats affecting populations, with less than 80,000 remaining in the wild.
Saudi Arabia's crown prince has vowed to 'wipe terrorists from the face of the earth' as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defence minister, told officials in Riyadh that 'in past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries... with no coordination' among national authorities.

'This ends today, with this alliance' he added.

The summit is the first meeting of defence ministers and other senior officials from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, which officially counts 41 countries and identifies as a 'pan-Islamic unified front' against violent extremism.

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Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has vowed to 'wipe terrorists from the face of the earth' as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance. He is pictured at the meeting yesterday

The summit is the first meeting of defence ministers and other senior officials from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, which officially counts 41 countries and identifies as a 'pan-Islamic unified front' against violent extremism

The alliance was announced in 2015 under the auspices of Prince Mohammed, whose rapid ascent since his appointment as heir to the throne in June has shaken the political scene across the region.

Sunday's meeting comes as several military coalitions, including key Saudi ally the United States, battle to push ISIS from its last remaining bastions in Iraq and Syria.

The alliance groups largely, although not exclusively, Sunni-majority or Sunni-ruled countries.

It excludes Saudi Arabia's arch-rival, Shiite-dominated Iran, as well as Syria and Iraq, whose leaders have close ties to Tehran.

Sunday's meeting coincides with an escalation in tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, particularly over wars in Syria and Yemen and the political structure of multi-confessional Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supporting armed groups across the Middle East, including Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah and Yemen's Huthi rebels.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman (centre), who is also Saudi defence minister, told officials in Riyadh that 'in past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries... with no coordination' among national authorities

'The pillar of this coalition is inclusion,' said Saudi General Abdulelah al-Saleh, the alliance's acting secretary general, playing down the exclusion of the three countries.

'Our common enemy is terrorism, not any religion, sect or race.'

The alliance meeting in Riyadh brings together Muslim or Muslim-majority nations including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Uganda, Somalia, Mauritania, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Turkey.

Retired Pakistani general Raheel Sharif, who has been appointed commander-in-chief, also insisted that the coalition was not against any religion or state.

The alliance aims to 'mobilise and coordinate the use of resources, facilitate the exchange of information and help member countries build their own counter-terrorism capacity,' Sharif said.

While the alliance officially includes Qatar, which is the target of a six-month boycott led by Saudi Arabia, organisers in Riyadh said no Qatari officials were present at the meeting. Qatar's flag was also absent.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain abruptly cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing the emirate of being too close to Iran and supporting Islamist extremism. Doha denies the allegations.

The alliance meeting in Riyadh brings together Muslim or Muslim-majority nations including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Uganda, Somalia, Mauritania, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Turkey

A member of the Saudi Royal Guard stands on duty inside the hall where the first meeting of the defence ministers of the 41-member Saudi-led Muslim counter-terrorism alliance took place in the capital Riyadh

Egypt, which sent a military official and not its defence minister to Sunday's meeting, is reeling from a Friday attack on a mosque that killed more than 300 people during prayer time.

While IS has not claimed responsibility, Egyptian authorities say the organisation is the main suspect as the mosque is associated with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam, whom IS has branded heretics.

Prince Mohammed said Friday's 'painful event' was a reminder of the 'danger of terrorism and extremism'.

'Beyond the killing of innocent people and the spread of hatred, terrorism and extremism distort the image of our religion,' he said.

Since his sudden appointment as crown prince, Prince Mohammed has moved to consolidate power, announcing crackdowns on both terrorism and corruption.

A corruption purge saw around 200 members of the Saudi elite including princes, ministers and business tycoons arrested or sacked earlier this month.
Law Society of NSW started court proceedings this year to strike her off the roll

Jinhi Kim pleaded guilty to covering up offences committed by her dad and son

Sydney lawyer put her ex-husband's name on her son's speeding ticket

A Sydney lawyer who claimed her ex-husband and a former client were behind the wheel of speeding cars has been found guilty of professional misconduct and struck off the roll of solicitors.

Jinhi Kim, who worked at several law firms in Sydney, pleaded guilty to using her ex-husband and former client's details without them knowing to cover up offences actually committed by her son and father.

She was found guilty last August and at a Court of Appeal hearing on November 15, the court agreed it was 'likely that the respondent is permanently unfit to be enrolled as a lawyer, so that an order for removal [from the roll] rather than suspension is appropriate'.

Ms Kim claimed her ex-husband and a client had committed speeding offences (stock image)

Ms Kim was arrested in October 2015 after police searched the law firm at which she was then working at.

She falsely claimed in a statutory declaration, that her ex-husband was the driver of a car responsible for speeding - so a new penalty notice was issued to him.

But the court discovered: 'Upon receiving a substituted penalty notice in relation to the offence, the ex-husband obtained online a still photograph from the relevant speed camera and concluded that it was the son who had been the driver,' the court said.

'He then contacted [Ms Kim] ... who told him not to worry about the penalty notice and that she had used his identification particulars because the son did not have many demerit points left and needed his driver licence for his job.'

The court also heard that Ms Kim named her courier driver client as the man behind the wheel - when it was her father that was issued with an infringement notice for running a red light.

She also named the client again when her son and one of his colleagues were issued with speeding tickets.

The ex-husband was issued a new penalty notice for the lawyer's son's offence (stock image)

The client subsequently met with police and made a statement that he was not behind the wheel at the time. Ms Kim pleaded with him to change the statement, to no avail.

The Court of Appeal said Ms Kim had 'engaged in a pattern of knowingly dishonest conduct' to protect her family and 'it was not an isolated lapse or a mere error of judgment'.

'It was dishonest and criminal conduct that would be regarded as disgraceful and dishonourable by professional colleagues,' the court said.

Ms Kim is now studying part-time for a Graduate Diploma in Divinity - a court which aims to better equip Christians to know, understand and explain the Bible on a higher level - at a Theological College.

'She hopes one day to apply for readmission [to the legal profession] but, as she says, 'not until sufficient time has passed for that to be a possibility',' the court said.
Around 50,000 travellers are stranded in Bali after the ash cloud from Mount Agung forced authorities to close Denpasar International Airport.

All flights were cancelled at 7am local time on Monday and the airport will remain closed until further notice.

There had been fears the situation would worsen overnight and the airport had prepared for the worst.

'Once the airports find volcanic ash trace, we'll close down the airport for flights,' the chief of the airport told the ABC on Sunday.

Authorities raised the volcano alert to the highest level on Monday and ordered people within 10km of the mountain to evacuate amid fears of a major eruption.

More than 50,000 travellers a day could soon be stranded in Bali as authorities issue a 'red alert' warning and Mount Agung continues to erupt. The volcano is pictured on Sunday

Flight cancellations have forced travellers to sleep at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport

Some of their frustrations were aired on Facebook, with customers either very pleased they had been moved to temporary accommodation or livid they had been left out

Magma has now reached the surface of the volcano, which threatens to produce a 'strong, explosive eruption,' authorities warned.

'The activity of Mount Agung has entered the magmatic eruption phase,' an Indonesian official said on Sunday.

'It is still spewing ash at the moment but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption.'

Mt Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times on Sunday, throwing holiday plans into disarray.

All flights were cancelled at 7am local time and the airport will remain closed until further notice

Magma has now reached the surface of the volcano, which threatens to produce a 'strong, explosive eruption,' authorities warned

Customers have spent hours lining up for information about their flights. This traveller is seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday

Balinese Hindus take part in a ceremony on Sunday, where they pray near Mount Agung in hope of preventing a volcanic eruption

The Mount Agung volcano spews hot volcanic ash as a local chops wood in the foreground

The situation worsened on Monday when Australian airlines began informing its customers all flights had been cancelled.

Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas advised passengers between 10am and 11am its planes had been grounded.

The decision was made on safety grounds and overturned earlier expectations that flights would go ahead.

'While these disruptions are frustrating, we will always put safety before schedule,' Jetstar said in a statement.

Virgin Australia updated its announcement online saying Denpasar Airport had closed and the airline had subsequently cancelled all flights to Bali.

Jetstar will next update passengers around 7pm AEDT after further advice from the Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre.

Qantas confirmed its one flight per day from Sydney to Bali has been cancelled.

Dozens of flights had already been cancelled during Sunday because of volcanic ash, which poses a potentially deadly threat to aircraft and passengers.

On Saturday Jetstar diverted three flights heading to Bali and cancelled six flights ready to leave the island

Jetstar was forced to cancel numerous flights on Saturday and the following morning but was back on schedule by Sunday evening (stock image)

Mount Agung volcano is seen spewing smoke and ash in Bali on Sunday. The ash has thrown holiday plans into disarray

Tourists watch the Mount Agung volcano erupting as they visit a temple in Karangasem, Indonesia

Indonesia's Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation raised its aviation colour code from orange to red, indicating a further eruption with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere was imminent.

Mt Agung sits more than 3000 metres high over eastern Bali. It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people and razing several villages.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology's Volanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin issued maps showing an ash cloud heading southeast over the neighbouring island of Lombok away from Bali's capital Denpasar, where the international airport is located.

RUMBLES FROM BALI'S MOUNT AGUNG WHERE IS THE VOLCANO? - Mount Agung rises about 3,000m above Bali's Karangasem district, in the holiday island's east - Bali lies within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity where thousands of tremors occur each year WHAT IS THE VOLCANO'S HISTORY OF ERUPTIONS? - Its last major eruption in 1963 killed over 1,000 people and razed many villages - More than 50,000 Indonesians were evacuated in September this year when experts warned an eruption was imminent - Some 25,000 people have been unable to return to their homes Advertisement

AirAsia and Virgin Australia flights between Denpasar and Australia remained grounded on Sunday night

'The volcano and movement of ash cloud are highly unpredictable which means we may need to cancel flights at short notice,' Jetstar warned on its website (stick image)

Passengers wait for their flight schedule at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport on Sunday
Julie-Ann Bond, 44, worked as an ambulance technician for five years

Ambulance bosses are sending cut-price technicians to 999 calls instead of paramedics, an investigation reveals today.

They are being dispatched to hundreds of thousands of the most serious emergencies, including heart attacks and seizures.

Technicians wear almost the same uniforms as paramedics  meaning most patients are unlikely to notice the difference  but they have less training and fewer skills.

Freedom of Information responses from five of the ten ambulance trusts in England show that they were dispatched to almost 300,000 calls without a paramedic last year.

This included over 155,000 of the most serious red calls, where patients lives were deemed to be in immediate danger.

The remaining five ambulance trusts refused to respond. But if the trends are similar for all ten, it suggests that ambulance technicians were sent out to around 600,000 calls in total last year.

One whistleblower told the Daily Mail that technicians were now routinely making the same life and death decisions as paramedics.

Julie-Ann Bond, 44, who worked as an ambulance technician for five years, said they were actually sent on more calls than paramedics, and patients had no idea they were any different.

Miss Bond  and other whistleblowers  also said they are now commonly paired with another technician or an even less qualified emergency care assistant, who has done just three months of training and supervision.

Technicians wear almost the same uniforms as paramedics  meaning most patients are unlikely to notice the difference  but they have less training and fewer skills

Under-pressure ambulance services across England are struggling to cope with record numbers of 999 calls, on top of a recruitment crisis of paramedics.

In some trusts as many as one in ten paramedic posts are vacant and managers have resorted to recruiting from Australia, Poland and Finland.

Ambulance technicians do three months of classroom training, which also includes remote learning from home.

They must then do 750 hours of work experience in an ambulance or in A&E. This would take five months if they were working full-time, but a year or longer working part-time.

By contrast, paramedics must do a three-year degree followed by a years supervised work  passing regular assessments  before they qualify.

It means paramedics have higher skill levels and can insert drips into patients veins, set up ECG heart monitors, make diagnoses and insert tubes.

Furthermore, unlike paramedics, technicians do not need to be registered with a professional standards watchdog. This means they cannot be struck off or suspended for life-threatening mistakes. If they are sacked by one ambulance service, there is nothing to stop them going to work elsewhere.

Under-pressure ambulance services across England are struggling to cope with record numbers of 999 calls, on top of a recruitment crisis of paramedics (stock image)

Technicians are also paid less, earning between 18,000 and 22,000 a year compared with paramedics, who start on an average of 25,000 but can progress to 35,000 a year.

Former Liberal Democrat health minister Norman Lamb MP said: This is deeply worrying for patients who dont know or see the difference, but this could put lives at risk.

This revelation will send a chill down the spine of many.

Technicians have been used by ambulance services since the early 2000s and their numbers have been steadily increasing.

The Mail asked the ten ambulance trusts in England for the number of 999 calls responded to by crews of technicians and emergency care assistants  but no paramedic  during 2016/17.

The FoI request also asked how many of these were red calls, which are the most serious and include heart attacks, strokes, breathing difficulties and road traffic accidents.

Responses from five of the ten trusts show technicians were sent to at least 295,171 emergency calls in 2016/17. This included 155,846 red calls.

The five trusts which responded were the East Midlands, the West Midlands, London, the North West and South East Coast ambulance services.

They claimed that technicians were adequately trained to deal with the majority of 999 emergencies and many patients did not need a paramedic.

Four of the five trusts said they had hired more technicians in the last five years to cope with the increased demand.

A spokesman for the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, which represents ambulance bosses, said technicians had a massively positive input towards patient care and the NHS as a whole.

A spokesman for NHS England said it was up to individual ambulance services how they managed their resources.Paramedics could soon have the power to prescribe drugs under NHS plans.

The proposals, made by the Commission on Human Medicines, would cut down on unnecessary hospital and GP visits. The changes are expected to limit the powers to paramedics with extra training.

'The public have no idea we are not paramedics'

Julie-Ann Bond, a technician of five years, said there were no consequences if a technician 'mistreated or killed a patient

Patients have no idea that they are routinely treated by technicians rather than paramedics, a whistleblower has said.

Julie-Ann Bond, 44, a technician of five years, said there were no consequences if a technician misdiagnosed, mistreated or killed a patient.

Unlike paramedics, they cannot be held accountable for mistakes during an emergency call as they are not listed on a professional standards register.

This means they cannot be struck off and if they were found guilty of a serious error, could simply go and work for another ambulance service.

Miss Bond also said ambulance technicians were routinely making life-or-death decisions such as whether patients needed immediate treatment or should be taken to hospital.

Their uniforms are almost identical to paramedics but they are not qualified to give a wide range of drugs or perform advanced procedures such as administering morphine.

Miss Bond said ambulances were manned by two crew members  either a paramedic and an emergency care assistant or a technician and an emergency care assistant, who is even less qualified than a technician.

She said she could probably count on one hand the number of times she had heard technicians being paired with paramedics.

As far as Im aware there are more technicians treating people than paramedics, she said.

A large majority of the ambulance service is made up of technicians. Most people dont even know what that is. They just say the paramedics are here.

Among other treatments, technicians and paramedics are both required to administer oxygen, carry out wound dressing, CPR, and use defibrillators.

But paramedics are able to do much more advanced procedures and prescribe a wider range of treatments. She said: Youre making autonomous decisions on what to do with people. Do I leave them at home? Can I get them a GP appointment? Do I need to take them into A&E? Do they need an immediate intervention?

Youre making these decisions exactly the same as a paramedic would and treating accordingly.

Miss Bond was self-employed but worked for different private providers for five years.

Miss Bond said ambulances were manned by two crew members  either a paramedic and an emergency care assistant or a technician and an emergency care assistant, who is even less qualified than a technician

She said that one of the companies she worked for was subcontracted by South East Coast Ambulance Service.

She also expressed concern that technicians do not have to be registered, saying: It just seems very strange that technicians arent on a register.

Its a double-edged sword, as it is detrimental to the public, because a technician could misdiagnose, mistreat or kill somebody tomorrow but theres no consequences from that.

They just go and work in a different area for a different trust or go and work privately. Thats a big concern for the public.

A South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: Clinical support staff, which make up 48 per cent of our frontline workforce, while not registered with the Health and Care Professional Standards Council, are held accountable for their actions.

They will have typically completed a ten-week training programme and are subject to continual professional development and held accountable by our professional standards department.

All crews are able to request paramedic back-up if required.
Julie Gagne, 47, was arrested on charges for arson, disorderly conduct and filing a false police report in Barrington, Illinois this week

An Illinois woman was found to have allegedly torched her Infiniti SUV with a flamethrower that she purchased online.

Julie Gagne, 47, was arrested on charges for arson, disorderly conduct and filing a false police report in Barrington, Illinois this week.

On November 10, after the fire, she had reported her 2016 Infiniti QX70 stolen.

She was at a restaurant, and she called to say her car was missing when she came out of the restaurant, Schaumburg Deputy Police Chief Dan Roach said to the Arlington Cardinal.

Firefighters located the SUV on fire near a precious metal refinery in the area.

Soon after that, Gagne retracted her statement that the Infiniti had been stolen.

The Barrington native turned herself in to authorities on Tuesday and was released on a personal recognizance bond on Wednesday.

She had reported that it was stolen on November 10 but by then she had already allegedly torched the SUV (stock)

According to police, Gagne used a X15 Flamethrower that was built by Ohio company XMatter to light the SUV up

A motive has not been determined by police, according to the paper.

According to police, Gagne used a X15 Flamethrower that was built by Ohio company XMatter to light the SUV up.

The flamethrower, which is legal to use in Illinois, is believed to have been bought online by the woman.

Police said that it uses a mix of around three gallons of fuel and napalm, throwing flames up to 50 feet in away.

It had been left near the SUV and cost just around $1,600.
Ellen Bown said Co-op Funeralcare showed a blatant disrespect of the deceased at its Windsor funeral home

Dead bodies were left to rot outside of cold storage by Britains biggest funeral home during a heatwave.

While grieving families assumed that their relatives remains were properly stored in fridges, some were allowed to decompose for weeks in the back of a Co-op Funeralcare branch.

Whistleblower Ellen Bown spoke out to expose what she describes as the companys blatant disrespect of the deceased at the Windsor funeral home.

She claims that a lack of staff caused a backlog of funerals, meaning bodies were stored in the branch for long periods in temperatures of up to 25C (77F).

She told of one incident in which maggots were found in a coffin, and another in which a cardboard coffin deteriorated because of leaking bodily fluids.

The firm, which has more than 900 branches, admitted to storing one body in the Windsor branch for 20 days during a heatwave where temperatures in the area peaked at 34.5C (94F) in July. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends that bodies being held for 48 hours or more should be stored at 5C (41F) or less.

It also confirmed a case of maggots being reported in a body.

While the Co-ops Windsor branch could book and arrange funerals, it did not have its own cold storage facilities.

Bodies were supposed to be stored at the facilities in the nearby Slough branch and only brought back to Windsor for viewings and just before funerals.

However, Miss Bown, 48, said this did not happen, with bodies being left in Windsor for weeks.

She said: They had nowhere to put the bodies in Slough as the storage was full, so they would bring them to Windsor long before the funeral.

Really this should only have been done for viewings or just one day before the funeral. Yet we had bodies in our holding area for weeks. The room would sometimes get as hot as 25C (77F), kept in those conditions it is impossible to preserve the body. Because of that some families were unable to view their relatives.

Ms Bown blamed a lack of staff and a backlog of funerals for the problems at the Windsor branch (pictured)

She said that one man, Simon Jeffrey, 35, went black after being kept in a room for 20 days and his body was so badly decomposed his mother was unable to view him or kiss him goodbye.

Miss Bown, who had joined the firm in January, complained in July after finding maggots at the branch. She said: I came in one Monday morning and there was a maggot on the carpet and I just knew what it was. I found maggots coming out of one of the coffins ... The smell was horrendous. We had to keep the doors at the back open and light candles to try to hide it.

Co-op said of the incident that a wide range or circumstances can impact the overall condition of a body, including the cause of death, when the body is found and whether there is a post-mortem examination.

Miss Bown also claimed that storage problems were the result of funerals being delayed for up to five weeks because of issues with staffing.

Co-op said the average waiting time for funerals earlier this year was over three weeks as the branch faced challenges, including higher death rates and works at Slough Crematorium. However, Miss Bown said: That was not always the case, it was just we didnt have the resources to process the funerals.

I found maggots coming out of one of the coffins ... The smell was horrendous. We had to keep the doors at the back open and light candles to try to hide it Ellen Bown

We did not have enough staff or vehicles on the ground yet they would continue booking funerals They just couldnt cope.

She added: It is not right that families have to wait that long, it delays the grieving process.

Miss Bown also spoke of a horrific incident where a body fell out of a coffin and was left lying on the floor for an hour. By HSE standards we as funeral arrangers are not allowed to move coffins by ourselves but as we were so short-staffed we had to do it.

I was moving one lady back to the holding area after a viewing and she slid off the trolley and fell out of the coffin.

I had no way of putting her back myself This poor woman was left lying on the floor for over an hour before someone from another branch came to help me.

In another case, Miss Bown said a family had asked for personal items to go into a coffin of a father  however these were not put in.

The Co-op said it had contacted both of the families involved in these incidents.

Miss Bown, who has several years of experience in the funeral business, said; I know how things are supposed to be done and this should not be going on.

It is being really disrespectful to the deceased and it is not right.

Co-op said that while Windsor did not have its own cold storage, there were facilities available within a local care centre which would be used as appropriate.

Robert Maclachlan, managing director for Co-op, apologised for the standard of care. He said: These allegations suggest that earlier this year, in our Windsor funeral home, we fell short of our own high standards and didnt always provide the level of care that are expected of us.

We are truly sorry for this and we have contacted the families involved to apologise and explain what happened and what we are doing about it.

We have already made a number of improvements including investing in better facilities and hiring more colleagues.

We will learn from this and do whatever is necessary to ensure our colleagues are supported in providing the very best care for our families.

The Co-op added it is now in the process of installing adequate facilities at Windsor.

Mother who couldn't kiss her son goodbye

Sandra Riley was robbed of the chance to kiss her son goodbye after his body was left to deteriorate for almost three weeks during a heatwave.

Simon Jeffreys body was stored at the Co-ops Windsor branch  where there were no cold storage facilities  for 20 days during the hottest time of the year, when outside temperatures peaked at 34.5C (94F).

When his mother, who works for the local council, tried to view his body, staff at the branch advised against it as he had deteriorated so badly.

Sandra Riley (left) was robbed of the chance to kiss her son Jeffrey (right) goodbye after his body was left to deteriorate for almost three weeks during a heatwave

Mrs Riley, 58, said: I desperately wanted to kiss him goodbye because I hadnt seen him. I needed to see him so I knew in my heart that it was really him.

I just had to kiss his coffin. My poor boy. I cant believe they just left him like that for days. It is disgusting, I had no idea.

Mr Jeffrey suddenly died on May 27, the day after his 35th birthday, while his mother was on holiday.

She booked his funeral at her local branch in Windsor using all of her savings for the 4,000 bill, which included embalming, and was given a date of July 6.

I was told that Slough Crematorium was having a refit so that was the earliest they could do, she said. Mrs Riley said she was told he would be kept in cold storage at Slough after his body was released.

However, he was transported back to the Windsor branch on June 16.

Here the former hotel porter was kept in a room for the next 20 days, during a heatwave, until his funeral. Staff at the Co-op had called Mrs Riley on June 16 informing her that he was deteriorating and that she should view him soon.

The mother-of-three said: I couldnt make it that day as I had an appointment but I went in as soon as I could a few days later.

When I went in they told me I shouldnt see him as he had gone black.

Ellen Bown, who was working in the branch at the time, said Mr Jeffrey had not been stored properly.

She said: He was stored in the room in the heat  he went black. The family wasnt able to view him because he was so badly decomposed. He should have been viewable had he been stored properly.

Mrs Riley added: We trust these people and theyve robbed me of my closure.'

Robert Maclachlan, Managing Director for Co-op Funeralcare, said: We have been supporting families for over 100 years and our people take great pride in the care and service they provide following a loss.

'Every funeral is unique and we care for people in many different circumstances. Sometimes this can be challenging depending upon the way in which an individual has died and the timing of when they are found.

'Our job in every case is to do the best we can for the families we serve. These allegations suggest that earlier this year, in our Windsor funeral home, we fell short of our own high standards and didn't always provide the level of care expected of us. We are truly sorry for this and we have contacted the families involved to apologise and explain what happened and what we are doing about it.

'We have already made a number of improvements including investing in better facilities and hiring more colleagues, but we are also investigating why some of this did not happen earlier when concerns were raised. We will learn from this and do whatever is necessary to ensure our colleagues are supported in providing the very best care for our families.

A spokesman for the National Association of Funeral Directors said Co-op had raised the issue with them.

He added: The circumstances of any death are unique and funeral directors have no control over the length of time and the environment a deceased person is exposed to prior to that person coming into their care.

'That said, although no regulations have been breached as the deceased person was embalmed, the branch on this occasion did not provide the level and standard of care that would have been expected given the circumstances of this death.

We understand that they have spoken with the family, launched a full internal investigation and that this was an isolated incident, with complex circumstances. The NAFD can confirm that the funeral home in question was inspected by our Standards and Quality team last year and found to be fully compliant. We will continue to liaise with Co-op Funeralcare.

Deceased people are handed into the care of funeral directors in a wide range of circumstances and situations; it is important to stress that this was an isolated incident and in no way reflects the usual high standards of care and attention that funeral directors across the UK demonstrate.
Journalist Ronan Farrow has opened up on how NBC passed on his explosive Harvey Weinstein story, which resulted in an avalanche of sexual abuse allegations being leveled against the Hollywood producer.

The 29-year-old told CBS News Sunday Morning that Weinstein's team had tried to sue him when he started investigating the sex allegations.

'When Harvey Weinstein threatened to sue me, it was like the scene in Harry Potter where an invitation to Hogwarts is coming in through every window and fireplace and every opening in the house,' Farrow said.

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Ronan Farrow opened up on how NBC passed on his explosive Harvey Weinstein story, which resulted in an avalanche of sexual abuse allegations being leveled against the producer

Farrow was working for NBC News when he was assigned the story last year after he obtained an audio recording of Weinstein harassing actress Ambra Gutierrez in 2015.

He said he managed to get other actresses to go on the record about various Weinstein allegations but NBC executives decided the story needed more work.

They eventually decided not to proceed with the story, prompting Farrow to take it to the New Yorker where it was eventually published in October this year.

'In terms of the gravity of the evidence, it would've been impossible for me to live with myself or answer to any of the many women I had already interviewed if I had stopped,' he said.

The New Yorker's editor David Remnick told CBS he immediately said yes to the story when Farrow pitched it.

Remnick said he had been aware of Weinstein allegations for 15 years. One of his reporters Ken Auletta had been working on a similar story but he couldn't get any of his accusers to go public with the allegations.

Farrow appeared to mock NBC News last week for refusing to run his expose on the allegations by posting a photo of one of his interviews with an accuser.

Farrow appeared to mock NBC News last week for refusing to run his expose on the allegations by posting a photo of one of his interviews with an accuser a year ago

Farrow, who is the son of actress Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, said Weinstein's team of powerful lawyers had tried to sue him

'Thankful for the women and men who have come forward with painful stories and helped to chip away at a culture of silence. When I sat down for this interview almost a year ago, the world was a different place,' he wrote alongside the photo.

Farrow, who is the son of actress Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, said Weinstein's team of powerful lawyers had tried to sue him.

The journalist had also revealed in a second bombshell story that lengths Weinstein and his team would go to silence the accusers.

Farrow said growing up in the spotlight was an advantage for him because Weinstein couldn't easily discredit him.

'It was perhaps an unexpected advantage in one sense that any dirt that could be uncovered on me had already lived in the tabloids for my entire life, which is a painful and unpleasant thing,' he said.

Farrow said growing up in the spotlight was an advantage for him because Weinstein and his team of powerful lawyers couldn't easily discredit him

Farrow also opened up about how he tried to convince his older sister Dylan not to write a New York Times op-ed in 2014 that repeated the sexual abuse allegations she made against their father Woody Allen as a child

'But in this case, it meant that there were really no surprises to uncover when there were any efforts to discredit me.'

Farrow also opened up about how he tried to convince his older sister Dylan not to write a New York Times op-ed in 2014 that repeated the sexual abuse allegations she made against their father Woody Allen as a child.

'Those are painful family experiences that I, for many years, tried to outrun and avoid,' Farrow said.

'(Woody Allen) has always denied it, has gone very directly after any woman proximate to it - huge, huge public relations apparatus designed to do that.'

He said he tried to 'vigorously' talk his sister out of writing the op-ed.

'I tried to talk her out of it vigorously, saying, 'Stay quiet. You know, you've already lived through this trauma. Why bring it up again? Why hurt your career? Why hurt the rest of our careers?',' he said.

'You know, the logic she articulated to me had a lot in common with the logic raised by women speaking out against Harvey Weinstein. She wanted to make sure that other women were protected.'
A Melbourne home owner has listed his stunning bushland property for sale - and he wants people to bid with cryptocurrency.

In what could prove to be the first transaction of its kind in Australia, the innovative owner, known as Rob, included in the listing he would accept alternative payments.

'Owner is agreeable to accept part payment in Bitcoin!' the advertisement reads.

'If it came down to two or three people, and both had their maximum borrowing capacity at a certain amount, and one has bitcoin - because the banks don't look at Bitcoin as an asset - that could be something that could get them across the line,' Rob told Domain.

A Melbourne home owner has listed his stunning bushland property for sale - and he wants people to bid with cryptocurrency

In what could prove to be the first transaction of its kind in Australia, the innovative owner, known as Rob, included in the listing he would accept alternative payments

Bitcoin is currently trading at more than $12,000, a record for the digital currency

The five-bedroom home in the picturesque leafy suburb of The Basin includes a large open-plan living and kitchen area overlooking the tranquil bushland.

The beautiful kitchen has stone-top finishes, tiled splashbacks and new appliances.

The family home features internal access through the double lock-up garage, a teenager's retreat in a separate building, gas ducted heating for winter and its own water tank for summer.

The five-bedroom home in the picturesque leafy suburb of The Basin includes a large open-plan living and kitchen area overlooking the tranquil bushland

The beautiful kitchen has stone-top finishes, tiled splashbacks and new appliances

The home features five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom has its own full ensuite and walk-in-wardrobe

The family home features internal access through the double lock-up garage, a teenager's retreat in a separate building, gas ducted heating for winter and its own water tank for summer

The house is listed for just below $900,000, but the forward-thinking owner says paying in Bitcoin will give you the inside lane.

'I see cryptocurrency at the moment as like the early days of the internet dot com era,' Rob said.

Bitcoin is currently trading at more than $12,000, a record for the digital currency.

It is legal for property to be traded with any form of payment, including cryptocurrency, but the Australian Taxation Office require records of transactions to be kept as they are treated as standard assets.
Durham University has had to apologise after students planned a 'Thatcher's Government vs. the miners' themed rugby party.

The event was organised by a group of students who appear to have been members of Trevelyan College Rugby Club.

Members of the team were told to dress as 'm-i-n-e-r-s', with instructions for 'flat caps, filth and a general disregard for personal safety'.

The 'forwards vs backs event' invitation read: 'Think pickaxes. Think headlamps. Think 12 per cent unemployment in 1984...'

Durham University has had to apologise after students planned a 'Thatcher's Government vs. the miners' themed rugby party. The event was organised by a group of students who appear to have been members of Trevelyan College Rugby Club

Meanwhile, the 'backs' were told to dress as members of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government.

The Facebook post said: 'You are to elect one member to come as the Iron Lady herself. We want variety too, so a few working-class-beating-bobbys wouldn't go amiss.

'Nor would a few Falklands war heroes. You get the gist.'

The party, which has now been cancelled, was described as 'a confrontation higher than the Battle of Orgreave' and illustrated by an image of striking miners clashing with a line of policemen.

The 'Battle of Orgreave' was one of the most violent clashes of the miners' strike, taking place at the Orgreave coke plant in South Yorkshire in June 1984.

A total of 95 miners were arrested and faced long prison sentences.

But the case against them collapsed, and police were accused of disproportionate violence and unprovoked assault.

Activists have long called for an inquiry into whether police used excessive force and sparked the violence against the strikers.

The Durham Miners' Association said they had 'deep concerns' about the party, which has been condemned as 'wholly unacceptable' by the university.

The Battle of Orgreave (pictured above) was one of the most violent clashes of the miners' strike, taking place at the Orgreave coke plant in South Yorkshire in June 1984

It is not the first time the North-east Russell Group University has come under fire for its societies.

Earlier this year it apologised after its Islamic Society handed out terror booklets written by a hate preacher, saying 'every Muslim should be a terrorist'.

Last year the Durham University Champagne Society was investigated after its summer ball turned into a drug and alcohol-fuelled 'orgy', where students risked their lives by running naked into a lake.

Owen Adams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Durham University, said: 'Durham University and Trevelyan College utterly deplore this event which is wholly unacceptable.

'The event has been cancelled by the students concerned. We are speaking to those students and we are considering what further action to take in due course.

'Durham University is extremely proud of the positive contribution it makes to Durham City and North East England and our place in the rich heritage of this region.

'We know that most students are active and positive residents of their communities. For example, students undertook more than 14,000 hours of volunteering last year.' He said the university 'reserves the right to take appropriate action' against students who fall short of its standards.

The Miners' Association, who had pledged to write to the university about the event, described the response as 'swift and appropriate action'.
The first year of tough new A-level exams has confirmed there is still a big north-south divide in achievement.

League tables show the vast majority of top-scoring schools  both state and private  are in London or the South East.

All but seven of the 44 independent schools to record grade B or above in 90 per cent of their A-levels were in the South of England.

Meanwhile the North boasted only one of the 11 state schools to score so well this summer.

The North of England boasted only one of the 11 state schools to score so well in A-Level results this summer - Altrincham Grammar School for Girls in Greater Manchester (pictured)

In total, 55 schools achieved the 90 per cent rate for top grades across the country this year. This is 12 fewer than last year  following the creation of a non-modular exam system in 13 subjects.

The new system focuses on end-of-course tests, rather than coursework projects completed throughout the year.

The Parent Power league tables which reveal the 2017 figures have been compiled by The Sunday Times to highlight 'outright academic achievement'.

They show that the South East and London have 19 of the top 20 fee-paying schools. Last year all of the top 20 were in the South.

The highest scoring was St Paul's Girls' School in west London  the seventh year in a row it has scooped the accolade. Pupils recorded 97.4 per cent of A-levels at grade A*-B.

Among the top 20 state secondaries, 15 are in London or the South East. Henrietta Barnett School in north London topped the state school table, with 94.5 per cent of A-levels graded B or above.

There are no independents and just two state schools north of Birmingham in the top 20. Last year only one top-ranked state school was from the North.

This year, the only northern state secondary to score top grades in 90 per cent of exams was Altrincham Grammar School for Girls in Greater Manchester.

This year's survey also highlights a slump in results for top private girls' schools. Of the 15 private schools to drop out of the 90 per cent club, 12 are girls-only  including famous names such as Cheltenham Ladies' College and the Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, west London.

The highest scoring was St Paul's Girls' School in west London (pictured)  the seventh year in a row it has scooped the accolade. Pupils recorded 97.4 per cent of A-levels at grade A*-B

Experts said the dominance of private girls' schools could be challenged further over the next two years as more A-levels focusing on end-of-course exams are rolled out.

Professor Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University, said girls' schools began to dominate when modular GCSEs were introduced in 1988. A-levels went fully modular in 2002.

He said the research hinted at 'first signs of a decline in independent schools', adding: 'They do not seem to be coping as well, especially the girls, who tend to cope less well with end-of-course exams.

'State schools are improving, [private] fees are rising. Parents will increasingly be wondering whether private education is worth it.'
Former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor claims he was told by police that there was never a Westminster child sexual abuse ring.

It comes after he said earlier this month that he was considering taking legal action against the Metropolitan Police for being falsely accused in the VIP sex abuse inquiry.

But Mr Proctor has now been assured a police investigation found no proof that he and late ex-prime minister Sir Edward Heath were involved in the alleged historic child abuse scandal, after he was investigated for the first time.

And now the former Tory MP has come forward and said police told him they found 'no evidence of a Westminster child sexual abuse ring'.

Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Mike Veale said neither he nor his colleagues have ever made such claims and had not wished to create that impression.

Mr Proctor (pictured) has now been assured a police investigation found no proof that he and late ex-prime minister Sir Edward Heath were involved in the alleged historic child abuse scandal, after he was investigated for the first time

The force's probe, Operation Conifer, concluded that seven claims against Sir Edward, who was Conservative prime minister between 1970 and 1974, would have been sufficiently credible to justify questioning him under caution, if he were still alive today.

But in correspondence seen by the Press Association, Mr Veale confirmed Mr Proctor had not been investigated by his officers as part of the probe.

The ex-MP welcomed the assurances and said: 'I am very pleased I have obtained clarification and transparency from Mr Veale and Wiltshire Police.

'Contrary to the witch-hunting instincts and fantasy-inducing aberrations of certain current MPs, Conservative and Labour, certain journalists and internet fantasists, when police force after police force investigate these matters they find no evidence of a Westminster child sexual abuse ring'.

'The reason being, as I made clear on August 25 2015, there wasn't one', he added.

Mr Proctor was told in a letter from Mr Veale: 'During the course of the investigation we received information from 14 forces in relation to alleged abuse committed by Sir Edward Heath and within those disclosures from some victims there were also allegations against a number of other persons of public prominence.

'Three forces supplied Operation Conifer with disclosures from victims that included allegations made against you.'

One of the forces was the Metropolitan Police, whose 2.5 million Operation Midland inquiry into claims made by a single accuser, known only as 'Nick', of a high-level paedophile ring linked to Westminster, closed without a single arrest.

Wiltshire Police's probe, Operation Conifer, concluded that seven claims against Sir Edward Heath (pictured), who was Conservative prime minister between 1970 and 1974, would have been sufficiently credible to justify questioning him under caution, if he were still alive today

Mr Proctor was cleared and received an apology in 2016 from then Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.

Mr Veale told Mr Proctor Essex Police also shared information with operations Midland and Conifer 'relating to a victim who had made allegations against a number of persons including Sir Edward Heath and yourself'.

Mr Proctor said: 'I was not informed about this by the Metropolitan Police or Essex Police, nor was I questioned by the Metropolitan Police or Essex Police about this allegation.

'Wiltshire Police did not speak to the fantasist Nick or to the complainant to Essex Police'.

A third force, Greater Manchester Police, also shared information with Wiltshire Police, in which Mr Proctor was the subject of an allegation, according to Mr Veale.

Mr Proctor said: 'Greater Manchester Police (GMP) closed their investigation of me (and apparently Sir Edward) without interviewing me and without the courtesy of informing me of its demise.

'This allegation involved Rochdale, a place I have no recollection of ever visiting.

'When GMP were asked for a 'missing' email they claim they had sent to my solicitors about the matter being closed, the GMP could not locate a copy'.

Late former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath is pictured in the House of Commons

He wrote to Wiltshire Police last month seeking a string of clarifications, in a letter that concluded: 'I hope you will accept my assurance that contrary to what appears to be your public suspicions at Wiltshire Police's press conference on Operation Conifer, no Westminster VIP CSA ring existed involving the late Sir Edward Heath and myself in the 1970s and 1980s.

'It is pure fantasy to suggest otherwise'.

Addressing the comment, Mr Veale replied: 'No evidence was found during the investigation to substantiate any suspicions nor did either I or my colleagues express such views during press briefings and interviews.

'There was certainly no intention that any such impression should be created so your reassurance, whilst welcome, is unnecessary'.

Last month it was revealed that police are spending 81million a year on historic investigations.

The money is being used during inquiries into sex abuse, paedophile conspiracies, undercover policing and the Hillsborough tragedy.
Soaring numbers of children are seeking help over concerns they are being sexually exploited, a new report says.

Figures show the number of boys and girls calling Childline to discuss their fears of grooming rose sharply in the last year.

A shocking 3,122 youngsters contacted the NSPCC's round-the-clock helpline for counselling in 2016-17  a rate of eight every single day.

Figures show the number of boys and girls calling Childline to discuss their fears of grooming rose sharply in the last year

That was a rise of a third  33 per cent  compared to 2,340 calls in the previous year.

The charity warned that warped adults were using devious tactics to coerce and control young people into sexual behaviour.

Predatory adults lure young people into sexual activity in exchange for gifts, money or affection.

It can include grooming, trafficking, sexual harassment and engaging in online sexually explicit activities or images.

Most young people worried about this form of sexual abuse were being targeted on the internet  fuelling calls for tech giants to do more to tackle the problem.

Opportunities for perverts to groom children has increased with the rise of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Counsellors said young people often did not recognise what was happening to them and that they were being groomed.

Instead, they often believed they were in a relationship with someone they had met online. In some cases they had not met or even spoken to the individual  meaning they had no proof of who the person they were talking to actually was.

A shocking 3,122 youngsters contacted the NSPCC's round-the-clock helpline for counselling in 2016-17

One girl told Childline: 'I was playing a game online and started talking to someone who asked me to send them rude pictures.

'They said they were my age and after talking for a while I sent them some pictures, but now they're blackmailing me and threatening to show everyone if I don't carry on. I feel really stupid and I'm scared about what will happen.'

The extent of the condition was exposed by the NSPCC after it collated data on the reasons callers contacted Childline.

Girls were more likely than boys to receive counselling about child sexual exploitation. The age groups most likely to seek help amid fears they were being groomed for abuse were 12 to 15-year-olds.

The NSPCC said the sharp rise highlighted the importance of Childline. The charity's Light Up Christmas For Children campaign is aiming to raise crucial funds for the service.

Currently Childline counsellors can only respond to three out of four children who need their help.

Peter Wanless, the NSPCC's chief executive, said: 'Whether child sexual exploitation is happening online or offline, groomers will use the same devious tactics to manipulate and control young people so they can abuse them for their own pleasure.

'It can be incredibly confusing and difficult for children and teenagers to realise that they are being exploited, with some believing they are in a relationship with their abuser.

'Our Childline counsellors hear about the guilt and shame that young people feel, so it's vital that any young person in this situation knows they are not to blame.

'We want young people to know that Childline is there for them, whatever their worry, to answer any questions and offer support and advice.'
After arts consultant Helen Macintyre gave birth to Boris Johnson's love child, judges ruled that the public had a right to know about the Foreign Secretary's 'reckless' behaviour.

Now Miss Macintyre, 43, has become embroiled in another awkward legal wrangle through her latest married lover, raffish art dealer Baron Cyrille de Gunzburg, 54.

I can disclose that Helen is being investigated by Kent Police over a dispute with an art collector, Antony Wild.

Wild employed Baron de Gunzburg as a consultant on his extensive collection and agreed to buy a 4,000 half share in a work by Italian painter Vincenzo Marinelli. The other half was owned by Helen's consultancy, Macintyre Art Advisory.

I can disclose that Helen Macitnyre - arts consultant and mother of Boris Johnson's love child - right, is being investigated by Kent Police over a dispute with an art collector, Antony Wild. This is the drawing the dispute is over, writes Sebastian Shakespeare

However, when Wild later inquired about the drawing, Trasporto del Mahamal alla Mecca, he came to understand that it was apparently now fully owned by Miss Macintyre.

Miss Macintyre, 43, has become embroiled in another awkward legal wrangle through her latest married lover, raffish art dealer Baron Cyrille de Gunzburg (pictured), 54

'I was shocked,' says Wild. 'Some years ago, Baron de Gunzburg, who represented my small art investment company at the time, suggested I buy a half share in the painting from Helen Macintyre. I agreed to do so for 4,500 euros.'

Wild has now heard that Miss Macintyre believes she bought the half-share back from his company via Baron de Gunzburg. 'But I was neither told about it or received any money,' Wild tells me.

'I have been asking her repeatedly for my money back, but she has not responded. Finally, I brought the matter to the police's attention and they are now investigating, on the basis of evidence I have presented to them.'

Yesterday, Baron de Gunzburg, a French aristocrat whose extended family is well known in the financial and art worlds, declined to comment, while Miss Macintyre was not available when I tried to reach her.

The baron has been living at Miss Macintyre's vast 18th-century manor house in Kent since his English wife, Diana, 56, 'kicked him out' of their marital home in Paris.

Diana has been pursuing him through the courts in France over financial support for her and their daughter.

A Kent Police spokesman confirmed it was looking into the claims: 'Officers are investigating the circumstances to assess whether any criminal offences have taken place.'

Pictured: Arts consultant and mother of Boris Johnson's love child Helen Macintyre

I wonder if Prince Harry will take Meghan to a party tonight hosted by artist Nicky Philipps, who once painted him?

Dressed in but a few sequins, burlesque dancer Miss Scaramouche will pose at Nicky's Chelsea studio while guests eat, drink and immortalise on canvas the performer.

Otherwise known as Anna Coreth, Miss Scaramouche, 24, caused a stir in September when she appeared as Country Life's Girl in Pearls pin-up.

I wonder if Prince Harry (pictured) will take Meghan to a party tonight hosted by artist Nicky Philipps, who once painted him? Writes Sebastian Shakespeare

As anyone in the Royal inner circle knows, discretion is key. So former Strictly Come Dancing 'maneater' Kristina Rihanoff can expect low marks on the score card for breaching protocol.

The 40-year-old Russian, who has a child with former England rugby star Ben Cohen, celebrated becoming the latest celeb invited to Buckingham Palace by Prince Andrew by posting an image of her 'stiffie' online.

'This is exciting,' she boasted on Twitter. 'A party at Buckingham Palace! Yeah!'

As anyone in the Royal inner circle knows, discretion is key. So former Strictly Come Dancing 'maneater' Kristina Rihanoff (pictured) can expect low marks for breaching protocol

The 40-year-old Russian, who has a child with former England rugby star Ben Cohen, celebrated becoming the latest celeb invited to Buckingham Palace by Prince Andrew by posting an image of her 'stiffie' (pictured) online

A palace spokesman sighs: 'Some people just get excited and publish their invitations on social media. There's nothing we can do.'

Let's hope Kristina doesn't waltz into any trouble. It was recently claimed that disgraced Hollywood star Kevin Spacey sat on the throne during a private tour of the palace with Prince Andrew.

With an engagement announcement for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle expected imminently, what better time for Princess Diana's wedding dress co-designer, Elizabeth Emanuel, to relaunch her label after more than two decades?

'It's something that I've been working towards for many years, and I finally have a big investor who is making it all happen,' she tells me.

'We expect to launch by next July. It's going to be called Emanuel. Designing a dress for Meghan [Markle] would be something that would be absolutely amazing.'

With an engagement announcement for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured) expected imminently, what better time for Princess Diana's wedding dress co-designer, Elizabeth Emanuel, to relaunch her label after more than two decades? Writes Sebastian Shakespeare

Despite playing lovers in The Jewel In The Crown in the 1980s, there was no sexual chemistry between Charles Dance and Geraldine James.

Geraldine, currently filming the second series of Netflix's Anne With An E, discloses: 'Charles said recently, 'The reason Gerald and I are such good friends is we never fancied each other'.'
A 24-year-old man has been charged with high range drink driving following a drunken rampage through Sydney's west.

The driver tore through a busy intersection of the Great Western Highway and Mamre Rd in St Marys crashing into a number of cars, around 9pm Sunday night.

When police arrived at the scene he was breathalysed and blew a reading of 0.189 - nearly four times over the 0.05 limit.

A 24-year-old man has been charged with drink driving after cars collided (pictured) in Sydney

The driver tore through a busy intersection and crashed (pictured) around 9pm Sunday night

Two women were caught up in the collision and both were taken to hospital last night.

One suffered a fractured hip - but neither have life-threatening injuries.

The driver was arrested and taken to Penrith Police Station where his license was immediately taken off him

He was granted conditional bail and will appear at Penrith Local Court on Tuesday December 12.
For anyone thinking of signing up to a gym again for one of their New Years resolutions, it is another good excuse to give it a miss.

Consumers are paying an average of 160 over three months for subscriptions they do not want but struggle to get rid of.

These includes everything from the gym, to TV and online streaming services, according to Citizens Advice.

Many customers are lured into signing up for free or cut price deals for initial periods.

Consumers are paying an average of 160 over three months for subscriptions they do not want but struggle to get rid of, like gym memberships

Around 40 million are signed up to at least one such product or service in the UK.

The trouble is that getting out of these deals is often easier said than done.

According to Citizens Advice, the overwhelming majority of customers who tried to ditch their contracts were rejected at first by the company in question.

Analysis of 586 related problems reported by consumers to the charity found that over just three months consumers paid an average of 160 towards unwanted subscriptions.

Many customers are lured into signing up for free or cut price deals for initial periods and find then find the subscriptions impossible to get out of

Its analysis of these cases, reported between June and August, found that around nine in 10 people were initially refused by the company when they tried to cancel their subscription.

Companies refused cancellations by asking for more notice - stretching to six months in some cases - or told people they needed to cancel through a specific route, such as phone or email.

One person who contacted the Citizens Advice consumer service said they tried to cancel a subscription after they were made redundant at work only to be asked for proof from their employer - including a P45.

Citizens Advice said that under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, businesses cannot enforce terms on consumers that are unfair.

Consumers told the Citizens Advice consumer service they felt it was unclear they were being signed up to a recurring payment in the first place or that the contract may continue on an auto renewal basis.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: Subscriptions are very easy to sign up to but can be difficult for consumers to get out of.

We know people are wasting time and energy trying to cancel subscriptions while paying out of pocket.

As part of National Consumer Week, we want to make sure consumers are aware of the terms and conditions of any subscription before they sign up and companies act responsibly when customers want to end their services.

Consumer minister Margot James said: With 40 million people in the UK now subscribing to at least one product or service, this campaign from Citizens Advice will help ensure consumers can shop with confidence and know what their rights are should things go wrong.

Consumers have been urged to check their cancellation rights, before signing up for a product or service.

Each supplier can set their own cancellation policy and they do not need to offer you a right to cancel your subscription early.

Make sure the terms and conditions look reasonable before signing up.

If you bought the subscription online, the law says you usually have 14 days to get your money back if you change your mind.

But you might not be able to get a refund if you start using the service straight away.

Citizens Advice has also urged customers to follow the cancellation policy set out in the contract when they ready to end a subscription.

Consumers who stop a payment without checking what else is required first may find the subscription has not been cancelled, making them liable for any missed payments.

If complaining to the firms customer services department does not work, customers can go to the suppliers trade or complaints body or report to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice consumer service.
For a top dining destination, the decor is unconventional: bars on the windows, panic buttons embedded into the walls and bundles of razor-wire.

Guests also have mobile phones confiscated before entering and they are security screened in advance.

But the Clink restaurant chain, which operates at four secure prisons in England but is open to the public, is beating establishments by celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver.

The Clink restaurant chain, which operates at four secure prisons in England but is open to the public, is beating establishments by celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver

According to TripAdvisor, three of the four restaurants  which aim to rehabilitate prisoners by training them for the food industry  are rated No 1 in their areas.

HMP Styal, a women's prison in Wilmslow, Cheshire, enjoys top spot out of 62 restaurants.

HMP Cardiff, a Category B jail in Wales, is first out of 943 and HMP High Down in Surrey beats 134 other restaurants.

HMP Brixton, one of the country's most notorious prisons, is rated London's third-best restaurant out of 18,161 on TripAdvisor, beating the likes of Michael Roux Jr's Le Gavroche.

Dishes are cooked and served by inmates. Main courses include grilled fillet of turbot with crushed purple potato and slow cooked lamb pot pie, celeriac mash and glazed carrots for 17.95.

According to TripAdvisor, three of the four restaurants  which aim to rehabilitate prisoners by training them for the food industry  are rated No 1 in their areas

Main courses include grilled fillet of turbot with crushed purple potato and slow cooked lamb pot pie, celeriac mash and glazed carrots for 17.95

Starters include pigeon, black pudding, smoked bacon lardon salad and poached quails egg and rabbit and duck terrine with smoked apple relish from 5.75.

However, there is no alcohol on the menu and diners use plastic cutlery.

Customers at HMP Styal have included Prue Leith, Coleen Rooney and Victoria Derbyshire.

Inmates with 6 to 18 months left of their sentence can apply for the programme.

The aim is to prepare staff for a job in the hospitality sector on release. Chefs are trained to five-star cordon bleu standards.

Prisoners learn the skills required to work in top restaurants and hopefully stop them reoffending once they have been released.

A report last year found that the Clink reduces re-offending rates among male ex-offenders by 41 per cent.

HMP Brixton, one of the country's most notorious prisons, is rated London's third-best restaurant out of 18,161 on TripAdvisor, beating the likes of Michael Roux Jr's Le Gavroche

High street chains Wahaca and Carluccio's have taken Clink graduates in the past, as have luxury hotels, including the Lancaster London and the Thistle chain.

Helen, 43, spent nine months at HMP Styal and served in the Clink's kitchen under the head chef.

She left with an NVQ level 2 in professional cookery and is a pastry chef at an upmarket hotel.

She said: 'I am now the chef de partie at a country club, hotel and spa where I run the pastry and larder section.

'The confidence I gained in the kitchen will stay with me for the rest of my life.'

One reviewer, who went to the Clink in Cardiff, wrote: 'Being honest, I thought we would be served by murderers, serial killers and such like. Not the case. Very handsome and chic young men.'

Chris Moore, chief executive of the Clink Charity, said: 'One of the biggest challenges we face as a charity is public misconceptions of prisoners and rehabilitation.

'Having this TripAdvisor feedback provides evidence we're helping people understand how important a part education and meaningful work plays in reducing reoffending rates.'

The programme has been running since 2009. About 160 prisoners at a time take part in the scheme which can last up to 18 months.
Hundreds of women claim they were sexually assaulted by massage therapists employed under a leading national spa, according to a report published Sunday.

Court records, police reports and interviews obtained by BuzzFeed News provide details on the alleged encounters from more than 180 women that took place at Massage Envy locations across the United States in recent years.

Some accusers said their stories were concealed after they came forward, while the company - which was ranked the third most popular chain of its kind this month - responded that incidents were 'not its problem' to correct.

In the shocking report, one Pennsylvania woman shared her experience, which she said took place in May 2015 at a West Chester spa she visited regularly.

Scroll down for video

Hundreds of women claim they were sexually assaulted by employees working under leading national spa, Massage Envy

Massage therapist James Deiter is shown left in his mugshot, next his accuser, Susan Ingram

Massage Envy in West Chester, Pa. is shown, where an accuser said she was sexually assaulted

Susan Ingram said it was her seventh visit with highly-recommended therapist, James Deiter, when she felt his 'erect penis' push up against her body.

Ingram had her eyes closed before she felt the man grope her breasts and penetrate her vagina with his fingers.

In shock, she laid still on the bed until the session ended. When she drove off in her car, she started to cry.

Later, she reported the incident to the spa manager, who refused help.

When she asked the manager to remove the woman from the room where another session had been taking place with Deiter, the manager said she 'could not do that.'

Ingram said in the interview: 'Massage Envy is a partner in crime,' while adding that 'they had every opportunity, on multiple occasions, to remove him from his position, and chose not to.'

Further investigation led Deiter to reveal he needed 'help' while speaking with police during questioning.

The following year, he plead guilty to molesting 'nine women while working at Massage Envy' from 2014 to 2015, the report said.

He was sentenced last year to more than five years behind bars for the assaults.

Daeshawn Bullard (shown left in his mugshot) was arrested and jailed after he sexually assaulted Danielle Dick (right)

In a October 2015 incident that took place in Virginia, Danielle Dick said therapist, Daeshawn Bullard, inserted his fingers in her vagina and assured her the sexual encounter would be their 'little secret.'

When she informed a manager, Dick said the individual looked 'like a deer in headlights' after hearing the story.

The manager called her the next day to inform she would not be charged for her massage that was described simply as 'unhappy experience' for the customer.

'Then they went back to business as usual, and my entire life was turned over,' Dick told BuzzFeed.

The company later said they would consider legal action after Dick created a Change.org petition which received thousands of signatures from supporters.

According to WTVR, Bullard received a five year sentenced after being convicted of sexual battery and forcible object, sexual penetration.

According to court documents, police reports and interviews, more than 180 women have made the allegations against the spa company

In a more recent encounter, a woman said she was visiting a Washington, D.C. Massage Envy to reward herself for starting a new job.

MASSAGE ENVY STATEMENT 'We hold franchise owners accountable to our policies. When we say nothing is more important to us than treating clients with respect and giving them a safe, professional experience, we mean it' Advertisement

During the September visit, Tara Woodley had her eyes closed when she said she felt her therapist's tongue on her vagina.

Horrified, Woodley jumped up and covered herself - when the man 'grabbed her hand and begged for forgiveness.'

She filed a lawsuit the same month.

Around the time, two other women reported sexual assault against the same therapist to managers at spa.

Massage Envy's employee training session requires a 'Behind Closed Doors' program on its code of conduct.

The training session said 'managers and franchisees must understand how to handle complaints of inappropriate conduct.

General counsel of Massage Envy Franchising, Melanie Hansen, provides employees with a Code of Conduct training session

Hansen said 'as a franchiser of a service brand, we are not experts in investigating criminal acts'

She added that the company advises spas 'to secure expert help as needed to investigate incidents'

'In the case a claim is brought against an employee, the goal is to keep the guest 'in a safe and secure environment in order to retain them as a valued client and avoid negative attention,' the training session says, according to BuzzFeed.

Managers are asked to examine the 'demeanor or any other behavior that may go towards credibility' of the customer.

'If, by whatever means, a therapist is found to have violated the zero-tolerance policy, that person must be fired. If on the other hand the facts are 'inconclusive,' the manager is simply instructed to consider steps the spa 'might take to ensure incidents of this nature do not happen again,' the report said.

General Counsel of Massage Envy Franchising, Melanie Hansen, responded to the bizarre training video.

'As a franchiser of a service brand, we are not experts in investigating criminal acts' so the company advises spas 'to secure expert help as needed to investigate incidents',' Hansen said in a statement to BuzzFeed.

'That advice does not appear in the recent 'Behind Closed Doors' training videos.'

In an official statement, Massage Envy said: 'We hold franchise owners accountable to our policies.

'When we say nothing is more important to us than treating clients with respect and giving them a safe, professional experience, we mean it.'
Leading global health firms gave the UK economy a vote of confidence last night by pledging to create almost 2,000 jobs in Brexit Britain.

US pharmaceutical giant Merck will set up a hi-tech hub with 950 new posts, and Dutch diagnostics firm Qiagen is to expand its operations in Manchester, creating up to 800 skilled jobs.

The announcements come on the day the Government launches its latest industrial strategy to turn around Britains low productivity, and commit the country to becoming a world leader in artificial intelligence and driverless cars.

The agreements with Merck and Qiagen come just days after the Office for Budget Responsibility unveiled gloomy forecasts for the prospects for growth.

US pharmaceutical giant Merck will set up a hi-tech hub with 950 new posts, and Dutch diagnostics firm Qiagen is to expand its operations in Manchester

But Merck, which is also known as MSD, said Britain was a unique bioscience centre of excellence.

The firm claimed its state-of-the-art hub would ensure innovative research into treatments for patients and pioneering medicines were completed in Britain.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: Our life-sciences sector is one of the UKs fastest developing industries, with a turnover in excess of 64billion, employing 233,000.

MSDs commitment proves the process outlined in the industrial strategy can give companies the confidence and direction they need to invest in the UK.

It will ensure Britain continues to be at the forefront of innovation and represents a huge vote of confidence. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: I want patients to continue to be at the front of the queue for the best treatments available.

Todays investment in our strong and growing life-sciences sector will see patients in the UK continue to benefit from world-leading research and pioneering medicines.

Qiagen will go into partnership with Health Innovation Manchester  a group of universities, research bodies, NHS trusts, life-science firms and local government  to develop a DNA research and diagnostics campus in the city.

Qiagen chief executive Peer Schatz said: We are very excited about this.

Our success together can advance science and improve the lives of patients in the local region as well as worldwide.

The announcement forms part of a Life Sciences Sector Deal, one of four such deals that also involve the construction, artificial intelligence and automotive sectors.

The agreements with Merck and Qiagen come just days after the Office for Budget Responsibility unveiled gloomy forecasts for the prospects for growth

Each represents a long-term partnership with the Government, backed by private-sector investment.

Mr Clark said: We are at one of the most important, exciting and challenging times in the history of commerce and industry. Powered by new technology, industries are being created, existing ones changing and the way we live our lives  as workers, citizens and consumers  transformed.

We are renowned for innovation and discovery, with some of the best universities and research institutions in the world producing some of the most inventive people on Earth.

He said the industrial strategy would also address weaknesses in the economy, adding: Britains productivity performance has not been good enough.

By acting together as a nation  and in a sustained way, to improve the underperforming conditions for productivity  we can drive up our earning power.

The industrial strategy will commit the UK to becoming a world leader in artificial intelligence.

A Government spokesman said: The rise of AI is changing the world we live in.

The UK has to be at the forefront of this data-driven revolution and grasp the opportunities it presents.

He said other priorities were clean growth through low-carbon technologies; meeting the needs of an ageing population; and the future mobility technology of driverless cars and drone-delivered goods.

The spokesman added: The way we move people, goods and services is evolving rapidly and the UK needs to be a world leader in shaping what the future of mobility looks like.
A record number of international students were admitted to British universities this year  despite fears of them being deterred by immigration policies.

Figures from admissions body Ucas show the number of students from abroad rose by 2 per cent to the highest ever total of 70,945.

Broken down, there was a 5 per cent increase in students from countries outside the EU, bringing them to a total of 40,245.

Students from EU countries decreased by 2 per cent to 30,700  650 fewer than last year.

Figures from admissions body Ucas show the number of students from abroad rose by 2 per cent to the highest ever total of 70,945

Ucas said that while there was a slight drop in EU students, the huge increase in those from non-EU countries more than made up for it.

The figures appeared to confound fears that tough talk from the Prime Minister on immigration may be putting some international students off applying to UK institutions.

Earlier this year, the Conservative manifesto also promised tougher visa requirements for overseas students.

Universities have previously warned of a fall in students from India  one of the biggest consumers of UK higher education  because they felt they were not welcome.

But todays data suggests that despite the gloomy forecasts, the UK appears to be more popular than ever for studying.

Sarah Stevens, head of policy at the Russell Group, a coalition of the countrys most elite universities, said: It is a very positive message that so many talented students from across the globe continue to want to study here, attracted by the world-class teaching that our universities provide.

Ucas said that while there was a slight drop in EU students, the huge increase in those from non-EU countries more than made up for it

But she added: If it turns out that the fall in [EU] places this year is due to the continuing uncertainty posed by Brexit, it reinforces our call for the Government to provide greater clarity.

Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, added: With more overseas students than ever entering our universities this year, it looks as though the fears about tougher immigration rules putting them off are unfounded.

EU students are down somewhat and may have been unsettled by Brexit. But overall the figures underline our universities excellent reputation around the world.

Non-EU students are highly sought-after by universities because they pay much higher fees than UK and EU students.

While home fees are capped at 9,250, the average annual fee for international undergraduates is 13,000. Figures show that 50,000 foreign students a year stay in the UK after completing courses.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt appeared emotional as she greeted members of a persecuted Burmese minority on her first official visit in her new role.

On a visit to Bangladesh, Ms Mordaunt met Rohingya refugees living in camps in the fishing port of Cox's Bazar.

There she announced 12 million of extra UK aid to help Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Burma.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt came close to tears as she greeted persecuted Rohingya Muslims during a visit to Bangladesh

Ms Mordaunt appeared emotional during the visit, which was her first in the new role

During the visit to Bangladesh, Ms Mordaunt was pictured comforting Rohingya refugees living in camps in the fishing port of Cox's Bazar

Ms Mordaunt announced 12 million of extra UK aid to help Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Burma

An estimated 620,000 men, women and children have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following persecution from the Burmese military in their native state of Rakhine.

The Department of International Development( DfID) estimates that international funding for the crisis will start to run out by February next year unless other countries pledge longer term support.

The additional funding will bring the UK's total support for the Rohingya to 59 million since August this year.

The money cash will be spent on food, drinking water, emergency latrines, temporary shelters, soap, cooking utensils and water cans.

Ms Mordaunt said in a statement: 'This looks like ethnic cleansing.

'The Burmese military must end this inhumane violence and guarantee unrestricted humanitarian access so aid can reach those in need in Burma.

'Any return of families to their homes must be safe, voluntary and dignified.'

Ms Mordaunt made the visit on the International Day To Eliminate Violence Against Women And Girls, which saw thousands of people take part in protests across the world.

Ms Mordaunt appeared emotional as she witnessed women and children who had escaped from persecution being handed aid

After meeting refugees, the Minister demanded the Burmese military end the violence against the Rohingya Muslims

The Minister's visit comes after an estimated 620,000 men, women and children fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following persecution from the Burmese military in their native state of Rakhine

The money will also be used to provide sanitary products, female-only bathing cubicles as well as counselling for 2,000 survivors of sexual violence and 10,000 women suffering the trauma of war, DfID said.

The International Development Secretary also announced a separate 12 million aid package to be spread across multiple countries to help protect women from sexual and gender-based violence.

'The countless stories of sexual violence I have heard from Rohingya women and girls are truly shocking and the high rates of this crime across the world are a global scandal,' Ms Mordaunt said.

'The UK is absolutely determined to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and we are increasing protection for Rohingya women and girls against sexual violence and exploitation.'

Penny Mourdant said the UK is determined to eliminate all forms of violence against women and children as she visited Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

Penny Mordaunt met with the Mohammed Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. She said the events in Burma looked like 'ethnic clensing'
Newlyweds could soon be seeing their mothers' names on marriage certificates, instead of just their fathers' - if MPs manage to change the 'outdated' wording.

UK wedding certificates only feature the bride and groom's fathers' names, in line with an age-old tradition.

Previous efforts to modernise the documents have been unsuccessful, with Governments claiming the costs were too high.

But a cross-party group of MPs led by former cabinet minister Caroline Spelman is hopeful they could soon break the mould.

UK marriage certificates only feature the bride and groom's fathers' names, in line with an age-old tradition. But a cross-party group of MPs led by former cabinet minister Caroline Spelman is hopeful they could soon break the mould

This week the Conservative Merdien MP will present their proposed changes to Parliament for its 'second reading' stage.

They are also being supported by Labour MP Frank Field, former culture secretary Maria Miller and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.

To deflect any claims the changes will be too costly, the bill will set out plans for a digital marriage register, to cut costs of replacing all the existing ones to include mothers' names.

Speaking to The Guardian, Frank Field said the absence of women's names was an insult, saying: 'It's a huge knock in the eye for mothers.

'Children have two parents, even if they are not living together and every opportunity should be taken to affirm that truth, and particularly when it's often the mum who is with the child if parents aren't together anymore.

'It is an insult, really, to the person who has most treasured and nurtured you, in most instances.'

This week the Conservative Merdien MP (pictured) will present their proposed change to the law to Parliament for its 'second reading' stage

Despite the success of getting to a second reading, the bill must pass three more stages in the House of Commons then another five in the Lords before getting Royal Assent.

Spelman, who is also second church estates commissioner, the Church of England's official representative in the House of Commons, is not the only person pushing for changes to wedding documentation.

Bishop of St Albans and Peer Rt Rev Alan Smith is also proposing an identical bill in the House of Lords.

Labour MP Christina Rees tried for similar changes in 2015 but was rejected by the Government.

Then Home Office minister Richard Harrington said he 'wasn't convinced' her bill was the 'right way to deal with' bringing the marriage certificate into the digital age.

The current bill was based on one drafted by Tory MP Edward Agar but never debated because of June's General Election.
Legendary television journalist Mike Willesee turned to Catholicism after investigating religious miracles in the late 90s.

While he would classify himself as a devoutly religious man today, there was a time when the 75-year-old questioned religion - and the people who abided by the values of God.

At the tender age of 10, Willesee's father sent him to the notorious Catholic orphanage in Bindoon 'to toughen him up' - despite the fact both his parents were alive.

He described his first night in Bindoon when 'four or five kids' punched him, once to the point of unconsciousness, until he finally shot at his tormentors with a rifle (pictured younger)

Willesee (pictured), who was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame last week, survived the 1997 crash along with cameraman Greg Low

'Dad said, "I'm going to send you up to Bindoon for a while", and I'd been there with him. I knew he liked this place. And I couldn't understand why I would be sent to an orphanage. I said, "Why, Dad?"' Willesee told Australian Story.

'I still don't know why my father thought I needed to toughen up, but I did toughen up. You know, it changed me.'

He described his first night in Bindoon when 'four or five kids' punched him, once to the point of unconsciousness, until he finally shot at his tormentors with a rifle.

'You didn't complain, you didn't dob, and you looked after yourself,' he told the Australian Woman's Weekly.

While in high school Willesee was 'punched to the ground' by a particularly unethical headmaster.

'It made me lose respect for the brothers. It made me lose respect for the Catholic Church for a long time,' he said.

At the tender age of 10, Willesee's father sent him to the notorious Catholic orphanage in Bindoon 'to toughen him up' (pictured)

With a childhood as violent as this it came as some surprise to the 75-year-old's family and friends when he turned back to God.

The change happened when Willesee, who was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame earlier this month, survived a plane crash in 1997 along with cameraman Greg Low.

He had a premonition before the flight took off that it wouldn't arrive safely at its destination.

A plane crash (pictured) changed legendary television journalist Mike Willesee's (pictured) life after his chilling pre-take off premonition became reality

The plane plummeted to earth in a game park after taking off from Nairobi, Kenya, on the way to southern Sudan

'I couldn't understand it. I had this fight in my own head before I got on the plane. How do I tell Greg that it's going to crash?' said Willesee, Australian Story reported.

'I had a premonition but I did not believe in premonitions. But did I believe it was going to crash? Absolutely.'

The plane plummeted to earth in a game park after taking off from Nairobi, Kenya, on the way to southern Sudan.

Emerging unhurt from the crash, Willesee was a changed man, becoming a devout follower of his childhood faith within two years.

Willesee then devoted his life to investigating Catholic miracles, travelling across South America.

The transformation came as a surprise to the journalist's family (pictured are Willesee, ex-wife Carol, and children Jo, Amy and Lucy)

He appeared on Signs From God, broadcast on American TV in 1999, in which he interviewed Katya Rivas.

The Bolivian woman claimed to experience Stigmata, bleeding from the crucifixion injuries suffered by Jesus, and he had no doubt Rivas was authentic.

Willesee ended up spending 20 years investigating similar phenomena from Bolivia, Argentina and Mexico.

The iconic journalist, regarded as one of the best interviewers of his era, is now battling stage four throat cancer.

He recently completed radiation therapy after being diagnosed 12 months ago, and cites his faith and his family as instrumental in helping him through the pain.
Some of the personal effects of the murderous Charles Manson will be headed to the Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.

Travel Channel star Zack Bagans purchased a plethora of Manson's items after he died on November 19 including a set of dentures.

The two had been pen pals so Bagan's believes that the teeth are authentic, according to TMZ.

Travel Channel star Zack Bagans (left) purchased a plethora of Charles Manson's (right) items after he died on November 19 including a set of dentures

The two had been pen pals while Manson was incarcerated (pictured) so Bagan's believes that the teeth are authentic, according to TMZ

A pentagram necklace made from toilet paper and underwear are also included in the buy for Bagans

Bagans added that he even had a picture of the teeth signed by Manson and could verify the handwriting since he claimed it to be familiar.

The Ghost Adventures star claims that the teeth were stolen by another inmate when Manson was in the shower.

When he got out, he sent them to Manson's friend who then teased the murderer by sending him a photo of the teeth.

Bagans added that he even had a picture of the teeth signed by Manson and could verify the handwriting since he claimed to be familiar

The letter, along with the necklace are among the different trinkets that Manson had while at Corcoran State Prison that Bagans now owns

All will be added to Manson's section within the museum

Manson begged for them to be returned but the friend refused.

The letter, along with a pentagram necklace made from toilet paper and underwear are among the different trinkets that Manson had while at Corcoran State Prison.

All will be added to Manson's section within the museum.

Manson died last Sunday at the age of 83 and had stated in the will that he disinherited his two known children, grandchildren, friends, other family and the state of California

Manson died last Sunday at the age of 83 and had stated in the will that he disinherited his two known children, grandchildren, friends, other family and the state of California.

Manson wrote in the will that his wishes for his death had been stated to the pen pal, though six days after he passed away his body is still with the state of California.

If it is not claimed after 10 days he will be cremated by the state. Later in the will, Manson noted: 'I'm not in the best spot to rest in peace.'

Manson was making money off his likeness while in prison, with a New York Times article revealing back in 1993 that the man who convinced his followers to embark on a two-night murder spree that left Sharon Tate and others dead was getting 10 cents for every $17 shirt one surf shop was selling in California.

The shirts showed Manson's face on the front and said 'Charlie don't surf' on the back.

Manson also owned the rights to his music, though it is unclear if that 'exclusive catalogue' includes the Beach Boys song 'Never Learn Not to Love,' on which he was an uncredited writer.
The BBC has been forced to apologise for an alarmist report claiming 100,000 Universal Credit claimants would lose money over Christmas.

The allegations were made earlier this month by Paul Lewis from the Money Box programme, which reports on personal finance issues.

As well as being broadcast on the Radio 4 show, the claims also appeared on BBC Breakfast, the Today programme, the BBC website and on radio and TV news bulletins on November 18.

The Mail understands that the Department for Work and Pensions was not given full details of the story before it ran, meaning officials could not point out errors in the story.

The BBC has been forced to apologise after reporter Paul Lewis (pictured) claimed 100,000 Universal Credit claimants would lose money over Christmas

Reporter Paul Lewis told listeners up to 100,000 in-work Universal Credit claimants would get no benefits over the festive period.

He claimed the cuts would hit those who are paid weekly because they have five pay days in December. As a result, he said, their monthly income could be too high to receive the benefit, which changes according to income.

But on Saturdays programme he retracted the story, admitting the real number of claimants receiving less was much lower.

He even admitted ignoring fellow staff members on the programme who had warned him his figures were wrong.

Mr Lewis told the programme: Last week I did say that up to 100,000 people might end up receiving reduced Universal Credit or even no Universal Credit at all over Christmas.

Now if Money Box gets something wrong, we admit it ... Some people will undoubtedly receive less Universal Credit over Christmas and New Year but by no means all of them.

Apologies to anyone on Universal Credit who was in any way unnecessarily alarmed. Last night critics said the apology was inadequate due to the scale of publicity given to the story.

Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who created Universal Credit, said: This apology is a small and inadequate correction ... Having given the department no proper opportunity to rebut the false item, the item then ran on all their news headlines without correction.

Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who created Universal Credit, labelled the apology 'a small and inadequate correction'

Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke answered questions on it in the House of Commons. He told MPs: It was confused, it was misleading in its alarmist tone. It was inaccurate in the numbers it was using.

Last night he said: I welcome the BBCs apology and urge media and politicians to be responsible and avoid misleading people when discussing Universal Credit.

Universal Credit combines six benefits including tax credits and housing benefit into one payment. Last week Philip Hammond announced a 1.5billion overhaul that would reduce the time it took for families to receive money.

Tory MPs have criticised the Corporation for its coverage of the Universal Credit scheme which they say has been unfairly targeted.

A BBC spokesman said: We are happy that this was a legitimate story.

They said that the programme reported that the DWP disputed our figures, but that Money Box regrets the inaccuracies and has run an appropriate clarification.
The emotional family of a British ex-paratrooper broke down in tears on Monday as he was freed after spending four years in an Indian jail.

Nick Dunn, 31, was among a group of British ex-servicemen known as the Chennai Six who were arrested in October 2013 while working as mercenaries on an anti-piracy ship.

The men were subsequently jailed on charges of smuggling weapons for terrorists, but will now be freed after being acquitted by judges at Madras High Court.

The other men are Billy Irving, 37, from Argyll and Bute, John Armstrong, 30, of Wigton, Cumbria, Nicholas Simpson, 47, of Catterick, North Yorkshire, Ray Tindall, 42, of Chester, and Paul Towers, 54, of Pocklington, East Yorkshire.

The family of Nick Dunn, 31, a former paratrooper locked up in India for four years,celebrated after learning he would be freed on Monday (pictured from left, brother Paul, mother Margaret, father Jim and sister Lisa)

Mr Dunn, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, had begged the British government to secure his release. He is pictured with his older sister Lisa, 37

Mr Dunn's family were filmed by the BBC receiving the news as they shared a hug before sobbing with joy.

Sipping champagne his sister, Lisa, said: 'This is the best champagne in the world, it tastes like the best drink.

'The longer it went on, as much as you still have an element of hope, it does dwindle after having so many delays and setbacks.

Lisa said that 'all of our dreams have come true' after receiving the news that her brother will be coming home for Christmas

'But that hasn't happened today and we've had the best news ever.

'It will make all of our Christmases, all of our dreams have come true today.'

Mr Dunn's father, Jim, said: 'Absolutely fantastic, the best news in the world.

'We haven't been a full family for a long time now. Nick won't fully realise it's over until his feet touch down in Newcastle.'

Yvonne MacHugh , fiancee of Billy Irving, said she was 'over the moon' after hearing the news.

'I am just so relieved. I can't believe it. I really didn't think it was going to go our way after everything,' she added.

She now hopes her partner will be home in time for Christmas, to spend it with his son, who has only ever seen him in the Indian prison.

She said: 'It's finally all over. All 35 men have been acquitted of all charges and should be coming home as soon as possible.

'The hope is now they will get home for Christmas. Ideally, I want him home tomorrow. After four years and all the hard work, it's all paid off.

'William is at nursery just now, so as soon as he is finished I am going to get him on Facetime and tell him the good news.

'I just can't wait to get home and give him the biggest hug ever.'

John Armstrong (pictured, with his mother Helen and father John) was one of the Chennai Six freed on Monday after being held for four years in India

Paul Towers (pictured, in Afghanistan) spent 12 years in the Paras and 20 as a prison officer

They were all sentenced to serve five years in Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, (pictured), where they are said to have to go to the toilet 'in a hole in the ground'

The 29-year-old mother returned from a six-day trip to India on November 19.

A statement on the Chennai 6 Facebook page said: 'The Appeal Court has today found all 35 men NOT GUILTY we now wait to hear as and when the men will be allowed home to their families.

'This may take some time whilst the authorities decide whether they agree with the outcome or wish to appeal.

'If they wish to appeal the men might be released from prison but not allowed back to the UK.

'But the families are understandable delighted that finally common sense and justice has prevailed.'

The Madurai bench of Madras High Court directed the men to apply to the authorities to get back their passports back.

The men were also told they will be entitled to get back fines they have paid so far.

Theresa May's official spokesman said: 'The Government, from the Prime Minister down, has worked hard for over four years to support the men and their families and we share their happiness at the court's decision to give a full acquittal to each of the men.

Billy Irving, 35, left, and Ray Tindall, 41, were also among the veterans jailed in India

(From left) Mr Simpson, Paul Towers, 52, Mr Tindall and Billy Irving were all working for US marine company AdvanFort when they were arrested in 2013

'We are now working with the Indian authorities to discuss the next steps. We will continue to offer the men and their families consular assistance for as long as it is needed.'

The Indian authorities accused them of 'importing guns for jihadists'  although the punishment was branded a 'miscarriage of justice' by their families and politicians in Britain.

Speaking last year, Mr Armstrong's brother, Joanne Thomlinson, said: 'Christmas and birthdays, you would normally be with your family. These days are a bit harder for John and the others to get through. The whole thing is an absolute tragedy.

'It is incredible to think what impact this has had on so many lives. So many parents, children, brothers and sisters, wives - just completely lost while their loved one suffers in prison.'

Indian coastguards first boarded their vessel, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio, and arrested them for bringing weapons into India's territorial waters in October 2013.

The charges were initially quashed when the men argued the weapons were lawfully held for anti-piracy purposes and their paperwork, issued by the UK Government, was in order.

Nicholas Simpson, 46, pictured with wife Tracy, 45, served in the army for 24 years and had been separated from his two young sons

Mr Towers with a #freethebeard sign he made while calling to be released. Right is John Armstrong, 30, who lost three stone during his captivity

But a lower court reinstated the prosecution and they were sentenced to five years in jail.

Their families say the 'Chennai Six' have been held in 'horrendous' conditions, sleeping on concrete floors, in sweltering heat with inadequate water, prison meals of 'curried slop and rice' and poor sanitation, with toilets being a hole in the floor.

The smell 'just hits you' on entering the prison, say relatives who have visited to take supplies including teabags, sweets and toilet paper. None of the men were allowed telephone calls home.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: 'Since I became Foreign Secretary, this case has been a top priority for everybody at the Foreign Office (FCO) and today's verdict is fantastic news.

'The FCO has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families. The importance the UK Government places on their case cannot be understated.

'The men, their families and their supporters, who have campaigned unrelentingly, must be overjoyed.

'I share their delight and I hope they can return home as soon as possible.'
A suspected shoplifter was shot by a police officer at a busy mall after allegedly reaching for a replica handgun.

The male suspect was thought to have been stealing sunglasses at the mall in Arlington, Texas, when an officer opened fire, believing the replica gun to be real.

Police said the man fled from security and got on the escalator to the second floor, near the food court, the NYDailyNews reports.

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A suspected shoplifter was shot by a police officer at an Arlington mall after allegedly reaching for a replica handgun. The male suspect was thought to have been stealing sunglasses at the mall Texas, when an officer opened fire, believing the replica gun to be real

He pulled out what police said was later found to be an fake gun, pointing it at the police officer on the first floor.

Police spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook says the incident occurred on Sunday afternoon after a theft was reported at a store inside The Parks at Arlington mall.

The suspect tried to flee from security before going up an escalator toward the food court, police said.

Footage captures the immediate aftermath of the shooting as a police officer stands over the man on a halted escalator.

A separate video caught by a passerby was captioned with: 'Dude got shot right in front of me, I'm done'.

Cook said the male suspect then pulled a replica handgun from his waistband and was shot by an officer who thought the weapon was real.

The male suspect was thought to have been stealing sunglasses at the mall in Arlington, Texas, when an officer opened fire, believing the replica gun to be real

Following the shooting, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson tweeted: 'It is nearly impossible to determine the authenticity of a real versus fake gun,'

Sharing the photo of the fake weapon, he added: 'There is no training that would allow officers to distinguish between what's real & what's fake in a matter of seconds.

'Replica imitation firearms/BB guns have no place in society when used in criminal endeavors.'

Following the shooting, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson tweeted: 'It is nearly impossible to determine the authenticity of a real versus fake gun,'

The unidentified suspect was taken to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known.

Police said no one else was injured. The mall closed early as police evacuated the remaining shoppers.

The investigation is ongoing.
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Britons have been warned to brace for the big freeze as arctic blasts bring snow and sub-zero temperatures making the country even colder than Iceland.

Just a day before the official start to winter on December 1, the mercury is expected to fall as low as -10C in some parts of the UK.

Britain's cold spell could make it cooler than Iceland's capital Reykjavik, which is due to have a high of 7C later in the week, while Helsinki in Finland will see temperatures of between 3C and 4C.

A winter vista looking across the upper Eden Valley as morning breaks with the first rays of sunlight clipping the snow covered Howgill Fells in Cumbria today. Commuters should expect milder temperatures than what we have experienced over this weekend on Monday, with parts of Southern England expected to reach double digit temperatures during the day

A couple enjoy a walk on heathland during a frosty morning near Ashford, Kent, as parts of Britain woke to another icy morning on Sunday after biting temperatures hit overnight

Highland cattle graze on heathland during a frosty morning near Ashford, Kent, as parts of Britain woke to another icy morning on Sunday

The Met Office has issued ice warnings for northern parts of Scotland overnight, with snow expected to fall on higher ground.

The weather is set to get progressively colder, with Thursday and Friday likely to be the chilliest days, according to the Met Office.

Hardy cyclists Justin Saunders and Richard Badger braved an early morning snowy mountain bike ride on Axe Edge Moor high up in the Peak District this morning

The mercury could dip to -3C (27F) in sheltered spots this weekend, while health watchdogs have urged people to prepare for a prolonged cold snap. A choppy North Sea this morning as the DFDS King Seaways arrives at the mouth of the Tyne, as parts of Britain woke to another icy morning on Sunday after biting temperatures hit overnight

Spokesman Grahame Madge said: 'The weather situation is that it's likely to be getting colder as we go towards Thursday and into Friday

'Pretty much everywhere in the UK will be within touching distance of freezing.'

How to stay safe in the cold Keep your hands and face warm - if they get cold they can trigger a rise in blood pressure which puts you at increased risk of a heart attack. Remember that several thin layers of clothing will keep you warmer than one thick layer, as the layers trap warm air. Wear warm clothes in bed. When very cold, wear thermal underwear, bed socks and even a hat - a lot of heat is lost through your head. Read more tips about keeping your house warm and find out about the ideal room temperatures for your home. Source: Met Office Advertisement

Hikers brave blizzard conditions as they climb to the summit of Mam Tor on Saturday (right) and a 10-year-old boy having fun in the snow at Dufftown in the Scottish Highland on Sunday morning (left). A yellow weather warning has been issued for the length of the western side of Britain and Northern Ireland from 10pm on Saturday until 10am on Sunday, alerting people to the risk of ice

Figures earlier this week showed there were more than 34,000 'excess deaths' across England and Wales over the last winter period, the second highest level in eight years. Pictured: A snow-covered hillside near Ribblehead in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on Saturday

On Saturday there were smatterings of snow in parts of Scotland and the West Midlands, with more forecast for higher parts of Wales, the Pennines and parts of Northern Ireland overnight. The mercury dipped to -3.5C (25.7F) in Hurn, Bournemouth, while South Newington reached -2C (28.4F) and Drumnadrochit, near the Loch Ness dipped to -1.7C (28.94F)

He added: 'In Scotland air temperatures could drop down to minus 10C, but that's likely only if you are out overnight in the Scottish mountains.'

In light of the temperature drop, Public Health England (PHE) warned people to look out for those most likely to be affected by the cold.

Morning breaks with the first rays of sunlight hitting the eastern edges of a snow covered Wild Boar Fell in the Yorkshire Dales National Park this morning. Heading into next week, the Met Office warned of snow as far south as Essex by Wednesday, with the East, Northern Britain and Wales all due low-level snow near coasts

Dr Thomas Waite, of the body's Extreme Events team, said: 'We're well used to winter in this country so most people know what to do to protect their health before and during cold spells. Pictured: A dogwalker admires the sunrise at Hardwick Country Park, in County Durham

Dr Thomas Waite, of PHE's Extreme Events team, said: 'As the weather is going to get colder everywhere in the coming days, this is a really good time to check on those who may be at-risk.

'People with diseases such as heart and lung conditions, older people and young children can feel the ill-effects of cold weather more than the rest of us.'

Met Office forecaster Luke Miall said: 'It turns cold again from Monday afternoon and stays colder-than-average through the week and for up to 10 days, with winds from the Arctic. Swans cross the lake at Hardwick Country Park, in County Durham

Rail travel was disrupted on some southern and south eastern services on Saturday morning and National Rail advised passengers to check their routes before travelling on Sunday. Pictured: Highland cattle graze on heathland during a frosty morning near Ashford, Kent

Matthew Glossop with son Charlie, three. Snow continues to fall on Mam Tor near Castleton in the Derbyshire Peak District on Saturday. Pictured: A surfer enjoys big waves on Tynemouth Beach, as parts of Britain woke to another icy morning

Dr Waite advised people to wear lots of thin layers instead of just one or two thick items of clothing, and to maintain a home temperature of at least 18C.

Drivers in Scotland have been urged to be cautious amid possible icy patches on some roads due to wintry showers.

Commuters have also been told to be prepared for disruption due to cold and wet weather, with South Western Railway predicting 'poor rail conditions' across the network throughout this week.
Shocking details have emerged in the mysterious death of a 16-year-old US citizen who was raped and murdered in Paraguay after drinking mushroom tea with friends on a luxurious estate.

Luis Alejandro 'Alex' Villamayor, the American son of a former Paraguayan congressman, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head two years ago on the family estate of Rene Hofstetter, 18.

Hofstetter's trial in the murder was delayed for a third time on Thursday, and officials In Paraguay have twice declined FBI assistance.

Now Alex's family is demanding US legislation requiring FBI involvement in the foreign murders of citizens, speaking to the Daily Beast in a shocking report that reveals gruesome new details of the teenager's death.

The case that gripped the South American nation first unfolded on Saturday June 27, 2015 at Hofstetter's family ranch in Obligado, where Alex was spending the weekend with two friends, Hofstetter and 16-year-old Alain Jacks Diaz de Bedoya.

'I thought it would be good for him to go to the ranch and have some fun,' Alex's mother Puning Luk told the outlet. 'I never imagined in a million years he was going to be beaten, raped and killed by his friends.'

Alex Villamayor (left) the American son of a former Paraguayan congressman, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head two years ago on the family estate of Rene Hofstetter (right)

Entrance to the Hofstetter estate, where the violent death of Alex Villamayor occurred in 2015

Alex (pictured with his mother) called his father the night before he was found dead, but the call was cut off abruptly and the boy didn't answer repeated calls back

The night before he was found dead, Alex called his father Luis Villamayor, who lives 400 miles from the Hofstetter ranch.

The teens were drinking mushroom tea alone in the house, although Hofstetter's parents were supposed to be there.

The call was cut off abruptly, and Alex didn't pick up when his father tried calling back.

Prosecutors believe that Alex, pictured, was murdered some time between 3am and 6am

Luis called the Hofstetter parents, who sent ranch hand Matthias Wilbs to check on the boys.

The following morning, Hofstetter called Alex's father Luis crying, and told him that Alex had shot himself, according to the new report.

The local prosecutor rushed to agree the death was a suicide, telling Alex's parents she suspected the gunshot was self-inflicted the same evening he was found dead.

But evidence emerged painting a much more disturbing picture of the case.

Photos from the crime scene showed a gunshot wound to the right of Alex's head while the gun was in his left hand.

No gunshot residue was found on Alex's hands or clothing.

Tests conducted on the gun concluded it had not been fired in a lengthy amount of time.

Alex's mother noticed that his body was dressed in clothes that did not belong to him, including a pair of black sweatpants that were too large for him.

A second autopsy report revealed additional evidence that Alex had been brutally abused.

The medical examiner found deep bruising all over his body, including his genital area, and marks on his body made by an object like a stick.

The autopsy report also revealed that semen was found in his anus.

Inexplicably, a DNA test showed that the semen was Alex's own - a finding that the boy's family has questioned as illegitimate.

Then, if there was any doubt as to foul play, the ranch hand on the Hofstetter's estate, 35-year-old Matthias Wilbs, reportedly confessed to hiding the murder weapon and placing a non-functional gun in Alex's hands.

Phone records belonging to Wilbs and Hofstetter revealed that Rene Hoffstetter called his father over 50 times starting at 3am, the morning of June 27.

This contradicted the teens, who said they both woke up at 6am to find Alex dead on the back deck.

Alex's family have blamed officials in Paraguay for not allowing the FBI to assist, and are suspicious of investigators who initially rushed to rule the death a suicide

Prosecutors believe that Alex was murdered some time between 3am and 6am.

As the murder case mounted, Hoffstetter and his parents fled to Germany, saying the teen sought psychological treatment there.

The other teen, de Bedoya, was indicted for murder over two years ago, but was acquitted less than a month later before the investigation had been completed.

Hofstetter and Wilbs are currently in prison awaiting trial for premeditated murder.

Hofstetter's father, who is in hiding, has been indicted on charges related to the alleged murder cover up and illegal gun possession.

Alex's aunt, Kim Luk, lives in Maryland and has called upon her congressmen to change the laws in the US so that no American citizen can be murdered abroad without the FBI getting involved.

Before his death, Alex had planned to live with Luk while he studied business management at Montgomery College.

'More people have to understand what happens to you when you travel overseas,' she told The Daily Beast. 'We're in an administration right now that is seeking Americans first. This is a perfect time for us to change laws.'

Hofstetter's new trial date has been set for February 19, 2018.

The Villamayor family has been torn apart by the teenager's death, none more so than his mother Puning Luk.

Two months after her son died, referring to him affectionately as Ali Boy, she posted an emotional tribute on Facebook.

It read: 'I remember Ali Boy. Two months has come and gone - I still have no answers to what happened to you that night.

'Its really hard to go on without you. I see you everywhere.

The Villamayor family has been torn apart by the teenager's (right) death, none more so than his mother Puning Luk (left)

'I am sure if you were here you would have gone to celebrate with Alain last night. It was his 18th birthday.

'Like everyone that turned 18 in your class, you would tell me: Mom it happens only once in a lifetime."

'And I would say, Alex still trying to give me good reasons for me to say yes and give you permission to go."

'I remember when we used to cook together. You always had a something to share.

'I loved hearing you tell me about the movie that youve just watched.

'You had a photographic memory and I am still amazed how you captured all the details of the movies you saw.

I remember how you could just listen to a song once or twice and remember the lyrics of the song.

'I love how you sang the fast tongue twisting, non-stopping, take no breath rap songs that you loved to sing.

I remember how you loved to go to the concerts.

'I remember how you save up all your money so you can go. I have the used concert tickets and memorabilia that youve kept so nicely in a box.

'I miss everything about you. I cry because I have missed two months of laughter, hugs, butterfly kisses, meals together, movies, stories, and hearing you say, "Mom, I am home.

'I love and miss you everyday of my life. I remember...my Ali Boy.'

She has since driven a campaign seeking justice for her son alongside Alex's father Luis Felipe Villamayor.

Last week, he took to social media to slam Hofstetter's defense attorney Normal Stanley, who is also running for deputy with the Orgullo Colorado party in Paraguay.

Alex's (pictured) mother has since driven a campaign seeking justice for her son alongside Alex's father Luis Felipe Villamayor

Mr Villamayor posted on Thursday: 'Alex's truth will have to wait for politics.

'Once again, the oral trial of the defendants for the murder of my son Alex was suspended. The reason?

'The defense counsel is in political campaign - that is the real reason, beyond the absurd excuses of his presentation, see the poster.

'I mean, Dr Norman Stanley is very busy going from here trying to convince people that he's a great guy, a sensitive person, a "good citizen" worthy of people's votes.

'But it says the word "by their fruits you will know them".

'The reality is that he does not care that Alex's parents, his brothers and relatives and many others who loved him so much, let us continue to, with our condemnation of eternal suffering, going and coming to courts, hoping that this ordeal finishes.

'This is the kind of morally bankrupt people who unfortunately abound in politics.

'People who don't care beyond their selfish and petty political pretensions. You don't realize it seems, this is not a case that has to do with a promissory note, a land or a pet.

'It's about the truncated life of a 16-Year-old boy. A boy who did nothing to deserve that tragic end and his family that deserves at least an answer.'
An emotional Sarah Hanson-Young has broken down in tears while delivering a speech about same-sex marriage.

Speaking to the senate on Monday, Greens Senator Hanson-Young revealed her best friend at school was gay and she would never wish his pain and suffering on other young Australians.

'He struggled for a long time,' she said.

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An emotional Sarah Hanson-Young has broken down in tears while delivering a speech about same-sex marriage

'Every now and again I'd tell people to bugger off when they tried to pick on him  but I remember thinking I never did quite enough to have his back.'

With mascara running down her cheeks, Senator Hanson-Young said she felt powerless against his tormentors.

'It was just like, well that's the way you are, so that's the way people are going to treat you,' she said.

The South Australian Senator said: 'Young people in Australia deserve better than that'.

With mascara running down her cheeks, Senator Hanson-Young said she felt powerless against her friend's tormentors

The South Australian Senator said: 'Young people in Australia deserve better than that'

'I guess I shouldn't have worn mascara. Oops!' Senator Hanson-Young said on Twitter

'The Yes vote that occurred two weeks ago is so important for sending a message to these young people, young people just like Jonathan right around the country,' she said.

Taking to Twitter following the speech, Senator Hanson-Young poked fun at the make-up running down her face.

'I guess I shouldn't have worn mascara. Oops!' she said.

The Senate will aim to pass same-sex marriage laws this week after Australia voted Yes in a historic postal survey on same-sex marriage on November 15.

Close to eight million people, about 61.6 percent of the population, voted yes, while 4.8 million, about 38.4 percent of the population, voted No.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young celebrates with Independent MP Alex Greenwich after speaking on the same sex marriage bill in the Senate chamber at Parliament House

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young delivers a speech to the crowd gathered at a Marriage Equality Rally in Adelaide in September

About 79.5 per cent of the population returned ballots to the controversial $122 million postal vote commissioned by the Federal Government.

The senate will debate the issue this week after Liberal Dean Smith introduced a bill to change the marriage laws.

Senator Smith introduced the bill on Thursday, one day after the postal survey results were released.

The government aimed to make same-sex marriage legal by Christmas, leaving senators just one week to debate the bill.

The upper house agreed to suspend all other government business so they could deal solely with the same-sex marriage bill.
A sex worker jumped to her death after she tried to escape a prostitution sting and failed.

Police say a 38-year-old unnamed woman, who nearby residents referred to as 'CC', plummeted from the third floor of a building in Flushing, New York around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

The deadly incident happened after the woman was caught by an undercover cop during a meeting for sex.

A sex worker, who goes by the nickname 'CC', plummeted from a building (shown) in Flushing, New York around 5:30 p.m. Sunday

She attempted to flee the scene when the cop called for backup help in her arrest.

But her only way out was through the window - and she decided it was best to take the leap, officials said.

The woman died shortly after she was transported to the New YorkPresbyterian Hospital in Queens.

An employee at a local jewelry store told the New York Post the prostitute had been released from jail for sex crimes a few months back.

The woman died after being transported to the New YorkPresbyterian Hospital in Queens

The woman, who conversed with the employee prior, revealed earlier this year she would 'kill herself' before ever getting arrested again.

Resident of the neighborhood, Rob, 42, told the newspaper she was actively searching for a new occupation prior to her tragic death.

'It's really horrible,' said Rob. 'I saw the paddy wagon this morning and I knew.'
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Miss South Africa, who was held at gunpoint a month after being named the nation's beauty queen, has won the Miss Universe crown.

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, who recently earned a business management degree and teaches self-defense courses for women, was crowned Sunday during the event at the Planet Hollywood casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

Her passion for self-defense was reinforced when she was carjacked and held at gunpoint in Johannesburg about a month after winning her title as Miss South Africa.

The 22-year-old winner has earned a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes.

Steve Harvey returned as the show's host despite botching the 2015 Miss Universe crowning, naming the wrong contestant as the winner.

New Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (left) is crowned by her predecessor Iris Mittenaere of France on Sunday

Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters is crowned the 2017 Miss Universe following the conclusion of the pageant at The Axis at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas

The top three finalists (left to right) Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Miss Colombia Laura Hernandez and Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett are shown during the 66th Miss Universe pageant

Steve Harvey asks a question of Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters. Harvey returned as the show's host despite botching the 2015 Miss Universe crowning, naming the wrong contestant as the winner

In June, just a month after being crowned Miss South Africa, armed carjackers attacked Nel-Peterson on this stretch of road in Johannesburg. The three men held her at gunpoint, but she manged to flee to safety in a hero stranger's car (file photo)

In June, about a month after she was crowned Miss South Africa, Nel-Peters was the victim of a vicious armed hijacking attempt in Johannesburg.

Three armed men approached her car as she was driving on Jan Smuts Avenue in Hyde Park. As they pointed their guns at the beauty queen's car she managed to exit the vehicle and flee.

A Good Samaritan saw her fleeing the scene and drove her to safety, and she escaped unharmed.

According to a statement from the Miss South Africa office, her purse and car were later recovered in the area by a private security company, which are common in the crime-ridden country.

Throughout Sunday's event, Harvey poked fun at his mishap in 2015, when he declared Miss Colombia the winner, though it was actually Miss Philippines who won.

Harvey told the audience he is 'grateful for the Oscars,' referring to the similar best-picture announcement flub at this year's Academy Awards.

This year's Miss Universe competition had the most contestants ever, including the first ever representatives of Cambodia, Laos and Nepal. Ninety-two women from around the world participated in the 66-year-old competition.

This year's Miss Universe competition had the most contestants ever. Ninety-two women from around the world participated

Miss Iceland Arna Yr Jonsdottir (left) and Miss Curacao Nashaira Balentien pose for a photo during the Cafe Hollywood Glam video shoot at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino earlier this month

Contestants appear onstage during the 2017 Miss Universe Pageant in Las Vegas on Sunday

Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (left) and runner up Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez (right) in the swimsuit portion

From left, final five finalists Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett, Miss Thailand Maria Poonlertlarp, Miss Venezuela Keysi Sayago and Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters wait to hear the final winner

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Miss South Africa 2017 is congratulated by fellow contestants after being crowned Miss Universe

Other contestants congratulate Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (center) after she was named 2017 Miss Universe

During the competition's Q&A portion, Harvey asked Nel-Peters about what she thought was the most important issue facing women in the workplace.

'In some places, women get paid 75% of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours  and I do not believe that this is right,' she said. 'I think we should have equal work for equal pay for women all over the world.'

The runner-up for Miss Universe was Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, while the second runner-up was Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett.

At Sunday's event, Grammy-Award winner Fergie performed her new song 'A Little Work' while the contestants walked down the stage wearing evening gowns.

This year's judges included YouTube star Lele Pons, former judge of 'America's Next Top Model' Jay Manuel and Wendy Fitzwilliam, the 1998 Miss Universe winner from Trinidad and Tobago.

President Donald Trump once co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision cut ties with him in 2015, refusing to air the show over his immigration proposals as a presidential candidate.

Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling off the entire pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.
Reverend Al Sharpton is planning to help rapper Meek Mill while he is serving time in a Pennsylvania prison because he did the same thing for Tupac in the 90s.

The civil rights activist is set to visit Mill at Chester State Prison in Philadelphia on Monday after he was jailed last month for up to four years for breaching his parole.

He believes the 30-year-old rapper's punishment is too severe and wants to pressure authorities into giving Mill a new hearing.

Reverend Al Sharpton is set to visit Mill at Chester State Prison in Philadelphia on Monday after he was jailed last month for up to four years for breaching his parole

Sharpton negotiated with the warden at the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York in the 1990s, which resulted in Tupac being released from solitary confinement.

The activist thinks that experience will assist him in his bid to help Meek, TMZ reports.

Speaking to his National Action Network group in New York on Saturday, Sharpton said a person's sentence must fit the violation.

He was convicted of drug dealing and gun possession back in 2008.

'Just because someone does something that is wrong, does not give you the right to do wrong to them,' Sharpton said.

'The sentence must fit the violation.'

Sharpton is planning to help rapper Meek Mill while he is serving time in a Pennsylvania prison because he did the same thing for Tupac (above) in the 90s

In sentencing him, Judge Genece E. Brinkley ordered a prison term of two to four years over the long-running case, with eligibility for parole after two years.

Brinkley pointed to violations of parole including scheduling concerts in violation of her orders. He was also arrested after a scuffle in March at the St. Louis airport but charges were dropped

Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James and Jay-Z are among those to publicly speak out in support of Mill saying his situation shows the harsh treatment of blacks by the criminal justice system.

'We will always stand by and support Meek Mill, both as he attempts to right this wrongful sentence and then in returning to his musical career,' Jay-Z wrote in a New York Times op-ed.

Besides his music, Mill is known for his two-year relationship with leading female rapper Nicki Minaj which ended earlier this year.
A cafe in Sydney has been robbed by a thief wearing underpants on his head.

Caught on CCTV, the bizarre thief enters Black Gold in Richmond crouching and shining a torch, firstly without wearing any disguise, reports 7 News.

When he doesn't get what he's looking for he runs out - only to return with pants on his head, before taking off with the till.

A thief wearing underwear on his head has robbed a cafe in Sydney north west (pictured)

The thief managed to take off with the till while wearing pants on his head (pictured)

The opportunistic thief broke into the cafe in Sydney's north west in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He crouches under the counter and tries to unfix the till, initially with no success.

The robber runs out of CCTV's vision but when he returns to try and take the till again, he has underwear on his head.

He firstly entered the cafe and tried to steal the till undisguised and underwear-less (pictured)

Co-owner of Black Gold Aisha Dzevlan told the reporter: 'He was wearing undies! But the funny thing was, not at the first time of entry, but at the second!

'He put it on as he was walking in. We already saw you! What's with the undies, I don't know,' she exclaimed.

The thief eventually manages to pull the till from the wall and the counter, but it appears that its contents weren't enough for him - as he grabs the notes from the staff tip jar.
A 48-year-old Sydney man has been arrested after allegedly trying to procure a young boy for sex online.

Detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad's Child Exploitation Internet Unit began investigating the man in October.

They allege the man, from the city's inner west, thought he was talking to a 13-year-old boy and had engaged in sexually explicit conversations before trying to meet in person.

A 48-year-old Sydney man has been arrested after allegedly trying to procure sex online after believing the person was a 13-year-old boy

The man was arrested around 9am on Friday morning following their investigations and taken to Parramatta Police Station.

Detectives searched a home in Dulwich Hill following the arrest, seizing computers and other electronic storage devices.

The 48-year-old man faces charges of using a carriage service to procure persons under 16 years for sexual activity.

He was refused bail while appearing at Parramatta Local Court and is scheduled to reappear on December 12.
Paralysed Olympic medallist Sam Willoughby will stand for his wedding to fiancee Alise Post after he was told he'd be a 'quadriplegic for life.'

The BMX rider from Adelaide is set to wed long-term girlfriend ALise Post, who is currently the world BMX champion, in San Diego where they now live together.

The New Years Eve nuptials will mark a year-and-a-half since Mr Willoughby broke his neck during a training session in the United States.

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The BMX rider from Adelaide is set to wed his lady love, who is currently the world BMX champion, in San Diego where they now live

And while Miss Post was engaged to her 26-year-old beau nine months before the accident, they're ecstatic a set of custom made knee braces will have them seeing eye-to-eye at the altar.

'My fiancee Alise has been amazing through this whole process and always told me that she wanted to marry me regardless of how it was, but I felt that I wanted to be standing,' he told Nine.com.au.

The braces, which cost $15,000 for a pair, lock Mr Willoughby's knees together so they don't buckle - but he admits he might need a walking stick to stay upright when he sees his stunning fiancee walk down the aisle.

The braces, which cost $15,000 for a pair, lock Mr Willoughby's knees together so they don't buckle (the couple pictured together)

The two-time Olympian fractured two vertebrae and compressed his spinal cord in the horror crash in 2016

The two-time Olympian fractured two vertebrae and compressed his spinal cord in the horror crash in 2016.

But Miss Post has never once doubted their union and said she's '120 percent proud of him.'

'It's a risk that we take in sport but it doesn't change him as a person. It's just a different visual of what we originally thought. But that's okay - it's still going to be perfect and beautiful,' she said.

A large number of their Australian family members will be taking the trip over to the US for the holiday season - and to support the 'soulmates'.

Mr Whilloughby's mother Sharon said she's in awe of her son and can't wait to see him standing for the big event.
Australian passengers left stranded after flights to Bali were cancelled due to a volcanic ash cloud have arranged to fly to Jakarta but most are waiting 24 hours to see if Denpasar Airport reopens.

All flights to and from Bali were cancelled on Monday after ash spewing from the Mount Agung volcano forced the closure of the island's international airport.

Indonesian authorities have said 100,000 people should evacuate the expanded danger zone around the volcano.

They have imposed a 10km exclusion zone around the volcano which has been hurling ash thousands of metres into the atmosphere since the weekend.

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More than 50,000 travellers a day could soon be stranded in Bali as authorities issue a 'red alert' warning and Mount Agung continues to erupt. The volcano is pictured on Sunday

Flight cancellations have forced travellers to sleep at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport

Some of their frustrations were aired on Facebook, with customers either very pleased they had been moved to temporary accommodation or livid they had been left out

All flights were cancelled at 7am local time and the airport will remain closed until further notice

Maureen Steele and Jackie Calabretta were scheduled to fly on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Sydney via Bali to Jakarta on Monday for an orangutan tour.

They were up at 4am to travel from Gosford and Wollongong to make the 10am flight which cost $700 return.

'We were on the plane, all strapped in ready for departure, when the cabin crew announced they needed to wait 10 minutes to get clearance,' Ms Steele said at Sydney Airport.

'They told us they didn't get clearance so we all had to get off again.'

As they passed back through customs, Ms Calabretta contacted Malaysia Airlines and booked a new flight costing $600 one-way to Jakarta via Kuala Lumpur.

'We have to go - we've paid hundreds of dollars on the vaccinations and there have been lots of preparations,' Ms Steele said as they settled in for a 10-hour wait.

Magma has now reached the surface of the volcano, which threatens to produce a 'strong, explosive eruption,' authorities warned

Customers have spent hours lining up for information about their flights. This traveller is seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday

A group of eight surfers are hoping they'll be able to fly to Bali on Tuesday.

James Hall, 18, said the Sydney friends had been planning their Sumatra surf trip for more than a year.

'It's frustrating, we've been told we might be able to fly tomorrow, so we just have to wait it out,' Mr Hall told AAP at Sydney's international terminal.

'There's not much we can do - it's a volcano.'

The latest data from Agoda shows Bali is the number one destination for Australians travelling in December.

University of Adelaide geologist Mark Tingay says the eruptions from Mount Agung have sent plumes of ash 3000 metres into the air.

Balinese Hindus take part in a ceremony on Sunday, where they pray near Mount Agung in hope of preventing a volcanic eruption

The Mount Agung volcano spews hot volcanic ash as a local chops wood in the foreground

'The volcanic eruption has moved on to the next, more severe, magmatic eruption phase, where highly viscous lava can trap gasses under pressure, potentially leading to an explosion,' he said in a statement.

Jetstar, Virgin, Qantas and Garuda advised passengers on Monday morning that all flights were cancelled.

The decision was made on safety grounds and reversed earlier expectations that flights would go ahead.

'While these disruptions are frustrating, we will always put safety before schedule,' Jetstar said in a statement.

On Saturday Jetstar diverted three flights heading to Bali and cancelled six flights ready to leave the island

Jetstar was forced to cancel numerous flights on Saturday and the following morning but was back on schedule by Sunday evening (stock image)

Jetstar will next update passengers about 7pm after further advice from the Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre.

Virgin says it's closely monitoring the situation 'and will provide further updates as they become available'.

Dozens of flights were also cancelled on Sunday because of the volcanic ash.

Indonesia's Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation raised its aviation colour code from orange to red indicating a further eruption with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere was imminent.

Mount Agung in eastern Bali last erupted in 1963 killing more than 1000 people and razing several villages.

Authorities raised the volcano alert to the highest level on Monday and ordered people within 10km of the mountain to evacuate amid fears of a major eruption.

Magma has now reached the surface of the volcano, which threatens to produce a 'strong, explosive eruption,' authorities warned.

'The activity of Mount Agung has entered the magmatic eruption phase,' an Indonesian official said on Sunday.

Mount Agung volcano is seen spewing smoke and ash in Bali on Sunday. The ash has thrown holiday plans into disarray

Tourists watch the Mount Agung volcano erupting as they visit a temple in Karangasem, Indonesia

'It is still spewing ash at the moment but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption.'

Mt Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times on Sunday, throwing holiday plans into disarray.

Indonesia's Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation raised its aviation colour code from orange to red, indicating a further eruption with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere was imminent.

Mt Agung sits more than 3000 metres high over eastern Bali. It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people and razing several villages.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology's Volanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin issued maps showing an ash cloud heading southeast over the neighbouring island of Lombok away from Bali's capital Denpasar, where the international airport is located.

RUMBLES FROM BALI'S MOUNT AGUNG WHERE IS THE VOLCANO? - Mount Agung rises about 3,000m above Bali's Karangasem district, in the holiday island's east - Bali lies within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity where thousands of tremors occur each year WHAT IS THE VOLCANO'S HISTORY OF ERUPTIONS? - Its last major eruption in 1963 killed over 1,000 people and razed many villages - More than 50,000 Indonesians were evacuated in September this year when experts warned an eruption was imminent - Some 25,000 people have been unable to return to their homes Advertisement

AirAsia and Virgin Australia flights between Denpasar and Australia remained grounded on Sunday night

'The volcano and movement of ash cloud are highly unpredictable which means we may need to cancel flights at short notice,' Jetstar warned on its website (stick image)

Passengers wait for their flight schedule at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport on Sunday
Stole $10,000 worth of cash and cigarettes and hit the woman with a hammer

Three masked thieves broke into the Reservoir store early on Sunday morning

A lone female service station attendant was hit with a hammer during an early morning robbery on Sunday.

The terrifying moment, caught on CCTV, shows three armed men storming the doors of the Reservoir, Melbourne store and assaulting the woman, before taking off with $10,000 in cigarettes and cash, reports 7 News.

It's the third time in three months this service station has been robbed.

A lone female service station attendant was hit with a hammer during an early morning robbery in Melbourne on Sunday

The footage shows the three robbers, wearing dark hoodies and balaclavas, pull up outside the front doors of the service station and leave their white getaway car running.

They burst into the store and one immediately starts smashing the displays with a hammer.

The young female attendant, who had been out the back of the store, returns after hearing noise and comes face to face with the armed robbers.

The terrifying moment, caught on CCTV, shows three armed men storming the doors of the Reservoir store and assaulting the woman

The hooded thief terrorises the woman before repeatedly smashing her phone on the counter with the hammer

The woman runs and opens the till and puts her hands up to surrender, as two of the thieves jump over the counter.

The hooded thief stands with the cash tray in his hand and terrorises the woman, before repeatedly smashing her phone on the counter with the hammer.

He then hits the woman on her arm with it before fleeing and the woman is left shaking and crying.

The hooded, violent thieves made off with $10,000 in cigarettes and cash

The car used in the crime (pictured) was found dumped in Burwood later that afternoon

After the robbers leave the woman shaking in fear, she called for her assistance.

Her husband arrived shortly after, telling 7 News his wife was 'terrible'.

'They hit her shoulder with the hammer,' the victim's husband said.

'She was terrible, she was crying. She can't even speak a word for at least half an hour.'

The car used in the crime was found dumped in Burwood later that afternoon.
charged with first-degree murder but after hearing her story, the charge was reduced to second-degree involuntary manslaughter

Liltz had given her daughter a lethal dose of medicine through a feeding tube

Her daughter Courtney, 28, was severely disabled and could not care for herself or speak

Liltz had been suffering from cancer and other ailments and was worried about who would care for Courtney if she died from the diseases

A terminally ill Illinois mother who killed her disabled daughter in 2015 has died by suicide days before she was due to go to prison

A terminally ill Illinois mother who killed her severely disabled daughter in 2015 committed suicide two days before she was due to return to prison.

Officials confirmed Bonnie Liltz, 57, who was set to return to prison Monday for the crime, was found inside her Schaumburg apartment Saturday.

Liltz was sentenced last year after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter of her daughter, Courtney, who was 28 at the time the mother administered her a lethal dose of prescription medication.

Previously, she revealed a motive over concern about who would care for Courtney after she passed away from her own health complications.

Liltz told her mother earlier Saturday she had plans to meet with a friend for a lunch and movie outing, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

But friends and family later discovered the suicide note which read Liltz loved them 'very much and that she's sorry, that she just could not go back to that place,' her sister, Sue Liltz, revealed in a statement to the news station.

It seems a depressed Liltz overdosed on medication which she previously gave her daughter and also took herself at the time of Courtney's tragic death.

Bonnie Liltz, center, appears at a Rolling Meadows courthouse Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Rolling Meadows, Ill. Liltz. Officials confirmed Liltz died by suicide Saturday

Liltz appears with attorney Thomas Glasgow at a Rolling Meadows courthouse last year. She admitted to killing her disabled daughter back in 2015 over worry about who would care for her after she died from her own health complications

Liltz adopted her daughter Courtney (pictured above) when she was four years old, despite the child's handicap

In a note to her attorneys, Liltz wrote she grew 'tired' of fighting and simply wanted to 'be with' her daughter again.

'All she ever wanted was to be with her Courtney. She was such, such a good mother,' her mother, Gladys Liltz said.

Attorney Tom Glasgow, described her suicide as 'a tragic, tragic end,' while adding that Liltz 'didn't want to die in prison' with the memories.

On the anniversary of Courtney's passing last May, Liltz appeared in good spirits as she exited the Cook County Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows.

She adopted Courtney when she was just four years old, despite the child's handicap.

Liltz's sister, Sue Liltz, (shown in an interview) said her suicide note read she loved her family and friends 'very much and that she's sorry'

The depressed Liltz killed herself Saturday inside her apartment in Schaumburg, Illinois (pictured)

In 2012, while Liltz was hospitalized for reoccurring cancer and serious intestinal problems, Courtney had to stay in a private facility under horrendous conditions.

What happened to Courtney in the private facility haunted Liltz, according to her sister, Susan.

'She was filthy, her clothes were filthy, she had diaper rash. It broke Bonnie's heart to see Courtney like that,' Susan told the Chicago Tribune at the time.

She gave Courtney, who had cerebral palsy, the overdose through her feeding tube before taking it herself along with a glass of wine.

During the 2015 event, the mother left another suicide note, which read in part:

'I am so sorry to put you all through this but I can't leave my daughter behind. ... I go first, what will happen to her?

'I don't want her to live in an institution for the rest of her life. She is my life.'

The horrified sister found the two unconscious inside the home and called for help.

Courtney died at the hospital. Liltz was revived and later arrested.

She was initially charged with first-degree murder, but upon hearing her story, the charge was lessened to the second-degree involuntary manslaughter charge.

Liltz (pictured, center) was seen smiling in court last May after pleading guilty to the involuntary manslaughter of her 28-year-old severely disabled daughter

Prosecutors leaned toward leniency in the case after friends and family painted Liltz as a loving and devoted mother

Prosecutors were lenient in the case after friends and family painted Liltz as a loving and devoted mother who had her daughter's best interests at heart.

They hadn't requested a specific sentence and did not call witnesses to testify in favor of a harsh sentence.

Courtney, who could not talk or care for herself, attended Kirk School in Palatine until she turned 22.

She was then enrolled in a day program, where officials from her school and program told the Chicago Tribune Liltz was an involved and devoted mom.

They also told the Tribune that Courtney seemed happy and cared for.

Another longtime friend said the mother placed Courtney in a residential program years ago, but ultimately decided she didn't want her to leave home, the Tribune reported.

Her attorney argued there was no evil or malice in Liltz's actions and said her act was out of desperation - not knowing what to do to protect Courtney if she died.
A prisoner attacked him in September and poured boiling water onto his groin

Davies pleaded guilty to murder and will spend 'the rest of his life' behind bars

He also sexually attacked at least 12 other children before and after the murder

Greg Davies, 75, pleaded guilty to the 1984 rape and murder of 6-year-old Kylie

Gregory Davies, now 75, has pleaded guilty to the 1984 murder of 6-year-old Kylie Maybury

The killer and rapist of Melbourne schoolgirl Kylie Maybury is a 'marked man' in jail where he will likely die, his lawyer says.

Gregory Keith Davies, 75, pleaded guilty in May to the 1984 rape and murder of the six-year-old, ending a three-decade mystery over her death.

On Monday defence barrister David Gibson conceded a life sentence was appropriate.

'It's clearly offending that devastated that family and rippled out into the community,' Mr Gibson told the Supreme Court.

Davies would be more than 100 if ever released: 'The reality of his plea is that he dies in prison,' the lawyer added.

Kylie Maybury, aged 6 (pictured), was murdered on November 6, 1984, while out at the shops

Davies (right) also sexually attacked at least 12 other children before and after the 1996 murder

Both defence and prosecution accepted Davies be jailed with a minimum term imposed. Prosecutor Mark Rochford SC described it as a significant and serious example of murder.

Kylie had walked 140 metres to the shops at suburban Preston East on Melbourne Cup Day in 1984 to buy sugar for her mother, but never returned.

Her body was found face down in a gutter the following day, having been raped, drugged and suffocated.

But her killer wasn't identified until 2016 when Davies' DNA was matched to semen on Kylie's clothing and genitals.

Kylie's mother Julie Ryan said the death wrecked her life and drove her to alcohol and pills.

Gregory Davies was arrested and charged in June last year with abducting and murdering Kylie

Kylie's mother Julie said that she will never forgive Davies for taking her young daughter away

'I haven't stopped crying and I still cry for her,' she said, in a statement read by the prosecutor.

'It's a pain you can't describe the hole in your heart. You can't heal the wound.'

Ms Ryan said Davies' conviction will make her feel better when she visits the grave of her 'little princess'.

Kylie's uncle John Daniels said the crime deeply affected the family, with his father and brother committing suicide in the aftermath after being wrongly accused of the murder.

Kylie mother's Julie Maybury n 1984 with her father John Moss, who later killed himself in 1985

Kylie's sister Rebecca Phillips said she changed her name because of the stigma of what happened: 'It ripped my whole family apart.'

Davies denied involvement in the murder for 33 years. In 1971, he was cleared of attempting to murder a 14-year-old due to insanity. He was held behind bars for 12 years.

Mr Gibson asked the judge to consider Davies' injuries and possible need to be kept in protection.

Davies was attacked with boiling water on his groin in September, leaving 15 per cent of his body burnt and was a 'marked man' because of the notoriety of the murder, Mr Gibson said.

'The reality is there is nowhere safe for him in the prison system,' he added.

Davies will be sentenced in December after a pre-sentence plea deal hearing on Monday.

Davies was attacked with boiling water on his groin in gaol, burning 15 per cent of his body

It has been revealed that Davis also sexually attacked a dozen other children in the years before and after the murder.

Kylie's murder case was cold until 2016 when the Victoria Police cold case squad had a fresh look at the murder.

Davies was previously jailed for two-and-a-half years in 1996 over sex attacks on six young girls. He knew and had 'regular and easy access to' all of 12 of his other victims, according to the Herald Sun.

A family member has since come forward and accused Davies' mother Eileen of having 'blood on her hands' because she 'knew her son was sexually abusing children for decades but never dobbed him in'.

'A decision was made to keep his child sex offending quiet. That left him free to sexually abuse other girls, which he did for years,' said the family member.

Davies also spent in jail over the sexually motivated 1970 hammer attack on 14-year-old Lucy Stasiewcz, for which he was found guilty of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

It has also been alleged that Davies sexually abused a further four children, but never faced court because police talked the children out of pressing charges 'by saying it would be too traumatic for the children to go through the court process'.

Another two victims allegedly reached out to Davies' daughter, explaining that they hadn't reported the sexual abuse they suffered at his hands but wanted to confide in her.

After Davies' arrest in 2016, one of the victims came forward and said that she would be prepared to press sexual assault charges against Davies 'if it would help get him convicted over the Maybury murder'.

Davies has also sexually assaulted at least 12 more children, as well as attacking a 14-year-old

Despite the fact that he wasn't charged over Kylie's murder for almost two decades, 'somebody very close' to Davies reportedly told police in in 1997 that they should look at him as a murder suspect.

Davies allegedly doesn't remember murdering the young girl, but told his daughter that he must have done it 'because my DNA is a match to Kylie's killer's DNA'.

Kylie's mother Julie said that she will never forgive Davies, adding: 'I hope the other prisoners make his life hell and that he dies a painful death in jail.'

Julie Maybury spent her life hunting for the vile man who murdered and dumped her daughter

Davies' daughter has reached out to all of her father's victims as well as Kylie's parents to apologise for his despicable behaviour.

'I particularly want to say sorry to Kylie's mother,' she said on Sunday. 'I can't imagine what she's going through. If it was my child I would be absolutely devastated.'

While Julie said that she does appreciate Davies' daughter's gesture, she will still never forgive Davies for taking the life of her beloved daughter.

Julie visited Kylie's grave on Saturday in the lead-up to Davies' sentencing and said Justice was 'almost here' for her girl.
The moment three prison inmates on Rikers Island attacked a corrections officer on Thanksgiving Day has been caught on video.

Captain Awais Ghauri, 31, was bruised and slashed in the attack in New York's Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Thursday afternoon, when three inmates ganged up on him.

Ghauri was walking through a cell block when an inmate tackled him from behind, the video shows.

Ghauri (center) was walking through a cell block when an inmate tackled him from behind

A fellow corrections officer ran for help as the other inmates crowded against the door to the block to prevent other officers from assisting.

Ghauri fought back, wrestling out of the grip of his cowardly attacker and pinning him to the floor.

Just as the corrections officer was getting the best of his assailant, two other inmates jumped him from behind, throwing wild haymakers.

Ghauri kicked his way free and rose to his feet as other officers rushed in to assist.

The Correction Department has launched an investigation, a spokesman told the Daily News.

Ghauri fought back, wrestling out of the grip of his attacker and pinning him to the floor

Just as the corrections officer was getting the best of his assailant, two other inmates jumped him from behind, throwing wild haymakers

'We will never tolerate the actions of those who harm our staff and we are working with the Bronx district attorney to arrest and prosecute any inmate involved in this incident,' the spokesman said.

The sick attack comes amid a rise in bloody incidents in New York's troubled jail system.

Total inmate arrests in city detention facilities rose 41 per cent this year compared to 2015, the Corrections Department said.

Mayor Bill De Blasio has pledged to shutter Rikers Island, where all of the city's inmates are housed, within the next 10 years - raising questions about where New York's jail population will be headed next.
Officials at Tufts University in Massachusetts have postponed an event with ex-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci after he threatened to sue the university's newspaper over an op-ed article.

Scaramucci, 53, was to speak at Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy on Monday, until actual issues of both law and diplomacy got in the way.

Last week his lawyers accused student newspaper The Tufts Daily of defamation after it printed an opinion piece calling for him to be removed from a university advisory board, The Boston Globe reported.

The Mooch has dismissed the article - which called him 'unethical opportunist,' among other remarks - as 'defamatory', but legal experts say he'll find it hard to win a lawsuit against the paper.

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Legal trouble: Anthony Scaramucci (pictured) has threatened to sue his old university's newspaper after a student-written op-ed piece said that he was 'unethical' and 'sold his soul'

No apologies: Scaramucci wanted an apology and retraction from the Tufts University paper for the article by Camilo Caballero (pictured). When that didn't come, he threatened a lawsuit

The farrago began on November 6 when The Tufts Daily published an article by student Camilo A Caballero titled 'Op-Ed: Seeking power of values over power of money.'

In it, Caballero called on the university to eject Scaramucci from the advisory board for the Fletcher School, a position he's held since June 2016. Students have previously petitioned to have Scaramucci removed.

Caballero argued that Tufts has 'a commitment to truth that serves not mammon, but morality' and so Scaramucci 'the man who sold his soul... for a seat in the White House' should be given the boot.

That with a link to a satirical Chicago Tribune article that also accused Scaramucci of selling his soul for signing up to a Trump White House despite claiming to be 'For Gay Marriage, against the death penalty, and Pro Choice.'

The Tufts Daily piece also called him 'unethical' and said he 'exuded the highest degree of disreputability'.

And it accused him of making 'his Twitter accessible to friends interested in giving comfort to Holocaust deniers'.

That latter claim referred to a now-deleted Twitter poll on The Mooch's Scaramucci Post Twitter account that asked how many Jews died in the Holocaust. Options ranged from 'less than a million' to 'more than 5 million'.

The account later said the poll was posted by an associate, Lance Laifer, and that Scaramucci was not aware of it. Laifer is still listed as a contributor.

Scaramucci took exception and wrote to the paper on November 16, saying they should 'either back up [the claims] or you will hear from my lawyer.'

Postponed: Scaramucci was to speak to students on Monday at Tufts (building on campus pictured) but the talk has been postponed until the legal issues are resolved

Five days later his lawyers sent a cease and desist notice, saying that since Scaramucci has 'never been charged nor found to have committed an ethical violation', their client was being defamed.

It added that both Scaramucci and Laifer had publicly an vehemently denounced all Holocaust deniers since the controversial poll was posted on Twitter.

'Defamed': Scaramucci (seen in university yearbook photo) said the claims in the article were defamation, so not covered by the First Amendment - but a legal expert says that will be tricky to prove in court

But Scaramucci 'will refrain from litigation' if the paper prints a retraction and makes a public apology, it said.

Neither is forthcoming, however - and now Scaramucci's talk at the university has been postponed amid claims that he is trying to restrict freedom of speech.

The talk would have addressed his 'background, experience and the petition calling for his removal' from the board, Tufts spokesman Patrick Collins said.

However, he added, it had been postponed until he 'legal matters' had been resolved.

'We're disappointed that Mr. Scaramucci has taken this action,' he added.

Caballero was stronger in his dissent, saying: 'He is someone that uses his money to gain power and his wealth to buy himself into things that will get him attention

'And he uses this power as a scare tactic... to get people to not exercise their First Amendment rights. He's trying to stop me from exercising my First Amendment right, and thats plain wrong.'

Scaramucci has attempted to play down the legal angle publicly, however, saying he only wants an apology.

He told The Boston Globe that he was 'shocked that a university that I love and have been a part of for 35 years is silencing that debate because of my request for an apology.'

And when Fletcher student Anastasia Karimova tweeted that 'Scaramucci is threatening to sue,' adding that she 'came to the US hoping that I would not deal with this kind of things, that are so common in Russia,' he reacted quickly.

'This is a dishonest tweet,' he responded. 'I asked for an apology. Plain and simple. In our country defamation comes with its consequences.'

'Dishonest': Publicly Scaramucci has played down the lawsuit threat, and has said he really only wants an apology. Here he's responding to a complaint on Twitter on Monday

But T Barton Carter, a communication and law professor at Boston University, said that Scaramucci had an uphill struggle ahead of him if he planned to sue.

'First of all, he would have to prove that they said something factual - not something that's an opinion - defamatory, and inaccurate,' he said.

'And then he still has to prove that they had knowledge it was false, or at least had serious doubts.'

He added that it's 'easy to threaten lawsuits' for defamation, but that in reality public figures rarely go ahead with them.
A banking inquiry is all but certain with a Turnbull Government MP threatening to defy the prime minister and vote with Labor to set up an investigation into Australia's financial giants.

Malcolm Turnbull and his cabinet are opposed to setting up any inquiry into the big banks, despite revelations about dubious financial planning advice and the breaking of anti-money laundering laws.

However, Nationals MP Llew O'Brien, a former police officer, has confirmed he was likely to cross the floor of the House of Representatives to back a banking inquiry.

Queensland Nationals MP Llew O'Brien is threatening to support an inquiry into the big banks

Queensland Nationals Senator Barry O'Sullivan has drafted a private member's bill on banks

'I am respecting the party process and will be speaking to my colleagues in the National Party. But obviously consideration has been given to my input to this bill,' the Member for Wide Bay told The Australian on Monday. 'And I am looking favourably on it.'

With the Turnbull Government no longer having a majority in the lower house of federal parliament, a banking inquiry could be set up if Mr O'Brien crossed the floor and voted with Labor and the Greens.

Fellow Nationals MP George Christensen, who is also a Queenslander, has previously threatened to cross the floor and back a banking inquiry.

Their Nationals Senate colleague Barry O'Sullivan, another former police officer, declared last week he was drafting a private member's bill for an inquiry into Australia's financial services sector

Renegade Nationals MP George Christensen has previously threatened to cross the floor

The big banks, including Commonwealth, could be examined if parliament backs an inquiry

He was last week accused of pushing 'rank socialism' by former Liberal prime minister John Howard.

Mr O'Brien wants an amendment to Mr O'Brien's bill to that would also examine how poor insurance, superannuation and financial services had affected the mental health of consumers, The Australian reported.

Labor has been campaigning for a royal commission into banking.

Mr Turnbull's backing of a banking inquiry could be seen as the government politically capitulating to Labor.
Don Burke has admitted to an extraordinary list of personal failings but denied dozens of sexual harassment allegations against him in a TV interview.

The former host of Burke's Backyard is accused by more than 50 women of indecent assault and making lewd comments over his program's 17-year run.

But in a Monday night interview with A Current Affair the 70-year-old admitted he was a terrifying boss, had multiple affairs, and claimed to suffer from Asperger's.

However, he strenuously denied 'all that sleazy sexual stuff' and described his accusers as 'malcontents' who 'bear grudges against me'.

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Don Burke will beg the Australian public to forgive his 'stupidity' but also deny sexual harassment allegations against him in a TV interview with A Current Affair

Burke claimed he would never have said or done the 'despicable' things he was accused of, and said he was confused why women were lying about him.

'It's the social media, the Twittersphere thing. I guess they've stirred this up, the Harvey Weinstein thing, and we've got a witch hunt,' he said.

'I'm prepared to cop the fact that I terrified a few people and that I shouldn't have done that and so on.

'These sort of things bear no relationship to who I am and what I'm about. There are plenty of people who were there at the time and are furious, because these things didn't happen.'

'I think this whole Harvey Weinstein thing reinforces the victim mentality of women.'

ACA host Tracy Grimshaw grilled Burke over the allegations, repeatedly asking him why so many women - and men - could come forward and all be lying.

Burke said he was a 'perfectionist' who made a lot of enemies with his hard-driving manner, and that the Burke's Backyard production team wasn't a 'happy office'.

'When you look at the people that are complaining now, there's a lot of people that don't like me and they can't all be wrong,' he said.

'I accept fault for what I've done. I've got some good mistakes in here and I think people are punishing me for them, and not entirely wrongly.

'But that big end of town with the sexual stuff, I guess, is a way, of twisting the knife and if I had done it, I would admit to it now.'

'It would be far less painful for me to say, 'yeah, I did that, I said that.' But I didn't.'

In a Monday night interview with A Current Affair the 70-year-old continued to deny the serious allegations, but admitted to 'stupidity'

ACA host Tracy Grimshaw grilled Burke over the allegations, asking how so many people could come forward and all be lying

Grimshaw pointed out that that 'where there's smoke there's fire, and there's a lot of fire', in that so many people were accusing him.

Burke replied: 'I've given you the fire, the rest is just smoke,' claiming his personal admissions were true, but the sexual allegations were false.

The entertainer said some of the animosity could stem from his behaviour on set, especially close to the show's sudden cancellation in 2004.

'Towards the end I don't think I was a very nice person. If you took it, brutally, Burke's Backyard was coming towards the and the end of its run,' he said.

'It didn't seem to me at the time, but I reckon I must have been a bear with a bloody sore head, and I do apologise for that.'

Burke said his multiple affairs through his marriage to wife Marea could also have given him a sleazy reputation and made others think he 'wasn't a nice person'.

'It was a devastating time for me, I was so ashamed of myself, it was just terrible. Once she moved to a state of ill health I though what stupid priorities I had in life,' he said.

'I have done a lot of things I am ashamed of. Like when I let the family down. But since Marea became ill, none of this has happened.

'But that doesn't change the fact that things happened back then. Now I am a different person.'

Tracey Grimshaw arrived at Burke's house in Kenthurst, north-west of Sydney, to interview him about the explosive allegations

Burke claimed he had Asperger's which affected his behaviour and may have contributed to people's impression of him.

'I've never been medically diagnosed but I've worked it out that that's what I've got, and it's a terrible failing,' he said.

'I can look at a lens but I have terrible difficulty looking at people in the eye. I miss the body language and the subtle signs that people give you.

'I miss all their body language, you know the subtle signs that people give to you, like 'back off that's enough', I don't see that.

'I suffer from a terrible problem with that, of not seeing. No one can understand how you can't see it, but you don't.'

Grimshaw asked if his inability to read social cues might mean he was guilty of at least some of the accusations, but he flatly rejected the idea.

'Absolutely not. What I've defended is the words that I haven't said, I'm quite certain of that, and I say it without malice to those people and I do apologise that I gave them a horrible time,' he said.

'But a lot of those words have grown over the years, remember a lot of this was 30 years ago. Who remembers what happens 30 years ago?

'What I know is that a person with ethics, I know what I will and what I will not say and do. I am quite confident in all of that.'

The former host of Burke's Backyard is accused by more than 50 women of indecent assault and making lewd comments over his program's 17-year run

Grimshaw pointed out that Robert Hughes was jailed for decades-old crimes including molesting his Hey Dad! co-star.

She said just because Burke couldn't remember the allegations occurring, didn't mean they didn't happen.

'You know who you are. Just because someone says that, doesn't mean it is hundred percent true,' he retorted.

Grimshaw repeatedly gave Burke the opportunity to mount a detailed defence in addition to his general denials.

But he refused to take his accusers to task because it would be 'damaging' to some of them who were 'fragile'.

'I don't want to go into anymore of it than that, because it is damaging, not to me, but I don't want to say it,' he said.

'My ethics are such that if people are fragile, and me seeing things could damage other people, I would rather take a dive.

'I don't want to go in and pick them out and go over them. I think that is an evil in itself.'

Burke said he was a 'perfectionist' who made a lot of enemies with his hard-driving manner, and that the Burke's Backyard production team wasn't a 'happy office'

Burke begged the Australian public to forgive his 'stupidity' and personal shortcomings, but to believe he wasn't a 'monster'.

'I am happy to say to the people of Australia: This is my story, make up your mind if I'm the most evil person that's ever lived, that's your decision,' he said.

'If you can forgive me for the stupidity and the other things I have done then I am very grateful, but I think that's their decision not mine.

'I have looked in the mirror and there's a lot I don't like. But that's up to the people of Australia to decide can they forgive me or not.'

Burke said he was 'really happy to be out of television' and had no plans to make a comeback even if someone was willing to give him a job.

'I want to settle into a life that is boring and ordinary where I can look after my wife and our friends and just have an ordinary life,' he said.

'In a sense this could be a good time for me.'

He may not have much of a choice as companies including Channel 9 lined up to say they had no plans to work with Burke again.

Companies listed being associated with his production company on its webste, including RAMS, Foxtel, Unilever, ActronAir, and Bauer Media all distanced themselves from him.

Some said they hadn't had any association with Burke for years while others said they were shocked by the allegations and would cut all ties.

Asbestos Awareness declined to comment and Retina Australia NSW couldn't be reached by the SMH.

TV Week didn't respond to questions about whether his hoard of Logies could be revoked in light of the scandal.

Burke earlier strongly denied the claims by the Sydney Morning Herald and the ABC and described the women as 'malcontents' who 'bear grudges against me'.

For close to two decades Burke was the face of Friday night TV, with millions tuning in to watch Burke's Backyard which earned him up to $7.2 million a year.

Now the Order of Australia Medal recipient's accusers included former researchers, producers, crew members, and TV hopefuls.

Former researcher Louise Langdon claimed Burke insisted she watch a video, which turned out to be disgusting footage of a woman having sex with a donkey

Louise Langdon (left) and Wendy Dent (right) both made sexual harassment claims against Burke

Former researcher Louise Langdon claimed he insisted she watch a video, which turned out to be disgusting footage of a woman having sex with a donkey.

The then-27-year-old claimed Burke gained pleasure from her shocked reaction to the video, which left her 'speechless' and 'overcome', she told the ABC.

Burke said he had never seen any 'video of animals engaging in sex' and would never try to show it to someone.

'I don't know how these tales have grown after people have left us,' he said.

Ms Langdon, now a psychologist in the US, claimed he later indecently assaulted her.

'It was things like pulling at my bra strap, flicking a bra strap pulling up my shirt to see what colour underwear I was wearing,' she said.

Another time he allegedly pushed his toe into her backside to check how firm it was, and with disappointment noted she 'hadn't been working out'.

On a trip to Alice Springs for Burke's radio show, Ms Langdon claimed he joked it was so hot she should remove her clothing as they sat together on a shuttle bus.

'He decided that it was okay for him to put his hands on my T-shirt and try and pull my bra strap, my bra, off and somehow remove my clothing. He was trying to take my top off,' she said.

Bridget Ninness, a former producer on Burke's Backyard for seven years, described Burke as a 'vile human being' who 'got off on terrorising (female researchers)'

Burke denied any of these incidents occurred and said researchers were not taken on location for taping, and he found no record of her being on such a trip.

Bridget Ninness, a former producer on Burke's Backyard for seven years, described Burke as a 'vile human being' who 'got off on terrorising (female researchers)'.

She claimed Burke made vile threats to her while they were on a work trip to Greece that left he so nervous she vomited

'Don pulled me aside and he said 'I'm just going to tell you that if anything goes wrong on this trip I'm going to rip your f***ing head off, and sh** down your throat',' she said.

Burke denied ever saying that, retorting to Grimshaw: 'I never said anything remotely like that to anyone I've ever worked with or anyone I know.

'Furthermore, anybody that does say that should be run out of town on a rail. It's despicable.'

Ms Ninness launched legal action against Burke's company over alleged 'sustained and systemic psychological abuse'. She eventually settled the case out of court.

Burke noted 'she did not leave it on good terms' and appeared to question her mental stability.

BURKE'S BACKYARD: OLD TV SHOW VIEWED IN A NEW LIGHT 'No biggie!' Burke asked model Annalise Braakensiek whether her breasts are real On-screen moments and comments by TV gardening star Don Burke are now being viewed in a different light amid serious allegations of inappropriate behaviour. For close to two decades Burke was the face of Friday night TV, with millions tuning in to watch his top rating program which earned him up to $7.2 million a year. During one segment with swimsuit model Annalise Braakensiek, Burke asked about her breasts. 'Cross my heart and promise to God I will not ask you the question that you know (is coming). I will not ask you the question - are your breasts real?' Burke said. As the model laughed, Burke pushed on, saying: 'But are they?' Contacted on Monday, Braaksensiek said she was 'so sorry' to read about the claims and described him as a 'joy to have in my home'. 'Everyone always assumes my breasts are fake, so he asked 'are they real' on TV, and I told him the truth 'yes they are'. 'No biggie! I don't classify that as sexual harassment... its like are your teeth veneered?' Advertisement

Another researcher, who asked not to be named, said Burke bragged about groping women's breasts as they smoked cigarettes on his production company's rooftop.

He told her that his favourite part of cocktail parties was using name tags as an excuse to 'grab women's t*ts' by pretending he couldn't read them.

Then she claimed he grabbed her breasts hard and when she jumped back he insulted their size and said no one would want to touch them.

'This was not a clumsy, oafish move. It was a calculated action. That is what was scary. It was premeditated,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Burke in response denied the entire incident ever occurred.

Wendy Dent was working as a children's entertainer in the 1990s when she met Burke.

As part of her routine she had him kneel in front of her, sprinkled some 'stardust' over him and said he could have any wish once he opened he eyes.

To the then 21-year-old's shock, Burke said it hadn't worked because she was still wearing clothes, she claimed.

Ms Dent claimed Burke said she would have to audition 'topless' when she went for a role on his show

Burke (pictured in an episode of Burke's Backyard) bought a horse for a younger female relative so he could watch her 'rub on its back'

Ms Dent later took an opportunity to interview for a role on his show, saying it was a great opportunity despite the previous alleged incident.

They talked on the phone about her being a 'featured mermaid' on the show and him helping her with her career, before the conversation allegedly turned sinister.

'Well you'll have to audition, but you'll have to be topless,' Ms Dent claimed he told her, prompting her to hang up in shock and disgust.

'I went from feeling like this talent with a future to feeling like I was just a pair of boobs to him, to be honest,' she said.

Burke said neither he nor others on Burke's Backyard remembered Ms Dent at all.

A reporter claimed Burke bought a horse for a younger female relative so he could watch her 'rub on its back'.

The Burke's Backyard presenter allegedly made the disgusting comment to a female entertainment writer during an interview at his farm in 1988.

'I was sort of asking the other reasons that he decided to make the country change, and he said one of the reasons was he wanted to get horses because he had a [younger] female relative  i'll put it that way  who he liked to watch rub her c*** on its back,' she told the ABC.

'I felt really physically sick.'

Bridget Ninness (right), a former producer on Burke's Backyard, described her boss as a 'vile human being'

Burke (left, and right with his wife), 70, who hosted Burke's Backyard for 17 years until it was suddenly axed in 2004, strongly denied the claims

The reporter, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she was so disgusted by Burke's alleged comment, she took the tape recording to Channel Nine's publicity team demanding action be taken against the TV personality.

She claimed she received a bunch of flowers the following day and the complaint was forgotten.

In a statement released by Burke, he said he 'never commented on the body shape of any family member'.

'The story about the reporter quoting me is a total fabrication,' he said.

The unnamed entertainment reporter said it was not the first time Mr Burke was inappropriate during an interview.

'He would interrupt the interview quite often by saying things like, 'I bet you're a demon f***. I bet you love c**k', which obviously I found incredibly untoward and rude,' she said.

The following year, he allegedly asked her what sex positions she enjoyed. She said Burke was one of the worst, if not the worst, sexual harassment offender she encountered in the entertainment industry.

Two former TV researchers also claimed Mr Burke groped their breasts

'My staff and I regarded the CTC productions workplace as being a very safe workplace and I am very happy to provide female and male witnesses to affirm this,' Mr Burke (pictured) said in a statement

A former crew member claimed Burke bragged about groping a teenage girl in a disturbing chance encounter on the street.

They claimed Burke chatted to the group of girls and offered to show them how to correctly hold a puppy they had.

Burke showed the girl how to nurse the puppy close to her chest and keep it warm, and when he walked back to the crew he exclaimed 'give me three!'

'He boasted that he had stroked her nipple three times while showing her how to hold the puppy,' the crew member claimed.

Burke did not address the former crew member's recollection of the alleged incident in his response.

investigative reporter Kate McClymont told the ABC she had received more than 200 email complaints and comments about Burke since publishing her initial claims.

Burke generally complained the 'untrue claims' would 'destroy' his income for the rest of his life and prevent him from performing his 'extensive charity work'.

The former TV icon slammed comparisons to disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and claimed he had a 'life-long opposition to sexism and misogyny'.

There is no suggestion whatsoever Mr Burke raped anyone.

CHANNEL NINE UNDER FIRE AMID DON BURKE ACCUSATIONS The Nine Network has come under fire from viewers amid the allegations against Burke. 'It shocks me that Don Burke was on the nine network. #boysclub,' one punter tweeted on Monday. The network fired out a statement after two former Nine chief executives going on the record to criticise Burke's alleged behaviour. 'The current management of Nine is simply not in a position to comment on these specific allegations or on how these sorts of matters may have been dealt with in the past,' a network spokeswoman said. 'The allegations are extremely serious; the behaviour described is completely unacceptable and would not be tolerated at Nine today.' Advertisement

He said Burke's Backyard was a 'lone bastion of anti-misogyny' and deliberately chose the best women in their field.

They were 'not the typical media females aged under 30 with Barbie-Doll figures' and he faced opposition to having them on TV as a result.

He said recorded testimonies from award-winning author Jackie French, and showrunners Michael Freedman and James O'Sullivan would support his denials.

Mr Freedman, his former chief executive, told the SMH: 'I never observed any sexual harassment. Don's not the kind of person to engage in that type of behaviour'.

Daily Mail Australia earlier revealed Burke called in top defamation lawyer Patrick George, senior partner at the law firm Kennedys Australia.

Burke called the allegations 'false and defamatory' and appeared poised to take legal action against his accusers.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr George for further comment.
Police have today released one of the first CCTV films of a high-tech 'relay' car theft in the UK where a gang stole an expensive new car in a minute without needing its keys.

The two hooded criminals were able to override the Mercedes' security system in the Elmdon area of Solihull, Birmingham at 9pm on September 25 and the luxury vehicle has never been recovered.

The footage shows the men pull up outside the victim's house. One can be seen waving a relay box in front of property, which searches for a signal from the key inside the house and transmits it to the second box next to the car.

CCTV footage shows the men waiting briefly for the relay boxes to connect before the Mercedes' lights flash and the doors are opened.

The thieves then drive off with the whole crime only taking one minute to complete.

The thefts are becoming so widespread that drivers have been advised to take precautions as storing it in a safe because metal can repel relay signals and using a traditional steering wheel lock.

Police have released the first footage of a high-tech 'relay' car theft where a gang stole an expensive new car without needing its keys

Within a minute the luxury car is started, reversed off the drive and follows the gang's main car up the road near Solihull, Birmingham

Relay car unlocking systems are available on sites such as eBay for around 100.

Gangs use them to steal new cars - often to order - and brands targeted have included BMW, Ford, Audi, Land Rover, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Mercedes.

The car's locking system is tricked into thinking the car key is unlocking it, allowing access to the vehicle.

Mark Silvester, from the West Midlands Police crime reduction team, said: 'To protect against this type of theft, owners can use an additional tested and Thatcham-approved steering lock to cover the entire steering wheel.

'We also recommend Thatcham-approved tracking solutions fitted to the vehicle.

'It is always worth speaking to your main dealer, to ensure that your car has had all the latest software updates and talk through security concerns with them.'

CCTV footage shows the men waiting briefly for the relay boxes to pick up a signal from the car's key before its lights flash and the doors are opened

Sgt Tim Evans, from Solihull Police, said: 'It's important the public are reassured that we are taking proactive steps to tackle this type of crime in Solihull.

'We hope that knowledge of this type of crime will enable members of the public to take simple steps to secure their vehicle and assist us.'

Anyone with information on the Elmdon theft should call police on 101, quoting crime reference number 20SH/204842W/17.
Myanmar's army chief has told the Pope his country has 'no religious discrimination' - days after the US accused the nation of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority.

Pope Francis met for talks with Min Aung Hlaing after arriving in Myanmar on Monday amid the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis.

Afterwards, the military chief's office wrote on Facebook: 'Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all. Likewise our military too... (it) performs for the peace and stability of the country.'

The Tatmadaw, as his army is known, has been accused by the UN and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of conducting a campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' by driving 620,000 Rohingya from western Myanmar into Bangladesh since August.

Myanmar denies any wrongdoing despite testimony by refugees pointing to a widespread campaign of rape, murder and arson.

Francis, who is also due to speak with civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been warned not to even say the word Rohingya during his visit or risk causing a backlash against the country's Christian minority.

Pope Francis was greeted by children as he arrived in Yangon on Monday amid Myanmar's Rohingya refugee crisis

The pope is due to speak with army chief Min Aung Hlaing and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his visit to the Buddhist-majority country

Thousands of people travelled to Yangon to see the pope arrive, waving their national flag along with the Vatican City flag

But Francis has been warned that even using the word Rohingya could trigger a backlash against Myanmar's Christian minorities

He will hold Mass for 150,000 Catholics in Yangon before travelling to Bangladesh, where he will meet with some of the 620,000 Rohingya who have fled there.

Authorities in Buddhist-majority Myanmar do not recognise the Muslim Rohingya as citizens or as members of a distinct ethnic group with their own identity.

Instead they are usually referred to as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Vatican sources say some in the Holy See believe the trip was decided too hastily after full diplomatic ties were established in May during a visit by Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi's reputation as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been tarnished because she has expressed doubts about the reports of rights abuses against the Rohingya and failed to condemn the military.

'I have great admiration for the pope and his abilities, but someone should have talked him out of making this trip,' said Father Thomas Reese, a prominent American author and analyst at Religion News Service.

The pope has already used the word Rohingya in two appeals from the Vatican this year.

Asked if he would say it in Myanmar, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Francis was taking the advice he had been given seriously, but added: 'We will find out together during the trip ... it is not a forbidden word'.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said he does not know if Francis will say Rohingya while in Myanmar, adding: 'It is not a forbidden word'

Francis's four-day trip to the region will also see him visit Bangladesh and meet with some of the 620,000 refugees who have fled there

The papal motorcade drives through downtown Yangon. Hundreds of police had been deployed in anticipation of protests, but activists did not show up

Ah Khar women in traditional dress wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at Yangon airport

A hardline Buddhist monk group previously known as Ma Ba Tha said it welcomed the pope's visit but warned, without elaborating, of 'a response' if he spoke openly about the Rohingya.

'I hope he doesn't touch on sensitive issues that Myanmar people couldn't accept,' said Tawparka, a spokesman for the influential group, who goes by a single name.

'There's no problem if he talks about Islam, but it's unacceptable if he speaks about Rohingya and extreme terrorists.'

The Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state to Bangladesh's southern tip began at the end of August, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week called the military operation 'ethnic cleansing' and threatened targeted sanctions for 'horrendous atrocities'.

Myanmar's government has denied most of the accusations made against it, and the army says its own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops.

But rights organisations have accused troops backed by Buddhist mobs of burning hundreds of villages and forcing more than half a million people to flee.

The military has been accused of killing hundreds of civilians while Rohingya women who made it to Bangldesh have told of how they were raped and abused.

After leaving Rome, the pope told reporters on his plane: 'They say it's too hot (in Myanmar). I'm sorry, but let's hope it will at least be fruitful.'

Francis is expected to meet a group of Rohingya refugees in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, on the second leg of his trip.

The pope's itinerary for his four-day trip to Myanmar, followed by a visit to Bangladesh

Myanmar's army has been accused of 'ethnic cleansing' over their treatment of the Rohingya, which has seen hundreds of villages destroyed (pictured, a refugee camp in Bangladesh)

The military has been accused of killing hundreds of Rohingya civilians while women who managed to flee have told of rape and abuse at the hands of soldiers

Ethnic minorities in traditional dress welcomed Francis at Yangon airport, and children presented him with flowers as he stepped off his plane.

He waved through an open window at dozens of children waving Vatican and Myanmar flags and T-shirts with the motto of the trip - 'love and peace' - as he set off in a light blue Toyota car for St. Mary's Cathedral in the heart of the city.

Only about 700,000 of Myanmar's 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them travelled by train and bus to Yangon, and they joined crowds at several roadside points along the way from the airport to catch a glimpse of the pope.

'We come here to see the Holy Father. It happens once in hundreds of years,' said Win Min Set, a community leader who brought a group of 1,800 Catholics from southern and western states of the country.

'He is very knowledgeable when it comes to political affairs. He will handle the issue smartly,' he said, referring to the sensitivity of the pope's discussions about the Rohingya.

Large numbers of riot police were mobilised in the country's main city but there were no signs of any protests.
A Melbourne mayor has been spotted parking in a disabled parking - at the launch of a cafe for people with intellectual disabilities.

Mayor of the City of Whittlesea Kris Pavlidis has been slammed by former Whittlesea councillor Christine Stow, saying that she was 'sickened' to hear of the report.

Ms Paldavis, however, insisted that she has been instructed to park in the reserved bay by Yarra Plenty Regional Library staff.

The mayor of the City of Whittlesea Kris Pavlidis was 'told' to park her car in a disabled car spot

Christine Stow (left) has slammed mayor Kris Paldavis (right) for parking in a disabled space

7 News understands that Mill Park Library Branch Manager Serena Bellotti made the decision to designate one of the disabled parking spaces for a 'VIP' during the launch of the Chancez Cafe.

But Ms Stow - whose daughter suffers from Schwartz Jampel Syndrome - said that she was 'saddened' by the excuse.

'I am saddened for those who cannot walk or cannot talk, cannot defend themselves like my daughter Imyjen,' she said.

Ms Stow further accused Ms Paldavis of 'thumbing her nose' at people with a disability and said she believes that the mayor should step down from her position.

Newscorp understands that Mill Park Library (pictured) Branch Manager Serena Bellotti made the decision to designate one of the disabled parking spaces for a 'VIP' during the launch

Yarra Plenty Libraries boss Di Shaw apologised for 'any embarrassment we caused the mayor'

The former Whittlesea councillor brought up the incident at the council meeting following the incident, but was blocked because it wasn't 'relevant to the meeting's agenda' - which 'sickened [Ms Stow] even more'.

Ms Paldavis has issued an apology and pledged to donate $200 to the newly-opened Chancez Cafe.

Yarra Plenty Libraries chief executive Di Shaw apologised and said she took 'any embarrassment we have caused the Mayor'.
A tiger broke out of its cage during a popular village circus performance in China on Saturday.

The animal ran into a large crowd of spectators before biting two children, reported Chinese state media.

The two children were said to have suffered minor injuries. They have been discharged from hospital after treatment.

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A circus tiger, circled, is seen performing in front of a large crowd in a village in north China

According to CGTN, the circus show was organised by a villager from Linfen, northern China's Shanxi Province, and took place on November 25.

The performance was a part of the local temple fair celebrations.

The circus company confirmed that the cage had not been secured when the incident happened.

The tiger then breaks out of the cage and runs into the crowd along the cage

Two children are reportedly bitten by the tiger and taken to a local hospital for treatment

The tiger went into the crowd and bit two children, according to the report.

Linfen government has issued a statement, which claimed that the children sustained scratches, reported China News,.

The two children were taken to Hongtong Second People's Hospital for treatment and were discharged on November 27.

The two children had minor injuries and were discharged from the hospital today

The news came just a few days after an elderly man nearly had his hand bitten off by a circus tiger in central China .

Horrifying footage shows the man trying to feed the hungry animal in the cage before being mauled on a street of Xichuan on November 22.

Onlookers saved the pensioner by hitting the tiger using long wooden poles until it let go of the man's hand.

The pensioner fell onto the floor immediately with his hand seriously bleeding.

It appeared that his wrist and elbow were severely wounded. He was sent to hospital for emergency treatment.

A pensioner is seen feeding food to a lion and a tiger on the street of Xichuan, central China

The circus tiger, set to perform later, mauls the man's right hand and refuses to let go
Police have confirmed five people who died in the Leeds horror crash were inside the stolen Renault Clio that hit a tree.

Brothers Ellis and Elliott Thornton, aged 12 and 14, died along with 15-year-old Darnell Harte and 24-year-old Robbie Meerun.

Father-of-two Anthoney Armour, 28, also died.

They were killed when a Renault Clio hit a tree in the Meanwood area of Leeds on Saturday night in scenes described by police as 'complete carnage'.

Police previously mistakenly said all seven people were in the vehicle.

Ellis and Elliott Kimmitt were two of the five people killed in a car accident on Stonegate Road in Leeds

Police had been reportedly working on the assumption all seven males were in the vehicle, including Elliott and Ellis, pictured. But detectives have since widened the inquiry to include the possibility there were pedestrians involved

In a heart wrenching post, Ebony Thornton said her younger brothers Ellis and Elliott were 'her world'

In a heart wrenching post, Ebony Thornton said her brothers Ellis and Elliott were 'her world.'

She added: 'I wish I told you I love you everyday, I wish I didn't shout, argue and fight with you. I don't think I am ever going to get over the fact you have gone.'

She also revealed how her mother had given birth to a stillborn son at just 16 weeks in September - meaning she has lost three sons in just over two months.

Debbie Harrower, who said she used to babysit Ellis and Elliott, said: 'They were little terrors but they were good boys. It's just sad.'

Ms Harrower is the boys' mother's cousin.

Asked how their mother was coping, she said: 'How would anyone be losing their children?'

Another of their mother's cousins, Charlene Lee, said: 'It's just heartbreaking, isn't it?

'The thought of losing one child ... but she's lost two. It's just devastating.'

On Monday morning, the mother of one of the victims arrived at the scene and spent some time just standing next to the tree, looking at the scene.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested and remains in police custody.

It is believed he is hospital in a serious, but not life-threatening, condition.

A second 15-year-old, who is understood not to have been in the car, was arrested in the area but later released under investigation.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Griffiths said: 'When I arrived here in the early hours of Sunday morning this was a catastrophic scene.

'All the witnesses, all the police officers, all the emergency services that were here would have seen, absolutely, a scene of total carnage.

'It would have been a horrendous situation for anyone.'

On Monday morning, the mother of one of the victims (pictured) arrived at the scene and spent some time just standing next to the tree, looking at the scene

Darnell Harte has been named as a victim of the crash in Leeds. Darnell, thought to be 15, is one of five dead

Anthoney Armour, 28, was killed when a stolen car crashed into a tree in Leeds. Mr Armour was a father of two whose partner was expecting another baby in three weeks

Robbie Meerun, 24, has also been killed. Two fifteen-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving

Mourners held a candlelit vigil at the scene and balloons and flowers were tied to a tree as well-wishers left their tributes to the dead

Scores of mourners made their way to the scene of the crash to pay their respects to those who died

Police stood by as mourners held each other at the scene where five people - three children and two men - lost their lives in a car accident

One tribute to a victim said: 'Can't believe you've been taken so soon, heaven's gained an angel. Until we meet again'

Louise Thornton, 34, known as the boys' Godmother and Aunty Lou, said there were no words to described the loss of the two 'cheeky chappies', Ellis, 12, and Elliott, 14, who were 'so loving towards their family'.

She said: 'Elliott was the eldest. He was very loving and very trusting. He was so proud of his family, his mum and dad and his two sisters, Ebony, 16, and Bronte, five.

'Ellis was the youngest and he looked up to Elliott and Ebony as well.

A mother who arrived at the scene saying her son was in some way involved

'We are just devastated. We can't believe they have both gone as that just doesn't happen. We were so proud of the boys. They will be hugely missed by the family.

'It will leave a huge devastating void. As a family we have already been through so much. I'm devastated. They were very well-loved. We just can't describe how much these little boys have left a big void in our family.'

The school posted a message on its website, which said: 'We are aware of the tragic road accident in our local community and send our condolences and sympathies to the families and all those affected by this shocking and upsetting incident.

'Until the police confirm relevant details we are unable to comment further and we will continue to offer support and help to all our pupils who may be affected by this distressing event.

'We appreciate the respect for the community's grief and privacy at this time.'

It has since emerged the Kimmitt boys' father was jailed for eight years in 2007 for a vicious attack in which he drove over a man with a car, leaving him disabled.

Mr Armour's partner Sarah Louise Priestley paid an emotional tribute to him, describing him as 'my world and more'.

He was a father-of-two whose partner was expecting another child in three weeks.

She said: 'Why did you have to go? Me and (the) kids love you more than you will ever know.

'My love for you will never end, our 3rd child is due in 3weeks & you was so excited my heart is breaking but i promise you our kids will be looked after & will always remember their daddy untill we meet again ant.'

One of Mr Armour's friends said 'RIP LAD' while another said 'Rest in peace Anthony Armour'.

Tributes were paid online to 24-year-old Mr Meerun.

One said: 'Rest in peace to one of my best friends hands down the funniest most trust worthy guy I've met.'

Another commented: 'R.I.P. You will be sadly missed bro. All my thoughts are with you tonight.'

Investigators were back at the scene on Monday morning, trying to work out exactly how the crash happened.

The road has re-opened and crowds gathered at the scene to pay tribute to the victims

Another tribute, left to Darnell Harte, read: 'It just doesn't make sense. Hope now your (sic) at some peace. Will remember you for your cheekiness. RIP Debbi'

Floral tributes to one of the victims have been left at the scene following the horror crash

Three police officers inspect the damaged tree on Stonegate Road where the crash happened

A group of youngsters (left) arrive at the scene to lay flowers in memory of the victims as a forensic officer (right) works near the tree

Two of the victims died at the scene and three died later in hospital.

Two residents who live opposite the horrific crash scene have described seeing a mangled wreck of a car and bodies strewn across the road.

The couple, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'We were just sat here and we just heard an almighty crash.

'We sat here and thought 'what the heck was that?'

'There were bodies laid about, it was awful. It was as bad as that.'

Describing the crash scene immediately after the incident, they added: 'It was unbelievable. You couldn't even recognise it as a car. It was just a crumpled mess.

'We don't even know if it was pedestrians. It sounded like it could have been a couple of pedestrians but I don't know.'

Scene picture on Stonegate Road, Leeds, where five people were killed, including three children, after stolen car collided with a tree. Two 15-year-olds have been arrested

Police officers scour the local area for evidence after the horror crash which killed five people

Six police vehicles block Stonegate Road in the Meanwood area of Leeds

Another resident said her husband had gone out and seen the remains of the car and described it as 'a lump of metal that was not recognisable as a car'.

A resident in Stonegate Road, who wishes to remain anonymous, described hearing a 'loud bang' which sounded like a 'firecracker'.

He said: 'Me and my wife were watching TV some time between 9.30pm and 10pm when we heard a loud bang.

'I have seen the car which I believe had an '05 number plate completely squashed.

'Within minutes, dozens of police cars, a fire engine and several ambulances were at the scene.

'We could hear the sirens and see blue flashing lights and that's when we realised something very serious had happened.

A damaged tree can be seen on the right hand side as a policeman stands behind a police cordon

At around 10pm on Saturday West Yorkshire Police were called to Stonegate Road in Meanwood to deal with the incident reportedly involving a Renault Clio

A team of officers look for evidence that might help piece together how five people died in Leeds

Officers in Stonegate Lane, near Stonegate Road, where the Renault Clio hit a tree

'The road is completely closed off this morning and the police have said I am not allowed to drive my car out of the area until later in the afternoon so I couldn't take my wife to work.'

A resident, who lives near the scene and wished to remain anonymous, said: 'We were out for a meal last night in Otley and when we arrived home the top of the road was blocked off round the corner from our house.

'I only heard what has happened this morning after my wife saw the news but it is very upsetting it has happened so close by. '

'I don't know anything more than has been reported but have seen the road is still blocked off so it must have been awful. It is very sad.'

Another resident said: 'Just before 10pm there were loads of flashing lights past our house but I didn't think anything of it. '

I've only realised this morning, I never heard a bang or anything similar.

'I can't believe it.'

Detective Chief Inspector Griffiths, who is leading the investigation, said: 'We are continuing to carry out enquiries to establish the full circumstances of the collision itself and the circumstances surrounding it.

'At this stage we believe that all those involved were travelling in the Clio at the time of the collision and that it was the only vehicle involved.

'We are particularly keen to hear from anyone who has seen the Clio and the manner of its driving in the time leading up to the collision.

'That vehicle was stolen in the Headingley area at about 6.30pm that day and is believed to have been driven around the Leeds area during that time. We would be interested in anyone who has dashcam footage relating to the vehicle's movements.'

A police officer stands in a gate adjacent to the tree into which the Renault Clio crashed

The youngest victim in the crash was a 12-year-old boy, West Yorkshire Police said. Two 15-year-old boys and two men aged 24 and 28 also died

Superintendent Matt Davison, who heads neighbourhood policing for the Leeds District, said: 'This is a very tragic set of circumstances and our thoughts and condolences go out to everyone who has been affected by it.

'We are working to support the families involved and the wider community, particularly the schools who have been affected.

'We are working with the local authority and through our Safer Schools Partnership officers to support the schools at what is a very difficult time.'

He added: 'Clearly the families have suffered a devastating loss and we appreciate that emotions will be running high in the community.

'We would ask that people focus on supporting each other and on supporting the police investigation which will ensure that the circumstances of this incident are fully explored and that the criminal justice process is satisfied.'

What appears to be pieces of the car lie on the pavement near the tree next to evidence markers
This is the moment an unsuspecting passerby got between a group of ultra-orthodox Jewish protesters and an Israeli police 'skunk cannon'.

The hi-power water cannon was being used in an attempt to disperse the group of activists in Jerusalem, who were protesting army conscription in the country.

As police sent a powerful torrent of water flying the protesters' way, the woman began crossing the street, only to be struck with water from the riot-control cannon.

The barrage sends her flying several feet and she is left lying in a pool of water as the protesters continue their demonstration.

The hi-power water cannon was being used in an attempt to disperse the group of activists in Jerusalem, who were protesting army conscription in the country

As police sent a powerful torrent of water flying the protesters' way, the woman began crossing the street, only to be struck with water from the riot-control cannon

The barrage sends her flying several feet and she is left lying in a pool of water as the protesters continue their demonstration

At least 35 protesters detained for 'disrupting public order, blocking traffic, attacking civilians and police officers,' according to a statement issued by the Israeli police

At least 35 ultra-orthodox demonstrators were arrested during the protests.

They were detained for 'disrupting public order, blocking traffic, attacking civilians and police officers,' according to a statement issued by the Israeli police.

The demonstration was organised by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, leader of The Jerusalem Faction, who has vowed to continue anti-conscription protests to defence 'dignity of the Torah'.

The protest was called by the leader of ultra-Orthodox group The Jerusalem Faction, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who promised to continue anti-draft protests to defend the
Supporters of a Bronx cab driver who had his thumb hacked off protecting three passengers from a vicious machete attack are speaking out against the judge who set bail for one of the teenage suspects at just $200, allowing him to be home for Thanksgiving.

Richard Deleon, a 47-year-old father-of-four, was stopped at a red light when Juan Carlos Sanchez and Kenneth Guzman, both 17, ambushed his taxi, police say.

Deleon had his right thumb sliced off while shielding his head before leaping to his young female passengers' rescue.

Fernando Mateo, head of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, told reporters on Sunday that the judge then allowed Guzman to walk free too quickly and on too low of a bail.

A Bronx cab driver lost a thumb protecting three passengers from a vicious machete attack carried out by two teenagers. Richard Deleon (pictured), 47, had his thumb hacked off protecting his customers from the teens

'The biggest crime in this case was committed by the judge who released one of these guys on $200 bail after they slashed three or four people and could have killed someone,' Mateo told the station PIX11.

Before attacking Deleon, police say Guzman and Sanchez slashed a store clerk in a bodega on Grand Concourse, who called 911.

'It happened very fast,' Deleon said of the cab ambush during a press conference on Sunday outside the Bronx district attorney's office. 'I tried to stop the attackers,' the NYDailyNews reports.

Sanchez, armed with a machete, cut one of the female passengers, before Deleon said he desperately pulled him away.

'I raised my hand and they were aiming at my head with the machete and instead they took my (right thumb),' he said in Spanish.

Despite being thankful to be alive, the cab driver said he is now depressed and in pain for his injuries.

Unable to return to work, his family are suffering too as he is unable to put food on the table.

One passenger required 14 stitches after the attack, but it could have been far graver had Deleon not put their safety before his own, said Mateo.

'To us he is a hero because if it wasn't for him and his intervention, God knows if someone would've been killed,' he said.

The father-of-four was stopped at a red light when Juan Carlos Sanchez and Kenneth Guzman, both 17, ambushed his vehicle, police say. Deleon had his thumb hacked off protecting his head before leaping to his passengers' rescue - only for one attacker to be released on $200 bond

Following the violent assault, Guzman was released on $200 bail - a decision greeted with disgust by Mateo and Deleon's relatives and friends.

'He's laughing at the justice system,' Mateo said. 'He's laughing at the victims that he injured and this is something that we don't know or understand how it could happen.'

After his release from jail, Mateo claimed Guzman posted on Facebook how happy he was to be home for Thanksgiving dinner.

Guzman in turn claims police are unfairly charging him and Sanchez - trying to make them look 'like animals' in a now deleted Facebook post that was saved by Mateo.

Deleon said at the press conference he has been struggling in the wake of the brutal attack.

'Hes very depressed. Hes from one doctor to another, the finger doesnt stop bleeding,' Mateo translated for the driver. Its traumatizing. Hes missing a limb.'

It is claimed Guzman posted on Facebook how happy he was to be home for Thanksgiving dinner. Guzman in turn claims police are unfairly charging him and Sanchez - trying to make them look 'like animals' in a now deleted Facebook post that saw saved by Mateo

On Sunday, Deleon's older sister, Fary Deleon, 48, said she's happy her brother is still alive.

'We just want justice,' she said. 'What they did to my brother is not fair. He was working. He didn't hurt nobody.'

The teens, arrested close to the cab, face charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Damian Green, pictured outside his home. offered to use Tory party cash to pay for a special adviser for the DUP, it has been reported

The de facto deputy Prime Minister offered to pay Tory cash to the DUP in a secret deal as part of a bid to keep Theresa May in No10, it has been reported.

Damian Green is said to have offered to use party funds to pay for a special adviser for the small Northern Ireland party after they agreed to prop the Tories up in power.

The revelation is likely to infuriate Tory MPs and donors who would balk at the idea of party cash being funneled to help a rival.

And it will pile further pressure on Mr Green, who is already battling for his political career following allegations of sexual misconduct.

He is being investigated by the Cabinet Office over claims he made an unwanted pass as Tory activist Kate Maltby, and that he had extreme porn on an office computer in 2008.

Mr Green denies the allegations and the investigation into him is expected to report back this week.

Downing Street is under pressure to release the findings, but has said the final report may be kept secret.

Mr Green, the first secretary of state, was one of a number of Tory MPs who travelled over to Northern Ireland at the weekend for the DUP's conference.

Over the summer the Northern Irish party told the Tories it wanted to create a DUP adviser paid from government funds, according to The Times.

Some aides said the post was needed to smooth the functioning of the Tory-DUP 'co-ordination committee'.

But the bid was turned down by Sue Gray, the government's head of propriety and ethics, who works in Mr Green's department.

DUP leader Arlene Foster, pictured at her party's conference in Belfast on Saturday, is said to have discussed the plan with Damian Green

Ms Gray rejected the proposal because the DUP are not in a formal Coalition and part of government, but in a parliamentary arrangement when they vote with the Government on big issues like the Budget and Brexit.

After the setback Mr Green and Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, reportedly discussed the situation and it was agreed the Tory party would pay directly for the position.

The arrangement would mean he was in effect agreeing to fund the work of a rival party.

And it comes on top of the 1billion the Tories agreed to pour into Norther Ireland's coffers under the confidence and supply deal.

Downing Street did not comment on the discussions or on whether Theresa May was aware of Mr Green's offer, but said that the proposal had never resulted in any payments going ahead.

Mr Green's office said it did not comment on private conversations.
Shocking video has surfaced of a teenager being knocked unconscious by a single punch during a violent three-versus-one attack in Surfers Paradise.

Three men were caught on camera kicking the victim in the legs and feet on Orchard Avenue in the early hours of Monday morning, before punching him to the ground.

A friend told 9NEWS that the teen was targeted by the violent men after 'sticking up for a group of women who were being harassed outside a bar'.

The attackers left their 18-year-old victim unconscious and bleeding from the head on Monday

After the attack, the teen was out cold for a few minutes, and was bleeding from the head as he was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital just after 3.15am.

The 18-year-old victim is understood to be a New South Wales school student, who was visiting Queensland for Schoolies celebrations.

At this stage, he is expected to make a full recovery.

The incident, apparently filmed by a passerby on Snapchat, shows three older men advancing on the victim who was backing away when one of them lunged at him.

He was then king-hit by a man wearing blue jeans and an olive-coloured shirt. All three of the men left the scene before police arrived.

Police are investigating the incident but no formal complaint has been made and no charges have yet been laid.
A thug who threw acid over an aspiring model and her cousin as she celebrated her 21st birthday is facing years behind bars.

John Tomlin, 25, hurled the corrosive fluid at Resham Khan and cousin Jameel Muhktar, 37, as they sat in their car at a red traffic light in Beckton, east London.

Tomlin had earlier admitted causing grievous bodily harm to the pair but today, he admitted the more serious charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent on the first day of his trial.

He changed his pleas to guilty before the jury were sworn at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Resham Khan (left), 21, was with her cousin Jameel Muhktar (right), 37, when the pair were doused with a corrosive liquid in June in East London

Tomlin, who has six teardrops tattooed on his face, could now face the maximum sentence of life imprisonment when he is sentenced in January.

He spoke only to confirm his name and enter his guilty pleas.

Wearing a blue and white t-shirt with blue jogging bottoms, he winked to family members in the public gallery as he entered the dock.

Judge Canavan ordered psychiatric reports be prepared after Tomlin's 'somewhat random targeting' of Ms Khan and Mr Muhktar left them with life changing injuries.

The pair were said to have had 'no previous dealings' with their attacker.

'I'm going to order a report on dangerousness in these circumstances so we are not going to proceed to sentencing this afternoon,' Judge Canavan said.

The court heard Tomlin has previous convictions for violent crime.

He was convicted of common assault in 2007, robbery in 2008 and assaults on police officers in 2014 and 2016.

Tomlin is thought to have been sectioned several times under the Mental Health Act.

John Tomlin, 25, of Canning Town, is on trial

Judge Canavan also ordered a report on dangerousness and further details of the injuries suffered by Ms Khan and Mr Muhktar.

She said: 'I also need to know the prognosis of the injuries suffered at the time. This is in no way disrespectful to the victims; they well understand what their injuries are but they might not be able to assist me with what the prognosis is'.

Student Miss Khan, suffered severe life changing facial scarring following the unprovoked attack at 9:13am on Tollgate Road, Beckton, on June 21.

Tomlin targeted Miss Khan through the passenger window before moving round to the drivers side.

He then threw more of the acid at Mr Muhktar.

The two victims tried to drive off, pursued by the attacker before their car crashed into a fence and the man fled the scene.

Mr Muhktar was also badly burned as the liquid was hurled through the car windows left open on a warm summer's day.

The cousins were left with horrific neck and face injuries and were treated in hospital.

Miss Khan shared these photos last month of her recovery, saying it's 'time to stop hiding'

Miss Khan, who studies at Manchester Met university, had a skin graft and her eyesight is permanently damaged.

She had just returned from an exchange year to Cyprus when the attack happened.

She has shared her journey to recovery on a blog, and last month shared a new picture on Twitter.

In one blog post she comments on how she had been 'too petrified to walk to my local shop'.

She said she has suffered from breakdowns in her road to recovery, adding her voice to petition to strengthen sentences of acid attackers.

'Not victims, but survivors, gave me so much determination and strength. These women took on the world and its fate, and tackle each day like any other,' she said.

'My respect for these woman fuelled anger and disgust. I don't understand why attackers use acid, but what I do know is that it deserves the harshest punishment.'

Mr Muhktar was so badly burnt he was put in an induced coma.

He was left deaf in one ear, damage to his right eye and extensive burns to his upper body, arms, legs, back, neck and face.

Mr Muhktar displays his injuries after the incident which happened when he was in his car

Mr Mukhtar gave an interview to Channel 4 after the attack and similarly said how he 'couldn't be around anybody'.

He said: 'I'm embarrassed to even talk to people. I don't go outside anymore I can't even look at myself in the mirror.'

Police have previously said there is 'nothing to suggest the attack was racially motivated'.

A motive for the attack is yet to be given in court but Tomlin has been previously sectioned under the Mental Health Act and has been prescribed anti-psychotic medication.

Miss Khan, pictured before (left) and after (right) the attack, has started campaigning for tighter laws to prevent acid attacks

When he first appeared in court in July, he was kept in handcuffs throughout the hearing after prosecutor Alexa Morgan made an application for restraints due to his volatile behaviour while in custody.

She said: 'There has been application from Serco to keep him in handcuffs.

'He is very volatile and has been violent in while in custody.'

Tomlin, of Colman Road, Canning Town, admitted two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Judge Sheelagh Canavan ordered psychiatric reports to assess his level of danger to the public and remanded him in custody ahead of sentence on 26 January.
Two young brothers who missed their migrant worker parents hid under a bus for three hours and were only discovered after it had travelled some 50 miles.

The pair, aged eight and nine, had escaped their boarding school in the morning by climbing through a gap in a wall and hiding underneath the bus.

The brothers, from Nazuo Township in China's southern Guangxi Zhuang, were headed to the nearest large city Baise, where they believed their mother and father worked and which is 152 miles away.

They were found one third of the way through their journey at the Xilin County bus terminal, having travelled three hours and more than 50 miles under the vehicle.

The pair, aged eight and nine, had escaped their boarding school in the morning by climbing through a gap in a wall and hiding underneath the bus

Staff at the bus station were shocked to find the two boys covered in sand and mud from the rough trip on the rural roads, and they were so shaken that neither said anything until the police arrived.

The pair admitted to the authorities that they missed their parents and wanted to see them.

Their relatives, however, revealed that Baise City was a lie to make them feel like their parents were closer to home when in fact the couple actually worked in the neighbouring province of Guangdong.

They were found one third of the way through their journey at the Xilin County bus terminal, having travelled three hours and more than 50 miles under the vehicle

The boys were fortunately not hurt and were brought back to their school after having been given clean clothes as well as food and water.

The brothers are among tens of millions of minors in China known as "left-behind children", whose parents are forced to leave them in rural townships with relatives while they live and work elsewhere for higher pay.
An inquest into the death of a 13-month-old baby girl who was 'probably sexually assaulted' by her father heard a harrowing 999 call made by the child's mother.

Poppi Worthington died suddenly on December 12 2012 after collapsing at her home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

In January 2016 it was revealed a family court judge had ruled in 2014 that Poppi's father, 49-year-old Paul Worthington, had probably sexually assaulted her.

Mr Worthington, who denies any involvement in his daughter's death, has escaped prosecution after police lost crucial evidence.

On the first day of the second inquest into Poppi's death, the court was played a recording of a frantic 10-minute phone call between Poppi's mother and a 999 call handler shortly before 6am on the day of the baby's death.

Poppi Worthington died in December 2012 after she collapsed at home at Barrow-in-Furness

She told the operator: 'Ambulance please. My baby's not breathing, she gone blue.

'Erm, she's not been well, on and off, last few days. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She's blue.'

The call handler responds: 'Can you just try to be calm?' before giving instructions to Poppi's mother to lay the child flat on her back, check that her airways are clear, tilt her head back and then begin CPR.

The mother tells her partner: 'Oh my God. Two breaths, 30 pumps. Keep going! Keep going until the ambulance arrives.

'Come on Poppi. Come on baby. Oh f****** hell. I think she just breathed! Oh! Oh come on. Oh my God come on Poppi.

'Come on keep going. Come on. Come on baby. Come on ambulance please. Please come on.

'What's wrong with her, Paul? She's not breathing.'

Paramedics are then heard arriving in the background at the end of the call which lasted up to 10 minutes. More than a hour later, Poppi was pronounced dead at Furness General Hospital.

The original inquest into Poppi's death was heard in private, lasted just seven minutes and heard no evidence

Earlier at the inquest, Poppi's mother was frequently visibly distressed as she gave evidence and asked not to be present when the 999 call was played in court.

Asked about Poppi's personality, she said: 'Very alive, bubbly. You knew she was there, there was no missing her.'

On the early evening of December 11, she said she placed Poppi in her cot in one of the home's three bedrooms as later other siblings at the address went to sleep.

Mr Worthington followed upstairs, she said, but she eventually slept downstairs on the sofa as one of her other children awoke and she settled him in a pushchair.

She later awoke when she heard Poppi cry out and described it as 'more of a scream'.

The mother then said she heard Mr Worthington get up so she went back to sleep before he came downstairs for a nappy.

She fell asleep again before Mr Worthington came downstairs with Poppi again to tell her their daughter was not breathing.

Leslie Thomas QC, representing Paul Worthington, asked Poppi's mother about her statement describing Mr Worthington as a 'brilliant dad'.

He said: 'You did not think for one moment he was a man who harms kids, did you?'

She replied: 'No.'

Gillian Irving QC, representing the mother, then questioned the witness about her statement.

Ms Irving said: 'At that time were you aware there was an allegation that she (Poppi) had been sexually abused before death?'

The mother replied: 'No.'

Speaking about Mr Worthington, she had told police: 'I love Paul. He is my best friend. He has supported me. We are honest with each other when we argue.

'Paul is a brilliant dad who cares for his kids, loves them and provides for them.

'There is no way Paul could have harmed Poppi. The children are his world.

'I could never have harmed her either. She was my beautiful daughter.

'I love my family. My kids are my world.'

Poppi died from the injuries sustained shortly after her father, who had been watching pornography, took her into his bed at the family home in Barrow-in-Furness, in December 2012

During the second inquest Mr Worthington will face questions about his daughter's death for the first time.

Mr Justice Peter Jackson, a High Court judge, ruled in January 2016 that Mr Worthington had probably sexually assaulted the 13-month-old girl in the hours before her collapse.

He said Poppi's 'significant bleeding' within 15 minutes of the 999 call made from the family home could only be sensibly explained as the result of penetrative trauma.

He also listed 12 serious errors and omissions by police, social workers and medical staff.

These meant the most basic evidence that could have helped secure a prosecution was lost or never collected.

Police failed to collect key evidence including Mr Worthington's laptop, Poppi's last nappy, clothes and bedclothes, and bedding from the hospital where she was declared dead.

Paul Worthington will give evidence at the inquest into the death of his daughter Poppi

Forensic tests were not carried out, the family home was not secured, senior officers did not visit the home and the parents were not arrested and interviewed by police for eight months.

Cumbria Police and social services then tried to cover up their numerous failings.

The original inquest into Poppi's death, in 2014, for 'a child aged 13 months' was heard in private, lasted just seven minutes and heard no evidence.

Coroner Ian Smith recorded an open verdict, which was later ruled unlawful.

The facts surrounding Poppi's death only began to be made public after an 18-month legal fight by the Mail and other media groups.

Coroners can ask witnesses to attend informally or issue a summons under common law powers.

A person cannot refuse to be a witness because their evidence could lead them to be charged with a crime, but they can refuse to answer questions put to them on the grounds of self-incrimination.

The latest hearing comes almost five years after Poppi died from the injuries sustained shortly after her father, who had been watching pornography, took her into his bed at the family home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in December 2012.

A Home Office pathologist reported she had sustained internal injuries before she died consistent with sexual abuse but a formal cause of death has not been ascertained.

The second inquest will seek to establish the circumstances surrounding Poppi's death.

Mr Worthington is among 39 names on a list of witnesses to appear in person at the hearing.

Earlier this year he asked for permission to give evidence via videolink after voicing fears for his own safety.

HM senior coroner for Cumbria, David Roberts, is expected to adjourn the proceedings over Christmas and New Year before he gives his formal conclusions on January 15

On Monday a more extensive examination of the circumstances surrounding the death of Poppi, after she collapsed at her home with serious injuries in December 2012, will take place at County Hall, Kendal, (pictured) and last up to four weeks

Flowers laid at Poppi's grave. An Independent Police Complaints Commission report concluded that senior detectives probing Poppi's death were 'unstructured and disorganised'

Last year the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed there was 'insufficient evidence' to charge Mr Worthington with any offence over his daughter's death

Other witnesses appearing include Poppi's mother, her aunt Tracey Worthington, and paramedics who responded to the 999 call.

Fiona McGhie, a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing the child's mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: 'Poppi's mother hopes that the inquest, which has been much delayed over the last two years, can shed some light on Poppi's final hours.'

Police officers who attended Poppi's home address in the hours after she died will also give evidence, as will former detective inspector Amanda Sadler, who was allowed to retire rather than face gross misconduct charges.

HM senior coroner for Cumbria, David Roberts, is expected to adjourn the proceedings over Christmas and New Year before he gives his formal conclusions on January 15.
An intimate scrapbook kept by Queen Victoria's governess including locks of the monarch's hair and her wedding dress fabric is to be auctioned for 26,000.

Baroness Louise Lehzen - who the young princess referred to as 'dearest daisy' and 'mother' in private - collected the keepsakes during 21 years working for the Royal family.

She rose through the ranks to become Victoria's adviser and confidante before eventually being dismissed by the queen's husband Prince Albert amid simmering tensions as he feared she was becoming too influential within the Palace.

Her red leather-bound notebook is now for sale offering a spectacular and revealing insight into the life of a young princess.

The intimate scrapbook, pictured right, reveals the life of a young Queen Victoria, pictured left

It is engraved with Victoria's gold 'VR' insignia and contains lockets of her hair as well as photographs from the private family album

Baroness Louise Lehzen - who the young princess referred to as 'dearest daisy' and 'mother' in private - collected the keepsakes during 21 years working for the Royal family

It is engraved with Victoria's gold 'VR' insignia and contains lockets of her hair as well as photographs from the private family album.

The hair samples are fastened with pieces of ribbon and visibly increase in thickness and colour as the girl gets older - with the last taken at the age of 23.

The collection - which is on public display in Berlin until Tuesday - also features miniature watercolours painted by the young princess.

One of the portraits in the intimate scrapbook shows Queen Victoria and her aide John Brown.

This image shows Balmoral Castle in Scotland taken from a nearby river

There is also a swatch of the fabric used to make the monarch's gown for her monarch's wedding to Prince Albert in 1840 and a sample of lace used in the garter.

Small pieces of paper stuck inside the book show the young Victoria's first attempts to write while artistic watercolours depict her coronation and romantic scenes.

Patrick Golenia of Grisebach auctioneers in Berlin, which is selling off the book, told the Guardian that the collection was a 'fascinating testimony of the friendship between two women, and of the strong British-German connection in the British royal family'.

He said: 'We know that Queen Victoria sent a lot of hair samples, and that this was very typical of the time.

The intimate scrapbook also contains numerous letters and sketches penned by the young Royal

'But this is the largest number of her hair samples to be found in one place  except perhaps for the pillow on which she died.

'What we have here is an important historical object because it is testimony to the unbelievably close friendship, almost familial one between a teacher and her pupil, a queen and her employee.'

The album was made public for the first time in 1999 after being held in Baroness Lehzen's family for years.

It was sold in 2001 when it sparked a frenzied bidding war between two would-be buyers who wanted to DNA test Victoria's hair to see if they were related to the Queen.

It was eventually bought that year by an Austrian bidder for 49,000 - and is expected to fetch about half of that at auction on 30th November this year.

However this time the sale comes with the condition that the album must remain intact to prevent buyers from exploiting the genetic value of the hair.
Former US military official Mike Mullen has warned that North Korea is more likely to launch a nuclear weapon than ever before

Former US military official Mike Mullen has warned that North Korea is more likely to launch a nuclear weapon than ever before.

The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed the concern in an interview with ABC's 'This Week'.

Asked if he thought the use of nuclear weapons looked possible, Mullen said: 'I don't know. I think it's more probable than it used to be. And it scares me to death, quite frankly.

'They're the most dangerous weapons in the world. And certainly if we have someone in North Korea that has a lethal legacy, is very, very unpredictable, and sees this as a way to solidify his future, that he could well not just attain them but potentially use them.'

He also expressed concerns about the 'rhetoric' between the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

'I worry there is more uncertainty than there was a year ago, in principle because of the rhetoric that is there,' he said.

'I know that the Trump administration has addressed this issue from day one, so they're very serious about creating options and have created options.

Mullen described North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un as 'very, very unpredictable'

'It's still a very difficult place to know what's actually going on. I think Kim Jong-un is going to -- is -- really working hard to achieve the nuclear capability. And I think he'll get there short of some deterrence.'

Last week, a report by the think tank European Commission of Foreign Relations revealed a list of 15 North Korean targets.

As well as the iconic governmental landmarks, Manhattan, Guam, Kyoto and Tokyo are all earmarked by the hermit kingdom.

The research stated: 'From the North Korean sources, one can compile a list of possible targets for a nuclear strike.

'Pyongyang repeatedly threatens both US bases in the Asia-Pacific and cities on the US mainland, while the media repeats the threat that North Korean "strategic forces" are ready at any time to strike the US mainland, their stronghold, their military bases in the operational theatres in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea.

'Japanese and South Korean cities are also designated as targets.

Last week, a report by the think tank European Commission of Foreign Relations revealed a list of 15 North Korean targets. Pictured: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the Sungri Motor Complex in Pyongyang

'Japanese cities are more explicitly targeted, including in a list that names Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto.'

The report by the ECFR analysed Kim Jong-un's state media since the dictator took power, which picked up on the fact more recent statements included the vague notion of reaching 'major strike objects in the operation theatres of South Korea'.

North Korea has also released maps of its targets, as exemplified by the infamous photo, published in March 2013, that shows Kim Jong-un with a target map corresponding to cities and bases in the US mainland.

The aim of the findings was to 'predict Pyongyangs response to different scenarios' so it can better 'understand how the regime sees its nuclear weapons, and when it would use them'.

The paper claims the nuclear threat carried by North Korea is a preemptive one, meaning Kim Jong-un would only launch nuclear war if he thought his nation was in danger.

It reads: 'It has become almost a cliche in policy circles to state that North Korea is a rational, strategic actor.

'But, with many in the media still describing Pyongyang as crazy or suicidal, it bears repeating.

'North Koreas nuclear and ballistic weapons programmes are the product of a rational cost-benefit analysis.

'They are founded on the regimes calculated assessment of the threats to its survival, and their high risks have been taken into account.'

It comes as North Korea denounced US President Donald Trump's decision to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling the move a 'serious provocation and violent infringement'.

Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs.

In North Korea's first reaction to the designation, a spokesman for the foreign ministry denied in an interview with the state media outlet KCNA, that his government engaged in any terrorism.
This is the utterly random moment a pair of horny tortoises interrupt a leopard hunting its prey.

As tourist Matthew Poole filmed the patient predator stalking its next meal on the Sand River bank at Beyond Kirkmans Kamp in South Africa, his shot was invaded by two lovers.

While the focused leopard tries to focus on November 3, the tortoise couple begrudgingly force her to move forward as they got intimate.

Clearly not perturbed by their big cat neighbour, the randy reptiles carry on until the leopard finally runs off and they are left to carry on their lovemaking.

The tortoise couple seem completely comfortable as they approach the leopard, looking for a suitable spot

Clearly not perturbed by their big cat neighbour, the randy reptiles carry on until the leopard finally runs off and they are left to carry on their lovemaking

Matthew, from Limpopo, South Africa, said: 'I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We were watching the leopard stalking something in the dense thicket when the tortoises appeared

After around five minutes, the female decided she had had enough and ran off

Matthew, from Limpopo, South Africa, said: 'I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

'We were watching the leopard stalking something in the dense thicket when the tortoises appeared.

'Nobody on the tour could control their laughter.

'I managed to subdue everyone as the leopard was in the middle of the hunt.

'After about five minutes of their mating, she finally had enough and she ran off.

'I had never managed to get a video of tortoises mating before until then.'
These incredible photos reveal how RAF operations on the ground were vital during World War Two and the Cold War.

Fascinating images reveal how various transport was used during the two wars, including an aircraft bomb storage during the 1930s in India and fuel drums being loaded on the beach in Sicily in 1943.

Other pictures illustrate the required uniform for a typical Royal Flying Corps airmen and the tunic known as the 'maternity jacket'.

Part of the aero engine assembly line at a typical expansion scheme 'shadow factory' in 1937

This picture shows fuel drums being loaded on the beach in Sicily, in 1943

A group of RAF Equipment Officers pictured in 1918 in the image released in a new book

Further images reveal the tragic consequence of the RAF Fauld explosion that left a 300-feet deep crater which occurred in November 1944 at the RAF Fauld underground munitions storage depot.

The explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and the largest to occur on UK soil.

The photos appear in a new book called Sustaining Air Power by former senior RAF logistics officer, Trevor Stone.

He said: 'The RAF's logistics organisation, structure, and procedures were shaped, initially by lessons learned from the First World War, then progressively developed to support operations in the 1920s and 1930s.

'The post-war period saw the RAF building on those foundations, a process that saw logistics evolving to meet the needs of the new service. By the outbreak of the Second World War, however, RAF logistics were very different, largely as a result of the transformation that took place during the expansion programme that began in 1934.'

RNAS personnel pictured in Paris with a partially crated aircraft on a transport lorry in 1915

This picture shows aircraft bomb storage, in India during the early 1930s

This fascinating pictures reveal how various transport was used during the two wars

This shows the crater left by the Fauld explosion in 1944. The explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and the largest to occur on UK soil

The RAF is the UK's aerial warfare force which was first formed in the closing months of the First World War following the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy air service.

It went through an accelerated development before and then during the Second World War. During the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF famously defended British skies against German Luftwaffe.

Following the success in WW2, the RAF experienced considerable re-organisation, as technological advances in air warfare saw the introduction of jet fighters and bombers.

A Replica RE8 aircraft pictured at the Shuttleworth Trust, Old Warden

A Steam tank locomotive Aldwyth pictured at Kidbrooke in the 1950s

A Harrier pictured at a deploying operating location in Germany

A typical RFC airman (pictured left) and (right) Air Commodore Charles Lambe

'One of the earliest difficulties that the RFC experienced was due to the relative infancy of aircraft production. At the outbreak of war, there were just twelve aircraft-manufacturing firms in Britain, three of which were producers of seaplanes,' Mr Stone said.

'In terms of output, total production amounted to just 100 aircraft per year. This limited manufacturing capacity meant that the British were largely dependent on France to meet their needs.

'Indeed, the demand for aircraft in the first six months of the war was so great that some 100 aircraft were bought from French companies; by the end of the war, 1,500 air frames had been acquired from this source.'

A Leyland lorry (pictured in 1920) in one of the photos released in a new book
Meghan Markle's parents led the congratulations to their daughter and Prince Harry today after the couple announced their engagement.

Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland told how they were 'incredibly happy' for the couple, while Prince Charles said he was 'thrilled' for his son and the US actress.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge told how they were 'very excited' for Harry and Miss Markle, while the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh said they were 'delighted'.

Politicians also reacted joyfully, with Prime Minister Theresa May saying it was a 'time of huge celebration', and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson calling it 'fantastic news'.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement has been welcomed around the world today. The couple are pictured at Kensington Palace in London today

Harry stands with Miss Markle as she shows off her engagement ring in London this afternoon

Harry, 33, and Miss Markle hug behind her mother Doria Ragland in Toronto in September

Miss Markle, pictured with her father Thomas, who said he is 'incredible happy' for the couple

A statement by Miss Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said: 'We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person.

'To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together.'

Miss Markle is close to her 'free-spirited' mother and her 'thoughtful, inspiring' father, and has previously written lovingly of her relationship with both.

Visiting Poundbury in Dorset, the Prince of Wales, speaking for himself and The Duchess of Cornwall, said: 'We're thrilled. We're both thrilled. We hope they'll be very happy indeed.'

Meanwhile a Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh 'are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness'.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Harry's brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate, added: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan.

'It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.'

Mrs May said: 'I would like to offer my very warmest congratulations to HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle upon their engagement.

The world reacts to Harry and Meghan's 'joyous' engagement 'To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents' Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, Meghan Markle's parents 'The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness' Queen and Prince Philip 'It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together' Duke and Duchess of Cambridge 'This is a time of huge celebration for two people in love' Theresa May, Prime Minister 'Wonderful news and I wish them a long and happy life together' David Cameron, former prime minister 'Here's to a happy and long life together' Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson 'Having met Harry a couple of times, I'm sure they are going to have a great deal of fun together' Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader 'I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfilment and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together' Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury Advertisement

'This is a time of huge celebration for two people in love. On behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future.'

Her predecessor David Cameron said: 'Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Wonderful news and I wish them a long and happy life together.'

And Mr Johnson added: 'Huge congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - fantastic news! Here's to a happy and long life together.'

Speaking in Glasgow today, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: 'Congratulations to Harry and Meghan. I wish them well.

'I hope they have a great time and great fun together - and, having met Harry a couple of times, I'm sure they are going to have a great deal of fun together.

'What I would also like to say is that I really do admire the way that Harry and his brother have drawn attention to mental health conditions all across the country.

'I wish them well, thank him for what he's done on mental health and hope they have a great life together.'

In the US, Roslyn Markle, the mother of Meghan's half-siblings, told DailyMail.com from her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, today: 'That's absolutely wonderful news.

'I'm really happy for them and I hope they'll be happy together and have a great life.' Of the spring wedding date, Roslyn added: 'That will be so nice.'

Roslyn, 72, was married to Meghan's father Thomas Markle between 1968 and 1976 and is the mother of his two eldest children: Samantha Grant, 53, and Thomas Markle Jr, 51.

Asked how she thinks Miss Markle will cope with the transition from actress to princess, Roslyn said: 'Meghan is very well educated. She's worked in a professional, public life forever.

Roslyn Markle, the mother of Meghan's half-siblings, said from her home in New Mexico today that it was 'absolutely wonderful news'

She's been in the TV industry forever. She's very well educated and she's had a lot of exposure to the public. She's going to be just fine.'

Meanwhile Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby added: 'I am absolutely delighted to hear the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now engaged.

'I have met Prince Harry on a number of occasions and have always been struck by his commitment and passion for his charities, and his immense love for his family.

'Marriage is a special and joyous commitment, one that Jesus celebrated together with friends at the wedding in Cana.

'I am so happy that Prince Harry and Ms Markle have chosen to make their vows before God.

'I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfilment and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together.'

The Prince of Wales, pictured today at Damers First School in Poundbury, Dorset, to meet staff and students, said he was 'thrilled' and 'very happy indeed' for Harry and Miss Markle

Prince Harry has been dating Miss Markle (pictured in September) since summer 2016

The Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, was the first world leader to publicly send his congratulations - going as far as to invite the happy couple to honeymoon in Israel.

'Mazal Tov to HRH Prince Harry and fiance Meghan Markle,' he wrote on Twitter, sending his 'warmest regards' to the Royal Family and UK.

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon added: 'Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Wishing them a lifetime of love and happiness together.'

DailyMail.com US Editor-at-Large Piers Morgan said: 'Congrats Meghan and Harry. My friend will make the perfect modern bride. PS Do I get an invite, Meghan Markle?'

Meghan Markle 's parents led the congratulations to their daughter and Prince Harry today

Paula Radcliffe, the world record holder and long-distance runner, and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage were also among the celebrities to send their congratulations.

Mail sketch writer Quentin Letts added: 'Fun for theatreland to have an actress join the Royal Family. Various companies will be itching to have Mrs Harry for a patron.'

Fifth in line to the throne Harry, 33, has been dating the 36-year-old star, who found fame in the US legal drama Suits, since the summer of 2016.

Their 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends in London.

The pair have been almost inseparable in recent months, with Miss Markle said to have virtually moved in to Harry's home at Kensington Palace.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have expressed their delight at the news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement.

William and Kate said it had been 'wonderful getting to know Meghan' since the American actress began dating Harry around 18 months ago.

A date for the wedding has been set for next spring, when the country will come together in scenes echoing Kate and Wills' own wedding in 2011.

In a joint statement released by Kensington Palace, William and Kate said: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.'

Initially at least, the newly-engaged couple will move in together at Nottingham Cottage, where William, Kate, Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be their neighbours at Kensington Palace.

William and Kate said it had been 'wonderful getting to know Meghan' since the American actress began dating Harry around 18 months ago

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace

Harry and Meghan revealed they were an item a year ago after a six-month secret relationship, got engaged earlier this month in London and will marry in spring 2018.

The 36-year-old actress, who is best known for her role as Rachel Zane in US legal drama Suits, is believed to have charmed the Royal when he visited Toronto in the summer of 2016.

They managed to keep their relationship secret from the world - but it later emerged she had met William and Kate and he had met her family in California.

William was said to be deeply unhappy over his younger brother's decision to issue an unprecedented public statement, in which he lashed out at media intrusion and the 'sexism and racism of social media trolls'.

A lengthy and strongly-worded statement issued by Kensington Palace said there had been a 'line crossed' in the abuse and harassment she has faced and it was 'not right' that his girlfriend 'should be subjected to such a storm'.

It came after Meghan flew to London during a gap in her filming schedule and was photographed buying food on Kensington High Street, Princess Diana's favourite shopping street.

Harry and Meghan announced their engagement earlier this morning after weeks of speculation

Kate, Harry and William attend a Christmas party for volunteers at The Mix youth service in December last year

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry at West Ham United's London Stadium

The royal trio with Peter Phillips wait to meet the Queen as she arrives the Patron's Lunch, an event to mark her 90th birthday in London last year

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry arrive to attend the Commonwealth Day 2016 service at Westminster Abbey in London

Meghan did not attend the Queen and Prince Philip's 70th wedding anniversary celebrations this week with Harry, pictured with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, although she is understood to have met the Queen for tea last month

Meghan, who is divorced, could become a princess or alternatively be given the title Duchess of Sussex when she marries the fifth in line to the throne and joins the royal family.

But they are likely to wait until Prince William and Kate have their third child, which is due in April.

Bookmakers refused to take any more bets on the couple getting engaged last week as Meghan landed in London and started moving her belongings and two dogs to the UK.

Social media went into meltdown but they have had to wait until today to hear that the fifth-in-line to the throne has proposed to his actress girlfriend.

A Kensington Palace spokesman tweeted today: 'The Prince of Wales has announced the engagement of Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle.

'Prince Harry and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed The Queen and other close members of The Royal Family.

'Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

'The wedding will take place in spring 2018. Further details will be announced in due course.'

A date for the wedding has been set for next spring, when the country will come together in scenes echoing Kate and Wills' own wedding in 2011

The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace and Kate and William will be their neighbours

It is likely that the couple will, like Kate and William, be awarded a dukedom by the Monarch on the occasion of their wedding, with Vogue reporting that the newlyweds will become the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Under the British Monarchy, the title is only given to those who are born into royalty, meaning that if Meghan and Harry were to have children they would be referred to as princes and princesses.

The same went for Kate and William at their wedding six years ago with Wills adding Duke to his own title after the Queen granted the couple with a 'dukedom'.

Kate is only bestowed the royal title in reference to her husband known as Princess William, and once he inherits his father's title she can then be referred to as Princess of Wales.

The same goes for Meghan and Harry. The 36-year-old US actress may be referred to as HRH Princess Henry.

Prince Harry is currently fifth in line to the throne and will move down to sixth when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcome their third baby, expected to arrive in April.

However, while marrying Harry will give Meghan a royal title she will not join the line of succession.

Marriage to a royal does not put you in line to the throne and you are in only if you have succession rights in your own right.

Harry also asked Meghan's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, who divorced when their daughter was six, for her hand in marriage before popping the question a few weeks ago, it emerged today.

They said: 'Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents'.

Harry, 33, and his American fiancee, 36, have not said where they will hold the ceremony but if they choose the UK most senior royals marry at Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral or the chapel at Windsor Castle.

Prince Harry decision to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle was revealed by his father Prince Charles.

The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House.

It read: 'His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle.

Prince Harry decision to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle was revealed by his father Prince Charles

'The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

'His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month.

'Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty the Queen and other close members of his family.

'Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents.

'The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.'

Just a week after the Queen celebrated her own 70th wedding anniversary, she and Prince Philip said in a statement: 'delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness'.

Prime Minister Theresa May offered her 'very warmest congratulations', wishing the couple 'great happiness for the future'.

'I would like to offer my very warmest congratulations to HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle upon their engagement,' said Mrs May in a statement.

'This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future.'

Mrs May's predecessor David Cameron called the announcement 'wonderful news', and wished the pair 'a long and happy life together'.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said he was 'absolutely delighted to hear the news', wishing them 'many years of love, happiness and fulfilment'.
Meghan Markle is set to leave Toronto and move into a cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace with her husband-to-be, Prince Harry.

The newly-engaged couple will live together in the modest two bedroom royal residence, Nottingham Cottage.

Dubbed Nott Cott by palace insiders, the pair will enjoy their engagement in the pied-a-terre Harry made his bachelor pad some four years ago - before which it was Prince William and Kates first marital home.

The newly-engaged couple will be living together in a small royal residence, Nottingham Cottage, in the grounds of Kensington Palace

The young couple were a picture of happiness as they made their way through the grounds of Kensington Palace, where they will now share a cottage

The actress and Harry are to spend their engagement in Nott Cott - William and Kates first marital home - where the 32-year-old prince calls home

It has previously been suggested the pair are hunting for a country retreat in either Norfolk, close to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's home Anmer Hall, or in the West Country.

But Nottingham Cottage is something of a starter home ideal for the newlywed couple - a two-bedroom property boasting rooms designed by Sir Christopher Wren, a couple of snug reception rooms and small yard.

Self-contained, cosy and private, it is the smallest abode in the 17th century estate and formerly the home of Prince Philips private secretary, Brigadier Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, and his wife Gay.

It was also previously occupied by Princess Diana's sister Lady Jane Fellowes and her husband Sir Robert Fellowes, the Queen's former secretary.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge lived in the cottage before moving in to the 20-room Apartment 1A inside the palace.

Prince William reportedly had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the low ceilings of the historic property.

When Harry made it his bachelor pad in 2013, the first thing he reportedly did was install a hammock in the yard.

Nottingham Cottage (circled) is something of a starter home ideal for the newlywed couple - a cosy two-bedroom property with a couple of snug reception rooms and small yard.

The prince said he was 'thrilled, over the moon' adding: 'Very glad it's not raining as well' and both were full of smiles as they posed to announce their engagement

Self-contained, cosy and private, Nottingham Cottage sits within the grounds of Kensington Palace

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle today revealed they are engaged after the Queen gave her grandson permission to marry the star in the week after she celebrated her 70th wedding anniversary. Above, their first public appearance together at a tennis match during the Invictus Games in Toronto in September

Meghan Markle was thought to be moving her dogs to the UK in the clearest sign yet that she planned to live in London with Prince Harry

THE ROYAL WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT The official announcement today Prince Harry decision to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle was revealed by his father Prince Charles. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. It read: 'His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle. 'The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course. 'His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. 'Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty the Queen and other close members of his family. 'Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents. 'The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.' Advertisement

Situated just steps away from William and Kates far grander establishment, Nottingham Cottage is sufficient for one, or two occupants.

One of the smallest properties on the estate, it has two bedrooms, a small living room, kitchen and bathroom.

Ms Markle has stayed at the property several times while visiting Harry over the past 12 months, and will no doubt be adding her own personal touches to her new home - after Kate repainted the walls and gave it a revamp when she moved in.

William and Kates official London residence is in the next courtyard, at Apartment 1A, a 20-room home which was refurbished with 4.5 million from the public purse in 2011.

Kensington Palace has been a royal residence since 1689, when King William III and Queen Mary II bought Nottingham House for 20,000.

It was subsequently remodelled into the palace by Christopher Wren, the architect behind St Pauls Cathedral.

In the 18th Century, George I spent lavishly on new royal apartments there, including Apartments 8 and 9, but his successor, George II was the last reigning monarch to use the building.

It has always been considered one of the least stuffy royal residences.

Princess Margaret, who lived there for 42 years, was known to entertain celebrities such as Vidal Sassoon, Mary Quant and Peter Sellers.

The palaces rooftop garden and long passageways have led to it being described as a childrens paradise, and William and Harry are said to have many happy memories of playing in the grounds.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared in public for the first time since announcing they will marry next year as the world glimpsed the American actress' engagement ring

After her marriage to Prince Charles, Diana, Princess of Wales moved into Apartment 9 where she raised Princes William and Harry.

Diana lived in the apartment until her death in 1997.

If Harry and Ms Markle are looking for more spacious living quarters they may look at Wren House, currently the home of the Duke of Kent, or Apartment 1, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married, the Gloucesters made the offer to vacate their home to make way for William and his new wife - and may do the same thing for Harry and Meghan.
A cruel dog owner deliberately froze his loyal pet to death by pouring cold water over the animal and putting it outside in the minus 32C cold in Russia.

Rescuers reached the whimpering animal while it was still alive, but encased in ice, in its outdoor kennel in Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world.

Heartbreaking images show the female white dog, eyes still open and frightened, pathetically waving its paw pleading for release.

A cruel dog owner deliberately froze his loyal pet to death by pouring cold water over the animal and putting it outside in the minus 32C cold in Russia

Rescuers reached the whimpering animal while it was still alive, but encased in ice, in its outdoor kennel in Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world

The rest of the pet's body was frozen solid to the iced ground on the coldest night of the Russian winter.

The animal activist volunteers in Yakutsk - the coldest city in the world - managed to free the poor animal and rush it to the vet, but despite frantic efforts he was unable to save the one year old.

He put the dog down to end her agony.

A female volunteer said: 'The eyes, I will never forget them. Did you ever see a man who wanted to live but who was already dying?

'The dog had exactly the same eyes, understanding everything, just unable to explain.'

Heartbreaking images shows the female white dog, eyes still open and frightened, pathetically waving its paw pleading for release.

The activists have demanded action against the owner, with a petition signed by 10,000 Russians.

'It's one thing is when your dog dies, but this man has many children,' said a volunteer.

'Today he let his dog die next to his house, and tomorrow the same may happen to his children.'

The dog owner was not named but is said to have earlier neglected the dog.

The activists are also complaining about alleged police inaction over the case, and a policy of the local mayor to clean up city by exterminating strays, reported The Siberian Times. They claim this gives a green light to cruelty to unwanted dogs.

Now an MP in Moscow, Sergey Boyarsky, has taken up the case calling for the owner's prosecution.
Police officers have reportedly been suspended after a photo emerged of a group of cops pretending to beat a colleague at Arlington National Cemetery.

Officials at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall are said to be conducting an internal investigation into the picture, which showed the officers smiling and laughing.

It shows one officer on his knees in front of a squad car as he is held down by two colleagues, behind whom are three others simulating beating the kneeling officer with batons.

The photo shows one officer on his knees in front of a squad car as he is held down by two colleagues, behind whom are three others simulating beating the kneeling officer with batons

Graves of more than 400,000 US soldiers are located at the military cemetery, which has a mission statement of: 'Honor. Remember. Explore.'

It is understood the photo, which was sent to Fox 5 by a whistleblower, involved officers who patrol Arlington National Cemetery which is in the shadow of The Pentagon in Virginia.

Graves of more than 400,000 US soldiers are located at the military cemetery, which has a mission statement of: 'Honor. Remember. Explore.'

A Base spokesman told Fox at least two of the officers are on administrative duty while the investigation into the incident which occurred on Thanksgiving Day was investigated.

He added the officers were 'horsing around' and that the incident spiralled into 'unprofessional behavior'.

As patrolling officers, they would have been responsible for responding to potential crime on the Arlington National Cemetery grounds.

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall said it did not fall in line with their views, and cemetery officials have not yet commented on the photo.
A company exclusively selling Australian products to China could spell the end of supermarkets being drained of baby formula by 'daigou' shoppers.

Chinese customers stockpiling huge amounts of the sought-after Australian product can now get their hands on bulk supplies through a separate resource.

With its popularity showing no signs of slowing down due to Australia's 'clean' reputation, AuMake is cashing in on its potential Chinese customer pool of 50 million.

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AuMake exclusively sells Australian products to China - cashing in on the daigou shoppers working to make profit by selling products online

Chinese shoppers can now get their hands on bulk supplies without clearing out supermarket shelves

The company sells products like baby formula, vitamins and protein powders from well-known Australian brands - and its stores are sprouting up rapidly around the country.

Six stores have already opened in Sydney, and with 15 more due to be opened in the first half of 2018, the business is looking to remove itself from 'grey market' dealings often associated with Chinese shoppers.

'We deal with big brands directly, daigou don't need to be visiting three or four different stores to get whatever than can off the shelves,' AuMake chairman Keong Chan told news.com.au.

'We work with suppliers, they ask how much they need of every product [for our] customer base of daigou and tourists. Other major retailers are not geared up for that kind of demand.'

Buyers are seen buying the baby formula products in bulk, before reselling them to the Chinese market

Six AuMake stores have already opened in Sydney, and 15 more are due to be opened in the first half of 2018,

Major supermarkets have been forced to limit its customers on their baby formula purchases, with daigous leaving many Australian mothers with nothing left to feed their own children.

No such cap exists with AuMake, as it works to support the estimated 80,000 daigous living in Australia - who can make up to $100,000 a year solely throughout their trade.

About 30 stores are set to open in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne within the next two years, and the company recent partnered with Australian Made.

About 30 stores are set to open in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne within the next two years

AuMake works to support the estimated 80,000 daigous living in Australia - who can make up to $100,000 a year

'Having in-demand Australian product available, with no purchasing limits, knowledgeable bilingual staff and payment options they are familiar with, including WeChat Pay, Alipay, Unionpay, is the basis of building a long-term relationship with Chinese tourists and daigou,' managing director Joshua Zhou said in a statement.

Trademark acquisitions have also recently been made with popular brands including Ugg Australia, Jumbuck and Health Essence.

Chinese shoppers have been slammed in recent months for buying bulk numbers of baby formula to sell for a profit online, leaving customers - and children - who need the baby formula without.

Major supermarkets have been forced to limit its customers on their baby formula purchases
An ageing Brooklyn gangster could face up to 15 years in jail for ordering a young associate to firebomb a car in 2012.

Vincent Asaro, 83, ordered John J Gotti, 24, to carry out the arson attack against a man in who had reportedly cut him off while driving in Howard Beach, Queens.

Asaro is a third-generation member of the secretive Bonanno crime family, and famously beat a charge that he took part in the legendary 1978 Lufthansa heist retold in the hit film 'Goodfellas'.

Vincent Asaro, 83, ordered John J Gotti, 24, to carry out the arson attack against a man in who had reportedly cut him off while driving in Howard Beach, Queens, in 2012.

Family members are pleading for a Brooklyn judge to show mercy on John J Gotti, 24, the grandson of a notorious gangster who is being sentenced for his role in a 2012 car arson

The incident, which Asaro has pleaded guilty to, began when an unidentified motorist pulled out in front of the ageing mobster in April 2012.

Asaro chased the him through Queens in New York City causing the panicked driver to circle the block repeatedly in an attempt to get police cameras to notice and respond.

The driver told the police that Asaro enlisted an associate to try and box him in but they both fled when the police finally arrived.

However, Asaro then used contacts to get the address of the driver and told Gotti and another man to torch the car.

Gotti was the getaway driver and pleaded guilty earlier this year to his part in the crime.

Prosecutors say the man cut Asasro off while he was driving, after which he ordered the arson

Asaro, 83, ordered Gotti to firebomb a man's car in 2012 because he was angry at the victim over a traffic dispute that occurred in Howard Beach

At the time it was carried out, the Lufthansa heist was the largest cash thefts in American history, with gunmen looting about $5 million in untraceable U.S. currency that was being returned to the United States from Germany, along with about $1 million in jewelry, from the airline's cargo terminal.

A jury found Asaro not guilty of charges he orchestrated the Lufthansa robbery with James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke, the late Lucchese crime family associate who inspired Robert De Niro's role in the film.

Now, Brooklyn prosecutors want him sentenced to 15 years in jail for ordering the 2012 hit, the New York Daily News reports.

Both Asaro and Gotti, grandson of the late mobster John 'Teflon Don' Gotti, who died in prison in 2002, pleaded guilty in June.

Meanwhile, Gotti's family members are pleading for a Brooklyn judge to go easy on the grandson of the notorious gangster.

Gotti is currently looking at federal time for his part in a 2012 car arson on top of the eight-year state sentence he's already doing for peddling painkillers in Queens.

However, more than 20 relatives and friends wrote relatives to Judge Allyne Ross who will be sentencing him, asking her to show mercy.

His uncle, John A Gotti (left), said his nephew's last name played a big role in him getting mixed up in trouble. His father, Peter (right), described his first-born son as 'a beacon of light and hope through our constant storms...'

Gotti's 75-year-old grandmother, Victoria Gotti Sr (pictured), expressed the 'fervent hope that I live long enough to see him come home again before I die'

More than 20 relatives and friends wrote relatives to Judge Allyne Ross who will be sentencing him, asking her to show mercy (Pictured, left to right: Victoria Gotti, Frank Gotti Agnello, John Gotti Agnello and Carmine Agnello Jr in April 2011)

'He is my baby, I adore him and pray he will have the opportunity to be a productive member of society again,' wrote his grandmother, Victoria Gotti, the wife of late Gambino boss John Gotti who died behind bars in 2002.

The 75-year-old, expressed the 'fervent hope that I live long enough to see him come home again before I die.'

The young man's uncle, John A (Junior) Gotti, said his nephew's last name played a big role in him getting mixed up in trouble.

'With this kind of pressure, with my nephew being a young individual of limited life experience, and subject to being easily influenced by those who might not have his best long term interests at heart, it is not surprising that he would find himself one day involved with the criminal justice system,' his uncle wrote.

Gotti's father, Peter, described his first-born son as 'a beacon of light and hope through our constant storms....Please consider the love and undying support he has from his family as we try to rise from the ashes.'

Gotti and Matthew 'Fat Matt' Rullan also pleaded guilty to their part in a bank robbery in Queens in 2012, in which they allegedly made off with nearly $5,500. They were arrested in March.

In June, Gotti (left and right, August 2016) and Vincent Asaro pleaded guilty in torching a man's car. Gotti is already in prison serving an eight-year sentence for dealing drugs on the streets of Queens

Gotti is already in prison serving an eight-year sentence for dealing drugs on the streets of Queens.

He was discovered with 205 Oxycodone pills, 18 methadone pills, marijuana, a testosterone bottle and close to $8,000 in cash in his car after police searched the vehicle on June 30 following a traffic stop.

Prior to his arrest, Gotti owned a tattoo shop in Queens called Rebel Ink Tattoo and, according to his Facebook page, was a personal trainer and fitness model.

Problems with police and time behind bars was a big part of his grandfather's life.

Prior to his arrest, Gotti (pictured) owned a tattoo shop in Queens called Rebel Ink Tattoo and, according to his Facebook page, was a personal trainer and fitness model

He (left) is the grandson of the notorious head of the Gambino crime family, John 'Teflon Don' Gotti (right, January 1990). In 1992, he was sentenced to life in prison and died in 2002

Gotti Snr was the notorious head of the Gambino crime family who turned to a life of crime at a young age, a profession that allowed him to escape the poverty of the Bronx, where he was one of 13 children born to John and Philomena.

Gotti joined a street gang before he was a teenager and eventually dropped out of school before becoming a part of the Gambino family, where he quickly rose up the ranks until he ultimately became head of the massive organized crime syndicate.

He first made inroads by running errands for members of the family as a teenager, and by his twenties was a key player in many of the biggest burglaries and heists.

Gotti was in prison three times before being arrested for the fourth and final time in 1989 for murder. In 1992, he was sentenced to life in prison.

Gotti died behind bars in 2002, one year after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Firefighters were left with no choice other than to smash the window of a car with a 'distressed' child locked inside as the temperature soared to 34C on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade said firefighters rushed to the scene, arriving at Pascoe Vale Rd, Coolaroo, at 2.52pm.

'The child was sweating in the vehicle so firefighters have smashed the window to get the child out,' the Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesperson told the Herald Sun.

Firefighters were forced to smash the window of a locked ar with a child inside on a 34C day

Parents have been repeatedly warned to not lock their children in cars, especially in summer

A spokeswoman for Ambulance Victoria said paramedics were initially called to the scene, but the ambulance was cancelled after it was determined the child was hot and 'distressed' but uninjured.

Parents have been repeatedly warned to not lock their children in cars, especially over summer where sweltering temperatures of up to 45C are expected.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Metropolitan Fire Brigade for an update.

It does not take long for the temperature inside a car to escalate on a hot day, Kidsafe Victoria President Doctor Mark Stokes said.

'On a 29 degree Celsius day, a car can reach 44 degrees in just 10 minutes and a deadly 60 degrees in 20 minutes,' he told The Age last year. 'Leaving the window down a few centimeters does little.'

On average, four Victorian kids are left in hot cars a day with 1562 calls made to paramedics last year to rescue or treat children.

In summer, it can be up to 30C hotter than inside a locked car than outside and the temperature inside a vehicle can heat up to more than double the outside air temperature within minutes, according to the Herald Sun.

An eight-year-old boy is still in critical condition after being found inside a family car in Melbourne as temperatures soared to a possible 60C inside the black Kia minivan (pictured)

This incident comes just weeks after an eight-year-old boy who hid in the back of his family car was found unresponsive in sweltering heat hours later in Newport.

His mother revealed she thought the boy was at school, not realising he had hidden himself in the back seat during the morning drop-off.

The young boy, who is now clinging to life in hospital was found in the family Kia Carnival on Maddox Road in Newport, Melbourne, at around 2.45pm on November 14 and had spent more hours inside the car in 30C+ heat.

The child was was in cardiac arrest and 'not breathing' according to early reports - and was taken to hospital immediately.

A resident allegedly saw the boy, who is believed to attend a local school, convulsing in the back seat of the car and used an umbrella to shield him from the sun as emergency services frantically worked to free him.

The boy was seen convulsing in the back of the hot car and using an umbrella to block the sun

'On a 29 degree Celsius day, a car can reach...a deadly 60 degrees in 20 minutes,' KidSafe said

'The boy's mother dropped her children at primary school in the morning however, didn't realise one of the kids had climbed into the rear of the car and hid himself,' Victoria Police spokeswoman Leonie Johnson said on Tuesday.

'She has driven to work and parked her car without knowing he was in there.'

After she made the shocking discovery, emergency services rushed to Maddox Road at suburban Newport and took the child to the Royal Children's Hospital where he remains in a critical condition.

Its believed the boy had to undertake neurological testing after spending hours in the family car as temperatures reached more than 30C, but he is expected to recover.
A man in China has miraculously survived after a steel bar speared into his head.

The victim was walking under a construction site on November 25 when the metal rod fell from a 13-foot-high platform.

The bar was said to be more than 3.3 feet long and about four inches of it got stuck inside the man's head. Doctors removed the bar from the man on the same day.

A three-foot-long long metal bar fell from a construction site and hit the pedestrian in China

Mobile phone footage captures the moment firefighters tried to cut off the rod. The man reportedly remained conscious at the time.

The man, appeared to be in his 30s, told Cover News that he was walking with his friends in Fucheng, Mianyang of Sichuan Province, when the incident happened.

A one-metre-long (3.3-ft), rhombus-shaped metal bar fell off from a construction site from about four metres (13 ft) high and hit him.

The bar impaled into his head by about four inches and was removed by surgeons that day

Firefighters had to shorten the metal bar in order to take the injured man onto an ambulance

Firefighters and paramedics arrived the scene shortly. They used an electric grinder to shorten the bar before taking the man onto an ambulance.

According to Chengdu Business Daily, doctors said the bar had impaled into the man's head for about 10 centimetres (3.9 inches).

The man was discharged after the bar was removed on the same day.

Mianyan police are investigating what caused the bar to fall onto the street.
Theresa May today congratulated Prince Harry on his engagement to Meghan Markle - saying it is 'a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love'.

The Prime Minister led the list of politicians who rushed to welcome the news, which was announced this morning after weeks of speculation.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron, a string of Cabinet ministers and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby took to Twitter to congratulate the happy couple.

Mrs May said: 'I would like to offer my very warmest congratulations to HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle upon their engagement.

Theresa May, pictured heading to church yesterday morning with her husband Philip, congratulated Prince happy on his engagement with Meghan Markle

Prince harry, pictured with his fiance at the Invictus games in September, announced their engagement 16 months after they first started dating

'This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future.'

Downing Street said it was unable to comment on whether the Royal Wedding would mean US President Donald Trump visiting Britain, insisting it was too early into the engagement to think about a guest list.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also wished the newly engaged couple well as he spoke at a rally in Scotland today.

But the crowd of Corbynistas who had gone to the rally to hear him speak booed when a journalist asked him about the engagement.

Mr Corbyn - a staunch republican - said: 'My congratulations to Harry and Meghan. I wish them well. hope they have a great time and great fun together and having met harry a couple of times I'm sure they are going to have a great deal of fun together.

Harry and Miss Markle have a photocall at Kensington Palace in London today after their engagement was announced

Harry stands with Miss Markle as she shows off her engagement ring in London this afternoon

'What I would also like to say is that I do really admire the way that harry and his brother have drawn attention to mental health conditions all across the country.

'I wish them well, thank him for what he's done for mental health and hope they have a great life together.'

Mr Cameron said: 'Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Wonderful news and I wish them a long and happy life together.'

The Archbishop said: 'I am absolutely delighted to hear the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now engaged.

'I have met Prince Harry on a number of occasions and have always been struck by his commitment and passion for his charities, and his immense love for his family.

'Marriage is a special and joyous commitment, one that Jesus celebrated together with friends at the wedding in Cana.

'I am so happy that Prince Harry and Ms Markle have chosen to make their vows before God.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn congratulated Prince Harry on his engagement today - but when he was asked about the news by a reporter at a rally in Glasgow the crowd of Corbynistas booed and heckled

Theresa May tweeted her congratulations for the couple son after news of their engagement broke this morning

Former Tory MP David Cameron was also among the first to congratulate the couple online saying he wishes them a long and happy life together

'I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfillment and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together.'

Rory Stewart, foreign office minister, said: 'So many congratulations to Prince Harry - wonderful news.'

The prince and his fiance will appear on national TV this evening to discuss their engagement just 16 months after they got together after being introduced by a mutual friend in Toronto where she was filming Suits.

The couple, who revealed they were an item a year ago after a six-month secret relationship, got engaged earlier this month in London and will marry in spring 2018, Kensington Palace said.

Royal protocol dictated that the Queen had to give her grandson permission to marry the star just a week after she celebrated her own 70th wedding anniversary.

In a statement she and Prince Philip said: 'delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness'.

His brother William and sister-in-law Kate said: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together'.
This Happy Meal quickly turned into a Sad Meal after this adorable toddler broke up with up her 'boyfriend'.

At just two-years-old, heart-breaker Mica Klaase was filmed by her parents dumping her friend 'Marshie' over the phone after he took another girl out for a McDonald's meal.

Her mother Jennifer, from Vancouver, Canada, managed to capture the moment of Mica's heartbreak.

Mica is filmed shouting down the phone at Marshie - even going as far as to make him cry - before she eventually breaks up with him.

But after a few moments, Mica seems to have a change of heart and professes her love for him, blowing kisses down the phone to complete their fairy tale ending.

Ms Klaase said: 'We have been taking videos of Mica since she was born and she loves it.

'Every morning she gets up and asks us to make videos. She is a real actress and is really funny.

Mica Klaase appears unimpressed with her 'boyfriend' Marshie, who she claims has taken another girl to McDonald's

'She made up everything in the video and the boyfriend she refers to is a friend she normally goes on playdates with.

'His name is Marshall but she calls him Marshie.

'If he really did take another girl to McDonald's and Mica did find out I think there would be trouble.

'We laughed about it and thought this would be a great idea to put on YouTube alongside her other videos.'
At least 31 migrants died and 200 were rescued after they were set on by sharks during a perilous crossing from Africa to Italy, Libya's navy has said.

Some 18 women and three children were among the dead, while 40 people were still missing.

When Libyan coastguard boats arrived at the scene, they spotted large blue sharks swimming around the boat, according to Italian media.

African migrants are seen aboard a rescue ship as they arrive at a naval base in Tripoli on November 25, 2017, after their rubber boat was rescued off the coast of Garabulli

'When we arrived in the area, off the town of Garabulli, [one] dinghy was semi-submerged and still had 44 people clinging on to it, whom we saved,' Libyan patrol boat commander Nasser al-Ghammoudi told Italian newspaper Il Giorno.

'There were lots of bodies all around and we saw there were four or five sharks swimming among them, large blue sharks, a very aggressive species.

'When we brought the bodies on board we noticed that some of them had been bitten, so it's possible that among the missing some may have been eaten.'

The coastguard conducted two rescue operations off the city of Garabulli, 40 miles east of Tripoli, Libyas navy said.

Those rescued were brought to a naval base in Tripoli where they were given water, food and medical care.

Spokesman Colonel Abu Ajila Abdelbarri added that patrols had found 31 bodies and 60 survivors from one boat, while all 140 passengers had survived in the second boat.

Libyan coastguards carry the body of an African migrant at a naval base in the capital Tripoli

He said: When we arrived at the spot, we found an inflatable dinghy with several people clinging to part of it.

Migrants from Somalia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and four from Pakistan were among those rescued on Saturday.

Al-Ghammoudi said one of the vessels was three-quarters under water when the coastguard arrived.

He added: We looked for other survivors for more than five hours. We were able to rescue one woman after we heard her shouts.

Mild weather and calm seas have led to a rise in the number of migrant journeys from Libya to Europe in recent days.

Hours later on Saturday, more than 400 people were rescued from a stricken wooden boat further off the Libyan coast.

Italys coastguard, which coordinates the rescue effort in international waters, reported that 1,500 had been saved on Thursday and Friday.

The large numbers in recent days contrast with a sharp drop since mid-July in the number of migrants being brought to Italy.

On Thursday, the UN put the number of arrivals at Italian ports in the previous three months at 21,666, the lowest total registered in four years for that period of the year.

The downward trend has been attributed to a controversial combination of an Italian-led boosting of the Libyan coastguards ability to intercept boats and efforts to enlist the help of powerful militias to curb traffickers activity.

There have also been moves to tighten Libyas southern borders, accelerate repatriations directly from Libya, and measures to stem the flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa through transit states such as Niger and Sudan.
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The tale of a 20th century socialite who dedicated her life to exploring the Arctic and became the first woman to fly across the North Pole is being told in a new book.

Louise Arner Boyd, born in 1887, inherited her parents' huge fortune in 1920 and spent it on several death-defying explorations of some of the most remote parts of the world, challenging the view of what was required of a young high society debutante.

Images from the new biography show her on the deck of one of her ships in 1926, proudly standing next to a polar bear she has shot, and in another she is posing in a jeweled gown as she is being presented to the King of England at Buckingham Palace.

Astonishing: Louise Arner Boyd is pictured in 1925 being presented to to King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace, and just months later she was shooting polar bears in the Arctic

Traveller: Louise on board the Effie M. Morrissey with scientists (left to right) Frederick Gracely, Archer Taylor, and Tom Carroll during the summer of 1941

Different: Miss Arner Boyd poses with a polar bear she has shot onboard her ship the Hobby during the summer of 1926, and on her ship S.S. Veslekari - the first to sail to the inner ends of Ice Fjord, Greenland

Exploring: Miss Arner Boyd poses with a Spanish mariner named Francis J. de Gisbert at an unknown date and location

Born in San Rafael, California, to a millionaire mining magnate father and a mother from one of New York's most prestigious families, Miss Arner Boyd inherited a staggering family fortune when her parents died in 1919 and 1920 respectively.

With it she began to travel extensively, seeing as much of the world as she could until, on a trip to Norway in 1924, she saw something that would shape the course of the rest of her life; The Polar Ice Pack.

She dedicated her life to Arctic expeditions, and in 1928, Miss Arner Boyd found herself involved in a search for missing Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

Miss Arner Boyd's explorations from 1931 to 1938 included regions in and around Franz Josef Land, Spitsbergen, Greenland, Jan Mayen Island and eastern Arctic Canada.

Inquisitive: Miss Arner Boyd, seen handling a camera on Greenland, in the late 1930 spent her huge inheritance financing several death-defying explorations of the Arctic

Decorated: Miss Arner Boys is seen proudly wearing the Ordre national de la Legion d'honneur in Paris in 1928

Friendship: Louise and long-time chauffeur Percy Cameron are seen walking down a street

She made history in June 1955 when she became the first woman in the world to fly over the North Pole and her ship S.S. Veslekari, was the first to sail to the inner ends of Ice Fjord, Greenland

She was honored by the United States Government and a number of foreign governments for her geographic studies and explorations.

She died in 1972, aged 84.

Her life is being re-told by author Joanna Kafarowski, in the new book 'The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd'.

Louise signing the Fliers and Explorers Globe at the American Geographical Society office in 1938

Pride: Miss Arner Boyd is seen looking at a map depicting her expeditions at her home in Maple Lawn, San Rafael, California, in the late 1950s

Doing good work: Miss Arner Boyd, who died in 1972 aged 84, receiving award from the Department of the Army in 1949

Honoured: Sculpture of Louise Arner Boyd (and the subject herself) seen in the Marin History Museum collection currently in Novato, California

POLE POSITION: FAMOUS EXPLORERS OF THE ARCTIC COOK OR PEARY/HENSON - WHO GOT THERE FIRST? There are two claimants; American Frederic Cook who says he and two Inuit men reached the Geographic North Pole in April 1908, and Robert Edwin Peary, Matthew Henson and four Inuit women who say they arrived in April 6, 1909. FRIDTJOF NANSEN Decades before the Americans did/didn't reach the north pole, Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen made a good go of it. During a three-year expedition in 189396, his team reached a record northern latitude of 8614 - the furthest north anyone had managed to travel at the time. Nansen also famously led the first team to ski across Greenland in 1888 and later in life became involved in the League of Nations - later replaced by the UN - and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922. ROALD AMUNDSEN The Norwegian explorer was the first to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911, and after leading a team flying to the North Pole in 1926 he became the first person to reach both poles. In June 1928, Amundsen and five crew disappeared during a flight in the Arctic to rescue missing explorers. The search was called off in September and their bodies have never been found. ANN BANCROFT In 1986, American adventurer Ann Bancroft, 62, became the first woman to trek to the North Pole. She is also the first woman to cross both polar ice caps to reach the North and South Pole and in 1993 she led the first all-female polar expedition to reach the South Pole. Advertisement




Paris Valeta Bregazzi, 30, has pleaded guilty to one count of carrying out an unlawful act on a railway with intent to endanger a person

A transgender woman shoved an off-duty police officer onto a railway line after she downed four bottles of prosecco and took drugs during a wild night out, a court heard.

Paris Valeta Bregazzi, 30, barged PC Sam Chegwin onto the tracks at Hanger Lane Station in Ealing, west London, when he told her to 'calm down' after she became abusive and aggressive towards other passengers.

PC Chegwin 'mercifully' suffered only minor injuries after his head landed inches from the line which became live as the first train passed through seven minutes later.

He quickly climbed back onto the platform and arrested Bregazzi at 5.15am on July 17.

Bregazzi, who has recently had breast implants and cosmetic surgery worth 10,000, was detained in a male prison before pleading guilty to one count of carrying out an unlawful act on a railway with intent to endanger a person on November 21.

Judge Jeremy Dein, QC, released her on bail after telling the court he was 'concerned' she has been held in custody 'in very difficult circumstances'.

Judge Dein said he did not 'feel comfortable with imposing an immediate sentence of imprisonment' and deferred sentence until February.

The Old Bailey heard the offence carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutor Geoffrey Porter said: 'Ms Bregazzi came into the station with a friend. Also on the station were other passengers. It was early in the morning and they were awaiting the first train to pass through Hangers Lane that morning.

'Among the passengers was Mr Chegwin. Mr Chegwin is a police officer but was off duty and wearing civilian clothes.

'He was sat listening to music through his headphones and he could still hear an argument which seemed to be between Ms Bregazzi and her friend.

'The officer then noticed that Ms Bregazzi's behaviour became abusive and aggressive towards other passengers. At this point he decided that he had to become involved. He asked her to calm down and she was abusive to him.'

Bregazzi, 30, barged PC Sam Chegwin onto the tracks at Hanger Lane Station in Ealing, when he told her to 'calm down' after she became abusive and aggressive towards other passengers

CCTV footage shows the moment Mr Chegwin confronted Bregazzi and pushed her away when she became abusive.

Mr Porter continued: 'The officer said that he pushed her because he was concerned to make a "safe space", as he puts it, between himself and Ms Bregazzi.

'At that point she then proceeded to push him hard across the platform and he went onto the lines. He landed on the rails.

'His head came within inches of coming into contact with the live line, though my understanding is that the line at the time wasn't live. It wouldn't have been until the train came.'

PC Chegwin quickly got back onto the platform and arrested Bregazzi before more officers attended and took her away from the scene.

Mustapha Hakme, defending Bregazzi, said she is one surgery away from fully transitioning to a woman and has been in custody at a male prison since July 17.

Mr Hakme said: 'There is no doubt that her mental health issues have been exacerbated by her being transgender and the transition she has made so far.'

The court heard Bregazzi had struggled to deal with her parents 'disowning her' after she came out aged 19.

'Their reaction shocked even her,' added Mr Hakme.

'She is someone who as a result has been left full of anger and at the same time sadness and is effectively heartbroken by the rejection she feels.

'This is a defendant who is desperate to complete her gender reassignment and just effectively get on with the rest of her life.

'While she's in that transition period there can be no doubt that it's making its toll emotionally as well.'

Bregazzi already has 40 convictions for assault, harassment and shoplifting designer frocks dating back to 2007, including attacks on staff and commuters at Highgate Station, East Finchley Station and Kings Cross Station.

Judge Dein described her record as 'appalling', but said he felt her attack on PC Chegwin was a 'low level' offence that could be dealt with by a suspended sentence.

He said: 'You appear to be in a heated exchange with your friend, ultimately a person involves himself. That person turned out to be an off duty police officer - you didn't know that.

'That person pushed you first. Whether that was necessary or not is in my view open to question.

'Your criminality amounts to you having responded by pushing that person, Mr Chegwin, and he ended up on the railway.

'I'm fully satisfied that you didn't intend to push him onto the railway line.

'It's open to question in my view whether you intended to endanger him at all, but you have pleaded guilty to that offence.'

Judge Dein told Bregazzi he would defer sentencing until the week of February 19.

Bregazzi, from Islington, north London, must attend probation appointments, drug misuse appointments, engage with her GP and medical services and live and sleep at her flat while she is on bail.
A sign written completely in Mandarin out the front of a new $35 million apartment complex has been covered up with black garbage bags and tape, just a day after it sparked controversy.

The large sign out the front of the recently completed apartments on Cliff Road in Epping, in Sydney's north, caused a stir over the weekend for being completely written in a foreign language.

Developers of the five-storey apartment block admitted the sign and other symbolism inside the complex was a deliberate tactic to target Chinese investors, claiming it made the building more 'spiritual'.

A sign written completely in Mandarin outside a $35 million apartment complex has been covered up after it sparked fury over the weekend

The large sandstone construction was named after a Chinese centre of educational excellence, Han Ling Yuan, in the hope to create a 'spiritual' feel

'This is using our schools to sell apartments to people who do not speaking our language; it is offensive,' Cr Lorraine Wearne said.

'It really bothers me and clearly bothers residents in Epping.'

The council approved an application for the sign to be installed with Chinese characters, but specified it should not be visible from the street.

A spokesperson for the council told Daily Mail Australia they had not covered up the sign.

'Council is continuing its investigation into this matter and will consider what action is necessary at the conclusion of its investigation,' a spokesman said.

Nearby resident Kate Chivers was angered by the sign, suggesting a crude message to Australians could be written on it with no-one's knowledge.

Parramatta Council has launched an investigation into the sign, and one councilor labelled it 'offensive'

While the sign at the front of the building had been covered up, Mandarin symbols at the doors to the complex can still be seen

The series of enormous apartment blocks in Epping, north of Sydney, targeting Chinese buyers

'Every time we look up the street we are greeted with this glaring sign in Chinese. As far as I'm concerned the sign could say 'stuff you Aussies'.

The complex sits in the federal seat of Bennelong, where more than 20 per cent of residents have Chinese ancestry - making it the dominant ethnic group.

Also included as part of attempts by developers to make the apartment block more appealing to overseas buyers is a large courtyard with a yin and yang symbol and a traditional fish pond.

It came as one local resident who has lived in the neighbourhood for the past 20 years told Daily Mail Australia they were left feeling 'uncomfortable' by being unable to read the sign.

'I have travelled to China and Hong Kong a lot and have never had an issue, because all the street signs are in Mandarin and English,' the woman said.

More apartment blocks appear set to pop up right across the road, with houses surrounded by temporary fencing and marked for demolition

Its close proximity to schools and universities, as well as public transport access to the city, has made Epping a hub for overseas investment

'But my issue with that sign is it's completely in Mandarin and I looked at it and thought: 'I don't know what that says'.

'If it's courtesy in China to also have English on signs, why isn't it the same here?

'If it says 'happiness' or something that's fine, put it underneath so I know and feel more comfortable.'

A quick look around the area revealed that the covered up sign out the front of the apartment complex isn't the only one not to be written English.

Billboards at the front of other already completed unit blocks in the quiet residential street are covered in Mandarin symbols.

On one a real estate agent appeals to Asian buyers as a priority using symbols on the upper half of the sign, before copying the message into English as an afterthought.

A quick look around the area reveals the sign out the front of the apartment complex isn't the only one not to be written English

On another sign nearby a real estate agent appeals to Asian buyers as a priority using symbols on the upper half of the sign, before copying the message into English as an afterthought

Businesses in one of the main retail precincts in the suburb have also followed suit, displaying their names on shop fronts with symbols and also English.

Parramatta Council has launched an investigation into the sign, with one councilor labeling it 'offensive' and calling for English to be added.

The building was named by developers Arise Constructions after an ancient Chinese centre of educational excellence, Han Ling Yuan, The Daily Telegraph reports.

A spokesman defended the company's decision to leave off an English translation - drawing a connection with the complex's close proximity to education institutions.

'There are lots of high ranking schools in the Epping area and that is why we put the name on the project,' John Zhang said.

'It is spiritual. It is a wish for people who stay in these apartments to have a good education. Most of the clients are local Chinese.'

Clearly targeting international tenants and investors, a local real estate agent said many of those who have already snapped up the units were from overseas.

Several other businesses in the area hang non-English signage out the front of their stores

This business listed their shop name first in Asian symbols before also writing it in English

She said the proximity of the one, two and three bedroom units - which will sell for up to $1.5 million each - to schools, university and public transport had made them hot property.

'You're in the school zone with both primary and public schools nearby,' the agent said.

'A lot of people from China are buying and coming over with their kids or sending their kids over.

'Also students at (Macquarie) University are often looking to rent because it's close to trains and buses too.'

And it seems that the Gondon Elysee block is only the beginning, with more large scale developments set to spring up alongside it in the area.

Houses directly opposite the apartments and on neighbouring streets have been recently snapped up by developers, with temporary fencing signaling imminent construction.
New defence secretary Gavin Williamson warned the Treasury over cuts today as he insisted Nato's 2 per cent spending target was a 'base not a ceiling'.

As he fights to quell a mounting Tory rebellion over Armed Forces cuts, Mr Williamson said he looked forward to talks with the Chancellor.

In his first ever appearance at the Commons Despatch Box, Mr Williamson sought to reassure uneasy MPs he was taking a fresh look at proposals for cuts.

At Defence Questions in the Commons, Mr Williamson was bombarded with questions about cuts to his budget.

He insisted 'I'm taking the opportunity to look at all the work that has been done and making my own judgement on this'.

And in a clear shot over the Treasury's bow, Mr WIlliamson said: 'I've always seen 2 per cent as base, not a ceiling.'

New defence secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured on his debut at the Despatch Box today) fired a shot over the Treasury's bow today as he warned Nato 2 per cent spending target was a 'base not a ceiling'.

In his first ever appearance at the Commons Despatch Box, Mr Williamson sought to reassure uneasy MPs he was taking a fresh look at proposals for cuts.

It was claimed that the National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill has concluded the military do not need any extra funding

It was claimed today that a national security review is set to prioritise cyber warfare over reinforcements for the troops.

Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood has reportedly threatened to resign if any new cuts are made to Army manpower.

Downing Street endorsed Mr Williamson's claim on 2 per cent tonight. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We would agree with that.'

Many Tory MPs have joined calls for the 2 per cent commitment - which the Government has only barely met in recent years - to be increased to 3 per cent.

One ministerial source told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Sedwill 'is determined to screw over the MoD' because he wants more money to tackle security threats in cyber space.

MOD STAFF ON MORE THAN 100K DOUBLES IN FOUR YEARS The number of defence officials paid more than 100,000 has nearly doubled in four years, new figures reveal. Some 111 officials at the Ministry of Defence and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) - the arms length trading body that buys and manages armed forces equipment, earned at least six-figure sums in 2016/17. This compares to 62 staff in 2012/13 and 74 officials as recently as 2014/15. The MoD says this includes allowances, bonuses and overtime on top of salaries, while it has to compete with the private sector. Tory MP Johnny Mercer, a former Army captain, said: 'It beggars belief that the number of officials in the MOD and DE&S being paid 100,000 and more has almost doubled since 2012/13. 'At a time when budgets across Whitehall are being constrained, something which is felt so acutely in the delivery of frontline services, the concept that in hidden rooms officials have seen their pay packets rise so significantly will not be warmly received. 'I very much look forward to what the MoD has to say about this.' Mr Mercer is among the most outspoken of a group of Tory MPs concerned about defence cuts. Labour, meanwhile, says the salary of an Army private has been cut by more than 1,000 in real terms since 2010. The figures were obtained in a written parliamentary question by Labour former defence minister Kevan Jones. Advertisement

The source said: 'The problem is the NSA [Mr Sedwill] is driving a 'within-the-costs-envelope' approach at everyone.'

Downing Street said the report was 'pure speculation' and that Mr Sedwill's report would be finished in due course.

As the defence spending row grew yesterday, Trade Secretary Liam Fox has suggested a compromise deal will be found to quell the unrest as he acknowledged there were tensions over a review of defence capabilities.

Mr Ellwood, the minister responsible for defence personnel and veterans, is understood to have concerns about proposals which could see the Army's full-time strength reduced by 12,000 to 70,000.

Tory chairman of the Defence Select Committee Julian Lewis called for a 50 per cent increase in defence spending as the only way to avoid the 'hollowing out' of the armed forces.

Johnny Mercer, a former army officer and a prominent member of the Defence Select Committee, has warned the Tory leadership a number of Conservative colleagues are prepared to fight back over the threat of cuts and 'feelings are running high' on the issue.

'Heading back into town for another scrap this week,' he warned.

'I am determined that as the party of defence, we as a team will get it right.'

Mr Lewis used a letter to the Guardian to set out his views: 'By barely achieving Nato's 2 per cent minimum figure, we have dangerously downgraded the place of defence in our list of national priorities.

'Setting ourselves a spending target of 3 per cent of GDP for defence would not by itself guarantee our security, but without such an increase there is no prospect of recruiting personnel and buying equipment on a scale sufficient to avoid the 'hollowing-out' of our armed forces.'

HMS Bulwark (file image) is one of the military assets reportedly earmarked for cuts

Speculation about defence cuts has mounted in recent months since the launch of a review led by Mr Sedwill.

The review is examining all aspects of national security capabilities, fuelling speculation it will prioritise measures to counter cyber attacks and terrorism rather than major defence projects.

Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood has reportedly threatened to resign if any new cuts are made to Army manpower

As well as rumours about potential cuts to the strength of the Army, there have been concerns about the future of armoured vehicle programmes and suggestions that amphibious assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark could be axed alongside the loss of 1,000 Royal Marines.

A letter sent to Mr Williamson by Tory MPs warned that the loss of Albion and Bulwark would 'dangerously limit the array of options' available to the Government in a military or humanitarian crisis.

It said: 'We must make it clear to you that as a cohort of MPs representing a large portion of the Government's vote, we are not prepared to see the degradation of this nation's amphibious capabilities any further in this capability review that the Government is currently undertaking.'

But Dr Fox, a former defence secretary, said: 'You have to look at our record.

'We are one of the very few Nato countries that actually spends 2 per cent of our GDP on defence.

'There's a review going on at the present time and I think back to my time as secretary of state for defence where we had a similar review ongoing and there's always a lot of tension, not just between the MoD and the Treasury but also inside the MoD between the different parts of the armed forces and naturally there are concerns about the future shape of that.

'But this is an ongoing discussion.

'I'm afraid it's not unknown for some of these tensions to spill over into the public domain.'

Asked about the Sedwill review, A Ministry of Defence spokesman told the a Telegraph: 'No decisions have been made and any discussion of the options is pure speculation.'

A Treasury spokesman said: 'We cannot comment on speculation on meetings between cabinet ministers.'
A coin collector who swindled TfL after he realised Swaziland currency could be used to top up his Oyster card has been spared jail.

David Drukarz, 64, used the African Iilangeni, which are roughly the same size and weight as 1 coins but worth just over 5p.

It is believed he used the top-up trick on 54 different occasions between November 2016 and January this year.

After topping up the card he would withdraw the money from the ticket office.

David Drukarz (left and right), 64, swindled TfL after he realised Swaziland currency could be used to top up his Oyster card at ticket machines, a court heard

CCTV footage showed Drukarz at Kilburn tube station on January 16 and 17 this year slotting the coins into the machine to top up his Oyster card.

The following day, he was spotted again at Bond Street station using the same trick.

He was caught in February when a plain clothes police officer saw him at a ticket machine at Wembley Park station with two Oyster cards.

The court heard Drukarz told the officer: Im impressed, I knew they were getting close.

Police then searched his home and discovered 508 Swaziland coins, three bags of Israeli shekels and 22 Oyster cards hidden in the inside of his oven.

They also found various other medallions and foreign currency.

He used the African Iilangeni (second from left, middle) which are roughly the same size and weight as 1 coins but worth just over 5p

Sentencing him, the judge, Mr Recorder Dafydd Enoch QC, ordered Drukarz to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work.

He said that Drukarz had a fascination with coins and accepted he had only benefited himself through the fraud.

Drukarz, of Luton, Bedfordshire, admitted one count of fraud by false representation and one count of concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property.

His previous convictions include two counts of theft in Switzerland, the most recent being in 2010, and one count of fraud in 1975.
An Australian man has come across a rather strange image while searching for an address on Google Maps.

Dean Stocks, from Darwin, was searching for a location in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory when he saw what appeared to be a UFO on the digital map.

Speaking to the NT News, Mr Stocks said he couldn't believe it.

A Darwin man has come across a rather strange image while searching for an address on Google Maps, spotting what appears to be a UFO (pictured)

'I don't believe I've seen a sky boob before but I've read about them in picture magazines,' he said.

'I know all the conspirators will have their say  it will be a reflection of the Tennant Creek watertank or something like that.'

At closer inspection, the image does bear striking similarity to an alien spacecraft.

At closer inspection, the image does bear striking similarity to an alien spacecraft

However, it could also be a flash of light from the Google Maps camera or, as Mr Stocks suggested, a reflection of a nearby watertank.

Darwin astronomer Geoff Carr told the publication the image was likely photoshopped.

Meanwhile, Mr Stocks said he would be traveling to Tennant Creek in a few weeks and would make a point of driving down Ambrose Street, the sight of the UFO image, to inspect the area for himself.
First daughter Ivanka Trump will take Hyderabad by storm on Tuesday as she headlines a international conference that's being put on by the Indian and American governments in the city's tech quarter.

Trump will keynote the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on Tuesday, sharing the stage with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - whom she will dine with later at Falaknuma Palace, a royal residence that was converted in the last decade into a private hotel.

She is also participating in two panels at the women-focused symposium.

The senior White House advisor will spend 36 hours in the city, a U.S. official told DailyMail.com. Her departure from India will precede the conclusion of the three-day gathering in Hyderabad.

In spite of her short stay, the bustling city underwent a transformation in areas that Trump is expected to pass through.

Beggars were rounded up from the streets and displaced. Trees were painted and planted along the medians. Roadways were tidied and repaved - all to impress the U.S. president's 36-year-old daughter, a senior adviser to her father.

First daughter Ivanka Trump will take Hyderabad by storm on Tuesday as she headlines a international conference that's being put on by the Indian and American governments in the city's tech quarter

In spite of her short stay, the bustling city underwent a transformation in areas that Trump is expected to pass through

Trees were painted and planted freshly coated medians, lights have been strung, sculptures were also brought in to line the roads

Local workers spruce up the medians near a freshly decorated tree not too far from the summit Ivanka is attending

Beggars like the man seen here were rounded up from the streets and displaced earlier this month as part of the city's clean-up campaign

Ivanka's face is on several local billboards that were erected near Hitech City, the neighborhood of the conference. They're seen from the entrance of the neighborhood on Monday

Local residents say they are 'proud' that Trump is visiting Hyderabad over Mumbai, India's largest city, or Delhi, its national capital.

Several chaffed at beautification project, though, telling DailyMail.com that greenery, artwork and sculptures lining the roadways now were not there a week ago and wouldn't be there now if it weren't for Ivanka.

'I think it's overrated, honestly,' said 18-year-old engineering student Bhavani P. of the first daughter's visit. 'They are cleaning up roads. They are decorating just because she's coming.'

Ivanka Trump is in town for GES at the invitation of Modi, an offer he extended to her last summer when he visited the White House. The location of the summit was announced a year prior in a joint statement between former President Barack Obama and Modi during a June 2016 trip to Washington.

Obama launched the conference that will be held this week at Hyderabad International Convention Centre in 2010. President Trump's White House said this June that it would honor the agreement during Modi's visit.

It was announced then that Ivanka would represent the U.S. at the event - a choice that CNN says roiled Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. In the previous administration, the nation's top diplomat sometimes went to the summit. Once, when it was held in Kenya, the birthplace of Obama's father, the U.S. president was the nation's chief delegate.

The president's daughter has thrice represented the U.S. government at major international events, including an apprenticeships forum in Germany and a women's assembly in Japan

The theme of this year's Global Entrepreneurship Summit is 'Women First, Prosperity for All'

Local workers were still installing lights and decorations on Monday afternoon as Ivanka prepared to take flight

Black and white swans were up and down the roadways on Ivanka's route, always in pairs - a possible reference to the U.S.-India friendship

Indian artists paint the entrance of the Hitech City, the venue of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit next to a billboard that features Ivanka Trump, in Hyderabad

Ivanka Trump is in town for GES at the invitation of Indian PM Modi, an offer he extended to her last summer when he visited the White House

In the unconventional Trump White House, where Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner both have senior standing, the president's daughter has thrice represented the U.S. government at major international events, including a forum on apprenticeships in Germany and a women's assembly in Japan.

Trump's elder daughter is a business owner in her own right, having built up a successful lifestyle and clothing brand prior to her father's presidency. Her experience managing her personal business and her father's real estate company, where she was previously an executive, along the name and face recognition she earned from appearances on 'The Apprentice' have made her an appealing communicator within her father's controversy-plagued administration.

Ivanka has the potential to upset local vendors with street closures and the possibility of an undisclosed sightseeing trip in Hyderabad, though. Her brand's treatment of factory workers in its Indian production plants has also attracted some scrutiny in days before her trip.

The theme of this year's Global Entrepreneurship Summit is 'Women First, Prosperity for All.' Ivanka, a promoter of women's issues, is speaking on panels with uplifting taglines like 'We Can Do It! Innovations in Workforce Development and Skills Training' and 'Be the Change: Womens Entrepreneurial Leadership.'

She said last week that the theme 'demonstrates the Trump administration's commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrives.'

Predicting 'a very exciting conference,' Ivanka said she hopes the summit 'will really elevate these issues, not only domestically and in India but across the globe.'

'I very much look forward to my visit,' she told reporters during a call put on by the State Department, which is helping to organize the international summit.

An Indian policeman stands guard in front of the Hyderabad International Conventional Centre ahead of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

Like other high-profile attendees of the summit, Trump is staying at the Westin on Hyderabad's MindSpace campus

Trump will keynote the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on Tuesday, sharing the stage with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - whom she will dine with later at Falaknuma Palace

Indian security officials stand inside an entrance hall Falaknuma Palace, which was the former residence of Nizam Mehaboob Ali Khan in the old city area of Hyderabad

Modi and Trump will dine at the palace's famed 101-person table with other VIPs tomorrow

It's not known what will be served at the dinner - but Hyderabad residents are proud of biryani, a local dish consisting of meat, spices and rice

In Hyderabad, where Telugu is the official language and a mere two-thirds of the city's residents are literate, English-speakers were anticipating the high-level visit that is being advertised on large billboards near the city's IT hub.

'A warm welcome to Ivanka,' said Sai Krishna, the human resources officer at at an ethnic wear retail store. 'Gladly welcome,' the 27-year-old said.

Krishna made note of the renovations and Ivanka's resume. 'All Hyderabad people warmly welcome Ivanka. All Hyderabad people are wanting to see her,' he said.

Shrugging off Trump's visit was Aashritha Reddy, an 18-year-old college student who's native to Hyderabad. Reddy said of the spotlight on women's entrepreneurship at this week's summit: 'Let's see if it actually works.'

Twenty-seven-year-old Rohith, an engineering major who is currently employed at a Hyderabad electronics store, said he was pleased that Ivanka was visiting if only for the roadway improvements.

'Now they made everything beautiful, planting trees,' he said. 'Governments are doing their jobs now.'

FirstPost and other publications in the area have also reported a rounding up of beggars in anticipation of the event, much like the city's crackdown when Bill Clinton visited in 2000.

The local government has quashed that reporting and claimed it was part of an on-going campaign to rid the city's streets of the homeless.

A Nov. 7 notice from the Hyderabad city police commissioner M. Mahendar Reddy said 'many beggars are begging alms in an indecent manner' and 'employing children and handicapped persons' to help solicit cash.

'Such acts are causing annoyance and awkwardness by exposing in an indecent manner to divert the attention of the vehicular traffic as well as pedestrians and public in general to induce them to give alms,' the post said. 'These acts are dangerous to the safety of the vehicular traffic and public in general.'

Locally it has been reported that Trump may walk through the Laad Bazaar, a market close to Charminar where bangle bracelets are sold. Below is the Charminar market, another popular tourist destination

Safety is a top concern for the local government with the U.S. president's daughter and the Indian prime minister in town.

According to the Times of India, the state's most elite police divisions will be on guard Dragunov sniper rifles at the places she and Modi are traveling and door-to-door searches are being conducted of neighborhoods in the vicinity of the palace they're dining at.

The publication also said that three bulletproof and mine-resistant limos are on loan for her trip from the U.S. Secret Service.

A request for comment from the agency by DailyMail.com was declined.

U.S. officials have been tight-lipped about all of Trump's plans, even as local media has been abuzz with reports on where the president's daughter is staying and where she will go when she's not in Hitech City, the neighborhood that's home to both her five-star accommodations and the summit.

Like other high-profile attendees of the conference, Trump is staying at the Westin on Hyderabad's Mindspace campus.

She will be escorted at all times by local police vehicles, forcing road closures in the areas that she and other VIPs will be using to get from the hotel to the convention center and other points of interest.



The ornately-painted trees, sculptures and newly-planted greenery do not complete her pathway, providing only a partial glimpse of where she will travel.

Ivanka is confirmed to attend a dinner with Modi at Falaknuma on Tuesday and an 'official breakfast' during her 36-hour stay.

Times of India reported that Taj Hotels imported flowers from Thailand, Indonesia and Bengaluru, India, for the dinner at the property that it remodeled and opened for business in 2010. It also flew in a master chef for each dish on the menu and prepared gold and silver plates and cutlery for the occasion, Times of India reported.

A Trump administration official also said a 'potential cultural stop' is still in the mix, meaning that Trump could stop by Chowmahalla Palace, a residence of another Nizam of Hyderabad that remains that family's property, or Charminar, a monument and monument that's the internationally-recognized symbol of Hyderabad.

Locally it has been reported that Trump may walk through the Laad Bazaar, a market close to Charminar where bangle bracelets are sold.

That is assuming she has time after she participates in her panels and two bilateral meetings alongside State Department representatives.

Ivanka is expected to leave on Wednesday, although her exact departure date and time has not been shared.

A U.S. official said she was always due to the leave the conference before it concluded after a whirlwind trip to India and must return to the U.S. to help fellow White House aides with the GOP's tax reform push.
A devout Christian left a hidden camera in a Starbucks toilet for over nine months to satisfy his fetish for watching women urinate.

Antony Dines, 31, installed the covert video camera on a ceiling grate inside the disabled toilet at the coffee shop near MI5 headquarters in Vauxhall, south London.

The office worker also hid another camera inside a ladies toilet on the third floor at his workplace at New Malden Business Centre, west London.

He was arrested in front of law firm colleagues with a bag full of ladies underwear, after an appeal was put out my police showing his image when he unwittingly filmed himself installing the Starbucks camera.

Antony Dines filmed himself installing a secret spy camera in a Starbucks toilet

The camera was then left filming for nine months before a male customer noticed its light in the ceiling on 22 November last year, Camberwell Magistrates Court heard.

Dines is an active Christian in the south-west London area and continues to be a regular and speaker at Cornerstone Church.

Today he appeared in the dock a brown jumper and dark blue jeans and glasses and was joined by his mother and father who waited outside as he pleaded guilty to voyeurism

Bespectacled Dines, wearing a dark pullover and jeans, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, address and nationality.

He pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism over the Starbucks camera and a second count of voyeurism that he recorded a person doing a private act for sexual gratification.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of voyeurism in relation to the third-floor ladies toilets at his workplace.

Dines is a Facilities and General Office Assistant, employed by solicitors Lyons Davidson and is responsible for health and safety compliance and environmental management.

He is an active Christian in the south-west London area and continues to be a regular and speaker at Cornerstone Church

He is a graduate of Kingston University with a degree in Human Resource Management, and formerly worked at Kingston Business School and at Cornerstone Church, Kingston as an administrator.

He was arrested in New Malden on November 22, exactly a year to the day media manager Ricci Acari, 34, discovered the small camera hidden in a ceiling grate at a Starbucks in Vauxhall.

George Crivelli, prosecuting, said Dines was questioned twice at Brixton Police Station.

'He fully admitted placing the camera in February 2016,, placing it there and remaining in Starbucks watching people using the toilet,' he said,

'He said he had a fetish for watching women urinate. He said he placed the camera in his own workplace before taking it to Starbucks to record women.

'He had placed it on the third floor at work because there were more women up there and it was voice-activated.'

Manager Ricci Acari, 34, discovered the small camera hidden in a ceiling grate at a Starbucks in Vauxhall (pictured)

Dines claimed the underwear was his girlfriend's, but produced no evidence to back this up and police also found two mini-cameras disguised as car keys.

He had bought most of the equipment online at Amazon.

'He said he had the rucksack full of cameras with him because he was aware of the press release with his image on it and intended to throw away those items.'

Dines describes himself as 'reliable, hard-working and flexible' on his online professional profile.

His lawyer Mr. Graeme Rothwell told the court: 'Through an abundance of shame and embarrassment he has forwarded these pleas today.'

District Judge Karen Hammond bailed the first-time offender on condition he does not possess a recording device or enter premises where there are public toilets.

She said: 'I'm going to need a report. The starting point for sentencing is a high-level community order.'
Mouhammad Tabbaa arrives at the NSW court

The father of a 13-year-old girl who claimed she was kidnapped and taken to Syria has denied locking her up and physically abusing family members.

Mouhammad Tabbaa and his former wife Pamela June Tabbaa are suing the Nine Network over a 60 Minutes program.

The show aired in 2014 in which their daughter Nadia, now 29, said she was kidnapped in 2002 while holidaying in Egypt.

Nadia said she was beaten by her father, taken to Syria and forced to marry her older cousin before she escaped in 2006.

Nadia said she was beaten by her father, taken to Syria and forced to marry her older cousin before she escaped in 2006

In the NSW Supreme Court on Monday Mr Tabbaa admitted arguing and raising his voice with his family, but said there was never any physical violence.

He denied striking Ms Tabbaa with a plank of wood and threatening her with scissors in 1983, saying he was in and out of the country that year.

'I had no time to hold people over balconies or hold scissors to their necks,' he said.

The now 60-year-old said the couple had lived in Jordan from 1992 until 1997 when Ms Tabbaa decided to return to Sydney with their children.

He said he didn't see Nadia again until she returned to Jordan with her brother in 2002.

'She kissed me on both cheeks,' he said. 'She wasn't angry, she was happy.'

Over the phone his ex-wife revealed she was 'having trouble' with Nadia in Sydney and needed help.

Mr Tabbaa denied striking wife Pamela (pictured) with a plank of wood and threatening her

In 2014, Nadia went on '60 MInutes' saying that she was kidnapped in 2002 while in Egypt

Mr Tabbaa said that his wife Pamela (pictured) asked him to send 'troubled' teen Nadia to Syria

'She said, "Look, unexpectedly everything went against me when we returned to Australia",' he said.

He told the jury he 'had no option' but to go along with his ex-wife's plan to send the troubled teen to Syria with his mother, after just three weeks in Jordan.

'This was a female issue and I was probably expected to provide the logistic of it,' he said. He denied locking up Nadia or allowing her to get married.

Mr Tabbaa said while Nadia was in Syria he spoke to her every four or five weeks and 'she was happy with the food... the company... the clothing... (and) the gold.'

The hearing continues.
An eight-year-old boy accidentally locked himself inside a gun safe at a mall in West Virginia.

The child was visiting the Mercer Mall in Blufield with his parents on Saturday afternoon when he slipped away inside the Rural King farm supply store.

Green Valley Volunteer Fire Department Chief David Thompson said the incident took place around 3pm.

An eight-year-old boy accidentally locked himself inside a gun safe at a mall in West Virginia. The child was visiting the Mercer Mall in Blufield with his parents on Saturday afternoon when he slipped away inside the Rural King farm supply store (pictured)

Authorities immediately called a locksmith to assist with the situation.

The locksmith was able to cut around the lock, allowing the fire department to use rescue spreaders to pull the lock out of the door.

In all, the child was inside the safe for around 30 minutes.

'The child is physically okay, probably a little scared, but other than that, his well-being is excellent!'

Officials said it was fortunate that the safe was not completely air-tight, which allowed some oxygen to get in.

It's unclear how the boy, who was under the supervision of his parents, got locked in the safe.
Prince Harry will avoid overshadowing the birth of his brother Prince William's third child by marrying Meghan Markle a safe distance from the due date (pictured together on his wedding day in 2011)

Prince Harry's wedding will not have its own bank holiday dampening frenzied excitement from British workers that they might have had an extra day off next year.

There are 'no plans' for a bank holiday on the day of Harry walks down the aisle with Meghan Markle, Downing Street said.

The Prime Minister's spokesman pointed out that there was no Bank Holiday to mark the weddings of Prince Andrew in 1986 or Prince Edward in 1999.

However, a Bank Holiday was held for the wedding of Princess Anne in 1973, suggesting that the move has not always been restricted only to those who are in the direct line of succession to the throne.

Although no date has been set it will avoid overshadowing the birth of his brother Prince William's third child by marrying Meghan Markle a safe distance from the due date.

The couple have also synced diaries with the Queen and other senior royals to make sure they can also attend the wedding in the spring as Windsor Castle emerged as the hot favourite.

Easter falls on April 1 this year and with Kate's due date likely to be around then there has been a flurry of bets on a late April or May wedding.

Prince Charles married Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, on April 9, 2005, at Windsor's Guildhall, so his son is unlikely to clash with their 12th wedding anniversary.

Intriguingly Windsor Castle is closed on April 20 this year and its state apartments will be shut on the day before and afterwards.

But the castle told MailOnline they would not comment on private events and refused to say if it was booked for Harry.

The Queen's birthday is on April 21 meaning the couple are unlikely to choose that date for their wedding.

His brother William, who is set to be Harry's best man, chose April 29 to marry Kate Middleton in 2011 and that week could be a strong bet.

Bookies have said that May is the most likely month Harry and Meghan will walk down the aisle.

The month contains two bank holiday and has also been popular for royal weddings, including Princess Margaret's marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones on May 6, 1960.

Harry and Miss Markle have a photocall at Kensington Palace in London today after their engagement was announced

News of their engagement comes just one year after it was revealed, in November 2016, how the romance had blossomed

Social media was awash with comments from British workers hoping there will be a bank holiday on the day, but this was always down to the Prime Minister to decide.

One was ordered for when Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011 but he is a future king and Harry will be sixth in line once their third child is born next year.

But Harry is considered too far down the line of succession to warrant one, especially as his brother's children are also above him.

Reacting to the news today workers were already getting excited about the possibility of an extra day's holiday in 2018.

Ellis King tweeted: 'Yaaas Prince Harry engaged so another Bank Holiday on the calendar next year oooh ya belter.

Kevin Ashcroft wrote: 'Prince Harry getting married... perhaps an extra Bank Holiday????'

Cristina Rodriguez said: 'So if Prince Harry is getting married, does that mean we get a bank holiday? Cos I could totally do with a bank holiday'.

Royal sources have said it is likely to me in the three months from March next year but will avoid the Duchess of Cambridge's due date in April and the weeks around it.

Reacting to the news today workers were already getting excited about the possibility of an extra day's holiday in 2018 - but the final decision is down to the PM

Adam Rogers wrote bluntly: 'Do we get a bank holiday? Cos if not I don't care #RoyalWedding'.

St George's Chapel is the most likely option for Harry and his new fiancee to walk down the aisle.

The 15th century gothic church set in the Lower Ward of Windsor Castle is a popular choice for royal weddings.

WHERE WILL THEY MARRY IN 2018? WESTMINSTER ABBEY is usually the frontrunner for royals. The Queen and the Queen Mother both married there but it also holds painful memories because of Diana's funeral. Steeped in more than a thousand years of history, the gothic London Abbey has been at the forefront of major royal ceremonies for generation after generation. The Queen wed Prince Philip of Greece there as a 21-year-old Princess on November 20 1947. The Queen Mother, then Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, married the Duke of York, later George VI, there on April 26 1923. Her funeral in 2002 as also at the Abbey. ST PAUL'S is where Charles and Diana married in 1981 and has been the focus for many royal celebrations. The iconic building built by Sir Christoper Wren has recently held thanksgiving services for the Queen's Golden Jubilee and her 80th birthday. It staged the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill, the peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars and more recently the Service of Remembrance and Commemoration for the September 11 terrorist attacks. WINDSOR CASTLE is considered a more private and low key option. It would also prove easier for security because it could be cut off by a ring of steel more readily than locations in central London. Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, married at the Guildhall there in 2005 before a party at the Castle. There are dates in April that the castle is closed for a private event. Advertisement

Charles and Camilla had their televised blessing there in 2005 after their civil ceremony.

It would offer Harry and Ms Markle a slightly more intimate, lower key venue, but one that is still appropriately royal.

It usually holds around 800 guests, whereas Westminster Abbey - where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wed - can accommodate 2,000.

The church - a place of worship for the Sovereign and the Royal Family - is often at the heart of royal events.

With the Queen now 91 and the Duke of Edinburgh 96, the choice would be especially convenient for Harry's ageing grandparents, who spend a great deal of time at home in the castle.

Surrounded by the Horseshoe Cloisters and the Henry VIII gate, the venue will also provide the Royal Family with a certain amount of privacy on the day of the wedding.

Harry was also christened in the chapel in December 1984 when he was three months old, which, according to Church of England rules, means he can also marry there.

His uncle, the Earl of Wessex, married Sophie Rhys-Jones, now the Countess of Wessex, in St George's in 1999, while Harry's cousin, Peter Phillips, wed Autumn Kelly there in 2008. Newlyweds and their families traditionally pose for photographs afterwards on the vast west steps.

The historic church - started by Edward IV and finished by Henry VIII - is the resting place of 10 monarchs including Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour, and the beheaded Charles I.

It has also been the setting for many historic funerals. The Queen Mother's private committal service took place there following her Westminster Abbey funeral in 2002 - the same year as Princess Margaret's small, private funeral.

Like Westminster Abbey, the chapel is known as a Royal Peculiar, with the Dean of Windsor responsible only to the Sovereign.

Harry and Ms Markle's reception could be held in the castle's 180ft (55m) long St George's Hall, traditionally used for state banquets. The vast hall had to be restored following the devastating fire at the castle in 1992.

If Harry and Ms Markle decide to opt for a large-scale royal wedding with the full works, they could pick London's St Paul's Cathedral.

Harry stands with Miss Markle as she shows off her engagement ring in London this afternoon

With room for more than 2,000 guests, the grand, opulent central venue, with its distinctive black and white chequered floor, would have the advantage of providing an alternative setting to William and Kate's wedding in Westminster Abbey.

But it would be a poignant choice for Harry.

His parents, the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, wed in Sir Christopher Wren's famous domed landmark on July 29 1981.

It has been the focal point for many a royal celebration including Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the 80th and 100th birthdays of the Queen Mother and the thanksgiving services for the Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilees.

A cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood on site since 604 AD. The current building - the fourth to occupy the site - was designed by the court architect, Sir Christopher, and built between 1675 and 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

A key part of London's skyline and a popular location with tourists, it is the cathedral of the Diocese of London. It staged the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and, in April 2013, Baroness Thatcher.

Harry and Ms Markle could follow William and Kate's lead and choose Westminster Abbey. The gothic abbey is well-rehearsed at staging important royal ceremonies.

A short distance from Buckingham Palace, the central London location is convenient and the interior of the abbey is impressive.

Harry's grandmother, the Queen, and great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, were both married at Westminster Abbey.

But it is also where Harry attended his mother's funeral when he was just 12 and holds some painful memories for the prince.
The leader of the DUP congratulated the wrong prince on his engagement to the Meghan Markle.

Arlene Foster sent a tweet sending her best wishes to Prince William on popping the question to the US actress.

Realising her error the politician then swiftly deleted the tweet and changed her message to congratulate Prince Harry.

But she still misspelled the name of his bride-to-be, accidentally dropping the letter 'h' from her name Meghan.

The mistake, which came after weeks of rumours that Harry was about the announce his engagement, is an embarrassing gaffe for the politician.

Prince William got married to Kate Middleton - who became the Duchess of Cambridge - back int 2011.

DUP leader Arlene Foster, pictured at her party's conference in Belfast on Saturday, made the embarrassing gaffe this morning

Arlene Foster accidentally congratulated the wrong prince on his engagement this morning - sending a tweet sending her best wishes to Prince William rather than Prince Harry

But many eagle-eyed Twitter users were quick to spot the mistake and point it out online.

Mrs Foster, whose DUP party is propping Theresa May up in No10, was among a host of politicians who scrambled to send their congratulations at news of the royal engagement.

She later apologised for the mistake - blaming a member of staff for making the error.

She wrote on Twitter: 'Apologies to TRHs Princes William & Harry for tweet error on my account earlier. I stopped tweeting personally a long time ago.

'Genuine typo by a member of staff. Guilty of tweeting too fast. There goes any chance of an invite!! :-) AF.'

Mrs May said: 'I would like to offer my very warmest congratulations to HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle upon their engagement.

'This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future.'

Arlene Foster apologised for the error saying a member of staff made the mistake on her account

Prince Harry announced this morning that he is a to tie the knot with his US girlfriend Meghan Markle - who he is pictured with enjoying the Invictus Games in September

Downing Street said it was unable to comment on whether the Royal Wedding would mean US President Donald Trump visiting Britain, insisting it was too early into the engagement to think about a guest list.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also wished the newly engaged couple well as he spoke at a rally in Scotland today.

But the crowd of Corbynistas who had gone to the rally to hear him speak booed when a journalist asked him about the engagement.

Mr Corbyn - a staunch republican - said: 'My congratulations to Harry and Meghan. I wish them well. hope they have a great time and great fun together and having met harry a couple of times I'm sure they are going to have a great deal of fun together.

'What I would also like to say is that I do really admire the way that harry and his brother have drawn attention to mental health conditions all across the country.

Prince William tied the knot with Kate Middleton in 2011 in a massive royal wedding in front of thousands of well-wishers and the rolling cameras broadcasting to the world

'I wish them well, thank him for what he's done for mental health and hope they have a great life together.'

And Mrs Foster was not the only one to make an embarrassing gaffe as news of the royal engagement broke.

The BBC were left red-faced today after producers made a subtitle gaffe claiming Mr Corbyn was praising 'Harry and Hezbollah' as he welcomed news of the royal engagement.

The broadcaster cut to the Labour leader congratulating Prince Harry on the news he is to tie the know with Americana actress Meghan Markle.

Mr Corbyn was praising the work which 'Harry and his brother' have done for mental health - but the BBC mistranslated it as 'Harry and Hezbollah' - the banned terror group.
A 70-year-old California man who wrongfully spent nearly four decades in jail for the murder of his ex-girlfriend and her 4-year-old son celebrated his first Thanksgiving as a free man with the cop who helped secure his release.

Craig Richard Coley was jailed for the murders of 24-year-old Rhonda Wicht and her 4-year-old son, Donald Wicht, who were found dead in her Simi Valley apartment on Nov. 11, 1978, and had always maintained his innocence.

After his pardon on Wednesday, Coley celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike Bender, a former Simi Valley police detective who spent 28 years trying to prove his innocence.

Truly thankful: Craig Richard Coley, second from left, celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike Bender, far left, the detective who spent 28 years trying to prove his innocence

'This is the most thankful Thanksgiving that I've ever spent, you know?' Coley told NBC News. 'And I'm truly thankful for it. I'm not just saying that.'

Mr Bender began looking into Coley's case in 1989 after Coley's father Wilson, himself a retired Los Angeles Police Office, died while fighting to free him.

He spent 28 years investigating the Coley case and was the person who brought forward the evidence which eventually led to last week's pardon.

Mr Bender has now set up a GoFundMe page to support Coley's new life in freedom.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown pardoned Coley and ordered his immediate release from a state prison in Lancaster following the release of advanced DNA tests.

Coley maintained innocence since his arrest in November 1978 after Rhonda Wicht (right) and Donald Wicht (left) were found dead

Friends for life: Mr Bender began looking into Coley's case in 1989 after Coley's father Wilson, himself a retired Los Angeles Police Office, died while fighting to free him

Brown wrote in his pardon that Coley has been a model inmate for 38 years, avoided gangs and violence, and dedicated himself to religion.

'The grace with which Mr. Coley has endured this lengthy and unjust incarceration is extraordinary,' Brown wrote.

Coley's request for clemency was supported by Simi Valley Police Chief David Livingstone and Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten, who said they cannot stand by the evidence used to convict Coley.

'As district attorney, I must tell you I look forward to the day when I can shake Mr. Coley's hand, apologize to him for the injustice he suffered,' Totten said at a news conference Monday, a video of which was posted online by the Ventura County Star.

'I am also hopeful that one day soon we will bring to justice the violent man responsible for this most horrific crime,' Totten said.

Craig Richard Coley. Gov. Jerry Brown is pictured on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. He was pardoned by Gov. Jerry Brown after advanced DNA testing proved his wrongful murder conviction

Simi Valley Police Chief David Livingstone addresses the press regarding the Craig Coley request for clemency this week

Rhonda Wicht was strangled, apparently with a macrame rope - and her son was suffocated.

Investigators quickly zeroed in on Coley, who had broken up with Wicht shortly before she was killed.

Coley's first trial in 1979 resulted in a hung jury, with jurors unable to resolve an impasse that left them 10-2 in favor of guilt, according to a news release issued by the police chief and district attorney.

He was tried again in 1980, found guilty and sentenced to life without parole.

Brown wrote in his pardon that Coley (shown) has been a model inmate during his sentence, avoided gangs and violence and dedicated himself to religion

California Governor Jerry Brown is shown at movie screening earlier this year in Hollywood. Brown pardoned Coley this week and said the grace he 'endured this lengthy and unjust incarceration is extraordinary'

Brown said he asked the state parole board to look into Coley's conviction more than two years ago, and former law-enforcement officials said they believed he was wrongfully convicted or framed.

Livingstone and Totten said they began reviewing the case last year after a retired detective raised concerns about Coley's guilt.

The trial court had ordered evidence destroyed after Coley exhausted his appeals, but investigators retrieved records from Coley's relatives and located biological samples at a private lab.

Using advanced techniques not available at the time of his trial, technicians did not find Coley's DNA on one key piece of evidence used in the conviction.

However, they did find DNA from other people - whom authorities have not publicly identified.

'This case is tragic. An innocent woman and small child were murdered,' Livingstone and Totten wrote in their news release.

'Craig Coley has spent 39 years in custody for a crime he likely did not commit.'
Martin Howfield, 56 (pictured), a high school Spanish teacher from Queens, New York, became a 17-year-old student's 'sugar' daddy - showering her with gifts in exchange for sex

A New York City high school teacher became a 17-year-old student's 'sugar' daddy - showering her with gifts in exchange for sex.

Authorities say that Martin Howfield, 56, who taught Spanish at North Queens Community High School in Flushing gave the 17-year-old girl a paid internship funded by the city Department of Education through a 'Learning to Work' program.

But her only duties consisted of performing sexual favors. Records show he paid her $2,000 for the no-show job, which was funded through a federal program using taxpayer money, reported The New York Post.

According to the Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI), Howfield and the student were having a private conversation at the 'transfer school', a high school designed to re-engage students who have dropped out or who have fallen behind in credits.

Howfield allegedly asked the student 'whether he could be her sugar daddy', according to a report.

He agreed to pay her $300 a month, and 'asked what she would do for the money'. The student told investigators that she offered to have sex with Howfield.

Howfield (pictured) gave the 17-year-old girl a paid internship funded by the city Department of Education through a 'Learning to Work' program, paying her $2,000 for the no-show job, which was funded through a federal program using taxpayer money

The student told investigators that she and Howfield (pictured) would meet outside a McDonald's in Jamaica, Queens, and walk to a mall. On separate trips he bought her: $150 Jordan sneakers at a Kids Foot Locker, $190 Jordan sneakers, and $27 for five panties from Victoria's Secret

The report says that the teacher then asked her to send him 'nude photos of her vagina, breasts and buttocks', which she did.

The student told investigators that she and Howfield would meet outside a McDonald's in Jamaica, Queens, and walk to a mall. On separate trips he bought her: $150 Jordan sneakers at a Kids Foot Locker, $190 Jordan sneakers, and $27 for five panties from Victoria's Secret.

At first, the girl told authorities that Howfield only fondled her beneath her clothing, but later admitted she had intercourse and oral sex with the teacher in his car after shopping. He then gave her $20 for cab fare home.

The student's mother told a detective that her daughter once texted that she went to the mall with her 'sugar daddy, Marty'. The girl also told her mom that 'Marty' was her teacher, and that she took part in a work-study program at his law firm.

But she told investigators 'she never worked there'.

She said Howfield instructed her on how to fill out time sheets, which he signed, stating she worked at 'The Law Office of Martin Howfield'.

According to Avvo, an online directory of practicing lawyers, Howfield is a still a licensed attorney in the state of New York. The website also states that the site has 'not found any instances of professional misconduct for this lawyer'.

The Department of Education said Howfield quit his $85,793-a-year job at North Queens Community High School (pictured) in November 2016, shortly after the SCI completed its probe

At first, the girl told authorities that Howfield (pictured) only fondled her beneath her clothing, but later admitted she had intercourse and oral sex with the teacher in his car after shopping. He then gave her $20 for cab fare home

Authorities claim Howfield wanted to include other girls in his scheme. He allegedly asked the initial girl to introduce him to other teens. One former student said he had phone sex with her and sent her a photo of his genitals.

That student said he promised to pay her for the explicit conversation, which allegedly included references to child pornography, but ultimately never gave her any money.

The Department of Education said Howfield quit his $85,793-a-year job in November 2016, shortly after the SCI completed its probe but it is not clear whether or not he has been charged with a crime yet.
A California mother is demanding justice for her son who has been in a week-long coma since his unconscious body was found dumped in a residential neighborhood.

Tyler Petefish, 25, had been attending a party on November 19 when he was reportedly given drugs, according to his mother Lisa Lytle-Aubel who received an anonymous phone call after her son was found.

The young woman, who would not give her name, said that Petefish had then got a ride with two acquaintances.

Tyler Petefish, 25, (left before the accident, and right in a coma) has been in hospital since November 19

His distraught mother Lisa Lytle-Aubel is demanding answers and justice for her son

'According to what I've been told, there was an accident on the way home,' his distraught mother told Fox 40.

They supposedly hit a parked car. Tyler lost consciousness and was not breathing, and they panicked. And in their panic they drove into a residential neighborhood and dumped him.'

Petefish, a journeyman and contractor at K & L Warehouse, was dumped in a random front lawn on the Rosswood Drive and Parish Way, near Rusch Park in Citrus Heights.

'He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,' added Petefish's friend Cameron Archie.

Tyler Petefish, 25, (left and right) had been attending a party on November 19 when he was reportedly given drugs,

Lytle-Aubel received an anonymous call over the weekend telling her that her son was involved in a crash and dumped on a lawn

'He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,' added Petefish's friend Cameron Archie, pictured with him in hospital

Archie, who described his friend as, the most caring human beings I've ever known, said that the driver and another passenger who had been in the car with Tyler had panicked when they hit the parked car.

They 'decided not to take Tyler to the hospital, but to leave him 3 miles away from the accident on the lawn of a random homeowner.'

'Luckily the dogs at the home alerted the owner who called the ambulance.'

Archie and Petefish's family have started a GoFundMe to raise money for his medical bills, and to be able to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of the two people in the car with him that night.

'They must be held responsible for their reckless actions,' he added.

Petefish's step brother Ryan Auble asked for prayers and also called for any 'friends in Sacramento (who) know any thing please come foward(sic).'

The 25-year-old remains in a coma and his prognosis is unclear.
This is the astonishing moment Theresa May's security-tight convoy left drivers dumbfounded as it went the wrong way around a roundabout.

The procession was led by a police motorcyclist and followed by Mrs May's silver Jaguar XJ and three official vehicles.

The clip then shows the entourage approaching a roundabout  before swinging a right and going the wrong way.

The footage, which was filmed by freelance photographer Phil Gee, was shot as the Prime Minister left her home this morning in Sonning, Berkshire.

The procession was led by a police motorcyclist and followed by the Mrs May's silver Jaguar XJ and three security vehicles

The clip shows then show the heavily-protected entourage approaching a roundabout  before swinging right as it goes the wrong way

Mr Gee's partner, who was driving at the time, exclaimed: 'You cheeky bu**ers! Oh, you've got to be joking!'

The photographer, 38, told MailOnline: 'It's not something you see every day  the Prime Minister coming out of her property to go to work.

'I just happened to notice all of the police cars and we thought it looked interesting.'

And describing his reaction upon seeing the entourage heading the wrong way around the roundabout, Mr Gee said he thought it was 'pretty cool'.

Mrs May also welcomed the Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim to Downing Street today

A press briefing beforehand said the leaders would discuss: 'Regional issues, including Iraq and Syria, with the fight against terror being priority'

He added: 'But, to other road users, they might be like "what's going on here?"

'My partner said "never mind about her, what about all the traffic chaos?"'

He said that because police stopped drivers at the roundabout to clear a route for Mrs May, tailbacks were beginning to form.

The Metropolitan Police - who are in charge of the Prime Minister's transport security - have been contacted for comment.

The footage, which was filmed by freelance photographer Phil Gee, was shot as the Prime Minister left her home this morning in Sonning, Berkshire

And the motorist and his amazed passenger filming the bizarre sight were astonished as the passed through Sonning

The Metropolitan Police - who are in charge of the Prime Minister's transport security - have been contacted for comment

The display came before another day of Brexit-induced headaches for the embattled Prime Minister.

Irish ministers have repeated warnings they are 'resolute' about blocking a deal if Britain does not back down over the Irish border.

There are just days remaining to find a solution to the deepening stand off before Mrs May meets EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss a draft divorce agreement.

Mrs May also welcomed the Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim to Downing Street today.

A press briefing beforehand said the leaders would discuss: 'Regional issues, including Iraq and Syria, with the fight against terror being priority.'
Another kindergarten teacher in China has been accused of abusing her pupils by piercing them with needles.

Police announced today they are investigating the school in the Chinese capital after receiving reports from parents, according to Chinese state media.

The news came just four days after teachers at an established kindergarten, in the same district of Beijing, were said to poke children with needles and feed them with mysterious pills.

China launched a nationwide investigation into its kindergartens last Friday after the allegations sparking an outrage across the country.

A mother in Beijing has released pictures to show the needle marks on her daughter's hand

The mother claimed that her child had been abused by her teacher at the kindergarten

The mother claimed to have found screwdriver and pins (above) at her daughter's classroom

The latest allegations were made against a kindergarten in Chaoyang District in eastern Beijing.

Officers at the Jinsong Police Station claimed that they received information on November 27 from parents, who claimed their children had been pierced by their teacher with needles, according to a report on Sina.com.

Parents claimed their children were from the junior class, who should be aged between three and four.

The mother (far left) showed the pictures of her injured daughter to other parents at the school

The mother claimed that her daughter had been abused by her teacher at a junior class

She also showed reporters a hospital diagnosis, which said her daughter had sustained bruises

A mother has released several pictures to Chinese media The Paper, which apparently showed her daughter's fingers and one arm having needle marks.

The mother claimed that her daughter had been abused by her teacher. She also showed reporters a hospital diagnosis, which said her daughter had sustained bruises the size of needles on her arms.

The pictures and hospital diagnosis were re-posted by several influential Chinese news website, but these media reports are quickly disappearing from the internet.

The original reporter on The Paper has been taken down.

In a video clip posted by state media The Global Times, the mother was showing the aforementioned pictures to other parents.

Afterwards, she went into the classroom trying to find the tools the teacher had used

A supervisor at the kindergarten told parents that the teacher in question was an intern

She can be heard saying: 'My child liked taking showers, but now [she] refuses to shower or wash her head. [I] asked [her] why? [She said] it hurts.'

Afterwards, she went into the classroom trying to find the tools the teacher had used.

The video showed that the mother found a screwdriver and pins. Feeling angry, she questioned staff at the kindergarten 'what are these for'.

The headmaster of the kindergarten said the teacher who had been accused was an intern, reported The Global Times.

The intern was said to be studying at a college and is not qualified to be a teacher.

The Chaoyang Education Commission has reportedly set up a special team to investigate the case alongside the police.

This is the second time kindergartens in Beijing have been accused of abusing their pupils with needles.

China launched a nationwide investigation into its kindergartens on Friday after parents at a Beijing preschool (pictured) said toddlers had apparent needle marks and were given mysterious pills - sparking outrage days after another daycare scandal

On November 23, furious parents had gathered in front of the gate to demand answers from RYB Kindergarten, which has been accused of piercing pupils and giving them pills

The Chaoyang district government said police opened an investigation after parents reported the suspected abuse on Wednesday

Last week, parents who sent their children to the RYB Kindergarten in Beijing said toddlers had apparent needle marks and were given mysterious pills.

On November 23, furious parents had gathered in front of the gate to demand answers from RYB, which is run by a company that started trading on the New York stock exchange in September. Its shares plunged by more than 40 percent in after-hours trading.

On day later, security personnel installed a cordon at the gate of the RYB Education New World kindergarten after dozens of curious onlookers crowded outside the high-end, bilingual Chinese-English nursery, which was still operating.

Security personnel installed a cordon at the gate of the RYB Education New World kindergarten (pictured) on Friday after dozens of curious onlookers crowded outside

Eight children were said to have apparent needle marks and that the incidents occurred in two classes with kids aged between two and six. Parents said children were fed unidentified pills

An education official at Chaoyang district (centre) is surrounded by media and parents as he receives an interview after parents accusing RYB Kindergarten of abusing their children

The incident shocked the national and prompted the authority to launched a nationwide investigation into its kindergartens on Friday.

A 22-year-old teacher, surnamed Liu, has been arrested by Beijing Police in relation to the case, a statement said on November 25.

Previous reports suggested at the children at RYB might have been sexually molested. But newer reports claimed the allegation was internet rumour.

A 31-year-old woman, surnamed Liu, has been arrested on suspicion of fabricating and spreading false information on the internet.
British mother Nazanin Ratcliffe has spoken on the phone from the Iranian jail where she is facing an extra 16 years behind bars.

In the heartwarming call she reveals she has 'made so many good friends' and expresses her gratitude for the enormous support from the British public for her release.

She told supporters crowding around the phone: 'This has been an amazing journey for me although it's been really difficult for me to be in prison away from my family and friends.

'We have made so many good friends and I am really happy for that. It really helps me. I am so grateful for everybody's love.'

A programme aired by state TV in Iran focused on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured), who is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the 'soft toppling' of Iran's government

She told supporters crowding around the phone: 'This has been an amazing journey for me although it's been really difficult for me to be in prison away from my family and friends'

Her husband then took the phone off speaker for a private conversation with his wife, who has been detained in Iran since April 2016 for allegedly planning the 'soft toppling' of Iran's government.

Yesterday Iranian television aired pictures of a BBC pay stub and an email from 2010 showing she once worked to train Iranian journalists.

Mr Ratcliffe said that the report was intended to increase pressure on the British government which is working to secure her release.

An email reportedly sent from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in which it appears she describes how she trained Iranian journalists. It was aired by the Iranian state TV

The programme also showed pictures of a BBC pay stub, showing Zaghari-Ratcliffe's salary

Richard Ratcliffe (left), the wife of Zaghari-Ratcliffe (right), said that the report was intended to increase pressure on the British government which is working to secure her release

The case of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gained momentum in recent weeks as British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson faces tremendous criticism at home over his handling of it.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe now faces new charges that could add 16 years to her prison term.

On Thursday, Iranian state television aired a seven-minute special report on Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

It included close-ups of an April 2010 pay stub from her previous employer, the BBC World Service Trust.

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe who is detained in Iran, during a public demonstration to the Shia Islamic Centre of England in north London

It also included an email from June 2010 in which she wrote about the 'ZigZag Academy,' a BBC World Service Trust project in which the trust trained 'young aspiring journalists from Iran and Afghanistan through a secure online platform.'

Zaghari-Ratcliffe left the BBC in 2011 and then joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency.

Both her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and Thomson Reuters repeatedly have stressed she was not training journalists or involved in any work regarding Iran while there.

The state television report comes as the British foreign minister faces criticism after he told a parliamentary committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was 'teaching people journalism' when she was arrested last year.

Though Johnson later corrected himself, the Iranian television report made a point to highlight them.

A BBC Media Action, which was formerly known as the World Service Trust, told MailOnline the corporation denies Zaghari Ratcliffe was a journalism trainer.

Actor Emma Thompson and Richard Ratcliffe pose for cameras in London before a march in support of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother who is in jail in Iran

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe who is detained in Iran, is joined by supporters including actress Emma Thompson (left) and Tulip Siddiq MP (right) in Hampstead, north London before setting out on a march to deliver a petition calling for her release from prison

A programme aired by state TV in Iran focused on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured), who is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the 'soft toppling' of Iran's government

Speaking on Sunday, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said the report and other Iranian comments about his wife seemed timed to exert as much pressure as possible on the British government.

He said the material appeared to be from his wife's email, which investigators from the hard-line Revolutionary Guard immediately got access to after her arrest.

'It's trying to justify the new charges,' Ratcliffe said.

A BBC Media Action spokesman said: 'As we have always made clear, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe never worked for BBC Persian.

'She was not involved in the establishment of BBC Persian TV.

'According to our records, she was employed as a projects assistant between February 2009 and October 2010 for the BBC's international development charity, BBC World Service Trust (now called BBC Media Action), which operates independently of BBC Persian.

'She further carried out some short-term contract work as an assistant for a project in Iraq for BBC World Service Trust.

'Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was never a journalism trainer but undertook administrative duties such as travel bookings, typing, and filing.'

The report comes as Britain and Iran discuss the release of some 400 million pounds held by London, a payment Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered.

The shah abandoned the throne in 1979 and the Islamic Revolution soon installed the clerically overseen system that endures today.

A woman holds a placard during a march in support of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother who is in jail in Iran, in London

Authorities in London and Tehran deny that the payment has any link to Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

However, a prisoner exchange in January 2016 that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans also saw the United States make a $400million cash delivery to Iran the same day.

That money too involved undelivered military equipment from the shah's era, though some US politicians have criticized the delivery as a ransom payment.

Analysts and family members of dual nationals and others detained in Iran have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic's security agencies use the prisoners as bargaining chips for money or influence.

A UN panel in September described 'an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals' in Iran.

Others with ties to the West detained in Iran include Chinese-American graduate student Xiyue Wang, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly 'infiltrating' the country while doing doctoral research on Iran's Qajar dynasty.

Iranian-Canadian national Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, a member of Iran's 2015 nuclear negotiating team, is believed to be serving a five-year prison sentence on espionage charges.

Iranian businessman Siamak Namazi and his 81-year-old father Baquer, a former UNICEF representative who served as governor of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province under the US-backed shah, are both serving 10-year prison sentences on espionage.

Iranian-American Robin Shahini was released on bail last year after staging a hunger strike while serving an 18-year prison sentence for 'collaboration with a hostile government.'

Shahini is believed to still be in Iran.

Also in an Iranian prison is Nizar Zakka, a US permanent resident from Lebanon who advocates for internet freedom and has done work for the US government.

He was sentenced to 10 years last year on espionage-related charges.

In addition, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission, remains missing.
ITV viewers hit out today after it interrupted an ad break during The Jeremy Kyle Show to announce Prince Harry's engagement to Meghan Markle.

The broadcaster showed a 30-second newsflash with Nina Hossain following the announcement at 10am, but the brief interlude left many viewers angry.

Hossain told viewers: 'Good morning, we are interrupting the schedule this morning to tell you that in the past few minutes Clarence House has announced that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged.'

But Linda Fraser wrote on Twitter: 'Prince Harry gets engaged. Now can we get back to Jeremy Kyle? I find how that girl has two men fighting over her more intriguing.'

ITV showed a 30-second newsflash about the royal engagement today with Nina Hossain

Some viewers hit out today after ITV interrupted an ad break during The Jeremy Kyle Show

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared in public for the first time since announcing they will marry next year as the world glimpsed the American actress' engagement ring

Twitter user @sandie_beech wrote: 'Casually watching Jeremy Kyle on my day off when an interruption broadcast from ITV news comes on.

'I think we are going to World War Three or something and it's Prince Harry getting engaged.'

And @elskidmore added: 'Breaking News, Prince Harry and Meghan are Engaged.......Come on ITN News I was watching Jeremy Kyle!'

User @MeetMissJonesy said: 'People reacting with shock and horror to Jeremy Kyle being disrupted by Prince Harry and Meghan's engagement is the most British thing I've seen in a while.'

Russ McNally wrote: 'News flash on Jeremy Kyle, Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle! Hardly the SAS going into the Iranian embassy while enjoying the snooker final...'

And Kirsty Mair tweeted: 'Jeremy Kyle are you kidding? Special bulletin to announce Harry's engagement. Happy for him but come on ....'

One account commented: 'People reacting with shock and horror to Jeremy Kyle being disrupted by Prince Harry and Meghans engagement is the most British thing Ive seen in a while.'

Later, it was announced that ITV show Judge Rinder was being cut from the schedules to make way for an extended, lunchtime news bulletin.

Viewers went on Twitter to moan about their viewing habits being interrupted by the royal engagement announcement

Meghan's engagement ring's two outer diamonds are from Diana's own collection with a central diamond from Botswana - where they went on safari in September - all set within a gold band

'Announcement! We will not be on air today as the News is being extended due to the exciting news about the royal engagement.

'We send our congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple, Harry and Meghan. Not to fear, the court will resume tomorrow!', the show said on Twitter.

Alice Woodhouse wrote: 'No, I was looking forward to you cheering me up.'

And Twitter user @xoxoJan-AA said: 'How very dare they! The BBC hasn't changed their schedule.'

Corbynistas booed and heckled news of Harry's engagement to Miss Markle at a Labour rally this morning.

Shouts of 'who cares' and jeers swept through the 100-strong crowd as Jeremy Corbyn was asked for his reaction to the announcement at the event in Glasgow.

The Labour leader had travelled up to Scotland for his first big joint appearance with the newly-elected Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.

Harry, 33, who revealed a year ago he had fallen for the actress after a four to six month secret relationship, proposed to Meghan, 36, in London earlier this month

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace

And after the men delivered their speeches they were asked about the big news of the day - Prince Harry's pending nuptials.

But while Mr Corbyn - a staunch republican - warmly congratulated the royal couple his supporters were far more hostile.

Many of them jeered and heckled the reporter who had asked the question shouting 'get out' and 'get off'.

And they left onlookers in little doubt about their indifference to he news that has got the whole world whipped up into a royal wedding frenzy, with one shouting 'who cares?'

Mr Corbyn said he was pleased for the happy couple and heaped praise on the work Harry and his brother Prince William have done in raising awareness about mental health.

He said: 'My congratulations to Harry and Meghan. I wish them well. hope they have a great time and great fun together and having met harry a couple of times I'm sure they are going to have a great deal of fun together.

Jeremy Corbyn pictured at his rally in Glasgow today, congratulated the royal couple on the news but his supporters booed, heckled and shouted 'who cares' when he was asked about it

'What I would also like to say is that I do really admire the way that Harry and his brother have drawn attention to mental health conditions all across the country.

'I wish them well, thank him for what he's done for mental health and hope they have a great life together.'

Tourists outside Kensington Palace celebrated the news. among them was Ruby Dyer, 20, a student from London who said she was looking forward to the wedding

She added: 'I've just been to an exhibition at Kensington Palace about Princess Diana.

Vicky Pugh, 20, a student from Southampton added: 'I'll definitely watch the wedding'

'It was saying how she changed the way people viewed the Royal family and I think this will do the same. You wouldn't expect it, would you?

'An actress in the Royal family. She's not come from a royal background and she's American and mixed race. It will definitely make the Royal family more relatable.'

Vicky Pugh, 20, a fashion student from Southampton added: 'I'll definitely watch the wedding. I think it's nice. I like Meghan a lot and she clearly makes Harry happy.

'She's like Diana in the sense that she doesn't have traits that you'd will associate with the Royal family. But I think it will be great.'

Americans outside the Palace were also excited to see an American princess.

Gill Spofford, 28, a researcher from Washington DC said the news of the engagement was the 'icing on the cake' of her holiday in London.

She said: 'I'm so happy for them. It's so cool. The fact that there's an American in the Royal family means we get a little share of it.

'For the last royal wedding I woke up at 4am to watch it and I think lots of Americans will do the same again.

'Americans love the British Royal family. My mum called this morning with the news. I'm so excited.'

However not all Americans were as excited. Dwight Decarme, 30, an engineer, also from Washington DC said some Americans would not be too bothered about it.

The Labour leader, who is a staunch republican, addressed a 100-strong rally today. He praised Prince Harry for the work he has done to raise awareness of metal health

He said: 'I don't think my parents will know who she is and they probably won't care. 'I'll probably be at work that day and doubt I'll pay attention to it.

'But it's been nice to see the Palace and see the Royals and the media frenzy. We don't have anything like it in the US so it's great to see.

'But I don't really care that much about it, I've seen Suits before but I don't know who she is.'

Monica and David Aladef, 37 and 46 respectively were visiting the palace on the last day of their holiday because they're flight home to New York was delayed.

Monica said that she was 'excited to see an American Princess, but more excited to see the English prince.'

She said: 'It's definitely exciting. He's such a catch, I may have gone for it if I knew he was going to go for an American girl. I'm so excited to see the wedding.

'I'll definitely be watching. I hope it's as big as Wills and Kate, she's a princess now too.'

Her husband, David a senior sales manager added: 'My wife loves the British. She'll be staying at home and watching it but I've got to go to work to pay the TV bill.

'We've been to Kensington Palace today and our kids loved it. We saw Meghan and Harry give the announcement and saw Princess Anne too. She smiled at us.'

Tracy Burton, 36, from Portsmouth said: 'We really love the Royal family. I think Meghan is going to make them more popular than ever.

'And hopefully we'll get a Bank Holiday. Harry was always the wilder one, and it's quite nice he's settling down.'

Harry, 33, who revealed a year ago he had fallen for the actress after a four to six month secret relationship, proposed to Meghan, 36, in London earlier this month.

Royal protocol dictated that fifth in line to the throne Harry had to ask his grandmother the Queen for permission to marry and she agreed in the month where she celebrated her own 70th wedding anniversary.

Harry and Miss Markle have a photocall at Kensington Palace in London today after their engagement was announced

Harry stands with Miss Markle as she shows off her engagement ring in London this afternoon

In a statement Her Majesty and Prince Philip said they are 'delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness' and this morning huge crowds of tourists and royal fans gathered outside Buckingham Palace.

Harry and his American fiancee, who divorced her first husband in 2013, will move into Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace next door to his brother William and sister-in-law Kate.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a joint statement: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan.

It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together'.

The boys' father Prince Charles said he was 'thrilled' and 'very happy indeed' for them.

Harry also asked Meghan's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, who divorced when their daughter was six, for her hand in marriage before popping the question a few weeks ago, it emerged.
Kidsafe boss reminds parents to stand by the pool and watch children at all times

Councils are refusing, saying that it's not fair to the taxpayer to fund inspections

Government has been urged to conduct random inspections of swimming pools

Drowning deaths in children under five jumped by 32 per cent nationally in 2017

As toddler drowning deaths increase around Australia, people have urged the government to conduct random safety inspections of backyard pools.

Drowning deaths in children under five jumped by 32 per cent nationally this year and almost 50 per cent of those deaths happened in a swimming pool.

But councils are refusing to act, despite the fact that 'a pattern of confusion' has lead to 99 per cent of swimming pools failing a first inspection in Parramatta.

Australians have urged the government to conduct random safety inspections of backyard pools (file picture)

Blacktown mayor Stephen Bali said his council found non-compliant pools, using aerial photos

The Office of Local Government said councils were able to perform random checks if 'they are included in an inspection program in consultation with their community', but 'only a handful' actually do so.

Blacktown mayor Stephen Bali said his council sought unregistered and non-compliant pools using aerial photographs, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Shadow Minister for Local Government Peter Primrose has called on the State government to fund random inspections, while Government Minister Gabrielle Upton said it was up to pool owners to ensure their own compliance.

'The government does not believe it's fair that taxpayers  many of whom don't own a pool  should foot the bill for their local council to inspect somebody else's pool,' said a spokesman for Ms Upton.

They added that councils could charge people who own swimming pools up to $150 for inspections.

Concerned parents have weighed in, saying that random checks 'could save lives', but parents should always be watching regardless.

Concerned parents have weighed in, saying that random safety inspections 'could save lives'

Drowning deaths in kids under five jumped by 32 percent this year, with 50 per cent in pools

The latest in a spate of toddler drownings was a two-year-old boy from Adelaide who died in hospital on Wednesday after being found unconscious in a swimming pool.

Emergency services were called to a home in Roxby Downs, north of Adelaide, on Sunday around 7pm to find the toddler unresponsive.

The small child was rushed to hospital but died on Monday. Kidsafe SA chief executive Holly Fitzgerald said most people don't realise how easy it is for young children to drown, the Advertiser reported.

A toddler was found unresponsive in a backyard pool at a home in Roxby Downs, near Adelaide

Kidsafe SA chief executive said most people don't realise how easy it is for children to drown

'It can happen so quickly and silently. Toddlers in particular have no concept of the danger of water,' she said.

In preparation for the long, hot summer ahead of Australians, Ms Fitzgerald suggests adults stand by the pool and watch their children at all times.

She also commented that water familiarisation, or making sure your child has an adequate number of swimming lessons, is just as important as knowing first aid in case something goes awry.
A Middlefield man has been arrested after he slew a pickup truck while out hunting deer on Friday morning.

Marvin C Miller, 26, was in woodland near North Harmony, New York, when he spotted the brown pickup driving along a roadand put a 7mm round through its engine, just a few feet from the cab.

'Firing this weapon at first blush with no target, its absolutely irresponsible,' Chautauqua County Sheriff Joe Gerace told The Post-Journal.

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Big game: A brown pickup was shot in this area of New York state on Friday after a hunter in the woodland mistook it for a deer and fired through the engine. No-one was hurt

Oh, deer: Hunter Marvin C Miller said he mistook the truck for a deer; he's been charged with reckless endangerment and discharging a weapon across a road

Miller told both deputies and New York State Environmental Conservation cops that he thought the pickup was a deer when he fired his high-powered, scoped-rifle.

The pickup was on an access road heading toward state land on Wiltsie Road when it was struck by the round.

It struck the front fender on the driver's side, feet from the cab, where the driver and a passenger were. Neither of the vehicle's occupants were hurt.

Angry: Sheriff Sheriff Joe Gerace called Miller 'absolutely irresponsible' for not confirming his target before he pulled the trigger on his high-powered 7mm scoped rifle

The truck was 'disabled' after the bullet entered the engine, police said, at which point Miller checked on its occupants, who have not been identified, then waited for police.

Miller has been charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm across a roadway.

He was arraigned in Sherman Town Court and posted bail.

Gerace said the incident could have been avoided if Miller had waited to properly scope out the target before firing.

And he was incensed by the accident, which is the second time this week that people, not game have been mistakenly targeted by hunters in the area.

'It's very concerning. We should be able to get through a hunting season without tragedy,' he said.

'This kind of thing just shouldn't happen. We should be learning from past tragedies. No game is worth injuries or taking a life.'

On Wednesday, just two days earlier, Rosemary Billquist, 43, died in the same area after being shot while walking her two Labradors near her home on Armenian Road.

Thomas Jadlowski said that he thought Billquist was a deer when he shot her with his pistol, police said.

Billquist died in an Erie, Pennsylvania hospital. Jadlowski has not yet been charged, but prosecutors are reviewing the case.
The father and grandmother of a three-year-old girl who shot herself in the leg in Philadelphia have been charged.

Barbara McGill and Terrance Williams, 25, have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment.

The 64-year-old grandmother also was charged with tampering with evidence because police say she attempted to hide the gun.

Father Terrence Williams, 25 (left), and grandmother Barbara McGill, 64 (right), of a three-year-old girl who shot herself in the leg in Philadelphia have been charged

Police say the child somehow got her dad's loaded gun and shot herself in the thigh Sunday. The bullet exited her calf.

Because of the way the girl was sitting when the gun discharged, the bullet made multiple wounds in her leg.

Police say the father asked the grandmother to secure his gun, but she allegedly put it in an unlocked closet and fell asleep.

'She puts it into a closet, into a holster that doesn't have a lock,' Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker said to ABC 6. 'We think she falls asleep, but the child gets a hold of this gun and is able to pull the trigger.'

at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at a home in the 1300 block of South Wilton Street (pictured)

The child was rushed to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She underwent surgery to save her leg.

The shooting occurred at 12:30pm Sunday at a house in the 1300 block of South Wilton Street.

A voicemail left for the public defender's organization representing McGill was not immediately returned. Contact information for Williams' attorney was not immediately available.
Donald Trump has reportedly told aides the now famous tape which caught him boasting about women's genitalia is not an authentic recording.

Last year, the President of the United States acknowledged it was him apologized for his actions in the hours after it surfaced in October 2016, but now he appears to be throwing it on the ever-growing pile of what he considers fake news.

Trump's links to accusations of sexual assault have been thrust back into the spotlight as pressure mounts on him to distance himself from Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Moore, who is now 70, was recently accused by several women that while in his 30s he molested or harassed teenage girls as young as 14.

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In response to the first-daughter's comment, Trump asked several aides in the Oval Office, 'Do you believe this?'

Moore (pictured), who is now 70, was recently accused by several women that while in his 30s he molested or harassed teenage girls as young as 14. 'There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children,' Ivanka said earlier this month

But it appears to have stoked Trump into re-visiting the Access Hollywood tapes which emerged as he and Hilary Clinton battled it out for the Oval Office last year.

According to the New York Times, the Republican suggested to a senator earlier this year the tape was not authentic and repeated the claim to an adviser more recently.

The now infamous tape of the then-candidate bragging about groping and having sex with women was recorded on an open microphone while Trump was about to record a segment of a television show 'Access Hollywood.'

He can be heard saying: 'Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.'

It comes at an inconvenient time for Trump, whose daughter Ivanka earlier this month made strong comments regarding child abuse - weeks before Republican Moore entered the race for the Alabama job.

She said: 'There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children.'

'I've yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts.'

She did not call for Moore to exit the race.

In response to the first-daughter's comment, Trump asked several aides in the Oval Office, 'Do you believe this?' according to the New York Times, and he was said to be 'furious' with his daughter.

President Donald Trump is reportedly angry at his daughter, Ivanka, for slamming embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore

On Sunday, Trump redoubled his support for Moore, ignoring the allegations of sexual harassment plaguing the politician's Alabama campaign and branding his opponent as weak on crime, the military and immigration.

In an early-morning tweet, Trump added that for Alabamians to elect Moore's Democratic rival, Doug Jones, in a special election next month 'would be a disaster!'

Many members of Trump's Republican Party have withdrawn support for Moore, with some Republicans suggesting that Moore is elected to the US Senate, he should be removed.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, has called for Moore to drop out, saying: 'I believe the women.'

McConnell reportedly has pleaded with Trump to stay out of the Alabama race, lest Moore's election sully the party's name ahead of next year's midterm elections.

One Republican senator and sometime Trump critic, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that having Moore on the ballot was a lose-lose proposition for the party.

'If he wins ... it becomes a story every day about whether or not you believe the women or Roy Moore. If you lose, you give the Senate seat' to a Democrat, he said on CNN.

On Sunday, in a tweet, Trump redoubled his support for Moore, ignoring the allegations of sexual harassment plaguing the politician's Alabama campaign and branding his opponent as weak on crime, the military and immigration

But Trump -- himself the object of allegations of sexual misconduct by several women during his presidential campaign -- on Sunday shrugged off such appeals.

He tweeted that 'the last thing' Republicans need in the closely divided Senate is a Democratic 'puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border. Bad for our Military and our great Vets. Bad for our 2nd Amendment. AND WANTS TO RAISES (sic) TAXES TO THE SKY.'

Despite the multiple allegations against Moore -- he reportedly was banned from an Alabama mall for repeatedly bothering teen girls -- Trump has defended him.

'Forty years is a long time,' the president told reporters Tuesday on the White House lawn. 'He says it didn't happen. You have to listen to him, also.'

Moore has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he will contest the December special election.

Last week, when Trump was asked about the torrent of accusations of sexual impropriety facing Moore, he said flatly: 'Roy Moore denies it ... And by the way, he totally denies it.'

And in speaking of Moore's female constituents, Trump insisted that the women 'are Trump voters. Most of them are Trump voters.'

Moore has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he will contest the December special election

The president also told DailyMail.com amid a scrum of cameras that he isn't ready to announce whether he'll campaign for Moore as the December 12 special election looms

The president also told DailyMail.com amid a scrum of cameras that he isn't ready to announce whether he'll campaign for Moore as the December 12 special election looms.

'I will be letting you know next week. But I can tell you we don't need somebody who's soft on crime like Jones,' Trump said.

Jones is a former US attorney and is known for prosecuting two KKK members behind the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Trump also insisted that 'women are very special' to him and expressed enthusiasm for the recent series of revelations about sexually predatory men in Washington.

'A lot of things are coming out, and I think that's good for our society and I think it's very very good for women,' he said. 'I'm very happy that a lot of these things are coming out.'

'The women are Trump voters. Most of them are Trump voters,' Trump said.

Trump also hedged on the cases of Sen Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers, two powerful congressional Democrats who have been snared in the national dragnet of sex abuse claims.

'I don't want to speak for Al Franken. ... He's going to have to speak for himself,' he said.

And he punted on Conyers, whose case has been in the public eye for nearly 24 hours.

'I just heard about Conyers two minutes ago,' Trump claimed.
A divorced man who prides himself on being one of Britain's dullest men has created his latest boring calendar - with pictures of cranes.

Kevin Beresford is known for his incredibly tedious wall-planners including roundabouts, telephone boxes and post boxes.

The 65-year-old, from Redditch, Worcestershire, hoped his new calendar would 'lift' everyone's spirits in 2018 but it has proved a massive flop with just two of the 10 calendars selling so far.

Kevin Beresford is known for his incredibly tedious wall-planners including roundabouts, telephone boxes and post boxes

For his crane calendar, Kevin said he traveled the country and 'went to loads of places including Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and London'

Kevin, who prides himself on being one of the dullest men in Britain, is also founder of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society and travelled around the UK looking for cranes to photograph.

He said: 'I went to loads of places including Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and London.

'I just kind of wonder around and see what catches my eye. I like to take pictures of things that are everywhere but that no one else really bothers to look at.

Kevin said: 'I just kind of wonder around and see what catches my eye. I like to take pictures of things that are everywhere but that no one else really bothers to look at'

'I like to bring these things to their attention. But this year in particular I don't think people have really appreciated it.

'I am starting to think maybe I priced it too high. I think it might just be a step too far, a bit too boring.'
Three men have been charged after a shocking video surfaced of a Schoolie being knocked unconscious by a single punch during a three-versus-one attack in Surfers Paradise.

Horrific video showed three men kicking the 19-year-old in the legs and feet in the early hours of Monday morning, before punching him to the ground.

It will be alleged that a 19-year-old East Lismore man was out with a female friend when she became involved in an argument with three men just after 3am, according to the Brisbane Times.

The victim was allegedly targeted for defending her as she was 'harassed' outside a bar, his friend told 9NEWS.

The attackers left their 19-year-old victim unconscious and bleeding from the head on Monday

A 19-year-old Upper Coomera man was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and contravention of a banning order.

Two 21-year-old Cootharaba men were charged with assault occasioning bodily harm. All three will face court on December 8.

After the attack, the teen was out cold for a few minutes and was left lying on the corner of Cavill Avenue and Orchid Avenue bleeding from the head and ears.

He was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital with non-life-threatening head injuries just after 3.15am.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said he was left with 'a big egg on his head' and 'bleeding from his ears', but at this stage he is expected to make a full recovery.

The 18-year-old victim is understood to be a New South Wales school student, who was visiting Queensland for Schoolies celebrations.
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First lady Melania Trump hosted children to the White House Monday as she walked through a fully-decorated executive mansion, unveiling her vision of a Trump Christmas  simple, yet elegant, with elements of Americana and nature.

'She's beautiful, like an angel!' one young boy remarked, as the first lady  whose cream-colored belted dress with bell sleeves could have been worn by a tree topper  walked into the East Room to help a group of kids make garland. 'Are you the first lady?' another youngster asked.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made sure to note that Melania Trump 'personally selected and was involved in every detail' of the decorations unveiled today.

Melania Trump entered the holiday festivities by taking the grand staircase, into the foyer, as three ballerinas danced to 'The Nutcracker Suite,' in a room filled with faux fur trees glistening with snow.

First lady Melania Trump was told by one of her young guests that she looked 'like an angel' as she invited youngsters to the White House Monday as part of the Christmas decorations reveal

Feeling festive! The mother-of-one was beaming with joy as she made her way through the decor-filled White House

Melania Trump began her tour of the White House Christmas decorations by walking down the Grand Staircase into the Grand Foyer where a trio of ballerinas was performing to the 'Nutcracker Suite,' which was the first White House Christmas theme

What an entrance! First lady Melania walked down the Grand Staircase into the Grand Foyer to be greeted by a trio of ballerinas dancing to a piece from the Nutcracker as she kicked off her holiday tour

So skilled: The ballet dancers put on an incredible display as Melania watched on with admiration

On point! The duo were dancing to music from the much-loved classic The Nutcracker

A sweet surprise: The first lady looked stunned as she first set food in the Christmas tree-filled East Room

The decor in the White House Grand Foyer was simple and natural, with a forest of Christmas trees looking like they had just been covered by a winter snow

Melania's white Christian Dior dress with gold accent accessories fit in perfectly with the glittering decorations

It's all in the details! Even the staircases at the White House have been decked with festive flourishes

The Christmas tree in the Blue Room touches the ceiling, as the 18 foot, 6 inch Wisconsin-grown pine is adorned with ornaments representing all the states and territories, along with blue and gold bows

The dancers and the song were symbolic as 'The Nutracker Suite' was the first theme used at a White House Christmas.

This year's theme, 'Time-Honored Traditions,' piggybacked on that, which each room paying homage to a tradition, including a Gold Star tree, a way to respect fallen troops,and a gallery of silhouettes of past presidents in the Green Room, acknowledging an early craft.

As the first lady entered the various rooms, she made small talk with the young kids, all students locally at Joint Base Andrews, in Prince George's County, Maryland, right outside of Washington, D.C.

'What are your plans for Christmas?' she asked. 'Did you write your letter yet? Do you have any pets at home?'

Before the first lady arrived in the East Room, decorated with several large trees and the White House creche, the children's chaperone told them to 'act natural,' as they grinned for the cameras.

When FLOTUS arrived they all went in for the group hug.

The kids in the East Room made garland while telling the first lady that she looked like 'an angel' and giving her a group hug

Greeted in the East Room, first lady Melania Trump gets a group hug from her young guests, the first batch of Americans who get to see the 2017 White House Christmas decorations

Melania Trump's East Room visitors were the most excited. With one calling her an 'angel' and each of the children - students from Joint Base Andrews - filing in for a group hug

First lady Melania Trump squeezes two youngsters in the White House East Room as she toured the executive mansion, meeting kids from Joint Base Andrews in several rooms

Melania can be seen fixing some garland that children from Joint Base Andrews are making as she tours the White House Christmas decorations Monday morning

Joyful: The first lady could not take the smile off her face as she joined the young children in their decorating efforts

In the Red Room, decorated with sweets, Melania helped a quartet of youngsters make gum drop trees, while warning them about all the sugar

Downstairs in the East Wing, Melania gives a young boy a high five, as a group of kids make holiday cards. Surrounding them were examples of holiday cards sent out from past administrations

Tender: The event saw Melania showing off her soft side, sharing hugs with the children, jokes, and enjoying several fun-filled chats about the holiday season

Melania Trump leans over to assess how the Christmas card decorating is going in the 'Bookseller's' area of the White House's East Wing. That part of the tour featured vintage holiday cards from past administrations

Next to the Gold Star tree downstairs, Melania asks several of her young visitors to read aloud the letters they wrote for the troops

One for Donald? She was also seen coloring in some White House-themed Christmas cards

'So how is it going? This is so cool right?' the first lady later asked when walking into the Red Room, which was decorated with gingerbreads and candies.

Singing a similar tune to her predecessor, Melania Trump warned, 'A lot of sugar right?' as she helped the group assemble gumdrop Christmas trees.

In the Green Room, a quartet of kids cut out their own silhouettes to go along with the presidential ones hanging on the nearby mantel, which was also decorated with a large 'Merry Christmas' banner.

In the Blue Room, the first lady didn't host guests Monday, because the size of the Endeavor-Wisconsin based Christmas tree.

The tree, which she and 11-year-old Barron greeted last week in front of the White House, is so large at 18 feet, 6 inches, it takes up nearly the whole room.

The Trumps decorated the tree with ornaments from all the states and territories, along with blue bulbs and large gold and blue bows.

The Blue Room's Christmas tree stands at 18 feet, 6 inches tall and was brought into the White House last week, via carriage, from growers based out of Endeavor, Wisconsin

A photographer kneels and grabs a shot of the Endeavor, Wisconsin-grown tree that was installed in the White House Blue Room

The Grand Foyer and Cross Hall are decorated with the theme, 'The Nutcracker Suite,' in mind, as that was the first theme ever for White House Christmas decorations

The Grand Foyer and Cross Hall are decorated with a 'Nutcracker Suite' theme - the first the White House ever used - with this year's theme being 'Time-honored Traditions'

The Trumps chose to decorate the Blue Room tree with vintage bulbs from the 50 states and the territories, along with blue and golden bows

Pucker up! One doorway was decorated with a fun and creative take on the traditional bunch of mistletoe

The White House Red Room's tree featured Gingerbread ornaments - as the room itself was decorated with an assortment of candies

A 'Merry Christmas' banner is hung above the mantle in the White House's Green Room, alongside vintage silhouettes of past presidents

The downstairs of the East Wing was fully decorated too, with reporters allowed into the Library, the Vermeil Room and the China Room before the first lady's guests were let in.

In the Dining Room, a table was set for Christmas dinner, featuring a table purchased for the White House by President James Monroe.

Being good Republicans, the Trumps chose to adorn the table with President Ronald Reagan's red and gold china.

In the Library, the Trumps put out an 1866 edition of Charles Dickens' a Christmas Carol, protected by glass. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had read the the story at the White House each year he was in office, the White House noted.

Melania Trump continued her tour by sitting down with another group of children in what's called the 'Bookseller's Area' downstairs.

There, they colored White House Christmas cards underneath a display of Christmas cards sent out by the president and first lady going back to the Dwight D. Eisenhower years.

Traditional silhouettes adorned the tables and mantel of the Green Room. The White House's Christmas tour book - which features a cartoon version of Barron Trump - also includes instructions to make these simple crafts

The White House's China Room was set up for Christmas dinner, featuring a table purchased by President James Monroe and Ronald Reagan's red and gold dishware

The White House's State Dining Room featured the traditional gingerbread house. This year's giant confection featured the same Melania Trump wreaths that are hanging outside the real White House

The East Room was decorated with a number of trees - along with the traditional White House creche, which makes a statement from the middle of the room

The traditional White House creche was once again displayed in the East Room, a gift to the executive mansion from Mrs. Charles W. Engelhard in 1967

On display in the White House library, an 1866 version of the Charles Dickens class, A Christmas Carol, which was read at the White House by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the years he held office

President Trump, first lady Melania and first son Barron show off the relatively simple holiday card that they are sending out from the White House this year; it was displayed in a frame in what is called the 'Bookseller's' area of the East Wing

A separate box showcased the cards from the Obama administration and debuted the card that President Trump and Melania Trump will send out.

The first lady then headed down the East Colonnade, which was decorated on both sides with glistening white branches, the perfect runway for the former fashion model.

At the end of her walk, Melania Trump greeted a group of children next to the Gold Star tree, in which the White House asks visitors to send messages to the troops.

Sitting among the children, the first lady asked several of them to take turns reading the letters they had composed for the soldiers.

The East Wing also showcases a new attraction this year  as guests coming for the holidays can take a peek at the White House's movie theater.

Visitors who visit the White House will receive a guide of the decorations, featuring a cartoon version of 11-year-old Barron as the tour guide.

The White House said 25,000 visitors are expected to come through its doors during the holiday season.
Melania Trump's office released a blistering statement attacking a 'salacious' report that she didn't want the job of first lady, saying she is 'honored' to fill the role.

The statement followed a report in Vanity Fair that Melania Trump didn't want the job of being first lady and didn't ever expect to be in the position she now finds herself in, according to a new in-depth report about her adjustment to her public role.

The story is ''riddled with unnamed sources and false assertions,' according to the statement issued by the first lady's office after publication of the story.

The statement aimed directly at the publication that has become known for slashing portrayals of President Trump, calling the report 'shameful.'

'This isn't something she wanted and it isn't something he ever thought he'd win,' said a longtime friend of first lady Melania Trump and President Trump

''As has been stated on the record many times before, she is honored by her role,' said the spokeswoman.

The Slovenian-born first lady has taken a more reserved approach to her undefined role compared to some of her predecessors, carefully selecting her public events and frequently standing by silently alongside her husband as he takes on enemies and confronts the press.

'This isn't something she wanted and it isn't something he ever thought he'd win,' one longtime friend of the couple told Vanity Fair.

Early on, it was 'not pleasant' for Melania Trump, according to a friend. Here she watches the annual Bastille Day military parade along Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, France on July 14, 2017

'She didn't want this come hell or high water,' the friend added. 'I don't think she thought it was going to happen.'

If it isn't a role she coveted, Melania's urging that her husband decide once and for all whether to run for president in 2014 helped get her there.

'She was very clearly the one who said, 'Either run or don't run,' said occasional informal Trump advisor Roger Stone. In his telling, she told him: 'Your friends are tired of this striptease. Every four years you talk about it,' in an account described as a paraphrase.

A Trump spokeswoman pushed back at the report Monday morning.

'Once again part of the liberal media, this time Vanity Fair, has written a story riddled with unnamed sources and false assertions,' according to the statement.

'As a magazine tailored to women it is shameful that they continue to write salacious and false stories meant to demean Mrs. Trump, rather than focus on her positive work as First Lady and a supportive wife and mother,' the spokeswoman continued. 'As has been stated on the record many times before, she is honored by her role.'

A former West Wing aide said Melania Trump's 'focus' has been on son Barron Trump's school, and an East Wing aide said that aside from those school events, she does not spend much time away from the White House.

Although sometimes inscrutable to the public, the first lady has slowly started to carve out a public role. She chose as a pet cause cyberbullying, warning that all adults are 'accountable' for it during a speech at the UN, where her husband blasted 'Rocket man' North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Three former Obama administration aides said the White House staff is fond of the first lady, who is used to dealing with household staff and caring in her interactions.

She took months before moving to Washington from the Trump Tower penthouse she shared with her husband.

A friend said she was unnerved by the constant watch of Secret Service agents and keen to keep her son, Barron, sheltered from the attention of his position.

Barron Trump made a rare appearance when his father pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys by tradition.

Statement by Melania Trump's spokeswoman on Vanity Fair report 'Once again part of the liberal media, this time Vanity Fair, has written a story riddled with unnamed sources and false assertions,' according to the statement. 'As a magazine tailored to women it is shameful that they continue to write salacious and false stories meant to demean Mrs. Trump, rather than focus on her positive work as First Lady and a supportive wife and mother,' the spokeswoman continued. 'As has been stated on the record many times before, she is honored by her role.' A former West Wing aide said Melania Trump's 'focus' has been on son Barron Trump's school, and an East Wing aide said that aside from those school events, she does not spend much time away from the White House.' Advertisement

She was already used to drivers and security from her time being married to a billionaire public figure, ''but now you have the Secret Service outside your door,' said the friend.

She is the first ever third wife of a president to occupy the post, which carries informal duties but no constitutional role.

She works out of a corner office in the East Wing that is 'very elegant, with antique furniture,' and is staffed by only half the people who aided first lady Michelle Obama.

At the beginning of her time as first lady, it was 'not pleasant,' said Paolo Zampolli, the longtime friend who introduced the couple two decades ago.

'I don't think you can come up with a conspiracy theory that she is not that happy. She is the First Lady of the United States. Come on!' he told Vanity Fair.

One friend told the publication it was 'old news' that the two live lives that are virtually separate.

During a trip to Rome, the first lady got special attention from Pope Francis, who made a quip about potica, a special Slovenian bread. ''He was very friendly with her and not with the rest of the family,' said someone briefed on the trip.

Pope Francis meets United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the Apostolic Palace on May 24, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican. The President Trump will return on Italy on Friday attending the Group of 7 Summit in Sicily

HARD TO READ: First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump (C-L) draws a calligraphy with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife Akie Abe (not seen) during a calligraphy class of 4th graders at the Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School in Tokyo on November 6, 2017

President Donald Trump, left, and U.S. First Lady Melania Trump walk out of the South Portico of the White House to greet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017

President Donald Trump, right, speaks to members of the media as First Lady Melania Trump stands before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017
ISIS fanatics are sharing a disturbing propaganda image threatening an attack on New York at Christmas time.

The image shows Santa Claus standing on a low roof next to a box of dynamite looking out over a crowd of shoppers in Times Square.

The poster has the words 'We meet at Christmas in New York... soon,' written across it in black on white.

Warning: The propaganda poster shows Santa Claus looking out over a crowd of shoppers with the words; 'we meet at Christmas in New York... soon'.

This is the latest chilling propaganda image warning of attacks during Christmas time across Europe.

Terrorists using encrypted communication channels have been sharing posters of London's Regent Street decked out in Christmas lights, and Paris' Eiffel Tower with a Christmas markets in the foreground.

Images of jihadists and blood have been superimposed on the holiday scenes, with a message in English, French, and German stating: 'Soon on your holidays'.

Earlier today a poster emerged showing a terrorist overlooking St Peter's Square in the Vatican with rocket launcher, along with a message urging extremists: 'Do not hold back with your blood, the reward is paradise.'

The message warned that 'the crusaders' feast is approaching', alluding to a Christmas attack the Catholic church's holy city.

Chilling: Another poster shared on encrypted channels show Santa kneeling in front of a terrorist with London's Regent Street in the background

One poster shows a jihadi with a bloody knife looking out over a Christmas market with the Eiffel Tower in the background and the message 'soon in your holidays'

Further threats: ISIS fanatics have also urged jihadists to attack Rome in an online poster showing a wolf overlooking St Peter's Square

'Their convoys will crowd itself in front of you prepare and plan for them show them the meaning of terrorism.'

Last week, a poster was shared online showing a masked figure driving towards St Peter's Basilica in the with a gun and a backpack inside his car.

At the top of the poster is the message 'Christmas blood' with the line 'so wait...' written in red underneath.

The propaganda images are a chilling reminder of the terror attack on a Berlin Christmas Market last year.

Instructed by ISIS, Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri drove a truck into the crowds at the Christmas Market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin on December 19.

A dozen people died, including the original driver of the truck who was shot by Amri when he hijacked the vehicle, and 56 others were injured.
The extended family of Meghan Markle have begun congratulating the 36-year-old, after waking up to the news of her engagement to Prince Harry.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com from her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Roslyn Markle, the mother of Meghan's half-siblings, said: 'That's absolutely wonderful news.

'I'm really happy for them and I hope they'll be happy together and have a great life.' Of the spring wedding date, Roslyn added: 'That will be so nice.'

Meghan and Harry, 33, announced their engagement this morning, via a statement from Kensington Palace.

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Royal Engagement: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally announced their engagement after weeks of fevered speculation on Monday. The royal couple made their first public appearance hours after breaking the news in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace

Princess wave: Harry and Meghan were beaming during their first, but brief, public appearance. The wedding is expected to take place in spring 2018, with May considered the likeliest date for the nuptials

And on Monday, the newly-engaged couple made their first official appearance on British TV to talk about their whirlwind 16-month relationship.

Roslyn, 72, was married to Meghan's father Thomas Markle between 1968 and 1976 and is the mother of his two eldest children: Samantha Grant, 53, and Thomas Markle Jr, 51.

Asked how she thinks Meghan will cope with the transition from actress to princess, Roslyn said: 'Meghan is very well educated.

'She's worked in a professional, public life forever. She's been in the TV industry forever. She's very well educated and she's had a lot of exposure to the public.

'She's going to be just fine.'

Roslyn's comments come in the wake of an official statement from Meghan's parents released this morning by Kensington Palace.

In the message, Markle Sr, 73, and Doria Ragland, 61, said: 'We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry.

'Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for both parents.

Rosyln Markle (left), 72, the first wife of Thomas Markle (pictured with Meghan right) commented on the couple's big news, and said she is 'really happy for them'

Roslyn was married to Thomas Markle (pictured) between 1968 and 1976 and is the mother of his two eldest children Samantha Grant, 53, and Thomas Markle Jr, 51

'We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future.'

Harry's own family have also spoken of their delight at the news of the engagement, with Prince Charles the first to congratulate his youngest son via a message issued by Clarence House.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also congratulated the happy couple, releasing a short official statement that read:

'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.'

The wedding is expected to take place in spring 2018, with May considered the likeliest date for the nuptials.
A 17-year-old Danish girl who offered to fight for Islamic State was sentenced on Monday to eight years in prison by the Danish high court for planning bomb attacks on two schools, one of them Jewish.

The high court on Friday found the girl - who was 15 years old at the time - guilty of the offences, upholding an earlier district court ruling.

The district court had initially sentenced her to six years in jail.

The high court on Friday found the girl - who was 15 years old at the time - guilty of the offences, upholding an earlier district court ruling (stock photo)

The prosecutor had called for her to sentenced to preventive detention indefinitely.

Earlier this year a court in Holbaek heard that she had written notes about planning to carry out attacks in both her former primary school in Farevejle and in a Jewish school in Copenhagen.

The girl, who cannot be named, was arrested last year in her home in a village 40 miles west of Copenhagen after her family alerted the police about suspicious chemical experiments in the basement.

The court said in a statement that investigators found a range of chemicals purchased at a Danish cosmetic chain store.

The girl, who cannot be named, was arrested last year in her home in a village 40 miles west of Copenhagen after her family alerted the police about suspicious chemical experiments in the basement (stock photo)

Experts said the ingredients she had gathered to produce the high explosive acetone peroxide (TATP) were not enough to build a dangerous bomb, but the court underlined her criminal intent and motivations in the ruling.

Police who searched the residence found a handwritten note with the words 'Allahu Akbar!' (God is greatest), a date, and the address of the Jewish school in Copenhagen

A second note was marked 'bomb attack on the infidels' and gave the address of her own school near Holbaek, a town west of the capital.

She also wrote about her sympathies to ISIS in her notes and tried to contact its leaders via Twitter.

She was convicted of 'attempting a terrorist act' and initially sentenced to six years in jail.

In February 2015, a gunman killed two people in shooting attacks at a debating event and a Copenhagen synagogue before being shot dead by police.
A Miss Universe judge caused controversy after opting to only follow fellow Latina contestants on social media - leading to fears of biased scores.

Lele Pons was scolded by show bosses for her decision - which garnered even more attention when Miss Colombia, one of only three contestants she followed - came second.

Pons, a Venezuelan-American YouTube blogger, was found to be only following Miss Mexico, Miss Venezuela and Miss Colombia - which some feared meant they were at an advantage.

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A Miss Universe judge caused controversy after opting to only follow fellow Latina contestants on social media. Lele Pons was scolded by show bosses for her decision - which garnered even more attention when Miss Colombia, one of only three contestants she followed, came second

Popular vlogger Pons, who makes videos online sending up pop culture, was told by show execs to unfollow the Latina contestants in order to ensure fairness for all entrants.

Lele protested, according to TMZ, arguing that as a Latina woman she naturally followed the people she was most interested in.

Despite this, Pons was ordered to unfollow the three and seemingly complied - no longer following runner up Miss Colombia and the two other entrants from South and Central America.

Meanwhile, Miss South Africa, who was held at gunpoint a month after being named the nation's beauty queen, eventually took the overall crown.

Pons, a Venezuelan-American YouTube blogger, was found to be only following Miss Mexico, Miss Venezuela and Miss Colombia - which some feared meant they were at an advantage. Miss Colombia, Laura Hernandez (center), came second overall

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, who recently earned a business management degree and teaches self-defense courses for women, was crowned Sunday during the event at the Planet Hollywood casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

Her passion for self-defense was reinforced when she was carjacked and held at gunpoint in Johannesburg about a month after winning her title as Miss South Africa.

The 22-year-old winner has earned a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign among other prizes.

Miss South Africa, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters who was held at gunpoint a month after being named the nation's beauty queen, eventually took the overall crown

In June, about a month after she was crowned Miss South Africa, Nel-Peters was the victim of a vicious armed hijacking attempt in Johannesburg.

Three armed men approached her car as she was driving on Jan Smuts Avenue in Hyde Park. As they pointed their guns at the beauty queen's car she managed to exit the vehicle and flee.

A Good Samaritan saw her fleeing the scene and drove her to safety, and she escaped unharmed.

Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (left) and runner up Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez (right) in the swimsuit portion

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Miss South Africa 2017 is congratulated by fellow contestants after being crowned Miss Universe

New Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (left) is crowned by her predecessor Iris Mittenaere of France on Sunday

According to a statement from the Miss South Africa office, her purse and car were later recovered in the area by a private security company, which are common in the crime-ridden country.

This year's Miss Universe competition had the most contestants ever, including the first ever representatives of Cambodia, Laos and Nepal.

Ninety-two women from around the world participated in the 66-year-old competition.
Republican leaders trying to reach majority support for their tax cut must contend with another conservative who is raising objections, after Montana Sen. Steve Daines raised concerns about how it would affect 'Main Street.'

Another Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Ohio, has already said he is a 'no' on the bill because of the way it advantages corporations over so-called 'pass-throughs,' business who file as individuals and miss off on some of the savings in the 'massive' $1.5 trillion cut.

'Sen. Daines has concerns with how the tax bill looks at main street versus large corporations,' an aide to the senator said, The Hill reported. 'The Senator wants changes to the tax cut bill that ensure main street businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage against large corporations.'

Daines, a Budget Committee member, linked his support to the issue. 'Before I can support this bill, this improvement needs to be made.'

President Donald Trump has promised to 'give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas' but the politics are getting tough on Capitol Hill as Republicans defect

Republicans need a simple majority to get the bill through the Senate this week, but with only 52 Republicans can only afford to lose two.

Vice President Mike Pence can break a tie.

President Trump hailed the bill as 'a tremendous tax cut' and 'the biggest tax reduction in the history of our country' on Monday.

'I think we're going to have great receptivity. We've had great spirit,' the president said.

'And I can tell you, the Republican senators who are up, if we win we are going to get some Democratic senators who are joining us. If we don't win they wont be joining us,' he predicted.

NOT THERE YET: Conservative Sen. Steve Daines has voiced concerns about the bill

'But if we win I think we'll probably going to have a bipartisan bill because a number of people are going to come over. But I'm not so interested in that. We're really interested in getting it passed.'

A new Congressional Budget Office score estimates that "(t)he number of people with health insurance would decrease by 4 million in 2019 and 13 million in 2027' under the bill due to its removal of an Obamacare individual mandate.

That provision has drawn criticism from Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, although it could get removed if needed to lock down enough votes.

Trump and Senate Republicans scrambled Monday to make changes to a Republican tax bill in an effort to win over holdout GOP senators and pass a tax package by the end of the year.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (center-right) told reporters that he 'hopes' to have a tax relief plan on Trump's desk by Christmas, and that he's confident the GOP can find 50 votes to pass it

Key GOP members of the Senate Finance Committee emerged from the White House after a lunch meeting with the president sounding optimistic  but frustrated by the lack of cooperation from across the partisan aisle.

'I just hope they get off their duffs and start working with us rather than going and blocking everything we come up with,' Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch told reporters outside the West Wing.

Hatch insisted there is no 'Plan B,' telling DailyMail.com that he has 'the right plan to go ahead with,' and 'we intend to get to 50' votes,' the threshold for passing a bill with Vice President Mike Pence serving as the tiebreaker.

Asked if the Senate will get the job done by Christmas, he said: 'I hope so!'

In a morning tweet, the president said, 'With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings.'

Trump and Senate leaders are trying to balance competing demands, as some senators fear the package would add to the nation's mounting debt, while others want more generous tax breaks for businesses. In a boost for the legislation, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would back the measure.

The president said in the afternoon that 'if we win we'll get some Democratic senators joining us.'

'I think it's going to benefit everybody,' he said.

Despite a pronouncement from the Congressional Budget Office that the Republican bill would represent a net tax hike on some middle-income Americans, Hatch insisted he's staying the course.

'I don't think they're right,' he said of the notoriously scattershot and off-target CBO.

Trump suggested he is open to making unspecified changes to the way millions of 'pass-through' businesses are taxed, a sticking point for some lawmakers. These are businesses in which profits are passed onto the owners, who report the income on their individual tax returns. The vast majority of U.S. businesses, big and small, are taxed this way.

Trump came back to Washington on Sunday night with the first lady and Barron after spending Thanksgiving in Florida

On Monday outside the White House, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman told reporters that he sees 'growing momentum' for broad tax relief, 'and I am confident that we're going to get this done soon.'

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, another Republican, cast the GOP's approach as a family-friendly salve for Americans living on society's financial margins.

He said his goal is to help 'those folks who are working hard every single day , oftentimes paycheck to paycheck, who feel invisible.'

'They feel like they're working their tails off and no one is paying attention.'

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson has already declared his opposition to the current bill, saying it doesn't cut business taxes enough for these types of partnerships and corporations. Johnson gets substantial income from such companies, including a manufacturer he helped found in Wisconsin and a commercial real estate company, according to his financial disclosure statements.

Trump and Republicans have set as a vital political goal the passage of tax overhaul legislation by the end of the year. The House recently passed a $1.5 trillion bill. Senate GOP leaders hope to muscle their bill through this week.

Trump was meeting Monday with five members of the Senate Finance Committee who are on board with the GOP plan. He will travel to Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby Republican senators personally.

Republicans have only two votes to spare in the Senate, where they hold a 52-48 edge.

Their package blends a sharp reduction in top corporate and business tax rates with more modest relief for individuals.

Democrats say the package would mainly help corporations and the rich. Their argument was bolstered by a new congressional analysis that says the Senate bill would leave many low- and middle-income families worse off, while the wealthy would get big benefits. The analysis was done by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

In signaling his support, Paul wrote in an op-ed for Fox News: 'I'm not getting everything I want  far from it. But I've been immersed in this process. I've fought for and received major changes for the better - and I plan to vote for this bill as it stands right now.'

On Monday outside the White House, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman told reporters that he sees 'growing momentum' for broad tax relief, 'and I am confident that we're going to get this done soon'

Holdouts include Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has objected to a provision in the Senate bill repealing the requirement under the 'Obamacare' program that everyone have health insurance. Collins has said that issue should be dealt with separately from the effort to overhaul the tax code.

GOP Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona worry that the package will add to the nation's mounting debt.

Corker's office said he spent the Thanksgiving weekend on the phone with Senate colleagues and administration officials trying to find a path forward.

GOP leaders are working with on a potential revenue 'backstop' in case the party's tax cut legislation fails to produce hoped-for levels of growth and tax receipts.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said he and other Republicans are working on 'just-in-case options' to add to the measure during Senate floor debate this week. He appears to be talking about a mechanism that could automatically force tax rates back up if revenues fall short.

Last week Trump promised to 'give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas.'

On Monday he predicted it would be 'the biggest tax cut in the history of the country. You'll have to pay a lot less tax.'
A popular high school teenager was killed when a drunk driver smashed into her grandparents car on Thanksgiving.

Rhyan Moody was being dropped off by her grandparents after enjoying dinner at their Lake Worth, Texas, home on Thursday when a speeding car T-boned them doing 68mph, in a 40mph zone.

The 14-year-old died almost instantly from blunt force head trauma, caused by the horrific crash, her autopsy revealed.

Rhyan Moody (pictured) was killed when a drunk driver smashed into her grandparents car on Thanksgiving

Rhyan (left and right) was a popular freshman and cheerleader at Colleyville Heritage High School

Her grandparents suffered several broken bones and other injuries but survived.

Jose Victor Chaparro-Saenz was arrested at the scene and has been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. An Immigration hold has also been placed on him.

Lake Worth Police Department told the DailyMail.com that he'd sped through a red light in his Maroon Ford Expedition collided with a black 2015 Chrysler 300 as the Chrysler attempted to turn northbound onto the Highway 820 service road.

Rhyan's family have been left heartbroken by her loss.

'She was truly an outstanding young woman,' 53-year-old Gaines Johnson, her stepfather, told the Star Telegram.

Jose Victor Chaparro-Saenz (pictured) was arrested at the scene and has been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest

The crash occurred in the 5900 block of Azle Avenue near the eastbound intersection of Interstate 820 (pictured)

'She was the nicest, most kind-hearted person to her family, friends and anyone who needed help,' said Johnson. 'This wasn't an accident. It was just a senseless, reckless and selfish act (by the other driver).'

Rhyan was a popular freshman and cheerleader at Colleyville Heritage High School where her friends are mourning the teen. The school has made counselors available for students in the wake of the tragedy.

Colleyville Heritage High School principal, Dr. Lance Groppel, emailed students' parents on Friday with 'an incredibly heavy heart' to let them know that Rhyan had died.

'This is something that can be difficult for young people to process, so please take the time to talk with your student about this tragedy. As one parent to another, please take this opportunity to hug your children a little tighter. I know I certainly will.'

Online, friends and family have been paying tribute to the promising young student.

'She was truly an outstanding young woman,' said 53-year-old Gaines Johnson, her stepfather (pictured)

On Saturday night, nearly 1,000 people turned up for a vigil held in Rhyan's memory at a local church

Her grandparents suffered several broken bones and other injuries but survived

Grieving friends and family listened to tributes to the teenager

Salina Friend, who described Rhyan as being 'like a daughter to me', said her family was 'devasted, heartbroken, and cannot fathom the pain her family is feeling.

'Please keep the Moody/Penrod family in your prayers. Please pray for our community, the CHHS students, and for our family.(sic)'

Ky Mellado wrote: 'Feel SOOO Blessed to Have All The Memories we've made Growing Up. You Taught Me how to Be Fair, how to Laugh No Matter how Bad Some Situations or Problems Can Be. You Grew into Such a Beautiful Woman but Every time I See a Photo of You I Still Always See The Same Compassionate, LightHearted, Pure & Adorable Spark that Made You My Beloved RhyRhy..(sic)'

Rhyan's cousin Tiffanie Ruhmann also urged anyone drinking and driving to reconsider.

She said that, 'because of that drunk driver, her family my family and her friends or me will only have the sweet sweet memorys of her and live in grief forever so please next time you go out to have some drinks with your friends or party or whatever Please remember Rhyan my 14 year old cousin before you drive home please make the right decision. (sic)'

Classmates at Colleyville Heritage High School (pictured) are mourning the teen

Friends and family have been paying tribute to the promising young student whose life was snatched away

Other's have been using Rhyan's story as a message to stop drinking and driving

On Saturday night, nearly 1,000 people turned up for a vigil held in Rhyan's memory at a local church, CBS reported.

Johnson said he hoped the service could begin the healing process.

'We had almost 1,000 people turn out for the vigil,' said Johnson. 'We just wanted to help her friends and others parents (at the high school and cheerleading team) who may have been wondering what happened get some closure. It will take some time to heal, but for us as a family we'll never get over it. There will always be a hole.'

A funeral a service will be held at Greenwood Funeral Homes and Cremation in Fort Worth at 11am Tuesday and she will be buried at the Compass Church in Colleyville.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover funeral costs and the family are planning to work with the Colleyville Heritage High School to establish a non-profit organization and scholarship fund in her honor.
Civil War bonds and old advertising posters are among the long-forgotten artifacts found in a mysterious vault at the New Hampshire Statehouse on Monday.

The six-by-10-foot space is at the top of a narrow spiral staircase in a room that served as the state treasury in the 1800s and later as the single location of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Today, it's assigned to the Senate Finance Committee.

Inside were shelves of state treasury records, old posters promoting New Hampshire tourism, and state hospital records, to name a few.

Civil War bonds (pictured), state treasury records, state hospital records and old advertising posters are among the long-forgotten artifacts found in a mysterious vault at the New Hampshire Statehouse on Monday

Officials originally thought the vault, manufactured in 1884, had been locked since the 1950s, but boxes of financial documents from the 1970s were among the items found.

According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, House Speaker Shawn Jasper has been pushing for years to have the centuries-old vault in Room 103 at the State House broken into.

The door was opened at 10am as schedule in front of an audience that included lawmakers, staffers and interested members of the public.

'There is stuff in there well over a century old,' House Chief of Staff Terry Pfaff told the newspapers.

Among the items were cancelled $500 war bonds from 1861, issued by Nashua Trust, and records of general obligation bonds from the 1930s.

'These are things that could have been lost forever. It sounds like someone messed up the combination, which is why it remained locked for so many years,' he said.

Officials originally thought the vault, manufactured in 1884, had been locked since the 1950s, but boxes of financial documents from the 1970s were among the items found. Most of the material will end up in the State Archive (Pictured, House Chief of Staff Terry Pfaff, left, and House Speaker Shawn Jasper inspect a book found in the vault)

The six-by-10-foot space is at the top of a narrow spiral staircase in a room that served as the state treasury in the 1800s and later as the single location of the Department of Motor Vehicles at the New Hampshire Statehouse (pictured)

Most of the material will end up in the State Archive, although Pfaff said some items could be put on display at the State House in the Visitors Center

'I think the contents are pretty exciting,' he said. 'I was expecting to find nothing, so to go in and find Civil War records of who purchased war bonds, a lot of documents on highway funds and the state hospital there's a lot of information in there that probably doesn't exist anywhere else. It's a nice find.'

Senate President Chuck Morse didn't attend, but played a bit of a joke on House Speaker Shawn Jasper by having a photo of himself slipped into the vault.

Morse had not been keen on the idea of opening the safe with such fanfare.
A local council has defended its move to cut send out workers to cut grass completely covered in snow - claiming that their residents had asked them to do it.

The footage shows a handful of workers in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk trying their best to mow verges of grass next to a road using strimmers.

The video has now been shared widely on social media, with many simply not believing what they were watching.

A group of council workers are seen trying to mow two roadside verges of grass which is covered in snow

Another worker on the other side of the road seems to have made inroads into cutting the snow - although the grass looks

A spokesman for the Mayor, Alyona Buynova, said: 'There were a number of requests from the residents, we had to act on those. What norms are we violating? We simply cut the grass.'

But netizen 'Olga Suvorova' pointed out: 'People asked you to mow the lawn in summer, and you are doing it in winter!

'I think that snow might have the magical ability to make local communal services active again...'

And 'Daler Usmanov' added: 'Yeah, they do a good job. Fulfilling the requests from the summer in the winter time.'

Krasnoyarsk is the third biggest city in Siberia and was judged as the most beautiful by the writer Anton Chekhov.
Homeless Joseph Isaacs (court sketch, pictured) appeared at Taunton Magistreates' Court today

A homeless man has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of a D-Day veteran in a vicious hammer attack on his own doorstep.

Jim Booth, 96, who has been described by his family as an 'exceptional person', was taken to hospital in a potentially life-threatening condition on Wednesday.

Joseph Isaacs, of no fixed address, who is also accused of aggravated burglary in relation to the incident, appeared at Taunton Magistrates' Court.

The court heard in relation to the burglary charge, Isaacs was accused of stealing a NatWest debit card and a Santander cheque and of having a claw hammer with him.

Isaacs, 39, who spoke to confirm his name and date of birth, was remanded in custody to appear at Taunton Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on December 22.

Mr Booth, who was awarded a Croix de Guerre military medal by the French for his gallantry during the Second World War, suffered serious injuries to his head and body during an attack at his home in Taunton.

In a statement released on Saturday through Avon and Somerset Police, his family said Mr Booth was growing 'a little stronger each day' and that they were now focusing on the 'long' process of his recovery.

Jim Booth (pictured), 96, who has been described by his family as an 'exceptional person', was taken to hospital in a potentially life-threatening condition on Wednesday

Mr Booth, a Sub Lieutenant, was sole survivor of a 10-man team that spent five days in two mini-submarines, half a mile underwater, guiding Allied landing craft to Sword beach on D-Day

In 2015 Jim danced with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall during the 70th Anniversary commemorations of VJ Day at the Royal British Legion reception in the College Gardens of Westminster Abbey

They said: 'He is the head of the family, a dearly-loved father to his four children and adored by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to whom he's simply known as The Legend.

'He is, and always has been, our own family hero.'

Mr Booth joined the Royal Navy as a seaman at the age of 18, serving throughout the war and becoming part of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP), based on a wartime military base set up on Hayling Island.

On D-Day, he climbed into a fold-up canoe and shone a beacon out to sea to guide Allied craft safely to shore.

The 96-year-old was left with life-threatening injuries to his head and body when he was savagely attacked on the doorstep of his own bungalow (pictured)

Mr Booth, pictured in a collect photograph from his service dadys, and his fleet spied on Nazi troops and shone across the sea to guide Allied forces away from treacherous rocks

In July 2015, Mr Booth laid a wreath beside one placed by the Prince of Wales at a service on Hayling Island to pay tribute to those who served in the COPP.

The following month, he joined Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at a reception in the grounds of Westminster Abbey.

During the party, which was hosted by the Royal British Legion, Mr Booth took to the floor for a dance with Camilla.
Critics who are already writing Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's political obituary were treated to a rebuttal Monday when Kushner was seen at the Jordanian ambassador's residence to talk Middle East peace.

Kushner was pictured alongside Jordan's King Abdullah, a mainstay of U.S. peace efforts and a significant regional ally, outside the Jordanian ambassador's residence Monday in Washington.

Kushner's continued engagement in a high-profile, if intractable issue, comes after Thanksgiving weekend reports that Ivanka Trump's husband has been marginalized in White House turf battles and sidelined by firm-handed White House chief of staff John Kelly.

Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, left, and Jared Kushner, center right, arrive at the Jordanian Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C., Monday, Nov. 27, 2017

In one of those reports, Kelly told colleagues 'Jared works for me,' the New York Times reported, in an anecdote meant to show the new pecking order for an official who previously had virtually unlimited access to President Trump.

The Washington Post also reported that Kushner was both close to power and 'marginalized' in the White House, noting that he flew commercial to Saudi Arabia last month, meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but failed to get a heads-up on the imminent royal purge.

Kushner told the paper: 'We're here to stay. At the current moment, we're charging forward.

He added: 'My wife asked me the other day if we should be looking at new houses, so that's a good sign.'

Kushner and Ivanka Trump moved to Washington and took unpaid jobs in the White House, on what was first described as a six-month trial that required them to find new schools for their young children.

Jared Kushner departs his home in Washington, D.C. at 8:06 am EST, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, after weekend reports about his loss of influence

ROUGH DRAFT?: Jared Kushner talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein as they depart the Jordanian Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C., Monday

'During the campaign, I was more like a fox than a hedgehog. I was more of a generalist having to learn about and master a lot of skills quickly,' Kushner said.

'When I got to D.C., I came with an understanding that the problems here are so complex  and if they were easy problems, they would have been fixed before  and so I became more like the hedgehog, where it was more taking issues you care deeply about, going deep and devoting the time, energy and resources to trying to drive change,' he said.

Outside of his policy pursuits, which include heading an Office of American Innovation, Kushner has attracted unwanted attention due to multiple disclosure failures, including on his form to get a government security clearance.

President Donald Trump, right, and King Abdullah II of Jordan arrive to a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (L), U.S. President Donald Trump (2nd L), Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2nd R) and King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein (R) of Jordan pose for a family photo during the Arabic Islamic American Summit at King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2017

Monday is the deadline for Kushner to turn over WikiLeaks emails to the Senate Judiciary Committee, under terms set by the committee after it learned he was forwarded emails that he did not turn over.

When Kelly took over, he made sure officials including Kushner had to go through or inform him to see the president.

Kushner defended the order in the Post interview.

'The order allows this place to function,' Kushner said. 'My number one priority is a high-functioning White House because I believe in the president's agenda, and I think it should get executed.'

He continues to focus on trade issues with a focus on China.
A White House official says President Donald Trump will not campaign for Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before the Dec. 12 special election.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on Monday on condition of anonymity, but put to rest any notion that Trump would stump for the embattled nominee.

Moore stands accused of fondling a 14-year-old girl decades ago, and of trying to 'date' other teen girls who were above the age of consent in Alabama when he was in his thirties.

DailyMail.com asked Trump last Wednesday whether he would personally campaign for Moore, and he punted the question, saying he would have an answer 'next week.'

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Donald Trump, pictured returning to the White House Sunday evening with first lady Melania Trump, will not campaign for embattled Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore

Moore stands accused of sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl four decades ago, and of 'dating' 16- and 17-year old girls while he was in his thirties

Trump has leaned heavily on Moore's denials of the allegations facing him. He all but endorsed the candidate last week, attacking Democratic nominee Doug Jones as a liberal who would work against his legislative priorities.

'Roy Moore denies it  And by the way, he totally denies it,' Trump said last week, responding to DailyMail.com's questions as he left the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

The president has declined to follow the path of other mainstream Republican leaders who have called on Moore to step aside. Republican lawmakers are considering expelling Moore should he win the seat.

The president continued his attacks on Jones over the weekend, writing on Twitter that '[t]he last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY.'

Trump followed that by reminding voters that he had backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in the state's Republican primary, but Strange lost to the far-right Moore.

Trump talked to reporters on Nov. 21, saying he would delay a decision about campaigning for Moore for another week

Trump suggested Democrat Doug Jones would raise 'taxes to the sky' if he won the Alabama Senate seat over embattled Republican Roy Moore

He also reminded Americans that he didn't support Roy Moore in the special election's GOP primary, instead backing Alabama incumbent Sen. Luther Strange

'I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary,' Trump wrote. 'He shot way up in the polls but it wasn't enough.'

'Can't let Schumer/Pelosi win this race,' Trump continued, name-dropping Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the Senate and House, respectively.

'Liberal Jones would be BAD!' Trump added.

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is still expected to appear at an event with Moore on December 5, a week before the special election.

Bannon and Trump split their endorsements in the special election with Bannon backing and campaigning for Moore and Trump picking Strange, who also had the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But Alabama Republicans went anti-establishment in their choice of Moore, a controversial judge who was twice removed from the state Supreme Court.

Likely getting a bump from Trump, Moore has retaken the lead in the Alabama Senate race in two new polls.

Moore has been accused of sexual assault by three different women, including one who was 14 at the time, and other sexual misconduct behavior by six others.

He's denied the allegations and refused to leave the race, even after a number of high profile Republicans have said he should go.
A woman has launched a damages claim in London after saying she was sexually assaulted by Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Her lawyers said the claim was the first of its kind made against Mr Weinstein in the UK.

They said the woman, who has not been identified, was likely to want more than 300,000.

Paperwork outlining detail of the claim has been lodged at the High Court in London, lawyers said.

They said no date had been fixed for any hearing.

The claimant, who worked in the film industry, has accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her numerous times in Britain and the US

Solicitor Jill Greenfield, who represents the woman and works for law firm Fieldfisher, said her client was claiming damages for 'personal injury' plus expenses and 'consequential loss' arising out of 'a series of sexual assaults' by Mr Weinstein.

She said claims have been made against Mr Weinstein, a Weinstein company based in London and a Weinstein company based in New York, and she had indicated that the alleged assaults happened 'many years ago'.

A spokeswoman for Fieldfisher said she could not say whether the woman was British.

Detail of the claim is listed on a claim form lodged at the High Court and dated November 23.

The form says the woman suffered 'psychiatric damage' cause by 'intentional assault'.

The woman is being represented by Miss Greenfield, who has previously won one of the highest ever payouts in a civil claim for rape.

In 2006 she secured a 259,000 payment from the estate of Christopher Dawes, a millionaire who had lured Amanda Lawson to the island of Alderney with the promise of a job that never existed, then drugged and abused her.

Weinstein, 65, 'sincerely apologised' for past behaviour following allegations of sexual harassment

The woman in the High Court case has not yet made a complaint to the police but is expected to do so.

She is said to remain traumatised by the attacks which allegedly took place after 2000, and has not discussed them with her family.

In criminal courts, the prosecution has to prove the charges of sexual assault or any other offence to the standard of beyond all reasonable doubt.

In civil cases, it is a matter of proving it on the balance of probabilities.

The case is one of only a handful of civil claims for damages for rape to have been brought in the English courts.

Weinstein denies any allegations of non-consensual sex.

A spokesman for Weinstein said: 'Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.

'Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.'

Earlier this year there were reports several women had come forward to allege serious sexual misconduct against the Hollywood mogul.

In early October, Mr Weinstein, 65, 'sincerely apologised' for past behaviour following allegations of sexual harassment.

He said, in a statement from a publicist, that he planned to take a 'leave of absence' from his business as he worked with therapists.

Mr Weinstein has been behind some of the biggest Hollywood films of the past 25 years.

He has been involved in the production of 20 films that have been nominated for the best picture Oscar, including the Lord Of The Rings finale The Return Of The King, Shakespeare In Love and The English Patient.

Mr Weinstein and brother Bob Weinstein founded Miramax in 1979 and sold it to Disney in 1993.

They continued to work for the firm until 2005 when they set up the Weinstein Company, which spawned hits including The King's Speech, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook.

In 2004 he was made an honorary CBE for his contribution to the British film industry.
Georgia Police say a 12-year-old boy has been shot in the head by a 15-year-old family member and is critically wounded.

Authorities told WALB-TV that the boy was hospitalized after the shooting Saturday night at a home in Thomasville, 300 block of East Monroe Street, in the southern part of the state.

The young boy has been left with life threatening injuries after being shot in the head in a bedroom towards the rear of his home.

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Police in Georgia say a 12-year-old boy has been shot in the head in his house by a 15-year-old family member in Thomasville, Georgia (the house pictured here)

Thomasville Police Capt. Maurice Holmes says the shooting is 'being investigated as an assault type of incident,' and the place has been taped off

Thomasville Police Capt. Maurice Holmes says the shooting is 'being investigated as an assault type of incident.'

He added that the 15-year-old boy is being held at Regional Youth Detention Center on several charges, including theft by receiving stolen property, reckless conduct and possession of a firearm by a minor.

Police are treating the handgun used in the shooting as stolen property.

Capt. Maurice Holmes, with the Thomasville Police Department said 'you're talking about a 12-year-old. 'I've done a lot of living since I was 12-years-old and to think just the possibility of this child not being able to have that opportunity, it's disheartening'

Jamahni Williams, who is the victims brother, wasn't there when it happened, but says the two boys involved in the shooting were close relatives, reported WCTV.

'I just don't think it was supposed to happen,' Williams said. 'Just have to pray and rely on faith.'

According to the young boy's neighbor Demaurier Diggs, 11, 'there was a lot of the tape that says do not cross and there were a lot of people talking about the shooting,'

Apparently Demaurier Diggs and the 12-year-old victim who was shot are very good friends: 'It's sad. He was the only person I could play with'

Apparently Diggs and the 12-year-old boy who was shot are very good friends: 'It's sad. He was the only person I could play with,' Diggs said.

He added: 'I hope he gets better.' Diggs' 6-year-old sister, Jamyia Mitchell, also chimed in saying 'I love him and pray for him.'

Capt. Maurice Holmes, with the Thomasville Police Department said 'you're talking about a 12-year-old. 'I've done a lot of living since I was 12-years-old and to think just the possibility of this child not being able to have that opportunity, it's disheartening.'

The boys' identities weren't released because they are juveniles but police are working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in a probe of the shooting.
Ronald Felton, 60, has been identified as the latest victim. He was on his way to volunteer with the homeless when someone shot him

The funeral was held for the latest victim of a suspected serial killer targeting a Tampa neighborhood.

Ronald Felton, 60, was shot dead on November 14 as he was walking to volunteer at a food pantry at Seminole Heights - where the suspected killer has murdered at least four people since October.

'If you knew him, you seen his caring service; he was the Superman of service,' one man said at the service, according to FOX 13 Tampa. 'I was the supervisor at the food bank, but he was the one in charge.'

His family members said they are not mad at the person who took his life, but pleaded for the killing to stop.

'If you got a heart, please turn yourself in, that's all we want,' Felton's twin brother Reggie said.

Police and residents have been on high alert since October when 22-year-old Benjamin Mitchell was shot to death.

The funeral was held for Felton on Sunday. He is the latest victim of a suspected serial killer targeting a Tampa neighborhood, usually people travelling before sunrise

Two days later, 32-year-old Monica Hoffa was murdered and on October 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was slain after taking the wrong bus home from his new job.

The murders have left residents scared and city officials frustrated because there have been no arrests, despite a reward of more than $100,000 for information to help solve the case.

The department has received some 1,100 tips. The mounted horse patrols in the neighborhood began on Friday and extend through the weekend.

Ronald Felton, 60, was shot dead on November 14 as he was walking to volunteer at a food pantry at Seminole Heights - where the suspected killer has murdered at least four people since October

Last week, Tampa police released new video of man they believe is behind the murders.

Cops shared the new footage of a the suspect stalking his 60-year-old victim early on Tuesday November 14 morning in the murder-plagued neighborhood.

Police in Florida have all but confirmed that the man responsible for killing Mr Felton this week is also the same man who killed three people in a 10-day span last month.

Police in Florida have all but confirmed that the man responsible for killing Mr Felton this week is also the same man who killed three people in a 10-day span last month

Police Chief Brian Dugan says they haven't been able to connect all four murders to one suspect yet, but they believe the suspect of last Tuesday's shooting was at least responsible for the first murder on October 9 as well.

'We can't say this person has done all of the homicides,' Dugan said. 'But we are pretty convinced this person has committed at least two of them.'

Cops shared the new footage of a the suspect stalking his 60-year-old victim early on Tuesday November 14 morning in the murder-plagued neighborhood

On Wednesday, police released a video showing surveillance footage of the suspect in the first and fourth shootings.

They show a man of a similar build and gait, walking around the neighborhood with his hood pulled up.

'That's why we're convinced, when you look at the (clothes) they way the person walks....we think that's our suspect,' Dugan said.

Police finally have a profile of the suspect. He's described as a thin black male who is about 6' to 6'2' tall, with a light complexion.

Law enforcement briefly placed the neighborhood on lockdown while they searched for the suspect

Investigators believe that the suspect lives in the neighborhood, a working-class district that has been gentrifying.

Police ask asking anyone with information about a possible suspect to come forward.

The reward for information leading to the killer's arrest has been raised to $91,000 thanks to funds donated from the FBI.

They also asked residents to check their gun safes to make sure their guns were accounted for, on the chance that a loved one is the killer and has been using one of their weapons.

Police have also ordered residents to keep their porch lights on between the hours of 6pm and 6am, since the killer strikes under the cover of darkness.

The most recent attack happened on Tuesday, at 4:51am.

Ronald Felton was gunned down as he crossed the street on the way to feed the homeless at a local church.

Police said the victim, a construction worker and father of three adult children, was crossing at Nebraska and Wilder when a man dressed in all black came up behind him and shot him.

His murder, in the city's Seminole Heights neighborhood, is close to where three other people were murdered in apparently random shootings.

Benjamin Mitchell became the first victim on October 9, when he was shot dead after getting off a bus in the neighborhood at night.

Two days after Mitchell, 22, was shot, Monica Hoffa, 32, was gunned down. And on October 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was shot after taking the wrong bus home from his new job. Police patrolling nearby heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene to find Naiboa dead.
A doctor has dropped dead in the bathroom of a hospital and was not found until several hours later.

Investigators are trying to piece together how Miguel Crespo, 40, came to his death on the Upper East Side of New York after police officers said there were no signs of injury or trauma.

Vomit was said to have been found next to his body after he had died at some stage during the day on the eighth floor of the Weill Cornell Medical Center at East 68th Street and York Avenue.

Investigators are trying to piece together how Miguel Crespo (pictured), 40, came to his death on the Upper East Side of New York after police officers said there were no signs of injury or trauma

His body was discovered at 3pm, according to the New York Post.

Crespo's bio has him listed as a research associate in surgery at the center where he started work back in 2011 as the stem cell lab researching colon cancer.

The center's spokeswoman Sarah Smith told the New York Daily News: 'Weill Cornell Medicine is saddened by the death of our colleague Miguel Crespo, PhD.

'We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends.'

Vomit was said to have been found next to his body after he had died at some stage during the day on the eighth floor of the Weill Cornell Medical Center (pictured) at East 68th Street and York Avenue

Away from the hospital, Crespo was a part-time photographer and graphic designer.

On his website, his mission statement reads: 'Throughout my life, I have relentlessly strived to capture the beauty in things I always felt the world has yet to discover - windows, shadows, reflections, the magic in the velvety light that projects on our eyes,' he wrote on his photo design website.

'I have always been mesmerized by the compassion, the emotion, and the meaning somebody's look can convey and inspire.'

One of his neighbors Xoey Lee, 38, told NYDN he did not appear seem ill and said: 'He's always polite. He always says, "Hi".'
With an estimated joint fortune of around 40 million, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are sure to pull out all the stops when they will tie the knot in a ceremony next spring.

Harry was once considered one of the world's most eligible bachelors - charming and fun, with a fortune of nearly 40 million to boot.

But the royal has now been snapped up by the equally desirable American actress Ms Markle, who boasts her own personal wealth of some 4 million.

While Harry's fortune dwarfs that of the 36-year-old actress, it remains unclear whether they - or the British taxpayer - will foot the bill for the nuptials.

Prince Harry has an estimated wealth of nearly 40 million, while his bride-to-be is worth some 4 million

Harry and Meghan Markle will set up home in the prince's current apartment, Nottingham Cottage, at Kensington Palace

Prince Harry earned his own salary as an officer and captain in the Army Air Corps until his departure from the service.

Harry's official travel is funded through the Sovereign Grant, paid out of taxpayers' money, while the Prince of Wales uses his Duchy of Cornwall income - the landed estate created in the 14th century for heirs to the throne - in part to support Harry, and soon Ms Markle too.

The duchy has assets worth more than 1billion and provides Prince Charles with an income of more than 20million a year.

From 2016 to 2017, the Duchy of Cornwall paid around 3.6 million funding the activities of Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton, as well as other expenditures.

Prince Charles may pick up most of the bill for his youngest son's wedding and reception, even if custom dictates otherwise.

For the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding, the costs including the church service, music, flowers, decorations, reception and honeymoon were split between the Queen, the Prince of Wales and Kate Middleton's millionaire parents.

But the taxpayer picked up the bill for security at the event, including the 5,000 police officers, and the clear-up operation on the streets afterwards, with reports suggesting the total cost to the taxpayer came to between 10 million and 20 million.

Ms Markle, meanwhile, is worth around 4 million from film and TV work.

She is predominantly known for her role as Rachel Zane in Suits, a role she has played for five years since 2011. She also starred in films including Horrible Bosses, and Remember Me.

Ms Markle is worth around 4 million from film and TV work. She is predominantly known for her role as Rachel Zane in Suits, a role she has played for five years since 2011

The taxpayer will be expected to foot the bill for the stringent security measures at the couple's wedding

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have appeared in public for the first time since announcing they will marry next year as the world glimpsed the American actress' engagement ring

Harry and Meghan Markle will set up home in the prince's current apartment, Nottingham Cottage, at Kensington Palace.

But they might find themselves the new owners of a country residence.

After the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge married, the Queen gifted them Anmer Hall, a 10-bedroom Grade II-listed mansion on the Sandringham estate, providing them with a bolt-hole in Norfolk.

Harewood Park near Ross on Wye, which was renovated after being acquired by the Prince of Wales's Duchy of Cornwall in 2000, could be contender for Harry and Ms Markle.

The last time the country witnessed a senior royal marry was when future king Prince William wed his former university flatmate Kate Middleton - so today's announcement was particularly exciting

Prince Charles, is likely to pick up most of the bill for the Spring 2018 wedding and reception, even if custom dictates otherwise

The Metropolitan Police will start planning immediately for the high-profile event. The current threat level for international terrorism in the UK is severe.

Extra officers will be drafted in to patrol the streets on the day amid tight security surrounding the chosen venue.

Ms Markle will also have been assigned a royal bodyguard from the Metropolitan Police's Royalty and Specialist Protection Command.

The last time the country witnessed a senior royal marry was when future king Prince William wed his former university flatmate Kate Middleton.

Their nuptials - which took place on April 29 2011 in Westminster Abbey - were a grand affair featuring two dresses, two receptions, a carriage procession, flypasts and a balcony appearance.

Nearly 25 million people in the UK tuned in to watch the live televised wedding ceremony, with the worldwide television audience estimated to be two billion.

The 1981 wedding between Prince Charles and Diana Spencer was estimated to have cost 4m - which equates to around 12m today.
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Meghan Markle revealed tonight how she said 'yes' immediately to Prince Harry after he proposed on one knee while they were cooking a roast dinner during a 'cosy night' in.

In their first joint interview this evening, Miss Markle, 36, said she did not even wait for the 33-year-old royal to finish the sentence before she said 'yes' - and it was 'so sweet and natural and very romantic'.

The couple, who had been in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace when the proposal happened, revealed that they first met on a blind date after being set up by a female friend - and have tried to see each other every two weeks.

Harry added: 'I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly... All the stars were aligned - everything was just perfect. It was this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life - I fell into her life.'

Four weeks after they met, Harry persuaded Miss Markle to join him on a five-day break in Botswana. He said: 'We camped out with each other under the stars... which was absolutely fantastic.'

Meghan Markle said 'yes' immediately to Prince Harry after he proposed on one knee while they were cooking dinner, the couple said today in their first joint interview

The pair inspect Meghan's engagement ring, which includes a large diamond from Botswana, where they had one of their first dates together camping out under the stars

Pointing at the ring, Prince Harry said: 'The little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection to make sure that she's with us on this - on this crazy journey together'

In their first joint interview this evening, Miss Markle, 36, said she did not even wait for the 33-year-old royal to finish the sentence before she said 'yes' - and it was 'so sweet and natural and very romantic'

The couple - who spoke to BBC presenter Mishal Husain today - said that Miss Markle has already met the Queen 'a couple of times', and the actress described the monarch as an 'incredible woman'.

It was also revealed that Prince Harry had sought the permission of both of Miss Markle's parents, but that he had not yet met her father Thomas, having only spoken to him on the phone.

HOW THEY MET

They talked about their 16-month relationship and how they never went more than two weeks without seeing one another.

Miss Markle said: 'I don't think that I would call it a whirlwind in terms of our relationship, obviously there have been layers attached to how public it has become after we had a good five, six months almost with just privacy, which was amazing.

'But no, I think we were able to really have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other, even though we were obviously doing a long distance relationship. So it's - we made it work.'

The pair said they were introduced by a mutual female friend in July 2016, but declined to reveal her name.

Harry told how they camped out under the stars in Botswana a few weeks after they met when Harry persuaded Miss Markle to join him on holiday.

Harry said: 'Then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana.

'And we, we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent, she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.'

Miss Markle revealed how they took 'the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk'. Miss Markle has met the Queen a couple of times and described her as an 'incredible woman'.

THE PROPOSAL

Speaking of the proposal, Harry said: 'It happened a few weeks ago, earlier this month, here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us.

Miss Markle added: 'Just a cosy night, it was - what we were doing just roasting chicken and having ...' Harry said he was 'roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken'.

Meghan stares lovingly at Prince Harry as he explains how the couple were first introduced by a mystery woman and mutual friend to them both

The couple said they were roasting chicken on a 'cosy night' in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London a few weeks ago when Harry got down on one knee

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared at a photocall at London's Kensington Palace today

The newly-engaged couple held hands as they posed for photographers at the palace today

Fifth in line to the throne Harry has been dating the American actress since summer 2016

Miss Markle described it as 'just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.' She added: 'As a matter of fact I could barely let you finish proposing, I said - can I say yes now?'

The pair are to marry in a church wedding in the spring next year. Harry revealed how they had 'hugs' after the proposal and he handed over the ring.

Prince Harry said: 'She didn't even let me finish, she said 'can I say yes, can I say yes' and then were was hugs and I had the ring in my finger and I was like 'can I - can I give you the ring?' She goes - 'oh yes the ring'.

'So no it was - it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think managed to catch - catch her by surprise as well.'

THE RING

Asked about the ring, Harry said: 'The ring is - is obviously yellow gold because that's what - her favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the - the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection to make sure that she's with us on this - on this crazy journey together.'

Miss Markle added: 'It's beautiful, and he designed it, it's incredible.' And Harry said: 'Yeah, make sure it stays on that finger.'

PRINCESS DIANA

Asked what it meant to Miss Markle to have stones on her finger that once belonged to Princess Diana, she said: 'I think everything about Harry's thoughtfulness is - and the inclusion of that and obviously not being able to meet his mom it's so important to me to - to know that she's a part of this with us.

'And I think in being able to meet his aunts and - and also like Julia and just different people who were so important to his mom, I'm able to, in some way, know a part of her through them and of course through him.

'And it's - it's incredibly special. And you know to be able to have this which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us and it's - it's perfect.'

Harry was then asked what he believed his mother would have thought of Miss Markle. He replied: 'Oh they'd be thick as thieves, without question, I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me, but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends - best friends with Meghan.

'So no it's - you know it is days like - days like today when - when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news. But you know with the ring and with everything else that's going on I'm sure she's...'

Miss Markle then interjected: 'She's with us.' - and Harry said: 'I'm sure she's with us yeah, you know, jumping up and down somewhere else.'

Their 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends

The couple will live together in Harry's current home, Nottingham Cottage at the palace

Miss Markle showed off her sparkling engagement ring, which Harry designed himself, made from two diamonds which belonged to his late beloved mother Diana, Princess of Wales

Miss Markle is expected to become a duchess - just like Kate Middleton did six years ago

QUEEN AND THE CORGIS

It was also disclosed that she had become a firm favourite with the corgis.

Describing being introduced to the Queen, Harry's grandmother, Miss Markle said: 'It's incredible, I think, you know, to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother.

'All of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And we've had a really - she's, she's an incredible woman.'

Harry added: 'And the corgis took to you straight away.' To which Miss Markle replied: 'That's true.'

Harry joked: 'I've spent the last 33 years being barked at - this one walks in, absolutely nothing.' Miss Markle, who has two dogs herself, said: 'Just laying on my feet during tea. It was very sweet.'

Harry added: 'Just wagging tails - and I was just like, argh.'

WILLIAM AND KATE

Miss Markle said the Duchess of Cambridge had been 'wonderful' to her, while Harry said both William and Kate had been 'amazing'.

Harry talked about how he kept the relationship secret before introducing Miss Markle to his brother and sister-in-law.'It was exciting, I mean I've - you know, I'd been seeing her for a period of time when I literally didn't tell anybody at all.

The pair were secretly engaged this month, and Harry took Miss Markle to meet the Queen

Harry and Miss Markle may be invited to spend Christmas with his grandmother the Queen

The royal family have flocked to congratulate the happy couple after the announcement

'And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know, being our neighbours, we managed to get that in a couple of, well, quite a few times now, and Catherine has been absolutely amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support.'

Miss Markle said of Kate: 'She's been wonderful.' Harry spoke of the support his family had given him.

'The family together have been absolutely, you know, a solid support, and my grandparents as well have been, have been wonderful throughout this whole process, and they've known for quite some time,' he said.

Harry, 33, and Miss Markle, 36, appeared at a photocall at Kensington Palace in London this afternoon and their royal wedding will take place next spring.

Fifth in line to the throne Harry has been dating the American actress - who found fame in the US legal drama Suits - since the summer of last year.

Their 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends in London, and the pair have been almost inseparable in recent months.

The couple will live together in Harry's current home, Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, and Miss Markle will become an HRH and a senior royal.

She is expected to become a duchess - just like Kate Middleton did when she became the Duchess of Cambridge after saying her vows in 2011.

Miss Markle will most probably become HRH the Duchess of Sussex, if Harry is made the Duke of Sussex by the Queen on the morning of his wedding.

The pair were secretly engaged earlier this month, and Harry took Miss Markle to meet his grandmother the Queen for tea at Buckingham Palace in October.

Miss Markle is a divorcee. In 2011, she wed film producer Trevor Engelson after dating him for six years - but the pair split amicably less than two years later.

Harry and Miss Markle made their first official public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto - where the star is based - in September.

At the closing ceremony a few days later, the prince was spotted kissing his girlfriend on the cheek as they watched the show from the VIP box.

How Harry picked BBC's 250,000-a-year star presenter for interview Mishal Husain is a Today programme host who lives in London Prince Harry handpicked one of the BBC's top presenters to interview him about his proposal to Meghan Markle. Mishal Husain, a 44-year-old working mother of three children and the first Muslim female Today presenter, conducted arguably her biggest ever interview this afternoon. Husain of Hampstead, North London, and Harry will work together again next month when he guest edits the BBC Radio 4 programme on a day between Christmas and New Year. Husain, who lives with her husband, lawyer Meekal Hashmi and their three sons, was born in Northampton. She moved aged two with her parents to the United Arab Emirates, and at 12 returned to England for boarding school before reading law at Cambridge. Husain made an instant impression in 1998 when she joined the white male-dominated BBC, building a following as the BBC World News evening anchor. She was appointed Today presenter in 2013, and established herself on the show while continuing to read the 10pm news on BBC One at weekends. In 2014, she won plaudits for her reports from Pakistan after 100 children were murdered by the Taliban. A year later she was named Broadcaster of the Year. Husain, who earns up to 250,000 a year, was appointed Today presenter in 2013 Husain built a following as the BBC World News evening anchor But in June, Husain, who earns up to 250,000 a year, for her work on the BBC, was accused of being the 'official spokeswoman for Jeremy Corbyn'. It came after she had a bad-tempered exchange with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson after he raised the Labour leader's stance on shoot-to-kill. Husain also faced criticism from some quarters for her moderation of the leaders' debate in Cambridge in May ahead of the general election. Advertisement

The key points: Harry and Meghan reveal their proposal 'He proposed while roasting a chicken' Prince Harry: It happened a few weeks ago, earlier this month, here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us. Meghan Markle: Just a cosy night, it was - what we were doing just roasting chicken and having ... Prince Harry: Roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken. Meghan Markle: Trying to roast a chicken and it just - just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee. Prince Harry: Of course. Was it a 'yes' straight away? Meghan Markle: Yes, as a matter of fact I could barely let you finish proposing, I said - can I say yes now? Prince Harry: She didn't even let me finish, she said can I say yes, can I say yes and then were was hugs and I had the ring in my finger and I was like can I - can I give you the ring? She goes - oh yes the ring. So no it was - it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think managed to catch - catch her by surprise as well. Meghan Markle: Yeah. How long did Harry wait to pop the question? Meghan Markle: Oh it would be a year and a half, a little bit more than that? Prince Harry: No just about - it would be about a year and a half yeah. Meghan Markle: Just about that? Has it been a whirlwind romance? Meghan Markle: I don't think that I would call it a whirlwind in terms of our relationship, obviously there have been layers attached to how public it has become after we had a good five, six months almost with just privacy, which was amazing. But no, I think we were able to really have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other, even though we were obviously doing a long distance relationship. So it's - we made it work. How did they first meet? Prince Harry: Ah yes, we first met - we were introduced actually by a mutual friend, who - we will ... Meghan Markle: We should protect her privacy and not reveal too much of that. Prince Harry: We'll protect her privacy yeah. And - but it was - it was literally - it was through her and then we met once and then twice back to back two dates in London, last July. Meghan Markle: Yes. Prince Harry: The beginning of July. And then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana. And we - we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent - she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. Meghan Markle: Just to take the - take the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk. Prince Harry: We've been - we've been all over the place. Has Meghan met the Queen? Meghan Markle: I have, yes. Prince Harry: A couple of times. Meghan Markle: Yes, true, a couple of times. It's incredible, I think, you know, a) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And we've had a really - she's - she's an incredible woman. Prince Harry: And the corgis took to you straight away. Meghan Markle: That's true. Prince Harry: I've spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing ... Meghan Markle: Just laying on my feet during tea, it was very sweet. Prince Harry: ... just wagging tails and I was just like argh. Has Meghan brought her beloved dogs to London? Meghan Markle: Well I have two dogs that I've had for quite a long time, both my rescue pups. And one is now staying with very close friends and my other little guy is - yes he's in the UK, he's been here for a while. Int: Okay, let's hope he adjusts well. Meghan Markle: I think he's doing just fine. On introducing Meghan to the family Prince Harry: What was it like? It was exciting I mean I've - you know I'd been seeing her for a period of time when I - literally didn't tell anybody at all. And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know being our neighbours we managed to get that in a couple of - well quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely ... Meghan Markle: She's been wonderful. Prince Harry: ... amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support. And then my - my father as well, we had a couple of - no more than that ... Meghan Markle: We've had ... Prince Harry: ... A handful of teas and meetings and all sorts of gatherings over at his place as well. So no the family together have been absolutely, you know, a solid support and my grandparents as well have been - have been wonderful throughout this whole process and they've known for quite some time. So how they - how they haven't told anybody is - is again a miracle in itself. But now the whole family have come together and have been a huge amount of support. Meghan Markle: They've been amazing. Are the in-laws over the moon with with the engagement? Meghan Markle: Yes. Well I'm sure the onset, both my parents and my close friends were concerned, because we got very quickly swept up in a media storm that, as I shared, was not part of my life before that, but they also had never seen me so happy. And I think also once my friends - excuse me, were able to - to really meet Harry, and my mom, who we've spent a lot of time with, who is so much fun. Prince Harry: Her mum's amazing. Meghan Markle: It was just - you know it was just obvious that no matter what we were being put through that it was just temporary and that we were going to be able to get through that. So everybody was really happy. And he's talked to my dad a few times, hasn't been able to meet him just yet, but it's all been - it's all been worth every effort. Prince Harry: Yeah, yeah it's been great. Do they have plans for children? Prince Harry: Not currently, no. No, of course, you know, I think one step at a time, and hopefully we'll start a family in the near future. Meghan Markle: His family's been so welcoming. Prince Harry: You've met quite a few of them actually. Meghan Markle: I have, on both sides of his family, his mom's side as well, which has been really important to me too. But yes, the family has been great, and over the past year and a half we've just had a really nice time getting to know them and progressively helping me feel a part of, not just the institution, but also part of the family which has been really special. Prince Harry: Trying to track them down and make sure that they're around at the same time that she's popping in without telling too many people ... we've managed, we've actually done incredibly well to make sure that you've met all the key people. The ring Prince Harry: The ring is - is obviously yellow gold because that's what - her favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the - the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection to make sure that she's with us on this - on this crazy journey together. And ... Meghan Markle: It's beautiful, and he designed it, it's incredible. Prince Harry: Yeah, make sure it stays on that finger. Meghan Markle: Of course. What does it mean to have Princess Diana's stones on your finger? Meghan Markle: I think everything about Harry's thoughtfulness is - and the inclusion of that and obviously not being able to meet his mom it's so important to me to - to know that she's a part of this with us. And I think in being able to meet his aunts and - and also like Julia and just different people who were so important to his mom, I'm able to, in some way, know a part of her through them and of course through him. And it's - it's incredibly special. And you know to be able to have this which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us and it's - it's perfect. What would Diana have thought of Meghan? Prince Harry: Oh they'd be thick as thieves, without question, I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me, but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends - best friends with Meghan. So no it's - you know it is days like - days like today when - when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news. But you know with the ring and with everything else that's going on I'm sure she's ... Meghan Markle: She's with us. Prince Harry: I'm sure she's with us yeah, you know, jumping up and down somewhere else. They met on a blind date Meghan Markle: Yes, it was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date. Prince Harry: It was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date for sure. Meghan Markle: And it's so interesting because we talk about it now and even then you know, because I'm from the States you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. And so, while I now understand very clearly there is a global interest there, I didn't know much about him and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, 'I have one question' which was, 'Well, is he nice?' cos if he wasn't kind it just didn't seem like it would make sense and so we went and we had a, met for a drink and I think very quickly into that we said, 'well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.' Prince Harry: What are we doing tomorrow? Let's meet again. And then it was like, right, diaries. We need to get the diaries out and find out how we're going to make this work, because I was off to Africa for a month, she was working. And we just said right where's the gap? And the gap happened to be in the perfect place. Had Harry watched Suits before they met? Prince Harry: No. I'd never even heard about her until this friend said Meghan Markle. I was like 'right, okay, give me a bit of background... what's going on here?' So no, I'd never watched Suits, I'd never heard of Meghan before, and I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. And there she was sitting there... I was like okay well I'm going to have to up my game ... sit down and make sure I've got good chat. Meghan Markle: I think for both of us though it was, it was really refreshing because, given that I didn't know a lot about him, everything that I've learned about him, I learned through him as opposed to having grown up around different news stories or tabloids or whatever else... anything I've learned about him and his family was what he would share with me and vice versa, so for both of us it was just a really authentic and organic way to get to know each other. On Meghan's new duties Prince Harry: Of course, that sense of responsibility was essentially from day one or maybe a couple of months in, when I suddenly realised actually this is... I feel, I know that I'm in love with this girl, and I hope that she's in love with me, but we still had to sit down on the sofa. I still had to have some pretty frank conversations with her to say, you know what you're letting yourself in for, is ...it's a big deal and it's not...it's not easy for anybody. But I know that at the end of the day she chooses me, and I choose her, and therefore whatever we have to tackle together or individually we'll always be us together as a team, so I think she's capable... Meghan Markle: That's so nicely said, isn't it? Prince Harry: ...She's capable of anything Meghan Markle: Thank you Prince Harry: And together as I said there's a hell of a lot of stuff and work that needs doing. At the moment for us it's going to be making sure our relationship is always put first. But both of us have passions for wanting to make change, change for good, and with lots of young people running around the Commonwealth that's where we're going to spend most of our time hopefully. Meghan Markle: And it was really one of the first things we connected on. It was one of the first things we started talking about when we met was just the different things that we wanted to do in the world and how passionate we were about seeing change. I think that was, that's what's got date two in the books probably (laughs). Prince Harry: Plenty to talk about. On bonding over nights on the sofa Prince Harry: Yes, we've had to sort of reverse the whole process, and cosy nights in, in front of the television, cooking dinner just the two of us by ourselves in our little cottage, rather than going out for dinner and being seen in public, so we have, we've reversed the whole process which ... it's provided different opportunities, and it's made us a hell of a lot closer in a shorter space of time without question. Meghan Markle: That's true. Prince Harry: So if anybody else at home is listening then maybe slow down on dates and maybe spend more time at home. But, for us, it's an opportunity to really get to know each other without other people looking or trying to take photos on their phones and all that kind of stuff. That comes with the job, comes with the role. Meghan Markle: And we were able to really get to know each other that way, but also then to go and have friends over for dinner or to go to his family's for tea or.... any of those sort of things and even you know just to take the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk.

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Full transcript: The proposal, meeting the Queen and how Diana and Meghan would have been 'best friends'

Interviewer: Your Royal Highness, Meghan Markle, congratulations to you both.

Meghan Markle: Thank you.

Interviewer [Int]: Can we start with the proposal and the actual moment of your engagement. When did it happen? How did it happen?

Prince Harry: It happened a few weeks ago, earlier this month, here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us.

Meghan Markle: Just a cosy night, it was - what we were doing just roasting chicken and having ...

Prince Harry: Roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken.

Meghan Markle: Trying to roast a chicken and it just - just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.

Prince Harry: Of course.

Int: Was it an instant yes from you?

Meghan Markle: Yes, as a matter of fact I could barely let you finish proposing, I said - 'can I say yes now'?

Prince Harry: She didn't even let me finish, she said 'can I say yes, can I say yes' and then were was hugs and I had the ring in my finger and I was like 'can I, can I give you the ring?' She goes - 'oh yes the ring'.

So no it was, it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think I managed to catch... catch her by surprise as well.

Meghan Markle: Yeah.

Int: And this is how long after you first met?

Meghan Markle: Oh it would be a year and a half, a little bit more than that?

Prince Harry: No just about - it would be about a year and a half, yeah.

Meghan Markle: Just about that?

Int: Which for most people would be quite a whirlwind, is that how it's felt to you?

Meghan Markle: I don't think that I would call it a whirlwind in terms of our relationship, obviously there have been layers attached to how public it has become after we had a good five, six months almost with just privacy, which was amazing.

But no, I think we were able to really have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other, even though we were obviously doing a long distance relationship. So it's - we made it work.

Int: How did you first meet?

Prince Harry: Ah yes, we first met - we were introduced actually by a mutual friend, who - we will ...

Meghan Markle: We should protect her privacy and not reveal too much of that.

Prince Harry: We'll protect her privacy yeah. And - but it was - it was literally - it was through her and then we met once and then twice back-to-back two dates in London, last July.

Meghan Markle: Yes.

Prince Harry: The beginning of July. And then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana. And we - we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent - she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.

So, then we were really by ourselves which was crucial to me to make sure we had a chance to get to know each other.

Int: But the friend who introduced you, was she trying to set you up?

Meghan Markle: Yes, it was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date.

Prince Harry: It was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date for sure.

Meghan Markle: And it's so interesting because we talk about it now and even then you know, because I'm from the States you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. And so, while I now understand very clearly there is a global interest there, I didn't know much about him and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, 'I have one question' which was, 'Well, is he nice?' 'cos if he wasn't kind it just didn't seem like it would make sense and so we went and we had a, met for a drink and I think very quickly into that we said, 'well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.'

Prince Harry: What are we doing tomorrow? Let's meet again. And then it was like, right, diaries. We need to get the diaries out and find out how we're going to make this work, because I was off to Africa for a month, she was working. And we just said right where's the gap? And the gap happened to be in the perfect place.

Int: So how much did you, Prince Harry, know about Meghan? Had you seen her on TV?

Prince Harry: No. I'd never even heard about her until this friend said Meghan Markle. I was like 'right, okay, give me a bit of background ... what's going on here?' So no, I'd never watched Suits, I'd never heard of Meghan before, and I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. And there she was sitting there... I was like okay well I'm going to have to up my game ... sit down and make sure I've got good chat.

Meghan Markle: I think for both of us though it was, it was really refreshing because, given that I didn't know a lot about him, everything that I've learned about him, I learned through him as opposed to having grown up around different news stories or tabloids or whatever else... anything I've learned about him and his family was what he would share with me and vice versa, so for both of us it was just a really authentic and organic way to get to know each other.

Int: And was that quite refreshing for you in the way that you've been brought up, with a lot of people knowing a lot about you, was it refreshing?

Prince Harry: Or thinking they know

Int: Or thinking they know.

Meghan Markle: Exactly

Prince Harry: It was hugely refreshing to be able to get to know someone who isn't necessarily within your circle, doesn't know much about me, I don't know much about her. So to be able to start almost afresh, right from the beginning, getting to know each other, step by step and then taking that huge leap of only two dates and then going effectively on holiday together in the middle of nowhere and you know sharing a tent together and all that kind of stuff. It was ... fantastic. It was absolutely amazing to get to know her as quickly as I did.

Int: And starting a long distance relationship, you (Meghan Markle) were working on Suits, you had, I imagine, a packed filming schedule, you've (Prince Harry) got lots of commitments of your own, how hard was it to keep things going?

Prince Harry: (exhales) It was, yeah.

Meghan Markle: It was just a choice, right. I think that, very early on when we realised we were going to commit to each other, we knew we had to invest the time and the energy and whatever it took to make that happen. And so yes with the filming schedule it was (laughs) not the easiest because it of course included a lot of travel back and forth.

Prince Harry: I don't think you've had any idea what time zone you've been on for the last year and a half.

Meghan Markle: No. (laughs)

Prince Harry: Coming over here four days or a week and then going back, and then straight into filming the next day, 4am wake-up calls on a Monday, straight into set.

Meghan Markle: Right off the plane and straight to set. And just coming back and doing it again.

Prince Harry: And just trying to stay as close as possible but you know on two different time zones. And five hours apart does have its challenges. But we made it work and now we're here so, we're thrilled.

Int: In the case of your relationship, unlike for most people, there's this whole layer of what it means to get involved with someone from the royal family. How much of a sense did you have Meghan of the enormity of what you were getting into? What it might mean for your life?

Meghan Markle: I think I can very safely say, as naive as it sounds now, having gone through this learning curve in the past year and a half, I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like. I don't think either of us did though, we both said that even though we knew that it would be...

Prince Harry: I tried... to warn you as much as possible but I think both of us were totally surprised by the reaction after the first five, six months when we had to ourselves of what actually happened from then. So I think you can have as many conversations as you want and try and prepare as much as possible but we were totally unprepared for what happened after that.

Int: The scrutiny?

Prince Harry: Well all sorts.

Meghan Markle: Well I mean, I think also, because ... there's a misconception that because I have worked in the entertainment industry that this would be something I would be familiar with. But even though I'd been on my show for six years at that point, and working before that, I have never been part of tabloid culture. I've never been in pop culture to that degree and lived a relatively quiet life even though I focused so much on my job and so that was a really stark difference out of the gate. But... and I think we were just hit so hard at the beginning with a lot of mistruths that I made the choice to not read anything, positive or negative it just didn't make sense and instead we focused all of our energies just on nurturing our relationship.

Prince Harry: On us.

Meghan Markle: On us.

Int: And some of that scrutiny - and you ended up making a very public statement about that - some of that scrutiny was centred around your ethnicity Meghan. When you realised that, what did you think?

Meghan Markle: Of course it's disheartening. You know it's a shame that that is the climate in this world, to focus that much on that , or that that would be discriminatory in that sense, but I think you know at the end of the day I'm really just proud of who I am and where I come from, and we have never put any focus on that we've just focused on who we are as a couple. And so when you take all those extra layers away, and all of that noise I think it makes it really easy to just enjoy being together and tune all the rest of that out.

Int: But now that it is all official, Prince Harry, do you have that sense that the combination of the two of you, your different backgrounds, that you together represent something new for the royal family?

Harry: I don't know if it's something new, I think it's, you know it's ... for me it's an added member of the family. It's another team player as part of the bigger team, and for all of us all we want to do is be able to carry out the right engagements, carry out our work and try and encourage others and the younger generation to be able to see the world in the correct sense rather than perhaps being, having a distorted view. So the fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was sort of confirmation to me that everything, all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect. It was this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life. And the fact, I know the fact that she'll be really unbelievably good at the job part of it as well is obviously a huge relief to me because she'll be able to deal with everything else that comes with it. But we're a fantastic team, we know we are, and we hope to over time try and have as much impact for all the things we care about as much as possible.

Meghan Markle: I am very excited about that, yeah.

Int: And Meghan given your acting and the profile you had, you've already been involved with various causes, you've been an ambassador for UN women. What about this new role? You're going to have a bigger platform, a bigger voice, what do you want to do with it?

Meghan Markle: I mean...

Prince Harry: Sing.

Meghan Markle: (laughs) Can you imagine? No. I'm not a singer. I think what's been really exciting is we talk about the transition of this, out of my career but into the role is that, as you said the causes that have been very important to me I can focus even more energy on, because very early out of the gate I think you realise once you have access or a voice that people are willing to listen to, with that comes a lot of responsibility, which I take seriously.

And at the same time I think in these beginning few months and now being boots on the ground in the UK I'm excited to just really get to know more about the different communities here, smaller organisations who are working on the same causes that I've always been passionate about under this umbrella, and also being able to go round the Commonwealth, I think it's just the beginning.

Prince Harry: There's a lot to do. There's a lot to do.

Int: And it's an immense change. You're getting a new country out of it. A husband, obviously.

Prince Harry: Sounds nice doesn't it?

Meghan Markle: It does sound nice.

Int: (to Meghan Markle) But also giving up your career.

Meghan Markle: Yes. But I don't see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change.

Prince Harry: It's a new challenge.

Meghan Markle: It's a new chapter. Right? And also, keep in mind, I've been working on my show for seven years, so we were very, very fortunate to be able to have that sort of longevity on a series, and for me, once we hit the 100th episode marker I thought 'You know what? I have ticked this box' and I feel really proud of the work I've done there and now it's time to, as you said, work as a team with you.

Int: But do you have that sense of responsibility, Prince Harry, for what you're asking Meghan to do?

Prince Harry: Of course, that sense of responsibility was essentially from day one or maybe a couple of months in, when I suddenly realised actually this is... I feel, I know that I'm in love with this girl, and I hope that she's in love with me, but we still had to sit down on the sofa. I still had to have some pretty frank conversations with her to say, you know what you're letting yourself in for, is ...it's a big deal and it's not...it's not easy for anybody. But I know that at the end of the day she chooses me, and I choose her, and therefore whatever we have to tackle together or individually we'll always be us together as a team, so I think she's capable...

Meghan Markle: That's so nicely said, isn't it?

Prince Harry: ...She's capable of anything

Meghan Markle: Thank you

Prince Harry: And together as I said there's a hell of a lot of stuff and work that needs doing. At the moment for us it's going to be making sure our relationship is always put first. But both of us have passions for wanting to make change, change for good, and with lots of young people running around the Commonwealth that's where we're going to spend most of our time hopefully.

Meghan Markle: And it was really one of the first things we connected on. It was one of the first things we started talking about when we met was just the different things that we wanted to do in the world and how passionate we were about seeing change. I think that was, that's what's got date two in the books probably (laughs).

Prince Harry: Plenty to talk about.

Int: Children?

Prince Harry: Not currently, no. No, of course, you know, I think one step at a time, and hopefully we'll start a family in the near future.

Int: You've met each other's families I imagine?

Meghan Markle: Yes, his family's been so welcoming.

Prince Harry: You've met quite a few of them actually.

Meghan Markle: I have, on both sides of his family, his mum's side as well, which has been really important to me too. But yes, the family has been great, and over the past year and a half we've just had a really nice time getting to know them and progressively helping me feel a part of, not just the institution, but also part of the family which has been really special.

Prince Harry: Trying to track them down and make sure that they're around at the same time that she's popping in without telling too many people ... we've managed, we've actually done incredibly well to make sure that you've met all the key people.

Int: So does that mean a lot of the time that you've been together in this last year and a half, you've been at home a lot?

Prince Harry: Yes, we've had to sort of reverse the whole process, and cosy nights in, in front of the television, cooking dinner just the two of us by ourselves in our little cottage, rather than going out for dinner and being seen in public, so we have, we've reversed the whole process which ... it's provided different opportunities, and it's made us a hell of a lot closer in a shorter space of time without question.

Meghan Markle: That's true.

Prince Harry: So if anybody else at home is listening then maybe slow down on dates and maybe spend more time at home. But, for us, it's an opportunity to really get to know each other without other people looking or trying to take photos on their phones and all that kind of stuff. That comes with the job, comes with the role.

Meghan Markle: And we were able to really get to know each other that way, but also then to go and have friends over for dinner or to go to his family's for tea or.... any of those sort of things and even you know just to take the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk.

Prince Harry: We've been all over the place.

Int: Have you met the Queen?

Meghan Markle: I have, yes.

Prince Harry: A couple of times.

Meghan Markle: Yes, true, a couple of times.

Int: What was that like?

Meghan Markle: It's incredible, I think, you know, a) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And we've had a really, she's, she's an incredible woman.

Prince Harry: And the corgis took to you straight away.

Meghan Markle: That's true.

Prince Harry: I've spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing ...

Meghan Markle: Just laying on my feet during tea, it was very sweet.

Prince Harry: ... just wagging tails and I was just like argh.

Int: That has to be a good sign. Speaking of dogs, have you brought yours to the UK?

Meghan Markle: Well I have two dogs that I've had for quite a long time, both my rescue pups. And one is now staying with very close friends and my other little guy is, yes he's in the UK, he's been here for a while.

Int: Okay, let's hope he adjusts well.

Meghan Markle: I think he's doing just fine.

Int: What was it like introducing Meghan to your father and your brother?

Prince Harry: What was it like? It was exciting I mean I've, you know I'd been seeing her for a period of time when I, literally didn't tell anybody at all. And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know being our neighbours we managed to get that in a couple of, well quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely ...

Meghan Markle: She's been wonderful.

Prince Harry: ... amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support. And then my - my father as well, we had a couple of - no more than that ...

Meghan Markle: We've had ...

Prince Harry: ... A handful of teas and meetings and all sorts of gatherings over at his place as well. So no the family together have been absolutely, you know, a solid support and my grandparents as well have been, have been wonderful throughout this whole process and they've known for quite some time. So how they, how they haven't told anybody is, is again a miracle in itself. But now the whole family have come together and have been a huge amount of support.

Meghan Markle: They've been amazing.

Int: And Meghan your parents, do you think - you know while very happy for you obviously ...

Meghan Markle: Yes.

Int: ... Do you think they have worried at all about the scale of what you're getting into?

Meghan Markle: Well I'm sure the onset, both my parents and my close friends were concerned, because we got very quickly swept up in a media storm that, as I shared, was not part of my life before that, but they also had never seen me so happy. And I think also once my friends, excuse me, were able to, to really meet Harry, and my mom, who we've spent a lot of time with, who is so much fun.

Prince Harry: Her mum's amazing.

Meghan Markle: It was just - you know it was just obvious that no matter what we were being put through that it was just temporary and that we were going to be able to get through that. So everybody was really happy. And he's talked to my dad a few times, hasn't been able to meet him just yet, but it's all been, it's all been worth every effort.

Prince Harry: Yeah, yeah it's been great.

Int: Your ring.

Meghan Markle: Oh yes.

Int: Tell us about your ring.

Prince Harry: The ring is - is obviously yellow gold because that's what - her favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the - the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection to make sure that she's with us on this - on this crazy journey together. And ...

Meghan Markle: It's beautiful, and he designed it, it's incredible.

Prince Harry: Yeah, make sure it stays on that finger.

Meghan Markle: Of course.

Int: What does it mean to you Meghan to have those stones on your finger that once belonged to Princess Diana?

Meghan Markle: I think everything about Harry's thoughtfulness is, and the inclusion of that and obviously not being able to meet his mom it's so important to me to, to know that she's a part of this with us. And I think in being able to meet his aunts and, and also like Julia and just different people who were so important to his mom, I'm able to, in some way, know a part of her through them and of course through him. And it's, it's incredibly special. And you know to be able to have this which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us and it's, it's perfect.

Int: What do you think your mother would have thought of Meghan, or said about Meghan?

Prince Harry: Oh they'd be thick as thieves, without question, I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me, but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends, best friends with Meghan.

So no it's, you know it is days like, days like today when, when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news. But you know with the ring and with everything else that's going on I'm sure she's ...

Meghan Markle: She's with us.

Prince Harry: I'm sure she's with us yeah, you know, jumping up and down somewhere else.
One man will not tolerate any spiders in his vicinity.

A video captures the startling moment a man pulls out a shotgun and suddenly blasts grass.

The man's friend asks him what he's doing, and the man takes a drag on his cigarette before responding.

A video captured the moment a man freaked out and shot a spider with a shotgun

'F*****g spider, you didn't see that s***?' he responds.

His friend appears to be surprised at the sudden gunshot, as the spider was not visible in the video.

The video was filmed in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. Open carry is legal in the state so long as the person has a license to carry a firearm.
A pediatric nurse in Indiana who tweeted that white women tend to raise terrorists, rapists and racists is 'no longer' working at her hospital, it has emerged.

Taiyesha Baker had been employed at IU Health when she wrote that 'Historically every son you had should be sacrificed to wolves at birth.'

The hospital said in a statement on Sunday: 'A recently hired IU Health employee tied to troubling posts on social media this weekend is no longer an employee of IU Health.'

Indiana Night Nurse identified as Taiyesha Baker (pictured here) has sparked an internal investigation after claiming white women raise sons that tend to be 'killers' and 'rapists'

The tweet came from an account named 'Night Nurse' which has been linked back to Baker

IU Health will not confirm whether Baker was sacked, per company policy.

Spokesman Jason Fechner said: 'Baker began working with IU Health as a nurse less than a month ago.

'She was still going through orientation and was not caring for patients. She had no disciplinary issues prior to this matter.'

Baker had made the shocking remarks on a Twitter account titled 'Night Nurse,' which was traced back to her, on Saturday.

It read: 'Every white woman raises a detriment to society when they raise a son. Someone with the HIGHEST propensity to be a terrorist, rapist, racist, killer, and domestic violence all star.'

'Historically every son you had should be sacrificed to the wolves. B****.'

A Saturday statement by IU Health read that it 'is aware of several troubling posts on social media which appear to be from a recently hired IU Health employee.

'Our HR department continues to investigate the situation and the authenticity of the posts. During the investigation, that employee (who does not work at Riley Hospital for Children) will have no access to patient care.'

A spokeman said 'IU Health is aware of several troubling posts on social media which appear to be from a recently hired IU Health employee' (Baker pictured above)

Public records show that Baker received her last nursing license on October 30 and that it is due to expire on October 31, 2019.

The troubling post first appeared on the Twitter account @tai_fieri, but was deleted soon after.

In April of this year, Baker was one of a number of Indiana University students who protested a speech by conservative speaker Charles Murray.

Murray's 1994 book, the Bell Curve, suggested that black people generally have lower IQs than white people.

Baker told 6 ABC News at the time that such generalizations about people's race were unacceptable.

'There's people of every shade of color that honestly feels that this is not OK,' she said.
Ivana Trumps ex-husband called police on himself to report that he was driving drunk, newly discovered court papers show.

And when police arrived at the scene, Rossano Rubicondi took a swig of booze and begged a cop to put him behind bars.

He stated he wanted to go to jail because he was drunk, a Palm Beach County sheriffs officer wrote in his report of the incident that occurred nearly a year ago.

[H]e drank what appear (sic) to be an alcoholic drink out of a glass while I made contact with him, wrote the cop.

Rubicondi is the fourth  and most recent  of Ivanas four exes. They married in April 2008 and despite divorcing the following year, they remain on-again-off-again lovers.

Ivana Trump and Rossano Rubicondi were spotted together in Saint Tropez, France last year, months before he called police on himself to report that he was driving drunk in his Mercedes SUV, newly discovered court papers show

When police arrived Rubicondi, 45, took a swig of booze and begged a cop to put him behind bars

When the sheriffs officer asked him to start the roadside sobriety tests, Rubicondi said he could not. [He just wanted me to take him to jail because he was drunk, wrote the officer. He had slur (sic) speech and when he was walking towards my car he could not keep his balance.

Rubicondi, 45, was arrested in Loxahatchee, Florida, at 3 a.m. on December 8 last year, but the case has never been reported until now. He called the cops himself while he was driving his black 2015 Mercedes SUV.

He told the arresting officer he had been drinking wine and vodka with friends before his arrest.

When I made contact with Mr. Rubicondi he had an obvious and strong odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage coming from his person and face, wrote the officer. When he walked from his car to my car he was not stable. He kept moving side to side as he walked. When I told him to stand straight and put his hands on his side he could not do that either.

A breath test showed he had a blood-alcohol level or .140  nearly twice the legal limit. Rubicondi was described as very cooperative in the police report.

He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and was given 12 months probation on condition he enroll in a DUI school. He was also ordered not to drink alcohol during his probation period which runs out next July, fined $543.50, ordered to perform 50 hours of community service and his license was suspended for six months.

Rubicondi, an Italian national, did not return DailyMail.coms calls for comment.

Rubicondi, who lived in Miami at the time of his arrest, married the 23-years-older Ivana at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach before 500 guests. The now-president was there to see his ex-wife tie the knot 17 years after he had divorced her so he could marry his mistress Marla Maples.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. gave their mother away at the $3 million Midsummer Nights Dream-themed ceremony. Ivanka Trump was maid of honor, and the presidents sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry officiated.

Ivana and Rubicondi attend the 60th Red Cross Ball, in Monaco in 2008 the same year they were married at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach before 500 guests

A 24-piece orchestra was flown in from Paris and 12-foot-high cake came all the way from Germany. Rubicondi slipped a $1 million diamond ring on Ivanas finger, according to a report in People Magazine http://people.com/celebrity/ivana-trump-marries-for-the-fourth-time/ at the time.

But trouble was already brewing. Cops were called on the night before the wedding after the bride and groom got into a fight.

They had been dating for six years but the actual marriage only lasted for five months before Ivana filed for separation. It has become increasingly difficult for us to find time together, Ivana, now 68, said in a statement.

But the couple has remained close since the official split. They were pictured together on two vacations in 2013  first in the French millionaires playground of St. Tropez and a month later on the Italian island of Sardinia.

Three years later they were again spotted together in St. Tropez  on the very night that Ivanas second husband officially accepted the Republican nomination for president.

And earlier this month they were seen strolling arm-in-arm through the streets of Manhattan.

Last year Rubicondi announced he planned to open a pizza joint in West Palm Beach not far from Mar-a-Lago, but plans fell through. We were going to open on Labor Day, but things happened and I had to get out of the lease, he told the New York Daily News.

Instead he said he had relocated to New York and planned to open the business Rossano To Go! in Manhattan by January next year.
In a statement (bottom) shared to Instagram on Tuesday, the former TOWIE star (top left), 32, admitted she was the voice in the shocking audio files, but claimed she only recorded them because she feared 'serious harm and in the face of significant threats'. She wrote in full: 'I am aware that people will have a number of questions about the voice messages being put into the public domain and purportedly sent by me. 'I feel I have no choice but to address these (to the extent that I can as there are restrictions on me which I explain below). Most importantly I want to apologise to all the victims of Arthur Collins (inset) abhorrent actions in 2017 that they have to relive that night and the pain that followed because this matter is again in the public domain. In particular I want to apologise to Sophie Hall (top right). I do not believe her to be ugly or stupid. She has been brave beyond belief.' It comes after her fiance Lorri Haines shared a series of cryptic posts with his 170k followers, amid the ongoing conflict surrounding his partner. His posts come following claims that Ferne made derogatory comments about ex-partner Arthur 's acid attack victims in a series of leaked voice notes, claiming to be of her voice.
A California state lawmaker has stepped down after multiple women accused him of kissing and groping them without their consent.

State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, a Democrat from Los Angeles, resigned on Monday, making him the first lawmaker to leave office amid a spate of misconduct reports rocking the state Capitol.

Bocanegra had previously said he would leave office at the end of the next legislative session, but on Monday announced that he's decided to leave immediately following reflection over the Thanksgiving weekend and conversations with family, friends and supporters.

In a statement released by his office, Bocanegra said he'd hoped he could clear his name.

'But clearly, the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" has been temporarily lost in a hurricane of political opportunism among the self-righteous in my case - to the detriment of both the accuser and the accused,' he wrote.

'While I am not guilty of any such crimes,' he added, 'I am admittedly not perfect.'

California Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, a Democrat from Los Angeles, resigned on Monday, after multiple women accused him of kissing and groping them without their consent

Allegations against Bocanegra first came to light last month, when legislative staff member Elise Gyore (pictured) spoke out publicly about a 2009 report she had filed against him

Allegations against Bocanegra first came to light last month, when legislative staff member Elise Gyore spoke out publicly about a 2009 incident that she had reported to Assembly investigators at the time, she told KCRA.

Both Gorye and Bocanegra were legislative staff members, and she claimed he put his hands down her blouse at an after-work event at a Sacramento nightclub.

He was told to stay away from her but documents do not indicate that he was otherwise disciplined by the Assembly Rules Committee.

Then, last week, the Los Angeles Times reported claims from six women who said that Bocanegra kissed, groped or otherwise harassed them without their consent over a period of years, even after he was reprimanded for his behavior toward Gyore in 2009.

Following that report, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said he would expel Bocanegra if an investigator verified the new allegations.

'Raul Bocanegra's resignation underscores the seriousness of the allegations against him,' Rendon said in a statement. 'One resignation, however, does not solve the problem.'

Bocanegra was a veteran legislative aide and was seen as a rising star when he was first elected to the Assembly in 2012. He lost to a fellow Democrat, Patty Lopez, two years later before defeating her in 2016. He was the majority whip, a mid-level leadership post in the 80-member Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee voted Monday to remove Senator Tony Mendoza, another Los Angeles-area Democrat, as chair of the Insurance, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women who worked for him.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (pictured) has called Mendoza's behavior deeply troubling but hasn't called on him to resign. The Senate Rules Committee voted Monday to remove Mendoza as chair of the Insurance, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee

He is accused of inviting one woman over to his home, offering another alcohol when she was 19, and repeatedly holding one-on-one meetings with another over dinner or drinks.

His behavior with two of the women was formally reported. Mendoza has denied offering a staff member alcohol and otherwise said wouldn't knowingly abuse his authority.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, who shared a Sacramento home with Mendoza until recently, has called Mendoza's behavior deeply troubling but hasn't called on him to resign.

He left the committee meeting without commenting. A separate Senate panel will meet Tuesday to interview outside firms to take over all of the Senate's misconduct investigations, including the one into Mendoza. Fellow Democrat Senators Toni Atkins of San Diego and Connie Leyva of Chino also left without commenting.

An Assembly panel is scheduled to meet Tuesday for the first in a series of public hearings aimed at improving a Capitol culture that women say allows sexual misconduct to go unchecked. The panel is tasked with evaluating the Assembly's policies and recommending ways to strengthen them.

More than 150 women who work in and around the Capitol - including lawmakers, advisers, lobbyists and political consultants - signed a letter that has pointed a spotlight at what they called a culture of harassment.

Bocanegra will be replaced in a special election. Bocanegra's resignation temporarily leaves Assembly Democrats one vote shy of a supermajority. They are set to gain it back after a special election in December to replace former Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, who is now in Congress.
A lethal Klingon war sword known as a bat'leth has been handed to police as part of a weapons amnesty.

The sword of choice for Star Trek's most famous villains is five feet long, comprising four blades and a spike at its centre.

In the US franchise - first broadcast in 1966 - the weapon is said to have been forged by Kahless the Unforgettable on the Klingon home world of Qo'noS, but this one turned up in Guernsey.

The five-foot long weapon is central to Klingon culture in the Star Trek universe, where the aliens use it to batter opponents up-close

The bat'leth's four handholds allow for high-speed spinning and facilitate close-range combat.

Though Klingons sometimes fight with disruptors (their equivalent of the phasers used by Captain Kirk and Starfleet), the bat'leth is a treasured tool in their society, which is fixated on honour, tradition and revenge.

Chief Inspector Phil Breban wields the Klingon war sword, which was handed in to the Channel Island authorities

Among the more terrestrial items handed in across the country were a shotgun disguised as a walking stick, a crossbow, a 1924 Webley air pistol and a 9mm Luger as the two-week amnesty turned up hundreds of weapons across the UK and Channel Islands.

Chief inspector Phil Breban says most of the items face destruction in the interest of public safety.

The bat'leth was handed in alongside shotguns, pistols and Katana swords to police in Guernsey as part of the amnesty

'We have had a significant number of weapons handed in, including knives, swords, daggers, BB guns and even a crossbow, while we have also had weapons handed in in Sark and Alderney,' he said.

'This is ultimately about public safety. Pretty much all of them will be destroyed, although any with significant historical value or interest could go to a museum.

'We are assessing them as we go and running the serial numbers against the national database in case any of them have been used to commit a crime.'
A former Catholic priest long-believed to have killed a Texas beauty queen in 1960 is headed to trial.

John Bernard Feit, 84, was indicted for murder in February 2016 in the death of 25-year-old Irene Garza. Jury selection is expected to begin Monday with opening arguments set for the end of the week.

Garza, a schoolteacher and Miss All South Texas Sweetheart 1958, disappeared on Easter weekend in April 1960 and was found dead in a canal five days later.

She was last seen at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where Feit was a visiting priest, for confession with him.

John Bernard Feit, 84 (right), a former Catholic priest long-believed to have killed 25-year-old Irene Garza (left), a Texas beauty queen in 1960 is headed to trial on murder charges

Garza (pictured), a schoolteacher and Miss All South Texas Sweetheart 1958, disappeared on Easter weekend in April 1960 and was found dead in a canal five days later

She was last seen at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where Feit (pictured) was a visiting priest, for confession with him

Garza's shoe and purse were found first before her body was. An autopsy revealed that she had been raped while unconscious and then beaten and asphyxiated.

Also found on her was a slide viewer with long black cord, which belonged to Feit.

Authorities questioned the then-27-year-old priest who had scratches on his hand and failed a lie detector test. He was later ruled out as a suspect after church officials allegedly pressured police to leave him alone, according to the Houston Chronicle.

At the time it was unthinkable for a priest to commit such a horrible act.

The case went cold until 2002 when McAllen police and Texas Rangers decided to reopen the case.

They interviewed Reverend Joseph O'Brien, a McAllen priest who said he'd seen the scratches on Feit's hands in the days following Garza's disappearance. He eventually told Rangers that Feit confessed to killing Garza, as did another priest.

Authorities questioned the then-27-year-old priest (pictured) who had scratches on his hand and failed a lie detector test. He was later ruled out as a suspect after church officials allegedly pressured police to leave him alone

Two priests revealed that Feit admitted killing Garza. The re-opened case sparked a grand jury probe in 2004, but Feit was never indicted due to a lack of new evidence (Pictured, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, Texas where Feit worked and where Garza was last seen)

After Ricardo Rodriguez was elected Hildago County district attorney in 2014 he reopened Garza's case and requested a new grand jury, which led to a subsequent indictment against Feit (pictured) in early February 2016. He was arrested at his home in Arizona

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday with opening arguments set for the end of the week. Since his extradition last March, Feit has remained in custody at the county jail under 24-hour medical watch because of a slew of ailments (Pictured, Feit with a walker in court)

The re-opened case sparked a grand jury probe in 2004, but Feit was never indicted due to a lack of new evidence.

The case went cold again, until it became the center of the 2014 race for Hildago County district attorney. Ricardo Rodriguez, who was running to replace Rene Guerra, promised to re-open the case and bring justice to Garza's family if he won.

After winning, he reopened Garza's case and requested a new grand jury, which led to a subsequent indictment against Feit in early February 2016.

Feit was arrested that month at his home Scottsdale, Arizona, home Rodriguez argued there was enough evidence to prosecute him.

Garza's body was found in a canal (pictured) five days later. An autopsy revealed that she had been raped while unconscious and then beaten and asphyxiated

Garza's shoe (right) and purse (left) were found first before her body was. Also found on her was a slide viewer with long black cord, which belonged to Feit.

Since his extradition last March, Feit has remained in custody at the county jail under 24-hour medical watch because of a slew of ailments.

Since the 1970s, Feit has enjoyed family life. He got married, had children and grandchildren and regularly volunteered at his church.

He has publicly denied any involvement in Garza's death on multiple occasions and is expected to sit through about three weeks of trial testimony.

If convicted, he faces a life sentence in prison.
North Korea could be launching another nuclear missile in a matter of days, it has been reported.

The totalitarian state fired a ballistic mission across Japan in September, terrifying citizens just two weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test.

But the Japanese are warning another missile is imminent, despite ever-increasing pressure from Pyongyang's western enemies.

The Japanese are warning another missile from Kim Jong-un's (pictured second right) North Korea is imminent, despite ever-increasing pressure from Pyongyang's western enemies

A Japanese diplomat revealed radio signals have been detected from the region, meaning another launch could be extremely near, reports The Express.

Japan's Kyodo news agency said North Korea has confirmed the radio signals.

A Government spokesman said: 'There is a possibility of missiles launches in the next few days.'

They added that the test could be part of the country's armed force's 'winter training regime'.

In recent months, North Korea has tested intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the U.S. mainland with further development and has conducted its most powerful nuclear test.

Japan's warning comes on the same day as Russia expressed its concerns.

Speaking at the annual Asian Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club in Seoul, South Korea, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said 'apocolyptic developments' were unfolding in the region.

He said: 'A scenario of the apocalyptic development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula exists and we cannot turn our blind eye to it.'

In recent months, North Korea has tested intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the U.S. mainland with further development and has conducted its most powerful nuclear test. Pictured: Kim Jong-un visiting the Sungri Motor Complex in Pyongyang

'We have told North Korea many times that for us [its] nuclear status is unacceptable. We continue this work with the North Korean counterparts presenting to them our position.'

The U.S.A. has also reiterated the immediacy of the North Korean nuclear threat.

Former military official Mike Mullen said he was 'scared to death' by what Kim Jong-un is planning.

He told ABC's This Week: 'I don't know [if a nuclear weapon strike is possible]. I think it's more probable than it used to be. And it scares me to death, quite frankly.

'They're the most dangerous weapons in the world.

'And certainly if we have someone in North Korea that has a lethal legacy, is very, very unpredictable, and sees this as a way to solidify his future, that he could well not just attain them but potentially use them.'
Prince Harry and his new fiancee Meghan Markle are refusing to name their matchmaker but it's believed to be her Bahrain-born best friend.

Misha Nonoo, the estranged wife of Harrys friend, Alexander Gilkes, a pal of William and Harrys from Eton, is said to have organised their blind date last year.

Meghan and Harry said that the mystery person - a mutual friend - had set them up and the prince said yesterday he knew she was 'the one' as soon as they met.

In their first interview Harry revealed the couple had just two back-to-back dates in London before flying on holiday to Botswana together, Harrys favourite place in the world, for five days, where they slept out under the stars.

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Fashion designer Misha Nonoo (pictured with Meghan), is believed to be the couple's matchmaker

Ms Nonoo, the ex wife of Harrys friend, Alexander Gilkes, a pal of William and Harrys from Eton, is said to have organised their blind date last year

Other candidates include Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh, who is one of Meghan's workout buddies

Harry said: We were introduced actually by a mutual friendit was literally. through her and then we met once and then twice back-to-back two dates in London, last July.

'We'll protect her privacy yeah,' Prince Harry added.

He went on: And then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana.

And we - we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent - she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.

Meghan said she had only one question for her friend when she suggested the date: Well, is he nice?

She said: Because Im from the States you dont grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. And so, while I now understand very clearly there is a global interest there, I didnt know much about him and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, I have one question which was, Well, is he nice? cos if he wasnt kind it just didnt seem like it would make sense and so we went and we had a, met for a drink and I think very quickly into that we said, well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.

Harry adds: What are we doing tomorrow? Lets meet again. And then it was like, right, diaries. We need to get the diaries out and find out how were going to make this work, because I was off to Africa for a month, she was working. And we just said right wheres the gap? And the gap happened to be in the perfect place [Botswana]..

Miss Markle interrupted: 'We should protect her privacy and not reveal too much of that.

Among the likely candidates is Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh, who is one of Meghan's workout buddies (pictured together)

The revelation that the go-between was a woman has led to fervent speculation, as many sources believed Miss Markle's Canadian friend Markus Anderson acted as cupid

Meghan stares lovingly at Prince Harry as he explains how the couple were first introduced by a mystery woman and mutual friend to them both

The revelation that the go-between was a woman has led to fervent speculation, as many sources believed Miss Markle's Canadian friend Markus Anderson acted as cupid.

Other candidates include Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh, who is one of Meghan's workout buddies.

The pair spent time at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire last year, with Miss Markle gushing on Instagram: The best afternoon with Millie Mackintosh. So proud of you darling.

Another contender is fashion designer Misha Nonoo, who split from Alexander Gilkes last year after four years of marriage.

Misha is well-connected in royal circles as her exhusband went to Eton with Prince Harry and Prince William.

Misha (pictured with Miss Markle) is also a mutual friend of both the prince and Meghan, adding to the theory that she brought the pair together

Miss Markle is expected to become a duchess - just like Kate Middleton did six years ago

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace

Gilkes was a guest at the royal wedding of Wills and Kate back in 2011, and his younger brother Charlie dated Pippa Middleton for years.

Misha is also a mutual friend of both the prince and Meghan, adding to the theory that she brought the pair together.

It is rumoured that the pair first met in a dining room at Soho House, the London private members' club, in July 2016.

Sources say Harry listened intently while Meghan spoke about Rwanda, where she had been campaigning for clean water.

The royal family have flocked to congratulate the happy couple after the announcement

He was captivated by her altruism, and from the moment they said their goodbyes, he bombarded her with texts asking to see her again.

Talking about the friend who set them up, Prince Harry added: 'It was through her and then we met once and then twice back to back two dates in London, last July.

'And then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana.

'And we - we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent - she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.

Meghan added: 'Just to take the - take the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk.'

Harry and Miss Markle may be invited to spend Christmas with his grandmother the Queen

Pointing at the ring, Prince Harry said: 'The little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection to make sure that she's with us on this - on this crazy journey together'

Miss Markle revealed tonight how she said 'yes' immediately to Harry after he proposed on one knee while they were cooking a roast dinner during a 'cosy night'.

In their first joint interview this evening, Miss Markle, 36, said she did not even wait for the 33-year-old royal to finish the sentence before she said 'yes' - and it was 'so sweet and natural and very romantic'.

The couple, who had been in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace when the proposal happened, revealed that they first met on a blind date after being set up by a female friend - and have tried to see each other every two weeks.

Harry added: 'I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly... All the stars were aligned - everything was just perfect. It was this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life - I fell into her life.'
Newly-engaged Meghan Markle has recalled the first meeting she had with the Queen and revealed the love Prince Harry has for his beloved grandmother.

In a touching interview this evening, the 36-year-old actress spoke warmly about Her Majesty - and how she instantly bonded with her famous Corgis.

The American suits star praised the 91-year-old monarch, who she said was 'an incredible woman.'

In a touching interview Meghan Markle spoke warmly about Her Majesty - and her beloved dogs

Ms Markle revealed she had met the Queen 'a couple of times' for tea.

And when she moved one of her dogs over to the UK, it was perhaps the clearest indication that she was serious about Prince Harry.

The actress brought her beagle Guy to live at Kensington Palace as her romance with the royal got serious.

Her second dog, labrador-shepherd Bogart, is currently staying with friends in Canada.

Miss Markle has described the pair, which were rescued from a shelter in Los Angeles, as 'my loves', 'my boys' and said they 'mean the absolute world' to her.

And Prince Harry joked at his annoyance that the Queen's corgis, who have barked at him all his life, took to his fiancee 'straight away.'

She described how when she met the monarch, they 'sweetly lay on my feet during tea, it was very sweet.'

Prince Harry added: 'Just wagging tails and I was just like argh!'

Prince Harry joked at his annoyance that the Queen's corgis, who have barked at him all his life, took to his fiancee 'straight away'

Ms Markle revealed she had met the Queen 'a couple of times' for tea - and praised the monarch

If there is one thing likely to make sure Meghan Markle settles in well with the royal family, it will be her love of dogs.

Guy and Bogart have regularly featured on her Instagram account, with Guy even appearing in a patriotic knitted union flag jumper.

It was American comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres who convinced Ms Markle to adopt Bogart - her first pet - after she bumped into her in a shelter.

'She turns around and comes and taps on the window glass and she yells 'Take the dog!' And so I brought him home. Because Ellen told me to,' she said.

Speculation that a royal engagement was imminent intensified when it was reported Ms Markle was putting arrangements in place to move the animals from her home in Toronto to London.

Harry's grandmother the Queen is the royal best known for her love of dogs.

She has owned more than 30 corgis, many of them direct descendants of Susan, who was so loved she accompanied the then Princess Elizabeth on her honeymoon.

Now she has only one corgi left, Willow, and two dorgis, Candy and Vulcan.

She introduced the new breed of dog known as the 'dorgi' when her corgi Tiny mated with a dachshund 'sausage dog' called Pipkin, which belonged to Princess Margaret.

Bogart might turn out to be a favourite with the Queen.

Labradors are bred and kept at Sandringham and the Queen has a close bond with the animals, which are working gundogs more than pets.

Ms Markle is a keen advocate of adopting dogs, often using the adoptdontshop hashtag in her posts, which will go down well with Harry's stepmother the Duchess of Cornwall.

Harry's grandmother the Queen is the royal best known for her love of dogs

Camilla is patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and adopted her two adored Jack Russells, Beth and Bluebell, from the shelter.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a cocker spaniel called Lupo, a wedding present from Kate's brother James Middleton.

Harry grew up surrounded by dogs. His father the Prince of Wales had a Jack Russell called Tigga, who featured on some of his Christmas cards along with William and Harry.

But not all royals dogs are well behaved.

In 2003, as the family was gathering for Christmas at Sandringham in Norfolk, Pharos, one of the Queen's oldest corgis, was savaged by Florence, the Princess Royal's English bull terrier, and had to be put down.

The year before, Anne was fined 500 and ordered to pay 500 compensation when another of her bull terriers, Dottie, attacked two children in Windsor Great Park.
Meghan McCain returned from her Thanksgiving holiday with a big announcement on Monday, as the newest host of The View is now a newlywed.

The 33-year-old daughter of Senator John McCain had already broke the news about her wedding to Ben Domenech over the holiday, but brought along some new photos and details about the ceremony to share with viewers

Meghan's co-hosts all noted how beautiful she looked in the photos as she said: 'Me and now my husband. So weird to say, I have a husband Ben. We got married at our ranch in Sedona. It was real country. Like I wanted a western country wedding.'

She went on to reveal there were some tears, some music and an inebriated bride.

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They did: Meghan McCain, 33, shared new photos and details about her wedding to Ben Domenech last week in Arizona (couple above being married by John Dickerson)

Big names: The bride said that her father, Senator John McCain, was moved to tears by the ceremony and former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken sang for the couple

Let loose: Meghan also said that she 'got really drunk on whiskey' at her nuptials and spent most of the night dancing

'Sean Dickerson from Face the Nation married us,' explained Meghan, who then gave a quick shout out to Shooter Jennings.

'I pulled Clay Aiken out of retirement to sing. I got my dad to cry.'

She then noted that Aiken sang 'a beautiful song for us,' before adding: 'I got very drunk on whiskey.'

Meghan revealed little else, saying only that there was lots of dancing at the small and intimate ceremony.

'It was really fun. I think we overdo it with weddings in general and talking about it. I understand why people do it. It's a beautiful celebration of love,' said Meghan.

'The meaningful experience of doing it in front of your friends and family.'

There was also a bit of sadness however for Meghan, who reflected on how difficult the past year has been for her and her family.

'Before [President] Trump, before my dad's cancer. Before all these things. I feel like the first few year and half of our relationship was so fun. Just having a good time,' said Meghan.

'The second's been really, really, really hard. And so there's something about celebrating love in a time of sadness as well that was probably more meaningful had it been an easier time.'

And Meghan said that it was back to business as usual when she and her new husband arrived back in New York after the wedding, with the newlyweds enjoying a night of tomato soup and Homes Alone 2 on Sunday.

Difficult time: 'Before [President] Trump, before my dad's cancer. Before all these things. I feel like the first few year and half of our relationship was so fun,' revealed Meghan (above on The View Monday)

First dance: She went on to say that the family's recent difficulties made the wedding all the more special for herself and Ben

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.  11.21.2017 A post shared by Meghan McCain (@meghanmccain) on Nov 23, 2017 at 1:31pm PST

Joy Behar then joked that there was once a time when couples waiting to have sex for the first time until their wedding night, prompting laughter among the hosts as Meghan said: 'Actually, I'm a big proponent of test-driving a car before you buy it.'

This shockingly cheerful interaction between the ladies on the ABC show comes three weeks after DailyMail.com broke news of tension of the daytime show between McCain and her fellow hosts.

'Everything started all lovey-dovey and folks were optimistic that Meghan would be a welcomed addition to the show, but no one knew that she had developed this hardened, cold disposition that's quite different from when she was being considered for the job before,' a source close to the show exclusively told DailyMail.com.

'Initially everyone thought it was her getting a rhythm or trying to find her way, but now people realize she's has an unwelcoming presence and is only concerned with being engaging to Whoopi behind the scenes.'

An ABC spokesperson has tonight dismissed claims of a rift, and said: 'This is ridiculous. We're very pleased that Meghan has joined our table of incredibly smart, accomplished and talented women.

'Their opinions frequently differ and that's exactly what the show is designed to do. She's been warmly welcomed by cast and crew alike. 'Let it go'.'
A teenager has been found guilty of plotting an ISIS-inspired 'lone-wolf' terror attack at a Justin Bieber concert.

The 17-year-old planned a massacre at Cardiff's Principality Stadium after penning a 'martyrdom letter' declaring himself a soldier of ISIS.

He searched for details of the venue's security just days before the Canadian pop megastar was due to play at the Welsh capital on June 30.

A court heard the boy, who is from a white British background, may have also been looking to target Cardiff Castle.

A teenager from a white British background has been found guilty of plotting an ISIS-inspired 'lone-wolf' terror attack at a Justin Bieber concert

The boy, 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a claw hammer and a knife in his school bag when police raided the home he shares with his parents in south Wales

The boy also had a 'martyrdom letter' in his schoolbag (pictured) which read: 'I am a soldier of the Islamic State'

He conducted more than 2,000 searches over a year including 'Cardiff terrorist attack', 'how to create a terror attack' and 'how to pledge allegiance to ISIS'.

Police arrested him at his home in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area of south Wales on June 30, and found the 'martyrdom letter' in his schoolbag along with a claw hammer and kitchen knife.

The letter found in the boy's bedroom read: 'I am a soldier of the Islamic State.

'I have attacked Cardiff today because your government keep on bombing targets in Syria and Iraq. There will be more attacks in the future.'

Officers also found a note detailing to how to 'run down non-believers with a car' with the bullet point instruction 'strike the infidels who oppose Allah in the neck'.

The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied committing acts of terrorism by engaging in online research into attack planning.

He also denied two counts of encouraging terrorism by posting images on Instagram and two counts of possession of a record of terrorist information, namely an Isis propaganda magazine.

However, a jury found him guilty of all charges at Birmingham Crown Court following a two-week trial.

The court also heard the boy may have been planning to attack Cardiff Castle (pictured)

He will be sentenced at the same court on January 10.

During the course of the trial, Matthew Brook, prosecuting, said: 'His interest in suicide evolved over time into an intention to commit a suicide attack in the name of Islam.

'The defendant told the police in his interview that he had been conversing with someone called Al Baghdadi over Instagram.

'Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of ISIS.

'He searched '17 year old Jihad', Holy War, the defendant when making that search was 17 years of age.

'On June 15 - 'Vehicle mounting pavement', 'car ploughs through a crowd, 'Google maps - Castle quarter, Cardiff'.

'What legitimate reason could the defendant have for searching that? The Crown say none.

'This, the Crown say, is attack planning - looking for areas in Cardiff where there are lots of people you can attack.'

The court heard the boy uploaded an image of Cardiff Castle with a caption, 'Cardiff are you prepared?', with a picture of a jeep, knife and a bomb.

The boy had denied terror charges but following a two-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court a jury found him guilty

Another image was captioned: 'Oh my Islamic state brothers you are the role models of these worlds.

'The attack on Cardiff will be deadly.

'May the infidels be hit by vehicles and in the name of Allah may the blood be shed of non-believers.

'Stop bombing the homeland Theresa May.

'May Allah bring terrorism to Cardiff on June 30, 2017.'

Mr Brook added: 'This is a post to the world by the defendant encouraging terrorism.

'On June 28 at 10.10am there was this defendant searching 'Justin Bieber Cardiff 2017' and 'Justin Bieber Cardiff security'.

'So the defendant in that search is interested in what security will be like for a large public event which was going to take place the following day.

'This is in context of course of all his terrorist searches, his threats on Instagram about Cardiff being attacked on 30th, the knife and hammer in his bag, and of course the martyrdom letter as well.

'We've seen that the defendant had an unhealthy interest in terrorism and IS for many, many months; not just a week before his arrest.

'He was preparing for a lone wolf style attack, which involved him attacking innocent by-standers with a knife and hammer.'
The owners of a massive luxury hotel in Panama are trying to strip Donald Trump's name from the property and fire its management.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Panama once paid at least $32 million to use the brand, but majority owners Ithaca Capital Partners now appear to feel that's more of a hindrance than a help.

But their move to erase Trump's name from the property will be fought by The Trump Organization, which it says is a contract violation.

Donald Trump's name may be stripped from the Trump International Hotel (third building from left, in 2011) after new owners said they felt his name was putting off business

A Florida investment group bought up 202 unsold condo units at the hotel, which was built in 2011. It now wants to drop Trump, but the Trump Organization said that's a contract violation

Located on Panama City's waterfront, the Trump hotel is within a 70-story tower in the shape of a wind-filled sail - a design similar to that of Dubai's Burj Al Arab, which precedes it by around 20 years.

Despite lavish amenities - visitors can sip drinks next to a 65th-floor, edgeless pool that appears to float above the ocean - it has struggled with poor occupancy.

'I bought there because I thought Trump's name made it a safe investment,' said Al Monstavicius, a retired Nevada doctor who owns a penthouse hotel unit in the 369-room condo hotel.

'But Latinos are a real problem for him in Panama.'

That thought appears to be echoed by Ithaca, a Miami, Florida-based investment firm that bought up the property's restaurants, conference center and 202 long-unsold condo units.

That gave them the majority of the hotel owners' votes; the owners of the 167 other sold condos had previously lacked the voting power to challenge the management.

At the time of the purchase, Ithaca's managing director, Orestes Fintiklis, said his firm looked forward to working with both the other unit owners and Trump's management team.

But at an owners meeting in October Ithaca's representatives proposed removing the Trump Organization's directors from the hotel board.

They also proposed sending a notice of default to Trump, the first step in terminating the president's relationship with the property.

That plan faces opposition from the Trump Organization, which has acknowledged the effort, but said the move was a contract violation.

The property (pictured) paid $32m so use Trump's name but now Ithica Capital Partners wants to end that. It also wants to remove Trump Organization reps from the directors' board

'Not only do we have a valid, binding and enforceable long-term management agreement, but any suggestion that the hotel is not performing up to expectations is belied by the actual facts,' it said in a statement.

Ithaca did not respond to emails last week and Monday, and there is no public listing for the company or its managing director.

No one voted against Ithaca's proposal, according to three people who were present or voted by proxy.

'They were given 30 days to cure,' said Jeffrey Rabiea, a New York businessman who owns three units in the building.

It was unclear whether owners sent Trump a formal default notice.

Rabiea said Ithaca and the owners were already searching for a new hotel operator to run the property under a different brand.

Monstavicius, who said occupancy in his penthouse hotel suite has been running at only 30 percent in recent months, praised the move to oust Trump.

'It can't get any worse,' said Monstavicius.

The uprising follows news that Trump was effectively being paid to end a similar management contract for the Trump Soho hotel in New York.

These revelations point to continued struggles for the Trump brand outside strongholds like Mar-a-Lago in Florida and the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC.

Both Rabiea and Monstavicius, along with another owner who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity over litigation concerns, said that their units were not profitable.

The occupancy rates were too low even to cover the cost of their units' maintenance, the men said.

The Trump Organization says that 'any suggestion that the hotel is not performing up to expectations is belied by the actual facts,' but some condo owners disagree

Owners of apartments and hotel units at the Panama property have previously complained about problems with Trump's management.

The Associated Press reported in October 2015 - when Trump was a candidate for president - that owners of apartments in the building had revolted over alleged mismanagement.

That saw them firing Trump's manager from the building's overall board of directors.

Trump responded with an arbitration demand for millions of dollars in damages, but the claim was ultimately settled and Trump remained manager of the hotel component of the tower.

His company at the time threatened to sue the AP over its coverage, saying the reporting had damaged Trump's business interests.

No lawsuit was ever filed, and Trump never identified or alleged factual errors in AP's coverage.

The termination would mark a new setback for the Trump family's hotel business, which already lacked the scale of major international chains catering to business travelers.

The family announced two new hotel brands after the presidential election: Scion and American Idea.

It said it has already signed dozens of letters of intent with prospective licensees, but tangible progress in the form of permits and construction has been scarce.
Stephen Sawyer, 34, has been charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio, Texas

A grandmother walked in on a 34-year-old man sexually assaulting her 16-year-old granddaughter inside the family's San Antonio, Texas home last week.

Police say the suspect, Stephen Sawyer, met the victim on social media website Mocospace, and that he friended her on Facebook two days before the alleged attack.

While they were corresponding on Facebook, Sawyer reportedly requested that the teen send him nude photos and she agreed.

Things escalated on Thanksgiving Eve, when the girl invited Sawyer over to her house.

She led him to a downstairs bathroom where they started having sex.

The girl's grandmother heard a commotion, went to investigate and found that the door was locked.

She ordered the victim to open the door, and the victim relented.

Inside, the grandmother found Sawyer and ordered him out of her house. He was arrested the next morning by local police.

The age of consent in Texas is 17, meaning almost all sex acts with children under that age are illegal. Considerations are made if the older partner is within three years of age of the under-17 partner.

Sawyer was booked into Bexar County Jail on a charge of sexual assault of a child and was being held on $75,000 bond.
A cheap lookalike of Meghan Markle's priceless engagement ring specially can be snapped up for just 33 at Argos.

The stunning ring was showcased by the Suits actress as she and Prince Harry announced their engagement at Kensington Palace, today.

It includes one stone from Botswana, where the couple recently holidayed, and two diamonds from Princess Diana's personal collection.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appeared at a photocall at London's Kensington Palace today

Left, Miss Markle's stunning engagement ring, and right, Argos' 33 lookalike sparkler

The ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty.

Like the Duchess of Cambridge's band, Miss Markle's new sparkler is of estimable worth.

However, TheDiamondStore.co.uk estimate it cost 199,475 and the stone is likely to be a D in colour (the clearest).

But luckily for members of the public, Argos is offering a lookalike for a fraction of the price.

The retail chain's revere 18ct gold plated silver 1.5ct look 3 stone ring will set shoppers back just 32.99.

It also has a three-stone design, but instead of diamonds, is uses cubic zirconia.

Unlike Miss Markle's ring (pictured) which was specially made to fit her finger, Argos' band comes in two sizes, left and right

The retail chain's revere 18ct gold plated silver 1.5ct look 3 stone ring will set shoppers back just 32.99

However, unlike Miss Markle's ring, which was specially made to fit her finger, Argos' band comes in two sizes, left and right.

Sarah Filippardos, head jewellery buyer at Argos, told The Sun: 'Prince Harry's choice of a diamond trilogy ring for Meghan is beautiful.

'For anyone inspired by Harry's act of romance who isn't able to pop to Botswana for a diamond, Argos has a fantastic range of similar trilogy engagement rings with prices starting from as little as 32.99.'
Currys PC World has taken the advent calendar to a new level by unveiling a giveaway worth a whopping 10,000.

The UK's largest electrical retailer has announced its 'ultimate Christmas advent calendar', which contains 10,000 worth of tech gifts from brands including Google, Dyson, Samsung and Sonos.

But there's a catch: The pricey advent calendar cannot be bought by customers and instead can only be won by hopeful shoppers.

The UK's largest electrical retailer has announced its 'ultimate Christmas advent calendar', which contains 10,000 worth of tech gifts from brands including Google, Dyson, Samsung and Sonos

There is however, a catch: The pricey advent calendar cannot be bought by customers and instead can only be won by hopeful shoppers

The Christmas calendar will be showcased at Westfield Stratford City on Wednesday, where shoppers can try winning the items by using keys to unlock doors at the store.

From 10am to 10pm, shoppers will be able to try their hand at winning one of the 24 prizes in the custom-built 3x3m installation.

If their key fits into the door they choose, they will take home the prize inside.

Among the prizes are the latest headphones, laptops, speakers, fitness trackers, hairdryers and cameras.

The least expensive item in the calendar is a 29.99 Polaroid Pen, while the most expensive is the Microsoft Surface Book 2, worth 1,499.

The Christmas calendar will be showcased at Westfield Stratford City on Wednesday, where shoppers can try winning the items by using keys to unlock doors at the store

From 10am to 10pm, shoppers will be able to try their hand at winning one of the 24 prizes in the custom-built 3x3m installation. If their key fits into the door they choose, they will take home the prize inside

Among the prizes are the latest headphones, laptops, speakers, fitness trackers, hairdryers and cameras

Shoppers who are unable to travel to the Westfield Stratford City on Wednesday will also have a chance to win prizes online, where two more sets of the items will be available.

Matt Walburn, Brand and Communications Director, Currys PC World said: 'Nothing beats marking the start of the Christmas countdown like opening that first door of your calendar, and what better to way to celebrate the festivities than with our ultimate version, filled with this year's must-have tech.

He adds: 'From the latest in-demand voice-controlled tech, cameras, and even a 32' TV, we're excited to offer consumers the special chance to win one of these fantastic prizes this Christmas.'
On Monday, Michael Flynn's lawyer met with members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team amid speculation that President Trump's former national security adviser is etching out a deal.

ABC News first reported the meeting between Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner and Mueller's team, suggesting that it indicated both sides were discussing a possible plea deal.

Last week, Trump's legal team confirmed that Kelner had alerted them that they could no longer team up on legal strategy, a sign that Flynn wanted to negotiate with prosecutors instead.

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Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's attorney met with members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team on Monday, ABC News has learned

Michael Flynn's lawyer was spotted at the offices of Special Counsel Robert Mueller (pictured) on Monday

The New York Times first reported the news.

While Trump and Flynn's team had never signed a formal, joint defense agreement, ABC News reported that lawyers for both men had held privileged discussions for months.

With that break it could mean that Flynn, who played an adviser role to Trump throughout the campaign and into the transition and administration, might testify against the president or another senior White House official.

When ABC News reached out to Kelner, he declined to comment on the nature of his visit to Mueller's Washington, D.C., office.

Meanwhile, Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow told the network that the break between the two legal teams was 'not entirely unexpected.'

'No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about Gen. Flynn cooperating against the president,' Sekulow told ABC.

However sources close to the Russia probe, which Mueller oversees, have told ABC that Flynn is feeling increased pressure to cooperate because investigators could try to ensnare his son, Michael Flynn Jr., who worked alongside the ex-Trump official at Flynn Intel Group.

Congress is also looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and if there's evidence of Trump campaign collusion, with Democrats saying in September that Flynn failed to disclose a number of foreign trips and contacts when renewing his security clearance.

Intentionally omitting foreign contacts on a security clearance from can be punished by a five-year stint in prison.

Jail time could be used as leverage against Flynn, getting him to turn.

Former FBI Director James Comey  whose firing prompted the hiring of the special counsel  previewed how prosecutors could play this situation, when testifying before Congress earlier this year, ABC pointed out.

'There is always a possibility if you have a criminal case against someone and you bring them in, squeeze them, flip them, [that]they give you information about something else,' Comey said.
A woman is suing Amtrak after she was raped by this employee, 59-year-old Charles Henry Pinner, two years ago

A North Carolina woman is suing Amtrak saying it failed to protect her from an employee who raped her in her sleeping car while the train passed through northeastern Montana in April 2015.

The lawsuit argues that under the Common Carrier Doctrine, Amtrak should be held to the 'highest degree of care' with regard to passenger safety. Amtrak says the doctrine applies only when an employee is acting within the scope of their employment, the Great Falls Tribune reports.

The lawsuit, filed in April, says Charles Henry Pinner, 59, of Detroit raped the 68-year-old woman in April 2015 as the Empire Builder train passed through Wolf Point.

The woman was on a 'bucket list' cross-country trip with her two sisters. They boarded the train in Washington, DC on a westward route. Before that, the victim had only been to five states.

After passing through Chicago, they planned to stop and spend a few days in Glasgow, Montana on April 19 to meet the victim's nephew.

But the night before they were due to disembark, Pinner broke in and violently raped the woman.

The unnamed victim was 68 years old in April 2015 when she says Pinner broke into her sleeping cabin and raped her in the middle of the night. Above, an Amtrak train

The rape was apparently so brutal that the victim still had bite marks and bruises when she reported the rape several days later in Washington State.

Pinner was convicted of kidnapping and sexual intercourse without consent in September 2016 and is serving a 60-year prison term. He is appealing his conviction.

The woman reports suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and rape trauma syndrome along with anxiety and depression. She continues to see a psychiatrist and a psychologist and is on antidepressants, the lawsuit said.

Amtrak did not complete an 'industry-standard' background check on Pinner, despite his acknowledgment of a criminal history in his initial job application, the complaint said. Such a check would have shown convictions for felony robbery and drug trafficking, court records said.

The woman alleges Amtrak knew Pinner told a female co-worker in 2000 that, 'I have no trouble strangling a white woman.' Pinner is black.

Pinner was fired in 2002 after a complaint alleged he violated Amtrak's personal conduct, honesty and safety policies. He was reinstated five months later.

Amtrak dismissed Pinner again in 2006 after a formal investigation into reports that he was selling pornography while on the job. However, Pinner and his union appealed the firing and a binding board determined the discipline was too severe.

Amtrak argues nothing in Pinner's background check or work behavior would have led a reasonable employer to believe he would kidnap and rape a passenger. The passenger rail line also argues it had no choice in retaining Pinner because the appeal process that led to his reinstatement is governed by the Railway Labor Act.

Amtrak cooperated with Montana authorities in the prosecution of the rape case, spokesman Marc Magliari said Monday.

During a pretrial hearing earlier this month, the case was set for trial in February 2019 in Great Falls.
Australian travellers heading to and from Bali face another day of disruption as airlines closely monitor the ash cloud from the Mount Agung volcano.

Ash from the volcano reached the airport's airspace, triggering its closure early on Monday.

More than 400 flights to and from Bali were cancelled and nearly 60,000 travellers have been stranded.

The normally bustling airport on the Indonesian resort island of Bali is a near-ghost town, dotted by anxious Australian tourists desperate to get home.

The airport's initial closure was for 24 hours until early Tuesday, but it is expected to stay closed for another day.

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Bali's Denpasar Airport is expected to be closed for another 24 hours as ash from Mount Agung continues to cause chaos for travellers

Mount Agung volcano spewing hot volcanic ash as seen from Karangasem, Bali, on Monday

On Monday night, tourists settled down for the night on makeshift beds on the airport's dusty floors.

Some were considering making the more than 10-hour journey to Surabaya and catching a series of flights across Indonesia back to Australia.

All are frustrated by what they say is a lack of updated information from their airlines about what happens next.

The first Janeen McKay heard about flight cancellations was in a text from her brother back in Australia as she was on her way to Bali's airport.

'I had nothing from Jetstar, they had my mobile number,' the West Australian told AAP.

After a 12-hour wait at the airport, she's now been told she won't be able to get home until Saturday at the earliest.

'We had a really nice time in Bali but then we get here and this has just ruined it,' Ms McKay said.

'Why does it take five days to get us out of here? Not very happy.'

Mount Agung belched smoke as high as 1,500 metres above its summit, sparking an exodus from settlements near the mountain

Passengers gather at the Gusti Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar after flights were cancelled

Jetstar has cancelled all flights to and from Bali and will reassess the situation on Tuesday

An empty Bali International Airport is seen after volcanic ash forced its closure on Monday

Thick clouds hide the volcanic ash billowing out of Mount Agung at Sanur Beach on the island

Ms McKay, an office manager, is keen to get back to Geraldton, north of Perth, to take over the care of her elderly mother from her sister, a nurse, who's needed back at work on Thursday.

Veronika Naberezhnova is also non-plussed.

'It's a bit annoying,' the Department of Human Services worker said.

'My family's waiting there (in Sydney) as well, they're all waiting, they're all stressed.'

On the other side of Bali, at Sanur beach, the distant crackle of lightning and an afternoon rain shower were the only annoyances for tourists lounging on sun beds and sipping cocktails.

For them, the airport's closure means an extended holiday.

'What's to be annoyed about, getting stuck here,' said Simon Allan, whose flight to Perth was cancelled because of the ash cloud.

People watch as muddy waters flow down a river near Mount Agung, in Bali, Indonesia

The area, which includes a much-visited Hindu temple on the slopes of the volcano, will be prone to deadly mudflows and lava

'We have no control of nature and we'll just go with the moment and see what happens tomorrow,' his partner Deborah Flynn told AAP.

Scientists say Mount Agung's volcanic activity could escalate further over the coming days meaning planes could stay grounded with thousands unable to fly in or out of Bali.

Carriers Jetstar and Virgin Australia will reassess the situation on Tuesday.

Jetstar has cancelled all flights to and from Bali. Virgin Australia cancelled all flights between Bali and Australia on Tuesday.

Jetstar acknowledged 'further disruptions are possible this week depending on weather conditions'.

Affected Jetstar customers have been given the option of flying to destinations including Phuket, Singapore, Fiji or Tokyo at no additional cost.

Other major airlines are all monitoring the situation but are unable to fly until the massive ash cloud dissipates.

Flights from other Indonesian airports were experiencing delays on Monday because Bali's Gusti Ngurah Rai airport is a national hub with many transiting flights.

The airport's initial closure was for 24 hours until early Tuesday, but there could be prolonged or repeated disruptions

More than 400 flights to and from Bali were cancelled and nearly 60,000 travelers have been stranded

The travel disruptions will ripple around the globe as the island is one of Asia's top destinations, attracting five million visitors a year. December through the first week of January is one of the island's busy periods.

But the popular tourist areas of Kuta and Seminyak and the airport are about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the volcano and largely safe even with a major eruption though masks and goggles could prove necessary if there's significant ash fall.

Activity at the mountain has ramped up in recent weeks culminating with the cancellation of flights in and out of Bali this week due to a large ash cloud thrown up by the volcano.

Indonesia has raised its alert for Mt Agung to the highest level, warning of the risk of a lava eruption is 'imminent'.

Mount Agung, which sits more than 3000 metres high over eastern Bali, last erupted in 1963 killing more than 1000 people and razing several villages.

Authorities have ordered up to 150,000 people to leave a danger zone that extends 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the crater in places and tourists shouldn't enter it.

Up to 150,000 people have been urged to evacuate areas within a 10 kilometre radius of Bali's Mt Agung amid the issuing of its highest danger alert on Monday

A danger zone was expanded Monday morning after heavy rain sent ash and magma towards nearby villages

The area, which includes a much-visited Hindu temple on the slopes of the volcano, will be prone to deadly mudflows and lava.

The risk of mudflows, which combine water and volcanic debris, is high because it's the wet season in Bali. Authorities have warned people to stay away from rivers.

A danger zone was expanded Monday morning amid issuing of the volcano's highest alert, with heavy rain sending ash and magma towards nearby villages.

As authorities attempt to urge people to evacuate, only 40,000 have chosen to leave with many 'feeling safe' or staying to protect livestock, Bloomberg reports.

Some governments are advising citizens to defer travel to the island.

Malaysia's foreign ministry said all but non-urgent travel should be delayed while Australia, a big source of tourists for Bali, said people should be aware that ash clouds could also close other airports in Indonesia depending on weather conditions.

Heavy rain in Bali sent ash and magma (pictured) surging towards nearby villages

More than 50,000 travellers a day could soon be stranded in Bali as authorities issue a 'red alert' warning and Mount Agung continues to erupt. The volcano is pictured on Sunday

Maureen Steele and Jackie Calabretta were scheduled to fly on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Sydney via Bali to Jakarta on Monday for an orangutan tour.

They were up at 4am to travel from Gosford and Wollongong to make the 10am flight which cost $700 return.

'We were on the plane, all strapped in ready for departure, when the cabin crew announced they needed to wait 10 minutes to get clearance,' Ms Steele said at Sydney Airport.

'They told us they didn't get clearance so we all had to get off again.'

As they passed back through customs, Ms Calabretta contacted Malaysia Airlines and booked a new flight costing $600 one-way to Jakarta via Kuala Lumpur.

'We have to go - we've paid hundreds of dollars on the vaccinations and there have been lots of preparations,' Ms Steele said as they settled in for a 10-hour wait.

A massive 22 villagers were affected and at least 100,000 people when Bali's Mount Agung volcano erupted over the weekend

Flight cancellations have forced travellers to sleep at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport

Some of their frustrations were aired on Facebook, with customers either very pleased they had been moved to temporary accommodation or livid they had been left out

All flights were cancelled at 7am local time and the airport will remain closed until further notice

Magma has now reached the surface of the volcano, which threatens to produce a 'strong, explosive eruption,' authorities warned

Customers have spent hours lining up for information about their flights. This traveller is seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday

A group of eight surfers are hoping they'll be able to fly to Bali on Tuesday.

James Hall, 18, said the Sydney friends had been planning their Sumatra surf trip for more than a year.

'It's frustrating, we've been told we might be able to fly tomorrow, so we just have to wait it out,' Mr Hall told AAP at Sydney's international terminal.

'There's not much we can do - it's a volcano.'

The latest data from Agoda shows Bali is the number one destination for Australians travelling in December.

University of Adelaide geologist Mark Tingay says the eruptions from Mount Agung have sent plumes of ash 3000 metres into the air.

'The volcanic eruption has moved on to the next, more severe, magmatic eruption phase, where highly viscous lava can trap gasses under pressure, potentially leading to an explosion,' he said in a statement.

Balinese Hindus take part in a ceremony on Sunday, where they pray near Mount Agung in hope of preventing a volcanic eruption

The Mount Agung volcano spews hot volcanic ash as a local chops wood in the foreground

On Saturday Jetstar diverted three flights heading to Bali and cancelled six flights ready to leave the island

Jetstar was forced to cancel numerous flights on Saturday and the following morning but was back on schedule by Sunday evening (stock image)

Mount Agung volcano is seen spewing smoke and ash in Bali on Sunday. The ash has thrown holiday plans into disarray

Tourists watch the Mount Agung volcano erupting as they visit a temple in Karangasem, Indonesia

Mt Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times on Sunday, throwing holiday plans into disarray.

Indonesia's Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation raised its aviation colour code from orange to red, indicating a further eruption with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere was imminent.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology's Volanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin issued maps showing an ash cloud heading southeast over the neighbouring island of Lombok away from Bali's capital Denpasar, where the international airport is located.

RUMBLES FROM BALI'S MOUNT AGUNG WHERE IS THE VOLCANO? - Mount Agung rises about 3,000m above Bali's Karangasem district, in the holiday island's east - Bali lies within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity where thousands of tremors occur each year WHAT IS THE VOLCANO'S HISTORY OF ERUPTIONS? - Its last major eruption in 1963 killed over 1,000 people and razed many villages - More than 50,000 Indonesians were evacuated in September this year when experts warned an eruption was imminent - Some 25,000 people have been unable to return to their homes Advertisement

AirAsia and Virgin Australia flights between Denpasar and Australia remained grounded on Sunday night

'The volcano and movement of ash cloud are highly unpredictable which means we may need to cancel flights at short notice,' Jetstar warned on its website (stick image)

Passengers wait for their flight schedule at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport on Sunday
Police have arrested a 20-year-old man who was allegedly planning a terrorist attack in Melbourne on New Year's Eve.

The young man was arrested by special operations police officers at 3pm on Monday following raids on two homes in Werribee and Meadow Heights in the city's west.

Police also raided a business in nearby Footscray.

The arrest was a joint effort by Victoria Police, AFP and ASIO named Operation Jose.

Police have arrested a 20-year-old man who was allegedly planning a terrorist attack in Melbourne on New Year's Eve (stock image)

Police said it would be alleged the man was involved in undertaking preparations for planning a terrorist act in Melbourne on New Year's Eve (pictured, 2015 celebrations)

'It will be alleged the man arrested was involved in undertaking preparations for planning a terrorist act in Melbourne on New Years Eve this year,' police said.

The man is currently being interviewed in relation to the offences of preparing to commit a terrorist attack and collecting documents to facilitate a terrorist act.

Police said the operation was ongoing but confirmed they did not anticipate to arrest anyone else in connection with the alleged threat.

In a statement, Victoria Police and the AFP said the threat had been 'contained' and there is 'no on-going risk' posed by the accused.

In 2016, more than 500,000 revellers flocked to Melbourne's CBD to ring in the new year as tonnes of fireworks were shot from 22 city buildings.

The young man was arrested by special operations police officers at 3pm on Monday following raids on two homes in Werribee and Meadow Heights (stock image)
President Donald Trump hailed the strength and bravery of World War II Navajo 'code-talkers' at the White House  where he also mocked Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren as 'Pocahontas.'

Trump regularly ripped Warren, a leading liberal adversary, as 'Pocahontas' on the campaign trail for having previously claimed Native American ancestry.

On Monday, the president decided to air the attack one more time alongside aging Native American veterans who helped fight fascism, in a White House ceremony attended by White House chief of staff John Kelly and other officials.

'You were here long before any of us were here,' Trump told the honorees. 'Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas,' Trump said.

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President Trump hailed World War II Navajo code-talkers in the Oval Office on Monday in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson, led violent campaigns against Native Americans

During his remarks, Trump recalled a time when Kelly asked him: 'How good were these code talkers?'

'He said sir, you have no idea. You have no idea what they've done for this country. And the strength and the bravery and the love that they have for the country. That was the ultimate statement from General Kelly on the importance.'

The president spoke as code-talkers stood by him at a podium, while another was seated in a wheelchair.

Peter MacDonald, a WWII veteran and former chairman of the Navajo tribe, gave introductory remarks by going through the history of the code talkers in the Pacific theater, including at the battles at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.

Warren immediately shot back at the president for making a 'racial slur.'

President Donald Trump reacts as he honours Navajo Code Talkers for their contributions during World War Two at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017

President Donald Trump greets Navajo Code Talkers as he honours their contributions during World War Two as they take part in an event at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017

President Donald Trump mocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as 'Pocahontas' at a ceremony honoring Native Americans

Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts shot back on Twitter.

'What @RealDonaldTrump said about my partner @SenWarren is a slur. It disparages the Native American war heroes, standing right beside the President, who risked their lives to protect his right to make such a disgusting comment,' Markey wrote.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked why Trump felt the need to make the point at the ceremony, said: 'I think what most people find offensive is Sen. Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career.'

She said Trump had an 'extreme amount of value and respect for these individuals.'

'I don't think that it is' a racial slur to use the term Pocahontas, she said.

The remark got met with silence when the president made it.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted Trump for using a 'racial slur,' something his press secretary said he didn't do

During the war, the code-talkers radioed messages using a code derived from their native language. They used words for war chief, braided hair, and hummingbird that was the only unbroken military code in history, the Associated Press reported.

Warren told MSNBC: 'This was supposed to be an event to honor heroes. People who put it all on the line for our country. And people who because of their incredible work saved the lives of countless Americans and our allies. It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur.'

She added: 'Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he's going to shut me up with it, it hadn't worked in the past it is not going to work in the future.'

Harvard Law listed Warren as Native American after she listed herself as a minority in a Association of American Law Schools directory.

It became a campaign issue in her 2012 Senate race when opponent Scott Brown accused her of claiming to be Native American.

I am very proud of my heritage," Warren told NPR at the time, CNN reported.

'These are my family stories. This is what my brothers and I were told by my mom and my dad, my mammaw and my pappaw. This is our lives. And I'm very proud of it.'

Attending the event were Marine code talkers Fleming Begay Sr., who is designated an honorary chair of Native Americans for Trump, Thomas H. Begay, Roy Hawthorne, Samuel Holiday, and Alfred Newman.
Prosecutors say a 20-year-old woman was high on marijuana when she hit and killed a motorcyclist in Lansing, Michigan in September.

The incident happened September 22 just before 8pm, when Logan Brooke Turner was crossing oncoming traffic to turn into a local business.

Turner hit motorcyclist Blair Reubin Beck, 21, who was driving southbound when Turner pulled across the street from the northbound lane and struck him.

Logan Brooke Turner, 20 (left), was arraigned last week on a charge of operating while intoxicated causing death after she hit and killed motorcyclist Blair Reubin Beck, 21 (right), on September 22

The crash happened on South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near Ferley Street.

Beck later died and Turner's blood tested positive for marijuana.

At an arraignment on Wednesday, Turner was hit with one count of operating while intoxicated causing death.

Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon declined to go into further details about the case.

OWI causing death is a felony, and typically carries a maximum of 15 years in prison, according to the Detroit Free-Press.

According to his obituary, Beck was a 2014 graduate of Grande Ledge High School and worked at the Grand Pointe Marina in Dimondale.

'He was a talented mechanic; enjoyed motorcycles, cars, video games, hunting and fishing; especially loved his time spent with family on Drummond Island and all of his friends.

'Blair was an experienced motorcycle rider who always enjoyed helping others with any problem they might have,' the obituary read.

He was survived by his parents, a sister, and much of his extended family.
A 23-year-old woman was arrested on Sunday after her dead newborn baby was found under the porch of a Pennsylvania home.

Brittany Robinson's newborn baby boy was found by her father who was hanging up Christmas lights on Sunday afternoon.

The man immediately called 911 after he discovered the seven-pound child inside a bag tucked in the crawlspace of his Shenango Township home.

Brittany Robinson (left and right), 23, was arrested on Sunday after her dead newborn baby was found under the porch of a Pennsylvania home

Her newborn baby boy was found by her father who was hanging up Christmas lights on Sunday afternoon. The man immediately called 911 after he discovered the seven-pound child inside a bag tucked in the crawlspace of his home. Robinson is pictured in custody on Monday

Robinson was charged Sunday with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of a child.

State police said the child was wrapped in a t-shirt and put in the plastic bag.

Robinson reportedly told police that she had severe stomach pains while she was at work Friday and later gave birth at home, according to WTAE.

She told police the baby wasn't breathing, so she wrapped him in a black shirt and put him in the bottom drawer of a dresser on the porch, according to the criminal complaint.

Robinson then claimed that she was unable to sleep on Saturday and went to check on the baby.

The little boy was still not breathing so she moved him to the crawl space. Her father discovered the baby while Robinson was at work on Sunday.

Robinson reportedly told police that she had severe stomach pains while she was at work Friday and later gave birth at home

Robinson told police the baby wasn't breathing, so she wrapped him in a black shirt and put him in the bottom drawer of a dresser on the porch before eventually moving him to the crawlspace at the home (pictured), according to the criminal complaint

Police said they believe the baby was born alive and may have lived one day. An autopsy is set for Monday night to determine the exact cause of death. Robinson went to a hospital Sunday for treatment related to childbirth. Investigators are pictured at the scene of the incident

According to WTAE, Robinson told police she did not know she was pregnant and neither did her family.

'Everybody that's been to that scene that was present who had to observe that has had a rough day,' Lt. Eric Hermick of the Pennsylvania State Police told WPXI.

Police said they believe the baby was born alive and may have lived one day.

'When you seen this baby, it's not what everybody envisions as you see there's a baby that appears to be dead or decomp,' Hermick said.

'This baby was in excellent physical condition. It still looked like it was alive at the scene.

An autopsy is set for Monday night to determine the exact cause of death. Robinson went to a hospital Sunday for treatment related to childbirth.

Robinson (pictured in custody on Monday) reportedly told police she did not know she was pregnant and neither did her family. Robinson was charged Sunday with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of a child

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing as they begin to piece together what exactly happened leading up to the baby boy's death

She was discharged early Monday morning and immediately taken into custody.

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing as they begin to piece together what exactly happened leading up to the baby boy's death.

'Laws protect mothers who have babies who don't want them,' Hermick told the station.

'They can drop them off at a police station or hospital. Here's a case here where, quite frankly, the baby looks like it was fine and just left to die,' he added.
Baby P's mother has been told she will spend at least another two years behind bars after a parole board stated she is still a danger to the public

Baby P's mother has been told she will spend at least another two years behind bars after a parole board stated she is still a danger to the public.

Tracey Connelly, 35, was jailed in 2009 after she stood by and watched while her partner and his brother tortured her defenceless 17-month-old son Peter to death in Haringey, North London, in 2007.

She was released on licence in 2013 but was recalled to prison just 18 months later after being accused of selling indecent images of herself to warped fans.

In December 2015 the Parole Board said she should remain behind bars.

The latest rejection, following a parole hearing in October, comes as a bitter blow to Connelly, who had hoped to be freed in time for Christmas.

A spokesman for the Parole Board told MailOnline: 'We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has not directed the release of Tracey Connelly.

'Under current legislation Ms Connelly will be eligible for a further review within two years. The date of the next review will be set by the Ministry of Justice.'

Connelly is currently in HMP Low Newton, County Durham, having been moved from HMP Styal in Cheshire.

Peter (pictured) was just 17 months old when he was found dead in his blood-spattered cot at his mothers flat in Haringey, North London

After being released from prison in 2013, Connelly was given a new surname and a new disguise (pictured)

Her toddler son died after suffering more than 50 injuries at the hands of her partner Steven Barker and his paedophile brother Jason Owen over an eight-month period.

Connelly changed her name and dyed her hair before moving to a seaside town when she was freed in October 2013 on a life-long licence.

Her release sparked outrage. Connelly's mother, Mary O'Connor, and father, Richard Johnson, said at the time their daughter should never have been freed.

In May 2009 Connelly was ordered to be held indefinitely, with a minimum jail term of five years, until 'deemed no longer to be a risk to the public and in particular to small children'.

Evil: Connelly's partner Steven Barker (left) was jailed for life, while his brother Jason Owen (right) was sent back to jail after breaching his parole

When she was freed from Durham's Low Newton jail in October 2013, she begged for an anonymity order and police protection but was refused.

Her release on a life-long licence came with the condition that any breach of her parole terms would land her back in jail.

The horrific nature of tragic Peter's death  despite being on Haringey Council's at-risk register  shocked Britain.

He was found dead in his blood-stained cot at his mother's flat after 60 visits from social workers and police.
The White House said Monday that there are so many sexual misconduct scandals facing Congress, Hollywood and the media that Donald Trump can't be expected to weigh in on every one.

DailyMail.com asked press secretary Sarah Sanders what it would take for the president to condemn Sen. Al Franken, who four different women have alleged improperly touched them sexually.

Trump mocked the Minnesota Democrat on Twitter 11 days ago as 'Frankenstein' after the first allegation surfaced  accompanied by a photo of Franken groping a sleeping woman after a USO tour  but has steered clear of calling for him to resign.

'The president is not going to weigh in on every single matter like this,' Sanders insisted Monday afternoon.

'Look, every single day we've got people from the media, from Hollywood, from members of Congress that have allegations brought against them,' she said, adding that Franken 'should first be the one to address' his own scandal, and it's 'not for the president to weigh in every single time one of these accusations comes up.'

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Donald Trump hasn't called on Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to resign, and the White House says he can't be expected to weigh in every time someone in Congress or Hollywood has to face accusations of sexual abuse or harassment

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dodged DailyMail.com's question on Monday oof whether the president is staying on the sidelines because he still faces his own unresolved allegations of sexual misconduct

'I know that I've let a lot of people down,' Franken said Monday in his first press conference since being accused of groping women

Franken has been hit with allegations that he touched four women inappropriately, beginning with Leeann Tweeden, whose case was buttressed with photographic evidence

Sanders also side-stepped a question about whether Trump was staying on the sidelines of Franken's troubles because of unresolved sexual misconduct allegations dating from his presidential campaign.

'I think that the president's been very clear that he denies any of those allegations having taken place,' she said.

Franken faced the media in Washington hours earlier but said he doesn't remember two alleged groping incidents and that he recalls an alleged backstage kissing incident 'differently' from how accuser Leeann Tweeden remembers it.

And he declined to rule out the possibility that more women could point fingers at him.

'If you had asked me two weeks ago, "Would any woman come forward with an allegation like this?" I would have said no, and so I cannot speculate,' the senator told a crush of media outside his office door in Washington.

'I certainly hope not,' he added moments later.

'This has been a shock, and it's been extremely humbling. I am embarrassed. I feel ashamed,' Franken said.

Franken, 66, has framed the groping accusations as a chance for him to reflect and grow, not as an offense that violated the public trust enough to force his resignation

Trump needled Franken on Nov. 16 after the first accusation against him dominated several news cycles, but has stayed mum since then

But he insisted he has no intention of quitting.

'I am going to try to learn from my mistakes,' the Minnesotan, a former comedian, told reporters.

Franken's troubles began when Leeann Tweeden produced a picture showing Franken groping her breasts.

'The Al Frankenstien [sic] picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words,' Trump tweeted during the ensuing media feeding frenzy. 'Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?'

But the president has been mum about the Franken saga since then.

On Nov. 21 as he left the White House for the Thanksgiving holiday, he told DailyMail.com that he wouldn't pass judgment because 'I dont know what happened.'

The Democrat's woes continued with three other women who say he grabbed their rear ends while posing for photos  including at least one instance after he was sworn in as a senator.

'I take a lot of pictures in Minnesota, thousands of pictures, meet tens of thousands of people. Those are instances that I do not remember,' said Franken.

Franken claimed Sunday in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he doesn't remember taking the specific photos, but said such groping is 'not something I would intentionally do.'

Lindsay Menz, (left) was the second woman to claim that Franken, (right) groped her when the two took this picture at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010

Franken said he would not resign, even as other high-profile figures accused of harassment in recent weeks have lost their jobs.

'I know that I've let a lot of people down,' he said. 'My colleagues, my staff, my supporters and everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women. To all of you, I just want to again say I am sorry. I know there are know magic words I can say to regain your trust.'

Franken also spoke about the USO tour where Tweeden says he forcibly kissed her during a rehearsal for a comedy routine.

Franken said Monday: 'On the kiss at the rehearsal we were rehearsing for a sketch. I said that I recalled that differently from Leanne. But I feel that you have to respect women's experience. And so I apologized to her and I meant it. And I was very grateful that she accepted it.'

In a blog entry about the experience, Tweeden, a California radio host, wrote: 'We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.'

Franken continued to apologize without saying he engaged in the conduct he is accused of.

Trump is shown Monday during an event honoring Navajo 'code talkers' from the Second World War

On Sunday Franken told WCCO in Minneapolis he had no intention of stepping down

'From these stories it's been clear that there are some women  and one is too many  who feel that I've done something disrespectful and that's hurt them and for that I am tremendously sorry,' he said.

'I know that I am going to have to be much more conscious when in these circumstances, much more careful, much more sensitive, and that this will not happen again going forward,' Franken said.

'It's going to take a long time for me to regain people's trust.'

Franken wouldn't respond directly to a hypothetical question about what conduct would lead to a resignation.
An elderly man has tragically died after he was hit by a truck reversing at slow speed out of a busy Liverpool carpark.

The 94-year-old was knocked down as the vehicle was backing out at the corner of Hoxton Park Road and Flowerdale Road.

The 70-year-old male driver of the car stopped and spoke to police at the scene.

The 94-year-old was struck at slow speed by a reversing vehicle in a car park at the corner of Hoxton Park Road and Flowerdale Road (pictured)

The seriously injured man was treated before he was rushed to Liverpool Hospital where he later sadly died.

Officers from Liverpool Local Area Command are continuing investigations and are now preparing a report for the coroner.

The man was one of two elderly pedestrians to die on Monday.

A 91-year-old man also died in hospital, three days after he was hit by a SUV as he crossed Maitland Road in the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield in a hit-and-run on Friday afternoon.

Police are appealing for witnesses at either incident or who may have seen the car, a red Mitsubishi ASX,


A ten-year old girl crashed into her neighbors' living room, telling cops she 'wanted to kill people.'

The Louisiana girl, who has not been named, was driving a truck when she slammed into Kristina Bryan's car so hard it spun several times and even cut the pavement.

Bryan's car was totaled but she escaped with minor scrapes and bruises.

She is just glad her young twins weren't in the car at the time, WDRB reports.

The ten-year-old girl crashed a truck into her neighbors' living room in Louisiana, telling police she wanted to kill people

Moments later, the girl rammed her truck through the living room of a home on New Cut Road near West Indian Trail, at around 2.30pm on Friday.

'It sounded like a bomb went off,' said Joshua Pate, who lives in the home with his family.

'Everybody was in shock. Everybody's still in shock.'

Pate's five children were sitting in the living room at the time and he believes their lives were saved by their sofa.

'The loveseat slid around and made kind of like a barrier ... the back of it is kind of high and I think the kids just slid with the loveseat,' Pate said.

The girl rammed her truck through the living room of a home on New Cut Road near West Indian Trail, at around 2.30pm on Friday

The girl rammed her truck through the living room of Joshua Pate (pictured) whose five children were sitting in the living room at the time

The Louisiana girl, who has not been named, was driving a truck when she slammed into another car and then rammed the vehicle through the living room of a home

But the most shocking moment was yet to come.

Pate says he heard the ten-year-old, who was not injured, telling police the crash was deliberate.

'(The officer) couldn't believe what she said,' he said.

'He was like "excuse me?" and she said, "I wanted to kill people," and he said 'I'm sorry, what did you say?' and she said, 'I wanted to kill people,' Pate said.

He added that he is still waiting for an apology from the girl and her family.

The owner of the home said that he is still waiting for an apology from the girl and her family after having to repair his property

The girl crashed her car through the wall of the home on New Cut Road near West Indian Trail, at around 2.30pm on Friday (pictured)

'All we want is an apology from the family, pretty much. We haven't heard from them and haven't heard from anybody,' he said.

Pate says the Red Cross have offered to help but the family will still be displaced for a month.

Bryan said that when she first heard she's been hit by a ten-year-old was concern and she wants to know how a girl e'ven get access to the keys?'

Both Pate and Bryan are planning legal action against the girl's family.

It does not appear that anyone has been charged in the incident.
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A factory with 300 years of history tucked away in a northern village once known as 'The Birthplace of Industry' is shutting its gates for good this week.

The Aga foundry in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, will officially close on the last day of the month after the iconic US-owned brand decided operations there 'were no longer economically viable'.

It brings an end to 300 years of ironwork in the village, which began with industrialist Abraham Darby I in 1709.

The Aga foundry (pictured) in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, will officially close on the last day of the month after the iconic US-owned brand decided operations there 'were no longer economically viable'

The Coalbrookdale site (pictured), established in 1709 by Abraham Darby I, already looks derelict ahead of the official closure on November 30

The closure of the site, part of the Ironbridge Heritage Buildings (pictured) will mean 35 job losses, with remaining staff being transferred to other sites, including Aga's foundry in Ketley, Shropshire, which will remain open

Three hundred years of history: Pictured is a derelict part of the Aga foundry where Lancaster bombers were made during the Second World War

Coalbrookdale was home to the world's first successful coke-fired blast furnace, which was buried over but eventually saved as part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust project

The Aga foundry at Coalbrookdale (pictured) has shut its gates for good ahead of the official closure of the site this week

COALBROOKDALE: THE BIRTHPLACE OF INDUSTRY Coalbrookdale is a small village in the Ironbridge Gorge, located in Shropshire's borough of Telford. In 1709 Abraham Darby I first smelted iron ire there using a fuel called coke instead of charcoal to mass produce the metal. The village was home to the world's first successful coke-fired blast furnace. As the Industrial Revolution roared on the first steam train was built there in 1802. Hyde Park's iconic gates were also fired there in the 19th century. The Coalbrookdale Company later became part of Allied Ironfounders, formed in 1929 through a merger of foundries. During the Second World War, the foundry was used by manufacturing company Fisher and Ludlow and made wings for Lancaster bombers. It was bought by Aga in 1946, who used the site to make its cookers' iron lids. The original blast furnace closed and was buried over, but it was preserved as part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums in 1959. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is made up of 10 museums and 35 historic sites across the Ironbridge Gorge. The Coalbrookdale site has been Aga's home for 70 years, but its history stretches back way beyond that to 1709 and Abraham Darby Advertisement

The closure will mean 35 job losses, with remaining staff being transferred to other sites, including Aga's foundry in Ketley, Shropshire, which will remain open.

Aga castings made at the site will now be sourced elsewhere in the UK and Europe.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, which runs 10 museums and 35 heritage sites throughout the area, will remain open and continue to tell the story of Coalbrookdale's history.

The firm said it was a 'difficult but necessary decision' to secure the long-term future of the brand.

A painting originating from around 1805 shows the Iron Works at Coalbrookdale in happier times, at the heart of the Industrial Revolution

The village of Coalbrookdale sits in the Ironbridge Gorge in Telford, Shropshire. Pictured is an artist's impression from 1758

The Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale was the first to be built in the world. Abraham Darby I first laid the foundations for the bridge by smelting iron ore with coke fuel instead of charcoal, which made it easier to produce cast iron en masse

THE HISTORY OF AGA Aga is a household name in the UK, famous for its large cast iron stoves that can be known to last as long as 50 years. The Aga Rangemaster group was founded in 1939. It was taken over by American company Middleby Corporation in September 205 in a deal worth 129million. It employs 2,500 worldwide, which includes Aga Marvel, its North American subsidiary selling Aga products in the US. Aga took over the Coalbrookdale foundry in 1946 and also runs another nearby in Ketley, Shropshire. Advertisement

Aga Rangemaster was was sold to US company Middleby Corporation in 2015 for 129million.

Coalbrookdale in Shropshire's Ironbridge Gorge was where Abraham Darby I first smelted iron ore using a fuel called coke instead of charcoal, which made it easier to mass-produce cast iron.

Now part of the Ironbridge Heritage Buildings, the foundry was where Abraham Darby III built the first ever Iron Bridge, with beams and ribs cast there in 1709.

A hundred years later in 1802 the world's first steam railway locomotive was built there by engineer Richard Trevithick.

During the Second World War, the foundry was used as a site to build Lancaster bombers, before it was taken over by Aga in 1946.

With such rich history, the small Telford village, is referred to as 'The Birthplace of Industry'.

Laura James, spokesman for Aga Rangemaster told the BBC 'It has been agreed with staff and unions that the site will close on November 30.

'Some work will continue at the site after that date.'
Two grade seven girls allegedly caught dealing marijuana on school grounds will not be charged with drug offences.

The two girls from Melbourne Girls' College, aged 12 or 13, were allegedly selling the drug at school in October.

The two girls were probed, but the school chose not to suspend or expel the girls, the Herald Sun reported.

Despite the serious nature of the allegations, the school decided to work with the girls and their parents to help 'make the right decisions in the future'.

The two girls from Melbourne Girls' College (pictured), aged 12 or 13, were allegedly selling the drug on school grounds in October

Principal Karen Money said the allegations were 'extremely rare' at the prestigious girls' school.

'We are working with police over an isolated incident with a small number of students involving small quantities of marijuana,' Ms Money said.

Victoria Police probed the two girls but said they would not be charged due to insufficient evidence.

The police said officers would continue to work with the school to educate children about the dangers of drugs.

Police investigated 166 drug offenses at schools in 2016 alone, with students found with cannabis, ketamine, LSD, ecstasy and ice.

Principal Karen Money (pictured) said the allegations were 'extremely rare' at the prestigious girls' school

Statistics from the 2014 Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug survey showed cannabis (stock) as the most prevalent illegal substance used

Statistics from the 2014 Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug survey showed cannabis as the most prevalent illegal substance used.

'Sixteen per cent of secondary students surveyed indicated they had used cannabis at some time in their lives with seven per cent using it in the past month,' the report stated.

In July a Year 8 student at the Ocean Grove campus of Bellarine Secondary College in Victoria reportedly brought the drug ice to school.

While in 2016 one student from Melbourne Girls Grammar school was expelled and another two suspended after becoming involved in a drug scandal.
Communications minister Mitch Fifield has asked Triple J to reconsider playing their Hottest 100 countdown on Australia Day because 'relatively few people have a problem with it.'

The ABC radio station announced they would move their hugely popular countdown from January 26 after a survey revealed 60 percent of listeners supported changing it.

Mr Fifield called the decision 'dumb' and 'an attempt to de-legitimise Australia Day' despite the fact indigenous musicians and the Greens have welcomed the idea, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Mitch Fifield (pictured) called the decision 'dumb' and 'an attempt to de-legitimise Australia Day'

Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown has been moved from its January 26th slot following increasing debate around the celebration of Australia Day

'And what Triple J and the ABC have done is to respond to a petition which has said it's not appropriate to have the Hottest 100 on the controversial Australia Day. There's nothing controversial about Australia Day,' he said.

Meanwhile Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the change means 'everyone in Australia can now enjoy the countdown on a date that doesn't cause harm and hurt to our First Peoples.'

The announcement was made by the ABC on Monday, with the musical tradition now taking place on the fourth weekend of January.

Voting will open six weeks before the day.

'It should be an event that everyone can enjoy together  for both the musicians whose songs make it in and for everyone listening in Australia and around the world,' the ABC said.

The announcement was made by the ABC on Monday, following a series of surveys stating that as many as 60 per cent of people were in favour of a change in date

It will now be held on the fourth Saturday of January, after careful consideration to the significance of Australia Day to Aboriginal people

Nearly 65,000 people voted in the first survey issued by the station, which showed three in five people preferred a new date.

While a second online poll of 18 to 30-year-old's revealed more than half supported the idea.

The new date was chosen after careful consideration to retain the event's summer history and 'keep all the best bits you love about the Hottest 100'.

Nearly 65,000 people voted in the first survey issued by the station, which showed three in five people preferred a new date

It will also include a second countdown of the 200-101 votes, with those to be aired on the following Sunday.

Despite celebrating on January 26th since 1998, there have been times in the event's history where the date has changed.

The first countdown in 1989 was held at the beginning of March, while January 25th was trialled as an alternate in 2004.

As for Australia Day, special programming and homegrown music will form a large part of the station's scheduled broadcast.

It is unsure whether future Hottest 100 events will be held on the Saturday or Sunday however, with the station asserting it will 'again be on the fourth weekend of January' in 2019, despite Australia Day falling then.

It is unsure whether future Hottest 100 events will be held on the Saturday or Sunday however, with the station asserting it will 'again be on the fourth weekend of January' in 2019, despite Australia Day falling then

People flocked to social media following the announcement, with some slamming the decision to move (top) and others praising the decision to alter the date

People flocked to social media following the announcement, with some slamming the decision to move.

'Damn. Has been a huge tradition to have an Australia day Hottest 100 party. Don't know what to do now,' one person wrote.

While another annoyed user said: 'It's tradition to have #Hottest100 on Australia Day, stop pandering to minorities'.

Others firmly supported the decision and revealed they would continue to celebrate the countdown on its new date.

One person stated: 'So great Triple J is moving #Hottest100. Wish it was done earlier - Aboriginal artists and listeners have been pushing the move for YEARS!'

'It's not about left or right. It's about compassion. If you're proud to be Australian, you cant be proud to celebrate the nation on a day our Indigenous people mourn,' another added.

A second online poll of 18 to 30-year-old's revealed more than half supported the idea of changing the countdown's date
Qantas have unveiled the stunning new captain and crew quarters on board their new range of Dreamliner aircrafts.

The Boeing 787's have already hit the Australian skies, flying domestically since October, with the new range of features extend beyond the passengers.

The planes have been fitted out with luxurious relaxing areas for staff, including private rooms for the pilots to sleep.

Qantas have unveiled their stunning new captain and crew quarters on-board the new range of Dreamliner aircrafts

The planes have been fitted out with luxurious relaxing areas for staff, including private rooms for the pilots to sleep

The first Boeing 787s hit the skies in October, and the new range of features extend beyond the passengers

Qantas unveiled the new fleet last month, with the Dreamliners capable of travelling non-stop to destinations in Europe and beyond.

The massive 236-seater planes are fitted out with custom chairs with business class and premium economy, providing improved travelling conditions for customers.

The captain and crew quarters include expansive resting areas with wide beds for staff to stretch out during long haul trips.

The captain and crew quarters include expansive resting areas with wide beds for staff to stretch out during long haul trips

The massive 236-seater planes are fitted out with custom chairs in business class, premium economy and economy, providing improved travelling conditions for customers

The pilot's area has two sleeping areas tucked in behind the cockpit, behind a locked door for security

The pilot's area has two sleeping areas tucked in behind the cockpit, behind a locked door for security.

The crew also have their own designated room, which is located near the back of the aircraft.

There are six large beds located in their quarters, also closed off to passengers, where they can recharge.

The flying kangaroo are looking to use their Perth HUB to launch their nonstop European flights, with trips direct to France and Germany the first expected to be announced

Qantas also want to expand their east coast options with the next generation of planes to target destinations like New York, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town

The flying kangaroo are looking to use their Perth HUB to launch their nonstop European flights, with trips direct to London starting to fly from March 2018.

Qantas also want to expand their east coast non-stop options with the next generation of aircraft to fly to New York, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town are set to become a reality for Australian flyers.

They hope to have direct flights from Sydney to Europe by 2022.
Few people would begrudge Prince Harry  a young man I know to be sensitive, brave and charming  a future with the woman he clearly adores.

Too often in the past, members of his family have been denied that joy, with disastrous consequences.

Being a prince is a lonely business, and I suspect Harry has felt isolated at times, particularly since leaving the Army. Hes occasionally cut a sad figure trailing along on public engagements with William and Kate.

A topless Prince Harry is snapped while enjoying a pool party in Las Vegas, during August 2012

That feeling was made more poignant by the fact that hes never made any secret of his desire to emulate his brother, to settle down and have a family of his own. Now, at 33, hes on the verge of doing just that.

He and Meghan Markle make a beautiful couple, with much in common. They make each other laugh and, as we saw yesterday, are open about their deep love for each other.

There was something rather touching about the way Meghan discreetly rubbed Harrys forearm in affectionate encouragement as they approached the bank of photographers at Kensington Palace, and again as they walked away.

These are promising ingredients for any marriage, but particularly one that will be under constant scrutiny and therefore infinitely more challenging to sustain than most.

In their favour will be the fact that everyone seems to have a soft spot for Harry. The public love him because hes unaffected, funny and genuinely interested in their lives. Children love him because hes a big kid at heart, and has an amazing rapport with them.

And anyone old enough to have watched him, aged 12, walking behind his mothers cortege back in 1997 wants to see him happily settled because the sight of him that day broke their heart.

Harry (pictured, in 2004) has always been a bit of a wild child with a tendency to party harder than most

Harry takes a cigarette off a friend while at the Chinawhite after party during the Cartier International Polo day in Windsor, July 2004

He was Dianas mischievous little boy, with a shy smile and a talent for getting into trouble.

While he has matured into one of the hardest-working  and deservedly most popular  members of the Royal Family, hes still the one who says what he thinks, shows what he feels and has no compunction about breaking the mould.

And everything about his relationship with Meghan Markle has broken the mould. She is all that a British Royal prince might have been expected to steer clear of: a divorced American, who is older by three years, of mixed race, with a high-profile career of her own and someone unafraid of speaking her mind.

In my view, these attributes are part of the reason why Meghan is the ideal partner for Harry, and will do much to make the Royal Family more relevant to modern Britain.

Williams marriage to Kate Middleton showed that social class, which seemed so important when Prince Charles was looking for a bride in the Eighties, is no longer an issue. The Cambridges have done wonders for the Firm at home and abroad. Harrys choice of Meghan goes one step further.

He certainly realised she was the one quickly. A year ago, within just a few months of meeting Meghan, Harrys office issued a statement, appealing to  virtually ordering  the media to back off.

This was unprecedented; the language used was frank and heartfelt, but Harry was never someone who was going to abide by petty convention.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle officially announced their engagement at London's Kensington Palace today

Prince Harry and Miss Markle's 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends

Prince Harry and former long-term girlfriend Chelsy Davy at Twickenham in November 2008

His decision was informed by the experience of his two previous long-term girlfriends, Chelsy Davy, whom he went out with for seven years, and Cressida Bonas, who was at his side for two years. Those women had been unnerved by the attentions of the Press, and he believed the relationships failed because of it.

Harry was not prepared to lose another in the same way.

Of course, the Prince has experienced the downside of media coverage, too, especially during the period in his late teens to mid-20s when he seemed to epitomise the heavy-drinking, drug-taking, irresponsible and over-privileged toff.

One tabloid columnist called him a thoroughly horrible young man and a national disgrace who rarely lifted a finger unless its to feel up a cheap tart in a nightclub.

He was 19 at the time and on his gap year, part of which he spent in the small, land-locked African kingdom of Lesotho where he has reluctantly agreed to spend a bit of the trip staring at poor people, the columnist said.

Her words were a travesty of the truth. In fact, Harry was so moved by the plight of children orphaned by Aids in Lesotho that, despite his age and opposition from his father, he set up his own charity, Sentebale. It has grown and prospered and remains a genuine passion for the Prince, and an agent for change in sub-Saharan Africa.

Then there was the infamous fancy dress party he attended in 2005 dressed as a German army officer with a swastika armband, which prompted the headline HARRY THE NAZI.

In 2005, Prince Harry attended a fancy dress party dressed as a German army officer with a swastika armband, which prompted the Sun headline HARRY THE NAZI

He apologised immediately, later admitting hed been a fool to choose such a tasteless costume. Harry was in bits over it, a former member of the Royal Household told me.

Everyone just took the chance to have a pop. It was a young mans mistake, thoughtless . . .

Perhaps worse still was the infamous Las Vegas incident in 2012 when photographs of a naked Harry, taken during a drunken game of strip billiards with a bunch of pretty bikini-clad girls, spread round the world.

Harry was again mortified, more for embarrassing his grandmother again than for what he had brought on himself. Yes, he was an idiot, but Harry has always been a bit of a wild child with a tendency to party harder than most.

His former private secretary told me thats part of what made him such a brilliant soldier. And what no one knew was that the Las Vegas incident took place just as he was just about to deploy to Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous places in the world.

The Army was the making of Harry. In the ground-breaking interviews he gave earlier this year to raise awareness of mental health issues, he confessed there were times when he came close to a breakdown and had sought professional help over dealing with his mothers death.

Left, Prince Harry on patrol in the town of Garmisir, southern Afghanistan, in 2008, and right, running out to scramble his Apache helicopter at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, during 2012

Hed also flirted with giving up royal life altogether and disappearing to Africa. But the Army gave him purpose and some self-esteem.

Never academically inclined, he slogged hard to get into Sandhurst, and turned out to be a superb officer who relished time spent with his men.

When, in 2008, he had to be pulled out of Afghanistan after his presence there was betrayed by an Australian media outlet, he was devastated.

He flew back alongside two soldiers, one who had lost an arm and a leg, and the other who had shrapnel in his neck. Harry was on the flight for no better reason than he was third in line to the throne.

He rightly felt a fraud when, on arriving home in Britain, he was hailed a hero.

But when he trained as an Apache attack helicopter co-pilot gunner, having been second best all his life  the spare, the less good-looking, less academic of the brothers  he found something he excelled at, and that gave him a new-found confidence. He returned to Afghanistan in 2012 and completed a full tour.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games in Toronto, earlier this year

He was witness to many who were not so lucky and never returned, or who sustained life-changing physical or mental injuries.

Out of this was borne his deep commitment to these men and women, and his determination to show there was life after devastating injury. He founded the Invictus Games for wounded and sick veterans and has turned it into a international event, backed by presidents and prime ministers.

At last Harry has realised that being a prince has advantages: he can make things happen, use his public profile for the right reasons  and make a difference to peoples lives.

Meghan Markle appears to share Harrys desire to improve the lot of others, with long-established charitable interests of her own.

For that reason, they will be a formidable double act, and their message will be all the louder because the cameras will love them wherever they go.

My only fear is that they are such an attractive and charismatic couple, they might overshadow William and Kate.

But thats for another day. Now is the moment to celebrate a very real royal romance.
Barron Trump may not have played host alongside mom Melania at today's White House holidays decorations reveal, but in a way, he is guiding Americans through this year's Christmas tour.

That's because an illustrated version of the first son is featured in this year's White House Christmas booklet, given to the throngs of tourists and guests who visit the executive mansion during the holidays.

The booklet, titled 'Time-Honored Traditions,' for this year's decorative theme, starts out with cartoon Barron on the cover guiding the horse-drawn carriage carrying the White House's Christmas tree.

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Barron Trump is the star of the White House's Christmas at the White House booklet, which describes the decorations found throughout the executive mansion

The real Barron Trump (left) appeared alongside mom Melania Trump (right) at the debut of the White House Christmas tree last week - one of the first official White House events the youngest Trump has participated in

Barron Trump, showing off his height at the event, takes in the crowd surrounding the White House Christmas tree last week

The cartoon version of Barron Trump is shown trying to grab a book off the tree completely made of tomes used as decoration in the downstairs White House library

The book tree was on display for reporters today, who got a first glance at holiday decorations Monday morning

Cartoon Barron Trump is captured walking through the East Colonnade, decorated by white branches, which looked like a forest after an ice storm

The real first lady Melania Trump walked along the East Colonnade as she greeted groups of school children doing crafts throughout the White House Monday

Barron's hand is seen putting a bulb representing New York state - where he grew up - on the tree in the Blue Room.

The Blue Room tree has ornaments for all the states and territories and is also adorned with large gold and blue bows

The real Barron wasn't behind the wheel, though did a walk-around of the carriage last week alongside his mother, surveying the 18-foot, 6-inch Wisconsin-grown beauty, headed to the White House's blue room.

More importantly, Barron's attendance marked one of the 11-year-old's first official appearances at a White House event.

And it was evidence that Barron, the youngest Trump, had grown taller than his ex-model mom.

The holiday booklet begins by showing off Barron's penmanship, as he signs the welcome letter along with his mom and dad.

His cartoon doppelganger than takes visitors through the White House.

'Barron,' wearing grey slacks, a blue jacket, a white button down shirt, completing the outfit with a festive red scarf, is illustrated walking through the East Colonnade that is filled with white branches, giving the hallway the look of a forest directly after an ice storm.

The young Trump is then drawn in the Library, looking to pull a book from the Christmas tree, on hand, made entirely of titles.

He's then shown cutting out a silhouette, the decorations used to spruce up the Green Room this year.

In the Blue Room, Barron's hand is captured putting an ornament on the tree.

The Trumps decided to decorate the Blue Room tree with bulbs from all the states and territories.

Barron Trump is illustrated making silhouettes, which were used to decorate the Green Room at the White House this holiday season

The Trump also adorned a Green Room fireplace mantel with the tiding 'Merry Christmas' instead of happy holidays

Barron's final appearance comes as he walks through the Grand Foyer and Cross Hall, which is decorated

Melania Trump began her tour of the White House decor in the same spot, walking through the Grand Foyer as ballerinas danced to the Nutcracker

It's no surprise that the ornament Barron is hanging is the one from New York, where he grew up before moving to Washington, D.C., this spring.

Cartoon Barron is last seen walking through the Grand Foyer  featuring icicle-drenched trees, as an homage to the Nutcracker  as the young Trump takes the Grand Staircase, up to the residence.

Today, Melania Trump came down those stairs to start her holiday decorations tour, being greeted by three ballerinas dancing to Nutcracker music.

The illustrations were done by Jim Starr of Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, the White House said.
A shocking report has revealed that searching for the phrase 'how to have' on YouTube brings up a list of disturbing auto-complete results.

Creepy suggestions include 'how to have s*x with your kids' and 'how to have s*x kids.'

YouTube has described the findings as 'profoundly disturbing' and says it is investigating the matter to understand what caused the results.

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A shocking report has revealed that searching for the phrase 'how to have' on YouTube brings up a list of disturbing auto-complete results. Creepy suggestions include 'how to have s*x with your kids' and 'how to have s*x kids'

DISTURBING RESULTS The bizarre search results were first discovered by BuzzFeed, which searched the phrase on multiple devices in an incognito mode  meaning previous searches did not influence results. The searches revealed that the phrase 'how to have' returned the same results, including 'how to have s*x with your kids', 'how to have s*x kids' and 'how to have s*x in school.' MailOnline has subsequently tried to search for the phrase, and the disturbing results no longer appear. Advertisement

The bizarre search results were first discovered by BuzzFeed, which searched the phrase 'how to have' on multiple devices in incognito mode  meaning previous searches did not influence results.

The searches revealed that the phrase 'how to have' returned the same results, including 'how to have s*x with your kids', 'how to have s*x kids' and 'how to have s*x in school.'

In a statement, a YouTube spokeswoman said: Earlier today our teams were alerted to this profoundly disturbing autocomplete result and we worked to quickly remove it as soon as we were made aware.

We are investigating this matter to determine what was behind the appearance of this autocompletion.

MailOnline has subsequently tried to search for the phrase, and the disturbing results no longer appear.

Several users took to Twitter to express their concerns about the findings.

Bill Robertson wrote: 'WTF YouTube!?! 'how to have' suggests 'how to have sex with your kids'. What dark underbelly exists on YouTube?'

And WeWuzMetokur wrote: 'Don't even need 'how to have'. Just 'how to h' to get results. Based on this I believe YouTube wants me to hack my kids video game, hypnotize them as I tell them how much I hate lil wayne, and then rape them.'

Several users took to Twitter to express their concerns about the findings, including WeWuzMetokur, who wrote: 'Don't even need 'how to have'. Just 'how to h' to get results. Based on this I believe YouTube wants me to hack my kids video game, hypnotize them as I tell them how much I hate lil wayne, and then rape them.'

The timing of the discovery is less than ideal for YouTube, whose system for flagging sexual comments on children's videos was recently found to be broken for a year.

A report by moderators at YouTube found that up to 100,000 predatory accounts had been leaving indecent comments on videos, with 28 comments directed at children that were against the site's guidelines.

Lidl, Mars, Adidas, Cadbury maker Mondelez, Diageo and other big companies have also pulled advertising from YouTube after an investigation found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands.

Comments from hundreds of paedophiles were posted alongside the images, which appeared to have been uploaded by the children themselves, according to an investigation.

MailOnline has subsequently tried to search for the phrase, and the disturbing results no longer appear

YOUTUBE'S REPORTING SYSTEM - YouTube's system for reporting sexualised comments has not been working correctly for more than a year - Up to 100,000 predatory accounts leaving indecent comments on videos have been found - Report identified 28 comments directed at children that were against the site's guidelines - Over a period of several weeks, five of the comments were deleted, but no action was taken against the remaining 23 - BBC contacted the company and provided a full list. All of the predatory accounts were then deleted within 24 hours Advertisement

One video of a pre-teenage girl in a nightie drew 6.5 million views.

This isn't the first time that Google  which owns YouTube - has come under fire for its controversial auto-complete results.

In December 2016, Google became embroiled in an anti-Semitism row after its autocomplete suggested the phrase 'Are Jews evil?'

Google apologized and said the results came from its autocomplete algorithm.

A blog post by Tamar Yehoshua, Product Manager of Google Search, explained why sometimes autocomplete searches go wrong.

The post said: 'Autocomplete isn't an exact science, and the output of the prediction algorithms changes frequently.

'Predictions are produced based on a number of factors including the popularity and freshness of search terms.'

MailOnline has contacted Google for comment.
Just days after Apple unveiled its iPhone X, Samsung released an anti-Apple advert to promote its flagship Galaxy Note 8 smartphone.

Now, Motorola has taken things a step further, releasing an advert that mocks both Apple and Samsung.

The advert for its Z2 Play smartphone picks up where the Samsung advert left off, and features the slogan: 'Up-upgrade to Motorola.'

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The advert for its Z2 Play smartphone picks up where the Samsung advert left off, and features the slogan: 'Up-upgrade to Motorola'

MOTOROLA Z2 PLAY - 5.5-inch AMOLED display - Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor - 12MP dual pixel autofocus camera - 5MP front camera - 3,000mAh battery - Water-resistant - Available in Lunar Gray, Nimbus Blue, or Fine Gold - $499 (373) for 64GB model Advertisement

Samsung's advert for its Galaxy Note 8 showed the progression of past iPhones alongside past Samsung models, mocking many of Apple's designs.

It featured a male character buying various iPhone models over the years, ranging from the iPhone 3GS, through to the iPhone 7.

Each year, the character encountered an issue with his iPhone, which his girlfriend  who used various Samsung phones  didn't face.

Finally, the iPhone user decides to switch to Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.

But Motorola released the advert for its Z2 Play smartphone last week, which features the same characters as Samsung's advert, and picks up where it left off.

After the male character comes home with his Galaxy Note 8, he finds that his girlfriend has once again changed phones  this time to a Motorola Z2 Play

While the male character watches a film on his phone, his girlfriend gives him an eye-roll, before showing how her phone can attach to a projector

After the male character comes home with his Galaxy Note 8, he finds that his girlfriend has once again changed phones  this time to a Motorola Z2 Play.

While the male character watches a film on his phone, his girlfriend gives him an eye-roll.

She then attaches Motorola's projector, Moto Mod, onto her Z2 Play, and watches a video projected on the wall.

The woman attaches Motorola's projector, Moto Mod, onto her Z2 Play, and watching a video projected on the wall

Motorola released the $499 (373) Z2 Play in July. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, as well as a 12MP dual pixel autofocus camera, and 5MP front camera

DIGS IN SAMSUNG'S VIDEO The iPhone 3GS is mocked for its lack of storage space, while the iPhone 5S is ridiculed for not supporting a stylus. In 2015, the character can be seen unable to use his phone in the rain, while in 2016, his phone fails to survive falling in water  mocking the non-waterproof designs of the past. In 2017, Samsung mocks the iPhone 7 for its lack of headphone jack and lack of support for wireless charging. Finally, in one of the more subtle digs in the video, a man in the queue has a notch-shaped haircut  mocking the iPhone X's notch in its display. Advertisement

A message on the screen then appears, saying 'Up-upgrade to Motorola.'

Motorola posted the video to its Twitter page, along with the caption: 'Their better just got bested.

'Why settle for edge-to-edge, when you could project your screen up to 70'?'

Motorola released the $499 (373) Z2 Play in July.

The smartphone features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, as well as a 12MP dual pixel autofocus camera, and 5MP front camera.

With a 3,000mAh battery, the phone promises to hold up to 30 hours of charge.

Several people have responded to the advert on Twitter, cheering Motorola on for entering the advert-competition.

Samsung's video mocked the iPhone X. In one of the more subtle digs in the video, a man in the queue has a notch-shaped haircut  mocking the iPhone X's notch in its display

Mickey Michael wrote: 'Meh, Samsung and iPhone will be making the same add-ons soon enough :) Hola Moto!'

And Judge Acumen added: 'That shade. Dang...'

Samsung and Apple are yet to respond to the advert.
If you're desperate for people to like you, you may want to try nodding your head more, according to a new study.

Scientists suggest that a polite nod of the head can make a person almost a third more likeable, and increases their approachability by almost half.

The findings come shortly after Donald Trump opted for a head nod when he met Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in Tokyo.

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Earlier this month President Trump greeted 83 year-old Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in Tokyo with a genteel handshake and nod, but no bow

THE STUDY Short video clips of figures nodding, shaking their head or staying motionless were shown to 49 men and women aged 18 or over. Participants then rated their attractiveness, likeability and approachability on a scale of 0 to 100. Results showed that head shaking had no effect on the ratings for likeability and approachability. But head nodding significantly increased ratings of likability and approachability. In particular, the researchers found that a nodding head motion increased likability attributable to personality traits rather than to physical appearance. Professor Jun-ichiro Kawahara, co-author of the study, said: 'We concluded head nodding motion is treated as information regarding approach-related motivations and enhances perceived likeability.' Advertisement

The study, by researchers at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, showed that nodding improves the likeability of people by about 30 per cent and their approachability by 40 per cent.

This was compared to people that shook their heads or stayed motionless, and the results were similar for both male and female observers.

The findings shed fresh light on manners and hospitality and could influence the creation of 'avatars' or characters in computer games and even humanoid robots.

The same team previously demonstrated the bowing motion of the computer-generated, three-dimensional characters enhanced their perceived attractiveness.

This time they carried out experiments to rate how simple nodding and head shaking affected perceived impressions of personality.

Short video clips of the figures nodding, shaking their head or staying motionless were shown to 49 men and women aged 18 or over.

Participants then rated their attractiveness, likeability and approachability on a scale of 0 to 100.

Professor Jun-ichiro Kawahara, co-author of the study, said: 'Our study also demonstrated nodding primarily increased likability attributable to personality traits, rather than to physical appearance.'

He said head shaking had no effect on the ratings for likeability and approachability.

In many countries nodding is a communicative signal meaning approval and head shaking denial.

WHEN TRUMP MET EMPEROR AKIHITO Earlier this month President Trump greeted 83 year-old Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in Tokyo with a genteel handshake and nod, but no bow. This avoided the pitfall of President Obama who was criticised by Americans for his deep bow to the monarch in 2009. After the meeting, Trump shook hands again, and tapped the emperor's arm repeatedly with his left hand. 'Thank you for the great meeting', he told Akihito. 'I'm sure we will meet again'. Obama also faced criticism from etiquette experts, who noted he combined a bow with a handshake. This is not done in Japan traditionally, whether meeting the emperor or anyone else. Trump nodded his head slightly - but did not bend at the waist. Advertisement

Professor Kawahara said: 'The results showed the nodding head motion significantly increased ratings of subjective likability and approachability relative to those of the shaking or control conditions, whereas the shaking motion did not influence the ratings.

'Furthermore it was shown a nodding head motion of the computer-generated models primarily increased likability attributable to personality traits rather than to physical appearance.

'We concluded head nodding motion is treated as information regarding approach-related motivations and enhances perceived likeability.'

Professor Kawahara and co-author Professor Takayuki Osugi said the study is the the first to show merely observing a person's subtle head motions can change initial impressions.

But Professor Kawahara said: 'Generalising these results requires a degree of caution because computer-generated female faces were used to manipulate head motions in our experiments.

'Further study involving male figures, real faces and observers from different cultural backgrounds is needed to apply these findings to real-world situations.'

Earlier this month President Trump greeted 83 year-old Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in Tokyo with a genteel handshake and nod, but no bow.

This avoided the pitfall of President Obama who was criticised by Americans for his deep bow to the monarch in 2009.

After the meeting, Trump shook hands again, and tapped the emperor's arm repeatedly with his left hand.

Obama faced criticism from etiquette experts, who noted he combined a bow with a handshake. This is not done in Japan traditionally, whether meeting the emperor or anyone else

'Thank you for the great meeting', he told Akihito. 'I'm sure we will meet again'.

Obama also faced criticism from etiquette experts, who noted he combined a bow with a handshake.

This is not done in Japan traditionally, whether meeting the emperor or anyone else.

Trump nodded his head slightly - but did not bend at the waist.
They are intended to make people feel more comfortable interacting with robots, but disembodied Furhat heads may have the opposite effect on some.

The creepy creations, which use mannequins as their base, can be altered to take on the appearance of a range of computer generated characters.

Designed to be 'socially intelligent', their creator says they are so realistic that they feel 'like they are alive.'

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They are intended to make people feel more comfortable interacting with robots, but disembodied Furhat heads may have the opposite effect on some. The creepy creations use mannequins as their base. This image shows a character from Disney's avatar being projected

INTEREST IN FURHAT Furhat is named after the headgear worn by an early version of the robot. Its unique projector based system means robot designs are almost infinitely customisable. That includes everything from the voice used to gender, accent, persona and facial expressions. The firm sells the hardware and a software development kit for 12,000 ($15,000) to anyone wanting to create their own robots using the system. The approach has already garnered interest from some big name companies, including Disney, who is using one of the robots to tell interactive stories to children. In Japan, Honda is looking at how Furhat might be a better way for the elderly to interact with technology than smartphones or computers. Furhat has also held talks with the Metropolitan Police about using the robots to train officers on how to spot and interact with deceptive suspects. Advertisement

Furhat Robotics was founded by Samer Al Moubayed, along with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Their robots mimic human personality, gesture and speech patterns.

Computer animations create an expression for the robot's face, which is then projected onto a mannequin's head.

Its AI brain is built on an artificial intelligence platform that can be programmed to participate in socially-aware interactions with humans.

The system is designed to address the problem of the 'uncanny valley'.

Coined by Japanese professor of robotics Masahiro Mori, the term refers to the point at which a robot looks almost realistic enough to pass for a human, but retain enough artificiality to make people uncomfortable

'We actually call it the zombie effect,' Mr Al Moubayed told The Times.

'If something looks too human but doesnt live up to that in its behaviour, you have this problem of [dashed] expectations.

'The first time we aligned the image on a mannequin, there was a magical point where it felt like it was alive.'

Furhat robots are named after the headgear worn by an early prototype version.

Furhat is named after the headgear worn by an early version of the robot. The system is designed to address the problem of the 'uncanny valley'

Coined by Japanese professor of robotics Masahiro Mori, it refers to the point at which a robot looks almost realistic enough to pass for a human, but retain enough artificiality to make people uncomfortable

The creepy creations, which use mannequins as their base, can be altered to take on the appearance of a range of computer generated characters

Its unique projector based system means robot designs are almost infinitely customisable.

That includes everything from the voice used to gender, accent, persona and facial expressions.

They can be given additional character through customising their accessories

The firm sells the hardware and a software development kit for 12,000 ($15,000) to anyone wanting to create their own robots using the system.

The approach has already garnered interest from some big name companies, including Disney, who are using one of the robots to tell interactive stories to children

Furhat is the creation of Samer Al Moubayed, who founded Furhat Robotics in 2014 with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden

Computer animations create an expression for the robot's face, which is then projected onto the mannequin's head

Its AI brain is built on a artificial intelligence platform that can be programmed to participate in socially-aware interactions with humans

The robots mimic human personality, gesture and speech patterns and can be given additional character through customising their accessories

In Japan, Honda is looking at how Furhat might be a better way for the elderly to interact with technology than smartphones or computers.

Furhat has also held talks with the Metropolitan Police about using the robots to train officers on how to spot and interact with deceptive suspects.

In a written statement, Mr Al Moubayed added: 'Furhat's vision is to build a computer interface that enables people to interact with machines the same way we interact with each other.

'We believe social robotics will be as disruptive as the smart phone or the PC, and we are at the very early days of a technology that will allow us to interact with machines in a more human like manner.'

The unique projector based system means robot designs are almost infinitely customisable. That includes everything from the voice used to gender, accent, persona and facial expressions

The firm sells the hardware and a software development kit for 12,000 ($15,000) to anyone wanting to create their own robots using the system

The approach has already garnered interest from some big name companies, including Disney, who is using one of the robots to tell interactive stories to children. Here two of the team give a demonstration of the technology in action
It's one of the most polluting gases in the world, and it can have extreme effects on both the environment and human health.

But a new study suggests that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels could be as much as two times smaller than thought in Europe.

The findings suggest that diesel cars may have been unfairly demonised, and that European roadside air quality standards could be achieved sooner than expected.

But scientists warn that Europe still have a major air pollution problem.

The average NO2 concentration in the air at roadsides remains at least 70 micrograms per cubic metre - well above the European target.

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It's one of the most polluting gases that can have extreme effects on both the environment, and human health. But a new study suggests that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels could be as much as two times smaller than thought (stock image)

THE STUDY In their study, the researchers analysed 130 million hourly measurements of NOx, NO2 and ozone from roadside monitoring stations across 61 European cities. Their analysis revealed that the proportion of NO2 in NOx increased from 1995 to 2010, but then stabilized or decreased in most regions. It then remained at a level that is lower than assumed in air quality standards. The researchers hope that their findings will urge authorities to use a lower proportion of NO2 in NOx in predictions, to provide more accurate forecasts. Advertisement

Researchers from the University of York, led by Dr Stuart Grange, looked at the proportion of NO2 in European roadside nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions - the wider group to which NO2 belongs.

Their findings suggest that the proportion of NO2 could be as much as two times smaller than assumed in policy projections.

Anthony Frew, Professor of Allergy & Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, said: 'This is encouraging data; for drivers of diesel cars, this news will come as some relief from the recent demonization of diesel.'

Air quality standards only set limits for NO2 rather than NOx, and roadside concentrations of NO2 have declined much less than expected  which is largely attributed to increasing use of diesel vehicles in Europe.

Both petrol and diesel cars produce nitrogen dioxide. But previous studies have found that 70 per cent of the NOx produced by diesel cars is NO2, compared to just 10 to 15 percent when petrol is burned.

In their study, the researchers analysed 130 million hourly measurements of NOx, NO2 and ozone from roadside monitoring stations across 61 European cities.

Their analysis revealed that the proportion of NO2 in NOx increased from 1995 to 2010, but then stabilized or decreased in most regions.

It then remained at a level that is lower than assumed in air quality standards.

The researchers hope that their findings will urge authorities to use a lower proportion of NO2 in NOx in predictions, to provide more accurate forecasts.

Researchers looked at the proportion of NO2 in European roadside nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. Their findings suggest that the proportion of NO2 could be as much as two times smaller than assumed in policy projections (stock image)

STUDY LIMITATIONS Some experts have warned about the limitations of the study. Nick Hewitt, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at Lancaster University, said: 'This is positive news for urban air quality, as NO2 is a regulated air pollutant, being toxic to humans. 'However, what the analysis doesn't show is the inability of current atmospheric emissions inventories to correctly predict the amount of NOx emitted into the atmosphere, especially from motor vehicles. 'Our own airborne measurements of the fluxes of NOx over London show that the UK's national emissions inventory significantly underestimates the emission rates of NOx in London.' Advertisement

Ian Colbeck, Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Essex, said: 'Air pollution hasn't got any better; thousands of people a year as still dying because of it.

'To forecast the impact of road traffic on air quality one has to make assumptions such as future fleet composition, traffic activity as well as the NO2:NOx ratio for all vehicles.

'This paper has used atmospheric measurements to calculate this important ratio whilst the UK government uses modelled values.

'Grange and co-workers conclude that the NO2:NOx ratio is roughly 50 per cent lower than the value used in air quality models suggesting that model predictions may be too pessimistic.

'If Grange is correct then air quality standards should be realised much sooner than predicted.'

But some experts have warned about the limitations of the study.

Nick Hewitt, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at Lancaster University, said: 'This is positive news for urban air quality, as NO2 is a regulated air pollutant, being toxic to humans.

'However, what the analysis doesn't show is the inability of current atmospheric emissions inventories to correctly predict the amount of NOx emitted into the atmosphere, especially from motor vehicles.

'Our own airborne measurements of the fluxes of NOx over London show that the UK's national emissions inventory significantly underestimates the emission rates of NOx in London.'
The doctor's stethoscope has been a symbol of the medical profession for generations.

But its days could be numbered as scientists have devised a way of monitoring a patient's heart without touching the skin using radio waves.

They can also monitor other vital signs such as blood pressure without using an uncomfortable cuff on the arm as well as a patient's breathing rate.

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The monitoring system works by measuring how much of a radio signal is reflected from the body by the wireless tags  and how much is absorbed. By comparing the two, the scientists say they can measure the movement of internal organs such as the lungs and heart (stock imgae)

HOW IT WORKS Instead of taping electrodes to the skin  or making patients wear a blood pressure cuff  wireless tags are worn  attached to the sleeve of a patient's top, and to their chest. The tags mean a patient can move around while being monitored away from their machines. The monitoring system works by measuring how much of a radio signal is reflected from the body by the wireless tags  and how much is absorbed. By comparing the two, the scientists say they can measure the movement of internal organs such as the lungs and heart. Advertisement

Instead of taping electrodes to the skin  or making patients wear a blood pressure cuff  wireless tags are worn  attached to the sleeve of a patient's top, and to their chest.

The tags mean a patient can move around while being monitored away from their machines.

Potentially, a whole ward full of patients could be monitored at one time by the system.

It also means they can monitor patients at night as they sleep without waking them.

The monitoring system works by measuring how much of a radio signal is reflected from the body by the wireless tags  and how much is absorbed.

By comparing the two, the scientists say they can measure the movement of internal organs such as the lungs and heart.

Researchers from Cornell University unveiled their system in the journal Nature Electronics.

The feedback can then be collected to retrieve the heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, and breath effort  how hard or easy the patient finds breathing.

In tests, the system was tested on a volunteer who sat on a chair for 30 minutes, and also carried out 'moderate activity'.

The doctor's stethoscope (stock image) has been a symbol of the medical profession for generations. But its days could be numbered as scientists have devised a way of monitoring a patient's heart without touching the skin using radio waves

The system could read signals from antennae in the detectors at the wrist and chest from a distance of from around 6.5 ft away.

The researchers, led by Xiaonan Hui, write: 'Our system is capable of monitoring multiple people simultaneously and could lead to the cost-effective automation of vital sign monitoring in care facilities.'

They add: 'Our non-contact sensing of blood pressure presents significant advantages over direct pressure-based methods, which cause discomfort and disrupt the circadian rhythm, especially in long-term monitoring of elderly patients.'
A stunning blue tarantula is one of 30 new species discovered by scientists in Guyana.

Researchers found a wealth of new creatures while searching the Kaieteur National Park, including six species of fish, 15 aquatic beetles and five dragonflies.

The incredible findings highlight the unbelievably rich biodiversity in Guyana.

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A stunning blue tarantula is one of 30 new species discovered by scientists in Guyana. Researchers found a wealth of new creatures while searching the Kaieteur National Park, including six species of fish, 15 aquatic beetles and five dragonflies

THE NEW SPECIES Researchers from the Global Wildlife Conservation discovered the new species in Kaieteur National Park and the Upper Potaro area in Guyana. More than 30 new species were found by the researchers, including: - Six species of fish - Three plants - 15 aquatic beetles - Five odonates (insects including dragonflies and the damselflies) - One blue tarantula Advertisement

Researchers from the Global Wildlife Conservation discovered the new species in Kaieteur National Park and the Upper Potaro area in Guyana  areas that are part of a largely intact forest landscape.

The region is known to have huge value globally for conservation, and shelters several species that are vulnerable or on the verge of extinction, including Tepui swifts, Guianan cock of the rock, white-lipped peccary and the golden rocket frog.

A spokesperson for Global Wildlife Conservation said: 'Guyana is one of the world's most important countries for biodiversity conservation with the second highest percentage of forest cover on Earth, high levels of biological diversity and species that are found nowhere else.'

Researchers from the Global Wildlife Conservation discovered the new species in Kaieteur National Park (pictured) and the Upper Potaro area in Guyana  areas that are part of a largely intact forest landscape

More than 30 new species were found by the researchers, including six species of fish, three plants, 15 aquatic beetles and five odonates.

One of the most interesting finds was a new species of tarantula, with a distinctive blue hue.

While scientists have established that there are at least 40 species of blue spiders in the world, they are still unsure why the creatures have evolved to have this colouration.

A spokesperson for Global Wildlife Conservation said: 'Guyana is one of the world's most important countries for biodiversity conservation with the second highest percentage of forest cover on Earth, high levels of biological diversity and species that are found nowhere else'

The region is known to have huge value globally for conservation, and shelters several species that are vulnerable or on the verge of extinction, including Tepui swifts, Guianan cock of the rock, Groete Creek carrying frog (pictured left) and the golden rocket frog (pictured right)

POECILOTHERIA METALLICA The discovery of the new species comes shortly after a video emerged online showing another species of blue tarantula, called Poecilotheria metallica. The Poecilotheria metallica is a species of spider that is bright blue with white stripes. The spider can be found solely in a 38 square miles (100 square kilometre) area of India, called Andhra Pradesh. According to IUCN Red List, Poecilotheria metallica is listed as critically endangered, because of its range restriction, single location and decline in habitat quality. Advertisement

In 2015, researchers from the University of Akron, Ohio suggested that it was unlikely the colour evolved due to sexual selection - which is the case with other coloured spider species.

Mr Bor-Kai Hsiung, lead author of the study, told the BBC: 'It evolved from multiple origins and different mechanisms produce the very same blue colour.

'That's very strong evidence to suggest that this blue colour has a very important visual signalling function.

'But if it's not for other tarantulas, then it must be to some other receivers out there.'

The researchers suggest that the colour may help the spiders to hide from predators at night, although Mr Hsiung concluded: 'We don't know yet.'

The discovery of the new species comes shortly after a video emerged online showing another species of blue tarantula, called Poecilotheria metallica

Kaieteur National Park and the Upper Potaro areas in Guyana are known to be part of a largely intact forest landscape

The discovery of the new species comes shortly after a video emerged online showing another species of blue tarantula, called Poecilotheria metallica.

The incredible video was uploaded to ViralHog by Barcelona-based medical student, Daniel Valcarcel, although it is unclear where it was filmed.

It shows the tarantula, which is bright blue with white stripes, crawling up and down a man's hand.
Do you find yourself constantly checking your smartphone? On public transportation, at work and even while having drinks with your friends?

If so, a new substitute plastic phone could help you quell your compulsion.

The plastic phone has a series of embedded stone beads which let you scroll, zoom and swipe - without actually aimlessly scrolling through your Facebook and Instagram news feed.

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The plastic phone has a series of embedded stone beads which let you carry out scroll, zoom and swipe gestures The goal is to help people who frequently use their smartphones reduce their usage by helping to manage withdrawal symptoms

The substitute phone, designed by Vienna based designer Klemens Schillinger, uses stones to imitate smartphone gestures without actually being connected.

The goal is to help people who frequently use their smartphones reduce their usage by managing withdrawal symptoms.

'More and more often one feels the urge to check their phone, even if you are not expecting a specific message or call,' Schillinger told Dezeen.

TEENAGERS SPEND MORE THAN 40 FULL DAYS A YEAR LOOKING AT THEIR PHONES The average teen spends nearly 41 days of the year glued to their mobile  or two hours and 40 minutes a day, research has discovered. The study of 1,500 parents with teenagers living at home found that youngsters from Liverpool clocked up the most time on their phones, with 48 days spent texting and browsing apps. Teens from Glasgow and Cardiff came third and second. London teens came bottom of the list with 37 days. Vix Leyton, of broadbandchoices, which commissioned the study, said mobile phones are increasingly our portal to 24-hour shopping, news in real time and our chief mode of entertainment. The research also found that 55 per cent of parents often wonder how they survived without the internet or a mobile phone as a teenager. Advertisement

'These observations inspired the idea of making a tool that would help stop this 'checking' behavior.

Schillinger says he was inspired by Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco, who tried to give up smoking by substituting his smoking pipe with a wooden stick.

The substitute phone has a similar weight to a smartphone, mimicking the feel of a phone in one's hand or pocket.

The substitute phone has a similar weight to a smartphone, mimicking the feel of a phone in one's hand or pocket The substitute phone, designed by Vienna based designer Klemens Schillinger, uses stones to imitate smartphone gestures

The phone, made from black polyoxymethylene (POM) plastic, has beads made from a mineral called howlite.

Schillinger says that some gestures, such as zooming in and swiping up and down, arose with the introduction of smartphones.

'The Substitute Phones allows these movements to be felt by scrolling on the marbles that are integrated into the case, something which is a clear differentiation from fidget spinners or fidget cubes,' says Schillinger.

Could a plastic mock phone help smartphone addicts quell their compulsion of constantly checking their phone?

This isn't the first device Schillinger has designed to help people disconnect from their smartphones.

He's also designed an offline lamp which only lights up when the user is willing to place their phone inside a drawer integrated in the lamp.

Both of the projects were designed for an exhibition called #Offline - Design for the (Good Old) Real World, held for Vienna Design Week During the first week of October.
What if the Big Bang never happened?

The theory is the most widely accepted explanation for the birth and evolution of our universe, and has come to be crucial in our understanding of the cosmos.

But, some physicists are now challenging the idea of the beginning of time.

Instead of a Big Bang event that started it all 13.7 billion years ago, some suspect the universe may experience bouncing phases of contraction and expansion.

Instead of springing into existence, the expanding universe may have been preceded by a contraction phase. The idea stems from the theory that a Big Crunch, in which the universe collapses on itself, could lead to an eternal succession of universes. Artist's impression

THE 'BIG BOUNCE' Researchers say the start of the universe may have sprung as it transitioned from a previously contracting state. They suggest that all particles in the early universe would have been governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. So rather than collapsing and destroying itself at the end of a period of contraction, the universe was likely saved by quantum mechanics. This would mean the universe did not experience a violent beginning or ending, as in the Big Bang and Big Crunch scenarios. Advertisement

I believe the Big Bang never happened, said physicist Julian Cesar Silva Neves, who works as a researcher at the University of Campinas Mathematics, Statistics & Scientific Computation Institute (IMECC-UNICAMP) in Sao Paulo State, Brazil.

In a new study published to the journal General Relativity and Gravitation, Neves argues that there may be no need for the spacetime singularity  or, the Big Bang.

Instead of springing into existence, the current expanding universe may have been preceded by a contraction phase.

The idea stems from the theory that a Big Crunch, in which the universe collapses on itself, could lead to an eternal succession of universes.

The process would create extremes in temperature and density, leading to an inversion and a bounce that allows for expansion.

In order to measure the rate at which the Universe is expanding with the standard cosmology, the model in which theres a Big Bang, a mathematical function is used that depends only on cosmological time, said Neves.

Eliminating the singularity or Big Bang brings back the bouncing Universe on to the theoretical stage of cosmology.

The absence of a singularity at the start of spacetime opens up the possibility that vestiges of a previous contraction phase may have withstood the phase change and may still be with us in the ongoing expansion of the Universe.

The new argument is inspired by the behaviour of regular black holes.

The Big Bang theory is the most widely accepted explanation for the birth and evolution of our universe, and has come to be crucial in our understanding of the cosmos. But, a physicist argues it never happened. 'Relic radiation' from the Big Bang is shown in yellow

In a black hole, the core contracts to form a singularity, with extreme density and gravitational attraction.

But, Neves argues that this singularity does not define a black hole  instead, the event horizon does, or the membrane which indicates the point of no return.

Outside the event horizon of a regular black hole, there are no major changes, but inside it, the changes are deep-seated, Neves says.

Theres a different spacetime that avoids the formation of a singularity.

Neves and supervisor lberto Vazques Saa, a Professor at IMECC-UNICAMP, devised a scale factor inspired by physicist James Bardeen, who considered the mass of a black hole not as a constant, but as something dependent on the distance to the center.

In a new study published to the journal General Relativity and Gravitation, Neves argues that there may be no need for the spacetime singularity  or, the Big Bang. The new argument is inspired by the behaviour of regular black holes. Artist's impression

This modified the solution to the general relativity equations on black holes, and gave rise to whats known as the regular black hole.

Regular black holes are permitted, since they dont violate general relativity, said Neves.

The concept isnt new and has frequently been revisited in recent decades.

The researchers used a similar approach to eliminate the singularity.

Neves says the hypothesis can be tested by looking for traces of the events in a contraction phase that may have remained in the ongoing expansion phase.

This could include remnants of black holes from a previous phase of universal contraction that may have survived the bounce.
She has fought off rumours of a split with boyfriend Stu Laundy for weeks.

But The Bachelorette star Sophie Monk nearly crumbled under pressure during a very awkward chat about her relationship on The Kyle & Jackie O Show.

The 37-year-old vehemently attempted to convince her friends Kyle Sandilands, Jackie 'O' Henderson and Guy Sebastian about the validity of their romance.

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Fighting back: Sophie Monk was in defense mode about her relationship with Stu Laundy on Monday, during an awkward chat with The Kyle & Jackie O Show

The reality star told Guy, who was briefly filling in as show host, she wouldn't be attending Tuesday night's ARIA Awards with Stu, taking her father Andrew instead.

'We are together, we're just not good at public PDA! He doesn't want to be famous,' she confessed.

'I don't think we can win at this point! You just have to live life and enjoy it,' she continued.

'We are together, we're just not good at public PDA! He doesn't want to be famous,' she confessed

'I don't think we can win at this point! You just have to live life and enjoy it,' she continued

Taking over the interview, Kyle then grilled Sophie on her relationship status with her chosen Bachelorette winner, asking where Stu was.

'He's in bed asleep,' she replied, after telling the hosts they were staying at a hotel.

'I want to hear his voice for proof!' Kyle prodded her.

'I'm not going to wake him up,' she defiantly answered. 'I can't be bothered anymore! Everyone can think what they want.'

'I think he's not there,' Kyle declared.

Controversy: Taking over the interview, Kyle then grilled Sophie on her relationship status with her chosen Bachelorette winner, asking where Stu was

'I'm not going to wake him up,' she defiantly answered. 'I can't be bothered anymore! Everyone can think what they want

'I swear I'll do an announcement when we break up, the second we do,' she replied, prompting Kyle to answer: 'You say that as if it's already predetermined!'

'Put the phone to Stu's ear, I want to talk to him!' he continued to prod.

'I'm 100 percent not doing that,' she defiantly stated, to which Kyle said: 'Because he's not there!'

Appearing to have a change of heart, Kyle then backtracked: 'Okay, I believe you. You're not a liar, that's one thing you're not.'

'She is not a liar!' added Guy, defending his longtime friend.
She's the matriarch of one of the world's most famous families.

And Terri Irwin's representatives have firmly denied a New Idea report alleging that she has 'stepped down as boss' at Australia Zoo in order to spend more time in the United States.

'It's just tabloid gossip', an Australia Zoo official told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.

'It's just tabloid gossip': Australia Zoo has strongly denied New Idea's story that Terri Irwin has 'stepped down as boss' at Australia Zoo in order to spend more time in the United States guiding her son Robert's career (the pair pictured together in Los Angeles this year)

According to publication, the 53-year-old was set to focus on Robert's burgeoning career in Hollywood, with a source allegedly stating: 'It's all anyone is talking about... Terri has given it all up and now Bindi is in charge'.

Another source reportedly told the publication: 'She's [Terri] really made it her new ambition- to be Robert's manager and make him a big star, even if it means her stepping away from Australia Zoo for a while'.

However, the wildlife park's rep strongly stated: 'There is no truth to this report'.

Rising star! 13-year-old Robert has become an in-demand media figure in America, with several star appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon over the past year

Epic appearance: The teen was asked to return as a guest on the program over Thanksgiving weekend, which is 'famously one of the highest rating shows of the year'

The sensational article comes after 13-year-old Robert has become an in-demand media figure in America, with several star appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon over the past year.

Amazingly, the teen was asked to return as a guest on the program over Thanksgiving weekend, which is 'famously one of the highest rating shows of the year'.

In the episode, which aired in the US on Saturday night, Robert stole the show bringing a large Burmese Python named Butterscotch out on set.

Surprise! Robert stole the show bringing a large Burmese Python named Butterscotch out on set

The reptile terrified host Jimmy, who stated: 'I'm thinking of just running away right now'.

Meanwhile, Terri was a no-show at the recent Steve Irwin Gala Dinner in Brisbane.

It's the first time she has missed the event since 2006, and it is unclear whether she was accompanying Robert to the US at the time.

However, his big sister Bindi was front and centre at the event, seeming more than comfortable being a family representative as she posed with beau Chandler Powell on the gala's red carpet.

Front and centre: Bindi seemed more than comfortable being a family representative as she posed with beau Chandler Powell at the Steve Irwin Gala Dinner in Brisbane last week
Uma Thurman is focused.

The 47-year-old actress was snapped headed to her Broadway play The Parisian Woman on Sunday, days after she boldly broke her silence on the sexual harassment and abuse accusations raised by 80 women against producer Harvey Weinstein.

The Boston-born beauty wore a black puffer coat over a green shirt with blue jeans and black loafers.

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On the move: Uma Thurman, 47, was snapped in NYC Sunday heading to her Broadway play, The Parisian Woman, days after her bold Instagram post aimed at Harvey Weinstein

The 5ft11 mother-of-three carried a patterned straw purse in one hand and a smartphone in the other, with her dark blonde locks slicked down as she embarked out into the Big Apple.

After staying relatively mum on the issue over the past two months, Thurman came out with guns blazing in a Thanksgiving day post in which she said, 'I said I was angry recently, and I have a few reasons, #metoo, in case you couldnt tell by the look on my face.'

After wishing her fans a happy holiday, she added, 'Except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators - Im glad its going slowly - you dont deserve a bullet.'

Weinstein's network of collaborators was detailed in a November 6 piece in the New Yorker from Ronan Farrow, revealing that the Oscar-winning producer had enlisted private investigators and tabloid journalists in his unsuccessful bid to suppress the forthcoming revelations and gain information against the accusers.

Center-of-attention: Uma looked deep in thought as her Thanksgiving message to Harvey Weinstein and his 'wicked conspirators' shook up Hollywood

In style: The fashionista kept warm in a black puffer jacket as she made her way out in Gotham

Gotham living: Uma was snapped getting out of a vehicle in NYC on Saturday

Uma's powerful social media message was well-received throughout Hollywood, with three of Weinstein's most-prominent accusers - Asia Argento, Rose McGowan and Gwyneth Paltrow - voicing their support for the Oscar-nominated actress.

Thurman, who's worked with Weinstein on high-profile films including Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2, spoke on the issue about a month after she gave a measured response to Access Hollywood when asked about the scandal.

In that chat, the Imposters actress said, 'I don't have a tidy soundbite for you, because I am not a child and I have learned that when I have spoken in anger, I usually regret the way I express myself - so I've been waiting to feel less angry, and when I'm ready, I'll say what I have to say.'

Assessing the situation: Thurman last month told Access Hollywood she was 'waiting to feel less angry' before speaking publicly on the Weinstein situation

Jaw-dropping: After waiting for her anger to subside, Uma joined the #metoo movement in her post Thursday
Their sterling performance in Billy Elliot propelled it to become one of Britain's best-loved films.

And Julie Walters, 67, and Jamie Bell, 31, couldn't have looked happier about reuniting once more for the Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool screening in London on Sunday.

The actress exuded joy as she posed alongside Jamie, a staggering 17 years after they starred in the BAFTA award-winning film.

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Time flies: Julie Walters and Jamie Bell looked happier than ever as they were reunited once more for the Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool screening in London on Sunday

Julie looked sleek head-to toe, as she rocked a rich black velvet suit to the film screening.

She paired the sleek ensemble with a chic white blouse with a lace trim and accessorized the look with pearl drop earrings.

The Harry Potter star accentuated her features with heavy eye make-up and a slick of soft pink lipstick.

Throwback: A young Jamie embraces Julie at the BAFTA Awards Ceremony in 2001 as they celebrate the youngster getting Best Actor in a Leading Role for his part in Billy Elliot

Reunited: Julie looked sleek head-to toe, as she rocked a rich black velvet suit to the film screening while Jamie looked dapper in a suede brown bomber jacket

Age-defying: The 67-year-old actress grinned from ear-to-ear as she showed off her smooth complexion

Meanwhile Jamie, 31, looked dapper in a suede brown bomber jacket and dark grey knit as he put his arm round the Educating Rita beauty.

Walters played Bell's dance teacher in the 2000 film, which followed a young Billy discovering his love of ballet.

The role bagged her an Oscar nomination, while a young Bell gained a BAFTA award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Stardom: Julie's role in Billy Elliot bagged her an Oscar nomination, while a young Bell gained a BAFTA award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

Nearly two decades later, the pair will star alongside one another once more in Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool.

The film tells the story of Hollywood actress Gloria Grahame finding love and the consequences when she is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Gloria, who died in October 1981 aged 57, featured roles in the British nation's Xmas classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Big Heat (1953) and Oklahoma! (1955).

Hollywood icon: Her appearance in the movie comes months after the actress celebrated her 67th birthday in February

Walters stars as Bella Turner, mum of Peter (Jamie Bell) whose former lover, Gloria (Annette Bening), arrives to stay in their family home in Liverpool.

Of Gloria, Julie told The Guardian: 'She was always this great sort of wild girl. When she went up and got her Oscar in the 1950s she just took it and said thank you and walked off.'

Her appearance in the movie comes months after the actress celebrated her 67th birthday in February.

Having a great time: Walters looked a picture in a chic white blouse as she posed with author Peter Turner at the screening at Empire Haymarket

17 years on: Walters stars as Bella Turner, mum of Peter (Jamie Bell) whose former lover, Glora (Annette Bening), arrives to stay in their family home in Liverpool

However, the Billy Elliot beauty declared she was ageing gracefully as she divulged she 'doesn't care' about her age.

She added: 'I tend to think, "Oh frig it! Who cares?" I remember reading in a magazine, you know, "You should never wear silver after 50".

'That makes me want to wear only silver until I am bloody 90, if I live that long.'
It has been reported that Ant McPartlin will not move back in with his wife Lisa Armstrong after he returns from I'm A Celebrity hosting duties.

The ITV host, 42, is currently making his TV comeback in the jungle Down Under following his summer stint in rehab for alcohol and painkiller addiction.

According to The Sun, the TV favourite is now deciding whether to spend Christmas alone in a rented apartment near their West London home or with his other half Lisa, 41, following his return from Oz next month.

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Frank: It has been reported that Ant McPartlin will not move back in with his wife Lisa Armstrong after he returns from I'm A Celebrity hosting duties (Pictured in 2007)

Fuelling speculation that his 11-year marriage over, Ant is said to be putting his energy into overcoming his demons and focusing on his recovery when he jets back to London.

A source told the publication: 'He and Lisa have not yet decided if they will spend Christmas together. Ant is focused on recovery and thinks it best he doesnt move home for a while.

'This has been a difficult time and, while both want to make things work, they are struggling to find a way to move forward together.

The insider added: 'Ants been bolstered by Im a Celebs viewing figures, which seem to show the public still support him. Lisa has been by herself, and having a good time with her pals has proved a good distraction.'

A rep for Ant McPartlin declined to comment to MailOnline.

Focus: The ITV host, 42, is currently making his TV comeback in the jungle Down Under following his summer stint in rehab for alcohol and painkiller addiction

Decisions: According to The Sun , the TV favourite is now deciding whether to spend Christmas alone in a rented apartment near their West London home or with his other half Lisa, 41, following his return from Oz next month (Pictured in 2014)

Last week Lisa finally broke her silence on reports of marital woes with Ant following his battles with addiction.

She took to Twitter to hit back at the long-running reports that the duo have separated, as she penned on the microblogging site: 'I'm not estranged thank you', adding that she hadn't been to Australia for 10 years so it wasn't a surprise that she hadn't joined Ant in the jungle.

Viewers were delighted when Ant made his much-anticipated return to TV screens on the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! launch last Sunday night.

And it has now been revealed that the TV presenter - who looked happy and healthy during the first episode alongside co-host Declan Donnelly in Australia- has lost 'up to a stone in weight' following his recent stint in rehab.

Reports: Fuelling speculation that his 11-year marriage over, Ant is said to be putting his energy into overcoming his demons and focusing on his recovery when he jets back to London (Pictured with pal Declan Donnelly and wife Ali Astall)

A source told The Mirror: 'The last couple of months have been about him getting back to the Ant people know and love, and he has been exercising the knee, eating more healthily and drinking a lot less.'

Speaking of the Ant - who checked into rehab in June to battle a two year battle to painkillers after a devastating knee injury and fertility issues - a source admitted: 'He put on some weight and looked tired and had bags under his eyes.'

But with a visibly slimmed down Ant appearing on ITV screens, it was divulged: 'The results of all that, and work in the gym, are there for all to see now. He has lost up to a stone in weight and looks better than he has for years.

It was also revealed that other than the grisly series ahead, it was his 'new look and physique' which was the 'talk of the crew over the weekend.'

Broken silence: Last week Lisa finally broke her silence on reports of marital woes with Ant following his battles with addiction. She took to Twitter to hit back at the long-running reports that the duo have separated, writing: 'I'm not estranged thank you' (Pictured in 2006)

Bouncing back: Viewers were delighted when Ant made his much-anticipated return to TV screens on the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! launch last Sunday night

And for Ant, his recent stint in rehab was addressed as Dec opened the show by playfully joking he was planning to replace Ant with Holly Willoughby - quipping: 'No one was sure if you would make it or not!'

Beaming widely for cameras and walking to their famous perch in the jungle for the first time this series, Ant proved he was back to his best - after a summer battling drink and drug addictions.

In the duo's usual witty style however, Dec immediately opened the show by joking about his friend's much-anticipated return.

Having fun: And for Ant, his recent stint in rehab was addressed as Dec opened the show by playfully joking he was planning to replace Ant with Holly Willoughby - quipping: 'No one was sure if you would make it or not!'

He said to viewers: 'I'm here with the gorgeous Holly Willoughby...' before adding in mock horror: 'Wait, no! Guys that's the wrong script! You've put the wrong script in!'

Turning to Ant, who was stood in mock outrage, Dec continued the joke by stating, in reference to his pal's rehab stint: 'No one was sure if you would make it or not!'

Confirming to fans he was better than ever however, the famous Geordie assured: 'I was always going to make it, come on.'

He then added excitedly: 'I'm back my friend!', before the pair sweetly hugged, to the applause of the production crew.
Blue Planet II (BBC1)

Rating:

Expedition Volcano (BBC2)

Rating:

The one problem with Blue Planet II (BBC1) is that we dont see enough of it.

The series stretches across seven hours  but that is selected from more than 6,000 hours of film, shot over four years.

Behind every astonishing sequence, there are equally amazing stories left untold.

Take those humpback whales at the end of the show, for instance, surging upwards through vast shoals of anchovies to swallow 250lb of fish in a bite.

A cape fur seal swimming in the kelp forests off the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa in BBC1's Blue Planet II, pictured

A shark, pictured, in BBC1's Blue Planet II where every segment in every episode deserves its place

Herds of sealions joined the feast, too, darting around the whales to snap up the ones that almost got away.

You might suppose the whales take a dim view of this. But far from it  they appear so fond of the cheeky sealions that they will fight to defend them.

Kathryn Jeffs, producer of this episode of Blue Planet II, told me in an interview last month that when killer whales come hunting for sealion blubber, the humpbacks form a protective circle, lashing out with their giant flukes to drive the predators away.

They get hugely excited, trumpeting like elephants through their blowholes.

Blue Planet II, pictured, is a series stretching across seven hours but that is selected from more than 6,000 hours of film, shot over four years

Sadly, we didnt get to see that. Nor did we spend long in Shark Bay off the western coast of Australia, where tiger sharks roam for a crunchy turtle snack.

The camera crew nearly didnt go: Its so remote, and the filming conditions are so changeable, Kathryn says, that we thought it might be too much of a gamble. But when we arrived, we were surrounded by animals and fish all the time. Theres nowhere on Earth that I can compare it to.

One short sequence appeared to be filmed with a camera attached to a tiger shark. It was eye- popping  and over too quickly, because the narrative switched to the South African coast and the bed-hopping antics of the zebra mantis shrimp.

Cuppa of the weekend Taking time out from testing self-driving vehicles, in Guy Martin vs The Robot Car (C4), our chirpy presenter programmed a computer called R2Tea2 to pour him a strong brew. Mines two sugars, please. Advertisement

This isnt a criticism. Every segment in the episode deserved its place.

The most charismatic creatures included an octopus who hid from sharks by armouring herself in shells, and a bright orange fish called a Garibaldi who had a prickly problem with some sea urchins.

Its just that every scene was over so fast. I could have spent a whole hour, for instance, watching the alien underwater ice-scapes that opened the programme. All frozen bubbles and scything chasms, they resembled computer-generated hallucinations.

The solution could be for the Beeb to release longer excerpts of unseen footage, perhaps running them on BBC4. Music and narration might not be needed: we could simply marvel at the colours and creatures.

The crew at the edge of the crater, pictured, in BBC2's Expedition Volcano following a six-hour climb to the volcano's rim

Remarkable sights were on display too in Expedition Volcano (BBC2), with a camera drone swooping low over the largest lava lake on earth. Churning and bubbling at 1,000C, it looked like an angry red jigsaw in a frying pan.

From the outset, this was an old-fashioned documentary about exploration, the sort of foray Jules Verne might have described in an adventure novel.

A team of scientists led a convoy of African porters on a six-hour climb to the volcanos rim, before pitching camp in the sulphurous mists.

Dr Xand van Tulleken didnt hang around, returning instead to the Congo town of Goma to find out how the people survive. Only the toughest characters have a hope in this city on the brink of hell: they dig latrines in solid rock, and carve wheels from wood with machetes.

Meanwhile, the other scientists were abseiling into the volcano.

The back-and-forth narrative was sometimes disjointed, but there was no doubting what a harsh place this was.
She split from her actor boyfriend Alexander Skarsgard in July after two years of dating.

But Alexa Chung appeared to have put the heartache behind her as she hung out with her model ex Matthew Hitt at a New York hotel on Sunday.

The model and designer, 34, looked giddy as she shared a laugh with the 30-year-old, who once dated Dakota Johnson for two years.

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Hanging out: Alexa Chung seemed to be in great spirits as she hung out with her model ex Matthew Hitt outside a New York hotel on Sunday

The couple, who first dated in 2014 three years after they first met, seemed to be in great spirits as they cosied up on a bench.

Alexa looked typically chic as she wrapped up in a leather shearling-trim aviator jacket and a grey hooded sweatshirt.

She completed the look with some blue skinny jeans and a stylish pair of leopard-print suede boots.

Meanwhile, Matthew mirrored her casual vibe in a black pea coat and skinny jeans as he caught up with his ex.

Loving life: The model and designer, 34, looked giddy as she shared a laugh with the 30-year-old, who once dated Dakota Johnson for two years

Having a whale of a time: The couple, who first dated in 2014, three years after they first met, seemed to be in great spirits as they cosied up on a bench

The handsome chap was previously in a romance with Dakota Johnson for two years, but they split in June 2016.

The former couple sat next to each other and laughed together with another pal by their side.

Looking at something amusing on Alexa's phone, they laughed as they puffed away on cigarettes.

Alexa was pictured hanging out with Matthew in February, March and August this year, suggesting they still maintain a close friendship.

Stylish: Alexa looked typically chic as she wrapped up in a leather shearling-trim aviator jacket and a grey hooded sweatshirt

Fashionista: She completed the look with some blue skinny jeans and a stylish pair of leopard-print suede boots

Meanwhile, Skarsgard, 40, was last year forced to deny that wedding bells were on the horizon during an appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live.

Replying to a caller who said she'd read reports of forthcoming nuptials, he replied: 'Wow, I hope I'm invited. Wow, thank you.'

'Are you getting married in the next year?' the host prodded. 'Not that I know of,' the actor replied.

Keeping it cool: Meanwhile, Matthew mirrored her casual vibe in a black pea coat and skinny jeans as he caught up with his ex

Holy smokes: Alexa took a deep drag of her cigarette during the fun-filled outing

'But if it's in a gossip magazine, I guess it's probably true, so I better get started.'

Alexa previously told Harper's Bazaar that she believes she is a 'nightmare' to date.

She said: 'I don't like being told what to do and I don't want to be penned in. I don't want to feel I have to be anywhere.

Relaxed: Looking at something amusing on Alexa's phone, they laughed as they puffed away on cigarettes

Pals: The former couple sat next to each other and laughed together with another pal by their side

I am quite restless. It makes me a nightmare to date, I think.'

Alexa has previously dated fashion photographer David Titlow and Arctic Monkeys star Alex Turner.

She and Alex were together for four years between 2007 until 2011. She had stressed following their split that the pair had remained 'best friends'.

Close: Alexa was pictured hanging out with Matthew in February, March and August this year, suggesting they still maintain a close friendship

It's over: She split from her actor boyfriend Alexander Skarsgard, 40, in July after two years of dating
He called time on his three-and-a-half year stint on popular Australian soap Home And Away on Thursday.

And Matt Little has conceded he may have just left his dream job, but said he isn't ready to settle down yet.

Speaking to New Idea, the 25-year-old said he wishes to explore other opportunities across the globe - including in Hollywood - before returning for good to what he calls 'paradise'.

'Curiosity is a devil': Former Home And Away star Matt Little admits he may have just left his dream job

'Maybe this (Home And Away) was my dream job, but curiosity is a devil and hindsight's the only true way of ever knowing,' he told the publication.

Matt's final episode on the show aired last Thursday, when his character VJ Patterson escaped Summer Bay with baby Luc, after it was revealed rapist Mick Jennings was the biological father.

The hunk said his plans for 2018 will include a job-hunting mission in Hollywood, which he sees as the next logical career step.

'I love Australia, but I'm not ready to settle down in paradise just yet,' Matt said.

'I want to go [to Hollywood] because that's the natural progression it seems. You want to grow and push yourself, and that happens by removing yourself from your comfort zones and opening yourself up to new opportunities.'

'That's the natural progression': Speaking to New Idea, the 25-year-old said he wishes to explore other opportunities across the globe - including in Hollywood - before returning for good to what he calls 'paradise'

Farewell: Matt's final episode on the show aired last Thursday, when his character VJ Patterson (pictured) escaped Summer Bay with baby Luc, after it was revealed rapist Mick Jennings was the biological father

'I'm not ready to settle down': The hunk said his plans for 2018 will include a job-hunting mission in Hollywood, which he sees as the next logical career step

Several of Matt's Home And Away co-stars took to Instagram on Friday to share sentimental farewell posts.

Co-star and on-screen mother Ada Nicodemou shared an adorable selfie of the pair, captioning the image: 'I miss u (sic) so much and work just isnt the same without my little big boy there.'

Meanwhile, Matt mirrored Ada's post by sharing a picture of the pair embracing on set.

'One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was let go of this moment and walk off set knowing I wouldn't be coming back Monday,' he wrote.

'I miss u (sic) so much': Co-star and on-screen mother Ada Nicodemou shared an adorable selfie with Matt on Friday
She split from Hayden Christensen, her partner of ten years, in September.

And Rachel Bilson, 36, enjoyed the emotional support of family on Sunday as the Hart Of Dixie star strolled around the Studio City Farmer's Market in Los Angeles with her mom Janice and three-year-old daughter Briar Rose.

The O.C. starlet wore a full length floral dress for the outing, while her daughter's flower print pants matched Mom's threads.

Sunday funday: Rachel Bilson, 36, enjoyed the emotional support of family on Sunday as the Hart Of Dixie star strolled around the Studio City Farmer's Market

Under the flowing dress the Jumper actress wore a pair of white sneakers and walked with a red backpack slung over her shoulder.

The 36-year-old covered her eyes with oversized shades and her brunette tresses were held back in a low, loose bun.

The proud mom was all smiles as she watched her adorable daughter ride on a pony in her floral pants and white top with lace edging.

We are family: Bilson was joined by her Mom Janice and three-year-old daughter Briar Rose for the outing

Flower child! The O.C. starlet wore a full length floral dress for the outing, while her daughter's flower print pants matched Mom's threads

Rachel is clearly focusing on moving forward following the end of her 10-year relationship with Hayden.

The couple split up two months ago but have remained on friendly terms and continue to co-parent their only child.

The pair met on the set of the 2008 film Jumper and began dating after Bilson's relationship with The O.C. costar Adam Brody ended.
She's come down hard on soon-to-be sentenced Arthur Collins about visitation from his daughter Sunday.

But Ferne McCann looked fine flying solo this week, when she was seen strolling with her newborn in Essex.

Accompanied by her close friend - and former TOWIE co-star - Danielle Armstrong, the 27-year-old seemed to be taking single motherhood in her stride.

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Brave face: Ferne McCann looked positively giddy as she headed out for a stroll with her new baby earlier this week

She glowed with a broad smile on her face, amid the suggestion she's spent six months 'putting on a brave face' for others.

This time though, her friend Danielle seemed like the reason behind Ferne's cheesey grin because the duo couldn't stop giggling.

A second friend even carried flowers for the new mum, who pushed the pram with a relaxed air about her.

Head held high: Hanging out with her friend Danielle Armstrong, the beauty looked happy and relaxed

Glowing new mum: The beauty looked particularly chic in a light jumper and flares

Relaxed: She took new motherhood in her stride, walking along with the pram like a pro

Concealing her post-baby frame, the television presenter opted for an oversized jumper and flared jeans, which she paired with chic sunglasses.

Danielle was equally well-dressed in heels, a tightly-fitting knit and a stylish white fedora hat.

Ferne has rarely been seen out with her daughter Sunday since the birth three weeks ago.

A statement from her representatives acknowledged that Ferne had accepted she would be parenting alone.

High praise: On Instagram on Sunday, Ferne received high praise for her gorgeous post-baby figure

Never again: Ferne is said to have told her ex-boyfriend Arthur Collins (left) that he will never see their daughter again, as he faces sentencing

'Having given birth days ago, Ferne is focusing on being the best mother she can be,' the statement said.

'She long ago accepted that she would be doing this alone and is determined to provide the best possible future for her daughter.'

Her ex-boyfriend Arthur was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm on November 13, as part of an acid attack that took place at Mangle nightclub in April.

Having a laugh: She looked like she was having a wonderful time in good company

For someone special: Her friend carried some flowers, believed to be for the TV star

Happy Sunday: Ferne has named her new baby Sunday

He has been warned he could face life behind bars when he is sentenced on December 19.

Ferne is understood to have told the father of her newborn daughter that she won't ever see him again after visiting him in prison.

Ferne told Arthur: 'This is the last time you will see either of us' as she held their daughter, Sunday, during a visit to Category A Belmarsh prison in southLondon.

During the visit, the This Morning host told him: 'You have ruined our lives. This is what you have done. And this is what you are missing out on.'

Taking it in her stride: The new mum was glowing and happy to be with her friends

No access? It's been claimed that Ferne has told her ex Arthur Collins he will have no access to the baby

Single mum: She looks happy and coping well with life as a single mother

Speaking about the dramatic visit, she told Sunday People: 'I went to see Arthur and I took Sunday with me. This was because I am very angry about what has happened and I needed to communicate that and wanted to hear what Arthur had to say.

'I strongly feel for the innocent people hurt that night and I in no way condone violence as I have already made clear. It was a difficult decision to take Sunday into that environment but I felt I needed to confront him about a number of things, which I have now done.'

Friends have said Ms McCann was 'in bits' over the attack and has been attempting to come to terms with what Collins has done while raising their daughter.

Time with friends: Fellow TOWIE star Danielle certainly seemed to bring some joy into Ferne's life

Showing her some love: Danielle showed her giddy side as she smiled at the baby

Winter outing: It was an adorable outing for the threesome and the newborn

Surrounded by good people: Danielle has always acted as a good support to Ferne

Sharing a smile: They were seen heading out for lunch in Essex

Going it alone: Ferne's ex Arthur was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm on November 13

A source previously told MailOnline: 'She is having a really tough time. She is putting on a brave face to the world but behind the scenes, her family are really worried about her.

'This is her maternity leave. She's really emotional and can't believe what has happened. She never thought in a million years he would do this.

'She's in bits. She's just doing the best she can but is absolutely devastated.'

McCann and Collins had a year-long on-off romance before he went on the run over the attack and was arrested by police.

She posted pictures on Instagram of them on holiday in Dubai before the incident and told OK magazine that they were planning to move in together.

Ferne, 27, told ex Arthur Collins, 'This is the last time you will see either of us' as she held their daughter, Sunday, during a visit to Category A Belmarsh prison in south London

Collins was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm on November 13. He is pictured (right) as he left the nightclub after the attack

On her favourite day of the week, Sunday, Ferne shared a new picture of herself to Instagram, this weekend and won yet more praise from fans.

Showing off her svelte figure, the brunette received many compliments about her remarkable post-baby body.

'How are u so slim so quick ?? You look amazing girl,' said one fan, while another wrote: 'Looking good after having the baby @fernemccann'

High praise: The brunette won high praise from her fans for a new picture she posted on Sunday

'Fair play you look amazing ' said another with one other saying 'Omg you look stunning babe x'

'Absolutely snapped right back into shape' commented one other user and another agreed saying: 'You'd never know she'd just given birth, looking swell there Ferns.'

Another added: 'You sure you've had a baby. Looking fab'

While one enthusiastic fan said: 'F***ing hell wheres ur wobbly bits lol looking F***ing immaculate well done Fern'

The doting mother told the Sunday People: 'I went to see Arthur and I took Sunday with me. This was because I am very angry about what has happened and I needed to communicate that and wanted to hear what Arthur had to say'
She gave birth to her second child, daughter Rosie May Dee, nine weeks ago.

And earlier this month, Megan Gale cradled her precious offspring as she landed in Fiji with her fiance Shaun Hampson.

The 42-year-old model looked radiant in an abstract wrap dress and stylish fedora as she doted over the newborn.

Precious cargo! Megan Gale cradles her nine-week-old daughter Rosie May Dee as she lands in Fiji with fiance Shaun Hampson and their toddler son River

Megan cut an effortlessly chic figure in the floral wrap dress with a plunging neckline.

The television personality ensured she was comfortable on her feet, opting for a pair of black elasticised slip-on shoes.

Slinging a baby carrier over one shoulder, Megan accessorised with a black and white fedora and her sparkling engagement ring.

Too cute: The model cradled her precious daughter as she engaged in friendly conversation with an airport staff member

Effortlessly chic: Megan sported a floral wrap dress with a plunging neckline and ensured she was comfortable on her feet by opting for black elasticised slip-on shoes

Stylish mama: The television personality accessorised with a stylish fedora and allowed her brunette locks to fall effortlessly in relaxed waves

The Melbourne-based star's brunette locks fell in relaxed waves and her visage appeared makeup-free.

A doting mother, Megan cradled her precious daughter, who looked cute as a button in a white onesie and tiny mittens.

The brand ambassador engaged in friendly conversation with an airport staff member.

Family vacation: Megan and her brood were later pictured strolling the streets, with the doting mother cradling her precious daughter

Island attire: The brunette opted for a grey dress shirt tucked into a pair of white linen shorts

Off they go: Fiance Shaun followed closely behind, holding hands with the couple's three-year-old son, River Alan Thomas

Megan, along with fiance Shaun, Rosie, and their three-year-old son River Alan Thomas, were later pictured taking in the sights of Fiji.

The hands-on-mother sported a grey button-up shirt tucked into a pair of white linen shorts.

Megan's locks were swept underneath the same stylish fedora and a pair of designer sunglasses concealed her gaze.

Equipped: Megan slung a baby carrier over one shoulder and held onto her daughter's white blankie

Adorable: Little Rosie looked cute as a button in a white onesie and tiny gloves

Prepared: The family were spotted with several suitcases as well as hand luggage

Shaun, 29, also dressed casually in a white dress shirt left undone, black shorts and thongs.

The footy star accessorised with a brown round-rimmed hat and designer shades while a medium-sized brown satchel carried the family's belongings.

Little River was close by, looking cute in a green polo shirt, abstract shorts, Crocs and a navy round-rimmed hat.

Relaxed: Footy star Shaun dressed casually in a white dress shirt left undone, black shorts and thongs

Toddler style: Little River looked cute in a green polo shirt, abstract shorts, Crocs and a navy round-rimmed hat

The family strolled the island before enjoying a boat ride.

Since the birth of Megan and Shaun's daughter Rosie May Dee, the couple have often taken to Instagram, sharing sentimental posts.

Earlier this month, Megan paid a heartfelt tribute to her newborn daughter.

Hands-on mother: The family later enjoyed a boat ride, with Megan doting over her newborn

Priorities: Megan was also pictured close by to her son

She wrote: 'Baby girl you are such a special little soul already teaching us so much and providing so much joy. We're getting our first smiles from you too and they are just SO precious!

'It's been an action packed 6 weeks and boy life has become a helluva lot busier but life has also become so much better and fulfilling since you arrived.

'Loving you more and more with every passing day my girl,' Megan went on to say.
She's the two-time Oscar winner known as much for her unique sense of style as she is her supreme talent.

And it appears that Cate Blanchett, 48, has become an unlikely fashion muse for a much younger pop star.

Harry Styles has been seen donning a number of ensembles almost identical to the ones worn by the actress, leading fans to wonder whether he is in fact a copy-Cate.

He's literally following suit! It appears Cate Blanchett, 48, has become an unlikely fashion muse for Harry Styles, 23, with the pop star seen donning a dozen outfits almost identical to those worn by the actress

The 23-year-old stars' strikingly similar ensembles was noted by Ellen Degeneres as she sat down for a chat with the Blue Jasmine star on her popular chat show last month.

The comedienne brought up a number of split screen photos showing Cate and Harry dressed in similar garb as the audience howled with laughter.

The Australian beauty remarked: 'This is so random... he would look great in nude and red.'

Copy-Cate? Cate and Harry also take their cues from the swinging sixties with both posessing a penchant for leopard print, velvet and leather

Look-a-likes! The mother-of-four's look is often androgynous and a little rock n' roll, both terms that have been used to describe the One Direction star's style

She then quipped: 'He would look good nude.'

The pair share a passion for bright and unusual fashion, having both been seen in eye-catching pink pantsuits.

Cate was seen rocking a fuchsia number as she arrived for Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2015, while Harry literally followed suit by wearing a similar outfit earlier this year.

Is she his Styles icon? The pair share a passion for bright and unusual fashion

Suits you! Both the actress and the pop-star loved a good power blazer

Both Cate and Harry also take their cues from the swinging sixties, with both posessing a penchant for leopard print, velvet and leather.

The mother-of-four's look is often androgynous and a little rock n' roll, both terms that have been used to describe the One Direction star's style.

The Elizabeth actress has also previously been seen pounding the pavement in a pair of black ankle boots, which are a staple in Harry's wardrobe.

Who's copying who: could it be that blonde beauty Cate is taking her tips from Harry and not the other way around?

Suspicious: Harry was seen in London back in May donning a distinctive pair of mustard coloured pants, while Cate opted for suspiciously similar hue just months later

However, could it be that blonde beauty Cate is taking her tips from Harry and not the other way around?

The Brit rocked an all-black look at the premiere of his movie Dunkirk in July, before the Aussie actress was sporting a similar outfit at Paris Fashion Week just three months later.

And Harry was seen in London back in May donning a distinctive pair of mustard coloured pants, while Cate opted for suspiciously similar hue to glide down the red carpet at the premiere of Thor: Ragnarok last month.
It was an occasion where some of the world's most beautiful women were battling it out.

But Ashley Graham managed to leave the contestants in the shade as she showcased her substantial curves on the Miss Universe red carpet in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The 30-year-old took great pleasure in flaunting her physique in a figure-hugging gown at the Planet Hollywood casino, which hosted the 55th addition of the pageant and also saw Fergie attend.

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Pageant ready: Ashley Graham and Fergie left the Miss Universe contestants in the shade with their incredible ensembles on Sunday

The brunette bombshell looked in fine form as she sashayed down the red carpet in a tight-fitting white number, before changing into a wine-coloured outfit for her presenting spot.

More than 90 women from around the world vied for the Miss Universe title, when the decades-old pageant returned to Las Vegas after last year being held in the Phillipines.

The winner would receive the ultimate glory, going home with a year-long salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and a slew of other prizes.

Grammy-Award winner Fergie put on a leggy display in a stylish metallic minidress as she took to the stage to perform during the telecast.

Curve appeal: Ashley flaunted her incredible curves in a clinging white lace number as she walked the red carpet in Las Vegas

Brushing up: Ashley was spotted learning her lines just moments before going on camera, changing in a gorgeous red wine dress to host the telecast

Making it look easy: Ashley grinned like a pro as she conducted an interview

Radiant: Ashley was a vision of beauty as she hosted the show on the evening

In addition to the Black Eyed Peas star, Fight Song star Rachel Platten, was also doing a turn on the stage in sensational style.

The 92 women include representatives from Iraq, Austria and Venezuela. The U.S. is being represented by Washington D.C.'s Kara McCullough, a 26-year-old scientist working for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Steve Harvey will return as the show's host despite his now infamous blunder during the 2015 Miss Universe crowning.

He was hosting the show when he mistakenly named Colombia's Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo the winner before correcting himself on the stage, but not before the seeming winner had wept tears of joy before having the title cruelly snatched away.

In a reflective mood: She shared a snap of herself drawing on a mirror ahead of getting ready for the show

Legs for days: Singer Fergie rocked a sensational metallic number for the showcase, which the star also rocked during a performance

Natural beauty: The Black Eyed Peas star looked sensational as she rocked a bronzed smoky eye

Singer Fergie put on a leggy display in a stylish metallic mini dress as she performed at the pageant, giving viewers a showcase of her new single A Little Work.

The mother-of-one styled her ice blonde locks into a poker straight 'lob' (long bob) and rocked classic bronzed eye shadow.

Fergie certainly got the party going as she belted out the track, performing as the top 10 pageant finalists walked onto the stage.

Showstopper: Fergie rocked the stage with a performance of A Little Work, the latest single from her album Double Dutchess

Sensational: Fergie rocked stylish strappy black heels with the look, and had her ice blonde locks styled into a chic 'lob' (long bob)

Top girls: As Fergie performed, the Top 10 finalists from the pageant entered the stage, on a mission to prove they were the best of the best

Glamour girl: The mother-of-one has been showcasing her newest music, after announcing her separation from husband Josh Duhamel in September

Well loved: The star certainly seemed to have a following in the crowd, as she attempted to high-five some of the spectators

Glamorous gown: Fight Song star Rachel Platten was also seen embracing her inner princess in a sensational pearl grey gown

Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines was then given the crown. Officials later said it was due to human error. The talk show host said he had re-read the card and noticed it said 'first runner-up' next to the Colombia contestant's name before clarifying with producers his mistake.

This year's judges included such luminaries as YouTube personality Lele Pons, former America's Next Top Model judge Jay Manuel and Wendy Fitzwilliam, the 1998 Miss Universe winner from Trinidad and Tobago.

Miss Universe champion Iris Mittenaere from France crowned her successor, South African beauty Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, after wowing on the red carpet in a showstopping yellow satin gown.

And the 24-year-old certainly proved she can showcase brains as well as beauty, as she is currently in her fifth year of a dental surgery fellowship.

Phwoar: Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere was looking as fabulous as ever at the event, with French beauty donning a stunning yellow satin gown

New star: South African beauty Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned the new champion on Sunday, only the second star to win from that country

Practice makes perfect: Host Steve Harvey managed to name the correct winner after blundering in 2015

Red carpet royalty: Beauty queens Miss USA 2014 Nia Sanchez, Miss USA 2015, Olivia Jordan, and Miss Universe 2015 and pageant judge Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach

He can't believe his luck: Macho pageant judge Carson Kressley cuddled up to coach Lu Sierra

Rogues gallery: Farouk Shami, Pia, judges Lele Pons and Ross Mathews, Wendy Fitzwilliam, Megan Olivi, and make-up artist Jay Manuel
They've had a busy last few months, after welcoming the birth of a new child and reportedly moving into a new home.

And Megan Gale treated herself to a well-earned break in Fiji this month, during a family holiday with her AFL star fiance Shaun Hampson and their two children.

The 42-year-old model cradled the couple's nine-week-old daughter Rosie May Dee while boarding a private boat on Denarau Island.

Holiday mode: Megan Gale treated herself to a well-earned break in Fiji this month, during a family holiday with her AFL star fiance Shaun Hampson and their two children

Sporting a grey cotton shirt and loose-fitting white shorts, the exotic beauty, who is of Maori and English descent, showcased her trim post-baby body.

She paired the casual look with a protective hat, designer shades and comfortable espadrilles.

The doting mother was joined by her 29-year-old fiance Shaun, who also dressed for comfort in navy shorts and a white shirt.

Family affair: The 42-year-old model cradled the couple's nine-week-old daughter Rosie May Dee while boarding a private boat on Denarau Island

Too cute: As the couple discussed the logisitics of their trip, their three-year-old son River Alan could be seen playing nearby

Post-baby body: The model showcased her trim physique nine months after the birth of her second child

The couple's three-year-old son River Alan was dressed in an adorable green and blue ensemble as he took in the sights and sounds of the idyllic holiday spot.

Proving to be quite the multitasking mum, Megan juggled her sleepy newborn in one hand and her luggage in the other as they made their way to a waiting boat.

Richmond player Shaun similarly clutched his little man's hand while hauling the family's luggage around before they departed on the boat.

Doting mum: Proving to be quite the multitasking mum, Megan juggled her sleepy newborn in one hand and her luggage in the other as they made their way to a waiting boat

Life's a beach! The family boarded a private boat that was waiting on a picturesque beach

Earlier this month it was reported by The Daily Telegraph that Megan and Shaun would be moving their expanding brood to the leafy Melbourne suburb of Malvern East.

The pair are said to be renting a 1890s heritage property for $1400 a week.

Also this month, Australia's Next Top Model judge Megan posted a heartfelt tribute to her newborn daughter and said having another child has given her a greater life purpose.

Adorable: Little Rosie was dressed in an adorable onesie and warm mittens

And they're off! The family made their way to an unknown location

'Baby girl you are such a special little soul already teaching us so much and providing so much joy,' she captioned.

'We're getting our first smiles from you too and they are just SO precious!

She added: 'It's been an action packed 6 weeks and boy life has become a helluva lot busier but life has also become so much better and fulfilling since you arrived.'

Heartfelt tribute: Also this month, Australia's Next Top Model judge Megan posted a heartfelt tribute to her newborn daughter and said having another child has given her a greater life purpose

Inspiring: Last month, the exotic beauty, whose father is English and mother is part Maori, shared a very intimate photo, in which she could be seen breastfeeding her newborn

Glam! Megan looked fresh-faced and radiant in this breastfeeding hospital snap, shortly after giving birth to baby Rosie

Last month, the exotic beauty shared very intimate breastfeeding photos.

The Mad Max star is the latest celebrity to attempt to break public breastfeeding taboos.

In 2015, model Erin McNaught was applauded for posting a photo nursing her then three-month-old son Evander.

Free-spirited Actress Teresa Palmer has shared intimate breastfeeding snaps on more than one occasion.

Last year, Perth mummy blogger Constance Hall shared a controversial photo nursing twins and she said the unglamorous snap depicted what it's really like to breastfeed.
Kim Zolciak Biermann lunged at Kenya Moore during an explosive row on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta.

The 39-year-old reality star made an unexpected appearance at NeNe Leaks' party, and immediately berated Kenya for having an 'imaginary' husband.

'He don't existit's all a f***ing lie, b****,' giggled Kim, as Kenya, 46, scowled.

Unexpected appearance: Kim Zolciak made an unexpected appearance at a party during Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta and badgered Kenya Moore

'Don't poke the bear, unless you want to get bit,' frowned Cynthia Bailey.

'Shut the f*** up,' Kenya finally barked at Kim after enduring several insults.

Kenya then delivered a below the belt attack.

'Why do you have such a hard on for me? Didn't they cut it off during your reassignment surgery?'

Low blow: Kenya retaliated by suggesting Kim had gender reassignment surgery

Bear poking: Cynthia Bailey warned that Kim shouldn't poke the bear by needling Kenya

'Worry about your botched surgery, don't worry about me,' snapped Kenya.

'Worry about your life and your daughter, who you pimp out for John Legend tickets,' Kenya yelled.

'She'll suck for John legend tickets b****!' Kenya added as Kim leaped to her feet to attack her.

Ugly argument: Kenya brought Kim's daughter Brielle into their argument prompting the mother of six to lunge at her

Episode cliffhanger: The episode ended with Kim attacking Kenya during the party

Before the soiree Sheree Whitfield had met with Kim and her husband Kroy.

Sheree decided to invite Kim to NeNe's party without telling the host.

'You're my ex-gay friend, so we're going to do it,' laughed Sheree, referencing Kim's reported bisexuality.

Plus one: Sheree Whitfield decided to bring Kim as her guest to the party

Ex-gay friend: Kim was invited as Sheree's 'ex-gay friend'

Kim criticized NeNe for parking in a 'handicapped' space outside Sachs, and anticipated that she might 'slam the door' when they arrived.

Sheree and Kim also speculated about Kenya's marriage and her prospects for having a baby.

'I heard she married a f***ing fanI just hope she's not going to use a 46-year-old egg,' laughed Kim.

Marriage gossip: Sheree and Kim gossiped before the party about Kenya's husband

'No one has met her husband,' shrugged Sheree.

The episode titled All White Never Forget Showdown opened with NeNe caring for her husband Gregg who had been suffering from heart trouble.

'My dad died from that issue, I don't want it,' said Gregg.

Heart trouble: Gregg was back at home with wife NeNe Leakes after a health scare

'You could be the reason for all this, you're younger than me you could have just wore me out,' he joked.

Sheree met with Jack Daniels, her 'Life Coach'.

'I'm scared, I think I should have just cracked a bottle of Jack Daniels,' she quipped.

Life coach: Sheree continued seeing her life coach Jack Daniels

Sheree admitted that she felt 'ashamed' and 'almost a failure' about abuse in her past relationship.

Meanwhile, Kandi Burruss was headed to New York for a cover shoot for Essence magazine's 'Confidence Issue'.

'Only the A-List of the African-American community make it to the cover of that magazine,' beamed the 41-year-old businesswoman.

Cover girl: Kandi Burruss was excited about appearing on the cover of Essence magazine

Once in the Big Apple, Kandi was done up by a glam squad.

'On the inside I'm doing cartwheels,' she smiled.

Porsha met with her cousin Tiffany and sister Lauren with whom she'd been feuding.

Glam squad: The 41-year-old reality star was done up by a glam squad for her shoot

Cover shoot: Kandi struck several poses for her cover shoot

Shout out: Todd shouted out proudly about his wife being the star

'I feel like she looks at me like a baby,' said Lauren, who is 30.

'I love you,' consoled Porsha as Lauren sobbed.

'You don't have to wear the weave no more if you don't want to,' she added as Lauren giggled.

Candid conversation: Porsha Williams met up with her sister Lauren after a nasty argument

Getting emotional: Lauren burst into tears as she confided her fears to her sister

Tender moment: Porsha hugged her sobbing sister and promised she would look after her

NeNe then planned her All White, Girls And Gays party with the theme of Never Forget at her mansion.

'Porsha [Williams] is not invited,' said NeNe decisively.

Porsha previously tried to organize a conciliatory chat with NeNe.

Not invited: NeNe declared that Porsha was not invited to her party

'She needs to fix her lying tongue first,' snapped NeNe.

'She threw Phaedra out of the bus and jumped out of the damn bus to save her own a**,' raged NeNe.

'Porsha is on my ''don't give a f*** list'' right now,' she continued.

Party host: The reality star was hosting the party to help get her mind off Gregg's health problems

Defiant Porsha, 36, claimed she didn't want to attend anyway.

'I would rather pluck each one of my toenails out, put them in a glass of Hennessy and take them as a shot,' she announced.

NeNe hired a team of shirtless men in bow ties to spice things up at her party.

Shirtless servers: NeNe hired shirtless servers for the party

'This is my kind of party,' remarked Cynthia.

In a display of reconciliation Kenya and Sheree went to a spin class.

'I am definitely more of a fitness girl,' said Sheree, while Kenya was convinced that she was 'in better shape'.

Spin class: Sheree and Kenya in a display of reconciliation went to a spin class together

'The proof is in the pudding and there's a lot of pudding over there,' she laughed.

They decided to team up to work on a PSA about domestic violence.

'We're both survivors of domestic violence and I think together, with us sharing our stories, we could make a dynamic team,' said Kenya.

Teaming up: Kenya invited Sheree to join her in a PSA about domestic violence

On a lighter note, Cynthia met her 'date' Will for some ice cream.

'I think he realizes that I like him at this point,' she smiled.

'I don't know why I'm so nervous around you,' she told him.

The RHOA continues next week on Bravo.

Dating scene: Will and Cynthia went out on another date
Daryl Dixon and Carl Grimes took matters into their own hands durings Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead.

The biker warrior [Norman Reedus] fought with Rick at the end of last week's episode and the scrap seemed to have emboldened him to defy his friend.

On a rogue mission Daryl took Michonne, Tara and Rosita to The Saviors compound, which was surrounded by Walkers.

Going rogue: Daryl Dixon decided to go rogue during Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead

'So what do you need us for?' asked Rosita.

'To end this thing, right now,' he told her as the credits rolled on the episode tiled The King, The Widow And Rick.

The show opened with an exchange of letters between the allied forces who planned to destroy The Sanctuary.

Rick [Andrew Lincoln] told his followers: 'We're winningthis can be our last fight'.

Defying dad: Carl Grimes also defied his father Rick during the episode titled The King, The Widow And Rick

Meanwhile Jesus [Tom Payne] delivered turnips to the captive Saviors.

Maggie [Lauren Cohan] scolded him for wasting their food.

Double crossing Gregory wanted to kill the hostages, saying: 'Build the gallows already'.

Prison camp: Jesus brought captive Saviors to the Hilltop and new de facto leader Maggie

'We have to end this, and Negan,' said Maggie.

Gregory [Xander Berkeley] tried to convince Maggie to slaughter the hostages.

'You can't have wolves wondering around amongst the sheep,' he advised.

Hostage slaughter: Gregory advised Maggie to slaughter the hostages

Maggie decided to bring the prisoners inside, feed them and 'not mistreat them' until they could be of use as 'bargaining chips'.

'I know all about sheep and wolves,' Maggie told Gregory, as he was beaten and dragged to the pen by her followers.

'He's sucking up to the Saviors now,' noted Jesus.

In custody: Maggie decided to make Gregory one of the prisoners

Prison group: Jesus brought a large group of prisoners to the Hilltop

Cut to Jadis [Pollyanna McIntosh] the leader of The Scavengers, who was making a sculpture while wearing nothing but an apron.

Rick entered and tried to cut a deal with her.

'We need you, and you need us,' he told Jadis.

Sculpture art: Jadis wore little clothing while sculpting

No deal: Rick made an offer that Jadis refused

'Or, we destroy you,' Rick warned them.

She turned him down without hesitation.

'He talks too much,' she complained as her henchmen dragged Rick away.

Turned down: Jadis quickly turned Rick down and had him dragged away

They locked him in a dark crate marked with an 'A', which is where he remained until the end of the show.

Meanwhile, Rosita [Christian Serratos] jumped in the car with Michonne [Danai Gurira] to visit the action at The Sanctuary.

'I just need to see it, turn the alarm off in my head, turn around and go back home,' explained Michonne.

Secret mission: Michonne and Rosita went on their own mission

En route, they heard some music and stopped the car to investigate.

They encountered two Scavengers who were planning their battle on Negan's side.

'Rick the prick or whoever he is, he don't know s*** about The Fat Lady Here,' said the female Scavenger.

Secret weapon: A Saviors follower referenced a secret weapon

They were rumbled, and a fight ensued.

Rosita blew up the male Negan-lover but the female escaped in her van - until Daryl mowed her down in a huge truck.

'That was too close,' said Rosita.

Nice shot: Rosita opened fire and killed a man with a rocket

Perfect timing: Daryl crashed into the woman who tried to escape

In the woods Carl approached loner man Saddiq [Avi Nash] and offered him food and water.

'My mom told me that you have to do what's right,' said Carl [Chandler Riggs].

Siddiq admitted to killing 237 Walkers to 'free their souls' on his mother's wishes.

Loner man: Saddiq was approached by Carl in the woods

The pair got attacked by the undead, but managed to slay them all.

Carl decided to go against his father's wishes and take Siddiq into the fold.

'Sometimes kids have to go their own way,' he decided.

Zombie attack: Walkers attacked Saddiq and Carl

Walking dead: The zombies nearly overpowered Carl

Close call" A walker was on top of Carl but Saddiq rescued him

Bereaved Tara [Alanna Masterson] was on a revenge mission to slaughter Dwight [Austin Amelio].

'When this is over I'm going to kill him, I want it to be me,' she told Daryl.

'Maybe it could be you and me both,' he replied, while adding they might not have to wait.

Revenge mission: Tara was on a revenge mission to kill Dwight

Meanwhile Carol was back with Henry, Jerry and the sparse survivors of King Ezekiel's subjects.

She spoke with the king [Khary Payton] who was depressed and reclusive.

'People out there need you,' she told him.

Pep talk: Carol tried to get King Ezekiel to lead his people

'Who the hell was I to choose for them because I said I was a king, I played a part,' he lamented.

'I knew and yet I smiledI can't be what they need, so please just leave me alone,' he moaned.

Ezekiel told Carol he'd always visited her when she was being a hermit because she made him feel 'real'.

Reluctant king: Ezekiel was not yet ready to resume command

'Not a fiction, real,' he sighed.

'You are real, to me, to The Kingdom, the people need their king to lead them,' she protested.

'If you can't be the king, play the part,' she advised, as he hung his head in shame.

Grieving Aaron [Ross Marquand] then teamed up with Enid [Katelyn Nacon] for another off-piste mission that was yet to be explained.

The Walking Dead continues next week on AMC.
She announced her engagement to Tyson Mullane earlier this month.

And Pia Miller hasn't been shy to flaunt her stunning, custom-made ring on social media.

The 34-year-old flashed her pearly whites and smiled broadly on her fiance's Instagram live stories on Monday as she showed off her sizable bling.

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Beaming: Pia Miller hasn't been shy to flaunt her stunning, custom-made ring on social media

With dramatic music scoring the footage, the Chilean-born beauty was beaming as her beau zoomed in on the rock.

Daily Mail Australia previously spoke with Sydney jeweler Bensimon about the dazzling ring's intricate details.

'The custom-made ring features a solitaire round, brilliant diamond cut in 18 carat gold with diamond shoulders,' Ron Bensimon relayed.

'The custom-made ring features a solitaire round, brilliant diamond cut in 18 carat gold with diamond shoulders,' jeweler Ron Bensimon relayed

Lovebirds: She announced her engagement to Tyson Mullane earlier this month

Taking to Instagram weeks ago, the former Home and Away actress shared snaps of the emotional moment Tyson proposed.

'In a hundred lifetimes, In a hundred worlds, In any version of reality - Id find you & Id choose you. Yes today Yes always,' she wrote in the touching caption.

It was a moment the pair will remember for the rest of their lives, putting a stunning punctuation mark on the whirlwind relationship that was confirmed last year.

'In a hundred lifetimes, In a hundred worlds, In any version of reality - Id find you & Id choose you. Yes today Yes always,' she wrote in the touching caption

The mother-of-two revealed she was seeing a new man shortly after she was spotted holding hands with Tyson at a Sydney beach on Valentine's Day.

Pia had announced her separation from AFL star Brad Miller - after 10 years - the October prior.

The actress shares son, Lennox, 10, with Brad, and Isaiah Loyola, 14, from a previous relationship.
She split from The Bachelor's Blake Garvey last year after 18 months together.

But Louise Pillidge looks to be giving love another chance if her latest Instagram snap on Sunday is anything to go by.

The 29-year-old shared a cryptic post of two alcoholic beverages on a bar, alongside a love heart emoji.

Giving love another chance? Louise Pillidge, 29, hinted to Instagram over the weeken that she's back in the dating game after splitting from The Bachelor's Blake Garvey

Louise shared a close-up image of two mojitos placed on the bar of what appeared to be a Gold Coast establishment.

What looked to be an innocent encounter took on perhaps a more romantic note, with the former Channel Ten star captioning the post with a love heart emoji.

The beauty first rose to fame when she competed against 29 other women for the heart of Perth auctioneer Blake on the 2014 season of The Bachelor.

Date night: The starlet shared a close-up image of two mojitos placed on the bar of what appeared to be a Gold Coast establishment. What looked to be an innocent encounter took on perhaps a more romantic note, with the former Channel Ten star captioning the post with a love heart emoji

Notoriety: Louise first rose to fame when she competed against 29 other women for the heart of Perth auctioneer Blake on the 2014 season of The Bachelor

After placing third, Blake infamously ended his engagement to winner Sam Frost during a meeting with producers, and weeks later started a relationship with Louise.

But after 18 months together, Louise and 'love rat' Blake, went their separate ways.

The Gold Coast-based personality told New Idea at the time of their decision to split: 'We sat down recently and Blake said: "It's just not working - I feel like we're treading water".

Headlines: After placing third, Blake infamously ended his engagement to winner Sam Frost (pictured) during a meeting with producers, and weeks later started a relationship with Louise

Not to be: But after 18 months together, Louise and 'love rat' Blake, went their separate ways

'I knew deep down that he was right but I would never have been strong enough to say it,' Louise went on to say.

Meanwhile last month, Blake, who has also retreated from the spotlight since their split, announced he would not be appearing on Bachelor In Paradise despite rumours.

'No way, no how, no chance am I going on Bachelors In Paradise. That is all,' Blake wrote on Facebook.

Louise, also rumoured to have been chosen as a contestant in the spin-off, told Daily Mail Australia last week: 'No, I will not be on the show.'

Candid comments: The Gold Coast-based personality told New Idea at the time of their decision to split: 'We sat down recently and Blake said: "It's just not working - I feel like we're treading water"'
He's the kind-faced media personality usually playing matchmaker on The Bachelor.

But Osher Gunsberg has taken a sharp turn into the world of politics to attack Peter Dutton for the use of Manus Island.

The 43-year-old hit out at the government's immigration minster, asking him how he 'can sleep at night' in a Tweet on the weekend.

'How can you sleep at night?': The Bachelor's Osher Gunsberg launches a scathing attack on Peter Dutton for Australia's immigration policy

Osher criticised Australia's border control while reflecting on his Lithuanian mother's escape from the Iron Curtain and immigration Down Under after World War II.

'Australia welcomed my refugee mother and her family with open arms in 1949,' he wrote.

'Today we are starving, terrorising and beating refugees with steel bars.

'@PeterDutton_MP how can you sleep at night?' he added, before including the hashtags '#Manus' and '#bringthemhere'.

'Bring them here': The 43-year-old hit out at the government's immigration minster, asking him how he 'can sleep at night' in a Tweet on the weekend

'Open arms': Osher criticised Australia's border control while reflecting on his Lithuanian mother's escape from the Iron Curtain and immigration Down Under after World War II

Osher's comments came after Papua New Guinea police beat refugees and asylum seekers with batons while attempting to clear the detention centre on Friday, according to The Guardian.

A day earlier, Mr Dutton had slammed about 400 Manus Island detainees who refused to move out of their squalor and be peacefully relocated to a new $10million facility.

'I think it's outrageous that people are still there and they have trashed the facility, they're living in squalor,' he told 2GB radio on Thursday.

'I think it's outrageous': Osher's comments came after Mr Dutton slammed about 400 Manus Island detainees who refused to move out of their squalor and be peacefully relocated to a new $10million facility

'The Australian taxpayers have paid about $10million for a new facility and we want people to move.'

Mr Dutton reiterated the men will never be settled in Australia, adding: 'It's like the tenant that won't move out of the house when you build a new house for them to move into.'

The new accommodation will feature brand new sleeping, cooking and dining facilities, as shown in photos of the East Lorengau Transit Refugee Centre, the West Lorengau Haus and Hillside Haus.

Hitting out: 'It's like the tenant that won't move out of the house when you build a new house for them to move into,' Mr Dutton said. Pictured: New sleeping quarters
She announced she was giving up her career as an escort in September.

And Samantha X, whose real name is Amanda Goff, appears to be proud of her new role as a 'clothes-on' counselor for men in need of relationship advice.

The 43-year-old, who quit being a call girl after announcing her relationship with Channel 7 reporter Ryan Phelan, shared a post from a fan to Instagram on Monday.

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Moving on: Former escort Samantha X, whose real name is Amanda Goff, appears to be proud of her new role as a 'clothes-on' counselor for men in need of relationship advice

The striking blonde, who offers guidance on affairs of the heart via her website, posted a screenshot of an email she received from a happy customer.

'[Samantha] had the empathy of a reliable friend and the objectivity of a concerned stranger,' gushed her new 'client'.

'Marc is a 40 something year old medico. Came to me with relationship advice.. (men find dating just as hard as we do!),' Samantha wrote in the upload's caption.

'[Samantha] had the empathy of a reliable friend and the objectivity of a concerned stranger,' gushed her new 'client'

'Marc is a 40 something year old medico. Came to me with relationship advice.. (men find dating just as hard as we do!),' Samantha wrote in the upload's caption

'This is my first ever review with clothes-on counselling! Thank you Marc,' she added.

Amanda revealed she was officially 'hanging up her Louboutins' as a call girl on October 24, and was focused on building her escort agency, Samantha X Angels.

She wrote lovingly of new boyfriend Ryan in a post last week, with the message: 'All I will say is that for all of you who feel undatable [sic] and unlovable, youre not'.

New beginnings: She wrote lovingly of new boyfriend Ryan in a post last week, with the message: 'All I will say is that for all of you who feel undatable [sic] and unlovable, youre not'

She recently told Daily Mail Australia she and Ryan 'are very happy', and he is the one who made her realise it was time to 'close the chapter' and start a new life with him.

'I knew it was time. The love we have deserved Amanda not Samantha, and I was ready to close on the chapter on Samantha,' she stated.

'Ryan and I are very much in love. He's the most beautiful man, not just on the outside but the inside too. I've never smiled and laughed more in my life!' she said.
She's the multi-talented blonde known for her sizzling social media uploads.

And Chloe Lattanzi was up to her old tricks on Sunday, taking to Instagram to share a self-described 'dirty' photo in which she showed off her washboard abs.

The 31-year-old daughter of Olivia Newton-John proved there wasn't an inch to pinch as she thrust out her hips whilst wearing a skimpy crop top.

Not an inch to pinch! Chloe Lattanzi flaunted her washboard abs whilst wearing a skimpy crop top in an Instagram shared on Sunday

'90s grunge' Chloe wrote beneath the raunchy image, before adding: 'Not a selfie as I did not take this. I just love the dirtiness of this photo.'

The natural beauty went make-up free for the picture, looking incredibly fresh-faced as her messy blonde locks blew across her visage.

'No makeup, bad lighting and attitude. That was the 90s' the star summed up in her lengthy caption.

Social media star: Chloe's fans were quick to coo over her incredibly fit physique

However, Chloe's fans appeared uninterested in her nostalgia for the long-gone decade, instead seeming far more enamoured by her very fit physique.

'You have a rocking body. How often do you work out?' inquired one female follower.

'How do you get abs like yours?' another admirer asked.

Chloe's male fans were far more forward- with one bluntly writing: 'Woooow super sexy'.

'Woooow super sexy': Chloe has won praise for her sizzling Instagram shots

However, they may be in for some disappointment, with Chloe hinting last week that she has married long-term fiance, James Driskill.

The star added 'wife' to her Instagram bio, sparking speculation she may be officially off the market.

The loved-up twosome recently relocated from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon to run a marijuana farm.
Jay Z nixed an upcoming concert due to technical difficulties.

On Friday, the 47-year-old rapper announced he was cancelling an upcoming stop on his 4:44 tour that he had slated for next week.

He released a statement via Omaha World-Herald that explained why he won't be plying his trade at Lincoln, Nebraska's Pinnacle Bank Arena on December 6.

The message read, 'A note from Jay-Z: Due to the scale of this production, we cannot get the screens up on time into the building in Nebraska.

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Mr. Perfect: Jay-Z, 47, canceled a concert at Lincoln, Nebraska's Pinnacle Bank Arena on December 6, claiming he couldn't 'get the screens up on time' to do the show properly

'The tour is too important to me to do it halfway. Same with Fresno,' he said, referencing a show he nixed earlier this month.

The 99 Problems hit-maker made clear that he was exercising a measure of quality control in putting the kibosh on the show in the Cornhusker State.

He wrapped up in saying, 'I respect you guys too much to take the money and run,' signing the statement with his alternative name, 'Hov.'

The Grammy-winner in October called off a show that was slated for November 1 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, with the Fresno Bee reporting that sales had been sluggish for the event, even with some available as cheap as $6 via Stubhub.com.

Laying it out there: The rap icon issued a brief statement detailing the cancellation

Superstar: The entertainer took to the stage in Miami earlier this month

Double trouble: Jay-Z had previously nixed a show last month in Fresno, California

Last month, TMZ reported that Jay-Z was taking a gander at relieving disgraced film director Harvey Weinstein of his 23 percent interest in The Weinstein Company, with backing from a film producer and billionaire.

However, insiders subsequently told FOX Business that there was no chance of that happening.

The Hard Knock Life artist and Weinstein - accused by at least 80 women of sexual harassment or abuse over the past three decades - had past worked together on last year's The Kalief Browder Story.

They had also been working on on Suspicion Nation, an adaptation about the case surrounding slain teen Trayvon Martin, based on the book by Lisa Bloom.

Out of business: Jay-Z had been working with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein on a miniseries. The two were pictured in NYC this past March

Don't bring my name into it: Weinstein misquoted a Jay-Z lyric in his unsuccessful gambit to get a pass after the initial revelations came. The two were snapped in Utah in January

(Bloom, who initially represented the disgraced mogul until dozens of women emerged with similar allegations of misconduct, has since said she's 'mortified [to have been] connected to him in any way' in an appearance on The View earlier this month.)

Upon the New York Times' blockbuster report, Weinstein issued a statement in which he misquoted a Jay-Z lyric in a failed gambit to get a 'second chance in the community.'

He wrote: 'JAY-Z wrote in 4:44, "Im not the man I thought I was and I better be that man for my children." The same is true for me.'

The actual lyric was, 'And if my children knew/ I dont even know what I would do/ If they aint look at me the same/ I would probably die with all the shame.'

Weinstein's rep has repeatedly said that 'any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by' the producer.
They're getting their marriage back on track, after he was released from prison in June.

And on Sunday, PR buff Roxy Jacenko and husband Oliver Curtis enjoyed a day out at Sydney's Bondi Beach, with their young children.

Roxy flaunted her fit figure and 12kg weight loss in activewear as she watched on from the sand, while Oliver went shirtless as he took daughter Pixie, six, and son Hunter, three, into the surf.

Going swell! Roxy Jacenko flaunts her toned figure in activewear as she watches shirtless husband Oliver Curtis swim with their children Pixie, six, and Hunter, three at Bondi Beach

Taking a dip: Oliver went shirtless as he took daughter Pixie, six, and Hunter, three, into the surf

Oliver was ever the doting dad, smiling and laughing with the children as the waves crashed around them.

At one point, he was seen picking up Hunter in his arms, while Pixie looked on, wearing pink goggles.

Roxy showcased her enviable figure in tiny shorts and a crop top and singlet, and wore runners, presumably fresh from a workout.

Fit and fabulous: Roxy showcased her enviable figure in tiny shorts and a crop top and singlet, and wore runners, presumably fresh from a workout

Stylish: Her long blonde locks were out and over her shoulders, and she wore a pair of dark aviator shades

Having fun: Oliver was ever the doting dad, smiling and laughing with the children as the waves crashed around them

Don't let go! Hunter reached for his dad while swimming

Her long blonde locks were out and over her shoulders, and she wore a pair of dark aviator shades.

At one point, Roxy took some snaps of her family, with her children having their own respective Instagram accounts, which she runs for them.

The clan appeared in high spirits as they enjoyed the day out in the sunshine, before they headed back to their nearby abode.

Picture time: At one point, Roxy took some snaps of her family, with her children having their own respective Instagram accounts, which she runs for them

Sweet: Oliver picked up his little boy and wrapped a towel around him

Timeout: The clan appeared in high spirits as they enjoyed the day out in the sunshine, before they headed back to their nearby abode

A free man: The businessman was released from Cooma Correctional Centre in June for conspiracy to commit insider trading

Oliver picked up his little boy and wrapped a towel around him.

The businessman was released from Cooma Correctional Centre in June for conspiracy to commit insider trading.

The upcoming holiday season marks Oliver's first Christmas, following his release from prison.

Back to everyday life: The upcoming holiday season marks Oliver's first Christmas, following his release from prison

Happy: Roxy revealed to Daily Mail Australia this month, that Pixie is 'thrilled' to have her father back home in time

Enjoying the sun: The pair recently moved to Bondi Beach

Opening up: 'Pixie is no longer sad daily, she is now full of life. It was like she was a deflated person before, heartbreaking,' Roxy said

Roxy revealed to Daily Mail Australia this month, that Pixie is 'thrilled' to have her father back home in time.

'Pixie is no longer sad daily, she is now full of life. It was like she was a deflated person before, heartbreaking.'

Roxy is going all out for Oliver's first Christmas back home: 'We are having Christmas lunch at Sydney's Park Hyatt as we do annually on Christmas Day with our closest family and friends.

'It's always a divine day with a twist on the classic Christmas fare and the best view of Sydney Harbour.'

Back to normal: Roxy is going all out for Oliver's first Christmas back home

Plans: The family are having Christmas lunch at the Park Hyatt
She shot to fame as Lady Mary Crawley on hugely popular period drama Downtown Abbey.

But Michelle Dockery was worlds away from her much-loved role in the new episode of TNT's crime drama Good Behaviour.

The actress, 34, showed off her slender figure in nothing but a black bra as she resumed her con-woman character Letty Raines - who is seen drinking, smoking and doing drugs in her hotel room.

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Back to her old tricks: Michelle Dockery was worlds away from her much-loved Downton Abbey role in the new episode of TNT's crime drama Good Behaviour

Bra-vo! The actress, 34, showed off her slender figure in nothing but a black bra as she resumed her con-woman character Letty Raines

In the latest episode, the brunette beauty takes some time to herself in her hotel room - and rolls her slinky red dress down to the waist, to flash her bra underneath.

Standing in just the lingerie, Michelle displays her ample cleavage and plenty of skin to all as she looks around at her messy room despondently, with a cigarette in hand.

Sporting tousled curls and a smudge of red lipstick, the character appeared slightly dishevelled as she blew off steam in her hotel, after an undoubtedly stressful day.

Relaxed: In the latest episode, the brunette beauty takes some time to herself in her hotel room

Stripping off: She rolls her slinky red dress down to the waist, to flash her bra underneath

On show: Standing in just the lingerie, Michelle displays her ample cleavage and plenty of skin to all

Tough: After an undoubtedly stressful day, Michelle then puts her head in her hands as she tries to blow off steam

Intense: She even takes cocaine as she continues her wild lifestyle as a con woman

In further scenes, the actress is seen downing vodka from the bottle and even taking cocaine as she continues her wild lifestyle as a con woman.

The actress has kept fans entertained with a string of provocative displays since the TNT show returned on October 15.

In the show's second season, Michelle's character Letty is out of jail but quickly reverts back to her thieving ways.

What to do: She looks around at her messy room despondently, with a cigarette in hand

Chilling out: Sporting tousled curls and a smudge of red lipstick, the character appeared slightly dishevelled as she relaxed

Slender: Michelle's impressively slender frame was clear for all to see in her racy ensemble

Busty: Michelle was confident to have her cleavage on show as she embarked on the raunchy scene

Back to her best: The actress has kept fans entertained with a string of provocative displays since the TNT show returned on October 15

Lighting up: Michelle puffed on a number of cigarettes throughout the scene

Discussing her anti-hero role, the British beauty said that people identify with the fact that Letty is 'nowhere near perfect'.

'I think people identify with her,' she told Parade. 'In some way, were all driven to be the best version of ourselves, and the fact that shes a con artist, a thief, and an ex-drug addict, its just the size of things, really.

'Its simply the the human part of her, but shes just trying to better herself, and shes flawed. Shes nowhere near perfect, so I think people identify with her, in the same way that they do with Javier.'

Getting through: In further scenes, the actress is seen downing vodka from the bottle

Escape: In the show's second season, Michelle's character Letty is out of jail but quickly reverts back to her thieving ways

Troubled: Discussing her anti-hero role, the British beauty recently said that people identify with the fact that Letty is 'nowhere near perfect'

Relatable: She said: 'Its simply the the human part of her, but shes just trying to better herself, and shes flawed. Shes nowhere near perfect, so I think people identify with her'

Dockery added that she was 'cautious' about choosing a role so obviously far removed from her Downtown Abbey character.

'I never had the intention of doing something so vastly different,' she admitted to the Sunday Morning Herald.

'I never think that's a good way to carve out a career, but Letty just came out of nowhere really when I was finishing off and the script appeared.

'It was more the opposite: I was cautious about doing something so different when people had obviously known me for Mary. I didn't want it to appear that I was doing this just for the sake of it.'

Worlds away: Dockery added that she was 'cautious' about choosing a role so obviously far removed from her Downtown Abbey character Lady Mary (above)

Onto the next: Only adding to her busy schedule, Michelle has also just seen the release of her new Netflix series Godless (above)

Only adding to her busy schedule, Michelle has also just seen the release of her new Netflix series Godless.

The project sees the actress play Alice Fletcher, a widow living in a 1800s New Mexico mining town which is run by women.

The town gives refuge to Roy Goode (played by Jack O'Connell) as he flees terrifying outlaw Frank Griffin (played by Jeff Daniels) in the seven-part miniseries produced by Steven Soderbergh and directed by Scott Frank.

The highly-anticipated series also features Stranger Things' Rob Morgan, former GoT star Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Law & Order's Sam Waterson and Scoot McNairy - which hit the streaming service last week.
The 22-year-old reported 'love interest' of Paul Hollywood, 51, had no comment about the Great Bake Off Star after reportedly quitting her job as a barmaid.

Summer Monteys-Fullham, who allegedly went for dinner and drinks with the baker after he split from his wife of 20 years, Alexandra, reportedly quit her job after being mocked over the baker's Nazi fancy dress blunder.

Speaking from her white Audi A3 in the village of Ickham, Kent, Summer refused to answer questions about Hollywood.

Only a few miles away in Adisham, security guards continue to prowl the grounds at the 1.4 million Hollywood residence.

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Quit: Summer Monteys-Fullham - the 22-year-old reported 'love interest' of Paul Hollywood, 51 - is said to have quit her job as a barmaid after being mocked over the baker's Nazi fancy dress blunde

Summers colleagues at The Duke William pub in Kent are said to have posted images on social media of Paul wearing the swastika outfit at a party and mocked their alleged romance.

The bar manager of the Duke William pub in Ickham, Kent, said: 'Summer does not work here any more. She has left and that is all I am saying about her.'

Paul apologised earlier this year and admitted he was 'absolutely devastated' after a photograph of him wearing a Nazi uniform at a party emerged.

The image, which was taken 14 years ago, showed the TV chef smiling as he posed in the full German military outfit whilst at a fancy dress party at the White Stag pub in Monkton, Kent.

Sorry: Paul apologised earlier this year and admitted he was 'absolutely devastated' after a photograph of him wearing a Nazi uniform at a party emerged

The reports come amid claims the Paul and Summer enjoyed a secret date at a swanky hotel in London recently shortly before the baker announced his divorce.

The pair met earlier this year at Paul's local pub where he organised wife Alexandra's birthday party and have struck up a close bond despite the 29-year age gap, sources claimed.

Paul and Alexandra, who have a 16-year-old son, announced they were splitting last week - but reportedly parted ways earlier this year.

Rumour has it: Paul reportedly had a secret date with a barmaid 30 years younger than him at a swanky hotel in London. Pictured with estranged wife Alexandra

And since their marriage broke down months ago, Paul has reportedly formed a 'close friendship' with Summer.

Summer is believed to work at the Duke William pub in the village of Ickham, Kent - which is Paul's local haunt.

She is 'very mature' for her age so the gap with Paul isn't a problem and she believes the pair could 'become a couple' in the future, sources claimed.

Claims: The Great British Bake Off judge, 51, allegedly went for dinner and drinks with Summer Monteys-Fullham (pictured) at The Dorchester after splitting from his wife of 20 years, Alexandra

Local haunt: The pair met earlier this year at Paul's local pub where he organised Alexandra's birthday party and have struck up a close bond despite the 29-year age gap, sources claimed

Meeting point: Pictured is the Duke William Public house in the village of Ickham in Kent where Hollywood supposedly met the barmaid

'Paul and Summer have struck up a close friendship  the age gap between them doesn't seem to be a problem,' an insider told The Sun.

'She has told friends that she believes that they could, in the future, become a couple.'

The insider claimed that Paul, who moved into a 1.4million home near the pub with Alexandra, 53, this year, kept 'popping in' to see Summer after the birthday party.

'After the party Paul kept popping into the pub. But he only seemed to come in when Summer was working,' they said.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Paul for comment.

'It is with sadness that we have decided to separate': Paul and Alexandra, who have a 16-year-old son, announced they were splitting last week - but reportedly parted ways earlier this year

Close proximity: Summer is believed to work at the Duke William pub (pictured) in the village of Ickham, Kent - which is Paul's local haunt

The couple were reportedly often seen catching up and having long conversations 'in a corner' of the pub.

Paul and Alex confirmed their heartbreaking split in a joint statement on Monday saying: 'It is with sadness that we have decided to separate.

'Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son, and we would ask the press and public to allow us privacy as a family during this very difficult time.'

The baking guru, who is now worth 10million, split from his wife, 53, temporarily in 2013 after admitting an affair with his US co-star Marcela Valladolid, 39.

Alleged: She is 'very mature' for her age so the gap with Paul isn't a problem and she believes the pair could 'become a couple' in the future, sources claimed

The couple reconciled a few months later and he described the incident as 'the biggest mistake of my life' in an interview with BBC radio.

Speaking at the time, he told the BBC he 'was shocked about the whole thing kicking off the way it did... but I deserved it and I've taken it. It was my punishment'.

However a source told The Sun: 'Paul was totally into Marcela and threw himself in with both feet. When it all fell apart he went back to Alex with his tail between his legs, but in reality if Marcela had wanted to keep it going he was all for it.'

It's over: Paul and Alex confirmed their heartbreaking split in a joint statement last week saying: 'It is with sadness that we have decided to separate'

Split: Paul and Alex, who is also a chef, married in 1998, and have a teenage son together called Joshua

Paul and Alex, who is also a chef, married in 1998, and have a 16-year-old son together, Joshua.

It was claimed that Paul, who is worth an estimated 10m, could lose up to 5m of his fortune in the divorce.

It comes after Bake Of winner Candice Brown, who recently announced her engagement to Liam Macauley, was spotted with Paul as he cupped the back of her head and kissed her goodbye following a night out at the Pride of Britain Awards in London.

Embrace: It comes after Paul was spotted sharing a friendly kiss with Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown - shortly before he announced his split from his wife

Friendly display: A spokesman for the pair said it was an 'innocent kiss on the cheek', and that it was 'untrue' to describe it as an 'intimate kiss'

A spokesman for the pair said it was an 'innocent kiss on the cheek', and that it was 'untrue' to describe it as an 'intimate kiss'.

The representative, who was also there on the night, told MailOnline: 'Following The Mirror Pride of Britain Awards last Monday, seven of us including Paul and Candice were seated outside waiting for cars home.

'The photograph was taken as Paul was saying goodbye to each of us.'
She welcomed her first child, a daughter called Sunday, a week early at the start of this month.

But Ferne McCann was confident to show off her post-baby body on Monday, in a sizzling Instagram post.

The reality star, 27, displayed her impressively slender figure in a slinky black jumpsuit as she posed for her fans - days after confirming she will raise her daughter alone without ex Arthur Collins, who has been found guilty of an acid attack.

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Slinky: Ferne McCann was confident to show off her post-baby body on Monday, in a sizzling Instagram post

The former TOWIE star certainly caught attention in the jumpsuit, which hugged her enviably slim frame from head to toe, just three weeks after giving birth.

The one-piece plunged into a deep round neckline, to give a glimpse of her ample cleavage to all, before it skimmed her long legs with its trendy flares to the floor.

She swept her hair into a sleek ponytail and sported her trademark contoured make-up look, to draw attention to her glowing complexion as a new mother.

Hot mama: The former TOWIE star certainly caught attention in the jumpsuit, which hugged her enviably slim frame from head to toe, just three weeks after giving birth

Leggy lady: The one-piece plunged into a deep round neckline, to give a glimpse of her ample cleavage to all, before it skimmed her long legs with its trendy flares to the floor

Ferne appears to be making the most of motherhood, and is often seen posting about Sunday on social media - despite the father Arthur Collins not being the picture.

A statement from her representatives acknowledged that Ferne had accepted she would be parenting alone, following her ex being found guilty of an acid attack.

'Having given birth days ago, Ferne is focusing on being the best mother she can be,' the statement said.

Besotted: Ferne appears to be making the most of motherhood, and is often seen posting about Sunday on social media

Not in the picture: Ferne recently confirmed she would be parenting alone, after her ex Arthur Collins (above) was found guilty of an acid attack

'She long ago accepted that she would be doing this alone and is determined to provide the best possible future for her daughter.'

Arthur was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm on November 13, as part of an acid attack that took place at Mangle nightclub in April.

He has been warned he could face life behind bars when he is sentenced on December 19.

Ferne is understood to have told the father of her newborn daughter that she won't ever see him again after visiting him in prison.

Guilty: Arthur was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm on November 13, as part of an acid attack at Mangle nightclub in April

'This is the last time you will see either of us': Ferne is understood to have told the father of her newborn daughter that she won't ever see him again after visiting him in prison

Ferne told Arthur: 'This is the last time you will see either of us' as she held their daughter, Sunday, during a visit to Category A Belmarsh prison in south London.

During the visit, the This Morning host told him: 'You have ruined our lives. This is what you have done. And this is what you are missing out on.'

Speaking about the dramatic visit, she told Sunday People: 'I went to see Arthur and I took Sunday with me. This was because I am very angry about what has happened and I needed to communicate that and wanted to hear what Arthur had to say.

'I strongly feel for the innocent people hurt that night and I in no way condone violence as I have already made clear. It was a difficult decision to take Sunday into that environment but I felt I needed to confront him about a number of things, which I have now done.'
He endured a second brush with death after his 2 million supercar careered off a hill and burst into flames as he raced at high speed through rural Switzerland.

But Richard Hammond admits his family  wife Mindy and daughters Isabella and Willow  are yet to see footage of the near-fatal accident, captured as he filmed scenes for the second series of popular Amazon show The Grand Tour in June.

The 47-year old presenter, who was airlifted to hospital following the crash, told the Daily Mirror: My family havent seen the latest crash. I dont think they ever will. Mindy wont want to watch it, because she will just be really, really cross.

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Opening up: Richard Hammond admits his family  wife Mindy and daughters Isabella and Willow  are yet to see footage of the near-fatal accident, captured as he filmed scenes for the second series of popular Amazon show The Grand Tour in June

Mirroring his first horror smash in 2006, Hammond admits he was fortunate to escape with cuts and bruises following the high-speed accident, which saw him lose control of his powerful Rimac Concept One during an uphill challenge.

Veering over a hill at 120 miles-per-hour, the presenters car was catapulted some 30 metres above the ground before bursting into flames.

Pictures from the scene showed the car in flames alongside a road in St. Gallen before the blaze was extinguished by firefighters.

Near miss: He endured a second brush with death after his 2 million supercar careered off a hill and burst into flames as he raced at high speed through rural Switzerland

Not just yet: My family havent seen the latest crash. I dont think they ever will. Mindy wont want to watch it, because she will just be really, really cross,' he said

Grand Tour producer Amazon later released images showing the burnt-out wreckage of the car laying upside down on a hill.

He recalled: I remember being upside down in the air for quite a while and thinking, Well the longer its upside down the worse, the worse its going to be when I land. And it was a hard landing.

Hammond's lucky escape has also prompted him to give up high-speed challenges for the sake of his loved ones after his first near miss, a 228 mph crash, left him with serious head injuries and comatose for two weeks.

First time lucky: Hammond's lucky escape has also prompted him to give up high-speed challenges for the sake of his loved ones after his first near miss, a 228 mph crash, left him with serious head injuries and comatose for two weeks

On the mend: The presenter's condition was described as serious but stable as he battled back from head injuries after his first crash, at Elvington Airfield, near Leeds

'Mindy is very patient and knows my primary job is as husband and father to our daughters, and she knows that's the most important thing in my life and I'm not going to mess that up and risk it.'

The presenter's condition was described as serious but stable as he battled back from head injuries after his first crash, at Elvington Airfield, near Leeds.

Reflecting on his slow, painful recovery, Hammond admits he battled back from depression and paranoia while recuperating in hospital.

He is now determined to give Mindy his undivided attention.

'I owe her some years of adventure, and traveling the world, just the two of us,' he said.
We're used to seeing Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell in their khaki best while at Australia Zoo.

And earlier this month, the young loved-up couple were spotted in Sydney on a short trip, looking casual in jeans and T-shirts.

The pair were spotted two days in a row wearing the same outfits, despite lugging around two suitcases and bags, as they checked in and out of their hotel.

Where's the khaki uniform when you need it? Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell wear the same outfits two days in a row during trip to Sydney...despite lugging around two large suitcases and bags

When they first checked into a hotel for the night, Bindi wore jeans, runners, a black top and a checkered shirt.

She covered her long dark locks with a cap.

Chandler meanwhile, wore a black T-shirt and jeans, with leather boots.

So nice they wore it twice! When they first checked into a hotel for the night, Bindi wore jeans, runners, a black top and a checkered shirt. The pair were seen the next day checking out, in the same gear (seen)

The pair were seen the next day checking out, in the same gear.

Indeed during the trip to Sydney, the pair were spotted checking into the modest Airport Hotel in Arncliffe, before moving to the 4.5 star Rydges Hotel in the CBD.

Meanwhile, engagement rumours have been surround the pair for months.

They have been dating for over three years.

Wrong booking? Indeed during the trip to Sydney, the pair were spotted checking into the modest Airport Hotel in Arncliffe, before moving to the 4.5 star Rydges Hotel in the CBD

Wedding bells? Meanwhile, engagement rumours have been surround the pair for months. They have been dating for over three years

This month, Chandler's grandfather spoke to Woman's Day and said that the family are quietly waiting for the couple's engagement news.

'It's been a while now, they're on their time frame, but we're quietly waiting (for an announcement),' John told Woman's Day.

'They want to be sure the timing is right, because they are popular and they won't want any pressure on them.'

Talking about their family plans, John added that they could raise their family at Australia Zoo: 'Better to have a family in a zoo than a family be a zoo!'
She will be the first ever recipient of the Special Recognition Award for Innovation at the British Fashion Awards next week.

And Stella McCartney became very emotional on Monday, as she looked back at her stellar career and family upbringing in a new interview, ahead of the big honour.

Speaking to CBS, the teary-eyed designer, 46, discussed the pride she felt at receiving an OBE before reflecting on what her late mother Linda, who passed away in 1998, would think of her success.

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Looking back: Stella McCartney became very emotional as she looked back at her stellar career and upbringing in a new interview, ahead of her honour at the British Fashion Awards

Memories: Speaking to CBS , the designer, 46, discussed receiving an OBE before reflecting on what her late mother Linda, who passed away in 1998, would think of her success

While she is the daughter of famous Beatles crooner Paul McCartney, Stella has carved a hugely successful career of her own in the fashion world.

Looking back at her exciting life ahead of her new honour from the British Fashion Council, the mother-of-four admitted that receiving her OBE back in 2013 was one of her proudest moments.

Gushing of her excitement at meeting the monarch herself, she told CBS: 'I was very lucky to get the Queen, I have to say, because some days you don't get the Queen,' before adding playfully: 'Yes, I got the Queen!'

Style icon: While she is the daughter of famous Beatles crooner Paul McCartney, Stella has carved a hugely successful career of her own in the fashion world

Incredible: Looking back at her life, the mother-of-four admitted that receiving her OBE back in 2013 was one of her proudest moments (above)

Exciting: Gushing of her excitement at meeting the monarch herself, she told CBS: 'I was very lucky to get the Queen, I have to say, because some days you don't get the Queen'

Recalling the surreal moment itself, she went on: 'So I go up, and I'd just done the 2012 Olympic Games - drop the mic on that - and the Queen looks at me and she says, 'So, you seem very busy.'

'And I was like, Oh my God, I was not expecting the Queen of England to say that I was busy. And I said, 'Well, not quite as busy as you, ma'am!''

The royal honour had come a matter of months after Stella had been crowned Designer of The Year for Team GB's Olympic kit with Adidas - a role she maintained at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

Playful: Recalling the surreal moment, she went on: 'I was like, Oh my God, I was not expecting the Queen of England to say that I was busy. And I said, 'Well, not quite as busy as you, ma'am!'

Talent: The London native revealed she had dreamed of being a designer ever since she was a young girl - and even made her first jacket at the age of 12

Courage: She then moved to Paris three years later to intern at the likes of Saint Laurent, which she admitted had put her 'out of her comfort zone'

Having made her mark on the fashion industry, the London native revealed she had dreamed of being a designer ever since she was a young girl - and even made her first jacket at the age of 12.

She then moved to Paris three years later to intern at the likes of Saint Laurent, which she admitted had put her 'out of her comfort zone', as she had never left home before.

As the daughter of a Beatle, Stella confessed her upbringing had been unconventional - but that meeting stars regularly was simply the 'norm' for her.

Opening up: As the daughter of a Beatle, Stella confessed her upbringing had been unconventional - but that meeting stars regularly was simply the 'norm' for her

Surreal: She joked: 'It was kind of mad - one minute you're hanging out with Michael Jackson, and the next you're riding a horse in a field, or getting on the school bus'

Best pals: She is still very close to her father Paul (pictured together in 2000), however her mother Linda sadly passed away in 1998, after a three-year battle with breast cancer

She continued to CBS: 'I think I always knew they were famous, but it was the norm. It was kind of mad - one minute you're hanging out with Michael Jackson, and the next you're riding a horse in a field, or getting on the school bus.'

She is still very close to her father Paul, however her mother Linda sadly passed away in 1998, after a three-year battle with breast cancer.

When asked how she thinks her mum would feel about her success, Stella became quite emotional - and revealed she wants to make her children proud, like she had wanted to make her mother in her youth.

Heartbreak: When asked how she thinks her mum would feel about her success, Stella became quite emotional

Main woman: She she wants to make her children proud, like she had wanted to make her mother in her youth (pictured with Linda and Paul in 1974)

Caring: She said, through teary eyes: 'I think she'd just want me to be happy and healthy. But she's a mummy and I'm her baby, so I think she'd want to make sure I'm OK'

She said, through teary eyes: 'I think she'd just want me to be happy and healthy. But she's a mummy and I'm her baby, so I think she'd want to make sure I'm OK.

'As a child you only really ever want to make your parents proud, so I just want to do that with my kids and husband and people I encounter.'

Stella shares sons Miller and Beckett, and daughters Bailey and Reiley with publisher husband Alasdhair Willis, who she married in 2003.

With her career to be going strength to strength, Stella most recently released her new party capsule collection for NET-A-PORTER.
She has been enjoying a whirlwind love affair since she went public with her affections for Chris Zylka, 31, in February.

And Paris Hilton hailed it 'real love' when her beau got her name inked on his arm in Disney font in a gushing Instagram post shared with her 7,800,000 fans on Sunday.

Socialite Paris, 36, couldn't contain her excitement over her fairy tale romance as she declared the inking 'dedication' to her, showing 'true love really does exist'.

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'This is REAL love': Paris Hilton gushed about her fairy tale romance as her boyfriend Chris Zylka got her name tattooed on his arm in Disney font in an Instagram post shared on Sunday

The close-up snap showcased the bold tattoo, which simply read 'Paris', was inscribed in the iconic typography on the inside of his arm.

The It girl was overwhelmed with delight after Chris proudly pledged his love to the star with permanent ink.

'Now this is what I call real love & dedication! I love you so much baby!' She captioned the picture, 'Thank you for showing me that true love really does exist! #Goals #BrandedbyPH #Mine.'

In recent months, the hotel heiress revealed she is keen to start a family with her beau as their romance continues to go from strength to strength.

Fairytale: Socialite Paris, 36, couldn't contain her excitement over her romance as she declared the inking 'dedication' to her (pictured with Chris in Los Angeles, November 2017)

Paris recently revealed she is ready to catch up with her younger pregnant sister Nicky Hilton Rothschild, 34, who also has a little girl, Lily Grace.

'I had such a wonderful time with all the children at my Foam and Diamonds for Kids party last weekend,' she told DailyMail.com.

'It's such an an amazing feeling to see all of their smiling faces. It made me so happy to have Chris by my side.

Strength to strength: She has been enjoying a whirlwind love affair after she went public with her affections for Chris, 31, in February (pictured in September 2017)

True love: The heiress revealed she is keen to start a family with her beau as their romance continues to go from strength to strength (pictured together in Mexico, November 2017)

'He loves kids just like I do, so it was really fun to get to experience that together.

'Also, it made me think about how I can't wait to have my own child one day and how special that feeling would be.'

The highest paid female DJ is also going to drop a new album imminently, following her 2006 debut.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced they are engaged and will marry early next year.

And Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton were among the celebrities sharing their excitement at the news of a Royal wedding, after Clarence House's official announcement on Monday morning.

The This Morning presenter led the charge on social media, posting, 'Soooo exciting... congratulations!'

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Twitter reaction: A host of famous faces have expressed their congratulations for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced they are engaged and will marry early next year

Holly enthused that the engagement was a 'thing of dreams' on This Morning, cooing, 'Shes met her prince and shes getting married, its lovely.'

Her co-host Philip Schofield enthused: 'This is your best day! said Phillip as Holly buried her head in her arms.'

The presenter replied: 'It really is, it really is, its the real life fairy-tale!'

Her best pal and Celebrity Juice co-host Fearne Cotton shared a hand-drawn biro sketch of a crown, taking an artistic approach to celebrating the news.

Loose Women presenter Andrea McLean shared, 'So excited for them!!!!, while Kate Garraway posted,l 'Wonderful news! Congratulations to them both #RoyalEngagement'.

Paying tribute: The This Morning presenter led the charge on social media, posting, 'Soooo exciting... congratulations!'

Showing her support: Holly's Celebrity Juice co-host Fearne Cotton was also among the stars who tweeted their congratulations

Delighted: Holly enthused that the engagement was a 'thing of dreams' on This Morning, cooing, 'Shes met her prince and shes getting married, its lovely'

A host of reality star also chimed in, with Casey Batchelor enthusing, 'Love that Prince Harry and Megan have got engaged Hottest Royal couple ever.'

Vicky Pattison - who got engaged herself earlier this year - posted: 'Eeeeeekkkkk!! Have you all heard the good news?! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged!!! Yay!!! Omg.. Imagine the BABIES!!! Too cute!!'

Elsewhere, joker Jack Whitehall queried whether he could come on the stag do, asking, '1. When is the stag do? 2. Can I come?'

'Harry and Meghan this could be your first dance @jammerbbk - Markle Man', Lily Allen suggested.

In the US, celebrities were waking up to the news, with Khloe Kardashian enthusing, 'Congratulations Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!'

Sharing her excitement: Holly took to Twitter, posting an array of ring emojis

Artistic: Fearne shared a hand-drawn biro sketch of a crown, taking an artistic approach to celebrating the news

The couple will appear together on national TV in the UK for the first time this evening to discuss their engagement and whirlwind relationship of 16 months.

Harry, 33, who revealed a year ago he had fallen for the actress after a four to six month secret relationship, proposed to Meghan, 36, in London earlier this month.

Royal protocol dictated that fifth in line to the throne Harry had to ask his grandmother the Queen for permission to marry and she agreed in the month where she celebrated her own 70th wedding anniversary.

In a statement Her Majesty and Prince Philip said they are 'delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness' and this morning huge crowds of tourists and royal fans gathered outside Buckingham Palace.

Harry and his American fiancee, who divorced her first husband in 2013, will move into Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace next door to his brother William and sister-in-law Kate.=

Official announcement: In a statement Her Majesty and Prince Philip said they are 'delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness' and this morning huge crowds of tourists and royal fans gathered outside Buckingham Palace

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a joint statement: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together'. The boys' father Prince Charles said he was 'thrilled' and 'very happy indeed' for them.

Harry also asked Meghan's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, who divorced when their daughter was six, for her hand in marriage before popping the question a few weeks ago, it emerged today.

They said: 'Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents'.

Harry and Meghan have not said where they will marry but most senior royals marry at Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral or the chapel at Windsor Castle. Sources have said it is likely to be a church wedding.

But they are likely to wait until Prince William and Kate have their third child, which is due in April.
She was famously banned from Cheltenham races last year, after flashing her bare breasts in the hospitality box.

And Katie Salmon was certainly up to her old tricks on Saturday night as she once again exposed her chest during a wild night out in Watford.

The Love Island star, 22, was seen pulling her dress down to expose her cleavage to all - with an admirer even planting a kiss on her assets as she enjoyed the raucous evening at Hydeout, followed by a saucy slumber party at her house.

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Having the breast time: Katie Salmon was certainly up to her old tricks on Saturday night as she once again exposed her chest during a wild night out in Watford

Not feeling blue! Not stopping there, Katie then stripped to nothing but blue lace lingerie as she hosted a slumber party at her house, after the wild night out at Hydeout club

The party girl appeared to be in very high spirits in the VIP area of the club, as she playfully danced and posed for cameras.

Becoming more raucous as the night went on, Katie was later seen thrusting birthday cake into the faces of her fellow guests, and even pulled her dress down to expose her bare chest to all.

Clearly turning heads with her eye-popping display however, the unicorn-haired star later received a kiss on her ample bust as she posed for cameras with her dress back in position - clearly lapping up the attention as the birthday girl.

This is my moment: The party girl appeared to be in very high spirits in the VIP area of the club, as she playfully danced and posed for cameras

Raunchy: However the Love Island star later pulled her dress down to expose her cleavage as the night got into full swing - with an admirer even proceeding to plant a kiss on her chest

The former Love Island star had been celebrating her 22nd at the bash, and certainly upped the glamour for the occasion in her revealing blue frock.

Katie rocked a skin-tight blue satin dress that showed off both her incredible legs ans hefty bust in fabulous fashion.

The star accessorised her look with perspex jewelled heels and a black suede clutch, as well as a silver tiara fit for a birthday princess.

Ever the stand-out beauty, Katie had her multicoloured pastel wigged tresses on full display, with equally dramatic makeup of a smoky eye and statement brows.

Celebrate in style: The former Love Island star had been celebrating her 22nd birthday at the bash - certainly upping the glamour for the occasion in the revealing blue frock

Colourful: Ever the stand-out beauty, Katie had her multicoloured pastel wigged tresses on full display, with equally dramatic makeup of a smoky eye and statement brows

Perky: The star certainly stood out in a multi-colour pastel wig, putting on a leggy display in the ensemble whilst she accessorised with perspex jewelled heels and a black suede clutch

Squad goals: Katie celebrated the milestone with some of the stars from Miss Swimsuit UK as they all dressed to impress for their wild night out on the town

Katie was joined on her night out by some of the stars of Miss Swimsuit UK, who all put on a leggy display in revealing ensembles.

Clearly excited for the occasion, Katie held a slumber party at her house for her glamorous gal pals after their wild evening in the club.

Known for her body confidence, the reality star stripped to nothing but blue lace lingerie for the bedtime bash - which displayed her enviably flat stomach and tiny waist to all.

Keeping her birthday crown on her head, the unicorn-haired beauty certainly ensured all eyes were on her as she posed seductively on her bed, with a delicious birthday cake in hand.

Say cheese! The reality star later stripped to nothing but blue lace lingerie as she hosted a slumber party after the night out - and posed seductively with equally scantily-clad friends

Let's go: She had shared snap of the same pink cake earlier that day, as her birthday celebrations got into full swing

She had shared snap of the same pink cake earlier that day, as her birthday celebrations got into full swing.

The star captioned the post: 'Who's partying at @hydeout_watford with me tonight for my birthday? Am with my sexy @missswimsuituk girls!'

Katie also shared a video of her house adorned with decorations on Instagram, including pink balloons and others shaped like unicorns.

In the video Katie can be seen twerking in fabulous fashion in a pink hoodie and matching briefs as Taylor Swift's 22 plays in the background.

Feelin' 22! Katie celebrated her birthday in style on Friday, posting a video of her home decorated with pink and unicorn-shaped balloons

Twerk it out! In the video, Katie can be seen twerking in hilarious fashion to Taylor Swift's 22 rocking a pink jumper and matching briefs

Birthday girl! The brunette beauty showed off her pert posterior in the video, writing the caption: 'It's my birthday! Grateful for another year of life!'

The busty beauty captioned the post: 'It's my mofo birthday! Grateful for another year of life. More memories. Health and all of the amazing people I have around me. I couldn't be happier. I love u all! I'm feeling 22!'

And it seemed Katie certainly enjoyed her birthday outing, hilariously tweeting the aftermath on Saturday morning.

She wrote: 'Last night was crazy. I rapped on stage. I threw cake in my mates face. I broke my dress too & blurs sick night b****es.'

Katie is no stranger to a stand-out ensemble, donning a Nicki Minaj inspired jewelled bodysuit and blonde wig for a night out in Cafe De Paris last week with pal Helen Briggs.

The busty beauties commanded attention as they arrived at the venue, with Helen putting on a busty display in a revealing LBD sinister white contacts.

Wowzers: Katie took inspiration from Nicki Minaj for a birthday outing earlier this week as she headed to Cafe De Paris with her Ex On The Beach pal Helen Briggs
The arrival of her first baby on November 2 was a bittersweet moment, due to her ex partner's trial for a horrific acid attack.

And doting new mother Ferne McCann has introduced her gorgeous baby daughter Sunday to the world, while revealing she will 'never come to terms' with what her former partner and father of her child Arthur Collins did, in a new interview with OK! Magazine.

The former The Only Way Is Essex star, 27, who proudly posed with her gorgeous daughter, also said she will be 'all Sunday ever needs'.

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New motherhood: Ferne McCann has introduced her gorgeous baby daughter Sunday to the world, while revealing she will 'never come to terms' with what her former partner and father of her child Arthur Collins did, in a new interview with OK! Magazine

Speaking openly about Arthur, who was found guilty on November 13 of committing the horrific acid attack at Mangle nightclub in April, the star said:Yes, its been a really emotional time. Its been horrendous and very difficult to come to terms with and I probably never will. I was in shock for a long time.

'The past six months have been hell but Im not the victim in all this and Im certainly not looking for sympathy.

I was horrified to hear about what happened. No one should go on a night out and have something like that happen to them.

Reflecting on her 'heartbreaking six months, the star said she is now revelling in the joy her new baby brings her and said ''As far as Im concerned, Im all my baby will ever need and Im just so thankful that shes arrived safely and that we have each other.

Heartbreak: Speaking openly about Arthur, who was found guilty on November 13 of committing the horrific acid attack at Mangle nightclub in April, the star said:Yes, its been a really emotional time. Its been very difficult to come to terms with and I probably never will'

Bumping along: Reflecting on her 'heartbreaking six months, the star said she is now revelling in the joy her new baby brings her and said ''As far as Im concerned, Im all my baby will ever need and Im just so thankful that shes arrived safely and that we have each other' (pictured in September)

Ferne said her pregnancy, although not part of her plan for the year, gave her something positive to focus on and helped her deal with the upsetting and stressful time.

The star also spoke of the unusual inspiration behind her baby girl's quirky name, revealing she named her after a skin cleanser.

Out now: The full interview with Ferne McCann in OK! Magazine is out now

She said: 'I decided Sunday would be my girl's name really early on in my pregnancy.

'It came to me after my make-up artist recommended a cleanser to me by a brand called Sunday Riley. I thought it had a really nice ring to it and the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. I wanted something unique but not too weird.

'I know that not everyone is going to love it but I've had a great response from people so far.

Opening up about her baby's traumatic birth, Ferne said hospital staff were concerned that she was losing a lot of blood.

She said: After I had given birth, my mum told me the staff thought I was haemorrhaging because I was losing so much blood. I wasnt aware of any of this at the time, though.

Arthur was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm two weeks ago. He had committed the offence while out celebrating the news of Ferne's pregnancy.

He has been warned he could face life behind bars when he is sentenced on December 19.

Ferne is understood to have told the father of her newborn daughter that she won't ever see him again after visiting him in prison.

The interview comes as Ferne showed off her post-baby body on Monday, in a sizzling Instagram post.

The star displayed her impressively slender figure in a slinky black jumpsuit as she posed for her fans - days after confirming she will raise her daughter alone.

Slinky:The interview comes as Ferne showed off her post-baby body on Monday, in a sizzling Instagram post

The former TOWIE star certainly caught attention in the jumpsuit, which hugged her enviably slim frame from head to toe, just three weeks after giving birth.

The one-piece plunged into a deep round neckline, to give a glimpse of her ample cleavage to all, before it skimmed her long legs with its trendy flares to the floor.

She swept her hair into a sleek ponytail and sported her trademark contoured make-up look, to draw attention to her glowing complexion as a new mother.

Hot mama: The former TOWIE star certainly caught attention in the jumpsuit, which hugged her enviably slim frame from head to toe, just three weeks after giving birth

Leggy lady: The one-piece plunged into a deep round neckline, to give a glimpse of her ample cleavage to all, before it skimmed her long legs with its trendy flares to the floor

Ferne appears to be making the most of motherhood, and is often seen posting about Sunday on social media - despite the father Arthur Collins not being the picture.

A statement from her representatives acknowledged that Ferne had accepted she would be parenting alone, following her ex being found guilty of an acid attack.

'Having given birth days ago, Ferne is focusing on being the best mother she can be,' the statement said.

'She long ago accepted that she would be doing this alone and is determined to provide the best possible future for her daughter.'

Besotted: Ferne appears to be making the most of motherhood, and is often seen posting about Sunday on social media

Not in the picture: Ferne recently confirmed she would be parenting alone, after her ex Arthur Collins (above) was found guilty of an acid attack

Guilty: Arthur was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine of actual bodily harm on November 13, as part of an acid attack at Mangle nightclub in April

Ferne told Arthur: 'This is the last time you will see either of us' as she held their daughter, Sunday, during a visit to Category A Belmarsh prison in south London.

During the visit, the This Morning host told him: 'You have ruined our lives. This is what you have done. And this is what you are missing out on.'

Speaking about the dramatic visit, she told Sunday People: 'I went to see Arthur and I took Sunday with me. This was because I am very angry about what has happened and I needed to communicate that and wanted to hear what Arthur had to say.

'I strongly feel for the innocent people hurt that night and I in no way condone violence as I have already made clear. It was a difficult decision to take Sunday into that environment but I felt I needed to confront him about a number of things, which I have now done.'
She is taking Hollywood by the reigns as the leading lady in 2017's Molly's Game, The ZooKeeper's Wife and Woman Walks Ahead.

And Jessica Chastain promoted her latest film The Zookeeper's Wife in movie star fashion at the premiere event held at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Japan on Monday.

The 40-year-old actress barely contained her modesty as her gravity-defying cleavage threatened to spill out of her plunging neckline of her dress.

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Wow: Jessica Chastain, 40, struggled to contain her cleavage in plunging cold shoulder dress as she promoted her movie The Zookeeper's Wife in Japan on Monday

Glamorous Jessica was every inch the leading lady when she paraded her incredible legs in the midi dress and pointed sky-scraper heels.

Going back old Hollywood glamour, the Molly's Game star exuded elegance as she showcased her hourglass curves.

The famous red head picked out the piercing grey colour of her eyes with the sparkling jewels which adorned the garment's straps.

What a woman! She is taking Hollywood by the reigns as the leading lady in 2017's Molly's Game, The ZooKeeper's Wife and Woman Walks Ahead

Jessica caught the eye with her voluminous corkscrew fiery locks and she wore deftly touches of make-up to highlight her age-defying beauty.

Her latest venture sees her take on the role of a courageous Polish woman Antonina who, with the help of her husband Jan, helped save people during the Nazi invasion.

The Zookeeper's Wife tells the true story of the Zabinskis who kept people safe from the Ghetto by hiding them at Warsaw Zoo.

Leggy lady: Glamorous Jessica was every inch the leading lady when she paraded her incredible legs in the midi dress and pointed sky-scraper heels

Gorgeous: Jessica caught the eye with her voluminous corkscrew fiery locks and she wore deftly touches of make-up to highlight her age-defying beauty

'What I love about this film is that Antonina is very feminine and she's very strong and courageous and brave,' Jessica told Variety of the role. 'Femininity does not equate weakness and I think in the past society has connected those two.

'She was a refugee. She was born and raised in Russia, she fled violence, found her sanctuary in Warsaw, and it was animals that helped heal her.'

The Hollywood queen recently discussed how she doesn't take on traditional female roles

She's a picture: The Hollywood star accessorised with eye-catching silver bangles and rings as she put on her attention-grabbing display

People pleaser: The Molly's Game star was every inch the social butterfly as she waved to the eager crowd as she promoted her latest film

Jessica told Town and Country magazine: 'I am not one to go for traditional female roles, because I dont think traditionally female characters are very interesting, and I dont think they represent real life.

'If Im in the situation where I have equal experience to the other actor and my role is just as significant, there is no reason why I should be paid less. Its not really part of my world anymore, because I just wont accept it.'

In June 2017, Jessica married her long-term love Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo at his family estate in Italy.

Going back old Hollywood glamour: The Molly's Game star exuded elegance as she showcased her hourglass curves

Top job! Her latest venture sees her take on the role of a courageous Polish woman Antonina who, with the help of her husband Jan, helped save people during the Nazi invasion

They have kept their romance tightly under wraps since they became an item in 2012.

However, the film star shared a rare glimpse into her married life with the glossy publication.

She added: 'Getting married was a significant thing. Im very happy with my husband, and it was wonderful to be with all my friends and family and his friends and family and celebrate love.'

Storytelling: The Zookeeper's Wife tells the true story of the Zabinskis who kept people safe from the Ghetto by hiding them at Warsaw Zoo
Sunrise co-host David 'Kochie' Koch has slammed rumours he's leaving the show and hit back at rumours he's being replaced by Basil Zempilas.

The 61-year-old told The Daily Telegraph that he plans to be on the show for a while, but confirmed he will be 'scaling back' his role to four days a week at some point.

'I can definitely say I am around for a bit longer,' Kochie said.

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'I am around for a bit longer': Defiant David 'Kochie' Koch (pictured) slams rumours he's going to be replaced by Basil Zempilas on Sunrise...but reveals he'll be 'scaling back' to hosting the show four days a week

'Two years ago when I signed my last contract I said if I want to renew in future I would want to look at scaling back,' he added.

'It has been in mutual agreement, Seven have been great.'

Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell meanwhile said there was no truth to the rumours that Basil would replace Kochie.

No to Basil! Kochie hit back at rumours he's being replaced by Basil Zempilas (seen with Samantha Armytage)

Speaking out: Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell meanwhile said there was no truth to the rumours that Basil would replace Kochie

Earlier this month, Private Sydney suggested Seven was keen for a 'refresh' of the show's talent and replace Kochie with a younger presenter.

The gossip column tipped Perth-based Basil Zempilas, 46, for the promotion, adding Seven insiders considered his recent co-hosting gig with Sam Armytage to be an unofficial 'auditioning' process

It's been rumoured Kochie is in the midst of negotiating a new contract with Seven, with claims his demands have ruffled feathers among his colleagues.

Claims: Earlier this month, Private Sydney suggested Seven was keen for a 'refresh' of the show's talent and replace Kochie with a younger presenter

The publication said it was understood he had requested to cut back his involvement with the morning show to four days a week, leaving time to focus on his other business pursuits.

The column went on to say his interest in Port Adelaide AFL club and his private finance marketing company Pinstripe Media had his co-stars frustrated by his over-committing nature.

It's believed Basil Zempilas, 46, is a personal favourite of network proprietor Kerry Stokes and chief executive officer Tim Worner after his chemistry with Sam Armytage was noticed.

An anonymous insider told the publication: 'It's been really refreshing, the dynamic is totally different between them compared to when David is on set with Sam.'
He's one of the hottest actors on both the big and small screen, earning an army of fans for his work as the sociopathic detective in Sherlock and the genius sorcerer in the Marvel film Doctor Strange.

And Benedict Cumberbatch appears to be taking on the role of another suave and sophisticated gentleman as he filmed scenes for the upcoming Sky Atlantic drama Patrick Melrose.

The 41-year-old actor donned a sharp black suit to film scenes as the titular character in London on Sunday, with the scenes mimicking the style of early 2000s Britain.

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Lothario: Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, 41, played the clean-cut playboy once again on Sunday as he donned a sharp black suit to film scenes in Sky drama Patrick Melrose

The Sky Atlantic miniseries will tell the story of sophisticated Lothario Patrick Melrose, and is framed around three particular points in his life, 1960s South France, 1980s New York and early 2000s Britain.

In the scenes Benedict can be seen dramatically donning a long black coat in stylish fashion, and ever the force of the presence that actor is famous for, the scenes made for a stand-out moment.

Later the Sherlock star could also be seen running through the streets of the capital, looking somewhat dismayed as his coat billowed behind him.

The drama will be based on a series of novels by Edward St. Aubyn, and will document the turbulent life of Melrose from childhood to adulthood.

Dramatic: The Sherlock star could be seen running down a London street in scenes to take place in early 2000s Britain, looking distressed as his coat billowed behind him

As well as starring in the series, a collaboration with Sky and US network Showtime, Benedict will also executive produce each episode, after previously expressing his desire to play the role in a Reddit Q&A in 2013.

Fan excitement for the series stepped up a notch on Friday when a first look image was released by UK channel Sky Atlantic.

Rocking a look that seemed as if it had been plucked from the 80s, Benedict looked every inch the clean-cut man who should not be trusted.

The Sherlock star donned a camel coat and scarf for the look, as well as stylish round-framed sunglasses.

Teaser: Fans excitement peaked on Friday when a first look image was released for the series, with Benedict rocking a costume that had plucked right out of the 1980s

Hurt your eye? Earlier this month Benedict was seen donning an eyepatch to film scenes in Glasgow, with the city transformed to resemble 1980s New York

Benedict was previously donning an eyepatch to film scenes for Melrose in Glasgow, which saw a transformation of epic proportions to resemble to 1980s New York avenue.

The Doctor Strange star rocked the bizarre accessory to film scenes in the Scottish city at the beginning of November, and saw of an army of fans join the star on set to snap pictures of him in action.

The series is also set to star Hugo Weaving and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and while an air date is yet to be announced, it is expected to air sometime in 2018.

Tense: The series will tell the story of infamous playboy Patrick Melrose, through the window of three key points in his life
She's a mother-of-four who welcomed her youngest child just two months ago.

But Danielle Lloyd proved she'd had no trouble snapping back into shape as she showed off her impeccably toned figure in a sizzling Instagram post from Dubai on Monday.

Fans went wild for her sensational frame as they demanded to know what the secret to her physique was.

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In awe: Danielle Lloyd showed off her impeccably toned figure in a sizzling Instagram post from Dubai on Monday just two months after giving birth - sending her fans wild

Her followers wrote: 'Hello beautiful mummy xx'; 'Omg I need to know ur secret, nearly two years after my third baby I still have a bump x'; 'lookat you! 4 kids, and u look amazing! xx'; 'Amazing post baby body'; 'U look so good x'

Love Island's Zara Holland was also in awe, commenting: 'You look amazing xx'

Danielle gave birth to her fourth son, and first child with fiance Michael O'Neill, just two months ago in September.

Awestruck: Fans flooded the star with compliments after she showed off her toned figure

Bundle of joy: She had given birth to her fourth son, and first child with fiance Michael O'Neill, just two months ago in September

And proving she is already snapping back into shape, Danielle Lloyd, 33, looked sensational as she slipped into a vibrantly patterned bikini to soak up the sunshine in Dubai.

The former WAG has jetted overseas with her beau ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2017 event and confidently paraded her post-baby frame while on board a yacht.

Escaping her parenting duties for sunnier climes, Danielle looked simply stunning in the holiday snap that saw her clad in a revealing two-piece bikini for her jaunt out at sea.

Adorable: Danielle welcomed another son in September, sweet little baby Ronnie

Her bikini top teased a look at her ample bust, thanks to its daringly low-cut design, and was paired together with matching briefs that sat high on her hips.

The beauty teamed her attire with a colourful headband, as she left her brunette tresses down in a tousled style to fall past her shoulders and sported a mirrored pair of aviator shades on her face.

Beaming from ear-to-ear, Danielle oozed confidence in her scanty getup as she gushed alongside her Instagram post: 'Day on the yacht with my boy.'

Stunning: Danielle looked sensational as she flaunted her post-baby frame just TWO months after giving birth by slipping into a vibrantly patterned bikini in Dubai

Candid: It comes after the former glamour model - who had hit out at the pressure new mums face to get back into shape on Instagram - confessed to her previous body battles

It comes after the former Celebrity Big Brother star recently confessed to spending 'years' crying over her figure and her 'wobbly bits' - particularly after giving birth to her four children in a candid interview with Closer magazine.

However, Danielle - who has sons Archie, seven, Harry, six, and three-year-old George with ex-husband Jamie O'Hara, and two-month-old Ronnie with fiance Michael O'Neill - insists she has finally learned to appreciate her figure

Danielle soared to fame in 2004 when she was feted as Miss England before being crowned Miss Great Britain in 2006 although she was soon stripped of her title after posing in the December issue of Playboy in the same year.

Woah mama! She found fame as a glamour model - stripping off for countless sexy shoots (pictured in 2004)

Blooming: The 33-year-old former glamour model - who has sons Archie, seven, Harry, six, and three-year-old George with ex-husband Jamie O'Hara, and two-month-old Ronnie with fiance Michael O'Neill - has finally learned to appreciate her figure

Content: She told Closer magazine: 'I've spent years crying over my figure, especially after I had my other children I felt so big and uncomfortable. But I've finally learned to love myself and that's taken me a really long time'

She has since gone on to make various reality appearances, but has now confessed that beyond her confident public appearances, she has suffered an ongoing battle with her own body image.

Danielle, who had hit out at the pressure new mums feel to lose weight as she proudly debuted her post-baby frame just one week post-partum, said: 'I'm so happy right now and I don't care if I'm not in perfect shape. I've got wobbly bits and a little bump on my tummy but it doesn't bother me.

'I've spent years crying over my figure, especially after I had my other children I felt so big and uncomfortable. But I've finally learned to love myself and that's taken me a really long time.'

Danielle began working out twice a week just six weeks after giving birth to Ronnie but she insists the sessions are more for the mental benefits than the physical.

Way back when: Danielle has entered a number of pageants over the years

She said: 'I don't exercise for my body, although I do want to tone up my stomach and the top of my legs. Those two hours each week are just for me, where I can get out of the house and focus on myself.

'Things are hectic at home and I absolutely love it, but it's the one place I can channel my energy into something else.'

And Danielle, who has previously spoken about her struggle with postnatal depression after her previous pregnancies, believes her fitness sessions have helped her keep the condition at bay this time around.

She told the publication: 'I've been lucky this time around. I get such a huge boost of endorphins after exercising and that's made a huge difference.'
They celebrated their one-year dating anniversary earlier this month.

And Ariel Winter, 19, and beau Levi Meaden, 30, looked utterly loved-up as they stepped out hand-in-hand while heading to a friend's birthday party in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The Modern Family star went braless as she draped her curves in a stylish black jumpsuit that featured a halter neckline and revealing back.

Cute couple: Ariel Winter, 19, and beau Levi Meaden, 30, looked utterly loved-up as they stepped out hand-in-hand while heading to a friend's birthday party in Los Angeles on Sunday

The actress displayed a hint of side-boob, while slinging an envy-inducing gold quilted Chanel purse across her chest.

Ariel added extra inches to her petite 5ft1in form with a pair of dark espadrille wedges.

The starlet kept her beauty simple, piling her dark locks into a bun while sporting well defined make-up.

Levi looked laid-back but sharp in a navy blue polo shirt and comfy shorts.

Dressed to impress: The Modern Family star went braless as she draped her curves in a stylish black jumpsuit that featured a halter neckline and revealing back

Standing tall! The actress added extra inches to her petite 5ft1in form with a pair of dark espadrille wedges

The Aftermath star combed his blond coif backwards, while covering his feet with a hip pair of Yeezy sneakers.

The couple walked into the party hand-in-hand while big smiles upon their faces.

The Smurfs starlet and Canadian actor celebrated their one-year anniversary earlier this month on November 11.

The duo are nearly inseparable and share Ariel's Los Angeles home together.

Posting a sweet Instagram tribute to her man, Ariel described herself as 'the luckiest girl in the entire world'.

Work it! Ariel and Levi love being active and took a trip to the gym together on Saturday

She wrote: 'Happy 1 year anniversary my love. Im the luckiest girl in the entire world. Thank you for being the incredible man you are, and for making me the happiest I couldve ever imagined.

'Heres to many, many more. I love you. P.S. your crazy butt is the only one who could ever make me agree to jumping off a cliff at a waterfall soooo yeah. I love you.'

On Saturday the cute couple teamed up for a trip to the gym.

An Ariel insider told HollywoodLife that the starlet is 'religious when it comes to working out' and that she goes to the gym 'at least four days a week'.

She and the actor enjoy being active together, often going on hikes and working out with one another.

Levi hits the screen in the highly anticipated sci-fi follow-up Pacific Rim: Uprising, out March 23 2018, while Ariel can be seen on Wednesday nights in her ABC hit Modern Family.
Lennie James will be joining the prequel series Fear The Walking Dead for season four.

The 52-year-old actor made the announcement on Sunday evening while on Talking Dead with host Chris Hardwick.

'Yeah, its me. Im joining the cast of Fear the Walking Dead,' said the star, who has already shot eight seasons of The Walking Dead.

New gig: Lennie James will be joining the prequel series Fear The Walking Dead for season four

Already a hit: The cast of Fear The Walking Dead, which is heading into season four

He has just finishing filming the eighth season of Walking Dead in Atlanta.

James plays Morgan Jones on the hit series and was with the show from season one.

The actor won't have much time to transition as he already went to the FTWD set in Austin, Texas on Monday.

A staple: James plays Morgan Jones on the hit series and was with the show from season one

Lennie said that he is happy to start the new show but is sad to say goodbye to his old pals.

'The hardest part of it has been leaving The Walking Dead  leaving that cast, leaving that crew,' he said.

'But Im really looking forward to exploring Morgan in a whole different world, with different characters, in a different place.'

He was the first big star on the show: Norman Reedus on The Walking Dead

He followed: Jeffrey Dean Morgan then joined the show as Negan

'Even though Morgan is going to be featured on Fear, he has a lot of story left on The Walking Dead. Morgans arc in Season 8 positioned him for the story on Fear. It was also important to see Fears world and characters through new yet familiar eyes,' said Scott Gimple, the EP on The Walking Dead.

'We want these shows to have their own legs, tell their own stories and be their own thing. I think weve finally gotten to a place with Fear the Walking Dead where it has its own identity [and] we can play with some things,' said TWD creator Robert Kirkman in October.

In early November The Hollywood Reporter claimed Jenna Elfman was also joining the cast.

She is best known for her work on Dharma & Greg.

It is not yet known what her character will be on the AMC zombie drama.

New role: Jenna Elfman has been cast in the fourth season of the hit series Fear The Walking Dead, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Seen in May

According to the HR, the show is going through a 'sea change.'

Fear the Walking Dead is moving its filming location to Texas, according to sources. This was set up the finale as a new villain (Ray McKinnon) left fort 'what's left of Houston.'

He was joined by Alicia (co-star Alycia Debnam-Carey).

It was also speculated that Michael Cudlitz could reprise his role as Abraham. He would still be living in Houston with his wife, son and daughter during Fear's timeline.

Also, Walking Dead superfan Garret Dillahunt has joined the cast of season four.

Her new show: It is not yet known what her character will be on the AMC zombie drama

And original showrunner Dave Erickson has left the show. Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time) have taken his place.

In the third season Cliff Curtis' male lead Travis Manawa as well as Mercedes Mason's Ofelia Salazar were killed off.

Other characters may also be dead after a big explosion, though it's clear star Kim Dickens' Madison Clark is all right.

Fear The Walking Dead is told through the lens of high school guidance counselor Clark.

The widowed mother is raising two children single-handedly and as she remains close to English teacher Travis Manawa.

Their lives become filled with chaos as they try to survive.

Elfman's last show was CBS' Courting Alex. She was also in Accidentally on Purpose, NBC's 1600 Penn and Growing up Fisher, and ABC's Imaginary Mary.
They are the most talked about family in America.

But with a real American princess in the pipeline, the Kardashians might finally fins themselves pushed off the front pages.

But that fact didn't stop Khloe Kardashian from sharing her good wishes, after she woke up to the happy news on Monday.

'Congratulations Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!' Khloe Kardashian celebrates the royal engagement on Monday morning

Heartfelt: The reality star used Twitter to share her good news

Khloe tweeted to her fellow Californian and her husband-to-be: 'Congratulations Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!'

She adorned her post with a series of emojis, including a champagne glass, heart and praying hands.

Khloe was by far from the only star writing about the engagement, with a slew of stars tweeting their thoughts.

Bella Thorne wrote simply 'Megan and harry', misspelling her fellow actress' name and sharing a huge line of emojis - from heart eyes to crowns and engagement rings.

Even comic Chelsea Handler had kind words, writing: 'Can't Prince Harry and his American girlfriend run our country? Then seem nice.'

Ooops! Bella misspelt her fellow actress' name

Happy news: Even comic Chelsea Handler had kind words

Harry, 33, who revealed a year ago he had fallen for the actress after a four to six month secret relationship, proposed to Meghan, 36, in London earlier this month.

Royal protocol dictated that fifth in line to the throne Harry had to ask his grandmother the Queen for permission to marry and she agreed in the month where she celebrated her own 70th wedding anniversary.

In a statement Her Majesty and Prince Philip said they are 'delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness' and this morning huge crowds of tourists and royal fans gathered outside Buckingham Palace.

Twitter lover: Khloe also shared this throwback picture of herself

Set to wed: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, during their engagement photocall on Monday

Harry and his American fiancee, who divorced her first husband in 2013, will move into Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace next door to his brother William and sister-in-law Kate.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a joint statement: 'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together'. The boys' father Prince Charles said he was 'thrilled' and 'very happy indeed' for them.
She's a working mom with a tiring schedule.

But Tyra Banks enjoyed some family time with her adorable son York, 22 months, as they headed to brunch at Gjelina in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles on Sunday morning.

The model, 43, showcased her toned tum in a cropped sweater as the pair left the eatery and went on a walk around the trendy Abbott Kinney neighborhood.

Sunday funday: Tyra Banks enjoyed some family time with her adorable son York, 22 months, as they headed to brunch at Gjelina in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles on Sunday

The TV personality's grey Cynthia Rowley top featured the words 'Cali York' emblazoned across the front in large black block lettering, an ode to her bi-coastal lifestyle.

Tyra's toned and tanned tummy peeked from underneath the sweater as she carried her young son.

The beauty wore a pair of loose light green camouflaged capri pants, which showed off her nude underwear.

The America's Got Talent host tied an orange animal print bandana around her head with her long light brown hair resting on her shoulders.

Top of the crops: The model, 43, showcased her toned tum in a Cynthia Rowley cropped sweater as the pair left the eatery and went on a walk around the trendy Abbott Kinney neighborhood

Just the two of us! The TV personality's grey top featured the words 'Cali York' emblazoned across the front in large black block lettering, an ode to her bi-coastal lifestyle

Abs-olutely fabulous: Tyra's toned and tanned tummy peeked from underneath the sweater as she carried her young son

Tyra carried a bright red bag in one hand, with a small black backpack hanging from her forearm.

Her darling little boy - who turns two in January - looked comfortable in dark green sweat pants and a navy long-sleeved sweater.

The star separated from her partner of five years and father of little York, Erik Asla, in October.

Page Six reported that the split 'came drama-free and they're co-parenting their young son.'

Walk it out: The beauty wore a pair of loose light green camouflaged capri pants, which showed off her nude underwear

Keeping it casual: The America's Got Talent host tied an orange animal print bandana around her head with her long light brown hair resting on her shoulders

Sweet ride: Her darling little boy looked comfortable in dark green sweat pants and a navy long-sleeved sweater

Although Erik has agreed to move out of the family home, the pair are still working together professionally and he will shoot the credit for America's Next Top Model.

The insider explained: 'He is slated to shoot the photos for the opening credits of the upcoming America's Next Top Model.'

The split comes just over a year since it was claimed the couple were struggling to keep their relationship on the straight and narrow following the birth of York.

Erik also has two daughters from a previous relationship.
She's been in the modelling industry for over 30 years and is as in demand as ever.

But Kate Moss proved she still enjoys a spot of pampering, as she was spotted exiting a luxury Russian spa on Monday.

The 43-year-old supermodel kept a low profile as she exited the Banya No. 1 luxury spa in central London, donning a hat while attempting to slip out unnoticed.

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Low profile: Kate Moss, 43, attempted to blend in on Monday as she exited a Russian Spa in London after a luxury treatment

Kate donned an oversized grey coat with a matching fur collar and green tassels as she exited the luxury spa, bundling her blonde tresses up under her hat.

The Topshop model teamed her cover-up with a black jumper and baggy jeans, carrying her essentials in a teal leather bowling bag.

Kate appeared to go make-up free leaving the health club, perhaps to feel the full effects after a facial or a trip to the sauna.

Fresh-faced: The fashion star appeared to go makeup-free as she donned a hat for the visit to the Banya No. 1 spa

Cosy: Kate covered up in a grey oversized coat with a fur collar teamed with a black jumper and oversized jeans

The glamorous spa is certainly one for the indulgent, with packages starting at 95 per person for unique Russian-inspired massages and other body treatments.

Kate was seen indulging herself after previously embracing her inner adrenaline-lover on Sunday, riding rollercoasters in Winter Wonderland.

While the fashion star was not with beau Nikolai Von Bismarck, Kate recently revealed that he and her daughter Lila Grace, 14, share the same taste in jewellery.

Speaking in an interview with the Telegraph magazine back in July the model said: 'I can steal his jewellery; he doesnt steal mine.'

Class-A beauty: The health club in central London is certainly for the indulgent with packages starting at 95

Relaxed: Kate seemed to be taking a day out for herself after embracing her inner adrenaline junkie for a visit to Winter Wonderland on Sunday

Kate has been modelling for 30 years now and is still very much in demand as a top model in the industry.

The blonde beauty has been gracing global catwalks and city billboards every since she was discovered at New Yorks JFK airport when she was 14 by Sarah Doukas, founder of Storm Models management.

After becoming the face of Calvin Klein underwear at the tender age of 17, the star has been modelling ever since, with campaigns for Topshop, Rimmel London, Burberry and Chanel.

Top dollar: The London spa is loved for its Russian-style body treatments and massages
She loves nothing more than flaunting her figure on social media.

And Emily Ratajkowski was yet again in a bikini as posed up a storm in a series of posts at Maderas Village in Nicaragua on Monday morning.

However despite the 26-year-old's relaxed poses, the images came as she was hit by allegations she copied designs for her swimwear line from New York-based designer Lisa Marie Fernandez.

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Beaming: Emily Ratajkowski showed more of her tanned body on Instagram in a series of Thanksgiving vacation posts at Maderas Village in Nicaragua on Monday morning

Fernandez claims Ratajkowski's new business interest - Inamorata swimsuits - copied two of her designs, according toBusiness of Fashion.

Fernandez sent Ratajkowski a cease-and-desist letter in regards to the styles which she said closely resemble two silhouettes she first released more than three years ago.

'Because of technology, we are really entering an era of accountability in so many ways,' Fernandez wrote on Instagram.

She sees similarities between her off-the-shoulder Leandra bikini ($595) and multi-bow Triple Poppy maillot ($455 to $535) and Inamoratas Vulcan top ($80) and Cardiff suit ($160), respectively.

Similar? Fernandez claims Inamorata swimsuits copied two of her designs; seen left is Fernandez's multi-bow Triple Poppy maillot ($455 to $535) and right is Inamoratas Cardiff suit ($160) modelled by Ratajkowski

Whoops: Fernandez discovered the similarities between her off-the-shoulder Leandra bikini ($595) and Inamoratas Vulcan top ($80), respectively, through Instagram; Fernandez's design seen on Instagram in August 2016, while Ratajkowski models her version

Trouble: New York swimwear designer Lisa Marie Fernandez claims the actress copied two of her designs, according to Business of Fashion; one of Fernandez's designs seen on Instagram in February

Ratajkowski launched her swimwear line just last week, posing in a series of images on her Instagram in addition to the brand's page.

Fernandez's claims might be hard to prove - in the United States, there is no copyright protection for physically functional items, including clothing.

Indeed designers often take inspiration from one another.

However Fernandez has invoked two European Union Community Design Registration certificates that she registered in May 2015, which are relevant as Emily's new range is available to be shipped internationally.

Vacation: The 26-year-old model posed up a storm amid allegations she copied designs for her new swimwear line from New York-based designer Lisa Marie Fernandez

Serenity: Emily seemed to be enjoying some downtime as she showed off her famous form while relaxing on a couch with wet hair and a cup of coffee

Seemingly unconcerned by the lawsuit, Emily was busy promoting her designs on Monday.

Wearing a large woven hat on her head, Emily's abs were on full display as she posed on a wooden staircase in one image.

Ratajkowski tied a burnt mustard crop top around her ample assets and sported maroon bottoms.

Queen: Rihanna sported a bubble gum pink bikini from Lisa's line on Instagram

Work it: Selena Gomez is a fan of Fernandez, having shown off her killer curves in a denim two-piece on Instagram

Boating beauty: Kendall Jenner rocked a flirty Lisa Marie Fernandez design on a yacht in Cannes, France in May

Red hot! Khloe Kardashian looked strong and sexy in a sleeved Fernandez design for the cover of Health magazine in December 2016

In another sultry image, the We Are Your Friends actress showed off her perfect pout for a seductive selfie.

A stringy black triangle top held Ratajkowski's bulging bosom in place as she showed off some major cleavage.

She seemed to be nearly makeup-free and sported a shiny golden pendant around her neck.

Emily seemed to be enjoying some downtime as she showed off her famous form while relaxing on a couch with wet hair and a cup of coffee.
He melted hearts across the nation as Anne Hathaway's devilish love interest in the 2011 tearjerker One Day.

But Jim Sturgess looked worlds away from the clean-cut heartthrob role on Monday, as he showed off a scruffy beard and longer locks.

The London-born star, 39, rocked a jazzy printed shirt as he posed with co-star Agyness Deyn at the London premiere of their new BBC crime thriller Hard Sun.

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Who's that? Jim Sturgess looked worlds away from his role as a heartthrob on One Day on Monday, as he showed off a scruffy beard and longer locks. Pictured with co-star Agyness Deyn

Jim appeared to be in great spirits as he chatted away and laughed with Agyness at the premiere at the BFI Southbank.

The actor achieved global fame as charismatic Dexter Mayhew in the romantic comedy One Day, set in London.

The film follows Dexter and Anne Hathaway's character Emma Morley as they hook up on graduation night - and build a strong friendship that turns to love over the decades.

Discussing Dexter's wild partying ways early in the film, Jim previously said he relished the opportunity to play a drug-taking reveller.

Hunk: He melted hearts as the devilish heartthrob opposite Anne Hathaway in the 2011 tearjerker One Day

Breakout role: The actor achieved global fame as charismatic Dexter Mayhew in the romantic comedy One Day, set in London

Romance: The film follows Dexter and Anne Hathaway's character Emma Morley as they hook up on graduation night - and build a strong friendship that turns to love over the decades

'Being a jerk was fun, being coked up and going around the Soho [London] nightclubs,' he told Vulture.

'We did lots of improvising and messing around, being in these bars and clubs on coke and all that shit, so it was a lot of fun doing that. The script I read had loads of popping pills and snorting coke in toilets with girls, and I was like "this is great!.'

'I was worried that they might take it out of the film completely, but its still referenced and youre aware of it.'

Looking good: The London-born star, 39, rocked a jazzy printed shirt as he posed at the London premiere of their new BBC crime thriller Hard Sun

Loving life: Jim appeared to be in great spirits as he chatted away and laughed with Agyness at the premiere at the BFI Southbank

cHIC: Model turned actress Agyness beamed as she posed in an ivory Victoriana-inspired gown with lace edging and ruffles at the premiere

Killer footwear: Sticking to a chic all-white palette, the 34-year-old paired the garment with white studded leather loafers

Since One Day, Jim has gone on to star in films like The Way Back, Upside Down opposite Kirsten Dunst and Cloud Atlas.

He will soon be returning to the TV screen however, in BBC One thriller Hard Sun with Agyness.

Model turned actress Agyness beamed as she posed in an ivory Victoriana-inspired gown with lace edging and ruffles at the premiere.

Gritty role: Agyness plays detective Elaine Renko in the six-part crime drama Hard Sun on BBC One opposite Jim Sturgess, who plays police officer Robert Hicks

Apocalyptic: will appear as two warring detectives who are operating in a modern London that is 'slipping close to certain destruction'

The whole gang: Jojo Macari, Agyness Deyn, Kate Harwood, Jim Struges, Derek Riddell, Aisling Bea make up the cast of Hard Sun

Just hanging out: The cast flashed wide grins as they celebrated the launch of the series

Sticking to a chic all-white palette, the 34-year-old paired the garment with white studded leather loafers.

Wearing her gamine crop in a tousled style, the British beauty showcased her striking features with minimal make-up.

Agyness plays detective Elaine Renko in the six-part crime drama.

She and Robert Hicks (Jim) will appear as two warring detectives who are operating in a modern London that is 'slipping close to certain destruction'.

Party hoppers: Pixie Geldof and Henry Holland also attended the premiere of Hard Sun

Having a whale of a time! The close friends appeared to be in great spirits as they posed at the event

They completely distrust each other but must learn to work together in a world facing certain destruction while investigating the death of a hacker in London.

The role is an achievement for Agyness who has been pursuing acting success since she first appeared on screen in the 2010 film The Clash Of The Titans.

Last year, Agyness wed hedge fund manager Joel McAndrew in an intimate service in Brooklyn, New York.

Keeping it casual: Pixie, 27, kept it casual in indigo dungarees layered over a pastel green sweater and butterfly necklace
She rose to fame following her television debut on Channel 4's puzzle show Countdown, at the tender age of 22.

And Rachel Riley, 31, commanded the attention in an elegant maxi frock, decorated with an efflorescent design, while she attended the British Takeaway Awards in association with Just Eat at The Savoy Hotel on Monday.

She was joined by a host of famous faces, including Call the Midwife's Helen George, who showcased her slender physique in an off-shoulder jumpsuit.

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Show-stopper: Rachel Riley, 31, commanded the attention in an elegant maxi frock, decorated with an efflorescent design, while she attended the British Takeaway Awards in association with Just Eat at The Savoy Hotel on Monday

Highlighting her perky assets, the English mathematician graced the red carpet in a high-low frock, which featured a plunging neckline.

Rachel radiated a beaming smile as she stood on black barely-there stilettos with a unique multi-coloured heel, while she held onto her crimson red clutch.

Her platinum locks formed into tight curls as her tresses scraped her shoulders.

Glamour: Actress Helen George donned a floor-length jumpsuit which was embellished with a draped beaded sleeve

Pretty: Helen added colour to her outfit as she painted her lips in a gorgeous rouge, while her golden mane was swept into a neat top knot bun

All smiles: Rachel radiated a beaming smile as she stood on black barely-there stilettos with a unique multi-coloured heel, while she held onto her crimson red clutch

Platinum beauty: Highlighting her perky assets, the English mathematician graced the red carpet in the high-low frock, which featured a plunging neckline

Ravishing: Accentuating her beauty with a slash of red lipstick, the Oxford graduate complemented her face with a pigmented rose blush, heavy false lashes and a thick eye liner

Accentuating her beauty with a slash of red lipstick, the Oxford graduate complemented her face with a pigmented rose blush, heavy false lashes and a thick eye liner.

The event is in dedication to local takeaway owners, as guests recognise their vast contribution to the nation through their cuisines.

Hosted by John Bishop, over 300 of the most celebrated names in the British takeaway industry, including restaurants, chefs and delivery drivers, came together for one glamorous evening to applaud the success of Britains best independent takeaway businesses.

Preened to perfection: Rachel styled her golden tresses in polished waves and plumped her pout with a slick of red lipstick

Three's a crowd: Yvette Robinson, Helen George and Rachel Riley appeared to be in great spirits as they took their seats

Looking good: The pair opted for contrasting outfits, with Helen going monochrome while Rachel kept it chic in colourful florals

Celebration: Rachel Riley rang in her 2000th episode of the daytime puzzle show on Thursday, by sharing a throwback snap from her very first appearance

Celebrities attendees included Kelly Brook with boyfriend Jeremy Parisi, Chris Hughes, Ainsley Harriott, Sarah Willingham and Lisa Faulkner.

Actress Helen George also demanded the spotlight in a chic monochromatic one-piece suit.

The 33-year-old donned a floor-length jumpsuit which was embellished with a draped beaded sleeve.

Cinched at her waist, the stylish ensemble was complemented with a stand-out silver handbag.

Busty! Kelly Brook's famous bosoms were on display as she rocked up to the event in a off-shoulder skater dress

Buxom: The curvy brunette wore a Bardot neckline that framed her famous cleavage

Flirtatious: Kelly's dress was a ladylike one with an A-line skirt and tulle overlay

Give us a twirl: The brunette span, fanning out her A-line skirt

Showing her shape: Kelly emphasised her incredible bust with a sweetheart neckline

Double trouble: The brunette beauty was joined by her dashing French boyfriend Jeremy Parisi

Sitting pretty: The couple were inseparable as they took their seats for the awards

Helen added colour to her outfit as she painted her lips in a gorgeous rouge, while her golden mane was swept into a neat top knot bun.

Rachel rang in her 2000th episode of the daytime puzzle show last Thursday, by sharing a throwback snap from her very first appearance.

She excitedly took to Instagram to post the vintage shot to her 102,000 followers, which saw her clad in a cobalt blue figure-hugging dress, rocking a bob and posing in front of the show's famous clock.

Elegant: Lisa Faulkner looked sensational in a midi semi-sheer frock, which features a ruffled neckline

Dapper: Chef Ainsley Harriott was in his prime in a black tuxedo and bowtie

Suave: Chris Hughes wowed in a light grey blazer, paired with black fitted bottoms

She jokingly captioned the fresh-faced snap: 'This was my first episode in 2009, today is my 2000th! And aside from the numbers games, most of my favourite moments are too rude to type. havent changed much! Thanks for watching our lovely little show.'

Rachel joined Countdown to replace show stalwart Carol Vorderman in 2009 after which she became a fan favourite and something of a pin-up.

The daytime star joined Countdown to replace show stalwart Carol Vorderman in 2009 after which she became a fan favourite and something of a pin-up.

Mane attraction: Chris appeared to be having something of a bad hair day on the night

Shone on: Dragon's Den star and entrepreneur Sarah Willingham, 43, looked chic in a silver minidress

Heading home: Kelly had a spring in her step as she left the venue

Careful! But she risked a wardrobe malfunction with her busty dress

Easy does it: Seen clambering into the back of a car, Kelly had to be careful not to overexpose herself

Posing up a storm: She was still ready for the cameras as she left

Giddy: With her boyfriend trailing behind, Kelly gave a broad smile

Excitable: She was happy to be heading home after a fun-filled evening

Also spotted: EastEnders actor Dean Gaffney exited shortly after

Heading into the night: Rachel was a vision as she dashed off into the night
She received high praise from Meghan Markle in a gushing Instagram post last year.

And Pia Miller's secret friendship with the American actress could score the Home and Away star an invite to Meghan's royal wedding with Prince Harry next year.

Newly-engaged Meghan, 36, previously hailed mother-of-two Pia, 34, as 'impressive' and 'entertaining' in a heartfelt post, ultimately revealing her secret friendship with the model.

Wedding bells! Prince Harry, 33, and Meghan Markle, 36, announced their engagement on Monday and fans have begun speculating who will attend their royal wedding

'When @piamiller sends you some #foodforthought. Brilliant one, my friend - thanks for sharing. You are both entertaining and impressive. Xx,' Meghan captioned alongside the words: 'Beauty is entertaiing. Depth is impressive.'

No doubt flattered by Meghan's words, Pia, who also announced her own engagement to Tyson Mullane this month, swiftly replied: 'word' alongside a heart emoji.

The Logie award-nominee, who recently travelled to Meghan's native Los Angeles, previously collaborated with the Hollywood beauty on The Tig - a former lifestyle website founded by Meghan.

The Aussie connection: Meghan previously hailed actress Pia Miller (R) as 'impressive' in a gushing Instagram post

Secret friends: No doubt flattered by Meghan's words, Pia, who also announced her own engagement to Tyson Mullane this month, swiftly replied: 'word' alongside a heart emoji

On Monday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement after 18 months of dating and the highly-anticipated royal wedding is set to take place early next year.

Pia is not the only Australian connection to the future royal couple, with Hollywood starlet Margot Robbie previously revealing she knows Prince Harry.

The Wold of Wall Street star, who was once pictured partying with the fifth-in-line to the British throne, once told E! News that she met him through British model Cara Delevingne and they've exchanged text messages.

She said 'yes'! On Monday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement after 18 months of dating and the highly-anticipated royal wedding is set to take place early next year

'He's pretty quick on text actually,' she said.

'Unlike meI write back four days later, weeks later sometimes.'

Last year, Margot attended Suki Waterhouse's Ciroc vodka bash along with Prince Harry and admitted that she initially didn't realise who he was.

'I didn't know it was him for about half an hour talking to him,' she told ET.

Will she be invited? Pia is not the only Australian connection to the future royal couple, with Hollywood starlet Margot Robbie previously revealing she knows Prince Harry

'Suki was having a housewarming party. I was like, 'I'll pop in for 10 minutes.' About six hours later the photo booth happened.'

Prince Harry and Meghan are expected to wed in the spring of 2018.

In a statement released by Kensington Palace, Prince Charles said he was 'delighted' for his son and his future bride.

Star-studded bach: Last year, Margot (centre) attended Suki Waterhouse's Ciroc vodka bash along with Prince Harry (bottom-left) and admitted that she initially didn't realise who he was. Also pictured Princess Beatrice (L), Sienna Miller (2-L), Cara Delevingne (R)

'His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle,' the statement read.

'His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month.

It continued: 'Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty the Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markle's parents.'

Prince Harry and Meghan's royal titles are expected to become the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
They're the Australian rock band known for their retro-inspired discography.

And things may have gotten a little too rock and roll for Wolfmother at their concert last Friday, with frontman Andrew Stockdale accused of being 'removed from his own concert by security' after 'a two-hour drunken set', according to Music Feeds.

But speaking to Daily Mail Australia Andrew denied he had been escorted out, explaining that the security had been providing a buffer between him and the fans.

'A few beers almost got the better of us!' Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale denies being 'removed from his own concert by security' after 'a two-hour drunken set' during Byron Bay gig

Wolfmother fan and concertgoer Josh Parkinson told Music Feeds Andrew performed 'a two-hour drunken set' which included ACDC covers.

Management were trying to wrap up the concert when the band decided to perform their hit Joker and The Thief for a second time that evening, Josh claimed.

'And while they were playing that last song he jumped down from stage to get to the crowd but the security escorted him out. 11/10 unforgettable night,' he added.

Joining the crowd: Andrew can be seen removing his shirt during the night before leaving the stage and being mobbed by the crowd

A video of the concert Andrew can be seen removing his shirt during the night before leaving the stage and being mobbed by the crowd.

A security guard can then be seen escorting Andrew out of the crowd as audience members cheered.

But speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Andrew said he had been drinking but denied it resulted in him being 'removed'.

'Don't get me wrong I did without a doubt drink way too much - I'm not that in denial of the situation,' he explained, adding that the band had played for their entire two hour set.

Video: A security guard can then be seen escorting Andrew out of the crowd as audience members cheered

'At the end of the show I just walked off through the crowd and the security were just acting like a buffer between me and the crowd, [I was] interacting with the crowd hugging people and then when back to the band room and that was it.

'... The whole thing of being removed I don't know about that - If I was going to be removed I would be removed in an hour or 45 minutes into the night.'

Andrew said he rarely drank that much before a gig but had relaxed the rules a little last week because he was in his home town of Byron Bay and his second child is due to be born next month.

'It's like a once in a blue moon - my theory is don't drink until an hour before the show whereas this time we drank a round as soon as we finished soundcheck,' he said.

'You're in your hometown you're at your local pub, you forget, ''oh yeah I've got to play a show in six hours' time''.'

In a statement to Music Feeds, Wolfmother said their free Byron Bay show had been 'colourful and unique' after 'a few beers'.

'Let's just say a few beers in one of the most spectacularly located pubs in the world almost got the better of us. We're happy to say we made it through and are better for it,' they said.

'It's definitely one to be remembered, even though it's slightly hard to remember it': Wolfmother said their free Byron Bay show had been 'colourful and unique' after 'a few beers'

'The show was colourful and unique, let's just say that. It's definitely one to be remembered, even though it's slightly hard to remember it, thanks to all the who came along, thanks to the good people of The Beachy.'

Bursting on to the Australian music scene with their self-titled first album in 2005, Wolfmother have gained a loyal following.

The popular band have three ARIA awards to their name, including one for Best Rock Album.

Wolfmother's new single Freedom is Mine is currently out and available on iTunes.
She's been toted as a potential bridesmaid when Meghan Markle ties the knot with Prince Harry next spring.

And Priyanka Chopra was spotted heading out of town from Los Angeles International Airport on Monday afternoon as excitement about the royal engagement reached fever pitch.

The actress, 35, was sporting a brace on one knee as she strutted through the terminal ready to catch her flight.

Here comes the bride(smaid)! Priyanka Chopra was spotted heading out of town from LAX on Monday afternoon amid claims she could be in Meghan Markle's bridal party

The former Miss World looked positively chic in a black leather jacket lined with black velour as she walked through the airport.

Priyanka donned a tight white tank top underneath her winter coat and sported a pair of figure-hugging light blue denim jeans.

The Baywatch star cuffed her jeans around her ankles to reveal a pair of black leather booties.

Priyanka carried a large black leather bag across her arm with books and an iPhone in her hand.

Walk it out: The actress, 35, was sporting a brace on one knee as she strutted through the terminal ready to catch her flight

Pals: Priyanka is believed to be just one of the names who could make up Meghan Markle's bridal party when she ties the knot with Prince Harry in an eagerly-anticipated royal wedding

The former beauty queen may be on her way back to New York to film her hit show Quantico after a nice Thanksgiving break with her family.

Priyanka is believed to be just one of the names who could make up Meghan Markle's bridal party when she ties the knot with Prince Harry in an eagerly-anticipated royal wedding in spring 2018.

The pair first met at a party in Toronto, Canada - where Meghan, 36, filmed Suits - two years ago.

After Meghan interviewed her for her blog, The Tig, they became friends and Priyanka has publicized photos of them together - including one where they drank cocktails together in a dimly-lit bar in Los Angeles.

Stylish: The former Miss World looked positively chic in a black leather jacket lined with black velour as she walked through the airport

Natural beauty: Priyanka donned a tight white tank top underneath her winter coat and sported a pair of figure-hugging light blue denim jeans

For her part, Meghan shared a picture of herself and the Indian actress at Soho House in New York, at Broadway plays and hanging out by a pool.

Serena Williams, Janina Gavankar and British reality star Millie Mackintosh are among those also touted as potential members of the bridal party.

Harry and Meghan announced the happy news of their engagement on Monday after 16 months of dating.

Happy couple: Meghan and Prince Harry announced the happy news of their engagement on Monday after 16 months of dating (pictured at Kensington Palace in London on Monday)

Priyanka shared a host of images on Instagram as she celebrated Thanksgiving with friends last week.

In one sweet photo, she perfectly positioned a massive plate of food in one hand while wearing a gorgeous black dress.

Priyanka captioned the charming photo: 'This is how we do it', followed by the hashtagas #thanksgiving and #foodcoma.

The actress is a UNICEF ambassador and recently returned from Jordan, where she highlighted the plight of Syrian refugees.

Holiday spirit: Priyanka shared a host of images on Instagram as she celebrated Thanksgiving with friends last week

Relax: The brunette beauty slipped into a red and white stripe bikini top as she tucked into a huge bowl of paella with a male friend or relative
They've become firm friends since landing in the jungle together.

However, it has been reported that Jennie McAlpine once witnessed one of Jamie Lomas' least proud moments, when he was kicked out a Coronation Street party.

According to The Sun, the former Hollyoaks star, 42, had been invited to Katherine Kelly's birthday party with his then-other half Kym Marsh, 41, when he became embroiled in a tete-a-tete at Velvet nightclub in Manchester.

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Reports: It has been reported that Jamie Lomas was once kicked out of Coronation Street star Katherine Kelly's 30th birthday party for allegedly starting a fight with another guest - which his I'm A Celebrity camp mate Jennie McAlpine witnessed

The publication reported that a fellow male party-goer instigated the argument after he made a comment about Kym - Katherine's co-star - which prompted Jamie to throw a missed punch at the man in December 2009.

As the argument raged on, the two men were reprimanded in separate toilet cubicles by security staff as they waited for the police to arrive - before they were both thrown out later on in the night, putting a 'dampener' on festivities.

An insider said: 'Jamie had gone to the party with Kym but didn't really mingle with Katherine and Jennie - they just stood by the bar talking to the same few guests all night.

MailOnline has contacted Jamie Lomas and Jennie McAlpine's reps for comment.

We meet again: His now campmate Jennie McAlpine is said to have been a guest at the bash that Jamie once got ejected from

'Then towards the end of the evening, a man made a remark about Kym and Jamie just launched at him. He threw a punch but missed. Kym jumped straight in and tried to hold him back. There was a lot of shouting and bouncers had to intervene.

The source added: 'They were later thrown out. Poor Katherine tried to pretend she wasnt bothered but it clearly put a dampener on things. The party was forced to finish there, as the mood had taken a serious nosedive.'

Meanwhile, Jamie is currently battling it out alongside Jennie to be crowned this year's instalment of the jungle stalwart and has his ex Kym's support.

Support: Kym admitted she is backing her former husband Jamie Lomas,who she shares six-year-old daughter Polly with, in his quest to become king of the I'm A Celebrity jungle

She recently revealed she is continually voting for her ex Jamie to take part in the grisly I'm A Celebrity challenges, to please their young daughter Polly, six.

And Kym admitted that she is backing her former husband, who she has a 'very good relationship' with, in his quest to become king of the jungle.

In a candid chat with The Mirror, the Coronation Street star revealed the amicable pair went for coffee a few weeks before Jamie jetted to Australia, and said: 'Theres no bad feelings. We have a very good relationship, Jamie and I.

Close bond: In a candid chat with The Mirror , the Coronation Street star, 41, said: 'Theres no bad feelings. We have a very good relationship, Jamie and I. Polly has a good relationship with her dad...We have nothing bad to say about each othee (Jamie and Polly pictured above)

Excitement: Expressing her excitement for Jamie's creepy-crawly filled trial, The Hole, which will air on tonight's episode the star also tweeted: 'I cant tell you how excited my Polly is to watch her daddy do his trial!!! She has been waiting for this day!! Bless her little heart'

'Polly has a good relationship with her dad...We have nothing bad to say about each other.

When she was asked if the Hollyoaks hunk could win the show, the star waxed lyrical with her praise for him, saying: 'Why not? Hes a character, hes got a personality.'

Expressing her excitement for Jamie's creepy-crawly filled trial, The Hole, which will air on tonight's episode the star also tweeted: 'I cant tell you how excited my Polly is to watch her daddy do his trial!!! She has been waiting for this day!! Bless her little heart.'

The support comes after Kym revealed in her OK! column, that her little girl wants to 'see her daddy eat bugs', and that the pair have been supporting Jamie from the comfort of their sofa.
She set pulses racing as she stripped off for two steamy lesbian romps in political drama The Girlfriend Experience.

But Anna Friel's first same-sex storyline occurred 23 years earlier, when she made television history with her lesbian kiss on Brookside at the tender age of 17.

The actress, now 41, and her co-star Nicola Stephenson were the first girls to pucker up on British Primetime television in 1994.

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Common ground: Anna Friel returns to familiar territory in The Girlfriend Experience (pictured), which sees her share lesbian love scenes, 23 years after the kiss that made defined her teenage role on Brookside

Anna played the part of Beth Jordache on the soap - a teenager who discovers she's a lesbian and has an affair with her best friend Margaret Clemence (Nicola)

In January 1994, the pair kissed in front of 6million viewers - the first ever pre-nine-o'clock watershed lesbian kiss.

And the actress revisited the lesbian role more than two decades later, as she stripped off for lesbian love scenes in The Girlfriend Experience.

Raunchy stills from the latest episode show Anna engaging in an extremely passionate sex scene with co-star Louisa Krause, 31, before romping on the sofa with Narges Rashidi, 37.

Ground-breaking: Anna's first same-sex storyline occurred 23 years ago, when she made television history with her lesbian kiss on Brookside at the tender age of 17

History in the making: The actress (left), now 41, and her co-star Nicola Stephenson were the first girls to pucker up on British Primetime television in 1994. Pictured in 1995

Anna plays political executive Erica Myles, who falls for high-end escort Anna Garner (Louisa Krause) in the second series of the Washington DC-based racy show.

The spicy scenes see Anna's character shedding her clothes for a raunchy sex scene with her escort love Anna, played by Louisa.

The pair are seen writhing on the bed in ecstasy as they strip off, with Anna showing off her pert assets as she climbs on top of a topless Louisa, before the characters perform sex acts on one another.

Sizzling: Anna set pulses racing as she stripped off for two steamy lesbian romps in political drama The Girlfriend Experience

The sizzling scenes see both actresses pulling animated and passionate expressions as the romp gets underway.

The steaminess continues as Anna's character is then seen meeting up with her dominant ex-girlfriend Darya Esford, played by Narges, with both stars leaning in for a sweet kiss before Anna's character performs a sex act on her ex.

Discussing the scenes with Metro.us, Friel urged audiences to look beyond the sexual scenes at the drama taking place away from the sheets.

Kiss: Raunchy stills from the latest episode show the 41-year-old actress engaging in racy sex scenes, including one with her on-screen girlfriend, played by Louisa Krause, 31

Raunchy: The spicy scenes see Anna's character shedding her clothes for a raunchy sex scene with her escort love Anna, played by Louisa

Passion: The pair are seen writhing on the bed in ecstasy as they strip off, with Anna showing off her pert assets as she climbs on top of a topless Louisa

She said: 'Weve got to concentrate on it as a piece of work. I've never really had an issue with nudity as long as I didn't ever feel like I was made to do it or thought that it was salacious.

'But if you're dealing with something where you know that sex is going to be involved, it's something that we really shouldn't shy away from.'

In the critically acclaimed series Anna plays a high-powered political executive who has a relationship with a female escort.

Elsewhere Anna has received critical acclaim for her most recent out as a talented but volatile detective.

Hot under the collar: The scene intensifies as the characters perform sex acts on one another

Wow factor: The sizzling scenes see both actresses completely stripping off in the bedroom

In the ITV series Marcella, which wrapped filming on its new series over the summer, Anna played Detective Marcella Backland, who is devastated when her husband leaves her and their two children, but is forced to try and put her personal issues aside whilst on the hunt for a serial killer.

Anna - who is thought to be currently single - raises her 11-year-old daughter Gracie Fields, from her previous romance with David Thewlis, 54.

The former flames never married, but split for good after almost a decade together in December 2010.

Kiss; The steaminess continues as Anna's character is then seen meeting up with her dominant ex-girlfriend Darya Esford, played by Narges
Hundreds of the mayor's supporters took to the streets last month to call for his release.

Senegal's national assembly has lifted the parliamentary immunity of Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, a leading opponent of President Macky Sall, opening the way for his trial on graft charges.

The mayor has been in pre-trial detention since March on what his supporters say are politically-motivated charges.

After a raucous debate, the deputies late on Saturday voted by 125 to 27 to back a report by a parliamentary commission calling for Sall's immunity to be lifted.

Earlier Saturday, security forces fired tear gas to break up a demonstration of dozens of his supporters outside the assembly, in the centre of the Senegalese capital, local media said.

In March, Sall, who is no relation to the president, was accused of misappropriating 1.83 billion CFA francs ($2.85 million, 2.7 million euros) in city funds. He denies the charges.

Mayor of Dakar since 2009, he was elected to Senegal's parliament in July, and had been seen as a key contender for 2019 presidential elections.

Hundreds of his supporters, chanting "Khalifa until we die!", took to the streets of the capital last month to call for his release.
The Supreme Court is set to rule in a 'love jihad' case

An Indian woman whose marriage to a Muslim was annulled at her Hindu father's request has denied she was forcibly converted to Islam, ahead of her testimony in the Supreme Court Monday.

The decision by a local court in May to nullify the marriage and force Akhila Ashokan, 25, to return to live with her parents has caused outrage among woman's rights campaigners.

Her father had petitioned the high court in the southern state of Kerala to annul the marriage, claiming she had been forced into it and made to convert to Islam.

But the court's decision was challenged by her former husband in the supreme court, which asked her to appear in person to give evidence on November 27.

"I am a Muslim. I was not forced. I want to be with my husband!" a Press Trust of India report quoted Ashokan as saying.

The news agency said she made the shouted comment to journalists as she was being whisked away by police to the airport for her flight to New Delhi on Saturday.

Inter-religious relationships are still taboo in India, particularly in rural areas.

The issue has become a flashpoint for nationalists in recent years, with Hindu extremists raising fears of "love jihad" -- claims that young Muslim men were attempting to seduce Hindu women in order to convert them.

Ashokan married in December last year after converting to Islam and changing her name to Hadiya.

She has not been allowed to leave her father's house since the marriage was annulled in May.

The federal investigations agency has said it is looking into alleged links between her husband Shafin Jahan and extremist groups.

He has not been convicted of any crime.
Members of Sudan's Rappid Support Forces were ambushed near Mustariaha, the hometown of militia leader Musa Hilal

Ten members of Sudan's controversial counter-insurgency unit have been killed in clashes with fighters loyal to a powerful militia leader in war-torn Darfur, the official SUNA news agency reported Sunday.

Clashes between troops from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and fighters loyal to Musa Hilal erupted when a unit of RSF was ambushed near the hometown of Hilal in the state of North Darfur.

"An RSF commander and nine other members were martyred when they were ambushed near Mustariaha," SUNA reported.

Mustariaha is the hometown and bastion of Hilal, whose fighters have reportedly clashed with RSF troops in Darfur several times in recent months.

The RSF commander and nine others were "ambushed by outlaws" when they had gone to check another ambush in the same area, the report said, referring to Hilal's fighters as outlaws.

"The incident occurred when the RSF unit was in the area as part of the government's arms collection programme," it said.

A separate statement issued by RSF confirmed the death toll.

Tribal sources in the region said the clashes were fierce as both sides used light and heavy weapons.

Darfur, a region of the size of France, has been awash with weapons since 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of economic and political marginalisation.

The weapons are held by tribal militias, including some backed by government forces, and authorities now want them to be surrendered claiming that the conflict has ended.

Hilal -- a former aide of Bashir -- and his fighters have refused to surrender their arms.

During the initial years of the conflict in Darfur, Hilal and his gunmen had fought on the side of government forces against rebels in the region.

But a rift erupted between him and the government a few years ago when he accused Khartoum of ignoring his political demands.
With Russian military backing, Syrian government troops have taken back large chunks of IS-held Deir Ezzor province

At least 53 civilians, including 21 children, perished early Sunday morning when Russian air strikes hit "residential buildings" in a village held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit the village of Al-Shafah in Deir Ezzor province, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

The monitor had initially given a death toll of 34 civilians but the number spiked after more bodies were recovered.

"The toll increased after removing the debris in a long day of rescue operation," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, adding the strikes hit "residential buildings".

At least 18 people were also wounded in the air raids, he added.

Russia is a close ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and in September 2015 began a military intervention in support of his government that has gradually helped Damascus regain territory.

Syria's Deir Ezzor is one of the last places IS jihadists hold territory in the country, after being driven from their major strongholds including their one-time de facto Syrian capital Raqa city.

The oil-rich eastern province that borders Iraq was once almost completely under IS control, but the jihadists now hold just nine percent of Deir Ezzor, according to the Observatory.

They have faced two separate offensives there, one led by the regime with Russian backing and the other by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

- Russia in driving seat -

The latest strikes come as the United Nations tries to revitalise its flagging efforts to end a six-year civil war that has left Syria devastated and huge swathes of its population refugees.

On Tuesday, the eighth round of UN-brokered talks will kick off.

They have achieved little so far, but may be bolstered by the opposition's decision to bring a unified delegation to Geneva for the first time.

For progress to happen rival sides will need to overcome the hurdle that has derailed past discussions: the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He retains Moscow's support but is loathed by much of Syria's rebel opposition who want him gone.

Backed by Russia's decisive military support, Assad's government has regained control of 55 percent of the country, including major cities Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, and around two-thirds of the population lives in regime-held areas.

The rest is carved up between rebel factions, jihadists and Kurdish forces.

Some experts believe that Russia has clearly put itself in the driver's seat in recent months, especially as US President Donald Trump's administration has pulled back from Syrian diplomatic front.

Russia, fellow regime ally Iran and rebel-backer Turkey have hosted negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones" which produced a drop in violence, though deadly air strikes and battles continue in some areas.

And this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a "congress" of Syrian regime and opposition figures, a move backed by Ankara and Tehran.
Indonesian authorities have now raised the highest alert warning for Bali's Mount Agung volcano

The alert for a volcano belching huge plumes of smoke on Indonesia's resort island of Bali has been raised to the highest level, officials said Monday, with fears a significant eruption could be imminent.

The exclusion zone around Mount Agung, which is 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been widened to 10 kilometers, with people living in the exclusion zone being urged to evacuate.

"The volcano's alert level has been raised to the highest level," said senior state volcanologist Gede Suantika. "Constant tremors can be felt."

Huge plumes of smoke have been pouring out of the volcano since Tuesday and Suantika said it was belching thick grey smoke as high as 3,400 metres (11,154 feet) early Monday.

About 25,000 people living nearby the mountain have already left their homes and evacuated since Mount Agung first started to spew smoke Tuesday.

"Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions accompanied by a weak sound of boom," the National Board for Disaster Management wrote on Facebook.

"The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent."

National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho called for people to stay calm.

The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed.

"Bali's airport has indeed been closed. We're still coordinating the next steps," airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim told AFP.

The Australian government put out a travel advisory Sunday instructing travellers to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia and follow the instructions of authorities.

Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing about 1,600 people.

It rumbled back to life in September and authorities raised the alert to the highest level, forcing 140,000 people living nearby to evacuate.

The volcano's activity decreased in late October and many people returned to their home as the alert was lowered to the second-highest level.

But Mount Agung started rumbling again last Tuesday.

Mount Agung is one of more than 120 active volcanoes extending the length of Indonesia, which straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The new president Joao Lourenco sacked his predecessor's daughter as head of the state-run oil company as he set about dismantling the empire built by Jose Eduardo dos Santos

The start of the clean-up operation did not take long.

Within three months of taking control of Angola, President Joao Lourenco sacked his predecessor's daughter as head of the state-run oil company and set about dismantling the empire built by Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

A presidential decree in mid-November swiftly ended the reign of Isabel dos Santos -- Africa's richest women -- as boss of Sonangol, the country's troubled economic flagship which supplied three-quarters of its revenue.

A little over a year ago, the 44-year-old "Princess", was named by her father as head of the company, sparking outcry among the opposition.

But despite her standing, Lourenco dismissed her, later saying: "Sonangol is Angola's golden goose, we are going to take care of it very carefully."

A long-standing pillar of the regime, the new president had promised to distance himself from the dos Santos family during his successful campaign ahead of the August 23 poll.

"No one will be above the law... I will be the only president," he said, although few took him seriously.

But they were mistaken, because as soon as he took the reins of the south-western African nation, Lourenco kicked off a raft of appointments.

- 'Pact broken' -

Former leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos served as president from 1979 to 2017

Within a few weeks, the bosses loyal to dos Santos heading critical institutions and sectors -- including the central bank, oil, diamond industry and the media -- were replaced by allies of the new leader.

"Joao Lourenco is setting up his team," the journalist and opponent Rafael Marques said.

"What is out of the ordinary is that he is demonstrating that he is the president, not the MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola)," the ruling party since independence in 1975.

The police and the army did not escape the clear-out either.

Before retiring, dos Santos took care to freeze by law the hierarchy of the security forces for several years. But Lourenco replaced the chiefs of police and military intelligence anyway.

"He's tearing up the original compromise government that he negotiated with dos Santos around the time of his inauguration as head of state," said Alex Vines, an analyst at the British think tank Chatham House.

"He has demonstrated that the dos Santos family is no longer protected."

The initiatives of Angola's new boss have sent shockwaves through the MPLA, where "Comrade Number 1" dos Santos has kept a number of supporters.

His other daughter, Welwitschia, herself a member of the central committee, complained publicly about the treatment of the family.

"In Angola, citizens who promote the image of the motherland... are persecuted and stripped by the president," said Welwitschia, who made her fortune as the head of a television production and advertising company.

- 'Same gang' -

A lawmaker of the ruling party, Joao Pinto, warned the new head of state, telling Radio Ecclesia: "We must avoid witchhunts and revenge."

The opposition and civil society are observing the clan war with interest, but remain sceptical.

The opposition and civil society are observing the clan war with interest, but remain sceptica

"The president wants to win the trust of global financial institutions and foreign governments by pretending that he is attacking corruption," said journalist Mussa Garcia.

Stripped of Sonangol, the dos Santos family still retains control of another jewel in the crown, the sovereign wealth fund of the country, led by the former ruler's son Jose Filomeno.

But rumours of his resignation are already well under way, especially since he was implicated in the "Paradise Papers" offshore tax scandal.

And now another question is forming, that of the fate of Jose Eduardo dos Santos himself.

Aged 75 and weakened by sickness, the former head of state announced he will retire from politics in 2018, until then keeping the presidency of the powerful MPLA as a guarantee of his protection.

"Once he is no longer MPLA president, or his health worsens further, additional political pressure could be brought upon the dos Santos family," Vines said.
France's President Emmanuel Macron will stress that he wants a partnership of equals with Africa, based on education and entrepreneurship.

French President Emmanuel Macron will tour Africa this week to try to boost France's flagging influence on the continent and convince young people eyeing Europe's shores they have a future at home.

Macron's first African tour, which begins Tuesday, takes him to Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, two former French colonies that deposed strongmen leaders in recent years, as well as to Ghana.

It comes as Europe tries to find ways to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean without leaving them to the mercy of traffickers in transit countries like Libya, where they face torture, rape, and -- as a CNN report showed recently -- being sold into slavery.

Macron will also be seeking international backing for a new, five-nation African counter-terrorism force, which France hopes to see eventually take over the fight against jihadist groups in the Sahel region.

Above all, his advisors say, he will stress that he wants a partnership of equals with Africa, based on education and entrepreneurship.

France's youngest ever president at 39 has been taking counsel from a group of young French business people of African origin about how to buff his country's image on a continent where for decades it propped up ageing francophile autocrats.

- 'Civilisational' gaffe -

He is also on a mission to make amends for his controversial remarks this summer about Africa.

Since becoming president in May, Macron has paid two visits to Mali, home to a 4,000-strong French regional counter-terrorism force.

In a July speech diagnosing demographic, democratic and security challenges in Africa Macron said the continent had "civilisational" problems and listed women having "seven or eight children" as a challenge.

Burkina Faso's new president Roch Marc Christian Kabore has called for a reset in relations, based on "equality, mutual interest and respect".

Alain Antil, an Africa specialist at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris, said France appeared out-of-touch with the aspirations of ordinary Africans.

"In francophone West Africa the feeling is that France is in tune with the leaders but not with youth or civil society"," he told AFP.

Since becoming president in May, Macron has paid two visits to Mali, home to a 4,000-strong French regional counter-terrorism force.

The first leg of his tour takes him to Burkina Faso, a country with a proud tradition of independence which ousted its president in a 2014 revolt after he tried to extend his 27-year hold on power.

Several Burkinabe organisations have called for protests during Macron's visit over what they call the "looting" of resources by French companies and the continuing use by 14 West African countries of the CFA franc currency.

France is also viewed with some suspicion for having helped ousted leader Blaise Compaore avoid justice by fleeing to Ivory Coast and faces growing pressure to extradite his brother Francois, who was arrested last month in Paris.

Macron, who has a knack for disarming critics during face-to-face encounters, will deliver a speech Tuesday on his Africa policy to some 800 students in the capital Ouagadougou and take questions.

"The president aims to change the perception of France through young people," his advisors said, acknowledging that Burkina Faso's youth "do not necessarily have a good image of France".

From there he will continue onto Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan for an African Union-European Union summit.

- Investment vs aid -

Macron will call for greater efforts to combat the trafficking of migrants up through Africa to Libya, where they pile into rickety boats that often sink en route to Europe.

Macron will call for greater efforts to combat the trafficking of migrants up through Africa to Libya, where they pile into rickety boats that often sink en route to Europe.

He is expected to stress the importance of education and entrepreneurship in helping young Africans find jobs at home.

In an interview with AFP ahead of the summit, the head of the African Union Alpha Conde, who is also Guinea's president, said African countries wanted "more investment than aid".

"What we want is the ability to transform our wealth to develop Africa," he said.

France's pro-business president will also lay the cornerstone of Abidjan's metro system -- a huge project for which Paris has provided a 1.4-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) loan.

His tour will end in the former British colony of Ghana, a beacon of stability in the region that falls outside France's traditional sphere of influence.

Macron's advisors say his Ghana visit demonstrates his two-pronged approach to Africa -- improving ties with former colonies while boosting trade with anglophone countries.

The former investment banker, who speaks fluent English, will be able to draw on his own experience, having interned for six months at France's embassy in Nigeria as a student.

Comparing Macron's Africa credentials with his predecessors, Frederic Lejeal, editor of La Lettre du Continent newsletter on West Africa, said: "The difference is he knows Africa....(he) has a multipolar vision and sees the continent as a tremendous wellspring of economic opportunity."
Balinese people ride on an open car past Mount Agung erupting seen from Kubu sub-district in Karangasem Regency, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on November 27, 2017

A rumbling volcano on Bali could erupt at any moment, authorities warned Monday as they raised alert levels to maximum, accelerated a mass evacuation and closed the main airport, leaving thousands of tourists stranded on the Indonesian resort island.

Massive columns of thick grey smoke that have been belching from Mount Agung since last week have now begun shooting more than three kilometres (two miles) into the sky, forcing hundreds of flights to be grounded.

Some 40,000 frightened people have fled their homes around the volcano but as many as 100,000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials said, after raising the alert to its highest level.

The exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta, has also been widened to 10 kilometres.

Makeshift tents and community centres filled up Monday as nearly two dozen villages were emptied of their inhabitants, including farmers reluctant to leave precious livestock behind.

"Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions and a weak booming sound," the National Board for Disaster Management said earlier Monday.

"The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent."

Agung rumbled back to life in September, forcing the evacuation of 140,000 people living nearby. Its activity decreased in late October and many returned to their homes.

However, on Saturday the mountain sent smoke up into the air for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption -- caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.

Then on Monday so-called cold lava flows appeared -- similar to mud flows and often a prelude to the blazing orange lava seen in many volcanic eruptions.

"I'm very concerned because I left my house behind and I'm also worried about family," said 36-year-old farmer Putu Suyasa, who fled with some relatives from a village eight kilometres away from the volcano.

"The mountain is spewing thicker smoke than before."

- Scary memories -

Dewa Gede Subagia was a teenager when Agung last roared.

"I am very worried because I have experienced this before," the now 67-year-old told AFP from one evacuation centre.

"I hope this time I won't have to evacuate for too long. In 1963, I left for four months."

Mt. Agung last went off in 1963, killing around 1,600 people in one of the deadliest eruptions ever seen in a country with nearly 130 active volcanoes.

The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed.

Some 445 flights were cancelled, affecting more than 59,000 passengers, officials said.

Colin Cavy, a French dive-master who has been in Indonesia for a couple of months, was nervously looking at his now-expired visitor visa.

"I need to go to the immigration office," he said.

While there was dismay from some tourists who were unable to return to their homes and jobs, others took events in their stride.

A foreign tourist takes pictures in front of Mount Agung erupting seen from Kubu sub-district in Karangasem Regency, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on November 27, 2017

"What can I say? We have to cooperate because this is a natural disaster," said Indian visitor Krisna Mustafa.

Many were told that it could be several days before they could leave.

"My 7:00 am flight this morning got cancelled, just when we were about to board," said 23-year-old Indonesian tourist Merry Handayani Tumanggor.

"Now we have to stay in Bali again -- the earliest we can go is on Friday, they say."

The airport on nearby Lombok island -- also a popular tourist destination east of Bali -- closed on Sunday as ash from Mount Agung headed in that direction, but reopened early Monday.

The Australian government put out a travel advisory on Sunday, warning that volcanic activity "may escalate with little or no notice".

"Past eruptions of Mount Agung have shown this volcano's potential to cause significant impacts," it added.

- Prayers -

Dozens of Balinese Hindus took part in ceremonies near the volcano on Sunday, offering prayers in the hope of preventing an eruption.

Officials have said the activity could be a magmatic eruption -- one which involves the decompression of gas and results in the spewing of ash -- and advised people near the mountain to wear masks.

Dozens of Balinese Hindus took part in ceremonies near the volcano, offering prayers in the hope of preventing an eruption

Indonesia is the world's most active volcanic region. The archipelago nation with over 17,000 islands lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.

Last year, seven were killed after Mt. Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra erupted, while 16 were left dead by a Sinabung eruption in 2014.

str-rws-dws-bbs/pb/kaf
The huge blast that ripped through China's megaport city of Ningbo at the weekend started in a septic tank, authorities say

A septic tank was the epicentre of a massive explosion that rocked one of China's largest port cities at the weekend, killing two people and injuring at least 19, authorities have said.

The blast tore through a crumbling light-industrial area adjacent to crowded residential towers in the city of Ningbo, just south of Shanghai, and was so powerful that it was heard several kilometres (miles) away.

The force of the explosion shattered windows in nearby apartments, mangled cars and reduced small buildings at the epicentre to rubble, though locals said the structures were already in poor shape and slated for demolition.

Public security officials "have confirmed that the blast's epicentre is a septic tank in an empty field," the local government said in a statement late Sunday.

Methane and hydrogen sulphide -- both highly flammable gases -- can build up in septic tanks.

Officials have ruled out the possibility of a gas explosion or of the blast being intentionally set off by someone.

The statement said in addition to the two fatalities, two people are missing after the explosion. Four people were severely injured and 15 others had minor wounds.

"We were having tea and bwaaaah! It knocked my mother off her stool. It was incredibly loud," said a local woman who lives about 400 metres (yards) from the blast site and who gave only her surname, Wu.

Authorities had thrown up a cordon around the collapsed buildings and were still investigating the cause of the explosion in Ningbo.

- Missing relative -

An elderly woman said one of her children was in the area at the time of the blast.

The blast shattered windows in nearby apartments, mangled cars and reduced small buildings at the epicentre to rubble

"Yes, we live here and one of my children is still inside (the cordoned-off area) and hasn't been found yet," she said, declining to give details.

She dabbed tears with a tissue and repeatedly dialled a number on her phone. Asked who she was calling, she said, "my child".

Early Monday, locals were sweeping up piles of debris and glass at the blast site where rubble was strewn across an area several hundred metres wide.

The government said it had received hundreds of reports of damage, such as shattered glass, twisted window frames or damaged cars.

The local government and state media have variously described the site of the explosion as a vacant lot or an abandoned factory.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the site appeared to be a run-down former light industrial area.

Residents said some people from outside Ningbo had been squatting there, but others disputed that.

"Most people had left here a long time ago. It was just a wasteland lot," Wu said.

She said most structures in the blast area had been crumbling for some time, and that not all the rubble seen was caused by the explosion.

Another local man, who declined to give his name, said: "It's lucky that more people did not die but no one was living here anymore."

The explosion was so powerful that it was heard several kilometres (miles) away

China has been rocked by several industrial accidents in recent years.

In 2015, giant chemical blasts in a container storage facility killed at least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin.

The explosions caused more than $1 billion in damage and sparked widespread anger at a perceived lack of transparency over the accident's causes and its environmental impact.

A government inquiry eventually recommended 123 people be punished. Tianjin's mayor at the time of the accident was sentenced to 12 years in prison for graft in September.
Many of Myanmar's Catholics are travelling from other conflict-weary corners of Myanmar to join a huge, open-air mass led by the pope on Wednesday in the economic hub, Yangon

Pope Francis flew to Myanmar on Monday in one of his most sensitive trips yet, as religious tensions fester in the mainly Buddhist nation that has bristled at global outrage over its treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar's military is accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the stateless Muslim minority, more than 600,000 of whom have fled a crackdown in northern Rakhine State for neighbouring Bangladesh over the past three months.

Francis will meet powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing during the trip in a highly anticipated encounter between a religious leader who has championed the rights of refugees and the man accused of overseeing the charge to drive out the Rohingya.

He will also meet civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel laureate whose international standing as a moral icon has crumbled over what the world sees as her lack of sympathy for the Rohingya.

Myanmar's 700,000 Catholics -- just over one percent of the country's 51 million people -- generally enjoy good relations with their mainly Buddhist compatriots and are gripped with excitement over the first ever papal visit.

"As I prepare to visit Myanmar and Bangladesh, I wish to send a message of greeting and friendship to everyone. I can't wait to meet you!" Francis said in a message posted on his official Twitter account ahead of his trip, which will also see him visit Dhaka.

Pope Francis previously met Aung San Suu Kyi in Vatican City in 2013 and called for inter-religious dialogue in Myanmar

Speaking to a crowd of 30,000 people in St Peter's Square, shortly before he left Rome, the pontiff said: "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope".

The pope has been forthright about his sympathy for the Rohingya from afar, calling them "brothers and sisters" and deploring the plight of hundreds of thousands of children swept up in the violence.

But the country is holding its breath over what the pontiff will say on Myanmar soil, where any mention of the word Rohingya could unleash anger from a public that broadly supports the army campaign.

Many in the Buddhist-majority nation view do not view the minority as indigenous -- referring to them as "Bengalis" -- and view them with hostility.

"The vast majority of people in Myanmar do not believe the international narrative of abuse against the Rohingya and the refugee numbers that we're seeing in Bangladesh," said Myanmar-based political analyst Richard Horsey.

"If the pope did come and weigh in heavily on this issue, it would inflame tensions and it would inflame public sentiment," he added.

- Prayers for peace -

Asia's Catholic population

Myanmar's army, which ran the country with an iron fist for nearly half a century, insists its Rakhine operation was a proportionate response to Rohingya "terrorists" who raided police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen officers.

But rights groups, the UN and the US have accused the army of using its reprisal as cover to violently expel a minority it has oppressed for decades.

Days before the pope's visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a deal vowing to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of coming back without guarantees of basic rights.

Myanmar's around 700,000 Catholics -- just over one percent of the country's 51 million people -- generally enjoy good relations with their mainly Buddhist compatriots and are gripped with excitement over the first ever papal visit

Many of Myanmar's Catholics are travelling from other conflict-weary corners of Myanmar to join a huge, open-air mass led by the pope on Wednesday in the economic hub, Yangon.

Stepping down from a train in the city's bustling main station, Hla Rein said he had made the long journey from the northernmost state of Kachin with high expectations.

"There is a civil war in our state," he told AFP, referring to a separate long-running conflict between Kachin rebels and government forces.

"We believe that the Pope will bring peace with him to our country."
As a growing number of people around the world learn simplified Chinese instead of the more complicated traditional characters, young creatives in Taiwan are fighting to promote what they fear will become a dying art

As a growing number of people around the world learn simplified Chinese instead of the more complicated traditional characters, young creatives in Taiwan are fighting to promote what they fear will become a dying art.

Introduced by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1950s to boost literacy, the simplified version of the script uses fewer strokes and is now the predominant writing system in the mainland.

Foreigners learning Chinese also tend to be taught the simplified characters, used in official documents by international organisations including the United Nations.

Even in Taiwan, where most people still use traditional characters, there is a growing tendency to opt for the more convenient simplified script.

And with an increasing number of the island's young people pursuing higher education and careers on the mainland, the influence of the simplified system is expanding.

Creators of a new Taiwanese app game called "Zihun" hope to help stem the tide.

Players assume the identities of literary figures from ancient China and compete on speed and accuracy in writing traditional characters.

In Taiwan, where most people still use traditional Chinese characters, there is a growing tendency to opt for the more convenient simplified script

From filling in the blanks to "word solitaire" -- using the last word of a phrase to create a new one -- or matching simplified characters with their traditional version, players write the answers on their smartphone screens with their fingers or touch pens.

"We see Taiwan as the sole place to pass on traditional Chinese characters," says Kevin Ruan, chief executive of tech firm Whale Party, which developed the app with Soochow University.

"We hope the app reflects the cultural implications of the script."

Predictive and voice activated messaging on smartphones is one of the reasons traditional characters are under threat, he adds, but says the initial reaction to the app has been encouraging -- over 5,000 people have downloaded a trial version ahead of the official launch in December.

- Ancient meaning -

Traditional Chinese script is a mixture of pictograph characters that represent objects, and ideographs that depict ideas or concepts.

Different or the same characters can form a compound word -- the word "forest" consists of three "wood" characters, for example.

There are rules to the formation of most characters but learning to write them depends heavily on memorisation.

Critics say the simplified characters lose some of the meaning of the traditional versions.

Steve Tsai, a designer of Zihun, an app that hopes to encourage more people to use traditional Chinese characters instead of the more modern, popular simplified version

One commonly cited example is the character "love", which contains the word "heart" in the traditional form but not in the simplified version.

"Traditional characters have allusions and meanings behind them and they reflect the imagination of ancient people. It's a big loss that such elements are taken out," said Jung Jeng-dau, head of the Chinese-language department at Soochow University in Taipei.

The use of simplified or traditional Chinese has also become politically loaded in recent years.

In semi-autonomous Hong Kong, where traditional characters still dominate, some see the promotion of the simplified version as symbolic of an assertive China as it tightens its grip on the city.

There are similar sentiments in Taiwan, which China still sees as part of its territory to be brought back into the fold.

- Easy learning -

But for many, the bottom line is pragmatism.

Young Taiwanese design duo Wang Man-lin and Wang Chieh-ying hope their latest invention will make traditional characters easier to learn and fun to use.

Their craft business "lai zi na li," which translates as "where is the origin of words?" promotes the complex script and a new set of six stamps, embossed with lines and strokes, can together create all traditional Chinese words.

The use of simplified or traditional Chinese has also become politically loaded in recent years -- some see the promotion of the simplified version as symbolic of an assertive China as it tightens its grip on Taiwan

Many customers are Chinese-language teachers or handicraft fans who like using the stamps to write greeting cards or postcards, Wang Man-lin explained.

"Traditional Chinese is considered the most beautiful writing system in the world," she told AFP.

"We want to offer another way to learn it because writing traditional characters by hand is really difficult for non-native people."

The stamp set has been available for online pre-ordering since September and sales are more than 10 times their original estimate, at over Tw$2 million ($66,500), said Wang, including orders from China, Malaysia and Canada.

Lin Chen-ling, 40, was among the crowd trying out the stamps at an educational fair in Taipei last month and said the set would make the process of learning traditional characters "more interesting and interactive" for her four-year-old son.

Some young Taiwanese at the fair also pledged to persevere with traditional script.

"I never write simplified characters because traditional characters look prettier and more cultured," said 17-year-old student Chang Yao-shui.

"I hope they won't vanish in future."
Syrian-born guide Mohamed Hamadi combines tours of Milan with musings on religious tolerance

He shows off some of Milan's most sumptuous frescoes to tourists, but Syrian Mohamed Hamadi also does more than that -- he reaches out to visitors across the cultural divide in a troubled era.

Born 69 years ago in Homs, a city now devastated by the conflict in Syria, the bespectacled Muslim guide charms those in the Italian city by drawing on his memories of the religious tolerance taught in his youth.

Those dropping in to admire 16th-century frescoes at the San Maurizio church, dubbed "Milan's Sistine Chapel", may not be expecting their lessons on Renaissance art to be accompanied by moral musings.

Describing his education, Hamadi tells AFP: "The students were Muslims, Christians... we didn't pay any attention to all that.

"Once a week at school there was a lesson on Christian faith, and another on Muslim faith. The Muslim pupils went along to listen, and vice versa," he says.

"Diversity was a richness for the country," adds the guide, who has made his home in a continent where populism is on the rise and the far-right are making political gains following the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants.

Homs, the city where Hamadi was born, is now unrecognisable following Syria's civil war

Hamadi fled Syria in his twenties. A member of the Arab Socialist Party and opposed to the ruling powers at the time, he had already been imprisoned twice, and tortured.

He travelled first to Beirut, where he studied law, then on to Kuwait, Spain and finally Italy, working each time in the import-export business.

He married a Milanese woman and says he feels first and foremost "a citizen of the world".

- 'Open minds' -

After Hamadi's wife died and he retired, he dedicated his time to helping Syrian asylum-seekers fleeing the war back home, who would arrive exhausted and disorientated in Milan, hoping to travel on to Britain or Germany.

Two years ago, he joined the Touring Club of Italy, becoming one of around 2,000 volunteers -- including 800 alone in Milan -- who volunteer at sites such as museums and churches that would remain otherwise closed to the public.

Mohamed Hamadi takes tours around the San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore in Milan

At the San Maurizio, he tells visitors the history of the Benedictine Convent, and explains which religious scenes are depicted in the frescoes, from Noah's Ark to the Last Supper.

Visitors are sometimes surprised their guide is Muslim -- a reaction he counters with a quick word on religious history.

"The Koran, the Bible, the Torah... they are all linked," he says, recalling that key figures like Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses and Abraham feature in all three tomes, though the details may differ.

"Syria has been a land that has hosted many cultures, with occupations by the Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ottomans and even the French," he says.

Hamadi, who speaks four languages -- Arabic, English, French and Italian -- says he sees his chats with visitors as a way to "open people's minds".

The man who has worked as city councillor in the past has simple advice on tackling the thorny issue of "integration".

People should "live, talk, eat together, but that does not mean they should forget their roots", he says.
Ten badly decomposed bodies have been found on Japan's coast across the sea from North Korea

The badly decomposed remains of ten people have been found on Japan's coast across the sea from North Korea, along with the wreckage of two boats, officials said Monday.

The discovery comes just days after a group of eight fishermen, who said they were from North Korea, washed up on the same shore.

Police said two cadavers were found in separate places on the edge of the surf on Sado island, which lies around 750 kilometres (450 miles) from North Korea across the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The bodies had begun to putrefy, and had nothing to identify them, senior local police official Hideaki Sakyo told AFP.

However, he added, there were boxes of North Korean tobacco as well as boat parts and life jackets with Korean script nearby.

A wrecked wooden boat with squid-fishing equipment was also found on the coastline.

Separately, coastguard officials spotted eight bodies inside a battered wooden boat off northern Akita prefecture.

High waves had prevented officials from investigating since the boat was first spotted on Friday, they said.

Television footage showed a wrecked vessel with an eight-digit number on it, which washed up on Oga peninsula on Sunday.

"Nothing else was found on the beach nearby, and so far we haven't found anything" that suggests a definite link with North Korea, a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

Dozens of North Korean fishing vessels wash up on Japan's coast every year.

Sometimes the boats' occupants have already died at sea, a phenomenon local media refer to as "ghost ships".

Experts say some North Korean fishermen travel far out to sea in order to satisfy government mandates for bigger catches.

But their old and poorly equipped vessels are prone to mechanical and other problems, including running out of fuel, and there are few ways for them to call for rescue.

Surviving drifters frequently request to be sent home, but some of them are defectors who are eventually sent to South Korea.

Japan and North Korea have a tense relationship, with Pyongyang routinely issuing verbal threats as well as firing missiles near or above Japan.

But the Japanese coastguard occasionally rescues North Korean fishermen in maritime accidents in regional waters.
Pakistani supporters of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Yah Rasool Allah Pakistan religious group shout slogans during a press conference by their leader

Pakistan's law minister resigned Monday after the embattled government bowed to demands from a small Islamist group, striking a deal with the help of the military to end a weeks-long anti-blasphemy protest.

At the site of the sit-in which had blocked a major road into Islamabad, demonstrators were slowly packing up tents and walking to bus stops as shops and markets reopened for the first time since the protest began.

Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his supporters from the once-obscure Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY) group had paralysed the capital since November 6 with just 2,000 demonstrators, enraging millions of commuters and the judiciary who blasted the government for hesitating to act against them.

Analysts said the capitulation to him and his supporters was an unsettling sign of the influence even marginal religious groups wield in Pakistan and an embarrassment for the government before elections due in 2018.

The demonstrators demanded the resignation of law minister Zahid Hamid over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the wording of an oath which election candidates must swear.

The change was small and quickly reversed, but the TLY linked it to blasphemy, a hugely charged issue in the conservative Muslim country.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) remained silent Monday, with no official comment on the report by state media that Hamid had resigned.

But a triumphant Rizvi called off the sit-in in a statement to supporters, saying the army had guaranteed their demands would be met and thanking the powerful military chief for "playing his role".

"Respected army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had sent his representatives and we signed the agreement with them," he claimed.

The declaration, as well as a widely-circulated text of the agreement signed by Rizvi, the interior minister and Major General Faiz Hameed, among others, spurred the Islamabad High Court to demand the government give a full accounting of the army's role in the deal.

The government had called on the military to intervene to restore law after police and paramilitaries bungled an attempt on Saturday to dislodge the protesters.

The move sparked clashes that left at least seven people dead and ignited protests across the nuclear-armed nation of 207 million people.

But the army had still not publicly responded to the government's call by Monday, fuelling rampant speculation about what was going on behind the scenes.

Hameed's signature on the text agreement was "most alarming" and Rizvi's gratitude to army chief Bajwa was "strange", Judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui said in an order that was made public as the official silence continued Monday.

Analysts said the government had been so undermined it had been left with no option but to seek the help of the army, widely seen as the most powerful institution in Pakistan.

"They wanted to put the army against the protesters, and when the military refused... the government was left with no way out," analyst Rasul Bukhsh Rais told AFP.

"The government's capacity is eroded," he said. "Nobody was willing to listen to them."

- 'Major embarrassment' -

"It was our goal to be martyred for the honour of the Prophet," one protester, 19-year-old Mehboob Ahmed, told AFP at the protest site in Islamabad.

"We fought fearlessly but I feel sad and regret that I could not get martyrdom."

Authorities had initially hesitated to act over the sit-in.

Pakistan's civilian government has long pulled its punches in such situations, fearing that a crackdown on a religious group would incite blowback, as it has in the past.

Minister Hamid's ousting is the latest in a series of heavy blows to the ruling party.

In July Nawaz Sharif was deposed as prime minister by the courts over graft allegations, while finance minister Ishaq Dar -- also accused of corruption -- has taken indefinite medical leave.

Observers had previously warned that capitulation would set a dangerous precedent.

"Politically, this is a major embarrassment for the PML-N," analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, adding that it would undermine their credibility and predicting more defections.

He also warned it had strengthened the position of hardline groups like TLY.

An injured Pakistani protester chants slogans along with others during a press conference by their leader

TLY comes from the Barelvi sect of Islam that has strong ties to Sufism, a mystical branch of the religion seen as moderate. It emphasises personal devotion to the Prophet Mohammed.

However the execution in 2016 of Barelvi follower Mumtaz Qadri -- who assassinated liberal Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his stance on the blasphemy laws -- appears to have galvanised Rizvi and his followers.

Askari warned that the decision by TLY and other Islamist parties to contest the upcoming elections could further weaken the PML-N. The party has previously benefited from the right-wing religious vote.
Pope Francis lands in Myanmar on Monday in a trip dominated by one word: Rohingya.

Some 620,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a Myanmar army crackdown to Bangladesh since last August, sparking global outcry.

But there is little sympathy for the Muslim minority inside Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship and not even identified as Rohingya.

They are instead labelled "Bengalis" -- shorthand for illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The big question is whether the Pope will address the group's plight head-on by using the 'R' word in front of a touchy Buddhist public.

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya Muslim minority are based in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine.

They numbered around 1.1 million until the current crisis sent nearly two-thirds of them fleeing into Bangladesh.

Considered among the world's most persecuted peoples, they have been systematically stripped of their rights in Myanmar and coralled into an apartheid-like existence, with severe restrictions on movement and on access to basic services.

Officials and many members of the Buddhist public reject the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, instead labelling the group as immigrants from Bangladesh despite the fact that many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Bouts of communal violence have hit Rakhine since 2012.

But the worst violence erupted in late August after Rohingya militants staged deadly attacks on police posts.

The raids backfired, inviting an army reprisal so brutal that it emptied northern Rakhine of much of its Rohingya population, who told of mass rape, murder and arson.

Both the UN and US have accused the army of ethnic cleansing -- a charge the military steadfastly denies.

What has the Pope said about the Rohingya?

Pope Francis has taken a close interest in the group's plight, speaking about them on at least three separate occasions this year.

In February 2017 he called them "brothers and sisters" being tortured and killed for their faith.

He described the Rohingya as good and peaceful people who had suffered for years and urged Catholics to pray for them.

He again highlighted their suffering after the crackdown in August. Last month he mourned the plight of some "two hundred thousand Rohingya children in refugee camps" in Bangladesh.

"They have barely enough to eat, though they have a right to food. (They are) Malnourished, without medicine," he said.

Will he say the 'R word'?

Nobody knows how the canny, outspoken and unconventional Pope will handle the issue.

Catholic leaders in Myanmar have warned Francis against using the word "Rohingya" during his trip, fearing the country's small Christian minority could become the target of Buddhist hardliners.

Vatican officials have indicated that he has taken the advice seriously.

But he is renowned for his passionate appeals on behalf of the downtrodden. Any failure to mention the Rohingya by name may be seen as a disappointing concession.

The pontiff could adopt the preferred wording of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who refers to the Rohingya only as "Muslims in Rakhine state" -- though that middle path has invited fire from both sides of the conflict.

The 80-year-old pope's packed schedule will include many opportunities to weigh in on the crisis.

He will conduct two masses, hold discussions with the Buddhist clergy and sit down with Suu Kyi and army chief Min Aung Hlaing -- the man whose troops stand accused of crimes against humanity.

When he goes on to Bangladesh Francis may choose a diplomatic path and drop the "R-word". He made last-minute plans to meet a small group of Rohingya in Dhaka.

Why is it such a big issue?

Myanmar does not want its Rohingya, and support for them enrages Buddhist nationalists.

The global outcry at their treatment has stirred a chippy, defensive response among swathes of the public.

That largely plays out through social media invective but anti-Muslim violence has hit the country before.

The Buddhist-majority public has been weaned on a narrative of the Rohingya as Bengali interlopers, a narrative embellished by hardliners in the clergy and the army.

Some Buddhist nationalists accuse the Pope of meddling in a conflict he does not understand and may even inflame.

Observers fear more violence may put the country's fragile democratic gains in peril.
Pope Francis faces a tricky high wire act in Myanmar where his comments on the plight of Rohingya Muslims will be scrutinised by his hosts

Pope Francis arrived in mainly Buddhist Myanmar Monday on a highly sensitive visit to a country facing sharp global criticism for the alleged ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya Muslim minority.

The 80-year-old pontiff, the first to travel to Myanmar, was welcomed by children from different minority groups in bright, bejewelled clothes, who gave him flowers and received a papal embrace in return.

Nuns in white habits were among the devotees to have travelled from across the country in his honour, waving flags as his motorcade swept by the golden Shwedagon Pagoda to the archbishop's residence in downtown Yangon, where the pope will stay on Monday night.

"I saw the pope, he was sitting in the front of the car. I was so pleased, I cried!" Christina Aye Aye Sein, 48, told AFP after the popes convoy passed.

"His face looked very lovely and sweet... He is coming here for peace."

But the joyful scenes stood in stark contrast to the gravity of the main issue that frames his trip.

Myanmar's military stands accused of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslims.

Kachin people in traditional dress were among the crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis when he arrives in Myanmar

More than 620,000 have fled a crackdown in northern Rakhine state for neighbouring Bangladesh over the past three months.

The pope's four-day visit intensifies pressure on Myanmar over its treatment of the stateless minority, a group he has called his "brothers and sisters" in repeated entreaties to ease their plight.

His speeches will be scrutinised by Buddhist hardliners for any mention of the word "Rohingya", an incendiary term in a country where the Muslim group are reviled and labelled "Bengalis" -- alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Francis will meet civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose lustre has faded because of her failure to speak up publicly for the Rohingya.

He will also hold talks with army chief Min Aung Hlaing -- a meeting between a religious leader, who has championed the rights of refugees, and the man accused of overseeing the brutal campaign to drive out the Rohingya.

Speaking to a crowd of 30,000 people in St Peter's Square, shortly before he left Rome, the pontiff said: "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope."

- 'A few seconds' -

His visit is a historic chance for Myanmar's flock to get close to the head of their church.

Pope's visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh

Myanmar's estimated 700,000 Catholics make up just over one percent of the country's 51 million people and are scattered in far-flung corners of the nation, many of them roiled by conflict.

Around 200,000 Catholics are pouring into Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital, by plane, train and car ahead of a huge open-air mass on Wednesday.

"People came from all corners of the country, even if we could only see him for a few seconds," Sister Genevieve Mu, an ethnic Karen nun told AFP.

"I feel very good and proud of our Catholic people and our government for opening the country for his visit."

- Prayers for peace -

The Rohingya crisis looms large over the pope's visit.

The army, which ran the country with an iron fist for nearly half a century, insists its Rakhine operation was a proportionate response to Rohingya "terrorists" who raided police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen officers.

But rights groups, the UN and the US have accused the army of using its operation as cover to drive out a minority it has oppressed for decades.

Francis' visit is a papal first for Myanmar, whose 700,000 Christians have turned out in force to welcome him

The deluge of desperate refugees arriving in Bangladesh have carried with them accounts of murder, rape and arson, at the hands of troops and hardline Buddhist mobs.

Inside the country a different opinion dominates.

"The vast majority of people in Myanmar do not believe the international narrative of abuse against the Rohingya and the refugee numbers that we're seeing in Bangladesh," said Myanmar-based political analyst Richard Horsey.

"If the pope did come and weigh in heavily on this issue, it would inflame tensions and it would inflame public sentiment," he added.

Days before the pope's visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a deal vowing to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of coming back without guarantees of basic rights.

Pope Francis will travel on to Bangladesh on Thursday, where he will meet a group of Rohingya Muslims in the capital Dhaka.

Nur Mohammad, a 45-year-old Rohingya imam at the Nayapara refugee camp in Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh, said he hoped the pope would tell the Myanmar government to accept Rohingya, "give citizenship to them and end all discriminations against them."
Vast swathes of rainforest are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, threatening endangered species and pushing indigenous people off their lands

`Greenpeace slammed Indonesia's palm oil industry Monday for failing to live up to a pledge to halt deforestation, as the lucrative sector faces possible restrictions in Europe over environmental concerns.

Palm oil is used in everything from soap to frozen pizza, but a consumer backlash has forced dozens of the worlds largest food and drink manufacturers to address its ecological impact.

Vast swathes of rainforest are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, threatening endangered species and pushing indigenous people off their lands.

International corporations, including Unilever, Kellogg and Mondelez, have pledged to adopt environmentally friendly supply chains by 2020.

But Greenpeace said in a report published on Monday that large palm oil traders are failing on that commitment.

The environmental group found that most of the 11 major traders operating in Indonesia did not have strict systems to monitor the origin of their goods and were not calling out non-compliant producers.

"Broadly, the palm oil industry has agreed to end deforestation. The issue -- and it is a critical one -- is only two of the 11 (traders) we looked at was actually able to say when they are going to end deforestation," Richard George, a UK-based forest campaigner at Greenpeace, told AFP.

None of the firms contacted by AFP replied to requests for comment on the report.

The Greenpeace report comes against the backdrop of mounting concerns about palm oil's environmental impact.

The European Union, the world's second largest consumer after India, passed a resolution in April calling for tougher environmental standards for palm oil linked to deforestation.

Indonesia and Malaysia -- the worlds two largest producers -- have been lobbying against the resolution.

Both countries have slammed possible EU import restrictions as unfair, and a move that would harm millions of mostly small-scale farmers.
An estimated 624,000 Rohingya have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar since August

Rohingya are still fleeing into Bangladesh even after an agreement was signed with Myanmar to repatriate hundreds of thousands of the Muslim minority displaced along the border, officials said Monday.

The arrangement struck by the neighbours on Thursday raised the prospect of at least 700,000 Rohingya Muslims living in overcrowded camps in southeastern Bangladesh being returned to Myanmar.

But at least 3,000 refugees have crossed since then, the United Nations said in its latest report on the crisis, with guards at check-posts along the frontier also reporting a largely uninterrupted flow of newcomers.

"The number of arrivals has declined, but it has not stopped," Bangladesh border guard commander Lieutenant Colonel S.M. Ariful Islam told AFP.

Islam said at least 400 refugees had passed by guards under his command along the border with Myanmar since the agreement was signed.

An estimated 624,000 Rohingya have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar since August described by UN and US authorities as ethnic cleansing.

The repatriation agreement applies to Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh who fled Myanmar in two major outbreaks of violence since October 2016.

It does not extend to an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who were living in Bangladesh prior to that date.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has raised concerns over the terms of the arrangement, saying conditions for the safe return of the Rohingya were not yet in place.

Bangladesh said at the weekend those returned would initially live in temporary shelters or camps.

Rohingya leaders have said they will not return to Myanmar unless they are recognised as citizens with full rights and ensured protection from violence.

Myanmar does no recognise the Rohingya, denying them citizenship and restricting their movement.

The UNHCR says any repatriation deal must include "the informed consent of refugees".
A Bahraini man holds a portrait of jailed opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman during a protest on May 29, 2016

Bahrain's jailed Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman refused to appear in court Monday to face charges of contacts with Qatar to "overthrow the regime", the attorney general said.

Salman and two members of his banned Al-Wefaq movement, Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad, are charged with "communicating with a foreign state to commit acts hostile to the state of Bahrain with the intent to harm its political, economic and national interests in order to overthrow the regime", Osama al-Awfi said.

The jailed leader of the Shiite movement "refused to attend the hearing", which has been deferred to Wednesday, the attorney general said in a statement.

Ali Salman has been behind bars since 2014 serving a nine-year sentence for allegedly inciting hatred, while Sultan and Aswad are on the run.

In August, Bahraini authorities accused Salman of having collaborated with Qatar in 2011 to encourage protesters to take to the streets.

The accusations came after Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar in June over alleged support for Islamist extremism and ties with Shiite-dominated Iran. Doha denies the allegations.

Ruled for more than 200 years by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, Bahrain is home to a Shiite majority that for years has complained of political marginalisation.

The archipelago, which is located between regional arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, has been rocked by protests demanding an elected government since 2011.

Bahraini authorities have also accused Iran of backing the protests and of aiming to overthrow the government. Tehran has denied any involvement.

Over the past six years, Bahraini authorities have tightened their grip on all dissent, jailing dozens of high-profile clerics and activists and disbanding both religious and secular opposition groups.

Bahraini Shiite cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim (portrait), who was stripped of his citizenship last year, is reportedly facing serious health issues

Also on Monday, relatives of Bahrain's leading Shiite cleric, who has been under de facto house arrest since 2016, said he was facing serious health issues and had been seen by a team of doctors not linked to the government.

London-based rights group the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said Qassim was in "continuous pain" and had been diagnosed with a groin hernia that required urgent surgery.

Qassim also has high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, according to the rights group.

The cleric was stripped of Bahraini citizenship last year over charges of "serving foreign interests", money laundering and illegal fundraising.

Salman's Al-Wefaq movement was once the largest bloc in Bahrain's elected lower house of parliament.

Its members of parliament resigned en masse in 2011 in protest against the state's crackdown on demonstrators, before a 2016 court order dissolved Al-Wefaq for "harbouring terrorism".
Iraqi security forces hold a position as they advance against Islamic State group jihadists in the western desert bordering Syria

Iraqi forces said Monday they face a tough battle against the Islamic State group in deep gorges and other natural hideouts in the western desert along the Syrian border, their last bastion in Iraq.

"Our units have cleared 50 percent of the total area of the desert of around 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq miles). The first phase is over," General Yahya Rassoul, spokesman of the Joint Operations Command, told AFP.

"Now our units will proceed to clearing the rest of the desert zones, including Wadi (valley) Hauran," he said.

"The valley is deep and reaches Syrian territory. The mission is to destroy all the hideouts in the desert and valleys to secure western Iraq's border with Syria" before soldiers are posted along the frontier, he said.

Wadi Hauran, with 200-metre-deep (650-foot-deep) gorges, is the longest valley in Iraq, stretching 350 kilometres (210 miles) from the Saudi border to the Euphrates River, also reaching the frontier with Jordan.

The Islamic State jihadist group has controlled most of the valley in Anbar province since 2014, setting up arms depots and resupply posts.

Troops and paramilitaries launched the desert offensive on Thursday aiming to inflict a final defeat on IS.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he will not proclaim victory until the jihadists have been cleared from the western desert bordering Syria.
Pope Francis faces a tricky high wire act in Myanmar where his comments on the plight of Rohingya Muslims will be scrutinised by his hosts

Pope Francis met Myanmar's powerful army chief on Monday at the start of a highly sensitive trip, with the military man saying he told the pontiff there was "no religious discrimination" in his country despite allegations of ethnic cleansing.

The 80-year-old pope, the first to travel to Myanmar, received Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for a 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence in Yangon, where the pontiff is staying during his visit.

At least 620,000 Rohingya have fled western Rakhine state to Bangladesh, describing rape, murder and arson at the hands of Min Aung Hlaing's army and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs.

The UN and US have accused the military of "ethnic cleansing" in a campaign sparked by attacks by a militant Rohingya group on police border posts in late August.

The army chief told the pope that "Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all. Likewise our military too... performs for the peace and stability of the country", according to a Facebook post published by the general's office a few hours after the meeting.

There is also "no discrimination between ethnic groups in Myanmar", he added.

The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship, are not recognised as one of the Buddhist-majority country's formal ethnic groups.

After the meeting a Vatican spokesman said the religious leader and the army chief had discussed the "great responsiblilty of the country's authorities in this moment of transition".

Myanmar was ruled by a junta for five decades until a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi came to power last year. The army retains sweeping powers over security and political heft through a parliamentary bloc of seats.

The army crackdown on the widely reviled Rohingya looms large over the pope's four-day trip to a country with a tiny Catholic minority.

Francis has called the Rohingya his "brothers and sisters" in repeated entreaties to ease their plight as the latest round of a festering crisis has unfolded.

Earlier on Monday he was welcomed at Yangon's airport in a colourful ceremony led by children from different minority groups in bright bejewelled clothes, who gave him flowers and received a papal embrace in return.

Pope's visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh

Nuns in white habits were among devotees waving flags as his motorcade swept past the golden Shwedagon Pagoda.

"I saw the pope... I was so pleased, I cried!" Christina Aye Aye Sein, 48, told AFP after the pope's convoy received a warm but modest welcome.

"His face looked very lovely and sweet... He is coming here for peace."

Myanmar's estimated 700,000 Catholics make up just over one percent of the country's 51 million people.

But around 200,000 Catholics are pouring into Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon before a huge open-air mass on Wednesday.

"People came from all corners of the country, even if we could only see him for a few seconds," Sister Genevieve Mu, an ethnic Karen nun, told AFP.

- Peace and prayers -

The pope's speeches in Mynamar will be scrutinised by Buddhist hardliners for any mention of the word "Rohingya", an incendiary term in a country where the Muslim group are labelled "Bengalis" -- alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Francis' visit is a papal first for Myanmar, whose 700,000 Christians have turned out in force to welcome him

On Tuesday Francis will meet Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose lustre has faded because of her failure to speak up publicly for the Rohingya.

He will hold two masses in Yangon.

Speaking shortly before he left Rome, the pontiff said: "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope."

The army insists its Rakhine operation has been a proportionate response to Rohingya "terrorists" who raided police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen officers.

But rights groups have accused the military of using its operation as cover to drive out a minority it has oppressed for decades and forced out in great numbers in previous "clearance operations".

Days before the papal visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a deal vowing to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of returning without guarantees of basic rights.

Francis will travel on to Bangladesh on Thursday, where he will meet a group of Rohingya Muslims in the capital Dhaka.

In Kutupalong, the largest fresh encampment of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, 25-year-old Aziz Khan implored the pope to help his people.

"If he can help us, then I want to tell him that we want our country and our rights back," he told AFP.
Vietnamese protesters demonstrate against Formosa during a rally in downtown Hanoi in May 2016

A Vietnamese court on Monday jailed a blogger for seven years for disseminating anti-state "propaganda" including articles which supported protests against a Taiwanese firm responsible for a toxic leak.

Space for free expression is shrinking in the Communist country, with at least 15 activists and dissidents having been arrested and several others jailed so far this year.

Nguyen Van Hoa, 22, an environmental activist, was accused of instigating protests against authorities via his Facebook account, mainly following the 2016 toxic leak at a steel factory operated by Taiwan's Formosa.

Formosa was fined $500 million after being blamed for dumping waste along Vietnam's central coast, which poisoned fish and decimated the incomes of fishing communities.

The plant became the focal point for anger at environmental damage wrought by big business.

Protests against the Taiwanese company were met with crackdowns by authorities.

Hoa was also accused of taking part in the protest, according to a state media report quoting the indictment, which said he had "posted articles, videos and images with negative content on his Facebook (page)" while spreading "spreading reactionary propaganda against the party and state's policies".

Some of the posts in question date back to 2013.

He was convicted after a speedy trial in Ha Tinh province, a clerk told AFP without giving details.

The conviction comes more than one month after authorities detained Tran Thi Xuan, another Vietnamese activist demonstrating against Formosa.

She was charged under a separate part of the criminal code that carries a possible death sentence for attempting to overthrow the government.

Vietnam routinely imprisons activists, bloggers and lawyers, but its poor rights record worsened further after a new conservative leadership assumed power last year.

Authorities have come under fire for a spate of arrests this year and in the lead-up to US President Donald Trump's visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang earlier in the month.

During the trip artist Mai Khoi was locked inside her house after holding up a sign that said "Piss on you Trump" as the president's motorcade passed through town in Hanoi.

Observers say Trump's hands-off approach to human rights has freed authoritarian leaders across Southeast Asia and beyond to launch crackdowns without fear of censure.

In Vietnam's most infamous recent case, 37-year-old Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, better known by her pen name "Mother Mushroom", was sentenced to 10 years in June under the same charge as Hoa.

US First Lady Melania Trump bestowed a "Woman of Courage Award" on Quynh in March.
New President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxilia at the inauguration: China denies any role in his ascent

China on Monday congratulated Zimbabwe's new President Emmerson Mnangagwa but denied it played any part in his takeover or in the ousting of strongman Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe's army chief General Constantine Chiwenga visited Beijing shortly before the political crisis erupted in Harare, leading to questions about whether Beijing had any role in the power transition.

China had long been one of Mugabe's most powerful allies and a major trade partner, as the West shunned him over his government's human rights violations.

Calling the army chief's visit a pre-arranged and "normal interaction", foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang denied any involvement in Zimbabwean politics.

"It was planned long before and it was also approved by the former President Mugabe," Geng said.

"China always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and this remains unchanged."

Beijing pointedly did not take sides after the army put Mugabe under house arrest earlier this month. Last week the Chinese foreign ministry declared that it respected his decision to resign but praised him as a "good friend" of China.

Relations between the two countries date back to the liberation struggle of the 1960s, when Beijing provided arms and trained some of the top guerrilla leaders.

During those years, Mnangagwa received training in China.

Nicknamed "the Crocodile" for his ruthlessness, Mnangagwa was Zimbabwe's vice president until his sacking earlier this month, which ultimately led to Mugabe's downfall.

"We congratulate President Mnangagwa on his inauguration," Geng said.

"We firmly support Zimbabwe following a path that supports its own national conditions and we believe under the leadership of Mr Mnangagwa Zimbabwe's national development will make further progress."
Palestinian children greet fighters from the armed wing of Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip on July 20, 2017

Palestinian movement Hamas again refused to disarm on Monday ahead of a key reconciliation deadline, instead threatening to carry out attacks against Israel in the West Bank.

By Friday, the Islamists are due to hand over control of the Gaza Strip to the internationally recognised Palestinian government, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

But the future of their armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, remains unclear.

"The weapons of the resistance are a red line that is non-debatable," Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas in Gaza, told a press conference, referring to the Qassam Brigades.

"These weapons will be moved to the West Bank to fight the (Israeli) occupation. It is our right to resist the occupation until it ends."

Around 400,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in settlements considered illegal under international law, alongside around three million Palestinians.

In Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since seizing it in 2007, there are no settlers after Israel withdrew in 2005.

The United States and Israel have said they will reject any reconciliation agreement leading to a unity government including Hamas unless it disarms.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has also said there will only be one security force in the Palestinian territories.

The reconciliation agreement signed on October 12 in Cairo does not specify a future for the Qassam Brigades.

Also on Monday a delegation from Egyptian intelligence arrived in Gaza, as they seek to push forward with the agreement they brokered.

"We are working with everyone and we are optimistic of implementing reconciliation, achieving Palestinian unity and ending the suffering of the Palestinian citizens," an Egyptian security official told AFP.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's warning came just a month after foreign and local IS supporters ravaged Mindanao's main Muslim city of Marawi

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to correct "historical injustice" in a speech to Filipino Muslim rebels on Monday as his government seeks to reignite a stalled peace process in the nation's troubled south.

He made the remarks at a mammoth gathering hosted by the country's main Muslim guerrilla group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but which has also brought together Christians, rival Muslim factions and tribal groups from the southern region of Mindanao.

Since the 1970s, Muslims have been waging a rebellion seeking autonomy or independence in the southern areas of the mainly Catholic Philippines that they regard as their ancestral homeland.

The conflict has claimed more than 120,000 lives and left large areas of Mindanao in poverty.

Duterte, who boasts of having Muslim ancestry, warned that the region could see worse violence if the issue is not resolved.

"What is at stake here is the preservation of the Filipino republic and to correct historical injustice," he said.

Duterte said that during the decades when the Philippines was under Spanish and then American colonial rule, the Christian majority had taken control of vast parts of Mindanao, leaving native Muslims and other tribes marginalised.

He also warned that the violence could be exacerbated if Islamic State followers flee to the Philippines after losing their bases in the Middle East.

- Islamic State threat -

Duterte's warning came just a month after the foreign and local IS supporters who ravaged Mindanao's main Muslim city Marawi were defeated in October, ending a five-month conflict which left about 1,100 people dead.

The 10,000-strong MILF signed a peace deal in 2014 that would give the nation's Muslim minority self-rule over parts of Mindanao, but the proposed law to implement the pact has not managed to get through Congress.

The immediate objective of Monday's rally was to build support for the proposed law.

Duterte said he would work for the law's passage, even calling Congress to a special session where Muslim leaders could explain their plans to the legislators.

Such an agreement must be "inclusive" and acceptable to all groups in Mindanao, he added.

Speaking at the event, MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim recalled that many of those attending had fought in the Muslim guerrilla wars in decades past.

But he said they are now pushing for the autonomy law, stating "it presents us the rare opportunity to be part of the noble endeavour of peace-making".

Hundreds of thousands of people attended the gathering at the main MILF base where a festive mood prevailed despite the history of conflict.

The MILF previously said half a million had registered to attend.

Unarmed MILF fighters accompanied by armed government soldiers and policemen secured the event, which was attended by Cardinal Orlando Quevedo -- the archbishop of Cotabato and Mindanao's highest Catholic Church official -- as well as members of the MILF's main rival, the Moro National Liberation Front.

"The importance here is that there is coexistence between Christians, Muslims and Lumads (tribal people)," said Carlos Sol, director of the government's coordinating committee overseeing the peace accord.
President Maithripala Sirisena's coalition government is embroiled in bitter infighting

Sri Lanka Monday began preparing for long-delayed local elections seen as a key popularity test of embattled President Maithripala Sirisena, whose coalition government is embroiled in bitter infighting.

Sirisena's allies say the president has deliberately stalled local council polls to buy time as he tries to heal rifts within his own party, an accusation he denies.

The local vote, likely to be in early February, is seen as a crucial mid-term test for Sirisena, who has struggled to hold the raucous ruling alliance together since his election in 2015.

Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon from the non-profit Campaign for Free and Fair Elections said voters were no longer considering this a small local election.

"People felt they were being deprived of their vote for a long time," Tennakoon told AFP. "This could be a test of the president's popularity."

Sirisena has said the election was delayed by nearly two years because authorities had to redraw complex electoral boundaries.

The clash over the local polls is the latest in a series of disputes within the ruling coalition, formed after Sirisena split his own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and secured support from the rival United National Party.

The allies have since clashed over economic policy and on stalled investigations into corruption under the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also from the SLFP.

Parliament last week announced an investigation into the alleged tapping of lawmakers' private phones by a Sirisena-appointed commission, deepening the acrimony within the coalition.

The president's own party is split between him and predecessor Rajapakse, who ruled Sri Lanka for a decade and presided over the end of the decades-long civil war.

Rajapakse remains a threat to Sirisena's leadership of the SLFP, wielding considerable influence in Sri Lankan politics.
Bangladeshis gather beside tanks manned by army soldiers near the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka on February 26, 2009

A Bangladesh court on Monday upheld death sentences for 139 soldiers over the massacre of 74 people including 57 senior army officers during a 2009 mutiny, the attorney general said.

"The verdict has upheld the death sentence for 139 people," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters after the High Court handed down its judgement in Dhaka.

"Nowhere in the world did anything happen like the way those 57 top army officers were killed," Alam said.

The sentences will be appealed again in the Supreme Court, which by law has the final say in all capital punishment cases.

In 2013 a court sentenced 152 soldiers to death for the grisly killings in which dozens of officers were shot, hacked to death or burnt alive before being dumped in sewers or shallow graves.

One of those handed the death penalty died in custody, eight others had sentences commuted to life imprisonment and four were acquitted, Alam said.

The sentences were condemned at the time by the UN rights chief, who expressed alarm at such a heavy punishment meted out in a mass trial.

The mutineers stole thousands of weapons in February 2009 before going on a two-day killing spree at a barracks.

Bangladesh has a history of military coups and the massacre threatened the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which responded by arresting thousands of suspects.
Musa Hilal (C), the leader of the Arab Mahamid tribe in Sudan's Darfur region, salutes followers in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, on December 7, 2013

Sudan's counter-insurgency forces have arrested a powerful militia chief from Darfur accused by the United Nations of human rights abuses in the war-torn region, officials said on Monday.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrested Musa Hilal, a former aide to President Omar al-Bashir, near his home town of Mustariaha in the state of North Darfur, State Minister of Defence Lieutenant General Ali Mohamed Salem told parliament.

Mohamed Salem said Hilal's son Habeeb was also detained. Both were detained on Sunday.

"They were arrested after clashes in the area but the security situation there is now stable," Mohamed Salem said in a statement carried by the official SUNA news agency.

On Sunday, fierce fighting erupted between fighters loyal to Hilal and an RSF unit near Mustariaha, in which the RSF said it lost 10 members including a commander.

Mustariaha is a bastion of Hilal, whose fighters from the Arab Mahamid tribe have regularly clashed with RSF troops in Darfur in recent months.

RSF told AFP that Hilal had been arrested with several of his fighters and three sons, and that they were all brought to Khartoum on Monday.

"Hilal has been handed over to military intelligence for questioning," RSF spokesman Abdulrahman al-Jaali told AFP.

"Hilal was a fugitive and he should face the law."

RSF chief Mohamed Hamiditi said in a separate statement to SUNA that his troops confiscated "sophisticated communications equipment" from Hilal's fighters.

"A foreign national is among those arrested, which confirms the participation of foreign parties in destabilising the security in Darfur," he said.

"The foreigner is an Algerian and he was arrested at Hilal's house," RSF spokesman Jaali said later Monday.

Sunday's fighting erupted when an RSF unit was ambushed as it oversaw a weapons hand-in near Mustariaha under a disarmament programme launched by the government across Darfur after it announced the conflict in the region had ended early this year.

Darfur, a region the size of France, has been awash with weapons since 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of economic and political discrimination.

- Refusing to disarm -

The weapons are held by tribal militias, including some backed by government forces, and authorities now want them to be handed in.

But Hilal and his fighters have refused to surrender their arms.

During the initial years of the conflict in Darfur, Hilal and his fighters fought on the side of government forces against black African rebels in the region.

Hilal is subject to a UN travel ban and on a list of individuals sanctioned for "human rights atrocities" during the early years of the conflict.

The UN and rights groups have accused him of attacking villages and even displaced people's camps.

The UN and Washington say he played a key role in mobilising pro-government Arab militias that attacked black African rebels and villagers for allegedly backing rebel groups.

Hilal denies these accusations, saying that he organised his tribesmen in order to defend their lands and property following a call by Khartoum.

In 2008, Hilal was appointed an adviser to Bashir, but later a rift erupted between him and the government when he accused Khartoum of ignoring his political demands.

Since then, he and hundreds of his fighters have often clashed with the RSF in Darfur, threatening recent gains achieved in the region.

The RSF also faces controversy over its role in crushing rebels in Darfur.

The region has seen an overall fall in violence in recent years, although there are regular reports of tribal clashes.

Some 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.5 million displaced since the Darfur conflict erupted in 2003, the UN says.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes related to the conflict.

He denies the charges.
In 2013 a court sentenced 152 soldiers to death for the grisly killings in a mass trial criticised by the United Nations

A Bangladesh court upheld the death penalty for 139 soldiers on Monday over their role in a "brutal and barbaric" mutiny in which dozens of top army officers were massacred.

In delivering his verdict Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique described the 2009 slaughter of 74 people -- including 57 top brass -- as an unprecedented atrocity in Bangladesh's relatively short history.

"It was the most heinous, brutal and barbaric carnage of our history," he told the Dhaka courtroom of the two-day massacre in which victims were shot, hacked to death and burned alive by marauding troops.

The sentences will be appealed again in the Supreme Court, which by law has the final say in all capital punishment cases.

In 2013 a court sentenced 152 soldiers to death for the grisly killings in a mass trial criticised by the United Nations rights chief as failing to meet basic standards of due process.

One of those handed the death penalty died in custody, eight others had sentences commuted to life imprisonment and four were acquitted.

Thousands were rounded up and tried in special military courts in the aftermath of the massacre, as the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wrestled to regain control in a country prone to military coups.

Hundreds were singled out for trial in civilian courts and handed punishments ranging from death to a few years.

The high court in Dhaka on Monday upheld sentences of mixed severity to more than 380 accused, including 185 life sentences, prosecutor Jahid Sarwar Kazal told AFP.

"Forty-five people were acquitted," he added.

The mutineers stole thousands of weapons in February 2009 from the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) paramilitary squad before embarking on a killing spree in the barracks.

The home of the BDR chief was also stormed and his wife, guests and staff slaughtered before the building was razed.

The remains of those butchered in the carnage were dumped in sewers or shallow graves.

"Nowhere in the world did anything happen like the way those 57 top army officers were killed," Bangladesh Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters outside the courthouse.

The uprising quickly spread to other military bases, with thousands of soldiers seizing weapons and pledging allegiance to the mutineers in Dhaka before it was quashed by the army.

An official investigation into the mutiny blamed years of pent-up anger among ordinary soldiers, who felt their appeals for pay rises and better treatment were ignored.

Rights groups criticised the scale of the punishments meted out en masse, claiming the trials were "an affront to international legal standards".

Bangladesh defended the death sentences, insisting those convicted would have a chance to appeal and denying claims that confessions were extracted through torture.
Hundreds were killed in a string of clashes between the Oromo and Somali peoples in September, displacing thousands, and forcing people like this Oromo girl in October to live in temporary camps

A renewed bout of clashes between two of Ethiopia's largest ethnic groups killed more than 20 people last week, the state-controlled broadcaster reported on Monday.

Fighting again broke out between the Oromo and Somali peoples along the border of their ethnically-demarcated federal regions but the cause of the violence was unknown, according to the Fana Broadcast Corporate.

Hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands displaced in a string of clashes between the ethnic groups in September until the military intervened to quell the bloodshed.

"Conflicts claimed the lives of more than 20 people from both regional states," the broadcaster said, citing government spokesman Negeri Lencho.

It added that while the security situation has improved since September's bloodshed "it is impossible to say that the conflict is totally ended."

The reports of the new clashes came after the government said 103 people had been arrested on suspicion of stoking the September fighting, though it was unclear if the arrests and the violence were connected.

Somalis and Oromos have for years squabbled over access to arable land along their borders, but the clashes two months ago were much more widespread, with one local official in a city near the border saying 67,800 Oromos alone had fled.

Ethiopia's government has prioritised ending the conflict and helping the survivors, and three other regions in the country have donated 30 million birr ($1 million, 919,000 euros) to assist people displaced by the crisis.
Pope Francis, who is visiting Myanmar to spread a message of peace, has spoken up several times for the Rohingya

Myanmar's army chief Min Aung Hlaing said he told Pope Francis his country had "no religious discrimination" after the pair met late Monday, in a papal visit framed by the exodus of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

"Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all," he said in a Facebook post by his office. "Likewise our military too... (it) performs for the peace and stability of the country."

The Tatmadaw, as his army is known, has been accused by the UN and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of conducting a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" by driving 620,000 Rohingya from western Myanmar into Bangladesh since August.

Myanmar denies any wrongdoing despite testimony by refugees pointing to a widespread campaign of rape, murder and arson.

The Rohingya, who are effectively stateless, are subject to a suffocating web of state-enforced restrictions.

Most are denied citizenship by Myanmar, which says they are illegal "Bengali" immigrants.

Last week Amnesty International called western Rakhine state a "crime scene", describing the restrictions on the Rohingya as tantamount to "apartheid".

The pope, who is visiting Myanmar to spread a message of peace, has spoken up several times for the Rohingya as the crisis has unfolded calling the benighted group "brothers and sisters".

His comments have enraged hardline Buddhist nationalists in Myanmar, who are now waiting to see if he uses the term "Rohingya" during his four-day trip.

Min Aung Hlaing's office said the senior general had welcomed the pope during a brief 15 minute meeting in Yangon and told the pontiff there was also "no discrimination between ethnic groups in Myanmar".

The Rohingya are not recognised as an official ethnic group.
An Iraqi national flag flies in front of excess gas being burnt off in an oil refinery in Zubair, southwest of Basra in southern Iraq, on March 3, 2016

Iraq on Monday invited foreign firms to apply for tenders to explore and develop eight oil and gas fields along its Iranian and Kuwaiti borders, along with an offshore bloc.

The call was issued by Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaybi.

"The aim of these development plans... is to achieve the ministry's goal aimed at maximising oil and gas reserves and optimising investments in border blocs neglected in past decades due to wars," Luaybi said at a press conference in Baghdad.

Eight of the fields are located in the southern and eastern provinces of Basra, Missan, Muthanna, Wassit and Diyala, while the ninth is offshore in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf, he said.

Iraq fought a devastating eight-year war with its neighbour Iran from 1980 under former dictator Saddam Hussein, but the two countries have become close allies after Saddam's fall in 2013 and the rise of a Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

In August 1990, Saddam ordered the invasion of Kuwait after Baghdad accused its neighbour of "stealing" Iraqi oil from the key Rumaila oilfield which straddles the two countries.

The Kuwait invasion led to the first Gulf war, which ended after a US-led international coalition ousted Iraqi forces from the emirate.

Another US-led invasion in 2003, the rise of the Islamic State group and the fightback against it, conflict between Baghdad and the Kurds over disputed northern oilfields and years of low crude prices have combined to devastate Iraq's oil industry.

Iraq is a founding member of the OPEC cartel and its second largest producer after Saudi Arabia, but currently only exports around 4.4 million barrels of oil per day.

Luaybi is due to travel to Vienna on Monday to attend a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel, which is set to discuss a reduction in oil production.

The bidding process to exploit the eight blocs will open on June 21, according to Abdel Mahdi al-Aidi, who heads the department in charge of contracts at Iraq's oil ministry.
Supporters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Qamishli celebrate the fall of Raqa in October 2017

Washington will "adjust" its delivery of weapons to an anti-jihadist alliance in Syria dominated by Kurdish fighters, Kurdish officials said Monday, insisting that collaboration with the United States will "continue".

The Pentagon, however, was vague about what an adjustment might mean, and the comments come after Turkey said it had received White House assurances that it would halt weapons supplies to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the main Kurdish militia in Syria.

The US began supplying weapons directly to the YPG earlier this year as part of its support for the anti-jihadist Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which is dominated by the Kurdish militia.

The decision deeply angered Ankara, which considers the YPG a "terrorist" group.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that US President Donald Trump had told Turkey the weapons deliveries would end.

"Mr Trump said he gave a clear order and that after this, weapons would not be supplied to the YPG, essentially he said this nonsense should have been ended earlier," Cavusoglu said at a press conference in Ankara.

Washington was less explicit, describing only "pending adjustments" to its support for the YPG, which forms the backbone of the SDF that ousted the Islamic State group from Raqa last month.

"We are taking a hard look at the adjustments that need to be made to the military support provided to our Kurdish partners," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning told reporters.

"We are always taking a look and assessing how we can do that better."

He said the US had always been clear that weapons provided to the YPG would be limited, "mission-specific", and provided incrementally.

"We are taking a look at the things that need to happen to make sure we are providing support consistent with those previous agreements," Manning added.

- 'No changes' in relations -

Kurdish officials told AFP on Monday that any changes to weapons deliveries were the natural consequence of their successes against IS, and not a reflection of any change in their ties with Washington.

"There are no changes to the relations between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US administration," said Abdel Karim Amr, an official with the Kurdish semi-autonomous administration in northern Syria.

"Obviously, there will be an adjustment in the delivery of arms to the SDF after the elimination of IS, but there is no change in US policy regarding coordination" with the alliance, he added.

"The support will continue until we eliminate all that remains of IS's presence in the entire region where there is coordination between the US administration and the SDF," said Amr, who is charged with external relations for the Kurdish administration.

He described Turkey's statements on the issue as "incorrect" and "imprecise".

"We are the partners of the international coalition that is fighting terrorism, and that partnership will continue," added Mustefa Bali of the SDF's press office.

"We still have much to do with our partners in the coalition," he added.

The SDF has been a key partner of the US-led coalition against IS, and together they have driven the jihadists from strongholds including their one-time de facto Syrian capital Raqa.

But the relationship has caused tensions between Washington and Ankara, which launched its own military intervention in Syria last year targeting both IS and the YPG.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma unlawfully dismissed his vice president after he was expelled from the ruling party, a West African regional court said

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma unlawfully dismissed his vice president after he was expelled from the ruling party, a West African regional court said on Monday.

Samuel Sam-Sumana was kicked out of the All People's Congress (APC) in March 2015 on suspicion of fomenting violence, deceit, fraud and threatening party officials.

He went into hiding and applied for asylum in the United States, then appealed the expulsion to the country's Supreme Court, where he lost in September 2015.

But judge Chijioke Nwoke and two others at the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said due process had not been followed.

The APC constitution includes a 30-day appeals period. The party expelled Sam-Sumana on March 6, 2015 and he filed his appeal 20 days later.

"On this ground alone, it is sufficient to void the applicant's removal from office," Nwoke said in a written judgment read to the court in Abuja on Monday.

"In all circumstances, it is always required that the law should be allowed to run its course.

"The exercise of power... should be circumscribed with the requirements of due process and this has not been satisfied in this particular case."

The judges said as such, his right to participate in government and right to a fair hearing under the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights had been breached.

The court ordered Sierra Leone to back-date Sam-Sumana's salary and benefits from the day of his removal and pay court costs.

He had applied for costs of some $10 million (8.4 million euros) but his lawyer, Raymond Atuguba, said it was not immediately clear how much would be paid.

"This case was not just about cost," he told reporters outside court.

"It's about the integrity of the Sierra Leonian state and the rule of law, which says that a president cannot just get up one fine morning and just dismiss his vice-president."

Sam-Sumana hailed the ruling as "a message to our Sierra Leone and Africa as a whole" to use the courts, rather than violence, to resolve disputes.

Sierra Leone holds elections next year and Sam-Sumana said the ruling paved the way for him to run for president.

"I'm sure by March 7, you will be talking to the next president of Sierra Leone," he told reporters.

The court's rulings are binding on all member states, final and not subject to appeal.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to raise human rights as well as trade and other issues during his second official visit to China

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will travel to China next week to bolster trade ties as North American continental trade talks fizzle.

During the December 3-7 official visit, Trudeau "will promote a progressive trade agenda and tourism initiatives," said his office.

He will meet with government and business leaders as part of Canada's concerted push to diversify its trade, most of which is currently with its neighbor the United States.

"A strong relationship with China is essential to creating jobs, strengthening the middle class, and growing the Canadian economy," Trudeau said in a statement.

He said he also plans to have full and frank discussions on "issues like good governance, human rights, and the rule of law."

The visit to China will be Trudeau's second since he came to power two years ago, and comes as trilateral talks with the United States and Mexico to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement appear to be headed toward a deadlock.

Canada and Mexico are staunchly opposed to US proposals for a NAFTA sunset clause, minimum US content in car parts and nixing of the pact's trade dispute mechanism.

The US has adopted a more protectionist tone under President Donald Trump and his "America First" policy.

Beijing, meanwhile, has openly courted increased trade with Canada, including calling for a free trade deal.

China is currently Canada's second-largest trading partner, far behind the United States, with bilateral trade of more than Can$85 billion (US$67 billion).

Last year Canada's merchandise exports to China rose four percent over 2015, topped by agriculture and forest products, copper and iron ores, and motor vehicles.

During the visit to Beijing and Guangzhou, Trudeau will meet with his counterpart Li Keqiang, Chairman Zhang Dejiang of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and President Xi Jinping.

Chinese Premier Li travelled to Canada in September last year, when the two sides agreed to double bilateral commerce by 2025.
This handout photo taken and released on November 27, 2017 by the World Food Program shows a WFP vessel carrying 25,000 tons of wheat, moored in Yemen's Red Sea port of Saleef

The Saudi-led coalition should do "much more" to ease a blockade on Yemen impeding shipments of aid and fully reopen the key port of Hodeida, the UN said Monday.

Earlier this month, the coalition battling Iran-backed Huthi rebels imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports and airports in response to a missile fired by the Huthis that was intercepted near Riyadh airport.

It eased the blockade allowing a UN plane carrying vaccines to land Saturday in rebel-held Sanaa and on Sunday a vessel carrying wheat docked at Saleef Red Sea port, also in the Huthis' hands.

But little aid has entered through the Red Sea port of Hodeida, the main conduit for UN-supervised deliveries of food and medicine and vital to UN efforts as it is closest to the majority of people in need.

"Obviously we welcome the easing of the blockade, the partial lifting of it... but much more needs to be done," Jamie McGoldrick, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, told AFP.

He singled out Hodeida.

"We need the ports to be opened fully -- especially Hodeida -- for commercial and humanitarian goods so that people can get food cheaper. Otherwise, more and more people will suffer," he said.

"What we need to do is to keep those ports opened and to expand the number of ships coming in to Hodeida port," added McGoldrick.

A vessel carrying the first shipment of food aid in three weeks -- 25,000 tonnes of wheat -- docked Sunday at Saleef in western Yemen, a spokesman for the World Food Programme said.

Saleef port is around 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Hodeida.

Also on Sunday a ship docked at Hodeida, with the deputy head of the port saying it was a "commercial" vessel not linked to WFP aid.

McGoldrick stressed on Monday that the UN was trying to address the needs of seven million people in dire need of assistance, while the rest of Yemen's population "relies solely on the commercial sector".

"If the goods don't come in through the normal channels there will be problems in terms of price rises," he said.

"The actual amount of goods coming in Hodeida is not sufficient. We need the port opened fully. We cannot rely on other ports."

UN officials say Yemen could face the world's largest famine in decades unless the crippling blockade is lifted.

The Saudi-led coalition, which intervened to prop up Yemen's government after the Iran-backed Huthis drove it from Sanaa, has demanded tighter inspections of Hodeida port.

"We replied to the Saudi-led coalition request. We have two teams ready to go to Riyadh," said McGoldrick, adding however that the UN is still waiting for the Saudis to grant them entry visas to the kingdom.

More than 2,000 people have died of cholera in Yemen this year, adding to the 8,600 who have died in the conflict between the Saudi-backed government and the rebels since 2015.
Zimbabwe's former finance minister, Ignatius Chombo (2nd R), leaves Harare Magistrate Court shackled to former ZANU-PF Youth League chairperson Kudzai Chipanga (R) after he was remanded in custody on fraud charges on November 25, 2017

Zimbabwe's former finance minister, Ignatius Chombo, who is facing graft charges dating back more than 10 years, was denied bail Monday by a magistrate's court.

"The court is of the view that indeed there are compelling reasons to deny the accused person his right to bail,"magistrate Elisha Singano said.

"I concur with the state that if the accused is released at this time there will be a public outcry."

He also said the risk of Chombo fleeing was high.

Chombo is a former secretary for administration in the ruling ZANU-PF party and the last finance minister under President Robert Mugabe.

On Saturday, he became the first Mugabe loyalist to be charged following the military intervention that forced the 93-year-old leader from office.

He was remanded in custody on fraud charges dating from 2004-2009, when he held a different ministerial role.

Chombo -- seen as an ally of Grace Mugabe, the ex-president's controversial wife -- told the court on Saturday that armed men in uniform had detained and questioned him for days at an unknown location.

Chombo appeared on Monday in the same court that denied bail to Kudzai Chipanga.

The former ZANU-PF youth league leader is facing charges of causing disaffection in the military after he denounced the army chief, Constantino Chiwenga.

He was remanded in custody to December 8.
The initiative envisages linking China with Africa, Asia and Europe through a network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks

A two-day investment forum opened in Morocco's Marrakesh on Monday as China seeks to revive ancient Silk Road trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa.

"The question is how to accelerate cooperation in the field of investment," said Wang Yong, vice president of the China-Africa Development Fund.

The event brings together 400 business executives including 150 from China.

Morocco's Industry Minister Moulay Hafid Ellalamy said China and Africa "share the same quest for development".

"The Silk Road initiative will change the map of international trade," he said, adding that trade and cooperation were already at "unprecedented" levels.

The "One Belt, One Road" initiative, unveiled by Xi Jinping's presidency in 2013, envisages linking China with Africa, Asia and Europe through a network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks.

"China needs Africa and Africa needs China. We want to tighten ties together," said Tony Dong, executive president of the Sino-European Entrepreneurs Federation.

He said Chinese came to Marrakesh "for investment opportunities".

"The Chinese make business partners all over the world," he added.

China is Africa's key business partner, with trade reaching $190 billion in 2016, according to figures released at the forum.

Around 10,000 Chinese industrial enterprises operate in Africa, generating annual business of more than $60 billion.

Last year, China was the top foreign investor in Africa with $31.6 billion, the figures given at the forum showed.

By the end of 2016, Chinese companies had contributed to projects including railways, highways, ports, airports and power stations in Africa.
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The US Justice Department charged three Chinese computer security experts Monday with hacking and stealing materials from Moody's Analytics, Siemens, and Trimble, a GPS technology firm.

The three were associated with Guangdong-based Guangzhou Boyu Information Technology Company, known as Boyusec, which some Western security analysts allege has links to the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

The indictment named Boyusec co-founder Wu Yingzhuo, executive director Dong Hao, and Xia Lei, an employee.

It said they hacked the email server of Moody's Analytics in 2011, obtaining access to the emails of a person described as a high-profile economist who represented the Moody's brand -- a description that matches Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi.

Moody's did not confirm or deny that, but said it had "worked closely" with the investigation, and had not lost any customer or employee data to the hackers.

In 2014 the three Chinese hackers broke into German industrial giant Siemens' computer networks, stealing large amounts of files and data from its energy, technology and transportation businesses, according to the US indictment.

It added that in 2015-2016 they stole newly developed hardware and software information from a new global satellite navigation system being developed by Trimble.

The three were charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, and theft of trade secrets.

The indictment did not say what Boyusec did with the information, some of which had clear commercial value.

"Once again, the Justice Department and the FBI have demonstrated that hackers around the world who are seeking to steal our companies' most sensitive and valuable information can and will be exposed and held accountable," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Dana Boente.

In 2015 then-president Barack Obama extracted a pledge from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to halt Chinese theft of trade secrets. Since then industry and US intelligence experts say the practice has significantly diminished, but not disappeared.

Boyusec has been watched as a suspicious actor by Western security firms for several years.

Earlier this year the threat intelligence firm Record Future -- which is supported by the US Central Intelligence Agency -- said Boyusec works "on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security" and is behind hacking attacks known as APT3.

"APT3 has traditionally targeted a wide-range of companies and technologies, likely to fulfill intelligence collection requirements on behalf of the MSS," Recorded Future said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far been questioned six times by detectives of the police national fraud and serious crimes squad over two suspected cases of corruption

Israel's parliament on Monday approved at a first reading a bill that opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say is designed to help him survive an ongoing police investigation.

If passed into law by a second and third reading it would alter current practice under which at the end of an enquiry police tell the attorney general if they feel that they have enough evidence for a prosecution.

Netanyahu has so far been questioned six times by detectives of the police national fraud and serious crimes squad over two suspected cases of corruption.

The bill is being fast-tracked by the government and was rushed through a parliamentary preparatory committee Monday hours before the house voted for it by 46 votes to 37.

"Two revisions were inserted into the legislation," the website of the Knesset, or parliament, said in English.

It said the first would allow the attorney general to ask the police for "input in the existing corruption probes into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

But the police opinion could not be made public, it wrote.

"The second revision sets a one-year prison sentence for investigators who leak their conclusions to outside sources."

Since the police started grilling Netanyahu in January, Israeli media have been full of leaks on the probe's progress, some reportedly coming from within the police force itself.

The bill's sponsor, David Amsalem of Netanyahu's Likud party, said he sought only to protect the rights and reputation of suspects.

The Knesset site said that during Monday's committee meeting, MP Tamar Zandberg of the opposition Meretz party called it "a corrupt bill to protect a corrupt prime minister".

"The situation today is that the attorney general can make the (police) recommendations public," it quoted Dov Khenin of the opposition Joint List as saying.

"According to the new clause, he cannot. This is a dramatic and extreme move. You are silencing the attorney general."

Netanyahu is suspected of having received luxury gifts from wealthy supporters, including Israeli businessman and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who has also been questioned.

Milchan, a long-time friend of Netanyahu, reportedly sent him boxes of expensive cigars and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars.

In addition to suspicions that the gifts constituted bribery, the police also suspect that he sought a secret pact for favourable coverage with the publisher of the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

The alleged deal, not believed to have been finalised, would have seen Netanyahu receive favourable coverage in return for helping curb Yediot's competitor, the pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and says he has been the target of a campaign by political opponents.
Australian authorities say more than a dozen attacks have been prevented in the past few years

An Islamic State sympathiser planned to buy a gun and kill as many revellers as possible on New Year's Eve in Melbourne, police alleged Tuesday after foiling the plot.

Ali Ali, born in Australia to Somali parents, was arrested in a raid on a house in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee on Monday.

He appeared in court Tuesday charged with preparing to commit a terrorist attack and collecting documents to facilitate a terror attack. No bail was applied for.

Police claim the 20-year-old accessed a guide book online produced by Al-Qaeda on how to carry out terror acts and use firearms, but was arrested before he could purchase an automatic rifle.

"What we will be alleging is that he was intending to use a firearm to shoot and kill as many people as he could in the Federation Square area on New Year's Eve," said Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton.

"It is a tremendous concern to us that (during) the festive season, when people are out enjoying themselves, that there is a potential plot to commit a terrorist act. That is a huge issue for us but that is why we put the resources in."

Federation Square is in the heart of the city, opposite a busy train station and St Paul's Cathedral. It is one of the most popular places to see-in the new year and would be packed on December 31.

The alleged plot comes a year after police prevented what they said was another attack in the same area on Christmas Day, arresting several men who planned to use explosives, knives and guns to target the location.

- 'Quiet guy' -

Patton said Ali, who lives with his parents, had been on their radar since the beginning of the year, part of a small community of extremists that police have been monitoring.

His behaviour had gradually escalated over time, but police believe he was acting alone.

"The potential of the attack was catastrophic," said Patton, adding that the man was an "Islamic State sympathiser".

A person who knows Ali told the Melbourne Herald Sun: "He is a very quiet guy. This is an absolute shock."

Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the fact that the Christmas -- New Year period was again a target "reminds us of the depravity of terrorists".

"They seek to strike fear in the community when Australians are enjoying time over the Christmas period with their families and friends," he said, adding that there would be high-profile policing over the holiday period.

Australian officials have grown increasingly concerned over the threat of extremist attacks, raising the national terror alert level to "probable" in September 2014.

Since then, 74 people have been arrested in 347 counter-terror investigations.

Authorities say 14 attacks have now been prevented in the past few years, including an IS-directed attempt to bring down a plane using poisonous gas or a crude bomb disguised as a meat mincer.

Despite this, several attacks have taken place, including a cafe siege in Sydney in 2014 where two hostages were killed.
"We have achieved certain progress in terms of de-escalation and reducing the tensions in the country and moving toward a cease fire," Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said

Turkey's Prime Minister said Monday that the "Astana process" to revive the Syrian peace process, led by Russia, Turkey and Iran, is working alongside the UN's long-running Geneva discussions rather than competing with them.

"This process is not competing with the Geneva process," Binali Yildirim said during an address at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

"Astana peace talks, trilateral meetings, (are) not an alternative to Geneva, what we try to do is prepare infrastructure for solution(s)... in Geneva," he said

Russian President Vladimir Putin, alongside Iran and Turkey, has stepped up diplomatic and military initiatives focused on Syria in recent months, including holding seven meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan.

He also hosted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week for three hours of talks aimed at laying the groundwork for progress in the long-dormant peace process.

The flurry of activity has resulted in the establishment of four "de-escalation" zones inside Syria.

This small measure of success contrasts with THE stalled efforts at ending the war in Geneva.

The UN said Monday the Syrian government had not yet confirmed that it would attend talks with the opposition due to restart there on Tuesday.

"We have achieved certain progress in terms of de-escalation and reducing the tensions in the country and moving toward a cease fire," Yildirim added at his IISS talk.

But the Turkish prime minister reiterated his country's determination to see Bashar al-Assad leave power.

"Look how things evolved in Syria, who caused Syria to be in the situation that it is today -- it all happened because of the regime, because of Assad," he said.

He added in the long-term, "Assad cannot possibly survive in Syria, we have to accept this".

Yildrim also took the opportunity to reaffirm Turkey's commitment to NATO, but noted the tensions over American alliances in the fight against Islamic State (IS).

He reiterated that Ankara views the Kurdish PYD group, and its armed wing the YPG -- part of the US-led coalition fighting IS -- as "terrorist organisations".

"We have to protect our territory, and we would ideally want to do it together with NATO, and we work hard for that, but unfortunately, our voice was not heard," Yildrim said.
The FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlin's crosshairs, The Associated Press has found.

Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up.

Even senior policymakers discovered they were targets only when the AP told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.

'It's utterly confounding,' said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. 'You've got to tell your people. You've got to protect your people.'

Scores of U.S. diplomatic, military and government figures were not told about attempts to hack into their emails even though the FBI knew they were in the Kremlin's crosshairs, The Associated Press has learned

This image shows a portion of a phishing email sent to a Washington area-based military analyst on Nov. 9, 2017

In this image made from video, seen though an interior window, employees work in the offices of Secureworks in Atlanta on Oct. 4, 2017

Catalin Florica, who launched THCServers.com in 2013, poses for a portrait on Oct. 4, 2017. The company based in a remote part of Eastern Europe was used to register the website DCLeaks, which U.S. intelligence has accused of being a front for Russian spies

The FBI declined to discuss its investigation into Fancy Bear's spying campaign, but did provide a statement that said in part: 'The FBI routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information.'

Three people familiar with the matter  including a current and a former government official  said the FBI has known for more than a year the details of Fancy Bear's attempts to break into Gmail inboxes.

A senior FBI official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on when it received the target list, but said that the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks.

'It's a matter of triaging to the best of our ability the volume of the targets who are out there,' he said.

The AP did its own triage, dedicating two months and a small team of reporters to go through a hit list of Fancy Bear targets provided by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks.

Previous AP investigations based on the list have shown how Fancy Bear worked in close alignment with the Kremlin's interests to steal tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party.

The hacking campaign disrupted the 2016 U.S. election and cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump, whom U.S. intelligence agencies say the hackers were trying to help. The Russian government has denied interfering in the American election.

The Secureworks list comprises 19,000 lines of targeting data. Going through it, the AP identified more than 500 U.S.-based people or groups and reached out to more than 190 of them, interviewing nearly 80 about their experiences.

Many were long-retired, but about one-quarter were still in government or held security clearances at the time they were targeted. Only two told the AP they learned of the hacking attempts on their personal Gmail accounts from the FBI.

A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last year's electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.

Charles Sowell, who previously worked as a senior administrator in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and was targeted by Fancy Bear two years ago, said there was no reason the FBI couldn't do the same work the AP did.

'It's absolutely not OK for them to use an excuse that there's too much data,' Sowell said. 'Would that hold water if there were a serial killer investigation, and people were calling in tips left and right, and they were holding up their hands and saying, 'It's too much'? That's ridiculous.'

The AP found few traces of the bureau's inquiry as it launched its own investigation two months ago.

In October, two AP journalists visited THCServers.com , a brightly lit, family-run internet company on the former grounds of a communist-era chicken farm outside the Romanian city of Craiova. That's where someone registered DCLeaks.com, the first of three websites to publish caches of emails belonging to Democrats and other U.S. officials in mid-2016.

DCLeaks was clearly linked to Fancy Bear. Previous AP reporting found that all but one of the site's victims had been targeted by the hacking group before their emails were dumped online.

Yet THC founder Catalin Florica said he was never approached by law enforcement.

'It's curious,' Florica said. 'You are the first ones that contact us.'

THC merely registered the site, a simple process that typically takes only a few minutes. But the reaction was similar at the Kuala Lumpur offices of the Malaysian web company Shinjiru Technology , which hosted DCLeaks' stolen files for the duration of the electoral campaign.

The company's chief executive, Terence Choong, said he had never heard of DCLeaks until the AP contacted him.

'What is the issue with it?' he asked.

Questions over the FBI's handling of Fancy Bear's broad hacking sweep date to March 2016, when agents arrived unannounced at Hillary Clinton's headquarters in Brooklyn to warn her campaign about a surge of rogue, password-stealing emails.

The agents offered little more than generic security tips the campaign had already put into practice and refused to say who they thought was behind the attempted intrusions, according to a person who was there and spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was meant to be confidential.

Questions emerged again after it was revealed that the FBI never took custody of the Democratic National Committee's computer server after it was penetrated by Fancy Bear in April 2016. Former FBI Director James Comey testified this year that the FBI worked off a copy of the server, which he described as an 'appropriate substitute.'

Retired Maj. James Phillips was one of the first people to have the contents of his inbox published by DCLeaks when the website made its June 2016 debut.

But the Army veteran said he didn't realize his personal emails were 'flapping in the breeze' until a journalist phoned him two months later.

'The fact that a reporter told me about DCLeaks kind of makes me sad,' he said. 'I wish it had been a government source.'

Phillips' story would be repeated again and again as the AP spoke to officials from the National Defense University in Washington to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado.

Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was one of scores of U.S. diplomatic, military and government figures who were not told about attempts to hack into their emails even though the FBI knew they were in the Kremlin's crosshairs

Among them: a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes; a former head of Air Force Intelligence, retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula; a former defense undersecretary, Eric Edelman; and a former director of cybersecurity for the Air Force, retired Lt. Gen. Mark Schissler.

Retired Maj. Gen. Brian Keller, a former director of military support at the Geospatial Intelligence Agency, was not informed, even after DCLeaks posted his emails to the internet. In a telephone call with AP, Keller said he still wasn't clear on what had happened, who had hacked him or whether his data was still at risk.

'Should I be worried or alarmed or anything?' asked Keller, who left the spy satellite agency in 2010 and now works in private industry.

Not all the interviewees felt the FBI had a responsibility to alert them.

'Perhaps optimistically, I have to conclude that a risk analysis was done and I was not considered a high enough risk to justify making contact,' said a former Air Force chief of staff, retired Gen. Norton Schwartz, who was targeted by Fancy Bear in 2015.

Others argued that the FBI may have wanted to avoid tipping the hackers off or that there were too many people to notify.

'The expectation that the government is going to protect everyone and go back to everyone is false,' said Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior technical officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency who teaches homeland security at Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg and was himself among the targets.

But the government is supposed to try, said Michael Daniel, who served as President Barack Obama's White House cybersecurity coordinator.

Daniel wouldn't comment directly on why so many Fancy Bear targets weren't warned in this case, but he said the issue of how and when to notify people 'frankly still needs more work.'

In the absence of any official warning, some of those contacted by AP brushed off the idea that they were taken in by a foreign power's intelligence service.

'I don't open anything I don't recognize,' said Joseph Barnard, who headed the personnel recovery branch of the Air Force's Air Combat Command.

That may well be true of Barnard; Secureworks' data suggests he never clicked the malicious link sent to him in June 2015. But it isn't true of everyone.

A motorcycle is parked outside the THCServers.com company headquarters, outside Craiova, southern Romania

An AP analysis of the data suggests that out of 312 U.S. military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them. That could mean that as many as 2 in 5 came perilously close to handing over their passwords.

It's not clear how many gave up their credentials in the end or what the hackers may have acquired.

Some of those accounts hold emails that go back years, when even many of the retired officials still occupied sensitive posts.

Overwhelmingly, interviewees told AP they kept classified material out of their Gmail inboxes, but intelligence experts said Russian spies could use personal correspondence as a springboard for further hacking, recruitment or even blackmail.

'You start to have information you might be able to leverage against that person,' said Sina Beaghley, a researcher at the RAND Corp. who served on the NSC until 2014.

In the few cases where the FBI did warn targets, they were sometimes left little wiser about what was going on or what to do.

Rob 'Butch' Bracknell, a 20-year military veteran who works as a NATO lawyer in Norfolk, Virginia, said an FBI agent visited him about a year ago to examine his emails and warn him that a 'foreign actor' was trying to break into his account.

'He was real cloak-and-dagger about it,' Bracknell said. 'He came here to my work, wrote in his little notebook and away he went.'

Left to fend for themselves, some targets have been improvising their cybersecurity.

Retired Gen. Roger A. Brady, who was responsible for American nuclear weapons in Europe as part of his past role as commander of the U.S. Air Force there, turned to Apple support this year when he noticed something suspicious on his computer. Hughes, a former DIA head, said he had his hard drive replaced by the 'Geek Squad' at a Best Buy in Florida after his machine began behaving strangely.

Keller, the former senior spy satellite official, said it was his son who told him his emails had been posted to the web after getting a Google alert in June 2016.

A former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who like many others was repeatedly targeted by Fancy Bear but has yet to receive any warning from the FBI, said the lackluster response risked something worse than last year's parade of leaks.

'Our government needs to be taking greater responsibility to defend its citizens in both the physical and cyber worlds, now, before a cyberattack produces an even more catastrophic outcome than we have already experienced,' McFaul said.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on the 2017 edition of the Miss Universe pageant taking place in Las Vegas (all times local):

7 p.m.

The woman representing South Africa has won the Miss Universe crown.

Contestants embrace new Miss Universe Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, in crown, at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, who recently earned a business management degree, was crowned Sunday during the event that took place at The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

The runner-up was Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez. The second runner-up was Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett.

Ninety-two women from around the world participated in the decades-old competition. This year's edition had the most contestants ever.

The 22-year-old Nel-Peters has earned a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes.

Last year, Iris Mittenaere from France was crowned when the pageant took place in the Philippines.

___

6:40 p.m.

Women representing Jamaica, Colombia and South Africa are the last contestants on this year's Miss Universe pageant.

The pageant on Sunday kicked off with 92 contestants, which were eliminated by stages that included geographic division, swimsuit and evening gown modeling, and a round of questions.

The annual pageant is airing live on FOX from The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas. This year's competition had more contestants than ever before.

The 21-year-old Davina Bennett is representing Jamaica. The representative of Colombia is 22-year-old Laura Gonzalez. South Africa is being represented by 22-year-old Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters.

The winner will go home with a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes.

___

6:20 p.m.

Only five women are still in the running for the Miss Universe crown.

The field of contestants was narrowed down Sunday, after 10 women modeled their evening gowns while Grammy-Award winner Fergie performed her new song "A Little Work."

The remaining contestants represent South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela, Jamaica and Colombia.

This year's edition of the annual pageant is airing live on FOX from The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas.

The five contestants will be asked questions during the next stage of the competition.

The winner will go home with a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes.

___

5:50 p.m.

Ten finalists have been chosen in the Miss Universe pageant.

Six women were not selected to move on Sunday after the swimsuit portion of the competition, which is filmed live at The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas.

The U.S. representative Kara McCullough, of Washington, D.C., modeled a two-piece bikini and made the top 10.

The other finalists represent Venezuela, Philippines, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand and Jamaica.

Host Steve Harvey has poked fun at his 2015 botched Miss Universe crowning throughout the night.

Three days after people in the U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving, Harvey told the audience he is "grateful for the Oscars," referring to the best-picture flub at this year's Academy Awards.

___

5:15 p.m.

The competition is down to 16 women.

The Miss Universe pageant has eliminated 76 contestants after separating the women by geographic region for the first time during the show airing live on Fox from The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas.

The women representing Thailand, Sri Lanka, Ghana and South Africa were chosen to move forward in the competition for the Africa and Asian Pacific region.

Representatives from Spain, Ireland, Croatia and Great Britain have advanced from the Europe group.

Meanwhile, Colombia, Canada, Brazil and the U.S. will continue in the pageant after being picked from the Americas region.

The wild cards went to Venezuela, Jamaica, China and Philippines.

The winner goes home with a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes.

___

4:25 p.m.

This year's edition of the Miss Universe pageant has separated contestants by geographic region for the first time.

The 92 women on Sunday were divided into three regions: Americas, Europe, and Africa and Asian Pacific. Four contestants from each region are guaranteed to advance to the finals. Four other women regardless of region will also move forward in the competition.

This year's pageant has more contestants than ever before. Host Steve Harvey says Cambodia, Laos and Nepal are being represented for the first time in the show.

The decades-old competition is airing live on Fox from The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas.

Grammy-Award winner Fergie and Rachel Platten, best known for her 2015 hit "Fight Song," are scheduled to perform during the show.

___

4:05 p.m.

The 2017 edition of the Miss Universe pageant has begun in Las Vegas.

More than 90 women are taking part in the decades-old competition airing live on Fox from The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort. Members of the audience waved flags from dozens of countries as the showed kicked off.

Steve Harvey has returned as the show's host despite botching the 2015 Miss Universe crowning. Grammy-Award winner Fergie and Rachel Platten, best known for her 2015 hit "Fight Song," are scheduled to perform during the show.

The 92 women include representatives from Iraq, Austria, Japan and Venezuela. This is the largest Miss Universe in the pageant's history.

The U.S. is being represented by Washington D.C.'s Kara McCullough.

Current Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere from France will crown her successor.

___

3:27 p.m.

More than 90 women from around the world are set to take the stage in the Miss Universe pageant.

A new Miss Universe will be crowned Sunday, when the contest returns to Las Vegas.

Ninety-two women will take part in decades-old pageant that will air live at 7 p.m. EST on Fox from The AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort.

Steve Harvey returns as the show's host despite botching the 2015 Miss Universe crowning. Grammy-Award winner Fergie and Rachel Platten, best known for her 2015 hit "Fight Song," are scheduled to perform during the show.

This year's judges include YouTube star Lele Pons and former judge on "America's Next Top Model" Jay Manuel.

Kara McCullough of Washington, D.C. is representing the U.S.

Current Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere from France will crown her successor.

Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett competes at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

From left, final five finalists Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett, Miss Thailand Maria Poonlertlarp, Miss Venezuela Keysi Sayago and Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters stand on stage at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett competes at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Contestants stand on stage during the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Contestants stand on stage at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Contestants walk across the stage at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
NEW YORK (AP) - A jury was selected Monday at a criminal trial where the fate of the lone defendant has been overshadowed by the mystery over the whereabouts of his onetime co-defendant, a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader whose arrest caused a diplomatic stir.

The trader, Reza Zarrab, had once been headed to go before a U.S. jury with Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla in federal court in Manhattan. But Zarrab stopped appearing at pretrial hearings several weeks ago, and his name was removed from a roster of jail inmates, prompting speculation he is cooperating with the U.S. and may testify against Atilla.

Zarrab, 33, was a no-show again on Monday, with U.S. District Judge Richard Berman telling prospective jurors that Atilla is "the only defendant in this trial."

This photo shows the federal courthouse in New York, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the trial of Halkbank Deputy CEO Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a top executive for a state-run bank in Turkey, accused of conspiring to help Iran evade economic sanctions. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The names of Zarrab and his wife, Turkish pop star and TV personality Ebru Gundes, did appear on a newly filed list of people whose names could come up in the case. But it remained unclear if he'll have any role in a prosecution accusing him of bribing Turkish bank and customs officials with millions of dollars.

Lawyers for Zarrab haven't commented. Prosecutors said he's still in U.S. custody, but they wouldn't comment further.

Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday.

Attilla, a former deputy CEO for state-run Halkbank, has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he conspired to process hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of financial transactions for Iranian businesses or Iran's government through U.S. banks. Authorities say those transactions are banned by U.S. and international sanctions.

The government in Turkey, where Zarrab is well-known, has depicted the trial as a conspiracy. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag described him as a "hostage" being forced to testify against Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly asked the U.S. to release him.
NEW YORK (AP) - Weeks of deals didn't stop people from heading online to shop on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Cyber Monday is likely to be the biggest U.S. online shopping day ever, according to Adobe Analytics, the research arm of software maker Adobe. Nearly $6.6 billion in sales were forecast by the end of the day, up about 17 percent from a year ago, Adobe said. And more people are picking up their phones to shop: Web traffic from mobile devices, including tablets, is expected to top desktop computers for the first time this year, Adobe said.

When Frank Yanover browsed Amazon's Cyber Monday deals through his phone, he wasn't looking for anything in particular. But he spent $300 on a Vitamix blender that he had eyed before, which he said was a $200 discount.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015, file photo, Amazon Prime employee Alicia Jackson hunts for items at the company's urban fulfillment facility that have been ordered by customers, in New York. Shoppers are expected to spend $6.6 billion on Cyber Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, up more than 16 percent from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, the research arm of software maker Adobe. And more people will be picking up their phones to shop: Web traffic from smartphones and tablets is expected to top desktop computers for the first time this year, Adobe said. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

"I never bought it because it was so expensive," said Yanover, who is retired and lives in Hollywood, Florida.

Over the holiday weekend, he bought an iPad from Best Buy through his phone and then picked it up at a store. And using his voice-activated Echo, he bought Amazon's $30 Echo Dot for his bedroom, which was $20 off.

Others seem to be doing the same. The Echo Dot was the top-selling electronic item on Amazon, followed by the Fire TV. Board games, Fingerlings and Legos were best-sellers in Amazon's toy section.

Over at eBay, one $745 Apple MacBook Air was sold every five seconds, the company said. And J.C. Penney said its top-selling items on its website were towels, $25 diamond stud earrings and a Liz Claiborne bag that has a built-in phone charger.

Target and Toys R Us offered 15 percent off most items. Walmart.com tripled the amount of items available on its site from last year. But Amazon is expected to be the big winner over the holiday season, with Bain & Co. expecting the online retailer to capture 50 percent of all online sales growth this year.

C. Britt Beemer, the chairman of the consumer-focused America's Research Group, says computers and smaller electronics were the top-sellers this Cyber Monday, followed by clothing. "It's easier to ship," he says about apparel.

The shift to online shopping has been noticeable even before Cyber Monday. At a Toys R Us in Toledo, Ohio, on Friday, the parking lot was about half full. Melissa Wetzel, who said she would also do some shopping online, said her Black Friday in-store shopping had been relaxing since she didn't have to fight the crowds.

"It's been pretty easy," she said. "I guess most are shopping online."

__

Associated Press reporters Shelley Adler in Washington, D.C., and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia (AP) - A Malaysian doctor has testified in the trial of two women accused of murdering the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader that the victim's pupils contracted and his underwear was soiled with feces, both signs of poisoning.

Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, the only suspects in custody, pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial on Oct. 2. They were accused of smearing the banned VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, killing him within two hours.

Nurliza Abdullah, a government doctor who conducted the autopsy on Kim's body, told the court Monday that the pupil constriction and the large excrement found in Kim's underwear both pointed to poisoning.

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, right, is escorted by police as she arrives for a court hearing at the Shah Alam court house in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Huong and Indonesia Siti Aisyah are accused of killing Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

CORRECTS NAME TO JONG UN - Indonesian Siti Aisyah is escorted by police as she arrives for a court hearing at the Shah Alam court house in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are accused of killing Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)
KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh (AP) - Many of the refugees who have been flooding into Bangladesh to escape the Myanmar military say they're hopeful that a visit to the region by Pope Francis will help bring peace.

Francis will be treading a difficult diplomatic line on his visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar, where he is due to arrive Monday afternoon.

While the international community has condemned Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as "ethnic cleansing," the Catholic church has resisted the term and defended Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the only hope for democracy.

In this Sept. 7, 2017 photo, an exhausted Rohingya Muslim woman is carried in a cloth sling as she arrives at Kutupalong refugee camp after having just crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh. While the international community has condemned Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as "ethnic cleansing," the Catholic church has resisted the term and defended Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the only hope for democracy. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

At the crowded Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, Mohammad Rafiq said he was very happy when he heard about the visit by Francis.

The 20-year-old fled Myanmar last month.

"Our rights, our minority community and our citizenship have been snatched by the Myanmar government," Rafiq said. "We are hoping that with his talks and his efforts, we will get all of that back."

Mohammad Nadir Hossain, 25, said the pope will get to see the sad situation that refugees face.

"If he wants, he can calm the Myanmar government down and bring peace by talking to us," Hossain said. "We are suffering a lot right now. We are very worried. So, we are very grateful that he is coming."

In Myanmar, Francis will meet with Suu Kyi as well as the powerful head of the nation's military and Buddhist monks. In Bangladesh, he will meet with a small group of Rohingya but isn't scheduled to visit the refugee camps.

The question remains whether the pope will even use the term "Rohingya" during the trip.

Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid the term, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations describes as a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in poverty-wracked Rakhine state.

Since violence erupted in late August, more than 620,000 Rohingya men, women, and children have crossed over into Bangladesh from Myanmar, carrying with them tales of persecution, rape, and murder by the Myanmar military and Buddhist vigilantes.

Whatever term Francis uses, refugees like Hamida Begum, 35, believe the pope is visiting Myanmar to help them. She made the treacherous trip to Bangladesh three months ago.

"He can help send us back to Myanmar legally," she said. "Or he can take us somewhere else from here. Perhaps to some other foreign country. Whatever he wants, he can do."

Senu Ara, 35, who left Myanmar in September, also welcomes the pope's visit.

"He might help us get the peace that we are desperately searching for," she said. "Even if we stay here he will make our situation better. If he decides to send us back, he will do so in a peaceful way."

In this Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017 photo, a Rohingya Muslim man carries an elderly woman through water after crossing the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh. While the international community has condemned Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as "ethnic cleansing," the Catholic church has resisted the term and defended Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the only hope for democracy. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pope Francis is greeted by young children in traditional clothes upon his arrival at Yangon's airport, Myanmar, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. The pontiff is in Myanmar for the first stage of a week-long visit that will also take him to neighboring Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In this Nov. 11, 2017, photo, Rohingya Muslims travel on a raft made with plastic containers on which they crossed over the Naf river from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh. Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Pope Francis to avoid the term "Rohingya", which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

In this Sept. 21, 2017 photo, a Rohingya Muslim boy pleads for food near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh. Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations describes as a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in poverty-wracked Rakhine state. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

In this Nov. 10, 2017 photo, a Bangladeshi Border Guard, right, counts a group of newly arrived Rohingya Muslims near Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh. In Bangladesh Pope Francis will meet with a small group of Rohingya but isn't scheduled to visit the refugee camps. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

In this Sept. 14, 2017, photo, Rohingya Muslim arrive on a boat from Myanmar to Bangladesh in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh. . While the international community has condemned Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as "ethnic cleansing," the Catholic church has resisted the term and defended Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the only hope for democracy. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

In this Nov. 12, 2017, photo, Rohingya Muslims travel on a raft made with plastic containers on which they crossing over the Naf river from Myanmar into Bangladesh, near Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh. Many of the refugees who have been flooding into Bangladesh to escape the Myanmar military say they're hopeful that a visit to the region by Pope Francis will help bring peace. Francis will be treading a difficult diplomatic line on his visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar, where he is due to arrive Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
KARANGASEM, Indonesia (AP) - The Latest on a rumbling volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali (all times local):

11:40 a.m.

Thousands of tourists remain stuck on Indonesia's island of Bali after its airport was closed for a second day due to hazards created by clouds of ash from an erupting volcano.

Mount Agung volcano erupts in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency says the airport on the tourist island of Bali is closed for a second day due to the threat from volcanic ash. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

The word "cancelled" lit up every slot on large flight information boards at the Ngurah Rai International Airport. Some passengers stood in line at help desks hoping for more information, while others sat waiting patiently.

"I don't know, we can't change it," said German tourist Gina Camp, who is supposed to fly Tuesday afternoon. "It's the nature and we have to wait until it's over."

She decided to look on the bright side, saying she planned to go back outside to enjoy another day on the island.

Mount Agung, which has a history of violent eruptions, began waking up two months ago and prompted mass evacuations near the mountain. Its last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

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6:50 a.m.

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency says the airport on the tourist island of Bali is closed for a second day due to the threat from volcanic ash.

Mount Agung in the northeast of the island, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the airport, has continued erupting Tuesday, sending plumes of smoke and ash about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) above the crater.

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the airport closure is in effect until 7 a.m. Wednesday. He said the airport on neighboring Lombok has reopened after being closed on Monday night.

More than 400 flights were canceled and nearly 60,000 passengers stranded Monday on the first day of its closure.

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8:30 p.m.

Ash from Bali's volcano is disrupting life on parts of the tourist island that are outside the immediate danger zone.

At Buana Giri village, some residents said they were leaving because the area is now inhospitable for their livestock.

Villager Made Kerta Kartika said ash has covered the area since Sunday and made farming difficult.

"Ash that covered the trees and grass is very difficult for us because the cows cannot eat," he said. "I have to move the cows from this village."

The eruption of Mount Agung has forced the closure of the island's airport and authorities have ordered 100,000 people to evacuate from areas close to the volcano.

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7:05 p.m.

China says there were 17,000 Chinese tourists on Bali before the latest eruption of Mount Agung.

The Chinese consulate on the Indonesian island said on its website that airlines and travel services were arranging 100 buses to take tourists to catch ferries to neighboring Java.

The Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement urging travelers to be "vigilant about safety" when deciding whether to visit Bali.

China Eastern Airlines, one of the country's biggest carriers, canceled flights Sunday and said passengers due to fly any time between then and Dec. 10 could obtain refunds.

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4:15 p.m.

The closure of Bali's airport due to volcanic ash is having a disruptive effect on flights around Indonesia and the region.

Bali is a hub airport in Indonesia with many flights transiting there for domestic as well as international destinations. Planes that would have flown other routes Monday are now stuck on the tarmac in Bali.

Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said he was waiting two hours at Jakarta's terminal 3 for his delayed flight to a domestic destination.

He said other flight delays have been announced at the terminal, which serves national carrier Garuda, and the departure area is filling up with many waiting passengers.

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1:10 p.m.

Spokesman for Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says lava is welling up in the crater of the Mount Agung volcano on Bali "which will certainly spill over to the slopes."

Volcanologists say the lava's presence is sometimes reflected in the ash plume which takes on a reddish-orange glow even in daytime.

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said bigger eruptions than those currently happening are possible based on the information the disaster agency is receiving from the volcano monitoring center.

He said that "since yesterday there were explosive eruptions whose sound was heard up to 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away."

Nugroho said officials are responding based on a worst-case scenario occurring because Agung has a history of violent eruptions. Its last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

He said "We cannot be sure whether this time eruptions will be the same with 1963."

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11:50 a.m.

Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says as many as 100,000 villagers need to leave the expanded danger zone around the Mount Agung volcano on Bali, but that less than half that number have left.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone to 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the crater in places affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

The volcano's alert was raised to the highest level earlier Monday and ash clouds have forced the closure of Bali's international airport.

Nugroho said about 40,000 people have evacuated but others have not left because they feel safe or don't want to abandon their livestock.

He said that "authorities will comb the area to persuade them. If needed, we will forcibly evacuate them."

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10:50 a.m.

Indonesia's Directorate General of Land Transportation says 100 buses are being deployed to Bali's international airport and to ferry terminals to help travelers stranded by the eruption of Mount Agung.

Bali's international airport was closed early Monday after ash from the volcano reached its airspace. Hundreds of flights were canceled and tens of thousands of travelers affected.

The agency's chief, Budi, said major ferry crossing points have been advised to prepare for a surge in passengers and vehicles. Stranded tourists could leave Bali by taking a ferry to neighboring Java and then travel by land to the nearest airports.

Authorities say the airport closure is in effect until Tuesday morning and is being reviewed every six hours.

A flight information board shows cancelled flights at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency says the airport on the tourist island of Bali is closed for a second day due to the threat from volcanic ash. (AP Photo/Ketut Nataan)

Passengers talk to ground crew as their flights are cancelled at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency says the airport on the tourist island of Bali is closed for a second day due to the threat from volcanic ash. (AP Photo/Ketut Nataan)

School students stand on a truck as their transport to go to school with the Mount Agung volcano spews smoke and ash in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Indonesia authorities raised the alert for the rumbling volcano to highest level on Monday and closed the international airport on the tourist island of Bali stranding some thousands of travellers. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

School students stand on a truck as their transport to go to school with the Mount Agung volcano spews smoke and ash in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Indonesia authorities raised the alert for the rumbling volcano to highest level on Monday and closed the international airport on the tourist island of Bali stranding some thousands of travellers.(AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The Latest on Pope Francis's trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh (all times local):

7 p.m.

Pope Francis has met with Myanmar's powerful military chief and spoken about the "great responsibility" that authorities have in Myanmar's transition.

Pope Francis, right, waves upon arrival at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

The Vatican said the meeting with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from Myanmar's bureau of special operations took place Monday evening at the residence of the Myanmar archbishop and lasted about 15 minutes.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke didn't provide details of the private meeting other than to say that "they spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Min Aung Hlaing is in charge of military operations in Rakhine state, where security forces have launched a scorched earth campaign against Rohingya Muslims that has forced more than 620,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh in what the U.N. says is a campaign of "ethnic cleansing."

Francis' meeting with the commander had been scheduled for Wednesday morning, but was moved up to just a few hours after he landed in Yangon on a trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh.

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2 p.m.

Rohingya Muslims confined to a camp in a troubled Myanmar state say they hope Pope Francis will call them the same as he did when he prayed for the Rohingya as brothers and sisters.

Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term, which is shunned by many locally because Rohingya are not a recognized ethnic minority in the country.

More than 620,000 Rohingya have fled recent violence for Bangladesh, but more than 100,000 have been confined to a concentration camp-like enclave in the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe since 2012.

Faizel, a 27-year-old Rohingya in the Sittwe camp, said the residents were hopeful the pope's trip would bring positive outcomes. But he feared the pope might not use the word in the face of the pressure.

Faizel said "All Rohingya simply want to be treated the same as other human beings."

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1:30 p.m.

Pope Francis has arrived in Yangon for a visit to encourage tiny Catholic communities in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

He was greeted by local Catholic officials at the airport Monday afternoon. Thousands of Catholics came from across the country to Yangon, many waving to his car along the road, playing traditional music and wearing attire of their various ethnic groups.

Francis will meet separately with Myanmar's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, its powerful military chief and Buddhist monks during his stay in Myanmar.

He goes later in the week to Bangladesh where he will greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka.

Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

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12:30 p.m.

Thousands of Catholics from across Myanmar have come to the nation's biggest city of Yangon to welcome Pope Francis to the country.

The pope is due to arrive Monday afternoon. His visit will include meetings with Myanmar leaders before heading to Bangladesh.

Father Brang Htoi came with 1,600 Catholics from Kachin state to welcome the pope at the airport. He says, "We are very excited to welcome him."

Catholics are one of the smallest religious minority groups in Myanmar with over 660,000 people, just over 1 percent of the population of 52 million.

Ethnic Kachin men play instruments as they wait to welcome the arrival of Pope Francis outside Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Thousands of Catholics from across Myanmar have come to the nation's biggest city of Yangon to welcome Pope Francis to the country. The pope is due to arrive Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Pope Francis, right, waves upon arrival at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

An Ethnic Kachin Catholic devotee in traditional attire holds Myanmar national flag as devotees gather to see Pope Francis on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar ahead of his arrival. Pope Francis begins a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Ethnic Kachin Catholic devotees in traditional attire gather along a road to see Pope Francis Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar ahead of his arrival. Pope Francis begins a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

An ethnic Chin Catholic devotee in tribal attire gathers along a road to see Pope Francis Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, in Yangon, Myanmar ahead of his arrival. Pope Francis begins a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
PANMUNJOM, Korea (AP) - South Korea is reportedly broadcasting on loudspeakers into North Korea news of the recent escape of a North Korean soldier who was shot five times by his former colleagues as he dashed across the rivals' border, part of Seoul's psychological warfare against the North.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed military source, reported Monday that a recap of the soldier's defection and recovery from his wounds has been played on loudspeakers at the border since the dramatic Nov. 13 defection. The Defense Ministry declined to confirm the report.

The wild escape, shooting, subsequent surgeries and slow recovery of the soldier have riveted South Korea. Pyongyang has said nothing about the defection, which is a huge embarrassment because Pyongyang claims all defections are the result of Seoul either kidnapping or enticing North Koreans to flee.

Three North Korean soldiers look at the South side near the spot where a North Korean soldier crossed the border on Nov. 13, at the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. South Korea is reportedly broadcasting into North Korea news of the recent escape of the North Korean soldier over the rivals' border as part of its psychological warfare against the North. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The loudspeakers, reportedly installed at about a dozen sites near the border dividing the two Koreas, were not audible at the Panmunjom border village inside the Joint Security Area jointly overseen by the American-led U.N. Command and by North Korea.

North Korea hates South Korea's border broadcasts. The South briefly resumed the broadcasts in August 2015 after an 11-year break, after Seoul blamed Pyongyang for land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. The broadcasts stopped after the rivals reached a settlement, but reportedly resumed in January 2016 after a North Korean nuclear test.

The broadcasts typically include popular South Korean songs, world news and information about the poor economic and human rights conditions in the North.

Earlier Monday, South Korea's defense minister visited the area and criticized Pyongyang for firing across and physically crossing the border in pursuit of the defector, a violation of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

Song Young-moo also said North Korean soldiers' possession of automatic rifles in the area was an armistice violation. The gun shots by North Korean soldiers left holes on a wall at the Joint Security Area.

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Youkyung Lee reported from Seoul, South Korea.

A South Korean soldier stands guard near the spot where a North Korean soldier crossed the border on Nov. 13, at the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. South Korea is reportedly broadcasting into North Korea news of the recent escape of the North Korean soldier over the rivals' border as part of its psychological warfare against the North. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Three North Korean soldiers, back, look at the South side near the spot where a North Korean soldier crossed the border on Nov. 13, as South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, right, visits the Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. South Korea is reportedly broadcasting into North Korea news of the recent escape of the North Korean soldier over the rivals' border as part of its psychological warfare against the North. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, front right, is briefed near the spot where a North Korean soldier crossed the border on Nov. 13, at the Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. South Korea is reportedly broadcasting into North Korea news of the recent escape of the North Korean soldier over the rivals' border as part of its psychological warfare against the North. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Bullets' marks are seen as a South Korean soldier, left, stands guard near the spot where a North Korean soldier crossed the border on Nov. 13 at the Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. South Korea is reportedly broadcasting into North Korea news of the recent escape of the North Korean soldier over the rivals' border as part of its psychological warfare against the North. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Three North Korean soldiers look at the South side at the spot where a North Korean soldier crossed the border on Nov. 13, at the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. South Korea is reportedly broadcasting into North Korea news of the recent escape of the North Korean soldier over the rivals' border as part of its psychological warfare against the North. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Three North Korean soldiers, background, look at the South side as two South Korean soldiers stand guard at the spot where a defector crossed the border on Nov. 13, while South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo visited the Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Activists said Monday that a prominent Shiite cleric who has been under house arrest in Bahrain after having his citizenship stripped is seriously ill.

Doctors visited Sheikh Isa Qassim on Sunday at his home in Diraz, a Bahraini town that's been surrounded by police for over a year, they said.

Sheikh Maytham al-Salman, another Shiite cleric, told The Associated Press on Monday the 80-year-old Sheikh Isa "is in constant pain" and requires emergency surgery for a hernia.

In this Feb. 2, 2014 photo, Sheikh Isa Qassim, Bahrain's top Shiite Muslim cleric, attends a gathering of Shiite clerics at a mosque in Manama, Bahrain. Activists say the prominent Shiite cleric who has been under house arrest in Bahrain after having his citizenship stripped is seriously ill. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

Responding to questions from the AP, Fahad al-Binali of Bahrain's Embassy in London said Sheikh Isa received medical attention from a doctor and that his house arrest "has no bearing on his access to health care neither does his citizenship revocation."

However, Sheikh Isa could be deported at any time after authorities stripped his citizenship last June over accusations that he fueled extremism and laundered money. His supporters deny the allegations.

Al-Binali said Sheikh Isa's son declined the offer of an ambulance to take the cleric to a hospital. He also said the police cordon around Diraz remains "unchanged, in response to requests by community leaders... to increase safety for local residents and ensure public order."

Followers of Sheikh Isa have held a sit-in around his home for months. A raid in May there saw police arrest 286 people in an assault that killed at least five demonstrators and wounded others.

Bahrain, a predominantly Shiite island off the coast of Saudi Arabia, is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. The nation is ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa family, which continues a crackdown on all dissent, imprisoning or forcing politicians and activists into exile.

Amid the crackdown, local Shiite militant groups have carried out several attacks on security forces.

Independent news gathering there also has grown more difficult, with the government refusing to accredit two AP reporters and others.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz .
MOSCOW (AP) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced Monday that he is ready to step down - a move largely perceived as a publicly trick.

Kadyrov said in a rare interview aired Monday morning that it is his "dream" to step down because he finds the responsibility of leading the Russian region to be too heavy.

Kremlin-backed Kadyrov, a former rebel who switched his loyalties to Moscow, has been the dominant figure in Chechnya since the 2004 assassination of his father, President Akhmad Kadyrov.

Kadyrov Jr. has previously spoken about wanting to resign but never followed through. His public statements have been widely seen as part of a power play with the Kremlin for privileges and extra funding for his region which relies on subsidies from the federal budget.

"It is my dream," Kadyrov said in the interview on the Rossiya 24 channel, asked if he would be willing to step down at some point. "It's very hard to be a leader and bear the responsibility for the people, for the republic in the face of God, the country's leaders."

Kadyrov has enforced strict Islamic rules in Chechnya, relying on his feared security forces to stifle any dissent.

His rule has been marred by numerous reports of extrajudicial killings and torture in the republic which saw two devastating separatist wars in the 1990s. This year, Kadyrov came under pressure when widespread reports surfaced of a broad crackdown on gay people in Chechnya.

While denying accusations of leading the purge, Kadyrov has publicly insisted there are no gays in Chechnya. An investigation ordered by President Vladimir Putin has not produced any results yet.

The Associated Press has spoken to several Chechen men who were tortured for being gay but they have not identified themselves for fear of reprisals.

The first man went public about his ordeal in October, filing a complaint with Russian authorities over systemic attacks against gay people that human rights defenders say have taken place in Chechnya under Kadyrov.

The Kremlin sought to play down Kadyrov's statement Monday.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Kadyrov is a Putin ally and "in this instance he intends to work in the capacity that the country's president has instructed him to."
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - A court in central Vietnam on Monday sentenced an activist to seven years in prison for producing online videos and interviews related to an environmental disaster that instigated anti-government protests, in the authorities' latest crackdown on dissent.

Following a trial that lasted half a day, Nguyen Van Hoa was convicted of spreading anti-state propaganda by the People's Court in Ha Tinh province.

He was also charged with using social media platforms including Facebook to spread documents that defamed the government, the state-run online Ha Tinh newspaper reported. It said Hoa also sent distorting articles to "reactionary" groups in exile for financial support.

Nguyen Van Hoa, center, stands on trial in central province of Ha Tinhi, Vietnam, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Hoa was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of spreading anti-state propaganda at the trial that lasted half-day Monday. (Cong Tuong/Vietnam News Agency via AP)

Court officials weren't immediately available for comment.

In April last year, Taiwanese-owned Formosa Plastics Group's steel complex in Ha Tinh province dumped toxins into the ocean that killed hundreds of tons of fish along 200 kilometers (124 miles) of coastline in four central provinces. It was one of Vietnam's worst environmental disasters.

The incident devastated the region's seafood and tourism industries and sparked protests against Formosa and the local government for its allegedly slow response to the disaster. The Taiwanese company was ordered to pay compensation of $500 million.

The Ha Tinh newspaper said 22-year-old Hoa had directly arranged for the videos, photos and interviews related to the disaster to be posted on social media to instigate protests against the government.

Vietnam opened up to foreign trade and investment three decades ago and has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, but the Communist government continues to have almost no tolerance for dissent.

International human rights groups and some Western governments often criticize Vietnam for jailing people for peacefully expressing their views, but Vietnam's government says only lawbreakers are punished.

In the last 12 months, police have arrested at least 28 people and charged them with vaguely interpreted national security violations, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

More than 100 activists are currently serving prison terms for exercising their basic freedoms of expression, assembly, association and religion, the rights group says.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Playing all sides in the Alabama Senate race, President Donald Trump made it known Monday he won't set foot in the state on behalf of embattled Republican Roy Moore, even as he intensified his insistence that voters must never elect Moore's Democratic foe.

In search of safe political ground, Trump is embracing a tried-and-true tactic before the Dec. 12 special election. Weighing political needs, loyalty to his base supporters and his own struggles against allegations of sexual impropriety, the president is staking out a position that should bring him the least political exposure.

Trump has repeatedly assailed Democratic candidate Doug Jones, has publicly defended Moore against allegations of child molestation and has broken with other GOP leaders calling on Moore to get out of the race. On the other hand, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday the president has no plans for an in-person appearance on Moore's behalf and in fact is too busy to "do anything between now and Election Day" for the candidate.

Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, in Henagar, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

In addition, the president previously signed off on a decision by the Republican National Committee to cut off support for Moore's campaign.

Still, Trump had held the door open to personal campaigning for Moore last week, when he all but endorsed the pugnacious conservative's candidacy while criticizing Jones. But he's carefully stopping short of that actual endorsement.

For weeks the center state in the Alabama race has been held by accusations that Moore, now 70, sexually molested or initiated sexual contact with two teens, ages 14 and 16 - and tried to date several others - while he was in his 30s. Moore has denied the allegations of misconduct and has said he never dated "underage" women.

"This is simply dirty politics and it's a sign of the immorality of our time," Moore said Monday night during a campaign event in the rural town of Henagar in northeast Alabama. Lashing out at national Republicans who want him to step aside, Moore said: "They are aware of my past. They are aware I am difficult to manage."

Trump has been burned in this race before. He traveled to Alabama months ago to back Moore's Republican primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange, who was then defeated in a September rout.

Moore had the backing of the GOP's conservative and populist wings, including Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, but Trump acceded to requests from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to try to boost Strange. Trump later seethed to White House aides that the episode left him looking politically weak.

Also, appearing with Moore now could expose Trump to a politically unpalatable image as allegations of sexual misconduct in politics, entertainment, business and the media fill the news. As he looks toward his own re-election in 2020, he doesn't want new attention focused on his own accusations of sexual impropriety in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election.

The White House clarified Monday that Trump isn't contesting the authenticity of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape in which he bragged about sexually assaulting women, and for which he issued a rare apology. "The president hasn't changed his position," Sanders said.

In the meantime, the president is determined not to alienate his core supporters - many of whom continue to defend Moore - at a time when his presidential popularity is lagging and his agenda faces headwinds in Congress. The outcome in Alabama could be crucial in the ongoing GOP fight for a tax overhaul, since a victory by Democrat Jones would narrow the Republicans' Senate majority to a mere two seats.

Trump bashed Jones repeatedly on Twitter over the weekend. "The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY," Trump wrote from Florida, referring to Democrats' congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

Moore's campaign quickly highlighted Trump's comments on social media and in a fundraising email.

"President Trump calls them like he sees them. And, he's got my opponents in D.C. scrambling," Moore wrote

Jones, speaking to reporters in Birmingham, shrugged off Trump's criticisms, saying his vote in the Senate would not be a partisan one. He said Alabama residents are focused on issues such as the economy, education and health care.

"My record speaks for itself," Jones said. "I think I am very strong on the issues that the people of Alabama care for."

Earlier in the month, the Republican National Committee pulled roughly a dozen paid staffers out of Alabama as the allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore piled up. Republicans involved in that decision said Monday they would be angry if Trump ordered the committee to re-engage, although there was no such discussion underway as of Monday afternoon.

Opposition to Moore hadn't softened at the National Republican Senatorial Committee either. The Senate GOP campaign arm turned its back on Moore earlier in the month, and its chairman, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, said his Republican colleagues should expel Moore from the Senate if he's ultimately elected.

Alabama's other senator, Republican Richard Shelby, said Monday he did not vote for Moore. "I voted absentee. I didn't vote for him. I voted for a distinguished Republican write-in," Shelby told reporters, according to The Hill newspaper.

Some Washington-based Republicans on Monday suggested they actually would welcome an opportunity to expel Moore if it comes to that. Such an action could mark "a public cleansing" for the party as it struggles with low approval ratings ahead of the 2018 midterms, said one Republican official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the Alabama race and commented only on condition of anonymity.

There was still pressure for Trump to step in in person.

Said former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg: "It's his choice. Does he want to be the first president in two decades not to have two Republican senators from Alabama?"

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Associated Press writers Kimberly Chandler in Henagar, Alabama; Steve Peoples in New York; and Thomas Beaumont in Iowa contributed to this report.

Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, in Henagar, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

In this Nov. 21, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House, in Washington for a Thanksgiving trip to Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., as first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron wait. President Donald Trump will not campaign for Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before the Dec. 12 special election, a White House official said Monday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Some Republicans are hoping lawmakers will soon wrap up investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that have dragged on for most of the year. But with new details in the probe emerging almost daily, that seems unlikely.

Three congressional committees are investigating Russian interference and whether President Donald Trump's campaign was in any way involved. The panels have obtained thousands of pages of documents from Trump's campaign and other officials, and have done dozens of interviews.

The probes are separate from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mueller can prosecute for criminal activity, while Congress can only lay out findings, publicize any perceived wrongdoing and pass legislation to try to keep problems from happening again. If any committee finds evidence of criminal activity, it must refer the matter to Mueller.

FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2017, file photo, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., right, speaks next to Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian election activity and technology on Capitol Hill in Washington. As Congress returns from its Thanksgiving break, some Republicans would like to wrap up investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that have dragged on for most of the year. But with new details in the probe emerging on an almost daily basis, that timeline seems unlikely. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

All three committees have focused on a June 2016 meeting that Trump campaign officials held in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer and others. They are also looking into outreach by several other Russians to the campaign, including involvement of George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty this month to lying to the FBI as part of Mueller's probe. New threads continue to emerge, such as a recent revelation that Donald Trump Jr. was messaging with WikiLeaks, the website that leaked emails from top Democratic officials during the campaign.

A look at the committees that are investigating, and the status of their work when they return from their Thanksgiving break:

SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE

The Senate intelligence panel, which has been the most bipartisan in its approach, has interviewed more than 100 people, including most of those attending the Trump Tower meeting. Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and the panel's top Democrat, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, have said they plan to bring in Donald Trump Jr. The president's son was one of several Trump campaign officials in the meeting.

The committee has looked broadly at the issue of interference, and called in executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google, pushing them to take steps to prevent Russian election meddling on their platforms. Warner told The Associated Press the committee is still looking for more information from those companies, which were initially reluctant to cooperate.

Burr has said he wants to wrap up the probe by early spring. He said Monday that he hopes the panel can "at a minimum" release recommendations on election security before next year's congressional primaries begin.

While there are many areas of bipartisan agreement on the meddling, it's unclear whether all members will agree to the final report. It's also unclear if the report will make a strong statement on whether the Trump campaign colluded in any way with Russia.

Warner said it is plain there were "unprecedented contacts" as Russians reached out to the Trump campaign but what's not established is collusion.

"What we don't know is, is there a there there," Warner said. "That's still something I am reserving judgement on."

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HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE

In the House, Democrats hope the intelligence committee can remain focused on the Russia probe as the panel's GOP chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, and other Republicans have launched new, separate investigations into Democrat Hillary Clinton and a uranium deal during President Barack Obama's administration. Nunes stepped back from the Russia probe in April after criticism that he was too close to the White House, but remains chairman of the committee.

Some Republicans on the panel have grown restless with the probe, saying it has amounted to a fishing expedition and pushing for it to end. Still, the committee has continued to interview dozens of witnesses involved with the Trump campaign, among them several participants in the 2016 meeting.

The top Democrat on the panel, California Rep. Adam Schiff, told AP the committee has multiple interviews before the New Year. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was scheduled to come before the committee this week, likely answering questions behind closed doors about interactions between Trump campaign aides and Russians, and also his own contacts.

The panel has also scheduled an interview Thursday with Erik Prince, the founder of the security firm Blackwater and a supporter of Trump's campaign. The Washington Post reported earlier this year that Prince was involved in a secret meeting in the United Arab Emirates in January with a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin.

Prince's interview will be behind closed doors but the transcript will eventually be released, according to the committee.

Schiff said the Republican investigations into Clinton and Obama could be "an enormous time drain," but they have not yet fully organized. He says the committee must be thorough and he doesn't believe the Russia investigation should end soon.

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SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

The Senate Judiciary Committee has also divided along partisan lines as Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, haven't agreed on some interviews and subpoenas. But as in the House, the panel has proceeded anyway, conducting bipartisan, closed-door interviews with several people who were in the 2016 meeting.

The panel is showing recent signs that it is aggressively pursuing the investigation. The committee is the only one to have interviewed Trump Jr. And just before the Thanksgiving break, it sent Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a letter asking him to be more forthcoming with the committee.

Grassley has been focused on a law that requires foreign agents to register and the firing of James Comey as FBI director. Along with the other committees, Judiciary is also looking into a dossier of allegations about Trump's own connections to Russia.

It's not known if the panel will issue a final report, or if its probe will conclude before next year's elections.

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2017, file photo, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., center, standing with Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., left, and Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., right, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. As Congress returns from its Thanksgiving break, some Republicans would like to wrap up investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that have dragged on for most of the year. But with new details in the probe emerging on an almost daily basis, that timeline seems unlikely. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron landed late Monday in West Africa, where he is expected to try to revive French influence and move beyond post-colonial tensions despite threats of demonstrations.

In his first big speech on Africa, the 39-year-old leader is expected to focus on more pragmatic relations, such as supporting startup entrepreneurs instead of giving aid.

The Burkina government has ordered schools closed to ease traffic because of the heavy security measures in place during Macron's visit, though many view the closures as an effort to reduce the threat of student unrest.

Unions in Burkina Faso already have called for protests against Macron's visit to Ouagadougou ahead of a Europe-Africa summit in Ivory Coast later in the week. Macron also will make a stop in Ghana after attending the summit in Ivory Coast.

Burkina Faso, a former French colony, is now part of a five-country regional security force aimed at eliminating jihadists in the Sahel. Long a country of relative peace, Burkina Faso has seen the threat of Islamic extremists spill over the border from neighboring Mali in recent years.

An attack on a Turkish restaurant in August left 18 people dead, while an ambush on another nearby restaurant in January 2016 killed 30 people.

The northern border region near Mali is now the home of a local preacher, Ibrahim Malam Dicko, who has claimed responsibility for recent deadly attacks against troops and civilians. His association, Ansarul Islam, is now considered a terrorist group by Burkina Faso's government.

On Sunday, a teacher of French and geography was killed in Burkina Faso's Yatenga province near the Malian border. Authorities have called it a "terrorist attack," and said two others were wounded.

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Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
GAUHATI, India (AP) - Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in a protected forest area in the country's remote northeast.

Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. Police commissioner Hiren Nath said five protesters were injured in a scuffle after police used tear gas in the Amchang forest area in Assam state.

Authorities plan to demolish about 1,000 bamboo and tin huts.

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

State Forest Minister Pramilla Brahma said the area is an elephant habitat and the unauthorized settlements were forcing the pachyderms to leave in search of food. There have been many incidents in which wild elephants have entered villages, destroying crops and even killing people.

Nath said the police action followed a court order to clear the forest of illegal encroachment by Thursday.

The eviction drive is being carried out by wildlife wardens, with police providing protection against possible attacks by angry residents.

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Elephants are brought to demolish buildings and other structures during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Elephants are used to demolish houses during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An elephant is brought to demolish buildings and other structures during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
BERLIN (AP) - German authorities say investigators somehow didn't spot a photo of a Tunisian terrorist suspect holding a firearm when evaluating data on his cell phone, months before he killed a dozen people in a truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market.

North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister Herbert Reul said Monday the phone was confiscated during a police spot-check in Berlin in February, 2016, and 12,000 media files were sent to investigators in his state, where the suspect was living.

One file was a photo showing Anis Amri with a firearm. Reul called for a review of police procedures to "avoid such mistakes in the future."

Public inquiries and German media have uncovered a series of mistakes by security agencies in tracking a man who authorities suspected posed a public threat.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and accusations he groped women (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

Democratic Sen. Al Franken says he knows he "let a lot of people down" - the people of Minnesota, colleagues and staff - in the face of sexually inappropriate behavior. He's vowing to regain their trust.

FILE - In this July 12, 2017, file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington. Two women are alleging, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, that Franken touched their buttocks during events for his first campaign for Senate. The women spoke to Huffington Post on condition of anonymity. The women said the events were in Minneapolis in 2007 and 2008. Franken said in a statement, "It's difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don't remember those campaign events." (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Speaking outside his Senate office, Franken told reporters on Monday that many people counted on him to be a champion for women. Instead, he is embarrassed and is apologizing after one woman alleges Franken forcibly kissed her on a USO tour and took a sexually suggestive photo while she was sleeping.

Three other women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photos during separate campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

Franken dismissed any talk of resigning from the Senate. He said he would cooperate with an Ethics Committee investigation.

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12:05 p.m.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken says it's too early to decide whether he'll run for a third term in 2020.

Three women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks during campaign events; a fourth woman says Franken forcibly kissed her during a 2006 USO tour.

Franken tells The Associated Press that he's focused on returning to work on Monday and that he'll work to regain voters' trust. Franken initially avoided the public eye when allegations first surfaced earlier this month.

Franken still disputes Leeann Tweeden's account of a forced kiss, calling it a "normal rehearsal" for a skit the two were performing. And he says he never intentionally grabbed or squeezed a woman's buttocks.

But he says he's taking responsibility and says it's important "that we listen to women."

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7:15 a.m.

Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat accused of groping women without their consent, says he doesn't remember if he ever touched a woman inappropriately while photos were being taken.

Three women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks during separate incidents at campaign events. A fourth woman says Franken forcibly kissed her on a USO tour.

In an interview aired by CBS Monday, Franken says: "I take thousands and thousands of pictures, sometimes in chaotic and crowded situations. I can't say I haven't done that. I'm very sorry if these women experienced that."

Franken added that he has to be "a lot more careful" when he meets someone: "I'm going to make sure that this does not happen again."

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1:07 a.m.

Minnesota Sen. Al Franken says he's "embarrassed and ashamed" amid sexual misconduct allegations, but says he plans to continue his work in Congress.

The Democrat says he'll return to work Monday after spending the holiday with his supportive wife and family. Franken missed votes after the first accusations were made public.

Franken tells Minnesota Public Radio he's trying to handle allegations "in a way that adds to an important conversation." He says his goal is "to be a better public servant and a better man."

Los Angeles radio news anchor Leann Tweeden released a photo showing the then-comedian reaching out, as if to grope her, while she slept on a military aircraft in 2006. Franken says the photo is "inexcusable."

Three other women say Franken grabbed their buttocks during photos ops. Franken says that isn't something he'd intentionally do.
GENEVA (AP) - The U.N.'s top envoy for Syria said Monday he hopes and expects the Syrian government will show up for "serious talks" with the opposition this week in Geneva, despite reluctance by Damascus officials to commit to the international body's negotiations process.

The United Nations is scheduled to resume the peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in this Swiss city Tuesday. The opposition's delegation arrived Monday, after publishing a communique last week that said it was ready for talks "without preconditions."

The government had not yet named a delegation to the talks, and the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said Damascus would postpone its arrival, citing the opposition's position that President Bashar Assad must leave at the start of any transitional period that will lead Syria out of nearly seven years of civil war. The paper said the demand was a "hidden condition."

But, speaking to the Security Council via videoconference, U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said, "Naturally we hope, and indeed expect, that the government will be on its way shortly."

A diplomatic official close to the negotiations said the U.N. was expecting the government team to arrive late, but meetings between the opposition and de Mistura would begin Tuesday as planned.

The head of the opposition's delegation, Nasr Hariri, told reporters that the opposition was "ready to negotiate," and he accused the government of stalling.

"The thing the regime is most afraid of is political negotiations," Hariri said.

His delegation was expanded last week under Saudi Arabian auspices to include opposition factions seen by Damascus as more palatable for negotiations, including the "Moscow group," which has resisted calling for Assad's departure. Hariri said the reformulation removed any excuse for Syria's government and its chief diplomatic backer, Russia, to avoid the U.N. talks.

Syria's government has refused to negotiate over Assad's future in any talks with the opposition. It says it wants to focus on defeating "terrorism," its byword for armed opponents of the Syrian president.

The talks follow a week of high level meetings that were expected to pave the way for a revival of the stalled diplomatic process. Assad paid a surprise visit to Sochi, Russia, last week to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for his vital military support. Putin directed Russia's air force to intervene on the side of Assad in 2015, likely saving the government from collapse when it appeared rebels would threaten the capital. Russia remains a key sponsor of the Damascus government and has shielded it against sanctions and punitive resolutions in the U.N. Security Council.

De Mistura told the Security Council he expected the government's participation in the Geneva talks, "particularly in light of President Assad's commitment to President Putin when they met in Sochi."

He stressed he would "not accept any preconditions by any party" and said the talks would be guided by a 2015 Security Council resolution mandating a political transition for Syria.

This latest round of Geneva talks, the eighth since 2012, will focus on getting to an "inclusive process" to draft and ratify a new constitution, De Mistura said. This would put off the contentious issue of Assad's future.

Parallel talks between the two sides in Sochi have been postponed until January or February, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said. Russian diplomats did not set a date for their conference after spiking an initial plan to hold it Nov. 18. The Syrian government said it welcomed the Sochi talks and would attend them. The opposition has said it prefers to meet the government under the auspices of the U.N.

Asked about the Sochi negotiations track, de Mistura said, "It is premature for me at this stage to say anything about this initiative, and I will continue to view this proposal and all other initiatives through the same prism: Does it contribute to effective U.N.-led intra-Syria negotiations in Geneva?"

In eastern Syria, meanwhile, opposition activists blamed Russia for an airstrike on a village held by the Islamic State that killed at least 25 people, all of them civilians. The DeirEzzor 24 activist group said Sunday's strike on the village of Shaafa in Deir el-Zour hit a residential compound where scores of internally displaced people were staying.

The village is near the town of Boukamal, which Syrian troops and their allies captured this month. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a higher death toll, saying 53 people were killed, including 21 children.

The Russian Defense Ministry said six Tu-22M3 long-range bombers scrambled from Russia and carried out a massed airstrike on "terrorists' property" in Deir el-Zour.

Near Damascus, a wave of government airstrikes and artillery fire on the opposition-held eastern Ghouta suburbs killed at least 18 civilians, according to the Observatory.

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Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten reported this story in Geneva and AP writer Philip Issa reported from Beirut. AP writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Firefighters put out a small fire but no one was asked to evacuate

Polk County Fire Rescue spotted the derailed train returning from a medical call at approximately 2am

A train hauling hazardous molten sulfur has derailed in Florida, causing a dangerous leak.

Four cars carrying the substance derailed early Monday morning. Nine total cars went off the tracks.

After the derailment, officials in Polk County asked nearby residents to shut off their air conditioners, close windows and stay indoors.

Molten sulfur spilled from a derailed train near Lakeland, Florida on, Monday, November 27

Four cars carrying the substance derailed early Monday morning. Nine total cars went off the tracks

County spokesman Kevin Watler said in a later news release that residents are now free to leave their homes.

Polk County Fire Rescue officials said a crew returning from a medical call at approximately 2am Monday saw that the train had derailed near Lakeland. Firefighters put out a small fire.

Hazmat crews are working with CSX railroad, the Polk County Sheriff's Office and state officials to investigate the crash. No one was asked to evacuate.

Polk County Fire Rescue officials said a crew returning from a medical call at approximately 2am Monday saw that the train had derailed

Hazmat crews are working with CSX railroad, the Polk County Sheriff's Office and state officials to investigate the crash

Officials are now working to clean up the molten sulfur spillage and remove the damaged cars.

Roads are expected to be closed for an extended period of time, but CSX estimates that cross sections will remain closed until Monday evening.

Molten sulfur is used in making sulfuric acid, rubber, detergents, fungicides and fertilizers. It can form toxic and flammable gases, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Lakeland is between Tampa and Orlando in central Florida.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A leading global rights organization on Monday urged Greece's government to halt the sale of thousands of artillery shells to Saudi Arabia, saying the weapons could be used against civilians in the ongoing war in Yemen.

Amnesty International voiced deep concern over the proposed deal, saying there was a "real danger" that 300,000 shells would be used by the Saudi-led military coalition fighting Shiite rebels in the impoverished country.

"Amnesty International calls on Greece to immediately rescind the sale and transfer of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and to refuse approval of the transport of every type of conventional weapons, ammunitions and war materiel to points of conflict in Yemen," a statement said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas laughs during a debate at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. A leading global rights watchdog is urging Greece's government to scrap a controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia, saying the weapons could be used against civilians in the ongoing war in Yemen. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

The agreement, worth an estimated 66 million euros ($78.3 million), has been strongly criticized by Greek opposition parties, while at least two lawmakers in the governing left-wing Syriza party have called for its cancellation on grounds that the arms could be used in Yemen.

During a parliamentary debate, Communist party leader Dimitris Koutsoumbas accused the Greek government of helping to fuel the war in Yemen that has resulted in "slaughter, famine" and the strengthening of radical Islamic militants.

Other parties including the main opposition New Democracy suggested that Defense Minister Panos Kammenos had negotiated a shady deal through an unauthorized middleman instead of dealing directly with the Saudi government.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras strongly defended deal, saying that negotiations were above board and conducted with a representative authorized by the Saudi government.

Tsipras accused opposition parties of resorting to unfounded allegations to undermine a government that is steering Greece out of eight years of crushing economic crisis that saw the country receive three multibillion euro (dollar) rescue deals.

"They want to foment conditions of instability because they don't want this government to lead the country out of this crisis at all costs," Tsipras told parliament.

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos who heads the government's junior coalition member Independent Greeks speaks during a debate at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. A leading global rights watchdog is urging Greece's government to scrap a controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia, saying the weapons could be used against civilians in the ongoing war in Yemen. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas arrives for a debate at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. A leading global rights watchdog is urging Greece's government to scrap a controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia, saying the weapons could be used against civilians in the ongoing war in Yemen. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2014 file phtoto, OFI's coach Gennaro Gattuso of Italy gives instructions to his players during a Greek Soccer League match at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium against Olympiacos in the port of Piraeus, near Athens. On Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 AC Milan fired Vincenzo Montella and named Gennaro Gattuso as coach Monday after the club failed to produce inspiring results with a completely revamped squad. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis file)
JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli court has ordered Uber to stop its ride-sharing operations in Israel less than a month after launching the service in Tel Aviv.

A taxi driver union and rival transit application Gett petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court earlier this month to serve Uber with an injunction, claiming it violated an Israeli law forbidding drivers without taxi licenses from levying fares on passengers.

Judge Eitan Orenstein ordered the ban on Uber's ride-share programs in Israel - uberDAY and uberNIGHT - to go into effect Wednesday, and raised concerns about its insurance for passengers. Uber may still operate its taxi-hailing service.

Uber launched its pilot ride-sharing program in Israel last year, but has faced opposition from the Transportation Ministry, which filed suit against the company in May for violating regulations.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court turned away an appeal from Maryland gun owners who challenged the state's ban on assault weapons, which were used in recent mass shootings in a south Texas church and at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas.

The justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the Maryland law that does not permit the sale of a range of semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.

In the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year, Judge Robert King wrote "we have not power to extend Second Amendment protections to weapons of war."

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who pushed for the legislation as a state senator in 2013, said he hoped the appeals court's ruling and the high court's decision not to review it would encourage other states to adopt similar protections.

"It ought to be a lesson to all states, and I would hope that they would look at the 4th Circuit's decision and the tragic events around the country and come to the conclusion that this is a common-sense law," said Frosh, a Democrat.

Maryland passed the sweeping gun-control measure after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that killed 20 children and six educators in Connecticut. It bans 45 kinds of assault weapons and puts a 10-round limit on gun magazines.

"This success is even more significant as we near the five-year anniversary of the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School," said Jen Pauliukonis, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence. "While Congress may continue to fail to act, state legislatures must take the lead in protecting American citizens from the atrocities of gun violence in our communities."

The high court has not re-entered the debate over guns since rulings in 2008 and 2010 that held that Americans have a constitutional right to have guns for self-defense in their homes and that local governments could not ban handguns.

The justices also declined an appeal asserting a constitutional right to carry firearms openly in public.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is leaving in place a Nebraska law that bars protests around funerals.

Nebraska enacted the law in 2006. It prohibits protests near a cemetery, mortuary or church from one hour before the beginning of a funeral to two hours after.

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church challenged the law but have lost in lower courts. Members of the church routinely conduct anti-gay protests outside military funerals. The protests have been a way of drawing attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would not take up the church's challenge to Nebraska's law.
LAKE WORTH, Fla. (AP) - A 51-year-old Florida man is accused of killing another man with a 3-foot sword.

Palm Beach Sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said in a news release on Sunday that George C. Livingston is being held without bond on a second-degree murder charge. The booking sheet described the charge as "murder dangerous depraved without premeditation."

The victim's body was found covered in blood near the railroad tracks in Lake Worth on Saturday afternoon. The sword was nearby. Barbera says detectives interviewed witnesses and quickly detained Livingston.

The victim's name hasn't been released.

Jail records don't list an attorney for Livingston.
A spate of recent public revelations, including the spontaneous #metoo discussions on social media, is emboldening many victims of sexual harassment to speak up, but many still remain silent.

Up to 85 percent of women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace and many men as well according to a report released in 2016 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Common responses to harassment include: avoiding the harasser, downplaying the gravity of the situation or attempting to ignore or endure the behavior. The least common response? Taking formal action - either reporting their harassment internally or by filing a formal complaint. In fact, 70 percent of men or women who experienced workplace harassment "never even talked with a supervisor, manager or union representative about it," according to the EEOC report.

FILE - In this Nov. 12, 2017, file photo, participants rally outside CNN's Hollywood studios on Sunset Boulevard to take a stand against sexual assault and harassment for the #MeToo March in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. A spate of recent public revelations, including the spontaneous #metoo discussions on social media, is emboldening many victims of sexual harassment to speak up, but many still remain silent. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The Associated Press spoke to several experts about why this sexual misconduct in the workplace is still underreported:

WHY THEY DON'T REPORT IT

Q. Sexual harassment is part of a national conversation these days, but many victims still aren't coming forward. Why?

A. The top reason is a fear of retaliation - either by the harasser or their employer.

"While it is illegal...that doesn't mean it doesn't happen," said Emily Martin, vice president for workplace justice at the National Women's Law Center. "It happens a lot."

Often, when a victim experiences harassment they calculate the best possible outcome of making a report and it doesn't look very attractive, Martin said. Even if they aren't terminated, it can affect relationships in the workplace and victims worry about how they will be seen at work and their ability to do their job.

"The weighing of costs and benefits can very legitimately lead victims to conclude there is too much risk in coming forward," she said.

Tammy Cho, co-founder of BetterBrave, a website that provides resources for sexual harassment victims, also talked about distrust in human resources. The site was launched after a female engineer at Uber publicly detailed her harassment at the company and how her complaints were ignored.

BetterBrave, which interviewed hundreds of people on the topic, also found there is underreporting because of uncertainty about what is considered sexual harassment. The EEOC report, for example, found women were less likely to say they'd been a victim of sexual misconduct when they were asked about it in general terms but as the questions became more specific, citing examples of forms of sexual harassment, the prevalence grew much higher.

And there is a preference to avoid drama, such as getting someone fired or having to go to trial.

"Survivors don't speak up because as a society, we shame, isolate and doubt survivors when they come forward," said Sheerine Alemzadeh, co-founder and co-director of Healing to Action, which fights gender-based violence through workforce leaders. "Our culture normalizes violence and aggression against women - when it occurs we question why the survivor put herself in that situation, instead of why a person would grope, proposition, or rape another person. Until that changes, survivors only risk further trauma by coming forward. "

There is also "bystander apathy" that BetterBrave says contributes to underreporting - as those who witness it assume someone else will report it.

WATERSHED MOMENT?

Q. There have been a number of victims speaking up lately in the press and through social media campaigns like #metoo. Will this help bring more victims forward?

A. "Absolutely, I definitely think seeing women come forward empowers other women to come forward," said Cho.

There are signs this is true: calls to the National Women's Law Center about harassment have doubled in the past month or so and Martin said searches of the EEOC website are up.

However, Martin is more reserved in her assessment, saying it remains to be seen if this is an isolated moment in time or true turning point. Still, she believes there are benefits from the growing awareness.

"What we are seeing now is the power of women's voices ... people sharing their stories of harassment is making women feel more empowered to say 'It happened to me too' and that they will be believed."

Alemzadeh also expressed some caution about this being seen as a watershed point.

Victims will come forward only if reports are "met with a strong, proactive response and clear consequences", she said. But if this movement "devolves into minimizing reports or backlash against survivors, you can expect even greater fear in coming forward."

Q. Is there evidence that this tide of events has changed workplace policy at all?

A. Some companies do seem interested in taking added steps now to prevent sexual harassment.

Cho said BetterBrave has spoken to many organizations looking for ways to better support their employees, including creating better workplace policies that clarify the process for reporting and resolving issues like sexual harassment.

"This is a good start, but creating stronger policies is not enough to address this problem," she said. "Many of the companies we've seen blasted on the news had sexual harassment policies in place and even internal hotlines to report harassment.

"Policies are all optics until companies take the next step to properly enforce these policies and create a culture where employees not only feel safe, but are safe to speak up."

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

Q. What are your options if you were harassed and want to take formal action?

A. Beyond confronting the harasser, you can report the situation in your workplace, file an EEOC charge or seek legal action. Report crimes, such as rape, to the police or contact a sexual assault service program for help.

If you are going to make a legal claim, Martin said it's important to speak with HR or use whatever resources are available in the workplace first. Courts will look to see if the victim did everything they could to address harassment. And it may be in your best interest to file an EEOC charge, as you must do so in a timely manner to pursue a lawsuit in federal court.

BetterBrave has tips online, the EEOC has information on its website and you can consult with an employment attorney. Most experts advise getting basic information about what your legal rights are.

"It's so helpful to have someone sit down with you and walk you through what your rights are and what the options are," Martin said. "Even if you don't pursue it, that can be very empowering.

National Women's Law Center is launching a "Network for Gender Equity" that connects women with attorneys willing to do a free initial visit.

Q. What should you do first?

A. Cho said the first step is to document it - save that email, take screen shots or save any other pertinent information. Or simply write down all the details you can remember with as many facts possible for your own reference.

"The gut reaction is 'Oh shoot this never happened to me,' and to push it out of their mind or even delete evidence," she said. But that information can help you greatly down the line.

Alemzadeh suggested telling someone you trust, who will believe you and support your decisions.

"It is incredibly important to have a support system when experiencing sexual harassment," she said. "Navigating an employer's HR process, law enforcement, and the courts can be overwhelming. ... Make sure there is someone who can help you navigate your options and advocate for yourself. "

Q. What can be done to ease the hurdles to reporting?

A. The first step is having a workplace culture that values people equally, regardless of their gender, said Alemzadeh. Second is to have procedures that reflect the realities of trauma and sexual assault, both at the HR level and at law enforcement agencies.

She points to the EEOC requiring complaints to be filed between 6 months and 300 days from the date of the harassment. But many survivors wait for years before being ready to share their stories.

Other suggestions including focusing on the role of bystanders to speak up and addressing gaps in legal assistance. The latter is of particular importance for lower-income workers, Martin said. She said The Legal Aid Society doesn't really do workplace law as it's time consuming and expensive. And an absence of unions in the workplace means there is no workplace advocate for many workers to go to.

Overwhelmingly, experts say people need to be aware of their rights.

"A lot of these fears are understandable," Cho said. "At the end of the day there are some laws that protect us. I don't think enough people are aware of their rights yet."
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans moved forward on legislation to expand gun owners' rights, the first gun-related measure since mass shootings in Las Vegas and Texas killed more than 80 people.

The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a National Rifle Association-supported bill that would allow a gun owner with a state-issued concealed carry permit to carry a handgun in any state that allows concealed weapons.

The reciprocity measure would allow gun owners to travel freely between states without worrying about conflicting state laws or "onerous" civil suits, said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., the bill's sponsor.

Balloons are released at a graveside service for members of the Holcombe family who were killed in the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church shooting, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas. A man opened fire inside the church in the small South Texas community Sunday, Nov. 5, killing more than two dozen. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The Judiciary panel also is expected to consider legislation to strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers after the Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people at a Texas church.

Despite calls by Democrats for tighter gun control, Congress has taken no steps on guns in the weeks following the Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and the Nov. 5 shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

A bid to ban the "bump stock" device that the Las Vegas shooter used to fire a semi-automatic rifle at near-automatic rates fizzled, even as lawmakers from both parties expressed openness to the idea in the days following the shooting.

Senators from both parties, including the Senate's No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, support the background check measure, which would ensure that federal agencies, such as the Defense Department, and states accurately report relevant criminal information to the FBI.

The Air Force has acknowledged that the Texas shooter, Devin P. Kelley, should have had his name and domestic violence conviction submitted to the National Criminal Information Center database. The bill would penalize federal agencies that fail to properly report required records and reward states that comply by providing them with federal grant preferences.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Texas shooting showed the need to enforce current gun laws.

"This man should not have gotten a gun," Ryan, R-Wis., said earlier this month. "How is it that this person, who was convicted of domestic abuse by the Air Force, how did he get through the system and get a gun?"

President Donald Trump said tougher gun laws would not have prevented the Texas shooting, arguing that more restrictions might have led to more casualties.

After the Las Vegas shooting, Trump and White House aides said it was inappropriate to consider a policy response while people were still grieving. Despite suggesting openness to outlawing the bump stock device, the Trump administration has shown no signs of urgency.

Any action on gun control or background check would be notable. Previous mass shootings in Colorado, Connecticut, and Florida - and even attacks on lawmakers - failed to unite Congress on a legislative response. A bipartisan bill on background checks failed in the Senate four years ago, and since then Republicans have usually pointed to mental health legislation when questioned about the appropriate congressional response to gun violence.
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - The family of a Hofstra University student killed by police while being used as a human shield in a 2013 off-campus shooting has settled a pair of lawsuits for $4.5 million.

Andrea Rebello, 21, of Tarrytown, New York, was fatally shot by an officer during a botched home invasion that also killed the gunman.

Rebello's family accused the department of negligence and said the officer acted "recklessly and unnecessarily" when he fatally shot Rebello and her hostage-taker. The family also said officers were not properly trained and supervised on how to handle hostage cases.

FILE - This May 22, 2013 file photo shows Andrea Rebello's casket being carried after her funeral service at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. The Robello family has settled lawsuits for $4.5 million the death of the Hofstra University student, killed by police while being used as a human shield in a 2013 shooting. The Nassau County Legislature on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017, voted to approve the payouts. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

The Nassau County Legislature on Monday voted to approve the payouts.

"Today's settlement was recommended as being in the county's best interest to resolve a difficult and awful tragedy," County Attorney Carnell Foskey said.

Rebello family attorney David Roth confirmed the settlement but did not add any comment.

A county prosecutor ruled in 2014 that the officer, Nikolas Budimlic, had no option but deadly force.

Former District Attorney Kathleen Rice concluded the woman's death was caused by a gunman breaking into her home, taking several residents hostage and refusing to surrender to police.

After entering the house, the officer encountered Dalton Smith holding Rebello in a headlock. Smith maneuvered down a flight of stairs and was attempting to leave with the young woman through a rear door, yelling expletives at police officers and threatening to shoot the student.

Smith, 30, had been on parole for his involvement in an armed robbery, according to Rice's report. An arrest warrant had been issued for him about three weeks before the fatal shooting occurred. Smith also had prior convictions for attempted robbery and weapons possession.

The victim's twin sister, Jessica Rebello, also had been inside the house but was not injured in the shooting, which occurred days before commencement.
AMHERST, S.D. (AP) - TransCanada Corp. plans to resume operation of its Keystone pipeline nearly two weeks after crews shut it down in response to an estimated 210,000-gallon oil spill in South Dakota.

The company said in a statement that it will operate the pipeline at reduced pressure beginning Tuesday. TransCanada says the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has reviewed its pipeline repair and restart plans with no objections.

The agency didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional information.

South Dakota officials don't believe the leak polluted any surface water bodies or drinking water systems.

The company disclosed the buried pipeline leak on agricultural land in Marshall County on Nov. 16.

The company says that more than 44,000 gallons of oil had been recovered as of Sunday.
The Archbishop of York has resumed wearing a dog collar after cutting up his previous one in protest at Robert Mugabes rule in Zimbabwe.

Dr John Sentamu said a South African-style truth and reconciliation process was needed to heal Zimbabwes divisions following the end of Mr Mugabes 37-year rule.

The Archbishop said Zimbabwes new president Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former ally of Mr Mugabe, should not attempt to bury the past and his role in it.

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu. (Lynne Cameron/PA)

.@JohnSentamu puts his dog collar back on, almost 10 years after he cut it up on #Marr, in protest at Robert Mugabe. #Zimbabwe pic.twitter.com/wFCfLvUa9a  The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) November 26, 2017

He needs similar to what South Africa did  a truth, justice and reconciliation commission to look into it so that this doesnt hang over him like a big cloud.

Im a man of faith, a strong believer in hope and a strong believer that people can change so its quite possible that Emmerson Mnangagwa could actually be a very good president.

But he cant simply bury the past, it wont go away.

Asked if 93-year-old Mr Mugabe should be forgiven, he said: Mugabe at some point needs to say to the people of Zimbabwe: 37 years (ago) I took on a country which was fantastic, I nearly took it to ruin, Zimbabweans forgive me.

The Ugandan-born Archbishop, who cut up his clerical collar in a symbolic protest on TV a decade ago, returned to the BBCs Andrew Marr Show to be handed back the remains of the item.

Instead of attempting to reassemble the old collar he produced a new one from his pocket and put it around his neck.

I actually think the lesson for Zimbabwe is the same  you just cant try and stitch it up, something more radical, something new needs to happen in terms of the rule of law, allowing people to get jobs  because 90% of people arent in work.

You cant just stitch it up, I need a new collar.

Dr Sentamu said a voice had told him to light a candle in the days leading up to Mr Mugabes downfall.

The first burned out on November 14 as the military takeover began, while a second lasted until November 21  the day of Mr Mugabes resignation.
Englands 10-wicket defeat in the first Ashes Test was confirmed in little more than an hour as Australia knocked off the 56 runs still needed on the final morning at the Gabba.

David Warner (87no) and Cameron Bancroft (82no) took their opening stand to an unbroken 173, eclipsing the target England were able to set with more than two sessions to spare.

A decidedly one-sided outcome here was not an entirely true reflection of an opening contest which ebbed and flowed through the first two-and-a-half days.

Australia win the first Test by 10 wickets and take a 1-0 series lead.https://t.co/1xc8nkRzk4#Ashes pic.twitter.com/VL5g0m0r0x  England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 27, 2017

Since then, however, Australia have been on an uncompromising victory surge thanks largely to their captain Steve Smiths epic 141 not out as he near single-handedly hauled them into a first-innings lead of 26 runs.

England under a cloud on and off the pitch

You've all heard the reports coming out of Australia...@MichaelVaughan gives his verdict on the Jonny Bairstow news. pic.twitter.com/4jP3Vzhnls  Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) November 26, 2017

Reports of an incident in a Perth bar four weeks ago, in which Jonny Bairstow may or may not have headbutted Australia opener Cameron Bancroft, have not made Englands outlook any easier. The ramifications are unclear, depending which pundit or source is most trusted.

Shot of the day

AUSSIES WIN! 1-0 #BeatEngland



Warner finishes 87* and Bancroft 82* as the hosts win by 10 wickets at the Gabba! https://t.co/P6sH6ROa7L #Ashes pic.twitter.com/kkxfmnzapw  cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 27, 2017

Bancroft, on debut here, did plenty to prove he has suffered no distractions - including with a crisp off-drive off Jake Ball for a four which hastened the end on the final morning.

Stat of the day

1-0 Australia...



Cameron Bancroft finishes the job for Australia, hitting the winning runs on debut.#Ashes pic.twitter.com/uJKKHofzMX  BT Sport (@btsport) November 27, 2017

1-0 -  and counting. England have not won in their last eight attempts in Brisbane, so hopes were not high. But if they could somehow have stopped Australia getting off to their usual flier here, it would have sown much-needed belief in the tourists campaign.

Mixed emotions at the Gabba

Australia had a win to celebrate, but the thoughts of several players were inevitably also with the late Phillip Hughes, on the third anniversary of their former team-mates death after a blow to the neck from a short ball while batting.

Tweet of the day

What next?

Ashes Test match schedule graphic

England can only hope to bounce back with the pink ball in Adelaide next weekend.
New International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has announced 12 million of extra UK aid to help Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Burma.

An estimated 620,000 men, women and children have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following persecution from the Burmese military in their native state of Rakhine.

A drawing made by a Rohingya refugee child from Burma showing what they witnessed before fleeing to the Batukhali refugee camp in Bangladesh

On a visit to Bangladesh, Ms Mordaunt met some of the refugees living in camps in the fishing port of Coxs Bazar.

The Department of International Development( DfID) estimates that international funding for the crisis will start to run out by February next year unless other countries pledge longer term support.

UK is working at every level to help those affected by the #Burma crisis, ensuring that lifesaving aid reaches those in dire need right now pic.twitter.com/2tuYr0ebV7  DFID (@DFID_UK) October 17, 2017

The additional funding will bring the UKs total support for the Rohingya to 59 million since August this year.

The money will be spent on food, drinking water, emergency latrines, temporary shelters, soap, cooking utensils and water cans.

Thousands of shelter kits, sleeping mats and thermal blankets have already been distributed in Coxs Bazar and more aid is on the way #Burma pic.twitter.com/XW3uOmVcR5  DFID (@DFID_UK) October 17, 2017

Ms Mordaunt said in a statement: This looks like ethnic cleansing.

The Burmese military must end this inhumane violence and guarantee unrestricted humanitarian access so aid can reach those in need in Burma.

Any return of families to their homes must be safe, voluntary and dignified.

Ms Mordaunt made the visit on the International Day To Eliminate Violence Against Women And Girls, which saw thousands of people take part in protests across the world.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt in Bangladesh

The money will also be used to provide sanitary products, female-only bathing cubicles as well as counselling for 2,000 survivors of sexual violence and 10,000 women suffering the trauma of war, DfID said.

The International Development Secretary also announced a separate 12 million aid package to be spread across multiple countries to help protect women from sexual and gender-based violence.

Putting smiles back on faces. UK aid is helping @UNICEF get children who've fled violence in Burma back to school in Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/T6GP7VBvd0  DFID (@DFID_UK) October 13, 2017

The countless stories of sexual violence I have heard from Rohingya women and girls are truly shocking and the high rates of this crime across the world are a global scandal, Ms Mordaunt said.

The UK is absolutely determined to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and we are increasing protection for Rohingya women and girls against sexual violence and exploitation.
Britains economy has been boosted by the F-35 stealth fighter jet with UK companies playing a vital role in the aircrafts production, the company behind the warplane said.

American company Lockheed Martin is manufacturing the multimillion-pound supersonic aircraft, which the UK has pledged to buy 138 of over the coming decades.

The cutting-edge F-35B warplanes will undertake missions from both Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and bases such as RAF Marham, with nine set to arrive in Britain next year.

The #F35 is a game-changer and a quantum leap in technology. Learn more at https://t.co/YbPb29jkku pic.twitter.com/uoTVaWdR8k  F-35 Lightning II (@thef35) November 22, 2017

Andrew Linstead, director of strategic engagement at Lockheed Martin UK, said a National Audit Office report published earlier this year showed Britain had spent 3.9 billion on the F-35s since the start of the programme.

We did some analysis between ourselves and Pratt & Whitney who make the engine as to the value of contracts placed in the UK, he told the Press Association.

That value was 12.9 billion dollars  so that is 8-9 billion over the same period.

So you are already seeing a value of contracts placed being over twice the value of the expenditure the UK has put forward on the aircraft.

And that situation is going to improve and get even better as we ramp up production and more aircraft are made.

Lightning Force Commander Air Commodore David Bradshaw. (Joe Giddens/PA)

Lightning Force Commander Air Commodore David Bradshaw said Britain has had a 25% stake in the programme from the outset, allowing huge influence.

He said that like with the Harrier jet, it could be argued the F-35 has its heart in the UK.

Indeed 15%, by value, of every single one of the 3,000 plus F35s that will be produced over the coming decades comes from the UK, he said.

In terms of the propulsion system, particularly in the F-35B, with the lift fan and the three bearing swivel nozzle at the back - that is British engineering at its best.

The Martin-Baker ejection seat - these are cutting-edge technologies that come from the UK.

Some of the UK companies with contracts to produce parts of the jets include Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Ultra Electronics, Cobham and GE Aviation.
Indonesian authorities have ordered 100,000 people to flee from an erupting volcano on Bali that forced the holiday islands international airport to close, stranding large numbers of travellers.

Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 10,000ft into the atmosphere since the weekend and lava is welling up in the crater, sometimes reflected as a reddish-yellow glow in the ash plumes.

Its explosions can be heard seven to eight miles away.

Videos released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcanos slopes.

It said lahars could increase because it is rainy season and warned people to stay away from rivers.

The agency raised the volcanos alert to the highest level early on Monday and expanded the danger zone to six miles in places. It said a larger eruption is possible.

The volcanos last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

Graphic locates Mount Agung on Bali

He said about 40,000 people have left the area but others feel safe or do not want to abandon their livestock.

Authorities will comb the area to persuade them, he said. If needed we will forcibly evacuate them.

About 25,000 people were already living in evacuation centres after an increase in tremors from the mountain in September sparked an evacuation.

Lava rising in the crater will certainly spill over to the slopes, Mr Sutopo said.

Balis airport was closed early on Monday after ash, which can pose a threat to aircraft, reached its air space.

Flight information boards showed rows of cancellations as tourists arrived at the busy airport expecting to catch flights home.

Passengers read flight information at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali (Ketut Nataan/AP)

Airport spokesman Air Ahsanurrohim said 445 flights had been cancelled, stranding about 59,000 travellers. The closure was in effect until Tuesday morning, although officials said the situation would be reviewed every six hours.

It had a ripple effect across Indonesia, causing delays at other airports because Balis I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport is a national hub with many connecting flights.

Bali is Indonesias top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about five million visitors a year.

Mount Agung erupts in Karangasem, Bali (Firdia Lisnawati/AP)

Indonesias Directorate General of Land Transportation said 100 buses were being deployed to Balis international airport and to ferry terminals to help stranded travellers.

The agency said major ferry crossing points have been advised to prepare for a surge in passengers and vehicles. Stranded tourists could leave Bali by taking a ferry to Java and then travelling by land to the nearest airports.

Bali is Indonesia's top tourist destination (Firdia Lisnawati/AP)

Ash has settled on villages and resorts around the volcano and disrupted daily life outside the immediate danger zone.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has more than 120 active volcanoes.
Families of the British men held in an Indian jail on weapons charges for four years have spoken of their relief and said their dreams had come true after all six were acquitted.

The men, known as the Chennai Six, were first jailed in October 2013 while working as security guards on a ship to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean.

The family of Nick Dunn, from Ashington, Northumberland, gathered together as they awaited news from the court in India.

On hearing the men had been cleared his sister Lisa said: The longer it went on, as much as you still have an element of hope, it does dwindle after having so many delays and setbacks.

But that hasnt happened today and weve had the best news ever. It will make all of our Christmases, all of our dreams have come true today.

Mr Dunns father, Jim, said: Absolutely fantastic, the best news in the world. We havent been a full family for a long time now. Nick wont fully realise its over until his feet touch down in Newcastle.

The family of Nick Dunn, one of the Chennai Six, celebrate after the group were found not guilty, according to supporters on a social networking page

Customs officials initially boarded the vessel and were said to have found 35 guns and almost 6000 rounds of ammunition.

Charges against the British men were dropped but they were forced to remain in India while prosecutors pursued an appeal.

The men were Billy Irving, 37, from Argyll and Bute, Mr Dunn, 31, John Armstrong, 30, of Wigton, Cumbria, Nicholas Simpson, 47, of Catterick, North Yorkshire, Ray Tindall, 42, of Chester, and Paul Towers, 54, of Pocklington, East Yorkshire.

Yvonne McHugh, partner of Billy Irving, said she was over the moon the men had been acquitted and also that it was a dream come true.

She added: We are just waiting to hear how soon theyll be home. Thats the biggest hurdle we faced and all of them have been acquitted.

Although the men have been cleared, Ms McHugh said she would be unable to speak to Mr Irving as he is not yet out of prison and does not have a phone.

She said: I wont be able to speak to him until hes out of prison, we just want them home as soon as possible. Im absolutely ecstatic and feel proud weve managed to do this after four years.

A post on The Chennai 6 Facebook page earlier said families were understandably delighted at the news.

They are now waiting to hear when they will be allowed home from India to their families.

The post said: We now wait to hear as and when the men will be allowed home to their families. This may take some time whilst the authorities decide whether they agree with the outcome or wish to appeal.

If they wish to appeal the men might be released from prison but not allowed back to the UK. But the families are delighted that finally common sense and justice has prevailed.

News of their acquittal reached Downing Street which said it will continue to offer consular assistance to the men.

Family members of the Chennai Six (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Theresa Mays official spokesman said: The Government, from the Prime Minister down, has worked hard for over four years to support the men and their families and we share their happiness at the courts decision to give a full acquittal to each of the men.

We are now working with the Indian authorities to discuss the next steps. We will continue to offer the men and their families consular assistance for as long as it is needed.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: Since I became Foreign Secretary, this case has been a top priority for everybody at the Foreign Office (FCO) and todays verdict is fantastic news.

The FCO has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families. The importance the UK Government places on their case cannot be overstated. The men, their families and their supporters, who have campaigned unrelentingly, must be overjoyed. I share their delight and I hope they can return home as soon as possible.
Erik Lamela has told Mauricio Pochettino he is finally ready to make his Tottenham return after more than a year out through injury.

Lamela, who joined Spurs four years ago for a then club record 30million, has undergone operations on each of his hips and not played since October 25, 2016.

But after beginning training early last month, Lamela gave Pochettino the green light on Monday and is now expected to be on the bench for Tuesdays game against Leicester.

Erik Lamela set for Tottenham return after declaring himself fit for action

It is very good news because he is in contention for tomorrow, Pochettino said.

Its because after the training today he felt good and said, Ok I am ready to move on and be available if you want.

Lamelas recovery has proven complex, with the 25-year-old even allowed to take treatment from his former club Roma in January.

There was also a traumatic period in December last year when Lamela rushed back to his native Argentina to attend to his brother, who had been unexpectedly taken into hospital.

TEAM NEWS: Good news that @ErikLamela has stepped up and is in contention for tomorrow. Always in a very busy schedule you need everyone fit to help the team and that is very good news for the team.  Mauricio pic.twitter.com/prWeBuKwQI  Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 27, 2017

Pochettino is likely to ease Lamela back in slowly over the Christmas period but he insists he never had any doubts that he would play again.

No, never doubts. We trusted in our medical staff and him that hes a very competitive player, always focused on his recovery, Pochettino said.

Its true that after a year its difficult for a player to be fit and find the feelings in the competition when its an injury for long term. Always its not easy and the expectations need to be low.

Maybe similar to Danny Rose, after 10 months or year its similar. You need to provide them the time to be fit and feel again the competition.

With Lamela theres no pressure on him, only to feel hes a player in the competition again.

Tottenhams title challenge has been derailed by a disappointing run that has included only one win in their last four Premier League matches.

They now sit 13 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City but Pochettino called for perspective.

TEAM NEWS: @HarryWinks (illness) will be assessed ahead of tomorrows game against Leicester City. pic.twitter.com/vkjfgSFgfo  Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 27, 2017

I think if you remember everything that happened three years ago, no-one would believe we would be talking about finishing first, beating Dortmund and Real Madrid and finishing first in the Champions League and have the capacity in the last three seasons to fight for the top four and the Premier League, Pochettino said.

We were talking about in the next three or four seasons arriving to the new stadium and trying to reduce the gap to the top four, and now we are involved in the battle for the best competitions in the world.

Harry Winks has fallen ill and will have to be assessed ahead of the trip to the King Power Stadium while Victor Wanyama (knee) and Toby Alderweireld (hamstring) are both out.
Crisis talks between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to avert a general election broke up on Monday night without resolution.

Discussions are due to resume on Tuesday morning before a crucial vote of no confidence in Irelands deputy premier Frances Fitzgerald is scheduled to take place, potentially causing the Irish Government to fall.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said there was serious engagement on both sides during Monday nights talks. He added: All remain keen to avoid an election in the interest of the country.

Earlier Mr Varadkar again stressed his support for Ms Fitzgerald, who is under renewed pressure to resign over her handling of a police whistleblower scandal.

Case for the defence for Fitzgerald has utterly collapsed, documents prove it is time to go  @Donnchadhol https://t.co/yxPHaLgtl0 pic.twitter.com/grJ5q2G5ft  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) November 27, 2017

It emerged on Monday that she was emailed in 2015 about an alleged aggressive stance towards Sergeant Maurice McCabe while she was justice minister  deepening the political crisis.

It was one of three emails she was sent about the legal strategy of the Garda force against the whistleblower.

She received lines to take in public on the officer, who was taking part in a judicial investigation into policing in the Irish midlands.

The new emails emerged as the future of Ms Fitzgeralds ministerial career hung in the balance. She has said she cannot recall the contents of that message.

However, a department of justice civil servant wrote that the minister had noted the email.

Maurice McCabe

Despite ongoing calls for her resignation over her handling of the original 2015 email that revealed attempts to discredit the Garda whistleblower, a spokesman for Mr Varadkar insisted on Monday night that the Taoiseach continues to stand by her.

The confirmation of the Taoiseachs ongoing support came as Mr Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin met for crisis talks in a bid to prevent a snap election having to be called.

Ms Fitzgerald also showed no indication of stepping down when she took to Twitter on Monday night to defend herself.

She tweeted: As Justice Minister I could not interfere with the OHiggins Commission. This is confirmed twice in todays docs & has been confirmed by the AG (Attorney General).

1/2 As Justice Minister I could not interfere with the O'Higgjns Commission. This is confirmed twice in today's docs & has been confirmed by the AG.  Frances Fitzgerald MEP (@FitzgeraldFrncs) November 27, 2017

2/2 The Tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January.  Frances Fitzgerald MEP (@FitzgeraldFrncs) November 27, 2017

The Tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January.

Sinn Fein parliamentary representative Donnchadh O Laoghaire said: The case for the defence for Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has been unravelling for days. It has now collapsed.

Ms Fitzgerald was contacted on May 15, 2015 and July 4, 2015 by officials in the Department outlining the strategy of the former Garda Commissioner, or top officer, Noirin OSullivan.

One of the messages from Ms Fitzgeralds officials said the Commissioner phoned to let him know they had received media queries about Sgt McCabe.

They were asked was it the case that Sgt McCabe was looking to be taken out of the traffic unit in Mullingar and was it the Garda Commissioner who had instructed counsel to adopt an aggressive stance towards Sgt McCabe at the OHiggins Commission.

According to emails released by the justice department on Monday night, an official emailed Ms Fitzgerald on lines to take if Sgt Maurice McCabe was raised with her.

He said Ms Fitzgerald should stress her belief that Sgt McCabe is a valued member of the force.

Fianna Fail, which has been supporting the minority Fine Gael-led government, has demanded the resignation of Ms Fitzgerald over the affair.

"The Tanaiste should step aside - that would avoid a General Election" - @MichealMartinTD #TodaySOR https://t.co/ewaYLcUuEU  Fianna Fail (@fiannafailparty) November 24, 2017

Last-ditch negotiations, which could see a radical overhaul of justice affairs, are said to have been constructive.

We are trying to find a middle way that allows the Government to continue and continue with the important work we are doing, particularly with Brexit and ensuring that we have necessary legislation through, the Taoiseach said. We are doing everything we can.

If no compromise is reached then it will lead to the collapse of the delicate confidence and supply arrangement that was supposed to see Mr Martins party support the minority Fine Gael Government until the passage of the Budget in late 2018, and abstain in any no-confidence motions against ministers.

The Taoiseach said only Sinn Fein wanted an election.

Mr Martin has refused to back down on a motion of no confidence in Tanaiste Mrs Fitzgerald.

It is scheduled for Tuesday night and, if Fianna Fail follows through with it, the confidence and supply pact would be broken and the Government would fall.
Ben Stokes is not on his way to join Englands Ashes squad in Australia, Press Association Sport understands.

Speculation about the all-rounders plans were raised by a picture on social media which appeared to show him at Heathrow Airport.

However, it is understood Stokes is heading to New Zealand to practice and spend time with his family, rather than meeting up with his England team-mates.

Ben Stokes was initially named in the England squad (John Walton/PA Wire)

Love twitter for gossip but sorry England fans Ben Stokes isnt on a Big Bird Down Under ..... #Yet  Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) November 27, 2017

Stokes was initially named in Englands 16-man squad to tour Australia but was quickly stood down from international duty following his arrest on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm in Bristol in September.

The New Zealand-born 26-year-old has yet to hear whether he will be charged by Avon and Somerset Police.

Stokes and Alex Hales, who was also involved in the Bristol incident, have been suspended from England selection until further notice.

Just to confirm: Ben Stokes has in fact learned the trumpet, and will be joining us in Adelaide on Saturday.  England's Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) November 27, 2017

However, it is understood that after being arrested and then released under investigation, Stokes is free to travel and leave the country.

Stokes sent a good luck message to the England squad just hours before they began their Ashes campaign in Brisbane, where Australia cruised to a 10-wicket victory in the first Test on Monday.

Ill be sat at home watching and following the lads in the hope they do really well, Stokes said in a video.

In an apparent reference to Mondays picture on social media, Stokes wrote on Twitter: GIFs the best thing to grace twitter.
By Clyde Russell

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The shifting dynamics of China's crude oil imports show the scale of the challenges facing the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies ahead of a decision on whether to continue with production cuts.

The detailed Chinese customs data for October illustrates trends that should give pause for thought to the leaders of OPEC and its allies, particularly major exporter Russia, ahead of the meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.

Market share is the big issue for shippers to China, the world's largest crude importer, and there are two strands to the problem.

The first is that the import data shows how China has been able to develop new relationships with oil exporters fairly rapidly, reducing reliance on some traditional suppliers from OPEC.

The second is that it appears that the burden of reducing exports, at least as far as China is concerned, isn't being shared remotely equally by members of OPEC and their partners in output cuts.

This imbalance raises the chance that an extension to the overall output cuts first agreed a year ago will prove ineffective as some parties to the deal are tempted to export more in a bid to retain, or expand, market share.

U.S. EXPORT SURGE

China's imports from the United States neatly encapsulate the dilemma that OPEC and its allies have in dealing with the challenge of rising U.S. exports on the back of the boom in shale oil.

China imported about 206,900 barrels per day (bpd) from the United States in October, the second-highest monthly amount on record since this trade flow started late last year.

Granted, that level of shipments doesn't seem to present much of a threat to top suppliers Russia and Saudi Arabia, whose exports to China in October stood at 1.09 million bpd and 1.08 million bpd respectively.

But it represents a huge increase in less than a year, with China's imports from the United States going from virtually zero in 2016 to a monthly average of some 135,000 bpd in the first 10 months of the year.

It also seems that U.S. exports are going to keep increasing in coming months, and quite strongly, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.

The shipping data show that China's November U.S. imports should be around 242,000 bpd, based on six cargoes that have already been discharged at Chinese ports.

In December, they may rise to 379,000 bpd as the vessel-tracking data shows six cargoes already underway, all of them Very Large Crude Carriers with around 2 million barrels per ship.

FROM NON-ENTITY TO SERIOUS PLAYER

At a figure getting fairly close to 400,000 bpd, the United States would likely become China's seventh largest supplier of crude, something that becomes much more than just a nuisance as far as the big guns of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Angola, Iran and Iraq are concerned.

The rise of non-traditional crude exporters to China such as the United States, Brazil and even Great Britain may also cause some of those countries trying to re-balance the market through output cuts to think more about preserving market share.

Producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia ship to numerous countries, but the China data shows that as far as exports there are concerned, some OPEC countries and their partners appear to be doing more than others.

China imported 1.04 million bpd from Saudi Arabia in the first 10 months of the year, an increase of just 1 percent from the same period last year.

Over the same period China bought 1.19 million bpd from Russia, up 16 percent, and 1.04 million bpd from Angola, a jump of almost 18 percent. Those two countries have overtaken Saudi Arabia as the top suppliers to China so far this year.

While Russia and Angola may be cutting exports to other buyers, they have certainly worked to boost market share in China, with both achieving growth rates above China's overall 11.8 percent increase in crude imports in the first 10 months.

The other major Middle East exporters have, similar to the Saudis, been more restrained in exporting to China, with imports from Iran up 2.2 percent and Iraq by 1.6 percent.

If OPEC and its allies are going to extend their output cuts of 1.8 million bpd beyond the current March expiry, the key to success will be ensuring compliance.

If some exporters are complying more enthusiastically than others, the deal risks gradually falling apart.

Put another way, how happy will Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq be at seeing their allies Russia and Angola exporting more to China, as well as watching emerging rivals like the United States and others chip away their share of the China crude market? (Editing by Richard Pullin)
By Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov and Mariya Gordeyeva

TASHKENT/ALMATY, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Sensing change in his native Uzbekistan, Hikmat Abdurahmonov plans to build a 10-storey office block and open a consultancy firm oriented towards foreign trade. In neighbouring Kazakhstan, banker Umut Shayakhmetova is considering an Uzbek subsidiary.

"There is hope in the air," she says.

Their plans, commonplace in many countries, are striking because Uzbekistan, as Shayakhmetova puts it, is "starting from zero".

Until the death last year of former president Islam Karimov, it was one of the world's most isolated states. Karimov, who came to power in communist times, kept an iron grip on the economy and politics and mistrusted both Russia and the West.

Since then, foreign delegations have been beating a path to the capital Tashkent, drawn by the potential of the Central Asian country's oil and gas and vast cotton crop as well as areas such as car and food production, machinery and chemicals.

They also have political concerns: Uzbeks from a long-oppressed Muslim population have been arrested for attacks on civilians in New York, Istanbul, Stockholm and St Petersburg this year that killed at least 65 people and wounded many more.

Karimov's successor, his longtime prime minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has maintained the top-down political system while starting tentative reforms to an economy that had failed to create jobs, fuelling discontent.

In August, the country said it would abolish, in 2019, the exit visa system that prevented Uzbeks leaving without official permission, easing the path of millions of migrant workers whose remittances, mostly from Russia, are a vital source of income.

A month later it stopped sending students, teachers and medical workers to harvest cotton after a global boycott campaign, and scrapped most of the capital controls that had bolstered state reserves but stifled trade and investment.

For Abdurahmonov, 36, who has run property, trade, finance and other businesses and lived in the United States, Britain, China and Singapore, the currency reform means he can focus on making money instead of tracking it down in an opaque system.

"I think you can feel it in the air how the atmosphere is really changing," he said in an interview at his three-storey, loft-style office building on the eastern outskirts of Tashkent.

"People are planning new businesses, you can see a lot of start-ups coming (to us)."

'SERIOUS'

While Abdurahmonov's company leases out office space, arranges foreign trade deals and provides other services for local entrepreneurs, Shayakhmetova is chief executive of Halyk Bank, Kazakhstans biggest lender by assets.

"I have had meetings with high-level officials and I have the impression they are serious (about reforms)," she said in Almaty, Kazakhstan's financial centre. "We are studying the market and talking to the regulator to see what their plans are."

Shayakhmetova said the bank, which has assets of $26 billion and units in Russia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, could set up a subsidiary in Tashkent in a year and a half.

The World Bank named Uzbekistan one of its top 10 improvers this year for ease of doing business, citing reforms in starting a business, construction permits, protection for minority investors, tax payments and electricity supplies.

Ranked 74 out of 190 countries, it was slightly ahead of China and Ukraine but well below Russia, which is 35th.

"Our next target is quite ambitious - we want to be in the top 20 by 2025," Azim Akhmedkhodjaev, head of the state investments committee, said, citing a draft "Investment Code" to replace more than a hundred separate laws and regulations.

The country has not tackled the more complex and potentially painful restructuring of large state enterprises, however, or joined the World Trade Organisation, and is among states perceived as most corrupt, according to watchdog Transparency International, which ranks it 156 of 176.

Ordinary Uzbeks have yet to feel the full benefits of the foreign exchange liberalisation, still unable to buy foreign currency in cash except on the illegal black market.

GLOBAL OUTREACH, RUSSIAN FOCUS

So far this decade, Russia, China and South Korea accounted for around two-thirds of investment, with most, last year, going into oil and gas, followed by chemicals and logistics.

Akhmedkhodjaev said the country had attracted $4.2 billion so far this year, including $3.7 billion in direct investment or FDI, compared with $1.9 billion in FDI in the whole of 2016.

According to World Bank data issued before Akhmedkhodjaev spoke to reporters this month, FDI inflows fell to $67 million in 2016. He did not comment on the discrepancy. http://reut.rs/2A4bDjy

The drop followed high-profile disputes with investors such as Britain's Oxus Gold and Russian mobile phone operator MTS and a drop off in Chinese investment once a gas pipeline was built.

This year, France's Peugeot announced a joint venture and Turkish firm Gentes Yapi ve Endustry Tesisleri Ltd Sti signed a deal to build a large logistics facility.

That marked an easing of ties strained by Turkey granting asylum to a leading Uzbek opposition figure, although he and others have yet to return because, while some critics have been freed from jail, others have been detained.

Akhmedkhodjaev listed United States, Germany and Japan among investors this year, a reflection of the president's global outreach, while the main inflow, almost a billion dollars, was expected to come from Russian energy giant LUKOIL.

Mirziyoyev has described Russia as a strategic partner, and Russian central bank data shows $2.7 billion in money transfers from Russia to Uzbekistan last year.

(Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Nov 27 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Monday.

BUDGET DEFICIT

The finance ministry could release January-October consolidated budget data.

DEBT TENDER

Romanian debt managers tender 500 million lei ($128.62 million) of Oct. 2020 treasury bonds.

STREET PROTESTS

Tens of thousands of Romanians rallied in the capital Bucharest and dozens of other cities on Sunday, protesting against a widely criticised plan by the ruling Social Democrats to overhaul the judiciary.

CEE MARKETS

Polish bank stocks retreated on Friday from 2-1/2 year highs after KNF, the country's financial market regulator set new leverage rules which may limit bank's dividend payments.

MOODY'S

Romania has made material progress in correcting macroeconomic imbalances, but these improvements could be eroded in the medium-term, Moody's said on Friday.

MONEY SUPPLY

Romanian M3 money supply expanded 13.6 percent on the year to 336.96 billion lei ($86.02 billion) at the end of October and rose 1.3 percent on the month, central bank data showed on Friday.

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Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

POWER EXCHANGE

Polish power companies will be obliged to sell 30 percent of their electricity via the power exchange versus 15 percent now, Rzeczpospolita daily said quoting recent amendments to draft law on the power capacity market.

EV

Polish energy ministry wants to capitalise Electromobility Poland - a company owned by state-run utilities developing an electric car - with 1 billion zlotys from the state budget, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily said quoting unnamed government sources.

RETAIL

Limiting Sunday trade may result in increased online shopping in Poland, Rzeczpospolita daily said quoting analysts.

KGHM

Rzeczpospolita daily quoted the CEO of KGHM as saying that China's shift to domestic consumption and services from infrastructure and foreign investment as drivers of economic growth should not lead to fall in demand for copper.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****

For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau)
Nov 27 (Reuters) - A court in Vietnam jailed a blogger on Monday for seven years for "conducting propaganda against the state", the latest action against a critic of the one-party state.

Nguyen Van Hoa, 22, rose to prominence after a toxic waste spill from a steel mill built by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Corp's Vietnam unit that polluted more than 200 km (125 miles) of coast, sparking rare protests in the Communist Party-ruled country.

Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change, including gay, lesbian and transgender rights, Vietnam retains tight media censorship and its government does not tolerate criticism.

In recent months, authorities have stepped up measures to silence critics whose voices on various issues have been amplified by social media in a country that is among Facebook's top 10 by users.

The people's court in Ha Tinh province said on its website Hoa had been found guilty of propaganda against the state. It said Hoa produced videos to call for protests after the spill.

Neither Hoa nor or a legal or family representative were available for comment.

Hoa was arrested and prosecuted in April for publishing anti-government content.

The Formosa incident, one of Vietnam's worst environmental disasters, is a sensitive topic for the government as it balances political stability, environmental protection and foreign investment, one of the drivers of economic growth.

The government has said it will prosecute identified Formosa protesters for "causing public disorder".

Another critic of the steel mill spill, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as "Me Nam" (Mother Mushroom), was given a 10-year jail term for publishing propaganda against the state.

A prominent rights lawyer who has represented Quynh, said on Monday the Bar Federation in Phu Yen province had revoked his licence to practice.

"The government does not want me to work as a lawyer anymore because I have been defending poor people, people who were unjustly charged ... cases that are sensitive in Vietnam," the lawyer, Vo An Don, told Reuters.

Don said he would not be able to defend Quynh at her appeal hearing.

Reuters was unable to immediately reach the Bar Federation or government authorities for comment on the case.

(Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel)
By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Iraq on Monday invited foreign companies to bid for contracts to explore and develop oil and natural gas reserves in nine new blocks as the OPEC nation seeks to boost its output capacity.

"We invite all international companies to participate," Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi told a news conference in Baghdad. "This new exploration bidding round aims to maximise reserves."

Five blocks are located at border areas with Iran, three with Kuwait and one is offshore in Gulf waters, a presentation by oil ministry officials at the conference showed.

Luaibi said the areas had previously been "neglected" because they were the site of conflicts between Iraq and its neighbours in the 1980s and 1990s.

The bidding terms will be finalised by the end of May and the ceremony to open the bids will be held on June 21, 2018, the presentation said.

The foreign companies' opinions will be taken into consideration when formulating the new contracts, Luaibi said.

The terms will be different from previous service contracts, which Baghdad is moving away from because they remunerate companies regardless of oil prices fluctuations.

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, depends on oil sales for over 90 percent of its public budget. The country's finances suffered when oil prices collapsed in 2014.

"We are keen to make significant changes to the new exploration model contracts, and to adopt a new commercial and financial model different from the service contract," Luaibi said, adding the list of qualifying foreign bidders would be announced on Nov. 29.

Iraq's oil output capacity should reach 5 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2017, Luaibi said earlier this year.

Its current capacity is about 4.8 million bpd and its production about 4.4 million bpd, in line with an agreement by oil exporting nations to curb output in order to support crude prices. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)
By Adela Suliman

LONDON, Nov 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A group of senior Australian doctors have written an open letter to their government citing "great concern" for the physical and mental health of hundreds of asylum seekers cleared from an abandoned Australian-run detention camp in Papua New Guinea.

The doctors outlined a range of concerns from poor hygiene and sanitation to the spread of disease and called for an immediate review of the health of the men still on Manus Island, offering to conduct the medical assessments themselves.

"They, like all human beings, have a universal right - enshrined in the United Nations charter - to health and well-being. Their political and citizenship status should not affect this right," read the letter, published on Monday.

Australia officially closed the Manus Island detention centre on Oct. 31, after it was declared illegal by a Papua New Guinea court, but the asylum seekers refused to leave to transit centres, stating that they feared for their safety.

Papua New Guinean police cleared the remaining asylum-seekers from the Manus detention complex on Friday, ending a three-week protest which saw some 600 people surviving on rain water and smuggled food and supplies.

The Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In Geneva, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR on Friday denounced the use of force by Papua New Guinean police to remove the refugees and asylum seekers and called for Australia to ensure their protection, noting that several refugees were "severely injured" in the raid and needed medical treatment.

The open letter by the doctors follows a separate unanimous vote by members of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) which called on the government to grant access to the centre so doctors could assess health and living conditions.

The international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also said in a statement on Sunday that it had been refused entry to assess the health of the detainees after previously being granted authorisation.

"I am very concerned by the fate of the refugees and people seeking asylum in Manus Island's transit centres," said Stewart Condon, president of MSF Australia.

Mostly from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria, the detainees are held under Australia's strict "sovereign borders" immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores.

"We believe that the humanitarian issues take precedence over politics," said the group of surgeons and physicians in the open letter.

"This is a matter beyond immigration and border control, but one that affects the health of people and others' perceptions of our great nation." (Reporting by Adela Suliman; 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)
By Pawel Florkiewicz and Pawel Sobczak

WARSAW, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Poland's banking regulator has no intention of opposing further consolidation of the country's commercial banks, the head of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) said on Monday, calling it a "natural process".

Marek Chrzanowski also said that the KNF will allow more banks to pay out dividends for 2017 compared to 2016, adding that the largest banks would likely get a green light to do so based on their performance in the first three quarters of this year.

"Consolidation is a natural process in the commercial banks sector," Chrzanowski told Reuters in an interview. "If stronger entities take over weaker ones ... then these are changes going in the right direction."

He said there seemed to be no serious risks in a possible merger of Poland's second-largest lender Bank Pekao SA with smaller rival Alior Bank. Both are controlled by state-run insurer PZU.

"If these two entities decide to merge, find synergies, then I do not see here any serious risk and arguments to oppose such a decision," Chrzanowski said.

The head of KNF said it was important that a potential new owner of Deutsche Bank Polska, the Polish unit of Germany's Deutsche Bank, was "stronger" than its current owner.

Reuters reported in November that Spanish bank Santander has entered exclusive talks to buy the bulk of Deutsche Bank's business in Poland.

Chrzanowski said Austria's Raiffeisen would meet its obligations of listing its Polish banking unit, Raiffeisen Bank Polska, if it decided to sell the unit to another bank that was already listed in Poland.

The KNF extended the latest deadline for the initial public offering in Raiffeisen Bank Polska by almost a year to May 15, 2018.

"But we have to remember that we have time until May 15 for a possible due diligence process and agreeing the terms of a deal," he said. "Every investor entering our market should fulfil its obligations. We cannot create precedents."

In November, Reuters reported, citing sources, that BNP Paribas has approached Raiffeisen Bank International to express interest in buying the Austrian bank's Polish division.

($1 = 3.5236 zlotys) (Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz and Pawel Sobczak; Writing by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Adrian Croft)
By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks fell on Monday as traders feared the government might have to weaken pension legislation further to ensure its approval in Congress. President Michel Temer's administration agreed last week to soften its controversial plan to streamline the social security system after facing strong opposition from lawmakers. That proposal would generate fiscal savings of about 60 percent of the government's original proposal, down from 75 percent under a previous version. Investors widely see the bill as necessary to curtail rising public debt and to allow the government to meet fiscal targets. Temer's allies in Congress have acknowledged that the plan might be watered down again to guarantee its approval in the lower house this year. In a report, analysts at Magliano Corretora brokerage said they expected stock market volatility to spike until the pension reform plan goes to a vote in early December. The benchmark Bovespa index fell 1.2 percent on Monday, dragged down by blue-chips such as miner Vale SA and lenders Banco Bradesco SA and Banco do Brasil SA. State-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA tracked crude prices lower. Shares of phone carrier Oi SA, which are not part of the benchmark index, fell after news of Chief Executive Officer Marco Schroeder's resignation. In a client note, Credit Suisse analysts said the move should make it harder to find a restructuring proposal that will please all shareholders, heightening the chances of a government intervention as Oi struggles to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The Brazilian real firmed 0.4 percent, in line with the Mexican peso. Both benefited as growing doubts about the U.S. government's ability to implement a tax overhaul weakened that nation's currency globally. Investors also cheered reports that Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade might announce his intention to seek the presidency after resigning on Monday. Officials say his reputation for honesty and cross-party appeal will be vital if he hopes to defeat Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in a presidential race. Obrador, who has captained a populist platform that investors fear could stir tensions with the U.S. government, has been leading polls for next year's elections, set to be the most competitive in decades. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1335 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % change change Latest MSCI Emerging Markets 1146.50 -0.67 33.86 MSCI LatAm 2803.28 -0.52 20.39 Brazil Bovespa 73295.96 -1.16 21.70 Chile IPSA 5030.73 -0.19 21.18 Chile IGPA 25323.58 -0.17 22.13 Venezuela IBC 752.00 5.61 -97.63 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.2192 0.38 0.93 Mexico peso 18.4905 0.43 12.19 Chile peso 634.4 -0.06 5.72 Colombia peso 2976.9 0.06 0.83 Peru sol 3.236 0.03 5.50 Argentina peso (interbank) 17.3400 0.12 -8.45 Argentina peso (parallel) 18.02 0.44 -6.66 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Oliver Hirt

ZURICH, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Activist investor RBR Capital Advisors has offered to connect Credit Suisse with the Saudi royal family as potential major shareholders for the Swiss bank, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Swiss hedge fund led by Rudolf Bohli, which has a stake in Credit Suisse, last month pushed for a break up of the bank into three parts, hoping to double its market value. The fund in October disclosed a roughly 0.2 percent stake in Credit Suisse.

Switzerland's second biggest bank is two years into a restructuring under CEO Tidjane Thiam, who is aiming to boost profitability by concentrating more on wealth management and less on volatile investment banking.

In late October, Bohli offered to put Thiam in touch with a representative of the Saudi royal family, the person said.

Thiam's reaction had been polite but cool, the person added.

In discussions with Thiam, the hedge fund manager had suggested Credit Suisse could play a more prominent role in the Middle East with a key shareholder such as the Saudi crown, the person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

RBR declined to comment on the matter. The Saudi royal family did not respond to a request for immediate comment.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in early November began a crackdown on corruption in the country's political and business elite, which has included arrests of royals, businessmen and ministers.

SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS

In an interview in October, Bohli told Reuters he was in contact with 150 investors, including sovereign wealth funds. Most of these investors were not Credit Suisse shareholders, he said.

According to the person, Bohli offered to introduce Thiam to a representative of the royal family named Rashad Janahi.

Janahi, who formerly managed the Abu Dhabi Investment House, now known as Infra Capital Investments, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Reuters could not independently verify Janahi's connections to the Saudi royal family.

Credit Suisse said last week it had not been approached by any Saudi sovereign wealth funds about becoming investors after a Financial Times column suggested Saudi Arabian investors could be interested in taking a stake.

The paper did not provide a source for its information.

Several sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf region hold investments in some European banks. Qatar Investment Authority, for example, holds stakes in Credit Suisse and Barclays . Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Co. has a stake in Italian bank UniCredit and Swiss private bank Falcon via its Aabar Investments division.

Credit Suisse has cited Saudi Arabia as a very important market and is applying for an on-shore banking licence with the aim of expanding its business there.

Privately held Saudi investment conglomerate Olayan Financing Company holds a 4.9 percent in Credit Suisse, according to the bank's information. This places Olayan, along with Harris Associates and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, amongst its biggest shareholders.

The Swiss bank's turnaround plan is nearing the final year. The plan has undergone several adjustments, including a paring back of profitability targets, since they were first established in 2015. Its aim to focus the bank more on wealth management and less on investment banking has included several thousand job cuts in Switzerland, London and New York.

Credit Suisse shares, which have underperformed the European banking sector index, have fallen in value by nearly two-thirds from a high above 27 Swiss francs ($27.58) in late July 2015 to a low of 9.4 francs in July 2016. They have since recovered to trade above 16 francs per share. ($1 = 0.9791 Swiss francs) (Additional reporting by Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi, Samia Nakhoul and Saeed Azhar in Riyadh. Editing by Jane Merriman)
By Mark Weinraub

CHICAGO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures sank 1.4 percent to fresh contract lows on Monday, pressured by poor demand for U.S. supplies from overseas buyers, traders said.

The drop in wheat weighed on corn futures while soybean futures edged higher, underpinned by concerns about crop development in South America.

The U.S. Agriculture Department on Monday reported weekly wheat export inspections of 344,721 tonnes, in line with estimates for 200,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes.

"The real problem in wheat is simply our exports," said Dewey Strickler, president of Ag Watch Market Advisors. "When you look at the U.S. market share of exports globally, it is about 14 percent compared to 63 percent for the Black Sea Region. That is the whole story."

At 11:06 a.m. CST (1606 GMT), the benchmark CBOT March soft red winter wheat futures contract was down 6 cents at $4.28-3/4 a bushel after hitting a low of $4.28 earlier in the session.

Deferred soft red winter wheat contracts and K.C. hard red winter wheat offerings also set new lows on Monday.

"The market seems to have lost patience and concluded the U.S. is simply not going to export enough wheat," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

CBOT December corn futures were down 3 cents at $3.39-1/4 a bushel. Corn futures held support near Friday's lows.

CBOT January soybean futures were 1-3/4 cents higher at $9.95 a bushel.

Weekly soybean export inspections came in at 1.579 million tonnes, near the low end of market forecasts for 1.5 million to 1.8 million tonnes. Corn export inspections of 638,711 tonnes also were in line with the range of expectations.

The most-active soybean contract pared gains after topping $10 a bushel for the first time since Nov. 9. The January contract had neared that key psychological threshold the previous two sessions but failed to top it both times.

Weakness in soyoil also weighed on the soybean market.

World soyoil prices will fall after India's decision this month to raise an import tax on edible oil to the highest level in more than a decade, Argentina's export industry chamber said on Friday.

Traders were eyeing support for soybeans at the January contract's 30-day moving average. (Additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
By Anastasia Moloney

BOGOTA, Nov 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Killings and violence against LGBT people in Central America are driving hundreds to flee their homes each year, but they have no safe sanctuary to run to, Amnesty International said on Monday.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are being forced to leave El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to escape "epidemic levels of violence" and threats by criminal gangs and security forces, the rights group said in a report.

"People are facing vicious discrimination in Central America due to their gender identities, and have absolutely nowhere to run for safety," Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International said in a statement.

"Terrorized at home, and abused while trying to seek sanctuary abroad, they are now some of the most vulnerable refugees in the Americas."

El Salvador and Honduras have some of the world's highest murder rates, and LGBT people are particularly vulnerable to macho, powerful gangs who control entire city neighbourhoods.

At least 136 LGBT people in El Salvador have fled the country since 2012 and most crimes go unpunished, according to local rights group COMCAVIS.

Cristel, a transgender women, said she was forced to flee El Salvador in 2014 after receiving death threats from a gang. They told her to leave within 24 hours or they would kill her.

"I was forced to leave my country .. just because I was transsexual, just because I wasn't a biological woman," 25-year-old Cristel is quoted as saying in the Amnesty report.

In Honduras, at least 264 LGBT people have been killed since 2009, of whom more than half were gay men, according to local rights group, Cattrachas.

Last week the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) stressed its concern about the "high levels of violence against transgender people" and their low life expectancy.

Under the U.N. 1951 refugee convention, LGBT people who have experienced persecution and hate crimes because of their sexual orientation and or gender identity are eligible to claim asylum.

According to a study by the U.N.'s refugee agency, UNHCR, nearly 90 percent of LGBT asylum seekers and refugees from Central America it interviewed in 2016 said they had suffered sexual and gender-based violence in their countries of origin.

Most LGBT people from Central America seek refuge in Mexico and the United States, having made dangerous overland journeys north during which they are often attacked by gangs.

But few claim asylum because authorities in Central America and Mexico fail to inform them about their rights, Amnesty said.

(Reporting by Anastasia Moloney @anastasiabogota, 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)
VIENNA, 27 November 2017 - The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) today held its Sixth Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) Forum on the sidelines of the Organizations 17th General Conference. The event discussed some of the key features of the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) model, the progress achieved in Ethiopia, Senegal and Peru, and the gradual roll-out of new PCPs.

UNIDO launched the first PCPs in 2014, in Ethiopia and Senegal, and in December 2015 added a third pilot, Peru. The PCP aims to accelerate industrial development through a multi-stakeholder partnership approach, building synergies with various interventions and focusing on leveraging additional investment in priority industrial sectors or areas.

"The PCP brings together different national ministries - from industry to finance, to agriculture and environment - with development partners around the same table, to create more synergy between the different interventions that support inclusive and sustainable industrial development. This cooperation platform is essential for ensuring the effective coordination of resources - be it finance, technology or expertise - the key elements needed for the realization of large-scale industrial development projects," said UNIDO Director General, LI Yong, at the ISID Forum. Li stressed that each programme is owned and led by the host government and aims to support a country in achieving its long-term industrial development goals.

The event also served to introduce Cambodia and the Kyrgyz Republic as new pilots. By expanding the model to additional countries, UNIDO will cover each geographical region of the world and thus complete the piloting phase. The last pilot will be introduced in the Arab region in 2018. Recommendations and lessons learned from the independent mid-term evaluation conducted in 2017 will be incorporated into a gradual roll-out to additional countries.

Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister of Industry and Handicraft of Cambodia, said, "For us, the PCP is particularly timely as the country has recently graduated from low-income to lower middle-income, thus is shifting from grant-funded to loan-funded development support and therefore seeking stronger partnership with financial institutions, which is a key component of the PCP approach."

A joint declaration on PCP Cambodia, as well as a new partnership agreement between UNIDO and the Eurasian Development Bank aimed at strengthening partnerships, including within the framework of the new PCPs, will be signed this week during the General Conference. Programme development will commence next year.

Titled, "The PCP approach - Evolving Partnerships for Greater Impact", the Sixth ISID Forum was attended by over 450 participants, including government representatives of existing and new pilot PCPs, as well as partners from financial institutions and the business sector. The event was moderated by the radio and television journalist, Zeinab Badawi.

For more information on the Programme for County Partnership, please contact:

Mr. Sayaphol SACKDA

Advocacy and Communication Officer

Corporate Communications and Media Relations Division

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

Tel: +43-1-26026-3974

Email: s.sackda@unido.org

Content provided by UNIDO, via Reuters.
Optiemus Infracom Limited, an Indian telecom enterprise, announced its entry into the Sri Lankan market with the launch of BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition |Black recently.



Optiemus signed a licensing deal with BlackBerry in February 2017 to design, manufacture and distribute BlackBerry branded smartphones In India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.



After successfully launching the BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black in India, Optiemus has partnered with Softlogic, to handle the distribution and retail operations of BlackBerry smartphones. Optiemusentry into Sri Lanka supports the companys growth strategy aimed at expanding its customer base in new geographies.



BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black is the first BlackBerry branded device locally manufactured by Optiemus Infracom under the licensing agreement. The device offers the best of BlackBerry Limiteds software and security with Optiemus Infracoms commitment to deliver high-quality, reliable smartphones to tech-savvy customers in the country. The device will be available starting 20th Novemberat select retail outlets across the country.



The entry to the Sri Lanka market marks the beginning of our business expansion into newer geographies outside of India. Our endeavor is to offer highly secure Blackberry smartphones that have the best of both worlds the convenience of Android and security of BlackBerry- to the sub-continent audience. We are confident that the customers in Sri Lanka will enjoy the BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black experience, as it offers unparalleled productivity, beautiful design, great camera quality and superior user interface.We have also signed Kumar Sangakkara as brand ambassador for BlackBerry Mobiles in Sri Lanka, said Hardip Singh, Executive Director, Optiemus Infracom Ltd.



Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry said,We would like to congratulate our partnerOptiemus Infracomand Softlogicon the launch of the BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black. It is very exciting to see our ecosystem of software licensing partners working together tobring BlackBerry-branded smartphones to new markets, and this latest launch shows that our licensing strategy continues to gain momentum. We have worked closely with Optiemus to ensure that the BlackBerry smartphone experience and security is intact and built into every layer of the device, offering the security and productivity that BlackBerry has always been known for.



Ashok Pathirage, Chairman of Softlogic Holdings PLC said, We are pleasedto join hands with Optiemus Infracom to launch the BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black in Sri Lanka. This gives us an opportunity to offer the technology savvy audience in the country with a rich and enjoyable experience. We are very positive about the adoption of the device by our customers in SriLanka, and together we will make it a successful venture.



Nalin Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Mobitel stated Mobitel is honoured to partner BlackBerry smartphones as its Official Mobile Telecommunication Partner in launching BlackBerry KEYone Limited Edition Black in Sri Lanka. BlackBerry has always been among the leaders in innovation and technology with a strong focus on security, and we believe this device will add value to our customer base, specially targeting SME and Enterprise customers. Our goal is to enable the population to access enterprise solutions that would help them increase their efficiency and productivity.
TNA MP Shanthi Skandarajah today requested the government to allow those in the Northern Province to commemorate their war heroes by visiting the cemeteries in which they were buried.

Ms Skandarajah who was speaking during the committee stage debate in Parliament today said residents in the Province should be allowed to visit cemeteries and commemorate their war heroes.

She also stressed the need to restore cemeteries in which the war heroes were buried.

She went on to say that proper programmes should be launched to help women who were widowed by the war.

"These women should be empowered to start self employment schemes and not be obliged t work for others, she said. (By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)
Sri Lankas trading pattern has been such that the two largest markets for its exports are the United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK). Regionally, Europe is the single largest market for Sri Lankas exports.



In terms of imports, Asian countries (such as China, India, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong) are the largest sources of imports to Sri Lanka. Consequently, Sri Lanka has a trade surplus with many western countries while having trade deficits with most Asian countries.



Trade between Sri Lanka and India are centuries old, both formal and informal. In the present millennium, bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and India has soared, only partly induced by the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, which came into operation in 2000.



India has been the single largest trading partner of Sri Lanka for a very long time, especially since 1977. However, China has overtaken India as the single largest trading partner of Sri Lanka for the very first time in 2016.



Whilst the total trade value between Sri Lanka and China amounted to US $ 4,426 (imports from China US $ 4,215 million + exports to China US $ 211 million) in 2016, it was US $ 4,369 million between Sri Lanka and India (imports from India US $ 3,815 million + exports to India US $ 554 million). (See tables) As a corollary, Sri Lankas trade deficit with China is the single largest; amounting to US $ 4,004 million in 2016, followed by with India amounting to US $ 3,261 million in 2016.

The trade deficit of Sri Lanka with China is expected to continue to rise in the next decade and beyond because of the large-scale public investments by the Chinese state-owned companies such as China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC), China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), et al.

The CHEC is financing and undertaking the construction of the Colombo International Financial City/Centre (CIFC, which was formerly known as the Colombo Port City) by reclaiming land (269 hectares or 660 acres) from the sea by the southern side of the Colombo port. This is the single largest foreign direct investment Sri Lanka has ever received. This mega infrastructure project is expected to cost about US $ 1.4 billion and expected to attract US $ 13 billion worth of investments over the 30-year period of the project cycle. (Economy Next, May 5, 2017, http://www.colomboportcity.lk/press/2017/05/05/chinas-us$15bn-reclaimed-city-in-sri-lanka-targets-investors-from-the-west-india-middle-east.html accessed on August 5, 2017)





The bulk of the machinery, hardware and raw materials for the aforementioned mega projects are imported from China. Moreover, a substantial number of technical, skilled and unskilled labour for these projects is also from China.



A total of US $ 3.75 billion worth of loans has been disbursed by China to Sri Lanka between 2010 and 2014. (External Resources Department, 2014: 17) China has hardly provided any grants to Sri Lanka to date. Similarly, imports from India include goods imported for the Government of India-funded infrastructure and other projects across the country. India has provided total grants worth over US $ 200 million between 2010 and 2014 and over US $ 1 billion as loans between 2005 and 2014. (High Commission of India in Sri Lanka, 2014: 10-11)



Roughly around 70 percent of Indian aids to Sri Lanka are loans and around 30 percent outright grants in recent years (2010-2016). The former are repayable but the latter are not.



Sri Lankas exports in the past five years (2012-2016) in terms of top 10 destinations in terms of value are catalogued in Table 1. Accordingly, India is the third largest destination for Sri Lankas exports, accounting for a five-year average of 5.6 percent of Sri Lankas total exports between 2012 and 2016. The USA was the largest destination accounting for almost 25.0 percent (average) for the period 2012-2016. The UK is the second largest destination for Sri Lankas exports accounting for about 10 percent of the total exports of Sri Lanka during 2012-2016. China accounts for just 1.8 percent of the total exports of Sri Lanka during 2012-2016 (10th largest destination). (See Table 1)



China has emerged as the single largest source of imports to Sri Lanka in 2016 accounting for 21.7 percent of the total imports of Sri Lanka worth US $ 4,215 million. However, on average for the five-year period 2012-2016, annual imports from China amounted to US $ 3,408 million, accounting for almost 18 percent of the total imports of Sri Lanka. (See Table 2)



India was the single largest source of imports to Sri Lanka during the five-year period between 2012 and 2016, averaging US $ 3,783 million per annum, accounting for almost 20 percent of the total imports of Sri Lanka. However, in 2016 India was relegated to the second position (after China) in terms of the source of imports, accounting for19.7 of the total imports of Sri Lanka, amounting to the value of US $ 3,815 million.



Singapore (averaging US $ 1,373 million per annum between 2012 and 2016), the UAE (averaging US $ 1,298 million per annum between 2012 and 2016) and Japan (averaging US $ 900 million per annum between 2012 and 2016) are the other three largest sources of imports into Sri Lanka. (See Table 2)

Sri Lanka has had a trade deficit with India ever since independence. Only during the Second World War time Sri Lanka had a trade surplus with India as the latter had to import food, primary products and raw materials from the former to feed the war effort. The trade deficit of Sri Lanka has been increasing in absolute terms during almost every year since 1977. The ever-growing trade deficit with India has been an irritant in Indo-Lanka relations in the same way as Indias relations with other South Asian neighbouring countries. Some may argue that bilateral trade liberalisations (like the FTA) and trade facilitations (such as the proposed bridge) would result in trade diversion rather than trade creation. That is, according to this argument, bilateral liberalisations/facilitations may divert trade from other more competitive sources of import rather than creating additional trade between any two countries. However, studies on Indo-Lanka trade have shown that India is the main/major source of goods that are imported to Sri Lanka (for instance) because it is more competitive (least cost) than other sources (See, for example, Sarvananthan, 2001: 35-37).



Trade with other South Asian countries



Sri Lankas trade with the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries is meagre. Pakistan is the second largest trade partner of Sri Lanka within South Asia, followed by the Maldives and Bangladesh (exports only). There is hardly any trade (both exports and imports) takes place between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal. The latter three are landlocked countries whose trade passes through neighbouring countries such as India and Pakistan.



The annual average two-way trade between Sri Lanka and Pakistan between 2012 and 2016 was US $ 397 million (exports to Pakistan US $ 74 million + imports from Pakistan US $ 322 million). The annual average two-way trade between Sri Lanka and the Maldives was just US $ 104 million (exports to the Maldives US $ 74 million + imports from the Maldives US $ 30 million) between 2012 and 2016. (See Tables 3 and 4) While with the Maldives Sri Lanka has a trade surplus, with Pakistan it has a trade deficit. The annual average total two-way trade between Sri Lanka and the SAARC countries amounted to US $ 4,992 million between 2012 and 2016; exports to SAARC countries average US $ 827 million per annum and imports from SAARC countries average US $ 4,165 million per annum. (See Tables 3 and 4) Whilst India accounted for 71 percent of the annual average exports of Sri Lanka to all eight SAARC countries between 2012 and 2016, India accounted for 91 percent of annual average imports of Sri Lanka from all SAARC countries between the same period.



While too much noise is being made by certain businesses and of course, certain politicians about the growing trade deficit with India (China could be also bashed in the not so distant future), there is not much discussion about the imports from Singapore and the UAE. Singapore has been the second largest source of imports after India for a long period of time. However, the rapidly growing imports from the UAE are only about a decade long with the ascendancy of the Rajapaksa regime in 2005.



To begin with, Singapore and the UAE are not producers of most items imported into Sri Lanka. However, many importers in Sri Lanka source their imports from Singapore and the UAE because the bulk of the black monies of Sri Lankan businesses, rich individual citizens and of course politicians, is stashed away in secure bank accounts in these two countries. It is these black monies that are whitened for the import trade into Sri Lanka.



Moreover, the informal foreign currency market is also extensively used by the importers of goods from Singapore and the UAE into Sri Lanka. Traditionally, crony businesses, individuals and politicians aligned with the United National Party (UNP) have used Singapore to store their ill-gotten money and wealth. In the last 12 years, crony businesses, individuals and politicians aligned with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) have effectively used the UAE to store their ill-gotten money and wealth.



Therefore, businesses and politicians in Sri Lanka instead of crying foul about the growing trade deficit with India (and China), should request the government to investigate the sources of financing of the ever growing imports from Singapore and the UAE, which would pay rich dividends towards combating corrupting and taming the black economy of Sri Lanka and their inextricable entanglement with the governance of this country.



(Muttukrishna Sarvananthan (Ph.D. Wales, M.Sc. Bristol, M.Sc. Salford, B.A. (Hons) Delhi) is a development economist by profession and Principal Researcher of the Point Pedro Institute of Development, Point Pedro, Northern Province and the author of An Assessment of Contraband Trade and Capital between India and Sri Lanka published by Kumaran Book House (Colombo and Madras) in 2001.



Email: sarvi@pointpedro.org)
By Indika Sakalasooriya

The Danish pump giant, Grundfos, which has been in Sri Lanka for a quarter-century, sees ample opportunity in the island nation as the demand for water across drinking, agriculture and industrial use, is on the rise.



Grundfos sees plenty of business potential in the country. We expect to continue experiencing double-digit growth in Sri Lanka, Grundfos Singapore and Export Markets (Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Myanmar) Country Manager Andy Tan told Mirror Business.



Sri Lanka, after a 30-year-old civil conflict, is undergoing a rapid transformation and is one of the fastest growing economies in South Asia. The countrys middle class is growing and the businesses are expanding.



Also, Sri Lanka, with a 21 million population, is seeing a massive development in its physical infrastructureboth state sponsored and private sector-drivenand is in the middle of an urbanization drive as more people flock to its capital city.



Right now, Colombo is experiencing a property boom with a number of apartment complexes and top hotels dotting the citys skyline.



On the ground

According to Tan, Grundfos in Sri Lanka focuses on commercial building services, water utility and supporting the local industry with pump and water solutions, which offer a plenty of opportunity.

Tan said the biggest project they have undertaken so far is supplying pump solutions to Shangri-La Hotel Colombo, which opened up for business a couple of weeks ago in the picturesque Galle Face Green promenade in Colombo.



Another major project undertaken by Grundfos in recent times was the upgrading works at Lion Brewery, whose production facilities were inundated during the floods that havocked Sri Lankas Western Province, last year.



Building a water treatment plant for the Vavunia General Hospital, the largest state-run hospital in the countrys Northern Province, was another important project undertaken by Grundfos in Sri Lanka.

At present, the pump giant marks its presence in Sri Lanka through a Grundfos Singapore subsidiary, which has its office at the World Trade Centre in Colombo. It employs eight staffers, who are tasked with growing Grundfos business in the country.



In addition, Grundfos Sri Lankan partners, Analytical Instrument and Hayleys Aventura (Pvt.) Ltd, provide after sales services to the industry and commercial building services sectors, respectively.

We offer a partnership approach to our customers where we are able to consult on maintenance and troubleshooting after the product is sold, to make sure we are providing long-term solutions that ultimately reduce environmental and operational costs, Tan said.



When queried as to whether Grundfos has any plans to set up a sales company in Sri Lanka, Tan said such a move is a possiblity in about five years time as the firms business grows.



Grundfos Holdings A/S has a fully-owned subsidiary company in neighbouring India, which recently opened up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Central Gujarat.



Meanwhile, Tan said Grundfos is constantly on the lookout for suitable government projects for which they can provide their services and we participate in the public tender process via their partners Analytical Instrument (Pvt.) Ltd, a technology company supplying the medical, analytical and agricultural sectors and infrastructure development company Sierra Engineering & Construction (Pvt.) Ltd.



What future holds?

During 1970s only a quarter of the worlds population lived in cities and now its half. The United Nations predict that by 2030 two out of three people will live in a city.



In that backdrop, the role of pumps play in modern lifewhere clean running water, central heating and sanitation are taken for grantedhas been highly understated.



As the urban living paradigm evolves, now the policymakers and city planners are talking about smart cities and tapping into Internet of things (IoT) to successfully tackle the issues their cities face.

In that context, the relevance of state-of-the-art pump manufacturers such as Grundfos is increasing and even coming under the limelight.



Sri Lanka too in its own little way is also trying to address the changing dynamics.



The government has embarked on an ambitious US $ 40 billion Western Province Megapolis Development Projectan attempt to create smart urban physical infrastructure in and around Colombo that will propel Sri Lanka into a higher income country within two decades.



But a number of problems stand in the countrys way.

Apart from the never-ending traffic, Colombo is prone to frequent flooding due to poor city planning, unapproved constructions and absence of an advanced flood control and water management system. The higher rainfall due to climate change is also not helping.



Although a World Bank-sponsored project has somewhat improved the Colombos flood resilience, the problem is far from being solved as heavy rains for about half-hour could literally cripple the entire transport system in Colombo.



So, Colombo has water problems and it will further aggravate as the city swells. The Chinese are building a port city adjacent to the Colombo harbour reclaiming the sea and experts opine that this will present a set of whole new problemsspecially with regards to water usage.



Hence, it is important that the policymakers proactively address these issues before they snowball into major problems that impede the countrys growth and for that identifying the right partners and solutions remain key.
The Government is suffering from a Gota Phobia and therefore, it is attempting to arrest former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on false charges of misappropriating public funds, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) said today.

PHU Leader and MP Udaya Gammanpila said the construction of the D. A. Rajapaksa Memorial and a Museum at Weeraketiya was funded by the D.A Rajapaksa Fund and not by the government.

He said the project was handed over to the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation & Development Corporation (SLLRDC) as it was allowed to carry out private projects.

The Director Board of the SLLRDC approved the project in February, 2014 with an estimate of Rs.33.9 million. Due to difficulties in finding labour, the SLLRDC paid Rs. 25 million to the navy to carry out the construction of the memorial which was opened on November 2014, he told a news briefing.

He said no invoice had been sent until the D.A. Rajapaksa Fund had questioned the SLLRDC in early 2015. The Corporation had informed the Fund to pay Rs. 25 million and the Fund had paid the amount on August 31, 2015, he said.

Later on, the Corporation has sent an invoice asking the Fund to pay Rs.90.8 million. Due to stark increase of this estimation, the Fund raised its objection and paid only Rs. 8.9 million on July 13 this year. The Corporation had probably made a double count error thus coming to a final estimate of Rs.90.8 million. In the final invoice, false expenditure had also been included, the MP said.

He said the Fund had paid Rs.200,000 in addition to the Corporation today for the construction of the memorial and the museum.

If someone says Mr.Rajapaksa has misappropriated public funds and therefore, he should be arrested, I invite them for a debate. Mr.Rajapaksa spearheaded the war against the LTTE and made Colombo a livable city. Therefore, attempts are being made to silence him, he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
September trade gap widens to US $ 656mn; for 9 months US $ 6.84bn

Exports cross US $ 1bn mark for the third consecutive month in September

Oil bill in September 69.3% to US $ 298.5mn; for 9 months US $ 2.45bn, up 46.2%

Despite a double-digit growth in exports revenue, surpassing the US $ 1 billion mark, Sri Lankas trade deficit in September widened due to higher fuel and rice imports, the data released by the Central Bank showed.



Accordingly, the September trade deficit widened to US $ 656 million from US $ 610 million last year and the deficit in the first nine months expanded to US $ 6.84 billion from US $ 6.13 billion recorded for the same period, last year. Earnings from exports, which grew since March 2017, continued its increasing trend in September 2017 as well. For September, export earnings registered a growth of 12.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US $ 1.01 billion.



This growth was mainly led by higher earnings from industrial exports owing to the increase in exports of textiles and garments as a result of improved garment exports to the USA and European Union market due to the restoration of the GSP Plus facility.



Earnings from textile and garment exports rose 12.9 percent YoY to US $ 431.5 million. Earnings from petroleum products exports also soared over 100 percent YoY to US $ 40.2 million.



Industrial exports earnings overall rose 11.1 percent YoY to US $ 744.5 million. The agricultural exports, which rose 17.3 percent YoY to US $ 262.7 million, were largely helped by tea and seafood exports. Due to the higher tea prices at the global market place, tea export earnings during September fetched US $ 136.9 million, up 19.2 percent YoY. Seafood exports, bolstered by the removal of the EU ban for Lankan fish exports, rose 68.5 percent YoY to US $ 20.8 million.

Export earnings from spices also rose 22.5 percent YoY to US $ 48.9 million.



For the first nine months of the year, the cumulative earnings from exports grew 8.2 percent YoY to US $ 8.42 billion.



The USA, UK, India, Italy and Germany were the leading markets for merchandise exports of Sri Lanka in September 2017, accounting for about 51 percent of total exports.



However, this positive growth in exports was overshadowed by higher import expenditure, which rose 9.7 percent YoY to US $ 15.26 billion for the cumulative period and 10.5 percent YoY to US $ 1.66 billion during September. Expenditure on fuel imports during September rose 69.3 percent YoY to US $ 298.5 million and the cumulative figure stood at US $ 2.45 billion, up 46.2 percent YoY.



Expenditure on fuel imports increased significantly due to the combined effect of high prices in the international market and higher volumes of fuel imported for thermal-based power generation, the Central Bank said.



Further, base metals led by iron and steel, mineral products led by cement clinkers and building materials led by cement imports increased notably, reflecting higher demand by the construction sector.



Meanwhile, expenditure on consumer goods imports declined owing to lower prices and volumes of sugar imports.



However, following the measures taken to fulfil the shortage of rice in the domestic market, expenditure on rice imports continued to increase in September 2017, adding around 497,889 metric tonnes so far during 2017 from 21,457 metric tonnes imported during the corresponding period of 2016.



As a result, expenditure on rice imports rose to US $ 22 million from US $ 1.4 million YoY.



Meanwhile, vehicle imports fell 8.9 percent YoY to US $ 55.4 million as people were expecting duty reductions from the November budget.



With regard to the origin of imports, India, China, Singapore, the UAE and Japan were the main import origins during September 2017, accounting for about 58 percent of total imports.

Workers remittances suffer sharpest decline

Continuing with its disturbing trend, workers remittances during the month of September fell almost 17 percent YoY or by US $ 97 million to US $ 481 million, recording the sharpest monthly decline for this year.



For the first nine months of the year, earnings from workers remittances fell 7 percent YoY or by US $ 397 million to US $ 4.98 billion.



Slower growth in economic activities and adverse geopolitical conditions prevailing in the Middle Eastern region continued to have a negative impact on workers remittances, the Central Bank said. The diplomatic row between oil-rich Qatar and its Arab neighbours appears to be the key reason for the decline in remittances.

About two million Sri Lankans work overseas, mostly in the Middle East and in construction and hospitality sectors or as housemaids. Money they send back is Sri Lankas biggest source of foreign exchange and helps to cover up 80 percent of the trade deficit. Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy told reporters in Colombo recently that the declining remittance income could be a blessing in disguise because the countrys small businesses, which are expanding, are now looking for workers.
REUTERS, 26th NOVEMBER, 2017- Indias Supreme Court will begin hearing a case on Monday that prosecutors say shows how Islamic State sympathizers are using Love Jihad  marrying Hindu women and converting them to Islam  to win recruits and spread their message.



Over the past 28 months, the National Investigation Agency has picked up dozens of interfaith couples in the southern state of Kerala to question them about their marriages.



The women - all Hindus who married Muslim men  were asked extremely personal questions during the interrogations, two police officers from the agency said: Did you sleep with your husband before getting married? Did he suggest you visit Islamic shrines before marriage? Did he blackmail you before you converted to Islam?



They were looking for cases of Love Jihad, a term publicized by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other hardline Hindu groups soon after they helped propel Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power in 2014. It refers to what these groups say is an Islamist campaign to convert Hindu women through seduction and marriage.



Police investigations at the time found no evidence of any organized strategy, and the claim was widely ridiculed. But since then, the NIA began focusing on Kerala - a southern state along the Arabian Sea with strong economic links to the Middle East.
Protests erupted across Pakistan on Saturday, compelling the government to call out army troops and paramilitary rangers after nightfall to restore order in cities and towns filled with angry crowds.



The nationwide protests developed after security forces in the capital launched a crackdown on thousands of religious demonstrators. Conflict began when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators camped on a highway interchange outside Islamabad, who fought back with clubs and stones. Hundreds of injuries were reported, with at least two people dead, according to accounts.

The demonstrators called for a federal minister to be fired over a religious controversy, but by midday, many protesters were demanding that entire government step down. By evening, police had retreated and the protesters had regrouped, with more supporters joining them.



The protests began over a proposed change in election laws that weakened an oath that all candidates for public office must repeat, swearing they believe that Muhammad was the final prophet. Pakistans population is 95 percent Muslim.



The government swiftly apologized for the clerical error, but the protest leaders continued to push for the firing of the law minister, Zahid Hamid.



The protests were spearheaded by a movement dedicated to defending the honor of Muhammad and the countrys strict laws against religious blasphemy.

2017, The Washington Post  Nov 26, 2017 -
(c) 2017, Bloomberg  Kamran Haider, Iain Marlow Nov 26, 2017 - The U.S. escalated its criticism of Pakistans decision to set free the alleged mastermind of the deadly 2008 attacks in Mumbai, with the White House warning that the move may damage bilateral relations.



Hafiz Saeed, who allegedly planned attacks which left 164 people dead, had been detained at his house in Lahore without charges since January. A Pakistan High Court had ordered his release, and police withdrew from the home after midnight Friday, his spokesman Habibullah Qamar said in a text message. Given that, Saeeds release sends a deeply troubling message about Pakistans commitment to combating international terrorism and belies Pakistani claims that it will not provide sanctuary for terrorists on its soil, the White House said in an emailed statement on Saturday.



If Pakistan doesnt detain and charge Saeed, its inaction will have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistans global reputation, the White House said in its statement. The release of Saeed is a step in the wrong direction.



U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded that Pakistani leaders take tougher action against terrorists.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, a complaint about an alleged breach of privileges due to the disclosure of telephone conversations among some government members of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Perpetual Treasuries PLC owner Arjun Aloysius. Why not also investigate the ethical aspect of those clandestine phone conversations that took place while Mr. Aloysiuss company is being investigated by the COPE?



The Leader of the House, Lakshman Kiriella in a statement to parliament, has said the CID or the Attorney Generals Department should have obtained the Speakers permission before seeking information on the telephone calls of MPs, but neither of them had done so. This constituted a breach of privileges of MPs, he argued.

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank Bond has refuted these allegations. It claimed that it had found information during the forensic investigation of several electronic devices used by Mr Arjuna Aloysius and his father in-law, former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran. The claims that the telephones of several Members of Parliament and other persons have been tapped or recorded in the course of this examination, are utterly false, it said in a statement.



Minister Kiriella has also argued it was highly improper to publish details about MPs telephone contacts. The confidential information had been put out for public consumption. Media is now in a frenzy giving all sorts of twisted interpretations to this information,

he said



But, what if they provide crucial clues of a potential collusion? There are genuine concerns of a conflict of interest when the government MPs, including one who was appointed during the mid- way of the COPE investigation, made several hundred calls with a man whose company was being investigated by the COPE. A sizable number of such conversations had taken place during the period of the COPE investigation of itself.



These concerns cannot be brushed aside as a coincidence. Coincidence does not happen over four hundred times. This is a pattern of events and in most likelihood, a case of collusion. Rather than investigating these concerns, scheming to hide behind Parliament privileges would set a dangerous precedent, and if anything it gives the impression that Sri Lankan politics has not changed much since the end of the Rajapaksa regime.



The difference between a functioning democracy and one that is crippled is not how loud their parliamentarians can quarrel or how often protestors could block public roads, but how their elected leaders are held accountable for their actions. It is easy to feign democracy, but implementing it takes more than words. Sri Lanka celebrated seventy years of Parliamentary democracy this year. However, we are still not a mature democracy. Elected Members of Parliament are far less accountable to public than their predecessors in the last State Council could have been during the British colonial rule. The fundamental problem lies at the heart of weak independent institutions, which have been progressively weakened by the successive governments since the independence. This is not something unique to Sri Lanka, see everywhere in the former British colonies (with a few exceptions such as India, which albeit having millions living hand to mouth also have independent institutions that could check regressive impulses of both the government and public). That failure in our countries may have much to do with certain retrograde social, economic and cultural dynamics of native leaders and populace which can not be discussed without being accused of cultural relativism.

Leaders elsewhere tempt to abuse power when it serves their interests, but where there is a functioning democracy, they are held accountable for what they do. When there is no such oversight, you can see them denying those charges with a straight face, pooh-pooh the independent institutions- and still better, divert the discourse by blaming the former government



Leaders elsewhere tempt to abuse power when it serves their interests, but where there is a functioning democracy, they are held accountable for what they do. When there is no such oversight, you can see them denying those charges with a straight face, pooh-pooh the independent institutions- and still better, divert the discourse by blaming the former government. (Mr Sujeewa Senasinghe went a step further and blamed the President too).



What is equally disturbing is the response of the so called civil society and NGO types, who condemn many things at the drop of a hat; when an anti-Muslim graffiti scrabbled on a wall, or LTTE detainees stage a hunger strike. Their concerns in all the above are laudatory, but why keep mum now, when there is a perceptible rot at the highest of the political institutions. So are the Ven. Mahanayakas who had spoken out selectively, though not so constructively.



The peripheral problems like the above deserve attention, but they are only the symptoms of a wider political decay. If Sri Lanka could evolve a system that ensures equal rights to all its people, much of ethnic and religious grievances could wither away, whatever the left over can then be addressed proactively. But, nothing is possible when the legitimacy of political institutions is compromised by corruption. That makes public, especially the Sinhala majority to distrust the government, and traps the country in a progressively worsening political decay. That is exactly why the public, civil society and politicians should worry about the implications of the bondgate.



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The Canadian Prime minister, Justin Trudeau, apologized this Friday officially to the indigenous people of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador for the forced detention of thousands of children in school residences for three decades. Between 1949 and 1979, thousands of indigenous children in the province, located on the Atlantic coast of Canada, were taken from their families and interned in five school residences, where many suffered sexual and physical abuses. The objective of these school residences, established by the authorities but managed by the International Association Grenfell (IGA), an organization that provides religious and medical services, was to eliminate language and culture Aboriginal population. In a speech in Newfoundland and Labrador, Trudeau said that "this colonial form of thinking led to practices that caused great harm," and that in the five school residences "they were made to feel irrelevant and inferior." "They were taught to be ashamed of who they were and where they came from." "Many suffered negligence and were not fed, clothed or housed properly." Others suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuses. They were all deprived of the love and care of their parents, families and communities, the Canadian president added. "To all of you, we are sorry," said Trudeau after testifying to hundreds of indigenous and survivors of residences who appeared "humbly" to "offer the former students long overdue apologies" ". But the great chief of the Innu Nation, one of the indigenous groups affected by the internment in the school residences in Newfoundland and Labrador, Greg Rich, stated that his community did not accept the apology for being too limited. "Our elders are not ready to accept an apology made only on a small part of our experience," said Rich in a statement. "I really do not think that Canada is truly prepared to apologize to the Innu if it does not include the recognition of other damages suffered by our people." I am not convinced that Canada still understands what it has done to the Innu and what it continues to do, added the indigenous leader.
Founders of Flipkart Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, along with three top officials have been booked for allegedly cheating a Bangalore-based businessman of Rs 9.96 crore. (Photo: PTI)

Bengaluru: Founders of e-commerce biggie Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, along with three other top executives of the company have landed themselves in trouble for allegedly cheating a businessman of Rs 9.96 crore.

The founders of million dollar homegrown e-commerce major, along with sales director Hari, accounts managers Sumit Anand and Shararaque have been booked in the case. The complainant, Naveen Kumar, owner of Indiranagar-based C-Store Company has alleged that the above named cheated him by not clearing his dues worth Rs 9.96 crore towards 12,500 laptops that he had supplied, reported TOI.

According to Naveen, he had entered intro a contract with Flipkart to supply laptops and other electronic goods. Accordingly, he had supplied 14,000 laptops to the company between June 2015 and June 2016 for its Big Billion Day sale.

Naveen alleged that Flipkart returned 1,482 units but did not pay for the remaining units. TDS and shipping charges for those units too were not paid. When asked to clear the dues, Flipkart falsely claimed it had returned 3,901 units. By not clearing the dues, they have cheated me to the tune of Rs 9,96,21,419," read Naveens FIR.

A case has been registered under IPC sections 34 (common intent), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating), and a probe has been initiated by the Indiranagar police.
The states which recently announced farm loan waivers are unlikely to see any impact on their market borrowings through state development loans (SDLs), says a report.

Mumbai: The states which recently announced farm loan waivers are unlikely to see any impact on their market borrowings through state development loans (SDLs), says a report.

States borrow from the markets through state development loans (SDLs) to fund their fiscal deficit. Five states--Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh--have announced farm waivers involving over Rs 1.2 trillion bank loans to tens of millions of farmers.

When these states will raise their market borrowings through SDLs, the yield will be higher comparing to those states which have not announced farm loan waivers, according to a weekend report by SBI Research.

"Interestingly, our findings suggest that, farm loan waiver has no impact on the yield of these states. In FY18 till November 14, data suggests that Maharashtra is borrowing at a low yield rate than the median range of 7.43 per cent," the report said.

It said markets do not differentiate between different financial conditions of the states, notwithstanding their very different financial conditions.

"All the states that are fiscally better managed may explore the feasibility of disseminating their best fiscal practices through various channels to attract lower yield," the report said.

State development loans are issued by RBI through an auction-based system since 2006-07. Though these bonds are backed by government guarantee the yields on SDLs varies from one states to another and largely remain above the government securities yield.

Such a yield differential could possibly be attributed to the fiscal marksmanship of individual states, the report said, adding state-wise data on SDLs borrowing indicate that the bigger states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, UP, Gujarat, Bengal, Andhra and Karnataka borrow more than 60 per cent of the market borrowings through SDLs.

Northeastern states borrow the least because of more Central assistance. Karnataka, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand are the states which have seen a rapid spurt in market borrowings over the years.

In FY12, total amount of SDLs borrowed from the market was Rs 1.6 trillion that jumped rapidly to Rs 3.6 trillion in FY17, clipping at 18.2 per cent per annum.

The weighted average yield of SDLs on yearly basis of all the states has come down from 9.17 per cent in FY14 to 7.60 per cent in November 2017.

States that frequently borrow from markets with higher ticket size are attracting better yield than those states which are not frequent in the market, it added.
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has asked the industry to set a timeline for achieving a USD 1 trillion in manufacturing revenue and take its share in GDP to 20 per cent. (File Photo)

Mumbai: Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has asked the industry to set a timeline for achieving a USD 1 trillion in manufacturing revenue and take its share in GDP to 20 per cent.

The share of manufacturing in GDP has been trending at 16-17 per cent for some years now and the previous Manmohan Singh government had set a target of taking this share to 25 per cent of GDP by the turn of 2025.

"The government aims to increase the share of manufacturing in GDP to 20 per cent," the minister told a CII-organised event on the topic here today without offering a timeline to achieve the same. But instead he asked the industry to set a timeline for themselves to achieve this as also to take the value of manufacturing GDP to USD1 trillion.

"Without a number it is not possible for the industry to prepare a roadmap for achieving this milestone," he said.

To help achieve this, the minister said government is working on getting into the top 50 slot in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings.

"We have jumped 30 slots to 100 in the ease of doing business ranking in 2018 (of the World Bank), and we want to be among the top 50. We are on the verge of a big economic growth and the recent upgrading by credit rating agency is also a recognition of a series of reforms undertaken by the government," he said.

It can be noted that early this month, the World Bank ranked the country at the 100th slot in its ease of doing business report for 2018, climbing 30 notches from 2017 citing the central and state reforms.

Prabhu also expressed optimism that exports will gather momentum going forward on the back of the revival in the economy which is on course to double to USD 5 trillion and become the world's third largest in over the next few years.

He pointed out that government is establishing relationships with top Fortune 500 companies and will welcome all sorts of foreign investments that help in creating jobs.

Promising to ease the problems being faced by exporters under the new tax regime, he admitted that "exporters are facing challenges in the goods and services tax (GST) regime and that his ministry is taking up the issue with the authorities concerned."

"It is not possible for a small businessman to sit here and do business globally. We want to create a support system, especially for small businesses, by creating a brand equity for India globally. Linkages with global markets are necessary for promoting our products and we will do that," the minister said.

He also said government is identifying specific products that can be sold in specific geographies globally through market research with the help of the Exim Bank, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

Taking note of the potential of countries like Russia and other geographies, he said, "we are working on a strategy for each of these markets. We are also looking at opening offices in 10 geographies to penetrate in global markets."

He said his ministry will work on developing global supply chains for the agriculture sector. "We've the right to access global markets for our farm produce by removing all trade restrictive practices," he said.
However, the collection of taxes under the GST is encouraging and likely to further improve revenue collection and return filing compliance, it said.

New Delhi: The success in divestments and encouraging GST collections is likely to reduce pressure on the fiscal deficit, said India Ratings and Research on Monday.

India Ratings (Ind-Ra) in a report said that the successful subscription of Bharat-22 exchange traded fund (ETFs) launched last week has helped government move closer to its FY18 divestment target of Rs 72,500 crore and it has raised Rs 52,300 crore by the end of November.

The government has reiterated its commitment to narrow down the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent for fiscal 2018.

Ind-Ra said it believes that the government could exceed its capital receipt target in the remaining four months of FY18, depending on ONGCs acquisition of the government stake of 51.11 per cent in Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL).

The agency said that the disinvestment strategy has the potential to generate Rs 1 trillion and provide buffer against lower surplus transferred by the Reserve Bank of India and the likely shortfall from the telecom sector.

While the states are expected to benefit from a committed 14 per cent growth in state revenue following the implementation of GST, Ind-Ra said it believes the central governments finances are likely to have an adverse impact of Rs 110 billion.

However, the collection of taxes under the GST is encouraging and likely to further improve revenue collection and return filing compliance, it said.

Ind-Ra believes front-loading of capex, which resulted in faster capex growth in the initial months of FY18, is now slowing down.

At the same time, proposed bank recapitalisation and Bharatmala Pariyojana would not entail any additional budgetary allocation in FY18. The agency believes the expected revenue shortfall can be covered by higher non-debt capital receipts; however, this will not create fiscal space for additional spending, it added.
Dealers attributed the rupee's fall to increased demand for the US currency from importers and banks and a lower opening in the domestic equity market. (Photo: PTI).

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 9 paise to 64.79 against the US dollar in early trade n Monday at the interbank foreign exchange amid fresh foreign fund outflows.

Dealers attributed the rupee's fall to increased demand for the US currency from importers and banks and a lower opening in the domestic equity market.

On Friday, the rupee had lost 12 paise to close lower at 64.70 a dollar due to renewed demand for the US currency.

Foreign investors pulled out Rs 416.28 crore from equity markets on Friday, as per provisional data.

Standard & Poor's on Friday kept its sovereign rating for India unchanged at 'BBB-minus' with 'stable' outlook saying vulnerabilities stemming from low per capita income and high government debt balance strong GDP growth.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex fell by 106.92 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 33,572.32 in early trade.
Mumbai: Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur today said Sanjay Leela Bhansali did not make his upcoming film "Padmavati" with an intent to rake up a storm that has the country in its clutches today.

Featuring Deepika Padukone in the title role, Bhansali's period drama is facing the wrath of various Rajput groups and political leaders, who have accused the director of "distorting historical facts".

Addressing a Masterclass at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Shekhar said, "The intention of the filmmaker (Bhansali) was not to create controversy. He is a great filmmaker. But he has never been a political filmmaker. He wanted to make a great film, a big film.

"There is a faction divide in our society, which is very obvious, because India is a society (which) is in absolute and definite flux. All the lines which were drawn once are breaking. The politics has risen around the film but the film has nothing political in it."

The director, who received global acclaim for his films such as "Bandit Queen", and movies on the British monarch Queen Elizabeth I - "Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age", recalled his run-ins with controversy.

Shekhar said when he was making the first Elizabeth (featuring Cate Blanchett) movie, there were constant statements in the media, criticising him for his portrayal of the queen.

"Here comes an Indian director who has shown our virgin queen in bed with... I said, "It was 400 years ago, how did you know she was a virgin? Were you there every time?" he quipped.

The director said such historical films are merely a "representation" or a "metaphor" of history.

He added, for him, the story of an individual is important if it tells a larger truth of the society today and that is why he chose to tell the story of infamous dacoit Phoolan Devi in "Bandit Queen".

Shekhar also revealed he had "changed" the speech Queen Elizabeth was supposed to have delivered to inspire 5,000 of her troops at Tilbury in wake of an expected invasion by the Spanish Armada.

"Everybody said, 'How come you did that? That's not what she said'. (But) I said, she was sitting on a horse that was frisky. There was a storm coming in. How did 5,000 people listen to her without a loudspeaker? Who said those words? The person standing next to her could not hear what she was saying.

"So she went back to her tent and said, 'This is what I said so write that draft now'."

He said knowledge of history in India is imparted in the form of a "moral tale", not a factual one.

"History is a constant interpretation of facts, I'm not saying it's wrong... This is how history works. In India, till the British came, we believed in mythology, not in history...

"What's our history? Gandhiji today is a saint for us.

He's not a man, he is a great man (mahatma). The sense of history in India is a moral tale, it's not a factual tale...

And who's saying that's wrong? That's probably right. Why else is history relevant? Either it has to have a relevance to our society today so we make it relevant by making it into a moral tale," he said.
Sidharth in a still from 'Student of the Year'.

Mumbai: Sidharth Malhotra hasnt been having a good few years, with his last few releases proving to be box-office disasters. His last three releases, 'Baar Baar Dekho,' 'A Gentleman' and 'Ittefaq, were all losing propositions for all parties involved.

However, the actor still hass some exciting projects in his kitty, including Neeraj Pandeys Aiyaary alongside Manoj Bajpayee.

The actor is also open to experimenting with his roles, and wont mind posing in the buff either.

Of course, I would do it. But only if theres a reason or logic behind it. I will not drop my underwear unless its aesthetic and its great to do a character like that (laughs). I wont go nude just for the heck of it. Its pointless, Sidharth was quoted as DNA saying.

Sidharth Malhotra will also be starring in a biopic on Kargil martyr Vikram Batra.
When youre looking to forget an embarrassing drunken night, it's common to blame it on the alcohol.

But a new study has found that alcohol does not change your personality, the Daily Mail reported.

For the study, 156 participants completed a survey regarding their alcohol intake and their perception of their 'sober' personality and 'drunk' one. At the lab, participants were given a breathalyser test and researchers made a note of their height and weight.

They then consumed individually-tailored beverages to produce a blood alcohol content of about .09 over the course of 15 minutes. There after they had to work through a series if activities like "discussion questions and logic puzzles", the report stated. The goal was to elicit a range of personality traits and behaviours.

After the experiment, participants "reported feeling more open, agreeable and extrovert", the report revealed. However, onlookers suggested there was little difference between 'sober' and 'drunk' personalities. They only observed one difference in one personality factor, extroversion.

"We were surprised to find such a discrepancy between drinkers' perceptions of their own alcohol-induced personalities and how observers perceived them," lead author of the study, psychological scientist Rachel Winograd of the University of Missouri, told the Daily Mail.

"Participants reported experiencing differences in all factors of the Five Factor Model of personality, but extroversion was the only factor robustly perceived to be different across participants in alcohol and sober conditions," she further went on to explain.

Researchers say further investigation is needed to come to more conclusive evidence. "Of course, we also would love to see these findings replicated outside of the lab - in bars, at parties, and in homes where people actually do their drinking," Dr Winograd told the Daily Mail.

She and her team hope their findings could lead to interventions that could reduce the unhealthy and negative impact drinking has on peoples' lives.
More than 500 black bears have returned to parts of their historic range in the Great Basin of Nevada where the species disappeared about 80 years ago, scientists say.

A new study says genetic testing confirms the bears are making their way east from the Sierra ranges north and south of Lake Tahoe along the California line.

In some cases, recent generations have moved hundreds of miles to sites near the Utah line, marking a rare example of large mammals recolonizing areas where they'd been wiped out.

"The recovery of large carnivores is relatively rare globally," said Jon Beckmann, a conservation scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bozeman, Montana, who co-authored the new study.

It concludes that bear populations originating in western Nevada mountain ranges have the genetic diversity necessary to sustain the new subpopulations.

The findings are the result of a partnership between wildlife management and geneticists based on bear hair and blood samples taken over 20 years, said Jason Malaney, an environmental scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, who led the study.

He wrote that the study represents "one of the few empirical examples of genetic consequences of natural recolonization in large-bodied mammals."

Carl Lackey, a Nevada state biologist, and Marjorie Matocq, a UNR scientist, co-authored the study.

The data provides ammunition for advocates of increased protection of wildlife corridors for a number of species in the basin  a vast stretch of desert and mountain ranges that covers most of Nevada, half of Utah and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California.

The study says the results are timely and relevant because of projected climate change and the effects of human population growth.

"As the human footprint expands over time in the region, this level of genetic connection among various mountain ranges may not last without conservation efforts to maintain connectivity," it says.

Black bears were prevalent across most of Nevada during the 1800s but had been devastated in the Great Basin by the early 1900s, primarily due to unregulated hunting, conflicts with livestock ranchers, logging and overgrazing.

Over time, bears have benefited from a reduction in logging, combined with improved land management practices and an emphasis on conservation, the study said.

"While barriers such as highways often reduce gene flow in other large-bodied mammals, black bears in the western Great Basin appear to occasionally traverse these obstacles," the report said.

Beckmann said the bears have moved into central Nevada around Tonopah and Austin.

"We're starting to see them clear over in places like Ely" near U.S. Highway 50 about 40 miles from the Utah line, he added.

Future steps to help the bears could include construction of wildlife-crossing structures at highways.

"They're expensive, but within a decade or two they pay for themselves in terms of both wildlife connectivity and public safety," Beckmann said.

A series of tunnels and bridges have been built in eastern Nevada on US Highway 93 north of Wells, and there's a large passage over Interstate 80 west of Wendover, Utah.

Wyoming has them and one is planned in southeast Idaho. Grizzly bears use them at Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies.

"It may take several years but once they are comfortable with them, they're used regularly," said Beckmann, who has authored a book on the topic.
Bengaluru: Thirteen-year-old Shreya Adithya, a standard eighth student at DPS South, recently raised Rs 1,22,000 to help thalessemia patients who require blood transfusion. She was an enthusiastic participant in a campaign launched by crowdfunding platform Fueladream, which had approached DPS South to raise funds for thalassemia patients.

The goal was to raise Rs 30 lakh for individuals with thalassemia. Thalassemia, which is a blood disorder, requires frequent blood transfusions for the entire life of the patients and costs a huge sum for the family.

At the school, we created awareness about the disorder and how difficult it is for the patients and their financial burden. We made presentations to explain it to the children and the response was good," explains Mr Ranganath Thota, founder of Fueladream.

The campaign was a success and a massive sum of money was raised in a short span.

The principal of DPS South, Manju Sharma, too never expected that such a huge sum could be raised in such short time. Her students turned a tough task into an achievable goal. Close to 150 students from standards 8th, 9th and 11th participated in a campaign, 'Surviving Thalessemia one campaign at a time', with a goal of raising Rs 20,000 each, which helps 10 thalassemia patients, in 45 days. But within one week of the campaign, the students raised Rs 13 lakh and in two weeks, Rs 18 lakh.

Each transfusion costs Rs 2,000 and with the goal of Rs 20,000, ten such patients can be helped. With that goal, we had approached the school. We spoke about the campaign and how it works," explains Mr Thota. We rolled out the campaign before Diwali with a message that students can gift a present like this for patients. The intention was not to make them feel pity, but to sow the seeds of compassion in them," the principal said, adding that the school has been participating in various other social service activities and raises funds for other NGOs, including the National Association for the Blind. We are all born with an innate sense of moral responsibility towards our society. A strong urge to do well, coupled with an act of positivity, can sometimes have an enormous impact on our own self-worth. Students of DPS Bengaluru South, in collaboration with FuelADream, an online crowdfunding platform, initiated the endeavour to facilitate treatment and make a difference to patients suffering from thalassemia.

They believe that their enterprise would catalyse a change and promul gate the fact that the world would be a much better place if we embrace empathy and showcase social commitment towards a worthy cause," said Ms Sharma.

The initiative is in partnership with the Bangalore Medical Services Trust (BMST), established by the Rotary Club of Bangalore and TTK Group of Companies. BMST has been providing blood banking services to patients and hospitals all over Karnataka.

Mr Thota said, This is one of the best campaigns we have ever witnessed from students and just reinforces our belief how young minds can leverage technology. Its a collaborative effort that students embark on and it requires handholding by parents to be successful. We are thrilled with the early outcome of this initiative."

The objectives of the thalassemia control program are to improve the management of patients undergoing blood transfusions and to enable screening and genetic counselling for first and second-degree relatives of thalassemia patients.
Biswajit had assisted Santosh in execution of the acid attack on Pramodini at Tirtol over a suspected one-sided love affair, some eight years back.

BHUBANESWAR: Hope of justice for Padmini Roul, an acid attack victim, - has finally come alive as the state police has managed to arrest two persons including the prime accused Santosh Bedanta in connection with 2009 ghastly act.

Santosh, an Army jawan posted at Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested by a special team of Odisha police from Kolkata on Sunday. Apart from Santosh, the police has also arrested his associate Biswajit Dalsinghray from Nayagarh.

Biswajit had assisted Santosh in execution of the acid attack on Pramodini at Tirtol over a suspected one-sided love affair, some eight years back.

Sources said, Pramodini was 16 when the accused, Santosh, threw acid on her while she was returning to her uncles house on April 18, 2009.

Following the incident, Pramodini underwent treatment and series of surgeries at SCB Medical College and Hospital for long. But she lost her eyesight in the acid attack.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tej Pratap said, 'We will get Narendra Modi skinned; go and tell him. (Photo: ANI)

Patna: Former Bihar cabinet minister and the older son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu PrasadYadav, Tej Pratap has said that he will get Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'skinned' if any harm is done to his father Lalu Prasad.

Tej Pratap's remark comes in the wake of the Centre's decision to scale down the Z-Plus security of Lalu Prasad Yadav and withdrawing of National Security Guards (NSG) from the Bihar leader's protection.

"This is a conspiracy to get him (Lalu) murdered, but we will give a befitting reply to them (the Centre). We will get Narendra Modi skinned (Hum Narendra Modi ki khaal udedhva denge); go and tell him," Tej Pratap said.

#WATCH: Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap responds to question on his father's security downgrade, says, 'Narendra Modi Ji ka khaal udhedva lenge' pic.twitter.com/FER7rIBjoK  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

When media persons sought clarification over his derogatory remarks for the Prime Minister, Tej Pratap reacted and said, "If something happens to my father then will you (media) take responsibility? Who will take responsibility if he is murdered? Isn't my father's life precious?"

The centre reportedly thinned down the security of the RJD leader after the home ministry reviewed the security of the VIPs. However, more than 30 personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will still provide a shield to the RJD supremo.

This is not the first threat to a political leader by Tej Pratap.

Last week, after being invited to the wedding of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi's son, Tej Pratap said if he were to grace the occasion, it would be to assault Sushil Modi, who is a senior BJP leader, and "expose him".

Sushil Modi responded by relocating the wedding for "security reasons." Apparently satisfied with his impact, Tej Pratap generously said the BJP leader should proceed with his plans "without fear".

On Sunday, Lalu Prasad Yadav was removed from the group of VVIPS who are given Z plus security, the maximum protection offered to politicians. The Z plus cover is viewed often as a status symbol.

Tej Pratap and his brother Tejashwi Yadav were given top positions in the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar till July because their father's party RJD had the maximum seats in the Bihar legislature. But after the Yadavs were named in a corruption case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), they were dumped by Nitish Kumar as allies, along with the Congress.

Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife and former chief minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, last week warned that there is no paucity of people in Bihar who are willing to assault the Prime Minister - her assertion was in response to a senior BJP leader demanding that criticism of Modi should be met with "hands being chopped off".
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said said the BJP is trying to weaken the country by polarisation. (Photo: File | PTI)

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday launched a broadside against the BJP, accusing it of "polarising" the country, and said the saffron party has realised the goal of Pakistan of dividing the nation in just three years of its rule.

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Kejriwal said the AAP is "not like a Napolean" whose intention is to win every state election, but its real purpose is to change the system.

"The country is going through a difficult time. The BJP is trying to divide the country by pitting Hindus against Muslims and Muslims against Hindus. What could be the biggest dream of Pakistan other than seeing India divided?" Kejriwal said.

He said the BJP is trying to weaken the country by polarisation.

"What Pakistan and ISI could not do in 70 years, the BJP has done in three years," he said, adding that those who were trying to create this divide were "ISI agents and traitors disguising as nationalists".

Kejriwal was addressing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers at the party's national convention on the occasion of its fifth anniversary at the Ram Lila Maidan in New Delhi.

Scores of AAP volunteers and party leaders from several parts of the country were present for the national convention.

Kumar Vishwas, who has had an uneasy relationship with the party leadership, also addressed the crowd.

The chief minister also raised questions about the death of CBI court judge BH Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case in which Amit Shah was prime accused, and said even judges were not safe under the BJP rule.

"The circumstances in which Loya was found dead have raised various questions," he said.

Urging people in the poll-bound Gujarat to "uproot" the BJP, Kejriwal said the entire nation was looking at Gujarat and praying for the BJP's defeat.

The AAP is contesting in a few seats in the western state.

"Voters should vote for a candidate or party that is winning and capable of defeating the BJP. Our aim is to uproot the BJP. Make sure that the BJP loses," he told the gathering.

Kejriwal claimed that the BJP is the "father" of the UPA in corruption. "We gathered five years back in the same place and protested against the UPA for its corruption. Nothing has changed. The BJP has become the father of UPA in terms of corruption," Kejriwal said citing the Panama Papers revelations and the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh.
Tamil Nadu will be tested again, perhaps not so much to find out who gets the popular vote as to who can bribe the people in the most devious manner possible without the officials finding out. The bribing of voters has become a fine art in a State that used to think of itself as the Dravidian heartland in which the voters alternated between the giants once every five years and did so not for money. The voters used to switch sides to show their anger at ruling parties not doing enough to satisfy their everyday needs between elections.

The parties used to vie with each other to lay out welfare schemes to attract the voters. Soon enough it descended to handing out freebies, a free-for-all field in which anything could be promised and given, from stoves to mixies and grinders, fans. At least there was some logic to making the womans lot in the kitchen somewhat easier and they represent about half the electorate. When the money started flowing in what is commonly as the Thirumangalam Formula, things began going south and fast.

Today, a by-poll means a few thousand rupees per voter and a shrewd voter could take from more than one party provided he could take the pressures of post-poll queries or threats from the losing party. The people have become so cynical as to justify the bribe taking as an entitlement once every few years because they dont get to see their MLAs until the next poll comes along. And now that another poll is here in RK Nagar, the voter will look forward to another helping of the notes, ironically with the Mahatmas face on each of them.

The scenario just got a lot more complicated this time. The Two Leaves is back in the fray. How important would that be is a question to which the answer will be known only after the result is out. There is talk of a four-way contest, but only three will be serious contenders in the capital of a Dravidian land. If there is split loyalty among traditional AIADMK voters, it will be to the benefit of the DMK. In fact, it doesnt need a prescient pollster to tell you that the DMK will be favored to win if all the conditions are equal.

The larger question is whether the conditions can be equal when a by-poll to a single constituency is held. The party or candidate with the larger purse might have the advantage. The statistics that we will see put out by the supervisory agencies that will be tasked with keeping an eye on the poll will point to several crores of rupees and freebies including liquor having been seized in the run-up to December 21. Imagine if in a dry state like Gujarat they can recover 6.71 lakh liters of liquor, what quantities of Tasmac stuff will be distributed in RK Nagar.

The rampant cynicism over by-polls, which generally tend to favour the ruling party, could not possibly apply this time. This is the funniest poll in which, much like in the IPL where friends will be playing with international foes in the same franchise, former friends will be foes and vice versa. The irony of the once official candidate of a united AIADMK being the principal rebel now even as the party symbol has been restored to the ruling group after a protracted battle before the ECI is inescapable. It wont be the traditional battle between the Two Leaves and the Rising Sun though.

Opposition parties that crib about the announcement of the by-poll would do well to remember that the poll process is back and in place after all. It should least matter that the poll date was made public just after the symbol war was settled. At least, the fight is now on level terms for the ruling group that had a right to claim the symbol as it had the clear majority on numbers in legislators and among the partys general council. Any rump faction would naturally have to fight on the symbols available with the EC.

Various divisions of the once united party of Jayalalithaa will be in the fray thus making it even more interesting. The DMK would probably profit from any split in the voting as it lost the 2016 assembly elections by very narrow margins in many seats. The smallest swing may see the party rebound. Also, even a single seat might matter as the Tamil Nadu version of controlled assembly democracy has to move forward at some time and call the assembly to order within six months of the last session. Fun and games are in store in January when the assembly will meet and that would be post-RK Nagar as well.
The much-awaited Hyderabad Metro Rail will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister tomorrow and start commercial operations from November 29. (Photo: PTI/Representational)

Hyderabad: The Congress has claimed credit for the Hyderabad metro rail project, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, but the ruling TRS hit back at the opposition for allegedly not planning it properly.

Claiming that Hyderabad metro rail is an "achievement of Congress", Telangana Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged on Sunday that the present TRS government was wrongly trying to take credit for the project.

Congress held a power-point presentation on the Hyderabad metro project its office in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Reddy also alleged that neither the TRS government in Telangana nor the BJP government at the Centre made any contribution to the project.

The present launch is a case of 'hard work for caterpillar, publicity for butterfly', he claimed.

Reddy said the then Chief Minister (of undivided Andhra Pradesh) YS Rajasekhara Reddy secured approval for metro rail from the Centre in 2007.

The Concession Agreement was signed on September 4, 2010 and the metro rail works were launched by the then CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy on December 25, 2012, he said.

Countering the Congress comments, state Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav said the previous Congress governments could not plan the project properly.

"Could not understand what is your claim. Yesterday, you made some noise. What for? (You say) it is a project done by us. Ok. Because, you had governments then. You could not do even proper planning," he said.

The much-awaited Hyderabad Metro Rail will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister tomorrow and start commercial operations from November 29.

The 30-km-long first phase of the metro rail project between Miyapur and Nagole, having 24 stations, would be launched by the prime minister at 2.15 pm tomorrow at Miyapur station.
Vijayawada: Six students of Fathima College, Kadapa, and a parent boarded a mobile cell tower here on Sunday and created a furore. The high drama started at about 10 am. The Fathima College students and parents started their protest at Vijayawada Dharna Chowk 27 days back. But as there was no response from the state government, the victims of Fathima College climbed the mobile cell tower and stayed there for the next eight and a half hours.

The students involved in this high voltage drama included Kesar Khan, Jakeera Khan, Farook, Noorullah, Hussain, Kishore and Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, father of the student Vishnu. They refused the request of the citizens, students, police and the college officials.

Students on the tower refused the calls of Mr Ramana Kumar, joint- commissioner of police, who reached the spot with policemen. The fire brigades also reached the spot. Finally, district collector Mr B. Lakshmikantham reached the spot and talked to the protestors over phone. Protestors demanded justice and the arrest of the management who allegedly cheated them. They asked for relocation as they were fighting with the management for the last two years. They demanded an assurance of CM, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu.

The district collector informed the demands of the students to the CM who then agreed to talk to the students and gave them an appointment at 9 am on Monday. Only then did the protesting students come down the tower. Parents of the students, officers and police were finally relieved of the tension.
Talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said it is good in the long run even though there are some issues.

New Delhi: Ruling out any possibility of entering politics, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Sunday said he is happy being a professor and it's the job he likes.

On being asked if he had an offer from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the Rajya Sabha, he said, "No comments on whether I was offered anything. When I was in RBI, people were desperate to get me off to IMF, when I am back as professor, people are desperate to see me elsewhere. I am very happy

being a professor. I have my brain working many hours of day. It is a job I like."

On possibility to join politics, Rajan said, "The answer is no...on issue of politics my wife says very clearly no."

The AAP had approached Rajan offering him a Rajya Sabha seat from Delhi, which was reportedly rejected by the ex-RBI governor.

In a recorded interview played at the Times Litfest in New Delhi, Rajan, without disclosing much details, said he is working on another book.

This book will be "an attempt to understand better the world we live in. The issue of identity, issue of community and how it impinges on the broader process of economic integration and growth", he said.

His last book, titled 'I do what I do' was released in September, touched various aspects of the Indian economy.

He also talked about issues like tolerance and connection between political freedom and prosperity in the book, which was a collection of essays and speeches during his stint as the RBI governor.

Talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Rajan said it is good in the long run even though there are some issues.

"There is need to remove the glitches," he observed.

On the relationship between the RBI and the government, the former central bank governor said that it has been developed over the years and it is largely of mutual respect.

"Yes, there are frictions which are always there in any relationship," he said.

To a question if autonomy of the RBI as an institution compromised, he said, he is not alarmed.

The RBI functions under the government and complete independence is not possible, he said.
During the hearing in the apex court, Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for Hadiya's husband Shafi Jahan, told the SC that she is entitled to make decisions of her life. (File photo)

New Delhi: Hadiya will no longer have to stay behind the closed doors of her parents house as the Supreme Court on Monday directed that she be sent back to the medical college in Salem, Tamil Nadu, to continue her studies.

Hadiya had joined Sivaraj Homoeopathic Medical College in Salem, but could not complete her studies as she was put under house arrest in May.

Hadiya will, however, not enjoy the complete freedom, which she sought at the apex court on Monday, as the dean of the college has been appointed as her local guardian. The apex court has granted the dean liberty to approach it in case of any problem.

"I want my freedom," Hadiya, who was forcibly confined to her parents' house in Kerala after she converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, told the Supreme Court on Monday. She also told the court that she wanted to live with her husband.

Hadiya expressed her willingness to pursue homoeopathic course, but said she does not want to study on the expense of the state.

I want to but not on state's expense when my husband can take care of me, she said when Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra asked her if she wants to continue her studies on states expenses.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the Kerala police to provide Hadiya with security and ensure that she travelled to Salem at the earliest.

The bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, directed the college and the university to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities.

Expressing happiness over Supreme Court's order, Hadiyas husband Sheffin Jahan said his stand has been vindicated.

"My stand has been vindicated. I am very happy," Sheffin said.

Meanwhile, Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for Hadiya's husband Shafi Jahan, has told the court that she is entitled to make decisions of her life.

The apex court will again hear the case again in the third week of January.

Jahan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him.

At the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had asked Hadiya's father to bring her to the court on Monday. The 25-year-old flew to New Delhi from Kochi under tight security for the hearing.

Hadiya, who was born to a Hindu couple in Kerala, converted to Islam and married Jahan but her marriage was annulled by Kerala High Court in May.

It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State group's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge. Ashokan K M, the father of the woman, had alleged that there was a "well-oiled systematic mechanism" for conversion and Islamic radicalisation.

The high court, while declaring the marriage as "null and void", had described the case as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered the state police to conduct probe into such cases.

Ever since the Kerala High Court annulled Hadiya's marriage in May, she has been under virtual house arrest at home in TV Puram, Kottayam.

(With inputs from PTI)
The occasion is marked by the whole nation to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India.(Representational Image)

Kurnool: Universities in Kurnool on Sunday ignored the directives given by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to celebrate November 26 as Constitution Day. Kurnool is home to Rayalaseema University and Urdu University, both being the state institutions that derive their power from a statute passed by the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh which itself was the creation of the Constitution of India.

The UGC asked the universities to read the Preamble to the Constitution in the morning assembly on Samvidhan Divas otherwise known as the Constitution Day. The occasion is marked by the whole nation to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India. The UGC had also asked educational bodies to read out the fundamental duties and arrange for a lecture on the importance of fundamental duties on the occasion of Constitution Day.

When contacted, Rayalaseema University officials said that they did not observed any such function. Its spokesperson said that the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar and two senior functionaries of the University were in New Delhi. The university has been facing a lot problems relating to governance and administration. Lack of transparency in recruitments has landed the University in a legal tangle with umpteen number of court cases, it is leart.

Dr Abdul Haq Urdu University Vice-Chancellor Muzaffer Ali told Deccan Chronicle that he was indisposed on Sunday and so he was not available at the University. Asked about the UGC directive to observe Constitution Day, he said that he had to find out from the staff whether such a programme was held.

Dr Abdul Khader, principal of Silver Jubilee Government Degree College, the premier Institute in South India run by the State Government, however, said that they had a week-long celebrations organised by the Political Science Department including a a mock Parliament, quiz competition, debate on fundamental rights and directive principles of state Policy. The KVR Government Women's Degree College, the largest women's college in terms of intake, also failed to observe the Constitution Day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out that while fighting for rights, one should not forget about duties. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stressed that the legislature, the judiciary and the executive were part of the same family and should work to strengthen each other, even as the Chief Justice and the law minister sparred over the issue of judicial activism.

The Prime Minister also said that the three wings - the legislature, the judiciary and the executive - need to brainstorm on how to move forward in the changed scenario.

"They are members of the same family...we do not have to prove anyone right or wrong. We know our strengths, we know our weaknesses," he said at a gathering of judges and advocates at the National Law Day event in New Delhi.

Modi pointed out that while fighting for rights, one should not forget about duties.

He emphasised that the balance between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary has been the backbone of the Constitution and it has helped the country during the Emergency.

Modi also pitched for self-regulation and a system of checks and balances for the good health of any institution and quoted BR Ambedkar to state that there should be a limit for any authority.

Before the Prime Minister addressed the gathering, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reminded the judiciary of the principle of separation of powers between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive.

He said the concept of separation of power is as binding on the judiciary as it is on the executive.

Responding to the remarks of the law minister, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra said that "there should be mutual respect and there cannot be any claim for supremacy by any of the wings".

The CJI said that the dream of the Prime Minister is a literate, educated and digitally-enabled India and the judiciary is "playing the role of a constitutional catalyst" to achieve the goal.

Referring to the issue of judicial over-reach, Prasad said law-making must be left in the realm of those elected to make the law.

"The founding fathers clearly meant that governance must remain in the realm of those elected to govern by the people of India and accountable to the people of India," he said.

While independence of the judiciary was "important", judicial accountability, probity and propriety were "equally" necessary, he said.

Justice Misra hit back by saying that, "We are not really interested to bring any kind of policy."

"But the moment the policies are formed, we are allowed to interpret and see that they are implemented," he said.

Misra said the judiciary follows the principle of 'judicially manageable standards' under which it does not get into realms where it can't do much. "If we can't do it, we will not get into it," he asserted.

Misra rejected the suggestion that PILs were being used as a means to formulate policies and to govern the country.

He said there had been several writs and PILs which the Supreme Court has turned down. He also said that the apex court has been going "slow" on economic matters, particularly tenders and especially global tenders.

Prasad said while the government accepts the Supreme Court decision to strike down the National Judicial Appointments Commission which sought to overturn the system of judges appointing judges, it is important to appreciate the suggestion of an audit of judicial appointments.

He referred to the contempt of court proceedings by the apex court against Justice CS Karnan.

Prasad said his records show that the then collegium had described him as an expert in all fields of law. Perhaps, he was not an expert on contempt of court, the minister said, without naming Karnan.

The CJI said whenever the law minister writes to the collegium, his observations are not ignored. The recommendations once rejected by the government are not

reiterated out of mutual respect.

Earlier in the day too, the two had countered each other's assertions.
A view of the Virat Hindu Samajotsava in Udupi on Sunday organised on the conclusion of the three-day Dharma Sansad. (Photo: DC)

Udupi: Leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) on Sunday came out strongly against the Deepika Padukone starrer 'Padmavathi,' during the Virat Hindu Samajotsav at Udupi on Sunday evening at the conclusion of the Dharma Sansad.

VHP International working president Praveen Togadia and VHP general secretary Champat Raiji strongly opposed the release of the film during thier speeches. "Some people speak about freedom of expression when we oppose the film. But one should know that ones freedom ends at the tip of the others nose. The other person has the freedom of twisting the arm when the hand comes close to his nose," he declared clearly indicating that saffron outfits had the right to oppose and protest.

"If you want to make a film, then make one about the (fall of) Afzal Khan and Sahithsa Khan. You can show the heroism of Ranjith Singh or Guru Tegh Bahadur or Guru Arjun Singh or Guru Govind Singh," he said.

"We strongly condemn attempts to disrespect Hindu sentiments. All artists and all those in the film should respect Hindu sentiments. Theatre owners too should voluntarily refuse to screen the film," Champat Rai Ji said.

Later in his address Praveen Togadia declared that Padmavati was a motherly figure for all Hindus in the country. "We condemn any move to disrespect her.

Had she not shown heroism then today, Praveen Togadia would not have remained Praveen Togadia. We are Hindus because of her. We all remember her heroism and sacrifice. This created herosim in lakhs of Hindus which finally overthrew the tyranny of Muslim rulers," he said.

Togadia demanded a ban on the movie and challenged the director Sanjay Leela Bansali to make a movie on Prophet Mohammed.

He also thanked all state governments including the Congress government in Punjab for not allowing the screening of the movie.
Bengaluru: A complaint has been filed against the Pejawar Math seer Vishwesha Teertha Swamiji at the Jnanabharathi police station for his alleged insulting remarks on the Constitution of India by calling it incorrect and "biased". The complaint filed on Saturday by the Postgraduate and Research Students Federation of the Bangalore University stated that the seer during the Dharma Sansad, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Udupi, said, The Indian Constitution is in complete and biased and I dont accept it, which was an insult to the Constitution and amounts to violation of fundamental duties.

The complainants further said that the seer had termed the Constitution biased and said that it had unequal laws for the country's majority and minority. He had even asked the central government to intervene and change the Constitution.

The federation has asked the police to take action against the seer for his remarks, which they said were against the national interest.
Attacking the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the grand old party did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region and has always wanted Gujarat to lag behind. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

Bhuj: Launching his political campaign in poll-bound Gujarat on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at Congress and said, "India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri. You can see how India responded in wake of both attacks. This explains difference between their (Congress) government and ours (BJP). Indian Express reported that on that side, dead bodies were taken in trucks so at least you (Cong) don't lie."

The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of celebrating the recent release of 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind, terrorist Hafiz Saeed.

"A Pakistani court released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating. I was surprised why. And this same Congress refused to believe our own Army on surgical strikes and preferred to believe the Chinese Ambassador," Modi said.

Invoking the "Iron Man of India," Modi accused the Congress of insulting Sardar Patel. "We are not here for power, we are here for 125 crore Indians. We want to take India to new heights of glory," he said.

"Congress is unhappy about demonetisation. They keep attacking me but I want to tell them... I have grown up in the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted," he said.

The Prime Minister also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Rahul had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics," the Prime Minister said.

Taking another dig at the Opposition party, which is making all efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Doklam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The Prime Minister also attacked the Congress over dynastic politics.

"On one side there is Vikas (development) and Vishwas (trust) while on the other side there is Vanshwad (dynasty). Gujarat will never forgive the Congress party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind," Modi said.

"Does any Congress leader talk about Kamraj, Acharya Kripalani, Subhas Babu, UN Dhebar (who belonged to Gujarat)...no because they only talk about one family," the PM said.

Further intensifying his attack on the Opposition Congress, Modi said the grand old party did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region.

"Officers did not want to get posted to Kutch region as the water here was black in colour. Congress did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region. What if the Narmada waters had come to Kutch 30 years earlier? It would have made such a big difference," the Prime Minister said.

Referring to the 2001 earthquake in Kutch, Modi said, "When earthquake struck Kutch region in 2001, Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent me to the region to work among its people and that taught me a lot."

"The development work in Kutch after the 2001 quake is for all to see. Who imagined that Kutch can do so well in agriculture. People from the nation are coming here to enjoy the Rann Utsav," the Prime Minister said.

Narendra Modi praised the people of Kutch for their resilience.

"When big earthquakes take place, people say see this building has fallen but in Kutch people say this school, this hospital, these buildings were made after the earthquake. All this was done on war footing by the Army of Kutch which consists of its people," Modi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address between 32 and 35 rallies in his home state Gujarat in the coming fortnight, where Assembly elections for a total of 182 seats will be held in two phase - December 9 and 14.

Later on Monday, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Jasdan town of Rajkot, Dhari in Amreli and Kamrej in Surat district. Amreli is dominated by the powerful Patel community.
Hyderabad: In the countdown to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017, film actors tried to make their presence felt at pre-Summit events. Rana Daggubati and R. Madhavan participated in the Road to GES event held at Hitex in Hyderabad on Monday.

The event was co-hosted by NITI Aayog, T-Hub and INK. Rana Daggubati spoke about his experience in virtual reality and 3D filmmaking at the event. I grew up in the movie environment and in the business of storytelling. I studied photography and worked on visual effects for about 85 films. Then I became an actor, he said.

He said that before becoming an actor, he worked behind the scenes on Kamal Haasans movie Dasavathaaram.

I started off very strangely. I was asked Will you shoot on a 3D camera with visual effects? he said.

Rana said that he was an ardent follower of the advancements in virtual reality and added, It wont be long before we have a virtual reality movie.

He said that the principles of artificial intelligence had been emulated and used to multiply the crowd of Mahishmati in Bahubali.

Indian actor, writer and film producer R. Madhavan also spoke at the event and said, There is absolutely no formula that will work again and again when it comes to art, technology and stories. Technology depends on art and art depends on technology. Everybody has data, their interpretations keep changing. With just one flute a foreigner composed the Titanic tune. You have the air and the flute, as entrepreneurs, you just need to find the right tune. Stop being followers of the west. Redefine your horizons.

He said that it was important for him to think about how he would entertain a technology-oriented audience that was hooked to smartphones. Aspiration is the key that will determine the market. What can I do that to ensure that people dont watch my movie on their smartphones, but go to theatres  is what defines me as an actor, he said.

Musician Usha Uthup also participated in the event on Sunday and said that it was the second time that she was attending INK Talks. With the latest technology I am able to define my chords and tunes better, she said.
A panoramic view of the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, where the GES will be held.  Gandhi.

Hyderabad: The city is preparing for two historic events on Tuesday: the launch of Hyderabad Metro Rail, the worlds largest Metro Rail in PPP mode and the inauguration of the three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 at HICC. This is the first time the GES is being held in South Asia.

Hyderabad will join the league of cities that have added the metro rail to their public transport. The 30-km stretch that will be inaugurated is the longest metro in the country. Kochi has 13 km, Chennai eight, Bengaluru 6.7 km and Jaipur 9.63 km opened for commercial use.

Both events will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will arrive at Begumpet airport at 1.35 pm on Tuesday.

Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser of US President Donald Trump, who is leading the US delegation to the GES, will arrive in the city early on Tuesday.

The state government has made unprecedented security arrangements for the smooth conduct of both the events. The city wears a colourful look to welcome the dignitaries and delegates attending the events.

The state government hopes that Brand Hyderabad will be enhanced globally by both these events and will attract international investors to Telangana.

Mr Modi will inaugurate Metro Rail at 2.15 pm and take a ride on the Metro from Miyapur to Ameerpet (5 km) and back. He will be accompanied by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Thiruvananthapuram: Shefin Jehan, the former husband of Hadiya, expressed happiness over the Supreme Court's judgment to release her from her father's custody. Kerala Womens Commission chairperson M.C. Josephine too welcomed the SC order. A beaming Mr Jahan told reporters outside the Supreme Court that he is thankful to the Almighty. He said its a victory as Ms Hadiya was free and that the court had vindicated her stance.

"The illegal detention is over, and that's is a victory. I will seek legal opinion on seeing her at the hostel. I understand that there is no ban on meeting her. Her disclosure before the SC that she should be allowed to live with me contains everything," said the 27-year-old.

And as far as I understand, the courts verdict means Hadiya can go wherever she wants after completing her education. Ms Josephine told reporters in Thrissur that she welcomed the order. By sending Hadiya to Salem to complete her studies, the court has given her freedom," she said.
The new addition to the curriculum, under the topic Gender Sensitivity, will be introduced in the ongoing academic year itself.

Mumbai: In the wake of woman constable Lalita Salve seeking a sex-reassignment operation, the state department of medical education and research (DMER) will now introduce in the MBBS curriculum a detailed topic on gender sensitivity, which will cover sex-reassignment surgery.

In doing so, Maharashtra will become the first state in India to include the topic in the MBBS curriculum. The new addition to the curriculum, under the topic Gender Sensitivity, will be introduced in the ongoing academic year itself.

Ms Salve, 29, attached to Beed citys Majalgaon police station, has sought permission to undergo sex surgery. She has sought government assistance for the surgery and also that she be allowed to keep her job in the police force.

The joint director of DMER Dr T.P. Lahane, said, The issues related to gender sensitivity were there but it was not in detail. It was taught but now students will be given proper assignments in addition to being taught about everything that comes under this topic. Maharashtra is the first state to introduce the topic in the MBBS curriculum.

When asked if the move to introduce the topic was made in the wake of Ms Salves plea seeking government permission and assistance for a sex-reassignment surgery at the state-run J.J hospital, Dr Lahane said, Yes, but we should see to it that the students learn all the aspects related to such issues. They should have deep knowledge about all topics because that is what theyll be dealing with after completing their course.

He said, The doctors should be able to help such people suffering from such ailments.
New Delhi: After dramatic scenes in the Supreme Court, Keralas Hadiya aka Akhila, the key dramatis personae in the alleged love jihad case, walked free after 11 months confinement in her parental home.

Ms Haiya, expressing her desire to be independent and complete the course which she could not do as she was confined to her fathers house in Kottayam, said, I want to meet my husband. I want to complete my studies and want to live my life according to my faith and as a good citizen. I want my freedom. I have been in unlawful custody for last 11 months.

When the CJI suggested that the Tamil Nadu government would bear the expenses of her studies, Ms Hadiya told the court that she wanted her husband to meet the expenses and not the State.

While hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by Mr Jahan, the bench, which also included Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, directed Kerala police to provide Mr Hadiya security and ensure that she travelled straight to college in Salem. The hearing in the habeas corpus matter was also posted for a hearing in January 2018.

Their marriage is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency after Ms Hadiyas father alleged that she is one of many vulnerable young Hindu women being recruited by terror groups like ISIS through love jihad or marriage.

Counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for Ms Hadiyas father K.M. Ashokan, urged the court to reconsider its earlier order to have an open court hearing.

He said the matter has acquired a strong communal colour on account of the involvement of a group engaged in the conversion of women to Islam.
Bhopal: Police personnel participating in a mock drill in a Madhya Pradesh district on Monday landed in trouble for playfully pointing guns at kids.

The incident occurred in the district headquarters town of Mandsaur, where six farmers were killed in police firing in April this year during the tillers stir in the state.

Reports said kids were used in the mock drill by the policemen. The incident has sparked outrage with child rights activists demanding action against the policemen involved in it. Two members of the NGO, Empowerment of Women and Child Protection, lodged a complaint with the local police in this regard.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a writ petition from a woman Amrutha alias Manjula, claiming to be the biological daughter of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, seeking DNA test to substantiate her claim.

A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Neveen Gupta while rejecting the petition gave her liberty to approach the Karnataka High Court for relief as she is staying in Bangalore.

The Bangalore based woman along with two other elder cousins L.S. Lalitha and Ranjani Ravindranatha sought the Supreme Court intervention as her efforts to meet Ms. Jayalalithaa during her lifetime was in vain as Ms. Sasikala family prevented such a meeting. She was also not allowed to attend the burial ceremony.
New Delhi: After a high-voltage drama in the Supreme Court, Hadiya a.k.a. Akhila walked free after six months confinement in her parental home ever since she married Shafin Jehan and the Kerala High Court annulled the marriage in May. The Supreme Court on Monday sent her to Salem in Tamil Nadu to enable her to pursue her homoeopathic studies in Sivaraj homoeopathy medical college and complete her internship/house surgeon training. She told the court that she wanted to be independent and complete the course which she could not do as she was confined to the house.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud directed the Kerala police to provide Hadiya with security and ensure that she travelled straight to Salem at the earliest. The bench also directed the college and the university to readmit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities. The issue of her marriage will be decided later, the bench said. The order came after the Hadiya, 24, told the court, I want to meet my husband. I want to complete my studies and want to live my life according to my faith and as a good citizen. I want my freedom. I have been in unlawful custody for last six months.

The bench appointed the dean of the homoeopathic college to approach it in case of any problem. Hadiya has been staying at her parental home since May. When Hadiya wanted her husband to be the guardian, Justice Chandrachud said, no husband can be a guardian of his wife. At least, I cant say that I am the guardian for my wife. During the hearing, which went on for over two-and-a-half hours, Hadiya made it clear to the judges that she wanted to go with her husband Shafin Jehan.

When Justice Chandrachud asked her about her dreams for the future, she said, I want freedom." The chief Justice conceded that this was a peculiar habeas corpus case and that he had never seen such a case in his tenure as a judge. When the CJI suggested that the Tamil Nadu government would bear the expenses of her study, Hadiya said that she wanted her husband to meet the expenses and not the state. The court fixed the hearing on Jehan's plea against the Kerala High Court order annulling his marriage with Hadiya to the third week of January.

Earlier, Mr. Shaym Divan, appearing for the girls father Ashokan, urged the court to reconsider its earlier order to have open court hearing and said there should be in-camera proceedings as various issues were involved in the case. He produced a transcript of a voice clip of one Abdul Rasheed, an ISIS recruiter, in evidence of his association with the Popular Front of India, the Islamic fundamentalist organisation with which the present petitioner Shafin Jehan was associated. Additional solicitor-general Maninder Singh urged the court to go through the NIAs findings, which had demonstrated that the marriage of Hadiya was a sham as she was radicalised and was not in a proper frame of mind to take an independent decision. This was strongly opposed by senior counsel Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising, who argued that the purpose of the hearing was to ascertain whether she wanted to go free or not.

Let her go wherever she wants but the court must speak to her and hear her views. Even if her marriage is a wrong decision, she is entitled to take a decision to go with him or not. There is no need to give communal colour to the whole issue. Justice Chandrachud referred to the arguments of Mr Maninder Singh that there was a pattern to this case and it was a programmed radicalisation and said, we need to examine whether the Stockholm syndrome (of praising the abductors who kidnapped the person) is true or not. We consider her individual autonomy, which has a cherished constitutional value. But can we ignore other issues is the question before us.

The CJI told Mr. Sibal, there are two issues before us, one whether we should examine Hadiya before or after examining the materials placed before us. However, both Mr. Sibal and Ms Jaising insisted that the court should ask Hadiya questions as she had been waiting for over 90 minutes to speak. Finally, the bench relented and ascertained Hadiyas views and decided to send her to the Salem college for further studies. The bench posted the matter for further hearing in January 2018.
Maqsood had been treated for six months in Satna before he was brought to Rewa (Representational Image | AFP)

Satna: In a rare surgery, doctors in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district recently removed 5 kilogram iron objects - a chain, as many as 263 coins and shaving blades - from the stomach of a man who they said is not in a good frame of mind.

The 32-year-old Mohammed Maqsood, who hails from Sohaval in Satna district, was taken to the state-run Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in adjoining Rewa on November 18 after he complained of pains in stomach.

Dr Priyank Sharma, attached to the Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (SGMCH), on Sunday said that they identified the cause behind Maqsood's stomachache after conducting tests and through an X-ray.

He said a team of six doctors surgically removed 10-12 shaving blades, four big needles, a chain, 263 coins, besides pieces of glasses - collectively weighing 5 kg, from the stomach of Maqsood on Friday.

He said Maqsood had been treated for six months in Satna before he was brought to Rewa.

"The patient was not in a good frame of mind and it seems he swallowed these objects secretly," Dr Sharma said, adding that Maqsood is doing well and is currently under the observation of a team of experts.
The captive elephant is the Malayli devotee's preferred sacrificial goat. It is treated as a dangerous wild animal when any court of law in the country deals with civil or criminal cases involving the killing of humans by an over-worked captive elephant during religious festivals. In a major judgment in 2012 granting compensation to the family of a person killed when an elephant ran amok in 1984 during Thrissur Pooram, the High Court stated that the state had no Act or Rule to fix accountability of a person in deaths involving captive elephant. The state had not laid down any criteria for the compensation amount either. The court had then directed the state government to formulate such an Act and Rule. But the direction of the High Court has still not been heeded. It is not as if the Acts passed by the State had changed anything on the ground. For instance, the High Court eventually had to direct the state to implement the Rules and Regulations regarding the parading of elephants that the state itself had formulated. The Court wanted it implemented from March 18, 2008.

These Rules state that elephants should not be paraded under scorching sunlight during day time, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. During the rest of the time, festival organisers can parade only three elephants inside the temple complex surrounded by a compound wall. The parade should also be limited to 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. It says that every elephant paraded for the period of 4 hours must have rest for next 12 hours. There were restrictions on the transportation of elephants, too. Elephants cannot be transported in lorries when the intensity of the heat is at the highest, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The maximum weight of persons sitting atop the elephant, elephant ornaments and chains must not exceed 1000 kilograms. A minimum of 500 kilograms of leaves and 250 litres of water must be given for the consumption of each elephant every day. At festival places, the elephant must be placed under shade during the rest period. Minimum space between each elephant at festival place must be kept at 3 meters. The minimum space between the crowd and elephant must be 3 meters.

The veterinarian should perform two tests before issuing a fitness certificate to the elephant to participate in any festival. First he must ensure that the elephant is free from any wounds. Then the doctor will have to verify the elephants response to its mahout who, as the rules say, should not have any kind of weapon with him. If the elephant can be persuaded to do certain postures by a non-violent mahout, the veterinarian can infer not just that the beast and its minder are friendly but also that the elephant is not in musth. The fitness certificate will have a validity only for 12 hours. It means that if such a certificate is signed at 5 a.m., to parade that elephant after 5 p.m. the same day, another certificate is required. Fact is, most of these rules are followed in the breach. The Supreme Court was convinced that these stipulations were blatantly violated even during the conduct of Thrissur Pooram, and had in August 2015 directed the State Government to implement these rules in its letter and spirit. The apex court also wanted the state to initiate criminal proceedings against the offenders invoking non-bailable provisions of Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Many elephants having wounds all over the body are lined up for parades with their festering bruises masked by black powder mixed with oil. Mahouts use sharp edged ankush (a banned weapon with claw-like ends to tear into the beasts body) and valiya kolu (another banned weapon nine feet in length and sharp-edged on one side and broad edged on the other) to torture the elephants. Since an elephant in musth is not allowed to participate in festivals, mahouts, at the insistence of owners, force chemicals into the elephant to suppress the condition. This is done by giving the elephant bread soaked in such chemicals.

After consuming the chemical food the elephant will stand at the festival ground in a drowsy state, without even moving its ears. Such elephants will show no tendency to urinate or to drink water or to eat leaves. But many such elephants have demonstrated a tendency to attack mahouts, and to run wild in the midst of a procession. Though many officials like veterinarians are aware of such heinous practices, they keep silent in return for the favours extended by festival organisers and elephant contractors. Only three district collectors, of Thrissur, Palakkad and Alappuzha have conducted the monthly meeting of district elephant monitoring committee appointed by Supreme Court of India to prevent cruelty to elephants at festival places.

Eternally doomed in Gods Own Country

The fate of the elephant Nandilath Gopalakrishnan is demonstrative of the fact that even meticulous safeguards are not enough protect the states most revered animal. Gopalakrishnan was paraded during the annual festival at Tripunithura Poornathreysha temple in Ernakulam district on November 23. The temple, under Kochi Devaswom Board, conducted this years festival with utmost caution. A new committee was constituted as the committee that organised the festival for past eight years was thrown out by the Kerala High Court.

Nandilath Gopalakrishnan. (Photo courtesy YouTube.com)

All the employees of the Kochi Devaswam Board had contributed their one day salary for the conduct of this festival. Moreover, to keep unscrupulous elements at bay, the court had handpicked a veterinary surgeon to issue fitness certificate for elephants. Despite all such precautions, an elephant named Nandilath Gopalakrishnan with a record of roguish behaviour (it had killed two persons before) and exhibiting tell-tale signs of musth was employed to carry the golden idol and the silver umbrella, and was selected as the main elephant to be paraded at the centre of other 14 elephants.

At a crucial moment of the ritual, Gopalakrishnan refused to obey the orders of the mahout. As if deciding enough was enough, the elephant suddenly cut away from the procession and ran through the eastern gopuram of the temple. Before it was tranquilised the mahout had used an ankush to pierce the skin and flesh of the elephant near the sensitive part between the genitals and the right side of the hind leg to stop it from running. Then, in a further violation, the elephant was put in a lorry and transported to Thrissur under scorching heat. It is now known that Gopalakrishnan has difficulty urinating.

(The author is the general secretary of Heritage Animal Task Force, the state's foremost elephant NGO)
Hyderabad: Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday dubbed as lollipop the Telangana governments proposal to increase quota for backward sections among Muslims, and said reservation should be given within the Constitutions framework.

The Telangana legislature in April passed a Bill, which seeks to increase the reservation for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and backward sections among the Muslim community in government jobs and educational institutions.

Except the BJP, all parties backed the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2017.
Chennai: The screams and adulations that have seized the public imagination since the demise of the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader J Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016, more so after the Supreme court verdict was out in the disproportionate assets case involving Amma and her close aide, Sasikala Natarajan, are but symptoms of a deeper contested socio-political legacy.

With people glued to their favourite 24/7 TV channels, amid anchors firing one salvo after another, there is all the more reason to try and understand Ammas legacy in the broader socio-economic context of the Tamil Nadu polity as shaped by both the DMK and AIADMK in the last 25 years.

Cut back to January 29, 2001. The former Chief Minister and DMK patriarch, M Karunanidhi, doubling as Finance minister, presenting the Interim Budget for 2001-02, ahead of a crucial Assembly election that year, succinctly articulated the states perspective on one decade of Indias historic economic reforms.

Coming on top of the golden jubilee year of the Indian Republic then,

Karunanidhi told the Assembly, We have always respected those with differing views and accepted their reasonable suggestions, without in any way deviating from the social perspective of Thanthai Periyar and the principle of duty, dignity and discipline advocated by Perarignar Anna. The DMKs strains with the BJP then were already visible, as much his words were a fair mirror to the mix of pragmatism and idealism that the Dravidian parties have been votaries of.

There was no way States could get insulated from the wave of the economic reforms, and Tamil Nadus policy, he maintained has been "economic development with a human face." In the period since 1996-97, he said the average annual growth rate had jumped from 6.05 per cent to 7.04 per cent.

Equally interesting was Karunanidhi in that budget speech bringing up the eminent Carnatic musician, Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyers request to publish "Thirukkural Madhura Keerthanai", written by Mayiladuthurai Viswanatha Shastri. Karunanidhi said the first of the three volumes was already published by the government in deference to Semmangudis wishes. The other two volumes were in the pipeline to "popularise Shastriyars musical works". His words spoke volumes for the catholicity of outlook and secular approach of the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu.

It has been this basic vision of a social structure, trying to balance the need for rapid economic growth with equity and social harmony, irrespective of caste or religion, that has crucially underpinned the legacy of the AIADMK founder MGRs protegee, J Jayalalithaa also. The arithmetic of alliance politics, from poll-to-poll, has been built on this architecture, even as post-1970s, as I had written earlier, the Congress in Tamil Nadu has been content to play the eternal third man.

The challenges were even more when Ms. Jayalalithaa first assumed office as Chief Minister in June 1991. She had to not only contend with the aftermath of the assassination of a major national political leader, Rajiv Gandhi, on Tamil Nadu soil, but also deal with the violence that broke out after the Cauvery Waters Dispute Tribunal gave its Interim Award. Also her government, whose tenure paralleled P.V. Narasimha Raos regime in Delhi, had to "act swiftly" in assimilating the economic reforms unleashed after a severe Balance of Payment (BoP) crisis.

Raos Finance Minister and eminent economist Dr. Manmohan Singh kick-started the big bang reforms with his historic July 24, 1991 Budget - a plethora of trade and import restrictions gone, licensing for most industries except 18 strategic ones abolished, automatic approvals, setting up the Foreign Investment PromotIon Board (FIPB) to attract FDI, and even allowing established exporters to maintain foreign currency accounts to help raise cheaper money abroad without being a strain on Indias debt servicing amid a grave possibility of default for the first time after 1947 - the changes were mindboggling for most Indians then.

It was in that milieu, the government led by Ms. Jayalalithaa, ably assisted by her then State Finance minister and party veteran, late V.R. Nedunchezhiyan and an excellent team of officers, took bold initiatives to carry forward the reforms, as many things including infrastructure, had to be done at the State level. Much as it took care to keep outlays on social welfare programmes including the childrens noon-meal scheme intact, her government did well, as borne out by a study by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). The report said, between 1992-93 and 1995-96, there were signs of fiscal consolidation with the fiscal balance improving from around (-4 per cent) to (-2 per cent).

In a seminal 2002 paper, Economic Reforms in India Since 1991: Has Gradualism Worked? Montek Singh Ahluwalia, then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, adverting to the need for supporting action by state governments, as private investors required many permissions from state governments and have to interact with the state bureaucracy on a day-to-day basis, said, complaints of delays, corruption and harassment arising from these interactions are common.

Some states have taken initiatives to ease these restrictions, but much more

needs to be done. He also cited how a World Bank-CII study found Tamil Nadu being among more investor-friendly states.

In a brilliant introduction to a more recent, equally insightful study, the Oxford Handbook of Politics in Indian States, Regions, Parties and Economic Reforms, eminent political scientist Dr Sudha Pai argues that given the different socio-political contexts regional parties have emerged, making generalisation across the subcontinent is almost impossible. Economic reforms have shown immense regional variations, amid entry of new groups into politics, and creation of regional elites. Some of the states with stronger regional parties, stable and centralised leadership like the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, the DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu have been among the fast reformers, Dr Sudha underscores.

Thus, amid a protracted leadership crisis, to reduce the larger contributions of either M. Karunanidhi or

J. Jayalalithaa to the States politics and economy, to just scams and rent-seeking by few family clans on either side of the divide, would logically be a reductionist, gross over-simplification and devaluation of life process itself. Jayalalithaa Jayarams first death anniversary should hopefully remind us of the perils of political and party leadership in extremely difficult times.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the people of Jasdan to not let the Congress destroy the composite culture of Gujarat. (Photo: Twitter/PMO India)

Rajkot: Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he took a swipe at the Congress party during a campaign rally in election-bound Gujarat on Monday.

Modi, who is leading the BJP's campaign in his home state that is going to polls on December 9, was addressing the rally in Jasdan, Rajkot, when he accused the Congress of defaming Gujarat.

Modi also said that the Congress dislikes him because of his poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation, he said.

The Prime Minister requested the grand old party to not mock the poor and my poor origins.

Further attacking the Congress, Modi said the party has the tendency of pitting one caste against the other. He asked the people of Jasdan to not let the Congress destroy the composite culture of Gujarat.

Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister had alluded to allegations that the Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, made against him during poll campaigns.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," Modi had said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Rahul had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

Modi will address between 32 and 35 rallies in his home state, Gujarat, in the coming fortnight, where Assembly elections for a total of 182 seats will be held in two phase  December 9 and 14.

Later on Monday, the Prime Minister will address rallies in Dhari in Amreli and Kamrej in Surat district. Amreli is dominated by the powerful Patel community.
Prime minister Narendra Modi meeting public during his election campaign for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Bhuj, Gujarat, on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

Jasdan/Bhuj (Guj): Pushing the BJPs campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he is ready to sell tea but will never sell the country as he asked Rahul Gandhi why he had applauded the release of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.

You are happy to hug the Chinese ambassador, you are clapping at the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Armys surgical strike... But why did you speak about it? You could have just remained silent, he said in Bhuj, not specifying how and where Gandhi had hailed Saeeds release.

Mr Gandhi had recently tweeted, Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed. The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Saeed by a Pakistan court.

Hitting out at the Congress over a recent meme targeting his chaiwala past, the Prime Minister said in Jasdan that he is being targeted by the main opposition party because of his humble background and for being born to a poor mother.

They are feeling uneasy because a chaiwala became the PM. We used to read in books how the downtrodden get harassed by those in higher strata. But I never imagined they would stoop so low, Mr Modi said in his speech at Jasdan.

He said he gets messages from people threatening him that they would once again turn him into a tea-seller.

I want to tell them that I am Modi, who is ready to sell tea but will never commit the sin of selling the entire country, he said, in an apparent reference to scams during the Congress-led UPA rule.

In an apparent bid to woo the influential Patidars, who seem to be drifting towards the opposition party, the Prime Minister said the Congress harassed four former chief ministers of the community because of a grudge against Gujarat.

Babubhai Jashbhai Patel, Chimanbhai Patel, Keshubhai Patel and Anandiben Patel belonged to the Patidar community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to Ashapura Mata temple at Mata nou Madh before election campaign for the Assembly polls in Bhuj on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

Jasdan/Bhuj (Guj): Pushing the BJPs campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he is ready to sell tea but will never sell the country as he asked Rahul Gandhi why he had applauded the release of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.

Mr Modi, who started his high voltage campaign with rallies in Bhuj in Kutch district, Jasdan in Rajkot, Chalala in Amreli and Kadodara near Surat, took on the opposition Congress on issues related to China, Lashkar-e-Tayyabas Hafiz Saeed, the surgical strike as well as corruption.

He accused the Congress vice-president of applauding the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and asked why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff. Mr Modi pitched the election as a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.


Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad played it wrong when he asked the Supreme Court why it could not trust the Prime Minister and himself with the appointment of judges to the high courts and Supreme Court. He was speaking at the National Law Day celebrations in New Delhi on Sunday. (The National Law Day, or Constitution Day, was created by the Narendra Modi government in its bid to appropriate the image of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, who was chairman of the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly, and is deemed the architect of the Constitution.) Mr Prasad was quite justified in indulging in political jousting in the wake of the Supreme Court holding the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act as unconstitutional in its 2015 judgement. Chief Justice Dipak Misra hit back by saying there is need for all branches of the State  legislature, executive and judiciary  to function within their respective spheres and that constitutional sovereignty is supreme. The Chief Justice had literally ticked off the law minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cautious in the inaugural speech on the occasion when he talked of the balance between the legislature, executive and judiciary.

The Supreme Court ruling on the NJAC has been a big blow to the Modi government. The governments case was badly argued by then attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi, though the Constitution is very clear that judges are appointed by the President. As the President in our constitutional system doesnt act on his own but on the advice of the council of ministers headed by the Prime Minister, it always meant that the government of the day was involved in the appointment of judges. The irony lies in the fact that it was the BJP and other Opposition parties which had clamoured for the change in the mode of appointment to the higher judiciary. And they argued the case for the Chief Justice of India and his senior colleagues to appoint the judges. The collegium system is a result of the insistence of the Opposition parties, including the BJP. It was soon recognised by all parties that the collegium system has created problems of its own, and that it had become opaque and even suspect about its ability to choose the right people to be judges. Even the Supreme Court had recognised and acknowledged that there is a need for transparency and accountability in the running of the collegium.

The law minister should have avoided reference to the NJAC issue because it is quite evident that the Supreme Court ruling in the NJAC case goes against the spirit of the Constitution. The judges cant be a law unto themselves and they cant be left to make appointments to the high courts and the Supreme Court. The Modi government needs to have constitutional clarity and political courage to pass the NJAC bill again and include an amendment saying the Supreme Court cant invalidate it. This may not be legally outrageous because the jurisprudential principle should be that the Supreme Court cant be a judge in a matter which concerns itself. Mr Prasad has also wrongly framed the issue. Its not a question of trusting the Prime Minister and law minister, who, according to him, are popularly elected. That is an unconstitutional position. The PM and the law minister, per se, shouldnt have any powers to appoint judges. As a matter of fact, the NJAC, does not provide for the discretion of the Prime Minister and law minister. Their presence in the NJAC could be decisive, but it has to be seen to be fair and according to the rules laid down for the functioning of the NJAC. The law minister wanted to turn his leader, Mr Modi, into a knight-in-shining-armour who sets out to do good, and therefore, by implication, the judiciary should surrender its wisdom to him. Constitutional democracies like that of India dont depend on the good intentions of aspiring supreme leaders like Prime Minister Modi. All functionaries of the State, including the President and the Chief Justice of India, are bound by rules and norms. Mr Prasads Modi gambit was both bad politics and bad constitutional theory.

Chief Justice Misra has certainly fended off Mr Prasads political assault by invoking the principle of constitutional sovereignty, but the higher judiciary isnt really standing on firm ground over the appointment of judges. The court cant appoint itself. It is done through the Constitution, which was legislated by a democratically elected body. The legislature has the right to make necessary amendments to the Constitution on how judges are to be appointed. It is often forgotten that in the famous Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973, where the Supreme Court had through a very narrow 7-6 margin propounded the basic structure of the Constitution theory, under which any law that is seen to be violating the intent and spirit of the Constitution is held to be null and void. But the theory does not amount to judicial infallibility, and it needs to be questioned and tested time and again as to what constitutes the basic structure.

The appointment of judges as envisaged in the Constitution does not fall into the basic structure penumbra. The BJP is in a double bind on the issue of the judiciary. It has been most vocal while in Opposition that there should be no political interference in the appointment of judges, that is a politically naive position at the best of times. It cant now argue that the executive should be given the right to appoint judges. As the party in power, it is not too happy with a fiercely independent judiciary. What the BJP has to recognise is the fact that while the executive can appoint judges, it cant dictate terms to the judiciary on how the Constitution should be interpreted. Invoking Prime Minister Narendra Modis popularity is not the way to settle the issue.
THE defeat of the militant Islamic State group marks not the beginning of peace, but simply the ending of one stage of the greater Middle Eastern war because IS, for all the horrors it perpetuated and all the press it got, was only a sideshow to the main act: the struggle for supremacy in the Middle East. In this struggle, IS was never a player; it was at best a distraction, a convenient opportunity for various players keen on securing and advancing their interests. For Israel, the entire Syrian situation was a win-win, as it distracted many of its key opponents, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah to name just three, from focusing on Israel. Tel Avivs view of the war echoed what former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin reportedly said during the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s: I wish luck to both parties. They can go at it, killing each other. It was thus in Israels interests for the conflict to continue as long as possible because, as one Israeli officer put it: If al-Assad wins we will have Hezbollah on two borders not one. Israeli Brig Gen Ram Yavne went further in explaining why Israel doesnt see IS or even Al Qaeda as a strategic threat, saying: The axis headed by Iran is more risky than the global jihad one. It is much more knowledgeable, stronger, with a bigger arsenal.

Curiously, the view from Tel Aviv is very similar to the view from Riyadh which has looked on with horror as Iran has expanded its influence across the Middle East, and we know that after gravity, the greatest attractional force in the universe is the commonality of interests. It is that commonality that is now bringing these unlikeliest of allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, closer together. On November 16, the Saudi online newspaper Elaph did the previously unthinkable by publishing an interview with Israeli military chief, Lt-Gen Gadi Eisenkot. Eisen-kots views about Iran echoed the words that have been coming from Riyadh for some time now. Eisenkot pointed out that Saudi Arabia and Israel had never fought a war and that said that there was near-complete agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia about the threat posed by Iran. If that wasnt enough, he also made an offer to share intelligence, saying: We are willing to share information if there is a need. We have many shared interests between us. A few days before that, Israels communications minister, Ayoub Kara, invited Saudis Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh to visit Israel Even earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was one of the few Middle Eastern leaders to exuberantly welcome Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariris farcical resignation, calling it a wake-up call to the international community to take action against Iranian aggression, which is turning Syria into a second Lebanon.

More recently, in an interview with the New York Times, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman echoed Israeli language by calling Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the new Hitler of the Middle East. For Israel, a formal alliance with Saudi Arabia may take away from the national narrative of a small nation surrounded by enemies, but such narratives can be adjusted. Moreover, Israel does maintain fairly cosy relations with Sisis Egypt, a concord that has effectively squeezed Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Similar ties are maintained with Jordan and so this rapprochement will not be unprecedented. For Saudi, the risks are somewhat higher. Apart from handing Iran a propaganda victory allowing it to paint itself as the last bastion of resistance against Israel, the monarchy will open itself up to accusations of betraying the Palestinian cause, and while this was always at best a talking point, closer ties with Israel, long demonised in Saudi media, will likely intensify more radical domestic opponents of the Saudi regime. Some of the sting could be taken out if Saudi proposals for a Palestinian peace plan were to be taken up by Israel, something that would be welcomed by the White House which is always looking for a win to take credit for, but how amenable the Israelis may be to this is unknown given the possible domestic outcry. But then, ideology is for the cannon fodder. At the top of the food chain, realpolitik rules.

By arrangement with the Dawn
It is regrettable that the government continues to show its unhappiness with the institution of the judiciary by expressing its annoyance with the Supreme Court  for striking down the National Judicial Appointments Act in October 2015  at public functions even now. Such peevishness is apt to convey the impression that the government is not above seeking to bulldoze the crucial institutions of democracy, not stopping at trying to browbeat the judiciary when an independent judiciary is a part of the Constitutions basic structure. A more dignified and fruitful way may be for a careful and productive interaction between the executive and the judiciary away from the glare of publicity on finding the golden mean in evolving a structure for appointments to the higher judiciary, but one on which the governments shadow doesnt fall. This is important as the government is also the countrys biggest litigant.

Besides, who wants a poodle judiciary in a democracy? If that happens, there would be no dividing line between a democracy and a dictatorship or an authoritarian dispensation of the kind that flourished for the brief period the Emergency was in force. Over the weekend, at functions celebrating National Law Day, the President, the PM, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad advised Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to bear in mind the question of separation of powers and the need to strike a balance between Parliament, the executive and the judiciary  the three pillars of the State.

While the President and the PM conveyed their message in a dignified manner, the two ministers appeared to be growling their disapproval of the nations top judiciary. It was a lineup of dignitaries that appeared to put the CJI in the dock in a concerted and pre-planned manner. This was unwarranted and unbecoming. In 2015 and 2016, the government had similarly made strong public remarks in the presence of then CJIs H.L. Dattu and T.S. Thakur. Mr Jaitleys contention was that the judiciary was trying to muscle its way into the domain of the executive by instructing the government in various ways and wondered aloud what might happen if the reverse were to happen. Mr Prasad made it no holds-barred. He said it would seem from the judiciarys attitude that the Prime Minister could be trusted with the countrys nuclear button but not with a role in the appointment of judges. As an argument on the issue of the independence of the judiciary, this cannot be deemed a substantive point. The Chief Justice held his ground and duly noted that only an independent judiciary would be in a position to safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens in the face of any encroachment by the executive. The warfare is nevertheless completely unwarranted.
As Donald Trump rages on against the media, he was given a perfect riposte by CNN. It reminded the US President that it wasnt the medias job to represent the country to the world, but to report the news. Having been the beneficiary of so much fake news floating on social media platforms in the run-up to the presidential election, Mr Trump has never seen the media in proper perspective, besides those elements favourable to him, and his America First and Alt-Right friends. The mainstream media, liberal or otherwise, may express opinions against the trends seen in Trumps America, which is why theyre all lumped together as fake news as they appear to represent the US poorly to the world.

The war between Mr Trump and the media is being fought on Twitter. This may not be so in India and Turkey, which have similar problems with ruling forces as the mainstream media tend to report events as they see them. This perceived ideal of narrow nationalism, where the supposed will of the majority must be upheld, has led to distressing events, with pressure put on the media as it reports events truthfully. Theres also the suspicion that those who dont toe the line are being sorted out. Its a tribute to Indias mainstream media that it has stuck to its principal task of reporting the news, and reflecting a cross-section of opinions. To stand up to injustice is the medias job, and theres no lack of such courage in Indias media. But its not Mr Trump alone who tends to blame everything on the media.
Last week, India created history at the United Nations by winning a fiercely-fought electoral contest against its former colonial ruler Britain for the re-election of Justice Dalveer Bhandari at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. Indias victory had made global headlines since it was the first time in decades that a permanent member of the UN Security Council (the P-5 club) had been forced to retreat by a non-P5 member, a development that was also seen as heralding the winds of change at the UN and perhaps the end of an era of unbridled dominance of the P-5 countries. Syed Akbaruddin, Indias permanent representative at the UN and senior diplomat, tells Sridhar Kumaraswami how New Delhi managed to achieve almost the impossible.

Indias campaign showed it could beat off the challenge of a P-5 nation despite the odds. What explains this?

Our election efforts had the complete support of our political leadership. They were coordinated in a systematic manner by the brains trust of Indias diplomatic establishment led by the external affairs minister. All our missions globally were reaching out to interlocutors all across the world and we had meticulously analysed and planned for multiple eventualities, having researched past precedents and trend lines. All this ensured that the foot soldiers at the trenches in the UN were aware that we were part of an unprecedented Indian diplomatic effort and were confident that we would be able to overcome the numerous hurdles in our path.

From the beginning, India had an overwhelming majority at the UNGA. Did you see it as a vote of solidarity by developing countries for the underdog?

India is fortunate to have broad-based support across the globe. Of course, fellow developing countries are key components as the solidarity that has bound us together is based on commonalties of objectives and vision of a more inclusive multilateral framework that provides space for diversity.

The contest was not just between two nations. It was between India and its former colonial master. Given the history of bilateral ties, what are the implications of this victory?

The contest was not only about two countries, but also two competing visions of the future direction of multilateralism. It was a choice between those who were trying to stem the democratic drift and those who wanted the spirit of the times to prevail. However, one should see that the way it ended was also as remarkable as the way the election was fought. We ended the contest honourably. Both the UK and India agreed to abide by the moral and value framework that both of us are wedded to. This bodes well for the future of our ties as it was a cooperative and collaborative end in tune with our common values. This is indicative of the maturity of our ties.

Was there ever any real possibility of India reaching a compromise with Britain or were you ready for a contest till the bitter end?

Diplomacy is all about utilising every opportunity to promote your interests and following the best path to pursue your goals. We were confident that in this contest our interests would be better promoted by continuing the electoral process to its logical culmination.

When did you feel the tide turned after 11 rounds of deadlock?

We could always sense that the momentum was with us from the time of the first vote in the direct contest as despite every diplomatic effort by those supporting the other candidate, our tally remained steady.

What are the lessons learnt in international realpolitik from the victorious campaign?

We need to have faith in ourselves and capabilities as a country whose leadership is willing to set goals and work for their achievement in a focused manner.

Will the result set the stage for reforms in the United Nations Security Council and how will it impact the future?

Every organisation, if it has to be relevant, needs to change and reform itself. The UN is no exception to this global phenomenon. The choice only is to either do it in a structured manner or it may happen not by design but by chance. Either way, India is well situated to gain from such change.
US-based aerospace company SpaceX will launch its Dragon spacecraft into orbit for its 13th commercial resupply mission.

Nasa is set to launch a sensor that will measure space debris around the International Space Station (ISS), which could help reduce the risk to human life. The one square meter Space Debris Sensor (SDS) will travel on a SpaceX cargo mission on December 4 and will be mounted on the exterior of the station.

The sensor uses dual-layer thin films, an acoustic sensor system, a resistive grid sensor system and a sensored backstop to provide near-real-time impact detection and recording, the US space agency said. Research from this investigation could help lower the risk to human life and critical hardware by orbital debris.

US-based aerospace company SpaceX will launch its Dragon spacecraft into orbit for its 13th commercial resupply mission. The spacecraft will lift into orbit atop the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US carrying crew supplies, equipment and scientific research to crew members living and working aboard the station.

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Sometimes, numbers don't tell the full story. Industry monitors regularly record the shrinking market for laptop computers in the face of tablets and larger smart phones. Yet, the full-function portable PC refuses to roll over and die.

Two industry trends have helped to keep laptops alive  for professional users: One, is BYOD or Bring Your Own Device: Corporates encourage their staff to work in office on their personal machines. The other, is Work From Home: another canny move by employers who are OK with employees connecting to the office network, but doing their work from home or hotel.

No wonder lakhs of professionals opt for a full function laptop or notebook PC to do this dual duty. If the device is thin-n-light, its so much the better. If it also offers a touch screen like a tablet or smart phone that also attracts many lay users who need to occasionally do a bit of word processing, accounting or imaging.

Hyderabad-based RDP who made their name and fame with screen-less thin client PCs, now have a good range of what they call ThinBooks: lightweight laptops that unlike tablets, offer a full featured Windows environment. To achieve the level of portability that young millennial customers demand, such devices jettison the DVD drive and on-board hard disk drive. The storage offered is minimal  around 32GB of solid state storage  and the RAM memory too, is bare bones: typically 2GB. On-the-move users demand a working day of usage, so the battery is 8000-10,000mAh, good for 8-10 hours.

RDP currently has three Thinbook models in the market and I have been trying them out for a week now. All are fueled by a quad core Intel Atom chip. The lightest (weight-wise and on purse!) is the Thinbook 1130, at 1.2kg. Its display is 11.6 inches across and like the other two models, comes with a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels  not quite full HD. The common camera in the series is a 0.3MP front camera, just about adequate for a Skype-type Video call. Two USB ports (one of them USB 3), a mini HDMI port and a 0.3 mm earphone jack are standard in all three models. The 1130 is currently offered at Rs 9999 by online sites. For Rs 3,000 more, you can go for the 1430b which has a larger 14.1-inch screen and weighs 1.36kg. All other specs are identical to the 1130, including the preloaded Windows 10 Home operating system. If you prefer the Windows 10 Professional version, go for the 1430p at Rs 13,999.

The flagship of RDP's Thinbook range seems to be the 1100 which has the useful addition of a touch screen. We are so used to touch controls on the phone that our fingers itch to touch and swipe/move/ select stuff on the screen. For that reason alone I'm guessing a lot of users will be most comfortable with the 1100  even though it only offers the Win Home OS and at 11.6 inches is smaller than the 1430 and is priced Rs 13,999. There is another feature that was a clincher for me. The 1100 has a 360-degree hinge  that means you can prop it up on the table in a "tent" mode or swing it all the way and use it like a tablet. You can't then access the keyboard, but who needs it with a touch screen!

Somewhere among the three options, most users will find their sweet spot. But while great as highly portable computers, these thin books assume you are 'always on' the Internet and store most of your work in one of the cloud services like Google Drive or OneDrive. There is no room on the machine for heavy tools like Office or Photoshop, though you could store some lite versions on a plug-in microSD card up to 128GB.

If you are OK with this caveat, you might well find that 'Thin is In' for you  notebook-wise.

IndiaTechOnline

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Authorities said up to 30 militants in camouflage clothing and flying the black banner of the Islamic State group surrounded the mosque and opened fire on the faithful during the main weekly prayers. (Photo: AFP)

Al-Husayniyah: The young Egyptian imam who survived the Sinai mosque massacre that killed 305 people vowed Monday from his hospital bed to go back and resume the sermon he never finished.

Mohammed Abdel Fattah, 26, was delivering the Friday sermon at the North Sinai Rawda mosque when blasts erupted.

"I was only two minutes into my sermon when I heard two explosions outside the mosque, and then I saw worshippers running in horror," he said.

"Then people entered the mosque and began firing at everyone who was still standing," the preacher said from his hospital bed in the Nile Delta town of Al-Husayniya.

Abdel Fattah - who has been imam for two years at the Rawda mosque frequented by Sufis - said his sermon on that tragic day was about "Mohammed, the prophet of humanity".

The imam fell from the raised minbar, or pulpit, when the attack broke out and was trampled by worshippers who tried to flee the carnage.

And when he hit the ground, people stepped over him, before the bodies of those shot by the attackers piled on top of him, pinning him down and preventing him from lifting his head to see what was going on.

"As soon as the shooting started I fell. I didn't see or feel anything except for the two or three bloodied bodies that fell on top of me," he said.

Among the first casualties was 62-year-old Fathy Ismail, the mosque's muezzin who called the faithful to prayer.

Authorities said up to 30 militants in camouflage clothing and flying the black banner of the Islamic State group surrounded the mosque and opened fire on the faithful during the main weekly prayers.

Abdel Fattah suffered bruising, but his health appears to be improving and he hopes to be back on his feet to continue the sermon that was brutally interrupted.

"If my health allows it, I will return next Friday week (to Rawda mosque) and finish my sermon," he said.
Zimbabwes police and army will stage joint patrols as the country returns to normal after an army takeover that led to Robert Mugabes resignation, the authorities announced on Monday. You will soon notice the Zimbabwe defence forces and Zimbabwe republic police members conducting joint patrols, especially in the Harare central business district, police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said. We urge you all progressive Zimbabweans to respect the countrys laws and cooperate with our officers as they perform their duties, Charamba said, reading from a joint statement of the police and defence forces.
Bali's airport was closed for 24 hours, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, due to the eruption warning and the presence of volcanic ash from Agung. (Photo: AP)

Denpasar: Indonesia raised its warning for Bali's Mount Agung volcano to the highest 'level four' alert on Monday, closed the holiday island's airport and told residents near the summit to immediately evacuate, warning of the "imminent" risk of a larger eruption.

Bali's airport was closed for 24 hours, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, due to the eruption warning and the presence of volcanic ash from Agung.

TV footage showed cold lava flows (lahar) at a number of locations on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path.

"Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak," the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement.

"The potential for a larger eruption is imminent," it said, referring to the visibility of the glow from magma at Agung's summit overnight.

Residents were warned to "immediately evacuate" a danger zone that circles Agung in a radius of 8-10 km (5-6 miles).

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). Agung's last eruption in 1963 left more than 1,000 people dead and razed several villages.

"I'm not worried (but) my friends in Russia are a little bit worried," said a Russian tourist, who only wanted to be identified as Dmitry, at an observation post in Rendang in Bali's east.

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors in 2016, and its international airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesia's eastern archipelago.

Tourism business has slumped in Bali since September when Agung's volcanic tremors began to increase.

"In anticipation of the possibility and imminent risk of disaster, PVMBG (the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre) raised Mount Agung alert level from three to four," it said in a statement.

Travellers Stranded

According to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in nearby Darwin, Australia, there is "ash confirmed on the ground at Denpasar Airport" as well as ash at FL300 (which refers to flight level at 30,000 feet) in the vicinity of the volcano.

Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport, which is about 60 km (40 miles) from the volcano, will be closed for 24 hours, according to a statement from its operator. It said a total of 445 flights - 196 international and 249 domestic - and 59,000 passengers had been affected.

Five alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, such as airports in neighbouring provinces, the statement said.

Bali airport's official website showed flights operated by Singapore Airlines, Sriwijaya, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and Jetstar had been cancelled.

"It is a little bit frustrating because I checked the interneteverything was on schedule, now I am standing here everything was closed," said Jan Nicolai from Germany at Bali's airport.

Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.

"We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been canceled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins have been closed indefinitely," said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles.

A transport ministry spokesman said the main airport on the neighbouring island of Lombok had reopened after "no volcanic ash was detected".

Airlines avoid flying when volcanic ash is present because it can cause significant damage to aircraft engines, leading to possible engine failure, and can clog fuel and cooling systems and hamper pilot visibility.

In June 1982, a British Airways 747 suffered severe damage and had all four engines flame out after encountering ash from Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. It descended to 12,000 feet before being able to restart some engines and make an emergency landing in Jakarta.

The alert level on Agung had been raised to the maximum in September, but was lowered in October when seismic activity calmed. However, volcanologists now say the volcano has entered a new phase with magma now visible and meaning a greater risk of a large eruption.
A top Australian television personality was on Monday accused of indecent assault, sexual harassment and bullying, with one leading executive referring to him as a horrible, horrible man.The allegations against Don Burke come amid an ever-widening scandal following the downfall of American movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. They alleged he was a psychotic bully and a sexual predator. Two former TV researchers claim he groped their breasts, the ABC reported, while a young actress alleged he told her she would have to do an audition topless.
The agreement between the two countries was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev after they held wide-ranging talks. (Photo: PTI)

Moscow: India and Russia Monday agreed to help each other in combating terrorism as the two strategic partners signed a key agreement, asserting that there are no good or bad terrorists and the menace should be fought jointly.

The agreement between the two countries for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev after they held wide-ranging talks.

The ministers underlined that cooperation in the field of security is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship further strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and radicalism, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said.

They agreed that terrorism must be fought in unification and there were no good or bad terrorists, it said.

"The new agreement between India's MHA and Russia's interior ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security," Singh tweeted after signing the pact.

The Indian embassy statement said the two leaders agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhance exchange of information, cooperate in building a data base and in training of police and investigative agencies.

Indian and Russian representatives also signed the joint action plan for countering the threat posed by narcotics and the agreement will provide legal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.

The pact was signed by Indian ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran and deputy minister for internal affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Zubov in presence of Singh and Kolokoltsev.

The agreement on internal security is an updated and more comprehensive agreement on cooperation on security between the MHA and the Russian ministry of interior.

This pact provides a comprehensive approach for help in security related issues, including information technology crimes, counterfeiting currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in human beings, economic crimes, crimes related to intellectual property, cultural property amongst others, the statement said.

During the meeting, the ministers emphasised the strength of the relationship between India and Russia that has been consolidated in the past 70 years in all areas.

Before leaving for Russia, Singh said India and Russia share a special relationship which has withstood the test of time over the decades.

Singh was scheduled to visit Russia on September 18, 2016, but he had cancelled it following a terror attack on that day at the Brigade headquarters in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 19 Army soldiers were killed.
The Pope hopes to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many Rohingyas forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh. (Photo: File)

Rome: Pope Francis set off on his 21st and possibly most delicate overseas trip yet, a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis.

The 80-year-old pontiff's plane left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar's main city, shortly after 2100 GMT.

He will touch down around 0700 GMT Monday hoping to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar, forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.

"I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope," Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter's Square, shortly before packing his bags for the diplomatically fraught trip.

Some 620,000 Rohingya, more than half their total number, have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.

Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week's tentative agreement between the two countries to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
China has backed what Myanmar officials call a legitimate counter-insurgency operation in Rakhine, and stepped in to prevent a resolution on the crisis at the UN Security Council. (Photo: AP)

Yangon: Myanmar's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, will soon visit Beijing, state media said on Monday, as the southeast Asian nation appears to draw closer to its northern neighbour, China, amid global criticism over an exodus of Rohingya refugees.

Myanmar has bristled at pressure from Western nations over its armed forces' brutal response to August attacks on security posts by Rohingya Muslim militants in the western state of Rakhine.

The United States and the United Nations have accused Myanmar of "ethnic cleansing" and called for the military to be held accountable over allegations of killings, rape and arson that sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.

China, however, has backed what Myanmar officials call a legitimate counter-insurgency operation in Rakhine, and stepped in to prevent a resolution on the crisis at the UN Security Council.

News of Suu Kyi's visit comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese military leaders welcomed Myanmar's powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing last week and pledged closer cooperation.

The state-run daily Global New Light of Myanmar said Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi would "soon" depart to attend a Communist Party of China-hosted forum of world political leaders in Beijing.

Read: Stakes are high: Pope Francis arrives in Myanmar

Suu Kyi's spokesman Zaw Htay could not be reached for more details, but the meeting begins on Thursday and runs until December 3, according to China's official news agency Xinhua.

Myanmar is in the international spotlight this week as Pope Francis makes the first visit by a head of the Roman Catholic church to the Buddhist-majority country.

He has previously spoken out about the treatment of minority Muslims to whom Myanmar denies citizenship, but some Christians fear doing so in the country could provoke a backlash.

Many in Myanmar refuse to recognise the name Rohingya, preferring to call them "Bengalis" to suggest they belong in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Since IMCTC only includes Sunni Muslim countries and so far excluded Iran, Iraq and Syria, it was feared that it could be considered as anti-Shiite grouping. (Photo: AFP)

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa Monday left for Riyadh to attend a counter-terror conference hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar are also accompanying the prime minister and the Chief of Army Staff on a day-long tour, Radio Pakistan reported.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opened the maiden meeting of defense ministers of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition in Riyadh Sunday.

Read: First Islamic counter-terrorism summit kicks off in Saudi Arabia

The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) is a coalition of 41 Muslims countries and currently led by former Pakistan Army Chief General (retd) Raheel Shareef.

The Saudi Crown Prince had announced about the formation of IMCTC in 2015 but it took more than two years to take it a shape.

Since IMCTC only includes Sunni Muslim countries and so far excluded Iran, Iraq and Syria, it was feared that it could be considered as anti-Shiite grouping.

Shareef, in his address to IMCTC defence ministers Sunday, had said that it was a counter-terrorism alliance and not against any country or any sect.

The delegation, led by the prime minister, is expected to hold meetings with the Crown Prince and other officials.

During the meetings, bilateral relations, regional and international situation would be reviewed, it said.
The protesters had staged sit-in in the capital for about three weeks demanding removal of Hamid for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017. (Photo: AP)

Islamabad: Pakistan's law minister resigned Monday as the embattled civilian government bowed to demands from a small Islamist group whose anti-blasphemy protest in the capital has fuelled deadly violence and sparked demonstrations across the nuclear-armed nation.

Protest leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi called off the sit-in after state media reported minister Zahid Hamid's resignation early Monday. Rizvi said he had military assurances that the demands of his Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY) group would be met.

"On the assurance of the Chief of Army Staff, we are calling off the sit-in," he told a crowd of around 2,500 demonstrators, adding that his group was abandoning plans to issue a fatwa against Hamid and was calling for roads and schools to be reopened.

There was no immediate confirmation from the government of the resignation and no comment from the military.

Read: Army called in as hardline protest claims 6 lives, injures 200 in Pakistan

The decision to capitulate to the protesters' demands is a major embarrassment for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as it eyes elections in 2018, analysts said, and underscores the influence of religious groups in the nuclear-armed country of 207 million.

Rizvi's previously obscure group has been calling for weeks for Hamid's ousting over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath which election candidates must swear. It has occupied a main highway into Islamabad since November 6 and virtually paralysed the capital.

The protesters have linked the amended wording to blasphemy -- a highly contentious charge in Muslim Pakistan which carries the death penalty. Even unproven allegations have spurred mob lynchings and murders.

Monday's announcement came after Saturday's botched operation to disperse the demonstrators sparked violence in Islamabad that left at least seven people dead and hundreds wounded.

It fuelled the spread of the protests and blockades to major cities across the country including Karachi and Lahore.

The government ordered police and paramilitaries to stand down after the clashes and called on the army to intervene to restore order. By Monday morning there still had been no official response from the military.

As he called off the sit-in, Rizvi referred to what he said was the text of an army-brokered agreement between TLY and the government, though the document could not be verified with officials or the military.

"We all now need to heal the fault lines that dharna (sit-in) has invoked on religious & sectarian basis & ensure it doesn't reoccur. It is a priority," tweeted Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, without further details.

'Major embarrassment'

Authorities initially hesitated to act over the sit-in.

Pakistan's civilian government has long pulled its punches in such situations, fearing that a crackdown on a religious group would incite blowback, as it has in the past. Critics have warned that this attitude allows extremism to flourish.

But as the weeks dragged on the hesitation enraged millions of commuters in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi. The demonstration caused hours-long traffic snarls and the death of at least one child whose ambulance could not reach hospital in time.

Hamid's ousting is the latest in a series of heavy blows to the ruling party.

In July Nawaz Sharif was deposed as prime minister by the courts over graft allegations, while finance minister Ishaq Dar -- also accused of corruption -- has taken indefinite medical leave.

Observers had previously warned that capitulation would set a dangerous precedent.

"Politically, this is a major embarrassment for the PML-N," analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, adding that it would undermine their credibility and predicting more defections.

He also warned it had strengthened the position of hardline groups like TLY.

TLY comes from the Barelvi sect of Islam that has strong ties to Sufism, a mystical branch of the religion that is seen as moderate. It emphasises personal devotion by its followers to the Prophet Mohammed.

However the execution in 2016 of Barelvi follower Mumtaz Qadri -- who assassinated liberal Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his stance on the blasphemy laws -- appears to have galvanised Rizvi and his followers.

Askari warned that the decision by TLY and other Islamist parties to campaign in the upcoming elections could further weaken the PML-N. The party has previously benefited from the right-wing religious vote.
The previously obscure Islamist group has been calling for weeks for Hamid's ousting over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath which election candidates must swear. (Photo: AP)

Islamabad: Islamist leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi whose group clashed violently with Pakistani security forces and paralysed Islamabad for weeks called off the sit-in protest Monday after law minister Zahid Hamid resigned, meeting its key demand.

"On the assurance of the Chief of Army Staff, we are calling off the sit-in," Rizvi told a crowd of around 2,500 demonstrators from the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY), who have occupied a main highway to the capital since November 6.

His statement came after state media reported that Zahid Hamid had resigned. There was no immediate comment or confirmation from government officials.

The decision to capitulate to the protesters' demands is a major embarrassment for the embattled ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as it eyes elections in 2018, analysts said, and underscores the influence of religious groups in the nuclear-armed nation.

The previously obscure Islamist group has been calling for weeks for Hamid's ousting over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath which election candidates must swear.

Read: Paks Law Minister Zahid Hamid resigns over hardline protests

The protesters have linked the amended wording to blasphemy - a highly contentious issue in Muslim Pakistan that has often fuelled violence.

Monday's announcement came after a botched operation on Saturday to disperse the demonstrators sparked violence in Islamabad that left at least seven people dead and hundreds wounded. It fuelled the spread of the protests to major cities across the country including Karachi and Lahore.

The government ordered police and paramilitaries to stand down after the clashes and called on the army to intervene to restore order. By Monday morning, there still had been no official response from the military.

The sit-in has enraged commuters in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi with hours-long traffic snarls, caused the death of at least one child whose ambulance could not reach hospital in time, and infuriated the judiciary.

Hamid's ousting is the latest in a series of heavy blows to the ruling party.

In July, Nawaz Sharif was deposed as prime minister by the courts over graft allegations, while finance minister Ishaq Dar - also accused of corruption - has taken indefinite medical leave.

"Politically, this is a major embarrassment for the PML-N," analyst Hasan Askari said, warning that it would undermine their credibility and predicting more defections.

He also warned it had strengthened the position of hardline Islamic groups like TLY, whose campaigning in the upcoming elections could further weaken the PML-N. The party has previously benefited from the right-wing religious vote.
Mangalore is one of the port cities of the world that would witness a significant sea level rise due to polar glacier melting, NASA scientists have warned.



The coastal Karnataka town, however, is not alone. Kakinada on east coast and Mumbai on the west too would have the same fate and so would be many other Indian coastal towns, thanks to the melting of the ice sheets at Greenland and Antarctica.



This is the findings of a new research carried out by the scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on how the sea level rise  as a consequence to polar ice melting  would affect 293 port cities around the globe.



Indian cities are far from Greenland and Antarctica, so they see sea-level rise on the order of about 3 mm per year, which is close to the maximum a city can see. In 100 years, this will be about 30 cm of sea-level rise, Eric Larour, a JPL scientist from the earth sciences section, who led the study told DH.



Out of the three Indian cities, the rise at Mangalore would be the maximum at 2.94 mm per year. The annual rise in Mumbai would be 2.88 mm while for Kakinada it would be 2.87 mm.



The Karnataka port town would be encountering one of the highest sea level rises in the south east Asia, eclipsed only by Yangon (2.95 mm) and Colombo (3.02 mm).



Most of the Indian coastal towns are likely to face a similar level of sea level rise (around 30 cm rise in the next 100 years). We should be aware and get prepared, Larour said, when asked if it is a cause of alarm.



Earlier this month, a US government report came up with the startling findings of sea level rise of 18-20 cm since 1900, with the last 25 years making up almost half that increase.



The new study - published in a recent issue of Science Advances - is based on a computerised diagnostic tool, created by the JPL team to anticipate the consequences of large scale ice melting on the port cities around the world. For India, its far from most ice masses, so its impacted heavily, he said.



The only relief for India is the presence of the Himalayas, which dampen the polar ice melt impact to some extent..



The only place that mitigates the sea level rise is the Himalayan glaciers. For India only, the Himalayan glaciers are responsible for a slight decrease in sea-level, Larour said. The impact of all the other masses of ice in the world are overwhelmingly impacting India in an adverse way.

(EOM)
Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today announced his decision to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat of Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with outside support of the Congress.



The moves come after sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state Congress asked him not to contest the polls from the seat "as a part of an agreement" with Mevani.

Vaghela said the Congress has given an indirect support to Mevani for Vadgam seat, reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate.

"The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congress' support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

Mevani today announced that he will file his nomination as an Independent candidate for the Vadgam seat.

In a message posted on social media, the face of the Dalit agitation in Gujarat claimed that he decided to jump into the poll battle after being "persuaded" by youth and numerous agitators.

He even requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers.

"Since the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file their papers, so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is people's battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election," he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP's Vijay Chakravarthi.

Earlier this month, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat.

After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 percent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.

Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una Dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.
In a stinging attack on the Congress in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the upcoming Assembly election is a fight between trust on the development and dynastic politics.



He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

He also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on the development and dynastic politics," the prime minister said at the rally.

Taking another dig at the opposition party, which is making all-out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The prime minister will address a series of campaign meetings today and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be on December 18.
A rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali could erupt at any moment, authorities warned on Monday as they raised alert levels to maximum, accelerated a mass evacuation and closed the main airport, leaving tourists stranded.



Massive columns of thick grey smoke that have been belching from Mount Agung since last week has now begun shooting more than three km into the sky, forcing flights to be grounded.

About 40,000 frightened people have fled their homes around the volcano but as many as 1,00,000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials said after raising the alert to its highest level.

The exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 km from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta, has also been widened to 10 km.

"Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions and a weak booming sound," the National Board for Disaster Management said.

"The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent."

Agung rumbled back to life in September, forcing the evacuation of 1,40,000 people living nearby. Its activity decreased in late October and many returned to their homes.

However, on Saturday the mountain sent smoke up into the air for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption-caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.

Then on Monday so-called cold lava flows appeared-similar to mudflows and often a prelude to the blazing orange lava seen in many volcanic eruptions.

"I'm very concerned because I left my house behind and I'm also worried about family," said 36-year-old farmer Putu Suyasa, who fled with some of his relatives from a village eight km away from the volcano.

Mt Agung last erupted in 1963, killing about 1,600 people in one of the deadliest eruptions in a country that has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed, a move expected to affect tens of thousands of passengers.

"I have to make sure that the runway has no ash," said Bali airport's general manager Yanus Suorayogi.

The airport on nearby Lombok island-also a popular tourist destination east of Bali-closed on Sunday as ash from Mount Agung headed in that direction, but reopened on Monday.

The Australian government put out a travel advisory on Sunday instructing travellers to exercise a high degree of caution.

Indonesia is the world's most active volcanic region. The archipelago nation with over 17,000 islands lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.

Last year, seven were killed after Mt Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra erupted, while 16 were left dead by a Sinabung eruption in 2014.
Former Indian Navy chief Admiral (Retd) L Ramdas has written to Chief Justice Deepak Misra, seeking a judicial probe into the death of Judge Brijmohan Harikishan Loya, the special CBI judge in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.



Loya (48), died of a heart attack in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, a day after he attended the wedding and reception of the daughter of a fellow judge.

In the letter to Justice Misra, a copy of which was also marked to Justice Manjula Chellur, Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Ramdas wrote, "As a former chief of the Indian Navy, I feel strongly that it is critically important to clear any doubts about this entire incident. Therefore in the larger interests of the nation and its people, and above all in upholding the Constitution of India and the image of our entire legal system, a high-level judicial enquiry be initiated immediately."

"All democracies exist and survive on three main pillars namely the executive, legislature and the judiciary. Freedom from British rule was won after a prolonged struggle and The Indian Constitution was evolved after nearly two and a half years of debate in the Constituent Assembly and passed on November 29, 1949, and India became a Republic on January 26, 1950. Our Constitution became effective. This one and only holy book which matters, subscribes to the above concept of our democracy, wherein all our citizens are considered to be equal in the eyes of the law," the former chief of naval staff, who is a recipient of the Magsaysay Award for Peace, stated in his letter.

According to Ramdas, a probe is must as Judge Loya, specially appointed by the chief justice of the Bombay High Court to investigate the murder of Sohrabbudin, died under mysterious circumstances in Nagpur.

"The silence of the two judges who apparently persuaded the late Judge Loya to travel to Nagpur, and accompanied him, is disturbing, to say the least. The inaction of the judiciary about this sequence of events thus far is indeed surprising. This is all the more puzzling in the context of the recent revelations by family members of the late Justice Loya, who have raised certain questions, apprehending foul play in the circumstances leading to his sudden death," Ramdas stated in his letter.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday said it will issue recommendations on net neutrality on Tuesday.



"We will issue recommendations on net neutrality tomorrow (Tuesday)," Trai chairman R S Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of an open house discussion on in-flight connectivity (IFC) for providing phone call and data service.

He also said recommendations on net neutrality should be able to provide some of the answers to issues around OTT (over-the-top) players and VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) calls.

Sharma also said recommendations on IFC will be issued within 10 days.

Net neutrality principle says that access to internet or any internet-based service should be without any barrier or discrimination.

Telecom operators have been asking the government to bring over-the-top (OTT) players like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber under regulation as they are making a dent in their revenues, while internet-based service providers oppose this.

However, supporters of net neutrality have been demanding that the entire internet traffic should be available to everyone on equal terms without any discrimination.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad last week while addressing the 'Global Cyber Security' event at the national capital said the government is supporting the free flow of internet without any barrier.

The telecom regulators recommendations will come at a time when there is a debate raging over net neutrality globally. US regulator, Federal Communications Commission, recently announced that it is planning to roll back the "net neutrality" rules that were adopted in America in 2015.
A seven-member Legislature House Committee is all set to begin scrutiny of the state government's free laptop scheme, which has become mired in controversy.



The committee, headed by Congress MLC K C Kondaiah, will review the process followed by the Department of Higher Education in purchasing laptops for college students. The committee was formed after members during the recently-concluded Legislative Council session in Belagavi flagged "financial irregularities" in purchasing laptops.

MLCs Ivan D'Souza, Ramesh Babu, Raghunath Rao Malkapure, Sharanappa Mattur, Arun Shahapur and R Prasanna Kumar are members of the House committee, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Tuesday.

In his 2017-18 budget, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced free laptops for 1.5 lakh engineering, medical, polytechnic and first grade college students at a cost of Rs 300 crore. The scheme was earlier confined to college students from SC/ST communities.

Malkapure raised the issue of irregularities, citing a letter purportedly written by IAS officer M N Ajay Nagabhushan highlighting that the government's decision to procure laptops through four packages instead of a single tender would increase the per-laptop cost. Nagabhushan wrote to the chief secretary about this last month after he was transferred from the post of commissioner for collegiate education. The officer had also raised objections to the manner in which funds were releaed to the Bengaluru Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics in Bengaluru.

Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi has denied any corruption in the procurement of laptops for students.
Since Millets are highly nutritious when compared to other cereals, the Centre is planning to distribute it to citizens through public distribution system and midday meal schemes.



"We are trying to ensure millets are brought under the PDS (Public Distribution System) and schemes like Midday Meal. Niti Aayog has suggested this should be part of the PDS," Union Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak said on Monday.

Ragi has a very high calcium content. Therefore, the government is thinking of promoting millets as "nutri-cereals' and is already in the direction of making the storage facility of the cereal better, he said.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is working on the issue of low yields and storage and is likely to release some high yielding varieties soon, he said.

He also suggested that the states should promote setting up of farmer producers organisations (FPOs) for better production and marketing of millets, ensuring higher income to farmers.

Karnataka in the front

The Karnataka Government earlier demanded the Centre to procure millets from Karnataka which is one of the highest millet growing state in the country. Karnataka had held Organics and Millets International Trade Fare in Bengaluru in January to promote the marketing of the cereal.

Since the millets can be grown using less water and dry land, it would be a blessing to farmers who have been suffering due to failure of monsoon, Pattanayak said.

Millets is group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops. Some of the varieties of millets are bajra, ragi, sorghum, jowar , brown top millets ( korle), Little millet (samai) and Indian barnyard millet.
A day after the Centre decided to downgrade former chief minister Lalu Prasad's security, the RJD chief's elder son Tej Pratap threatened the Prime Minister and made uncharitable remarks against him.



"Lalu ji has to travel a lot. If any untoward incident occurs following withdrawal of his security cover, we will get the Prime Minister skinned. 'Khaal udhadwa lenge' (Will get him skinned)....Go and tell him," an agitated Tej Pratap, who was earlier health minister in Nitish's Grand Alliance Government, told reporters here on Monday.

Lalu Prasad, whose security cover has been downgraded from Z+ to Z category and the NSG cover withdrawn, did not reprimand his son.

Instead, he said that if he was killed, then the Centre and the State Government should be held responsible.

"Agar mujhe kuch hua toh Modi aur Nitish jawabdeh honge. (If something happens to me, then Narendra Modi and Nitish should be held responsible," said Lalu.

The UPA regime had provided Z+ security cover to Lalu in view of threat perception to the RJD leader. However, on Sunday, the Centre, after review of security cover of several politicians, decided to withdraw Lalu's NSG cover.

"First, they (Modi-led BJP) decided to implicate me and my family in false cases of corruption. When nothing came out of it, they have now decided to downgrade my security cover. It's a larger design by the BJP to 'finish off' Opposition leaders," averred Lalu and added he won't be cowed down "unlike Nitish who surrendered before Narendra Modi in July."

The BJP, however, blasted Tej Pratap for unsavoury remarks. "Either Tej Pratap should be booked for offensive comments or sent to mental hospital," said Union Minister Ashwani Choubey.
The Bombay High Court has asked constable Lalita Salve who sought leave for sex-reassignment surgery to move the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal.



Lalita's lawyer, Ejaz Naqvi, on Monday mentioned the petition before a division bench comprising Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharti Dangre, seeking an urgent hearing.

"Why should we hear the petition? Go to the state administrative tribunal," Justice Dharmadhikari said.

The 29-year-old constable is now based in Majalgaon in the Beed district of the Marathwada region of Maharashtra.

Earlier, her application for sex-reassignment surgery and leave came before Director General of Police Satish Mathur, Inspector General of Police (Aurangabad Range) Milind Bharambe and Superintendent of Police (Beed) G Sreedhar - but were rejected.

Last week, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the police top brass and the Home Department to take a positive stand on the plea.
India and Russia on Monday signed agreements to counter terrorism and narcotics trade during Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's Moscow visit.



The agreement for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev in Moscow after they held wide-ranging talks.

"The new agreement between India's MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) and Russia's Interior Ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security," Singh tweeted after signing the agreement.

The agreement on internal security is an updated and more comprehensive pact on cooperation on security. This provides a comprehensive approach for help in security-related issues, including cyber crimes, counterfeiting currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, human trafficking, economic crime and crime related to intellectual property among others.

Another agreement on cooperation between the MHA and the Ministry of Interior of Russian Federation has been signed by representatives of both the countries to tackle narcotics trade. The joint action plan for countering the threat posed by narcotics will provide legal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.
Potato prices in Punjab have plummeted to abysmally low levels leaving farmers distressed.



The crop is being sold in the wholesale market at around Rs 2.5 per kg, sometimes even less.

Punjab is staring at a repeat of the 2015 winter when farmers dumped hundreds of tonnes of potatoes onto the streets as a mark of protest amid falling prices.

Farmers have now again threatened to throw their crop onto the streets in case the government does not intervene with viable solutions.

The glut in cold storages has escalated the crisis. Farmers stocked their unsold produce early this year hoping they will get adequate remunerative price later. But that has not been the case.

Reports suggest many farmers have even abandoned their stocks lying in cold storage. Hordes of tractor trolleys stocked with potato crop on roads have become a common sight in Punjab.

Farmer associations have urged the government to work towards exporting the crop to Pakistan through the Attari-Wagha border.

Producers say prices in Pakistan are far more remunerative and could help offset losses.

The Confederation of Potato Seeds Farmers suggests the crisis started last year when more than half the produce was pushed into cold storage as there were no buyers. And the fresh produce has now led to a glut.

In certain pockets, potatoes are being sold at less than Rs 250 per quintal. Last month, farmers staged a token protest by dumping tonnes of produce onto the streets near Mohali. The protest could get bigger, farmers threaten.

Farmers say there is no way they can meet even their input costs. Loses could go up to Rs 20,000 per acre will plummeting prices.

Input costs added up to Rs 35,000 per acre with returns hovering around Rs 15,000 per acre.

The confederation also suggested the government export potatoes to Russia and the Middle East where there is a big demand.
A senior government pleader who represented the Kerala Government in the Hadiya case has approached the state police chief with claims that he is being targeted and abused on social media.



Advocate P Narayanan said he noticed defamatory messages and veiled threats against him on social media pages after he appeared in the case.

"The messages are extremely abusive and some of them threaten me," Narayanan told DH on Monday.

The government pleader, attached to the camp office of the Advocate General, had appeared on behalf of the state in the writ petition filed by Hadiya's father K M Ashokan at the Kerala High Court regarding her illegal detention.

He had argued that Hadiya was forced and misled to her religious conversion and later, her marriage.

Narayanan said the abusive messages were in retaliation to the High Court's order, in May this year, which annulled the marriage of Hadiya (Akhila Ashokan, before she converted to Islam) with a Muslim man, Shafin Jahan.

He said he was being targeted by people who were trying to project him as an RSS sympathiser who acted in the organisation's interests while appearing in the case.

"Distorted facts and innuendos are being spread through social media regarding my role as a State Law Officer in the conduct of the said case," he said in his complaint. Ernakulam central police have registered a case.
The BJP has launched a tirade against writer Chandrashekhar Patil (Champa) over his "political speech" at the Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Mysuru and also for his critucism of Union Minister Ananth Kumar.

State BJP general secretary Shobha Karandlaje on Monday sought an apology from Champa for his remarks against Kumar.

She said Patil's statement Kumar did not know the meaning of secular was an insult to the people of Karnataka and demanded an apology from the writer.

The former minister said Kumar had strived for the upliftment of Kannada language and the people of Karnataka were aware of his contribution. She said it was unfortunate that the Sahitya Sammelana was used as a platform for glorifying "leftist thoughts" for "political gains" and for "promoting pseudo-secularism."

In Mysuru, MP Pratap Simha took severe exception to Patil's remarks against Kumar during the valedictory of the Sahitya Sammelana and sought an apology from him.

Addressing reporters in the city, he said, "No one needs to certify Ananth Kumar. The people know about his contribution to Kannada," the MP said.

"Champa, who highlighted secularism in his speech, has no minimum knowledge about it and he is trying to define it the other way.

Lashing out at Champa for converting the literary event into a political battlefield, Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi said he (Champa) was a supporter of the Congress.

Speaking to mediapersons in Dharwad, Joshi said, it appeared that Champa got elected as Sammelana president not as a senior writer, but as a Congress party agent.

Whatever Champa has said does not suit his stature. The Congress, which is dreaming of coming to power after the next elections, will meet its Waterloo, he said.

He said, Champa's daughter studied in English medium and Kannada was only a means of life for the writer.

In Shivamogga, Leader of the Opposition in the Council K S Eshwarappa said Champa was acting like a 'chamcha' (stooge) of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The IFFI's Indian Panorama jury watched the censored version of controversial Malayalam film S Durga on Monday, but the suspense over its screening at the festival continued, with jury head Rahul Rawail saying the Information and Broadcasting Ministry would take a final call on the matter.



The jury has submitted its report to the ministry, and a final decision on the film's screening at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which comes to an end on Tuesday, was yet to be taken, Rawail said.

The recent development on the public screening of the film has left its director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan disappointed.

Sasidharan, who had earlier moved the Kerala High Court against the ministry's decision to drop the film, called the whole process a "dirty game".

Rawail said the final decision was yet to be made and that he was not sure when the Malayalam film would be screened at the IFFI.

"I cannot say anything at this point of time. The report has been handed over to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and it will forward the report to the court. After the final decision is made, I will be open to talk (to you)," he told reporters here.

The censored version of the Malayalam film, which was excluded from the Panorama by the ministry, was screened for the jury of the section at 5.30 pm on Monday.

Director Satish Kaushik, who also attended the screening, said the jury has decided to send a report to the ministry, which will take the final call.

"Jury has taken the decision... The report has been submitted to the ministry... Now it will take the final call on the screening of the film soon," he said.
The Supreme Court on Monday freed Hadiya, at the centre of a 'love jihad' case, from her parents' custody, enabling her to continue her homoeopathy course.



The Kerala High Court had set aside the marriage of Akhila alias Hadiya to a Muslim man in December, accepting the contention that it was a case of love jihad.

Answering a flurry of queries through an interpreter, the 25-year-old told the court, "I want my freedom. I want to go with my husband."

"I am under unlawful custody for the past 11 months," she replied to another question.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, however, ordered that she be taken to her college in Salem at the earliest to complete an 11-month internship programme, and appointed the college dean as her local guardian.

"She will be treated like any other student," the court said, directing the Tamil Nadu government to ensure her security during her stay there.

To the court's question, if her education expenses would be met by the state, Hadiya said her husband can take care of it. "A wife is not a chattel. She is an individual with an independent status in society," the bench remarked.

The court posted her husband Shafin Jahan's plea against the high court's May judgement, invalidating his marriage, for consideration in January.

As the woman was brought to the court from her father's custody, the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, asked if it should interact with her in open court, even as senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Hadiya's father Asokan K M, pleaded for in-camera hearing.

"What are the parameters to examine her? What should be the stage to allow individual freedom, autonomy and choice? We have to respect the dignity of the person. What is the stage where the court should cross the threshold in view of the constitutional principle of individual freedom... once consent is not voluntary, what is the duty of the court?" the bench said.

Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, along with advocate Indira Jaising, insisted, "The court has to interact with her in any case. We don't have any objection if the court wants to talk to her in chambers."
Construction in the vicinity of Bangalore Palace, Trinity Church, Someshwara Temple and other places may be prohibited, if the BDA has its way.



The Bangalore Development Authority has proposed to declare as 'protected heritage sites' a total of 191 government or public heritage buildings of the 558 it has identified.

These 191 structures are located in the central business district and include the Hudson Memorial Church, St Mary's Basilica and the Crescent House. The CBD is a 27.74-square kilometre area in and around the Vidhana Soudha and the historic Pete areas.

Once a building is given the protected heritage site tag, construction will be prohibited within 100 metres of its boundary, while the contiguous 200 metres will fall under the regulated area, where only an archaeological officer can undertake construction.

At present, only nine heritage sites are protected in Bengaluru - two by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the rest by the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage.

As part of its Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2031 preparation, the BDA has identified 558 heritage sites in Bengaluru, which is the first official inventory of the city's surviving heritage ever since the erstwhile Bangalore Urban Arts Commission had put together a list of 747 heritage sites before disbanding in 2002.

As it turns out, 321 of the 558 heritage sites are in the CBD, which the BDA calls "the heritage core" of the Bengaluru metropolitan area.

For the RMP 2031, the BDA carried out a physical survey for identification of heritage sites and documented them based on spatial location, extent, age, use of building, ownership and classification of heritage.

'Accordingly, the 558 sites have been classified under built heritage value (533), natural heritage value (16) and cultural heritage value (9).

"With rapid commercialisation, there's a dire need to keep heritage structures from further damage," BDA commissioner Rakesh Singh said. The BDA will follow up with the ASI and the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage to protect heritage buildings, he added.

The RMP 2031 also proposes creating a dozen heritage zones in the city: Central Administrative Heritage Zone, Pete & Bengaluru Fort Heritage Zone, Gavipuram, Basavanagudi and VV Puram Heritage Zone, MG Road Heritage Zone, Shivajinagar Heritage Zone, Cleveland Town Heritage Zone, Richards Town Heritage Zone, Malleswaram Heritage Zone, Ulsoor Heritage Zone, Whitefield Inner Circle Heritage Zone, Begur Temple Heritage Zone and Bengaluru Palace Heritage Zone.
The proposal to build a railway station (halt) near the trumpet flyover to provide train connectivity to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has got the momentum with the state government holding talks in this regard.



"The government has held discussions with the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). We will come out with a final plan soon," sources in the government said.

The station will be about five km from the airport. It will be part of the suburban rail network with the government recently selecting RITES to conduct a feasibility study to provide rail connectivity to the airport.

The Department of Urban Land Transport, which one of the nodal agencies in the suburban rail project, is likely to take the airport link on high priority. The project requires the doubling of Yalahanka-Devanahalli line and building a third line between Yashwantpur and Devanahalli.
A 31-year-old spurned lover strangled an 18-year-old girl before hanging himself at the former's house in Marenahalli in Vijaynagar, West Bengaluru, on Monday evening.



Police suspect that Ramakrishna alias Krishnamurthy grew furious after Divya Kumar spurned his advances. Ramakrishna, of Marenahalli, had been working at a chicken stall run by Divya's uncle Madhu for the past 15 years.

Divya, a second-year BCom student at a private college in Vijayanagar, was alone at home when the incident occurred around 4 pm. While Madhu had gone to Shivajinagar, Divya's mother Subhashini had been to a relative's house. A few neighbours told the police that Ramakrishna and Divya were seen talking to each other near the main door. A little while later, they were heard screaming at each other.

Suspecting something wrong, neighbours called up Madhu and informed the police. The police arrived and found during a preliminary investigation that Ramakrishna had strangled Divya with a veil and then hanged himself in the same room. The Vijayanagar police have registered a case of murder and suicide.
Fast food chain Vasudev Adiga's Fast Food has won a case challenging the use of Adiga's as a trademark for running restaurants and hotels.



The High Court of Karnataka dismissed an appeal by Adiga Sweets against a civil court order in favour of Vasudev Adiga's Fast Food in a trademark infringement case filed by Adiga Sweets.

In 2007, the Adiga's adopted the name Vasudev Adiga's Fast Food. From 2003 to 2007, they applied for the trademark of 'Adiga's' and 'Vasudeva Adiga's' and the same were duly registered under different classes.

While filing an application for the trademark, Vasudev Adiga's found that Adiga's had been selling sweets in the name of Adiga Sweets from a shop in Bengaluru. Vasudev Adiga's filed a civil case for a permanent injunction to Adiga Sweets that was granted by the court.

The civil court had stated that Adiga's Fast Food started its business in 1993 while the Adiga Sweets began its business in 2003. Thus, Adiga's Fast Food is the prior user of the unregistered trademark Adiga's.

In his order, Justice Raghavendra Chauhan of the high court stated that the use of the name Adiga's as a suffix or prefix would not prevent a person from initiating an action of infringement against the other and upheld the civil court's order.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is quietly planning to "privatise or rather outsource" the maintenance of water pump houses that supply water to the city.



It recently placed an advertisement in newspapers inviting tenders for the annual maintenance of Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stages 1, 2, 3 pump houses at Thorekadanahalli (TK Halli). The operation and maintenance of these pump houses were under the control of the board until now.

BWSSB engineers, however, insist that the tenders were invited only for repair, not maintenance.

"This is the second time we have invited tenders as there were no bidders the first time we called them two months ago. The repair of nine pumps at TK Halli was done by many contractors who took it up as piecework (small work). Now, we want to assign the repair to one contractor for a year," said Venkatesh S V, executive engineer, Cauvery head works division, BWSSB. He denied that the board was planning to outsource the work.

A former engineer, who had toiled to bring Cauvery water from TK Halli, expressed displeasure at the recent development and described the outsourcing as the "advent of the East India Company".

"By handing over the repair to contractors, engineers would be rendered redundant. The engineers' technical know-how about pump houses and motors would become zero," said Narayana Iyengar K R, retired chief engineer, BWSSB.

The BWSSB has failed to nurture its employees by training them to handle the maintenance, he suggested, adding that outsourcing would increase the financial burden on the board.

Kshitij Urs, the co-founder of Peoples' Campaign for Right to Water, said the operation and maintenance were the core job of the BWSSB and they should not be outsourced.

"When the board invited tenders two months ago, the contractors did not come forward simply because such work is not financially viable. Secondly, the water supply to the public has a social risk. Mysuru city had privatised the water supply which completely failed a few years ago," he added.

The retired engineer said the privatisation concept had failed in many countries and that the BWSSB should take a relook before heading for outsourcing.

DH News Service

Box

BWSSB: In numbers

* 3,500 sanctioned posts.

* 2,157 employees.

* 1,343 vacancies.

* 1,900 contract employees.

* 2,700 additional sanctioned posts sought by the BWSSB.

* Valvemen, meter readers, data entry operators and drivers mostly work on contract.
Commentary: China actively nurturing unicorns in Southeast Asia

Statistics from US-based research body CB Insights show that non-US unicorn startups commanded a 50% share of total global unicorns as of the end of August 2017, sharply up from only 37% as of the end of 2014, indicating the US is no longer a dominant country in nurturing startups. It also suggests that against Asian enterprises, particularly those in China, unrelentingly pursuing development and growth, the Silicon Valley seems stuck in the status quo.

Among Asian countries, China now takes the lead with 56 unicorns and India comes next with 10, with both countries being top targets for multinational investment funds. Korea ranks third with three unicorns, and Singapore and Indonesia have two each; but those unicorns in the two Southeast Asian countries all involve financial support from China tech giants.

China's web population broke the 700 million mark to hit 731 million as of the end of 2016 after experiencing an annual growth of 6.2%, according to statistics released by the China Internet Network Information Center. The growth, however, has fallen under 10% for the first time in five years, indicating China's web population growth has entered a plateau period.

Creating new miracles in new sectors

Despite the relatively stable web population, it will be increasingly difficult to create unicorn companies in the future. But in the emerging sectors such as Internet of Vehicles (IoV), FinTech and related services, China still stands a chance of creating new miracles, given the fact that in 2016 alone, the user numbers of ride-hailing services shot up 38% on year to 168 million in the country.

Eyeing huge business opportunities associated with Internet investment, Beijing authorities officially launched the China Internet Investment Fund at a scale of CNY100 billion (US$15.14 billion) in late January 2017, with China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom all among strategic fund providers. China has become the world's largest e-commerce market, with its trading scale estimated by iResearch to hit CNY400 trillion by 2020. But, beyond capturing the huge business opportunities in the domestic market, China Internet investment funds and venture capital funds will surely extend their tentacles to emerging markets surrounding the Indian Ocean by taking advantage of their powerful financial resources and abundant experiences.

China to be world's No. 1 venture fund source in two years

At the moment, one fourth of global venture capitals come from Silicon Valley. But as China contributed US$72 billion or 21.4% of total global venture capital funds in 2016, the country is expected to unseat the US as the world's largest source of such funds within two years. In fact, China tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu have been actively injecting funds to support startups, with Tencent, particularly, having invested in 19 unicorns, surpassing the corresponding figure of 13 recorded by Sequoia Capital in Silicon Valley.

In May 2016, Google and Singapore-based Temasek Holdings jointly published a report on the digital economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), showing that total digital economy investments by the ASEAN member states already amounted to over US$200 billion. And startups in the ASEAN garnered financings of US$3.1 billion in 2016 and absorbed much more new funds of nearly US$5 billion in the first seven months of 2017. Among them, the Singapore-based ride-hailing platform operator Grab has absorbed US$3.44 billion in financing, and the Indonesian motorbike on-demand startup Go-Jek has obtained US$1.75 billion in funds, with both firms already on the name list of global unicorns.

Who are the major fund providers behind ASEAN startups? Besides Japan's SoftBank, China's four Internet giants BATJ (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com) have contributed the most of the funds for those startups. Among them, Alibaba and Tencent are the most aggressive, with Alibaba having almost completed Alipay service deployments in main ASEAN member countries via investments by its financial service platform Ant Financial.

Alibaba, Tencent aggressively expanding presence in ASEAN

Taiwan's New Southbound Policy - which aims at bettering trade ties with ASEAN and South India - still highlights the concept of hardware production. It seems that while Taiwan is still warming up for the race, Alibaba and Tencent are already miles ahead. As the main investor in Singapore's e-commerce platform Lazada, Alibaba has twice injected funds into the company, whose market value has now reached US$3.15 billion. In the ASEAN countries, Alibaba has demonstrated its determination to integrate and consolidate local payment flows by rendering Alipay services through its subsidiary Ant Financial.

In fact, Taiwan's startups are not far away from the global stage, but they tend to confine themselves to only a small scale when soliciting venture capital funds. In facing the development of startups involving high risks and high investment returns, Taiwan has two questions to answer: Should the funnel's opening be widened to allow all nationals to join startups or let selected elites do the job? Should the country develop B2C startups or cultivate many mini-unicorns in the B2B or focus markets?

(The comments are from a Chinese-language book "Borrowing East Wind: China-US Tech Wrestling and Taiwan" written by Colley Hwang, president of Digitimes.)
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Its a valuable commodity: Exports of Dutch water technology and expertise have doubled since 2000 to just under $9.3 billion a year.



By MIKE CORDER

Associated Press

SPAKENBURG, Netherlands  On a calm, clear morning, historic wooden fishing boats float tranquilly on the glassy waters of the Dutch harbor of Spakenburg. Yet just over a century ago, they were slamming through the houses lining the harbor as a powerful storm unleashed flooding that devastated this picturesque fishing village.

These days, an innovative new self-raising dike protects the village on the edge of Eemmeer Lake, 30 miles southeast of Amsterdam. The 984-foot long barrier is concealed in the sidewalk when not in use, and is lifted up to 31 inches by the very floodwaters it is designed to keep out.





. . .
Life after oil: Shell partners top carmakers for electric charging stations

Royal Dutch Shell has partnered with top carmakers to deploy ultra-fast chargers on Europe's highways, stealing a march on rivals in the race to remove one of the biggest obstacles facing the electric car sector as it prepares for life beyond oil.

Shell, the world's second biggest oil company, has signed an agreement with IONITY - a joint venture between BMW, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen - that will initially bring high-powered docks to 80 highway sites in 10 European nations in 2019, it said in a statement.

Power giants including France's Engie and Germany's E.ON, as well as niche players such as US start-up ChargePoint, are all building vehicle-charging networks in Europe, but Shell says the IONITY technology is a key to addressing the problem of journey distances.

While electric vehicles still account for only a small fraction of the global car market, the pace of growth and a sustained period of low crude prices are prompting oil companies to reassess century-old business models as the world move towards cleaner modes of transportation and experts agree the days of fossil fuels are numbered.

The agreement builds on Shell's acquisition of Europe's largest electric-vehicle charging provider NewMotion last month. The deals come as markets including France, the UK and China are talking about phasing out the sale of fossil-fuel-powered cars in the coming decades, and major energy companies are looking to adapt.

India too has vowed to have only electric cars on its roads by 2030, but experts don't seem to be taking this very seriously as in the absence of any concrete policy decision to further the aim, and with a perennial shortage of power, the proposition looks doubtful.

Shell and IONITY will initially have charging points at 80 of Shell's biggest highway fuel stations, with an average of six posts in each. It will take five to eight minutes on average to charge an electric vehicle at these points, according to the statement.

Shell opened its first rapid-charging point for electric cars at gasoline stations in the UK last month. The company wants 20 per cent of profit margins from fuel sold in its retail forecourts to come from vehicles that don't burn diesel or gasoline by 2025, John Abbott, the top executive of its downstream business, said in September.

Under Shell's most aggressive projections the company expects the global electric vehicle fleet to grow from about 1 per cent of the entire auto fleet today to 10 per cent by 2025, displacing oil demand equating to about 800,000 barrels per day.

Rival BP said in August that it was talking to electric car manufacturers on deals to offer battery recharging docks at its stations.

The number of electric vehicle charging points in Europe nearly tripled from 2014 to 2017 to reach almost 120,000, according to the European Alternative Fuels Observatory.

However, manufacturers have struggled to offer solutions for getting drivers to go beyond short journeys, mostly within cities, because of battery limitations, a lack of charging stations and long charging times.

With the IONITY technology, cars with advanced charging capacity of up to 350 kilowatts will take as little as five to eight minutes to charge, Shell said. It can take several hours to charge a regular electric car today.

''Customers want to go on long journeys in their electric vehicles and feel confident that there are reliable, comfortable and convenient places to charge them quickly,'' said Shell's head of retail Istvan Kapitany.

The 80 charging stations will be deployed in Belgium, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

With an additional 20 stations expected to be added in Germany, about a quarter of Shell's stations along highways in Europe will offer high-power electric charging within two years, Kapitany told Reuters.

Shell will invest in changing power supplies to its stations to meet growing demand, he said, declining to disclose the size of the investment or terms of the IONITY deal.

The IONITY partners joined forces with a plan to build a pan-European network of 400 charging stations by 2020.

The initiative is latest in a number of small Shell investments in charging technology in recent months, including the acquisition of Dutch-based NewMotion, owner of one of Europe's largest charging networks.
Uber to appeal to the UK's Supreme Court against ruling on drivers' status

Uber intends to appeal to the UK's Supreme Court against a ruling that drivers should be classed as workers, which, according to commentators, sets the stage for a landmark legal battle with major implications for the gig economy.

Uber lost a tribunal case brought by two drivers last year and lost an appeal earlier this month when the employment appeal tribunal (EAT) upheld the original decision.

Uber is looking to the Supreme Court for granting it permission to leapfrog the court of appeal and take its case directly to the highest court in the country as soon as February.

''We have this afternoon requested permission to appeal directly to the supreme court in order that this case can be resolved sooner rather than later,'' said a spokesperson.

The case would determine whether Uber's drivers should be treated as workers, a status which will grant improved rights such as guaranteed minimum wage and holiday pay. There could also be implications for a host of gig economy firms, which operate by inviting workers to accept small jobs at short notice, often via smartphone apps.

According to commentators, the gig economy has proved to be a battleground for disputes involving firms such as takeaway company Deliveroo and courier firm CitySprint. Its emergence has also led to a full-blown government review into modern employment practices, led by Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair.

According to Uber, its drivers enjoy the flexibility of their work and are self-employed, which entitles them in British law to only basic entitlements such as health and safety.

After the Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld by the original tribunal ruling, Uber UK's acting general manager Tom Elvidge said, "Almost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades, long before our app existed, BBC reported.

"The tribunal relies on the assertion that drivers are required to take 80 per cent of trips sent to them when logged into the app. As drivers who use Uber know, this has never been the case in the UK."
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Donegal company Cerebreon Technologies has been named Best New Start Company at the final of the 2017 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition.

Cerebreon Technologies scooped the top prize of 50,000 and the title of Best New Start Company at the 15th annual InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition at the grand final in Dublin. InterTradeIrelands Seedcorn competition is the islands biggest business competition for new start and early stage companies and is aimed at companies with a new funding requirement.

The Portnoo-based company is developing fintech software targeted at the UK insolvency industry. It brings an advanced level of machine intelligence and automation to the processes involved in insolvency. Its software also improves compliance with financial regulators and will reduce the amount and duration of the debtors arrangement.

The award was presented by Paul O'Sullivan, InterTradeIreland board member to Gillian Doyle from Cerebreon Technologies.

Welcoming the successful conclusion of InterTradeIrelands Seedcorn competition, An Tanaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD, said: I heartily congratulate this years winners and I want to thank InterTradeIreland for organising this event. Securing funding can be a challenge for early stage companies and, while there can only be two major winners of the generous Seedcorn Competition funded by InterTradeIreland, all 276 companies which participated in the process will have benefitted from the competition and should now be a better position to pursue outside investment as their companies develop. I wish them all the very best for the future.

Commenting on the announcement of the winners, Ken Nelson, Chairman, InterTradeIreland said: Its very rewarding to be in a position to promote the growth of new start companies on the island of Ireland, north and south. Entrepreneurs and innovators are essential to the health of every economy and InterTradeIreland is proud to support them as they turn ideas into action. Its great to see so many female entrepreneurs involved in the competition this year. I warmly congratulate both of our winners on their success in our very challenging Seedcorn competition. I wish them and indeed all those companies who entered this year all the best for the future.

The Seedcorn competition is aimed at new start and early stage companies which have a new equity funding requirement. It has an overall cash prize fund of 280,000, with no equity stake. Since it started in 2003, the 2775 companies that have gone through the competition have raised over 229m.

Ken Nelson, InterTradeIreland Chairman presenting the award for Best New Start Company to Gillian Doyle, Ken Doherty and Charlie Faurisson from Cerebreon Technologies. Picture Conor McCabe Photography.
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Silos Cordoba's at seminar which promotes opportunities in Iran



A total of 67 professionals from 49 Andalusian companies - including Silos Cordoba - participated in a technical seminar, called "Business Opportunities in Iran", in Spain.

The event was organised by Spain's Ministry of Economy and Knowledge and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Seville.

The seminar featured various interventions by entities and professionals with extensive experiences in international trade, specifically, in Iran. Pir Piran, the economic and commercial advisor of the Iranian Embassy, presented "Business opportunities in Iran for Andalusian companies".

Other presentations were made by How2Go, Extenda's subsidiary in Iran, Aresbank - which talked about payment and banking systems - and CESCE, which dealt with risk coverage and perspectives.

The day concluded with a presentation by Juan Luis de la Cruz, solutions manager at Silos Cordoba, about the long export experiences the company has concerning Iran.

Extenda's CEO, Vanessa Bernad; Mohammad Hassan Fadaifard, the Ambassador of Iran in Spain; and Francisco Herrero, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Seville, were also at the event.

In 2016 alone, the autonomous Spanish community of Andalusia exported EUR12.6 million (US$15 million) in value to Iran, which is 77% more than in 2015, thus placing Andalusia as the ninth largest exporting community to the country.




The deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that it may increase the range of missiles to over 2,000 km  enough to strike Europe.



Brigadier General Hossein Salami said: "If we have kept the range of our missiles to 2000 kilometres, it's not due to lack of technology  we are following a strategic doctrine.
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Suspected FETO bankroller was captured

Memduh Ckmaz, the businessman who is known as the safe box of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) has been returned to Turkey.

Turkish security intelligence operates a team of specialists to track down FETO members who have fled abroad.

SAFE BOX WAS CAPTURED

The bussinessman, Memduh Cikmaz, who is said to have bankrolled the group behind last years defeated coup, was returned to Turkey from Sudan in a joint operation between the two countries intelligence agencies.

LOCATED TWO MONTHS AGO

Statement from the Turkeys National Intelligence Organization, Cikmaz's location had been pinpointed two months ago. Cikmaz was immediately brought to Turkey after the operation, sources said.

Cikmaz had fleed to Sudan on Fetullah Gulens say so in 2016. He was sought with an arrest warrant for "leadership of an armed terrorist group"

The security officials said, Cikmaz had transferred millions of dollars to FETO from Sudan.
Turkey declares one day of mourning for Egyptians

The government has ordered a national day of mourning for the attack on a mosque in Bir al-Abed, in the northern Sinai that killed over 300.

Flags flew at half-staff at state buildings across Turkey on Monday to mark a day of mourning for the victims of Egypt mosque attack that killed over 300 people.

WE COMMISERATE WITH EGYPT ON THEIR LOSS

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, and Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag condemned the attack and offered their condolences to the Egyptian nation.

ANKARA
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's split is ongoing and unfortunately for the actor, it means that he has reportedly been forced to go without seeing his children for long periods of time.

As Jolie and the kids, including 16-year-old Maddox, 13-year-old Pax, 12-year-old Zahara, 11-year-old Shiloh, and 9-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, continue to be seen together in Los Angeles, Pitt is reportedly struggling to cope with the holiday season.

The holidays are extra hard for Brad, a source close to Pitt told Hollywood Life on Nov. 25. He misses his kids more than ever. He does get to see them but its not nearly as much as he would like and its always up to Angelina when it happens.

Since their breakup in September 2016, Jolie and Pitt haven't been seen together at all and Pitt also hasn't been spotted in public with his kids. As for Jolie, she is often photographed with the brood, who she frequently treats to shopping sprees near their home.

In addition to Pitt missing his six children, his parents, William and Jane, have reportedly been kept from seeing their grandchildren.

Theyre not seeing their grandchildren the way they would like to be, the insider said. They would love Brad to bring them all to Missouri for Christmas but its very unlikely Angelina will go for that, shes not going to want to be without them on Christmas. And whats even worse is that Brads got to worry that she might take them out of the country for the holidays, to London or something."

"Shes very unpredictable, the insider added.

Pitt and Jolie's romance began over a decade ago but it wasn't until 2014 when they tied the knot. As fans may recall, the couple chose to get married at their home in France with only their children in attendance and during the event, Jolie sported a wedding dress with drawings from her kids on the skirt.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016 and requested full physical custody of the children at the time of her filing. According to reports, Pitt and his now-estranged wife frequently feuded over his parenting decisions for their kids as well as his drinking habits and potential use of drugs.
South Africa's Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters has just been crowned as this year's Miss Universe.

The 22-year-old beauty bested 91 other contestants on Sunday, Nov. 26. Prior to being crowned as the winner, Nel-Peters competed against first runner-up, Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, and second runner-up, Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett in the question and answer round.

Nel-Peters was asked to name an important issue that women face in the workplace every day. "In some places, women get 75 percent of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours - and I do not believe this is right. I think we should have equal work for equal pay for women all over the world," said Nel-Peters.

The Cape Town native, who just earned her business management degree at North-West University, also won the hearts of the judges and fans with her inspiring story. Not only did she manage to complete her undergraduate degree, she was also able to put up a self-defense program after being held at gunpoint. She wants women to have the same passion for learning self-defense.

Miss Universe 2017 Runner-Up Responses

Meanwhile, Gonzalez and Bennett also wowed the judges with their responses to the question and answer round. Miss Colombia was asked how she thinks adults can talk to children about terrorism. Bennett, on the other hand, talked about the ramifications of sexual abuse.

Final Miss Universe 2017 Question

At the end of the competition, all three runners-up were asked the same question: "What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that to your time as Miss Universe?"

Bennett talked about her drive and determination and said that those are the two qualities that will set her apart from the competition. Gonzalez said that she's very passionate about the things she does. This year's winner, Nel-Peters, talked about the importance of being confident.

"You have to be confident in who you are as an individual. Miss Universe is one who has overcome many fears and will inspire other women too, to overcome their fears," Nel-Peters said.

Nel-Peters is the second South African contestant to be crowned as Miss Universe. Margaret Gardiner also won the title in 1978. Following her big win this year, Nel-Peters will be rewarded with a year-long salary from the Miss Universe team, a luxury apartment in New York City, and more.

She is also expected to appear in various television shows in the United States and other parts of the world. Nel-Peters will also be promoting her advocacies across the globe and will be traveling to different countries.


Canadas new multiyear levels plan will see almost one million new permanent residents welcomed by the end of 2020, it has been confirmed, many of them moving to Ontario.Ontario is the top destination for newcomers to Canada and a new Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA) will guide the relationship on immigration between Canada and Ontario for the next five years.The new framework to strengthen the long term partnership between Ontario and Canada to welcome and settle immigrants will also boost the economy and address shared humanitarian responsibilities.The agreement outlines the respective roles and responsibilities, and shared immigration priorities in selection policy, programme integrity, attraction of French speaking immigrants, and newcomer and refugee settlement.In addition, Canada and Ontario also announced a joint effort to help internationally trained newcomers meet provincial requirements to work in their profession.A total investment of up to $91 million in bridge training programmes over the next three years, including $70 million from Ontario and up to $21 million from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, will help newcomers get the training they need to meet provincial requirements to work in their occupation.Through these initiatives, the Governments of Canada and Ontario said that they are demonstrating a commitment to cooperation to ensure the economic, social and cultural benefits of immigration are maximized in the province. Collaboration between the federal government and provincial partners is a crucial element of the ongoing success of Canadas world leading immigration system.Ontario is the top destination for new permanent residents settling in Canada each year, typically exceeding 100,000 newcomers. With the ambitious three year levels plan weve established on immigration, the time is right to put a new agreement in place that defines how Canada and Ontario will work together to achieve our mutual goals, said Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.He explained that the COIA takes effect immediately, including annexes that detail specific arrangements on provincial nominees and foreign workers. In the months ahead, additional annexes are planned that will set out Canada-Ontario collaboration on French speaking immigrants, international students, and the role of municipal governments as partners in immigration.He also pointed out that the Government of Canada is investing more than $334 million in settlement services for newcomers in Ontario in 2017/2018 and Ontario is investing over $110 million in newcomer and refugee supports including language training, settlement and employment programmes.Immigration is good for Ontario and good for Canada. The Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement strengthens Ontarios ability to partner with the federal government to attract skilled newcomers who will benefit our shared economies and contribute to Canadas future prosperity, said Laura Albanese, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
So, someone hit my car on the back one month ago.

I was not liable and car repair shop chosen by my insurance estimated the repair costs in around 4600 EUR, above the value of the car (a Diesel 2010 Citroen C3, BTW).



The bumb in the rear wasn't so bad, and I believe this value is way out of proportion.



So I was given 2 options by the insurance company:



1) Sell them my car for 4500 EUR (I paid 1k EUR more for it 6 months ago) or

2) Keep my car and receive 3150 EUR



I have chosen option 2.

Now I am trying to find somewhere to fix my car, and I am surprise to know that:



1) EVERY Repair shop office I tried will contact the initial repair car shop to know how much THEY estimated on repair costs (and obviously push the repair cost to the same level - that is, the MAXIMUM amount my insurance will cover - Or beyond)

2) I cannot sell the car as it is without repairing.



What options do I have?



1) Give in to the French car repair / insurance mafia and pay 4.5k for a simple rear bump?

2) Keep my car as it is and eventually just throw it away?

3) Repair it in some other country? I am in Nice, so Italy border is just half an hour away.



Thanks for your advice!!
It may be a matter of how the different mairies and prefectures do things, but when we decided to build our barn, all that was required was a "declaration" (i.e. because the barn was considered an "out building" and would be less than 20 sq meters.



For a "declaration" we had to submit architect drawings and all sorts of details about just how far the edges of the barn would be from the house, the center of the road, etc. etc. So when we added a roof to the other side of the barn, and then put up a sort of car port, my husband just built it in a manner that he could claim the construction was "temporary" and we didn't declare anything. That seems to be how folks do things around here. No one on the street rats out any of the neighbors, because we all know full well what "non-regulation" construction has been done on each of the houses on the street.



But, in the course of the declaration we did file, we found that the mairie can and will give you copies of the applicable sections of the building code. (We had to get several pages for the architect before he could do the drawings for us.)



Evidently, they don't actually check out any of this stuff - until you sell the property. At that point, some sort of inspection is done, and the sale can't take place until anything found to be out of regulation has been fixed.

Cheers,

Bev
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Texas crude oil is being shipped worldwide at ever higher rates as foreign markets get used to the taste of light sweet crude.

More than 70 percent of the crude oil moved into Port Corpus Christi in October was exported said Jarl Pedersen, the Ports chief commercial officer, who was speaking at the Hart Energys DUG Eagle Ford Conference held earlier this month at the Convention Center in San Antonio.

That oil is not just coming from South Texas Eagle Ford Shale but also from the prolific Permian Basin oil field in West Texas. The exports are making the port, which has a major refining presence on the Gulf Coast, look at different ways to support exports.

How do we, as a port authority, provide producers access to world markets? Pedersen asked as he spoke at a panel Friday. Its a great opportunity right now to export U.S. crude oil. We want to make sure that producers, marketers, they have optionality, flexibility.

Oil exports were banned for almost 40 years until December 2015, when Congress voted to lift the prohibition. San Antonio-based NuStar Energy made the first known crude oil export from Port Corpus Christi weeks later. Since then, exports have grown as high as 1.8 million barrels a day in October, a record according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Pedersen said two projects that are underway will help the port take more advantage of oil exports in the coming years. A new $809 million bridge over the ports entrance is under construction and will allow taller vessels to enter the port, while an agreement to start a $327 million dredging project to deepen and widen the ship channel was recently signed.

Together the projects would allow very large crude carriers with a capacity of upward of 2 million barrels of oil to enter the port empty and leave fully laden. Currently such vessels have to leave the port partly filled, and complete loading offshore.

The first VLCC to dock at a Gulf Coast port occurred in May when Occidental Petroleum docked one such vessel at its Ingleside Energy Center Terminal, which can load upward of 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

The bridge and dredging projects are estimated to be completed by 2021, Pedersen said.

The Dallas Feds data shows the Eagle Ford Shale has seen production level off around 1.2 million barrels a day, down from more than 1.5 million barrels a day in early 2015.

Production in the Permian Basin, on the other hand, has continued to grow steadily to nearly 2.6 million barrels a day, reflecting continued investment into the oil field. At one point, some deals for acreage in the Permian were worth $60,000 an acre.

But while the Permian has been described as hot for much of the past two years, the calmness in the Eagle Ford is attracting some companies, said Stuart Traver, an executive director at Houston-based oil and gas consultancy Gaffney, Cline & Associates.

Theres another group of buyers that just doesnt want to engage in such a heavy competition, Travers said. Were seeing people who are looking at the Eagle Ford and the Bakken as sort of a way to avoid some of the heavy competition that goes on in some of the other basins.

Traver pointed to the lifting of the crude oil export ban in 2015 as why his firm is bullish on the Eagle Ford.

In the future the markets for the Eagle Ford are likely to be overseas, he said. Thats why people we work with from overseas like the Eagle Ford.

rdruzin@express-news.net
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With an eye on the 2020 expiration date for the city sales tax funding of Pre-K 4 SA, program advocates delighted in its fourth annual report  the first to study all four of its centers at capacity  which found students are still developing significant gains in their year there.

It just consistently shows that Pre-K 4 SA is working, and thats exciting, said Sarah Baray, CEO of the program. If you look around, everything shows it should be, but without data you cant verify that claim.

Westat, the independent entity hired to conduct the yearly reviews, found that while Pre-K 4 SA students came into the programs 2016-2017 school year with below-average scores on five out of six measurements compared to a national sample, they exceeded that norm by springtime in cognitive, literacy and mathematics measurements, and were up to par in oral language, physical and social emotional skills. The gap had been closed.

Pre-K 4 SA is a city demonstration project that makes about 2,000 slots of all-day, high-quality preschool available for 4-year-olds at four city-run centers, using partnerships with school districts to draw students and funding. In exchange for teacher training and a chance at grants to bolster their own programs, participating districts share part of their state prekindergarten funding to supplement a 1/8th-cent-per-dollar sales tax that San Antonio voters approved for the purpose in 2012.

The Westat report said there was no significant difference in childrens performance among the four widely dispersed centers, which Baray said she was very pleased about.

However, it did note that the student assessments are based on teachers reports, not by an outside consultant, so the measurements cant account for teacher bias.

Attendance rates have been stable for Pre-K 4 SAs lifespan, Westat reported, hovering a couple percentage points above 90 percent. Throughout last school year, 193 students withdrew, which Baray chalked up to the mobile lives of many low-income families.

The report also implemented a new test this year dubbed the Pencil Tap to measure executive functions of a randomly selected group of 500 students. It measures if students can plan for the future and solve problems when obstacles present themselves, using their responses to an administrator tapping a pencil on the table in a series of tests.

The important part is were better than New York, joked Baray. According to the report, Pre-K 4 SA students performed 8 percent better than a similar sample of students from New York City.

In 2020, near the end of the sales taxs eight-year run, the City Council will have to decide whether to put it back on the ballot for a November vote to extend the program. Championed by former Mayor Julian Castro as part of his Brainpower Initiative Task Force, the citywide pre-K program has been nationally recognized for its unique model. The local politics of the program have been unpredictable, however.

The 2012 sales tax referendum passed with 54 percent of the vote, with support weakest in the North East and Northside independent school districts  but those districts quickly filled their allotted share of students. Parents in the citys smallest and poorest school districts did not as readily sign up, and one of them, South San Antonio ISD, later opted out of its partnership with the city.

During its first year of operation in 2013-14, only the North and South centers were open. The East and West centers opened a year later but Baray said it wasnt until last year that all four centers were at capacity, with 500 students each, and its programs fully integrated.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a program that has emphasized quality and teacher credentials, Westat also reported overall higher scores in teachers performance  using a methodology called CLASS  compared to state and national standards for the Head Start program.

While Pre-K 4 SA teachers performed well in emotional support and classroom organization, they remained at the low end of the middle range in the instructional support category.

Its a really hard skill to develop, said Baray, adding that she was not surprised by that score. While the others are about forming relationships, developing a routine and classroom management, this measurement pinpoints how a teacher forms questions to children and pushes their learning, which she said is an advanced technique.

Saying, Oh, OK, you counted to 10, can you count to 100? Thats not a reasonable leap. But you can say Oh, you counted to 10, is there a number that comes after 10? Baray said.

She also pointed out that while the score was slightly low by CLASS standards, it remained above the most recent Texas and national Head Start program data.

Pre-K 4 SA partners with eight school districts: Edgewood, Harlandale, North East, Northside, San Antonio, Southside, Southwest, and most recently, East Central. Those who attend school districts not on this list must pay tuition on a sliding scale or qualify for scholarships.

Of the 2,060 students who were in the program last year, about 70 percent attended for free because their families are low-income, they are English-language learners, or their family has military connections (either active duty or injured while serving) and they live in a partnering school district. About 20 percent paid tuition, and an additional 9.6 percent received scholarships.

Most of the students were Hispanic, at 76.3 percent, followed by 9.2 percent black students, 8 percent white, and 6.5 percent other ethnicities, the report said.

On a recent Friday, Barbara Valdez came to Pre-K 4 SAs West Education Center to pick up her son as well as a Thanksgiving meal, donated by Pre-K 4 SAs partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank and H-E-B.

Theyre really hands-on. At first he was really shy, and I couldnt tell if he was learning stuff, she said. They actually made him grow outside of his comfort zone, and he opened up much more. Im very grateful.

sfosterfrau@express-news.net | @SilviaElenaFF
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When advocate Robin Howard took the two oldest of her three boys, ages 2, 5 and 9, to get ice cream at the Rivercenter mall, one of the childrens eyes grew wide.

Ms. Robin? he said. Is this a mall?

The boys arent Robins biological children; shes one of more than 800 volunteers at Child Advocates San Antonio, or CASA, an organization that looks after kids who have been temporarily removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect  or both.

We exist to be their guide through that whole system, whether its with (Child Protective Services), their school or their public defender, said Kevin Moore, president of CASAs board of governors.

The volunteers range of functions fall under a single mandate: Provide a source of constancy to Bexar County kids whose lives are full of moving parts, from changing homes to alternating CPS workers assigned to their cases.

Howard has looked after the three boys, whose names were kept confidential under CASA policy, for almost two years.

During that time, shes discovered how many ordinary activities the kids had never experienced. When she first took them to Pizza Hut last year, it was the first time in their life theyd eaten out. Even activities like their recent night of trick-or-treating can feel monumental.

The volunteers at CASA spend time with children about once a week, taking them to places like parks and restaurants, while getting to know the kids across a span of a year or more. Every few months, they provide detailed reports to the Bexar County Childrens Court, helping judges decide who should permanently care for the kids.

Were objective information gatherers, with an emphasis on getting to know the child to recommend the best needs, said Marina Gonzales, CASA president and chief executive.

The volunteers tend to notice things others dont  unmet health care needs, for instance  because theyre the only people who stick with the kids throughout the CPS process, Howard said.

Its a terrible situation for anyone involved when a child is removed from their family, Moore said. I think about it from the childs perspective: Theyre confused, theyre shuffled from foster home to foster home. They may have to move schools and end up in court  all these things a child should never have to experience.

Overseeing the volunteers are a team of advocate supervisors, full-time employees at CASAs office on San Pedro Avenue north of downtown. The supervisors help volunteers write court reports, which supervisor Nikole Spencer said can be overwhelming and intimidating for the volunteers.

The advocate supervisors role boils down to supporting the volunteers in any way they need, Spencer said.

At the top, Gonzales oversees a staff of roughly 40. A 16-person board of governors helps with the organizations strategy and fundraising, while a separate advisory board of directors works to raise CASAs profile in the community at large.

CASAs San Antonio chapter operates under the state organization, which is part of a broader national CASA organization that started in 1977. San Antonios child advocacy chapter was founded seven years later.

The profile of the organizations employees and volunteers is vast and diverse, Gonzales said. Some have links to child abuse or neglect themselves, either personally or through friends and family. Others are former teachers or social workers, people who didnt want to stop working with kids when they retired.

Meanwhile, the organization stays afloat through multiple funding streams, from corporate sponsors and private foundations to individual donors. CASAs expenses for the 2016 fiscal year totaled about $3.4 million, most of which went toward paying for its programs. Other funding paid for community outreach and various support services.

The organization has grown rapidly during the past decade or so, with a more than threefold increase in active volunteers since 2006. Its growth has far outpaced the national and state rates, according to data from the 2016 annual report.

But CASA still serves less than 60 percent of eligible cases in Bexar County that go before a judge, Gonzales said.

To reach 100 percent, CASA would need about 1,500 volunteers, Gonzales said, nearly double the current total. Moore estimates CASA would need to roughly double its operating revenue to get there.

Even if the organization could find 700 more advocates, it would have to spend about $1,000 to train each volunteer, Moore said. CASA would also have to hire additional supervisors to oversee the volunteers.

This year, the organization set a goal of serving 2,900 kids and increasing to 900 active volunteers. They reached 2,500 kids last year.

Its hard to imagine a more powerful impact on a childs life, Moore said.

jscherer@express-news.net | Twitter: @jaspscherer
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Mark Mattison used to fly F-16 fighter jets for the Air Force. Today he works at a grocery store. Hes OK with that.

Its 7 a.m., and Mattison begins his day thinking about poinsettias as the manager of perishables at the Lincoln Heights H-E-B. An early-morning patrol of his domain brings him to the floral display at the store entrance.

He doesnt tell his pilot friends, but Mattison said hes learned a lot about flower arrangements. At least, he knows with winter coming its time to deploy poinsettias to blitz customers as they walk in.

Mattison left the Air Force three years ago. He said people often ask him why after jetting around the globe he decided to work at a grocery store. Like many veterans, he faced a difficult choice in finding a career after the military.

I always knew when I was flying faster than the speed of sound, at altitude higher than 50,000 feet, that there was something better out there, Mattison said. And I found it in grocery.

The moving doors whooshed open as Mattison walked outside to inspect a crate of fall pumpkins, where a pair of rotten gourds were in need of extraction. A man wearing a suit and tie walked past, and with a start, Mattison recognized it was somone who had mentored him as he left the Air Force.

David Patrick, a retired Air Force colonel, counsels local service members leaving the military. Mattison sought Patricks advice, because after 29 years in, the prospect of getting out of the military scared Mattison. He knew how to fly, and he knew how to command troops, but finding a job? He hadnt interviewed for a job during his entire adult life.

Patrick said hes talked to many veterans terrified of what comes next. While the unemployment rate for veterans has been decreasing in recent years, many veterans find themselves underemployed or unsatisfied in their civilian jobs, according to polls by the vet group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. One of the reasons, Patrick said, is because veterans sometimes limit their own options.

Youre sort of expected to go into the discipline you were in in the military, Patrick said. I say, get out of your comfort zone.

Mattison figured hed be a defense contractor or work for the government. Thats what all the other veterans did. But as he talked to recruiters and looked at his options, nothing appealed to him. One thing he knew was that he and his wife wanted to stay near San Antonio.

Someone from H-E-B approached Mattison about working as a manager. The idea kinda threw him, he said, because he had just never considered it. It took almost a year before Mattison decided to interviewed for the job.

When we're getting ready to leave, we limit ourselves to what we know, and I would add to that, we limit ourselves to what would be comfortable, Mattison said.

Once while flying over the Rocky Mountains, Mattison noticed a nozzle in the engine of his F-16 lost power. A nozzle malfunction almost knocked the engine out. Mattison had to glide his multimillion dollar fighter jet down to a landing strip.

Mattison was comfortable while landing a jet with a dead engine, and yet he found working in a grocery store was one of the hardest things Ive ever done. He knew so little about how such stores worked and was surprised at the complexity of running a business: thousands and thousands of boxes and cans and crates of food that need to be sorted and counted.

But he liked that he was learning things again, Mattison said.

Mattison walked through the bakery on his morning patrol. He inspected a cake, added zip ties near the banana stand, and wiped off water puddles near the potatoes (a potential lawsuit, as he sees it). With an employee, he discussed whether grapes or organic tomatoes should get more space.

He guesses he walks eight to 10 miles each day, circling the store, making hundreds of small decisions. He recalled with pride the decisions he made during Hurricane Harvey, when the store had lost power.

Its very similar to being in a command post, Mattison said. You make decisions and allocate resources to solve problems, all day long.

During the last few years, Mattison has mentored other veterans getting out of the military. He said he tells veterans to be more creative in thinking about their next step. Sometimes learning a new job means getting down to pick up bean cans that have fallen off of shelves or scooping up smashed pumpkins, the retired colonel said.

You have to be willing to humble yourself, and not worrying what your friends think or your families think, Mattison said.

In the fish section, Mattison stopped to admire some salmon, which he said where shipped all the from Norway to the shelves in San Antonio.

You kinda feel, he said, the store is waking up.
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The American Heart Association is advocating a healthy city and healthy residents through their educational programs encouraging people to be physically active and eat healthy.

Patricia Atiee has been volunteering since 2007, primarily with an event aimed at educating women, but she steps in wherever help is needed. She started having heart issues when she was 24 years old.

It could happen to anyone, Atiee said. It happened to me. Because of the (heart) surgery, I was able to lead more of a normal lifestyle. I consider it my second birthday. It gave me new life.

Atiee said the connection to heart disease or strokes is a common vein with volunteers and staff  and a driving force in their passion. Now she is nearing retirement and thinking about volunteering full time with the association.

We like each other, and we like what we are doing, Atiee said. If we can save even one person from heart disease or stroke, thats another motivation. Maybe it hasnt impacted you yet, but maybe it will, so we have to keep it fresh and keep it out there  current in the community.

Atiee said the Viva Roja event educates women who might not otherwise be aware of the symptoms and risk of heart disease.

One reason that education is so important, Atiee says, is that with women, the symptoms are different and manifest themselves in different ways.

Women who have participated realize how important this is  how important they are. Atiee said. They realize they have to take care of themselves so they can take care of their families. A lot of mothers will take care of their families first.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States and strokes are No. 5, according to Medical News Today. But thanks to the heart associations efforts locally and nationally, strokes have come down in recent years from No. 4, said Joseph Marks, the local communications director.

The goal is to make heart disease not No. 1, Marks said. What people dont realize is heart disease and stroke cause more deaths together than all cancers.

Marks said the association does two big things for the community: fundraising and community outreach. That makes donations and volunteers two of the associations biggest needs.

Thats not fundraising for the sake of fundraising, Marks said. We raise money to fund research in the community.

The money raised goes into a pool of money nationally then is redistributed to the local entities. San Antonio heart health research received $2 million last year that went to research universities including the UT Health at San Antonio.

It makes a direct impact on the people who live here, Marks said. The research done here is used basically immediately.

This spring, for example, a heart disease survivor in San Antonio received a stent that was developed in San Antonio two years ago.

The association does community outreach events every week  from the While Living program geared to the senior population to wellness programs for companies to providing CPR education materials and equipment in high schools.

Education is the focus, Marks said. We have a team that is out there every day. The organization relies very heavily on volunteer input. Its not just people in an office making decisions; its voices from the community.

But it takes manpower.

Marks said there is a place for anyone who wants to volunteer, from doing day-to-day tasks in the office to helping with big one-time events or smaller weekly events.

While the mission has never changed, the tactics have changed and focus changes, Marks said. The goal of this organization is to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke in the community. Its very simple, but its huge.

Sarah Mohmedali is the community impact director at the association. She spends most of her time in the community at events large and small. When she first started, she was working with a program focused on checking blood pressure.

Most people dont know they have high blood pressure until they start the program, Mohmedali said. We are educating as many people as possible about checking blood pressure. Be proactive  dont wait for a doctors visit. I dont want to sound generic, and yet the goal is education, awareness and knowing the symptoms.

Its a program that helped her mother.

While working on the program, Mohmedali would bring her equipment home  and found out her mother had high blood pressure, a discovery that may have saved her mothers life.

We are creating an awareness for people who have no idea this impacts the community, Mohmedali said.

Association staff and volunteers take an issue that people dont necessarily feel comfortable with and get them to talk about it and take action to improve their heart health.

I see it in their faces and their smiles at the event that this is maybe something that people dont want to talk about, but they realize its important, Atiee said. Maybe one thing they heard may save themselves or their family member. Its about just knowing that Im helping.

Jpolcyn@express-news.net
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AUSTIN  After 173 years, a historic Texas map has come into official hands.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has announced that an 1844 map of the Republic of Texas by noted early-day mapmaker Carl Flemming has been donated to the state by a Kerrville couple, who purchased it during the liquidation sale of a Dallas law firm.

Republic of Texas maps are rare and high-priced artifacts of when Texas was its own country.

Flemmings map, detailed from the days when Texas reached into what now is Colorado and New Mexico before its boundaries were redrawn in the Compromise of 1850, is considered a historic prize.

Bushs office did not disclose the value of the map or how it ended up with the law firm.

I am pleased that Carol and Morris McIntyre  have helped us save Texas history by donating this rare map, Bush said in a statement last week. The GLO (General Land Office) Archives will be the permanent home for this map, where it will be conserved, digitized, and made available for study and reproduction.

Carol McIntyre said she saved the historic map to ensure that it would have a safe, protected and permanent home.

I acquired this map in the liquidation of a large Dallas law firm where I was employed as a paralegal on the liquidation team, she said in a statement through Bushs office. Throughout my business and legal career, I have seen a throw-away mentality to keep up with the fast pace of changing technology. I have learned that historically significant items should be given the highest level of consideration.

It is extremely rewarding to put a historical item in a permanent preservation environment where it belongs, said Carol McIntyre, now retired.

The map shows the northern boundary of Texas extending to the Arkansas River, encompassing territory into the Rocky Mountains and parts of New Mexico, including Santa Fe.

The map appeared both as a separate issue and in some of Flemmings atlases.

Flemming issued his 1842 German edition of a famous 1841 Arrowsmith map on a reduced scale for dissemination among the many potential German immigrants to Texas in the mid-1800s, according to Bush.

As a result, the map is sometimes referred to as the German Arrowsmith because of the similar cartography.

Arrowsmiths 1841 map probably was the first to show the full extent of Texas claim to the upper Rio Grande, the northern border of which ended at the Arkansas River.

Flemming retained Arrowsmiths sprawling Republic of Texas boundaries through subsequent editions, even though the boundary changed with the Compromise of 1850, Bush said in a statement.

Flemming even retained an erroneous statement describing the arid western region of Texas which stated that this tract of Country explored by LeGrande in 1833 is naturally fertile, well wooded, and with fair proportion of water.  Thirty counties are numbered and identified by a key in the upper right portion of the sheet.

In addition, the commissioner noted that Flemming followed Arrowsmiths model for his maps, as there is an inset plan of Galveston Bay at the lower left. Flemmings continental version has the distinction of being among the last maps showing the extended Republic of Texas boundary.

Some sources state that the map is known to have been published up to 1853 without changes, according to Bush.

The map includes bold tracings of counties boundaries. Large cities and towns are labeled, including New Washington, which had been burned by Mexican forces under Santa Anna in 1836.

In recent years, the GLO has received several donated maps, ranging from early-day North American maps to a large 1854 map of North America to an incredibly rare 1848 Stephen F. Austin map of Texas.

Texas became a state in 1845.

The archives of the Texas General Land Office, home to 36 million documents and over 45,000 maps and sketches detailing the history of the public lands of Texas from the Republic era to the present, is one of the premier cartographic resources for Texas.

Bush said reproductions of the donated Flemming map of Texas are now available for $20 each. All funds raised by map reproduction sales are directed toward the conservation of the GLOs archival collection.
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A year after her former boyfriend violently attacked her, threatening to slash her face with a piece of a broken mirror, Alexandra Gonzalez still dealt with reminders of that Saturday night in January 2013.

Gonzalez lost her job and struggled with sleepless nights, anxiety attacks, bouts of depression and feelings of guilt, anger and fear.

But slowly, with time, she found healing.

I had to literally forgive myself for finding myself in this situation, said Gonzalez, 43. It was his mistake, not mine. I didnt ask to be hit. I didnt ask to be almost killed.

Weve been taught its shameful to talk about these things, Gonzalez added. I decided I didnt want to be silent. I want to tell my story. I want to live.

Her story is a testament to the prevalence of domestic violence directed at women in the U.S. and the wide range of psychological and medical problems that survivors of domestic abuse experience.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 1 in 4 women have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime.

Of those women, about 60 percent experienced fear and concerns for their safety after being attacked, while 52 percent had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the most recent National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, which is administered by the CDC.

Today, Gonzalez has a job again, and she volunteers at several nonprofit organizations that aim to end domestic violence. Shes committed to telling her story and helping women who were once in her shoes.

I want my children to know my story, Gonzalez said. That I fought for my life several times, and that these experiences did not change my spirit, they did not change my heart.

After that fateful evening in 2013, Gonzalezs ex, Timothy Zapata, was arrested and charged with assault on a family member. It was then that Gonzalez learned that Zapata had been convicted of domestic violence before.

In July 2013, Zapata pleaded no contest to Gonzalezs assault and was sentenced to five years in prison, according to court records. Hes been up for parole several times, and each time, Gonzalez has spoken to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles requesting that his parole be denied.

In January, Zapata is expected to be released. Gonzalez said shes nervous but is going to remain active and continue standing up for herself. Shes in the process of seeking a second protective order to keep him away (she filed for the first after the assault), and shes going to petition the courts to restrict him from Bexar County.

Its easy to let it go, Gonzalez said. Its easy to say, Im tired of doing this, but you shouldnt. You have to be active. You have to stand up for yourself.  If you arent going to stand up for yourself, who will?

Warning signs

After a failed marriage when she was younger, Gonzalez decided in fall 2012 to start dating online. She would purposely look for someone stable, kind and willing to settle down.

Zapata messaged her on an online dating website in October that year, and the two began talking. In hindsight, Gonzalez realizes that there were warning signs early on.

There were times that he would threaten me, Gonzalez said. I dont know why at the time I didnt take those threats to heart. After that, he would say he was sorry and that he didnt mean it that way. I thought I was reading into it too much.

Around that time, Gonzalez decided to buy a car. Zapata helped her with the arrangements, but soon, he grew possessive of the vehicle.

On Nov. 25, he took the car keys from Gonzalez and pushed her out the door so hard that she fell on her knees, bruising them. At first, Gonzalez didnt do anything about it, but after Zapata still hadnt returned the car after a week, she told her son.

Gonzalez, her son and a family friend approached Zapata at his workplace. When he wouldnt return the vehicle, they called police, who forced him to return the keys.

At that point, Gonzalez told police he had hit her. They took photos of the bruises on her knees and she gave a statement, but she decided not to press charges because she had her car back.

She also worried that the therapists and doctors she worked with at a home health agency might judge her if they found out she was a domestic violence victim.

The two stopped dating, but Zapata reached out in late December and apologized. He said he wanted to start the new year off right.

I dont know why, but I said OK, Gonzalez said. Against my better judgment I said, Well see what happens.

The two talked for about three weeks before meeting Jan. 23, 2013, to get pizza with friends. The evening was going well, Gonzalez recalled, but then Zapata got a call inquiring about rent. Suddenly, he grew angry and began asking for money.

After dinner, Gonzalez and Zapata stopped by a friends house before returning to his home around 8 or 9 p.m. There, Zapata began yelling at Gonzalez, accusing her son of stealing from him.

Zapata left and returned home around 3 a.m., apparently drunk. Again, he grew angry. This time, he began attacking her, according to court records. He punched her in the forehead and started throwing full cans of beer at her. He broke a mirror and threatened to slash her face with a piece of the broken glass.

I begged Timothy to let me go home, Gonzalez later wrote in a statement. He stated I would not leave his home alive.

At that point, Gonzalez said, she realized that she had to stand up for herself. She had to fight. She discreetly began recording audio on her cellphone, figuring she could send it to a friend so the friend could send help  or, if she was killed, tell her family what happened.

Throughout the recording, Zapata can be heard cursing at Gonzalez and threatening her son. At one point, the sound of a loud strike can be heard. Then Gonzalez begins crying.

It was like being in a bad dream, but you dont know how to get out of it, Gonzalez said. You dont know if you should love him to get out or if you should fight him to get out.

Gonzalez doesnt know why, but eventually Zapata let her leave. She grabbed her keys, scrambled to the car and locked the doors. Zapata followed and began pounding on the car.

Gonzalez sped off, stopping several blocks away to call 911. Then she lowered her head onto the steering wheel. She trembled and cried as she began praying.

Police responded and arrested Zapata on a charge of assault on a family member, along with charges from two warrants.

I remember them saying, We got him, Gonzalez recalled. I asked if I would have to see him. They said no, and I sighed a sigh of relief.  He had this darkness to him. I had never felt anything so dark in my life.

Finding love

After the attack, Gonzalez lost her job and began struggling with a severe depression. She blamed herself for the attack and wondered what she did wrong.

But she continued putting one foot in front of the other. She started seeing a psychologist, and in early 2014, she received a certificate in community leadership from Alamo Colleges.

She also began volunteering at San Anto Cultural Arts, the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center and the P.E.A.C.E Initiative.

Through her volunteer work, Gonzalez met Roberto Leija. At first, Gonzalez was wary of dating again. She was still depressed and had a hard time trusting people.

Even now, when Gonzalez hears the Threes Company theme song  which was playing the night Zapata attacked her  she has flashbacks.

For a long time, she rejected Leijas advances. But he was patient, loving and understanding. They eventually became friends. Gonzalez said Leija helped her through numerous panic attacks and difficult days.

They dated for about four years and married this year.

They say God works in mysterious ways, and I believe that, Gonzalez said. I learned to love by not being loved the right way.

eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton
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HARLINGEN  Paul Lombardi and Daniel Johnston flocked to the Rio Grande Valley to see birds  green jays and black-tailed gnatcatchers, pied-billed grebes and tropical parulas, to name a few.

The group of wildlife refuges along the meandering Rio Grande attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, searching for species found nowhere else in the country.

Even as exotic birds continue to captivate visitors, these days, conversation often turns to President Donald Trump and the specter of his big, beautiful wall looming over the native habitat that remains here.

Its a shame, said Lombardi, a spry 76-year-old from the Salt Lake City area. They can pretend that somehow all the animals are going to get around the wall, but theyre not.

The 54 miles of existing border wall and bollard fencing already cut through parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge wildlife corridor, but Trumps wall imperils several additional tracts, including the iconic Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, considered the crown jewel of the refuge system.

Earlier this month, organizers for two of the Valleys biggest annual events  the Texas Butterfly Festival and the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival  did their best to focus on wildlife, but for many festivalgoers the border wall poses an existential threat to a cherished pastime.

I saw the rusty-brown wall today, and it was not a pleasant sight, said Johnston, 69, a former elementary school teacher. In the long run, I bet these festivals will start to slow down.

Thats what worries the Valleys tourism industry.

Big money

More than 165,000 nature tourists visit the region each year, infusing $463 million into the local economy and sustaining 6,600 jobs, according to a 2011 Texas A&M University study.

The birding festival, the second-biggest event for bird-watching in the country, brings in nearly $2 million alone. About 600 people from five countries and 43 states attended the five-day festival this year, officials said.

Creating the ecotourism industry has taken decades of hard work, fundraising and public-private cooperation.

Much of the original native habitat in the Valley was cleared for farming. But in 1979, work began to create a wildlife corridor along the river from Falcon Dam to the Gulf of Mexico. Over the years, private landowners have sold parcels that community organizations, together with state and federal wildlife agencies, have carefully restored as habitat.

Army Corps of Engineers maps show plans for 28 miles of new levee wall and 32 miles of new border wall in the Valley, slicing through the wildlife corridor. Congress has approved $341 million to repair and strengthen existing fence, far short of the $1.6 billion the Trump administration has requested, but its enough to worry wildlife advocates.

In addition to nearly 3 miles of levee wall and fence through Santa Ana, the expected path of the fence would cut through or build around the 100-acre National Butterfly Center preserve; Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, a 797-acre preserve; and the Roma Bluffs World Birding Center.

Santa Ana is slated to receive an 18-foot steel bollard fence atop a concrete-base levee wall. The project would also clear a 150-foot enforcement zone adjacent to the fence, all of which would cost an expected $45 million, Corps of Engineers records show.

We dont take positions on politicians, said Jeffrey Gordon, president of the American Birding Association. Having said that, its clear that this proposed new wall is a disaster from a birder standpoint in terms of damage to habitat, in terms of loss of habitat.

Blow to tourism

Over the past 20 years, Keith Hacklands livelihood has depended on birders. All 20 rooms of the Alamo Inn B&B, Gear & Tours, where Hackland is innkeeper, fill to capacity during the butterfly and birding festivals. This year, everyone was talking about Trumps wall, Hackland said.

Two things will happen when its built: It will change the aesthetics of the place, Hackland said of the wall. The other is that people will hear the place has been destroyed, which may or may not be true, but it will reduce tourism and affect the income of everyone in the Valley, including me.

Fear of the unknown may already be taking a toll on ecotourism in the Valley.

About 70 people showed up for the butterfly festival in Mission, generating $500,000 over four days. The buzz around this years festival was the sighting of an orange banner, Temenis laothoe, a species typically found anywhere from Mexico to Bolivia, not Texas.

Still, the turnout was less than half the more than 150 people who attended the festival last year. The butterfly center plans to sue the government to stop construction of the wall through its property.

I do think it has to do with the border wall, said Marianna Trevino Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center, a privately owned sanctuary. We might not be able to prevent the wall from going up, but hopefully we can prevent a wholesale destruction of the hospitality and tourism industry.

About a decade ago, when the first sections of border fence broke ground under the 2006 Secure Fence Act, 18-foot bollard fencing marooned birding sites between the rust-colored barrier and the Rio Grande.

One popular destination, the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse and World Birding Center, has not been the same since. A large swath of the birding centers trails ended up south of the fence and are virtually inaccessible, despite assurances to preserve the refuge for public use, according to Sue Griffin, the birding festival chair.

As far as my being able to take people on an extended visit of that area and able to see all of the birds possible, I can no longer do that, I have to find alternative places for my participants to go, Griffin said. When that wall goes in at Santa Ana, I dont think anybody knows what will happen, but were hoping it will have some kind of a gate that gives people access to the other side.

Investment at risk

Since 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Duck Stamp Act, the conservation program has funneled around $800 million toward the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.

A little more than 1,980 acres of the 2,088-acre Santa Ana refuge were purchased through the duck stamp program. The refuge, established in 1943, is home to at least 400 bird species and 300 butterfly species. And yet, advocates note, the Homeland Security Department can brush aside environmental laws to expedite building the wall.

So much money has been invested in these places, and so much money is derived from them, said Barbara Volkle, a Massachusetts resident who has been coming to South Texas since the 1980s. People come to birding because they want to relax. If people feel like they arent welcome, theyll spend their money somewhere else.

Tiffany Kersten, a member of the Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, moved to the Valley several years ago to work at Santa Ana. While she no longer works at the refuge, Kersten enjoys birding there and guiding others.

She worked as a guide during two days of the birding festival. A sudden change of plans one day prompted her to give visitors the option of where they wanted to bird.

I suggested Santa Ana, Kersten recalled, and they said, Thats that place that we may never have access to again.

anelsen@express-news.net | Twitter: @amnelsen
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Against a backdrop of live Tejano music, hundreds of holiday shoppers perused a vast assortment of art, jewelry and other handcrafted goods Saturday at the International Peace Market, searching for the perfect gift for family, that special someone or, it often turns out, themselves.

I love the crowd, the music and the handmade arts and crafts, said Helen Petry Stowe, a regular at the free event that began Friday and continues from noon to 6 p.m. today at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, its host for 28 years, at 922 San Pedro Ave.

Her daughter, Violette Dunn, 23, said, Wed rather support the locals than the Walmart.

Vendor Rosie Zerpuche reported steady sales of her clay candelabras called Trees of Life, and other folk art items that she began making in her San Antonio garage a decade ago.

You get to hang out with friends and meet new people and exchange ideas, said Zerpuche, 79, who has sold her goods at the annual market for years.

Nearby, Teresa Jimenez Lopez exhibited elaborately embroidered blouses, shirts and dresses stitched by a collective that includes eight of her sisters in her hometown in Oaxaca, Mexico. Also on display were metal earrings featuring intricate filigree by husband David Lopez Lopez, 60, who learned the craft as a boy.

More Information 2017 Peace Market What: More than 80 vendors offering wide variety of hand-crafted artwork and practical items Where: Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, 922 San Pedro Ave. When: Today, noon - 6 p.m. See More Collapse

We are very proud to have our work showcased at Esperanza and to tell our story, Teresa Lopez, 58, said in Spanish through an interpreter.

The 7.1 magnitude quake that killed nearly 400 people in southern Mexico in September also seriously damaged their home, but the couple says they are fortified by faith.

International groups that rushed in with aid helped sustain them following the quake and, more recently, assistance from Graciela Sanchez, director of the Esperanza center, resolved logistical hurdles to bring them to the holiday market.

Similar appreciation was heard from Jose Sosa Mendoza and Lupe Vasquez Gutierrez, another couple from Oaxaca, who also have counted on Sanchez to arrange housing, meals and other hospitality during their 14 years as Peace Market vendors.

It has been the greatest experience to participate, Vasquez Gutierrez, 60, said through an interpreter while standing before a wall covered with beautiful, hand-woven decorative rugs made by relatives in five families.

Sanchez considers the vendors almost family, particularly those she has recruited during her travels in Mexico.

At the Peace Market, you can buy directly from the artists, and they might work with you (on cost), she said. Theyll also explain their techniques, from beginning to end.

What may first appear an excessive price for a weaving is easier to digest once shoppers understand the intense amount of effort that went into creating it over a period of weeks or even months, Sanchez said.

After spending too much time in line at the Kohls during a Black Friday excursion, San Antonio resident Terri Sinclair, 53, relished the comparatively tranquil setting of the Peace Market, where about 85 vendors hawked a mix of locally crafted and imported goods, ranging in price from just a few bucks to $3,500 or more. The offerings included lotions, soaps, masks, dolls and sculptures.

For Corpus Christi resident Alma Cooley, the visit to the market evoked reminiscences of her childhood in Mexico.

We just recently bought a new house so we need more artwork, she said as husband Michael picked out wall hangings on the centers second floor, where food and drink also are sold.

Local teacher and painter Christian Withers cast the market as a more personal venue than big box stores.

The market is about peace, harmony, cooperation and promoting the folk spirit, said Withers, 49, whose works often feature a feminine goddess figure. Its an alternative to the Black Friday mad rush retail shopping.

Beverly Rodriguez made the drive from Houston to shop, but wound up also volunteering at the market.

Everything is handmade, which is really important to me, said Rodriguez, 56. And theres a cultural influence on their products.

While on the hunt for gifts for others, she confided, I spoiled myself with a handmade purse.

zeke@express-news.net
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McGREGOR  As SpaceX, the brainchild of boundary-pushing Elon Musk, has become one of the biggest players working on the next generation of space travel, its test site in this Central Texas town has been quietly fulfilling an essential role in its quest.

McGregor, less than 20 miles southwest of Waco, has grown to become SpaceXs second-largest location, in terms of employees. With the commercial space industry assuming a larger role in the evolving national space race, the Hawthorne, California-based company has been steadily increasing the size and workload at its McGregor test site, where it brings every one of its engines for testing.

It is an optimistic time to be in the space industry, said Bill Ostrove, space market analyst for Forecast International, which provides consulting for aerospace and other industries. There is a lot of capital and talent flowing into the industry right now. Were definitely seeing a lot of advances that havent been made in a long time.

The space industry received more than $2 billion in equity investment through the first nine months of this year, according to a report from Space Angels, a network of angel investors focused on early stage commercial space investments. That includes personal investments from individuals in the business such as Musk, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com fame, Robert Bigelow and Richard Branson.

Bezos Blue Origin, another of the bigger players working on powerful rockets, also has a base in Texas.

SpaceX has successfully launched 45 missions since 2008, when it made history by getting the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket into orbit.

The rockets carry cargo into space for NASA, place satellites into orbit for commercial customers and complete national security missions for the U.S. government. First-stage boosters have successfully landed on drone ships or solid ground 19 times  another history-making feat for SpaceX  and three missions have reused one of the previously flown boosters.

What more compelling mission is there than to make humanity an interplanetary species, right? asked Zachary Ledford, a former Army field-artillery officer who now works with SpaceXs human resources data and automation team. Theres nothing else going on in the world right now thats more exciting and more compelling.

At McGregor, technicians and engineers build and maintain 14 test stands that secure rocket engines for testing, diverting the flames into a concrete trench. They work with their counterparts in Hawthorne to turn big-picture ideas into feats of modern science.

Testing all those engines in preparation for their less-than-three-minute journey into orbit keeps employees at attention, and SpaceX is finding that military veterans play an integral part of its workforce. At the SpaceX test facility in McGregor, a third of more than 550 full-timers have military backgrounds. Employees say they are used to mission-driven tasks.

Were where the action is at, said Michael Adams, a Navy Reserve officer and a SpaceX build-reliability engineer. Theres a lot of test ops out here. Were firing off engines. Were firing off stages. Theres a lot to be done out here.

Co-worker Joel Fecke likens the work to his critical high-tempo job in the Army overseeing maintenance of vehicles, weapons and equipment for a cavalry scout squadron.

The way we work together as a team, its really what speaks to the veterans, said Adams, who served aboard a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine.

Only a handful of commercial companies are launching payloads into orbit or developing rockets. Orbital ATK used a medium-lift rocket last week to deliver cargo to the International Space Station as part of its contract with NASA. Blue Origin recently completed a hot-fire test of its BE-4 engine, which is capable of producing 550,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.

The BE-4 engine will be used to power Blue Origins New Glenn rocket. The first-stage booster will have seven reusable liquid-oxygen, liquefied-natural-gas engines generating 3.85 million pounds of thrust.

SpaceX is developing a heavy-lift and super-heavy-lift rocket of its own. The Falcon Heavy will have 27 Merlin first-stage engines, three times more than the Falcon 9 that SpaceX is currently flying, fueled by liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene. The engines combine for a total of 5.13 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

Theres a lot of interest and a lot of excitement in this area right now, Ostrove said of overall launch vehicle development.

Musk is targeting Mars, ultimately. SpaceX is developing an even heavier-lift rocket, with new Raptor engines, that could one day reach the Red Planet. The vehicle is being called BFR. With 31 Raptor engines on the BFR booster, its expected to be more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that NASA used to propel astronauts to the moon.

The Raptor engines will be fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid methane, the latter being available on the surface of Mars for the return journey to Earth. Raptor engines have been tested for a total of more than 1,200 seconds of firing across more than 40 main engine tests.

SpaceX, Blue Origin and NASA are the main U.S. players developing heavy- and super-heavy-lift rockets, Ostrove said. The commercial companies, however, are taking opposite approaches to rocket development.

SpaceX has less powerful engines but is building more of them. The rationale is that more practice will accelerate learning and bring down costs, Ostrove said. Blue Origin is putting fewer, more powerful engines on its rockets. Its rationale, he added, is that fewer working pieces will make it easier to integrate the various rocket elements.

Blue Origin declined to comment for this article.

Ostrove said the big question moving forward is whether the market can sustain both companies. That will largely depend on their pricing to carry payloads to the moon, Mars or beyond.

I think its still very far out there, but were a lot closer to have, sort of, an economy around these heavy-lift launch vehicles, he said. Were probably closer to that now than weve ever been.

Steve Fuchs, currently director of fabrication and support in McGregor, started working for SpaceX in 2005. He was living on Kwajalein Island, in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia, when the young company arrived with plans to launch rockets. Fuchs, who used reverse-osmosis equipment to create clean drinking water for troops, was working as a civilian contractor for the islands Army base, but he was immediately intrigued by SpaceX.

He soon got a job preparing the launch pad and helping integrate the rocket. But everyone did everything in those days, so Fuchs also captained the 40-foot catamaran that ferried employees to and from the smaller island where launches would occur.

We had a phrase in the Marine Corps that we used to use called Semper Gumby, which means always flexible, said Fuchs. Thats very much the same here at SpaceX.  You may come to work thinking youre going to do a certain job, and that may change three times by the end of the day.

He witnessed two liftoffs  neither completely successful  before moving to Texas in 2007. In the early days, most of McGregors SpaceX employees worked out of an underground bunker, a vestige of the sites extensive history developing explosives and missiles.

The bunker had one restroom, a kitchen and offices. Fuchs recalled technicians working from two shipping containers pushed together. It was common for vehicles to get stuck in the mud and for the power to go out.

Much has changed. The original test stand, left behind by Beal Aerospace, has been augmented with one more closely resembling a launch pad. Multiple buildings, spread across more than 4,000 acres, contain desks, work areas for technicians and rocket stages awaiting testing. That underground bunker is now a test control center.

Complex systems are celebrated in the SpaceX Hall of Flame, with pictures depicting different iterations of engines undergoing testing. Employees cubicles are adorned with mission patches of successful launches.

One notable Texas monument is the Grasshopper. Used to test guidance, navigation and control systems for landing a rocket booster vertically, the prototype has a name that comes from its large, insectlike landing gear. The Grasshopper started with hops of only a matter of inches, but ultimately it flew half a mile into the air.

The celebrations of such successes also come with the recognition of setbacks. On Nov. 4, an engine caught fire during a qualification test that occurred before ignition. One test cell was damaged. No one was injured, and SpaceX doesnt expect the incident to affect its launch schedule.

The engine being tested was a Block 5 Merlin, and SpaceX rockets are currently using the Block 4 Merlin.

Testing of Block 4 Merlin and other engines has continued as planned. Such testing generally occurs twice a day, six days a week, so frequent that many employees hardly notice the noise. Yet some still go outside to watch. Fuchs can tell the type of engine and where its being tested by simply listening to the sounds reverberating through his workspace.

Adams can watch second-stage tests from the window near his desk.

I do take about 15 seconds, he said. I lean back and I look at it. And Im like, Yeah, thats cool. We do this for a living.

Adams was transitioning to the Navy Reserve and working on his masters degree in aerospace engineering when he stumbled across SpaceX. He had been interviewing with the more established space organizations and planned to be a company man.

Thats what space was. Space was the pencil ties and the pocket protectors, he said.

But as government funding dried up, the established aerospace players werent able to pay for his level of experience. Adams came across a SpaceX booth at a career fair. His quality assurance experience with high-risk submarine systems has fit nicely with his current role of minimizing and eliminating risk while testing second-stage rocket boosters.

SpaceX recruits employees with the skills and drive for making humans a multiplanetary species, said Brian Bjelde, vice president of human resources. In a statement, he described veterans as smart, passionate and driven individuals who are committed to achieving that mission and they bring a wide array of skills that can be deployed in so many of our roles.

Ledford, the former artillery officer, was recruited via LinkedIn while earning his MBA at Baylor University. His grandfather worked at Vandenberg AFB, where SpaceX launches some of its rockets. As a kid, Ledford read books on solar systems and built rockets out of Legos.

I really couldnt believe it, he recalled of the cold call from SpaceX. I was trying to hold back excitement.

Fuchs said he can find himself talking about his job for hours with friends and family.

I didnt join the company knowing were going to get this far, he said. So to be part of that journey, to see what weve done so far and then to know the potential of what we have to do, is just incredibly exciting.
Fifteen years ago, the Pearl was an unlikely prospect for redevelopment. The deserted brewery was prone to flooding and next to an overgrown stretch of the San Antonio River with homeless encampments. Walmart considered it for a distribution center.

Its transformation into a prosperous urban community is a source of hope and pride for local builders and politicians  proof that derelict parts of San Antonio can have a second life.

But all the growth thats taken place at the Pearl, and along the adjacent Broadway corridor and River North area of downtown, didnt occur on its own. It has been helped along by about $42 million worth of property tax breaks, cash grants, fee waivers and forgivable loans from the city with another $3.1 million from the county, according to data obtained through open records requests.

Developers say they still need taxpayer help to build around the Pearl to make up for the high costs of land, construction and infrastructure repairs. But many local politicians are asking whether its time to cut off the funding, now that the area is home to San Antonios most expensive apartments and developers are flooding the area with plans for new homes and office buildings.

How do we know when to stop helping? District 6 City Councilman Greg Brockhouse said in an interview. Thats what infuriates people about the Broadway corridor. Its just, enough already! Regular humans cant live over there. The regular San Antonian cant enjoy dinner at the Pearl. They can get an appetizer at Southerleigh, but thats about it.

Last month, Brockhouse and Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff asked for reevaluations of city and countys incentive programs. Their concern is that too many incentives are used around the Pearl at the expense of neighborhoods that need them more. Their requests came after officials approved a controversial $8.4 million package to San Antonio credit union Credit Human to move its headquarters from the North Side into a 10-story office tower at the Pearl.

Stricter guidelines

Brockhouse and Wolff say the city and county should come up with stricter guidelines to determine when to stop incentivizing growth in neighborhoods like the Pearl  for example, by excluding areas that reach certain levels of rental costs. Two other county commissioners, Tommy Calvert and Paul Elizondo, say they want to shift the focus of the countys incentives policy onto low-income areas.

I want to save incentives for neglected areas of town where development has gone wanting, Elizondo said. For years, weve been wanting to have those incentives in the south and also on the west and east sides of our community.

In the meantime, the city and nonprofit Centro San Antonio plan to reevaluate the citys development incentives early next year, Assistant City Manager Lori Houston said in an email. Depending on feedback from the community, the policies could be modified to incentivize affordable housing, she said. Incentives could also be used to promote growth in the 13 regional centers identified in the citys SA Tomorrow plan adopted last year.

Builders say the Pearl area isnt ready to function without incentives. Because of high land and construction costs, development projects are not yet profitable without government help, said Bill Shown, the director of development for Silver Ventures, which built the Pearl.

For example, Silver Ventures will have to build an underground parking garage, at a cost of about $30,000 a space, for a 223-unit apartment complex it plans to construct at the crossing of Interstate 35 and U.S. 281, Shown said. A suburban developer could build a surface lot at a much cheaper price, he said.

Infrastructure costs

Another purpose of incentives is to help urban developers recoup the cost of putting infrastructure in place for their projects, such as burying power lines and improving sidewalks, developers say. To be sure, suburban builders also often pay for infrastructure improvements.

All San Antonians benefit when local government encourages growth in urban areas, Shown and other downtown advocates say. They argue that a vibrant urban core helps the citys economy by attracting new companies and well-educated young employees, and that San Antonio needs to compete with other cities that are building up their downtowns.

On top of that, urban growth strengthens the local tax base, preventing San Antonio from becoming a hollowed-out city like Detroit, Shown said. The Pearls property tax bill was $144,000 in 2003, the year after it was bought by Silver Ventures, he said. This year, it was $6.7 million, with the city refunding $783,000 of that because of incentive deals, he said.

Shown said he cant predict when incentives will no longer be necessary for the Pearls growth. It depends on how construction costs and rents change in the future, he said.

The point at which incentives are no longer necessary is when we reach the pinnacle of our aspirations, he said. When weve reached everything we aspire to as a community, then we can stop working together as a community.

Growth in the urban core

Theres no doubt that the Pearl has been a huge success in the 15 years since local billionaire Christopher Kit Goldsbury targeted it for redevelopment.

The brewery, formerly a textbook example of urban blight, has become a popular tourist destination, with many of San Antonios top-rated restaurants. It is home to Hotel Emma, one of the citys top hotels, and the Cellars, the areas most luxurious apartment complex. This fall, the American Planning Association named it one of five great neighborhoods in the U.S., and the Urban Land Institute honored it through its Global Awards for Excellence program.

The Pearls apartment market is booming. Nine major complexes with 1,821 living units have been built within a half-mile of the community since 2011, according to data from analytic firm Austin Investor Interests, and another is on the way. The areas average rent is $2.08 a square foot, well above the local markets overall average of $1.13.

Most of the complexes are almost full with occupancy rates at or above 90 percent, the data show. The only exceptions are three that were built this year, including Cellars, San Antonios most expensive complex with an average rent of $3.07 a square foot. Its 76 percent full and was opened just six months ago.

The Pearls office market hasnt taken off like its apartment market has, but its slated to grow fast with the arrival of Credit Human. It is hampered by high construction and land costs, but benefits from being right next to downtown and to the juncture of U.S. 281 and Interstate 35, said Larry Mendez, an executive with Transwestern, a commercial real estate firm.

Thats a very strong market, in general, he said. Its very close to the CEO housing in Terrell Hills, Olmos Park, Alamo Heights.

Soaring rents

The two office buildings owned by Silver Ventures at the Pearl, with 256,000 square feet of office space, are 100 percent occupied, according to Transwestern. The asking rate for office space within a half-mile of the Pearl has soared by 56 percent over the last five years, from about $16.12 a square foot in 2012 to $25.18 this year.

Ernest Brown, an investment broker with Rohde, Ottmers & Siegel Realty Services, believes that the city and county were justified in offering incentives to Credit Human. The company will bring hundreds of employees to the Pearl who will occupy nearby housing and support retail shops, he said. All of that will foster growth downtown.

But The Pearl is almost mature enough to go without incentives, he said. Downtown itself is another story  it still lags behind when it comes to job creation and restaurants that are friendly to locals rather than tourists, he said.

The Pearl, after this, has probably reached its turning point. Downtown hasnt gotten there yet, Brown said.

Downtowns office market has strengthened in recent years, with its vacancy rate falling from 27.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to 16.8 percent during the same time this year, according to Transwestern. The average rent rose from $19.20 a square foot to $21.10 over that time. Companies such as USAA have been picking up more office space downtown, and projects are in the works that would add 1.4 million square feet of space to the district, including new headquarters for Frost Bank and CPS Energy.

The districts apartment market is also growing, but not at the pace of the Pearls. The number of apartments downtown increased 30 percent between the end of 2014 and the third quarter of his year, from 2,749 to 3,575, according to Austin Investor Interests. The average rent rose by 7.1 percent to $1.65 a square foot during that time.

Many new apartment complexes are planned downtown, promising to bring another 2,253 units to the market. One local developer even says he plans to rent apartments for more than $4 a square foot  unheard-of in San Antonio  at a new complex on the River Walk.

Policy shift

If Brockhouse and Wolff are successful in their calls for change, it could mark the most significant shift in the city and countys incentive policies since former Mayor Julian Castro declared the Decade of Downtown in 2011.

Castros initiative led to the creation of two city incentive programs. One of them, the Inner City Reinvestment and Infill Policy, encourages development in low-income and undeveloped neighborhoods through waivers of SAWS and city fees. The other, the Center City Housing and Incentive Policy, promotes the construction of housing in the urban core with property tax rebates and construction loans that developers dont have to pay back if they meet certain conditions.

In the last six years, developments making use of CCHIP program have created roughly 2,426 apartment units, with another 3,016 units planned or under construction, according to an analysis of city records. Overall, the city has awarded nearly $140 million in development incentives through CCHIP, ICRIP and otherwise.

Bexar County has been offering tax abatements for multifamily developments in the urban core since the mid-2000s. Developers have received about $8.4 million overall, according to data received through an open records request.

Broadway corridor

The Pearl, the Broadway corridor and River North have received nearly a third of the city and countys development incentives this decade, records show. About $42 million, or 30 percent, of the total $140 million in city incentives have gone to those areas. From the county, the neighborhoods received $3.1 million of the total $8.4 million.

Another $38.7 million, or 28 percent, of the city incentives went to downtown itself, excluding River North, the records show. Forty-two percent of the countys total, or $3.5 million, went to downtown.

Brockhouse said he wants to eliminate the boundaries of ICRIP, making all of San Antonio eligible for development incentives. The city also should make greater use of fee waivers through SAWS, CPS Energy and its Development Services Department to encourage growth, he said.

At the same time, city officials should reevaluate which areas of the city are in extra need of development and give them a priority for incentives, he said. The reform would fit into recent talk of distributing city resources through an equity lens, he said  in other words, giving more to needy areas than to well-off ones.

We need to expand it in a way that incentives are available everywhere, period, Brockhouse said. Were redlining parts of town, for the most part. We dont even look at them.

For his part, Wolff wants the county to come up with stricter standards for when neighborhoods become exempt from incentive programs and to better define the areas that are eligible. He questions whether aid should be given to projects at the Pearl just because there are needy neighborhoods nearby.

OK, youre right next to a currently economically depressed area. Should you continue to incent there because it will by definition increase the opportunities for other areas close by? he said.

Affordable housing?

Calvert, the county commissioner, said at an East Side community event last week that he wants to make sure that residential projects receiving government aid are affordable. The city and county have incentivized some of San Antonios priciest apartment complexes, such as Agave Apartments on the border of downtown and Southtown, where rents for a two-bedroom range between $1,700 and $2,725 a month. The city and county gave a total of $5.2 million in incentives for the complex.

Residents of urban core neighborhoods also have had misgivings about the citys incentive programs, saying they have overwhelmed residential neighborhoods with too much construction. Last year, City Council responded by shrinking CCHIPs coverage area to less than a fifth of its former size.

Rose Hill, president of the Government Hill Neighborhood Association, has mixed feelings about incentives. On the one hand, they help bring what she calls good developers, such as GrayStreet Partners, which plans to build a massive cluster of apartments, retail and offices that Hill thinks will beautify the neighborhood, wedged between downtown and the Pearl.

But she is unhappy with other projects, such as a row of townhomes on Grayson Street that received $218,000 worth of city fee waivers and tax rebates. She feels that the 14 townhomes were crammed onto a 0.45-acre lot, ruining the whole block.

Incentives are good to some extent, but you need to think, what do the residents get out of it? she said. The citys getting something, but what is the community getting?

rwebner@express-news.net | Twitter: @RWebner
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Art deco, the jazzy design movement that combined modernist style, rich materials and decorative influences from ancient cultures such as the Egyptians and Mayans, found a firm foothold in Texas during the economic boom of the 1920s and left a formidable architectural legacy in San Antonio.

With its symmetrical facades, beaconlike towers, vertical lines, angular detailing, geometric patterns, metal and mural artwork, and zigzag ornamentation, art deco found its way into everything from gas stations to courthouses  from the Kress building downtown to the Woodlawn Theater in the Deco District along Fredericksburg Road.

If the 1931 Chrysler Building in New York City, with its stainless steel spire and ornamental gargoyles like hood ornaments, is the summit of art deco, then our own 1929 Tower Life Building, with its classic stepped-back skyscraper structure, shares some of its regal, modernistic blood.

Id even argue that the Alamo Cenotaph belongs in the category, said Michael Guarino, chairman of the citys Historic and Design Review Commission and a designer with Ford, Powell & Carson Architects, although it is the sub-species called art moderne, because of its blocky assertiveness and relative lack of ornament other than the Coppini figures on it.

Like the music and movies of the time, art deco conveyed a sense of glamour and luxury, a feeling that things couldnt get much better (besides that pesky Prohibition).

Paul Follot, a leading art deco interior designer in the 20s, described the movement like this: We know that man is never content with the indispensable and that the superfluous is always needed. If not, we would have to get rid of music, flowers and perfumes.

By that reasoning, ebony, ivory and gold detailing is not far away.

A more recent critic put it this way: Pretty much everything art deco looks like it belongs on the cover of an Ayn Rand novel.

The main appeal of art deco in Texas was that it was modern, according to David Bush, co-author with Jim Parsons of the 2010 book Hill Country Deco: Modernistic Architecture of Central Texas.

Companies, individuals and cities constructed deco buildings because they wanted to appear progressive and forward-thinking, Bush wrote in a recent email. After WWI, people were rejecting anything that was considered old-fashioned, and construction was booming. Texas cities were growing rapidly, which opened up opportunities for deco skyscrapers and commercial buildings. In San Antonio, new suburban development resulted in some exceptional deco school buildings and a good number of modernistic houses.

Art deco is not a single style; rather, it is a sort of catchall term for a wide variety of stylistic elements, drawing on everything from cubism to Chinese lacquer to King Tuts tomb.

It was a reaction to the much curvier, fussier art nouveau style of the early 1900s (which was itself an answer to previous historical styles such as neoclassicism), and a forerunner of the boxier art moderne style, which gave way to the stark, functional, international style of architecture that dominated after World War II.

Although some of art decos principles could be found in European machine age design before World War I, the name is associated with the thoroughly modern Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925. But the term didnt gain widespread use until the late 60s, with the publication of British architectural historian Bevis Hilliers book Art Deco of the 20s and 30s.

Calling something art deco is a good way to start an architectural argument, but a short list of modernistic buildings in San Antonio that might be called art deco, or at least share its bloodlines, include:

Casino Club (1927, 102 W. Crockett St.)

Tower-Life Building (1929, 310 S. St. Marys St.)

Express-News building (1929, 301 Avenue E)

Frost Bros. department store (1930 remodel, 217 E. Houston St.)

Alamo National Bank Building (1930, 105 S. St. Marys St.)

Aurora apartment building (1930, 509 Howard St. in Tobin Hill)

Borden Creamery (1933, 875 E. Ashby Place, now Star Storage)

Hermann Sons Lodge (1938, 515 S. St. Marys St.)

Olmos Pharmacy (1938, 3902 McCullough Ave.)

S.H. Kress (1939, 311 E. Houston St.)

Frank Brothers (1939, 115 Alamo Plaza, now Fuddruckers),

Karotkin furniture store (1939 remodel, 217 W. Commerce St.)

Joskes department store (1939 remodel, now Shops at Rivercenter)

The Alameda Theater should probably be on the list, but it is hard to pin down since its a late example, and the most exuberant, Guarino said. Its the capstone on the era, even though its construction didnt start until 1945. Id put the Mission Drive-In within the same category.

Many of San Antonios finest examples of art deco architecture are on Houston Street downtown, because it was the real main street of San Antonio and South Texas prior to WWII, Guarino said.

Houston Street was the prestige showcase for the style and placed higher-end retail cheek by jowl with the citys theater district, the building types that really supported art deco at its apogee, he said.

As the nation became more of an automobile culture, the nations gas stations and car dealerships reflected the new modern design, and many examples still can be found all over San Antonio, notably on older thoroughfares such as Broadway and Fredericksburg Road.

San Antonio has a long Spanish architectural heritage that sets it apart from Texas other major cities. The citys architects  notably Ayres & Ayres, a strong proponent of art deco design  created modernistic buildings with a regional accent, incorporating influences such as the missions and other Spanish colonial elements.

You see quite a bit of that in San Antonio in the form of Aztec and Mesoamerican-influenced designs, Bush said. The Casino Club Building on Crockett Street downtown is a beautiful example.

Bush notes that modern buildings such as the former Alamo National Bank Building (now the Drury Plaza Hotel) have a lot of Spanish influence, as does the facade of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts (the 1926 Municipal Auditorium), the Taj Mahal administrative building at Randolph AFB and Jefferson High School.

All those buildings show how Spanish traditions could be combined with deco modernity, he said.

Art deco continues to have a lasting impact all over the state and the nation.

Deco was always meant to be glamorous and dramatic, and people still react to that, said Bush, whose latest book with Parsons is Dallas-Fort Worth Deco. There are very human elements, even on the tallest skyscrapers.

And many art deco buildings are still very important to their communities. People live and work in deco buildings. Look at how many schools, post offices and courthouses from the 20s and 30s are still in use, not to mention bridges and parks. A surprising number of deco projects are functioning 80 years later.
Recently U.S. Senator Robert Menendez joined the (growing) list of politicians who have managed to beat back corruption charges despite engaging in ethically questionable behavior.

Like former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (about whom weve written here and here), Menendez claimed that the extravagant gifts he accepted over a number of years, including first-class travel, luxury hotel stays, and lavish vacations, were nothing more than presents from a good friend. Never mind the fact that he helped his good friend, Salomon Melgen, obtain visas for his foreign girlfriends, handle an $8.9 million Medicare overbilling dispute, and pressure the State Department to take actions to benefit Melgens business interests in the Dominican Republic. In the Menendez-Melgen version of events, these kinds of exchanges between good friends are routine.

Except that theyre not. Most of us dont routinely spend thousands of dollars on our friends, and most of us are not in positions to wield political favors. Even so, the Menendez bribery and corruption case ended in a mistrial after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict. Ten of the 12 jurors reportedly believed that the prosecution did not prove its case.

Without evidence of a direct quid-pro-quo, bribery and corruption are difficult to prove in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in McDonnell v. United States, where the court narrowed the definition of what constitutes official action in corruption cases.

Following the McDonnell decision, former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos saw their high-profile convictions overturned. And former U.S. Rep. William J. Jefferson, who was famously caught with $90,000 of bribe money in his freezer and was sentenced to 13 years (the longest prison term ever handed down to a member of Congress convicted of corruption charges), was released from prison after seven of the 10 counts against him were vacated. This does not bode well for federal prosecutors who are tasked with proving corruption in cases involving politicians and their wealthy friends.

The McDonnell decision has likely made it easier for politicians to engage in ethically questionable behavior. Changing federal bribery laws in the current political climate seems like a monumental task. Gift laws in the 50 states, however, are remarkably varied and present many opportunities for reform. For example, many state laws exempt gifts from personal friends and make no distinction between friends and lobbyists. Other states exempt travel and hospitality expenses as long as 20 or 25 people attend an event. And lawmakers consistently reject efforts to tighten these laws. For example, the Virginia General Assembly tightened its gift laws earlier this year by approving an aggregate $100 annual cap on gifts, but lawmakers rejected amendments that would have modified the definition of personal friend and required more stringent disclosure.

In the absence of much stricter gift laws or precedent changing court decisions, what can be done? For one, politicians can simply pledge to not accept extravagant gifts from their friends. Politicians should treat gifts from friends the same as gifts from any other source. Aggregate limit and disclosure rules should apply across the board.

Unfortunately, lawmakers have shown little proclivity toward applying gift cap and disclosure laws to their wealthy, gift-bearing friends. This doesnt mean that voters cant still demand that they do so. Last summer, we launched the Virginia Integrity Challenge and asked all candidates running for statewide office and for the House of Delegates to voluntarily disclose on their campaign websites all gifts that they receive while running for or serving in office, including gifts given to their immediate family members.

We also asked them to disclose their campaign contributions and expenditures, and their personal financial disclosure forms. Candidates running for statewide office were asked to disclose their most recent federal and state tax returns, as well. We firmly believe that when candidates are transparent about their personal and campaign finances, citizens can make informed choices and hold those who serve them accountable.

We were pleased to report that candidates in almost 20 percent of all House of Delegate races pledged their support for the Integrity Challenge and provided links on their campaign websites to their disclosures. This level of support was an encouraging start and demonstrated that there are politicians who are willing to be proactively transparent, whether or not the law requires them to be. Our goal is to have these lawmakers establish new voluntary disclosure standards that will eventually become the norm.

No statewide candidate responded to our calls asking them to pledge support for the Virginia Integrity Challenge. While this was troubling, it was not altogether surprising. Candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General run higher profile campaigns, costing millions of dollars. Governor-elect Ralph Northam spent approximately $23 million on his campaign while his Republican opponent, Ed Gillespie, spent about $15 million. These lawmakers serve in a full-time capacity (unlike members of the General Assembly) and deal with a broader array of policy issues. Disclosure is all the more important for candidates running at this level, yet more difficult to achieve.

But its not impossible as long as the desire to campaign and serve transparently exists. We urge Governor-elect Northam to lead by example and disclose all gifts he and his immediate family receive, regardless of the source. We also urge the governor to revive ethics reform in Virginia and push to do away with friend exemptions in the states gift laws. These actions would go a long way toward assuring Virginia voters that their voices matter as much as those of the wealthy and politically connected.

_____

Shruti Shah is a contributing editor of the FCPA Blog. Shes the Vice President of Programs and Operations at Coalition for Integrity (formerly Transparency International-USA). She can be contacted here.

Marian Currinder is the Policy Director for the government accountability portfolio at Coalition for Integrity
Heres a treat from Anglo-Swedish writer Helene Fermont. An extract from her third novel, His Guilty Secret, which takes the reader on a scandalous tale of death, betrayal, love and no less than five affairs.

His Guilty Secret

Helenes novels deal with the psychological and moral complexity of issues that readers will easily identify with. Her experience as a therapist helps her to understand the true emotions of her characters, leading them through their grief, addictions and escape from their toxic relationships.

His Guilty Secret Extract

Its okay, Im here for you. Clemency asked a passing doctor for directions to the morgue. Both women went up to the front desk where a receptionist took their details. May I identify the deceased man instead of my friend, please? Shes too upset to do it.

Awaiting the stern-looking girls response, Patricia had a change of heart. If its my husband, I want to see him, she said weakly, convinced she would die if that man turned out to be Jacques.

Certainly, Ill take you there myself, the girl replied in a brusque manner. She got up from her chair and led them towards a small passage, then gave their details to a stocky middle-aged doctor sitting behind a screen. As she left, the girl didnt say goodbye or express her condolences. Shed long since learned to not get personally involved with people identifying their next of kin. To her it was just a job that enabled her to pay the bills.

Patricia and Clemency followed the doctor into a sterile white room, which smelt of disinfectant. The doctor turned and looked at Patricia. I appreciate this is hard for you, Mrs Beaumont. Youre about to identify the body of your husband who was brought here yesterday afternoon at 3.00 p.m. Perhaps you would like your friend to accompany you? He looked at Patricia, waiting for her to respond.

Patricia was too upset to talk, so Clemency replied on her behalf. Im coming with her, she said in a firm voice, not letting go of her friends hand. It seemed surreal to think that less than twenty-four hours ago, Patricia had been looking forward to seeing her husband and shed been preparing to spend the evening with her guests.

Nodding, the doctor led them to a corner at the back of the room where a body was covered with a white sheet on a trolley. Pulling down the sheet, he asked, Is the deceased your husband, Mr Jacques Beaumont?

Patricia let go of Clemencys hand. Leaning forward, she took a closer look at the face and upper body of the man shed spent the best years of her life with, and nodded. Yes, thats Jacques. What happened to him? Her voice trembled so much the doctor moved closer to hear her.

Your husband died of a heart attack. Im very sorry for your loss.

His Guilty Secret by Helene Fermont is out on 27th November 2017 and will be available on Amazon.

For more information see helenefermont.com
Royal Navy sailors performed the Changing of the Guard ceremony for the first time in its 357-year history.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip

Onlookers gathered in their thousands to watch on as 86 sailors performed the routine - in which one team of guards takes over from another in a colourful spectacle - to mark 2017 as the Year of the Navy.

Eddie Wearing, the warrant officer 1st Class, said: "It's daunting, but I'm very excited. To be the conducting warrant officer for the first mount ever in the Royal Navy is a massive privilege and an honour to do. I'm really looking forward to it."

During the routine, the sailors marched through the famous Buckingham Palace gates while the 'Game of Thrones' tune played out.

The ceremony is usually carried out by Foot Guards from the Army's Household Division regiments, but the sailors underwent training for a month at the navy's headquarters in Portsmouth, southern England, to ensure they had the routine spot on.

As well as celebrating the Year of the Navy, the sailors were also paying tribute to a number of additional ships in its fleet, including the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The Changing of the Guard has been taking place since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660.

The traditional Guards consist of five infantry regiments - the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards - and two regiments of the Household Cavalry - the Life Guards and Blues and Royals.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to announce their engagement "any day now".

Meghan Markle

The news was expected to be announced by Kensington Palace last Thursday (23.11.17) with a congratulatory statement said to have been prepared for Prime Minister Theresa May, and while the news was not revealed, it is expected imminently.

A Government source told the Sunday Express newspaper: "Everyone was expecting the announcement to go out at 11am on Thursday.

"We think the Palace got spooked by phone calls from various media outlets. The statement was being prepared on behalf of the Prime Minister.

"It's now being considered a case of any day now."

Last week, the 'Suits' star was spotted being accompanied by bodyguards from the Metropolitan Police's Protection Command.

It is said to be another hint that she and Harry could be engaged after his brother Prince William's wife Duchess Catherine was only assigned police protection after he popped the question in Kenya, a month before their official November 2010 announcement was made.

TV crews from around the world began gathering at Kensington Palace last night (27.11.17) ahead of a potential announcement.

What's more, Royal insiders told the publication that staff have been informed the pair's engagement news would be a case of "when, not if", and it is said the plan is to make such an announcement prior to Christmas.

Last week, Harry, 33, and Meghan, 36 - who have been dating for 16 months - were said to be gearing up to ask the Archbishop of Canterbury for his blessing for a church wedding.
Wider acceptance due to rise in disposable income and more women joining the workforce has resulted in the Indian women ethnic wear market growing rapidly over the past few years, according to a report, which attributes religious and cultural diversity with a wide range of festivals and celebratory occasions as a key driving factor behind this trend.The Indian women ethnic wear market, segmented into saree, salwar kameez, kurta/kurti and lehenga, is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent between 2018 and 2022, says the report titled Women Ethnic Wear: The Changing Paradigm by Dublin-based market research firm Research and Markets.

Wider acceptance due to rise in disposable income and more women joining the workforce has resulted in the Indian women ethnic wear market growing rapidly over the past few years, according to a report, which attributes religious and cultural diversity with a wide range of festivals and celebratory occasions as a key driving factor behind this trend.#

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the market size of ethnic wear on the basis of sector, type and product classification and covers Fabindia, W, BIBA Apparels Pvt. Ltd., SOCH Studio, Ritu Kumar, Chhabra 555, Satya Paul, Meena Bazaar and Nalli, said a press release from the firm. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) recently wrote a letter urging the labour ministry to form a minimum wage board to review the existing wages of the readymade garment (RMG) workers. Industry insiders, however, say, the move followed international pressure and is aimed at averting a likely labour unrest related to wages.Refixing the minimum wages would help brighten the image of the apparel sector both at home and abroad, the letter, signed by BGMEA president Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman, said.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) recently wrote a letter urging the labour ministry to form a minimum wage board to review the existing wages of the readymade garment (RMG) workers. Industry insiders, however, say, the move followed international pressure and is aimed at averting a likely labour unrest related to wages.#

The sector has been facing adverse situations since December 2013 when the last minimum wages regulation came into effect, a business daily reported citing the letter. The last wage board had fixed the minimum wages for garment workers at BDT 5,300.More than 50 RMG units in Ashulia zone remained closed for a week following a strike enforced in support of the demand for wage hike, among others, which drew international attention.Following that, global rights groups highlighted the worsening workers' rights situation in the country's RMG sector and urged the European Union (EU) to review Bangladesh's eligibility for generalised system of preferences (GSP).According to labour leader Sirajul Islam Rony, factory owners to judiciously negotiate product prices with buyers and should not pass their failure on to the workers. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Nigerian Textile Manufacturing Association (MTMA) wants a ban on the export of cotton from the country as it is needed for local manufacturing. MTMAs acting director general Hamman Kwajaffa said this at a public hearing organized by a parliamentary committee on industry to discuss setting up a cotton, textile and garment (CTG) development council.Kwajaffa welcomed the move to establish the CTG development council, saying it would create a conducive environment for the economy, according to a Nigerian daily.

The Nigerian Textile Manufacturing Association (MTMA) wants a ban on the export of cotton from the country as it is needed for local manufacturing. MTMA's acting director general Hamman Kwajaffa said this at a public hearing organized by a parliamentary committee on industry to discuss setting up a cotton, textile and garment (CTG) development council.#

Lamenting Nigerias over-reliance on imported fabrics, Ruff n Tumble founder Adenike Ogunlesi said it is unfortunate that the country is yet to reap the benefits from the US African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) due to the reverses suffered by the textile and garment sector over the years.Secretary general of the National Union of Textile and Garment Workers of Nigeria Issa Aremu said urged the government to grant full autonomy to the proposed council. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
World's fifth-largest cotton producer Uzbekistans state-run company Uzbekengilsanoat recently signed agreements with major South Korean trading companies Posco Daewoo, Color Paradise, Solsang International Corp, Ratel E & T Co. Ltd., Korea Factory and the Lotte Mart retail network to supply textile products worth $70 million to them by the end of 2018.During the meeting with representatives from the Korean International Trade Association (KITA) and the national electronic trading platform (KTNET), agreements were signed on joint activities to promote Uzbek textile products in Korea in 2017-2018 through the electronic trading platform KOREA Trade and on providing services through representations of Uzbek companies in Korea for electronic customs clearance.

World's fifth-largest cotton producer Uzbekistan's state-run company Uzbekengilsanoat recently signed agreements with major South Korean trading companies Posco Daewoo, Color Paradise, Solsang International Corp, Ratel E & T Co. Ltd., Korea Factory and the Lotte Mart retail network to supply textile products worth $70 million to them by the end of 2018.#

Korean businessmen especially liked the dyed and melange yarn, terry and hosiery of the group of companies Uztex, Osborne Textile, as well as knitted and denim products of Uzbek brands Bofanda and Bonito, Uzbek media reported quoting the press centre which covered the recent visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to South Korea.Uzbekistan is likely to achieve full processing of cotton fibre in 2021.The country, which annually grows about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton and produces 1.1 million tons of cotton fibre, has a target to bring internal processing of cotton fibre to 70 per cent by the end of this year.The country plans to create 112 high-tech industrial factories, and expand, modernize and upgrade 20 operating ones. All this will increase the export potential of the industry up to $2.5 billion a year and create more than 25,000 jobs. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The VDMA Textile Machinery Association has successfully hosted events for the textile industries in the US and Mexico. The textile machinery conference in Charlotte, US was held on November 6, 2017. A two day event was consequently held on November 8 and 9, 2017, in Mexico City. The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association is headquartered in Germany.More than 80 decision-makers of the US textile, nonwoven and carpet industry as well as 25 leading textile machinery and accessories manufacturers participated in the US conference. The event in Mexico City attracted nearly 450 customers and 30 textile machinery and accessories manufacturers, making it one of the most successful events of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association ever.

The VDMA Textile Machinery Association has successfully hosted events for the textile industries in the US and Mexico. The textile machinery conference in Charlotte, US was held on November 6, 2017. A two day event was consequently held on November 8 and 9, 2017, in Mexico City. The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association is headquartered in Germany.#

The conference in Mexico City was addressed by Jose Cohen Sitton, president of the National Chamber of the Textile Industry Canaintex. Where these two events focused on customers, the training session at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional (Escuela Superior de Ingenieria Textil) in Mexico City on November 10, 2017 aimed at future engineers. About 500 textile engineering students followed the technical presentations from 18 textile machinery and components manufacturers.The company delegates also visited the machinery department of the faculty. The VDMAs contribution to improve the education of future customers was very much appreciated.In the US and Mexico, the VDMA member companies presented their latest production technologies from spinning to dyeing and finishing. Major topics addressed were digitalisation of the textile and textile machinery industry (Industrie 4.0 / industrial internet), higher efficiency and profitability, energy, water and material savings, new applications with growth potential, such as composites and nonwovens, higher quality with measurement, control and testing devices, technical training centres. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
NEC Seiichiro Toda s-toda@cj.jp.nec.com +81-3-3798-6511

TOKYO, Nov 27, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4005) today announced that it has adopted Software-Defined Networking (SDN) (1) solutions developed by NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) at its Chiba Works and constructed a new network infrastructure for the Works, aiming at realizing a next-generation manufacturing plant driven by IoT (a digital plant).Sumitomo Chemical's Three-Year Corporate Business Plan stresses the importance of "Business and Work Process Innovation Through IoT" as one of its strategic initiatives for sustainable growth. The Company is working proactively, among other things, to realize a digital plant by leveraging IoT technologies and promote greater real-time visibility and sophistication in the Sumitomo Chemical Group's global supply chain information management.Sumitomo Chemical considers it essential to reduce a variety of risks it faces in the IoT era of ubiquitous connectivity by deploying and strengthening multi-layered networks in order to minimize potential damage from cyberattacks and unexpected failures.The new network infrastructure at Sumitomo Chemical's Chiba Works has been designed and constructed around NEC's SDN-compatible product, the UNIVERGE PF series. Primary features include the following:1. Enables the flexible, rapid construction of a new networkSDN enables the flexible and rapid construction of a Virtual Tenant Network (VTN) (2) with different security levels. This permits the application of different security policies to each system and helps to minimize the damage level from cyberattacks, while supporting systems utilizing IoT.2. Visualizes the entire network with a GUIThe use of SDN enables the visualization of network configuration and the status of communications on a Graphical User Interface (GUI)(3) screen and centralizes control over the virtual network. This allows the rapid pinpointing of a failure if it occurs and enables measures to be taken for early recovery.The benefits of implementing SDN at Sumitomo Chemical's Chiba Works include the following:1. Minimizes impact of line disturbance between separated plant sitesSumitomo Chemical's Chiba Works is separated into two sites, the Anegasaki District and the Sodegaura District, both of which are connected with each other by a network at all times. Under normal conditions, common network segments are in place and operated for the entire Chiba Works by controlling them from the Anegasaki District. According to the new network, a backup SDN controller installed in the Sodegaura District and "a dual cluster function"(4) enable each of the Districts to operate its own network independently of the other. Such an alignment serves to minimize the impact of a line disturbance on the entire operation of the Chiba Works should it occur in one of the Districts, thereby contributing to increased competitiveness of the Chiba Works as well as its safe and stable operation.2. Reduces network maintenance and operation costsThe use of SDN allows the Company's personnel in charge of information system operation, instead of a system engineer from an external firm, to build and operate multi-layered networks more easily while maintaining their security. As a result, it is expected that the Chiba Works could reduce the current network maintenance cost by approximately 30%.3. Facilitates realizing a digital plantSumitomo Chemical is working on building a system which is capable of performing on-site maintenance with a tablet PC, such as examining drawings of facilities, equipment, etc. within the plant and prepare maintenance records at the site. A virtualized network with SDN enables maintenance staff to have easy access to information on plant instruments and equipment at the site while keeping strict security measures unaffected. In addition, as part of its preventative plant maintenance activities, Sumitomo Chemical is looking into the viability of predicting potential failures at the plant by means of AI and big data analysis with the use of sensors attached to plant equipment for collecting process data.(1) SDN (Software-Defined Networking): An architecture whereby networks are dynamically controlled by software.(2) VTN (Virtual Tenant Network): A logical network that is configured by software on the common physical network.(3) GUI (Graphical User Interface): A user interface where an operation target is represented by a picture. The interface can be operated intuitively using a mouse.(4) A system that enables operations to continue, even in the event of an unexpected failure or disaster, by employing two spare devices in addition to two devices that operate under normal conditions.About NEC CorporationNEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.Based on its Mid-term Management Plan 2015, the NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.Source: NEC CorporationContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Group press release | Zurich, Switzerland, 27 November 2017

ABB and Kawasaki announce collaborative robot automation cooperation

World's first collaboration that focuses on "cobots" and creation of common industry approaches to safety, programming and communications

ABB and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, two global industrial automation and robot suppliers, announced today that the companies will join forces to share knowledge and promote the benefits of collaborative robots, in particular those with dual arm designs. The global cooperation will become effective immediately.

Under the new cooperation, which is the world's first to focus on 'cobots,' both robot makers will continue independently manufacturing and marketing their own offerings while working together on joint technical and awareness opportunities. This includes educating policy makers, NGOs and the general public about the benefits of collaborative automation, and creating common industry approaches to safety, programming and communications.

Collaboration between people and robots, machines and processes is increasingly important as production in many industries has shifted from larger lots with little variation to low volumes with a high mix. This means more variability and more human intervention. Collaborative automation allows people and robots to each contribute their unique strengths - people offer process knowledge, insight and improvisation for change, while robots offer tireless endurance for repetitive tasks.

The cooperation also represents collaboration across borders, with ABB as Europe's largest robot supplier and Kawasaki one of Asia's industrial giants. "The scale and pace of change in the robotics industry today is unimaginable," said Per Vegard Nerseth, Managing Director of ABB's Robotics business. "Beyond the technologies behind collaborative automation, there is also a need for innovative new ways of working together and creating common industry approaches to safety, programming and communications."

"Collaborative robots, especially those with two arms capable of human interactions, can greatly contribute to society and help the world cope with labor shortages and an aging workforce. We see high potential in expanding collaborative applications and processes where people and technology work together to create solutions," said Yasuhiko Hashimoto, Managing Executive Officer and General Manager, Kawasaki Robot Division. "I'm very pleased that ABB and Kawasaki are joining forces to lead the drive for more user-friendly, advanced collaborative automation."

ABB is recognized as a pioneer in collaborative automation through its YuMi dual arm robot, the world's first truly collaborative robot. The YuMi robot makes it possible for people and robots to safely share common tasks such as assembling small electronics.

Kawasaki is offering a very unique and innovative Dual-Arm SCARA Robot "duAro", which has been developed based on extensive application know-how and which can safely collaborate with humans in the workplace.

The first output from this cooperation will be a collaborative dual arm robot demonstration in Booth IR3-56, IR5-22 and SR-82 at IREX, to be held in Tokyo, Japan from November 29 to December 2, 2017.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader in electrification products, robotics and motion, industrial automation and power grids, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a more than 125-year history of innovation, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalization and driving the Energy and Fourth Industrial Revolutions. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 136,000 employees. www.abb.com

ABB Robotics is a pioneer in industrial and collaborative robots and advanced digital services. As one of the world's leading robotics suppliers, we are active in 53 countries and over 100 locations and have shipped over 300,000 robot solutions in a diverse range of industries and applications. We help our customers to improve flexibility, efficiency, safety and reliability, while moving towards the connected and collaborative factory of the future. (www.abb.com/robotics: http://www.abb.com/robotics)

Kawasaki was founded more than 120 years ago and has been developing globally while producing revolutionary products by working together to ensure technology synergies across its different divisions.

Kawasaki is now recognized as a global leader in diverse industries in wide ranging fields going beyond land, sea and air, offering state-of-the-art technologies for environmental and energy infrastructure, machinery and robotics, and various types of transportation in marine, railway and aerospace to a leisure vehicles as motorcycles and personal watercraft in global basis with about 35,200 employees. (global.kawasaki.com: https://www.khi.co.jp/)

Kawasaki Robotics is a leading supplier of industrial robots and robot automation systems with a broad product portfolio having shipped 170,000 robots in about 50 countries. As a pioneer in Japan, Kawasaki celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017. As one of the world's leading robotics suppliers, we are now transforming ourselves from an industrial to a fully integrated robot supplier. Kawasaki is a solution provider having deep application know-how through diverse business and products on land, sea and air. (robotics: http://robotics.kawasaki.com/)(.: http://robotics.kawasaki.com/)(kawasaki: http://robotics.kawasaki.com/)(.com: http://robotics.kawasaki.com/)
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 27, 2017 / EastCoal Inc. (TSXV: ECX.H) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on Friday, November 24, 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia. All of the resolutions presented at the meeting were approved by the shareholders, with the votes cast by proxy representing 7.76% of the total shares outstanding as of the proxy cut-off date, October 19, 2017.

Election of Directors

The number of directors was fixed at three members and each of the three nominees listed in the Company's management information circular dated October 27, 2017 (the "Circular") were re-elected to the Company's Board of Directors. Detailed results of the votes cast by proxy are set out below.

Nominee Votes Cast by Proxy For % For Votes Cast by Proxy Withheld % Withheld Hendrik Dietrichsen 506,282 99.97 157 0.03 John Conlon 500,925 98.91 5,514 1.09 Abraham Jonker 500,925 98.91 5,514 1.09

Appointment of Auditors

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was appointed as the auditor of the Company to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of the Shareholders, or until their successor is otherwise appointed and the directors were authorized to fix the auditor's remuneration.

For Further Information

Damien Forer, Tel: 1 (604) 973 0079

Chief Financial Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: EastCoal Inc.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Aerospace & Defense company Ultra Electronics Holdings plc (ULE.L) Monday said its Communication & Integrated Systems business, based in Greenford, UK, has received a UK contract, worth 16.6 million pounds, to support the provision of advanced surveillance capability until 2019. The Group will also provide specialist support over the course of the system's use. In addition, the Group's Precision Control Systems business in Cheltenham, UK, has received a 9 million pound contract from defence and security company Saab of Sweden. As per this contract, PCS will supply HiPPAG airborne compressor system solution for the new Gripen E/F fighter aircraft. Owing to commercial and security considerations, no further information can be provided in relation to this award, the Group added. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
New generation of Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy models will join the line-up of cars produced at the Kaluga plant by Groupe PSA from first-quarter 2018

50% localisation rate to leverage Russian supplier network

First steps in Groupe PSA's rebound strategy in the region in line with Push to Pass commitments

Regulatory News:

Groupe PSA (Paris:UG) will start up production of the Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy at the PCMA Rus plant in Kaluga from the first quarter of 2018.

This decision, in line with the Group's Push to Pass strategic plan, illustrates Groupe PSA's objective to offer competitive vehicles to Russian customers, based on highly efficient local production processes and deep localisation, with the strong involvement of Russian suppliers. This is part of the Group's LCV strategy to triple sales volumes outside Europe to xx and double global profit by 2021.

The level of localisation is expected to represent 50% for the Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy, compared with 35% for the Citroen C4 and Peugeot 408. It results from enhanced cooperation with local suppliers.

These two commercial vans will join the line-up of passenger cars specially produced for Russia in Kaluga by Groupe PSA, along with the Citroen C4, and the new Peugeot 408, which are among the best-selling models in Russia representing about 40% of Groupe PSA sales in Russia.

"Enlargement of the range is now key for the Peugeot and Citroen brands to rebound on the Russian market. Our commercial offensive across the region also aims at meeting the needs of SMEs boosted by the economic recovery, with medium-sized vans and their passenger vehicle versions Citroen Space Tour and Peugeot Traveller to follow in a few months." commented Christophe Bergerand, Executive Vice President of Groupe PSA, Chief Executive Officer for Russia and the Eurasia Region, and President of OOO PCMA Rus.

"Groupe PSA has nearly finished the technological preparations for production of light commercial vehicles, with the full cycle of manufacturing at the factory in Kaluga. As we know, the company has always had strong positions in Europe's LCV segment, so we think that the production of new automobiles will be successful. It explains Groupe PSA's plans to increase the proportion of local production in Russia and to begin the next phase, when new vehicles will be produced locally", said the governor of the Kaluga region, Anatoly Artamonov.

PCMA Rus facility

PCMA Rus is based in the Kaluga region, 180 km from Moscow. Operational since 2010, the facility has been producing vehicles since 2012, covering the full cycle of manufacturing from welding and painting to final assembly. The facility has two production lines: one for Groupe PSA saloons and another for Mitsubishi SUVs. Applied equipment and technologies fully comply with the international quality, environmental and technological standards of the parent companies.

About Groupe PSA

The Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all client expectations. The Group has five car brands, PeugeotCitroenDSOpel and Vauxhall, as well as a wide array of mobility and smart services under its Free2Move brand, aiming to become a great carmaker and the preferred mobility provider. It is an early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars. It is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia. Find out more at groupe-psa.com/en.

Media library: medialibrary.groupe-psa.com @GroupePSA

Communications Division www.groupe-psa.com/en - +33 1 40 66 42 00 @GroupePSA

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171127005322/en/

Contacts:

Groupe PSA

Lilia Mokroussova, +79160290026/+74959373134

lilia.mokroussova@mpsa.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/27/17 -- Canstar Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: ROX) ("Canstar" or the "Company") announces that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Danniel Oosterman, will be retiring as an officer and director. The transition will be conducted over the next thirty days. The Company is engaged in a search process for a new senior officer. The Company thanks Mr. Oosterman for his work on the behalf of the Company and wishes him the best for his future endeavours. Future announcements will be made on the status of these matters.

Canstar Resources will be holding a conference call on Tuesday, November 28 at 1:30pm EST to discuss the results of the Kenora Gold Project announced on November 15, 2017, and future plans. The conference numbers are:

Local Dial-in Number: (+1) 416 764 8658

Toll Free Dial-in Number: (+1) 888 886 7786

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dennis H. Peterson, Chairman

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Canstar Resources Inc.

Karen Willoughby

Director Corporate Communications

1-866-936-6766

kwilloughby@canstarresources.com




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - PNC Bank, a member of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC), said it has agreed to acquire Trout Group LLC, an investor relations and strategic advisory firm servicing the healthcare industry, with more than 80 clients in the life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in late December, were not disclosed. Upon the closing of the acquisition, Trout will be combined with Solebury Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNC. The merged entity will provide investor relations and strategic communications services to clients across multiple industry sectors. The combined firm will be renamed Solebury Trout Communications, with more than 60 professionals. Solebury Trout will maintain its affiliation with Solebury Capital, an equity capital markets advisory firm in the U.S. PNC noted that the acquisition of Trout Group is another significant step in its strategy to build a major communications and advisory practice to provide long-term relationship-based advice to its constituents. Solebury Trout will retain the Founder and CEO of Trout, Jonathan Fassberg, as well as the rest of Trout's existing team. Fassberg will join Solebury Communications' Co-CEOs Jeff Grossman and Lisa Wolford to jointly lead Solebury Trout Communications. They will report to Solebury's Executive Committee, headed by Alan Sheriff, Ted Hatfield and Victor Cohn. 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.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 27, 2017) - Canuc Resources Corporation (TSXV: CDA) ("Canuc" or the "Company") announces that it has closed a non-brokered private placement financing with gross proceeds of $464,934, resulting in the issue of 1,162,335 units ("Units") at a price of $0.40 per Unit.

Each Unit consists of one common share ("Common Share") of Canuc and one-half of one warrant to purchase one Common Share. Each whole warrant ("Warrant") entitles the holder to purchase one additional Common Share at a price of $0.60 per Common Share for two years from the closing date of the private placement.

Proceeds will be used to continue exploration work on the newly discovered breccia zones of the El Tule claim block, and on the high grade structures proximal to the Santa Rosa mine workings. Further releases with exploration results will follow in due course.

Canuc has agreed to pay cash finder's fees of $4,600 and has issued 4,000 finder's warrants ("Finder's Warrants") in relation to the private placement. Each Finder's Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional Common Share at a price of $0.40 per Common Share for two years from the closing date. Securities issued under the private placement will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of closing.

Directors and officers of the Company (collectively, the "Insiders") subscribed for an aggregate of 62,500 Units, for gross proceeds of $25,000. The participation of the Insiders constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company is relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements contained in sections 5.5(a) and (b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 on the basis that participation in the private placement by Insiders will not exceed 25% of the fair market value of the Company's market capitalization and that the Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and not listed on the specified markets of s5.5(b) of MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report at least 21 days prior to the completion of the private placement since the existence of Insiders' participation therein was not determined at that time.

The private placement is subject to final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. 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 of this release.

About Canuc

Canuc is a junior resources company whose principal focus is exploration and development of the San Javier Silver-Gold Project located 146 km east of Hermosillo in Sonora State, Mexico. The company also generates cash flow from natural gas production in Central West Texas, where Canuc has an interest in nine producing gas wells, and has rights for further in field developments.

For further information please contact Canuc Resources Corporation:

(416) 548 - 9748

cberlet@canucresources.ca

Disclaimer and Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements that include risks and uncertainties. When used in this news release, the words "estimate", "project", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "believe", "hope", "may" and similar expressions, as well as "will", "shall" and other indications of future tense, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and apply only as of the date on which they were made. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements include changes in the prevailing price of gold, the prevailing price of natural gas, the Canadian-United States exchange rate, amount of gas produced that could affect revenues and production costs. Other factors such as uncertainties regarding government regulations could also affect the results. Other risks may be set out in the Company's annual financial statements and MD&A.
Raymond Yip (centre), HKTDC's Acting Executive Director, and Annie Tsoi (1st L), Second Deputy Secretary General of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, William Ip (2nd L), Director, Large Enterprise, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan of PayPal, Patrick Fung (2nd R), Sales Manager from Win Win Industrial Company Limited, as well as Ringo Wong (1st R), Group Founder of Sunshine Laundry Convenience Store Co .,Ltd.

The inaugural SmartBiz Expo gathers more than 500 exhibitors from 43 countries and regions to showcase various technological applications, inventions and start-up projects to spark new corporate thinking.

The third edition of the Hong Kong International Franchising Show gathers more than 130 exhibitors from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Korea, the ASEAN region, Australia, Europe and North America. Thematic zones include Hong Kong Catering, Hong Kong Non-Catering, International and the Chinese mainland, covering franchising business opportunities in food and beverages, retail, education and various personal and business services.



HKTDC Communication and Public Affairs Department Banbi Chan (SmartBiz and Franchising Show), Tel: +852 2584 4525, Email: banbi.yc.chen@hktdc.org Sam Ho (Asian E-tailing Summit), Tel: +852 2584 4569, Email: sam.sy.ho@hktdc.org Katherine Chan (BIP Asia), Tel: +852 2584 4537, Email: katherine.cm.chan@hktdc.org Sunny Ng (BIP Asia), Tel: +852 2584 4357, Email: sunny.sl.ng@hktdc.org

HONG KONG, Nov 27, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - From 6 to 8 December, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) will organise four events for SMEs at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Through exhibitions and thematic forums under one roof, global experts in fields that range from technological innovation (artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, VR, etc), entrepreneurship, IP management and e-tailing will showcase value-adding and versatile business solutions for SMEs. Two brand new events, the SmartBiz Expo (6 to 8 December) and the Asian E-tailing Summit (6 December), along with the Business of IP Asia Forum (7 to 8 December) and the Hong Kong International Franchising Show (6 to 8 December) will generate synergy and help SMEs capture new opportunities.Raymond Yip, Acting Executive Director of the HKTDC, said: "In the fast changing digital age, SMEs must adopt innovative strategies to stand out from competitors. The HKTDC has always strived to help SMEs capture the latest business opportunities. The two new events in December, the SmartBiz Expo and the Asian E-tailing Summit, will feature the latest intelligence and professional services in technological innovation, e-tailing, digital marketing and brand promotion. Combined with two flagship industry events, the Business of IP Asia Forum and the Hong Kong International Franchising Show, the four events are set to help SMEs enhance their competitiveness in the fast-changing global economic environment. The events also showcase unique advantages of our service industries."- Inaugural SmartBiz Expo sparks new business ideasThe ever-changing global trade environment is presenting different opportunities and challenges. The HKTDC will launch the SmartBiz Expo this year to showcase technological applications and innovative solutions to promote industry exchange and to inspire new business ideas. The event seeks to help businesses satisfy consumer needs and maintain productivity and competitiveness through business transformation, innovation, upgrade and technology.The inaugural SmartBiz Expo will gather more than 500 exhibitors from 43 countries and regions to showcase the latest business solutions, technology applications and operations support as a one-stop platform. At the Techtopia zone will be an array of technologies for business transformation and upgrade, including augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The Boosters zone will feature diverse business solutions, such as cloud services and e-commerce systems, logistics, branding, marketing, consultancy and financial and legal services. In addition, the Envision Lot zone will exhibit the inventions and research findings from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe and Asia. The HKTDC will also set up The Hatchery zone to the fair to let local and overseas start-ups promote their businesses to potential business partners.More than 20 seminars will be held during the fair, inviting industry experts to examine global market conditions, business opportunities in AI, technological innovation and marketing strategies, as well as the latest trends in online shopping and social media. Speakers include Herbert Chia, Venture Partner of Sequoia Capital China; Leo Liu, Alibaba Cloud General Manager (HK, Macau, Taiwan & Korea Region); Andrew Young, IBM China / Hong Kong Limited Commercial Sales Unit Executive; Gerardo Salandra, CEO and founder of Rocketbots; and David Tang, CEO of BeeHive Network Information Technology Limited. In addition, the HKTDC will organise a three-day "FitBiz Rendezvous" programme, where a series of thematic forums and seminars, multiple pitching sessions and inventors & tech savvy demonstrations will help businesses find new inspiration.In the age of big data, corporations are actively exploring cost-effective marketing strategies. The HKTDC and the Trade and Industry Department will co-organise a seminar series entitled "InnoTech for Branding - From Surviving to Growing". Topics covered will include online marketing, branding with virtual reality, and big data. The seminars will help SMEs understand branding strategies, identify consumers, adjust business models and build brands.- Developments and opportunities in Asia's booming e-tailing marketAs the number of consumers in the region continues to rise, economies are growing and smart phone penetration is becoming prevalent, the region's e-tailing market is manifesting immense potential and business opportunities. Euromonitor International has estimated that online sales in Asia would reach US$650 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent.The inaugural Asian E-tailing Summit will be held on 6 December. The event is a one-stop platform for business professionals and online retail experts to come together and examine the latest sourcing trends and market intelligence. With a focus on Asia, speakers will discuss the region's successful cases of e-tailing and business solutions. They will also explore the business opportunities in the Chinese mainland and in Asia markets.The Summit will spotlight three main areas -- digital consumption, cross-border e-commerce and social commerce and omni-channel strategies -- and examine the challenges and opportunities of e-tailing. The Summit has invited leaders from e-tailing giants, marketplace and platforms, think tanks and brands to speak at the event. The plenary session in the morning will focus on the impact of rising digital consumption on the world economy. Speakers include Dai Feng Jun, General Manager, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Suning Commerce Co., Limited; Tao Yang, Chief Executive Officer, Kilimall International Limited; Will Ross, Chief Executive Officer, Lazada Crossborder (Hong Kong), Lazada Group; Giulio Xiloyannis, Managing Director, ZALORA; and Kiril Popov, Senior Analyst, Fung Global Retail and Technology.At the two concurrent breakout sessions, respectively titled "Worldwide Procurement for Cross-border E-commerce" and "The Social Commerce Movement - An Omnichannel Priority", speakers include Jenny Hui, General Manager, Cross-Border Trade, eBay Hong Kong and Taiwan; Michio Takahashi, Senior Manager, Cross Border Trading, E-Commerce Company, Rakuten; William Ip, Director, Large Enterprise, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, PayPal; and Bobby Liu, Executive Director, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd.In addition, the HKTDC will organise two workshops to offer practical knowledge and introduce the latest e-tailing trends and digital retail solutions to SMEs and to those planning on using e-tailing to expand their businesses. At the same time, the workshops will promote industry exchange and partnership to generate more opportunities to cooperate.- Business of IP Asia Forum promotes IP & innovationThe seventh edition of the Business of IP Asia Forum (BIP Asia) is jointly organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, the HKTDC and the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC). This year's Forum adopts the theme "IP & Innovation: Propelling Change, Growth and Connectivity". More than 80 IP experts have been invited to share the latest industry opportunities and the event is expected to attract more than 2,500 IP professionals. The Chief Executive of the HKSAR Mrs Carrie Lam and Deputy Commissioner, State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China He Hua will officiate the opening ceremony.On the first day, there will be two plenary sessions in the morning. The first session will feature representatives from the World Intellectual Property Organization, the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation, the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters of the Cabinet Office of Japan, and the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office to examine the evolving IP policy in the innovation era. The second session will feature Gustav Brismark, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Ericsson AB, and Toshimoto Mitomo, Corporate Executive, Intellectual Property and Mid-to-Long-Term Business Development, Sony Corporation to discuss how to craft a comprehensive IP strategy for the new world order.Technological innovation and intellectual property are closely related. Another highlight of BIP Asia is the "Global Tech Summit - The Revolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI)" on the second day. The HKTDC has invited world-renowned AI experts and Asian industry pioneers to share their business insights and views about the opportunities and challenges in AI development to get participants prepared for the next wave of AI revolution. Speakers include Dr Eric Chang, Senior Director, Technology Strategy and Communications, Microsoft Research Asia; Prof Simon See, Director and Chief Solution Architect, NVIDIA AI Technology Center; Herbert Chia, Venture Partner, Sequoia Capital China; Rick Zou, Executive Vice-President, National Eastern Tech- Transfer Center; Barry Chan, Partner, Financial Services Sector, IBM Global Business Services, IBM China/Hong Kong Limited; Bruce Ren, Chief Strategy Officer, UBTECH Robotics Corp; Aldrin Yim, CEO, Codex Genetics; and Chris Au Young, General Manager, Smart Airport, Airport Authority Hong Kong.A series of thematic seminars will also be held during BIP Asia to explore such practical and diverse subjects as business practices and legal tips, industry-specific topics and market insights. This year, new topics such as food and beverage, fashion, digital media and film adaptations will be covered. At the exhibition zone, free advisory service on knowledge transfer and commercialisation, application, authorisation and trading of patents, trademarks and copyrights, as well as relevant laws will be offered.- Hong Kong International Franchising Show - A platform for franchisees and entrepreneursIn recent years, the rising consumption of Asia's middle-class has attracted many international brands to leverage Hong Kong as an Asian franchising hub to expand to the Asian markets. At the same time, the booming franchising activities in Hong Kong have attracted many young entrepreneurs and SMEs to join the industry.The Hong Kong International Franchising Show returns this year as a one-stop platform for companies and entrepreneurs to look for franchising brands, identify business partners and find franchising tips. Entering its third edition, the Show will feature 130 exhibitors from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Korea, the ASEAN region, Australia and Europe and North America. Thematic zones include Hong Kong Catering, Hong Kong Non-Catering, International and Chinese mainland. The zones will feature franchising opportunities in food and beverage, retail, education and various personal and business services. Many well-known brands will be on show, including popular local cold-pressed juice brand, bless; Hong Kong's KamCha Milk Tea; Korea's popular Nolboo; and Singapore's "I Can Read".The HKTDC will also launch the new "Franchising and Wealth Building" seminar series, inviting more than 15 industry experts and leaders from around the world to host seminars to share business tips. The seminars will encompass various franchising domains, covering latest topics such as new business concepts for F&B in the digital age, as well as franchising business management from afar. During the fair, the HKTDC will also arrange business exchange and matching activities to promote business exchange and cooperation.Fair websites:SmartBiz Expo: http://www.hktdc.com/smartbizexpoAsian E-tailing Summit: http://www.asianetailingsummit.comBusiness of IP Asia Forum: http://www.bipasiaforum.comHong Kong International Franchising Show: http://www.hktdc.com/hkifsPhoto download: http://bit.ly/2A7P0dwAbout HKTDCEstablished in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China, Asia and the world. With 50 years of experience, the HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in international markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.- Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdc- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdc- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senator Rand Paul, R-Ken., revealed Monday he intends to vote for the Republican tax reform bill and urged his colleagues to do the same.



In an op-ed piece for Fox News, Paul acknowledged the Senate tax reform bill is not perfect but said he would still vote for the legislation.



'One of the main differences between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans, in general, favor less government and more tax cuts,' Paul wrote. 'That's why I'm pleased to see us moving forward on a plan for tax cuts, and why I hope to vote to pass such a cut in the coming weeks.'



Paul said he is pleased that the bill calls for a $1.5 trillion tax cut over the next ten years but indicated he would prefer a larger reduction.



'I would prefer that the Senate bill match the House bill and keep some form of state and local deductions so that no one gets caught in the trap of losing too many deductions at once and failing to benefit from the tax cuts,' Paul wrote. 'I'd like to see more permanence on the individual side.'



He added, 'Some of that is still achievable. Some of it is due to the peculiarities of the budget and Senate rules and will have to wait for another day.'



Paul called the tax reform bill a true test for his colleagues and urged them to support the legislation in a vote expected later this week.



Republicans can only afford to lose two votes and still pass their tax reform bill through the budget reconciliation process, and Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has already expressed opposition to the bill in its current form.



Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, has said she wants to see changes to the bill, while Senators Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and John McCain, R-Ariz., have also voiced concerns about the legislation.



(Photo: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / November 27, 2017 / Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner at Monteverde & Associates PC, a boutique securities firm headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating CalAtlantic Group, Inc. ("CalAtlantic" or the "Company") (NYSE: CAA) relating to the sale of the Company to Lennar Corporation (LEN). As a result of the merger, each CalAtlantic share will be exchanged for 0.885 shares of Lennar Class A common stock or $48.26 in cash

Click here for more information: http://monteverdelaw.com/investigations/m-a/. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.

The investigation focuses on whether CalAtlantic and its Board of Directors violated securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to the Company's by 1) failing to conduct a fair process, 2) whether and by how much this proposed transaction undervalues the Company by 3) failing to disclose all material financial information in connection with the upcoming shareholder meeting.

Monteverde & Associates PC is a boutique class action securities and consumer litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders and consumers from corporate wrongdoing. Monteverde & Associates lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions, whereby they protect investors by recovering money and remedying corporate misconduct. Mr. Monteverde, who leads the legal team at the firm, has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013 and 2017, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field.

If you own common stock in CalAtlantic and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.

Contact:

Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.

MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC

The Empire State Building

350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405

New York, NY 10118

United States of America

jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com

Tel: (212) 971-1341

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2017 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

SOURCE: Monteverde & Associates PC
In this exclusive interview with pv magazine, SolarWorld Americas CEO Jurgen Stein gives his perspective on the Section 201 trade case, including responding to criticism of potential effects on the U.S. solar market.pv magazine: SolarWorld has issued statements indicating that the trade remedies recommended by the ITC on October 31 will be inadequate to restore U.S. manufacturing. For those who missed that statement, can you sum up why you feel that none of the three proposals by the commissioners are sufficient, and why a solution like your company's tariff-rate-quota proposal is necessary? Jurgen Stein: First of all, we have to point out that the work of the Commission and its staff was extensive. They went into the details, and, we have to thank them for their work and their unanimous finding of injury to the U.S. solar cell and module manufacturing industry. They took this case and brought it to the level where we are, but we think their suggested remedies could be amplified in several points in order to ensure the long-term success of the U.S. industry. In terms of the remedy findings of the Commission, all of the commissioners recommended a remedy and that it should be for a period of four years. Which shows that the injury to the industry is obviously quite substantial, and that we need the full four years of remedy for the recovery of the industry. So, we appreciate that all of the commissioners recognize that fact. Three out of four commissioners recommend tariffs, and three out of four also said that the industry needs funding. These are helpful findings. What maybe missed is that only a tariff is not sufficient. It addresses the price level to a certain point, but at a lower level, there is the high risk that the import prices will continue to fall so dramatically that at the end of the day the market price we see - even after the application of a lower-level tariff - is not very much different than today. We also need quotas. We learned this lesson in the dumping cases against China and Taiwan. In those cases, we saw the industry suffer as a result of the dumping of product into the U.S. market, and then circumvention or underpricing of the dumping duty orders. So, we see a high risk that if there is only an ad valorem tariff, vs a per-watt tariff, that the foreign producers will have a manual to bring the goods into the United States on a price level which is again dumping. On the other hand, if there is only a tariff and no quota we are not addressing the other negative behavior of the foreign industry, namely, that overcapacities will continue to build regardless of global demand. Thus, without a per watt tariff and a quota, the countries that produce the overcapacity will continue to do so. This is the reason that we proposed a per-watt tariff and a quota. We can address it differently with a minimum import price or a floor price, as our co-petitioner did, but you always need some combination of tariff and other remedy. pv magazine: This is interesting about prices. The latest figures by Bloomberg New Energy Finance indicate that tier-1 Chinese PV makers were making solar panels at $0.32-0.37 per watt in Q3. Assuming that U.S. manufacturers get four years of trade protection, do you think that SolarWorld and other American PV makers will be able to compete with Chinese costs after this four-year period? Stein: Yes - we will be competitive after four years of an effective safeguard remedy. The problem is, and has been for some time, state sponsored subsidization of production from China and other countries. There is no reason that United States-produced solar cells and modules should be on a different cost level than anywhere else. The highest cost input is material, and that is generally the same globally. Given the technology efficiencies, labor costs are rather small as a part of the total production costs. With good automation and high

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MEXICO CITY, MEXICO / ACCESSWIRE / November 27, 2017 / Human tragedy is the immediate observable consequence when natural disasters of devastating magnitude strike, but after the initial shockwave, the affected society turns its attention to matters such as infrastructure, housing, and public services. The process of restoration begins and with it come new opportunities, especially in the areas of building construction and civil engineering. This is likely to be the case in Mexico, which was rocked by two massive earthquakes in September this year and faces the onerous task of rebuilding. But reconstruction campaigns could actually provide an economic boost to the affected areas and create opportunities for new employment, according to acclaimed foreign exchange broker Pablo Soria de Lachica.

Despite the damage caused by the two temblors, the Mexican central bank said in October it did not expect the national economy to be significantly impacted in the long term. Although short-term growth could slow down, the country is likely to make up for the decline, the bank's deputy governor Javier Guzman said. Economists also opined that rebuilding work could drive the economy up in 2018, with Moody's Analytics' Latin American bureau projecting an additional 0.4% to 0.5% to gross domestic product. Most of the reconstruction activity will be concentrated on building and repair work and given the scale of damages, it will take a while to reverse the effects and get the regions back to normal, Pablo Soria de Lachica noted. This means a steady stream of funding and investment along with the creation of many new jobs. Mexico's emergency relief fund was estimated at about $500 million, and in the aftermath of the earthquakes, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised that his government would provide funds and low-interest loans to support rebuilding efforts.

It has long been observed that natural disasters often trigger a medium-term economic upswing, which in turn stems from investing in reconstruction and the resulting creation of jobs, as Pablo Soria de Lachica pointed out. Such are also the prognoses for Mexico's earthquake-hit regions, with believers including the richest man in the country - telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim. He was among the largest contributors to relief funds, announcing that his foundation had donated more than $100 million to support restoration projects. Slim stated that the earthquakes would fuel economic activity because workers 'will be hired for all the reconstruction and renovation needed for schools, markets, and cultural heritage.' It remains to be seen how long the employment boost will persist, but it will undoubtedly play a key role in bringing the local economies back to life.

A graduate of Universidad Tecnologico de Mexico (UNITEC), Pablo Soria de Lachica has built a stellar reputation in the forex trading community and is regarded as one of the foremost brokers internationally. Combining professional guidance and educational projects, he aims to ensure the best outcome for his clients and maximize their profits. At present, Pablo Soria de Lachica is collaborating with Kartoshka, a company providing the latest technologies in sales, telemarketing and customer support. He is also passionate about environmental and charitable causes, supporting organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Delta Epsilon Sigma, Bridges for Peace, and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Pablo Soria de Lachica - Foreign Exchange Specialist: http://PabloSoriaDeLachicaNews.com

Pablo soria - Professional Profile - LinkedIn: https://mx.linkedin.com/in/pablosoriadelachica

Pablo Soria de Lachica Discusses Ways to Move from the Domestic Market to the Forex Market: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pablo-soria-lachica-discusses-ways-160400994.html

Contact Information:

PabloSoriaDeLachicaNews.com

http://PabloSoriaDeLachicaNews.com

contact@pablosoriadelachicanews.com

SOURCE: Pablo Soria de Lachica
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"):

Trading Venue: London Stock Exchange Date of purchase: 27 November 2017 Number of Shares purchased: 12,634 Shares Highest price paid per Share: 1,022 pence 13.64 USD Lowest price paid per Share: 1,009 pence 13.46 USD Average price paid per Share: 1,014.33 pence 13.53 USD

Trading Venue: Euronext Amsterdam Date of purchase: 27 November 2017 Number of Shares purchased: 27,334 Shares Highest price paid per Share: 13.61 USD Lowest price paid per Share: 13.44 USD Average price paid per Share: 13.55 USD

PSH intends to cancel these Shares. The net asset value per Share related to this Share buyback is USD 17.32 GBP 13.09 which was calculated as of 21 November 2017. After giving effect to the above Share buyback, PSH has outstanding 236,317,528 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/20171127005915/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Maitland

James Devas, +44 20 7379 5151

Media-pershingsquareholdings1@maitland.co.uk
The global smart carry-on bags market is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 25% during the period 2017-2021, according to a new market research study by Technavio.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171127005844/en/

Technavio has published a new market research report on the global smart carry-on bags market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The report categorizes the global smart carry-on bags market by technology (USB charging, connectivity, and sensors) and by distribution channel (online and offline). The report also determines the geographic breakdown of the market in terms of detailed analysis and impact, which includes key geographies such as APAC, the Americas, and EMEA.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

Market driver: premiumization through product innovation

Technological innovation drives the global smart carry-on bags market to a large extent. Various players in the market are developing innovative smart luggage with features like built-in scales, proximity servers, alarm systems, and water-resistant accessories. The prime advantage of a smart carry-on bag is hassle-free travel. Some of the pioneers in the smart carry-on bags market are Bluesmart and Samsonite.

According to Narendra Nandaigari, a lead analyst at Technavio for luggageresearch, "These days travelers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their luggage. This has added to the high preference for smart carry-on bags that have advanced features. Smart carry-on bags are folded and are incorporated with a biometric fingerprint scanner, which is used to open the bag. Smart carry-on bags are also incorporated with Bluetoothconnectivity and GPS, which ensure enhanced security."

Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Market trend: strategic partnerships

Manufacturers of smart carry-on bags, of late, are collaborating with technology companies. For instance, Samsonite International has collaborated with Google to launch a device (Track&Go) that aids in tracking and locating luggage. Also, Bluesmart has collaborated with Uber services. In situations where a Bluesmart carry-on bag is lost and tracked, the bag is delivered to the user's location through Uber.

Market challenge: app interface issues in smart carry-on bags

All smart carry-on bags are incorporated with 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi features and can be connected to sensors. Sensor-connectivity issues can lead to a disconnection between the app and the smart carry-on bag. During instances of poor connectivity, users are unable to detect the device. Wi-Fi and firmware issues also hinder the demand for smart carry-on bags. A sudden crash of the app can trigger connectivity issues between a smartphone and a smart carry-on bag. Distorted power supply is another challenge that impedes the growth of the market. Power fluctuations lead to distortion of connections between the app and the bag. Such app interface issues challenge the growth of the global smart carry-on bags market.

Is your business on track for a successful future? Learn how Technavio can help

Technavio helps businesses anticipate changes in their marketplace, make proactive adjustments, and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

Key vendors in the market

AWAY

Barracuda

Bluesmart

FUGU LUGGAGE

RADEN

Trunkster

The global smart carry-on bags market is a highly-concentrated market with only a few players in the marketplace. The integration of technological features, ergonomic designs, and convenience contribute toward the high demand for smart carry-on bags. Several manufacturers in the market are constantly upgrading their products in order to attract a large number of customers.

Get a sample copy of the global smart carry-on bags market free of cost

Access Technavio's continuously growing luggage research library and find expert analysis on hundreds of markets.

About Technavio

Technaviois a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171127005844/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

www.technavio.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/27/17 -- Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE American: GORO) (the "Company") declares its monthly instituted dividend of 1/6 of a cent per common share for November 2017 payable on December 26, 2017 to shareholders of record as of December 11, 2017. Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer, developer and explorer with operations in Oaxaca, Mexico and Nevada, USA.

The Company has returned $110 million to shareholders in monthly dividends since commercial production commenced July 1, 2010, and offers shareholders the option to convert their cash dividends and take delivery in physical gold and silver. For more information on Gold Resource Corporation's physical dividend program, visit the Company website at http://www.goldresourcecorp.com/gold-silver-dividends.php.

Dividends may vary in amount and consistency or be discontinued at the Board of Directors' discretion depending on variables including but not limited to operational cash flows, Company development requirements and strategies, construction, spot gold and silver prices, taxation, general market conditions and other factors described in the Cautionary Statements below and the Company's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

About GRC:

Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer, developer and explorer with operations in Oaxaca, Mexico and Nevada, USA. The Company has 56,891,484 shares outstanding, zero warrants and has returned $110 million back to shareholders since commercial production commenced July 1, 2010. Gold Resource Corporation offers shareholders the option to convert their cash dividends into physical gold and silver and take delivery. For more information, please visit GRC's website, located at www.Goldresourcecorp.com and read the Company's 10-K for an understanding of the risk factors involved.

Cautionary Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. When used in this press release, the words "plan", "target", "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the statements regarding Gold Resource Corporation's strategy, future plans for production, future expenses and costs, future liquidity and capital resources, and estimates of mineralized material. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to Gold Resource Corporation on the date of this press release, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this press release. In particular, there can be no assurance that production will continue at any specific rate. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the Company's 10-K filed with the SEC.

Contacts:

Corporate Development

Greg Patterson

303-320-7708

www.Goldresourcecorp.com




Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 27, 2017) - Crown Mining Corp., (TSXV: CWM) ("Crown" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has retained Tetra Tech to complete a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on its 100% controlled Moonlight-Superior Copper Project in Northeast California.

A PEA, as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), is an economic analysis intended to comment on the potential viability of a mineral project. A PEA analyzes and assesses geological, engineering, and economic factors to reach its conclusions. Results of the PEA are anticipated by the end of the 1st quarter, 2018.

Tetra Tech, Inc. is a leading provider of consulting and engineering, program management, construction, and technical services to the natural resource extraction industry with 16,000 associates worldwide. Tetra Tech has been serving North America's mining and minerals industry for 50 years and has worked at hundreds of mine sites, exploration projects and prospects. For more information about Tetra Tech, please visit tetratech.com.

Crown's President & CEO, Stephen Dunn commented: "With the recent rally in copper prices, the time is right to develop a model that clearly demonstrates the economic value of this resource. We are looking forward to working with Tetra Tech, and drawing upon the extensive knowledge of their team."

The Moonlight-Superior Copper Project in Northeast California includes four known copper deposits, three of which host the following National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") resources:

Deposit Tonnes Grade Copper

(tons in brackets) (%) (pounds) Moonlight (Indicated) 146 million (161mm) .324 1.04 billion Moonlight (Inferred) 88 million (88mm) .282 496 million Superior (Inferred) 54 million .41 487 million Engels - oxide (Inferred) 2.5 million 1.05 60 million

The PEA will be done solely on the Moonlight deposit. Further details of the Moonlight resource can be found in the Technical Report on the Moonlight Copper Property dated April 12, 2007 at Sedar.com. Further details of the Superior and Engels resource can be found in the Technical Report on the Superior Project dated November 7, 2014 filed on SEDAR which also discloses a historical resource estimate for the fourth deposit.

Mr. George Cole is the Qualified Person pursuant to NI 43-101 responsible for the technical information contained in this news release, and he has reviewed and approved this news release.

For more information please see the Crown website at www.crownminingcorp.com.

For Further Information Contact:

Mr. Stephen Dunn, President, CEO and Director, Crown Mining Corporation (416) 361-2827 or email info@crownminingcorp.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 press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward-looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in any jurisdiction. The flow-through common shares will not be and have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirements.
DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - November 27, 2017) - Monticello Associates, Inc, one of the country's leading asset management consultants, announced that William C. Howard, CFA has joined the firm as Vice President.

Located in the firm's Denver office, Mr. Howard's primary responsibilities will include managing client relationships and contributing to the firm's manager evaluation process.

Mr. Howard brings more than 19 years of investment experience to his role at Monticello. He joins the firm from Callan LLC, where he provided asset management consulting services to a variety of foundations, family offices and pension funds. Previously, Mr. Howard was a research analyst for Pritchard Investment Management and a portfolio analyst for Hulbert Financial Digest.

Mr. Howard earned his MBA from the University of Denver and a BA degree from Vanderbilt University. In addition, he is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Colorado.

"Bill is a proven investment professional with valuable experience that will benefit Monticello's clients. We are thrilled to have him as a member of our team," said B. Grady Durham, founder of Monticello Associates.

Denver-based Monticello, with its heavy emphasis on research-based advice, has built an impressive team of senior investment consultants with deep experience in directly evaluating investment managers. Serving a wide variety of clients, including tax-exempt institutions, endowments, foundations, high net-worth individuals, trusts, pension plans, and retirement plans, the firm has become one of the premier consulting firms in the country.

About Monticello Associates

Monticello Associates is an independent, fee-only asset management consulting firm based on historical Larimer Street in Denver with additional offices in Cleveland and Boston. Founded in 1992, the firm assists endowments, foundations, and family offices in the areas of asset allocation, investment policy development, investment manager search and selection, and performance measurement. As of December 31, 2016, the firm provided investment consulting services to 175 client relationships representing approximately $82 billion of assets under advisement.

Media Contact:

Laura Parsons

Parsons Communications

303-887-2911

lauramparsons@comcast.net
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 11/27/17 -- Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: MEI), a global designer and manufacturer of electro-mechanical devices, will release its second-quarter Fiscal 2018 results for the period ended October 28, 2017, on Thursday, December 7, 2017, before the market opens.

Following the release, the Company will conduct a conference call and Webcast to review financial and operational highlights led by its President and Chief Executive Officer, Donald W. Duda, and Chief Financial Officer, John Hrudicka, at 10:00 a.m. Central time.

To participate in the conference call, please dial (877) 407-9210 (domestic) or (201) 689-8049 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start of the event. A simultaneous Webcast can be accessed through the Company's Web site, www.methode.com, by selecting the Investor Relations page, and then clicking on the "Webcast" icon.

A replay of the conference call will be available shortly after the call through January 7, 2018, by dialing (877) 481-4010 and providing Conference ID number 22900. On the Internet, a replay will be available for 30 days through the Company's Web site, www.methode.com, by selecting the Investor Relations page and then clicking on the "Webcast" icon.

About Methode Electronics, Inc.

Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: MEI) is a global developer of custom engineered and application specific products and solutions with manufacturing, design and testing facilities in Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. We design, manufacture and market devices employing electrical, electronic, wireless, safety radio remote control, sensing and optical technologies to control and convey signals through sensors, interconnections and controls. Our business is managed on a segment basis, with those segments being Automotive, Interface, Power Products and Other. Our components are in the primary end markets of the automobile, computer, information processing and networking equipment, voice and data communication systems, consumer electronics, appliances, aerospace vehicles and industrial equipment industries. Further information can be found on Methode's Website at www.methode.com.

For Methode Electronics Inc. - Investor Contacts:

Kristine Walczak

Dresner Corporate Services

312-780-7205

kwalczak@dresnerco.com




Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 27, 2017) - Icon Exploration Inc. (TSXV: IEX.H) ("Icon" or "the Company") would like to announce Icon has received a strategic investment by Quinsam Capital Inc. ("Quinsam") to assist in completing the due diligence process as outlined in its corporate update on August 9th, 2017 which outlined Icon's intent to actively pursue opportunities in the medical marijuana industry, including a medical marijuana license under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Marijuana Purposes Regulations ("ACMPR license"). In addition to participating in the financing Quinsam will provide strategic advice, including the potential for future capital to assist Icon in completing an acquisition. Icon has identified several targets and will be prepared to announce an acquisition prior to year end that may include an existing ACMPR license or application to file an ACMPR license with an appropriate facility.

The revised private placement of units will be priced at $0.08 per unit and consists of one common share and one-half of one warrant (a "Unit" or "Units"). Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one common share at any time on or before 5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on the date that is one year after the date of issuance of the warrants at an exercise price of $0.15 per warrant; except that, from and after the date that is four months and one day after the Closing Date, if the closing price of the Company's common shares on the Exchange exceeds $0.30/common share for 10 consecutive trading days, then the Company may anytime thereafter accelerate the expiry date of the warrants to the date that is 20 days following the date on which the Company issues notice to all the warrant holders of the new expiry date. The date for closing books on the offering has been set for December 1st, 2017.

Rob Fia, CEO commented:

"This strategic investment by Quinsam Capital Inc. is vote of confidence for Icon. We are pleased to work with such a fine group of individuals that will undoubtedly add value along the way in our due diligence process including value-added advice through an extensive network of advisors and if required the potential for future capital investment."

The private placement offering of units is available directly from the Company or at the Stockhouse Deal Room www.stockhouse.com/dealroom and www.iconexploration.net. The Stockhouse Deal Room ("Stockhouse") is an equity investment platform created specifically for public companies to access investors. Stockhouse has more than 1 million unique visitors a month and provides access to a large number of qualified and accredited investors.

It is important to note that, if successful in obtaining an appropriate facility and as a condition of the Company obtaining a license for the facility, Health Canada requires significant steps to be taken, including the construction of an indoor growing facility equipped with physical barriers, visual monitoring, recording devices, intrusion detection, air filtration systems, as well as other important controls around distribution and access.

Consequently, although has Icon has identified several targets, the Company is currently at too early a stage in its due diligence process to provide any estimate of cost required to secure a facility or obtain a license, or to assemble the infrastructure or the personnel required in order to support a license application. As a result, none of the infrastructure required to support a license application has yet been optioned, purchased or assembled nor has the requisite personnel been hired or engaged.

Until a facility meeting the requirements for an ACMPR license is acquired or constructed and available for inspection by Health Canada and the Company has received a final license from Health Canada, the Company would not be able to begin production of medical marijuana.

It is anticipated that prior to year-end Management expects to finalize the review of several medical marijuana targets and will announce an acquisition after completion of due diligence. Upon completion of due diligence Icon will establish what will be the optimal structure to complete such acquisition (whether by option agreement, asset acquisition, joint venture or share purchase of any entity which would be considered an optimal facility that may obtain or holds a ACMPR license and appropriate infrastructure). Along with any potential medical marijuana acquisition, the Company will prudently explore funding to secure the assets and will draw on talent to complement the acquisitions and the Company. If the Company does find an acceptable target acquisition, such would constitute a change of business under TSX Venture Exchange policies. At such time, concurrent with filing a required change of business application, Icon would apply to the Exchange to change its listing categorization from a resource company to a company in the medical marijuana industry.

The Company will provide shareholders with updates on these opportunities when material information becomes available.

For further information contact:

Icon Exploration Inc.

Rob Fia, CEO & Director

Email: rfia@iconexploration.net

Tel: 416-722-4994

ABOUT ICON EXPLORATION INC.

Icon is a publicly traded company on the NEX Exchange (TSXV: IEX.H) our primary objective is to create a well-diversified company that will produce long-term returns for its shareholders and investors. Our current focus is on the cannabis industry. www.iconexploration.net

ABOUT QUINSAM CAPITAL CORP.

Quinsam is a merchant bank based in Canada that is focusing on cannabis-related investments. Our merchant banking business may encompass a range of activities including acquisitions, advisory services, lending activities and portfolio investments. Quinsam invests its capital for its own account in assets, companies or projects which we believe are undervalued and where we see a viable plan for unlocking such value. We do not invest on behalf of any third party and we do not offer investment advice.

Generally, Quinsam does not believe that individual investments are material reportable events. Quinsam chooses to announce certain investments once the company is certain that it has finished buying its position because the Company feels that this information helps Quinsam's investors understand its investment decision making process. Generally, Quinsam does not announce the sale of investments.

For further information please contact:

Roger Dent, CEO

(647) 993-5475

roger@quinsamcapital.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking Statements:

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance and include potential medical marijuana industry acquisitions, the offering and future capital investment as described in the news release. All such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to other risks, the Company's potential medical marijuana industry acquisitions may prove to be unsuccessful and the Company may be unable to complete any potential medical marijuana industry acquisition or future capital investment. Further, the Company may not complete any potential medical marijuana industry acquisition on the schedule it expects to complete as described in this news release or attract capital in the future to finance the Company. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press 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 required under applicable securities regulations.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 27, 2017 / LED Medical Diagnostics Inc. (OTCQB: LEDIF; TSX-V: LMD; FRA: LME) ('LED Medical' or the 'Company') today announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017, reported in United States dollars and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS'). The Company's results are presented in comparison to the third quarter ended September 30, 2016. All balances are expressed in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.

Business Highlights and Events Subsequent to the Quarter

American Dental Partners selected LED Medical Diagnostics subsidiary Apteryx as their provider for cloud dental imaging software technologies. American Dental Partners will transition their entire network--nearly 300 US-based dental and specialty practices--to Apteryx's XVWeb cloud imaging technology within the next 12 months.

Dental Care Alliance selected LED Medical Diagnostics as preferred imaging technology providers for dental imaging devices and software technologies. Dental Care Alliance is one of the United States' largest and oldest dental support organizations, with 265 affiliated practices across all of the dental specialties in 13 states.

On October 30, 2017 (the 'closing date'), the Company issued 250 senior secured debentures with a principle amount of CDN $2,500,000 (US$1,938,690), maturing 24 months from the closing date. Each unit consists of a debenture in principal in the amount of CDN $10,000 and 21,250 common shares of the company and is attached with a 12% coupon. The Company issued 888,000 broker warrants (the 'Broker's Warrants') to arm's length brokers. Each Broker's Warrant is non-transferrable and exercisable at an exercise price of CDN $0.10 at any time up to and including the date which is 24 months from the closing date. Transaction costs associated with this issuance were CDN $232,031.65 (US$179,935) and have been netted against the debenture proceeds received. Certain insiders of LED, including a director and officer, acquired units in the offering.

Financial Highlights

LED Medical reported revenue of US$3.2 million, which is a decrease of 14% from the three months ended June 30, 2017 and a 28% increase from the three months ended September 30, 2016.

The net loss before tax was US$1,447,713 for the three months ended September 30, 2017, as compared to a net loss of US$855,484 for the three months ended September 30, 2016. The net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2017 was largely due to a significant decrease in the fair market value of the Company's Canadian dollar denominated warrants as well as losses resulting from normal business operations. The decrease in the fair market value of the Canadian dollar warrants is an accounting adjustment with no impact on cash flow.

Gross Margin for the three months ended September 30, 2017 was 65% compared to 25% in the three months ended September 30, 2016. Increase in gross margin over the comparable periods was due to revenue mix, specifically the addition of higher margin Apteryx software products.

Total operating expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2017 were US$2.25 million as compared to US$1.46 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016. Core operating expenses (excluding stock-based compensation, deferred share unit compensation and other operating expenses) for the three months ended September 30, 2017 were US$2.16 million, as compared to US$1.46 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016.

The Company had cash of US$1.12 million as of September 30, 2017. Cash flow used in operations was US$2.7 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to US$1.8 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2016. The cash outflows from investing activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2017 were US$10.2 million relating to the purchase of Apteryx, Inc. There were inflows from financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 of US$13.6 million attributed to the financing related to the purchase of Apteryx.

Dr. David Gane, CEO of LED stated, 'I am pleased to report that Q3 was near breakeven EBITDA from operations for the three months ended September 30, 2017 at US ($58,673). Revenues in Q3 declined over the prior quarter due to the lower sales seasonality typically seen in the summer months as well as a dip in Apteryx software revenues as we transition from sales of our perpetual license software to our cloud based XV Web software as a service (SaaS) subscription model.'

Financial Statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis

Please see the audited consolidated financial statements and related Management's Discussion & Analysis ('MD&A') for more details. The interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended September 30, 2017 and related MD&A have been reviewed and approved by the Company's Audit Committee and Board of Directors. The Company has prepared this truncated news release to alert investors to its results and that a more detailed explanation and analysis is readily available in the MD&A. These reports have been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and also posted to www.ledmd.com.

Non-IFRS Measures

The following and preceding discussion of financial results includes references to Gross Margin and Core Operating Expenses, which are non-IFRS financial measures. The measure of gross margin is provided as management believes this is a good indicator in evaluating the operating performance of the Company. EBITDA is defined as net loss and comprehensive loss and excludes interest; income taxes; depreciation; amortization; finder's warrants issuance costs; stock-based compensation; deferred share unit compensation; mark to market adjustments on Canadian dollar denominated warrants; foreign exchange gain or loss; and other income. The measure of working capital is provided as management believes this is a good indicator of the operating liquidity available to the Company.

About LED Medical Diagnostics Inc.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, LED Medical Diagnostics Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiaries LED Dental Inc. and LED Dental Ltd, provide dentists and oral health specialists with advanced diagnostic imaging products and software, in addition to the award-winning VELscope Vx tissue fluorescence visualization technology. Backed by an experienced leadership team and dedicated to a higher level of service and support, LED Dental is committed to providing dental practitioners with the best technology available by identifying and adding leading products to its growing portfolio.

The Company is currently listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol 'LMD,' the OTCQB under the symbol 'LEDIF,' as well as the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 'LME.' For more information, call 844.952.7327 or visit www.leddental.com/investor-relations.

Investor Relations:

Bristol Capital Glen Akselrod

Phone: 905-326-1888 x10

Email: glen@bristolir.com

Media Contact:

LED Dental Chris Koch

Phone: 678.293.9413

Email: chris.koch@leddental.com

Corporate Contact:

LED Medical David Gane, CEO

Phone: 604.434.4614 x227

Email: david.gane@leddental.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.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements which, to the extent that they are not recitations of historical fact, may constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements or information include statements regarding, but not limited to the Company's future growth strategy, its distribution strategy and product offerings, potential expansion of the Company's technology to other medical applications or markets, or the potential introduction of new technologies by the Company. Persons reading this press release are cautioned that such statements or information are only predictions, and that the Corporation's actual future results or performance may be materially different. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to competition risks, distributor risks, product development risks such as regulatory, design, intellectual property and other factors described in the Corporation's reports filed on SEDAR including its Annual Information Form and financial report for the year ended December 31, 2016. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by this cautionary statement and there can be no assurance that actual results or developments anticipated by the Company will be realized. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

1 EBITDA or Earnings before Interest, Taxes Depreciation and Amortization is a non-IFRS measure that does not have a standardized meaning and may not be comparable to a similar measure disclosed by other issuers. This measure does not have a comparable GAAP measure. EBITDA referenced here relates to net loss and comprehensive loss and excludes interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, finder's warrants issuance costs, stock-based compensation, deferred share unit compensation, mark to market adjustments on Canadian dollar denominated warrants, foreign exchange gain or loss and other income. This measure does not have a comparable IFRS measure and is used by the Company to manage and evaluate the cash operating loss of the business.

2 Gross margin is a non-IFRS measure that does not have a standard meaning and may not be comparable to a similar measure disclosed by other issuers. Gross margin referenced here relates to revenues less cost of sales. This measure does not have a comparable IFRS measure and is used by the Company to manage and evaluate the operating performance of the Company.

3 Core operating expense is a non-IFRS measure that does not have a standardized meaning and may not be comparable to a similar measure disclosed by other issuers. This measure does not have a comparable IFRS measure. Core operating expense includes sales and marketing, research and development and administration expense. The Company believes that the inclusion of this no-IFRS measure financial measure provides investors with an alternative presentation useful to investors' understanding of the Company's core operating results and trends.

SOURCE: LED Medical Diagnostics Inc.
Mumbai: The success in divestments and encouraging goods and services tax collections will help government reduce pressure on the fiscal math, says a report.

"Disinvestment drive and GST rollout will reduce pressure on fiscal arithmetic," domestic rating agency India Ratings said in a report on Monday.

It can be noted that government has reiterated its commitment to narrow down the fiscal deficit to 3.2 percent for fiscal 2018.

Front-loading of expenditure, where government has exhausted 96 percent of the deficit by August, and also a slowdown in growth which led it to even mull a stimulus, had put question marks over whether it government will be able to meet the fiscal deficit target or not.

The report said successful subscription of Bharat 22 exchange traded fund launched last week has helped government move closer to its FY18 divestment target of Rs 72,500 crore and it has raised Rs 52,300 crore by the end of November.

It said government can exceed its capital receipts target through divestment alone in the remaining four months, depending on ONGC's acquisition of 51.11 percent government stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. This will bring in at least an additional Rs 32,000 crore to divestment kitty.

Without elaborating, the report said the divestment strategy has a potential to generate Rs 1 trillion and also provide buffer against lower surplus transferred by the Reserve Bank and the likely shortfall from the telecom sector.

On GST, it said even though there can be an adverse impact of Rs 11,000 crore on the Central finances due to a commitment of a 14 percent revenue sharing with the state from central GST to meet their projected shortfall, the final results will not be so bad.

"However, GST collection is encouraging and likely to further improve going forward with higher return filing compliance," it said.

The agency said government front-loaded capital expenditure and the same is now slowing down.

It said the proposed bank recapitalisation and highway building work under the Bharatmala scheme will not entail any budgetary allocation this year.
The Hyderabad Metro Rail, the countrys first elevated metro rail on PPP (private public partnership) is finally ready to chug after a rollercoaster ride of a decade. It will not only change travel patterns but also behavioural patterns of people in the Nizams town, said NVS Reddy, MD of HMRL, as it gets ready for launch on 28 November.

This comes as a great relief for the core management team of L&T MRH, its chairman SN Subramanyam and MD Shivanand Nimbargi who, over almost a decade, went through several ups and downs caused by successive political interventions, social activism leading to delays, PILs and cost hikes. Thank God, we are rolling finally, said a representative of the L&T MRH, which is the concessionaire, spending almost 90% of the project cost of Rs 16,375 crore at Rs 13,000 crore.

The L&T MRH, which is implementing the project with Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) (a Telangana government entity) and the Government of India, enjoys the concession for 35 years. The company laments that it has already lost two years since the appointment date of June 2012 set during Congress Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy as the real work picked up only after the formation of Telangana in 2014. Even after resolving the issue of diversion and re-routing with the current Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government, they have been able to complete only 30 km of the 72 km route for which they originally inked the PPP deal and need an extension of 2 more years.

The TRS Roadblock

The scene changed in 2014 after the TRS government took over the reins of the project and its Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao declared that Hyderabad would have a 200 km metro and that it would not be allowed to pass over historic locations like the Assembly and Sultan Bazaar. As if on cue, its political ally MIM also raised its voice against the Metro crisscrossing 12 historical locations in the Old City and sought realignment of the route.

L&T group chairman AM Naik wrote several detailed letters to KCR in a bid to resolve the issues and also called for caution about the legal aspect. The letter of February 2017 was part of a huge correspondence with the government to resolve challenges in execution of the project. The letter of Naik sought to relieve L&T from the project as there were unusual terms from the Telangana government and adverse economic conditions contributed to unforeseen cost escalation which made the project incapable of performance.

The letter seeking termination of the project was wrongly highlighted by the newspapers, it was only a gesture and not final, said VB Gadgil, Chief Executive of L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail in a media interaction in September.

L&T had allegedly lashed out at the government interference and delay in finalisation of routes and corridors. Politically, the Centre which had put in 10% of the cost at Rs 1458 crore was also wary of the Telangana governments unsteady approach. It is alleged that the Centre finally cautioned that such an unclear approach by the Telangana government would only cause setbacks to other projects and subsequent central support cum guarantees. We kept mum and Telangana finally saw the light, and GoI intervention also helped, said a spokesman of the L&T HMR requesting anonymity.

The issue was discussed at a cabinet meet and finally the CMO which had initially leaked the letter of the L&T threat to walk out worked out a compromise and dropped its demand for realignment and re-routing and asked the concessionaire to complete the project as scheduled. But the builder had lost two precious years already and the Telangana government kept dismissing L&Ts demand for an extension of the deadline by a year or two, insisting instead on completion of at least the first phase by hook or crook. We wanted to showcase the Metro during the Global summit at Hyderabad, said the CM who also holds the industry portfolio.

A Tunnel of Woes

The Metro Rail, Outer Ring Road and PV Expressway were part of the Vision 2020 document released by the Chandrababu Naidu government as urban infrastructure initiatives to support the IT explosion that began in early 2000. The Naidu government had done its homework on land acquisition from Wakf and endowment departments for development, and also the estimated Metro Rail cost at around Rs 10,000 crore. But his successor, YS Rajashekhara Reddy, with his focus on welfare schemes, put the Metro project in cold storage. After his 2008 electoral victory for a second innings, YSR finally brought the Metro Rail project out for bids.

The first bids of the PPP project took place in 2008 and was awarded to the consortium of Maytas, a wing of Satyam group. This was cancelled after the unraveling of the massive Satyam scam involving its founder Ramalinga Raju and the failure of Maytas to raise funds. YSR died in a chopper crash the following year and the Metro Rail project was back in cold storage in the political anarchy that followed.

The last Congress Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy relaunched the process and awarded it to L&T in 2010 for Rs 12,132 crore and after preparatory work the launch date was set as June 2012 with a deadline for 2017 to complete the project. The Telangana agitation then intensified and work was hit once again. When the project was finally flagged off in 2014, after the creation of the new Telangana state, the government wanted the project to be completed in three years.

At present there are over 200 court cases including 12 public interest litigations (some of them filed by TRS supporters in 2010 protesting against Wakf land acquisitions for Metro) pending against the Hyderabad Metro Rail. The officials of HMRL and L&T claim that work is gathering pace and the project would be fully operational by December 2018 for the 72 km stretch of initial bidding.

If the government is keen to take up other corridors, the project will have to go back to the negotiation table with the concessionaire.

Stage Of The Hyderabad Metro

The L&T MRH is ready to roll out six car trains with capacity to carry 2000 passengers at a frequency of 15 minutes each on its 24 stations between Miyapur-Ameerpet-Nagole, the maiden corridor being unveiled on November 28. It also has plans to install over 670 escalators at a cost of Rs 400 crore. The Telangana government has also invited Ivanka Trump for a journey with the Prime Minister, but US government officials have not approved it yet.

As per the projections of L&T and HMRL the travel time is 45 minutes on Corridor 1 from MiyapurL B Nagar (29 km) as against 144 minutes by road, 22 minutes for Corridor 2 from Jubilee Hills to Falaknuma (15 km) as against 140 minutes by road and 39 minutes for Corridor 3 (28 km) from 126 minutes on road.

In September last year, Congress leaders went to visit the works, but were stopped by the police on the directions of Metro officials and the government. Leader of Opposition in Telangana legislative council Mohammed Ali Shabbir says that the delay was deliberately caused by the TRS-MIM combine for political gains in the Hyderabad civic polls of 2016 by influencing Muslims voters of old city. Both TRS and MIM played to the gallery as protectors of Hyderbad heritage and put roadblocks in L&T works, he charged.

Shabbir has sought PM Narendra Modis intervention at the Metro inaugural to assure that the Old City circuit of 5.5 km from Imliban to Falaknuma would be completed at the earliest in the interests of the development and progress of Muslim community. The political elements of MIM, who are scared of their (Muslims) growth and empowerment of youth and women in Old City, are opposing the Metro, he added.

The Congress has also charged the TRS and MIM combine as responsible for the hike in project cost by a whopping Rs 4000 crore as a result of their political dillydallying. Now the people of Hyderabad who have already gone through hell due to the traffic jams during the construction of Metro rail have to bear the brunt of high tariffs, he said.

L&T HMR now seeks a further extension of the deadline by a year or two along with the concession so that they can reap the benefits of their huge investments in the PPP. They have already projected the revenue as 40% from passenger tariff, 50% from malls and shops at Metro stations and only 10% from advertisements over 30 years i.e. till 2047. As of now L&T has invested 90% of the project cost at Rs 13,000 crore and may have to put in more for the final stage, said an L&T spokesman.

The government of Telangana pitched in a mere Rs 300 crore towards land cost and the GoI is picking up 10% at Rs 1458 crore. As on date, we have put in Rs 9,000 crore which includes Rs 2700 crore equity, Rs 600 crore from VGF and the rest is debt, said J Ravikumar, Chief Financial Officer of L&T MRHL.

The ball is also in the Telangana governments court now as L&T has made it conditional for extension of both deadline for construction and also the concession. The concession is for 35 years, including 5 years of construction period, which ended in June 2017. Only 30 kilometres have been completed in the scheduled 72 km and 42 km of construction activity remains, of which nearly 78% of works are already complete. The developer has requested the government for extension of schedule for a year or two and it is under consideration of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said Chief Secretary SP Singh.

But there is not enough light at the end of the tunnel. L&T will have a tough task in building the Old City corridor of Metro Rail. As many as 145 heritage structures including 15 listed heritage structures have been identified, though the builders contend that it will pass through only nine heritage structures. The convener of Forum for Better Hyderabad Veda Kumar who has filed a PIL on the issue wants the L&T and HMR to dig tunnels as in Delhi and Bengaluru to protect heritage townships and monuments instead of overhead tracks. The tunnel will cost Rs 600-700 crore per km, say the builders.

As the future of the Metro Rail in the 400-year-old ramparts of Hyderabad city still hangs in confusion, the project shows why politics of development, votes and heritage should not be mixed up.
New Delhi: There is no doubt that the Indian Railways needs a robust investment plan to upgrade creaky tracks, increase capacity and modernise its network. In this context, tying up incremental finances can only be good news. Former Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu had laid out an ambitious investment plan of over Rs 8 lakh crore in five years and his successor Piyush Goyal has spoken of Rs 10 lakh crore. Either which way, a bulk of this money has to come from sundry sources, the Railways wont be able to generate any significant portion of this internally. So in this context, news that the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has got the green light to commence its promised Rs 1.5 lakh crore investment in the national transporter can only be good.

LIC had signed an MoU with the Railways in March to make this investment through bonds issued by IRFC but the insurance regulator had raised some objections since such a large investment would exceed 25 percent of IRFCs net worth. Now, the government has put these doubts to rest, it seems, without having to back the LIC investment with a sovereign guarantee. And the investment can go ahead.

So far, so good. But why does the railways need to raise so much debt? And should LIC be bailing out the Railways, something it has often been accused of doing for many government companies? In fact, there has been enough commentary about the LIC bailing NPA-laden public sector banks and helping the government to a large extent in raising disinvestment proceeds from PSU selloffs.

The Indian Railways has traditionally cross-subsidised passenger fares with freight earnings, in thinking which smacks of socialist ideology, leading to precarious overall financial situation of the state transporter. And over the years, demands on its network have been increasing - the network today now thoroughly congested, leading to a spike in accidents, many of them fatal.

This Reuters report quotes internal documents to say that gross traffic earnings, which make up the bulk of railways revenues, would fall short of the target by over $3 billion in 2016-17. It also said revenues were insufficient to cover expenditure and funding via market borrowing rose to about 22 percent last year from an average of 8 percent between 2010 and 2015. The railways now owe $20 billion, up $7 billion in the last three years.

To add to the railways burden, passenger traffic has begun declining and freight earnings have started to weaken as commodities move to the lucrative road sector. Therefore, it is high time that passenger fares are rationalised. This will mean less of a drain on freight and consequently increased ability of the railways to rely on its own resources instead of going for more market borrowings.

But even such a politically inexpedient move will not let the railways emerge from the current mess. Until it undertakes major reforms, including financial ones, its chances of getting any funding from a non-governmental agency are pretty bleak. Put simply, this means only a government backed entity or that which has been nudged by the government and which believes that any default will be covered by the government would agree to lend to the railways. This, of course, means LIC fits the bill in every way  it is owned by the government, has a very large corpus of funds to be invested and can be nudged by the owner to put its money in seemingly risky schemes like bailing out the Railways.

Until railways reforms its finances significantly, its ability to raise commercial capital will remain limited. So LIC will have to come in as a savior, like it has been accused of bailing out other government arms. What choice does it have in the matter, anyway?

Coming to the much needed railways reforms, some of these are:

1) Ring fence some revenue flows. Railways generates only a limited surplus which makes it difficult for private lenders to consider its financing needs. Some surplus should be set aside for specifially servicing debt - this will require self discipline, efforts to increase revenues and simultaneous cost reduction measures.

2) Generate higher revenue either through better pricing or through improved market share or a mix of both. Why lose out to the roads sector in the case of freight, why not selectively increase passenger fares to reduce the cross subsidy?

Manish Agarwal, Infrastructure lead at PwC says "There is a need for a comprehensive turnaround plan (of the Railways) encompassing initiatives to increase revenue, measures to manage costs and to decide on core functions and non-core functions."

There is no doubt that a significant step-up in investments is the need of the hour for the railways. As for LICs meek act in following said and unsaid government directives, the agreement with railways is neither the first investment and nor may it be entirely detrimental to LICs own financial health in the long run. At least that is what J N Gupta, MD of proxy advisory firm Stakeholder Empowerment Services (SES), thinks.

It is up to LIC to decide (where to invest) as long as it has taken care of returns versus risk profile and has not taken this decision due to any undue influence. Past decisions show that LIC has been functioning effectively, as can be seen by its leadership position in the insurance industry, which continues even after arrival of many private players, he said, adding LICs investment in PSUs like Nalco and some PSBs to say that its investments have appreciated over the years.

Well, whether LIC wants to invest in government enterprises regardless of such investments generating gains and whether railways should be taking debt to fund its capex  these questions will remain unanswered. In the current scheme of things, the railways cannot eschew raising funds since it is unable to generate adequate resources internally and LIC cannot say no to any nudging by the government precisely because of the size of its corpus  it needs investment avenues and perhaps not enough are available in the corporate sector.
New Delhi: Former Reserve Bank of India RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Sunday made a strong case for broad-basing economic growth and generating more employment opportunities, arguing that short-term political solutions to the job reservation issue can damage the fabric of the country.

On the solution to the problem of majority of people feeling discriminated, he said, "The only way to solve this is to broad-base economic growth. We need to focus on that as the ultimate solution rather than emphasise grievances... (they are) politically in short-term very convenient but have potential to bring apart the fabric of this country."

Rajan made these comments referring to rising populist nationalism and also agitation by powerful communities, including Patidar community in Gujarat which is feeling discriminated and is seeking reservation in jobs. "It (populist nationalism) has a potential to damage. I would define very simply as the majority community feeling aggrieved that it is being discriminated against. It exists across the world. It exists in India also. There are often underlying issues, for example an issue of job," the ex-Reserve Bank governor said in a recorded interview played at the Times Lit Fest 2017 here.

Some strong communities in India have started protesting to press for reservations because they are not finding jobs, he said, adding that it is very important to tackle underlying economic issues, including unemployment.

On the issue of "illiberal democracy, he said, it is worrying and this system needs to be tackled. "Illiberal democracy is not only function of leader, function of system which cowed out very easily to strong leader... the press, the business group, all of them tend towards bowing even though there are exceptions because their interests are all aligned," Rajan said.

There are cosy relationships between political and corporate establishments, he said adding that often Press is also owned by corporate establishment and independent voices tend to get suppressed.

On increasing incidences of censorships and bans, the former central bank chief said, these are not a feature of any particular government and have happened again and again since Independence.

It is important to recognise that as a tolerant society India is better off having free speech with the provision that it should not propagate violence, Rajan said.

On criticism from various quarters faced during his stint as RBI governor, he said, "We have to develop thicker skins." Citing example of flag burning incidents in the US, he said, once the Supreme Court decided to allow this as part of protest, the incidences slowly diminished.

Rajan also said that India is a vibrant democracy and it has to be seen as a strength rather than as a weakness. "Growth in democracy is much more stable unlike authoritarian rule. It is beneficial because it tends to be egalitarian. It tends to take people along with. Democracy gives right, allows people to protest," he said.

On the threat to Hinduism due to rising intolerance, Rajan said "it is a vast house and it can survive". "Hinduism is a tolerant religion which is the way it has always structured or evolved. So, I think specific incidence of intolerance is overstating the risk. My sense is that we have gone through this but Hinduism has survived," he added.
From making her debut in Idhu Enna Maayam in 2015 to starring opposite high-profile heroes in Tamil and Telugu film industries such as Vijay, Pawan Kalyan, Suriya, Vikram, Sivakarthikeyan, Nani and more, Keerthy Suresh has come a long way in just two years. Now, she has truly emerged as one of the most in-demand actresses down South.

I feel happy and blessed about the projects I land. Maybe it's the way I chose scripts, but it has always worked well (for me). Knowing the Tamil language is an added advantage. My proficiency in Tamil helps me understand Telugu too. After all, there is no room for improvisation if you don't understand the language. I think it's all God's grace, and I am going with the flow. 2018 is going to be a great year! I have two releases for Pongal  PSPK 25 and Thaana Serndha Koottam  and those will be followed by a couple of other releases, Keerthy told Firstpost in an exclusive interview.

Keerthy, who excelled in humour with back-to-back comedy entertainers with Sivakarthikeyan (Rajini Murugan and Remo), plays to her strengths in Thaana Serndha Koottam, directed by Vignesh Shivan and produced by Gnanavel Rajas Studio Green. The character I am doing in TSK is quite different from the other films I have done till now, a humour-filled role. Suriya sir is also one of the reasons why I signed the project. As a child, when I used to watch my mother's films where she paired opposite Sivakumar sir, I would say, 'Some day, I am going to work with his son'. And something I said on a funny note came true... I was excited about working with him, and when we met on the sets for the first time, I told him about the incident from my childhood... Suriya sir is a very composed person, but while discussing a sequence, he will make sure that I feel comfortable.

Among her line-up of projects is the Tamil-Telugu bi-lingual Mahanati/Nadigaiyar Thilagam, the biopic of legendary actress Savitri, directed by Nag Ashwin. Talking about the extensive homework the film required, Keerthy said, Mahanati is undoubtedly my most challenging project till date. To essay Savitri ma'am's role in a biopic demanded a lot of homework. Though I have seen her films, I revisited them thoroughly to observe the way she emotes for different sequences. If I hadn't done that homework or research, I would not have felt satisfied and confident. We shot for three song segments on the first day, and I had to rehearse for three days to perform it. The director and producer were so supportive and helped in whatever way they could. Portraying a character which the Tamil and Telugu audiences have loved and admired a lot is not so easy.

Talking about working with ace filmmaker Trivikram in her Sankranti Telugu release PSPK 25, which is reportedly titled Agnathavasi, Keerthy Suresh said, Trivikram knows the knack of using humour in dialogues. And my character has many such dialogues. We could even foresee the audiences' reaction to those quirky dialogues while we were shooting. As a person, Trivikram is super positive and energetic.

Keerthy said she was starstruck about sharing screen space with Pawan Kalyan for the first time in her career. Pawan Kalyan sir seems very calm but off-screen, he cracks a lot of jokes. Trivikram, Anu and our team used to sit and enjoy his humour. It was like one big family and (the team) was fun to be around. PSPK 25 is a project I really enjoyed working on.

Keerthys upcoming projects include two long-awaited sequels in Tamil  Vikram and director Haris Saamy 2, which marks her first appearance in a cop film, and Vishal-director Lingusamys Sandakozhi 2, the shooting of which is yet to begin.

Keerthy, who plays the lead in Saamy 2, says she'll be sporting a different look in the film. I have many portions with Soori Anna throughout the film. I have not met Vikram sir before personally. When he visited Kerala for his Anniyan 100th day meet, I saw him from the audience gallery. Now, Im extremely delighted to co-star with him.
The teaser of Naragasooran, starring Arvind Swami, Shriya Saran and Sundeep Kishan is intriguing and it looks like the film has grabbed eye balls for all the right reasons.

After Dhuruvangal 16, Karthick Naren has, for the second time, created a film which is more than what meets the eye.

The first glimpse, which also features Indrajith Sukumaran and Aathmika, presents to us a a well-shot mystery thriller set against the backdrop of hills. In the next minute we witness a series of events and a constant search for the missing cause of all events. Most of the leads, especially Arvind Swami, Shriya and Sundeep maintain a certain amount of intensity in terms of their characters, which only increases our curiosity in the film's gripping plot.

Indrajith Sukumaran is seen leading the mission to solve the puzzle revolving around the lead characters in this film. Apart from a small glimpse of chemistry between Arvind Swami and Shriya, there also seems to be an element from the past affecting Arvind Swami and co in the present. And Ron Ethan Yohann's music adds the right feel to Naragasooran.

Very little of this plot is revealed in the teaser, and we are definitely eager to find out how this drama thriller will play out, and who the Naragasooran actually is.

Presented by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Badri Kasturi, the Tamil flick is due for release in early 2018.
When I see the protests against Padmavati on news channels, it is almost like having a flashback of sorts, to my film Indu Sarkar. I know the pain of a film maker who has to fight against all odds to get their labour of love released. When I should have been celebrating the completion of my film, I was struggling to get my film released. I was everywhere, begging people to hear me out; that my story, though inspired by the Emergency, was a work of fiction with some relevant facts.

The trauma began towards the end of June, when the film's trailer was launched. It started as an agitation, but slowly spread across multiple cities. I thought it was one of those times which would pass within few days. But it didn't; it just kept growing and within no time, the protests against Indu Sarkar had spread like wildfire across the country.

It all started in Allahabad, where people started an agitation after watching a three-minute trailer. They were issuing fatwas in my name, burning effigies and they also threatened to blacken my face. I can never forget the nightmarish days of my film's promotions. Even when I think of it today, I can't help but shudder.

I still remember a Pune college event I was supposed to attend with my lead actress, Kirti Kulhari. We left our hotel to go to the event, and I suddenly got a call that there were violent mobs waiting to attack us at the venue. We immediately turned back, and within no time, the mob had gathered almost inside the hotel lobby. The atmosphere was one of chaos and mayhem, and our entire team was held captive in their rooms for almost three hours. I called the authorities to save us from the hooligans... It wasn't just scary for us, but also for the other guests in the hotel. All we wanted, was to promote a film that I had made with such love and hardship. Mine was a small film with relatively new cast and many of the reputed names (who were part of it) didn't even charge me money, because they knew that my intentions and convictions were honest.

The saga didn't end with Pune  we faced the same horror in Nagpur. The city authorities told us that a violent mob was approaching our hotel; we were immediately escorted out, our luggage was loaded in police vehicles, and we were taken to the airport after four hours. The visuals running on all the news channels had scared my family, friends. I was getting calls from all over the world, people were worried about my well-being.

My subsequent press meets were cancelled. My promotional tours to Bengaluru and Chandigarh were also cancelled. Back home, my 10-year-old daughter was petrified seeing people chant "murdabad" slogans with my name, while my wife feared for my safety. Matters had turned so grave that I had to opt for special security. The Maharashtra government provided me with police security for a month-and-a-half. I was hurt that I was being hounded  and for what? Apart from the support of a few journalists and friends, it was a lonely battle.

I had to firefight on three different fronts: the CBFC, the "offended" political party, and a lady who emerged from nowhere claiming to be the daughter of Sanjay Gandhi. I was dragged to court to safeguard the release of my film. At last, justice was granted to me by the Supreme Court.

The CBFC had suggested 14 cuts, which wasn't agreeable to me as a filmmaker. There was an ex-Congress MP who had written to the authorities to have a special screening of the film so they could green light it (or not). Otherwise, they threatened to protest and create a ruckus before the release.

The release date was nearing and there was no sign of the row easing. I was calling up the whos who of the industry to stand by my film, to condemn the senseless protests, to support a fellow filmmaker... they all said 'we're with you in spirit, but we will not say anything openly as it is a political film. My tribulations were taking a toll... sleepless nights clubbed with anxious days were playing havoc with my health.

I was alone, but determined. Ultimately, I managed to get the film certified. But the censor copy came in so late, I could not release Indu Sarkar in major cities overseas  a major financial toll for a small film.

I was known for my topical films and this time too, I had made a similar kind of movie. It was a simple film, based on facts that were well documented. The Emergency was not a figment of my imagination but part of our history. I had dared to make a film on it  and for that I was treated like a third grade criminal. When I was being hunted like this, I wondered where were the pseudo liberals who proclaimed themselves the flag bearers of freedom of expression. They speak about injustice, and yet they tolerated the injustice meted out to Indu Sarkar silently. I come from an industry where we have close, familial bonds and a feeling of fraternity...what was shocking was that even the fraternity had abandoned me. They could not even spare 140 characters to condemn these protests or support me as a fellow filmmaker.

Fortunately, I have never been a bystander to the personal or professional trials and tribulations of other film makers. It may be the outrage over Udta Punjab, Vishwaroopam or Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, I have openly condemned the shackling of freedom of expression of film makers and always stood in support of my fellow film makers.

Today, when I see the controversy over Padmavati, my heart goes out to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, because I can identify with his pain. It is my belief that the CBFC is the supreme body and its decision should be ultimate. Beyond that, no private person or fringe group should have a say in the making or release of a film. It is heart breaking to see what a film maker of Bhansali's calibre is being put through, or the language and threats the cast of the film are subjected to. I pray for a peaceful and triumphant release of Padmavati for Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

The writer is a National Award winning filmmaker
The British Board of Film Classification, days after clearing Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati, is reconsidering the release of the controversial film.

According to a report by The Guardian, Paramount Pictures, the British distributor of the film has said that the UK release date is being reconsidered and might be delayed given the raging controversies surrounding the film back in India.

The opposition of the Rajput Samaj of UK, which is a Hindu group operating in the UK, could be the reason behind the BBFC's decision to review the release date. The group has reportedly expressed its displeasure with the British board's decision to pass the film with no cuts. The charity group believes Bhansali's film distorts historical facts by falsely depicting that Rani Padmini was the motive behind the Chittor siege in 1303.

The group, however, is strongly opposed to any kind of violence and insists that their protest is not based on any conjectures about a dream sequence between Ranveer Singh's Alauddin Khilji and Deepika Padukone's Rani Padmini. The Shri Rajput Karni Sena, a fringe-group based in India, had earlier issued open threats to Padukone and Bhansali, sparking off a raging debate.

Firstpost had also earlier reported that the producers might not release the film in the UK despite getting a go-ahead from the BBFC. The makers are reportedly keen on settling things in India before releasing the film internationally. The film is yet be certified by the Central Board of Film Certification.

Therefore, the film's future in the United Kingdom seems as bleak as it does, back in India.
Pawan Kalyan's next is a romantic action flick titled Agnyaathavaasi - Prince in Exile and directed by his longtime friend Trivikram Srinivas. It was tentatively titled 'PSPK25' and is due for release on 10 January next year. The grand release of the film will be preceded by a number promotional events and a jazzy music launch event, scheduled to take place on 15 December.

Agnyaathavaasi - Prince in Exile has been shot extensively in various parts of India, including Varanasi, and a long shoot was held in Europe as well. Pawan's 25th film is also his third collaboration with the director Srinivas. Previously, they have delivered hits like Jalsa and Attarintiki Daredi.

While Pawan will be seen in an 'angry young man' avatar in the film, Keerthi Suresh and Anu Emanuel have been cast opposite him as the female leads. His character's name in the film is Abhijit Bhargav, a software engineer. Boman Irani will play the antagonist in the film.

Initially, it was also said that Pawan will be lending his voice to a song titled 'Kodaka Koteswarraava' for this film. The news does not come as a shock, as the actor has previously sung tracks for films like Jhonny and Attarintiki Daaredi.

Along with being the 25th film for Pawan Kalyan, it is also going to be the debut Telugu project for music director Anirudh Ravichander. 'Baitikochi Chuste', the first song from the film which was released recently on YouTube garnered one million views in a matter of a hours.

According to sources, the team has sped up the shooting schedules as they want to wrap it up as soon as possible in order to release the film in the second week of January.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement would harm the U.S. and Canadian economies and reduce their competitiveness versus Asia and Europe, a report issued by the Bank of Montreal said on Monday. A NAFTA banner is seen during the fifth round of NAFTA talks involving the United States, Mexico and Canada, in Mexico City, Mexico, November 18, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/FilesAccording to the report, The Day After NAFTA, a failure to renegotiate the trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico would lead to a 0.2 percent net reduction in real U.S. gross domestic product over the next five years, and a 1 percent decrease for Canadas economy. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA unless it can be reworked in favor of the United States, arguing that the pact has hollowed out U.S. manufacturing and caused a trade deficit of more than $60 billion with Mexico. The United States, Mexico and Canada concluded a fifth round of talks to update NAFTA last week with major differences unresolved, casting doubt on whether a deal could be reached by the end of March 2018 as planned. Douglas Porter, chief economist of BMO Financial Group and one of the reports authors, said that while the three North American economies would adjust to a new reality, a shift in low-wage work to Mexico enabled by NAFTA had made them collectively more competitive on the global stage. Trucks wait in the queue for border customs control to cross into U.S. at the World Trade Bridge in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, November 2, 2016. Picture taken November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril/FilesIf we splinter up NAFTA into three separate economies, that makes all of us less competitive and ultimately the whole region will end up losing a bit versus other trading areas like Asia, Porter told Reuters by telephone. The point here is there would be a cost to the U.S. economy and its a totally unnecessary cost. Our view is even if the U.S. administration were to achieve that goal, it might come at the cost of an even wider deficit with Asia in particular, Porter said. If NAFTA negotiations were to fail, trade among the three countries would be subject to tariffs set by the World Trade Organization (WTO). According to the report, the U.S. industries that would be hardest hit by reverting to WTO tariffs would be automotive, where the supply chain straddles all three economies, and textiles, as Canada and Mexico account for 15 percent of U.S. manufacturers sales. The report did not examine a Zombie NAFTA scenario, where opposition from the U.S. Congress would stall Trump administration efforts to terminate NAFTA, but Porter said that would create huge uncertainty for businesses in North America. Arguably uncertainty would be a bigger drag on all three economies, he said.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) Chief Executive Darren Woods is reorganizing the companys refining operations, part of a push to boost profits amid volatile oil and natural gas prices, the company said on Monday. The changes at the worlds largest publicly traded oil producer are the most sweeping to date by Woods, who became chief executive in January after former chief Rex Tillerson resigned to become U.S. secretary of state. Woods has moved first to reshape the parts of the businesses he knows best, according to sources familiar with the matter. Before taking the helm at Exxon, Woods ran Exxons refining operations. Exxon spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker confirmed the downstream business overhaul in a statement, adding the company expects it will improve decision making and enhance performance in the market. The parts of the business impacted were refining and marketing divisions, said spokesman Scott Silvestri. Company sources told Reuters Exxons chemical operation also has been restructured, but Silvestri denied this. It was not immediately clear if the changes will involve job cuts or executive departures. Exxons Huffaker said she could not say if there would be any impact on jobs. The reorganization aims to squeeze more profits from the downstream business as the company works to improve its exploration and production operations, which have struggled since 2014 to adjust to lower oil CLc1 LCOc1 and gas prices NGc1. The downstream restructuring, disclosed internally last month, will combine the fuels and lubricants division with the supply and refining divisions. Financial responsibility for the merged operation will rest with country and regional chiefs who report to Exxons Irving, Texas, headquarters rather than divisional bosses as previously, according to people familiar with the matter. Darren Woods, Chairman & CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation attends a news conference at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidThe changes are designed to simplify operations and increase accountability for profitability, the sources said. REFINING STRENGTH Exxons refining and chemical operations have grown in stature under Woods, delivering steady earnings compared with its oil and gas production. Exxon operates 22 refineries in 14 countries, processing nearly 5 million barrels of oil per day. The firm builds chemical and refining plants in the same location, allowing managers to shift production between fuels or chemicals based on demand. Darren Woods, Chairman & CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation speaks during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidThe changes come as Exxon expands the refining division. The company is investing $20 billion through 2022 to expand its chemical and oil refining plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The refining and chemicals arms contributed more than $4.2 billion apiece to 2016 earnings, compared with a $196 million profit from exploration and production. Last years results were affected by sharply lower crude prices. In some quarters, Exxon would not have made any money were it not for its refineries. This year, the companys oil and gas business bounced back to a $5 billion profit during the first nine months on stronger crude prices. Refining earnings were $4.03 billion and chemicals $3.25 billion, respectively, for the first three quarters this year. Some staff members have raised questions as to whether there is any need to alter a system seen as largely successful, said the sources who declined to be identified. It was unclear if the changes would impact an internal accounting practice known as general interest principle. That rule permits certain transactions to be loss-making for a local division if they are beneficial for the corporation as a whole. Exxon did not comment on any potential accounting changes.

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The next meeting of U.S., Mexican and Canadian officials to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will begin on Dec. 11 in Washington, and they could reach agreement on some major chapters of the deal, Mexicos economy minister said on Monday. FILE PHOTO - Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo talks to reporters before an event in Mexico City, Mexico, November 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ginnette RiquelmeMinister Ildefonso Guajardo said that the Washington round, at which ministers will not participate, should register more advances in topics such as telecoms, e-commerce, technical barriers to trade and regulatory practices. There are things we can make progress on, he told Reuters, adding that those chapters could close during the discussions. Guajardo said the talks would extend through the week from Dec. 11. Two other NAFTA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the talks were scheduled from Dec. 11-15. One said they could involve meetings before and after those dates. The talks follow a round in Mexico this month where the three sides failed to make major breakthroughs on the most contentious issues, prompting the Trump administration to complain about the lack of progress. [nL3N1NR4K2] U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA unless he can rework it in favour of the United States, spooking investors and putting pressure on the Mexican peso. Mexican officials had hoped to close chapters on telecoms and e-commerce in the November round. However, discussions over telecommunications became mired in disagreement over how to incorporate Mexicos 2013-14 reform, which imposed regulatory curbs on America Movil, the Carlos Slim-controlled company that dominates the market. A major element of the reform was struck down by the Mexican Supreme Court in August, yet U.S. negotiators wanted the NAFTA chapter to include the original version, officials say. Guajardo said he was confident that agreement could be reached in wording the telecoms chapter in a way that applied the rules for all three nations, not singling out Mexico. I dont see it as an obstacle, he said. Its simply a case of fine-tuning on how we express it. Mexico has major reservations about a number of U.S. proposals, none more so than a plan to raise the required North American content in autos to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, as well as ensure half the total content is from the United States. Guajardo said after the previous talks that Mexico would make a counter-suggestion on the auto proposal once the United States had explained the feasibility of its plans. [nS0N1LV03D] Mexico made a tit-for-tat counterproposal to one U.S. plan to limit Mexican and Canadian access to public tenders, earning words of grudging respect from the U.S. side. However, Guajardo said that strategy would not work on all the tough issues. We cant project this solution for everything. Because there are things that are deep in our neighbours hearts, he said, pointing to the auto content proposal.

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TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is streamlining its company structure and making sweeping changes to senior management as part of an overhaul it hopes will please investors worried about the companys massive debt. The logo of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's biggest generic drugmaker and Israel's largest company, is seen in Jerusalem February 8, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/FilesShares in the worlds largest generic drugmaker, which have been in a year-long freefall due to narrowing profit margins in generics and a series of pricey acquisitions, jumped 5.5 percent to $14.46 in early New York trade on Monday following the announcement. Teva said it was combining its generics and specialty medicine groups into one commercial business and was doing the same for its research and development activities. Three senior officers will be stepping down as well. Our new company structure will enable stronger alignment and integration between R&D, operations and the commercial regions, allowing us to become a more agile, lean and profitable company, said Chief Executive Kare Schultz, who joined the company at the start of November. Teva is saddled with nearly $35 billion in debt since its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergans generic drug business Actavis last year. That deal has not paid off and investors have been pushing for clarity regarding the future. An employee of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries wears a shirt bearing the company's logo at its Jerusalem oral solid dosage plant (OSD) December 21, 2011. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/FilesTeva is taking decisive and immediate action to address external pressures and internal inefficiencies, Schultz said, adding the company was working on a detailed restructuring plan to be unveiled in mid-December. Hours earlier the Israeli company made a more vague promise for changes in a letter to the Israeli parliament, following media reports the company was set to cut thousands of jobs. Parliaments State Control Committee had called an emergency meeting to discuss reports that Teva was planning to cut up to a quarter of its 6,860-strong workforce in Israel, and a few thousand more staff in the United States. Teva, which has already been selling off assets to help meet its debt payments, said in the letter it needed deep, meaningful steps around the world, but did not give details. In its later statement, Teva said Chief Scientific Officer Michael Hayden, head of global specialty medicines Rob Koremans and Dipankar Bhattacharjee, head of the global generic medicines group, would retire at the end of the year. The company also appointed Michael McClellan as permanent chief financial officer, after he held the role on an interim basis since July, and made five other executive changes at the top of the company.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the greatest homage to those who sacrificed their lives during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai would be to learn lessons from what happened on that day and not letting it occur again.

He was speaking at '26/11: Stories of Strength- A unique memorial' held at the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai.

"I think, there won't be any greater homage to our martyrs than learning lessons from what had happened and not letting it happen again," Fadnavis said.

"I think, if all of us come together and become the eyes and ears of the forces, we will surely beat them. We will prevent any such tragedy in future," the chief minister said.

Sunday was the ninth anniversary of the gory attack, carried out by 10 terrorists from Pakistan over three days, that left 166 people dead, including 18 police officers and two NSG commandos.

On the preparations and enhancement of security measures, Fadnavis said, "I feel Mumbai has changed now. We have third eye-CCTV network, 'Sagar Kavach', joint-exercise with Navy, elite 'Force One' on the lines of NSG and bullet resistant jackets among others. We have technical intelligence, with the state and the Centre working together."

"I think, we still require a resolve from the people. They should be the eyes and ears of our (security) forces, our police," Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, said.

"The forces we are fighting have no principle and no state of law. They are enemies of humanity. They want to create an atmosphere of fear.

"They are bombing all parts of the globe, ramming vehicles in public places, they are firing in theatres. All they want to tell the humanity is that we can win, we can terrorise you," he said.

Anant Goenka, executive director of the Indian Express Group, said, "The attack on parliament and 26/11 are the two events that have shaped the way modern India thinks of terrorism and violence."

"As a group that has been documenting a changing India for over 80 years, we recognised that we have rarely ever heard from those directly affected  the survivors  of 26/11.

"From our interviews, we have been touched, inspired and awe struck at the courage, the positivity, the maturity, and realised that there are many inspiring stories that needed to be told, and it's our role as a responsible news media group, to give voice to these remarkable individuals," Goenka said.

Addressing an event at the Bombay Gymkhana in south Mumbai, Fadnavis said, "Memories of 26/11 will haunt us all the time. It was not just an attack on Mumbai, it was an attack on humanity, sovereignty and on those who stand for peace."

"But after nine years, we are standing and telling terrorists and all those who are against peace that we will always fight and we will always win," the chief minister said.

"Today, we have moved on and things have changed. In Mumbai, we have vigilance through CCTV network which is the the third eye. We have best of protective gear for elite forces," Fadnavis said.

He said the citizens need to be the eyes and ears of the security forces to fight the battle.

"We need to be aware that it is a daily fight and we need to be a part of this daily fight," the chief minister said.

Addressing the gathering, Maharashtra governor Ch Vidaysagar Rao said it is "unfortunate" that the mastermind of 26/11 attacks, Hafiz Saeed, has been set free.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) head and LeT founder, who has a $10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, was freed by Pakistan on Friday.

"No words are enough to condemn the dastardly attack. It is most unfortunate that the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed, a designated terrorist, has been released and he has threatened to renew his war against India. I am confident that India is ready to curb and crush these terrorists," Rao said.
A day after the Centre withdrew RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's Z+ VIP security cover, his son Tej Pratap threatened to skin Prime Minister Narendra Modi alive. In a video posted by ANI, Tej Pratap can be seen saying, "There is a murder conspiracy against Lalu Prasad Yadav. We will give them a fitting reply. We will skin Narendra Modiji."

#WATCH: Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap responds to question on his father's security downgrade, says, 'Narendra Modi Ji ka khaal udhedva lenge' pic.twitter.com/FER7rIBjoK  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

The RJD chief did not condemn the remarks, instead saying that "if a son gets to know his father is being conspired against and his security is being revoked, he will react". He said a son's blood is bound to boil if something is said against his father. The RJD chief further said that he has talked to his son about not making such remarks again. He added that if Modi thinks he will get scared because his security is withdrawn, he is wrong. "All the people, even the children of Bihar, will protect me," he added.

If a son comes to know that his father is being conspired against, his security is being revoked, he will react. I don't approve of this. I have spoken to him to not speak anything like that again.: Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tej Pratap Yadav's statement pic.twitter.com/jo6LnC7Qzx  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

After his VIP security cover was withdrawn, Lalu sought to know from the Centre if there was a plan to attack Pakistan. While talking to the media, he said, "if anything happens to me, Modi and Nitish (Kumar) will be responsible."

"Even small BJP leaders are getting Z+ security, why was my security withdrawn?" the RJD chief questioned. He said it was a controversy to stop him from travelling in the country.

He said he tried to talk to Union minister Rajnath Singh but the call could not get connected. The home secretary said he would revert on Monday but Lalu said, he is still waiting for the call.

Official sources told PTI that Lalu's VIP security cover was withdrawn after the Centre reviewed the threat levels of its various protectees. He will now be given 'Z' category security and be guarded by an armed commando squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, in accordance with the protocol of the scaled down cover, sources said.

BJP MP Parvesh Verma filed a complain against Tej Pratap in Delhi's Parliament Street police station for his remark on Modi.

BJP MP Parvesh Verma files complaint against RJD leader #TejPratapYadav in Delhi's Parliament Street Police station for his remark against PM Modi (file pics) pic.twitter.com/29UVOv3te5  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

Bihar minister DC Yadav also reacted to the statement and said, "only a person who is mentally unstable will make such a statement." ANI quoted him as saying, "Lalu ji also said things in the past but never crossed lines like this."

Lalu's other son and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, also blamed Modi and said that if anything happens to the RJD chief, the prime minister will be responsible.

"If anything happens to Lalu Prasadji, Modi will be responsible and be blamed for it," he said.

Tejashwi also said that his father was on the hit list of some vested interests who could murder him.

With inputs from agencies
Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek expansion of the central scheme for assistance to victims of terrorist and communal violence to cover the period of terrorism in the state.

"Seeking widening of the scope of the scheme to cover the period 1982-2008, the chief minister has pointed out that Punjab faced unprecedented terrorism during 1982-1995. As many as 10,636 deaths were recorded during this period... 17,420 families had to leave their homes and migrate to other areas," a state government spokesperson said on Sunday.

The Central government had, on 3 March, brought out revised guidelines for the Scheme for Assistance to Victims of Terrorism and Communal Violence, to be effective from the date of cabinet approval i.e. 24 August, 2016.

"The chief minister has now sought further revision to the scheme and has requested the Prime Minister to make it applicable from 1 August, 1982, so as to cover the period of terrorism in the state. Currently, the scheme is effective from 1 April, 2008 and the chief minister, in his letter, has sought that it may be made effective from 1 August, 1982," the spokesperson said.

The Punjab government had requested the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in August 2006 for a package of Rs 781 crore for the terrorist victims in the state, but did not receive any response.

"Thereafter, the then chief minister, vide his DO letter 26 March, 2009 addressed to the then Prime Minister, requested that the new Central Scheme for Assistance to Victims of Terrorism and Communal Violence, which had been made effective from 1 April, 2008, be given effect from 1982, so as to cover the families affected by terrorism in the state," the spokesperson said, adding that several reminders at the level of Financial Commissioner Revenue in 2011 did not elicit any response from the Central government.
While Assam eagerly awaits the release of an updated draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a notice to the state government, seeking an explanation over the alleged harassment of people by the police over verification of identity and nationality.

Kismat Ali, 41, recalls the night of 11 August 2015, when gun-toting cops picked him up from his hutment in Sonajuli village of the state's Udalguri district. Kismat, who worked as a truck driver, was taken in a police vehicle as cops rounded up another D-voter  'D' stands for 'doubtful'  from Assam, Ashraf Ali.

Ashraf, born in Siwan district of Bihar, moved to Assam with his parents in the 1980s. Kismat was born in Assam, in the state's Kharupetia town, to a father who had moved there from Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district. It wasn't until their arrest that Kismat and Ashraf learnt that the Election Commission of India marked them as 'D-voters' since 2006. D-voters lose their citizenship rights and government entitlements until their names aren't confirmed as Indian citizens.

The two were held as "foreigners" under an ex-parte judgment and put in detention on 12 August, 2015. They approached the Supreme Court after the Gauhati High Court dismissed their writs. The case went back to the Foreigners' Tribunal, an exclusive body of the Assam state government, which declared them Indian citizens and set them free  after two years, two months and 17 days in prison.

Suspicion and segregation

The Assam Police has been on its guard against infiltrators since 1962, when it first set up a special branch under the 'Prevention of Infiltration of Pakistan' (PIP) scheme, entrusted with deporting "foreigners" from Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, living illegally in the state.

A sustained movement by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Ganasangram Parishad (AAGSP), who conveyed their apprehensions regarding the influx of foreign nationals into Assam during the 1980s, led to the introduction of the Assam Accord in August 1985. The Accord ruled that foreigners who came to Assam after 1 January, 1966, and up to 24 March, 1971, and foreigners who came to Assam after 25 March, 1971, shall continue to be expelled in accordance with the law.

This suspicion regarding infiltrators had put more than 6.2 lakh people under investigation as "foreigners" until October 2016, parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told the Assembly earlier this year. Of these, more than two lakh cases were still pending with the tribunals, he had said.

The BJP-led government came to power in Assam on the promise of ridding the state of its illegal voters, and has since been pushing its agenda by updating the NRC to identify illegal migrants.

The NRC is a document prepared in 1951 with names of all Indian citizens and was handed over to the police in 1960. Assam is utilising this record to prepare a draft NRC for the state. This will include names that appear in the 1951 NRC, and names that appear in any of electoral rolls up to the midnight of 24 March, 1971, and names of people with any other admissible documents proving their presence in the state before 24 March, 1971.

Roushan Ara Begum, 28, works as a domestic help in Guwahati, but has often been labelled as 'Bangladeshi'. "I have submitted all my documents for NRC, but there is no clarity as to who will get a clearance from being labelled 'Bangladeshi'," she said.

AASU and other groups demand that illegal migrants be sent back to their countries, but India is yet to sign a repatriation treaty with Bangladesh and Nepal in this regard.

Total number of cases

It's been over a year that Moinul Molla, 32, has been out of the detention centre where people accused of living illegally in the state are imprisoned. He is now involved in a stationery business in Guwahati with his brother Ainal. During their trial at the Foreigners Tribunal, Moinal won his case after the Supreme Court intervened. "I had been marked a 'D-voter' and sent to the detention centre, where I spent over three years, but my determination to fight for my right led me to freedom. I was aware it would require lot of time and money," Moinul said.

An uneducated Moinul is among the 90,000-odd people who have been declared "foreigners" in Assam since 1985 though foreigners tribunals.

Aman Wadud, who provides legal counsel for people like Moinul in proving their citizenship to the Foreigners Tribunal, said, "Marking someone a 'D-voter' should involve an investigation procedure. Many cases prove the 'D-voter' is chosen at random. How else would just one member of a family be an illegal resident when all others qualify as Indian citizens as per the voters' lists?"

It's not only the uneducated or those part of the unorganised workforce who face the brunt of this scrutiny. At Kalgachia, 170 km from Guwahati, Samshul Haque Ahmed was given a "foreigner" tag despite having served the Indian Air Force for 35 years. "No specific verification takes place. They add a name in this list sitting at district headquarters, and never come on ground to check," he alleged.

Another case that came to light was of Mahiruddin Ahmed, a retired Havildar who worked in the Indian Army for 18 years from 1986 to 2004, and was accused of being a Bangladeshi migrant. Ahmed has been served a notice by the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam.

A person is tagged a "foreigner" in Assam either if he figures in the Election Commission's 'D-voter' list or is accused of being an outsider by the border police, a special wing of the Assam Police that detects illegal immigrants.

DGP RM Singh (border branch) of the Assam Police said the probe takes the Foreigners Act, 1946, into consideration. "Challenges arise mainly in cases of 'D-voters'. In most of these cases, suspects flee before they can be nabbed," he said.

The state has witnessed many protest marches in the past, some of which have led to violent clashes. On 30 June this year, Yakub Ali, 22, was shot dead by the police in Khutamari village in the state's Goalpara district while participating in a protest rally against the alleged harassment of Muslims by the state government.

The resistance to this "selective" verification has resulted in several prime-time battles on TV, one such event being the recent comment by the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Syed Arshad Madani. He drew severe criticism and three court cases under section 120 (B) and 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code for saying in New Delhi that "Assam will burn, there will be killings and retaliation, if 50 lakh Muslims are left out of the updated NRC".

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment while hearing if the panchayat residency certificate can be considered a proof of citizenship. The apex court will, on 29 and 30 November, hear a plea regarding completion of the NRC by 31 July, 2018.

Read Part 2: BJP's tardy approach to Aadhaar exposes its doublespeak on illegal immigrants

The author is a Guwahati-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.
Aurangabad: Eight-year-old Judy Abdulghani Ali was tough as nails as she bargained with the autorickshaw driver. "Hum 50 nahi 30 rupees denge. Baki log utna hi lete hai, chalna hai to chalo (We'll give you 30, not 50 rupees, it's the standard rate, come if you want)," she said.

Amused by her gumption, the driver gave in. Judy has lived in Aurangabad since she was four, when her parents left the hard conditions in Yemen, and moved to India. Like many Yemeni children her age, Judy is now fluent in Hindi and Marathi, a marker of how well-integrated the community is in their new home.

For decades, Aurangabad, a tier-2 city in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, has been a safe haven in India for Yemeni migrants. One of the Arab world's poorest countries, Yemen has been devastated by a civil war since 2015 that pits the Houthi Shia rebels against forces loyal to the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Over 10,000 civilians have died in the conflict and 40,000 wounded till January 2017, the majority in air strikes launched by a Saudi Arabia-led multinational coalition that backs the current president. A record number of Yemeni nationals are migrating to other nations. In India, Aurangabad has become their preferred destination, thanks to its safety, affordable college education, and the region's Islamic history.

Most Yemenis come to the city as students in the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU) and affiliated colleges, that have for four decades reserved 15 percent seats for foreign students, including those from Kenya, Somalia, Iraq, and Thailand. The first three Yemeni students came in 1987. Yemeni alumni from the nineties have left to greener pastures: one is a leading English professor in Yemen, another is a manager in the Yemen vice-president's office, and yet another heads the language department in Amran University, Yemen.

These success stories, and the assurance of a support system makes Aurangabad popular. Mansoor Ali Mohammad Almaswari, General Secretary of the Yemeni Students Union, is the first foreign student in BAMU to get the University Grant Commissions scholarship for PhD. He said that from 33 Yemenis in 2008, to 322 in 2012, in the year 2016-17, 675 Yemeni students were admitted in BAMU, Maulana Azad college, Sir Syed College and Swami Vivekanand College. Almaswari said the tuition fees are higher than in Yemen, but among the most affordable in India. Moreover, accommodation, food, and travel were cheaper compared to metropolitan cities.

The Yemeni students hold student visas, or in the case of doctoral students, research visas. They enroll in course after course, because returning to Yemen is too risky. Professor Dr Mustajeeb Ahemad Masood Khan, Director of the Foreign Students Cell, said, "A graduation course is for three years, an undergraduate course is four years, then two years of post graduation, and five years of PhD. That is at least 10 productive years of their life in safe nation." Moreover, it's harder to get jobs and work visas in India.

"In big cities like Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, we get some translation or writing jobs but they don't pay much," Almadwari said, adding that the community discouraged illegal work. "We have a crisis in Yemen, and we don't want to increase our problems with illegal stay." Prof Khan said BAMU had adopted a liberal stand in issuing certificates to help their foreign students extend their visas, or convert them from student to research visas.

The Yemeni Student Union, formed in 2015 in Aurangabad, has 120 permanent members and has built strong roots in the city. The Aurangabad police commissioner, BAMU officials and Maulana Azad College officials have attended several of the union's cultural functions. In the colleges, many Indians seem to have built lasting friendships with Yemenis.

Twenty-six-year-old Ashish Gaikawad befriended his Yemeni classmate Abdulghani Ali Musaeed Nasser Al-Bokwal from the very first day they met. Abdulghani is a PhD student in the environmental science department, but back home in Yemen, he had been the director general of the country's environment protection agency. Gaikawad was impressed with the 44-year-old Yemeni man's knowledge and humility.

Chetana Walokar-Rajnekar, a 25-year-old environmental science educator found a best friend in Faeza Albabeli when they both pursued their M.Sc. "We came to know from Faeza how difficult life is in Yemen," said Rajnekar. "Still, she always extends a helping hand. She taught us about being positive in life."

Like the Muslim communities in Hyderabad and Aurangabad, Yemenis are also Sunni Muslims. Prof Dr Syed Shafiuddin, the Head of Computer Science Department in Milliya College, Beed, offered a historical link between India and Yemen. "The Nizam of Hyderabad appointed Yemenis to guard their treasure, and they were known as chaukidar, later corrupted to chaus. All Muslim Chaus in India today are successors of Hyderabadi Yemenis," he said. Aurangabad's Milliya college, where Prof Shafiuddin teaches, is run by the Anjuman Isharat E Talim Trust, owned by Dr Salim Ahemed, who is a Chaus.

About 70-75 Yemeni students have also brought their families, renting homes in six localities in Aurangabad, the most prominent one being the posh Roza Baugh, home to the city's prominent lecturers, government officials and businessmen, many of them Muslim. Asif Nadaf, the owner of a Roza Baugh grocery shop said, "Yemenis are our prominent customers. Due to their good nature and long stay, they are like family members."

Another grocery shop owner, Prakash Jadhav, agreed. "Yemenis are trustworthy, gentle people, different from other foreigners." It seems to help that unlike immigrants from Africa or southeast Asia, the Yemenis' appearance allows them to blend into the crowd.

Today, the Yemeni nationals have integrated well into their neighbourhood. Almaswari admits that he likes the rhythm of bands played in the Ganesh festival, popular in Maharashtra. The children attend nearby schools, and study Indian syllabi. Judy, and five-year-old Ali happily sing the National Anthem of India.

Almaswaris son Humaid and daughter Lujain communicate with ease in the market. "Our kids have made our life easier here," Abdulghani said. "Their street smartness helps their mothers out often."

A recent anxiety for Yemenis, however, is that since June 2017, India has been capping education visas to five years. But going back home to a war-torn Yemen poses a dilemma. "Everybody likes their home," said Almaswari. "But how will anyone like to go back to a home where there is no electricity for the last 2 years? Where there is no clean water to drink. Where government hospitals, schools and colleges are closed. Where you have no guarantee that you'll be alive tomorrow."

The famine and world's worst outbreak of cholera in Yemen scared him, he said. So when the Indian student visa runs out, some Yemenis plan to go to a neighbouring nation to get stamp on the passport. "Then we return and get another 5 years in India." Once they exhaust all their possibilities of staying in India, the only option might be to move to another nation on a work visa.

Almaswari hoped his country would finally be free of violence, and that home would be worth returning to soon. Until then, he hopes India will retain its warm welcome.

The author is a Aurangabad-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.
On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition of a woman who claims to be the daughter of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

The petition, filed by a Bengaluru woman, claimed she is the biological daughter of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, according to media reports. The woman had also demanded a DNA test to prove her claim.

A bench of Justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta refused to allow the plea of the woman to conduct DNA test for the purpose of proving her parentage. Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the woman, had also sought cremation of Jayalalithaa as per Hindu rites since she was an Iyengar Brahmin.

The court, however, said the petitioner is at liberty to approach the high court.

In the petition filed on 22 November, Amrutha mentions that she was adopted by Jayalalithaas elder sister, Shylaja, and that she learnt the "truth" about her birth only after Jayalalithaa's death on 5 December 2016, according to Hindustan Times.

Claiming she was born on 14 August, 1980 at the former chief minister's residence in Mylapur, Amrutha said that her birth was kept secret to avoid social stigma, and "uphold the dignity of the family as they belonged to a very religious, orthodox and cultured Brahmin family", the report added.

The Bengaluru-based woman along with two cousins, LS Lalitha and Ranjani Ravindranatha, sought Supreme Court intervention as her efforts to meet Jayalalithaa during her lifetime were unsuccessful, The Times of India reported. The petitioners said that V Sasikala, former interim general secretary of AIADMK, allegedly prevented her from meeting the leader, and was also not even allowed to attend her burial ceremony.

The report added that Amrutha and the co-petitioners had earlier approached President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CBI and Supreme Court judges, but did not receive a response.

Amrutha said that she tried to meet Jayalalithaa four times at Apollo Hospital during her last days but was shooed away by security guards on instructions of Sasikala, "as was found later", The Telegraph reported.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Madan Lokur will decide on Monday whether to admit the petition, the report said.

The Hindustan Times report mentioned Amrutha has also demanded that Jayalalithaas body, buried at Chennais Marina Beach, be exhumed and cremated in accordance with the Vaishnava Brahmin rituals.

With inputs from PTI
Banaras Hindu University vice-chancellor GC Tripathi, under fire for being unable to contain violence on campus after a student's molestation two months ago, lashed out at his critics at a farewell ceremony organised for him on Sunday.

According to The Times of India, Tripathi, without mentioning the incident, said: "Protection of pride and respect of any individual is correct. But, it is 'dogla pana' (dual stand) if such efforts for an individual is made by sacrificing image and pride of any reputed institution that could not speak itself in its defence."

In the aftermath of wide-scale student protests, Tripathi had gone on an indefinite leave of absence on 2 October after calls for his resignation. When he returned on Sunday evening for the event, according to a News18 report, he was greeted with slogans of "V-C go back" and posters asking "Do you feel ashamed now?"

Only students from the medical branch were allowed inside the farewell venue, the KN Udappa Auditorium, according to the report.

Tripathi, who was scheduled to retire on 30 November, had gone on the leave citing personal reasons. The development, however, came amid indications from top HRD ministry sources that the central government was upset with the manner in which he handled the entire episode, including a protest by women students of BHU following an incident of alleged harassment.

In September, a number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident turned violent in the BHU, one of the 43 central universities in the country.

The students had claimed that the police had attacked them without provocation, not even sparing women students. Students also alleged that the police had entered a girls' hostel. Following the incident, five FIRs were lodged, while the National Commission for Women held Tripathi responsible for such incidents.

With inputs from PTI
Kolkata: Asura Bibi welled up as she remembered her late husband Sirajul Islam, who succumbed to dengue over two months ago.

Asura, 29, a resident of Deganga block in North 24 Parganas district, is particularly appalled by the administration as none of the government officials visited her house to know about her predicament. What further aggravated her anger was the recent dengue deaths figure submitted by the West Bengal government in the Calcutta High Court, that confirmed just 39 dengue deaths in the state this year.

"The government has been playing with our emotions and has scant respect for the dead. Several people have died of dengue, including my husband, but instead of offering words of condolence they are trying to suppress everything. The doctors treating my husband at a government hospital told me that he was suffering from dengue and his platelet count had dropped to dangerous levels but his death certificate mentioned haemorrhagic syndrome as the cause," she said, sobbing in between.

Sirajul, 36, an embroidery worker, died on 29 September at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a state-run facility, after he was rushed there in a serious condition, a day before.

In fact, their families are not alone in their grief. Several people have lost their loved ones in villages of Deganga blocks, that has been the epicentre of the dengue outbreak this year in West Bengal.

Md Anwarul Haq, a local, claimed that he has shifted many people to various hospitals and has seen at least 50-60 deaths in Deganga due to dengue in the past three months. "I have rushed dozens of people suffering from high fever to hospitals. Over 50 people at least have died but the figures mentioned by the government have left me surprised and shocked," he said.

Md Sohrab Ali, who lost his relative Rashida Bibi, 38, to an unknown fever said that none of the government officials turned up at his door to inquire about her death. "She was suffering from high fever and passed away four days ago. Her death has been dismissed as unknown fever but she was suffering from dengue."

A section of the people is also aggrieved at the comments made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in October, saying that nobody had died of dengue in Denganga this year when almost every household has a dengue patient and deaths have become routine.

"It is really shocking that the chief minister can make such insensitive statements. The toll is uncountable as Deganga block comprises over 80 villages and most of the casualties have gone unreported because deaths due to unknown fever have hardly been reported," fumed Md Dinbandhu Haldar, a local resident who added that people have been losing their lives due to dengue even in the state capital almost every day.

Contrary to the claims of fewer deaths by the state government, the district hospitals are still witnessing long queues of patients coming from far-flung areas to get their blood examined.

The medical-superintendent-cum-vice-principal (MSVP) of Habra district hospital though claimed that the number of patients has come down but blamed the people for failing to read the "warning signs" of the deathly mosquito.

"There has been a decrease in the number of people turning up with unknown fever. It might also be due to the change in temperature as winter has begun to set in. The need is to frame a popular policy to stop the breeding of Aedes aegypti. People should also read the warning signs of dengue and immediately take their relatives to the nearest health facility if they complain of vomiting, bleeding, abdomen swelling and respiratory distress," he said.

Deborshi Chakraborty, a Jadavpur University researcher who is among the seven persons who had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PILs) on 3 November in the Calcutta High Court seeking to form an expert committee to look into dengue menace has accused the government of trying to suppress figures.

"The motive behind filing the PIL was to request the high court to take cognisance of the deaths due to dengue in the state. The government has been trying to suppress reality by refusing to mention even the correct cause of deaths in the certificates. They have been dismissing the majority of deaths as unknown fever which is really absurd," said Deborshi.

Acting on the PILs, the court had then asked the state government to submit an affidavit on the dengue outbreak in the state.

Advocate General (AG) Kishore Dutta on 16 November submitted before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice J Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee that 38 people had died of the vector-borne disease this year (from January to 15 November), including 15 in private hospitals.

The high court then questioned the reliability of the report submitted by the state government as the counsel of Deborshi challenged the figures by submitting the death certificates of four persons who had died of dengue at government hospitals before 15 November but whose names didn't figure in the list submitted by the government.

In the last hearing, on 24 November, the state government increased its official toll to 39 by confirming one more death due to the vector-borne disease and termed the ten PILs filed to be politically motivated and based on media reports.

Far away from the legal and political rumblings, people like Asura consider themselves to be cheated as they would never be able to know the exact reason that cut short the existence of their loved ones.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Uber executives are travelling the globe to reassure regulators that the company is changing the way it does business, after a string of controversies hurt the ride-hailing firms reputation, its Asian head told Reuters on Monday. Uber's Asia Pacific Chief Business Officer Brooks Entwistle gives an interview to Reuters in Tokyo, Japan, November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonIt is also still in talks with Japans SoftBank Group Corp for an investment, said Brooks Entwistle, Uber Technologies recently appointed chief business officer for Asia Pacific. The comments come on the heels of Ubers disclosure last week that it covered up a 2016 data breach involving 57 million customers and drivers. The revelation prompted governments in countries including Britain, the United States, Australia and the Philippines to launch probes into the breach and Ubers handling of the matter. We have changed tacks in so many ways in dealing with regulators, dealing with governments, Entwistle said in an interview in Tokyo, where he is meeting Japanese officials and potential business partners. This suggests the worlds largest ride-hailing firm, known for its tough stance against regulators, is taking a less disruptive and more consensual approach in the wake of scandals that have led to criticism of its corporate culture. A stream of executives have left Uber in recent months amid controversies involving sexual harassment, data privacy and business practices in Asia. The board also removed Travis Kalanick as its chief executive in June. SOFTBANK DEAL The disclosure of the 2016 data breach at a time when Uber is trying to bring in Japanese firm SoftBank as an investor has spurred speculation about the price of the deal. SoftBank and Dragoneer Investment Group agreed on Nov. 12 to lead a group that would invest as much as $10 billion in Uber, people familiar with the deal previously told Reuters. Uber's Asia Pacific Chief Business Officer Brooks Entwistle poses before giving an interview to Reuters in Tokyo, Japan, November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonAnd according to sources, Uber has plans to disclose the pricing of the SoftBank deal in formal tender offers to existing investors this week. The transaction is still underway and its an extraordinary validation that an investor like SoftBank would look at Uber, said Entwistle. A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment. Uber's logo is pictured at its office in Tokyo, Japan, November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonREGIONAL PLANS SoftBank has become a prolific investor in ride-hailing firms across Asia, including Southeast Asias Grab, Chinas DiDi Chuxing and Indias Ola, leading to expectations it could drive consolidation in the region. While Uber sold its business in China to DiDi last year, it remains committed to operating in the broader region for years to come, said Entwistle, who joined the company in August. The firm has not given up on the Japanese market, which has barred non-professional drivers from offering taxi services, and is working on partnering with traditional taxi firms, he said. Uber hopes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could provide a venue to demonstrate the value of ride-sharing firms in a potentially lucrative market, he said. We are innovating and in some markets that will take longer and we realize that, Entwistle said.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Jammu: Following the abduction and killing of a Territorial Army jawan by militants, National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah on Sunday expressed concerns over the "worsening security situation" in Jammu and Kashmir and said the Centre has to frame its response vis-a-vis Pakistan for bringing peace in the region.

A 23-year-old Territorial Army jawan was abducted and killed by militants in Shopian district of south Kashmir while he was on leave. His bullet-riddled body was recovered from an orchard in Watmullah Keegam area of the district.

Abdullah also termed the meetings of Centre's special envoy on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, with people as a "formality" and said peace would be achieved only when "sincere and serious efforts" were made.

"Claims of peace (in Jammu and Kashmir) are falling flat in the face of increased killings. Yet another jawan has been abducted and killed," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Kathua district.

The NC president attributed the grim security scenario to infiltration by militants from across the border and said the Centre would have to frame its response vis-a-vis Pakistan for the larger interest of peace in the region.

All problems are originating from across the border and the life of those living along the border has become pitiable due to intermittent shelling, he said.

"The nation should be taken into confidence as to how the Centre is sorting out issues with the neighbouring country," Abdullah said.

Unfazed by the criticism of his remarks that PoK belonged to Pakistan and "this won't change" no matter how many wars India and Pakistan fight, he reiterated his stand saying this was the only realistic solution to herald a new era of peace and trust in the region.

"Conversion of the Line of Control (LoC) into a line of peace will improve the living conditions of people on both sides and promote interaction and goodwill," Abdullah said.

On the appointment of the Centre's special representative for Kashmir, he said, "Meetings of the interlocutor with the people are just a formality and peace will emerge only when sincere and serious efforts are made."

Border skirmishes and violence in the state has pushed the people backwards, Abdullah said, adding, "The border dwellers are suffering due to fear psychosis and uncertainty."

About the proposed withdrawal of cases and release of stone-pelters, the NC president said, "The coalition is itself uncertain about all this... At times they say the stone-pelters would be released and at times they talk about sending juveniles to rehabilitation centres."

The former chief minister alleged that the present dispensation has failed on the deliverance front.

"The scale of rations has been reduced and food-grains are scarce in ration depots. Prices are sky-high and essentials like LPG are going beyond the reach of the poor.

Salaries of various categories of employees are being delayed," he said.

Claiming that the state is faced with a "development inertia", Abdullah sought answers regarding "utilisation of the claimed funding from the Centre".

He also alleged that elected representatives and ministers belonging to the BJP, which is a partner of the PDP in the coalition government, were being ignored by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

"The coalition partners have failed the people, who are realising the futility of their mandate," the NC chief said.

On the upcoming panchayat elections, Abdullah blamed the coalition government for trampling democracy by introducing "indirect election of Sarpanchs" and said "it is against the spirit of democracy at grass roots level".
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Centre to withdraw four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll-bound Gujarat.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed to the Centre's plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state.

The apex court had earlier on 27 October permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for deployment along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states and to the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The Calcutta High Court had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till 27 October after the state government approached it opposing the Centre's decision.
Gaya: A team of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Gujarat police on Monday took away, for interrogation, terror suspect Tauseef Khan, an accused in the Ahmedabad serial blasts of 2008.

Tauseef, who was arrested by the Bihar ATS a few months ago, had been lodged in the Gaya Central Jail. He was taken to Ahmedabad by a chartered plane amid tight security. The ATS team was led by inspector SL Chaudhary.

"Tauseef is named in a total of 39 cases, all relating to terrorist activities, in various police stations of Ahmedabad and Surat", Chaudhary told reporters.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (City), Gaya, Alok Kumar Singh, "Tauseef was arrested, along with two of his associates, on 14 September from the Bhagat Singh Chowk under Civil Lines police station area".

"He has been taken to Ahmedabad for interrogation by the Gujarat ATS team, which arrived here yesterday and obtained transit remand from a local court", Singh said.

An engineering graduate, Tauseef worked as a teacher in a school in a Gaya village where he allegedly promoted anti-national sentiments among his students.
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged lynching of 17-year-old Junaid Khan, who was stabbed to death on a train in June.

A single bench of Justice Rajan Gupta passed the order.

"The judge dismissed the plea on the ground that the police investigation in the case was proper," said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, the counsel for Junaid's father Jalaluddin.

"During the course of the hearing, the complainant has not been able to show that there are serious flaws in the investigation, which would lead to the conclusion that the same is shoddy or tainted.

"Besides, there is nothing to show that the incident has any national or international ramifications. It is, thus, not a fit case to exercise extraordinary power to hand over the investigation to the CBI," the judge wrote in the order.

On 17 November, the high court had reserved its order on the petition after the conclusion of arguments.

Jalaluddin, through his counsel, had filed the petition on 26 October, seeking a probe by an independent agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Junaid lynching case.

The petitioner had also demanded a stay on the trial in a Faridabad court in connection with the killing of Junaid.

The high court had issued notices to the CBI and Haryana government on the plea of Junaid's father.

Junaid, who had boarded a Mathura-bound train from Delhi, was allegedly stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers and cousins, was returning home to Khandawali village after shopping for Eid in Delhi in June.

His body was dumped near Asaoti village in Faridabad district.
Moscow: India and Russia on agreed to help each other in combating terrorism as the two strategic partners signed a key agreement, asserting that there are no good or bad terrorists and the menace should be fought jointly.

The agreement between the two countries for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev after they held wide-ranging talks.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh met Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation in Moscow, Russia. pic.twitter.com/ASe73MGQ98  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

The ministers underlined that cooperation in the field of security is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship further strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and radicalism, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said.

They agreed that terrorism must be fought unitedly and there were no good or bad terrorists, it said.

"The new agreement between India's MHA and Russia's interior ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security," Singh tweeted after signing the pact.

The Indian embassy statement said the two leaders agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhance the exchange of information, cooperate in building a database and in training of police and investigative agencies.

Indian and Russian representatives also signed the joint action plan for countering the threat posed by narcotics and the agreement will provide legal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.

The pact was signed by Indian ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran and deputy minister for internal affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Zubov in presence of Singh and Kolokoltsev.

The agreement on internal security is an updated and more comprehensive agreement on cooperation on security between the MHA and the Russian ministry of interior.

This pact provides a comprehensive approach for help in security-related issues, including information technology crimes, counterfeiting currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in human beings, economic crimes, crimes related to intellectual property, cultural property amongst others, the statement said.

During the meeting, the ministers emphasised the strength of the relationship between India and Russia that has been consolidated in the past 70 years in all areas.

Before leaving for Russia, Singh said India and Russia share a special relationship which has withstood the test of time over the decades.

Singh was scheduled to visit Russia on 18 September, 2016, but he had cancelled it following a terror attack on that day at the Brigade headquarters in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 19 army soldiers were killed
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian steel companies can meet the needs of the countrys railways and local rail market entrants such as Jindal Steel and Power Ltd should be given a chance, a government panel said in a document seen by Reuters. A general view of the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. complex is pictured at Nisha village in the eastern Indian state of Orissa March 27, 2012. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/FilesJindal Steel told the committee this month it could supply up to 600,000 tonnes of rails per year to Indian Railways, which recently floated a global tender for 717,000 tonnes of rails. The committee on domestically manufactured iron and steel products for government projects is headed by the top bureaucrat in the steel ministry, which has said the tender went against government policy to prefer local steel in state projects. Prima facie there exists domestic rail making capacity for the tendered quantity of Ministry of Railways, said the minutes of a committee meeting held on Nov. 3, which were seen by Reuters on Monday. Reasonable supply quantity may be assured for the new domestic entrant to demonstrate their capability and build up the performance/track record. State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), currently the main supplier of rails to Indian Railways, has struggled to supply the steel as the worlds fourth largest rail network tries to upgrade and expand. SAIL is expected to deliver only around 950,000 tonnes of rails this financial year, which is two-thirds of the railways needs, according to the document. In response, Indian Railways last month opened up the global tender for steel rail worth an estimated 30 billion rupees ($464 million) to private bidders for the first time. Global steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal and Thyssenkrupp could bid for the tender.

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On Wednesday, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud said that application for an in-camera hearing of the proceedings when Hadiya appears before the court on 27 November would be taken up today itself

Supreme Court to decide at 3 pm whether the hearing will be in-camera or not

Muslims  who account for 172 million of Indias 1.32 billion citizens  have been under increasing pressure from the Hindu right. Muslims have been lynched for killing cows - considered sacred in Hinduism - and some of their slaughter houses forced to shut down.

The RSS, which founded the first iteration of Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party six decades ago, believes India is fundamentally a Hindu nation. Since Modis election in May 2014, the RSS has expanded its membership and influence across India and either it or its affiliates now run key ministries, such as the home ministry that supervises the NIA and the finance ministry.

Opposition parties say the investigation shows the government is allowing the RSS and others to use the state apparatus to further an agenda of establishing Hindu dominance in India, where 13 percent of the population is Muslim, reports Reuters .

Opposition says this is the usage of state apparatus to establish Hindu dominance in India

The NIAs nine Love Jihad cases were based on complaints lodged by the parents of the Hindu girls and all were found to have links with Islamic State, the NIA police sources said. The agency dropped the investigations into the other 80 cases because no links to militants were found, the sources said.

The NIAs probe started in 2015 after the government identified Kerala, which sends tens of thousands of workers to West Asia, as a potential hotbed of Islamic State recruitment. Nearly half of Keralas 33 million people practice Islam and Christianity. Local police and the NIA said at least 100 people from Kerala have joined the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Kerala police team is accompanying Hadiya and her family members. Sources also said that an entire floor has been blocked for Hadiya, and 2-3 rooms have been booked for her and her family to stay. Delhi Police are also on alert for additional security.

A day before the Supreme Court hearing in the controversial Love Jihad Case, the Kerala House in Delhi has turned into a fortress on the arrival of a new guest, reports News18 .

In its report submitted in the Supreme Court, the NIA has underlined that hypnotic counselling is a technique employed by certain people belonging to particular groups. According to NIA sources, there are trained people who use hypnosis to influence vulnerable women. These non-Muslim women are then "drifted off to an altered state of mind where they are made to believe in doing what the counsellors wish".

'Hypnotic counselling' and 'Neuro-linguistic programming' are being used by radical organisations to entice young women to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men, the NIA has claimed, according to News18 .

The first hearing as to whether the proceedings will be public or not will be held at 2 pm, reports CNN-News18. The actual hearing on the merits of the case will take place at 3 pm.

Hadiya's father said that the case should be heard in judge's chambers (in camera) as this matter should not be publicised, reports CNN-News18. If the judges decide to hear the matter in camera then the details of the matter will be slow in emerging.

The court will first take up the question of whether the proceedings will take place in camera, according to CNN-News18. It will then hear Hadiya's statement on the matter.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear the Hadiya case, reports LiveLaw. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaisingh will argue for Shefin Jehan, ASG Maninder Singh for the Centre and Senior Advocate Shyam Divan for Hadiya's father, Ashokan.

Supreme Court currently deciding if the hearing will be in-camera or in open

As a three-judge bench starts hearing the Hadiya case, senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal says: "I am really saddened Today, Instead of asking Hadiya on what she want, we are taking about the venom filled in news channels."

Instead of asking what Hadiya wants, we are taking about the venom filled in news channels: Sibal

As the three-judge bench will start hearing the Hadiya case, the NIA has submitted a report stating that the case is not an isolated one, but is part of several similar cases, reported News18. The agency also said that Hadiya was not allowed to meet her father for over seven months.

According to latest reports, Hadiya's father reportedly told the Supreme Court that the atmosphere has become extremely communal. Ashokan, Hadiya's father, also requested the top court to revisit its decision of open court hearing.

The Supreme Court is currently deciding if the hearing will be in-camera or in open court

Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising are lawyers for Shafin Jahan  Hadiya's husband, while Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh is appearing for the Centre. Advocate Shyam Divan and Madhavi Divan are appearing for Ashokan, Hadiya's Father.

Supreme Court proceeding in the love jihad case have begun. All three judges of the Supreme Court  CJI Dipak Misra, DY Chandrachud and AM Khanwilkar have assembled in the court.

In a fresh report submitted in the Supreme Court, the NIA has underlined that hypnotic counselling is a technique employed by certain people belonging to particular groups. According to NIA sources, there are trained people who use hypnosis to influence vulnerable women. These non-Muslim women are then "drifted off to an altered state of mind where they are made to believe in doing what the counsellors wish".

'Hypnotic counselling' and 'Neuro-linguistic programming' are methods used by radical organisations to entice young women to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed, News18 reports.

According to News18, the Supreme Court bench, headed by CJI Dipak Misra, then questioned if the larger issue of indoctrination needed to be de-linked from Hadiyas case.

The NIA asked the three-judge Supreme Court bench to look at the 100-page report submitted by the agency before reaching any conclusion on the Hadiya case.

News18 reports: CJI Dipak Misra asks, If it is established that the consent of the individual is not voluntary... what should the court do?

While hearing theHadiya case of love jihad, Supreme Court asked NIA counsel, "Should we delink the larger issue of indoctrination with the specific case of Hadiya's marriage? At what stage can personal liberty be suspended by court?"

If it is established that the consent of the individual is not voluntary... what should the court do: CJI asks NIA counsel

In a normal case, we would have heard the girl and decided, but this is an unusual case: Supreme Court Justice Khanwilkar on Hadiya case

When asked by Justice Chandrachud about her dreams for the future, Hadiya reportedly said, "I want freedom."

According to The News Minute , the court further asked Hadiya if she wanted to continue her studies on state expenditure, to which she replied, "My husband is there to take care of my expenses, why should I study on state expenditure?"

"My husband is there to take care of my expenses, why should I study on state expenditure: Hadiya

The News Minute reports that the court was adjourned for the day and the Supreme Court will resume hearing of the case on Tuesday.

"I was in unlawful custody for the last 11 months," Hadiya has told the Supreme court. Several reports said that Hadiya also told that she wants her husband to be her lawful guardian in case she decides to return to college.

"I want to be true my faith and go back to my husband."

"I have endured mental harassment and been in unlawful custody for 11 months. I want to go back to my college and continue my education."

The court was adjourned for the day, as Hadiya voiced her demands in front of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court. Hadiya's deposition will continue on Tuesday.

I want to be true my faith and go back to my husband: Hadiya tells Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ordered for Hadiya to be taken to Sivaraj Homeopathic medical college, Salem in Tamil Nadu by today or tomorrow, The News Minute reported. The court also asked women police police officers to be there in plain clothes around the college to ensure her safety.

Date for next hearing has been set for third week of January

News18 reports: CJI Dipak Misra asks, If it is established that the consent of the individual is not voluntary... what should the court do?

While hearing theHadiya case of love jihad, Supreme Court asked NIA counsel, "Should we delink the larger issue of indoctrination with the specific case of Hadiya's marriage? At what stage can personal liberty be suspended by court?"

If it is established that the consent of the individual is not voluntary... what should the court do: CJI asks NIA counsel

In a normal case, we would have heard the girl and decided, but this is an unusual case: Supreme Court Justice Khanwilkar on Hadiya case

When asked by Justice Chandrachud about her dreams for the future, Hadiya reportedly said, "I want freedom."

'Do you want to continue your studies on state's expense?' asks CJI. #Hadiya replied 'I want to but not on state's expense when my husband can take care of me' [ANI]

According to The News Minute , the court further asked Hadiya if she wanted to continue her studies on state expenditure, to which she replied, "My husband is there to take care of my expenses, why should I study on state expenditure?"

"My husband is there to take care of my expenses, why should I study on state expenditure: Hadiya

The News Minute reports that the court was adjourned for the day and the Supreme Court will resume hearing of the case on Tuesday.

"I was in unlawful custody for the last 11 months," Hadiya has told the Supreme court. Several reports said that Hadiya also told that she wants her husband to be her lawful guardian in case she decides to return to college.

"I want to be true my faith and go back to my husband."

"I have endured mental harassment and been in unlawful custody for 11 months. I want to go back to my college and continue my education."

The court was adjourned for the day, as Hadiya voiced her demands in front of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court. Hadiya's deposition will continue on Tuesday.

I want to be true my faith and go back to my husband: Hadiya tells Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ordered for Hadiya to be taken to Sivaraj Homeopathic medical college, Salem in Tamil Nadu by today or tomorrow, The News Minute reported. The court also asked women police police officers to be there in plain clothes around the college to ensure her safety.

Date for next hearing has been set for third week of January

The Supreme Court will hear the plea by Asokan, the father of Hadiya, a 24-year-old Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, for an in-camera hearing when she appears before the court in pursuance to its directions.

The apex court, in its 30 October order, had directed Hadiya's to present her in the court on 27 November to ascertain her views on her marriage to a Muslim man, Shafin Jahan.

Hadiya, who has to depose before the Supreme Court in an alleged 'love jihad' case, said she wanted to be with her husband, as she was whisked away by her parents and security personnel to board a flight to Delhi on Saturday. "I am a Muslim. I was not forced. I want to be with my husband," the 25-year-old shouted as she was being taken inside the airport.

On Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud said that the application for an in-camera hearing of the proceedings when Hadiya appears before the court on 27 November would be taken up on that day itself after a lawyer mentioned Asokan's application for an early hearing.

The court in the last bearing had said that before examining the later issue, it would like to ascertain if she had voluntarily converted to Islam and to her marriage.

"We will have the lady before us and ask her if she has consented voluntarily" to conversion and marriage, the bench had said in the last hearing.

Telling the court in the last hearing that Hadiya has been indoctrinated, senior counsel Shyam Divan, who appeared for Asokan, had told the court that every statement by Hadiya should not be taken as "absolute" for this reason.

The court is hearing a plea by Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya and seeking a recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

The NIA in its earlier report has pointed to a "pattern" involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala.
Aizawl: The Mizoram government has given shelter and relief to around 1,300 tribals from neighbouring Myanmar's restive Arakan state who have taken refuge in southern Mizoram, officials said on Monday.

"Around 1,300 men, women and children have fled from Arakan state and taken refuge in four villages of Lawngtlai district (in southern Mizoram) on Saturday night," Lawngtlai district police chief Lalsanglura told IANS.

"The Myanmarese fled their homes after the Army clashed with the outlawed 'Arakan Army' militant outfit cadres last week. As the armed clashes continue, we would not push back the refugees due to humanitarian grounds."

According to the police official, the district administration now constructing makeshift relief camps for the refugees, adding that since the clashes are on, more refugees might cross over to Mizoram.

Assam Rifles and state police were deployed in the area.

Lalsanglura said he, Lawngtlai Deputy Commissioner Arun T, and senior Assam Rifles officials would visit the areas on the Myanmar border on Tuesday to supervise the relief and other necessary arrangements for the refugees.

The people who crossed over to Mizoram were mostly Buddhists and Christians and they speak the same tribal language as the locals.

This is the fourth instance in recent past of Myanmarese people entering Mizoram after ethnic troubles in the neighbouring country.

The local villagers initially volunteered to provide food to the Arakanese people and arranged shelter for them.

The mountainous, northeastern state of Mizoram has a 510-km border with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh, guarded by Assam Rifles and the Border Security Force, respectively.

Meanwhile, during the past twelve weeks, over 6,22,000 non-tribal Rohingya refugees fled to southeastern Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The current Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh started with the Myanmar security forces responding to the 25 August attacks on government outposts by the Rohingya rebel group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
Ahmedabad: The screening of the Tehelka sting CD in the 2002 Naroda Gam case had to be deferred by the special SIT court on Monday after it was told that the video was with the Gujarat High Court.

The court had made arrangements to screen the CD of "Operation Kalank", which was published by Tehelka magazine in its 7 November, 2002 issue, and also aired by Hindi news channel Aaj Tak in order to consider certain parts of it as evidence in the case.

The court was told that the CD was currently with the high court, which heard a batch of appeals against the verdict in the 2002 Naroda Patiya case.

Special judge PB Desai said the screening will be held when the CD is brought back, and ordered arguments over the deposition made by journalist Ashish Khetan, who had carried out the sting operation.

The court will hear the case again on Tuesday.

Former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and VHP leader Jaideep Patel - both of whom are facing trial in the case -figure in the sting operation.

Bajrangi is reportedly seen in the video saying that Hindu organisations operating in Naroda Gam, Naroda Patiya, and Gulberg housing society, the scene of the post-Godhra riots, were mobilised to avenge the Godhra train burning incident in which 59 kar sevaks were killed.

Naroda Gam massacre is one of the nine major communal riots cases investigated by the Special Investigation Team.

Eleven Muslims were killed in Naroda Gam in Ahmedabad during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning incident.

Altogether 82 people are facing trial in the case.
Days after multiple media reports raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya in 2014, The Indian Express, quoting two judges from Bombay High Court, said there was "absolutely nothing suspicious about the death or the events around it".

Special CBI judge Loya, who was presiding over the Soharabuddin "fake encounter" case at the time, died in Nagpur on 30 November 2014, where he was visiting to attend a colleague's daughter's wedding. He was said to have suffered a heart attack.

According to the report, Justice Bhushan Gavai  who, along with Justice Sunil Shukre went to the hospital on the day of Loya's death and made arrangements for the transport of the body  said Loya experienced a "health problem" at 4 am, which was when Justice Vijaykumar Barde and high court official Rupesh Rathi took him to Dande Hospital in two cars. Contradicting claims that an ECG was not conducted at Dande Hospital when Loya was brought in, the report quoted the director of the hospital as saying, "Its only after the ECG was taken that we realised he needed specialised cardiac treatment which is not available with us so we advised them to go to a bigger hospital."

The Indian Express report goes on to quote medical records that show Loya suffered "retrosternal chest pain and had collapsed" while being brought to the second hospital, and explains other claims such as blood stains on his body after the post mortem.

On 22 November, Mumbai Mirror reported that Rubabuddin Sheikh, brother of Sohrabuddin, who was allegedly shot in a fake encounter by the Gujarat Police in November 2005, had written to then Bombay High Court judge Mohit Shah asking for a probe into the sudden death of Loya.

At the time the incident occurred, Loya had been hearing the discharge petition filed by key accused in the case, BJP president Amit Shah. Within a month of Loya's death, Justice MB Gosavi cleared Shah of all charges, saying the BJP chief was "implicated" due to "political reasons".

On 21 November, a report on The Caravan said Loya's sister Anuradha Biyani and father Harkishan claimed that the CBI judge was offered a Rs 100 crore bribe by Mohit Shah in return for a "favourable judgment".

However, a former judge in Bombay High Court, Justice BH Marlapalle, wrote to Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Justice Manjula Chellur and sought an SIT probe into allegations of foul play in Loya's death, Live Law reported on Sunday. Marlapalle said that such a probe would "certainly make the subordinate court judges believe that they are not orphans."

On 24 November, former Indian Navy chief admiral Ramdas wrote to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on the need to investigate circumstances around the death.

Former Navy Chief Admiral Ramdas also writes to the CJI & CJ Mumbai on the imperative need to investigate highly suspicious death of Judge Loya who was trying Amit Shah for murder. His successor discharged Shah in a 10,000 page CBI chargesheet after a 15 minute hearing! pic.twitter.com/xpUqGGxGde  Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) November 26, 2017

Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hyderabad on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra. He was killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005, after which his wife disappeared.
On Monday, Pope Francis started his six-day visit of Myanmar and Bangladesh against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis. But in India, the top hierarchy of the Indian Catholic clergy has expressed disappointment that the Pope's itinerary does not include India.

Despite repeated requests from the Catholic Christian community, the government did not express an interest in welcoming the Pope to India, even after the Vatican played a significant role in rescuing Father Tom Uzhunnalil from insurgents in Yemen, an official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) told The Hindu.

"We have been in contact with the government and have conveyed our request at the highest level to invite Pope Francis to India, but we have not received any positive response so far," the official said.

On 23 November, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "Indias link with Christianity is nearly 2,000 years old. Indian Christians have immensely contributed to India's growth and prosperity. Relations between India and the Holy See have always been cordial and strengthened over the years," according to the report. However, the ministry did not respond to the CBCI statement.

Secretary-General of CBCI Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas said that it "hurt" that Francis' trip will not include India, The Indian Express reported.

"It was with a heavy heart we received news that the Holy See cannot visit India. This is not vis-a-vis just Catholics in the country, a holy visit would have been a prestige for the whole country in the eyes of the world. It is indeed embarrassing that the Pope is coming to the neighbourhood, and visiting two smaller countries, but not India. As an Indian, it hurts that the Pope will not be coming here. I hope it hurts all Indians, too," he said.

Mascarenhas added that given the current climate of "vigilantism and murderous lynchings", Francis' visit would have come as a "messenger of peace, bringing a salve to the people who are powerless in the face of the forces of hate and evil", the report added.

On Monday, before setting off on his 21st and possibly most delicate overseas trip yet, to Bangladesh and Myanmar, Francis said, "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope."

Francis' previous visits to the region was in 2015 when the pontiff toured the civil war-affected northern states of Sri Lanka, and urged people to follow the example of 17th Century missionary Joseph Vaz.

The last Pope to visit India was Pope John Paul II, who visited the national capital in 1999. His stopover in India was part of a 10-day tour of 14 cities in 1986, according to Deccan Herald.
Delhi: Noted historian Ramchandra Guha today took to Twitter to complain of "unprovoked rudeness" by staff of low-cost carrier IndiGo.

"Three times this time, I have been subject to unprovoked rudeness by an @IndiGo6E staffer. Different people, different airports, same airline. Absolutely shocking," Guha tweeted.

Three times this time, I have been subject to unprovoked rudeness by an @IndiGo6E staffer. Different people, different airports, same airline. Absolutely shocking.  Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) November 26, 2017

He said he does not normally use Twitter as a means of consumer redressal, but did so as the same airline misbehaved thrice in a single week.

"Friends and family also confirm that rudeness has become a habit with @IndiGo6E," he said.

The airline declined to comment on Guha's allegations.

Earlier in November, IndiGo was at the centre of a controversy after a video showing one of its staff members allegedly manhandling a passenger went viral.

The outrage over the incident forced the airline to apologise, while in a report to the ministry of civil aviation it also maintained that the employee was doing his job.

The government has also asked regulatory body Directorate General of Civil Aviation to probe the incident.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the appeal of the father of a seven-year-old boy, who was found dead in a Gurugram school, seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Ryan School management officials.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea of Barun Chandra Thakur, father of the Class 2 boy, who had challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court's order granting anticipatory bail to the Ryan International Group trustees.

The apex court considered the matter after advocate Sushil Tekriwal, the counsel for the child's family, sought urgent hearing in the case.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on 21 November granted anticipatory bail to Ryan International Group's three trustees in connection with the murder in the Gurugram school.

The single bench of Justice Surinder Gupta had imposed various conditions while granting bail to the group CEO, Ryan Pinto, and his parents, founding chairman Augustine Pinto and managing director Grace Pinto.

The court had said that the Pintos would not try to influence the witnesses, tamper with any evidence or leave the country without permission of the court.

The seven-year-old was found with his throat slit in the school washroom in Gurugram on 8 September. School bus conductor Ashok Kumar was arrested by Haryana Police in connection with the crime.

However, a Gurugram civil court had granted bail to Kumar on a bond of Rs 50,000.

The CBI, which took over the investigation on 22 September, apprehended a Class 11 student in connection with the killing.
Mumbai: Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, an accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, on Monday told the court that his wife and key accused, Indrani Mukherjea, was trying to mislead the court and creating "adverse publicity".

Peter, through his lawyer Shrikant Shivde, was arguing on an application moved by Indrani, accusing Peter of playing a role in Sheena's disappearance.

Shivde told the court that the application did not connect with the prayer of Indrani who had sought call data records (CDR) of Peter.

"She is using the media and misleading the court", Shivde told the court, adding that she was creating media publicity for creating a "wrong perception" by portraying herself as a victim.

Shivde argued that if Indrani had a strong reason to believe it (that Peter has any role in Sheena's disappearance), she should have said it to the police during the investigation.

Peter's lawyer argued that there was no basis for these allegations other than getting media publicity. He added that there was a systematic attempt to create prejudice.

"Indrani is creating an atmosphere which will prejudice the trial by making allegations against a witness (Indrani's former driver Shyam Rai who turned approver) and accused (Peter). It is contradictory to the prosecution's case, we will prove that during the trial," Shivde said.

"She is drawing a further strategy to distort the trial," he said and added that the application moved by Indrani was exculpatory i.e. evidence favourable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt.

Shivde argued that the court may reject Indrani's application and ask her lawyers to file a proper application by providing the ground.

Special CBi judge JC Jagdale will hear the arguments of Indrani and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday.

On 15 November, Indrani had filed a plea in the court, saying her husband Peter Mukherjea might have caused her daughter's disappearance out of "greed and ill-will".

Though she did not expressly accuse Peter of killing Sheena, Indrani said he and their former driver Shyamwar Rai could be behind her daughter's abduction, making her untraceable and destroying evidence.

She had said that she believed Peter and others might have "manipulated the circumstances to frame her, and influence witnesses, situations and information that led to her arrest for the heinous crime that they may have committed, aided and abetted".

She had prayed for the CDR of Peter for the period between January, 2012 and December, 2012, and from January, 2015 to December, 2015.

While Peter had told the court that the application filed by Indrani was with an "ulterior motive", the CBI also admitted that she filed the application with malafide intention.

The alleged murder of Sheena Bora came to light in August, 2015 after Rai, arrested in another case, spilled the beans. Mumbai Police arrested Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai in the case.

Later, Peter was also arrested. The victim was Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship. Sheena was in a relationship with Peter's son.
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltds new chief executive officer ousted the companys three top division heads on Monday as he works to turn around and streamline the operations of the debt-laden drugmaker. The logo of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's biggest generic drugmaker and Israel's largest company, is seen in Jerusalem February 8, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/FilesCEO Kare Schultz, who joined Teva on Nov. 1, said he will combine the Israeli companys generic and specialty drugs business, as well as the research and development groups for those units. Shares in the worlds largest generic drugmaker, which have been in a year-long freefall due to narrowing profit margins in generics and a series of pricey acquisitions, jumped as much as 6.4 percent in New York trading on Monday. Various media had reported last week that Teva planned to cut up to one-quarter of its 6,860-strong workforce in Israel, and a few thousand more staff in the United States. Teva is taking decisive and immediate action to address external pressures and internal inefficiencies, Schultz said, adding that the company is working on a detailed restructuring plan to be unveiled in mid-December. Teva said Michael Hayden, the chief scientific officer, Rob Koremans, head of global specialty medicines, and Dipankar Bhattacharjee, head of the global generic medicines group, would step down at the end of the year. An employee of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries wears a shirt bearing the company's logo at its Jerusalem oral solid dosage plant (OSD) December 21, 2011. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/FilesThe company is saddled with nearly $35 billion in debt after its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan Plcs generic drug business Actavis last year. Profits from generics have slumped since that deal closed, and the CEO who engineered the purchase was forced to step down earlier this year. The company also appointed Michael McClellan as permanent chief financial officer, after he held the role on an interim basis since July, and made five other executive changes at the top of the company. It appears to us that the new CEO is approaching Teva with an ax in each hand, not hedge clippers or pruning shears, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris said in a research note. We think the market will like this in the short run, but will eventually have serious questions as to whether this approach is cutting fat or muscle. Earlier on Monday, the Israeli Knessets State Control Committee called an emergency meeting to discuss the reports of upcoming job cuts. Teva responded with a letter to parliament, saying it needs to take significant and comprehensive actions in order to secure its future. Teva, which has been selling off assets to help meet its debt payments, said in the letter it needed deep, meaningful steps around the world, but did not give details. U.S.-traded shares rose 6.1 percent to $14.44 in mid-day trading and were up 3.6 percent to 5,042 Israeli shekels in Tel Aviv trading.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Ahmedabad: The AAP Monday said it will not field any candidate against Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who is contesting election from the Vadgam Assembly constituency in Gujarat as an Independent with the Congress's support.

The Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district is reserved for scheduled castes.

"The AAP has decided not to field any candidate from Vadgam from where Dalit protest leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as an Independent candidate.

"Looking at the appeal made by him, the party believes that the contest should be between the BJP and Jignesh Mevani," the party said in a statement.

The Congress has supported Mevani's candidature and asked its sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela not to contest from the seat as part of an agreement reached with the Dalit leader.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal extended best wishes to the 34-year-old Dalit activist. "Best wishes, Jignesh," Kejriwal wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter on Monday.

Mevani had also taken to Twitter to announce his candidature. He wrote, "Friends, I'm contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win."

"All political parties opposed to the BJP are saying that Jignesh Mevani is a symbol of struggle against the ruling BJP, and they believe the contest should be between these two people only.

"We have appealed to all political parties to support me," Mevani told reporters.

The AAP has so far announced candidates for over 30 assembly seats in Gujarat. The Delhi-headquartered party has maintained its contest is with the ruling BJP.
Narendra Modi's rallies on Day 1 of his two-day Gujarat campaign blitzkrieg threw up some interesting pointers about the mood in BJP's camp. A close scrutiny of his speeches  at Bhuj for instance, his first pit stop  reveals a determination to frame the political debate on his own terms instead of responding to the Opposition narrative. Inherent in this strategy is a tacit admission that BJP is feeling a little queasy about the political repercussions of GST.

This isn't apparent on the surface, however. The question central to the Gujarat Assembly poll debate isn't whether BJP will win, but whether it will be able to meet its stated target of 150 seats.

Rahul Gandhi's blistering attack on Modi has been noted, Congress' tie-ups with dissident caste groups and the Patidar movement has been acknowledged, and Rahul's new-found confidence on the campaign trail has generated some interest in certain sections of the media. Yet, the overwhelming narrative remains that of a BJP win, as explained on DailyO, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, and The Hindu.

But political pundits have been careful in their calculation of GST blues upsetting the Modi applecart. This is a little curious. It is undeniable that the tax reform has introduced a huge amount of discord in the economy and traders have been at the receiving end of it. But ground reports from Gujarat suggest that BJP workers and local-level leaders are facing hostility from communities that have been long and steadfast supporters of the party.

Given the dominance of trading communities in Gujarat, BJP's goal of 150 seats should have appeared a little far-fetched. That it hasn't been so has a lot do with what happened earlier in the year during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Polls in Uttar Pradesh changed the political lexicon of India in a curious way. The Opposition, and even the media, were reasonably certain that Modi will suffer a demonetisation backlash. When results emerged overwhelmingly in BJP's favour, the media not only faced a crisis of credibility, its self-confidence was also bitterly shaken. It appeared that in its laser focus on caste and sub-caste groups, the media had miserably failed to gauge the groundswell of support in Modi's favour.

Therefore, this time, despite evidence on the ground of an anti-incumbency mood, pollsters and media pundits have been playing it a little cautious.

It was interesting, therefore, to note the approach taken by Modi on Monday:

During his speeches in Bhuj and Rajkot, the prime minister refused to pick up the topic of GST until towards the very end, instead focusing on familiar tropes of development, 'Gujarati asmita' and his "son of the soil" pitch. In his exclusive focus on the past to build a narrative of the present, Modi's attempt was clear. He was trying to tap into the traditional Gujarati antipathy towards Congress to deny Rahul Gandhi a chance to exploit any GST-induced resentment.

In his invocation of Congress' "step-motherly" attitude towards Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, insistence that water-starved Kutch could have got Narmada water at least 30 years ago had the Congress been a little more serious about the project, his achievements as three-time chief minister of Gujarat, rehabilitation and rebuilding of Kutch from scratch after the devastating 2001 earthquake  the effort was to show himself as the maker of modern Gujarat.

Modi threw in anecdotes of government employees being scared of being transferred to Kutch due to water scarcity, workers forced to migrate out of the district, cattle-herders forced to look elsewhere for food and water until he started the drip irrigation system that revolutionised the area and turned arid Kutch green and Rann of Kutch became a tourist attraction. This was constructed with Congress' attitude towards Gujarat, which Modi framed within the parameters of history by bringing in references to 'Mahagujarat' movement in 1956, when protesting youth were fired upon. Modi tried to constantly refresh public memory over Congress' role in the state to meet the challenges of the present.

Rahul Gandhi has mocked, ridiculed and ripped into Modi over the "twin blows" of demonetisation and GST. Modi sought to turn it around into a personal battle between Gujaratis and Congress, by first identifying himself as the "son of the soil"  an "embodiment of Gujarat"  and from there, claiming that insulting him is akin to insulting Gujaratis. Congress will be taught a severe lesson for daring to do so, he thundered.

In Rajkot, he added the "humble background" imagery into his attack and tried to capitalise on the recent Youth Congress meme that ridiculed his past as a tea-seller. "I'd rather sell tea than sell the country," quipped Modi. The one-liner virtually wrote itself the moment Congress had committed the gaffe.

It was also fascinating to note Modi's attempt to portray Congress as an "anti-national" organisation by reminding the crowd that Rahul Gandhi had questioned the veracity of surgical strikes and met with the Chinese ambassador in the middle of the Doka La standoff.

The reference to GST  the timing of it and the framing of the debate  was the most interesting takeaway. It indicated that even though the media might be iffy in drawing a causal relationship between BJP's electoral fortunes and the tax reform, Modi is more cautious. He suggested Congress' hypocrisy in the way the party representatives had behaved inside the GST council (where all provisions were discussed and agreed upon) and outside it. This signified Modi's willingness to make Congress a party to the collateral damage caused by the reform.

He also reminded the crowd that his government has been responsive to criticism, sensitive and amenable to changes  while defying Congress barbs as an attempt to insult Gujarati asmita.

Read between the lines. The battle for Gujarat isn't a foregone conclusion.
Mumbai: The Congress may field former MLA Dileep Mane for the 7 December bypoll to the Maharashtra Legislative Council seat vacated by former chief minister Narayan Rane after he quit the opposition party.

"We have almost finalised the name for this election. The candidate will submit his nomination tomorrow (Monday). Dileep Mane's name has been recommended to the Congress headquarters," a senior Congress leader said on Sunday night.

Leaders of the Congress and the NCP have been holding rounds of meetings for last few days to finalise the name of the nominee for the bypoll.

27 November is the last day for filing nomination for the bypoll.

The scrutiny will be done on 28 November and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is 30 November.

BJP has not yet announced its candidate for the byelection, as the party is in a dilemma over fielding Rane due to stiff opposition by its alliance partner the Shiv Sena.

Rane had in September announced his resignation from the Congress amid indications that he was veering towards an innings in the ruling BJP. The 65-year-old Maratha leader, who was the chief minister in 1999 while in the Shiv Sena, had also resigned as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

After quitting the Congress, Rane formed his new political party  Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksh. Last month, he said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had invited him to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The BJP has 122 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. Sena has 63 members in the lower house.

The opposition Congress and the NCP have 42 and 41 MLAs, respectively. Besides, PWP (Peasants and Workers Party) and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) have three members each, AIMIM has two members, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, CPM, Samajwadi Party and MNS have one member each, besides eight independents.

The BJP enjoys the support of four independent legislators. The Shiv Sena, another major player in the state, despite being a partner in the ruling alliance, has expressed reservations over Rane's entry into the NDA camp and his possible induction into the cabinet with a prime portfolio.

According to political observers, the Sena's role will be crucial in the upcoming by-election. If a sizable number of Sena MLAs remain absent or vote against Rane in the event of his contesting the poll the results could be shocking for the BJP, said an observer. Rane had lost the 2014 Assembly polls from Malvan. He made an attempt to enter the Assembly in April 2015 in a by-election from Bandra (East) but lost to the Sena candidate. He, however, was given ticket by the Congress to contest the Legislative Council election in June last year.
New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the new party president will be elected through a free and fair electoral process and that party workers felt a strong connect at a personal level with its vice-resident Rahul Gandhi.

"... there will be free and fair elections among Congress workers. In case of Rahul Gandhi, any Congress member is free to put forth his nomination for the top post. The election will be held... there is an entire procedure," he said. "Sonia Gandhi had Jitendra Prasad running against her (for the Congress President's post). An election was held and she won," he added.

Asked about the eligibility criteria, the former Union Minister said: "The honest answer is  electability. Not just me, if any senior party leaders were to contest against Rahul Gandhi...."

"Workers do feel a very strong loyalty and attachment to the Gandhi-Nehru family... to Rahul Gandhi personally," Tharoor said at an interactive session at the Times Lit Fest.

Tharoor said: "The only reason we are expecting Rahul Gandhi to be elected unopposed is that no one has come ahead and said he intends to oppose Rahul Gandhi's election."

"As Congress men, we all know there is no other candidate," he said.

As for Gandhi having no connect with the people, Tharoor said: "We are seeing the kind of connect that he has been able to build with the people in Gujarat... there is a terrific connect. Ultimately, in a democracy, voters will decide."

The Congress Working Committee has approved the road map for what looks like an unopposed elevation of vice-president Rahul Gandhi as party chief, barring an unexpected contest. His election will pave way for passing of the party leadership to him from his mother, who has helmed the Congress for 19 years.

It would be clear on 11 December whether there would be a contest for the top party post. Nominations can be filed till 4 December, followed by scrutiny on 5 December.

The last date for withdrawing nominations is 11 December and the date of poll, "if necessary", would be 16 December. Counting of votes will be done on 19 December.
Ahmedabad: Congress' habitual problems have surfaced again in Gujarat as scenes of angry protests after announcement of candidates returned to haunt the party.

A day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis much-awaited campaign tour, Congress leaders had to call in the police to prevent furious cadres from creating ruckus at the party headquarters in Ahmedabad's Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, hours after it declared the third and the final list of candidates.

Congress leaders in several constituencies threatened to resign from the party if "imported candidates" were not withdrawn and replaced by "dedicated partymen of their choice.

For instance in Kutch, from where Modi begins his tour on Monday, the entire Congress-controlled agriculture produce market committee along with hordes of supporters quit the Congress and joined the BJP in protest against official party nominees.

While the BJP too has been plagued by discontent over selection of candidates, the Congress has had to face tough questions from the party cadres since it was forced to accommodate OBC leader Alpesh Thakore and young Patidar leader Hardik Patel.

After that, some late arrangements were also being discussed with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal-United led by its lone legislator and leader of the faction Chhotu Vasava.

The key reason for the protests is that a new system of picking candidates through consensus across the partys rank and file monitored by a special team of party general secretaries had to be jettisoned for political expediency. It is worth noting that the consensus method was devised by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi himself.

Scores of party workers from Radhanpur, from where OBC leader Alpesh Thakore has been nominated, Patan, Vadodara and several other places laid siege at the state Congress office forcing the leaders to summon the police.

In fact, in North Gujarat's Radhanpur, as many as 2,000 Congress workers have threatened to resign from the party to protest the candidature of Alpesh Thakore, who joined the party just a month ago. A nominee of Alpesh Thakore has been nominated for the Bayad seat and the Nikol seat in Ahmedabad has gone to a member of Hardik Patels Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) because the constituency has a large number of Patidars.

A wave of protest has also broken out around the nomination of lone sitting Muslim MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh from the Dariapur constituency in Ahmedabad, while anger was brewing in the city's Vejalpur constituency too. Meanwhile, in Patel-dominated Mehsana in North Gujarat, local district panchayat education committee chairman Rekhaben Chaudhary, (believed to be a supporter of expelled leader Shankarsinh Vaghela) resigned from the Congress over the nomination of Jivabhai Patel. The latter had earlier sought a BJP ticket for the neighbouring Kadi seat.
A haze of dust drifted from the Ram Leela Maidan as thousands of Aam Admi Party volunteers gathered to celebrate five years of the party on Sunday. Some strolled aimlessly on the ground, some were seen bingeing on puri-halwa which was distributed for free and a good number of them listened attentively to the leaders who addressed the crowd from an open-air dais.

What was clear was that footfall in the celebration was far lesser than that of any event held in the initial days of AAP, which was seen by many as a sign of party's waning popularity.

"Many wanted to the see the change happening faster. But soon after the party rose to power in Delhi in 2015, the state governments jurisdiction over the Anti-Corruption Bureau was taken away. The government became toothless. This has frustrated many volunteers, said Dr Vaishnav Singh, an AAP volunteer.

The physician from Bihar, who is in his late twenties, joined the party four years ago with lakhs of others hoping to eliminate corruption and regional disparity. They made AAP what it is today, building it from the pedestal of India Against Corruption movement led by activist Anna Hazare.

In fact, volunteers, like Singh, were seen as the driving force behind the party. Though upbeat about the partys journey so far, many AAP volunteers seem confused about how to expand the base of the party to other states. When asked whether or not their dreams have been fulfilled, a sense of loss of narrative was evident in the replies of the volunteers who spoke to Firstpost.

"To fulfil these dreams the party needs to be in power in a good number of states. But when I think of raising issues in my home state Bihar, hardly anyone listens because many there still do not have access to newspaper and television and are unaware of the burning issues plaguing the nation, he said.

His words resounded with that of Yogendra Yadav, one of the founders of the AAP who parted ways with it after a tussle with the leadership and formed another party Swaraj India in 2016. Soon after he resigned from the party, journalists had asked him whether or not the AAP had any political ideology? Yadav had then said, "Forget about ideology, the party does not even have a national vision to extend itself beyond Delhi."

Given the diversity of India, it was felt that the AAP needed a clearly envisioned ideology on which a political narrative could be built weaving the issues of various states in it. Corruption was not the only major issue faced by Indians. In fact, there were many issues which required to be taken up by the party under the light of a clearly devised political vision.

The consequence of lack of a vision for the nation became evident as soon as the Delhi governments lack of power to fight corruption came under public glare, once it came to power for the second time in 2015. For it was left with no alternative to focus on other than the daily tug of war with the Centre or the Lieutenant-Governor.

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Manish Gupta, an AAP volunteer from Dwarka who attended the celebration, believes that the first AAP government that was formed in 2013 and lasted for only 49 days was more powerful than the present one. "Snatching away the powers of the Delhi government actually began only after the party came to power for the second time in 2015. Now, the situation is so grave that the Delhi government cannot even transfer a corrupt official to another office," he said.

Even Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seemed to cherish the memories of his first government in Delhi as more successful as during a meeting on Sunday, he said, "What memorable days those were. Even traffic police stopped taking bribes."

As the party got crippled in Delhi due to the power tussle, volunteers are faced with the difficult questions  what next?

How the aspirations of the party will be fulfilled at a time when expanding to other states seems a far away goal. Despite these limitations, many volunteers see a political plank in the achievements of AAP government in the health and education sector.

"The Mohalla clinics providing free basic health care and the modern schools built by AAP government has put the party in the national spotlight and I think this will give us an edge over other parties in other states too, said Gupta.

Sabeer Hussain, a middle-aged volunteer from Prem Nagar, said, "Earlier many government schools in Delhi did not have an adequate number of blackboards, but now these schools have been designed with all modern teaching amenities. I hope these achievements will help us expand base in other states."

Even the AAP leadership seemed to be enthusiastic about Mohalla Clinics and schools. "The real strength of the AAP lies in the Mohalla Clinics and schools," said buoyant Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. But the drag the party is facing in taking itself to other states was felt in Kejriwal's words, when he rather than appealing to vote for AAP candidates in upcoming Gujarat election, appealed the people of Gujarat to vote for any candidate who can defeat BJP. "It is not necessary to vote for AAP candidate. I appeal to the people of Gujarat to vote for the strongest candidates against the ones fielded by BJP. It is time to defeat BJP," he said.

These words were seen as his reconciliation with the failure to carry the AAP story to other states.

What seems to have confused the AAP is the lack of fuel to keep the flames of anti-corruption movement burning in the absence of any major scams.

A number of scams, which surfaced during the UPA regime, resulted in the Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement from which the AAP sprung. But the party is having a hard time only focussing on corruption as their agenda.

No wonder Kejriwal made only a passing remark about corruption in his speech on Sunday. "...there is still corruption in the central government. The media, which is in hands in glove with the government is concealing it," claimed Gaurav Jain, a volunteer from Rohini. When asked whether he could mention any specific allegation of corruption, he said,  I am not speaking about anything specific but corruption is there.

Dr Singh seemed to be less confused and said that the issue of corruption is not dead as the cases of scams which happened during the UPA regime still continue. We need to ensure that culprits are punished, he said.

Even rise of Hindu nationalism seems to have obfuscated the AAP about how to deal with it, as none of the volunteers could answer how they want it to be dealt with. Kejriwal was seen bashing Pakistan while speaking of safeguarding the secular fabric of the nation. "The people who are helping Pakistan by dividing Hinds and Muslims are nothing but ISI agents," he said.

Being the leader of a party which wants to be seen as a secular one, strong words condemning religious intolerance was expected of him, especially at a time when communal violence has raised his ugly head. But nothing more was said.
The famed 'Gujarat model' is back on the discussion table.

It remains important for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is his trump card in the crucial Assembly elections in his home state. After all, it was the apparent success of this model that acted as a launchpad for Modi and elevated him to the national scene in the summer of 2014. Modis years as the chief minister of the industry-heavy state are closely linked to the evolution of the term itself.

Modi is tasked with selling the model in the poll-bound state for the simple reason that there are hardly any alternatives on the table for his party to rely on as its savior in the tough battleground. Hence, it wouldnt be surprising if Modi switched on the old 'Narendra Bhai' avatar in the next few days and invoke his golden days as chief minister, hoping to convert those fond memories into votes this time around.

That strategy would make immense sense for the BJP, because Modi the prime minister  the originator of the contentious demonetisation plan and the anchor of a hastily-implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime  is certainly a less desirable man to his fellow Gujaratis than Modi the chief minister, known for his administrative skills. He has been tasked with the job of averting a major embarrassment to his party in the ensuing polls. Even a sharp drop in the victory margin will be very unwelcome for the BJP. Also, Modi needs to safeguard his invincible image ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Things have changed in Gujarat. What was initially thought to be a cakewalk for Modi and the BJP has turned into a tough fight. This is also partly due to the repackaging of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi  who was initially thought to be a lightweight by his political rivals. Rahul has undoubtedly begun to find an alignment with the public mood on the ground.

So, it is Rahul versus Modi in Gujarat, with state-level leaders playing a very small role.

Will Modi, once again, manage to sell the 'Gujarat model' story to the vote bank to overcome some negative factors (unemployment/rural distress)? Before attempting to find an answer, lets look at what the 'Gujarat model' did for the state. To understand the picture, lets look at a few numbers.

On a host of economic indicators such as per capita state domestic product or gross state domestic product (GSDP), Gujarat is among the top states in the country. Economic indicators look good  according to data on the NITI Aayog website, Gujarat recorded a growth of 16.26 percent in 2013-14 (as per 2004-05 series). If you look at state-wise per capita availability of power, Gujarat once again excels (1,714.7 kilowatt-hour in 2015-16), ahead of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The states gross fiscal deficit is comparable to other large states (Rs 246.1 billion in 2016-17); again it is not far behind when it comes to capital expenditure (Rs 367.6 billion). Similarly, if one looks at the number of factories set up, Gujarat is one of the top states with 23,433 units in 2014-15  only behind Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

So, on these parameters one can safely assume that whatever the so-called Gujarat model worked well for the state.

But social indicators lag. The Gujarat model has certainly benefitted the industries, but has this improvement in the economic indicators translated into growth at the bottom of the pyramid? Lets find out.

When it comes to social sector expenditure, Gujarat (Rs 619.6 billion in 2016-17) lags far behind Maharashtra (Rs 1,226 billion), Tamil Nadu (Rs 743.3 billion) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1,412.9 billion). Its literacy rate is 78 percent, behind other comparable large states; the poverty rate continues to be one of the highest (16.63 million) among the heavily industrialised states and infant mortality rate too remains high (33) compared with states like Maharashtra (21) and Tamil Nadu (19).

But, the most critical indicator one should look at is the total employment data of state-wise medium and small scale industries. Here, Gujarat (47.73 lakh) lags far behind states like Tamil Nadu (80.98 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (92.36 lakh), West Bengal (85.78 lakh), Maharashtra (70.04 lakhs), Andhra Pradesh (70.69 lakh) and Kerala (49.62 lakh). This means while a large number of companies have been set up, not enough jobs have been created by the state.

On the whole, it is quite clear that while Gujarat has advanced or stays among the top states on certain economic indicators, it has lagged behind when it comes to important social indicators, raising serious questions on the much-hyped success of the model and its actual benefit to the poor in the state. In simple words, the Gujarat model has, so far, failed to make an impact on the lives of poor people in Gujarat as indicated by the not-so-impressive performance of social sector indicators and employment generation trend in proportion with the increase in the number of companies.

So, if one looks at Gujarat economy in this backdrop, there is no big surprise in the protests over job reservations and rural distress. It is needless to probe the deep unhappiness among the Patidars and other socially/economically backward communities with respect to the lack of availability of jobs and access to education facilities.

The fall in social indicators show rising social inequality and this is why Rahuls standard accusation against Modi in Gujarat  that only industries benefitted from the state GDP growth and not the poor  resonates well with the people on the ground.

That takes us back to the original question: Can Modi once again sell the 'Gujarat model' to Gujaratis to win this round of elections? Traditionally, there isnt much of a relationship between economic growth and poll results. People dont take notice of details. They often fall for promises and personality politics. Hence, the BJP may still win the Gujarat elections all while singing the same tune. One needs to wait and watch. But one thing is for sure: As Modi kicks off the last leg of his election campaign in Gujarat, he has a gigantic task ahead to save his partys fortunes.

Follow all the LIVE updates from Modi's campaign trail here
New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday night released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly election, filing of nominations for which ends on Monday.

The party, which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

The party, however, could not finalise the names of its candidates in 20 more seats.

Congress general secretary Oscar Fernandes released the third list to the media on Sunday.

The list featured at least 11 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and three from Scheduled Caste communities.

The Congress has been out of power in the crucial state for over two decades.

The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat, having total 182 seats, will take place on 9 and 14 December and votes will be counted on 18 December.

Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.
Ahmedabad: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Monday announced his decision to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat of Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with outside support of Congress.

The moves comes after sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state Congress asked him not to contest the polls from the seat "as a part of an agreement" with Mevani.

Vaghela said the Congress has given an indirect support to Mevani for Vadagam seat, reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate.

"The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congress' support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

Mevani on Monday announced that he will file his nomination as an Independent candidate for the Vadgam seat.

In a message posted on social media, the face of the Dalit agitation in Gujarat claimed that he decided to jump into the poll battle after being "persuaded" by youth and numerous agitators.

He even requested other Opposition parties as well as aspiring Independents not to file their papers.

"Since the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file their papers, so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is people's battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election," he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP's Vijay Chakravarthi.

Earlier in November, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat.

After the meeting, Mevani had said that the Opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 percent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.

Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the Opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases  on 9 and 14 December. The counting of votes will be taken up on 18 December.
Intensifying the BJP's campaign in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sarcastically thanked the Congress for "mud-slinging" against him, saying that it will only help the "lotus bloom".

"I am grateful for all the kichad (muck) being thrown at me. After all, a lotus blooms only in kichad. So, I don't mind if more is thrown at me. Those slinging mud on us will help the lotus bloom even more, Modi said while addressing a rally in Bhuj.

The prime minister was unsparing in his criticism for his opponents, even as he tried to hard-sell his government's track record on development policies.

In several veiled  and some not so veiled  attacks, he slammed the Congress party over the recent 'chaiwallah' comments made by the party's youth wing on social media, and also its stand on demonetisation and GST, and the party's alleged "hatred for Gujaratis".

The prime minister's speeches were mostly a mix of 'Gujarati asmita' (Gujarati pride) spiced with tinges of nationalism and clever one-liners.

The lesson on nationalism

He asked Rahul Gandhi why did the Congress applaud the release of a terrorist in Pakistan, and why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Doka La standoff.

Modi, who started his two-day visit to his home state with a rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town on Monday, held four rallies in different towns of the poll-bound state. "You are happy to hug the Chinese ambassador, you are clapping the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Army's 'surgical strikes'. But why did you speak up about it? You could have just remained silent," he said.

Gandhi had recently put out a mock tweet taunting Modi after Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was released in Pakistan.

Narendrabhai,   . Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed.https://t.co/U8Bg2vlZqw  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 25, 2017

"Recently, Pakistani court released a terrorist, I cannot understand why these Congress people are clapping here," Modi said.

Taking a dig at the Opposition party which is trying to end BJP's 22-year-long reign in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers... were standing eye-to-eye against the Chinese soldiers for over 70 days, at that time you were hugging the Chinese ambassador here... For whose benefit did you do this? I am asking you," Modi said, without taking any name.

He referred to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the attack in Uri and asked what was the difference between one government and another, one leader and other. The meaning of living and dying for the country can be known by the response, Modi said.

"They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks," he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress raised questions about the surgical strike. "They could not respect Indian Army, they asked questions like 'None of our soldiers was injured', 'None of them died', 'Have you any photo or video evidence', 'Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan'," he said.

Gujarati asmita

At Kutch and Rajkot, which have a sizeable population of Patels, he invoked Sardar Patel. Without naming Rahul, he took a dig at the Congress leader, saying, "People are coming here and saying all kinds of things and trying to malign the image of the state."

He alleged that Congress had always mistreated Gujaratis in the past. "They speak about Sardar Patel but I don't want to dig out their history. They should turn the pages of Maniben's (Patel's daughter) diary, may be that will help them recollect how they treated him. Then, Morarji Desai, a Gandhian, became the prime minister and they conspired against him too. Indiraji had removed him from the Cabinet overnight. The truth is Congress hates Gujaratis," Modi said.

Addressing a rally in Kadodara near Surat, he said that Congress has only showed disrespect and hatred for Gujaratis and now they have the "guts" to come and ask for support in the same state. "In Uttar Pradesh, Congress was feeling so confident about victory. They started calling Gujaratis donkeys. And now they are coming here to Gujarat to seek support. Nobody can insult the people of Gujarat like this. They mistreated Sardar Patel, Morarji Desai, who were legendary leaders from Gujarat. Their past and present shows they hate Gujaratis," Modi said.

He also alluded to allegations made by Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. "This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations about the sons of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal. The prime minister hit back at him, asking, "When you go to the house of the poor and eat rotis, you ensure that you are filmed, but does that mean that a surgical strike should be filmed?"

After addressing further rallies on Tuesday, Modi will oversee a series of campaign meetings on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to polls on 9 December. The second phase of elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on 14 December. Votes will be counted on 18 December.

With inputs from agencies
While talking to people about the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election, we came across a few members of the Siddi tribe, which lives in the Jambur village of the Gir Somnath district in Gujarat. We talked to Gafar, who speaks Gujarati fluently. When he realised that we are journalists from Delhi, he started talking to us in Hindi.

He comes from the African Goma tribe. In Gujarat, these people are also known as Siddis. He has a vegetable shop in the same village.

Where did the Siddi tribe come from?



Gafar said, "there are several stories about our origin. Some say that we have come from Africa, some say that we come from Indonesia while others say that the Portuguese rulers brought us here. Few say that we were brought here to cut the forest and stayed back."

After coming here, the Siddi tribe started believing in Islam. They are, therefore, also called Siddi Badshah or Siddi Muslims.

Since last four centuries, many generations of the Siddi people here merged with India. Earlier, the elderly would discuss from where they came from. However, no one even talks about it now. Gafar said, "we have now settled here. All we know is, we are Indians."

Siddis are ready for a change

We met a few more boys outside a school in the village along with Gafar. Shaukat Ali said, "I am a student of BA first year right now and I want to become a police inspector." His father is a labourer but Ali is ready to carve his own identity.

A student of standard X, Shakeel, said that he wants to join the army.

The Siddi community, which works hard to earn their livelihood, has been living in the area next to the Gir jungle for generations. The Siddis associated with the adivasi community are upset because not much has been done for the development of their community. So much so that they could only get the papers of their house in their own names only recently.

Gafar said, "Narendra Modi did this when he was the chief minister of Gujarat." He further said that Congress did not do anything for them and the BJP has done a better work.

When will the village be developed?

After entering the village, old mud houses were seen reflecting the backwardness of the village. The village has proper roads and even electricity now but, the many people of the Siddi community are still engaged in manual labour.

At the time of election, their demands from the new government are  the remaining houses be completed and they get more employment opportunities.

There are a few more villages belonging to the Siddi community in the area and their total population is about 10,000.

Some of the people from this tribe have gradually settled in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Junagadh, Okha and Bhavnagar.

The Siddi population in Jambur is a little more than 2,000 and there are 1,100 eligible voters.

Will they also enter Bollywood?

The Siddi people are also hoping for offers from Bollywood. They think that if they get cast in a movie, they can play the role well. Gafar has worked with actor Om Puri in a telefilm in 1999. Now, some of the Siddis are hoping for a role in the movies, where the boys from this village can play the role of an African.

Abdul said, "We are not scared of anything."

Since it's the election season, when we started talking about the polls, the Siddi people were reluctant to say anything. Despite asking several times, all they had to say was, "there's still time. In the coming days, we will decide who to vote for."

Ramzan, who has studied till standard X but works as a labourer now, said whosoever forms the government, be it Congress or BJP, we just want them to work for our development.
Those who visited Bhuj and Anjar in the immediate aftermath of the 26 January, 2001, earthquake and came again a year later would've appreciated the relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts that had been undertaken there.

The landscape of these two townships and its adjoining areas had changed. All signs of devastation and the worn-out look and feel usually associated with small towns had gone. They now represented refreshing, new cities that were marching ahead with changing times, towards modernity.

Narendra Modi, who had been sent to Gujarat by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani from Delhi in October 2001, took the baton from the then Gujarat chief minister and party's veteran leader Keshubhai Patel. Modi, in difficult times, managed to prove his administrative ability in just a matter of months and let the nation know that he was a man with a vision and mega plans.

Before arriving in Ahmedabad, Modi was based in Delhi as the general secretary of the party. He had no administrative experience and had never fought an election. The way he went ahead with the reconstruction of Bhuj and Ajnar  quietly working and keeping his cool even as political rivals and critics launched sustained attacks against him in the wake of the Godhra riots  helped him take the first steps towards building the 'brand Modi' that he is today.

The project to transform Rann of Kutch from miles of a barren desert to a tourist destination was taken up by Modi  a piece of land he himself describes as 'one side registan (desert), the other side Pakistan'.

No wonder then, Modi chose to launch his campaign for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election from Bhuj. It was like getting back to his roots.

The place will always have a bearing on Modi's political journey. Today, as prime minister, it is of utmost importance for him to win this election with an increased margin as it will help smoothen his journey to securing a second term.

The importance of his Bhuj rally, his first since becoming prime minister and the first of his current campaign, was not lost on the people of the region either. Visuals of his visit to Ashapura Mata Mandir in Bhuj and his public rally later suggested as much.

During his temple visit, men, women and children lined up to shake hands with him and exchange greetings. The crowd response must've been encouraging for him and his party.

This time around, Modi has built his political narrative on three things  first being development, (self/BJP) versus dynasty (Rahul Gandhi/Congress); second, on Gujarat's asmita (pride); and third, projecting himself as a son of the soil, an inheritor of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's legacy.

At Kutch and Rajkot (the best-known town in Saurashtra region and a place with a sizeable Patel population) he invoked Sardar Patel. Without naming Rahul, he took a dig at the Congress leader when he said that 'people are coming here and saying all kinds of things and trying to malign the image of the state'.

"Those slinging mud on us will help the lotus bloom even more Gujaratis will not tolerate an insult to Gujarat," Modi said.

He made eloquent references to Sardar Patel and how the Congress aligned with the first family systematically and tried to marginalise his public stature. He said that Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister was least concerned about Gujarat. Modi slammed Nehru for not doing any significant work in the aftermath of an earthquake in Anjar during his reign and compared it with the work he (Modi) did as chief minister after the 2001 earthquake.

It was important for him to convince people that he may have left Gujarat to become prime minister but his soul still rests in his home state: "Gujarat is my atma (soul) and India is my Paramatma (God). This land of Gujarat has cared for me, Gujarat has given me strength."

The chaiwala jibe by Youth Congress came in handy for Modi to target the party and the dynastic politics it pursues. Modi has had made his humble background his biggest USP. By calling him a chaiwala in a tweet, which was subsequently deleted, Congress has inadvertently armed Modi with more firepower.

Modi's point was simple yet impactful  that the Congress cannot reconcile with the fact that the party and its first family have been thrown out of power. "I can sell tea, but wouldn't sell India," he added. Though he didn't refer to the Bofors or any other scams, his intended message was clear.
Surat: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday accused the Congress of always trying to "degrade" Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and creating "hurdles" in his getting the Bharat Ratna.

Addressing a gathering at Limbayat Assembly constituency in Surat, Adityanath also claimed that the Congress opposed the proposal put forward by Patel to restore the Somnath temple.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister congratulated the people for not letting Congress win a single seat in Gujarat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Referring to Mahatma Gandhi's call to disband Congress, Adityanath said the people were realising the dream of 'Bapu'.

"Gujarat feels proud of iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. If Maryada Purushottam Bhagwan Shri Ram united India culturally from north to east, then it was iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who united India politically," he said while campaigning for local BJP candidate and MLA Sangita Patil.

"You know that Congress always tried to degrade Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Congress had protested his proposal for the restoration of the Somnath temple as the party did not want it. When Sardar Patel took up the task to unite India's cultural heritage, Congress was the first to oppose," he claimed.

"Congress never hesitated in demoralising Sardar Patel at every step. It created hurdles so that he did not get (the highest civilian honour) 'Bharat Ratna'. It was made possible only when (former Prime Minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee proposed the same saying that Sardar Patel was a great son of India and has a huge contribution in India's unification," Adityanath said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said the party that stood in opposition of Sardar Patel was today trying to stop Gujarat's development march.

"Our biggest identity is our spiritual and cultural heritage which we have received from our forefathers. India's identity and people's patriotic feeling are the characters of this country."

"The world is looking at Gujarat elections. The state will again pass through 'agni pariksha' (test by fire) and will carry forward the 'gaurav gatha' (the path of progress) which (Narendra) Modiji took up," he said.

Polling in Gujarat is scheduled to take place on 9 and 14 December.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address eight rallies on November 27 and 29 in different parts of Saurashtra and south Gujarat, where polling for the first phase of assembly polls will be held on 9 December.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his tour from Kutch disrict in Gujarat. According to his itinerary, he will first visit the famous Ashapura Mata temple before starting his campaigning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address people in Bhuj town of Kutch district and later in the day in Jasdan town of Rajkot, Dhari in Amreli and Kamrej in Surat district.

Modi is slated to visit Jan Sabha in Bhuj at 11 am, while he will be in Jasdan city in Rajkot at around 1.20 pm. He will be in Amreli at 3.00 pm and he will finally visit Kamrej in Surat at 5.15 pm.

"Each rally has been organised in such a way that people from five to six surrounding constituencies can also attend it," Bhupender Yadav, Gujarat BJP-incharge said.

Ahead of his two-day Gujarat visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has this to say:

Narendra Modi says Kutch is very close to his heart

Congress leaders in several constituencies threatened to resign from the party if "imported candidates" were not withdrawn and replaced by "dedicated partymen of their choice.

A day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis much-awaited campaign tour, Congress leaders had to call in the police to prevent furious cadres from creating ruckus at the party headquarters in Ahmedabad's Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, hours after it declared the third and the final list of candidates.

In Kutch, from where Modi begins his tour on Monday, the entire Congress-controlled agriculture produce market committee along with hordes of supporters quit the Congress and joined the BJP in protest against official party nominees.

While Modi will visit his home state today, BJP chief Amit Shah is already in the state and actively campaigning. On Sunday, Shah slammed Congress for lacking an agenda for the elections and said, "Congress lacks leaders as well as strategy."

89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region will go to polls in the first phase of voting on 9 December. These 89 seats come under 19 districts of the state.

The star campaigners include Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states  Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhara Raje  as well as several Gujarat BJP leaders.

No, nothing is simple in this year's election. It is turning out to be a racy whowinit even Holmes would have left alone. Two things are clear after a fortnight on the campaign trail: One, both parties are confident in public and confused in private. Two, Hindutva is getting replaced with caste identity, depriving the BJP of its biggest weapon.

Votes will be counted on 18 December, the same day as the results of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election.

According to CNN-News18, Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani. who has been spearheading a campaign against the Narendra Modi government, along with Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakore. will be contesting as an Independent from the Vadgam constituency.

In North Gujarat's Radhanpur, as many as 2,000 Congress workers have threatened to resign from the party to protest the candidature of Alpesh Thakore, who joined the party just a month ago.

The rally is in Bhuj but all BJP contestants from Kutch district would be on the podium with Modi.

The significance of the visit to this temple of local deity Ashapura Mata is that it is located in an area with a sizeable Muslim population. Local sources say even one visit by Modi there will pep up the Hindu population in the area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who begins his whirlwind campaign from the desert district of Kutch that was devastated in the January 26, 2001, earthquake, will first offer prayers at Mata nou Madh temple that falls in the Abdasa constituency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Kutch and proceeded to famed Ashapura Mata temple at Mata nou Madh. He offered prayers to the deity and met devotees outside the temple.

Modi earned encomiums as the 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' (Hindu heartthrob) in post-Godhra Gujarat, moreso after his statewide Gaurav Yatra that saw rabid Muslim-bashing, but brought him bountiful seats in the election that followed in 2002. However, no sooner did he acquire national ambitions manifested in the three-day Sadbhavana fast in September 2011, that he sought to open a line to the minority community through Ahmedabad-based businessman Zafar Sareshwala, who was subsequently appointed chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad after Modi became prime minister.

CNN-News18 quoted BJP sources as saying that the party shifted the rally from Kamrej to Kadodara after sensing trouble from the Patidar community. The report added that the party shifted the rally about two days back.

Just ahead of Modi's rallies, BJP releases the names of 34 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat elections. With the latest list, the names of all BJP candidates have been released.

Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel's open support to the Congress in the December Assembly polls is not an electoral alliance but a "deal" between two sides, Rupani told PTI in an interview.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has accused the Congress of seeking refuge in casteism and "outsourcing" its campaign to caste leaders while dismissing any threat to the BJP's poll prospects from the Congress-Hardik Patel tie-up. He alleged that the Congress was "deceiving" the people over the issue of reservation, while the agitators were lining up for poll tickets.

Rajyaguru had won the previous election from Rajkot (East) constituency. He was among the three lucky winners for the Congress from the 38 urban constituencies in Gujarat's three big cities  Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot. But, acting on his promise of chasing the chief minister, he decided to shift to Rajkot (West) last year. "I decided to contest against Rupani the moment I heard he would be named chief minister. He is not a good man, he needs to be defeated," he says.

The delay is apparently because Lallan College Ground, where he is to speak, was more than half empty at the scheduled time. Now, there are better crowds and he is likely to reach anytime now.

Security preparations are on full swing in Amreli's Chalala, where Modi is expected to address a rally at 1 pm. Chalala is 25 kilometre from the district headquaters Amreli.

Narendra Modi urges the crowd to bless the candidates and vote for them.

I am happy that i got the opportunity to visit Ashpura temple at Abdasa. I have come to seek the blessings of the common man," says Modi

Happy to have taken darshan of Ashapura mata, says Modi

"On one hand, there is vikaas (bjp), then there is 'vansh vaad' (Dynasts) (in a reference to Congress) Gujarat will not forgive you at all." Gujarat will never accept you.. The reason is since you have kept Gujarat backwards since the times of Sardar Patel.You people (Congress) shot bullets outside the Congress headquarters in Ahmedabad," Modi said while slamming Congress

"There was an Anjar earthquake in 1956. The earthquake was so severe that Pandit Nehru had to come here. But do you remember the Congress doing anything for you people. But now this party is asking our report card.. See we did so much after 2001 earthquake. Vajpayee sent me to Gujarat to help Kutch. I took the responsibility of rehabilitation. My training began from Kutch crisis itself. You have helped me grow like a boy. Now these Congressmen are blaming me over corruption. Will you forgive Congress?" Modi said.

"Rann was already there. But I thought that we can turn it into tourist spot and earn money. Our mantra is vikaas so we did it. People never imagined that there can be any kind of farming in Kutch. At one side is desert and then another side there is Pakistan. Now it is a krishi shtra. Nobody thought that saffron can be grown here. After drip irrigation, it is a model for farming," Modi said.

"There are so many tourist sites in Kutch that tourists will take more than a week to complete their tour to this district," Modi said.

"Had Congress helped us with the Narmada project, we would have got the water 30 years back. You people would not have to migrate to other places," Modi said.

"At a time when Doka La was going on, Rahul was hugging Chinese ambassador. We conducted surgical strike after Uri attack but did Congress do anything after Mumbai in 2008? This is the difference in leadership," Modi said on surgical strike and Doka La standoff.

"Pakistan released Hafiz Saeed. Why is Congress clapping for it. I don't understand this because a terrorist has been released," Modi said referring to Rahul Gandhi's tweet questioning Saeed's release from house arrest.

"We will prove every pollster wrong by winning 151 seats in Gujarat. please come in full force to vote on 9 December," says Modi

It is instructive how Narendra Modi is focusing on the past to build his narrative of present. In his first pit stop in Bhuj on Gujarat campaign trail, the prime minister embarked on a two-pronged strategy to counter Congress. One, highlight his achievements in Kutch as Gujarat chief minister. Two, project himself as the son of soil and claim that his insulting him is akin to insulting Gujaratis. None of these are exactly new strategies but Modi obviously feels confident enough that his work as an administrator  be it rebuilding Kutch after the devastating earthquake of 2001 or brining Narmada to the water-starved district  has not been forgotten. In his avoidance of GST topic and conflation of self with Gujarati 'asmita' lies another pointer. A tacit acceptance that Modi is aware of the potential political repercussions of a glitch-ridden implementation of GST.

The ambitious Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (SAUNI) Yojana is supposed to be benefiting Surendranagar the most. The main Saurashtra Branch Canal brings water to Surendranagar, from where three of the four pipe canals, which are supposed to distribute water to the entire region, originate. Farmers in rural Surendranagar are particularly pleased with SAUNI. The Botad Branch Canal originating from Dholidhaja dam in Surendranagar runs through the district covering well over half of the 600 plus villages. Since the district is a large cotton producing belt, farmers' water woes have been resolved to a great extent, and they credit Modi for it.

BJP has its task cut out. Jains and Kolis, who are in large numbers in Surendranagar here, and who have been BJP's traditional vote base are upset over ticket distribution. The fight is on in Surendranagar, with just one caveat that Modi is yet to arrive in the district.

Lack of deliverance by BJP and lack of trust in the Congress made many people say they will abstain from voting in the elections. The voter turnout in Surendranagar would be interesting to look at on 9 December.

There are several farmers who are disatisfied with Modi even though their water problem has been resolved to a large extent. Surendranagar is a cotton belt. When he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he demanded higher MSP from the UPA-ruled central government. Now that he is PM, the MSP continues to be 810 rupees per 20 kilos while the expenses are around 700 rupees per 20 kilos, say farmers. These farmers seem to be titling towards Congress.

Two BJP youth workers, Chetan Patel and Milan Patel, believe that Patels are not as angry with the BJP as it is being projected in the media and by the Congress. "Right now, it is 50-50. but after Modi's rally, it will be 70-30 in favour of BJP," they claim.

Patel anger not as much as it is being projected

A large constituency cannot conceive of voting against BJP. Rupani does not wield much of an image. Modi's charm endures, which was evident in Paresh Rawal's speech when he had come to inaugurate a local BJP office in Wadhwan. He hardly mentioned BJP. "Ek taraf congress hai, aur ek taraf Modi saheb," he kept saying.

In spite of the problems in the city, there are several voters who would continue to vote for Modi out of sheer habit. The water woes were a poll issue in 2007 as well as 2012. But it did not hamper BJP's chances.

"Congress was totally in favour of the GST during the discussions. However. when after the dicussions, it began opposing the new tax law." Modi said during the Bhuj rally.

After addressing a rally in Kutch's district headquarter of Bhuj, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing a rally in Rajkot's Jasdan. While the rally was supposed to start at 11 am, it has not begun yet.

Congress does not have policy, leaders or any connection with Gujarat's common man: Modi

"In last fifteen years, you have chosen us three times. You all know that Gujarat has adopted the route of "vikaas'. We have not left anything for ensuing your welfare in Jasdan," Modi said.

"These people spoke of bringing Narmada here. But they ridiculed and insulted us for demanding better facilities. Had Congress helped us, then we would have had Narmada at least 30 years back," Modi said. He added that only after the BJP government came to power that policies were made to help people benefit from Narmada project.

These Congress leaders have lost their charecter. The Gujarati janta does not like you (Congress) but still you are working so much. You insulted Sardar Patel.. We all you know what you had done to Sardar. Everything is is recorded in Manibehn diary.

"Morarji. He had an impeccable character and a Gandhian. But he is a Gujarati. The way the Gandhi family insulted him. They just threw him out. Babubhai Patel became CM. But they could not tolerate a Patel as CM. The smae about Chimanbhai. We tried to help him make CM (in 1990). After that Keshubhai became Cm, the first from Kathiawar," Modi said while claiming that Congress conspired against Patels.

I am asking you has any government at the Centre thought of giving free housing to poor and middle class? We are helping them get home loans so that they can get a home," Modi said. He added," We are making sure that even those who wear chappal will fly planes."

"Our forces have scored a double century," Modi said while referring to over 200 militants being killed this year.

"There used to be a kind of unofficial curfew every day under Congres rule. Secuirty was an issue. But have we not provided you with security? Once there is security, there is peace and communal harmony," Modi said.

"Congress is making baseless allegations against BJP and me. But the people of Gujarat will teach them a lesson on 9 December (polling day). I ask you, will these people (Congress high command) who sit in Delhi help in Gujarat's 'vikaas'?" Modi said during his address.

Quiz: How well do you really know the state that's about to go to the polls?

"I am glad I got the opportunity to visit Amreli. I have come here to take your blessings," the prime minister said as he greeted a cheering crowd that had been waiting for him for over two-and-half hours.

I have come to take your blessings: PM Modi

"The Congress party, which had reigned the country for more than 70 years. What stopped them from developing Amreli district. Hatred for Gujaratis and our state flows in their blood," Narendra Modi said.

"They know that the common man, even the one who lives in villages, have aspirations of having good road, and then good tar roads, and then good double track roads... this hunger for development should persist, only then will India progress."

"Since I was a child, I heard one thing. 'Ghogha-Dahej RORO ferry service' 'Ghogha-Dahej RORO ferry service,' who stopped you from making this service when you ruled the country for 70 years? We made it happen, this is called progress. This ferry service is going to be functional from Kutch to Mumbai. The whole kutch andmn kathiawad will reap the benefits of this"

Congress couldn't start ferry connectivity in 70 years, we did it within months: Modi

"Amreli has a vast coast, which could have been developed to benefit so many. Congress could have changed your future but for 70 years they did nothing. We brought job opportunities through port land development and blue economy. You'll enjoy the benefits soon," Modi tells Amreli.

Congress had the change your future, but we are working for your present: Modi

Even after 12 months, why is Congress still talking about note ban. Everyone knows life and death is part of the process, but nothing beats the sorrow of losing an earning son. Eve after 12 months of the tragedy, you still get tears in your eyes, if you lose the bread winner of the family. This is why Congress has tears in their eyes even after 12 months after demonetisation; they have lost all their black money."

Congress still mourning loss of black money: PM Modi on Oppn campaign against demonetisation

People start queuing up outside the rally venue at Kadodara, an industrial area that falls within the Kamrej constituency, which is a Patidar dominated area

"Congress has shown contempt for Gujarat. They prevented Narmada waters from reaching people across the state, their reign was characterised by poor law and order, and they destabilised Chief Ministers from the Patel community be it Babubhai, Chimanbhai, Keshubhai and Anandiben," Narendra Modi

Yes I sold tea, but at least I didn't commit the sin of selling off the nation: Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi is a master marketer, he wants to gain sympathy: Congress on Modi's chaiwala comeback

Narendra Modi, while speaking in Gujarat hit out at Congress party, saying Congress has neither niti (policy), niyat (intention) nor neta (leader).

Meanwhile, News 18 reported that the earlier, the venue for the rally was inside main Surat city, however, it was later shifted out to Kadodara, at the outskirts of city. Even as BJP cited logistical reasons for the change in venue, News 18 sources said that intel agencies have warned of a Patidar agitation at the rally.

Supporters have come in busloads from more nearby talukas to attend Modi's Kadodara rally. Most of them were wearing BJP sashes and chanting slogans - Har Har Modi.

"Thirty years ago, during Congress rule, villagers had to give a letter to get roads fixed. Today, the letters are to get double lanes... that is the difference between Congress and BJP rule," Narendra Modi

"We want to extend Ro-Ro ferry service from Kutch on one side and Mumbai on the other," Modi said. He said that the previous governments had only fooled Gujaratis while he would ensure that everything that is promised actually reaches the beneficiaries on ground.

"In the 21st century, 18,000 villages still don't have power in India. Shouldn't Congress be held responsible?" Narendra Modi asked. He said that his government ensured that electricity reaches to each and every village.

"I was told it is an impossible task to provide electricity 24/7 to cities. Every one told me, that its a difficult to take electricity to each home. But then I thought, didn't my Gujarati brothers and sisters choose me to accomplish the difficult? And within 3 years, I ensured that electricity reached every house in Gujarat," Narendra Modi

Gujaratis chose me to do achieve the unachievable: PM sells development track record at election rally

"Rajiv Gandhi understood the problems of the people, but did he solve anything? This is Congress' problem. There is a huge difference between the villagers 30 years and today. But Congress doesnt understand this. They think what worked then, will work now," Modi said.

Arrogance of Congress party is at a record high. They don't realise that times have changed. Things are very different in Gujarat from the time they ruled here 22 years ago. Society is no longer divided, there is progress now: PM Narendra Modi in Surat

He said that for the first time, there is a govt at the Centre which is helping the middle class get loans and build a house.

"Has there ever been a precedent when a government helped the people own a home? Tell me which government has done anything for you," Modi asked people amid resounding cheers.

No govt ever helped the poor achieve the dream of owning a home: Modi

"This govt is not going to move away from the path of honesty. Those who have robbed the poor will have to give it back. Three lakh companies have been served notice whose finances were suspicious," Narendra Modi said defending the demonetisation scheme."

Those who have robbed the poor will have to give it back: Modi

"Before BJP came to power, people were used to living under the shadow of curfews. It was hard to imagine a life otherwise. Such was the situation. In 22 years, BJP has ensured peace and tranquility in the state," Modi said.

They speak about Sardar Patel but I don't want to dig out their history. They should turn the pages of Maniben (Patel's daughter's) diary, may be that will help them recollect how they treated him. Then, Morarji Desai, a Gandhiaite, became the prime minister. Overnight, Indira Ji removed Morarji Bhai from the Cabinet. The truth is Congress hates Gujaratis," Narendra Modi said.

"In Uttar Pradesh the Congress was feeling so confident about victory. They started calling Gujaratis donkeys. And now, they are coming here to Gujarat to seek support. Nobody can insult the people of Gujarat like this. They mistreated Sardar Patel, Morarji Desa who were legendary leaders from Gujarat. There past and present shows they hate Gujaratis," Modi said.

Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Kadodara said that the Congress has only showed disrespect and hatred for Gujaratis and now they have the guts to come and ask for support in the same stae.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address poll rallies in Morbi, Prachi near Somnath, Palitana in Bhavnagar  all in Saurashtra  and at Navsari in south Gujarat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his high voltage campaign with rallies on 27 November in Bhuj in Kutch district, Jasdan in Rajkot, Chalala in Amreli and Kadodara near Surat.

The rally at Morbi is scheduled for 9 am, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to arrive around 10 am.

While the Morbi was scheduled to begin at 9 am, it has been delayed now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak at around 10 am.

And caste-based movements across Gujarat in the recent past  the Dalit protests after the Una flogging incident and the Patidar agitation  have sent the Muslims to the sidelines. And poll math only warrants a change in strategy.

It is no coincidence that nobody is talking about the Muslim vote bank this election season. The BJP is never known to explicitly woo the minority community; the Muslim voter has looked at the Congress as its only support. However, the Congress, this season adapted a different strategy  prioritising winnability over anything else.

BJPs Gujarat Vikas Rally will cover 25 Assembly seats in Saurashtra and south Gujarat."Each rally has been organised in such a way that people from five to six surrounding constituencies can also attend it," Bhupendra Yadav had said.

Not only Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi but also Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Somnath Temple. Modi is expected to be there at around 1 pm, reports Financial Express.

According to India Today, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to arrive at Somnath temple for darshan at 1 pm while Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a public rally 1.20 pm in Prachi, 23 kilometres from the temple.

Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi just 50 kms apart from each other

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to Prachi, 20 kilometres from Somnath. It is said, one visit to Prachi is equal to 100 visits to Kashi.

Morbi is a ceramic hub. Over 700 factories are located in the district, expected to be hit by GST and demonetisation. Yet, by and large, traders and businessmen seem to be behind Modi. It created problems initially but the reduced GST rate of 18% from 28% is no cause for concern, they say.

Local journalists in private conversations say the traders and industrialists are disillusioned with Modi after demonetization and GST, but won't express it to the media out of fear, since they've long been loyal to BJP and can't be seen siding with Congress. They are certainly not as okay with the decisions as they try to convey, they say.

In 2002, Modi set out on his Gujarat Gaurav Yatra in the backdrop of serious allegations of state-sponsored communal violence after the Godhra train attack where he played the same victim- hood card converting all criticism against him and his government as an insult to the Gujarati pride. And it worked. Similarly, the condemnation of state-sponsored violence established him as a veritable Hindu Hriday Samrat who had taught the Muslims a lesson.

Speaking to Firstpost, the co-ordinator of the Prachi rally said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to visit the Somnath. This is contrary to some media reports that he may make it to the famous Shiva temple today. However, a local police official told Firstpost that temple visits by the prime minister are revealed only half an hour before the schedule visit due to security reasons.

Morbi has a large Patidar population. While the urban Patels remain firmly behind Modi and BJP, the discontent is palpable amongst rural Patidars. Hardik has struck a chord here.

The 1985 riots in Ahmedabad are important in the context of BJPs rise to power. While it began on an anti-reservation plank, it quickly degenerated into a communal one because of the entry of the BJP, Yagnik said. Yagnik added that riots in the late 80s and in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition communally polarised the state, which helped the BJP win the 1995 Assembly election.

At least 40 dams in Saurashtra get water through Morbi's Machu 2 dam in the SAUNI Yojana. Yet, there are several villages which continue to starve for water in Morbi. Rural Morbi is an agrarian belt. The entire Taluka of Maliya with 40 villages has not received benefits of the SAUNI Yojana. These farmers are upset with BJP.

Just like Surendranagar, farmers mostly cultivate cotton in Morbi. They are upset that Modi has not increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton when he would demand the same thing as CM of Gujarat from the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.

"Now people from other states and countries are coming to Saurashtra to see how we were successful to create water management system (SAUNI)," Modi said in Morbi.

"We have laid such water pipelines that even Congress leaders can sit in Maruti car and go," Modi said while taunting the pet project of Sanjay Gandhi. Due to Narmada project, farmer incomes are at least Rs 70,000 cores now. Under BJP, there were three agricultural university that were established, Under Congress, there were only one," Modi added.

"When we came to power, we focussed on water. Congress asks what is our Gujarat model. We know what is Congress' development agenda  waterpump. Our development is SAUNI of Narmada. Often, Congress promised handpump just for sake of vote," Modi said.

Urea production was not an issue but the subsidy with it. But the urea produced was diverted to chemcical industries. This was the issue. We requested Congress to do something on this. But they did not listen to us. They were only interested in early black money through leaks in subsidies.

We initiated a mass movement to conserve every drop of water, says Modi

"We created a 6000 crore kisan sampada yojna for farmers. We helped you develop dairy farming. We have helped fishermen buy new boats," Modi said while counting his government's pro-poor schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi taunts intellectuals over GST. He said," You people call it 'Grand Stupid Talk' but I ask you have you worked for the poor? Congress wants to decrease GST on cigarette and alcohol and give cancer to people. Gujaratis won't forgive Congress for anti-poor and anti-middle class thought process," Modi said.

"Let the Congressmen cry over noteban but people of Morbi only understand the language of vikaas. Gujaratis should be proud that for the first time , they have a have a man in Delhi. I am a Gujarati, who has a good business sense. I request you to vote all candidates of the BJP," Modi said while concluding his speech.

Gujaratis must be happy that one of them occupies top post in New Delhi

Once upon a time, water was an issue in Kutch-Saurashtra. People used to walk great distance to get water, says Modi

We brought soil health cards for the welfare of farmers, says Modi

"I want to ask Congress why is it so obsessed with the demonetisation drive. Is it because any of their members were affected by the note ban. You (Congress) looted the poor for seven decades. Even a year later, they are crying over the move," Modi said

Three months back, serious floods devastated miles of cotton crops of farmers, predominantly in Maliya Taluka when a dam overflowed. They have still not received compensation. The BJP is skating on thin ice among that constituency.

Surendranagar district, bordering state capital Ahmadabad, is at the edge of Saurashtra region. It is poorly developed, enveloped by dusty air and potholed roads.

"The Patidar fight is no more for a community. It has become a private affair. The Patidars and the BJP are two sides of the same coin, they will vote for us," Rupani said at a conclave of India TV.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday accused PAAS leader Hardik Patel of betraying his Patidar community and claimed that the Congress will pay heavily in the Assembly elections for portraying Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "chaiwala" on social media.

The Dalit factor has emerged in this year's Assembly election primarily because of the Dalit movement after the Una incident. Under the leadership of Mevani, the Dalits have come closer to the Congress.

Jignesh Mevani, who emerged after the incident, is considered a hero among the Dalits here. They are talking about organising protests for their rights and justice. The Dalits only form about eight percent of the voters in Gujarat, while they make up 16 percent in the country. They are not much influential in the poll-bound state.

It is not the BJP which is winning any election. It is in fact Modi who was winning all this while. There is a huge leadership crisis in Gujarat Congress which helped Modi to grow stronger and stronger, Sanjay Kumar, director of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies told Firstpost.

After Modi became the chief minister in October 2001, Congress has been struggling to find an equally strong match to counter him. Under Modi, the BJP won three consecutive Assembly elections, a feat not achieved by any of the chief ministers in the past.

Speaking before Narendra Modi, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said, "On one hand, there is development. On the other hand, there is anarchy (Congress). On our end, you would experience, sabka saath sabka vikaas. But the Congress only believes in caste politics and dividing the people of Gujarat.

"Our niyat (intention) is clean. But I cannot say that of the Congress.Their intention is dynasty. It is corruption," Rupani said.

Our aim is to fulfil our goal of 'sabka sath sabka vikaas'

Clarification: We had stated earlier that the prime minister arrived late for the Morbi rally. The BJP has clarified that while the rally was scheduled to begin at 9 am, Modi was only expected to arrive at 11 am, which he did.

"Had Sardar Patel not been there, no grand temple would have been in Somnath. So there a people who are reminded of Somnath (Rahul Gandhi and Congress) I want to ask them: Do you know history? Your great grandfather,, grandfather, grandmother. Nehru was not happy with Sardar Patel's restoration work of Somanth.. Rajendra Babu sent a invite to Nehru for the inauguration. But he got an angry letter," Modi said in Prachi, a town in Somnath.

"Those who ruled India for 70 years are now asking for my report card. When your family was ruling, there is SC/ST commission. However, we are also giving OBC commission a constitutional status. But you did nothing. Caste politics by Congress destroyed Gujarat. We demanded constitutional status for OBC commission but we received no answer from you," Modi said in Prachi.

"The Delhi treasury is for the common man. It is for poor people. We believe in engaging with the farmers so we have all these schemes for them," Modi said.

"Congress has no neeti (policy) or neta (Leader). It does not have any connection with the common man. How can these people create India's destiny?" asked Modi as he concluded his speech.

Modi is campaigning in Patidar strongholds, which saw the maximum effect of the Patidar quota stir in last year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dropped veiled hints at considering the demand for reservation, without explicitly naming the Patidar community. He said: "I want to assure you- Congress may try to throw any roadblocks, I am committed to ensure their designs fail. Parliament is meeting soon and we are going to bring that issue on the floor of the House again. We want to give our OBC communities their due."

We want to give our OBC Communities their due: Modi in Patidar-dominated area

"Congress is seeking votes of OBC communities but they should answer why they did not allow OBC Commission to get Constitutional Status for all these years. We brought in the move, it was passed by Lok Sabha but stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where Congress has majority," Modi said.

He said that the Congress was the party, which stalled the process of giving OBC commission a constitutional status.

Taking on Congres, which has earned the support of Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Modi said that the Congress is only making promises of OBC reservation to get the community's vote.

Modi will address his next rally in Palitana in Bhavnagar

All development in Gujarat has been done by BJP: Yogi Adityanath

We belong to the heirs of the fakir Gandhi. And they are the Gandhi varisdar who are born with a golden spoon.They do not know how it feels to walk barefoot and have a stone or thorn hurt your feet. It is upto you to choose which Gandhi you want. The fakir or the one with the golden spoon, Modi said.

"They hate development, they hate Gujarat, they hate Modi and now they hate sweat also. That is because they have never had to sweat it out in life & work hard. They are mocking everyone who works hard. This is their mindset. Such hatred for the poor is shocking: PM Modi in Palitana," Modi said accusing Congress of being the party of the elites.

Congress hates Modi, Gujarat, and development because they never had to sweat it out in life

Refering to the Congress rule, Modi told a massive gathering in Palitana, "Do you remember the water shortage in the region? This is because the Congress controlled the tanker business. It suited them to have this shortage. The BJP has changed this in the last 22 years. We have made the tanker industry irrelevant."

Coming down heavily on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his Gabbar Singh Tax jibe on GST tax reform, Modi said, "Those who looted nation think only of dacoits... They are propagating grand stupid thought on GST."

Hardik is too young to contest elections but he has vowed to defeat BJP, and Morba, an industrial town has been voting for the BJP for the past decade but it also has a sizeable Patel population

Hardik Patel, the young leader who rose to fame after the Patidar stir, was addressing a rally just 30 kilometres away from the venue of Modi's rally in Morbi. Hardik has since been tweeting pictures of crowds assembled at his rally, apparently in a show of strength.

Narendra Modi will now address his day's fourth and last election rally in Gujarat's Navasari

Amid chants of Modi Modi and Bharat Mata ki Jai, the prime minister started address at Navsari. "As far as the eye goes, it looks like Gujarat has donned a saffron sheet."

"Take whichever election you may like, Gujarat and saffron are one. In Gujarat election, no one apart from BJP can win and in Congress elections, nobody apart from a Gandhi can contest," Modi said.

"There are three elections going on- one in UP local bodies, one in Gujarat and the third one for the Congress President. In the first two the BJP is sure to win. And in the third one, no one except one family will win," Narendra Modi

"When they wanted votes in Uttar Pradesh, they referred to us as Gujarat's donkeys. Now when they have come to ask for votes Gujarat's people will clear all their accounts and show them their reality," Modi said.

They ask me questions about terrorism, Pakistan, and surgical strikes. "You tell me who was responsible for the problems at the root at the Kashmir issue. You tell me who is responsible for years of violence," Modi said.

"Congress loves asking me- Modi ji what did you do. I want to tell them due to our efforts the corrupt are languishing in jail. They could also have done that but for them fighting corruption is a non-issue," Modi said.

Congress love asking me what did I do, I tell them I rounded up corrupt: Modi

" Congress dislikes Gujarat as they will be defeated here. Victory and defeat are a part of life. There was a time when our party would distribute sweets when we saved our deposits. These things happen in a democracy, Congress should not be consumed by such hatred," Modi said.

 As a mark of respect for Muslim prayers (Azaan), prime minister interrupted his speech and took a long pause as people wondered what went wrong. Many in the crowd were seen cheering him, chanting Modi Modi as they waited for the PM to restart his speech. When Modi spoke again, he briefly mentioned that he had stopped as he heard the sounds of Azaan, and continued with his speech.

Modi said that Congress loves to question the army, they questioned the surgical strike too. "They asked for proof, they asked for pictures... should we make a film for them," Modi asked. He said that they even asked that if our side did have any casualty as our soldiers languished and suffered on border. People who talk like that should not expect votes in Congress.

Narendra Modi, speaking about the Doka La crisis, said that his question to Congress is clear, "Why do you believe the Chinese and not our army and our foreign ministry."

"The Congress version of GST places salt, which a poor person wants with expensive cigarettes and alcohol. How can I allow this? Our fight is for giving the poor their rights while Congress fights for the interests of the rich," Modi said.

Meanwhile... Hardik Patel to address rally in Rajkot shortly; huge crowds seen at venue

"And this is why we are against them," Hardik said.

"They may label me a Congress agent, but they have always divided the society. It was because of them that Patidar samaj was brought on roads, they were the reason Dalits had to fight for their rights," Hardik said.

"This is not just the fight of the Patidar samaj, this is not about Dalits or Kshatriyas. This is the fight of 6 crore Gujaratis. You place a hand on your heart and tell me where is vikas. How many gas cylinders did you get, how much water do you get tell me honestly. This is the fight to defeat their arrogance," Hardik said.

This is not the fight of Patidars alone: Hardik

"What is vikas (development), where is vikas, villages don't have pucca houses, if you recharge phone with 4g data pack you get 2g internet, is this vikas. show me where is vikas and I will suspend my kranti anddolan (movement).

Show me where is your vikas I will stop my kranti andolan: Hardik Patel challenges BJP

 As a mark of respect for Muslim prayers (Azaan), prime minister interrupted his speech and took a long pause as people wondered what went wrong. Many in the crowd were seen cheering him, chanting Modi Modi as they waited for the PM to restart his speech. When Modi spoke again, he briefly mentioned that he had stopped as he heard the sounds of Azaan, and continued with his speech.

Modi said that Congress loves to question the army, they questioned the surgical strike too. "They asked for proof, they asked for pictures... should we make a film for them," Modi asked. He said that they even asked that if our side did have any casualty as our soldiers languished and suffered on border. People who talk like that should not expect votes in Congress.

Narendra Modi, speaking about the Doka La crisis, said that his question to Congress is clear, "Why do you believe the Chinese and not our army and our foreign ministry."

"The Congress version of GST places salt, which a poor person wants with expensive cigarettes and alcohol. How can I allow this? Our fight is for giving the poor their rights while Congress fights for the interests of the rich," Modi said.

Meanwhile... Hardik Patel to address rally in Rajkot shortly; huge crowds seen at venue

"And this is why we are against them," Hardik said.

"They may label me a Congress agent, but they have always divided the society. It was because of them that Patidar samaj was brought on roads, they were the reason Dalits had to fight for their rights," Hardik said.

"This is not just the fight of the Patidar samaj, this is not about Dalits or Kshatriyas. This is the fight of 6 crore Gujaratis. You place a hand on your heart and tell me where is vikas. How many gas cylinders did you get, how much water do you get tell me honestly. This is the fight to defeat their arrogance," Hardik said.

This is not the fight of Patidars alone: Hardik

"What is vikas (development), where is vikas, villages don't have pucca houses, if you recharge phone with 4g data pack you get 2g internet, is this vikas. show me where is vikas and I will suspend my kranti anddolan (movement).

Show me where is your vikas I will stop my kranti andolan: Hardik Patel challenges BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address eight rallies on November 27 and 29 in different parts of Saurashtra and south Gujarat, where polling for the first phase of assembly polls will be held on 9 December.

On the morning of 27 November, Modi will address people in Bhuj town of Kutch district and later in the day in Jasdan town of Rajkot, Dhari in Amreli and Kamrej in Surat district, Gujarat BJP in-charge Bhupender Yadav told a press conference in Ahmedabad.

Modi is slated to visit Jan Sabha in Bhuj at 11 am, while he will be in Jasdan city in Rajkot at around 1.20 pm. He will be in Amreli at 3.00 pm and he will finally visit Kamrej in Surat at 5.15 pm.

On 29 November, Modi will address poll rallies in Morbi and Prachi villages near Somnath, Palitana in Bhavnagar and at Navsari in south Gujarat.

"Each rally has been organised in such a way that people from five to six surrounding constituencies can also attend it," Yadav added.

The polling for the two-phase elections in the state, having total 182 assembly seats, will take place on 9 and 14 December and votes will be counted on 18 December, the same day as the results of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election.

While 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region will go to polls in the first phase, the election in the remaining 93 constituencies in central and northern regions will be held in the second phase. These constituencies in the first phase will cover 19 districts and the second phase will cover 14 districts.

On 26 and 27 November, several prominent BJP leaders will address rallies in different parts of the western state where the first phase of polling is scheduled to be held.

The star campaigners include Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states  Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhara Raje  as well as several Gujarat BJP leaders, said Yadav.

"On 26 and 27 November, our star campaigners will address rallies in all the 89 seats going to polls in the first phase," Bhupender Yadav said.

Modi has visited Gujarat almost 10 times in the months ahead of the polls to attend various government events, including completion of the Narmada Dam, laying the foundation stone of the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai bullet train project and inauguration of a ferry service linking south Gujarat and Saurashtra region via sea routes.

With inputs from agencies
New Delhi: The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to mislead the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru with his "untrue" statements and said it reflected his "unhealthy mindset".

Hitting back at Modi over his charge that the Congress propagated dynastic politics, the party's senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the prime minister "has forgotten" that the Congress gave prime ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh, who came from a humble background.

Defending the Nehru-Gandhi family, the former union minister said none of the Gandhis were part of the government since the last almost three decades.

He condemned Modi's claims that the Congress and country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru did nothing for Gujarat and alleged that such a campaign emanated from the BJP's frustration due to its "impending defeat".

"The prime minister has said that the country's first prime minister has not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from truth. We condemn it. The prime minister is having an 'aswasth mansikta' (unhealthy mindset) which is an issue of grave concern for the country," he told reporters.

Sharma said that the prime minister's remarks at an election rally in Gujarat on Monday were "untrue".

"The BJP is disturbed over the increasing support for the Congress in the state," he claimed.

Sharma cited several projects initiated by Nehru in Gujarat like Amul cooperative movement, IIM Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design, formation of Gandhinagar, the state's capital, ONGC's complex at Ankleswar and development of ports like Kandla and Dahej, besides setting up of airports.

"It is not right on the part of the prime minister to speak like this. He should abstain from giving such statements as the Congress is capable of denying them with facts. The prime minister is trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and is trying to lure the people of the state ahead of assembly elections," he alleged.

Sharma asked what the Modi government had done for Gujarat and said it should be left to the people of the state and the country to judge its performance.

"He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his government," he said, alleging that the government was full of "tainted" people and was trying "to put a lid on big scams".

"The Modi government is running away from accountability and that is why the prime minister never convened Parliament session ahead of Gujarat assembly polls and neither did he answer any of our questions," the Congress leader said.

On Modi's charge of dynastic politics, Sharma said the Congress was led by stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gopal Kishna Gokhala and Madan Mohan Malviya.

Countering the prime minister's attack on Nehru-Gandhi family, he said Rahul Gandhi, being an elected representative, was asked by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh to join him, but he did not do so during the 10 years of UPA government.

"The Congress has never told the BJP whom it should elect as its chief. The prime minister should stop worrying about the Congress and focus on his party instead," he said.

On the Rafale aircraft deal, he said the prime minister had no right to cancel the previous deal signed between the governments of India and France during the UPA.

He alleged a scam in the deal as a public sector undertaking was ignored and a private entity without any experience in the defence sector was brought in.

Earlier the prime minister, while campaigning in Gujarat today, hit out at the Congress over dynastic politics and alleged that the party did not do anything for the state.

"On one side there is 'Vikas' (development) and 'Vishwas' (faith) while on the other side there is 'Vanshwad' (nepotism). Gujarat will never forgive the Congress Party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind," Modi said while campaigning in Kutchh region.

Modi also alleged "Congress has shown contempt for Gujarat. They prevented Narmada waters from reaching people across the state, their reign was characterised by poor law and order, and they destabilised Chief Ministers from the Patel community be it Babubhai, Chimanbhai, Keshubhai and Anandiben."
New Delhi: Ruling out any possibility of entering politics, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Sunday said he is happy being a professor and it's the job he likes.

On being asked if he had an offer from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the Rajya Sabha, he said, "No comments on whether I was offered anything. When I was in RBI, people were desperate to get me off to IMF, when I am back as professor, people are desperate to see me elsewhere. I am very happy being a professor. I have my brain working many hours of day. It is a job I like."

On possibility to join politics, Rajan said, "The answer is no... on issue of politics my wife says very clearly no."

The AAP had approached Rajan offering him a Rajya Sabha seat from Delhi, which was reportedly rejected by the ex-RBI governor.

In a recorded interview played at the Times Litfest in New Delhi, Rajan, without disclosing much details, said he is working on another book. This book will be "an attempt to understand better the world we live in. The issue of identity, issue of community and how it impinges on the broader process of economic integration and growth", he said.

His last book, titled 'I do what I do' was released in September, touched various aspects of the Indian economy. He also talked about issues like tolerance and connection between political freedom and prosperity in the book, which was a collection of essays and speeches during his stint as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor.

Talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Rajan said it is good in the long run even though there are some issues. "There is need to remove the glitches," he observed.

On the relationship between the RBI and the government, the former central bank governor said that it has been developed over the years and it is largely of mutual respect. "Yes, there are frictions which are always there in any relationship," he said.

To a question if autonomy of the RBI as an institution compromised, he said, he is not alarmed. The RBI functions under the government and complete independence is not possible, he said.
Amid signs of discord, the AIADMK faction's EPS-OPS camp called for a truce on Monday after the seven-member governing council was expanded to nine, CNN-News 18 reported.

A press release from the party said it was "unanimously" resolved in Monday's meeting to authorise the AIADMK parliamentary board to select the candidate for the RK Nagar bypoll. The AIADMK announced it was "restructuring" the parliamentary board, which now includes Chief Minister K Palaniswamy and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam.

#BREAKING | EPS-OPS call truce. 7 member governing council expanded to 9 member council pic.twitter.com/lToJVw4sZp  News18 (@CNNnews18) November 27, 2017

Former ministers KP Munusamy and R Vaithilingam, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, Madhusudhanan, Tamil Magan Hussein, P Valarmathi, A Justin Selvaraj and P Venugopal are the other members of the board. Earlier, deposed and jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was the head of the board. She had selected her nephew and then AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran for the 12 April bypoll.

The ruling party also discussed the first death anniversary of J Jayalalithaa and the various events associated with it, the release said. The AIADMK has already announced taking out a procession from the arterial Anna Salai to Jayalalithaa's mausoleum in Marina Beach, which was reiterated in Monday's meeting.

On Sunday, Panneerselvam denied rumours of a row and had stressed on unity in the party and exhorted workers to ensure that 'Amma's' (Jayalalithaa's) rule continues its stride.

In a series of tweets, Panneerselvam praised K Palaniswamy saying he was providing good governance based on the path shown by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. He, however, chose not to comment on the simmering discontent that came to the fore last week after his loyalist and Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan hinted at differences among the leaders of the two factions which merged earlier this year.

Two days ago, in what seemed to be a fresh sign of discord in the ruling AIADMK, loyalists of Panneerselvam had said they did not get an invite for a key party event in which Palaniswamy had participated, PTI reported.

Significantly, Panneerselvam, who was conspicuous by his absence in the event that was held in Madurai the same day, later batted for unity in the party while taking part in another function along with Palaniswamy.

Recounting a tale of a wrestler narrated by late Jayalalithaa years ago to party workers to underscore the importance of unity among party workers, he said Amma highlighted the importance of unity through that story.

"We have got back our victorious two-leaves symbol as we all stood united following the words of Amma," Panneerselvam said.

Indicating that unity was essential to winning the 21 December RK Nagar bypoll, he had said, "With the same unity, and with the support of people we will script a massive win in the bypoll and dedicate the victory to Amma."

Palaniswamy, who spoke after him in the event to commemorate former chief minister MG Ramachandran's birth centenary, promptly referred to the unity call in his opening remarks.

The chief minister said, "Honourable deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam has articulated good views on staying united." Palaniswamy further said his deputy expressed good views and gave good advice to the party workers.

Revenue Minister RB Udayakumar also said there was no rift and cadres of the party accepted the leadership of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister. "For us, of the two leaves (party symbol), one leaf stood for EPS (K Palaniswamy) and one leaf stood for OPS (O Panneerselvam)," he had told reporters.

"There is no rift or crack in the party and the chief minister and the deputy chief minister are working like a double-barreled gun," he had said. Asked about Panneerselvam not taking part in the Madurai event, he had said they (Palaniswamy and Panneerselvam) are united.

Panneerselvam had to participate in some temple function and hence he could not come to Madurai, the minister said, adding every issue is tackled by both leaders in consultation with others.

The Madurai event, called Mupperum Vizha, (a single event to mark the celebration of three different occasions) had been organised to celebrate the AIADMK getting back its two-leaves symbol, the centenary of party founder MGR and to hail Jayalalithaa. Maithreyan had said in Chennai that proper intimation should have been sent to all party workers, functionaries, and leaders.

Maithreyan, who recently raised the discontent row between Panneerselvam and Palaniswamy factions, said the Madurai event was important since it was the first to celebrate the party getting back its poll symbol.

He said Madurai-based MP Gopalakrishnan and MLA Saravanan, who were in the Panneerselvam camp previously, did not get the invite and added that such "goof-up" should be avoided."I do not know if Panneerselvam was invited, if he was formally apprised about the Madurai event, or if he had any other engagement (at the time of the event)," he told reporters in response to a question.

Maithreyan had said he believed that party coordinator Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Palaniswamy would discuss the issue and "prevent its recurrence".

A party information technology wing functionary and Panneerselvam loyalist, Aspire K Swaminathan, in his Facebook post in Tamil, had also said that there was no invite or information for anyone including the leaders for the Madurai event.

Some publicity material like posters for the Madurai event prominently had the name of Palaniswamiy but not Panneerselvam's.

Earlier, on 23 November, the Election Commission (EC) had announced that the partys disputed 'two leaves' symbol will now be assigned to the Unified AIADMK faction led by Palaniswamy.The decision had come as a big boost for the EPS-OPS camp as the symbol legitimised their claim to the political legacy of MGR and Jayalalithaa.

With inputs from PTI
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday questioned the government claim that terror activities have come down in Jammu and Kashmir and said terrorists were now killing jawans to create fear among the youth in the Valley.

Referring to the killing of Territorial Army jawan Irfan Ahmed, the Sena said it is a "new technique" aimed at demoralising and creating fear among the Kashmiri youth.

The Sena said the brutal killings of jawans is a Pakistani game plan.

"All this is the 'Mann ki baat' of Pakistanis. Will the person, who does his 'Mann ki baat' every (month on a) Sunday will realise this?" the Sena questioned, alluding to the radio programme hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It also said that the release of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed from detention in Pakistan may give a new lease of life to militancy in the border state.

"Soldier Irfan Ahmad was abducted and killed in Shopian district. Terrorist organisations are adopting this technique to demoralise the Kashmiri youth working in the army and instill fear amongst them," the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

According to the army, militants abducted and killed the 23-year-old Territorial Army jawan. His bullet-riddled body was found in an orchard in Watmullah Keegam area in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Saturday.

The latest killing was part of a technique being adopted by terror outfits to kill Kashmiris who have joined the army or paramilitary forces, the Marathi daily said.

In May this year, Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz was killed in a similar manner and later in September, BSF jawan Ramzan Pare was also killed, the Sena publication said.

"The killing of Irfan Ahmad challenges the claims of those who say terrorist activities have reduced in Kashmir. Also, Hafiz Saeed being released from house arrest may give a new lease of life to terrorist activities," it said.

"The government claims 100-150 militants have been killed (this year) in Kashmir and incidents of stone-pelting have reduced. At the same time, killings of youth haven't stopped. Terrorists cannot digest the Kashmiri youth joining the army to serve the nation," it added.
As terror mastermind Hafeez Saeed walked free in Pakistan, Rahul Gandhi tweeted to ridicule Prime Minister Narendra Modis diplomacy, and in response BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao called him a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) sympathiser. Suitably chagrined by the BJPs counterattack, the Congress once again played the emotional card. Congress leader Anand Sharma recalled the contribution of the Nehru-Gandhi lineage in making the nation what it is.

Sharma came out with all guns blazing in support of Rahul and said, It is shameful. It deserves to be condemned. The BJP leaders have lost their mental balance in arrogance. Mr Gandhi is the leader of Congress, which has made sacrifices in fighting terrorism and for the integrity of India. For them to say such a thing, I will say it has hit a new low, he said. If Sharma is to be believed, Rahul deserves unqualified adoration on account of his lineage.

Of course, Sharma belongs to a generation of leaders who drew their political sustenance by clinging to a lineage and allowed it to monopolise and pervert an indeed outstanding and glorious political movement called the Congress. To call todays Congress a continuum of that past is worse than a lie.

Even admirers of Jawaharlal Nehru found it quite baffling when Indira Gandhi ascended as the Congress president in 1959. And a corollary of her ascension was the sacking of a democratically elected Communist government in Kerala. Nehru prevaricated when Indira prevailed. That showed the signs of Nehrus filial weakness. Stalwarts of those times found Nehrus vulnerability quite unacceptable and many of them fell out with him.

This history bears out in todays political context when the Congress has been desperately trying to clutch a straw to save a sinking ship. Nothing is more ill-timed than the promised ascension of Rahul Gandhi to the post of Congress chief. And nothing could be as bad a political strategy as projecting him as the son of a family who contributed a great deal to the nation.

Let us put the record straight to see what is the contribution of the family. Granted, Nehru was an exception whose contribution cannot be undermined. He was a unique political figure whose strengths as well as failings were many and could be discussed historically, but that hardly diminishes his stature. But what about Indira Gandhi? Though trained by her father and other stalwarts of the freedom struggle, she got the position of the prime minister through matchless guile and exploiting the fact that she was Nehrus daughter. Reeling under tentativeness and overawed by Nehrus personality, a fledgling nation was quite ready to forgive this indiscretion.

The argument that Indiras heart bled for the poor is quite akin to arguing that industrialist puts up industries only to give jobs to the poor.

Is it not a fact that in her second longest stint as the countrys prime minister (after Nehru), the garibi hatao slogan was as much a political "jumla" as the Congress now accuses the BJP of deploying? It does not require the perspicacity of a scientist to unravel that the democratic values and institutions destroyed under Indira Gandhis watch were enormous.

Now, take the case of Rajiv Gandhi. He was happily leading a life of a pilot before he was para-dropped into a cesspool of politics (to use the phrase of his friend Amitabh Bachchan) after the death of Sanjay Gandhi. Sycophancy once again reigned supreme in the Congress when even VP Singh, of all people, entreated in a party session, Mera Krishna mujhe de do (give us our Lord Krishna). After Indira Gandhis tragic assassination, the nation overcame its shock by electing Rajiv as her successor. Once again emotion came to the Congress rescue. After a phase of virulent insurgency in Punjab that saw Operation Bluestar, the killing of the prime minister and subsequent anti-Sikh riots, people of the country chose the son of the assassinated prime minister in order to give out a definite message of unity and cohesion.

We are perceived to be a society that glorifies the past. Those who eulogise Rajiv today would do better to look at the newspapers clippings of 1987-89 when VP Singh turned against him and painted him as chor in the Bofors pay-off scandal. And the allegations were not without substance. Rajiv Gandhi exited as the prime minister who supervised India's biggest corruption scandal till date. And that led to the emergence of VP Singh though he had no party organisation of his own. Bofors became the sobriquet for corruption in high places, to be replaced by 2G, CWG and Coal scam under the benign supervision of former prime minister Manmohan Singh who danced to the tunes set by 10 Janpath and 12 Tuglaq road (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to the uninitiated).

Now, take the case of Modis emergence as the most powerful leader since Indira Gandhi. It happened against the background of Sonia Gandhi running the office of the countrys prime minister through an appointee. The manner in which the Congress leaders amended the partys constitution to bestow the sole right of appointing the leader of the house (in effect, the prime minister) to Sonia Gandhi just before Manmohan Singh was appointed the prime minister, spoke eloquently about who was holding the power strings.

Luckily for Manmohan Singh, in his first term as prime minister, he had an adversary in LK Advani who could not weave a new narrative except for calling the former the weakest prime minister. Advanis formulation was rejected outright as, by then, he had lost the halo of a strong leader after a series of humiliations at the hands of the RSS-BJP leadership.

In sharp contrast to Advani, Modi spun a new narrative in 2014. After his unqualified dominance within his own party, he campaigned on themes that resonated with people across the country. There may be many shortcomings in his three and half years so far. But one thing is certain, he dominates the political narrative.

If one looks at the recurrence of his favourite themes at frequent intervals, it is indeed mind-boggling. And it would indeed be naive to describe them as mere rhetoric. Ujjwala and Jan-Dhan are impacting peoples live in rural areas positively. Swachch Bharat is still a project in the works, but it is also changing mindsets, lifestyles and the health of rural populations across the country.

In such an innovative political conversation, do you find any new idea from Rahul Gandhi to counter Modi? He instead resorts to adolescent rants against Modi which may gain traction in social media but are unlikely to resonate with people. Perhaps it would be instructive for Rahul to carefully study the manner in which Nitish Kumar outwitted Modi in the Bihar assembly polls in 2015. Nitish carefully weaved his own narrative and forced the BJP to respond to it. Rahul is doing none of it. A bigger problem is that leaders like Anand Sharma are trying in vain to evoke sympathy where none exists.

There is nothing special about one family's selfless service to the nation. If three prime ministers, one super prime minister and a prime-minister-in-waiting were to emerge from my family  or yours for that matter  I would be singing paeans to the Indian voters' magnanimity, not to the alleged greatness of one family. Anand Sharmas protestations notwithstanding, Rahuls only qualification is that he is the son of Sonia and Rajiv, that they are the daughter-in-law and son of Indira Gandhi and that she is the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Bereft of it, he seriously lacks the credentials for high office.
IANS

Amid controversies about growing threat on "security and privacy" with the digitisation of the economy, a former official of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Sunday raised concern upon how digital companies are taking control over the global economy.

"The platform provided by digital companies is not limited to only commerce. It has been expanded to logistics, finance, payments and others areas. Digital companies have now expanded to cover a large part of the economy without any governance.

"Digital companies are taking over control over the global economy, which is a concern," said Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former Secretary General at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In his address at the Horasis Asia Meeting, co-hosted by the West Bengal government and the Indian Chamber of Commerce, he said that the "proliferation of Chinese companies" in the "digital space" in Asia and Southeast Asia in particular, was also a "concern".

"They are buying up production, trading units, inventories and others in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia," he said.

Asked whether digitisation of the economy could lead to a threat to security and privacy, he said, "Yes, of course."

Panitchpakdi advocated for bringing "more monitoring and governance" or "regulatory" measures on digital companies.

He also said the Asian countries have been going for "cashless" economy or "less cash" economy and what it promotes is easy consumption and according to him, too much focus on consumption could lead to disruption.

Asked about thrust on digital economy being given by the Indian government, he said: "I think India needs more savings than consumption. Cashless society must make people understand that consumptions have to be well planned."
AP

The FBI failed to notify scores of US officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlin's crosshairs, the Associated Press has found.

Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up. Even senior policymakers discovered they were targets only when the AP told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.

"It's utterly confounding," said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. "You've got to tell your people. You've got to protect your people."

The FBI declined to discuss its investigation into Fancy Bear's spying campaign, but did provide a statement that said in part, "The FBI routinely notifies individuals and organisations of potential threat information."

Three people familiar with the matter  including a current and a former government official  said the FBI has known for more than a year the details of Fancy Bear's attempts to break into Gmail inboxes. A senior FBI official, who was not authorised to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on when it received the target list, but said that the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks.

"It's a matter of triaging to the best of our ability the volume of the targets who are out there," he said.

The AP did its own triage, dedicating two months and a small team of reporters to go through a hit list of Fancy Bear targets provided by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks.

Previous AP investigations based on the list have shown how Fancy Bear worked in close alignment with the Kremlin's interests to steal tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party .

The hacking campaign disrupted the 2016 US election and cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump, whom US intelligence agencies say the hackers were trying to help. The Russian government has denied interfering in the American election.

The Secureworks list comprises 19,000 lines of targeting data. Going through it, the AP identified more than 500 US-based people or groups and reached out to more than 190 of them, interviewing nearly 80 about their experiences.

Many were long-retired, but about one-quarter were still in government or held security clearances at the time they were targeted. Only two told the AP they learned of the hacking attempts on their personal Gmail accounts from the FBI. A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last year's electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.

Charles Sowell, who previously worked as a senior administrator in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and was targeted by Fancy Bear two years ago, said there was no reason the FBI couldn't do the same work the AP did.

"It's absolutely not OK for them to use an excuse that there's too much data," Sowell said. "Would that hold water if there were a serial killer investigation, and people were calling in tips left and right, and they were holding up their hands and saying, 'It's too much'? That's ridiculous."

It's Curious

The AP found few traces of the bureau's inquiry as it launched its own investigation two months ago.

In October, two AP journalists visited THCServers.com , a brightly lit, family-run internet company on the former grounds of a communist-era chicken farm outside the Romanian city of Craiova.

That's where someone registered DCLeaks.com, the first of three websites to publish caches of emails belonging to Democrats and other US officials in mid-2016.

DCLeaks was clearly linked to Fancy Bear. Previous AP reporting found that all but one of the site's victims had been targeted by the hacking group before their emails were dumped online.

Yet THC founder Catalin Florica said he was never approached by law enforcement.

"It's curious," Florica said. "You are the first ones that contact us."

THC merely registered the site, a simple process that typically takes only a few minutes. But the reaction was similar at the Kuala Lumpur offices of the Malaysian web company Shinjiru Technology, which hosted DCLeaks' stolen files for the duration of the electoral campaign.

The company's chief executive, Terence Choong, said he had never heard of DCLeaks until the AP contacted him.

"What is the issue with it?" he asked.

Questions over the FBI's handling of Fancy Bear's broad hacking sweep date to March 2016, when agents arrived unannounced at Hillary Clinton's headquarters in Brooklyn to warn her campaign about a surge of rogue, password-stealing emails.

The agents offered little more than generic security tips the campaign had already put into practice and refused to say who they thought was behind the attempted intrusions, according to a person who was there and spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was meant to be confidential.

Questions emerged again after it was revealed that the FBI never took custody of the Democratic National Committee's computer server after it was penetrated by Fancy Bear in April 2016. Former FBI Director James Comey testified this year that the FBI worked off a copy of the server, which he described as an "appropriate substitute."

"Makes me sad"

Retired Maj. James Phillips was one of the first people to have the contents of his inbox published by DCLeaks when the website made its June 2016 debut.

But the Army veteran said he didn't realise his personal emails were "flapping in the breeze" until a journalist phoned him two months later.

"The fact that a reporter told me about DCLeaks kind of makes me sad," he said. "I wish it had been a government source."

Phillips' story would be repeated again and again as the AP spoke to officials from the National Defense University in Washington to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado.

Among them: a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retired Lt Gen Patrick Hughes; a former head of Air Force Intelligence, retired Lt Gen David Deptula; a former defense undersecretary, Eric Edelman; and a former director of cybersecurity for the Air Force, retired Lt Gen Mark Schissler.

Retired Maj. Gen. Brian Keller, a former director of military support at the Geospatial Intelligence Agency, was not informed, even after DCLeaks posted his emails to the internet. In a telephone call with AP, Keller said he still wasn't clear on what had happened, who had hacked him or whether his data was still at risk.

"Should I be worried or alarmed or anything?" asked Keller, who left the spy satellite agency in 2010 and now works in private industry.

Not all the interviewees felt the FBI had a responsibility to alert them.

"Perhaps optimistically, I have to conclude that a risk analysis was done and I was not considered a high enough risk to justify making contact," said a former Air Force chief of staff, retired Gen Norton Schwartz, who was targeted by Fancy Bear in 2015.

Others argued that the FBI may have wanted to avoid tipping the hackers off or that there were too many people to notify.

"The expectation that the government is going to protect everyone and go back to everyone is false," said Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior technical officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency who teaches homeland security at Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg and was himself among the targets.

But the government is supposed to try, said Michael Daniel, who served as President Barack Obama's White House cybersecurity coordinator.

Daniel wouldn't comment directly on why so many Fancy Bear targets weren't warned in this case, but he said the issue of how and when to notify people "frankly still needs more work."

Cloak and daggers

In the absence of any official warning, some of those contacted by AP brushed off the idea that they were taken in by a foreign power's intelligence service.

"I don't open anything I don't recognise," said Joseph Barnard, who headed the personnel recovery branch of the Air Force's Air Combat Command.

That may well be true of Barnard; Secureworks' data suggests he never clicked the malicious link sent to him in June 2015. But it isn't true of everyone.

An AP analysis of the data suggests that out of 312 US military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them. That could mean that as many as 2 in 5 came perilously close to handing over their passwords.

It's not clear how many gave up their credentials in the end or what the hackers may have acquired.

Some of those accounts hold emails that go back years, when even many of the retired officials still occupied sensitive posts.

Overwhelmingly, interviewees told AP they kept classified material out of their Gmail inboxes, but intelligence experts said Russian spies could use personal correspondence as a springboard for further hacking, recruitment or even blackmail.

"You start to have information you might be able to leverage against that person," said Sina Beaghley, a researcher at the RAND Corp. who served on the NSC until 2014.

In the few cases where the FBI did warn targets, they were sometimes left little wiser about what was going on or what to do.

Rob "Butch" Bracknell, a 20-year military veteran who works as a NATO lawyer in Norfolk, Virginia, said an FBI agent visited him about a year ago to examine his emails and warn him that a "foreign actor" was trying to break into his account.

"He was real cloak-and-dagger about it," Bracknell said. "He came here to my work, wrote in his little notebook and away he went."

Left to fend for themselves, some targets have been improvising their cybersecurity.

Retired Gen Roger A Brady, who was responsible for American nuclear weapons in Europe as part of his past role as commander of the US Air Force there, turned to Apple support this year when he noticed something suspicious on his computer. Hughes, a former DIA head, said he had his hard drive replaced by the "Geek Squad" at a Best Buy in Florida after his machine began behaving strangely. Keller, the former senior spy satellite official, said it was his son who told him his emails had been posted to the web after getting a Google alert in June 2016.

A former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who like many others was repeatedly targeted by Fancy Bear but has yet to receive any warning from the FBI, said the lackluster response risked something worse than last year's parade of leaks.

"Our government needs to be taking greater responsibility to defend its citizens in both the physical and cyber worlds, now, before a cyberattack produces an even more catastrophic outcome than we have already experienced," McFaul said.

Donn reported from Plymouth, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Vadim Ghirda in Carcea, Romania, Chad Day in Washington, Frank Bajak in Houston, Justin Myers in Chicago and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.
AP

New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas are among scores of police departments across the country quietly using a highly secretive technology developed for the military that can track the whereabouts of suspects by using the signals constantly emitted by their cellphones.

Civil liberties and privacy groups are increasingly raising objections to the suitcase-sized devices known as StingRays or cell site simulators that can sweep up cellphone data from an entire neighbourhood by mimicking cell towers. Police can determine the location of a phone without the user even making a call or sending a text message. Some versions of the technology can even intercept texts and calls, or pull information stored on the phones.

Part of the problem, privacy experts say, is the devices can also collect data from anyone within a small radius of the person being tracked. And law enforcement goes to great lengths to conceal usage, in some cases, offering plea deals rather than divulging details on the StingRay.

"We can't even tell how frequently they're being used,'' said attorney Jerome Greco, of the Legal Aid Society, which recently succeeded in blocking evidence collected with the device in a New York City murder case. "It makes it very difficult.''

At least 72 state and local law enforcement departments in 24 states plus 13 federal agencies use the devices, but further details are hard to come by because the departments that use them must take the unusual step of signing nondisclosure agreements overseen by the FBI.

An FBI spokeswoman said the agreements, which often involve the Harris Corporation, a defence contractor that makes the devices, are intended to prevent the release of sensitive law enforcement information to the general public. But the agreements don't prevent an officer from telling prosecutors the technology was used in a case.

In New York, use of the technology was virtually unknown to the public until last year when the New York Civil Liberties Union forced the disclosure of records showing the NYPD used the devices more than 1,000 times since 2008. That included cases in which the technology helped catch suspects in kidnappings, rapes, robberies, assaults and murders. It has even helped find missing people.

But privacy experts say such gains come at too high a cost.

"We have a Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,'' said Jennifer Lynch, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, referring to the protection against unreasonable search and seizure. "Our Founding Fathers decided when they wrote the Bill of Rights there had to be limits placed on government.''

Lawmakers in several states have introduced proposals ranging from warrant requirements to an outright ban on the technology; about a dozen states already have laws requiring warrants.

Federal law enforcement said last year that it would be routinely required to get a search warrant before using the technology  the first effort to create a uniform legal standard for federal authorities.

And case law is slowly building. Two months ago, a Washington, DC, appeals court overturned a conviction on a sex assault after judges ruled a violation of the Fourth Amendment because of evidence improperly collected from the simulator without a proper warrant.

In the New York murder case argued by the Legal Aid Society, a judge in Brooklyn last month ruled that the NYPD must have an eavesdropping warrant signed by a judge to use the device, a much higher bar than the "reasonable suspicion'' standard that had previously been required.

"By its very nature, then, the use of a cell site simulator intrudes upon an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy, acting as an instrument of eavesdropping and requires a separate warrant supported by probable cause,'' wrote state Supreme Court Judge Martin Murphy.

New York City police officials disagreed with the ruling and disputed that a StingRay was even used in the case, even though there had been a court order to do so. Police officials also said they have since started requiring a higher standard of probable cause when applying for the devices.

Legal Aid Society's Greco said he hoped the ruling will push the nation's largest department into meeting the higher standard and help judges better understand the intricacies of more cutting-edge surveillance.

"We're hoping we can use this decision among other decisions being made across the country to show that this logic is right,'' Greco said. "Part of an issue we're facing with technology, the judges don't understand it. It makes it easier if another judge has sat down and really thought about it.''
IANS

Imagine how it would be if you can enjoy a chilled beer on Mars? US-based brewing company Anheuser-Busch is all set to make "Budweiser" the first brand of beer on the Red Planet.

Budweiser is upholding its commitment, announced earlier this year at an event South by Southwest that "it would create a beer suitable for drinking in space... and when people get there they will toast on Budweiser...", the company said in a statement this week.

"Budweiser is always pushing the boundaries of innovation and we are inspired by the collective American Dream to get to Mars," said Ricardo Marques, vice president, Budweiser.

"We are excited to begin our research to brew beer for the red planet," Marques added.

The company also plans to send 20 barley seeds  a core ingredient in Budweiser's recipe  into space.

Twenty Budweiser barley seeds will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS), packaged in two Space Tango CubeLabs  shoebox-sized facilities that host small-scale experiments.

They will be sent to space on the upcoming cargo supply mission SpaceX's CRS-13 scheduled to be launched on 4 December from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The seeds will be in orbit for approximately 30 days to see how they react in a microgravity environment, before being brought back to earth for Budweiser's innovation team to analyse.

The two barley experiments will focus on barley seed exposure and barley germination.

Not only will the research offer insights on steps to creating beer on the red planet, but it could also provide valuable information on the production of barley and the larger agricultural community here on earth.

These experiments on the ISS are the first of many steps Budweiser will take to reach its larger goal of creating a microgravity beer for Mars, the statement said.
Dhaka: The Bangladesh High Court on Sunday upheld the death sentence of 139 and the life imprisonment of 146 convicted soldiers over the massacre of 74 people, including 57 Army officers, in a 2009 mutiny, in the country's biggest-ever criminal case.

The judgement comes after the court started delivering the verdict on Sunday in the death sentence of the total 152 convicted soldiers of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) for the brutal killing at the border guards' headquarters.

"One thirty nine will have to walk to gallows and 146 will be imprisoned for life," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told a media briefing, quoting the long verdict delivered by a three-judge high court bench.

The judgement comes four years after a lower court in Dhaka handed down capital punishment to 152 and life term to 158 soldiers of the BDR.

The bench on Sunday started reading out the entire judgement on the death sentence and appeal hearing of the trial of what is said to Bangladesh's biggest ever criminal case.

A Dhaka court had awarded death penalty to 152 jawans and non-commissioned officers of the BDR, which was renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), in November 2013.

The court had sentenced 158 to life imprisonment, 251 to imprisonments up to 10 years for the 25-26 February, 2009 carnage, when 74 people, including 57 military officers serving in the BDR, were killed.

"It appears from discussions and reviews before and after the BDR mutiny that it was a conspiracy by a quarter with vested interest to hamper the stability of the state and socio-economic safety," said the bench in its observation part of the judgement.

The bench observed that it was "an attempt to destroy a trained and skilled professional force through conspiracy".

The BDR jawans had been accused of masterminding the mutiny plots, torturing and killing their officers, looting their belongings or keeping their family members captive during the rebellion.

They had also killed eight civilians, eight fellow BDR soldiers who apparently were opposed to the revolt and an army soldier apart from the 57 military officers.

Legal experts had called it the country's biggest-ever criminal trial in which some 800 ex-paramilitary soldiers had been accused of the murder of 74 people during the revolt in February 2009.

Never before had so many accused, 850 in total, been tried in a single case in the history of Bangladesh.

The bench heard the death sentences and appeals for over a year during which BDR's former deputy assistant director Touhid Ahmed, a soldier-turned-officer, appeared as the key leader of the mutineers. He was also given the capital punishment.

Two civilians, who were awarded the life term, included former lawmaker of main opposition BNP Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and Awami League leader and ex-BDR soldier Torab Ali as they were found guilty of collaborating with the mutineers.

Pintu died few years ago.

Bangladesh had renamed the mutiny-stained force as BGB in 2012 under a massive reconstruction campaign that also witnessed the changes in the border force's law, uniform, flag and monogram as part of desperate efforts to free the force from the stigma of rebellion.

The rebel BDR soldiers had staged the mutiny, alleging "deprivation", at the force's Pilkhana headquarters. It soon spread at the frontier force's sector headquarters and regional units across the country.

The soldiers turned their guns on their commanders, shot them from close range or hacked and tortured them to death.

They hid their bodies in sewers and hurriedly-dug graves and also held captive their frightened family members and humiliated them in barracks.

They had set the date for staging the revolt coinciding with the annual 'Darbar' or meeting of ordinary soldiers with the top brasses, while the then BDR chief major general Shakil Ahmed was their first victim.

The casualties took place at Pilkhana alone during the mutiny when the rebel soldiers outside Dhaka defied the command, took charge of the armoury and came out of their barracks confining their commanders from military inside.

The rebels went on a killing spree during the 33-hour revolt at Pilkhana when they also murdered the then Dhaka sector chief Colonel Mojibul Haque and other army officers.

The mutiny was a challenge for the newly elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It also angered the army officers as they lost 57 colleagues serving the paramilitary border force on deputation.
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabias powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Sunday an attack on an Egyptian mosque that killed more than 300 worshippers would galvanise an Islamic military coalition that aimed to counter terrorism and extremism. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the meeting of Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition defence ministers in Riyadh November 26, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al NasserTop defence officials from 40 Muslim-majority nations met in Riyadh on Sunday. They are part of an alliance gathered together two years ago by Prince Mohammed, who is also Saudi defence minister. The crown prince has said he would encourage a more moderate and tolerant version of Islam in the ultra-conservative kingdom. Prince Mohamed told delegates that Fridays attack in Egypt was a very painful occurrence and must make us contemplate in an international and powerful way the role of this terrorism and extremism. Gunmen carrying the flag of Islamic State attacked the mosque in North Sinai. The group of Muslim nations, called the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, has yet to take any decisive action. Officials say the group would allow members to request or offer assistance to each other to fight militants. This could include military help, financial aid, equipment or security expertise. The group, which will have a permanent base in Riyadh, would also help combat terrorist financing and ideology. The biggest threat from terrorism and extremism is not only killing innocent people and spreading hate, but tarnishing the reputation of our religion and distorting our belief, Prince Mohammed told officials from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Iraq and Syria, at the forefront of the battle against Islamic State, are not members, nor is mainly Shiite Muslim Iran, the regional rival to mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia. Qatar, originally part of the alliance, was not invited to Sundays meeting after Riyadh led a group of states seeking to isolate Doha, saying it supported terrorism. Doha denies this. Abdulelah al-Saleh, a Saudi lieutenant general and the coalitions secretary general, said Qatar was excluded to help build a consensus for launching operations. He also said the group was not aimed at creating a Sunni bloc to counter Iran. The enemy is terrorism. Its not sects or religions or races, its terrorism, Saleh told reporters. Saleh said military initiatives had been proposed to the groups ministerial council, but he did not elaborate. Despite agreement on principles, members voiced different priorities at the meeting. Yemens delegation said the focus should be Iran, al Qaeda and Islamic State, while Turkey called for support from our friends against Kurdish separatists. Critics say the coalition could become a means for Saudi Arabia to implement an even more assertive foreign policy by winning the backing of poorer African and Asian nations with offers of financial and military aid. Alongside leading a diplomatic charge against Qatar, Saudi Arabia is also leading a war against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in its neighbour Yemen, Saleh said Riyadh would pay the 400 million riyal ($107 million) bill for the coalitions new centre, but said other nations could offer financial support for specific initiatives. ($1 = 3.7502 riyals)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Ismailia: "The whole thing started with a grenade thrown from the window, then masked militants rushed into the mosque, showering us with bullets, leaving dead bodies everywhere," Mohamed Ali said, recalling the Friday attack on a mosque that killed 305 people in Egypt's North Sinai.

It was a real inferno, said the 33-year-old man who suffered two bullet wounds in the legs, reports Xinhua news agency. He is now receiving medical treatment in Ismailia province by the Suez Canal, southwest of the terror-stricken North Sinai.

Ali, a father of four who works as salesman at a grocery in al-Rawda village where the attack took place, said he still could not believe that he survived the "heinous massacre".

The militants attacked the mosque minutes after the preacher started his sermon, he said with a low fatigued voice as he grappled with pain.

"The terrorists threw bombs from the windows and doors of the mosque, besieging us inside and started to shoot randomly," Ali said. "Bodies of the dead and panicked injured worshippers were everywhere, blood splattered across the mosque."

Ali said he was praying on the frontline chairs near the preacher's rostrum, which he used as a cover from the terrorist showers of gunshots.

"The pulpit did not protect me as I was injured with two bullets but at least it saved my life," Ali said, looking at the central venous line placed into his arm.

When some worshippers attempted to get out of the mosque, he said, some masked men finished them off with rounds from their machine guns.

"It was horrible and chaotic... They showed no mercy, it was an act of genocide," he said, tears rolling down his pale cheeks. "Three brothers from my neighborhood were killed in cold blood."

On Saturday, the Egyptian general prosecutor announced that the death toll in the mosque attack had climbed to 305, including 27 children, while 128 others were wounded.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian military spokesman said air force jets hit a number of vehicles loaded with terrorists involved in the deadly attack.

In addition, the air forces targeted a number of hideouts containing weapons and ammunition that belong to the extremists, the spokesman added.

The airstrikes came hours after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi vowed to respond fiercely against terrorists who carried out the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bloodbath.

However, fingers are pointed at a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State which has claimed most major terrorist operations in Egypt over the past few years and whose affiliates are currently facing a massive security crackdown in Syria and Iraq.

It is the first time a mosque was targeted by militants in Egypt.

The North Sinai province, a mostly desert area bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, has been experiencing waves of anti-security attacks that have killed hundreds of police and soldiers since an army-led ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Momentum in Germany is building for a new grand coalition between Chancellor Angela Merkels conservative bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) to end the political instability created by the collapse of her coalition talks with other parties.

The conservatives and SPD have ruled together for the last four years and most ministers are keeping their posts in an interim government until a new coalition or minority government is formed.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosts a first meeting of Merkel, the head of Bavarias CSU conservatives, Horst Seehofer, and SPD leader Martin Schulz on Thursday.

Here are some of the overlaps and differences in policy areas likely to be discussed in any coalition talks.

Finances

Merkel has stressed she wants to maintain Germanys solid finances. Germany has run a budget surplus since 2014 under the stewardship of her hardline conservative finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble.

She has also said she wants some tax cuts, mainly for low and medium earners.

The SPD is far more focused on boosting spending and has in the last few days said it wants to increase investment in education and homes as well as on infrastructure. The SPD wants to increase inheritance tax, some in the party want to insist on raising the minimum wage and it fought the election on a pledge of keeping pensions stable.

The conservatives and SPD both want to increase spending to expand broadband.

Migration/Security

An area of possible conflict.

Since the election, Merkel has bowed to pressure from her Bavarian allies to put a cap on the number of people Germany will accept on humanitarian grounds. Merkel repeated on Saturday that she wanted to limit the number to about 200,000 a year. The SPD opposes this, arguing it breaches the constitutions guarantee of asylum to people who are persecuted for political reasons. Some leading party members have said they will not agree to a cap.

Europe

The SPD is more positive than Merkels cautious stance towards French President Emmanuel Macrons proposals for a euro zone budget and a euro zone finance minister. The SPD also backs the idea of turning the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bailout fund into a European Monetary Fund along the lines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

There is little difference on approach to Brexit talks.

Foreign Policy

Broad agreement on most areas of foreign policy, including with the United States and Turkey. The SPD puts greater emphasis on mending ties with Russia which have been hurt by the conflict in Ukraine, but this is more a matter of nuance than a deep policy rift.

Also agreement on armed forces missions abroad although the SPD is more sceptical on NATO demands to move towards increasing defence spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2014.

Social Justice

The SPD fought its election on the platform of social justice and wants to improve the lot of the less affluent.

A long-standing commitment which several senior SPD members have repeated recently is the idea of making health insurance fairer for everyone by introducing a citizens insurance. The SPD also wants to ensure men and women have equal pay and working conditions.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany defeated its key EU ally France in a very tight vote on Monday to clear the use of weed-killer glyphosate for the next five years after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer. After months of indecisive votes among the 28 member states in Brussels, Germany, whose Chancellor Angela Merkel has yet to form a new coalition after a September election, came off the fence after abstaining in previous meetings. It said it backed a European Commission proposal against the wishes of France. The Commission, the European Unions executive, said in a statement that 18 countries had backed its proposal to renew the chemicals license. Nine countries were against and one abstained, giving a positive opinion by the narrowest possible margin under rules requiring more than a simple majority. The extension was opposed by Germanys center-left Social Democrats (SPD), with which Merkel is expected to launch exploratory talks this week on renewing their grand coalition after plans for an alliance with two other parties failed. French President Emmanuel Macron, who was elected in May on a platform of pursuing deeper EU integration alongside Germany, had wanted a shorter extension and a rapid phasing out of glyphosate, which is a mainstay of farming across the continent. After the vote, he said he would take all necessary measures to ban the product, originally developed by Monsanto, as soon as an alternative is available and at the latest within three years. Monsanto declined to comment. Europe has been wrestling for the past two years over what to do with the chemical, a key ingredient in Monsantos top-selling Roundup, whose license was set to expire on Dec. 15. The chemical has been used by farmers for more than 40 years, but its safety was cast into doubt when a World Health Organization agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), concluded in 2015 it probably causes cancer. The European Union agreed to roll over the license for 18 months pending the results of a study by the European Chemicals Agency, which said in March this year that there was no evidence linking glyphosate to cancer in humans. Protestors wearing make-up and masks depicting a skull, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker demonstrate against a five-year extension of the license for weed-killer glyphosate that the European Commission will propose on Monday, in Brussels, Belgium, November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Yves HermanProtest groups, however, seized on the IARC report, questioned the science in other studies and complained about the influence of big business. The people who are supposed to protect us from dangerous pesticides have failed to do their jobs and betrayed the trust Europeans place in them, Greenpeace said after Mondays vote. In theory, the Commission could have pushed through a license extension, but it said it wanted governments to make the call on an issue that has become so politically charged. After a series of indecisive votes, they finally produced a clear majority in favor of the Commissions proposal. Protestors wearing masks depicting Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker demonstrate against a five-year extension of the license for weed-killer glyphosate that the European Commission will propose on Monday, in Brussels, Belgium, November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Yves HermanTodays vote shows that when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision making, said health and food safety commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis. Farmers association Copa-Cogeca said it was glad a decision had been taken, but regretted the license renewal had not been for 15 years given strong scientific evidence from EU agencies. The key swing vote came from Germany, whose government is operating in an acting capacity following the indecisive election. Berlin abstained earlier, but threw its weight behind a decision opposed by France. Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, all did likewise, leaving only Portugal still on the fence on Monday. Had any of the others continued to abstain, deadlock would have gone on. An extension required 16 states representing 65 percent of the EU population to vote in favor. The 18 supporters account for 65.7 percent. The German vote exposed internal divisions in Berlin ahead of this weeks coalition talks. Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, an SPD lawmaker, accused the chancellors center-right group of reneging on a deal to continue abstaining. French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert told reporters that Paris would push to change farming practices that embraced alternatives to glyphosate, so that its use could be ended.

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New Delhi: India and Greece on Monday agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in a range of key areas including trade, maritime security and energy and inked a pact for launching the first direct flight service between the two countries.

Greece also extended support to India's bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias held extensive talks covering the entire expanse of bilateral relations besides delving into major regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.

In a statement, the external affairs ministry said the discussions between the two ministers focused on building closer cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture, maritime sector, culture and tourism.

"The two ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest," the ministry said.

Later, speaking at a think tank, Kotzias said that Greece fully supports India's bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council as a "new balance of power" is emerging in the world.

Observing that the world was passing through a difficult time, he said forces of fundamentalism and terrorism are trying to destabilise the world.

After their talks, Swaraj and Kotzias inked an air services agreement and another pact on cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy.

The air services agreement will allow Indian airlines to operate to Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion. Similarly, the Greek airlines will also be able to launch flight services to major Indian cities.

At present, there is no direct air connectivity between India and the southeastern European nation.

On talks between the two ministers, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the discussions covered all aspects of bilateral relations and that the two leaders reaffirmed commitment to further expand cooperation in mutually beneficial spheres.

The volume of bilateral trade has gradually declined, primarily due to the economic recession faced by Greece. The country has been dependent on bailout packages to deal with its borrowing needs since 2011.

The size of bilateral trade between India and Greece was $606.93 million in 2009-10 which fell to $445 million in 2015-16.

Greece's exports to India include cotton, marble and granite, aluminium foils and calcium carbonate while main Indian exports are petroleum products, automobile components, electrical transformers, frozen shrimps and cashew nuts.

Indian companies have established their presence in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and steel sectors in Greece while the Greek companies are present in the fields of IT and construction in India.

"The sectors such as agriculture, shipping and tourism also offer scope for cooperation," the ministry said.

About 10,000 Indian nationals are living in Greece and most of them are employed in factories or in the construction sector.

Kotzias is on a four-day visit to India which will conclude on Tuesday.
Islamic fundamentalism and the fuelling of terror are alive and kicking in Pakistan, if the outpourings of public support in the wake of Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's release from house arrest and the violent protests against a proposed new version of an oath to be taken by lawmakers that omitted mention of Prophet Muhammad are anything to go by.

In the latter case, the changes in the oath were dropped forthwith by a chastened government but the agitation escalated to such an extent that Law Minister Zahid Hamid, who was seen to be the architect of the 'blasphemous' changes, was forced to quit.

Tehreek-i-Labaik firebrand leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who is the agitation spearhead, is indeed in no mood to let up. He called for an immediate nationwide strike to agitate against the 'atrocities committed' by the police on Saturday, even as the agitation spread to Karachi, Lahore and Multan.

To the new generation of Pakistani liberals who abhor the whole hypocritical emphasis on 'blasphemy', the fact that Facebook, YouTube, DailyMotion and Instagram were all down in parts of the country, as the government mulled blocking cell phone signals, was a signal for obscurantism which angered them. Just prior to this, Pakistani authorities had announced a ban on all live TV news coverage of the operation to remove the protesters.

"All satellite TV channel licensees were directed to exhibit utmost sensitivity on the matter and refrain from live coverage of the ongoing operation at Faizabad, Islamabad," read a notice from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority.

Hamid tried to cover up the decision to change the oath-taking text by ascribing the whole thing to a 'clerical error' but the ferocity of the demand for his ouster was unrelenting.

At least six protesters were killed and 200 injured  including dozens of police officers and paramilitary troops  as stone-throwing crowds fought with police for control of a highway intersection.

Supporters of Rizvi's political party, camping at the Faizabad Interchange, blocking the main road from the capital Islamabad to neighbouring Rawalpindi, clashed with thousands of Pakistani police officers in riot gear who were firing tear gas and rubber bullets, paralysing the Pakistani capital for weeks with a protest on the main highway.

Interestingly, there was a perceptible reluctance on the part of the army to deal with the agitators, pointing to the fact that the forces did not want to be seen as being on the side of the government against the Islamists. This is an ominous sign indeed. It raises possibilities that if the agitation continues despite Hamid's resignation, the army's support to the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government cannot be taken for granted.

As the standoff has escalated, protest leaders have stepped up their demands, and are now calling for the entire cabinet to resign. Behind-the-scene attempts are, however, being made to defuse the situation.

On Saturday, a new dimension was added to the rally when Rizvi, addressing his supporters from atop a trailer, accused the authorities of working on behalf of the United States. "(Donald) Trump says change Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Are you acting on his orders?" he asked the police.

There is a section in Pakistan, especially among the hardcore elements, that despises the Americans. Especially when passions are aroused against them, there are many takers for defying them. While the Americans have already expressed great displeasure over Saeed's release and the sham nature of his arrest and trial, United States' statements on scrapping the blasphemy law are likely to meet with fresh resistance.

The law on blasphemy was the result of former president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's attempts to ingratiate himself to the mullahs when he was losing ground with the people. It was Zia-ul-Haq as a former army chief who had built up a strong army-mullah bond.

Finding Pakistan increasingly isolated in the world with a recognisable tag of a fundamentalist state, the Pakistan government thought it expedient to modify the oath of office as a move to look more liberal than it actually is.

This is what led to the agitation that is threatening the existence of the Shahid Khaqan Abbasi government. There was no love lost between the Nawaz Sharif government and the army top brass in the latter's last days in power. The same is the case with Sharif's chosen successor and the forces.

Pakistan is today widely looked upon as a failed state as much because it is the fountainhead of terror but also because of the power the fundamentalists wield in the country among large sections of people. As it is, over the years, the severely depleted Hindus and Christians have been reduced to second-class citizens.

Successive governments in Pakistan trained and armed terrorists to fight the Indian Army in Kashmir. Today, the Pakistanis themselves are victims of unbridled terror because extremism has a tendency to escalate beyond proportions.

By fanning the flames of fundamentalism over the years, have successive Pakistan governments been committing the blunder of raising another monster that would prove to be a huge liability for Pakistan? Only time will tell but that appears a strong possibility.
Tegucigalpa: Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez declared himself the winner of elections before official results were announced  and his top rival did the same.

"The result is more than clear: we won this election," Hernandez told a crowd of supporters who cheered him in the capital Tegucigalpa.

Shortly after his announcement, 64-year-old Salvador Nasralla of the leftist Alliance Against the Dictatorship coalition also proclaimed himself to be the winner.

The Opposition denounces the Constitutional Court's decision to allow Hernandez to run for re-election, despite a constitutional one-term limit, a move that has also sparked fears of a crisis in the crime-wracked country.

An estimated six million people were eligible to vote, electing not just a president but also members of Congress, mayors and members of the Central American parliament.

Still "we have observed a quiet process; what we have seen so far has been positive," said Marisa Matias, a European parliament observer from Portugal, one of some 1,60,000 monitors.

Hernandez's conservative National Party  which controls the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government  contends that a 2015 Supreme Court ruling allows his re-election.

"Thanks to everyone for strengthening democracy," Hernandez said on Twitter. "We are leading and we are going to win decisively."

The Opposition, though, has denounced his bid, saying the court does not have the power to overrule the 1982 constitution.

Hernandez's main rivals  former TV anchor Nasralla and Luis Zelaya, 50, of the right-leaning Liberal Party  had both said before the vote that they would not recognize a Hernandez victory.

"It's an atypical electoral process with an illegal re-election," said Zelaya after voting.

Nasralla, while visiting voting stations around the capital to rally his supporters, urged them to be vigilant for signs of fraud.

"They are out here offering poor people food, roof tiles or cement in exchange for their vote," he complained.

"I tell them that that's how they are going to stay poor. I am going to create jobs for them."

Hernandez, 49, cast his vote early in his hometown of Gracias, in mountainous western Honduras, accompanied by his daughter and several National Party deputies.

"Four more years," supporters chanted as he arrived. Hernandez told reporters he had been up early, messaging with organizers to be sure the elections would take place smoothly.

Honduras, in the heart of the "Northern Triangle" of Central America where gangs and poverty reign, has one of the highest murder rates in the world, though that metric has fallen during Hernandez's four years in office.

What credit he claims from that progress is counterbalanced by tensions from a 2009 coup.

That year, then-president Manuel Zelaya was deposed by the armed forces, with backing from the right and from powerful businessmen, for nudging closer to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

Zelaya  no relation to the Liberal Party candidate  was notably accused of wanting to change the constitution to vie for a second term.
Islamabad: The Islamist leader whose group clashed violently with Pakistani security forces and paralysed Islamabad for weeks called off the sit-in protest Monday after the law minister resigned, meeting its key demand.

"On the assurance of the Chief of Army Staff, we are calling off the sit-in," Khadim Hussain Rizvi told a crowd of around 2,500 demonstrators from the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY), who have occupied a main highway to the capital since 6 November.

His statement came after state media reported that law minister Zahid Hamid had resigned. There was no immediate comment or confirmation from government officials.

The decision to capitulate to the protesters' demands is a major embarrassment for the embattled ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as it eyes elections in 2018, analysts said, and underscores the influence of religious groups in the nuclear-armed nation.

The previously obscure Islamist group has been calling for weeks for Hamid's ousting over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath which election candidates must swear.

The protesters have linked the amended wording to blasphemy  a highly contentious issue in Muslim Pakistan that has often fuelled violence.

Monday's announcement came after a botched operation on Saturday to disperse the demonstrators sparked violence in Islamabad that left at least seven people dead and hundreds wounded. It fuelled the spread of the protests to major cities across the country including Karachi and Lahore.

The government ordered police and paramilitaries to stand down after the clashes and called on the army to intervene to restore order. By Monday morning there still had been no official response from the military.

The sit-in has enraged commuters in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi with hours-long traffic snarls, caused the death of at least one child whose ambulance could not reach hospital in time, and infuriated the judiciary.

Hamid's ousting is the latest in a series of heavy blows to the ruling party.

In July, Nawaz Sharif was deposed as prime minister by the courts over graft allegations, while finance minister Ishaq Dar  also accused of corruption  has taken indefinite medical leave.

"Politically, this is a major embarrassment for the PML-N," analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, warning that it would undermine their credibility and predicting more defections.

He also warned it had strengthened the position of hardline Islamic groups like TLY, whose campaigning in the upcoming elections could further weaken the PML-N. The party has previously benefited from the right-wing religious vote.
Islamabad: Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid reportedly decided to resign following clashes between police and protesters triggered by a clearance operation, the media reported on Sunday.

Hamid made the decision during his meeting with Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, said the Express news, adding that the law minister would tender his resignation to the prime minister on Monday.

Many other news channels also quoted sources as reporting that the minister is likely to resign shortly.

The Pakistani government last month passed a religion-related bill and triggered strong opposition from religious community. The government later retracted the bill, but some religious groups demanded the resignation of the law minister and staged the sit-in protest for almost three weeks.

The protesters blocked the main road linking Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The government took a clearance operation on Saturday after rounds of negotiations with the protesters. However, the operation triggered more protests in major cities across the country.

Local reports said that several were killed and over hundreds injured during Saturday's nationwide clashes.
Islamabad: Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid has tendered his resignation following the deadly clashes across the country between police and protesters belonging to hardline religious groups, state broadcaster said on Monday.

The protesters had staged sit-in in the capital for about three weeks demanding removal of Hamid for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017. They alleged the action undermined Islamic beliefs and linked it to blasphemy.

Hamid, the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, presented his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis", Radio Pakistan reported.

The resignation came as part of an agreement reached between the government and the protesters overnight. The deal came after a two-day face-off in Islamabad and other parts of the country between protesters and security forces that saw at least six people killed and hundreds injured.
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - The mosque was packed with hundreds of worshippers for Friday prayers in Egypts North Sinai when gunmen in military-style uniforms and masks appeared in a doorway and at windows. Damaged vehicles are seen after a bomb exploded at Al Rawdah mosque in Bir Al-Abed, Egypt November 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Soliman The ease with which they mounted an attack - killing more than 300 people in the worst bloodshed of its kind in Egypts modern history - highlighted the threat militant groups pose in the most populous Arab country. After four years of battling Islamic State in the Sinai, where the group has killed hundreds of soldiers and police, authorities still face an enemy with growing ambitions in Egypt, despite its defeats in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Carrying the black flag of Islamic State, the assailants arrived in off-road vehicles before opening fire on the cream-coloured Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, leaving its carpets stained with blood, officials and witnesses said. People scrambled to escape as gunmen opened fire at worshippers, including dozens of children. By the time the shooting stopped, many of the villages men were lifeless. No group has claimed responsibility. ATTACK RATTLES EGYPTIANS Egyptians were stunned because the attack was directed at a mosque - a rarity in the countrys history of Islamist insurgencies. The possibility that ultra-hardline Islamists are shifting tactics and picking new targets is worrying for Egypt, where governments have struggled to contain groups far less brazen than Islamic State. Egyptian leaders have adopted a zero-tolerance policy, with air strikes, raids on militant hideouts and long prison sentences. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has once again threatened to crush the militants. The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force in the coming period, he said after Fridays carnage. Sisi has called for a comprehensive campaign to counter what he describes as the existential threat of radical jihadism, deploying moderate clerics to promote moderate Islam, for instance. He is expected to run for a second term early next year. Even with a convincing win, he will face pressure to deliver on promises of stability, especially if attacks like that on Al Rawdah persist. For Islamic State, the village was a target because of its ties to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam that hardline Islamist groups consider heretical. Some villagers recalled how these threats were made about a year ago in an Islamic State internet publication. In a December 2016 issue of al-Nabaa, one of the groups religious leaders left little doubt that Sufis would be targeted. It mentioned Al Rawdah directly. Our primary focus lies in the war against polytheism and apostasy, and of those, Sufism, sorcery and divination, he said. More threats were made in early 2017. SUFIS CONDEMNED FOR BELIEFS In March, Islamic States branch in the Sinai posted a video of its religious police forcing a group of Sufis to renounce their beliefs under threat of death. It showed what it said were militants beheading two elderly Sufi men in the desert after they were found guilty of witchcraft and sorcery. Egypt has about 15 million Sufis, and their shrines and saints appear in villages across the country. Ultra-conservative Salafists abhor Sufi practices and some have in the past threatened to smash their symbols with hammers and iron bars. Five police and army sources said there was no recent specific threat against Sufis in Al Rawdah. Fridays attack began in the early afternoon. The mosques imam said he had just stepped onto the podium for his sermon when gunfire erupted and worshippers struggled to escape. I found people piled on top of each other and they kept firing at anyone, imam Mohamed Abdel Fattah told Reuters from his hospital bed in Sharqiya city. They fired at anyone who breathed. Ramadan Salama, 26, said all he remembers before ending up in hospital was gunmen entering the mosque during the sermon and spraying worshippers with gunfire. As Egyptian security forces try to reassure an anxious public, they face yet another dangerous enemy. A new group with military training is already posing a more complex threat. In October it mounted a sophisticated attack, not far from Cairo. The little-known Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack on police in the Western desert, far from northern Sinai. Security sources said dozens of police officers and conscripts were killed. The government said 16 police and conscripts died. Security sources said the heavy weapons and tactics employed indicated ties to Islamic State or more likely an al Qaeda brigade led by Hesham al-Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer turned jihadist. For now, security and intelligence officials will continue to hunt Ashmawy, described as the countrys most wanted man. Egypts prosecutors office, citing its investigation and interviews with wounded survivors, says gunmen carried an Islamic State flag as they stormed the Al Rawdah mosque. Authorities say 305 people, including 27 children, died as gunmen even attacked ambulances arriving on the scene. Another 128 were wounded. They entered the mosque from outside, almost 10 to 20 people with weapons, and they destroyed everything, said resident Magdy Rezk from hospital. It was a huge toll for a tiny village. Tribal leader Ibrahim el-Menaie, told Reuters via social media that it has a population of only 800. The whole village is black with mourning, said resident Haj Ahmed Swailam.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli parliament voted on Monday in favour of a draft law barring police from publicising its conclusions in criminal probes -- legislation seen as shielding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under investigation for corruption. FILE PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File PhotoThe draft must still pass two more parliamentary votes. But if written into law, police would not be allowed to say whether they have found sufficient grounds to charge Netanyahu, keeping the Israeli public in the dark until the attorney-general determines whether the prime minister is to be prosecuted. The draft law also proposes a one-year jail term for officials who leak findings to the press. Its two sponsors, confidants of Netanyahu, said the law is meant to protect suspects rights and reputation, while the opposition derided it as a blatant attempt to protect Netanyahu and withhold knowledge from the public about his investigations. The public doesnt need to know everything. The public will find out at the end, Netanyahus coalition head, David Bitan told the Knesset television channel. Netanyahu has said he has no interest in promoting personal legislation but he has not ordered Bitan and his co-sponsor of the bill, David Amsalem, to withdraw the legislation. Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases, one into alleged meddling in the media industry and the other into gifts he received from rich businessmen. He denies any wrongdoing. But, if charged, he would come under heavy pressure to resign or could call an election to test whether he still had a mandate. FILE PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File PhotoThis is a Netanyahu law, said Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition party Yesh Atid, which latest polls show as neck in neck with Netanyahus Likud. It is tailored for very few people. The only people to benefit from it are politicians, mafia heads and politicians who behave like mafia heads. All four prime ministers of the past two decades have been suspects in police investigations, but only Ehud Olmert was charged and convicted. He spent 16 months in jail for accepting bribes from real estate developers. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem November 19, 2017. REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunIn high-profile cases such as these, police usually say if they have gathered sufficient evidence against the suspects, before handing over to the Justice Ministry, where the Attorney-General and prosecutors decide whether to file charges. The attorney-general has expressed alarm about the proposed legislation. [L8N1NK5EK] The two investigations in which Netanyahu is a suspect are known as Case 1000 and Case 2000. Case 1000 revolves around gifts he received from businessmen, including cigars and champagne. Netanyahus lawyers say they were simply presents from long-time friends, with no quid pro quo. Case 2000 focuses on suspicions Netanyahu negotiated with the publisher of Israels best-selling newspaper for better coverage in return for curbs on the competition. The prime ministers lawyers say Netanyahu never seriously considered any such deal. Netanyahu has described himself as a victim of a political witch hunt and said of the cases against him: There will be nothing because there is nothing.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
FAIZABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Islamist party activists on Sunday clashed with Pakistani security forces for a second day outside the capital, Islamabad, burning vehicles before withdrawing into an uneasy stand-off at a protest camp they have occupied for two weeks, police said. A passerby takes a selfie in front of a police prison van destroyed during clashes with police near the Faizabad junction in Islamabad, Pakistan November 26, 2017. REUTERS/Caren Firouz Despite orders from the civilian government to the army on Saturday night to help restore order, no troops were at the scene around the protest camp in Faizabad, on the outskirts of the capital, witnesses said. The militarys press department did not respond to queries about the governments order. According to media reports at least six people were killed on the previous day, when several thousand police and paramilitary forces tried to disperse the religious hardliners, who have blocked the main route into the capital demanding that the law minister be fired for committing blasphemy. At least 150 people were wounded in Saturdays clashes, hospitals reported, and police superintendent Amir Niazi said 80 members of the security forces were among those casualties. Reuters could not confirm that there had been any deaths. Throughout Sunday, baton-armed supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labaik party blocked several main highways, roads and arteries in major Pakistani cities, paralysing traffic and daily life. We have orders just to contain them, Islamabads Assistant City Police Commissioner Mohammad Ali said. Smoke billowed from the charred remains of a car and three motorcycles burned that morning near the Faizabad protest camp, where several thousand Tehreek-e-Labaik activists have gathered in defiance of the government. After the early morning clashes, the area settled into an uneasy stand-off. The paramilitary Rangers force - which had held back from Saturdays confrontation - was in charge of Sundays operations, officers said. We still dont have orders to launch an operation. We will act as the government orders us, said Rangers commander at the scene Colonel Bilal, who gave only one name. We have surrounded the protesters from all sides. We can move in when the government orders us. FAILED CRACKDOWN A policeman takes a picture of a car burned during clashes near the Faizabad junction in Islamabad, Pakistan November 26, 2017. REUTERS/Caren FirouzActivists from Tehreek-e-Labaik have blocked the main road into the capital for two weeks, accusing the law minister of blasphemy over a wording change in electoral law the party says weakens the Islamic tenet of Mohammad as Gods final prophet. We will not leave. We will fight until end, Tehreek-e-Labaik party spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi told Reuters on Saturday. Led by cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Labaik is one of two new ultra-religious political movements that became prominent in recent months. Labaik, which campaigns on defending Pakistans strict blasphemy laws, won a surprisingly strong 6 percent and 7.6 percent of the vote in two recent by-elections. While Islamist parties are unlikely to win a majority they could play a major role in elections that must be held by the summer of next year. Slideshow (3 Images)Tehreek-e-Laibak was born out of a protest movement lionizing Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard of the governor of Punjab province who gunned down his boss in 2011 over his call to reform strict blasphemy laws. Party leader Rizvi called Qadri, who was executed last year, a hero in a September interview with Reuters. By Sunday afternoon, private TV stations that had been ordered off the air the day before were broadcasting again. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube remained blocked in many areas. After Saturdays failed crackdown by police, the government called for military assistance for law and order duty according to the constitution. However, there has been no public statement from the military in response and no sign that any troops had left their barracks. On Saturday before the government order, Pakistans army chief called on the civilian government to end the protest while avoiding violence from both sides, the military press wing said. The ruling party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in July and is facing a corruption trial - has a fraught history with the military, which in 1999 launched a coup to oust Sharif from an earlier term. Minister of Interior Iqbal on Saturday said the protests were part of a conspiracy to weaken the government, which is now run by Sharifs allies under a new prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. There are attempts to create a chaos in (the) country, Iqbal said on state-run Pakistan TV.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Rome: Pope Francis set off on his 21st and possibly most delicate overseas trip yet, a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis.

The 80-year-old pontiff's plane left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar's main city, shortly after 9 pm GMT.

He will touch down around 7 am GMT on Monday hoping to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar, forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.

"I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope," Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter's Square, shortly before packing his bags for the diplomatically fraught trip.

Some 6,20,000 Rohingya, more than half their total number, have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.

Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week's tentative agreement between the two countries to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
Beirut: At least 53 civilians, including 21 children, perished early Sunday morning when Russian air strikes hit "residential buildings" in a village held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit the village of Al-Shafah in Deir Ezzor province, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

The monitor had initially given a death toll of 34 civilians but the number spiked after more bodies were recovered.

"The toll increased after removing the debris in a long day of rescue operation," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, adding the strikes hit "residential buildings".

At least 18 people were also wounded in the air raids, he added.

Russia is a close ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and in September 2015 began a military intervention in support of his government that has gradually helped Damascus regain territory.

Syria's Deir Ezzor is one of the last places Islamic State jihadists hold territory in the country, after being driven from their major strongholds including their one-time de facto Syrian capital Raqa city.

The oil-rich eastern province that borders Iraq was once almost completely under Islamic State control, but the jihadists now hold just nine percent of Deir Ezzor, according to the Observatory.

They have faced two separate offensives there, one led by the regime with Russian backing and the other by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Russia in driving seat

The latest strikes come as the United Nations tries to revitalise its flagging efforts to end a six-year civil war that has left Syria devastated and huge swathes of its population refugees.

On Tuesday, the eighth round of UN-brokered talks will kick off.

They have achieved little so far, but may be bolstered by the opposition's decision to bring a unified delegation to Geneva for the first time.

For progress to happen rival sides will need to overcome the hurdle that has derailed past discussions: the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He retains Moscow's support but is loathed by much of Syria's rebel opposition who want him gone.

Backed by Russia's decisive military support, Assad's government has regained control of 55 percent of the country, including major cities Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, and around two-thirds of the population lives in regime-held areas.

The rest is carved up between rebel factions, jihadists and Kurdish forces.

Some experts believe that Russia has clearly put itself in the driver's seat in recent months, especially as US President Donald Trump's administration has pulled back from Syrian diplomatic front.

Russia, fellow regime ally Iran and rebel-backer Turkey have hosted negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones" which produced a drop in violence, though deadly air strikes and battles continue in some areas.

And this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a "congress" of Syrian regime and opposition figures, a move backed by Ankara and Tehran.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's crown prince vowed to "pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth" as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered on Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance.

"In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries... with no coordination" among national authorities, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defence minister, said in his keynote address to the gathering in Riyadh.

"This ends today, with this alliance."

The summit is the first meeting of defence ministers and other senior officials from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, which officially counts 41 countries and identifies as a "pan-Islamic unified front" against violent extremism.

The alliance was announced in 2015 under the auspices of Prince Mohammed, whose rapid ascent since his appointment as heir to the throne in June has shaken the political scene across the region.

Sunday's meeting comes as several military coalitions, including key Saudi ally the United States, battle to push the Islamic State group from its last remaining bastions in Iraq and Syria.

The alliance groups largely, although not exclusively, Sunni-majority or Sunni-ruled countries.

It excludes Saudi Arabia's arch-rival, Shiite-dominated Iran, as well as Syria and Iraq, whose leaders have close ties to Tehran.

Sunday's meeting coincides with an escalation in tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, particularly over wars in Syria and Yemen and the political structure of multi-confessional Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supporting armed groups across the Middle East, including Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah and Yemen's Huthi rebels.

"The pillar of this coalition is inclusion," said Saudi General Abdulelah al-Saleh, the alliance's acting secretary general, playing down the exclusion of the three countries.

"Our common enemy is terrorism, not any religion, sect or race."

The alliance meeting in Riyadh brings together Muslim or Muslim-majority nations including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Uganda, Somalia, Mauritania, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Turkey.

'Distorted image of Islam'

Retired Pakistani general Raheel Sharif, who has been appointed commander-in-chief, also insisted that the coalition was not against any religion or state.

The alliance aims to "mobilise and coordinate the use of resources, facilitate the exchange of information and help member countries build their own counter-terrorism capacity," Sharif said.

While the alliance officially includes Qatar, which is the target of a six-month boycott led by Saudi Arabia, organisers in Riyadh said no Qatari officials were present at the meeting.

Qatar's flag was also absent.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain abruptly cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing the emirate of being too close to Iran and supporting Islamist extremism.

Doha denies the allegations.

Egypt, which sent a military official and not its defence minister to Sunday's meeting, is reeling from a Friday attack on a mosque that killed more than 300 people during prayer time.

While the Islamic State has not claimed responsibility, Egyptian authorities say the organisation is the main suspect as the mosque is associated with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam, whom Islamic State has branded heretics.

Prince Mohammed said Friday's "painful event" was a reminder of the "danger of terrorism and extremism".

"Beyond the killing of innocent people and the spread of hatred, terrorism and extremism distort the image of our religion," he said.

Since his sudden appointment as crown prince, Prince Mohammed has moved to consolidate power, announcing crackdowns on both terrorism and corruption.

A corruption purge saw around 200 members of the Saudi elite including princes, ministers and business tycoons arrested or sacked earlier this month.
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to hold a special session on killings, rapes and other crimes committed against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar that have driven more than 600,000 into Bangladesh since August, U.N. sources said on Monday. Nine-month pregnant Rohingya refugee Taslima,18, is helped after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border at a relief centre in the Teknaf area, Bangladesh, November 23, 2017. REUTERS/Susana VeraThere will be a special session on December 5, a senior United Nations source told Reuters. Council spokesman Rolando Gomez could not confirm the date but said: There are moves to convene a special session to address the human rights situation in the country. At least 16 of the 47 member states must request holding a special session of the Council, which are rare. Bangladesh and Muslim-majority countries were expected to back the call. Rohingya refugees push each other as they line up to receive food supplies at Hakim Para refugee settlement near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 21, 2017. REUTERS/Susana VeraIn March, the Council already set up a fact-finding team. The investigators reported after their first mission to Bangladesh last month that Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar had testified that a consistent, methodical pattern of killings, torture, rape and arson is taking place. The latest Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state to Bangladeshs southern tip began at the end of August, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive. Slideshow (5 Images)U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein has described the armys crackdown in Rakhine state as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. The military has denied the accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement. Amnesty International and other activist groups, in an open letter sent last week to member states, said that a special session was imperative to launch decisive action and ensure international scrutiny and monitoring of the situation. Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar on Monday on a diplomatically delicate visit for the leader of the Roman Catholic church to the majority-Buddhist country.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura said on Monday that the Syrian government had not yet confirmed that it would attend an eighth round of peace talks in Geneva this week, but indicated that we would be hearing from them soon. United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura attends a news conference at the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland, September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/FilesLast night we received a message that the government would not travel to Geneva today. Naturally we hope, and indeed expect the government will be on its way shortly, de Mistura told the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Though Microsoft Android Apps are available for Android phones, they were never available for Chromebooks which was a deal breaker for those who are into the Microsoft ecosystem. However, that changes today as the company has silently made available the office suite apps for all Chromebooks.

The company didnt have a formal launch; rather it just launched them directly. Folks at Chrome Unboxed have tried the apps on a handful of Chromebook models Samsung Chromebook Pro, Pixelbook, Acer Chromebook 15, etc. and they seem to be working just fine.

Though Chromebooks had support for documents in the form of Google Docs, for users who are well into the Microsoft ecosystem, it is a tough call for them to switch. With Microsoft Office apps now being available for Chromebook, it is a huge selling point for Google. It is obvious that the Android app doesnt match the functionality of a desktop, it does have all the basics and support syncing through Office 365.

All the 10-inch Chromebooks can create and edit documents for free after logging in to a Microsoft account, but for anything larger, you will need an Office 365 subscription to edit documents. You can download the Microsoft Office apps; Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint directly from Play Store.

Source
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu talking about the Apples manufacturing plant in India has said that the Government of India is happy to receive Apple and will support the company to set up a manufacturing unit in the country. He said that they are awaiting a formal proposal from the Cupertino-based company.

Furthermore, he adds that the Central Government will be calling all state chief ministers who are willing to give Apple the best deal. Apple had requested certain concessions like duty exemptions, components, capital equipment and consumables for smartphone manufacturing and service/repair for a period of 15 years for setting up a manufacturing unit in the country.

Government of India has sought investment and job creation details from Apple to expedite the proposed manufacturing facility in India. Apple is also seeking relaxation in the mandated 30% local sourcing of components, reduction in customs duties on completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked-down units of devices that are to be assembled in the country.

Back in March, Nirmala Sitharaman, the then Commerce and Industry Minister had mentioned that Government of India has rejected most of the demands of Apple for settings up its plant in India. The company currently doesnt manufacture iPhones, iPads, rather it just gets its job done through contract manufacturers and sells the products through its own retail stores.

Suresh Prabhu talking about the same said in a PTI interview:

Let us get a good proposal from themWe will be very happy to receive Apple, one of the top brands in the world. We are willing to find out if there is any difficulty they may face. We will be more than happy to resolve that difficulty. So we will await a formal proposal.

Source
Olam Cocoa

A leading originator of cocoa beans, a globally leading cocoa processor, and the worlds foremost focused supplier of cocoa beans and cocoa products (cocoa powder, cocoa butter and cocoa mass), Olam Cocoa is a fully integrated cocoa business.

Cocoa beans are sourced from all major origins across Africa, Asia and South America, and Olam Cocoas portfolio of respected brands is spearheaded by deZaan, with its heritage of more than 100 years of excellence, as well as African origin brand Unicao, South American origin brand Joanes, the well-established Macao cocoa powders and Britannia confectionery and speciality fats brands, and the recently launched Huysman cocoa powder brand. Olam Cocoa has processing, refining and milling presence in the main cocoa producing countries, as well as in, or adjacent to, primary consumption markets in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Alongside a substantial operational infrastructure, Olam Cocoa recognises the clear responsibility to operate sustainably, Grow Responsibly and drive change by Re-imagining Agriculture. As one of the worlds leading suppliers of sustainable cocoa, Olam Cocoa is accelerating progress towards the goal of 100% traceable and sustainable cocoa volumes from its direct supply chain by 2020.

The deZaan product range is organised around the three key elements of consistency, quality and functionality (flavour, colour and performance in application) and the three ingredient categories of cocoa powders, cocoa masses and cocoa butters. These are available in a wide range of technically specific formulations that cover the entire spectrum of application possibilities, from dairy and bakery to beverages, ice cream, cereals and high-end chocolates. D11BK is the ideal black cocoa powder for perfectly balanced recipes. This is the first ever nib alkalised black cocoa powder that provides superior sensory properties and colour impact without any added sodium. D11BK offers the option for a substantial sodium reduction in recipes and the ability to produce health conscious products that support permissible indulgence trends in categories ranging from biscuits and muffins, to cereals, desserts and ice creams.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's transparency body said on Sunday it would seek information from Uber about the consequences of a large data breach that the ride-hailing company disclosed on Tuesday.

The National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data said it would attempt to determine how many users, drivers and employees in Mexico had been affected, as well as the steps Uber would take to mitigate the damage and prevent such breaches from occurring in the future.

On Tuesday, Uber said it paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed personal data from around 57 million accounts.

"We confirm that no type of historical information related to trips, credit card numbers, birth dates or social security numbers was exposed in the case," an Uber spokesman said in a statement. "We will continue to provide in a timely manner all the information that pertains to this case."

The disclosure sparked concerns from regulators around the world. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday that it was "closely evaluating the serious issues" presented by the incident, and Britain's data protection authority said that concealment of the data breach raised "huge concerns" about Uber's data policies and ethics.

(Reporting by Julia Love; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian oil transport company Enbridge Inc. announced an agreement Monday intended to boost the safety of twin oil pipelines beneath the waterway where Lakes Michigan and Huron converge.

The deal does not call for the decommissioning of Line 5 as environmental groups have demanded, although it does include a procedure for temporarily halting the flow of oil through the 5-mile-long (8-kilometer-long) underwater segment when storms cause sustained periods of high waves.

It also calls for a study to examine the possibility of digging a tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac through which the existing pipelines  or a new one  could be routed. The two 20-inch (50-centimeter) lines have lain on the lakebed since 1953.

It also calls for steps to allow faster detection of and quicker response to a potential spill.

Business as usual by Enbridge is not acceptable and we are going to ensure the highest level of environmental safety standards are implemented to protect one of Michigans most valuable natural resources, Snyder said.

Line 5 is a 645-mile (1,040-kilometer) line that runs from Superior, Wisconsin, through northern Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario.

The company says the 5-mile (8-kilometer) underwater segment is safe, but environmental groups and some officials have raised concerns about recent disclosures of gaps in protective enamel coating.
Crestwood Equity Partners (NYSE: CEQP) currently yields a dreamy 10.3%. While a yield in the double digits is typically a sign of trouble, that's not the case with Crestwood. If anything, the pipeline and processing company's payout and growth prospects have only grown stronger this year, thanks to its ability to complete several strategic initiatives. As a result, the company is a dream stock for income seekers since it offers an ultra-high yield that's becoming increasingly safe and probably heading higher.

Drilling down into the numbers

During the third quarter, Crestwood Equity Partners generated $50.3 million in distributable cash flow (DCF), which is money it could pay out to investors during the quarter. However, despite sporting an ultra-high yield, the company didn't come close to exhausting its available resources in paying its current distribution to investors, since it covered the payout with cash flow by a comfortable 1.2 times. The company subsequently had some money left over to help finance growth projects. Those results kept it on pace to generate between $210 million to $230 million in DCF for the full year, which should cover its lucrative distribution by 1.2 to 1.4 times.

Not only can Crestwood easily cover its current payout, but its balance sheet is also on solid ground. The company ended the quarter with a 4.1 leverage ratio and expected that metric to be between 4.0 to 4.5 this year. That's in line with the levels of some of the top-tier MLPs:

Meanwhile, Crestwood's financial situation is about to get even stronger because the company recently agreed to sell its non-core U.S. Salt business for $225 million in cash. Crestwood initially plans to use those proceeds to pay down its credit facility. However, that will free up money so the company can finance its current slate of growth projects through the end of next year without needing to issue any more equity. As a result, it expects the deal to bolster DCF per unit between 3% to 5% by 2019.

Visible growth on the horizon

However, those incremental earnings are just a sample of what Crestwood has in the pipeline, since it has several expansion projects under construction. The first of them to enter service was the Nautilus gas-gathering system in the Delaware Basin, which has already started gathering natural gas from Royal Dutch Shell's (NYSE: RDS-A)(NYSE: RDS-B) wells in the region. Shell signed a 20-year fixed-fee contract supporting that system, enabling Crestwood to collect steady cash flow for years to come. Furthermore, Shell's midstream arm, Shell Midstream Partners (NYSE: SHLX), recently bought a stake in that entity, which not only handed over a portion of the financial burden for the future expansion of that system but also provided Crestwood with some incremental cash to finance some of its other projects.

One of those developments is the first phase of the Bear Den processing plant in the Bakken, which it expected to start up shortly after the third quarter ended. That facility will separate raw natural gas into higher-valued natural gas liquids for producers in the area, earning Crestwood a fee as it processes those volumes. Meanwhile, the company expects to bring the second phase of that project online by the end of next year, while finishing a similar plant in the Delaware Basin by the third quarter of 2018.

Crestwood anticipates that these projects will provide it with $30 million in incremental cash flow next year, which should ramp up to $75 million in annualized cash flow by 2020. Those increasing earnings, when combined with less capital spending as it winds down its current expansion phase, gives the company the confidence that it will have the financial flexibility to start increasing its already lucrative payout in the second half of 2018. Given the sheer magnitude of the anticipated cash flow growth, it's possible Crestwood could boost its payout by a double-digit annual rate in the coming years while still maintaining a healthy balance sheet and coverage ratio.

A windfall of income and upside could be just over the horizon

Crestwood is a dream stock for income investors because it offers them an increasingly secure high-yield payout with highly visible growth prospects. That positions them to collect a boatload of income with the potential to capture significant capital gains not only as its earnings rise but also as the market revalues the company closer to its peer group average instead of its current absurdly low price. That income with upside makes Crestwood a stock that investors shouldn't just dream about but consider adding it to their portfolio.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2017

Matthew DiLallo owns shares of Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners and Magellan Midstream Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
As the launch date for the CME bitcoin futures contract approaches, the cryptocurrency continues to rally. On Monday, bitcoin zoomed past $9,770, setting another record high.

The controversial investment has garnered a great deal of interest this year and while it has been called a fraud by JPMorgan & Chase (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon while Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said bitcoin will "implode" one day, bitcoin continues to set new records. At the beginning of 2017, bitcoin was trading below $1,000.

Legendary investor Jim Rogers, when asked by FOX Business Stuart Varney if Bitcoin is in a bubble said, If you just showed me charts, and showed me what has happened in that market for the past year or two, and didnt tell me what it was, Id say, Stuart, this looks like every bubble Ive read about.

He went on to say, I dont own any bitcoin, Ive never bought or sold so I am not a good one to ask, but it sure looks like a picture of a bubble.

Not everyone has a negative take on bitcoin. Billionaire and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel told FOX Business that while hes skeptical of most cryptocurrencies, bitcoin is very underestimated.

Bitcoins rally gained impetus since the CME announced that it would launch a bitcoin futures contract. The futures contract is expected to launch sometime before the end of the year, pending regulatory review periods. FOX Business reached out to the CME for comment on the progress on the CME bitcoin futures contract, and they had not responded by the time this article went to publish.
HP (NYSE: HPQ) Q4 2017 Earnings Conference CallNov. 21, 2017 5:30 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the fourth-quarter 2017 HP Inc. earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the * key followed by 0. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question you may press * then 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press * then 2. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Steve Fieler. Please go ahead.

Steve Fieler -- Head of Treasury

Good afternoon. I'm Steve Fieler, Head of Treasury for HP, and I'd like to welcome you to the Fiscal 2017 fourth-quarter earnings conference call with Dion Weisler, HP's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Cathie Lesjak, HP's Chief Financial Officer. Before handing the call over to Dion, let me remind you that this call is being webcast. A replay of the webcast will be made available shortly after the call for approximately one year.

We posted the earnings release and the accompanying slide presentation on our Investor Relations webpage at www.hp.com. As always, elements of this presentation are forward-looking and are based on our best view of the world and our businesses as we see them today. For more detailed information, please see disclaimers in the earnings materials relating to forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. For a discussion of some of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, please refer to HP's SEC reports, including our most recent form 10-K.

HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any such forward-looking statements.We also note that the financial information discussed on this call reflects estimates based on information available at this time and could differ materially from the amounts ultimately reported in HP's form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2017, and HP's other SEC filings. For financial information that has been expressed on a non-GAAP basis, we've included reconciliations to the comparable GAAP information. Please refer to the tables and slide presentation accompanying today's earnings release. And now I'll hand it over to Dion.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Thank you, Steve. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. It was great to see so many of you at our recent Security Analyst Meeting here in Palo Alto. Our results today echo what you heard from us.

HP is strong and getting stronger, and our message to all of you is, we're just getting started. As I look at our performance in the quarter and for the full fiscal year, I'm pleased with our consistent execution, ability to grow revenue, generate cash flow, and invest in our future to create sustainable growth over time. It's results like these that give us confidence in the trajectory of our business moving forward. It was just two years ago that we began our reinvention journey.

We committed to compete and win in our core, enter new growth markets and natural adjacencies, and invest in our future where we can disrupt industries and create new categories. We are also committed to our relentless focus on productivity to take cost out of the business. We did what we said we'd do, and I'm proud of the substantial progress we have made. There is more work to do, but we've never been more competitive, more fixated on the customer, more innovative, and more focused on operational excellence than we are today.

Let me review the highlights. We drove impressive top-line growth with net revenue up 11% year-over-year to $13.9 billion, including double-digit growth and share gains across the Americas, EMEA, and APJ. Both personal systems and printing grew year-over-year together for the third consecutive quarter. We grew non-GAAP-diluted net earnings per share year-over-year, delivering $0.44 for the quarter.

We delivered $0.5 billion of free cash flow in the quarter, taking us to $3.3 billion for the full year. And we returned 69% of our FY '17 free cash flow to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. Now let me turn to segment performance. In Quarter 4, personal systems had another stellar quarter, driving growth, gaining profitable share, and delivering impressive innovations.

This team is hitting their stride with truly outstanding performance. Personal systems net revenue grew 13% year-over-year, which came on top of last year's 4% growth in Quarter 4. For the full year, we grew 11% year-over-year with double-digit growth in each of the past four quarters. Growth in personal systems continued to be broad-based with double-digit year-over-year revenue gains in consumer and commercial, and across all three regions.

We also saw consistent growth across product categories, led by notebooks, and strong performance in desktops and workstations. Our regional leaders and sales partners are doing an incredible job of driving growth and delivering value for our customers. In calendar Quarter 3, the overall PC market returned to year-over-year growth, both in units and revenue. We, once again, outperformed the PC unit market growth and increased our market share to 22.5%, up 1.2 points year-over-year.

And we saw year-over-year share gains continuing in each region in both consumer and commercial. In Quarter 4, we continued to surprise and delight the market with innovation. We announced our biggest premium launch across consumer and commercial, introduced the world's most powerful and first detachable PC workstations, unleashed our most powerful OMEN X laptop for gaming athletes, and, as you heard from us at SAM, we're doubling down on security with the world's most secure and manageable commercial PCs. Security is built into our systems from the buyer's level on up, securing at, below, and above the operating system.

As customer demand for services grows and the market transitions toward an on-demand-based economy, we are gaining steady traction with enhanced devices and service offerings for fleet management. We are seeing strong wins by our channel partners and a healthy pipeline for the future. Shifting to printing. This business continues to make significant progress with year-over-year growth in revenue, operating profit, and market share.

In Quarter 4, total revenue was up 7% year-over-year, with growth across all three geographic regions. We delivered year-over-year revenue increases in consumer hardware, commercial hardware, and supplies. Quarter 4 supplies revenue grew again, demonstrating the huge progress we've made with this business during the year. Hardware units grew both year-over-year and sequentially, driven by consumer.

This is our fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year unit growth. Total print unit market share was 40% in calendar Quarter 3, and we gained share in both our office and home businesses. The graphics business continues to grow, even without the positive uplift that we experienced last year from the industrywide Drupa event. And as highlighted at the Security Analyst Meeting, we signed the single largest deal in our graphics history with Lightning Source.

It's a multimillion-dollar, multiyear deal to deploy 24 PageWide digital presses to five printing sites on three continents. Lightning Source prints roughly 40% of the books sold through Amazon, and this deal is going to help transform the distribution and sales model for book publishers all over the world. In A3, we continued to onboard new partners and gain market share both year-over-year and sequentially. And I'm excited that on November 1, we closed the acquisition of Samsung's printing business.

This creates a combined team focused on innovation, acceleration, and print excellence. Together, we're building on more than 30 years of print leadership and innovation, and now we have an unmatched portfolio and amazing technologies that will enable us to drive growth over time. As our two teams become one, we will preserve the best: the best talent, the best culture, and the best technology to become better, stronger, and faster. We've gained critical IP and now have a broad portfolio of laser and ink offerings that better positions us to attack the overall $55 billion A3 growth opportunity.

And that also strengthens our A4 business. Twenty-seventeen was a great year for 3D. We turned our 3D printing initiative into a business with global reach, repeat customer orders, an expanding partner and materials ecosystem, and revenue. This quarter, we continue to grow our business with new customers such as Medtronic, one of the largest medical device and service companies in the world.

As previously highlighted, we added more than 20 new partners, including Henkel, our first worldwide reseller, and announced partnerships with Deloitte and Siemens to digitally transform manufacturing. Looking to 2018, we plan to introduce a new lower-cost full-color system, allowing us to expand into new markets. We believe that Multi Jet Fusion will be the only 3D printing technology in the industry that can make mechanically robust, fully functional color parts. Not only are we leaders in polymers, but we are going to disrupt 3D printing with metals.

Stay tuned for more news about this in the coming year. Overall, we've done what we said we would do: we're growing the business top line and bottom line, and generating strong cash flow. We're delivering returns for our shareholders and investing in the future to create long-term value. I'm very pleased with our Q4 and FY '17 results, but we always have more work to do for our customers, partners, employees, and investors.

Our markets remain highly competitive and our year-over-year compares are now much tougher, but we're ready for it. I'm optimistic about our future and excited that we're just getting started. I'll now turn the call over to Cathie to provide more details on our performance and our financial outlook.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Dion. I'm very pleased that we have sustained the momentum achieved during our first three quarters of FY '17 and drove strong Q4 results. We delivered net revenue of $13.9 billion, up 11% year-over-year as reported, or 12% in constant currency. Our performance remained consistent across businesses and geographies.

Regionally, year-over-year, Americas grew 10%, EMEA was up 11%, and APJ grew 16%, all in constant currency. Gross margin of 18.1% was down 20 basis points year-over-year, driven by segment mix, with the higher commodity costs in personal systems partially being offset by the improved rate in printing. Gross margins were down 50 basis points sequentially, driven by continued strength of personal systems revenue combined with lower supplies mix and higher unit growth in printing. Non-GAAP operating expenses of $1.5 billion were up 6% year-over-year and sequentially, driven by SG&A investments to support growth.

Net OI&E expense was $65 million for the quarter with a non-GAAP tax rate of 21.5% and a diluted share count of approximately 1.7 billion shares. We delivered non-GAAP-diluted net earnings per share of $0.44. Non-GAAP-diluted net earnings per share primarily excludes restructuring and other charges of $113 million and acquisition-related charges of $49 million, partially offset by non-operating retirement-related credits of $34 million, tax indemnification credits of $23 million, and the related tax impact on these charges. In Q4, GAAP-diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations was $0.39.

Turning to the segments. Personal systems net revenue was $9.1 billion, up 13% year-over-year as reported, or 14% in constant currency. We've been delivering strong top-line performance and are now beginning to lap tougher compares. At customer segment, consumer revenue was up 18% and commercial revenue was up 11% year-over-year.

We again achieved strong results by product category with notebooks up 16%, desktops up 10% and workstations up 8% year-over-year. This consistent performance is a result of our innovative product portfolio and effective execution. We delivered 3.8% operating margin in the quarter, which is up 10 basis points sequentially and down 50 basis points year-over-year. As we've highlighted throughout this fiscal year, margins have been pressured by industrywide increases in component costs.

We've increased prices globally, continued to leverage our supply chain scale and balance sheet, and have driven positive mix shift in the business, enabling us to offset much of the commodity cost increases. Turning to printing. Revenue was $4.9 billion in the quarter, up 7% year-over-year. Total hardware units were up 3% year-over-year, with consumer units up 3% and commercial units flat.

In calendar Q3, overall print unit share was up about a point year-over-year, with share gains in both our home and office businesses. Now moving to Q4 supplies performance. Revenue of $3.1 billion was up 10% year-over-year or up 3% after adjusting for currency and last year's negative impact resulting from the supplies' sales model change. We continue to operate below our channel inventory ceiling.

We are also making good progress with our growth initiative. We're still in the early days of A3 and adding Samsung's printing team and technology should be a further accelerator to the business over time. As Dion highlighted, the graphics business continued to grow, and we look forward to entering into textile later this year. It was also a very strong quarter for managed print services with high double-digit new TCV growth.

Managed print services results can be heavily impacted by large deals signed in the quarter, and this was the case for us in Q4, which was driven by key wins. Print operating profit was 16.6% in the quarter, up 2.6 points year-over-year. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to the lower margins in Q4 '16 resulting from the supplies sales model change. Excluding this one-time adjustment, we still saw good operating profit dollar expansion year-over-year.

Sequentially, print operating margins were down 70 basis points, driven by materially higher than normal unit shipments, especially in consumer. The overall supplies revenue mix for the quarter was 64% versus 66% in Q3. Now turning to cash flow and capital allocation. Cash flow from operations was $680 million in Q4 and approximately $3.7 billion for the full year.

Free cash flow was $515 million in the quarter and approximately $3.3 billion in Fiscal '17. Cash conversion cycle was minus 30 days, which weakened five days sequentially, driven by a three-day decrease in days payable outstanding and a two-day increase in days of inventory. Our cash conversion cycle and free cash flow results were better than expected for the quarter, driven by continued strength in personal systems revenue. During Q4, we had a total capital return of $722 million through share repurchases and cash dividends.

For the full year, we returned $2.3 billion or 69% of free cash flow, which is toward the higher end of our target range of 50% to 75%, even after overachieving our full year free cash flow guidance provided at our 2016 SAM. Looking forward, keep the following in mind related to our financial outlook. Starting with Samsung's Printing business, we are updating our full year FY '18 outlook to include the operational impact of the acquisition. This includes: approximately $1.4 billion incremental revenue, primarily A4, which has been in decline, particularly in the low end; an additional penny of non-GAAP EPS for the full year; and as a reminder, we expect to be in investment mode in the first half of the year.

Looking ahead, we expect to record various business combination accounting adjustments, which are not yet reflected in our outlook since the acquisition just closed. These are noncash and GAAP-only costs, and include adjustments to the fair value of certain acquired assets such as purchased intangibles and inventory. In addition, we will continue to look at opportunities to take cost out of the business now that the deal has closed. For the rest of printing, we expect supplies revenue to be flat to slightly up for the full year.

This is organic growth and excludes any impact from the acquisition of Samsung's printing business. In addition, we expect to continue placing units with a positive NPV. In personal systems, we now expect the cost of components will continue to increase from Q4 into Q1 and will remain elevated throughout FY '18. We anticipate that ASPs may be pressured due to competitive repricing, effectively offsetting a sizable portion of any gross currency tailwind.

But this will depend on the actual market dynamics, including component costs, competition, and currency rates. Overall, we would expect more of the FX favorability to show up during the second half of the year as prior hedges roll off. For the full year, we expect to deliver our productivity initiatives as guided at SAM. We'll also continue to leverage our balance sheet if we see attractive economic opportunities to do so.

With all that in mind, we expect free cash flow to be at least $3 billion for the full year and our cash conversion cycle to be approximately minus 29 days as we exit FY '18. Q1 '18 non-GAAP-diluted net earnings per share is in the range of $0.40 to $0.43. Q1 '18 GAAP-diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations is in the range of $0.38 to $0.42. With the penny increase in EPS from our acquisition of Samsung's printing business, we are raising our full-year Fiscal '18 non-GAA- diluted net earnings per share by a penny, to be in the range of $1.75 to $1.85, and our full-year Fiscal '18 GAAP-diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations to be in the range of $1.70 to $1.80.

With that, let's go eat some turkey. Or we can open up the call for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press * then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. Please limit your questions to one and a single follow-up.

To withdraw your question, please press * then 2. The first question comes from Jim Suva with Citi. Please go ahead.

Jim Suva -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Thank you and congratulations to you and your team, as well as a happy early Thanksgiving. I have two questions; I'll ask them at the same time. Perhaps the first one is to Dion or Cathie and the second one more toward Cathie. Regarding, Dion, the sales upside looks like across basically almost every line and every end market, which is great.

But the drop through the EPS at the bottom, I guess, some investors could have wanted or hoped for more. Are you spending a little more for like investing in the business, in the channel, in products and R&D? And if so, what specific areas as to where you're investing or not seeing the drop-through? And a follow-up is on the Samsung acquisition, a penny of earnings, I assume that was first half of the year more of a headwind as you integrate and the accretion comes in at the tail end, and then longer term, it should be much more than a penny of annual EPS.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So Jim, let me start with the first one in terms of your comment around the drop. I think the way we think about this is if you go back to kind of the Q3 earnings call, we provided an EPS range and we ended up at the higher end of that range. So we anticipated kind of where we thought we would end up. Now we did see a little bit of upside from a personal systems perspective and that drove a lot of the top line.

And there just isn't as much drop in personal systems, especially when you combine that with commodity cost headwinds that we've seen in that business. And then on top of that, in print, what we were really focused on this quarter was not only keeping supplies stabilized, which we did -- very pleased with the results there -- but we also took advantage of a little bit bigger market and also the opportunity to place materially more printer units than what we would normally see on a sequential basis. And so that obviously puts some downward pressure on operating profit and EPS as well.

Operator

The next question comes from Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

Actually, can you -- operator, can you hold on just one sec? I think there was another question, specifically related to Samsung, Jim, if I remember correctly. And basically, we've just -- we've obviously just closed the acquisition at the beginning of November, and for FY '18, we do expect to see about a penny of accretion. But it is more back end-loaded. So well, for the whole year, it will be about penny, but we do expect to be in investment mode in the first half of '18.

And then over time, the pressure that we see on the math around the OP rate as a result of the acquisition of the Samsung printing business, we do expect that as we integrate that business and take advantage of the disruption, the disruptive technology they have in the A3 copier space, that in fact the margins will recover. OK, Operator, next question.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Go ahead, Katy.

Operator

Next question comes from Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Katy Huberty -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Thank you. A couple of follow-ups on the printer business. If I heard you right, organically, printer supplies grew 3% in the quarter. You're guiding for flat to slightly up next year.

So can you talk about the elements in the Four Box Model that suggest a little bit of a deceleration as you go into next year? And then just a follow up on printer margins, they came in below the 17%-ish that you were at the last few quarters. Can you just walk through some of those factors? And as you bake in some of the new categories you're entering, as well as Samsung, where do you think the near- to medium-term range for printer margins will be?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

Let me start with the supplies question. Katy, thanks for that question. We have really proven to ourselves and hopefully to you that you should have confidence in our Four Box Model. We saw that we had performed at least as well as we had expected and in some cases a bit better than what we had expected both for the full-year '17, quarter by quarter, as well as in Q4.

And, based on that, we grew supplies obviously in Q3 and Q4 operationally, and we've plugged that into the model and what we see coming out of the model is supplies for FY '18 would be flat to slightly up. But keep in mind, we are always working on ways to optimize kind of each of the boxes with a variety of strategies and tactics, and we'll continue to do that and try to drive even better supplies performance.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

The second question was around print margins over time.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

And in terms of print margins over time, what we talked about at the Security Analyst Meeting, this was without Samsung, was that over the long term we would expect that the print margins would be in the 16% to 18% range. In the shorter term with Samsung, there will be pressure on the rate. I mean, think about it, we've brought Samsung in at about $1.4 billion in revenue for FY '18 and about a penny of net profit to the company. And in the near -- the very short term, so the next half, we expected to be an investment mode, so there will be incremental pressure.

But we do think over time that those margins get back to the 16% to 18% range.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

And Katy, just to reiterate a point that Cathie made to Jim's question. The rate was slightly down this quarter, but we did place sequentially many more units than we ordinarily would, and, of course, that being the razor-razorblade business model, generates returns over time. It's positive NPV units and a good deal for our investors.

Operator

Next question comes from Steve Milunovich with UBS. Please go ahead.

Steve Milunovich -- UBS -- Analyst

Thank you. Following up on that, you did put more units out there, but the growth at least was higher in consumer than in commercial. And generally, the commercial units, I would think, would have a greater attach rate. So I guess, what's your confidence that those are, in fact, going to be NPV positive if it skewed a bit more toward consumer?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So Steve, we have a lot of confidence. Our consumer portfolio, particularly in the ink jet space, those printers phone home regularly and they let us know where and what types of printers are getting the really strong attach rates. You're absolutely right. Most of the incremental units were in the consumer space, because that's where we saw both a little bit better market sizing and then also an opportunity to place positive NPV units.

Steve Milunovich -- UBS -- Analyst

OK. And then should we look for a little bit of growth for the printer business next year? It sounds like graphics probably grows; supplies, flat to up. I don't know what hardware does, but you put it all together, I assume it's a little bit of growth. And we're sitting here a year from now, what are your priorities? What are you hoping to achieve? And how do we -- this last year was all about stabilizing supplies.

What are we looking for to accomplish in the next 12 months?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

I think, Enrique said it best at the Security Analyst Meeting. We're really focused on accelerating growth. We don't guide revenue. But if you do the math as you've done the math, you can imagine.

I mean, if supplies is 60-plus -- 65-plus percent of the revenue and it's flat to slightly up, and we've got growth initiatives across the A3 copier space where we think there's real opportunities, we've got the 3D printing opportunity to grow. We just -- we think that we're actually, as Dion has said, just getting started in that space.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

I think it's always important to remember, Steve, we're executing across to -- across our entire strategy, which is across three pillars. We've got our core business. It generates the vast majority of our revenue and operating profit today. The growth initiatives around A3; our graphics business; Everything as a Service, which will obviously provide growth opportunities for us over the next two to three years; and then further out into the future over the next five to 10 years, the work we're doing around immersive computing and 3D printing really creates an opportunity for long-term growth for our shareholders.

Operator

The next question comes from Sherri Scribner with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Sherri Scribner -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Hi, thank you. I want to ask a question on the printer -- the PC business as we move forward into Fiscal '18. I think, Cathie, you mentioned the compare is much more difficult in Fiscal '18. I think the bearish view is that the PC business will have a hard time growing next year.

Are you guys anticipating being able to grow the PC business? And what will help drive that growth?

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Well, let me start sort of long term and Cathie may want to weigh in a little more than that. I'd still remind everybody this is still a $333 billion market, about one in five machines is -- got an HP logo on it. It means four out of five don't, that represents opportunity for us. I've said consistently that the market is consolidating.

The top four grew 3.5%. We grew to 2.5-point premium to that. So certainly, the big are getting better and we're growing much faster than the big four. And that's really off the back of strong innovation.

It's the best lineup I think we've ever had. We're getting incredibly positive reviews consistently. It's continuous transformation of the business to more profitable subcategories, finding where the heat is into the market and where we can get value for the innovation that we're creating. And in Quarter 4, that paid off yet again.

We saw top-line, strong top-line growth, sequential growth in operating profit. We saw year-over-year share gains. But those share gains, I will remind everyone, are not an objective but rather an outcome of all this work. There is no single magic pill that was all categories, all regions.

The channel inventory was well under control. The aged inventory was well-managed. I think really strong kudos to the team, both regionally within the business units, the supply chains and the functions. I think we're in a very good position to compete as we go forward in this market.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

And I think, Ron laid out at the Security Analyst Meeting the fact that the core traditional PC market from a unit and revenue perspective would be down in '18 over '17. But as you've seen, and as Dion talked about, we're playing our game and we know how to compete and win. We've got, we make sure that we've got a great cost structure, that we do hyper segmentation, and that we reinvest back into innovation so that we can outgrow the market. The compares are tougher.

No question about that. I mean, last year, we grew 10% in Q1 year-over-year, 10% in Q2, 12% in Q3, and now 13% in Q4. So there are tough compares, but we know how to operate in this environment and to outgrow our competition.

Sherri Scribner -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

OK, perfect. And then just a question on Samsung. I think you mentioned $1.9 billion in revenue to add. Can you give us some sense of how that breaks up between the supplies and units, hardware units? And then also on the margins, just to clarify, would you expect to be below the 16% to 18% operating margin in the first half of the year because of the dilution from the acquisition? Or do you think you can still be in that 16% to 18% range? Thanks

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Why don't I sort of start, because I know we've got some new investors that have come into the stock, and I think it's important to reiterate and recall why this transaction was important to us, given that we've disclosed the transaction, and then Cathie can talk specifically to those numbers. First of all, we welcome the Samsung print team to our family, and for our new investors, we bought this business for three primary reasons: Firstly, the A3 market is a $55 billion market. We're underpenetrated in that market relative to the A4 market, where we have very strong market leadership. The traditional A3 players operate very complex machines.

If you were to break those machines down, they would, you would see thousands of parts on the ground. The Samsung technology really disrupts those traditional copiers with copy-level performance but significantly less complex machine. The thousands of parts when you werer to break a Samsung down would be hundreds of parts. And this lowers the cost to operate, and that translates to increased margins for our partners and/or lower cost per page for our customers.

So we have an extremely strong portfolio when you put our technology together with the Samsung technology, now HP technology, in both the A4 and A3 spaces in ink, in PageWide, and in laser. The second reason is that we integrated the A3 and the A4 portfolio, which really increases our managed print services capability. There are certain customers and tenders that would come out that had a requirement for a mixed deployment of both A3 and A4 and we were often excluded from those A4 deals. Now having a very full portfolio actually opens up A4, new A4 opportunities for us.

And the third is we now have an incredible team. We inherited more than 1,000 top-class engineers, industry-leading R&D team in laser space, increased go-to-market capability, more than 6,500 patents being added to our core. And I think this newly combined team is increasingly diverse and industry-leading. And so with that, we have a lot of confidence in our ability to attract at least 12 points -- or 12% of A3 market share in the next three years.

And then with respect to Samsung's business, some of the things to keep in mind is that the revenue that I talked about for FY '18 is $1.4 billion. And the business that Samsung has is mostly A4 laser. And within that historically has been largely low-end laser, which means their supplies mix as a percentage of the total print business is materially lower than our current business. And our job is to obviously improve that.

But they are, they do run quite a bit lower in terms of percentage of revenue. In terms of the margins, I'll leave it up to you to actually do the math on whether or not you think they drop below '16%. We know that in the very short term, there's pressure from the Samsung business, but over the long term, we will get back to good strong margins.

Operator

The next question comes from Toni Sacconaghi with Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Toni Sacconaghi -- Sanford Bernstein -- Analyst

Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on Samsung. So I think when he bought the business, he said it was a $1.8 billion business and supplies were about $1 billion.

You're guiding for $1.4 billion for next year. Maybe you can tell us what the trailing 12 months was? And given that the supplies shouldn't roll off all that quickly, that feels like a really dramatic decline in hardware, and maybe you can speak to that. And I have a follow-up, please.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So Toni, in terms of the $1.8 billion, that was the 2015 revenue for the Samsung printing business. But we've never talked about what the percentage was of that that was supplies. And they run materially lower on supplies as a percentage of the revenue mix than HP does. So I can't really talk to that.

But what is pretty typical is that when you have a long period between announce and close, there's a lot of uncertainty and customers make choices, right? And so we're not surprised by the fact that Samsung printing has lost market share and declined their revenues. And keep in mind again, this is mostly in the A4, low-end A4 laser space, and that's really not the reason why we bought the Samsung printing business. We really bought it to disrupt the A3 copier space.

Toni Sacconaghi -- Sanford Bernstein -- Analyst

OK. It just, if we're ever going to really know what your organic supplies growth rate is next year, we really need to know how much is coming from Samsung. So if you're not going to give it out now, are you going to be giving it out in the future? And then my follow-up or separate question is just on PC ASPs. They were up about 8% year-over-year, which I think is a reflection of DRAM and some of the high-end targeting that guys have done.

I guess, the question would be, why wouldn't we expect pretty rich ASP declines again in Fiscal '18, particularly in the first half?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

In terms of Samsung, one of the challenges we are absolutely going to have on a go-forward basis with Samsung is that if we do our job right and we fully merge and integrate the HP print business with the Samsung printing business, we're going to be doing things like optimizing the portfolio and completely integrating go-to-market and R&D. So it will become increasingly difficult for us to break out what was, what is the Samsung business, Samsung's printing business, versus the HP printing business, so that will be a challenge on a go-forward basis. I can -- we can discuss and decide whether or not we're going to talk about supplies, tell you what the supplies percentage is of the $1.4 billion, but on a go-forward basis, it's going to be very difficult. We will do the best we can so that we can give you a good view of whether or not we are flat to slightly up on supplies.

And we expect that we will be without Samsung.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

The other thing to remember, Toni, on Samsung is that still the largest portion of the composition of the revenue today is A4. You'll recall that we acquired these assets for the A3 capability, which was still largely in an investment mode. And so as we move more and more into the A3 market and we shift the business from transactional to contractual, that generally comes with a higher supplies attach. And so the competition of supplies over time is indeed going to change.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

And then in terms of your question on ASPs, Toni, can I just ask a clarifying question? You talked about the ASPs being up year-over-year as a result of kind of the pressures from commodity cost and the repricing actions that we took. And I agree that is a big piece of it, as is the mix shift to higher-end products, things like premium gaming and workstations. But then you said, why wouldn't we expect a decrease, did you say, in -- a material decrease in ASPs in '18? Is that what you asked?

Toni Sacconaghi -- Sanford Bernstein -- Analyst

No, I'm sorry. Sorry, I wasn't clear. I was saying why would you not expect a similar level of ASP increases, particularly in the first half of the year and a substantial increase still year-over-year?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So on a year-over-year basis, we do expect that there will be an increase in ASPs related to commodity costs. But what we've been talking about in terms of the counter-pressure is that the currency environment has gotten -- the currencies have gotten much stronger, and therefore there's kind of the counterbalance to that is what are the pressures going to be, the competitive pressures to actually decrease local currency prices in the foreign markets? And that's where we think there could be some significant downward pressure in ASPs for personal systems.

Operator

The next question comes from Shannon Cross with Cross Research. Please go ahead.

Shannon Cross -- Cross Research -- Analyst

Thank you. I have one follow-up on Samsung and then another. So with regard to Samsung, curious sort of operationally how you are thinking about the integration? And I'm trying to figure out within the one penny of accretion, how much synergy is in there or how much visibility you've had prior to the closing of the deal three weeks ago? And then I have a follow-up.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Of course, we were competitors up until about sort of 20 days ago, and so you can imagine this is somewhat of a tricky acquisition in terms of exactly how much information that we had leading into the closure. I would say it's still very early days. The integration is going incredibly well. The teams are incredibly focused on our customers, doing all the right things.

But we're learning every day as we get under the covers of this business. We would expect that as our team looks at best industry practice that's got us to the position where we are today that there will indeed be opportunities to capture those synergies. But I would just say it's a little too early, not more than 20 days into the acquisition to give you a lot of specifics around that.

Shannon Cross -- Cross Research -- Analyst

OK. And then sort of to some extent, utilizing those synergies or maybe incremental synergies. You have 3D printing, you have A3, I guess, gaming on the PC side and some other investments that you're making. How are you gauging the level of investment per initiative? Or how are you thinking about the return on what you're doing? And then on the other side, I would assume continuing to reduce costs and simplify the business within sort of the core that maybe isn't growing as much as some of your growth opportunities.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Well, I think, you've actually summarized it really well. We focus incredibly on costs. It's table stakes. You have to be in the right cost position.

If you're not in the right cost position, you're not, you don't have the opportunity to make the investments. As it relates to investments, we feel good about the investment choices ahead of us. We believe we can create significant shareholder value, as we outlined at the Security Analyst Meeting. We have confidence in our ability to execute and hope that we've dropped $1 or $2 in the trust bank over the course of the last couple of years to demonstrate that we can execute.

I would say that our investment thesis and process that we follow is that we identify investment opportunities across the business. We weigh them all against one another. We're very targeted to ensure that the investments that we do make advance our strategies so that we don't surprise anyone with the investments that we're making. We're very disciplined about establishing and hitting the milestones that we've laid out.

And ultimately, generating profitable growth is what it's all about. Growth, just for growth's sake, is not particularly fascinating. I think segment by segment, we're demonstrating that those investments are good choices in personal systems, broadly in premium, and specifically in gaming are great examples of investments that we made that are paying dividends right now. Same is true for graphics and the very targeted unit placements that Cathie talked about, NPV positive units in print.

3D printing has gone from a business that was nonexistent a year ago to a real business today, 65 channel partners around the globe in every single region, an ecosystem that we've developed, partners in Deloitte and Siemens, more than 50 materials partners that are starting to look at making materials for the platform, plus the technology announcements that we made at the Security Analyst Meeting around a lower-cost color platform and the technology announcement we make around metals in '18. So we're feeling good about our ability to execute in the core, in the growth areas that we outlined, as well as the future.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

And Shannon, just to remind you, this is all very returns-based analysis. We step back and we look at what the investment is that's necessary and then what kind of the opportunity is in terms of cash flows on a go-forward basis to determine whether or not it will add value to the firm and then also to stack rank and determine which ones we're actually going to invest in.

Operator

The next question is from Wamsi Mohan with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead.

Wamsi Mohan -- Bank of America / Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Yes. Thank you. I have a Samsung question then a follow-up. So Cathie, I think you said that the mix of hardware relative to supplies is intrinsically quite different in the Samsung business relative to the core HP business.

Now the shrinkage in revenue from the time you announced the $1.8 billion to $1.4 billion, I would think that's more or less hardware-related. Is that a right assumption to make? And so the percentage mix that you're alluding to, is that something that, that holds true both at the $1.8 billion and $1.4 billion level? And I have a follow-up.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So Wamsi, yes. The mix of the $1.4 billion in revenue for supplies is materially lower than the current HP business.

Wamsi Mohan -- Bank of America / Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

But would you say, Cathie, that the decline from $1.8 million to $1.4 billion was largely hardware-related?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

I think it was led by hardware, but it had obviously ramifications for supplies as well.

Wamsi Mohan -- Bank of America / Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

OK. And if I could follow up, on the PC gaming market, maybe Dion, you could share some sense of how much share you're gaining in this market, how big of a growth driver it was. In Fiscal '17 out of your total growth, maybe if you could give us how many points of growth was driven by PC gaming, that'd be great.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

We don't break it down at a segment level, and I think there are better sources of data to look at how much share we've taken in that particular space and I wouldn't want to make our analysts redundant. I would just say that this has been a material business for us that's grown up over the last 18 months from nothing to a sizable portion not only in terms of revenue, but the gross margins that are there, as well as the halo effect that it has on the overall brand, which I think is lifting our premium segment as well as every other segment that we have within the PC business. This is an incredible franchise. It's a growing franchise.

The area is growing. There's more people that are tuning in to these battlegrounds than Game 7 of the NBA. So we like being in this business and we see the growth continuing.

Operator

The last question comes from Amit Daryanani with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead

Amit Daryanani -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Perfect. I guess, I'll need to start with the Samsung question as well. I guess, Cathie, it sounds like the deal is dilutive near term, your Jan. quarter EPS guide that you guys gave us essentially bracking The Street numbers.

I guess, could you quantify what the EPS dilution is in the Jan. quarter from Samsung? And what's the timeline to get this asset back to the 16%, 18% margin range that you guys have talked about core IPG historically?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So Amit, we're not going to break down Samsung in that level of detail quarter-by-quarter. I think, and suffice it to say, that with our guide for Q1 '18, $0.40 to $0.43 for non-GAAP EPS, we are covering and absorbing the headwind that we -- the little bit of headwind that we get from Samsung. And I'm sorry, what was the second part of your question?

Amit Daryanani -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

I guess, the second part was really you've talked about the Samsung asset longer term being in line to core IPG margins, 16% to 18%. What sort of timeline is that? Is that a Fiscal '20 target? Or is that much more longer term than that?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

It will take us some time, but we will see pretty consistent progress over the next few years to get it back to those levels.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

I think it's really worth reiterating why we acquired this asset. It was not to buy revenue, and I've been pretty clear about that, as has Cathie. We don't chase share for share's sake. And while the revenue is interesting, it's not fascinating.

What's fascinating for us is the incredible disruptive technology that this team invented to take on a pretty unconsolidated A3 $55 billion copier market with a better mousetrap that enables our partners to earn more money and it enables a lower cost per page for our customers with a very different value proposition from a servicing perspective. More than 1,000 engineers, a very rich portfolio of patents, it's all of those reasons that will pay dividends over time that we are incredibly interested in and why we acquired this asset. And we're just kind of getting started in this space.

Amit Daryanani -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

That's helpful. And if I could just follow-up on the core PC business, could you just talk how much of a headwind did you guys have on operating margins from memory right now? I mean, year-over-year, it's down about 50 basis points, revenues were up double digits. So just trying to get a sense of how much memory have you been dealing with on an op margin basis?

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

So Amit, if you look at the total year, our commodity cost headwind was about $1 billion. And so we've actually done, I think Dion talked about it, we've done a really good job of managing in what has been a very tough industrywide commodity cost environment. And we've done that by leveraging our balance sheet, looking at basically buying strategic, doing some incremental strategic purchases to assure ourselves a supply, entering into longer-term agreements, so that we not only assure ourselves a supply but also that we are able to negotiate better prices. We also have mitigated it by using our balance sheet by putting more product on the sea and then when all of that, we figure all that out and then we look at what kind of repricing that we are able to do and still be able to be very competitive in the market and, in fact, as you see, significantly outgrow the market with kind of all of those tactics coming together.

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

So with that, I want to take the opportunity to thank you all. I have been Americanized, and I understand it is a season of Thanksgiving, and we are between you and the turkey. So I want to thank you for following us through the course of our reinvention journey. Our results give us real confidence in the trajectory of our business going forward.

We're leading in our core markets. We're entering new growth markets and natural adjacencies, and at the same time, investing in the future. We've never been more competitive. We remain humble and focused.

We're proud of the results that we're delivering and proud that we're being very open and transparent and dependable. We think it's been a great year of reinvention, and we're just getting started. Thanks, all. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

Happy Thanksgiving.

Operator

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Duration: 54 minutes

Call Participants:

Steve Fieler -- Head of Treasury

Dion Weisler -- Chief Executive Officer and President

Cathie Lesjak -- Chief Financial Officer

Jim Suva -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Katy Huberty -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Steve Milunovich -- UBS -- Analyst

Sherri Scribner -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Toni Sacconaghi -- Sanford Bernstein -- Analyst

Shannon Cross -- Cross Research -- Analyst

Wamsi Mohan -- Bank of America / Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Amit Daryanani -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

More HPQ analysis

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The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Information technology outsourcing firm Infosys is opening a design and innovation hub in Rhode Island and plans to add 500 jobs in the state in the next five years, company and state officials announced on Monday.

Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo and Infosys President Ravi Kumar celebrated with a news conference in Providence, where the hub is planned. It's the third of at least four planned Infosys hubs in the U.S. as part of a commitment the Bangalore, India-based company made earlier this year to hire 10,000 American workers.

State officials said Infosys is eligible for an estimated $10 million in various state incentives and the average annual salary of the jobs in the state would be $79,000.

"Five hundred good-paying jobs, well above the average salaries in Rhode Island," Raimondo said. "Good-paying, family-supporting jobs. I have a feeling there's much more in store. They're starting with 500, but it's on us to make sure they fall in love with Rhode Island."

Raimondo said jobs would be at every level, with and without a college degree.

Kumar said the company chose Rhode Island because of factors including its academic ecosystem and design focus, location near many of its clients in the northeast and economic incentives.

One of the world's most prestigious design schools, the Rhode Island School of Design, is located in Providence, but Kumar also cited the state's community college network and the University of Rhode Island and Brown University.

"Digital design is one of the most high-demand skills in the market," Kumar said.

He added that those skills are lacking in the United States and said Infosys plans to train workers to develop them through "a finishing school." Among the steps the company will take is to hire design students who are oriented to physical objects and train them with digital skills, Kumar said.

"We create talent pools which don't exist today," he said.

President Donald Trump has blasted an American visa program that tech companies have heavily relied upon to temporarily bring in workers from other countries at lower wages. Asked about that criticism and changes in federal immigration policy under the Republican president, Kumar said the program to train Americans and put workers closer to clients has been in the works for the last two years.

"You have to be closer to clients," he said. "When you design a digital experience, you cannot design in isolation. You have to design and co-create along with your clients."

The company already has 300 to 400 employees in Rhode Island, many of whom work with Citizens Bank, but Kumar said the 500 workers would be in addition to those and focused on design.

Infosys previously announced its first two hubs, focused on technology and innovation, will be located in Indiana and North Carolina. Kumar on Monday said the company is continuing to evaluate locations for the next hub but could eventually establish five.

Infosys said it employs more than 198,000 people worldwide.
This past year has been a tough one for pipeline stocks. Despite an improving oil market, most have declined in value even as the stock market has marched higher. Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) is no exception: The MLP has fallen more than 11% through late November.

However, that decline masks a relatively solid year for the pipeline and processing company since distributable cash flow (DCF) rose every single quarter versus the year-ago period. Meanwhile, the company made excellent progress on its expansion strategy, not only putting the finishing touches on several projects but securing new ones to fuel growth. Because of that, and an increasingly strong financial position, the company looks like an excellent value for income seekers.

Building a brighter future

Enterprise Products Partners entered the year with $5.3 billion of expansion projects under construction, including $2.9 billion that it expected to finish this year. While the company encountered a delay in finishing a large petrochemical project due to Hurricane Harvey, which pushed its in-service date back a few months, it now expects to complete $4.5 billion in projects by year-end. Driving the increase was the company's placing one of its large pipeline projects in service much sooner than anticipated. As a result of this progress, Enterprise should see a significant spike in DCF over the next couple of quarters.

The company also secured several additional projects this year and had nearly $5 billion of expansions lined up to go into service in 2018 and 2019. One of the largest is the Shin Oak pipeline, which will transport natural gas liquids (NGLs) like propane and butane from the fast-growing Permian Basin to the company's NGL hub in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The 571-mile pipeline should enter service and start generating cash flow in the second quarter of 2019. In addition, the company announced plans to build another petrochemical plant, which will turn butane into a higher-valued product. This facility should enter service in late 2019.

The company also pressed forward on several development-stage projects, which could extend the visibility of its growth beyond 2019. One of those expansions is a potential joint venture with Navigator Holdings (NYSE: NVGS) to build an ethylene marine export terminal in the Houston Ship Channel. That facility would enable Enterprise to export the widely used chemical, which is one of the building blocks of plastics. Navigator Holdings, meanwhile, would serve as the floating pipeline to move this product to world markets. Enterprise is also working on a large pipeline project to move natural gas from the Permian to the Gulf Coast, though it is a bit behind rivals.

The foundation is growing firmer

Despite spending billions of dollars on expansion projects, Enterprise Products Partners has only strengthened its financial foundation in 2017. Its leverage ratio, for example, has fallen from an average of 4.4 in 2016 down to 3.8 as of the end of the third quarter. That's due in part to the incremental income from newly completed expansion projects.

The company recently announced plans to further strengthen its already top-tier financial position by slowing the pace of its distribution growth rate through 2019. That will enable the company to retain more cash flow, which will both widen the margin of safety on the distribution while giving it more cash to finance expansion projects. The company estimates that by 2019 it will be able to fund the equity portion of a $2.5 billion annual investment budget with internally generated cash flow, meaning it would no longer need to issue equity to finance that rate of spending on growth projects. Furthermore, the company said that it could even start using some of its growing cash flow to repurchase units, which could create greater long-term value for investors.

Don't let this opportunity slip away

With its recently completed expansion projects and a solid financial foundation, Enterprise Products Partners enters 2018 in an even stronger position than it started this year. Despite that progress, units are inexplicably down double digits this year. That dip, along with continued steady quarterly increases, has pushed the company's distribution yield up to an attractive 7%. That's just too good to pass up, in my opinion. Investors should consider taking advantage of this year's sell-off to scoop up this excellent income stock at one of its lowest values in years.

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Matthew DiLallo owns shares of Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Rep. Peter King, a staunch opponent to the current version of the House Republicansa tax reform plan, said the elimination of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction could increase the average New York homeowneras taxes by at least $1,000.

aMaybe more than that -- $2,000 to $3,000,a King, R-N.Y., told Maria Bartiromo on aSunday Morning Futures.a aItas difficult to fully compute it right now, but thereas no doubt there will be increases.a

King and other lawmakers from high-tax states, which include New York, New Jersey and California, argue that getting rid of these deductions will hurt hard-working, middle- to upper middle-class people. The New York Republican has said that the reason why New York is considered ahigh-taxa is because much of the revenue that goes to the federal government isnat returned to the state.

aNew York gets $48 billion less from the federal government than it pays in revenues,a he said Sunday. aOther states get almost twice as much back as they put in, so we have to make that up somehow. If we can get that $48 billion back in New York, that would make it a lot easier for us to reduce tax rates.a

King said his region is being treated unfairly since other states will not see such an impact. In nearby New Jersey, Senate President Steve Sweeney said last week that his state, as well as New York and California, are aunder attacka by conservative lawmakers in the nationas capital.

aIf we lose the millions of dollars that theyare talking about and taxes are going to be raised on average families by $2,500 when they lose the deductions theyare going to get, how can you do anything? Right now we have to re-evaluate where weare going to go,a Sweeney said during an interview on FOX Business.

Much like Sweeney, the New York congressman said he could see a mass exodus happening in his state if tax rates go up on residents, which he also explained includes parts of the stateas business community.

aBig people in the business community who feel this is going to terribly impact them a they are talking about moving their address to North Carolina, Florida, wherever a and that then will have a compounding effect because thereall be less state revenues available. That means local governments will have to raise property taxesaitas really a vicious cycle,a King said.
U.S. Treasury Public Affairs Assistant Secretary Tony Sayegh on Monday explained why the elimination of the state and local tax deduction should remain in the Senates tax reform plan.

The Senate bill would fully repeal the SALT deduction, which leaves Americans in high-taxed states such as New York, New Jersey and Illinois concerned with paying more in taxes.

Im sympathetic. Im a New Yorker. I understand. Lets remember were talking about six states where essentially the highest income earners get to deduct high state taxes thats not really the responsibility of the federal government to subsidize, and in order for us to really expand the base, we need to get rid of a lot of these kind of deductions, he told FOX Business Trish Regan on The Intelligence Report.

Sayegh said the tax benefits included in the Senate bill will outweigh the negative effects that eliminating the SALT deduction may have on those in high-tax states.

The vast majority of people losing that deduction still will have lower taxes because we are reducing their rates, were expanding the child tax credit, were doubling the standard deduction making the first $24,000 of their income not taxed if you are a family, were getting rid of the alternative minimum tax which is a backward tax, he said.

Sayegh believes that the Senate bill will boost the American economy and will be passed by years end.

We are very encouraged because nine of the leading economists in the country sent the Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin a letter. It appeared in the Wall Street Journal where they confirmed what weve been saying all along, which is you experience significant economic growth with what we are trying to do with tax reform, he said.

However, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the Senates plan would increase the deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
Officials at Tufts University in Massachusetts have postponed an event with Anthony Scaramucci after the former White House communications director threatened a lawsuit over an opinion piece published in the student newspaper.

The Boston Globe reports Scaramucci was scheduled to speak at the Medford university's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy on Monday.

Earlier this month, 26-year-old Camilo Caballero wrote a piece in The Tufts Daily newspaper criticizing Scaramucci's position on a Fletcher advisory board.

Scaramucci's lawyer said Nov. 21 they would take legal action unless the graduate student and newspaper retracted "false and defamatory allegations of fact."

Caballero says Scaramucci is trying to prevent him from using his First Amendment rights.

Scaramucci said Sunday he's not limiting free speech, but he wants to defend himself against "factually inaccurate" attacks. He took to Twitter to explain further asking for an apology.

I asked for an apology for defamatory statements. That is a teachable moment professor. The student is an adult, let his actions stand without any coddling. You cant defame people in America because you dont like their political views. https://t.co/q5fi8wszqn  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

This is not the first time the former financier has stirred the pot. After inking a deal to sell his firm SkyBridge Capital to Chinese conglomerate HNA last year, a deal which is still pending, Scaramucci laid in wait for a position in the Trump administration. That was slow to materialize, partly due to infighting among Trumps former lieutenants Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, as reported by FOX Business. Scaramucci eventually was appointed to White House communications director, only to flame out in days due to a rant that was deemed inappropriate and offensive, giving him the title of the shortest person to hold that role in history.

Before his White House stint, Scaramucci was a contributor to FOX Business and FOX News.

He earned a B.A. in economics at Tufts University and went onto to earn a J.D. at Harvard Law School.

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is officially a no on the Senates tax reform bill after he voiced his concerns with President Donald Trump on Sunday, FOX Business has learned.

Daines joins the rank of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) as the Senate Republicans who are against the bill as its crafted. The Senator has concerns regarding the current bill and how it unfairly favors large corporations over Main Street businesses, a.k.a. pass throughs, said one aide familiar with the matter. He is a no on the bill but optimistic about making changes, the same aide added.

His sudden call for changes to the bill could be a problem for a Republican Senate that is in dire need of a win and as leadership hopes to cobble together enough support to call for a vote in the coming weeks. Since the GOP only have a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate, they cant afford to lose more than two votes if they want to pass their signature tax reform plan.

Dainess concerns with the negative impact the bill could have on small businesses may be justified because while there is a provision within the legislative text that allows owners of partnerships, limited liability companies and various other pass-through companies to get a 17.4% reduction on their business income taxes, Johnson isnt convinced that its enough of a cut.

In a statement to FOX Business, Daines confirmed he could not support the bill in its current form and reinforced that he needs to see changes to small business tax cuts if Senate leadership want his vote.

I want to see changes to the tax cut bill that ensure Main Street businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage against large corporations.  Before I can support this bill, this improvement needs to be made, Daines said.

A White House spokesman did not return emails for comment about the discussion between Trump and Daines.

While Johnson and Daines are officially no votes and could be swayed to back the tax bill, there are other undecided lawmakers that could derail the Republican tax plan. Micah Johnson, a spokeswoman for Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), told FOX Business in a statement that while Corker is hopeful he can get to yes, he still believes that some work needs to be done.

Senator Corker spent the entire Thanksgiving break on the phone with his Senate colleagues and with the administration working on a responsible path forward. While more work remains, all parties are hopeful that the final bill will be good for our country, Johnson said.

Another unknown lawmaker is Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who continues to be concerned the bill could add to the national debt.

When asked where Flake stands on tax reform, his spokesman Jason Samuels said he remains concerned about the bills impact on the national debt.
Two teenagers have been arrested after a stolen car smashed into a tree in Britain, killing five.

Police said Sunday the two 15-year-old boys are held on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

The victims included a 12-year-old, two 15-year-olds, and two men aged 24 and 28.

The accident happened Saturday night in Leeds, a city 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of London.

West Yorkshire police said it was not clear if some of the victims were pedestrians or if the seven people had been riding in the stolen Renault Clio.
The Spectator columnist Melanie McDonagh is being slammed across social media on Monday for a column that says actress Meghan Markle is unsuitable to marry Prince Harry because she has been married in the past, and is a liberal.

McDonagh is Irish but lives in London and also writes for the Evening Standard. Her controversial column headline, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: The union of royalty and showbiz, makes it clear she isnt a fan of the upcoming marriage because she is both a divorcee and liberal.

Obviously, seventy years ago, Meghan Markle would have been the kind of woman the Prince would have had for a mistress, not a wife, McDonagh wrote.

Obviously, seventy years ago, Meghan Markle would have been the kind of woman the Prince would have had for a mistress, not a wife."  Melanie McDonagh

McDonagh continued: Things have changed. Shell now be the apotheosis of the union of showbiz and royalty, with a glorious subsidiary cast of embarrassing relations.

Markle married film producer Trevor Engelson in 2011, but the pair divorced two years later. Prince Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, is supreme governor of the Church of England  and the church apparently doesnt believe the Prince of Wales should marry a divorcee, despite the fact that numerous members of the royal family have gotten divorced.

The Spectator columnist then attacked the Suits star for her liberal political views, mocking Hollywood for being anti-Trump.

Like every self-respecting member of the acting profession these days, shes got liberal political views, McDonagh wrote. Hmm. Great. You can see it now, cant you: when President Trump calls, Princess Meghan will be almost visibly holding her nose.

McDonaghs take on the young couple has received a ton of social media backlash. One user called the column a churlish, miserable sourpuss piece while another said, McDonagh must shut up. Another took to Twitter to ask, Why does she still live in the 1800s?

McDonagh was also called the most joyless person alive and her column was ripped as an absolute disgrace.

The couple is expected to get married in spring 2018, Kensington Palace announced through Harrys father, Prince Charles, on Monday. The couple got engaged in London earlier this month after meeting in the summer of 2016 through mutual friends.

"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle, the statement read. His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month.

It continued: Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty the Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markles parents.

The statement said the couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace. The upcoming wedding will be the first grand royal wedding since Prince William and Kate Middleton got married in 2011.

Katherine Lam contributed to this report.
Anyone paying enough attention lately likely saw this coming, but CBS is ending Jeremy Pivens new drama Wisdom of the Crowd after just 13 episodes. The news comes as the actor is battling allegations of sexual misconduct, which he vehemently denies.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS has decided that it wont order more episodes of the freshman drama. As a result, it will run through the 13 episodes that the network ordered, but wont be picked up for more after that.

The news comes as the network is looking into allegations that Piven, the series star, is guilty of sexual misconduct after Ariane Bellamar claimed he groped her while they were both working on the set of Entourage. Since then, more women have come forward, but the star maintains his position that he never did anything inappropriate.

Wisdom of the Crowd, which premiered about a month prior to the allegations against the star, focuses on a fictional character named Jeffrey Tanner, a tech innovator who created a crowdsourcing hub in an effort to solve his daughters murder.

While many are quick to blame the allegations against Piven for the end of the shows run, The Wrap notes that the series has struggled immensely to gain an audience since its been on. The latest Nielsen ratings metric puts it with an average rating of 1.2 among adults aged 18-49, which is pretty bad for a new show. Some even wonder if this would be happening were Piven not under investigation by the network.

"Wanted to thanks all of you guys for supporting us at #WisdomoftheCrowd," the star wrote on Twitter following the news. "Sorry we don't get to continue with this great family we have created. Proud of the work we did and we will Finish out our 13 episodes with full hearts !"
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met on a blind date, and he proposed last month over a roast chicken dinner, the pair revealed on Monday.

The couple shared details about the night they got engaged in their first interview with BBC since the announcement. The 36-year-old actress said they were having an ordinary night and trying to roast chicken when the prince proposed.

"It was just an amazing surprise," Markle told the BBC. "It was so sweet and natural and very romantic, he got on one knee."

Harry added, "She didn't even let me finish.

PRINCE HARRY IS ENGAGED TO MEGHAN MARKLE, KENSINGTON PALACE SAYS

Harry and Markle, who are expected to wed next spring, recalled meeting through mutual friends in July 2016. They said they knew very little of each other before then. Markle recalled the only thing she asked her friend about Harry was, Is he nice? Harry revealed he had never even heard of the American actress or about the show, Suits, where Markle is best known for her role as Rachel Zane.

"I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her," Harry said. "I was like, 'I'm really going to have to up my game here.

That night led to a five-day camping trip in Botswana three to four weeks later where they got to know each other. Harry added he felt like the stars were aligned.

"The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned," Harry told the BBC. "This beautiful woman just tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life. I know that she will be unbelievably good at the job part of it as well."

Markle revealed she is transitioning out of her acting career, confirming she will not be returning to the eighth season of Suits. The future duchess also fueled rumors about her departure when she moved out of her Toronto home and headed to London last week. Though she will be leaving acting behind, Markle said she will be moving into the role of being part of the royal family.

"I'm excited to really get to know more about the different communities here and smaller organizations that are working on the same causes that I've always been passionate about, Markle said. "I don't see it as giving anything up. I see it as a change. It's a new chapter."

HERE'S THE LINE OF SUCCESSION TO THE BRITISH THRONE

Markle said it was incredible to meet Queen Elizabeth II.

Markle told the BBC, "It's incredible, I think, you know, to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honor and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother.

"All of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being to have that time with her, she added.

When asked about their plans to start their own family, Harry replied: "One step at a time, hopefully we'll start a family in the near future."

MEGHAN MARKLE'S ENGAGEMENT RING FROM PRINCE HARRY HAS SPECIAL CONNECTION TO PRINCESS DIANA

Harry also spoke about his late mother Princess Diana and how she would be over the moon, jumping up and down knowing he was engaged to Markle. The future royal also has something old added to her engagement ring, designed by Harry himself  two diamonds from Dianas jewelry collection. The center stone is from Botswana, where they camped early in their relationship.

"The ring is  is obviously yellow gold because that's... her favorite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the  the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewelry collection to make sure that she's with us on this  on this crazy journey together."

"It's days like this I really miss having her around," he said.

"Not being able to meet his mother, it's so important to me to know that she's a part of this with us," Markle also said.

The interview came hours after Kensington Palace announced the high-profile couple was engaged. They made their first public appearance shortly after, with Harry donning a blue suit jacket and Markle wearing a white coat and flashing her diamond ring.

Their relationship was first confirmed last November when the palace issued a statement but also condemned the outright sexism and racism in some online comments. Harry also said some articles with "racial undertones," alluding to Markles mixed-race heritage, had crossed the line.
Meghan Markles life and career will transform dramatically in light of her engagement to Prince Harry.

Markle, 36, has starred in the legal drama Suits since 2011, but the future member of the royal family confirmed she will retire from acting when she marries Prince Harry.

Markle told the BBC she will be "transitioning" out of her acting career, confirming she will not be returning to the eighth season of "Suits."

The couple announced their engagement on Monday.

Experts told us it is expected that Markle will follow in the footsteps of Grace Kelly, who had a successful acting career but gave it up to become to Princess of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier III in 1956.

Grant Harrold, an etiquette expert who served as a butler to members of the royal family  including Princes William and Harry  said Markle will be too busy with her duties as a royal to pursue an acting career.

Royal duties do take up a lot of time with royals working for weeks at a time with very little time off especially with overseas tours, he told Fox News.

However, Harrold said the decision to give up acting is ultimately Markle and her now-fiance Prince Harry's choice.0

The royal family would not judge anyone's career as many members of the royal family [have] followed their own career paths, therefore this would be a personal decision, he insisted.

William Hanson, a British etiquette consultant and longtime royal watcher, told Fox News that Markle could return to acting down the line.

If she ever goes back they would probably be conservative roles not like her last role in Suits. She will probably focus more on her charitable interests, humanitarian interests, said Hanson. Her role when she gets married will be the Duchess of Sussex.

Markle and Prince Harry revealed on Monday that they became engaged earlier this month in London. The two posed for photos on Monday, and she told the press she was so happy as she clutched Harrys arm on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Meghan Markle is on her way to becoming the future bride of Britains Prince Harry, but before becoming the royals main squeeze, the American actress was married to Hollywood producer Trevor Engelson.

Kensington Palace announced Monday the 36-year-old Suits star is engaged to the 33-year-old son of the late Princess Diana. The two are set to marry in the spring of 2018.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE

Heres what you need to know about the man who was once married to the potential new royal princess:

Us Weekly previously reported Markle and the 41-year-old tied the knot on Sept. 10, 2011 at the Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios, Jamaica where they had a casual wedding in front of 102 guests. It was the same year the USA Network starlet took on the role of Rachel Zane in the series Suits.

Vogue reported Markle would later return to the tropical getaway in March 2017 with Prince Harry to celebrate the wedding of a mutual friend.

Prior to the marriage, Markle and Engelson dated for six years while they were both pursuing their high-profile careers.

However, the marriage wouldnt last.

In September 2013, a source confirmed to Us Weekly the couple quietly separated. While its not exactly clear why the pair parted ways, they cited irreconcilable differences. One insider hinted to Womans Day at the time that Markles hectic schedule to film Suits in Toronto while her husband resided in Los Angeles made married life difficult for the two.

Engelson has remained tight-lipped about his marriage to Markle, despite alleged rumors of publishers offering a major paycheck for a tell-all  that is until this year.

Deadline.com reported in September Engelson was working on an untitled project about a lead character sharing custody with the British royal family after his ex-wife marries a prince. While the comedy may have been inspired by real-life events, the Hollywood news site added the premise is a work of fiction.

Markle and Engelson have no children together and shes reportedly not involved with the TV series in any capacity. However, it was noted the project originated from a conversation Engelson shared with fellow producer Dan Farah about what life would have been like if the former lovers did have kids.

Engelson has kept busy in Hollywood. FX Networks reported that his role as a producer took off with the 2007 film License to Wed, starring Robin Williams, John Kransinski and Mandy Moore. Then in 2009, he produced All About Steve with Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper. In 2010, he worked on the 9/11-themed drama Remember Me with Robert Pattinson, of Twilight fame.

Engelson is currently producing Snowfall, a series that explores the early days of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles during the 1980s. Hes also executive producing the upcoming Heathers remake for television.

"Suits" may have been reportedly to blame for Markles first marriage's demise, but it may have also led to her recent engagement to Prince Harry. Last month, gossip magazines reported Prince Harry visited Markle on the sets of Suits in Toronto.
Morrissey said if he was given the chance to kill President Trump, he would take it for the "safety of humanity."

The former Smiths frontman told the German publication der Spiegel that he would not hesitate to kill Trump if presented with a button that would kill the president.

"I would [push it], for the safety of humanity," Morrissey told the German outlet according to a translation of the interview by the Washington Times. "It has nothing to do with my personal opinion of his face or his family, but in the interest of humanity I would push."

The 58-year-old also said he believes Trump won the election because of the media.

"The American media helped Trump, yes, they first created it," he said. "Whether they criticize him or laugh at him, he does not care, he just wants to see his picture and his name. The American media have shot themselves in the leg."

Morrissey also said he was shocked Trump won and he now has "no faith" in the political system.

"He grabs after everything like a little child. He is not a leader. He is vermin," he said of Trump.
MSNBCs Kasie Hunt seemed happy that Republican Sen. Rand Paul suffered six broken ribs and a buildup of excess fluid in his lungs when he was attacked earlier this month, before quickly apologizing for her on-air statement.

New details today on the incident that left Senator Rand Paul with six broken ribs  this might be one of my favorite stories, the liberal reporter said last week.

The MSNBC host quickly seemed to realize she was condoning violence and started to downplay her comments, but appeared to lose her train of thought midsentence, saying, Although, of course, we dont clearly Senator Paul still struggling.

Hunt took to Twitter shortly after her on-air mishap, saying there is nothing funny about 6 broken ribs.

My apologies to @RandPauI for suggesting on air earlier today there was. Hope your recovery is on the right track, senator, looking forward to seeing you in the hallways soon, she tweeted.

Hunt is the liberal networks Capitol Hill correspondent and hosts Kacie DC, which airs on Sunday nights. She is billed as a straight-news reporter, as opposed to an opinion host. The 32-year-old Hunt is seen as a rising star at the liberal network. She appears across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms including Nightly News with Lester Holt, TODAY, and Morning Joe.

Hunt started her career as a writer for the Associated Press and Politico before joining NBC.

Meanwhile, Paul returned to Capitol Hill two weeks ago after he was brutally attacked at his Kentucky home. He was attacked while mowing his lawn on Nov. 3, according to authorities. The neighbor -- Rene Boucher -- attacked Paul from behind after he had gotten off of his lawn mower.

Boucher's attorney insisted the attack had "nothing to do" with politics, but rather was due to a "landscaping dispute." A senior adviser to Paul disputed that claim.

Boucher, 59, was charged with misdemeanor assault for the attack.

MSNBC did immediately not respond to request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Rebel Wilson opened up in a tearful interview about her defamation lawsuit against a global magazine publisher, saying it was devastating to be labeled a liar.

Wilson told Australian television show Sunday Night it was very stressful to be the center of a scandal.

I went from this girl who has just worked her absolute ass off to get where she was to just being torn down in a second, in a 24-hour period, Wilson said. Its very, very stressful when you become in the center of a scandal. And it was so salacious. People were like, Shes fabricating her own life to make it.

Wilson recalled feeling her 17 years of hard work was finally going to pay off after appearing in the film Pitch Perfect until articles ran in Womans Day and Australian Womens Weekly  managed by Bauer Media  claiming the actress had lied about her age, family background and her name. She said the articles damaged her career and calls for acting roles soon stopped.

People were calling me a liar and a fake, and for someone like me whos so candid and authentic, it was just probably the most devastating thing they could have said to me, the 37-year-old actress said.

After month after month after month, coming up to the 12 months deadline, I thought, I mean, I just have to sue them, Wilson said. Ive proved very publicly that what I was saying was the truth and that they wrote a bunch of lies, and that I was maliciously defamed.

Wilson said she never chose to reveal her age and that her name, Rebel, was a family nickname she had legally adopted in 2002. She also provided photographic evidence to prove what she said about her upbringing were true, according to Sunday Night.

Yes, Im an actress, and Im in the public eye, she added. But Im a human being, who worked really, really hard to get to that point. And then to have it all taken away was just, it was just malicious, and it was ugly.

Wilson was awarded $3.7 million in defamation damages, the biggest payout in Australian history. Bauer Media is expected to appeal the amount of damages, which the actress called gross because she is planning to donate the money to charity.
Crikey!

An NYPD detective was arrested when he flashed his gun during a fight at an Outback Steakhouse in Brooklyn, officials said Monday.

Joel Crooms, 31, was at the Australian-themed eatery at the Gateway Center in East New York when he got into an argument with another man around 10 p.m. Sunday, police said.

The two had been drinking and appeared to know one another, cops said.

During the exchange, Crooms allegedly lifted up his shirt to reveal his weapon, police said.

Crooms was arrested and charged with menacing and disorderly conduct, officials said.

He was issued a desk-appearance ticket for the incident and released, according to court records.

Additional reporting by Emily Saul.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post.
As theyve demonstrated several times in the past, the people behind the Wendys Twitter account arent afraid to mix it up with their competitors in the fast-food industry. And on Black Friday, the chain hit McDonalds right where it hurts: in their ice cream machine.

It all began early on the morning of Nov. 24, after McDonalds posted what appeared to be an incomplete Black Friday-themed tweet which read, Black Friday **** Need copy and link*****.

WENDY'S SHUTS DOWN CARLS. JR WITH SINGLE TWEET

Realizing its own mistake, the chain decided not to delete the tweet, but rather to make light of the gaffe, blaming the blunder on severe grogginess caused by a lack of McCafe coffee.

When you tweet before your first cup of McCafe  Nothing comes before coffee, joked McDonalds.

Several commenters praised McDonalds for its good save, but the people at Wendys werent about to let McDonalds off the hook. Just a few hours after Mickey Ds responded with its McCafe tweet, Wendys retweeted the restaurants remarks and added, When the tweets are as broken as the ice cream machine.

With its tweet, Wendys was presumably referring to the ice cream machines at McDonalds, which are reportedly being replaced after customers complained that they're frequently broken, or otherwise out of service.

NEW APP TELLS YOU WHEN MCDONALD'S ICE CREAM MACHINES ARE DOWN

The post has since been retweeted almost 275,000 times, and earned more than 740,000 likes. Commenters also appeared to appreciate the snarky comment, with one telling Wendys that they deserved a Twitter Oscar, and another telling the restaurant that she one day [hopes] to reach this level of sass.

Wendys replied to its own tweet as well, writing, We're gonna end up owing ourselves a year of free chicken nuggets at this rate  which is a reference to the time Wendys told a Nevada teen that if he somehow accumulated 18 million retweets, he could earn free chicken for a year. (He never earned the required retweets, though Wendys ended up awarding him with a year of free nuggets regardless.)

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

McDonalds, meanwhile, has yet to respond to Wendys or their Twitter posts, but Wendys would likely be ready if they do. In the past, the Ohio-based chain has poked fun at: Hardees, for offering a similar $4 deal; Carls Jr., for its meager Twitter following; Wing Stop, for its rapping skills; and even a single Twitter user who couldnt fathom that Wendys doesn't freeze its beef prior to cooking.
A woman who was called a trailblazer for becoming the first person with Down syndrome to compete in the Miss Minnesota pageant won the Spirit of Miss USA on Sunday.

Mikayla Holmgren, 22, was given the award after competing on Saturday at the pageant in Burnsville. Its the first time someone with Down syndrome has competed in a Miss USA state pageant, according to FOX9.

I'm really good at them because it's my passion," Holmgren told KSTP of her pageantry experience. "It's really fun. As I do more pageants and I'm really proud of myself ... this is my dream.

The 22-year-old had previously been crowned Minnesota Junior Miss Amazing in 2015 and competed in the national Junior Miss Amazing in Los Angeles, the Star Tribune reported.

Mikayla is a trailblazer, executive co-director of the pageant, Denise Wallace, told the newspaper. Wallace told People in May that she is the epitome of what the Miss Universe Organization strives to look for in contestants  someone who is confidently beautiful.

Holmgren said she wants the world to know that her Down syndrome does not define her. With your help, I can help break through walls, she told KARE television.

Kalie Wright, of Eagle Bend, was ultimately crowned Miss Minnesota 2018. This was the second year the pageant has made history. Last year, Halima Aden, a Somali-American woman who was a semi-finalist in last years pageant, was the first person to compete wearing a hijab.
Massage Envy, the nations largest massage franchise, says it is planning to strengthen its policies after more than 180 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault against the companys massage therapists and managers.

According to a report published by Buzzfeed News on Sunday, scores of former clients have accused Massage Envys employees of criminal behavior, including unwanted groping, fondling and sexual assault.

Franchisees and managers, too, have been accused of mishandling or covering up incidents of alleged sexual misconduct.

In one complaint, former customer Susan Ingram said she was assaulted in 2015 by a male masseur named James Deiter, who inserted his fingers in her vagina and pushed his erection against her body while she lay frozen in fear.

Ingram added that she later informed the manager about his behavior, only to be told that she was welcome to return to the massage parlor to discuss the incident. She opted instead to phone the police, and Deiter admitted to assaulting Ingram during questioning.

Deiter was subsequently sentenced to prison for assaulting nine of his clients in total.

MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO BUSTED IN MASSAGE PARLOR STING OPERATION

Other complaints against Massage Envys employees include unwanted touching or oral manipulation and manipulation of clients breasts and genitals  and in one case, a masseur ejaculating on a customers face, Buzzfeed reports.

Victims also say that in many of these cases Massage Envy did not take any immediate action against the offending masseurs. Buzzfeed News also stated that a subsequent review of the companys policies do more to protect the company brand than to ensure customer complaints are handled appropriately.

The companys corporate office has also claimed that Massage Envy is not responsible for the actions of its franchisees or employees, according to court filings obtained by Buzzfeed.

In a statement to Fox News, Massage Envy said that it is heartbroken over the news, but maintains that these incidents only account for a tiny fraction of the companys millions of massages.

"Each of these incidents is heartbreaking for us and for the franchisees that operate Massage Envy locations, and we will never stop looking for ways to help our franchisees provide a safe environment at Massage Envy franchise locations, said the company. The article references 180 reported incidents. These occurred over a span of 15 plus years and 125 million massages. But, we believe that even ONE incident is too many, so we are constantly listening, learning, and evaluating how we can continue to strengthen our policies with respect to handling of these issues.

MASSAGE THERAPIST ACCUSED OF RAPE AT BOSTON'S LOGAN AIRPORT

Meanwhile, former Massage Envy employees who spoke to Buzzfeed claim that Massage Envy didnt prepare them for how to file such complaints, and that their policies centered on defusing the situation before police became involved.

The American Massage Therapy Association, however, stresses that victims should call the police immediately if they feel theyve been assaulted or taken advantage of, rather than to wait for a masseurs employers to take action.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Massage Envy currently operates over 1,170 franchises across the country. As of 2015, it was the nations largest employer of massage therapists, with more than 22,000 employees.
"Suits" actress Meghan Markle started turning heads as a fashion icon in 2012, when she stepped out at the Characters Unite event thrown by the USA Network and The Moth at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. The new bride-to-be dressed in a flirty lace mini frock with scalloped neckline and three-quarter sleeves. Kate Middleton, too, has been photographed in a floor-length verison of the same Diane von Furstenberg dress.
There are times in history when the confluence of events conspire to install a position that was once regarded as a fantasy. For years, from one presidency to the next, it was believed a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians could be achieved. Yet in every instance the best laid plans of diplomats became a chimera. At the risk of assuming the best, it now appears as if an understanding is achievable.

Egyptian officials have united Fatah and Hamas entities for political purpose, thereby setting the stage for negotiation without internal discord. Second, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has been the catalyst in bringing parties together. It would be an extraordinary feather in his cap if an accord were written. Moreover, it would enhance his reputation throughout the region, putting the Crown Prince on the side of moderation and liberalization.

Then, there are the terms. Up to this point the Hamas Charter calls for the decimation of Israel. But as Egyptian diplomats have pointed out, there is a willingness for Hamas and Fatah to recognize Israel as a Jewish state  for the first time in their collective past. Clearly this is a noteworthy development if true.

As noteworthy is the Saudi plan for the right of return. Arab doctrine includes the belief that those who were forced to leave Israel in 1948 should be allowed to return. However, as the Saudis note, the return does not necessarily mean to the place of origin. As a consequence, the Saudis propose to widen the map for refugees citing locations in Egypt to Saudi Arabia as potential homes.

Whether these conditions hold is impossible to predict, albeit previous negotiations did break down over Palestinian recalcitrance. Alas, that might happen again. What the plan does offer is hope for the future based on the new actors on the Middle East stage.

The third leg in this three-legged peace stool is a joint Saudi and Israeli effort to defeat Iran and Hezbollah and develop a plan to interrupt an imperial desire for a Shia Crescent. When an Iranian missile was fired into the Saudi capital, the Crown Prince realized a direct confrontation with Iran is inevitable. He also assessed his ability to defeat Iran in a land battle and concluded his forces do not measure up. However, with Israeli assistance a joint force might prevail. Hence the Crown Prince is developing joint military maneuvers with Israel as his key ally.

Whether these conditions hold is impossible to predict, albeit previous negotiations did break down over Palestinian recalcitrance. Alas, that might happen again. What the plan does offer is hope for the future based on the new actors on the Middle East stage.

The Crown Prince is facing conditions at home  opposition to his plan for social and political liberalization  that warrant success in regional stabilization. President Sisi of Egypt has made it clear he and his government oppose terrorist activity, most noteworthy being Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism. This is even more true following Fridays horrific attack on a Sinai mosque.

Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel realizes the favorable conditions on the ground may not be duplicated again. He cannot miss this opportunity. He also recognizes the tectonic changes in the Sunni world and those implications for Israels role in the Middle East.

President Trump has played his diplomatic hand very cleverly. He has given the Crown Prince the leverage to negotiate terms without imposing a U.S. agenda. He has sought support from Netanyahu without forcing the Israeli hand. And most significantly, these discussions have occurred under the radar and beyond tweets.

In a world where there is confusion and tocsin in the air, it is refreshing to conceive of a positive development in the Middle East. Of course, this may turn into a dismal failure when the bargaining begins, but for the moment high hope prevails.
Its been more than three decades since Congress has worked with the White House to modernize the nations outdated tax system. But that is all about to change.

Over the last several months, lawmakers in both chambers have laid the groundwork for historic tax reform. And it all started with the budget process, within the Budget Committee that I chair in the House of Representatives.

When our committee began writing the budget, we recognized that tax reform should be a priority, so we specifically addressed it in our plan. Through the unique tool known as reconciliation, our budget instructed tax writers in Congress to tackle reform. The Senate also acknowledged the desperate need to overhaul the federal tax code and similarly included text, in its version of the budget, to move the process forward.

However, it wasnt until both chambers agreed to the same budget that conservative tax reform could begin in earnest. For that reason, I often called passage of the budget the golden key to unlock tax reform. Without the budget, we couldnt advance or expand on the tax reform framework that received praise from President Donald Trump when it was unveiled earlier this fall.

The average middle-class family will see a $2,200 increase in wages. This will provide a welcome jolt to the economy following the lackluster years under the Obama Administration.

The good news is that things are steadily moving along. Following agreement to the same budget in both chambers at the end of October, we swiftly rolled out comprehensive tax reform legislation in the House: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Earlier this month, the House Committee on Ways and Means, of which I am also a member, was hard at work getting the bill ready for the floor. After four full days of productive dialogue and fine-tuning the text, I was proud to see it approved by the committee. I was even prouder to see it passed on the House floor.

Along with the president, Republicans in Congress clearly recognize that something must be done about the heavy tax burden weighing down hardworking Americans and holding back job creators. We also recognize the need to bring simplicity to the tax code.

In our tax reform plan, we help low and middle-class Americans see more of their hard-earned paychecks by lowering tax rates and doubling the standard deduction for individuals and married couples. For an average middle-class family of four, that translates to nearly $1,200 off their taxes. We also establish a new Family Credit that raises the Child Tax Credit and introduces new credits for family members and other dependents. The tax code also becomes less confusing and less cumbersome, making it possible for most Americans to file their taxes on a simple post card.

Our plan rightly provides tax relief for job creators, empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses to continue opening, operating and expanding. In my state of Tennessee alone, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimates the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will create 20,000 new jobs. And the average middle-class family will see a $2,200 increase in wages. This will provide a welcome jolt to the economy following the lackluster years under the Obama Administration.

During my nearly seven years as a member of the House, Republicans have been committed to modernizing the federal governments outdated and overly complicated tax system. This is the year we fulfill that promise to the American people.

Without question, enacting tax reform is a challenge, but the benefits of seeing it through will be felt for generations to come. We cannot miss this opportunity.
One of the fundamental problems in Washington is the attitude that the money that people make belongs to the government. Thats why you hear arguments about how much a tax cut costs, or big government advocates disingenuously and breathlessly complaining about the people who pay taxes getting a tax cut.

I believe it is the other way around. Our default position should be that the money you earn belongs to you, and government has to justify why it should take it from you.

Currently, there are at least 97 different federal taxes. The tax code that instructs people how they must hand over their hard-earned money to government spans some 74,000-plus pages.

This is absurd, and so is the fact that government will collect over $3 trillion from taxpayers next year but still is not satisfied.

The good news is  we can do this every year. Want a bigger tax cut? Urge your legislators to do one every single year. Ill sponsor it. Want them to be permanent? Well, one good start is to keep extending them, every single year.

One of the main differences between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans, in general, favor less government and more tax cuts. Thats why Im pleased to see us moving forward on a plan for tax cuts, and why I hope to vote to pass such a cut in the coming weeks.

I spoke out all year against the GOP leaders initial plan to make their tax reform revenue neutral  meaning not really a cut. Im pleased to see my point of view has prevailed, and the current tax plan calls for a $1.5 trillion cut over the next ten years. I would have liked to see more  in fact, I offered an amendment to move it up to $2.5 trillion  but Ive stated many times that as long as it is a real cut, Ill vote for it, even if it isnt as large as I would prefer.

Im also pleased to note that, in part by my urging, the Senate tax-plan writers have included repeal of the ObamaCare individual mandate in the tax plan. The mandate is clearly a tax, a fact that was established by the Supreme Court when it upheld ObamaCare. So including it in the tax bill only makes sense. In addition, with CBO scoring it as a $350 billion savings, repealing the mandate helped pave the way for increased middle-class tax cuts, like an expanded child tax credit.

I was pleased to work directly with President Trump to push this important change that lets us keep multiple promises in one bill  cut taxes and repeal the ObamaCare mandate weve been fighting against for years.

This bill is not perfect. I would prefer a larger cut. I would prefer that the Senate bill match the House bill and keep some form of state and local deductions so that no one gets caught in the trap of losing too many deductions at once and failing to benefit from the tax cuts. Lastly, Id like to see more permanence on the individual side.

Some of that is still achievable. Some of it is due to the peculiarities of the budget and Senate rules and will have to wait for another day.

The good news is  we can do this every year. Want a bigger tax cut? Urge your legislators to do one every single year. Ill sponsor it. Want them to be permanent? Well, one good start is to keep extending them, every single year.

This tax bill is a true test for my colleagues. Im not getting everything I want  far from it. But Ive been immersed in this process. Ive fought for and received major changes for the better  and I plan to vote for this bill as it stands right now.

I urge my colleagues to do the same. I urge you, their constituents, to make sure they hear from you.

The next few weeks in Washington will be important. Will we keep our word and cut taxes? Will we do what we campaigned on and repeal the ObamaCare mandate? I will fight for both, and I look forward to ending the year keeping these important promises to the American people.
Prince Harrys engagement to Meghan Markle will be a boost to the U.S.-UK special relationship. The Los Angeles-born actress will wed the fifth in line to the British throne next spring, in what will likely be one of the most watched global events of 2018.

The wedding will further reinforce the ties that bind Great Britain and the United States, the two most powerful forces for freedom on the world stage. It will be a fitting symbol of the close-knit, enduring international partnership that has been in place for over 70 years.

The wedding is also excellent news for Britains monarchy, which retains its position as the worlds most powerful Royal Family. At the age of just 33, Prince Harry is already a hugely popular figure in Britain.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's marriage will also strengthen the ties between the United States and the United Kingdom, at a time when American and British leadership is essential.

There is tremendous goodwill toward Harry and the Royal Family as a whole, with opinion polls showing strong public backing for the monarchy. Support for the monarchy has steadily risen in Britain in recent years, a reflection of the popularity of Queen Elizabeth II, Britains longest reigning monarch, as well as Princes William and Harry, who have played an increasingly prominent public role.

Prince Harry has earned the publics admiration. An Afghanistan war veteran, he showed great courage and leadership on the battlefield in southern Helmand province, where he served two tours of duty with the Household Cavalry Regiment. His bravery fighting the Taliban was a powerful demonstration of the British warrior spirit. It moved then Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt to declare that Prince Harry was a "credit to the nation."

In the years since, the young prince has emerged as a leading campaigner for wounded warriors, serving as a patron with the charity Walking with the Wounded. He appears destined to be an outstanding ambassador for Great Britain.

Great Britains Royal Family plays a vital role in strengthening and uniting the British nation, and in representing the British people across the world. It is a powerful symbol of the defining values and character of the British nation.

Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle will play an important role in the coming decades in ensuring that Britains monarchy continues to flourish. Their marriage will also strengthen the ties between the United States and the United Kingdom, at a time when American and British leadership is essential.
Both Democrat and Republican politicians on Sunday called for increased transparency on how lawmakers handled allegations of sexual misconduct in the past.

There is a bipartisan effort to pass legislation that would require all sexual harassment claims to be handled in the public, The New York Times reported. It is unclear if the legislation would expose payouts in the past.

Some politicians are in favor of exposing these older cases, while others warn of potential issues with victims who've had no interest of going public with their claims.

I think it should be more transparent, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told NBC's Meet the Press. I certainly think that if you accept taxpayer funds for settlement, that should be transparent.

The call comes amid recent allegations against two high-profile politicians: Michigan Rep. John Conyers and Minnesota Sen. Al Franken.

Conyers is under investigation over allegations he sexually harassed female staff members. He said Sunday that he will step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while fiercely denying he acted inappropriately during his long tenure in Congress.

Denying the allegations, Conyers, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who was first elected to the House in 1964, urged lawmakers to allow him due process.

I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family, Conyers said.

Franken broke his silence Sunday after being swept into a nationwide tide of sexual harassment allegations, saying he feels "embarrassed and ashamed," but looks forward to returning to work on Monday and gradually regaining voters' trust.

Three women allege that Franken grabbed their buttocks while taking photos with them during campaign events. Franken told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he doesn't remember the photographs but that such behavior is "not something I would intentionally do."

Asked whether he expected any other women to step forward with similar allegations, Franken said: "If you had asked me two weeks ago, 'Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect?' I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise ... I certainly hope not."

The Times reported Sunday that the House is expected to adopt a resolution that all representatives and their staffs must take anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Monday blasted net neutrality activists who protested outside his home with signs directed at his children, saying the demonstration crosses a line.

The protests followed Pai saying last week that he would follow through on his pledge to repeal Obama-era Internet regulations.

The move set up a showdown with consumer groups, but the backlash recently reached Pai's own home -- with activists putting up cardboard signs that ask if this is the world he wants his children to "inherit." One sign says, "They will come to know the truth. Dad murdered democracy in cold blood."

It certainly crosses a line with me, Pai told Fox News Fox & Friends on Monday. Families  should remain out of it and stop harassing us at our homes. ... It was a little nerve-racking, especially for my wife whos not involved in this space.

FCC CHAIRMAN MOVES TO DISMANTLE OBAMA-ERA INTERNET RULES

The 2015 rules -- known as net neutrality -- were designed to ensure that Internet service providers treat all online content and apps equally. They impose utility-style regulation on ISPs such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to prevent them from favoring their own digital services over those of their rivals.

But Pai argues the rules discourage the ISPs from making investments in their network that would provide even better and faster online access.

He also said Monday that he thinks the five-member Federal Communications Commission will vote 3-2 in favor of repealing the regulations. The vote is scheduled for Dec. 14.

The solution is not more regulations, he said. The problem was this was slapping on more regulations.

Pai has reportedly distributed his alternative plan to other commissioners.

Fellow Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn has called Pais proposals a giveaway to the nations largest communications companies, at the expense of consumers and innovation.

Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel are the lone Democrats on the commission.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Democratic Sen. Al Franken, in his first press conference since allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct, said Monday that he was sorry but hopes to regain the publics trust and confidence by getting back to work.

And the senator made clear he has no plans to resign.

Its going to take a long time to regain peoples trust, but I hope that starts today by getting back to work, he said outside his Capitol Hill office. Ive been trying to take responsibility. ... I am going to be accountable.

The Minnesota lawmaker first broke his silence on the issue Sunday, telling state-based newspaper and radio reporters that he was ashamed by his behavior and sorry for his actions but that he would not resign from Congress.

Four women have publicly said Franken groped them, including one who said he forcibly kissed her and others who say he grabbed them at photo opportunities.

I take a lot of pictures, he said Monday.

Franken said he didn't remember such actions regarding the pictures but understood the women felt disrespected.

For that I am tremendously sorry, he said. I am going to have to be much more conscious when in these circumstances, much more careful, much more sensitive. ... This will not happen again.

Franken also echoed his earlier apologies by saying, I am embarrassed. I feel ashamed. Im going to start my job, and go back to work.

The first claim against Franken emerged nearly two weeks ago, when Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles radio host, said the senator forcibly kissed and groped her during a 2006 USO tour, before he was elected to the Senate.

She said Franken kissed her while rehearsing a sketch. And later on the tour, Franken was photographed with his hands over Tweedens breasts, grinning at the camera, as she slept.

The two-term senator has repeatedly apologized to Tweeden and says he will cooperate with a Senate ethics investigation.

Franken told Minnesota Public Radio on Sunday that the photo was inexcusable.

She ... didn't have any ability to consent, he said. She had every right to feel violated by that photo. I have apologized to her, and I was very grateful that she accepted my apology.

The second allegation against Franken was reported several days after Tweeden's.

Lindsay Menz told CNN that Franken grabbed her buttocks in 2010 when they posed together for a picture at a Minnesota state fair, while he was a senator.

Two other women have since anonymously reported such incidents to the Huffington Post. One woman said Franken groped her in 2007 during a photo at the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus. The other said he cupped her backside with his hand in 2008 and suggested that they go to the bathroom together at a Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis.

The senator said last week that he feels badly that Menz felt disrespected but does not remember the photograph being taken.

He told the Star Tribune of Minnesota on Sunday that he was ashamed and embarrassed by his actions but wouldn't resign.

The senator also told the newspaper that he spent the past week thinking about how that could happen. And I just recognize that I need to be more careful and a lot more sensitive in these situations.

He said he didnt expect similar allegations would follow.

I certainly hope not, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sen. John McCain is blasting Hillary Clinton for penning a memoir so soon after her stunning defeat in the 2016 presidential election while also noting that her problem is she doesnt have anything to do.

What's the f------ point? Keep the fight up? McCain, R-Ariz., says in suggesting in an interview with Esquire published Monday that Clinton erred in writing What Happened when she did and then going on a media blitz to promote it.

History will judge that campaign, and its always a period of time before they do," the senator told writer David Usborne. "Youve got to move on. This is Hillarys problem right now: She doesnt have anything to do.

McCain, 81, who is being treated for brain cancer, told the magazine that he resisted the temptation to immediately set the record straight about his 2008 loss to Barrack Obama.

Youve got to understand that you cant rewrite history, he said. One of the almost irresistible impulses you have when you lose is to somehow justify why you lost and how you were mistreated: I did the right thing! I did! The hardest thing to do is to just shut up.

Clinton published her tell-all in September.

In it, she holds herself partly responsible for her upset loss to Donald Trump.

"I go back over my own shortcomings and the mistakes we made, she wrote. I take responsibility for all of them. You can blame the data, blame the message, blame anything you want -- but I was the candidate. It was my campaign. Those were my decisions.

But she also casts blame on her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders for his attacks on her during the primary, former FBI Director James Comey for his handling of the investigation into her private emails and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the hacking of her campaign managers emails.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is facing a backlash for defending Rep. John Conyers and even questioning those accusing him of sexual harassment during a Sunday interview.

Pelosi, D-Calif., touted Conyers, D-Mich., on NBCs Meet the Press as an American icon.

John Conyers is an icon in our country, she said. He has done a great deal to protect women.

She added: I believe he understands whats at stake here. He will do the right thing.

Pelosi said Conyers, and the women accusing him, were entitled to due process, but also asked: I dont know who they aredo you?

Host Chuck Todd asked whether Pelosi believed the women alleging Conyers treated them inappropriately.

Thats for the ethics committee to review, she replied.

Pelosis interview drew harsh criticism on Twitter from those who accused her of playing party politics and focusing on power.

Pelosi is a survivor and knows she cant lose support in black caucus so she is gentle w Conyers. Its always about power, Chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp tweeted Monday.

Political editor for TownHall.com and Fox News contributor Guy Benson pointed to Pelosis interview as an example of a double standard used by Democrats in regard to sexual harassment allegations. Benson cited Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of pursuing teenage girls when he was in his 30s, and even sexual assault -- claims he denies.

Im no Roy Moore defender, to put it mildly. But for those unable to comprehend why many conservative voters are willing to stand by him, look no further than Pelosis MTP performance today. Many GOP voters see Dems as ruthless defenders of power & are sick of double standards, Benson tweeted Sunday.

Despite Pelosis defense of Conyers' record, she applauded the Democratic congressman's decision later Sunday to step down from his leadership position on the House Judiciary Committee while the Ethics Committee reviews the harassment allegations against him.

Zero tolerance means consequences, Pelosi said in a statement Sunday, noting that she asked for an ethics investigation into Conyers and that he agreed to step aside as ranking member on the committee.

We are at a watershed moment on this issue, and no matter how great an individuals legacy, it is not a license for harassment, Pelosi said. I commend the brave women coming forward.

Pelosis statement seemed to add more fuel to the Twitter fire, as pundits and journalists pointed out the difference in tone from her comments earlier that day.

The 88-year-old Conyers is the longest-serving current House member.

The ethics committee announced last Tuesday that it began an investigation into Conyers, after receiving allegations of sexual harassment and age discrimination involving staff members and about the congressman using official resources for impermissible personal purposes.

The announcement followed a BuzzFeed News report last Monday that Conyers office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a 2015 complaint that she was fired from Conyers staff for rejecting his sexual advances.

Also last week, Melanie Sloan, a lawyer who worked with Conyers on the House Judiciary Committee, alleged that she was called into Conyers office to discuss an issue and found him walking around in his underwear. It is unclear when the alleged incident occurred. She also claimed Conyers screamed at her, fired and re-hired her, and criticized her for not wearing stockings.

Conyers has continued to deny the allegations, but said he would fully cooperate in the probe.
Many national Republican leaders pulled their support for Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate, in the wake of allegations claiming he had inappropriate sexual contact with teenage girls.

The Washington Post reported that four women accused Moore of initiating sexual contact with them in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when he was an assistant district attorney in his early 30s. One of the women, Leigh Corfman, told the newspaper that Moore had sexual contact with her when she was 14. The age of consent in Alabama is 16.

Several additional women have since come forward to accuse Moore of sexually inappropriate behavior.

Moore denied the allegations, saying in a statement obtained by Fox News that the allegations are "based on a lie supported by innuendo."

"It seems that in the political arena, to say that something is not true is simply not good enough. So let me be clear. I have never provided alcohol to minors, and I have never engaged in sexual misconduct," he said.

Multiple Republican lawmakers called on Moore to step aside from the Dec. 12 special election. However, President Trump offered his endorsement for the embattled politician, and the Republican National Committee began supporting Moore after having previously cut its fundraising ties to him.

The White House

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president had no plans for an in-person appearance on Moore's behalf.

In addition, the president previously signed off on a decision by the Republican National Committee to cut off support for Moore's campaign.

But publicly, Trump unleashed his criticism on Democratic candidate Doug Jones instead of Moore.

The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is weak on crime, weak on the border, bad for our military and our great vets, bad for our 2nd Amendment, and wants to [raise] taxes to the sky. Jones would be a disaster, Trump tweeted on Nov. 26.

And just over one week before the election, Trump said he needed Moores vote in the Senate when it comes to certain issues, such as immigration, gun rights and judicial appointments.

Trump also encouraged his Twitter followers to vote for Moore on the morning of the election as he contended that Moore "will always vote with us."

Vice President Mike Pence found the allegations in the story disturbing and believes, if true, this would disqualify anyone from serving in office, his press secretary, Alyssa Farah, has told reporters.

Sen. Mitch McConnell

While speaking to reporters, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he believes the women quoted in the Washington Post story. He urged Moore to step aside in light of the allegations.

Previously, McConnell said Moore should step aside if "these allegations are true."

Sen. Cory Gardner

Cory Gardner, the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, said he believes the women who have alleged Moore's misconduct. In a statement, he encouraged the Senate to "vote to expel" Moore should he win the election next month.

"He does not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the United States Senate," Gardner, R-Colo., said.

Sen. Mike Lee

A former backer of Moore, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, pulled his endorsement from Moore after the allegations came to light.

"Having read the detailed description of the incidents, as well as the response from Judge Moore and his campaign, I can no longer endorse his candidacy for the US Senate," Lee said in a tweet.

He had also requested that Moore's campaign no longer use his image.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Im horrified and if its true, he should step down immediately, Murkowski told reporters.

She reportedly also urged Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to fill Jeff Sessions seat when he was tapped to become attorney general, to launch a write-in campaign. The deadline to take Moore off the ballot has passed.

Sen. Mike Rounds

If they are true, then he should seriously think about stepping aside," Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said.

Sen. John Cornyn

I find it deeply distrusting and troubling. Its up to the governor and the folks of Alabama to make that decision as far as what the next steps are," Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. He later withdrew his endorsement of Moore.

Sen. Tim Scott

If theyre accurate, he absolutely should [step aside]," Tim Scott, of South Carolina, said.

Sen. Susan Collins

In a tweet, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, called for Moore to "withdraw from the Senate race in Alabama."

Collins wrote that she listened to Moore deny the allegations in a recent radio interview, but "did not find his denials to be convincing."

Collins' most recent statement comes after she previously tweeted: "If there is any truth at all to these horrific allegations, Roy Moore should immediately step aside as Senate candidate."



Sen. Steve Daines

"I am pulling my endorsement and support for Roy Moore for U.S. Senate," said Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.

Sen. John McCain

"The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of," Arizona Sen. John McCain said.

Sen. Richard Shelby

Its a devastating nasty story, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby told reporters. If its true, I dont believe thered be a place for him in the U.S. Senate.

He said that he did not vote for Moore when he sent in his absentee ballot but voted instead for a "distinguished Republican write-in."

Sen. Jeff Flake

Like other Republicans, Flake called on Moore to step aside from the election.

"Just to be clear. If the choice is between Roy Moore and a Democrat, I would run to the polling place to vote for the Democrat," Flake tweeted.

Hes said that Republicans to support Roy Moore over Doug Jones is political tribalism at its worst.

Flake also tweeted a photo of a check made out to Jones for $100 with "Country over Party" written in the memo line.

Sen. Luther Strange

Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, who lost the special election primary to Roy Moore, called the allegations disturbing.

It is too late to take Moore off the ballot, but Strange has been encouraged to launch a write-in campaign.

Sen. Rob Portman

I think if what we read is true, and people are on the record so I assume it is, then he should step aside, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said.

Sen. Ben Sasse

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called the Washington Posts story "heartbreaking."

Sasse also slammed the Republican National Committee for providing funds to Moores race.

This is a bad decision and very sad day. I believe the women  and the RNC previously did too. Whats changed? Or is the party just indifferent? Sasse said on Twitter. This sends a terrible message to victims its not that the party wont believe you if you come forward. It might. But just doesnt care.

The senator than warned that if the National Republican Senatorial Committee decided to contribute to Moore, he would no longer be a donor to or fund-raiser for it.

Sen. Ted Cruz

"These are serious and troubling allegations," Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who previously endorsed Moore, said in a statement. "If they are true, Judge Moore should immediately withdraw. However, we need to know the truth, and Judge Moore has the right to respond to these accusations."

Sen. Bill Cassidy

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., officially withdrew his support from the candidate.

"Based on the allegations against Roy Moore, his response and what is known, I withdraw support," he said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch

"I stand with the Majority Leader on this. These are serious and disturbing accusations, and while the decision is now in the hands of the people of Alabama, I believe Luther Strange is an excellent alternative," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, tweeted.

But a week before the election, Hatch said Trump didnt have another choice but to endorse Moore, Bloomberg reported. He also said that many of the things he allegedly did are decades ago. So its hard to  thats a decision that has to be made by the people in that state.

If they make that decision, who are we to question them? Hatch said.

Sen. Pat Toomey

We'll probably never know for sure exactly what happened," Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"But  I think the accusations have more credibility than the denial. I think it would be best if Roy would just step aside.

Sen. Lindsey Graham

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham took to Twitter to say Moore should step aside in the Alabama Senate race.

"In light of the most recent allegations and the cumulative effect of others, I believe [Moore] would be doing himself, the state, the GOP, and the country a service by stepping aside," Graham said. "If he continues this will not end well for Mr. Moore."

He has also bemoaned Trumps attempt to throw a lifeline to Moore.

Rep. Paul Ryan

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said if the allegations are true, they would disqualify Moore from the special election.

These allegations are disqualifying if true. Anyone who would do this to a child has no place in public office, let alone the United States Senate, Ryan said in a statement.

Rep. Peter King

"I would say unless he can prove his innocence, the burden is now on him within the next day or so, I believe he has to step down. He owes it to himself, he owes it to the state and and he owes it to the U.S. Senate," New York Rep. Peter King said after the allegations came out.

Rep. Lee Zeldin

In a tweet, Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., called for that "creepy Roy Moore dude" to step aside from the campaign.

"It's about that time for that creepy Roy Moore dude to exit stage left. He should step aside & let someone take his spot on the ballot who doesn't prey upon young teenage girls as a grown man," he said.

Gov. John Kasich

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said on Twitter that hes long opposed Moore and called on him to step aside from the race as well.

Ive long opposed Roy Moore [and] his divisive viewpoints. The actions described make him unfit for office. The GOP must not support him. He should step aside, Kasich said.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, slammed Moore on Twitter.

Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe Leigh Corfman, the former governor said. Her account is too serous to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside.

"Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity," Romney said in another tweet on Dec. 4.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush

Former Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Moore should step down in light of the allegations.

"This is not a question of innocence or guilt like in a criminal proceeding; this is a question of whats right and whats wrong. Acknowledging that youre dating teenagers when youre 32 years old as assistant state attorney is wrong. Its just plain wrong," he told CNBC, adding that he agreed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said earlier Monday that Moore should "step aside."

"We need to stand for basic principles, and decency has to be one of those," Bush added. "In the really poisonous political environment we have right now, one of the rules I think has to apply is that when you attack somebody on the other party, and the other team for doing something wrong, when it happens on your team, you have an obligation I think to speak out as well."

Ivanka Trump

The president's daughter had some harsh words for Moore.



"There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I've yet to see a valid explanation, and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts," Ivanka Trump told the Associated Press.

Condoleezza Rice

While she didnt name Moore, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice  who is from Alabama  encouraged voters to take a stand for our core principles and for what is right.

These critical times require us to come together to reject bigotry, sexism and intolerance, Rice said in a statement to AL.com.

"It is imperative for Americans to remain focused on our priorities and not give way to side shows and antics. I know that Alabamans need an independent voice in Washington. But we must also insist that our representatives are dignified, decent, and respectful of the values we hold dear, she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump has no plans to travel to Alabama to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, the White House said Monday.

The president initially hinted last week that he might campaign for Moore. And over the weekend, Trump slammed Moores Democratic rival Doug Jones on Twitter, saying that electing the Democrat would damage his agenda and be a disaster.

But a White House official told The Associated Press that Trump would not travel to Alabama on Moore's behalf. Asked about the president's plans with regard to Moore, a White House official confirmed to Fox News there is nothing on his schedule at this time."

Seven women have come forward and accused Moore of sexual misconduct. One said she was 14 when the incident occurred.

In recent weeks, several Alabama newspapers as well as prominent Republicans including Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have withdrawn their endorsements of Moore.

Trump, however, seemed to minimize the allegations of sexual misconduct, while telling voters last week not to support Jones.

When pressed on the allegations against Moore, some of which date back 40 years, Trump said, "Look, he denies it ... He says it didn't happen, and you know, you have to listen to him also."

Fox News' Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump on Monday resumed his long-running battle with what he calls "FAKE NEWS," just hours after returning to the White House from Mar-a-Lago where he spent the Thanksgiving break.

We should have a contest as to which of the Networks plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me), Trump tweeted. They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!

CNN's Jake Tapper quoted the president's tweet, sharing a link to a CNN poll from earlier this month, reflecting Trump's approval ratings at a "new low."

"Trump approval ratings: historic lows," Tapper tweeted. "Trump honesty: 1,628 false or misleading claims over 298 days."

Earlier, Trump replied to a tweet from White House Director of Social Media Dan Scavino Jr., which shared a Breitbart News article criticizing MSNBC and its hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough for pretending their pre-taped post-Thanksgiving show was live.

Fake News: Morning Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) Caught Pretending Pre-Taped Day After Thanksgiving Show Was Live, Scavino tweeted, sharing Breitbarts coverage.

The good news is that their ratings are terrible, nobody cares! Trump replied, referring to the morning shows ratings.

Trump has criticized both Scarborough and Brzezinski for hammering his administration during their early-morning show. He's also been on the warpath against CNN.

@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly, Trump tweeted Saturday. The outside world does not see the truth from them!

The outlet counter-punched.

Its not CNNs job to represent the U.S to the world. Thats yours. Our job is to report the news. #FactsFirst, CNN Communications tweeted in response to the president on Saturday.
President Trump on Monday revived his favorite nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- Pocahontas -- during a White House event to honor Navajo code talkers.

The president hosted the event to honor the veterans who used their native language during World Wars I and II to protect the U.S. during battle.

Youre very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here, Trump said in the Oval Office. But his comments took an unexpected turnto the Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas, Trump said. But you know what? I like you. Because you are special.

Trump has repeatedly mocked Warren for claims she has made about being part Native American.

But Trump's jab on Monday was met with a backlash from critics who said the president should not have used this forum to toss around that nickname.

These code talkers deserve our nations praise and gratitude, not a president who disrespects the Native American community and dishonors Native American veterans, Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez said in a statement Monday. What Trump displayed today was an embarrassment to our values and a disgraceful insult to the heroes of our history. Our country deserves better than this.

But White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders defended the presidents comments after being grilled by reporters over why the president felt the need to say something offensive during the press briefing on Monday.

I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about heritage to advance her career, Sanders said.

When asked whether it was a racial slur, Sanders said that was ridiculous.

I dont think it is a racist term, I dont think that was his intent, Sanders said. Senator Warren was offensive when she lied about something to advance her career.

Warren responded to Trump on MSNBC after the event, saying that it was deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur.

Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he is gonna shut me up with this, Warren said. It hadnt worked in the past, it is not gonna work in the future.

Warrens claims of Native-American heritage originated during her Senate campaign. She was ultimately unable to prove she is Native American.
More than 100 reindeer in Norway have been killed in recent days after getting caught on tracks and subsequently hit by speeding freight trains, sparking an outcry to erect some type of barrier during their migration.

Torstein Appfjell, a reindeer herder who was dizzy with anger, called the deaths totally tragic and unprecedented. He said that the worst incident occurred on Saturday when 65 reindeer were killed.

He said over 106 reindeer were killed since Thursday, making it the worst 12-month period they have seen in the area. At least 250 animals were killed in train accidents since last November.

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER WHY REINDEER ANTLERS ARE SO STRONG

Groups of reindeer, led by their herders, have been migrating from their summer pasture in the mountainous regions of Norway towards the coast, according to Sky News. But many of the animals get caught on the train tracks.

Residents in the area, tired of seeing the animals being slaughtered every year, are calling for a barrier to be constructed to prevent and protect the animals from train tracks.

Local media has reported that Bane NOR, the company which runs the train, has since reduced speeds in the area in response to the massacre.

Earlier warnings for trains to decrease speed at the migration areas failed to reach the train operators due to a technical failure, Sky News reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Elon Musk has repeatedly sounded the alarm against the rise of artificial intelligence as a threat to humanity. Now, the venerable tech exec has observed that Boston Dynamics' latest robot, which does backflips, is just the start of things to come.

"This is nothing," Musk wrote on Twitter, describing a video in which Boston Dynamics' latest robot does backflips in a warehouse. "In a few years, that bot will move so fast youll need a strobe light to see it. Sweet dreams"

When asked why people would need strobe lights to see it, he responded: "Otherwise youd only see a blur." It's unclear if Musk was taking inspiration from the recently released "Justice League" movie, in which The Flash, played by Ezra Miller, runs so fast, he is just a blur to the human eye.

ELON MUSK THINKS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COULD CAUSE WORLD WAR III

According to research firm IDC, worldwide spending on robotics will top $188 billion by 2020, up from $91.5 billion in 2016, due in part to new use cases and acceptance in the marketplace.

"Innovators in the field of robotics are delivering robots that can be used to perform a broader range of tasks, which is helping to drive the adoption of robotics into a wider base of industries," said IDC Manufacturing Insights research manager John Santagate in a January statement.

Investment in artificial intelligence, which allows machines to perform tasks as well or better than humans, is expected to surgeduring the same time frame as well, IDC noted separately.

Earlier this month, Boston Dynamics, known for its terrifying-looking robots, released a new video of its humanoid robot. The new video shows the robot jumping from block to block and it eventually does a backflip, further casting a light on our robot-pocalypse future.

'NIGHTMARE INDUCING' ROBOTS ARE NOW ABLE TO DO BACKFLIPS

Musk, who has previously said artificial intelligence could be the cause of World War 3, has repeatedly asked for governments around the world to regulate artificial intelligence and robotics, much like society does with other sectors, such as food and drugs. He expressed his sentiments again on Sunday on Twitter.

"Got to regulate AI/robotics like we do food, drugs, aircraft & cars," Musk wrote. "Public risks require public oversight. Getting rid of the FAA wdnt [SIC] make flying safer. Theyre there for good reason."

Boston Dynamics, which Google sold to Japanese tech conglomerate Softbank earlier this year, has acknolwedged that its robots can cause fear, with its CEO, Marc Raibert, once making a joke about it in a presentation.

In February, Raibert showed off the wheeled version of one of its robots and described it as "nightmare-inducing."

"This is the debut presentation of what I think will be a nightmare-inducing robot if you're anything like me," Raibert was quoted as saying.

Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia
We know that crossing off your holiday shopping list is the intention behind days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But with so many incredible travel deals slated for this year, it's a great time to get out your bucket list, too.

We've combed through the Cyber Monday sales to highlight some of the deepest discounts on airfare, hotel stays, tours and more. Some have already started, and that dream vacation you've always wanted to take just might be within reach.

So without further ado, we present the very best travel deals this holiday shopping season.

Airfare Sales

If you're planning to book a flight for more than three people, use the promo code CYBER30 to take $30 off flights booked at CheapOAir.com.

Expedia is hosting a fare sale with airlines like Lufthansa, Air China, Etihad, and Turkish Airlines, where you can find international round-trip fares from $399. At the time of publish, a March round-trip flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok was a steal at $419.

Hotel and Resort Sales

Hotels.com is offering an entire week of deals with up to 50 percent or more in savings when you book before Wednesday, November 29. Starting on Black Friday, the site is also running a promotion for a mystery coupon that will give 300 people an additional 99 percent off a single booking of up to $1000 through Cyber Monday. Users can also unlock other secret prices by subscribing to emails.

At select Marriott properties worldwide, you can save on stays from Dec. 7, 2017 to Jan. 15, 2018, at Marriott's five-day cyber sale, with rates from $89 per night.

The Peninsula hotels in New York City, Chicago, Beverly Hills, and Paris have some great savings on room bookings as well as spa, dining and hotel gift cards. For example, at the Peninsula New York, you can save 30 percent on stays when you use the code NYCYBER to reserve any room category online for travel from now through March 31, 2018

The Wyndham Hotel Group is giving travelers up to 55 percent off the best rate at properties all around the U.S.  from Chicago to Tucson to Aspen to Orlando. One example: $71 per night at the Wyndham New Orleans-French Quarter, from now until Sept. 30, 2018.

At Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, stays that are booked for four or more nights will receive a complimentary fifth night, valid on bookings through Oct. 15, 2018.

Sandals Beaches & Resorts is touting up to $1,730 in savings as part of its Cyber Monday deals. Travelers who book will receive up to $1,000 as an instant bonus, up to 65 percent off rates, and one free night in select room categories. Plus, they're tossing in a free catamaran cruise, a $250 spa credit, and more fun extras.

Loews Hotels' Cyber Sale runs from Monday through Wednesday, November 29, with 20 percent off all room rates. Guests can enjoy discounted rates from hotels like Loews Hollywood, Loews Philadelphia, Loews New Orleans, and more.

At 36 participating Destination Hotels across the country, travelers can save up to 40 percent on bookings through Dec. 1, 2018. There are plenty of perfect ski trip spots included, like The Gant in Aspen, and Manor Vail Lodge in Vail, Colorado.

Tour Sales

Contiki Travel will offer 18- to 35-year-old travelers up to 30 percent off select trips, along with $150 off all worldwide flights spanning from across six continents. Travelers simply need to book their travels before Dec. 4. Trips include Contikis Costa Rica Unplugged trip, where vacationers will explore jungles and volcanoes, coffee plantations and beaches, and discover small Costa Rican towns for two weeks. The trip includes accommodations, 23 meals, in-destination transportation and excursions starting at $2,493.

At Intrepid Travel, you can take 15 percent off all trips departing between Feb. 1 and Sept. 30, 2018. That's valid on more than 1,000 tours to 120 countries on six continents. Solo trip to Peru to hike Machu Picchu, anyone?

Global tour operator Friendly Planet Travel is offering travelers huge Cyber Monday savings, including up to $1,400 off per person on 68 tours to over 40 international destinations. A great option for adventure lovers is Friendly Planets 13-day Best of South Africa tour. Friendly Planet will offer up the trip for $2,899 per person, marking a $700 savings. For even bigger savings book the tour operators eight-day Captivating Cuba tour, which will go for $3,199 (a $1,400 savings). Packages include all airfare, accommodations, most meals, transfers, English-speaking guides, and more.

Cruise Sales

Royal Caribbean is offering 50 percent off for the second passenger and up to $400 in credits to spend at sea depending on the length of your cruise.

At CruiseDirect.com, travelers can sail for as little as $35 per night, with tons of added bonuses: free drinks, free upgrades, up to $2,000 of onboard credits, and more.

Right now with Princess Cruises, select sailings from winter 2017 through spring 2018 are eligible for up to $1,000 off per stateroom plus reduced fares for the third and fourth guests. On Cyber Monday only, guests also can receive 50 percent off deposits  now only $50.

Spending time in New York City? Iconic tour company Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises has buy-one-get-one-free adult tickets for the Best of NYC Cruise, Landmarks Cruise, Liberty Cruise or Harbor Lights Cruise with code BOGO17.

Travel Gear Sales

eBags has Cyber Monday Doorbuster Deals at up to 75 percent off, including brands like Bose, The North Face, Samsonite, Briggs & Riley, and other favorite luggage brands. Plus, the promo code DEALS will get you an extra 25 percent off your order.

To finally become the packing pro you know you can be, look no further than Eagle Creek, which is offering 20 percent off select travel gear (including some of the best packing cube sets on the market!).

In its travel department, Amazon is also offering up to 20 percent off on luggage and travel accessories from brands like Travelpro, Herschel Supply Co., Travelon, and Victorinox.

To stock up on outdoor adventure gear, check out Eastern Mountain Sports' biggest sale of the year. The code GIVEGEAR will save you 20 percent off one full-price item and also off one clearance item. And there are also limited-time savings of up to 50 percent on outerwear, camping gear, hiking shoes, and more.

Tumi is running its semi-annual sale through December 31, but on Cyber Monday, you can also take an additional 20 percent off already-reduced styles, including some of the brand's best-selling collections.

At Kohl's, there are more than 2,000 incredible luggage deals. Shop brands like American Tourister, Olympia, Travelers Choice and more with discounts of up to 50 percent.

Looking for some comfy travel boots? Zappos is offering limited-time savings of up to 50 percent on UGG, Frye, SOREL, Hunter, and Columbia.
Tens of thousands of travelers are still stuck on the Indonesian island of Bali after authorities extended the closure of Bali's international airport due to nearby volcanic activity.

Airport officials have announced that Ngurah Rai International Airport will remain closed for another 24 hours for safety reasons, as volcanic ash from Mount Agung  which has reached heights of 30,000 feet  continues to pose a threat to outgoing flights.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, shared the news early on Tuesday morning, though he stated that the nearby Lombok International Airport, on the neighboring island of Lombok, had reopened.

MORE THAN 40 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA FOUND IN LUGGAGE AT NASHVILLE AIRPORT

Tourists, meanwhile, are still at a loss for what to do. "I don't know, we can't change it," German tourist Gina Camp told the Associated Press from a bench at the airport. "It's the nature and we have to wait until it's over."

Balis Mount Agung has been spewing smoke and ash since Saturday, the AP reports, and lava has been welling up in the crater. A potentially dangerous mudflow known as lahar  which is made up of volcanic debris mixed with water  has already begun to flow down the mountain, and Indonesias National Disaster Mitigation Agency believes that its only a matter of time before lava spills over the slopes as well.

Indonesias volcanology center had since issued a red alert to all airlines, warning of excessive amounts of ash in the atmosphere for miles around, Sky News reports. And on Monday morning, officials closed the Ngurah Rai International Airport (also known as Denpasar International Airport) in Bali for 24 hours. A nearby airport on the Indonesian island of Lombok had already closed as of Sunday, The Telegraph adds.

Multiple airlines, too, had confirmed as of Sunday that flights out of Bali would be canceled. Garuda Indonesia, the countrys national airline, further responded to a concerned traveler via Twitter with news that Denpasar would be closed at least until 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

Airport officials are said to be reviewing their decision every six hours, according to Buzzfeed News. As of Monday afternoon local time, at least 445 flights were canceled and 59 thousand travelers affected. An airport spokesman confirmed those numbers on Tuesday, AP reports.

AIRPORT PASSENGERS BREAK OUT ACCORDION AFTER FLIGHT DELAY IS ANNOUNCED

Hundreds of hopeful tourists, meanwhile, have reportedly been waiting at Ngurah Rai since Monday, according to photos taken at the airport.

One stranded passenger who spoke with Sky News said that she, like other tourists, were aware of the risks involved with traveling to Bali.

"Yeah I had knowledge and, like with everything, there's a risk," said Chelsea Van De Ven. "I took that risk and got stranded but, hopefully, we will get through.

Another woman claimed on Twitter that she had checked out of her hotel and headed to the airport, only to return and re-check into the hotel, as there was no other way to learn when or if the airport had reopened. She says she will likely do the same thing again tomorrow.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency says that the volcanos danger zone encompasses 22 villages and some 90,000-100,000 people. Authorities are trying to move them to the islands evacuation centers, which were already housing about 25,000 other evacuees who had moved in following tremors in September.

Mount Agungs last major eruption occurred in 1963, and claimed the lives of around 1,100 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man in Florida has been charged with murder after he allegedly stabbed someone with a three-foot-long sword.

George C. Livingston, 51, was arrested after a man was found dead and covered in blood next to a three-foot sword near railroad tracks on Saturday, according to the Sun Sentinel.

Law enforcement reportedly responded to a call in which someone reported a subject covered in blood was lying next to the railroad tracks.

FLORIDA MAN WIELDS SAMURAI SWORD DURING ROAD RAGE INCIDENT, POLICE SAY

The victim, identified by the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office as David Beckett, 58, had "visible injuries consistent with a violent attack," a spokesperson for the sheriff's office told the Palm Beach Post.

Livingston and Beckett reportedly both lived at a nearby homeless camp.

Police believe the attack, which was referred to as murder, dangerous depraved without premeditation on Livingstons booking sheet, was part of a fight he had with Beckett.

In 2011, Livingston, who was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in Becketts death, was reportedly caught with a nine-inch knife attached to his belt near a children's area of the Boynton Beach Mall. He claimed he needed the knife to protect himself from gangs.

After having his knife confiscated, Livingston reportedly asked, "Why did the other officer take my pocket knife but not my taser?" Police then confiscated his taser.

TEXAS ABOUT TO LEGALIZE OPEN-CARRY OF BIG SWORDS AND KNIVES

The Post reported Livingston spent five years in state prison after he failed to abide by a 1998 court-order to cease contact with someone "for protection against repeat violence." Livingston continued to harass and engage in "threatening behavior toward the victim."

He later spent two years in prison for another charge of aggravated stalking, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Livingston is currently being held without bond in the Palm Beach County jail.
Police say an officer shot a suspected shoplifter near the food court at a busy Dallas-area shopping mall.

Arlington police spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook says the incident occurred Sunday afternoon after a theft was reported at a store inside The Parks at Arlington mall. Police say the suspect attempted to flee from security before going up an escalator toward the food court.

Cook says the male suspect then pulled a replica handgun from his waistband and was shot by an officer who thought the weapon was real. The unidentified suspect was taken to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known.

Authorities say no one else was injured. The mall closed early as police evacuated the remaining shoppers.

Additional details were not immediately available. Police are investigating.
A high-powered Los Angeles attorney has joined the cadre of lawyers fighting to free Cyntoia Brown from the life sentence she received for shooting a man to death who had solicited her for sex when she was 16 years old.

Brown has been behind bars for nearly a decade in the 2004 murder of 43-year-old Johnny Michael Allen, who solicited Brown for sex from a pimp named "Kutthroat," who himself had repeatedly raped the teenage girl.

Brown isn't eligible for parole until she's 69.

Brown has said she believed Allen, who was a sharp shooter in the U.S. Army, was reaching for his gun when she shot him in the head while the pair was laying in bed. She also claimed she had rebuffed Allen's sexual advances.

Prosecutors, however, said Brown shot Allen in his sleep -- noting he was found face down with his hands under his head -- so she could rob him. Brown stole Allen's weapons and his money, and her juvenile criminal history and drug use were cited during the trial.

Recently, however, celebrities such as Rihanna and Kim Kardashian have posted on Instagram and Twitter about Browns case, pleading for what they see as justice, while petitions to set Brown free or re-try her have received more than 225,000 signatures. Rhiana wrote in a post something is horribly wrong when the system enables these rapists and the victim is thrown away, while Kardashian enlisted the help of Shawn Holley, who served on O.J. Simpson's defense team and has worked with high-profile clients such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie.

Additionally, during her 2006 trial, Brown's defense team brought up other mitigating factors that supporters are now shining a renewed light on, such as the money "Kutthroat" made by forcing Brown into prostitution and that Brown suffered from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder due to her mother's heavy drinking during pregnancy.

[Cyntoia] was a victim of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She was on the tail end of three generations of women being abused. Her birth mother had been raped and Cyntoia was born from that rape, filmmaker Dan Birman, who spent seven years studying Browns case for his 2011 film Me Facing Life: Cyntoias Story, told Fox News. How does any kid survive that? We want to throw away our children? I think thats a bad idea.

Indeed, Birmans PBS documentary, and the subsequent attention it brought to the case, helped to prompt a change in Tennessees laws regarding child sex trafficking. It's now impossible to be charged with prostitution in Tennessee if youre under the age of 18.

SUPREME COURT: NO MORE LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR JUVENILES

Still, the celebrity and activist posts using the hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown wont be what determines Brown's fate. Tennessees Board of Parole Executive Clemency Unit is responsible for processing commutation, pardon and exoneration applications. The process begins with determining if a hearing is warranted and then making a recommendation to the governor.

"Parole is granted by the board of parole, not the governor, in accordance with statutory eligibility," Jennifer Donnals, press secretary for Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, told Fox News via email. "Requests for clemency must begin with an application to the board."

Birman believes the entire outcome of the case is against Supreme Court precedent, referencing recent decisions saying mandatory life sentences without parole should not apply to people convicted of murder as juveniles.

The whole possibility that the nation can sentence a child to life imprisonment for a crime when theyre kids -- it goes against the Supreme Court, Birman said. Life in prison is a death sentence for many of these kids.

Brown's attorney Charles Bone told NBC that if Brown were tried under current Tennessee law "she would most likely today be charged with second-degree murder at the most," which would make her eligible for parole almost immediately, based on time already served.

According to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that advocates against mass incarceration, approximately 2,100 individuals who were sentenced as juveniles could be released in the wake of the Supreme Courts recent rulings. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have banned life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles. Three states, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Louisiana, account for about two-thirds of the juveniles currently serving life sentences without the chance of parole.

Now 28 years old, Brown recently completely her associates degree through Lipscomb Universitys in-jail program and is working on her masters. Although pictures released when she graduated showed her looking hopeful, she has acknowledged the difficulty of her plight.

Ive questioned out loud, how am I going to do this, how am I supposed to do this, how I am going to spend the rest of my life in prison? Brown asks in Birmans film.

Now that her case has received renewed nationwide attention, it remains to be seen if Brown will be freed.

If she gets released, it will be because there was enough merit for a governor to look at it and say we need to do this differently," Birman said. "The things that were not considered are big: the social things, the chemical things, the brain things. I think she has a shot.
A suburban Chicago mother who administered a fatal dose of medication to her severely disabled daughter in 2015 has been found dead of an apparent suicide, authorities said Sunday.

Bonnie Liltz was sentenced in 2016 after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her adult daughter. Liltz has had cancer and said she feared for her daughter's future as her own health declined.

She has recurring cancer and gave her daughter, Courtney, a fatal dose of prescription medication on May 27, 2015. Tom Glasgow told People that she wanted to spare her daughter the risk of being institutionalized.

She adopted the girl because she was unable to have children of her own, the magazine reported. She had Stage III ovarian cancer at 19 and had a hysterectomy.

Its a tragic, tragic end, Glasgow, her attorney told The Chicago Tribune. She just didnt want to die in prison.

Liltz pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison. Liltz was released on bond while appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

Bonnie Liltz was pronounced dead Saturday, the Cook County medical examiner's office said. A county judge had ordered the 57-year-old to return to prison Monday.

Schaumburg Police said authorities haven't found any evidence of foul play and believe her death was a suicide.

Shes at peace now, in heaven with her daughter, Gladys Liltz, 89, her mother, told the paper. Thats all she ever wanted, was to be with Courtney.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
A 40-pound wild bobcat traveled more than 50 miles stuck to the grille of a car that hit her on a Virginia road.

The young bobcat suffered only a small scrape on her back after the harrowing ride on Thanksgiving morning.

We just couldnt believe it, Richmond Animal Care and Rescue director Christie Chipps Peters told Fox News Monday. It was so crazy. Its just so great that it ended well.

The woman who hit the animal knew she hit something after leaving her house in Gloucester County in eastern Virginia. She found out what it was an hour later when she reached her job at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Peters, who confirmed the bobcat was a female, responded to the scene with an animal control officer.

The woman who hit the animal was driving a Prius, WTVR reported.

We got on scene and it really was true. Its really a bobcat stuck in the front of a Prius grille, Peters told the station. When we walked by, (s)he hissed at us, so (s)hes alive and may be OK, which was so crazy since (the woman) drove from Gloucester to VCU.

The bobcat was freed after being sedated.

Peters said the bobcat was taken to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro and eventually will be released back into the wild near the crossroads where she was hit.
In a story Nov. 22 about a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was injured in a Nov. 18 incident being released from a hospital, The Associated Press reported erroneously that a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said both that agent and an agent who didn't survive the incident, Rogelio Martinez, may have fallen. The official only said Martinez may have fallen.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Border agent injured in West Texas incident out of hospital

A Border Patrol agent injured in an incident that left a fellow agent dead has been discharged from an El Paso hospital

EL PASO, Texas (AP)  A Border Patrol agent injured in an incident that left a fellow agent dead was discharged Wednesday from an El Paso hospital.

The agent was discharged Wednesday from the University Medical Center in El Paso, said Doug Mosier, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso. He declined to identify the agent and referred to the FBI all questions about the status of the investigation into Saturday night's incident near Van Horn that left agent Rogelio Martinez dead.

A message left with an FBI spokeswoman Wednesday wasn't returned.

Speculation about the incident has run rampant with several politicians calling it an attack and promoting the building of a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. in the FBI's El Paso office had said Tuesday that investigators were treating the incident as a "potential assault," but they could not rule out other scenarios.

Representatives from the border patrol's union were also insistent from the accounts of other agents who responded to the scene that the incident was an attack. Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, told The Associated Press that agents responding to the scene called it "grisly."

However, a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Monday that Martinez may have fallen, and that the surviving agent had no memory of his duty-shift. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and is not authorized to speak publicly.

Border Patrol officials hoped to have answers for Martinez's family as they planned his visitation and funeral, set for Friday and Saturday in El Paso.

___

Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
Since Bailey Sellers was 16 years old, she received flowers and a note from her deceased father on her birthday.

William Sellers had a strong attachment to his daughter. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013 and-- a month before he died at 56-- arranged it so she would get a flower delivery on her birthday every year until she turned 21.

He wanted to remind his daughter that he was thinking of her.

This year, Bailey received her final card.

Bailey, this is my last love letter to you until we meet again. I do not want you to shed another tear for me my baby girl for I am in a better place. You are and always will be the most precious jewel I was given. It is your 21st birthday and I want you to always respect your momma and yourself. Be happy and live life to the fullest. I will still be with you through every milestone, just look around and there I'll be, the letter read.

Bailey tweeted the note along with the photo of the flowers and an earlier picture of her with her dad.

My dad passed away when I was 16 from cancer and before he died he pre payed flowers so I could receive them every year on my birthday. Well this is my 21st birthday flowers and the last. Miss you so much daddy, Baily posted on Twitter on Friday.

The tweet went viral and was retweeted 352,000 times and liked 1,438,630 times by early Monday.

Kristy Sellers, Baileys mother, told ABC that she was sitting on the couch with her husband about a month before he died and he came up with the idea.

The East Tennessee State University student told ABC News she was so happy reading that message.
Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here.

Developing now, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017:

Congress faces looming deadlines and scandals in return from Thanksgiving break

Lawsuit challenges President Trump's appointment of his budget director as interim director of consumer financial protection agency

Bali volcano erupts, stranding tens of thousands of tourists

Jurors in the Kate Steinle murder trial resume deliberations today

Prince Harry engaged, Kensington Palace announces

It's Cyber Monday and online shoppers face a bevy of post-Black Friday promotions and savings

THE LEAD STORY: Congress returns from Thanksgiving break facing a lengthy to-do list amid looming deadlines and scandals on both sides of the political aisle ...Lawmakers have only a four-week window before their Christmas break deadline to pass tax reform legislation, avoid a potential government shutdown, and deal with lots of leftover spending bills. Trump and congressional leaders plan a meeting Tuesday to discuss how to sidestep a shutdown on Dec. 8 and work though the legislative to-do list.

However, there are distractions - sexual misconduct scandals have dogged both Democrats and Republicans. Democratic Sen. Al Franken broke his silence Sunday on sexual misconduct allegations, reportedly saying hes embarrassed and ashamed but will not resign from the Senate. Meanwhile, Rep. John Conyers stepped aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, but again denied recent allegations of sexual and inappropriate conduct. On the GOP side, today is the last day for voters to register for Dec. 12 special election to fill the Jeff Sessions' Senate seat. President Trump continues to support Roy Moore, despite multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him involving minors and GOP angst over the Moore scandal.

Congress faces pressure to come clean on sex harassment payouts

LEGAL BATTLE OVER TRUMP APPOINTMENT: President Trump's appointment of his budget director as interim director of a consumer financial protection agency championed by Democrats was challenged in a lawsuit filed in federal court Sunday night ... Leandra English, the federal official elevated to the position of interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by its outgoing director, filed the suit against Trump and his choice, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney. The suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asked for a declaratory judgment and a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau.

Sen. Thune tells 'Fox News Sunday' Mulvaney, not Cordray pick, will lead US consumer financial watchdog agency

BALI VOLCANO DANGER ZONE: Hundreds of thousands have been urged to evacuate and about 59,000 tourists were stranded in wake of the eruption of Mount Agung in Bali ... The Indonesian disaster agency has called on 100,000 to evacuate and expanded the danger zone after the eruption of Mount Agung. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, leaving about 59,000 tourists stranded on the Island. The closure will continue until Tuesday, but officials said they are closely monitoring the situation and will determine every six hours whether the airport should remain closed.

VERDICT WATCH: Jurors deciding the fate of the illegal immigrant accused of killing Kate Steinle will resume deliberations today after two abbreviated days of deliberations and the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend ... After 12 days of testimony, dozens of witnesses and two days of closing arguments in the murder trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, jurors were given the case last Tuesday to determine whether Steinles death was the result of an act of murder or a tragic accident. They deliberated for a few hours before leaving for the day without a verdict. Steinle was walking with her father and a family friend in July 2015 when she was shot, collapsing into her father's arms. Zarate had been released from the San Francisco jail about three months before the shooting, despite a request by federal immigration authorities to detain him for deportation.

PRINCE HARRY OFF THE MARKET: Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle became engaged in London earlier this month, Kensington Palace announced today on Twitter ... The two will get married in the spring.

CYBER CHA-CHING: Today is Cyber Monday, the day when companies offer a wide array of discounts online ... Cyber Monday shoppers can look forward to an array of special promotions in the wake of Black Friday. Click here for a look at some of the best deals.

AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS WEEKEND

CARLY'S STORY: "Was I groped by a friend of my family? Of course. Was I propositioned? Of course. Was I introduced as a bimbo? Of course. Did I have on occasion men banging on my hotel room door and then lying about it the next morning? Of course. This is common occurrence, unfortunately, and that is my point. My point is not that most men are bad; most men are good and respectful. And many, many men have helped many women, myself included. And all women are not victims. But the perennial abuse of power by men over women has been with us for a long time. And everyone knows it."  Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, "Fox News Sunday," telling her personal experience with sexual harassment. WATCH

TAX REFORM OR BUST: "I think it's going to be very difficult if they don't get this bill done for those Republicans to go back to their districts in the election year next year and say, 'Look what we've accomplished,' 'cause they really haven't accomplished anything."  Former Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski, on "Fox & Friends Weekend," sounding off on the potential impact if lawmakers fail to pass tax reform. WATCH

ACROSS THE NATION

Indiana 'Night Nurse' whose tweet about white women sparked investigation 'no longer' with hospital.

Texas exploiting day laborers after Harvey, advocates say.

Florida man arrested after man found dead next to three-foot sword.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS

Meredith to acquire Time Inc. in $2.8B deal.

'Sunday Morning Futures' Interview: Rep. Peter King says NY homeowners will see taxes increase without SALT.

American Airlines president takes the long view.

NEW IN FOX NEWS OPINION

Rep. Diane Black: Conservative tax reform is on the way.

Is the fantasy of a Middle East peace accord about to come true?

Unhinged coverage of Trump is hurting the media.

HOLLYWOOD SQUARED

Susan Sarandon thinks Hillary Clinton would have been 'very dangerous' as president.

South Africa contestant wins Miss Universe 2017 crown.

Nick Lachey wants to 'find some justice' for his employee who was shot in the face.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

Russia to declare McDonald's a 'foreign agent' for misleading advertisements.

More than 100 reindeer dead in Norway after getting hit by freight train.

Fast food employee tricks Twitter with soda cup illusion.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Art Del Cueto, National Border Patrol Council vice president Southwest, discusses the investigation on the killing of Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez; FCC Chairman Ajit Pai explains the potential impact of dismantling net neutrality rules; Kurt the "CyberGuy" shares Cyber Monday tips; Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman and his wife Beth Chapman share her heart-wrenching battle with throat cancer.

Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8 p.m. ET: Exclusive: Former federal watchdog Inspector Gen. Charles McCullough speaks out on the Clinton email scandal and its true ramifications to Fox News Chief Intelligence Correspondent Catherine Herridge.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: Egypt is reeling after one of the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11. Fox News' Eric Shawn discusses the ISIS mosque killing spree and what we can do to defeat radical Islamic terrorism with Amb. Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute. Plus, we'll take a look at Cyber Monday as it is expected to bring in billions for retailers. And a commentary by Fox News contributor Guy Benson.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 am to Noon ET: New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin explains why he believes Mayor Bill de Blasio's NYC is lies stacked on top of lies; former interim DNC Chair Donna Brazile gives the inside story on reaction to her new book; former CIA intelligence analyst Kenneth Pollack sounds off on President Trump's Iran strategy.

#OnThisDay

1978: San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, are shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White. (White served five years for manslaughter; he committed suicide in Oct. 1985.)

1967: The Beatles album "Magical Mystery Tour" is released in the United States by Capitol Records.

1924: Macy's first Thanksgiving Day parade  billed as a "Christmas Parade"  takes place in New York.

Thank you for joining us on Fox News First! Enjoy your day and we'll see you in your inbox first thing Tuesday morning.
A Georgia mom said she was heartbroken when no one showed up at her autistic sons 7th birthday.

He kept saying his friends were just getting ready, going to get presents, thats why they were late, Amanda Bridges told Fox News, adding that her son invited everyone in his class.

When Holden realized none of his classmates showed up to his party, he started crying. So his father did the first thing he could think of  he flagged down a passing fire truck and asked Ware County firefighters if they could stop by the party.

'VEGAS STRONG' F-15 FIGHTER JET DEBUTS AT NEVADA AIR SHOW

The firefighters ended up showing up in a fire truck, along with several EMTs, two ambulances and several police officers. They brought Holden presents, a firemans hat and a badge.

He was super excited, Ware County Fire Lt. Drew Mccarthy told Fox News. His daddy said he always wanted to be a firefighter, so that made it special.

Now, Holden also wants to be a police officer and EMT.

They let him blow the horn, which is big for him because he doesnt like loud sounds all the time, Amanda Bridges said.

'VEGAS STRONG' F-15 FIGHTER JET DEBUTS AT NEVADA AIR SHOW

She said what could have been a lonely birthday for Holden became one of his most memorable.

We were all crying, it was very emotional for all of us, Amanda said. My son has always been my hero, but they are our new heroes.

In a Facebook post, Amanda thanked all the emergency personnel who showed up at her sons birthday party. The post has been liked and shared thousands of times.

They didnt do it for any rewards or recognition, she said, they did it out of the kindness of their hearts.
A man who walked into a crowded Costco Wholesale store in a Kansas City suburb brandishing a gun was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer Sunday, officials said.

At about 11 a.m., the gun-toting man entered the store in Lenexa, Kan., located about 14 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, police said.

Ryan Vacca told FOX 4 Kansas City he was working at the Costco photo center when he heard "some commotion."

"I turned and looked at the front door and saw a guy walking in - just kind of yelling and screaming," Vacca said. "One of my co-workers told me to drop, and I did."

Lenexa Police Capt. Wade Borchers told FOX 4 the off-duty police officer happened to be at the store, and immediately jumped in to subdue the man as shoppers fled toward exits.

"He was just shopping, and he happened to be there while all this occurred. And you know, thankfully, he was," Borchers said.

MISSOURI HOMEOWNER SHOOTS, KILLS SUSPECT DURING HOME INVASION

Authorities have not released the names of the suspect or officer.

Some people who had to be treated for panic attacks but there were no other injuries, police told FOX 4.

Shopper Nikki Lotia told FOX 4 she heard four shots, and ran to hide in the store's pharmacy area.

"It was very scary," she said. "That 45 minutes of my life. All of the time I was thinking, 'this might be my last day.'"

Lotia said she's grateful that off-duty officer just happened to be shopping at Costco early Sunday.
A 33-year-old man is in critical condition Monday after getting stuck inside a garbage truck compactor outside a halfway home for prisoners in Philadelphia.

The man was found trapped inside a Waste Management truck around 5:30 a.m. local time near The Kintock Group halfway house, facility and fire dispatchers told NBC 10. Firefighters removed trash for more than two hours to pull him out. He was taken to Temple University Hospital.

The man is in critical condition after suffering abdomen, hip and leg injuries, Philadelphia police told NBC 10.

The halfway house is a final stop for prisoners before they re-enter the general community, the station added.

The mans identity was not immediately available.
The FBI on Friday received 203,086 requests for instant gun background checks, which would mark almost a 10 percent increase from 2016 and sets a new record for the most ever in one day, USA Today reported.

Authorities did not speculate on why so many Americans are seeking guns this holiday season, but the theory is that there is a fear about tougher gun laws in the future.

The FBI received 185,713 requests on Black Friday last year.

USA Today pointed out that background checks do not indicate the number of guns actually sold because a buyer could purchase more than one gun in a check.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, earlier this week, ordered a far-ranging review of the FBI database used to check the backgrounds of prospective gun buyers, after the Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people at a Texas church.

The failure enabled him to buy weapons, purchases his domestic violence conviction should have barred.

Sessions directed the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine if other government agencies are failing to report information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. He also wants a report detailing the number of times the agencies investigate and prosecute people for lying on their gun-purchase applications and a closer look at the format of the application itself.

The database is critically important to protecting the American public from firearms-related violence, Sessions wrote in his memo. It is, however, only as reliable and robust as the information that federal, state, local and tribal government entities make available to it.

The Pentagons inspector general launched a separate review of the Texas gunman, Devin P. Kelley, after the Air Force revealed it had failed to submit his domestic abuse case to the database. Kelley was able to buy four guns despite the conviction. He used a Ruger AR rifle with a 30-round magazine during the Nov. 6 shooting, going from aisle to aisle as he shot parishioners.

Sessions said the revelation was alarming. But the Pentagon has long known about failures to give military criminal history information to the FBI.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Rutgers University's president is defending professors at the school who've been accused of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic remarks, arguing many of the controversial comments fall under academic freedom.

Several professors have recently drawn sharp criticism for propagating conspiracy theories about Jewish people, such as claims they control global money markets to assertions they carry out ritualistic organ harvesting.

Rutgers University president, Robert Barchi, addressed those issues one by one during a student government-sponsored town hall last week.

If Im a Ku Klux Klan member, and Im going to burn a cross on a vacant lot, thats a constitutionally protected right, Barchi said, according to Tap Into New Brunswick. You put that cross on my front yard, and you light it, that is not constitutionally protected. Thats harassment. Its an exception to the First Amendment.

JEWISH STUDENTS AT NEW JERSEY UNIVERSITY WORRY ABOUT RISING ANTI-SEMITISM

Barch said online posts from microbiology professor Michael Chikindas that called Judaism the most racist religion in the world and made crude jokes about Israel, Judaism, women, homosexuality were repugnant. But Barchi said its all protected speech so theres nothing there that is actionable.

But the question is: Does having posted that create an environment in his work that would compromise his ability to teach or to do research?" Barchi said. "Thats an employment issue, so we are actually investigating him."

STUDENT GROUP ADMITS USING ANTI-SEMITIC PROPAGANDA TO UNSEAT JEWISH CAMPUS LEADER

Barchi then defended "well-respected scholar" Jasbir Puar, a tenured womens studies professor whose latest book accuses the Israel Defense Forces of maiming Palestinians in order to control them.

That book and the material in it were reviewed independently by scholars around the country, Barchi said.

Lastly, Barchi stood by Mazen Adi, an adjunct professor of international law who, while serving as a spokesperson for Syrian President Bashar Assad, accused Israeli officials of trafficking childrens organs.

Were fully aware of his past, having vetted his employment credentials, Barch said. Everything is absolutely in order.

Barchi added: We are faced with the difficult challenge to thread the needle on free speech and academic freedom. I just ask you to keep in mind when you hear things and those things get picked upthere is very often a back-story to it.

Barchi's comments come at a time of worry for some of the school's Jewish students.

In recent days, some Jewish students have said they've seen a spike in anti-Semitism on campus -- from swastikas scrawled on walls to threats of violence.

This is a disturbing trend, what were seeing here at Rutgers, which has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country, Austin Altman, a sophomore at Rutgers and a member of the campus Hillel organization, told Fox News.

But Rutgers said it stood steadfast in its commitment to free speech.

NEW SCHOOL UNDER FIRE FOR PUTTING LINDA SARSOUR ON ANTI-SEMITISM PANEL

Rutgers position on free speech is clear," the university wrote in a statement to Fox News, adding that while Rutgers strive[s] to foster an environment free from discrimination, faculty and staff are free to express their viewpoints in public forums as private citizens.

The statement continued: Anti-Semitic comments, materials and posts on social media are antithetical to our universitys principles and values of respect for people of all backgrounds, including, among other groups, our large and vibrant Jewish community.

Adi, Puar and Chikindas did not immediately respond to Fox News' requests for comment.
The Supreme Court is leaving in place a Nebraska law that bars protests around funerals.

Nebraska enacted the law in 2006. It prohibits protests near a cemetery, mortuary or church from one hour before the beginning of a funeral to two hours after.

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church challenged the law but have lost in lower courts. Members of the church routinely conduct anti-gay protests outside military funerals. The protests have been a way of drawing attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would not take up the church's challenge to Nebraska's law.
After a rumbling volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali erupted several times over the weekend, authorities raised the alert to the highest level on Monday and closed the international airport, stranding thousands of travelers.

Emitting thick plumes of smoke, Mount Agung has been hurling ash thousands of miles into the atmosphere since Saturday, which had already forced the small international airport on the neighboring island of Lombok to close as the plumes drifted east.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Balis international airport, where most flights had been continuing, was closed for 24 hours. It said authorities would consider reopening it Tuesday after evaluating the situation.

Video showed passengers on the tarmac at Balis airport checking their phones and chatting.

Geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised at 6 a.m. because the volcano has shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions. However he says hes still not expecting a major eruption.

We dont expect a big eruption but we have to stay alert and anticipate, he said.

The exclusion zone around the crater was widened to six miles. Previously it ranged between 3.7 to 4.7 miles.

Ash up to less than half an inch thick has settled on villages around the volcano and soldiers and police distributed masks over the weekend.

Agungs alert status was raised to the highest level in September following a dramatic increase in tremors from the volcano, which doubled the exclusion zone around the crater and prompted more than 140,000 people to leave the area. Many residents returned home after the alert was lowered on Oct. 29 after a decrease in activity, but about 25,000 residents are still in temporary shelters, Fox News previously reported.

A possible major eruption has deterred many travelers from visiting Indonesias top tourist destination. More than 5 million visitors a year travel to Bali for its Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior. Nearby Lombok is relatively undeveloped as a tourist destination, receiving fewer than 100,000 international visitors a year. However, Bali has lost at least $110 million in tourism after major evacuations were ordered in September, the BBC reported.

Agung also had a minor eruption on Tuesday, but authorities have not raised the alert status from the second-highest level that would include more people in the exclusion area, forcing them to evacuate. Though ash from the volcano could rain down for at least another month, no major eruption is expected, government volcanologist Gede Suantika said. A red-yellow light visible in ash above the mountain was the reflection of lava in the crater.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has more than 120 active volcanoes. The volcanos last major eruption, in 1963, killed about 1,100 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Texas man on vacation with his son was reportedly arrested in the United Arab Emirates for filming security guards rummaging through his things.

Joseph Lee, who was returning home from a trip to Thailand with his son, Jonathan, was detained at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on Nov. 20, Fox 4 reported.

After touring the city of Abu Dhabi during a layover, Joseph was randomly selected for an extra security screening inside the airport. Seemingly frustrated, Joseph filmed the guards searching his luggage.

GROUP URGES EGYPT, UAE TO REVEAL PRISONER'S WHEREABOUTS

We had been traveling for about 20 hours or so, son Jonathan told Fox 4. Of course, my dad would be agitated like anyone else would be.

Jonathan said he wasnt allowed to stay with his father during the screening and had to leave the security area. He believed his father would be released and they could go home.

We both had, I guess, the notion that he was going to be able to make at least the next flight, not actually be arrested, Jonathan said.

Jonathan landed back home in the U.S., but hadnt heard from his father. It wasnt until days later, after Jonathan and his sister, Elaine Strathern, spent days contacting the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, that he learned his father had been transported to a prison.

The siblings told Fox 4 the U.S. Embassy doesnt know what Joseph has been charged with.

They dont know anything. They just know hes being held at Al Wathba prison, the siblings said.

UAE STOPS ISSUING VISAS FOR NORTH KOREAN LABORERS

Jonathan and Elaine created a petition directed toward Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn to help their father get home.

The petition  which offers their deepest apologies to the UAE government and authorities says Joseph isnt in great health, and he may possibly have a fractured rib.

Wed just like the government to know it was an honest mistake, Strathern said. He meant no harm, no ill intent.
Indonesian authorities on Monday expanded the established danger zone around an erupting volcano that is hurling ash 9,800 feet into the atmosphere and whose explosions could be heard over seven miles away.

Experts said lava is welling up in the crater, sometimes reflected as a reddish-yellow glow in the ash plumes. The agency raised the volcano's alert to the highest level early Monday and expanded the danger zone to six miles. It said that a larger eruption is possible.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people. He said about 40,000 people have evacuated but others have not left because they feel safe or don't want to abandon their livestock.

"Authorities will comb the area to persuade them," he said. "If needed we will forcibly evacuate them." About 25,000 people were already living in evacuation centers after an increase in tremors from the mountain in September sparked an evacuation.

Lava rising in the crater "will certainly spill over to the slopes," Sutopo said.

The volcano's last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

The Indonesian disaster agency called on 100,000 to evacuate and expanded the danger zone after the eruption of Mount Agung.

Authorities raised the alert to the highest level on Monday following the increased activity over the weekend. The move to close the airport came after tests showed the volcanos ash had reached its airspace, making it dangerous to fly.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled, leaving about 59,000 tourists stranded on the Island. The closure will continue until Tuesday, but officials said they are closely monitoring the situation and will determine every six hours whether the airport should remain closed.

We now have to find a hotel and spend more of our money that theyre not going to cover us for when we get home unfortunately, said Canadian tourist Brandon Olsen.

Officials at the Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement Monday that a volcanic eruption is imminent though the exact scale remains unclear.

Continuing plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (seven miles) from the peak, the statement read, according to Reuters.

Rays of fire are increasingly visible from night to the following day. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent, it added.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.
A group of Nobel Peace Laureates on Monday urged the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen to end their blockade on the Arab world's poorest country that has deprived it of much-needed aid and squeezed it to the brink of famine.

The Nobel Women's Initiative said in a statement said that the blockade "rendered access to humanitarian assistance impossible for the people of Yemen," and "denies millions of vulnerable and innocent civilians access to food, fuel and medical supplies."

"It further aggravates what the United Nations has called the world's 'worst humanitarian crisis' to date," they wrote, where over 20 million people lack needed life-saving humanitarian assistance in what amounts to "collective punishment."

The Saudi-led coalition went to war against the rebels, known as Houthis, in March 2015 on behalf of Yemen's internationally recognized government. But the coalition has made little progress, and the rebels still control much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.

The U.S.-backed coalition tightened a land, sea and air blockade Nov. 6 after a missile attack by rebels on the Saudi capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia said Monday the coalition would lift the blockade.

The letter was signed by Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala, Jody Williams of the United States, Shirin Ebadi of Iran, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen.

Over the past two years, the war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people and left over 3 million displaced amid the coalition's air campaign.
A skeleton-filled ghost ship carrying the remains of eight ill-fated seafarers washed ashore on Japans North Korean-facing coast, the Japanese Coast Guard said Monday -- days after the body of a suspected North Korean man and parts of another wrecked wooden craft were discovered on a Japanese island.

The grisly find could be evidence of desperate defectors trying a new route to freedom after despot Kim Jong Un has clamped down on those fleeing the Hermit Kingdom this year.

A Japanese resident spotted the 22-foot wooden boat Friday floating in Miyazawa Beach in Oga, Akita Prefecture, along the Sea of Japan, Japan Times reported. Officials searched the vessel Sunday and Monday and found several of the remains were skeletonized, indicating a long period had elapsed before it washed ashore. The remains were so severely decomposed it was hard to decipher if they were men or women. The 68-year-old woman who initially spotted the boat told Kyodo News she saw rescue workers carrying skeletal remains using stretchers.

"I was surprised to see the boat in such a bad condition," the woman told the Japanese news site.

The discovery has puzzled Japanese officials, who found no clues that indicated the ships origin. The Coast Guard said the boat may have come from North Korea, according to Kyodo News.

Mondays gruesome discovery follows a series of bizarre findings within the last week, including that of a mans body on Sado Island, located off the coast of Japans northwestern prefecture of Niigata, and wooden boat parts, the coast guard official said, according to Reuters. The body was found about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and is believed to be from North Korea after they found Korean letters written near the body.

The coast guard also found a pack of cigarettes and other personal belongings with Korean letters scrawled on them near the body, the official said. Its still unclear how he died.

And on Thursday night, a boat with eight North Korean men were located at the seaside town of Yurihonjo. The fishermen, who were standing outside of the boat when police found them, appeared to have stopped at the shore because they were having boat issues. Police said they were most likely not defectors and were hoping to return home soon after about a month out at sea. The boat, carrying squid, also had a sign saying Chongjin, possibly related to a major port city on North Korea's eastern coast, Kyodo News reported.

Three other North Korean men were rescued on a capsized boat in the Sea of Japan two weeks ago. They were sent back to the Hermit Kingdom on a North Korean vessel.

Waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula are known to be rich fishing grounds, where poachers from North Korea and China have been spotted. About 650 miles sit between the coast of North Korea and Japan across the Sea of Japan. Wreckage from North Korean boats regularly washes ashore in northern Japan during winter due to seasonal winds.

This also isnt the first time skeletal remains of North Korean fishermen have been found. In 2015, a wooden boat drifted ashore in another coastal town in Akita and skeletal remains of two men were found  one inside the vessel and another one nearby. Three North Korean boats with 10 bodies inside also washed up on the Noto Peninsula.

At least nine bodies have drifted to the Japanese coast this year before Mondays skeleton-filled ghost ship discovery. Another three boats have been collected on and off the coastline, Japan Times reported. More bodies have been pulled from the waters in past years  11 in 2016 and 27 in 2015. Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic ties and tensions are often high due to their colonial and wartime history and Pyongyang's missile and nuclear threats. Kim Jong Un had previously threatened multiple times to "sink" Japan with a nuclear bomb and fired a missile that flew over a Japanese island before splashing into the Pacific Ocean.

North Koreans typically escape the brutal regime by traveling through China. An estimated 1,000 people flee Kim Jong Uns volatile regime each year, and a total of about 30,000 North Koreans have made the treacherous escape since the end of the Korean War.

A North Korean soldiers defection to the South recently made international headlines when he dashed across the JSA at the Demilitarized Zone to freedom. He was shot five times and went through two major surgeries before regaining consciousness.

This year, North Korean defectors successfully escaping the regime fell by 12.7 percent, according to the Telegraph.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. and South Korean authorities used a bullhorn to reprimand North Korea regarding several armistice violations, with at least one U.S. Navy official reportedly standing in the rain at the Demilitarized Zone to admonish Kim Jong Un's regime that "this sort of thing should never occur again."

The violations occurred after several of the Hermit Kingdom's soldiers chased a comrade who was defecting to South Korea earlier this month.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Daniel McShane, of the UNC Military Armistice Commission, told Stars and Stripes he stood in the rain at the Demilitarized Zone and read out the list of violations the North Korean soldiers committed on Nov. 13 while they attempted to stop the defector, identified as Oh, from surviving his bid. McShane said he and a Korean translator read a note six times requesting a meeting with North Korean officials.

To my knowledge they havent acknowledged this event at all other than the initial firing, McShane said.

SOUTH KOREA TAUNTS NORTH KOREA OVER DEFECTING SOLDIER BY BROADCASTING NEWS THROUGH LOUDSPEAKERS, REPORT SAYS

He said he initially read the admonishment three times, but the North Korean soldiers, using a flashlight as their main communication, told him to repeat it so they can videotape it.

We were about 30 feet from the [Military Demarcation Line] and they came up to 10 feet, McShane said. We have a phone in our office, but theyre not answering.

South Korean Minister of Defense Song Young-moo also issued his stern warning while standing where Oh collapsed into a pile of leaves with five gunshot wounds at the Joint Security Area, Reuters reported. Song was visiting the DMZ and commended the South Korean soldiers at the JSA.

Shooting towards the South at a defecting person, thats a violation of the armistice agreement, Song said, according to Reuters. Crossing the military demarcation line, a violation. Carrying automatic rifles [in the JSA], another violation.

He added: North Korea should be informed this sort of thing should never occur again.

The defense minister was just 11 yards away from a new trench and trees the North Korean soldiers planted, possibly to prevent more defectors from copying the Nov. 13 incident, Reuters reported. Four of Kim Jong Uns soldiers were reportedly seen listening closely to the message.

South Korea has been reportedly taunting the North by blasting updates about the defectors health and status through its militarys loudspeakers at the DMZ, Yonhap News Agency reported on Sunday. The loudspeakers have been sporadically turned on since the end of the Korean War for psychological warfare. Sundays update included information about the former soldiers nutritive conditions, seemingly taking a hit at the Hermit Kingdoms alleged health issues.

The broadcasts are reportedly so loud that people within 12.4 miles from the DMZ are able to hear it, though it's unclear how many North Koreans actually live that close to the DMZ.

POSSIBLE NORTH KOREA DEFECTORS MAY BE OCCUPANTS OF SKELETON-FILLED GHOST SHIP FOUND ON JAPAN COAST

Oh is said to have regained full consciousness and is recovering from his bullet wounds after undergoing two major surgeries. Dramatic video released last Wednesday showed the soldier running across the JSA as his fellow comrades watched in amazement, then chased and fired dozens of rounds to prevent him from making it across alive. He fell into a pile of leaves against a small wall before being dragged to safety by South Korean troops.

Days after the defection, North Korea has reportedly replaced all of its security force of 35 to 40 men at the JSA, Yonhap News Agency said, citing an unnamed intelligence source. The source also told the South Korean news site the North seems to have temporarily closed a bridge over which the defector drove a military jeep to reach the border before his escape on foot last Monday.

The source said the North could be preparing to install a security gate at the bridge for strengthening its screening of personnel coming in and out of the area.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The United States warned Monday that efforts to uphold the global ban on the production and use of chemical weapons are at a "critical juncture" in the wake of their use during Syria's civil war.

As the Syrian government and its allies seek to discredit conclusions by international investigators that Damascus has repeatedly used such weapons, Andrea Hall of the U.S. National Security Council said the ban on chemical weapons, such as nerve agents and poison gas, is now under threat.

"We must take every opportunity to deter states from using chemical weapons," Hall said. "If we fail to take action now, non-state actors use will also rise."

Hall was speaking on the opening day of the annual conference of state parties to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for overseeing the global ban on weapons, such as nerve agents and poison gas.

"Chemical weapons use by the Syrian Arab Republic remains the most serious violation of the CWC in the convention's 20-year history and the greatest modern challenge to the global norm against chemical weapons use," Hall told delegates in The Hague.

A joint investigation team made up of OPCW and UN experts has concluded that the Syrian government used chlorine gas in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015, and used the nerve agent sarin in an aerial attack on Khan Sheikhoun last April 4 that killed about 100 people and affected about 200 others.

The team also accused the Islamic State extremist group of using mustard gas in 2015 and again in September 2016 in Um Hosh in Aleppo.

Russia, Syria's staunch ally, recently vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate of the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mission. That mandate expired earlier this month,

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad branded the investigation unprofessional and biased.

"So we are always seeing politicized reports, false conclusions aiming to bring even more pressure to bear on Syria," he said.

British Ambassador Peter Wilson echoed U.S. concerns, saying that the chemical weapons convention "is under unprecedented attack."

Hall also rejected Syria's criticism of the UN-OPCW investigation team, saying that the team had produced, "serious, thorough, technical and compelling reports."
Could this be the solution to homelessness?

A British charity is getting ready to install its first vending machine tailored specifically to homeless people, offering free 24/7 access to food, clothing, and other basic necessities.

My hope is that the idea takes root in cities all over the world, and the homeless have a life-line to rely on, while government policies work towards ending homelessness for once and for all, Huzaifah Khaled, the founder of Action Hunger, told Fox News.

The machine will be placed at a shopping center in Nottingham, England, in early December and Khaled says they will be expanding the effort to American cities in early 2018, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

The idea was borne out of a desire to help the homeless, Khaled said. It came about when I was struck by the rising number of homeless in the United Kingdom, and realized there had to be a way to ensure they had 24/7 access to food, clothing, and other basic necessities, and without being limited to the fairly disparate opening hours of the various shelters and charities that exist.

The machines will dole out water, fruit, energy bars, toothbrushes, sanitary towels  and even books. Action Hunger says around half of the items will be received from redistribution organizations and grocer Tesco, while the charity will purchase the other half.

Usage of the Nottingham machine  donated by N&W Global Vending  is permitted to three times a day to around 100 special cardholders, who must check in weekly with The Friary, a local homeless outreach facility, to keep using it.

We want our low-cost solution to complement other services that are available, as engagement with professionals and local support services is instrumental to breaking the cycle of homelessness, and getting these men and women off the streets for good, Khaled told Fox News.

Friary CEO Sam Crawford said rough sleepers will be at the front of the line to receive the cards.

"Not everyone who visits us is a rough sleeper, some are homeless in other ways such as those in temporary accommodation, so that would be who we would prioritize, Crawford told the Nottingham Post.
A court in central Vietnam has sentenced an activist to seven years in prison for producing videos and interviews that instigated anti-government protests, in the authorities' latest crackdown on dissent.

Following a trial Monday that lasted half a day, Nguyen Van Hoa was convicted of spreading anti-state propaganda by the People's Court in Ha Tinh province.

He was also charged with using social media platforms including Facebook to spread documents that defamed the government, the state-run online Ha Tinh newspaper reported. It said Hoa also sent distorting articles to "reactionary" groups in exile for financial support.

Court officials weren't immediately available for comment.

International human rights groups and some Western governments often criticize Vietnam for jailing people for peacefully expressing their views, but Vietnam's government says only lawbreakers are punished.
RICHMOND - As bad as the overall outcome of Virginia's recent election was for Republicans, there was one facet of the vote that raises special alarm for the party's future.

That's the performance of young voters, who came out in historic numbers and overwhelmingly cast their ballots for the Democratic candidate for governor, Ralph Northam.

While Republicans have been wrestling with an aging demographic for some time, analysts say the unpopular actions of President Donald Trump are pushing away a new generation.

"One of the biggest challenges facing the Republican Party in Virginia and nationwide is that the Republican Party has become toxic to a lot of young voters," said Bob Holsworth, a longtime Virginia political scientist. "I think Trump has exacerbated a trend that was emerging, and it has become very problematic."

Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie by an overall margin of 54 percent to 45 percent, as certified this week by the state Board of Elections.

Young voters - who are often among the least-engaged, especially in a nonpresidential election - had a turnout rate of 34 percent, according to an analysis of exit polling by a group at the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. That's up from 26 percent in the 2013 governor's race and double the youth turnout in 2009.

And that surge of millennials was a windfall for Democrats: Sixty-nine percent of those voters supported Northam, vs. 30 percent for Gillespie.

The same trend held when measured in different ways. In precincts adjacent to college campuses, turnout was up 8 points over 2013 and Northam won 72 percent of the vote for governor. Young voters didn't surge in New Jersey - turnout of 18 percent was similar to the past two governor's elections there - but 73 percent of them voted for the Democrat, according to the Tufts analysis.

"Young people have increasingly moved away from the Republican Party, given its perceived status as being the anti-immigrant party and not being tolerant of alternative lifestyles," said Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

"I find even with my students who are Republican-leaning, on social or cultural issues they're very libertarian for the most part," Rozell said. "As long as the Republican Party is seen as not embracing or accepting people as they are, be they gay, transgender, immigrants and the like, that's a big turnoff to young voters these days."

The Virginia results, he said, are "a wake-up call to the Republican Party about the way things are going to go for them next year" in congressional races across the country.

Some Republicans get the message. David Ramadan, a former Republican delegate to the General Assembly who supported Gillespie for governor, said the youth turnout "is one number that certainly has popped out. I'll summarize that with one word for the GOP: Trouble."

Ramadan has long warned that his party has a problem wooing minority voters. "But this election shows that it's not just a minority problem, it's a youth problem" - and even broader than that, he added.

Those problems were accelerated this year by "the Trump effect," he said.

Trump is extremely unpopular in Virginia, with a 34 percent approval rating in a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll. And his rhetoric appeared to influence Gillespie to shift his campaign toward issues of illegal immigration, Latino street gangs and support for Confederate statues.

That was a losing formula for wooing young voters, Ramadan said. Millennials care about reducing student debt, finding a comfortable job and being able to have an easy commute to work, he said.

"Unless Republicans get back to mainstream issues instead of sanctuary cities and Confederate statues, we're going to lose elections," he said.

Republican pollster Gene Ulm said he was most concerned about "young suburbanites" in the Virginia results. "We basically had 300,000 people show up who don't normally vote in a gubernatorial election," he said. "We won 85,000 of them and lost the other 215,000."

There was one silver lining: Exit polls show Gillespie won about 12 percent of the African American vote, higher than most recent GOP candidates.

By Ulm's calculation, that would roughly translate to nearly 63,000 votes - a small number but far more than any Republican statewide candidate in recent years.

"Ed Gillespie got more black votes when he lost than the last Republican governor got when he won," Ulm said, referring to former governor Bob McDonnell, who got fewer than 29,000 black votes in 2009 by his reckoning.

But the overall trend of young, white and suburban voters is a bad sign for the party going into next year's congressional races, he said. "That affects certainly Barbara Comstock," he said, referring to the Northern Virginia congresswoman, a Republican whose district went for Northam. "But there's a lot of other districts in America where that's going to play a role," Ulm said.

There are a host of progressive and grass-roots groups aiming specifically to get a large turnout of young voters for Democratic candidates, and they were taking credit for the big showing.

"At least three voter registration and mobilization groups had a presence on our campus, and there may have been more at some of the bigger campuses," said Quentin Kidd, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University in Newport News.

At Virginia Tech, in fact, the progressive group NextGen Virginia staged a petting zoo to get students to come out to vote. The group spent $3.3 million statewide and knocked on 350,000 doors as part of its efforts.

After Northam's win, NextGen crowed in a letter to supporters that "it's clear young people and people of color made the difference in this historic election . . . If anger at Donald Trump and the GOP continues to drive turnout up through the 2018 election cycle, when young people will be the largest bloc of eligible voters, we could be looking at a progressive wave powered by millennial voters."

Kidd said evidence of the youth trend's staying power can be found in the crop of new Democrats elected to the General Assembly, who are far younger - and more female - than the current legislature.

"Half these new delegates are probably millennials," he said. "The impact of the millennial generation on the electorate is going to be pretty profound, and Democratic candidates tend to be the beneficiary of this far more than Republicans are."
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Severn Trent is offering farmers in parts of the Midlands region grant aid to make improvements to their farm management and infrastructure, which reduces the risk of pollution into local watercourses.

The Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme (Steps) offers grants of up to 5,000 a year to farms located within a Severn Trent priority water catchment area.

The money can be used for a range of capital projects including watercourse fencing, hard bases for livestock troughs, pesticide handling areas, biobeds and the purchase of precision farming equipment.

See also: 14m grant funding for water management available

Payments are also available for implementing management options such as the removal of livestock from high-risk fields (500/ha) or growing cover or catch crops (60/ha).

Farmers also have the opportunity to propose their own innovative ideas in a farmer innovation option.

The application window for grant applications for 2018-19 opens on 1 January 2018 and closes on 16 March 2018.

Jodie Rettino, Severn Trent catchment manager, said: The more work we can do with farmers to reduce pollution from their land, the more well protect local watercourses, such as rivers, and the environment.

In turn itll also help reduce how much we have to treat the water we take from these watercourses.

Over 600 farmers have been awarded Steps grants over the past three years.
News

Police: Pay is not competitive; study is misleading

STUART VILLANUEVA/The Daily News League City Police officers stand at attention during a Veterans Day ceremony at Chester Davis Sportsplex in League City on Nov. 11.

LEAGUE CITY

Police officers in League City say they dont agree with a recent salary study that found their pay was competitive with that of other cities.

The League City Police Association crunched the numbers and instead found its pay average, and the group has called the citys commissioned salary study misleading.

Salaries for most League City government employees are competitive within surrounding cities, but compensation for some jobs lags behind the market, New York-based Segal Waters Consulting said.

The study found police salaries are 107 percent of the market, making those the most competitive of League Citys jobs.

The minimum pay for an entry-level cadet is $42,671 a year, according to city documents. A police officer with 10 years on the job makes $69,027 a year, while one with 19 to 20 years on the job makes $76,837. The top pay a sergeant with 19 to 20 years amounts to $91,352. Captains with 11 or more years on the job can make $121,364, the top pay on the scale.

The study recommends that pay-raise promotion steps for police officers be cut, which the association agrees with, police association representative Cory Beyer said

We really need to focus on maximum pay, he said. Our maximum pay is too low and it takes us too long to top out, he said.

In other Texas cities, police are able to reach the highest pay in nine to 10 years, both Beyer and the authors of the study said.

Police officers in Baytown, for example, can make as much as $160,000 more than League City officers over the span of a career, Beyer said.

A five-year officer here looks at Baytown where he can make more, Beyer said.

Cutting the promotion steps would give police officers an incentive to stay, he said.

City Manager John Baumgartner has proposed cutting two steps for police promotion, allowing police officers to reach the highest salary in 12 years.

The study compared League City to Allen, Baytown, Bryan City, Dickinson, Friendswood, Galveston, Lewisville, Longview, Missouri City, Pearland, Richardson, Round Rock, Sugar Land, Texas City, Tyler and Webster.

One reason League City police pay appeared competitive was because it was compared to smaller cities such as Dickinson, Beyer said.

The city council in April hired New York-based Segal Waters Consulting for $100,000 to determine whether city employees were paid enough or too much. Segal Waters also looked at job descriptions and recommended a few changes.

Making those below-market jobs competitive would cost the city about $924,000, the study found.

Although the citys pay structure is mostly competitive, some classifications fell below the market and some were above it, according to the study.

The fire marshal position minimum salary is at 77 percent of the Houston-area market average, the lowest in the study.

The study also looked at 50 job classifications and reviewed what jobs included supervisory duties and whether certain positions are exempt from overtime status.

Segal Waters chose 66 jobs to statistically represent all jobs, Ruth Ann Eledge, vice president and senior consultant, said.

The 66 jobs chosen represent 25 departments and all levels, from entry level to manager level. This sample represented 69 percent of the employees and 33 percent of the job titles, Eledge said.

Of those 66 jobs, 27 are below market and 12 are above market, she said.

In general, the citys pay policies and practices are similar to peer employers, Eledge said.

Segal Waters looked at entry level, midpoint and maximum pay for the jobs in the sample.

The study also factored in data from the Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin areas, Councilman Nick Long said. League City employee salaries could be lagging behind those markets, Long said.

We are beating most of the cities in the Houston area, Long said. You could make the case its much cheaper to live here.

Segal Waters will come back to the city council to show the aggregate of the Houston area only.

The city council would have to vote to approve pay increases for those jobs below market. That would mean fixing inequities in the future to balance out those salaries that, at present, are above market, Long said.
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Thanks to an economy that continues to recover from the recession and keeps rolling along, the mid-Willamette Valley has a plethora of new stores and, in particular, restaurants.

Thats great news for locals this holiday season, business leaders said. Residents have more options than theyve had in years for gifts or a memorable meal, and they dont have to leave town for Eugene, Salem, Portland or elsewhere.

People dont need to shop outside the area, said Lise Grato, executive director of the Albany Downtown Association. I think the mid-valley now offers so many shopping opportunities, especially one-of-a-kind items you can find downtown.

Spending at home means residents can save wear and tear on their cars and gas money, added Joan Wessell, executive director of the Downtown Corvallis Association.

It works well for citizens and the city, she said.

Food services surge

Benton and Linn counties have both seen substantial job growth in recent years for restaurants, microbreweries and other food services businesses, said Pat OConnor, a regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department.

In Benton County, its definitely been on the rise. Its both new businesses coming in and growth of existing businesses, OConnor said. He pointed to the microbrewery scene as an example where existing operations expanded.

From 2009 at the height of the recession to 2016, the latest year for which the state has data about the average number of workers in any given industry, Benton County added roughly 900 food service workers, jumping to nearly 3,500. Linn County added about 500 workers in that sector to move to 3,000 jobs in the same eight-year period, according to Oregon Employment Department figures.

The trend has been more pronounced since 2014. Linn and Benton counties combined added 900 food service workers in the last three years, according to state data.

The restaurant scene is thriving in both counties, and especially Corvallis, which has plenty of college students, who tend to eat out more than families.

The stronger economy in Benton County, anchored by Oregon State University, also likely plays a role, as residents in general have more disposable income.

Population increases also could play a part, but the number of food service workers has risen at a far greater pace, OConnor said.

Regardless, Restaurants just keep popping up, said Cooper Whitman, president and CEO of the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce. The fact that so many are opening is absolutely a sign that things are going well, he added.

Even Lebanon is seeing a surge of restaurants. It seems to me like theres a lot more options. We even have the Veterans Home to go eat at. Great prices on malts, by the way, said Shelly Garrett, executive director of the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center.

People in Lebanon have been begging for places to eat. They want to be able to eat here, Garrett added.

OConnor said the restaurant boom appears to be occurring across America.

Its possible were part of a national trend of more people eating out more, he said.

Some analysts are thinking, at least in terms of fast food restaurants, that its an industry that may be getting oversaturated, with too many businesses chasing too few customers, OConnor added.

But the local area has also added plenty of high-end and mid-tier options. Think of Bellhop, Taco Vino, Castor and Sidecar in Corvallis, The Cellar Cat in Albany and 1847 in Lebanon.

Its a far cry compared to a couple of decades ago or three decades ago, where the Gables and Michaels Landing were your only two good restaurants, OConnor said.

Retail rebound

Janet Steele, president of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, said that during the recession, retailers and restaurants closed their doors. But business gradually recovered.

Over the last three or four years, there certainly seems to be a resurgence. Business is strong. Business is really going strong right now, Steele said.

In some cases, Steele acknowledged, new businesses have replaced enterprises that shut their doors during the downturn. WinCo, for example, moved into the old Kmart space.

The economic recovery has been particularly strong in manufacturing, industrial and construction in Linn County. As more people arrive for high-paying jobs, retailers and restaurants have a chance to start or grow to fill the need for services, Steele said.

In a strong economy, a lot of businesses are able to open their doors and build a strong base, Steele said.

And more retailers and other companies, Steele hinted, are considering the Albany area.

Garrett said that Lebanon also has a few more stores and shops than a few years ago.

OConnor noted that the growth often has occurred beyond downtown business districts, and pointed to Lowes and WinCo's entry into Albany as examples.

In any event, since 2009, Linn County has added nearly 700 retail workers and Benton County has added roughly 370 retail employees.

Despite hundreds of new jobs, Whitman said that a range of retailers hes talked to said they are struggling. Vacant storefronts in downtown Corvallis, however, continue to be relatively rare, Wessell said.
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.
Government shelves plans : Sales plan for Cologne/Bonn airport off the table for now

Cologne A few days before the planned talks about the privatisation of Cologne/Bonn airport, the plans for such a groundbreaking step have been put on hold.

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A few days before the planned talks about the privatisation of Cologne/Bonn airport, the sales plans are off the table for now, according to information from the Kolner Stadtanzeiger newspaper. At my request, the acting Federal Minister of Finance, Peter Altmaier, stopped all Federal activities until further notice, Mondays paper quoted the North Rhine-Westphalia Minister President, Armin Laschet (CDU), as saying. Talks at an operational level planned for 29 November in Berlin will be cancelled.

The Federal Ministry of Finance had said on Friday that the government was considering selling its shares in the airport. The state, federal government and the city of Cologne each hold almost a third of the shares in NRWs second largest airport. Bonn, the Rhine-Sieg district and the Rheinisch-Bergisch district hold smaller shares.

The former CDU politician Friedrich Merz will be appointed as the new chairman at a meeting of the airports supervisory board on Monday (10am). Laschet told the newspaper: I have chosen Friedrich Merz to represent the state, because I want to strengthen Cologne/Bonn airport. Merz is the right choice given the airports transatlantic and international outlook.

The 62-year-old Merz replaces the former Federal Transport Minister, Kurt Bodewig (SPD), who was previously head of the committee. The issue of personnel has been criticised by the opposition who had feared, among other things, that it could be a step towards privatising the airport.

It is the view of the SPD and Greens that clarification of the accusations of embezzlement against airport head Michael Garvens, who is currently on leave of absence, could also be affected by the change. The public prosecutors office is investigating Garvens. He has denied the accusations.
Bonn public transport : Unions demand new tramlines in Bonn

Bonn The German Federation of Trade Unions has invited debate on mobility in the region. A union position paper makes many demands of politicians.

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The journey to work each day is stressful. Deliveries arrive at businesses too late. The journey into the town centre for a shopping trip often becomes a test of nerves. On Saturday 2 December from 9.30am in the DGB Haus, Endenicher Strae 127, the German Federation of Trade Unions will discuss how mobility in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district could look in the future and which measures must be urgently taken. The basis is a position paper on mobility and infrastructure drafted by the DGB Bonn/Rhine-Sieg.

In it, they demand that more is invested in the maintenance and modernisation of local public transport. The most urgent tasks, according to the DGB, are an increase in capacity on the tramlines 66, 16 and 18, as well as consolidating the frequency of regional transport. The construction of a Hardtberg train as well as a tram between Holzlar and Beuel would free up train routes and roads, said DGB chairman Bernd Weede.

The stress on the Cologne-Bonn route should, according to the paper, be relieved through a tram on the right Rhine bank from Beuel via Niederkassel to Cologne and a left Rhine bank S-Bahn to Bad Godesberg. In addition, the construction of a goods transport route outside the Rhine valley would make sense. The planned Rhine bridge at Niederkassel should have tracks for trams, long distance trains and goods trains in addition to the road.

A further demand: ticket prices must be reduced. One solution is a citizens ticket funded through taxes. The union is demanding a regional construction site management system for the upcoming repairs to the Friedrich-Ebert-Bridge and the Tausendfuler (centipede) road system so that traffic does not deteriorate. This would also include incentives to change to using public transport or bicycles.

The extension of bike paths and footpaths should play a greater role in order to create attractive alternatives. To increase the subjective feeling of traffic safety, it should be considered whether a speed limit of 30 km per hour makes sense in towns. Safe places to leave bikes are also important. Therefore the construction of the new bike station at the train station is a high priority. Small stations in Beuel and Bad Godesberg would make these train stations more attractive to commuters, says the DGB.

Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district are congested areas with nearly a million residents. Due to increasing population figures and the current situation on the housing and property market, they must cooperate more closely and collaboratively, said Weede.
Article

Protecting the worlds oceans  an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy

The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov 27, 2017) - Pasinex Resources Ltd. (CSE:PSE)(CSE:PSE.CN)(CNSX:PSE)(FRANKFURT:PNX) (The "Company" or "Pasinex") today reported net income of $1.8M for the third quarter of 2017 compared to $0.4M in the third quarter of 2016. In addition, considering net income from the first half of 2017 of $1.3M, Q3 shows a marked improvement in profitability due to a continuing upward trend in production and sales from its 50%-owned Horzum AS Joint Venture company ("JV company"), in Turkey. In Q3 the Pinargozu Mine produced 15,760 tonnes (wet weight) of direct shipping material (DSO) with an average grade of 35% zinc, which is an increase of 10% from Q2 2017 and 34% from Q1 2017. Mine output grew for the seventh consecutive quarter.

The Q3 2017 unaudited financial statements and the corresponding Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) are available on SEDAR.com and the Pasinex website where the financial results for both Pasinex and the JV company are provided. The positive financial result of Pasinex is due to the strong financial result from the JV company. Below is a review of the JV company financial results followed by a review of the Pasinex financial results. All dollar amounts are Canadian unless otherwise indicated.

Highlights of the Third Quarter and Nine Months 2017 and 2016 Financial Results

(CDN$) Q3 2017 Q3 2016 9 Months 2017 9 Months 2016 Horzum AS (described on a 100% basis) Revenues $ 9,327,185 $ 3,413,571 $ 19,394,413 $ 6,931,254 Net Income $ 5,397,392 $ 1,187,340 $ 9,596,680 $ 1,591,785 (72% margin ) (35% margin ) (62% margin ) (23% margin ) Pasinex Resources Equity Gain $ 2,698,696 $ 593,671 $ 4,798,340 $ 795,893 Net Income $ 1,838,461 $ 417,898 $ 3,151,954 $ 215,907

(1) Pasinex Financial Highlights

Pasinex's consolidated net income for Q3 2017 was $1.8M, which included a $2.7M equity gain from the JV company, offset by corporate expenses of $0.9M.

Total assets at the end of Q3 2017 were $9.0M up from $6.8M at the end of Q2 2017 due to the equity gain. In addition, the remaining warrants were exercised for cash proceeds of $0.3M during the third quarter of 2017.

Shareholder equity rose from $3.8M at the end of 2016 to $8.7M at September 30, 2017.

The JV company declared a dividend of US$2M earlier in the year, of which US$0.9M is owing to Pasinex as of September 30, 2017. An additional US$0.2M was received by Pasinex in October. The remaining US$0.7M is expected prior to the end of the year.

(2) Horzum AS 50%-owned JV company Financial Highlights (described on a 100% basis)

In Q3 2017, the JV company, which holds the zinc mine in Turkey (Pinargozu), produced 15,760 tonnes (wet weight) of direct shipping material (DSO) with an average grade of 35% zinc. Mine production in the third quarter was over 170 tonnes / day; an increase of 10% from Q2 2017 and 34% from Q1 2017.

Figure 1 below shows the production chronology over the past seven (7) quarters. Production from the Pinargozu mine has steadily increased through each of these quarters due in large part to the addition of a new third adit at the mine in August 2016 and on-going mine development in 2017 that has opened up many new mining stope areas.

Sales revenue for the Q3 was $9.3M representing 13,714 wet tonnes of zinc and 263 wet tonnes of lead sold compared to $3.4M in Q3 2016. This has been the highest revenue to date recorded in a quarter by the JV company due to higher zinc production, including a greater proportion of higher grade sulphide zinc, which demands a higher sales price. In addition, the JV company finalized invoices which were provisionally issued in 2016 and the first quarter of 2017 resulting in an upward adjustment to revenue of $2M; all recorded in Q3.

Approximately 7,000 tonnes of mineralized material was stockpiled through the second and third quarters of 2017 to accommodate a large vessel shipment. Delivery is expected in the fourth quarter and corresponding revenues should be recorded at the same time.

The total costs for the JV company in the third quarter 2017 were $134 / tonne mined.

The net profit (before tax) for Q3 2017 was $6.7M, which represents a 72% gross margin.

To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/pasinex1127fig1.pdf.

Steve Williams, CEO commented, "We are very pleased with our superb operating results this quarter. We continue to show improved productivity at the Pinargozu Mine. We look forward to continued strong performance from the Pinargozu mine in the years ahead."

About Pasinex

Pasinex Resources Ltd. (CSE:PSE)(CSE:PSE.CN)(CNSX:PSE)(FRANKFURT:PNX), a metals company, is a 50% owner of the high grade Pinargozu Zinc Mine which is in production. Under its DSO Program, Horzum AS is shipping directly to zinc smelters / refiners from its mine site in Turkey. The Company has a strong technical management team with many years of experience in mineral exploration and mining project development. The mission of Pasinex is to build a mid-tier zinc company based on assembling a large land position within a productive CRD district in Turkey.

The Pinargozu Mine is included in Horzum Arama Isletme AS (Horzum AS), which is a 50-50 corporate joint venture between Pasinex and Turkish mining house Akmetal Madencilik San ve Tic. AS (Akmetal AS). Akmetal AS is one of Turkey's largest family-owned conglomerates with the nearby past-producing Horzum Zinc Mine.

Visit our web site at: www.pasinex.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors, PASINEX RESOURCES LTD.

Steve Williams, President/CEO

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although Pasinex Resources Ltd. 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 forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, exploration results, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
OTTAWA, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orezone Gold Corp. (Orezone or the Company) (TSX-V:ORE) is pleased to report recent and final Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling results from the last two of four specifically identified target areas (See Press Releases of June 22nd 2017 and September 12th 2017) that have been prioritized within the Bombore deposit to better define the extent and the geometry of discrete zones of high-grade gold mineralization within the oxidized portion of the known gold resources.



The drilling at both P11 and CFU has been successful in intercepting high-grade mineralization in the targeted areas, which should improve grade domaining and resource modeling. More drilling will be required in certain areas to confirm the geometry and continuity of discrete higher-grade zones.

Highlights from P11 and CFU (true width approximately 85% of the drill length):

BBC4580: from 30 to 35 m: 5 m @ 3.24 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.7 gpt;

BBC4608: from 23 to 31 m: 8 m @ 3.54 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 8.7 gpt;

BBC4615: from 20 to 22 m: 2 m @ 6.43 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.4 gpt, and from 39 to 42 m: 3 m @ 3.44 gpt;

BBC4620: from 30 to 33 m: 3 m @ 4.19 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 11.9 gpt;

BBC4637: from 52 to 58 m: 6 m @ 3.51 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 7.7 gpt;

BBC4644: from 31 to 44 m: 13 m @ 1.43 gpt;

BBC4647: from 3 to 6 m: 3 m @ 5.41 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 12.7 gpt;

BBC4664: from 10 to 15 m: 5 m @ 4.80 gpt, incl. 4 m @ 5.8 gpt;

BBC4666: from 28 to 33 m: 5 m @ 3.34 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 6.5 gpt;

BBC4670: from 23 to 35 m: 12 m @ 1.72 gpt;

BBC4673: from 10 to 21 m: 11 m @ 2.22 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 5.6 gpt;

BBC4675: from 34 to 38 m: 4 m @ 3.71 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 9.2 gpt;

BBC4678: from 48 to 56 m: 8 m @ 2.23 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.2 gpt;

BBC4679: from 24 to 30 m: 6 m @ 2.62 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 12.2 gpt;

BBC4692: from 27 to 33 m: 6 m @ 2.60 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 6 gpt;

BBC4693: from 60 to 67 m: 7 m @ 2.7 gpt; incl. 2 m @ 8.1 gpt;

BBC4695: from 2 to 7 m: 5 m @ 7.83 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 36.4 gpt;

BBC4696: from 19 to 23 m: 4 m @ 3.55 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 12.4 gpt;

BBC4716: from 3 to 8 m: 5 m @ 10.27 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 45.8 gpt.

Other Significant highlights (true width approximately 85% of the drill length):

BBC4612: from 56 to 67 m: 8 m @ 1.47 gpt;

BBC4623: from 8 to 17 m: 9 m @ 1.26 gpt;

BBC4648: from 40 to 45 m: 5 m @ 2.37 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 7.9 gpt, and from 49 to 58 m: 9 m @ 1.29 gpt;

BBC4669: from 25 to 30 m: 5 m @ 2.91 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 8.0 gpt;

BBC4674: from 0 to 8 m: 8 m @ 1.75 gpt;

BBC4686: from 4 to 11 m: 7 m @ 1.73 gpt;

BBC4693: from 93 to 98 m: 5 m @ 2.67 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 5.5 gpt;

BBC4709: from 11 to 22 m: 11 m @ 1.36 gpt, and from 38 to 45 m: 7 m @ 1.76 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 6.0 gpt;

BBC4712: from 49 to 51 m: 2 m @ 5.30 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.1 gpt.

Patrick Downey President and CEO stated We set out earlier this year to test four target areas within the existing pit shells that we believed would yield high grade intercepts based on historic results and our new interpretation of the controls for higher grade mineralization. This work has been very successful and we will now proceed to model these zones based on this better quality information. We are confident that once completed this will have a positive impact on the grade of the shallow oxides in these areas and therefore a positive impact on overall grade and project economics within the shallow oxide zone. We also plan to continue to target higher grade zones to determine if these extend on strike and at depth within the sulphide mineralization.

The RC drilling programme commenced on July 8, 2017 and was designed as essentially infill holes to tighten up the drill spacing from 50 m by 25 m to 25 m by 25 m in the four specific target areas. Some 249 drill holes totalling 13,900 m have been completed on the Siga South, Siga East, P11 and CFU targets by October 18, 2017 when the program was suspended. Similar infill drilling targeting discrete high-grade oxide mineralization is planned in 2018 where more drilling should better confirm the geometry of the high-grade zones. All drill holes in the Siga South and Siga East areas were oriented at the collar N2501 with a plunge of -50 degrees. All drill holes in the P11 area were oriented at the collar N270 with a plunge of -50 degrees. All drill holes in the CFU area were oriented at the collar N312 with a plunge of -50 degrees.

1 WGS84 UTM31N projection.

The mineralized intervals are based on a lower cut-off grade of 0.45 g/t, a minimal width of 2 m and up to a maximum of 1.5 m of dilution being included. The true width of the mineralization is approximately 90% of the drill length at Siga South and Siga East, and 85% of the drill length at P11 and CFU. The RC drilling samples were divided by Orezone employees using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 2-kg split was prepared by SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. at the Bombore sample preparation facility and then split by Orezone to 1 kg using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 1-kg aliquot was analyzed for leachable gold at BIGS Global Burkina s.a.r.l in Ouagadougou, by bottle-roll cyanidation using a LeachWellTM catalyst. The leach residues from all samples with a leach grade in excess of 0.2 g/t were prepared by BIGS Global Burkina s.a.r.l. and then split by Orezone to 50 g using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 50-g aliquot was analyzed by fire assay at SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l is independent of Orezone. The composite width and grade include the final leach residue assay results for most of the drill intercepts reported; some leach residue assays are pending for 5 RC holes. Orezone employs a rigorous Quality Control Program (QCP) including a minimum of 10% standards, blanks and duplicates.

A complete list of assay results from the current RC drilling programme can be found on the Companys website at the following link (Drill Results).

Qualified Person(s)

Tim Miller, Orezones Chief Operating Officer, Pascal Marquis, Orezones Senior Vice-President, Exporation and Patrick Downey, Orezones Chief Executive Officer, are each a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and none are independent of Orezone. Each of Messrs. Miller, Marquis and Downey have review and approved the information in this release. Each has also verified the underlying data disclosed.

Readers should refer to the annual information form of Orezone for the year ended December 31, 2016 and other continuous disclosure documents filed by Orezone since January 1, 2017 available at www.sedar.com, for further detailed information, which is subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein. As well, Orezones current technical report on the Bombore Project titled TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE UPDATED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE BOMBORE GOLD PROJECT, BURKINA FASO, WEST AFRICA and filed on SEDAR on February 27, 2017 contains further details on Orezones QCP and assurance programs and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information disclosed in this press release.

About Orezone Gold Corporation

Orezone is a Canadian company with a successful gold discovery track record and recent mine development experience in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The Company owns a 90% interest in Bombore, a fully permitted, undeveloped oxide gold deposit in West Africa, which is situated 85 km east of the capital city, adjacent to an international highway.

For further information please contact Orezone at +1 (613) 241-3699 or visit the Companys website at www.orezone.com.

Orezone Gold Corporation

Patrick Downey,

President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 1 613 241 3699 / Toll Free: 1 888 673 0663

info@orezone.com /www.orezone.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate, potential, possible and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may, will, could, or should occur. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding, among others; the drill results from both P11 and CFU should improve grade domaining, resource modeling and project economics within the shallow oxide zone and to complete additional drilling to target higher grade zones during 2018.

All such forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believe are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, the failure of exploration programs, including drilling programs, to deliver anticipated results and the failure of ongoing and contemplated studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued studies, development or operations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release.

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.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ceylon Graphite Corp. (Ceylon Graphite) (TSX-V:CYL) (OTC:CYLYF) (FSE:CCY) announces significant advancements in the clearing and refurbishment of the graphite shaft and adit at its K1 site. The upgraded and refurbished shaft has now reached a depth of 100 ft. and will continue to the current bottom of the shaft which is anticipated at around 130 ft. Drilling operations simultaneously continue as previously announced.



Upgrades and advancements include the refurbishment of the shaft access, strengthening of the passageway with steel and timber as well as installation of an electric winch and dewatering pumps. Work has also commenced on refurbishing the adit, which serves as a natural ventilation system and will be used to transport goods in and out of the shaft. All infrastructure upgrades are being installed throughout the underground area in anticipation of Ceylon Graphite achieving graphite production in the near term. In this regard, Ceylon Graphite expects to apply to upgrade its exploration license to a IML A license with the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau as soon as work on the shaft is completed.

For recent images of the K1 shaft and current work program please see Ceylon Graphites updated website and presentation.

Website link: www.ceylongraphite.com

In addition to these significant advancements at its K1 site, Ceylon Graphite has begun preparatory geological work on two new grids in preparation for exploration through drilling and refurbishment of existing shafts. These grids, one in Ingiriya and the other in Katuwana both have vein graphite visible on the surface.

Bharat Parashar, Chief Executive Officer states: We are very encouraged with the pace of work at the K1 site. With preparation now underway for work at our next sites we are confident in our ability to become a near-term graphite producer of some of the worlds purest naturally occurring graphite.

Qualified Person

Robert Marvin, P. Geo (ONT) is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the geological information provided in this news release.

About Ceylon Graphite Corp.

Ceylon Graphite Corp. is a public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (CYL:TSX-V), that is in the business of exploring for and development of graphite mines in Sri Lanka. The Government of Sri Lanka has granted the company exploration rights in a land package of over 100km. These exploration grids (each one square kilometer in area) cover areas of historic graphite production from the early twentieth century, and represent a majority of the known graphite occurrences in Sri Lanka. Graphite mined in Sri Lanka is known to be some of the purest in the world, and currently accounts for less than 1% of the world graphite production.



FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking information as such term is defined in applicable securities laws, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. The forward-looking information includes statements about Ceylon Graphites grids, Ceylon Graphites plans to undertake additional drilling and to develop a mine plan, Ceylon Graphites intention to apply for a Mining License and to commence establishing mining operations. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to Ceylon Graphite, including the assumption that, the drilling exercises will confirm the presence of high quality graphite, sufficient financial resources will be available, the records from the drilling exercises prove to be accurate, there will be no unanticipated delays or costs materially affecting Ceylon Graphites exploration, development and production, there will be no material adverse change in metal prices, all necessary consents, licenses, permits and approvals will be obtained, including a IML A License and the market. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking information include, among other things, an inability to reach a final acquisition agreement, inaccurate results from the drilling exercises, a failure to obtain or delays in obtaining the required regulatory licenses, permits, approvals and consents, an inability to access financing as needed, a general economic downturn, a volatile stock price, labour strikes, political unrest, changes in the mining regulatory regime governing Ceylon Graphite, a failure to comply with environmental regulations and a weakening of market and industry reliance on high quality graphite. Ceylon Graphite cautions the reader that the above list of risk factors is not exhaustive.

These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, Ceylon Graphite does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com)

Further information regarding the Company is available at www.ceylongraphite.com

Bharat Parashar, Chairman and & Chief Executive Officer

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

info@ceylongraphite.com

Corporate Communications

(604) 559-8051
TSX-V: SNG

VANCOUVER, Nov. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Silver Range Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SNG) ("Silver Range") reports that Rover Metals Corp. ("Rover") has provided the results of a drill program conducted on the Up Town Gold Property ("Property") in August and September 2017. A more complete summary of the drill program including drill plans and sections may be found on Rover's website, www.rovermetals.com.

In August and September 2017, Rover completed 14 drill holes (total drill length 803 metres) on the Property. Drilling at the Rod Zone (10 holes / total 528 m) intersected short intervals of high grade gold enclosed in lower grade rock in 4 of the 10 holes. In addition to testing the known mineralization at Rod, a second structure (Rod West) was intersected at depth and returned best results of 0.6 m @ 15.20 g/t Au in hole ROD-17-004. Drill results from the Rod Zone are tabulated below:

Drill hole From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) ROD-17-001 14.1 14.7 0.6 0.71 ROD-17-002 11.0 16.4 5.4 4.28 including 15.0 15.9 0.9 22.10 ROD-17-003 14.7 15.3 0.7 1.36 ROD-17-004 14.6 15.2 0.6 15.20 ROD-17-004 26.0 27.2 1.2 1.52 including 26.0 26.6 0.6 2.73 ROD-17-005 28.5 30.5 2.0 1.08 ROD-17-005 30.5 31.5 1.0 0.52 ROD-17-006 14.5 17.0 2.5 0.90 ROD-17-007 15.0 18.3 3.3 3.73 including 16.1 16.4 0.3 35.00 ROD-17-008 13.8 17.3 3.4 3.30 including 14.8 15.2 0.3 32.60 ROD-17-009 No assays > 0.30 g/t Au ROD-17-010 48.0 48.3 0.3 0.34 ROD-17-010 76.6 77.0 0.4 0.58

At Fox South, drilling was focused on testing the shear zone south of the known mineralization. The results of this work (4 holes / total 275 m) extended the strike length of drilled mineralization to 250 m. Drill results are summarized in the table below:

Drill hole From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) FS-17-001 24.5 25.2 0.7 1.23 FS-17-001 29.2 30.2 1.0 0.34 FS-17-002 25.9 35.0 9.1 0.32 including 33.1 34.0 1.0 2.16 FS-17-003 39.6 46.6 7.1 0.62 including 45.3 45.6 0.3 5.12 FS-17-004 59.1 59.3 0.2 0.47 FS-17-004 3.5 3.9 0.4 1.02 FS-17-004 9.7 10.0 0.3 0.35 FS-17-004 38.2 38.9 0.7 0.93 FS-17-004 43.7 44.5 0.8 0.66 FS-17-004 51.4 52.0 0.6 1.52 FS-17-004 82.2 82.8 0.5 1.38

The drilling at Fox South confirms that the open north end of the zone may be more prospective. Holes drilled here in 2013 returning 4.14 m @ 2.62 g/t Au and 2.13 m @ 4.67 g/t Au (Silver Range Press Release dated August 30, 2016).

The initial drill program at Up Town Gold confirmed the presence of shallow high-grade gold mineralization at Rod and provided a vector to potentially higher-grade mineralization at Fox South. At Rod, a second parallel structure hosting high grade gold was intersected west of the principal vein system.

The Up Town Gold property, adjacent to Giant Mine, hosts high grade surface gold mineralization and remains largely unexplored. Only 2 of 8 known veins and vein systems were drill tested during the initial program. None of the known gold zones have been drill tested at depth. The results of the 2017 drill program will be integrated with recent surface mapping, geochemical sampling, airborne geophysical surveys and historic shallow drill data to define prospective structural traps that may host significant high-grade gold mineralization either along strike or beneath the known gold occurrences.

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Mike Power, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and CEO of Silver Range Resources Ltd. and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

Silver Range is a precious metals prospect generator working in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nevada. The company is actively seeking joint venture partners to explore the assets in its portfolio.

ON BEHALF OF SILVER RANGE RESOURCES LTD.

"Mike Power"

President, C.E.O. & Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of exploration and other risk factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.

SOURCE Silver Range Resources Ltd.
Vancouver, November 27, 2017 - LiCo Energy Metals Inc. ("the Company" or "LiCo") TSX-V: LIC, OTCQB: WCTXF Uptick Newswires host Everett Jolly welcomes back Tim Fernback, President and CEO of LiCO to update listeners on the Uptick Network "Stock Day" Podcast. Mr. Fernback updates listeners on the Company's current drilling status for cobalt in the Ontario property, briefly discusses the results from the drilling and the grade that Lico Energy is pulling from current drill sites. Continuing the interview, he overviews what the future may hold for Lico Energy and the potential properties that the Company is actively looking for to add grounds to current assets. Switching the conversation, Mr. Jolly asks Mr. Fernback to elaborate on Lico Energy's commodities that intertwine within the lithium and cobalt industry and the goals for the each of the properties that Lico Energy has ties or partnerships with for these properties.

In closing CEO Tim Fernback states, "We touched on the market for both of these commodities. I think every analyst that is out there that comments on them is extremely bullish on both lithium and cobalt as a commodity and as the price goes up the demand for good quality exploration programs and properties that we have will also increase. We are in the middle of financing right now, we have a flow through financing in Canada and if people are interested in that then they can help participate in the financing for that property."

The private placement details and subscription agreements will now be available to investors on the Stockhouse Deal Room (www.stockhouse.com/dealroom).

To listen to the full interview please click here or the following link: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-ceo-tim-fernback-of-lico-energy-metals-inc-otcqb-wctxf

About LiCo Energy Metals

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's focus is directed towards exploration for high value metals integral to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries. https://licoenergymetals.com/

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Tim Fernback, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information:

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

Copyright (c) 2017 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.


VANCOUVER, Nov. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Resolve Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: RSV) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement, where by the Company may acquire a 100% interest in the Mary Property (the "Property") located 30 kilometres southeast of Houston, British Columbia, Canada from two arm's length vendors,.

The Property consists of 6,365 hectares and lies 1500 metres east of the New Nadina block. The underlying geology of this claim block is Cretaceous Kaslaka Group andesitic volcanics. These rocks are overlain by Eocene Endako Group Goosley Lake Formation alkaline volcanic rocks and Buck Creek Formation basaltic volcanics. All small plug of the Eocene Goosley plutonic suite intrudes the Cretaceous rocks. Historic exploration on the Mary block included induced polarization surveying and follow up percussion drilling of IP anomalies. Of the 22 percussion drill holes completed in 1985, only 9 actually reached bedrock. Four of those intercepted anomalous pathfinder elements. The IP anomalies remain untested. (Source: BC Ministry of Mines Assessment Reports 14346 and 15967). Resolve cautions investors that this historical exploration data has not been verified.

The Property appears to have seen additional historical exploration. Resolve's technical team will review the assessment record of historical work on the Mary Property. Based on the findings of this review, an exploration program will be designed to best assess and evaluate the potential.

Resolve Ventures, President and CEO Clive Massey stated: "We are very excited about the acquisition of these claims in this emerging area play as it puts us in a position to exploit some very interesting exploration opportunities in an area proven to be rich with mineral resources."

Property Transaction Terms:

Under the terms of the agreement, the Company can earn a 100% interest in the Property by issuing 5,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company upon TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") approval and incurring a minimum $100,000 in exploration expenditures within the first year. The vendors shall retain a 2% net smelter returns royalty of which the Company may purchase 1% for $1,500,000.

The agreement is subject to Exchange approval. All shares issued will be subject to a four month and one day hold period.

ABOUT RESOLVE VENTURES;

Resolve is a Vancouver based publicly listed exploration company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company is led by a highly skilled management and technical team with numerous previous successes in the junior mining sector.

R. Tim Henneberry, P.Geo., Resolves's Geologist and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

For further information on the Company, please email cmassey@cmassey.ca

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

Clive Massey

President, Resolve Ventures Inc.

(604) 664-6794

Neither TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" that is based on the Company's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements with respect to the Company's exploration and development plans. The words "will", "anticipated", "plans" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related exploration and development; the ability to raise sufficient capital to fund exploration and development; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; increases in input costs; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological or operational difficulties or inability to obtain permits encountered in connection with exploration activities; and labour relations matters. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Resolve Ventures Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Search Minerals Inc. ("Search" or the "Company") (TSX-V:SMY), and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Alterra Resources Inc. (Alterra), are pleased to announce that the 2000m drill program at Deep Fox has started. The drill is operating at the first hole site and the Company will be processing all the drill core at its facilities in St. Lewis, before being sent to ActLabs for assays. Search is also pleased to announce the results of an infill channel program, completed in July 2017, at the Deep Fox CREE (Critical Rare Earth Element) prospect located in the Port Hope Simpson (PHS) CREE District in SE Labrador. These results support high grades and significant widths at Deep Fox and establish a surface assay database that will be merged with results from the upcoming drill program to define a CREE resource at Deep Fox.



Greg Andrews, President and CEO comments: We are very excited to initiate the Deep Fox drill program. This drill program has been a goal of the Company, and we are happy to deliver on this milestone. In addition, the new infill channel assay results for Deep Fox allow Dr. Randy Miller and his team to utilize the information for the drill program. The compelling reasons to drill the Deep Fox property remain: 1) Deep Fox has shown higher grades on surface of the key rare earth elements (Nd, Pr, Dy, Tb); 2) it has a similar strike length to Foxtrot but larger widths; 3) it displays better extraction results to those achieved on the Foxtrot material, and; 4) definition of a second resource supports the district concept.

DRILL PROGRAM UPDATE

The drilling has commenced on drill hole FD-17-01 at the Deep Fox prospect. Additional holes will test for mineralization at depth along the 450m observed surface strike length. The Company expects that this 2000m program will provide it with approximately 13 holes, designed to intersect mineralization from 25m to 100m depth. A successful drill program would confirm that the geological model at Deep Fox is similar to that observed at Foxtrot. At Foxtrot, drilling confirmed a close correspondence between surface channel geology/assays and drill core geology/assays down to at least 400m intersections.

The drill program is expected to take 30 - 50 days and should be completed in January, taking into account the Christmas/New Years Day break. Assays results and analysis should be available in up to 6 weeks following completion of the drill program.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEEP FOX CHANNEL PROGRAM

New Deep Fox infill channels support high CREE grades and significant widths that are similar to or higher than Foxtrot grades;



Assay highlights: 1421 ppm Y, 1955 ppm Nd, 516 ppm Pr, 50.6 ppm Tb and 282 ppm Dy over 6.54m (true width);



New channel results will be used to help guide the 2000m drilling program at Deep Fox.

The new five-channel infill channel program at Deep Fox, which provided 215 assay samples over 220 m, was carried out in July 2017. Table 1, below, provides highlights of the channel program. Analytical techniques, sample preparation, and channel sampling procedures are below under Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC).

Table 1. DEEP FOX PROSPECT VALUES

DEEP FOX PROSPECT FDC-17-02

(Channel) FDC-17-04

(Channel) FDC-17-05

(Channel) FDC-17-05

(Channel) From (m)

To (m)

Interval (m) 23.86

30.40

6.54 24.72

32.13

7.41 12.71

51.26

38.55 27.50

33.70

6.20 Y 1,421 1,239 1,104 1,277 Zr 14,122 13,706 10,614 12,588 Nb 692 635 643 678 La 2,095 2,054 2,019 1,961 Ce 4,428 4,259 4,021 4,025 Pr 516 485 448 460 Nd 1,955 1,814 1,677 1,746 Sm 363 340 304 328 Eu 19.3 17.5 15.4 16.0 Gd 296 269 237 256 Tb 50.6 44.5 38.6 40.3 Dy 282 255 217 244 Ho 53.0 47.5 40.5 48.3 Er 148 135 115 138 Tm 20.5 18.6 15.7 19.4 Yb 127 115 96 119 Lu 17.8 16.8 14.6 17.1 LREE 9357 8952 8469 8520 HREE 1014 919 790 899 HREE+Y 2435 2158 1894 2175 TREE 10371 9871 9259 9419 TREE+Y 11792 11110 10363 10696 % TREE 1.04% .99% .93% .94% %TREE+Y 1.18% 1.11% 1.04% 1.07% %HREE 9.78% 9.31% 8.53% 9.54% %HREE +Y 20.65% 19.42% 18.28% 20.34% Note;

REE

TREE

LREE

HREE

Y

%HREE+Y

%HREE



All elements parts per million (ppm), 10,000 ppm = 1% = 10kg/tonne

Rare Earth Elements: La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu (Lanthanide Series).

Total Rare Earth Elements: Add La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu

Light Rare Earth Elements: Add La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm.

Heavy Rare Earth Elements: Add Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu.

Y not included in HREE due to relatively low value compared to most Lanthanide series HREE.

%(HREE+Y)/( TREE+Y)

%( HREE/ TREE)





The program assay and logging results were combined with previous results from 2014/2015 (see Search Minerals news releases Jan. 27th, 2015 and Oct. 15th 2015) to develop a surface geological and geochemical database. This database will be used to guide the drill program at Deep Fox (see Search Minerals news release Oct. 25th, 2017) and will be combined with the drill results to develop a Deep Fox CREE resource.

The Deep Fox (formerly Deepwater Fox) prospect (see Search Minerals news releases Jan. 27th, 2015 and Oct 15th 2015) occurs about 2 km NE from the port of St. Lewis on the SE Labrador coast and within 12 km of the Foxtrot Deposit. It can be accessed by all-weather gravel roads and by water through the port of St. Lewis.

Qualified Person(s):

Dr. Randy Miller, Ph.D., P.Geo, is the Company's Vice President, Exploration, and Qualified Person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101) who has supervised the preparation of and approved the technical information reported herein. The Company will endeavour to meet high standards of integrity, transparency, and consistency in reporting technical content, including geological and assay (e.g., REE) data.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC):

Channel samples, 10cm deep and 8cm wide, are cut by gas-powered diamond saw from cleaned outcrops to provide samples for assay and logging/reference. Each channel is cut into two vertical sections, similar to drill core, with a 6 cm thick section (weathering removed) being sent out for assay to Activation Laboratories Ltd. A 2 cm thick section is stored in channel boxes for reference and to provide due diligence/verification samples. The channels are cut perpendicular to strike, pieced together, logged and photographed to produce geological and geochemical sections. These channel samples, or horizontal drill holes, produce the same data as vertical diamond drill holes, except the data is from horizontal geological sections and the collected sample is 6 to 8 times bigger than NQ drill core. Additional 8 cm wide cuts from a channel interval make excellent preliminary metallurgical samples (1m of channel yields about 30kg of sample).

Lithogeochemistry samples, all from bedrock, are collected by Company personnel, bagged and described. Reference samples are also collected for each grab, lithogeochemistry and channel sample. The samples are shipped to Activation Laboratories Ltd. (ActLabs) sample prep facility in Ancaster, Ontario, where they are crushed to 80% -10 mesh and riffled to produce a representative sample. This sample is then pulverized to 95% -200 mesh with the pulverizing mills being cleaned between each sample with cleaning sand. A representative sample is treated by a lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion and then analyzed by ICP and ICP/MS techniques. Mass balance is required as an additional quality control technique and elemental totals of the oxides should be between 98% and 101%. For QA/QC purposes Search requires duplicates every 25 samples and two Search reproducibility standards every 50 samples. ActLabs analyzes duplicates and splits approximately every 15 samples and also analyses 29 measured standards for QA/QC. To further enhance our QA/QC procedures Search has a program of checking analytical results with other labs to confirm the ActLabs results. ActLabs is a ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.

About Search Minerals Inc.

Led by a proven management team and board of directors, Search is focused on finding and developing resources within the emerging Port Hope Simpson Critical Rare Earth Element (CREE) District of South East Labrador (the District). The Company controls a belt 70 km long and 8 km wide including its 100% interest in the FOXTROT Project which is road accessible and at tidewater. Exploration efforts have advanced Deep Fox and Fox Meadow as significant new CREE prospects very similar and in close proximity to the original FOXTROT discovery. While the Company has identified more than 20 other prospects in the District, its primary objective remains development of FOXTROT with the clearly demonstrated success of the proprietary processing technology at the pilot plant level and delineation of prospects that will ensure competitive-low cost production beyond the 14-year mine life contemplated in the preliminary economic assessment of FOXTROT completed in April 2016. The FOXTROT Project has a low capital cost to bring the initial project into production ($152 M), a short payback period and is scalable due to Searchs proprietary processing technology. The preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized. The preliminary economic assessment includes the results of an economic analysis of mineral resources. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

All material information on the Company may be found on its website at www.searchminerals.ca and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

About neo-CREOs (Adamas Intelligence  December 2016)

We consider neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium to be neo-CREOs and they are vital to NdFeB magnets used widely in renewable power generation, electric mobility, and energy-efficient technologies. We consider terbium to be a neo-CREO because upon experiencing shortages of dysprosium, consumers in the magnet industry will rapidly consume available terbium supplies in its place for applications involving renewable power generation, electric mobility and energy efficient technologies. Lanthanum is considered a neo-CREO because it is widely used in catalytic converters and rechargeable batteries, and will be increasingly used as a thermal stabilizer by producers of poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) to minimize lead consumption and improve the energy efficiency of PVC and other processing equipment.

For further information, please contact:

Greg Andrews

President and CEO

Tel: 604-998-3432

E-mail: info@searchminerals.ca



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.

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. securities laws.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information.

This news release includes certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of the Company, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as expects, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, potential, possible, and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results will, may, could, or should occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things, technical results from the Companys drilling program. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.
(David Kidd)

Phil Bertolini has spent the better part of his career dealing with tech issues for the second-largest county in Michigan. But what hes best known for these days is his commitment to helping smaller communities around the state get access to better technology.Oakland County, where Bertolini is CIO, has been providing shared services to other localities for decades. But Bertolini has taken that process a huge step further. In 2011, he brought the intergovernmental process online to let smaller governments with limited investment capacity take advantage of the work that bigger ones like Oakland had already done. He did that by launching G2G Cloud Solutions, which provides computing services that allow residents of even the smallest municipality to pay tickets, bills and property taxes online. Soon after that, Oakland County followed up with the G2G Marketplace, an online store where governments can find lists of approved vendors and ready-to-go contracts that they can use to research and buy technology and services.A number of the larger governments around the country do this to some extent. But none have done it on the scale Oakland County has. So far, 82 agencies in Michigan have joined G2G Cloud Solutions, and 52 of them are outside Oakland. Even more remarkable is the fact that there are 721 users participating in the G2G Marketplace across 49 states. Bertolinis team also makes house calls: They swoop in and troubleshoot IT problems in a number of other jurisdictions, including the state government in Lansing.The reason for sharing is simple, says the 54-year-old Bertolini: Its the right thing to do. Oakland County, with a population of 1.2 million and an annual IT budget of more than $55 million, has tech resources that most local governments in Michigan couldnt possibly afford. Philosophically, I believe bigger governments should be helping smaller governments, Bertolini says. I believe if we have the wherewithal to help somebody, why wouldnt we?Oakland isnt exactly giving away the store in this deal. Bertolini has structured it so Oakland makes a little money in the process. The county takes a share of any access fee a city or town might charge its residents for a service that uses Oakland County computers. Last year, those fees totaled $1.7 million. And whenever another locality takes advantage of a vendors rate that Oakland has negotiated and put up in the G2G Marketplace, Bertolinis county gets a discount on its own contract with that vendor. To date, that procedure has saved the county some $630,000.The collaborative mindset has earned Oakland County national recognition as a tech leader. Earlier this year, Oakland was named one of the most digitally advanced counties in the country (it came in second to King County, Wash.). All of this, says County Executive Brooks Patterson, is a far cry from when he took office in 1993 and discovered county employees were still using typewriters. We came from nowhere, Patterson says. And it all goes to Phil. Hes really put this place on the map.-- By Liz Farmer
A stinging defeat

3 rulings in 2017

The Texas Legislature is among the most aggressive in the nation when it comes to regulating the practice of abortion, churning out a steady stream of laws since 2011 that have been met with an equally aggressive legal response by abortion providers.The result is a well-worn path between the Capitol and the federal courts, leading most recently to U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel's decision Wednesday to strike down a Texas law limiting the most common second-trimester procedure.It was the seventh time this decade that a federal judge has blocked an abortion-related law or regulation that had been championed by the state's Republican leaders, putting Texas in a familiar position -- ground zero in the abortion wars."Texas is certainly one of the most active states when it comes to anti-abortion legislation," said Molly Duane, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has filed five lawsuits against Texas this decade, including the challenge to the second-trimester law."It's fair to characterize Texas as one of the most restrictive states when it comes to regulating abortion out of existence," Duane said.State Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, has been a leading advocate for tighter restrictions on abortion since he entered the Texas House in 2003.The success in passing laws this decade was the result of strong Republican majorities in the Legislature and committed opposition to abortion by Gov. Greg Abbott and his predecessor, Rick Perry, Hughes said.But a second important factor was a shift in strategy away from efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade -- the U.S. Supreme Court case out of Texas that established a right to abortion in 1973 -- toward a focus on "limits we can place on abortion," Hughes said."Pro-lifers in America still want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, but in the meantime we want to save as many little babies as we can," he said.In 2011, the Legislature passed a law requiring pre-abortion sonograms. The regulation required abortion doctors to describe what the sonogram revealed, including the size of the fetus, body features and internal organs. The law also mandated a 24-hour waiting period -- or two hours for women who live more than 100 miles from the nearest clinic -- in hopes that the information would prompt women to opt out of the abortion.U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin blocked the law from taking effect, ruling that it violated the First Amendment by improperly requiring doctors and patients to engage in government-mandated speech.Sparks' decision, however, was overturned by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the sonogram law remains in force.Also in 2011, Yeakel blocked Texas from removing Planned Parenthood from a state program to provide low-income women with contraceptives and other medical care, but the 5th Circuit Court -- one of the most conservative federal appeals courts in the nation -- also overturned that ruling.With those court victories secured, abortion opponents cranked up their efforts in the 2013 legislative session, passing a sweeping law that banned abortions after 20 weeks and severely limited the availability of drug-induced abortions.The centerpiece of that law, however, was a pair of provisions -- requiring doctors to get admitting privileges in a nearby hospital and mandating that all abortions take place in hospital-like settings -- that would have left nine abortion clinics open in Texas, down from 42 when then-Gov. Perry signed the regulations into law in July 2013.Yeakel overturned both requirements, but once again the 5th Circuit Court overruled the judge and allowed Texas to enforce the restrictions.The victory for Texas was short-lived, however. The U.S. Supreme Court tossed out both regulations last year -- a stinging defeat for abortion foes because the ruling required restrictions to have health benefits that outweigh their burdens, a standard that will make it harder to justify future regulations that limit access to the procedure.The ruling also could be expensive. Lawyers for the abortion providers, as the winning side, are seeking $4.55 million in legal fees and expenses from Texas. Yeakel has yet to rule on the request.This year, three Texas abortion-related restrictions have been overturned:--A state rule requiring health facilities to bury or cremate fetal tissue, whether from an abortion or miscarriage, was blocked in January by Sparks, who said the policy appeared to be a pretext to restrict abortion access because there were few vendors available to handle fetal remains. Texas appealed, and the 5th Circuit Court will hear oral arguments Jan. 4.In the meantime, the Legislature approved a law in May that also required burial or cremation of fetal remains. That law takes effect Feb. 1, and abortion providers have asked Sparks to include it in his injunction.--Sparks also blocked Texas from ousting Planned Parenthood from Medicaid in February, ruling that state health officials tried to punish the organization based on "unsubstantiated and indeterminate allegations" in undercover video footage shot in 2015 by abortion opponents. The 5th Circuit Court has not set an argument date.--Last Wednesday, Yeakel struck down a state law requiring abortion doctors to stop the fetal heartbeat before beginning the most common type of second-trimester abortion. Yeakel said the law improperly required doctors to use unproven and medically unnecessary methods to cause fetal demise that increased a woman's risk of infection and other medical complications.State Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately appealed that ruling.Abortion providers and civil rights groups have vowed to remain vigilant, challenging any law or regulation that attempts to restrict abortion access in Texas.Hughes said he and other abortion opponents will not be dissuaded by the threat of future litigation."We're not going to be paralyzed by fear of the courts when we draft pro-life legislation," he said.
The state of Missouri is reversing course and will allow anyone on Medicaid with hepatitis C to receive the medication that cures the disease.The change in policy comes after a lawsuit was filed against the department that oversees the state's Medicaid program, arguing that some Medicaid patients were denied medically necessary treatment.The case, filed in federal court in Missouri's western district last year, was dismissed Monday following the state's decision to change its policy, effective Nov. 1."We are glad that Missouri health officials will start to ensure that Medicaid enrollees receive these medications in a timely manner. This therapy is not only medically necessary for the individual patient, but it is vital in helping to halt spread of a communicable disease," Abigail Coursolle, an attorney with the National Health Law Program, said in a statement released Tuesday.Coursolle, along with the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and the St. Louis University Legal Clinic, represented the three plaintiffs in the case, all unnamed Medicaid recipients with hepatitis C.In an attempt to curb spending on the costly medication, a serious budget concern for many states, the department implemented the policy that allowed only the sickest of Medicaid recipients with hepatitis C to receive the new treatments.Initially, the price of the treatment was $93,000 for a 12-week course of the medication, according to a statement from MoHealthnet, the state agency that oversees the Medicaid program.It's estimated that 13,000 Medicaid recipients in the state have hepatitis C, according to court documents.The price of the drugs has since declined, the state said in a statement.Hepatitis C is an infectious disease that can lead to liver failure or death. An estimated 3.9 million individuals across the country have the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."This will actually save the state money in the long run," John Ammann, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told the Post-Dispatch."A poor person on Medicaid, their liver gets worse and worse, Medicaid would have paid for a liver transplant. But we don't have that expense if they're cured," he said.
Seeking Out Veterans

Focusing on Students

Cyber Women

Internships for veterans, cyber classes for high school and college students and mentoring programs  aimed especially at middle-school girls  are among the ways states are trying to beef up their cybersecurity ranks.Cybersecurity is the most pressing issue for state information technology officials, as hackers and cybercriminals increasingly take aim at government networks, which contain information such as Social Security, bank account and credit card numbers of millions of people and businesses.But hiring and keeping qualified IT staffers, particularly cybersecurity experts, continues to be a serious problem for states, according to a recent survey of state chief information officers. Job candidates dont perceive state government as an attractive and challenging work environment, the report found.State cyber salaries generally cant match those in private industry and its often hard to move up the ladder in state government. And the disappearance of generous government retirement plans is making the jobs less appealing to cyber professionals.Stanton Gatewood, Georgias chief information security officer, said the shortage stems not only from competition from the private sector, an aging workforce and lack of interest from high school and college students, but from states stringent educational and experience requirements that make it hard to recruit. Were writing requirements that are just through the roof, he said last month at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers annual conference in Austin.Gatewood recommended that states rethink those requirements and seek out nontraditional job candidates who have different types of backgrounds, such as gamers, code writers, and law enforcement and military officials.Its great to understand theory and principles. But our need is immediate, he said, adding, We need to put the butts in the seats.Nearly 300,000 public and private cybersecurity jobs are available in the U.S., according to CyberSeek, an interactive online tool for job seekers. Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm, forecasts a shortage of 1.8 million cybersecurity workers globally by 2022.Some states are looking to the military to try to fill cybersecurity jobs.In March, Virginia, which has more than 700,000 veterans, kicked off its Cyber Vets Virginia pilot program in partnership with private industry and a Syracuse University research institute focused on veterans. The program aims to help veterans enter the cybersecurity field in Virginia by providing them free hands-on training, assistance in getting industry certification and career services.The 12- to 15-week program is open to veterans, those transitioning out of the military, spouses, reservists and National Guard members. So far, more than 125 people have enrolled, said program administrator John Malfitano.A lot of them have cyber experience, and cyberattacks are really a new form of warfare and we need to be able to defend against it, Malfitano said. But even those with experience may need additional training to meet industry certification standards, he said.In Colorado, the Legislature allocated more than $900,000 this year to create and fund the Veterans Transition Program, a nine-month paid internship at the state technology department for service members leaving the military who have shown an interest or aptitude in cybersecurity or have some cyber experience.These are people who already have a demonstrated interest in public service, said Deborah Blyth, the states chief information security officer. They also have done some consistent time in the military, so Im not worried about them job-hopping.The program started in July, and two veterans already are on board. Officials expect to add eight more.Were hoping to create a pipeline for ourselves, Blyth said. So as we have turnover and openings, we are able to have these veterans transition into our agency.For the last two years, Virginia has offered a public service scholarship program to in-state college students studying cybersecurity. It awards them up to $20,000 a year and in return, they must commit to working at a state agency or institution for as many years as they receive the scholarship.Virginia also is one of seven states that participate in a partnership with the SANS Institute, a global information security training company, to provide cyber skills to high school and college students through a free online training exercise called CyberStart. The top performers at the state level can win thousands of dollars in scholarships and compete nationally for up to $500,000 in scholarships for more advanced cyber coursework.Delaware registered 359 students for this years program and 20 of them received scholarships at the state level, said Elayne Starkey, Delawares chief information security officer. Delaware also has hosted and run weeklong national U.S. Cyber Challenge camps attended by hundreds of young people that offer workshops, labs and a competition, she said.While such programs are a great way to entice young people to choose cybersecurity careers, Starkey said, it may not be enough to keep the pipeline of cyber talent flowing, considering the large number of experienced staffers who will retire in the coming years.Its a very complex problem that we havent been able to find answers to, Starkey said. At some point you stop and take a look behind you and ask whos coming to fill our shoes. And you find theres no one there.While cybersecurity is a booming field, its still male-dominated. Women make up only 14 percent of the cyber workforce in North America, according to a 2017 study.State officials say the pool of women qualified to fill cyber jobs is shallow, which makes it difficult for young girls interested in a cybersecurity career to find role models and mentors.One way Delawares IT department is trying to break that cycle is by co-sponsoring an annual event that brings together 150 eighth- and ninth-grade girls to immerse them in technology and give them hands-on practice, Starkey said. One track is devoted to cybersecurity.In Colorado, Blyth recently worked with a local university to start a chapter of CyberGirlz, an initiative that offers mentoring and workshops for middle-school girls interested in the cybersecurity field.The problem were having in cyber is that when I open positions, there just are not a lot of women who apply because there are not a lot of women in security, Blyth said.Ambareen Siraj, a computer science professor at Tennessee Tech and founder of Women in CyberSecurity, a networking and mentoring group for cyber professionals and students, said young women often cant relate to the stereotypical image of the cyber techie.Many young women going to college think this is a field of socially challenged men wearing black hoodies and hacking away in dark basements, eating pizza, she said. We need them to realize that its not. Its a field where they learn how to solve problems using their own skills.
On Friday, in the afternoon, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted an afternoon tea for the presentation of the 2017 Winston Churchill Fellowship Awards where the Governor addressed guests.

In the evening, at the Pullman Hotel Brisbane, the Governor attended the 70th Anniversary St Andrews Day Dinner.
On Saturday, in the afternoon, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted a reception for participants of the 4th Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Council on Law and Security, where the Governor addressed guests.
Description

GIS  27 November, 2017: A first cohort of 80 students is starting today a three-year full time National Diploma course in nursing at Polytechnics Pamplemousses campus. The programme is jointly offered by Polytechnics Mauritius Ltd (PML) and the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life. It will lead to the award of the National Diploma by the Mauritius Institute of Health.

The National Diploma in Nursing was officially launched during a ceremony on Friday 24 November 2017 by the Minister of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, in the presence of the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Dr Mohammad Anwar Husnoo.

In her opening address Minister Dookun-Luchoomun observed that skills development is the new mantra on the international scene and it has always been a priority for the Mauritian Government to invest in skills development. Skills development and relevant training are in themselves a major form of investment in people, she said.

As regards the polytechnic sector, the Minister pointed out that polytechnics will, as from now, be indissociably part of the educational landscape of Mauritius, as it will be called upon to act as the flagship institution for skills development programmes at the higher end of the spectrum. In fact, Polytechnics have come out with the aim to better connect the world of learning to the world of work, especially keeping in view the priority sectors of the economy, she added.

For his part Minister Husnoo outlined that the aim behind the partnership with the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, is to strengthen and to broaden the mutual cooperation in the provision of education and training in the nursing field. The collaboration with PML needs to be considered as a major step towards enhancing knowledge and training facilities in Mauritius, he said.

Moreover, Dr Husnoo recalled that the initiative is in line with Governments 2030 Vision and the objective of transforming Mauritius into a regional hub for health care and medical services. This joint effort heralds the start of a promising future in the education sector in Mauritius considering that Government has the will to promote the quality level of the health service personnel so as to meet the needs of our nation, he stated.

In his speech the Chairperson of PML, Professor Theeshan Bahorun, pointed out that the new industrial revolution, referred to as Industry 4.0, is called upon to change industries and economies at a fast rate. Mauritius therefore will have to develop new sets of leadership skills and most importantly technological and middle management knowhow adapted to suit the purposes of the industry, he highlighted.

National Diploma in Nursing

The National Diploma in Nursing is fully sponsored by the Human Resource Development Council for the first cohort under the National Skills Development Programme. Students are benefiting from a monthly stipend of Rs 5 000 for the duration of the programme which also comprises placement in Public hospitals. Additionally, students have the option of embarking on a beginners course in a foreign language.

The existing Polytechnic campus building at Pamplemousses, which has undergone structural adjustments to cater for workshops and teaching and learning amenities, will allow students to have access to immediate industry facilities for their training at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam National Hospital.

The National Diploma is offered following the signature, on 21 July 2017, of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life and PML, which is a body corporate set up under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research. It makes provision for the training of both Mauritian and international students in Nursing and Paramedical fields.
Description

GIS - 27 November, 2017: The Government of Mauritius and the United Nations (UN) are committed to strengthen existing relations and pledge to continue and reinforce their collaboration. The Government of Mauritius and the United Nations (UN) are committed to strengthen existing relations and pledge to continue and reinforce their collaboration.

This was at the centre of discussions during a courtesy call by the UN Coordinator of United Nations Development Programme, Ms Christine Umutoni, on the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, on 24 November 2017 at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis.

In a statement, the UN Coordinator commended the work being undertaken by the numerous UN agencies in Mauritius in various sectors including social, cultural, educational, the fight against poverty and actions related to climate change. Ms Umutoni also reiterated the continuing support of the UN for local governmental initiatives in several spheres.

She further highlighted that the Prime Minister shares the willingness to continue the bilateral partnership and emphasised that the UN will maintain and even scale up the ongoing collaboration.
Description

GIS - 27 November, 2017: The first payment of Negative Income Tax (NIT) allowance to beneficiaries was effected on Friday 24 November 2017 at the seat of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) in Port Louis in the presence of the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. The first payment of Negative Income Tax (NIT) allowance to beneficiaries was effected on Friday 24 November 2017 at the seat of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) in Port Louis in the presence of the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth.

Cheques were handed over symbolically to some thirteen beneficiaries under the NIT scheme which came into effect as from 1st July 2017. Out of the 21 800 applications received, 12 100 persons have already benefitted from an allocation. The NIT consists of a financial support from the Government to be effected by the MRA on a quarterly basis to employees whose basic salary is less than or equal to Rs 9 900 monthly.

In his address, the Prime Minister expressed his appreciation on the early implementation of the NIT previously forecasted for January 2018 and lauded the MRA for the zeal and hard work in making the project a reality. According to him, such measure is a landmark achievement for Mauritius which he added is among the few countries in the world that have successfully implemented such a scheme.

He recalled that the measure of NIT was announced in his summing up speech to the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2017 as a means to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and reduce inequality hence contributing to poverty alleviation in the country. Such measure, he added will help bring social justice and improve the quality of life for those at the lower rung of the social ladder while helping them integrate the mainstream society. He reassured each and every one that the share of growth should be fairly distributed among all segments of the population.

For his part, the Director General of the MRA, Mr Sudhamo Lal, welcomed the NIT initiative as a challenge and a change in the mandate of the MRA from a mere collector of taxes to both a collector and distributor of taxpayers money. He expressed his satisfaction that the MRA is called upon to distribute part of the revenues it has been collecting to needy people and be part of the endeavour to directly contribute to poverty alleviation.

The Negative Income Tax system will provide financial support to some 150 000 employees in full time employment, and earning emoluments less than or equal to Rs 9 900 monthly.
Description

GIS  27 November, 2017 : It is unacceptable that violence against women and girls still happens in 2017. We are here today to say no to any forms of violence against women and girls, this should stop!

The strong call to end violence against women and girls was made by the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, on 25 November 2017 at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Moka on the occasion of the launching of a media campaign on the elimination of violence against women. The event was held in the context of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, commemorated on 25 November, in the presence of the Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Roubina Jadoo-Jaunbocus, several Ministers, Members of the National Assembly, and other personalities.

The Prime Minister recalled that violence against women and girls is one of the most persistent human rights violations and among the most extreme form of discrimination. Violence involves verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and mutilation and may as well be cause of death in some cases; we will not tolerate such practices anymore, said Mr Jugnauth. Speaking on Governments initiatives on the issue, the Prime Minister highlighted that everything is being done to eliminate domestic violence and give support to victims. He gave the example of the Men as Caring Partners Project, aimed at mobilising men to take an active stand for gender equality and against gender-based violence.

The importance of education in tackling gender based violence was highlighted by Mr Jugnauth, who recalled that the ongoing reforms in the education sector will contribute to promote positive attitudes towards gender equality and ensure understanding and awareness on the need to combat any forms of violence. But, he underlined, education begins at home and parents have a key role in providing a caring family setting and inculcating the right values to their children.

The Prime Minister also made an appeal to men for a change in mindset and to become part of the solution to prevent and end violence against women and girls. He pointed out that real men should respect women and portraying women as the weaker sex to demean and degrade the latter was no longer valid in this time and age. While urging people with authority and power to lead by example, Mr Jugnauth called for the participation of every citizen in the national efforts to uphold human rights for women and combat discrimination.

For her part Minister Jadoo-Jaunbocus announced that an integrated service centre, making use of latest technologies, will come into operation soon to provide immediate solutions and facilities to victims of violence. She said that her Ministry is focusing on initiatives that would empower victims, offering assistance and skill-based training to these women so that they become financially independent.

With regard to the media awareness campaign on the theme Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Minister dwelt on the necessity to sensitise the population on the impact of verbal, physical, and sexual abuses on women which cause the disintegration of family and disruption of society. The Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare is running a media campaign from 25 November to 10 December on the elimination of violence against women. Messages have been placed on billboards at strategic locations and similar clips are broadcast over radio and television. It is time to pull down the wall of violence against women and move together towards a society free of discrimination, affirmed Mrs Jadoo-Jaunbocus.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2017

The United Nations theme for this year is Together we can end Gender-Based Violence in Education.

Activities organised by the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare to commemorate the International Day include a high level panel discussion on gender-based violence in collaboration with the European Union; workshops on themes such as Giving Women a Voice, and Community Response to Domestic Violence; pre-marital counselling for engaged couples and marriage enrichment programmes for married couples.
(TNS)  ST. THOMAS  In the aftermath of the destructive 2017 hurricane season  which formally ends on Thursday  technology companies have moved in to field test a variety of new technologies.In Puerto Rico, Tesla has deployed its solar and battery power systems and Alphabet, Googles parent company, has obtained permission to use a balloon-based system to provide cell service to rural areas damaged by the hurricanes, though a spokesman for X, the subdivision of Alphabet developing the balloon project, said the project has not been deployed in the Virgin Islands.In Virgin Islands, as well as in Puerto Rico, Microsoft has successfully deployed something called TV white space technology to provide wireless Internet.On the broadcast dial, traditional television channels are separated by bands of white space to prevent one channel from bleeding into another. The white space bands between channels are themselves separate television channels that can be used to broadcast information.The resulting networks can work better than cellphones in some circumstances, according to a Microsoft white paper authored in July.This available spectrum is uniquely suited for delivering broadband to rural areas because it can carry communications over far greater distances and penetrate through walls and other obstacles than cellular and other spectrum bands, the paper reads in part. Because of these unique characteristics, technologies leveraging TV white spaces are sometimes referred to as Super Wi-Fi.Microsofts initiative  titled Airband  has been successfully used to broadcast Internet to sections of rural America, and the company hopes to use the system to balance out a lack of broadband Internet access in the United States, according to the white paper.After Hurricane Irma blew through the northern end of the territory on Sept. 6, followed by Marias southward trajectory on Sept. 20, a Microsoft sales representative based in Puerto Rico approached the V.I. Bureau of Information Technology Director Angelo Riddick about potentially using Airband to get Internet to hard-to-reach sections of the territory.The move was part of a larger push by Microsoft involving both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to a blog post written by Shelley McKinley, the companys general manager for Technology and Responsibility. The company is partnered with NetHope, an international organization which serves as an incubator for Internet-based projects in the developing world.McKinley used the acronym TVWS to refer to the project.TVWS technology is helping people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands reconnect with people outside their immediate communities, McKinley wrote. In addition to Utuado, we have TVWS sites up and running in Humacao, Puerto Rico; and in the U.S. Virgin Islands in St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas. And, TVWS will soon be working in Barranquitas and San Lorenzo in Puerto Rico. Our hope is that TVWS broadband connections will hasten the recovery in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, making it a little less difficult for people in the region to communicate and to recover.The reality has been a little more pragmatic, Riddick said. The government has been able to use the technology to direct Internet to a V.I. Planning and Natural Resources office on St. Croix, and they have put up a station on Blue Mountain to potentially expand the service.We did prove the concept, so it does work, he said.The way the technology is used in the territory, the white-space based Internet is beamed to local routers, which in turn serve as hot spots for nearby users, Riddick said. Like any newly implemented technology, there are some challenges, Riddick said.The challenge to it is the bandwidth is really limited  typically 2 megs per, he said. Its really slow.The limit for an Internet connection to be considered broadband is 25 megabits per second, or roughly 12 times faster than the speeds the government has seen over the white space project.Microsofts project is not the only technological deployment the government is trying to work around hurricane damage, Riddick said. The issue is frequently the federal regulations governing communications, which can sometimes slow the speed of deployment for new technologies, as well as the logistics of getting new devices installed in the territories, Riddick said.I think they are, Riddick said, of technology companies viewing recovery as an opportunity to test new technologies. But the logistics pipeline and the political pipeline is probably slowing them down.For example, Riddick said he recently received an unanticipated phone call from the Ocean State.The state of Rhode Island called, and said We need to ship some satellite to you at no cost, he said.Rhode Island isnt sending satellites, but rather dishes used to receive satellite Internet, which can range in speed from 4 kilobits per second up to 16 megabits per second.We expect to be getting those within the next two weeks, he said.
With Google Fiber now available in Louisville, Ky. , city leaders expect multiple ultra-fast Internet options to start fueling economic development and help ongoing efforts to foster digital equity in struggling and underserved neighborhoods.

Google Fiber, which took its first signups in Louisville in October, has given the city a second provider to go along with AT&T Fiber . It took a long time to get to this point  Google first announced tentative plans to develop a fiber network in the city in 2015  but the benefits for the community have quickly become evident, said Grace Simrall, chief of civic innovation and technology with Louisville Metro Government.

Simrall pointed to Chattanooga, Tenn., as a model for what Louisville is now moving toward in terms of economic development driven by the availability of world-class Internet. Armed with a rapid and city-owned broadband network that consumers have ranked as the best in the country , Chattanooga has branded itself as Gig City, using its digital infrastructure to create an innovation district that has renewed its economy. Whereas Chattanoogas economy was once dependent on outmoded manufacturing businesses, it is now alive with an innovation economy driven by tech entrepreneurs, largely thanks to having a fiber-optic network available to all homes and businesses in its 600-square-mile territory.

While Louisville is still working to spread fiber all throughout its community  Google reports being available in three neighborhoods, while AT&T reports being available to 50,000 users  Simrall said the city has already fielded inquiries from companies interested in relocating there. Plus, the availability makes Louisville a more desirable place to live for tech-savvy residents working within the new economy, who can live in Kentucky and work seamlessly for companies across the globe. It is also expected to improve current tech work in the city.

Its a boost to our exploration around the smart home, Simrall said. CNET has its smart home facility headquartered here in Louisville, Ky. In order to really be able to test these technologies for consumers, they need significant bandwidth. Ultra-high-speed Internet can provide that for them.

To help bring Google Fiber to town, policymakers in Louisville did much work in advance, including passing a One Touch Make Ready rule that gives ISPs like Google faster access to utility poles it needs to create a fiber network. AT&T sued Nashville in U.S. District Court in 2016 to potentially slow Google Fiber deployment in that city. Louisvilles city leadership was vocal in supporting the ordinance for the dual purposes of making the city broadband ready and fostering competition among Internet service providers.

That competition speaks to the other major benefit of having multiple fiber providers now active in Louisville: digital equity. Digital equity, which means making sure that all citizens and neighborhoods have access to technology and the skills they need to use it, is an increasingly prevalent concern among city governments. This year marked the first National Digital Inclusion Week , during which Louisville launched its PNC Gigabit Experience Center . This facility is aimed at giving denizens of the traditionally impoverished Russell neighborhood access to high-speed Internet. Of the three neighborhoods Google Fiber has launched in, two are similar to Russell in terms of impoverishment.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer wrote a column in the citys newspaper detailing the history of Google Fiber in the city and why this was all so positive for the community, focusing in part on how more competition would lead to faster speeds and lower rates. He described how it felt to be at a launch event for the service in the citys Portland neighborhood.

Our ultimate goal is to create equity in access to technology and the Internet for all Louisvillians  and thats what I was envisioning on Wednesday at Neighborhood House in Portland, the mayor wrote.
(TNS) - Springdale, Pa., officials want to offer tax credits to volunteer firefighters, but how they would qualify for the program remains a question.Council recently held a public hearing on offering a credit, but didn't vote on enacting it after council President James Zurisko raised concerns about the criteria for it not being available.Councilman Mike Ziencik said that he, the fire chief and Borough Manager Kim McAfoose were going to settle on the criteria after council approved providing it.Ziencik, himself a volunteer firefighter, said he would be abstaining from any vote on a credit because he would benefit directly from it.He was frustrated by what he saw as a delay.But Zurisko questioned how council could move forward without the criteria. He said it should be established and put forth first.We need all that broken down, he said. I think everybody's all for it, don't get me wrong.Councilwoman Eileen Miller agreed.We have to know what we're getting into, she said.Act 172 of 2016 gives municipalities the option to offer a real estate or earned income tax credit to active members of volunteer fire companies and nonprofit emergency service agencies.Each municipality may choose to offer an earned income tax credit, a real estate tax credit, or both, according to the Pennsylvania Governor's Center for Local Government Services.Springdale's ordinance initially provided for both earned income and property tax credits.But after discussion with Zurisko, Ziencik said the borough would consider an earned income tax credit.The amount may be increased from $200 to $500.Firefighters would have to live in Springdale to be eligible for the earned income tax credit, Ziencik said.More volunteer firefighters would qualify for the earned income credit than property tax, Zienick said.While only about seven would benefit from a real estate tax credit, he said at least half of the 53 firefighters on the department's roster would qualify for the earned income tax credit.Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@tribweb.com or on Twitter @BCRittmeyer.2017 The Valley News-Dispatch (Tarentum, Pa.)Visit The Valley News-Dispatch (Tarentum, Pa.) at www.triblive.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
$2 million for Rushford Village/rural Rushford fiber build  AcenTek will install fiber-optic cable to improve broadband levels to a minimum of 1 gigabit per second download and 100 megabits per second upload. It will benefit an estimated 226 unserved households, 20 underserved businesses and two underserved community anchor institutions. Fillmore County is providing a $75,000 loan to the company for the project. Total eligible project cost is more than $5 million with more than a $3 million local match.

$606,108 for rural Kasson fiber build  KMTelecom will install fiber optic cable to provide high-speed Internet access to 149 unserved households and nine unserved businesses in Canisteo and Ashland townships, which are located south of Kasson in Dodge County. Internet speeds will be 1 gigabit per second download and 1 gigabit per second upload. Total eligible project cost is more than $1.5 million with a $948,016 local match.

$202,125 for Fountain broadband build  Mediacom will leverage its existing hybrid fiber and coaxial network in the city of Fountain in Fillmore County to provide high-speed Internet access to 161 unserved households and 20 unserved businesses. Internet speeds will be 25 megabits per second download and 3 megabits per second upload. Total eligible project cost is $421,094 with a $218,969 local match.

$768,600 for Wanamingo broadband improvements  Midcontinent Communications plans to extend high-speed Internet access to 597 unserved households, 76 unserved businesses and four community institutions in the city of Wanamingo in Goodhue County. Internet speed levels will be 1 gigabit per second upload and download. Total eligible project cost is $1.5 million with a $768,000 local match.

$411,704 White Rock rural fiber to the premises  New Ulm Telecom will provide high-speed Internet access to 22 unserved households and 88 unserved businesses in the White Rock area in the northern half of Goodhue County. Internet speeds will be 1 gigabit per second download and upload. Total eligible cost is $914,898 with a $503,194 local match.

Push for More Broadband Funding in 2018?

(TNS)  ST. PAUL  High-speed Internet access will soon be available to an additional 1,195 households and 260 businesses in southeast Minnesota thanks to grant funding.The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced this week that $26 million in grants had been awarded to 39 broadband projects statewide. Of that money, more than $4.3 million is being used for seven projects in southeast Minnesota.Approximately 20 percent of Minnesotans lack access to high-speed Internet access that meets the basic state standard of 25 megabits per second download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed. Lt. Gov. Tina Smith said the state needs to do more to expand broadband access in Greater Minnesota."It is a basic utility of the 21st century. Without it, you can't get your work done, you can't get your school work done, you don't have access to health care. It's not something that is nice to have. It's something that is really necessary to participate in the economy of the 21st century," Smith said.Among those celebrating the grant announcement was Fillmore County Coordinator Bobbie Vickerman. Two Fillmore County projects  one in Fountain and one in Rushford  made the cut."It is exciting  especially for the rural patrons to have that access," she said.Below is a list of local projects that received funding:One of the big questions looking ahead is whether lawmakers will invest more in the state's Border-to-Border fund during next year's legislative session. The Legislature approved $20 million for broadband funding this year. The Governor's Task Force on Broadband has recommended $100 million be invested over two years. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton called for a $66 million investment last session.Demand for the grants is outpacing funding. The state received a total of 70 applications seeking $50 million during the most recent grant cycle.Deputy Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, authored the jobs budget bill that included the $20 million for broadband funding. He said he is a strong supporter of the state's Border-to-Border broadband program. However, he said lawmakers first need to see the updated budget forecasts to see if there will be extra money available to invest in broadband. Those forecasts project whether the state will have a budget surplus or budget deficit in the coming year.Miller added, "It's important for folks in rural areas to have high-speed Internet access. Times are changing and Internet access is more important than ever. So think it's critically important that we are investing in getting folks that access."
(TNS)  Juan Marte helped bring Internet service to a developing nation a decade ago, then came to King George County  and discovered the situation was worse than in his homeland.He was working this summer with Steve and Michele Wido, missionaries he met years ago when they visited his native Dominican Republic. He was shocked by their lack of access to high-speed Internet service and the fiber-optic cables that supply it."This is crazy. How can you live?" Marte told Michele Wido. "We have to have fiber here; the future is fiber."The 33-year-old Dominican decided to bring it to the rural county, where he's invested in the couple's business, CRC Contracting Inc. He's also spent more than $200,000 on equipment, licenses and hiring employees for the new company, KGI Communications Inc.Marte and his wife live in Spotsylvania County so their three children can learn English in a private school. After that, the family plans to move to King George, where he's chief executive officer of the new company, as well as its primary investor. Michele Wido is the president.Steve Wido, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the King George Board of Supervisors earlier this month, told the supervisors Nov. 14 that the new business is poised to provide much-needed service in the most rural areas of the county.The company plans to install equipment on three towers in King George. The cost for each is about $36,000, Marte said.The rectangular boxes, which Marte described as stations, will broadcast a signal, via a radio frequency, to homes within a 360-degree radius, Marte said. No line of sight is needed.This "air fiber" will provide the fastest form of broadband technology, according to the company's website, kgicomm.com And the company doesn't want anything from the county except a contract to put equipment on one of its water towers."We're not looking for grants or money, nothing from the county," Steve Wido said. "It's our money that we're investing, and we want to make sure it succeeds."The announcement was one of four presentations the King George board heard on the same night about possible solutions to Internet access problems. The lack of reliable, affordable and fast broadband service has been a regular complaint of county residents and a campaign platform for local candidates.It's brought up almost as often as criticisms about the quality and cost of county water.The problem isn't limited to King George, but occurs in any area that doesn't have a dense enough population to make it financially feasible for companies to extend underground fiber optic cables.Marte said the solution is easier since the government made it possible for small businesses to tap into this radio frequency that provides access to the LTE network. Some of the big technology companies bought licenses just so others wouldn't have access to them, Marte said, but KGI Communications was able to acquire one.The company already has gotten permission to put its equipment on a private tower at State Route 218 and U.S. 301. The second tower, still under negotiation, is past the CVS Pharmacy on U.S. 301.After the company finalizes its second lease, it will work with King George about placing equipment on the water tower at Arnold's Corner, at State Route 3 and Dahlgren Road."We're going to concentrate on the area where they don't have anything, in The Meadows and for the Shiloh people," Marte said.Installation and monthly fees would vary, based on the proximity to the towers and the desired speed. Those who want to check their email occasionally might want slower speeds, at a monthly cost of about $49, Marte said, while those requiring faster speeds might pay up to $200 a month.Steve Wido told the supervisors that after negotiations are completed, the company could be up and running within two weeks."We're excited about it, we can't wait," he said.Marte seems calm about the money he's already spent, saying he'll need about 1,000 customers to get a return on his investment."He's a risk-taker," Michele Wido said about Marte, a former race car driver."In business," Marte added, "if you don't assume risk, you're never gonna make money."
(TNS)  If Uber had been using the product of a Columbus company, the ride-service company might have been able to catch and address its culture of sexual harassment before its image took a hit.That's the assessment of Wiretap CEO and co-founder Jeff Schumann.The young company can help businesses monitor workers' use of company social networks  such as Workplace by Facebook, Chatter by Salesforce, Slack and Microsoft Yammer  and alert management about everything from security breaches to rumors and inappropriate behavior.Wiretap is able to do what it does because many businesses are putting their work processes and information "in the cloud"  that is, using on-demand computing resources over the internet."There's a megatrend in business, that movement to cloud computing," Schumann said."Companies like Microsoft have bet the farm  billions and billions of dollars  on that move to the cloud," said Wiretap Chief Operating Officer Greg Moran. "And we're taking advantage of that."Wiretap started when Schumann and co-founders Matt Huber, Shawn Domer and James Tsai  all of whom have backgrounds in technology and software engineering  began meeting at Stauf's Coffee Roasters to discuss issues at the office."We suddenly realized everyone has the same issues," Schumann said.Employees were working collaboratively online and wanted ways to communicate and collaborate around the clock.They also realized that human-resource managers and internet administrators needed a way to keep track of what is being said  both good and bad.Working quickly, the four created Wiretap and soon began attracting investors who found merit in the fledgling company's approach to a widespread problem. Among the investors is Rev1 Ventures, the Columbus-based venture-capital and business-incubator organization."We think Wiretap has a unique approach to securing and drawing valuable insights from enterprise-collaboration tools like Microsoft Yammer and Facebook at Work," said Tom Walker, president and CEO of Rev1 Ventures.Wiretap software, which can be installed on-site or in the cloud, continuously analyzes all conversations and file content that moves across a company's in-house social network. The automated review and analysis can flag actual  or even emerging  patterns of malicious or harassing behavior. This enables the company to act quickly and prevent patterns of improper behavior, such as those that occurred at Uber.Although the highest-profile aspect of Wiretap is focused on security, the system also gives its corporate customers insights into the growth of informal teams and provides data to help build a stronger and more productive corporate culture.That's one of the positive aspects of Wiretap that the company offers when employees raise questions about privacy."One of the keys is, we don't sneak up on people," Moran said. "We tell them 'This is security to protect you,' to be transparent. Also, if we can use our data to tell them that the last few people who were promoted out of this position had these three characteristics, that gives you a model for your career path."Wiretap quietly launched in January 2015 and had four employees a few months later. Sales surpassed $1 million at the same time. The company recently passed the 25-employee mark and, with nine large customers signed up and more on the way, plans to quickly double its employee count next year. It's headquartered in the Brewery District.Pricing is based on the client's number of employees and the number of years the client wants to license the software. Most customers have two- or three-year agreements. Pricing starts around $1 to $2 per user per month, but larger companies may negotiate different pricing.Bigger-name clients include multinational insurance corporation AIG; biopharmaceutical company Shire; pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline; consumer-products maker SC Johnson, and information-technology services corporation Wipro.More than 1,000 other companies, including Disney, Ikea and Louis Vuitton, use Wiretap's free product.As part of the large and fast-growing cybersecurity segment of enterprise software, "there is a lot of noise in the space, which Wiretap will need to cut through to achieve its potential," said Rev1 Ventures' Walker. "As part of our decision to invest, we concluded that Wiretap had the right team and product, and was going after an attractive market segment. We're optimistic on the future of Wiretap."So are Moran and Schumann, both of whom passed up lucrative opportunities to lead Wiretap.Moran, 52, a veteran executive in digital operations for companies such as Nationwide and Ford Motor Co., passed on two job offers "to work with a team that shares values that I admired, to do something worth doing, and to have the opportunity to learn."Schumann, 32, has become something of a local legend for turning down an offer from Mark Zuckerberg to lead the launch of Workplace by Facebook in order to start Wiretap."I said, 'Run, not walk, to Facebook,'" said Moran, chuckling."Everyone (said so), but I didn't go," Schumann said. "It's the unicorns of the world that define entire industries. We think we've found a completely different thing to do."
Jean Todt has dismissed rumours the controversial Halo concept will be scrapped ahead of the 2018 season.

In a garage test in Abu Dhabi, Valtteri Bottas failed to get out of a Halo-equipped Mercedes within the prescribed 7 seconds.

Amid existing concerns about the aesthetics of the cockpit protection solution, and the fact the extra weight will make next year's cars slower, it all triggered rumours Halo could be scrapped at the eleventh hour.

"There is no way back," FIA president Todt is quoted by Speed Week.

"The Halo is coming and it is staying. Why? Because it offers incredible value for safety.

"I am fascinated by what has been written about it," said the Frenchman, addressing the criticism. "The Halo is simply part of the natural continuity of formula one.

"Of course it does not have to be the final word either. If we find a better solution then we will introduce it," Todt added.

(GMM)
Jean Todt says the FIA cannot be swayed by Ferrari's threats about quitting formula one.

Amid Liberty Media's plans for new engine rules and a budget cap for the future, the Italian team is warning that it may not sign up for 2021 and beyond.

"That's their choice," said FIA president Todt, who led Ferrari through the ultra-successful Michael Schumacher era.

"We do not want any manufacturers to leave the sport.

"Ferrari is an icon and it is unique, and it would be very painful if they were not in formula one anymore. But that's not my responsibility," the Frenchman is quoted by Speed Week.

Todt said the decision to sell F1's commercial rights to Liberty a year ago was "right".

"Chase Carey is a great CEO and I recognise a structured organisation with real professionals like Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches. The sport is in good hands," he added.

(GMM)
Top F1 drivers have reacted coolly to the unveiling of the sport's new logo.

Although the full F1 rebranding won't be launched until the start of next season, the world got a peek at the new logo on the podium of the 2017 finale in Abu Dhabi.

"We wanted to present it now in order to help our partners look into how they will use it," F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

But Sebastian Vettel, referring to the iconic 'flying 1' logo that was introduced in the Bernie Ecclestone era in 1993, said: "I liked the old one better."

Liberty Media's new F1 trademark is a stylised F and 1, similar to the red Espn logo.

"It feels like the new owners want to prove themselves by abandoning what was done before," Igor Yermilin, a Russian motor racing official, told Sportbox.

"But the new logo is incomprehensible, uninteresting, cheap and primitive," he argued.

Abu Dhabi winner Valtteri Bottas added: "What was wrong with the old one?"

And world champion Lewis Hamilton said: "I think the one we had already was iconic. Just imagine Ferrari or Mercedes changing their logos."

F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches explains: "Many people never realised that there was an invisible 1 between the F and the 1 in the old logo. The new logo is clearer.

"It was also difficult to embroider the impression of speed in the old logo on shirts, etc.

"In the digital era, big brands like Starbucks and Coca-Cola have simplified their logos for clarity, and that's the case for us as well."

As for the criticism, Bratches said: "Every time a brand is changed, and especially a brand that arouses so much passion, you have to expect these reactions.

"It's normal that people do not like change, but I think that's good because it shows that people care about the brand," he added.

FIA president Jean Todt said the sport's governing body approves of the new logo.

"It's up to the rights holders to introduce a new logo if they want to," he said in Abu Dhabi.

"People should be positive about change. The people at Liberty are very talented and have proven their qualities in other sports. I trust their judgement."

(GMM)
On behalf of the Australian Government, ARENAs funding will go towards the completion of the pilot demonstration plant which will produce ethanol from a range of non-food waste plant matter left over from crop harvesting and forestry.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is awarding $11.9 million (US$9 million) in funding for Australian biofuel company Ethanol Technologies Limited ( Ethtec ) to complete the development and demonstration of its advanced biofuel technology. As part of a $48-million (US$36.5 million) project, Ethtec aims to construct a $30-million (US$23-million) purpose-built pilot-scale facility based in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.

Ethtec has developed an innovative and cost-effective approach to production of bioethanol from a range of waste or low-value lignocellulosic biomass including sugarcane bagasse, forestry residues and cotton gin trash.

In our pilot plant we convert lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks to sugars in solution, which are then fermented to ethanol and other biorenewable products. This pre-commercial facility can process around two dry tonnes of feedstock per day and is used to generate the engineering data required to construct commercial scale plants.

The pilot plant project is about developing the engineering data for the process, to ensure that it is commercially viable. We know you can take lignocellulosic waste streams, convert them to sugars and then convert those sugars into biofuels or green chemicals, but its got to be commercially competitive with products derived from crude oil. Andrew Reeves, Ethtecs senior research engineer

Dr. Tony Banks, Ethtecs senior research chemist, said that the Ethtec technology can be implemented across multiple sectors because it can process any lignocellulosic feedstock, including mixed feedstocks. For this industry to be commercially viable, the technology must be able to deal with real world feedstocks.

Demand for ethanol in Australia is expected to increase by approximately 500 million liters each year over the period to 2030, with mandates in Queensland and New South Wales. All of Australias ethanol is currently first-generation, sourced from wheat and sugarcane, while second-generation ethanol is derived from inedible plant waste.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the next phases of the project were important in making advanced biofuels a viable option to support emission reduction for the transport sector.

Ethtecs Chief Scientist Dr Russell Reeves said ARENAs support was pivotal to the project, which has also secured $11.9 million in matching funding from industry partner Jiangsu Jintongling Fluid Machinery Technology Company Limited.

The facility will partner with researchers from the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources at the University of Newcastle and is also receiving support from Muswellbrook Shire Council.
Several advocacy groups have scheduled an empty chair town hall meeting Thursday in Greensboro to criticize efforts now under way to change the way that judges in North Carolina are placed in office.

A gathering at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanuel, 1129 Jefferson Road, takes aim at moves currently afoot in the Republican-led General Assembly to rig the system in their favor, activist group Progress NC stated Monday in a news release.

All state lawmakers representing Guilford County were invited to attend regardless of party affiliation and will be given an equal opportunity to discuss their support for or opposition to these attacks on the courts, Progress NC stated.

An empty chair will be placed on stage for each local legislator who does not attend or sign a pledge to oppose partisan attacks on the judicial system, Progress NC spokesman Logan Smith said.

The group highlighted four bills in various stages of approval in Raleigh that it described as partisan attacks on North Carolinas court system.

Leading GOP legislators instead characterize their efforts as reform measures aimed at improving the efficiency and responsiveness of a system that has not been updated for decades.

But critics allege efforts that require judges to list their political party affiliations and that create new election districts statewide are intended to weaken judicial independence.

Progress NC notes that under one measure currently being considered nearly half of all black judges would be packed into a district with another incumbent, forcing them to run against each other or step down.

Other groups involved in the event include NC Voters for Clean Elections, Democracy North Carolina, the North Carolina NAACP and the League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad.
So I guess you can take men off the endangered species list.

It wasnt that long ago we were hearing that men were in trouble. It was said that our manly maleness was under siege from a culture of runaway political correctness hellbent on snipping off our masculine accoutrements and turning us into sissified wimps who ate kale, clipped coupons and talked about our feelings. Fox News sounded the alarm about what it dubbed the feminization of the American man.

From commentator Todd Starnes warning about colleges turning men into women, to anchor Brit Hume explaining that people only think Chris Christie is a bully because theyve been feminized, to morning show co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck asking if all those unmanly men might pose a threat to national security, Fox was on this story like hyenas on a gazelle. Beyond Fox, people were writing books with titles like The War Against Boys and Save the Males.

The recent spate of sexual harassment and assault headlines suggests, not shockingly, that this concern was a tad overblown. Since last month, when film producer Harvey Weinstein was revealed as a porcine abuser of women, weve seen dozens of men unmasked as alleged predators against hundreds, maybe thousands, of victims, their reported crimes ranging from sexual harassment to sexual assault to child molestation, and stretching back for decades.

Its a dishonor roll that includes the gay (Kevin Spacey), the straight (Ben Affleck), the reporter (Glenn Thrush), the comic (Louis C.K.), the hypocrite (Roy Moore), the guy you never would have expected (Al Franken) and the guy you really never would have expected (George H.W. Bush). This column is too short for a complete list and, besides, itd probably be easier at this point to name the men who have not been accused.

Suffice it to say, it seems obvious the problem with men isnt that theyve become feminine. Rather, the problem is what it has always been: that, as men, we too often define manhood by the use of our (usually) superior strength and/or position to take what we want. Which makes this an opportune moment to reconsider manhood, to ask anew what being a man means and should mean.

With that in mind, a brief story. A few years ago, I chanced to call one of my sons on the phone. He was huffing and grunting, obviously doing something that required great exertion. It turned out he was walking through a blizzard in knee-high snow on a day when every store was closed, trying to find diapers for his daughter.

Ive never been more proud of any of my kids than I was of him right then. It was, I felt, a moment that deftly illustrated a truth about manhood that has gotten lost along the way. Namely, that our (usually) superior strength and position are not an end unto themselves. Nor are they a license to prey on those who are less strong or in subordinate positions.

Rather, they are a gift that allows a man more ways to be of service to those around him. By itself it means little that you are bigger or more exalted. The measure of a man is what you do with those things.

It speaks to their massive failures of imagination and character that so many men apparently think of nothing better to do with them than cop a feel. Our boys, and girls, deserve better examples. They deserve to be taught that genuine manhood, authentic manhood, requires no apologies or excuses 20 or 30 years down the line.

You see, Fox News has it exactly wrong. Men are not an endangered species.

Real men are another matter.
EDEN  Washington Street is dressed to the nines now, thanks to the opening of Ciotoli Formal Wear.

Kristin Ciotoli had worked in a Danville, Virginia formalwear store for nearly a decade.

She started attending church in Eden about four years ago, and those friendships prompted her to consider moving across the state line and settling in the hometown of her place of worship. The first person to walk through her Virginia house bought it for full asking price. She and her family packed up and were out within eight weeks.

I was ready for a change. I really, really love Eden. Its peaceful and quiet, everybodys nice, its just a better environment [than Danville], she said. When we moved, I knew Judith [Warren] had passed, and there was a need [for a formalwear retailer]. I thought, I know how to do this, why not go for it?

She opened Ciotoli Formal Wear in downtown Reidsville in October 2016.

It was a great opening, it was a great place to start, but we were running out of space fast, Ciotoli said. I wanted to expand the bridals and I was having to smush everything in there.

She discovered Elaines Antiques had vacated from downtown Leaksville, leaving a space five times as big as Ciotolis Scales Street store.

The community and local business owners flooded us with warm welcomes, she said. We have loved it.

The building was spiffed up. The owner even built dressing rooms large enough for brides-to-be to try on full-skirted wedding gowns, or friends to pile in to try on prom dresses together. She opened in August.

If its formalwear, we do it all, Ciotoli said. And her merchandise is pretty inclusive: prom dresses, bridal gowns and veils, mother-of-the-bride dresses, tuxedo rentals, flower girl and ring bearer outfits, jewelry, and shoes.

Some people want name brands, but some want the look without the price, she said. If you see a dress in a magazine, a lot of times we can get that dress, or we can come as close as we can.

Formal dresses take a week to come in, while bridal gowns take a bit longer.

We also price match, or maybe make it [a better price] if we can, Ciotoli said, adding that she offers free layaway. In January, she will add a consignment area, and from January through May, she gives away a monthly $100 gift card.

Whether a dress is found on a rack in the store or is special-ordered, when clients try on a favorite, Ciotoli knows what alterations should be made for the perfect fit.

Ill walk across the street with her and introduce her to Linda Moore [at Make it Fit Moore alterations shop], she said. I sent people there when I was in Reidsville. I also have some backup [seamstresses], and a personal designer who can customize a dress or totally design one.

Ciotoli keeps up with current styles through magazines and emails from numerous formalwear companies, as dress trends hop back and forth over time, she said. She gets her new style books in January and February.

Three or four years ago, everyone wanted strapless, but now they want a thicker sleeve. Two or three years ago, they liked them short, now theyre long. Last year two-piece dresses were popular, and half the girls went to prom in them, Ciotoli said.

We also register our dresses so we wont let two girls go to the same prom in the same dress. We will only allow one style per event, so that girl will feel special in her dress, she said. Our dresses won Morehead homecoming queen and princess this year and prom queen last year in Reidsville. So our dresses are getting some recognition on those beautiful girls.

Ciotoli Formal Wear is located at 647A Washington St., Eden. Hours are 1-6 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, 2-6 p.m. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, and other days by appointment  which is popular during prom season. She is also willing to jump in her car and deliver a dress to a client. For more information, call 336-589-7314 or find the shop on Facebook.
Theres a myth among business leaders that mobile technology will cause productivity to skyrocket. Its the big driver behind the trend of todays mobile workplaces. More than half of enterprises believe mobile apps will boost productivity by 40 percent or more. Eight in 10 global workers say mobile technology makes them more productive. Its no surprise then that more than 90 percent of organizations have a mobile work strategy in place or plan on implementing one.

So now that nine in 10 corporate employees are using at least one mobile app at work, productivity should be soaring, right? Not exactly.

U.S. labor productivity increased just 0.3 percent a year between 2011 and 2016, and it hasnt grown more than 2 percent in any given year since the tech boom. Mobile is on its way to becoming ubiquitous, yet many enterprises are still struggling to see the productivity gains they were promised. So, whats the problem?

Related: 8 Ways to Work Smarter and Improve Productivity

For all the enthusiasm surrounding this new model for efficiency, our fast leap to mobile has come at an ironic cost -- it has produced a new kind of productivity gap, says entrepreneur and mobile expert Javier Soltero. The productivity gap is the chasm between all the information we can access on our phones, and the limits on using that information in an effective way.

Mobility by itself doesnt improve productivity. What it does is create infinite opportunities for employees to work more productively. But its up to enterprises to leverage the technology to actually help people get more work done -- whatever that looks like for each organization.

The challenge: Mobility focuses too heavily on technology.

The massive move toward mobile is a major transition for enterprises, but many organizations dont go far enough. They try to fit mobile into their existing way of doing things. They implement the technology without considering the context and changing the culture (and workflows) around it.

The end result: Devices and apps that throw more work at employees without actually helping them complete it.

Part of the problem is that enterprises are still stuck in a desktop computer mindset, expecting mobile work to look and feel the same as it does in the office. But the mobile interface and the optimal way to use it have very little in common with the desktop interface and its uses, Soltero says. The faster we accept this reality, the more quickly we can begin to evolve a new understanding of how to use our mobile working hours more efficiently and effectively.

Mobile devices and apps are just one part -- albeit an important one -- of the overall shift that needs to happen. To close the productivity gap, enterprises must focus on all aspects of work, not just mobile, and start removing the obstacles getting in the way. And that demands a cross-disciplinary, omnichannel approach led by someone with a clear vision for what a productive digital workplace should look like.

The ultimate goal, says the Harvard Business Review, is an organization in which all knowledge workers have full context, tools, and support to focus their time on the biggest value drivers of the business without being bogged down by overhead and bureaucracy.

More than 80 percent of digitally mature companies get there by employing an actionable digital strategy that draws upon numerous technology solutions -- one of which is mobile -- to solve the challenges that are getting in their employees way.

Related: 6 Ways to Make Your Business More Efficient

The reality: Productivity is being held back by legacy processes and practices.

Think about the last time you got an email on your mobile device requesting a document. Chances are, you werent able to easily send it from your device. Or consider the last time someone texted you about a meeting. How many clicks and scrolls did it take to check your availability?

Even after making the transition to mobile, many enterprises are continuing to grapple with the same barriers to productivity they had before, such as:

Inaccessible data . Two in five enterprises say their datas too siloed to be accessible, let alone useful.

Information overload . Seventy-four percent of employees struggle with the amount of data they have access to and would prefer access to only the data that is personalized to them.

Clunky software interfaces . More than 40 percent of employees say it takes too long to accomplish basic work tasks.

Complex workflows . Sixty-two percent of employees delay completing tasks that require the use of multiple systems.

Poor communication . More than 85 percent of employees and execs say ineffective communication is a top reason for workplace failures.

Work overload . Employees who dont feel like there are enough hours in the day to get all their work done suffer an 68 percent productivity loss.

Stress. Nearly 60 percent of stressed-out employees report feeling less productive and disengaged.

On its own, mobility doesnt solve any of these problems -- and it may even exacerbate some. A mobile device may allow employees to receive texts and emails and access certain systems wherever they are, but reading texts and emails and completing complex workflows on a mobile device doesnt equal productivity. Unless people have a seamless way to access their business systems and get real work done in the systems they are already using, its just extending the workday and contributing to feelings of stress and work overload.

And this is the disconnect between what mobility can do and what enterprises are asking it to do. To truly improve productivity, employees need a new and better way to get work done wherever they are. They need relevant information sent to them before they are forced to log into hard-to-use systems; they need complex workflows to be broken down into simple tasks that can be completed in just a few clicks; they need information that matters to them to be accessible based on their context (role, location, etc.) in real time; and they need this all to be available to them where they are, regardless if that is on their devices, their intranet, or in the other applications they are using.

Related: Harness Technology to Become a Mobile Mogul

To harness productivity as a differentiator for an organization, business leaders need to start rethinking how information can be distributed and tasks can be completed in a manner that will make employees more effective. Questions to start with: Where are the biggest pain points hampering employee effectiveness? How could employees solve these challenges by working differently? How can their mobile devices, as well as their laptops and desktops, and the applications they use help make that happen?

Answer those questions and focus on building a culture that empowers your employees to make a difference. Do that, and the productivity gains will follow.

Related:



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


A cook, and a shopper, reflected in the windows of Chefs Table at Brooklyn Fare. Photo: Mark Abramson for New York Magazine

There are many reasons for a world-weary critic to put off visiting the new Manhattan version of the seminal Brooklyn tasting room, Chefs Table at Brooklyn Fare, for as long as possible. Theres the extravagant price ($390 includes service, but not drinks, the friendly voice on the end of telephone said), and the usual jockeying for a reservation. There is the fact that, like the original (now-shuttered) location, this restaurant is attached to a Brooklyn Fare grocery store, this time on West 37th Street in Manhattan, a borough that is already lousy with overpriced luxury meals; hushed, chef-centric tasting counters; and solemn, big-bucks omakase opportunities. There is also chef Cesar Ramirezs formidable reputation for imperious behavior (photos were strictly forbidden in the old room), and the antiquated jackets-required dress code, which meant that when I finally did arrive at the restaurants discreet entrance, next to a display of the stores pastas and extra-virgin olive oil, I was presented with a dusty, black loaner coat that happened to be a couple sizes too small.

But many of these worries and frustrations began to dissipate as soon as I took my place at the 18-seat counter, which is far larger and more commodious than the one in Brooklyn, and surrounds the much larger, busier kitchen, like seats around a stage. The show began with a tart of Japanese mackerel, crisp kelp, and shiso blooms; a puree of Japanese eggplant, cucumber, and dashi gelee spooned with farmed Kaluga caviar from Shanghai; and little rounds of toasted brioche layered with ribbons of sea urchin from Hokkaido, topped with a thin wafer of heart-shaped black truffle. These polished little bites were followed by a carefully orchestrated symphony of fish and shellfish that began with subtle, perfectly soft pieces of perch and baby red snapper (dressed with different formulations of daikon, Brussels-sprout leaves and green, peppery kinome leaf), and reached its impressive crescendo with a serving of rosy, barely cooked lobster; and dishes of seared bay scallops, finished by the chef himself, with drifts of white truffles.

Other highlights from this impressive procession of dishes included a segment of Pacific black cod set in a bubbling, coral-colored pool of bouillabaisse that tasted like it had been flown in from one of the grander fish houses of Marseille. The steak portion of my meal was insanely tender A5-graded beef from the millionaire cattle farms of Japans Miyazaki Prefecture. Dainty little pieces of quail originated in southwestern France, according to my loquacious server, and when she politely instructed me to eat the sticky, sour, sweet morsels of bird  flavored with dijonnaise and pomegranate reduction  with my fingers, I gobbled them without even noticing the awkward tightness in the sleeves of my borrowed coat.

The Manhattan dining room is far more luxurious than the previous space in Downtown Brooklyn. Photo: Mark Abramson for New York Magazine

Ramirez has always had a fondness for these kinds of Michelin-approved luxury signifiers, but the food here seemed to have more depth and polish to it than back in Brooklyn, and the caviar and truffles are integrated into his particular Japanese-influenced, Continental brand of cooking in a more seamless way than before. The ingredients werent the only things that had arrived in New York from various far-flung locations around the world: This decidedly non-locavore version of Chefs Table appears to be deliberately designed as an international destination  like many of New Yorks other big-money, multi-starred restaurants these days  and, on the night I dined there, the room was filled with diners who looked to be visiting from, say, Tokyo, and maybe Greenwich, Connecticut.

Just as it was at the old location, the kitchen is the central stage here, and for a grumbling critic who spends far too many evenings sampling upscale comfort food in cramped, noisy little dining rooms, its part of the fun to watch a top-flight chef and his attentive staff saute, grill, and serve one highly technical course after another with balletlike grace and efficiency. Is this elaborate show worth the reservations hassle, the extreme prices (when my bill arrived, it was suspiciously small, so we paid for drinks and dutifully left a very large tip), and the possible indignity of arriving at the back of some random Hells Kitchen grocery store only to be presented with an ill-fitting loaner jacket? Thats the weighty question I pondered during dessert, which was an efficient, classically Japanese combination of tart, palate-cleansing lightness (yuzu sorbet), inventiveness (soba-cha ice cream sprinkled with toasted buckwheat and a warm, soy-spiked caramel sauce), and style (a decorative, gourmet custard flan, touched with tonka beans). As a vocal advocate of less-pretentious tasting rooms and simpler, less-pricey omakases, it pains me to admit that, if you avoid the inevitable barrage of trophy wines and limit yourself to one visit, say, every year or so, the answer to the question may very well be yes.
Its spinach salads from now on. Photo: Sally Anscombe/Getty Images

Lifes about to get tougher for London teens who want to sneak off campus and grab a Burger King Long Chili Cheese. The Evening Standard reports that in an effort to tackle the capitals child obesity epidemic, Mayor Sadiq Khan has decided to put the kibosh on new fast-food restaurants opening within 400 meters of city schools. Any takeaways, as theyre called over there, that want to enter this no-burgers-land will have to pledge ahead of time to serve food that meets certain health standards. (Good luck with that, guys.)

The policy  more sweeping and kid-targeted than L.A.s, which only bars chains from opening in one neighborhood, South L.A.  is part of Khans changes to the London Plan, which are set to be released later this week. The ban should help London stop the ticking time bomb of childhood obesity, he says in the announcement. Almost 40 percent of kids in the city are overweight by the time they finish primary school, the worst rate anywhere in the U.K.

The move wont affect fast-food chains already in operation next door to schools. Which, it turns out, is not a small number: Experts have argued for some time that the number of fast-food restaurants kids pass on their way to class is alarming (there are supposedly 15,000 within a five-minute walk, some 5,000 of which opened in the last decade), even if this so-called plague has also become distinctly Londony.

Takeaway restaurants are a vibrant part of London life, Khan says in defense of his ban, but its important that they are not encouraging our children to make poor food choices.
Sichuan Spicy Beef Tallow Broth and Rich Pork Bone Broth with goji, jujube, ginger, and green onion. Photo: Liz Clayman

In New York, hot-pot restaurants dot New Yorks Chinatowns from Flushing to Sunset Park  but they tend to be all-you-can-eat or budget-minded. This is good for the wallet, but it can also mean underwhelming broths and less-than-ideal restaurant experiences. In China, on the other hand, hot pot is big business. Its the countrys most popular way to eat out, according to one report, and there are options for a range of budgets. (One chain, Haidilao, even offers massages and manicures for waiting customers.) For Yu Li, one of the owners behind East Village noodle shop the Tang, New Yorks hot-pot scene was missing a more genuine taste of Chengdu, which is why Li decided to open his own place, Tang Hotpot  which soft-opens tonight on the Bowery  where hell offer a more upscale (but not too pricey) take on the idea.

The flavor and ingredients over [in Chengdu] have never been seen in New York, Li explains, before throwing down the gauntlet. I dont see any good, authentic hot pot in New York right now. To help upgrade his ingredients and broth, Li has hired chef Yan Zhang, who previously worked at the 150-year-old Beijing roast-duck chain Quanjude Duck and Canadian hot-pot chain Morals Village. Hes created five different soups to choose from, including pumpkin seafood made with clams and crab meat that will debut in a few weeks. But the version Li is most excited about is the Sichuan Spicy Broth, made with a heavy dose of beef tallow. (When you mix it with the spice and really cook it, that flavor is really there  and its going to taste more flavorful and spicier after boiling for 20 minutes.) They wont skimp on spices or herbs, and Li says youll be able to taste the difference, especially with the more absorbent ingredients like tofu.

There will be dipping sauces like housemade sesame paste and shacha sauce, and four different combo platters to choose from. Meats will include lamb shoulder roll, goat leg, wagyu strip loin, and plenty of offal (chicken gizzard and pork brain are both accounted for). Lots of fish will be up for grabs, too, including tiger prawns and lobster, as well as the usual assortment of vegetables (celtuce, watercress) and starches (sweet pumpkin rice cakes, tofu skin).

To cool down after dipping meats into bubbling broth, theyll serve scoops from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and matcha-and-black-sesame shaved snow. And in a few weeks, there will be a small selection of appetizers, like shredded bamboo shoots in chili oil and five-spice braised beef.

Like his other restaurant, Li describes Tang Hotpot as a mix of modern Chinese with high-end New York restaurants. The space was designed by the same firm that built out Hao Noodle and Tea, and its dimly lit with white brick walls, marble tables, and contemporary Chinese art, including one painting depicting a group of women enjoying a hot-pot meal. Hot pot is as much a meal as it is a night out, and there will be beer, wine, and maybe sake cocktails about a month down the road. But dont expect it to be stuffy.

We do try to not be too formal, Li says. Hot pot is a social gathering, for people to go with family and friends.

Platters include the Tang Deluxe with prime rib eye, goat leg, sea bass, quail egg, rice cakes, and much more. Photo: Liz Clayman

Get some shrimp. Photo: Liz Clayman

Get shaved snow for dessert. Photo: Liz Clayman

Photo: Liz Clayman

Tang Hotpot, 135 Bowery, nr. Grand St.; 917-421-9330
Nobody sets out to be a bad boss but long hours and a heavy work load can cause many people to behave in ways they always swore they wouldnt.



However, the change from optimistic up-and-comer to cynical supervisor is often a gradual one and its not always easy to spot your mistakes.



Now, recruitment giant Robert Half has provided a guide to help managers check theyre not going down the wrong path. According to the firm, there are nine common traits to look out for:



You are unable to communicate



There are many occasions that need good communication skills: giving instructions, sharing praise, announcing deadlines or providing positive and negative feedback. Good bosses are comfortable addressing people on a one-on-one basis and as a group.



And because communication is a two-way street, employees also have to feel they can talk to you.



You keep secrets



Sure, there are many things in the business that are not for public consumption. But if you are particularly opaque, your team will have a hard time trusting you.



Wherever possible, keep your staff informed as to what is going on in the company, both within your team and the organisation. Employees will appreciate your openness and it reduces the likelihood of rumours spreading, said Megan Alexander, GM of Robert Half New Zealand



You make inconsistent decisions



If you respond in a different way to the same situation, your staff will find it difficult to take comfort in your judgment or take you seriously.



Alexander advises that if you have to make decisions that are out of the usual, you must explain to your team why you did so.



You take all the credit and none of the blame



A team is a team. Nobody likes a boss who reaps all the credit when things go well, and blames others when they go awry.



Make sure you give credit where credit is due and keep people motivated when things dont work out as planned.



You micro-manage everything



Imagine a boss watching employees like a hawk all day, every day, scrutinising their every move and giving instructions at every turn.



To get the best out of your employees, you need to give them autonomy in the workplace, especially if youre the kind of leader who believes in fostering their career development, said Alexander.



If you're not confident in their ability to do the job to the required standard, then delegate the work to another team member, or invest in training.



You make unreasonable demands



Examples of such demands are expecting employees to come into the office early, stay late, work through their lunch hour, or cancel their annual leave at short notice.



All these will sour relations and make the workplace less conducive for productivity.



As a boss, you should avoid asking your employees to do anything you wouldnt be prepared to do yourself, Alexander said.



You pick favourites



A bad boss treats team members differently. This undermines ones authority, Alexander said, because a managers job is to treat all employees equally.



You shout to get heard



There are days in which things will not go as planned. Bad bosses lose it bad. Even in the worst of times, a leader is not supposed to snap at employees or storm out of the room or shout just to make everybody know whos boss.



Its important to be able to control your emotions, whilst expressing your views in a clear, controlled, effective and professional manner, Alexander said.



A bad boss can have an immediate impact on a company through lower productivity, poor morale and higher staff turnover, she continued.



Poor leadership can have direct consequences for the wider business through missed objectives and increased costs, which can significantly decrease company revenue.





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Revealed: Most important attributes employees need for the future
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tralia supports a discrimination-free workplace for all of its citizens within their places of employment. There are two agencies tasked with the creation and compliance of the laws that govern fair and discrimination-free workplaces.These agencies and laws govern not only a discrimination-free work place, but fairness in hiring policies, anti-harassment and bullying policies.The first of these agencies is the Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales Australia . This Board is in place to promote and facilitate policies of fairness for all employees.The Board is under the jurisdiction of the New South Wales Department of Justice and handles complaints against employers for discrimination and unfair work conditions. The Anti-Discrimination Board implements the laws as set out in the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1977 The second of these agencies is the Australian Human Rights Commission . The Commission investigates complaints of violations against human rights in the workplace and elsewhere. Some of the key areas of complaints include issues pertaining to harassment or bullying with regard to;The Commission assists with complaints that involve employment, but also education, commerce and other administrative issues. In addition, the Fair Work Ombudsman Act also address the legalities of employment discrimination. The categories which cannot be discriminated against in workplace setting include;Discrimination can occur as a result of a myriad of employer actions. Some of the more common forms of discrimination in the workplace include refusing to hire someone due to their age, race, or for being pregnant. In addition, employers can make the mistake of firing an employee for expressing a political opinion, practicing their religion or for their sexual orientation.Lastly, if an employer refuses to promote an employee due to their marital status, or the appearance of a disability, a complaint can be brought against the employer.A person who believes they have been discriminated against in the course of their employment, or during the hiring process or firing process, can make a complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales.The Board can investigate the complaint as long as it has occurred within the last 12 months. The complaint must be in writing and sent to the Board for review. Thereafter the Board will contact the person for further details regarding the incident. They will also contact the employer involved and request to speak with them about the incident. The Board also has the option of setting up a conciliatory meeting between the parties to discuss the complaint and attempt to resolve it.If the complaint is filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission, the process is very similar. They, too, offer a form of conciliation to promote discussion and resolution for all parties involved. To prepare for a conciliation meeting be sure to have your facts straight and be able to express them to the conciliator in a calm and articulate manner.After speaking with the complainant privately, the conciliator will also speak with the respondent, privately. Subsequently, the conciliator may decide to bring the parties together to speak and resolve the issue(s). Conciliation is meant to be a confidential and highly successful process for resolving discrimination and human rights issues amongst the parties. If the conciliation is unsuccessful, the parties may elect to take the issue to the proper Federal court.One of the many ways in which an employer can thwart the accusation of workplace discrimination is to be sure to hire a diverse workforce.Diverse meaning that the employees are of various ages, male and female, married and single, parents and non-parents, those with disabilities and those who are able bodied. A workplace of diverse backgrounds, ages, and races, shows that an employer is serious about being an equal opportunity employer.In addition, it is important that employers are careful not to fire any employee except for instances of well documented poor work performance, excessive absenteeism, or other documented work related incidents that are against company policy or relate to work performance only.An employer who fires an employee for any reason pertaining to any of the prohibited categories can find themselves in violation of the laws against discrimination.Rolf is Managing Partner of Owen Hodge Lawyers. He has been in the legal practice since 1986 and a partner of Owen Hodge Lawyers since 1992. Rolf focuses on assisting clients to proactively manage legal responsibilities and opportunities to achieve competitive advantage. Rolf concentrates on business planning and formation, directors duties, corporate governance, fundraising and business succession. His major interest is to assist business owners and their financial advisers plan and implement strategies to build and exit from successful businesses.
(Bloomberg) Since releasing a position paper in April, the worlds biggest wealth fund has increased the number of votes against management compensation proposals in the companies it invests in, Carine Smith Ihenacho, its global head of ownership strategies, said in an interview in Oslo. It has this year voted against pay plans at Alphabet Inc., Googles holding company, offshore driller Noble Corp. and media company Liberty Global Plc, among others.

To read this article:
WHITETOP, Va.  Chris Shumate wants to chop down misconceptions about Christmas trees.

At 47, this Christmas tree grower has practically heard it all, from how you might be allergic to trees to how farmers are seemingly foraging forests.

Christmas trees have got a bad rap, Shumate said with a smile. People think youre out here destroying the forest, cutting down trees. Its hard for people to picture unless they drive up here and see what you actually do for a living.

Farmers like Shumate meticulously set their trees in symmetrical rows; they dont just yank trees out of forests or cut off the tops of 30-foot trees, Shumate said.

Oh, heres another thing: Shumate wants to trim trees of any allergies.

A lot of people think theyre allergic to real trees. Im not going to deny that, Shumate said. But what theyre actually allergic to is the stuff in the trees.

Like dust or pollen.

Shumates solution: Wash off your Christmas tree before taking it in your house.

In earnest, Shumate took up tree farming in the 1990s after a four-year stint in the Air Force. He wanted to be a highway patrolman. But he came home to the mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina, just below the Virginia border, when he realized, Trees dont talk back.

Today, Shumate is a co-owner of New River Tree Co., one of the largest operations in the Whitetop region  with 600,000 trees growing on 10 farms in both North Carolina and Virginia. Shumates office stands in nearby Warrensville, North Carolina, but his shipping point lies in Grayson County, Virginia  just over a hill from Virginias Washington County.

In this high-altitude area, Christmas tree farming ranks among the top industries, said Shumate, and farmers here must always be ready for whatevers next.

You might have a great year  and a drought the next, and you lose a lot of your transplants. You might get too much rain, and some of them root-rot, Shumate said. Youre dealing with Mother Nature.  So I guess its the unknown.
ABINGDON, Va.A man charged with reckless driving early Sunday morning was also charged with possession of marijuana and distribution of marijuana according to the Washington County, Virginia Sheriffs Office.

At approximately 4 a.m. Deputy Sheriff Jerry Farley stopped a vehicle for speeding while working traffic enforcement on 1-81 in Washington County, according to Sheriff Fred Newman.

The driver, Andre Malik Copeland, was charged with reckless driving and was transported to the Abingdon Facility of the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail. Copeland, 25, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was held on a $1,500 secured bond.

Farley was called back to the Abingdon Facility after pills were found in Copelands wallet. After receiving consent from the owner of the vehicle, Farley and Deputy Seth Sparks searched the car and found a backpack that contained two large plastic bags containing marijuana, according to a news release. The backpack belonged to Copeland.

After locating the bags, the deputies charged Copeland with possession of marijuana and distribution of marijuana.

Copeland is currently being held without bond on the charges.
HICKORY  Eddie Hamrick has experienced being at the top.

The Hickory wood artist has crafted gifts for several U.S. presidents, four North Carolina governors, the Queen of England, celebrated composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Pope.

He has appeared on numerous PBS woodworking shows, worked on four movies, created works for 19 churches including Lenoir-Rhyne Universitys Grace Chapel, and has twice been honored with the Governors Business Award in the Arts and Humanities.

Hamrick also has gone broke several times, come uncomfortably close to death, and in the not-too-distant past knew what it was like to struggle to barely get by financially.

Earlier this month, Hamrick was honored with the North Carolina Folklore Societys 2017 Brown-Hudson Folklore Award during a ceremony at the Hiddenite Arts and Heritage Center, which nominated him. Previous recipients of the award have included musicians Doc and Merle Watson and Etta Baker, potter Nell Cole Graves and playwright Paul Green.

The 63-year-old master craftsman also is in the process of establishing the Eddie Hamrick Folk Life Center in downtown Newton, and is in the enviable position of having nearly all of his creations sold before he finishes them.

The American dream is still alive, Hamrick said. Its up to us to take the gifts God gave us and do something with them. But if were willing to strive mightily, success can be ours, no matter what. Never give up.

Hamrick grew up in Newton, the son and grandson of furniture makers.

When he was 6, Hamrick wanted an electric train set for Christmas, but his parents couldnt afford it. He built one himself out of wood. That, he said, was the beginning.

A 1972 graduate of Newton-Conover High School, Hamrick has held various jobs over the years. He apprenticed for five years at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, made furniture at Hickory Chair, built boats for Dixie Boat Works, was a nurse for several years at an area nursing home, and did picture-framing at Hobby Lobby.

He spent a decade working in the Wheathouse Gallery at Murrays Mill in Catawba, and taught for years at the John Campbell Folk School in Cherokee County. For a while he had his own Twisted Tree Gallery and Studio, a successful business in downtown Hickory.

Whatever I did, God kept bringing me back to my craft, Hamrick said. He has opened so many doors for me.

Hamrick is thankful for that, as well as several second chances, he said.

Among the challenges he has faced is severe narcolepsy, a chronic neurological disorder that affects the brains ability to control sleep-wake cycles. He was diagnosed in 2007, after losing consciousness.

The doctors said I died, Hamrick said. I revived, but lost my memory. They said I probably would never be the same, that I would never work again.

It took time, effort and determination, but Hamrick did come back, stronger than ever.

Recent years have seen him carving a banjo out of maple and walnut for President Obama in 2012; and in 2013, personally presenting Gov. McCrory with a traveling desk that he carved out of Catawba County wood.

Hamricks works are also part of the collections at the George H.W. Bush presidential library in College Station, Texas, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Hamrick has received numerous honors over the years, including being named NC Artist of the Year and NC State Craftsman. He has served as an artist in residence in Alexander County and as the woodwright at Hart Square Village in Catawba County.

For decades, Hamrick has donated his time, talents and resources to charitable causes, including the Western Piedmont Symphony, Catawba Science Center, Hickory Museum of Art, Family Care Center, Cooperative Christian Ministries and The Heart Fund. His donations of artwork have raised more than $1.5 million for charitable causes.

Eddie is one of our local treasures, said Kathryn T. Greathouse, executive director of the United Arts Council of Catawba County.

Not only is he a superlative wood artist, but he gives back to the community by donating his work to a variety of causes. He loves people and he always wants to help others.

Eddie is gifted, but he is also humble. He has been through a lot in his life, but is always positive and focused on the bright side.

Among other current projects, Hamrick is working with area supporters to establish the Eddie Hamrick Folk Life Center in downtown Newton.

The facility is to house a museum, workshop and Hamricks living quarters, and will be the setting for folk art classes and demonstrations. Hamrick is also hopeful the area around the Folk Life Center can be the setting for free, family-friendly concerts featuring folk and bluegrass music.

One of the greatest things anyone can do is to take the gifts you have and turn them into gifts for your community, Hamrick said. Thats what Im hoping to do in Newton.

Hamrick also is hoping for good things at Trade Alley Art, a new artists cooperative in downtown Hickory.

This will be my exclusive place to sell my art in the Hickory area, Hamrick said.

Trade Alley Art is a real gallery, comparable to those in Asheville and other larger cities. Its something this area can truly be proud of.

Hamrick has two sons, a grandson and a granddaughter.

He looks at young people, and says its important that they learn the value of craftsmanship.

Craftsmen built this country, Hamrick said. If we can get arts back in front of our children, they can learn to work with their hands and create things that are not thrown away, but are passed down for generations.

Thats important to me.
There is a major power imbalance in the world, which comes from the language that dominates the world of discovery, innovation, and science and technology. Today, that language is English. The intellectual domination of the West comes from the building of communities whose power comes from their deep connection with their native language. The language which they use to think, dream and shape the world is their own. This results in ideas that can change the world. If you do not use or have a mastery over your native language in science and technology, then, mere facility makes you a great follower and never a leader.

While overthrowing political and economic colonialism, we have failed to overthrow intellectual colonialism. In making English the sole language of intellectual discourse in science and technology in India, we have lost on many fronts. First, exceptions aide, as a community even our best institutions can never lead globally if English is the only language of high-level intellectual discourse. Our best minds will merely be eloquent paraphrasers of the ideas of others. Second, we close opportunities in intellectual leadership to huge sections of our population. In other words, as intellectuals we cannot be the best in the world. In addition to this, we lock the doors to even the second- level positions we occupy as elites. One of the many consequences of this is a poor connection of professional leadership with our society. Thus, we fail in being great intellectuals, we exclude and do not share a sense of purpose for society. In turn, our society responds to this elitism by undervaluing learning and the intellectual enterprise.

There have been many examples of countries which have successfully addressed the twin-challenges of developing communities of intellectual leaders in science and technology and are yet deeply rooted in using their native language for churning ideas. In Germany, science students would have had their principal language as German and yet be fluent in English. Many of the best German labs are international and the language of discourse may well be in English, yet, the advantage that comes from the ability that German scientists have to think in their native language, in the most advanced scientific subjects, is not small. Conversely, no country, including India, that has chosen English as its primary language of scientific discourse, ignoring its local languages, has become an intellectual powerhouse.

Whenever there is a discussion on this subject, two arguments are made against university education in ones native language. The first is that English is necessary in todays world, which is valid. The answer is not to diminish English, but to enhance the use of ones native language at every level. The second argument is that the task is impossible to implement. This argument is both a cop-out and false. It is a cop-out because not taking this up forever makes us an intellectual vassal-state, while maintaining an elite that is both dysfunctional and disinterested. The argument is false because the task is entirely feasible with focus and investment.

What, then, is to be done? Currently, the bulk of our college education in science and technology is notionally in English whereas the bulk of our high-school education is in the local language. Science courses in college are thus accessible largely to the urban population and even when this happens, education is effectively, neither of quality in English nor communicated as translations of quality in the classroom. Starting with the Kendriya Vidyalayas and the Nayodya Vidyalayas as test-arenas, we can ensure the training of teachers so that students in high-school are simultaneously taught in both their native language and in English. This already happens informally, but its needs formalisation. The student should be free to take exams in either language or indeed use a free-flowing mix. This approach should be steadily ramped up and used in all our best educational institutions in college and then scaled to be used more widely. Public and private colleges, in STEM subjects, for example, can lead and make bi-lingual professional education, attractive and economically viable. Technology, can of course assist implementation, but the primary driver is a will to change.

Our international partners envy the facility many Indians have with English. Without losing this, we must also have the ability to think deeply about complex and difficult subjects at the level of the best in the world. This can come only when communities in Rajasthan, Kerala or Odisha can wield, in their minds, their respective languages in the frontier areas of science the way in which the French, the Dutch or the Germans do. We should not conflate the use of English as the vehicle for communication and commerce with the use of language as the basis for the power of ideas.

K VijayRaghavan is secretary, department of biotechnology, ministry of science and technology, and former director of The National Centre for Biological Sciences

The views expressed are personal
Vijay Dabhi is faced with an impossible choice. The 29-year-old farmer from Gujarats Bhavnagar district can either enroll his daughter in a private school or hire a diesel pump to draw water for his wheat crop from the Vallabhipur branch canal of the Narmada. The annual school fee is Rs 30,000 and the pump costs Rs 25,000. I can secure her future or support my family by paying for the pump, he says in frustration.

Vijays village, Patna, is serviced by three canals of the more than Rs 50,000 crore Sardar Sarovar Dam, whose waters are supposed to irrigate more than 3,000 villages and 18.45 million hectares of land. The project was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in September on his 67th birthday. Calling the dam an engineering miracle, he had said, I have a list exposing all those who tried to derail the project but I do not want to politicise the issue. I am just happy this dam will benefit the farmers, the environment and countrymen.

But despite the completion of the main dam, in the three main districts of Saurashtra supposed to benefit from it  Bhavnagar, Botad and Surendrangar  villagers complain of broken promises, flawed design and lack of accountability. The inauguration was just a farce. Every election we were promised Narmada water. This time we have decided to vote for a new government in protest, says Vijay.

With elections in the state next month, the BJP has focused on shoring up votes in rural areas, a weak link for the ruling party that trailed the Congress even in the last election  the saffron party won 44 seats, compared to Congress 49, according to post-poll analysis by Delhi-based think tank Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The BJP also suffered losses in the local body polls two years ago, attributed by experts to Patidars moving away from their traditional choice, BJP, over being denied quotas in jobs and education.

Party chief Amit Shah has stressed on boosting ground-level organisation, setting up several committees to ensure turnout on polling day and help BJP bridge the rural gap. But farmers in Saurashtra say they have voted for the BJP in the past but are now fed up with waiting for water.

Sagar Rabari of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj, one of the largest farmers body in the state, says, The government has been lying to the farmers over the Narmada irrigation issue for years now. Either the work is incomplete, what was completed is lying in ruins and the plan has been changed several times to give water to industry.

In Vijays village, the dam, canal and the last-mile minor network is complete but the fields are still dry. All the water of the canal, he alleges, goes to a Gujarat Water Infrastructure Limited (GWIL) plant that supplies drinking water to villages in Saurashtra and to the industry.

Mohabbatsinh Parmar, GWIL supervisor, admitted many villages in the area were not getting irrigation water but blamed the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL). The problem is wastage of water by the time it reaches us. There are over 100 pipelines upstream, so water is constantly overdrawn. We have complained to SSNNL but they do not take any action, he said.

A top official of the SSNNL, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the upcoming elections, said it was impossible for them to patrol the 50,000 km stretch of the dam project.

Amidst this finger-pointing, there is only frustration for Vijay. He has filed six RTI applications, sat on a hunger strike, and even attempted to breach the canal wall last year. Now, he and others from 13 villages are trying to file a case in the Gujarat high court.

Meanwhile, local farmers say they are forced to illegally draw water through pumps. This year because of the elections, they are letting us use pumps but usually the State Reserve Police of the SSNNL trouble us for doing it, Vijay says.

In a 20km stretch of the canal, over 300 such pumps are installed. In Halvad taluka in Surendranagar district, a few years ago, the police took away the pumps and booked the farmers. SSNNL officer said that these should be viewed as anti-encroachment drives, carried out occasionally. About 75km away in Botad, another group of angry farmers has the same grievance about lack of irrigation water from the Narmada  for differing reasons. At Gunda village, the sub-minor network has not been finished, which means there is no last-mile connection of the branch canals to the fields.

According to the latest SSNNL report from October 2017, 20% of the minor and 40% of the sub-minor network is incomplete. In terms of irrigation potential, this means only 60% of land is currently serviced, according to the same report. The SSNNL officer says the onus for this lies on the farmer. 2.5% of the total cost of the sub-minor must be borne by the farmer, which comes to Rs 600 for every hectare of land.

We are making them on 97.5% subsidy but sometimes the farmers maybe the reason for the delay depending on crop cycle, the officer said. They hope to complete the work by December 2018.

At Nanivavdi village, farmers say they have run from pillar to post requesting the SSNNL and the government to fill the Hamirsar lake with Narmada water that can service six neighbouring villages but to no avail.

Amongst the group of 10 cotton farmers we meet at Nanivavdi, nine are BJP voters  two are BJP office bearers at taluka level. All except one have made up their minds to vote for Congress. They still believe in PM Modi but say that is not enough. We dont have faith in the BJP government anymore. It has not done anything for farmers. They are only good at marketing, which we have foolishly being buying into, says Ajitsinh.

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Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani will contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadgam seat as an independent candidate after Congress tacitly left the seat vacant for him. (Modi in Gujarat | LIVE updates)

Mevani announced his candidacy on social media on Monday, hours after Congress released its third list of 76 candidates early Monday.

Sitting Congress MLA Manibhai Vaghela told PTI that his partys state unit had asked him not to contest the seat as a part of an agreement with Mevani.

Vaghela said the Congress has given an indirect support to Mevani for the Vadgam seat, reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate.

The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congresss support. Thus, there wont be any Congress candidate on this seat, Vaghela said.

The party officially has not confirmed its support to Mevani.

Mevani too has not announced his support to the Congress. He, however, requested other parties not to contest the seat.

Since the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file their papers, so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is peoples battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election, he wrote on Facebook.

Mevani, who shot to limelight after a Dalit family was flogged publicly by cow vigilantes for allegedly killing a cow last year, will be in a direct contest with BJPs Vijay Chakravarthi if others do not file the nomination papers on Monday, the last day for the same.

Congress, meanwhile, has also left seats for Chhotubhai Vasavas Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) of Hardik Patel.

Vasava, a JD(U) rebel who helped Congresss Ahmed Patel win the Rajya Sabha polls earlier this year, said his party will contest on five seats on the symbol auto-rickshaw in alliance with Congress.

Hardik Patel, who has led the Patidar agitation for inclusion of their community in the Other Backward Classes category, is yet to finalise the seats they will contest.

Congress had earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

Party sources said some candidates have been informed over phone about them being given the mandate to avoid any backlash from other contenders.

Angry workers had attacked party offices at several places such as Surat after the first list was announced on November 19.

Many Congress rebels later filed the nomination papers against the official candidates, prompting the leadership to rush senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, B K Hariprasad and Mukul Wasnik to Gujarat to pacify them.

In another development, a close aide of Hardik Patel informed that the Patidar leader will hold rallies at Morbi and Surat at the same time Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses public meetings there.

Modis much-awaited Gujarat campaign starts on Monday with four rallies at Bhuj, Jasdan, Amreli and Surat in Kutch district. He will again visit Gujarat on November 29 and address four public meetings at Morbi, Somnath, Bhavnagar and Navsari.

Gujarat goes to polls in two phases  89 seats on December 9 and 93 five days later. The results will be announced on December 18.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the opposition Congress on Monday, saying the people of the state would not forgive those who are insulting the son of Gujarat.

Modi addressed four public meetings in his home state as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up its campaigning for the two-phase assembly elections in Gujarat.

The PM spoke at rallies in Bhuj, Jasdan, Dhari and Kamrej.

Here are the highlights on PM Modis Gujarat visit:

6.27pm: PM Modi concludes his speech at the rally in Kamrej. He will now head back to Delhi.

6.22pm: Morarji Bhai Desai was a successful Finance Minister and a believer in Gandhi Ji. The Congress mistreated him and even when he became PM they troubled him, says PM Modi at a rally in Kamrej.

6.18pm: Overnight, Indira Ji removed Morarji Bhai from the Cabinet. She did not open the doors of the bank for the poor. When we got the opportunity to serve, the first thing we did was to start the Jan Dhan Yojana and focus on financial inclusion, says PM Modi.

6.14pm: The Congress party has not done anything, it does not want to do any thing and it does not want others to do anything for the people, says PM Modi.

6.07pm: Our government has taken steps to ensure people from middle class families can own their homes. We reduced prices of stents and made healthcare affordable, says PM Modi.

5.59pm: At every opportunity, the Congress has indulged in corruption, says PM Modi.

5.55pm: The Congress is disconnected with the aspirations of the people of India, says PM Modi.

5.49pm: Arrogance of the Congress party is at a record high. They do not realise that the times have changed. The youth sees things very differently. Things are very different in Gujarat from the time Congress ruled here 22 years ago. Society is no longer divided, there is progress now, says PM Modi.

5.46pm: After campaigning in Kutch, Rajkot and Amreli districts, I have come to Surat. I am seeing the energetic response among people. I am also seeing the Congress is scared of defeat and is unable to match the BJPs focus on development and good governance, says PM Modi in Surat.

5.41pm: PM Modi begins his speech in Kamrej, his last rally for the day.

4.29pm: PM Modi tweets:

Addressed a massive rally in Dhari, Amreli district. Spoke about the efforts by @BJP4Gujarat Governments to create a vibrant dairy and cooperative network in Saurashtra. Also highlighted the steps being taken to promote the blue economy.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 27, 2017

3.53pm: Our efforts against corruption have naturally troubled the Congress, says PM Modi.

3.48pm: The BJP government in Gujarat got dairies to Saurashtra. Amreli is emerging as a hub for dairy and cooperative sectors over the last two decades, says PM Modi.

3.46pm: Amreli district is on the coast and it is the BJP government in Gujarat that worked on harnessing the coastal strengths of this district. We focussed on the blue economy, says PM Modi in Dhari.

3.41pm: PM Modi begins speaking in Dhari, Amreli.

2.41pm: PM Modi concludes his address in Rajkots Jasdan.

2.40pm: Remember the Gujarat before BJP came to power? To travel to Ahmedabad also people had to ask is it safe. Law and order situation in the state was very poor. All this changed after BJP came to power, says PM Modi.

2.31pm: We have served Gujarat without any discrimination. Our belief is in the Mantra of Sauno Saath, Sauno Vikas, says PM Modi.

2.27pm: We are making healthcare affordable for the poor. We brought down the prices of stents, says PM Modi.

2.23pm: The solution to all problems is development. Development has to be continuous. We want to work even more for the people of Gujarat, says PM Modi in Rajkot.

2.21pm: I had to go on hunger strike against the Congress to make sure Narmada water reaches parched Saurashtra-Kutch, says PM Modi.

2.19pm: I request the Congress not to mock the poor and my poor origins, says PM Modi.

2.18pm: The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation, says PM Modi.

2.15pm: The Congress was not fair to other Patidar leaders -- Babubhai Patel, Chimanbhai Patel and Anadiben Patel.

2.14pm: It was with the support of the Jan Sangh that a person from the Patel Community, Babubhai Patel became CM. The Congress did not like this and ensured that Babubhai Jashbhais government did not last, says PM Modi.

2.12pm: How did the Congress treat Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai? That is for everyone to see. Which was the party that made the entire nation a prison during the Emergency? That also everyone knows, says PM Modi.

2.11pm: A new party came up in Delhi, whose style is to keep abusing and running away. I thought the Congress, being an older party would not indulge in such politics but they have also taken this short cut in the past two months and only hurled abuses and lies, says PM Modi.

2.10pm: When we started bringing the waters of the Narmada here to Saurashtra, there were people who were mocking us. Their negative politics has not changed over the years. Our faith is in politics of development and good governance, says PM Modi in Jasdan.

2.04pm: PM Modi begins speaking at a rally in Jasdan.

1.57pm: PM Modi to address a public gathering in Rajkots Jasdan shortly.

12.06pm: We are not here for power, we are here for 125 crore Indians. We want to take India to new heights of glory, says PM Modi at Bhuj rally.

12.05pm: Congress is unhappy about demonetisation. They keep attacking me but I want to tell them...I have grown up in the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted, says PM Modi.

12.02pm: India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri. You can see how India responded in the wake of both attacks. This explains the difference between their Government and ours, says PM Modi.

12pm: A Pakistani court released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating. I was surprised why. And this same Congress refused to believe our own army on surgical strikes and preferred to believe the Chinese ambassador, says PM Modi:

11.59am: Does any Congress leader talk about Kamraj, Acharya Kripalani, Subhas Babu, UN Dhebar (who belonged to Gujarat)...no because they only talk about one family, says PM Modi.

11.57am: There are some people who love spreading negativity and pessimism. My appeal to them is to stop doing that. They lack neeti, niyat, a neta and a naata with the people, says PM Modi.

11.56am: Whatever I have achieved in the past 15 years is because of Gujarat, says PM Modi.

11.51am: The Congress insulted Sardar Patel; the people of Gujarat still forgave them. But they will no longer tolerate any attack on their prestige, says PM Modi at Bhuj rally.

11.48am: Gujarat is my atma, Bharat is my Parmatma, says PM Modi.

11.46am: After the Kutch earthquake Atal Ji asked me to go to Gujarat. On taking over, I spent considerable time in Kutch and learnt what administration is about. You can say that my training happened here in Kutch, says PM Modi.

11.40am: It was the Congress that killed youngsters who were associated with the Maha Gujarat Movement... The misgovernance by the Congress adversely impacted Kutch, says PM Modi.

11.39am: On one side there is Vikas and Vishwas while on the other side there is Vanshwad. Gujarat will never forgive the Congress Party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind, says PM Modi at Bhuj rally.

11.38am: I am grateful for all the kichad being thrown at me, after all, a lotus blooms only in kichad so, I dont mind if more is thrown at me, says PM Modi.

11.37am: PM Modi says: I have the good fortune of knowing every part of Gujarat well.

11.27am: Interacting with people gives me unparalleled joy. Every moment of my life is devoted to the welfare of India and 125 crore Indians, tweets PM Modi ahead of his rally.

11.25am: Kutch has overwhelmed me with affection. It is indeed special to be here, tweets PM Modi.

10.54am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets people outside Ashapura Mata temple in Gujarats Kutch. The PM will address a rally in the area shortly.

10.30am: Prime Minister Modi is expected to attend about 20 public meetings and rallies in the next 15 days ahead of the assembly polls to be held on December 9 and 14.

9.49am: PM Modi visits Ashapura Mata temple in Kutch before beginning his rally in Bhuj. He will address four rallies on December 27 and another four on December 29 ahead of the two phase elections in Gujarat.

9.25am: Preparations are underway at Bhuj where the Prime Minister will address public in his first stop in Gujarat today.

9.21am: Dalit leader Jignesh Mawani will contest as an independent candidate from Banaskanthas Vadgam constituency.
Kapil Sharma will be seen playing a patriotic character in Firangi, which is set to hit the screens this Friday. His second film as the lead actor, Firangi is a film set during the British era.

However, the film will strike a balance between patriotism and a light-hearted tone, Firangi is set before Partition. Even my grandfather was born in Pakistan. Because Partition coloured our world view for a long time, we couldnt see beyond it. With Firangi, we decided to make a light-hearted story based in that era.

The film, which is shot in Ropar, Gajner and Bikaner, is pegged around a love story. I am playing an underdog character Monga who falls in love with a girl. Unemployed youths have a tendency to fall in love anyway, but his marriage seems difficult because he doesnt do anything. He gets a job with the British army by fluke, but the girls family is not ready to accept Monga because he is serving the enemy.

Does he ever worry that comedies may get him typecast? He says, Every actor has their own speciality. I will start laughing if I try to do romantic scenes like Shah Rukh Khan or stunts like Akshay Kumar. I like making people laugh and I take the tag of comedian seriously.

Asked about his real-life story, he nimbly dodged the question with a joke, It doesnt happen in real life. Have you seen a rich girl falling in love with a taxi driver in real life? Nobody ever loved me. I am a workaholic guy and I get scared by the idea of marriage.

He, of course, knows how to deflect questions. He takes a jibe at the media also for publishing only the controversies. Kapil says, Once we were shooting with Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan before the release of Happy New Year. It went on for good six hours, but nobody wrote about it. Bas cancel wala aa jaata hai.

So, is he getting back with Sunil Grover anytime soon? I enjoy working with him. But will he get Sunil to act alongside him in a film as well, I havent adopted him (laughs).

There were reports about his Hollywood debut as well. Its only half truth. I have talked with some people on phone, but nothing concrete yet.

He is also upset about the protests against Padmavati. Mentioning the threat against Deepika Padukone, he says, You can express your opinions, but all these talks of cutting somebodys head is wrong. Not long ago, you said Deepika Padukone was the pride of our country, and now you say such things. There is a Censor Board that will decide on the films content.

Directed by Rajiev Dhingra, Firangi also features Ishita Dutta and Monica Gill. Its scheduled to hit the screens on December 1, 2017.

Interact with Rohit Vats at Twitter/@nawabjha

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Manushi Chhillar visited Mumbais Siddhivinayak temple on Monday with her parents and brother to seek blessings and express gratitude after her win at the Miss World 2017 pageant. The beauty queen returned to India on Saturday after her win in Sanya, China. She also posted a video about her experience at the temple.

The 20-year-old medical student is from Rohtak, Haryana. Her father, Dr Mitrabasu Chhillar, is an endocrinologist at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi, and mother, Dr Neelam Chhillar, is a doctor at the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Delhi.

Manushi Chhillar prays at Siddhivinayak temple with family...

Seeking blessings from Lord Ganesha at the Siddhivinayak Temple in Dadar, Mumbai. So much positivity around the place. @MissWorldLtd @feminamissindia pic.twitter.com/aTrjf4E0CU  Manushi Chhillar (@ManushiChhillar) November 27, 2017

The Haryana girl broke the 16-year jinx for India at the Miss World 2017 pageant with her win. The last Miss World from India was Priyanka Chopra in 2000.

In the final round of Miss World, she was asked, Which profession deserves the highest salary and why? Her winning answer was, I think a mother is of the highest respect. I dont think its just about cash but love and respect she gives to someone. She is the biggest inspiration in my life. Mother should get highest salary and respect.

She received a warm welcome in India and later thanked her fans for all the love. I thank each and every one who came to welcome me. It was overwhelming and I am grateful for your support. Thank you for showering me with all your love, Manushi said in a statement.

When Manushi came out of the international airport, she was greeted with numerous fans chanting India, India as they held up Indian flags and posters of Manushi. The posters read: Welcome back Manushi Chhillar, Manushi Chhillar is Beauty with Brains, Miss World 2017.

Feels great to be back home. Thank you India, for such a grand welcome, Manushi tweeted.

Talking about life after winning the crown, she told Times of India, The victory is slowly sinking in. I am getting a lot of congratulatory calls and messages from everyone back home. Im overwhelmed by all the love and support that I have received.
It has been two years since Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) and Taras (Deepika Padukone) love story hit the silver screen. Filmmaker Imtiaz Alis film, Tamasha, gave hopes to many youngsters to follow their passion. While everyone knows about the story as it played out on the screen, we bring some interesting facts about the film, which many of you might not know.

1) The original title

The film was promoted through a train journey as well.

When the film was conceptualised, it was reportedly titled Window Seat.

2) High on emotions

A still from the song Agar Tum Saath Ho

The ionic scene shot just before the song Agar Tum Saath Ho wasnt scripted, as told by Imtiaz Ali. The crew was bowled over to see the intensity of both the actors. This is the reason, no one said cut to end it.

3) Deepika was not the first choice

Before Deepika Padukone, the film was offered to Anushka Sharma, but she turned it down because the film focused more on Ranbir Kapoors character Ved.

4) The little Ved : Yash Sehgal

Child artist Yash Sehgal with actor Ranbir Kapoor.

The child artist, Yash Sehgal, who plays the younger Ranbir in Tamasha, also played the younger version of the actor in the film Bombay Velvet (2015). The child came in limelight because of his sticking resemblance to Ranbir.

5) Three month wrap

In all, it took 91 days for the team to film Tamasha in Corsica, Shimla, Delhi, Tokyo, Kolkata and Mumbai.

6) Last minute addition to the film

This was added after the films wrap up.

The song, Agar Tum Saath Ho was not shot during the filming of the project. It was shot much later and then added to the film.

7) The real Tamasha!

There is a village located in Mungaoli Tehsil of Ashoknagar district in Madhya Pradesh, which is called Tamasha. It became more popular after people discovered it post their search on the films name.

8) Stop the leak!

The stills from the songs shoot were leaked during the shoot.

Several images and video footage of the song Matargashti (previously noted as Dil Ka Bayaan) shot at Bastia Museum Cafe were leaked in August 2014.

9) Elaborate arrangements for a song

The song and sequences in the song Agar Tum Saath Ho took over three days to finish.

10) CBFCs diktat

Following the Censor board of Film Certification rule, Ranbir Kapoors lines like Apna Haath Jagannath and Din Mein sister, raat mein bistar were removed from the film.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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All the nine ministers of the BJP government in Uttarakhand will soon start attending janata darbars (peoples court) in districts to ensure on-the-spot redressal of their problems.

The move is being seen as part of the ruling BJPs spadework for the next Lok Sabha polls. So far, the ministers attended janata darbars at the party headquarters in Dehradun.

They will now attend janata darbars in remote areas to ensure on-the-spot-redressal of the problems people are facing, state BJP president Ajay Bhatt said. The step aims to reach out to the people in keeping with our partys concept of Janata ki Sarkar, Janata ke Dwar.

Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, however, would continue holding the janata darbar in Dehradun once in a month.

Bhatt said that the ministers attending janata darbars at district, tehsil and block headquarters would benefit the people inhabiting remote areas who otherwise had to incur travel and lodging expenses while visiting Dehradun to attend a janata darbar. The number of people from far-flung areas attending the janta darbar at Doon had started dwindling. Besides, only the people of a certain area (read Dehradun and suburbs) had easy access to janata darbars organised here, Bhatt said explaining the rationale behind the decision.

Stating that people would be happy when their problems would be resolved right at their doorstep, Bhatt agreed that it would pay the BJP the electoral dividends in the local body polls due next year and the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Definitely, there is no doubt about that.

The ministers HT spoke to, however, sought to play down the electoral gain angle. That has nothing to do with electionsAs it is, there is a lot of time to go for the next Lok Sabha polls, parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant, who returned from Garhwal on Thursday after attending a couple of janata darbars, said.

The sentiment was echoed by social welfare minister Yashpal Arya. Holding janata darbars is part of our duty We are doing our work and people are equating that with electionsThat is not fair, he said. Arya claimed that he had started attending janata darbars in districts even before such a decision was taken by his party.

Sharing his experience, Arya said whenever he held a janata darbar in remote areas he ensured that officials remained present. That helps in resolving the issues as you can instantly refer them to officials and also enquire from them about the follow up action in the next janata darbar, he said.

Pant agreed that such an approach would also help resolve the issues facing the people in border areas. That will also help check forced migration from the border areas which are emptying out, he added.

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More than two months of efforts chasing tip offs and trails in several states and even along international borders has finally paid dividend for Dehradun Police that has finally nabbed a doctor couple in connection with the kidney racket that was busted in the Uttarakhand state capital in September this year.

Dr Sanjay Das and wife Dr Sushma were Sunday arrested from Uttar Pradeshs Ghaziabad district, where they had gone to attend a wedding, Dehradun senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti Kumar said.

The couple, which lives in Nepal, had visited Uttarakhand for assisting in illegal kidney surgeries at Gangotri Charitable Hospital at Lal Tappad, around 30 km from Dehradun, the SSP said while presenting the duo before the media on Monday.

With this, the number of arrests in the interstate kidney racket that was busted on September 11 has risen to 14. Another prime main accused in the racket Dr Akshay Raut, the son of alleged kingpin of the racket Amit Kumar Raut  is still absconding.

The couple assisted Amit Kumar Raut in carrying out at least 12 kidney extraction and transplantation surgeries at the Dehradun hospital. While Sanjay is an anaesthetist, Sushma is a gynaecologist.

Our teams raided several locations in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal border looking for the accused. Through our intelligence network, we finally succeeded in arresting the accused from Ghaziabad, the SSP added.

The couple hails from Araria district of Bihar, but is currently settled in Viratnagar in Nepal, she added. Both the accused were wanted in connection with the kidney racket case and had helped in administering anesthesia to patients, Kumar said.

The accused were presented before a Dehradun court, from where they were sent to 14-day judicial custody.

The accused have been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 342 (wrongful confinement), 370 (trafficking) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 18/19/20 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994. Last month, the stringent Gangster Act was slapped against six of the accused including the doctor couple.

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The Haridwar sistrict administration will soon demolish more than 15 structures that are encroaching upon National Highway-58 (Saptrishi -Bhoopatwala-Khadkhadi belt). The said buildings havent yet been vacated despite the administration issuing them notices.

The encroachments are hindering the widening process of the four-lane road. The administration aims at evicting the encroachers by December 7 after which National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would start work on the NH.

The administration had given a deadline of 15 days to encroachers on November 13 after providing compensation to vacate the ashrams, rest houses, lodges and hotels that have come up along the road. However, none of the owners vacated the properties. On Monday, Haridwar district magistrate (DM) Deepak Rawat announced that all the buildings would be demolished to ensure smooth work of NH.

We will have to demolish the buildings as even after setting a deadline, the property owners havent vacated them, Rawat told Hindustan Times.

The anti-encroachment squad will now take over and demolish all illegal structures.

Two police posts --- Saptrishi police post on border of Haridwar-Dehradun and Rodibelwala police post opposite Har-Ki-Pauri --- are also hampering the widening of the highway.

Asked about the two properties, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Haridwar, Krishan Kumar VK said it was up to the highway construction authority to provide new premises for police posts.

It was only after social activist Ratan Mani Dobhal threatened to go on indefinite strike over delay in highway widening work that the administration became active. Dobhal had highlighted that the delay in the widening project has led to further delay in shifting potable waterline on Saptrishi-Doodhadhari belt, which was posing problems for locals.

For past six months, water leakage problem has affected our colony and we are waiting for highway work to get over. The project is already four years late and we dont want to suffer any longer, said Uday Ram Semwal, a resident of Hari-Pur-Kalan, Shantikunj.

NHAI project director Pradeep Singh Gusain said, Encroachments are posing problem but now with assurance by Haridwar DM, we hope to resume work on the project.
Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing into the hands of Pakistan by pitting Hindus against Muslims since it came to power.

Pakistans biggest dream is to divide India on religious lines, Kejriwal said, while addressing workers at the partys national convention to mark the fifth year of its foundation at Ramlila Maidan. The convention was held at the same venue where the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, led by Anna Hazare, had started. The movement later led to the birth of the AAP in 2012.

Those fake patriots who want to weaken the nation by pitting Hindus against Muslims are actually agents of Pakistans Inter-services Intelligence (ISI). BJP has done in last three years, what the ISI could not achieve in 70 years, Kejriwal said at the convention, which was attended by party workers from 22 states.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta termed Kejriwals comments as a reflection of the AAPs frustration over its failure to deliver.

They have nothing else to do except criticising the BJP and abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is reflected in their below-the-belt comments by giving religious colour to everything, the BJP leader said.

Read: Five years of AAP: Kumar Vishwas says party has drifted from its vision

On Sunday, party leaders, including Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, senior leaders Gopal Rai and Ashutosh, Punjab MP Bhagwant Mann and founder-member Kumar Vishwas, among others, spoke during the occasion. AAP MLAs from Delhi and Punjab as well as AAP corporators from Delhi were present on the occasion.

Kejriwal along with other activists of the then India Against Corruption movement had launched Aam Aadmi Party on November 26 , 2012, on the occasion of Constitution Day, following differences with Anna Hazare over whether to float a political party or not,

With 20 MLAs, AAP is the principal opposition in Punjab Assembly and overall has four MPs, 86 MLAs and 52 councillors.

Kejriwal also pledged that his party will continue its anti-graft movement, no matter how many hurdles other parties created. He also listed the achievements of the AAP government during the second stint besides going down memory lane by recalling how the anti-graft movement led by Anna Hazare had taken the shape of a political party.

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A quarrel over a jacket during a bus ride turned fatal, when a 29-year-old man was beaten to death by his friend in east Delhi. The incident was reported from Anand Vihar in the wee hours of Monday.

Police identified the deceased by his first name, Balbir, and the suspect as 30-year-old Shankar. Both lived in south Delhis Lado Sarai and worked as sanitation staff for a private firm.

Balbir was to catch a bus from Anand Vihar bus terminal to Sambhal where he had to attend a friends wedding. Shankar decided to see him off at the bus terminal, said a police officer.

Before departing, the two allegedly consumed alcohol outside a liquor shop near the bus terminal. But when Balbir was about to take the bus at around 2am, he felt he was not adequately dressed to escape the cold during the bus journey. Balbir asked Shankar to lend him his jacket for the journey and promised to give it back upon returning. But Shankar refused to hand over his jacket, leading to a drunken quarrel, said the officer.

The argument soon turned into a brawl even as other passengers tried to intervene and separate them. It was during their scuffle that Shankar picked up a wooden stick lying nearby and hit Balbir on his head, the officer added.

Though Balbir was struck only once on his head, he collapsed and fell unconscious. He was taken to a hospital as passengers nabbed Shankar from the spot and handed him over to the police.Balbir, however, bled to death before he could be admitted in the hospital. Shankar has been booked for murder and sent to jail, said the officer.
Delhi traffic police have decided to crack the whip against trucks  which have been responsible for 136 fatal accidents in the city so far this year  and prosecute drivers for drunk driving.

The traffic police launched a drive on Saturday night in various parts of the city, during which 22 truck drivers were fined, booked for dangerous driving and their vehicles impounded.

Several teams, each under the supervision of an inspector, have been formed to check heavy vehicles flowing in from the borders between 11pm and 2 am. Since the inflow of trucks is in the thousands surprise checks will be conducted across all the borders. More than the number of challans, we intend to send a message that serves as a deterrent for all such drunk drivers, said special commissioner of police (traffic) Dependra Pathak.

Police said if they found a driver driving under the influence of alcohol, then he will face charges of rash and negligent driving. Further the driver will also lose his licence for three months.

The hassle of going to the court to get the trucks and the goods back we hope will act as a deterrent for owners to keep a better check on their drivers, Pathak added.

Sources said that 136 cases of fatal accidents involving trucks were registered till November 15 this year. The corresponding figure for the entire 2016 year was 148.
The much-awaited Signature Bridge, which will reduce the travel time between north Delhi and north-east Delhi, and Ghaziabad, will see a delay for the fifth time. This time because of the ban on construction activities by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) following severe levels of pollution in the city.

The project was conceptualised in 2004 and got Delhi Cabinet nod in 2007. It was scheduled to be completed before the 2010 Commonwealth Games but it missed the deadline, which was revised to 2013.

When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power in Delhi in 2015, it promised to complete the bridge by June 2016 which was further extended to July 2017.

In July this year, the Delhi government released 100 crore for the bridge and set a deadline of March 2018. But the officials of the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC)  the agency responsible for executing the project  now says that work cannot be completed before April 2018.

According to sources in the government, the funds released could not reach the agencies engaged for the construction, on time, which also delayed the construction work of the bridge.

After pollution levels increased in the city earlier this month, all construction activities were banned across the national capital by the green court. Construction of the bridge remained closed for around a week after the NGT orders which will affect the progress of the project. We will now be able to complete the construction work by April end next year, Shishir Bansal, chief project manager, told Hindustan Times.

Bansal said that before formally inaugurating the bridge, a trial run would be conducted in May for around 45 days to assess the behaviour of the bridge towards the traffic.We are hoping to begin the trial run on the bridge by May 15 which will be limited to the peak hours only for light traffic. Around 90% of work has been completed, he said.

The project has missed several deadlines for its completion. First it was to be completed before October 2010 but was delayed because of hindrances like environmental clearance. It received environmental clearance in 2011 and then it was set to be completed by December 2013. This deadline was pushed to June 2016 and then to July 2017 and then again to March 2018. Now the construction it is expected to be completed by April 2018.

It will be the fifth time when the project is going to miss its deadline scheduled as March 2018. After the trial run the bridge is expected to be formally inaugurated by September, 2018, a government official told Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity.

Once completed, the Signature Bridge will share the burden of vehicular traffic currently being borne by the Wazirabad bridge, used to commute to and from Delhi and Ghaziabad.

The bridge will connect the Outer Ring Road on the western bank with the Wazirabad Road on the eastern bank of the Yamuna.

It will reduce the time travel by at least half an hour for commuters going to Ghaziabad and Bhopura Border via Khajuri Khas, from Wazirabad, Timarpur, Mukherjee Nagar and Baurari.

To avoid heavy traffic at the existing Wazirabad bridge, the commuters at present prefer to reach Ghaziabad or east Delhi via either ISBT Kashmere Gate or ITO bridge.

COST

Constant delays also increased the cost of the project. Initially the estimated cost was of the project was 887 crore which increased to 1,131 crore in 2013. At present, the officials say, the cost of the project has reached 1,575 crore.

Being touted as a state-of-the-art bridge by the engineers associated with this project, the Signature Bridge will be the first asymmetrical cable stayed bridge in the country. A 675 metre long and 35.2 metre wide, the bridge will have a bow-shaped steel pylon with a height of 154 metres  twice the height of Qutub Minar.

The government has planned to develop businesses and tourism around the bridge as part of the second phase of the project.
A 19-year-old domestic help was found dead at a high-rise in Greater Noida on Sunday, triggering protests from her family members and other workers who suspected foul play.

A murder case was registered against the couple inside whose house at AWHO Society in Kasna area of Greater Noida, the helps body was recovered.

The help is a resident of a village in Greater Noida. Her employers told the police that she allegedly hanged herself from a fan but the family suspected murder and staged a protest outside the high-rise on Monday.

Superintendent of police (rural), Suniti, said, On a complaint filed by the helps mother, we registered a case under provisions of the SC/ST Act and for murder against the couple. Investigation is on.

The police said the case was registered against Dr Puja Rastogi, head of department of forensic science at a private university, and her husband Mukul Gupta, an engineer with a private firm in Greater Noida.

The helps mother said that when she went to pick up her daughter from her employers house around 4.30pm on Sunday, she was fine.

Guptas mother told me she and her eight-year-old grandson are alone and will send my daughter only after her son and daughter-in-law are back from work. She was fine when I saw her last. After half an hour, I received a call from Guptas mother, who told me to reach Yatharth Hospital. She said my daughter committed suicide, she said.

When I reached the hospital, my daughter was dead. She had marks on her neck, which suggests she was murdered, she said.

On Monday, family members of the women and other domestic helps staged a protest outside AWHO Society, alleging the she was sexually abused and hanged. The protesters tried to block the road after which the police took them into custody. They were later released.

Post-mortem reports confirmed death by hanging. It says there was no sexual assault, said Suniti, superintendent of police (rural), Gautam Budh Nagar.

The 19-year-old was a full-time domestic help and would go back to her house at the end of the day. Her mother would come to drop and pick her every day, police said.

Amit Kishor Shrivastava, circle officer, Greater Noida 1, said, The couple told us that they found the girl hanging from a fan when they reached home. We were not informed by the couple from the spot. They called us from hospital. The parents did not mention sexual harassment anywhere .

When Hindustan Times called Puja Rastogi, she said, Whatever I have to say, I will tell the police. Police are investigating. The truth will come out in a day one or two. I know there are various allegations against us but they are not true.

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The Delhi Police Crime Branch on Saturday arrested five men for allegedly burgling goods worth nearly 2.5 crore from industrial units and warehouses, in outer Delhis Samaypur Badli.

The burglaries were committed in the past seven months. The men had rented a godown to store the stolen goods and used a rented truck to move the goods, said the police.

The arrested men included the alleged mastermind Ravi Mandal and his accomplices Ram Vilas and Mansoor, the police added. The three are accused of lifting anything they could lay their hands on  from industrial polymers to grains, to even betel nuts, the police added.

Two others Anwar and Dinesh Goel  have been arrested for buying the stolen articles and selling it at their shops at prices cheaper than market rate.

DCP crime (headquarters) Joy Tirkey said a team of Crime Branchs Special Operations Squad had a tip-off about a gang of burglars coming near Siraspur Gurdwara in Nangal Puna area of outer Delhi on Saturday afternoon. Around 4.30pm, when Mandal, Vilas, Mansoor and Anwar reached, the police arrested them.

Goel was arrested from his shop later on Saturday after the arrested men revealed his role.

Tirkey said with their arrests, at least nine cases of burglary, all registered in Samaypur Badli, have been solved. All these burglaries were reported between May and November this year.

All of them had previous criminal involvements too and were arrested. After coming out on bail in February, the three men re-grouped and started committing the burglaries. They first did a recce of the properties when no security guards were present, and then struck later by breaking locks, said Tirkey.

Hired truck, rented godown

Mandal and his accomplices used a canter truck to carry the stolen articles. They even hired labourers claiming that the goods that they were loading and unloading at nights belonged to Mandal and his accomplices, informed Tirkey.

Mandal and Anwar had rented a godown in Siraspur. The stolen goods would be kept in the godown till the time it was disposed off, Tirkey added.

Goods worth 15 lakh and the truck used by them have been recovered, said Tirkey.

Theft victim to alleged thief

Investigators added that Mandal had migrated from Bihar in search of work. He had first set up a small fruit cart which was stolen few days after he started the business. He told us he started burgling because he could not find any other job for a living. He then took up theft, roped in Mansoor and Vilas, who, too have come from Bihar, said Tirkey.
Opposition parties on Sunday hit out at Delhis ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for failing to deliver its promises. The Congress said that AAP betrayed the people while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused its leaders of indulging in corruption.

AAP completed five years of its inception on Sunday and celebrated its journey by terming it as five years of revolution at Ramlila ground here.

Delhi Congress president, Ajay Maken said that Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government not only failed to fulfil any of the promises made to the people but the party  which was established as the peoples party  has broken all the standards on the basis of which it was formed.

AAP had promised that they would not take government bungalows, vehicles and security and would not indulge in corruption. They had also promised public participation in decision-making, inter-party democracy and transparency. But after coming to power, they have systematically broken all these promises, Maken told reporters at a press conference.

The Congress leader said that the AAPs ministers, who were removed from the Cabinet due to corruption charges, continue to remain as party MLAs which exposed the double-speak of the party on corruption.

He added that the Jan Lokpal Bill passed by the AAP Government in Delhi Assembly was a complete sham, compared to the one enacted by the then Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

Reacting to AAPs celebration on its foundation day, leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta said that the celebration should be termed as five years of misconception of AAP.

The leaders of the AAP, which was voted to power on the promise of eradicating corruption and clean politics, are involved in corruption, the BJP leader said in a statement.

Gupta said that while taking oath as chief minister, Kejriwal had declared that even if his own son was involved in corruption he would not be spared but one of his ministers was found involved in hawala scam but is still part of the government and walks shoulder to shoulder with the CM.
With winter on Delhis doorsteps, the citys feathered guests have started arriving. While thousands of migratory birds have already made the capitals water bodies their temporary homes till summer, more are expected to arrive as the mercury dips further.

On Friday, Delhi registered its coldest November day in 11 years, as the minimum temperature dropped to 7.6 degree Celsius.

The list of birds arriving in Delhi this year include the pallid harrier  a raptor which has been spotted for the first time at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.

This is the first time that we have spotted a pallid harrier at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. It is an uncommon sighting, said Sohail Madan centre manager at Conservation Education Centre maintained by the Bombay Natural History Society at the sanctuary.

Migratory birds like painted stork have started arriving at the Delhi Zoo. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, this bird of prey, breeds primarily in the steppes of Asiatic Russia, Kazakhstan and northwest China.

Even though this year we havent estimated the number of birds yet, but apparently there seems to be a drop in their number compared to last year. But more are still arriving. The estimation would be conducted in January, Madan said.

While experts have spotted black redstart, grey-headed canary-flycatcher and red-breasted flycatcher among the passerine birds, water birds such as bar-headed goose, greylag goose, lesser whistling duck and tufted duck have also arrived in large numbers at the wildlife sanctuary.

The water body in the National Zoological Park in Delhi is also teeming with migratory birds.

They started arriving since end of October. Now there are more than 1,000 birds here. The largest numbers are that of the painted stork. This apart, we have northern shoveler, northern pintail and spot-billed duck among others, said zoo director Renu Singh.

The feathered visitors for winter arrive in India by October and usually stay on till April. Summer migrant birds start coming to India from mid-March and remain in India till August.

We are trying to restore another water body in the zoo, which is lying dried up and unutilised. It would be restored before the 2018 monsoon and hopefully the next winter we would be able to create another location for more migratory birds, said Singh.

Great white pelicans seen at Delhi Zoo. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Earlier this year the former Union environment and forest minister Anil Madhav Dave had informed the Lok Sabha that an estimated 370 species of birds migrate to India, out of which 175 species undertake long-distance migration using the Central Asian Flyway area which also include Amur falcons, Egyptian vultures, plovers, ducks, storks, ibises, flamingoes, jacanas, pochards and sociable lapwing among others.

At the Yamuna Biodiversity Park too, water bodies echo with the chirping of migratory birds. A preliminary estimation by park authorities, however, suggests that compared to November 2016, the number of birds that have arrived this year are fewer till now.

By the fourth week of November 2016 around 3,500 birds had arrived at the park. This year around 2,800 have arrived till date, authorities said.

Large flocks of Eurasian coot, gadwall, tufted pochard and northern shoveler have arrived. We expect the numbers to swell as more are arriving, said Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist in-charge of the Yamuna Biodiversity Park.

Several factors determine the number and arrival of migratory birds including the changing climate, urban pollution and availability of food and suitable habitat among and poaching among others.
To reduce reaction time government agencies take to introduce emergency measures when pollution hits severe and severe-plus levels in the National Capital Region, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority will seek appointment of nodal officers at the district level.

The Supreme Court-appointed panel would soon write to the chief secretaries of the NCR states to designate officers in each district. When pollution hits severe-plus levels, EPCA would send directions to these officers so that emergency measures can kick in without delay.

We are trying to develop a standard operating procedure in which the chief secretaries would be asked to nominate district magistrates or collectors as the nodal officer in each NCR district. EPCAs will issue directions to these nodal officers so that emergency measures can be implemented immediately. We are trying to standardise the drill, said Sunita Narain, a member of EPCA.

Currently, when air pollution hits severe levels, the EPCA has to wait and monitor for 48 hours before it can issue directions to implement emergency measures. Once EPCA issues the directions, the Delhi government holds a meeting with the Lieutenant Governor to discuss the issue. Once it is cleared, the state government comes up with its own orders, which are then implemented. In the NCR states, the chief secretaries issue the orders based on EPCAs directions.

In the first week of November when the air quality started deteriorating and some drastic measures had to be introduced, it took at least 24 hours for the state governments to issue orders and implement them on the ground.

We received directions from the EPCA one evening. The next day, the chief secretary held a meeting with the top officials and issued the orders. It took another day to implement them, said a senior Haryana government official.

In a similar move, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had on November 17 directed Delhi and neighbouring states to frame an action plan that will kick in automatically when air quality deteriorates to severe levels.

The NGT move was expected to end a long process that involves the EPCA passing orders when the air quality turns severe. State governments and other agencies then pass their own orders to enforce pollution control measures under the Centres Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

To get some headroom to minimise the impact of foul air, both the Central Pollution Control Board and the EPCA have urged the India Meteorological Department to give them prior intimation about dust storms in West Asia and tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, both of which have a bearing on the citys air.

We hope to bring down time gap, the next time it becomes necessary to introduce emergency measures. While on one hand we hope to receive advance alerts from the MeT department, on the other hand we are trying to come up with a system in which EPCAs directions can go directly to the district magistrates, said Narain.

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A 33-year-old criminal, with over two dozen criminal cases against him, was arrested near south Delhis Moolchand metro station in the early hours of Monday, police said.

Interrogation of the suspect, Mannan, revealed that he had shot at and injured a man, Mohd Zaki, near Okhla Sabzi Mandi last Thursday, said Romil Baaniya, DCP (south-east).

Police had initially suspected the shooting to be a case of road rage, but it turned out to be a prelude to a contract killing, allegedly at the behest of the victims wife, said the officer.

Explaining the relationship between Mannan and Zaki, the officer said that the duo had turned good friends during their stay in Tihar Jail. After being released from the jail, Mannan continued to visit Zakis home.

It was during those visits that Mannan became friends with Zakis wife, said the DCP. But Zakis wife allegedly wanted to marry a man named Mujibbudin and move to Dubai with him, said the officer. He also said that she decided to get rid of her husband to marry Mujibuddin.

In order to implement her plan, she first instigated Mannan against his friend before offering him a contract of Rs 5 lakh if he got rid of her husband. She allegedly paid him Rs 50,000 in advance.

But Mannan did not entirely trust Zakis wife of paying him the entire amount after the murder. So, he decided to first shoot Zaki in his thigh, prove his murderous intent and collect the entire Rs 5 lakh payment before actually killing the target, said the DCP.

Mannan managed to shoot and injure Zaki and pass it off as a road rage, but was caught before he could actually execute the contract killing, said the officer.

He was arrested around 2 am on Monday after police received a tip-off that he would be arriving near Moolchand Metro station. Police set up barricades and waited for him to arrive.

But Mannan allegedly rammed the barricades with his motorcycle and tried to get away. When that failed, he tried to take a U-turn, but another police team ensured trapped him.

Finding himself surrounded, Mannan finally pulled out a pistol and shoot at the police team, but he was overpowered before he could open fire, said the DCP.
Officials in Delhi allegedly fudged land records using fake court orders to transfer at least 30 acres of prime government property, worth over Rs 600 crore, to private individuals.

In what could be one of the biggest land scams in the national Capital, at least three of these properties in south Delhis Asola village were then sold at less than one-twentieth of their market rates, according to papers accessed by Hindustan Times.

The scam, uncovered over the last one year, has prompted Delhis Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take up the case.

Last week, Baijal also asked the Delhi governments revenue department to submit case details of 13 plots whose records have allegedly been tampered with. The citys divisional commissioner Manisha Saxena has ordered magistrates across the city to check all government land records for similar cases of forgery.

HT has examined records of all 13 properties in question. The land in each case belonged to the gram sabha and came under the Delhi government. It was transferred using non-existent court orders to alter the Khatauni and Khasra Girdawari (KG) documents in the sub-divisional magistrates office.

A Khatauni is a government record showing the lands original owner and transfer details, if any. A KG is a bi-annual inspection report by revenue officers to check the lands ownership and current usage.

Parts of a detailed canvas map, dating back to 1908  the only physical representation of how land in Asola is distributed  were slashed , perhaps by the perpetrators of the scam. The map is stored in the sub-divisional magistrates office in Saket.

An acre of land in Asola costs nearly Rs 20 crore, according to local property dealers. Copies of sale deeds with HT show that in three cases, land was sold for less than Rs 1 crore per acre  even lower than the Asola circle rate, which is illegal.

Delhi revenue minister Kailash Gahlot confirmed on Sunday that land records had been tampered with. Specific cases are being looked into to see the role of revenue department staff. All gram sabha land is being mapped, he said.

The scam came to light when the governments annual survey of property in 2016 revealed that plot (Khasra) number 1354  a 2-acre land in Asola worth over Rs 40 crore  was transferred and sold for just Rs 2 crore the previous year.

The Khatauni record of the plot showed the land was transferred to one Mahesh under court order 144/RA/85 in December 1986. When officials checked the KG records, Mahesh was mentioned as the owner only since April 2015. The records prior to 2015 showed that the land belonged to the gram sabha.

How the fraud was done

Officials also found a sale deed, dated May 19, 2015, which showed that Mahesh sold the land to an Amritsar resident, Raman Mehra, for Rs 1.42 crore.

Another sale deed, from April 2016, showed Mehra had sold the land to a Dwarka-based property dealer for Rs 2 crore.

According to an additional district magistrates inquiry report, no court order (144/RA/85, on which the transfer was made) exists. The ink used for making the entry on the KG appeared to be different from the ink used for other entries made in 1986, says the report.

Accused of forging records, a patwari (keeper of records) and kanungo (supervisor) were suspended, and the district administration annulled the sale deed.

We asked Mahesh to produce original or even photocopy of property papers if the land belonged to him. He could not. We have reclaimed our land, said an officer of the state revenue department, who asked not to be named.

After this case, officers found tampering of ownership records of 11 more properties over the last nine months. Records accessed by HT show that a similar modus operandi was used to transfer ownership of each of these properties. Two of them were sold.

In one instance, we identified two officers who allegedly forged the records. They have been suspended. We are submitting a detailed case report to the L-Gs office, district magistrate (south) Amjad Tak said.

HT contacted Mahesh on the phone number given on the sale deed. The person who answered the call insisted that the property was rightfully his. It is my land. I had got in around 40 years ago from government. I will sue them. I have already given my statement to ADM, he said.

Amritsar resident Raman Mehra declined comment.
The number of state police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel who committed suicide in Chhattisgarh has gone up this year. As many as 36 personnel ended their own lives in the Maoist-affected state in 2017, the highest annual incidence in more than a decade, says a report based on data accessed by Hindustan Times. Before this, the highest toll for the state in one particular year was 13 in 2009. Between 2007-2010, as many as 368 CAPF soldiers committed suicide, while 208 lost their lives fighting. One of the things that pushes our jawans over the edge is depression. This is caused by a combination of factors: gruelling hours, hostile terrain, difficulty in getting leave and being to always be alert and vigilant. This is especially true in regions worst affected by Maoist violence  the seven districts of Bastar division: Kanker, Kondagaon, Jagdalpur, Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur and Narayanpur. The constant fear that a landmine could at any moment blow up beneath ones feet is not easy to deal with.

It isnt that the Centre is not aware of the magnitude of the crisis. Replying to a question on suicides among armed forces personnel in the Rajya Sabha last year, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said 109 personnel killed themselves in 2014, 97 in 2015 and 82 in 2016. The one time the subject gets the undivided attention of our lawmakers is during question hour. This has remained true irrespective of which political coalition is in power. In ministry-speak  whether it is the UPA or the NDA regime  the reasons attributed to soldiers turning the barrel of the gun towards themselves are several: family problems; stress at work; depression; and fragile mental health. Even when the highest ranked officers admit that more personnel are dying of mental illnesses than in the line of duty  BSF director general KK Sharma said as much last year  politicians are unwilling to admit that our soldiers need help. Even when they do, little else changes except the routine posturing about improving their working conditions and bringing more transparency to leave and transfer policies.

Then theres the question of stigma. A 2014 study by Medical Journal Armed Forces India suggests that 96% of our soldiers are reluctant to discuss mental health problems. Although the Indian Army  one of the biggest in the world  boasts a dedicated medical corps, resources allotted to dealing with mental health issues are limited. A high number of American Armed Forces personnel (97%) know where to turn when they need help. This is far from true in India. Soldiers in the army and paramilitary forces are periodically appraised on physical parameters. Isnt it necessary that their mental well-being was regularly evaluated by trained psychologists to scope out suicidal tendencies? To reduce the reluctance of the soldiers in admitting they need help, technology can come to the rescue. The State can always evolve an online counselling mechanism or a suicide helpline dedicated to our jawans. Its time we slay the invisible killer of depression before it gets to more of our soldiers.
At the start of this month more than 100 researchers from 20 countries met in New Delhi. It is not new to travel to another country to learn, Nalanda welcomed international students centuries before Oxford, and the UK warmly welcomes more international students than almost any country. What is new is the scope for research to address shared global challenges and the range of disciplines we must draw on, from anthropology to zoology.

The event was a chance for researchers and research users to engage with opportunities, including the Global Challenges Research Fund, the UKs most ambitious research fund yet.

The challenges facing us may be becoming more complex and interrelated, but so are the means for research and innovation to address them. The challenges come from an increasingly interconnected world and humans increased power through technology to impact on each other and the planet. Looked at through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals, the wicked policy problems seem to lie at the intersections between multiple Goals.How do we get the food, water and energy that we need zero hunger and no poverty at the same time as affordable energy and climate action, all with only one planet to sustain the next generation?

Indian and UK researchers were recently awarded the Newton Prize for work on new forms of solar energy and the two countries will work together to raise incomes of farmers with small- and marginal- holdings using technologies from biotech to artificial intelligence (AI).

How should one address health challenges that respect no borders but that also depend on our own behaviours?India and the UK are working through joint research to address antimicrobial resistance that could undo decades of health gains.

Then comes the challenge of unemployment.How do we find new models of development that can provide decent jobs for all, with transformations like AI poised to both create and remove jobs, and how should education prepare the next generation for jobs that do not yet exist?

How are cities to be made productive and livable? How will demographic and social shifts create, and corrode, communities and trust?How to share the benefits of growth so that no one is left behind?These challenges are socio-technical, not solved by new technology alone, but by how people interact with technology and each other as culture bearing and creative creatures.

We can also see these global challenges through the lens of business opportunities they present, for example India has set an early date for the transition to electric vehicles, and the UK has just established the Faraday Institution to address the challenge of energy storage. The fourth industrial revolution is eroding lines between physical, digital and biological, spurring business models that blur the distinction between product and service.

The challenge for researchers, and so for research funders, is to integrate the way that science itself is changing with the changing challenges it can be applied to. This means more collaboration across institutional and disciplinary as well as international boundaries. It requires building teams of the best talent the world has to offer, with diversity and pooled resources beyond the reach of any one country. India with the worlds largest youth population surely has a lot to offer our collective future. It also means making the most of all the talent available, to educate the full range of the next generation of researchers, especially women and people from historically disadvantaged groups.

The challenges are not solved by researchers, businesses, communities or policy makers alone, but we can increase and accelerate the collaboration between them. Impact is not the preserve of either the fundamental or the applied, as structural biologist Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan wrote recently, almost every modern invention has one or often many fundamental discoveries that make it possible. New technologies let us see deeper and further into the nature of ourselves and the universe, from the cryo-electron microscopy behind the 2017 Chemistry Nobel Prize to the gravitational-wave observatory to be located in India.Technology has made sharing knowledge faster and cheaper, but can also affect trust if users struggle to distinguish between evidence and opinion.

The UK is creating a new agency, UK Research and Innovation, bringing together its Research Councils,Innovate UK and a new university funder Research England. Creating a single voice for research and innovation, combined with the largest funding boost for a generation, aims to build on existing strengths and achieve a challenging combination: answers to fundamental questions (from the structure of the cell to gravitational waves) and answers to the needs of society; advancing the UK economy (it will play a key role in UK competitiveness as part of the new Industrial Strategy) and research and innovation as a key element of the UKs place in the world and advancing global development.

The UK and India are natural partners of choice for each other -UK research and innovation is world-class, India is the worlds fastest growing science power. We are rightly proud of our partnership as nations and relationships between individuals form a living bridge between research communities. Together we can achieve more than either could on our own, but we can also set an example for the wider world to address shared global challenges. The scale of the challenge is awesome, but the opportunities are inspiring.

The author is director of Research Councils UK (RCUK) India. He is responsible for delivering a vision for a stronger and deeper UK-India research and innovation partnership, working with Indian and UK collaborators to achieve excellence with impact. Views expressed are his own.
Diabetic JEE (Main) aspirants will be able to carry sugar , fruits and water in transparent bottles inside the examination halls when they appear for the entrance test next year.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the pan-India exam, announced the new guidelines in the information bulletin of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main). The candidates will be allowed to carry fruits such as banana, apple and orange, however, they will not be permitted to bring packaged food items like chocolates or candies inside the exam halls.

The CBSE had made a similar provision for diabetic students appearing for board exams earlier this year, noting that the children suffering from diabetes need frequent meals to avoid hypoglycemia which may otherwise affect their health/performance. A circular was issued by the board in this regard but the candidates were required to submit a certificate from a diabetic specialist.

It (move to allow diabetic students to carry eatables) was very much warranted as those kids who are on insulin may face sudden drop in sugar levels and the absence of any option may severely hamper their concentration and performance in the examination. Not just fruits, they should even allow them to carry cookies, said Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-DOC centre of excellence for diabetes, metabolic diseases & endocrinology.

This year, over 11 lakh candidates took the JEE (Main), the entrance test for admissions to IITs, NITs, ISM Dhanbad .

The online application process for JEE (Main) 2018 will begin on December 1 and will last for a month.

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The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) on Monday released the preliminary answer key for the written exam to recruit Agriculture Extension Officer Grade-II in agriculture and cooperation department of the state on its official website. The exam was held on November 22.

Steps to access the answer key for AEO exam:

1) Visit the official website of TSPSC

2) Click on the link for  Preliminary Key for Agriculture Extension officer Grade-II (Notfn.No. 51/2017)

4) Enter the TSPSC ID and Password on the login page

5) Click on Login

Candidates can raise objections to the answer keys online through the TSPSC website from November 29. They can submit their objections only in English and only as per the order of questions appearing on the screen with the question numbers allotted by TSPSC. Representation received after the December 5 will not be taken up.

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If the idea of a male therapist giving you a shoulder massage or pedicure makes you apprehensive, your fear is not totally unwarranted. Last week, a young woman filed a police complaint against a male therapist for molesting her while giving her head message in a leading parlour in Ashok Vihar.

While the incident has left people shocked, similar incidents have been reported in the past. A few months ago, the district court in Gurgaon sentenced a male therapist to five years in jail and fined him 50,000 for molesting a 17-year- old girl during a pedicure. A similar incident of molestation took place in a spa of a five-star hotel in Vasant Vihar a few years ago. Parlour owners say that while these are one-off incidents, owners must ensure safety. Most women who come to us for pedicure ask for male therapists as they are good at giving pressure massage. So we dont have females for these services. No untoward incident has ever taken place ,says beauty expert Naina Arora who owns a salon in Shivalik. Arora insists that she has set strict rules for male therapists.

While doing a pedicure, the guy will only massage below the knee. During head massage, service providers are instructed to ask the client if she wants a neck and shoulder massage. They use a towel and are not allowed to touch the skin, says Arora. Kanchan Mehra, makeup artist, who runs a salon in Anand Vihar says that before hiring a male therapist, she gets police verifications done and also studies their personal and family background, past record, education and behaviour. We are also very observant of their behaviour. We also take regular feedbacks about their conduct from our clients, she says. Clients too say that generally, male therapists are well-behaved and professional. If the therapists is doing a good job, gender is irrelevant. I have been getting my pedicure and hair wash done by men since long and I never had a bad experience, says Anjali Verma Guglani, 28, homemaker.

However, some women are not comfortable with male therapists. Its shocking that the woman had to face such disgusting behaviour in a salon. Ive never been comfortable with male therapists. I stopped getting pedicures as most parlours only have male staff for head spa and pedicure, says Shveta Gupta, computer engineer, 28.

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In a bid to reduce pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Haryana government enlisted a slew of measures on Monday. Prominent among these are that vehicles in Gurgaon and Faridabad will have to be parked at designated spaces and steps have to be taken to boost the extent of plantation.

Chief secretary DS Dhesi directed the commissioners of Gurgaon and Faridabad police to ensure that people visiting shopping malls and other public places park vehicles in designated parking spaces such as basements of shopping arcades and not on roads.

He issued the directive during the 7th State level meeting of the committee constituted to reduce pollution in the NCR. The meeting was held in Chandigarh and was chaired by the chief secretary.

We will take appropriate action in the matter, Sandeep Khirwar, commissioner of Gurgaon police, said.

During the meeting, the officials observed that wrong parking on roads leads to traffic jams and congestion that aggravates vehicular pollution.

Dhesi also directed officials to put up a list of pollution checking centres online. He said that pollution checking centres would be established at all petrol pumps in the state for which the deputy commissioner concerned shall issue licenses.

Gurgaons air quality has lurched between severe and very poor since Diwali when the citys air quality index shot up alarmingly to 450. The government was forced to implement measures under the Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP), which included a temporary cease on construction and closure of schools till the air quality improves.

Read I MCGs new list says only 26 commercial sites will offer free parking

At the meeting, officials of the Urban Local Bodies Department informed that a plantation drive was being planned in Gurgaon and Faridabad. They said a plantation drive is already under way on dividing roads in sectors. Dhesi directed the officials to speed up work and complete it within stipulated time.

It was informed at the meeting that the state government would give a subsidy of 61 crore for the optimum utilisation of crop residue up to December 2017, an official spokesperson said.

Officials from the agriculture department informed that farmers are being encouraged not to burn crop residue and violators are being booked by the police.

As many as 2,955 cases of crop residue burning have so far come to light and 236 FIRs have been registered in the state, the spokesperson said. As compared to last year, cases of crop residue burning are considerably less this year, he added.

The officials further informed that renewable energy plants were being set up for processing crop residue and there is a plan to generate 50MW electricity from them.

Officials from the industries department informed that as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the use of pet coke and furnace oil was prohibited with effect from November 1.
The residents of Tulip Ivory and Purple in Sector 69, the entry and exit points of which were sealed by officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), said they would protest at Vatika Chowk and the MCG office on Wednesday if the gates of their residential complex were not opened.

The civic body officials said the MCG has sealed half of the entry and exit gates of these two societies as the developer has failed to pay the property tax since 2015.

At present, Tulip Purple only has one gate operational for entry and exit of vehicles, and the MCG has even sealed half of that gate. The remaining space is so narrow that no school bus can enter society the complex and my children, and all the other children who live in the society, have to brave unruly traffic to catch the bus; they could meet with an accident, Vikas Ranjan, a resident of Tulip Purple, said.

The residents have also questioned the MCG action at the apartment complex when the developer is at fault. The developers office should be sealed, not the gates of the society, they said.

We will raise this arbitrary act of the MCG at all levels. This is a concerning situation and our developer should immediately intervene and our gate should be de-sealed before residents meet with an accident, Ranjan said.

Residents have also alleged that they did not receive any notice regarding any pending property tax or the about MCG action. They added that most residents have paid their property tax to the MCG since the time they bought their apartment in the year 2015.

As residents, we have not received any tax notice. We would like to approach the MCG to reconsider its decision of sealing the gates. As residents, we are facing problems like restricted entry and exit, potential inability to respond to emergency situations, like fire or medical emergencies. We are facing problems for no fault of our. We are suffering due to builders fault and his inability to explain the delay on their side to the MCG, Priyank Jain, a resident Tulip Violet, said.

The developer of The Tulip Ivory and Violet said he did not receive a notice from the MCG and he, too, was shocked when the gates were sealed.

The residents are directly paying property tax and they should not be harassed by the officials. The officials have closed the gates illegally, they should have informed us before taking such action, said Praveen Jain, chairman and managing director of Tulip Infratech and also the president of National Real Estate Development Council.

Jain added that the MCG is now demanding 18% interest on the tax on vacant land. We have asked them for details. I have no problem submitting the tax, but it should be justified.

On the other hand, the MCG officials said they have been reminding the developer about tax submission for two years, and have already given all details.

The developer is well aware of the taxes and he met the zonal taxation officer on Monday. We have sealed the gate of an under-construction site, and half-sealed gates for the residential complexes that are occupied,MCG joint commissioner Gaurav Antil said.

We will open the gates once the property tax is paid, Antil said.

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When Suvodeep Das, a 42-year-old marketing professional, took a Jet airways flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai in September, he said a software bug in the airlines website wouldnt let him check in online without first punching in his Aadhaar number.

When I got my boarding pass, it had my Aadhaar number printed on it, Das told HT, wondering, Why do you need an Aadhaar number to take a flight, and why display it publicly?

In October, another passenger found their Aadhaar number on the boarding pass: this time, it was barcoded.

HT has reviewed both boarding passes. Publishing Aadhaar numbers is an offence under the Aadhaar Act 2016.

Jet Airways did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Speaking off the record, airline executives said Jet encoded Aadhaar numbers to test the proposed Aadhaar Enabled Entry and Biometric Boarding System (AEEBBS): a complex Aadhaar-seeding project that aims to replace a passengers boarding pass with his/her fingerprint.

Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), which plans to install AEEBBS, says it will improve passenger security and reduce check-in time at the Kempegowda International, Indias third busiest airport.

Privacy advocates, however, say the system, which stores passenger biometrics and Aadhaar numbers on the servers of a private corporation, is an example of how the absence of a data protection law in India lets companies compile and deploy sensitive personal information without legal oversight.

Future uses of the AEEBBS, according to the BIAL website, include integrating the system with passenger blacklists, typically maintained by the ministry of home affairs, to determine who can and cannot board a flight.

The unregulated proliferation of Aadhaar uses is compromising the digital identities of citizens and putting them at risk, said Usha Ramanathan, a legal theorist who has written extensively on Aadhaar. There is a misconception that data protection is about data being at risk. It is actually about the rights of people being at risk.

Pilot Project

In January, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the corporation that runs the Bengaluru terminal, and Jet Airways integrated their flight and passenger databases as part of a four-month pilot project to test the AEEBS.

The pilot project incorporated the entire airport journey from entry right through to the boarding gate and included all security check points, a BIAL spokesperson said in an email. The project allowed for quicker processing time for a passenger from entry to security gate while simultaneously enabling fewer points of human interaction.

Participation in the project was voluntary. BIAL said about 15% of passengers opted to use it. In October, BIAL called for bids for a full roll-out of the AEEBBS by December 2018.

The system, tender documents reveal, works in the following way:

First passengers enter their Aadhaar numbers when they book their flights. The airline turns this number into a QR code printed on the flight ticket. Once at the terminal, passengers bypass the standard practice of showing their ticket and ID to a security guard, and instead they enter the terminal by flashing the ticket at a QR code scanner while pressing their fingers against a biometric reader installed at the entrance.

The AEEBBS verifies the passengers identity by querying the UIDAIs database, and then checks the airports flight information system to see if the passenger is booked to fly that day.

Thereafter, the system creates a passenger dataset that bundles the passengers biometrics and flight information into a single file unique to each passenger. This dataset is used to verify the identity of the passenger at each checkpoint, allowing the airport to track the passenger until she boards her plane.

The tender document states that the biometric data should be purged immediately after the passengers flight departs. If flights are rescheduled, the biometrics shall persist until the passenger finally departs.

Why Biometrics?

Bengaluru isnt the only airport experimenting with systems like the AEEBBS.

We have initiated trials on facial recognition, iris and finger-print scanning etc., to generate Aadhaar + Biometric enabled passenger data-sets, said a spokesperson for the GMR Hyderabad International Airport. We hope to complete these trials in the next two months and deploy them by June 2018 for all domestic passengers.

Yet biometrics isnt a fool-proof way of verifying someones identity. Biometric experts have maintained that fingerprints can be copied and printed onto fake fingers  a process known as spoofing.

At Michigan State University, biometric expert Anil Jain and his team have developed so-called fake fingers using 12 different materials, the most sophisticated of which mimics the physical properties of human skin.

Many of the commercial systems may not have state-of-the-art spoof detection facilities, Jain said, adding that he has advised the UIDAI on biometrics in the past.

Jain said it was important that a secured space like an airport have biometric readers that include liveness detection, a term that refers to a broad set of techniques that use a combination of advanced hardware and software to avoid spoof attacks.

However, it is not mandatory for UIDAI-certified biometric devices to have liveness detection features. Documents published by Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC), the agency tasked with certifying Aadhaar devices, make clear that liveness detection is preferable but not mandatory.

Some manufacturers of certified devices say their devices have liveness detection, but STQC does not include this specific feature in its testing.

Prof Jain said biometrics are harder to forge than the identity cards that are currently needed to gain access to airport terminals, suggesting that the AEEBBS could increase security only if the data that undergirds the system is properly secured.

Storage Concerns

Under regulations framed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), it is illegal to store biometric data captured for any Aadhaar-related transaction.

Also, UIDAI-certified biometric devices are prohibited from storing biometric data which casts a cloud over BIALs proposal to create passenger datasets to merge passenger flight data, biometric data and Aadhaar numbers, and store it on a local BIAL network.

While UIDAI did not respond to requests for comment on if these passenger data sets violated its regulations, BIAL said it would work around the system by capturing passenger biometric data twice  once to verify passenger identities in accordance with UIDAI regulations, and once for the purpose of creating the passenger data set.

Our intent is to capture data and store a separate set of biometrics records (delinked from Aadhaar) that include face/iris/fingerprints for the purpose of authentication of passenger at various check points inside the airport, the spokesperson said.

Some experts believe this may not be enough.

The Aadhaar Act and Regulations are supposed to ensure that our biometric records are safe, and entities capturing biometrics for Aadhaar-related purposes cannot store the biometrics, said Pranesh Prakash, policy director at the Centre for Internet and Society.

If biometrics collected doesnt need to follow the Aadhaar regulations because of a technicality, how strong are the regulations? Prakash said.

Last year, 22.18 million passengers travelled through Bengaluru airport. Once the AEEBBS is installed, the airports servers shall become a temporary repository of millions of fingerprints, and a lucrative target for sophisticated hackers who could capture this data by implanting malicious software in the system.

Such software has become easier to access since August 2016, when a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers announced it had stolen some of the worlds most advanced cyber-weapons from the vaults of the Tailored Access Operations unit of National Security Agency, which manages the cyber-arsenal of the United States of America.

Designing the system to minimise the use of biometrics could alleviate these concerns, according to Rahul Matthan, a partner at law firm Trilegal.

If data minimisation is the principle that we keep on top of mind, Aadhaar should be used to allow entry, Matthan said, Then the airport must devise other methods and standards to ensure that security and passenger tracking is achieved.

Safeguarding Aadhaar Numbers

The AEEBBS also raises questions on the manner in which airlines and airports will store non-biometric data like passenger Aadhaar numbers. UIDAI regulations published in July 2017 say companies and government departments must store Aadhaar numbers in secure, isolated, databases called Aadhaar Data Vaults.

Each Aadhaar number in these vaults must be associated with a reference key  which is like a nick-name for the Aadhaar number. So instead of using a citizens Aadhaar number for a given transaction, businesses must preserve the confidentiality of the number by using the reference key instead.

Jet Airways decision to print Aadhaar numbers, rather than the reference keys, on the boarding passes, suggests that the airline is not following UIDAI guidelines  a problem that is likely to multiply as more airlines start gathering this information to avail of the AEEBBS facility. Jet Airways did not respond to requests for comment.

Once the AEEBBS is in place, BIAL also intends to use passenger data, harvested during check-in and boarding, for commercial purposes, but it is unclear if and how this data will be anonymised before it is used.

We aim to make meaning of the abundant data that will be collected, the BIAL spokesperson said, insisting that the airport would respect traveller privacy and the data would not be sold to third parties. In due course  and with passenger consent  we intend to use business intelligence to make the journey more impactful.

For lawyer Matthan, the AEEBBS is an example of why India needs a comprehensive data protection law to address issues between citizens and private corporations.

There is a need to ensure that Aadhaar is based on a sound framework of privacy protection, he said, noting that the recent Supreme Court judgment protected citizen privacy against infringement by the government.

Data protection legislation, he said, would ensure that private corporations are held to the same standard.

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The Bombay high court on Monday asked a 28-year-old woman police constable in Beed district to approach the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal over her request for leave to undergo a sex-change surgery.

Lalita Salve, who now prefers to be called Lalit, had sought a months leave to undergo a sex reassignment surgery, but the request was refused by the Beed police authorities.

She filed a petition in the high court last week, seeking a direction to Maharashtras director general of police (DGP) to grant her leave for the surgery.

Salves lawyer, Ejaz Naqvi, today mentioned the petition before a bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharti Dangre, seeking an urgent hearing on it.

Why should we hear the petition? Go to the state administrative tribunal, Justice Dharmadhikari said.

According to the petition, Salve, born in June 1988, noticed changes in her body three years ago and underwent medical tests, wherein it was found that the presence of Y chromosome in her body was more.

The petitioner later undertook counselling sessions with psychiatrists at the state-run J J Hospital. The doctors detected that she had a gender dysphoria abnormality and advised her to undergo a sex reassignment surgery, if she was willing to and was of sound mind, the petition said.

Subsequently, Salve approached senior police officials and sought a months medical leave to undergo the surgery.

Last week, the superintendent of police (SP) of Beed district informed the petitioner that she could not undergo a sex reassignment surgery and refused to grant her leave, the petition said.

It contended that the said decision of the Beed police authorities was violative of the petitioners fundamental rights.
After the US, France has also conveyed its anguish to Pakistan over the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN- proscribed outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD).

French diplomatic sources said in New Delhi that Paris has conveyed its deep concern to Pakistan over the release of Saeed whose outfit was listed as a terror group by the Sanctions Committee of the UN.

They said France and India will continue their relentless efforts to combat terrorism, and enhancing cooperation to deal with the menace will be an important aspect of French President Emmanuel Macrons visit here in early 2018.

In a strong reaction, India on Friday expressed outrage over Saeeds release, calling it an attempt by Pakistan to mainstream proscribed terrorists and a reflection of its continuing support to non-state actors.

On Saturday, the US also demanded immediate re-arrest and prosecution of Saeed, warning Islamabad that there would be repercussions for bilateral ties if it fails to take decisive action against the notorious terrorist.

The banned JuD head, who carries a $10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free on Friday after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

He was under house arrest since January this year.
A team of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Gujarat police on Monday took away, for interrogation, terror suspect Tauseef Khan, an accused in the Ahmedabad serial blasts of 2008.

Tauseef, who was arrested here by the Bihar ATS a few months ago, had been lodged in the Gaya Central Jail. He was taken to Ahmedabad by a chartered plane amid tight security. The ATS team was led by inspector S L Chaudhary.

Tauseef is named in a total of 39 cases, all relating to terrorist activities, in various police stations of Ahmedabad and Surat, Chaudhary told reporters.

According to deputy superintendent of police (City), Gaya, Alok Kumar Singh, Tauseef was arrested, along with two of his associates, on September 14 from the Bhagat Singh Chowk under Civil Lines police station area.

He has been taken to Ahmedabad for interrogation by the Gujarat ATS team, which arrived here yesterday and obtained transit remand from a local court, Singh said.

An engineering graduate, Tauseef worked as a teacher in a school in a Gaya village where he allegedly promoted anti-national sentiments among his students.
Hadiya, a 24-year-old Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam to marry, arrived at the Supreme Court Monday to give her statement. Her decision to convert has kicked up a countrywide debate over individual liberties, parental authority and so-called love jihad.

Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya married Shafin Jahan without her family consent last December. Her father, retired military man Ashokan KM, approached the high court in May, alleging in his petition that there was a well-oiled systematic mechanism for conversion and Islamic radicalisation that had trapped his daughter.

The Kerala HC struck down Hadiya and Shafins marriage, calling it a sham, but the husband moved the Supreme Court, which in its last hearing on October 30 said Hadiyas consent as an adult is prime.

Lawyer Kapil Sibal appearing for Shafin, told the Supreme Court that since Hadiya was present, the court should listen to her and not the National Investigation agency (NIA), which is probing her conversion, and that she is entitled to make decisions in her life.

The NIA submitted a 100-page probe report to the court.

At the heart of the matter is whether Hadiyas parents have the power to override her decision. The Union government has said parental authority can be invoked in cases where someone is manipulated or indoctrinated.

The SC said that before examining the love jihad issue, it would like to ascertain if Hadiya had voluntarily converted to Islam.

On Saturday, as Hadiya left Kerala to appear before the apex court in New Delhi, she said out loudly to mediapersons that she wanted to stay with her husband.

But Hadiyas parents are certain that she has been indoctrinated.

The SC has asked the NIA to investigate the Hadiyas conversion, an order that her husband wants recalled.

The NIA, in an earlier report, has pointed to a pattern involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala. On November 18, an NIA team arrived at her home for the second time and took statements from her and her parents to present their case before the court.
The Patna high court on Monday quashed its stay on the district judges order declaring null and void the election of office-bearers to the prabandhak committee of Takht Sri Harimandir Ji, Patna Saheb, on technical ground.

A division bench of chief justice Rajendra Menon and justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay passed the order on Amarjeet Singhs appeal challenging the November 21 verdict of the high courts single bench. The single bench had stayed the Patna district judges November 7 order declaring the office-bearers election, held on September 3 as null and void.

The division bench, however, permitted the petitioner to make necessary corrections so that the application may be converted into a civil writ petition. The matter might then be placed before an appropriate single bench for hearing afresh, the judges said.

The judges observed that the district judge had exercised his administrative power in his capacity as a custodian of the prabandhak committee. So the petition filed as a civil miscellaneous jurisdiction case against the district judges order was not maintainable, they said.

The learned writ court has acted without jurisdiction and has committed material irregularity. In view of the above, we allow this appeal and quash the order dated 21.11.2017 passed by the learned writ court in a civil miscellaneous jurisdiction case, the judges said.

The district judge, while hearing Amarjeet Singhs petition, had declared the election to be illegal on the ground that it was not conducted in accordance with the provisions of the prabandhak committees bylaws.

The order was then challenged before a single bench of the high court by the prabandhak committee through its member Charanjit Singh. While staying the district judges order, the single bench had issued notices to five office-bearers of the committee and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

Reacting to the Patna high courts order, Charanjit Singh said the stay on the district judges order had been vacated on technical ground. A fresh petition would be heard on November 29, he said.

His rival Sarjendar Singh, however, described the order as victory of justice.

Sevadar Samaj Kalyan Samiti president Trilok Singh said he respected the decision of the high court and requested the rival groups keep away from the court battle and come on a single platform to celebrate the 351th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.

Former general secretary of the committee Mahendra Pal Singh Dhilon termed the infighting as disappointing and urged the rival groups to sit together to shed their differences.

The infighting was sending a wrong message to the Sikh community across the world ahead of Guru Gobind Singhs 351st birth anniversary celebrations, said another prominent member of the community, Prem Singh.
In yet another controversial remark, Jammu and Kashmirs former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday dared the Centre to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar city before talking about unfurling it in PoK.

Abdullahs remarks drew criticism from the BJP, with deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh saying the National Conference leader was strengthening the separatists and militants. He said the tricolour was being hoisted in all parts of the state, including Lal Chowk.

They (Centre and BJP) are talking about raising flag in PoK. I ask them first you go and raise the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. They cant even do that here and they are talking about PoK, the former J-K chief minister said.

Abdullah, who had recently claimed Pakistan Occupied Kashmir cannot become a part of India, said he only told facts and that what he spoke about PoK was the truth.

They (Centre and BJP) are talking about raising flag in PoK. I ask them first you go and raise the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. They cant even do that here and they are talking about PoK, he said.

If you dont like to hear the truth, then live in the untruth. The truth is that (PoK) is not our part and this (J&K) is not their part. That is the truth, Abdullah said defending his comment that PoK does not belong to India.

He was speaking to reporters after paying floral tributes to Congress leader and MP the late G L Dogra on his 30th death anniversary.

Asked whether he was not hurting the Indian sentiment by making such comments, he retorted, asking What is Indian sentiment? You think I am not an Indian?

Whose sentiments are you talking about? Those crooks, who dont sees our miseries. Who dont see the miseries of our border people? How they suffer when shelling starts?

When asked to comment on the recent killing of an armyman on leave, he said the Centre should be asked the question as it claimed peace had returned to Kashmir after demonetisation.

Abdullah deprecated the incident where two students did not get up when the national anthem was being sung in Rajouri district a few days ago.

Honour to the nation is important and national anthem is most honourable, he said, adding the government should take action against them until they apologised and gave an undertaking that they would not repeat it.

The National Conference leader said he was not aware if cases against stone pelters were being withdrawn.

He wished good luck to the Centres special representative Dineshwar Sharma who is holding talks with stakeholders to restore peace in the restive state.

Abdullahs comments on PoK and the national flag prompted criticism from Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

Farooq Abdullah is strengthening separatists and militants with his controversial remarks because he is frustrated. He has forgotten that tricolour is being unfurled in all parts of the state including Lal Chowk, told reporters.
The Roman Catholic Church in India expressed disappointment at missing out on an expected visit by Pope Francis who started a rare trip to South Asia on Monday.

The 80-year-old pontiff arrived in Myanmar on a six-day trip that will also take him to Bangladesh.

The church leader said a year ago that he would almost certainly visit India and Bangladesh in 2017 and diplomats said protracted negotiations were held on the itinerary.

India was finally dropped from the schedule without any official reason given by the Vatican or Indian government.

The Pope is coming close by and is not coming to India. As an Indian it hurts me as I am sure it hurts all Indians, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, told AFP.

The Pope would have come as a messenger of peace, bringing a sort of a balm to the people.

Indias Cardinal Oswald Gracias told the US National Catholic Reporter in July that finding a time that aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modis schedule had proven a little bit of a difficult situation.

India has an estimated 28 million Roman Catholics who had urged the government to accommodate Francis.

The last papal visit to India was by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

Christians -- overwhelmingly Catholic -- are the third-largest religious group in India. Around 80 percent of the countrys 1.25 billion population is Hindu, followed by a sizeable Muslim minority.

The Indian Express newspaper on Monday quoted the Archbishop of Nagpur as saying that a papal visit would have been a great boost for the countrys image in the world.

Look at the size of Bangladesh and Myanmar, compared to us, Abraham Viruthakulangara was quoted as saying.

Rights groups say religious tensions in officially secular India have spiked since the election of Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the lynching of Junaid Khan, a Faridabad youth, in June on board a Mathura-bound train, allegedly by right-wing sympathisers.

Junaids father Jalaludin had filed the petition last month. A single-judge bench of Justice Rajan Gupta while pronouncing the judgment said the petitioner could not bring before court any flaw in the investigation by the Haryana police, states additional advocate general Deepak Sabharwal said. The detailed judgment is awaited. The petition was reserved for judgment on November 17.

In his petition on October 25, Jalaludin had sought a CBI probe arguing that the Haryana Police had deliberately distorted all witnesses statements to introduce ambiguity, discrepancies and contradictions to benefit the accused.

The stab injuries to two cousins accompanying Junaid and his lynching were motivated by deep-rooted communal hatred against the community the victims belonged to, Junaids father had alleged in his petition. He had also submitted that the conduct of the accused and others in the lynch mob was concealed and projected as if the occurrence/events were spontaneous. The police deliberately acted with undue haste because the crime had attracted huge nationwide outcry, he had said.

Junaid (16) was stabbed to death when he along with his brothers was returning home to Khandawli village after shopping for Eid in Delhi. His body was dumped close to Asaoti village in Faridabad district.

Haryana had defended the investigation arguing that the family did not lodge any protest on the investigation before the trial court. Now, the challan has been filed and charges have been framed against the accused, Sabharwal had submitted arguing that petition was not maintainable as investigation had been concluded.

Out of the six accused, Naresh Kumar and Rameshwar Dass have been charged with murder.

The government had also claimed that Junaids family demanded 2 crore for settlement of the case from the accused. The family refuted the claim and insisted that it was an attempt to defame them.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked Hadiya, a 24-year-old woman from Kerala who converted from Hinduism to Islam, to return to a homeopathy college in Salem to complete her studies, freeing her from the custody of her parents.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, however, didnt say anything on her husband Shafin Jahans plea against a Kerala high court order annulling their marriage. The matter, which has come to be known as the love jihad case and has a bearing on inter-religious marriages and a womans right to choose her partner, will now be heard in the third week of January.

I want freedom I want to complete my studies and live my life according to my faith and as a good citizen, Hadiya said, when asked if she wanted to go back to college.

The court told the college to allow Hadiya to complete an internship and the Kerala Police to ensure she joined the institute in neighbouring Tamil Nadu at the earliest.

Hadiyas marriage to Jahan was struck down on May 24 and her custody given to her parents, who challenged the relationship in the Kerala high court on the grounds that it was part of a systematic conversion drive.

I want to meet my husband, Hadiya said, adding that she was in unlawful custody for the last 11 months. She had spent five months in a girls hostel before being sent to her parents.

Hadiya wanted Jahan to be named her guardian. Your husband cannot be your guardian. You can approach the dean if there are any problems, the three-judge bench said.

The court accepted Hadiyas submission that her husband would take care of the expenses but refused her request to be allowed to meet or talk to her husband freely. Whatever the hostel rules say would be followed, the court said.

The judges interviewed Hadiya, who arrived in Delhi on Sunday as the court wanted to speak to her, for almost 25 minutes in an open court, overruling her fathers plea for a closed hearing.

Since Hadiya doesnt speak English, senior advocate VV Giri helped the court communicate with her.

The hearing carried on beyond the courts closing time of 5pm as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) wanted the judges to first take up its probe report into Hadiyas and 11 similar cases of alleged forced conversions.

Born Akhila Ashokan, Hadiya married Jahan without her familys consent last December. Her father, Ashokan KM, who retired from the army, approached the high court in May, alleging there was a well-oiled systematic mechanism for conversion and Islamic radicalisation that had trapped his daughter.

Additional solicitor general Maninder Singh on Monday backed the high court order annulling the marriage, saying NIA had gathered evidence to show the marriage was a sham.

The Kerala government, too, wanted the court to go through the NIA report before hearing Hadiya. Earlier in an affidavit, the state government had opposed an NIA probe, saying Hadiyas was not a case of indoctrination and there were no forced conversions in Kerala.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tej Pratap Yadav threatened to skin Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an angry reaction on Monday to the Union governments decision to downgrade the security cover of his father Lalu Prasad.

Laluji ko maarne ki saazish ho rahi hai. Hum chup nahi baithenge, Narendra Modi ji ka khaal udhedva lenge (a conspiracy is being hatched to kill Laluji. We will not stay silent. We will skin Narendra Modiji), Tej Pratap, Lalus eldest son, told reporters at the state assembly, drawing sharp reactions from the ruling bench members.

The Union ministry of home affairs announced on November 23 a reduction of the security cover of several people, including Bihars three top politicians: Lalu Prasad, another ex-Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Sharad Yadav.

On his sons threat, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said: If a son comes to know that his father is being conspired against, his security is being revoked, he will react. I dont approve of this. I have spoken to him to not speak anything like that again.

RJD leaders across state are angry at the decision, and the Yadav family is leading the response.

Reacting to Tej Prataps statement, Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Ajay Alok said since the Prime Minister has been threatened, both the state and Centres security agencies should take cognisance and initiate punitive actions.

Bihar BJP vice-president Devesh Kumar condemned Tej Prataps statement in strong words. He said the kind of politics RJD practised; it is highly deplorable.

Although there is a generational shift, the narrative and the language of political discourse remains the same. They always speak the language of violence and practise unwholesome politics. We deplore such politics as we believe in the language of peace and development. We will not allow any element to derail the discourse of development.

Prasad currently has Z+ category security, which has been pared back to Z. The MHA has also withdrawn the National Security Guard cover with immediate effect in wake of the reduced security threat perception.

Manjhis Z+ category protection has also been withdrawn.

RJD leader Bhai Birendra said he would raise the matter of Prasads security in the state assembly. If anything happens to our leader, we will spare none, he said.

Tej Pratap had earlier threatened to disrupt the wedding of Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modis son.

News channels had beamed the video footage showing Tej Pratap delivering a speech in Aurangabad district, where he said, I have been invited by Sushil Modi to attend the wedding of his son. If I go there, I will expose him in public.

Uske ghar mein ghus kar maarenge, us shaadi mein vahin sabha karenge, tod phod karenge (will thrash him inside his house, hold a public meeting at the marriage venue and vandalise things), he was heard saying in the video.

Following Tej Prataps comments, Sushil Kumar Modi changed the venue of his sons wedding from Shakha Maidan in Rajendra Nagar to veterinary college ground (near Patna airport) for security reasons.

Lalu, however, denied that his son would do such things.

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BLURB

The Union ministry of home affairs announced on November 23 a reduction of the security cover of several people, including Bihars three top politicians: Lalu Prasad, another ex-Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Sharad Yadav
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit the campaign trail in Gujarat in earnest on Monday, appealing to Gujarati pride, and lashing out at the Congresss dynastic politics.

It is a formula that has worked well for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Modi in the past. The Prime Minister, who is expected to address rallies in all 33 districts of the state, addressed four on Monday, his first stop on the campaign trail after elections were announced in the western state.

Modi, a four-time chief minister of Gujarat who led his party to a landslide win in the 2014 general elections, thanked the people of the state for making him, an ordinary tea seller, the Prime Minister of the

country.

He lashed out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for levelling allegations of corruption against him. By accusing him of wrongdoing, Modi said, the Congress was insulting the son of Gujarat and the people would not forgive it for doing so.

You dare to come to Gujarat and say things against the son of Gujarat? Will any Gujarati forgive people who make charges against the son of Gujarat? No Gujarati will endure this insult. This land is my mother and I am its son, he said.

Responding to Gandhis jibe that Modis hugplomacy had failed (he was linking Modis greeting of US President Donald Trump with a hug with the release of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed), Modi said the Congress leader was hugging the Chinese Ambassador in India at a time when Indian troops were facing off against Chinese troops in Doklam.

He also accused the Congress of indulging in dynastic politics and not doing anything for Gujarat in its long rule at the Centre.

On one side there is Vikas (development) and Vishwas (faith) while on the other side there is Vanshwad (nepotism), he said, claiming that Gujarat would never forgive Congress for this. How many people remember Kamaraj or Debharbhai (UN Dhebar), who were Congress presidents. Many in the party would not even know that Debharbhai was a Gujarati. The party that does not go beyond one family, what do you expect from them?

In the afternoon, Congress leader and former union minister Anand Sharma reacted by accusing Modi of misleading the people of Gujarat on contributions of Indias first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with his untrue statements.

The Prime Minister suffers from an unhealthy mentality, which is an issue of national concern, Sharma told reporters in Delhi. He (Modi) feels that nothing happened in Gujarat and the country before he camehe needs to be told that India became a nuclear power in 1974 and Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan had already been launched.

Sharma countered the BJP charge of dynastic politics in the Congress, saying the last member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to take oath of an important post was when Rajiv Gandhi in 1984. Rahul Gandhi was asked to join the government when Manmohan Singh was PM but he did not take it, he said.

Modi accused the Congress of negativity. There are some people who love spreading negativity and pessimism. My appeal to them is to stop doing that. They lack neeti, niyat, a neta and a naata with the people, he said.

He also alleged Congress has shown contempt for Gujarat by preventing Narmada waters from reaching people across the state, and said the party destabilised chief ministers from the Patel community, playing on the minds of Patidars.

The community has been protesting for quotas in college admissions and government jobs and Patidar leader Hardik Patel and his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti has partnered with the Congress, which has promised these should it come to power.

Apart from disgruntled Patidars, the BJP also has to deal with the fallout of the Goods and Services Tax, which has affected small traders in the state. Referring to this, Modi said the government was open to making the changes and compared the teething problems with implementation of the tax regime with a new shoe that can bite for some time.

Gujarat is going to polls in two phases in December and the results will be announced on December 18.

(With agency inputs)
Apprehending a political design in withdrawal of his national security guard (NSG) security cover, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, on Monday, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar should be blamed if anything unfortunate happened to him as a result of downgrading of his security.

Prasads outburst came after the centre downgraded his security from z+ to z category, which resulted in replacement of NSG personnel by CRPF jawans and curtailing of the number of personnel deployed as his body guards.

Upset by the development, the RJD leader said the move was aimed to scare him and restrict his movement during the campaigning for the Gujarat assembly poll next month and the general election in 2019.

But, I am not the person to be frightened by the move. I am sure that people of Bihar will take care of my security concerns and I would be safe in their hands until the almighty wills otherwise, said Prasad, while speaking to reporters.

He wondered why his level of security, which was granted during the UPA regime at the centre, was de-scaled without proper assessment even though small-time leaders of the BJP were enjoying the same.

Prasad claimed that the NSG security was withdrawn as BJP leaders, including PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, were feeling threatened by him and hence wanted to restrain his movement and curb his voice ahead of upcoming polls.

But, I am not the kind of person to be tamed. They (BJP leaders) have degraded the level of politics. They want to highjack democracy and take the nation towards autocracy. Whosoever in the opposition raises his voice is being victimised by the Central agencies. My family is being framed in false cases, even as the design was to put me in jail, alleged Prasad.

He, however, disapproved of his son, former minister Tej Pratap Yadavs spontaneous emotional outburst against PM Modi over withdrawal of his security. It is quite natural for a son to loose his cool when he feels a threat to his father. I have told him that his father is still young enough to deal with it, said the RJD leader.

While urging the opposition parties to understand the nefarious design of the BJP-RSS combine to divide the country, Prasad wondered as to why the security of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi was downgraded despite well-perceived threat to his life.

It may be because he (Manjhi) is a poor fellow hailing from an underprivileged class, said Prasad.

However, BJP leader and Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi ridiculed the protests over the scaling down of Prasads security, saying, Lalu se log darte hain...Lalu ko kisse dar lagta hai (People are scared of Lalu. Who does he fear)?

Modi said Prasad was using security more as a status symbol than out of any real requirement. Union minister Giriraj Singh also mocked at Lalus protest over change in security level.

Manjhi, also Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular president and MLA from Naxal-infested Imamganj of Gaya said he was unaware about the basis on which the Centre had downgraded his security.

I still face threats to my life, said Manjhi, whose party is a part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar.

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Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit said on Monday that director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was unable to maintain the sanctity of history, in an apparent reference to the controversy surrounding his film Padmavati.

Speaking at the Lucknow University during a seminar on famed Hindi poet Jai Shankar Prasad, Dixit said Prasad had portrayed the history of the Vedic era in Kamayani - which is considered one of the greatest literary works in modern Hindi literature - and maintained the sanctity of Indias culture.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali was unable to do this. He should have maintained the sanctity of Indias culture. He should not have done any ched-chaad with the history, he said, according to a release issued by the Speakers office.

His remarks apparently refers to the protests by fringe Rajput groups, who allege Bhansalis film distorts history.

The epic drama is based on queen Padmini, or Padmavati, who immolates herself to avoid falling prisoner to Sultan Alauddin Khilji.

Historians, however, are divided whether the queen even existed, but irate Rajput groups have called the film an insult to their honour and forced the filmmaker to defer its release to a yet-unannounced date.

The fringe groups are also protesting over a rumoured romantic dream sequence between the characters of Padmavati and Khilji.

Bhansali, in a video appeal earlier this month, stated there was no such sequence in the movie. He said he was careful in depicting the Rajput honour and dignity.

The film has been facing protests since Bhansali began its shooting earlier this year. He was roughed up by members of a Rajasthan-based Rajput group in Jaipur.

The films elaborate sets were also vandalised during shooting schedules in Jaipur and Kolhapur.
All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) president Yashpal Maliks rally in Rohtaks Jassia village got a major boost on Sunday with INLD leader Abhay Chautala backing the communitys demand for quota and Union minister of steel Birender Singh sharing the dais at the venue.

The rally, which was organised to lay foundation stone of an education institute the AIJASS is constructing for the Jat community at Jassia, was given a miss by the Haryana Congress leaders, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in whose bastion it took place.

The rally had Abhay Chautala and AIJASSs Malik and Ashok Balhara bashing chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the BJP government for betraying the Jat community and planning large-scale violence in Haryana, even as senior BJP leader Birender Singh watched in silence.

CM Khattar says he wants to help Jats, but does nothing to grant reservation or withdraw cases against the Jat youths, Abhay said.

Addressing the rally, Malik warned the Jats will choke Delhi again with their tractors if Khattar did not fulfil their pending demands by December.

The INLD leader didnt mince his words and attacked Birender as well, asking him where he was when his government was killing innocent Jat youths last year. He also announced 1 crore donation for the educational institute and promised all Jat youths arrested in the quota violence cases will be out of jail within 36 hours of his party being voted back to power.

Birender, in his address, offered no defence for CM Khattar, the BJP government or even himself. He said he supported reservation for the Jat community and will ensure it is given at all cost. Being steel minister, he also promised to donate steel required in building the educational institute for Jats.

Earlier in the day, the National Highway-71 A (Rohtak-Panipat road) remained choked due to the rally. Around 3,500 police personnel were deployed on ground to keep a check on the situation. The rally, however, passed off peacefully.

Govt resumes mobile internet service

Mobile internet service resumed in Haryana after two parallel rallies of the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) chief Yashpal Malik at Rohtaks Jassia village and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Raj Kumar Saini passed off peacefully on Sunday.

Mobile internet and SMS services were suspended by the state government in 11 districts of the state, including Jind, Hansi, Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad, Karnal, Panipat, Kaithal, Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri, two

days ahead of the rallies to control spread of rumours and inflammatory messages apprehending threat to law and order situation.

Highlights | Haryana Jat rally: Internet services restored, situation remains peaceful in state

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A Parliamentary panel has asked the information and broadcasting ministry to invite film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the chief of the central board of film certification (CBFC), Prasoon Joshi, to appear before it on November 30.

The Standing Committee on Information Technology that will meet to discuss issues related to films, has decided to invite Bhansali after his film Padmavati based on a legendary princess set off protests from several in the Rajput community over what they allege is distortion of history.

Several BJP leaders and a group, Karni Sena, have been demanding a ban on the release of the film starring Deepika Padukone in the role of Padmavati.

Sources told Hindustan Times that the committee is not mandated to summon Bhansali to depose before it and so it has asked the ministry to invite the filmmaker to the meeting. It has asked for Joshi and the secretary of the ministry to be present at the meeting.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha Committee on Petitions also sought a report from the ministry on the issue, after two BJP MPs, Om Birla and CP Joshi, filed a plea seeking a ban on the movie, for alleged objectionable content. The Petitions committee, too, will meet on November 30.

The CBFC is yet to certify the film and the filmmakers decision to screen Padmavati for a select group of media persons before it was viewed by the censor board has also stoked a controversy.

A few BJP-ruled states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have announced that they would not allow the films release.

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The legislature, the executive, and the judiciary should respect boundaries laid out in the Constitution and work together to strengthen Indian democracy. This comment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi may again get people talking about the executive and the judiciary disagreeing over crucial issues.

Modis comment comes at a time when the government and the judiciary are locked in a long-running debate over so-called judicial activism. Here are five instances of recent times where the executive and the judiciary disagreed with each other.

Right to privacy: The Supreme Court (SC) in August 2017 ruled individual privacy is a guaranteed fundamental right, a verdict that could test the validity of Aadhaar, the controversial biometric identification project the government has been pushing but critics have opposed as intrusive. The government had argued citizens have a right to privacy but it is not an absolute right.

Appointment of judges: The SC and the government have been at loggerheads over how to appoint judges. In 2015, the court struck down a law the government brought--the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act--to end a more than 20-year-old practice of judges appointing judges under a collegium system. The court asked the government to draft a so-called new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) to lay down guidelines for appointments to the higher judiciary in consultation with the chief justice of India and the collegium. But the two sides have failed to agree on it.

SC scraps 2G spectrum, coal block allocations: The SC in 2011 cancelled 122 licences for 2G spectrum granted in January 2008, saying they were issued in a totally arbitrary and unconstitutional manner. The government should have auctioned spectrum instead of using a flawed first-come, first-served policy, it said. The judgment dented the UPA goverments image, embarrassing it before the 2014 elections. The SC in 2014 scrapped all but four of 218 coal blocks allocated by the government over the past two decades, saying that licences to operate them were illegal and arbitrary.

SC strikes down PJ Thomass appointment as CVC: The Supreme Court struck down in 2011 the appointment of civil servant PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), embarrassing the United Progressive Alliance government. The court removed Thomas because he was an accused in a corruption case, saying a person who will be CVC should be without blemish. It criticised a high-powered committee, which was headed by then prime minister Manmohan Singh, that had cleared Thomass appointment.

Powers of the legislature: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled 4-1 in the cash for-query case that as a legislative body, the Parliament has rights but its actions must adhere to the basic structure of the Constitution. Any trespass can be struck down, the court said in 2007. A nine-member bench of the court decided 9-0 that all laws put in the ninth schedule of the Constitution, to avoid judicial intervention, will now be open to examination if they violated fundamental rights.The court gave the two decisions while hearing petitions by MPs who had challenged their expulsion from Parliament, India Today reports.
The Telangana government is planning to gift US president Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump, who will be in Hyderabad beginning Tuesday, a handloom silk saree woven in Pochampally.

Besides Ivanka, other VIP women delegates attending the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) are also likely to get the Pochampally saree as a memento from the state government.

The exquisite Ikat sarees are made by weavers of Pochampally, a village in Yadadri Bhongir district, about 40km from the state capital of Hyderabad.

Officials have refused to comment on the kind of saree, its cost and other details of the gift to be given to Ivanka but weavers in Pochampally are jubilant over the promotion of their brand at the high-profile summit, where Ivanka will lead the US delegation.

It will definitely bring a global recognition to this unique Telangana brand of saree. We are awaiting the day when she really wears our saree, Bharata Vasudev, president of Pochampally handloom weavers cooperative society, told the Hindustan Times.

Vasudev said the uniqueness of Pochampally is the Ikat design, also known as Patola or Chikti in local parlance.

Unlike in other brands, where the dyeing and designing are done after the saree is woven, Ikat design adopts tying and dyeing technique, he said.

Goverdhan, a weaver, said the Ikat design involves the transfer of intricate design and colouring onto warp and weft threads first and then weaving them together.

The design of Pochampally sarees received the Geographical Indication (GI) status for intellectual property right in 2005 after a lot of struggle, he said.

Vasudev said the Pochampally saree was the most favourite dress of several women politicians in the country.

Former prime minister Indira Gandhi used to wear our saree regularly and so does AICC president Sonia Gandhi. In 2003, Air India ordered Pochampally sarees for their cabin crew for a couple of years, he recalled.

We hope Ivanka would love our Pochampally saree...

Apart from the gifts to the VIPs, the government has also chosen to highlight Pochampally handlooms through its volunteers. As many as 500 volunteers, including 300 women, will wear handloom clothes made at Pochampally.

Women volunteers would wear cotton sarees and men would sport waistcoats on kurta and pyjama made of handloom clothes woven at Pochampally.

These trained volunteers, mostly fashion design graduates, have been entrusted with the task of receiving delegates at the airport, coordinating their summit participation and guiding them to various tourist spots.

Alternatively, we have also supplied around 200 handloom cotton sarees of Gollabhama design made at Sircilla for the sake of volunteers, a handlooms and textiles department official said.

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The term Twenty20 may be synonymous with the gentlemens game but in Kerala, it is also about a non-political outfit that is giving well-entrenched parties a run for their money. An outfit floated by a corporate house is running a local body  a first-of-its-kind in the country.

When Twenty20 swept to power in a tiny village in Kizhakkambalam (18km east of Kochi) with 69% votes two years ago, the development was difficult for the politically-conscious state to digest, with many dubbing it a major irritant in the vibrant political scene. Corporatisation of politics, they cried foul. Two years later, results are visible in the semi-agrarian panchayat, which is home to 36,000 people.

Houses for the needy, free Wi-Fi, better medical facilities and nutritious food for pregnant women, the Twenty20 stamp is everywhere. What is worrying political parties is that many neighbouring villages also want to go the shorter, Twenty20 route. The outfits office-bearers are flooded with requests to start a unit in their areas as well.

Last week, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, who was in the panchayat to inaugurate a food security market where edible items are available at half the market price, was bowled over by the achievements of the village, so much so that he sanctioned Rs42 crore for the development of roads in the village.

Kizhakkambalam is a role model. We should replicate it in the whole country, he said.

Locals say this political experiment has changed their lives.

Even small things are taken care of here, said Thresyamma, 72, coming out of the food market clutching two bags and a red smart card. There are four different cards here. Since I am holding a red card, I get everything free, she said with a chuckle.

What sets Kizhakkambalam apart from other villages?

Here, all have equal say and chorus for change is everywhere.

We want to become the best local body in the country by 2020. We focus on four things  house for all, food for all, good drinking water and better roads, explained Kizhakkambalam panchayat president KV Jacob.

For panchayat members, he adds, politics is not a career but an opportunity to serve people. Though the annual income of the panchayat is only Rs5 crore, the corporate house pumps in money for its developmental works.

Soon after storming to power, Twenty20 shut the only liquor outlet, which was collecting Rs12 lakh on a daily basis, and sent many habitual consumers to de-addiction centres. That was the turning point. We recruited a number of MSW (master of social work) graduates for regular interaction with people and monitoring of all ongoing works, said vice-president Jincy Aji.

It was not a smooth sail.

Sidelined, parties used every opportunity to run it down and foisted several cases on it. But it chugged along. We won because successive political parties run us down badly. In two years, we did what political parties couldnt do in decades. We effectively channelised a peoples movement, said Sabu M Jacob, the brain behind the movement, and the managing director of Rs1,000 crore worth Kitex group.

Firms are required to spend at least 2% of the profit on CSR (corporate social responsibility); Kitex share, Jacob said, is 6-8%.

While villagers are happy, politicians are not amused. It is not a healthy trend, said CPI(M) district secretary P Rajeev, adding that it will pose a big threat to democracy. A Congress leader said it was a warning signal for politicians. Government officials admit Twenty20 has brought changes in their work culture too. We plan to make all services online, said a Kunnathunad taluk official.

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A 15-year-old Uttarakhand girl allegedly raped for several months by a school teacher has urged her father to give away her baby, who was born last week.

The alleged rape victim gave birth to a girl last week, a little over two months after the pregnancy was discovered by her family who took her to hospital for stomach pains.

Papa isey kisi ko de do, ye mere bas ki nahin hai (father, please give her away, I cant handle all this), the girls father quoted her as saying.

The girl belongs to a village in Tehri district.

Shes been quite distressed, the father, who is a farmer, said. The family has for the time being summoned a cousin of the victim to help take care of the child.

The childbirth has hit the girls preparations for her board exam.

Parmesh Kumar, a 57-year-old history teacher at the government school she went to, has been accused of sexually assaulting her several times.

The pregnancy was discovered in mid-September and doctors then said an abortion was not possible since the pregnancy was in its seventh month.

The police, meanwhile, have said that theyll go ahead with a DNA test to establish the paternity of the child. We will get the DNA test done (to match the DNA of the child with that of the accused) soon so that we can build a strong case against the accused, Manoj Negi, station house officer of Kempty police station, told HT.

Once formalities are done, the child may be given up for adoption through the child welfare committee if the family wishes to, he added.

Kumar is accused of having also threatened the student with harm if she revealed about the alleged sexual assault.

He is currently in prison, slapped with charges under sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

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KOTA.

A man was arrested on Monday for allegedly abducting and raping a minor Dalit girl in Khanpur town of Jhalawar district, police said.

Parents of the 12-year-old girl, residing in Teliya ka Mohalla area, filed a complaint at the Khanpur police station on Sunday, saying Vijay Rathi (22), their neighbour, had abducted and raped their daughter. The parents are daily-wage labourers.

Neighbour Vijay, who works as a cook, took the girl on Sunday with him on his bike on the pretext of attending a birthday party in a nearby area, said Surendra Singh, assistant sub-inspector at the Khanpur police station.

The accused then took the girl to a room in Harigarh area, 25 km from Khanpur, and raped her, Singh said. The accused later dropped the girl at her house in Khanpur and absconded.

Police took the girl to the community health centre (CHC) in Khanpur in their van, which overturned on the way in which the victims father sustained minor injuries.

After girls medical examination in Jhalawar, her statements were recorded before the magistrate.

Surendra Singh said, The accused has been arrested; he has been booked under section 376 of IPC, section 3 of SC/ST Act, and under POCSO Act.
Students of government hostels in the state will now have to sing the national anthem every morning, a release from the government said.

The decision is one of the many recent orders by various government departments for organising recitals of the national anthem and national song. Students of 800 government and government-aided hostels run by the social justice and empowerment department in the state shall sing Jana Gana Mana every morning at 7 in the assembly prayers.

The decision has been taken to kindle the spirit of patriotism among the children, the release said. Residential schools have already been organising recital of national anthems. We are now starting this tradition in hostels, said Dr Samit Sharma, director, social justice and empowerment department.

Earlier this month, the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) had ordered that national anthem will be played at the JMC headquarters every morning while Vande Mataram will be played in the evening. The order was issued by the JMC additional commissioner to keep the spirit of patriotism alive.

The Rajasthan government this month also organised a mass Vande Mataram recital programme and told all school and college students enrolled in National Service Scheme to participate. The event was organised jointly with the Hindu Spirituality and Service Foundation.
Tobacco products continue to be sold around educational institutions in Jodhpur in violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), a survey report revealed.

Section 6(b) of COTPA bans sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutes; the 2003 Act also mandates display of signage outside schools warning against using tobacco.

The survey, conducted by Gurugram-based NGO Sambandh Health Foundation in September, covered 20 educational institutions, randomly selected from north, south, east and west zones of Jodhpur.

All the schools, the study found, had shops selling tobacco within 100 yards of the premises -- 45% of them within 0-35 yards. None of the schools displayed anti-tobacco signage, as per the law, outside the main gate.

In four schools, pan shops selling tobacco products were located within 20 yards of the buildings, within 21-35 yards in five, and within 36-50 yards in another four.

Indian Asthma Care Society president Dharamveer Katewa said, In Rajasthan, 250 children initiate into tobacco use every day. Based on the survey findings, the Rajasthan governments immediate intervention is required to make educational institutions safe for youngsters.

He said the government has taken proactive measures, including issuing notifications, to curb tobacco use. But all stakeholders need to join hands and work towards successful implementation (of the Act), Katewa said.

Dr Amit Goyal, head of ENT department, AIIMS Jodhpur, said tobacco consumption kills more than 10 lakh people every year in the country. Quoting a survey, he said 5.80 lakh die every year due to smoking bidi and cigarette, and 3.5 lakh because of consumption of tobacco in other forms. Moreover 5500 children initiate into tobacco use daily and become addicts. In Rajasthan, 250 new people take to tobacco use every day.

According to the 2010 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), 32% (15 million) people in Rajasthan were using tobacco in one form or the other; among them, 72,000 died due to tobacco-related illness every year. In Rajasthan, the average age of tobacco consumption among boys is 17, and among girls its 14.

National Tobacco Control Programme state nodal officer Dr SN Dholpuria said, It is really worrying. If tobacco is being sold within 100 yards of educational institutions, then the chief medical and health officer of Jodhpur should ensure 100% implementation of COTPA, even by taking help from the district administration.

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The state government is considering amending a provision of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, which prohibits a person with more than two children from contesting rural local body elections.

Responding to a petition filed at the Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur, the government has assured that an amendment to the provision will be brought in, under which physically challenged children will not be counted. The high court has ordered the government in the second week of this month to submit a compliance report in four weeks.

Sources in the government claimed that the panchayati raj department has suggested that amendments should not be brought in as it would violate the Centres Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Section 13(2) of the 2016 Act states: The appropriate government shall ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life and have the right to equal recognition everywhere as any other person before the law.

The law department has also opined that section 13(2) in the central Act is clear on the inviolability of the legal rights of persons with disabilities, the sources said.

But the states top law officer said relaxation has been given to parents of disabled persons in government services. I have sent a positive opinion to the state government with regard to proposed amendment to the (panchayati raj) Act. The government will soon decide on the amendment, said KL Thakur, additional advocate general.

Chief secretary Ashok Jain told HT, The issue is under consideration of the government and the opinion of the advocate general has been taken.

Petitioner Shrawan Singh Rao (43), a resident of Borly village in Jalore district, was disqualified from contesting panchayat elections because he has three children.

Singh challenged last year the validity of section 19(l) of the Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, which disqualifies a person having more than two children from contesting elections; while counting the number of children, no exception is provided to a person having a physically handicapped child.

The petitioners counsel, Hemant Ballani, said Singh Rao married Damini Shravan Singh in 1994 and in 1996, they got a boy child, Vivek Singh, who has been suffering from cerebral palsy, a very rare disease, since birth.

The petitioners son suffering from cerebral palsy has irregular posture and spinal curvature, and mental impairment. Due to this physical and mental impairment, Vivek is suffering from more than 70% permanent disability, and is totally dependent on the petitioner and his wife, Ballani said.

The counsel said the petitioner was disqualified from contesting panchayat elections as he has three children, including the disabled. The state government has made amendments in service rules, under which physically handicapped children will not be counted. We challenged this discrepancy in the high court, Ballani said.

The court intervened and ordered for necessary amendments in the rules. Now the government has assured amendment in four weeks.

DR Mehta, founder and chief patron of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Samiti, said, It (changing the panchayat Act) will be a violation of the 2016 central Act as it stands today.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its youth wing Bajrang Dal (BD) have left Bengal out of the nationwide map to celebrate 25 years of Babri Masjid demolition on December 6. The outfits have planned to celebrate the day as Shaurya Divas (Day of Valour).

Both VHP and its youth wing were involved in the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on December 6, 1992.

Read: Spiritualism helped Hindus evade conversion during invasions, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

In Bengal, they all (read Trinamool Congress, the Left and Congress) observe December 6 as Black Day. Instead of confronting them, we would leave the field to them, Sachindra Nath Singha, who is in charge of VHPs Bengal, Assam, Sikkim and Andaman units told HT on Monday.

Singha, who recently paid a visit to Guwahati to finalise celebration plan there, said that Shaurya Divas will be celebrated in Assam with full valour.

In Bengal, their only programme is the concluding ceremony of membership drive that started earlier in November.

Read: VHP distances itself from Sri Sri Ravi Shankars bid to mediate Ram temple dispute

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is a vocal opponent of the saffron camp and has lashed out at it on a number of times for the demolition of the masjid on December 6, 1992. Bengal believes in harmony between communities. If somebody wants to celebrate Babri Masjid demolition, the people wont accept it, said Tapan Dasgupta, a minister in Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

In West Bengal, all major parties except BJP, observe December 6 as Black Day. This year, too, Trinamool Congress, the Left Front and the Congress have programmes across the state.

Leaders of these three parties are expected to use the occasion to lambast BJP, its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and VHP. Human rights organisations and some Muslim and dalit outfits, too, have scheduled agitation programmes in Kolkata.

Read: VHP plans rath yatra to create atmosphere for Ram temple

While the RSS does not conduct any event on Babri Masjid demolition anniversary, its student wing, Akhil Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad, will observe the day as Pratigya Divas to commemorate B R Ambedkars death anniversary. They will take oath of maintaining social harmony.

Incidentally, in a programme organised in Karnataka by VHP on November 24, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has demanded that only a Ram Mandir should be constructed at the disputed site. His statement came just a few days ahead of the apex court beginning final hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi case.

VHP state leaders were, however, in favour of organising a token event for the record in Kolkatas fringes. The outfit also kept their controversial Shastra Puja (weapon worship) on Bijoya Dashami a low key event in Bengal.

VHP has working towards a target of enlisting 1 lakh members from Bengal including 20,000 from Kolkata between early November and December 6, said Sourish Mukherjee, state VHP spokesperson.

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Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav has hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modis digital India push, pointing out reports of many names missing from the civic polls voters list.

Yadav on Sunday tweeted, Media reports that a lot of voters names are missing from the voting list of todays election.This type of digital India cannot take us forward.

His party charged the ruling BJP of misusing government machinery in poll campaigning. The national secretary of the party Rajendra Chaudhary said: All government work has come to a standstill as the top ministers are engaged in campaigning--going from districts to districts. The ministers are misusing government machinery while they are campaigning. The BJP leaders are also intimidating public and using allurements like promising jobs to the youth, houses for all, or free power connections.

Chaudhary said despite the fact that BJP was engaged in luring people through its old trick of misleading people through lies and making false promises, the people had now turned wise.

People are angry with the party--both at the state and the centre--as the party didnt do any development work and did not fulfil poll promises. So they are pouring their anger through their votes against the BJP. Now, the voters have realised that it was only Samajwadi Party that worked in the interest of people through its all-inclusive development works across the state during the last regime of the party, he said.

Read more: Missing names, faulty EVMs mar polling in second phase of UP civic elections

He said in the second phase of civic polls on Sunday in 189 urban local bodies in 25 districts, the Samajwadi Party continued to be ahead of all the parties, and it was certain that it would win more seats than the first phases.

The voters have realised that it is only Samajwadi Party which honours its promises to people. Akhilesh Yadavs works and clean image are drawing voters back to the party, he said.
A group of class 10 students from New York-based THINK Global School--a travelling high school that sends its students from different nations to other countries on learning trips-- collected samples of the Ganga water during their visit to Varanasi between Thursday and Saturday.

Their aim was to find a solution to check burgeoning pollution in the river often referred to as the lifeline of northern India. These students are working on a project to find answers to driving questions of how fresh water and basic sanitation can be supplied to Indias diverse and growing population.

About THINK Global School It is an independent high school that travels the world, giving students the opportunity to study in nine different countries over the course of three years. The school is non-profit, co-educational, and non-denominational. The school was created by travel photographer Joann McPike, who contributed the founding donation. It also lays emphasis on leaning while travelling, education through experience and sharing best practices with other educational institutions worldwide.

We are working on Path to Sustainability project-based learning module under which we are trying to find an answer to a major question how growing pollution level in the Ganga can be checked and what may be the ways and what could be the best solution, Julia Gwiozdzik, a member of the team, shared with HT.

As part of the study, we collected samples of the Ganga water at Varanasi and Rishikesh. We will examine the samples to find out level of pollutants and will accordingly suggest few measures through infographics on dos and donts to create awareness among the people, Julia said.

The group also interacted with PK Mishra, a professor at department of chemical engineering, IIT-BHU, to have an idea about the ethos and philosophy of the Ganga.

We called on Dr Mishra at IIT-BHU. He delivered a lecture related to culture and ethos of River Ganga. He also apprised us of the facts adding to pollution level of the river. We also discussed issues related to water sustainability and the future of Indias holy Ganges River in which pollutants increased alarmingly as Indias cities have burgeoned, Paula said.

Julia is from Poland while Paula is from Mexico. Their project is led by two teachers Chelle Marshall (Canada) and Maria Valle (Spain). The students will also create awareness among people through their group on social media. The group will also apprise Mishra of the suggestions.

Principal, THINK Global School, Adnan Mackovic accompanied the students. The students will also try to come out with a suggestion on how a change in the habits of locals may be brought about. They are also helping creating e-store for selling the artefacts made by artisans in Jawahar village of Mumbai.

They said they enjoyed their trip to Varanasi and would like to visit the city again. The group has been to Bosnia. Their next destination would be Japan, Greece and Spain.

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Despite the campaign blitzkrieg for the civic elections, voters of the state capital did not appear enthusiastic on the polling day on Sunday.

Lucknowites virtually said no to franchise, with only 38.66% casting their vote. In the last civic polls in 2012, voter turnout was 34%.

In the three-phase civic polls, voter turnout was 49% in the first phase of polling on November 22. Voting for the last phase is scheduled on November 29.

Just eight months back in March this year, during the assembly polls, voting percentage in Lucknow was 58.45%-- a good turnout. Barely eight months later, the voters seemed disenchanted.

In the 2014 general election, voter turnout in the state capital was 53.02%, an increase of 17.69% from 35.33% in 2009.

But the civic poll saw only a marginal increase of four percent in turnout as compared to the 2012 municipal elections.

Polling started on a slow note and did not pick up throughout the day. People simply refused to come out of their houses to exercise their right to vote.

In stark contrast to the low turnout of voters, campaigning for these civic polls was the most high-voltage till date. Not only did the ruling BJP take the civic polls seriously, even the opposition went all out to mobilize voters.

This was the first time the Bahujan Samaj Party fielded its candidates in civic polls on the party symbol- elephant. The BSP had always refrained from contesting civic polls proactively as they are considered purely urban centric elections.

The Samajwadi Party also pulled out all resources to make a come- back in UP politics by seriously contesting civic polls. For the Aam Aadmi Party, these civic polls were a battle for political survival in the state.

With stakes high, all parties had launched a high-profile campaigning. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath himself led the BJPs campaign by addressing public meetings not only in the state capital but all over the state.

Such a low turnout in civic polls was not expected. Just eight months ago in assembly polls people came out in large numbers to cast their votes, said Vijay Narain, a Varanasi-based socialist leader.

But poll percentage in civic elections has always been low. Low turnout does not mean that voters are disenchanted with the electoral process, he added.
After the chief ministers secretariat in Lucknow, the historical Ghantaghar clock tower in Yogi Adityanaths hometown Gorakhpur has been painted saffron.

The clock tower was constructed by social activists Seth Ram Khelawan and Thakur Prasad in 1930 in the memory of freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil. The tower that stands in busy Sarrafa market was painted yellow four years ago.

Earlier, the CMs secretariat (annexe) was also given a saffron touch. While the exteriors of the building were painted saffron, the decorative designs on the white boundary wall also got a saffron finish.

Over half-a-dozen labourers worked tirelessly to paint the 20-feet high structure located next to the famous Jama Masjid in Urdu Bazaar.

Though city residents said it was wrong to paint a building in a colour associated with any party, officials claimed the decision was taken unanimously.

There is no government order on painting of buildings in a particular colour. The decision to use saffron colour was taken unanimously by municipal authorities, said additional municipal commissioner DK Singh.

Sources at the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation (GMC) said Rs 57,000 was spent in painting of the tower.

According to officials at Gorakhpur chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), freedom fighters, including Ali Hasan, were hanged from a tree on August 29, 1859, at the spot where the clock tower stands today.

Freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil, who conceived the Kakori case in 1925, was hanged in Gorakhpur jail on December 16, 1927, after which his body was kept at the spot where people paid last respects to him.
When chief minister Yogi Adityanath demanded Rs 10,000 crore from NABARD for development projects last week, he probably had resource crunch on top of his mind.

The Yogi government has been looking for loans from public financial institutions to fund development projects as a large chunk of states own resources are being used to implement the loan waiver scheme for farmers.

We need Rs 10,000 crore for rural infrastructure and irrigation projects. The state government will return this amount to NABARD, the CM said during his meeting with NABARD chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala last week.

In another interaction with a delegation from the Asian Development Bank here on Friday, Yogi discussed projects like construction of maha mandis (large markets) with modern facilities to ensure that farmers get remunerative price for their produce.

ADB will prepare a detailed project report keeping in view the prevailing conditions and need of farmers.

While approving Rs 36,000-crore farm loan waiver scheme, the state cabinet  in its first meeting presided over by chief minister on April 4 decided to float farmers relief bonds to provide funds for the scheme.

The government later decided to fund the loan waiver scheme from its own resources when the idea of relief bonds was not found to be workable.

Besides getting assistance from NABARD and ADB for development projects, the state government also has sought loan from HUDCO and other public finance institutions.

A government order (GO) issued on June 7 gives details of the decision to take a loan of Rs 16,580 crore from public sector financial institutions in 2017-2018 to fund development schemes.

The GO said the loan would be taken from HUDCO, NABARD, Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation for construction of roads, upgradation of highways, construction of expressway, urban development projects, rural housing schemes and strengthening of power distribution network.

The state government has taken loans from financial institutions in the past. However, this is for the first time that such a high amount is being taken from these institutions, said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.

As loan waiver scheme has put an additional burden of about Rs 36,000 crore on the states resources, the government recently asked various departments to release funds to construction and implementing agencies only for use in next two months.

As some of the departments released funds in bulk ignoring finance departments directives, a reminder was sent to senior officers of all major departments earlier this month.

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Buoyed by the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at Udupi Dharma Sansad in Karnataka, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has decided to create an atmosphere for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. It was after a gap of 32 years, Dharma Sansad was held in Udupi on November 24-26.

Way back in 1985, the Dharma Sansad had given the call for mandir ka taala kholo (open the locks of the temple) after which the then prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi had ordered opening of the locks.

Saints feel that Udupi Sansad had been lucky for them, which is the reason why they are hopeful that temple construction will begin soon.

The Congress party was ruling at the Centre at that time and Narendra Modi was known to a handful of RSS men. Now, Modi is the Prime Minister. With an RSS man at the helm, we are expecting that temple will be constructed soon, the saints said at the Dharma Sansad after the RSS chief set the tone of the meet.

VHP leaders are aware that the Supreme Court would begin hearing the Ayodhya issue from December 5.

Saints from across the country are unanimous that a grand temple would come up in Ayodhya at the same spot where idols of Ram Lalla (Lord Ram as an infant) are presently placed. The Lord is already there and a grand temple is just a matter of time, said VHP general secretary Champat Rai.

The atmosphere is likely to be created between March 18 and 31 when the VHP would engage cadres to get all the devotees to publicly chant the name of Lord Ram and hold aartis in temples.

VHP leaders plan a simultaneous build up of meetings in villages where they would get people to reaffirm their commitment to the cause.

Saints associated with VHP like Krishnanand Saraswati of Kerala are contemplating a rath yatra from Ayodhya to Rameshwaram to revive the movement. The rath yatra will be named Ram rajya rath yatra that would start from Ayodhya and return after 14 months, Saraswati told the HT over phone from Udupi.

Part of the plan is also to ensure that the proposed blueprint for grand temple reaches Hindu households  an activity that VHP leaders hope would further re-connect the community to temple construction that would help in keeping Hindus united.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RSS had stepped up efforts to unite the Hindus by getting its upper caste cadre to dine with Dalits, which, along with the Modi wave helped the BJP win not only the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but most state assembly elections, including Uttar Pradesh.

We want Hindus to stay united. Not just for temple construction, we would work to keep the community united after ending the barriers of caste, VHPs Ayodhya-based spokesman Sharad Sharma, who attended the Dharma Sansad, said.

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Mira Road doctors saved the life of a 11-month-old girl from Bhayander, who swallowed a safety pin that got stuck in her esophagus (food pipe) last week.

The girls mother said she realised something was wrong after the infant began crying profusely and refused to drink water or milk. The woman took her daughter to the family paediatrician, who saw the pin on a chest X-ray.

She then took the infant to Wockhardt Hospital, Mira Road, where ENT surgeon Dr Neepa Vellimuttam examined the child and ruled out respiratory distress. Images showed that the open safety pin was embedded in the pharynx wall, but had not pierced it. Doctors gave the child anaesthesia and attempted to remove the pin using forceps.

After an unsuccessful attempt, they decided upon endoscopic removal of the pin. Using specialised rat tooth forceps, we caught one end of the pin and released it into the girls stomach, said Dr Lalit Verma, paediatric gastroenterologist. After an hour-long surgery, the pin was retrieved without any injury or trauma to the infants upper gastrointestinal tract.

The girl was kept under observation for 24 hours and the sent home, he said. The infants parents were counselled and asked to keep sharp objects out of her reach.

Had the safety pin not been removed in time, the infant could have died of internal bleeding, said Dr Verma.
In a first, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon form a new cell to monitor dilapidated structures in the city and standardise their structural audits. The new cell will focus on older buildings and initiate necessary action for their safety.

The cell will identify structures that are older than 30 years and will issue notices to the societies concerned for further structural audits. The data of older buildings will be uploaded on a software, which will automatically alert officials about notices to be sent to the societies to conduct structural audits. Also, the cell will find the best possible ways to demolish high-rises, if required, and figure out new technology to safely carry out demolition work without harming nearby structures.

Speaking to HT, civic chief Ajoy Mehta said, The new cell will also initiate necessary action against societies. Pending cases of dilapidated structures will be expedited. We have also invited suggestions and objections from citizens for the policy of dilapidated structures that has been uploaded on the BMC website.

The move comes after the Siddhi Sai building collapse at Ghatkopar, which killed 17 residents in July this year. The BMC had formed a three-member committee, which offered 13 recommendations, including setting up this cell.

A senior civic officials said there are approximately more than 30,000 buildings in the city older than 30 years. He said, Illegal alterations in these buildings will be monitored closely by this cell, which will also initiate action against them. Societies will have to get no objection certificates from the cell before carrying out alterations. The cell will have officials at the ward level, who will conduct regular surveys to determine the safety of these structures.

There are more than 600 dilapidated structures in the city that are declared extremely dangerous for occupation. Hindustan Times had reported the BMC is coming up with a new policy for dilapidated structures. The policy for C1 category buildings (extremely dangerous and need to be demolished) aims to secure tenancy rights and enforce guidelines to determine dangerous buildings.
The Bombay high court on Monday asked a 28-year-old woman police constable from Beed district, who has sought a months leave to undergo a sex-change surgery, to approach the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) for relief.

Lalita Salve, from Rajegaon in Beed district, approached the high court on Thursday, seeking a months leave for gender reassignment surgery. Her counsel, Ejaj Naqvi, on Monday mentioned the petition for urgent hearing before a division bench of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice Bhartai Dangre.

The bench, however, refused to take up the matter for hearing. Instead, it asked the woman police constable to approach MAT for the relief as the issue falls within the ambit of the tribunal.

According to Salves petition, she completed her BA in literature from Lokmanya Tilak College at Wadvani in Beed district and joined the Maharashtra police constabulary in May 2010. The petition said for the past 2-3 years, she has been experiencing a conflict within herself, which is why she felt the urge to undergo the surgery.

The petition stated, The physical abnormality associated with the gender is by birth. Even though Salve is born as a girl, her orientation is that of a male.

In her plea, Salve said she underwent a psychological test at JJ Hospital in Mumbai in June 2016, where the doctors told her she suffered from gender dysphagia, and to lead a normal life she would have to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

Salve, in her petition, said she approached her seniors with a request to grant leave for the surgery, but they refused. She claimed that the superintendent of police in Beed asked her not to undergo the sex reassignment surgery, violating her fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The constable also sought a direction to the superintendent of police of Beed to allow her to use her new identity  Lalit Salve  as a male in the police constabulary. She has sought medical expenses for the surgery and hormonal supplements.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest 65 seats on its own in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls in December. Former allies, the Congress and NCP, failed to reach a consensus on Monday, the last day to file nominations.

The NCPs decision is likely to help the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by splitting the opposition vote.

We are contesting on 65 seats in Gujarat after our alliance talks failed. The Congress believes that it can win the Assembly elections on its own, which is untrue. The party is arrogant, said senior NCP leader Praful Patel. The Congress kept us hanging till the last day and then were not ready to share even nine seats with us, he added.

The NCP has two MLAs in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly. In 2012, the party had got nine seats in the seat-sharing arrangement with Congress.

Last week, Patel said the party would go solo in the polls after the Congress declared its first list of 77 candidates without taking them into confidence. Sources said the NCP got upset as the Congress announced its candidate, Vejabhai Modedara, for the Kutiyana Assembly constituency of Porbandar district, which the NCPs Kandhal Jadeja is the sitting MLA from.

Soon after Patels announcement, alliance talks resumed once more, but remained inconclusive.

Jadeja is the same MLA who had publicly backed BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput against Congress nominee Ahmed Patel in the high-voltage Rajya Sabha elections held in August.

However, Patel said the Congress should have risen to the occasion. Alliances should be formed keeping in mind the larger interests of the party, Patel said.

Congress sources told HT that their trust in the NCP had decreased. We felt that there was no need to ally with the NCP as we will not be able to count on the party following the elections, said a Gujarat Congress state leader.

The Gujarat polls will take place in two phases  December 9 and 14.

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Senior BJP leader and medical education minister Girish Mahajan is again in the news for wrong reasons.

In a video being played on Marathi news channels, the minister, with a revolver in hand, is seen participating in a search operation for a leopard at Chalisgaon of Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra.

Mahajan said the man-eater leopard was sighted 400ft away from his convoy, after which he decided to go after him.

The incident took place on Monday. Mahajan joined a team of forest and police personnel who were permitted to shoot the animal at sight for killing people. The leopard has killed five people in the district in the past one-and-a-half months. On Monday, I visited the families of the people killed by the leopard. On my way, the forest officials sighted the leopard and so we decided to chase it down. Being a legislator and guardian minister of the district, I wanted to participate in the operation, instead of sitting safely in my car, Mahajan told HT.

The leopard, however, managed to stay out of sight of the search team.

Mahajan, a five-time BJP MLA, is considered to be a close aide of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He is also the guardian minister of Jalgaon, his home district.

The senior minister is no stranger to controversies. Earlier, he got flak for attending a function meant for children with hearing and speech disabilities, with revolver tucked to his waist. He also reportedly attended the wedding of a relative of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim earlier this year.

Recently, he came under fire from women activists and opposition parties for advising a sugar factory to name liquor brands after women for higher sales.

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Union railway minister Piyush Goyals surprise visit to the city on Monday was an action-packed one. While on the one hand, the minister surveyed the progress of work on passenger infrastructure, including two foot overbridges (FOBs) being built by the railways and Indian Army at Elphinstone Road, on the other, he went on his first suburban train journey from Parel to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).

Goyal reviewed the ongoing work by the Army on extending the FOB at Currey Road and other infrastructure projects.

After a visit to the CSMT heritage building, which houses central railway headquarters, Goyal floated the idea of revamping the building and transforming it into a world-class transport museum. He also directed railway officials to launch the first air-conditioned local for Mumbai on December 25. Earlier, it was to be launched on January 1, 2018.

Goyal reached Elphinstone Road station around 4pm. The [Armys] work is progressing quickly. The bridge will be ready before the January 31 deadline. Once the work is completed, engineers from 17 railway zones will visit and inspect it to see how the work can be done at such a pace, said Goyal.

The minister has asked railway officials to explore the possibility of construction of a skywalk up to Tulsi pipe road for easy entry and exit to the stations.

Railway officials said the Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS) has given approval for the FOBs by Army at Currey Road and Ambivli, and the construction will begin soon. The Currey Road FOB needs land acquisition, which will be done with the help of BMC soon.

The Army officials said pile work of the FOB at Elphinstone Road will begin from Tuesday, while the construction will start from December 5. The Army has asked the railway officials for blocks ranging from 2 to 24 hours. One platoon consisting of 50 Armymen will be involved in the construction of each FOB. The blocks are being finalized, said an Army official who did not wish to be named.

During his train journey, Goyal interacted with commuters, who praised the governments efforts, and promised 3,000 CCTV and 360 escalators for suburban stations.

Girish Dave, a commuter from Sion, said, The railways are doing a commendable job. Another commuter Ashish Narshana said Masjid railway station needs work. The platform is narrow and there is no place to move.

In response, Goyal said, the infrastructure is 150 years old. The population has increased over the years. This city is mine. We are working on making it better, the minister said.

This was Goyals second visit to Elphinstone Road after the stampede that killed 23 passengers on September 29.
A 11-year-old boy, who ran away from his Juhu home after being scolded by his father, was found dead in an Andheri jungle five days later.

Officers said he had drowned and there were no external injuries on his body, indicating he was not assaulted..

The Juhu police said Rushi Waghela was a resident of Prem Nagar in Irla, Vile Parle (West). He lived with his parents and two brothers.

After returning from school on Wednesday, he played carom with his friends near his house. He then went home, where his father scolded him, said an officer.

Rushi left the house at 7pm. His parents waited for him to return till 11pm, but when there was no sign of him, they approached the Juhu police station, where  according to Supreme Court guidelines  a case was registered against an unidentified person under section 363 (kidnapping).

Around 50 locals had started searching for Rushi. An Irla resident said he spotted Rushi, but the boy ran off before he could inform anyone.

Rushis parents said they put up missing persons posters all around Juhu, hoping someone would come forward with information.

On Sunday night, police said they were informed that a decomposed body had been found at a jungle area in Yari Road.Police identified the boy as Rushi, based on the clothes he was last seen wearing  a blue pair of shorts.

Officers said he died of drowning and there are no external injuries on his body, indicating he was not assaulted. They have registered a case of accidental death.

It is untrue that his father scolded him. I do not believe that he drowned. We do not have any enemies, but I think someone murdered Rushi. We did not get any ransom calls and are happy with the polices investigations. They did whatever they could do. We will accept whatever cause of death is established in the autopsy report, the uncle of Rushis father Vandev, 57, told HT.
The Mumbai police has assured the Bombay high court that it will scan the entire stretch from Sion to Ghatkopar, covering areas such as Chembur, Govandi, Mankhurd and Deonar, to try and trace missing children who have been engaged forcibly in the collection and segregation of scrap materials.

The assurance came recently, after a division bench of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharati Dangre expressed concern that many children might have been kidnapped and engaged forcibly in the collection and segregation of scrap by dealers, as its a big business in Mumbai.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a Bainganwadi resident, whose minor son is missing. The judges were irked to note that though some of his school mates said they had seen him in Govandi carrying a big plastic sack on his back, the police had not taken heed, though an FIR has been registered in connection with the missing child.

We expect the count and identification to result in something fruitful, if not in finding this minor child, at least in rescuing several others who may be caught in the net and are being exploited, the bench said.

It is impossible to penetrate an illegal trade, particularly in scrap and garbage in this city, said the bench. The extent of garbage and scrap generated on account of the immense population provides those with fertile imagination and brains ideas to make money and make that a regular business.

This is an organised and regular business activity, and we are happy that the police machinery now at least knows it, the court said. It does not, however, know as to who is involved and who is the kingpin, in the sense who is instrumental in ensuring that the entire garbage or the scrap is collected, handed over to traders and businessmen and thereafter they make goods and articles or commodities.

The court also expressed concern that many of the missing children may also be forced to work as drug peddlers.

There are regular pavement dwellers and people sleeping on footpaths, setting up a house and cooking food and we ignore them thinking that on account of abject poverty, they are living in such sub-human conditions, the bench said. Such colonies are seen along railway lines and on unprotected railway properties, and eventually these easy-to-access spaces facilitate criminal activities. We see that such persons then set up illegal businesses, including trade in narcotic drugs and substances, the bench said. In that process, they use children and exploit them.
Police arrested a 54-year-old tuition teacher on Monday for allegedly raping his 11-year-old daughter multiple times over the past year at their Santacruz home.

Police said the matter came to light a week ago, after the girl told her mother about the sexual assault.

They added that they had conducted awareness drives in the girls school earlier this year, as part of their Police Didi initiative, which might have encouraged her to speak up.

The girl said her father would rape her every time the mother left the house.

Police registered a case on Saturday under section 354 (sexual harassment), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 6 (Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault), 10 (Aggravated Sexual Assault) and 12 (Sexual Harassment of the Child) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The accused was arrested on Monday and produced before a sessions court, which remanded him in police custody till November 30. He and the victim were sent for medical tests.
The police have arrested one more person in connection with the Sanpada bank heist from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. This is the eight arrest made in the case so far.

Our teams were searching for the culprits in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and some other states in the country for the past several days. One team managed to arrest one of the key accused from Allahabad on Sunday. The team is now on its way to Mumbai, said Suraj Padvi, senior police inspector of Sanpada police station.

The police have not officially disclosed the name of the accused so far. Once our team reaches Mumbai, we will take the person in our custody after producing him before the court. We will be able to say something about his identity and background only after that, said another police officer.

On November 20, the police arrested the seventh accused from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. A day before that, a goldsmith was arrested from Malegaon. That goldsmith had allegedly purchased some of the stolen jewellery from the culprits.

Sudhakar Pathare, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1), said, There are some major developments in the investigations. Our teams are still travelling at different places of the country searching for the other accused. We hope to arrest all other accused soon.

Sources said the police are also interrogating some jewellers from Nashik suspecting there involvement in the case. However, none of them have been arrested so far.

As many as 30 lockers of Bank of Baroda were looted by culprits between November 10 and 12 by digging a 30-foot tunnel from a nearby shop. After taking statements of all the people, the police have come to a conclusion that valuables worth Rs 3.19 crore were stolen.

Accused attempts suicide to evade interrogation

The police have registered a fresh case against Hajid Ali Baig, an accused in the Sanpada bank heist, for allegedly attempting to commit suicide on Sunday.

On Friday, when Baig was taken to NMMC hospital in Vashi for a routine check-up, he banged his head against a mirror a couple of times to commit suicide. However, cops pulled him away.

Sudhakar Pathare, DCP (zone 1), said, Baig had earlier also been arrested for other offences. We have come to know that he had tried to commit suicide in police custody a number of times then. So it seems to be his modus operandi to get rid of interrogation and divert the investigation.

He suffered minor injuries and we did not have to admit him to the hospital, Pathare said.

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The Mumbai Central Government Railway Police (GRP) recently arrested a 69-year-old for allegedly posing as travel ticket examiner (TTE) to cough up money from unsuspecting ticketless commuters.

According to Mumbai Central GRP, around 9.30pm on Saturday an alert commuter noticed that Ramniranjan Chomal, 69, was checking rail tickets and passes of commuters. He informed the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer in the vicinity about it. Chomal refused to show his ID card to the RPF officer. When the officer asked him to come with him to the RPF chowky, Chomal started to abuse him and threatened to strip him of the stars on his uniform and assaulted him.

Chomal, a Borivli resident, was then arrested.

An FIR has been registered against him under section 170 (personating a public servant), 419 (cheating by personation), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police officer said, Till now, we have not got any information of his criminal record.

Chomal was sent to judicial custody on Sunday. He was granted bail on Monday.
The long awaited first air-conditioned suburban train in Mumbai is likely to start running from December 25. Union railway minister Piyush Goyal on Monday directed Western Railway (WR) officials to commence the AC train on December 25. If there is no issue or any problem with the train, then the train service would be a gift for commuters on Christmas and Good Governance Day, he told officials.

Goyal made the statement while taking a ride on a suburban train from Currey Road to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. He also inspected the construction of foot overbridges at Elphinstone Road and Currey Road stations.

On the train ride, Goyal asked AK Gupta, General Manager of Western Railway, to give him updates on the AC local train, which will run on the Churchgate-Virar route. Gupta replied the train would be back from its Periodic Over Haul (POH) on December 10, to which Goyal said services could begin from December 25.

Starting the train service before the deadline will be good because commuters will be able to take the first ride on Christmas and Good Governance Day. It will be a gift from us. We can start services on December 25,said Goyal.

WR officials were expecting the minister to make a formal announcement at a media briefing in the evening, which was cancelled as Goyal fell ill.

A WR official refused to comment saying it would be the prerogative of the minister, but stated the AC local will be back from the POH in the second week and the train can be started any day after December 10.

Further, the WR division has prepared a proposed fare for the AC local train. In order to keep ticket prices for the AC train within the common mans reach, WR officials have proposed an affordable fare structure in which they intend to charge commuters Rs10 for the first five kilometres of their journey. The maximum fare for the 60-km stretch between Churchgate and Virar has been capped at Rs85.

Read more:

In Mumbai, Union railway minister travels by train from Parel to CSMT, reviews infra projects
Mumbai civic chief Ajoy Mehtas suggestion that the committee that governs the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) should be dissolved and an administrator should be appointed to run the troubled electricity and transport company has stirred the hornets nest.

Late last week, the BMC submitted a 10-page letter to the civic standing committee, which takes decisions on policy issues, pointing out that the BEST committee is not showing enough urgency to implement measures needed to pull the loss-making BEST out of its current financial mess.

The letter has details on the financial indiscipline, monopolistic behaviour and problems of the transport body to justify the proposal that the BEST committee should be dissolved. As expected, the politicians have expressed their unhappiness.

There is definitely a case for what Mehta has suggested. Over the years, the BEST was governed poorly. There was no reaction to the changes in the city, the need for commuters and changing nature of the public transport.

No measures were taken even as its ridership kept declining and losses mounted. The inefficiency in BESTs governance was exposed after the electricity regulator prevented the BEST from using its profits from electricity supply division to offset the losses in transport division. In August, it reached a stage that it did not even have money to pay salaries to its staff.

The BEST, which comes under administrative control of the BMC, sought funds from the latter. The BMC put certain conditions insisting that the BEST adopt cost-cutting measures and improve its efficiency. Irked that the measures are not being taken immediately, the civic administration has now suggested that the decision making body of the BEST should be dissolved and an administrator should be appointed to handle the undertaking.

However, experts in the subject of public transport differ on the issue.

Instead of scrapping the committee, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and civic chief Mehta should restructure it and appoint experts on public transport, finance, electricity and technology on the same to handle the BEST.

As per BEST constitution, there needs to be experts on the committee and councillors can also be members. Political parties have ignored the first and taken only the second part seriously, says city-based transport expert Ashok Datar.

In fact, the current situation is a perfect opportunity to do so. The century-old BEST is serving on an average 27 lakh commuters with its fleet of 3,400 buses every day. It has the burden of cumulative losses of Rs1,759 crore. It definitely needs to be revived and modernised for the city.

For years, the BEST was being run by the political nominees most of whom were clueless about how it should be governed. Even now, there are 17 members on the committee and all are politicians nominated by political parties who have representation in the civic elected house.

BEST needs to be run professionally and efficiently. It needs to restructure its routes considering changing nature of commute and new modes of mass transport in the city. It needs to get smaller buses that would run faster on citys congested roads.

It needs to procure smaller AC buses (strangely the BEST committee opposed this even though such buses of private ride-sharing companies get good response of the commuters). Basically, BEST needs fresh ideas. It needs to pick best practices and technology from transport bodies in mega cities across the world and customise the same for Mumbai.

The experts, however, insist that the civic administration should not stress on profitability of the BEST as the bus service should be promoted for decongesting roads. Increasing the ridership should be the focus and not the revenue, they say.

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A 15-year-old girl from Latur, who had alleged that an army jawan raped her under the pretext of marriage, claimed she was expelled from school after filing a complaint. The teenager said she initially fought to get the FIR registered at the local police station in April this year.

The girl alleged the jawan raped her during a visit to her village. He kept physical relations with me under the pretext of marriage, she told news agency ANI. According to the teenager, the school expelled her after the police went to them to enquire about the complaint.

The school then allegedly called her brother and told him about their decision. I want to study further and I have not been going to school since it resumed in June, she said.

District collector of Latur G Shreekanth ordered a probe to verify the allegations levelled. A school-leaving certificate (SLC ) was given on the basis of a request made by her brother, who studies in Class 12. I have called the principal and family members for a meeting on Tuesday. If the SLC was issued without application of mind, action will be taken, Shreekanth said.

The girls family also alleged harassment from the police. A police officer demanded Rs50,000 from us to get the FIR registered. The girl told him her family earns a living by cutting sugarcane and is not in a position to pay the amount, her uncle said.

The family approached the police superintendent, after which a medical examination was conducted and a case against the jawan registered. The family alleged the police undertook a spot panchnama only once and there has been no progress in the case ever since.

Latur SP Dr Shivaji Rathod was unavailable for a comment.

NM Shaikh, education officer from Latur, said no complaint had been registered with him yet regarding the expulsion.
All north-bound trains from CSMT to Kalyan on the central line were suspended for more than 20 minutes owing to a signal failure around 1.30pm on Monday, with services terminating at Thane station. Since then services have resumed, but trains are running late.

AK Singh, public relations officer, Central Railway, said: There was a signal flashing problem owing to which all slow and fast trains running to Kalyan were suspended. We are trying to resolve the issue and resume services soon.

Ive been staring at the indicator, and for a good 10 minutes now, and there has been no sign of any train. I have an important business meeting, but I think Ill have to cancel it, said Mitesh Sanghvi, 23, a Naupada resident who was waiting for a Kalyan train at CSMT.

Services were disrupted during non-peak hours so there was no chaos, but there was considerable crowd on platform numbers 2, 3 and 4 at CSMT, and commuters were gathered and waiting for announcements on foot over-bridges as well.

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The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) on Monday complained to the Noida authority that garbage is burning above a gas pipeline near Kanhan Park is putting the facility at risk.

GAIL has demanded that the Noida authority put an end to rampant practice of garbage burning as it could lead to a major mishap. The garbage is being brunt regularly on the stretch between DND Flyway and Shani temple adjoining Kanhan Park.

Sanitation employees of the Noida authority and others dump solid waste on the stretch along which the gas pipeline runs. Unidentified persons often put the garbage to fire. According to the fire department, 32 fire incidents have been reported from this stretch between October 10 and November 10.

GAIL security guard had reported the fire incidents to top officials. Garbage burning is banned by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with an aim to mitigate air pollution. The Noida authority, in compliance with the NGT order, had imposed penalty on those found burning garbage.

A pipeline that supplies gas from the GAILs Dadri facility to Delhi passes through Noida. The pipeline passes through the Yamuna embankment road located between Kanhan Park (Sector 15A) and Shani temple/DND Flyway office.

We have also informed the Gautam Budh Nagar fire department about the menace. The fire department had in the past doused the fire after we filed complaints. But the menace is rampant and we have requested the Noida authority to curb the practice as it can cause a major mishap, said AP Gupta, chief manager, GAIL.

Our pipeline is laid deep but the gas is highly flammable. Therefore, we need to ensure that fire incidents are stopped completely, Gupta said.

We have directed the staff to take immediate action against those who are caught burning garbage in the open. We will take legal action against persons involved in garbage burning, said RK Mishra, additional chief executive officer, Noida authority.

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The final polling percentage for the nine local bodies in Ghaziabad stood at 46.34% on Monday, whereas the final polling percentage for Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation was 41.65%. The figure was computed after incorporating all data for the votes cast in Sundays local body elections.

Voting for the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation registered a drop of almost 2% from 43.3% in 2012 to this years 41.65%, officials said. Out of the total 13,59,145 registered voters, only 5,66,052 cast their votes on Sunday. Out of this, 3,14,164 votes were cast by men (42.34%), while women polled a total of 2,51,888 votes (40.81%).

Many residents had complained about their names missing from the voters list.

The figures provided on Sunday night were provisional. On Monday, we added actual number of votes cast at the respective polling booths. The overall revised figure for all nine local bodies in Ghaziabad is 46.34%, Ghaziabad district economic and statistics officer Pramod Kumar said.

For all the nine local bodies, there were a total of 21,62,088 registered voters, but only 10,01,841 votes were cast on Sunday.

As per the revised figures, maximum votes were cast in Patla (75.34%) with the Farid Nagar Nagar Panchayat coming a close second with 74.96% polling.

Total votes polled at Khoda Nagar Palika stood at 52.21%, while Murad Nagar registered 88.34% polling. In Modi Nagar Nagar Palika, 59.85% people cast their votes in Sundays local body elections. The Nagar Palika of Loni recorded 49.53% polling.

For ease of management, district officials divided all the wards into sectors. The 100 wards of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation were divided into 49 sectors. However, some of the key urban sectors recorded low polling.

Sector 13 for areas in Vaishali, which had the highest number of listed voters 53,333, saw only 28.57% polling on Sunday, i.e., only 15,237 voters turned up to elect their local body representative.

In sector 16, comprising of Makanpur, Shakti Khand and Shipra Riviera in Indirapuram, only 36.25% of the 27,154 registered voters cast their ballot on Sunday.

Likewise, Sector 16A, comprising of Makanpur and areas of Ahimsa Khand, Shipra Sun City and Shakti Khand in Indirapuram, which has a total voter base of 30,343 voters also registered low polling. The polling percentage here was 30.59%.

In sector 12, comprising of Kaushambi, Bhovapur and Seemant Vihar, registered low voter turnout with 32.84% from a total of 18,073 casting their votes.

In rural areas, however, peoples participation was much higher.

Among the 49 sectors, highest voting was witnessed in Sector 42 comprising Naifal, Bayana, Kazipura and Mehrauli all of which fall under the rural belt. These areas registered 65.02% voting during the municipal corporation election.

Although, the overall votes cast by women was lower than men, they outnumbered men in Loni Nagar Palika, Farid Nagar Nagar Panchayat and Patla Nagar Panchayat.

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The re-emergence of the Quad  comprising Australia, India, Japan and the United States  has raised many questions among the Indian strategic community. This is despite the fact the meeting itself was at a fairly junior level, no common statement was released and each of the countries had a different take on it. A number of commentators, including from the defence community, have cautioned the government from even moving ahead on it. They see the Quad as an American conspiracy, meant to ensure that India and China become suspicious of each other, making normalcy in their relationship difficult to achieve.

This view is not correct in that there is a cloud hanging over India-China ties that does not seem to go away. These commentators are wrong in attributing this regrettable downturn to India and the US coming close to each other. They confuse the effect for the cause. That India and the US have developed a better appreciation of each other is something to be welcomed; the mutual suspicion was unnatural and went on for far too long. India has justifiable grievances against the US and the international order. Some of this  Indias weak economic position that prevented it from historically playing a key role in the Indo-Pacific and subsequent refusal to engage meaningfully with East Asian and Asean countries  is a result of its colonial experience for which the US can hardly be blamed. The US propping up Pakistan and failing to make it accountable for destabilising its neighbours, is more troubling. Fortunately, the US seems to have realised the consequences of its policies and is attempting a correction, even if one cannot predict the outcome.

A basic proposition that must be understood is that ultimately each country acts in its self-interest. Having said that, to not take advantage of congruence of interests would be foolish. Chinas increasingly aggressive posture is motivated by its desire to re-establish a Sino-centric world since it feels economically, militarily and politically confident to do so. This feeling has been strengthened by the US increasing reluctance to commit itself to upholding the global order, let alone lead it. This reluctance predates US President Donald Trump, even if he has made this more obvious. The 2008 financial crisis and Barack Obamas election were key inflection points. Obama began, like Bill Clinton in 1998 after the India-Pakistan nuclear tests, by envisaging a G2 world in which China could be called upon to police Asia. However, it had to withdraw from going ahead due to the backlash from other countries in the region and Chinas own unilateral actions, particularly in the South China Sea.

It is not as if the Quad has not been attempted before, but Chinas strong reaction to it made Australia and India rethink their position. This was in 2007; the Australian economy was too dependent on exports to China and India, and it was consequently diffident since it felt that establishing the Quad would provoke China enough to try and undercut India in its backyard. Worse, for the Quad, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lost his job and the idea was put at rest. However, it was merely put on hold as subsequent developments have shown. And this time it was not Abe who brought the Quad together, though he pushed for it, but it was Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Far from satisfying China, this forbearance seems to have convinced it that circumstances had turned irrevocably in its favour. Its promoted aggressive action in the South China Sea, including land reclamation, militarising the newly-created islands, notification of an air defence zone over international waters and raising the pitch over its dispute with Japan over the Senkaku islands. China also became hyperactive in Indias neighbourhood, rolled out the Belt Road Initiative unilaterally supported by its largesse and worse, from the Indian point of view, launched the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The Doklam incursion was possibly the last straw on the proverbial camels back.

India, on the other hand, went out of the way to try and develop good ties with China. For example, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi in China and hosted him in Ahmedabad before he met Abe. The Indian government, throughout the Doklam episode, behaved very maturely and refused to be provoked into hasty statements or action, despite the stream of unpleasant language used by China.

It is this continued Chinese unilateralism posing a threat to global rules of behaviour that led to the resurrection of the Quad, albeit in a low-key, non-threatening manner. Xi, and not Abe, should be seen as the catalyst.

Shakti Sinha is director, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi, and distinguished fellow, Institute for National Security Studies Sri Lanka

The views expressed are personal
Ecology is no longer the preserve of the environmentally-oriented elite. It has become the business of everyone  it has become a fight for survival.

In the last 10 to 12 years, I have seen the waters of the Kaveri, the Krishna and the Godavari, the most significant rivers of southern India, deplete very rapidly. Scientific studies say that we currently have only 25% of the per capita water we had in 1947. By 2025, we will have 7% of that. By 2030, only 50% of the water necessary for the survival of 1.25 billion people will be available. This is not activist, alarmist talk  this is based on scientific projections that show what our nation is heading towards.

When water bodies deplete, soil conditions deteriorate drastically. The projections are that 25% of Indias agricultural land will degrade to desert conditions in the next three to five years. Going by this, in another 20 years, 40% of Indias agricultural land will be unusable for cultivation. The soil would have become sand. In another 40 years, 60% of Indias land will be unusable for agriculture.

There is a unique history of 12,000 years of year-round agriculture in this land. Nowhere else can you find such rich agricultural history. This has given our farmers an innate and deep-rooted knowledge of the land and an intrinsic understanding of genuinely organic agriculture. This is the greatest feat in our country  our farmers have been providing food for 1.3 billion people with almost no technology or much infrastructure. With traditional wisdom and knowledge, in soil that is rapidly depleting, they have managed to continuously supply vital produce. It is no small accomplishment.

Given this, is it not a shame, that those who feed us cannot feed their children or themselves? In the last 12 years, nearly three lakh farmers have committed suicide. But people try to explain this citing the falling prices of tomatoes! We should understand that if any of us were to turn towards agricultural activity in a land which is not fertile and with inadequate water, we would also edge towards suicide.

Right now, we must focus on getting the water bodies back in full flow, which will naturally lead to an improvement of soil quality. So what is the solution? The simplest way is to create a green cover around our rivers. As a first step, we need to create proper forests in upper riversides and a buffer zone filled with a green cover on either side of the river. This will enhance the water retention capacity of soil along the river.

It is important the nation stands up in one voice for our rivers. If all of us are determined, if we make a strong statement to the government that the people of this nation are with them, with enhanced green cover and proper management of water, we will definitely see an increase in river flow in the next 15 to 20 years. Let us make it happen.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a spiritual leader and author

The views expressed are personal
Gudri Sahni, a fish trader in north BiharMuzaffarpur district, would have been alive today had the police acted on his petition and provided him protection.

Sahni, 50, was gunned down at Pitaunjhia village in Hathauri police station area of the district on Sunday night, just five hours after he petitioned the police fearing threat to his life and seeking protection.

Sahni had visited the Hathauri police station, 23 kms north of Muzaffarpur and 94 km s from State capital Patna, on Sunday evening and submitted a petition in which he apprehended threat to his life from a village strongman over a land dispute.

But they sat over my fathers application and he was shot dead hardly five hours after he returned from the police station, the victims son, Manoj Sahni said.

The news of Gudri Sahnis murder spread like wildfire in the village and an angry mob blocked the national highway-77 near Pitaunjhia. The blockade was lifted only after senior officials reached there and assured the protestors of action against culprits.

While the station house officer of Hathaudi did not responded to HTs calls, Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Kumar said he would look into the matter. If any laxity was found from our men, stern action will be taken against them, the SSP said.
Pune Hinjewadi police were on the hunt on Sunday for an engineer who is accused of secretly filming a couple living in a flat next to where he was staying, on his mobile phone. The accused filmed the couple getting intimate with each other.

He suspended the mobile phone outside the couple's window with the help of a selfie stick and recorded their private moments without their consent or knowledge, according to police. He allegedly managed to do that as he lived in the flat above the couple.

The incident came to light when Ashte showed the videos to the woman and she, in turn, went to the police and filed a complaint.

It then emerged that he had been filming the couple for at least three months, according to the police. Police officials said Ashte stays in the residential society with his wife, child and parents.

A case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against Kundan Ashte, based on a complaint filed by the 29-year-old woman.

"The complainant and others in the housing society confronted Ashte before lodging the police complaint, senior police Insector Nitin Vaykar said. He confirmed the police are currently looking for him.

Ashte is also believed to have transferred and saved the footage on his laptop, according to the woman's complaint.
It will cost about Rs 11,000 crore to increase the train speed up to 200 km per hour on the Delhi-Chandigarh route so that a passenger can travel the distance in two hours, according to the draft final report submitted by SNCF, Frances national state-owned railway company, to the Indian Railways.

The 245-km corridor, one of the busiest routes in North India, is slated to be the first semi-high speed project being taken up to run trains at maximum speeds of 200 kmph with French help.

In numbers Distance: 245 km Max speed: 200 kmph Travel time: 2 hours

The 1,700-page detailed report will be taken up for finalisation by the Indian Railways on Monday for preparing tendering documents and drawing out an action plan as a way forward.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit India in January 2018 when the project will be formally launched. The total travel time will be 2 hours and 2 minutes, with two stoppages at Panipat and Ambala, according to the report.

Currently, the Shatabdi Express covers the distance in about three hours and 30 minutes, travelling at a maximum speed of 110 kmh.

The report has pegged the total estimated cost at Rs 11,218 crore, which includes the cost of signals upgrade, main civil works and rolling stock among others. Senior officials from both sides will examine the report and a final cost will be decided after the discussion on Monday, said a senior railway ministry official.

There will be re-alignment as there are about 20 major curves spanning over 32.7km on the existing Delhi-Chandigarh rail route. However, there will be no acquisition of fresh land for the realignment as it will be done within the Railways right of way.

Beside Delhi-Chandigarh, there will be upgrades of seven more routes totalling about 4,000 km, including Mumbai-Goa, Chennai-Hyderabad, Mysuru-Chennai, Delhi-Kanpur and Nagpur-Secunderabad. The Delhi-Chandigarh route is expected to be a demonstrative project by France.
The special investigating team (SIT) formed by the Punjab Police to investigate the drug case in which leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly Sukhpal Singh Khaira has been summoned by a Fazilka court had recommended questioning of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader. The case of drug smuggling from India-Pakistan border revolved around Khairas close aide Gurdev Singh.

Khaira was never summoned in the case till October 31 this year, when the court of additional sessions judge, Fazilka, summoned him under Section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after awarding sentence to all ten accused, including Gurdev Singh.

The SIT report, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, had raised strong questions over Khairas role stating that during his campaign in 2012 assembly polls, Gurdev, who was chairman of Dhilwan market committee in Bholath constituency, used to manage funds for campaign in ten villages.

Perhaps due to this reason, Gurdev was indulging in drug and narcotic trade without any fear as he felt assured that in case of any difficulty or involvement in any criminal activity, he will be protected by Khaira with whom he had very close relations, submitted the SIT, headed by then deputy inspector general (DIG), Ferozepur, AS Chahal.

The Fazilka SSP and SP (detective) were the other two members of the SIT formed on March 9, 2015 by then IG Bathinda Parmjit Singh Umranangal after Khairas name cropped up in the case following the arrest of Gurdev and ten other accused.

Gurdev, who was arrested by Fazilka police with 1.8 kg heroin, 24 gold biscuits, one country-made pistol and 2 Pakistani SIMs, was sentenced to 20-year imprisonment in the case by the Fazilka court. He was accused of smuggling heroin by using his Tata Safari car.

The SIT claimed that Dara Singh, a notorious drug racketeer based in Canada, had also figured in the nexus run by Gurdev.

GAVE KHAIRA RS 1 LAKH FROM DRUG MONEY: ACCUSED

HT has also accessed the case dairy of the police in which Gurdev has stated that he gave Rs 1 lakh from the drug money as election fund to Khaira.

Proper examination of Khaira is required to understand and unravel the working of Daras cartel and the linkages between that cartel and the one run by Gurdev, recommended the SIT.

Accusing Khaira of making efforts to save Gurdev, SIT also found that when police was hunting for Gurdev, Khaira directed Gurdevs UK-based sister Charanjit Kaur that she should talk to him on the mobile phone of his personal security officer (PSO) Joga Singh. Charanjit told her brother that Khaira wanted him to remain underground till things are settled.

When the police raided house of Baljit Kaur, Gurdevs second sister based in Delhi, she told the police party that Khaira Bhaji must have given a telephonic call to the police with regard to his brother. She boasted that Khaira would take care of this case and it would be brushed under the table, reads the SIT report which claims to have a record of 65 telephone calls made between Khaira, Gurdev, Charanjit Kaur, Khairas PSO Joga Singh and Khairas PA Manish Kumar.

When on the run, Gurdev spoke to Khaira five times and Charanjit Kaur called Khaira 15 times from UK. Khaira has also been accused of calling police officers to portray Gurdev as innocent.

THE POLICE ROLE

The duly-signed SIT report is not having any date, and when HT talked to senior police officials involved in the case, they did not divulge anything.

SIT head AS Chahal, who is a DIG rank officer, said he could not recollect any details. Its a two-year-old matter and I am in Gujarat for poll duty.

Umranangal, who had formed the SIT, also passed the buck on the issue. I got transferred as IG Bathinda after the case and as far as I know, the SIT report was submitted when Jitender Jain replaced me as IG, he said.

Jain, however, denied Umranangals claim. SIT report was never submitted to me, he said.

Interestingly, what has further raised strong doubts over police officials in the case is the fact that the SIT report was never made part of the challan filed in the case in which Gurdev and nine others were awarded imprisonment.

The challan was filed on September 6, 2015 and the SIT report, according to sources, came after March 2016. Still no effort was made by the police to make it as part of court proceedings. Who sat on the file of SIT report, that too when Shiromani Akali Dal was in power, is a big mystery.

An after-thought to fix me: Khaira

Khaira, when contacted, claimed that SIT report was an afterthought. This is what I have been claiming. When SIT recommended my questioning why I was not asked to appear before the police. Why SIT report was not made part of the challan or subsequent challan was not filed, he questioned.

Khaira said the SIT report must have been prepared recently to fix him in the case. Punjab Police has the best track record in fixing people and has zero credibility in investigating sensitive cases, he said while rubbishing the SIT findings as a trash.

Over receiving election funds from drug case accused Gurdev, Khaira said Gurdev was never involved in drug trade as per police findings in 2012.

5 questions that beg answers

1. Why Khaira was not summoned in the drug case even after the SIT recommendation?

2. Why the SIT report was not attached with the court case or made part of the challan?

3. Who dumped the SIT findings under the SAD-BJP regime, which was desperate to raise questions over Khaira?

4. Why Khaira was summoned in the case only after the court convicted his aide and other accused in the case?

5. Why public prosecutor in the case never asked for the SIT report during the trial for more than two years?
Punjabi is not the language that can ever die, says Sahitya Akademi awardee Punjabi playwright Atamjit Singh. He said, The languages that do not have the pull cant survive but Punjabi is not one of those.

Atamjit was in conversation with authors Manmohan Singh and Jasbeer Mand at the Chandigarh Literati 2017. Ravee Pandher was moderating the discussion. The discussion mainly focussed on the situation of Punjabi literature in the present time.

Atamjit further said, A large number of Punjabis now live outside Punjab and the pull they feel towards their mother tongue will not let it die.

Mand talked about the violence that Punjab has seen in the past 1,000 years which was mostly by the outsiders and how the people had turned violent to each other in 1947.

Love for language beyond borders

He recited two poems to tell that the love for Punjabi is as strong beyond borders as it is here, one by Tariq Gujjar named Poore Panjab Di Adhi Nazam and another by Ahmed Saleem namely Wahga.

Mand talked about the violence that Punjab has seen in the past 1,000 years which was mostly by the outsiders and how the people had turned violent to each other in 1947. Manmohan added, To understand Punjab, one has to understand Punjabs relation and history with violence.

Mand said, Punjabis had invented a word for the violence in 1947, Halle. This word gave voice to the feeling that jo asin karya oh vi galt si jo tusi karya oh vi galt si (what we did was wrong and what you did was wrong). It was a word that came out of peoples minds.

Changing literature with time

The writers also talked about how the Punjabi literature has changed with time. Atamjit mentioned a young poet, Harmanjeet, whose book Rani Tat had a wide reception in Punjab. He read a poem called Khyalan da Lehnga and showed the audience how the poetry and the expressions in it have changed over time. He said that the sound and the music too have changed.

He said, Fine poetry is being written on the social media, it is not the case that poetry or literature is the talk of the past. Publication is of course in a dismal situation. The number of writers in Punjabi has, on the contrary, increased.

Introspections the key for revival

Mand said he had continued writing in Punjabi while living in Japan. When asked about his experience, he said, When we see our culture and tradition after a gap, it gives the writer a scope to see it clearly and write about it.

When asked about how they see the current situation, Atamjit said, This is the period when we are writing about history. It means that we are introspecting. And introspection is the most important thing for revival. He concluded the discussion with Jaswant Zafars poem, Eh Banda Ki Hunda.
Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) MLAs Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjeet Singh Bains on Monday released an audio clip about bribe allegedly given to a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court in a case against Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who is an MLA of the LIPs ally Aam Aadmi Party and leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Khaira had moved the HC against summons issued to him in a case by a court in Fazilka that wanted him to face trial as an additional accused in a 2015 drug seizure case. But the HC on November 17 dismissed the petition challenging the summoning, and asked Khaira to approach the trial court for anticipatory bail.

In light of that, at a press conference on Monday, the Bains brothers released the audio recording of a purported conversation between prominent lawyer Amit Chaudhary and a dismissed Punjab Civil Services (PCC) officer, TK Goyal. In it, Amit talks about payment of Rs 35 lakh to the judge in connection with the Khaira case.

Simarjeet said the audio was recorded when Goyal had gone to meet Amit for some work. Amit is heard saying that he had got work done for Rs 35 lakh for an adverse order in Khairas case too.

Simarjeet added, We have full faith in the judiciary, but this matter needs to be probed as the allegations are of a serious nature. I will provide evidence in case the probe is given to a central agency.

Later, the brothers and some MLAs from the AAP, including Khaira, met Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore demanding a CBI probe and immediate registration of FIR. We also sought time from the Chief justice of India and the high court CJ to place before them the audio and seek a probe, Simarjeet said.

Goyal, who was recently dismissed from service on corruption charges, was not available for comment. Efforts to get the judges comment did not bear fruit either, as staff at his home said he was out of town.

Meanwhile, Amit told HT that the allegations are vendetta against him because he was appointed additional advocate general (AAG) by the previous SAD-BJP government. The MLAs claiming possession of the audio recording are trying to hide the drug charges against them, and Goyal is mixed up with them, he said. He denied having said anything that is being alleged, yet added, I had a throat infection that day and had consumed some liquor. He accepted that Goyal came to meet him to discuss the case of his dismissal.

Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh refused to be drawn into the controversy: The matter is in the court, I dont want to comment.

Khaira said he had demanded from the assemblys business advisory committee a discussion in the ongoing session. He accused the CM, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, and specifically the power minister, Rana Gurjit Singh, of targeting him for exposing corruption.
Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a grumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be imminent.

The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancellations could be extended.

Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak, the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement after raising the alert from three to its highest level of four.

The potential for a larger eruption is imminent, it said, referring to a visible glow of magma at Mount Agungs peak overnight, and warning residents to evacuate a danger zone at a radius of 8-10 km (5-6 miles).

Sutopo, a BNPB spokesman, said there had been no casualties so far and 40,000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move.

Video footage shared by the agency showed volcanic mud flows (lahar) on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path.

Villagers are seen at a sport hall used as temporary shelter during the eruption of Mount Agung in Klungkung, Bali. (REUTERS)

Read: Bali volcano eruption: What travellers need to know

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, and its airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesias eastern archipelago.

But tourism has slumped in parts of Bali since September when Agungs volcanic tremors began to increase and the alert level was raised to maximum before being lowered in October when seismic activity calmed.Im really worried. Maybe Ill go somewhere south that I think will be safe to avoid being trapped by the ashfall, said Maria Becker, a German tourist staying in Amed, around 15 km (9 miles) from the volcano.

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). Northeastern Bali is relatively undeveloped compared to the more heavily populated southern tourist hub of Kuta-Seminyak-Nusa Dua.

Indonesias Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG), which is using drones, satellite imagery and other equipment, said predictions were difficult in the absence of instrumental recordings from the last eruption 54 years ago.

In 1963, an eruption of Agung killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages by hurling out pyroclastic material, hot ash, lava and lahar.

Recordings now show the northeast area of Agungs peak has swollen in recent weeks indicating there is fairly strong pressure toward the surface, PVMBG said.

It warned that if a similar eruption occurred, it could send rocks bigger than fist-size up to 8 km (5 miles) from the summit and volcanic gas to a distance of 10 km (6 miles) within three minutes.

Some analysis, however, suggests the threat should not be as great this time because energy at Mount Agungs magma chamber is not as big and the ash column only around a quarter as high so far as the 20 km (12 miles) reached in 1963, Sutopo said.

Passengers gather at the Gusti Ngurah Rai International airport in Denpasar, Bali. (AFP)

CHECK-INS CLOSED

Bali airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from the volcano, will be closed for 24 hours, its operator said.

Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighbouring provinces. Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said it was cancelling flights on Tuesday, while Jetstar was offering to exchange Bali bound tickets for other destinations.

Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.

We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been cancelled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins, have been closed indefinitely, said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles.

Cover-More, Australias biggest travel insurer, said on its website customers would only be covered if they had bought policies before the volcano alert was first issued on Sept. 18.

Indonesias hotel and restaurant association said stranded tourists at member hotels would get one nights free stay.

The main airport on Lombok, next to Bali, was closed after being open for much of the day, a spokesman said.

Airlines avoid flying when volcanic ash is present because it can damage engines and can clog fuel and cooling systems and hamper visibility.
China on Monday congratulated Zimbabwes new President Emmerson Mnangagwa but denied it played any part in his takeover or in the ousting of strongman Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwes army chief General Constantine Chiwenga visited Beijing shortly before the political crisis erupted in Harare, leading to questions about whether Beijing had any role in the power transition.

China had long been one of Mugabes most powerful allies and a major trade partner, as the West shunned him over his governments human rights violations.

Calling the army chiefs visit a pre-arranged and normal interaction, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang denied any involvement in Zimbabwean politics.

It was planned long before and it was also approved by the former President Mugabe, Geng said.

China always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries internal affairs and this remains unchanged.

Beijing pointedly did not take sides after the army put Mugabe under house arrest earlier this month. Last week the Chinese foreign ministry declared that it respected his decision to resign but praised him as a good friend of China.

Relations between the two countries date back to the liberation struggle of the 1960s, when Beijing provided arms and trained some of the top guerrilla leaders.

During those years, Mnangagwa received training in China.

Nicknamed the Crocodile for his ruthlessness, Mnangagwa was Zimbabwes vice president until his sacking earlier this month, which ultimately led to Mugabes downfall.

We congratulate President Mnangagwa on his inauguration, Geng said.

We firmly support Zimbabwe following a path that supports its own national conditions and we believe under the leadership of Mr Mnangagwa Zimbabwes national development will make further progress.
Today Medinat Ghazzah, or Gaza City, is running on empty  and yet still going. Gaza City, the Gaza Strips principal urban centre, carries various scars of war. Since 2006, Gaza has endured one civil war between Palestinians, three wars between the ruling Hamas militant group and Israel, a decade of Hamas repressive rule, and a crushing blockade by neighbouring Israel and Egypt  all of which have crippled the economy and turned the tiny territory into a site of humanitarian crisis.

Gaza Citys dusty buildings and bumpy roads, many still damaged or half-rebuilt from the last war, are at times reminiscent of facades found in Egypt and the Palestinian West Bank. But it is the crushing monotony and suffocating limits of life that define the city for residents who have walked the same streets for a decade without a chance of getting out. Still, the city carries on, with coffee shops, traffic, clothes stores, restaurants and even a new upscale mall offering diversions for those who can afford them.

The citys framework, like the rest of Gaza, is innately tied up with politics. Gaza was once part of Britains Mandate Palestine. Then came Egyptian occupation in 1948, followed by Israeli in 1967. Now, for the last decade, Hamas, which the European Union has designated as terrorist group, has ruled the tiny territory while Israel controls most borders.

Palestinian children take part in a demonstration in Gaza City on November 23, 2017, calling for reconstruction of their homes, which were destroyed during the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the summer of 2014. (AFP)

This month  on 29 November  brings the United Nations international day of solidarity with Palestinians. Gazans, however, dont see much of the international community these days. Thats in part because Israel strictly limits entry to the Gaza Strip, with mainly journalists (Israelis and Palestinians excluded) and aid and development workers allowed through. Even then, UN bodies and NGOs working in Gaza constrain much of the movement of their foreign staff due to security protocols. Along Gaza Citys highly polluted coast are two expensive hotels that are considered the safe zone where aid workers and many journalists stay.

Facing an effective and corrupt government, the UN and NGOs have stepped in. Gazans are grateful  but know they can do better and mistrust the politics that dictates where funds are directed. Around much of Gaza are signs thanking Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates for funding reconstruction projects. But the Arab countries have pledged far more for reconstruction than theyve actually delivered, while many Gazans feel acutely abandoned by the Arab states and international community, and know new buildings still go first to those with Hamas connections.

Highlights 40  rank of Gaza city in 2014 list of most densely populated cities worldwide. At the time, the population of Gaza City and surrounding area was estimated at 750,000. 360  square kilometers covered by the Gaza Strip, about the size of Detroit. 80  percentage of families in Gaza who receive some sort of aid. 44  percentage official unemployment rate in Gaza; for those aged 15-29, the rate rises to 60%. 3  number of hours of electricity generated by Gazas only working electricity plant at a severe low point this summer. For the last few years Gaza has averaged around at most eight hours a day of electricity.

Gaza City, famed for its port, is more than 5,000 years old. Over centuries various empires between the Nile River and Middle East  Philistines, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Alexander the Great, Romans, Byzantines, Moguls, Ottomans, among others  ruled Gaza, as Jean-Pierre Filiu documents in Gaza: A History . Gazas status as a key trading and transit place shaped its unique culinary traditions, melding flavours like hot pepper and dill. Today Gazan culture and society has expanded to incorporate the Palestinian refugees who fled to here during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Each of Gaza Citys 10 neighbourhoods have their own rhythm and reputation. Theres the Remal neighbourhood, the citys nicest, where many of the fancy shops and NGOs are based. Along the main drag, Omar Mukhtar Street, cars honk and shouting street vendors sell all kinds of wares. Along the way are various historical landmarks: the Square of Unknown Soldiers, Gazas largest open space, filled with music and light-up cars for kids to ride at night; Saraya Square, an old prison where political rallies are now held; cinemas that have been closed by Hamas; and the citys public park, teeming with children. Keep going and theres the old city, with the traditional Al-Zawiya market, one of the oldest in the Gaza Strip and filled with everything from spices to shoe shiners, and the Great Mosque of Gaza, the largest and oldest in Gaza and originally a Byzantine-era church. To Gaza Citys east is the Shejayia neighbourhood, a dense network of cement houses and narrow side streets that was heavily bombed during the 2014 war, and has the reputation as housing its toughest people. On Gaza Citys Mediterranean side is Al-Shati, known as the beach refugee camp. Here the sounds and rhythm of the sea mix with the honking of horns and occasional wafts of sewage as Gaza City brings the sweet and sour all at once.

Palestinian vendors sell cigarettes at a shope in Gaza City on November 13, 2017. (AFP)

For many residents, to remain living in Gaza is a point of national pride. But after a decade of war, siege, and Hamas rule, just about everyone wants out  even if only temporarily. The generation born since the siege have mostly never left Gaza; the older generation have memories of what came before, when Israelis came to the citys markets and Gazans worked in restaurants and construction in Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. Now unemployment in Gaza is among the highest in the world, electricity and clean running water are in dire shortage, and the young generation is well educated with no place to go.

Most people get around by foot, shared taxi or car  the former growing more common towards the end of the month, as salaries are stretched thin. The city has no formal public transport. Instead, regular cars roam around looking for riders heading in the same direction, each ride costing the customer one or two shekels (about the price of a falafel sandwich) depending on the distance  and the drivers mood. Inside the shared taxi, there are informal rules governing how males and females should interact.

There used to be buses and microbuses serving Gaza City. Now they are mainly reserved for students to get to school or for travel between Gaza City and other areas. There are a few hubs around the city to catch cars going to the rest of Gaza. Companies sometimes provide transportation for employees, as does the government. Gas is expensive due to import restrictions (Gazans say the gas from Israel is better than Egypts watered-down offerings). For a more secure, albeit expensive ride there are private taxi companies.

It has been three years since the last war between Hamas and Israel and for many in Gaza the dream of whats next is the same as it ever was: reconstruction and employment. Huge swaths of the territorys infrastructure, including 171,000 homes, were damaged or destroyed during the 2014 war. The city centre is now hesitantly bustling during the day , and a little brighter than other areas at night when the sun sets and electricity-starved Gaza largely goes dark. Many structures remain partially finished as people can only sporadically afford building materials.

Palestinian young men use their smart-phones as they wait to cross at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt before being allowed to pass out of the southern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2017, following its opening for three days for the first time since a Palestinian reconciliation deal. (AFP)

These days, the streets convey a sense of hesitant hope tempered by fatigue. Last month, Hamas and its rival, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank, signed a unity deal intended to end the territorial dispute that began when Hamas evicted Fatah from Gaza in 2007. Reconciliation has eased some imports, hindered some of Hamas much-resented taxes and provided more work for Fatah employees in Gaza. But people in Gaza have heard these promises before and then repeatedly seen them fail. In Gaza City, the centre of economic activity, people say therell believe this time is different when theres work and opportunities again. For now, its still the same suffocation.

Gaza may be physically and politically isolated, but many Palestinians in Gaza have turned to Instagram to get their version of their city and lives out. For slices of life you can check out some of Gazas most popular instagrammers such as Fatma Mosabah and Ensaf Habib , or the photojournalist Wissam Nassar .
A Pakistani hardline Islamist group whose supporters clashed with police over the weekend is to call off its weeks-long protest after the government agreed to its demands and the law minister resigned, the groups spokesman said on Monday.

Seven people were killed and 200 wounded in the clashes after a police bid to disperse the protesters failed on Saturday, sparking instead demonstrations in other major cites nationwide.

Our main demand has been accepted, Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesman of the Tahreek-e-Labaik group, told Reuters. Government will announce the law ministers resignation and we will end our sit-in today.

Law minister Zahid Hamid has resigned on Monday. Shipping containers that police had used to block off the main protest site were being removed, media said.

The government on Saturday called in Pakistans powerful military to tackle the protests after the police operation failed, but there was no sign of troops around the protest camps on Sunday.

For the past two weeks, activists of Tehreek-e-Labaik blocked the main road into the capital, Islamabad, in a protest that blamed the law minister, Zahid Hamid, for changing the wording in an electoral oath.

The party says the words I believe, used to replace the clause I solemnly swear in a proclamation of Mohammad as the religions last prophet amount to blasphemy.
The radical Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik called off its countrywide protests and its followers started to disperse peacefully in most cities on Monday after the resignation of Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid.

Blockades by the anti-blasphemy groups supporters in the cities of Karachi and Lahore were being lifted and life was returning to normal, local media reported.

Karachi was blocked at 10 places while in Lahore there were 16 points where roads were blocked by the group which held a weeks-long protest in the capital Islamabads Faizabad area, demanding the ouster of Hamid over a hastily abandoned legislation that they considered blasphemous.

However, some points in Lahore continued to be blocked and it is expected that these would be opened by the end of the day.

Most schools, businesses and public transport took the day off but as the situation eased, many shops could be seen to be opening.

While the army continued to stay in the barracks, the military high command intervened on Sunday to have news channels re-opened.

Block was lifted on social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook also.

The TV channels and main social media sites had been shut down since Friday when the government launched an operation against the group who had been occupying the capital's busiest traffic intersection. At least seven people were killed and some 200 others injured in the operation.

Law minister Zahid Hamid on Sunday decided to resign after paramilitary Pakistan Rangers took control of many important streets and thoroughfares of Islamabad.

Radio Pakistan reported that the Rangers had also circled the Faizabad interchange on Sunday after clashes re-erupted between protestors and the Islamabad police.

Earlier, the government held negotiations with both the protestors on Faizabad interchange as well as with the military high command on how to end the crisis in the country.

A political settlement is reportedly being worked out between the government of Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi and Tehreek-e-Labbaik, which has been protesting what it called a pro-Ahmadi legislation, which had already been withdrawn.
The radical Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan called off countrywide protests and its followers dispersed in most cities on Monday after the government gave in to its demand that law minister Zahid Hamid should resign over a blasphemy row.

Blockades by the anti-blasphemy groups supporters in Karachi and Lahore were lifted and life slowly returned to normal. But protestors remained in Islamabad, saying they would disperse after the government freed their arrested colleagues.

Tehreek-e-Labbaik chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, whose protest had paralysed Islamabad for almost three weeks, thanked the army chief for helping end the stand-off, raising questions about the militarys role.

The governments climbdown will be an embarrassment for the ruling PML-N party ahead of elections expected in mid-2018, and it also highlighted the power of religious groups.

Seven people were killed and nearly 200 wounded during an unsuccessful police operation over the weekend to disperse the protesters in Islamabad. The clashes in the capital triggered violent protests in other cities.

File photo of Pakistan law minister Zahid Hamid at a news conference in Islamabad. (AFP)

Law minister quits

Law minister Hamid sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to take the country out of a crisis-like situation, state-run PTV reported. Hamid said, The decision to resign was taken in a bid to steer the country out of the prevailing critical situation.

Karachi was blocked at 10 places while roads in Lahore were blocked at16 points by the group, which staged a prolonged protest in Islamabads Faizabad area, demanding the ouster of Hamid over a hastily abandoned legislation that it considered blasphemous.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik and the government signed an agreement following negotiations apparently brokered by the army. The agreement was signed by interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, Rizvi and an ISI official, Maj Gen Faiz Hamid.

According to the agreement, the government also agreed to free dozens of protesters who were arrested over the weekend.

Head of the radical religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, arrives for a news conference regarding his talks with the government to end the sit-in protest in Islamabad on November 27, 2017. (AP)

The Pakistan Armys role

The government had called on the army to tackle the protests after the failed police operation, but the troops remained in the barracks. The military said army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa had advised the premier to resolve the protests peacefully during a meeting on Sunday. Media reports quoted military sources as saying that Bajwa was opposed to the use of force as he believed it would affect the peoples trust in the army.

Rizvi highlighted the armys role in ending the standoff. The honourable chief of army staff, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, sent his special envoys to us. We said we do not want to talk to the government; they are our murderers, he said.

So the general took personal interest and sent his team, saying We will become the guarantors, and have your demands fulfilled. So we said, All right. That is what we want.

Supporters of the radical religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan celebrate after the country's law minister Zahid Hamid's resignation during a sit-in protest in Karachi on November 27, 2017. (AP)

Judiciary criticises army and government

However, the Islamabad high court criticised the armys role in the entire affair, questioning how it had acted as a mediator. An order issued by the court raised several objections to the agreement with the protesters and the role played by the army chief, which was besides the Constitution and the law of the land.

The Tehreek-e-Labaik launched its protest after blaming the law minister for changing the wording of an electoral oath. It claimed the words I believe, used to replace the clause I solemnly swear in a proclamation of Mohammed as Islams last prophet, amounted to blasphemy.

The government blamed the change on a clerical error and swiftly restored the original wording.

The military high command also intervened to have news channels reopened after they were shut down over the weekend. A block on social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook was also lifted.

The law ministers resignation is the latest in a series of blows to the PML-N. In July, party chief Nawaz Sharif was ousted as prime minister by the apex court over graft allegations while finance minister Ishaq Dar  also accused of corruption  has taken indefinite medical leave.

Tehreek-e-Labbaik is one of two new ultra-religious political groups to reach prominence in recent months. It won 6% and 7.6% share of votes in two recent by-elections. Islamist parties are unlikely to win a majority in the next general election but could play a major role.
Pope Francis arrived Monday on a visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asias most peripheral and poor, but the big question looming is whether hell utter the word Rohingya while hes here.

The will he or wont he? issue has dominated debate before Francis trip, which began Monday and ends with a youth rally in Dhaka on December 2.

Upon arrival in Yangon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Myanmars Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.

In Myanmar, Francis will meet separately with the countrys civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, its powerful military chief and Buddhist monks. Hell greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladeshs political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

Myanmars local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country. Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of textbook ethnic cleansing by the military in poverty-wracked Rakhine state.

Women in traditional dress gather outside the airport in Yangon on November 27 ahead of the arrival of Pope Francis for his visit to the country. (AFP Photo)

Francis, though, has already prayed for our Rohingya brothers and sisters, and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmars military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

Being a religious leader  Catholic leader  means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, OK, he just came to meddle, said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

The signals from the Vatican going into the trip were mixed: The Vatican spokesman used the term Rohingya in a pre-trip briefing and said Its not a prohibited word as far as the Vatican was concerned. But the Holy Sees top diplomat, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, avoided it in an interview with Vatican media on the eve of the trip.

Catholic faithful arrive outside the airport in Yangon on November 27, 2017 with the hopes of greeting Pope Francis upon his arrival to the country. (AFP Photo)

The debate isnt just semantic: Myanmars government and most of the Buddhist majority consider them Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have lived there for generations.

Its going to be a tricky situation (if he uses the word), I think because most of the people cant accept it, said farmer Win Myaing.

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term Rohingya carries so much political weight for all of Myanmars people.

But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people arent going to like the pope anymore, he said.
How a group of gentleman explorers became Britains legendary Long Range Desert Group.

MAJ. RALPH A. BAGNOLD sat before the commander of British forces in the Middle East. He watched nervously as Gen. Archibald Wavell picked up the note Bagnold had sent him half an hour earlier outlining why, in Bagnolds view, it was imperative to send men into the interior of the Libyan Desert. Wavell fixed his one good eye on the man in front of him.

Tell me about this, he said.

It was June 23, 194013 days after Italy declared war on Britain, an act of belligerence that had ominous implications for His Majestys forces in Egypt and their control of the Suez Canal. Italy had garrisons in southeast Libya; it might launch an attack from there, or from the southfrom Eritrea and Ethiopia, and then across Sudan. Faced with such a dire situation, Wavell had been immediately intrigued when Bagnolds note landed on his desk.

The 44-year-old Bagnold explained that we ought to have some mobile ground scouting force, even a very small scouting force, to be able to penetrate the desert to the west of Egypt, to see what was going on.

What if you find the Italians are not doing anything in the interior? Wavell retorted.

Bagnold thought for a moment. How about some piracy on the high desert?

Wavell grinned, then asked Bagnold if he could be ready to start operation in six weeks.

Yes, said Bagnold, provided

Yes, I know, therell be opposition and delay, Wavell interjected, picking up a small bell on his desk.

At the sound of the bell, Wavells chief of staff entered the room and Wavell instructed him to type up an order: I wish that any request by Major Bagnold in person should be met instantly and without question.

And with that order, the Long Range Desert Group was born.

Over the next five years the LRDG would carry out more than 200 operations behind enemy lines, from the deserts of North Africa, to the islands of the Aegean Sea, to the mountains of the Balkans. But it was in the Libyan Desertan ocean of sand stretching 1,000 miles from the Mediterranean coast to Sudan in the south, and a similar distance from the Nile Valley in the east to the Tunisian border in the westthat the LRDG established its illustrious reputation. Before the groups arrival, much of this expanse was uncharted territory. The men of the LRDG not only charted it, they became the ears and eyes of the Allied forces that eventually defeated the Axis armies, while throwing some hard punches against the Axis on their own. David Stirling, the Scot who in 1941 created the British Armys foremost special forces unit, the Special Air Servicewhich is still in existence and active alongside the U.S. Armys Delta Force in Iraq and Afghanistanpaid tribute to the LRDG in his memoir. We had learned so much from them, he wrote, it is debatable whether we could have got off the ground so swiftly without them.

That Ralph Bagnold was in Egypt at all was only by a stroke of good fortuneor misfortune, depending on ones interpretations of events that led the intellectual Englishman to Cairo. A tall, wiry man with an air of reserve, and a veteran of the First World War, Bagnold was recalled to the colors and given his old rank of major not long after Britain declared war on Germany. But with the shortsightedness that characterized much of British military thinking in the early days of World War II, Bagnold, a world-renowned expert on the deserts of North Africa, was ordered instead to Kenya, in East Africa. Then fate intervened. Bagnolds troopship was involved in a collision in the Mediterranean en route to Kenya in the winter of 19391940.

The damage forced the ships captain to divert to Port Said, on the Egyptian coast, and Bagnold and his fellow passengers disembarked while the vessel was repaired.

Bagnold installed himself in the bar of Shepheards Hotel in Cairo, the fashionable meeting place for British officers and the citys affluent expatriate community, where a society reporter for the Egyptian Gazette spotted him. A couple of days later the papers gossip column contained news of the famous desert explorers arrival: Major Bagnolds presence in Egypt at this time seems a reassuring indication that one of the cardinal errors of 191418 is not to be repeated. During that war, if a man had made a name for himself as an explorer of Egyptian deserts, he would almost certainly have been sent to Jamaica to report on the possibilities of increasing rum production. Nowadays, of course, everything is done much better.

On reading the column Wavell canceled Bagnolds posting to Kenya and transferred him to the 7th Armored Division, based on the Egyptian coast, as a signals officer. There, Bagnold gauged the precarious situation confronting the British. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, commander of the Italian army in North Africa, was estimated to have around 500,000 troops at his disposal, a force far superior to the 50,000 men under General Wavells command. There were Italian garrisons in southeast Libya at Kufra and Uweinat, the latter uncomfortably close to the borders of Egypt and Sudan.

It was imperative, in Bagnolds view, that the British learn precisely where the Italian forces were and in what strength; otherwise there was the very real likelihood the enemy would strike east and seize the Nile and then Cairo. His mind turned to the 1920s, when he and a small group of like-minded explorers drove model T Ford cars out into the desert at a time when people thought that cars were for use on roadsout into the Libyan Desert further than anyone before, as he wrote in 1935s Libyan Sands: Travel in a Dead World.

As a result of his epic adventures Bagnold knew the Libyan Desertwith its landmass of approximately 750,000 square milesbetter than any other white man. He knew its harshness, its pitilessness. But he also knew how to harness its immense power.

It was Bagnolds exploration team that in 1928 developed a sun compass, a modification on the sundial, for use in the desert, where it was more reliable than a magnetic compass. They also learned then how to conserve that most precious of desert commodities, water; they introduced sand channels (five-foot-long sheets of steel that slid under a vehicles rear wheels for support on the sand); and they discovered how to surmount the deserts towering sand dunes in a two-wheel-drive Ford truck. As Bagnold later recalled, it entailed driving 40 mph at the dune and putting ones trust in the vehicle (and God) as a glaring wall of yellow shot up highthe lorry tipped violently backwards, and we rose as in a lift, smoothly and without vibration. We floated upall the accustomed car movements had ceased; only the speedometer told us we were still moving fast.

Armed with this experience, Bagnold formulated his plan for small patrols of highly trained men to penetrate deep into the Libyan Desert to gather information on Italian forces. It was this scheme that Bagnold took to Wavelland Wavell swiftly acceptedin June 1940.

Who to recruit to his fledgling enterprise? That was Bagnolds first concern. Experience had told him that the merciless hinterland of a desert either made or broke a man. He contacted some of his old exploring friends, and before long Bill Kennedy Shaw, Pat Clayton, Teddy Mitford, and Rupert Harding-Newman had joined him in Cairo. Bagnold overcame the fact that Kennedy Shaw and Clayton were civilians by having them commissioned as officers in the British Intelligence Corps. For the small cadre of enlisted men he needed, Bagnold chose New Zealanders because, he wrote, I wanted responsible volunteers who knew how to look after things and maintain things rather than the British Tommy who is apt to be wasteful.

The second pressing issue was transport. Bagnold needed reliable vehicles capable of covering in excess of 1,500 miles without breaking down. The British Army possessed no such thing, so Bagnold turned to a commercial Chevrolet one-and-a-half-ton truck with a single 20-gallon fuel tank. Thirty-three of them were purchased from the Egyptian army and from vehicle dealers in Cairo, and fitted with machine guns front and back. As for sun compasses, sand channels, radios, and medical supplies, they were begged, borrowed, or stolen in the weeks following the units formation. So were the Arab headdresses and leather sandals that replaced the army-issued leather boots and service dress caps.

Bagnold organized the Long Range Desert Group into three patrolsR, T, and W (the letters chosen at random), each comprising two officers and about 30 men. The patrols were assigned 10 one-and-a-half-ton trucks and a three-quarterton car apiece, along with 10 Lewis guns of World War I vintage, 4 Boys antitank rifles, a Bofors antiaircraft gun, and an assortment of small arms.

Pat Clayton, an 18-year veteran of the Egyptian Survey Department, led the first LRDG patrol in August 1940. It was a reconnaissance of the route the Italians used out of the port at Benghazi, on the northern coastline of Libya, to resupply their garrisons at Kufra and Uweinat. Claytons twovehicle patrol drove west into Libya and watched the track for three days, but observed no enemy vehicles. It wasnt a wasted expedition, however. Clayton returned to Egypt with two important details: He discovered that enemy aircraft rarely detected sand-colored vehicles in the desert as long as they were stationary. And he found a route that crossed the Egyptian Sand Sea and, inside Libya, the Kalansho Sand Sea. The two seas vast landscapes of continuous rolling sand duneswere in fact connected further north to form, as Bagnold later described, an irregular horseshoe shape in the south. The route Clayton pioneered would become the entry point into Libya for future LRDG patrols.

The Egyptian Sand Sea is a breathtaking phenomenon. Roughly the size of Ireland, it stretches from the Siwa oasis, in northwest Egypt, almost as far south as Sudan, and its fearsome reputation is just as imposing as its size. One LRDG officer, Capt. Michael Crichton-Stuart, never forgot his first sight of it: The parallel lines of dunes run almost north and south, rising to some 500 feet in the centre of the Sand Sea. Packed and shaped by the prevailing wind over thousands of years, this Sand Sea compares in shape and form with a great Atlantic swell; long rollers, crested here and there, with great troughs between. It is utterly lifeless, without a blade of grass or a stone to break the monotony of sand and sky.

On September 5, 1940, Bagnold led the entire LRDG into Libya on the trail Clayton had blazed a month earlier. He was delighted with the way the New Zealanders adapted to their unfamiliar surroundings, and they were soon averaging 30 miles a day as they pierced the interior of the Libyan Desert. There they split, with R Patrol returning to their base in Siwa to resupply, while W reconnoitered north towards Kufra, and T went south as far as the border with Chad.

The three patrols returned to Cairo with little to report. Marshal Graziani was safely ensconced in his Egyptian coastal base of Sidi Barrani, and the Italian troops garrisoned inland apparently never ventured out of their forts unless it was necessary.

The news prompted Wavell to amend the units operational instructions in October. Instead of carrying out reconnaissance missions, they were to go on the offensive and, as Bagnold later wrote, stir up trouble in any part of Libya we liked, with the object of drawing off as much enemy transport and troops as possible from the coastal front [around Sidi Barrani] to defend their remote and useless inland garrisons.

The LRDG threw themselves into their new role with gusto. While some patrols mined roads, others blew up bomb dumps or attacked isolated desert outposts manned by bored Italians. Just as Wavell had hoped, Graziani diverted troops from the coastal regions into the interior to escort supply columns and reinforce outposts.

Encouraged, the LRDG planned an audacious assault against a well-defended Italian fort and nearby airfield in Murzuk, in south-central Libya. As Bagnold noted, the fortapproximately 1,500 miles west of Cairowas far beyond our self-contained range but a raid on it seemed possible geographically if we could get some extra supplies from the French Army in Chad. But no one in Cairo knew whose side the French forces in Chad were on. Other French dependencies had declared for the Vichy regime; Chad had made no such announcement. Bagnold and Wavell thought that inviting the French to support a daring raid might be just the sort of escapade to rally them to Britains cause.

Bagnold flew to Chad and met the commander of its French troops, Lt. Col. Jean Colonna dOrnano, who demanded to know the purpose of Bagnolds visit. I told him frankly what I wanted petrol, rations and water, Bagnold recalled.

Ill do all you ask but on one condition, dOrnano replied. You take me with you to Murzuk with one of my junior officers and one NCO and we fly the French flag alongside yours.

By the time the LRDG rendezvoused near Taiserbo350 miles east of Murzukon January 4, 1941, the composition of the unit had changed. The commander of the New Zealand division in the desert had recalled most of his countrymen now that his resources were more stretched than they had been six months earlier. To compensate for the loss, Bagnold had formed a new patrol G Patrolcomposed of skilled soldiers from the British Armys Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards. This patrol, along with T Patrol, made up the LRDGs attacking force, under the overall command of Pat Clayton.

DOrnano delivered the supplies Bagnold requested, and the Frenchman, along with nine of his men, was seconded to the LRDG as they struck out west toward their objective. On January 11 the force divided just a few miles from Murzuk, with Claytons T Patrol heading for the airfield while G Patrol targeted the fort. As the convoy approached the fort, above the main central tower of which the Italian flag flew proudly, the Guard turned out, Captain Crichton-Stuart recalled. We were rather sorry for them, but they probably never knew what hit them.

In the maelstrom of fire that followed, the LRDG lost two men (including Lieutenant Colonel dOrnano) and suffered several casualties, but the damage inflicted on the Italians was far worse. A withering mortar barrage destroyed the main block of the fort. The garrison commander had the misfortune to return from lunch midway through the onslaught; neither his staff car nor the escort vehicle made it through the forts gates.

Clayton arrived at the fort having wreaked havoc on the airfield, where his patrol destroyed three light bombers and a sizeable fuel dump, and killed or captured all 20 guards. Now he ordered the LRDG to withdraw into the vastness of the desert before the inevitable aerial reinforcements arrived from Hon, a large Italian air base 250 miles northeast.

The decision to court the French in Chad had been a sound one. Though dOrnano had died, his successor, Gen. Philippe Leclerc, formed an effective alliance with the LRDG. On March 1, 1941, a Free French force, guided by T and G Patrols, captured the Italian fort at Kufra and its 400-strong garrison. But that success was a rarity for the Allies in what was an otherwise wretched few months. German general Erwin Rommel had arrived in North Africa on February 12; by the end of April, his Afrikakorps had pushed back the Allies Western Desert Force (later known as Eighth Army) to the Egyptian frontier, leaving the Mediterranean port of Tobruk as the sole remaining British possession in the eastern coastal region of Libya known as Cyrenaica.

By that summer, the LRDG was in an upheaval of its own. It grew to include two more patrols: S, composed of southern Rhodesian recruits, and Y, drawn from the British 1st Cavalry Division in Palestine. It also had a new commanding officer, Maj. Guy Prendergast, a desert explorer of some repute and a good friend of Bagnoldwho, in August 1941, was ordered back to Cairo to oversee the raising of five more formations similar to the LRDG.

Prendergast was barely less audacious than the man he was replacing. Besides having explored the desert by motor vehicle between the wars, the Englishman had also mapped it from the cockpit of an airplane.

Another new addition to the LRDG was Capt. David Lloyd Owen, who had spent the first half of the year as a training officer in Palestine with the Queens Royal Regiment, hoping in vain to see some action. Around the time Bagnold returned to Cairo, Lloyd Owen left it to join Y Patrol. It was a unit, and a landscape, in which he reveled. In his war memoir Providence Their Guide, he described the wonder of life in the desert with the LRDG: There are no buildings, no roads, no street lightsno need for anyone to shout or to have money or to pretend about anything; those human beings who are with you are probably fairly well known to you, and are there for the same reason that you arethey know the dangers and delights of solitude just the same as you do, and they will react to the unblemished and staggering loveliness of a huge expanse of desert sky, deep blue by day and of a marvelous purple at night.

In early November 1941, Gen. Claude Auchinleck, who had taken over for Wavell in the Middle East, was finalizing plans for an offensive code-named Crusader, which was intended to rid Cyrenaica of the Afrika korps. One of the tasks the LRDG assumed then would lead to a famous partnership for the rest of the desert war.

Britains Special Air Service (SAS) had come into being that summer, the brainchild of a charismatic young Scots Guards officer, Capt. David Stirling. Having overcome fierce hostility to his concept of a small force of paratroopers waging war behind enemy lines, Stirling had won permission to lead raids against five coastal airfields strung out along the Cyrenaica coast. Once they had dropped into the desert on the night of November 16, the SAS would attack the airfields and then march to a rendezvous point 50 miles inland. There the LRDG would be waiting to transport them back to base.

But the assault began at the same time as what one war correspondent described as the most spectacular thunderstorm within living memory. None of the raiding party got close to their objectives and the terrible conditions resulted in the deaths of 34 of the partys 55 men. For those lucky enough to land in one piece, survival was the only thing on their minds. All that night we marched or rather waded through water which was sometimes up to our knees, Jeff Du Vivier, a sergeant in the SAS, wrote in his diary. I could not explain how cold it actually was, to believe it one would have to experience it. I was not shivering but shaking. All the bones in my body were numbed.

The exhausted survivors from the SAS staggered to the rendezvous, with Stirling among the last to arrive. Waiting for him was Lloyd Owen, who brewed a pot of tea and listened as Stirling described the doomed raid. Stirling didnt seem defeated by the failure, merely frustrated at how best to get at the Germans. Suddenly an idea struck Lloyd Owen: Surely the answer was for the LRDG to convey the SAS parties to within a few miles of their targets. We would then lie off while they were doing whatever they had in mind, and we could return a day or so later to collect them.

Three weeks later, on the night of December 8, the SAS put the idea into action, with spectacular results. Four SAS soldiers blew up 24 aircraft at Tamit, a coastal airfield in Libya, while at nearby Agedabia, another group of SAS saboteurs destroyed 37 planes. On both occasions the LRDG drove the SAS close to the target and then waited with a hot breakfast at the rendezvous. After a while we started to call them the Long Range Taxi Service, Du Vivier recalled, but it was a joke the LRDG took well. They knew how much we respected them.

The SAS werent alone in their respect for the LRDG. Throughout their operational life in the North African desertwhich ended in March 1943, when the American First Army, advancing from the west, and the British Eighth Army, coming from the east, trapped Axis forces in a small pocket of Tunisiathe LRDG won plaudits for their pluck and professionalism.

During the Second Battle of El Alamein in autumn 1942, the LRDG carried out invaluable reconnaissance patrols on the German forces, as well as laying mines and strafing enemy transport columns. Y Patrol, for example, spent several perilous days concealed near Marble Arch, 600 miles west of El Alamein, reporting on the Axis army as it fled towards Tunisia. Between October 30 and November 10, 1942, the number of enemy vehicles headed west each day rosefrom 100 to 3,500. At times the retreating Germans pulled off the road and rested, their lorries and tanks a matter of yards from the hidden LRDG patrol.

In his report on their exploits during this period, the British Armys director of military intelligence in Cairo wrote, Not only is the standard of accuracy and observation exceptionally high but the Patrols are familiar with the most recent illustration of enemy vehicles and weapons. Without their reports we should frequently have been in doubt as to the enemys intentions, when knowledge of them was all important.

In the final two years of the Second World War, the Long Range Desert Group served with distinction in the Aegean and the Balkans. But the desert is where their indelible legacy remains. Never during our peace-time travels had we imagined that war could ever reach the enormous empty solitudes of the inner desert, walled off as it has always been by sheer distance, by lack of water, and by impassable seas of huge dunes, Bagnold recalled in 1945. The success of the war the LRDG waged in the desert owed much to their courage and resourcefulness, but just as important was their maverick spirit, daring to venture where others had feared to tread.

Originally published in the August 2010 issue of World War II Magazine. To subscribe, click here.
At a place that evokes loss, America forged an unlikely victory.

As seen from Lt. William E. Dyesss new vantage point, this war was not going well. Not for the United States. Not for his men. And certainly not for him. In mid-January 1942, Dyess, the commanding officer of the 21st Pursuit Squadron, was out of a cockpit and out of his element. Instead of leading missions in the skies above the Philippines, he was crawling through the Bataan jungle, leading puzzled Army Air Forces pilots and mechanics on an infantry training exercise. The tall, 25-year-old Texan with blue eyes and recruiting poster good looks had two aerial kills and a destroyed Japanese truck convoy to his credit, but he had little training and even less patience for his current assignment.

Its easy to picture the folksy, frustrated flier tramping through the steamy jungle, rifle in hand, grousing that he would rather be home, staring at the south end of a north-bound mule. Little did Dyess know just how difficult the proverbial plowing in the Philippines, not to mention elsewhere in the Pacific, would become.

Reeling after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the ABCD powers American, British, Chinese, and Dutchhad been powerless to stop Japans war machine. By the last week of December 1941, the Rising Sun flew over the American outposts of Guam and Wake Island, as well as the British colony of Hong Kong. The Solomon Islands, New Britain, the Dutch East Indies, and Singapore were in their sights. The last barrier to the successful completion of Japans opening offensive was the Bataan Peninsula, the spine of volcanic rock and jungle into which the defenders of the Philippines had retreated after a 43,000-man Japanese invasion force had overrun Luzon. But just how long that besieged bulwark could stand depended on a single piece of paper.

On January 10, Gen. Douglas MacArthur had signed Field Order No. 4 of the United States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE), which authorized the temporary transfer of most Army Air Forces personnel to infantry commands. The decision was born of necessity and desperation. American army lines lacked depth; the Far East Air Force, decimated in the devastating attacks in the wars early hours, lacked planes. This fateful order had grounded Dyess indefinitely, as a reserve army was carved out of the planeless pilots and airmen of five pursuit squadrons. Dyess and his 218 officers and men were now one of several provisional battalions assigned to fill gaps in army lines in western Bataan. Shipless sailors marooned by the departure of the Asiatic Fleet would also be impressed into the infantry.

Within two weeks, Field Order No. 4, and the force it conjured, would play a key role in delaying Japans conquest of the Philippinesa delay that would have severe consequences for Japans greater war aims in the crucial months of early 1942.

Indeed, as Japanese landing barges churned toward shore in the final hours of January 22, no onenot MacArthur, not his Japanese counterpart, Gen. Masaharu Homma, and definitely not Ed Dyesshad any notion that a ragtag force of pilots, airmen, sailors, and other hastily assembled troops created by MacArthurs obscure order was the only thing that stood between Japanese success in a daring operation perhaps years in the planning and a swift and potentially calamitous American defeat. Taking place months before the fall of the Philippines and the well-chronicled, savage aftermath of the Bataan Death March, the Battle of the Points would become a strategically pivotal fight as the Americans sought to disrupt Japans conquest timetable. The battle would also see Americas first amphibious landing of the war against the Japanese, as well as provide a frightening first look at their fanaticism on the field of battle. And it would provide America with its first, if fleeting, taste of victory.

The Japanese believed the ill- equipped and inexperienced Allied forces were incapable of prolonged resistance. Indeed, one Japanese officer described the retreat of Filipino and American troops into Bataan as a cat entering a sack. The Imperial General Headquarters was so confident it detached half of Hommas original force to aid in the southern thrust to the Dutch East Indies, yet still expected him to adhere to his 50-day deadline for the capture of the Philippines. Left with only the Fourteenth Armys 16th Division and the 65th Brigade to accomplish the task, Homma was forced to attempt an amphibious end-run.

The plan called for landing roughly 2,000 troops on the rocky, finger-shaped promontories on Bataans southwestern coast, defined as difficult-to-pronouncepoints on American maps, in late January. The 2nd Battalion of Lt. Col. Nariyoshi Tsunehiros 20th Infantry Regiment would sever the West Road which led from Bagac to Mariveles on the peninsulas southernmost tip, disrupt communications, and wreak havoc in the Americans rear. Homma would then launch a frontal assault, crumple the American I Corps line, flank II Corps, and roll up the remaining American positions, precipitating the fall of the Philippines.

Just after midnight on the morning of January 23, Ed Dyess awoke to news of enemy landings not far from his bivouac outside of Mariveles. The 21st Pursuit, attached to the Philippine Armys 71st Infantry Division under Brig. Gen. Clyde Selleck, was not the only such unit to receive a wake-up call from the Japanese. MacArthur had just ordered a pullback from the defensive line spanning the widest part of Bataan, to the north. But the army did not immediately understand the size, nor the significance, of the landings. Rather than risk withdrawing regular troops from the skeletal main line of resistance just to the south, additional ad hoc units would be mobilized.

While Dyess headed west to Quinauan Point, a U.S. Navy unit took the lead in action near Longoskawayan Point, 3,000 yards southwest of Mariveles. Three hundred troops from Tsunehiros 2nd Battalion, which had been fractured due to a chance encounter with a U.S. Navy motor torpedo boat, PT-34, had scaled the sheer 100-foot cliffs and melted inland. The Naval Defense Battalioncomposed of sailors, PBY seaplane pilots, and marine artillerymen reinforced by Philippine Scouts (crack Filipino troops under American officers who were widely considered the best combat units in the command), as well as men from the 3rd Pursuit Squadron and the 301st Chemical Companywas immediately dispatched to the area.

The provisional battalions first hours in the field were tragicomic. Arriving at the thousand-yard promontory that tapered into Quinauan Point on the morning of January 23, Ed Dyesss outfit was melded with Philippine Constabulary troopsessentially a military police forceand the 803rd Aviation Engineer Battalion. The mission was to root out a loose aggregation of what was reported to be 30-odd Japanese soldiers. Signal whistles blared and the motley troops in doughboy-style helmets crashed into the jungle, chattering and smoking cigarettes, blithely unaware that they were likely being observed by snipers or scouts.

At Longoskawayan, the men of the Naval Defense Battalion had displayed interesting initiative in using coffee grounds to dye their whites, but the exasperated call of one sailor, holding his rifle aloft during a patrol, not only exposed the provisional battalions inexperience in infantry tactics, but also a frightening unfamiliarity with their weapons: Sarge, how do you get the bullets in this thing?

I was a familiar refrain. The weapons issued to the 21st Pursuit, Dyess later remarked, looked as though they might have been picked up at an ordnance rummage sale. The antiquated arsenal included old navy Marlin and Lewis machine guns, .50 calibers stripped from P-40 wrecks, Browning automatic rifles, British Bren gun carriers, grenades, Springfield rifles, .45 revolvers, and, finally, three bayonets.But this was all right, Dyess explained of the latter, because only three of our Air Force men knew anything about using them.

The dense jungle in the points area caused widespread confusion. When asked his whereabouts, one perplexed member of the Signal Corps, perched atop a telephone pole near the Anyasan-Silaiim points area, offered an honest reply: For Christs sake, sir, I dont know. I am somewhere between asinine and quinine points. There was also the strange argot of their army handlers.Maintain your interval, thundered one infantry officer at Quinauan Point. A frustrated airman fired back: Let the son-of-a-bitch who gave that order try to maintain it!

Enveloped in a sinister labyrinth of swamps and bamboo, the soldiers spent patrols swearing and chasing silhouettes. Tall hardwood trees and the fronds of banana and nipa palms formed a canopy that blotted the blazing sun. Groping along in the purplish, perpetual dusk, they clutched the bandoliers and rifle stocks of their comrades to stay in formation. Razor-sharp blades of cogon grass shredded their clothes and skin. They tripped over boulders and logs and were ensnared in giant spider webs. Intermittent gunfire echoed through the emerald walls of jungle, but it was the skittering monkeys and snapping twigs that made them jittery. Rarely seen, the Japanese seemed to be nowhere, yet everywhere.

At Quinauan Point, a paranoid airman fired some staccato bursts from his BAR. A few seconds later, a weary American voice emanating from the direction of the supposed enemy target replied, Hell, youre shooting kind of low.

The flank had pulled over in front of us, explained Sgt. Jack Donohoe of the 21st Pursuit.Thats how well trained we were.

The situation went from bad to horrific once the real shooting began. The provisional battalions discovered the Japanese were well trained in jungle and night warfare, as well as in battlefield subterfuge. The Americans could not see their well-camouflaged enemy until it was too late; bullets scythed through the stifling, humid air, mowing down rows of poorly-dispersed troops. And to the Americans surprise, they were subjected to artillery barrages, facing everything from large shells to terrifyingly effective mortar fire.

The Japanese also proved adept at setting traps. Early in the Longoskawayan fight, the Japanese allowed a patrol to advance all the way to their beach supply area just so they could ambush the party on its return inland. Corpses were booby trapped with grenades; firecrackers gave the impression of multiple machinegun emplacements. The Japanese also played dead and hid amid corpses before jumping up to shoot or bayonet unsuspecting troops, a tactic Dyess called possuming and one that had but one sure remedy: We countered this by never passing a dead Jap without shooting him to make sure he was hors de combat.

By nightfall on January 24, the gritty Naval Defense Battalion had secured the high ground of Mt. Pucot and succeeded in driving most of the Japanese invaders back to the tips of Longoskawayan and Lapiay points.

But the unit did not have enough men or weapons to clear the area. That same evening found a newly-promoted Capt. Ed Dyess and his men facing a more serious situation at Quinauan Point. No one on the ground at Quinauan or at Allied headquarters realized that the majority of Tsunehiros 2nd Battalion, approximately 600 men, had come ashore in that vicinity and was well-armed and expertly entrenched. Instead, it was believed that General Selleck was simply not aggressive enough; he was relieved by Col. Clinton Pierce, a rugged cavalry officer who would soon make brigadier and later make history as the first American general to be wounded in the war.

Dyess and his comrades were fighting on many fronts against the Japanese, against faulty equipment and shoddy intelligence, against the jungle, against hunger. Getting an enemy in sights was difficult; killing him, nearly impossible. Their rusty Springfields frequently jammed. Some constabulary troops fired a three-inch Stokes mortar, only to have one shell smack an overhanging tree branch and fall at their feet. Luckily, as was usually the case with their ordnance, it was a dud. Grenades, so heavy they had to be thrown sidearm, leaked gunpowder and were almost useless. In fact, in the pages of a captured diary, one Japanese soldier professed to be more afraid of getting hit by the objects than he was of the grenades actually exploding.

Shelter halves and mosquito nets were scarce, so the Americans slept in foxholes and shell craters, under unrelenting attack from swarms of insects, shaking and sweating as the chills and fevers of malaria spread through the ranks. Since mess trucks had difficulty navigating the jungle roads, they were fed at odd intervals, if at all. With dabs of cotton in their nostrils to block the putrid, omnipresent odor of rotting corpses, the Americans ate sourdough bread and salmon gravy washed down by water ladled from oily fuel drums.

But the men of the provisional battalions kept fighting. Although January 2526 saw no appreciable advances, more importantly there were no retreats. At Quinauan, Ed Dyess was proving as talented a leader on the ground as he was in the air. The Japanese were unable to penetrate inland according to plan. But Dyess could not continue the act indefinitely, nor could the men of the other provisional battalions. Accustomed to bunking aboard ships or working in hangarsnot in a jungle battle zonethey grew increasingly irritable, sick, and bewildered. Their maps and their army commanders said they were making progress, but the closer they advanced toward their respective points, the more resistance they met from the Japanese.

It would take a Japanese attempt to reinforce the troops at Quinauan on January 27, as well as alarming casualty reports from the provisional battalions, to finally awaken American commanders to the gravity of the situation. A series of skirmishes along the American main line of resistance now several miles farther to the southhad revealed that the points landings were not supplementary feints: they were the primary attacks.

MacArthur immediately ordered the Philippine Scouts to help the exhausted provisional battalions drive the Japanese into the sea. On January 27, 12-inch mortars on the island of Corregidor in Manila Bay blistered Longoskawayan Point; the next day, a detachment from the 57th Philippine Scouts relieved the weary sailors of the Naval Defense Battalion. Within three days, all Japanese resistance at Longoskawayan Point was eliminated.

It would not be so easy at Quinauan. On January 28, Dyesss men were relieved by more than 500 scouts. Yet six days later, Dyess and his now battle-tested veterans returned, picked up the M-1 Garands made available by the scouts heavy losses, drew batches of hand grenades, and rejoined the fight.

With the aid of portable radio sets and Stuart light tanks from the 192nd Tank Battalion, the outfit gnarled its way forward through the corpses, human entrails, and unexploded ordnance that littered the mangled vegetation, and penned the Japanese into an area nearly 100 yards wide and some 50 yards from the seaward edge of the points sheer cliff. It was there that Americans first started to get a sense of the enemy they would face for the next three years. It became clear that many Japanese preferred death to surrender. Some jumped from the cliffs to perish on the rocks below; others dove into Agloloma Bay and swam into the South China Sea, there to drown.

A few Japanese waited for the arrival of reinforcements. But the wait would be in vain: American artillerymen and the handful of remaining P-40s in the Bataan air force had seen to that.

In the moonlit early morning hours of February 2, four P-40s attacked a convoy of 13 landing barges carrying the Japanese 20th Infantrys 1st Battalion just off Quinauan Point. Shore-based searchlights illuminated the craft and the pilots swooped down to drop fragmentation bombs and spit thousands of rounds of .50 caliber bullets into the barges. By 3 a.m. they had all but destroyed the flotillaand nearly half of the 1st Battalion.

As debris and corpses lolled in the surf, interpreters used bullhorns and sound trucks to entreat the Japanese to surrender. Again, the Americans were confounded by the illogical responses. Holed up in caves and scattered redoubts on the rocky beach, the Japanese usually answered with bullets, occasionally with actions and words. Two Japanese, their ammunition expended, threw their shoes at an American tank. When they refused to surrender, the tank ran them over.

The American and Filipino troops established a tight perimeter at the edge of the cliffs. It was here on the west coast of Bataan that the first American forces in the Pacific would attempt to evict well-armed, fanatical Japanese holdouts. And without the aid of flamethrowers, bazookas, and air and naval support, the task would prove even more difficult for the defenders of Bataan than it would for Allied troops island hopping across the Pacific years later. They improvised, hurling gasoline bombs, as well as jury-rigged land mines and sticks of dynamite lashed to bamboo spears that were thrown like javelins. They attempted to smoke the Japanese out of their hideouts with oil-soaked rags and smudge pots, and detonated 50-pound boxes of dynamite at the mouths of caves.

Finally, after days of negligible results, Ed Dyess was summoned to the 45th Philippine Scouts command post. There he learned that now-General Pierce wanted men from the 21st Pursuit to board navy landing craft and storm the beach at Agloloma Bay, which had a far more accessible landing spot than the adjacent point, to put an end to the Japanese resistance once and for all. Once again, the pilots job description had changed. Dyess, in so many words, was now a marine.

As dawn broke on February 8, the steel-plated bows of the launches plowed through the shimmering waves, leaving a gurgling, foamy wake receding in the distance. Dyess watched the sunbeams wash over the coastline and burn the blanket of fog off the land, revealing the verdant hills and rocky cliffs, spattered with the vivid orange and red blooms of talisay trees. The grounded pilot was leading what is now believed to be the first amphibious landing of U.S. forces against the Japanese in the war. Dyess surveyed his landing party, which he had hand-picked for the mission. The group included 20 enlisted men who had proven themselves at Quinauan, plus Lt. I. B.Jack Donalson, one of Dyesss favorite pilots. Their four-vessel convoy chugging up from Mariveles was led by two 35-foot launches that had been converted to gunboats under the command of Lt. Comdr. Henry Hap Goodall. The gunboats, products of the talented artificers of the USS Canopus, an old submarine tender anchored off Mariveles, each towed a motorless whaleboat containing 10 airmen.

The tactical plan was a simple one. Two squads, one led by Dyess, one by Donalson, were to land on opposite sides of the bay. Dyess would attack from the right, or southern side of the Agloloma Bay inlet, and Donalsons men were to be deposited on the northern shore, and advance toward the center, eliminating all resistance encountered en route to their rendezvous.

Shortly after 8 a.m., the navy gunners spied the white bed sheets, visible among the clusters of shrubby balibago trees, that Filipino and American troops had used to mark Japanese positions. At Goodalls signal, the bow-mounted, 37mm guns commenced a furious 10-minute cannonade. Suddenly, a sailor alerted Goodall to a flight of Japanese dive-bombers in the eastern sky. Dyess, who had been riding in the lead gunboat in order to direct the bombardment, watched in admiration as Goodall ignored the enemy planes.To hell with the airplanes, sailor, Goodall barked, before pivoting to address Dyess. Where do you want the next shot, Captain?

But Goodall did take evasive action as bombs splashed around them, rocking the vessels and shooting geysers of water onto the decks. As Goodall veered in, the sailors released the whaleboats, which drifted off with the tide through the turquoise phosphorescence, Japanese bombers still droning like angry bees above them. Clambering aboard his barge, Dyess found his landing party frozen with fear. I thought you guys were the men of the outfit! he yelled, in an effort to break the spell. Several tense, agonizing seconds passed. Well, are you?

Dyess got his answer. As salt spray stung their faces, they tumbled overboard into the neck-high waves and lunged through the crystal churn. Burdened by their cumbersome arsenal, the airmen stumbled ashore, rushing for cover as Japanese fire swept the beach. Working in teams and armed with rifles and Thompson submachine guns, Dyesss men scrambled across the sand, lobbing grenades into caves and foxholes while Dyess and Sgt. Cecil Ammons sprayed the brush with their Lewis guns.

Meanwhile, Jack Donalsons party was making progress 200 yards to the north. Employing tactics similar to those of Dyesss men, Sergeants Bob Miller and Bryan Gibson were making short work of the enemy redoubts. Donalson was leading the charge, firing his Lewis gun from his hip, oblivious to the bullets spattering the sands around him. The smoke eventually began to clear, and by 2 p.m. the battle for Agloloma Bay was over. As was, for all intents and purposes, the Battle of the Points.

The Japanese holdouts at Anyasan and Silaiim pointsseveral hundred soldiers from the 20th Infantrys 1st Battalion, the survivors of the relief force that the P-40s had destroyed near Agloloma, had washed up therewere neutralized by the 17th Pursuit Squadron and the 45th and 57th Philippine Scouts in mid-February. By the conclusion of the battle, it was estimated that the provisional battalions, with help from the scouts, had wiped out nearly the entire invasion force. While a few were taken as prisoners, only 34 Japanese were believed to have survived the battle and returned to their lines. The gambit cost Homma two full battalionssome 2,000 men.

By comparison, in the course of the battles for Quinauan Point and Agloloma Bay, the 21st Pursuit Squadron lost less than one-tenth of its total strength. The defenders of Longoskawayan Point suffered 22 dead and 66 wounded. At Anyasan-Silaiim, the final count was 70 dead. When one weighs the odds that faced the provisional battalions against their collective accomplishment, the numbers are extraordinary.

For their efforts at Agloloma Bay, Dyess, Donalson, and Goodall would receive Distinguished Service Crosses, and the enlisted men Silver Stars. Dyess and his men were also rewarded with the announcement that the 21st Pursuit would be relieved of its infantry responsibilities and reassigned to flight operations at the Bataan and Cabcaben air fields, the Far East Air Forces new, hidden airdromes on the besieged peninsula. The news, Dyess later wrote, touched off a wild charivari of clanging tinware, shots, and Indian yells.

While the immediate threat to the Allies western flank had been eliminated, the ultimate consequences of the battle would be revealed by time. Viewed through the wide-angle, panoramic lenses of hindsight and history, the Battle of the Points can arguably be considered Americas first strategic victory of the Pacific War, for it forestalled an earlier fall of Bataan, severely altering Japans chronology of conquest in both the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Homma, missing his deadlinethe Philippines would fall in 149 days instead of 50would have to shamefully request reinforcements in order to end the campaign. This siphoning of reinforcements and resources, which could have been used elsewhere in other battle zones, would ultimately slow the momentum from Japans opening offensive, momentum the Japanese would never recovermomentum that might just have been Japans only hope for winning a negotiated peace in the Pacific.

Though the primary goal of Japans opening thrust would eventually be reachedthe capture of the resource-rich Dutch East Indiesand Nippon would eventually expand its empire across seven time zones, from Burma to the Aleutian Islands, by mid-1942, the loss of those 100 days on Bataan effectively prevented Japan from ever consolidating its newly-conquered possessions, penetrating the Malay Barrier, threatening Australia and New Zealand, and, most significantly, from fully fortifying its holdings in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in order to interdict Allied shipping.

Had Japan been able to do so, and lay siege to Australiaa vulnerable, nearly defenseless targetand deny the Allies a local base of operations, the Americans would have been forced to stage offensive operations from perhaps as far away as Hawaii and could have conceivably been fighting the Japanese on Vanuatu, or perhaps Fiji, instead of on Guadalcanal in late 1942.

This crucial turn of events would never have been possible if not for USAFFE Field Order No. 4, proof that battles cannot be won, but they canin the most extraordinary of circumstancesbe decided on paper. More importantly, it could not have occurred if not for the blood, fighting spirit, and sacrifices of the men of the forgotten provisional battalions of Bataan.

Originally published in the October 2010 issue of World War II Magazine. To subscribe, click here.
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Critically acclaimed Lyric Soprano Celine Byrne releases Christmas classic O Holy Night, with all proceeds going to the Jack and Jill Foundation and the Children in Hospital Ireland.

Universally acclaimed Irish Lyric Soprano, Celine Byrne today launched her mesmerising and spellbinding charity Christmas single O Holy Night.

An acclaimed Christmas carol, Celine has married tradition with the operatic world working in company with the RTE Concert Orchestra with all proceeds going to both the Jack and Jill Foundation and the Children in Hospital Ireland.

The recording is proudly supported by An Post, and was managed by NK Management. The single is available to stream and download from all DSPs and is available to buy for 2.99 in CD format in Topaz, Applegreen, Carrolls Irish Gifts, Dubray Books, and various leading outlets Nationwide.

'O Holy Night', a beloved worldwide Christmas carol, was originally inspired by a clergyman in a small French town in the 1800s and soon propelled from a simple poem to a cherished Christmas anthem known to many in an abundance of languages.

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Celine Byrne, a performer of fine lyrical quality, who has been noted for the ease with which she manages to combine power and confidence with delicate and heartfelt intensity, has brought an exquisite touch to the classic carol.

Celines velvety and elegant voice ensures the listener a spine-tingling experience. Working with the RTE Concert Orchestra, the single was conducted by Robert Houlihan, Gavin Murphy worked on the arrangement, while Gareth Hudson produced the single.

Speaking about the launch of the single, Celine Byrne said: " O Holy Night is the most beautiful Christmas carol and always invokes special memories for me.

"It was truly an honour to lend my voice to this recording and was such a wonderful experience to record with the RTE Concert Orchestra.

"The Jack and Jill Foundation and the Children in Hospital Ireland are two such deserving charities, so I ask you to please spread the Christmas cheer and pick up your copy of O Holy Night today!"

'O Holy Night' will also be available to purchase at Celine Byrnes Christmas Gala taking place in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre on 15 December.

You can keep up to date via social media on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/celinebyrnesoprano/ , Instagram @Celinesporano and @CelineSoprano on Twitter.
Following a triumphant show at 3Arena earlier this month, Jools Holland has announced he will return to Dublin next October with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. Joining Jools once again are Gilson Lavis, Ruby Turner & Louise Marshall.

Jools recent 3Arena show, which featured the iconic Jose Feliciano, was one of the stand-out concerts of the year, with multiple standing ovations and mass sing-alongs as Jools brought out the best in his band and guests, with some special magic being weaved by his old Squeeze sidekick Mr Gilson Lavis.

Jools Holland will return to the 3Arena on October 20, 2018.

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Tickets from 54 including booking and facility fees go on sale Friday 01 December at 8.30am.
Laura Whitmore and fashion designer and tailor Gresham Blake have joined forces to design an incredible tie for an Aids charity, the MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

Laura tells Hot Press, "I've created a pattern with my friend and designer Gresham Blake based on my favourite things - Music, flowers and the colour yellow.

"This print makes me smile everytime I see it! And hopefully can brighten up many other people's day.

"Profits go towards MTV Staying Alive, a charity I've been involved with for almost 10 years, and aims to build an empowered and educated generation of young people, equipped with the tools and knowledge to protect themselves and their peers from the HIV epidemic."

She also tells Hot Press: "It's shocking that today, AIDS is still the leading cause of death among young people (aged 10-24) in Africa, and second leading cause globally. So we're launching this tie print on World AIDS day to help raise awareness and necessary funds to eradicate the HIV epidemic for good."

Greshams passion for the partnership is fuelled by the fact he has lost a dear friend to this non-discriminatory virus.

For every tie purchased, Gresham Blake will donate 20 from each tie sale to MTV Staying Alive  available from www.GreshamBlake.com.

The funds raised from the ties will go towards supporting grassroots, youth-led initiatives around the world that provide education about HIV and sexual and reproductive health in local communities.
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If you think Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google already have monopolistic power, just wait until the FCC rolls back net neutrality rules.

President Donald Trump's appointee to lead the Federal Communications Commission announced last week that he intends to hand the internet over to corporate interests, allowing service providers to speed up content from some companies while slowing down content from others. The so-called FANG companies and internet service providers couldn't be happier.

In the current age of doublespeak, of course, the Trump administration is portraying the move as a blow against Big Brother.

"Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet," Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a statement.

Pai's initiative, though, would end the last egalitarian aspect of a technology that early developers believed would make information freely available to everyone. Under current rules, internet service providers must treat all data equally, whether it comes from Facebook or a web site that hasn't been updated in a decade.

The repeal of net neutrality would allow internet service providers to set up multiple lanes on the information highway, each with its own speed limit, and of course, different tolls.

This will bring profound changes to how we experience the internet. Streaming video provider Netflix will not only be able to pay a provider like AT&T to get in the fast lane, it will theoretically be able to pay AT&T to put Hulu in the slow lane.

For the consumer, that means lightning-fast access to "Stranger Things," but not-so-great service when watching "The Handmaid's Tale." If we want the priorities flipped, AT&T could charge us for that.

Under Pai's proposal, Google could favor shopping results from its site over those of Amazon. Or vice versa, if Amazon struck a deal with major service providers.

Lastly, what are the odds of a new social media company challenging Facebook and Twitter if those companies can pay to make sure that they are always the fastest, highest-quality service? How can a new video streaming company or a shopping network break into the market if incumbents can rig the system against them?

This gives internet service providers enormous power not only to auction off access to the fast lane, but also limit a company's access to large swaths of the country. Most Americans only have one or two choices of service providers, so they have to take whatever their service provider gives them.

Pai claims the Federal Trade Commission will block these kinds of abuses, but in fact, the FTC does not have the authority. Preserving competition and consumer choice in telecommunications is the FCC's mission, and Pai is abdicating that role and allowing the world's wealthiest and most powerful technology giants to bolster their monopolies.

"For more than a decade, previous Republican and Democratic FCCs have tried to bring fairness and balance to the delivery of the internet to consumers," Tom Wheeler, a former FCC chairman under President Barack Obama, wrote in an op-ed. "Now the Trump FCC has simply cut to the chase, there is no need for the big companies to sue - they'll just be given everything they want."

Pai's proposal comes at a fascinating moment in internet history, when companies are becoming more powerful and governments fearful.

Russian intelligence services managed to use Facebook and Twitter to deliver false propaganda messages to tens of millions of American voters, possibly influencing a presidential election. When all of us do our online socializing on just two unregulated, poorly moderated sites, we become easy pickings for foreign intelligence agencies.

Amazon, meanwhile, is doing its best to wipe out local retail stores. In addition to selling consumer goods, Amazon also offers streaming video, prepared meals and is expected to enter the pharmacy business.

Google actively scrapes our email for consumer data and has trained its voice technology to look for clues about future purchases.

Even before Pai's announcement about rolling back net neutrality, many governments were opening investigations.

The European Union fined Google $2.7 billion for favoring its own shopping service in search results after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission declined to take action. Germany, Japan and the U.S. Congress are digging into whether Facebook is abusing its market power or acting as an unwitting dupe for Russian agents.

Trump's Justice Department last week sued to block AT&T from merging with Time Warner, an unusual move since the companies do not compete. AT&T has pointed to the FANG companies' growing market power to justify the acquisition.

One thing is certain. Allowing internet companies to boost their power will not benefit consumers, only hurt them.

FCC commissioners will vote on lifting net neutrality rules on Dec. 14, and the repeal will likely pass on a party-line vote. After that, big business will control the internet like never before.
Maison Pucha Bistro, a stylish French restaurant in the former Black & White space at 1001 Studewood, is now open for business in the Heights.

Chef Manuel Pucha announced in the summer he was leaving his post as executive chef at La Table in the Galleria area to realize his dream of owning his first restaurant. He managed to convince two of his brothers, Victor, a French-trained pastry chef, and Cristian, a budding sommelier and bar manager, to give up their jobs in New York to move to Houston to collaborate on the project. The restaurant had a soft opening last week during the busy Thanksgiving rush.

Manuel Pucha's menu is technique-driven French with a few flourishes of his native Ecuador and a whole lot of visual flair. All his years in fine-dining kitchens (Bistro Moderne, Philippe Restaurant & Lounge, La Table) are evident in his dishes at the bistro.

The debut menu touts starters such as crab and avocado in a ponzu and green apple dressing; Akaushi beef tartare; beet and goat cheese salad with baby arugula; lobster bisque; lobster tortellini in a Thai lobster sauce; foie gras duo (seared and terrine) with a port wine reduction and brioche; and classic French onion soup. Pucha's promise to incorporate flavors of South America and his native Ecuador show up in fish tiradito with aji amarillo and Peruvian corn, as well as his Ecuadorian-style ceviche of lightly poached shrimp in orange, lime, and lemon juices served with crispy plantain chips.

The mains include classic bistro fare: steak frites (hanger with sauce Bearnasie); coq au vin; duck confit with salad frisee and duck fat potatoes; lamb navarin; trout almandine with brown butter and saffron potatoes; roasted chicken with pommes puree; filet mignon with gratin dauphinoise; branzino en papillote; and a showy bouillabaisse with broth poured tableside. For special occasions there is a grand presentation of chateaubriand for two, available on Friday and Saturday only.

Victor Pucha's dessert list is tres French, too: Tarte Tatin and profiteroles. But he also works with Ecuadorian products such as chocolate, which shows up in his souffle and in his chocolate cake, as well as coffee from his homeland, which flavors his creme brulee served with vanilla-orange Madeleines.

The Puchas promise to bring more flavors and foods from Ecuador (native spices and vegetables) once the restaurant is properly established. It will always be, however, a place where the refinements of French cooking can be found.

Manuel Pucha said he is happy with the first few days of service last week, and the plates coming out of his kitchen, open to the dining room. "It has color, passion, and movement," he said. "It's cooking from the heart."

Maison Pucha Bistro, 1001 Studewood, 713-637-4976; maisonpucha.com. Open for dinner Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 11 p.m., Sunday 5 to 9 p.m.
The leader of several adoption and foster care initiatives in Montgomery County apologized for submitting a proclamation to county commissioners that supported adoption from adults regardless of their gender identity.

Terri Jaggers, who is the president of the Montgomery County Child Protective Services board, took to Facebook Live Nov. 17 making the teary-eyed apology and calling it a "mistake" that gender identity was included in the submitted proclamation. Jaggers helped organize Montgomery County Adoption Day Nov. 15 where more than two dozen children were adopted by families inside a Conroe courthouse.

Now Playing: Lim speaks with Lu Mueller-Kaul of MBA Orlando, the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and Deb Ofsowitz of Orlando PRIDE, about what it means to be an LGBT ally in Orlando, Florida. Video: Orlando Sentinel

The proclamation Jaggers submitted, marked Nov. 15, 2017, as Montgomery County Adoption Day, in part, states "there are no restrictions on who can adopt based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or marital status " Commissioners passed the proclamation unanimously.

Some members of the online community lashed out at Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal, who also read the proclamation on Adoption Day, for helping pass the proclamation. In her video, Jaggers said she copy and pasted the proclamation from a template she found and did not read it through before submitting it to Doyal's office for consideration.

"I screwed up," Jaggers said in the video. "Not Craig Doyal, and not the commissioners court. It was me. They trusted me to provide the right proclamation. I've done it every year. This year, it was a new template. I hardly read it myself."

"I know we're a conservative county, and my heart bleeds," Jaggers further said. "If you know me, you know I'm a conservative. But I also love every child in this foster care system. As much as my Christian faith controls and determines my acts of obedience and what I do every day, I also understand the hurt and the realities some of these children face every day (with) abuse at the hands of their abusers. Sometimes, the very best families for these kids are not a mother and a father. They need some healing from either a female that's been in their life or a male father figure that's been in their life. Did I put that in there intentionally? No. Did I realize it was in there? No."

In a statement emailed Friday to The Courier, Doyal said the proclamation was "purely ceremonial" and did not affect any adoption law or practice.

"The court's intent was simply to promote adoptions, utilizing language provided by someone we trust who has offered up similar resolutions over the last decade without controversy," Doyal said. "Allegations that the court intended to make any broad statements of policy beyond promoting adoptions are simply incorrect. It is unfortunate that attention has been taken away from thousands of children needing a loving home and instead placed on a manufactured political controversy."

Jaggers said she would more closely review any future proclamations before submitted them to commissioners. In a text Saturday, she told The Courier she never meant to make a controversy out of the proclamation.

"I will make sure any such ceremonial proclamations accurately reflect the celebration of our community's love for our children," Jaggers said. "I want it to be completely clear that improving the lives of our community's most vulnerable children is, and will remain, my priority."

LGBT community supporters said they saw nothing wrong with the proclamation and believe commissioners should leave it in place.

Griffin Winkworth, LGBT& outreach coordinator for the Montgomery County Democratic Party, said the first two lines of the proclamation, rather, are what stuck out to him the most. They read, "children are the key to the state's future success, prosperity and quality of life" and "all children and teens deserve a safe, loving family yet there are 89 children and teens in Montgomery County who are waiting to be adopted."

He said those lines should be the focus of the proclamation.

"The proclamation passing the way it was is how it should have exactly passed," Winkworth said. "To me, it comes back to those first two lines. Provided people meet all the requirements for the agency, they should be able to adopt. It goes along with the whole rhetoric  that transgender people are somehow a danger to children. I'd argue that excluding them from this kind of representation is more harmful to those 89 kids who are still waiting to be adopted."

Dave Welch, president of the Texas Pastors Council, thought otherwise. The council, undersigned by Welch, sent a letter to Doyal's office Nov. 20 chastising him and the four commissioners for leaving gender identity in the proclamation.

"There are literally countless categories of human condition on which 'there are no restrictions,' so the inclusion of 'sexual orientation or expression, gender identity' give them special status equal to legitimate state and federal equal rights characteristics listed prior to that," the letter stated. "The question is why a Republican County Commissioners court would cater to a radical anti-family agenda in violation of your own party platform, credible social science and basic common sense?"

The letter, as well as a follow-up letter sent Friday, asked that commissioners address the issue in some way. Nothing related to the proclamation appears on the commissioners court agenda for Nov. 24.

In an interview Wednesday, Welch said he understood how Jaggers brought the proclamation to the court erroneously.

"We are very, very pro-adoption and pro-foster care and work closely with legislatures with some of the policy changes as well as our churches to increase participation," Welch said. "However, we're also deeply concerned that we're following this infiltration of the radical LGBTQ influence into the social service structure by putting children in the homes that are not in the best interest of the child. That's how some of these things seep into the process. Our concern is basically to continue to watch those very carefully. This resolution was clearly authored by somebody with that agenda in the social service system that, unfortunately, Terri got a hold of innocently. But it's clearly a reality of what is being attempted to be done in changing the nature of opening children up to potentially very damaging situations."
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EDINBURG - An 84-year-old former Catholic priest will stand trial in the 1960 death of a schoolteacher and beauty queen in South Texas after a district attorney made good on his campaign promise to attempt to get justice for the slain woman's family.

A Hildago County grand jury decided in February 2016 that there was enough evidence to charge former priest John Bernard Feit in the 1960 slaying of Irene Garza. Jury selection is expected to begin Monday with opening arguments set for the end of the week.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding the slaying of Garza, a 25-year-old McAllen schoolteacher who went missing in April 1960 and was found dead five days later in a canal, has piqued both the interest of locals and national media, such as CNN and "48 Hours."

Garza had gone to visit Sacred Heart Church in McAllen for confession during Holy Week when she disappeared. Even after a large-scale manhunt for her killer, police were unable to arrest anyone.

Feit, now 84, worked as a visiting Catholic priest in the Rio Grande Valley in the early 1960s - and had been questioned by authorities in the young woman's disappearance. But ultimately at the urging of local Catholic church officials, authorities were steered away from Feit. They eventually ruled him out as a suspect and never questioned him again.

The case went cold until 2002, when McAllen police and the Texas Rangers renewed their efforts and reopened the case into Garza's death. They interviewed key witnesses like the Rev. Joseph O'Brien, a McAllen priest who said he'd seen scratches on Feit's hands in the days following Garza's disappearance. He eventually told the Rangers that Feit confessed to Garza's slaying.

The renewed interest in the case led to public pressure on the county's district attorney, Rene Guerra, who at that point had been the county's top prosecutor for more than 20 years, to have a new grand jury look at the case.

Guerra initially declined to have the case sent to a grand jury because he questioned both the McAllen police department's and the Texas Rangers' handling of the case and subsequent interviews. But he bent to pressure and sent the case to a new grand jury in 2004 - only to have them come back and decline to indict the former priest, citing a lack of any new evidence.

Ten years later, during a highly contentious race in 2014, Garza's case proved to be Guerra's undoing and was seen as one of the primary factors leading to Guerra losing the district attorney post to Ricardo Rodriguez, who at the time was serving as state district court judge.

Rodriguez, who had the support of the victim's relatives, ran for the position in part with the promise of taking a closer look at the cold case, and bringing Feit to justice.

He eventually reopened Garza's case, requested a new grand jury, which led to a subsequent indictment against Feit in early February 2016.

Feit was arrested that month at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home after Rodriguez argued there was enough evidence to prosecute him.

Since his extradition last March, the octogenarian has remained in custody at the county jail under 24-hour medical watch because of a slew of ailments.

Feit, who has publicly denied any involvement in Garza's death on multiple occasions, is expected to sit through about three weeks of trial testimony.
If Harris County were its own state, it would have a more active death chamber than the entire country outside of Texas.

Of the 1,465 U.S. executions in the modern death penalty era, 125 have come from Harris County, or roughly 8 percent. The next-closest executioner is Dallas County, with 55 death sentences carried out since the Supreme Court reinstated the ultimate punishment in 1976.

Houston's reputation as ground zero for the death penalty, it seems, is well-earned - even though prosecutors have been less apt to dole out capital sentences in recent years.

While the numbers are stark, the reasons behind the Bayou City's apparent zeal for capital punishment are less apparent. It's not driven by public support for the practice. It's not driven by an unusually high crime rate, or by especially heinous murders.

So what is driving it? What sets apart jurisdictions that frequently turn to capital punishment?

That is one of the questions Frank Baumgartner and his co-authors explore in "Deadly Justice," a numbers-heavy study of capital punishment released this month.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill political science professor took some time this week to field questions from Chronicle reporter Keri Blakinger about his new book and its implications in the Houston area. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: Harris County is known as the capital of capital punishment - why is that? Are Houstonians just more supportive of it?

A: Well, actually I would say two things. We got data from a Rice University Houston-area poll, and it turns out the public opinion in Houston is less supportive for the death penalty than in the rest of Texas. In general across the country, we don't find any correlation between public opinion and executions, and the reason for that is that if you don't support capital punishment you're not allowed to sit on a jury.

The key driver in the system is the choices that district attorneys make, because they start the process, and they get to pick and choose whether to seek death. Looking at all 3,000 counties in the U.S., there are just a few counties that have executed more than, say, 10 people - there's only 20 counties like that - and it's really astounding that there would be so much concentration in a few jurisdictions. There's really no rhyme or reason to it.

Q: It's not that Houston has more horrific crimes?

A: No, not at all. I think it's something about a local culture that develops around the courthouse. Most counties never go there, but a few counties happen to sucessfully carry through to the end a death sentence - and then when the next really bad murder happens the prosecutors say, "Well this is just as bad as that one where we sought death, so we kind of have to do it again this time."

Q: We hear a lot about botched executions; is this happening more than it used to, and why aren't we seeing these botched executions in Texas? Or is it just a matter of time?

A: Lethal injection is a medicalized procedure, but - in most states - no doctors are allowed to participate, so I think it does lend itself to botches in a way that other methods like firing squads or hangings did not.

But Texas has a lot more practice. So there have been fewer botches in Texas because, I think, the teams in the corrections department are relatively in practice. In carrying out 400 or 500 hundred executions, they've just done it a lot more.

Q: People always seem to express frustration over the length of the delays - sometimes it's 20 years. Is Texas an outlier in this, or is this a pretty normal time frame here?

A: The average as of 2015 is about 20 years delay from crime to execution, so that's pretty shocking. There are three shockers. One is the extreme delay - that's 20 years in solitary confinement. So it's 20 years of harsh punishment followed by execution. The other shocker is that we only carry out 13 percent of the death sentences. It's just astounding. And the third shocker is that even when the governor signs a death warrant it's not usually carried out.

On average, those things are canceled.

Q: How are the questions and discussions around the use of the death penalty changing?

A: The biggest change was in the 1990s: We started to pay serious attention to the concept of innocence and whether there might be innocent people on death row and whether we should celebrate it when we identify them and they're exonerated, or if we should interpret that number as catastrophic.

The innocence argument has really shaken people's faith that you can count on the government to get it right every single time.

Q: One of the topics that comes up a lot now - and has been written about a lot - is one of your chapter titles: "Is the death penalty dying?" Is it?

A: I think it's in a stranglehold.

The system is so tied up in knots, partly because of the concern of executing an innocent person. It's really hard to justify or have enthusiasm about a system so dysfunctional as the current modern death penalty, even if you're a prosecutor.
Rosemary Billquist had worked a little late Wednesday, so by the time she returned to her home in western New York it was already getting dark.

She took her yellow Labrador retrievers, Sugar and Stella, for a walk around 5:30 p.m., while her husband, Jamie, stayed behind at their home in Sherman, New York, about 65 miles southwest of Buffalo.

But 15 or 20 minutes later, Sugar and Stella came bounding back without her. They were peering backward, barking with unusual urgency.

"They obviously knew something happened," Jamie Billquist said in an interview Saturday night. "And I'm thinking to myself, 'This isn't right.'"

Billquist reached for his phone to call his wife. When he looked up he saw an ambulance barreling into view. There had been a shooting, a volunteer medic told him. As he would soon find out, the victim was his wife.

Authorities said Rosemary Billquist, 43, was walking when one of her neighbors, Thomas B. Jadlowski, believed he saw a deer in a field and fired a single-shot pistol.

Jadlowski heard a scream, and then ran about 200 yards to where he found Billquist with a gunshot wound, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. He called 911 and applied pressure to her wound until medical help arrived. She was pronounced dead at a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Jadlowski, 34, had fired his pistol after sunset, and it is illegal to hunt deer after the sun goes down, the statement said.

Chautauqua County, where the shooting occurred, is a rural and agricultural county of about 132,000 people in the far western corner of New York that is bordered by Pennsylvania to its south and Lake Erie to its north.

Jamie Billquist said he kept calling his wife's phone until Jadlowski answered it and told him where to meet him. When Billquist found his wife less than 100 yards from the back of their house, she was unresponsive, he said.

"It's been a tough few days," Billquist, 47, said. "It just saddens me because it's something that could have been avoided."

Authorities said Jadlowski had been cooperating with investigators, and no charges had been filed as of Wednesday. Officials noted that the investigation was continuing, and said prosecutors would review the case.

Attempts to reach Jadlowski on Saturday were unsuccessful.

Jamie Billquist said he and his wife knew the Jadlowski family in the way that neighbors casually do. They would wave when they saw each other and Billquist said he and his wife watched Jadlowski grow up. There were "never any bad feelings" between them, he said.

"I'm not looking for vengeance, and I know Rosemary's not either," Billquist said. "There's got to be some kind of lesson."

Billquist said he was not a hunter but added that "not knowing what you're shooting at when you think you're shooting a deer, it boggles my mind."

He said he was considering starting a foundation to offer hunting safety courses. First-time hunters must pass one or more courses before getting a hunting license in New York, according to state rules. Four people were killed in hunting-related shootings in New York last year, according to State Department of Environmental Conservation figures.

Dale Dunkelberger, a firearms instructor for the department's hunter education program, told The Buffalo News that hunters "have to understand there are other people using trails" and using parks "in areas where we as sportsmen hunt."

After sunset, "you're done," he said. "That's the law."

It was Dec. 6, 1990, when Jamie Billquist was in a shopping mall with a friend and saw Rosemary in a white dress shirt and a black blazer. She was 17; he was 20. He recalled telling his friend: "This girl is beautiful. I'd like to meet her."

They hit it off, got married and made a home in Jamestown, New York, before returning to Sherman to fix up and live in the same home where she grew up.

He worked in sales for Pepsi. She became a health information medical specialist, a job that allowed her to help people.

When she wasn't working, Rosemary Billquist volunteered at a local hospice program, bringing in pets to cheer up patients. If a woman receiving care complimented her fingernail polish, Billquist would return the next day to paint the woman's nails with that polish.

Even when she was working, Rosemary Billquist would spend her lunch breaks helping dialysis patients return to their cars, Jamie Billquist said.

One day, when she was going for a walk, she saw a man outside the hospital struggling to stand as he waited for his ride. With the help of her husband, Rosemary Billquist brought a bench from home. She stenciled a message on it.

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind," it said.
AUSTIN -- Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller praised President Trump on Facebook for removing a Muslim judge from the bench who made a ruling that would implement Sharia law in the United States.

However, that never happened.

Miller, one of the state's most prolific politicians on social media, shared a link Sunday to a made-up story published on a site called Trump Solid Supporters. Miller added the comment, "Good on President Trump. Sharia law has no place in the United States of America."

The story claims a 22nd Court of Appeals justice named Hansam al Alallawalahi-Smith made a ruling in Michigan that supported two tenants of Sharia law, a religious code used in some Muslim communities.

Now Playing: President Trump is taking another aim at the mainstream media outlets. Video: GeoBeats

The story has been debunked numerous times this spring and summer. A "22nd Circuit Court of Appeals" does not exist in the federal court system, and removal of a federal judge must happen via impeachment, according to the U.S. Constitution, not presidential executive order. In previous iterations of the story published on other sites, the justice's name appeared with a picture of a Florida judge by a different name.

The post has been shared more than 6,500 times.

Monday afternoon, Miller edited his post, saying, "Well it looks like I may have been duped. This may be fake news, but I still think Sharia law has no place in the United States of America."

Miller, who has nearly 637,000 people who have liked his Facebook page, has a record of making gaffes and controversial statements in social media. Last month he posted a political cartoon of a Congressional Democrat dancing on a soldier's grave, and a year ago someone on his staff shared a retweet referring to then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by a vulgar term. Miller blamed the retweet on a staffer.

His team in the past has also shared a Facebook post depicting an atomic bomb blast, saying, "Japan has been at peace with the U.S. since August 9, 1945. It's time we made peace with the Muslim world." That post was taken down the next day, sparking outrage on Miller's Facebook page. At the time, Miller's office said future posts would reflect the commissioner's views.

Miller is up for re-election in 2018. Kim Olson, a retired Air Force colonel, filed paperwork earlier this month to run as a Democrat against Miller.

Andrea Zelinski covers state government, politics and the courts. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Send her tips at andrea.zelinski@chron.com.
AUSTIN -- Bending to years of pressure for Texas to provide better care for victims of sex trafficking, state officials are launching a new initiative to help victims.

Kim Grabert, who recently was named the state's first-ever director of human trafficking prevention, is leading the charge for more funding and resources to address the issue that's a priority for Houston and other cities statewide. A recent University of Texas study estimated the state now has more than 300,000 human trafficking victims.

Grabert, a veteran of the child welfare industry in Florida, said changing the statewide procedure of caring for victims of child sex trafficking is one of many things on to-do list since arriving at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in June.

"The largest hurdle initially is to have everybody have an understanding of this issue of sex trafficking," Grabert said. "Texas is at a place where I think we've been building up to this conversation, and I think now is the right time to have staff in positions to address it."

Texas has long tried to address the problem of human trafficking in the state, but Texans have been critical of the government's efforts at providing rehabilitative care for victims of the crime. In 2014, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a statewide effort to help the more than 79,000 minors and youth victims of sex trafficking in the state, but the Texas Legislature has done little to address the problem.

During the 85th legislative session, the legislature allocated $1.3 million per year to create a grant program specifically for assisting child sex trafficking victims. However, legislators also removed a proposal to create a $3 million grant program aimed at helping all trafficking victims, continuing a decade-long pattern of providing little funds towards the issue.

"When it comes to serving this population, there has to be greater funding, and there has to be funding for more than one avenue," said Grabert. "Government alone, in whatever capacity, we're not going to have the resources to treat the complexities of the needs of this population, whether they're minors or adults, so everyone has to step up and provide a piece."

To do this, Grabert said she is reviewing the methods for responding to victims of sex trafficking from everyone who deals with the problem in the state.

"When you engage with these children ... you have to build a relationship," Grabert said. "It's not simple. This is neurologically driven, trauma driven behavior and punitive action is not effective."

Grabert said her position was created through a grant from the governor's office to allow the state to respond to the issue of child sex trafficking on behalf of the child welfare program.

"Governor Abbott is fully committed to doing everything he can to put an end to the horrific practice of human trafficking, while helping rehabilitate child sex trafficking victims and vigorously prosecuting the criminals involved," said Ciara Matthews, spokesperson for Abbott. "The governor is pleased with the work Kim Grabert has done already, and he will continue to dedicate the necessary resources to combat this heinous crime."

In Texas, A Houston based shelter is the only privately run safe house that provides long-term housing for girls who are victims of sex trafficking, called Freedom Place. There are multiple drop-in shelters that provide short term care in the state.

Houston a hub

Hilary Sherrer, spokesperson for Houston victim's daytime drop-in shelter The Landing, said she wishes Texas had addressed the problem of victim care sooner.

"I think it's always frustrating when things aren't done as quickly or efficiently as we would like them to be done," Sherrer said. "Yes, it's frustrating that this hasn't happened before, but there will always be things to do, and I am happy that something is being done, and I think it is a better step in the right direction."

Houston is one of the largest hubs for sex trafficking in the United States, but Sherrer also said Texas should look to the city as a blueprint to addressing the issue.

"Houston has developed a very strategic plan on how to combat human trafficking as a city," Sherrer said. "It's a great first step, strategically getting a plan to put together, and that would be a great thing to see in Texas on how we can address this as a state, all across this huge state."

Texas is taking a great step by adding the position of director of human trafficking, Grabert said, and coordinating the state's response is one of the objectives in the early months of her new job.

"I think every state needs this position and this type of response," Grabert said. "I think they need it in all of the state agencies, but particularly when people talk about child sex trafficking specifically. They function under this concept that this is a new issue, and it's escalating, and it's not. The conversation around child sex trafficking is certainly not new."
Our nation's energy industry got some good news during Thanksgiving week.

The long delayed Keystone XL pipeline, stalled by years of politically motivated setbacks, finally got the green light it has badly needed. Unfortunately, it still isn't clear whether the project will finally be completed. And at the same time, an oil spill pointedly highlighted precisely the kind of accident the developers of this pipeline must now scrupulously avoid.

Keystone finally won approval from regulators in Nebraska, whose decision removed the last major hurdle for the completion of a project that would ultimately link Canada's Alberta oil sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. That decision was a triumph not only for TransCanada Corp., the pipeline developer that employs nearly 1,000 people in Houston, but also for America's entire oil and gas industry.

Keystone has been a lightning rod for controversy because of intense opposition from fossil fuel critics, who naively believe that blocking this project will help wean the world off oil. Other pipeline projects have also been delayed during the past few years because of what's been called "the Keystone effect." So last week's Nebraska decision was rightly celebrated throughout the industry.

But what happens next is anybody's guess. When the project was launched almost a decade ago, oil sold for almost double today's price. So there's now some question whether finishing the pipeline makes economic sense.

Let's hope it does. This 1,700 mile conduit would bring 700,000 to 800,000 barrels of heavy oil to plants and refineries in our state every day. Unlike crude imported from the Middle East, this critical commodity will come from our country's most reliable ally and neighbor, Canada. Unlike oil transported by train, it will flow through the most secure mode of transit possible: a pipeline.

Still, an accident that happened a few days ago dramatically demonstrates that pipelines aren't foolproof. More than 200,000 gallons of crude spilled out of Keystone in South Dakota, providing ammunition to opponents who argue the project poses an unacceptable environmental hazard. That should serve as a warning to TransCanada, which must ensure that the dire predictions promoted by Keystone's opponents don't become a reality.

Americans rely upon products refined from oil. That simple reality will not change in our lifetimes. So Keystone's last major regulatory approval is a sensible decision that will benefit the economy of Houston, Texas and the whole nation.

At the same time, it's vital that federal and state regulators hold TransCanada to the highest safety standards. As that accident in South Dakota proves, even a single oil spill is one too many.
I was born in Azerbaijan but came to Houston 20 years ago with my husband, who is a petrochemical scientist. I was surprised that my adopted city could feel so much like home.

My hometown of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and my adoptive home of Houston are natural siblings. Both are port cities. Both have economies built on the energy industry. Both are international cities with diverse and inclusive cultures.

That's why, for the past 12 years, I have volunteered with the Houston-Baku Sister City Association.

The idea of sister cities may seem purely ceremonial to some in the United States. But I can assure you, when Houston and Baku became sister cities in 1976, it had a big impact on Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan was a part of the U.S.S.R., and there was not much contact between East and West. There was not one single Azerbaijani living in Houston. Former Mayor Louis Welch had the idea of linking the two oil-producing cities. A few years later, the two cities' relationship was established by then-Mayor Fred Hofheinz.

Under the sister city program, many Azerbaijanis got their first look at America. They were welcomed by Houstonians and formed real bonds, allowing both sides to cut through some of the Cold War tension of the time.

After Azerbaijan gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, many Texans came to work and live in Baku to help Azerbaijan develop its oil and gas resources.

Our organization is non-political, so it would be in inappropriate for me to comment on the op-ed "Sister city violates Houston values" (Page A17, Nov 4). There are a couple things I can say, however.

First, America's sister cities overseas have never been selected based on whether their home countries' governments are like the U.S. Indeed, quite the opposite is the case. The sister city program is designed to bring people together and to celebrate our common humanity. If U.S. cities chose only foreign cities that look like ours, what would be the point?

Second, it would be a shame to allow politics to harm or possibly end the tremendously friendly and productive relationship that Houston and Baku have built over the past 41 years. I remember the old ways in my home country when leaders were eager to restrict humanitarian contact between countries and turn person-to-person programs into political tools to punish foes and reward friends. Doing the same again has no place in Houston or in America.

In addition to the annual musical and cultural events our organization puts on - often in cooperation with the Sister Cities of Houston, which includes all 18 Houston sister cities - we are working to provide opportunities for Azerbaijanis and Texans alike.

We were a key part of the 2014 visit to Houston by the Baku Higher Oil School to the University of Houston. A year later, a group from the University of Houston visited Baku. As a result, three of the top universities in Azerbaijan signed an agreement with UH for education exchange. Already, UH is hosting four Azerbaijani students. In turn, UH students from several majors can study at ADA University in Baku.

Our group also organizes reunions of Houstonians who have lived and worked in Azerbaijan's oil fields to help them reconnect and to thank them for their profound impact on my home country's development.

I know on a personal level how much these opportunities have meant to the people who've had a chance to take advantage of them.

I'm happy to have lived in Houston for the past 20 years because of the warmth and friendliness that Houstonians have always shown me and my family. We've been here long enough that my second grandchild is on the way. Maybe aside from Baku, I can't think of a better place for a baby to be born.

Akhoundova is the president of the Houston-Baku Sister City Association.
The following are excerpts from reports generated by the Texas County Sheriffs Department:

A deputy was dispatched at about 12:20 a.m. Nov. 11 regarding a suicidal man at a Highway B residence at Raymondville.

A woman had reported that the man, 24, had sent her text messages indicating he was going to kill himself, including photos of a Mossberg shotgun he intended to shoot himself with. When the officer arrived, he observed the man sitting in a truck with the shotgun leaning against the bed.

The man reported got out of the truck and refused to comply with commands to put his hands up. The man then moved toward the gun and officers tased him. He was taken into custody and placed on a 24-hour hold pending a judge signing a 96-hour commitment.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper was called in to assist at the scene. No charges are being sought.

A deputy on Nov. 14 investigated a reported burglary at a Valley Dale Drive residence at Plato.

A 34-year-old man who owns the home told the officer he had been gone for four days and when he returned he found that several items with a total value of $6,200 were missing.

There are no suspects.

A deputy was dispatched at about 7:50 p.m. Nov. 16 to assist the Houston Police Department on Industrial Drive after a woman had locked her two children inside her car.

The deputy was called in because he had tools to make entry into a locked vehicle. The deputy successfully opened the vehicles door without causing any damage and got the kids out.

A 77-year-old man reported on Nov. 19 that his 1989 GMC pickup valued at $3,500 had been stolen.

Missouri State Highway Patrol officers located the truck Nov. 22 on Jacks Fork Hill on Highway 137. It was towed to a lot into Houston, and the owner was told he could pick it up there.

There are no suspects.

A 66-year-old Mountain Grove man reported on Nov. 20 that his 2001 GMC pickup truck (valued at $2,000) had been stolen from his Strain Drive residence. The man stated two guns and several tools had been inside the vehicle.

The vehicle was recovered Nov. 21 on Austin Lake Road at Mountain Grove. On Nov. 22, the Mountain View Police Department reported that a vehicle had been recovered that was reported stolen in a different Texas County case, and that two guns were found inside it matching the description of the mans missing firearms.

An male inmate in the Texas County Jail reported on Nov. 22 that another male inmate had stolen his drinking cup.

The victim said he been let out of his cell for a one-hour recreation period and the suspect swiped his cup while he was out. A report was sent to the county prosecutor.

A Mountain Grove man reported on Nov. 22 that his 1998 Chevrolet pickup (valued at $8,000) had been stolen from his Mount Zion road residence. There are no suspects.

Texas County Jail admissions

Nov. 17

Mary Jane West  stealing

Vance O. Lane  assault

Mallory R. Buell  driving without a license

Adam E. Smith  possession of controlled substance

Nov. 18

Cody E. Hall  DWI, leaving scene of a motor vehicle accident

Nov. 19

Scotty G. Barham  stealing rented property

Jennifer D. Hendrix  failure to appear (assault)

Nov. 20

Stanley E. Cornman  possession of controlled substance

Nov. 21

Orion D. Wickert  assault, tampering with witness

Clarence L. Hall  driving while revoked

Joshua D. Eisenhauer  5-day commitment

Alexus N. Henson  Pulaski County hold

Christopher White  Christian County hold

Sterling L. Moore  parole violation

Dandy J.M. Nettles  possession with intent

Nov. 23

Tyler J. Smith  possession of controlled substance

Jeremy L. Shelton  harassment

Ryan D. Thompson  parole warrant

Nov. 24

Brittany L. Scrivener  Greene County hold

Tanya A. Harris  48-hour shock

Nov. 25

Ryan D. Burns  Platte County hold

Nicholas W. Berriault  48-hour shock

Chance I. Gale  48-hour commitment

Nov. 26

Christopher Daugherty  failure to appear
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HR professional sets out to establish a gender pay gap within their organisation but a number of external factors combined with unconscious bias means disparity can quickly creep in  however, putting it right isnt always as easy, or is it?Robin Davies is the director of people and culture at beverage giant Lion  her firm was recognised as a gold-standard winner at this years YWCA Equal Pay Awards after it eradicated its gender pay gap in one fell swoop.The company, which has approximately 1,000 across New Zealand, identified a 3.2 per cent pay gap across its workforce and chose to take immediate action.I found it quite confronting to be honest because Id heard about the gender pay gap but I just didnt feel like it could apply to us, says Davies. From conversations Ive had since, it seems thats quite a common perception.With a gap of 3.2 per cent, Lions initial disparity was significantly lower than New Zealands 9.7 per cent national average but Davies says the entire senior leadership team agreed any disparity was unacceptable.It wasnt difficult at all to convince any of our senior leaders to close the gap and to close it immediately, Davies tells HRD. I was really blown away by the unconditional support we had across the New Zealand business, from our CEO, Stuart Irvine, and from our board.Davies, who has held various roles since joining the company in 2003, also said there was no hesitation about the timeline for closing the gap.We had various options about the time period over which we would close it but we all felt that it had to happen immediately, she says. I really think this is an amazing example of a board demonstrating its values and being prepared to stand up for something.For organisations that hope to achieve something similar, Davies says they should seek the support of their executive team and prepare to absorb significant financial cost.It absolutely requires the commitment right through the organisation from all of the senior leaders, she stresses. Then obviously there is a significant financial cost but weve proved that we can make a decision in accordance with our values, weve closed it immediately and we managed the cost of what it is. We just get on and make it happen.Despite the cost, Davies says the initiative has already had a huge impact on employees  both those who saw their salaries rise and those who were left unaffected.One of our core principles is transparency with our people and our people saw that we were demonstrating transparency in action so its strengthened our culture even further and developed the trust they have in us, she says.
Humane Society International hosted Brazils first corporate animal welfare roundtable, bringing together food industry leaders to discuss the cage-free egg movement in the country. In recent years, egg-laying hen welfare has become a priority corporate social responsibility issue for the food industry, with dozens of food companies committing to sourcing exclusively cage-free eggs.

The roundtable, which took place at the Mercure hotel in Sao Paulo, included speakers from Arcos Dorados, the company that operates all McDonalds restaurants in Brazil and 19 other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Bunge, one of Brazils largest food and agribusiness companies. They spoke about their corporate commitments and actions to achieve a transition to a 100 percent cage-free egg supply chains by 2025. Other speakers included representatives from FAI do Brasil, who discussed technical information regarding cage-free egg production systems, and from Certified Humane, who shared information on animal welfare certification in Brazil. Representatives from Brazilian companies that have already committed to or are looking into cage-free supply chains attended the roundtable.

Leonardo Lima, director of sustainable development for Arcos Dorados, said: Arcos Dorados has a strong commitment to animal welfare in all its procurement and follows advances in farm animal production models. That is why we are sourcing exclusively cage-free eggs by 2025, committed to providing our clients with higher quality products. Our partnership with Humane Society International will help ensure that our animal welfare policies are robust and applicable to our suppliers.

Meire de Fatima de Ferreira, sustainability manager for Bunge in Brazil, stated: At Bunge we take corporate social responsibility and responsible consumption seriously, which includes animal welfare in our supply chain. Were committed to only sourcing cage-free eggs by 2025, and will work with Humane Society International and our peers to make this happen.

Fernanda Vieira, corporate policy and program manager for HSI Farm Animals in Brazil, stated: Were thrilled to host Brazils first corporate animal welfare roundtable and bring together forward-thinking companies that are committed to higher animal welfare standards in their supply chains. Humane Society Internationals mission is to not only call for the improved treatment of animals, but to support companies as they implement animal welfare policies, and encourage collaboration among various stakeholders. We want to help ensure that companies have all of the tools and resources they need to make a cage-free future for laying hens a reality.

Support farm animals.

In Brazil and around the world, egg-laying hens spend their entire lives confined in wire battery cages, so small that they cannot even fully spread their wings. Science confirms what common sense tells us: the lack of space and restriction of movement is detrimental to the physical health of these animals and causes enormous frustration and suffering. However, advocates for better animal welfare are making enormous progress in Brazil. Dozens of the largest food corporations, including McDonalds, Bunge, Cargill, Nestle, BFFC, and GRSA, have committed to using exclusively cage-free eggs in their supply chains in Brazil, by 2025 or earlier.
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FCC Released Its Net Neutrality Killing Order, Hoping You Were Too Busy Cooking Turkey To Read It

"The FCC is trying to use the Thanksgiving holiday to distract the press and public from its blatant handout to one of the least liked and least competitive industries in America," writes Karl Bode of Techdirt,

"Trying to bury such an epic middle finger to consumers behind the cranberry sauce is an obvious underestimation of just how unpopular this plan is, and the policy, political, and cultural backlash it's going to generate for years.

That said, all six of you not currently driving long distances, buying turkeys and potatoes, or otherwise distracted by holiday preparation can now read a fact sheet provided by the FCC (pdf) explaining what Ajit Pai and his lobbying friends in the telecom industry have planned for you.

To Ajit Pai's credit (and I'm using that term loosely here), the rules do pretty much everything he promised they would, including rolling back the Title II classification of ISPs as common carriers that gives the FCC its ability to enforce net neutrality. Without that authority, the FCC can't really protect you as giant broadband providers abuse the lack of competition in the last mile (a lack of competition Ajit Pai refuses to acknowledge, much less actually fix). ISPs have been very busy trying to claim that gutting this authority doesn't kill net neutrality protections, though we've already explained at length why that's nonsense.

Throughout the order, the FCC repeatedly tries to claim that the very real harms we've seen in the broadband sector thanks to a lack of healthy competition are entirely "speculative" and "hypothetical":

"Because of the paucity of concrete evidence of harms to the openness of the Internet, the Title II Order and its proponents have heavily relied on purely speculative threats. We do not believe hypothetical harms, unsupported by empirical data, economic theory, or even recent anecdotes, provide a basis for public-utility regulation of ISPs.428 Indeed, economic theory demonstrates that many of the practices prohibited by the Title II Order can sometimes harm consumers and sometimes benefit consumers; therefore, it is not accurate to presume that all hypothetical effects are harmful."

You know, speculative instances like that time AT&T blocked customer access to Facetime in order to drive them to more expensive mobile data plans. Or the time AT&T throttled users then lied about it (something AT&T's still fighting a lawsuit over). Or that time Comcast applied arbitrary and completely unnecessary usage caps and overage fees to its broadband service (again, thanks to a lack of competition), then exempted the company's own content from those caps while still penalizing competitors. Or how about that time Verizon blocked competing mobile wallets from even working on its phones to give its own payment platform an advantage?

There's plenty more very real, very non-speculative examples where that came from, and the problem gets worse if you look at the bad behavior by ISPs on the privacy front (also caused by a lack of competition). Like when AT&T decided to charge users hundreds of extra dollars a monthjust to opt out of snoopvertising, or the time Verizon was busted covertly modifying user packets to track users around the internet without telling them  or letting them opt out.

If you think these very real market harms are "speculative" you've been in a coma for the last decade. Yet this argument that net neutrality is an entirely theoretical problem sits at the heart of the FCC's order. It's an order that makes it abundantly clear that the real goal is to completely dismantle the FCC's authority over broadband mono/duopolies, then shovel any remaining authority to an FTC that's technically incapable of actually policing abuses in the sector. Anybody framing this as anything other than a grotesque example of crony capitalism is either viciously misinformed  or intentionally lying to you for personal financial benefit.

One thing of particular note in the Orwellian-named "Restoring Internet Freedom" order is the fact that the FCC wants to ban states that try to protect net neutrality and consumer welfare in the wake of the federal handout to industry . The agency doesn't specifically spell out how it intends to do this, but it's something ISPs like Comcast have been lobbying for for several months. ISPs have similarly been lobbying the government to ban states from protecting your broadband privacy after the GOP and Trump administration rushed to kill fairly basic broadband privacy protections earlier this year.

For years, ISPs have quite literally been allowed to write awful protectionist state laws that prohibit towns and cities from building their own broadband networks, or even striking public/private partnerships with companies like Google Fiber. Even in cases where the private sector refuses to. When folks pointed out that maybe giant uncompetitive duopolies shouldn't be allowed to write shitty state law, ISPs and their pay-to-play allies insisted this was an assault on states' rights. But when these same states try to protect consumers, you'll notice these concerns magically disappear.

Another thing to note: the FCC's original net neutrality order contained some very useful transparency rules that required that ISPs be entirely candid about what kind of traffic management they're using on your connection. And while Pai and his friends at Comcast have made a big deal about how they'll be retaining some of these protections, the order itself makes it abundantly clear that they intend to strip out most of the enforcement mechanisms that actually make these transparency protections work. For example, the order proclaims:

"Our enforcement changes will ensure that ISPs will be held accountable for any violations of the transparency rule.

But then proceeds to point out how it intends to eliminate most of the safeguards in place to ensure these requirements are actually adhered to:

"We eliminate the formal complaint procedures because the informal complaint procedure, in conjunction with other redress options including consumer protection laws, will sufficiently protect consumers. Additionally, we eliminate the position of Open Internet Ombudsperson because the staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureauother than the Ombudspersonhave been performing the Ombudsperson functions envisioned by the Title II Order. We also eliminate the issuance of enforcement advisory opinions, because enforcement advisory opinions do not diminish regulatory uncertainty, particularly for small providers. Instead, they add costs and uncertain timelines since there is no specific timeframe within which to act, which can also inhibit innovation."

The FCC's order also makes it clear that it wants to do away with protections governing interconnection. You'll recall that as people got wise to how ISPs were trying to throttle or otherwise hamstring competitors, ISPs got more creative  and began intentionally letting interconnection points with transit operators and companies like Netflix get congested. Why? ISPs like Comcast and Verizon hoped to 1) kill the common practice of settlement-free peering, and 2) force companies like Netflix to pay an additional toll if they wanted video packets to reach subscribers on time, and intact (aka "double dipping" or more bluntly, extortion).

Unnoticed by many in the lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman against Charter over slow speeds was the fact that Charter executives were busted candidly discussing this strategy to drive up costs for competitors and transit operators. When the FCC passed its 2015 net neutrality rules, this behavior mysteriously and magically ceased. Not surprisingly, the FCC is eager to eliminate any protections for this kind of anti-competitive behavior, insisting said protections were "unnecessary" and could magically be resolved by "market forces":

"We believe that applying Title II to Internet traffic exchange arrangements was unnecessary and is likely to inhibit competition and innovation. We find that freeing Internet traffic exchange arrangements from burdensome government regulation, and allowing market forces to discipline this emerging market is the better course. Indeed, the cost of Internet transit fell over 99 percent on a cost-per-megabit basis from 2005 to 2015.

In short, the FCC's plan to dismantle net neutrality rules is every bit as bad as most people expected it to be, and potentially a little bit worse. It opens the door to all manner of anti-competitive behavior by AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Comcast, while mindlessly dismissing the very real harms a lack of broadband competition is having on numerous industries. It tries to ban states from stepping in and filling the void in the face of obvious federal regulatory capture, and opens the door to giant, unaccountable ISPs to do pretty much whatever they'd like as they take full advantage of the broken residential and business broadband markets.

It's easy to be disheartened by this grotesque handout to duopolists, but users should take heart in the fact that this FCC order is so aggressively vile and obnoxious as to be potentially legally indefensible. In court, the FCC will have to prove that the broadband market has changed so substantially in the last two years as to justify such a brutal reversal of consumer-friendly policies. It will also have to defend the fact that it ignored 22 million, largely oppositional public comments on the FCC effort, and turned a blind eye to numerous instances of fraud and abuse of the comment system in order to downplay the massive backlash to its plan.

Even if the FCC does manage to win in the courts, it then has to stop the inevitable political backlash that is likely to eject Ajit Pai and friends from power. That's why you'll likely see an ISP effort in the new year to try and pass a new net neutrality law ISP lackeys and sockpuppets will breathlessly claim "solves" this problem once and for all, but will be integrated with so many loopholes as to be effectively useless. It's real purpose: to prevent the FCC from revisiting this subject down the road under the guise of "putting this issue to bed once and for all."

The problem for ISP lobbyists is that we're entering an election season, and countless politicians are going to be tripping over themselves to distance themselves from the unpopular policies of the current administration. You're not going to find a more unpopular policy than this myopic assault on net neutrality and the health of the internet.

That said, it's important to remember that net neutrality isn't a fight that magically ends with the passage or elimination of consumer protections, strong, weak, or otherwise. Since net neutrality violations are just a symptom of a lack of competition in the broadband market, it's a battle we're going to have to fight in perpetuity  or at least until somebody in the United States government discovers the fortitude and courage to actually stand up to AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Comcast and begins implementing policies that finally attempt to actually fix our obvious competitive logjam.

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Berkshire County Republican Association Chairman Tyler Hasting, on the left, has a laugh with attorney general candidate Jay McMahon.

Republican Attorney General Candidate Visits Berkshires



McMahon's three main priorities are on protecting the second amendment, increasing public safety, and tackling the opioid addiction problem facing the state. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Jay McMahon wouldn't want a "bump stock" on his rifle.

"You can shoot faster without it and more accurate," the Bourne attorney said. "Your bullets are scattering and they aren't going on target. Anybody who cares about their shots is not going to want a bump stock."

But McMahon vehemently opposes Massachusetts' decision to ban the device. He says it is an infringement on the 2nd Amendment and he wants to defend that right.

"To me, it is not what do you need. To me, it is that is your right," McMahon said. "As soon as they justify taking some part of your right, they're going to justify the rest. We're going to ban the slide stock. They already did large-capacity magazines. You can only have magazines that have up to 10 rounds."

McMahon uses a SeeAll aiming device, which he says improves accuracy immensely. Yet that remains legal. He said when it comes to gun rights, the Legislature is reactionary and doesn't make sense.

"They said he had a bump stock in Las Vegas. So our Legislature, the Massachusetts Legislature, votes to ban bump stocks. Not one person even so much has gotten a hangnail from the bump stock -- forget about Massachusetts, in New England, no one in New England has been injured let alone killed by a bump stock," McMahon said. "And our Legislature goes right in and kills the bump stock, just kills it. It is a felony."

And last year when Attorney General Maura Healey issued an enforcement order banning so-called "copycat" assault weapons, it got under McMahon's skin.

"I saw that as arrogance beyond. It is total callous disregard for the 2nd Amendment right of the American citizens," McMahon said.

So he has tossed his hat into the ring to run on the Republican ticket against Healey next year. One of his top priorities is defending the 2nd Amendment.

"They don't like that it is menacing looking. They call it copycat assault weapons. They are rifles and nothing more. They've got stuff around it. Some people have a laser, some people have a flashlight. It does nothing to enhance the bullet," McMahon said.

"I say if you have a menacing gun and somebody breaks into your house and you have that menacing gun and somebody looks at it, you may never have to shoot it because they'll realize they have the wrong address."

McMahon said those in government are "are always trying to infringe. Nobody ever says 'hey let's try to expand that right. Why don't we let these people enjoy life?' Why is it that they always want to choke something out."

McMahon visited with a core group of Republicans in the Berkshires last Tuesday. He recorded a few television shows on Pittsfield Community Television and then had lunch with a some members of the Berkshire County Republicans Association, with whom he discussed his major issues.

"My main issue is the opioid crisis," the former military police officer said.

McMahon says he has a three-fold plan to address the opioid crisis and that overdoses have quadrupled since Healey took office. The first step, he said, is to enhance rehabilitation programs.

"Most of the rehabilitation programs in Massachusetts, ones you get sentences to or compelled to attend, have a 99 percent fail rate. The odds are against you of being rehabilitated if you go through a typical rehabilitation in Massachusetts. People say insurance companies don't want to pay for it. Here is the reason they don't want to pay -- they don't want to pay 10 times, 12 times, 20 times somebody going through a program when they know it is not working," McMahon said.

McMahon said there are other models for rehabilitation that have proven track records -- specifically programs that take a longer period of time to help heal the brain.

"We have the technology and the education to do it. We just don't have the will to do it," McMahon said. "It takes longer for the brain to heal so you keep the people longer and work them through it."

He is calling for involuntary admissions to rehabilitation programs.

"How about if it is a one-car accident and the cops save the guy with Narcan. There is a candidate right there [for involuntary admission]," McMahon said. "Let's save the person. Because if you can get them off of opioids and get them thinking correctly, they are going to be better fathers, better husbands, better employees, they are going to do the careers they are intended to do and they are going to put their hearts and souls into living their life."

His second piece is to "dry up the source." He again criticized Healey's effort fine CVS and Walgreens drugstores earlier this year over prescriptions.

"CVS and Walgreens are not selling opioids over the counter. And they are certainly not selling heroin and fentanyl, which is killing 80 percent of opioid addicts. So what are they doing? You can't go to CVS and Walgreens and get opioids by asking over the counter or even if you have an empty bottle ask to get it refilled. A doctor has to issue the prescription," McMahon said.

"If the doctor gives a scrip to a guy, why is it CVS or Walgreen's responsibility or any other pharmacy to check to see if anybody else is doing it?"

He wants the office to put the responsibility on the doctors and not the pharmacies. And then he wants to work with law enforcement to put a severe crackdown on heroin trafficking.

"I want to make it so miserable for people in Massachusetts who are selling this poison, make it hazardous to do business. Let them go to another state," McMahon said. "Let's get our people clean from this poison."

He said he'll work with federal authorities to ascertain information about trafficking into the state and then have troopers pull the dealers over. He said Healey is cutting off those ties by pushing for the commonwealth to become a "sanctuary city."

"She doesn't want to deal with the feds. She wants to protect illegal immigrants. There is no other reason. She is not communicating with the feds," he said.

"If you cut off your federal law enforcement assets for political expediency, you just killed all the intelligence that you have on how that stuff is coming into the state. I'm going to do just the opposite. I find that if you do just the opposite of anything Maura Healey is doing, you are probably going to do the right thing."

He further opposes the sanctuary city declaration because he says it makes the state more unsafe. He said Healey is welcoming potential terrorists into the state at the same time she is "disarming the citizens." He wants to move in the opposite direction.

McMahon knows a bit about public safety, too. Right out of high school he took an internship at the Barnstable House of Correction. He worked there and then went to the National Guard.

"I was in a military police unit and from 1973 to 1974, I went to Massachusetts Military Academy where I graduated as second lieutenant. I stayed in there until my enlistment was up," he said.

He earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School. He went into business management for a number of years and then into general law practice. He worked for just about 30 years in law, starting in 1988, in civil, criminal, domestic, and bankruptcy cases.

He lives in Buzzards Bay with his wife of 25 years, Shelley, and has raised five children.

In the 1990s, he ran for state representative as an independent because the candidate field was large and he felt it was a better chance to avoid a primary.

"I got a lot of votes but I didn't win. The more I thought about it, I decided if I ran for public office ever again, I'd run as a Republican," McMahon said. "I wasn't always a Republican. Ronald Reagan is the guy that convinced me. My father would tell everybody 'we're Reagan Democrats.' And we were for a while. But in the early 1990s, I changed."

He's been fairly silent in the political realm, though he remained active but not as a candidate. But when that enforcement order was issued, McMahon decided he wanted another run. This time, he's aiming for the attorney general job.
Bibi to Assad: Well Strike If You Let Iran Set Up Bases in Syria

The Fellowship | November 27, 2017 Bibi to Assad: We'll Strike If You Let Iran Set Up Bases in Syria

Israels concern with Iranian encroachment in Syria continues to grow, with the Islamic Republic striving for arms factories there, as well as naval and air bases. The Times of Israel reports that PM Netanyahu conveyed a stark warning to the Syrian president, not to allow Iran to set up such bases in his country:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel will intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war if Assad gives formal permission to Iran to establish a military presence in Syria, Israeli TV reported on Sunday night.

Netanyahu conveyed the message to Assad via a third party, Hadashot news (formerly Channel 2) veteran Middle East analyst Ehud Yaari reported.

The warning specified that Israel will depart from the policy of non-intervention it has maintained throughout the six years of the civil war to date, Yaari said, if Assad invites Iranian forces to establish themselves in Syria via an agreement of any kind. Iran has provided significant logistical, technical, training and financial support for Assads regime and forces, as well as deploying military advisers and some combat troops in Syria. It also arms, trains and funds Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group that has sent thousands of gunmen to fight alongside Assads troops.

Thus far, Israel has provided medical and humanitarian aid to victims of the war across its border, has hit back when gunfire has crossed the border, and has used air strikes to target weapons stores and convoys intended for the Hezbollah terrorist organization. But, to date, there was no direct targeting of the Syrian Army or of Assad, Yaari noted.

The report noted tellingly that this non-intervention contrasted with previous Israeli policy. In 2006, for instance, Israeli jets broke the sound barrier flying over Assads presidential palace in Latakia, in what was seen as a warning to him against supporting Palestinian terrorist groups.

The reference to any formal Syrian invitation or agreement with Iran, the TV report elaborated, stems from the fact that Iran and Russia have been discussing future arrangements for Syria, under which all foreign forces would have to leave the country, except those which are present by agreement with, or invitation from, Assad
Imperial Valley News Center

Jailer Pleads Guilty to Abusing Inmate

Atlanta, Georgia - Dwight Hamilton, a former correctional officer at the DeKalb County Jail, pleaded guilty on Monday to abusing a female inmate by tasing her without any legitimate justification. Leonard Dreyer, Mr. Hamiltons former supervisor at the DeKalb County Jail, previously pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct the federal investigation into Mr. Hamiltons use of excessive force by making false statements to an FBI agent.

According to the charges and other information presented in court, Dwight Hamilton worked as a sergeant at the DeKalb County Jail, and on November 1, 2011, he responded to the medical floor of the jail when a female inmate, T.P., asked to speak to a supervisor because her family visitation had been unexpectedly cancelled. Rather than explain the situation, Hamilton tased T.P. until she defecated on herself. Hamilton, who had been trained on proper taser usage, admitted he knew that what he was doing was wrong and continued anyway. As a result of the tasing, Inmate T. P. suffered permanent taser burns to her breast.

Any correctional officer who violates an individuals right to due process and protection from unreasonable force will be held accountable under the law, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. The Department of Justice will continue to work to ensure that the civil rights of all individuals will be protected.

Officers who have sworn to maintain security and protect the inmates inside our county jails have a difficult job but despite challenges, most do their work in a professional manner, said U.S. Attorney Byung J. BJay Pak. However, Hamilton ignored that oath and unlawfully punished an inmate by inflicting severe pain and causing a permanent injury. Hamiltons conduct was clearly a violation of the inmates constitutional rights that warranted this criminal prosecution.

Mondays guilty plea in federal court will clearly begin the process of holding former Dekalb County Corrections Officer Hamilton responsible for his criminal conduct involving the tasing of a female inmate, said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office. The FBI continues to play a significant role in investigating credible allegations of law enforcement misconduct, to include those occurring within a correctional facility, and presenting them, when appropriate, for federal prosecution as was the case with Mr. Hamilton.

Dwight Hamilton, 53, of Atlanta, Georgia, will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy C. Batten on February 8, 2018.

This case was investigated by the Atlanta Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brent Alan Gray of the Northern District of Georgia, and Trial Attorney Christopher Perras of the Civil Rights Division.
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If you'd noticed there was something slightly... off about Superman's top lip in Justice League, you'd be absolutely correct.

Back in July, reports surfaced that the film's extensive reshoots hit an unusual set of complications: Henry Cavill could only be scheduled in right in the midst of his filming Mission: Impossible 6, which meant he was sporting a giant moustache at the time.

Paramount, however, strictly refused to let the actor shave the facial fuzz he grew for the film, meaning his upper-lip buddy had to be digitally removed in Justice League's post-production.

Of course, the immediate question is: why couldn't Cavill just shave the moustache off and wear a fake one for MI:6?

According to an anonymous VFX artist on Justice League, in a Reddit AMA, Paramount simply refused. "Paramount should've shaved him and stuck a fake one on for MI6," he wrote. "Ridiculously petty of them. We did tests on already shot footage of Superman to add a beard as well, to show the MI6 team at Paramount it was loads easier.

"Warner Bros offered to pay for all the beard adding shots in MI6," he continued. "They said no."

 Justice League Clip - How Many Of You Are There?

He further pointed out that the film's opening shot, in which the blurring of Superman's top lip is the most obvious, was actually completed by a different effects company.

"I'm not sure which other studio did that opening shot on the cell phone, but it's dreadful," he wrote. "It shouldn't have been approved internally let alone gone all the way to make it into the film. That shocked me a bit. We were all looking at each other when the film started like, 'WTF is this?!'"

In addition, he stated his own regrets that the team weren't given more time to work on the film's reshoot effects, adding: "If you give us ridiculously hard shots to do four months before the film comes out, they're not gonna be the best they could be... I thought half [of] the Flash scenes looked crappy, and the CG Batman at the start even worse."

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Eric Clapton has been announced as the fourth headliner for BST Festival 2018.

The iconic artist will play a special concert on 8 July, with special guests Santana, Steve Winwood and Gary Clark Jr.

This isn't the first time Clapton will appear on the Great Oak Stage. He first performed with Blind Faith on 7 June 1969 alongside bandmates Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Rick Grech in front of 120,000 people.

Clapton then returned in 1996 to record a concert that raised money for The Prince's Trust. He has performed almost 200 times down the road at the Royal Albert Hall.

"I have happy memories of performing in Hyde Park in the past," he said, "and I'm really looking forward to playing there again - the whole atmosphere is very special."

Also set to headline next year's BST festival in Hyde Park are Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters, Michael Buble, and Bruno Mars.

Tickets to see Eric Clapton go on sale at 9am on 1 December.
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The Kipembawe Division is hidden in the southern highlands of south-west Tanzania, a long seven-hour drive north from the city of Mbeya.

The scenery is stunning, yet when you look closer you can see that tobacco plants dominate agricultural areas, and the sound of trees being felled is a constant background noise. Just the word tobacco conjures up vivid imagery of death and disease, as depicted on graphic cigarette packets and through hard-hitting anti-smoking campaigns.

But tobaccos impact starts long before it is found wrapped in a cigarette, and affects many more people than the estimated one billion smokers worldwide. Tobacco also impacts the health and well-being of the people who grow it and the environment where it is grown, often with devastating consequences.

My colleagues and I have recently published research demonstrating just how damaging it can be to the environment and communities in rural Tanzania. Most villages in Kipembawe dont have electricity or mobile phone coverage.

There are minimal healthcare facilities, and water is obtained from wells and rivers. There are few crops people can grow to make money and the dominant one is tobacco, farmed by 86 per cent of the 196 households we surveyed. In Tanzania, 47 per cent of the population lives below the international poverty line and rural poverty rates are even higher, where most people are reliant on agriculture.

Farmers must clear more woodland almost every year to create new fields

In Africa, tobacco cultivation is often associated with the presence of a dry tropical woodland called miombo, which dominates Kipembawe.

Miombo woodland covers over 2.4m km in Africa, but is undergoing rapid deforestation and degradation throughout its range. Both tobacco and miombo trees like sandy, slightly acidic soils. Unfortunately, these soils dont contain many nutrients, and tobacco is one of the most nutrient-hungry crops there is.

This means farmers must clear more woodland almost every year to create new fields, because the land can only support one or two cropping cycles. For tobacco leaves to be preserved for transportation and further processing they must be dried or cured. This places another burden on the trees, which are used for fuel. In total, approximately 4,134 hectares of woodland are cleared annually within Kipembawe. This reduces biodiversity and the benefits the local environment can provide people, including carbon storage, firewood, building materials and fresh water.

Risks to farmers

But woodland clearance is just the start of the process. Throughout the growing season, farmers apply several rounds of fertiliser and pesticides to the crop, yet few farmers understand the risks associated with their use. During our time in Kipembawe, we didnt see anyone using protective clothing or equipment, exposing farmers, families and labourers to harmful chemicals.

Whats more, despite regulations that aim to reduce the impact of fertilisers on water sources, the crops are often initially grown close to rivers so that the distance to carry water is shorter. This means the only source of drinking water for livestock can become contaminated, causing conflict between livestock keepers and tobacco farmers.

Child labour within tobacco growing is a also well-known issue, and the main tobacco organisations have joined the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation. But we saw children working in the fields, and evidence from primary schools indicates that children are likely to start working on their parents fields from around the age of 13.

While this has obvious consequences for their education, there are also severe health impacts. Green tobacco sickness is a form of nicotine poisoning that occurs when the tobacco leaves are wet and contact the skin. Nicotine is absorbed through the skin, and leads to fever, vomiting and dizziness. While it rarely results in death it can be extremely frightening to children, who are more susceptible to severe symptoms due to a lack of nicotine tolerance and smaller body size.

Little other choice

So why do farmers grow tobacco? Many people have few alternative ways to make a living and farmers can get a good price for top quality tobacco. This money can significantly improve the lives of the farmers, enabling them to pay school fees, invest in other businesses, and afford bicycles and solar electricity.

Some men spend their money during the weeks after harvest drinking in the local pubs and pop-up bars which emerge. Canny women brew home beer from maize, and make a roaring trade. But prostitutes also flock to the area around this time, raising the risk of STI transmission. HIV rates in Mbeya are the third highest in the country, with nine per cent of 15-49 year olds testing positive for HIV  four per cent higher than the national average.

Deforestation could leave local workers without a source of income and a degraded environment

Despite the 2005 World Health Organisations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and falling smoking rates, global population growth means total tobacco use looks likely to keep rising in the foreseeable future. But in Kipembawe, the deforestation associated with tobacco cultivation will ultimately make production unviable because there will be no fuel left to cure the crop.

This will leave the community without a significant source of income and a degraded environment. If people had other ways to make their living, it would help reduce the social and environmental burdens of tobacco production, but opportunities are limited. Tobacco production could be made more sustainable using alternative drying methods, reforestation, more efficient use of fertilisers and pesticides and land use management plans.

But extensive training and support is needed, and child labour must be eliminated. All of this will be difficult while there is such great demand for tobacco. So next time you think about lighting up, remember its not just your health at risk. Kicking the habit could save both trees and childrens chances.

Eleanor Jew is a researcher in conservation and agriculture at the University of Leeds. This article originally appeared in The Conversation (theconversation.com)
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On a quiet strip of Rue de Marignan, just down the block from the Paris power-lunch spot LAvenue, Alex Bolen, the chief executive of Oscar de la Renta, was standing outside No 4, where the brand is to open a store next May.

We think long and hard before we enter into a lease, Bolen said. With all thats going on in retail, we need to think even harder. For a luxury brand, whats the point of a store, at least a bricks-and-mortar store?

It is a question many in the industry are asking, and trying to answer anew. In a difficult climate for retail, the stakes are very real, as 4 Rue de Marignan makes clear. Above the doorway, a sign hung reading Reed Krakoff. Krakoff, now the chief artistic officer of Tiffany & Co, shuttered his namesake brand in 2015 and never opened a shop in the space.

Recent years have seen store closings from small brands and seismic contractions from major retailers, including Hudsons Bay Cos sale of the landmark Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue last month to WeWork, the office-sharing startup. (Lord & Taylor will rent about a quarter of its former space to continue operating.)

But the solution, say several retail innovators, is not the end of bricks and mortar, as some in the industry once anticipated.

There was a time six or seven years ago when there was only talk of pure play e-commerce, said Stephanie Phair, the chief strategy officer of Farfetch, the marketplace and retail platform that helps brands do business online. What weve seen from a millennial consumer behaviour point of view is customers really want that joined-up online and offline experience.

What that means is a renovation of the old bricks-and-mortar ideal. Instead of the arms race for the biggest location on the most desirable street, a new model focused on multifunctional, integrated stores is gaining currency: less storehouses of product than event spaces, classrooms, community centres, showrooms or studios.

In the case of Oscar de la Renta, the two-story Marignan space will serve as not only the brands retail home in Paris but also the showroom for its four annual wholesale presentations.

Jeang Kim, an interior designer and sister of Laura Kim, the brands co-creative director, is designing it as a modular space: displays can be cleared for customer-entertaining events and dinners, like the brand has begun to hold in New York following its runway shows, and a tailoring studio will allow customers to have fittings and alterations done on site.

But while the physical stores continue to drive business, Oscar de la Renta has been finding new customers outside of its usual channels. Since joining Farfetch earlier this year to expand its e-commerce, often by way of the sites personal shoppers, the company has seen sales in the range of $200,000 a month, mostly from new customers.

Two hundred thousand dollars, seemingly out of thin air, Bolen said.

The brands stores now are inviting those personal shoppers to visit, to learn more about the collections. And they, in turn, may take their clients to the physical shops.

The model for success, as Bolen sees it, is a combination of on- and off-line. We think bricks and mortar is going to be a critical part of it, but a very different part than its been in the past, Bolen said. Bricks-and-mortar stores  those arent necessarily advantages anymore. Especially in second-tier markets, he added, stores might be a real millstone.

Where brands affiliated with major luxury groups, like LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Kering, once had a clear competitive advantage in negotiating for real estate, given their ability to leverage entire portfolios of brands, smaller companies like Oscar de la Renta and the upstart London-based evening wear label Galvan are finding the playing field levelled by the rise of the smaller shop.

I was with these very big brands that sell tens of thousands of units a week and have flagship stores, said Paul ORegan, the chief executive of Galvan, who previously was an executive at the Gucci Group (now Kering) and Burberry. Everyones closing stores around us and the fashion models changing.

Galvan just opened its first store, combining its workspace and showroom with shopping for walk-in customers and by appointment. And its location in the Notting Hill area of London ensures lower overhead than on a luxury retail strip like Mount Street, a few miles east.

Not only will the store have the current seasons options but customers also may order from the next seasons collection and browse past collections to have pieces revived in custom colours, working with personal shoppers or, in some cases, the founders themselves. Appointments also may be made at a clients home or office.

We wanted to throw away all of those preconceptions and say: What would be the dream scenario for a woman buying a dress? ORegan said.

Robert Burke, whose New York-based company has consulted on retail strategies for industry players including Ralph Lauren, Chloe and Bulgari, has seen such thinking emerge in recent years. Even the larger retailers, he said, are looking at just how many flagships or large stores they really need. That format worked for decades and decades. With the growth of online, it doesnt seem to be working. Bigger isnt better, necessarily. More focused is better, I think. And more intimate and more personal.

The distinction, he added, was between the old idea of department stores and the emerging model of the apartment store.

Technically speaking, the store-as-home  or hub  is nothing new. Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridges in London, once decreed that a store should be a social centre, and put an ice rink and a shooting range in his. But after several years of chilly, gallery-like shop design, a homey feeling is again becoming dominant.

MatchesFashion.com, the London-based retailer, began as a single bricks-and-mortar store in Wimbledon Village (called simply Matches). But while business from its (now three) stores has been dwarfed by its global e-commerce, as its rechristening as MatchesFashion.com suggests, the company is continuing to invest in new stores.

After a year of testing smaller, homier stores as part of a pop-up program called In Residence, it is scheduled to open a new permanent space (the company prefers not to call it a store) at No 5 Carlos Place in Mayfair in the spring.

The space will have two floors of retail as well as floors for private shopping, but equally important will be the floor that is to house the companys broadcasting and content hub. Classes, panel discussions and events will be held there, all of which will be streamed on Facebook Live and YouTube, its social channels and its website. And all of it will be digitally shoppable.

Thats the beauty of what were doing, said Ulric Jerome, the companys chief executive. You dont have to create an enormous department store to have a reach that is 10 or 100 times bigger than that department store. The reach is way bigger than the physical space. But the physical space enables you to produce amazing content.

The Carlos Place store will have fewer choices than the full MatchesFashion.com range; it will be the curation of the curation, and well change the product quite often, Jerome said. But iPads will allow browsing in-store, and all products will be available within 90 minutes for delivery within metropolitan London.

But at the companys existing stores, 40 per cent of the sales already are done via iPad. It reflects the reality that, for Matches, the online dwarfs the physical in every way: 95 per cent of Matches business is online, Jerome said, and 85 per cent is done outside of Britain.

Jerome has confidence in the hybrid online/offline model, with smaller physical and larger digital space.

We tested it, Jerome said. Now we are investing in it. We think its part of the future of the way we see retail. And he added that Apax Partners, which in September announced an agreement to take a majority stake in the company  one that values it at about $1bn  is fully supportive.

Even those brands born online are stepping into the physical world. The RealReal, the online luxury consignment giant  it receives 8,000-10,000 consignment items per day, according to Julie Wainwright, its founder and chief executive  has spent a year testing pop-ups. And this month it is setting up a permanent retail space on Wooster Street in New York City.

Wainwright is envisioning the space as community centre as much as shop: RealReals staff of experts, from watch gurus to fashion historians, will offer clinics and classes and offer appraisals, and the store will include a coffee bar and flower shop.

It will also, lest one forget, have a curated selection of the websites clothes, shoes, accessories, jewellery and more: a fraction of the online offering, but a selection tailored to New York consumers.

The RealReals pop-up experiment last December in New York revealed a particular synergy between on- and off-line shopping, and a customer base ready and willing to combine the two, Wainwright said. And, she added, the average purchase at the pop-up was larger than the average one online.

If you walk into the store, everything you see will also be online, and anything you see online you can see in-store, she said. What we saw when we ran the pop-up, some people went in, saw the item, thought about it, ordered it online that night and picked it up in the store that next morning.

Such synergy is what drives Wainwright, and others like her, toward their new approach. While the death knell for the bricks-and-mortar store has been premature, the online experience is never far away.

There are going to be iPads everywhere, Wainwright said.

 New York Times
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Just when you thought celebrities had it all, it transpires that a select few have McDonalds gold cards that entitle them to unlimited free meals from the fast food giants.

Rob Lowe, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are just some of the starry names to reportedly possess a legendary McGold Card.

Lowe flashed his shimmering card on Jimmy Kimmel Live, telling the US talk show host that his friends father invented the McMuffin, hence why he was given one.

This is a real thing that exists you guys, Lowe said, failing to mention that in order to get your hands on one, you need to have some pretty strong connections.

David Petersons father, named Herb, created the popular breakfast dish in 1972 and co-owned a Santa Barbara, California branch of McDonalds with his son until his death in 2008.

The card Peterson subsequently gave to Lowe entitles the Hollywood actor to unlimited food for a year  but theres a catch.

Lowes McGold Card is only valid at his friends Santa Barbara franchise.

Meanwhile, according to Santabarbara.com, Peterson also gave a McGold Card to Larry Crendell, a local philanthropist, for his 90th birthday.

Warren Buffet revealed that he and Bill Gates were also lucky cardholders in 2007.

There's just a few of them, the billionaire investor told CNBC.

Bill Gates has one. His is good throughout the world, I guess. Mine is only good in Omaha, but I never leave Omaha so mine is just as good as his!"

While its not known whether the mysterious cards are available to the general public or not, a McDonalds spokesperson told Mirror Online that they do not currently exist in the UK.

Individual stores will make a call on the individual, for example a regular customer or local/national hero but there is no policy in the UK of giving away food to people and no plans to introduce it, they explained.
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Kazakhstan is to adopt a new alphabet, replacing the Russian Cyrillic script with the alphabet you are reading at the moment. This was announced in October by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakh President, who signed decree Number 569, which also sets out an expanded version of the Roman alphabet  to be introduced in schools in 2018. The aim is for full transition by 2025.

The Cyrillic script currently used for Kazakh has 42 symbols (33 derived from the Russian alphabet plus nine for additional Kazakh sounds). Because the Roman alphabet contains just 26 letters, additional provision has had to be made. The new Kazakh script will use the apostrophe to extend the number of letters to 32. The official name of the country,  , will henceforth be rendered Qazaqstan Respyblikasy, according to The Guardian.

The proposed switch of alphabets has been in the pipeline at least since 2006, so this pronouncement should have caused little surprise. The plan was announced in April, building on proposals put forward in December 2012 as part of the Presidents Kazakhstan-2050 strategy, where the political rationale comes across unequivocally: For the sake of the future of our children we should make this decision [adopt the Roman alphabet] and create it as a condition of entry for our wider global integration.

Another reason why Nazarbayevs decree should have come as no surprise is that periodic language reform is very much part of the landscape in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, which has a population of 18.2 million people, is a multilingual country with 117 spoken languages. Russian remains the dominant language of communication  but the prestige of Kazakh is increasing. The official policy is one of societal trilingualism (Kazakh-Russian-English), with particular support for the state language  what the Kazakhstan-2050 strategy calls the spiritual pivot.

Kazakhstan occupies a strategic position in Central Asia and shifting allegiances can be clearly charted in the history of script reform. Early Runic scripts were gradually replaced by the Arabic script following the introduction of Islam in the 8th century. In 1924, the inherited Arabic script was modified to better reflect the sounds of Kazakh, which gave way to a Roman-based script in 1929. This, in turn, was replaced by Cyrillic in 1940, under the Soviet-era policy of Russification.

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, neighbouring Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan quickly adopted the Roman script. Kazakhstan, the last of the former Soviet republics to declare independence, was politically more cautious. The economic situation in the early 1990s didnt permit the luxury of alphabet reform, but a rapid upturn in the economic fortunes of the nation since 2000 has meant an increasing commitment to Western ideals, to communication with the West, to learning English and to adopting its script.

Tongue-tied

The English-speaking world is not used to state-level intervention in the language, meddling in how it should be structured and how it will be used. Proposals for an official language body have come and gone over the centuries, but English  unusually in the international context  is relatively unplanned.

Language planning (sometimes referred to as language management or cultivation)  and the associated development of language policies  is not just a state-level matter but also characterises how relationships play out at other levels: in education, in religious groups, in business, even within families. Wherever language practices are controlled or modified by those in authority (parents, teachers, religious or business leaders) we have language planning.

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan has been politically cautious about adopting the Roman script (EPA)

Sticking to state-level planning for now, there are plenty of examples: German was subject to orthographic reform in 1998 including limiting the use of the  symbol and relaxing its rules about the use of commas. Meanwhile, Icelandic vocabulary is closely scrutinised and monitored to keep it free from foreign borrowings. The role of the Academie francaise in moderating the French language is well known.

Is the direction in language planning always and inevitably top-down? Is it always the ideology of the dominant party (government, teacher, parent) that dictates language practices and prevails?

The term language planning was coined in the 1960s to describe the ongoing process of state-level intervention in Norway. Successive reforms in the spelling and structure of both standard forms of Norwegian  the Bokmal (book language) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian)  were introduced as part of a process that would ultimately lead them to converge into a single standard variety of the language (Samnorsk, or Common Norwegian).

Generations of Norwegians objected to the constant changes but seemed powerless to prevent further reform coming down from Norways Language Council. However, it appears now that the will of the people has prevailed in Norway and the official policy has shifted from direct engineering of the written forms of Norwegian to leaving them alone to develop organically. Norway will continue to write the two forms of the language into the foreseeable future. The success of language policies depends crucially on their political context.

Watch your language

In Kazakhstan, it is unlikely that the direction of influence in language planning will change very soon. Language policy will continue to be pursued in the post-Soviet regions as a central vector for change in the reconfiguring sociopolitical constellations for some time to come. In other words, its more about politics than language.

Despite the enormous practical challenges inherent in the wholesale replacement of one script with another in a country of massive linguistic variety, we can be sure that Decree 569 will be made to work, heedless of a swell of indignant reactions among nationalistically inclined commentators in Russia.

While such top-down intervention in language practices may stick in the craw of monolingual English speakers, used to a decidedly bottom-up approach to managing the national language, the Kazakh policy of trilingualism (the three-language policy) is one we should respect. As Britain prepares to leave the EU, like Kazakhstan, Britain will have cause to reconsider its international political relations.

In pursuit of wider global integration Britain would do well to cling to the official EU language policy of multilingualism and the recommendation that every European citizen should master two other languages in addition to their mother tongue.

Andrew Linn is the pro-vice-chancellor and the dean of social sciences and humanities at the University of Westminster. This article was originally published on The Conversation (theconversation.com)
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American cities have been accused of surrendering to corporations and using democracy as a bargaining chip in their desperate bids to woo Amazon.

The e-commerce giant said last month that it had attracted 238 offers from cities that want to be the location for Amazons second headquarters. The company says it will spend $5bn (3.8bn) on the new base, known as HQ2, which will employ 50,000 people.

Several of the cities bids have been published, revealing the lengths that authorities are willing to go to lay out the red carpet for big businesses.

Chicago and the state authorities of Illinois have jointly offered to hand Amazon more than $2bn in tax breaks, including $1.32bn of its workers income taxes. The scheme, known as a personal income tax diversion, would mean Amazon workers pay full income taxes, but instead of the state getting the money to use for schools, roads and other public services, Amazon would keep it.

A 2012 report by the Good Jobs First non-profit organisation said such practices mean that workers are, in effect, paying taxes to their boss.

Even Chicagos offer is dwarfed by the $7bn in incentives tabled by the Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, a former ally of President Donald Trump. The proposal includes paying Amazon up to $10,000 for every job it creates and comes despite the fact that New Jersey has around $60bn in unfunded pension obligations, according to CNBC.

Critics have said that Amazon does not need tax breaks.

The companys share price has soared, boosting founder Jeff Bezos personal fortune by more than 32bn this year and recently making him the only person in the world worth more than $100bn.

Other cities have made up for lower cash incentives by offering Amazon unusually close access to the corridors of power.

Bostons published bid includes the offer to create an Amazon Task Force of city employees who would focus on fulfilling the companys needs.

Fresno, in California, has promised to put 85 per cent of taxes paid by Amazon into a fund which would be ringfenced from normal taxation and overseen by a board made up of city officials and Amazon representatives.

The rash of proposals have attracted criticism from US commentators, with Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times describing the spectacle as a parade of municipalities draping themselves in their most alluring swimsuits.

Danny Westneat, a columnist writing in The Seattle Times, a newspaper in Amazons home city, questioned whether some of the proposals are even legal, labelling them a surrender of democracy to corporate interests.

A single company is viewed as such a shiny prize that some seem ready to wave the white flag on the whole for the people, by the people experiment, he wrote.
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Swathes of rainforest are being destroyed to make palm oil that ends up in thousands of household products and foods, a decade after a landmark investigation revealed the environmental damage wrought by the industry.

Thats the conclusion of new research by Greenpeace, which looked at 11 of the worlds largest palm oil traders. All members of the Consumer Goods Forum industry group, which includes a host of well-known companies have committed to eliminating deforestation from their supply chains by 2020.

The report concludes that, at the present rate of progress, there is no chance of the industry delivering on that promise. Just one of the 11 traders that supply much of the global palm oil market had so far made any meaningful commitment to protect forests, Greenpeace said.

Most traders adopted No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation (NDPE) policies in 2014, but deadlines to ensure that producers actually comply were found to vary wildly and some traders have set no deadline at all, the research found.

The report describes traders commitments as more aspirational than functional, with implementation at best inconsistent.

Much of the worlds palm oil is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia and recent analysis by risk analysts Chain Reaction Research suggests that companies with NDPE policies operate 74 per cent of the total refinery capacity in those countries.

However, clearance by smallholder farmers remains a serious concern. The single greatest threat to rainforests in Southeast Asia comes from small- and medium-sized plantation company and producer groups, Greenpeaces report claims.

It warned that these groups often have strong links to the Indonesian and Malaysian governments and appear able to use their connections to undermine progressive companies efforts to reform the industry.

Greenpeace said some groups of producer companies employ deliberately complex corporate structures, using a maze of shell companies to conceal their relationship with subsidiaries that are clearing forests.

Despite pledges to increase transparency, the industry remains shrouded in secrecy, the report claims. Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have provided the industry group with maps of palm oil concessions but these have not been made public making effective monitoring difficult.

The Malaysian government continues to insist that maps of concessions in much of the country are state secrets, making it almost impossible for traders sourcing from these regions to determine which producers have stopped clearing rainforests and which have not, according to the report.

The new research comes ten years after Greenpeace published an expose on the palm oil industry. Since then, the organisation acknowledges that progress has been made but it says glaring gaps remain, meaning that consumers cannot be confident that the products they are buying arent causing damage to the environment.

One global palm oil trader, Cargill, told Greenpeace that our proactive monitoring covers our entire supply chain, including indirect suppliers, but also admitted that it did not require the mills that it purchased from to supply data on where the raw materials came from.

Over the past 18 months, Greenpeace has presented traders and other companies in the palm oil industry with cut-and dried cases of producers clearing forests, draining peatlands or exploiting workers and communities, the report said.

Evidence of these breaches was publicly available in reports by other NGOs and complaints to the RSPO among other sources, but had not been picked up by traders. If they do discover breaches by suppliers, most traders also have inadequate mechanisms to deal with them, the report said.
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Uber has been banned from operating in its car-sharing service in Israel, according to local news outlets. A judge ordered that all of Ubers ride-sharing services in the country must stop by 10am local time on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Uber had hoped that a trial in Tel Aviv could be expanded, but those plans have now experienced a damaging setback after a judge in the city ruled that the drivers for the Uber Day and Uber Night car-sharing services didnt have the correct insurance and licences.

The injunction quoted Uber's lawyer as agreeing to "a permanent stay on everything to do with Uber Night and Uber Day operations in their current format", Reuters reported.

Recommended Uber data hack could be investigated by EU privacy regulators

In Israel, all taxi drivers must have a licence in order to carry passengers but Uber had argued this did not apply to its car-sharing service. Drivers were not making a profit, they were only earning enough to cover the cost of maintaining their vehicles, the company reportedly said.

The injunction follows complaints by Israel's Ministry of Transport, the taxi drivers union and rival ride-hailing company Gett, who claimed that Uber was undercutting rivals by flouting rules.

Uber began testing its service in Israel late last year and expanded its car-sharing operations in October despite objections from some sections within the government.

The ban is the latest legal blow for Uber, which is facing numerous battles with authorities around the world. The company is currently appealing a decision by Transport for London not to renew its licence to operate a taxi service.

Also in the UK, the ride-hailing service has announced that it is going to the Supreme Court to appeal a decision that its drivers should be entitled to rights such as holiday pay and sick leave. The company has also faced challenges over how it operates in Norway and Italy, among other countries.

An Uber spokesperson said: While we are ending our Uber Night and Uber Day pilots, we will continue to offer UberTAXI in Israel. We are committed to working with the Israeli authorities to explore how technology can improve our cities with safe and affordable transportation alternatives.
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UK business groups gave a broadly positive welcome to the Governments new industrial strategy white paper, which was published on Monday.

Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said the document identifies the key challenges that the UK will need to overcome if businesses are to remain competitive.

Adam Marshall, the head of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the concerns of firms had been listened to by the Business Secretary Greg Clark during the consultation period.

Mike Cherry, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, welcomed, in particular, the focus on improving technical skills, new physical and digital infrastructure and increased research and development spending.

But the CBI warned that the Government needed to focus on delivery. This is a time for consistency and determination, not perpetual change with the political winds, said Carolyn Fairbairn, its director general.

And the Conservative Party grandee and veteran of previous attempts to boost the productivity of British industry Michael Heseltine said on Sunday night that the best industrial strategy for the UK now would be to stop the Brexit initiative.

When Theresa May became prime minister in 2016 she promised a proper industrial strategy with the implication that the strategy of the government under David Camerons leadership had been inadequate.

The document published on Monday strategy is built around meeting what are described as four grand challenges:

Artificial intelligence

Clean growth

Ageing society

Future of mobility

It also has identifies five focuses for improving the UKs productivity deficiencies:

Ideas

People

Infrastructure

Business environment

Place

The Government outlines a goal to raise R&D (research and development) investment throughout the economy to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. Such spending in the UK (public and private combined) currently stands at 1.7 per cent of GDP, which is relatively low by OECD standards.

Last weeks Budget outlined plans to increase the R&D tax credit to 12 per cent.

However, Mark Tighe, CEO of the R&D tax specialist, Catax, called the R&D tax move tinkering. The industry was looking for a rise of 4 per cent in R&D tax relief to 15 per cent. Instead, its stuck with a raise of 1 per cent ...This isnt change on a scale that will supercharge the potential in our economy as many would wish, he said.

Recommended The Budget was small and stubborn when it needed to be big and bold

The public sector investment package laid out by the Chancellor at the Budget last week also fell short of the 1 per cent of GDP (20bn) a year increase by 2020-21 that the IPPR think tank was calling for. The IPPR had suggested that at least half of this additional infrastructure funding should go on the industrial strategy.

The Office for Budget Responsibility severely downgraded its productivity growth forecasts for the UK last week. And most economists expect that Brexit will set back productivity growth further, by erecting barriers to trade between the UK and its biggest commercial partner and also by restricting the supply of high-skilled immigrants.

Surveys show that many UK firms are holding back on investment while they wait to see what kind of trade deal, if any, the Government is able to conclude with the rest of the EU.
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Fear of immigrants and foreigners is associated with support for Brexit, according to a pair of studies conducted by an international team of researchers.

Results of the two studies presented in the same paper suggest that psychological predictors of xenophobia were strongly linked with voting to leave the EU and support for the outcome of the referendum.

These findings were true regardless of voter age, gender or education.

 Stand Up To Racism protest in Croydon

The association between widespread xenophobia and Brexit has been discussed extensively both in the run up to the referendum, and in the time that has elapsed since.

Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell

In research for the paper, the team wanted to examine the extent to which prejudice was actually associated with support for the referendums outcome. They began by identifying psychological groups associated with xenophobic views.

There are three groups that we can differentiate that are supportive of those sorts of views, said Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, a social psychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London, and the lead author of the Frontiers in Psychology paper.

Two of these personality traits are commonly used as predictors of prejudice, and have previously been implicated in voting for radical right-wing parties.

These were right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation  the idea that ones group needs to fight for superiority in the world.

The third is a particular focus of Dr Golec de Zavalas research, a trait known as collective narcissism  a belief in the unparalleled greatness of ones country.

From Brexit, Trump and support for Vladimir Putin in Russia to the nationalist, ultra- conservative government in Poland, studies from our and other labs show that collective narcissism systematically predicts prejudice, aggression and a tendency to interpret innocent behaviours as provocation to the national group," said Dr Golec de Zavala.

Dr Golec de Zavala and her collaborators then looked at the relationship between these three predictors and attitudes towards immigrants and the EU.

The first study took place shortly after the EU referendum, and it consisted of an online questionnaire of 280 participants who had voted in it. The second study involved 226 people and took place after the Government announced support for a hard Brexit option in September 2016.

They found that the three personality traits they examined were independently related to xenophobia and support for Brexit.

Though xenophobia has often been cited as a key factor in the referendum result, many have emphasised the multifaceted nature of Brexit.

Its not helpful to look for one answer for why people voted for Brexit. There are obviously lots of different reasons for why people voted remain or leave, including sovereignty, immigration, protest vote or local issues, said Dr Hannah Jones, a sociologist at the University of Warwick who was not involved in the study.

 Anti-racism protesters at Ukip meeting report being 'man-handled out of the building'

That said, Dr Jones said she was not surprised by this finding, as the perceived threat of immigrants is something that has been fostered by successive governments.

Home Office campaigns such as the controversial go home vans have been accused of playing into peoples fears around immigration.

The received wisdom around Westminster is that you cant talk to people about the pros and cons of immigration, you have to take fear of immigration as a given, she said.

A spike in hate crime over the past year has been attributed by some groups to tensions that have followed the Brexit vote.

"The Brexit referendum seems to have led to a further rise in 'anti-foreigner' sentiment, said Christian Ahlund, chair of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance.

What people see is acceptable, they do, agreed Dr Golec de Zavala.

However, she notes that the traits she described in these studies tended to be more permanent fixtures of peoples personalities.

People have those sorts of beliefs in a more or less stable way. That would mean that they had them before Brexit. Those attitudes were made salient by the Leave campaign, and were more likely to mobilise these people. 

Personally I think the Leave campaign gave a new, acceptable way to express xenophobia, said Dr Golec de Zavala.
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Christmas could be ruined for thousands of passengers with crackers, party poppers  and chestnuts  on many airlines naughty lists.

Strict rules imposed by airports and airlines mean passengers arent always allowed to travel with these seasonal essentials - either in their hand luggage or checked bags.

As a result of heightened security measures, the likes of Ryanair, Etihad, Emirates and Norwegian Airlines all have crackers on the no-fly list.

Even those using airlines which do allow them can usually only take them on board if they are sealed and in their original packaging.

Recommended Airline workers share 14 insider facts about flying

Party poppers are banned on all flights leaving the UK while chestnuts are only permitted on arrivals from certain countries.

Nick Caunter, MD of Airport Parking & Hotels Ltd, said: Packing crackers in particular is a bit of minefield, with airlines and airports having their own, sometimes conflicting restrictions.

So weve undertaken this research to hopefully make life a little easier for those flying this Christmas.

Budget carrier easyJet, along with Aer Lingus and BMI Regional, permit passengers to bring crackers with them in both checked and cabin luggage.

But despite the stance of some airlines, UK airports have rules of their own on the festive favourites.

Gatwick, Heathrow and Birmingham allow one unopened box of crackers to be placed in hand luggage  as long as they are permitted by the passengers airline.

While Manchester, Stansted, Liverpool, East Midlands and London City airports allow them in checked luggage only.

Passengers carrying high-end crackers should also be wary of gifts contained inside as items such as scissors and screwdriver sets may need to be packed in checked luggage - depending on size.

And anyone travelling to America should leave the crackers at home.

A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration said: They are flammable and should not be brought on airplanes.

Those who opt to make their own crackers should stick to shop-bought items when flying, as homemade ones are banned from the skies in both checked and hand luggage.

It also emerged passengers wanting to pack chestnuts should tread carefully - you can bring up to 2kg into the UK from anywhere in the EU, most European and Mediterranean countries, along with Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, but nowhere else.

Nick Caunter added: If you do decide to bring crackers, with you when flying the best thing to do is pack them in checked luggage and avoid having them in hand luggage.

But its really important you tell check-in staff youve packed them in your checked luggage.

Christmas Cracker no-fly zone:

These airlines have banned the carriage of Christmas crackers on their flights. Failure to comply could result in delays or luggage not being loaded.

Air France

Air India

Air New Zealand

American Airlines

Cathay Pacific

Delta

Emirates

Etihad

Icelandair

KLM

Norwegian Airlines

RyanAir

SAS Scandinavian

Singapore Airlines

South African Airlines

United Airlines

WestJet

Wow.

SWNS
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Moped criminals have been caught by police in London, only to threaten an officer with a knife, slash the wheels of his motorbike and escape.

The incident will provoke fresh alarm following mounting calls for a crackdown on offenders using scooters to launch robberies, stabbings and acid attacks with relative impunity.

The Government launched a review of rules governing police pursuits in response to the ongoing wave of moped-enabled crime, which included the unprovoked murder of a teenager earlier this month.

But the incident in north London raises questions over the safety of officers who manage to confront armed suspects.

An officer riding a marked police motorbike had seen two men on a moped acting suspiciously in Benwell Road, Holloway, the Metropolitan Police said.

The officer signalled for them to stop and the vehicle made off, eventually stopping for the officer in Sunnyside Road, N19, a spokesperson added.

The pillion passenger then dismounted from the bike and threatened the officer with a large knife, which he then used to strike the tyres of the police bike. Both rider and pillion then made off.

 Police release video of moped attack using 'liquid' in Knightsbridge

The police officer was not injured in the incident and no one has been arrested.

Scotland Yard is appealing for witnesses to the incident, which came at around 2.30pm in Sunnyside Road on Wednesday.

The suspects were described as men aged between 18 and 22, both wearing dark clothing and black helmets, and their moped was not displaying a rear registration plate.

Detective Inspector Greg Coates said the moped riders were clearly dangerous and need to be arrested.

We would like to hear from anyone who was in this area at the time and has dashcam footage, he added. Please call police; your information could be vital.

Identifying moped criminals has been made difficult by the wearing of helmets, masks and gloves, while some have chosen not to use head protection in the belief it will prevent police chasing them.

Police associations said officers feared being prosecuted if suspects were killed or injured in crashes, after four officers were charged with gross misconduct over the death of 18-year-old Henry Hicks in 2014.

They were cleared by an inquest that determined professional standards had not been breached in the pursuit leading up to a fatal collision.

Speaking to a police summit earlier this month, Amber Rudd said the Government was reviewing the law and practice regarding police pursuits.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 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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 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We want to make sure officers feel they have the legal protection they need to go after moped and scooter gangs, the Home Secretary added, saying the review would be completed in early 2018.

These criminals terrorise our streets, intimidating people into giving over their phones or wallets and leaving many too scared to walk outside their front doors.

The Metropolitan Police recorded 16,158 thefts by criminals on mopeds in the 12 months to June, more than three times the number in the previous year.

Crimes using the vehicles have included robberies, smash and grab raids, stabbings and acid attacks  many of which have been carried out in order to steal mopeds from food delivery drivers.

Jabed Hussain, the first of five victims attacked during a spate of assaults over just 90 minutes in East London, told The Independent that stolen mopeds were being used to commit more crime.

Weve got a lot of criminals who will do it again and again because nothing is being done about it, he said.

A lot of drivers have left their jobs and become minicab drivers because they dont feel safe.

Its like were working in a jungle. This is my home where I live and I want my safety, everyone deserves their safety.

Adding insult to injury, he said that many stolen scooters or number plates are later used to commit crimes or rack up speeding tickets traced back to the original victims, adding: Youve the victim but they think youre a criminal.

(ONS (ONS)

The Office for National Statistics confirmed the trend, saying mopeds typically lack immobilisers and have have little to no security, driving rises in vehicle theft.

In the year to June, there were 14,943 thefts of powered two-wheel vehicles in London, making up half of all vehicles stolen in the capital.

Moped crime is part of a wider rise in violent offences across England and Wales, although robbery has been disproportionally concentrated in London and other large cities.

Cressida Dick, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said stabbings had risen by 15 per cent in the capital so far this year.

Speaking earlier this month, she said the crime wave was being driven by a core group of young offenders repeatedly committing assault and robbery with relative impunity.

Scotland Yard has separately announced it is stopping investigating some lower-level crimes as it works to save 400m, and other forces are believe to be publicly and privately exploring similar measures.

Ms Dick is among the police chiefs calling for more funding to combat rises in recorded crime and 999 calls, amid the unsustainable strain exerted by the national terror threat.

The Home Office has pointed to its police transformation funding and a separate boost for counter-terrorism policing, claiming that further efficiencies can be found.

Anyone with any information on the incident on 22 November is asked to contact police on 101, via Twitter @MetCC, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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Amazon workers are so exhausted by long hours and relentless targets they are falling asleep on their feet, according to a new investigation.

Employees reportedly had timed toilet breaks, a claim denied by the company. Some were made to do compulsory overtime, meaning they were working a 55-hour week ahead of the Christmas period.

Pictures taken by an undercover reporter captured workers asleep standing up as they reportedly had to process a parcel every 30 seconds.

Sunday Mirror reporter Alan Selby spent five weeks working at the online shop's warehouse in Essex and finished his last shift on Black Friday.

A number of workers who could not cope with the relentless targets were attended to by ambulance crews after they collapsed on the job, the investigation found.

The reporter was told to pack 120 items an hour, although that target is set to rise to 200 items. Workers are paid 8.20 an hour.

One colleague told him: Everybody suffers here. I pulled my hamstring but I just had to carry on. My friend spent two days off after she damaged her knee ligaments.

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. 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Black and minority ethnic children account for more than a quarter of all child arrests across England and Wales, new figures show, raising concerns of "appalling" disproportionality in the justice system.

Data obtained through Freedom of Information law shows 26 per cent of all child arrests are youngsters from minority ethnic backgrounds  a figure more than double the proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people in the population as a whole.

Campaigners and politicians have said the findings are a cause for great concern, and have called on the Government to take urgent action to tackle the "institutional racism" in the criminal justice system.

The findings will fuel growing concerns about the high proportion of BAME children in custody, which has risen dramatically in recent years  to 49 per cent  despite the fact that the overall number of children entering the justice system has recently fallen to a record low.

The new figures, obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform, show 22,579 black or minority ethnic under-18s were arrested last year out of a total of 87,529. Five per cent of the total arrests were listed as "other", indicating shortfalls in recording practices by police forces.

While a lack of population data in relation to boys and girls aged 10 to 17 means it is difficult to directly assess the level of disproportionality, Home Office figures show that the BAME proportion of the overall population is 13 per cent, providing an indication that the child arrest figures are disproportionate.

In London, more than half (60 per cent) of all child arrests by the Metropolitan Police were black and ethnic minority children  with this group accounting for 12,000 out of 20,000 of the total. The capital has a 40 per cent BAME population overall.

Minority ethnic children meanwhile accounted for 42 per cent of child arrests in Bedfordshire  a policing area where only 23 per cent of the total population is BAME, while in the West Midlands, where 30 per cent of the total population is non-white, police recorded the arrest rate of minority children at 41 per cent.

The disproportionality in several regions was particularly stark. In Dorset, which has a non-white population of 4 per cent, BAME children accounted for 14 per cent of child arrests by police, while in Dyfed Powys, where non-white people make up just 2 per cent of the population, BAME children made up 25 per cent of child arrests.

It comes after a report by the prison watchdog last week revealed that almost half (49 per cent) of children in jails are from a black or other ethnic minority background, compared with 41 per cent the previous year and 35 per cent the year before that. In 2006, the proportion of BAME young offenders in custody was just 25 per cent.

The increase comes despite the fact that the overall number of children entering the justice system has fallen considerably. Police forces across England and Wales made fewer than 88,000 arrests of children in total last year, down from almost 250,000 in 2010, and the number of children in prison fell by 58 per cent between 2010 and 2016, according to a report by the Howard League earlier this year.

The Lammy Review, published in September by David Lammy MP, highlighted growing BAME disproportionality in the criminal justice system. Among other findings, it showed that the proportion of young people from ethnic minorities offending for the first time rose from 11 per cent in 2006 to 19 per cent a decade later.

The Tottenham MP subsequently called for a principle of explain or reform to apply to every institution in the criminal justice system, saying that if agencies cannot provide an evidence-based explanation for apparent disparities between ethnic groups, then reforms should be introduced to address those disparities.

Shortly after the review was published, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick sparked fury after suggesting that harsher jail terms should use to deter teenagers driving a spate of knife crime in London, adding that young black men and boys were statistically more likely to be the victims and perpetrators.

Responding to the new arrest figures, Mr Lammy told The Independent: While it is welcome news that the total number of child arrests is going down, it is a cause of real concern that the levels of disproportionality are so severe and are in fact getting worse.

My review found that once a young person enters our criminal justice system for the first time, they are then much more likely to become a repeat offender and much less likely to be able to find a job and lead a stable life.

"I await the Government's response to my recommendations and I am hopeful that political parties can work together to make important and much-needed progress on this issue."

 Corbyn: We will not tolerate anti-Semitism or other racism

Fellow MP Diane Abbott, who has also campaigned against racial inequality, echoed his concerns, saying: Concern over the disproportionate arrests of young black people goes back decades. It is appalling that that this has been allowed to continue for so long.

Report after report raises the same issue, and communities are left asking just how much damning evidence is needed before the Government introduces reforms. Its time that real action was taken to stamp out institutional racism in the criminal justice system.

Zubaida Haque, research associate at the Runnymede Trust, told The Independent the figures fed into "glaring evidence" of racial discrimination and unconscious biases, citing disproportionately high stop and search rates and restraint-related incidences involving black and ethnic minorities.

We need to ask more challenging questions about what is going on within police forces when there is evidence showing that BME people are six times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to white people, that a high proportion of restraint-related incidences involve black people and when there is considerable evidence of differential arrest rates of BME children," she said.

We are aware that there are issues relating to cuts in policing, cuts in community support services and cuts in youth clubs, but we cannot ignore the glaring evidence of racial discrimination and unconscious biases.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. 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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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Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said while the reduction in children entering the penal system was considerable progress, there is still more work to do".

She continued: The disproportionate number of BAME children being brought into the system is of great concern. It raises serious questions about decision-making throughout the criminal justice journey  from the polices decision to arrest, to the remand and sentencing decisions of the youth courts.

The Lammy Review has called on police forces and other criminal justice agencies to either explain disparities or reform. Our analysis of child arrests data is intended to assist this discussion.

 Stand Up To Racism protest in Croydon

A Government spokesperson said: Discrimination is as unacceptable in the criminal justice system as it is anywhere else - race and ethnicity cannot be used as justification for an arrest.

The Government is committed to shining a light on injustice as never before which is why we published the Race Disparity Audit last month and will confront the issues it raised.

We are looking carefully at the recommendations in David Lammys review.
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Negative comments made by Meghan Markle about Donald Trump are expected to receive renewed attention after it was announced she was to marry Prince Harry.

Members of the royal family remain impartial, according to protocol. But in a 2016 interview, long before Ms Markle announced her engagement to Prince Harry, she publicly branded the President a divisive misogynist.

The Suits actor will marry Prince Harry in early 2018, in a ceremony it is considered unlikely that Mr Trump will be invited to.

In May 2016, Ms Markle was asked on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore how she thought the momentum surrounding Mr Trump could be stopped.

She replied: It's really the moment that I go, we film Suits in Toronto and I might just stay in Canada.

I mean come on, if that's reality we are talking about, come on, that is a game changer in terms of how we move in the world here.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

Yes of course Trump is divisive. Think about just female voters alone.

I think it was in 2012, the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points. That's a huge number and with as misogynistic as Trump is and so vocal about it, that's a huge chunk of it.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first official appearance

You're not just voting for a woman if it's Hillary because she's a woman, but certainly because Trump has made it easy to see that you don't really want that kind of world that he's painting.

Prince Harry is reportedly critical of the President in private, sources told US Weekly, although Kensington Palace denied the claims.

The resurfacing of Ms Markle's comments come after Mr Trumps state visit to the UK was put on hold following large protests.

Her fiancee met Melania Trump at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September during Ms Trumps first solo foreign trip as First Lady. Prince Harry posed for the pictures in an unusual way, holding his jacket with one hand and prompting conspiracy theorists to claim he was making the sign of the devil horn with his fingers.

Ms Trump reportedly said the Prince was welcome to visit the White House whenever he was in the US. It is unclear if he accepted the visit, or would take his wife with him.
 Close Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have announced their engagement

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Prince Harry is to marry his American actor girlfriend Meghan Markle, Clarence House has announced.

The official announcement said: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle. The wedding will take place in spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markles parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

The fifth in line to the throne has been dating Markle since last summer and the 36-year-old actor is rumoured to be moving to the UK after quitting the hit US show Suits which she rose to fame for.

Prince Harry said he was "delighted to announce" the engagement and had gained the blessing of Markle's parents in a statement.

Speculation of a major royal announcement has grown in recent weeks as rumours about the couple's engagement have mounted.

Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland celebrated news of the engagement in a statement issued by Kensington Palace.

"We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person," they said.

"To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness".
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The Duchess of Cambridge married into the Royal Family and has barely put a foot wrong since becoming an HRH.

Now Meghan Markle is about to wed Prince Harry.

Here are some nuggets of advice that Kate might offer her future sister-in-law as she prepares to embark on a life with the Windsors.

Get to know Granny

The Queen, with her many years of experience, has much to teach royal newbies.

Recommended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce engagement

She's also The Boss - what she says goes. This could be everything from the uniform Harry must wear on his wedding day and how royal children should behave on the Buckingham Palace balcony to etiquette for official engagements.

As the Duke of Cambridge once said: You don't mess with your grandmother.

Watch out for the long lenses

Kate was snapped sunbathing topless by photographers while enjoying a break in the south of France in 2012.

William was furious at the intrusion and a costly legal fight and court case ensued, with William and Kate being awarded more than 100,000 euros in damages.

Make sure you have a trusted circle of friends and staff

Discretion is key for William and Kate. Within Kate's close circle of confidantes, long-term friend Sophie Carter was rewarded for her loyalty by being asked to be Princess Charlotte's godmother. Ms Markle will need to be able to rely on friends not to blab to the media about her life with Harry.

Staff are also vital for ensuring the smooth running of royal life. William and Kate have a nanny, a housekeeper, an orderly, as well as their bodyguards. Kate also has a private secretary, a PA and stylist, and a press team, and when she is on tour, her hairdresser goes too.

Get a house in the country

Anmer Hall, a wedding gift from the Queen, has given Kate, William and their children, sanctuary and privacy away from London. The 10-bedroom country retreat, which is a short drive from Sandringham House in Norfolk, underwent a major refurbishment overseen by the Cambridges.

Do not worry about buying your own tiara

The Queen often loans priceless jewellery to family members, meaning there is no need for Ms Markle to head to Cartier to begin her own collection. Kate borrowed one from the monarch for her wedding.

Focus on your interests

Kate has been careful to support charities which reflect her passions - such the arts, tackling bullying and improving the mental health of children.

She is likely to guide Ms Markle into doing research and taking her time before picking patronages - many of which she will be committing herself to for decades.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

Protect your children at all costs

For William and Kate, protecting their children from the limelight and intrusion is paramount.

In 2015, Kensington Palace accused paparazzi photographers of harassing Prince George, saying the royal youngster had become their number one target and accusing them of going to extreme lengths to get pictures of him.

George and Charlotte are rarely seen in public, except on overseas tours and at the occasional UK appearance, and the Duke and Duchess release a number of photos throughout the year in an attempt to keep the public and press happy.

PA
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Prince Harry is to marry his girlfriend Meghan Markle, Clarence House has announced.

The prince, fifth in line to the throne, will marry Markle next spring and the pair will live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London.

A statement issued by Clarence House said: "His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle.

"The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

"His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents."

The couple have been dating since last summer and the 36-year-old actor is rumoured to be moving to the UK after quitting the hit US show Suits.

In a statement, Prince Harry said he was "delighted to announce" the engagement and had gained the blessing of Ms Markle's parents.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

Kensington Palace said Prince Harry and Markle would appear for a photo call at Kensington Palace later on Monday afternoon.

The couple will also take part in a broadcast interview to be broadcast this evening UK time.

In a statement issued by Kensington Palace, Ms Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland celebrated news of the engagement.

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"We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person," they said.

"To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

The Queen gave her blessing to the marriage as Prince Harry is obliged to ask her permission under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.

Rumours about the pair's engagement have abounded in recent weeks and speculation of a major royal announcement has mounted.

The prince and Markle made their first public appearance as a couple this September at the Invictus Games.

Their 16-month relationship began after the couple met through mutual friends in London but they have grown particularly close in recent months. Markle has been reported to be staying regularly at the prince's home at Kensington Palace.

The Canada-based actor, who rose to fame for playing ambitious paralegal Rachel Zane on Suits, has been married once before. Markle married film producer Trevor Engelson in Jamaica in 2011 but they broke up after just two years.

News of the engagement is set to spark a media circus that is likely to put yet more strain on Harry's already fraught relationship with the press. After their relationship became public just over a year ago, the 33-year-old royal condemned the paparazzi for subjecting Markle to a wave of abuse and harassment.

In a statement, the Palace attacked the racial undertones of media coverage of Markle and said the prince feared for her safety. The actress, whose father is white and mother is African American, has described herself as biracial and half black and half white on her website.

My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African-American. To say who I am, to share where Im from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman," Markle has previously said.

Markle, who has criticised President Donald Trump, is a humanitarian and gender equality campaigner. She is a UN womens advocate (for Political Participation and Leadership) and has publicly supported Emma Watsons He For She campaign.
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Prince Harry is to marry his girlfriend Meghan Markle in Spring 2018.

Harry, 33, who is fifth in line to the throne, has been dating the 36-year-old American actress since the summer of 2016.

Ms Markle found fame in the US legal drama Suits.

When will the wedding be?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

Royals usually have a short engagement and are traditionally during the week rather than at the weekend.

A brief statement by the Prince of Wales issued by Clarence House said: "The wedding will take place in Spring 2018.

"Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course."

William and Kate wed on a Friday and the Queen on a Thursday.

Where will the wedding take place?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square in Toronto, Canada (Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation) (Getty)

It has not yet been announced, but St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle is a good bet.

The chapel is smaller than Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral, but still grand enough for a high-profile royal wedding.

Will the wedding day be a public holiday?

It will be up to the Government to decide whether to give Britons the day off.

An extra one-off bank holiday was added for William and Kate's nuptials, but William is a future king, whereas Harry is now only fifth in line to the throne.

Will Harry be made a Duke?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)

Tradition dictates royal men receive a title when they marry, and Prince Harry is expected to become the Duke of Sussex.

On the morning of his wedding, the prince is likely to be given a dukedom by his grandmother the Queen.

Ms Markle would become both an HRH and a duchess after saying her vows.

Will Meghan Markle become a duchess or princess?

Meghan Markle (Getty)

Harry, whose full name is Prince Henry of Wales, could turn down a title, in which case, Ms Markle would be known as HRH Princess Henry of Wales.

She is not entitled to be Princess Meghan - even though this may be how she eventually becomes known in the media and to the public.

Ms Markle will not be a princess in her own right, only through marriage, just like the Duchess of Cambridge - who would have used the title Princess William of Wales if she had not been a duchess.

Even if she becomes a duchess, Ms Markle will still technically also be HRH Princess Henry of Wales.

When Kate signed Prince George's birth certificate, she listed her occupation as "Princess of the United Kingdom".
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Prince Harry is to marry his American actor girlfriend Meghan Markle, Clarence House has announced.

News of the forthcoming spring wedding was welcomed by people around the world.

Leading the congratulations was Prince Harry's father, Prince Charles, who said he was "thrilled" and "very happy indeed" for the couple.

Prime Minister Theresa May said: "This is a time of huge celebration for two people in love".

But even if the news of their marriage and the inevitable media furore surrounding the event leaves your distinctly underwhelmed, there could still be something to celebrate - you may get an extra day off.

Royal weddings are traditionally held on a weekday, rather than at the weekend.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge married on a Friday and a one-off bank holiday was added for their big day in 2011.

The Queen and Prince Philip were wed on a Thursday.

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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

Whether a public holiday is declared for Harry and Meghan's nuptials, will be up to the Government to decide.

William is the future king, whereas Harry is now fifth in line for the throne - making an extra holiday day more unlikely.

The wedding is also likely to take place in a less high profile venue than Westminster Abbey, where William and Kate were wed.

St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle  which is smaller, but still grand enough for a royal wedding  is thought to be a likely setting.
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Pope Francis has condemned politicians who propagate alarm over immigration and argued their fear-mongering engenders violence and racism.

The pontiff, who has frequently spoken out in defence of migrants, issued a plea for politicians to practice the virtue of prudence to welcome refugees into their societies and help them integrate.

Writing in a message titled Migrants and Refugees: Men and Women in Search of Peace which was sent to heads of state and government, Pope Francis said trepidation about immigrants demeans the human dignity due to all as sons and daughters of God.

The pontiff said: Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination and xenophobia, which are matters of great worry for all those concerned about the safety of every human being.

Pope Francis, who has clashed with President Trump on immigration, said that while immigrants can compound numerous existing problems, leaders have to find ways to integrate them into their countries.

Francis said that while immigrants can compound numerous existing problems, the onus is on leaders finding ways to welcome and integrate them into their countries.

By practising the virtue of prudence, government leaders should take practical measures to welcome, promote, protect, integrate and, within the limits allowed by a correct understanding of the common good, to permit (them) to become part of a new society, he said.

The pontiff made a renewed plea for an open door policy towards migrants and denounced a spread of rhetoric that emphasises the risks posed to national security or the high cost of welcoming new arrivals.

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

Many destination countries have seen the spread of rhetoric decrying the risks posed to national security or the high cost of welcoming new arrivals, and doing so demeans the human dignity due to all as sons and daughters of God, he wrote.

He added: Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination, and xenophobia, which are matters of great worry for all those concerned about the safety of every human being.

The comments come after Pope Francis called on world leaders to do more to help refugees and migrants over the summer in a plea to put pressure on politicians to improve what he called the lamentable situation facing people fleeing conflict.

He said states must also do more to help refugees into work and education and called for wealthier nations to support developing countries that are dealing with the brunt of the refugee crisis.



Additional reporting by agencies
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An American barge with 3.5 million litres of oil is reportedly in distress off the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia, posing a potentially huge threat to the areas indigenous lands and wildlife were it to spill.

The Jake Shearer was sailing in turbulent waters near Bella Bella and Goose Island, when two of its three tug boats broke free and the barge dropped its anchor.

It is carrying millions of litres of diesel and 468,000 litres of gasoline, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), although at the time of publication there was no indication that any of the fuel had spilled.

The vessel is anchored about 1.6km from Goose Island in a pretty exposed area, said Katelyn Moores, spokeswoman for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

Two Canadian coastguard vessels are trying to help and additional resources were being sent to the location, according to officials.

Rescue tug en route. CCG teams working throughout the night to ensure barge remains in place and the safety of those onboard, the Canadian Coast Guard tweeted, adding that the safety of the two crew members on board the barge was the highest concern.

Boat with containment box at US oil spill site Show all 1 1 /1 Boat with containment box at US oil spill site Boat with containment box at US oil spill site 367861.bin AP

Officials said they were devising a plan to rescue the ship once the tugboats arrive to attach a tow line, but strong westerly winds of 45 knots are slowing down efforts.

The situation is also being monitored by members of the Heiltsuk First Nation, who live near the distressed vessel.

The incident comes one year after vessel Nathan E Stewart ran aground in the same area and prompted a massive oil spill of 110,000 litres and devastating marine life.

"Nathan E Stewarts replacement, Jake Shearer appears to have lost power and is drifting toward the Goose Islands," tweeted Greanpeace Canada. "McInnes Island is blowing 35S and gusting. Unlike the Nathan E Stewart, this barge is full of fuel."

Jess Housty, a member of the First Nation community in Bella Bella, said: Last time I was glued to the VHF like this it was the start of six weeks of emergency phase hell with NES. my heart cant take a repeat."

The Heiltsuk people have called for an Indigenous Marine Response Centre.

"This incident highlights the desperate need for Indigenous-led response capacity on the central coast," said Marilyn Slett, chief councillor of the Heitsuk Tribal Council in Bella Bella.

Environmentalist group Sierra Club BC tweeted: "Not again. Our thoughts are with the Heiltsuk tonight."
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The number of young people being used as money mules to transfer the proceeds of crime has shot up by 75 per cent in the last year, a study has found.

According to Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service, there were 8,652 cases of 18-24-year-olds having their bank accounts used by criminals from January to September this year.

Young people and students from poorer backgrounds are believed to be targeted because of their obvious need for fast cash.

The organisation has come together with Financial Fraud Action UK to raise awareness of the potentially serious consequences for young people who allow themselves to be used as mules  as well as the wider harm caused.

Simon Dukes, chief executive of Cifas, said: This is a serious issue that not only has consequences for the money mule, but for society as a whole.

"The criminals behind money mules often use the cash to fund major crime, like terrorism and people trafficking.

We want to educate young people about how serious this fraud is in the hope that they will think twice before getting involved.

Cifas has warned students they could find it difficult to obtain student loans, mobile phone contracts or other financial products, if their bank account is closed due to money laundering.

Katy Worobec, head of fraud and financial crime prevention, cyber and data sharing, at UK Finance, the organisation behind FFA UK, said: Money muling is money laundering and criminals are using young people as mules in increasing numbers.

When you're caught, your bank account will be closed, making it difficult to access cash and credit. You could even face up to 14 years in jail.

We're urging people not to give their bank account details to anyone unless they know and trust them.

If an offer of easy money sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Cifas and FFA UK have launched a campaign, Dont be Fooled, to deter young people from falling into the money mule trap.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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

The warning comes as a separate investigation by The Times highlights the growing problem of children being exploited as drug mules by criminal gangs.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes that criminals routinely attempt to avoid prosecution by grooming vulnerable children to carry their drugs.

Modern slavery laws are to be used for the first time in the fight against the exploitation of children as drug mules, which has been compared to the street grooming of young girls across the UK.

Alleged drug dealers in two forthcoming criminal trials have been charged under human trafficking and modern slavery laws, the paper reports.

Those convicted of modern slavery face a maximum sentence of life in prison and it is hoped the tougher penalties will deter the use of children in drugs running operations.
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Ministers face a battle after withholding certain elements in a release of 850 pages of detailed analysis into the impacts of Brexit on the UK economy.

Labour said a failure to publish all of the analysis compiled by David Daviss department in full risked leaving the Government in contempt of Parliament, which has ordered the documents publication.

But the Government insists it has a duty to ensure that whatever is released is not commercially sensitive and does not risk putting the UK at a disadvantage in Brexit negotiations.

The transfer of the papers to the Commons Committee on Exiting the EU after weeks of pressure came a single day before a deadline that Parliament had set.

The committee is now due to meet on Tuesday to decide whether to make public all or part of the documents they have been handed.

The handover to the committee, chaired by ex-Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn, came after Labour won a Commons vote on the issue, pushing the Government to act.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said: Parliament was very clear in its instruction to ministers.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

All 58 impact assessments should have been shared with the select committee in full, without redaction and unedited.

If the Government has failed to comply with this ruling then we will not hesitate in raising this matter with the Speaker.

On 1 November, Labour tabled a humble address to the Queen asking for what it termed the impact assessments of Brexit to be provided to the Commons committee.

Labours motion was passed without a vote earlier this month after ministers indicated the Government would not oppose it.

Commons Speaker John Bercow said at the time that the arcane parliamentary procedure of a humble address used by Labour has traditionally been regarded as binding or effective, and said he would be willing to consider an accusation of contempt if the Government failed to respond.

But an official at Mr Daviss Department for Exiting the European Union explained that the Government had never had 58 separate assessments as such, but instead had a broad body of information consisting of all the analysis that the UK Government had done on Brexit and issues related to various sectors.

 EU demands in next round of talks set to enrage Cabinet Brexiteers, leak reveals

In a bid to comply with Parliament and assist the Commons committee, civil servants had drawn together in some 39 reports totalling 850 pages, documents that touched upon 58 sectors, the official said.

But The Independent understands that some information will have been withheld from the newly compiled reports if officials have deemed it damaging to commercial or the UKs interests.

A Government spokesperson said: The Government has satisfied the motion, providing the House of Commons [committee] with information covering 58 sectors of the economy.

We have also shared the information with the Lords EU Committee.

The spokesperson went on: We have taken time to bring together the analysis we do have in a way that meets Parliaments specific ask.

Our overall programme of work is comprehensive, thorough and is continuously updated. This sectoral analysis is simply one part of it.
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Turkeys prime minister has warned of the long queues his countrys trucks face trying to cross into the European Union, under rules that could be forced on Britain after Brexit.

Interviewed by The Independent, Binali Yldrm revealed that Turkeys transport companies went to court because of the tailbacks and the big costs they had run up.

The problems arise despite Turkey being in the EU customs union, because  like Theresa Mays plan for Brexit  it does not have free movement of people and is outside the single market.

 Brexit: Article 50 author says Theresa May is misleading the public on reversing result

There are sometimes long lines, long queues  that is right, Mr Yldrm said.

And he added: Unfortunately, certain practices of the customs union, certain advantages of the customs union, were not offered to Turkey for years. Turkey was disadvantaged.

There is no free circulation of people  there is no free circulation of goods either. These are things that are important for Turkey.

Mr Yldrm blamed Bulgarian practices for the long border queues, but added: Unfortunately, the EU is acting way too slow in this area.

 Kate Hoey on the Irish Border: 'We wont be putting up the border, theyll have to pay for it'

The comments come as the controversy over the future Irish border rages, with ministers facing down calls from the Irish Government to soften its Brexit stance.

Instead, the Government has insisted Britain will leave both the single market and the customs union  although it will seek identical arrangements in a two-year transition period, after March 2019.

Turkish lorry drivers have protested at queues of anything between 4 km and 17 km (10.5 miles) at Bulgarian checkpoints, forcing them to wait up to 30 hours to get through.

Each driver requires an export declaration, invoices for the products they are carrying, insurance certificates and a transport permit for each EU nation they will drive through.

Recommended Ireland says it has EU backing to push for more concessions on border

The bureaucracy is the result of the EU, so far, only granting the right of lorries to move freely if there is also an agreement on the free movement of people.

Open-access road transport deals have been agreed with Norway and the other members of the European Economic Area (EEA), but Britain has insisted it will not join the group.

Instead, ending free movement is a red line for Ms May in the Brexit talks, with tough immigration restrictions planned for when any transition period ends.

Furthermore, say critics, the UK could be heading for a worse deal than Turkey, because it is seeking some sort of associate membership of the customs union  not full membership.

Prime Minister Theresa May with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim at Downing Street (PA)

Ankara has given up its right to set its own external tariffs in trade deals, but Britain is thought unlikely to do the same.

Speaking to journalists in London, Mr Yildirim said Britain and Turkey had begun work on a post-Brexit free trade agreement, by setting up a working group.

Preparations would take place "in parallel" with the Brexit negotiations, he said, but acknowledged a deal could not be finalised until the UK had actually left the EU.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Mr Yildirim dismissed suggestions that Turkey would be prevented from striking its own trade deal with the UK by its membership of the EU customs union.

Once the UK moves out of the EU, the UK will belong to the same club as Turkey, he said.

The world is not only made up of the EU. Turkey has free trade agreements with a number of other countries. Forging these agreements does not mean a contradiction with our relations with the EU.
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Britain and the EU will hopefully reach an agreement on sufficient progress in Brexit talks within the next few days, the EUs chief negotiator has said.

Michel Barnier told an EU conference in Tallinn, Estonia that the moment of truth was approaching for Britains exit talks and that real, sufficient progress was in sight.

I do hope in the next few days we will come up with an agreement on principles, and a real agreement, he said.

We need to have real, sufficient progress in the three key areas where the UK's decision has created a lot of uncertainty and fear even.

Mr Barnier added: The moment of truth is approaching, we have a council under the Estonian presidency on December 14 and 15, and I really hope that will be the point where we will see real, sufficient progress on the conditions of our separation.

And that will allow me to recommend the opening up of the next two phases of negotiations, first of all on the transition period and then on the future relationship.

The EU official's reference to "the next two phases" raises the possibility that transitional arrangements might be discussed before a full trade negotiation is put on the table by the EU.

The chief negotiators upbeat comments however come as the Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said on Monday that the UK needed to give more assurances over the status of the Irish border for sufficient progress to be made.

Other than the Irish border, European Council president Donald Tusk has said much more progress is also needed on the issue of the financial settlement  the question of what the UK will pay when it leaves the bloc.

Theresa May and David Davis has been given a 4 December deadline to make the progress on the two issues ahead of the make-or-break summit in Brussels.

The EU, Ireland, and UK are wrestling with how to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland  as required by the Good Friday agreement  while also ensuring the EU still has an external customs border.

The European Parliament and European Commission have suggested customs checks could be moved to ports on the Irish Sea, effectively keeping NI in the customs union and putting a customs between two parts of the United Kingdom.

The DUP, on which the Government relies on to have a majority in the House of Commons, has however ruled out any such plan, as has David Davis the Brexit Secretary.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

On the financial settlement, the EU is demanding more detail than Theresa May gave during her Florence Speech, where she said only that "the UK will honour commitments it has made during the period of our membership".

If and when the "separation issue" talks are finally cleared, both sides will also have to reach an agreement on a transition period. Internal EU docuemnts leaked to The Independent at the weekend show how at loggerheads the two sides are over the transition period  with the EU insisting on new European rules implemented in the UK during the two years, but key figures in Theresa May's Cabinet being dead-set against such a move.
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Brexit has parallels to the Vietnam War in terms of the violation of human rights and British peoples reluctance to criticise it for fear of being labelled unpatriotic, according to a professor.

Conor Gearty, professor of human rights law at the London School of Economics, wrote in a blog post: "Brexit strikes me as our Vietnam. Everybody rational knows it is  how can I put it politely?  not going well. But no one with authority seems able to say so."

He warned against Brexit resulting in a "large transfer of power to the executive branch", referring to the so-called Henry VIII clause which allows the Government to adopt and disband EU laws without requiring a vote in Parliament.

 Brexit chief David Davis tells EU: "Don't put politics above prosperity"

Potential changes after Brexit, Mr Gearty said, could affect equal pay, health and safety protection, holiday entitlements, clean air and food standards  issues that the UK was "hostile" towards as part of its drive to become a "low-regulation, business-friendly" country.

"Expect more denunciations of human rights law as post-Brexit reality bites  taking back control is a long war, fed by scapegoats for failure," he wrote.

The professor warned it would be harder to ascertain causality between Brexit and "deaths, ill-health or misery" compared to the "tangible evidence of impact"  ie the body count in Vietnam  and that it was easier to link negative impacts to almost a decade of austerity.

For example, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found there would be 5.2 million children in the UK living in poverty in five years' time.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

However, he said a hard Brexit would mean a "shrinking of opportunity for UK citizens  in terms of education abroad; freedom of movement; access to health care when abroad, and much else."

Even under a potential Labour government in the near future, which he said was highly probable, he questioned socialists stance towards the Human Rights Act, which he said made figures like Jeremy Corbyn in the 1970s "suspicious... [the Act was thought of as] a tool with which the powerful could resist change."

Mr Gearty added that Irish citizens were also being "ignored".

His blog came in the same week that international trade minister Liam Fox said he could not rule out the possibility of a hard border with Ireland until Brexit had been finalised.
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Britain should threaten the weak Republic of Ireland with new border controls in order to get its way over Brexit, Ukip has said.

Gerard Batten, the party Brexit spokesperson, said Ireland was a tiny country that relies on UK for its existence and that it amounted to the weakest kid in the playground sucking up to the EU bullies.

The MEP said the UK had been threatened by the Republic over the issue of the Irish border after Brexit and that Britain should respond in like manner.

 Ireland says it has EU backing to push for more concessions on border

Recommended EU makes case for Northern Ireland staying in customs union

We should advise, we are free to revoke common travel area, he said, adding that the Republic was nothing but a subservient client state to the EU.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said earlier this month that Ireland needed written assurances from the UK that there would be no return to a hard border between the north and the Republic after Brexit  a position both sides have said they support.

The Taoiseach hinted that if no such written promise was made Ireland would not deem sufficient progress to have been made in negotiations to move to trade talks at the upcoming December European Council summit.

If sufficient progress, as defined by the EU, is not agreed in December, the next opportunity to start trade and transition talks will be in March  throwing the Brexit talks timetable into even more disarray and dramatically increasing the likelihood of a no deal.

After an outcry on social media Mr Batten doubled down and said it was amazing how upset some people have got because I have suggested Ireland threatening to derail [a] Brexit agreement could invoke a response.

Ireland is currently part of the Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom, which has existed since 1923 and means travellers do not require a passport to travel between the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man and channel islands.

Both are also currently members of the EU customs union, meaning goods moved between the two countries do not need customs checks  but Theresa May has committed the UK to leaving it as part of her plans for a hard Brexit.

The EU, Ireland, and UK are wrestling with how to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland  as required by the Good Friday agreement  while also ensuring the EU still has an external customs border.

The European Parliament and European Commission have suggested customs checks could be moved to ports on the Irish Sea, effectively keeping NI in the customs union and putting a customs between two parts of the United Kingdom.

The DUP, on which the Government relies on to have a majority in the House of Commons, has however ruled out any such plan, as has David Davis the Brexit Secretary.

Leo Varadkar, Irish prime minister, has called for more clarity from the UK(AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty)

The issue was one of two which, along with the financial settlement, European Council president Donald Tusk has said requires much more progress before Decembers European Council summit.

In a statement sent to The Independent after the initial publication of this article, Ukip head of delegation Ray Finch MEP said the partys Brexit spokesperson did not speak for the party on the issue.

Mr Battens late night tweets do not reflect UKIP policy or sentiment, he said.

We wish to maintain free trade and free movement between the North and South of Ireland, full stop.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Instead, Mr Finch said that the best way of solving the border issue was for Ireland to leave the EU too.

Outside the EU, Ireland would once again operate as a sovereign self-determining State with the opportunity for global Free trade, and an independent foreign policy without membership of an EU army, he said.

The best way to avoid the European Commission imposing a hard border is to create an equal partnership of independent states outside EU.
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Irelands foreign minister has said the European Unions most senior leaders have assured him Brexit talks will not move on to the next stage unless the UK gives greater guarantees over the Irish border.

Simon Coveney said Ireland did not need to use its veto as an EU member state to block progress in talks, because other European countries are in complete solidarity with Dublin over the issue.

It comes a week ahead of a key meeting between Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier, at which she is expected to try to secure their backing to move on from the first stage of talks and on to discussions of transition and trade.

Recommended Labour MP draws Trump comparison for claim Ireland will pay for border

Mr Coveney told Irish broadcaster RTE: We dont need to use a veto because we have complete solidarity on this issue with 26 other EU countries.

It is clear to us that if there is not progress on the Irish border, we will not be moving onto phase two in December and that was reinforced to me as late as last Friday by very senior EU leaders.

Ms May appears to have won some consensus on the issue of the UKs divorce bill, having agreed to increase the amount Britain pays to settle its financial obligations, potentially up to 40bn. But the other two withdrawal issues  the Irish border and EU citizens rights are outstanding.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Downing Street said on Monday that a meeting between Ms May and European Council President Donald Tusk had ended following good progress in negotiations, adding theres more to be done in a number of areas and that talks continue to take place.

But Ireland has been pushing for more clarity on how the UK intends to avoid a land border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

Dublin has said that if either the whole UK or just Northern Ireland remains in the single market and customs union, then there would be no problem with maintaining the current soft-border arrangements, but Downing Street has ruled them both out.

Any arrangement which appeared to give Northern Ireland a separate status to the rest of the UK would be strongly resisted by the Democratic Unionist Party party, whose 10 Westminster MPs are propping up Ms Mays Commons majority.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said: We dont want there to be a hard border but the UK is going to be leaving the customs union and the single market.

He told Sky News on Sunday: We cant come to a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state.

 Arlene Foster addresses DUP Conference: "We want a sensible Brexit"

Irish European affairs minister Helen McEntee has acknowledged that some of the final details of the border question would have to be dealt with in the next phase of Brexit talks, but said the UK must come forward with further proposals to achieve the aim of maintaining a soft border.

Meanwhile, Irish senator Neale Richmond, a European affairs spokesman for the Fine Gael party that leads the government, warned of violence if there is a return to a hard border.

He told the BBCs Today programme: There is paramilitary and criminal activity on both sides of the border at the moment, and indeed from both communities, and I come from an Irish community myself.

 Budget 2017: Philip Hammond puts aside 3bn for 'all Brexit outcomes'

So to simply say that theres no threat ... there is a threat, the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] and An Garda Siochana [the Republics police], have said there is a viable paramilitary threat to the peace process.

You put up one watchtower, or put out one customs patrol, and they will be a target, and I would argue they would be attacked within a week of them going up.

Moving on to phase two of the negotiations, on transition and trade, can only happen if all other 27 EU state leaders agree at the European Council summit on 14 and 15 December that sufficient progress has been made on withdrawal issues.
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The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be a national holiday, Downing Street has announced.

News of the pair's engagement had prompted hopes the country's workers would be granted a day off on the day of the nuptials next year.

But Theresa May's official spokesman said: "There are no plans for a Bank Holiday.

"There isn't a precedent in this area."

The spokesman pointed out that there was no Bank Holiday to mark the weddings of Prince Andrew in 1986 or Prince Edward in 1999.

But a Bank Holiday was held for the wedding of Princess Anne in 1973, who like Harry was not a direct heir to the throne but was behind her brothers in the line for succession.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. The Invictus Games is an international sport event for wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen and women, both serving and veteran. It was created by the Duke of Sussex and aims to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding of all those who serve their country Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace following the announcement of their engagement AFP/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2017 Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2017 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene in King's Lynn Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan during a visit to Reprezent 107.3FM in Pop Brixton. The Reprezent training programme was established in Peckham in 2008, in response to the alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers on arrival at Cardiff Castle for a day showcasing the rich culture and heritage of Wales AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2018 The couple watching a dance performance by Jukebox Collective during their to Cardiff Castle AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people in Edinburgh. The reception celebrated youth achievements, marking Scotlands Year of Young People 2018, an initiative that aims to inspire Scotland through its young people: celebrating their achievements, strengthening their voice on social issues and creating new opportunities for them to shine AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2018 Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London. Under the theme 'Making a Difference Together', the event showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Prince William, Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2018 Meghan Markle greets well-wishers after a visit to one of Belfast's most historic buildings, The Crown Liquor Saloon, a former Victorian gin palace, now run by the National Trust. It was the Royal couple's first joint visit to Northern Ireland AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures April 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet participants as they attend the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arriving at Cliveden House Hotel the night before her wedding to Prince Harry Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Royal fans sing for the television in Windsor the day before the Royal wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, during her wedding AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand facing each other hand-in-hand before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during their wedding ceremony AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 Prince Harry kisses the Duchess of Sussex, as they pass through the Cambridge Gate into the grounds of Windsor Castle at the end of their carriage procession AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2018 The newly married royals leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Queen Elizabeth II sitts and laughs with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge in the town of Widnes in Halton, Cheshire Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour' on Horseguards parade AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry kiss after the Sentebale Polo event that was held at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures August 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the cast and crew of "Hamilton" backstage after the gala performance in support of Sentebale at Victoria Palace Theatre Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2018 Meghan meets 7-year-old Matilda Booth during the annual WellChild awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet 98-year-old Daphne Dunne during a meet and greet at the Sydney Opera House during an official 16-day Autumn tour visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala named Ruby and its koala joey named Meghan after the Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry looks on as his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is hugged by student Luke Vincent of Buninyong Public School following the couple's arrival at Dubbo Regional Airport in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Harry and his wife Meghan watch aboriginal dances at Victoria Park in Dubbo AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet with lifeguards at South Melbourne Beach. BeachPatrol is a network of volunteers who are passionate about keeping Melbourne's beaches and foreshores clear of litter to reduce the negative impact of litter on the marine environment and food chain, and provide a safe environment for the public to enjoy their local beach Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan join a circle during a "Fluro Friday" session run by OneWave, a local surfing community group who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach AFP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 The British royals kicked off their shoes and donned tropical garlands on Bondi Beach AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts, mats and tapa cloths at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2018 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in Rotorua AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures November 2018 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures February 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visit the Kasbah of the Udayas near the Moroccan capital Rabat AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan speak on stage during WE Day UK 2019 at The SSE Arena in London Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures March 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry react as they are presented with baby gifts by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, at Canada House, during an event to mark Commonwealth Day, in central London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 A congratulatory banner message circling the BT Tower reading "Congratulations Harry and Meghan It's a Baby Boy!" AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Footmen Stephen Kelly and Sarah Thompson set up an official notice on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace on May 6, announcing the birth of a son to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Pround parents pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Sussex gave birth at 5:26 on 6 May Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures May 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan walk away after posing for photographs with their newborn son AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures June 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan join the New York Yankees in their clubhouse and receive gifts for Archie ahead of their match against the Boston Red Sox at the London Stadium. The historic two-game series marked the sport's first games ever played in Europe and The Invictus Games Foundation was selected as the official charity of Mitel and MLB London Series 2019 Invictus Games Foundation/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures July 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet cast and crew, including US singer-songwriter Beyonce and her husband, US rapper Jay-Z as they attend the European premiere of the film The Lion King in London AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dance as they arrive for a visit to the "Justice desk", an NGO in the township of Nyanga in Cape Town, as they begin their tour of the region. Their first official family visit in the coastal city AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan pose with members of "Waves For Change" NGO at Monwabisi Beach outside of Cape Town. "Waves For Change" NGO fuses surfing with child-friendly mind and body therapy to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in challenging communities AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The royals arrive to visit the oldest mosque of Cape Town in Dorp Street in Bo Kaap district AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with the Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa. Auwal Mosque is the first and oldest mosque in South Africa and for the Muslim community, this mosque symbolises the freedom of former slaves to worship Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan hold their baby son Archie as they meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures September 2019 The British royal couple were on a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born AFP via Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan meet Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Duke last met with Mrs Machel during his visit to South Africa in 2015 Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures October 2019 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures December 2019 Prince Harry holding his son Archie. The photo was used on Instagram to wish their followers a happy new year SussexRoyal/PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Duke and Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House in London after visiting to show thanks for the warm hospitality and support they received during their recent stay in Canada Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  in pictures January 2020 Front page headlines, from UK daily papers, reporting on the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plan to step back as "senior" members of the Royal Family AFP via Getty

A Bank Holiday was declared throughout the UK in 2011 for the wedding day of Prince William to Kate Middleton, and the nation was given the day off for the Prince of Wales's marriage to Diana Spencer in 1981.

The couple announced their engagement on Monday morning following a sixteen month romance, prompting calls on social media for the nation to have the day off.

Recommended Journalists booed for asking Jeremy Corbyn about royal engagement

Prince William is much further up in the line of succession than his brother, being second in line to the throne.

Prince Harry has dropped to fifth behind his nephew and niece Prince George and Princess Charlotte. He will drop to sixth once the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's new baby is born.

The wedding will take place in the spring, Clarence House announced, although no further details have yet been given as to the venue or date.

It is thought unlikely to take place in April, as this is when the new royal baby is due.

Politicians across the political spectrum have offered congratulations to Prince Harry and his American actress fiancee.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who said he hoped the couple would have "a lot of fun together", had promised the nation an additional four bank holidays in the party's election manifesto.
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The Government has been warned that a "very substantial rebellion" was brewing among Tory MPs over potential defence cuts, which could see army numbers slashed to below 70,000.

Newly-elected Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was told his colleagues were in "open rebellion" at proposals to reduce the armys full-time strength, which have already drawn threats of resignation from Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood.

It comes as Tory MP and former army officer Johnny Mercer warned up to 30 Conservatives were prepared to "hold the Government's feet to the fire" on defence spending - in comments likely alarm the weakened Prime Minister, whose lack of parliamentary majority makes her vulnerable to even a small number of rebels.

Recommended Government set for climbdown over defence cuts in face of Tory revolt

Speculation over defence cuts has mounted since the launch of a review by Theresa Mays national security adviser Mark Sedwill, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) insists that the no decisions have been made and the claims were only conjecture.

Conservative MP James Gray, addrssing Mr Williamson in the Commons, said: "Will he speak to the national security adviser, and indeed the Secretary of State at the Cabinet Office, to remind them that they must not use this review as some kind of camouflage to cut our services?

"Will he speak to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make sure he digs deep in his pockets to produce the money we need?

"And above all, will he speak to the Chief Whip to remind him if he does not do so he's going to be facing a very substantial rebellion?"

Former Tory defence minister Mark Francois also intervened, saying the defence of the realm is "the first duty of Government above all others", while shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said Tory backbenchers were in "open rebellion" on the proposed cuts.

Mr Williamson, in his first Commons appearance since he took on the role, said he wanted to understand the threats faced by the UK, with a defence review ongoing across Government.

He replied: "I can assure him I will speak to every single one of those people that he has outlined.

"And as he rightly points out, the defence of our nation is the first and primary responsibility of every government. That is one I take exceptionally seriously."

The new Defence Secretary also talked tough on the Government's commitment to meeting the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence, describing it as "a base rather than a ceiling" following calls to boost expenditure to 3 per cent.

However Mr Williamson sidestepped questions on whether he had pushed Chancellor Philip Hammond to boost defence spending before the Budget.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA 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 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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

MPs also urged him to push for the cost of the Trident nuclear deterrent to be taken out of the defence budget, something he indicated was being examined as part of a Whitehall review.

It comes after former soldier Mr Ellwood made headlines at the weekend after telling colleagues he was "deeply concerned" at proposals to cut army numbers and hinting he was prepared to resign over the issue.

His calls were backed by an increasingly influential group of former servicemen within the Tory party, including ex-army officers Tom Tugendhat and Mr Mercer, both of whom have pledged to fight any cuts to the armed forces.
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Theresa May has vowed to fully fund the costs of dealing with the Manchester terror attack after the Governments initial offer fell short by millions of pounds.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham provoked outrage when he revealed the Prime Minister had only offered 12m of the 28m needed to compensate public services over the fallout from the deadly bombing.

Some 22 people were killed in the devastating blast at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in May, while hundreds were injured or traumatised by the attack.

Recommended May condemned for failing to pay full cost of Manchester terror attack

Describing the bombing as "one of the darkest moment's in the city history", Ms May told the Manchester Evening News: Be in no doubt, Manchester will get the financial support it needs  and if that costs 28m, as Andy Burnham has estimated, then that is what we will make available.

The intervention came following warnings from Mr Burnham that local authorities might have to cut services to make up the 5m shortfall on what has already been spent - with additional expected costs of 10.4m to cover inquests and an inquiry.

A new Cabinet Office taskforce will coordinate the Government's response and speed up payments where necessary, she said.

Ms May added: "I promised in the wake of the appalling atrocity this Government would do all it could to help victims recover and the city to heal. I repeat that commitment today.

Where your public services have had to bear, or will bear, unexpected and exceptional costs in coping with this terrible attack, these will be met by the Government.

"The process of making those payments is on-going and I understand the frustration felt at the pace of delivery. So I have taken steps to speed up our response.

In response to the announcement, Mr Burnham tweeted: I thank the Prime Minister for her helpful words this evening.

"We will work constructively with the taskforce to achieve a fair resolution.
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Hawaii has reinstated a Second World War-style missile warning system amid fears of an attack by North Korea.

The sirens have not been tested since the Cold War but are being brought back as the US state responds to the on-going war of words between Donald Trump and the secretive communist state's leader Kim Jong-un.

Reintroduced at the start of next month, the warning system will utilise existing technology that is already used to warn local people of an incoming hurricane or tsunami.

Experts believe a North Korean missile could take just 20 minutes to reach Hawaii, meaning residents would have only have a very short time to react.

Hawaii is protected by US anti-missile systems but the states leaders are taking extra precautions. They have expanded an educational programme teaching residents how to respond to a nuclear strike and arranged a series of public meetings and television and radio announcements to ensure Hawaiis 1.4 million residents know what to do in the event of an attack.

Local people are being told to have a plan in place for where they will take shelter if alarms warn that a strike is imminent.

They have also been advised to hide in a concrete structure and have enough food and water to last at least 48 hours and ideally two weeks.

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. 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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. 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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. 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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

While he said a nuclear attack was unlikely, Vern Miyagi, a retired army major general who is now administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, told NBC News, that the state was "a likely target because were closer to North Korea than most of the continental United States."

He said: As we track the news and see tests, both missile launches and nuclear tests, its the elephant in the room. We cant ignore it. People of Hawaii need to know what Hawaii is doing in preparation for this.

Recommended University of Hawaii prepares students for nuclear attack

Each individual, each family should have a plan to be resilient, so they can take care of themselves, while we focus on getting the critical infrastructure, the harbours, the water, the roads, all back to some sort of normalcy.

Officials believe that, if precautions are taken, 80 to 90 per cent of the population of Hawaii could survive a nuclear attack.

The decision to prepare for a possible strike comes after a heated dispute between the US and the North Korean regime.

The pariah state has threatened to launch a missile at American territory, while Donald Trump recently vowed to inflict fire and fury the like of which the world has never seen if North Korea launches an attack.
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New details have emerged in the alleged murder of an American teenager in Paraguay. Once ruled a suicide, prosecutors are now treating the case as a rape and murder, based on phone logs, crime scene photos, and interviews with suspects.

Sixteen-year-old Alex Villamayor died more than two and a half years ago, during a visit to a friend's family ranch in Encarnacion, Paraguay. The last time he spoke to his father, former Paraguayan congressman Luis Villamayor, he called to report that he and his friends were drinking mushroom tea on the property. The phone call cut off, and Mr Villamayor never heard from his son again.

The death was initially ruled a suicide. Now, new evidence in the case has emboldened prosecutors who are treating the case as a murder.

Crime scene photos show Alex was shot on the right side of his head, while the gun was found in his left hand, according to the Daily Beast. There was no gun residue discovered on his body, or any of his friends. Family members said the clothes he was found dressed in were not his own.

A medical examiner discovered bruises all over the teenagers body, including on his genitals, according to Villamayor family lawyer Pablo Fernandez. The examiner also discovered semen in his anus, Mr Fernandez told Ultima Hora.

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

Phone records obtained by the Daily Beast reportedly show Rene, the friend whose house Alex was visiting, had called his father more than 50 times that day, starting at 3 am. Both Rene and his friend Alain initially said they had woken up at 6 am to find Alex dead.

In August, Paraguayan news outlets reported that Mathias Wilbs, a worker at the ranch, had confessed to moving the boy's body and putting a gun in his hand. He later admitted to having done so to protect Rene, according to Ultima Hora.

So far, Paraguayan officials have denied the FBIs assistance in the case. Both Rene and Wilbs are in prison on charges of premeditated murder, but they have not gone to trial. Alain was indicted for murder more than two years ago, but was acquitted before the investigation was completed.

Alexs aunt, Kim Luk, is lobbying to change American laws to mandate the FBI become involved when a US citizen is killed abroad.

More people have to understand what happens to you when you travel overseas, Ms Kim told the Daily Beast. Were in an administration right now that is seeking Americans first. This is a perfect time for us to change laws.
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A plane carrying hundreds of people experienced tyre issues upon landing, with passengers reporting that two of the tyres had exploded.

The United Airlines flight 961 was landing at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday having departed Frankfurt International Airport hours earlier.

There were 264 passengers and 15 crew on board at the time. All are said to have disembarked safely.

The airline did not provide details of the fault but one passenger on board said two of the planes tyres had blown upon landing.

Recommended United Airlines escapes fine after dragging passenger off a plane

Hillary Kwiatek wrote on Twitter: If you hear about a plane landing with malfunctioning brakes and two blown tires at Newark, don't worry we're all fine. 

A United Airlines spokesperson said: United Airlines flight 961, a Boeing 777-222, experienced tyre issues upon landing at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) from Frankfurt (FRA).

The aircraft landed safely and customers were deplaned and bussed to the terminal.

The incident occurred on the same day that another United Airlines flight was diverted to London after reports of a medical emergency on board.

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

Flight 31 from Munich to Newark made an unscheduled stop at London Heathrow, where paramedics assisted a number of passengers.

According to those on board, several passengers had reported feeling nauseous and lightheaded during the flight.

The plane was around 180 miles west of London when the crew decided to turn back and land so that those affected could receive medical attention. Passengers were rebooked on to other flights and hotel rooms were provided to those who needed them.

An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the issue and the plane has temporarily been removed from service.
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In his fourth book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America, award-winning author Colin Woodard identifies 11 distinct cultures that have historically divided the US.

The country has been arguing about a lot of fundamental things lately including state roles and individual liberty, Woodard, a Maine native who won the 2012 George Polk Award for investigative reporting, told Business Insider.

[But] in order to have any productive conversation on these issues, he added, you need to know where you come from. Once you know where you are coming from it will help move the conversation forward.

Here's how Woodard describes each nation:

Yankeedom

Encompassing the entire Northeast north of New York City and spreading through Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Yankeedom values education, intellectual achievement, communal empowerment, and citizen participation in government as a shield against tyranny. Yankees are comfortable with government regulation. Woodard notes that Yankees have a Utopian streak. The area was settled by radical Calvinists.

New Netherland

A highly commercial culture, New Netherland is materialistic, with a profound tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity and an unflinching commitment to the freedom of inquiry and conscience, according to Woodard. It is a natural ally with Yankeedom and encompasses New York City and northern New Jersey. The area was settled by the Dutch.

The Midlands

Settled by English Quakers, The Midlands are a welcoming middle-class society that spawned the culture of the American Heartland. Political opinion is moderate, and government regulation is frowned upon. Woodard calls the ethnically diverse Midlands America's great swing region. Within the Midlands are parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Tidewater

Tidewater was built by the young English gentry in the area around the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina. Starting as a feudal society that embraced slavery, the region places a high value on respect for authority and tradition. Woodard notes that Tidewater is in decline, partly because it has been eaten away by the expanding federal halos around D.C. and Norfolk.

Greater Appalachia

Colonised by settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands, Greater Appalachia is stereotyped as the land of hillbillies and rednecks. Woodard says Appalachia values personal sovereignty and individual liberty and is intensely suspicious of lowland aristocrats and Yankee social engineers alike. It sides with the Deep South to counter the influence of federal government. Within Greater Appalachia are parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas.

Deep South

The Deep South was established by English slave lords from Barbados and was styled as a West Indies-style slave society, Woodard notes. It has a very rigid social structure and fights against government regulation that threatens individual liberty. Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina are all part of the Deep South.

El Norte

Composed of the borderlands of the Spanish-American empire, El Norte is a place apart from the rest of America, according to Woodard. Hispanic culture dominates in the area, and the region values independence, self-sufficiency, and hard work above all else. Parts of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California are in El Norte.

The Left Coast

Colonised by New Englanders and Appalachian Midwesterners, the Left Coast is a hybrid of Yankee utopianism and Appalachian self-expression and exploration, Woodard says, adding that it is the staunchest ally of Yankeedom. Coastal California, Oregon, and Washington are in the Left Coast.

The Far West

The conservative west. Developed through large investment in industry, yet where inhabitants continue to resent the Eastern interests that initially controlled that investment. Among Far West states are Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Washington, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California.

New France

A pocket of liberalism nestled in the Deep South, its people are consensus driven, tolerant, and comfortable with government involvement in the economy. Woodard says New France is among the most liberal places in North America. New France is focused around New Orleans in Louisiana as well as the Canadian province of Quebec.

First Nation

Made up of Native Americans, the First Nation's members enjoy tribal sovereignty in the US. Woodard says the territory of the First Nations is huge, but its population is under 300,000, most of whose people live in the northern reaches of Canada.

Woodard says that among these 11 nations, Yankeedom and the Deep South exert the most influence and are constantly competing with each other for the hearts and minds of the other nations.

We are trapped in brinkmanship because there is not a lot of wiggle room between Yankee and Southern Culture, Woodard says. Those two nations would never see eye to eye on anything besides an external threat.

Woodard also believes the nation is likely to become more polarized, even though America is becoming a more diverse place every day. He says this is because people are self-sorting.

People choose to move to places where they identify with the values, Woodard says. Red minorities go south and blue minorities go north to be in the majority. This is why blue states are getting bluer and red states are getting redder and the middle is getting smaller.

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Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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Donald Trump will not campaign for the controversial Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, multiple outlets have cited White House officials saying.

The decision to stay away from a race that is key to maintaining Republicans' Senate majority  an already-narrow margin that is crucial for the Republican effort to pass a sweeping tax overhaul bill  demonstrates how politically risky Mr Moore has become, even for a President who has not joined other Republicans in calling on Mr Moore to exit the race.

A swirl of sexual misconduct allegations, including multiple women who have accused Mr Moore of having made advances when they were teenagers, has imperiled the former judges election prospects and forced the Republican Party into a difficult political situation.

Mr Moore has denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that I have never engaged in sexual misconduct and saying allegations against him are politically motivated. His campaign doubled down on that line with a new advertisement dismissing false allegations as part of a scheme by liberal elites and the Republican establishment to protect their big government trough.

Despite those disavowals, Republican senators who would be Mr Moores colleagues have distanced themselves and called upon him to leave the race.

But Mr Trump has not done so, and this weekend he weighed in on the race with a series of tweets warning against electing Mr Moores Democratic opponent  effectively giving his backing to the embattled Republican.

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

While Senate Republicans have said they believe Mr Moore's accusers to be credible, Mr Trump has been reluctant to do the same. He has noted that Mr Moore has been consistent in denying misconduct.

He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And you know, you have to listen to him also, Trump told reporters last week, adding that He's run eight races and this has never come up, so 40 years is a long time.

The Alabama race has also exposed wider fissures among Republican voters. Mr Moore prevailed in the primary over a more centrist Republican, Sen Luther Strange, whom Mr Trump had endorsed.
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An ethics lawyer in President Donald Trumps White House has resigned after spending nearly a year working on financial disclosure issues.

James Schultz said he had discussed the matter of his departure with Don McGahn, lead White House counsel, very early on.

I was interested in continuing with private practice and saw this as a tremendous opportunity to go serve and get things up and running and the plan was to move on about this time, Mr Schultz said.

He is moving to law firm Cozen OConnor in Philadelphia, where he previously worked prior to the White House position.

Mr Schultz said his resignation late last week was not related to the ongoing alleged ethics violations of members of the Trump administration, including advisors Kellyanne Conway and Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump.

These are typically year to about 18-months type positions, Mr Schultz told Politico.

Mr Schultz also took a shot at members of the news media, saying they unfairly criticise this administration... even when theyre not justified.

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 lawyer said the White House counsels office has been more onerous and gone beyond legal requirements for staff divestments and recusals.

He also said he would be among the host of former administration officials available for comment on the ongoing controversies.

I will be out, but I dont plan to make a career out of being a pundit on TV, he said, but that it would be something Id be willing to do.

Mr Schultz noted he would not take the path of Office of Government Ethics former director Walter Shaub, who is someone out there trying to make a name for themselves in that space by being critics in order to set themselves up for other positions down the road.

Mr Shaub recently filed a complaint against Ms Conways comments made on television regarding who to vote for in the 12 December special election in Alabama, pitting Republican Roy Moore against Democrat Doug Jones.

Nobody knew who Walter Shaub was before [Mr Trump] became president ... He immediately thrust himself into the limelight instead of being helpful on the issues where he could have been. It was more about him than about ethics, Mr Schultz said.

In response, Mr Shaub said: I wish Jim well. I hope hes better at his next job, or at least lasts a full year in it.

Mr Schultz is not prohibited from contacting federal agencies on behalf of others within a year of his departure because his salary of $140,000 (105,000) does not fall within the applicable federal rule. He has also taken a pledge from becoming a registered lobbyist for at least five years and never becoming a registered foreign lobbyist.
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President Donald Trump's choice to name Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, as the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has created confusion over who is supposed to lead the bank regulator that has constantly been under attack by Republicans.

Mr Trump appointed Mr Mulvaney just hours after the CFPBs director, Richard Cordray, stepped down and promoted his chief of staff Leandra English as the interim replacement.

The move by Mr Cordray, who was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama, was widely seen as an attempt to prevent the White House from naming a successor.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which established the CFPB, explicitly says the independent agency's deputy director shall serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director.

But the Justice Department, in a memo over the weekend, said Mr Trump has the authority to name a new director to the independent agency created in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis.

The Federal Vacancies Act allows the president to install a temporary acting head of any executive agency who has already been confirmed by the Senate to another position, such as Mr Mulvaney.

It it is unclear whether the the Dodd-Frank Act supercedes the Vacancies Act, or the other way around, which is something the courts may end up having to sort out.

If Mr Mulvaney ends up in charge, he is likely to implement sweeping change at the agency he has called the very worst kind of government entity. The 50-year-old former congressman has wanted the bureaus authority significantly curtailed.

The CFPB is a wonderful example of how a bureaucracy will function if it has no accountability to anybody, Mr Mulvaney said in 2014, adding that it is a sick, sad joke.

The President wrote on Twitter that the CFPB has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick.

Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life! Mr Trump exclaimed.

Financial services companies had characterised the outgoing director as overly aggressive.

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice  which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters

Multiple Republicans have sided with the President in the debate over who should be Mr Cordray's successor.

I expect that Mick Mulvaney will be on the job and hell be calling the shots over there, said John Thune, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, in an interview on Fox News Sunday.

I think very much it sounds like the Justice Department has come out and supported the presidents position on this, he added. Ultimately, this may end up in court.

Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN: I think the presidents on good ground here to appoint somebody under the vacancy statute.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Richard Durbin said he supported the decision of Mr Cordray.

In an interview with CNN, he suggested Mr Trump is catering to the desire of Wall Street to blow up the watchdog agency that regulates consumer lenders.

Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water. And theyre trying to put an end to it with Mr Mulvaney stepping into Cordrays spot, Mr Durbin, the Senate minority whip, said on State of the Union.

The debate is currently centred on who will temporarily be at the helm of the CFPB. But Mr Trump will ultimately be in charge of nominating Mr Cordray's permanent replacement, which could still be Mr Mulvaney. That pick would need to be confirmed by the Senate.
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The White House has defending President Donald Trump referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas during a meeting with Native Americans, saying he meant no offense while accusing Ms Warren of lying about her career.

Already fond of branding his political opponents with nicknames, the President has taken to calling Ms Warren Pocahontas for referencing what she calls her slight Native American ancestry  a claim that her political adversaries have repeatedly derided.

During an event honoring Navajo code-talkers, who worked with the American military during World War II, Mr Trump again used the word in an apparent reference to Ms Warren.

You were here long before any of us were here, although we have a representative in Congress who, they say, was here a long time ago, Mr Trump told attendees. They call her Pocahontas.

Mr Trump has set off a backlash in the past for what detractors call a racial slur, and his administration immediately faced questions about the appropriateness of invoking a well-known Native American figure to demean an opponent at an event meant to memorialize Native American achievement.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the term was not a racial slur and that it was ridiculous to label it as such.

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

Using a racial slur was certainly not the President's intent, Ms Sanders told reporters.Asked why the President felt the need to say something that is offense to many people while honoring Native Americans, Ms Sanders deflected blame to Ms Warren.

I think what most people find offensive is Sen Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career, Ms Sanders said.

Ms Warren has invoked family lore in saying she has a small amount of Cherokee and Delaware heritage and maintains she never used that ancestry for personal gain. In an interview with MSNBC following the President's remarks, Ms Warren said it was deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honouring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur.
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More than six years after a tsunami overwhelmed the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan has yet to reach consensus on what to do with a million tonnes of radioactive water, stored on site in around 900 large and densely packed tanks that could spill should another major earthquake or tsunami strike.

The stalemate is rooted in a fundamental conflict between science and human nature.

Experts advising the government have urged a gradual release to the nearby Pacific Ocean. Treatment has removed all the radioactive elements except tritium, which they say is safe in small amounts. Conversely, if the tanks break, their contents could slosh out in an uncontrolled way.

Recommended Robots reach contaminated heart of ruined Fukushima nuclear plant

Local fishermen are baulking. The water, no matter how clean, has a dirty image for consumers, they say. Despite repeated tests showing most types of fish caught off Fukushima are safe to eat, diners remain hesitant. The fishermen fear any release would sound the death knell for their nascent and still fragile recovery.

People would shun Fukushima fish again as soon as the water is released, said Fumio Haga, a drag-net fisherman from Iwaki, a city about 50 kilometres (30 miles) down the coast from the nuclear plant.

And so the tanks remain.

Fall is high season for saury and flounder, among Fukushima's signature fish. It was once a busy time of year when coastal fishermen were out every morning.

Then came 11 March 2011. A 9 magnitude offshore earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people along Japan's northeast coast. The quake and massive flooding knocked out power for the cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Three of the six reactors had partial meltdowns. Radiation spewed into the air, and highly contaminated water ran into the Pacific.

Today, only about half of the region's 1,000 fishermen go out, and just twice a week because of reduced demand. They participate in a fish testing program.

Lab technicians mince fish samples at Onahama port in Iwaki, pack them in a cup for inspection and record details such as who caught the fish and where. Packaged fish sold at supermarkets carry official safe stickers.

Only three kinds of fish passed the test when the experiment began in mid-2012, 15 months after the tsunami. Over time, that number has increased to about 100.

The fish meet what is believed to be the world's most stringent requirement: less than half the radioactive cesium level allowed under Japan's national standard and one-twelfth of the US or EU limit, said Yoshiharu Nemoto, a senior researcher at the Onahama testing station.

That message isn't reaching consumers. A survey by Japan's Consumer Agency in October found that nearly half of Japanese weren't aware of the tests, and that consumers are more likely to focus on alarming information about possible health impacts in extreme cases, rather than facts about radiation and safety standards.

Fewer Japanese consumers shun fish and other foods from Fukushima than before, but one in five still do, according to the survey. The coastal catch of 2,000 tonnes last year was 8 percent of pre-disaster levels. The deep-sea catch was half of what it used to be, though scientists say there is no contamination risk that far out.

Naoya Sekiya, a University of Tokyo expert on disaster information and social psychology, said that the water from the nuclear plant shouldn't be released until people are well-informed about the basic facts and psychologically ready.

A release only based on scientific safety, without addressing the public's concerns, cannot be tolerated in a democratic society, he said. A release when people are unprepared would only make things worse.

He and consumer advocacy group representative Kikuko Tatsumi sit on a government expert panel that has been wrestling with the social impact of a release and what to do with the water for more than a year, with no sign of resolution.

Tatsumi said the stalemate may be further fuelling public misconception: Many people believe the water is stored because it's not safe to release, and they think Fukushima fish is not available because it's not safe to eat.

The amount of radioactive water at Fukushima is still growing, by 150 tonnes a day.

The reactors are damaged beyond repair, but cooling water must be constantly pumped in to keep them from overheating. That water picks up radioactivity before leaking out of the damaged containment chambers and collecting in the basements.

There, the volume of contaminated water grows, because it mixes with groundwater that has seeped in through cracks in the reactor buildings. After treatment, 210 tonnes is reused as cooling water, and the remaining 150 tonnes is sent to tank storage. During heavy rains, the groundwater inflow increases significantly, adding to the volume.

The water is a costly headache for Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the utility that owns the plant. To reduce the flow, it has dug dozens of wells to pump out groundwater before it reaches the reactor buildings and built an underground ice wall of questionable effectiveness by partially freezing the ground around the reactors.

Another government panel recommended last year that the utility, known as Tepco, dilute the water up to about 50 times and release about 400 tonnes daily to the sea - a process that would take almost a decade to complete. Experts note that the release of radioactive tritium water is allowed at other nuclear plants.

Tritium water from the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States was evaporated, but the amount was much smaller, and still required 10 years of preparation and three more years to complete.

A new chairman at Tepco, Takashi Kawamura, caused an uproar in the fishing community in April when he expressed support for moving ahead with the release of the water.

The company quickly backpedalled, and now says it has no plans for an immediate release and can keep storing water through 2020. Tepco says the decision should be made by the government, because the public doesn't trust the utility.

Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Show all 5 1 /5 Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-disaster3-epa.jpg EPA Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone mcneill.jpg Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-disaster2-epa.jpg EPA Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-diaster4-epa.jpg EPA Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone Pg-4-disaster1-ap.jpg AP

Our recovery effort up until now would immediately collapse to zero if the water is released, Iwaki abalone farmer Yuichi Manome said.

Some experts have proposed moving the tanks to an intermediate storage area, or delaying the release until at least 2023, when half the tritium that was present at the time of the disaster will have disappeared naturally.

AP
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Activists were calling on Pope Francis to speak out for the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state as he arrived in Burma on Monday, as part of a state visit to that country and Bangladesh which was organised before the latest violence began.

Human Rights Watch told The Independent the pontiff must "express the outrage of the international community" during his stay in the capital Yangon.

But other advisers, including a Burmese Catholic cardinal and former UN chief Kofi Annan, warned Pope Francis against even using the word "Rohingya" in the presence of his hosts.

The Burmese government refers to the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled the country citing a campaign of persecution, as "Bengalis" - painting them as illegal immigrants.

Rohingya is "a very contested term, and the military and government and the public would not like him to express it, Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo said earlier this month, following a meeting with Pope Francis.

Catholics inside the country have also expressed concern about a backlash. Like other people, Im afraid of what he will say about Rakhine state, a priest called Father Paul said. I dont think he will say anything.

Mr Annan, who headed a commission of inquiry into the Rakhine persecutions, said using the term could be incendiary.

The word is so emotional, he said.

However, Pope Francis has already used the word: in one of his weekly addresses in February, the pontiff said he wanted people to pray particularly for our Rohingya brothers and sisters.

They have been thrown out of Burma, moved from one place to another because no one wants them. But they are good people, peaceful people, he said. They are our brothers and sisters. For years they have suffered, they have been tortured and killed simply because they practice their own traditions, their own Muslim faith.

Last week, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke refused to confirm whether Pope Francis would utter Rohingya during his trip, adding that its not a prohibited word.

Lets just say its very interesting diplomatically, he told reporters.

The UN dubbed the Rohingya the most oppressed people on Earth even before the latest military offensive began in August. More than 600,000 have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh over the past three months.

Last week, the US labelled the ongoing violence against the Rohingya ethnic cleansing.

Considering the scale of the violence and displacement faced by the minority group, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told The Independent he believes the pontiff should make a point of using the word Rohingya.

[He] should express the outrage of the international community and all people of faith about the brutal ethnic cleansing campaign against the Muslim Rohingya of Rakhine state, and make a point of using the word Rohingya to maintain faith with those long-suffering people who the Burmese government refuses to allow citizenship or the right of self-identification.

Rohingya refugees  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya refugees  in pictures A young girl and a baby wade through mud after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh from Burma on 10 September Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya refugees walk through a camp in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh after arriving from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures A young Rohingya refugee gathers firewood after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya refugees wait for sacks of rice to be distributed in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees arrive on a boat in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh after crossing from Burma on 8 September Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees react after being re-united with each other after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh on a boat from Burma Getty Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees walk along the remains of a road after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh on a boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Myanmar Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees stand in the rain after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Indian children hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma EPA/Raminder Pal Singh Rohingya refugees  in pictures Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organisation, listen to their leaders' speeches against Burma's persecution of Rohingya Muslims, during a demonstration in Karachi Reuters/Akhtar Soomro Rohingya refugees  in pictures Hundreds of Iranians take part in a protest against violence in Myanmar after weekly Friday prayers, in Tehran EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh Rohingya refugees  in pictures Indonesian Muslim activists hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged persecution of the Rohingya minority in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia EPA/Ali Lutfi Rohingya refugees  in pictures Members of an Islamic organisation shout slogans against the Burma government during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh EPA

Mr Robertson also called for the pontiff to speak out against Burmese laws which allow discrimination towards Christians.

[He should] press the government to repeal the four so-called race and religion laws that enshrine discrimination on the basis of religion in marriage and family matters, and mandates intrusive government oversight of persons seeking to convert to another religion.

Just over one per cent of Burmas 53 million people are Catholic. Though they are not persecuted like the Rohingya Muslims, Christians still face discrimination in mostly Buddhist Burma.

To be honest, if you are a Christian in this country, you will never get promoted, Reverend Mariano Soe Naing, a spokesman for Burmas Bishops Conference, told the Associated Press.

There are no Catholics in the government administration or in any significant leadership positions.

While in Burma, Pope Francis is scheduled to hold a mass in a stadium in Yangon, spend time with Buddhist leaders and meet Burmas de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and president Htin Kyaw.

The pontiff will also be introduced to Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmars commander-in-chief and the man responsible for the military operation in Rakhine state.

Pope Francis is then expected to go to Bangladesh and spend time in the refugee camps along the Burmese border.
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Pope Francis had landed in Yangon, the start of a delicate visit for the world's most prominent Christian to majority-Buddhist Burma, which the United States has accused of ethnic cleansing its Muslim Rohingya people.

The Pope will also visit Bangladesh, to where more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled from what Amnesty International has dubbed crimes against humanity by Burmese security forces, including murder, rape, torture and forcible displacement.

The Burmese army denies the accusations.

Rohingya refugees  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya refugees  in pictures A young girl and a baby wade through mud after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh from Burma on 10 September Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya refugees walk through a camp in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh after arriving from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures A young Rohingya refugee gathers firewood after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya refugees wait for sacks of rice to be distributed in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees arrive on a boat in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh after crossing from Burma on 8 September Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees react after being re-united with each other after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh on a boat from Burma Getty Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees walk along the remains of a road after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh on a boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Myanmar Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Rohingya Muslim refugees stand in the rain after arriving in Whaikhyang, Bangladesh by boat from Burma Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Rohingya refugees  in pictures Indian children hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma EPA/Raminder Pal Singh Rohingya refugees  in pictures Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organisation, listen to their leaders' speeches against Burma's persecution of Rohingya Muslims, during a demonstration in Karachi Reuters/Akhtar Soomro Rohingya refugees  in pictures Hundreds of Iranians take part in a protest against violence in Myanmar after weekly Friday prayers, in Tehran EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh Rohingya refugees  in pictures Indonesian Muslim activists hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged persecution of the Rohingya minority in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia EPA/Ali Lutfi Rohingya refugees  in pictures Members of an Islamic organisation shout slogans against the Burma government during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh EPA

Only about 700,000 of Burma's 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have travelled by train and bus to Yangon, the country's main city, to catch a glimpse of the pope.

Reuters
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South Korea has accused Pyongyang of violating an armistice agreement when soldiers from the North shot and wounded one of its troops who defected.

Ministers in Seoul also warned their northern neighbours not to repeat what they said was an infraction of the truce.

Footage showed the soldier, named only by his surname, Oh, dash south with at least three troops in pursuit and firing at him.

He was later seen bolting across a road before he collapsed after being hit with at least five bullets. The soldiers withdrew and he was rescued by members of the South Korean armed forces.

Doctors later determined he had been shot in the shoulder, knee and stomach. They also treated him for pre-existing conditions including tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and a case of massive intestinal worms.

The North has not publicly responded to the defection at the sensitive border.

But the incident came at a time of heightened tension between North Korea and the international community over its nuclear weapons program.

South Korean Minister of Defence Song Young-moo issued his warning to the North while on a visit to the border between the two countries.

Shooting towards the South at a defecting person, thats a violation of the armistice agreement, Mr Song said.

The ceasefire accord between North and South was signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Mr Song said: Crossing the military demarcation line, a violation. Carrying automatic rifles (in the JSA), another violation, he added as he stood near where South Korean soldiers had found Oh, collapsed and bleeding from his wounds.

North Korea should be informed this sort of thing should never occur again.

Since the defection, North Korea has reportedly replaced guards stationed there. Soldiers have fortified a section of the area seen aimed at blocking any more defections by digging a trench and planting trees.

Mr Song delivered his rebuke around 10 meters away from the new trees. Four North Korean soldiers were spotted listening closely.

South Korean military officials pointed out two bullet holes in a metal wall on a South Korean building, from North Korean shots fired at Mr Oh as he ran.

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

Oh has undergone several operations in hospital to remove bullets. His lead surgeon, Lee Cook-jong said his patient has suffers from nightmares about being returned to the North.

Six soldiers, three South Korean and three American, were given awards by the US Forces Korea last week in recognition for their efforts to rescue the defector.

After meeting troops stationed there for lunch, Mr Song praised them for acting "promptly and appropriately".

South Korea has been broadcasting news of the soldiers defection towards North Korea via loudspeakers, according to the Souths Yonhap news agency, although military officials have declined to confirm that.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Russias former economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev has had a difficult year, and it shows. The first serving minister to be arrested for 60 years, Mr Ulyukayev has lost a considerable amount of weight and youthful exuberance. What lies ahead could be even more testing.

Prosecutors allege the ex-minister extorted a $2m (1.5m) bribe from Vladimir Putin associate and head of state oil company, Rosneft Igor Sechin. Monday was Mr Ulyukayev's first opportunity to address the allegations. He used it to turn the spotlight back to Mr Sechin, a man considered to wield significant informal influence behind the scenes.

Not guilty  I categorically deny it, he began. He said there had been no requests for a bribe, no threats, and no misuse of ministerial position, and that the presented evidence was obviously ... and deliberately false.

It is now 13 months since the former minister was arrested after leaving Rosneft offices with a locked bag containing several kilos of cash. Mr Sechin had played a leading role in the sting  inviting him to his office, bugging their conversations, handing him the bag and arranging his arrest.

Mr Sechin has objected to the public nature of parts of the trial. In September, he described the decision to release transcripts of the bugged conversations as professional cretinism.

So far, the Rosneft chief has refused to testify as a witness. For a long time, his staff even refused to take court summons. After the third attempt to deliver the summons, press secretary Mikhail Leontiev declared there were no gaps in the diary until the end of the year.

The courts persistence in inviting his boss amounted to Sechin-hunting, he said.

President Putin and Igor Sechin (left) push the button launching a new oil terminal in 2012 (Getty) (Getty Images)

Today, lawyers for the defence admitted defeat and confirmed they would not call Mr Sechin for the fourth time. This allowed the trial to move a step closer to the verdict.

In court today, Mr Ulyukayev said he was surprised to find out what was inside the bag. He said he was under the impression it contained fine wine  that is what he had been promised by Mr Sechin. The oil chief often gifts presents, including watches, he said: That was his standard business etiquette.

This time, however, the bag had been deliberately locked so that it was difficult to see what was inside before being arrested.

The court heard witness testimony from linguistic expert Yelena Galyashina, who said it was possible that Mr Ulyukayev did not understand what was inside the bag.

According to the prosecution, Mr Ulyukayev solicited the money to give the green light to Rosnefts purchase of 19.5 per cent of rival Bashneft. Mr Ulyukayevs ministry had doubted the logic of the majority state-owned company taking part in what was supposed to have been a privatisation. Later, they appeared to come round to the Rosneft bid.

In court, Mr Ulyukayev said he had been against the deal, but his quasi-judicial ministerial role gave him no grounds to veto it. It was absurd to suggest he had taken a bribe for a deal that had already, in fact gone through, he said. I certainly did not threaten [Mr Sechin].

At the time, many of Mr Sechins opponents noted the incongruity of the lowly minister presenting such an ultimatum to the all-powerful Mr Sechin. Writing on Facebook, the former deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais expressed disbelief: They are saying Ulukayev was threatening Rosneft. Have I suddenly stopped understanding something about this world?

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described Mr Ulyukayevs arrest as a difficult event ... beyond my comprehension.

Over time, the trial has offered a visible barometer of splits and rivalries within the Kremlin. At key points in the process, video and audio evidence unflattering to the Rosneft chief has been leaked to the press. Many believe Mr Sechin has overstepped his mark in the affair.

It is not clear if President Putin played an active role in the sting operation, but sooner rather than later, the President will have to deal with the fallout. His decisions will offer as many clues about Mr Sechins future as it will about Mr Ulyukayev.
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France is to ban gender-based insults and wolf whistling in the street in a crackdown against sexism, the countrys president has said.

In a speech Emmanuel Macron said it was unacceptable for France to be one of those countries where women live in fear of verbal violence against women.

Gender-based insults will be punishable by law. Offenders will face a deterrent fine, Mr Macron said.

Many women have said that the first sexist violence they meet is in the street, the French President said in the address to mark International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women.

He added: And many harassers practice wolf whistling and other types of verbal stigmatisation - and for a long time people reacted with indifference.

This is unacceptable. Women must feel comfortable in public spaces. Women in the republic must not be afraid to use public spaces. This must be one of the priorities of the police.

During the speech Mr Macron, whose popularity with voters has struggled since his election in May this year, observed a minute's silence for the 123 women killed by their partners or ex-partners in 2016.

He unveiled a package of measures, one of which will make create an offence which will give the police the right to issue a fine if there is a verbal attack on a woman".

The president also said he would create on-demand bus stops in the evening to help women to get home safely, and set up a 24-hour national online service for victims of sexual discrimination and harassment.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mr Macron has also called for an awareness campaign against online pornography and the extension of the powers of the French television regulator, the Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel, to internet videos.

Last month in the UK the Green Party called for attacks against women to be recorded by police as hate crime. Under current rules the Crown Prosecution Service recognises religious, racist, anti-disability, homophobic, biophobic and transphobic hate crimes.
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A 29-year-old drunk man deliberately crashed his car into a crowd outside a nightclub in a town in north Germany, police say.

Police in Cuxhaven, a seaside town at the mouth of the river Elbe, said the man ploughed into six people standing outside the club on Sunday evening before he crashed into a bollard 300 metres down the road.

He was held down by passers-by until officers arrived to arrest him.

Police released a statement ruling out a terrorist motive for the attack.

The statement said: "The investigation shows that a dispute in or outside a Cuxhaven nightclub could be the reason for the incident.

A political motive can be ruled out at this time.

On Twitter they had earlier said the driver probably came from Syria but asked people not to spread rumours of fake news.

All of those injured are German nationals aged between 19 and 29.

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 group was taken to hospital but five of them have since been discharged. The sixth person is not thought to be in a critical condition, German news outlet The Local reported.

Despite the incident not being connected to terror, it is likely to be exploited by the far-right in Germany which has tried to stoke racial tensions by claiming the refugee crisis has prompted the recent wave of terror attacks.

The country has been on edge as it approaches the first anniversary of the Berlin Christmas market attack.

Twelve people were killed on 19 December 2016 when Anis Amiri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker, ploughed a lorry into a crowd at a Christmas market next to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in the capital.
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A politician in Sweden has been forced to step down after he said in a live TV debate that Muslims were not fully human.

Martin Strid, a member of the right-wing Sweden Democrats, sparked the controversy when he ranked Islamists on a scale of 0 to 100 while speaking at a party national conference.

"On one end you are 100 per cent human, a person, everything thats part of that concept. At the other end, you are 100 per cent Mohammedan," he said, according to a translation of his comments by the Swedish edition of The Local.

Recommended Farage attacked for claiming joggers need armed escorts in Sweden

Mr Strids party colleagues immediately denounced his comments, with its secretary Richard Jomshof saying the statement amounted to "racism".

"Everyone has fundamental human worth, the same for everyone. If you think that someone has a worse value based on a certain skin colour or the community they are part of, that is racism for me. We will not accept that," Mr Jomshof said

Mr Strid tried to explain himself by saying Isis members were "close to being 100 per cent Mohammedan" but added that "all Muslims are somewhere on that scale".

The local politician from the town of Borlange added: "If you are an ex-Muslim you have come quite far towards being fully human. He was speaking at the partys national conference in Norrkoping, Ostergotland in the south east of Sweden.

SD board member and MP Aron Emilsson later officially distanced the party from Mr Strid.

"It is a statement we, from the party leadership, take a clear distance from. Categorising people and human values based on what religious beliefs you have is a way we cannot argue, it said, according to a report by SVT. It is contrary to our basic view of human dignity.

Mr Emilssons statement did not call for Mr Strid to step down, only saying his comments will certainly be handled in some way".

Mr Strid later apologised for his statement after a barrage of criticism.

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

"It was very unfortunate, I expressed myself very clumsy," he told news site TT.

Mr Strid quit the party hours later, The Local reported.

But party leader Jimmie Akesson dismissed the controversy, saying he had "never heard of [Strid] before" his speech, TV4 reported.

"In this case it is very clear that if it isn't racism it is very close to racism," said Akesson.

Sweden is set to go the polls in a general election scheduled for September next year, with Sweden Democrats recently becoming the most popular party in the country, according to one poll.

A YouGov survey in March found nearly a quarter  23.9 per cent  of people said they would vote for the party if an election was held then.
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Saudi Arabias powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has vowed terrorists will be pursued until they are wiped off the face of the earth in the first meeting of a new Arab alliance designed to defeat extremism.

We will not allow them (terrorists) to distort our peaceful religion. Today we are sending a strong message that we are working together to fight terrorism, Prince bin Salman told assembled defence ministers in a keynote address in Riyadh on Sunday.

In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries... with no coordination against it from governments, he added. This ends today, with this alliance.

 Egyptian mosque attack death toll rises to more than 300

The crown prince, who is also defence minister, created the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition in 2015 in response to the growing threat of Isis and criticism that Islamic countries were not doing enough to counter religious extremism.

The first meeting this week comes as Isis faces the collapse of its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria  but in the wake of a suicide bombing and gunmen assault on a mosque in Egypts Sinai province last week which killed more than 300 people.

The painful event was a reminder of the danger of terrorism and extremism, Prince bin Salman said.

Beyond the killing of innocent people and the spread of hatred, terrorism and extremism distort the image of our religion, he added.

The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters

Countries involved in the coalition include Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Uganda, Somalia, Mauritania, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Turkey.

Iran  Saudi Arabias regional arch-rival  is not included in the group. Syria and Iraq, whose governments have close connections to Tehran, are also not part of the alliance.

While the alliance officially includes Qatar, the target of a six-month boycott led by Saudi Arabia, organisers in Riyadh said no Qatari officials were present.

Recommended Saudi Arabia and Iran are jostling for control over the Middle East

The pillar of this coalition is inclusion, said Saudi General Abdulelah al Saleh, the alliance's acting secretary general, playing down the perceived tensions.

Our common enemy is terrorism, not any religion, sect or race.

The meeting coincides with a low in relations between Riyadh and Tehran over their roles in the wars in Syria and Yemen  and the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al Hariri from Riyadh this month, which many observers believe was orchestrated by the Saudi authorities to destabilise Lebanons coalition government.

 Saudi Arabia has 'declared war' on Lebanon and detained Lebanese PM, says Hezbollah leader

Mr Hariri said he had resigned in protest at the growing power of Iran-allied political and militant organisation Hezbollah. He postponed the move on his arrival back in Beirut last week.

Since his sudden appointment as heir to the throne in June, Prince bin Salman has shaken up the political scene both in Saudi Arabia and the wider region.

In what is widely seen as a move designed to consolidate his power, more than 200 members of the Saudi elite, among them princes and business tycoons, were arrested in a crackdown on corruption.
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Lebanon is just the latest target in a Saudi campaign of intimidation that risks destabilising the Middle East, Qatars Deputy Prime Minister has claimed.

Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who also serves as the nations foreign minister, accused Riyadh of bullying its neighbours and risking new conflict amid an ongoing diplomatic crisis.

The minister repeated allegations made by Lebanese politicians that Saad Hariris shock resignation as Prime Minister was forced during his time in Riyadh, where some claimed he was kept under house arrest before making the announcement.

Lebanon is a fragile country, and pressuring the Prime Minister to resign and leave a vacuum in a country  which is very sensitive for everybody  is a counter-productive policy, Mr al-Thani said at a round table discussion including The Independent, at a conference in London.

This is a big country bullying a small country  we have seen it in Qatar and now we are seeing it repeated in Lebanon.

Thanks to God and all the allies that contained the situation before it evolved and got worse  If it was not contained from the beginning we would have a horrific impact.

Mr Hariri left Saudi Arabia following intervention by Egypt and France, returning to Lebanon last week and postponing his resignation at the request of President Michel Aoun while a dialogue takes place.

 Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Hariri says resignation on hold awaiting talks

Saudi leaders have denied holding Mr Hariri  a dual Saudi-Lebanese citizen - against his will and forcing him to resign, while claiming its sanctions against Qatar are justified.

Mr al-Thanis comments came amid the continuing Qatar diplomatic crisis, which saw countries led by Saudi Arabia sever relations in June and accuse the government of supporting terrorism and violating cooperation agreements.

The dispute has seen ambassadors withdrawn, diplomats evacuated, Qatari broadcaster al-Jazeera banned and Qatars only land border, air and see routes blockaded in a move that sparked international alarm.

Qatars al-Udeid Air Base houses the regional headquarters for US Central Command and RAF, hosting 11,000 members of coalition forces and 100 aircraft launching air strikes against Isis in Iraq and Syria.

Mr al-Thani said that although emergency air corridors were open, planes were being forced to fly over Yemen and that military operations were being put in jeopardy by the blockade, which has closed the border used to import 90 per cent of supplies for Qatar.

He claimed a list of 13 demands issued by Saudi Arabia and its allies in exchange for lifting the restrictions were impossible to meet, and a clear indication that they dont want [the agreement] to be accepted.

They dont want to resolve this - they want our country in submission, which is the main reason they started the entire thing, he added.

This is just part of a pattern of impulsive leadership  They entered this conflict with no exit strategy.

No one has identified a strategy; no one has any idea on the way forward with them.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and other countries have suspended flights to and from Doha (AFP/Getty)

The Gulf Cooperation Council has temporarily collapsed under the strain of the crisis, with a scheduled meeting next month thrown into doubt.

The minister was also highly critical of Saudi Arabias involvement in the continuing Yemen war, which has developed into a humanitarian catastrophe amid sieges and air strikes, and raised concern that its continued proxy conflict with Iran could worsen.

We hope that there will not be any confrontation, Mr al-Thani said. Yemen needs to end, Iraq needs to be stabilised, we need to reach a just solution for the Syrian people, otherwise we are going to face a new generation of extremism.

There are enough crises on the table  we hope that no more will be created.

Mr al-Thani told the Westminster Counter-Terrorism Conference that the Middle East  a region brimming with extremism - could not afford more turbulence, as conflict continues in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Although the Middle East was once a region of peace and co-existence, it has unfortunately been transformed into a region of turbulence and totalitarianism, where extremism flourishes, he said.

What is the root cause of terrorism? Tyranny, totalitarianism, aggression and the absence of justice.

He said 24 million children across the Middle East were being left vulnerable to recruitment by terrorist groups, authoritarianism and a lack of education and opportunity, adding: We need to address this issue of regimes who are not respecting the rights of their people or the law.

Saudi Arabia has accused Qatar of funding terrorist groups and sheltering extremists, allegations repeated by Donald Trump in June. Qatar refutes them, saying it prosecutes jihadis where they are found and has merely facilitated talks involving Hezbollah and Hamas upon international request.

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. 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There is absolutely not any link between Qatar, terrorism and terrorist movements, Mr al-Thani said.

They see the West as enemies, they see us as enemies  Other countries are accusing any political opponents of being terrorists.

Some countries are just using terrorism as justification for political matters against Qatar - they see this is the only way they can get sympathywwe learnt from the blockade that we have to present our case very clearly and not to ignore any accusation which can be used against us.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Qatar would not retaliate by cutting of gas supplies to the United Arab Emirates or other Saudi allies, because it would not use the same approach they have used against our people.

He called for allies including the UK to be more engaged in the region, after Boris Johnson travelled to Qatar and Kuwait in a bid to ease tensions.

The Foreign Secretary later welcomed the Emir of Qatars commitment to combat terrorism in all its manifestations, including financing.

The Emir also pledged to resolve the remaining differences with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain through dialogue, negotiation, and Kuwaiti mediation, Mr Johnson said earlier this year.

We hope that in turn Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain respond by taking steps towards lifting the embargo.

The UK will continue to engage our partners in the region to help them reach a solution.
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The first UN aid ship has been allowed access to a port in rebel-controlled Yemen, three weeks after the Saudi-led coalition shut down all of the countrys borders.

The blockade, put in place as retaliation for a rebel Houthi missile which was intercepted near the Saudi capital of Riyadh, has pushed the war-torn country even further towards complete humanitarian catastrophe.

Enough food arrived at the port of Saleef on Sunday to feed 1.8 million people in northern Yemen for a month. Aid agencies warn, however, that without unfettered access to commercial imports and goods such as fuel generators which power hospitals and treat drinking water, the country is still on track for a large-scale famine.

 Yemen: More than 50,000 children expected to die of starvation and disease by end of year

More than 7 million Yemenis already live on the brink of famine and 20 million  two-thirds of the population  are dependent on aid to survive.

As a result of the latest blockade, the World Food Programme estimates an additional 3.2 million people have been pushed into hunger.

The Arab coalition, fighting on behalf of Yemens exiled government, said on 22 November that key sea and airports would reopen following satisfactory reviews of the UNs inspection procedures to prevent weapons smuggling.

The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters

UN planes carrying cholera vaccines and other medical supplies touched down in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa on Saturday. Hodeidas ports  through which the majority of Yemens imports flow  were still blocked as of this weekend.

I reiterate my plea to everyone with a heart for children, not to prevent us from delivering what is urgently needed and massively needed, said Geert Cappelaere, Unicefs Middle East director.

Yesterday was just a very small step.

Recommended The UK hypocritically condemns blockades in Syria but not in Yemen

More than 10,000 people have died in the two-year conflict to date as a result of violence, starvation, the worlds largest cholera epidemic, and other diseases. Aid agencies warn that the true statistics are likely to be much higher.

Saudi Arabia and its regional partners have justified an extensive bombing campaign on Yemens Shia Houthi rebels, who are backed by the Kingdoms regional rival Iran.

The intense air strikes, which in some cases have targeted hospitals and funeral gatherings, have killed thousands of civilians.

Western governments, including the UK, have been heavily criticised for selling weapons export licences to Saudi Arabia, which rights groups say are destined for use in Yemens war.
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There are few sights more impressive than Balis Mount Agung as it stands today, with its magnificent 3,000m peak tripled in size by billowing black smoke.

Id been planning to come to Bali for a work trip since September  it was then that the volcano which has been asleep for half a century or so started its rumbling. I watched the news, feeling for the residents of Mount Agung, evacuated by their thousands, away from their livelihoods on fertile farmlands to makeshift accommodation in areas just outside what would be the danger zone if something were to happen.

It wasnt just those in the immediate vicinity who lost out. Balis beautiful hotels lost panicking customers, who cancelled holidays. Friends who lived on Bali told me it was the foreign media whipping up the drama, and it was likely nothing major would happen for months. The authorities raised the alert to its highest, and as social media conveyed a little hysteria over what was actually a bit of a non-event, the government then dropped the warning down again  perhaps, partly, as the economy was tanking, with an estimated 100m loss of income to the island. So I booked my trip.

I landed on Saturday, just as flights from Australia were being cancelled. My friend Wayan picked me up and explained the volcano was finally flexing his muscles. As we headed towards Seminyak, one of the most popular resorts, it did seem uncharacteristically quiet  but then again, it is low season, and my hotel, once I got there, seemed full.

Since I was due to head north  towards Mount Agung  on Sunday, I messaged a few local friends who all seemed blase and unconcerned that I would be moving in the volcanos direction. As we drove up through the winding mountain roads there was heavy rain; it was hard to tell if the fog around Mount Batur, the dormant neighbour, was amplified from the smoke from active Agung. The radio was playing 1980s classics with no out-of the-ordinary announcements. I asked our driver if I was crazy to be heading towards the volcano, but he seemed confident it was no big deal.

Bali's volcanic activity has put tourists' plans on hold - but Juliet doesn't mind (AFP/Getty Images) (Getty)

Now Im up in Tembok, 21 km east of Agung  and its incredibly peaceful, if I'm honest. There are no signs at all that anything is awry  except for the constant ping of messages from people watching the news back home, picturing me in a Pompeii-style situation. The only change Ive noticed is that instead of chocolates on my hotel room pillows today, there were flimsy disposable masks  though I cant see them being much use in an emergency. A friend in Manggis, on the east coast of the island, messaged me to say theyre having to clear up a little ash, but otherwise all is well.

Last week I heard there had been a phreatic splutter  a burst of steam rather than the serious magma action. But over the last two days, the talk of lava rivers all seems a bit more real. Today, I even had to google what cold lava (also known as lahar) is, having heard a rumour that it might start seeping into rivers.

But otherwise, its business as usual. Today, a group of us took a boat around the coast to get a better view of the volcano, which our friends thought was brave of us but the fishermen out in the calm waters didnt bat an eyelid. What we could just about see when we were out on the water, just under 10 miles from Agung, was the extraordinary sight of smoke billowing around it, dwarfing the island landscape.

The biggest challenge right now is the spanner in the works for anyone trying to fly out, as the airport is teeming with the victims of cancelled flights. Some friends of mine who flew in for the weekend from Singapore are grounded  a nightmare for one of them who's seven months pregnant.

But as someone who was stranded in Thailand during the Icelandic ash cloud over Europe, Ive learned to just roll with the punches when it comes to travel. To be honest, Im more gutted for Balis economy than my own plans. Tourism is an essential part of their revenue, and I can only hope that if tourists like me end up being stranded here longer than planned, we can support local business at a time when they really need it.

That may seem flippant when an imminent large-scale disaster could be happening any minute, but Im fairly confident theyve predicted the worst case scenarios.

So am I annoyed to be stuck here? Not at all. From a tourists point of view, its an inconvenience more than anything else. And if I had to be stranded on holiday, I can think of worse places to be.
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Id rather go through childbirth. Marine biologist turned cinematographer Richard Fitzpatrick is recounting his latest war wound; one he can add to his extensive history of shark tail slaps, sea snake bites and involuntary intakes of stonefish venom.

I got a crown-of-thorns spike the other day. I passed out trying to pull it out of my finger. But, hey, I try to make it to the ER at least once a year.

The crown-of-thorns  or more specifically, the burgeoning numbers of them  is one of the problems facing the Great Barrier Reef. The spiky, venomous starfish are eating coral faster than it can be replaced. Their numbers are thought to be boosted by sediment washed off the mainland, which increases the amount of plankton the crown-of-thorns feed off. Culling programmes are in place, boosted by divers from tourism operators, but these predators are by no means the only issue the Great Barrier Reef has to deal with.

Fitzpatrick is in a better position than most to judge what sort of state the reef system is in. He has been filming there since completing his degree in 1992, and has provided substantial chunks of footage for nature documentaries including David Attenboroughs recent Great Barrier Reef series.

Hes recently back from Lizard Island, where CEOs from the 20 biggest Australian companies were hosted in a not entirely subtle attempt to get funding for attempts to preserve the reef. Fitzpatrick says they were first taken to a badly affected patch to show the worst of the havoc being wrought, but then to a thriving section. Theres got to be hope, he says. Without hope, nothing will be done.

Fitzpatrick believes that, while climate change in particular poses a serious threat to the reef, scaremongering reports about its future have been grossly over-exaggerated.

Last year, the media was reporting that 90 per cent of the reef was bleached, he says. But that just means that 90 per cent of the nearly 3,000 individual reefs which make up the system showed some sign of bleaching on one section. The data should have been presented better.

Also, hes keen to point out, bleaching is a natural process that doesnt necessarily lead to death.

Coral is an animal  like an upturned jellyfish  and it has an incredible symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae, algae that it invites to live within its skin. Its the algae that provide the colour, he explains.

But during a stress event  such as unusually warm water temperatures  they expel the zooxanthellae into the water. They can get the zooxanthellae back, but if conditions dont change, they dont get it back, and the coral dies.

Richard Fitzpatrick has been documenting the reef since 1992 (Christian Miller)

Coral bleaching events have happened in the past, but 2016 and 2017 have been the first time theyve happened back to back. Different sections of the reef were hit each time  in 2016 it was from around Port Douglas in the north, while in 2017 it was further south, from around Port Douglas to the Whitsunday Islands.

Were expecting the frequency of bleaching events to increase, says Fitzpatrick. But it will be species-specific. More heat-tolerant ones will survive. Weve had 50 years of increasing temperatures. The next couple of generations will be weathering the storm.

The Barrier Reef will always be there. But its level of biodiversity will depend on what is done now, and there may have to be some hard decisions on which reefs to save. We have the skills. We have the technology. All thats lacking is the political will.

Will its fate kill tourism? Not according to Fitzpatrick. I dont believe theres a difference between having 450 species and 300 species of hard coral, tourism-wise, he says. What we need is a functioning reef. The Caribbean, for example, has only around 50 species of hard coral.

Part of the problem is expectation. There will always be dead coral, as dead coral is the prime real estate for newly-spawned coral to settle on, thus expanding the reefs. Destruction is part of construction, says Richard.

And while tourism operators usually take snorkellers out to the more spectacular reef edges, Richard says: The media has skewed the idea of what a healthy reef looks like. Super-colourful corals are a small percentage. Around 80 per cent of corals are brown-coloured.

The Great Barrier Reef will always be there, says Richard (Richard Fitzpatrick)

Theres also ebb and flow. Last year, for example, the southern Barrier Reef had exceptional coral growth.

Recommended Divers explore giant sinkhole discovered in Great Barrier Reef

And for visitors, getting the best out of the reef may well be a case of selecting wisely. It depends on what they want to experience, says Fitzpatrick. The southern reef has not been as badly affected, so go stay at Lady Elliot or Heron Island resorts where kids can watch turtle hatchlings run down the beach.

Further north, the inner reefs are undoubtedly more affected than the outer reefs, so the big boats can punch out to where the reef is best. But you can also swim with minke whales in winter, go diving with live-aboard trips. And from a helicopter, the aerial perspective is just incredible.

Richards footage library can be found via Biopixel.tv. More reef information: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
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Airline passengers desperate to fly out of Denpasar airport in Bali have besieged airline desks, as dozens of flights were cancelled because of volcanic ash from nearby Mount Agung.

The airport, which normally handles around 40,000 passengers a day, closed at 7am on Monday, initially for 24 hours. But the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin, northern Australia, predicted that by 2.50pm on Tuesday, local time, the whole island of Bali would be under a cloud of volcanic ash up to a height of 30,000 feet.

One passenger, Jakob Aungiers, tweeted: Chaos at Bali airport as @AirAsia cancelled all flights and now no more info has been given. Check-in counters understaffed and no #AirAsia staff on hand to help out. Passengers confused.

AirAsia is offering passengers whose flights are cancelled only a choice between re-booking for travel within 30 days and a credit for future travel.

An Indian national, Aarthi, tweeted the minister of external affairs in Delhi, Sushma Swaraj, to say: Indians stranded in Bali need a way out. If Denpasar airport is shut for a week help us get to the nearest International Airport.

KLM, the only European airline with flights to Bali, said all departures from and to Denpasar are cancelled until further notice. "KLM follows strict safety rules concerning volcano eruptions and does not consider it safe to land and depart at Denpasar Airport as long as the volcano is active," said the carrier.

The Australian airline, Jetstar, is offering anyone from Western Australia booked to Bali up to 4 December to fly to Singapore instead.

Meanwhile various foreign diplomatic missions, including Australia, the UK, France and Singapore, have set up consular desks at Denpasar airport.

The British consulate-general tweeted: We have a team at Bali airport to liaise with airport authorities and airlines; and to provide additional support to British nationals.

British visitors were urged by Foreign Office officials in Bali: Make sure to wear face mask as announced by the local government. You can get the masks at Search & Rescue Post of Tanagampo, Karangsem. Outside this area, you must provide by yourself.

Some airline passengers decided to leave by sea instead, to Ketapang in Java and Lombok - whose airport is likely to open before Denpasar.

The flight specialist OAG said the closure had happened at an unfortunate time; December is the busiest month for passenger numbers at Denpasar airport.

John Grant, senior analyst for the firm, said: A change of wind direction or a reduction in volcanic activity and the airport could re-open in a short space of time. Equally, when Mount Eyjafjallajokull erupted in Iceland in June 2010 over $1.75bn [1.3bn] was lost by airlines unable to operate their planned schedules.
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The volcanic alert level on the Indonesian island of Bali has been raised to the maximum, level four, as Mount Agung appears to be on the point of a major eruption.

With the airport closed, tens of thousands of tourists are stranded on the island. Many more are due to travel to Bali over the next few weeks; the island is a popular destination at Christmas and New Year.

Simon Calder provides answers to the key travel questions.

What is happening to Mount Agung in Bali?

Mount Agung, in the east of the island, became more active in September. Magma, made up of molten rock as well as gases and fluids, has been moving up through the volcano. Starting on 21 November, plumes of steam and ash began to emerge from Mount Agung, reaching a mile into the sky. Now it appears that a full-scale eruption is imminent. Indonesias National Disaster Management Authority has raised the alert level to its highest, 4.

Communities close to the volcano are being moved, to try to avoid a repeat of the tragedy in 1963: last time Mount Agung erupted, around 1,600 islanders died.

What is the travel advice for tourists who are in Bali?

Around 330,000 British nationals visit Indonesia every year, many of them heading to Bali  though Abta, the travel association, said: There will only be a relatively small number of UK holidaymakers on the island at this time of year.

The main tourist areas, Kuta and Seminyak, are around 40 miles from Mount Agung, while the cultural hub of Ubud is about 25 miles away. The Foreign Office says: Monitor local media reports, follow the advice of the local authorities and stay outside of the exclusion zone. Australias foreign ministry says: Past eruptions of Mount Agung have shown this volcanos potential to cause significant impacts to the island of Bali, including the potential for widespread ash fall outside the declared danger area surrounding the volcano.

Many holidaymakers will want to leave the island, but its only international airport, Denpasar, is closed until at least 7am, local time, on Tuesday morning. Many flights to and from Lombok airport, on the adjacent island, have also been cancelled. With dozens of flights grounded, thousands of tourists are stranded, and the numbers are growing with each cancellation.

When services re-start, priority will be given to people already booked on those departures rather than those whose flights have been cancelled.

Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Mount Agung volcano  in pictures The Mount Agung volcano spews hot volcanic ash, as seen from Datah, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia. According to media reports, the Indonesian national board for disaster management raised the alert for the Mount Agung volcano to the highest status and closed the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali due to the ash cloud rising from the volcano EPA Mount Agung volcano  in pictures A long exposure photograph shows the Mount Agung volcano spewing hot volcanic ash as seen from Amed, Karangasem regency, Bali, Indonesia. EPA Mount Agung volcano  in pictures A villager walks as Mount Agung volcano erupts in the background in Kubu, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia Reuters Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Women wait for customers at a market as smoke rises from the Mount Agung volcano AP Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Vegetable sellers wait for customers at a market with Mount Agung erupting in the background AP Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Balinese people ride on an open car past Mount Agung erupting seen from Kubu sub-district in Karangasem Regency AFP/Getty Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Villagers rest at a makeshift tent at an evacuated area in Karangasem AP Mount Agung volcano  in pictures Evacuees stay at an emergency shelter in Klungkung, Bali EPA

What are stranded tourists in Bali entitled to?

Anyone booked on KLMs daily departure to Amsterdam has to be looked after by the airline; under European passenger rights rules, EU carriers must provide accommodation and meals until they can fly you out.

Most travellers, however, are on South East Asian and Australian airlines, which have no such obligations. Tourists booked on a proper package holiday can ask their tour operator to provide care. Independent travellers may be able to get some recompense from their travel insurers. The Association of British Insurers said: "Check your travel insurance for the scope of any cover provided against cancellation and disruption caused by a volcanic eruption."

Some standard policies cover volcanic ash disruption, but many do not. For example, with Columbus "Ash Cloud Cover" is an optional extra. The firm says: "No claims arising as a result of volcanic ash are eligible without this upgrade." Note that anyone who took out the insurance policy after Mount Agung started rumbling may have their claim rejected.

Is volcanic ash really a threat to aeroplanes?

The complete shutdown of the skies in 2010 after the Icelandic volcano erupted was seen as excessive: tens of thousands of flights were cancelled; eight million individual journeys were disrupted and airlines collectively lost around half a billion pounds. But the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) spells out the dangers succinctly: Volcanic ash consists mostly of sharp-edged, hard glass particles and pulverized rock. It is very abrasive and, being largely composed of siliceous materials, has a melting temperature below the operating temperature of modern turbine engines at cruise thrust.

A volcanic ash cloud may be accompanied by gaseous solutions of sulphur dioxide (which when combined with water create sulphuric acid), chlorine (which when combined with water create hydrochloric acid) and other chemicals which are corrosive to the airframe and are hazardous to health.

A tourist in front of Mount Agung on Monday (AFP/Getty)

Given these facts, it is self evident that volcanic ash in the atmosphere may pose a serious hazard to aircraft in flight. Thus, aircraft should avoid volcanic ash encounters.

In 1982, a British Airways Boeing 747 inadvertently flew through a plume of volcanic ash over Indonesia, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth, and all four engines shut down at 37,000 feet. Eventually an engine was restarted and the aircraft landed safely.

The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in northern Australia, which is responsible for advising aircraft in the region, issued a red alert warning of continuous volcanic ash to 30,000 feet. There are also reports of volcanic ash on the ground at Denpasar airport.

What happens to flight routes that take aircraft over Bali?

The fastest track between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to Sydney goes directly over Bali, therefore potentially affecting UK travellers to Australia. In practice the chosen route will depend on a range of factors, notably predicted wind speeds. But even if an ash cloud starts to form, airlines could tolerate a diversion of up to 500 miles without too much trouble. Flights on 27 November were typically delayed by a few minutes.

Can tourists cancel planned trips to Bali?

Singapore Airlines, which carries many British travellers to and from Bali, is allowing anyone with bookings between now and 4 December to request a refund, or to postpone their trip to a future date up to the end of January 2018.

The airline says that passengers requesting refunds should not contact the call centre immediately because of high call volumes.

If you have booked through an agent, then your contract is with them, and they will need to make changes on your behalf.

Anyone who chooses a new destination should be able to switch travel insurance can usually be transferred to cover the new location.

Can travellers cancel Christmas or New Years flights to Bali?

At present airlines and holiday companies are unlikely to offer alternatives: they are dealing with imminent departures and waiting to see what happens with Mount Agung over the next week or two. Unless and until the Foreign Office warns against travel to Bali, there is no legal obligation for tour operators to provide refunds or alternative holidays.
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At last its becoming clear to the Brexiteers, and the right-wing British media, that the question of the Irish border will be the defining issue of the Brexit negotiations. Theresa May has long promised that the UK will be withdrawing from the single market and the customs union, while simultaneously promising no border on the island of Ireland. The simple fact is that she cannot keep both of these promises  something that the Republic of Ireland, the European Union, and large swathes of Remainers have long pointed out.

Now, as the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar puts his foot down against the threat of a hard border on the island, the UK is flirting more with the prospect of moving that border into the Irish Sea  which is exactly where it should be.

 John McDonnell: Brexit threatens to 'undermine the peace process' if Northern Ireland hard border installed

Fifty-six per cent of voters in Northern Ireland, where I spent the first 19 years of my life, voted to Remain in the EU. Brexit was not the wish of the people there. Certainly this does not mean people would suddenly vote for a united Ireland just to stay in the EU, but the erosion of Northern Irelands place in the UK began long before 2016, and the Brexit vote is one of the final, potentially fatal blows to that union.

It was an act of political self-harm for the Democratic Unionist Party to support Brexit  an exercise in nostalgia and flag-waving they could not resist, which will now only serve to accelerate the reunification that republicans have fought for for decades.

Do not be deceived by the fact that the DUP is currently the kingmaker at Westminster. It is now entirely foreseeable that Theresa May will accept a hard border in the Irish Sea in order to achieve the dreams of English Brexiteers, even if it means Arlene Foster huffing and puffing and blowing the House of Commons down. If May has limped along thus far, she can surely get over the finish line without the wildly expensive DUP.

Back home, the DUP doesnt have much to celebrate either. The resignation of Martin McGuinness in January reminded the party that it is beholden to its republican opponents in Belfast. Since then, Sinn Fein (who could soon enter coalition in the Republic of Ireland) has refused to re-enter the power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland until equal rights are granted to all citizens, including LGBT people and Irish language speakers. Each day the DUP continues to reject this, it proves that the party is out of step with the general public, and shows younger generations that the puritan, sectarian backwater version of Northern Ireland to which the DUP wants to return is not fit for purpose.

The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election showed unionists had lost their majority in Northern Ireland for the first time ever. By the hundredth anniversary of the division of Ireland in 2021, its entirely plausible we will have overturned that catastrophe entirely.

For most of my life, while the notion of a united Ireland has been dreamt of by many  and worked hard towards by others  it has often been dismissed as a fantasy. Now in 2017, anything seems possible. Trumpers and Brexiteers were once dismissed too, right up until the point where their dreams became a stunning reality overnight. That moment is coming for Ireland, and its coming soon.
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For a long time, Jared Kushner carried himself with something of a swagger.

After playing a central role in Donald Trumps election campaign, he  along with Ivanka Trump  took up offices in the West Wing. There were few peoples counsel the Presidents trusted more than that of his eldest daughter and his son-in-law.

Kushner had come to the campaign with no experience other than in real estate. Despite that, Trump appeared to believe there was nothing he could not do. He tasked him with improving US-China relations, overseeing a project to improve government efficiency and appointed him head of the White House Office of American Innovation.

He was also asked to take care of that little issue of peace in the Middle East.

But have things gone sour for Kushner? Amid the backdrop of Special Counsel Robert Muellers ongoing probe into Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, two reports  published on the same day  have suggested Kushners role is being reduced and that he is keeping a much lower profile.

The New York Times article said the shrinking of his portfolio was a result of the appointment of John Kelly as Trumps new chief of staff. John Kelly has proved less permissive than his predecessor, it said.

The Washington Post said: His once-sprawling White House portfolio, which came with walk-in privileges to the Oval Office, has been diminished to its original scope.

 Background check chief has 'never seen' mistakes and omissions at level of Jared Kushner forms

Reports suggest Kushner is becoming increasingly jittery and worried about the direction Mueller probe is taking, especially after he issued indictments against three former Trump campaign figures  Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos.

Do you think theyll get the President? Kushner asked a friend, according to Vanity Fair.

Washington is gripped by Muellers probe and the question of who may be next to be charged. Many believe it could be Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Norman Eisen, who saved as Barack Obamas White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform, suggested Mueller may be seeking to put the squeeze on Flynn in order to get at Kushner and then Trump.

Kushner, Donnie Jr and the rest of the Trump crime family better keep their overnight bags handy. Pack shoes with no laces guys, he tweeted.

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

Kushner has reportedly not yet been interviewed by Muellers team. But he has testified in camera to congressional investigators.

I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent, he said in a statement afterwards. Hopefully, this puts these matters to rest.

There would have been plenty for them to ask about; his presence at a meeting at Trump Tower at which a Kremlin-linked lawyer sought offer damaging material about Hillary Clinton, his four meetings with Russian officials, his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey and his presence a the centre of the unlikely campaign that defeated Clinton.

Reports suggest neither Kushner or his wife are enjoying their time in the White House, or the fact that their rather progressive circle of New York friends have reduced in size. He said to be deeply concerned his conversations are being picked up by government-authorised wiretaps, or even by Russia or China.

Mr Mueller was appointed after Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey (Getty)

Even though Kushner and his wife have bought a house in Washingtons Kalorama neighhourhood, close to the Obamas, such has been their desire to return to New York that one plan was reportedly floated which would have seen Ivanka Trump replace Nikki Haley as the US Ambassador to the UN, if Haley were to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

Those around Kushner are pushing back at any suggestions he could ever be more than a witness to Muellers investigation, or that he is being sidelined inside the White House. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, declined to comment. A White House spokesperson, speaking on background, told The Independent it was a ridiculous question to ask about possible indictments of the Presidents son-in-law.

Trump, the man who insisted that his daughter and son-in-law join him in the White House, also insisted nothing had changed.

Jared is working very hard on peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the last thing I would ever do is get in the way of that possibility, he said in an email to The Times. Jared has been very effective since the earliest days of the campaign and the same is true today.

He added: He understood the movement then and has been helpful implementing the agenda the American people voted for since.
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This year Boris Johnson said: Together we should make clear our abhorrence of the regimes tactic of starve or surrender.

He was talking about Syria. But when it comes to Yemen, where siege and starvation are in full force with British military and diplomatic support, he doesnt talk like this.

Instead, profound concern and polite phone calls are the order of the day, not abhorrence, and certainly not determination to end the crisis.

There are important differences between the crises in the two countries, including the scale of the killing. Yet there are also many similarities that represent uncomfortable truths for Britains diplomats.

In both cases, a government with little domestic legitimacy survives because international law, embodied in the UN Security Council, grants it sovereignty, and because foreign powers provide it with the means to visit massive violence and starvation upon its own population. In both cases, while all parties to the conflict undoubtedly commit war crimes, those carried out by the sovereign state are by far the most extensive and deadly. In both cases, those crimes are perpetrated under the banner of the fight against terrorism, and against foreign intervention, both of which are in reality more limited than the rhetoric suggests.

 Yemen: More than 50,000 children expected to die of starvation and disease by end of year

Yet Britain refuses to acknowledge that the strangulation of northern Yemen is indeed a blockade, contradicting leading humanitarian actors and the manifest evidence of the diseased, skeletal children whose images too infrequently make news.

It is not that imports are totally impossible  although they were made so for 19 days this month. More commonly, the Saudi blockade works by making imports so time-consuming, difficult and expensive that Yemenis impoverished by war cannot afford to eat, and the resources of humanitarian organisations are drained. Commercial food imports and fuel, a necessity for hospital generators, are still banned.

Britain colludes in two lies which enable the blockade, and the war of which it is a part.

The first is that the coalition is defending the legitimate political order of Yemen.

The man who the UN recognises to be the president of Yemen, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, was elected for a two-year term in 2012 in an uncontested election. He was supposed to preside over the creation of a new, inclusive political settlement, but botched it, and sparked the current crisis. Now he squats in a palace in Riyadh, issuing ineffectual proclamations to a country where few listen.

It is not clear that he is allowed to leave Riyadh, and even if he was, he certainly could not enter his own country safely. Most of the southern part, that not under control of the forces that ousted him in 2015, is controlled by forces who take their pay and orders from the UAE, which has made an alliance against him with local secessionists.

When the Saudi authorities obstruct humanitarian flights and shipments to North Yemen, they do so on the basis of the legal authority granted by the UN Security Council to this man.

The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters

Britain is not only one of five permanent members of the Security Council but the penholder on Yemen, meaning that it holds the responsibility to bring any future resolution.

The second lie is that its blockade of northern Yemen is motivated by the legitimate need to prevent the smuggling of Iranian arms to Houthi rebels.

Iran does support the Houthis, but the Houthis are not reliant on their support and are motivated by domestic concerns. The UN group of experts on Yemen has not seen sufficient evidence to confirm any direct large-scale supply of arms from Iran to the Houthis, and no evidence that a missile recently lobbed ineffectually toward Riyadh was smuggled in by Iran. It was likely imported before the war from North Korea.

The recent total closure blocked access even to UN flights; clear evidence that it was not motivated by weapon smuggling. The true objective is simple: to deploy the Assad playbook from Syria: siege, starve, surrender  and to hell with the civilian population.

Britain angrily denounced this tactic when it was carried out by our established enemies, and when our words made no difference. But when our allies are culpable for those same actions, we offer only deep concern.

It makes Britain a hypocrite. And whats worse, a hypocrite motivated by greed.

Three days after Saudi Arabia escalated its blockade on Yemen on 6 November, the Government offered a $2bn loan guarantee to Saudis national oil company if it chooses to make its initial public offering on the London stock exchange, a boon for brokers there. It would likely be the largest such guarantee in history.

The value of UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia grew 500 per cent over the first two years of the war to more than 4.6bn. Former Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the House of Commons last month that "criticism of Saudi Arabia in this Parliament is not helpful" for further sales. So there is little doubt that commercial considerations impact what the Government is willing to say and do when it comes to Yemen.

For as long as the UK economy is based too narrowly on financial services, and its manufacturing export industry on arms, our politics will be vulnerable to this sort of bribery. Only massive investment to diversify our economy can excise this vulnerability permanently.

In the meantime, what is needed is courage. Rejecting the bribery of arms sales is only part of the story.

In Syria, Britain and the EU funded journalists and civil society, amongst others, to document a conflict which international media couldnt reach, often producing powerful video footage that swayed public opinion. In Yemen there is no similar provision. This should change immediately: images need to begin making their way out of the country on a massive scale to circumvent the Saudi prohibition on international journalists.

Britain also needs to campaign, both in public and private, for a new Security Council resolution on Yemen. Such resolution must recognise that President Hadi is no longer bear of legitimate authority and a neither he nor his foreign backers have a right to obstruct entry to northern Yemen. Calling for peace or a political solution isnt enough whilst the international community provides one side with a political advantage, and hence the incentive to keep on fighting, even as front lines remain static.

As long as the blockade and bombardment continues under Britains diplomatic cover, this country remains not merely a self-interested hypocrite, but an accomplice to the slow starvation of a nation.
A Salisbury man was allegedly shot and injured over neighborhood dispute.

The Rowan County Sheriffs Office responded to a report of a possible disturbance and shooting at 4595 Mt. Hope Church Road in Salisbury at about 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25. The sheriffs office was assisted in this incident by the Granite/Faith Police Department.

Deputies arrived to find Dusty Bryant, 35, who resides at 4665 Mt. Hope Church Road. Bryant was shot one time and was hit in the left knee, law enforcement said. Bryant was transported to North East Medical Center by Rowan EMS for treatment of his non-life threatening injury, according to a report.

Deputies and investigators continued to conduct an investigation of the incident by taking witness statements from all persons involved and collecting evidence from the scene. Investigation revealed that this incident began as a dispute between neighbors, law enforcement said.

The other person involved was neighbor Joshua Daniel Harrington, 26, who resides at 4595 Mt. Hope Church Road, according to a report. Investigators said the dispute began over allegations that Harrington was shining a light on the Bryant residence. Bryant and his wife, Carla, reportedly went to the Harrington residence to confront Harrington about the flashlight shining, and this is when the shooting occurred, according to a report.

Deputies seized a Smith & Wesson .380 handgun from Harrington and one magazine for evidence along with several shell casings collected from the crime scene.

Investigation continues, and law enforcement will present the evidence and facts of the case to the Rowan County District Attorney on Monday, Nov. 27.
SALISBURY  Rowan-Cabarrus Community College proudly recognized its latest group of student leaders at a recent Board of Trustees meeting.

The Rowan-Cabarrus Student Ambassador Program is a group of students who are selected to represent the college in multiple capacities. Student ambassadors reach out to prospective students, conduct campus tours, participate in and help promote various college events and assist with the successful transition of new students to the campus.

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College began the Student Ambassador program in 2010. The Rowan-Cabarrus Foundation sponsors the leadership program and provides scholarships to the student participants. The program has grown to include robust leadership development opportunities.

Im very proud of the Rowan-Cabarrus Student Ambassadors and am excited to welcome this new group of leaders into the program, said Dr. Carol S. Spalding, president of Rowan-Cabarrus. We believe that developing our students into community leaders and active citizens is a part of our job at the college. These students will definitely leave Rowan-Cabarrus equipped to lead in their careers and communities.

The 2017-18 Rowan-Cabarrus Student Ambassadors include:

 Sara Coello, Associate in Science, lives in Rockwell;

 Mai Ha, Associate Degree Nursing, lives in Salisbury;

 Mark Hill, Associate in Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering, lives in Salisbury;

 Thomas DJ Lowman, Associate in Arts, lives in Salisbury;

 Jacob Mohammad, Associate Degree Nursing, lives in Salisbury;

 Eva Nicholson, Associate in Applied Science in Medical Office Administration, lives in Concord; and,

 Damola Ogunyomi, Associate in Science, lives in Concord.

Student Ambassadors are dedicated to student success, diversity and strengthening student connections. Ambassadors enjoy working with people, are committed to creating change in their respective communities and are excited about sharing their experiences at Rowan-Cabarrus with others.

These top student leaders act as liaisons between the college and prospective students, their families, guests, alumni, business partners and friends of the college, said Natasha Lipscomb, executive director for Student Success South Campus. This leadership opportunity enables this prestigious team to develop and expand a wide range of transferrable skills that will benefit them well beyond their time here at Rowan-Cabarrus including public speaking, networking and communication and interpersonal skills.

The program is supported by the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Foundation. Student ambassadors earn a scholarship for their service to the college.

For more information about Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, please visit www.rccc.edu or call 704-216-RCCC (7222). The college is accepting applications for the spring term with classes beginning January 8, 2018.
By The Gulf Intelligence









Image Attribute: Youtube Screenshot is taken from WADA FX Official Channel





Technology will create more jobs than it will destroy in the Middle East Energy Industry over next 10 Years, according to the clear majority of those polled in a Gulf Intelligence Survey on the eve of the Oman Energy Forum which will seek to answer the question on how the future of work will be impacted by digital disruption.





The challenge isnt insignificant, for despite the optimism expressed in the GIQ survey results on the ability of technology to create jobs, the challenge may rest in not having the required quantity of talent available to fill these new positions created as 90% of those polled said industry and academia werent aligning fast enough to ensure the right skills will exist for the energy jobs of the future.





More than 200 of Omans oil and gas industry stakeholders will gather in Muscat on Nov. 28th, including the leadership of Petroleum Development Oman, Occidental of Oman and Shell Development Oman, to identify the best strategies to adapt to prepare the energy sector for the arrival of such disruptive technologies as artificial intelligence, robotics and automation.





While the ongoing technological innovation will lead to a supply-side step-change  with long-term gains in efficiency and productivity - this revolution could yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labor markets, said Raoul Restucci, Managing Director, Petroleum Development Oman, which employs close to 9,000 people. However, we can be victims and debate threats from downward circles, or we can focus on the radiating possibilities and opportunities this revolution will bring, he said Restucci.





The commemorative 5th anniversary of the Gulf Intelligence Oman Energy Forum, which will also be supported by S&P Global Platts and Oman Trading International, will seek to aggregate views on how the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution could transform the employment requirements of the Industry over the coming decade. The recommendations harvested will be compiled into a whitepaper and presented to Omans Minister of Oil & Gas His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Al-Rumhy for consideration as a roadmap to inform new policies.





In such a rapidly evolving industry landscape, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future job requirements is increasingly critical for all stakeholders involved in Omans energy industry. Identifying what new skills will be required, while also mitigating the risk of potential disruption to Omans workforce, is vital for the profitability of companies and for the socio-economic development of the Sultanate.





There are a huge market and business opportunities arising in Oman and the region, and I believe these will offset and spawn from the automation substitutes, thus creating more jobs, Mr. Restucci commented in response to the results of the GIQ Survey, which polled some 500 Oman energy stakeholders over the last week.





To ensure this happens, we need to increase our ability and speed to adapt. Integral to that is the constant real-time re-assessment of our development and training needs so that leadership and our people can embrace the change and are skilled and able to redirect employment in this fast-changing world. Closer collaboration and alignment with other stakeholders on matters ranging from regulatory enablers to the proficient deployment of new technologies will also be essential, said the Managing Director of PDO.





The fifth edition of the Oman Energy Forum will present a progress report on the Oman Energy Master Plan 2040 and the launch of the Oman Energy Industry-Academia R&D Protocol  an uber-like digital platform for industry, academia, and government to connect on research and innovation. The annual industry gathering will also host the OXY Oman Student Awards 2017 for the Advancement of Post-Graduate Education in the presence of H.E. Dr. Muna Bint Salim Al Jardani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Manpower.





The Forum will be supported by GlassPoint Solar and the Oman LNG Development Foundation.
The latest political furor in still bailout-dependent Greece made its way to Parliament on Monday, with the leftist-rightist coalition government clashing with the opposition over a controversial munitions deal with Saudi Arabia that has attracted intense scrutiny both inside the country and abroad.
The Bangladesh government on Monday sentenced 139 soldiers to death by hanging, over the massacre of 74 people, including 57 senior army officers, in a 2009 mutiny, this was confirmed the attorney general.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters after the High Court handed down its judgement in Dhaka.  The Verdict has upheld the death sentence for 139 people 

Source: ( AFP)
A commercial bus has been shot dead by some suspected armed robbers in the Mile 2 area of Lagos State.

It was learnt that the victims vehicle had been hijacked by the robbers, who were taking turns to dispossess passengers of their valuables, but he refused to let go of the bus.

He was said to have been shot and thrown out of the bus.

The assailants were reported to have abandoned the vehicle and fled after a team of the Rapid Response Squad pursued them on motorcycles.

A witness, Liberty Whitney, who was on the bus and had been dispossessed of her valuables by the robbers, told the police that the suspects were three in number.

The 20-year-old International Relations graduate of Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, said the incident happened on Sunday, November 19, while she was on her way to school.

Whitney said she had boarded the bus at Oshodi en route to Mile 2.

She said, It was around 9.30pm that I boarded the bus. I was the only passenger in the vehicle as of then. More people later joined and the bus had two vacant seats left.

The bus left the park and was about to pick more passengers at Cele bus stop when two men in white native attires pointed guns at us. They asked that we remained calm and do as we were told. They then joined the bus.

While other passengers were screaming and jumping down from the bus, I was held by a man that had joined the bus earlier when I tried to jump down as well. Like other passengers, I never knew the man was a member of the gang.

When I made another attempt to jump down, one of the robbers pointed a gun in my face with a threat to shoot if I didnt comply. One of them asked me for my phone, bag and money and when I was reluctant, he hit me in the neck with the butt of the gun. I couldnt breathe well for some time. I handed over all I had with me instantly: travelling bag, polythene bag, laptop, phone, chargers and school certificates.

I was allowed to jump down from the vehicle afterwards. A few minutes later, I heard a gunshot. A man was thrown off the bus. He had hanged on the back of the bus when he was shot by the side.

She explained that after the gunshot, operatives of the RRS chased the vehicle on motorcycles.

The 20-year-old Warri, Delta State indigene said the robbers shot continuously into the air to scare the policemen who continued the chase.

Whitney, who claimed to have trailed the vehicle on a motorcycle, said she was relieved when the robbers abandoned the vehicle and fled at Mile 2.

She said she recovered all her valuables back, except for the phone which the gunmen took away.

The RRS said it was later discovered that the man who was shot was the driver of the bus.

He was said to have been rushed to the Critical Care Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where efforts to revive him failed.

He was fighting for his bus, which was his only source of livelihood, when he was shot. The driver passed away on Thursday, November 23. He died of the gunshot injury he sustained, the police said.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, who confirmed the incident, said investigations were ongoing.

The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, for further investigations, he added.

Oti advised residents of the state not to endanger their lives by arguing with armed robbers.

Source: (Punch Newspaper)
Days after the resignation of the former Vice-President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar left, from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the aide of Atiku has confirmed that his boss has not ruled out the possibility of holding talks with, President Olusegun Obasanjo, in pursuit of his political ambition.

Atikus Media Adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe, stated this on behalf of his principal during a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

Ibe explained that Atiku, a master of consensus building, would not discountenance the importance of carrying everyone along.

He spoke in reaction to the advice given by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan had, in an interview, described ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as the boss of bosses. He had advised the former vice-president to reconcile with Obasanjo in order realize his political ambition.

Ibe said, His Excellency, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, is a savvy politician and he will not discountenance the importance of carrying everybody along in order to build a consensus.

Source: (Punch Newspaper)
A thief was nabbed in Masindi town Uganda after a witch doctor sent bees to smoke him out.

The unidentified man was stung by the insects which perched on is head and chest and forced him to confess.

He marched on the streets in pain as he returned the stolen items to its owner.

The proverbial 40 days of thief became reality to a man who stole music systems in the town of Masindi when a swarm of bees attacked him at his hideout.

The unidentified man was forced to return the stolen woofer after the bees attacked him with stings and making a home on his head, neck and almost half of his body.



Carrying the woofer in one hand and trying in vain with the other to chase the insects, the man marched in the streets without a shirt as he returned the stolen items to the owner in the little Ugandan town.

A guy stole woofers in Masindi town and these bees were sent to arrest him. Someone direct me to the Musawo please, Facebook user Basudde Sam posted on his page.
State Governors on Monday gave President Muhammadu Buhari conditions to meet before abiding by his conditions of paying workers salaries before Christmas.

Speaking on behalf of the governors, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State said payment of the arrears was dependent on the presidents approval of the payment of the 50 per cent Paris Club loan refund.

He said this while addressing State House Correspondents after the governors had a closed-door meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Okorocha disclosed that governors would put pressure on the president to get approval for the balance so that they can make adequate appropriation arrangements.

Confirming Buharis directive, Okorocha said, Yes, with the Paris Club coming, every worker should enjoy his/her Christmas.

The president has expressed the need to make ensure that every Nigerian especially the workers have a beautiful Christmas and the issue of outstanding Paris club was discussed and that was taken care of.

We also made a request for Mr. Presidents approval so that the balance should form part of our 2018 budget, because we cant include it, until we are sure that the money is coming. That was also sorted out.

So, as it is now, the issue of workers took the centre stage and Mr. President was concerned about those who depend on their salaries to feed their families and pay their house rent and he had the assurance from the governors that we will meet up those obligations.

Source  Dailypost
Governors of the 36 states in Nigeria have been urged by President Muhammadu Buhari to pay workers all salaries owed them before Christmas.

President Muhammadu Buhari has charged state governors to ensure that they pay all the salaries owed workers before Christmas, according to a Tweet released by the Presidency on Monday.

The tweet reads: President @MBuhari has directed the Ministers of @FinMinNigeria and Budget & National Planning and Governor @cenbank to commence negotiations with the Governors Forum to enable payment of outstanding Paris & London Club refunds, before the end of the year.

According to the report, the President gave the directive on Monday when he met with the governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Many states are owing workers several months of salaries of salaries and allowances.

More details coming
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized the Democratic party on Twitter, on Sunday while talking about his record thus far, bragging that hed possibly accomplished more than any president in 10months.
Following the brutal murder of Bilyaminu Haliru Bello by his wife, Maryam Sanda, the family members of the slain man have finally broken their silence on their sons death.

Bilyaminu was murdered on Sunday, November 19th. While speaking to TheNation, a brother of the deceased, said the family is still in shock over the unfortunate incident.

The brother who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they are waiting on the law enforcement agencies to ensure that justice prevails in this matter. The brother of the deceased spoke at a night of tribute held in honor of the deceased in Abuja last Thursday.

So far, the family is grieving. Maryams family have come to pay their condolence. The mother has come but what is more painful is the fact that Maryam does not look remorseful for what she did at all. I just pray one day, she finds it in her heart to honestly say what it is that made her do what she did. As a family, we are looking at the authority to do what is right, to let justice prevail. This is an example to others. The way this case is treated will determine how we move forwardBilyamin was not just my older brother but best friend. he said

A friend of the deceased, Hakeem Ali, who also spoke at the night of tribute, said Bilyaminu was a prisoner in his matrmonial home. He denied allegations that Bilyaminu was a serial cheater.

My friend was being held a prisoner in his own home. He couldnt leave the house in the sense that it was an ongoing thing; the abuse went on for a while. For me there is a difference between love and when somebody is being obsessive. People tend not to understand the difference between love and obsession. It wasnt the best marriage and I believe either of them could have just walked away. Its easier to sit down in that sorrow and think you can change things, or that if I cant have him, no one will. I dont consider it love. I cant speak on his behalf. I cant speak on his personal issue, he is a good friend and he is gone. He was that one guy that the minute we step out, we will be like, it is time for you to go home, your wife is about to call, after hanging out for as little as an hour or even 30 minutes. Even in the afternoon because she always calls. So we formed the habit of going to see him at home. The situation with the law, there are a lot of speculations right now on social media but if Nigeria should excuse people for murder just because they have a child, then if I am a murderer, then I will keep on having babies every week, that is not an excuse, for me. If somebody has committed a murder, either intentionally or by mistake, she should not be allowed to even see her baby because you dont even know her state of mind. I dont understand the system. A conversation has to begin on domestic violence against men as well because its becoming recurrent. If it is a case of murder by mistake then there is a price to pay of which a family can forgive but only God gives life and only God can take it. So, if you take a life, then your life should be taken. It is that simple. If the evidence shows it is a murder, then there is no excuse. It should be a case of an eye for an eye. It is that simple.

Another friend of the deceased, Jemila Shehu, who was also at the tribute night, suggested that Maryam might have bipolar disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD

I have no idea. I was not in her mind. I dont know what she was thinking. All I know is that they both loved each other. There was love there, only God knows. It beats my imagination and I dont want to think about it or give any excuse as a Muslim. He is gone but I dont know what she was thinking. I dont know what to think about her. For me, she should be punished. She committed murder. So, she should serve the punishment fully. This happened to someone that was loved by a lot of people. He was kind, quiet and people knew them to be in love. So, it beats everybodys imagination. Domestic violence should be treated. People should relax, love is not by force. Obsession is a disease. There are a lot of people in Nigeria that are sick but people dont know because you think that if you go to the therapist, they look down on you or think you are crazy but there are a lot of PTSD, bipolar patients and they live among us. Maybe she flipped, maybe it was a psychotic break or maybe she planned it.
The Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sitting in Abuja has been urged by the Federal Government to dismiss a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

It stated that Kanu having been granted bail and allegedly escaped from his ongoing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the judgment of the ECOWAS Court on the suit would serve no purpose.

Kanu had filed the suit on March 3, 2016 demanding $800m as compensation from the Federal Government for his alleged unlawful arrest in 2015 and continued detention.

But the lawyer representing the Federal Government, Mrs. Maimuna Shiru, stated in an objection to the suit that Kanu having been granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja where he is being tried alongside others on charges of treasonable felony, on April 25, 2017, it was unnecessary for the ECOWAS Court to adjudicate on the IPOB leaders suit.

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She also noted that Kanu having allegedly jumped the bail granted him by the Federal High Court, Abuja, event had overtaken the suit.

The three grounds of the application stated, Having regards to Article 88(2) of the Rules of the Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, this suit has become devoid of purpose and unnecessary to adjudicate upon.

The result of a judicial decision in this suit will serve no purpose. There are no live issues in controversy between the parties for the court to determine.

Mr. Thomas Etah, who deposed to an affidavit filed in support of the Federal Governments motion, stated that Kanu filed his notice of registration before the ECOWAS Court on March 3, 2016, while the plaintiff was granted bail by the Federal High Court on April 25.

He added, That the plaintiff/respondent has now jumped bail and his whereabouts are unknown.

That further to paragraph 8 above, it is public knowledge that the Federal High Court of Nigeria has ordered Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe and two other sureties to produce the plaintiff/respondent or forfeit their bail bonds.

That the plaintiff/respondent and the group he represents, the Indigenous People of Biafra have been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the defendant/applicant (Federal Government).

That this suit before this honourable court has been overtaken by events and has become devoid of purpose.

Kanus lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, told the ECOWAS Court on November 21 that he needed to respond to the application by the Federal Government.

He alleged that the Federal Government deliberately delayed the filing of the motion in order to frustrate the hearing of the case.

But the Federal Governments lawyer denied the allegation insisting that the motion was filed early enough.

The presiding judge of the ECOWAS Court panel, Justice Hameye Mahalmadane, also noted that the court paper filed by the Federal Government had to be interpreted to the panel members who were all French-speaking.

The court adjourned until February 7 for hearing.

Source
A former governor of Plateau State, Fidelis Tapgun, on Sunday expressed satisfaction with the exit of Atiku from the APC.

He, however, warned the PDP not to give him automatic presidential ticket in 2019.

Tapgun said, If Atiku is leaving the APC and coming back to the PDP, he is coming with a lot of supporters.

We all know that Atiku leaving the APC is 99.5 per cent minus for the APC.

The PDP is now back on its feet, a lot of the wrong things done in the past are being corrected. So, all of us are happy to see Atiku back in the PDP.

Tapgun said he did not expect the PDP to give Atiku automatic ticket for 2019 presidency, describing such practice as undemocratic.

He said, I dont expect the PDP to give him an automatic ticket. We want a political party which practises democracy. Anybody who wants to contest the 2019 presidency should indicate interest. There should be a level playing field for anybody who wants to contest.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
A Good Samaritan has settled the bill of a 21-year-old woman, Blessing Agbo, and her newborn baby boy, who were detained in a Lagos hospital for four months over a medical bill.

It was learnt that the man, who wanted to be anonymous, also gave Agbo N50,000 for baby food and clothes.

This is just as the management of the hospital, God Cures Hospital, appealed to Nigerians to stop calling at the facility to pay for the bill.

It was earlier reported that Agbo went into labour sometime in June while her live-in lover, Chibugo Duru, a truck driver, travelled to Calabar, Cross River State, on a business trip.

She was said to have undergone a caesarean section and was delivered of a baby boy after Duru agreed to pay N245,000 for the operation.

He was, however, said to have fled the hospital after paying N30,000.

Duru, who told PUNCH Metro that he was preparing to pay Agbos bride price in December 2017, said he stopped going to the hospital over threats of arrest by the hospital management.

He claimed that the hospital turned down his offer to amortise the bill.

But the hospital denied the allegations, saying the 27-year-old abandoned his lover and baby despite signing an undertaking.

It claimed that Duru once assaulted the new mother during an altercation over the bill.

Our correspondent gathered that after the report, a Good Samaritan contacted the hospital and paid the bill through an aide.

A top official of God Cures Hospital, who asked not to be named, said the man paid into the hospitals account.

He said, The man called through his aide. I was told he is a politician based in Abuja. We also had to give him some discounts. After paying the bill, he gave the woman and her baby the sum of N50,000. He said he wanted to be anonymous. But since then, we have had some other people coming to the hospital and offering to settle the bill. I think it is important you help us tell people to stop offering to pay the bill. I have personally received up to three calls on this case already.

Her lover, Duru, said, She was discharged on Friday morning. We are in the house together now; both mother and child are fine. Thank you for the assistance.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
A 28-year-old man, identified as Maduka Nworiegu, was killed by a gang of assailants in Akunakuna, Amagu, in the Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on Friday.

It was gathered that the late Maduka was beaten by his assailants with an iron, among other objects, till he gave up the ghost.

A source alleged that the attack on the victim was masterminded by a relative with whom he had political differences.

His younger brother, Donald Nworiegu, who confirmed the incident, said the assailants dropped his corpse at their fathers house in Amagu.

He denied reports that the killing was politically motivated.

I was not at home when it happened, but my people told me that the assailants beat him with an iron and other objects and when they discovered that he was died, they took him to our fathers palour and ran away, he added.
Media personality, Toke Makinwa, has been accused of being in a romantic relationship with billionaire Festus Fadeyi by his children, a relationship that has been trailed by misery and bitter reaction by the billionaires children.

Heres capitalngs report of the face-off between Toke Makinwa and Billionaire Festus Fadeyis kids;

You can tell what effect billionaire, Festus Fadeyis romance with OAP, Toke Makinwa, has on his family by his childrens unfathomable misery and bitter reaction to their relationship. Toke arouses despise from Fadeyis children.

That is why they desperately seek her exit from their fathers life. Like angry runts seeking to fall a veteran gladiator, Fadeyis children tirelessly engage in never-ending plots to extricate their dear father from the perceived web of Tokes allure.

At first, their fears were deemed unfounded by family friends, close and distant relatives, but ever since their father completed his sprawling mansion in Ikoyi, the children have become very worried about the possibility of seeing Toke hop in the master bedroom with their father.

Fadeyis children are very angry with the way he splurges on his love interest, Toke. They believe he is squandering too much money on her at a time he is heavily indebted to Skye Bank.

Recall that the well-heeled founder and CEO of Pan Ocean Corporation, an indigenous independent oil firm, acquired a multi-billion naira loan from Skye Bank. His indebtedness to the bank is estimated at N196 billion few months ago.

Notwithstanding, Fadeyi spends extravagantly on Toke. For instance, he allegedly bought her a brand new Range Rover 2016 model worth over N50 million. He is also responsible for her acquisition of top of the line and very expensive designer bags, shoes and apparels. From Louboutin, Bottega, Chanel, Louis Vuitton to Hermes among others, Fadeyi spoils Toke silly with the most pricey ware.

Thus the worlds most expensive designer brands are mere names on Tokes list. The popular social media big girl considers Selfridges and Harrods as ordinary shopping points at the moment,. Whenever she visits London, United Kingdom (UK) via business class or first class flights paid for by Fadeyi, she spares no expenses at the citys posh shopping points.

It is very interesting to note that Fadeyi foots such outrageous bills for Toke while he wallows in loan debt to his bank. What Fadeyis children find alarming however, is Tokes continual neglect of her lovers precarious financial situation.

Consequently, they have declared war against her, warning her to leave their father alone. Frightened by the undisguised animosity, Toke has resorted to extreme measures to avoid their wrath or unpalatable encounters with them. For instance, she now tries to steal around town incognito by covering her vehicles number plate with leather.
Following the shocking ousting of former Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe, there have been reports of looting in the country.

Zimbabwes security forces say there are reports of looting and illegal occupation of farms and houses following the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe and the inauguration of his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

However, the military and police also said in a joint statement Monday that the situation in our country has returned to normal after a crisis during which the military staged a takeover and crowds demonstrated against Mugabe at the end of his 37-year rule.

The statement said the police, largely absent from the streets of Harare during the tumultuous leadership transition, will assume its role as stipulated in the Constitution.

It said the police and army will conduct joint patrols.
Renowned Nollywood actor, Odunlade Adekola was in the news last week when pictures of himself and colleagues signing out after their final exams in the University of Lagos emerged online.

In a new interview with Sources, the actor talked about his experience at the school and stated that he might go back to further his education.

He said; It has been by the grace of God that I was able to conclude my education at the University of Lagos. Because of my profession, there were times that my schedule was so tight that I had to forgo one for the other.

But I always had it at the back of my mind that I must finish what I started. I also thank my fellow students and lecturers for their support throughout my stay in the school. I really had a nice time there, .

I have always had the dream of owning my company. I love to manage people to achieve set goals, and I believe that this course would help me in that regard.

actor

On what his next move is in academics, the actor added,

Knowledge gathering is a continuous process; it never stops. One should never stop learning because you can never know it all. I may decide to return to school to study another course.

I dont know what the future holds. I am interested in constantly developing myself and that has been of great advantage to me.

Source: Naijaloaded
A female graduate of Lead City University has been saved by men of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command after she was attacked by robbers.

Liberty Whitney 20 years, from Warri, Delta State had her valuables recovered from one chance robbers by the men of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command.

The International relations graduate from Lead City University, Ibadan, was on her way from school at about 9.30pm on Sunday 19th, boarded an unpainted transport Vanagon public bus from Oshodi to Mile 2. She was the only passenger in the vehicle as at the time she boarded.

Minutes after moving, more passengers came on board and the bus was left with two empty seats. On getting to Rainbow bus top, two men boarded the bus and that was when pandemonium struck.

The men unleashed mayhem on the passengers. According to Whitney, she said, the bus was slowing down to pick passengers at Cele bustop when two guys in white native attires, having two guns each and pointing at us while asking that we remained calm and do as we were told.

She continued that, while other passengers were screaming and jumping down from the bus, she was held by a man that had joined the bus earlier and unknown to others, was a member of the gang, he pulled her back so she could get robbed.

She noted that when she made another attempt to jump down, one of the robbers, now three (3) brandished a gun in her face with threat of getting shot if she didnt comply, he asked her to part with her valuables.

She said One of them asked me for my phone, bag and money and when I was reluctant, he hit me on my neck-line close to my chest with the butt of the gun with him. I couldnt breathe well for some minutes. I handed over all I had with me instantly, my travelling bag, polythene bag, laptop, phone, chargers and school certificates.

I was allowed to jump down from the vehicle. Barely some minutes later, I heard a gun shot then a guy was thrown off the bus. He had been shot by the side. He hung on the back of the bus. I dont know why he did that though but It was at this point that RRS men chased the vehicle with bikes. The robbers shot several times in the air but the policemen went after them.

The robbers on getting to mile 2, skedaddled from the vehicle, abandoning the bus. Whitney said she followed the bus and the police at a reasonable distance on a bike until the robbers stopped and ran. She was able to get her valuables and documents back except for her phone that the robbers took with them.

It was after she was calm she realized that the man that had been shot and clung to the back of the bus was the driver. He was fighting for his bus which was his only source of livelihood.

The driver passed away on Thursday, 23rd November after all efforts to revive him at the Critical Care Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja failed. He died of the gun-shot wound he sustained at the hands of the robbers.

The Lagos State Police PRO, SP Chike Oti, while confirming this incident explained that investigations are on going to clamp down on the robbers. He however advised that people should not drag valuables with robbers especially when they are armed. The case has been transferred to SCID, Panti for further investigations.
The National Executive Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will meet on Thursday, according to reports, they are to discuss issues being generated by the convention.

It was gathered that some of the aspirants had met with Makarfi, asking why he had yet to name the convention committee members.

Adedoja told newsmen in Abuja on Sunday that he believed that the convention committee members would be named this week.

Also, Adeniran who was said to have visited Makarfi at his Kaduna home on Sunday, also expressed anxiety over the delay.

The former minister of education, who spoke through the Director of his Media Campaign Organisation, Mr. Taiwo Akeju, confirmed that Adeniran was at Makarfis house on Sunday.

He said the former governor of Kaduna State assured the team of his neutrality in the contest, adding that he also promised to get to the aspirants with a view to letting them have input in the membership of the committee.

Akeju said that Makarfi also promised to release the names of the delegates to the contestants before the convention.

Akeju said that Makarfi also informed the team that the much-awaited National Executive Committee meeting of the party would hold on Thursday in Abuja.

He told us that NEC would hold in Abuja on Thursday where final decisions would be taken on the list of the convention members and other issues, Akeju said.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper)
Hospitals and business center are beginning to worry over the effects of the black out at the at Angwan Kanawa, a suburb of Kaduna State which has ended Monday businesses in the state.

The only two medical facilities in the community are Al-Manaf Hospital and Shifa Hospital. While the former is owned by an individual, the latter is a charity-based outfit.

It was learnt that the community was plunged into total darkness about a month ago when a substation transformer on Raba Road got burnt.

Appeals by residents of the area to the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company to install another feeder equipment and restore electricity to the neighbourhood were said to have fallen on deaf ears.

It was gathered that the electricity company had insisted on connecting them to a neighbouring community, which faced poor power supply.

A doctor at Shifa Hospital, Dr Hamza Ahmed, said the facility did not have funds to run on a generator, adding that it relied on power supply for its operations.

He said a 13-year-old girl, who needed oxygen was rushed into the hospital about two weeks ago, adding that she gave up the ghost because there was no power to generate the oxygen.

He said, The situation is bad. We cannot perform surgeries because there is no electricity. There is no power to generate oxygen from the oxygen concentrator store room. There was a girl who died because the oxygen she needed was not available due to lack of electricity. We dont have a good generator. The hospital is charity-based; we are only trying to help the community. We charge little bills.

The doctor urged the KEDC to restore electricity to the community to prevent further loss of lives.

Ahmeds colleague at Al-Manaf Hospital, Dr Sayyid Igbunu, lamented that the blackout forced the hospital to operate at a high cost, saying the expenses were becoming unbearable.

He said, The hospital has been operating at a high cost. With the current economic situation of the country, we cannot transmit the cost to patients, even though we are using a generator to run the oxygen, instead of power. They cannot afford the normal hospital bills. The outage is seriously affecting us.

A salon operator in the community, Abdullahi Sanni, said his business and other trading activities in the area had been paralysed.

We dont know whether the substation was burnt by some people or it burned on its own after a spark. It happened at night. For about one month now, we dont have electricity and the KEDC has not done anything about it.

They wanted to connect us to another community which barely has power supply. Why would they connect us to such a community? It is as good as we dont have electricity. Business has been grounded. Most of the people that use electricity for their day-to-day activities have closed their shops.

A resident, Emmanuel Adayehi, said the burning of the substation transformer was controversial as there was no remnant of the equipment at the spot.

He said the company was demanding N1.3m from the community for the purchase and installation of new equipment.

He said, Experts among us who went to the site of the equipment said it was a sabotage. The installation was removed and some tyres were set ablaze. The company probably removed the transformer to push us to another community, Angwa Shanu.

A delegation was sent to the KEDC office and I was among them. We asked the company officials what the situation was. They accused our community of having confrontations with them over payment of bills. We told them that it was not possible because most houses are using prepaid meters. The community needs N1.3m for another installation.

Water vendors have decided to hike the price of 10 jerrycans to N400, as against N250. We can no longer get water from tap and boreholes.

Adayehi explained that the blackout had caused security threats with prevalent cases of theft and robbery in the neighbourhood.

There has been a growing health concern on malaria fever, typhoid, meningitis and cholera as a result of bad water. Stealing of mobile phones, car batteries and car radios is on the rise, especially snatching of female hand bags.

Nurses in the two hospitals in the community can no longer withstand the constant harassment and assault they receive at night and this has prompted the hospital management to review their duty roster to enable the female nurses to run afternoon until when electricity is restored, he added.

The KEDC official in charge of the community, Dauda Saidu, dismissed the allegation that the installation was removed and directed our correspondent to the head of the community for more information.

He said, I dont look at it as a problem. The community is in the best position to tell you why they dont have power supply. The equipment was set ablaze by unknown persons. We told them that since the equipment had been burnt, which was the only source of giving them electricity, they should let us connect them to another community. But they said they did not want that. What do we do?

Source: ( Punch Newspaper)
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of N164.8m for the second semester school fees of the freed 106 Chibok girls at the American University of Nigeria, Yola owned by Atiku Abubakar.

This was confirmed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

Shehu quoted Buhari as expressing delight at the progress made in the rehabilitation of the 106 girls now in AUN, owned by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who on Friday resigned from the ruling All Progressives Congress.

He said the President made the approval for the payment of the school fees while reviewing the progress report submitted to him in line with his commitment to personally monitor the rehabilitation and reintegration of the freed Chibok girls into the society.

In line with this, the President has approved the payment of the sum of N164,763,759 for the second semester school fees of the 106 Chibok girls at the American University of Nigeria, AUN in Yola, the statement read.

Shehu said according to the progress report received by the President, the decision to pursue avenues in addition to military action to free the abducted girls was to protect the lives of all Nigerians, to end the insurgency in the North-East and to fulfill one of the campaign promises of the President.

The presidential spokesman explained that it was in line with this that the Federal Government entered into negotiations with the Boko Haram sect for the release of the Chibok girls who were kidnapped from their school dormitory on the night of April 14, 2014.

He recalled that two batches of 21 and 82 girls had been freed as a result of those negotiations while three additional girls were rescued by the armed forces, bringing the number of freed Chibok girls so far to 106.

The statement added, As a result of their experiences while in captivity, the freed girls were severely traumatised and afflicted by various ailments and injuries. Hence, they were taken to secure medical centres for attention.

They also went through debriefing and de-radicalisation by security operatives, after which the girls were handed over to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

It said the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development was assigned the main role in the supervision, rehabilitation and the reintegration of the girls back into the society.

The statement said, Long before the girls were released, the Federal Government had established the Chibok Girls Desk in the ministry, responsible for acting on matters relating to the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, and serving as a channel of communication between relevant agencies and the parents and relatives of the abducted girls.

The government, through the ministry of women affairs and, in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA, UN Women, and other donor agencies, embarked on programmes earmarked to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of the Chibok girls with a nine-month time frame.

A hostel in the National Centre for Women Development was converted into a suitable shelter, where the girls were kept for the nine-month period. The programme, which began in January 2017, ended in September 2017.

During the period, the 106 girls were given lessons in English, Mathematics, Biology, Agriculture, and Civic Education. In addition, they were trained in ICT and vocational skills. Professionals were engaged to provide them with psycho-social therapy and one-on-one counselling to help them overcome post-traumatic stress disorder.

They were also provided with religious instructions and comprehensive care by two in-house doctors and two nurses. Periodic visits from the girls parents to stimulate family support and reunion were sponsored and organised by the ministry.

Shehu said having successfully achieved the desired goals of the rehabilitation and reintegration programme, with recorded significant improvement in the academic performance of the girls, a final send-off was organised in September for the 106 Chibok girls and they were subsequently moved to the AUN in Yola for their foundation studies and continuation of their education.

He said the institution had successfully established a foundation school for 14 out of the 57 Chibok girls who escaped while the rest of their classmates were taken to the Sambisa Forest by Boko Haram.

The absorption of the 106 girls into the school, he said, marked the beginning of their integration into the larger Nigerian society, thus fulfilling Buharis promise of providing the best education for them.

He said although they had been officially handed over to their parents, the Federal Government would continue to be responsible for the payment of the Chibok girls school fees up to their graduation from the university.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi has called on Nigerians to continue to pray for his child President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, all the current government needed from Nigerians now is prayer and constructive criticisms.

He spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Monday during the opening of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council week themed Recession, Restructuring: The Way Forward.

The royal father said, said Even President Buhari is my child, you must pray that your child is better than you. We pray that by their time they will do better than us. It is not about Christianity or Islam, because we dont have documented history. What we call Orisa today are heroes. People we know as hero for example Ogun is the god of iron, there was iron before Ogun but Ogun because Ogun made cutlass. I am not saying we should not celebrate Ogun but the day you become king, you dont worship any god anymore.

We are not in the 1st century anymore, what is called witchcraft is poverty, it is negatively, you will not see Folorunsho Alakija as witchcraft. Osi lonje Aje, Aje lonje Osi (It is poverty that is called witchcraft, witchcraft is what is called poverty. When there is so much poverty, the people in poverty will think that everybody will come to their level. It is the myth that is killing African.

We are all guilty, we have blood in our hands, when you see people looking for promotion, they will go to Alfa, Pastor, Babalawo.

Unless we stop all these blood everywhere, we cant get it right in Nigeria. Blame yourself and the superstition, tell me what you were making before the white men came.

He added that President Muhammadu Buhari has started war against corruption in government as he urged traditional rulers to begin the war in the traditional institution.

He said Buhari has started the war on corruption in government, you need to start checking corruption in the traditional institutions.

Eradicate secret society, do an enlightenment act. We are dying, is worse than Boko Haram, it is worse than disaster.

A king should not belong to any secret society, I dont belong to one. The meaning of government is Alakoso (Administrator). And not a society of kings.

Speaking further, the monarch said he would continue to challenge the status quo, stressing that most people who were in the habit of challenging the existing belief, are always termed controversial.

He added, I must be controversial, when you are saying the truth, you must be controversial, things that will challenge the statusquo. I challenge the statusquo, that is why I remain controversial..

Source  Dailypost
President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to attend the 5th European Union-African Union Summit in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire.

According to a statement on Monday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the summit will hold on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Adesina, in the statement made available to journalists in Abuja, said Buhari would participate in working sessions on the summits theme, Investing in the Youth for a Sustainable Development.

He added that the President will, on the margins of the summit, meet with a number of African Heads of State and their EU counterparts.

The presidential spokesman said Buhari would use the summit to reiterate Nigerias readiness to work with African and European countries to address the challenges affecting both continents, such as peace and security.

The statement read in part, The Nigerian leader will attend the official luncheon to be hosted by the government of Cote dIvoire in honour of visiting Heads of State and Government and other delegations.

According to the organisers, 83 Heads of State representing 55 African countries and 28 European countries are slated to attend this high-level meeting.

Delegations from partner countries, the African Union Commission, the European Union Commission, regional and international organizations, will also participate at the Summit.

The governors of Akwa Ibom and Bauchi States and some ministers are among the top government officials that will accompany President Buhari.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
One of the buzzing actresses in the Yoruba sector of Nollywood, Ayoola Kikelomo has recently teased her followers about being a virgin.

Popular Yoruba Nollywood actress, Ayoola kikelomo has set the internet on fire after she shared a meme about being a virgin.

The aging and single actress who is having her best career in the movie industry posted the controversial image on her Instagram page thereby attracting interesting responses from her followers.
Popular OAP, Vlogger and author, Toke Makinwa has dropped a cryptic message on her social media account just as rumours swell that she is having an illicit romance with an elderly business tycoon in Lagos State.

Media personality, Toke Makinwa who has been accused of being in a romantic relationship with billionaire Festus Fadeyi by his children, has reacted.

She reacted by replying to a Twitter user who said people were bashing the Lagos OAP out of pure jealousy. She also posted the cryptic message on her Instagram page.

The Twitter user with the handle @officialRONR said Nigerians arent bashing @Tokstarr because of the rumours, they are bashing her because shes doing so well for herself. Pure Jealousy

In response, the beleaguered Toke Makinwa replied; If I can take the good, I cant complain about the bad.
Commotion took over the Federal Government College in Keffi, Nasarawa State after fire razed two female hostels in the institutions.

Accordingt to The Nation, Fire has razed down a block of two female hostels at the Federal Government College (FGC ), Keffi, Nasarawa State.

The fire, which started around 7.45 pm on Sunday and raged on to Monday morning, reduced the entire structure to ashes.

The students were in the dining hall when the fire started. Books and properties of the students were all razed down, Nothing was removed, a senior staff of the school told our correspondent, craving anonymity.

The source, however, said that no one was killed.

One student, who did not go to the dining hall and was sleeping in one of the hostels, was almost affected.

Immediately she sensed the smoke, she jumped through the window and sustained some slight injuries. No one else was affected, the staff said.

The source described the incident as shocking and devastating, saying that it was the first in the history of the 18-year-old school.

The Nation, which visited the school on Monday, saw smoke still billowing from the rubble of the burnt hostels, while fear-stricken staff and students watched from a distance.

Teachers, staff and prefects were seen trying to pacify and calm the students, especially the distraught girls that lost everything in the inferno.

A source said that the incident was particularly devastating to the unity school because first term examinations were expected to have started on Monday.

The first term examination was scheduled to start today, but with this development, no one is sure of what to do next. We shall wait for further directives from the Federal Ministry of Education, he said.

Efforts to contact the Acting Principal, Alhaji Babatundet Usuma, were not successful as he was said to have traveled to Kano for the annual meeting of Principals of unity secondary schools, while calls to his line kept ringing out.

Mr Gideon Gutap, Vice Principal (Academic 2), however, disclosed via a telephone text message, that the school was yet to take a decision on the next like of action.

Parents will be communicated in due course, Gutap stated.

He said that no one was hurt, adding that a meeting was ongoing to consider the next line of action.

We gather that officials of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) were invited for the emergency meeting chaired by Mr Ezekiel, Vice Principal (Academy 1).
The Don Jazzy led Mavin Records, which is one of the leading music labels in Nigeria currently, celebrated their Boss as he turn 35 yesterday 26th November.

The Nigerian label was founded by renowned record producer, Don Jazzy 5 years ago after his separation with Dbanj and the defunct Mohits records.

To celebrate him, his record label Mavin made a cute one minute video to wish the celebrated music executive a happy birthday.

Here is the video:

source: Instagram
We recently told you about two British protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs who have chosen Ireland as their European Union base, in response to the UKs decision to leave the Single Market. Now another club has revealed its plans, but it is setting sail in another direction.The UK P&I Club, managed by Thomas Miller, has picked the Netherlands. Thomas Miller P&I chief executive Hugo Wynn-Williams said the process of establishing its new European subsidiary is already underway.Although the precise future trading relationship between the UK and the EU remains uncertain, we are putting arrangements in place that will allow the UK Club to continue to provide cover for our members regardless of where their ships are registered, noted the CEO. The Club remains committed to doing business within Europe.Describing the Netherlands as the optimal jurisdiction for the subsidiary, Wynn-Williams cited the following attributes: convenient location with excellent transport links; proximity to major markets; stable business environment; use of English for business; and a regulatory system which he said provides the best fit for the mutual marine P&I organisations operational model.The new subsidiary will also be in a position to front for other Thomas Miller-managed clubs affected by Brexit, continued Wynn-Williams. As a result, this will enable costs to be shared, providing the most efficient solution to continuing operations in Europe.EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier previously stressed that  Brexit means Brexit, everywhere , saying the UK is bound to lose the benefits of the Single Market.
Where does a decade in one of the best-known commercials take you...
THE GLOBAL environmental regulatory landscape is a patchwork quilt of complexities, from the EUs sweeping Environmental Liability Directive to the myriad legislations surrounding the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. For multinational businesses, operating in multiple countries is a balancing act that requires navigating an intimidating amount of legislation.From the multinational side, its incredibly important to make sure the policy is responding to local laws, says Glenn OHalloran, Chubb s environmental risk manager for the UK and Ireland. He says that at last count, there were around 17,000 different pieces of environmental legislation globally. So when businesses do have an event, its important to have a local contact point within the certain territory where these losses occurred and to ensure that the policy is structured appropriately for that territory.Regulation across various jurisdictions can be wildly different, says Neil Beresford, partner at Clyde & Co. Some markets, such as China, India and some countries in Europe, have compulsory insurance programs in certain areas, and its no coincidence that those jurisdictions tend to see the highest claims activity.Alongside this complex global landscape, there is an ever-increasing level of public scrutiny on companies  meaning the stakes are high when it comes to potential reputational damage resulting from an environmental incident.Theres increased pressure in how [firms] operate and how they manage their environmental exposure, OHalloran says, explaining that this is driven in part by rising public awareness, as well as the ability of news to spread quickly in the digital age. Something that might have been a relatively benign issue can quickly become serious from a reputational damage perspective.But despite the weight of the risks, clients typically dont understand the extent of their environmental exposure, and among those that do, there is a common misconception that property and general liability policies will be enough to cover the majority of any losses.The market is in a very similar place to where D&O was, say, 15 years ago, or where cyber was five years ago, in that theres not sufficient understanding of the generality of the risk, Beresford says. While a great deal of work was done in the cyber market to help businesses understand that cyber exposures are not just limited to technology companies, he explains, there remains a lack of awareness in the environmental space.If you look at the claims data across industry sectors, youd be surprised at how many claims are accounted for by real estate businesses, retail businesses and construction businesses  theyre all facing quite significant claims, Beresford says. So there needs to be a greater awareness that this is not just confined to manufacturing or oil and gas sectors  it is everybody.One aspect in particular that is not well understood is that under some environmental legislation  including theEUs Environmental Liability Directive  the responsibility to remediate falls not just on the polluter, but the landowner too.About half the cases that we see are cases where a landowner has been required to remediate for something that someone else has done, Beresford says. Its the fact that the landowner is responsible for the acts of others that makes environmental risk of such general application.With such a complex landscape to navigate, how are clients  especially those facing exposures in multiple territories  best supported? OHalloran stresses that both brokers and insurers must recognize that the differing requirements in different territories create a need for local policies. Brokers should draw not only on multinational insurers knowledge of global environmental exposures, but also on their capabilities in providing local services to clients.The common theme here is that a multinational client must properly structure their environmental insurance policy to respond to unique risks in each territory, OHalloran says, and they must not rely upon a single master policy to appropriately insure their overseas exposure.
For 29-year-old Ian Bell of the Socius Insurance Services , only two things separate successful insurance professionals from those who are barely getting by: knowledge and hard workLong before being named as the youngest senior vice president in Sociuss history, Bell spent most of his summers in Honolulu, where he had his first exposure to the insurance business. His aunt started her own brokerage on the island and Bell devoted his time to learning the ins and outs of the business.Shortly before college, his aunt managed to book him a trip to the United Kingdom for an internship at Lloyds of London, where he worked for BMS Group.Flash forward to today, Bell is one of the many successful insurance professionals at Socius where not only he serves as senior vice president but also as co-chair of the firms professional liability practice.Insurance Business reached out to Bell to find out more about his work philosophy and his insights about the insurance industry. He also discussed his hopes for the industry, particularly in terms of technology incorporation. Additionally, Bell shared how his aunts grit and persistence motivated him to chart his own course in the industry.Without a doubt, the most fulfilling aspect of my work is that I get to help retail brokers offer the best possible product to their insureds so they can compete and win. I truly believe that retail brokers are some of the hardest working people in this country and having the opportunity to contribute to their success using my product expertise and market knowledge gets me excited enough to be in the office every morning by 5:30am.Some of my recent achievements include being named as the youngest senior vice president in our companys history and also being asked to co-chair our professional liability practice. In addition, I also was asked to join our companys innovation committee which looks for ways that we can operate more efficiently.Id say that product knowledge and hard work are really what have given me the most success. When I first started in insurance, I wanted to learn everything I could as fast as I could and was able to complete my RPLU, CPCU and ARM in three years. Once I had that knowledge, I realized that a surprising number of the people who had been in the industry much longer than I had actually knew less about insurance than I did. They hadnt ever tried to learn the ins and outs of the coverages and instead just learned enough to get by  it was the first time I realized that age and experience arent necessarily indicators of product knowledge.My other big contributor to success was simply working hard. There are obvious benefits to working hard such as getting more done, but I think a lot of people dont see all the fringe benefits that come along with it.For instance, if youre a broker that works hard and makes sure youre always on top of your accounts, underwriters recognize that and pay better attention to your submissions or are more willing to work with you on tough accounts. Nobody gets excited to work with somebody whos lazy and not passionate about what they do.In terms of the person who motivates me the most, Id have to say its the person who got me in the industry to begin with, my late aunt. Before she started her own agency, she worked at a top five national insurance brokerage - but after rising through the ranks she was told that women simply dont become brokers; shed hit the glass ceiling. Rather than accept it she took on an even greater challenge and started her own agency.Watching how hard she worked and how she was able to make her own success is what drives me to work hard every day. This might sound corny but I actually still carry her business card in my wallet as a reminder to keep working hard.As a wholesaler, we offer assistance and expertise to retail brokers in placing certain lines of coverage.Sometimes the accounts we handle might be outside of the admitted markets appetite but many times our retailers also ask us to handle their submissions that do fit the admitted markets. In that case the retailer utilizes our services to make sure their insured is getting the absolute best price in the market with the broadest coverage.Our company is different for two reasons, the first is our ability to collaborate and the second is our employee satisfaction and retention. I often hear stories about how other wholesalers will negotiate a suite of enhancement endorsements with carriers on an individual producer basis and will even ask that the carrier not share their requested enhancements with their fellow producers because they dont want to give their co-workers any advantage. To me, thats a bad side-effect of what happens when a culture becomes too sales-driven. In our organization the product heads negotiate a long list of enhancements that we ask the carrier to provide to every Socius broker on every quote.From there individual producers negotiate some additional enhancements based on the specific risk but the bulk of the work was already finished by the product head. Well also team up on more complicated accounts to ensure that were providing the best possible product and services to our retailer and insured.With some of our competitors the retailer is really only getting the knowledge of that one wholesale broker they work with, with Socius were able to offer the collective knowledge of our company. The second reason were different is our employee satisfaction - we have a long list of perks for all of our service staff with the goal of keeping them happy. If people arent happy theyre going to leave and a high turnover rate always leads to service issues for the retail broker. Being able to maintain an outstanding retention rate means that we can provide the best service possible.Swett is probably one of the best places you could start a career in wholesale insurance. Their 100-year legacy speaks for itself and I was lucky enough to be on a team that handled a diverse book of business which gave me the ability to learn a lot in a short amount of time. Ultimately, the culture and product focus on professional/management liability at Socius is what drew me over.Im not saying anything new here but technology needs to become better incorporated into the industry. With all of the advances in tech there are a lot of opportunities that people can utilize to operate more efficiently and get more done. Too often, people seem concerned that technology is looking to replace their job rather than viewing it as a tool they can use to accomplish more at their job.Id also like to see E&S carriers be less afraid to go after E&S business. With the legalization of marijuana, creation of online currencies and details of industries with toxic work environments filling up the media, theres more of a need for E&S carriers than ever before.Id probably have gone into investment banking. My father did investment banking for most of his career and when I was in college it seemed to be the career everyone wanted to get into. I was lucky enough to have people show me that in insurance you can really achieve whatever level of success youre after as long as you work hard and know what youre doing - that same ability is rare in most finance jobs.This is a tough one - admittedly Im still working on developing a hobby but I have an odd obsession with personal finance. Im constantly reading books and listening to podcasts on how people save and spend their money.
Jeremy D. Morley concentrates on International Family Law. The firm works with clients around the world from its New York office, with a global network of local counsel. Mr Morley is the author of "International Family Law Practice", the leading treatise on international family law in the U.S., and "The Hague Abduction Convention", published by the American Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a former law professor.
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Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen's (NASDAQ: MULN) 'Strikingly Different' EV Crossover Tour Heads to Texas After Completing a Successful Sold Out Stop in Las Vegas

BREA, Calif. - November 15, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that it has successfully completed the third stop of the Mullen FIVE Strikingly Different EV Crossover Tour in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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EV Companies on the Rise: (NASDAQ: MULN) (NASDAQ: TSLA) (NYSE: NIO) (NASDAQ: RIVN)

Vancouver, Kelowna, Delta, BC - November 16, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investor Ideas Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV stocks releases a special report on the continued growth within the sector

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Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires UK-based Forecasting Innovator Predictive Black To Help SMEs Optimize Cash Management

NEW YORK, NY - November 15, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow (some call SMEs), has acquired Predictive Black Ltd, a UK-based innovator of real-time cash management, financial insights and business wellness for SMEs.

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New Fashion Designer Launches this Holiday Season in Kelowna and Online; Sweet Dees Creations  Fun, Flirty and Affordable

Kelowna B.C. - November 14, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) A local fashion designer is launching a new women's line at Kelowna markets and online this Holiday Season that will make heads turn with her whimsical and colourful choices

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A Cork couple has pledged to bring the battle to quash the conviction they received at a lower court arising out of their teenage daughters non-attendance at secondary school to the Supreme Court after they today lost before the Court of Appeal, writes Ann O'Loughlin.

The three-judge Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of Dan and Maureen Arnold and affirmed an earlier High Court decision to refuse the Fermoy couple leave to legally challenge the orders and convictions made by the District Court over two years ago.

Dan and Maureen Arnold were convicted at Fermoy District Court in April 2015 of an offence contrary to the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, that they contravened a lawful requirement under a school attendance notice by failing to cause their daughter to attend Colaiste an Chraoibhin in Fermoy.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy fined the Arnolds of Regina Pio, Bartlemy, Fermoy, Co Cork 300 each and imposed a sentence of three days imprisonment in default of payment. The Arnolds had denied the charge. They brought judicial review proceedings against the Child and Family Agency seeking to have the conviction, which they claim is unfair and in breach of their constitutional rights as a family, quashed.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Donald Binchy dismissed all grounds of the action. From the evidence before the court, the judge said he was satisfied the couple had not made an arguable case that their application was likely to succeed at a full hearing.

Today, the three-judge Court of Appeal affirmed that High Court decision.

Outside court, Mr Dan Arnold said the couple will now apply to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal.

He said his daughter was now attending college but the couple would attempt to bring their case to the Supreme Court.

Giving the judgement of the Court of Appeal today, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said it is not disputed the Arnolds did not pay the fine within the eight week period and it is accepted that as a result, both have the immediate prospect of serving a three-day prison sentence unless the convictions are quashed.

Mr Justice Hogan said there was nothing at all to suggest the hearing before the District Court was procedurally deficient and it was clear from the summary of what transpired in the District Court the Arnolds' procedural rights were fully protected and had not been infringed.

Mr Justice Hogan, who was sitting with Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan and Mr Justice Michael Peart also said the Arnolds had not established any arguable ground by reference to which the constitutionality of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 might be challenged by them.

The issue of who pays the costs of the Court of Appeal one day hearing will be decided on December 13 next.
Israel's health minister, who heads a powerful ultra-Orthodox political party in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, has resigned, saying he opposed continued maintenance work on the country's railways on the Sabbath.

All labour is strictly prohibited by Jewish law on the Sabbath.

Ultra-Orthodox parties have provided Mr Netanyahu with support to stabilise his coalition, while the government carves out large budgets for the minority community.

They have traditionally acted as kingmakers in Israel's fractious coalition building and have in the past threatened to topple coalition governments by robbing them of their majority.

The issue of desecration of the Sabbath has triggered crisis in the past and highlights the cultural chasm between Israel's ultra-Orthodox population and its secular majority.

Much of Israel, including public transport, comes to a halt at sundown Friday for the Sabbath, but few Israelis strictly observe the day of rest.

Many restaurants, cinemas, sporting events and national parks operate, and in secular bastions such as Tel Aviv even some corner stores and shopping centres are open.

Yaakov Litzman's resignation today did not immediately threaten Mr Netanyahu's coalition, but it risked setting off a chain reaction that might.

Later Sunday however, any crisis appeared to have been averted when Mr Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox coalition partners agreed to maintain the Sabbath status quo.

Mr Litzman said the work conducted publicly on the railway prompted him to resign.

He said "as a minister in Israel, I can't maintain the ministerial responsibility" of government-sanctioned Sabbath "desecration" that contradicts the "holy values of the Jewish people".

While Mr Litzman said the weekend maintenance work on the railway was not warranted, Israel's railways authority says it must carry out work on Saturday so it does not disrupt transportation for thousands of Israelis during the work week.

Railway and some other public works have occurred for years on the Sabbath.

Mr Litzman's resignation could have exerted pressure on the other two ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to squeeze out concessions from Mr Netanyahu to prove to their constituents that they respect the Sabbath as much as the resigning health minister.

Mr Netanyahu may be hesitant to offer anything perceived as being too generous for fear of alienating secular voters at a time when opposition party Yesh Atid, led by charismatic former journalist Yair Lapid, has been gaining traction in polls.

Mr Netanyahu said later at a government meeting that he regrets Mr Litzman's decision, describing him as "an excellent health minister who did much for the health of Israel's citizens".

He said his coalition would not dissolve over the issue.

Mr Netanyahu stressed that the Sabbath is important to all Israelis, as is the need for "safe and continuous" transport, and added that he was convinced a solution can be found.

- AP
Update 1.42pm: A man has admitted installing a hidden camera in a Starbucks toilet after capturing himself on film.

Antony Dines, 31, of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, pleaded guilty at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court to four counts of voyeurism.

A camera was seized by police in a Starbucks in Vauxhall, south London, close to the headquarters of MI6, after a member of the public discovered it in a ceiling grate on November 22 2016.

George Crivelli, prosecuting, said the coffee shop had one customer toilet, adding that Dines told police he had a "fetish for watching women urinating".

Dines was charged with two counts of voyeurism in relation to the camera in Starbucks - installing equipment and recording a private act in order to obtain sexual gratification on or before November 22 2016.

Mr Crivelli told the court that Dines filmed himself installing the camera.

He was arrested last Wednesday after detectives appealed for help in identifying the man caught on the camera.

Mr Crivelli said Dines installed the camera in February 2016, and the court heard the camera had captured up to 24 videos of people using the toilet.

Mr Crivelli said a rucksack in Dines' possession, which he initially told police was not his, was found to contain small cameras, memory cards, a small screwdriver and nine pairs of women's underwear.

Two of the four charges Dines pleaded guilty to relate to a camera in a ladies toilet at a place of work.

Dines was granted bail on the condition that he should not be in possession of any recording device, and should not go to any public premises with a toilet which the public has access to.

District Judge Karen Hammond indicated that a community order is a possible punishment for Dines, who has no previous convictions.

Dines is expected to be sentenced at the same court on December 6.

Ealier: A man suspected of installing a hidden camera in a Starbucks toilet in the UK has been charged with voyeurism after allegedly capturing himself on film, police said.

Anthony Dines was arrested on Wednesday after detectives appealed for help in identifying a man caught on the camera.

The 31-year-old from Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, was charged on Saturday with four counts of voyeurism, Scotland Yard said.

A camera was seized by police in a Starbucks in Vauxhall, south London, close to the headquarters of MI6, after a member of the public discovered it in a ceiling grate.

Police believe it had been in place for up to three to four weeks.

Dines has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Freight trains have killed more than 100 reindeer on Norway's tracks in three days, a herder has said.

Torstein Appfjell, a reindeer herder in Helgeland county, said on Sunday that the worst incident happened on Saturday when 65 animals were mown down.
Update 12.45pm: Prince Harry declared he was "thrilled" as he and bride-to-be Meghan Markle made their first appearance in public since the announcement of their engagement.

Harry and American actress Meghan Markle stepped out briefly in front of the cameras hand in hand at an open-air photocall in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace.

Their long-anticipated engagement was announced by the Prince of Wales on Monday morning with a statement saying the couple, who have been dating for 16 months, will marry in the spring next year.

A beaming Meghan, in a white belted coat, clutched Harry's hand with both of her hands as they posed briefly for the press, and showed off her diamond engagement ring.

Meghan said she was "so very happy, thank you" to be engaged to Harry.

The prince said he was "thrilled, over the moon" adding: "Very glad it's not raining as well."

Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The couple were smiling and giggling throughout their appearance.

When Harry was asked how he proposed, Meghan replied "Save that", with Harry adding: "That will come later".

The pair are giving a television interview to be broadcast on Monday evening

Kensington Palace said the prince designed Meghan's engagement ring himself - using two stones which belonged to his late mother.

The two outside stones are diamonds from the personal collection of Diana, Princess of Wales.

At the centre is a diamond from Botswana, a country that holds special significance for Harry who has visited many times since he was a child.

Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images

It is also a place the couple has spent time together over the last year and a half, Kensington Palace said.

The band is made of gold and the ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen.

Harry revealed he knew Meghan was "the one" from the first moment they met.

"When did I know she was the one? Very first time we met," the prince said.

The couple braved the cold and answered a number of questions from the waiting press, before waving at the cameras and walking back through the garden arm in arm.

The sunken garden is poignantly the site of the memorial garden created in memory of Harry's late mother Diana, Princess of Wales to mark the 20th anniversary of her death this year.

It was one of the princess's favourite parts of the palace grounds.

Harry and Meghan were separated from the media by several metres of water, standing on the other side of the large ornamental pond.

Meghan's white coat was by Canadian brand Line the Label, and her dress by P.A.R.O.S.H. It appeared as if the Meghan Effect was already under way with Line the Label's website crashing because of the numbers of people trying to access its site.

Meghan's shoes appeared to be strappy Aquazzura Matilde Crisscross Nude Suede Pumps

Fifth in line to the throne Harry, 33, has been dating the 36-year-old star - who found fame in the US legal drama Suits - since the summer of 2016.

Their 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends in London, and the pair have been almost inseparable in recent months.

The much-anticipated engagement news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh said they were "delighted" for their grandson and his bride-to-be, and "wish them every happiness".

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: "We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together."

Ms Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland wished their daughter and Harry "a lifetime of happiness", adding: "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry."

The pair became engaged in London earlier this month, and modern man Harry sought the blessing of both of Ms Markle's parents.

Harry and Ms Markle will have a church wedding, with the Archbishop of Canterbury saying they had ''chosen to make their vows before God''.

The couple are planning to make Harry's current base, Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, their marital home.

Meghan will become an HRH and a senior royal after marrying Harry and joining the Windsors.

She is expected to become a duchess - just like Kate Middleton did when she became the Duchess of Cambridge after saying her vows in 2011.

But unlike Kate, Meghan is not a future queen. With the arrival of the Cambridges' children, Harry is too far down the line of succession to have a realistic prospect of being monarch.

She will most probably become HRH the Duchess of Sussex, if Harry is made the Duke of Sussex by the Queen on the morning of his wedding.

The pair were secretly engaged earlier this month, and rumours a wedding was imminent stepped up a gear when Harry took Meghan to meet his grandmother the Queen for tea at Buckingham Palace.

Update 12.45pm: Queen 'delighted' as Prince Harry announces engagement to Meghan Markle

British Prince Harry is to marry to his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle, with the royal family flocking to congratulate the happy couple.

The Queen and Prince Philip said they were "delighted" for their grandson and his bride-to-be, and "wish them every happiness".

Kate Middleton and Prince William said: "We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together."

Ms Markle's parents wished their daughter and Harry "a lifetime of happiness", adding: "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry.

"Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents."

The royal wedding will take place in the spring of next year, and Harry and Ms Markle will appear at a photocall at Kensington Palace on Monday afternoon to celebrate their engagement, and record a television broadcast, due to be screened this evening.

Fifth in line to the throne Harry, 33, has been dating the 36-year-old star - who found fame in the US legal drama Suits - since the summer of 2016.

Their 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends in London, and the pair have been almost inseparable in recent months.

The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House.

It read: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle."

It revealed that the pair became engaged in London earlier this month.

"Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty the Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents," the statement said.

The couple will live together in Harry's current home, Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

Ms Markle will become an HRH and a senior royal after marrying Harry and joining the Windsors.

She is expected to become a duchess - just like Kate Middleton did when she became the Duchess of Cambridge after saying her vows in 2011.

But unlike Kate, Ms Markle is not a future queen. With the arrival of the Cambridges' children, Harry is too far down the line of succession to have a realistic prospect of being monarch.

Ms Markle will most probably become HRH the Duchess of Sussex, if Harry is made the Duke of Sussex by the Queen on the morning of his wedding.

The pair were secretly engaged earlier this month, and rumours a wedding was imminent stepped up a gear when Harry took Ms Markle to meet his grandmother the Queen for tea at Buckingham Palace.

The prince had to obtain the monarch's permission to wed Ms Markle - thanks to the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which requires the first six people in the line to the throne to seek the monarch's consent.

Ms Markle is a divorcee. In 2011, she wed film producer Trevor Engelson after dating him for six years - but the pair split amicably less than two years later.

Harry and Ms Markle made their first official public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto - where the star is based - in September.

They arrived hand-in-hand to watch the wheelchair tennis, and the tactile pair were clearly devoted to one another.

At the closing ceremony a few days later, the prince was spotted kissing his girlfriend on the cheek as they watched the show from the VIP box, with Ms Markle's mother Doria Ragland.

Ms Markle was also reported to be leaving Suits, where she played paralegal-turned-lawyer Rachel Zane, after finishing the filming of Season 7.

When news of their relationship first broke in October 2016, smitten Harry was described as being happier than he had been in years.

Theatre dates followed, along with romantic African holidays and expeditions to see the Northern Lights, and a shopping trip to buy a Christmas tree together for Harry's Kensington Palace pad.

As a newly-engaged couple, Harry and his bride-to-be may be invited to spend Christmas with Queen and the rest of the royals at Sandringham this year.

The pair share a strong bond through their philanthropy, with Harry supporting veterans and mental health organisations via his charity work, and Ms Markle pursuing her role as a humanitarian campaigner.

Even in its early days, their union appeared to be a serious one. Six months in and just days after it became public they were dating, Harry took the unusual step of issuing a lengthy statement condemning media treatment of his girlfriend and criticising the "wave of abuse and harassment" she was facing.

It was Ms Markle who offered the biggest insight into their affair when she was interviewed by Vanity Fair magazine in September 2017 and revealed they were in love.

"We're two people who are really happy and in love," she said.

She added: "I'm sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time."

The confirmation from the Palace has come a week on from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's platinum wedding anniversary.

Earlier: Prince Harry engaged to Meghan Markle

Britain's Prince Harry is to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle, Clarence House has announced.

The couple became engaged in London earlier this month.

They will be married in Spring 2018.

"His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle," a statement reads.

"The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

"His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month.

"Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family.

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markle's parents.

"The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace."

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh "are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness", a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

Meghan's parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, say they are "incredibly happy" with the engagement.

"We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry.

"Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

"We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said they are "excited" for the couple.

"We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to

know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together."
The British governments ambitions for Britains place in the world are based on a "fanciful belief" the UK is entitled to retain an empire and colonies, an SNP MP has said.

Peter Grant, the partys Europe spokesman, also questioned the response from some on the Tory benches to statements from Irish ministers over Brexit in recent days.

They have repeated warnings that Ireland is "resolute" about blocking a Brexit deal if Britain does not back down over the Irish border.

Mr Grant said: "When I saw the timetable for the Budget debates, I looked at Monday, Global Britain, and I thought thats not going to take very long is it?

"Because the fact is that even the Governments own misguided ambitions for Britains place in the world are ambitions which I believe are still based on the fanciful belief that somehow were entitled to retain an empire, that somehow were entitled to retain colonies.

"Rather than simply acknowledging the fact that the world has moved on from the days when any nation could claim the right to colonise any other nation.

"If you look at the response from some of the Conservative benches to statements from the sovereign, independent government of Ireland over the last couple of days, you have to wonder whether they recognise that the ministers of that country have not only the right, but an absolute responsibility to speak in the interests of their citizens."

You know how they say the best friends are the ones who tell you what you need to hear even if you dont want to? Thats exactly what our friends in the Irish Government are now doing. https://t.co/DYM9GbBM8R  Peter Grant MP (@PeterGrantMP) November 27, 2017

He also questioned whether Scotlands view on its place in the world was the same as the UK Governments.

"When I think of where this Government appears to want to take Britain in the global world, Im sorry, I think of the ethnic cleansing of the Chagos Islands," said Mr Grant.

"I think of 2 billion worth of arms sales to a country that is accused of over 150 counts of crimes against humanity in Yemen.

"And I have to ask myself, are those two directions of travel reconcilable at all?

"As they say in Fife, I ha my doubts about that one."
Winner of this years High Potential Export Award from the Irish Exports Association, Broderick Brothers cakes in Dublin is achieving international growth with a brand image thats just a little bit wacky.

Director Bernard Broderick says that sales of the companys products have grown by 30 % this year thanks to a focus on quality and a quirky approach to marketing. All product packaging carries a cartoon of a small caped figure with large glasses which Mr Broderick describes as his alter ego. Alongside this cartoon is one of a giant bearded head, which is said to be the alter ego of the other Broderick brother, and director, Barry.

Products which include bizarre sounding Road Rocking Choc Choc Blocks, Caramentals and Gooey Oozy Chocolatey solid bricks are now selling in 29 countries including the UK, France, Germany and Holland and since this year to Saudi Arabia, the US and Korea. Brodericks is the retail division of Inas Handmade Desserts  a company which was set up by Bernard and Barrys mother Ina in 1983 as a small family run bakery making cakes and desserts for the foodservice industry. Now employing a staff of 110 and achieving a turnover of 9.5m, the company is about to move in to a new 65,000 sq ft premises in Tallaght which is five times larger than its existing facility in Walkinstown. Developing the new muliti million facility , the company received funding from BDO Capital Finance and Enterprise Ireland.

Bernard Broderick said the new facility will allow both the foodservice and the retail divisions to develop their export potential and also continue to develop new products.

In 2018 we plan to develop sales of Brodericks in the US and Saudi Arabia, grow sales to supermarkets in Ireland and also expand in the UK where we see a lot of room for growth.

The development of the Brodericks brand  with its cake crusader packaging  came about as a response to the recession. Up until then Inas had only supplied the foodservice industry and was a much smaller company employing a staff of around 18.

In the recession hotels were closing and volumes had dropped - we assessed the business and decided to try something different, said Mr Broderick who joined his mother in the company in 2002, a few years after his brother Barry. We looked at the retail market and saw there was an opportunity to sell high quality flapjacks made with Belgian chocolate and high quality ingredients.

Launching with brownies, tiffin bars, granola and rocky road under the Brodericks brand  the brothers gave their products creative names and used quirky packaging. This was a point of difference and it was fun - we wanted to let people know this was a real business with real people.

Initially it didnt go well  Our packaging was cool but not clever for the food market but we fixed it, said Mr Broderick adding that exports to France began in 2010. He said in the last three years sales have taken off and that the Brodericks brand now accounts for half of all sales at Inas cakes. Exports account for 32% of the total business and 75% of Brodericks, he added.

Brodericks sells in Ireland through Spar and Centra Ireland, Topaz and more recently to Dunnes while its export customers include specialty shops and large retailers including Costco and Carrefour. Inas Desserts sells its products to hotels, restaurants and coffee chains in Ireland and the UK, and customers include a large coffee chain with outlets across Europe.

Wow, what a way to brighten a Monday afternoon in the office! Thanks @BernieBroderick and @barrybroderick! pic.twitter.com/YMDZko1E1T  Kobas (@KOBASSoftware) November 16, 2015

The Brodericks brand now has 10 products available in 18 different formats which include mini bites, bars and a Brodericks bungalow with a variety of mini bites. For the American presidential visit in 2011 the company came up with Oberama Barocky Road and in 2015 it added a gluten free range.

Currently Brodericks is planning the launch of three new retail products and to complete the updating of the packaging which it started earlier this year. The goal for 2018 is 30% growth for the Brodericks brand and 15% for the food service division.
That was the message from Rainer Wieland, the vice president of the European Parliament and a member of Germanys Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, when speaking in the European Commission office in Dublin last week.

We always included a special clause for Berlin in all our EU agreements when it was part of eastern Germany, he said saying he saw the North a similar position to Berlin in those years  inside the EU but outside the old West Germany. Businesses in the North seem to be of the same opinion, with most surveys showing that companies have yet to experience any real fallout from the Brexit decision.

In line with this, the majority indicated that they had adopted a wait-and- see approach, stating uncertainty makes it too difficult to plan.

The picture is further supported by Invest NI, the government body responsible for inward investment to the North, attracting record numbers of new foreign investors in 2016  more than half of them since the Brexit referendum, according to the companys annual report. Foreign investors are particularly attracted by the Norths pool of human talent, according to Invest NI figures, with about 16,000 annual graduates and postgraduates coming out of Belfasts universities every year.

Exports also have been rising this year, particularly sales into the Republic, assisted by weaker sterling.

However, there is growing business frustration that the Northern assembly is still gripped in a political deadlock that is preventing the formation of a new devolved executive. Amid the current uncertainties, local investment promotion authorities and businesses are left alone in their efforts to weather the uncertainties of the Brexit storm.

If Brexit has not affected the Norths current investment proposition, so far, it has indirectly delayed its development. The current political impasse is delaying devolution reform and the planned introduction of a long-promised 12.5% corporation tax rate , which may now become hostage to Brexit negotiations.

Despite the deadlock in Belfast, the eyes of local businesses remain focused on the talks unfolding in Whitehall and Brussels. While the risk of a hard border is of wide concern, only big firms seem to be adjusting their strategies accordingly.

Michael McKeown, head of Newrys chamber of commerce maintains the delays in corporation tax reform are a minor disappointment compared to the prospect of a hard border, saying everything comes down to this word: border.

InterTradeIreland estimates that 91% of the Norths companies, its core of SMEs, are not preparing for any Brexit outcome that includes some sort of border.

Michel Barnier, the chief EU Brexit negotiator, has also been trying to give some guidance to the UK government, suggesting the North could continue in the EU single market after Brexit.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, has been keeping his powder dry, ahead of next months Brexit summit, knowing that essentially he has a veto in this phase of talks as the Border is one of the three key issues that must be resolved before the Brexit negotiations can move on to trade.
Keyboard consumers have been tapping away furiously as the hunt for Christmas bargains gets under way.

Media reports suggest that in Britain alone 8bn (9bn)will be spent over a four day period from Friday last as the Black Friday hype gathered momentum. Much of the spending is taking place online at home rather than in major shopping streets and centres.

In the US, brick is giving way to click. Credit Suisse has predicted that the number of outlet closures in 2017 will reach 8,640, this despite a rebound in the overall economy. Retail giant, Wal-Mart has cut 1,000 jobs at its head office in Arkansas. It reported an 8% fall in net income in late 2016.

Amazon is gobbling the lunch boxes of a lot of its rivals. Last July, it posed a 60% rise in sales on its annual Prime Day.

The inexorable rise of online retailing is only part of the picture. Forbes magazine reports rising sales in second hand stores as younger folk chase a more meaningful life experience.

Then there is the Tiny House movement where millennials, in particular, try to cut down on their junk spend for the sake of their wallets and the future of the planet.

Will manufacturers in Asia, in particular, suffer as people switch more of their spend towards experiences, including high-end holidays? Men are spending more on their clothes and activity in DIY stores is picking up as more people refurbish their houses.

US retail expert Nikki Baird predicts yet more disruption in 2018 as retailers introduce augmented and virtual reality into their stores. Data gathering is becoming ever more sophisticated and the link between online and in-store activity is becoming better understood. American retailing is being buoyed by a 4% increase in personal income, says consultancy Deloitte, though some question its data.

On the food front, new trends include a taste for Japanese street food. Some Millennials are also opting for a fourth meal to wrap up the day, though young people are boozing less, opting instead for high-end products like whiskey. The spend on make-up products is also on the increase. This is being described as the lipstick on the retail pig.

The Irish economy is going well, though it remains to be seen whether the business train will be slowed, or even derailed, by a Brexit talks breakdown.

According to digital marketing firm, Wolfgang Digital, the Irish online economy jumped by 45% in 2015 and by that again in 2016. Overall traffic to Irish e-commerce sites was up 17% last year. But Brexit is posing big challenges in the digital economy, with the UKs share of overseas Irish revenues plummeting from 36% to 19% in the wake of the referendum result.

Achieving a European-wide digital economy is now a key EU goal. Ironically, a departing UK is well ahead on this front.

Lobby group Retail Ireland has warned that too much revenue is now leaking out of our economy, through online purchases, with the value of retail sales here still 13% below pre-crisis levels. While 280,000 people are still employed in Irish retail, most of the 40,000 jobs lost have yet to be recovered.

ChristmasShoppingGraftonStreet_large.jpg[/timcap]

Retail Ireland is calling for an online investment support tax credit scheme so that indigenous firms can win back more of the three quarters of online sales revenue which currently leaves the country.

However, Wolfgang Digital boss Alan Coleman insists that Irish firms are not lagging overseas competitors in the digital arena.

The UK is the most advanced e-commerce market in the world. It is a healthy benchmark for us, he said.

He believes that Irish people are tech savvy, and increasingly active online both as consumers and as suppliers. The 45% growth rate registered is, he said, being enjoyed by Irish-based firms which account for the bulk of his companys data set.

Mr Coleman cites clients such as Ballybofey-based McElhinneys, a fashion retailer, and Sligo-based Voya, a maker of seaweed based beauty products, as examples of firms which have benefited greatly from an investment in digital marketing.

In his view, firms should learn to live with Amazon, joining forces with the giant distributor. While margins may be lower, volumes should grow and the firms will be better able to figure out their unique selling propositions.

Paradoxically, customers are more likely to show loyalty when buying online than when doing so, offline. Most deal with just three or four websites, once they have found companies they like dealing with and have overcome the initial obstacles.

There are, it seems, huge opportunities out there, particularly for smaller suppliers and retailers operating away from large urban locations, without the resources for expensive conventional media campaigns in foreign markets.

But are our State agencies doing enough to assist them in the task of transforming the way they do business and in making the necessary upfront investment commitment?

Does the traditional method of export promotion, in which a Government Minister and top official leads a team of businesses to a far flung destination, need to be rethought, given the ongoing transformation in the way goods and services are bought and sold ?
The two leaders met last night in Dublin for the second time in 24 hours. The meeting broke up last night without agreement but it looks likely that an apology from Ms Fitzgerald, along with radical reforms to the Department of Justice may be enough to avoid an election, according to sources.

The Irish Examiner has confirmed that Mr Varadkar has agreed to break up the basket case department in a bid to end the political crisis.

Despite the talks, several ministers said they believed this Government is effectively over and are working on the basis that the election will take place on Tuesday, December 19.

Mr Martin has insisted on the resignation of Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald, while Mr Varadkar remains steadfast in his support of her.

Micheal Martin, father of Nemo Rangers goalkeeper Micheal Aodh Martin, after the Munster Club SFC final at Pairc Ui Rinn. Picture: Oisin Keniry/Inpho

It also emerged that ex-Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan telephoned a senior official in the department in May 2015 to inform them of her intended legal strategy at the OHiggins Commission in relation to whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

The call is said to have occured at the time a similar email was received and read by Ms Fitzgerald.

A spokeswoman for the Tanaiste told the Irish Examiner she was not aware of the call at the time.

Sources have confirmed that three proposals were tabled, including the radical plans to overhaul the department during discusssions throughout the weekend.

It is understood Mr Varadkar agreed to restructure the Department into clear Justice and Home Affairs portfolios and assign the redefined divisions to align with the new structure.

It is recommended that Justice should include civil and criminal law reform, crime and security, and international policy; Home Affairs should include policing, prisons, courts, equality, and integration, it has been confirmed.

A deputy Secretary General is to be appointed to take responsibility for the Home Affairs portfolio.

A Government spokesman said: The talks are at a sensitive stage. There is no question of the Tanaiste being asked to resign.

The Department of Justice has confirmed that a wider trawl of documents relating to the McCabe email saga produced confirmation of a phonecall from Ms OSullivan to an unnamed official which occured at the time Sgt McCabe was being cross-examined.

The department has said the conversation occurred at the time of the legal dispute in the tribunal, but said they had no written record or otherwise and could say no more due to the upcoming Disclosures Tribunal.

The revelation has been brought to light by RTEs This Week programme.

A spokesman said: In the interests of clarity, we can state that, in the course of our wider trawl for records in recent days, we contacted a former senior official who stated that he recalled the former Garda Commissioner mentioning to him at the time that a legal dispute had arisen between Senior Counsel at the Tribunal, along the lines of what was set out in the email to the Ministers private secretary on 15 May 2015.

Labour justice spokesman Alan Kelly has said it is hugely significant that there was a phone call between Ms OSullivan and the Department of Justice. He said it showed ongoing contact between senior gardai and the department at the time.

Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Ms Fitzgerald did not discuss a controversial email with the former Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan when the pair met a day after the mail was received.

The Tanaiste and Ms OSullivan met at an official Garda event a day later but did not discuss the inquiry.

Meanwhile, former Labour minister Joe Costello has said that he intends to go to the High Court tomorrow to prevent any dissolution of the Dail until planned constituency changes have taken place.

Mr Costello said that, as a result of the last census and a Constituency Commission Report, the Oireachtas is supposed to pass legislation to increase Dail membership, and that failure to do so could lead to a constitutional challenge.
Speaking at the Shannon Chamber of Commerces Presidents lunch at Dromoland Castle, Co Clare, Mr Walsh referred to Ryanairs recent flight cancellation troubles and said the bigger problem that Ryanair faced was a shortage of people with sufficient experience to be promoted to captain.

There are lots of pilots in the market, he said. There arent many who have the qualifications to fly as a captain.

IAG owns and operates Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia airlines and Mr Walsh described Ryanairs recent flight cancellation troubles as a blip.

Mr Walsh said what happened to Ryanair he would not wish on anybody.

Michael OLeary is an incredible competitor, very aggressive, he said. If anyone could fix it, he would fix it and he has done that.

I dont buy into the belief that this was something structural. It was just a blip. Ryanair has fixed it and has moved on and they will be as strong as ever. Personally, I dont take any pleasure out of seeing someone else go through some difficulty and we wish Michael OLeary well.

Under Mr Walshs leadership, IAG has increased its workforce from 57,000 employees in 2011 to 63,000 employees. However, Mr Walsh confirmed IAG does not have a human resources department.

It is something I do slightly differently  I refuse to have a HR department. He told the audience that outsourcing your management of people to a HR department is wrong.

We all have a responsibility to the people that we work with and for, he said. It is fascinating to see how an organisation tries to create one and comes up with innovative names and as soon as spot them I get rid of them.

Mr Walsh said his ambition for Aer Lingus is unlimited.

Until we discover we have gone everywhere we can and there is no where left go to, I think there is huge opportunity for the company, he said.

With the recently announced Dublin-Seattle route, Aer Lingus operates 13 routes to the US from Ireland  compared to six when IAG first purchased the company in 2015.

He said: It bemused my colleagues in London when they would read about the questions we were being asked and the challenges that were being levelled against us.

We bought it because we wanted to grow it and we have already exceeded all of the commitments we gave.

We wanted to purchase Aer Lingus because of its transatlantic network. We saw great opportunity there.

Mr Walsh said the airline is to take delivery of eight 180 seat Airbus A321LR aircraft in 2019 for its transatlantic network which he believes will be a potential game changer for the airline.
The demand came as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tried to end the stand-off with Fianna Fail and avoid an election.

Several Cabinet members told the Irish Examiner they believe there is no way back for the minority Government, even if Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald offers to resign.

Fianna Fail putting down the motion of no confidence was the end of the confidence and supply, said one minister. They have marched up the hill, and so have we in terms of backing Frances. So positions are entrenched. We are going to the polls, end of.

Ministers have made it clear they believe that, should the election be called in the coming days, their clear preference is for a short three-week campaign, with polling before Christmas.

Even if Frances goes, the damage is done and it would be highly naive to think we go back to normal if that happened, the minister said.

Meanwhile, the party was keen to lay the blame for the election squarely at the door of Fianna Fail.

Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said if an election is called it will be Fianna Fails fault.

Ms Doherty said yesterday: Sinn Fein called Fianna Fails bluff; Fianna Fail called our bluff.

She was adamant Fine Gael did not want an election and that the Government was going to do everything to find a resolution to the political brinkmanship between Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein.

It would not be right for the Taoiseach to throw Frances Fitzgerald under the bus.

Senator Jerry Buttimer says if Fine Gael does have to go to the polls, they are prepared for it, but it is not the outcome hes hoping for.

I am always out canvassing personally; I was out canvassing yesterday, he said.

Its what we do as politicians. If there is an election then its being called because of the opportunism of two political parties trying to outsmart one another, and thats the reality. I think its important now that we let the tribunal do its work. There is a process in place, established and voted for by the Oireachtas, and if we cant let that happen then there is no due process, there is no fairness in politics any more.

Minister of state at the Department of Finance, Michael DArcy, said an election could be avoided but it would not be easy.

On RTEs This Week programme, he also accused Sinn Fein of political terrorism because of its slash and burn attitude to this controversy.

He said that, even if the Tanaiste had had full knowledge of the Garda legal strategy, she was disallowed from acting and had been told that by two Attorneys General.

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar told the Irish Examiner: The Taoiseach is doing everything he can to avoid an election, and hopes it will be possible to reach agreement with Micheal Martin. The talks are at a sensitive stage. There is no question of the Tanaiste being asked to resign, he said.
Several of the partys leading figures led the call for her to stand down in the national interest, as they no longer have confidence in her, given her mishandling of the Maurice McCabe email saga.

Their calls come as party leader Micheal Martin travelled to Dublin last night to meet with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in a bid to stave off an election.

The partys spending spokesman, Dara Calleary, told the Irish Examiner that the choice is one for Fine Gael and for Ms Fitzgerald to put the country first.

He said the core issue at stake was that Frances Fitzgerald did not do her job right.

The Mayo TD said the current stalemate between his party and Fine Gael is because parliamentary questions put down by Labours Mr Kelly were not answered.

Mr Calleary said: The fact that were doing this trawl now after a tribunal was set up, after a tribunal demanded information, that the Government still arent confident that the tribunal has all the necessary information is exactly why were here.

Meath East TD Thomas Byrne told RTE his party was expecting to receive all the documents uncovered by the trawl carried out in the Department of Justice over An Garda Siochanas legal strategy at the OHiggins commission.

Mr Byrne said it is still the position of his party that the Tanaistes resignation would end the political crisis.

That is our position, he said. When we put down a motion we do not do it willy nilly. This is about the lack of information given to the Dail in relation to this issue last week. This is not a motion in the Government, this is not a motion which causes a General Election. This is a matter for the Taoiseach to resolve.

What my leader is doing is trying to work out some resolution which brings answers to the questions posed and also to the political crisis which is the threat of an election.

The two leaders have the space to try and resolve this, but this is a serious matter.

Mr Byrne called for the documents made available to Fianna Fail that had not been given under pain of law to the Disclosures Tribunal and said it is unbelievable that they were only found following a trawl of documents in the wake of the ongoing political crisis.

The one thing ministers need to function is the confidence of the Dail. Frances Fitzgerald does not have the confidence of Dail Eireann and she should go, said Mr Byrne.

Meanwhile, several Fianna Fail TDs have denied that they were part of a group of TDs who cheered a TV broadcast in the Dail bar during which justice spokesman Jim OCallaghan said they would not vote confidence in Ms Fitzgerald.

Cork TD Billy Kelleher, Mayo TDs Dara Calleary and Lisa Chambers, Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte and Sligo TD Marc MacSharry have all denied cheering at the broadcast, despite being named as present in the bar at the time.
He enjoys writing about fashion, but it was his work on mental health issues that started him blogging.

I fell ill with some mental health issues three years ago, and after leaving retail work in early 2016, I had gotten in touch with some mental health charities to do some volunteer work, he said.

Mental Health Ireland got in touch asking if I could add on to my story and have it published on their site. Thats where it all kicked off.

The success of that online piece opened doors for Adam. Within a couple weeks my story had been published across various media platforms both online and print and I had gotten my first blogging gig for a fashion brand in London.

Continuing to work from home, I decided after a few months it was time to venture out to my own blogging platform and ThisBoyKnows.com was born from there.

Adam continues to act as a voice for mental health issues. I have also continued my mental health work by joining SeeChange.ie as an official Ambassador and I am also a part of ReachOut.coms Youth Network.

Adam, who is from Limerick, enjoys writing about fashion and social issues.

I have always had a huge interest in mens street fashion and of course my mental health work is what started it all. After trialling different ways, I decided to speak more from the heart on my website. My typical content will be a fashion shoot to keep that style element but the core content will be spoken on my mental health, general social issues, lifestyle topics and more.

His blog gives Adam the opportunity to create original content that excites him.

My highlights have definitely been the ability to just work creatively on a daily basis. Im very fortunate with my creative control and that I have the ability to try new things every single day. I love that no two days are the same and being able to work in such a creative field definitely makes things much more enjoyable.

While many people struggle to find their way on social media, Adam embraces the challenge.

I have this saying that social media is what you make it, and I truly stand by that. I often hear from various people that social media is toxic in our generation, but I believe it can only be toxic if we use it that way. Theres so many of us that have really taken it on board and turned it into an amazing way to not only connect with people but to inspire and create art.
***

The story below was subject to the following clarification

On 27th November 2017, we published an article in the print edition and online under the headline Should Frances Fitzgerald have queried Mc Cabe issue?.

We would like to clarify that there was no suggestion or implication in the article that now retired Chief Superintendent Colm Rooney was part of a strategy to falsely present Maurice McCabe before the OHiggins Commission.

We acknowledge that Chief Superintendent Rooney was never at any stage a party to such a strategy and indeed it was found by the Disclosures Tribunal that no such strategy existed.

We are happy to acknowledge that Retired Chief Superintendent Rooney is a person of the highest personal and professional integrity.

***

ELECTION or no election, a far more important process concerning the strength of our democracy is now scheduled to begin on January 8.

This will be an inquiry at the Disclosures Tribunal into whether and to what extent the most powerful elements of the State were involved in attempts to destroy a citizen. And not just any citizen, but a garda who was engaged in doing a public service.

Last Friday, the schedule for the tribunal changed. The next phase of inquiry was to be the media module, examining any smear campaign against Sergeant Maurice McCabe through the Garda Press Office.

The element examining attempts to smear McCabe at the OHiggins Commission  which is at the centre of the current political impasse  was to follow. Now that schedule has been flipped.

A statement from the tribunal on Friday noted: The order in which the tribunal proposes to pursue that work is to commence with the OHiggins Commission issue.

Lawyers who have been assisting the tribunal were surprised at the change of schedule. That change was announced on the same day a political storm evolved into a full-blown crisis, following Fianna Fails decision to vote no confidence in Frances Fitzgerald.

Frances Fitzgerald

The statement also set out that the Oireachtas had noted that a public inquiry is the most appropriate way to investigate the matters of public disquiet.

During an interview on RTEs Six-One news of Friday, the Taoiseach referenced the tribunal statement approvingly. The exact basis on which the chair of the tribunal, Judge Peter Charleton, decided to flip the schedule, and announce a commencement date for hearings, is unknown.

But whatever the basis, the tribunal and its urgency to investigate the matter of what happened at the OHiggins commission has been constantly referenced by Government ministers since Friday.

What it means is that, should an election be avoided, the hearings commencing on January 8 will be under intense scrutiny. But even if there is an election, the hearings should demand the full attention of anybody interested in how a democracy functions.

So what is to be investigated?

OHiggins was set up to examine McCabes complaints of malpractice in Cavan/Monaghan. The hearings behind closed doors commenced on May 14, 2015.

The following day, two separate historic meetings  which had nothing to do with the complaints of malpractice under investigation  were introduced to the commission. They both harked back to a complaint made by a daughter of a colleague of McCabes in 2006. McCabe had reported the colleague over a disciplinary matter. Ten months later, the daughter  known as Ms D  made a complaint that eight years previously, McCabe had abused her in some way.

The complaint was investigated and found to be lacking in any credibility.

The local State solicitor said that if the incident had even happened, it amounted to horseplay. The DPPs office said there was no credible evidence that it had happened, and even if it had, it did not constitute a criminal offence.

Despite that, elements within the force had tried for years to use the allegation to discredit McCabe. Nobody had dared publicise it, as that would have attracted a huge libel action. But it was spread like manure in vicious rumours to attempt to portray McCabe as harbouring a grudge against the force.

At OHiggins, two meetings were cited as evidence that McCabe bore a grudge over the affair, despite being completely cleared. The first concerned a meeting between McCabe and the retired chief superintendent for Cavan/Monaghan, Colm Rooney, in 2007.

Rooney claimed that McCabe was displeased at the meeting over the directions of the DPP on the allegation from Ms D.

Independent TD Mick Wallace introduced this meeting to the Dail last week.

Mick Wallace

Chief superintendent Colm Rooney said Maurice was angry and vicious and wanted the DPP to overturn the directions from the Ms D file, not realising that Maurice had already seen them, agreed with them, and wouldnt be looking for them to be overturned, Wallace told the House.

As Wallace pointed out, McCabe knew the directions at the time of that meeting and the directions couldnt have been more favourable to him.

So why was he being portrayed as angry and vicious and wanting the directions changed?

The second meeting occurred in Mullingar in 2008. The commission was told there would be evidence that McCabe expressed a grudge at this meeting over the handling of the DPP directions. Then he produced a recording of the meeting, which proved no grudge had been expressed.

If McCabe had not had the resources to protect himself, a sworn inquiry would have operated on the basis that at two separate meetings, McCabe expressed anger or a grudge over the fall-out from the Ms D allegation.

That would have called his motives into question. It would have portrayed him as duplicitous and scheming. The complaints he made would have been examined in a different light, most likely diluting the significance of the malpractice.

Also, it would have introduced into the public domain the discredited allegation from 2006, allowing those opposed to him to wrap it in slime, smother the facts and falsely present him as somebody with questions to answer over an alleged grievous crime.

If the scenarios, as originally laid out by the legal strategy, had been seen through, it could have destroyed a man, particularly one who had been under intense pressure since first making his complaints in 2008.

The legal strategy pursuing this scenario was known to the then garda commissioner Noirin OSullivan, the chief state solicitors office, Attorney Generals office, the Department of Justice, and most likely the minister for justice of the day, Frances Fitzgerald.

The tribunal must assess who knew what and when and how informed they were about the detail of what was going on.

Frances Fitzgeralds dilemma back in May 2015 must be seen in the context of the range of forces of the State lined up against McCabe.

As the elected person in Government, should she have had the courage and curiosity to at least question why a citizen whom she had publicly praised was being targeted in this manner?
Everyone seemed to be a straight, white, conservative Catholic. To a disgruntled teenage misfit, it felt like a bubble from which the oxygen of self-expression had been sucked, and replaced by rules put in place by priests and old people. Like all the other disgruntled misfits, I legged it.

Today, I live in another bubble. This bubble, however, is of my own choosing. I live in a town full of vegan yoga teachers; as a vegan who likes yoga, this works for me. Politically, the town is eco-lefty, welcomes refugees, has a significant LGBT demographic; as a lefty tree-hugging do-gooder who loves a shiny gay disco, I have no plans to move. Everyone I know thinks like I do. We are awfully nice people, and have the Go Fund Me pages to prove it.

Youre in a bubble, my sister tells me. Shes an academic, and cant rant because its considered unprofessional. She has to be measured, even about Trump. (Id make a crap academic.) I am so much in a bubble, she says, that she uses me as an example when defining what being in a bubble is to her politics undergraduates.

I like my bubble, I tell her. Nobody in my bubble voted for Brexit. Yet Brexit is happening, and Trump has happened. Perhaps remaining inside my bubble is as narrow minded as how I perceive those with whom I disagree politically  the Brexiteers, the Trump supporters. They cant all be swivel-eyed racists, can they?

My chap insists the only way to understand the Other Side is to engage with them; to stop shouting and start listening. I cant quite bring myself to do what he does  to directly interact with people whose politics I find abhorrent  because I am intolerant of muppets who voted for Brexit.

But I can certainly seek out unheard voices and differing points of view, given how the mainstream media is mostly filled with the middle-class liberals (the kind who like yoga and tofu).

Which had led me to the two most arresting books I have read all year  Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, and Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey. While the first is an interesting account of how a clever boy from a deprived background made it to Yale, the second grabs you by the throat.

McGarvey is a young working-class writer in a world dominated by middle-class writers. He has survived an early life that we the soyaccino-sippers could not comfortably imagine. He is left wing, but says the most radical act a person can undertake is to change themselves. McGarvey is all about bursting the bubble, and seeing beyond it.

Poverty Safari is my book of the year. I urge you to read it now.
MORE than 120 people have started work at the Island's new call centre to handle the Christmas rush.

Ascensos has recruited 122 people, including 87 Isle of Wight College students, during the peak shopping period leading up to Christmas.

Operations director Lyle McLean said the new recruits would gain valuable customer service experience handling phone, email and online queries for a range of big retailers.

"It's great to be able to use this busy period as a platform to provide work experience and extra income to so many of the Island's students and other members of the community. It is fantastic to have established a working link with Isle of Wight College and create a pipeline of future employment opportunities."

The Cowes call centre is the company's first UK operation outside Scotland and, once fully operational, will create up to 600 jobs, making Ascensos one of the Island's largest employers.

The total number of staff currently, including the Christmas recruits, is 551.
MEMBERS of the Island's Indian and Asian communities, as well as the Island's MP, Bob Seely, local councillors and public sector workers, celebrated the festival of Diwali in Ryde.

The Diwali or festival of light, the Hindu equivalent of Christmas, was very well attended with about 260 guests.

Mr Seely lit a torch to kick-start proceedings at The Balcony, Ryde which culminated in a firework display on the beach.

There was a brilliant cultural programme with displays of beautiful Indian costumes specially designed and brought over from India.

Dances were choreographed by Anupama Singh depicting Indian culture at large along with Bollywood dances and songs with a live Bollywood band.

Both adults and children took part in the cultural programmes.

Children's dances were performed by Nithya Akundi, Imran Rahman, Rohan Sesetti, Aryan Singh, Rhea Thakrar, Aashima Maheshwari, Amelia Rahman and Avi Sesetti.

Delicious Indian food was also served by Swad Indian Cuisine from Sandown.

A raffle with part of the proceedings going towards the aid of the Hampshire and IW Air Ambulance was held.

The Diwali function has become very popular over the years and aims to keep alive the Indian traditions here on the Island.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trauma Center, Civil Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan required candidates for the posts of Radiologist, ICU Physician, Medical Officers, Manager Medical Records, Assistant Manager Nursing, Librarian, Assistant Administrator, Technicians, Security Supervisor and Security Guards. For more jobs register with Jobz.pk .

How to Apply on Civil Hospital Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. Login to view further details of how to apply via https://www.jobz.pk online.

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us via contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs may not be applied online here. Human typing error is possible. Error & omissions excepted.
https://www.johnnyfd.com/2017/11/las-palmas-gran-canaria-guide-to-canary.html





If you've ever been to Gran Canaria, you may hear how it's like a smaller, cheaper version of Barcelona on an island with warm weather year round. You may have heard that second to Chiang Mai, it's the biggest digital nomad hot spot in the world, and that those who come here often decide to become residents and stay forever. The good news is that all of that is somewhat true, but before you go packing your bags, let me take the time to properly explain the pros and cons of living on Gran Canaria long term as an expat, digital nomad, or online entrepreneur. In this post i'll be talking about the costs of living, where to find apartments or accomidation, and review coworking spaces, the food, lifestyle, and give you all of the info you need before considering a move to Gran Canaria.









How to Get to Gran Canaria:









The good news for Europeans is the fact there are tons of cheap, direct flights from all over Europe including Dublin Ireland, Vienna, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Zurich, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Prague, Lisbon, Italy, and Spain. I flew here from Ukraine which currently doesn't have a direct flight which meant I had to stop over in Germany for a night first, but was still relatively easy and cheap. For my 2019 trip, I flew from Sri Lanka with an overnight stopover in Switzerland.





From the U.S., Canada, Australia or Asia you'd have to first fly into one of the countries or cities above. The good news is that flights can be had for cheap, the only downside is that because it's Europe, even international planes are often small, which means it's not usually worth upgrading to business class since overnight flights with layflat seats aren't popular. That means, whether you fly the cheapest economy seats or business class, you'll be taking a lot of shorter flights and sitting upright most of the trip.





Once you're at LPA airport in Gran Canaria however, it's super easy to get around and there's even a cheap and easy 45 minute airport bus that goes straight from LPA to where you'll be staying in Las Palmas. for just around $3. If you take a taxi from the airport, expect to pay around $33 for the same trip. However, the good news is that once you've in Las Palmas, it's relatively cheap to take taxi's locally, so an easy hack is to take the airport bus (#60) to San Telmo bus station in Las Palmas, then take a $5 taxi directly to your apartment or hotel.













Map of Gran Canaria - LPA Airport and Las Palmas











Introduction to LPA:





I met a bunch of people who left Chiang Mai and the nomadic life and moved permanently to Gran Canaria recently and just spent the past 2.5 months checking out it for myself. It's technically part of Spain and the EU, but since it's located off the west coast of Africa, it's warm year round. It's an island with amazing beaches, surfing, and scuba diving, and has really good infrastructure and over a dozen co-working spaces.

Best of all, the island actually welcomes digital nomads and encourages us to get permanent residencies.



It's also cheaper than living in Barcelona or Berlin, while having all of the amenities like being able to order from Amazon, and having big stores where you can buy anything like Ikea, Decathlon, and a huge electronics store called Media Market. Even better there are multiple islands close by to explore, sand dunes, mountains, and even a rainforest just an hour away. Here's what a typical day in the life of a digital nomad or remote worker looks like living in Las Palmas.





I met a bunch of people who left Chiang Mai and the nomadic life and moved permanently to Gran Canaria recently and just spent the past 2.5 months checking out it for myself. It's technically part of Spain and the EU, but since it's located off the west coast of Africa, it's warm year round. It's an island with amazing beaches, surfing, and scuba diving, and has really good infrastructure and over a dozen co-working spaces.Best of all, the island actually welcomes digital nomads and encourages us to get permanent residencies.It's also cheaper than living in Barcelona or Berlin, while having all of the amenities like being able to order from Amazon, and having big stores where you can buy anything like Ikea, Decathlon, and a huge electronics store called Media Market. Even better there are multiple islands close by to explore, sand dunes, mountains, and even a rainforest just an hour away. Here's what a typical day in the life of a digital nomad or remote worker looks like living in Las Palmas.













Why Las Palmas?









So you might be wondering why we chose to live on the north eastern tip of Gran Canaria in the capital city of Las Palmas when the south in Maspalomas is much more beautiful, has better weather year round, and has more things to do as a tourist. Well the answer is because even though the south of Gran Canaria is great for holiday makers on vacation, Las Palmas is a much better place to live year round and long term, or to live as a digital nomad or online entrepreneur.





The problem with Las Palmas however, is that at first glance, it's a bit ugly. Don't get me wrong, I love it here and have came to appercaite it's beauty, but honestly, when I first arrived, my expectations were too high and I thought that my friends who told me about how amazing it is, was wrong. So here's the thing, Las Palmas isn't a high class, beautiful city with amazing architecture, ocean views and a resort like feeling. It looks and feels more like a small, low to mid-class, grungy city that to has a very city nice beach and happens to be on an island. Don't come here expecting it to look or feel like a tropical island resort, because it's not and like me, you'll be disappointed if you do. Las Palmas is strange for the fact that as soon as you are even a block and a half from the main beach boardwalk, you suddenly forget that you're near a beach or on an island at all.





But that's actually the main reason why I love Las Palmas as much as I do, and that hundreds of other digital nomads and expats feel the same. It's the fact that you can have a normal city life, have the conveniences of everything you want from home, while being able to walk a few blocks or drive a few miles and be out in nature or in the sea.













Hanging out with friends on Las Canteras Beach





Las Canteras Beach





If you watched my snorkeling video, depending on where else you've been in the world, or if you are comparing it to the freezing waters in the U.K. or the warm tropical waters of Thailand, you may be thinking, wow that sunset looks nice, or wow, that doesn't look that impressive, I've seen better. In both cases you'd be correct. But even though I've been snorkeling and scuba diving in Thailand, Australia, Bali, Indonesia, Borneo, California, Hawaii, and the Caribbean, I can honestly say that swimming and snorkeling off of Las Canteras Beach here in Las Palmas is my favorite place in the world and it's the place I do it most often.



Even though there are nicer beaches and oceans else where in the world, none of them are as clean, convenient, and easily accessible as the one here in Las Palmas. In most places you need to drive to a beach, take a bus, or otherwise go out of your way to get there. But the way Las Canteras is situated, it's often faster and easier to walk along the beach when getting around the city as it's a straight line as opposed to zig-zags in the city center. Also since it's such a long beach, wherever you live in the city, you're just a short walk away, meaning it's possible that you'll pass it 3-5 times everyday just going to and front work, the gym, or to restaurants to meet friends. They clean the beach daily, so even though you can sometimes still find cigarette butts from inconsiderate smokers, in general the beach is very clean, and since this is Europe, locals don't throw trash in the ocean or dump garbage like they do in Indonesia and Malaysia, which means the water isn't polluted.



Being a long beach, even though certain spots are often crowded, it never feels annoying as there aren't touts trying to sell you anything, and the beach chair rentals are limited to certain spots, it gives you plenty of room to lay out freely. It's also a great places to watch sunsets, tan topless, or leave your things while you go for a swim or a snorkel.













Snorkeling in Las Palmas

Quiksilver Pop up Shop on Las Canteras Beach

My first AirBnb in Las Palmas came with Surf Boards!

Nature in Gran Canaria

Adventure in Gran Canaria

Where to Stay in Las Palmas









Even though the city of Las Palmas is relatively small at around 3.3km or 2 miles if you're walking from the very south of the beach near the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium to the very north of the beach near Isleta, it still takes 40 minutes which is fine to do once in awhile, but it's much easier to stay in the center and closer to the beach if you want to have easy access to everywhere you'll need to go on a day to day basis.





Circled in Green is my favorite area in Las Palmas to stay as it's in the center of the beach where most things happen, most of the restaurants and bars are, where the popular Santa Catalina is, and where the best part of the beach is. Staying here means that you're usually a 15 minute or less walk from any coworking space, coffee shop, gym, meetup, yoga class, or bar. If you can't find an apartment in the green zone, you can stay anywhere within the blue zone which is still walkable, but be prepared to walk 30 minutes on average wherever you may go and up to 45 minutes. The problem with Las Palmas is the fact that because of all of the one way streets, dead ends and zig-zags, you'll never actually take a bus or a taxi to get around within the city meaning you should be prepared to walk wherever you go, and if you're going to walk anyways, you might as well do it along the beach, which is why I recomend staying there. But if you ask any locals, they'll say that anywhere pictured on this map below is still a fine area to be in as it's all considered the city center, but just like living in New York, there are more desireable areas than others.



Not pictured on this map is the old city of Vegueta which is just 30 minutes sound of Las Palmas by bus or a $6 Taxi ride. It's also a nice place if you don't care to live by the beach.





Apartments, Airbnb and Accommodations

The message I used to negotiate this 2BR from $2,500 to $1,300 a month

2018 Update: It looks like it worked for my buddy AJ as well!

The Siesta Lifestyle

Typical Restaurant Hours: Closed Sunday/Monday, Closed for Breakfast and Lunch, then closed again for dinner.

Taken at my friend Julie's apartment!

Digital Nomads in Gran Canaria

At the first Nomad Coffee Club in Las Palmas meetup!

LPA Coworking Spaces









At "The Roof" Co-Living Space with Nacho

At the Nomad Coffee Club LPA Meetup!

Internet and Data

Internet Speed in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

Visas and Residency

Citizen's of the Green can stay anywhere in the Dark Blue for 90 Days

When to Visit

Monthly Temperature in Gran Canaria

Food in Gran Canaria





But my favorite things aside from eating out in Las Palmas is probably visiting the fresh fruit and vegetable farmer's markets and cooking at home so make sure you visit Mercado Central, de Vegueta and del Puerto. A typical lunch will cost you around 8-10 euro and usually includes a soup and a main, plus a drink, coffee or dessert. For dinner you'll usually pay around 15 euro at most restaurants. But pinchos (little bread tapa things) and sandwiches are cheap as well as small plates at places like Pachichi, so it's possible to go out for a glass of wine or beer plus a snack for 4 or 5 euro which is a good deal. Tasca Galileo (great tapas and wine). For bars food and amazing value for cheap drinks, the winner is definitely Bodegon Pachichi and on thursdays the entire street in Vegeta that turns into $2.50 tapas and wine night. Outside of the capital, closer to the south of the island, there was also a super authentic restaurant with homemade cheese, bread, and on weekends even roast entire pigs. It's out of the way but worth checking out, Vaqueria Las Salinas if you ever rent a car and are passing by.But my favorite things aside from eating out in Las Palmas is probably visiting the fresh fruit and vegetable farmer's markets and cooking at home so make sure you visit Mercado Central, de Vegueta and del Puerto. A typical lunch will cost you around 8-10 euro and usually includes a soup and a main, plus a drink, coffee or dessert. For dinner you'll usually pay around 15 euro at most restaurants. But pinchos (little bread tapa things) and sandwiches are cheap as well as small plates at places like Pachichi, so it's possible to go out for a glass of wine or beer plus a snack for 4 or 5 euro which is a good deal.



Traditional starters at Vaqueria Las Salinas. 5 euro a dish average.







Flaming chorizo at Bodegon Pachichi + a 1 Euro beer





My Overall Thoughts:

In the sand dunes of Maspalomas in the South

More from Las Palmas:





Let me know what you think of Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands, and Las Palmas in the comments below. Feel free to ask me anything as well and I'm happy to add it to the FAQ!







Warm Regards,





Johnny FD



Questions? Like this Post? Comment below!



Let me know what you think of Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands, and Las Palmas in the comments below. Feel free to ask me anything as well and I'm happy to add it to the FAQ!Warm Regards,

It's been an incredible two months here on Gran Canaria and it's a place that I could definitely see myself moving to as a permanent resident. I first heard of the Canary Islands and Las Palmas in general just months ago when a few digital nomad friends I met while traveling told me that they had given up their life of constant travel and have settled down on the island of Gran Canaria. I've heard of a lot of good destinations for nomads to become expats including Thailand, Bali, Columbia, Mexico, and Portugal, but Gran Canaria seemed to have an advantage over all of them and I had to see it for myself to find out first hand. This post has now been updated for 2019 during my second trip to Las Palmas.It's a bit strange to say that even though I've snorkeled with amazing fish life in other places around the world including sea turtles, sharks, and manta rays in crystal clear waters, snorkeling off of Las Palmas is actually my favorite. It's not the best snorkeling, and depending on the day and the tide, conditions can range from wavy, cloudy and terrible, to really good but still not very fishy. But the reason why I like it so much is the fact that it's super convenient to go everyday after work. If you go during low tide and swim out to the rock reef, you'll be surprised on how clear it can get and how much fish you can see. I've even seen a couple of hard to find species like octopus, flounders, crabs, and even a spotted snake-eel which was really cool especially since they are not poisonous and non-dangerous but look like they could be.The best place to snorkel off of Las Canteras is opposite CrossFit Las Canteras during low tide, if you swim all the way out to the rock reef. You don't need fins, and you can buy a cheap mask and snorkel at any of the local variety shops or at decathlon. I recomend buying the cheap $3 snorkel as those tend to work better than the fancy ones with the water purge/exhaust valves. As for masks, just find one that fits. Since the water temperatures are a brisk 22-24c most of the year, you don't need a wetsuit or even a rashguard. But if you get cold easily, you can invest in one if it prevents you from enjoying the ocean. You can also find rockier spots around the island that often have more fish life such as just in front of the Surf Hostel. I've also swam past the rock reef to check it out and it was gorgeous. But I wouldn't recomend it to most people as the current could take you out into the open ocean and is dangerous. Also it's too deep to snorkel and would be better with scuba gear. Luckily there is decent scuba diving on the island as well!However, the reason why I love snorkeling on Las Canteras as much as I do, isn't just because there are cool fish to see, it's the fact that it's protected by a natural rock reef which means that during low tide, you can safely swim long distances without worrying about currents, tides, boats, jet skis or any other dangers as there's nothing but you, a few other swimmers, and the occasional paddle boarder.If you want to bodyboard or surf, you can simply go to the south of Las Canteras, or the very north at La Confidential during the right tides and have that as well. You can rent a surfboard and a wetsuit for just 10 to 15 euro for two hours.Perhaps my favorite thing about the island of Gran Canaria is the fact that within a 1 hour drive, you have what feels like 7 different continents. You have the capital city of Las Palmas which feels like you're in a smaller Barcelona. You have the touristy beaches in the South as well as the sand dunes in Maspalomas which make it look like you're somewhere in Egypt. You mountains and peaks of Roque Nublo at 1,813m high and a nice trek. During some years it even snows above 1,000m. But at the same time you have what looks like an Arizona desert in La Confital, cactus in the center, all while an hour away you have small waterfalls and rainforest in laurisilva.On the same beach, depending on the tide, you can have volleyball, surfing, bodyboarding, snorkeling, and scuba diving. It's really amazing how much diversity there is on one relatively small island. The only problem is that most people never leave their area and go to to explore. But since buses run everywhere, and car rentals are relatively affordable, there isn't an excuse not to take weekend trips to go explore. You even have a Decathlon store which sells really good sporting equipment at fantastic prices, which means you can go buy yourself a decent pair of $12 hiking shoes and a $5 backpack, snorkel set, or whatever else you may need once you get here.The only problem is that aside from the one Meetup.com group that Erik, a Danish expat is currently hosting, there isn't an easy way to meet other people to go on hiking trips or nature exploration with. So if he's not currently in town, it's not always that easy to go out and see what the island has to offer. But even though it may not seem like they exist, if you ask around or look hard enough, especially if you search in Spanish, you'll find all sorts of cool things to do such as Hiking Groups or Acroyoga in Las Palmas. The fact that all the photos in this blog post are taking on the same island, and all within a 1 hour drive of each other is insane. I don't know of anywhere else in the world where you can do that with maybe the exception of San Diego, which is another city I love.For my 2019 trip, I did a few more adventure sports including zip lining, caving, repealing, rock climbing and paragliding for my first time ever, all with a great couple that runs Fly in Canarias. Here's a video I filmed on my buddy David Vu's GoPro that captured a bit of Gran Canaria from the sky and what it's like to fly over it on a paraglider for the first time!It's not cheap or easy to find housing in Las Palmas, but it's doable, you just need to follow my advice and be prepared to take some time doing so. Honestly, compared to places like Chiang Mai, Thailand where you can just show up and find a monthly rental for easy and cheap, here it's a lot more difficult. The good news is that it's possible, you just need to do some work arounds.Apartments aren't actually that expensive in Las Palmas or buy or to rent long term. You can find a great 1-bedroom apartment in the green zone for around $700 a month if you're staying long term. The problem is the fact that Airbnb rentals are overpriced in hopes that tourists who don't know any better will fall for the trap and pay the outrageous rate of $2,000-$3,500 a month for something that should be half the price. The good news is that after learning the trick, all you have to do is use google translate to craft a message into Spanish, and message every Airbnb that you are interested in with the same message asking for an additional 40-60% off the monthly price. In my experience over 80% of landlords replied and many of them were happy to discount the rental as they know what they were asking for was ridiculous.You can also find a coliving house like Restation or The Roof or any of the other ones that are popping up in Gran Canaria all of the time. If it's your first time using Airbnb, here's a $40 off coupon for Airbnb valid for your first trip. If you're staying for 6+ months, the best way to find housing is to book an airbnb for 1-2 weeks, then meet a local agent that will show you around.In most places you can show up and find an apartment within a few days, but in Gran Canaria, being part of Spain, things work slower here so be prepared. Luckily since we weren't in a rush and we had friends on the island already, we were able to figure things out within a few weeks, but it wasn't as quick and easy as we were expecting, mainly due to the siesta lifestyle. Many businesses don't open until 10 or 11am then close again from 1:30pm - 4:30pm, and almost everything is closed on Sundays. This means that if you want to get anything done, you'll need to time it right, get lucky or come back another day. An example would be trying to register for ByBike, the awesome free for 15 minutes at a time bike rentals. The way you register is go to the office, which is closed 70% of the time, they give you a website URL to register and tell you to wait for 2 days to get an email. You get that email, confirm it, which tells you to wait again. Then you print out that email and bring it back to that office to register...which you'll then realize is closed or the holiday/siesta or weekend. Some people get lucky and get it done within days, but things like this often take people weeks or months as it's easy to forget about and put off.It also means that if you're looking for a place to come relax, take it easy, and chill out, Gran Canaria is a great place to live long term, or even retire, as you'll see with a ton of older people here in thier 60's and 70's. However, if you're looking to hustle hard, eat low carb, paleo, or build a business, and network with other like minded entrepreneurs, you might be disappointed. But then again, it depends on your ideal schedule. For me, I enjoy waking up early, working until 4pm, going to exercise, then having dinner before 7pm and sleeping before 11pm. Here however, a lot of restaurants don't even open until 8pm, which means dinners are often late and start at 9pm, with drinks, tapas and bread until midnight.Things are just slower paced here, and if that's what you enjoy, or maybe need as a break from your normal routine, it's a great place to be. Personally, I can see myself coming here for 2-3 months a year to relax and go into business maintenance mode while enjoying tapas and wine a few nights a week. But even though there are plenty of coworking spaces, fast internet, and the infrastructure needed to go into growth mode and build a new online business, you may feel the lack of outside motivation as most others will be enjoying life nice and slow and easy, waking up late and drinking beer and wine at least a few nights a week. There are also a lot of holidays where everything is closed.The good news is that Gran Canaria is very open to attracting remote workers and digital nomads and wants to bring in jobs, knowledge, and infrastructure. Unlike places like Thailand where expats and digital nomads are simply tolerated, here in Las Palmas, we're actually welcome with open arms which is a refreshing change. There are a ton of coworking spaces in Las Palmas and there are a bunch of events here such as Nomad City and the Nomad Cruise . Seeing the photos from these events may make you think that Las Palmas is already a hot spot for digital nomads and it kind of is, if you know where to look or when to come.Las Palmas has the foundation to become the next Chiang Mai, but at least as of 2017, it still need a bit more promotion to really get it going. The problem is that even though there are plenty of digital nomads on the island, there aren't that many regular events which means it's hard to meet each other. You could pass through there for a week and aside from the handful of people you meet at a coworking space, you might not realize there are 50-100 other nomads in Las Palmas working from home or other places. I've tried to do my part by helping to set up Nomad Coffee Club Las Palmas with the help of Maria, Myriam and a few of the other coworking space owners in hopes that there will continue to be weekly or at least bi-weekly meetings over coffee where nomads can meet each other, network, make new friends, and share knowledge on how to be successful with their online businesses.When you come to Las Palmas, be sure to join the various facebook groups including the Nomad Coffee Club (Las Palmas) and Gran Canaria Digital Nomads When people say they are coworking in Gran Canaria, they typically mean the city of Las Palmas. But in terms of layout, comfort, natural light, and other things that make the best coworking space, GoCoworking is actually the best space on the island that I've seen. Read this blog post for the qualities I look for in an ideal coworking space . However, the biggest problem and the reason why I don't work from there is the fact that it's a 30 minute bus ride or a 1 hour walk away from Las Canteras Beach in Las Palmas which is where I choose to live. If you don't plan on using the beach often, then definitely check out GoCoworking as it's a great space.But for those who want to live in Las Palmas, don't worry, you have 9 other spaces to check out, and my best advice would be to go to all of them for a free trial day to check them out for yourself and see what you like the best. Before I came, I had heard from guys like Chris the Freelancer and others that Coworking C was the most popular digital nomad space so I was tempted to just go straight there, but as much as I liked it, I'm also glad that I took the time to look around and find one that suited me and my needs to best. For example, I really liked ReStation for it's live in community, and liked the layout of The SandBox. And I might have really liked CoCo or some of the others if I had lived more in that direction and if they had a community, but for me I ended up working out of Soppa De Azul because the location on the north end of the beach was a perfect excuse for me to walk on the sand for 20 minutes each direction to and from home everyday. I also liked the layout, community of artists, and the fact that it had a little kitchen area in the front where I could make a salad and keep my half a roast chicken in the fridge for the next day. They also had some spaces for me to record podcasts which is something I do twice a week that most other nomads probably don't need to.The best thing about coworking spaces on Gran Canaria is the surprising fact that all of the owners treat each other as friends and not competition which really makes it comfortable to bounce around. Nacho the owner of Coworking C, would invite me over to BBQ's at The Roof Living Space and Carlos the owner of The Sandbox would host monthly digital nomad meetups over Tapas. Maria the owner of Restation not only helped me start up the coffee club here, but would also have weekly mastermind meetups. For whatever reason, Las Palmas is way better setup in terms of coworking spaces than Chiang Mai, even though it's not yet as popular of a nomad hotspot.This year for 2019 I worked out of the new coworking space on Las Canteras called Work Labs mainly because it was close to where I was staying but also because my friends Louise and Ed were working out of there. The owner was super cool and had actually read my article about ideal coworking spaces and was super owner to suggestions. I also gave a talk at the Nomad Coffee Club LPA which was cool to go back to especially since it was a packed bar with over 40 local nomads and expats showing up!Once set up, the internet and mobile data on Gran Canaria is actually very good. The problem is that unless you are a resident of the EU and already have a post-paid data plan on your phone, in which you can now roam for free within the EU. For Americans and others there aren't any mobile phone shops in LPA airport or places that sell SIM cards aside from maybe the spar supermarket in the airport. That means that we had to ask a random taxi driver to call our airbnb host to come meet us and let us in, then try to find a local phone shop during their opening hours to get data.The good news is that once we set it up, you can renew online, and it is relatively cheap at around $15 a month for 4GB of high speed 4G internet. Coworking spaces here start from around 100 euro ($125 after tax) a month and have stable connections of 30mps down/25mps upload which is plenty fast enough. All of the Airbnb's I've stayed at also had decent wifi speeds, with my current one having a super fast speed of 100mps down/20mps up. The only problems is that every single house I've lived in has had thick walls which meant the wifi never reaches the bedrooms. A hack is to move the router into the hallway, but it doesn't always solve the problem. Aside from that, Spain and Portugal have gotten rid of net neutrality which means that even with 100mps down speeds, things like Netflix and Youtube are throttled making them sometimes outrageously slow to buffer.As for coffee shops and cafes, even though there are a few decent ones like Cafe Regina , there aren't that many good options to work from and some coffee shops don't have wifi at all, which boggles my mind in 2017. As for 2019, there's now a Starbucks on the beach which may be decent to work at but doesn't open until 9am.One of the big reasons why Gran Canaria has become so popular with a lot of nomads is the fact that it's relatively simple to come here as a tourist, then stay long term as a resident. Most nationalities including Americans get 90 days automatically and if you're part of the EU you can stay for up to 6 months at a time with no issues. Unfortunately for Americans, Canadians, Australians and anyone else in the green zones in the map below, once our 90 days are up anywhere in the schengen zone, which is most of the EU, highlighted by dark blue on the map, we then need to leave the entire zone for another 90 days. That means that digital nomads wanting to live in Gran Canaria, can't just make a visa run to Morocco or back to another country in Europe then come back after a few days or even a few weeks. We'd have to completely leave the EU/Schengen zone until our 90 days every 6 months completely resets. That means if we want to live in Gran Canaria for the full 3 months, we won't be able to visit Portugal, Germany, Poland, or anywhere else the Schengen this trip.If you want to stay longer, you'll need to become a resident. The good news is that it's actually possible unlike places like Thailand. Bad news is that it's a huge pain in the ass, especially for non EU citizens due to Spanish bureaucracy. If you're a citizen of the EU, you can just show up, get 6 months, fly home to visit, and come straight back without issues. But you'll still want to look into getting an NIE Number (below) once you get here to do things like rent apartments and get internet service in your name long term, as well as qualify for perks like 75% discounts on flights and ferries to other islands and to mainland Spain.I've had a few expat friends go through the process and even though they all eventually got it, they all said it was a huge pain in the ass because of Spanish business hours, language barriers, excess paperwork, unnecessary bureaucracy and getting the run around by government workers who often find it's easier to tell you go to somewhere else and hope that you give up or that someone else helps you instead. But as long as you are committed and are willing to spend a few weeks doing it (even though it technically should be able to be done in a day) you can follow the instructions here to get your NIE (ID number) and Residencia. One the best options for digital nomads and those working online is actually the Non-Lucrative Visa which is also known as the Non-Profit Visa or the Retirement Visa as it allows you to live here as long as you don't take local jobs and you can prove that you have either enough savings ($30,124) or online/investment income to support yourself. If you think $30k is an insane number that you'll never be able to save up, read my book Life Changes Quick to see how I went from almost zero to $30k in less than 2 years. You can read about it on this family's blog post about getting it. But basically, even though getting the visa is possible, it's a huge pain in the ass with a ton of paperwork, FBI background checks, background checks for any country you visited for more than 6 months in the past 5 years, English to Spanish translation requirements for every single piece of paperwork you submit, and a ton of other crazy bureaucratic paperwork. Another option if you want to invest half a million euros would be the golden visa and if you want start a business you can apply for a Spanish entrepreneur visa. For me, even though I really like Gran Canaria, because it's too much of a hassle to stay longer than 90 days at a time, I'd decided to just use it as a temporary place to hang out for a few months each year instead of a place to actually live long term. But since that only allows me to spend 3 months in any 6 month period here.By leaving the Schengen zone going to either Ukraine or Bulgaria, Croatia, or Romania for 3 months I could technically leave the Schengen zone and let my visa rest, while still staying in Europe to enjoy the summer months here. The only downside is the fact that even though Gran Canaria is known to have decent weather year round, and is one of the only places in Europe that doesn't snow or isn't otherwise freezing in the winter, it still gets cold here and drops down to 15c/59f degrees at night which is pretty chilly. The best news is that even if it's cold and cloudy here in Las Palmas, you can always drive an hour to the south and enough sunshine on the beaches there as it's always a few degrees warmer and sunnier in the south because of the mountains and microclimates.The best time to come to Gran Canaria is whenever it sucks somewhere else in the world as the weather here is decent year round which is a huge selling point of the Canary Islands in general. High season is Dec-Feb but mainly because it's freezing in other parts of Europe during those months. The weather in LPA is very good during summer months, but since it's also very good elsewhere in Europe, the island can be relatively quiet. Las Palmas has been voted along with San Diego as the most pleasant weather in the world year round, and having lived in both, I can vouch that both places are perfect shorts and t-shirt places with the occasional need for a long sleeve at night.Similar to Barcelona, restaurants in Las Palmas are really hit or miss. There are some really good places, and some really bad ones as well, especially if you just walk into a random restaurant without looking up reviews first. In general, the rule is, if you see a slot machine in restaurant, the food probably isn't very good but then I've had a decent menu of the day at these types of bar cafeterias. So really you'll usually end up eating at home most meals or end up just having a basic sandwich or a local dish like Ropa Vieja which is a nice mixture of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) peppers, and often a mixture of beef, pork, or chicken which is actually really good.My favorite restaurants in Las Palmas are, Maday Tasca which is really good Spanish Asian fusion food (even though I normally hate fusion restaurants), Basal Grill Beach (for the ribs) andIt took me a few weeks to really start appreciating Las Palmas, and Gran Canaria for what it is and all that it has to offer. It's hard not to have high expectations when you first arrive as people often make it sound like paradise which is why I'm trying to downplay it a bit in this blog post and in the videos. I want to manage your expectations before you arrive, because even though it's technically an island with good weather year round, nice beaches, a wide range of topography, good food, wine, decent costs of living, and sounds amazing on paper, the best thing you can do is come with low expectations and allow enough time to let it grow on you as it doesn't have the initial wow factor like other places do. Unlike some other places where I instantly thought, omg this is amazing, Gran Canaria is one of those places that the longer you're here, the most you get to know the locals, find good places to eat, figure out how to navigate the often overly complicated Spanish bureaucracy, take the bus or rent a car to drive around, the more you'll like it.It's not like Thailand, Mexico or Bali where it looks like paradise in photos. But also unlike tropical islands, Gran Canaria has a real city where locals live here year round, businesses run, and you really can have a normal, fully functional life. That being said, if I was European and had to either A. stay relatively close to home but wanted to escape the cold winters, or B. had to stay in this time zone, I would absolutely live and possibly move to Las Palmas full time. But as an American citizen, the visas and the bureaucracy doesn't make it easy for us to spend more than a couple months here at a time. It's far cheaper and easier for us to live in Thailand or places like Playa Del Carmen, Mexico as full time tourists than it is for us to become residents of Spain. So even though I like it here a lot and will miss my long walks on the beach and daily sunset snorkels, and even though I still think Gran Canaria is a great place to live, the longer I stay here, the more I like it, and I can see why so many people move here permanently, I won't be one of them, at least for now.I can definitely see myself coming back in future years as the island really does have a lot to offer. It's a great place especially if you enjoy speaking Spanish and want to learn it fluently as it really is required to live here long term. And if you can imagine yourself staying up late and going for tapas and wine a few nights a week while enjoying the occasional surf, snorkel, or hike on weekends. This island has great potential for digital nomads and is already perfect for Europeans wishing to get out of the cold while staying close by and in their time zone!
Any other Republican president but Donald Trump might expect to get at least some credit for the mostly positive direction in which the country is headed. Unfortunately, the Trump-haters prefer to focus on his, shall I say, unusual personality, rather than results. So lets put personality aside and consider what has happened in his first 10 months in office.

The liberal Los Angeles Times reported on a focus group conducted by Democratic pollster Peter Hart. Of those polled, Trump supporters and those who voted for Hillary Clinton expressed disappointment about the presidents behavior, but gave him positive marks on the economy. If its the economy stupid, as Bill Clinton strategist James Carville once said, and the economy is roaring, whats the problem?

As the president has repeatedly said, the stock market continues to soar to new heights, which must delight retirees in Florida who see their IRA and 401K dividends rising most months. Unemployment figures are the lowest theyve been in 17 years. Even unemployment among blacks is down, as are the numbers of people on food assistance.

ISIS has been ousted from its last stronghold in Syria. True, President Obama deserves the credit for beginning the process with heavy bombing of ISIS targets, but it is President Trump who lifted many of the rules of engagement that kept the U.S. military fighting a losing battle.

North Korea is back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism where it belongs.

The president has pushed tax reform, which hasnt been successfully addressed since 1986, to a point where it is on the verge of Senate approval, assuming a few recalcitrant Republicans can be persuaded to put taxpayers first, instead of the grievances they hold against the president (Im speaking of John McCain, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake).

Goldman Sachs strategists are predicting not only a continued American economic recovery, but a concurrent worldwide lifting of many boats. One reason is the cash that has been sitting on the sidelines during the last recession is now making a beeline for stocks and mutual funds, causing the Standard and Poors Index to rise by a spectacular 20 percent so far this year. Thats more than triple its average annual increase over the last 20 years. Despite higher stock prices, Goldman Sachs analysts are recommending their clients buy now. Tech stocks are performing particularly well as companies re-invest profits to expand their firms.

When the left gives grudging credit to a president it hates, you know he must be doing something right. Heres what Atlantic magazine said in its August 2 issue: With the Trump administrations chaos sucking up all the attention, its been able to move forward on a range of its priorities, which tend to be more focused on regulatory matters anyway. It is remaking the justice system, rewriting environmental rules, overhauling public-lands administration, and green lighting major infrastructure projects. It is appointing figures who will guarantee the triumph of its ideological vision for decades to come.

That may be faint praise, but its praise.

President Trump is appointing conservative judges to federal courts and has released a list of names to choose from should another vacancy occur on the Supreme Court. All appear to be conservative constitutionalists.

Yes, his form could be better, but the substance is very good. Imagine what he could do if congressional Republicans got behind him  as Democrats do with a president of their party  and started backing him on legislation they promised to enact during their campaigns.

So, even if you are not particularly enamored by the presidents style (and many continue to be), give him some credit, especially if you traveled this Thanksgiving, which is a sure sign that the economy and consumer optimism heading into the busy shopping season are on the increase.

For that, all of us  even Democrats  should be thankful.
CARL BALDUCCI, Winston-Salem

The Pence rule

Id like to say a word about the Mike Pence rule, our vice presidents determination to not dine alone with a woman other than his wife or attend events where alcohol is served without his wife by his side.

Liberals have mocked Pence for his conviction, stating that if you need such a rule to keep from committing adultery, youre in more trouble than you know. Theyve also criticized it for serving as a barrier to women in the workplace, who would not receive the same opportunities that men would.

These are valid criticisms to some extent. But there are ways to equal the playing field for women in the business world other than being alone with their bosses.

No matter ones politics, its possible that temptations will arise. Im not trying to say that all men are lustful creatures looking for opportunities to cheat. But sometimes men and women (even liberals) find themselves in unexpected situations with unexpected feelings that are difficult to ignore. The best solution is to not be in a compromising position to begin with.

There is also the appearance of impropriety, which in and of itself can be a hindrance.

Life isnt always fair. Rumors sometimes have no basis, but they can still grow. Better to be known for being a prude than to be known for being a cheater.

Imagine how much different todays political landscape might be if Bill Clinton had followed the Pence rule.

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RANDELL JONES, Winston-Salem

Roy Thompsons writing

Thank you for the reprise of Roy Thompsons 1960 column in your Nov. 22 Northwest Almanac, When John F. Kennedy visited the Triad. For many longtime Journal readers, Thompsons wit, insights and colorful writing made his columns a joy to read during his four decades with the paper.

For those who want to read more of Roy Thompsons writing, his 1976 book, Before Liberty, is available for reading free, online at www.beforeliberty.com. This book is a compilation of his 52 feature articles published weekly from July 1975 to July 1976 in the Winston-Salem Journal to prepare its readers to celebrate Americas bicentennial. (And Americas 250th anniversary will soon be upon us.) During 2015, Roys widow, Arlene Edwards Thompson, gave away a few hundred left-over hardback copies of Before Liberty to social studies teachers across the state. For them, their students, and for us all, reading and remembering how North Carolina came to be one of Americas 13 original colonies and the first of them to declare its independence is always time well-spent. Thanks, Roy.

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DOROTHY MATHEWS, Rural Hall

Cutting taxes

The current top marginal income tax rate (the announced tax rate) for corporations is 39.6 percent. The average effective tax rate (the amount they actually pay) is 12.6 percent.

The lowest personal income tax rate is 10 percent. For those who make more than $9,325 a year, the rate jumps to 15 percent.

Tell me again, why do we need to cut corporate taxes?
Former chief of staff Leandra English filed a suit [complaint] on Sunday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] against the Trump administration over the currently vacant director position at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) [official website], to which US President Donald Trump seeks to name budget director Mick Mulvaney as acting director.

Former director Richard Cordray formally resigned on Friday and named English as his temporary replacement [press release].

Trump immediately sought to place Mulvaney as the director until he can confirm a permanent director through the Senate.

The suit hinges on which law applies when filling a temporary leadership vacancy at a new regulatory agency. English argues that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law [text], which created the agency, states that a deputy director temporarily acts as director when the former director departs until Senate confirms a permanent director. The Trump administration asserts [text, PDF] that the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act [text] grants the president the power to temporarily fill agency positions, except when the agency has multi-member boards. According to the administration, this exception does not apply.

English seeks a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaneys appointment as well as retain her new position.
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear [order list, PDF] an appeal from African-American attorney Carlos Moore who sought to have the Mississippi state flags Confederate battle emblem declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery.

Moore filed suit [complaint, PDF] against Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant [official website] in February, 2016, arguing that the current official state flags confederate emblem encourages or incites private citizens to commit acts of racial violence in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The case was dismissed [opinion, PDF] in September 2016 [JURIST report] by the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website], and further rejected on appeal.

The Mississippi flag was adopted in 1894. Mississippians voted to keep it in 2001 via referendum, but the Mississippi population has since increasingly scrutinized it. In October 2015 The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) [university website] took the state flag down [WP report] because of the prominent Confederate emblem.

The Supreme Court made no comment on its decision to not hear the case.
The US Supreme Court stated on Monday that it would not review [order list, PDF] a lawsuit over a drone strike in Yemen that killed five people.

Earlier this year, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia [official website] dismissed [decision, PDF] a lawsuit by the families of two Yemeni men allegedly killed by a US drone strike in 2012. The plaintiffs argued that two family members were victims of a signature strike, an attack where the US targets an unidentified person  based on a pattern of suspicious behavior as identified through metadata. Further, the plaintiffs argued that the drone operators waited until the two men joined the other three men to strike, in direct violation of international law, partly because the operators had ample opportunity to strike when the men were not nearby. A unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel upheld a lower courts finding that the suit lacked the authority to question the governments decision over the missile strike because a court should not second-guess an Executives decision about the appropriate military response.

The court went on to say that it is a congressional, rather judicial, power to check the executive branchs authority of military power. It urged the Executive and Congress to work together to establish a clear policy for drone strikes and precise avenues for accountability.

Drone use [JURIST backgrounder] has been a controversial issue both in terms of small domestic drones and larger drones being used abroad by the US military. In October 2014 UN experts urged the international community to have greater accountability [JURIST report] and transparency when it comes to the use of drones. In August of 2014 the UN stated that if the US is to use drones they must comply [JURIST report] with international law.
This December 21, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will close its doors. Never have so many crimes provoked so much investigative work. Never has a war been so documented, examined and analysed by judicial authorities since the Second World War. Now it is time to analyse the record of this first international criminal tribunal, its successes and failures. This is indispensable, if only to learn lessons for the future of international justice.

What is most striking is the huge gap between judicial truth and the way it resonates in the societies most concerned. With courage, but also with sadness, the ICTY Prosecutor recognizes that those being glorified today are the war criminals and not their victims. This is what has happened again in the last few days with the judgment on Ratko Mladic, sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide but celebrated by some of his people. This is a terrible realization for a form of international justice which took place to the end away from the region concerned.

This failure calls for deeper reflection on the challenge represented by an international courts capacity to get its message across in divided societies. What does this failure mean for 5,000 victims who have testified in the different ICTY trials, many of whom have risked their lives to remind people of past horrors? As a journalist who reported on the war, I remember the worn faces of men, women and children driven from their homes as they descended from buses, the bombs that rained daily on Sarajevo and accounts of torture. I remember the need for recognition and dignity of those who were dispossessed, and the promise of justice that was made to them much too lightly. I remember how General Mladic and Radovan Karadzic were received at the UN in Geneva for the peace conference on former Yugoslavia whilst they were at the same time orchestrating and carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Is justice in wartime possible? And when the guns are finally silent, does it resonate when societies remain deeply divided, every community scarred by past violence and obsessed with asserting its own identity because fearful of the future? International justice claims to work in the name of humanity, an ambition which deserves the highest praise. But universality remains an abstraction. What does the failure to stigmatize war criminals in former Yugoslavia mean for the populations of the Central African Republic (CAR), Syria, Yemen and elsewhere? What can they hope for today?

In my life as a journalist and then supporting the mediation processes at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, I have for the last 25 years been hearing in former Yugoslavia, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Colombia and elsewhere the unquenchable thirst for justice of victims, their families and the majority of their societies. It is clear it takes time, often a long time, for a terribly imperfect justice to be rendered, and sometimes an even longer time before the record of these crimes is recognized, when the time for reconciliation comes.

The words that touched me most on the act of testifying today in former Yugoslavia were those of Sanja Coric, because she expressed with uncommon force both the limits of justice and its necessity. She, like other women, was raped in 1993 in the Vojno camp, not far from Mostar. Despite constant threats and intimidation, insults from nationalists and fear in her heart, she testified openly. Sometimes I regret having testified, she said. Fear is always with the victims, not with the war criminals. I realized that a witness is like a dusting cloth. You use it to remove the dust and then, when it is no longer needed, you throw it away. But I tell myself that we were also right to testify. We overcame our fear and we have succeeded in erecting one of the greatest monuments. Our monument is not made of stone or of concrete. It is the judgment. This is the record that will remain for future generations.
Jadranko Prlic, who hears an appeals verdict over his war crimes conviction this week, is an academic who became leader of a self-proclaimed statelet for Croats during Bosnia's bitter 1990s conflict.

The one-time prime minister of the "Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna", Prlic was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2013 by UN judges at The Hague on charges of aiding and abetting the murder, deportation and harsh detention of Muslims.

On Wednesday, the 58-year-old and five other wartime Bosnian Croat leaders will hear the verdict on their appeal case -- the last judgement to be handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The bald and bespectacled Prlic, who vehemently denied the charges, told the court in March that his trial represented "a dark side of international justice".

Along with Croatian nationalist leader Franjo Tudjman, Prlic took part in a "joint criminal enterprise" to drive out Muslims from parts of Bosnia with the aim of allying the statelet with Croatia, the court said in its original ruling.

Bosnian Croats and Muslims, allies against Serbs during most of the war in ethnically diverse Bosnia, turned against each other in 1993, when the Croats' "republic" was declared.

The statelet, backed by Tudjman's regime, was formally dismantled in 1996 as part of the peace deal that ended the 1992-1995 war, which left 100,000 people dead.

Sead Avdic, a Bosnian Muslim politician, in 2002 described Prlic as "lucid, thoughtful, hypocritical".

- 'Not a great extremist' -

The "president" of Herceg-Bosna, Mate Boban, died in 1997 and Tudjman in 1999, leaving Prlic the highest-ranking official to face judgement for the crimes.

"Who was in the most dangerous position during the war? Me. Because I am not a great extremist," Prlic told AFP in 1996.

Prlic was born in the eastern Croatian town of Djakovo in 1959 and joined the League of Communists, Yugoslavia's ruling party, in the 1970s.

He obtained a doctorate in Sarajevo in 1987 -- one of the youngest people in the federation to do so.

The lecturer served as mayor of Mostar, the southern Bosnian city whose bridge would later be destroyed, becoming a symbol of the war.

Although he became a visiting professor at universities in the United States, Britain, Italy, he turned down a full-time job in Washington as a young and promising economist.

Prlic later explained that the "quality of life" in Mostar was "better than it could be anywhere in the US".

He also served as deputy prime minister in Bosnia's last communist government.

After the clashes between Muslims and Croats ended, Prlic held various high-level posts in the newly-formed Croat-Muslim entity in Bosnia.

- 'Insecure' Croats -

After the war, Prlic went on to become Bosnia's foreign minister from 1996 to 2001 and tried to present himself as a moderate, founding an unsuccessful pro-European party.

The ICTY charged him and his co-defendants in 2004. They surrendered and their trial opened two years later.

Prlic, who according to the charges had the authority to close Herceg-Bosna's prisons and concentration camps, argued that the statelet's only aim was to ensure Croats' rights in a "new Bosnia".

"Steps undertaken by the Muslim side resulted in the insecurity of Croats in Bosnia," he told the tribunal.

Prlic published several books on economics and politics and in prison wrote a 2,000-page tome on Herceg-Bosna.

"I think I had a rich life... I would probably do some things differently, but in principle I believe I was always where I had to be," he said in 2002.
Six leaders of a self-proclaimed statelet for Bosnian Croats, declared during the Balkan country's bloody 1990s conflict, hear a verdict Wednesday from UN judges on their appeal against war crimes convictions.

Here are details about their breakaway "republic", which they eventually hoped to merge with neighbouring Croatia:

- War breaks out -

When war broke out in Bosnia in 1992 as Yugoslavia fell apart, the country's Catholic Croats fought alongside Bosniak Muslims against Orthodox Serbs in the ethnically diverse country.

But the nationalist leaders of ethnic Croats, who made up about 17 percent of Bosnia's population of 4.4 million, gradually became more open about their desire to be part of a "Greater Croatia".

The project, backed by the nationalist Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, strained ties with Bosnian Muslims.

In May 1992, Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Radovan Karadzic and his Croat counterpart Mate Boban reached a deal that looked much like a partition of Bosnia at the expense of its Muslim people.

Sporadic clashes between Croats and Muslims eventually grew into bitter fighting between the former allies in 1993.

In August of that year, Boban proclaimed the "Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna".

The "republic" had a parliament, a government and a 50,000-strong army as well as independent financial structures. It also adopted the currency of neighbouring Croatia.

- Mostar bridge destroyed -

Croat separatists chose the southern city of Mostar, once a symbol of a multi-ethnic Bosnia, as their "capital".

Their forces controlled the west of the city and Bosnian Muslim forces controlled the east, nearly 80 percent of which was destroyed in the fighting.

The destruction of Mostar's Ottoman-era bridge by Croats in November 1993 became a symbol of the savagery of the war.

The Old Bridge, a World Heritage site, has been rebuilt since the war thanks to international financial assistance, including from Croatia.

In March 1994 a ceasefire agreement was reached in Washington between Croat and Muslim leaders, who founded the Muslim-Croat Federation.

This semi-independent entity still exists in Bosnia today, alongside the Serb-run Republika Srpska.

- War crimes charges -

Six leaders of the Bosnian Croat statelet -- which was formally dissolved in 1996 under international pressure -- were convicted in 2013 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

They were found guilty of taking part in a scheme to remove Bosnian Muslims "permanently and create a Croatian territory" during the war, in which 100,000 people died.

Their sentences ranged from 10 to 25 years in jail.

The most senior among the group is Jadranko Prlic, 58, who served as prime minister of Hercog-Bosna.

Boban died in 1997.

- Statelet's legacy -

Dreams of more autonomy are still a live among Bosnian Croats.

In March 2001 they proclaimed a "temporary Croat autonomy", but the bid failed and the international community immediately sacked Bosnian Croat leader Ante Jelavic as a member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency.

After Catalonia recently proclaimed independence, graffiti appeared in Mostar, which remains deeply divided along ethnic lines, announcing that "Herceg-Bosna" will be the next to make the move.

Today Bosnian Croats seek to get their own federal unit, arguing that the country's Serbs have their own entity while Muslims dominate the federation.

The current Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Dragan Covic, said recently that if Herceg-Bosna had not existed "it is hard to think that there would be Croat people" remaining in Bosnia.
A rights organisation has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of war crimes in Yemen by the United Arab Emirates, the group's lawyer told AFP on Monday.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK accuses the UAE government, part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen, of "indiscriminate attacks against civilians", lawyer Joseph Breham said.

The London-based AOHR further charges that the UAE has used banned cluster bombs and hired mercenaries to carry out torture and executions.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will have to decide whether or not to open a preliminary probe.

Yemen and the UAE are not signatories to the Rome Statute which underpins the court in The Hague, so Bensouda would only have jurisdiction if nationals from another country were involved.

"Our complaint targets acts perpetrated on Yemeni territory by the United Arab Emirates which does not recognise the ICC," said Paris-based Breham.

But he added: "The perpetrators of these crimes are mercenaries employed by the Emirates and coming from Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, South Africa or Australia -- countries that recognise the ICC."

It would therefore be possible for the court to launch an investigation, Breham said, accusing Emirati forces of "air strikes targeting civilian homes, hospitals and schools".

Since the court opened in 2002, the prosecutor's office has received about 10,000 requests from individuals, groups or countries to investigate alleged crimes.

This year alone, activists from Mexico, Venezuela, the Philippines and the Palestinian territories have all sought to secure or broaden ICC probes.

There are currently 10 preliminary ICC examinations and 11 full investigations under way. Most existing probes have so far focused on African nations.

- Torture claims -

The AOHR accuses Emirati forces of using mercenaries to torture prisoners in Yemeni government-held jails and carrying out executions.

In June, Human Rights Watch accused the UAE of running at least two "informal detention facilities" in Yemen and said it had reportedly transferred detainees to a base in Eritrea.

The UAE rejected the allegations as "totally unfounded", saying its forces "respect international conventions on armed conflicts".

The UAE has been supporting Riyadh-backed Yemeni government forces since March 2015 in their conflict against the rebels, who are backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran.

The UN's Human Rights Council agreed in September to send war crimes investigators to Yemen, overcoming resistance from Saudi Arabia, which fought to head off an independent international probe.

The UAE has played a key role in the Saudi-led campaign, which was launched in March 2015 to roll back gains by Huthi rebels, who had taken the capital Sanaa and other northern and central areas of one of the Arab world's poorest nations.

UN officials say Yemen could face the world's largest famine in decades unless the Saudi-led coalition's crippling blockade on ports and airports is lifted.

UN children's fund UNICEF warned Sunday that more than 11 million Yemeni children are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

The devastating war has since killed some 8,600 people, while a further 2,000 have died of cholera.

burs-sde-kjl/pg
Seoul is ready for direct negotiations with Pyongyang if North Korea continues to refrain from nuclear missile tests, said South Korean President's special envoy Yong-gil Son, RIA Novosti reports.

November 27, 2017, 15:30 South Korea names conditions for direct negotiations with North Korea

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 27, ARTSAKHPRESS:Since September 15, North Korea has stopped nuclear missile tests. But, we do not know why they stopped their provocations: due to technical problems or under the pressure of the US, China and Russia. In any case, this is a good sign, and if this tendency continues, then we are ready for direct negotiations with North Korea, said Young-gil Son during the conference of the Valdai club in Seoul.

Yong-gil Son added that it seems to him that the main reason why the launches were suspended is technical problems, highlighting that this is his personal opinion.
SYRACUSE  At a roundtable discussion Monday, a group of central New York business leaders explained to U.S. Rep. John Katko how tax reform would benefit them  and their employees.

The meeting, held at Progressive Expert Consulting in Syracuse, featured 20 business leaders from the Syracuse area. Two panelists were from Cayuga County: Joanne Cross, owner of Cross Filtration in Moravia, and Drew Wilcox, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel in Auburn.

Cross believes tax reform will help her company, which produces wet filtration press cloths for manufacturers, mining operations and water treatment systems. She said the tax plan would allow Cross Filtration to continue to pay for employees' health insurance coverage and increase wages for her employees.

"This is a good way to put more money in their pockets and keep our workforce happy," she said.

While Nucor Steel is a larger company than Cross Filtration, Wilcox sees similar benefits for his business and workforce.

Nucor, he said, has invested more than $7 billion since 2009 despite economic challenges for the steel industry. If tax reform is adopted, he said it would allow Nucor to continue investing in its plants, including the mill in Auburn.

What separates Nucor from some companies represented at Katko's roundtable is it is a major player in the global market. Wilcox noted one way the tax plan would help is by lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent.

"All we ask for is a level playing field," he said. "To have a similar tax rate as a lot of these other companies that we are competing with it just gives us a chance to keep our people working and busy and making a good wage."

Steve Wells, co-founder of American Food & Vending Corp., a company based in Liverpool, said tax reform would benefit his employees because the food service industry tends to pay low wages.

With the possibility that many in the working class will receive a tax cut, Wells said it would be "great" for his business and staff.

"In every way, this tax plan advances the economy as a whole and in particular, upstate New York," he said.

The comments at the roundtable echo statements Katko, R-Camillus, has heard at similar events. He cited business support for the proposal when he decided to support the House GOP tax reform plan earlier this month.

The House passed its tax reform measure and now it awaits action by the Senate on its own plan. It's unclear when the Senate will vote on its bill, which is still working its way through the committee process.

If the Senate passes its bill, a conference committee will be formed to reach an agreement on a final tax reform plan.

There's a possibility that the final bill could be different than the proposal Katko supported. But based on the House plan, he said a vast majority of his constituents will pay a lower tax bill. He also believes that it would benefit businesses in his district, including the companies represented at the roundtable.

"It's going to unlock manufacturers' and businesses' potential to not only stay here but to flourish and maybe bring jobs back," he said.
Nostalgia is a welcome remedy for many of us thinking back to a gentler family-centered holiday. While most of us never really had the Norman Rockwell Freedom from Want Thanksgiving, it seemed like a worthwhile goal or obtainable fantasy.

Some of my favorite memories center on Pilgrim Thanksgivings, the most memorable when the Greenhouse children joined all the Pilgrim family. My Kukum (Cree for grandmother) was an occasional babysitter for them and this holiday we were all blessed. Their mom had absolved us from the kosher kitchen rules and we just welcomed two new kids!

The kitchen in Port Byron had been busy for days with pie-making, crumbling bread for stuffing, grinding up the cranberries and oranges, making place cards for each assembled relative and removing everyday clutter. The kids' table that year was two card tables to make room for all of us! My great-grandmothers maple table had all the leaves for the big folks. We had every possible chair, bench and piano stool for seats. The tiniest were allowed at the big table; as I remember my sister Laraine and cousin David DeCirce and the rest of us gloried in our special place  Faith, me, Peggy, Joe, Suanne, Debbie, Andrea, and Nan and Ron Greenhouse.

Yes, many of us put the black olives on our fingertips before eating them, sucked the pimentos out of the green olives, took "no thank you" helpings of squash and loaded our plates with gravy and stuffing, and although we werent allowed to dish out our own whipped cream, we spread it lavishly over our pumpkin pie. We always used my Grandpa Pilgrims grace and held hands around the table: For what we are about to receive, may we be truly thankful. Amen.

In later years, I learned Lincoln customs. Mom (Marian) Lincoln often included a tamale dish in honor of the time the Gutchess family spent in California and of course her cottage cheese/Jell-O/fruit concoction. Wonderful, heartwarming memories.

Taking down the tree: After 32 years, Conquest Christmas tree farm closes For the past three decades, Bill and Sharon Forbes have tended thousands of trees in the sma

A recent tradition of Christmas trees in Conquest, the Emerson Tree and Wreath Farm, has closed. Hundreds of folks will have to find a new source for their family tree. What marvelous memories from family and customers!

The first Christmas tree "industry" in Conquest was run by Walt and Elaine Rubenau and their family. Elaine had purchased a "Grow Your Own Christmas Tree" book and convinced Walt to try it! Walt and Elaine moved to Conquest in 1957. The first planting was in 1958, first sales in 1966 and last sales were around 1980. Thousands of trees later, she muses on the experience: We had no idea what we were getting into  it was a lot of work all year round. Shaping and trimming the branches in the summertime employed many local teens. We didnt have to worry too much about marketing  once people saw the quality of our trees they just kept coming back. We kept prices low and made it a real family activity.

One of my favorite Rubenau stories was from our Port Byron pharmacist, Bob Blake. The Port Byron Boy Scouts always sold Christmas trees at the Town Triangle and of course Bob supported them but he gave that tree away and he and his family came out to Conquest to cut their own!

We will have an opportunity to re-live many Rubenau Christmas memories at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the CIViC Heritage Building on Route 34 just south of Cato village. Elaine and her son Bryan have assembled photos and memorabilia (including the infamous "Grow Your Own Christmas Tree" book) and will share them. The history center will still be decorated with our Festival of Trees. We hope to see many of you!

Reminder: There is a Community Cupboard at Countryside Church on Duck Lake Road in Springlake. This small structure stands just under the portico. It is a borrowing and lending opportunity for all. When you live seven or so miles from a grocery store or have limited gas or limited dollars you may run out of stuff. We hope to be that "port in a storm" and also invite folks who have bit extra to leave it for the next person  a kind of "pay it forward" in goods. Canned goods will be available until zero weather but cleaning products and other non-perishable food will be all year long.

Other holiday opportunities abound. The Port Byron Ecumenical Ministries Christmas Cantata And It Came to Pass, Emmanuel, will be presented at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at Countryside Church, 10511 Duck Lake Road in Springlake. A soup luncheon will be served beginning at noon. The cantata will also be presented at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10, at the Port Byron Federated Church, Tex Pultz Parkway in Port Byron, followed by fellowship and refreshments. Glorious music to celebrate a glorious event!

Port Byron "elves" will be ringing bells and collecting Dec. 15-16. This ecumenical ministry has helped in dozens of local emergencies, please be as generous as you can.
KEARNEY  For the second time in two weeks, a staff member at Kearneys Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center has been assaulted by a teen.

At about 8 a.m. Tuesday, a female staffer allegedly was assaulted by a teen in a living unit. The woman was transported to a medical facility where she was treated, released and returned to YRTC, said Mark LaBouchardiere, administrator of the Office of Juvenile Services, which oversees Kearneys YRTC and the YRTC for girls in Geneva

The teen was returned to YRTC and placed in the Dickson security unit. The woman is a youth program specialist in charge of direct care of the teens.

LaBouchardiere declined to name which living unit the assault took place in or the extent of the womans injuries.

The teen is at least the second to be sent to the security unit this month because of an alleged assault on staff. On Nov. 5, a teen allegedly hit a male staffer with a sock filled with dominoes.

The injured staffer and the teen were transported to a Kearney hospital.

The teen, a state ward, was returned to YRTC and placed in Dickson. The staffer, LaBouchardiere said, is a youth program specialist II who provides direct care and supervision to the youths, and has returned to work.

To reduce staff assaults, LaBouchardiere said, YRTC officials have changed employee hours and tripled the staff presence in the living units.

State Patrol reports on both incidents will be forwarded to the Buffalo County Attorneys Office for possible prosecution. Late this morning, no formal charges had been filed against either teen.

@HubChic
The Ricketts administration is keeping the faith with Nebraska voters who in 2016 strongly supported reviving the death penalty. The Department of Correctional Services announced recently that it plans to use a new combination of four drugs to carry out the next execution. The previous, three-drug protocol was replaced because the state could not legally obtain the drugs.

Jose Sandoval, considered the ring leader of the 2002 Norfolk bank robbery murders, would be the first person executed using these drugs: diazepam, fentanyl citrate, cisatracurium besylate and potassium chloride.

The states next step is for Attorney General Doug Peterson to request a death warrant.

Its been a while. Nebraska last carried out the death penalty in 1997, when it executed murderer and rapist Robert E. Williams.

Some members of the Legislature highlighted the delays in carrying out the death penalty as a key reason for repealing it in 2015. They had watched the state struggle to obtain the necessary drugs for lethal injection, and the courts had already outlawed using Nebraskas previous method, the electric chair.

A referendum revived capital punishment. Now voters frustrated with the pace of the states latest implementation of the death penalty will need to practice patience.

This new drug protocol, like others before it, will face legal challenges. The appeals process exists to reduce the likelihood of an innocent person being executed.

Death penalty opponents say they plan to question the unproven protocol, although that might be an uphill legal battle. Opponents also continue to appeal the legality of involving a three-judge panel in Nebraskas sentencing process for capital cases.

The incremental nature of the process was to be expected. The wheels of justice typically turn slowly in capital cases.

But they are turning again, as sought by 61 percent of the Nebraskans who voted to restore the death penalty.

Omaha World-Herald
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Fang Liu, secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization, speaks in Montreal, Monday, Nov.27, 2017. Liu says the global industry has to do a better job attracting enough workers to meet the sector's growing employment needs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-ICAO MANDATORY CREDIT
First lady Melania Trump visits with children in the Red Room working on holiday treats among the 2017 holiday decorations with the theme "Time-Honored Traditions" at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. The First Lady honored 200 years of holiday traditions at the White House. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Education Images/UIG via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Hawaii is reinstating a statewide nuclear attack warning signal in December to prepare for a potential attack from North Korea.

The alarm, which has not been used since the Cold War will be reinstated on Dec. 1 as part of a ballistic missile preparedness program, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA).

Residents are instructed to immediately Get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned when they hear the siren. Alerts will be sent to resident's phones and broadcast on television and radio.

"When [HI-EMA] started this campaign there were concerns we would scare the public. What we are putting out is information based on the best science that we have on what would happen if that weapon hit Honolulu or the assumed targets," said HI-EMA Administrator Vern Miyagi during an emergency preparedness presentation.

Since the launch to impact warning time for Hawaii is only fifteen minutes or less, residents are advised to have a designated place to go for shelter. "There will be no time to call our loved ones, pick up our kids, and find a designated shelter. We should all prepare and exercise a plan ahead of time so we can take some comfort in knowing what our loved ones are doing," said Miyagi in an interview for the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Although the US has conducted successful missile interception tests, there is no guarantee that the Navy will successfully detect and intercept a target, HI-EMA warns.

Kim Jong Un has not directly threatened Hawaii, but missile test launches over Japan and increased tension between North Korea and the United States prompted officials to address the issue of preparedness.

An HI-EMA FAQ sheet explains that based on the estimated size of North Korean missile technology, there could be anywhere from 50,000 to 120,000 burn casualties and nearly 18,000 fatalities if an attack were to occur.

After the blast, residents would have to stay sheltered in place until the HI-EMA has fully assessed the radiation and fallout, which could take a few hours or as long as fourteen days, the agency says on its website.

State officials have been holding town halls to address questions from residents.

Hawaii currently has an alert warning signal for natural threats, like hurricanes and tsunamis. Both this signal and the nuclear threat alert will be tested on the first business day of each month.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Nov. 27, 1997

AUBURN  Only in their early 20s, Tim and Migdalia Lavenbein have already found their place in life.

With a shared belief in God, the couple is looking forward to serving the needy through their posts as lieutenants for the local corps of the Salvation Army.

"To be this type of minister. It really has to be a calling. You can't see it as an occupation or a career," said 24-year-old Migdalia. "It really has to be a calling from God. It's a covenant you make between yourself and God."

After two years at the Salvation Army's training college in Suffern, New York, the couple started working in Auburn this July.

Migdalia is from Lowell, Massachusetts, and Tim is from New Haven, Connecticut.

One of their main missions is preaching the gospel. Each is an ordained minister.

The army's weekly church services give the two ordained ministers a chance to flex their spiritual muscles.
British Columbia is creating a police squad to pursue gun trafficking after a task force report found more than half of the illegal firearms seized in the province over three years originated from inside Canada. Mike Farnworth, British Columbia's Minister of Public Safety, speaks to media with federal and provincial ministers after their meeting to discuss wildfire response in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday September 5, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ben Nelms
Cuddy Financial Services is celebrating their 25th Anniversary serving Auburn and the surrounding area, so his staff, along with myself, thought it was a good time to surprise Dan Cuddy and honor him as the local Legend of Auburn that he is! The following is a little bio about Dan, followed by some personal thoughts from his dedicated team of employees:

Dan Cuddy has been serving clients and our community for over 30 years. His knowledge, compassion and dedication have allowed him to grow Cuddy Financial Services into one of the areas premier financial services firms.

Serving others was something that was instilled in Dan at an early age. His father was a career United States Marine who served his country for over 20 years, including three tours in Vietnam. Dans mother grew up the daughter of restaurateurs. After raising five children, she purchased a bakery, carrying on the family tradition of service. Her devotion and dedication to providing quality baked goods showed her passion for bringing joy to others.

As a teenager, Dan learned the importance of providing personalized service to enhance the customers experience while working in the family restaurant. In addition to learning the significance of providing quality service, Dan was able to save enough money to pay for his own college education.

After graduating from Cayuga Community College and SUNY Albany, Dan began his career in a regional accounting firm in Syracuse. He obtained his certified public accounting license in 1987 and returned to his hometown of Auburn in 1988. In 1992 Dans passion for serving others led him to establish his own accounting practice. The following year Dan became a Certified Financial Planner progression, which allowed him to further help his clients pursue their financial goals. Also in 1993, Dan became a registered representative of HD Vest Investment Services, and later an advisory representative of HDVest Advisory Services. He partnered with HD Vest because of their commitment to helping tax professionals implement wealth management services into their practice. HD Vest is a leading independent broker-dealer with over 30 years of helping advisors and clients pursue a comprehensive approach to financial well-being.

In order to stay current with ever-changing tax and financial environment, Dan regularly attends conferences throughout the country. Doing so allows Dan to continue to offer his clients the most comprehensive and most up to date strategies to minimize risk, costs and taxes while maximizing returns and value.

In addition to serving his clients, Dan serves the Cayuga County community through his service to, and support of, many local not-for-profit organizations, continuing his familys long tradition of giving back and helping others.

Some of the awards Dan and his firm have won:

 Recognized by HD Vest Financial Services as a Premier Advisor and as a Pacesetter. The Premier Advisor program recognizes HD Vests top 75 performing advisors from across the country. Pacesetters is a program designed to recognize HD Vest advisors at various stages of their investment planning practices for their commitment to providing clients with investment-planning tools and strategies that will help them work toward a brighter financial future.

 Voted 2005 Small Business Person of the Year by the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce.

 Voted one of Auburns Best Accountants in the The Citizens Annual Best of the Region contest for over 15 consecutive years.

The following are some special thoughts about Dan from his dedicated team, and summarized here for us by Kim Emperato:

Mark Carr, who has been with Dan on and off part time since the beginning, says he finally committed to making CFS his full time career five years ago, because he wanted to transition back to public accounting for the long haul and knew Dan was the person to do it with. He recounted the number of times that he's been summoned to Dan's office for a closed door meeting, and the meeting ends up consisting of the viewing of funny YouTube videos while Dan thinks the rest of the office cannot hear their hysterical laughter.

Rose McIntosh and I have both been with Dan for 16-plus years. We like to tease Dan about his commitment and insistence on having a system for everything, including taking out the trash, yet being the first one not to follow it. Our favorite memories are when Dans father, Ray, was working with us as our OIC of SLJ. Neither one of them could get through a joke without cracking their own self up halfway through it. It was always so obvious to us where Dan got his boisterous laugh and great sense of humor, as well as his generosity and desire to serve others.

Susan Michaels has been working for Cuddy Financial since 2006. She says that she enjoys working with Dan so much that she has retired twice and returned within months.

Two of our younger staff members, Andrew Sanders and Emily Alexander, had the pleasure of traveling to/from a conference with Dan recently. Dan decided he needed to play them some of his favorite songs, including "Radar Love," "Rollin Down the Highway" and "Some Kind of Wonderful." They hadn't ever heard of any of these songs, but really enjoyed hearing Dan perform his own renditions of them all!

Our operations manager, Michelle Ericson, joined us recently, and says that her only complaint here is that Dans laugh is so infectious that you just cant help but join in.

The general consensus among all of our staff members is that Dan maintains a great sense of humor, even in the most stressful of situations. Dan really keeps us on our toes with his desire to stay on top of all of the latest technology and products, so much so that a common moniker on our team is the Cuddy edge. While Dan can be very demanding he is also understanding of our mistakes, frequently reminding us that I made a mistake once, when I thought I made a mistake.

One of our long time clients (who wishes to remain anonymous) told me that when it comes to financial expertise, I look no further than Dan Cuddy. He and his staff offer superior service with integrity that is beyond reproach. I cant properly put into words all that they mean to me.

I have had the pleasure of being one of Dans first customers way back 25 years ago when he was located on South Street, and you cant buy a better man than Dan Cuddys Financial Services. Years later in 2002 when we held the first and only Y-Field Reunion since it was built in 1898, we had 300 former Y-Fielders show-up. When it was over, we had raised $12,000, which was distributed to six Auburn charities, each getting $2,000. Dan played a huge role in our success at that event, thanks to a great deal of Dans planning along with our committee. Dan was presented with a cartoon drawing by Auburns Marty Stanton that he cherishes as a reminder of that success. Thanks, Dan!
An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016 file photo, Chechnya's regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov smiles while visiting the Chechen State University in Chechnya's provincial capital Grozny, Russia. Kadyrov said in a rare interview aired Monday Nov. 27, 2017, that it is his "dream" to step down because he finds the responsibility of leading the Russian region to be too heavy. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, file)
A corrections officer at a central New York prison has been arrested for allegedly attempting to bring drugs into the facility.

Ryan M. Santos, 27, of Rome, was arrested Saturday and charged with first-degree attempted promoting prison contraband, a class E felony.

The charges against Santos, a corrections officer at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County, stem from an investigation conducted by the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's Office of Special Investigations.

Santos was arraigned at Oneida County Central Arraignment and released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear Nov. 28 in Marcy town court.

The investigation is ongoing and further charges are pending, according to state police.
After nearly a year of threats, the Trump administration made its most aggressive move to date against a familiar target of its ire: California and its immigration policies.

Late Tuesday evening the department filed a federal lawsuit against the state and its top officials to stop a cluster of so-called "sanctuary state" bills -- a move that puts the administration on offense but is nonetheless likely to generate heated litigation over the boundaries of immigration authority.

The lawsuit is the latest broadside from the Trump administration against so-called "sanctuary cities" -- a broad term referring to localities that abide by some measure of non-cooperation with federal law enforcement -- and amid an already heightened level of tension with California.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly attacked sanctuary jurisdictions and local officials as harboring dangerous criminals.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to announce the case on Wednesday in California's capital, Sacramento, during an event with a state law enforcement association.

"The Department of Justice and the Trump administration are going to fight these unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional policies that have been imposed on you," Sessions will tell law enforcement officers at the California Peace Officers Association gathering on Wednesday, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. "We are fighting to make your jobs safer and to help you reduce crime in America. And I believe that we are going to win."

California Governor Edmund G. Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both named defendants in the lawsuit, sharply condemned it as a meritless.

"At a time of unprecedented political turmoil, Jeff Sessions has come to California to further divide and polarize America," Brown said in a statement. "Jeff, these political stunts may be the norm in Washington, but they don't work here. SAD!!!"

"No matter what happens in Washington, #California will stay the course and enforce all our laws and protect all our people," Becerra tweeted.

The California laws at issue limit state and local police cooperation with federal immigration authorities in a variety of ways. One prohibits private employers from voluntarily cooperating with federal immigration law enforcement and requires that employers give workers a heads up about potential worksite inspections, a second restricts local law enforcement from sharing information about the release of criminal immigrants to federal agents and prohibits their transfer to federal custody, and a third allows the state to inspect federal and Department of Homeland Security documents, which DOJ considers off limits to local authorities.

"The provisions of state law at issue have the purpose and effect of making it more difficult for federal immigration officers to carry out their responsibilities in California," Justice Department lawyers argue in the suit, further calling the laws an "obstacle to the United States' enforcement of the immigration laws and discriminating against federal immigration enforcement."

California passed the laws last year in what officials hailed as a rebuke of President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

Test for states

The suit will test how much leeway states have to shield immigrants from detection.

The Justice Department says that the federal power to determine immigration policy is well settled and California's laws conflict with those federal prerogatives in novel ways.

But the legal thrust of the case also puts the Trump administration in the delicate position of relying on a 2012 Supreme Court decision that effectively blocked some of Arizona's sweeping attempts aimed at lessening the number of undocumented immigrants on the grounds that the state could not pursue policies that undermined federal law -- known as "preemption."

The justices delivered a split decision, however, and declined to block the most hotly debated provision, requiring state police officers to demand the papers of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

In addition to the ongoing litigation over sanctuary cities, the mayor of Oakland, California, recently drew sharp rebuke from federal officials when she announced in advance that Immigration and Customs Enforcement were preparing to hold enforcement operations in her city, which officials said allowed some priority targets to evade capture.

"We will continue to exercise our legal right to exist as a sanctuary city," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement on Tuesday's lawsuit. "We will continue to inform all residents about their Constitutional rights, and we will continue to support California's sanctuary status."

States and cities say their policies are protecting the best interest of their citizens. States say they should not have to spend their limited resources on a federal responsibility and a perception the local law enforcement works with immigration officials hurts community relations.

The Justice Department has struggled in federal courts to pressure localities on sanctuary policies. Federal courts have blocked the Trump administration from taking away funds on grounds that jurisdictions don't cooperate on immigration enforcement, aside from a small piece of federal law that requires local authorities to share information on an individual's citizenship and nationality "status."
Kilkenny is to get 290,565 for local improvement works on smaller, rural roads, according to Fine Gael junior minister John Paul Phelan.

The announcement is part of a nationwide scheme announced by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring, which sees a further 7.4 million in funding for local authorities under the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) to support the improvement of non-public rural roads. The LIS is about improving small roads and laneways in rural Ireland which are not maintained by the local authorities.

"I cannot overstate how important these roads are to people in rural areas. They enable them to access their homes and farms but many have fallen into disrepair," said the Carlow-Kilkenny TD.

This investment brings to 17.4 million, the amount invested by the Government in non-public rural lanes, boreens and access roads this year. Im delighted that Kilkenny is to get 290,565 for works and Carlow will receive 190,460.

These roads provide vital access to homes and farms as well as amenities such as lakes and rivers. The Department of Rural and Community Development will provide up to 90% of the funding through the Local Authorities, with the remaining contribution coming from local residents, or local authorities in the case of roads leading to public amenities."
Three students from Kilkenny will this week take part in the annual 24-hour charity broadcast at Dublin City University.

Third-year media student Brian Rudkins, second-year communications student Jack Ormond, and third year multimedia student Cian Ferguson will be taking part in DCUs Media Production Societys annual event.

The award-winning broadcast takes place every December in DCU, with this being its eighth consecutive year. Students commit to staying on campus in the School of Communications building for 24 hours, producing a live-streamed broadcast all in aid of charity.

For Christmas 2017, the Media Production Society has decided to hold the event in aid of SOSAD, an Irish suicide prevention and bereavement support charity. The charity was suggested by committee member Carmel Kenny, who like many others, has been directly affected by suicide.

I lost my Dad to suicide when I was two years old and Ive grown up without him in my life, she says.

Ive seen first hand how it affects everyone left behind.

Last year the broadcast was in aid of the Peter McVerry Trust. Although the target was 5,000, the society succeeded in raising over 15,300 through fundraising and donations on the night. This year, the target is 7,000.

Brian, Jack and Cian will be contributing to the broadcast in many ways. There is something for everyone to get involved in, be it filming, producing, presenting, editing, creating behind the scenes content and promoting the broadcast on social media or a little bit of everything.

The broadcast is supported by a huge variety of sponsors, including Bank of Ireland who sponsor the event each year.

DCUtv and Bank of Ireland 24 Hour Broadcast in aid of SOSAD runs from 9pm on Friday to Saturday, December 1 - 2.

To donate and to watch Brian, Jack and Cian go o to www.dcumps.com. You can get involved with the broadcast on social media using the hashtag #DCUtv24.
Enterprise Ireland has launched a new fast-track Agile Innovation Fund, to give companies rapid access to innovation funding.

Offering fast-track approval and a streamlined online application process, Enterprise Ireland's new Agile Innovation Fund will allow companies to access up to 50% in support for product, process or service development projects with a total cost of up to 300,000.

A previous recipient of Enterprise Ireland R&D funding, Kilkennys Cartoon Saloon has formed a joint venture, Lighthouse Studios, with Canadas Mercury Filmworks to do third-party service work which may involve animations for big hitters such as Amazon and Disney.

In about 12 months, Lighthouse could be as big as Cartoon Saloon, says Gerry Shirren, Managing Director, Cartoon Saloon. That means Kilkenny could have two animation studios with perhaps 100 employees each, making the city a magnet for talent.

An animated fairy tale provided an unexpected twist in the story of Kilkenny-based animation studio Cartoon Saloon. The companys 2009 film, The Secret of Kells, in which the unfinished Book of Kells is imperilled by Viking invaders and entrusted to the hands of a young hero, was nominated for an Academy Award  a remarkable achievement for the studios first production.

Cartoon Saloon has always innovated, creatively and technically.

We moved really quickly to digital delivery about five years ago when broadcasters were still looking for physical delivery. Now digital is the norm, explains Shirren.

Early on, the company received Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) grant assistance from Enterprise Ireland to evaluate and implement a digital management pipeline. This proved essential for efficient production.

We were looking at customizable software which needed to be heavily modified for our own processes, says Shirren.

The funding brought us into the realm of digital management systems which we hadnt used before.

It was another step on the path to a more professional, streamlined production process. When funds are in short supply, that sort of support makes a difference. I dont think we would have got through the implementation of the visual system without it, adds Shirren.

More recently, the studio received a grant from Enterprise Ireland to embark on a small feasibility study, a sort of voyage into the unknown.

We wanted to find out whether we could port over to a virtual reality environment, explains Shirren. A showcase piece was created, based on a virtual reality world inspired by Song of the Sea, and is now available for VR and the Gear VR mobile platform, both free to download from the Oculus Store.

It was a speculative project and we couldnt have done it without support, Shirren continues. We learnt an awful lot from the process. Anyone who has an Oculus Rift headset can now experience the studios creation.

The Agile Innovation Fund has been introduced by Enterprise Ireland for companies to respond more quickly to market opportunities and challenges, including those posed by Brexit.

Responding to the export challenges and opportunities presented to companies, the new fund is designed to help companies develop new products, processes and services for new market opportunities, enabling exporters to respond quickly and maximise export performance.

Investment in innovation by Irish companies has been found to be a key factor in driving their global performance. A survey of 2,000 Enterprise Ireland clients in 2016 found that those who availed of innovation supports (specifically capability, funding and collaboration support) reported on average a 67% growth in global sales.
City

 Donald T. Smith, 47, 37 Blauvelt Drive, Mentz, was picked up Nov. 21 on a bench warrant.

 Nicholas R. Demperio, 32, 61 Chapman Ave., Auburn, was picked up Nov. 21 on a bench warrant.

 Donald L. Harvey Jr., 49, 297 Seymour St., Auburn, was charged Nov. 22 with petit larceny.

 Steven T. Short, 36, 280 Wheat St., Cayuga, was charged Nov. 22 with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

 Brandy L. Harvey, 36, 54 Van Anden St. Apt. 4, Auburn, was charged Nov. 22 with first-degree robbery, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree criminal contempt.

 Erica R. Fisher, 35, 46 Chase St., Auburn, was charged Nov. 22 with petit larceny.

 Edward I. Vest, 36, 53 Barber St., Auburn, was charged Nov. 22 with third-degree robbery.

 Tyrell M. Mahon, 32, Baltimore, Maryland, was charged Nov. 22 with first-degree driving while ability impaired drugs.

 Joshua L. Patterson, 33, 32 Wilbur Ave., Auburn, was charged Nov. 22 with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

 Tobias A. More, 33, 206 Wheat St., Cayuga, was charged Nov. 23 with driving while intoxicated and second-degree obstructing governmental administration.

 Brandon C. Nanney, 32, 20 N. Beaver St., Jordan, was charged Nov. 25 with aggravated driving while intoxicated and driving while intoxicated.

 Brittany M. Tarry, 28, 20 Logan St. Apt. B, Auburn, was charged Nov. 26 with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

State

 Supreme R. Hines, 23, Auburn, was charged Nov. 21 with fourth-degree grand larceny.

 Frank D. Wieczorek, 49, Auburn, was charged Nov. 21 with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and operating a vehicle without an ignition interlock device.

 Frederick C. Evans, 29, Elbridge, was charged Nov. 22 with making a terroristic threat, fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.

 Courtney E. Chadderdon, 31, Auburn, was charged Nov. 22 with third-degree grand larceny and first-degree identity theft.

 Brian A. Cummings, 26, Locke, was charged Nov. 23 with felony driving while intoxicated with a previous conviction in 10 years and operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of at least .08 of 1 percent.

 Shannon C. Leone-McCarthy, 21, Sennett, was charged Nov. 25 with driving while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of at least .08 of 1 percent.

 James E. Kilmer, 29, Auburn, was charged Nov. 26 with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, felony driving while intoxicated with a previous conviction within 10 years and felony operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of at least .08 of 1 percent.
Nov 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares are likely to open steady on Monday as gains in materials and energy stocks on stronger commodities prices could be offset by a weakness in financials, with a draft bill aiming to put pressure on the government to probe banks.

Iron ore prices in China on Friday posted their biggest weekly increase in nearly five months as stronger steel prices spurred gains in the raw material. U.S. oil prices hit their highest levels in more than two years on Friday. Meanwhile, a rebel member of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's coalition government is circulating a draft bill to step up pressure for an official inquiry into the country's scandal-hit banks. The local share price index futures fell 1 point to 5,993, a 10.4-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark fell 0.06 percent on Friday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.02 percent or 1.800 points to 8,128.490 in early trade.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
(Kitco News) - Real caution is advised when it comes to Australias latest gold rush, according to Melbourne-based gold mining consultants, which say that only time will tell if any of the new ventures pan out.

It is good to see such interest in gold exploration locally but real caution is needed, Sandra Close, managing director of Surbiton Associates, said in a release published on Sunday.

It is very early days and despite the publicity, there is a great difference between an exploration play and a successful mining venture. Exploration is a risky and expensive business, Close noted.

All the hype around the gold rush in Western Australias Pilbara region is understandable as more than 25 publicly listed companies are scouring the region for gold, the media release pointed out.

The target is gold that occurs in conglomerates  sedimentary rocks composed of rounded pebbles in a finer grained matrix. Rocks of a similar type and age in the Witwatersrand basin host the major gold deposits which have been the source of much of South Africas wealth for more than 100 years, Close explained.

Important to keep in mind is that Pilbara was already tested for similar deposits in the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s by one of Australias distinguished mineral explorers, Mark Creasy, who found that the overall grades were too low to support economic development.

Despite the parallels, the latest search in the Pilbara should be kept in perspective  These types of occurrences involve one of the classic challenges of sampling, the problem of the nugget effect, Close said.

The nugget effect refers to assumptions made by explorers when sampling an area  finding or not finding a nugget in the sample sometimes leads experts to a wrong conclusion about the actual mineral composition of the land.

Dealing with the nugget effect is an expensive and time consuming business, Close pointed out. Such exploration involves collecting and processing a large number of large samples in order to obtain reliable results.

Overall, gold production in Australia remained relatively steady in Q3, totaling 74.1 tonnes, which is 1.4% less than in the previous quarter. It was the usual case of swings and roundabouts, Close said.

Surbiton Associates also discussed Western Australias failure to introduce a 50% increase in gold royalty for the second time, noting that there is a lack of understanding around the effects of cost increases.

I am all in favor of a fair return to the community for the minerals they own, Close said. But it makes little sense to increase the royalty so that the economic cut-off grade rises and gold is left in the ground that was previously economic to mine.
HANOI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0404 GMT.

November 27 USD/VND mid-point 22,431 USD/VND interbank 22,722/22,725 USD/VND unofficial 22,750/22,765 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.41/36.63

Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.5-1.3

1 week 0.8-1.6

1 month 1.5-2.6

3 months 4.2-5.2

NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016, the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.

One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.

For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .

For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
By Takahiro Okamoto

TOKYO, Nov 27 (IFR) - The Republic of Turkey has begun official marketing of a two-tranche Samurai bond offering via a private placement.

A tranche of 10-year bonds, with the principal to carry a guarantee from Japan Bank for International Cooperation , is being marketed at a fixed price to yield 0.53 percent.

The other, without a JBIC guarantee, comprises three-year notes at 170-180 basis points over yen offer-side swaps.

During last week's sounding-out period, the indicative prices were around 0.53 percent for the 10-year and a range of 170bp-190bp area for the three-year.

Daiwa, Mizuho and SMBC Nikko are joint lead managers on the issue, which is expected to price on Friday.

(Reporting by Takahiro Okamoto; Editing by Steve Garton and Daniel Stanton)
Nov 27 (Reuters) - Australian miner South32 Ltd said on Monday that its South Africa Energy Coal (SAEC) business would be run on a stand-alone basis and that it would also look to widen SAEC's ownership, possibly listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The company added in a statement that it would invest 4.3 billion rand ($305.14 million) in SAEC's Klipspruit Life Extension project (KPSX). ($1 = 14.0921 rand)

(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
* Secures extra C$78 million in funding

* Expects planning approval to take two years

* Says mine would create 350 jobs and hundreds more indirectly

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Canadian miner Dalradian Resources has filed a planning application and secured a new tranche of funds to build Northern Ireland's first major underground gold mine, with the potential to create hundreds of jobs.

Mining has largely died out in Britain, but the sector sees the potential for a revival as the government pushes an industrial strategy to reboot an economy overshadowed by the decision to leave the European Union. It is also seeking to create jobs beyond the most affluent London area. Dalradian, which is listed in Toronto and on London's AIM, acquired mineral rights in 2009 to more than 80,000 hectares of land in Northern Ireland, including the Curraghinalt gold deposit.

Since then it has carried out exploratory drilling at Curraghinalt and compiled a planning application running to 10,000 pages, which it expects to take about two years to process, including a public enquiry.

On Monday it announced that it had submitted the planning application and secured an extra 78.25 million Canadian dollars ($61.6 million) in funding from Orion Mine Finance and Osisko Gold Royalties, two big North American mine finance companies.

"We have transformed the project from a small early-stage deposit to one of the best gold projects on the planet," CEO Patrick Anderson said.

Anderson is not worried about any issues involving the Northern Irish border or Brexit negotiations more generally, he said, adding that he believes engagement with local people had overcome opposition, including from environmental campaigners.

The application is for Dalradian to run the proposed mine for an initial 20 years, though the company says it has the potential to produce gold for decades longer.

It is already employing 100 people on the project and the number would rise to 350 direct jobs once the mine is operating, plus hundreds more indirect jobs, including those in supply chains.

Northern Ireland has one producing gold mine in Omagh, owned and operated by Galantas Gold Corporation , listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and on AIM.

Galantas, which is also ramping up underground operations after the open-pit site was exhausted, has said it expects to produce about 8,000 ounces next year.

Dalradian said its Curraghinalt project has the potential for output more than 10 times the Galantas mine's current production. ($1 = 1.2702 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Barbara Lewis; Editing by David Goodman)
TORONTO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index turned lower in early trade on Monday, with heavyweight energy stocks weighing as U.S. crude oil prices came off two-year highs. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 16.62 points, or 0.1 percent, at 16,091.47 shortly after the open. Its energy group retreated 1.1 percent.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.




Shanghai(Gasgoo)-Recently, Volkswagen Group China launched an all-new intelligent mobility service brand ezia and also signed a memorandum of understanding with China Mobile Internet of Things. Based on cross-industry strategic cooperation and a unique operating system, ezia, positioned as a consumer-facing mobility brand for Chinese market and consumers, will provide a wide range of intelligent mobility services, such as on demand mobility, intelligent charging and voice-activated artificial intelligence-based assistants, through a highly-integrated dual ecosystem.



According to Weiming Soh, Executive Vice President, Volkswagen AG, Member of the Board of Management and Executive Vice President of Volkswagen Group China, the auto industry is no longer facing a "car consumer" but a "mobility service consumer". In the future, ezia will provide seamless and integrated intelligent mobility service through one ID and interface for Chinese customers. With voice-activated AI interaction, ezia will allow customers to book a table in a restaurant, arrange parking and car-detailing and control lights and air conditioning in the home.

More strikingly, both Volkswagen and China Mobile Internet of Things, an Internet of Things and telematics service platform leader in China, will collaborate in intelligent mobility and lifestyle-related connected devices and services under their memorandum of understanding. It is said that Volkswagen will realize fully connected in 2019.
(Corrects pct move in table for Thai index to -0.01 pct from -0.07 pct)

By Aaron Saldanha

Nov 27 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets ended lower on Monday amid concerns of a regulatory crackdown in China, while Vietnam shares closed near a decade high led by real estate and utility stocks.

Chinese shares fell as sentiment took a hit from rising bond yields after Beijing stepped up a crackdown on shadow banking and other riskier forms of financing, with higher borrowing costs threatening to squeeze corporate profits. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose early in the session tracking Wall Street gains on Friday, but was last down 0.9 percent, slipping further from a 10-year peak scaled on Thursday. Meanwhile, Shanghai shares fell 0.9 percent to a three-month low.

Vietnam shares recorded their highest close since Dec. 2007, helped by gains in Vingroup JSC , up 2 percent, and Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp , up 1.1 percent.

The Philippine index recovered part losses to end marginally lower as gains in real estate and energy stocks were outweighed by losses in the consumer discretionary and staples.

"It is more of a continuation of last week's profit-taking," said Fio Dejesus, an equity research analyst at RCBC Securities in Manila.

Heavyweights SM Investments Corp and Ayala Land Inc ended 1.4 percent and 1.1 percent lower, respectively, as investors cashed in after last week's gains.

SM Investments climbed 1.9 percent last week while Ayala Land gained 4.1 percent.

"Most of our covered stocks are already priced in, with the exception of consumer stocks which still have quite a bit of upside in our view," added RCBC's Dejesus.

Singapore's benchmark index fell 0.2 percent on Monday as lenders DBS Group Holdings and United Overseas Bank Ltd , each lost about 0.7 percent.

On the other hand, Malaysian shares added 0.2 percent, helped by gains in telecom and utilities stocks. Electric utility Tenaga Nasional , up 1.2 percent, was the biggest contributor to index gains.

Indonesia's index of its 45 most liquid stocks recovered from an early decline to end the day 0.1 percent higher.

A government divestment roadshow in Singapore for brewer Sabeco piqued investor interest though the stock fell 5 percent ahead of the government revealing plans to divest its 90 percent stake. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS: CHANGE ON DAY Change on the day Market Current previous close Pct Move Singapore 3436.36 3442.15 -0.17 Bangkok 1695.67 1695.84 -0.01 Manila 8361.69 8365.11 -0.04 Jakarta 6064.589 6067.142 -0.04 Kuala Lumpur 1719.86 1717.23 0.15 Ho Chi Minh 938.61 935.57 0.32

Change so far this year Market Current End 2016 Pct Move Singapore 3436.36 2880.76 19.29 Bangkok 1694.63 1542.94 9.83 Manila 8361.69 6840.64 22.24 Jakarta 6064.589 5296.711 14.50 Kuala Lumpur 1719.86 1641.73 4.76 Ho Chi Minh 938.61 664.87 41.17 (Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)
NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - India's Jindal Steel and Power Ltd told a government committee this month that it could supply up to 600,000 tonnes of rails per year to the Indian Railways if needed, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Monday.

The committee on domestically manufactured iron and steel products for government projects told the Ministry of Railways that local companies had the capacity to supply 717,000 tonnes of rails as sought by the ministry in a recent global tender.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Tommy Wilkes)
By Andrew Torchia

DUBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Qatar's imports rose from a year earlier in October for the first time since other Arab states imposed sanctions on Doha in June, official data showed on Monday, suggesting damage done to the Qatari economy by the sanctions is fading.

Monthly imports plunged by as much as 40.0 percent year-on-year after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of backing terrorism, which Doha denies.

The boycott disrupted Qatar's shipping routes through the Gulf and blocked imports across its land border with Saudi Arabia. Much of its perishable food products as well as construction materials came across that border.

But Qatar, the world's largest liquefied natural gas exporter, responded by developing its port facilities and establishing new shipping routes via Oman and the Indian subcontinent, and October's data indicated that Doha's ability to import most goods had returned to normal.

Imports jumped 11.2 percent from a year ago to 12.3 billion riyals ($3.4 billion); they increased 52.9 percent from the previous month. Auto imports remained 27.0 percent below year-earlier levels in October because Qatar can no longer buy car parts from Dubai, the region's trans-shipment centre for parts, but most other imports were at normal levels.

The sanctions have accelerated a sharp downturn in Qatar's real estate market and slashed prices in the stock market. Banks have come under financial pressure as depositors from the four Gulf states have pulled out their money.

But the sanctions have not significantly disrupted Qatar's exports, which jumped 11.9 percent from a year ago to 21.0 billion riyals in October. Its trade surplus expanded 12.9 percent to 8.7 billion riyals.

Official data released last week showed Qatar's industrial production grew 7.4 percent from a year earlier in September. That was partly because of 8.3 percent growth in the natural gas and petroleum sector, but manufacturing rose 3.2 percent.

Food manufacturing jumped 23.5 percent as the government responded to the sanctions by encouraging companies to make Qatar more self-sufficient in food.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia, editing by Ed Osmond)
(Repeats item issued earlier. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

* GRAPHIC: China's imports of U.S. crude vs. Brent premium over WTI: By Clyde Russell

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The shifting dynamics of China's crude oil imports show the scale of the challenges facing the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies ahead of a decision on whether to continue with production cuts.

The detailed Chinese customs data for October illustrates trends that should give pause for thought to the leaders of OPEC and its allies, particularly major exporter Russia, ahead of the meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.

Market share is the big issue for shippers to China, the world's largest crude importer, and there are two strands to the problem.

The first is that the import data shows how China has been able to develop new relationships with oil exporters fairly rapidly, reducing reliance on some traditional suppliers from OPEC.

The second is that it appears that the burden of reducing exports, at least as far as China is concerned, isn't being shared remotely equally by members of OPEC and their partners in output cuts.

This imbalance raises the chance that an extension to the overall output cuts first agreed a year ago will prove ineffective as some parties to the deal are tempted to export more in a bid to retain, or expand, market share.

U.S. EXPORT SURGE

China's imports from the United States neatly encapsulate the dilemma that OPEC and its allies have in dealing with the challenge of rising U.S. exports on the back of the boom in shale oil. China imported about 206,900 barrels per day (bpd) from the United States in October, the second-highest monthly amount on record since this trade flow started late last year.

Granted, that level of shipments doesn't seem to present much of a threat to top suppliers Russia and Saudi Arabia, whose exports to China in October stood at 1.09 million bpd and 1.08 million bpd respectively.

But it represents a huge increase in less than a year, with China's imports from the United States going from virtually zero in 2016 to a monthly average of some 135,000 bpd in the first 10 months of the year.

It also seems that U.S. exports are going to keep increasing in coming months, and quite strongly, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.

The shipping data show that China's November U.S. imports should be around 242,000 bpd, based on six cargoes that have already been discharged at Chinese ports.

In December, they may rise to 379,000 bpd as the vessel-tracking data shows six cargoes already underway, all of them Very Large Crude Carriers with around 2 million barrels per ship.

FROM NON-ENTITY TO SERIOUS PLAYER

At a figure getting fairly close to 400,000 bpd, the United States would likely become China's seventh largest supplier of crude, something that becomes much more than just a nuisance as far as the big guns of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Angola, Iran and Iraq are concerned.

The rise of non-traditional crude exporters to China such as the United States, Brazil and even Great Britain may also cause some of those countries trying to re-balance the market through output cuts to think more about preserving market share.

Producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia ship to numerous countries, but the China data shows that as far as exports there are concerned, some OPEC countries and their partners appear to be doing more than others.

China imported 1.04 million bpd from Saudi Arabia in the first 10 months of the year, an increase of just 1 percent from the same period last year.

Over the same period China bought 1.19 million bpd from Russia, up 16 percent, and 1.04 million bpd from Angola, a jump of almost 18 percent. Those two countries have overtaken Saudi Arabia as the top suppliers to China so far this year.

While Russia and Angola may be cutting exports to other buyers, they have certainly worked to boost market share in China, with both achieving growth rates above China's overall 11.8 percent increase in crude imports in the first 10 months.

The other major Middle East exporters have, similar to the Saudis, been more restrained in exporting to China, with imports from Iran up 2.2 percent and Iraq by 1.6 percent.

If OPEC and its allies are going to extend their output cuts of 1.8 million bpd beyond the current March expiry, the key to success will be ensuring compliance.

If some exporters are complying more enthusiastically than others, the deal risks gradually falling apart.

Put another way, how happy will Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq be at seeing their allies Russia and Angola exporting more to China, as well as watching emerging rivals like the United States and others chip away their share of the China crude market?

(Editing by Richard Pullin)
(Repeats story first published on Friday)

By Huw Jones

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Banks on mainland Europe have cut their exposures to Britain since the Brexit vote last year and are concerned about the legality of cross-border deals once the UK leaves, the European Union's banking watchdog said on Friday.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) said banks in the EU's 27 member countries have cut exposures in terms of assets from just over 1.9 trillion euros in June 2016 when the referendum took place, to just under 1.6 trillion euros by June 2017.

Liabilities fell from just under 1.7 trillion euros ($2.03 trillion) to just over 1.3 trillion euros over the same period.

The drop mainly reflects a sharp pullback in derivative deals, which could become a worry for London which competes with New York in this global sector.

EBA said in a regular risk assessment report that banks are worried about a "cliff-edge" if Britain, the bloc's most important financial market, leaves the EU without an agreement on trading terms.

"The Brexit negotiations continue to be a source of political risk for the EU financial market as a cliff-edge scenario could lead to substantial disturbances for the European banking sector," EBA said.

In one of the starkest warnings yet from a European regulator, it said a major worry for banks is continuity of financial contracts or ability to fulfil obligations that have been entered into once Britain is no longer part of the EU legal system.

Consumers and companies in the EU27 could face cancellation, amendment or renegotiation of contracts, loss of protection, disruption and financial losses, EBA said.

"It is important that banks and their counterparties, as well as consumers and public authorities, consider appropriate mitigating actions and contingency plans to address these concerns," it said.

Britain hopes for a breakthrough in EU divorce talks next month that will lead to transition arrangements and an outline of new trading terms to avoid a cliff edge, which would help to dispel doubts about derivatives and other financial contracts.

Banks in the EU27 may also not be able to clear derivatives transactions in London, leaving companies and households unable to access wholesale and retail financial services in Britain. Deutsche Boerse has already launched a push to lure clearing to Frankfurt from London.

"A disruption of financial flows ... coupled with diminishing confidence of market participants, could lead to the drying up of market liquidity ... affecting financial stability in the EU banking system," EBA said.

The EBA report backs arguments made by the City of London financial district and others that mainland Europe has as much to lose as Britain from failure to at least agree on a transitional deal.

The watchdog also said that the EU's banks are still improving their resilience to shocks and whittling away at their 893 billion euro mountain of bad loans.

While profitability has improved, the average return on equity is 7 percent, its highest level since 2014, but still typically below the cost of capital, EBA said. It remains unclear if poor profitability is due to current market conditions or the sector's structure. ($1 = 0.8377 euros)

(Reporting by Huw Jones. Editing by Jane Merriman)
NEW YORK, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short dollar bets rose in the latest week after seven straight weeks of declines, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Monday.

The value of the net short dollar positions, derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, was $3.15 billion, in the week to Nov. 21.

That compares with a net short position of $643 million the previous week and marks the 19th straight week that speculators have had a net short position on the greenback.

To be short a currency means traders believe it will fall in value.

Meanwhile, the net short position in the Swiss franc grew to the largest since June 2012, the data showed.

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Tom Brown)
ZURICH, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The Swiss blue-chip SMI was seen opening 0.1 percent lower at 9,315 points on Monday, according to premarket indications by bank Julius Baer .

The following are some of the main factors expected to affect Swiss stocks.

JULIUS BAER The Swiss private bank scrambled over the weekend to pick a replacement for Chief Executive Boris Collardi, who surprised its leaders by suddenly resigning to take a new role at Pictet Group in Geneva. The shares were seen falling more than 4 percent in pre-market indicators. For more click GATEGROUP

Chinese conglomerate HNA, under scrutiny at home and abroad over a debt-fuelled acquisition spree, gave partially untrue or incomplete information during the takeover of Swiss airline catering firm Gategroup last year, the Swiss Takeover Board said. UBS The Swiss bank formed a strategic team to look into buying parts of German lender Commerzbank , Neue Zuercher Zeitung reported on Sunday. NESTLE French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Saturday he was particularly "shocked" by Nestle's NESN.S plans to cut up to 450 jobs at its Galderma skin-health research plant in the south of France as the plant benefited from a research tax credit. For more click <NESN.S]

COMPANY STATEMENTS * Aryzta said first-quarter revenue fell 5.5 percent to 909.7 million euros ($1.09 billion). * Walter Meier said on Friday it is joining forces with Tobler to strengthen its hearing and cooling services offering. * Bucher said that Manuela Suter will become chief financial officer on Jan. 1. * Meyer Burger said it made a voluntary offer to convert a 100 million Swiss franc 5.5 percent bond due 2020. * ABB said it would work with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to share knowledge and promote the benefits of collaborative robots, in particular those with dual arm designs. ECONOMY Non-farm payrolls at 0715 GMT

($1 = 0.8382 euros)

(Reporting by Zurich newsroom)

Daily Swiss stock market report in German................ All SMI constituent stocks............................ News on major Swiss stock price moves.................. FTSE Eurotop 300 index................................ DJ STOXX index........................................ Top 10 STOXX sectors............................. Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors........................ Top 10 Eurotop 300 sectors....................... Top 25 European pct gainers... , losers... Swiss mid-cap index SMI futures Swiss all-share index Market statistics Swiss market digest Sector overview All Swiss news Swiss research news All equity news INTERNET ADDRESSES: Swiss Exchange / Eurex STOXX Ltd SPEED GUIDES: ))

Keywords: MARKETS SWISS STOCKS/
OSLO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Norway's central bank gave the following result of an auction for its NST 39 treasury bill on Monday. Allotment Price 99.8210 Yield (percent) 0.32 Alloted Volume (billion crowns) 3.000 Total volume of bids (billion crowns) 7.660 The Norwegian central bank said the allotment rate on the lowest accepted bids was 82 percent.

(Reporting by Oslo newsroom)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
KAMPALA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was stable on Monday but was forecast to weaken due to dollar demand from commercial banks. At 1008 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,630/3,640, unchanged from Friday's close. UGX Spot Rate.................... Ugandan Shilling Money Guide.... Calculated Cross Rates.......... Deposits..................... Deposits & Forwards............. Uganda Equities Guide....... Uganda All Share Index........ Shilling background ..... Ugandan Debt Guide............ All Uganda Bonds............. Uganda T-Bills.............. Uganda Benchmark............. Central Bank ................ Ugandan Contributor Index.... Uganda Coffee Prices....... (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
* Charter seeks to increase black ownership in sector

* Industry says new rules imposed without consultation

(Adds details, ministry reaction)

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A court hearing for a challenge by South Africa's mining industry to revisions to a sector charter which include raising levels of black ownership has been postponed to February from December, the Chamber of Mines said on Monday.

The uncertainty around the matter is an added headwind deterring investment into a sector that accounts for 8 percent of South Africa's economic output.

The Mining Charter is part of a wider empowerment drive in South Africa designed to rectify the disparities of apartheid that persist more than two decades since the end of white minority rule in 1994.

"A judge decided that two days was not enough time and asked for three days, so the matter has been postponed," said Memory Johnstone, a spokeswoman for the chamber.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said in a statement that the postponement was "regrettable ... We will, however, abide by the granting of the postponement."

The Chamber of Mines has filed a court application to challenge the latest revisions, which it says were imposed by the government without consultation. It also says that many of the new rules are unaffordable for an industry grappling with depressed prices and rising costs.

About two-thirds of platinum mines in the world's largest producer of the precious metal are not making money at current prices, according to the chamber.

Bones of contention include raising the target for black ownership to 30 percent from 26 percent.

The new rules also stipulate that mining firms must pay 1 percent of their annual turnover to the Mining Transformation and Development Agency, which helps black communities.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Since Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, announced the start of research on fossil-fuel powered vehicles sales ban schedule on September 9th, the so-called sales ban time has been catching great attention.

Xiang Dongping, CMO of DEARCC, said on 2017 NEV intelligent Electric Drive forum that ban sales on oil-fueled vehicles is an irreversible trend. He said the government does not need to set a deadline for the traditional vehicles. When the battery technology becomes mature enough, consumers will choose more competitive vehicles and the market system will help NEV to surpass traditional ones.

He Xiaojing, Director of marketing department in SAIC Roewe, believes that ban sales on fossil-fuel powered vehicles should advance gradually in case that the fast development on NEV may cause resources wastes. Cao Ting, market vice president of Changan Mazda also claims that Even though it has made progress in internal combustion engine technology, it wont neglect the development of NEV technology. It would release relevant NEV products and improve traditional fossil-fuel powered vehicles efficiency in the future two or three years.

Yin Chengliang, vice dean of Automotive Engineering Institute in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, believe that governmental approval on NEV production license restricts industrial innovation and time schedule on ban sales should be discussed carefully and prudently. Fossil-fuel powered vehicles may co-exist with electric vehicles in the future long time. Auto analyst Yan Jinghui thought it is less likely to ban the sales of fossil-fuel powered in the coming ten years.
(Updates with details, background)

By Marja Novak

LJUBLJANA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Slovenia's government needs to restrain spending and introduce structural reforms including in the national pension and health systems to keep public finances strong, the Bank of Slovenia said on Monday.

The government is under pressure to raise public sector pay, with several trade unions including those for doctors and teachers demanding wage hikes ahead of a general election expected next June.

"The main public finance challenges in the coming year remain controlling pressure to increase spending, speeding up the use of European funds and enforcing structural reforms that would ensure the long-term sustainability of public finances," the central bank said in a report.

It picked out the pension system, the inefficient national health system and long-term care for the elderly as areas that needed changes.

Economic growth remains high, it said, with "accelerated export growth in the third quarter". There was brisk activity in the manufacturing sector and rapid growth in private spending, it said.

The statistics office will release gross domestic product (GDP) data for the third quarter on Thursday. The economy expanded 4.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. The bank said the government expects to run a budget surplus next year, after this year's forecast for a deficit of 0.8 percent of GDP, narrowing from a 1.9 percent shortfall in 2016.

Slovenia, which narrowly avoided the need for an international bailout for its banks in 2013, returned to growth a year later. The government expects the economy to expand 4.4 percent this year, up from 3.1 percent in 2016, thanks to stronger exports and investment.

The International Monetary Fund said earlier this year that Slovenia should raise its retirement age to ensure the sustainability of its pension system.

At present Slovenians can retire at the age of about 59-1/2, but in line with a 2013 pension reform plan that is being gradually raised to 65 by the end of 2019.

Last year the Labour Ministry proposed raising the retirement age further to 67, due to the rapid ageing of the population. But the government has so far not altered its plans from 2013.

(Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
(New throughout, adds background on case)

By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A Turkish gold trader will not go on trial this week on charges of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran in a case that has strained Turkish-U.S. ties, a U.S. judge in New York said Monday.

Reza Zarrab, 34, stopped appearing in court in the two months leading up to his scheduled trial, prompting Turkey's prime minister to suggest he has reached a plea deal with U.S. authorities.

Zarrab and eight other people, including Turkey's former economy minister and three executives of Turkish state-owned Halkbank, have been charged with engaging in transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran's government and Iranian entities from 2010 to 2015 in a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions.

The prosecutors said the defendants worked to supply gold and currency to Iran and Iranian entities, in violation of the sanctions, sometimes disguising transactions as purchases of food.

Only Zarrab and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, one of the Halkbank executives, have been arrested by U.S. authorities. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan told potential jurors on Monday morning that Atilla, 47, will be the only person on trial.

The trial will begin as soon as a jury is chosen, and is expected to last three to four weeks.

Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Zarrab, declined to comment on Zarrab's absence at the trial. A spokesman for the prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is acutely sensitive in Turkey in part because the prosecutors say Turkey's former economy minister, Zafer Caglayan, was involved in the alleged conspiracy. Caglayan has denied the charges.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's government has said the case has been fabricated for political motives. This has exacerbated tensions between Ankara and Washington, NATO allies. Investor sentiment toward Turkey has cooled, and traders said the situation was a factor in the lira's fall to record lows.

Prosecutors said in a court filing four weeks ago that Zarrab once told another defendant he had spoken with Erdogan directly about the alleged scheme.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said he sees in this case the hand of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan accuses Gulen of masterminding last year's failed military coup in Turkey and also of driving an earlier legal case involving Zarrab.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim last week called the claim that Gulen was behind the U.S. case "ridiculous."

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Hydrogen fuel has been widely recognized as the cleanest energy, and also considered a final solution to vehicle industry following the global trend of energy saving and reducing emission. But it still seems quite hard for auto companies to overcome prohibitive costs problem to achieve commercialization. Especially at present when the hydrogen filling stations are underdeveloped, and the technology regulations and standards haven't been well established, the promotion and popularization of hydrogen fuel-cell cars are facing significant challenges.

It's known that the market and government policies are centered on the development of all-electric cars now. The dual-credit scheme concerning new energy vehicles (NEV) released in this September pushed auto companies of China and other countries to put more efforts into NEV development. However, all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will dominate the future auto market in accordance with companies 2025 Strategic Plans.

According to released statistics, the global fuel cell market has developed rapidly, with the shipment quantity of 2008 reaching 9.5 thousand, and 2015 reaching 71.5 thousand, 7.5 times the scale of 2008.

With the strong support of government policies, the upgrading of local facilities has become a key to industry development. Following Nanhai in Foshan, cities like Shanghai, Rugao in Jiangsu, Taizhou in Zhejiang, Wuhan in Hubei, all have formulated policies in favor of the hydrogen fuel cell development.

It's predicted that the value of hydrogen car industry may hit a trillion yuan by 2030. By 2020, fuel-cell cars will reach 10 thousand, and by 2030, fuel-cell car parc will reach 2 million. As such, China is very likely to become the biggest fuel-cell car market worldwide by 2030.

There is still a long way to go before reaching the commercial scale, in that optimum business model will come out after a relative larger scale. However, despite high subsidies, China has only 7 hydrogen filling stations currently, and these 7 stations haven't reached the commercial scale. As hydrogen filling station is a vital facility, the establishment of and open access to it also become essential to the commercialization of fuel cells.

Besides, few domestic auto companies launched products powered by hydrogen fuel. Last week, SAIC MAXUS launched its FCV80 fuel-cell light passenger vehicle, which was seen by many industry insiders as the first step to the commercialization of fuel-cell cars.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Ground-breaking ceremony of Ningbo Jing Wei Battery Co. Ltd. was held in Ningbo. As the first phase project of Hybrid Kinetic Group(HK Group), the company will provide a supporting project of 300,000 new energy vehicles for HK Group. According to the plan, the project covers a total area of 207,333 square meters. With a total investment of RMB 2 billion, the first phase of the project covers an area of 126,000 square meters, which will be completed and put into operation by the end of 2018.

Early in February 17th this year, HK Group, together with Fenghua municipal government, Beijing WKW Automotive Parts Co., Ltd., and Beijing Zhiyun Fund Co., Ltd. jointly signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement. With deep investigation and adequate preparation, the said four companies established Ningbo Jingwei Power Battery Co., Ltd. The registered capital is RMB 2 billion. The business scope of the company includes R&D, production and sales of batteries, battery material, battery management system and so on; development, consulting, service and transfer of new energy technology. According to the plan, HK Group will build a clean energy automotive production base in Fenghua District, which includes power center, R&D center and vehicle production center.

The battery company is a R&D center and demonstration base of HK Battery. The start-up of the power battery project (phase I) is an important part of HK Groups construction of 300,000 units of clean energy vehicles in Ningbo. In addition to shouldering the tasks of production and sales of vehicles, the company will also set up a battery technology research institute, which will focus on the study of battery components, and battery products. They will use graphene in lithium titanate battery.
A documentary play "The Nurses, Who Do Not Return Home" centers on Korean nurses who migrated to Germany in the 1960s. / Courtesy of Seoul Arts Center



Play based on history features German actors



By Kwon Mee-yoo



In the 1960s, many Korean nurses and mine workers migrated to Germany, as the country invited Korean laborers as part of its Gastarbeiter program. Images usually depict the dispatched nurses to Germany wearing "hanbok" (traditional Korean costume) and waving Korean Taegeukgi flags at the airport. They are just lumped together as a symbol of sacrifice for economic development.



A documentary play "The Nurses, Who Do Not Return Home" sheds light on the other half of the history of these Korean-German nurses, centering on individual lives rather than the whole history.



The documentary play is a product of director Kim Jae-yeop's year in Berlin. He met politics expert Yoo Jung-sook who studied the lives of Korean immigrants and nurses in Germany.



Director Kim, who also is a professor of Sejong University's Department of Film Art, headed to Berlin for a year as an exchange professor at Berlin University of the Arts. A year at the German capital made the director ponder ideas of cosmopolitanism, immigration and refugees.



He presented "Die Gedanken Sind Frei," or "Thoughts are Free" at the Doosan Art Center in May, which was more about the artist's role in this cosmopolitan world as a first of his "Berlin Commentary" trilogy.





A scene from the play "The Nurses, Who Do Not Return Home" / Courtesy of Seoul Arts Center


By Park Jae-hyuk



Korean conglomerates and private equity firms (PEF) weren't able to create jobs as many had hoped, despite achieving significant profitability over the past years, according to data by Statistics Korea and the Bank of Korea.



Their passive attitude toward job creation is feared to be leading Korea into an era of so-called "jobless growth," which may severely affect the Moon Jae-in administration's policy for solving the unemployment problem.



Jobless growth or a jobless recovery is an economic phenomenon in which an economy experiences growth while seeing a decrease in employment. The term was coined by the economist Nick Perna in the early 1990s.



Local conglomerates' operating profit in proportion to sales reached 6.6 percent last year, up from 5.5 percent a year earlier, the state statistics agency said.



However, the number of jobs offered by the conglomerates was 3.68 million, down from 3.77 million a year earlier.



Regarding the nation's 30 largest groups, they offered slightly more jobs, but the growth rate was far less than their rate of increase in operating profit.



According to CEO Score, a domestic consultancy, 261 affiliates of the 30 groups hired 945,067 workers as of September, up 1.2 percent year-on-year, while their operating profits reached 82.7 trillion won ($76.1 billion) in total, up 65.4 percent from a year earlier.



Moreover, most of the new jobs were irregular positions.



While the number of permanent positions increased by 0.7 percent, those of irregular positions rose by 8.3 percent, implying the quality of jobs has been poorer.



Among the 30 groups, LG, GS, Daelim, Samsung, Hyundai Motor and POSCO offered more jobs than a year earlier.



Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering cut their labor forces by 11.7 percent and 18 percent, respectively, because of the slump in the shipbuilding industry.



KT, Hanjin, Hanwha, OCI, LS, Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Shinsegae also reduced the number of their workers.



Companies taken over by PEFs were no exception.



Data compiled by CEO Score showed the operating profits of three companies acquired by MBK Partners  ING Life Insurance, Home plus and Coway  rose by 31.6 percent in total within a year after their takeover, but their investment and employment decreased by 32.3 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.



UBcare, which was acquired by STIC Investment, also reduced its investment and employment by 32.7 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, although its operating profit grew by 36.1 percent within a year after the takeover.



Against this backdrop, conglomerates have claimed the increase in operating profits resulted from the reduction of labor forces, saying restructuring was one of their strategies to survive in the challenging business environment.



However, critics said the larger companies should be more socially responsible, citing the country's small- and medium-sized enterprises offered 320,000 more jobs last year.


By Kim Jae-kyoung



SINGAPORE -- South Korean fintech startups should speed up their entry into the ASEAN market as the region is emerging as one of the most promising places for online and mobile payment services, experts said, Monday.



President Moon Jae-in, on his trip to Southeast Asia early this month, vowed to strengthen economic ties with the 10-member economic bloc in Southeast Asia to diversify his country's diplomatic horizons.



Among many areas for cooperation, financial technology (fintech) is one of the future-oriented industries that should be developed as a growth engine for Korea, they said.



Korea's top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), is seeking to make Seoul a fintech powerhouse by exporting more financial technology abroad.



Given the region's growth potential and Korea's strategic pivot to Southeast Asia, ASEAN, which refers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is seen as one of the best places to achieve that goal.



"We should look for business opportunities in the ASEAN region because the market has great potential," said a senior executive of a Korean fintech firm who recently attended the Singapore Fintech Festival, declining to be named.



"Korea is not an ideal place where fintech firms can find business partners as well as investors to fund new technologies due to regulatory hurdles. In this regard, the ASEAN region can be a good place to foster our business."



ASEAN's fintech market is expected to generate huge opportunities for Korean fintech startups in two aspects.



First, it is promising from the demographic perspective  rising digital consumers and a highly under-banked population.



According to Bain & Company, in the past year alone, the number of online-engaged consumers in Southeast Asia has surged by 50 percent to 200 million people.



In particular, digital consumers in this region have a special feature. The online retail market in the U.S. and Korea first grew with the expansion of PC-based shopping but in Southeast Asia more consumers access the internet via smartphones.



Also, the region's young and under-banked population creates optimistic prospects.



ASEAN has a population of over 630 million, and about half of them are aged under 30. But more than 50 percent of them do not have access to banking services.





For this reason, funding for fintech startups in ASEAN is surging.



According to a recent report, "State of Fintech in ASEAN," investment in the ASEAN fintech market stood at just $14 million in 2012, but that figure jumped to $190 million in 2015, $252 million in 2016 and $338 million in the first nine months of this year.



The report was produced by the United Overseas Bank in cooperation with EY, the Singapore FinTech Association and the ASEAN FinTech Network.



"ASEAN as an engine of economic growth and prosperity has caught the eye of global investors and there is an abundant supply of early-stage funding in the region," the report said.



Second, there are growing expectations that fintech will play a role in the integration of ASEAN member states following the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015.



The AEC is an agreement among the 10 member nations to create a single market with free flow of capital, goods, and skilled labor through deregulation by 2025.



In their latest move, ASEAN countries are seeking to use fintech to deepen financial inclusion across ASEAN, which consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam



To that end, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation have teamed up to set up the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN).



The goal of AFIN is to help banks and fintech firms in ASEAN collaborate, so as to broaden and deepen access to digital financial services across ASEAN.



"It will allow banks to search for and connect to innovative fintech offerings, while giving fintech firms an opportunity to scale up their businesses across borders," MAS Managing Director Revi Menon said in a speech at the second fintech festival in Singapore.



"AFIN will provide a powerful platform to extend financial services to the millions of under-banked people in ASEAN."



At the festival held from Nov. 13 to 17, many financial experts shared the view that ASEAN integration is difficult to achieve but there is a growing area of cross-border integration driven by fintech firms, and that is related to payment technologies such as e-wallets.



They said that in terms of integrating people into the banking system, there is a huge opportunity in emerging ASEAN markets that have large un-banked and under-banked populations.



"Korean fintech firms can find opportunities to work with major banks in the region to help them revamp their business models and offer simpler services while increasing financial inclusion," said a senior researcher at a Korean IT firm on condition of anonymity.


Choi Yearn-hong, Yonseian of the Year 2017





Hong Hee-kyung, president of the Yonsei University Alumni Association of the Americas, announced Dr. Choi Yearn-hong as the Yonseian of the Year 2017, for his pilgrimage to commemorate the centennial of poet and fellow Yonsei alumni, Yoon Dong-ju's birth, earlier this year.



Choi has long celebrated Yoon's life and literature through the establishment and foundation of the Yoon Dong-ju Group in the Washington Area, the only such organization outside Korea over the past twenty years, and most recently highlighted Yoon at the Korean Poets and Writers Group overseas literary symposium at Yanji, September 1, 2017.



He has translated and published Yoon's major poems, including "Star-counting Night,""Self-Portrait,""Easily Written Poem" and "Prelude," into English. His journey to remember the poet began at Yoon's birthplace in Myungdong-chon, and moved on to his elementary and middle schools in Yongjung, Manchuria, his colleges in Japan _ Rikkyo and Toshisha universities, and finally the prison at Fukuoka, Japan, where he was killed in February 1945 at the age of 27.



Choi is one of the senior Korean poets who made his literary debut while studying at Yonsei University in 1963, and received the Yoon Dong-ju Literary Awards in 2016 for his most recent poetry book, "Incan Woman."

His lengthy article on his pilgrimage was published in Sept. 23 and 24 issues of The Korea Times.



ejbae@ktimes.com






By Nam Hyun-woo



The government wants to delay the joint military drills with the United States during the PyeongChang Olympic Games, said Song Young-gil, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation.



Song said the Moon Jae-in government has been calling for peace during the Winter Games, and a delay in the exercise may stop North Korea from conducting additional provocations.



He made the comment during a conference hosted by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and the Russia-based think tank the Valdai Discussion Club at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul.



Among the participants in the two-day conference were Song, Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Morgulov, Valdai Club Chairman Andrey Bystritskiy, KIEP President Hyun Jung-taik and ranking government officials and scholars from South Korea and Asia-Pacific countries.



"Recently, the North Korea-China dialogue has not been going smoothly, while talks between the North and Russia are going relatively well," Song said. "Thus, we judge that Russia is in a position to mediate inter-Korean talks, which is a very significant role for regional peace."



A South Korea-U.S. joint air force drill is scheduled for next month, with F-22 Raptor and F-35 stealth fighter jets expected to participate. Also two annual spring military exercises of Key Resolve and Foal Eagle overlap with the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Games next February.



During the conference, Morgulov stressed that the joint military exercises do not help alleviate the tensions stemming from North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).



"The first step toward alleviating tensions is North Korea's abandoning of its programs and the U.S. and its allies scaling down of joint military drills, simultaneously," Morgulov said.



"For the past two months, North Korea has been acting within this concept, which seems to be the first step. Unfortunately, the U.S. has not scaled down its drills and plans to add another exercise. In order to bring the North to the discussion table, some action from the U.S. should be seen."



Along with China, Russia is calling for the dismantling of the North's nuclear programs and for the U.S. to scale down its military drills in the region. Morgulov stressed that this is the prerequisite for regional peace and mutual recognition of North Korea and the U.S.



Song said Russia's plan is an "option" that South Korea can consider when a dialogue channel between the two Koreas is reestablished.



Established in 2004, the Valdai Discussion Club is aimed at promoting dialogue between the Russian and international elite in politics, economics and social development among other subjects.



So far, more than 1,000 representatives of the international scholarly community from 63 countries have participated in the club's work. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been meeting with participants of the club's annual meetings every year since its founding.



This was the first Valdai Club conference held in Korea.



In economic matters, Song said the government is considering full cooperation for a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, in an effort to prevent South Korea's trade policies from being swayed by the Donald Trump administration's protectionism.








By Yi Whan-woo



North Korea has not carried out any military provocations for over 70 days, fueling speculations about why.



Some claim Pyongyang is having trouble mastering ballistic missile technology, while others say it is waiting for the world to offer carrots in return for ceasing its provocations.



The longer-than-expected suspension came after Pyongyang fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile Sept. 15.



U.S. Donald Trump's tour to five Asian nations including South Korea, Japan and China as well as a rare convergence of three U.S. supercarriers in early November were once thought to be reasons for Pyongyang remaining low key.



Some analysts said there must be other reasons given that it has been weeks since Trump and the three U.S. carriers left.



They speculated that Pyongyang's suspension of provocations is unintentional and is attributed to possible domestic events, such as a failure to make advances in its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology.



They also speculated that a power struggle between North Korean military and Workers' Party officials may have delayed the ICBM test.



"It once made sense to say North Korea kept a slow, controlled tempo in its military provocations when Trump came to Seoul and three supercarriers joined the South Korea-U.S. naval drill. Now, it seems Pyongyang wants to fire an ICBM but is having trouble in mastering re-entry and other tricky technology," said An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies.



Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, agreed, saying, "Technical problems may be the cause of the delay of the launch."



Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may be still waiting for the U.S. and China to offer to resume dialogue, although he recently snubbed Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy to Pyongyang, Song Tao.



Secret contact between the U.S. and North Korea to resume dialogue lately has also believed to have failed.



"The U.N. Security Council sanctions are apparently choking North Korea to a serious level and the repressive state appears to be refraining from provocations to make a breakthrough," the KNDA professor said.



Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, said North Korea may continue to hold back on provocations until 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games, during which the U.N. General Assembly asked all countries stop hostilities and observe a truce.



The timing of the Olympics overlaps with that of two spring military exercises between Seoul and Washington -- Key Resolve and Foal Eagle -- and it is being debated whether these should be delayed.








Court to continue trial today without her



By Lee Kyung-min



A court hearing for former President Park Geun-hye was delayed for a day, Monday, after she failed to appear before the court citing health reasons.

The Seoul Central District Court will proceed without her, today, if Park continues to refuse to appear as a defendant without providing a proper excuse.



Under criminal law, a hearing can proceed when a defendant, who is under arrest and standing criminal trial, refuses to appear.

"Park needs to appear as a defendant, but she only submitted her reasons for not doing so," the judge said.

"She will be notified about the consequences this would entail, and if she continues to ignore this, the court has no choice but to go ahead without her, which could be to her disadvantage."



The decision followed a written document submitted by Park to officials early in the day at Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, where she is in custody.

In a document the center submitted to the court on behalf of Park, it said she was taking medications for back pain and swelling in her knee. Officials there would be unable, it added, to forcibly transfer her from the center to the court given her status as a former president.



This comes 42 days after Park began refusing to attend her own trial, following the resignations of her former defense attorneys triggered by the court's decision to issue a second arrest warrant for her last month.

The attorneys said they could not accept the court's decision implying it was unfair, and said it would be meaningless to defend her when they cannot expect a fair trial.

Park has since refused attending the court proceedings altogether, claiming to have lost faith in the country's legal system.



Park has been assigned five public defenders including two women, but none of them has met her in person.

One of the attorneys said he sent a letter to Park seeking a face-to-face consultation, but she declined. "I sent three letters so far, but I hear from an official at the detention center that Park did not wish to see any of the new attorneys."

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae criticized Park, saying she was undermining judicial procedures.

"If Park seeks to politicize her trial by refusing to attend the hearings, she is making a big mistake," she said. Park's continued failure to cooperate, she added, amid growing volumes of evidence in the corruption scandal that removed her from office, means nothing more than an admission of guilt.






By You Soo-sun



The National Human Rights Commission will look into sexual harassment allegations surrounding a public corporation, the Korea Land and Geospatial Information Corporation (LX), the commission announced Monday.



This is part of the commission's drive to combat sexual harassment involving abuse of power, an issue that has been gaining attention in Korea and abroad as more victims began speaking out about their experiences.



Earlier this month, media reports claimed officials at the organization sexually assaulted female employees and college student interns; the corporation later tried to cover this up, stoking public fury.



"The commission decided to carry out an inspection of LX, as media outlets reported on the severe extent of the problem; further investigation also revealed female workers have been subject to sexual harassment due to the pervasive masculine work culture of the organization, calling for an overall assessment," the commission said.



Earlier this month, the commission announced its plans to address systematic sexual offenses at various workplaces. It said it will conduct a special inspection through the end of this year and established a special team to work on the issue.

This is also in line with the government's efforts to address the issue.



President Moon Jae-in's most recent remark came during a cabinet meeting Nov. 21, in which he stressed raising awareness among the top officials at government institutions and corporations and that strict measures should follow.

"A system in which victims are able to freely voice their concerns followed by according measures must be established and settled," he said.






By Yi Whan-woo



The top nuclear negotiators of South Korea and Russia met in Seoul, Monday, to discuss security on the Korean Peninsula and how to resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis peacefully.



This was the first meeting between the Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace Lee Do-hoon, and Russia's Vice Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, since Lee took office in September.



Lee has already met the top nuclear envoys from the United States, China and Japan _ three of the six countries of the stalled talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization.



The two Koreas and Russia are also party members.



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Lee and Morgulov shared thoughts on successfully implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions and Moscow's own step-by-step method to denuclearize the Kim Jong-un regime.



Morgulov briefed Lee about the latest visits to Russia by Choe Son-hui, the director general of the North American Department at Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry.



The high-profile North Korean diplomat travelled to Russia in September and October and met Russian officials. In particular, Choe attended an international conference on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in October and was believed to have contacted retired U.S. officials who joined the meeting.



Lee invited Morgulov to dinner later Monday.



Morgulov, who arrived in Seoul for a three-day trip, separately met Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-ku at the foreign ministry and discussed bilateral cooperation as well as follow-up measures to be taken in line with the summit between President Moon Jae-in and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September.



Meanwhile, Lee will depart for the U.S., today to meet with Joseph Yun, Washington's top nuclear envoy who serves as the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy.



Lee is scheduled to meet other American officials and scholars during his trip that runs through Dec. 1.


PHOENIX -- Saying 18 is plenty young enough, a Scottsdale lawmaker wants to repeal existing Arizona laws that allow children of any age to get married.

The proposal by Republican Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita would make it illegal for the clerk of superior courts in any of the state's 15 counties to issue a marriage license to anyone younger than 18. Specifically, HB 2006 would undo laws that allow anyone age 16 or 17 to marry with permission of a parent.

But the measure also addresses the fact that in Arizona there actually is no minimum age. All it takes is permission of a superior court judge.

"Why do we need to allow underage marriages to happen?'' Ugenti-Rita asked. "What is the public benefit to that?''

If she can get her bill heard, Arizona would join a growing number of states looking at whether laws that may date back to territorial days make any sense. But the record also shows that Ugenti-Rita may have an uphill fight.

While most states set the age of marriage at 18, the Tahirih Justice Center which works to stop violence against women, reports more than half are like Arizona. Their laws not only allow for exceptions but do not even have a "floor'' age.

The record on changing that is mixed.

New York earlier this year changed its laws to make 17 the absolute minimum, up from 14.

Lawmakers in New Jersey voted for a measure similar to what Ugenti-Rita is proposing. But that was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie.

And efforts to set the minimum age in California at 18 faltered this year amid opposition from several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Law Center of California.

Ugenti-Rita, however, argues that there's no legitimate reason to allow such nuptials.

"I don't see why waiting 12 months or 24 months interferes with your ability to have a life together or marry,'' she said. Nor does she believe that the parental consent requirement is meaningful.

"The exceptions don't make sense anymore,'' she said.

Ugenti-Rita also pointed out that those younger than 18 can't buy cigarettes, even with a note from mom or dad. And the legal purchase and use of alcohol is reserved to those 21 and older, no matter what a parent says.

"So we clearly recognize that age is a big factor in being able to comprehend the magnitude of a choice and being mature enough to make a certain choice,'' she said.

Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee through which her legislation likely would have to pass, said he hasn't considered the question. But Farnsworth said simply making marriage off-limits to those younger than 18 raises a series of questions.

One is the fact that Arizona law already allows teens 16 and older to become legally "emancipated,'' freeing them from parental oversight and giving them many of the same legal rights as an adult, including the right to contract, incur debts and even to sue and be sued.

It's also legal for teens to have an abortion with either parental or court permission.

And there's something else: Arizona repealed its laws against cohabitation laws more than a decade ago.

But Ugenti-Rita brushed aside questions of whether her legislation could then lead to teens living together without being married. She said that's no reason for Arizona to provide "recognized status'' to couples where one or both is a minor.

Conversely, Ugenti-Rita said there are definite drawbacks.

"I think child marriage lends itself to some real problems,'' she said. "Those who are marrying before they are 18 are at an increased risk of physical or sexual violence, coercion, other economic complications.''

Nor does she believe a pregnancy should change the equation. Ugenti-Rita said she sees no reason where a delay in being wed, even in those situations, would cause more harm than being legally tied to someone else as a teen.

There is no statewide figure of how many teens younger than 18 wed each year in Arizona, as these are issued by court clerks in each of the state's 15 counties.

An analysis done for Capitol Media Services by the Maricopa County Clerk of Superior Court found that 570 minors received a marriage licenses in a five-year period ending June 23. The actual number of licenses is slightly less, at 524, as some went to couples where both were minors.

That's out of about 20,000 licenses issued each year.

And Aaron Nash, the agency's special counsel, said that in all cases examined, all the minors were either 16 or 17 years old.

As to the political future of the legislation, Ugenti-Rita said she's undeterred by the record elsewhere.

"I understand Christie vetoed the bill,'' she said of what happened in New Jersey. "But they obviously got it out of the Legislature.''

And she said the issue is coming before lawmakers in other states.

"So people are reassessing whether this is something that needs to continue in the United States,'' she said.

The ability to marry younger than 16 in Arizona is not absolute.

Before providing authorization, state law spells out that a judge must require both parties to complete premarital counseling. But there is an exception if the court determines such counseling "is not reasonably available.''

There also needs to be a finding that the minor is entering into the marriage voluntarily and that it is in the "best interests of the minor under the circumstances.''

Judge also are permitted -- but not required -- to insist that the minor continue to attend school and also may impose "any other condition that the court determines is reasonable under the circumstances.''

-30-
Korea Foundation President Lee Si-hyung has launched two regional organizations  the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat and the ASEAN Culture House  in line with the Moon Jae-in government's efforts to diversify diplomatic ground. / Courtesy of Korea Foundation





By Rachel Lee



A limited budget and a lack of Korea specialists make it difficult for the country to reach out to wider partners, an issue on which President Moon Jae-in focused in his diplomacy approach, the Korea Foundation (KF) chief says.

Such difficult conditions in South Korea, which has focused on the four great powers  the United States, China, Japan and Russia  become more evident when compared with neighboring countries, Lee Si-hyung told The Korea Times.

"China has established 500 Confucius Institutes in 125 countries by investing a huge amount," he said.

"The Japan Foundation has four times our funds and five times our number of staff. It also has 23 offices in 21 countries while we have seven offices in six countries."

With such a high level of support, the two neighbors have been able to promote their national interests to the world regarding the issues about which they are in conflict with South Korea, including the Dokdo islets and the "comfort women" statue.

"Also, the lack of specialists on Korea in emerging partner nations is another hurdle to overcome," Lee said. "Even if we could afford to provide the required financial assistance, looking for a qualified lecturer or a person specializing in these studies becomes the problem."

The KF, founded in 1992 for international exchange and public diplomacy initiatives, is the only public diplomacy organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pursuant of the Public Diplomacy Act that came into force in August last year.

In line with the Moon administration's efforts to diversify diplomatic ground, the KF has launched two regional organizations  the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat and the ASEAN Culture House (ACH).

The former, which was officially launched in July this year within the KF office building in Seoul, aims to implement systematically project ideas arising at the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, the biggest multilateral dialogue channel between the two regions, the chief said.

With an agenda ranging from politics, economics, and socio-cultural issues, the secretariat has set the following priority areas for cooperation: transport and logistics, energy, modernizing and diversifying industries, climate change and environment, health and medical services, education and culture.

"To facilitate cooperation in these areas, the secretariat aims to build a two-way digital platform providing information for both regions," the president said. "Also working-level officials from Central-Asian nations stay as resident fellows to provide information on their countries."

The latter, which opened in Busan in September, aims to offer a diverse range of academic, people-to-people and cultural exchange programs to introduce ASEAN member states' rich culture here.

The biggest facility disseminating information on ASEAN, both within and outside of the regional community, it symbolized Korea's effort to correct the previous imbalance in exchanges between the two regions, Lee said.

Beside these newly launched organizations, the organization has designated India as a major partner in its public diplomacy efforts in 2018 with a five-year plan that includes promoting Korean studies at renowned universities, inviting distinguished leaders, and assisting Korea-related research of think tanks in India.

"Although matters have somewhat improved of late, the majority of Indians are still reported as being relatively indifferent to Korea," Lee said.

At the Korea Foundation Special Lectures on Korea 2017, Nov. 15-16, about 350 students and teachers from three universities in New Delhi  Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia and the University of Delhi  were present.

Sogang University professor Kim Jae-chun and Hanyang University professor Ha Joon-kyung gave lectures on "The Inauguration of the Moon Jae-in Government, Korean Democracy, and Foreign Policy Challenges" and "Korea's Growth Strategies: Implications for India's Economic Development," respectively.

The KF is planning to increase budgets for the aforementioned projects.

For example, providing assistance to Korea-related policy research will increase by 30 percent from 13 institutes across 10 countries to 23 institutes across 16 nations.

"However, such a move should not damage our undertakings in traditional counterparts like four neighboring powers," Lee said. "Therefore, expanding our reach to emerging partners without compromising the quality of undertakings in traditional partner countries is a challenge given our limited budget and lack of human resources."

"Although we are short of financial and human resources, we still have our own assets such as the Korean wave and the successful achievement of political and economic development within just a few decades  which other countries took centuries to do  to utilize as a valuable platform to raise interest in Korea."

Lee, a career diplomat with 35 years' experience, became the KF president in May last year. He was ambassador to Poland for three years from 2006, and was deputy minister for trade at the foreign ministry for two years from 2011. After returning from Warsaw, Lee was chief of protocol in the presidential committee in preparation for the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010. Before joining the KF, Lee was ambassador and permanent representative of Korea to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for two years.
North Korean soldiers monitor the south side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) during South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo's visit to the area, Monday, for a briefing on the details of a North Korean soldier's recent defection to the South. / Joint press corps



By Joint press corps, Jun Ji-hye



South Korean and U.S. troops stationed at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the truce village of Panmunjeom took appropriate measures when responding to a North Korean soldier's defection and gunfire from the North earlier this month, Defense Minister Song Young-moo said Monday.



Song made the remarks during his visit to the JSA, where he was briefed by U.S. Army Col. Steve Lee, secretary of the United Nations Command (UNC) Military Armistice Commission, on the details of the UNC's special investigation into the incident.



The minister also viewed the defector's route across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in person during the visit, according to the Ministry of National Defense.



"During such a tense and dangerous situation, the respective leaders of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the U.S. JSA battalions made cool-headed judgments and took very appropriate action," Song said.



Those who accompanied Song included Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Bergeson, the UNC deputy commander, as well as members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission from Sweden and Switzerland.



"I ask the ROK and the U.S. troops here to maintain a watertight security posture so that they can immediately respond to any situation in accordance with the UNC rules of engagement while complying with the Armistice Agreement," Song said.



The armistice, signed in July 27, 1953, brought a ceasefire to the 1950-53 Korean War.



Song then had lunch with the ROK and U.S. troops there and praised them for their service.



His visit to the JSA came two weeks after the North Korean soldier ran across the MDL inside the JSA in a bid to flee to the South, Nov. 13.



According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, around 40 gunshots were fired at the soldier from the North during the incident.



The defector was hit five times and underwent surgery twice at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Hospital officials said the patient's condition has since improved after he regained consciousness.



There were no South Korean and U.S. casualties.



According to the results of the UNC special investigation, released Nov. 22, the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) violated the armistice agreement twice when its border security guards, armed with pistols and rifles, fired their weapons across the MDL after the defector had entered the South and when one KPA soldier temporarily crossed the line for a few seconds.



In addition to this, Song told reporters at the JSA that the North Korean soldiers' possession of rifles in the area was also in violation of the armistice that stipulates only pistols are allowed.



Referring to criticism that the JSA battalions' response to the incident was sluggish, Song said, "Some claimed 16 minutes was too long, but commanders deployed troops during that time and used a thermal observation device to locate the defector who was in a blind zone. They took the proper action."



Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the UNC commander, also said last week that he assessed that the security battalions took appropriate action in response to the sudden incident, saying they acted in a manner that was consistent with the armistice.



The general said the South Korean and U.S. troops respected the Demilitarized Zone and took actions that deterred a resumption of hostilities.



"The armistice agreement was challenged, but it remains in place," Gen. Brooks said.


By Rha Hae-sung

Gwangju Gwangsan police have charged a man, 42, whose name has been withheld, for allegedly stabbing his roommate.

The man, a Filipino, allegedly stabbed his roommate, 33, also a Filipino, under his armpit at about 11 p.m. on Sunday.

The suspect, who was reportedly drunk, starting smashing furniture in their small apartment. His roommate tried to stop him, they argued, and the drunken man stabbed the other, according to police.

Police caught the suspect hiding in a nearby parking lot. They will seek an arrest warrant.
A robbery suspect who broke into Chung Yoo-ra's house and injured her friend attends questioning at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap



Police questioned a robbery suspect who allegedly targeted Chung Yoo-ra  the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, a central figure behind the influence-peddling scandal that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye  Monday.

The Seoul Central District Court will decide whether to approve an arrest warrant for the 44-year-old suspect, surnamed Lee, who broke into Chung's home last Saturday.

Lee earlier testified he committed the crime to pay off his credit card debt of 24 million won ($22,047). A police investigation revealed he began preparing for the crime at least a week in advance, searching for Chung's address online and paying multiple visits to her apartment building beforehand.

Lee threatened a security guard in the underground parking lot of her apartment building and forced him to lead him to her home located on the sixth floor.

Then the suspect tied up the security guard and the nanny of Chung's son with cables, and demanded Chung come out from her bedroom.

Lee then stabbed a friend of Chung's who was in the apartment at the time and has now been hospitalized but not for any life-threatening injuries.

Police plan to obtain the transaction details of Lee's bank account, but do not suspect an alternative motive was behind the crime.

They said he was not affiliated with any specific organization and the crime was not requested by a third party.

However, other suspicions are being raised over his motives, primarily because the suspect altered his statements regarding the attack.

Lee first testified he committed the crime to clear up financial ties he had with Chung, but later said it was to pay off his credit card debt.

Also, Lee first said he did not know it was Chung's home, but a police investigation found he had searched for the home address beforehand.

Chung requested strengthened police protection at the hospital where her friend is staying, while cooperating with police questioning as a witness.

Police will provide her with three officers and a GPS-enabled smartwatch capable of tracking her whereabouts.

They will also regularly patrol her residential area.
By Kim Rahn



President Moon Jae-in took a day off Monday as part of his paid leave this year.



Moon pledged to use all of his holidays to give an example of work-life balance in a bid to change the work culture in Korea where people work long hours and take short holidays.



He rested at his residence within the presidential office compound, according to a Cheong Wa Dae official. The hiking-lover also hiked Mount Bugak near Cheong Wa Dae, with some citizens taking photos with him and posting them to their social media accounts.



The day off came 115 days after his five-day summer holiday.



There is no regulation on how many paid leave days a president can take, but Moon, who had worked as a presidential secretary under the former Roh Moo-hyun administration and as a lawmaker, has 21 days according to the law on public officials. Taking into consideration that he was inaugurated in May, Cheong Wa Dae concluded Moon could take 14 days this year.



The President took one day off on May 22, a five-day summer holiday from July 31 to Aug. 4, and one day Monday. So he still has seven days.



He is expected to use the remaining leave at the end of the year around Christmas. "It is the President's desire to create an environment where workers use their paid leave fully for relaxation," the official said.



During his election campaign, Moon pledged to make it mandatory for workers to use all of their paid vacation days, saying people using leave will not only increase individual productivity but also boost the economy and create jobs.



As part of the pledge he designated Oct. 2 as a temporary holiday to extend the Chuseok holiday to 10 days.



Cheong Wa Dae set up its own guidelines and encouraged its workers to use at least 70 percent of their paid leave and refrain from working overtime. It plans to give evaluation disadvantages to those who do not meet the 70 percent limit.



With Cheong Wa Dae staffers setting an example, the presidential office hopes to encourage public officials to use all of their paid leave and spread such a culture to the private sector.


By Kim Hyo-jin



The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) proposed a bill, Monday, to set up an independent counsel to look into allegations that the prosecution and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) bribed politicians using "special activity funds."



The bill, signed by 113 LKP lawmakers, intends to look deeper into how the special activity funds were used by the agencies in the previous and incumbent governments.



This comes as former presidential aides in the Park Geun-hye government and LKP lawmakers are in trouble over allegations they received illicit funds from the NIS.



Part of the agency's budget has allegedly been doled out to the politicians and public officials under the name of "special activity funds." Such funds were earmarked for classified activities and investigations.



Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan, a Park loyalist and former finance minister, is being investigated for his involvement in the scandal, based on testimony from former NIS director Lee Byung-kee.



The party has claimed the ongoing investigation is "biased," calling for the need to set up an independent counsel team that can also investigate the prosecution's bribery of the justice ministry.



In protest, it decided during a general meeting, Friday, to push for both a National Assembly probe and independent counsel looking into allegations regarding special activity funds.



"There is a serious question of fairness and neutrality over the current probe as the prosecution has only targeted figures from the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye governments," the party wrote in the bill.



Critics, however, view such a move as the party's attempt to divert public attention from the bribery scandal and thwart the prosecution's investigation of the figures from the Park government.



The party said it will ask the prosecution to stop its investigation until the independent counsel bill is put to a vote.



"We did not sponsor the bill for the interests of some individuals," the party's floor leader Rep. Chung Woo-taik said, dismissing the accusation. "We only requested an independent counsel team to discuss the overall issue of special activity funds."



Despite the LKP's determination, the prospect of the passage of the bill is slim. Not only the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) but also the third-largest People's Party have negative views. The 116-member LKP falls short of a majority vote in the 299-seat National Assembly.



Political commentators say the LKP's push for the bill reflects its uneasiness about losing ground in party politics while the Moon Jae-in government focuses on clearing up "deep-rooted social evils," mainly targeting corruption and irregularities accumulated over the past decade during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations.


Rep. Yoo Seong-min

By Choi Ha-young



Rep. Yoo Seong-min, chairman of the minor conservative Bareun Party, criticized liberal lawmakers and online users who have launched a "witch hunt" against a judge over his decision last week to release the scandal-hit former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, Monday.



Online communities have mounted criticism against Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division Judge Shin Kwang-yeol. Some citizens, primarily in support of liberal President Moon Jae-in's reformist initiatives, are angry that the judge released Kim. The Cheong Wa Dae website is flooded with petitions calling for Shin's dismissal.



The prosecution sought an arrest warrant for Kim Nov. 8 over his alleged involvement in illegal cyber activities during the 2008-13 Lee administration. Kim, who also served as chief of the National Security Council for the 2013-17 Park Geun-hye administration, is widely viewed as a core member of the "old evil" in the military.



Rep. Yoo voiced his opposition to the move, saying some Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers are igniting public anger rather than soothing it. "I urge the ruling party lawmakers to stop insulting the judge and spreading groundless character assassination," the party leader said.



"The nation's Constitution and law authorize each judge to rule based on their conscience. The legislative body is obliged to respect the separation of legal, administration and judicial powers."



Rep. Ha Tae-keung, member of the party's decision-making Supreme Council, openly criticized three DPK party lawmakers  Reps. An Min-suk, Song Young-gil and Park Beom-kye. "Those three are playing like the Red Guards (during the Chinese Cultural Revolution movement)," Ha said in a party meeting on the same day.



Following Shin's ruling last week, Rep. An defined the judge as an "old evil." Rep. Song blasted the ruling, citing that Shin and Kim are from the same region. Rep. Park, a judge-turned-lawmaker, said Shin and Kim are "specially affiliated."



Rep. Ha revealed the contradiction behind the three lawmakers' remarks referring to Shin's past rulings.



"Amid last year's influence-peddling scandal, Shin imprisoned an Ewha Womans University professor over the illicit admission of Chung Yoo-ra. A decade ago, the judge was labeled pro-North Korean for his ruling to release a progressive professor."



The minor liberal People's Party echoed the point, Sunday. "The incumbent lawmakers' pressure on the judiciary by exerting public opinion is a serious challenge to democracy," party spokesman Kim Chul-keun said in a statement. "Wrongful past affairs should be punished but this cannot justify DPK lawmakers' populism drive on social media."


By Nam Sang-so





It was called the Korea Oil Corporation in 1962 (now the Korea National Oil Corporation) when Korea's first refinery was being built in Ulsan on the southeastern coast. While the Fluor Corporation from Texas had provided overall engineering and construction management, a marine engineering company named the Hood Corporation from Whittier, California, was responsible for installing submarine pipelines and a crude oil unloading buoy mooring system.



I was assigned as project coordinator for the marine part of the project and as I didn't want to be separated from my new wife, we went to a seaside village near Ulsan together when the sea breeze gently rippled the green barley field.



The buoy (12 meters in diameter) was installed 3km offshore which is the link between the subsea manifold connected to the submarine pipelines and the crude oil tankers. It was held to the sea bed by four ultra-heavy anchors on long chains.



The operation of a 10-meter-long service boat was one of my responsibilities. I let my car driver be my deck-hand while I did the steering. On that particular evening the sea was rough and the boat and the buoy were rolling and bumping violently. After I'd inspected all the mechanisms on the deck and confirmed the pilot light of the buoy was properly blinking, the driver and I jumped onto the boat deck. Before I started the engine, the poor driver let go of the mooring rope and the boat immediately swept away from the buoy by the current.



I quickly turned the ignition key but the engine failed to fire. I tried again but to no avail. I knew I shouldn't flood the engine and waited for a minute and carefully turned the key, but still the engine didn't move. The battery was dead. The boat was by now more than 50 meters away from the buoy and drifting by wind and current toward the deep sea.



Night fall quickly changed to total darkness. With the engine not running, there was no electricity to light the navigation lights and I knew the boat didn't carry an anchor. Far away the lights of the fishing village where my wife was supposed to be waiting for me were dimming and finally sunk into the horizon.



I found Polaris in the star strewn sky. The boat was floating southward. What if drifts into the Pacific Ocean. I was at my wit's end, and realized this is how a shipwreck occurs. It was so easy.



Then the fragrance of a cigarette smoke whizzed by. That idiot driver was smoking a cigarette sitting on the stern deck. I carefully snatched his lighter and tore off my shirt sleeves and dipped them in the waste oil pan. Tying the oil wet cloth to the end of the mooring pole, I kept waving the oil burning fire as a disaster signal.



After some three hours of desperately waving the torch, a large Korean whaler appeared from the dark horizon. The sailors skillfully tied a towing rope to my boat.



At the whaler's port in Ulsan, I offered some cash to the captain emptying my wallet. "We don't accept that. It's the seaman's duty," said the sunburned old man as if it was nothing.





The writer (sangsonam@gmail.com) is a Korean War navy veteran.


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One to depart the White House in Washington, D.C., for a Thanksgiving holiday last week. Trump relisted North Korea as state sponsor of terrorism. / Yonhap



By Doug Bandow



President Donald Trump demonstrated his contempt for the law in naming North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. But he only followed precedent. The designation is a matter of politics, not policy.



The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is an awful regime. But it has not engaged in terrorism for years.



Advocates of tagging the DPRK as a terrorist state cite a long list of misdeeds, including "duplicity in its negotiations with the United States" and defiance of "the international community." If duplicity and defiance justified a designation as a terrorist sponsor, every government, including Washington, would be in the dock.



There also was North Korea's 2014 hack of Sony Pictures, which was odious, but not terrorism. (Under that standard Washington's apparent use of computer viruses against the Iranian nuclear and North Korean missile programs would constitute  terrorism.)



President Trump cited the murder of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother. It almost certainly was carried out on Kim's orders. But that was an individual assassination, for very practical political ends. The president also pointed to the death of American college student Otto Warmbier. He deserved far better, but neither his doctors nor the coroner found evidence of torture, and even torture?employed by a number of America's allies, including Egypt and Turkey?is not terrorism.



Indeed, the terrorism designation long ago lost all meaning. Cuba was on the list until President Barack Obama removed it; Cuban-Americans were more likely to use terrorism against Havana than the Cuban government was to use terrorism against America.



Sudan is on the list even though its involvement in terrorism is decades old. Indeed, Washington officials admit that Khartoum has been helpful in fighting Islamic radicals and in January dropped other, longstanding economic sanctions.



Syria and Iran also are on the list. Both have been bad actors?along with plenty of other nations in the Middle East and elsewhere. But neither Damascus nor Tehran underwrites terrorism as commonly understood. Washington even complains of Iran's support for Yemeni Houthis, involved in a civil war in which the U.S. has aided intervention by Saudi Arabia and UAE, which has killed thousands of civilians.



By this standard, Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump should be in the dock for their aid for Saudi "terrorism." The DPRK was delisted in 2008 by the Bush administration, which flipped its policy toward Pyongyang from isolation to engagement. The Kim dynasty's last true terrorist attack was in 1987.



Nothing has changed over the last decade. Redesignating Pyongyang is a political act, a declaration that the DPRK is on Washington's naughty list.



An unnamed State Department official admitted to CNN that the label was "part of the administration's maximum pressure strategy." No surprise. The Congressional Research Service earlier admitted: "historically, diplomatic and policy considerations appear to have played a prominent role in the State Department's decisions about the DPRK's place."



Moreover, the designation is primarily symbolic, with little practical impact. The listing triggers a set of economic sanctions, but North Korea already is subject to a broad range of bilateral and multilateral sanctions. Admitted Secretary Tillerson: "we already have many of these actions in place."



Unfortunately, the president's action further discourages diplomatic contact with Pyongyang, which is ever more essential in the midst of rising tensions, and especially threats of war.



The administration already has made talks almost impossible by demanding that the North agree to Washington's terms before negotiations start. In announcing the terrorism designation, Argued Mintaro Oba, a former Korea desk officer at State, the terrorism designation "will be seen in Pyongyang as confirming the United States is not serious about negotiations."



The president obviously could lift the designation if the U.S. and DPRK reached an agreement. Communication between Washington and Pyongyang has become less likely even as it has become more essential.



Closing the diplomatic door in this way may make China less willing to toughen its policy. Beijing is unhappy with its nominal ally and has steadily tightened sanctions, but always has insisted that the U.S. engage the DPRK and reduce the "hostile" environment which has encouraged the North to go nuclear.



Instead of making a mockery of the terrorism designation, the Trump administration should apply the law as written against North Korea and other nations. If Washington wants to impose additional sanctions, it should do so directly. There are no good solutions for the DPRK. Misusing the law certainly is not one.





Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of "Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World."


By John Burton





This question is surprisingly being debated after President Donald Trump last week decided to restore the North to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which now includes Iran, Syria and Sudan. North Korea was first put on the list in 1988 for clearly recognizable terrorist activities, including a bomb attack against senior South Korean officials in Rangoon in 1983 and blowing up a Korean Air passenger jet in 1987.



U.S. President George W. Bush removed North Korea from the list in 2008 as part of an unsuccessful effort to resume talks with Pyongyang on curbing its nuclear and missile program. In putting North Korea back on the list, Trump cited the political assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia and the alleged torture and subsequent death of American college student Otto Warmbier as reasons for the action.



A debate has centered, however, on whether these events this year constitute terrorist acts. The U.S. does not have a standard legal definition for "international terrorism" and what constitutes "support" for them. Terrorism seems to be in the eye of the beholder, which makes selecting which countries should be on the list a highly political choice. What is clear is that who appears on the terrorism list is inconsistent. Putin's Russia has also assassinated political opponents on foreign soil, but Trump has hardly criticized Moscow.



Washington is considering removing Sudan from the terrorist list despite its continued abysmal human rights record, including attacks on civilians in the Darfur region and the torture of political opponents. Pakistan has escaped being placed on the list despite supporting Muslim terrorist groups in India and providing aid to the Taliban fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.



It could even be argued that Saudi Arabia should be labeled a state sponsor of terrorism because it has financed Islamic militancy around the world. But Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are viewed as U.S. allies, while North Korea is an enemy. Trump could have done a better job of answering his critics by specifically spelling out the terrorism charge sheet against North Korea instead of vaguely referring to the Kim Jong-nam and Warmbier cases.



But perhaps he saw no reason to do so because Congress has been pushing for such an action and the President new his decision would play well with his conservative base. A more serious question is whether Trump should have taken this action now. Although the decision is clearly part of his administration's "maximum pressure and engagement" policy toward North Korea, it is largely symbolic because Pyongyang is already under heavy U.S. secondary financial sanctions and additional sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council this year.



Most of the sanctions triggered by Trump's decision have been covered by other sanctions in place. The U.S. clearly hopes that labeling North Korea as a terrorist nation will persuade other countries, mainly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, to cut financial, trade and even diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. But the move appears to have undermined recent hopes that Trump would pursue a more conciliatory policy toward North Korea.



He said in Seoul, for example, that he wanted to "make a deal" with Kim Jong-un and invited North Korea to end its isolation and join the world community. North Korea has not conducted a missile test since Sept. 15 and this quiet period potentially provided an opening for renewed diplomatic dialogue. Instead, there are worries that the terrorist state designation will provoke Pyongyang to renew its missile and nuclear tests.



The decision will revive fears that Trump is intentionally provoking Pyongyang to carry out such tests, which could justify a strong U.S. response, including possible military action. It would have been better if Trump had waited until North Korea resumed such tests before slapping Pyongyang with the terrorist label, strengthening the U.S. case in the eyes of the world.





John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is now a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.
Zionism's Collaboration with Nazi Germany is not just a matter of history



When you mention the fact that the Zionist movement collaborated with the Nazis and even welcomed them to power in the 1930s, accusations of anti-Semitism come thick and fast. According to them, this is a calumny against all Jews even though before WW2 the Zionists comprised only a small percentage of world Jewry

Yet today, as the three following articles from Haaretz and Electronic Intifada show, there is a symbiosis between Zionism and far-Right and neo-Nazi parties. The condemnation of the new German Alternative for Germany party by Israeli leaders has been conspicuous by its absence. Not only Likud but the Israeli Labour Party has remained silent, thus demonstrating that all wings of Zionism are complicit.

As Anshel Pfeffer explains, whereas in 2000 when the far-Right Freedom Party entered the Austrian government the Israeli Ambassador was withdrawn from Vienna, today it merits barely a ripple. The leader of the FP, Herr Strache is welcomed to Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust Propaganda Museum. If there was ever an insult to the dead of the Holocaust it is in the tribute that neo-Nazis pay at a supposed Institute to commemorate the Holocaust dead.

Of course the diaspora Jewish communities realise, however hesitatingly that Israels courting of their own far-Right and anti-Semitic parties bodes ill for them. Unfortunately the grip of Zionism is such that relatively few in these communities come to the conclusion that Zionism and anti-Semitism are twins in kind and that a fight against anti-Semitism includes a fight against Zionism.

But once again we see how Zionism and the Far-Right have much in common because the neo-Nazis see Israel as a model state. Israel is an ethno-nationalist state in which Arabs are barely tolerated guests in the State of Israel. That is exactly the situation that these parties desire in respect of their own Muslim populations. That is why Richard Spencer, leader of the Alt-Right in the USA can declare that he is a White Zionist. What after all is there not to like, if you are a neo-Nazi in Israel?

Tony Greenstein

Netanyahu wants the right to speak as the representative of all Jews. But in America and Europe, he's abandoned all pretense of solidarity with them

Oct 27, 2017 8:11 AM

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening of the winter session of the Knesset in Jerusalem. October 23, 2017 RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS In February 2000, there was no question. In February 2000, there was no question.





The center-right Austrian People's Party (OVP) had just formed a new coalition government with Jorg Haider's Freedom Party (FPO). For the first time since World War II, a far-right political party, whose members commemorated and respected its Nazi roots, was to be a member of a European government.





Haider himself wasn't a member of the new government, and the chancellor was the moderate Wolfgang Schussel, but there was simply no question: Israel would not engage with such a government. The Israeli ambassador was withdrawn from Vienna and diplomatic relations with Austria remained at their lowest level for the next five years, until a new government was formed - without the Freedom Party.





Fast-forward to this month, and the election victory of 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz , the current OVP leader and soon-to-be chancellor. Kurz is almost certainly going to form his new coalition with the Freedom Party . Major Jewish organizations, including the World Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League, have called on Kurz to reconsider.

Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party, at an anti-Muslim demonstration in Vienna. 14 May 2009Wikimedia

"We are not convinced the Freedom Party has fully outgrown its Nazi roots. We join the Austrian Jewish community in asking Sebastian Kurz to keep the Freedom Party out of government ," said the ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt. The Jewish community in Austria expressed its own concern in strong terms, urging Kurz to drop the Freedom Party. One prominent Jewish leader said Kurz's party was "deceiving itself" if it thought it would tame the "nationalist wolf" of the FPO.





But despite the concerns of Austrian Jewry, one, prominent Jewish leader has already given Kurz carte blanche.





Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didnt wait to find out with whom Kurz will decide to form his coalition. The day after the Austrian election, he was already on the phone to Kurz to congratulate him.





Standard procedure in such a case would have been to wait to see who is going to be in the coalition before calling to congratulate," said one veteran at Israel's Foreign Ministry. He succeeded in surprising even Israels long-suffering diplomats. "" said one veteran at Israel's Foreign Ministry.





Not only was Netanyahu broadcasting a message that Israel didnt mind who Kurz appoints to his new government, he effectively 'kosher certified' even current FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache who - before becoming a 'respectable' politician - took part enthusiastically in neo-Nazi activities.





Neo-Nazi leader of Austrian Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache at Yad Vashem. Olivier Fitoussi True, Strache has tried to clean up his act, even visiting Israel last year and promising that his party has no links to Austrias Nazi past. But he has yet to convince Austrias Jews and still remains completely off-bounds.





In the past, Israel has always adhered to a clear policy that it will not engage with political parties ostracized by the local Jewish community. The government of the Jewish state does not undermine Jews in their own countries and will not give any politician or party its stamp of approval unless they do so.





Netanyahu, however, has abandoned this policy. And Austrias Jewish community is not the first he has betrayed.





Three months ago he did the same to Hungarian Jews. The leadership of the community in Budapest launched an international protest against the anti-Semitic nature of the Hungarian governments campaign against Jewish financier George Soros . Israels ambassador, in line with long-standing policy, backed up the Hungarian Jews, sending a letter of protest to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. A day later, Netanyahu publicly and humiliatingly slapped down the ambassador, ordering him to retract his letter.

File photo: Hungarian government poster portraying financier George Soros and saying "Don't let George Soros have the last laugh" is seen at an underground stop in Budapest, Hungary July 11, 2017. LASZLO BALOGH/REUTERS

Netanyahus policy is pragmatic. Orban and Kurz are representatives of the wave of populist right-wing politics sweeping Europe, with which Likud feel comfortable. The leaders themselves are not suspected of anti-Semitism, quite the opposite. They have promised "zero tolerance" and profess staunch support for Israel.





Netanyahu sees them as his key allies in the European Union, a bulwark against the more critical voices coming from Scandinavia and western Europe. Some of their political allies may be unsavory, but Bibi is prepared to swallow them for his own diplomatic purposes. The local Jewish communities dont have a say.





Not only is it pragmatic. Netanyahus policy is easily justified. He is the elected leader of Israel and must put its interests first. If he believes that Israel needs the friendship of Orban and Kurz so badly that it overrules the concerns of Hungarian and Austrian Jews, he has every right to make that call.

The only problem is, Netanyahu has insisted in the past that he is not only Israels prime minister, but that he represents all Jews around the world.





In February 2015, shortly after returning from Paris, where he took part in events in memory of Jews killed in terror attacks there, and just before he was about to fly off to address Congress, against Barack Obamas nuclear deal with Iran, Netanyahu declared I went to Paris not just as the prime minister of Israel but as a representative of the entire Jewish people." : "





The elected leader of a country in which less than half the Jews of the world live (and only a quarter of them actually voted for him in the last election) wants the right to address the world as the representative of all Jews. And he wont even check with them first.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2015. In a speech that stirred political intrigue in two countries,AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Twice the number of Jews voted for Barack Obama in 2012 than voted for Netanyahus Likud in 2015. That doesnt mean for one moment that Netanyahu had to accept Obamas policies. But he certainly had no right to speak " in the name of the entire Jewish people" when confronting Obama, who received more Jewish votes than any politician, anywhere, in history.





As Judy Maltz revealed this week in Haaretz, Netanyahu will not be addressing the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North American next month. Not in person, and probably not even over satellite link.





There are various explanations being given for Netanyahus highly irregular absence. He doesnt want to share the limelight with this bitter rival President Reuven Rivlin, who will be in attendance. There are fears he may be booed by some of the delegates, angry at the way Netanyahus government has capitulated to the ultra-Orthodox parties at the expense of Reform and Conservative Jews.





One thing is clear, he is not very welcome there. And its not just a matter of political nuances between the leader of Israels right-wing and the liberal mainstream of American Jewry. Those have always existed in the past and have been papered over. The rift that Netanyahu has opened up with the Jews is much deeper than that.





In an era when Netanyahu wakes up with every morning with a feeling of relief that he no longer has to deal with the hostile Obama, while the great majority of American Jews are sinking in to ever-deepening despair at the forces of racism and bigotry being unleashed by Donald Trump, the president Netanyahu so eagerly embraces, it is impossible to talk of a joint destiny for Israelis and Diaspora Jews while he's in power.





For the first time in Israels history, its prime minister is visibly closer to the president of the United States than he is to American Jews. Over the past year, he has demonstrated time and again that his personal relationships with the Trumps and Orbans and Kurzs of this world are more precious to him than Israels ties to the Jews.

Ali Abunimah

Israel and its supporters have made alliances with racists, anti-Semites and Islamophobes all over Europe. (via Flickr )

Unfortunately, our worst fears have come true, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said of the electoral success in Sundays general election of Alternative for Germany.



Glick with Heinz Christian Strache of Austria's Freedom Party

Addressing the Zionist Organization of America, Bannon explains: 'We're a nation at war, Trump needs our back'

Shachar Peled Nov 13, 2017



President Donald Trump's former chief strategist on Sunday called on American Jews to join his war on the Republican establishment.

Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, speaks during an event in Manchester, N.H., Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. Mary Schwalm/AP

Steve Bannon appealed to the Zionist Organization of America to " work as partners " in his crusade against GOP leaders he blames for blocking Trump's agenda. Bannon delivered the fiery address at the organization's annual awards dinner in New York at what ZOA President Morton Klein dubbed " the Academy Awards of the Jewish World" with several current and former Trump staffers in attendance.





We're leading an insurgency movement against the Republican establishment," Bannon charged, blaming his adversaries in the establishment for playing games. Bannon seized the opportunity to punch back at the GOP. "Bannon charged, blaming his adversaries in the establishment for playing games.

Steven Bannon delivered an address at the Zionist Organization of America's annual awards dinner in New York on November 12, 2017.

Steven Bannon delivered an address at the Zionist Organization of America's annual awards dinner in New York on November 12, 2017.Shachar Peled





playing games and lowering the bar, which resulted in what he considers a bad nuclear deal with Iran. "That's how you get the Iran deal," he continued. "That's how we still allow the American government to finance people that have blood on their hands of innocent Jewish civilians." He blamed the Republicans forand lowering the bar, which resulted in what he considers a bad nuclear deal with Iran.he continued. "





Bannon's participation in the event has raised criticism from many Jewish leaders, some seeing the political figure as tacitly encouraging alt-right and neo-Nazi supporters. The outlet he heads, Breitbart News, is popular among some white supremacists, anti-Semites and others who identify with the so-called alt-right movement.





"brought white supremacy to the White house, and promoting that agenda even though he is no longer there, which is dangerous to Israel and Jews." Rabbi Jill Jacobs of human rights group T'ruah told Haaretz that Bannon had





The Zionist Organization of America has largely embraced Bannon. In attendance at the group's gala of over 1,000 participants was former press secretary Sean Spicer and former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka. Other controversial figures were present in the audience including pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and alt-light provocateur Laura Loomer.



We came into office on the heels of perhaps the greatest betrayal of Israel by a sitting president in American history, Friedman said to applause from the crowd. Retired Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman was presented with an award, as was serving American ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. , Friedman said to applause from the crowd.







ZOA has decided to abandon the Jewish people in favor of Steve Bannon, protestor Eliana Fishman said. Outside the event, held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, some 200 activists of the left-wing American Jewish group IfNotNow held a loud protest.protestor Eliana Fishman said.







Were not going to let the Jewish community be the launching platform for Steven Bannons second career, protestor Sarah Lerman-Sinkoff added. In a post Charlottesville world, it shows that Jews forming alliances with the alt-right is not good for us and is horrible to our moral core of standing up for all targeted people, including Palestinians. protestor Sarah Lerman-Sinkoff added.





a horrific character assassination of a good man, citing Bannon's inability to control his more extreme supporters. Reagan had Nazis supporting him, so what? Klein said. ZOA President Morton Klein insisted that such accusations serve as  citing Bannon's inability to control his more extreme supporters. Klein said.





Bannon was expected in last years ZOA gala, and some had attributed the then-large demonstration to his no-show. But this time, Klein told reporters, Bannon himself requested an invitation with a wish to introduce business magnate Sheldon Adelson. Adelson was expected but did not attend the gala.





get through. Bannon nonetheless praised the billionare in his speech, for his guidance, counsel and wisdom that helped the Trump team h.





Bannon, who left the White House in August, is now trying to raise money to defeat several sitting Republican senators he says are blocking Trump's agenda in Washington.





"We're a nation at war. This war is only going to be won if we bind together and work as partners." "President Trump needs our back," he declared.





I think today the hard left is far more dangerous to Israels existence and to the safety of the Jewish community, Dershowitz told Haaretz. The right has no influence today on college campuses, which are the future leaders of America. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, in his own speech, called for centrism and warned of extremism, particuarly pointing to the far-left.Dershowitz told Haaretz.




Samsung Electronics' mobile chief Koh Dong-jin speaks about the firm's "connected thinking" during the Samsung Developer Conference 2017 in San Francisco last month. He said millions of devices will be connected in real time in the near future, which will generate massive business opportunities for developers. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



Tech giant focuses on TV, AI to embrace human-centric smart era



By Lee Min-hyung



Samsung Electronics is on track to transform itself into a globally renowned lifestyle brand by developing a new series of customer-oriented appliances and services.



This June, the company took the global TV industry by storm by launching its FRAME lineup. The new Samsung TV displays a work of art when users are not watching programs. This came as part of Samsung's efforts to redefine the traditional image of TV as a part of people's lifestyles.



The global TV industry has so far been in a war over who manufactures thinner or clearer products, with leading vendors, including Samsung Electronics, going all-out to showcase their new products with state-of-the-art technologies at major tradeshows, such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.



But with the development of display technologies, people rarely complain of picture quality of high-end TVs. The panel thickness also does not seem to be an issue any longer, as there is little demand for thinner TVs than the existing millimeters-thick ones.



Samsung has, for this reason, shifted its focus into developing TVs that can blend into people's everyday lives as a trendy interior product.



Under the catchphrase of "screen everywhere," Samsung Electronics has underlined the importance of TVs that can be of use even when turned off.



"To realize our vision of a screen everywhere, TVs should provide value to users all the time," said Kim Hyun-suk, president at Samsung Electronics' visual display unit, at a 2017 TV launch event in Paris in March.



"In the past, TVs were set up in a specific place, only offering video-viewing experiences for users," he said. "But TVs have more functions today. People will be able to set up TVs anywhere in their home and add any content they want. TVs are becoming a platform."



The company has in recent years hyped its quantum dot display technology, which takes advantage of a film of color-enhancing nanocrystals. Samsung TVs, represented by its high-end quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED) lineups, are second to none in terms of color reproduction and picture quality, he said.



The Samsung executive said the QLED-powered FRAME TVs will become a trailblazer for Samsung to open the "screen everywhere" era.



By turning on the "art mode" of the product, users can display one of 100 renowned artworks on the screen with a very similar picture quality comparable to the original pieces.



Samsung FRAME TVs won the 2017 CES Best Innovations Award in recognition for successfully combining the optimum quality display with the unprecedented interior concept.





Samsung Electronics' The Frame TV displays an oil painting by French painter Millet. When users are not watching TV, it showcases digital art via Art Mode. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Make your birthday special - by brewing a beer originally made on that date.

For a mere 25 euros, I'll create a bespoke recipe for any day of the year you like. As well as the recipe, there's a few hundred words of text describing the beer and its historical context and an image of the original brewing record.

Just click on the button below.
A man walking along Highway 77 early Saturday morning was arrested for possession of methamphetamine after law enforcement conducted a welfare check.

Just after 1 a.m., a Nebraska State Patrol trooper saw a man in a tan jacket and jeans walking southbound on the west shoulder of Highway 77. The man was later identified as 28-year-old Trevor M. Hurley.

The trooper, who was traveling northbound, turned around to perform a welfare check and saw Hurley drop a white, shiny object on the ground.

Gage County Court documents state Hurley told the trooper he was OK and continued southbound. The trooper pulled ahead, but could see Hurley in his mirror as Hurley turned around and began looking toward the ground.

The trooper went back and called additional law enforcement to search the area, according to court documents. During the search, a small plastic baggie with a cloudy, white substance was found.

Court documents state Hurley denied the bag was his. A field test of the substance was positive for methamphetamine.

During the arrest, court documents state Hurley attempted to harm himself and was removed from the patrol unit and taken to the ground until he calmed down.

Hurleys bond was set at $5,000 with a 10 percent deposit. His next hearing is set for Dec. 19.
Talking Points

Pacific News Service RIP. NY Times profiles a Nazi. Good reads.



A family of raccoons was spotted on Grand Avenue outside the Music Center, just before the opening of "Something Rotten!" Photo from the car by Alex Emmet.

1. Pacific News Service, RIP 1. Pacific News Service, RIP The San Francisco nonprofit Pacific News Service will close down for good on Thursday, "after growing too fast and accumulating too much debt," the The San Francisco nonprofit Pacific News Service will close down for good on Thursday, "after growing too fast and accumulating too much debt," the San Francisco Chronicle reports . "It will end nearly a half century of tenacious coverage, with a mission that started in Indochina but expanded to include unrest in Central America and immigration in California, and above all an increasing focus on producing youth media and news about underrepresented cultures." Pacific News Service was co-founded in 1969 by the late Franz Schurmann and China scholar Orville Schell, who was a student of Schurmann at UC Berkeley. The longtime executive director is Sandy Close (above), who was married to Schurmann and in the job was awarded both a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant and a Polk Award for career achievement. New America Media, the subsidiary of Pacific News Service, also will close. New America Media created newspapers in juvenile halls, covered violence surrounding drug epidemics from the streets, united media from diverse ethnicities and mentored fledgling journalists who paid it forward.

Malcolm Marshall, editor and publisher of the Richmond Pulse, met Schurmann and Close when he was a teen in the late 1980s. Close approached Marshall after listening to his public affairs radio show on urban/R&B station KSOL. Sandy has influenced my life so profoundly. But its not just my story. Its the story of thousands of people, Marshall said. They had one of the most interesting newsrooms that you could think of. They were highly intellectual, and they had this crazy idea to let some 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds hang out. They really truly cared what young people had to say. [skip] New America Media, which had 90 employees in multiple U.S. newsrooms a few years ago, now has just three to supervise the shutdown.

The official word.

2. NYT has to explain why it profiles a neo-Nazi 2. NYT has to explain why it profiles a neo-Nazi

The New York Times did what journalists are supposed to do and sent a reporter out to dig around and explain something that most people know little about. In this case, what makes a white supremacist tick . America is thick with these kinds of failed angry citizens. But the president dog-whistles to them, and tomorrow one might show up at your school and kill 50 kids, so it's good for the rest of us to learn what we can about some of the least moral people America has to offer.

But the NYT story, by former LA Times reporter Richard Fausset, pissed off a lot of Times readers who don't like using ink to to profile white supremacists. For as long as I've been around, news outlets have faced this conflicting pressure: is coverage of someone unsavory or illegal mostly free publicity, or is it illumination for the rest of us  information for readers they would not otherwise have? I belong to the latter school, and accept  as all news consumers should  that some news will be undesirable and tell you things about people you don't want to know. Or, as critics often put it, it's OK for them but they don't want someone else to know about it.

National editor Marc Lacey  another former LAT staffer now at the NYT  explained in a note published over the weekend that the story did not "normalize" the subject, Tony Hovater.

The genesis of the story was the aftermath of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August, the terrifying Ku Klux Klan-like images of young white men carrying tiki torches and shouting Jews will not replace us, and the subsequent violence that included the killing of a woman, Heather D. Heyer.

Who were those people? We assigned Richard Fausset, one of our smartest thinkers and best writers, to profile one of the far-right foot soldiers at the rally. We ended up settling on Mr. Hovater,... Our reporter and his editors agonized over the tone and content of the article. The point of the story was not to normalize anything but to describe the degree to which hate and extremism have become far more normal in American life than many of us want to think. We described Mr. Hovater as a bigot, a Nazi sympathizer who posted images on Facebook of a Nazi-like America full of happy white people and swastikas everywhere.



Those who read the story learned  incrementally  something important about America. There will be more stories about racism, racists and their victims that continue to tell the larger story. Blaming the messenger, Trump style, is the wrong response.

Added: Fausset explains how he did the story and his own misgivings.

3. Good read: When you need to remember your PIN to save $30,000
I met Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin last week outside of his West Los Angeles office for a tour of homeless housing in his 11th District.

No council member takes more heat on the homeless issue than Bonin, whose district extends from around the Pacific Palisades through Brentwood, Mar Vista, Del Rey and Venice. Venice, in particular, is a hothouse of homeless controversy. Homeless live on the beach and sidewalks, infuriating the owners and tenants of increasingly upscale homes.

I had written in LA Observed how Councilman Jose Huizar had been working to facilitate construction of homeless housing outside the Skid Row part of his district. I noted there were no plans to build such housing in rich Brentwood or upscale Mar Vista.

I had a point, Bonin emailed, but was incomplete. My column, Bonin said, "is certainly missing a lot of stuff on the Westside." He said, "The cost of land has made building homeless or permanent supportive housing prohibitively difficult in parts of the city, especially mine, so I have been a very big advocate of using city owned properties for homeless and affordable housing." We agreed he'd drive me around the districts and show me some projects.

We looked at the old West LA animal shelter at Missouri and Bundy; a big city parking lot in Venice and an abandoned maintenance yard where housing has been proposed but neighbors object. Residents also worry about the loss of parking spaces in Venice but Bonin said the spaces would be replaced in the proposed new development.

He concedes that his efforts, like those of other councilmembers and Mayor Eric Garcetti, have fallen short.

"There is no emergency-like response, " he said as we looked at the Missouri and Bundy site. "There is no FEMA-like response, " he said, referring to the federal relief agency which steps in with aid for disasters such as hurricanes. "Yet it is a FEMA-like emergency that requires a FEMA-like response." The last homeless census showed more than 34,000 in the city of Los Angeles, part of the 57,000-plus in the entire county, a 23 percent increase from the year before.

The site at Missouri and Bundy offered hope. A total of 81 units for the working poor and homeless are expected to be built. The neighbors are pretty much on board, and permits are being expedited because the site is on a "transit corridor," near the Bundy metro station. But construction won't start until 2019. "We need to put the financing together," Bonin said.

That's a matter that bugs Angelenos who voted for a $1.2 billion bond, Measure HHH, to build housing for the homeless. A ponderous regulatory bureaucracy stands between the money and actual construction. In addition, a provision in the controversial tax bill in Congress threatens to eliminate some of the federal aid needed to put together the public-private packages that will finance this and similar projects.

Meanwhile the number of homeless continues to grow. "There is much more of a demand than there is supply," Bonin said. I saw this Sunday, as my wife Nancy and I walked to the market. Three large tents had gone up on Olympic Boulevard, under the 405 Freeway. More encampments are in other places along the freeway. Bonin was right when he said this is an emergency.
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 . https://royalcdkeys.com
The Library of Congress has made the extraordinarily rare Codex Quetzalecatzin available online. Also known as the Aztec Codex, it was created sometime between 1570 and 1595 and shows native Aztec and Nahuatl maps, hieroglyphs and illustrations side-by-side with some text written in Spanish.

It is one of fewer than 100 surviving illustrated Mesoamerican manuscripts dating before 1600.

Also known as the Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, the manuscript contains information about a family with the name of de Leon, including its genealogy and land holdings.

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The lands depicted in the codex stretch between modern-day Mexico City and Atoyatempan, a town in southeastern Mexico.

At the Library of Congress blog, curator John Hessler wrote, On the one hand, the map is a traditional Aztec cartographic history with its composition and design showing Nahuatl hieroglyphics, and typical illustrations. On the other hand, it also shows churches, some Spanish place names, and other images suggesting a community adapting to Spanish rule.

The codex shows graphically the kinds of cultural interactions taking place at an important moment in American history. In a sense, we see the birth of what would be the start of what we would come to know as the Americas.

The codexs provenance can be traced to the 19th century, according to the Library of Congress. Its previous owners include newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and British politician Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray. The Library of Congress acquired it from a French collector earlier this year.

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Child healthcare advocates have been warning, and warning, and warning that Congress delay on reauthorizing funds for the Childrens Health Insurance Program places health coverage for as many as 9 million children and pregnant women at risk. But since the funding expired Sept. 30, there has been no action by Congress.

Now, advocates say, the nightmare scenario is close for states across the country, to quote former Medicare and Medicaid chief Andrew Slavitt, as the state-federal program runs out of federal money. State officials in Colorado started sending letters to families on CHIP as early as Monday, warning them that their kids health insurance could run out Jan. 30 and they should start researching private health insurance options. If Congress doesnt vote within two weeks to resume the programs $15 billion in annual funding, the state officials said, they would send out official notification of the programs cancellation.

A similar high-wire act is playing out in at least 11 states whose CHIP coffers will be exhausted by the end of December, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation; that roster includes California. In Colorado and 20 others, theres just enough money left from earlier appropriations to last into the first month or so of 2018.

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The nightmare scenario is close.  Former Medicare and Medicaid chief Andrew Slavitt, on the failure to reauthorize CHIP

Weve sounded the alarm about the expiration of CHIP in four columns since May, when congressional dysfunction built to the point that a reauthorization of CHIP by Sept. 30 began to look doubtful. The fears of childrens advocates proved true when the deadline passed without a vote; but even then most assumed that the delay would be brief, and the issue would be resolved before too many states had to take stringent measures. That point is now long past.

The nightmare scenario is close by now as we are 2 months past CHIP's expiration. 4/ pic.twitter.com/N69DWsvazw  Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) November 26, 2017

As of Thursday, Congress will have gone 60 days without funding a program delivering healthcare to millions of low-income children. If you wrote this in a novel, every publisher in the country would reject it as cartoonishly malicious.

It gets worse. The same day that CHIP expired, so too did the Community Health Center Fund, which was created in 2010 to help keep clinics serving low-income patients afloat. The CHC fund is caught in the same limbo as CHIP; without its $3.6 billion in government funding, 1,400 clinics will face average budget cutbacks of 70%, according to the National Assn. of Community Health Centers.

States trying to keep their CHIP programs operating have tried a variety of stratagems, according to Mattie Quinn of Governing Magazine. Minnesota, which was on the verge of going bust in October, managed to cadge $3.6 million in emergency funds from the government to carry it through the end of the year. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is pondering whether to raid his states rainy day fund. But as deadlines approach, most states have little choice other than to start throwing children off the CHIP rolls, cutting back on services or shutting down completely. Because even a wind-down takes time, states are drafting notices now warning families of CHIPs termination in the next few months.

As weve reported before, none of this is remotely necessary. CHIP is one of those rare programs that has enjoyed bipartisan support since its inception. Nor has its effectiveness ever been questioned: Since its creation in 1997, the uninsured rate among children 17 and younger has fallen from 14% to 5%.

In recent years, however, even the principle of providing health coverage for children has become infected with budget-hawk ideology. In 2015, budget brinkmanship resulted in CHIPs getting reauthorized for only two years. This time around, the program got shunted to the back burner as the deadline approached because congressional Republicans could think only about trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. CHIP was further victimized by anti-ACA sentiment in the GOP caucus when a compromise funding bill provided for rolling back an increase of 23 percentage points in the federal funding share that had been instituted under Obamacare.

Currently, a CHIP funding bill is frozen because the GOP insists on taking money from ACA public health programs to pay for it, an idea that Democrats wont accept.

Ever since Sept. 30, CHIP has been sidelined by one GOP idee fixe or another. Currently, the Republican caucus has no time for any issue but delivering a massive tax cut to the wealthy, at the expense of moderate- and low-income families.

Even Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who was one of CHIPs original sponsors in 1997 and frequently mentions his devotion to childrens welfare, is willing to sacrifice his own brainchild to the needs of plutocrats. In a heated exchange this month in the Senate Finance Committee hearing room reported by the Washington Post, Hatch responded truculently to a goad by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that he should show his devotion to the poor by extending CHIP.

Im not starting with CHIP, Hatch snapped.

But the approach of the ultimate deadline is inexorable. According to congressional calendars, Dec. 8 is the last day Congress can agree on a budget before a government shutdown occurs. Thats 11 days from now, if youre counting. The chances that CHIP will continue to be sidelined until then and beyond are looking very good, and for children, thats very bad.

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.
One came bearing doughnuts. The other brandishing a lawsuit.

Two officials with starkly different views of the job staked claims Monday to be the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a dramatic showdown over the leadership of the independent watchdog that spilled into a federal courtroom.

Its a mess, said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. It creates uncertainty about the future of the agency.

President Trumps designee, Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, arrived carrying a large bag from Dunkin Donuts in hopes of soothing over potential hard feelings given his stated opposition to the bureaus aggressive regulatory approach.

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But he first had to walk past consumer advocates stationed outside the bureaus headquarters to protest his appointment.

Before the day was over, he had settled into his new office and ordered a 30-day halt to any regulations from the federal agency.

Rumors that Im going to set the place on fire or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false, Mulvaney said at an afternoon news conference, adding that Trump wants him to fix the bureau so it can protect people without trampling on capitalism.

The other person claiming to be the lawful acting chief, bureau Deputy Director Leandra English, greeted her colleagues with an email saying she hoped everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. She signed it with acting director after her name.

English, a bureau veteran and supporter of tough consumer protection enforcement, spent the holiday weekend being promoted on Friday by outgoing Director Richard Cordray, and then filing a lawsuit seeking to stop Mulvaney from taking over.

As Mulvaney was briefing reporters as acting director at the agencys headquarters, English was meeting with senators on Capitol Hill in her capacity as acting director.

Just met with Leandra English, fellow Marylander and the rightful Acting Director of the @CFPB, tweeted Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

At about the same time, a federal judge in Washington listened to arguments about who lawfully should be at the bureaus helm. He made no decision Monday.

Its creating chaos at the agency, Alan S. Kaplinsky, head of the consumer financial services group at the Ballard Spahr law firm, said of the dispute. Who are the employees supposed to listen to?

Mulvaney said he will remain as OMB director while also overseeing the consumer bureau until a permanent director is confirmed and sworn in. He said during his news conference that he would be working six-day weeks, three days at each agency.

The dueling afternoon developments followed a morning of high drama that Mulvaney acknowledged caused consternation among CFPB staffers Monday.

Folks asked questions, very candidly, he said at the news conference. I told them, Look, Im not here to shut the place down because the law doesnt allow me to do that. That being said, were going to run it differently than the previous administration.

Cordray, a Democrat who submitted his formal resignation Friday, wanted to keep the agency running like it had during the Obama administration for as long as possible.

In promoting English, his chief of staff and a longtime ally, Cordray told the bureau he was trying to minimize operational disruption and provide for a smooth transition. He said English would serve as acting director until Trump nominated a permanent replacement and the Senate confirmed that choice.

Trump tapped Mulvaney for the acting leadership post shortly thereafter.

English filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sunday, challenging Trumps appointment of Mulvaney as unlawful. She requested a temporary restraining order to block him from taking the position and declaring her the lawful acting director.

The case was randomly assigned to Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was nominated by Trump this year and took his seat on the bench in September.

At the hearing, Kelly said he hoped to have a decision soon. But he expressed some skepticism about granting a restraining order that would enjoin the president from filling an executive branch position.

Thats an extraordinary remedy, Kelly told Deepak Gupta, Englishs attorney.

Brett Shumate, deputy assistant attorney general for federal programs, declined to give Kelly any assurance that English would not be fired as the request for a restraining order is considered. Gupta said that worried him.

Mulvaney said he had no plans to fire English, but said she did not show up at bureau headquarters on Monday. Gupta said she did before traveling to Capitol Hill.

Mulvaney reportedly also sent an email to the bureaus staff, telling them to please disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as acting director and encouraging them to stop by the directors office on the fourth floor to say hello and grab a donut.

Trump named Mulvaney as acting director under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.

That law allows the president to designate someone who already has been confirmed by the Senate  in Mulvaneys case as OMB director  to perform acting duties until a permanent choice is nominated and confirmed by the Senate.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel agreed with the administrations interpretation of the law, as did the bureaus general counsel, Mary McLeod.

McLeod sent a memo to the bureaus senior leadership team on Saturday that it was her opinion that Trump has the authority to appoint an acting director, and she advised agency personnel to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the acting director of the CFPB.

Senior Trump administration officials said the 1998 law superseded a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the agency in 2010, that states that the deputy director shall serve as acting director in the absence or unavailability of the director.

But that position is disputed by English and other supporters of the bureau.

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the co-author of the law that bears his name, said Monday that the intention was for the deputy director to become the bureaus acting chief.

We knew this is a very tough job this agency has politically. To do its job, we wanted to give it as much insulation as possible from the political process, Frank said. If the intention had been for the Vacancies Act to dictate the process, lawmakers wouldnt have included the provision in Dodd-Frank, he said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a constitutional law professor at American Universitys Washington College of Law, joined protesters outside the CFPB on Monday. He said that English is the rightful acting director under Dodd-Frank and that Trump is trying to destroy the independence of the bureau.

Mulvaney has been an outspoken opponent of the bureau, having said in a 2014 interview that it was a joke  in a sad, sick kind of way and that he would like to get rid of it. He and many Republicans, including Trump, have said the bureau has restricted consumer access to credit by being overly aggressive in pursuing financial institutions and establishing new regulations.

The bureau has provided consumers about $12 billion in refunds, mortgage principal reductions and other relief from financial institutions since opening in 2011. The bureau also played a key role in penalizing Wells Fargo & Co. for its creation of unauthorized accounts.

Kaplinksy said that whoever ends up as acting director should be hesitant to take any regulatory steps that could be legally challenged.

Until things get clarified by the courts, I dont think they should do anything other than to give out donuts to their employees and make sure they dont leave for other jobs, he said.

Staff reporter Noah Bierman contributed to this report.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera
There werent very many girls to choose from for John Adams new opera, Girls of the Gold West, which had its premiere here last week. The California Gold Rush was a young mans game of strike-it-rich. And there was no sense of, let alone regard for, the earth-shaking social implications that a sudden infusion of massive wealth would have on the state, the nation and ultimately the world.

That alone makes Girls an opera for our time. It doesnt matter from which direction you approach the War Memorial Opera House. You will pass encampments of homeless seemingly growing in direct proportion to the invasion of newly minted tech millionaires in San Francisco, where there is nothing close to parity for women trying to cash in on Silicon Valley gold.

The few at the Gold Rush camps tended to be wives of important men, prostitutes, entertainers, Native Americans or Californios, the original Mexican settlers. One, Louise Clappe, was a young doctors new wife. Under the pen name Dame Shirley, she wrote a series of eloquent, richly detailed letters about the thoughtless mob rule, which she described with a clarity, calm and remarkable capacity to retain her sense of wonder.

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Peter Sellars was responsible for the Girls concept, the libretto adapted from the historical texts (such as newspaper clippings, speeches, slogans and folk songs, but particularly Dame Shirleys letters) and the production. He and Adams chose the title as an arch comment on Puccinis melodramatic early 20th century Gold Rush opera, La Fanciulla del West (Girl of the Golden West). But ultimately, Girls revolves around a single woman. It is Dame Shirleys opera. She sets the tone, and she is its unlikely heroine.

That tone has already taken many aback with some startlingly negative reviews as well as bending-over-backward attempts to find some value in a work by a team that has given us operatic masterpieces in the past. Without question, the most highly anticipated new opera of the year  a year in which Adams turned 70 and Sellars, 60  Girls has also been presented as the first opera of Trump times. The populist spirit of the 49ers, the lack of regard for the environment in pursuit of wealth, along with the rampant racism against Latinos, Chinese and black people has created the expectation of the kind of political opera that the lyric stage has historically been very adept at.

There is, in fact, plenty of boisterousness in Girls, both splendid and shocking. There is righteous anger, spectacularly expressed. Outrage is in the musical, literary and dramatic language of Girls. Dame Shirley is properly horrified by much of what she sees. An Easterner from New Jersey who was educated in New Hampshire, she has her own prejudices to confront.

But her greatness is in her capacity for acceptance. Rather than allow herself to be ruled by hysteria, she lowers the temperature with a willingness to dig for, and stand up for, good  which is a lot harder to find than gold.

Dig she and we must. The characters either are based on historical characters or are composites. There is a story, but its disjointed. The staging, like nothing else Sellars has done, is disjointed. Adams score, like much of what the composer has done, (on the surface) flows from one moment to the next but has its own disjointedness.

The audience needs to put it all together, and there is a much to put together, with nearly three hours of music. I attended the premiere Tuesday night and returned for the second performance Friday. That was not enough. (It runs through Dec. 10, then moves on next season to Dallas Opera and Dutch National Opera, the co-commissioner and co-producers.)

Girls begin with optimism. Two miners, Clarence and Joe Cannon, personify the high times of something life-changing, just out of reach. The men of Rich Bar mining camp are a testosterone collective  whooping it up, gambling away fortunes, shooting at one another at the slightest provocation and just as readily turning sentimental.

Adams gives them light and darkness. He sets old cowboy music with new tunes, not unlike the old ones but with harmonies that sound like him and that remind us we are looking back.

Everything about this opera centers on observation, not experience. Sellars staging is ferociously rigorous in the costumes (Rita Ryack) to the point that the attractive, fabulous young cast looks faintly ridiculous. David Gropmans sets are made from commonplace props rolled in by stagehand (no side curtains makes the backstage visible) as though this were Wild West kabuki.

This is the world Dame Shirley enters. Ned Peters  a recently freed slave who is a classy black cowboy, cook and musician  is her driver and soon her closest (and possibly romantic) friend. Others on the scene are the Chinese prostitute Ah Sing, who has become attached to miner Joe, and a Mexican couple, Ramon and Josefa Segovia, who work at the Empire Hotel.

In the second act, a Fourth of July celebration turns awful. The miners recite Macbeth, as they really did. They get drunk, and their racism rises. Chileans receive brutal whippings. Joe attempts to rape Josefa, who stabs him and then is hanged.

Adams writes something special for each member of the cast. The fast-rising soprano Julia Bullock has her first great role as Dame Shirley, and she inhabits her with unrelenting radiance. She closes the opera with Adams most ethereal aria, finding promise of a wonderful California sky that cannot be darkened by the terrible deeds that happen under it.

Bass-baritone Davone Tines commands the stage as Ned. He is magnificent in his great aria of a black man reminding the miners this Fourth of July is yours, not mine. JNai Bridges Josefa goes to the gallows with exceptional grace, singing in Spanish and English her resolve to maintain dignity in a place where that needs mentioning.

The whole cast  including the high soprano Hye Jung Lee (Ah Sing), bass-baritone Ryan McKinny (Clarence) and tenor Paul Appleby (Joe)  is simply the future of opera, on one stage. Lorena Feijoo is the soloist in Lola Montezs Spider Dance, choreographed by John Heginbotham and maybe as crazy as the original.

Grant Gershon, of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducts with unfailing command and feeling for Adams music. The men of the San Francisco Opera chorus rise to a very difficult occasion.

Girls of the Golden West is our state and our country two centuries ago and now. It provides the same penetrating look now that Dame Shirley did then. It needs no defense. Time, if only we will listen, is on its side.

mark.swed@latimes.com
The 59th Grammy Awards, held in February, ended with a surprise when Adeles 25 was named album of the year over Beyonces Lemonade.

Oh, that result was hardly unexpected: Embracing tradition at the expense of innovation is basically the Recording Academys operating principle, so of course Adeles collection of finely crafted love songs beat Beyonces daring meditation on black womanhood.

But Adeles acceptance speech  in which she said she couldnt take the award from Beyonce and her monumental album  was an unusually public declaration of an idea held by many insiders as common knowledge: that the Grammys routinely misread what truly matters in pop music.

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Now, with nominations for next years awards due to be announced Tuesday, the academy has the opportunity to adjust that perception at a time when the representation of race and gender in culture and politics is being questioned like never before.

A sea change may be too much to hope for.

Ed Sheeran, the baby-faced British crooner, is a virtual lock to dominate the major categories  hes this years Adele, in other words  with his smash album  and his inescapable singles Shape of You and Castle on the Hill. Other shoo-ins include work by Harry Styles, Foo Fighters, Lorde, the xx, Bruno Mars and the late Leonard Cohen.

Some of these expected nominations are fine by me.

As the second-biggest seller of 2017 (behind Taylor Swifts Reputation, which was released after the Sept. 30 cutoff date for eligibility),  should be among the contenders for album of the year; it connected with a mass audience while reflecting Sheerans deep record-making know-how  two qualities the Grammys, with their professed sweet spot of commercial success and artistic ambition, are right to enshrine.

The same goes for Mars 24K Magic, an expertly conceived homage to the pop and soul of the 1980s and early 90s that spun off a pair of top-five radio hits in the title track and Thats What I Like.

But to reflect the year in music with the authority claimed by the academy, the Grammys need to open up to more than familiar sounds and media-friendly faces.

One sign that may be happening is the likelihood that two important hip-hop albums  Kendrick Lamars Damn and Jay-Zs 4:44  will earn nods for album of the year.

Both merit the recognition: Damn for Lamars vivid thoughts on the price of black achievement in America; 4:44 for Jay-Zs unsparing introspection, which was interpreted as a response to the marital trouble that Beyonce, his wife, described on Lemonade.

Then again, these two oft-nominated rap superstars are established members of the Grammy ecosystem. And the aesthetic qualities of each album  the formers Bono cameo, for instance, and the latters dusty R&B samples  are in keeping with the Recording Academys well-worn convictions about how music should be made. (That value system explains why Daft Punk, the French electronic duo, won album of the year only after hiring high-profile session players to help record 2013s Random Access Memories.)

But what about the trailblazers at hip-hops vanguard  Migos and Cardi B and Lil Uzi Vert  whose ubiquity on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music suggests theyre no less significant? Or Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, the Puerto Rican artists behind Despacito, which spent the entire summer atop Billboards Hot 100?

Or Kesha, whose album Rainbow grapples frankly with the power imbalances that have brought Hollywood under such overdue scrutiny?

My worry is that deserving nominees like these  acts that told the real musical story of 2017  will be crowded out in the academys well-meaning effort to celebrate work by some of the many musicians whove died in the last year.

Cohens You Want It Darker, Chuck Berrys Chuck, One More Light by Linkin Park, whose frontman, Chester Bennington, died in July: Each of these eligible records took on poignant emotional weight after their creators left us, which is one of the many beautiful things music can do.

But for an institution that too often overlooks right now in favor of back then  and is already promising to keep it up with a nostalgic promotional campaign emphasizing the Grammys 60-year history  such sentimental choices would make the problem only worse.

I mean, the academy wants the winners to hold on to their prizes, right?

mikael.wood@latimes.com

Twitter: @mikaelwood

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The Nineties nostalgia train has not yet reached its final destination. The trend  still going strong well past its expected expiration date  has proven a cash cow for brands both new and old.

Buffalo London, platform sneaker outfitter to the Spice Girls, is next to reenter the commercial ring. The brand will relaunch its towering sneaker designs on Black Friday with strategic retail partners including Opening Ceremony, Browns and VFiles.

The label recently has come under the management of German shoe industry veterans Sven Voth and Mirko Ostendorfer, who jointly recognized the Nineties resonance amongst young consumers.

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In recent years, an outpouring of excitement for Nineties goods has spurred the comeback of multiple labels. Teva, Fila and Esprit angled to refresh their audiences by partnering with retailers such as Urban Outfitters and Opening Ceremony on limited-edition capsule collections. JNCO, Steve Madden, The Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and Guess have experienced increased relevance by reissuing popular styles from the decade. UNIF, an Internet native brand founded in 2009, has incited a Gen Z craze with Delias-type designs that can sellout within hours of their release.

Buffalos redux styles will launch incrementally, said Alexandra Preusche, who has been tasked with the marketing and distribution strategies for the shoe brands latest incarnation. We are translating the Nineties spirit to the new generation with new faces, to address a young, urban audience looking to discover the latest trends. Each style will be exactly the same  we didnt change any of the designs, we wanted it to be the iconic shoes. From the Nineties to today, the materials get a little better, she explained. Preusche noted that the brands logo has received an update.

The brands first drop will include the relaunch of its Classics style, issued in both high- and low-top designs. Each will be offered in either black or white, priced at around $200.

Its a unisex product, with a slight focus on the womens market, Preusche said. The shoes, produced in Portugal, will be offered in sizes ranging from a European 36 through 42.

The brand has partnered with a more shambolic sector of Instagram influencers to help it recapture attention, working with digital auteurs including Sita Abellan, Shaun Ross and Slick Woods on marketing materials and online campaigns. We have the culture and background of the Spice Girls and wanted to reach out to cool people who fit in with the brand, Preusche said of Buffalos present-day articulation.

With a platform measuring 7 centimeters, or nearly 3 inches, the shoes are by no means geared to the mainstream. Buffalo intends to develop shoes with smaller platforms in the coming seasons. In the meantime, relaunches of its 10-centimeter-tall Hightower sneaker style, as well as a Christmastime collaboration with Opening Ceremony are in the works.

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Shes been an actress, a blogger and a humanitarian, and now Los Angeles native Meghan Markle is engaged to Britains Prince Harry.

As part of their official duties, the couple posed for an engagement photocall on Monday to give the world a glimpse at their new commitment.

Here are a few things to know about the future duchess.

Shes a self-described California girl

Markle, 36, grew up in Los Angeles. She attended an all-girls Roman Catholic school, Immaculate Heart High School, in Hollywood Hills. She studied theater and international relations at Northwestern University.

She has spent a lot of time in Hollywood

The actress most famous role is as paralegal Rachel Zane on USA Network's Suits, which is now in its seventh season. She has played smaller parts in shows such as "Fringe," ''CSI: Miami" and "Castle," as well as movies such as "Horrible Bosses."

Her father, Thomas W. Markle, worked as the lighting director and director of photography for "Married  With Children," Markle told Esquire magazine.

------------

FOR THE RECORD

6:30 p.m., Nov. 27: A previous version of this article said Markles quote was from Elle. It was from Esquire.

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RELATED: First she wows Prince Harry. Now L.A.-born Meghan Markle is poised to dazzle the fashion world 

"Every day after school for 10 years, I was on the set of Married  With Children, which is a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up," Markle said. "There were a lot of times my dad would say, 'Meg, why don't you go and help with the craft services room over there? This is just a little off-color for your 11-year-old eyes.

Early attention on Markles relationship with Prince Harry focused on her ethnicity

In a a television interview marking the announcement of their engagement, Markle said it was disheartening that early coverage of the couples relationship focused so heavily on her ethnicity.

Its a shame that that is the climate in this world, Markle said. But I think, you know, at the end of the day, Im really just proud of who I am and where I come from, and we have never put any focus on that.

She has spoken openly about her identity as a mixed-race woman

Markle penned an essay about being mixed-race for Elle magazine. In it, she wrote about how people would assume her mother was the nanny because of the color of her skin.

The actress also spoke of constantly being asked where her parents were from and the real question at the heart of peoples inquiries.

While I could say Pennsylvania and Ohio, and continue this proverbial two-step, I instead give them what they're after: My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white, she wrote.

She told Allure magazine that studying race in college was the first time I could put a name to feeling too light in the black community and too mixed in the white community.

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

Los Angeles Times staff writer Jaclyn Cosgrove and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

ALSO

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle to wed next year

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle kick off wedding planning with engagement photos and peek at her ring
A man was arrested after authorities found a human skull and methamphetamines in a car that had been pulled over in a traffic stop in Northern California.

Joshua Davis, 41, was a passenger in a car that Angels Camp police pulled over about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

The officer had stopped the driver for rolling through a stop sign, but recognized Davis from an earlier encounter when Davis was driving the car, Angels Camp police said. When the officer asked Davis for identification, he initially refused, police said.

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When Davis did reveal his identity, the officer learned that he had a suspended drivers license, triggering a search of the car, officials said. During the search, police found methamphetamines hidden behind the gas tank door and a human skull in a bag in the trunk.

Davis invoked his Miranda rights and refused to explain how he came to be in possession of the human skull, police said in a statement.

Davis was booked on suspicion of violating his probation, driving with a suspended license, possessing methamphetamines and disturbing human remains.

The Calaveras County coroner will examine the skull and try to determine an identity.

Police did not disclose the disposition of the driver.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
Police late Sunday fatally shot a 22-year-old man armed with a knife who had barricaded himself, along with his 7-month-old daughter, in his car for several hours at a Covina park, authorities said.

The man died at the scene, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.

It was not clear what caused the shooting. No one else was injured, said Covina Police Sgt. Ray Marquez.

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The standoff began about 2:45 p.m., when officers patrolling Kalher Russell Park noticed a Scion blocking the parking lot entrance, Marquez said. The man in the drivers seat had gotten into an argument with his girlfriend, who was sitting next to him, with their daughter in the back seat.

The man, who was not named, pulled out a knife and brandished it toward officers in a threatening manner, Marquez said. At that point, the woman got out of the car. She told police her boyfriend threatened to harm her and himself, Marquez said.

Crisis negotiators called the mans cellphone and tried to persuade him to surrender peacefully, while SWAT officers stood by, feet away, in an armored vehicle. Hours into the standoff, the mans cellphone died, Marquez said.

Authorities continued to speak to him through a public address system until the shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

UPDATES:

6:50 a.m. Nov. 27: This article was updated to reflect that the man died after being shot by police.

11:10 p.m. Nov. 26: This article was updated with more information.

This article was originally published at 10:55 p.m.
Authorities on Sunday arrested the second of two armed robbery suspects who pulled off a brazen escape from a Palo Alto courthouse earlier this month.

Investigators spotted John Bivins, 47, walking out of the Fairmont Inn in San Leandro about 9:30 a.m. and ordered him to surrender, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office. Bivins refused to comply and was forced into custody by the U.S. Marshal-led Pacific Southwest Regional Task Force. He was being treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries.

His alleged accomplice, Tramel McClough, 46, was arrested Tuesday after investigators found the duo driving near a Wal-Mart in Stockton. McClough ran into the store and was caught, while Bivins managed to get away after trying to run over two investigators, a U.S. marshal and a California Highway Patrol officer, authorities said.

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Officers shot at Bivins before he fled.

Authorities said Bivins may face additional charges, including attempted murder of a federal agent and state peace officer.

The two inmates escaped Nov. 6, when they were scheduled to appear in court on pending charges. They ran away from a deputy who was escorting them through the building, bolting through an emergency exit before jumping into a getaway vehicle outside.

They exited the vehicle a few blocks away and got into a U-Haul van, according to police, who said they recovered a handcuff key and discarded restraints at the scene.

Two people  Marquita Kirk, 44, and Rene Hunt, 54  were later arrested on suspicion of helping the pair escape.

Investigators believe Kirk rented the U-Haul van, while Hunt was responsible for arranging the vehicle they used to escape from the courthouse, authorities said.

McClough and Bivins were initially arrested Feb. 3 after police say they tied up employees at gunpoint inside a cellphone store and stole nearly $64,000 worth of merchandise. They were charged with robbery and false imprisonment, according to the Sheriffs Department.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
Authorities are searching for a teenager who went missing last week in Yosemite National Park, officials said.

Gerardo Cruz Hernandez, 18, was last seen Wednesday morning in Santa Barbara wearing white Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, park officials said. His vehicle was found that evening in Glacier Point.

Hernandez is 5 feet 7, weighs 120 pounds and has a tattoo on his right wrist.

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Anyone with information about his whereabouts can call park officials at (209) 379-1992.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Monday, Nov. 27, and heres whats happening:

TOP STORIES

Mexicos housing debacle

Sixteen years ago, Mexico embarked on a monumental campaign to elevate living standards for its working-class masses. The government teamed with private developers to launch the largest residential construction boom in Latin American history. The program has devolved into a slow-motion social and financial catastrophe, inflicting daily hardships and hazards on millions in troubled developments across the country, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found. Los Angeles Times (En espanol: Los Angeles Times)

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Plus: Could your family live in 325 square feet? Life inside Mexicos 1 million mini-casas, where conditions are so cramped that many use their cars as living rooms. Los Angeles Times

Californias new gold rush  and poorhouse

Today, home ownership in California is the best investment any of us will ever make, thanks, in large part, to a scarcity of housing. The pace of construction has not kept up with population grown and demand, so those of us with houses own a staggering amount of equity wealth that grows even as those without homes pay a higher price for survival, columnist Steve Lopez writes. Los Angeles Times

Wildfires aftermath

As wine country begins to imagine how a destructive fire changes a community, residents might look to some places in San Diego County. Harbison Canyon  ravaged by the 2003 Cedar fire  is an object lesson for the communities in Northern California destroyed by fire and struggling to rebuild while maintaining their old identities. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

A remarkable life: U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harry Pregerson, the famed jurist who embraced the underdog and let his conscience inform his rulings, has died at age 94. Pregerson, born in Los Angeles on Oct. 13, 1923, was one of the most liberal federal appeals court judges in the nation. Los Angeles Times

Planning a tour: Always a good son-in-law, Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne promised to take his mother-in-law on an architecture tour of Los Angeles. But he got stuck on what to include. Los Angeles Times

On Inglewood: Fifty years ago, Inglewoods white residents saw black newcomers not as neighbors but invaders, existential threats to their property values and to an ironclad social order. They could not, would not, live where we lived. The fact that whites are coming back to this once very contested space is not, I fear, evidence of the meaningful integration that has long eluded us, writes Erin Aubry Kaplan in an op-ed. Los Angeles Times

Living on fault lines: An earthquake fault could lead to closure of a Long Beach hospital. Press-Telegram

IMMIGRATION AND THE BORDER

From the borderland: Ramiro Cordero is one of a substantial group of border agents  more than half of whom are Latino  whose family connections are in Mexico, whose professional loyalty is to the United States, whose history straddles both sides of the border. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

On the ballot: A San Francisco real estate developer is poised to spend enough of his own money to ask Californians to consider a sweeping 2018 ballot measure that could shift the balance of power over data sharing to consumers and punish businesses that dont toe the line. Los Angeles Times

A changing city: A plan slowly moving through City Hall aims to get more people to live and work near the Expo Line by allowing denser commercial and residential buildings within a half-mile of its five stations that are between Culver City and Santa Monica. Los Angeles Times

Courting Amazon: In an attempt to get Amazon to build its second headquarters in Fresno, the city is offering to funnel 85 percent of all taxes and fees generated by Amazon into a special fund. One columnist finds that problematic. Seattle Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Fragmented system: Despite its size, Los Angeles has no centralized method for tracking sexual harassment complaints lodged against its workers. Nor are managers required to report such claims to the citys Personnel Department. Los Angeles Times

Stolen: More than 100 handguns were taken from a storage facility in the Sylmar area, the Los Angeles Couty Sheriffs Department said Saturday. Los Angeles Times

Sad story: A Los Angeles County sheriffs sergeant whose son was recently killed by a drunk driver who also died in the crash spoke of forgiveness Saturday, saying both families were suffering. Los Angeles Times

THE ENVIRONMENT

Some crazy flies: Most flies will meet their maker if they go underwater, but not alkali flies, which are able to swim under the surface of Mono Lake. New York Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

What a milestone: Carol Burnett has a lot to laugh about as The Carol Burnett Show celebrates its 50th anniversary. Los Angeles Times

With a song: It sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks movie. Meet L.A.'s only atheist choir, which is questioning organized religion during its performances. LA Weekly

#DTLA: Learn about the amazing history of the Midnight Mission, downtown Los Angeles long-serving homeless shelter thats grown to serve more than 1 million meals a year. Curbed LA

Chipping in: Every Wednesday morning, Bevan Dufty, a former supervisor and current member of the BART board, and Supervisor Hillary Ronen pull on blue latex gloves and grab brooms and dustpans to clean the grossness that pervades the street-level plazas at BARTs 16th Street Mission Station. San Francisco Chronicle

A shootings aftermath: After Nov. 14s shooting rampage in Rancho Tehama Reserve, the question was an obvious one for Johnny and Tiffany Phommathep to ask each other. Should they move out from their home? Record-Searchlight

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: Partly cloudy, 72, Monday. Partly cloudy, 77, Tuesday. San Diego: Partly cloudy, 65, Monday. Partly cloudy, 72, Tuesday. San Francisco area: Sunny, 59, Monday. Partly cloudy, 59, Tuesday. Sacramento: Partly cloudy, 58, Monday. Partly cloudy, 59, Tuesday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

This weeks birthdays for those who made a mark in California: Angels manager Mike Scioscia (Nov. 27, 1958), former Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully (Nov. 29, 1927), Nobel chemistry laureate Yuan Lee (Nov. 29, 1936), UC President Janet Napolitano (Nov. 29, 1957) and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia (Dec. 2, 1977).

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.
Petition drive to repeal California gas tax increase temporarily slows down By Patrick McGreevy A motorist prepares to gas up her vehicle in San Rafael, Calif., in 2015. ( (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)) Paid signature-gatherers for a ballot measure that would repeal gas tax increases may be hard to find on the streets of California this week. Organizers say its not a money issue, adding that they needed to briefly halt paid signature-gathering to catch up on collecting petitions from volunteers. The petition drive has so far collected more than 327,800 verified signatures of the 587,407 needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot, according to Dave Gilliard, the political strategist behind the drive. We knew it was popular but the incredible pace is even faster than we expected so we outran the capacity of our verification operation over the Christmas holiday and told our crew managers to slow down so we could catch up, Gilliard said. We will be back up to speed by the end of this week. The gas tax and vehicle fee increases signed by Gov. Jerry Brown are expected to raise $5.2 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and expanded mass transit. The gas tax jumped from 18 cents to 30 cents per gallon on Nov. 1, and vehicle fees of at least $25 kicked in Jan. 1. The gas tax repeal petition is breaking records for both paid and volunteer signatures and were using the next two weeks to catch up on validation of signatures already received, said Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Councilman and conservative radio talk-show host. As a grass-roots-funded effort we are also continuously raising funds and volunteer support. We are highly confident well qualify this Initiative for the November 2018 ballot. Facebook

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State pot bureau ready to enforce Californias new marijuana laws as license applications flood in By Patrick McGreevy The state has issued 104 licenses for retail stores to sell marijuana for recreational use in California and 239 other applications for those permits are pending, officials said Tuesday. An official with the state Bureau of Cannabis Control added that the agency is prepared to begin taking enforcement action against pot shops that are not properly licensed. The bureaus enforcement team is ready to respond to any complaints it receives and start doing compliance checks and site visits at any time, said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the bureau. Selling marijuana without a license is a crime punishable by up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $500. Those convicted of engaging in any marijuana business activity without a license will also be subject to a civil penalty of up to three times the amount of the license fee for each violation. A new report issued Tuesday indicated the bureau has issued 478 temporary licenses to firms to test, distribute and sell medical and recreational marijuana, which began Jan. 1 after voters approved a legalization initiative, Proposition 64, in 2016. Businesses have received 153 licenses to sell marijuana for medical use. Another 1,458 firms have applied for licenses that are still being processed. The state Department of Food and Agriculture has separately issued 207 licenses to marijuana growers. Facebook

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Two possible instances of discrimination reported after California issues drivers licenses to immigrants here illegally By Jazmine Ulloa The California Research Bureau on Tuesday released its first report on incidents of discrimination under a 2015 state law that has provided drivers licenses for hundreds of thousands of immigrants here illegally. Researchers found no complaints have been made against government agencies tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. But two possible instances of discrimination were reported in focus group interviews conducted by Drive California, a coalition of advocates studying the impact of the new law. In one case, a woman in Fresno was told her license was not a valid form of identification at a retail store, though it was unclear whether the incident reflected intentional discrimination or simple ignorance of the license marking, the report states. A MoneyGram clerk in another case denied a license holder the ability to cash a check. The same person was later rejected again at a bank. The state Department of Motor Vehicles has issued 960,000 AB 60 drivers licenses as of Nov. 30. The state research bureau produced the report for the Legislature as part of the new law, which declares discrimination against an AB 60 license holder a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Facebook

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California lawmaker proposes requiring panic buttons for hotel workers in response to widespread sexual harassment By Patrick McGreevy More than half of hotel workers surveyed report being sexually harassed at some point. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) Alarmed by a survey indicating sexual harassment of hotel housekeepers is widespread, a California state lawmaker on Tuesday proposed requiring employers to provide panic button devices to their employees so they can summon help if abused by a guest. The bill to be introduced Wednesday by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) would also require individual hotels to impose a three-year ban on guests who engage in harassment on the property. We want to protect our most vulnerable women workers, hotel maids who are going into rooms alone, from sexual harassment, said Muratsuchi, who co-authored the bill with Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward). The legislation signals that concerns over sexual harassment that dominated the state Legislature last year will continue to be an issue for lawmakers as they begin the new legislative year Wednesday. Harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, comedian Louis C.K. and other high-profile men have involved sexual misconduct in hotel rooms. A survey in July by Unite Here Local 1 found that 49% of female hotel workers in Chicago had experienced a guest answering the door naked or exposing himself. The report titled Hands Off, Pants On, found 58% of hotel workers said they had been sexually harassed by a guest. Californias Unite Here Local 11 has been calling for the action proposed in the legislation. It is the intent of this measure to protect hotel employees from violent assault, including sexual assault, and sexual harassment, and to enable those employees to speak out when they experience harassment on the job, said the introduction to the legislation introduced by Muratsuchi. In addition to requiring hotels to provide panic buttons to employees who work alone in rooms, the bill requires hotels to take written complaints from employees and keep them for five years. Any complaint backed by evidence including a statement given under penalty of perjury would result in a guest being banned from a hotel for three years. Hotels would also be required to post a notice on the inside of hotel room doors warning guests about the consequences of sexual harassment. Updated at 4:10 pm to include comment from Assemblyman Muratsuchi. Facebook

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Money, Republican malaise and Tom Steyer: These are the things to watch for in Californias 2018 statewide elections By Seema Mehta Get ready, California. What had been a behind-the-scenes dash for cash closely watched by few other than political observers is about to burst into public view. Voters this year will decide who will succeed Democrat Jerry Brown as the next governor and whether they will send Sen. Dianne Feinstein back to Washington. Before the June 5 primary, candidates will ramp up their campaigns with messages on television and stuffed into mailboxes. Heres a primer on the states two marquee races. Read More Facebook

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Fickle L.A. County is pivotal in the race for California governor By Phil Willon Home to a quarter of Californias 5.2 million registered voters, Los Angeles County is the biggest prize in Californias 2018 race for governor. For two hometown Democratic candidates especially  former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang of Torrance  doing well in L.A. County is essential if they hope to best the front-runner, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Yet this overwhelmingly Democratic stronghold continually bedevils even the most adept campaigns. Read More Facebook

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A renewed brawl over single-payer healthcare in California is on deck for 2018 By Melanie Mason Carolyn Angela Chen, a registered nurse, gives a free hepatitis A vaccination to Glenn Gardner, 52, at Joshua House Clinic (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) California officials are bracing for healthcare battles in Washington to have a major impact on the states budget and programs. Activists and politicians are planning a showdown over whether or not to establish a single-payer healthcare system in the state. And prescription drug manufacturers are the target of a number of bills meant to target the rising costs of medication. Sound familiar? Turns out the brewing healthcare battles in California in 2018 arent all that different from those from 2017. Heres a primer on the upcoming healthcare agenda in California: Read More Facebook

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How California lawmakers plan to protect the online privacy of consumers in 2018 By Jazmine Ulloa (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) With federal regulation rollbacks and a rise in data breaches, California lawmakers this year are looking for ways to protect consumers and their personal information. Some legislation under consideration could give people more notice and control over what data is collected, without having to pay for privacy or better services. Other bills could provide free credit freezes for consumers and require new privacy features for products that connect to the internet. Read More Facebook

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2018 will see California motorists pay more to the state to repair roads and bridges By Patrick McGreevy The new year brings with it new vehicle fees in California ranging from $25 to $175 depending on the value of your car, but Republican lawmakers are hoping to qualify a ballot measure in November to repeal the higher charges. The fees and a 12-cent increase in Californias gas tax last year are part of a plan by Democrats to raise more than $5.2 billion annually to deal with a backlog of road and bridge repairs. Petitions to qualify a repeal initiative are circulating now. Read More Facebook

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A rent control battle tops the list of California housing issues to watch in 2018 By Liam Dillon A new-home community in Anaheim in 2016 (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) California lawmakers arent wasting any time in tackling one of the most contentious issues in state housing politics this year. On Jan. 11, the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee is set to hold a hearing on legislation that could lead to a dramatic expansion of rent control policies across the state. The debate over rent control could spill over onto the 2018 ballot, where Californians also could see proposals to expand or curtail the property tax restrictions ushered in 40 years ago by Proposition 13. Lawmakers will have to wrestle with how to follow up a package of housing bills that passed last year. The measures provided new funding and regulations designed to encourage homebuilding, but are unlikely to make an appreciable difference in housing costs. Read More Facebook

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Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas is resigning By John Myers Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas abruptly announced his resignation from the California Legislature on Wednesday, citing health reasons. Ridley-Thomas, a Democrat from Los Angeles, informed Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) Tuesday night. The reason for this difficult decision is that I am facing persistent health issues, Ridley-Thomas, 30, said in a written statement on Wednesday. On December 18th, I underwent surgery for the fifth time this year. Although I expect a full recovery, my physicians advise that I will need an extended period of time to recuperate. Earlier this year, Ridley-Thomas was absent from work for more than two weeks. Staff members initially said the absence was a personal leave, then said the time off was due to unspecified medical reasons. His resignation letter on Wednesday offered no additional details. When I resume public life, I intend to remain active in civic affairs, where my passion lies, he said in the statement released by his office. Ridley-Thomas was first elected to the Assembly in a 2013 special election. He is the son of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Before winning elected office at age 26, the younger Ridley-Thomas worked as an aide for Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price and managed a 2012 Assembly campaign in San Bernardino County. In a statement about his sons decision, Mark Ridley-Thomas said he and his wife more than anyone, have seen him struggle with health challenges this year, and we fully support his decision to step down from the state Legislature so that he can recuperate with complete rest, in accordance with his doctors orders. His solidly Democratic district includes the west Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westwood, Culver City, Crenshaw and Baldwin Hills. He is chairman of the influential Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, which oversees all tax-related legislation. Ridley-Thomas is a proponent of changes in the operation of the state Board of Equalization, though his plan would have allowed the agency to ultimately retain many of its duties. A more substantial shake-up was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in June. Ridley-Thomas was the author of a bill signed into law in October giving the Los Angeles Unified School District the power to preserve some of its existing single-gender schools. He was unsuccessful, though, in an effort to stop local governments from imposing taxes on streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu. Ridley-Thomas departure will require a special election in 2018. He is the fourth Southern California legislator to leave office this year. The election of Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) to Congress also required a special election. The other two lawmakers Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) and Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills)  stepped down in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct, which both men have denied. A special election to fill Bocanegras seat will be held on April 3, with a potential runoff on June 5. A special election date has not yet been set for Dababnehs seat. My colleagues and I wish Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas all the best going forward as he deals with his health challenges, Rendon said in a statement. The Assembly will continue to assist the residents of the 54th Assembly District until a new assemblymember is seated. This post was updated with comment from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, as well as more information about special elections. It was originally published at 11:10 a.m. Facebook

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California Senate Democrats are considering some ideas to counter the GOP tax plan By Liam Dillon Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Democrats in the California Senate are planning to write legislation to lessen the effects of the elimination of popular tax breaks in the GOPs overhaul of the federal tax system. To finance broad-based corporate tax cuts and reductions in individual tax rates, the GOP plan caps the deductibility of state and local income and property taxes  a benefit used often in suburban areas of California. The Republican tax scam disproportionately harms California taxpayers, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement. Our hard-earned tax dollars should not be subject to double-taxation, especially not to line the pockets of the Trump family, hedge fund managers and private jet owners. De Leon, who also is running for U.S. Senate, said the state Senate is working with law professors at UCLA, UC Davis and the University of Chicago to develop the legislation. Ideas being considered, according to a de Leon spokesman, include: Reducing state personal income taxes through a tax credit program and offsetting that amount through payroll taxes.

Allowing individuals to make voluntary gifts to the state of California, which would be deductible as a charitable donation under federal law. The deduction for the donated amount would replace the state and local tax deduction. Lawmakers return to Sacramento in January.

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L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti admits considering a 2020 bid: I am thinking about this By Seema Mehta Eric Garcetti (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Its no secret Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is interested in running for president. When reporters ask about his intentions, he has used all sorts of ways to deflect, typically by saying hes focused on his day job  for the moment. But speaking in Spanish to a Univision reporter this week, Garcetti edged ever closer to the telltale admission hes actually considering it. I am thinking about this, said Garcetti, who is partly of Mexican heritage but learned Spanish attending private school. The majority of time goes to my work as mayor of Los Angeles, but every [citizen] should think about what our role is in these difficult times, in these dangerous times. Garcetti added that he expects many mayors to run for president, and noted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently visited Iowa, which holds the first presidential nominating contest. Garcetti has long been rumored to be flirting with a White House bid, and he has fueled such speculation by traveling out of state to places such as the early presidential primary state of New Hampshire to campaign for a mayoral candidate. Facebook

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Gov. Brown makes judicial appointments, including attorney who helps train Legislature on anti-sexual-harassment policies .@JerryBrownGov makes two court of appeal and 33 superior court appointments including Lauri Damrell in Sacramento. Damrell, an attorney at Orrick, testified at the Assemblys recent hearing on sexual harassment, outlining the assemblys current prevention efforts.  Liam Dillon (@dillonliam) December 22, 2017 Facebook

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Californias former top cop forms marijuana distribution firm in new age of legalization By Patrick McGreevy Former California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer is going from enforcing laws against marijuana to legally distributing the drug under the states new rules that allow the sale and possession of pot for recreational use. With state-licensed sales of marijuana starting Jan. 1, Lockyer has co-founded a firm, C4 Distro, that will distribute packaged marijuana concentrates and edibles to stores in Los Angeles. He says Californias new regulated system has a chance to be a model for the rest of the country. For me as somebody who was on the law enforcement side for so many years, I saw the inadequacies of the effort to regulate something just by calling it illegal, Lockyer said. I think legalizing will help stabilize and help legitimize this industry and result in better consumer protection and other public benefits. Lockyer, a Democrat who served in the state Assembly and was leader of the state Senate, has co-founded the firm with Eric Spitz, who was chairman and president of the former parent company of the Orange County Register. The businessmen aim to get their products to pot shops in L.A. in late January or early February, Spitz said. Asked if he uses marijuana himself, Lockyer, 76, said, Not in any recent times, but there were college years. He said he sees his involvement in the marijuana industry as a mixture of helping to pay for his kids college tuition and public service to help the new regulations work. This whole industry has to come from the dark side to the light, he said. By focusing on delivery to as many as 700 stores that might open in Los Angeles, C4 Distro hopes to capture a targeted market while other firms distribute statewide. The business has a warehouse in southeast Los Angeles County and is close to applying for a distributors license from the state, Lockyer said. Lockyer served a quarter century in the state Legislature before he was elected as state attorney general in 1999. He left that office in 2007 when he was elected as state treasurer, serving until his retirement from politics in 2015. Before co-leading a group that bought the Register newspaper in 2012, Spitz served as chief financial officer at Narragansett Brewing Company. Spitz left the Registers Freedom Communications in 2016. 2 p.m.: An earlier version of this article mistakenly said Spitz left Freedom Communications in 2015. Facebook

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House passes disaster aid bill with wildfire funding, 18 Californians vote no By Sarah D. Wire (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Eighteen of Californias 53 House members voted no on an $81-billion disaster aid package Thursday, which includes funds for Californias recent wildfires. The 17 Democrats and one Republican voted no on the bill, which passed the House by a 251 to 169 vote. The Senate is not expected to take up the bill until January, when Congress returns from its holiday break. The entire California delegation had recently signed onto a letter asking for the disaster aid. In a speech on the House floor before the vote, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) pleaded with colleagues not to take a political stance on a disaster aid bill. Dont play politics on a vote to give aid to the people of Texas, to the people of Puerto Rico and to the Virgin Islands, to the people of Florida, and to the people of California that are still fighting the fires. Dont play politics on a bill where you hope to maybe stop another. That would be the worst of any politics Ive seen played here, McCarthy said. Here and now, right before Christmas, dont vote against aid for Americans who just lost everything. Several of the Democrats who voted no also voted against the spending bill Thursday, and said that they felt they could not support either because the bills did not include Democratic priorities for the end of the year, including protections for people brought to the country illegally as children. Others said the aid bill doesnt provide enough money for California and doesnt treat Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands fairly in terms of competing for the funds. The 18 representatives voting no were: Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro)

Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles)

Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles)

Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park)

Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana)

Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park)

Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles)

Ro Khanna (D-Fremont)

Barbara Lee (D-Oakland)

Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose)

Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove)

Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco)

Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey)

Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier)

Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough)

Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin)

Norma Torres (D-Pomona)

Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) Facebook

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Three California House members cross party lines on spending bill to keep government open By Sarah D. Wire Three California House members crossed party lines Thursday on a vote to pass a spending bill that will keep the government open until mid-January. Democratic Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert joined the majority of Republicans to vote for the bill. Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine joined Democrats to vote against it. The bill, which funds the government through Jan. 19, passed the House 231 to 188, right before representatives left for the holidays. Costa said in a statement that he voted yes because keeping the government open is Congress job, but he called the vote a continuation of the dysfunction in Washington. It further illustrates the damage that results from partisan politics and irresponsible leadership. It is unacceptable that we have to resort to funding the government for weeks at a time because we cannot sit down together  Democrats and Republicans  and negotiate a real budget bill, Costa said. Hunters staff said the congressman was concerned that military spending in the bill was extended for only a short period. He had wanted the spending to be extended until September. Facebook

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Poll points to all-Democrat runoffs in California races for governor and senator By Seema Mehta Californians could see two Democrat-on-Democrat contests in the states premier races in 2018, according to a new poll released Thursday. In the gubernatorial race, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom remains the front-runner with the support of 26% of likely voters in a Berkeley IGS poll. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came in second with the backing of 17%. The poll found notable demographic differences in the two mens bases of support. Newsom had strong leads in the Bay Area, where he once served as the mayor of San Francisco, as well as among white voters, liberals and the wealthy. Villaraigosa saw strong backing in Los Angeles County, among Latino voters and among those who earned less than $40,000. Republicans splintered in the race, placing businessman John Cox and Assemblyman Travis Allen in a tie for third place with 9% each. Two other Democrats, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, each won the support of 5% of likely voters. If Republicans fail to consolidate behind a candidate in the June primary, voters will for the first time see no GOP candidate on the November ballot for governor. Its a repeat of what occurred in the 2016 U.S. Senate race, and what is likely to occur again in the 2018 U.S. Senate race if the field does not grow. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has the support of 41% of likely voters in her reelection bid, but her rival, fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon, won the support of 27%, according to the poll. There is no GOP candidate in the race. Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for a quarter-century, has enormous advantages in fundraising, name recognition and support among powerful political groups. However, the poll found that nearly one-third of likely voters said they are undecided or would like to support another candidate. Facebook

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California legislator wants to curb sexual harassment in Hollywood and eating disorders for models By Melanie Mason Fashion models show off the BCBG MAX AZRIA Spring 2016 collection during New York Fashion Week. (Richard Drew / AP) A new proposal by a California assemblyman is taking aim at two of the more criticized phenomena in the entertainment industry: sexual harassment and unhealthy body standards for fashion models. The legislation, by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), would require the states Occupational Safety and Health Standards to adopt guidelines for fashion models in an attempt to combat the prevalence of eating disorders and excessive thinness in the industry. This is the second time Levine has tried to take on the fashion industry. His similar bill to impose standards on models sputtered in 2016. This time, Levine also is trying to address the prevalence of sexual harassment in the entertainment industry by requiring that talent agencies  which represent actors, performers and other artists  provide training on sexual harassment and how to identify and prevent inappropriate behavior. I believed women who told me their stories of abuse when I introduced legislation to provide workplace protections in the fashion industry in 2016 just like I believe them now, Levine said in a statement. Its time that law reflects societys rejection of sexual harassment in all workplaces, including Hollywood. My bill aims to address the problem before it starts, but also empowers survivors with the tools to report these cases. Facebook

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Local Indivisible group picks Democrat to endorse against Rep. Duncan Hunter By Christine Mai-Duc Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, is running against Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine). (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) With an already crowded field of contenders hoping to unseat Rep. Duncan Hunter and months to go before the candidate filing deadline, one local activist group has made an early endorsement in the race. Indivisible CA50, made up of activists mostly in San Diego County, announced Thursday that its endorsing Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat and public affairs consultant whos challenging Hunter. The endorsement comes as liberal activists and interest groups all over the state are grappling with whether  and how  to winnow down the dozens of candidates vying for 10 GOP-held seats in California. The group held more than half a dozen endorsement meetings to allow members throughout Hunters district to vote on their preferred candidate. One of the candidates, Pierre Beauregard, dropped out of the race recently and endorsed Campa-Najjar. In a statement Campa-Najjar said in a statement that the nod represents the enthusiasm of hundreds of progressive grassroots activists. Indivisibles national political director Maria Urbina said the endorsement was the first made by any California chapter in the 2018 midterms. Aside from Campa-Najjar, two other Democrats are running for Hunters seat: Josh Butner, a school board trustee and former Navy SEAL, and realtor Patrick Malloy, who ran last year and lost to Hunter by nearly 27 percentage points. Hunter will also face at least two GOP challengers: Shamus Sayed and Andrew Zelt. Hunter is not considered to be particularly vulnerable in next years election, but an investigation into his alleged misuse of campaign funds has caused at least one election handicapper to move his race from solid Republican to the likely Republican column. Facebook

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San Francisco is getting a new mayor and creating a political star. Who will it be? By Mark Z. Barabak San Francisco is the city everyone loves, even if they hate it. The stately Victorians, like a gingerbread dream come to life. The majestic Golden Gate Bridge, standing like heavens portal above the fog. The plucky cable cars, scrabbling up its impossible hillsides. It can almost make you forget the bands of ravaged homeless, the paralyzing traffic, the scent of human waste wafting from sidewalks outside the citys posh eateries and palatial tech headquarters. San Francisco is getting a new mayor, owing to the sudden death of incumbent Ed Lee. All of the grandeur, and all of the grit, accompany the position. To say the race is wide open  Lee having died just about a week ago  is an understatement. Read More Facebook

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein is under pressure over a fix for Dreamers By Sarah D. Wire California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is under pressure from activists and fellow Democrats to withhold support for a spending bill that would avert a government shutdown in exchange for protections for people brought to the country illegally as children. Feinstein said in October that protections for so-called Dreamers are the most important thing we can get done, but the senator known for her moderate bent said this week that she wont try to block the end-of-the-year spending bill over it, and has not offered an explanation. Dreamers this week flooded Feinsteins five California offices and her office on Capitol Hill. Two UCLA students refused to leave her Capitol Hill office after three hours Tuesday and were briefly detained by police. On Wednesday, about a dozen students and parents returned and were asked to leave after about 30 minutes of shouting in her office lobby. Read More Facebook

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The GOP tax plan passed. Now Democrats have another big issue to use in the midterms By Sarah D. Wire As GOP leaders in Congress met behind closed doors to hash out the details of their massive tax overhaul, a group of UC Irvine graduate students met in Rep. Mimi Walters district, fretting about how the plan could cost them money. About 20 miles north, dozens of activists in top hats stood outside Rep. Ed Royces Brea office as they chanted, Shame on you! And up in the Central Valley, protesters gathered outside Rep. Jeff Denhams Modesto office to sing Protest ye dreary congressman  Remember that he voted to take healthcare away. To save himself from taxes now, so you will have to pay. Read More Facebook

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Kevin de Leon to Feinstein: Dont come back to California without forcing a government shutdown over Dream Act By Jazmine Ulloa State Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), left, and Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), right. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press) Taking direct criticism to the woman he is attempting to unseat in next years U.S. Senate race, California Senate leader Kevin de Leon on Wednesday urged Democrats to block a year-end spending bill as leverage to pass a Dream Act  clean of GOP demands for increased border security. At a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, De Leon commended Sen. Kamala Harris for pledging to block the measure, saying he could not understand why her colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein had failed to take a similar stance in pushing for legislation to protect the so-called Dreamers, immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Dreamers make up hundreds of thousands of Sen. Feinsteins constituents, and while talking a good game on Dreamers, when it comes to standing up and supporting them, she is AWOL, said De Leon (D-Los Angeles), who has attempted to position himself to Feinsteins left as he campaigns for her seat. His statements follow days of demonstrations by young protesters at legislators offices in Washington and California. The coalitions of activists have been calling on Democrats to hold up the spending bill, a move that could force a government shutdown. They want to pass Dream Act legislation that would provide protections and a path to citizenship to young people without legal residency in the U.S. At least two young protesters were arrested Tuesday outside of Feinsteins Capitol Hill office, and more demonstrations took place at her offices in Washington and San Francisco on Wednesday. Feinstein, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have sponsored Dream Act legislation but have not pledged to hold up the spending deal. A separate bipartisan group of senators is advocating punting the issue to January. President Trump has asked Congress to come up with a solution by March. Standing next to De Leon and immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday, state Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) said advocates had to double down the shame on any Democrat who thinks its time to wait on the issue. De Leon said they had made that message clear to Schumer, saying, It is time to find your spine, sir. To Pelosi and Feinstein, he said: Dont come back to California if you havent demonstrated your leadership and your courage to stand up for these young men and women. I can tell you this, De Leon said. If the Republicans were on the other side, they wouldnt hesitate for a nanosecond to shut down the government to move forward what they believe in. Facebook

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12 California Republicans vote to support tax overhaul for a second time; Rohrabacher and Issa say no By Sarah D. Wire The House gave final approval for the GOP tax bill Wednesday, with 12 Republicans in the state delegation again voting in favor of the bill. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Darrell Issa of Vista voted no. The House and Senate both passed the bill Tuesday, but, because Democrats raised procedural objections that forced the bill to be changed in the Senate, the House had to vote on the bill again Wednesday before sending it to President Trump for his signature. Though many California taxpayers are expected to see an initial income tax cut under the plan, a significant number probably will have higher taxes because of the lost deductions. Analysts also expect the biggest cuts to flow to corporations and the states wealthiest residents. Republicans are expected to head to the White House later Wednesday for a celebration with Trump. No House Democrats, including the 39 from California, supported the bill. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) was not present for the second vote, but she voted no on Tuesday. See the Republican votes here: Facebook

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Californias Democratic senators vote no on GOP tax bill Californias @SenKamalaHarris and @SenFeinstein join rest of Democrats in the Senate in voting no on the GOP tax bill, which passed 51-48 along party lines. Sanders, who is an Independent, voted with Democrats.  Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) December 20, 2017 "At a time when wages have stagnated and working Americans are trying to do more with less, this tax plan pulls the rug out from the middle class to give billions to those who already have so much. This is an attack on our values, and Americans deserve better," Harris said.  Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) December 20, 2017 "Californians will be hit especially hard by the cap on the state and local tax deduction, making it more difficult for communities to pay for services that our families rely on, Its no wonder a bill that primarily benefits the wealthy is so unpopular..." Feinstein said  Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) December 20, 2017 Facebook

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GOP tax overhaul passes House with help from a dozen California Republicans By Sarah D. Wire Despite weeks of consternation from some California House Republicans, a dozen of them joined their colleagues to pass an overhaul of the U.S. tax code Tuesday. Two  Reps. Darrell Issa and Dana Rohrabacher  voted against the plan. In the weeks before the vote, Republican Reps. Mimi Walters of Irvine and Steve Knight of Palmdale cited new caps on popular deductions as reasons they were uncertain about whether to vote for the bill. Both worked behind the scenes on changes and ultimately supported the bill, which passed the House on a near party line vote 227-203. Knight said hes satisfied the changes are enough to to turn what would have been a tax increase into a tax cut for his constituents. Read More Facebook

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More than half of Californians oppose GOP tax bill, according to new poll By Sarah D. Wire House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) arrives for a news conference about the tax plan. (Win McNamee / Getty Images) More than half of Californians oppose the GOP tax bill expected to be approved by Congress today, and just 20% believe it will have a positive affect on their families, according to a poll released Monday. Just over half of California voters, 51%, oppose the tax bill, and 30% support it, according to the newest IGS Poll, a survey by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. And the belief falls largely along party lines, with Democrats opposing the bill by a more than 4-to-1 (67% to 15%) margin and Republicans supporting it 3 to 1 (60% to 21%). The House and Senate are expected to vote on the tax bill Tuesday. Californias Republican members of Congress largely support the bill despite some concerns about how cuts to the state and local tax deduction and mortgage interest deduction might affect Californians. Democrats in the delegation oppose it and have said they will use the vote against vulnerable Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. When asked about the impact they think the bill will have on themselves and their families, just 20% of the polls respondents said they think it will benefit them directly, while 40% foresee a negative impact. About 27% do not expect much of an impact, and 13% said they dont know if theyll be affected. The poll of a random sample of 1,000 registered voters was completed by telephone in English and Spanish from Dec. 7 to 16. Facebook

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A quick look at some of the biggest tax changes for Californians By Sarah D. Wire (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) Congressional Republicans are framing their tax cut bill as a Christmas gift that will give Americans an average tax cut of $2,059. For Californians, especially in the wealthier areas along the coast, the situation isnt as clear-cut. When the measure comes up for a vote in the House on Tuesday morning, its expected to pass along party lines. At least two Republicans say they will join Democrats in the California delegation to oppose the plan because they fear it will hurt their constituents bottom line. Take a quick look at what some of the biggest changes in the tax bill might mean for average Californians. Read More Facebook

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Lawmakers, pot growers say Californias marijuana cultivation rules favor big corporate farms By Patrick McGreevy Californias new rules allowing marijuana cultivation favor large corporate farms despite a promise in Proposition 64 that small growers would be protected, according to a group of state lawmakers and marijuana industry leaders who called Monday for the policy to be changed. The California Department of Food and Agriculture issued emergency rules last month that allow for small and medium-sized farms of up to a quarter acre and one acre, respectively, to get licenses for the first five years. That five-year head start for small farms was promised in Proposition 64, the initiative approved last year by voters that legalized growing and selling marijuana for recreational use. Individuals and businesses can get only one license for a medium-sized farm, but the new rules do not set a limit on how many small-farm licenses can be obtained by one person or business. That could allow a corporation to assemble a 20-acre farm by obtaining 80 licenses for a quarter-acre each, opponents worry. Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Mike McGuire of Healdsburg, Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) and the California Growers Assn. asked for swift action by the state agricultural department to change the rule. This is clearly a broken promise, McGuire said. For two years, every discussion has included a cap on cannabis grows and the Department of Food and Agriculture needs to fix this massive loophole they have created. This last-minute revision rolls out the red carpet for large corporations to crush the livelihood of small family farmers. With cultivation licenses set to take effect next month, the lawmakers also promised legislative hearings on why the rules were drafted to disadvantage small, mom-and-pop farms. California only has one chance to get this right, and it is already on the wrong path with this last-minute change that flies in the face of what the backers of Prop. 64 promised, said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Assn. This single decision will hand over the California marketplace to multinational corporations and a wealthy few at the expense of thousands of growers who are ready to play by the rules and provide economic opportunity in communities that until recently were criminalized or  at the very least  marginalized. The industry estimates there are about 3,500 independent growers on track to get a state license in the first half of 2018. Allens group estimates that number could grow to as many as 10,000 or 15,000 by the end of 2020, but not if large corporate farms are allowed in early. The agricultural agency issued a response later: A one-acre canopy limit has not been in proposed regulations at any point and was not included in the emergency regulations due to the fact that Proposition 64, the law guiding the process, did not provide authority to include it. However, local jurisdictions may impose that limitation on their own if it meets the needs of their constituents. Updated at 5:10 pm to include comment from agricultural agency. Facebook

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Final tax bill dramatically softens blow to mortgage interest deductions in California By Christine Mai-Duc Last-minute changes to the Republican-led tax overhaul seem to be tailor-made to entice support from California GOP lawmakers, several of whom voted against a previous version passed in the House last month. The House version, passed with the support of all but three California Republicans, had proposed capping the mortgage interest deduction at loans of $500,000 or less. Republicans in high-tax, expensive states had voiced concerns the bill would have major effects in their districts. But the final version of the bill dramatically slashed the percentage of new mortgages that would be affected if the package becomes law. *New mortgages over $500,000 include data through Sept. 2017. New mortgages over $750,000 include data through Oct. 2017. Source: Times analysis of data provided by CoreLogic The particulars of the mortgage interest provision and other popular deductions were major sticking points as House and Senate negotiators hammered out a compromise between the two versions. A previous Times analysis showed that more than half of new mortgages this year in Rep. Dana Rohrabachers coastal Orange County district exceeded the $500,000 cap laid out in the House version. Text of the new bill released Friday outlined a cap of $750,000, which would apply to just under a quarter of new mortgages there through October 2017. Rohrabacher was one of three California Republicans, along with Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) who previously voted against the measure. Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) said she supported the House version after receiving assurances from leaders that the bill would be changed to account for the loss of deductions, The percentage of new mortgages over the cap dropped from 48% to 14%. Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), whose district had 1% of mortgages exceeding the $500,000 cap proposed previously, saw that share drop almost to zero; 27 of 7,515 mortgages in his congressional district this year have been for more than $750,000. The House is expected to vote on the final tax bill Tuesday. Facebook

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A major change to Proposition 13 takes its first step toward the 2018 ballot By Liam Dillon A commercial property in San Bernardino County that could face higher property taxes under a proposed ballot measure (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) Proponents of making a dramatic change to Californias landmark Proposition 13 property tax restrictions took their first step to getting a measure on the November 2018 statewide ballot Friday. The change would allow the state to receive more tax dollars from commercial and industrial properties by assessing them at their current market value, an effort known as split roll because existing tax protections on homes would remain in place. Advocates of the measure, including the League of Women Voters of California and community organizing nonprofits California Calls and PICO Network said the change could raise billions of dollars that could be spent on public schools and community colleges. I think the cumulative effects of the unfair tax system have gotten to the point where its created crippling economic impacts on the state, said Melissa Breach, executive director of the League of Women Voters of California. Backers filed their proposed initiative Friday. The attorney generals office will prepare an official title and summary for the measure and it will receive a financial analysis. From there, advocates will decide if they will collect signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Proposition 13 passed in 1978 amid concerns that rising property taxes could force people out of their homes. The ballot measure limited property taxes to 1% of a propertys value at the time of purchase and ensures that the assessed value on which taxes are based can only increase by a maximum of 2% a year  no matter how much a propertys market value goes up. Split-roll measures have been long debated in state politics, but business groups and anti-tax groups have expressed substantial opposition to the idea, arguing that it would cause major harm to the states business climate. Breach said she expected an avalanche of big money against the measure should it go forward, but said that her organization wouldnt get involved without believing it could raise sufficient funding.S For the record 1 p.m., Dec. 18: An earlier version of this post said the split roll ballot measure would allow California to charge higher tax rates on commercial and industrial properties. It would allow the state to assess those properties at current market value, not charge higher rates. Facebook

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Three more women accuse California assemblyman of sexual misconduct By Melanie Mason Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills) (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) A Los Angeles woman has filed a police report alleging Democratic Assemblyman Matt Dababneh had sex with her without consent four years ago, adding new allegations of sexual misconduct to those that led the politician to announce his resignation last week. He says her claims are false. Nancy Miret, 26, told The Times that when she was 22 and a recent college graduate, she spent time with Dababneh over two months in late 2013, primarily at his Encino apartment. At the time, Dababneh was running for Assembly to represent the western San Fernando Valley. They had consensual sex on one occasion, but after that, Miret said she had multiple nonconsensual sexual encounters with Dababneh that left her traumatized. Miret, who now works in commercial real estate, is one of three women interviewed by The Times who have made new allegations concerning Dababnehs behavior. These allegations are false and Im confident that when all the facts are in, it will clearly show that these claims are not true, Dababneh told The Times. Read More Facebook

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San Diego business is first in California to be issued license to sell marijuana for recreational use By Patrick McGreevy A San Diego medical marijuana business is the first firm to be issued a license by the state of California to sell marijuana for recreational use, officials said Thursday. Torrey Holistics received two of the first 20 licenses granted by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control this week to sell or distribute marijuana, although the licenses do not take effect until Jan. 1, according to bureau chief Lori Ajax. An additional 180 firms have applied for licenses but they are being processed. Last week, we officially launched our online licensing system, and today were pleased to issue the first group of temporary licenses to cannabis businesses that fall under the Bureaus jurisdiction, Ajax said in a statement. We plan to issue many more before January 1. The bureau is issuing temporary, four-month licenses to firms initially, but will eventually require firms to undergo background checks and pay a $1,000 application fee for yearlong permits. Tony Hall left a chemical distribution business two years ago to start Torrey Holistics with a friend and classmate at San Diego State. He said he was ecstatic to have the first recreational permit in California. He also obtained a new license to continue selling marijuana for medical uses. We feel fricking great about it, he said Thursday. Its just exciting. This is a once in a multi-generational event, he added, likening it to the end of prohibition. Added Ruthie Edelson, the firms marketing director, We will be open at 7 a.m. on Jan. 1. Last year, voters approved Proposition 64, which makes California one of eight states that allow the growing and sale of marijuana for recreational uses. Facebook

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Conservative activist group files a lawsuit over Los Angeles County inactive voter list By John Myers A Washington-based conservative-leaning activist group filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging Los Angeles County officials are refusing to cancel the registrations of voters who are ineligible to cast a ballot. The legal action by Judicial Watch comes four months after the organization first accused elections officials across the state of maintaining registration lists that are larger than their voting-age population. The lawsuit also names Secretary of State Alex Padilla as a defendant and alleges the voter lists violate the National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA. They dont care about removing ineligible registration, said Robert Popper of Judicial Watch. I think we have a very strong lawsuit. The lawsuit names four Los Angeles County voters as co-plaintiffs and asserts that a countys two lists of voters  the file of active voters and those whose registration has been placed on inactive status  should be combined into a single total. The inactive list includes people who havent cast ballots in recent elections and havent responded to inquiries from elections officials. Though the names on that list are considered voters, they are not counted in official registration reports and are not mailed election material. Popper led an effort earlier this year to estimate the size of each countys voting-age population using the Census Bureaus American Community Survey. He said the surveys five-year average of county populations was then adjusted by focusing just on the estimate of those over the age of 18, and then comparing that with the combined active and inactive voter lists. Popper dismissed any concern that the resulting number might be skewed by the different standards used by counties for the inactive list, which could include names of voters who moved or died and thus be an imperfect guide. I believe that a court is going to accept our numbers, he said. Dean Logan, the registrar of voters in Los Angeles County, said his staffs practices are consistent with federal law. This lawsuit appears to fundamentally interpret the requirements of the NVRA in a manner inconsistent with ensuring voter enfranchisement and appropriate list maintenance, he said. The lawsuit also alleges that Los Angeles elections officials failed to provide Judicial Watch with requested data about the size of the inactive list, and accuses Padilla of failing to address the groups concerns about California not following NVRA rules. In a statement on Thursday, Padilla said county inactive-voter files are not out of compliance with the law. He criticized Judicial Watch for its baseless assertions, bad math, and flawed methodology. Local elections officials have said very few inactive voters show up on election day, and that any who do would be asked to cast a provisional ballot  one that isnt counted unless the voters eligibility is confirmed through additional review. Popper insisted that if the list is never used, theres no reason to keep it. Judicial Watch, which sued for access to Hillary Clintons emails in 2016, alleged that its calculations show 11 California counties with questionable voter registration totals. Facebook

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Voters in California GOP districts may get calls asking them to thank their member of Congress for tax plan By Sarah D. Wire Voters in four key Republican-held congressional districts could get a robocall starting Friday urging them to call and thank their member of Congress for supporting the tax bill. Its a last minute effort by American Action Network, a politically active nonprofit connected with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) that has spent millions to shore up Republican support for the bill. The robocalls include the members office number. The four California members being targeted are Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock, David Valadao of Hanford, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Mimi Walters of Irvine. All four represent districts that backed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 and are Democratic targets in 2018. Knight and Walters had been particularly vocal about their concerns with the plan, saying it might raise taxes for their constituents. The final text of the bill is set to be released Friday, with a vote expected early next week. In total, American Action Network plans to place 1 million robocalls in 29 districts nationwide. Facebook

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Merry Christmas Republicans in Congress: Funny or Die video goes after California lawmakers over DACA By Christine Mai-Duc As members of Congress try to pass a controversial tax bill and a measure to keep the federal government funded, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is hitting Republicans hard over another unresolved issue: the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children who could face deportation if lawmakers dont act. Amid negotiations over a long-term spending bill, Democratic leaders have been pushing their GOP colleagues to include a fix for those who were granted temporary protection under President Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. President Trump announced an end to the program earlier this year and gave Congress a March deadline to address it. Funny or Die and BOLD PAC released a video Friday featuring comedians skewering GOP members, including two in California, for their inaction. In the video, Oscar Nunez, best known for his role on The Office, calls out Reps. Steve Knight (Palmdale), Ed Royce (Fullerton), Carlos Curbelo (Florida) and John Culberson (Texas), who get to go ahead and celebrate as thousands of Dreamers are banished from the only country theyve ever called home. How many broken promises can fit in a stocking? Nunez asks later. Im asking for a congressman. The political action committee says its spending six figures on the weeklong buy, which will go out nationwide across Funny Or Dies social media channels. They are known for blasting out irreverent, often viral parodies that play to young audiences. The video will also be targeted to constituents in each of the four congressional districts. A separate video released by the ACLU last week also urged members of Congress to strike a deal on DACA. Many California Republicans have remained mum on the issue, particularly those facing tough races in 2018. So far, only Reps. David Valadao (Hanford), Jeff Denham (Turlock) and Mimi Walters (Irvine) have pressured fellow Republicans to come up with a solution before Congress breaks for Christmas. Following Trumps decision, Knight said the issue should receive attention by Congress. Royce, who has taken hard-line stances on immigration in the past, urged his colleagues to provide a permanent, legislative solution that gives certainty to these kids. Neither elaborated on what that solution should be. Facebook

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For a prominent California consumer group and savvy political consultants, documents reveal a close financial relationship By John Myers If theres a clear mantra for Consumer Watchdog, one of Californias most visible and vocal advocacy groups, its that hidden financial relationships shouldnt shape politics and public policy. The Santa Monica-based nonprofit has spent more than three decades reprimanding politicians and interest groups for doing the bidding of those who give them money. Its official motto is expose, confront, change. We are loud, and we speak more of a populist truth than the way people usually talk to each other in Sacramento, said Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdogs president. Read More Facebook

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Regional director resigns from California Democratic Party amid sexual misconduct claims By Jazmine Ulloa A regional director with the California Democratic Party submitted his resignation on Thursday, nearly two weeks after a 23-year-old woman reported that he sexually assaulted her last year, spurring party leaders to seek his ouster. Craig Cheslog served as Region 2 director spanning the East Bay, Napa, Sonoma and the Clearlake areas. In a statement, his lawyer, Mary P. Carey, said she and her client were confident that a full and fair exploration of this matter, undertaken in an appropriate, fact-governed venue, would exonerate Mr. Cheslog. We are prepared, if necessary, to put forward the facts of this matter in just such a venue, she said. Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman and other officials initially called for Cheslogs removal in a Nov. 29 letter to state party secretary Jenny Bach. They said he was seen acting in an inappropriate and sexually aggressive manner toward a member of the party in a public area of the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel, following a Nov. 18 executive board meeting. The level to which this activity advanced made a number of those in attendance uncomfortable, the letter stated. It added that another member reported that Mr. Cheslog raped her at a CDP executive board meeting the previous year. Party officers said the incident occurred during a weekend where the prevention of sexual harassment of women in politics was a dominant theme in the wake of the #metoo movement. Before the meetings conclusion on Sunday, the California Womens Caucus approved a resolution making clear that sexual harassment, bullying and other forms of abuse are grounds to lose endorsements and be stripped of party membership. Maddy Dean, who was not named in the letter, spoke at the meeting about her experiences of sexual harassment in the movie industry, and told the Times that she reported Cheslog. She said she could not provide further details about her allegation as she explores possible legal paths moving forward. This was about protecting other women and in particular other young women, she said of reporting the assault. In his own letter to Bach on Thursday, Cheslog did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. He said he was stepping down to prevent any personal misconduct allegations from creating a distraction with the party at a critical moment in national and state politics. I am confident of the results that would be forthcoming in a fair, fact-based exploration of this matter, he said. Since the report, Cheslog has been fired from his job at Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that helps families navigate media and technology. He also has stepped down from his position on the Acalanes Union High School District Board of Trustees. The conduct represented a serious violation of both company policy and the way in which our employees are expected to conduct themselves in the community at large, Common Sense spokeswoman Corbie Kiernan said in a statement. We immediately suspended Mr. Cheslog and conducted an investigation. As a result of the investigation, Mr. Cheslogs employment with Common Sense was terminated. 4:05 p.m.: This post was updated with Cheslogs resignation from the school board. Facebook

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Sen. Bob Hertzberg will cooperate with investigation into unwanted hugs By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Bob Hertzberg works at his Senate Chambers desk. He faces an investigation into unwanted hugging (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles) said Thursday he will cooperate with a state investigation into complaints from a former legislator that she was uncomfortable with his repeated hugs after she asked him not to touch her. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said Thursday that a team of outside attorneys will investigate a complaint by former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman that Hertzberg has made her uncomfortable with hugs that were too close and lasted too long. Hertzberg, well-known for hugging other lawmakers, said he supports having any allegations investigated by the two outside law firms. I just learned of the investigation, and will fully cooperate, he said. The use of an independent third party investigator is essential to improving transparency and trust in the system. Halderman said Thursday she was encouraged that her concerns will be investigated, but said it was disturbing  that attorneys for one of the law firms selected, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, contributed more than $90,000 in campaign funds to sitting legislators including Hertzberg. Halderman, a surgeon, served in the state Assembly from 2010 through 2012 and said Hertzberg hugged her multiple times even after she asked him to stop because she was uncomfortable. The last incident occurred in a hallway of the Capitol, she claimed. I told him I dont care to be hugged. Dont touch me,  Halderman recalled. He then grabbed me and pinned my arms to my side and used his hands to press my lower back into his groin and he essentially pinned me so I couldnt push off of him to get away the way I ended previous hugs. It was certainly so over the line, she added. Halderman said a current female senator and assemblywoman also have complained about inappropriate hugs from Hertzberg. However, Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) defended Hertzberg, saying she has known him for many years and he has always acted as a gentleman. I have never felt uncomfortable with him, and have always felt his hugs were a display of affection - which I appreciate, she said. I consider him a dear friend. Updated at 5:30 pm to include comment from Sen. Galgiani. Facebook

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Rep. Maxine Waters asks Justice Department to investigate fake letter tweeted by Republican opponent By Sarah D. Wire (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Rep. Maxine Waters is asking the Justice Department to look into a fake letter posted to Twitter by her Republican challenger that falsely indicated the congresswoman wants to resettle tens of thousand of refugees in her Los Angeles district. The GOP candidate, Omar Navarro, posted the letter on what looks like official House of Representatives letterhead to Twitter on Monday. The letter, which purports to be from the congresswoman, says the congresswoman wants to bring refugees to her congressional district after the 2018 election and perhaps even once I have secured the Speaker of the House position. Navarro accompanied the tweeted letter with a message: According to this document, Maxine Waters wants more terrorists, like the one who bombed NYC, in Californias 43rd District. As Congressman of CAs 43rd District, I will oppose such policies. Its been retweeted more than 680 times. But the letter is a forgery and a fake, her chief of staff, Twaun Samuel, said in a news release. The letter, dated June of this year, also contains several inaccuracies. It references multiple committees and subcommittees Waters does not serve on, and lists an address for a district office that has been closed for nearly a decade. Waters filed a complaint about the tweeted letter with the House general counsel, who forwarded the complaint to the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and the fraud section of the Criminal Division for the United States Department of Justice. The complaint states that Waters has not communicated with the letters purported addressee  Teri Williams, who is president and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles-based OneUnited Bank, about any refugee resettlement program. Impersonating a federal official and misusing a federal seal are federal crimes. Navarro, who is backed by big name far-right conservatives, said Thursday that the letter was sent to his campaign through Facebook by a person he didnt know. He said neither the Justice Department or Waters staff has asked him about the letter. I dont know if its real or not, so I put it out there, Navarro said, adding that he believed his followers would help him determine if it is real. It doesnt say that I know. Its according to this document  what, am I supposed to send it to her and get an email back from Maxine? According to this document, Maxine Waters wants more terrorists, like the one who bombed NYC, in Californias 43rd District.

As Congressman of CAs 43rd District, I will oppose such policies. #VoteNavarro2018https://t.co/vO8YUsyPp3 pic.twitter.com/k7ef0H20if  Omar Navarro (@RealOmarNavarro) December 11, 2017 Facebook

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Sen. Tony Mendoza refuses to take a leave of absence amid harassment probe By Patrick McGreevy Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), left, talks earlier this year about a pending bill with Sen. Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado Hills). (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Defying pressure from legislative leadership, state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) refused Thursday to take a leave of absence until an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against him is concluded early next year. Mendoza has denied allegations by former employees that he treated three female aides inappropriately, inviting them to hotel stays and asking one to visit his home to work on her resume. I am very disappointed that certain Senate Rules Committee members are apparently asking me to take a leave of absence or resign before any investigation has even begun and without giving me an opportunity to defend myself, Mendoza said in a statement. This is contrary to the very concept of due process, which is a pillar of our American system of fairness and judicial prudence. These actions bypass any process in a rush to judgment. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) earlier Thursday called on Mendoza to take a leave of absence. Mendoza had previously been stripped of his leadership positions, including chairmanship of the Senates committee on banking and insurance. Mendoza questioned statements urging him to step down, saying they leave him concerned about the fairness of the investigation. He also said he has been disappointed that he has been told he cannot publicly address allegations. I was not appointed to the position I hold, but was elected by the voters in my district, he said. I am grateful to the voters in my district and thank them for their trust and their continued support. The Senate owes them an opportunity to hear the truth. I assure them that I will vigorously defend myself to clear my name. Facebook

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State Senate leader asks Sen. Tony Mendoza to take leave of absence amid sexual harassment investigation By Patrick McGreevy (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State Senate leader Kevin de Leon said Thursday he has strongly suggested that Sen. Tony Mendoza take a leave of absence until the completion of an investigation by outside attorneys into allegations that Mendoza sexually harassed three former aides. Given the severity of the allegations against Senator Mendoza I do not believe he can perform the duties in Sacramento right now while the investigation is being conducted, De Leon told a packed news conference in his Capitol office. I believe Its the right thing to do, its the fair thing to do, to take a leave, he said. The Senate leader also said the outside attorneys have been asked to investigate complaints by former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman that Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles) inappropriately hugged her on multiple occasions in a way that made her uncomfortable, even after she asked him to stop. De Leon also announced the hiring of two law firms to handle the Mendoza and Hertzberg investigations, and all future probes of harassment and abuse involving Senate employees. Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia, did not immediately respond to the request to step aside. De Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles who had been Mendozas roommate before the allegations were made public, said he made the suggestion to Mendoza in a meeting Thursday morning. If Mendoza refuses to take a leave, the Senate has the power to suspend him without pay, but De Leon said that is not currently under discussion. There is an effort underway to force his expulsion in January when the Legislature returns to Sacramento. Former Mendoza employees have claimed that he gave inappropriate attention to a female fellow and intern, inviting one to his home and hotel and giving the other alcohol in a hotel even though she was underage. Another former female aide told the Sacramento Bee that Mendoza invited her to one-on-one dinners and a weekend at Pebble Beach. Mendoza has denied the allegations. The Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and Van Dermyden Maddux law firms have been retained for two years, according to Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), who participated in their selection. Have you experienced sexual harassment in government or politics? Tell us your story   In addition, the state is contracting with Weave, a Sacramento crisis-intervention organization for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, to provide counseling and to establish a hotline for Senate employees who are victims of sexual assault. The hotline number is 1-800-729-1443. America is finally reckoning with entrenched inequities in our personal and professional relationships and in workplaces of every type, De Leon said. Nowhere is this reckoning more important than in the halls of power  our political institutions. Facebook

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Watch live: California Senate leader addresses sexual misconduct at state Capitol Facebook

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California state senator pledges to bring back net neutrality rules just as FCC votes to repeal them By Jazmine Ulloa Demonstrators rally in support of net neutrality outside a Verizon store in New York on Dec. 7. (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) Moments after the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to roll back net neutrality regulations, a state senator pledged to introduce legislation that would preserve open internet protections for consumers in California. Net neutrality is essential to our 21st century democracy, and we need to be sure that people can access websites and information freely and fairly, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said in a statement. If the FCC is going to destroy net neutrality and create a system that favors certain websites just because they can pay more money, California must step in and ensure open internet access. The announcement of the proposal came shortly after the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality in an expected 3-2 party-line vote, with Republicans calling for an end to the utility-like oversight of internet service providers. The Obama-era rules put in February 2015 barred broadband and wireless companies, such at AT&T Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. from selling faster delivery of certain data, slowing speeds for certain video streams and other content, and discriminating against legal material online. Before the vote, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai argued loosening the regulations would allow the online economy to flourish. FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the the two Democrats on the commission, said the rollback would inhibit the openness that has made the U.S. internet the envy of the world. Supporters of net neutrality are expected to file suit to try to halt the repeal plan. Weiners attempt to institute net neutrality rules in California could have challenges. The FCC order states that allowing state and local governments to adopt their own separate requirements, which could impose a heavier burden on companies, could disrupt the balance between state and federal regulations. The preemption of state and local net neutrality measures is something that could be challenged in court. Amid such legal battles state legislation could face heavy lobbying efforts from internet providers arguing against uneven regulations. A bill by Assemblyman Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) was shelved last legislative session over similar disputes. It would have enshrined in state law other FCC regulations that were rolled back this year by President Trump and Congress. The Internet privacy rules limited what broadband providers can do with their customers data. The bills defeat capped a behind-the-scenes battle that pitted telecom companies against state internet service providers and brought other bills to a halt in the state Senate as negotiations unfolded over legislation that would have had national significance. UPDATES 7:57 a.m.: This post was updated with additional information about the potential legal case. LA Times reporter Jim Puzzanghera contributed to this report. Facebook

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L.A. County sheriffs office failed to follow policy for issuing concealed weapon permits, audit says By Patrick McGreevy Handguns are displayed at the Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas in 2016. ( (John Locher / Associated Press)) The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has repeatedly failed to follow its own rules for issuing concealed weapon permits, the state auditor concluded in a report released Thursday. L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell disputed some of the key findings of the audit, saying state officials misinterpreted the policy. The department policy requires applicants to provide convincing evidence of a clear and present danger to life or of great bodily harm to get a license, but the audit found the department issued 24 licenses during the last few years without sufficient evidence. Most of the 197 active licenses in L.A. County as of August went to current or former law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors, the audit found. The lieutenant in charge of reviewing applications told auditors that people in law enforcement satisfy the departments requirements by the nature of their jobs. However, making that decision based solely on the applicants profession both directly contradicts Los Angeless written policy  which specifically states that no position or job classification in itself shall constitute good cause for issuance  and has led the department to treat applicants inequitably based on their occupations, the audit says. McDonnell said the audit identified some legitimate issues, and the department has added a checklist to the application process in order to show requirements have been met. But he disagreed on the reports sweeping conclusion that the department consistently failed to follow its own policies. The LASD policy simply requires that the applicant provide convincing evidence that his or her life or physical safety is threatened, the sheriff said. He said the policy does not require additional documentation of that evidence if sufficient information is provided in the application. Auditors also concluded that Sacramento County issued some licenses without proper documentation and that San Diego Countys renewal process led it to inappropriately renew some licenses. Facebook

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Anti-Issa effort discloses donors: Leo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda, Ted Danson and more By Joshua Stewart A political group that has brought professional political organizers into the campaign against Rep. Darrell Issa has received its most significant contributions to date  from actress Jane Fonda and other celebrities. Fonda gave $100,000 to Flip the 49th! Neighbors in Action, which recently registered as a political committee to get Issa, R-Vista, out of office. Comedian Bill Maher gave $15,000 to the group, a rebuke of a politician who has twice appeared on his talk show. Former California Sen. Barbara Boxer gave $2,500, as did Academy Award recipient Leonardo DiCaprio. Actor Ted Danson gave $1,500. Flip the 49th gave the The San Diego Union-Tribune a list of donors more than a month before its required to disclose them to the Federal Election Commission. Read More Facebook

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California Senate GOP leader: Release Capitol whistleblowers from non-disclosure agreements By Melanie Mason California Senate Republican leader Patricia Bates is wading into the sexual harassment debate that has swept up the Capitol and is calling on her Democratic colleagues to allow whistleblowers to speak out by releasing them from non-disclosure agreements. Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) wrote in a letter to the Democratic legislative leaders  Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount)  that Senate Republicans are calling for the Legislature to allow victims or witnesses who may have signed such agreements to share their experiences publicly. This release from NDAs would empower victims of sexual harassment, create a new atmosphere for resolving sexual harassment or discrimination concerns, increase public awareness and transparency, and ensure that both the Senate and the Assembly fulfill their obligations to the public and their employees for providing a safe and welcoming workplace environment, Bates wrote in the letter, dated Dec. 12. The Republican senator also laid out suggestions to improve the Legislatures handling of sexual harassment complaints, such as jointly convening both houses rules committees  which act as the chambers human resources departments  to have a comprehensive, bicameral and bipartisan review. Bates wrote that the Joint Rules Committee should consider the assigning of an outside entity for assuming responsibility for all issues regarding sexual harassment. She said the California Highway Patrol or an inspector general could serve that function. Bates is currently serving on a panel designated by the Senate Rules Committee to select an outside law firm to investigate sexual harassment complaints. De Leon, in a statement, said he agreed with Bates that sexual harassment is a bipartisan, bicameral problem that requires bipartisan, bicameral solutions. Many of these recommendations we are already pursuing and evaluating in some form and we look forward to working in collaboration with Senator Bates  as we did with the independent selection panel  on additional reforms in the weeks to come, De Leon said. With regard to non-disclosure agreements, De Leon spokesman Jonathan Underland said the Senate is discussing with attorneys and anti-harassment experts about what options are available without violating the privacy rights of past victims. John Casey, a spokesman for Rendon, said the Assembly does not ask for NDAs in settlement agreements. The Speaker agrees with both the Legislative Womens Caucus and the Rules Committee chair that any sexual harassment policy should be both bicameral and bipartisan, Casey said. Facebook

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California plans to send out licenses for pot sales this month  but they wont be effective until Jan. 1 By Patrick McGreevy Patrons shop at Bud and Bloom, a Santa Ana marijuana dispensary, last year. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) California officials said Wednesday they plan to use email before the new year to send out some licenses to sell marijuana to speed up the transition to a regulated market. The licenses will not go into effect until Jan. 1. Proposition 64, which legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use, required the state to begin issuing licenses by Jan. 1. Because that date is a state holiday, the bureau originally planned to begin sending them out on Jan. 2. That has changed. Much of the date discussion  Jan. 1 versus Jan. 2  was based on whether or not wed be able to be open on a state holiday, said Alex Traverso, a bureau spokesman. The solution to that issue was to issue licenses with an effective date of Jan. 1 since licenses will be issued electronically. That eliminates the need to have the office open on Jan. 1. He said that, as of Wednesday, the bureau has not yet sent out any emails with licenses approved to begin operating Jan. 1. Facebook

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Californias budget director makes last ditch effort to urge GOP members to vote against tax plan By Sarah D. Wire House Republicans hold a news conference after the House passed the GOP tax bill. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) As closed-door negotiations over the final tax bill come to an end, the head of the California Department of Finance is making a last-ditch effort to convince Republicans in the states congressional delegation to vote against the plan. In a letter to the entire delegation Wednesday, Finance Department Director Michael Cohen detailed 10 issues in the current tax proposals about which the state is worried. Some of Cohens concerns may be addressed in the deal that House and Senate leaders said they reached Wednesday morning. Details of the agreement are not yet public. Cohens concerns range from potentially billions less in federal funding available to California to offset the $1.4 trillion the plan is expected to add to the federal deficit, to the environmental effect of ending green energy tax credits. Californias 39 Democratic representatives are expected to oppose the final tax bill, which could come before both chambers of Congress by early next week. Three California Republicans  Reps. Darrell Issa of Vista, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Tom McClintock of Elk Grove  voted against the original House version, and several other California Republicans have indicated they might be willing to vote against the final plan. Cohen specifically pointed to issues that have been raised by the uncertain House members, including the proposal to lower the cap on the mortgage interest deduction, the plan to limit state and local tax deductions and the elimination of a deduction for uninsured personal property damaged in natural disasters such as fires. Facebook

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California lawmakers have fought sexual misconduct on military bases, farms and college campuses. Will they police their own house? By Jazmine Ulloa Over the past decade, California lawmakers have worked to help curb sexual violence in the workplace and other spheres of public life. They have pushed college campuses to keep better track of incident reports, created whistleblower protections for military officers who file claims and established sexual harassment training for farmworkers and janitors. Now, as more than 140 women have come forward in an open letter to denounce a pervasive culture of sexual harassment in the California Legislature, activists and employment lawyers say lawmakers have not held colleagues and staffers to the same standards demanded of those in other fields. Members [of the state Assembly and Senate] are quick at pointing the finger at other folks, said Fiona Ma, a former Democratic assemblywoman from San Francisco who is now running for state treasurer. But they dont want to look inside and fix their own house, air their own dark, dirty laundry. Read More Facebook

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Californias cap-and-trade climate program could generate more than $8 billion by 2027, report says By John Myers Gov. Jerry Brown signs an extension of Californias cap-and-trade program in July. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) Although Californias cap-and-trade program was designed to combat climate change, a new analysis predicts it could also provide significant cash  as much as $8 billion in a decades time  for state and regional programs. The report issued Tuesday by the independent Legislative Analysts Office projects a wide range of revenue generated by the sale of permits for companies to emit greenhouse gases beyond a state-ordered emissions cap. The most recent auction of those emission permits brought in more than $800 million. The analysis warns that annual cap-and-trade revenue beyond 2020 is highly uncertain, and offers a possible range from $2 billion in 2018 to almost $7 billion in 2030  the final year of the program under legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed in July. The estimate of $8.3 billion in 2027 is the high-water mark for any year in the report. Researchers cite a number of factors that make a specific prediction impossible, including future technology that allows industries to cut greenhouse gas emissions easily and thus pass on purchasing emission allowances. While it is clear that there will be additional revenues to the state beyond 2020, the amount that will be generated annually is highly uncertain, the report reads. Money collected from the sale of pollution permits is required to be spent on programs combating climate change. A portion of the money also is earmarked for the states high-speed rail program. The report urges lawmakers to provide oversight for future decisions made by the California Air Resources Board, the agency that has taken the lead on climate change efforts. In particular, the analysts warn that allowing businesses to stockpile too many permits  ones bought at current low prices  could lead to excessive greenhouse gas emissions in future years, potentially even causing the state to miss its annual benchmark as soon as 2024. Facebook

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Vice President Pence meets with California lawmakers about massive fires By Sarah D. Wire Briefed bipartisan group of California reps on the fed response to #CAwildfires. @POTUS approved an emergency declaration last Friday & @forestservice is providing air & ground assets including 1,000 personnel. Together, we will help the people of CA restore, rebuild & recover. pic.twitter.com/zn7QdbCZOQ  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) December 12, 2017 A handful of California representatives discussed the federal response to their states wildfires Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence. Attending the West Wing meeting were House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) and Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village), Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) and Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara). It was a very bipartisan-spirited meeting. He clearly understood the significance of the fires and the impacts, Brownley said after the meeting. She said Pence offered federal assistance and recognized that recovery was going to be very important and that we want to work together to make sure that we can get the resources needed. President Trump signed an emergency declaration for the Southern California fires last week. Pence visited California this fall to view fire damage in Northern California. He stayed engaged and specifically wanted to make sure that FEMA and the other organizations were continuing to meet or exceed all expectations, Issa said after the meeting. We mostly thanked him for the fact that hes taken a personal interest and his team has been at the heart of the domestic coordination. There was no discussion about reinstating a federal tax deduction for uninsured damage repairs that would end up in the House and Senate tax bills, Brownley said. If you cant deduct uninsured property loss, its devastating. It would be devastating, Brownley said. Facebook

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We must talk about the health aspects of climate change, Schwarzenegger says in Paris By Kim Willsher (Thibault Camus / Associated Press) He showed up at Paris City Hall on Monday on a green bicycle and wearing a green tie to talk climate change with the mayor. But Arnold Schwarzenegger almost didnt make the trip from Los Angeles. One of the wildfires scorching Southern California was threatening his home. Luckily we have extraordinary firefighters, he told a group of officials and journalists. The actor and former governor of California was speaking in Paris as the founder of R20, a nonprofit based in Geneva that aims to help regional, state and local governments reduce their carbon emissions by developing clean energy sources. Read More Facebook

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A special recall election for state Sen. Josh Newman would cost a lot more than waiting for the June primary, state says By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) faces a recall campaign (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) State finance officials said Monday it would cost about $2.67 million for a special election on the recall of state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), but only $931,000 to put his potential recall on the regular June primary ballot, which will also feature races for governor and congressional seats. The savings  and the time it took to complete the financial assessment  could give ammunition to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown to put the recall measure on the primary ballot, possibly improving Newmans chance of staying in office. The higher turnout expected in the primary might benefit Newman as he tries to fend off the Republican recall drive. The financial analysis was a new requirement of a law approved this year by the Democrat-controlled Legislature that has slowed the Newman recall. Brown and legislators now have 30 days to review the election cost report. The deadline for calling a special election was last week, 180 days before the June 5 primary, although state officials have been known to extend such deadlines. In this case, that is unlikely. Carl Demaio, a former San Diego City councilman who is leading the Republican-funded recall, denounced the lengthy new process Monday, but said it will not save Newmans political career. This is about a shameful tactic by Sacramento politicians to keep politicians who break public trust and engage in misconduct in office for as long as possible, he said. Republicans launched the recall after Newman voted with the majority of le
The Supreme Court is set to decide whether corporate whistleblowers are protected from being fired if they disclose wrongdoing to company officials rather than to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

At issue in the case to be argued Tuesday is the scope of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, which aimed to encourage whistleblowers and prevent the kind of retaliation seen against those who tried to sound an alarm at Lehman Bros. and other firms that collapsed during the Great Recession.

But it is unclear that the law does as much as its sponsors and supporters assumed. It faces a stiff challenge based on textualism, the approach that has won favor with most of the justices, and none more so than new Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. He has repeatedly declared his devotion to deciding cases based on the text of the law, not its broader purpose.

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Although the 2010 law clearly says companies may be sued if they discharge [or] demote employees for disclosing wrongdoing, it separately defines a whistle-blower as an individual who provides information  to the commission.

The question is now whether that narrow definition excludes those who step forward to expose potential frauds by reporting them internally, rather to the SEC.

And if a company quickly fires such an employee  before a report is made to the SEC  is the whistleblower left unprotected by the Dodd-Frank law?

Gorsuch gave the keynote address this month at the conservative Federalist Societys annual meeting and credited the late Justice Antonin Scalia with winning over most of the justices to the view that they should focus narrowly on the words of the law.

Textualism has triumphed, Gorsuch proclaimed, and it is not going anywhere on my watch.... The duty of a judge is to say what the law is, not what it should be.

The case  Digital Realty Trust vs. Somers  highlights the clash between two ways of interpreting a federal law.

Three years ago, Paul Somers was a vice president and portfolio manager working in Singapore for a real estate trust based in San Francisco. He said the business in Asia was booming, but he became concerned that his supervisor was cutting corners, including hiding a $7-million cost overrun on a project in Hong Kong.

He decided to report his concerns to the companys top executives in San Francisco. I didnt want to go to the SEC. I loved my company and my job, and I wanted to resolve this discreetly inside the company, he said in an interview. The companys code of conduct also required employees to report suspected wrongdoing within the company, he said.

But a few weeks after he sent his memo, Somers was told he had been terminated. It was a strange situation, and I never got to the bottom of it, he said.

He filed a wrongful termination suit in federal court in San Francisco, alleging he had been fired in retaliation for disclosing wrongdoing in violation of the Dodd-Frank Act. He relied on one provision that broadly protects employees in making disclosures of potential violations of any other law, rule or regulation enforced by the SEC.

The law authorizes double back pay for employees who are fired in retaliation for disclosing violations.

But lawyers for Digital Realty said his suit should be dismissed because he did not qualify as a protected whistle-blower, citing the strict definition.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen denied the motion. He said it was a close case because different provisions of the law were in conflict, but he deferred to the SEC, which said internal whistle-blowers were protected.

Digital Realty appealed, but in March, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, cleared the suit to proceed. Judge Mary Schroeder pointed to the provision that broadly protected employees who disclose violations. In view of that language, and the overall operation of the statute, we conclude that the SEC regulation correctly reflects congressional intent to provide protection for those who make internal disclosures as well as to those who make disclosures to the SEC.

Lawyers for Digital Realty appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing this broad view of the law would open the door for disgruntled employees to rush to federal court.

The company said in a statement it appealed the case to bring clarity to an important legal issue that affects employers and employees. It said employees who lodge internal complaints have some protection against retaliation under Sarbannes-Oxley Act if they file a complaint with the Labor Department within 180 days.

In late June, the justices voted to hear the appeal.

Washington lawyer Kannon Shanmugam, a former clerk for Justice Scalia, represents Digital Realty and emphasized that the Dodd-Frank law as written did not protect insiders who did not disclose violations to the SEC. This case turns on a principle of statutory interpretation so self-evident it hardly needs stating: When a statute includes an express definition of a term, courts and agencies may not invent a different definition, he said.

The Trump administrations Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), co-author of the whistle-blower provisions, filed briefs on Somers side, arguing the 2010 law was intended to broadly protect company insiders who disclose wrongdoing.

Legal experts say a win for Digital Realty may hurt both whistle-blowers and their companies.

The vast majority of whistle-blowers report internally. If you can fire people for going to their supervisor or their auditors or to the board of directors, it would have a devastating impact, said Stephen Kohn, a Washington lawyer and executive director of the National Whistleblower Center.

Claire Sylvia, a San Francisco lawyer who represents whistle-blowers, said companies in 2010 urged the SEC to encourage internal disclosures. The broader implication of this case is that if people can be fired for reporting internally, they would have an incentive to go directly to the SEC, she said. Thats the opposite of what was discussed in 2010.

Michael Celio, a corporate defense lawyer in San Francisco, said the SEC is likely to lose in the Supreme Court, but he too is wary about the outcome.

Given Justice Gorsuchs position, they may say the SEC got this wrong, he said. But the danger is this would give people an incentive to go the SEC rather than to someone in their company. Thats the bad news. Every company wants people to report internally so they can fix things quickly.

Major questions before the Supreme Court this fall 

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

UPDATES:

Nov. 28, 8 a.m.: This article was updated with a statement from Digital Realty.

This article was originally published Nov. 27 at 3 a.m.
The Senate Republican plan to use tax legislation to repeal the federal requirement that Americans have health coverage threatens to derail insurance markets in conservative, rural swaths of the country, according to a Los Angeles Times data analysis.

That could leave consumers in these regions  including most or all of Alaska, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming, as well as parts of many other states  with either no options for coverage or health plans that are prohibitively expensive.

There are 454 counties nationwide with only one health insurer on the marketplace in 2018 and where the cheapest plan available to a 40-year-old consumer costs at least $500 a month. Markets in these places risk collapsing if Congress scraps the individual insurance mandate.

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Source: Kaiser Family Foundation (Priya Krishnakumar / L.A. Times Graphics )

Its very, very concerning to us, said Denise Burke, healthcare analyst at the Department of Insurance in Wyoming, where the cheapest plan for a 40-year-old consumer in most of the state will cost $586 a month next year.

The precise nationwide impact of the Senate GOP tax plan, which would eliminate the Affordable Care Acts unpopular mandate penalty, is unclear, as many forces affect how much insurance costs and where insurers sell plans.

But the legislation is widely expected to cause insurers to raise prices or exit markets out of fear that fewer healthy people will buy plans if there is no longer a penalty for going without coverage.

The risk is greatest in places where health insurance is already very expensive and where there are few insurers.

For example, there are 454 counties where there will be only one insurer selling marketplace plans in 2018 and where the cheapest plan for 40-year-old consumer will cost more than $500 a month, according to the Times analysis, which is based on data from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Repealing the individual mandate will affect insurance markets everywhere, said Larry Levitt, a health insurance expert at the foundation. But markets where there is already little choice and high premiums are especially vulnerable. Rural areas could be especially hard hit.

Eighty-six percent of these 454 at-risk counties have fewer than 50,000 residents, census data show. Healthcare costs are often higher in rural areas, as there are fewer medical providers and populations tend to be older and sicker.

These counties also overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump last year, with 9 out of 10 backing the Republican presidential ticket, according to election data.

In addition to Alaska, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming, the counties are clustered in southwestern Arizona, western Colorado, southern Mississippi, central North Carolina, as well as parts of Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia.

There are also two counties in California  Monterey and San Benito  and two in Florida  Hardee and Monroe  with only one choice of insurer and extremely high premiums.

There are many more counties  including most in the southeastern United States  where there is only one insurer, though premiums are not quite as high.

Republican congressional leaders argue that eliminating the mandate penalty, which is technically a tax, will save many Americans money, especially coupled with other cuts promised in the GOP tax legislation.

The individual mandate isnt just any tax. Its a terribly regressive tax that imposes harsh burdens on low- and middle-income taxpayers, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said as his panel debated the tax bill this month.

Zeroing it out means we have a chance to provide greater tax relief to middle-class families, through both reduced penalties and lower overall rates.

The insurance mandate  which subjects Americans who dont have coverage to an annual penalty of $695 or 2.5% of income, whichever is larger  has always been the most unpopular part of the 2010 healthcare law, often called Obamacare.

But most experts agree that eliminating the mandate without some other mechanism to encourage young, healthy Americans to get coverage could have disastrous consequences for the individual insurance market, which serves consumers who dont get coverage through an employer or a government plan such as Medicare or Medicaid.

Independent analyses by the American Academy of Actuaries, the Congressional Budget Office and others suggest that without some kind of penalty, many Americans would wait to get insurance until they are sick. That would push up premiums, driving away more consumers and causing what is known as a death spiral.

Several states, including Washington, experienced just this kind of market collapse when they tried guaranteeing their residents coverage without any kind of requirement that all people  including the young and healthy  get coverage.

Its kind of insurance 101, said Jim Havens, who oversees individual market sales for Premera Blue Cross, a leading insurer in Washington state. Premera will be the only insurer on Alaskas marketplace next year.

If you only have people who need care the most, insurance becomes really expensive really fast, Havens said. A mandate is fundamentally so important to make insurance affordable.

Virtually every major physician group, hospital association and patient advocate group has called on congressional Republicans not to scrap the mandate.

Repealing the individual mandate without otherwise increasing access to adequate, affordable health insurance is a step backwards for individuals and families, the American Heart Assn., the American Lung Assn., the March of Dimes, Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society and 11 other patient groups warned in a letter to Congress.

Access and affordability are already a challenge in many parts of the country, as insurers have struggled to adjust to new rules imposed by the health law, including requirements that health plans cover sick consumers and offer a basic set of health benefits.

And though many Americans who qualify for financial aid through the healthcare law have been cushioned from high premiums, consumers who earn too much to get insurance subsidies face eye-popping bills.

The health law provides premium assistance to people with annual incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, or between $12,060 and $48,240.

There were signs that markets were stabilizing in many parts of the country until this years GOP push to repeal the law, which included moves by the Trump administration to cut enrollment efforts and stop a separate monthly payment to insurers, used to lower the cost of deductibles and co-payments for low-income consumers.

Those steps prompted many insurers to leave markets or dramatically raise premiums for 2018.

All of that is driving the markets crazy, said Barbara Richardson, insurance commissioner in Nevada, where 11 of the states 17 counties are among the 454 nationally with just one insurer and extremely high premiums. Any time you shake up the market  you are going to have a rise in prices.

Richardson, who serves a Republican governor, said regulators are particularly concerned about those state residents who dont qualify for government subsidies. The cheapest plan available next year to a 40-year-old consumer will cost at least $543 a month in those 11 Nevada counties.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, the only insurer selling plans on that states marketplace, raised its rates by 48% on average in 2018, in part to reflect uncertainty about events in Congress.

Wendy Curran, vice president of the Wyoming health plan, said the insurer, a locally run nonprofit, is committed to remaining in the market. We consider ourselves part of the fabric of the state, she said.

But Curran acknowledged that coverage is increasingly out of reach for state residents who dont qualify for government aid.

By anyones standards, these prices are very high, she said.

Obamacare 101: A primer on key issues in the debate over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. 

noam.levey@latimes.com

@noamlevey

ALSO
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
Wait  did the president really say, Mission Accomplished? By Marc Olson Some are recalling the last time a president declared Mission accomplished, in May 2003 when George W. Bush was talking about Iraq. (Stephen Jaffe / AFP/Getty Images) President Trump on Saturday morning thanked his allies in a tweet that declared the airstrikes on Syria perfectly executed, but he might have wished hed stopped there. Instead, he ended his message with the phrase, Mission Accomplished! Thats a line that might have a previous president shaking his head. On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq under a Mission Accomplished banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That war, which began in March 2003, grew into a prolonged conflict that didnt end until 2011. In 2008, the White House said it had paid a price for the backdrop. A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018 Facebook

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Auditor says Pentagon is censoring key data on the war in Afghanistan By Shashank Bengali The Pentagon is blocking the release of data showing how much of Afghanistans territory lies outside government control, censoring a key metric used to gauge progress in the 16-year war, a watchdog agency said Tuesday. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, an auditing agency established by Congress, said in its latest report that the Pentagon instructed it not to release unclassified data on how many districts and people are controlled or influenced by insurgent groups. This is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked unclassified to the American taxpayer, the head of the agency, John F. Sopko, wrote in a letter. Sopko also said the U.S.-led military coalition, for the first time since 2009, classified information about the size and attrition rates of the Afghan security forces, important indicators of progress in building up army and police forces on which the U.S. already has spent $70 billion since 2002. The decision to withhold more information from congressional oversight and the public comes amid growing violence in Afghanistan and an intensifying combat mission involving a greater number of American troops. Following a series of bombings in Kabul that left at least 136 people dead in 10 days, President Trump signaled on Monday that he was focused on trying to win the conflict militarily, saying, We dont want to talk with the Taliban. But data released by SIGAR since 2015 have shown how the insurgents have gained ground against Afghan security forces. In its previous quarterly report, the watchdog said that only 57% of Afghanistans 407 districts were under Afghan government control or influence as of August 2017, the lowest level of control since it began tracking the statistic in December 2015. The steady decline in government control should cause even more concern about its disappearance from public disclosure and discussion, Sopko wrote. The watchdog also accused the Pentagon of overstating the impact of its efforts to combat drug cultivation and trafficking, among the Talibans main sources of revenue. The Pentagon touted airstrikes that destroyed 25 drug labs in November and December, saying it eliminated nearly $100 million of Taliban revenue. The labs being destroyed are cheap and easy to replace, SIGAR said. According to some estimates, they only take three or four days to replace. Facebook

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Women journalists shunted to rear for Pences visit to Western Wall By Noga Tarnopolsky The view from the womens section. (Noga Tarnopolsky / Los Angeles Times) Vice-President Mike Pences 48-hour visit to Israel stumbled into a public storm Tuesday when female reporters covering his final stop at Jerusalems Western Wall were penned behind four rows of their male colleagues. White House officials told stunned journalists that the arrangement emanated from a request made by the Western Wall rabbi, Shmuel Rabinowitz, and followed Western Wall rules. Some women journalists said they could not recall such treatment in the past. In a statement to Israels Channel 10 news, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said it was exactly as it was during the visit of the U.S. president to the Western Wall last May. Later in the day, in a statement to the newspaper Haaretz, the foundation blamed the United States embassy in Tel Aviv and Israeli security officials for the segregation, and announced they would reexamine the way they handle such events. Women who covered previous VIP visits said the Pence arrangements were significantly more onerous than previous visits, when male and female journalists were separated but not offered substantially different work conditions. LIVE coverage of our male colleagues granted access to cover VP at Western Wall as we are penned into #PenceFence pic.twitter.com/k3svkxfQsa  Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) January 23, 2018 The arrangement reflected procedures at the Western Wall, Judaisms holiest site, where on regular days, men have access to two thirds of the area available for prayer. Tal Schneider, the diplomatic analyst for Globes, a financial newspaper, protested that the separation of men and women may be valid for the requirements of Orthodox prayer, but no one is praying here. We are here to work. I dont appreciate being restricted in my ability to work because I am a woman, she said. The discriminatory attitude towards women is infuriating and is unbefitting of a modern country. Yael Freidson, the Jerusalem affairs correspondent for Yediot Ahronot, Israels widest circulation newspaper, said she worried that her editors could choose male colleagues for the next assignment, knowing they would have better access. Before Pence arrived, journalists were herded onto a specially constructed platform in the middle of the Western Walls esplanade, with women guided to the right behind a white fence, and men, many carrying cameras, directed to the left, where they had more than double the space. Towards the end of the vice presidents 10-minute visit, male journalists were permitted into the VIP tent where he received a gift from Rabinowitz, while the women remained in their enclosure. None of the men publicly protested the treatment of their female colleagues. Israels Association of Women Journalists filed a formal complaint with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, herself a woman. Facebook

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Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, after his pardon from Trump, says hell run for Senate in Arizona By Kurtis Lee (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press) Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who last year was pardoned by President Trump in a case stemming from his enforcement tactics aimed at immigrants, announced Tuesday he will run for the open Senate seat in his home state. I am running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Arizona, for one unwavering reason: to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again, Arpaio, 85, said on Twitter. Hell enter a Republican primary for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. Last summer, Trump pardoned Arpaio, who was convicted in July of criminal contempt for violating a federal court order to stop racially profiling Latinos. It was Arpaios roughly quarter-century as sheriff that gave him a national reputation for his tough treatment of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Repeated court rulings against his office for civil rights violations cost local taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. In the early 1990s, Arpaio directed construction of a tent city for immigration detainees, a measure he said was intended both to alleviate overcrowding and to underscore his aggressive enforcement measures. But it was open to the burning Arizona sun, and drew widespread criticism. After Trump entered the presidential race in July 2015, Arpaio invited him to Phoenix to talk about a crackdown on illegal immigration. He endorsed Trump just before the first votes in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 and frequently spoke out on behalf of Trumps campaign. Facebook

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President Trump ends controversial voter fraud commission By Kurtis Lee President Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday ending the voter fraud commission he launched last year as the panel faces a flurry of lawsuits and criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump signed the order disbanding the commission rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, created by executive order in May with the stated goal of restoring confidence and integrity in the electoral process, has faced a barrage of lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns, as the commission sought personal data on voters across the country. Read More Facebook

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Congress returns to work with slimmer GOP majority to accomplish Trumps agenda By Lisa Mascaro Congress returns to work this week with unfinished business on spending, immigration and other crucial issues, but with an even narrower GOP majority that will make it tougher to move on President Trumps agenda. The House and Senate will convene Wednesday, swearing in the newly elected Democratic senator from Alabama, Doug Jones, and Minnesotas Tina Smith to replace a fellow Democrat, Sen. Al Franken, who is resigning as the latest high-profile public figure sidelined by allegations of sexual misconduct. The change gives Republicans only a one-seat margin in the Senate. Trump, fresh off passage of the GOP tax cuts bill, is pushing lawmakers to pivot quickly on his new year priorities of infrastructure investment and immigration, as well as his foreign policy agenda. But another legislative victory seems far off. Republicans have struggled to hold their majority together and Congress first must tackle critical stalled agenda items that leaders punted to 2018. Read More Facebook

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Trump threatens to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinians By Tracy Wilkinson President Trump on Tuesday angrily threatened to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinians as punishment for what he called their failure to show appreciation or respect to the United States. Writing on Twitter, the president compared the Palestinians to Pakistan, a nuclear-armed ally that abruptly drew his ire this week and a similar threat to drastically curtail aid. He accused the Palestinians of recalcitrance in what he described as their refusal to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. Palestinian officials have said they can no longer use Washington as a broker to restart peace talks with Israel following Trumps Dec. 6 decision to overturn decades of U.S. policy and recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and ultimately to move the U.S. Embassy there. The Palestinians also claim part of Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual independent state. Until now, the United States and most of the world agreed the citys political status was a matter to settle in final peace talks. The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned any effort to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the Palestinian leadership said it would not meet with Vice President Mike Pence, who had planned a trip to the region. That trip is on hold. [W]e pay the Palestinians HUNDRED [sic] OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect, Trump wrote on Twitter. [W]ith the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them? In response to Trumps tweet, Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, issued a statement saying: Palestinian rights are not for sale. By recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as Israels capital Donald Trump has not only violated international law, but he has also singlehandedly destroyed the very foundations of peace and condoned Israels illegal annexation of the city. We will not be blackmailed, she said. President Trump has sabotaged our search for peace, freedom and justice. Now he dares to blame the Palestinians for the consequences of his own irresponsible actions! The United States does not pay large amounts of money directly to the Palestinian Authority, the government that rules over parts of the Palestinian West Bank. Instead, most money goes to the U.N., refugee or aid agencies and even Israel to pay for roads, welfare, schools, security and other Palestinian projects. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said Tuesday that the administration was planning to cut off one of those organizations, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, until the Palestinians return to the negotiating table. UNRWA, which receives around $300 million annually from the U.S., for years has been the lifeline to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It was not clear if Haley was threatening to cut all U.S. support for the agency. Special correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report. Facebook

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The White House stops short of calling for government overthrow in Iran By Brian Bennett President Trump wants Iran to give its citizens basic human rights and stop being a state sponsor of terror, his top spokeswoman said, but the White House stopped short of calling for a change of government in Tehran. If they want to do that through current leadership, if thats possible, OK, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Sanders praised the organic popular uprising, which she said the widespread protests in Iran represented. The protests grew out of years of years of mismanagement, corruption, and foreign adventurism have eroded the Iranian peoples trust in their leaders, she said. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called Irans government brutal and corrupt and wrote in a tweet: The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching! Trump also blamed President Obama for foolishly giving Iran money that he said went to fund terrorism. The money he referred to were funds belonging to Iran that had been frozen by the U.S. and were released as part of the deal in 2015, which blocked Irans development of nuclear weapons. 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 Facebook

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Retirement of Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch clears the way for a Mitt Romney revival By David Lauter The retirement of Utahs senior senator, Orrin G. Hatch, opens the way for a widely expected Senate bid by Mitt Romney, the Republicans 2012 presidential nominee and a frequent critic of President Trump. Although Romney previously served for two terms as governor of Massachusetts (and was raised in Michigan, where his father was governor and his mother ran for the Senate), he comes from a prominent Mormon family with strong ties to Utah. He also served as chief executive of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Hes viewed as a strong candidate for the Senate seat. Romneys criticisms of Trump, however, could prompt a challenge in a Republican primary. Trump was widely reported to have tried to convince Hatch to run for a seventh term, in part to head off a Romney candidacy. Last month, Romney and Trump were on opposite sides of one of the biggest political fights of the fall  the battle over the Senate seat from Alabama. The president strongly supported Roy Moore, the Republican candidate who had been accused of sexual misconduct by several women. Romney called Moore a stain on the GOP. Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) December 4, 2017 On Tuesday, Romney tweeted praise for Hatch, but did not immediately reveal his own plans. I join the people of Utah in thanking my friend, Senator Orrin Hatch for his more than forty years of service to our great state and nation. Read my full statement: https://t.co/YwjUpjez5y  Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) January 2, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. calls on Iran to unblock social media sites amid protests By The Associated Press The Trump administration is calling on Irans government to stop blocking Instagram and other popular social media sites as Iranians are demonstrating in the streets. Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein says the U.S. wants Iran to open these sites. He says Instagram, Telegram and other platforms are legitimate avenues for communication. The United States is encouraging Iranians to use virtual private networks, known as VPNs. Those services create encrypted links between computers and can be used to access blocked websites. Goldstein says the U.S. is still communicating with Iranians in Persian through State Department accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. He says the U.S. wants to encourage the protesters to continue to fight for whats right. Goldstein says the U.S. has an obligation not to stand by. Read More Facebook

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Trump blasts Democrats in advance of immigration meeting By Brian Bennett The day before a meeting of administration officials and congressional leaders on outstanding legislative business, President Trump accused Democrats of doing nothing to hammer out an immigration deal to protect from deportation people brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA  just interested in politics, Trump wrote in a Tweet on Tuesday morning, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by its acronym. 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 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer along with the Republican leaders, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are scheduled to meet on Wednesday at the Capitol with Trumps legislative director, Marc Short, and budget director, Mick Mulvaney. The White House on Tuesday said the meeting is to discuss separate spending caps on military and domestic programs. Yet the Democrats insist the discussion also must include a variety of legislative issues that Trump and Congress punted into the new year  on immigration, the budget, healthcare and more. That stance reflects Democrats leverage: Republicans need Democratic votes to pass a government-funding bill and avert a federal shutdown when the current funding expires Jan. 19. Democrats especially want separate legislation replacing the Obama-era DACA program; Trump in September ordered a phase-out of the program, beginning March 6, and called on Congress to act before then on an alternative way to address the plight of the group. However, Trump has demanded that any alternative must be part of a package including both money for a border wall and immigration limits. Democrats are opposed. Facebook

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Pakistan hits back after Trump accuses its leaders of lies and deceit By Aoun Sahi Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies and deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. 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, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. 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. Read More Facebook

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Trump again cheers on Iran protests 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 The presidents earlier hailing of the protests drew condemnation from Irans government. A Foreign Ministry spokesman called his comments deceitful and opportunistic. Following an overnight report of the first two fatalities stemming from the protests, Trump raised some eyebrows by expressing concern over human rights violations as authorities move to crack down on the demonstrations. During his first year in office, the president has shown scant inclination to press foreign governments to respect the fundamental rights of their citizens. The USA is watching closely for human rights violations! Trump said in his tweet Sunday. Some domestic critics have pointed to the presidents inclusion of Iranian nationals in his travel ban, suggesting he was more interested in bashing the Tehran government than in supporting freedom of speech in Iran. Even some of the presidents allies said that supporting the protesters on social media did not amount to making policy. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he had urged Trump to give a national address laying out his Iran strategy. President Trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the Iranian people, Graham said on CBS Face the Nation. But you just cant tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. Facebook

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Australian diplomats tip a factor in FBIs Russia inquiry By Associated Press Australian High Commissioner Alexander Downer. (Alastair Grant / Associated Press) An Australian diplomats tip appears to have helped persuade the FBI to investigate Russian meddling in the U.S. election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, the New York Times reported Saturday. Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, during a meeting in London in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of emails that would embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the report said. Downer, a former foreign minister, is Australias top diplomat in Britain. Australia passed the information on to the FBI after the Democratic emails were leaked, according to the Times, which cited four current and former U.S. and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians role. The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the FBI to open an investigation in July 2016, the newspaper said. White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, saying in a statement that the administration is continuing to cooperate with the investigation now led by special counsel Robert Mueller to help complete their inquiry expeditiously. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is a cooperating witness. Court documents unsealed two months ago show he met in April 2016 with Joseph Mifsud, a professor in London who told him about Russias cache of emails. This was before the Democratic National Committee became aware of the scope of the intrusion into its email systems by hackers later linked to the Russian government. The Times said Papadopoulos shared this information with Downer, but it was unclear whether he also shared it with anyone in the Trump campaign. Facebook

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Trump offers fresh support for protesters in Iran as demonstrations continue By Lisa Mascaro Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! pic.twitter.com/kvv1uAqcZ9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017 President Trump again offered support Saturday for anti-government protesters in Iran, where a third day of demonstrations, the largest in years, spilled across the country amid fears of a crackdown. Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump took a break from playing golf near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to tweet clips from his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September when he called for Iranian democratic reforms. Iranian authorities warned of potential violence as the street demonstrations, which began over economic conditions, swelled into frustrations with the theocratic rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump has maintained a hawkish stance toward Iran, sharply criticizing the landmark nuclear disarmament accord that Tehran reached with then-President Obama and five other nations in 2015. In October, Trump declined to certify the accord to Congress although the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says Iran is complying with it. Several conservative GOP senators signaled their support for Trumps position and backed the protesters in Iran. Others in Congress did not immediately respond, however, amid conflicting reports over who had organized the demonstrations. Even after the billions in sanctions relief they secured through the nuclear deal, the ayatollahs still cant provide for the basic needs of their own people, said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a Trump ally and opponent of the nuclear deal. We should support the Iranian people who are willing to risk their lives to speak out against it, he added. Trump initially tweeted his support on Friday night. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement at that time as protests spread. There are many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regimes corruption and its squandering of the nations wealth to fund terrorism abroad, Sanders said. The Iranian government should respect their peoples rights, including their right to express themselves. The world is watching. Facebook

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When it comes to U.S.-Russia relations, it takes two to tango, Kremlin says By Sabra Ayres The deteriorating relationship between the United States and Russia is one of the biggest disappointments of 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman told reporters today. Russia would like to rebuild relations between the two adversaries, but it takes two to tango, Dmitry Peskov said today during a conference call with the press. We want and are looking for good mutually beneficial relations based on mutual respect, mutual trust with all countries, primarily with European ones, including the United States, but it is necessary to dance tango, as they say. Peskov blamed the ongoing anti-Russian Russophobia in Washington for playing a major role in blocking the two countries from moving forward in their relationship. U.S. investigations into the Trump presidential campaigns alleged collusion with the Kremlin during the 2016 U.S. election and accusations that the Kremlin tried to interfere with the electoral process continue to cast a dark shadow over the relationship, he said. Peskov told reporters that Moscow was perplexed by the investigations. The Kremlin has continued to deny having any involvement with the Trump campaign or doing anything to interfere with the American election. This is definitely a U.S. domestic affair, but in this case it naturally hurts our bilateral relations, which is regrettable, Peskov said. Relations between the U.S. and Russia have been categorized as the worst theyve been since the end of the Cold War. This year, Washington and Moscow have engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat in which both sides have been forced to reduce diplomatic staff, embassy properties have been repossessed by the hosting countries and visa services have been interrupted. The U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia shrank from 1,200 personnel, including some Russian local staff, to just over 450 across all its three consulates and embassy in Moscow. In the U.S., Russia was forced to vacate its San Francisco consulate. Moscow has also blamed anti-Russian sentiments on the recent decision by the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian teams from wearing their tricolor uniforms or flags during the upcoming games in South Korea. The international body accused some of the Russian national teams of doping. Facebook

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U.S. and Turkey resume reciprocal issuing of visas but frictions remain By Tracy Wilkinson The United States and Turkey began issuing reciprocal visas again on Thursday, more than two months after normal visa service was suspended in a dispute over the arrest of two U.S. diplomatic staffers in Istanbul  the latest friction between the two nominal allies. The State Department said it was lifting the visa restrictions after it was assured by the Turkish government that U.S. Embassy employees would not be arrested when performing their official duties. But the Turkish Embassy in Washington denied assurances were offered concerning the ongoing judicial processes, and suggested that the arrests were legal and justified. It is inappropriate to misinform the Turkish and American public that such assurances were provided, the embassy said in a statement. The dispute has aggravated the already tense relationship between the United States and Turkey, which is a member of the NATO military alliance. The two countries have clashed over U.S. support for Kurdish rebels in Syria and over Turkeys demands that the U.S. extradite a Turkish cleric who lives in rural Pennsylvania. After a failed coup attempt killed more than 250 people in July 2016, Turkeys autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched a harsh crackdown on his political opponents, arresting or firing tens of thousands of teachers, police, journalists, military officers and others. Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic educator and former political ally, of orchestrating the coup. Gulen, who has lived in a compound in the Pocono Mountains, has denied any involvement. The Justice Department has so far denied Turkeys repeated demands to extradite Gulen. Erdogan raised the issue again at the White House in May, but his visit ended in a public relations disaster when his security guards brutally beat peaceful protesters outside the Turkish ambassadors residence. Two Turkish employees of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul were arrested this fall for alleged ties to the 2016 coup attempt. The U.S. responded by suspending most visa services at its missions in Turkey in October. The Turkish government reciprocated in November. State Department officials said they have repeatedly demanded more information about any formal charges against the two employees. They reiterated on Thursday that serious concerns about the allegations remained. Facebook

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Trump: China caught RED HANDED allowing oil to reach North Korea By Brian Bennett (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) President Trump isnt taking a holiday vacation from Twitter. In one of three tweets early on Thursday from his West Palm Beach golf club, he charged that China was caught RED HANDED allowing oil shipments to reach North Korean ports. Pronouncing himself very disappointed, Trump in effect was acknowledging the failure of his months-long effort to convince China to clamp down further on energy shipments going to the isolated country, which relies heavily on Beijing, as a way to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2017 Trumps tweet came after a South Korean newspaper published what it said were U.S. spy satellite images of Chinese ships selling oil to North Korean ships. The United Nations Security Council, which includes China, has voted repeatedly to restrict fuel shipments to North Korea. Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in November to cut off North Koreas oil supply entirely, the American ambassador to the U.N., Nikki R. Haley, said at the time. It is unclear if Trumps admonishment of China was based on news reports or classified information he received from U.S. intelligence officials. There was no daily intelligence briefing on Trumps public schedule Thursday. He is expected to return to Washington next week after spending the Christmas holiday and New Years Eve at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Facebook

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President Trump again falsely claims hes signed more bills than any president By Brian Bennett President Trump visits a firehouse in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP) After another morning at his Florida golf club, President Trump visited firefighters and paramedics at a West Palm Beach firehouse and praised his own performance as president, including with a false boast. Trump touted his administrations work to roll back government regulations and cut taxes and claimed credit for the stock market hitting record highs. He also said hes signed more bills into law than any other president, which isnt true. We have signed more legislation than anybody, Trump said, standing in front of a rescue vehicle inside the fire station. We have more legislation passed, including  the record was Harry Truman a long time ago, and we broke that record, so we got a lot done, Trump said. An analysis by GovTrack, a website that tracks bills in Congress, shows that Trump has signed the fewest bills into law at this point than any president in more than 60 years, back to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Facebook

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Trump administration urges Russia to reinstate monitors in Ukraine, lower violence By Tracy Wilkinson Sergei Lavrov (AFP/Getty Images) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Russia on Wednesday to reinstate its military personnel at a monitoring station in eastern Ukraine intended to quell escalating bloodshed. In a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Tillerson also urged Russia to lower the level of violence and underscored the Trump administrations concern over increased fighting in Ukraine, the State Department said in a statement. Russia last week withdrew its monitors from the Joint Center on Coordination and Control, which is tasked with verifying a much-violated ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists. Moscow cited what it called restrictions and provocations from Ukrainian authorities that made it impossible for the observers to do their jobs. Washington has accused the pro-Russia forces of being responsible for many of the truce violations. Late last week, the State Department also announced plans to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, a decision that angered Moscow. The State Department statement did not say whether the weapons deal came up in Tillersons conversation with Lavrov. The two also discussed North Korea, its destabilizing nuclear program and the need for a diplomatic solution to achieve a denuclearized Korean peninsula, the statement said. Russia has offered to serve as a mediator between Washington and Pyongyang, but direct talks do not seem likely at this point. Facebook

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U.S. sanctions two more North Korean officials for ballistic missile program By Tracy Wilkinson The Trump administration announced sanctions Tuesday against two more North Korean officials for their alleged role in Pyongyangs expanding ballistic missiles program. The Treasury Department is targeting leaders of North Koreas ballistic missile programs, as part of our maximum pressure campaign to isolate [North Korea] and achieve a fully denuclearized Korean Peninsula, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. The nuclear-armed country tested an intercontinental ballistic missile last month that U.S. officials said appeared capable of reaching New York or Washington, a significant milestone in the countrys growing arsenal. The Treasury Department identified the two North Korean officials as Kim Jong Sik, who reportedly is a key figure in the ballistic missile program and led efforts to switch missiles from liquid to solid fuel (which makes them easier to hide before launch), and Ri Pyong Chol, who was reported to be a key official in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The sanctions block banks, companies and individuals from doing any business with the targeted officials. It also allows the U.S. government to freeze any American assets owned by the officials. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to add more sanctions on North Korea, its third round this year. The new measures order North Koreans working abroad to return home within two years, and ban nearly 90% of refined petroleum exports to the country. In a statement published Sunday by North Koreas state-run KCNA news agency, the foreign ministry denounced the new U.N. sanctions as an act of war. We define this sanctions resolution rigged up by the US and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region and categorically reject the resolution, it said. Facebook

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Salt Lake Tribune calls on Sen. Orrin Hatch to not seek reelection in scathing editorial Perhaps the most significant move of Hatchs career is the one that should, if there is any justice, end it. The last time the senator was up for reelection, in 2012, he promised that it would be his last campaign. That was enough for many likely successors, of both parties, to stand down, to let the elder statesman have his victory tour and to prepare to run for an open seat in 2018. Clearly, it was a lie. Read the editorial>> Facebook

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Christmas Eve, Trump on Twitter: New attacks on FBI official, decrying Fake News By Laura King President Trump launched a Christmas Eve attack on FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom he accuses of favoritism toward his former opponent, Hillary Clinton, and also returned to a longtime favored theme, excoriating the news media for failing to sufficiently extol his accomplishments. .@FoxNews-FBIs Andrew McCabe, in addition to his wife getting all of this money from M (Clinton Puppet), he was using, allegedly, his FBI Official Email Account to promote her campaign. You obviously cannot do this. These were the people who were investigating Hillary Clinton.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2017 Thank you President TRUMP!! pic.twitter.com/LKdkT0FL99  oregon4TRUMP (@shawgerald4) December 23, 2017 The Fake News refuses to talk about how Big and how Strong our BASE is. They show Fake Polls just like they report Fake News. Despite only negative reporting, we are doing well - nobody is going to beat us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2017 Trump, who is spending the holidays at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, also sent Christmas greetings to deployed military personnel, praising them for success in the fight against terrorism. The early-morning swipe at McCabe followed a flurry of tweets attacking the deputy FBI chief on Saturday. McCabe, who has been a lightning rod for Republican attacks on the FBI, is expected to retire early in the new year. How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wifes campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 Critics say the president and his allies are in the midst of a systematic campaign to denigrate the FBI and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is looking into potential collusion by the Trump campaign in Russias attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election. In a pair of statements on Twitter, Trump again expressed scorn regarding news coverage of his administration. For months, the president has been particularly critical of reports regarding the Russia investigation and more recently has repeatedly complained he does not receive enough credit for a booming stock market. In his video conference message to troops overseas, the president made apparent reference to the fight against the militants of Islamic State, who over the last year have lost most of the territory they previously controlled in Iraq and Syria, including former strongholds in Mosul and Raqqah. Were winning, Trump told military personnel deployed in Qatar, Kuwait, Guantanamo Bay and aboard the guided missile destroyer Sampson. Reporters traveling with the president heard his address, but were ushered from the room before he took questions from the troops. The president often breaks with longtime custom and makes politically charged statements at events in which he addresses military personnel. Facebook

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Trumps Wells Fargo tweet cited in court hearing as reason to remove Mulvaney as CFPB acting chief By Jim Puzzanghera A recent tweet by President Trump about possible penalties against Wells Fargo & Co. was cited during a court hearing Friday as a reason for removing White House official Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The attorney for Leandra English  the bureaus deputy director who has said she is the rightful acting head  said Trumps tweet showed he was trying to exercise improper influence over the independent consumer watchdog. I think that [tweet] shows you this isnt just some hypothetical concern, the attorney, Deepak Gupta, told Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during a nearly two-hour hearing. Read More Facebook

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Trump administration recognizes Honduran presidents reelection By Tracy Wilkinson The Trump administration on Friday formally recognized the incumbent president of Honduras, conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez, as the winner of a bitterly contested presidential election held last month. In a statement, the State Department congratulated Hernandez while also acknowledging widespread irregularities in the Nov. 26 vote and calling for a robust national dialogue to overcome political discord in the Central American country, a close ally of the administration. The Organization of American States, which monitored the election, said it was so flawed that only a new round of voting could establish a fair and transparent outcome. But the U.S. rejected that determination. Uproar over the contest led to demonstrations in Honduras that left numerous civilians dead after state security forces opened fire on the protests. Activists and others voiced criticism Friday of the administrations decision. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a leading Democratic voice on Central American issues, said he was angry and deeply disturbed by the State Department decision. The recent elections in Honduras were deeply flawed, chaotic and marred by numerous irregularities, McGovern said. U.S.-Honduran cooperation on matters such as drug-trafficking, violence and immigration requires a credible, legitimate government that has the support of its people, in Honduras, McGovern said. Hernandezs victory also was controversial because it was the first time a sitting president was allowed to run for re-election, barred until now by the Honduran Constitution. Facebook

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Senate Leader Mitch McConnell says fixing DACA is no emergency until March By Lisa Mascaro Amanda Bayer, left with banner, and Marisol Maqueda, right, join a rally in support of so-called Dreamers outside the White House. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday hes committed to allowing a vote on a bill for so-called Dreamers in January, but sees no rush to resolve the deportation threat posed by President Trumps decision to end a program protecting immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. There isnt that much of an emergency there, he said. There is no emergency until March. Well keep talking about it. Trump called for phasing out by March the Obama-era program that allows the young immigrants, many of them longtime residents, to get two-year deferrals of any deportation threat so they can legally attend school or work. Beneficiaries must be vetted for security purposes. Trump told Congress to come up with a legislative alternative for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Obama created by executive order, to protect those currently eligible. A bipartisan Senate group has been working with the White House, but talks stalled this week amid administration demands for curbs on legal immigration flows in exchange for protecting the DACA recipients. Meanwhile, Dreamers and immigrant advocates stormed the Capitol in recent days pressing for the help promised by Trump and Democratic congressional leaders that failed to materialize in the years final legislation. Advocacy groups say more than 120 immigrants each day are falling out of compliance without DACA renewals, putting them at risk of deportation. The number that is projected to swell to more than 1,000 a day in March. Weve been gridlocked on this issue for years, McConnell said. We want to have a signature. We dont just want to spin our wheels and have nothing to show for it. Facebook

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President Trump signs tax bill By Noah Bierman (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump on Friday morning signed a sweeping tax-cut measure  his first major legislative achievement  before heading off for a Christmas vacation at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla. The president also privately signed a short-term spending bill to fund government operations through Jan. 19. Congress approved it Thursday, after Republican leaders were unable to bridge differences in their own party as well as with Democrats to get agreement on funding for the full fiscal year. The stopgap bill punts fights on immigration and other issues to January. The tax bill, approved earlier this week in Congress in largely party-line votes, slashes corporate tax rates from 35% to 21% and also includes a host of other provisions for individuals, all intended to boost the economy. Critics point to nonpartisan analyses showing that the package, including changes greatly reducing the number of estates subject to taxes, steers the bulk of tax benefits to top earners and the wealthy, including Trump, despite his repeated claims that hell take a hit. Trump signed the bill quietly Friday, but held a public ceremony with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday after the bills passage; he also tweeted about the measure extensively. He is expected to hold another public ceremony after the New Years holiday. Facebook

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Pelosi urges Ryan to prevent Republicans from curtailing Houses Russia probe By Chris Megerian House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin greets House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Friday urging him to ensure the Houses investigation into Russian interference with last years presidential campaign is not cut short. The American people deserve a comprehensive and fair investigation into Russias attacks, wrote Pelosi, of San Francisco, in her letter. Political haste must not cut short valid investigatory threads. The House Intelligence Committee has been probing the issue since March 1, and Democrats have repeatedly warned that Republicans are trying to wrap up its work prematurely. Pelosi said Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, should take urgent action to ensure this investigation can continue. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said Pelosi simply wants to see this investigation go on forever in order to suit her political agenda. Whether it concludes next month, next year, or in three years, she will say it is too soon, Strong said in a statement. She added, The investigation will conclude when the committee has reached a conclusion. The committees work is led by Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Texas). His spokeswoman, Emily Hytha, said he remains committed to conducting this investigation as thoroughly and expeditiously as possible. With more interviews scheduled, the investigation shows signs of extending into next year, Bloomberg reported Friday. BREAKING: Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski have been sent letters requesting they testify to House Intel panel in early January, per @HouseInSession  Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) December 22, 2017 Facebook

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Congress votes to avert government shutdown, but Senate fails to pass disaster aid package By Lisa Mascaro ( (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)) Congress approved a temporary spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, but failed to complete work on an $81-billion disaster aid package to help California, Gulf Coast states and Puerto Rico recover from wildfires and hurricanes, as lawmakers scrambled Thursday to wrap up business before a Christmas break. The stopgap measure continues federal operations for a few more weeks, setting up another deadline for Jan. 19. But it left undone a long list of priorities that members of both parties had hoped to finish this year. Read More Facebook

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Wells Fargo says raises were not linked to tax bill passage  then backtracks By James Rufus Koren Wells Fargo & Co.s move to raise its minimum pay to $15 an hour was part of a long-term plan and not related to the passage of the Republican tax overhaul as the company implied, said a bank spokesman, who later backtracked and stated the hikes were a result of the bills approval. The bank was among several large corporations to publicly announce pay raises or new investments immediately following the final House vote in an apparent public relations offensive to boost the popularity of the tax bill The San Francisco bank had implied the direct linkage to the tax legislation in a news release Wednesday, shortly after Congress passed the tax overhaul, which slashes the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% starting Jan. 1. Read More Facebook

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Obamacare signups beat expectations, despite Trump administrations opposition By Noam N. Levey President Trump with Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Despite Trump administration efforts to discourage people from signing up, the number of people enrolling for Affordable Care Act coverage nearly hit last years level, the government revealed Thursday. Exchange open enrollment for 2018 coverage ended w/ approx 8.8M people enrolling in coverage. Great job to the @CMSGov team for the work you did to make this the smoothest experience for consumers to date. We take pride in providing great customer service.  Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) December 21, 2017 The 8.8 million people who enrolled in the 36 states that use the federal governments healthcare.gov system significantly exceeded most forecasts. The Trump administration stopped most outreach and other efforts this year aimed at getting people to sign up. The president also repeatedly said publicly that Obamacare was dead. Open enrollment continues in California and several other states that run their own healthcare marketplaces. The figures from the federal government indicate that when those states wrap up for the year, the number of people covered by Obamacare will be nearly the same as in 2017. Read More Facebook

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U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly condemns U.S. policy change on Jerusalem despite Trumps threats By Tracy Wilkinson The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted Thursday to condemn President Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite Trumps threats to punish countries that voted against the U.S. position. The resolution passed in an emergency session at U.N. headquarters in New York with 128 in favor, nine opposed and 35 abstentions. The nonbinding resolution demands that Washington rescind its declaration, which included a plan to transfer the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in coming years. The resolution value is mostly symbolic, showing how isolated the U.S. is in the move. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned this week that she would be taking names of countries that opposed the U.S., and Trump on Wednesday suggested he might cut U.S. aid to governments that voted in favor of the resolution. Let them vote against us, Trump said. Well save a lot. We dont care. The U.S. recognition of Jerusalem reversed decades of international consensus on the political status of the divided city. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital in a future independent state. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the U.N. was facing an unprecedented test and that history would remember those who stand by what is right. Facebook

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Democrats defend Robert Mueller, saying Russia investigation must be allowed to continue By Chris Megerian Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) speaking during a committee hearing earlier this year. (Molly Riley / Associated Press) House Democrats said they will fight Republican attempts to discredit and undermine the work of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating whether President Trumps associates helped Russian meddling in last years election. There is an organized effort by Republicans, in concert with Fox News, to spin a false narrative and conjure up outrageous scenarios to accuse special counsel Mueller of being biased, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said. Trump has said he has no plan to fire Mueller, but Democrats are alarmed by escalating criticism of the special counsels work. Why is the president afraid of the facts and the truth? Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said. He added, No matter what the facts are, were satisfied if the investigation is complete. A letter of support signed by 171 Democratic members of Congress will be sent to Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, and oversees his investigation. Rosenstein has defended Mueller in the face of Republican criticisms. Facebook

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U.S. blacklists Myanmar army general who it says oversaw atrocities against Rohingya Muslims By Shashank Bengali The Trump administration on Thursday blacklisted a Myanmar army general who it said oversaw human rights abuses committed by security forces against Rohingya Muslims. Imposing economic sanctions against the general, Maung Maung Soe, was the toughest action the United States has taken in response to a brutal army offensive that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has described as ethnic cleansing. In a statement, the Treasury Department said it had examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soes activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages. The Rohingya are an ethnic and religious minority of about 1 million people in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, also known as Burma. The United Nations says that more than 640,000 Rohingya have fled the country since August, after the army launched clearance operations in response to attacks carried out by a Rohingya insurgent group against security forces. Rohingya refugees in crowded camps in neighboring Bangladesh have described horrific violence by Myanmar forces, including mass rapes, summary executions and children being burned alive. The aid group Doctors Without Borders estimates that 6,700 people were killed in the first month of the operation. Myanmar authorities deny committing atrocities and say that only a few hundred fighters were killed. Maung Maung Soe was chief of the armys Western Command, which carried out the offensive. He was transferred from his position last month, according to news reports. He was one of 13 individuals worldwide who were blacklisted Thursday under a new U.S. law that gives the Treasury Department authority to target officials for human rights abuses and corruption. Others included former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh; Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the late Uzbekistan dictator Islam Karimov; and Artem Chaika, son of Russias prosecutor-general. Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system, said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. The sanctions freeze any assets Maung Maung Soe holds in the United States and bars Americans from doing business with him. It is also a sign of how quickly U.S. relations with Myanmar have soured. Under the Obama administration, the United States forged closer ties with the former military dictatorship and eased economic and political sanctions as the country began implementing democratic reforms. But Myanmar, which does not regard the Rohingya as citizens, has lashed out at the international community over the current crisis. It has jailed journalists, blocked access to affected areas in the western state of Rakhine and this week barred a U.N. human rights investigator from entering the country. Rohingya activists said the U.S. action would not have much effect on a country that survived under economic sanctions for years. It is the whole military institution that has a policy to persecute these people, said Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist and blogger in Germany. According to the U.S.s own definition, the army is carrying out ethnic cleansing. They have a responsibility to protect these people. Sanctions on one person are really not enough. Facebook

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Dreamers will have to wait until next year for Congress long-promised protections By Lisa Mascaro Amanda Bayer, left with banner, and Marisol Maqueda, right, join a rally in support of so-called Dreamers outside the White House. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)) A promised year-end deal to protect the young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation collapsed Wednesday as Republicans in Congress  fresh off passage of their tax plan  prepared to punt nearly all remaining must-do agenda items into the new year. Congressional leaders still hope that before leaving town this week they can pass an $81-billion disaster relief package with recovery funds for California wildfires and Gulf Coast states hit during the devastating hurricane season. But passage even of that relatively popular measure remained in doubt as conservatives balked at the price tag. Rather than finish the year wrapping up the legislative agenda, the GOP majorities in the House and Senate struggled over their next steps. Read More Facebook

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Chants of protest drown out any caroling this holiday season at the Capitol By Lisa Mascaro U.S. Capitol Police arrest a man wearing a Santa Claus hat during a protest against the Republican tax bill. (Alex Edelman / AFP/Getty Image) Outside the U.S. Capitol, the lights on a towering Christmas tree are flipped on each evening, giving the Engelmann spruce a festive twinkle; inside the marble halls, wreaths and garlands decorate doorways and alcoves ahead of the holidays. But the spirit of the season has been punctuated by other sights: a Jumbotron parked across from the Capitol reflecting pool broadcasts images of young immigrants who face deportation; Little Lobbyists, children with complex medical needs, were featured in a recent news conference; protesters filed into the visitor galleries to shout against the Republican tax plan. While its beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Capitol, its also shaping up to be a holiday season of protest. Read More Facebook

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Tax bill simplifies filing for some but complicates it for others  and dont count on that postcard By Jim Puzzanghera A priority of the Republicans tax overhaul was simplification, and they drove home the point this fall with an omnipresent prop: a red-white-and-blue postcard. Were making things so simple that you can do your taxes on a form the size of a postcard, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said last month, pulling one from his jacket pocket as he and Republican leaders unveiled their bill. They gave a couple of the cards to President Trump at a White House meeting a few hours later and flashed them often during news conferences and TV interviews in the coming days. Read More Facebook

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Top U.N. human rights official reportedly wont seek reelection The top United Nations official for human rights, who has frequently criticized the Trump administration, has reportedly decided not to seek a second term, saying his work had become untenable. Zeid Raad Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, notified his staff in an email that was obtained by several news outlets, including Agence France-Presse. Staying when his four-year term is up for renewal at the end of August might involve bending a knee in supplication, AFP quoted Husseins email as saying. Hussein is a Jordanian prince who has criticized, among other things, President Trumps attempts to ban visitors or refugees from six predominantly Muslim countries. The news comes a day before the U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote on a nonbinding resolution condemning the Trump administrations formal declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that went against international consensus. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has warned she will be taking names of those who vote against the United States on Thursday. Trump echoed that sentiment Wednesday, voiced support for Haley and implying to reporters that he would consider cutting off U.S. aid to countries that vote against the U.S. Well, were watching those votes, Trump said. Let them vote against us. Well save a lot. We dont care. On Monday, the United States lost a Security Council vote 14-1 on a binding resolution that would have required Washington to rescind its declaration. Haley then vetoed the resolution. Facebook

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Top Democrat warns Trump not to fire Mueller or interfere with his investigation By Chris Megerian Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, one of the top Democrats involved in the congressional inquiries into Russian interference in last years election, said Wednesday that any attempt by President Trump to interfere with the separate criminal investigation would be a gross abuse of power. Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, delivered his warning from the Senate floor as Republicans escalate their criticism of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team of prosecutors and FBI agents. Some Democrats believe Trump is laying the groundwork to fire Mueller even though the president has publicly denied it. Mueller was appointed in May after Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey. In the United States of America, no one, no one is above the law, not even the president, Warner said. Congress must make clear to the president that firing the special counsel or interfering with his investigation by issuing pardons of essential witnesses is unacceptable and would have immediate and significant consequences. Some Democrats say the White House may try to in effect short-circuit the Mueller investigation by replacing Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who is the only official empowered to fire Mueller. Rosenstein recently told Congress that the special counsel is acting appropriately and that he would not dismiss Mueller without just cause. Facebook

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We have essentially repealed Obamacare, Trump says after tax bill passes By Brian Bennett President Trump at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House. (Chris Kleponis / Getty Images) President Trump is celebrating Republicans passage of the tax overhaul bill as a two-fer: On Wednesday, in addition to tax cuts, he checked off his promise to repeal Obamacare, pointing to a provision in the bill to end the penalty on Americans who dont get health insurance. We have essentially repealed Obamacare, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Other provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act are still in place, and Trump and congressional Republicans failed completely on the replace half of their vow to repeal and replace the program. In Trumps view, however, stripping away the laws individual mandate to get insurance or else pay a tax penalty amounts to repeal of the whole law. Congressional analysts have said that millions of people would lose insurance as a result, either by choice or because they cannot afford it without subsidies, and that premiums would increase for others as younger, healthy people drop coverage. We will come up with something much better, Trump said, adding that block grants to states could be one approach. By his comments, Trump tacitly acknowledged that repeal of the mandate is likely the best he can do following Republicans failure this year to agree on a repeal-and-replace bill. Looking back on his first year, Trump also boasted of his administrations efforts against the Islamic State and increased immigration enforcement. He said he had not given up on funding a border wall or tightening immigration law to limit citizens ability to resettle foreign relatives in the country. He said he would very shortly visit the border with Mexico near San Diego to see wall prototypes that have been built. He didnt answer a reporters shouted question about how he would personally benefit from the tax bill. Facebook

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House gives final OK to GOP tax plan, sending it to Trump By Lisa Mascaro Congress gave final approval to the GOP tax plan Wednesday, 224-201, after the House took an unusual do-over vote to clear up differences with the Senate-passed bill. The $1.5-trillion package now heads to President Trump, who plans to sign it into law. The House had approved the tax bill on Tuesday but was forced to take another vote Wednesday because a couple of provisions in the version it approved were found to be in violation of Senate procedures. Those provisions were dropped before the Senate gave its approval early Wednesday. Critics complained the Republicans rushed to pass the sweeping tax plan to deliver Trump a year-end legislative victory, but supporters shrugged off the problems as minor. The tax plan dramatically cuts corporate rates and provides some individual rate reductions, overhauling the tax code for the first time in 30 years. Facebook

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Trump administration effort to block immigrant from having an abortion fails By David Savage Scott Lloyd is director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) President Trumps lawyers rushed to the Supreme Court and U.S. appeals court in Washington on Monday evening to file emergency appeals seeking to prevent an immigrant in detention, dubbed Jane Roe in court, from having an abortion. That set the stage for a legal showdown on whether the administration can block pregnant minors in custody from choosing to have an abortion. But the legal clash, which the administration has seemed eager to have, fizzled out Tuesday when the governments lawyers admitted the 17-year-old unaccompanied minor in their custody was actually 19. They said they had obtained her birth certificate and realized she was not a minor after all. As a result, Roe, who is 10 weeks pregnant, will no longer be held in a detention center for immigrant minors, and will not be subject to an administration policy that tries to prevent minors in immigration detention from having abortions. Administration lawyers told appeals court judges Tuesday night that Roe was being sent to a facility for adults and likely would be released until her immigration status can be resolved. In a brief order, the D.C. Circuit Court agreed to put the case on hold, but told government attorneys to confirm that she will be permitted to obtain an abortion. The administration had earlier tried to delay another young woman, referred to in court as Jane Poe, from having an abortion, but officials relented on Monday because she was 22 weeks pregnant and nearing the time limit for a legal abortion. Facebook

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Senate panel rejects Trumps pick to lead Export-Import Bank, a leader in the effort to shut it down By Jim Puzzanghera A Senate committee on Tuesday rejected President Trumps nominee to lead the Export-Import Bank, extending the chaos at the embattled agency whose job is to help U.S. companies sell their goods abroad. Two Republicans joined all Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee in voting against former Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) to be the banks president. Garrett had been a vocal critic of the Ex-Im Bank and a leader of a conservative effort that shut the bank down for five months in 2015 by blocking its congressional authorization. He and other bank opponents branded the banks aid as crony capitalism. Read More Facebook

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Congress proposes $81-billion disaster aid package, including funds for California wildfires By Lisa Mascaro Congress is set to consider an $81-billion disaster aid package that includes wildfire recovery money for California and other Western states as well as hurricane relief with a price tag reflecting a year of record-setting natural calamities. The legislation, the text of which was released late Monday, would provide almost twice as much as the $44 billion the White House sought last month to cover relief efforts along the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean. Republican congressional leaders added more money after California lawmakers objected that the administration had failed to include help for areas damaged by wildfires and Democrats protested that the overall amount President Trump asked for was insufficient. Read More Facebook

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White House blames North Korea for worldwide WannaCry cyber attack By Noah Bierman The Royal London Hospital, a victim of the unprecedented global cyberattack in May. (Niklas Hallen / AFP/Getty Images) The White House officially blamed North Korea on Tuesday for the cyberattack in May known as WannaCry that infected hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries, affecting healthcare, financial services and vital infrastructure. Thomas P. Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, noted in a briefing with reporters that the consequences were beyond economic. He warned that North Koreas malicious behavior is growing more egregious. Bossert did not specify what evidence American officials have to blame North Korea, citing security issues, but he cited the countrys prior attacks as revealing hallmarks of how Pyongyang and its network of hackers operates. He said other allied countries had joined the United States in making the determination. The administration did not announce any penalties on the regime, which is already subject to severe sanctions over its nuclear program. They want to hold the entire world at risk, Bossert said of North Koreas rulers, referring to the nations nuclear and missile provocations as well as its alleged cyberattack. Given its isolation and international sanctions, North Korea is desperate for funds. Bossert said the country did not appear to make much money on the ransom attack, as word spread that paying a ransom did not result in getting computers unlocked. Its primary goal, he said, was spreading chaos. Bossert and Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary of homeland security for cybersecurity and communication, said the United States, through a combination of preparation and luck, escaped the worst of the attack, as a patch to the malware was found before U.S. companies and other interests were severely crippled. However, Manfra said, We cannot be complacent. Bossert added, Next time were not going to get so lucky. Manfra praised Microsoft and Facebook for their efforts to combat WannaCry and to block more recent attempts to hack U.S. systems. She and Bossert urged more cooperation and information-sharing from American and multinational companies, arguing a united front is vital to protecting against bad actors who do not differentiate between government and business. Bossert rejected criticism that the the Trump administration has more aggressively called out North Korean cyberattacks than it has Russias meddling in the 2016 election. He said the administration has continued the national emergency initiated by President Obama. Facebook

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GOP lures some mountain bike groups in its push to roll back protections for public land By Evan Halper When their vision of creating a scenic cycling trail through a protected alpine backcountry hit a snag, San Diego area mountain bikers turned to an unlikely ally: congressional Republicans aiming to dilute conservation laws. The frustrations of the San Diego cycling group and a handful of similar organizations are providing tailwind to the GOP movement to lift restrictions on the countrys most ecologically fragile and pristine landscapes, officially designated wilderness. Resentment of these cyclists over the longstanding ban on mechanized transportation in that fraction of the nations public lands presents a political opportunity for Republicans eager to drill fissures in the broad coalition of conservation-minded groups united against the GOP environmental agenda. Read More Facebook

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Vice president postpones Israel trip a second time in case his vote is needed to pass tax cut bill By Noah Bierman (Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Vice President Mike Pence is delaying his trip to Egypt and Israel for a second time in case he is needed to break a tie in the Senate for the tax bill that is expected to pass narrowly this week. Two White House officials confirmed the changed schedule, which they say is unrelated to to protests in the region over the administrations decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Pence had initially been scheduled to leave last Saturday. Late last week, the White House moved the trip back a few days to Tuesday night, in case Pence was needed to break a Senate tie. But Monday, they decided to postpone the trip further, to January, given the possibility of a late Senate vote and the coming holidays. He wants to see it through the finish line, said a White House official, referring to the tax measure that is a centerpiece of the Republican legislative agenda. We dont want to leave anything to chance. The mid-January dates will allow Pence more breathing room to merge schedules with embassies and hotels, the official said. Trump still plans to address the Israeli Knesset, a high-profile venue to discuss the Jerusalem decision where it is most popular. Facebook

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Trump judicial pick who drew ridicule at hearing withdraws By Associated Press A White House official says the Trump judicial nominee whose qualifications were questioned by a Republican senator has withdrawn his nomination. Matthew Petersen, who was nominated by President Trump to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has been the subject of widespread ridicule since he was unable to define basic legal terms during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. A White House official says Petersen has withdrawn his nomination and that Trump has accepted the withdrawal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the development publicly. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy pressed Petersen, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who testified he had never tried a case, on his qualifications to the bench. Facebook

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Trump says McCain will return to Washington if needed for tax vote By Laura King President Trump said Sunday that Sen. John McCain, who is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, was returning home to Arizona for the holidays but would come back to Washington if needed to cast a vote on the Republicans tax overhaul bill. The Arizona Republicans office announced last week that McCain was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington for complications from his cancer treatment. McCains daughter Meghan tweeted earlier Sunday that her 81-year-old father would be spending Christmas in Arizona. The Senate is expected to vote early this week on the tax cut legislation, but the GOP appeared to have secured sufficient support without McCains vote. John will come back if we need his vote, Trump told reporters as he returned from a weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Hes going through a very tough time. Facebook

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Putin calls Trump to thank him for U.S. help foiling terrorist strike By Laura King Vladimir Putin phoned President Trump to thank him for what the Russian president said was CIA help in foiling a terrorist attack, the Kremlin said on Sunday. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the two leaders conversation to reporters. It was the second time that the two leaders had talked in four days; Trump called Putin on Thursday to thank the Russian leader for lauding the U.S. economy. Putin, in his annual year-end news conference, had praised Trump for a strong performance by the U.S. stock market. Perhaps ironically, given his credit to the CIAs recent help, Putin at that news event dismissed as hysteria the consensus among American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign. In reporting Putins call to Trump on Sunday, the official Russian news agency Tass said Putin thanked his American counterpart for information shared by the US Central Intelligence Agency that had helped break up a plot to set off explosives in St. Petersburgs landmark Kazan Cathedral and elsewhere in the city, which is Russias second-largest. Russian authorities last week had credited their countrys counter-intelligence service, the FSB, for foiling the attacks. They reported that seven people affiliated with Islamic State had been detained in St. Petersburg in connection with the plot. The FSB, the successor organization to the KGB, announced Friday that the group had planned to carry out the attacks on Saturday, and that one of those in custody had confessed to the cathedral bomb plot. Facebook

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Mnuchin: Government shutdown unlikely but could happen By Laura King Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said on Sunday that a government shutdown this week was unlikely but possible. A two-week stopgap spending bill passed by Congress earlier this month provided enough funding to keep the government running through Friday. A deadlock on another temporary funding measure would open the door to a possible shutdown. I cant rule it out, but I cant imagine it occurring, Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday, suggesting everyone had an interest in avoiding the government grinding to a halt and federal workers going unpaid, especially in the holiday season. I would expect that both the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, understand if they cant agree on this, they need to have another short-term extension to move this to January, the Treasury secretary said. We cant have a government shutdown in front of Christmas. In May, irate over concessions made to Democrats in hammering out a spending measure, President Trump tweeted that a good shutdown might help matters. While both parties agree that a government shutdown involves a degree of disruption that is not beneficial to either side, shutdowns in 1995-96 and in 2013 mainly caused a backlash against Republicans. The latest funding measure is to be taken up after a vote on a massive GOP tax overhaul, expected by midweek. Facebook

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Trump transition team says sensitive emails should not have been shared with Robert Mueller By Chris Megerian (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) President Trumps transition team is crying foul over how special counsel Robert S. Mueller III obtained emails for his investigation into Russian meddling in last years campaign and possible Trump campaign complicity. Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the transition team, sent a letter to Congress on Saturday saying there was an unauthorized disclosure of emails. While the Trump transition is long over, the transition team remains a nonprofit organization. Its emails were hosted by the General Services Administration, a federal agency. Mueller reportedly obtained the emails directly from the agency. There are attorney-client communications, Langhofer said in an interview. There are executive-privileged communications. He added, What were asking Congress to do is to take some legislative action to make sure this never happens again. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsels office, defended the process for obtaining emails. When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process, he said. The letter was first reported by Fox News. A request for comment from the General Services Administration was not immediately answered. This story has been updated with a comment from the special counsels office. Facebook

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Virginia house arrest is ending for Paul Manafort By Chris Megerian (Mark Wilson / Getty Images) A federal judge agreed Friday to end Paul Manaforts house arrest in Virginia, allowing President Trumps former campaign manager to return to Florida while awaiting trial. The decision followed a dispute between Manaforts legal team and prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who accused Manafort of violating a court order restricting public statements about the case. Under the terms of the judges order, Manafort will be allowed to live at his home in Florida as long as he stays within Palm Beach and Broward counties and obeys a curfew from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. If he misses a court appearance, he would forfeit four properties valued at $10 million total. The deal, which includes GPS monitoring, is not as permissive as Manafort originally sought. He had asked to be able to travel freely among Florida, New York, Virginia and Washington. Manafort faces criminal charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty. Facebook

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GOP negotiators enhance child tax credit to win over Sen. Rubio By Lisa Mascaro Republican negotiators slightly increased the refundable portion of the expanded child tax credit in their tax plan, raising it to $1,400 in hopes of winning back Sen. Marco Rubios (R-Fla.) support ahead of next weeks vote. Rubio announced Thursday he was withholding support after negotiators ignored his push to make the expanded tax credit, which increases from the current $1,000 to $2,000 in the proposed bill, fully refundable for lower- and moderate-income filers. The refundable portion in the original bill was $1,100. The Florida senator argued that was not enough to help working-class Americans, many of whom already view the GOP plan as tilted toward the wealthy. Rubios office was waiting to see the final text before commenting on whether the change was enough to win him over. We have not seen the bill text, and until we see if the percentage of the refundable credit is significantly higher, then our position remains the same, Rubios spokeswoman said. Negotiators meeting Friday before unveiling the bill said they thought they had the support they needed from Rubio and other holdouts. Im confident both chambers will pass it next week, said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Facebook

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Sen. Marco Rubio opposes GOP tax bill, depriving leaders of crucial support By Lisa Mascaro 20.94% Corp. rate to pay for tax cut for working family making $40k was anti-growth but 21% to cut tax for couples making $1million is fine?  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 12, 2017 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he is currently opposed to the GOP tax plan because it fails to include his proposed enhancements to the child tax credit, leaving leaders without crucial support ahead of next weeks expected vote. Republicans can only lose two GOP senators from their slim 52-48 majority as they push the plan forward under special budget rules to prevent a Democratic filibuster. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday altered his planned Israel trip so he could be on hand, if needed, to cast a tie-breaking vote. Rubio, and GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, have fought to increase the child tax credit, doubling it to $2,000 in the GOP plan, but they also want to increase its refundability. They argue it will lower taxes on middle-income families at a time when the tax plan is being criticized as tilted to the wealthy. Sen. Rubio has consistently communicated to the Senate tax negotiators that his vote on final passage would depend on whether the refundability of the Child Tax Credit was increased in a meaningful way, Rubios spokeswoman said. Lee stopped short of opposing the bill, but his spokesman said Wednesday he is undecided. GOP leaders, though, have said they believe they have the support for passage. Facebook

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White House gives Roy Moore a unsubtle shove: Time to concede By David Lauter (Alex Wong / Getty Images) The White House sent a clear signal Thursday to the defeated Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama: Its time to concede. Roy Moore refused to concede the race on Tuesday night when Doug Jones, the Democrat, was declared the winner. Election night results show Jones winning by about 1.5 percentage points, three times more than the states standard for a recount. Although a few absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, theres no indication they would change the result. On Wednesday, Moore notably did not call to congratulate Jones  even as President Trump and other leading Republicans did. Instead, he released a video declaring the battle rages on. Asked at the daily news briefing whether the White House thinks Moore should concede today, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, It probably sounds like it maybe should have already taken place. Sanders also dismissed the idea, pushed by some Moore supporters, that Jones victory was tainted in some fashion. Asked if the Democrat had won fair and square, she said, I think the numbers reflect that. The states Republican senator, Richard Shelby, offered a similar comment in an interview with MSNBC in which he said he was willing to work with Jones. If I was 25,000 votes behind, its not going to change much, Shelby said. Facebook

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House Speaker Paul Ryan says hes not leaving anytime soon By Lisa Mascaro House Speaker Paul D. Ryan shot down suggestions Thursday that he might soon be retiring. Stories often circulate that party leaders, especially the House speaker, are stepping aside. Ryans tenure has been as rocky as that of his predecessor, Rep. John Boehner, who abruptly resigned in 2015 amid GOP infighting. Asked Thursday if he would be leaving, Ryan answered a simple no, as he left his weekly press conference in the Capitol. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who reluctantly took over the speakers gavel after Boehners departure, had just finished talking up the GOP tax plan, which leaders hope to pass next week. He also outlined his sweeping agenda for his longtime goal of entitlement reform of welfare benefits next year. Two stories published Thursday suggested Ryan may soon be out. This is pure speculation, said spokeswoman AshLee Strong. As the speaker himself said today, hes not going anywhere anytime soon. Facebook

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GOP leaders reach tax deal, cutting corporate rate to 21% and top individual rate to 37% By Lisa Mascaro Republican leaders on Wednesday agreed on a revised plan to cut taxes that would lower the corporate rate from 35% to 21% and drop the top individual rate for the richest Americans to 37%, according to GOP senators and others briefed on the deal. The tentative accord marked a significant step in the Republican push to have a tax bill on President Trumps desk by Christmas. Leaders did not release details of the compromise or the text of a final bill as negotiations continued. Its critically important for Congress to quickly pass these historic tax cuts, Trump said Wednesday, promising that Americans could begin to reap the benefits of the plan as early as February, if passed. Critics, however, said the latest changes  particularly the lowering of the top individual rate from the current 39.6%  only reaffirmed several independent analyses that show the bulk of the savings from the Republican plan would go to businesses and the wealthy. Read More Facebook

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Farenthold to retire from House amid harassment accusations By Associated Press Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold wont seek reelection next year, two Republicans said Thursday, adding his name to the list of lawmakers leaving Congress amid sexual harassment allegations that have cost powerful men their jobs in politics, the arts and other fields. The accusations against Farenthold surfaced in 2014, when a former aide sued him alleging sexually suggestive comments and behavior and said shed been fired after she complained. The lawmaker said he engaged in no wrongdoing and the case was settled in 2015. But the House Ethics Committee said last week that it would investigate Farenthold after congressional sources said hed paid an $84,000 settlement using taxpayers money. Though Farenthold said hed reimburse the Treasury Department, such payments have drawn public criticism from people saying lawmakers should use their own money for such settlements. A House official said Farenthold spoke twice Wednesday to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), while another official said the congressman spoke once with Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) who heads the GOPs House campaign committee. Those discussions suggested that Farenthold may have come under pressure from leaders to step aside. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Last week, three lawmakers facing accusations of sexual harassment announced their resignations. Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) have already left Congress while Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has said he will step aside soon. Mike Bergsma, Republican county chairman in Farentholds home county of Nueces, Texas, said Fare
Adventure and expedition cruising is exploding, with more than 20 expedition ships now on order throughout the world.

The trend, predicted earlier this year by the industry organization CLIA, or Cruise Lines International Assn.), has developed as an increasing number of passengers request off-the-beaten-track sailing.

Adventure travel is growing at a record pace and cruise expeditions are seeing the impact, according to a CLIA report, which added that itineraries for destinations such as Antarctica regularly sell out.

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Newly ordered ships include a Lindblad Expeditions ship, announced earlier this month, that will be headed to polar regions in 2020, and the new Celebrity Flora, designed for Ecuadors Galapagos Island, which was announced Nov. 16 and is expected to launch in 2019.

The flood of new ships will begin next summer when Ponants mega-yacht, Le Laperouse, debuts for Tauck cruises. The 180-passenger French luxury ship will sail its initial itineraries in Iceland.

Following its launch, another 18 new ships will be launched within an 18-month window, with other deliveries scheduled through 2021, according to industry records. Many of the ships are being designed for fuel efficiency, low environmental impact and on-board comfort.

Lindblads ship, for instance, will have a distinctive bow that provides fuel efficiency while improving guest comfort in rough seas, according to company reports. It will also be able to tolerate icy seas, allowing access deep into polar regions. The ships expanded fuel and water tanks will enable extended operations in remote areas.

In addition, 75% of the new ships cabins will have balconies and multiple observation decks inside and outside, and a new Zodiac loading system that will simplify shore visits.

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Twitter: @latimestravel
One day each spring, Caltech seniors skip classes and vanish. Before leaving, the seniors secure their dorm rooms to keep underclassmen out.

Science writer George Alexander explained Ditch Day in the May 19, 1979, Los Angeles Times:

Chris Lee stumped his fellow students with a musical lock and Barbara Hsus little white mouse was in constant danger of being fed to death. Even Aristotle The Snake got a workout.

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It was Ditch Day on the Caltech campus Friday, the traditional day when seniors cut classes and slip away from the campus for 10 or 12 hours, but not before barricading their dormitory rooms as a challenge to the ingenuityand frequently the muscleof the schools juniors, sophomores and freshmen.

The object of Ditch Day, for the seniors at least, is to throw up obstacles at the entrance to their rooms that no amount of brawn or brain can penetrate. For the underclassmen, the object is the inverse.

To bar their doors and windows from the onslaughts of the wimps, as the underclassmen are frequently addressed, the seniors may use any of the three different kinds of stacks, a Caltech euphemism for locks:

Brute Force. First perfected by the drawbridge-builders and moat-diggers of the 16th Century and not improved upon since, this technique relies on the placement of large quantities of plywood, steel bars, aluminum plate, concrete slabs and bracing to secure the room.

Finesse. Here, the emphasis is mental rather than muscular. A wide range of chemical, biological, acoustic, optical and electro-mechanical devices are connected to a door-opening mechanism and left out in the hallway. Anyone who can figure out how the system works can then activate it to open the door.

Honor. The door is left unlocked, but bears a riddle or thorny problem that must be solved before it can be legitimately opened. The opener must write down his or her solution to the problem and sign the answer before entering.

If and when a stack is broken and the underclass hordes sweep into the room, they usually find cakes, cookies, soft drinks, or a jug of wine waiting for them, a bribe to leave the interior of the room undisturbed. It is the prerogative of the breakers-and-enterers, however, to trashmess upthe room, as well as to readjust the stack and so prevent the returning senior from gaining access to his or her own room at the end of the day.

Brute Force and Finesse stacks were everywhere in evidence Friday in the half-dozen or so undergraduate residence halls of the Caltech campus in Pasadena. 

The Caltech Ditch Day tradition continues, but brute force entry has given way to complex scavenger hunts, mazes, puzzles and other mental challenges.

These photos by Bill Varie appeared in the May 19, 1979, Los Angeles Times.

May 18, 1979: During Caltech Ditch Day, some underclassmen accidentally set fire to a door, left, which freshman Rick Walker, right, put out with fire extinguisher. ((Bill Varie / Los Angeles Times) )

May 18, 1979: A boa constrictor used to open a seniors dorm room. The snake was lowered over the transom, then it wrapped its tail around a box containing the key before being hoisted back out. ((Bill Varie / Los Angeles Times) )

May 18, 1979: Caltech senior Max Smith stymied underclassmen during annual Ditch Day challenge. To gain revenge, underclassmen chained him to a tree. ((Bill Varie / Los Angeles Times) )

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here
South Koreas high-decibel loudspeakers on the border with longtime foe North Korea have at times blasted messages intended to inform, agitate, or taunt people on the other side.

The nations latest blaring border announcement says that one of communist North Koreas soldiers defected two weeks ago in a daring afternoon escape at the most sensitive and closely monitored section of the 150-mile border separating the two countries.

The messages proclaim that the soldier  who was shot at least four times as he dashed over a military demarcation line and has been treated at a hospital near Seoul  is expected to recover from his injuries, according to South Korean military officials. The sound clips also say the soldier suffered from life-threatening malnutrition.

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Officials said that while treating his gunshot wounds, doctors discovered that the soldier, 24, suffered from tuberculosis, hepatitis B and parasitic worms. After days in intensive care, the soldier  whose family name is Oh  was to be moved to a general recovery room.

Word of Ohs ill health could be an especially demoralizing message to North Koreas front-line troops and others within earshot of the speakers. In the recent past, the democratic nations speakers have mostly broadcast lighter content, such as South Korean pop music.

Its a relatively savvy move by whoever is programming the loudspeaker content, to incorporate that, said Nat Kretchun, deputy director at the Open Technology Fund, a U.S. government-backed group supporting free expression. Certainly, that is a message that forward-deployed troops on the [Demilitarized Zone] will know is true and also one that will probably hit home.

Korea was divided when Japans control over the country ceased at the end of World War II in 1945. The messages via speakers began years after the 1953 armistice between the two nations that halted the three-year-long Korean War.

The two countries still share a common alphabet and a largely similar spoken language, though Western-influenced words now permeate the South Korean vocabulary.

Information about the loudspeaker locations and their message contents arent generally discussed by the South Korean government. But the messages can be heard near Paju, a border village north of Seoul open to tourists  and across the border from North Korean artillery sites.

South Koreas Yonhap News Agency reported that one message said, in part: We have learned about the nutritive conditions of the soldier who defected through the JSA, or Joint Security Area. The broadcast also noted accounts of other malnourished North Korean soldiers.

South Koreas defense minister, Song Young-moo, on Monday visited the defection site at the JSA, a United Nations Command outpost where soldiers from the United States and South Korea are stationed within yards of their North Korean counterparts.

The location, sometimes referred to as Panmunjom for the nearby farming village, has been the site of inter-Korean talks and visits by tourists and dignitaries. Its also known for its blue-roof huts and problems over the years.

Whether the high-decibel messages about Ohs ordeal will have any practical effect on North Korea remains an open question.

Other messages have prompted angry responses from the communist nation, which heavily restricts access by its 25 million residents to outside information.

Some North Koreans do have access to state media, which often downplay troubling events and highlight what the government considers successes  such as its recent underground nuclear detonations and long-range ballistic missile tests.

Such events, called provocations by the international community, violate United Nations resolutions and have prompted widespread economic sanctions aimed at North Korea, which is led by Kim Jong Un, the grandson of the countrys patriarch.

The tests in recent years have also heightened tensions between the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, a key ally in the region, and the North. Taunting and disparaging statements between Kim and President Trump in recent months have threatened to bring the two nations to the brink of war.

The loudspeakers have been turned on and off over the years following inter-Korean agreements, but they began again after an 11-year break in 2015 following a land-mine incident that maimed two South Korean soldiers. After a few weeks, South Korea agreed to switch them off, but resumed the program again following the September 2016 nuclear test.

As of Monday evening, North Korea had yet to respond.

On other occasions, the countrys leadership threatened to shell the speaker installations. The speakers have not been attacked, but the reactions have been rhetorically vicious, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California who studies North Koreas weapons programs.

It definitely gets a strong reaction, which makes me think it has an effect on morale, Hanham said.

Stiles is a special correspondent.
The last time Anurkhol Bipolotov saw her husband, Fakhriddin, was across a street, outside a police station in Istanbul, on March 9.

He couldnt speak, and I asked to speak with him, but they shouted, You cannot speak. Then they sent him to Uzbekistan, she recalled. Now I have no idea where he is.

That night, Turkish counter-terrorism police conducted 10 simultaneous raids across Istanbul, based on an anonymous tip placed to a hotline set up to report suspicious activity. Sixty-nine people, all but two foreigners, were taken into custody, suspected of being Islamic State members. Among them were 17 women and 29 children, including Bipolotov and her three children. None were ever charged with a terrorism-related crime.

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Raids like these are increasingly common in Turkey, which has been under a state of emergency since July 2016. More than 50,000 people are in prison, many suspected of being involved in a failed coup last year or having ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which the government considers a terrorist group, or Islamic State, which Turkey had long been accused of ignoring.

In a single week this month, Turkish police carried out more than 1,400 raids across the country, detaining more than 1,167 people suspected of belonging to terrorist groups, and an additional 6,890 for being in the country illegally.

Turkey is doing more about Islamic State than they did a few years ago, which is good, but how many innocent people are being caught up in it, we dont know, said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based security analyst with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute. Because of the state of emergency, they can cast the net very widely, and anybody remotely possibly connected to Islamic State can be kept in prison or deported, without having to worry about evidence.

By July, according to the Interior Ministry, 9,350 people were in custody for suspected ties to Islamic State, including 3,840 foreigners. But fewer than 50 individuals have been convicted so far, and now human rights groups in Turkey say the sweeping arrests are putting migrants at risk of deportation to countries with a history of torture and imprisonment over unsubstantiated terrorism charges.

Bipolotov, who like her husband is from Uzbekistan, was at home with her three children in her neighborhood of Pendik, getting ready for dinner, when police began trying to knock their door down. I opened the door so they wouldnt break it, she said. We had nothing to hide.

Dozens of police cars, including an armored truck, were in the street, and 20 officers wearing balaclavas, weapons drawn, streamed into the apartment.

I said, What are you doing, why are you pointing your guns at us, what did we do to you? And they said, We have orders, we are just carrying them out. Police spent three hours ransacking the apartment, then announced they were detaining Bipolotov, her 18- and 19-year-old sons and her 13-year-old daughter.

The sons were released within two weeks, but Bipolotov and her daughter were kept in detention centers for the next seven months, with no way to contact her husband. None were ever charged with a crime besides illegally staying in the country. She watched another woman, detained the same night from Pendik, give birth in prison. During a five-month stay in a prison in Edirne, Bipolotov contracted hepatitis B.

Two days after being released, Bipolotov got a voice message from a friend saying that Bipolotovs husband, along with seven other men detained that night, had been deported to Uzbekistan. I talked to his parents there, they dont know where he is. We just know someone saw him being taken off the plane in Tashkent.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, along with ethnic Uighurs from western China, have settled in Turkey. Many are leaving countries with some of the harshest restrictions on religious practices in the world; others come for a better life, escaping economies stagnated by decades of corruption.

They are drawn to Turkey for cultural reasons  Turkish is similar to many Central Asian languages, and the region shares a common school of Sunni Islam  as well as the fact that it is one of the few countries where they can obtain a visa on arrival. But many are not able to meet the requirements needed to obtain proper residency permits, leaving them at risk of deportation.

Bipolotov and her family left Uzbekistan for Turkey in 2011, she says, after being harassed by local intelligence agents for their conservative lifestyle. Her husband ran a corner shop, and took breaks to pray five times a day. Police in Uzbekistan are known to monitor religious practices closely, keeping lists of young men who attend prayers at mosques, or refuse to play music at weddings.

We couldnt pray openly in Uzbekistan. The hijab was banned in some places, like on public buses, and police officers would come up to me in the street and say you cant dress like this, she said, gesturing to the burka she wears. So we came to Turkey, just so we could practice our faith. We never harmed anyone, we just wanted our human right to practice religion.

In Turkey, Bipolotovs husband found work as a welder. She began teaching the Koran to children from other Central Asian immigrant families. When they tried to apply for a residence permit, they got worried they could never go home to Uzbekistan. In a routine background check, Turkish immigration officers told them Fakhriddins mother had reported him as a missing person. But Fakhriddin, who talked to his mother every few days on the phone, got worried police in Uzbekistan had put his name on some kind of list. Because of what the Turkish officers were saying, how strange it was, we got worried, and we never went back to get a residence permit, said Anurkhol Bipolotov.

My husband never did anything against his country, and he never did anything against this country, said Bipolotov. He was just making a living, he never even argued with anyone, never even raised his voice with me or my kids. He just wanted to live like a normal person, like everyone else.

Turkish political leaders, nationalists as well as the current government, have tended to welcome the migrants. Dissident leaders from across Central Asia have been granted asylum in Turkey, and the flags of separatist movements from the region are a common sight in cities like Istanbul. But as Turkey turns away from the European Union, it has instead turned its attention to Russia, China and Central Asia, raising fears that security cooperation with those countries might mean the end of an era in which cities like Istanbul host prominent dissidents.

In the past, because of the legal culture in Western countries, we did not have such problems with requests for the extradition of dissidents. But now, the government is changing their political views, and has started to work with China, Russia and other countries, said Ibrahim Ergin, a lawyer with the International Refugee Rights Assn.

Ergin says authorities seem to be dispensing with safeguards meant to protect against extradition of individuals at risk of being tortured or imprisoned back home. His law firm is handling hundreds of cases of Central Asian migrants, many with proper residence permits, and a handful with Turkish citizenship, all at risk of being deported despite applications for protection on human rights grounds in Turkish courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights.

This month, authorities deported Zafarshon Alikhanov, a Tajik dissident who had lived for five years in Turkey, back to Tajikistan, despite an appeal lawyers had lodged in Turkeys Constitutional Court arguing that he was at risk of torture or execution back home.

A Kazakh national, Abdukhalil Abbduzhabbarov, along with 10 children, was deported from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan, but on a layover in Istanbul, he asked for international protection. The family spent eight months in the airport, issuing video messages on social media appealing to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for help. Lawyers obtained a provisional order from a court suspending the deportation, but that order was ignored. In October, a court in Kazakhstan sentenced Abbduzhabbarov to eight years in prison for fomenting religious enmity.

The Turkish Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry did not respond to queries for comment.

Under the [state of emergency], especially, police are deporting you basically by themselves, they dont go before a judge or anything, and no one knows what is happening until it is too late, said Adem Cevik, who heads an organization in Turkey that helps Central Asian migrants settle. Turkey is deporting them back home and when they get there they are automatically treated as terrorists. There is no evidence, but they say, Look, Turkey deported you, so this is evidence you are a terrorist.

Cevik and other activists use their contacts in the Turkish government to intervene in deportations, hasty campaigns waged through social media, often sparked by frantic voice messages they receive, recorded in detention centers or airport terminals by migrants asking for help.

Prosecutors are seeking 40 consecutive life sentences for an Uzbekistan national, Abdulkadir Masharipov, accused of killing 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub on New Years Eve. Masharipov, prosecutors say, had spent time training with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and then with Islamic State in Syria.

During the two-week manhunt for Masharipov, authorities published his picture, but had little other information about him. Hundreds of migrants were detained following the attack. For days, Turkish news outlets circulated pictures of a businessman from Kyrgyzstan who seemed to resemble the suspect in CCTV footage of the attack. In the Pendik neighborhood, popular with Central Asian migrants, a mob beat an immigrant from Turkmenistan. Police intervened, and later deported the man because his visa had expired.

First they said [the suspect] was Uighur, then Kazakh, then Kyrgyz, and in the end Uzbek. So by the end, each of these ethnicities was marked as being a terrorist. And it created a problem for all Central Asians, Cevik said.
The town of Sallins near Naas has the highest proportion of people with either an ordinary or honours degree in the county, according to Leader analysis of the latest report from the 2016 Census.

The report indicates that the county is divided by education attainment on a number of measures.

The Census 2016 report, Profile 10 - Education and Skills and the Irish Language, shows that there are quite large divisions in the percentage of those with degrees.

The Leader looked at a particular table, which gives the numbers of those in terms of the highest level of education completed, when the Census was taken in April 2016.

While Sallins tops the list with 20.5% having either an ordinary or honours degree, the proportion of the population aged 15 or over with such qualifications in Monasterevin is 9.4% and 8% in Derrinturn.

Monasterevin, had the highest percentage of those with no formal qualification (2.94%) followed by Derrinturn (2.91%) and Athy (1.92%).

When it came to those with degrees, the university town of Maynooth recorded 19.8%, Naas 19.9% and Celbridge 19.7%. Leixlip was on 19.1%, followed by Kildare town (18.3%) and Clane (18.2%).

In Sallins, a total of 4,132 people, aged 15 or over, were listed considered.

Just under 500 (12%) had an honours bachelor degree or a professional qualification or both and 8% had an ordinary bachelor degree or professional qualification or both.

Another 10.5% (433) had a postgraduate diploma or degree.
Families of Kildare soldiers will be traveling to Dublin this Thursday, November 30 for a Wives & Partners of the Defence Forces (WPDF) protest march and 24 vigil at Leinster House.

The protest begins at 2pm with a wreath with a laying ceremony on Merrion Square East.

The aim of this peaceful protest march and vigil is to continue to raise awareness surrounding the unacceptable pay and conditions endured by our loved ones who are enlisted members of the Defence Forces, said the WPDF.

SEE ALSO: Kildare soldier's family find house at last

Their low pay, which makes them some of the poorest paid public servants in the country, ensures that Defence Force families continue to live in poverty, endure food and fuel poverty, while our children continue to suffer child poverty.

The group said; Since establishing our group in November 2016, we continue to be overwhelmed by the avalanche of gut wrenching real life stories experienced by Defence Force families. Budget 2017 came and went and did nothing for people like us who are struggling on a daily basis to make ends meet despite our partners working full time with irregular and unpredictable hours in the Defence Forces often impacting on family life.

WPDF would like to invite all families and friends of serving, retired and deceased members of the Defence Forces to join them as they remember and honour deceased members of the Defence Forces.

This Wreath Laying Ceremony commences at Merrion Square East at 2pm on November 30. Families and visitors may be seated inside the gates.

Following the wreath laying ceremony attendees will continue with a walk for welfare from Merrion Square to Leinster House where invited guests have been asked to speak.

This will include politicians and WPDF representatives.
A PROBATIONARY member of a motorcycle club who is accused of threatening to shoot another man and burn down his home was refused bail following a garda objection.

Shane Lennon, aged 41, of Elm Road, Riverbank, Annacotty, is accused of making the threats after he allegedly encountered the injured party at the Penneys store in the city centre on October 1, last.

Opposing bail, Detective Garda Neil OGorman said it will be alleged the defendant approached the alleged injured party and demanded payment of an outstanding drug debt totalling 7,000.

He said it will be alleged that having approached the man, the defendant said: I'm going to cut you up - youre dead. Im going to kill you, Ill burn your house. Im going to shoot you when you go outside this door.

Judge Marian OLeary was told the injured party, who was with his wife and children at the time, was put in fear as a result of the alleged threats and that he still fears for his safety and that of his family.

Limerick District Court was told it will be further alleged the defendant waited outside the store after making the threats but the injured party managed to evade him after he ran out.

Detective Garda OGorman said CCTV from the area was obtained as part of the investigation and that it is the State case that it corroborates the allegations.

He said Mr Lennon is a probationary member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and that he was concerned the accused would intimidate, or worse, cause serious harm, either by his own actions, or with the assistance of his associates, if granted bail.

Depsite being informed that the defendant was willing to surrender his passport, live at an address outside of Limerick and would abide by any conditions imposed by the court, Judge Marian OLeary said she was refusing bail.

Sergeant Donal Cronin, prosecuting, indicated investigations are continuing and that a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the matter.

Mr Lennon was remanded in custody and is due to appear before the court again via video-link this Tuesday.
THE family of Stephen Cullinan have made contact with the missing Limerick student, who has been located.

The University of Limerick student had been missing from his home in Castletroy since November 3.

Gardai said this Tuesday that the 25-year-old, who is from Ballymackey, Nenagh, has been "located safe and well".

Reports emerged on Monday night that he had made contact with this family.

Some good news tonight. Stephen Cullinan has been located and made contact with his family this evening. Further updates to come tomorrow pic.twitter.com/JlMfmc3dPi  Richard Chambers (@newschambers) November 27, 2017

Great news this evening Stephen Cullinan has made contact with his family. pic.twitter.com/3UGqD9rEKl  Jackie Cahill TD (@jackiecahillff) November 27, 2017

Limerick's Live 95FM reported this Tuesday morning that Stephen had been located in the UK and is due to be reunited with his family today. The radio station is reporting that the family has "thanked everyone involved in the search efforts and has asked for privacy at this time".

The last confirmed sighting of Stephen had been at St Stephens Green in Dublin a number of hours after he left his home in the city.
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Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941

By Stephen Kotkin

Penguin Press. 1154 pp. $40

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A frenzy of hunting for spies and subversives shook the Soviet Union in the late 1930s, as Joseph Stalin propelled his police to unmask Trotskyite-fascists, rightist and leftist deviationists, wreckers, and hidden enemies with party cards. Yet if we apply the perverse logic of Stalinism, the greatest subversive agent to undermine the promise of the revolution of 1917 and transform the aspirations of millions into bloody despotism - objectively, as Stalinists would have said - was the dictator himself. Stalin killed more communists and did more to undermine the international communist movement than Adolf Hitler did. Rather than Lenin's comrades Lev Kamenev, Grigory Zinoviev, Nikolai Bukharin and Lev Trotsky allying with Hitler, as they were falsely accused of doing in the great show trials of 1936-1938, it was Stalin who in 1939, as Trotsky explained, advanced "his candidacy for the role ... of Hitler's main agent."

In "Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941," a mammoth volume of more than 1,100 pages, Princeton University historian Stephen Kotkin presents in vivid, irresistible and unrelenting detail that part of Stalin's life - and Soviet history - that has, more than any other, fascinated scholars and general readers about the Soviet experience. The 1930s was the decade of the "revolution from above" that dispossessed peasants and converted them into agricultural suppliers to the state, the city and the army; it was the time when the state unleashed mass terror against elites and ordinary people that decimated the Soviet Communist Party; decapitated the Red Army; disciplined the intelligentsia into straitjacketed conformity; and drove millions of people into exile, prison camps and emigration, if they managed to survive. In one year, 1937-1938, between 700,000 and 800,000 Soviet citizens and unfortunate foreigners in the country were executed. Stalin proclaimed that collectivization, the end of market relations and the descent into despotism were in fact the building of socialism - and the author of this volume agrees - but to Stalin's critics on the left (Trotskyists, Social Democrats and independent Marxist intellectuals) they were the "revolution betrayed," a sanguinary counterrevolution.

The very heft of the book, which is the second volume of a planned trilogy, testifies to Kotkin's prodigious research and diligent assembling of material. A veteran of Stalin studies, Kotkin focuses on the despot and relates who entered and left his office, what documents (many of them denunciations and thousands of torture-induced confessions) landed on his desk, and who was in favor and who had fallen out. The police supplied Stalin with stories of spies and saboteurs. The steady stream of intelligence reports possessed Stalin, feeding the dictator's predilection for uncovering conspiracies and plots, many of them deliberately fabricated. Kotkin's story moves from Stalin's office, known as the Little Corner, beyond the Kremlin, ranging widely through the swirling events in Europe and Asia that Stalin believed presented existential dangers to his regime and his socialist project.

The Soviet Union was profoundly isolated, as was Stalin himself, particularly after the suicide of his wife in 1932 and the murder of his friend Sergei Kirov in 1934. Hitler was visible on the horizon; Spain was riven by a civil war that many saw as the first round of the future battle between fascism and communism; and enemies plotted against the U.S.S.R. on the Soviets' far-flung borders, from Poland in the west to Japan in the east. A constant source of anxiety was Britain, the country that Stalin consistently imagined as the greatest danger. Stalin's "worldview and governing style," his imagining of enemies within the country, his sensitivity to any personal slight or perceived, potential opposition, and his ruthlessness at destroying those whom he believed might pose a future threat gravely weakened his state and society on the eve of invasion and war.

A central mystery lurks at the heart of this book: Why did Stalin launch the Great Terror, which damaged so profoundly the very system he painstakingly built? Kotkin moves beyond some of the more familiar explanations - Stalin's unwillingness to settle for a spot at the top of the bureaucracy, a search for unity within the country inspired by the negative example of divisions on the left in Spain, or Stalin's personal paranoia. Rather, he contends that the cause lies in a particular mentality that originated in Marxism and lethally meshed with Stalin's peculiar psychology. "The combination of Communist ways of thinking and political practice," he argues, "with Stalin's demonic mind and political skill allowed for astonishing bloodletting."

"Perceived security imperatives and a need for absolute unity once again turned the quest in Russia to build a strong state into personal rule. ... Tyranny has a circular logic: once a dictator has achieved supreme power, he becomes keener still to hold it, driving him to weed his own ranks of even potential challengers." As damaging as the purges were, Stalin was not irrational, Kotkin contends, but calculating and strategic. The dictator believed that the replacement of a contentious, competitive elite of old communists with younger, Soviet-trained, presumably more loyal cadres, as well as mobilizing people through fear, were effective ways to preserve the Soviet system and his power. Stalin emerges as a murderous pedagogue, using violence to teach his people how to behave. He told subordinates to check their underlings by punching them in the face. Ultimately he would do far worse, making fateful, fatal decisions based on the documents he read and on his own intuition.

Interspersed with domestic disasters, the narrative veers into the thickets of foreign policy, and Kotkin presents the story of the unthinkable alliance of Hitler and Stalin in the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as Stalin's triumph. While the British and French frittered away the possibility of an agreement with the Soviets, Hitler seized the bait offered by Stalin to launch his war of destruction against Poland without fear of a two-front confrontation. Not only did Stalin gain time to prepare for the eventual war with Germany that he anticipated but wished to avoid, he also was handed carte blanche in the Baltic republics, Finland and Bessarabia. His destructive policies within the Soviet Union that can hardly be described as fully rational are contrasted with his ruthless, unsentimental realpolitik in foreign policy.

Kotkin builds on the mountain of previous scholarship on Stalin and Stalinism but has his own, sometimes idiosyncratic (but always intriguing) take on major issues. "Hitler," he states categorically (as he is wont to do), "was at least as great a threat as Stalin." Really? Well, maybe not, because in the next paragraph he qualifies this assertion: "Despite Stalin's domestic house of horrors, as well as the Comintern's unscrupulous, albeit often pitiful, machinations abroad, the main armed, expansionist power seeking domination in Europe was Nazi Germany. ... Hitler's Versailles revisionism was unlimited; Stalin's was limited to opportunities others might present."

An engaging writer, Kotkin for some reason decided in this volume to adopt a rigidly chronological organization of his history with an almost day-by-day recounting of events. Such an approach gives readers a sense of the kaleidoscope in which Stalin was forced to work, but at the same time it leads to a kind of mental whiplash. The strict chronicling of events might jerk from one paragraph on the conflicts in China between communists and nationalists, to another taking us into the tyrant's family circle, to the next inside the mind of Hitler. The book has a hurried quality about it, so one appreciates those sections when, after masses of information and shocking stories of callous brutality, the author occasionally pauses and does the hard work of synthesis, interpretation and explanation.

But no biography or history is definitive, no matter what publishers' publicists proclaim, and anyone with the time and upper-arm strength to prop up the book will experience an exhausting, exhilarating journey. Kotkin masterfully guides us through the turbulent years of Stalin's long wait for Hitler's invasion, a profoundly tragic time for the Soviet people and the fate of democracy and socialism.

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Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. professor of history at the University of Michigan and the author of "Red Flag Unfurled: History, Historians, and the Russian Revolution." His next book is a biography of Stalin before the revolution.
Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales

By P.D. James

Knopf. 208 pp. $21

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P.D. James, one of the greatest of English mystery writers, died in 2014 at the age of 94, but she and her work live on. "Sleep No More" offers six previously uncollected, quite wonderful "murderous tales" that will delight her longtime fans and can be a fine introduction to her work for others.

Success did not come easily for James. Her mother suffered from mental illness, her father didn't believe in higher education for girls and Phyllis Dorothy left school at 16 and went to work. She married a doctor but when he came back from service in World War II, he, too, had mental issues and she became the sole provider for herself and two daughters. She believed she was meant to write, but because of the demands of work and motherhood, she was past 40 when her first novel was published. Not until James was in her 50s did her mounting success make it possible for her to write full time. In 1991, she became Baroness James of Holland Park. By then, to readers, she was the Queen of Crime.

James is best known for 14 novels that feature the intrepid detective Adam Dalgliesh, but her short stories are excellent as well; she clearly had fun writing them. James was never much interested in ax-murderers or serial killers; she preferred to examine respectable citizens who turn to crime. The stories collected here are variously surprising, sardonic and darkly humorous, and are always intelligent and beautifully written. As much as any crime writer I know, James transcends genre and should be viewed simply as a writer of exceptional literary skill.

Her plots are always inventive. In a story called "The Yo-Yo" (there's a reason), a retired judge recalls how, at age 13, he witnessed a murder and lied to police to protect the guilty party. Children, in these stories, are rarely to be trusted.

"The Murder of Santa Claus" is set in an English manor house at Christmas of 1939. A boy of 16 is spending the holiday with his wealthy, rather nasty uncle. Other guests include the uncle's stepson, soon to be a pilot with the Royal Air Force, and the uncle's hard-drinking mistress. Someone sends the uncle a Christmas poem that urges him to "Go to bed and sleep no more." Sure enough, that night he is murdered in his bed. It's a complex story, in the murder-in-the-manor-house tradition, that recalls Agatha Christie at her best.

In "The Girl Who Loved Graveyards," we meet a girl whose mother died when she was born and whose father and grandmother die when she's 10. She's sent to London to live with an aunt and uncle; her new bedroom overlooks a graveyard that becomes central to her life. She finds it "luminous and mysterious in the early morning light ... a miracle of stone and marble." Exploring it, she feels "an emotion so rare that it stole through her thin body like a pain." It's "a place of delight and mystery, her refuge and her solace."

The story becomes an unsettling prose poem about the girl's passion for the graveyard. Then she grows up and takes a train back to the village of her birth, to find out where her father is buried. Only then do we learn the chilling reason for her obsession with graveyards.

James is endlessly quotable. A policeman: "The young seldom lie convincingly. They haven't had time to practice like the rest of us." Marriage "is both the most public and the most secret of institutions, its miseries as irritatingly insistent as a hacking cough, its private malaise less easily diagnosed."

I've read a good many short stories over the years. Most are forgettable, but some become favorites to be returned to, such as J.D. Salinger's "For Esme - With Love and Squalor" and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." One or two of the stories in "Sleep No More" are candidates for that list. Two involve murders at Christmas, but don't let that trouble you. This collection would make an excellent holiday gift for a literate friend, even though the author's message has precious little to do with peace on earth or goodwill toward men.

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Anderson writes regularly about thrillers and mysteries for The Washington Post.
Margaret Moth died seven years ago, but the former KHOU photographer and CNN camerawoman showed up today in the Twitter feed of CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour in response to President Donald Trump's most recent disparaging comments about CNN.

"If President Trump knew the facts, he would never have sent that tweet," Amanpour wrote. "Here is my (late) camerawoman Margaret Moth, who took a bullet in the face covering the facts and truth in Bosnia."
Following fierce resistance from potentially affected residents, Manvel city officials have dropped plans to annex most of the property that had been targeted through a plan introduced in September.

City Council on Nov. 20 agreed not to annex six of eight parcels originally sought, which cut out all but 400 acres of the 1,100 included in the initial proposal. No one lives on the two tracts still slated for annexation.

"I do feel like the people have been heard and the city can now move forward in the areas that remain within the annexation," Mayor Debra Davison said after the vote.

One of the tracts, labeled Area 18 on Manvel's northern edge between Texas 288 and Chocolate Bayou Road, covers approximately 100 acres and only contains a city-owned sand pit, City Manager Kyle Jung said. The other parcel, Area 23, includes approximately 350 acres on Manvel's southeastern border, south of Texas 6.The first reading of the ordinance to adopt the revised plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27, and the second reading will be at the same time on Nov. 30. The meetings will be at Manvel City Hall, 20025 Texas 6.

Two areas that include Brazoria County residents were voted out of the plan after Davison heard strong opposition from homeowners at a Nov. 9 community meeting held in the garage of Michelle Hildebrandt.

At that meeting, resident Michelle Prescott told Davison that her home was wrecked by Hurricane Harvey and that any additional requirements caused by annexation would add to her family's stress of rebuilding.

Others at the garage meeting accused the city of trying to beat the clock on a new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott this year.

Senate Bill 6, which goes into effect Dec. 1, will require that municipal annexations be approved by residents in a targeted area by a vote.

Davison said that the law did contribute to council's decision to proceed with annexation because they are concerned about future development around Manvel.

"The city wishes to control future land use," City Councilman Adrian Gaspar said at the garage gathering. "We do that through zoning in city limits.""We don't want Manvel to turn into southeast Houston," Davison said.Now, with most areas dropped from Manvel's annexation plan, the city has lost that opportunity, she said.

"When you don't have land control there isn't anything you can do," Davison said. "It will develop as it will."

Nathan McDaniel, spokesman for the author of Senate Bill 6, state Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) has expressed concerned that a similar annexation effort is being pushed by the city of Pearland in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, saying that such instances were the reason for the new law requiring voter approval.

Said Davison: "When people come forward and tell you their hardship, whether I agree or not, I have to listen - it's their property. All the council members heard the people and voted accordingly. I think the process worked."
LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry is engaged to marry American actress Meghan Markle and will wed in spring 2018, the royal palace announced Monday morning, ending days of feverish speculation in the tabloids over when their nuptial plans would be revealed.

The 33-year-old ginger-bearded prince is fifth in line to the throne. The 36-year-old Markle is a well-regarded actress who was born and raised in California.

The couple will live at Harry's snug two-bedroom bachelor pad, Nottingham Cottage - known as Not Cot - on the Kensington Palace grounds in London. The announcement said the couple had become engaged earlier this month in London.

More details to come, the palace promised.

After the announcement, the couple appeared briefly before news photographers at the sunken gardens at Kensington, where they stood beside a pond and answered a few shouted questions. He wore a trim blue suit; she was in a black dress beneath a belted white coat. When Harry was asked how he proposed, Markle turned to him and said, "Save that." Harry added, "That will come later."

The couple were scheduled for a sit-down interview with the BBC later Monday.

"When did I know she was the one?" Harry said. "Very first time we met."

A pair of statements were issued by Harry's father, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Queen Elizabeth II, whom Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana, liked to call "the top lady." Harry said he was "delighted" and had received the blessing of Markle's parents.

The last time an American married into the royal family, Britain and the monarchy were plunged into crisis. In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite and divorcee.

Harry confirmed he was dating the actress in November 2016 when he blasted the tabloid press for subjecting Markle to a "wave of abuse and harassment."

The palace condemned "the smear on the front page of a national newspaper, the racial undertones of comment pieces, and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments."

Markle's mother is African-American, and her father is white. She is divorced, without children from her previous marriage.

On Monday, the British media quickly raised the issue of Markle's race, marital status and nationality.

A BBC News alert read: "American, divorced, an actress and mixed race - Meghan Markle will bring something different to the Royal Family."

The Daily Mail's headline said that "the Queen says she is 'delighted' the divorced American actress is to join the royal family."

The press seemed unsure of the British public's gut reaction to the engagement news, even as most stories asserted that the bride-to-be's race and nationality were either a good thing or irrelevant.

Stephen Bates, former royal correspondent at the Guardian newspaper, told the BBC: "It's not entirely unknown that royals have married people of mixed race before. I think people in this country, certainly, are very comfortable with that these days."

Bates added, "Fifty years ago . . . it would have been an issue then, but today I would have thought people would take it as not only absolutely commonplace, but rather welcome that the royal family has moved into that generation as well."

But the Guardian's website started one of its live blogs with the tease: "Joy or disdain? Follow the reactions to the royal engagement."

The duo made their first public appearance together in September at the Invictus Games, a sporting event founded by the prince for disabled veterans. She was dressed casually in white shirt and ripped jeans, he in a sports polo and wraparound sunglasses, and so they resembled many young Londoners out for a day of sports and fun. The couple also held hands and canoodled - and the photographers ate it up. They were also snapped standing alongside Markle's mother, Doria Ragland.

In her career, Markle is best known for playing Rachel Zane in the popular New York City legal drama "Suits," which is filmed in Toronto, where Markle has been living.

London's Evening Standard wondered aloud, what should Markle be called?

"The most likely situation," the newspaper guessed, "is that Harry and Meghan will actually become known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex but this depends on the Queen. The Queen must grant the couple a royal dukedom on their wedding day in order for them to be allowed these titles. This is the way that wives of royals can be known on an equal level to their husbands, otherwise Markle will have to get used to being known as Princess Henry of Wales."

The royal family has a long and fraught relationship with the issue of divorce - just ask Queen Elizabeth II's uncle, Edward, who abdicated the throne so he could marry Simpson. Markle was previously married to Trevor Engelson, a film producer. They wed in 2011 and split after two years.

When Harry's father, Charles, married Camilla - they were both divorcees - the couple opted for a civil ceremony.

But divorce is not the big deal it once was - three of the queen's four children are divorced - and there's no reason to think that Harry and Meghan could not be married in a Church of England ceremony, especially after the church clarified its position on the subject of divorce.

In 2002, the Church of England's governing body said that "there are exceptional circumstances in which a divorced person may be married in church during the lifetime of a former spouse." Whether to perform the marriage in a church is a decision that "rests with the minister," it said.

If that minister was Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury - the most senior post in the Church of England - it seems likely that he would happily oblige.

"I'm absolutely delighted to hear the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now engaged," he tweeted. "I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfillment - and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together."

Within seconds of the announcement of the royal engagement, Twitter erupted in celebration. "Harry and Meghan" and #Royalengagement quickly began trending in Britain and worldwide as people offered their congratulations.

"They look so in love and make such a lovely couple. This is great for Britain as a whole. Next year is going to be all about #harryandmeghan," tweeted one.

Others were just as excited about the tantalizing prospect of a day off work. When Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot in on April 29, 2011, becoming the duke and duchess of Cambridge, the government declared it a public, or "bank," holiday.

"Is Harry important enough for us to get a Bank Holiday????" queried one Twitter user.

Kensington Palace said, "Ms. Markle's parents, Mr. Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, have wished the couple 'a lifetime of happiness.' "

Prime Minister Theresa May, perhaps relieved to put the drudgery of Britain's exit from European Union aside for an hour, added her voice: "This is a time of huge celebration for two people in love. On behalf of myself, the government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future."

Even Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party and longtime republican, offered his well wishes.

Corbyn told reporters in Glasgow, "I hope they have a great time and great fun together, and having met Harry a couple of times, I'm sure they are going to have a great deal of fun together."

The Labour leader added: "I really do admire the way that Harry and his brother have drawn attention to mental health conditions all across the country."

Princes Harry and William have become known for their campaigning work that aims to alleviate the stigma surrounding mental health. They have spoken openly and candidly about their own struggles with loss after their mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

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The Washington Post's Jennifer Hassan contributed to this report.

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Video: Britain's Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle announced their engagement on Nov. 27. The two are expected to marry in the spring of 2018.(Joyce Lee/The Washington Post)

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In spearheading their massive tax code rewrite, Republicans have also reopened one of the nation's long-running environmental fights.

Working with the Trump administration, congressional Republicans led by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, are seeking to raise revenue by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northeast corner of Alaska. The plan pits Murkowski and other Republicans, who believe Arctic energy development can raise money for their tax overhaul that is their top legislative priority, against environmentalists clamoring to protect caribou and other wildlife in the 1.5 million acre section of the 19 million acre refuge from oil and gas drilling.

But the GOP is also seeking to open up another corner of Alaska to industrial development. Their move has nothing to do with the Arctic refuge, and has received considerably less attention.

On page 169 of the 174-page-long appropriations bill funding the Interior Department, the environment and related agencies including the Forest Service, Murkowski has proposed unraveling a plan issued in waning days of the Obama administration to decelerate old-growth logging in the Tongass National Forest. Murkowski is also chair of the appropriations committee making the decisions on Tongass.

At 17 million acres, the Tongass is just a sliver smaller than the Arctic refuge. But that wilderness, taking up the entire southern end of the Alaska Panhandle, is still the largest national forest in the nation, teeming with brown bears, bald eagles and other wildlife.

Unlike ANWR, the Tongass is not untouched. Resource extraction is permitted in the Tongass and other national forests under guidelines spelled out by the government in land management plans.

For decades in the Tongass, loggers have harvested old-growth timber - that is, forests that have not been significantly cut. Heeding the call of scientists and conservationists seeking to preserve dwindling old-growth habitat nationwide, the Forest Service under Obama finalized in late 2016 a plan that phased down old-growth logging in the Tongass. Both in the Tongass and other national forests, the Obama administration took steps to encourage the cutting of "new growth" forests instead.

But old-growth forests are full of high-quality timber, and the economy in southeast Alaska has historically relied on harvests of spruce and other trees from the Tongass. Murkowski's proposal calls for the Forest Service to revise or amend the 2016 plan. If passed, the Forest Service would revert back to a more logger-friendly 2008 plan in the meantime.

"Every sector of the Southeast Alaska economy needs greater access to the Tongass, but this rule failed to provide it," Murkowski said in a statement in October of the 2016 land management plan for the Tongass.

Environmental groups, some of which felt the Tongass plan issued by the Obama administration didn't go far enough to protect the pristine parts of the forest, criticized the proposal as a giveaway to the logging sector.

"Senator Murkowski is trying to sneak in anti-environmental policy riders into a massive budget bill intended to allow destructive logging of some of the tallest and oldest trees in our national forests," Alex Taurel, deputy legislative director at the League of Conservation Voters, wrote by email. "This activity and the pollution it causes would harm thriving and sustainable local economies such as fishing and tourism."

But in Washington, the Tongass outcry has not been nearly as loud as that over ANWR.

Murkowski seemed to have chosen a subtler path, too.

At the request of the senior senator from Alaska, the Government Accountability Office ruled in October that the 2016 Tongass plan could be undone under the Congressional Review Act.

Earlier this year, congressional Republicans used the once-obscure law to erase more than a dozen Obama-era administrative regulations with just a simple majority in both chambers.

Once signed by President Donald Trump, CRA resolutions prevent the next presidential administration from issuing "substantially similar" rules.

Under the law, Congress has only 60 legislative days to pass such a resolution after the GAO announced its ruling. Despite the permanent protection for the Alaska timber sector such a measure would provide, the Alaska congressional delegation has so far decided to forgo using the Congressional Review Act for the Tongass.
WASHINGTON - In June 2015, retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn took a little-noticed trip to Egypt and Israel, paid for by a U.S. company he was advising. The company hoped to build more than two dozen nuclear plants in the region in partnership with Russian interests.

Flynn's quiet involvement in that project - and his failure to disclose his ties to the effort - could complicate the legal issues facing President Trump's former national security adviser, who has signaled he may be willing to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller.

Congressional Democrats say that Flynn may have violated federal law by failing to disclose the Middle Eastern trip in his security clearance renewal application in 2016. A top House Republican declined the Democrats' request for a congressional inquiry but referred the allegations to the special counsel.

Last month, Mueller revealed that his wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has led to charges against three former Trump campaign officials. One of them, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, has been cooperating, according to court filings.

There are now signs that Flynn - whose international dealings have been the subject of intense interest by the special counsel - may also be willing to share information with prosecutors. Last week, his attorney shut down communications with Trump's legal team, a development many interpreted as suggesting possible cooperation with Mueller.

Investigators for the special counsel have been examining whether Flynn hid foreign business dealings, particularly work he did for Turkish interests during the campaign, according to people familiar with the probe.

The nuclear venture is yet another instance in which Flynn appeared to have a personal stake in an international project while he was advising Trump in 2016, giving prosecutors one more potential avenue to pressure him to cooperate.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. An attorney for Flynn declined to comment.

Flynn remained involved in the Middle Eastern nuclear project from the spring of 2015 to the end of 2016, according to recent financial disclosure filings, a period that partially overlapped with his role as a prominent adviser to Trump's campaign and transition.

"General Flynn's actions are part of a broader pattern of concealing his foreign contacts, payments, travel, and work on behalf of foreign interests," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. "The bigger question is this: What did President Trump know and why did he disregard all the red flags?"

The White House declined to comment.

Flynn served as an adviser to two Washington-based companies pursuing efforts to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East: ACU Strategic Partners, which proposed a partnership with Russian interests, and IP3/IronBridge, which later launched a separate endeavor that initially proposed working with China to build the infrastructure, according to federal documents and company officials.

In various filings in 2016 and 2017, Flynn did not initially disclose his connection to ACU and foreign contacts he made while advising the firm.

Flynn said he served as an "advisor" to ACU from April 2015 through June 2016, according to an amended financial disclosure he filed this August. But he made no mention of the company in a "Truth in Testimony" form he signed for a congressional appearance in June 2015, shortly before he traveled to the Middle East on the trip paid for by ACU. Flynn wrote that he was representing his company, Flynn Intel Group, at the hearing.

Flynn also did not reveal his ties to ACU on the personal financial disclosure form he completed in February after entering the White House, according to federal filings. It was not until August - six months after he was fired as national security adviser - that he disclosed a relationship to the firm on an amended form.

But perhaps his most serious omission, House Democrats contend, came on his security clearance renewal application in January 2016 and in his interview with background check investigators the following month, according to an Oct. 18 letter signed by Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee.

"It appears that General Flynn violated federal law by omitting this trip and these foreign contacts from his security clearance renewal application and concealing them from security clearance investigators who interview as part of that background check," according to the letter.

It is a criminal offense to knowingly omit material information requested by federal officials conducting such a review.

An attorney for Flynn's company told the committee that it would not provide documents about the Middle Eastern nuclear project unless it is subpoenaed, according to the letter.

Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, declined to issue a subpoena and instead referred the Democrats' concerns to Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.

"Much of what is sought by my Democratic colleagues -- if properly investigated charged and proven beyond a reasonable doubt -- would carry criminal penalties," Gowdy wrote in his Oct. 18 letter, posted by the committee. "Congress does not, and cannot, prosecute crimes."

Gowdy, a former prosecutor, did not offer an opinion on whether he believed the allegations have merit, but wrote that he did not want to "risk interfering with any ongoing criminal probes."

Flynn, who was fired by President Obama from his post as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, became involved in ACU's project in 2015, part of a group of former top military and diplomatic officials and nuclear experts the company assembled to help push its plan.

The idea: to build several dozen "proliferation-proof" nuclear power plants across Persian Gulf states. The plan relied heavily on Russian interests, which would help build the plants, as well as possibly take possession of spent fuel that could be used to build a nuclear weapon, according to people familiar with the project.

ACU's managing director, Alex Copson, had been promoting variations of building nuclear facilities with Russian help for more than two decades, according to news reports. Copson did not respond to requests for comment, and ACU's counsel, Don Gross, declined to comment.

ACU officials declined to identify itsinvestors or answer questions on the record from The Post about whether it has foreign backing.

Around the time he began advising the company, Flynn was warning publicly that America's national security would be at risk if the U.S. allowed Russia and other countries to spearhead nuclear energy projects in the Middle East.

"I don't want Russia to be talking to Jordan about building nuclear plants," Flynn testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on June 10, 2015. "I don't want the Chinese or Pakistan to be talking to the Saudis about building potentially 10 to 15 plants. I don't want the Russians to go over to Egypt and talk to them about building nuclear plants."

"I want the United States of America to be in the driver seat," he added.

Two weeks later, Flynn traveled to the region. There, he urged Egyptian officials not to sign a deal with Russia to build nuclear plants and assured Israeli officials that ACU's plan could prevent Israel's enemies from obtaining material for nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with his conversations. The trip was first reported by Newsweek.

Thomas Cochran, an expert on nuclear nonproliferation issues who worked as ACU's senior scientist, joined Flynn on the Israel portion of the trip. "Because General Flynn firmly believed in the necessity of the project from a US national security perspective, he traveled to Egypt and Israel to explain the ACU project's importance," he wrote in a June letter to congressional investigators.

Flynn did not have a contract with ACU, but the company paid more than $5,000 toward his expenses for the trip, according to the firm and federal filings.

ACU also wrote Flynn a $25,000 check for what it described in a letter to the House Oversight Committee as "the loss of income and business opportunities resulting from this trip." But the company said Flynn never cashed the check, mystifying congressional investigators who have examined the matter.

Around June 2016, according to his financial disclosure, Flynn ended his association with ACU and began advising a company called IP3/IronBridge, co-founded by retired Rear Adm. Michael Hewitt, a former ACU adviser.

IP3 initially proposed partnering with China and other nations on building nuclear power plants, rather than Russia, according to a company spokesman, who said the China component has since been dropped.

In August 2016, the company produced a PowerPoint presentation that included Flynn's photo and former government title on a page titled, "IP3/IronBridge: Formidable US Leadership." The document was labeled as a "Presentation to His Majesty King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz" of Saudi Arabia and displayed the seals of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The presentation was obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight committee, who made it public.

IP3 officials said in a statement to The Post that the document was never presented to the Saudis. The company also said that while it had offered Flynn a role as "an advisor" in June 2016 with no pay, Flynn responded that he wanted to "hold off." In December, the company said, he sent a letter to IP3 "terminating the offer."

Asked why Flynn reported on various financial disclosure forms that he had been an "consultant," "board member" and "advisor" to IP3, the company said it appeared Flynn disclosed a "potential" role "out of an abundance of caution."

Cummings said his committee was not informed that Flynn had an offer from IP3 that he deferred until after the election.

Flynn continued to support the idea of the nuclear project during the presidential transition. He encouraged Tom Barrack, one of Trump's closest friends, to pursue a related plan and endorsed a colleague's suggestion that Barrack meet with IP3 officials, according to a person familiar with their conversation.

Barrack was interested in developing a Mideast "Marshall Plan" to provide aid to poor regions of the Persian Gulf as a way to combat terrorism. At Flynn's urging, he had a lunch with company officials, but did not know that Flynn had served as an adviser to the firm, according to the person with knowledge of the episode.

Barrack declined to comment.

Both the ACU and IP3 proposals remain in flux and would require numerous governmental approvals to proceed.

Meanwhile, other nations have moved to secure their own nuclear power projects in the Middle East.

In May, two years after Flynn visited Egypt in an effort to urge that nation not to sign a deal with Russia and to work with an American firm instead, Egypt finalized a deal with a Moscow to build its first nuclear power plant. The arrangement had been supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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The Washington Post's Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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Eric Mott returned home to Florida from vacation on Wednesday, expecting his mother and son to pick him up at the airport. When they did not appear, the father tried calling 15-year-old Logan Mott, First Coast News reported.

No answer. The boy's grandmother, Kristina French, wasn't picking up either.

So Mott and his girlfriend paid for a ride from the airport, arriving at his house in Neptune Beach to find the front door open, the place ransacked and the gun safe emptied.

Now Playing: Police have arrested a 15-year-old Florida boy identified as a person of interest in his grandmothers killing, detaining him in upstate New York as he allegedly attempted to cross into Canada Video: People

This initiated a frantic, days-long cross-country search for the ninth-grader and his grandmother. It began with concern for both of their lives, but then took some of the darkest turns imaginable.

"Kristina loves Logan dearly and Logan loves her just as much," the boy's mother, Carrie Campbell-Mott, wrote in a desperate Facebook post after the pair disappeared, according to Action News Jax.

She described French - who had become a grandmother to Logan in her late 30s and was now 53 - as one of the kindest, most caring people she had ever known. (French's employer, a school for autistic and disabled children, would later say much the same thing.)

Her son, Campbell-Mott wrote, was good and kind to his family. He had not made a sound when he was born and remained introspective through life - "always looking at the world, analyzing it."

Logan was also brave beyond his years about his diabetes, the mother wrote, which now concerned her gravely.

"If you have taken them we are begging you to return Logan and Kristina," she begged in her post. "Please. Without insulin he WILL die."

Wednesday passed with no sign of either. By the following night, a police cruiser stood guard in a light rain outside French's house, to which she had not returned, and from which guns had also been taken, First Coast News Reported.

A few miles away in Neptune Beach, police were still combing through the ransacked house where Logan had lived with his father.

A reporter saw investigators with buckets and sifters in the yard Thursday evening; the public would find out the next day what they were for.

Rumors began to circulate that something terrible had happened inside the Mott house some time between last Friday, when Logan was last seen at school, and Wednesday when his father returned.

At 5 p.m. Friday, high-ranking police and members of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office gathered at Neptune City Hall to reveal what they knew.

Logan Mott was not in need of insulin, sheriff's office Director Ron Lendvay told reporters. The boy was believed to have taken a week's supply of medicine, and also stolen his grandmother's car and driven hundreds of miles north to Pennsylvania, where a surveillance camera had spotted him the previous day.

Meanwhile, investigators had found a makeshift grave in the backyard, and by daylight uncovered what they believed to be French's body.

So Logan as still being sought. "We need to talk to him about what may have taken place in the house," Lendvay said.

And considering the missing guns, he was considered armed and dangerous.

Just as Campbell-Mott could not have imagined French hurting her son, she also could not believe that Logan would harm or intentionally kill his grandmother.

"It could have been an accident and he got scared and ran. We have no idea," she wrote on Facebook after the news conference, as reported by Action News Jax. "He is likely scared, alone and deeply confused."

"Logan Mott if you are reading this I love you," she wrote. "I'm here. I love you. Please call me. I will help you. Mom."

That night, less than an hour before midnight, the sheriff's office announced that Logan had been found.

He had not called his mother and come home, but had instead traveled all the way from Neptune Beach to near Buffalo, where federal agents detained him at the Canadian border.

A judge had already issued an arrest warrant for auto theft by then, though Logan was still described as only a person of interest in his grandmother's death.

The sheriff's office did return a request for further details on Saturday morning.

In a statement released to ABC News and other outlets after Logan's capture, his mother remained as optimistic as might be thought possible.

"We are relieved he is safe and in custody and we just ask for everyone to give us time to sort out what happened," she wrote. "That no matter what, Logan is our child and we love him and are standing by him to help in any way."
Washington

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, under investigation over allegations he sexually harassed female staff members, said Sunday he will step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while fiercely denying he acted inappropriately during his long tenure in Congress.

In a statement, the 88-year-old lawmaker made clear he would prefer to keep his leadership role on the committee, which has wide jurisdiction over U.S. law enforcement, from civil rights and impeachment of federal officials to sexual harassment protections.

But Conyers acknowledged maintaining the post would be a distraction "in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me."

"I have come to believe that my presence as ranking member on the committee would not serve these efforts while the Ethics Committee investigation is pending," he said. "I cannot in good conscience allow these charges to undermine my colleagues in the Democratic Caucus, and my friends on both sides of the aisle in the Judiciary Committee and the House of Representatives."

Denying the allegations, Conyers, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who was first elected to the House in 1964, urged lawmakers to allow him "due process."

"I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family," Conyers said.

News website BuzzFeed reported last Monday that Conyers' office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. BuzzFeed also published affidavits from former staff members who said they had witnessed Conyers touching female staffers inappropriately  rubbing their legs and backs  or requesting sexual favors.

Conyers says he will fully cooperate with the Ethics Committee, which said it will review the allegations of harassment and age discrimination as well as using "official resources for impermissible personal purposes."

At least one House Democrat, Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, has called on Conyers to step down from Congress. Two others, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chairman of the largest group of congressional liberals, had said Conyers should at least step aside from his leadership role on the Judiciary committee.

In a statement Sunday, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said she welcomed Conyers' decision to give up the committee leadership post.

"Zero tolerance means consequences," Pelosi said.
The woman's secret flight from the caliphate took place more than six months ago, aided by a smuggler who helped her sneak across the Syrian-Turkish border one spring night. But in spirit, this red-haired exile from the Islamic State never truly left.

She covered herself in black from head to toe to greet a recent visitor to the small Moroccan house where she stays, and removed her veil only when assured that her guest, also a woman, was alone. Over sips of mint tea, she spoke admiringly of her militant husband and the comrades she met in the Islamic State's all-female brigade. Calling herself Zarah - she declined to give her family name because she had traveled to Syria in secret - she vowed that her children would someday reclaim the Islamist paradise she believes was stolen from her family.

"We will bring up strong sons and daughters and tell them about the life in the caliphate," she said, fingering her teacup through black gloves. "Even if we hadn't been able to keep it, our children will one day get it back."

Zarah's blunt-spoken fealty to the Islamic State was remarkable, given the physical and legal perils facing Islamic State residents who seek to return to former homes. But counterterrorism officials fear that the sentiments expressed by the Moroccan woman may not be so unusual.

In recent months, women immigrants to the Islamic State have been fleeing the caliphate by the hundreds, eventually returning to their native countries or finding sanctuary in detention centers or refugee camps along the way. Some are mothers with young children who say they were pressured into traveling to Iraq or Syria to be with their husbands. But a disturbing number appear to have embraced the group's ideology and remain committed to its goals, according to interviews with former residents of the caliphate as well as intelligence officials and analysts who are closely tracking the returnees.

From North Africa to Western Europe, the new arrivals are presenting an unexpected challenge to law enforcement officials, who were bracing for an influx of male returnees but instead have found themselves deciding the fate of scores of women and children. Few of the females fought in battle, yet governments are beginning to regard all as potential threats, both in the near term and well into the future. Indeed, as the loss of the caliphate has appeared ever more certain, Islamic State leaders in recent weeks have issued explicit directions to women returnees to prepare for new missions, from carrying out suicide attacks to training offspring to become future terrorists.

"There were definitely cases of women being dragged off to ISIS, but there are others who have been radicalized, including some who went on to assume important roles," said Anne Speckhard, director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, a nonprofit organization that conducts field research on Islamic State deserters and defectors.

One Kosovo native interviewed by the center admitted that she returned home only because she was in the final weeks of pregnancy and wanted better medical care.

"She came out to have her baby but said she wanted to go back," Speckhard said. "And, she said, she wanted both her kids to grow up to be martyrs."

For months, terrorism officials have been expecting a wave of returnees from the caliphate. But not this one.

In Morocco, the North African kingdom whose coastline faces continental Europe from across the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, just over 1,600 male fighters have traveled to Iraq or Syria since 2012 to join the Islamic State, along with a nearly equal number of women and children, according to figures compiled by the Soufan Group, a private firm that advises governments and corporations on security matters.

The flow of recruits from North Africa and Europe slowed to a trickle last year as U.S.-backed forces cut off the group's supply lines and closed in on its final strongholds, and relatively few of the male fighters have come home, despite fears of a mass exodus as the caliphate neared collapse. Instead, foreign consulates in Turkey have been besieged by hundreds of women and children - the wives, mothers and offspring of Islamic State fighters - seeking permission to return home.

Scores of Moroccan women have successfully returned - including some, like Zarah, who slipped in and out of the country unnoticed - and dozens more are waiting in detention centers in Turkey while their cases are reviewed. Moroccan officials acknowledge that the women pose a dilemma for policymakers and law enforcement: the country is obliged to accept custody of its citizens, but there is no set policy on how to deal with them. Returnees who committed crimes will go to jail, but the law is less clear on how to treat wives and mothers with no record of violence or history of direct participation in extremist causes.

"All the women tell us the same story: their husbands went because of the financial benefits and they followed them because they had no choice," a senior Moroccan official said in an interview, insisting on anonymity in discussing the country's security challenges.

Most of the women who have returned so far appear intent on resuming their old lives and putting the Islamic State behind them, officials say. But the fear among security experts is that some of the returnees continue to hold radical views and will seek to indoctrinate family members.

"There are, first and foremost, their children, who they are supposed to bring up the way ISIS would want them to," the senior official said.

Several recent Moroccan returnees interviewed by The Washington Post all seemed relieved to be home, describing an increasingly harrowing existence inside a caliphate strained by shortages and daily airstrikes and bombardments. Each agreed to talk about their experiences on the condition that their family names or locations not be revealed, citing fears of reprisal by Islamic State sympathizers in Morocco or arrest by the authorities.

"We were afraid of the rockets and bombings - my children would run into the corner and cry," said Umm Zaid, who fled from Syria with her four children in July. The family had immigrated to the Islamic State's eastern al-Khayr province in 2015 thinking that "life might be better there," she said. But once inside the caliphate, she found herself mostly confined to her house and feeling suffocated by the Islamic State's strict codes. Her husband, an employee in the local alms department, decided that the family would return to Morocco, but someone learned of his escape plan and betrayed him. The husband was arrested, while Umm Zaid and her children joined with other Moroccan families in fleeing north toward the Turkish border.

"We had to cross with our kids by foot," she said.

Yet, months later, signs of the Islamic State's influence persist. Most of the women interviewed continue to wear the conservative garb mandated by the Islamist militant group, including the niqab, a heavy veil that covers everything but the eyes.

"That's my right; I can wear whatever I like," snapped Umm Khaled, another recent returnee who brought three children home to Morocco, including one that was born in the Islamic State. "Allah gave the niqab to the women."

Zarah was more candid in describing her initial attraction to Islamic State. She acknowledged that it had been her idea to move to Syria, and that she had persuaded her first husband to join the terrorist group soon after the caliphate was officially declared in 2014.

"I actually pushed my husband that we should travel," she said. After arriving in Syria, her husband trained as a fighter and soon "became a martyr for the caliphate, thanks to God," said Zarah, a woman in her late 20s with pale skin and long, henna-tinged tresses. "I loved him. But we all must make sacrifices for our beliefs," she said.

Zarah eventually remarried and obtained a job in the Islamic State's media service, where women who were generally barred from combat duty could serve a useful role in shaping the group's propaganda. She described being particularly inspired by Fatiha Mejjati, the 56-year-old widow of a Moroccan terrorist who rose to become the leader of the Islamic State's al-Khansaa brigade, an all-female detachment that polices the group's strictures against wearing makeup or showing bare skin. Mejjati's reputation as a harsh enforcer of the group's legal codes is supported by multiple witnesses and court documents that describe floggings of women suspected of breaking the rules. Reached by The Washington Post through an intermediary, Mejjati said her "current situation" did not allow her to answer questions.

Zarah would soon join the brigade. She recalled how, in meetings, Mejjati would lecture other members about the obligations of serving as a woman in the Islamic State, including the duty to marry an Islamist militant and raise children to be soldiers of the caliphate.

"It was - and still is - our duty to have children and bring them up the right way," Zarah said. She was unsure about the fate of her second husband, who had stayed in Syria to help defend an enclave that they both knew was probably doomed, at least in its current form. "We thought that even if they would try to destroy the caliphate, it will live on," she said, "as long as we spread the idea of the Islamic State."

For many of the women returnees, the obligations appear to extend beyond the nurturing of future terrorists. In recent months, a growing number of women have been tapped to carry out military operations, both inside the caliphate and in their home countries.

Since the founding of the caliphate, Islamic State leaders have traditionally discouraged women from serving as warriors or suicide bombers. But as the losses have mounted, the group has given female followers a broader mandate to kill.

In the most prominent recent example, commanders ordered dozens of female suicide bombers to throw themselves against advancing government troops in a last-ditch effort to defend Mosul, the Islamic State's Iraqi capital. In September 2016, the group's Syrian leaders guided a cell of five French women in a foiled attempt to carry out a terrorist bombing in central Paris.

An essay last month in the Islamic State's official propaganda organ, al-Naba, sought to rally more women to the fight by invoking a famous female from Islam's early history: Nusaybah bit Ka'ab, a 7th-century tribeswoman who took up a sword to assist the prophet Muhammad when he was surrounded by enemies in battle.

"It is not strange to the Muslim women today to have the sense of honesty and sacrifice and love for the faith, just like their predecessors of the mujahid women who supported Islam," said the essay, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, a private organization that monitors Islamist militant media.

Although the Islamic State never disallowed attacks by women, the group now appears to be openly encouraging them, said Rita Katz, a terrorism analyst and founder of SITE.

"The new call from ISIS will even allow husbands and fathers to push their wives and daughters to carry out attacks," Katz said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see an increase of women in ISIS-inspired or coordinated attacks in the West and elsewhere."

Anticipating such a turn, several European governments have begun toughening their laws for dealing with women returnees. In Belgium, France and the Netherlands, prosecution and imprisonment are all but guaranteed for men and women who joined the caliphate and now wish to return home.

The Belgian government, after initially allowing some women and children to resettle in their former neighborhoods, is now preparing criminal proceedings against 29 female citizens who are seeking repatriation from Turkey, Iraq or Syria. The prevailing perception of such women as victims has mostly vanished because of the political backlash over the March 2016 terrorist attack in Brussels, and recent well-publicized cases in which the children of returning families sought to radicalize classmates at school, Belgian counterterrorism officials say.

The worry among European security experts is that some returnees will retain their radical views, even after spending time in prison. Such fears are bolstered by years of research that shows the difficulty of reversing the effects of extremist indoctrination, said Thomas Renard, a Belgian terrorism expert and senior fellow at the EGMONT Royal Institute for International Relations, a Brussels think tank. The studies also confirm that mothers have proportionately greater influence when it comes to instilling radical views in children, Renard said.

"Since the returnees are mostly young women, there's a possibility of still more children in the coming years," he said, "and so there's also a real possibility that these women will raise their children to accept a very radical version of Islam."

Even with the imposition of stricter laws and mandatory prison sentences, some returnees could remain under the Islamic State's sway for years to come, he said.

"We can safely say that when they come out of prison, a majority will not have deradicalized," Renard said. "And some will not have abandoned their allegiance to violent jihad."
Perhaps as important as what Pope Francis will say during his visit to Myanmar this week is what he might not say.

As he arrived for the first papal visit to the country, speculation mainly circled around the question whether the pope would use the term "Rohingya" to describe the country's Muslim minority, which has been the target of a brutal military "clearance operation."

Rohingya Muslims are not officially recognized as a minority in Myanmar, also called Burma, even though many have lived there for generations. Burmese officials - and many among the predominantly Buddhist population - reject "Rohingya" and are instead using "Bengalis" to emphasize their disputed argument that the Rohingya migrated illegally to the country from Bangladesh.

Myanmar's small Catholic community has similarly urged the pope to refrain from using the term, as such a move would likely be interpreted as foreign meddling in domestic affairs by the Burmese leadership.

But as a religious leader who has repeatedly defied the restraint his predecessors may have shown, observers believe that Pope Francis could still emphasize his support for the minority by deliberately using the factually correct but politically fraught term.

Pope Francis had already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters," ahead of his visit. If he refrained from reusing the term while in Myanmar, his supporters elsewhere may interpret his caution as moral weakness. It could be seen as a contradictory signal by a pope who has been a vocal supporter of refugees across the globe and was previously quoted as saying that he does not like "the contradiction of those who want to defend Christianity in the West, and, on the other hand, are against refugees and other religions."

Whereas some hope that the pope's use of the term would increase pressure on Myanmar's leadership to refrain from further repression and violence targeting Rohingya Muslims, others fear that such a move could escalate tensions further.

About 600,000 Rohingya Muslims had to flee across the border into Bangladesh in recent months, after the military targeted the minority. The U.S. government classified the violence as "ethnic cleansing" last week and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed the Burmese government, military and local vigilantes for "horrendous atrocities" in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

The Burmese military is denying any involvement in the atrocities and members of other religious groups in the country, such as Buddhists and Hindus, claim that they were in turn the targets of violence by the Rohingya.

In the midst of the conflict, the pope will meet with Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's military leadership as well as Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh during his six-day visit, which ends on Saturday. Although the trip was planned ahead of the most recent escalation of violence, which has lasted for more than three months, it is now inevitably being dominated by the ethnic cleansing or genocide allegations the Burmese government and military are facing from the United States, the United Nations and other Western governments.

Myanmar's Catholic Church leadership has also refrained from calling the violence against the Rohingya minority "ethnic cleansing" - likely due to fears of repercussions the use of the term could have for the Catholic minority - just 650,000 in a country of 53 million.

Whereas the Vatican spokesman defended the pope's use of the term as not being "a prohibited word" ahead of the visit, senior Vatican diplomat Cardinal Pietro Parolin was careful to not mention it in a pre-visit interview.

Some within the Catholic Church have started to wonder whether going ahead with the visit could turn out to be a lose-lose situation. In a commentary for the Religion News Service, Jesuit priest Thomas Reese argued that the pope "risks either compromising his moral authority or putting in danger the Christians of that country."

"I have great admiration for the pope and his abilities, but someone should have talked him out of making this trip," Reese wrote.

As he embarked on the trip on Sunday evening, the pope still expressed optimism, however: "They say it's too hot (in Myanmar). I'm sorry, but let's hope it will at least be fruitful."
Silicon Valley isn't only a place -- it's a mindset.

It's optimistic, it's idealistic and everyone is there to make the world a better place, even if what they are building is just (yet another!) photo filter app.

Related: 5 U.S. Cities Luring Tech Talent Away From Silicon Valley

Even as Silicon Valley is being exposed for its dark sides -- everything from its diversity shortcomings, to its focus on money, to scandals around sexual harassment, ageism and the cost of living -- it's provided a playbook for growth and innovation for the rest of the world.

The key is for entrepreneurs in places like Kansas City and Nashville and Cincinnati to take the right lessons from the Bay Area, by focusing on the mindset: the idea that innovation comes through iteration, that failure should be embraced for what you can learn from it and that every business can be transformed by technology. These concepts can do much to accelerate business cultures everywhere.

Now is the time, when entire traditional industries are suffering and business leaders are under pressure to defend against disruptive forces, to ensure that this mindset is switched on to create prosperity and growth. Technology will continue to reshape economies across America. The question is if Middle America can learn this new game and build a new prosperity in old economy strongholds. I believe we can.

Related: 4 Benefits and 2 Challenges to Running a Tech Startup in the Heartland

The next industrial revolution

Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, argues we are in a great equalizing moment. He popularized the idea of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution," where the true disruption in today's world is about speed, scope and systems as technology is evolving into something that permeates every aspect of our daily lives.

Steve Case sees this time as the "Third Wave" of innovation. The first wave was the creation of the basic infrastructure of the internet to make it navigable by consumers, and the second was building the structures on top of that internet that allow for everything from search to customer relationship management. The third, he believes, is real-world industries becoming entirely transformed.

There remains a lot of market cap located in the middle of the country, and those corporations that are going to survive the next couple of decades are those that are proactive and creative in embracing technology to disrupt themselves. Old economy industry leaders need to learn from the legacy of Silicon Valley, but bring their own strengths and specialized know-how.

Related: The Majority of Startup Tech Companies Should Not Be in the Bay Area

Gartner predicts that "By 2020, five of the top seven digital giants will willfully 'self-disrupt' to create their next leadership opportunity." It cites Amazon organizing itself around AWS Lambda rather than traditional cloud configurations, and pushing Alexa rather than all of the screen based ecommerce they've built for years. If big tech finds it needs to upend its own game to keep up, think about what traditional industries such as mining or transportation should be doing.

Fortunately, Silicon Valley has provided a roadmap:

1. Focus on growth.

The tech industry has taught us the importance of thinking big, as opposed to growing incrementally. When I was involved with DotLoop, the founder, Austin Allison, thought big about changing how we buy and sell homes on our mobile devices, signing up eight of the top 10 real estate companies. Then Zillow swooped in and bought the company. The vision was big enough to matter and big enough to get noticed. Entrepreneurs need to be finding mentors, advisors and investors from Day One who have experience building companies from $0 to $10 million to $100 million-plus.

Related: Starting Up Outside of Silicon Valley May Be Tough, But It Lays the Groundwork for Generations of Entrepreneurs

2. Don't be cheap.

It's no secret that it can be expensive to start a company in the Bay Area. Silicon Valley office space is famously pricey, reaching beyond $120 per square foot, compared to less than $20 in Cincinnati. Entrepreneurs should take advantage of the lower costs of doing business here, but don't take it too far. I've heard from too many tech recruiters that Midwest startups think they can hire great talent away from big companies for a "startup salary." That's not going happen. Venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley pay up for talent, not because they want to but because they know they are worth it. Entrepreneurs can't afford to be cheap. Outside of Silicon Valley the relative cost to operate is low, but you still need top talent and at a startup time is your enemy.

3. Find the experts.

As technology moves beyond silicon and infrastructure, tomorrow's most valuable companies will be innovating within massive verticals like healthcare, finance, manufacturing and logistics. There is a premium for vertical domain knowledge in these industries, which exists in abundance in the middle of the country. Snag the top thinkers in your industry. Create customer advisory boards of the top executives. Leverage your industry insights to exploit new, emerging categories.

Related: No One Can Match Silicon Valley, But Other Cities Benefit From Fostering Startups

4. Create the networks you want.

We have to overcome the geographical barriers that separate cities in the middle of the country, versus the density of startups in Silicon Valley, and to do that we must be intentional about connecting with others. When we were just starting out at Cintrifuse, which is a fund of funds that leads investments in early stage venture funds around the country, we connected with the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, a Michigan-based fund that supports the growth of venture capital in the state, to compare notes, serve on each other's advisory boards, etc. We didn't see ourselves as competitors; we were both in it together, competing against a global economy. We probably talked a couple of times a week for three years as we were starting up. Entrepreneurs should create networks of partners and friends who are willing to openly share success and failures.

We are facing a truly unique opportunity for corporations and entrepreneurs alike to help the U.S. economy step up and thrive as a leader in the new global economy. We have learned a lot from Silicon Valley's startup culture and I am excited to see those lessons applied to benefit the rest of the country.

Related Video: You Don't Need to Be in Silicon Valley to Grow Your Business

Related:

There's a Lot You Can Learn From Silicon Valley, but Don't Imitate It

4 Benefits and 2 Challenges to Running a Tech Startup in the Heartland

Are we Living The Golden Age of Indian Entrepreneurship?



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Amman, Jordan

The U.N. child agency said Sunday that it has flown 1.9 million doses of vaccines to war-torn Yemen, its first aid delivery since a Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels tightened a sea and air blockade earlier this month.

Regional UNICEF director Geert Cappelaere described Saturday's shipment as a "very small step" at a time of immense need and warned that it must not be a one-off.

The coalition had promised to reopen Yemen's main airport in the capital of Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeida to humanitarian traffic by late last week.

However, two UNICEF vessels carrying food, water purification tables and medicines heading to Hodeida have not yet received clearance to dock, Cappelaere said.

"We hope all will live up to their promises," Cappelaere told reporters in the Jordanian capital of Amman. "These supplies are urgently needed."

More than 11 million children in Yemen are in dire need of aid, and it is estimated that every 10 minutes a child in Yemen dies of a preventable disease, he said.

New alarms were raised by an outbreak of diphtheria, with suspected cases already reported in five governorates, said Cappelaere. Cholera and acute watery diarrhea spread rapidly in recent months, including among children, with close to 1 million suspected cases reported.

"The war in Yemen is sadly a war on children," he said. "Yemen is facing the worst humanitarian crisis I have ever seen in my life."

Yemenis have endured an intensified 21/2-year war. It involves Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who control many population centers in western Yemen, and an internationally recognized government that has the backing of Saudi Arabia and several other key Persian Gulf states.
Sujata Jana / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

The Arlington Police Department is reporting there is not an active shooting situation at the The Parks Mall in South Arlington following an officer-involved shooting there late Sunday afternoon.

The North Texas mall was closed and shoppers evacuated around 5 p.m. in what police say was an incident "related to an offense."
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Robert Mugabes departure on Tuesday, 21 November as president of Zimbabwe, after 37 years in office, has sent ripples throughout the southern African region. In Uganda it has brought out many of the underlying tensions beneath the surface of society.

Mugabe was hated throughout Africa, not only because he was a brutal ruler, but because he belongs to a trend of similar totalitarians who have oppressed the African masses for decades. His fall was met with jubilation throughout the continent, where the masses are sick and tired of the rotten old regimes. In Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa there were scenes of wild celebrations in the big centres. In South Africa, which has a large Zimbabwean immigrant community, the Johannesburg suburb of Hillbrow was turned into mini-Harare as thousands danced in the streets.

Robert Mugabe's resignation has sent shockwaves throughout southern Africa / Image: Jesse B. Awalt

Mugabe was not removed by the Zimbabwean masses. His removal came as a consequence of contradictions at the top of the regime, which have intensified over years, and finally erupted into an open split. The struggles for resources, influence and power grew more and more intense towards the end of the 93-year olds reign. These splits at the top ended in a coup. But in order to gain legitimacy for the the coup, the military clique then leaned on the mass movement of 18 November to push out the opposing faction and disguise their blatant power-grab.

However, having been called out on the streets, the masses are now venting years of frustration and anger. Celebrating the end of Mugabe, they will soon demand a reversal to years of corruption and oppression. In reality of course, nothing has fundamentally changed. Zimbabwe is still under the thumb of the old regime, which now continues without Mugabe.

The new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa is the other side of the coin to Mugabe. He has been a key player in Zimbabwean politics, at every turn during the last 40 years. Known as the crocodile he is nothing but a bad replica of Mugabe. Soon the masses will realise this and as the euphoria evaporates, it will be replaced with disillusionment and then further anger. The army tops realise this and they have been trying to lead the whole process down a constitutional channel. That is the basis for Mugabes farcical resignation. But no election or constitutional process can fill the stomachs of the people of Zimbabwe.

Emmerson Mnangagwa / Image: Jean Marc Ferre

The new regime will not be able to calmly stabilise their rule in the near term. The splits at the top of the regime, which culminated in Mugabes removal, have aroused the masses from below. In Zimbabwe, and in fact in the whole of the Southern African, region workers, peasants and people have suddenly come to political life and they are now keenly following every event. This is causing great nervousness among the elites in the region.

Panic

The clearest example at this stage is Zimbabwes East Africa neighbour, Uganda. The regime of Yoweri Museveni is showing open signs of panic. When the coup broke out, Museveni revealed his paranoia by blasting the Zimbabwe Defence Force, calling the coup unconstitutional. This is rich coming from somebody who rides roughshod over the Ugandan constitution.

Museveni has reason to worry. Mugabes fall is influencing events in Uganda where the masses now feel emboldened. The regime is clearly nervous about the events in Zimbabwe over the last few days and is moving to quell the mood on the streets.

One day after Mugabes resignation, Museveni promised housing and salary hikes for teachers, soldiers, healthcare workers and public servants. This announcement came as a shock to everyone. Earlier, Museveni stubbornly maintained that this was unaffordable due to the sluggish economy. Now, miraculously, the economic situation has improved to such an extent that he can start giving concessions! Of course, what he is trying to do is to make reforms from above, to avoid a revolution from below. But with the masses feeling stronger by the day, the reforms will only embolden them further.

Emboldened

Within hours of this announcement, other layers such as taxi drivers came out onto the streets. They have been waging a struggle against the Kampala Capital City Authority over the imposition of levies on taxi operators in the city. They blocked the road and even intercepted Musevenis motorcade, demanding that he address them on the matter.

After a tense standoff with the special forces, and with the fear that things might get out of hand, Museveni was forced to intervene and made a short speech. Standing through the sunroof of his presidential vehicle, he told the taxi drivers that he was not in favour of the imposition of the levies and promised to attend to the matter urgently. A great cheer broke out. Satisfied with the answer, the taxi drivers opened the road and let the convoy through.

This is unprecedented! The very idea that people can block the Ugandas presidential motorcade and make demands of the Ugandan strongman is unheard-of. It is an indication that the masses are now losing their fear of the regime and feel emboldened by the events in their neighbouring country. From the point of view of the regime, this is a very dangerous situation. Once the masses sense the fear of the regime and it starts making concessions, it will embolden the people to press forward their demands.

Hanging on

The regime is clearly terrified. Several ministers and key allies of Musevenis inner circle have warned the 73-year-old to abandon attempts to amend the constitution to abolish the age-limit of 75 years which barred him from extending his 31-year rule. Currently the age cap bars Museveni from standing in the countrys elections in 2021.

This issue has been simmering for months. It is deeply unpopular and is causing widespread resistance from ordinary Ugandans. A survey by Afrobarometer found that more than 60 percent is opposed the bill. To push the issue forward Museveni gave each Member of Parliament 8000 dollars to facilitate a consultation with their constituents on the bill.

This has sparked outrage among many working-class Ugandans. In a country where 27 percent of the people live on less than one dollar a day, this open corruption has caused furious scenes recently. There were several clashes with police when some MPs tried to promote the bill in their constituencies.

These pressures were felt in parliament. Some opposition MPs tried to block the tabling of the bill but were forcibly removed by a unit of the army. Although the issue is deeply unpopular, Museveni is ignoring his advisers and is plunging ahead stubbornly, calling MPs who opposed the bill parasites. Clearly these MPs are afraid of provoking the wrath of the masses, but backing down will leave Museveni humiliated. It would be the end of the strongman image he has cultivated over the last 30 years and it will give more confidence to the movement on the streets.

Falling popularity

All of this is coming at a time when the whole regime is tainted by rising poverty, corruption and collapsing public services. While the poor get poorer, the rich get richer. Recently Museveni opened the oil-rich country up to looting under the disguise of foreign investment. French and Chinese oil companies have won lucrative contracts to pump 6.5 billion barrels of oil through a 3.5 billion dollar pipeline.

This is causing deep frustration throughout the country. At the latest Independence Day celebrations, which Museveni held in his home region, only a handful of people attended the event. In fact his bodyguards seemed to outnumber the crowds! It is a sign of his waning popularity even in the rural parts of the country, which have traditionally formed Museveni's support base.

Ugandan military police / Image: Flickr, US Army Africa

As his popularity support is falling, he is relying more and more on the military: especially the Special Forces Command, which he has turned into his loyal personal bodyguard. The unit was built on ethnic lines, comprising mainly of Musevenis Hima ethnic group. The aim is clearly to sow ethnic divisions that he can use to stay in power. The unit is better paid than other army units, with better training and equipment. It was previously commanded by Musevenis son, who is now a presidential adviser. A recent spike in brutality perpetrated by the security services is also a source of increasing resentment towards Museveni.

As is the case elsewhere on the continent, Museveni removed the special forces from the ordinary chain of command and put them under his direct control. At the same time, he also purged the old guard of the guerilla army and has surrounded himself with younger, less competent generals in a move to eliminate competition. But even here, the Zimbabwean situation ruffled some feathers. Clearly influenced by the Zimbabwean coup, which was led by the top commander of the military, Museveni shocked his own military by making a complete overhaul of the top command structure. He fired his own leading general and made 300 promotions to the chain of command a day after the formal downfall of Mugabe in Harare. This reveals his level of paranoia. But at the same time, in a similar manner as in Zimbabwe, the beginnings of a purge could bring out tensions from within the regime and deepen the political crisis.

The looming battle

In the 1980s Museveni hypocritically wrote: The problems of Africa and Uganda in particular, are caused by leaders who overstay in power, which breeds impunity, promotes corruption and patronage. Now, after 31 years in charge, he is moving to change the constitution to cling to office!

This is a situation which persists throughout Africa, where the old leaderships of the liberation movements have turned into rotten dictatorial regimes. The main problem lies in the fact that they all ended short of overthrowing the capitalist system after formal independence was won. Instead of overthrowing the system they became its managers on behalf of their imperialist masters.

Today many of the countries in the region are more dependent on the imperialist powers than when they were under their direct rule during the colonial era. Instead of direct, bureaucratic-military rule, the imperialists are dominating the region through debt dependency and the mechanisms of world trade, and through propping up totalitarian regimes to carry out the dirty work of keeping the masses in check.

Yoweri Museveni with the Obamas / Image: Office of the White House, Amanda Lucidon

These regimes crystallized after the defeats and demoralisation of the 1980s and leaned on the weak economic booms of the 1990s and the 2000s. In the meantime, they have completely rotted from inside: sitting on power like a weak crust on a simmering volcano, never far from an eruption.

The parasitic Museveni regime is completely detached from the real society. Uganda has an extremely youthful population with an average age of 15 years. Most Ugandans were not even been born when Museveni came to power and they have no direct links to the liberation era.

There is also a huge difference between Museveni and his party, the NRM. Unlike ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe, the NRM does not have a big traditional social base. It hardly exists as an organisation and basically has no structures. It is really a machine that exists to keep Museveni and his cabal in power. The officials and the MPs are extremely dependent on patronage from Museveni himself.

The lack of political life in the party has resulted in the situation where it cannot produce a successor. Museveni is now faced with his own succession problem. He needs time to promote his son. This is why he is pushing for the constitutional amendment.

But Museveni is running out of time. After 31 years of corruption, looting and crumbling infrastructure, the youthful population has had enough of him. The extreme centralisation of power in his own hands means he is now has become a focal point of all the accumulated anger in society.

Uganda is now a powderkeg waiting to explode. Just like the other strongman, Mugabe, Museveni and his clique are bound to be swept aside sooner or later. But as long as the capitalist system remains their will be no solutions to the problems of land, housing, healthcare, education and employment. Only on the basis of abolishing the capitalist system and spreading revolution throughout the continent and can these basic problems begin to be addressed.
Smith West

No services planned.

Smith Downtown

HEINRICH  Chad M., 43, of Billings. Memorial Service 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 27, Smith Downtown Chapel. Inurnment at Rockvale Cemetery 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28.(28)

STOLTZ  Ruth Margaret, 99, Billings. Memorial service 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, at First Baptist Church, Third Avenue North and Division Street.(30)

LANOUETTE  Michael Dean "Mike," 67, Billings. A Celebration of Life will be 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Smith's Downtown Chapel, 925 S. 27th St.(1)

Smith Laurel

WATTS  Ronald, 73. Memorial service will be at the Methodist Church in Laurel on Nov. 27, at 10:30 a.m.(27)

OBERG  Joseph O. Jr., 76, of Laurel. Funeral services 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28 at Smith Funeral Chapel-Laurel, Visitation 5-7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27 at Smith Funeral Chapel-Laurel. Burial at Yellowstone National Cemetery.(28)

CRUEA  Justin C., 28, of Laurel. Cremation has taken place, Memorial Services 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 27, at Evangelical Church, 2 E. First Ave. N., Columbus.(27)

Smith-Olcott Chapel

No services planned.

Smith Columbus

No services planned.

HYMAN  Thomas Tom, 57, of Billings. Viewing Sunday 2-4 p.m., Dahl Funeral Chapel. Funeral Service 1 p.m., Monday, Calvary Chapel. Family services and interment in Chicago.(27)

SILVIS  Glenn, 87, of Billings. Memorial services pending at St. Pius X. (27)

BUSTILLO  Martin, 76, of Billings. Funeral services were held on Friday, November 24 at Kingdom Hall and burial in Mountview Cemetery. (27)

JONCKOWSKI  Joyce, 83, of Billings. Vigil service 6 p.m., Wednesday, Dahl Funeral Chapel. Memorial Mass, 11 a.m., Thursday at St. Pius X. (1)

FENTON  Robert C., 91, of Billings. Funeral, 10:30 a.m., Monday, Nov. 27, at Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary. Interment with military honors, Yellowstone National Cemetery.(27)

HAMILTON  Donna, 65, of Billings. Service arrangements pending.(27)

STOCKBURGER  Madylene Beall Dickie, 92, of Billings. Cremation. Memorial Service 2 p.m. Thursday at Shiloh United Methodist Church, 1810 Shiloh.(30)

BRICKS  Marcie. Cremation. Memorial Service 2 p.m. Monday at Cremation & Funeral Gallery.(27)

HARRIS  Melvin. Memorial service 11 a.m., December 2, at Yellowstone Lutheran Brethren Church.2

MOONEY  Blanche, 83, of Billings. Service announced next week.27

MORRIS  Penny, 66, of Billings. Memorial service 2 p.m., December 2 Heights Family Funeral Home.2

GRIFFITH  Maryanne, 90, of Billings. Graveside service 10 a.m. Tuesday, Bridger Cemetery.28

PICKETT SR.  Robert. Funeral services 10 a.m. Monday. Crow Agency Foursquare Church. Interment: Crow Agency Cemetery.(27)
SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield Museums announce that Roger Crandall, President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), has joined the Museums' Board of Trustees.

In making the announcement, John O'Brien, the Chairman of the Springfield Museums' Board of Trustees said, "As we welcome Roger Crandall as our new member, we are pleased to recognize his dedication to education and to fostering community engagement with art, history and science. It will be a privilege to work with him in his new leadership role on the Museums' Board."

Kay Simpson, President of the Springfield Museums, continued "the support of the Board has always been vital to our efforts to build the Museums' collections and audiences and to make meaningful connections between the world of culture and ideas. Along with being a member of the Smithsonian National Board, Roger Crandall is dedicated to our mission as an educational institution and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead."

A year ago, the Springfield Museums celebrated their new connection with the Smithsonian Institution as a Smithsonian Affiliate. The affiliation allows the Museums to host exhibits from the vast, rich collections of the Smithsonian, such as the upcoming exhibit Jackie & Jackie: The Kennedys in the White House, which features twenty-seven iconic portraits of the first family by Richard Avedon from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of History. The partnership with the Smithsonian is made possible by funding from MassMutual Foundation. The MassMutual Foundation is also a season supporter of the Springfield Museums, helping to make possible innumerable exhibits, educational programs, and special events.

"For 165 years, MassMutual has been a member of the Springfield community and a strong supporter of respected non-profit institutions like the Springfield Museums," Mr. Crandall said. "We particularly welcome the opportunity to support efforts that inspire people to never stop learning and growing, and I am honored to join the Board of Trustees for the Museums as they continue to provide educational and enrichment opportunities that benefit the quality of life in this region."
SPRINGFIELD -- David DellaTorre describes himself and his wife, Rebecca, as "laborers hanging ornaments."

But oh, what a place to labor. The DellaTorres, part of the family that's run Springfield Florists Supply since 1927, were volunteers on the crew that helped decorate the White House for this year's holiday season. The decorations were revealed to the public Monday.

"It's a great tradition we wanted to be a part of. Oh yeah, it was special to feel free to roam, to look at the artwork," said DellaTorre, who lives in South Hadley. "Just to work in a room and take it all in. I'm sure this is a better experience than you would have just walking past on a tour."

He and Rebecca attended a reception hosted by First Lady Melania Trump Monday afternoon.

Springfield Florists Supply did not supply flowers or other decorations, DellaTorre said.

"But I'm sure that the family business is one reason we were selected," he said. "We wrote on the application about my grandparents founding the business and about how we are the third generation."

The DellaTorres applied for the volunteer opportunity through the White House website, and drove to Washington on Thanksgiving and worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The volunteers were divided up into five teams and put to work on the White House's 55 different Christmas trees. One long hallway alone had 35 trees.

Volunteers were not allowed to take photos during the decorating process, he said. All that behind-the-scenes material is exclusive to HGTV, which filmed the work for an upcoming special. The channel's website has links to past White House Christmas programming.

According to the White House, the building will host more than 100 open houses in the month of December. More than 25,000 visitors will take public tours through the decorations.

The theme of this year's decor is "Time-Honored Traditions," the White House said.

Displays include a "Gold Star Family Tree" in the East Wing, a gingerbread house in the State Dining Room depicting the famous White House facade, and a Christmas dinner theme in the China Room featuring President Ronald Reagan's china.
Producer Media Rights Capital will continue to pay "House of Cards" cast and crew members through Dec. 8 as it attempts to chart the Netflix series' course in the wake of the Kevin Spacey scandal.

A memo distributed Sunday from Pauline Micelli, who oversees business and legal affairs for Media Rights Capital, was shared with USA Today. It acknowledged that with the holiday season underway producers would understand if crew members took other jobs and were unavailable if work on the series resumes.

"We continue to work with Netflix with the hope of resuming production soon," Micelli wrote. "As we continue these discussions, we have determined together that the crew will be paid for an additional two week hiatus -- beginning on November 27th and continuing through December 8th."

Spacey has been dropped from the series, which was in the midst of shooting its sixth season.

The two-time Oscar winner faces dozens of allegations of sexual assault or misconduct with investigations underway in London and Nantucket.

"These last two months have tested and tried all of us in ways none of us could have foreseen," Micelli said. "The one thing we have learned throughout this process is that this production is bigger than just one person and we could not be more proud to be associated with one of the most loyal and talented production cast and crews in this business."

Producers revealed they had shut down production on Oct. 31.

Netflix is reportedly considering a "House of Cards' spin-off.

One of three proposals being weighed, according to Vanity Fair, would feature Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), Francis Underwood's loyal henchman. The series would be penned by Eric Roth, who produced the first four seasons of "House of Cards."
Two have been arrested in an attack on a 92-year-old woman that left her with a broken sternum.

Kayla Noel-Brown and Markell Cruz were arrested by Massachusetts State Police in Boston over the weekend in connection with the attack.

Quincy police were called to an apartment building on Clay Street last weekend following a report of a 92-year-old woman being robbed.

The victim told police she had gone out shortly after 8 a.m. to purchase a newspaper. On her walk back, she told police a man "pushed her, threw her and her walker to the ground, took her purse and ran away."

The suspect was described as a "white male in his thirties, average height and weight, with facial hair. He was wearing a hat with a brim, with pants and a hooded sweatshirt," Quincy police stated.

A watchful resident contacted police and said he saw a man run from the scene and was able to locate the victim's purse. It was returned to her, though missing the cash she had kept in her purse.

Following the attack, the victim reported a woman assisting her into the building.

While initially believed to be a good samaritan, police determined she had been seen walking with the suspect just prior to the assault.

Noel-Brown, 26, of Quincy and Cruz, 27, of Somerville were both charged with unarmed robbery of an elderly person, assault and battery on an elderly person and conspiracy. They were held over the weekend with an arraignment scheduled for Monday in Quincy District Court.
Angela Julia Rogers, beloved mother, passed away on Nov. 25, 2017, surrounded by her children. Mom was born Jan. 9, 1929, in Moore, Montana. She spent her early childhood years on the Judith River near Ware, Montana. Mom continued on to St. Leos School in Lewistown, Montana where she lived with Doc and Sally Soltero. After she graduated from St. Leos High School, Mom attended nursing school at Carroll College in Helena and completed her nursing practicum at St. Vincents Hospital in Billings. She spent a majority of her nursing career being employed by several nursing homes.

Mom married James O. Rogers Jr. in 1952. Mom started her family, which was the love of her life, in 1953 with the birth of her daughter Roxanne. Her beloved son James was born in 1956 followed by the completion of her most cherished family with the arrival of another son Wesley in 1957.

Mom was a compassionate person helping many friends and neighbors. She was especially known for her devoted care of her flower beds. People were impressed with Moms enduring spirit and gentle thoughtfulness. She gracefully passed hand in hand with her Lord.

Mom is survived by her daughter Roxanne and husband John Eixenberger of Rathdrum, Idaho, her son James, and her son Wesley and Shelley Rogers of Oregon City, Oregon; grandson TJ and Brynn Eixenberger of Spokane, Washington, granddaughter Emily and Ernesto Ruiz of Spokane, Washington, grandson Brett and Katelyn Rogers of Castle Rock, Colorado, and granddaughter Stephanie Rogers of Lesce, Slovenia; great-grandchildren Nolan and Tenley Rogers, Scarlett and Ehlise Eixenberger, and Evelyn Ruiz. Grandma Mary Tognascioli and Sally Soltero both gave her the foundations of family love. The Lords faithfulness guided Moms life throughout the years.

The family would like to thank Big Sky Senior Services and their caregivers. Memorial donations are suggested to Big Sky Senior Services, 937 Grand Avenue, Billings MT, 59102 or www.bigskyseniorservices.org.

Graveside Services will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 29, at Yellowstone Valley Memorial Park. After the service a private (family only) gathering will be held at the Rogers home. Arrangements are by Cremation & Funeral Gallery. Remembrances may be left by visiting www.cfgbillings.com.
CHICOPEE - An Indian Orchard man found asleep in a running car with a lit cigarette in his hand was arrested on a variety of drug charges early Sunday morning.

Officer Nick Smith was on patrol in the Willimansett area when he saw a parked vehicle on Elcon Drive, with the lights and a man, who appeared to be sleeping, sitting in the driver's seat. He and a State Police trooper, who also spotted the car and assisted, tapped on the window to wake the driver, Michael Wilk, Chicopee Police public information officer, said.

"Officer Smith observed a burned down cigarette in his hand," Wilk said. "Speaking with the party further, it appeared he was confused and did not know where he was parked."

The two officers saw what they felt was drug paraphernalia in the car and asked the man to step out of the vehicle. During a search of the man and the vehicle, police allegedly found empty heroin packets, baggies with cocaine, a softball-sized bundle of marijuana, more paraphernalia and more than $800 in cash, he said.

Naithen Soto, 24, of 39 Hampden St., Springfield, was arrested and charged with possession of heroin, subsequent offense, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and driving without a license, Wilk said.

He was held on $140 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Chicopee District Court Monday, Wilk said.
LUDLOW -- Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi announced today he is working to assemble partnerships and pursue funding for local slots for "civil commitments" for those seized by addiction.

A state law with a clause called Section 35 allows police officers, physicians, spouses, blood relatives, guardians or court officials to petition courts in writing for an order of involuntary commitment for those with alcohol or substance abuse disorders.

Such commitments are often last resorts for families and loved ones of addicts. However, the seemingly extreme action may fend off criminal involvement, overdoses or death. The general standard to be considered for a Section 35 commitment is to pose a threat to oneself or others, under the law.

Gov. Charlie Baker has previously proposed expanding involuntary civil commitments in the past.

There are only five facilities in the state that accept civil commitments for substance abusers, according to the Department of Public Health. The closest for Western Massachusetts residents is a facility in Greenfield. The rest are in the eastern part of the state.

Cocchi said Hampden County is in dire need of similar beds.

Stephen O'Neil, a spokesman for Cocchi, said the department has an average of 50 requests for civil commitments from Hampden County per month and placed 176 in 2016. That number would have been much higher but for the dearth of Section 35 beds.

O'Neil said there were 275 Section 35 commitments from the four western counties last year.

"By remaining closer to their homes and families, individuals could be afforded the opportunity to take advantage of (local) residential treatment programs as well as reenter their communities with the needed and continuing community support," Cocchi said.

Section 35 programs typically begin with a short detox component and an inpatient treatment program that can span 30 to 90 days.

The primary challenge will be funding, Cocchi concedes. He said he is actively pursuing money to fuel the initiative and has contacted the Department of Public Health and other "community partners."

He said his department is willing to use existing beds at the Mill Street campus -- a minimum-security addiction treatment center -- or even consider an entirely new site. Various locations are under consideration, O'Neil said, declining to be more specific.

Cocchi said the department already has ample staff and expertise to support the initiative.

"This concept is a regional, measured and practical response to address the growing opioid and addiction crisis in the region, utilizing local specialized treatment along with the critical follow-up care we would be prepared to provide," said Cocchi, who is approaching the milestone of one year in office.

The opioid addiction pandemic dominated a fierce race for the Hampden County sheriff's post last year, which Cocchi handily won after former Sheriff Michael Ashe retired.

Under that debate, candidates sparred over appropriate settings for Section 35 treatment placements. Cocchi and his staff adamantly opposed placing addicts committed civilly at the main campus in Ludlow during the campaign.
The Massachusetts U.S. Navy pilot at the controls of a twin-engine aircraft that went down over the Philippine Sea the day before Thanksgiving saved others by expertly maneuvering the plane through a dicey water landing, the Navy is saying.



The U.S. Armed Forces identified Navy Lieutenant Steven Combs, a 28-year-old native of the Central Berkshire County town of Dalton, as the pilot and one of three who died in the Wednesday crash.



The others were Aviation Boatswain's Mate Matthew Chialastri and Aviation Ordinanceman Bryan Grosso. None of the three were found but the Navy declared all dead Sunday.



The other eight survived the crash and were rescued at sea by other Navy personnel.



Combs and the other 10 had taken off from Japan with a load of cargo in tow when trouble struck. The plane was a twin-engine transport aircraft, a C-2A Greyhound.



"Lt. Combs' airmanship was nothing short of heroic, and insrumental in saving the lives of the eight survivors," Navy spokesman Commander Ronald Flanders told The Berkshire Eagle. "This type of aircraft crashing is almost unheard of."



Chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson added on Facebook, "The loss of life would have been much worse were it not for the heroic skill of the air crew on the C-2A."



Combs' older sister Elizabeth spoke to some media Sunday, expressing pride but not surprise in the final accomplishments of her brother.



"We are so proud of him," Elizabeth Combs told The Boston Globe. "We will always love him and will miss him for the rest of our lives."



The the cause of the crash, the third fatal one involving the U.S. 7th Fleet in Japan, is under investigation.



Friends and family speaking to The Eagle remembered Combs as a multi-sport athlete with a good sense of humor and a dream to fly that went back to early childhood. He was a graduate of the now-closed St. Joseph Central High School in Pittsfield.
SPRINGFIELD -- A developer of a proposed 14-unit townhouse project at the former site of Russell's Restaurant on Boston Road has asked for a postponement of tonight's City Council hearings for a zone change and special permit.



The developer, Nicholas Graham, of Houston, said through his lawyer that he is unable to travel to Springfield for the hearings because his wife is expecting a baby shortly.

Graham is asking that the hearing be postponed until February, said his lawyer, Ellen W. Freyman, of Springfield. Typically, postponement requests are granted.

It marks the second time in recent months that Graham asked for a postponement of public hearings. In August, the council agreed to the postponement, as requested by Graham, so that he could meet again with the Pine Point Community Council to seek its support for the project.

Prior to that, the council had delayed hearings in June after learning that the Pine Point neighborhood council had voted to oppose the project at that time.

The property is located at 461 Boston Road, at Lamont Street.

The development needs the permit and a zone change from Business A to Residence C to allow multi-family housing.

Graham purchased the Russell's Restaurant site more than three years ago and demolished the building. He proposed the market rate townhouse project in 2015.

The council has several other public hearings scheduled on special permit requests. The meeting begins at 7 p.m., at the council chambers at City Hall.

Among the hearings, T-Mobile Northeast LLC is seeking a special permit for a telecommunications cell tower at 375 Pasco Road in Indian Orchard, the site of Rick's Auto Body. T-Mobile is proposing a 150-foot high cell tower at the site, owned by Recor Investments LLC, to be located behind the business building.

The Planning Board, in reviewing the permit request, is urging a "stealth design" for the tower to reduce its visual impact.

In a separate hearing, the council is slated to consider a special permit request for a proposed indoor playground at 380 Cooley St., at the Five Town Plaza in the Sixteen Acres neighborhood.

The applicant is Luv2Play, which seeks an indoor place of amusement permit within an existing storefront. The plans call for a business that would provide 13,788 square feet of space to allow children to "play, climb and interact with others."
An Idaho woman accused of bringing other women to Montana and North Dakota for prostitution has denied federal charges in Billings.

Christina Ann Jackson, 38, of Boise, pleaded not guilty on Nov. 21 to an indictment charging her with three counts of transportation of a person with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Prosecutors allege Jackson brought a person to Montana for prostitution activity in June 2014. A second count alleges Jackson brought two people to Montana and North Dakota for prostitution in August 2014, and a third count accuses Jackson of bringing a person for prostitution to Montana in September 2014.

If convicted, Jackson faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan released Jackson pending trial. U.S. District Judge Susan Watters will hear the case.
Last week, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission announced his intention to eliminate net neutrality in furtherance of the White Houses conviction that Internet access should be an unregulated, private business activity. Many Americans who arent tech savvy dont see this as a big deal. To the contrary, it is a big deal. Their ability to participate in society and the economy is about to get hurt.

To illustrate why this is so, let me analogize to a public benefit that all Americans value: access to electricity.

By Jonathan Aberman

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-business/wp/2017/11/27/access-to-internet-is-a-public-benefit-it-should-be-regulated-that-way/?utm_term=.54d533ebdcfd
It seems counterintuitive, but theres evidence that getting rid of signals, signs and barriers might actually make streets a lot safer. Towns all over Europe are starting to experiment with streets where cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians can travel freely in the same space. 99% Invisible teamed up with Vox to bring you this video story on how "shared space" approaches are challenging road design conventions:
The MDT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program encourages and supports the participation of companies owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in transportation contracts.
"Coding should be a requirement in all schools."

In an exclusive interview with NBC News Lester Holt, Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses social media and the 2016 election, privacy concerns and the impact of the iPhone.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/one-on-one-with-tim-cook-1086559299967
Should recess be a bargaining chip for student behavior? One School District 2 trustee says no.

Trustee Mike Leo introduced an informal proposal at a committee meeting in November to encourage schools not to withhold physical activity, including recess, as a disciplinary measure, nor to use excessive exercise as a disciplinary measure.

He emphasized that the proposal was a recommendation and not binding, but district officials pumped the brakes.

"I want to make sure we're very conscientious in what we're proposing," said Brenda Koch, who oversees school principals. "It is a big shift. I don't want us to have unintended consequences."

Other administrators noted that some disciplinary issues are because of student conduct during recess, and that it might not be practical to release them back to a playground.

Leo highlighted a review of studies on the topic that found that exercise often had a positive relationship with academic performance. He also noted that there are good reasons for keeping kids inside.

"Kids are going to need some extra (academic) help, maybe, or for safety reasons," he said.

SD2's wellness policy doesn't address the topic.

Both Koch and Superintendent Terry Bouck suggested assembling a group of teachers and principals for feedback at an upcoming School Health Advisory Committee meeting.

Leo introduced the language in part because he said policies addressing physical activity and recess could affect recognition schools can receive from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He described the language he introduced as "pretty boilerplate."

Wisconsin's state education department offers a sample wellness policy that says physical activity "will not be withheld as punishment for any reason" and requires at least 20 minutes of recess for elementary school students.

A 2014 document compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most school districts had no specific recess policies, and only 20 percent required recess. Montana does not require a daily recess for elementary students; the CDC found that only five states did.

SD2's wellness policy requires that students have the opportunity to "participate regularly in supervised, organized or unstructured physical activities to maintain physical fitness and to understand the short-and long-term benefits of a physically active and healthy lifestyle."

To create an official policy proposal, Leo needs to formally present language to school district officials. The policy then must go through three readings in school board committees and the full board.

He noted that even if the policy passes, he knows sweeping changes might not be realistic.

"We obviously haven't eliminated treats in the classrooms," he said, citing school nutrition provisions in the wellness policy. "It's obviously somewhat aspirational."
Planned Parenthood of Montana and Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council will co-host a free Urban Indian Resource Fair to connect American Indians with community resources and health insurance information on Tuesday, Nov. 28. It will be from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Billings Public Library.

More than 20 community organizations will offer information on their programs and services. Door prizes, free food, a kids' activity table and health insurance enrollment will also be available.

Special protections and programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives through the Affordable Care Act can significantly lower the cost of health coverage.

Licensed enrollment assistants will be available to help complete applications for Medicaid and Marketplace coverage. Trained experts will help ensure enrollees get the financial assistance for which they qualify.

People may drop in for free, confidential enrollment assistance, or schedule an appointment in advance by calling 869-5045 and mentioning the Urban Indian Resource Fair.
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New Canadian guidelines state that measures to prevent HIV infection in high risk populations, such as pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis may actually be more cost effective than treating active HIV infections. The guidelines appear in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in November 2017 and targets high risk individuals who indulge in risky sexual behavior and IV drug users.



According to Dr. Darrell Tan, an infectious diseases physician and researcher at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, and his team, "The large financial cost of HIV infection and the young age of those newly diagnosed (most new cases occur in those aged 30 to 39 years) underscore the economic and social importance of preventing new infections".

Advertisement

Latest guidelines on pre and post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV infection in high risk groups may bring down incidence of HIV in Canada.

New Guidelines For Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Of HIV In High Risk Groups Is Cost Effective
President Donald Trump, during an event at the White House honoring Navajo code talkers Monday, referenced his nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "Pocahontas," a label he has long used about the Massachusetts Democrat.

"I just want to thank you because you are very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said. "Although, we have a representative in Congress who has been here a long time ... longer than you -- they call her Pochahontas!"

He then turned to one of the code talkers behind him, put his left hand on the man's shoulder and said: "But you know what, I like you. You are special people."

Trump did not name Warren.

The comment, met with silence from event attendees, revives an insult the President has long thrust upon Warren but restated a high-profile meeting with the Native American war heroes.

"It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur. Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he is going to shut me up with it. It hasn't worked out in the past, it isn't going to work out in the future," Warren told MSNBC shortly after Trump's remark.

Conservatives have previously criticized Warren for claiming that she is part Native American, and the senator's heritage became an issue during her Senate campaigns.

Trump has seized on the attacks and has regularly called Warren "Pocahontas." The attack dates back to his 2016 campaign.

"Pocahontas is at it again," he tweeted in June 2016. "Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice."

He added, "Crooked Hillary is wheeling out one of the least productive senators in the U.S. Senate, goofy Elizabeth Warren, who lied on heritage."

And earlier this month, he added, "Pocahontas just stated that the Democrats, lead by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Lets go FBI & Justice Dept."

He has also made used the nickname privately.

Sources told CNN earlier this year that during a meeting with senators at the White House, Trump taunted Democrats by saying "Pocahontas is now the face of your party."

Trump has routinely given his political opponents nicknames, but the slight against Warren is one of his most culturally insensitive.

Warren says she is, in fact, part Native American, citing "family stories" passed down through generations of her family.

"I am very proud of my heritage," Warren told NPR in 2012. "These are my family stories. This is what my brothers and I were told by my mom and my dad, my mammaw and my pappaw. This is our lives. And I'm very proud of it."

The legitimacy of Warren's heritage has been widely debated and Scott Brown, her 2012 Senate campaign opponent, has even suggested Warren take a DNA test to prove her heritage.

Harvard Law School in the 1990s touted Warren, then a professor in Cambridge, as being "Native American." They singled her out, Warren later acknowledged, because she had listed herself as a minority in an Association of American Law Schools directory.

Critics seized on the listing, saying that she received preferential treatment for questionable Native American heritage. Warren contends that her career was never furthered because of her Native American genealogy.
BOZEMAN  Three years ago, Montana State University sent the skeleton of a 65-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex to Washington, D.C. Known as the Wankel T. rex, it is on loan for 50 years to be displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Now, the Smithsonian Institution has sent its entire collection of Lycidae beetles to MSU where it will be housed, curated and studied in the Montana Entomology Collection for at least 10 years.

The material was sent as a loan while the formal memorandum of understanding between the Smithsonian and MSU is finalized. That part of the process is imminent, said Floyd W. Shockley, collections manager for the Department of Entomology at the National Museum of Natural History.

The collection is not for public display, but it is a research collection available to scientists around the world.

"It's really exciting," said MSU entomologist Michael Ivie, an internationally renowned beetle expert whose reputation, Shockley said, is responsible for the collection coming to Bozeman.

Ivie, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology in MSUs College of Agriculture, said Lycidae beetles are the closest relatives of fireflies, describing them as the modest relatives who dont go in for flashy.

Lycidae beetles can be all yellow or all black, but most are some combination of yellow and black, orange and black, red and black or red and blue, he said. The colors can warn predators that the beetles taste so bad they aren't worth eating. Some of the Lycidae males are so much smaller than the females that it takes DNA testing to match the mates. The beetles in the Smithsonian collection range in size from a speck to about 2 inches long.

Ivie said he was relieved when the 16,000 or so preserved beetles arrived safely after a weeklong trip by truck. He noted that while MSU had already conducted extensive research on the Wankel T. rex before sending it to the Smithsonian in April 2014, little is known about the Smithsonians net-winged beetles that had been stored in Maryland before arriving in Bozeman on Oct. 9.

"This collection is mostly unstudied, he said. It has never had anybody seriously work on it. They just had visiting experts and made small loans to researchers. They have a very large amount of material that really needs to be worked up."

The partnership with MSU is mutually beneficial, Shockley said, in that Ivies students can curate the collection to a state the museum is unable to do because of a lack of staff and a lack of in-house taxonomic expertise, while the students benefit from having access to the large collection that can be used for their research. The National Museum will provide the supplies and resources needed for the re-curation.

Ivie said researchers, including MSU undergraduates and graduate students, are sure to make many discoveries after the Smithsonian beetles are inventoried, organized and preserved with modern techniques.

"There are hundreds of discoveries to be made here, a lot of knowledge to be gained by working this up," Ivie said.

Vinicius Ferreira, a doctoral candidate on a scholarship from Brazils CNPq Science Without Borders program, is studying the group with Ivie.

"It's a big deal for entomologists who are interested in Lycidae, Ferreira said.

Ferreira is a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, home of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Sao Paulo, which has South America's largest collection of Lycidae beetles. He came to MSU in 2015 to study MSU's Lycidae collection for his doctorate. Even before the arrival of the Smithsonian beetles, MSUs Montana Entomology Collection had one of the world's largest and most complete collections of Lycidae, built by Ivie and two previous MSU entomologists, Ivie said. The only collections larger were in Paris, London and the Smithsonian.

Hundreds of collectors from around the world collected the Smithsonian beetles, some specimens more than 100 years old, others just a year old. Ivie and Ferreira, who will do most of the preparation work on the collection, have already found notations made by Richard Kleine, a respected European entomologist who lived from 1874 to 1948. One drawer alone contains specimens from the Ottoman Empire in 1895, India in 1922, China in 1929, Sumatra in 1932 and New Guinea in 1945.

The possibility of moving the Smithsonian collection to MSU had been discussed for about a year, although Ivie said he didn't think it would happen as MSU just didn't have the space for 52 more drawers and the four large metal cabinets specially made to protect insects from pests, water and humidity. But Charles Boyer, vice president of agriculture, and MSU President Waded Cruzado made sure it happened, he said.

Shockley said the temporary transfer of the Smithsonian collection is part of a legal partnership established under a memorandum of understanding that allows Ivie, and by extension MSU, to take full responsibility for a portion of the collection that aligns with his scientific interests and taxonomic expertise.

Ivie will have to report annually on what has been done in terms of curating, digitizing and researching the collection, as well as on the loans that have been made on the Smithsonian's behalf, Shockley said. Shockley or another Smithsonian employee will visit MSU every five years to inspect that progress, make sure the collection is safe and discuss the needs of the MSU curators to complete curating the collection. The memorandum of understanding is eligible for renewal every 10 years if MSU and the Smithsonian agree that it should continue.

"We don't have an in-house curator working on the group," Shockley said. "Mike's reputation is well known among Smithsonian Institution entomology curators, and he has made many trips here to study parts of our collection.

"Combined with the specific interest and growing expertise of Mike's student Vinicius on the family Lycidae, this was a very logical partnership for us to pursue," Shockley continued. "While in-house at Montana State, the Smithsonian expects Mike and Vinicius to fully re-curate the collection, as well as to conduct their own research, host visitors that want to examine the specimens contained therein, and to make loans to potential scientific collaborators, just as if the collection was still here in D.C.

"It is hoped that new specimens will be added by the host institution prior to its return so that the collection is not just enhanced through re-curation, but also through collection-building and growth in terms of taxonomic diversity," Shockley said.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Amanatidis met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Dr. Julio Cesar Caballero Moreno, the Bolivian Ambassador to Greece. During their meeting, they reaffirmed the traditional ties of friendship between the two countries and ascertained a convergence of views on a number of international issues.



Among the subjects discussed was the promotion of cooperation on issues of shared interest and in particular Bolivias role in the Ancient Civilizations Forum. Mr. Caballero expressed his optimism that Bolivias 2018 Chairmanship of the Forum will significantly promote the goals that have been set.



Mr. Amanatidis stressed the further potential that exists for cooperation, mainly as regards the provision of know-how and expertise in sectors such as tourism, agriculture and renewable energy sources.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Terens Quick, today met with the UK Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), M. Callanan.



Lord Callanan referred to the course of the Brexit negotiations ahead of the European Council meeting this coming December, as well as to issues of bilateral interest that are impacted by the relevant procedures. He also expressed his view on the necessity to accelerate the resolution of pending issues, so that the negotiations wont come to an impasse and unilateral actions. He also put particular emphasis on the proposal the British side has submitted regarding the future protection of the rights of EU member-state citizens in the United Kingdom following the Brexit.



The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed to Lord Callanan that Greece stands with the European Union in these negotiations, notwithstanding its special interest in the status of Greeks residing in the United Kingdom including the preservation of the rights and tuition-and-board costs of Greeks studying in the UK as well as of Greek businesses, a significant portion of which are active in the shipping sector. He underscored, once again, that the negotiations are being carried out by the EU, with Brussels at the core, and that Greece is following the progress of the talks with great interest.
No injuries were reported after a Helena school bus was hit by a pickup truck and tipped onto its side Monday morning.

The school district's Superintendent Jack Copps said two students and an attendant were on a special education bus traveling to Four Georgians Elementary School when it was hit by a truck pulling a trailer at the intersection of John G. Mine Road and Green Meadow Drive about 7:15 a.m.

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper David Gleich said the bus driver was attempting to cross the intersection when the "angled collision" occurred, causing the bus to go 15 feet off the road, hit a power box and roll one-quarter turn.

The bus driver, John Bagley, was cited for failing to yield, Gleich said. Two adults and two juveniles were in the bus, and two people were in the pickup, he added.

Copps said the driver, who has years of driving experience, is on administrative leave until the district receives a full incident report. A safety officer from First Student, the company that provides the school district's bus service, will come and investigate what happened.

Copps said a video feed from inside the bus is typically recorded to observe students. He said he didn't know whether there is any video evidence that can be used to determine if the driver was distracted.

Once a full report can be reviewed, Copps said First Student will make a recommendation on whether to keep the driver, but school district officials can reject a recommendation if they have safety concerns.

Both students on the bus were wearing seat belts.

"I think the belts probably prevented injury," Copps said.

Although not required by law, Copps said all of the school district's buses have seat belts.

"We were fortunate that one of the first individuals on the scene was a school nurse," he said.

After the students were examined by the nurse, they were released to their parents.
Its official. Montana has joined 23 other states and provinces with wild cervid populations infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD). Ironically, the two infected mule deer were killed by hunters south of Billings, near Wyoming, within days of Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks release of its draft CWD management plan. FWP has proactively moved to limit the emerging threat, and rightfully so.

An infectious, neurodegenerative disease caused by abnormal proteins, called prions, CWD affects white-tailed and mule deer, elk, moose, and caribou. Its virtually always fatal. CWD first emerged in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming about 1980. It percolated along without much fanfare until the late 1990s when it began popping up elsewhere both in game farms and wild herds. At most new locations, its geographic distribution in the wild has expanded; and disease prevalence has trended upward.

This is a disease to be taken dead seriously. Its unlike periodic outbreaks of botulism or blue tongue that quickly kill ducks or deer and then burn out. CWD persists; its relentless. Contributing to its persistence is the indestructibility of prions in the environment. Prions shed in saliva, urine, feces, and infected animal carcasses bind to soil and may be taken up by plants. There, prions remain infectious to cervids for years, perhaps decades. Infected animals survive for months or even years, all the while shedding prions. As more sick animals shed the pathogen, the cycle perpetuates.

In some Colorado and Wyoming deer herds infected longest, CWD infects 2050 percent of the animals. Wyoming officials whove played down CWDs threat to game herds, have recorded annual declines of 10 percent and 21 percent in whitetail and mule deer herds, respectively. Some modelling efforts suggest that herd extinctions may occur in time.

Theres no way to treat the disease and no vaccine prevents it. Instead, proactive intervention is the best bet to stem CWDs impacts. Like other density-dependent diseases, CWD proliferates where animals congregate. Montana can reduce the disease risk by implementing strategies that limit cervid numbers to state population objectives.

CWD has now spread across neighboring Wyoming to all but Uinta and Teton Counties, the latter home to the National Elk Refuge where I worked the final 22 years of a career that spanned CWDs march across Wyoming. CWD is knocking at the door of 8,000 elk that winter on the refuge and 16,000 more at 22 state-operated elk feed grounds. A looming nightmare.

Dan Vermillion, chairman of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, recently noted, To me, the arrival of CWD is terrifying and its heartbreaking the more I learn about the science and the potential it has to harm our game herds, which have contributed to the states reputation. ... Common sense, in the face of a disease event, points to getting rid of the (Wyoming elk) feed grounds. In a resolution unanimously passed earlier this year, Montanas Senate called upon Wyoming to do just that. But Im not hopeful.

For 20 years I and other scientists and conservationists have warned that feeding elk is a worst-case scenario for CWD. Feed grounds increasingly accumulating prions from infected elk could become veritable biological SuperFund sites leading to migrating elk spreading CWD from these 23 feed ground hubs to Idaho, Yellowstone National Park and beyond.

What should Montana do to protect its treasured wildlife? Disease surveillance followed by inaction, as in Wyoming, is not an option. Montana has two choices. The window for both wont stay open long:

1. Try to rid the disease along our border.

2. Contain and limit CWD prevalence, as the Montana CWD plan prescribes.

Both options require controversial management actions, public cooperation, a sustained commitment and funding. Neither option is guaranteed success. Both deserve debate. But accepting some level of cervid infection means that the longer CWD is here, the more animals will become infected and likely spread this deadly disease across the landscape. Thats CWDs lesson from the past 40 years.

CWDs worst impacts will develop over years. But decisions made now will affect our ecosystems, economy, and Montanans way of life far into the future. Talk to others who are knowledgeable. Read up on the issue. Comments on our states CWD plan are due by Dec. 8.
Crowded malls and traffic jams accompanied the start of the 2017 holiday shopping season across Connecticut Friday, even as economists were predicting the states economy might be headed for a recession.

From Milford to Old Saybrook, bargain hunters jammed the highways and secondary roads leading to some of the New Haven areas largest shopping destinations. David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac Universitys School of Business, said retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar, anticipate a very good holiday season.

It is estimated that online sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday should be in excess of $5.5 billion dollars, Black Fridays online sales are anticipated to rise by nearly 5.5 percent over 2016. Thanksgiving Day online sales should be in excess of $2 billion and that would represent a rise of greater than 6 percent over those sales in 2016.

Seventy percent of the 164 million people who were expected to shop during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend were expected to flock to the stores on Friday, according to surveys done for the 2017 holiday season by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Roughly three out of every four people who responded to the survey said they expect to spend as much as they did during the 2016 holiday season. Cadden said consumers will spend in excess of $750 during the one month period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, up from $506 during the same period in 2016

Young adults  from 18 to 24 years old  are the most likely to show an increase in spending, said Matthew Shay, the president and chief executive officer of the National Retail Federation.

As Gen Z and Millennials gets older, their purchasing power increases, and the rise in disposable income is sure to be seen by retailers, Shay said in a statement. This group of consumers has spent time carefully researching gifts for friends, family and themselves, and are ready to begin knocking out their shopping lists.

Some stores fared better than others as retailers of all types jockeyed to get their share of this years consumer spending flurry.

Were swamped, said an unidentified Kohls associate at the retail chains Old Saybook location. The store had eight cash registers open Friday afternoon, but couldnt reduce the number of shoppers in the central waiting line, which was about 10 shoppers deep.

A little farther south on Interstate 95, the Clinton Crossing Premium outlets appeared to be one of the days big winners in terms of the sheer volume of shoppers.

Traffic for Clinton Crossing queued up for about a quarter-mile in breakdown lanes on either side of the highway near the exit ramps. Clinton police were strategically deployed at the end of the exit ramps to keep the traffic flowing onto Killingworth Turnpike and the entrance of the outlet center.

Although some retail outlets in Connecticut were open Thanksgiving evening, others chose to wait until 12:01 a.m. Friday to open their doors to bargain hunters, or even later in the morning.

Many shoppers chose to avoid the early morning onslaught of the crowds that came with the pre-dawn openings, waiting instead for later in the day to make their purchases.

I got to Westfield Meriden (mall) at 9:30 a.m. and was out by 10:15 a.m., said Tom Caneschi, a Meriden resident. I had no problem parking, but it was getting a little busy as I left. Im going to do the rest online, Amazon here I come.

Stan Capp of Wallingford went to the WalMart location on North Colony Road around noon Thursday.

There was a decent crowd there, but it was not crazy, Capp said. Lots of registers open and lots of staff, too.

The Black Friday shopping frenzy in Connecticut is being played out against a troubled state economy. Connecticut lost 6,600 jobs in October, according to the state Department of Labor, the fourth month in the last five that has seen a drop.

That has Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, predicting that Connecticut is teetering on the edge of recession.

I think right now were at a critical period, Klepper-Smith said. Were starting to get clues, some red flags. Our job recovery rate has slipped again and that says were flat lining.

And even with the level of shopping activity on display Friday, there is visual evidence that all is not well in Connecticuts retail economy.

The Guilford Commons shopping center off of Route 1 still has three vacant storefronts, two years after it opened. Cadden said that is evidence Connecticut hasnt reconciled whether were over-built in terms of retail.

There are significant issues with the states economy, but with a rising stock market, people are still convinced were doing well. he said. Theres always going to be people with money who will spend it as they see fit and thats why there is growth in high-end retail. The other growth area is low-priced goods, because people with a more tenuous economic existence are always looking for bargains.

Cadden said sales placed through mobile phones will rise to nearly $1.5 billion, evidence he said of the never-ending pursuit of a bargain.

Everybody and there brother has smartphone, even people who may not be able to afford a computer, he said.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
Officials say the device was known as an "unexploded ordnance," or an explosive weapon that did not explode and still posed a...
Leaders of the Yellowstone Gateway Coalition held a press conference last week to call on Montanas congressional delegation to work together to get a Paradise Valley land provision in a larger must-pass bill before Christmas. The coalition of Park County businesses and local government leaders wants 30,370 acres of public forest withdrawn from potential development while two mining companies are seeking permits to start exploration.

Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester, and Rep. Greg Gianforte have said they want to protect Paradise Valley as area residents have been asking for years. But only Tester has done more than talk. Testers proposed Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act had a hearing earlier this year in a Senate committee Daines chairs. Daines told The Gazette in July that Testers bill wont pass the GOP-controlled Senate.

In a telephone interview in July, Daines said he would introduce his own legislation to halt mineral development on public land at Emigrant Gulch and Crevice Mountain. Back in July, Daines said he hoped to introduce his bill this fall.

The Gazette reached out to Daines office again last week and received an emailed response from a Daines spokeswoman: "The last conservation measure passed by Congress advocated for the protection of the North Fork Protection Act, which was championed by the senator only to become law as part of a large public lands package that had support from a diverse group of stake holders. If this is to become law before years end, a similar coalition needs to be developed. It will likely take more time before that develops, however, the senator is working hard to find a path towards that end.

Later, Daines himself phoned to say that he is working to get the Paradise Valley withdrawal paired with release of about 500,000 acres of Montana Wilderness Study Areas "that aren't suitable for wilderness." He plans to introduce his WSA release bill by year's end, but acknowledged that it's more likely to pass a year from now than to pass next month. Daines envisions getting support for Paradise Valley land protection from Republicans by releasing WSAs. He declined to say which WSAs will be in his bill.

"A lot of House members don't like mineral withdrawals," Daines said. "I think this is a reasonable thing to do in Montana."

Daines Montana constituents are pushing for a mineral development withdrawal on 30,370 acres of Custer National Forest. They built a coalition of more than 400 businesses and organizations in a county with a population of 16,000. The coalition includes the bipartisan county commission, city and rural residents, people in agriculture and people whose livelihood depends on tourism, hunting and fishing. Arent they important enough for Daines to champion their cause without getting an otherwise unrelated and much bigger land deal in return?

Paradise Valley needs a clean bill that simply and permanently withdraws federal public lands from mining at Emigrant Gulch along the Upper Yellowstone River and around Crevice Mountain at Yellowstone Parks northern border.

Both Daines and Gianforte live in Bozeman, less than an hours drive from the beautiful river valley they are being asked to preserve. They must spearhead its protection. Tester has done what he can as a minority lawmaker. If the Yellowstone Gateway is a priority for Daines, he can protect it legislatively this year  or next  without marrying it to another land deal. Gianforte should help.
The Morton County Sheriff's Office administered its first Narcan revival the same day the agency received a donated supply of the drug.

A sheriff's deputy responded about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to a medical call north of Mandan, where a 26-year-old man had overdosed on heroin and was unconscious with labored breathing.

Morton County reported the officer administered Narcan at once and maintained rescue efforts until Metro Area Ambulance arrived. Deputies and ambulance personnel were able to bring the man around to breathing on his own.

"This is the first time the Morton County Sheriffs Office has had to administer Narcan, and we are grateful it was successful in reviving the subject," Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. "The deputies responding had only been issued their supply of Narcan earlier that day, so the timing was impeccable."

Morton County sheriff's deputies received the Narcan from Bismarck/Burleigh Public Health as part of a grant from the Behavioral Health Division of the North Dakota Department of Human Services.
FLINT, MI -- On Oct. 23, in a district courtroom in downtown Flint, Judge Mark Latchana called for Scott Daup to reflect on his long fight for sobriety.

"We all make mistakes, and I've made many," Daup began, stepping up to a microphone usually reserved for attorneys arguing cases. "I've spent most of my life out in the madness, using."

Daup, 37, had struggled with addiction for nearly 20 years, ever since he began smoking marijuana and drinking as a teenager growing up in Swartz Creek. Those choices, he said, led him to painkillers and then more dangerous street drugs, including heroin.

But on that Monday afternoon in late October, he was celebrating a milestone: three months of sobriety, paired with new insights - some of them gained in that very courtroom - that he thought offered him his best chance yet at lasting sobriety.

"Today, I'm not allowing my past to dictate my future or present," he said. "This is a big accomplishment for me."

Daup was speaking to a room filled with people who could relate.

On that Monday, as with every Monday afternoon, the Genesee County Adult Felony Drug Court was in session, and the public gallery was filled with people from all walks of life who have struggled with substance abuse for months, years or their entire adult lives.

Judge Mark Latchana meets with his team of counselors, caseworkers, lawyers and law enforcement before a drug court hearing on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in District Court in Flint. Latchana argues that it's more effective to treat drug offenders than simply imprison them. "The only thing you can do from a relapse is learn from it," he said. "You can't go back in time." Terray Sylvester | MLive.com

The drug court is an intensive form of probation, in which non-violent felony drug offenders such as Daup - who was convicted of two possession charges, one each for heroin and cocaine - are diverted away from incarceration and into a rigorous program of drug tests and meetings with counselors, caseworkers and probation officers.

The program usually lasts one to two years. Those who graduate may see their drug charges dismissed and their sentences reduced.

Latchana argues that the drug court is the most effective way for the criminal justice system to handle offenders suffering from addiction.

"There aren't any other better options out there," said the judge, who has managed the court for five years. "If you put them in jail or prison, you're just delaying the problem, because they're going to come back out an addict."

Scott Daup, 37, attends the Genesee County Adult Felony Drug Court on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in District Court in downtown Flint. After struggling with addiction for nearly 20 years, Daup says the court has helped him lay the foundation of a stable, sober life. "Incarceration doesn't keep people clean" over the longterm, he said. "I'm not going to get the help I need sitting behind bars." Terray Sylvester | MLive.com

In early November, a White House commission agreed, calling for the creation of a national network of drug courts to combat the country's opioid crisis.

As Michigan shoulders its own share of the crisis, the stakes couldn't be higher.

Opioid overdose deaths in Michigan have more than doubled since 2012, according to state and federal data.

Genesee County's opioid prescription rate was the third highest in the state in 2015, a 46 percent jump from 2009, according to state data.

Latchana has seen it firsthand.

"Heroin and meth are way up," he said. "Every single person in drug court knows people that have died. I've gone to five funerals in five years."

In the program, punishment isn't the main point. Instead, drug court workers focus on treatment.

Participants aren't kicked out when they miss meetings, as long as they don't stay away for too long. Nor are they terminated when they fail one of their regular drug tests, as long as they demonstrate they're still committed to getting clean.

"We monitor people very closely. If somebody is struggling, but trending up and trying, then we keep working with them," Latchana said. "If it was easy to get off drugs they would all do it."

Scott Daup checks in for a probation appointment on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in downtown Flint. He avoided arrest for years while using heroin and other drugs. Now he says he's "grateful" for the felony charges that landed him in drug court. "They helped guide me to where I'm at today," he said. "It takes whatever it takes." Terray Sylvester | MLive.com

According to state statistics, it works.

In Michigan, offenders who graduate from an adult drug court are about one third as likely to commit another crime within two years as offenders who don't participate in such programs, according to a 2016 report from the State Court Administrative Office.

Recidivism rates among graduates remain significantly lower four years out as well.

The courts also help participants become contributing members of society. Sixty-three percent of graduates are working when they graduate, but just 4 percent enter the courts with jobs, according to the same report.

Latchana argues that drug courts are also relatively cheap. It's far more expensive to jail addicts, he says, than to put them through the program, which is funded by state grants and fees paid by the participants themselves.

At any given time, about 100 people are enrolled in the Genesee County Adult Felony Drug Court. In the last five years, about 115 have graduated.

"A lot of them graduate from our program with jobs, houses, relationships, families," Latchana said. "They don't all get there, but a lot of them do."

If all goes as planned, Daup will too.

Daup entered the drug court in January after police caught him with heroin and crack cocaine.

His journey since then had been hard. He spent 10 months in the court - 10 months punctuated by half a dozen relapses, two heroin overdoses, a stretch of homelessness, and a warrant issued when he absconded from his probation - before he managed to string together 90 days of sobriety.

But as Thanksgiving approached, he had a stable home at a residential treatment facility in Flint, and he was working a full-time manufacturing job - his first real job in years. If he graduates, his drug charges will be dismissed.

Scott Daup, left, helps his friend Raphael "Raffy" Urgino set up for a religious education class on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Burton. Daup was baptized in the church, attended it as a child, and married in it. Since becoming sober he's begun volunteering there regularly. He says he's relieved to see his relationships improve. "Most of my time in addiction I was alone," he said. Terray Sylvester | MLive.com

Much of his spare time was taken by the requirements of the drug court, but in his few remaining waking hours he was volunteering at the church he attended as a child, and he helped found an addiction recovery group.

At the same time, Daup has begun to re-connect with his family, seeing more of his mother and his three young sons.

And whenever he suffers cravings, he finds himself surrounded by a support network of counselors upon whom he could call for help.

He gave much of the credit to the drug court.

"I'm grateful because I really wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for that," Daup said.
FLINT, MI -- A preliminary examination for Dr. Eden Wells has been delayed for two days at the request of special prosecutor Todd Flood, who wants to see text messages between the state's chief medical executive and a witness.

Genesee District Judge William Crawford granted the postponement Monday, Nov. 27, after Flood requested it because a member of the prosecution's team could not be in court.

Crawford also agreed that Flood can gain access the cellphone of Jay Fiedler, who worked with Wells at the state Department of Health and Human Services at the time of a Legionnaires' disease outbreak in the Flint area.

Fiedler, a witness called by prosecutors and on the stand when the Wells' examination was halted Nov. 8, is expected to return to testify on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

"He (Fiedler) had text messaged back and forth with Dr. Wells. He admitted as much," Flood said in court Monday. "The text messages from Dr. Wells phone are not available prior to 2016 ... We don't have those texts and we want them."

Monday's delay in Wells' examination comes after Crawford also granted a pause in the criminal case against her on Nov. 8 at Flood's request.

The Flint water prosecutor made that request to review new documents introduced by attorneys for Wells.

Wells, 54, faces charges of obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer for her role in the water crisis, and Flood has said he will seek additional charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office against her.

Prosecutors claim Wells threatened researchers trying to find the source of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in Genesee County in 2014 and 2015 and knowingly gave false statements to a water investigator.

Flint River water has been discussed by state employees as the suspected cause of the outbreaks since 2014 but that information was never shared with city water customers until 2016.

The manslaughter and misconduct charges claim Wells, who Gov. Rick Snyder has left on the job at DHHS, alleges she caused the death of John Snyder on June 15, 2015, as result of "negligent omission."

Steven Tramontin, an attorney for Wells, said he did not object to a delay in the exam due to the absence of a member of Flood's team but said there was time to seek the text messages during the past two weeks.

"This just looks like another created issue, (which is what) the prosecution has continuously engaged in ...," Tramontin told Crawford. "This is another created issue to delay these proceedings."

Wells is dealing with a significant outbreak of hepatitis in Michigan, her attorney said, and cleared her schedule to be in court Monday.

"This (delay) is unfounded and unnecessary," Tramontin said.
KALKASKA, MI -- Three people are expected to be officially charged Monday, Nov. 27, in connection to the death of a 42-year-old Inkster man in Kalaska County.

Police said Brodrick Albert Ward died of a gunshot wound last week. His body was discovered by relatives around 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, inside a residence on Gonyer Road in Springfield Township.

Kalkaska County Undersheriff Harry Shipp declined to release the names of the suspects scheduled for arraignment, but said one is a 36-year-old Wisconsin man, and another is a woman who was arrested in Grand Traverse County. Their names will be made public after they're officially charged.

Police said the shooting incident is believed to be drug related, and the parties involved are believed to be known to each other.

The community is not at risk as there are no suspects at large, police said.

Members of Ward's family believe he was killed "execution style" and that race played a factor, according to his sister, Tangela Ward. In an email, she said her brother called a friend to pick him up but never answered his phone when the friend arrived at the residence where he was found dead.

Ward's other brother, Samuel, told The Detroit Free Press that Brodrick Ward was up north fishing with a friend when he called family asking for help getting home because he felt uncomfortable.

According to the Free Press report, Samuel Ward said his brother was told by the friend to hide in the backroom of the residence should his racist friends come over.

Tangela Ward said she believed the killing to be racially motivated, though police said at least one of the suspects arrested was a black man.

Ward's family said he was a loving father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle and friend to many. They created a GoFundMe account to raise money to pay for his funeral costs.

"My family is going through an devastating time due to his sudden death," Tangela Ward said in the email. "We are doing everything in our power to bring justice for our loved one. We are asking for any donations to help give Broderick the proper home going."

Ward had a history of at least six drug convictions over the last two decades, according to Department of Corrections records. He was on probation at the time of his death for an Oct. 2016 conviction of assaulting, resisting and/or obstructing a police officer, fleeing a police officer, and delivering and manufacturing a controlled substance.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids Community College is working to strengthen its systems to support students with food and housing assistance, after a survey found many struggling with food and housing insecurity.

The survey, completed by 428 students, was conducted in December 2016 through the Wisconsin HOPE Lab. Forty-five percent or 193 of those completing the survey scored in "low security'' or "very low security'' for food.

Thirty-six percent or 154 of those students completing the survey are considered ''housing insecure,'' and 9 percent or 38 reported being homeless at least one night in the past year.

"Obviously, there is a great need for a project like this to happen on campus,'' said Lina Blair, director of Student Life and Conduct, told the Board of Trustees at the Nov. 20 board meeting.

"We really want to reduce overall student hunger on campus, reduce the rate of homelessness and reduce the rate of housing insecurity, which will hopefully increase students persistence and completion during their time at GRCC.''

The college currently has seven goals to curb the problem, including a marketing campaign and food drives, exploring partnerships for reduced cost/wholesale food purchasing, and improving communications sent to students about resources available.

Housing-related activities center on information gathering and dispersal of information of housing options around the city.

Blair said their team will be broken into three groups - communications, food and housing - to tackle specific objectives.

John Cowles, dean of student success and retention, said the college has had a food pantry for years. In response to the survey, he said the college also began providing "Grab and Go'' snack pantries in the spring with microwaves in the student center, library and Sneden Center to fulfill to immediately satisfy hunger.

State and national community college associations said food pantries are now common on campuses. Eligible students can receive Michigan's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.

"Food and housing insecurity is a huge issue on campuses nationwide but more prominent at community colleges, said Sara Goldrick-Rab, founder of the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, the nation's first laboratory for translational research aimed at improving equitable outcomes in post-secondary education.

"It is an incredibly overlooked as an issue. Colleges should be thinking about what they are able to do that's proactive.''

GRCC students surveyed said that in the previous 30 days, they couldn't afford balanced meals, the food they bought didn't last, they cut the size of or skipped a meal, and were hungry but didn't eat a meal.

According to the U.S. Department of Agricultural, food insecurity is defined as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food or the ability to acquire such foods in socially acceptable ways.

Socially acceptable means not having to resort to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies.

Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher education policy and sociology at Temple University, has led the two major studies on the issue, including "Homeless and Hungry in College.''

Nationally, she said the food insecurity rate is about 56 percent among community college students, while housing insecurity is at 51 percent.

The Department of Health and Human Services has defined housing insecurity as high housing costs in proportion to income, poor hosing quality, unstable neighborhoods, overcrowding, or homelessness.

In the previous 12 months, GRCC students surveyed said they didn't pay the full amount of utilities or rent/mortgage, moved two or more times, moved in with others or doubled up.

"College leaders need to know that food and housing insecurity are affecting graduation rates,'' she said.

"Communities need to know that things have changed a great deal and the result is that they are going to have to provide there colleges with more support.''

Goldrick-Rab said food and housing insecurity need to be thought of the same way as preventative medical care. She said a colleges and university's in various states have pilot programs and other initiatives to tackle the program.

For example, she said some community colleges are looking at agreements with four-year institutions to provide their students with emergency beds in vacant dorm rooms.

In Houston, she said the college has has partnered with the local food bank for a pilot that provides at-risk students food scholarships before they ever miss one meal due to hunger.

In addition to food pantries, Michigan Community College Association President Mike Hansen said colleges have participated in the Benefits Access for College Completion, which connects students to public benefit resources like food stamps, day care, health care, etc.

He said many colleges have also implemented emergency aid programs for unexpected expenses.

GRCC trustees was given the update on the initiative during a monitoring report. Some of the other goals include:

Hosting a campus-wide training with community resources

Updating resources on Student Life housing and food pantry pages to address local food and housing resources

Survey students again

GRCC enrolled 14,285 students this fall.
SUTTONS BAY, MI -- The overdose death of a Leelanau County man has led to two people being accused of providing the lethal dose of heroin.

Police arrested a 20-year-old Suttons Bay woman and a 21-year-old Wisconsin man for the delivery of a controlled substance causing death, according to the Leelanau County Sheriff's Office.

They're accused of delivering the heroin used by a 31-year-old man who died last week of an overdose.

Emergency personnel were dispatched at 4:09 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22, to a report of an unconscious man at a residence in the 600 block of South West Bay Shore Drive in the village of Suttons Bay.

An attempt by Suttons Bay Fire and Rescue to revive the man using NARCAN was unsuccessful.

Further investigation led deputies to two suspects at a residence on Ki-Dah-Keh Mi-Kun road on tribal land. Both have since been arrested and are being held at the Leelanau County Jail awaiting arraignment.

The Leelanau County Sheriff's Office was assisted in their investigation by the Grand Traverse Band Police Department and Traverse Narcotics Team.

Wednesday's fatal overdose came four days after deputies successfully revived a pair of suspected overdose victims at a residence on Ki-Dah-Keh Mi-Kun. It was the first time the Leelanau County Sheriff's Office was able to use NARCAN in an overdose situation.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Kent County leaders are seeking community feedback on a plan developed to address the issue of elevated lead levels among the community's children.

A 2016 report from Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services showed about 6 percent of Kent County children 6 years old and younger -- 611 of the 9,784 tested -- had blood tests registering 5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter, a level above which health officials consider elevated. Only five counties and one city in Michigan (Detroit) saw 5 percent or more of its children tested exhibit elevated lead levels in that report.

Perhaps even more disturbing, the 49507 ZIP code -- which includes much of southeast Grand Rapids-- saw 188 of 1,329 children tested with elevated blood levels in 2015. The resulting percentage, 14.1 percent, was the highest in the state.

Tests conducted in the ZIP code in 2016 showed the problem might be getting worse, with 207 children under the age of 6 (15.3 percent of those tested) having elevated lead levels.

The Kent County Lead Task Force was formed in 2016 to tackle the problem. The group met several times over the course of the year before drafting a set of recommendations, which will eventually be presented to the Kent County Board of Commissioners.

Read: Proposed task force recommendations

The resulting recommendations include long lists of objectives to accomplish in the realms of public education, policy, health care and risk identification.

The group also resolved to advocate at the state level, for adoption of recommendations contained in a November 2016 report from the state's Child Lead Poisoning Elimination Board.

The Kent County Community Health Advisory Committee is tasked with reviewing Kent County's elevated blood lead levels, monitoring the progress made on the report's recommendations and providing the community an update at least once a year. The group set a deadline of June 30, 2018, for the committee to finalize a plan to achieve the task force's recommendations.

Public input on the recommendations will be sought at two upcoming community meetings:

Thursday, Nov. 30

Time: 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Place: Kent County Human Services Complex

Address: 121 Franklin St. SE Grand Rapids, MI

Friday, Dec. 1

Time: 9-10 a.m.

Place: MSU Extension

Address: 775 Ball Ave. NE Grand Rapids, MI

To register to attend either meeting, visit leadcommunitymeeting.eventbrite.com.

Residents may also participate in the public feedback process by taking an online survey.

The survey asks participants to use numbers to rank the different objectives listed under each of the four categories, which have as many as 11 and as few as six.

At the end of the survey, a prompt offers an opportunity to submit an email address for those interested in being a volunteer advocate for lead policy changes in the community.

The online survey is available until Sunday, Dec. 3. Once public input has been gathered, the Lead Task Force expects to finish its report before the end of the year.

Elevated lead levels can also be found among children in Grand Rapids ZIP codes 49504 and 49503, in which elevated levels were found in 99 and 92 children, respectively. Those amount to 12.6 percent and 10.4 percent of children tested.

Two out of every three children in Kent County with elevated blood-lead levels live in the city ZIP codes of 49507, 49504 or 49503. African American children were lead-poisoned at twice the rate of white children in Grand Rapids in 2015, according to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services data.

Lead poisoning can cause permanent, irreversible damage to many organs, including the heart, brain, and liver. It is also linked to lower IQs, hyperactivity and aggressive behavior. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that nearly half a million children in the US have elevated blood lead levels.

Unlike Flint, where the water supply was to blame for increased lead exposure, Kent County's problem is primarily tied to the lead paint found in many older homes. Four out of five homes in Grand Rapids -- and nearly three out of five countywide -- were built prior to 1978, the year lead was banned in paint.

Paint flakes and peels, and when improperly scraped or sanded off, dangerous lead dust can be created. That flaking, peeling lead paint and dust - ingested or breathed in - can be dangerous to anyone, though especially toxic to babies, children and pregnant women.

It doesn't take much lead to result in a hazard.

One gram of lead dust is enough to make 25,000 square feet of flooring hazardous for young children, according to research jointly conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The following is the full list of recommendations provided in the draft of the Kent County Lead Task Force's report:

Public education objectives

Deliver a comprehensive public education campaign which will:

Inform the community about how to reduce the risk of lead exposure

Inform the community about how to mitigate exposure impacts through better nutrition and other best practices

Educate about buyer/renter beware and to inform people about relief resources

Provide information for building permit officials, hardware stores, etc.

Provide information to medical providers for distribution to clients

Partner with the efforts of the NAACP, local churches, and other community-based organizations to advance lead prevention campaign

Encourage refugee resettlement agencies to educate on the need for testing and hazard identification

Create a speakers bureau for education community groups

Inform rental property owners and realtors of their obligation to distribute the Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home Environment and lead disclosures at the time of leasing or sale

Policy objectives

Expand data sharing agreements with MDHHS

Identify creative solutions for leveraging resources for preventing lead exposures in homes such as using existing Medicaid funding and reimbursements, leveraging HUD policy and resources, identifying new sources of funding, and other possibilities

Coordinate resources with other housing rehabilitation and weatherization resources and private sector investments, supplementing with local resources to leverage external investments

Maintain the current programs and practices offered by local agencies and organizations

Encourage State of MI to provide additional funding for outreach, education, assessment, and abatement to zip codes with the highest number of children with EBLLs

Advocate for the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to support lead poisoning prevention initiatives in Kent County

Ordinances regarding inspections for rental properties and lead in Kent County communities should be studied and summarized

Identify model ordinances and polices for lead prevention and share with local units of government in Kent County

Explore regulatory strategies for addressing homes that have had multiple cases of children with elevated blood lead levels

Study whether rental property owners are providing required educational materials and disclosures to renters

Use GIS to link data related to housing, epidemiology, and other important factors for informing better policy and interventions

Risk identification and elimination objectives

Explore all opportunities to make funds available for lead assessments and for home improvements designed to eliminate household lead exposure

Offer periodic training about lead hazard identification for local government employees, public playground owners, child care providers, residents

Educate contractors and rental property owners, especially individuals new to those occupations, about the federally mandated certification program (Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting training)

Partner with rental property owners and realtors to identify strategies for preventing lead exposure while avoiding significant increases to housing prices

Create a public access data system where residents can report assessments such as soil lead levels, water quality, childhood lead levels, and home lead assessment data

Encourage municipal water suppliers to seek opportunities to identify high-risk plumbing features and to distribute educational materials

Health care objectives

Encourage medical providers to test all children at 9 to 12 months and 24 to 36 months of age

Encourage medical providers to collect venous blood samples within one month of discovering elevated results with capillary blood tests

Improve/increase the collection of demographic data for children tested

Health insurance companies should include lead screening in expectations for provider quality incentive programs to create aligned incentives for providers to engage in these critical screening programs

Home healthcare providers should be trained to recognize lead risk factors and about the resources that are available in the community to address these situations. They should also be prepared to discuss lead poisoning prevention with their clients

Implement community-based strategies to increase testing via mobile clinics, events, etc.

Work with insurance companies to identify ways KCHD could receive contact information for distributing lead prevention messaging to expecting mothers

Engage Kent County's vast maternal and infant health home visiting network with primary prevention through providing early education to expecting and new parents, linking those parents to resources to assess their homes for hazards and remediation as needed, and helping to identify particularly high-risk housing for intervention

In addition to actions undertaken by county leaders, the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan has advocated on the issue. The coalition is suggesting a combination of strategies to address the issue:

All children under age 6 should be tested for lead, especially at ages 1 and 2

Homes must be tested - and fixed if positive for lead

Contractors must work lead-safe

The Healthy Homes Coalition also offers information about federally funded programs available to homeowners, landlords and tenants to help fix homes with lead-based paint hazards. Anyone who owns or rents a home in the city of Grand Rapids built before 1978 is encouraged to learn about their funding eligibility.

For more information, please call the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan at 616-241-3300 or visit www.GetTheLeadOutGR.org. Or, contact the city of Grand Rapids Community Development Department at 616-456-3030.
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard will present Honoring Our Culture, Ancestors and Prophecies from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck.

A traditional meal will be served at this free event.

Allard is an enrolled citizen at Standing Rock and the tribes former historic preservation officer. She is also a well-recognized historian of the tribe and cultural wisdom-keeper.

In April 2016, Allard formed the Sacred Stone Camp, the first camp along Cannon Ball River to host those gathered to resist the Dakota Access Pipeline. The movement eventually attracted an estimated 10,000 indigenous people and environmental activists to Sacred Stone and other camps. With more than 300 tribal nations represented, it became perhaps the largest intertribal gathering of Native People in North America in centuries.

For her UTTC talk, Allard will draw on her knowledge of the regions history and tribal traditions, practices and insights passed down for generations.

This event takes place in the James Henry community gym on the UTTC campus at 3315 University Drive.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Six school systems in the Kent and Ottawa ISDs are among 32 statewide receiving an additional 10 cents per meal this year to purchase locally grown produce, according to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).

The 10 Cents A Meal for School Kids and Farms program is providing schools with match incentive funding up to 10 cents per meal to purchase and serve Michigan-grown produce.

Legislators expanded the pilot program, now in its second year, from $250,000 in state seed funding to $375,000 for the upcoming school year and added a third region to last year's two regions.

Ottawa ISD districts include Holland, Coppersville, Grand Haven and Saugatuck. Lowell and Thornapple Kellogg were the Kent ISD recipients. Coopersville, Forest Hills, Grand Haven were among 16 pilot locations.

"I'm very pleased that the state Legislature expanded program funding and reach," said State Superintendent Brian Whiston, about the recently announced grant awards.

"This program is a true win-win because it provides fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren, while investing in state agriculture."

The grants are spread throughout the three regions and 29 counties of Michigan Prosperity Regions 2, 4 and 9 in northwest, west and southeast Michigan. Seventy-eight districts applied but there was only enough funding for the 32.

Kent and Ottawa were among seven counties in the 13-county Region 4 to receive grants that will impact 28,956 students. The other region awards were to districts in Muskegon, Allegan, Barry, Ionia and Oceana counties.

In its first year, the farm-to-school program generated sales of about 50 products from 86 farms in 28 counties and 16 additional businesses such as processors and distributors, according to MDE.

"The 10 Cents a Meal program is helping expose children to locally-grown produce options in the school setting and is creating partnerships between school districts and their local agricultural producers,'' said state Sen. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, who chairs the Appropriations Committee's K-12, School Aid, Education Subcommittee.

"It is my expectation that we will eclipse the successful results of the past year and strengthen student knowledge, preference, selection, and consumption of healthy, locally-grown food.''

This year's 32 grant-receiving districts have served 95,000 students, compared to 48,000 students served last year by the 16 grant recipients. Food service directors named 30 new foods that they tried in meals last year.

The funds go specifically to purchase whole or minimally processed fruits, vegetables, and legumes and serve them for school breakfast, lunch, afterschool snacks, and suppers.

Schools typically have only $1-$1.20 a meal to spend on food, and of that, about 30 cents is for fruits and vegetables, according to the state.

Children were served 49 different types of Michigan-grown produce from September through December 2016, according to a 2016-17 legislative report on the pilot program.

Apples, pears, carrots, plums, and nectarines were most popular fruits, purchased by nearly all schools. Bell peppers, winter squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans also widely purchased.

In the 2016-17 program report, Sarah Stone, a Chartwells Food Service Director for Grand Haven Area Public Schools, said Chartwells typically limits its food service staff in her region of the state to buying from certain larger vendors.

But Stone said the 10 Cents schools have been allowed more choices, such as Michigan-focused Cherry Capital Foods, which sources from smaller growers to mid-size.

Stone said those smaller growers often grow more "unique" products that children like, such as rainbow-colored carrots. She said it has made a difference.

The Regional Prosperity Initiative is comprised of two parts, an effort by the state to align around a common set of service delivery boundaries to create a better structure for collaboration and a local voluntary grant initiative.

Matt McCauley, chief operating officer of Networks Northwest, the Prosperity Region 2 office, was involved in assisting MDE in the program's first year.

McCauley's 10-county region also is where 10 Cents a Meal started three years earlier as a local pilot project inspired by the Michigan Good Food Charter and coordinated by the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities.

"This program has the potential to touch a lot of people's lives in many ways," McCauley said.

"It addresses a variety of different issues, including education, agriculture, nutrition, and logistics - pieces that are important to every community, urban and rural, in Michigan. There aren't many policy areas out there with that kind of potential."

The other five West Michigan districts awarded the grant include: Belding, Hart, Montague, Shelby and Whitehall.
HOLLAND, MI -- Two people arrested Friday evening after a break-in at a Holland business have since been linked to as many as 12 break-ins, including one that led to an arson investigation.

Ottawa County sheriff's deputies arrested a 48-year-old Holland man and a 16-year-old Holland boy around 4 a.m. Friday, Nov. 24, after police said they broke into Beechwood Cleaners, 248 Douglas Ave. in Holland.

Investigators have linked the two suspects to as many as 12 break-ins between Oct. 22 and Nov. 24 in the Holland and Zeeland areas. Both remain in custody awaiting official charges.

Included in the spree was the Nov. 20 break-in and subsequent arson at Graphix Signs & Embroidery, 11223 East Lakewood Blvd. Investigators found evidence that a forced entry had been made into the business prior to it being set ablaze around 3 a.m.

The business was a total loss as a result of the fire. No injuries were reported.

Police are still calculating a value for the stolen and damaged property, but said the pair of suspects were believed to have stolen "tens of thousands of dollars" in products.

The names of the suspects are being withheld pending arraignment, but police said the 48-year-old man was on probation at the time of the incidents, and that he has an extensive criminal history for similar crimes.

Police ask anyone with information about the crime spree to call Silent Observer at 1-877-88SILENT.

Beechwood Cleaners management took to the company's Facebook page Friday to thank the "Good Samaritan" who called the police after noticing suspicious behavior inside the closed shop. The business was scheduled to reopen Saturday morning.

"Without this individual's quick thinking these suspects would still be out there only to devastate another local business," the post reads. "Also a big thank you to the Ottawa County Sheriff Department and their quick response to this call allowing the apprehension of these suspects that broke into our business. The Sheriff's Department recovered most of the items stolen in the break-in and have returned them to us."
ROCKFORD, MI -- The drinking water at April Hemlock's home on Wildwood Creek Drive tested at 56 parts-per-trillion for PFOA -- one of a toxic soup of chemicals in Belmont groundwater linked to cancer, thyroid disease and other illnesses in people exposed to them.

That's under 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt), so it's considered a "safe" contamination level by an Environmental Protection Agency health advisory -- a guideline for chronic lifetime exposure set last year.

But is a "safe" PFOA level a matter of geography? If Hemlock's home were in New Jersey instead of Michigan, her contamination level wouldn't just be considered unsafe, it would be four times above a proposed legal limit of 14 ppt for PFOA in drinking water there.

And PFOA is just one of eight similar chemicals in her well -- only one other of which, PFOS, has any federal exposure guidelines.

"To say that 70 is "safe" -- well, I don't really know that. I don't feel safe," said Hemlock, who is raising three children, ages 8, 5 and 1, on water that's now coming in through a carbon filter system on the main line into the house. "Anything in your well that's not natural is something to be concerned about."

Right now, hundreds of families around the Rockford and Belmont areas are in a similar place -- trying to make sense of test results that show some level of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances named PFAS, or PFCs, in their well water.

The testing is part of an expanding investigation into contaminated groundwater north of Grand Rapids, where a global footwear company dumped tannery waste at gravel pits and farms years ago.

Discovery of PFAS plumes caused by Wolverine World Wide sludge waste disposal going back to the 1950s has frightened suburban and rural homeowners in northern Kent County, where the list of potential dump sites under investigation has climbed past 80 and known plumes are still not mapped or completely understood yet.

The testing has prompted tough questions about what level of PFAS is safe to drink, with state agencies offering sometimes confusing guidance about the toxicity of contaminants considered "possible" or "probable" carcinogens, but which are still being studied.

Public health advocates and researchers say that what's considered a "safe" PFAS level is largely dependent on where you live, the specific PFAS compound in question and the scientific research used by the regulatory agencies making the call. The protectiveness of the EPA level, they argue, is very much up for debate.

"As scientific understanding has evolved, our concern level has increased," said David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization that focuses on chemicals in consumer products.

Although some skeptics downplay the health risks by noting the extremely low unit measurements under consideration -- 70 ppt is equivalent to about three-and-a-half drops of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool -- Andrews said the fact PFAS are even measured in parts-per-trillion is a signal of the risk potential.

EPA's 70-ppt threshold is better than the agency's interim level "but may not be as health-protective as recent research indicates it should be and doesn't necessarily incorporate all the studies that were conducted in the last five to 10 years," Andrews said.

"It's not a bright line in the sand."

In 2009, the EPA published provisional advisory levels for PFOS and PFOA, which are part of a huge family of extremely durable fluorochemicals developed decades ago to make products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease and water. In Rockford, Wolverine used the chemistry in 3M Scotchgard to waterproof Hush Puppies shoes.

The EPA's interim advisory level was 400 ppt -- about five times the eventual lifetime health advisory set at 70 ppt in 2016.

How the agency arrived at that number is not understood by most people, but the net effect can determine whether a home receives an alternative water source in places where PFAS chemicals have contaminated the groundwater.

In Oscoda, the U.S. Air Force won't provide alternative water to homes affected by PFAS plumes created by chemical-laden firefighting foam used at Wurtsmith Air Force Base unless the well tests above 70 ppt, citing the EPA level as their assistance cutoff point.

In Belmont, Wolverine initially only offered whole house water filtration systems to homes testing above 70 ppt before agreeing to provide them to any home with any level of PFAS in a testing area southeast of the company's House Street landfill. The company has yet to offer filter installation to other affected neighborhoods.

In the absence of scientific certainty about what level of PFAS is safe to drink, Wolverine is sowing uncertainty about the health implications of exposure using an expert from a consulting firm that argued against the tighter PFAS standards in New Jersey.

The EPA level is "very conservative," according to the We Are Wolverine blog, which the company developed "to help keep our story straight and our facts in plain view."

"Human health effects from exposure to PFAS in the environment are unknown," according to a post titled "Key Facts to Know About PFAS" by toxicologist Janet K. Anderson. "There is no human study that has been conducted that proves exposure of an individual to any PFAS, including PFOA or PFOS, causes any illness."

Wolverine would not make Anderson available for this story.

Anderson, whose firm Integral Consulting argued against stricter limits on PFAS in New Jersey, cites the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as stating "there is no way to know if PFAS exposure has caused [sic] health problems or made [them] worse."

Those words are found on the CDC website, buried in an Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry interim guidance document with hypothetical responses a doctor could make to a patient asking about health problems related to PFAS exposure.

The first part of the suggested answer is: "Although the evidence is not conclusive, your health problem could potentially be associated with exposure to PFAS."

Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist who studies environmental and occupational causes of cancer, says the evidence that PFAS causes disease is "more likely than not," and characterized Anderson's position as giving a toxic chemical the benefit of the doubt rather than taking a precautionary approach for public health.

Clapp, a retired environmental health professor at Boston University School of Public Health and adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, has studied the health effects of PFAS and co-authored research with Harvard professor Philippe Grandjean, whose estimate of 1 ppt as the safe PFAS level in drinking water is embraced by public health advocates unhappy with the EPA threshold.

Grandjean's estimate was based on research in the Faroe Islands, where PFAS exposure through whale meat consumption by indigenous mothers was linked to a 50 percent decline in the effectiveness of vaccinations among breastfed 1-year-olds.

Faroese children were exposed to low PFAS levels through bioaccumulation (consumption of animals atop the food chain which have concentrated toxicants in their bodies). Their poor vaccine uptake is a different scientific "endpoint" than the research underpinning the EPA's health advisory level, which is based on a study that showed reduced bone density and early puberty onset in lab mice exposed as a fetus or just after birth.

Lab animal studies, Clapp said, are more readily accepted by toxicologists because researchers have experimental control over the dosage, whereas PFAS exposure in human populations can vary depending on many factors. Unlike with clinical trials for new drugs, people can't be experimented on with toxic chemicals in a controlled lab setting -- making human studies valuable but subject to scientific uncertainty and debate.

"It may be that 1 ppt ultimately is right and that's the best human endpoint to look at," Clapp said. "But it's not widely accepted yet."

Calling the EPA level "very conservative" is misleading, he said, because several states have set enforceable standards that are lower. Vermont's PFOA standard is 20 ppt. New Jersey's proposed 14-ppt PFOA standard would replace the existing 40-ppt limit.

Minnesota -- home to 3M, which manufactured the chemicals Wolverine used at the tannery -- updated its standards in May to 35 ppt for PFOA and 27 ppt for PFOS.

The tighter standard is based on potential harm to children.

"While the EPA value is protective for most people, the updated MDH (Minnesota Department of Health) values reflect new state-level analysis of the potential for mothers to pass along the chemicals to fetuses and nursing infants," the MDH website states.

In Kent County, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says anyone near a known or suspected dump site with any PFAS detection -- even a very low level -- in their well should use bottled or filtered water for drinking, cooking or washing food. The state is not basing that recommendation on just a measurable contamination level, but says it's a necessary precaution because plumes are still being mapped and studied.

The advice has confused people struggling to understand the health implications of their test results, in part, because the state isn't telling people to avoid the municipal water from Plainfield Township -- which is also contaminated, but at low levels.

PFAS levels in township water have fluctuated since the chemicals were discovered in 2013. Township officials argue the 10-ppt average level over the past couple years means the water is safe to drink. Trustee Frank Pfaff tried to instill confidence in the water by drinking some at the Nov. 13 board meeting. Not everyone is convinced.

With township water, the DHHS is relying on the EPA level even though nobody is completely sure why Plainfield's finished drinking water contains any PFAS at all. The contaminated wellfield at Versluis Park shut down in 2015, yet the pollutants remain at low levels in a water supply considered to be the safe, long-term solution.

The apparent double standard is based on the consistently low PFAS results in township water since the Versluis wells stopped pumping and the plant's ability to blend, dilute and enact other controls to reduce the overall exposure level, DHHS says.

On the other hand, one round of private well test results doesn't provide enough information about the contamination history at that location to make a safety judgement, said Kory Groetsch, environmental health director at DHHS.

"The problem comes down to, what does it mean when you have one sample from someone's drinking water tap?" Groetsch said. "What does that tell you about the past or future of that level when you know they are drawing water from an aquifer that might be connected to that contamination?

"We need to get clarity before we can say, 'go ahead and drink those levels."

At some homes, there's no ambiguity about what's "safe." As of Nov. 22, Wolverine says it has tested 640 wells in Belmont and 30 of them are above 70 ppt.

The company is also testing Plainfield Township homes on Rezen Drive and Childsdale Avenue, and about 175 wells in Algoma Township northwest of Wolven Avenue and 10 Mile Road, where the lime-heavy sludge was allegedly dumped as fertilizer on an old farm that's since been developed into upscale housing.

Next door to the now-infamous House Street dump, wells are polluted at more than 500 times the EPA level. Further away from the dump -- and in some hard-to-explain locations -- lower test results elicit questions about safety levels that aren't as easy to answer. Is 2 ppt safe? Is 15 ppt safe? What about 69 ppt?

Michael Shibler, Rockford Public Schools superintendent, gave the all clear sign to parents when PFAS test results at three schools on well water, Cannonsburg, Crestwood and Lakes elementaries, came back at trace levels under 1.25 ppt. Shibler cited the DHHS in an email to parents asserting "no public health risk" was posed by the water.

In Michigan, for now, DHHS says 70 ppt is the "safe" level.

"We're going with 70 ppt because it's a well-calculated number," said Groetsch. "The EPA supports that number and it's based on good science."

However, that may not be the final word on the matter. More than 20 locations around Michigan have confirmed PFAS contamination and the governor just created a multi-agency team to coordinate a response effort that could result in movement toward a lower drinking water standard, although nothing has been announced.

"We'll see as we go forward," Groetsch said. "New Jersey may be right -- it may need to go lower. At this time, we feel that were using a health-protective point to work from."
LANSING, MI -- Will Michigan try to force Enbridge to shut down its controversial Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac?

Find out next year.

Terms of a deal signed between Enbridge and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder bring the two parties back together next August for a "potential further agreement" that state officials characterize as a decision date about the future of Line 5.

If a deal can't be reached "cooperatively, the state would have to take another path," said Valerie Brader, director of the Michigan Agency for Energy. "Shutting the pipeline down is still on the table."

On Monday, Nov. 27, the state announced an agreement with Enbridge to enhance safeguards on the 64-year-old underwater oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that dips under the Great Lakes at St. Ignace on its way from Wisconsin to Ontario.

The deal follows the release of a hotly-debated contractor's analysis on alternatives to the existing pipeline and reports of widespread protective coating gaps and damage that Enbridge knew about three years ago but did not disclose until earlier this fall.

Under the agreement, Enbridge will temporarily shut down the line when there are sustained waves greater than 8 feet in the straits, add new underwater monitoring equipment and take measures to detect and respond to spills more quickly.

Enbridge and the state will also further study whether it's feasible to build a tunnel under the straits to contain a replacement pipeline. On the other end of the pipeline, Enbridge agreed to replace part of Line 5 at Marysville with a new tunnel under the St. Clair River.

Michigan experts will monitor, review and verify Enbridge data as the company moves forward with the restrictions and expectations.

Environmental groups blasted the surprise agreement.

"Basically, they are trying to ram this through before the next governor comes into office," said Liz Kirkwood, director of FLOW (For Love of Water), a Traverse City advocacy group with a leading role in a campaign to shut down Line 5.

Although the deal imposes important safety measures, FLOW called it "imprudent and arbitrary" for Snyder to unilaterally sign a deal with Enbridge without outside input.

"Governor Snyder appears to have ignored and violated his own executive order, law, rules and once more ignored his public trust duties toward the Great Lakes, water, public health and safety, and the protection of citizens," the group said.

Mike Shriberg, director of the Great Lakes office of the National Wildlife Federation, said the "secret agreement" biases the public review of alternatives to the pipeline prepared by Dynamic Risk Assessments toward the proposed tunnel under the straits.

Shriberg sits on the state Pipeline Safety Advisory Board and said Snyder didn't meet with members or seek any input beyond, presumably, Brader, who co-chairs the board.

"Does this agreement look out for the best interest of the residents of the state? At a glance, I'd say 'no' because it was done in secret with Enbridge and biased in favor of the tunnel outcome, which is one where the state is still assuming all the risk for Line 5," he said.

Erin McDonough, president of the Michigan Oil and Gas Association, praised the deal as "a plan that works to further protect our natural resources as well as our businesses and our economy by using science and facts."

"So much of the conversation about Line 5 has been about fears of what could happen that it's easy to forget what does happen on Line 5 every day - the safe delivery of oil and energy that runs our lives, heats our homes and supports our economy," she said.

In a conference call with reporters, vice president of liquid pipelines Guy Jarvis said Enbridge considers deadlines in the deal "aggressive but achievable."

"We're very comfortable with this."

Enbridge faces a series of regulatory permitting deadlines starting next month to begin replacing the St. Clair River pipeline section, as well as other deadlines to demonstrate progress toward added safeguards against a spill in the straits.

The requirement to pause oil flow in the pipeline during "sustained adverse weather conditions" begins immediately whenever near-real time date or forecast modeling shows average waves higher than 8-feet in the straits for an hour -- weather conditions which would make any spilled oil recovery practically impossible.

Halting oil flow wouldn't remove it from the straits, though. Enbridge would just stop the flow and close shut-off valves on either end of the pipeline, said Jarvis.

Brader said 8-foot waves are "not an everyday occurrence but not unknown in the straits."

Although the Coast Guard says waves half that size make oil recovery all but impossible, Jarvis said Enbridge has spill equipment that can operate in 8-foot conditions.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has called for a timeline to decommission Line 5, issued a brief statement praising the deal.

Schuette is running for governor in next year's election. Lt. Gov. Brian Calley has not officially jumped into the race. Brader said a "conflict wall" was in place between Snyder's and Schuette's offices during drafting of the Enbridge agreement.

"Today's announcement is a good step forward toward fulfilling our responsibilities to protect the Great Lakes and the health of Michigan citizens," Schuette said.
Not much is known about a Michigan man who was deported earlier this month after he was caught in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea other than he wanted to help put an end to tensions with North Korea regarding its nuclear weapons program.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Bruce Byron Lowrance of Michigan was deported after he was captured on Nov. 13 in the DMZ. He was captured in Yeoncheon County, about 40 miles north of Seoul, according to the report.

Lowrance allegedly made comments about easing tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world concerning nuclear weapons, but what exactly his plan was isn't clear.

"He testified that he could contribute in some way in North Korea," said South Korean army Gen. Suh Wook.

An age and hometown for Lowrance were not released citing privacy reasons from both South Korean and U.S. officials. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul did not elaborate on Lowrance's status other than to say it was aware of his visit to the region and they offered "appropriate consular services."

Lowrance is believed to have stayed in Seoul, the capital, and Munsan, a border community near the DMZ. He was eventually found wandering in the DMZ after a villager spotted him in the area.

Details about when Lowrance was deported and where he was kept after being captured have not been released.
LANSING, MI - More than a decade ago, Deb Shaughnessy was a mom going through a divorce and working in the legislature. She was at a work event, she said, when then-Sen. David Jaye commented about how she'd lost weight and it had all gone to her butt.

It was in front of other staff members, and it wasn't appropriate.

"I actually met with someone from Civil Rights and they felt that I had a case. But I just, I didn't want attention drawn to myself. Especially when you're a staffer, the pressure is on you not to be a troublemaker, you know?" Shaughnessy said.

But with allegations of sexual harassment coming out in the political sphere last week - including some against Michigan's U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit - she's remembering this experience.

The political scenes both in Lansing and Washington, D.C. are places where everything from off-color remarks to sexual harassment can thrive, women say. As allegations of untoward actions rock industries ranging from Hollywood to Capitol Hill, some Michigan political players are looking for changes in the halls of the Michigan Capitol.

Shaughnessy, who said her bosses were supportive, didn't pursue the complaint. But less than a year after it happened, she spoke publicly about it as the Senate considered whether to expel Jaye. He was expelled from the Senate in 2001 after multiple drunk driving arrests, and could not be reached for comment on this article.

Shaughnessy spoke up and doesn't regret it. And years later, she thinks the conversation is still worth having.

"You've got to have the conversation, and you're got to have it more often than we're having it. And I think that's a first step, is to talk about it more," Shaughnessy said.

Pointing to the problem

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, dragged a piece of the problem into the sunlight by talking this month about sexual harassment she says she experienced during her earlier political career. In an interview with CNN's Alisyn Camerota, Dingell said a prominent political figure tried to put his hand up her skirt at an event in Washington, D.C.

"The hand kept going up my leg, I took it off," she said. "A woman member was at my table, recognized what was happening and said, 'Switch places.' You know, we watch out for each other."

She didn't name the political figure, or others she'd had run-ins with, but said the culture needed to change.

"I would still pay a price if I were to name some of them," she said. "Let this be a watershed moment in changing the culture, and men understanding it's not OK."

At the Michigan capitol in 2012, two Democratic women drew attention to their censure on the House floor after speaking on a heavily debated bill making changes to Michigan law around abortion. Republicans censured the women for failing to maintain the decorum of the chamber.

It quickly turned into a political issue, with Republicans of both sexes fighting back against Democrats who claimed the censure was for their use of the word "vagina." But it also turned into an issue for women who saw it as emblematic of a wider problem. It culminated in playwright Eve Ensler attending a performance of her 'Vagina Monolouges' on the capitol steps.

Former Rep. Barb Byrum, a Democrat, was one of the two representatives who were censured. The experience was a big one for her, but it piled on to the other things she'd experienced. A political opponent drawing attention to the fact that she hadn't taken her husband's last name. The catcalls that have caused her to change her running routes.

"It's the unspoken and often spoken sexism. To my core, I believe it is all over. I believe that it has been brought to light in the political sphere but it is everywhere," Byrum said.

A lot of the behavior women describe isn't as direct as a man's hand on a woman's leg uninvited. Some of it's quieter - a comment that makes the only woman in the room feel uncomfortable, or belittles a woman in the name of a joke. And it's this quieter behavior that's easy to tuck into private corners of the capitol, or behind a closed office door. It's easy to hide.

A problem in political culture

Sen. Margaret O'Brien, R-Portage, one of four women in the Michigan Senate, said she's never had someone intentionally set out to make her uncomfortable.

"I'm very fortunate that my experiences were not, there was no ill intent. And I have a great work environment. What I'm reading about other people's experiences, I'm just in complete shock," O'Brien said.

But she has run into the joke gone bad, or the comment that crossed the line. In one memorable instance she later came back and addressed it with the colleague who had said it. She knew the comment hadn't been intended to demean her, and it was still a difficult conversation to have. But they had it, and have a good relationship now.

O'Brien previously worked in real estate and social work, and found that both of those professions had more clearly-drawn lines.

"When I was in the private sector, there were a lot of very clear lines. You did your job, and then you went home," O'Brien said.

The legislature, by contrast, is working long hours. Sessions start at 10 a.m. and have lasted into the next morning when the body has contentious issues on its plate. Plus, O'Brien said, it's full of people who passionately believe in and fight for their districts and their ideals.

"Sometimes I think the lines get a little blurry because you become a family when you go through long session hours. You go through a lot together. That's where this job is very unique. From time to time, most of us I'd say have gotten death threats. You have a bond with people because you have a very rare work environment," O'Brien said.

Sometimes, she said, that can lead to people being comfortable saying what they're thinking.

Shaughnessy served as a staffer, a lawmaker and a lobbyist. Being in all three of those positions, she thinks a lot of sexual harassment and intimidation comes down to politicians feeling entitled.

"It is so deeply inbred, I think, in that culture. And not just Lansing, everywhere where you have elected officials. Everybody caters to them," Shaughnessy said.

People address lawmakers formally as "representative" or "senator" all the time, and they're constantly in a position of having power, she said. And in some cases it's as if that sense of entitlement stretches into sexual entitlement.

The challenge, Shaughnessy said, is striking the balance between treating lawmakers respectfully but also creating an environment where people can speak up against unacceptable behavior.

Strength in numbers

Part of what sticks with Byrum about her censorship is the comments male representatives made infantilizing her and former Rep. Lisa Brown. She remembers their actions being described as a temper tantrum, and someone calling for a time-out, and questions if some of those statements would have been made if more women were in the legislature to serve as a check on her male colleagues.

"I think because the majority of the legislature is men, there isn't the awareness of the inherent sexism of some comments," Byrum said.

Michigan's legislature is made up of 148 members. Of those, 37, or 25 percent, are women. According to 2016 census estimates, Michigan's population is 50.8 percent female.

Beth Kelly, a feminist who works with SMG strategies to empower and elect Democratic women, said the lack of women can contribute to some cultural issues.

"When you isolate someone, they don't have anyone to talk to. In the Michigan legislature, there are some committees that have one or zero women on them. It sets themselves up for this bad behavior we're seeing," Kelly said.

Nationally, there are indications that more women are readying themselves for political runs.

Striving for change

Doug Simon, director of the House Business Office, said there was a standard training new employees went through that covered sexual harassment.

"Every employee and member is required to go through a training session which is entitled 'preventing harassment in the workplace' and that training covers all forms of harassment, which includes sexual harassment," he said.

And the process for handling a complaint is routing it through the nonpartisan House Business Office.

Neither the House or Senate business offices are subject to the Freedom of Information Act, making data on sexual harassment complaints hard to obtain.

Rep. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, is chair of the Progressive Women's Caucus. This fall, the group formed a task force of Democratic members and staff that has been working to develop internal strategies to address sexual harassment in and around the state capitol.

"At the end of the day, sexual assault and sexual harassment aren't about political party. We all have to come together to address this issue that exists in many workplaces, especially where laws affecting women and girls are made - our capitols," Chang said in a statement.

Kelly pointed out that sexually harassing behavior isn't new, and it isn't limited to the political realm. But what is new is how people talk about it. She's seeing a shift away from trying to determine somebody's intent with a remark to focusing on how it made the other person feel. There's a recognition that even if a comment was intended as a joke, it has the potential to make a woman very uncomfortable. We can't discount that.

"I think it's bringing up an important conversation around intent versus impact," Kelly said.

In Lansing the problem is one that is hard to quantify, with or without business office data.

O'Brien said she didn't observe sexually harassing behavior, but she can imagine that some people may not feel comfortable bringing it forward.

"I think at the end of the day, as close as we get to our staff, we have to remember this is a professional work environment and we have to make it a comfortable place for them," O'Brien said.
LEONI TWP., MI - A large dog was rescued from a vehicle fire Wednesday night by a group of bystanders who saw a smoking silver SUV in a parking lot and jumped into action.

Police and rescue crews were called to the vehicle fire at about 9 p.m., Nov. 22, in the Meijer parking lot on E. Michigan Avenue, Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester said.

The dog was rescued by bystanders who saw the animal in distress and got it out before police arrived at the scene, Jester said.

The dog's owner suffered minor burns to his hands attempting to get the dog out of the vehicle and was treated at the scene, Jester said.

One of the bystanders told police he administered CPR to the dog prior to the arrival of rescue crews, Jester said.

The dog was given oxygen by first responders until its breathing returned to normal, Jester said. The owner said he would take the dog to see a veterinarian later as a precaution, Jester said.

The interior of the car was damaged in the fire, but not believed to be beyond repair, Jester said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said.
GOBLES, MI -- Volunteers enjoyed a sunny November morning Monday loading donated Christmas trees onto FedEx trailers, trees that would be hauled away to military families for the holidays.

Two lines of volunteers looped around two large piles of donated trees, ready to carry evergreens to tractors fitted with conveyor belts that hoisted them up to the FedEx semi trailers. The semis will take trees from Wahmhoff Farms Nursery, to the next stop for distribution.

This year's donated Christmas trees are scheduled for shipment to Hurlburt Field, United States Air Force auxiliary base in Okaloosa County, Fla.

Trees for Troops counts on donations from the public as well as donations of trees, trucks and labor to make sure those in service to their country and their families receive a Christmas tree, even if they can't make it home for the holidays.

Since 2005, Trees for Troops has been the effort of FedEx and the National Christmas Trees Association, and has provided thousands of Christmas Trees to military families and troops in the U.S. and overseas.

Wahmhoff Farms Nursery in Gobles once again served as a loading site for the program. Volunteers, local firefighters, veterans and active service members joined in to load the trees.

"I know what it's like to be so far away and receive gifts like this," said Staff Sgt. Richard Pharr, a member of the Kalamazoo Armory Recruiting Team. He and other members took Monday morning to help load and to "give back" to service men and women.

Amy Start, executive director of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association, said Trees for Troops is such an important program for Michigan grower to participate in.

"They take so much care and time in growing these Christmas trees, and they know some trees will eventually go to military families one day," she said.

"When you come to an event like this and spend time with veterans, they tell you how much this means to them. It really makes it a special experience."

"We've been doing this for nine years," said Dan Wahmhoff of Wahmhoff Farms Nursery. "We are grateful for what our troops do for us and we want to give something back."

Wahmhoff said that they get over 100 volunteers to help load trees each year.

Including trees donated by Wahmhoff Farms Nursery and its customers, over 780 trees were donated from Michigan tree farms, including Mathisen Tree Farm, of Greenville; Farnsworth Tree Farm, of Greenville; Korson's Tree Farm, of Sidney; Janke Tree Farm, of Allegan; Badger Evergreen Nursery, of Allegan; Armintrout's West Michigan Farm, of Allegan; Tannenbaum Farms, of Mason; and Gwinn's Christmas Tree Farm, of Horton.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- U.S. Rep. Fred Upton and Southwest Michigan First were to host a roundtable discussion on the House portion of the GOP tax reform package this afternoon in Galesburg.

The Nov. 27 event is set for 3 to 4 p.m. at Tecniq, 9100 E. Michigan Ave., in the Comstock Business Park in Galesburg.

It is expected to give anyone interested the opportunity to hear from local small business owners about the tax reform package currently working its way through Congress.

It should also give taxpayers an opportunity to learn more about the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act that was introduced by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 2.

Bills have been introduced by Republican leaders in the House and Senate that propose $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. About $1 trillion of that is expected to be a net tax cut for businesses.

According to information provided by Upton, a St. Joseph Republican, the legislation "will reform our tax code, delivering more jobs, fairer taxes and bigger paychecks for all Americans."

A typical middle-class family of four earning $59,000 (the median household income) can expect a $1,182 tax cut, according to Upton.

Opponents of the tax reform bills say it will raise taxes on the middle class, however, and cut them for the wealthiest corporations and the rich. Among other things, they say the top 0.2% of the wealthiest American families would be the beneficiaries of nearly one-third of the net tax cuts for individuals proposed by the House bill, and about one-sixth of the cuts proposed in the Senate bill.
The Moscow Ballet is bringing the Great Russian Nutcracker to Bismarck on Tuesday, and 75 aspiring ballet students from the area get to be a part of it.

Ranging in age from 5 to 18, the students will play the roles of party children, small mice, snowflakes, snow sprites, snow maidens and variations of Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Russian and French heritages.

"The students get to dance side-by-side the professional Moscow Ballet dancers," said Jenny Samuelson, owner and director of Let's Dance Studio, the host of the Moscow Ballet's "Dance with Us" program.

Through this program, the Moscow Ballet offers students an opportunity to audition, rehearse and perform with professional dancers. Audition directors are sent to each city on the tour to audition children, as well as rehearse with them for several days.

Auditions took place the first weekend in October. Students were divided into age groups and taught a small piece of the Great Russian Nutcracker. The audition director then made her selections, based on the young dancers performances.

Certain roles required dancers to wear pointe shoes, or to be advanced in skill level, extremely flexible, able to jump high or perform quick movements.

When selected, students were given a piece of paper that read, Congratulations! You have been chosen to perform in The Nutcracker Ballet alongside the Moscow Ballet!

The students would run out of the room, and you could just hear them screaming. They were so excited to show everyone their piece of paper. That was the best part of the audition process," Samuelson said. "It was a really cool day."

"When we heard about the auditions for the Moscow Ballet, my daughter, Deanna, was ecstatic. She didn't care what she did, she just wanted to be a part of it ... to be able to be on stage with so many professional dancers," said Tawa Witko, who lives on the Standing Rock Reservation.

Deanna Milda, who has been a Let's Dance Studio dancer since 2011, will be playing the part of a snow maiden in the Moscow Ballet performance, and her mom said she couldn't be happier.

After the first couple of rehearsals, it's the responsibility of the host ballet studio  in this case, Lets Dance Studio  to continue rehearsing with the selected dancers in the six to eight weeks leading to the big performance.

Temuuzhin Bold, Let's Dance Studio's master ballet teacher who previously performed with the Moscow Ballet, has been conducting weekly rehearsals with the students since the early October auditions. A Mongolia native, he's taught at the studio since 2003.

Tema is a sweetheart, but he also has the talent and the background to teach these kids the Russian ballet form. He is very familiar with the production and the choreography. He is just the best, Samuelson said.

Bold will be performing the Chinese dance in Tuesday's show.

This is the Moscow Ballets 25th year touring North America to perform the "Great Russian Nutcracker," as well as other classic story ballets. This is the third year the Bismarck studio has been selected to be a part of the magic.

I think its a great opportunity. Our students get to see the professionals firsthand and see how much they rehearse," Samuelson said. They get to see the hard work and dedication needed to perform in a composition such as this.

The show, which features larger-than-life puppets, nesting dolls and hand-crafted costumes to bring the Christmas spirit to life, begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bismarck Event Center.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased online by visiting www.nutcracker.com.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- A man charged with killing another man in Kalamazoo this summer admitted to the shooting and said he did so in self-defense.

Cornell Head Jr., 21, faces one count of open murder, two counts of felony firearm, one count of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of carrying a concealed weapon in the July 25 shooting death of Gabriel Juarez-Montanez.

Juarez-Montanez, 31, was gunned down in the 1300 block of Portage Street, near his on-again, off-again girlfriend's apartment.

Officers at the scene found Juarez-Montanez on the ground in a party store parking lot with a gunshot wound to his upper torso. Police found a blood trail near the victim and another blood spot 10 to 15 feet away, behind a car. Two women approached officers at the scene to say they had seen Juarez-Montanez on the ground at the other blood spot, about 30 yards north of where police found him. Officers also found two gun shell casings in the parking lot.

Juarez-Montanez's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and his manner of death was ruled a homicide. The Kalamazoo Gazette obtained 95 pages of police reports investigating the homicide through the Freedom of Information Act.

In an interview with police, Juarez-Montanez's girlfriend said she had been dating Juarez-Montanez, and said the relationship was on and off because of his abusive behavior and drinking. She told police Juarez-Montanez was extradited to Mexico in March 2017, but that he made his way back to Kalamazoo about a week before his death.

Juarez-Montanez came to the woman's workplace at Fisher Scientific the week before he was killed. The woman had been telling her co-workers that he was stalking her. At her co-workers' insistence, she called police. A public safety officer arrested Juarez-Montanez on an unrelated warrant, according to police reports.

The co-worker told police Juarez-Montanez appeared to care about her, and she didn't want her boyfriend to find out she was seeing Juarez-Montanez.

"(The co-worker) did not think (the woman) knew Gabriel was going to get shot, but that she knew who did it and that (the woman) needed to tell (police) the truth," Det. Jeffrey Johnson said in a report. "(The co-worker) stated this happened for no reason and Gabriel shouldn't have lost his life."

The co-worker said the woman was trying to juggle both Juarez-Montanez and her boyfriend.

"(She) was telling the boyfriend Gabriel was talking her and telling Gabriel she wanted to be with him," Johnson wrote.

The woman told police she and Juarez-Montanez had worked things out and were back together at the time of his death, PSO Keaton Nielsen wrote in a report.

When she was interviewed by police, the woman said she was planning to meet Juarez-Montanez at his sister's house after she got off of work the night he was killed. She said she decided not to go after work because she was tired, and Juarez-Montanez called her several times on Snapchat. She said her new boyfriend was on his way over to her apartment when police arrived. She first identified him as Jamal Lnu, but after officers could not verify the man's identity, she recanted and said the man she was supposed to meet that night was Head, Det. Karen Rivard wrote in a report.

In a second interview, the woman told police she was in the driver's seat of her vehicle parked behind her apartment complex. She said Head and a friend of his had been waiting for her on the sidewalk, and said they walked up to her car and got in when she pulled up. She said they went to a McDonald's restaurant on Stadium Drive and to a Shell gas station, where the other man bought a drink. She said they then went back to her apartment and stayed in her car in the parking lot.

She said about 15 minutes later, Juarez-Montanez walked up to her car's front passenger door and opened it, then put his fists up. She said there was no conversation between Juarez-Montanez and Head, though Juarez-Montanez had an angry look on his face. She said Head shot Juarez-Montanez twice from the front passenger seat of her car.

The woman said she got scared and ran up to her apartment, and the man in her car's backseat ran into the building after her, but did not go into her apartment. She said Head ran from the scene.

She also told police she had known Head and had been dating him for about a year, and said he had some belongings at her house and spent the night there.

She said Head and a friend came to her work on her breaks a few days before the shooting and they said they were going to shoot Juarez-Montanez to scare him, according to Rivard's report.

"(She) said Head said they were going to kill him if (Juarez-Montanez) touched her," Rivard wrote.

The woman said she did not set up Juarez-Montanez's murder and did not lure him to the parking lot for a physical fight, Rivard wrote.

"(She) denied mentioning to Head that she wanted Juarez-Montanez out of her life," Rivard wrote. "She admitted she did want Juarez-Montanez to stop bothering her but she never asked Head to shoot him."

Detectives interviewed Head at the Cook County Jail in Illinois on Aug. 3, after he had turned himself in to Chicago police. Rivard wrote that Head's first story was inconsistent with what they already knew about the case. Head then told detectives Juarez-Montanez tried to hit him and he hit back.

"I guess he tried to swing on me, tried to swing on me and I defended myself," Head told detectives, Rivard's report said.

Head told detectives he shot Juarez-Montanez twice.

"It was basically self defense," Rivard wrote that Head said. "He came trying to swing at everybody in the car."

Head said the woman did not ask him to kill Juarez-Montanez, and said the shooting happened because Juarez-Montanez was threatening her and he believed Juarez-Montanez was going to kill her when he walked up to the car.

Head waived a preliminary examination scheduled for Nov. 15 and was bound over to Kalamazoo County Circuit Court to stand trial. He is due back in court Dec. 4 for a pre-trial.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- A Kalamazoo man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids to gun and drug charges.

Eric Leon Tucker Jr., 21, pleaded guilty to distribution of heroin and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. In exchange, additional charges of felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking were dropped.

The charges stem from a Sept. 18 shooting near the intersection of Charles Avenue and Edwin Avenue in Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers investigated a report of shots fired from a black sport utility vehicle into another vehicle occupied by two teenagers. One of the teenagers identified Tucker as the shooter, and officers recovered expended .45 caliber shell casings from the scene.

On Sept. 20, Tucker sold 0.15 grams of heroin to an undercover police officer in Kalamazoo. Officers then followed him a short distance and arrested him when he went into a liquor store. They searched his black Chevrolet Equinox and found a loaded .45 caliber Taurus semi-automatic handgun under the driver's seat. Ballistic tests matched the weapon to the shell casings found at the shooting scene Sept. 18. Officers also found crack cocaine and methamphetamine in Tucker's possession, according to court documents.

Officers also found Tucker's Facebook account, which featured a photo of Tucker sitting next to a pistol and a large amount of cash. Another person can be seen in the photograph weighing and packaging drugs for distribution. Based on Tucker's Facebook page and other information, he is believed to be a member of the East Side Money Gang in Kalamazoo, according to court records.

Tucker faces up to 20 years in prison on the distribution of heroin conviction and five years to life in prison on the possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking charge. Tucker is scheduled to be sentenced March 20, 2018.
VICKSBURG, MI - When Vicksburg ushered in an evening parade and a bigger Christmas in the Village event a couple of years ago, organizers weren't sure how it would play out.

They know now. Saturday's bigger and better event hosted again by the Vicksburg Downtown Development Authority has more sponsors, more activities and likely will draw hundreds more in attendance for the afternoon and evening holiday festivities.

"The community support has been fantastic this year and we are grateful for all of the contributions from all our sponsors," said Mary Ruple DDA secretary and Christmas in the Village co-chairperson along with John Debault, DDA chairman, and Stella Shearer.

"In fact, this year, we have set a record for the number of sponsors for the event and their contributions," she added. "We have been fortunate this year to be able to build off the success of the event from years past."

The event begins at 2 p.m. with boutique shopping for holiday gifts. Stores and the fire station marked with an Elf Workshop sign post are hosting kids' crafts and special treats.

You can also stop by the new Winter Farmers' Market for crafts and locally made products. The market and the Historical Society Annual Fundraiser and Bake Sale will be located at 110 S. Main St. in the old Hill's Pharmacy building.

From 2 to 5 p.m. there will also be Christmas carolers, letters to Santa, a magician and story time with the Vicksburg District Library.

New this year from 2 to 5 p.m. will be a tented stage located at Oswalt Park, which is at the corner of Prairie and Main streets. The stage will feature a new performance scheduled every half an hour. Featured performers on the Oswalt Park Stage include a dramatic reading of a Christmas story, Vicksburg Dance students and various singing groups. The village has donated the use of the stage and tent to be used in Oswalt Park.

Horse wagon rides, sponsored by Paper City Development, will tour downtown, stopping at the Historic Village where you will find a Holiday Caboose and a second location of the Vicksburg Historical Society's Bake Sale, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Unlike past years, patrons will be able to enjoy night-time horse wagon rides. All rides are free and run from 3 to 8 p.m.

Beginning at 4:30 p.m., participating restaurants will be offer holiday menu specials.

The Vicksburg Christmas Parade starts at 5:30 p.m. on Main Street, sponsored by Imery's Perlite. Entries include lighted fire trucks, lighted floats and the Big Red Machine, Vicksburg High School's award-winning marching band.

After the parade, attend the Christmas Tree Lighting in Oswalt Park, sponsored by Main Street Pub.

After the tree lighting, there will be visits with Santa in his Vicksburg North Pole workshop, located across the street at the Community Center. Santa's elves will serve hot chocolate and treats.

Adults can finish their evening by having a cup of cheer during the Holiday Pub Hop. Get your card stamped at all participating pubs to win a special keepsake.

Nearly 30 Vicksburg businesses have joined to sponsor the event. This year's event and activity sponsors include Frederick Construction, Paper City Development, Imery's Perlite, Main Street Pub, Vicksburg Area Chamber of Commerce, Ronningen Research & Development, Grossman Law and Fred's Pharmacy.

For more information, call the village of Vicksburg at 649-1919.
FARGO  Higher education leaders are considering changing a policy that has generated almost $20 million in proceeds earned from innovations at North Dakota State University and has earned researchers $3.6 million over the past decade.

The State Board of Higher Education will discuss the policy Thursday. The policy, which dates back to the 1990s, allows researchers at North Dakotas colleges and universities to pocket up to 40 percent of licensing revenues yielded by their research.

The policy initially allowed researchers to receive 30 percent of the licensing revenues earned from their innovations, but the amount was increased to 40 percent a few years later.

A proposed change to the policy would enable individual universities to have greater flexibility in splitting the revenues, allowing campuses to keep a larger portion after a certain amount had gone to the researchers.

This was something the research office at NDSU has been discussing with the system office, said Richard Rothaus, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the North Dakota University System.

The discussion started six or eight months ago, and was prompted by Kelly Rusch, NDSUs vice president for research and creative activity, he said. The proposed new policy would allow institutions to establish a sliding scale. Once a certain amount is reached, researchers would receive a smaller share of the royalties.

Allowing university researchers to profit from the intellectual property they developed is a common practice, intended to reward their efforts and to attract and retain talented scientists, NDSU officials said.

Although universities routinely reward researchers with a share of the earnings from their intellectual property, they also are dealing with budget cuts that make maintaining costly research programs a growing challenge, Rothaus said.

Its a constant tension for the research university, he said.

Payoffs for plant breeders

The majority of the earnings at NDSU, collected by the not-for-profit North Dakota State University Research Foundation, go toward supporting research programs. Licensing income from university innovations totaled almost $19.8 million from 2007 to 2016, records show.

At NDSU, the overwhelming majority of research royalties are earned by plant breeders and their research partners, including plant pathologists.

Most of the earnings come from crop seed varieties developed at the university, a rigorous process that typically takes from 10 to 12 years, said Ken Grafton, NDSUs vice president for agricultural affairs and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources.

Awarding university researchers a portion of the licensing revenues from their innovations can help make academic research jobs more attractive, since salaries and perks lag far below those that can be offered in the private sector, Grafton said.

The licensing royalties can provide opportunities to attract very talented individuals, regardless of their discipline, he said. North Dakota typically does not -- we try to have a very good offer package, but that often isnt sufficient to attract the best talent.

The starting salary for a plant breeder, a position that requires a doctoral degree, ranges from $85,000 to $90,000, to be competitive, Grafton said. That compares to private sector salaries starting in the $95,000 to $100,000 range, plus incentives including signing and retention bonuses as well as profit-sharing, he said.

So its very enticing for students to go that route instead of worrying about tenure, which means a six-year probationary period for academic researchers just starting their careers, Grafton said. Its a very trying time.

$1.1 million man

Competition also can come from other academic centers. A top wheat breeder at NDSU was lured away to head a grain breeding center affiliated with the University of Georgia two years ago. The breeder, Mohamed Mergoum, remains the top royalties earner at NDSU, receiving more than $1.1 million in licensing income over the past decade.

NDSU has 10 plant breeders working to develop new crop varieties for wheat, barley, oats, oil seeds, including flax and canola, dry beans, potatoes and trees and other woody species. But entire teams are involved, given the collaborative nature of the work. At NDSU, for instance, 18 doctoral-level researchers are involved in the wheat breeding program.

A new wheat variety, Grafton said, can generate hundreds of millions of dollars for North Dakota.

Licensing income retained by the university helps in a variety of ways, including hiring support staff and equipment. Also, some researchers donate some of their licensing earnings back to the foundation, said Richard Horsley, a barley breeder who heads NDSUs Plant Sciences Department.

That money is being used for good things to support the university as well, he said, adding he has given more than $25,000. Grafton, who also heads the experiment station, said he also has donated some of his royalty income to scholarships and the new greenhouse, for instance.

After plant breeders and pathologists, the top research royalty earners at NDSU were mostly involved in researching polymers and coatings, but their earnings were modest by comparison. For example, the top researcher in polymers and coatings, Dean Webster, a professor who heads the program, earned $19,595 over the 10-year period.

Licensing revenues from research at NDSU have grown steadily since the mid-1990s, not long after the foundation was established in 1989. Licensing revenues rose from $331,997 in 1995 to more than $2.7 million in 2016, a more than eight-fold jump.

The foundation distributes the licensing revenues. Last year, just over 30 percent went to breeders and inventors, just over 30 percent went to NDSU Plant Science, and almost 14 percent went to an endowment for NDSU Plant Science, with 10 percent going to the NDSU Research Foundation Endowment.
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Dear Sir/Madam,Pursuant to Regulation 30, Schedule III, Part A & applicable regulation of SEBI (Listing Obligation and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company held on Monday, 27th November, 2017 at the Registered and Corporate Office of the Company situated at 1101, Tolstoy House, Tolstoy Marg Near Janpath Crossing, Next To Honda Motor, New Delhi - 110 001 to inter-alia, consider and approved followings:-a) The company has entered into Agreement to sell for purchase of property worth Rs. 1,80,05,000/- with Mr. Sahil Minhaj Khan and Mr. Saeed Ur Rehman. In lieu of that the company has decided to allot shares in exchange of consideration to be paid.b) Increase in Authorise Share Capital from existing 12,50,000 Shares of face value of Rs. 10/- each to 28,00,000 Shares of face value of Rs. 10/- each. Increase of 15,50,000 shares of face value of Rs. 10/- each. Simultaneously, resulting in amendment in the Memorandum as well as in Articles of Association of the company.c) Create, offer, issue and allot 13,00,000 (Thirteen Lacs) Equity shares ('Issue Shares') with voting rights of Rs.10/- each, on a preferential basis in full and final settlement of the contract value for a consideration other than cash to the below mentioned proposed non-promoters allottees at a price of Rs.13.85/- per equity shares in accordance with the provisions of the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations on such terms and conditions and in such manner, as the board may, in its discretion, think fit ('Preferential Issue')S. No. Name of proposed allottees Category No. of Equity Shares to be proposed1. Mr. Sahil Minhaj Khan Non-Promoter 6,50,0002. Mr. Saeed Ur Rehman Non-Promoter 6,50,000Total 13,00,000The Board of Directors has also approved notice of Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the members of the Company to be conducted on 26th December, 2017 at 12.00 P.M. at the registered office of the company situated at 1101, Tolstoy House, Tolstoy Marg Near Janpath Crossing, Next To Honda Motor, New Delhi - 110 001 for seeking approval of the members of the company for issuance of equity shares on Preferential basis in terms of Chapter VII of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 as amended and Companies Act, 2013 read with relevant rules there under and other applicable provisions.Further the Board has authorized Mr. Sanchit Jaiswal, Company Secretary of the Company to issue the Notice of Extra-Ordinary General Meeting to the members and making arrangements for e-voting process for members.The Notice of the Meeting, containing the business to be transacted about the proposed Extra Ordinary General Meeting is enclosed herewith.Kindly do take it on your record and acknowledge.Thanking You.For Jyotirgamya Enterprises LimitedSd/-Sanchit JaiswalCompany SecretarySource : BSE

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Praveg Communications (India) Ltd.

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Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma is looking at inorganic growth opportunities in Eastern Europe and other geographies for deeper market penetration and to secure newer technologies.

Apart from acquisitions, the company is also keen to expand its product portfolio in the US and Western European markets with high-value drugs.

The high-value products that are in the pipeline include oncology, hormones, depot injections, peptides, inhalers, patches and films, vaccines and biosimilars, the company said.

"Our acquisition strategy will be largely around two platforms. One is to penetrate markets deeper and the other to secure newer technologies and platforms. We always maintain that anything that can come across in Eastern Europe will be prioritised," Aurobindo Pharma's managing director N Govindarajan said in an earnings presentation.

But he was quick to add that there is no pressure on him to do an acquisition to fill any gap as "there is enough opportunities to grow organically".

Earlier this year, the company announced acquisition of Portugal's Generis Farmaceutica SA from Magnum Capital Partners for a consideration of Euro 135 million (around Rs 969 crore).

The acquisition of Generis, by leveraging its strong portfolio and unrivalled brand recognition is expected to allow the company to establish itself as the top generics player in the Portuguese market.

On product expansion into existing markets, he said, "The portfolio mix is complemented with the introduction of high-value products and the future pipeline that includes oncology, hormones, depot injections, peptides, inhalers, patches and films, vaccines and biosimilars."

For FY18, it plans to spend about USD 130 million towards capex in vaccines and biosimilar. During the second quarter, its revenue rose 17 percent to Rs 4,436 crore driven by strong growth across key markets, boosting its bottom line by 29 percent to Rs 781 crore.

Formulation business contributed 83 percent of total sales and with Rs 3,663 crore, registering a 22 percent growth. API business accounted for the balance of Rs 772 crore in Q2. In the formulations business, total sales from the US markets stood at Rs 2,099 crore, an increase of 21 percent year-on-year.

The growth was primarily driven by new products and improved volumes of existing products. "We have launched eight products, including two injectables in the September quarter. Aurobindo USA has witnessed a growth of 37 percent in the quarter driven by new product launches and higher volume," Govindarajan said.

The company has filed a total of 90 injectable ANDAs as of end September, of which 51 have already been approved  two tentative approvals and the rest are under review with USFDA. He expects injectable business, which has already ramped up well, to grow by at least 40 percent this fiscal.

But oral division disappointed with a price erosion of 9-11 percent. "Even though there is pressure, we still believe we would be able to grow our US business because there are lot of opportunities for growing the volume as well to launch some new products," Govindarajan said.
business 20 companies barred by NHAI from bids: Await court orders for some relief Top road construction companies are worried about their participation in future road and highway projects.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JULY 14: A taxi of the Uber Company pass by on the street in Moscow, Russia, on July 14,2017. Uber and Yandex, the "Google of Russia", have agreed to combine their Russian ride-sharing businesses, with Yandex the leading partner in a deal that extends to five nearby markets. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Uber executives are travelling the globe to reassure regulators that the company is changing the way it does business, after a string of controversies hurt the ride-hailing firm's reputation, its Asian head told Reuters on Monday.

It is also still in talks with Japan's SoftBank Group Corp for an investment, said Brooks Entwistle, Uber Technologies' recently appointed chief business officer for Asia Pacific.

The comments come on the heels of Uber's disclosure last week that it covered up a 2016 data breach involving 57 million customers and drivers. The revelation prompted governments in countries including Britain, the United States, Australia and the Philippines to launch probes into the breach and Uber's handling of the matter.

"We have changed tacks in so many ways in dealing with regulators, dealing with governments," Entwistle said in an interview in Tokyo, where he is meeting Japanese officials and potential business partners.

This suggests the world's largest ride-hailing firm, known for its tough stance against regulators, is taking a less disruptive and more consensual approach in the wake of scandals that have led to criticism of its corporate culture.

A stream of executives have left Uber in recent months amid controversies involving sexual harassment, data privacy and business practices in Asia. The board also removed Travis Kalanick as its chief executive in June.

SOFTBANK DEAL

The disclosure of the 2016 data breach at a time when Uber is trying to bring in Japanese firm SoftBank as an investor has spurred speculation about the price of the deal.

SoftBank and Dragoneer Investment Group agreed on Nov. 12 to lead a group that would invest as much as $10 billion in Uber, people familiar with the deal previously told Reuters.

And according to sources, Uber has plans to disclose the pricing of the SoftBank deal in formal tender offers to existing investors this week.

"The transaction is still underway and its an extraordinary validation that an investor like SoftBank would look at Uber," said Entwistle.

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment.

REGIONAL PLANS

SoftBank has become a prolific investor in ride-hailing firms across Asia, including Southeast Asia's Grab, China's DiDi Chuxing and India's Ola, leading to expectations it could drive consolidation in the region.

While Uber sold its business in China to DiDi last year, it remains committed to operating in the broader region for years to come, said Entwistle, who joined the company in August.

The firm has not given up on the Japanese market, which has barred non-professional drivers from offering taxi services, and is working on partnering with traditional taxi firms, he said.

Uber hopes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could provide a venue to demonstrate the value of ride-sharing firms in a potentially lucrative market, he said.

"We are innovating and in some markets that will take longer and we realize that," Entwistle said.
In order to fast track transition to BS-VI in India, the government should look at giving financial incentives to vehicles complying with the stricter emission norms ahead of the April 2020 deadline, a top Mercedes Benz India executive has said.

With the the government deciding to advance adoption of BS-VI fuel in Delhi NCT to April 1, 2018, the German luxury carmaker also said it is prepared to launch BS-VI products ahead of the original schedule.

Mercedes Benz India Managing Director and CEO Roland Folger told PTI that introduction of BS-VI fuels ahead of schedule must be extended to other Indian cities as well.

"Also, to make this more effective and gain momentum, the government should also support this shift towards BS-VI with financial incentives for those vehicles that pre-fulfil BS-VI vehicle requirements before 2020," he said.

Welcoming the move to advance availability of BS-VI fuels in Delhi, Folger said,"The government is thinking in the right direction and there is a strong determination shown to address the issue of pollution."

When asked about the company's readiness to launch BS-VI compliant vehicles, he said Mercedes-Benz has the capability to bring in these models as early as 2018.

"We are looking at launching our BS-VI products earlier than the commitment time-lines given by the government, and this is a positive move in my opinion, that we have the cleanest fuel available with us," Folger said.

The company is hopeful that by 2020, BS-VI fuel will be made available across the country, he added.

Last week, three oil PSUs -- IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL)-- said they are ready to supply BS-VI grade petrol and diesel to the national capital from their refineries at Mathura, Bina and Bhatinda from April.

India had in 2015 decided to leapfrog to Euro-VI emission norm compliant petrol and diesel from April 2020, from the Euro-IV grade at present.
NANJING, JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA - 2017/03/23: After work, a girl is ready to ride a Mobike to go home. 'Dockless' share bikes have flooded on the streets of Chinese cities, Besides Mobike and Ofo, more new startups are aggressively competing for pavements and investment. Among the worlds 15 biggest public bike shares, thirteen of them are in China. (Photo by Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Cities are picking up the concept of bicycle sharing following the success of such a project in Bhopal under the Centre's Smart City Mission for last mile connectivity and to fight pollution and congestion, a senior official said.

"Bhopal's public bike sharing programme is setting a new trend in India. Bhopal's concept is bringing back the bicycle as an alternate to private motor vehicle, not only contributing to user's health but to the environment," the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry official added.

He said there are around 30 similar programmes being undertaken cross the country under the Smart City Mission, out of which about 20 are in various stages of finalising detailed project report.

In June, Bhopal had launched the nation's first completely automated bicycle sharing programme with a fleet of around 500 bicycles.

It comprised 12 km of dedicated bicycle tracks around 50 locations within the city where bicycles are placed and from where the customer can hire a bicycle using a phone app, which allows the users to register themselves, select a plan and pay for the same.

The programme, costing about Rs 7 crore, has been rolled out on a public private partnership model. Around Rs 3 crore was financed through the Smart City Mission's funds and the rest by a private company, the official said.

As part of this completely automated system, users can pick up a cycle from any of the stations and deposit it at any another station after use.

Over 25,000 bikers are already registered with the programme and one new registration takes place every 5 minutes, the official added.

"It has shown that not only bike sharing is possible in India but also that it can be fully automated and profitably run with minimum human intervention," he added.

Launched on June 25, 2015, the Smart City Mission aims to develop 100 smart cities across the country in a five-year period. The government has earmarked Rs 48,000 crore for the development of these cities.

Each selected city will be given Rs 500 crore over a period of five years by the Centre with the respective states expected to make the matching contribution.

Recently, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had pitched for promoting non-motorised transport infrastructure for walking and using bicycles which will not only act as the last mile connectivity for a well-established public transport system but also help in promoting health.

Naidu, the former housing and urban affairs minister, had said the future of the transportation lies in sustainable smart mobility and eco-friendly alternatives.
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Dacoits looted more than Rs 12 lakh from a branch of a nationalised bank in Alipurduar district, police said today.

The dacoits broke into the Damanpur branch of UCO bank last night and looted the money, they said.
FARGO  The Medora Musical has hit the road for its third annual Magical Medora Christmas tour with a planned stop here Dec. 4 and 5 at Fargo South High School.

A Magical Medora Christmas will feature five of the top performers to have graced the stage of the Burning Hills Amphitheater in a Christmas special that guarantees to put you in the holiday spirit.

Justin Fisk, marketing and communications director for the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, says that this year will be different than past performances.

The cast is just a little bit different, Fisk says. This year we have a new accompaniment that brings a new flavor to it  sort of brings a folk song touch to this year's arrangement. A little banjo with Christmas favorites to bring a Medora touch. Christmas, we all like it for the same reason every year, and that is built into the show as well.

Throughout the past three years, the Medora Christmas tour has visited many communities throughout North Dakota and western Minnesota, and this year is no different  except that the tour has expanded.

A Magical Medora Christmas has been booked for 27 performances in 22 communities across North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota.

It is a super fun tour for us to do; we love going to all of those communities, and many reach out and ask us to do the show in their community, Fisk says. Our tour has gotten longer. It is 27 shows in 22 days that takes through the whole Christmas season. And the small shows sell out quickly, so getting tickets early for those smaller shows is a really good idea.

With a talented cast  including former Medora Musical hosts Emily Walter, Bill Sorenson and Job Christenson, as well as yodeler extraordinaire Jared Mason and longtime band leader Chad Willow  and an energizing show, A Magical Medora Christmas is sure to put the whole family in the holiday spirit.

The tour will stop at the following cities on these dates:

Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., Fargo South High School, tickets: First International Banks

Dec. 5, 7:30pm, Fargo South High School, tickets: First International Banks

Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m., Wahpeton, Stern Center, tickets: Wahpeton Econo Foods

Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m., Jamestown, Reiland Theater, tickets: Hugos Family Marketplace

Dec. 11, 3 p.m., Grand Forks, Empire Arts Center, tickets: Empire Arts Center

Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m., Grand Forks, Empire Arts Center, tickets: Empire Arts Center

Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m., Park Rapids, Minn., High School, tickets: Park Rapids Chamber

Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m., Detroit Lakes, Minn., Middle School, tickets: Historic Holmes Theater

Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m., Alexandria, Minn., Lake Geneva Christian Center, tickets: Eldens Food Fair

Dec.18, 7:30 p.m., Valley City, VCSU Vangstad Auditorium, tickets: Eagles Nest Book and Gift Store

Dec. 21, 7:30 p.m., Bismarck, Belle Mehus Auditorium, tickets: Dans Super Markets

The Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation and Forum Communications are sponsoring the tour.
To clean the national capital's air, the EPCA has set December 2018 as the deadline for the Delhi government to augment the city's bus fleet to 10,000 in a mega plan, which awaits the Supreme Court's clearance.

The deadline has been set by the Environment Pollution- Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) in its report on the 'Comprehensive Action Plan for Air Pollution', which was submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) on November 16.

The EPCA had earlier submitted the report in March. But the SC, recently, asked it to resubmit it after including clear timelines for implementation of the proposed measures.

The revised report would now be taken up by the apex court and, once cleared, it would have to be notified by the Centre.

"Delhi government must ensure total compliance with the orders of 1998 and 2016 by December 2018. This requires a total fleet of at least 10,000 buses," the report said.

The proposal to increase the city's bus fleet to 10,000 is not new. The SC had directed the Delhi government in 1998 and 2016 to hasten the process in this regard. However, this is for the first time a deadline has been set.

The AAP government recently initiated the process to procure 2,000 CNG buses (1,000 for DTC and 1,000 for the cluster scheme) by next year. No new bus has been added to the fleet of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) since 2010.

Currently, the DTC has a fleet of 3,944 buses while the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS) runs 1,634 buses under the cluster scheme, as per the transport department statistics.

The combined strength of buses is around 5,600. This means that apart from the procurement of 2,000 new buses, the process for which has been initiated, the Delhi government would have to purchase nearly 3,400 more buses to meet the numbers set under the comprehensive action plan.

The plan is based on a 2012 blueprint prepared by the Sheila Dikshit government and a 42-point action plan of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Delhi Master Plan 2021, among others.

It focuses on 13 key pollution sources, as identified by an IIT-Kanpur study, and lists short, medium and long-term measures.

The percentage of reduction in PM10 required in Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida and Meerut are 74, 64, 76, 56 and 60 per cent respectively while PM 2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels have to come down by 70 and 37.5 per cent in the national capital, the plan says.
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The non-executive employees of Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) is planning to go on an indefinite strike from December 6 to stop the government from privatising the organisation.

The employees movement, which is against the 74 percent sale of the governments share in the company, began after finance ministry's Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) nominated a committee to initiate the process.

The government is withdrawing its 73.47 percent of shares They want to privatise it and go for the strategic sale The employees want to stop the privatisation, B.H Nayak, President, Officers Association of DCI, told Moneycontrol.

They dont prefer privatisation, he said.

The Centre on November 1 decided to divest its entire 73.47 percent stake in DCI paving way for complete privatisation.

Employees at DCI have been expressing their resentment towards privatisation of the company as they believed that any private player who (would) acquire the same would be interested in taking the company out of this scenic place to serve his own personal interest.

Also read: Cabinet approves sale of govt's entire 73.47% stake in Dredging Corp

Officials at DCI said that the governments nod to bring to close its entire shareholding has not been (officially) communicated to the organisation.

There is no official communication from Government of India, said Rajesh Tripathi, chairman and managing director, DCI, in his statement.

The employees, who now face an uncertain future as they might be asked to take up voluntary retirement option, are against any stake sale.

Nayak said that an 11-member committee has been formed to take the strategic sale forward.

An 11-member committee has already been nominated for the strategic sale of the company. Thats why people are agitating, he said.

DIPAM formed an inter-ministerial group (IMG) on November 16 for strategic divestment of Government of Indias equity of DCI through strategic sale.

The chairman of the IMG will be secretary, DIPAM. Other members will include secretary (or representative not below the rank of joint secretary), Ministry of Shipping; financial advisor, Ministry of Shipping; financial advisor, DIPAM; CMD, DCI; director (finance), DCI and joint secretary, DIPAM among others.

A private letter written by the officers association of DCI, a copy of which was accessed by Moneycontrol, had advocated against the move citing that if the proposal is accepted, the private investors would manipulate the advantage of the publicly owned company instead of sharping their own competitive advantage.

and the Government will have no control over the same, it read.

DCI was established in 1976 to provide dredging  underwater excavation activity--and maritime development services to the major ports of country. It is involved in maintenance dredging, capital dredging, beach nourishment, land reclamation, shallow water dredging, project management consultancy and marine construction.

Also read: Workers union threaten to go on strike against DCI sale

The Centre has set a target of Rs 72,500 crore to be generated through divestment for 2017-18. Out of this, Rs 15,000 crore has to come from strategic divestment. Divestment of DCI is a part of the Rs 15,000 crore bracket which would fetch the government approximately Rs 1,400 crore.

While DCI has been making profits during the past decade, the quantum has been falling consistently.

While the decade began with more than Rs 150 crore profit, it fell to a low of Rs 13.18 crore during 2011-12, before witnessing a steady rise. It recorded the biggest single year drop in profit after tax (PAT) in 2016-17, approximately 91 percent, falling from over Rs 70 crore to only Rs 7.41 crore.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, an official from the Shipping Ministry said that the proposal was not being discussed for the past four months and that the decision was in the hands of DIPAM.

The staff at DCI also said that the organisation was not in talks regarding the proposed divestment. They said that as the government had already divested in four instalments during 1991-92 (1.44 percent), 2003-04 (20 percent), 2015-16 (5 percent) and 2016-17 (0.09 percent) the outright sale was causing agony amongst the employee.

Also read: Dredging Corporation hits 20% upper circuit as govt likely to sell entire stake

The staff also said that there has to be a proper balance between government and private participation, which it believed would be wiped if the entire stake was sold.

Nayak said that privatisation would (also) raise security concerns of the nation.

DCI should not be privatised because it is also related to the security of the nation Naval establishments are placed at DCI where private players cannot enter, he said adding, DCI also has facility for Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) With privatisation, everything will be at stake.

He said that the employees are not ready to accept any middle path and has ruled out talks for negotiation.

The organisations privatisation includes privatisation of its man-power. But this is an expertise area Dredging is not available everywhere If the employees are not in favour of privatisation, what will happen to the organisation? asked Nayak.

This is not any general service or financial service This is dredging service which is a very rare field Not everybody can do it, he said.

Nayak said that further action by the employees will be decided in due course to decide if they would leave or stay with the company.
The government should reduce GST on brokerages to 12 per cent as well as scrap taxes on securities transactions and dividends, according to a leading stock brokers' group.

As preparations for the Union Budget 2018-19 is underway, the Association of National Exchanges Members of India (Anmi) has flagged concerns about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime creating "some difficulty" in the financial market.

Post GST, the burden of taxation on the transaction charges has increased, the grouping said in a representation to the finance ministry.

"Rate of GST applicable on brokerage for share transaction is 18 per cent which is on much higher side and has further inflated the cost of transaction. We appeal to reduce the rate of GST to 12 per cent in the ensuing Budget," it added.

Besides, the brokers' group has requested the finance ministry to do away with the securities transaction tax and abolish dividend tax for growth of the capital markets.

According to the grouping, the STT plays a detrimental role in enhancing liquidity and creation of depth in Indian capital market.

"Removal of STT will encourage more liquidity and profitability in India, which in turn will increase depth in Indian capital market as well as more participation," the grouping said.

STT is the tax on transaction of equities as well as their derivatives and accounts for a bulk of the transaction cost after deducting the brokerage fee.

Further, Anmi has suggested for rationalising the STT calculation method for option trading by removing certain anomaly.

"Dividend distribution tax (DDT) should be done away with or the rates should be brought down to be nearly negligible" and amendment to Section 14A, Rule 8(d) of the Income Tax Rules are the two other demands for reforms by Anmi.

The applicability of Section 14A has impact on dividend income. DDT is levied at almost 20 percent on the company for distribution of dividend to its shareholders.

The tax burden for brokerages has been increasing over the last three years - it has risen to 18 per cent from 12 per cent, Anmi said.

Also, the brokers' body has said market intermediaries like sub-brokers should be exempted from registration under GST as they don't raise any invoice for clients directly but only through the brokerage.

It also asked that GST return should be submitted quarterly in order to promote 'ease of doing business' instead of monthly returns.

Stating that the stock broking community is the backbone of the capital market, Anmi reiterated its demand to give an industry status to the broking business.
Moneycontrol Research

Value investing is generally termed as contrarian investing. Not many can withstand the heat of staying aloof when the market is going crazy around them. It needs a cool head, a strong discipline and complete faith in ones abilities to be a contrarian investor.

Ace investor Kenneth Andrade is all this and much more. With nearly 27 years of experience in the equity markets, 15 of them in managing money and staying at the top of the table, Andrade surprised the market by quitting his job as the chief fund manager with IDFC Mutual Fund and managing money on his own.

With an enviable track record of a compounded return of 22 percent for a period of 10 years, Andrade was bitten by the entrepreneur bug. He decided to launch his own portfolio management scheme (PMS) fund Old Bridge Capital. He has now opened up an Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) with an aim to garner Rs 400 crore.

With a passion for investing that can be seen in his constant search for next multi-bagger, Andrade also has an ear for music. He loves reading and likes to go on long drives in his electric car.

In a free-wheeling interview with Shishir Asthana and Jitendra Gupta of Moneycontrol Research, Andrade shares his his investment philosophy and the learnings he gained from the journey.

Q) How did you enter the investing industry?

Andrade: Well, I used to do some small investments in college and post my graduation took up a job with the investing magazine Capital Markets in 1990-91. I took up freelance assignments with a lot of other publications, and a few brokerage houses. In 1997, I also had a stint with television with Nimbus Communications which was the only one with a program on markets then.

I moved on the buy side with Kotak Mutual Fund in 2002-03 just after the tech collapse. I took care of a small portfolio called Kotak Energy. Towards the end of 2005, we launched a mid-cap fund for which we raised around Rs 600 crore. This was a sizeable amount in those days. Until that time the entire size of Kotak Mutual Fund was around Rs 800 crore.

My stints with Standard Chartered and IDFC Asset Management for nearly a decade helped me streamline my investing process. Thereafter, I started Old Bridge Capital Management in 2016. We made our first investment in September 2016. Today, we have close to Rs 1,500 crore in asset under management (AUM).

We are now launching a public market focused alternative investment fund (AIF).

Q) Has your investment philosophy changed over the years since the time you started managing funds at an asset management company to the present format?

Andrade: There has not been a tremendous change, it has happened in the sub-conscious. In all years of managing money qualitatively, you stop making mistakes. You tick off the wrong ones and everything you do incrementally adds up to your improvement.

ALSO READ: Companies with 9% return on equity are good bets: Kenneth Andrade

Q) You have been largely a mid-cap fund manager. How come you have an all-cap fund in Old Bridge?

Andrade: Back in 2000, we had a tech boom. It was a bubble economy. Any company that had anything to do with technology did well. This also holds true for 2008, everything that had to do with any form of infrastructure did well. We had commodities  cement, a contracting company, an engineering company  in our portfolio then. We called it diversified, but it was one pipeline of companies that had to do with the capex cycle.

To put it differently, I like financial bubbles. But that is the end point of it all. So, we need to identify when it actually starts. Bubbles happen in parts of the economy, they happen in sectors. Technology was one such sector. Tech companies catering to the capex cycle were part of the bubble. It happened briefly in the pharmaceutical sector as well.

It happens in a corporate which has a rising profit boom. The challenge is how do you recognise the rising profit boom. If you are early in the cycle you catch the entire cycle because eventually, everyone will participate in the boom.

So those are cycles that keep on happening in the market. I believe that if you can capture the cycle in the early stage you gain.

Q) How do you identify these companies or sectors in the early stage of the cycles?

Andrade: Rather than sectors I prefer to look at industry verticals and try to figure out which will do well. In 2013, it was very simple  the small-cap index was hitting its all-time low and companies were available at distress valuation. Around 10 percent of the companies were making profits. Everyone was exiting these companies when the market price showed that the risk was already priced in.

That was the time when we launched a fund in the mid-cap or the small-cap space called the IDFC Equity Opportunities Fund. Next three years it performed brilliantly, in fact, we paid back the entire capital as dividends.

That is how we narrow down on verticals. It operates at both the extremes. What helped me out in 2008 is we stayed out of infrastructure companies. We had a very conservative portfolio of consumer-specific companies.

How we do it? The process is very simple  try to look for a company in an industry which is making money while the others are all losing it. So, when the industry comes back you are with the best company. It happens in sugar all the time.

Its not easy to find them. I could only find it in sugar. I was also possible to spot them in the fertiliser chain.

Q) Are there any companies that are available at distressed valuation, especially as you will be raising money through the new AIF?

Andrade: You will find something that is good at all points of time. We have a pipeline of stocks that we like ready to invest at all points of time. We like media companies, but they have not given any returns over the last one year. The underlying structure of the industry itself is deteriorating. The spend by corporate India does not exist.

Q) When you buy a company at a low valuation and sell it at fair value, you are essentially playing the valuation arbitrage. How do you decide when to sell?

Andrade: You have to give some time for these things to evolve. I have bought a stock at the same price for three years. This was Bosch. Nothing happened to the company between 2007 and 2009. But with every year that passed the company became more attractive because the denominator (earnings of the price to earnings ratio) continued to grow even though the price remained static. So you have to have the patience to go through the entire cycle.

Its like one year has gone since I have bought media nothing has happened to them. I dont know if anything will happen to them. But I am willing to take the chance because I know that valuations are in my favour. The environment will expand itself. The derivative of this expansion will come to these companies bottom line.

Q) What attracts you to the agriculture space?

Andrade: My job as a fund manager is to buy capital efficiency in my fund. So, if I remove the industry from the equation what is my cash flow yield, what is my investing yield.

Let me put it little differently. For you, to compound returns you need the price-earnings ratio to expand and at the same time, you need the denominator (earnings) to expand. If I get a stock at a price-earnings multiple of 30 times I would like it to go to 40 times or 50 times. But, I would rather buy them in the range of 10 to 30.

I like to buy companies that are making profits. I define companies that are making profits as the ones that are making 9 percent return on equity (RoE). Even if it making 9 percent ROE, it is a good business, especially at a time when the rest are losing with that vertical. Because when the cycle turns they are the first off the block.

Q) Is this the only strategy through which you pick up stocks?

Andrade: We keep on searching for opportunities. We like to work on this parameter that only if this one does not throw up opportunities, should we look at others.

Q) Are banks and technology stocks popping up in your search?

Andrade: Banks, not in this cycle. Technology, yes we like a few companies. We have expanded our universe of looking at pharmaceuticals. I want low valuations and I want cash flows.

Q) Are you comfortable sitting on cash if there are no opportunities?

Andrade: We are comfortable sitting on cash, but we rarely do that. We are lucky to have an environment that offers a large universe to work with. I was invested in consumables during the peak of the 2007-08 run. After the market crashed, they were the first to bounce back. Thats when I learned never to hide behind cash in a bear market.

Q) You follow a concentrated portfolio approach of 15-20 stocks. What do you do when you get a new opportunity?

Andrade: Yes, we are happy to have 5-7 percent of our portfolio in one stock at the upper end. Any reason that we see to buy and if the converse is happening we exit. We generally give a long rope to the companies to operate in. If the company is operating in an industry where the macros are deteriorating, there is very little that the company can do. It has to just increase its ability to survive by the day because when the cycle turns it will lead the pack.

I need to be very focused on seeing that everything is right and the balance sheet is not deteriorating. Balance sheet deterioration is the last thing that I can stand. So, we manage business which we know goes through cycles. But in every cycle, the company has to come out on the top. Thats a good company for us.

But if a company is leveraged it cannot come on the top, then it carries a lot of financial risks. Because on the down cycle the leverage hits it.

Now if a new company comes up we evaluate the opportunity with the existing basket.

Q) ROE is one of the parameters that you look at, but the small-cap index has an ROE between 2 and 3 percent which does not fall into the minimum criteria of 9 percent that you have set for yourself. Is there a strict 9 percent rule you follow or a return above the cost of capital that is necessary?

Andrade: That is (Small-cap index) not a fair indicator of the space we operate in. If you look at the BSE 500 the ROE there is between 16-17 percent. In the small-cap index, if you go to their P&L account they have not reached their peak level in net profits. Their all-time high was around Rs 51,000 crore they are still at around Rs 24,000 crore. So, that is where the disconnect in valuations is.

Even in the BSE 500 space, the asset turnover ratio is off its peak offering enough headroom. That is the key  as capacity utilisation improves cash flow comes in that is when we see the denominator improve.

Q) How much importance do you give to meeting company management and studying the market environment?

Andrade: So, knowing the business and the company you invest in is very relevant. The thought process of the management and how it behaves with its stakeholders is key. Stakeholders are not shareholders, but the customers. If the customers are happy and your employees are happy, you have a good company. Then there are other stakeholders and bondholders who count.

Q) Anything in particular that you look at in the management?

Andrade: From the management perspective I like to look at quantitatively. As in management quality is dictated by financial ratios. And if he is not growing with the external capital he is doing a damn good job. So if a company is in an industry which is not growing the management is able to increase market share with the same amount of capital employed, it is a no-brainer. So when the cycle turns and the pricing power comes back this company is going to increase profitability in a bigger turnover and bigger market share.

On the other hand, we have seen what happened in the last cycle was businesses were growing at a 15 percent CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) over 4-5 years. And between 2008 and 2010 capacities that came on stream anticipated growth at 30 percent CAGR. So what we have is a very large build-up of capacity and your capital employed. But your profit continued to grow at a 10 percent CAGR which saw your return on capital and RoE nosedive. And all of that (capacities) came in with debt.

The problem of leverage is that you are borrowing it from the future. And when you are borrowing it from your future you pay for it with your future. Which is why I stay away from significant leverage.

Q) How does gauge that the management will be able to run business cycles well in future?

Andrade: You need to work for a 60 percent strike rate (in stock picking) and you will end up with a 55 percent. We all work for a 100 percent strike rate but we never get that. All you need to do is get 50 percent strike rate on businesses that do well. You have to make lesser numbers of mistakes. You cant be aiming for the boundary all the time because then you leave your wickets wide open.

You buy companies when the valuations are right. When we looked at Hero Motors (then Hero Honda), it was available at 5 percent dividend yield. The darling of the market was L&T which was at a historically high valuation. L&T is a great company but it was mispriced.

Q) What are the valuation parameter you look at for cyclical businesses?

Andrade: We generally look at cash flow to market cap or free cash flow to market cap.

Q) What has been your best pick? Something where your call played out exactly like you thought

Andrade: I think we got the previous cycle correct. We were out of infrastructure and were not trapped like many others. So we got that call right. For me, that was the inflection point. That was a career change move for me.

There are many companies that kept on coming. I got Page Industries on the table, because I had a Glaxo SmithKline with me and because of that I bought Asian Paints, and because I had Asian Paints I got Bata. All these companies in the consumable verticals were available at a price to earnings of 15 to 18 times. But that is now history.

Q) Any mistakes that you would like to highlight?

Andrade: Plenty, so if you work on a 50 percent strike rate you are bound to make many mistakes. I think I was too early in the cycle for public sector companies in 2012 end when I put together a public sector fund. The idea was not wrong, but I executed it terribly. In hindsight, it was one of my larger mistakes or largest mistake. We did not lose money, we managed index-linked returns but that is not what an investor expects from us.

Q) Is valuation a sufficient condition to exit? Many fund managers exit based on high valuation but concedes the opportunity to compounding.

Andrade: See the largest shareholder with a 10 percent stake in Bajaj Finance exited the company at a price of Rs 2,500 (pre-bonus and pre-split  the current unadjusted price will be around Rs 18,000). He was their largest shareholder. I think PE expansion shakes out a lot of people. It shakes me out too.

Q) Why are you planning an AIF rather than continue with the PMS (Portfolio management scheme) structure?

Andrade: AIF is a simpler instrument. It is an extension of the mutual fund the taxation is the same, its a single entity and documentation is easier. From an investing standpoint, nothing changes in terms of strategy.

Q) But will you be able to get new ideas to invest in the current market?

There are always opportunities. The challenge is the number of companies will be lower than what it used to be. In 2013 if you had nine companies to invest in you would have made money in eight of them with a success rate of 90-95 percent. In 2017, that ratio has probably come down to 30 percent.
Narendra Modi

In a stinging attack on the Congress in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the upcoming Assembly election is a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

He also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

"The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics," the prime minister said at the rally.

Taking another dig at the opposition party, which is making all out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The prime minister will address a series of campaign meetings today and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be on December 18.
Pushing the BJP's campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi why his party applauded the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

Modi, who started his high-voltage campaign with a rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town, launched a stinging attack against the Congress party.

"You are happy to hug Chinese ambassador, you are clapping on the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Army's surgical strike. But why did you speak up about it? You could have just remained silent," he said.

Gandhi had recently tweeted: "Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed."

The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed by a Pakistan court.

Modi said the election in his home state is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics

He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch district's Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

"Recently Pakistani court released a terrorist, I cannot understand why these Congress people are clapping here," Modi said in his speech delivered in Gujarati.

He also alluded to allegations by Congress leaders, including the Congress vice president.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

Taking a dig at the opposition party, which is making all out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers... were standing eye-to-eye against the Chinese soldiers for over 70 days, at that time you were hugging the Chinese ambassador here...

"For whose benefit did you do this? I am asking you," Modi said, without taking any name.

He referred to the Mumbai 26/11 terror strike and the attack in Uri and asked what was the difference between one government and another, one leader and other.

The meaning of living and dying for the country can be known by the response, Modi said.

"They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks," he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress raised questions on the surgical strike in September 2016.

"They could not respect Indian Army, they asked questions like none of our soldiers was injured? None of them died? Have you any photo or video evidence? Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan?" he said.

"When you go to the house of the poor and eat rotis, you ensure that you are filmed, but does that mean that a surgical strike should be filmed?" the prime minister asked.

Modi will address a series of campaign meetings today and on Wednesday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The second phase of elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on 14. The votes will be counted on December 18.
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Realty firm HDIL has sought shareholders approval to issue up to 2 crore warrants on preferential basis to promoter Sarang Wadhawan in order to infuse long term capital into the company.

The board on November 14 had approved the issue up to two crore warrants, convertible into equivalent number of equity Shares of Rs 10 each to Sarang Wadhawan, promoter of the company on preferential basis in one or more tranches.

The company has sought shareholders approval through postal ballot, Mumbai-based HDIL said in a regulatory filing today.

"At the annual general meeting held on September 29, 2017 shareholders had approved the said issue but it could not be implemented as due to procedural delay and validity of the resolution had expired hence the said resolution is placed before the shareholder for their consideration by way of Postal ballot," the filing said.

The proceeds of the preferential issue of warrants will be utilised by the company to consolidate and infuse long term working capital.
Indian Oil | The board has approced implementation of Petrochemical and Lube Integration Project at lndianOil's Gujarat Refinery at an estimated cost of Rs 17,825 crore. (Image: PTI)

Niti Aayog, governments think tank, had in June 2017 released a draft National Energy Policy (NEP) after working on it for nearly two years. A final policy is not yet announced as changes are being made based on the feedback received by the think tank. Reports say that the policy will now incorporate aligning energy prices with international rates.

This will be a big plus for the entire energy sector as producers like ONGC and OIL will be able to get international prices for their oil and gas output. Currently, they feed the downstream sector at a subsidised rate which is later paid back by the government.

The report, however, clarifies that the impact of higher prices will not be felt by the segment of the society which still uses subsidized fuel and energy. Targeted subsidies only to the end user help stop leakages and reduce government subsidies.

The key to the NEP is that a policy has been made keeping in mind the energy requirement of the country as a whole. Structurally, there are various ministries that cater to energy requirements like the Oil and gas Ministry, Coal Ministry and supporting ministries that provide logistic support like the railways, shipping and surface transport.

Each ministry was working in isolation and at times competing with each other. Thus, a need for a comprehensive approach was felt. The result of governments effort was the NEP. Four key objectives of the NEP are affordable prices, improved energy security and independence, greater sustainability and economic growth.

While releasing the draft policy the government in a statement had said that energy is handled by different ministries that have the primary responsibility of setting their own sectoral agenda, an omnibus policy is required to achieve the goal of energy security through coordination between these sources. This is also expected to mainstream emerging energy technologies and provide consumer energy choices.

The difference between the old and new policies, as per minister Piyush Goyal is that the new policy differs from the previous one while including the issue related to sharp decline of crude oil prices, change in solar energy technology, heightened concern of climate change issues, ambitious target of renewable energy and rural electrification agenda adopted by the government.

A national policy is necessary as competing fuel will thrive to supply energy at various price points. The job of the government is to strike a balance between the cheaper sources of power and the cleaner sources of power.

Aligning international rates for energy prices and keeping the poor sections of the society protected would mean that the producing industries have a better chance of improving their profitability. Also, fuels which were subsidised, like coal for a long time might now be able to compete with other fuels.

This might bring in temporary volatility as one form of energy competes with the other, but forces of supply and demand and the overall cost of producing energy given the landed price of fuel at the factory gate will play an important part. But the net result will be that the most economical and environmentally friendly source of energy will be available in the country.

It is necessary for the government to get its act in place as by its own estimate all the Census villages are planned to be electrified by 2019, and universal electrification is to be achieved, with 24x7 electricity by 2022. This has to be met by an international commitment of reducing emissions intensity by 33-35 percent by 2030, achieving a 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022, and share of non-fossil fuel based installed capacity in the electricity mix is aimed at above 40 percent by 2030. Aligning fuel prices to international rates will make India join the world energy market and make the domestic energy market more efficient.
Unsold stock in top eight Tier I cities marginally declined by (-1%) quarter-on-quarter with the total number of unsold units at 9.39 lakh units compared to last quarter 9.5 lakh units. The decrease was led by Hyderabad and NCR (-5 percent) followed by Ahmedabad and Bengaluru at (-3 percent), says a report titled Residential Real Estate Market Q2 2017-2018 by Liases Foras.

The report also said that the maximum sales growth of 11 percent took place on the back of affordable properties priced below Rs 25 lakh. MMR contributed towards the highest sales in this segment at 28 percent with 3388 units followed by Ahmedabad at 24 percent with 2903 units, it said.

Affordable segment contributed to 19 percent of the overall sales as compared to 17 percent in the previous quarter. Sales of properties priced between Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore and Rs 25 to Rs 50 lakh decreased by

(-8%) and (-5%) respectively. Properties priced between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh contributed to 36 percent of the total sales, the report said.

MMR had the highest sales contribution in the affordable segment with 3,388 units i.e. 28 percent followed by Ahmedabad with 2,903 units at 24 percent of the total sales. All eight cities cumulatively sold the maximum number of units priced between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, with sales of 23,493 units at 36 percent of total sales, followed by units priced between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore at 29 percent of the total sales.

MMR contributed the highest to overall sales at 6,194 units i.e. 25 percent of total sales followed by NCR at 15,660 units i.e. 24 percent of the total sales, the report said.

Property sales

Sales across the eight Tier I cities  MMR, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata - decreased marginally from 64,881 in the previous quarter to 64,781 units in the current quarter.

Hyderabad led sales with an increase of 11 percent quarter on quarter. MMR sold 16,194 units to record a maximum share to overall sales at 24 percent. Chennai and Kolkata witnessed a steep decline in sales at (-13%) and

(-8%) quarter-on-quarter. Hyderabad posted a healthy increase of 11 percent sales, followed by MMR and Pune with a meager 2 percent increase.

On a year-on-year basis, sales across the tier I cities increased by 5 percent with MMR emerging as the leader with a 19 percent increase followed by NCR at 15 percent, Hyderabad at 13 percent and Pune at 10 percent. Chennai and Bengaluru witnessed a steep decline of (-23%) and (-21%) respectively, the report said.

Unsold Stock

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the overall unsold stock decreased marginally by (-1%). Hyderabad and NCR witnessed a (-5%) decline in unsold stock followed by Ahmedabad and Bengaluru at (-3%). Unsold stock in Kolkata increased the highest among the Tier I cities by 7 percent followed by Chennai at 6 percent.

As for year-on-year basis, the overall unsold stock in Tier I cities increased marginally. Chennai witnessed a 20 percent increase, which is the highest, followed by Kolkata 13 percent, MMR at 8 percent and Pune at 7 percent. NCR, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru saw a decline of (-10%), (-8%) and (-7%), respectively.

Months inventory

The months inventory remained constant across Tier I cities. Bengaluru and Pune witnessed no change in months inventory. The number of months remains constant at 44 for Bengaluru and 33 for Pune. Chennai witnessed the maximum increase at 22 percent where the number of months increased from 58 to 71 months. Hyderabad witnessed the maximum decrease (-12%).

On a year-on-year basis, overall months inventory decreased (-4%) from 46 to 44 months. An efficient market maintains 8-12 months of inventory, which would indicate a downside pressure on price across all the major cities in India. Maximum increase was seen in Chennai at 58 percent, where months inventory reached 71 months from 45 months a year ago.

Movement in prices

The weighted average price across Tier I cities witnessed a marginal increase of 1 percent. Prices declined only in Chennai by (-1%). The Hyderabad market witnessed a 2 percent increase in prices.

On a year-on-year basis, in the second quarter of 2017-2018, the weighted average price level increased 2 percent to Rs 6,804 psf from Rs 6,675 psf a year ago. Prices in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru increased the maximum by 2 per cent. Kolkata and Pune witnessed a decline in prices by -2 percent.

New launches

MMR added the highest number of new launch units, with a contribution of 35 percent followed by NCR at 14 percent respectively. In MMR, units priced between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore witnessed the maximum number of launches (4,359 units). As many as 37 percent new launches were in the price range of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and 33 percent in the range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

MMR contributed to 35 percent of the new launches in the affordable segment (priced at Rs 25 lakh), the report added.
After several years of speculation, India seems primed to launch its maiden real estate investment trusts or REITs early next year. However, the challenge for REITs is no longer on possible regulatory logjam but rather on how to price the assets at a level that will appeal to both sponsors as well as REIT investors, says a study by PwC and Urban Land Institute titled Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2018.

India remains the real bright spot. Despite enduring cynicism that Indias suffocating bureaucracy would effectively snuff out the chances of any early introduction of the countrys first REITs, there now seems a real prospect that Indias maiden REIT will be listed by the end of the first quarter of 2018, says the study.

The remaining problem for REITs in India, therefore, appears no longer to be a regulatory logjam, but rather the question of how to price real estate assets at a level that will appeal to both sponsors and REIT shareholders.

It noted that REITs in Japan and Australia and Singapore are trading at yields that are about 370 to 450 basis points above their ten-year government bonds. And Indias ten-year government bond now is at about 6.6 to 6.7 percent, so arguably the trading yield of the REIT should be at least 300 to 400 basis points above that.

But from the perspective of the developer or the issuer or the sponsor, the question is: Why do I have to go through a REIT to get that kind of return when I can sell the assets into the market and get better prices? There are prospects for growth, of course, but the question then becomes where do you draw the line? says the study.

The report further says there is still a high demand for a legitimate institutionalised investment opportunity at the retail level, which may persuade investors to pay up for REIT at higher levels.

Demand in India for a legitimate institutionalised investment opportunity at the retail level is very high, and may persuade investors to pay up for REIT shares at higher levels, says the study.

According to a consultant: Indian stock markets today are currently at an all-time high, with every single new recent IPO subscribed many times over. So, I think from a financial market perspective, Indian markets would be willing to pay a decent price. Then the Indian domestic story is also very stronglots of money coming from the Indian middle class is finding its way to the stock market. So, with real estate direct investments currently looking very stark on the residential side, and in the absence of quality investment alternatives, I think its very likely that people would consider investing into the office space through the REIT route as a viable option, even if its expensive by industry norms, the study quoted the consultant as saying.
FARGO  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a list of the states most likely to be negatively affected if the U.S. withdraws from the North American Free Trade Agreement, placing North Dakota at third, behind only Michigan and Wisconsin.

Rounding out the list were Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Arizona, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

North Dakotas position on the list sounds about right to officials in the North Dakota Trade Office.

Absolutely, says Lindsey Warner, director of marketing and events at NDTO. The unfortunate thing is, if NAFTA goes away, no matter how you look at it, its going to hurt a lot of our exporters.

NAFTA, implemented in 1994, over time eliminated almost all agricultural tariffs and quota restrictions among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The three countries have undergone several rounds of negotiations in an effort to produce a modernized version of the agreement.

The chamber report explains North Dakota leads the nation in terms of the share of its exports going to Canada and Mexico, at 84 percent, with $3.5 billion in exports sent to the two countries. It estimates withdrawing from NAFTA would put 33,000 jobs at risk in the state.

While the report specifically mentions North Dakota as being a big provider of soybeans to Mexico, Nancy Johnson, executive director of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association, says thats not exactly the case. North Dakota sends 66 percent of its soybeans whole to the Pacific Northwest, where they are shipped to Asian countries, primarily China, Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan, according to North Dakota Soybean Council statistics.

However, Johnson says, Mexico is a major importer of soybean meal, which is used as swine and poultry feed. So while North Dakota itself crushes a very small amount of soybeans at this time, the soybean industry as a whole does send a substantial amount of meal to Mexico. The location for a soybean crushing plant in Spiritwood, N.D., being planned by Minnesota Soybean Processors, was chosen in part because of access to rail to take products like soybean meal to Mexico or Canada, Johnson says.

Relationships with buyers and sellers of various products over the years have been built in the years since NAFTA was approved, Johnson says.

Theres a whole generation of traders who work at these big companies who really havent done anything but trade under these rules, she says.

And while those relationships are strong, she says adding tariffs into the equation would change trade substantially. Right now, someone in Mexico who feeds swine reliably buys soybean meal from U.S. sources, in part because of the convenience of train delivery. But if the price of the meal goes up, hes going to be looking around, possibly to sources in Argentina or Brazil, Johnson believes.

The NDTOs purpose is to help North Dakota exporters build relationships with potential customers outside U.S. borders. Warner and Sharon May, director of business development, say the organization is educating North Dakota exporters on the possibility of NAFTA withdrawal and what their options are if it happens.

Its not just North Dakota agriculture that would be affected. Manufacturing, including food processors, ag machinery and small companies that have a primary market in Canada, could be devastated, May says.

She adds that about 50 percent of North Dakota exports go to Canada. Without NAFTA, a portion of those products still could potentially qualify for duty deferral, but not all of them.

Though much of the rhetoric surrounding the potential withdrawal from NAFTA has focused on loss of U.S. jobs, May says North Dakota has many jobs supported by exports.

Warner and May say the trade office has had discussions with the states congressional delegation about NAFTA  and they say the states representation has a strong grasp on the issue. Both of North Dakotas U.S. senators, Republican John Hoeven and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, have signed onto a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stressing the importance of NAFTA to agriculture. The Nov. 20 letter has been signed by 18 senators.

With 95 percent of consumers residing outside of the U.S., farmers and ranchers must have access to export markets to sell their high-quality product, the letter, spearheaded by Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said. Free trade agreements have allowed the U.S. agriculture industry to establish itself as a trusted supplier. International markets have taken years to build, and it is imperative that no steps be taken to jeopardize these gains. We must continue to move the global presence of U.S. agricultural products forward, not backward.

Johnson does believe there will be a price impact for soybeans if the U.S. leaves NAFTA. Though the Trump administration has said negotiations would have a do-no-harm goal for agriculture, Johnson says Mexico already has been seeking out other trade partners.

Right now, the rhetoric about the willingness to pull out is already doing harm, she says.
Post implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will not be able to levy Octroi and will have to raise additional funds by way of issue of municipal bonds to meet citys development needs, says a financial analysis of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai undertaken by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.

Also, the recent government crackdown on black money will result in slowdown in income from sale of Floor Space Index or FSI, it noted.

MCGM has total asset base of about Rs 1.1 lakh crore. After considering appropriate haircuts, it is eligible (as per SEBI guidelines) to borrow up to Rs 76,700 crore (post 30% haircut). MCGM can raise these additional resources by way of issue of municipal bonds to meet the citys development needs, says the financial analysis of the corporation.

In addition to indigenous resources such as fixed deposits, the corporation has the leeway to raise funds worth Rs 76,700 crore (assuming ~30% haircut) through municipal bonds anchored by a robust balance sheet. We believe, given strong balance sheet and borrowing capacity, the corporation has the capacity to undertake welfare projects in excess of Rs 1 lakh crore, says the analysis.

MCGM can raise additional resources by way of issue of municipal bonds to meet the citys development needs. These bonds will be secured by a charge on the assets of the municipality having sufficient value to repay outstanding amounts. SEBI guidelines permit municipalities to issue bonds up to a tenure of 30 years.

Further, guidelines also require maintenance of 100 percent asset cover sufficient to meet the principal amount at all times, it said.

Octroi accounted for almost 23 percent of total income during the financial year 2016 for the corporation.

MCGM is uniquely positioned as Indias richest municipality with a balance sheet size of over Rs 100,000 crores and annual budget size of over Rs 24,000 crores.
Tata Communications

The financial crash in 2008 plunged the world into a prolonged period of financial instability, leading to unemployment and a global decline in business profits due to a fall in demand for goods and services.

Ten years on from the crash and we are experiencing an entirely new digital financial landscape, and facing a brand new set of opportunities and challenges. Although the crash resulted in a number of regulatory and legislative measures to prevent a similar event from happening again, the changes in our banking habits are already attracting a new breed of threat: cyber criminals.

Incumbent banks and insurers have been under growing pressure to evolve the way they operate over the last decade in order to compete with a host of innovative new, data-driven, digital savvy competitors who have grown out of a consumer demand for more convenient, personalised services.

In order to compete and offer an increasingly personalised experience for their customers, banks need to collect and maintain a wealth of data on their customers. The return for the financial industry, from banks to insurers, is clear as experts estimate that organisations that invest in big data are anticipated to increase their operating margins by 60 percent.

The value of data has increased exponentially in the last decade and the next financial crisis could be caused by security attacks.

Were already seeing ripples in the financial industry in this space  the most recent example being the huge data breach at US credit reporting bureau Equifax. The breach resulted in a significant loss of data in which the personal details of over 145 million people across the US, UK and Canada were leaked. The event has already started to affect a change in the US, spurring a rethink of data protection laws and has financial services industry commentators considering the role of cybersecurity in banking.

In Europe there will soon be an eye-watering financial tag associated with data loss of up to 20 million Euros or 4 percent of group worldwide turnover. Elsewhere in the world bodies like the new Computer Emergency Response Team in Financial Sector (Cert-Fin) in India show that institutions around the world are taking steps to mitigate the threat that cyber criminals pose.

This demonstrates the hugely damaging effect that a breach can have on revenue but the industry must also consider the reputational fallout. According to a recent study 50 percent of consumers would consider switching banks if theirs suffered a cyber-attack, with 47 per cent admitting they would lose complete trust in their bank, should the worst happen.

Trust is paramount in the financial services sector, and the industry is acutely aware of the criticality of the information theyre handling, but as the industry evolves, so too does the threat.

In early 2017, UK-based banks operating under Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were hit by a significant DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack over the course of 48 hours. More recently, a host of South Korean Banks were threatened by a damaging DDoS attack if they did not pay the $315,000 bitcoin ransom demand. Thankfully, banks are acutely aware of the criticality of the data they handle, and in both cases the attacks were successfully defended against.

Although DDoS attacks remain prevalent across a number of industries, the effectiveness of the method relies on the organisation paying up the ransom, which many organisations are refusing. Another more worrying form of attack for banks is one that quietly siphons off data across a period of time. These are often introduced in the form of malware driven attacks, such as banking Trojans.

An example of these kinds of threats is an evolving malware project called TrickBot which, while currently plaguing Latin America, has targeted banks in over 40 countries across the globe.

Attacks that lead to a systematic leakage of data over time dont have the immediate shock effect of a swift attack, but they can be just as damaging, and serve to weaken the banks defences over time. An additional layer of complexity to this issue is that there will soon be more and more channels in which hackers can access the systems. P2P services are on the rise, and regulation such as PSD2 is being introduced to increase competition in the industry by introducing an open API standard for banking in the UK, for example.

Securing all the various channels will only get more difficult for the industry as the way we bank continues to evolve and leaders must be armed with an agile cybersecurity plan to move into the next generation of finance with the confidence of their customers behind them.

Securing the future of banking from threats

Traditionally, the banking industry has been one of the main investors in security, and its likely this will continue to be the case as we navigate the new threats landscape that the future of banking presents.

As open banking accelerates and the industrys data becomes more and more interconnected, the industry cannot afford to take risks with the data they hold on their customers. One leak could be the first symptom that infects the whole industry with a sickness that could have wider-reaching effects.

In order to combat this evolving threat, the industry needs an adaptive, 24/7 method of detection, defence and counter-attack. Many organisations are looking to outsource their security services in order to ensure they have comprehensive, around the clock coverage. Investment in security operation centres for example is on the rise.

One of the main learnings of the 2008 crisis was that the industry needed to be more responsible in its approach to risk. By keeping abreast of the latest security threats, and investing in security applications that are able to adapt to the future of banking, the industry will be able to avoid a similar crippling financial event.

Author is the Senior Vice President, Global Product Management & Data Centre Services at Tata Communications.
Spain's Princess Letizia and Crown Prince Felipe (R) stand next to chairman of Spanish global fashion group Inditex, Amancio Ortega (L), during a visit to an Inditex factory in Coruna, northern Spain December 2, 2008. REUTERS/Miguel Vidal (SPAIN) - GM1E4C305UV01

By Alok Kejriwal, Co-Founder & CEO - Games2win



To succeed, you need HUNGER. Sometimes literally...



I read an amazing write up about the worlds richest man  Amancio Ortega in the latest issue of the Economist , and was humbled to learn five critical lessons from his story:

According to an employee of Zara who works with him, the true story of Amancio Ortega has not been told.

Mr. Ortega, the son of an itinerant railway worker, who started at the corner shop aged 13, had a basic upbringing: an ex-colleague says he talks of meals of only potatoes.

I have heard this story repeatedly. From the legendary tale of Dhirubhai Ambani being a poor petrol pump attendant to the fact that George Soros was a Jew in Germany who had a very hard time with the Nazi occupancy, the theme is common in people to succeed beyond their ultimate imagination.

2. There is NO formula to great success  Education included.

The article on the Zara founder mentions, The manner in which he rose does not fit the usual template. His lack of formal education has profoundly affected his management style. Those close to him confirm that he does readnovels and newspapersbut he is reportedly ill-at-ease with writing at length. He has never had his own office, desk or desktop computer, preferring to direct his firm while standing with colleagues in a design room of Zara Woman, the flagship line.

Nowadays, there is such an emphasis on higher education that it results in a death race of students brutally competing with one other to get into a top college such as IIT or IIM.

Going abroad means selling your family heirlooms to pay for that 2-4 year course that almost never results in a job.

3. The best management style is the one that works for you.

One former long-term CEO of Inditex, and Mr. Ortegas business partner for 31 years, Jose Maria Castellano, says that his ex-bosss working method is to discuss things intensely with small groups, delegate paperwork, listen hard to others and prefer oral over written communication.

This preference for close personal interaction may have even helped him concoct the formula behind Zaras success.

I once read that MBA meant Management by being around.

To become spectacularly successful, you need to spot an insight, an opportunity, a glaring need.

But the PROCESS to fulfill that need needs to come from the Entrepreneur or Inventor vs. others and more often than not, this process may be UNIQUE and NOT defined in MBA textbooks!

While I learned some invaluable lessons in my fathers socks factory, I noted that he would take 3 rounds of the factory floors each day at 10, 2, and 4 pm.

I found that odd  everything seemed to be humming along nicely and we had enough production managers to keep things under control.

But when I would quiz him on this painful habit, he would say, Alok, the machines sing songs. I need to hear them ever so often.

He made a small factory, probably one of the most profitable businesses I have ever come across and Im sure the songs he heard would not be found in any music album or concert hall.

4. Its never about the fame  its always about the results.

His leadership style appears to favor extreme introversion. A video from a surprise 80th birthday party in March shows him tearful and backing off from assembled staff. He almost never speaks in public nor accepts national honorsaside from a workers medal in 2002. Colleagues say he resented a rare biography of him, from 2008, by a fashion journalist, Covadonga OShea. So few photos existed of him pre-flotation that investors who visited awkwardly confused him with other staff.

But that low profile means there is room for other top executives to shine. Inditexs chairman and CEO, Pablo Isla, has run things since 2011, yet Mr. Ortega shows up to work every day. In many firms, a professional manager might chafe against the presence of a revered founder, but there are no such reports at Inditex.

This is a spectacular takeaway from the story and also the hardest.

Fame is the most alluring temptation in the world. The moment you start to succeed, the world notices you and puts you in the spotlight. Its extremely hard to run away from being a star and in the front page news.

Very often, the addiction to be famous and constantly in the limelight becomes a top priority for many founders.

I met Narayan Murthy on a plane and was stunned by his down to earthiness. Check out what I  unlearnt about myself from him in 4 minutes

5. There is no start or end point.

Dhirubhai started up in his late 50s. My Guru Sri Sri (Ravi Shankar) always jokes at the concept of Burning out.

He laughs and says, Cmon what does burning out mean?

Zaras Ortega is 80 and shows up at work every day.

I meet many aspiring entrepreneurs who think Id better start when I am in my 20s or early 30s. Post that I dont think I will ever be able to be an entrepreneur. In the same vein, many accomplished professionals I meet in their 40s and 50s think that starting up is meant for them.(The author is founder and CEO of Games2Win India Pvt Ltd. Views are personal. This piece was first published here .)
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Share price of Autoline Industries has locked at 5 percent upper circuit on Monday as its subsidiary received environmental clearance.

There were pending buy orders of 152,098 shares, with no sellers available.

Autoline Industrial Parks, subsidiary of the company, on November 23 has received environmental clearance from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi vide its letter no. F. No. 21-283/2017-IA-III for the proposed special township project of the subsidiary Company spread in its 104 acre land located at Mahalunge, Chakan, Pune, as per company release.

The said approval was the prime and vital requirement to proceed further with the project.

After receipt of this significant approval the subsidiary company is confident to commence the project development activities soon.

At 10:36 hrs Autoline Industries was quoting at Rs 103.15, up Rs 4.90, or 4.99 percent on the BSE.

It has touched a 52-week high of Rs 103.15.

Posted by Rakesh Patil
CNBC-TV18 brings you a brand new week of Bull's Eye. It's the popular game show where market experts come together to dish out trading strategies for you to make your week more exciting and compete with each other to see whose portfolio is the strongest.

Remember these are midcap ideas not just for the day, but stocks that look attractive in the medium-term as well.

This week, Vishal Malkan, Pankaj Jain and Ruchit Jain battle it out for top honours.

Below their top stock picks and analysis:

Vishal Malkan of malkansview.com

Buy Bata India with a stoploss at Rs 728 and target of Rs 795

Buy Jain Irrigation with a stoploss at Rs 110 and target of Rs 120

Buy Apollo Tyres with a stoploss at Rs 249 and target of Rs 275

Buy Hexaware Technologies with a stoploss at Rs 319 and target of Rs 355

Pankaj Jain of SW Capital

Buy Jai Corp with a stoploss at Rs 184 and target of Rs 199

Buy TV18 Broadcast with a stoploss at Rs 49.25 and target of Rs 55

Buy Gujarat Heavy Chemicals (GHCL) with a stoploss at Rs 271 and target of Rs 289

Buy Kolte-Patil Developers with a stoploss at Rs 329 and target of Rs 349

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

Ruchit Jain of Angel Broking

Buy Brigade Enterprises with a stoploss at Rs 288 and target of Rs 330

Buy Indo Count Industries with a stoploss at Rs 122.50 and target of Rs 141

Buy Ajanta Pharma with a stoploss at Rs 1290 and target of Rs 1440

Buy Manappuram Finance with a stoploss at Rs 102 and target of Rs 112
Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com told CNBC-TV18, "Ajanta Pharma is a buying opportunity. A long three month base was being build, that base breakout has already taken place, so the long positions earlier are in money. If you havent taken that trade there is a three day small flag now in this stock. In an upswing there is very minor correction and that correction is also a buying opportunity. There is significantly higher levels if you are positional trader in Ajanta and of course for the short term trader you take modest profits, but the money is there."

"Ashok Leyland is a buy, the stock had a rather choppy environment when it fell and that decline seems to be over. A small consolidation is leading to a breakout on the upside. I think there is a buying opportunity here."

"Colgate Palmolive is also a buying opportunity, the stock had a deep correction, it came down to a very strong support level. From that support this is a swing trade and a positional trade, there probably seems to be some momentum on the upside and it is part of the much favoured FMCG group."

"I also have two short sells. These short sells are always for the day, dont carry them. Idea Cellulars big rally seems to be fizzling out. The sense is that it is distributing now and it should probably come back lower. That is a short."

"Tata Motors which has never been a favourite to me is giving sign that a small rally was simply a brief rally and the downtrend should renew. Broadly, stay on the long side and take advantage of the dip," he added.

"Even at current level, if you are an investor Future Retail is a buying opportunity. I think there is much more ahead in it."

"Castrol India and Tata Chemicals are both available for buying today, these are short-term trades, start with an intraday view but both should see momentum on the upside."
Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Ashok Leyland is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 118 and target of Rs 130. Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 1,500 and target of Rs 1,620. Can Fin Homes is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 460 and target of Rs 485."

"Even amongst midcap IT, Mindtree is not an outperformer. I think Hexaware Technologies, Sonata Software, Tata Elxsi are doing much better than this but if you just look at this in isolation, it has moved for many months between Rs 430 and Rs 560. Once we get past Rs 560 then you open up another 100-50 points on the upside. This is a large pullback rally."

"I dont think any of these stocks will make new highs, so the sense is that the bottom is now done and now on the upside somewhere in the vicinity of Rs 650-700 finally is where this rally will probably reach," he said.

"Chances are that Fortis Healthcare remains in Rs 120 -Rs 160 type of band and out of that it will emerge only when there is some sort of news of acquisition or something happens. So, maybe there is some accumulation going on in here by strong hands, knowledgeable hands but overall from a very short term point of view, I don think there is much going on accept this Rs 120-160 range."

"There are other media stocks which have done better than Sun TV Network, maybe TV Today etc. but even on Sun TV you can keep a stop loss below Rs 800 and maybe look for targets of Rs 940-950."
Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Eicher Motors is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 30,750 and target of Rs 31,500. Jain Irrigation Systems is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 112 for target of Rs 124. Axis Bank is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 545 and target of Rs 570."

"Oil marketing companies are still above their 200-day moving averages. But bets of the oil marketing rally is over because crude as a chart is looking fairly strong and we will test the reforms when we get past Rs 65. So that way the market is getting ready to see whether at some point the prices stop going up locally."

"However, in BPCL , Rs 480 is the 200 day-moving average and Rs 400 is around the 200-day moving average on HPCL . As long as that goes on they are still in positive territory but definitely there is no momentum on the upside," he said.
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Axis Direct's research report on Phoenix Mills

Rental income collectively grew 9% YoY, despite slower consumption growth of 4% YoY (vs. 19% YoY in Q1), on account of refurbishment of 50k sf at High Street Phoenix (HSP). Development business remained muted with new sales weak at Rs 0.1 bn due to no new launches, with collections declining to Rs 0.3 bn (0.6 bn in Q1).

Outlook

Visibility on growth in the mid-term remains strong, driven by (1) rental renewals (~1.8 msf/~35% of its leasable area up for renewal over FY18-20) at significantly higher Minimum Guarantees (MG) with better revenue share terms, (2) Chennai Palladium (0.22 msf), (3) addition of Pune mall to its portfolio & (4) CPPIB^ platform with capital commitments of ~Rs 14 bn to be deployed for growth. Development business can generate net cash flow of Rs 25-30 bn over next 5-6 years, which could be used to fund growth/ deleveraging. Maintain BUY.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Rahul Shah, Associate VP at Motilal Oswal told CNBC-TV18, "Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has been my top trade. In last two sessions, the stock has been showing some kind of improvement and long build up in a future & options space. Overall in the pharma Index, we have seen the negative performance. So, I think one can go long with a stop loss of Rs 542 for target of Rs 580."

"Tata Power is at 52-week high and slowly and steadily long built up in F&O space gives a positive bias. I would buy Tata Power with a stop loss of Rs 91 for target of Rs 97."

"We have seen lot of noise in Fortis Healthcare . The stock has been in the negative zone for quite some time. It has taken support at Rs 127 odd levels. On Friday the stock was up 5-6 percent. Today also the stock has shown some positive bias. So I would go long on Fortis with small stop loss of Rs 137 for target of Rs 155," he said.
Two men convicted of federal charges related to illegally operating a saltwater disposal well near Dickinson will not go to prison for the environmental crimes, a judge ruled Monday.

Jason Halek, 44, of Southlake, Texas, will serve up to one year in a halfway house and pay a $50,000 fine, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland ruled.

Halek, who pleaded guilty to three felony counts of violating the Safe Drinking Water Act, also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

Stephen Foster, trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section, argued that Halek should serve 2.5 years in prison for environmental crimes in early 2012 that put drinking water sources at risk. Foster also argued that Halek, who has a history of fraud, questionable business practices and environmental violations in Texas, attempted to cover up his crimes with false statements and failing to provide documents to a grand jury.

Defense attorney Alexander Reichert pointed out there is no indication that any groundwater was contaminated or that any leaks from the well occurred. Reichert also argued that Halek has already been punished for prior violations, which include allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that he defrauded investors in Texas oil and gas projects.

Halek apologized for his involvement in the case and asked the court for mercy.

I would never intentionally harm the environment, Halek told the court.

Hovland noted that Haleks liabilities are listed at $71.1 million in a pre-sentence investigation report. Hovland said he thinks serving time in a halfway house with work release privileges is an appropriate punishment that will allow Halek to continue working to pay off his debts.

Halek said in court he continues to operate 50 older oil and gas wells in Texas, earning about $8,000 a month, but would like to return to his previous business of selling cars.

In addition to the $50,000 fine, restitution will be resolved at a later date. The state of North Dakota is requesting restitution estimated at $115,000 to plug and reclaim the well, court records show.

Were obviously pleased that the judge acknowledged there was no environmental damage, Reichert said after the hearing.

A second defendant, Nathan Garber, 48, Kalispell, Mont., was sentenced Monday to serve three years of supervised release.

Federal prosecutors again argued for prison time, but defense attorney James Cailao said Garber provided substantial cooperation to investigators and helped secure Haleks conviction.

Garber pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the concealment of the crimes. Foster said Halek was the one who had more oil and gas experience and directed Garber to illegally inject the saltwater, a waste byproduct of oil production.

Garber told the judge he sold a business and, based on the advice of a mutual friend, he invested the $510,000 he earned with Halek for an oil and gas well in Texas. When the well wasnt successful, Halek hired Garber to work for him in Texas and in North Dakota to try to recoup some of his losses, even though Garber did not have oil and gas experience.

I believe Ive learned some very hard lessons. I want to move forward making good choices, Garber said.

Hovland left Garber with some advice: Stay away from fancy talkers that are in the oil and gas business.

The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agencys Criminal Investigation Division with cooperation by the state of North Dakota and the North Dakota Industrial Commission.

U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota Chris Myers said in a statement that the case is a great example of state and federal authorities working together to protect natural resources.

Those individuals who seek to exploit and damage our natural resources to increase their own personal wealth will be held accountable, Myers said.

State regulators allege that more than 1.8 million gallons of saltwater were injected illegally into the well between December 2011 and March 2012.

The injections of saltwater occurred without having state regulators witness a test of the wells integrity and in violation of permit requirements designed to protect groundwater. Halek was accused of directing Garber to move a safety device within the well, known as a packer, to deceive inspectors. Garber also violated an order from the state to stop injecting into the well.

State regulators have been waiting on the EPA to provide information from the investigation that might affect how the well is plugged, Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms said in an interview last week.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission fined Halek Operating $1.5 million in civil penalties. To date, the commission has been able to collect about $140,000 in bonds from the company.
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Global brokerage house Deutsche Bank has initiated coverage with hold rating on General Insurance Corporation of India and set a target price at Rs 830 per share, saying it is a leading Indian reinsurer but the risk-reward is balanced.

"Positives are dominant 60 percent market share, improving financials and combined ratio at 100 percent while negatives are B2B model, tightening competition and investment income driving profits," the research house said.

It feels the competitive landscape is getting incrementally tighter as insurance regulator IRDAI allowed foreign reinsurers to open branches in India.

Deutsche Bank expects combined ratio to exhibit modest improvement hereon.

"We expect combined ratio of 99 percent and return on equity of 17-18 percent over FY18-20. We expect net written premium/net profit to grow at CAGR of 14/13 percent over FY18-20," the research house said.

Key crop business for the company can be volatile but is not concerned, according to Deutsche.

At 10:52 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 792.55, down Rs 2.55, or 0.32 percent on the BSE. After listing on October 25, it fell 13 percent from its issue price of Rs 912.
Angel Broking's currency report on EURINR

Yesterday, EURINR spot appreciated by 0.67 on account of weak dollar and a euro positive sentiment in the market along with ECB minutes coming on a positive line . Euro is getting stronger despite the political uncertainty in Germany after coalition talks failed. EURINR is expected to depreciate in the coming trading session.

EURINR is expected to depreciate in the coming trading session.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Share price of Kridhan Infra rose more than 6 percent intraday Monday as its subsidiary bagged contracts worth Rs 105.6 crore.

The company's subsidiary KH Foges Pte has recently been awarded 3 new piling contracts worth USD 22 million (Rs 1,056 million) in Singapore.

The contract period for these projects are between 2.5 months to 5 months.

The contract includes piling works for industrial development at woodlands north coast, piling work for proposed public housing development comprising 2 blocks of 18 storey residential building and sub-contract for secant bored piling works.

Kridhan Infra has evolved into a leading EPC company in Singapore through the acquisition of Swee Hong.

At 11:00 hrs Kridhan Infra was quoting at Rs 98.15, up Rs 3.30, or 3.48 percent on the BSE.

Posted by Rakesh Patil
IRB Infrastructure Developers | In 2020 so far, the share price has moved up 76 percent to Rs 131.20. It's trailing twelve months (TTM) P/E was 6.40 multiple while 5-year average P/E was 8.30 multiple.

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Share price of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) gained more than 1 percent in the early trade Monday on the back of orders win worth Rs 3,572 crore.

The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth Rs 3,572 crore across various business segments.

The companys transportation infrastructure business has been awarded a prestigious contract worth Rs 1,358 crore on EPC basis from Bangalore International Airport.

The metallurgical and material handling segment has bagged orders worth Rs 1,264 crore from JSW Steel to build Indias largest blast furnace and steel melt shop.

The power transmission and distribution business won orders worth Rs 595 crore in the international market and building & factories business has bagged orders worth Rs 355 crore.

According to JPMorgan Schneider could buy electrical and automation unit of L&T for USD 2 billion.

The price implies valuation of 15x current year EBITDA, which looks reasonable as it reflects longer term growth opportunity in India, it added.

The deal in-line with Schneider's policy to focus on smaller/mid-sized acquisitions.

At 09:30 hrs Larsen & Toubro was quoting at Rs 1,224.45, up Rs 8.15, or 0.67 percent on the BSE.

Posted by Rakesh Patil
If you are turning 18 between November 28 and December 31, along with wishes on your birthday you will be reminded by Facebook to register yourself to vote. A notification urging its users to register with Election Commission of India will also be sent to the users who turned 18 this year.

Facebook has partnered with the Election Commission of India to encourage the first time voters to exercise suffrage.

This partnership of Election Commission with Facebook for the dissemination of Information will help us reach out the young digital Community of India in fulfilling our mission No Voter to be Left Behind and Every Vote Counts," said Achal Kumar Jyoti, Chief Election Commissioner of India.

The ECI had launched a campaign on November 15th to ensure that all prospective and eligible voters born this year are registered to vote.

Since the beginning of this year, millions of people in India have used Facebook to engage on elections, whether it's asking the candidates questions, sharing the latest news, or having a conversation about the issues with their friends and followers, said Nitin Saluja, Politics and Government Outreach Manager for India, South & Central Asia, Facebook.

Through our partnership with the Election Commission of India, we hope to connect more people with the issues that matter to them, and build a more civically-engaged community.

In order to reach its 217 million user base in India, the social media giant said that the reminders will be sent in 13 Indian languages including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Assamese, Marathi and Oriya.
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It's been smooth sailing for IndiGo in recent times as far as financials go, but the airline's reputation has run into rough weather over the past month following a series of unsavoury incidents.

Here's a roundup of IndiGo's recent controversies, starting with the most recent:

Ramachandra Guha took to Twitter, says IndiGo staffers are rude



I dont normally use twitter as a means of consumer redressal, but since the same airline misbehaved thrice in a single week I had to. Friends and family also confirm that rudeness has become a habit with @IndiGo6E

 Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) November 26, 2017

Historian Ramachandra Guha tweeted to IndiGo over the weekend, saying 'rudeness has become a habit' with the airline. In his tweet, he said that he does not usually take to Twitter 'as a means of consumer redressal' but couldn't help but do so as he claims that the staffers misbehaved thrice in the same week.

Staffer manhandles passenger



#WATCH: IndiGo staff manhandle a passenger at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (Note: Strong language) pic.twitter.com/v2ola0YzqC

 ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2017

Two IndiGo staffers were sacked for manhandling an IndiGo flyer, Rajeev Katiyal. The flyer was stopped from entering the airline's bus by two staffers on October 15. One of the staffers took a video of the incident which went viral on social media. The aviation authorities and the airline apologised on behalf of the staffers.

IndiGo staffer misbehaves with a woman passenger

A lawyer alleged that IndiGo staffers at Guwahati airport forcibly snatched her phone to delete pictures she had taken. According to PTI, the pictures were of her luggage being screened before the check-in procedure. The staffer asked her to delete the pictures and in spite of her telling that she had done so, he snatched her phone and deleted the pictures from her 'recently deleted' folder. The airline has apologised on behalf of their staffers and suspended them for their misbehaviour.

IndiGo denies payment in rupees, faces police complaint

IndiGo allegedly refused to accept Indian currency for payment of food items, among others, for flights to foreign destinations. An IndiGo flyer, Pramod Kumar Jain, travelling from Bengaluru to Dubai - could not pay for his food as the flight crew did not accept INR. The flyer, after his trip, filed a police complaint against IndiGo for 'dishonouring' the Indian currency. In his complaint, he said another passenger faced the same 'mistreatment' by the airline.

'Laptop burn' on flight

A Bengaluru-bound IndiGo flight on November 11 witnessed a 'laptop burn' in the cabin. The crew smelt something burn, and immediately took action after they realised it was coming from a flyer's cabin baggage. After spotting the bag, they noticed that a laptop had almost caught fire. The crew immediately put the laptop in a container full of water. The plane landed safely and no passenger was hurt.
Farmers | The government also announced Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog, a scheme to enhance the productivity of cows.

Not much has changed for the aggrieved farmers who expected things to take a positive turn post the announcement of farm loan waiver by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. And, the proof of this is over 2,414 farmer suicides in the state between January 1 and October 31 this year show, Mint reported.

The highest number of suicides  907  was reported in the Amravati division, which accounts for five districts in Vidarbha, according to the data reported by the six divisional commissionerates across the state.

It was followed by the Aurangabad division in Marathwada with 789. Vidarbha and Marathwada region account for 19 of the total 36 districts in Maharashtra, where severe agrarian crisis prevails.

Of the 2,414 farm suicides reported till October end, the government has given ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh to 1,246 families, who were considered "eligible". While the government rejected financial assistance in 728 cases terming them ineligible, another 409 cases are being probed.

The farm suicide cases are probed using the parameters determined by the government. What we look at is whether a suicide has been committed directly due to agrarian distress or otherwise. Other reasons like ill-health, depression, failure to arrange daughters marriage which are fairly routine causes of suicides do not get counted as agrarian distress, an official from the relief and rehabilitation department which compiles the data told the paper on condition of anonymity.

Even though it is too early to map the impact of the biggest farm loan waiver of Rs 34,020 crore as the disbursement of the loan is still going on, the data suggests that farmers continued to commit suicides even after the farm loan waiver was announced on June 24 that came into effect from October 31.

Until November 25, around Rs 6,500 crore farm loan was credited to the bank accounts of more than 15 lakh farmers.

Also Read: Loan waiver scheme: Maharashtra govt receives 77.26 lakh applications

The scheme claimed to benefit over 89 lakh farmers out of 1.34 crore farmers in the state. Out of the received 77.26 lakh applications, nearly 20 lakh names were cancelled due to several reasons such as lack of correct Aadhaar numbers as well as eligible criteria laid down by the government.

In October, PTI had reported the debt write-off is unlikely to cost over Rs 25,000 crore owing to several "filters" applied for the selection of beneficiaries.

The final list of eligible beneficiaries under this schemes lists 56 lakh farmers.

Before the farm loan waiver was announced the farmers had been protesting for various demands including increased minimum support price (MSP), interest free-credit, a pension scheme for farmers aged 60 and above, pay higher prices for milk, fully subsidised micro-irrigation equipment and uninterrupted power supply.

Also Read: Why a loan waiver will only solve half the problems of Maharashtra's farmers

The farm loan waiver has not yet made the desired impact because the government was not addressing the core concerns, a Vidarbha-based farm activist Vijay Jawandhiya told the paper.

Cotton farmers are selling the crop for Rs4,300-4,500 per quintal this year, a drop of nearly Rs 1,000 per quintal compared to the price last year. Better minimum support prices for the farm produce is the real concern for farmers. In Gujarat, since the BJP is fighting an important election, the BJP government there has declared a bonus for cotton growers over and above the MSP. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has still not kept the promise he made during the election campaign in 2014 that farmers across India would be paid an MSP which factored in an additional payment of 50% over the MSP as profit. Measures like loan waiver are a short-term oxygen and necessary but the core concern is making farming profitable, Jawandhiya said.

The continued incidents of farmer suicides raise questions on implementation of the scheme as well as the level of trust of farmers community in the government.

A minister on condition of anonymity told the paper that the government departments tasked with the implementation had let the scheme down.

One thing is absolutely clear about this farm loan waiver, which is that the government staff and bankers are not going to make money since there is not going to be any pilferage. But just as the online system has bared several problems and bogus accounts, it has also caused delays. Since there is no money to be made, there is no incentive for government staff and bank officials, especially the cooperative banks, to speed up the implementation, the minister said.
Akhila, 24, who converted to Islam in 2016 and took a new name, Hadiya, arrives at the airport in Kochi, India November 25, 2017. REUTERS/Sivaram V - RC15188B0560

Hadiya, the central character behind the ongoing Kerala Love Jihad drama is all set to appear before the Supreme Court today. The 25-year-old, whose conversion and marriage rocked Kerala has, at multiple occasions, clarified that she is not being forced to adopt Islam.

The entire issue started after Akhila Ashokan, a native of Vaikom converted to Islam. Akhila, who was pursuing Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery from a college in Salem went missing last year from the house where she was living along with her friends.

Soon, her father filed a complaint that her roommates Faseena and Jaseena and their father Aboobacker had taken his daughter away. Following this, her father Ashokan, an ex-serviceman filed a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala High Court.

When Akhila appeared at the Court on 19th January 2016 she informed the court that she had converted to Islam and taken the name Hadiya. She also informed that she had left her home after her father objected her from practicing namaz. She had reportedly joined an Islamic study centre in Kozhikode, but later moved to Sathya Sarani, an educational institution and conversion centre in Manjeri, Malappuram after Aboobacker refused to keep her at his residence.

It is from here on that the issue started becoming complicated. Sathya Sarani, which has come to the light for several conversions appointed Sainaba, who is an active member of the Popular Front of India as her guardian. The High Court, on its part dismissed the habeas corpus petition.

The second petition

A few months later (August 2016) Ashokan approached the High Court again and filed another petition claiming that efforts were being made to transport Akhila out of the country and to get her hurriedly married off to a Muslim man.

The allegation came after the news emerged that some recently converted girls from the state had left India to join ISIS. In response, the court ordered that Akhila should be kept under surveillance to ensure that she was not taken out of the country. She was also shifted to a hostel in Ernakulam after her father expressed concerns over her safety. She later shifted to the college hostel after the court asked her to do so.

Sudden marriage

The entire drama took a big turn when Akhila - now Hadiya appeared before the court in December along with Shafin Jahan. She had, according to her counsel, married him on 19th December - the same day when the court was hearing the case.

The judges were angered for being kept in the dark about the marriage and doubted this was part of a plan to transport her out of the country. The fact that Sainaba was involved in another such marriage in order to counter judicial intervention was noted by the court which sent Akhila back to a hostel and restricted her access to mobile phones.

The new verdict

Last May, the High Court bench brought out an order that called the wedding a sham and nullified the marriage claiming the husband, an active member of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) was just a pawn in the entire episode to outmanoeuvre judiciary.

The husband soon approached the Supreme Court and had Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaisingh as his lawyers. The apex court on its part has asked an NIA report regarding the involvement of any radical groups in the issue.

The raging debate

What makes the case unique is the emotions that have been raised in Kerala. The issue has led to a polarisation in the state that is based on religion. While Muslim outfits under the banner of the Muslim Ekopana Samithi led protests against the High Court, others, particularly Hindu outfits view it as an attempt aimed at the Islamification of the state.
Moneycontrol Research

While investing in commodity companies, prudence lies in looking at the balance sheet. Maithan Alloys, which is into manganese and ferro alloys, is one such company that has succeeded in managing its balance sheet prudently during different industry cycles. Despite the business being working-capital intensive, its debt-to-equity has remained at an average of 0.7 times and interest coverage at 7 times over the last 15 years.

Importantly, the cash generated during good times has been used for reduction of debt and the company today is debt free (adjusted for cash). What is worth taking note of is the fact that despite the conservative approach, it has managed to grow well. Over the last ten years, its net profits have grown at 31 percent annually on the back of 24 percent annual growth sales.

Maithan Alloys has close to two decades of experience in manganese, which finds its application in steel and stainless steel. For every tonne of steel produced, close to 1-1.5 percent of manganese alloy is required.

Effectively, the growth of ferro and manganese is closely linked with growth in steel demand. In India, Maithan supplies manganese to clients like SAIL, Jindal Stainless, JSPL, JSW Steel. Ferro alloys enhance steel strength, durability, anti-corrosion and anti-stain properties and acts as de-oxidant for steel manufacturing.

The growth in steel is expected to improve with the National Steel Policy envisaging to take domestic steel production of about 300 million tonnes by the end of the year 2030 as against current production of about 120 million tonne.

Better realisations to drive earnings growth

The upcycle in the steel industry has already began. In the calendar year 2017, India has already produced about 3.6 million tonnes of stainless steel, which is about 8.3 percent higher in the corresponding period last year.

Maithan Alloys, which is the largest player, has seen a spurt in earnings over the last two years backed by strong volume growth and realisations.

The global upcycle in the steel industry has helped companies like Maithan Alloys, which is one of the lowest cost producers in the world. Moreover, within steel the consumption of stainless steel is increasing at a higher pace leading to better pricing.

Demand is expected to pick up further with the global steel production increasing. Moreover, the domestic steel utilisation of the stressed steel plants post the restructuring or sale of these assets will pick up and generate more domestic demand for manganese.

There is a high possibility of manganese prices hovering at current levels. As against Rs 54000 a tonne realisations in FY16, the company posted realisations of about Rs 63000 per tonne in FY17. If the prices remain at current levels (high probability given the demand) there is more room for the earnings growth. In January this year the manganese ferro prices had crossed a high of Rs 100000 per tonne and corrected to around Rs 60000 a tonne in May 2017. However, thereafter, they have stabilised at the current levels of about Rs 70000-72000 a tonne.

Eyeing inorganic growth

The company is currently producing about 2.13 lakh tonnes annually and running at full capacity of about 95 percent leaving very little room for the volume growth. Growth in the coming year will be largely driven by higher realisations and marginal growth in volumes. While the company is evaluating land for the greenfield expansion, which might take time, in the interim it is looking for the acquisition as the company believes that because of the stress in the sector and marginal players unable to carry on business and are up for sale. It is thus in talks with banks exploring suitable acquisition opportunities as the company is sitting on close to Rs 190 crore of cash (Rs 585 crore net worth) in the books.

Valuations

There may not be a strong growth in the medium term till the time the company is able to scale through organic and inorganic routes. What is important is that promoters have extensive experience having demonstrated capabilities to sail through several commodity down cycles with the focus on keeping costs low.

Even at the current scale and realisations, it will make an annual operating cash flow of close to Rs 180-200 crore (Rs 126 crore in FY17), which is about 9-10 percent earning yield on its current market capitalisation of Rs 1923 crore (share price of Rs 651). This is quite good for a company which is a low cost producer having a dominant position. The company has zero debt in the books and never in the last 15 years had a cash loss. It is earning a return on equity of close to 32 percent, in fact, higher should one adjust for the ideal cash on the books. Follow @jitendra1929
27, 2017



Overnight, Indira Ji removed Morarji Bhai from the Cabinet. She didn't open doors of the bank for the poor. When we got the opportunity to serve, the 1st thing we did was to start Jan Dhan Yojana & focus on financial inclusion: PM Narendra Modi in Surat #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/eQYSuLdI7Y

 ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

18:20 The opposition parties have made the water so muddy in the state that it has become really easy for lotus to bloom there, said the Prime Minister.

PM Modi also said that the Congress has contributed to keep Gujarat backward for long since the time of Sardar Patel.

18:10 "Arrogance of Congress party is at a record high. They don't realise that times have changed. Things are very different in Gujarat from the time they ruled here 22 years ago. Society is no longer divided, there is progress now," said PM Narendra Modi in Surat as per an ANI tweet.

16:10 Congress hits back at the prime minister



Congress abolished zamindari system. PM has relations with big industrialists but not poverty. They have not made any decision in the favor of poor. He has the habit of commenting on Congress. We will send him a book on Congress to study.: Anand Sharma on PM Modi  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017



16:04 The prime minister has ended his address in Amreli district near Dhari.

Our efforts against corruption have naturally troubled the Congress: PM Narendra Modi in Dhari, Amreli #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/CoRStnhuJM ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

15:53 PM Modi: Hatred for Gujarat in Congress' blood

The prime minister attacked the Congress party. PM Modi questioned what had stopped Congress from developing Amreli district, having "reigned the country for more than 70 years".

"Hatred for Gujaratis and our state flows in their blood," he added.

15:48

15:47 The prime minister started his speech in Amreli by saying, "I am glad I got the opportunity to visit Amreli. I have come here to take your blessings".

15:43 PM Modi is now addressing the day's third rally in Amreli-Chalala near Dhari.

15:40 The BJP has released its final list of 34 candidates

The BJP today released its final list of 34 candidates on the last day of filing of nominations for the second phase of the Gujarat polls, dropping five MLAs, including a minister and former chief minister Anandiben Patel.

Anandiben Patel, the legislator from Ghatlodia seat of Ahmedabad city, had earlier announced that she would not contest the polls.

Read the full report here.

15:25 Congress releases final list of candidates

Meanwhile, Congress has released its fourth and last list of candidates. The party has released 14 new names and changed its candidate for one constituency. The party had late last night released its third list of 76 candidates.

In the fourth and final list of candidates, the party released 14 new names, besides changing its candidate for Manjalpur constituency where Chirag Zaveri has been fielded in place of Purvesh Borela.

The Congress has entered into a seat-sharing agreement with Vasava's newly-formed party giving it five seats in the Gujarat polls.

Read the full report here.

Pitting one caste against the other is Congress' tendency. Make sure that you do not let them destroy the composite culture of Gujarat: PM Narendra Modi in Rajkot's Jasdan #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/KX3O9XStRf ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

14:45 The prime minister has ended his speech at the Jasdan rally near Rajkot. It was his second rally of the day.

14:44



We have served Gujarat without any discrimination. Our belief is in the Mantra of 'Sauno Saath, Sauno Vikas' : PM @narendramodi #GujaratWithModi  BJP (@BJP4India) November 27, 2017



I request the Congress not to mock the poor and my poor origins: PM Narendra Modi in Rajkot, Jasdan #GujaratElection2017 ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

14:34 After invoking 'Gujarati Asmita', Modi plays the 'development' line

Speaking at the Jasdan rally, PM Modi said, "The solution to all problems is development. Development has to be continuous. We want to work even more for the people of Gujarat".

14:30 'Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation': PM Modi

Addressing a gathering in Jasdan, near Rajkot, PM Modi said, "The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation".

14:24 'Congress has defamed Gujarat always': PM Modi

PM Modi said that it was with Jan Sangh's support that Babubhai Patel, a person from the Patel Community, first became Chief Minister of Gujarat.

"Congress did not like this and ensured that Babubhai Jashbhai's government did not last," PM Modi has said.

"When Keshubhai Patel, a son of Saurashtra became the chief minister, the Congress tried everything to dislodge him. They repeated the same disruptive tactic with Anandiben Patel, a daughter of the Patel Community. Congress has defamed Gujarat always," he added.

14:22 Modi invokes Sardar Patel

Speaking at a rally in Jasdan, PM Modi said, "There was a person who led a life of discipline on Mahatma Gandhi's ideals, a disciplined & hard working son of the soil just like Sardar Patel but he had the same 'flaw' of being a Gujarati, so he was not allowed to stay in national politics by them (Congress)".

14:14 PM Modi has said, "When we started bringing the waters of the Narmada here to Saurashtra, there were people who were mocking us. Their negative politics has not changed over the years. Our faith is in politics of development and good governance".

14:11 Addressing the rally Jasdan, the prime minister said, "In last 15 years, you have chosen us three times. You all know that Gujarat has adopted the route of 'vikaas'. We have not left anything for ensuing your welfare in Jasdan".

14:09



Interacting with people gives me unparalleled joy. Every moment of my life is devoted to the welfare of India and 125 crore Indians. pic.twitter.com/Cq6vNeHU1Y  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 27, 2017



14:04 PM Modi is now speaking at Vichhiya Road in Jasdan.

PM Modi to address public gathering in Rajkot's Jasdan #GujaratElections pic.twitter.com/YfQD6KdT8J ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

14:00



Friends, I m contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win.  Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) November 27, 2017



13:51 Jignesh Mevani to contest as Independent with Congress support

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today announced his decision to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat of Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with outside support of the Congress.

The moves comes after sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state Congress asked him not to contest the polls from the seat "as a part of an agreement" with Mevani.

Read the full report here.

Rahul Gandhi is trying to induce a political culture based on lies & hypocrisy. For example- Why does Rahul Gandhi visit temples only when he is in Gujarat? Has he ever visited a temple in neighbourhood of his Delhi residence?: MoS PMO Jitendra Singh pic.twitter.com/1jaaY4MS9N ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

13:20 Gujarat poll is contest between trust on development and dynastic politics: PM Modi in Bhuj

In a stinging attack on the Congress in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the upcoming Assembly election is a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He also alluded to allegations thrown at him during the campaign by Congress leaders, including party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you," he said.

Read the full report here.

13:00 Battleground Gujarat | Phase 1: December 9, Phase 2: December 14

12:43 Torrent Power accounts for maximum political funding to BJP & Congress: Report

Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Healthcare are also among the biggest donors to both BJP and Congress according to a report by Association of Democratic Reforms.

In the last five years, while BJP has received Rs 80.45 crore, Congress has come second with a collection of Rs 14.09 crore.

Read the full story here.

12:27 PM Modi's next rally will be held at Vichhiya Road in Jasdan.

12:13 PM Modi has ended today's first address at Lalan College Ground in Bhuj.

12:11 Modi attacks Congress over anti-Demonetisation campaign

At the rally in Bhuj, the prime minister said that the Congress is "unhappy about demonetisation".

"They keep attacking me but I want to tell them... I have grown up in the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted," he added.

12:09 Addressing the rally in Bhuj, PM Modi said, "A Pakistani court has released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating".

"India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri. You can see how India responded in the wake of both attacks. This explains the difference between their Government and ours," he said.

"This same Congress refused to believe our own army on surgical strikes and preferred to believe the Chinese Ambassador," he added.

12:03 Modi hails commerce and tourism in Kutch

"There are so many tourist sites in Kutch that tourists will take more than a week to complete their tour of this district," PM Modi said.

"The ports in Kutch are handling tremendous traffic. They have become the getaways to India. Due to ports in Kutch commerce is getting a boost," the prime minister added.

11:58 Modi slams Congress for 'spreading lies about a son of Gujarat'

The prime minister said, "They are coming to Gujarat and spreading lies about a son of Gujarat"."

"Earlier they did that with Sardar Patel too. Gujarat will never accept this. No Gujarati will accept the lies that they are spreading," PM Modi added.

11:53 Prime Minister Modi says, "After the Kutch earthquake Atal ji asked me to go to Gujarat. I spent considerable time in Kutch and learnt what administration is about."

11:51 PM Modi has said that it was the 'Congress that killed youngsters who were associated with the Mahagujarat Movement'.

11:50 PM Modi slams Congress in Bhuj

Slamming the Congress, PM Modi has said that 'on one hand, there is vikaas (reference to BJP), then there is 'vansh vaad' (Dynasts; in a reference to Congress)'.

The prime minister also said that Gujarat will not forgive the Congress at all.

"Gujarat will never accept you. The reason is since you have kept Gujarat backwards since the times of Sardar Patel. You people (Congress) shot bullets outside the Congress headquarters in Ahmedabad," PM Modi added.

11:45



Kutch has overwhelmed me with affection. It is indeed special to be here. pic.twitter.com/eeeC6CkQRI  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 27, 2017



11:40 PM Modi has said that he is grateful for all the 'mud' being thrown at him, as a lotus blooms only blooms in 'mud'.

11:35 PM Modi has begun his address in the local Kutchi language.

11:28 PM Narendra Modi has arrived and is set to address the rally.

11:24 According to Firstpost, the delay was apparently because the Lalan College Ground, where PM Modi is slated to speak, was more than half empty at the scheduled time.

11:13 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address a rally at the Lalan College Ground in Bhuj shortly.

#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi met locals outside Ashapura Mata temple in Gujarat's Kutch pic.twitter.com/gotKjaUUka ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

10:55



Tomorrow I begin my rallies across Gujarat. My first rally will be in Bhuj, Kutch. This district is close to my heart. Its spirit of resilience after the 2001 quake was seen by the world. Since then, Kutch has seen record progress, which has benefitted all sections of society.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 26, 2017



10:43 Congress, Hardik Patel cheating people of Gujarat over reservation: FM Arun Jaitley

Stating that the reservation formula agreed upon by the Congress and Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel was constitutionally untenable, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday had accused both of them of cheating the people of Gujarat on the issue.

He also accused the Congress of dividing the society for political gains ahead of the Assembly polls next month.

Read the full story here.

10:15 BJP no longer trusts its 'specialist magician': Rahul Gandhi on PM Modi

In a veiled dig at the prime minister, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the ruling BJP has hired several magicians for poll campaign in Gujarat this time as the party has realised that their own 'specialist magician' would fail to charm the people.

Referring to Gujarat BJP's recent poll strategy of hiring magicians for canvassing for the party, Gandhi said the prime minister has been doing "magic tricks" for the last 22 years.

Read the full story here.

10:05 Preparations underway for PM Modi's first rally of the day in Bhuj.

09:58 Social activist Jignesh Mawani will be contesting as an independent candidate from Banaskantha's Vadgam constituency in the upcoming Gujarat polls, ANI has reported.

09:32 Centre will look into your concerns: Arun Jaitley to Gujarat's textile traders

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday met representatives of Surat's textile industry and assured them that the Centre will look into their concerns.

Jaitley's outreach to Surat textile traders comes ahead of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had also spent a full day, November 8, the first anniversary of demonetisation, there and had heard problems of the textile workers.

Read the full story here.

09:18 Congress fears PM's popularity; banking on caste leaders in Gujarat polls: Vijay Rupani

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has accused the Congress of seeking refuge in casteism and "outsourcing" its campaign to caste leaders while dismissing any threat to the BJP's poll prospects from the Congress-Hardik Patel tie-up.

He alleged that the Congress was "deceiving" the people over the issue of reservation, while the agitators were lining up for poll tickets.

Read the full story here.

09:04 Congress released its 3rd list of 76 candidates for Gujarat polls yesterday

The Congress released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly election, filing of nominations for which ends tomorrow.

The party, which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

Read the full story here.

08:57 The prime minister is expected to hold multiple rallies across various parts of the state today. The rallies will be in Bhuj, Jasdan and Kamrej.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick-start Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) assembly election campaign in his home state Gujarat today.
Gaurav Barick

Startup companies, in their infant stages, face uncertainty given the macro cum micro operating environment, availability of continuous stream of funds, ability to make a mark with technological innovations and retain manpower. Employee retention and sustaining their motivation levels has been one of the key concerns for the empoyers of startup firms.

In this regard they always come up with one or the other new innovative and attractive compensation packages structured to target highly skilled niche workforce. Employee stock options (ESOP) and sweat equity are considered to be one of the favourite methods of attracting and motivating talent given the companies are illiquid to pay high salaries and need to utilize the freshly infused funds for growing their business.

ESOP is provided with an aim of empowering employees to partner with the financial outcomes of the firm. Sweat equity, on the other hand, refers to the intangible benefits accrued through non-financial means in the form of employee know-how and niche skills. In certain cases, employers also consider awarding phantom stock options wherein the employees are not exercised to have a direct share of the actual stocks but instead provisioned with synthetic stocks that directly correlate to the financial outcome and well being of the startup firm.

However, employees in the last 2-3 years are inclined towards being compensated in the form of cash incentives and bonuses. In this context, it becomes interesting to find varied thought processes while deciding the benefits both from the employer's and employee's perspective.

Valuation, Success and liquidity are major factors

Arriving at the right reward mechanism in case of a startup firm is a confluence of firms valuation, success of the business idea in its sphere of influence and liquidity. Stock options permit employees to gain ownership in the companys business as well as make the employees responsible for their actions for the rise and fall of its financial condition.

Founders and institutional investors consider stock options or sweat equities as dilution of their shareholding pattern. The first 1-3 years of their existence becomes crucial with infusion of funds at regular intervals forming the key. Hence, planning upfront by understanding the future dilution and allocation of shares (pre and post valuation) forms paramount.

Besides linking the stock option with a crucial funding event or reaching a key milestone in terms of revenue is important. Employers devise this mechanism by offering to employees or directors at a discount rate instead of cash based on their work, value additions provided and intellectual strides made.

The actual allocation amount is wide open to negotiation and will depend upon how passionate the executive sweat equity provider is about owning a piece of a promising enterprise, how critical the executives skill is to advancing the firms goals, and the level of trust that builds between the founder and the executive.

In a couple of cases, the employees have a chance of striking gold considering the case of successful startup firms like MakeMyTrip, Facebook or Paytm that started on such a humble note to begin with.

However, in most cases employees perceive such stock options, which are lacking in terms of liquidity. In certain cases the exercise price happens to be on the higher side compared to its face value when vesting the option of converting the stocks into equity.

At times even the stocks face the risk of becoming worthless given the inability of the company to grow anymore. A couple of well-funded start-ups such as AskMe, Zoomo & FranklyMe have failed. Hence, from an employee's point of view, understating the business of the company is very important.

Apart from that it is to be noted that at the time of allotment, the option is taxed in the hands of the employee (the difference between fair market value & exercise price). But, here again, the same question comes that most of the start-ups are unlisted and valuing the unlisted start-ups is always challenging task.

(In most of the cases, it generally happens that the fair market value is determined by the valuer at a very higher price by keeping the future fund raising in mind, but after a few years the start-ups collapse). Hence, as per law, the fair has to be determined by Category I merchant banker registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Placing a value on a startup venture is much more difficult, subjective and speculative. There are several methods used by financial analysts to estimate the enterprise value: earnings multiples of comparable companies, discounted cash flow (DCF), public market value, etc.

These methods are certainly appropriate for mature companies or publicly-traded firms; but are much more challenging to apply to early-stage startups that have not yet generating consistent revenues, much less reliable earnings.

The first actual market valuation benchmark set for a startup company occurs upon receipt of outside equity funding. After determining the value of the firm, the next step is to set the employee contribution towards the company. Here, the best method for determination employee contribution is applying the standard hourly rate. Here again the standard hourly rate can be used in determining the valuation using market the hourly rate or by using foregone wages.

Professional service providers typically have standard hourly rates applicable to the type of project work needed by a startup company. One can also assume that a general market value exists for the time contributed by a co-founder or key manager in the form of the full time salary that could have been earned under a traditional employment arrangement. The most important part of the ESOP and sweat equity from the employee's point of view is uncertainty surrounding the future financial success of a start-up firm, a risk premium is often applied when valuing a providers work.

It is not unusual for a provider to negotiate a doubling of standard rates in calculating the value of their contribution that is not compensated in cash.

Conclusion

Stock option plan/ sweat equity are good plans through corporate rewards stock options to the employees, subject to good execution. In India, from a legal point of view, ESOP valuation is considered for accounting and taxation purposes. Corporates book compensation expense for issuing ESOPs over vesting period based on merchant banker valuation and at the time of exercise, valuations required for calculation of perquisite tax payable by employees.

(Gaurav Barick, is an Investment Banker & Venture Capitalist and is Mentor with Finshore Management Service Limited, a SEBI Registered Merchant Banker. He is reachable at gauravbarick@gmail.com ).
German Mirror Lubricants and Greases, a UAE-headquartered lubricants manufacturing company, announced the launch of Mirr Oils in India catering to needs of automotive, marine and industrial application.

Mirr Oils has partnered with AN Corp who will be the official importer and distributor of Mirr Oils products in the country. Indias lubricant business is expected to reach 2.3 million metric tonnes by end of March 2019 of which German Mirror hopes to garner 0.5 percent share.

During the initial phase German Mirror will cover west, south and east regions which include eight states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha.

In the second phase the company will cover another eight states by June 2018. The product range includes ATF and Gear Oils, Speciality Fluids, Passenger Car Motor Oil, Gasoline engine oils and heavy duty diesel engine oil.

Mohammed Hussein Hindi, Managing Director, German Mirror Lubricants & Greases said, India is the third largest market in the world after China and US with six percent global market share. In addition, India has the potential to be in the top two as the domestic lubricants market has grown by 13 percent in spite of a slowdown in the last couple of years.

German Mirror will adopt the strategy of pricing its products lower than competing foreign brands such as Shell and Castrol, which is the second largest player in the automotive lubricants space. State-owned Indian Oil Corporation is the market leader.

We are ready to invest and not look for profits for the next five years in India. It is important for us to get a strong foothold in the market. We will take a decision of putting up a manufacturing facility here by 2020, said a senior company official.

The company will later also explore possibilities of exporting from India to west Asian countries.
From OnePlus 6 to Google Pixel 3, 2018 has already offered us some of the best smartphones till date. While the screens are getting bigger, the gulf between expensive and affordable phones is shrinking consistently. And with so many smartphones making its way, it is easy to sleep on some of the best technology that is hitting the market. In this list, we'll help you separate the sheep from sheep from goats and introduce you to some of the best offerings from the month of November. (Image: Moneycontrol)

Most of us cannot help but fiddle with smartphones on every chance they get. To help them overcome this form of addiction, an Austrian designer decided to come up with a Substitute Phone.

The item is not exactly a phone and has the same purpose as fidget spinners and cubes-keeping the hands occupied, except that it is designed to look and feel like a smartphone.

Product and furniture designer Klemens Schillinger designed the products to replicate the motions commonly done to operate a smartphone. He did this by incorporating beads which have been arranged in certain configurations.

Made out of black polyoxymethylene (POM) plastic, the Substitute Phone comes in a set of five phones with the stone beads embedded in them. They also have a smartphone-replicating weight to give a natural feeling.

Here's how it looks:

(Images Courtesy: Klemens Schillinger)

So how does it substitute the feel of a smartphone?

Well, a user can run his thumb or index finger across the line of beads to simulate swiping left or right, up or down or diagonally. Users can even do pinching motion associated with zooming in and zooming out on normal phones.

Schillinger told architecture and design publication Dezeen that he was inspired by Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco who attempted to give up smoking by replacing it with a stick, as it provided for a physical stimulation but did not have nicotine.

Schillinger said that he followed the same route and wanted to provide the physical feel of a phone for addicts, without the connectivity of actually being one.

He refers to his designs as functional prosthetics to help smartphone addicts get cured of withdrawal symptoms' from using a smartphone.

Smartphone addiction has reached an all-time high. Some time back, ground traffic lights were set to be installed in Australia as a way to alert smartphone-addicted pedestrians in an attempt to minimise road death casualties, say several media reports.

As per Dezeen, this is the second project by the Austrian architect that helps fight smartphone addiction. He had previously designed an Offline lamp which only lights up when the user surrenders his smartphone.

The lamp will only switch on after the user submits his smartphone in the portal (Courtesy: Klemens Schillinger)

The substitute smartphone isnt up for sale just yet. Schillinger's website has an ad that says that it will be made available soon.
The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
Thanks to Nigel the Nutcracker from The Warehouse, we are granting wishes across the country!
CONNELLY SPRING  Three people have been arrested after they led police on a chase and crashed a stolen vehicle into a house in Connelly Springs on Monday morning.

Austin Michael Neece, 21, of 4708 Mount Gilead Church Road in Connelly Springs , was charged with fleeing to elude arrest and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. He also was charged by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol with hit and run, reckless driving and driving with a revoked license , according to a press release by the Burke County Sheriff's Office .

James Cody Peters, 22, who is listed as being homeless , and Brandy McDaniel, 20, of Morganton , both were charged with a felony count of possession of stolen motor vehicle.

Peters and McDaniel, who were passengers in the car, were arrested after the chase ended when Neece crashed the vehicle into the deck of a house located at 2704 U.S. H ighway 70, said Burke County Sheriff Steve Whisenant.

Neece fled from the scene but was caught later Monday afternoon by authorities underneath the crawl space of a mobile home near Berry Road in Connelly Springs, he said.

Around 9:30 a.m., police received a call about a suspicious vehicle on Shady Grove Road in Connelly Springs, Whisenant said.

Deputies pulled in and met that vehicle coming out of an abandoned house and they stopped to ask them a question and they took off, Whisenant said.

Neece turned right on U.S. 70 heading toward Valdese and then pulled into the Lindys Furniture parking lot to turn around and headed east on the highway.

Police and Neece reached speeds of more than 100 mph, Whisenant said.

He then veered off into the front yard of William McCrary's step-daughter's home located near 2704 U.S. 70 in Connelly Springs and crashed the vehicle into the side of the house near a deck, he said.

The North Carolina Department of Corrections was on scene with their bloodhound to start a search for Neece. They ended up finding a shirt, Whisenant said.

A reverse 911 call was sent out to local residents in the surrounding area of where Neece was suspected to be. Around 1 p.m., dispatchers received a call about a male matching the description of Neece near Berry Road, the release said BCSO.

"Officers spotted the suspect in a wooded area and he ran," the release said.

He was chased on foot to a mobile home park on Teague Avenue off of Berry Road where he was caught by police.

I think they are crazy, McCrary said. I dont understand why they would cut in here if the law was after them.

No one was inside the house at the time of the crash, McCrary said.

Neece was released from prison in July after being convicted on charges of breaking and entering, larceny, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, according to a previous News Herald article.

Agencies that assisted BCSO were The North Carolina State Highway Patrol and North Carolina Department o f Public Safety K9 Team, the release said.

Staff Writer Jonelle Bobak can be reached at jbobak@morganton.com or 828-432-8907.
This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up and thumbs down on the issues from the past week.

Up

Smaller schools unable to fill a teaching position now have more options. The North Dakota Center for Distance Education is offering more courses online. There are 330 courses available, including Advanced Placement, credit-recovery courses and a variety of electives. Students in rural areas can now get classes offered in Bismarck and Fargo schools. Kids are very digital savvy and give the classes good reviews.

Down

The flu bug is biting early this year. The North Dakota Department of Health is reporting "higher than normal" influenza activity in the state. There have been 124 cases of influenza reported for the 2017-18 season, compared to 52 at the same time last season. Its time for folks to get flu shots and to take precautions.

Up

The Century High School volleyball team defeated Jamestown for its third straight state title. They had to beat a tough Jamestown team for the crown. The Mandan Braves took third place at the tournament. And the University of Marys womens cross country team took second at the nationals. Congratulations to the Patriots, Braves and Marauders.

Down

Theres confusion over a $3.92 million Fox Island flood protection project scheduled to begin next year. The levee to be constructed in the southwest Bismarck subdivision will not protect 22 property owners living in the area of Gallatin Loop, because their homes will be located outside of the dike. Officials say the homeowners opted out of the project when they voted, but the homeowners say they thought they were voting on an alternative. It would be best if all parties could sit down and try to resolve the issues.

Up

Washburn and Wimbledon have been selected for a new program intended to develop a quality of life strategy for rural communities. The towns will develop plans to go through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development's new Livable Communities program. If Washburn and Wimbledon complete the Livable Communities program, they will be recognized for their efforts and being leaders in quality of life development. It will be interesting to see what programs the two towns develop.

Down

The Council of Economic Advisers has put some sobering numbers to the opioid crisis. The number of opioid-involved overdose deaths has risen by nearly one-third since 2013. Drug overdoses have become the top cause of injury death in the United States, outnumbering traffic crashes or gun-related deaths. Its possible that up to 24 percent of drug overdoses related to opioids are not reported, which could increase the estimated 2015 opioid overdose death toll to more than 40,000. Early estimates show that more than 64,000 lives were lost to drug overdoses in 2016, a rate of 175 deaths a day, according to the council. The CEA estimates the cost of the opioid crisis in 2015 to be $504 billion. Those numbers alone should be a call to action.

Up

A Jamestown boy, 9, has been proving for three years that one person can make a difference. Hoyt Paul has been collecting and donating food to the Community Action Region VI Food Pantry since 2015. He sends letters to neighbors informing them of the drive along with a reusable shopping bag. He sets a time and picks up the food. The drive has grown from 371 pounds of food the first year to 1,180 pounds this year. Along with his parents, Hoyt has demonstrated how one family can help their community.
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Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
The governments emphasis on rental housing and the B20 guidelines might impel brokers to switch from the residential to commercial sectors.According to Mark Yhap, the managing partner of MCAP s Commercial Mortgages Group, reasons are piling up for residential brokers to make the switch. The government has been actively trying to slow down the residential real estate market for the last 13 months, and with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Guideline B20 regulation, it may have succeeded.But have brokers actually started transitioning? MCAP thinks so.We think it may have already started happeningthe answer is yes, Yhap told Mortgagebrokernews.ca. Theres an opportunity given that the federal and provincial governments are pushing for rental housing. CMHC has been very accommodating in their policies, so there is a lot of opportunity for residential brokers to tackle multi-family rentals.Multi-family rentals are purpose-built apartment buildings comprised of at least seven units.That Toronto is beset by a rental inventory shortage is no secret. It is also believed by many within the building industry that the Fair Housing Plans reintroduction of rent control has dissuaded developers from building purpose-built rentals.However, the Liberal Partys national housing strategy is aiming to solve the rental scarcity problem.All governments want somehow for the affordable housing stock to increase because affordability is a big issue in the marketplace, continued Yhap, and obviously theyre taking steps in the homeowner market, which is pushing some people into the rental market, but we dont have enough rentals.Theyve put in rules to make sure the homeowner market remains stable over the long-term, but that is causing some homeownership purchases to be deferred, which is putting pressure on the rental market, and I think thats where the opportunity liesthat as the residential market shrinks, look at the commercial market.While its likely the government will ensure the construction of new purpose-built rental buildings, Blake Cassidy, a managing partner at Romspen , says mortgage brokers should always be broad-minded because opportunity always comes knocking when its least expected.Ive always encouraged all mortgage brokers to be open-minded as to all aspects of the business, he said. To always remain open-minded when they see a commercial transaction, to not be afraid to run with it, or make enquiries about it if they have a lender they feel confident and open in communicating with, because it can be a stone unturned.Commercial mortgages risks and rewards are certainly not to be disregarded. While brokers can make sizable commissions from a single mortgage, the time invested can stretch for monthsand if the deal doesnt close, it will have been all for naught.Commercial has always been there and people are finally recognizing that it does represent a sizeable component of the overall market, said Cassidy. There is a need for a more comprehensive understanding of the space, the expectations of the speed with which those deals move, but having the right broker-lender partnerships is the key way to be successful in commercial brokering and commercial lending.
Stage Set for Dueling Dual Directors

It should be an interesting day at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In fact, the Federal Reserve, which is charged with funding the agency out of its budget, might consider selling both tickets and popcorn in the CFPB parking lot if, as expected, two different, and supposedly legally appointed acting directors, show up, vying to sit in the same chair.

As MND reported on November 16, Richard Cordray, the first director of the agency, told his staff via an internal memo that he would be resigning by the end of the month. He did so officially on Friday, appointing his chief of staff, Leandra English to the agency's number-two position, deputy director, then naming her as the agency's acting director. Cordray did this under authority of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act, which established the agency. That act states that the deputy director will become the acting head "in the absence or unavailability of the director."

However, Donald J. Trump almost immediately named the current Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Mick Mulvaney as acting director under the authority of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. Mulvaney, a vocal critic of CFPB, he once called the agency a "sad, sick joke," would serve until a permanent successor is confirmed by the Senate, and is expected to essentially dismantle it. Cordray's 2012 appointment was to a five-year term which will not expire until next summer. He could only be removed from his post for cause.

Late Sunday, English filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. She names as defendants Trump "in his official capacity as President" and Mulvaney "in his capacity as the person claiming to be acting director" of CFPB. The suit asks for a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau.

The White House said it had authority to appoint an interim director, citing an opinion, issued Saturday by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, that the president has authority under the Vacancies Reform Act despite the Dodd-Frank statute.

Former congressman Barney Frank, who co-authored Dodd-Frank, told NPR that Congress very deliberately set up the succession to insure the very independence that the current Congress has said it plans to end. Frank's contention was validated by Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin who told The Intercept that the version of the Dodd-Frank Act passed by the House had explicitly applied the Vacancies Act to the CFPB, but that the House Senate conference committee had stripped out that language from the version that ultimately passed into law.

Levin goes on to say that the Vacancies Reform Act itself states that it doesn't apply to agencies where "a statutory provision ... designates an officer or employee to perform the functions and duties of a specified office temporarily in an acting capacity."

Mulvaney said Sunday night that he does not expect any problem when he shows up to take over the CFPB on Monday morning. The suit filed by English makes it clear the matter is headed to court.
The clash between OPEC and America's oil industry is reaching a day of reckoning.

The U.S. shale revolution is on course to be the greatest oil and gas boom in history, turning a nation once at the mercy of foreign imports into a global player. That seismic shift shattered the dominance of Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel, forcing them into an alliance with long-time rival Russia to keep a grip on world markets.

So far, it's worked -- global oil stockpiles are draining and prices are near two-year highs. But as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia prepare to meet in Vienna this week to extend production cuts, ministers have little idea how U.S. shale production will respond in 2018.

"The production cuts are effective -- it was absolutely the right decision, and the fact of striking a deal with Russia was crucial," said Paolo Scaroni, vice-chairman of NM Rothschild & Sons and former chief executive officer of Italian oil giant Eni SpA. Nonetheless, "OPEC has not the same power. The U.S. becoming the biggest producer of oil in the world is a dramatic change."

For OPEC members, the stakes couldn't be higher. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is embarking on a radical economic transformation of the kingdom, including a partial sale of its state oil company that could be the largest public offering in history. Venezuela, reeling from years of recession and a crushing debt burden, is on the brink of political implosion.

Eroding Surplus

The producers' efforts to clear the oil surplus are starting to pay off. They've drained excess inventories in developed nations this year by 183 million barrels, or more than half of the glut, which now stands at about 140 million barrels, according to OPEC data. That has revived London-traded crude futures, which sank below $45 a barrel this summer, to a two-year high of $64.65 on Nov. 7.

Click to read the transcript of a TOPLive Q&A with oil strategist Julian Lee.

That success goes some way to countering accusations that OPEC had lapsed from the dominant market force of the 1970s and 1980s into irrelevance. Although its 14 members still pump 40 percent of the world's oil, their share has dwindled from the days when OPEC held the global economy in thrall.

"People may have thought that OPEC was dead, but Saudi Minister Khalid Al-Falih has succeeded in building agreements and alliances within OPEC and non-OPEC, such as Russia, to restrain production," said Luis Giusti, an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former CEO of state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

Losing Momentum

There are even signs that OPEC's opponents, the dozens of drillers tapping shale-oil deposits in Texas and North Dakota, are losing momentum. Companies may have already squeezed costs and maximized productivity as much as possible, and their investors are finally insisting profits are returned to them rather than re-invested in more drilling.

Mark Papa, CEO of Centennial Resource Development Inc. and considered one of the industry's founders, said in September that shale "is not nearly the Big Bad Wolf that everybody thinks."

For a QuickTake on OPEC's challenge, click here.

A year-long ramp-up in drilling by American operators appeared to hit a plateau in July, data from Baker Hughes show, and companies such as Pioneer Natural Resources Co. have lowered their output targets.

The outlook for shale is so clouded that when OPEC officials invited industry experts to brief them on the topic last week, they were disturbed by the diversity of opinions. Veteran crude trader Andy Hall, whose decision to close his main hedge fund this year was partly driven by shale's unpredictability, told the organization that 2018 growth estimates vary from 500,000 barrels a day to 1.7 million a day.

Yet, the basic paradox confronting OPEC is that the more it succeeds in bolstering prices, the more it emboldens shale explorers and other competitors, said Mike Wittner, head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in New York.

Increases in U.S. oil production next year will be big enough to cancel much of the sacrifices made by OPEC and Russia, leaving the surplus more or less intact, forecasts from the International Energy Agency show. The recent rebound in prices could energize shale even further.

Instead of being able to declare victory next year and restore the production they've halted, OPEC may find itself trapped in an open-ended struggle, Wittner said.

Catch-22

"Now that they're in it, I don't see how they get out of it," said Wittner. "They need to continue supply management for the foreseeable future."

The need to cooperate indefinitely could strain the Saudi-Russia partnership.

While the Saudi-Russia alliance has allowed them to call a "truce in the battle for market share," they may end up fighting over customers again when faced with a relentless tide of crude exports from the U.S., said Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup Inc. in New York.

With U.S. crude exports climbing from close to zero three years ago to now exceeding the combined shipments of OPEC's smallest members, it increasingly looks as if the face-off between the cartel and what was formerly its biggest customer "has an endgame," Morse said.

"And the endgame is there's an awful lot of shale in the world."
When the final Sold was shouted at Kruse Energys auction in Odessa, the company had sold over $25 million in equipment, making it the companys largest auction this year.

Over 1,500 pieces of equipment and trucks were sold, including over 180 pieces sold on behalf of BJ Services, which decided to close its domestic coiled tubing division and enlisted Kruse Energy to sell all its coiled tubing assets.

The BJ Services equipment played a key role in the results of the auction, Greg Owens, Group President (New Sectors & Ventures) with Kruse parent company, Ritchie Bros., told the Reporter-Telegram by email.

BJ Services is one of the biggest names in the energy business and they have one of the best fleets. We were honored that BJ Services chose us to sell all their coil tubing assets as they increased their focus on their hydraulic fracturing and cementing services businesses, he continued.

The two-day event attracted bidders from 14 countries, including Thailand, Egypt, the Philippines and the Ukraine. Kruse estimates online bidders bought approximately 30 percent of the equipment sold. The auction included 24 drilling rigs, 15 coiled tubing units, 15 double pumpers, 35 nitrogen pump units, six boom truck cranes, over 120 trucks as well as gas compressors, water and well service equipment, vacuum trucks and trailers.

Owens said the company is seeing increased activity in selling oil and gas equipment, particularly in the Permian Basin.

Auctions have long been a powerful way of buying and selling assets for the oil and gas and other industries, he said. At Kruse we have been in the energy auction business for more than 25 years, and our parent company, Ritchie Bros., has been selling heavy equipment and trucks for 55 years.

The company has scheduled another auction in Odessa for this coming February. Owens said he expects to have a wide variety of oil and gas assets available at the auction, but since the auction is still a few months way, its too early to say how big it will be.
MMEX Resources has taken a major step toward realizing its Pecos County Refinery project, launching construction of its Phase I crude distillation unit in Fort Stockton this past week.

Weve accomplished a great deal since announcing the project back in March, Jack Hanks, MMEX chief executive officer told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone.

We bought the land, we got the permits, obtained an easement from University Lands, weve graded the road to the hardtop, he recounted.

Approximately 150 attended the groundbreaking ceremonies for the unit, including investors from as far away as Florida and Maryland, Hanks said.

The distillation unit, when complete by the end of 2018, will generate 10,000 barrels a day of mid-range diesel that will be used for non-transportation purposes such as in hydraulic fracturing fluids, naptha and residual fuel oils.

While the distillation unit could be seen as a foot in the door to the larger refinery project, Hanks stressed that the two are separate projects requiring separate application processes.

He expects to start the application process for the refinery in the first quarter of 2018, a process he calls much more complicated than the application for the distillation unit. The refinery will offer a full slate of fuels, from gasoline to diesel, jet fuels to some propane.

When MMEX announced plans for the refinery this past March, it was for a 50,000-barrel-a-day facility. But that has been doubled to 100,000 barrels a day, Hanks said.

We found that, for a little more incremental cost, we could double the size, he explained. The larger refinery will mean more jobs and a larger tax base for Fort Stockton, he pointed out.

I still think it will be 400-plus technical and construction jobs at the peak. Its hard to estimate but I know what happens is this will accelerate other jobs, from transportation to catering to housing. So it will be far above 400 jobs, Hanks said. And with a large-scale refinery, its a sizable tax base for Pecos County. This is a $1 billion investment.

There is plenty of crude supply from the Permian Basin, and the market seems to be there, he said.

While construction of the distillation unit is underway, he expects a 12 to 15-month process to receive permits for the refinery and another 12 to 15 months for construction, putting completion around 2020. Were looking at a three-year window, Hanks said.

Both facilities are designed to be accessible by rail and truck and eventually pipeline. The site for both facilities connects to roads that lead to Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 and they are right on the Texas Pacifico railroad, which leads to interconnections at Dallas-Fort Worth and the Gulf Coast.

There is also the potential for exports of the refinerys products to Mexico, Hanks said, because Texas Pacifico connects with FerroMex at Presidio, giving access to markets in western Mexico.
The clash between OPEC and America's oil industry is reaching a day of reckoning.

The U.S. shale revolution is on course to be the greatest oil and gas boom in history, turning a nation once at the mercy of foreign imports into a global player. That seismic shift shattered the dominance of Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel, forcing them into an alliance with long-time rival Russia to keep a grip on world markets.

So far, it's worked -- global oil stockpiles are draining and prices are near two-year highs. But as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia prepare to meet in Vienna this week to extend production cuts, ministers have little idea how U.S. shale production will respond in 2018.

"The production cuts are effective -- it was absolutely the right decision, and the fact of striking a deal with Russia was crucial," said Paolo Scaroni, vice-chairman of NM Rothschild & Sons and former chief executive officer of Italian oil giant Eni SpA. Nonetheless, "OPEC has not the same power. The U.S. becoming the biggest producer of oil in the world is a dramatic change."

For OPEC members, the stakes couldn't be higher. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is embarking on a radical economic transformation of the kingdom, including a partial sale of its state oil company that could be the largest public offering in history. Venezuela, reeling from years of recession and a crushing debt burden, is on the brink of political implosion.

The producers' efforts to clear the oil surplus are starting to pay off. They've drained excess inventories in developed nations this year by 183 million barrels, or more than half of the glut, which now stands at about 154 million barrels, according to OPEC data. That has revived London-traded crude futures, which sank below $45 a barrel this summer, to a two-year high of $64.65 on Nov. 7.

That success goes some way to countering accusations that OPEC had lapsed from the dominant market force of the 1970s and 1980s into irrelevance. Although its 14 members still pump 40 percent of the world's oil, their share has dwindled from the days when OPEC held the global economy in thrall.

"People may have thought that OPEC was dead, but Saudi Minister Khalid Al-Falih has succeeded in building agreements and alliances within OPEC and non-OPEC, such as Russia, to restrain production," said Luis Giusti, an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former CEO of state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

There are even signs that OPEC's opponents, the dozens of drillers tapping shale-oil deposits in Texas and North Dakota, are losing momentum. Companies may have already squeezed costs and maximized productivity as much as possible, and their investors are finally insisting profits are returned to them rather than re-invested in more drilling.

Mark Papa, CEO of Centennial Resource Development Inc. and considered one of the industry's founders, said in September that shale "is not nearly the Big Bad Wolf that everybody thinks."

A year-long ramp-up in drilling by American operators appeared to hit a plateau in July, data from Baker Hughes Inc. shows, and companies such as Pioneer Natural Resources Co. have lowered their output targets.

The outlook for shale is so clouded that when OPEC officials invited industry experts to brief them on the topic last week, they were disturbed by the diversity of opinions. Veteran crude trader Andy Hall, whose decision to close his main hedge fund this year was partly driven by shale's unpredictability, told the organization that 2018 growth estimates vary from 500,000 barrels a day to 1.7 million a day.

Yet, the basic paradox confronting OPEC is that the more it succeeds in bolstering prices, the more it emboldens shale explorers and other competitors, said Mike Wittner, head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in New York.

Increases in U.S. oil production next year will be big enough to cancel much of the sacrifices made by OPEC and Russia, leaving the surplus more or less intact, forecasts from the International Energy Agency show. The recent rebound in prices could energize shale even further.

Instead of being able to declare victory next year and restore the production they've halted, OPEC may find itself trapped in an open-ended struggle, Wittner said.

"Now that they're in it, I don't see how they get out of it," said Wittner. "They need to continue supply management for the foreseeable future."

The need to cooperate indefinitely could strain the Saudi-Russia partnership.

While the Saudi-Russia alliance has allowed them to call a "truce in the battle for market share," they may end up fighting over customers again when faced with a relentless tide of crude exports from the U.S., said Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup in New York.

With U.S. crude exports climbing from close to zero three years ago to now exceeding the combined shipments of OPEC's smallest members, it increasingly looks as if the face-off between the cartel and what was formerly its biggest customer "has an endgame," Morse said.

"And the endgame is there's an awful lot of shale in the world."
Partnerships and joint ventures are nothing new among Permian Basin oil operators, but a new partnership just announced takes a unique approach.

Six companies with significant operations in the Permian Basin  Anadarko Petroleum, Chevron, ExxonMobils subsidiary XTO Energy, Noble Energy, Occidental Petroleum and Shell Oil are teaming up with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to form the Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative to support conservation projects in the region.

The initiative is designed to identify significant conservation opportunities to improve habitat, address water scarcity, improve water quality and engage the areas communities.

Partnerships between industry and conservation interests are the best path forward to support economic growth while conserving our nations natural heritage, Jeff Trandahl, executive director and chief executive officer of the foundation, told the Reporter-Telegram by email.

He continued, The Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative is a new way for both those who care about wildlife and those seeking to tap the vast Permian Basin oil reserves to work together. All of the partners believe that we will be able to achieve long-term conservation benefits for species and for local communities.

The six companies are providing a total of more than $3.5 million over the next three years in initial funding for conservation projects. That funding will be matched by the foundation and other partners, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Texas and New Mexico, bringing total funding to at least $7 million.

The program is in its initial phases and the initiative is expected to release its Request for Proposal this coming week and to make its first grant announcements in the late spring of next year. Requests for Proposals will be available online at http://www.nfwf.org/swrivers/pecos/Pages/home.aspx.

I applaud the tremendous commitment our members have made through this effort. Supporting the Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative is a major step forward in our commitment to enhancing the Permian Basin environment for all concerned, Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, told the Reporter-Telegram by email.

Nick Owens, Senior HSE Representative with Anadarko, told the Reporter-Telegram by email, Wherever we operate, we look for conservation-based opportunities for partnership and this is a great example of those efforts in action. We are very proud to have been a part of the push to get this unique conservation effort afloat and are excited to now see measureable conservation outcomes that will result from the combined talents of multiple federal agency, state agency, NGO and industry partners.

Jeremy Eikenberry, media and communications advisor with XTO Energy, told the Reporter-Telegram by email, XTO Energy is pleased to join our industry partners in supporting the National Fish and Wildlife Foundations conservation efforts in the Pecos Watershed. This partnership underscores our commitment to conducting business in a manner that respects the environmental and economic needs of the communities where we operate.

Noble Energy referred the Reporter-Telegram to the joint statement issued by the six companies that says, The Pecos Watershed is a unique and extraordinary resource. We are proud to partner with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help ensure that development of our nations oil and natural gas resources goes hand in hand with protecting wildlife and improving the quality of life for local communities.

Clint Williamson, manager of communications and public affairs with Occidental Petroleum, told the Reporter-Telegram by email, In our commitment to environmental stewardship, Occidental is proud to be an inaugural partner in the Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative, a proactive approach to the Endangered Species Act, involving landscape-based management of multiple species and their habitat within the Pecos River watershed. The Initiative is a collaborative endeavor between industry and state, local and federal agencies to improve habitat and species health while allowing for responsible economic development.

Margaret Cooper, PGPA Manager with Chevron, told the Reporter-Telegram by email, Chevron is pleased to partner with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other operators to support this significant conservation effort in the Permian Basin. Energy can be developed responsibly while protecting wildlife species, habitat and our local communities. The Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative is a new approach that will work across industry, nonprofit organizations, landowners and communities to do this in a thoughtful and impactful way.

The Pecos River Watershed is important to the sustainability of wildlife and countless species in the Permian Basin. Shell is committed to being a good neighbor and protecting the environment where we live and work. Collaborating with key organizations, such as NFWF, has enabled us to leverage our conservation program to ensure we are achieving the highest impact. We are pleased to be able to join NFWF in providing funding that will directly impact conservation projects in the Permian Basin and are proud to be a part of this effort, said Scott Scheffler, external relations manager for Shell, by email.

The initiative is expected to work closely with federal agencies and state agencies in Texas and New Mexico as well as private landowners and nonprofit conservation agencies to solicit, review and provide grants for conservation projects.

The objective is to invest in projects that will advance science-based and cost-effective conservation strategies for wildlife and habitat in the region, including:

Strengthening the health of existing habitats along the Pecos River and its tributaries in West Texas and southern New Mexico, including some of the last remaining populations of fish and other aquatic species found only in the Chihuahuan Desert;

Improving the management and function of native grasslands, many of which have been negatively impacted by past management and fragmentation;

Addressing water quality and scarcity concerns for wildlife and agricultural uses; and

Identifying opportunities to re-establish species to areas of their range where they have been lost or to bolster small remnant populations.


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Blog Birding #346 It is a burden we all bear, and one Mia McPherson of On the Wing Photography is tackling head-on. One of the things that make my feathers ruffle though is when I see people post a bird photo and call it a seagull because there is no such thing as a seagull. If you plan on being a bird photographer you might want to make note of that for the love of all that is birdy. When questions are asked about birds in the mainstream world, Purbita Saha of Audubon is prepared to address some misconceptions and set some mistakes right. We at the National Audubon Society noticed you had some thought-provoking questions on why birds are so wonderful and weird and disturbing at the same time. While we arent really birdsour CEO is halfway therewere basically their human proxies. So, we feel its on us to respond on their behalf (except for the Black-capped Chickadee . . . what a lazy bum). North Americas two species of eagle are not that closely related but can occasionally be tricky IDs. Ron Dudley at Feathered Photography shares images to help with the ID. Raptors, including eagles, that have not reached the adult plumage stage are referred to as immature. Those in their first plumage stage are called juveniles and the term sub-adult is used to refer to any plumage stage between juvenile and adult. Depending on molt sequence, age and timing plumage stages are highly variable so other factors like iris and beak color are also taken into account when estimating age. Eyes gradually change from dark brown to yellow while the beak goes from blackish-gray to yellow as they mature. At The Eyrie, Aidan Place reviews the The Warbler Guides new Android app. The Warbler Guide, hailed as groundbreaking on its release as a book, is helping lead the way in meshing print media with digital media. The authors released their app for iPhone in 2014 and recently came out with a version for Android; The Warbler Guide app has outdone itself. Unlike most field guide apps, which mostly seek to electronically present the same information as the book, The Warbler Guide has added a number of new features, allowing its app to truly function as a companion to the book, complimenting the printed material and adding to it. The Liberian Greenbul has long been one of Africas most mysterious birds, but as BirdGuides reports, it may not actually be a species. Liberian Greenbul is one of the worlds most enigmatic species. Closely resembling the much more common Icterine Greenbul, it differs by having large white subterminal spots on all of its major flight feathers, along with smaller ones at the tips of its greater coverts and alula (forming a wing-bar), in addition to having a paler tail and a reddish-brown tinge to its wing. It is known only from Cavalla Forest in eastern Liberia in west Africa, where it was observed just nine times in the period from 1981-84. Sightings ceased in the latter year, when the only known specimen was collected and housed in the Museum Alexander Konig, Bonn, Germany, where it was described in 1985.
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Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity

The Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity hosted its annual trunk or treat at the churchs parking lot.

Themes of the transformed trunks included Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Seuss, Batman, a medieval castle, Sesame Street, Jurassic Park and Monsters Inc. Trick or treaters walked truck to trunk to participate in games and receive prizes and candy.

A dog supper was served. Diners donated canned goods for the Jubilee Center.

More than 500 pounds of food was collected.

Medicine was brought to life on Halloween night at the Petroleum.

Medical students from The Texas Tech Health Science Center of the Permian Basin teamed up with museum volunteers to host the almost 2,000 people who attended.

One of the biggest hits of the night was the sonogram booth. Kids could put gel on their hands and move the sonogram stick over it while viewing the inside of their hand on the nearby screen. Other booths included building skeletons on black paper using Q-tips, making spooky structures out of magna-tiles, using slime to make spider webs and launching candy corn pumpkins from catapults the children made out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands.

The event was sponsored by Chevron.
Police in North Texas are investigating the death of a 21-year-old college senior who was found shot Sunday.

Amanda Clairmont, a senior at the University of North Texas, was found shot in her car in a vacant parking lot on an Interstate 35E service road in Corinth, a Dallas suburb, NBC reported.
Saturday marked Holodomor Remembrance Day, honoring the millions of Ukrainians who died of forced starvation at the hands of the Soviets in the 1930s. Some 80 years later, and a quarter-century after the Soviet Unions dissolution, the Russian government still denies that this atrocity constitutes a genocide.

Two days earlier  Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.  Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told the international press that the Ukrainian governments use of the phrase the genocide of Ukrainians is politically charged and contradicts historical facts.

Furthermore, the U.S. State Departments statement calling the Holodomor a Soviet-manufactured tragedy allegedly disparaged the memory of the victims of that famine who belonged to other ethnic groups. She described the Holodomor as merely the result of severe drought and forced [farm] collectivization which hit Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, West Siberia and the South Urals. Thus, Zakharova perfectly illustrated why the State Department condemned efforts to deny it as a historical fact.

The archives make Soviet direction of the famine undeniable. In a December 1932 directive, Communist officials ordered regions placed on the black list to endure the immediate cessation of delivery of goods and the complete suspension of cooperative and state trade, including farm trade. The abundant crops Ukraine had produced were requisitioned or sometimes left to rot. Soldiers ransacked whole villages for their edible goods before blockading their residents and denying them the right to buy food.

But does this brutality rise to the level of genocide?

Yes, according to the man who coined the term. Raphael Lemkin defined genocide as the crime of destroying national, racial, or religious groups. In 1953, Lemkin called the Holodomor perhaps the classic example of Soviet genocide. Anne Applebaum, whose new book Red Famine exposes the deliberate policy of mass-starvation imposed by Stalin, agrees (although she recognizes the difficulty of applying the term under international law  which the USSR helped craft).

The Soviets launched a multi-pronged attack to denationalize Ukraine by systematically terrorizing: the intelligentsia, the Church, and the peasantry.

The Politburo liquidated peasants, because they were seen as the bastion of Ukrainian patriotism, ingenuity and independence, and cultural identity. Destroying them would change the nations sense of itself. National sovereignty defines what we are, said Roger Scruton at an Acton Institute conference in London last December (a theme he develops in his latest book, On Human Nature).

Communists always eradicate societys intellectuals as a form of regicide. According to the Ukrainian Quarterly of Autumn 1948, 51,713 intellectuals were sent to Siberia in 1931 alone, Lemkin said. It is conservatively estimated that at least 75 percent of the Ukrainian intellectuals and professional men in Western Ukraine, CarpathoUkraine and Bukovina have been brutally exterminated by the Russians. The Soviets also forcibly resettle Russians in Ukraine  an ongoing source of conflict.

Collective farms and the soul of Ukraine

The Soviets particularly targeted Christian clergy and the Church, which Lemkin called the soul of Ukraine. In less than a decade, Communists murdered 32 Orthodox bishops and 10,000 priests. But the assault on the Church had wider repercussions:

These attacks on the Soul have also had and will continue to have a serious effect on the Brain of Ukraine, for it is the families of the clergy that have traditionally supplied a large part of the intellectuals, while the priests themselves have been the leaders of the villages, their wives the heads of the charitable organizations. The religious orders ran schools, and took care of much of the organized charities.

Marxists struck at the root of the opposition to New Soviet Man by secularizing and nationalizing all those activities that had once been performed voluntarily by people of faith. The national religion would be atheism; intellectual life would yield to propaganda; all economic activity would be centrally planned; and schools and charities would be run by, and for the benefit of, the Communist Party.

Lemkins analogy has precedent. The early church document the Letter to Diognetus stated, What the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. As people of faith are forcibly impeded from living out their vocation, the body wilts.

It is true that millions of people perished under Stalins agricultural collectivization in other regions of the USSR, as they had a decade earlier under Lenins more modest policies. Soviet agricultural production would not rebound to 1928 levels until at least the 1950s. Similar land reform policies brought want and starvation to socialist nations from North Korea, to Cuba, to modern-day Zimbabwe. Famine inevitably follows the violation of economic laws most in accord with human nature, which was created to be free.

After centralizing all economic activity into its own hands, the Communist state could hand out rewards or, more often, exact punishments like a vengeful god. But it could not stamp out human nature which, carrying the divine spark of life, reminded collectivists of its Creator.

The Holodomor was the Communist appartchiks penance upon the Ukrainian people for exposing the idolatry and futility of collectivism. It should also be a reminder of what happens to the world when its soul allows or, increasingly, invites the state to displace it from performing its life-giving functions.

(Photo credit: Kremlin.ru. CC BY 4.0.)
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The Orlando man accused of injuring two people on Florida's Turnpike over the weekend in a road rage incident says he'd been up for two days and mistook the victims for gang members.

Kwanza Donald charged with two counts of attempted murder

Donald claimed that someone was trying to kill him

RELATED: Suspect in custody after road rage shooting on Florida's Turnpike

The man, 33-year-old Kwanza Donald is being held at the Lake County Jail and is charged with two counts of attempted murder. He did not say much when he appeared before a judge Monday. The judge issued a $120,000 bond.

According to an arrest report, Donald told Florida Highway Patrol troopers that he believed someone was trying to kill him and that is why he fired shots at another car on the Florida's Turnpike.

He told investigators he was living out of his car and was commuting between Florida and Texas.

"I was talking to the police, telling them I needed help, I needed help," Donald said Monday. "But nobody helped, everyone was just laughing at me, saying I was smoking something. But little did they know I've been up for two days."

Donald also said he was dehydrated and hadn't had anything to eat for a while.

It was on Saturday when investigators say Donald, in his Toyota Camry, fired about a dozen rounds at a red Chevy Impala as both vehicles were heading south on the Turnpike near State Road 50.

A 37-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl from Miami inside the Impala were shot. Both were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.

Donald told investigators he did not know the two victims, but their vehicle looked similar to a vehicle that had been shooting at him in Texas and Georgia.

However, troopers say Donald provided no evidence that anyone was trying to kill him. They used surveillance video from the scene to identify his vehicle.

According to the police report, a handgun was found inside his car.
A 16-year-old who slashed a classmate in the face with a samurai sword had been on campus more than an hour searching for several other students, police said.

A Lamar High School office worker noticed the freshman walking into the school about 6:50 a.m. Monday carrying an 18-inch sword in each hand. She called security guards on a radio and then dialed 911.
New legislation has paved the way to allow Massachusetts schools to teach English-language learners in their native language while they learn English.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed the legislation that effectively overturns the states 15-year-old law that eliminated bilingual education from most public schools .

The new law, passed by state lawmakers last week, aims to offer school systems and parents flexibility to choose programs that best suit the needs of their students.

Massachusetts is the latest domino to fall in a push to repeal English-only immersion education laws.

Last November, California voters repealed the states English-only instruction law , allowing public schools across more power to operate bilingual and dual-language programs.

With the passage of the Massachusetts law, Arizona is now the only state with English-only immersion education mandates written into law, but the state offers schools more choices. Districts can cut the time some English-language learners spend in a mandatory, four-hour block of English-language instruction, depending on a students grade level and English proficiency.

Growing ELL Population

The change in Massachusetts comes amid unprecedented growth in the states English-language learner population, which has doubled since 2000, the Bay State Banner reports. Now more than 90,000 Massachusetts students are classified as English language learners, representing almost 10 percent of the states public school enrollment.

Under the new law, students who achieve high levels of proficiency in English and one or more foreign languages would also qualify for the states new seal of biliteracy , which honors students who are literate in two or more languages. Now, nearly 30 states offer the special recognition .

The Boston Globe reports that, for decades, several school districts have run programs where students are taught in English and another language . The English-only law included a provision that allowed those kinds of dual-language programs to continue.

That law also allowed school systems and parents to run transitional bilingual education programs, which provides students with academic content in their native language while they learn English. But the Globe reports that few districts did so because it required a cumbersome waiver process to get the programs running. The new law eliminates that waiver process.

Schools, however, retain the right to provide sheltered English instruction , programs where English-language-learner students are taught in stand-alone classrooms.

Related Stories

More States and Districts Embrace Biliteracy

Schools Are Falling Short for Many English-Learners

Bilingual Education Poised for a Comeback in California Schools

Thirty Days of Only English, Then Bilingual Education
An explosion ripped through a residence in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco Monday morning, just as firefighters arrived on scene to investigate reports of a gas leak, authorities said.

The explosion happened at 10:14 a.m. in the 3900 block of Mission Street, near St. Marys Avenue.

No one was injured in the blast that shattered the second-story windows of a residential building and blew the garage door off its hinges and into the street.

Andrea Menniti, a spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., said that the gas flow was turned off around 1 p.m. Menniti said that the three-hour delay was because crews had to drill through the road to safely access the leaking pipe, while two off-site valves also had to be shut down.

Battalion Chief Rex Hale of the San Francisco Fire Department said the explosion occurred shortly after firefighters arrived to investigate reports of a gas leak. Hale said no one was at the address when the explosion hit.

The blast occurred in the garage of a three-story residential structure at 3987 Mission St., officials said.

About 19 residences on Mission Street, College Terrace and Bosworth Street were evacuated and some streets were blocked off. Residents were allowed back into their homes around 3:30 p.m.

Crews from PG&E and the city Department of Building Inspection were investigating the cause of the explosion.

It appears that gas filled up that garage and hit a pilot light and caused the explosion, Hale said.

A total of 470 customers were affected by the explosion, Menniti said, and about 120 customers will remain without gas while repairs and the investigation continue. As residents are allowed back into their homes, Menniti said customers should call PG&E to have their pilot lights relit.

PG&E last surveyed the affected area for potential leaks on Sept. 15 and found none, Menniti said.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15
The AT&T Foundation has given local advocacy group Tech Bloc a $95,000 grant to help launch a mentoring program at San Antonios new CAST Tech High School.

Quality mentoring greatly increases a students chance of success and, here in San Antonio, opens their eyes to the wide range of opportunities in our local community, said U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes in the announcement.

Hurd joined leaders from AT&T and Tech Bloc to officially launch the program Monday morning at the Centers for Applied Science and Technology high school. The program will give students access quality mentors in the local tech community, Tech Bloc CEO David Heard said in the announcement.

The curriculum at CAST Tech is built around teaching students about coding, business, cybersecurity, gaming and entrepreneurship.

We hope to extend learning outside of the classroom and give students the opportunity to connect with tech leaders across our community and gain real-world experiences in IT, he said.

The 80/20 Foundation, which is chaired by former Rackspace Hosting co-founder Graham Weston, awarded the high school a grant of $650,000, bringing its total donated the school to $1.25 million.

The San Antonio Independent School District said its received $300,000 in donations and pledges from other local tech leaders, including Scaleworks co-founder Lew Moorman, Rackspace co-founders Pat Condon and Dirk Elmendorf, Javier Uribe from Mobius Partners and Brett Piatt of Jungle Disk.

San Antonio-based Jungle Disk, which was spun out from Rackspace as a separate company almost two years ago, also recently announced it was donating up to $250,000 for CAST Techs capital campaign through the SAISD Foundation. It will give $100 for every customer that signs up for its services, but if the company hits 1,000 new customers by Jan. 1, each donation will increase to $250.

Its early days for the high school, so during the mentorship programs first year, and probably next year, the focus will be on mentoring, Heard said in an interview in advance of the announcement.

As the school adds more students and this class matriculates into its sophomore, junior and senior year, then theres potential and hope that this program would grow to include things like job shadowing and internship capabilities, Heard said.

Tech Bloc will also be hiring a mentor coordinator position to run the program, according to the announcement. That person will make sure that every ninth grade student is paired with a professional, the announcement says.

Thats the bulk of the initiative, is getting this person in place who will run the program, build out all of the connections, the contacts, the infrastructure, pull mentors together and build all the programs that support it, Heard said.

But local tech industry professionals are already poised to help out the new students. Tech Bloc has already signed up more than 150 potential mentors, according to the announcement.

Exact details for the program havent been worked out yet, as thats the job of the coordinator, but the goal is to give students a chance to create real connections and real experience with tech leaders and tech jobs, Heard said.

It is industry-supported and what better way to engage students outside the classroom than with industry mentors? Melissa Alcala, CAST Tech principal, said in the announcement.

sehlinger@express-news.net | Twitter: @samehlinger
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Even in death, Mike Sellers refuses to forget his daughter's birthday.

Since Bailey Sellers was 16-years-old, her father, who died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 56, has arranged for her to receive flowers each year.

"My dad passed away when I was 16 from cancer and before he died he pre payed [sic] flowers so i could receive them every year on my birthday. Well this is my 21st birthday flowers and the last. Miss you so much daddy," Sellers tweeted Friday.

Sellers' message, which included photos of the flowers and the letter her dad wrote her, have gone viral, collecting more than 1.4 million likes and 341,000 retweets.

Now Playing: When visiting her great grandmother in Lowestoft, United Kingdom, Sophie decided to sing a special song close to their familys heart. Softly singing the opening lines to You Are My Sunshine with her great-grandmother by her side, Sophie captured the hearts of those in the room, while Jenny managed to capture the beautiful moment on camera. Credit: Yvonne Brock Miller via Storyful Video: Storyful

Sellers has received a bouquet from her father, who was from Maryville, Tenn., since she was 17.

"He was the biggest Christian man I have knew. He had the biggest heart and would give so many people chances," Sellers told Chron.com Sunday evening. "I'm glad my dad touched so many people's lives."

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on twitter at @fernalfonso. If you also like surreal GIFs and Polaroids, go here and here.


To meet growing demands for fire protection in Katy, city officials anticipate a December ground breaking for fire station No. 2 near Katy Mills at 25420 Bell Patna Drive.

The construction contract with Bass Construction of Rosenberg calls for completion of the project in 300 days, said Katy Mayor Chuck Brawner, which would put the opening in October, also known as Fire Prevention Month. The contract totals more than $3.65 million.

The 12,999-square-foot station includes pods for each company within the fire department, explained David Slattery, of Slattery Tackett Architects, LLP, the architectural firm that designed the building. For example, emergency medical responders and the ladder company each would have a pod.

Brawner compared it to a college dorm room with a sitting area and then bedrooms in a suite. That will provide individual privacy, he added, noting the responders include men and women. "With our alerting system, we need to go only to the area that will be notified and not have to wake up everyone else - only the one that's needed," said Brawner.

The concept is based on a design that the architects used for the Baytown Fire Department station, but Katy is using a smaller version, explained Slattery.

The Katy station will have three drive-through apparatus bays, dormitory facilities, kitchen, exercise room and partial mezzanine. The structure is wood framed with masonry stone veneer and fiber cement siding.

"The overriding goal is to meet the growing demands for fire protection in the city of Katy, said Slattery. Katy is servicing everything out of one station and has had a lot of growth on the south side of Interstate 10, he said.

Katy's fire station is located at 1417 Ave. D and includes department administrative offices.

Katy Fire Chief Russell Wilson said the second station will result in "quicker response times and better service."

Both Wilson and Brawner mentioned the possibility of a third station based further west to serve growth, which includes Willow Creek Farms and Jordan Ranch subdivisions as well as commercial additions with Buc-ee's and the Amazon warehouse near Woods Road and Highway 90.

In addition to the base bid, City Council also accepted an alternate bid of $65,571 for a vehicle exhaust system, which Slattery said reflects a trend.

There is a growing awareness of the health effects that firefighters face from the smoke engine exhaust from fire department vehicles, he explained. The special exhaust system will carry vehicle smoke out of the building so that it never gets into the station's environment, Slattery said.

"The health and safety of firefighters becomes key component of what we do," said the architect, adding that fortunately the bids were successful enough to add the alternate and maintain the city's budget.

In 2014, voters approved a $5 million bond issue to pay for the second fire station including $1 million for a truck to be based at the new station.

Bass Construction served as the construction manager for the project which involved the general contractor taking all the subcontractor bids. "We had a pretty good response," Slattery said. The widespread post Harvey rebuilding - primarily of residential structures - didn't cause any problems in obtaining station bids, he said.

"We're all glad to see it underway. It's been in the works for quite a while," said Slattery. "The site selection process was pretty grueling. It's a great site by the mall that pretty well serves their needs."

The city spent $1 million to buy the two acres near Katy Mills after its initial site on Kingsland Boulevard, west of Pin Oak Road flooded during Tax Day floods in 2016. City officials said the department wouldn't have been able to dispatch emergency vehicles from the Kingsland site.

Wilson is interviewing people to fill firefighting positions at the new station.

In August, the city received a $2.2 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response - or SAFER - grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

To man the Quint 2, the ladder/pumper combination that will be based at the station, will require three shifts with four people per shift, he said. The department has had the $1 million truck for a year.

"To make sure we have the 12 positions covered all the time, we're hiring 16," said Wilson, adding that will take care of when people are sick, on personal leave or take vacation.

An ambulance manned by a two-person crew also will be moved from the Avenue D station to the new station. People already are in place for this move.

The second station will help the city maintain its Insurance Services Office rating of 2, with 1 being the highest and 10 the lowest, according to Brawner and Wilson. The ISO ratings are based on department safety and operational figures and affect residential property insurance premiums.

Brawner said the city has a couple of years before a new audit is conducted and as long as the city had the second station on the drawing boards and was working on contracts, its ISO rating didn't change.

"Since 2012, the department has gone totally full time," he added, and the city improved staff training. "We'll have four firefighters on each fire apparatus," said Brawner, "and the ambulance will be staffed by two. We'll have a full complement on each apparatus at both of our stations."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a black Mississippi mans challenge to his states flag, which incorporates the Confederate battle flag, and state laws that require the flag to be displayed in close proximity to public schools.

The justices also declined to take up a case on prayers at school board meetings. I wrote separately about that case here .

In the Mississippi case, the justices declined without comment to hear the appeal of Carlos E. Moore, an African-American lawyer and a descendant of slaves, whose lawsuit under the 14th Amendments equal-protection clause challenged the design of the flag and another state law that students be taught proper respect for it.

The message in Mississippis flag has always been one of racial hostility and insult and it is pervasive and unavoidable by both children and adults, said the lawyers appeal in Moore v. Bryant (Case No. 17-23). The states continued expression of its message of racial disparagement sends a message to African-American citizens of Mississippi that they are second-class citizens.

Both a federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, held that both Moore and his 6-year-old daughter lacked legal standing to challenge the state flag.

Moores appeal to the Supreme Court was pending in August when the violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va., fueled renewed debate over Confederate symbols and memorials. In late August, after that event, the high court sought a response from the state of Mississippi to Moores appeal, an indication that the case had drawn the interest of at least one justice.

In their response, state officials did not explicitly defend the Mississippi flag, which was adopted in 1894, or the laws about its display at schools. But they say the lower courts correctly ruled that the Moores suffered no real injuries from their exposure to the flag.

If [Moore] has standing here, virtually any litigant could challenge any government action display, monument, or speech he or she views as offensive, the states brief says. Equal protection would go from being a prohibition on the denial of equal treatment to an embargo on being offended.

Meanwhile, Moore drew friend-of-the-court briefs on his side by several groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Confederate battle flag is a divisive and harmful symbol of racism that some governments nonetheless continue to embrace, says the brief signed by 48 members of the CBC. Ending government endorsements of racism is essential to our nations continued progress toward ending racism itself.
Communities in the Pasadena and Friendswood areas are looking for ways to expand green space.

Spark Parks are, in many cases, the answer.

Established by former Houston City Councilwoman Eleanor Tinsley in 1983, the nonprofit conservation organization uses available land to create green spaces on school properties and has established more than 140 playgrounds and community parks in 15 school districts in Houston and surrounding region.

"SPARK stands for school park, and we work with schools and help them develop their playgrounds and community parks," said SPARK Park executive director Kathleen Ownby.

During SPARK Week, Nov.13-17, one Clear Creek ISD campus, Wedgewood Elementary in Friendswood, and two Pasadena ISD campuses, Hancock and Jessup elementary schools, were the newest additions to the effort that brings together resources from City of Houston, Harris County, school districts and their communities.

According to Ownby, the group gives each school a goal of raising $5,000 through school and parent-teacher community fundraising projects which are then supplemented by the SPARK Park nonprofit through a grant by the Kinder Foundation and Houston Endowment.

According to Pasadena ISD, the SPARK project at Jessup cost roughly $170,000, with $150,000 made possible from a grant by the Kinder Foundation and Houston Endowment, with $19,500 added from campus-teacher funds and the school's budget.

The Hancock project cost $140,000, with $130,000 from a grant through the Kinder Foundation and Houston Endowment.

"We are so proud of our entire community for coming together to make this possible," said PISD superintendent DeeAnn Powell. "From the donors, students, parent and teacher fundraisers to the support from our campus leadership and city officials, the SPARK Park playground would not have been possible without all of the amazing support from everyone."

SPARK already had a foothold in Pasadena ISD with playgrounds at Kruse, Matthys and Parks elementary schools.

"I strongly believe that this will help build connections among residents in this neighborhood because parks bring people together in a healthy and fun atmosphere. It's a win-win situation all around," Powell said.

In Friendswood, Wedgewood Elementary, 4000 Friendswood Link Road, became the second campus in Clear Creek ISD to be chosen as a SPARK Park location following a 2011 dedication at McWhirter Elementary School.

According to the nonprofit, the total cost of the Wedgewood project was approximately $400,000, with the school raising roughly $42,000, the PTA providing $20,000,

CCISD contributing more than $200,000 for playground equipment and SPARK providing $150,00 through the Kinder Foundation and Houston Endowment.

"Without a doubt, for generations to come, the SPARK Park at Wedgewood Elementary in Friendswood will be a multiuse facility for everyone," said Friendswood Mayor Kevin Holland.

In addition to park amenities like playground equipment, newly planted trees, walking trails and an outdoor room for educational purposes as well as a rock climbing apparatus, every park includes an art component that references something unique about each school campus and community, such as a mural at Jessup that incorporates the school mascot or the "Six Pillars of Character" at Wedgewood that stand for "caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness."

"The city is proud to have played a consulting role in the process, helping to make sure the amenities here fit in with the overall park plan. I"t is a great addition to the City of Friendswood," said Holland.

For more information on SPARK Park, visit www.sparkpark.org
HARTFORD  Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Monday announced 13 Connecticut State Police troopers were deployed to Puerto Rico to assist in recovery efforts on the island, which is still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Maria.

Malloy said the troopers deployment from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection is part of Connecticuts efforts to assist Puerto Rico in post-hurricane recovery and will be providing security, patrolling service and traffic assistance to local police on the island. Twelve of the 13 troopers are fluent in Spanish. The crew flew out from Bradley Airport Monday, according to a release from Malloys office.

The deployment of the troopers is the latest effort made by state officials hoping to assist Puerto Ricos recovery following Hurricane Marias landfall in September. Bloomberg News reported Nov. 23 the U.S. Department of Energy had restored 50 percent of the islands power capacity.

The state is home to some of the, bravest, brightest, and most selfless state troopers in the nation, Malloy said in the release.

Im incredibly proud of the troopers that volunteered to assist the people of Puerto Rico in their time of need, and wish them a successful tour of duty, and a safe return home, Malloy said. These deployments build upon Connecticuts major hurricane recovery support efforts, including the over 70 recovery missions engaged in by our National Guard.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said in the release that the state knows first-hand how important it is to help in Puerto Ricos recovery.

I commend the Connecticut State Police Troopers for their assistance in these efforts and I thank them and their families for their service. Our troopers are the most respected law enforcement officials in the world with their long history of support. I wish them best wishes and a safe return.

DESPP Commissioner Dora Schriro said the troopers efforts demonstrate agency has among the most, community-focused police forces in the country.

According to the release, the state has provided 100 National Guardsmen to offer support services. They have conducted 73 missions aboard C-130s. These guardsmen have been involved in communications, security forces, maintenance and aerial port operations, according to the release.

In addition to other support measures, the states Office of Early Childhood is helping identify child-care opportunities. They are among several state agencies assisting in recovery efforts for evacuees relocating moving to the state following the storm. Connecticut schools have also been welcoming new students whose families relocated here following the storm.
MEXICO CITY -When Jose Antonio Meade, Mexico's finance secretary, tendered his resignation Monday morning, there was plenty of praise from President Enrique Pena Nieto - but no mention of why Meade was leaving or where he was going.

Many Mexicans, however, thought they know exactly what was coming next.

Meade's resignation seemed eerily similar to a ritual known as "El Destape," or "The Unveiling," a relic of Mexico's days under one-party rule. During the 71-year reign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the president would present his preferred successor, who would be endorsed by PRI power brokers - presumed representatives of the working and popular classes - and praised effusively by members of the political class and the media.

With other potential PRI candidates such as Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong recently bowing out of the race, Meade seemed like he was the party's chosen one. Sure enough, he announced later on Monday that he will run for the PRI nomination. But using such an old-school selection doesn't seem to fit in a country that has left one-party rule behind.

"This is the sad spectacle of a PRI that has not known how to adapt to democracy and still chooses its candidate on the whims of its party elites," said Viridiana Rios, a scholar at the Wilson Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

"It's a pathetic spectacle, too. We're all paying attention as if we're implicitly accepting the PRI can win in 2018."

Immediately after resigning, Meade continued the "destape" ritual, making appearances at PRI-linked institutions such as the CTM union, a labor organization tied to the party but not known for doggedly defending workers.

"The PRI is made in the mold of Jose Antonio and Jose Antonio is made in the mold of the PRI," said CTM boss Carlos Aceves, whose enthusiastic comments received lengthy applause.

Mexican media also covered Meade's resignation closely - much more so than other cabinet shuffles or resignations. Stories centered on Meade's impeccable track record, absence of scandal and how he would drive his own car to work or even take public transit in a city where public officials ply the streets in SUVs with security details.

Media outlets also reported on Meade's imminent meetings with PRI power brokers, along with the withdrawal of the party's other top contenders, even as they polled better than Meade in hypothetical election matchups (the PRI has no primary system that pits potential candidates against one another).

"There's a part of Mexico that feels comfortable with this charade. The press can cover this in the style it knows. It's how they were brought up," said Esteban Illades, editor of the Mexican magazine Nexos. "This is the Mexico my parents told me about."

"It's not only about this patrimonial presidency," tweeted Carlos Bravo Regidor, professor at the Center for Teaching and Research in Economics. "It's also the fact that there are so many in the media willing to be on the bandwagon or even celebrate it as if we're in 1976."

Meade is not, as yet, even a member of the PRI. But the party has been battered by corruption and conflict-of-interest scandals, and violence hit record levels in 2017. Polls show the PRI trailing both its main rivals; an August survey by market research firm Buendia & Laredo found 41 percent of respondents saying they would never vote for the party.

He also generates excitement in business circles - especially among investors spooked by the prospect of left-wing populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador winning the presidency - and has a good record as a cabinet minister in successive administrations under presidents from different parties. PRI leaders are apparently hoping that Meade is a "clean" candidate capable of changing the party's toxic image - even if his selection may prove that the same old power brokers are still in charge.

"If confirmed that the candidate is Meade, we will see the PRI promote him as a 'citizen' candidate, without party affiliation, with technical training, not a politician, rather a functionary," Bravo Regidor said. "It's to say there are elements of an anti-political discourse in the service of the PRI."
Tufts University is postponing a talk by Anthony Scaramucci, who was briefly a spokesman for President Donald Trump, after he threatened to sue a student who wrote an unflattering opinion piece about him in the student newspaper.

An attorney retained by Scaramucci, Samuel Lieberman, sent a letter to the graduate student who wrote the opinion piece and to the editor in chief of the Tufts Daily. The letter explained that Lieberman's firm had been retained to "pursue claims arising from blatantly false and defamatory statements," and demanding a retraction of certain statements and an apology. The letter was published by the Boston Globe.

The news sparked an online debate about freedom of speech and freedom of the press on college campuses.

Lieberman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. In the letter, he cited a case in which even statements that contained some amount of opinion were found to be defamatory when they claimed a public official had been unethical, and wrote that Scaramucci "has never been charged nor found to have committed any ethical violation. . ."

A spokesman for Tufts, Patrick Collins, said in a written statement Monday that the Boston-area school is disappointed by Scaramucci's action.

This fall, more than 200 students signed a petition arguing Scaramucci is not qualified to serve on the Board of Advisors for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts.

"The university has been working to facilitate a conversation that had been scheduled for Monday evening between Fletcher School students and Mr. Scaramucci about his background, experience and the petition calling for his removal from the Fletcher School Board of Advisors," Collins said.

"In light of recent developments, we are postponing the event until these pending legal matters are resolved."

Scaramucci, a 1986 graduate of the university, was appointed to a five-year term on the board in 2016. The university has 10 such boards, which have no fiduciary responsibility or other authority, Collins said, but offer advice to deans and center directors based on discussions among the members.

Scaramucci did not respond immediately to a request for comment Monday, but he responded publicly on Twitter, saying, "All I need is an apology and correction. Get the facts right. Defamation is not unflattering coverage. It's defamation."

He also wrote, "I asked for an apology. Plain and simple. In our country defamation comes with its consequences."

The Fletcher student who created the petition seeking the removal of Scaramucci, Carter Banker, said she had been concerned about Scaramucci's role after his controversial stint as spokesman for Trump, which ended abruptly after a vulgar tirade in an interview with the New Yorker was published this summer.

But Banker said she was spurred to action when she saw his publication, the Scaramucci Post, share a poll on social media this fall about how many Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust. She said the publication later apologized, but in her opinion, it was another example of his questionable judgment.

In the petition, signed by about 240 Fletcher students, alumni and faculty members, Banker argued her belief that "his very public, embarrassing conduct reflects poorly on our institution," and she questioned how valuable his advice could be to the school.

In the letter, Lieberman wrote that the poll was posted without Scaramucci's consent by an employee who is Jewish, who apologized and who explained it had been intended to highlight ignorance about the Holocaust.

Earlier this month, a Fletcher student, Camilo Caballero, wrote two opinion pieces arguing that Scaramucci was unfit for the post on the Fletcher School board.

"A man who is irresponsible, inconsistent, an unethical opportunist and who exuded the highest degree of disreputability should not be on the Fletcher Board," Caballero wrote in the Tufts Daily.

". . . If his credentials lie in the billions of dollars he made on Wall Street, then we have, as a school, abandoned our principles and vision," Caballero wrote.

Banker said she was in class not long after the opinion pieces were published when she was startled to receive an email from Scaramucci, asking to be invited to campus. She said she spoke with administrators, and they agreed to host a moderated discussion between Scaramucci and the Fletcher student body.

She said the letter to Caballero and Gil Jacobson, the editor in chief of the Tufts Daily, initially shocked her, but then she felt it was illustrative of Scaramucci's character. "It's purely an intimidation tactic. . . . He's doing this to shut people up," Banker said.

Caballero directed questions to his attorney, Matthew Segal. Segal did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the group offered to help.

"Sending a graduate student a letter accusing him of something two days before Thanksgiving and demanding a response within five days is clearly mean-spirited," Rose said. "The ACLU of Massachusetts is not going to allow Mr. Caballero or anyone who's a journalist to be bullied into silence. There's a long history in this country of trying to use defamation law to silence critics."

Frederick Lawrence, the secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa society, who is a lecturer at Georgetown Law, said, "The Supreme Court has said when a public figure is involved, defamation requires that the reporting was done with knowledge of falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth. The burden of proof for a plaintiff who is a public figure in a defamation suit is very, very stiff."

The First Amendment standard was intended to give breathing space for the press to explore controversial ideas and to write about public figures without self-censoring, he said, as long as reporters are operating with a reasonable belief in the truth of what they are writing.

"It's really most unfortunate," Lawrence said. "This is the essence of a free press and the essence of a university campus where students are engaged in free and robust debate."

Jacobson, the editor in chief of the Tufts Daily, said he almost immediately consulted with a lawyer at the Student Press Law Center when he received the email from Scaramucci's lawyer Tuesday. "With anything that we publish, as a student newspaper with a fairly wide readership," including the surrounding community off campus, "we have to be prepared for all extremes to happen."

The paper published a story Monday that stated that the paper had received the letter, which it published in full, and that the editorials remain on the paper's website with the original text.

"Mr. Scaramucci's threat to sue a graduate student and a college newspaper over an op-ed would be purely frivolous if it weren't also so menacing," Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America wrote. "The First Amendment clearly and fully protects the expression of personal opinion. This is nothing more than a heavy-handed attempt to bully them into printing an apology, and to scare other critics into silence. Good for Mr. Caballero and for the Tufts Daily for standing firm."

- - -

The Post's Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.
Theresa May's chances of getting a Brexit breakthrough in the coming days hinge on the prime minister convincing the Northern Ireland party that props up her government to accept the U.K. position on the Irish border.

The frontier between the north and south of Ireland has emerged as the biggest threat to getting a deal next month that would allow the U.K. and European Union to start discussions on future trade, three people familiar with the discussions said on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

EU chiefs are expecting May next Monday to offer more money toward liabilities such as pension promises and infrastructure projects it had committed to but has yet to pay. But a disagreement with the Democratic Unionists over how far she can go on the border question could scupper the deal.

Irish and EU officials have suggested that Northern Ireland be given a different status to the rest of the U.K., implying the creation of a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., but the DUP is adamant that can't happen.

"We need more clarity and more certainty around a road map to deal with the border issue comprehensively," Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said in an interview with Ireland's RTE radio on Monday. If businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland are operating under different rules, "it seems impossible to us that you avoid a checking system and therefore some form of hard border."

Ireland has the backing backed by the rest of the EU in wanting written assurances that the U.K.'s withdrawal from the bloc's customs union and single market won't lead to a return of checkpoints that would stir memories of decades of violence between Catholic and Protestant groups.

The U.K. side also doesn't want a hard border either but insists a solution to the problem can only emerge in conjunction with a final trade deal. May had hoped to park the issue but it's become a red line for the Irish -- whose government has dug in while it faces down its own political crisis in Dublin.

The whole thing is complicated by the fact that May relies on the support of the pro-Brexit DUP -- a party rooted in Protestant support for Northern Ireland's place in the U.K. -- after losing her parliamentary majority in June's election.

On the other hand, it's not clear exactly how far the DUP would go toward blocking any possible wording as it might be wary of bringing down May and opening the door for a Jeremy Corbyn-led government. The DUP has been heavily critical of the leader of the main opposition Labour Party currently ahead in opinion polls.

"The island of Ireland is now faced with many challenges," the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said in a speech in Brussels last week. "Those who wanted Brexit must offer solutions."

Officials from the EU and the U.K. continued discussions in the past few days in a push to reach a joint position on the most pressing Brexit issues that must be solved before talks can advance, the people familiar with the discussions said.

A written offer on the financial settlement has already been drafted pending May's final approval, one of them said. May's spokesman dismissed that on Monday as speculation.

At her party conference on Saturday, DUP leader Arlene Foster said she would oppose the most straightforward means of avoiding a hard border -- by applying EU rules to Northern Ireland after Brexit and reiterating her opposition to trade barriers within the U.K.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday, Foster said the U.K. government is "listening carefully" to Northern Ireland and any "artificial" guarantees shouldn't undermine the constitutional position of the region.

If, when she meets Barnier and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker next Monday, May can give the EU the assurances it needs on the financial settlement, the Irish border and on the protection of the rights of EU citizens in the U.K., it would give EU diplomats 10 days to agree on the choreography of a summit of leaders on Dec. 14-15.

During that period, Barnier would tell the 27 governments that he recommends judging "sufficient progress" in the negotiations to allow talks to begin on trade and a potential transition -- essentially a grace period for businesses to adapt for post-Brexit reality.

Ambassadors would then start drafting a formal statement which would then need to be approved by leaders at the summit. All these carefully modulated steps though would require some kind of agreement on how to tackle a 310-mile border where controls no longer exist.

---

Bloomberg contributors: Dara Doyle, Ott Ummelas, Viktoria Dendrinou, Alexander Weber and Tim Ross.
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Students across Houston ISD are taking a new, no-risk test that will help identify children needing more intensive math and reading assistance, school leaders say.

District officials said the test, which takes less than 30 minutes to complete, gives teachers immediate feedback on their students' academic abilities and progress over time. The assessment differs from the state's standardized tests in several ways: it's shorter, administered three times per year, provides instant results and carries no threat of negative consequences.

Now Playing: HISD parents say buses often arrive late or don't come at all Video: Fox 26 Houston

Administrators said the assessment fits with the district's goal of combining objective data with subjective observations by teachers. To start the school year, about 153,100 students took the reading test in English and Spanish, and about 161,700 students completed the math assessment.

"This is the first time the district has actually had a universal screener that has been administered district-wide in both reading and math," said Carla Stevens, Houston ISD's assistant superintendent of research and accountability. "We are then able to identify students who need intervention, we can progress monitor them, and then we can be able to plan what we need to do with them so they can meet the goals at the end of the year."

The assessment was created by Wisconsin-based Renaissance Learning, which has been paid about $3 million by the district since September 2016, according to Houston ISD's check register. District officials said the payments were for assessment, professional staff development, on-site trainers and technical support.

Using results from hundreds of thousands of students who finish the assessment, Renaissance Learning identifies where students fit nationally on a percentile scale. Students in the bottom 10 percent then receive "urgent intervention," two hours of additional instruction. Students between the 10th and 25th percentile get "intervention," or 90 additional minutes of instruction.

Results from the initial assessment in Houston ISD showed about 31 percent of students taking the reading test and 16 percent of students taking the math test needed "urgent intervention."

Timely results

School leaders said the assessment will particularly help teachers understand their students' academic levels at the beginning of the school year. Teachers receive results from the state's primary standardized test, known as STAAR, but those tests are taken during the second semester of the prior school year.

As a result, teachers are sometimes unsure whether students retained knowledge through the summer break.

Lysette Cooper, the first-year principal of Cook Elementary on Houston's northeast side, said the assessment helped her make a more seamless transition to her new campus.

"Immediately in the first weeks of school, I was able to get a comprehensive picture of my scholars, what their needs are, and how we can jump in immediately and address those needs," Cooper said.

At Brairmeadow Charter School, an in-district charter, administrators have been using Renaissance Learning's assessment with fourth- and fifth-grade students for about a decade, Principal Peter Heinze said. The results were "found to be valid and reliable," Heinze said.

"It's a guide for us, and it's one of those major ones, but we do use a lot of other data," Heinze said.

Academic snapshot

Teachers have stressed to students that the assessments don't impact their grades or advancement, district leaders said. Superintendent Richard Carranza said campus leaders will share the data with parents, giving them a snapshot of where their children stand academically.

The data will also be used to identify teachers and school leaders who are improving scores the most.

"It really allows us to start pinpointing some really incredible instruction district-wide, and then replicate that as well," Carranza said.
Stephen Spillman /For the San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN  Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday he will appoint his offices general counsel, Jimmy Blacklock, to succeed Don Willett on the Texas Supreme Court.

President Donald Trump recently nominated Willett to serve on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though he has yet to come up for a confirmation vote in the Republican majority U.S. Senate. Abbott said he expects the vote to come as early as next month.
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A San Antonio photographer who took professional photos of dancers around the country pleaded guilty Monday to federal child pornography charges.

As part of a plea deal, Christopher Alexander Reilly, 46, pleaded guilty to one count each of receiving child pornography and transporting child pornography, each punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. He is to be sentenced Feb. 26 by Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney informed Reilly.

Reilly also agreed to pay up to $50,000 total in resitution to any victims identified as part of the investigation.

RELATED: Bexar County deputies searching for man suspected of sexually assaulting child in store bathroom

Reilly, owner of Chris Reilly Photography, was arrested earlier this year after his computer hard drive malfunctioned while he was on a photo shoot in California, and he sent it to a repair service in Dallas. The repair service found images of child porn and informed authorities, his plea deal said.

Under questioning by the FBI, Reilly admitted he downloaded child porn images off the Internet, and that he secretly recorded the private areas of some minors he photographed.

Reilly denied ever sexually touching a child, but admitted taking surreptitious videos of some of the minor dancers during their photo shoots, his plea deal states. Reilly identified some images of minor dancers that he secretly videotaped, including a prepubescent child, sitting in the backseat of a vehicle with her legs spread apart. Reilly secretly videotaped the genital area of the child. Reilly admitted using the secretly recorded videos for his sexual gratification.

RELATED: Affidavit: Man sexually assaulted 16-year-old boy after luring him to motel

Reilly last viewed child pornography on Jan. 30, the day before the FBI served a search warrant at his home, his plea deal said.

The plea deal said a forensic examination on his MacBook turned up eight video files depicting prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and when a Seagate hard drive was examined, several similar videos and images were found. The examinations also found video files of the clothed genital and buttocks areas of various minor females, the plea deal said.

Reilly traveled throughout the country for photoshoots and had taken photos of dance, band and cheer students at Reagan High School, and some students at Johnson High School. The schools told parents in letters after his arrest that the photo shoots were monitored and no inappropriate conduct was reported, the Northeast Independent School District said at the time.

gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
Courtesy of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller shared a story to his Facebook page, which has more than 623,000 followers, Sunday claiming the president removed a Muslim federal judge for trying to "implement sharia law."

It never happened.

The link Miller shared is from a website called trumpsolidsupporters.me and said Judge Hansam al Alallawalahi-Smith, in the 22nd Circuit Court of Appeals, was removed from his post after ruling that sharia law, or Islamic law, could be practiced in Dearborn, Michigan.

The 22nd Circuit Court of Appeals doesn't exist and there is not a judge by that name on the bench.

Nonetheless, Miller's post was filled with more than 3,000, mostly supportive, comments, celebrating President Donald Trump's decision.

RELATED: Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller calls Hillary Clinton C-word on Twitter, blames staffer

"When that judge mentioned sharia in a courtroom while presiding over a case, the (bailiff) should have put a bullet between his eyes," reads one comment.

The fake story was shared 6,659 times. It cited a source called "As American As Apple Pie."

Another commenter said the story was not factual and others said they were not sure what to make of the story.

"Good on President Trump. Sharia law has no place in the United States of America," Miller said on the post.

Kelsey Bradshaw is a digital reporter for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| kbradshaw@express-news.net | Twitter: @Kbrad5
The Comal County Sheriff's Office said a suspect in last week's Canyon Lake killing who eluded them Sunday was brought into custody on Monday.

Authorities believe Brendyn Edward Chmiel, 24, shot and killed Glenn Douglas Larssen, 56, on Nov. 20 in the 700 block of Rambling Drive.
Corpus Christi police say a man's robbery attempt didn't go the way he wanted but at least he got some dinner out of it.

On Sunday night, a man in a hoodie and a ski mask walked into a Little Caesar's on Airline Road around 9 p.m., police said.
For decades, the term "Black Friday" has conjured up distinct images: Turkey-stuffed consumers awake at insanely early hours of the morning, bursting into big-box stores to fight over flat screen TVs.

But in a muzzle flash, it seems, a new image may be replacing that stereotype. It involves a trigger and, possibly, a scope.

On Friday, the FBI received 203,086 requests for instant gun background checks, according to USA Today - nearly a 10 percent increase from the year before and a new record for background checks in a single day.

That's not an anomaly. According to the FBI, the previous two records for background checks were also set on the day after the federal holiday in which Americans give thanks for the year's blessings.

The FBI didn't provide any analysis behind the spike, but the biggest shopping day of the year may come at a moment of worry for people who fear someone from the government may knock on their door someday and confiscate their guns.

In the Houston region, Joseph Beck, owner of the Liberty Armory in Bellaire, said he saw substantially more foot traffic through his store this year compared to previous years during the Black Friday weekend. He declined to provide weekend sales numbers.

Beck credited the increase to a few factors, including a recovering economy and worries about legislation that would restrict access to firearms.

More Information By the numbers Highest days for National Instant Criminal Background Checks System requests 203,086 Black Friday 2017 185,713 Friday, Nov. 26, 2016 185,345 Friday, Nov. 27, 215. 177.170 Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 175,754 Friday, Nov. 28, 2014 See More Collapse

"There's been a lot of aggression in the media" and from some lawmakers in the wake of recent shootings, Beck said. "And so people have become concerned."

Joe Bargas, owner of Warthog Firearms in Spring, said the holiday and tax-refund seasons are typically the busiest for his business, where he sells about 50 firearms during an average week.

Bargas said his sales were relatively steady compared to past post-Thanksgiving weekends, with about 15 firearms sold. He surmised that larger corporate retailers drove the record numbers.

"Black Friday has really been just like any other day for us, but some of the big people blow things out at unbelievable prices," Bargas said. "That could be why people are buying so much."

Industry worth 'blood'?

On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed the FBI and ATF to look at potential problems in the National Instant Criminal Background Check system.

Sessions wants the agencies to fix problems with how the military and other federal entities report convictions that could keep someone from having a gun.

The database "is critically important to protecting the American public from firearms related violence," Sessions wrote in his memo. "It is, however, only as reliable and robust as the information that federal, state, local and tribal government entities make available to it."

The directive comes after the U.S. Air Force conceded it had never submitted the domestic-abuse conviction of Devin Kelley to the NICS database. Kelley purchased a Ruger AR-556 rifle with a 30-round magazine and used it to mow down a church full of parishioners in Sutherland Springs earlier this month. It was the largest mass shooting in Texas history.

And a month before that, a man using a "bump stock" to make his rifles fire at a much faster rate killed 58 people and injured hundreds more in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas sheriff said Stephen Paddock fired more than 1,100 rounds, according to the Associated Press. Investigators found 4,000 unused rounds in his hotel suite.

Gun-safety advocates routinely push for greater restrictions on gun purchases after such shootings.

"As my colleagues go to sleep tonight, they need to think about whether the political support of the gun industry is worth the blood that flows endlessly onto the floors of American churches, elementary schools, movie theaters, and city streets," Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said after the Texas shooting.

'Ban your guns'

And gun-rights advocates routinely take equally strong stances on the other side of the issue.

After the Newtown, Conn., shooting that left six educators and 20 children dead, the National Rifle Association described then-President Barack Obama's gun-violence reduction proposals as an effort to ban millions of guns.

"The main goal of the gun banners in Congress is not to make schools safer, but to ban your guns and abolish every last sacred right you have under the Second Amendment  until they reduce your freedom to ashes," the NRA said in an alert.

But consumers with strong opinions on guns don't have to wait for the debate to play out. They can just take their wallets to gun stores - and routinely after mass shootings, they do.

As the Washington Post reported, the U.S. experienced "a record run on military-style assault weapons" in 2013, especially in the months after the Newtown shootings.

But this year, one mass shooting was different. Even the NRA said there should be additional regulations on devices like Paddock's bump stocks. Investigators should "identify any additional measures that should be taken to prevent firearms from being obtained by prohibited persons" the association's memo says.

Meanwhile, it appears the FBI will have to figure out how to deal with the onslaught of background checks.

According to USA Today, the agency has "struggled to keep pace with the volume of firearm transactions and still properly maintain the databases of criminal and mental health records necessary to determine whether buyers are eligible to purchase guns."

Last year, when it processed some 27.5 million background checks, it had bring in personnel from other units.

Jacob Carpenter and Robert Downen contributed to this report.
271117MASONO HAPPY WITH EXPLORATION LICENSE

By Aloysius Laukai



The ABG Vice President and Minister for Mining, RAYMOND MASONO has welcomed the issuance of the first three mining exploration licenses under Bougainvilles new mining law.

Speaking at the Tinputz presentation ceremony last week, MR. MASONO said that Bougainville can now achieve fiscal self-reliance if one of these companies succeeded with exploration and goes into mining.

MR. MASONO said that he was very vocal about talking about mining in Bougainville when the issue was still a taboo on Bougainville.

He said that about fifty years ago, the Australian colonial administration granted an exploration license to CRA which developed into a big open cut mine in the world selling Copper and Gold from its pit in Panguna.

MR. MASONO said this very mine later supported PAPUA NEW GUINEA to gain Independence in 1975.



He said that the Bougainville Executive Council upon advice from the Bougainville Advisory Mining Council granted Licenses to TOREMANA RESOURCES LIMITED, KALIA INVESTMENT LIMITED and the ISINA RESOURCES HOLDINGS LIMITED to do mining explorations in Bougainville.

MR. MASONO said that this was an historic occasion that Bougainvilleans need to celebrate.

For the first time local landowners and their overseas partners are creating joint venture companies to develop Bougainvilles rich mineral resources.



Ends

Caption from the gathering




China has congratulated President Emmerson Mnangagwa on his inauguration as the second Executive President of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, with President Xi Jinping sending his good wishes yesterday.

The Asian economic giants leader joined Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Jacob Zuma who have also congratulated the new Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

Other incumbent and former leaders from Sadc attended the inauguration of President Mnangagwa on Friday and offered their congratulations in person.

President Xi, who leads the worlds second-largest economy after the United States, said he was confident that President Mnangagwa would make new headway in the countrys development endeavours.

On the occasion of your taking office as the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, I wish to extend to you, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in my own name, our sincere congratulations and best wishes, he said in a statement.

I am confident that under your leadership, the Government and people of Zimbabwe will continue to make new headway in its development endeavours.

The Chinese leader said relations between Zimbabwe and China had withstood both the change of time and changes in the international situation.

China and Zimbabwe are good friends, good partners and good brothers, he said. Our relations have withstood the test of time, as well as changes in international situation.

China values its traditional friendship with Zimbabwe. I attach great importance to China relations with Zimbabwe and will work together with you to move forward our bilateral relations and cooperation in all fields to the greater benefit of our two countries and peoples. I wish you every success in fulfilling your lofty responsibilities.

May Zimbabwe enjoy prosperity and its people happiness and well-being, Mr Xi said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent his congratulatory message last week.

The Russian-Zimbabwean relations are traditionally friendly, he said. I am confident that they will further develop in all spheres for the benefit of our peoples and nations, in the interests of strengthening peace, security and stability in the African continent.

I wish you good health and success in your highly responsible activity as the Head of State.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who is also Sadc chairperson, also sent his goodwill message to President Mnangagwa last week.

We congratulate President Mnangagwa on his inauguration and wish him well as he steers the country through this transition period, he said. We wish to emphasise the need for the maintenance of peace and stability in the country, which I discussed with President Mnangagwa earlier this week (last week) before he headed back to Harare.

On Friday, the Sadc Secretariat also weighed in and congratulated President Mnangagwa for his inauguration as Head of State and Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces as they paid tribute to Zimbabweans over the peaceful manner power was transferred.

The United States of America also pledged to continue supporting Zimbabwe and assisting with the political and economic reforms.

US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Harry K. Thomas Jnr yesterday said his country was prepared to help Zimbabwe achieve the much-needed economic stability.

The US remains a friend to the people of Zimbabwe and were proud of our long-term commitment to develop Zimbabwe. The US stands to assist with the much-needed political and economic reforms to achieve a more stable and prosperous future for the people of Zimbabwe.

Last year alone, the US provided more than $253 million in assistance to Zimbabwe, which supported the improvement of health systems, services, food and nutrition, security, democratic governance and economic growth, said Ambassador Thomas.

He said the new US embassy campus, which will open next year, is the most concrete example of his countrys continued commitment to the people of Zimbabwe.

He congratulated Zimbabwe on having a new President, saying it is an opportunity for Zimbabwe to set a new path for itself.

Congratulations, Amhlophe, Makorokoto, Zimbabwe with the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe and the swearing in of new President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Zimbabwe has a historic opportunity to set itself on a new path.

The path that must include democratic elections and respect for human rights. It must be the people of Zimbabwe who choose their Government. Through that process, the US urges unwavering respect for the rule of law for established democratic practices, said the ambassador.

The people of Zimbabwe, he added, have firmly voiced their desire for a new era that will bring an end to Zimbabwes isolation and allow the country to rejoin the international community.

The future of Zimbabwe must be determined and established by the people of Zimbabwe to help them shape the future they desire for themselves, he said.

Ambassador Thomas commended President Mnangagwas maiden speech and urged him to put his words into action.

The Presidents words were important but it is the actions of the new Government that matter the most in the weeks and months ahead. Whatever short-term arrangements the Government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair and inclusive elections.

Elections in which the people of Zimbabwe are free to assemble peacefully without undue interference and to voice their opinions without fear to choose their own leaders, said Ambassador Thomas.

In a speech that has been warmly received around the world, President Mnangagwa said his Government will, with immediate effect, implement sweeping measures across sectors to stimulate economic growth and create employment.

Among the many measures, President Mnangagwa promised a sturdy re-engagement with the international community as isolation has never been splendid or viable.

The Presidents maiden speech elicited an immediate response from the British government, which pledged to work closely with the new Government to turn around the economy.

Britains Africa Minister Rory Stewart, who became the first envoy to pay a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa, said his country was ready to strengthen its relations with Zimbabwe.

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Former Air Zimbabwe chief operating officer Mr Simba Chikore left the national airline voluntarily to concentrate on helping some indigenous Zimbabweans bring aircraft to fly local, regional and international routes, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo said Mr Chikores departure from Air Zimbabwe had nothing to do with circumstances leading to the resignation of former President Cde Robert Mugabe as insinuated by some privately owned publications.

Mr Chikore is son-in-law to the former Head of State and Government after he married his daughter, Bona.

In an interview recently, Minister Gumbo said it was unfair for the media to try to link Mr Chikores departure at the national airline with the former Head of State and Governments exit from power.

Minister Gumbo said Mr Chikore and him had been assisting Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company, a firm comprising enterprising Zimbabweans interested in aviation.

He said Mr Chikore had been helping the indigenous firm to secure aircraft that would ply Zimbabwe and other routes, including complementing Air Zimbabwe.

The firm, he said, will take over from where Government had left in courting international airlines.

Minister Gumbo said the Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company had since applied for a licence to fly to London, Dubai, the Far East, Nigeria and some long distances within Africa.

Their plans are also to fly to Sao Paulo, Brazil, he said. If all goes well, one or two airlines, which are airlines run by our own people, might be in the skies before Christmas.

So, his departure is mainly linked to his involvement with this firm, which he is merely assisting. He has no shares at all, but using his expertise. What was happening was that Air Zimbabwe was not getting full value from him because of his commitment to this firm and he decided to leave.

Minister Gumbo said Government will continue exploring ways to assist Air Zimbabwe so that it comes back on its feet.

Air Zimbabwe itself is ailing, it is not doing very well as we are all aware, he said. This is why I requested Cabinet to allow us to go into partnership with any other airline to make sure that we remain in the skies.

As I speak, the aircraft that we have at Air Zimbabwe are old and cannot fly into Europe. Some are even banned from flying into South Africa because they make a lot of noise, and that is a fact.

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27 November 2017

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE ZIMBABWE DEFENCE FORCES AND SECURITY SERVICES OF ZIMBABWE.

We the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the Security Services of Zimbabwe wish to inform the nation that the situation in our country has returned to normalcy, following the historic inauguration of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Head of State and Government and Commander- In -Chief of the Defence Forces, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa on 24 November 2017, which has set a new trajectory.

We wish, therefore, to advise the nation that the Zimbabwe Republic Police is now assuming its role as stipulated in the Constitution of Zimbabwe under Section 219, which among other things mandate the Zimbabwe Republic Police to maintain Law and Order protect and secure the lives and property of the people. You will soon notice the ZDF and ZRP members conducting joint patrols, especially in the Harare Central Business District. We urge you all progressive Zimbabweans to respect the countrys laws and cooperate with our officers as they perform their duties. As Zimbabwe Defence Forces and Security Services, we play complementary roles in the defence and maintenance of law and order in our beloved country.

We, therefore, remain committed to serve our country. Zimbabwe is a peace-loving nation as demonstrated during the past week. We accordingly urge all citizens to remain committed to peace. We remain guided by His Excellency, President E.D Mnangagwas inaugural speech, particularly where he spoke about unity and self-discipline by all. Let us all remain united and respectful of our national laws and by-laws as we uphold the rule of law.

Law enforcement agents are already receiving reports of looting and illegal occupation of other peoples properties particularly farms and houses. This behaviour is criminal and against the spirit of non-vengeful retribution and will be met by the full wrath of law.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police would want to assure the nation that it will strive to ensure that all its operations and programmes will be people-centred in accordance with the vision of His Excellency, the President, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.

We would want to urge our nation to remain united and cooperate with security services as they discharge their duties.

Signed

SAC Charamba C.

Chief Staff Officer (Press and Public Relations) To the Commissioner General of Police Zimbabwe Republic Police

Signed

Overson Mugwisi

Colonel

Director Public Relations, Zimbabwe Defence Forces

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The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBS) says it has forgiven former President Robert Mugabe for any shortcomings that he may have had while he was head of state for the past 37 years. Mugabe is a known Catholic. As part of the deal for him to step down as President, Mugabe was also granted immunity from prosecution for any crimes that he may have committed during his long tenure in office.

In a statement, the ZCBC said:

We thank the former President for the good work he did for Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle and as President for 37 years. We forgive him for any shortcomings during his long tenure of office. We wish the new incumbent every blessing and success.

The bishops also implored Mnangagwa to set up a people-inclusive transition mechanism. The statement on to say:

Beyond this crisis, a sustainable normalisation of Zimbabwe can only be achieved through a people-inclusive and participatory process in a democratic way. We encourage the governance of Zimbabwe in any transition that may be adopted to embrace all Zimbabweans in their diversity and their oneness. This is a Kairos moment where all Zimbabweans should have a voice in this transition.

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THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to avoid appointing people with corruption records into his Cabinet as part of measures to curb the vice.

ZCTU secretary-general Japhet Moyo told NewsDay at the weekend that the country had a huge human resource base from which Mnangagwa would pick people with no criminal records for appointment into the Cabinet.

We expect the new President to reform because if he follows on the footsteps of his predecessor (former President Robert) Mugabe then workers will think that we wasted our time singing at the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield and whatever the army did, because if his government policies do not change, then nothing is going to change, he said.

Investors only come into a country where one can go to a court of law and get justice, and they do not like countries where their money is not safe and their properties can be taken away from them.

Moyo said Mnangagwas Cabinet needed to come up with good and implementable economic policies and reforms.

This country under Mugabe was like a ship in high waters with a mad captain who leaves it wandering in the angry waters. We now expect the new captain (Mnangagwa) to change his sailors (calibre of ministers). He needs to take the ship in a new direction and drive it safely, he said.

National president of the Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Obert Masaraure, said teachers expected the new government to do away with policies of Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora such as the Teachers Professional Council which he said was meant to punish teachers.

We do not want teachers to be de-registered willy-nilly. We want independent teachers who are not victimised and salaries above the poverty datum line, Masaraure said, adding the new government should scrap bond notes and ensure adequate supply of United States dollar notes.

Masaraure said the new government should do away with abuse of schoolchildren, teachers and even school property at Zanu PF rallies.

Government has been abusing schools during rallies where children, teachers and school property were misused. Teachers and children were force-marched to rallies. I do not know if the school buses were paid for, but on Friday during the swearing in of Mnangagwa I saw school buses being used and I hope they were paid for.

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Inside State House in Harare, Robert Mugabe was in the tightest spot of his 37-year rule. Tanks were on the streets and troops had occupied the state broadcaster, from where the army had announced it had taken control of Zimbabwe.

Reuters has pieced together the events leading up to Mugabes removal, showing that the armys action was the culmination of months of planning that stretched from Harare to Johannesburg to Beijing.

Mugabe, 93 years old but still alert, remained defiant. The only leader the country had known since independence was refusing to quit.

At a tense meeting with his military top brass on Nov. 16, the worlds oldest head of state put his foot down: Bring me the constitution and tell me what it says, he ordered military chief Constantino Chiwenga, according to two sources present.

An aide brought a copy of the constitution, which lays out that the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Chiwenga, dressed in camouflage fatigues, hesitated before replying that Zimbabwe was facing a national crisis that demanded military intervention.

Mugabe retorted that the army was the problem, according to the sources present. Then the beleaguered president indicated that perhaps they could find a solution together.

The meeting marked the start of an extraordinary five-day standoff between Mugabe and Zimbabwes supreme law on one side, and the military, his party and Zimbabwes people on the other.

The generals wanted Mugabe to go, but they also wanted a peaceful coup, one that would not irreparably tarnish the administration aiming to take over, according to multiple military and political sources.

The president finally accepted defeat only after he was sacked by his own ZANU-PF party and faced the ignominy of impeachment. He signed a short letter of resignation to parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda that was read out to lawmakers on Nov. 21.

Prior to the coup, as the pressure built, Mugabe became increasingly paranoid about the loyalty of army chief Chiwenga, a career soldier and decorated veteran of Zimbabwes 1970s bush-war against white-minority rule.

Mugabes spies, who permeated every institution and section of society in Zimbabwe, were warning him the military would not accept Grace as president.

Mugabe is very worried of a coup. Mugabe was openly told by senior CIOs that the military is not going to easily accept the appointment of Grace. He was warned to be ready for civil war, one intelligence report, dated Oct. 23, said.

In late October, Mugabe summoned Chiwenga to a showdown, according to another of the documents, dated Oct. 30. It said Mugabe confronted the army chief about his ties to Mnangagwa and told him that going against Grace would cost him his life.

Chiwenga was warned by Mugabe that it is high time for him to start following. He mentioned to Chiwenga that those fighting his wife are bound to die a painful death, the intelligence report said.

At the same meeting, Mugabe also ordered Chiwenga to pledge allegiance to Grace. He refused.

Chiwengwa refused to be intimidated. He stood his ground over his loyalty to Mnangagwa, the report said.

After another tense meeting with Mugabe on Nov. 5, Chiwenga left Harare on a pre-arranged official trip and travelled to China, which wields significant influence as a major investor in Zimbabwe.

A day later, Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa as vice president and purged him from ZANU-PF, the liberation movement that Mnangagwa had served since his youth and for which, as a young militant caught bombing a train, he had nearly been executed.

For the generals, Mugabe had gone too far. The military immediately activated a Code Red alert, its highest level of preparedness, a military source said.

Moments after Mnangagwa was ousted on Nov. 6, the security details assigned to him and his house were withdrawn, according to a statement he issued later. He was told his life was in danger.

Security personnel, who are friendly to me, warned me that plans were underfoot to eliminate me once arrested and taken to a police station, Mnangagwa said in a Nov. 21 statement. It was in my security interest to leave the country immediately.

From Harare, he managed to escape over the border into neighbouring Mozambique, where he caught a plane to China, according to one source familiar with his movements. There he met up with Chiwenga, the source said.

A number of generals are now in China ready to plot Mugabes ouster with Mnangagwa, the report said. It was not clear which generals, and whether their travel to China was authorised.

Mugabes spies suspected old allies had turned against the ageing president. An intelligence report, dated Oct. 30, said Beijing and Moscow both supported regime change out of frustration at Zimbabwes economic implosion under Mugabe.

China and Russia are after change. They are after change within ZANU-PF as they are sick and tired of Mugabes leadership. The two countries are even ready to clandestinely supply arms of war to Mnangagwa to fight Mugabe, the report said.

Chiwengas trip to China culminated in him meeting Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan in Beijing on Nov. 10.

Two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters that Chiwenga asked if China would agree not to interfere if he took temporary control in Zimbabwe to remove Mugabe from power. Chang assured him Beijing would not get involved and the two also discussed tactics that might be employed during the de facto coup, the sources said.

NB: For Part 2 Please Click here  EXCLUSIVE: How Chiwenga plotted Mugabe coup, Grace told Minister to shut down WhatsApp, Twitter (PART 2)

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NB: For Part 1 Please Click here  EXCLUSIVE: How Chiwenga, Chinese gvt plotted Mugabe coup, CIOs had tipped Mugabe (PART 1)

Having got wind of the talks in China, Mugabe summoned his still-loyal police commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, and his deputy, Innocent Matibiri, to detain Chiwenga on his return to Harare, government and security sources said.

The pair assembled a squad of 100 police and intelligence agents. But the plot leaked and Chiwenga supporters managed to pull together a counter-team of several hundred special forces soldiers and agents as their commanders plane approached.

Some were disguised as baggage handlers, their military fatigues and weapons hidden beneath high-visibility jackets and overalls, one security source said.

Realising they were outnumbered and outgunned, Chihuris police team backed down, allowing Chiwenga to touch down without incident, the security source said.

Two days later, Chiwenga and a group of military commanders demanded a meeting with Mugabe at his official State House residence in Harare, an ornate colonial villa complete with stuffed leopards and thick red carpets, according to a government source.

They said they were very alarmed at the firing of Mnangagwa and told Mugabe to rein in his wife and her G40 faction, whom they accused of trying to divide the military, according to the government official, who was present at the discussions.

What do you think should be done? Mugabe demanded of the soldiers as he sat slumped in an armchair.The generals asked Mugabe to give them assurances that they too would not be purged. Mugabes response was lukewarm, the government source said. Chiwenga told Mugabe he would be making his concerns about the G40 faction public.

Hours later, Chiwenga summoned reporters to the militarys main barracks near Harare to issue a statement.

We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that, when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in, he said, reading from a prepared text.

The following afternoon, Reuters reported six armoured personnel carriers heading towards the headquarters of Mugabes Presidential Guard on the outskirts of Harare. It was unclear whose command they were under.

At the time, the citys residents were on edge but still unsure what it all meant.

At around 6 p.m. on Nov. 14, Mugabes motorcade headed to his private Blue Roof residence, a heavily fortified compound in the capitals leafy northern suburb of Borrowdale.

Meanwhile, social media buzzed with pictures of armoured vehicles driving along roads to Harare, sparking frenzied speculation about a coup.

Increasingly concerned, Grace put in a call shortly after 7 p.m. to a cabinet minister asking to get WhatsApp and Twitter shut down, according to one source familiar with a recording of the conversation.

The minister, whose identity Reuters is withholding for safety reasons, replied that such a move was the responsibility of state security minister Kembo Mohadi.

No-one will stand for a coup. It cannot happen, said Grace, commonly referred to as Amai, which means Mother, according to a source who heard the recording.

Mugabes voice is then heard on the line: As you have heard from Amai, is there anything that can be done?

The minister gave the same response, about the responsibilities of state security, and the line went dead, the source said.

Mohadi declined to comment.

Two hours later, two armoured vehicles rolled into the Pockets Hill headquarters of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), according to ZBC sources.

Dozens of soldiers sealed off the site and stormed into the studios where they accosted staff, snatching their phones and halting programmes. State-owned ZBC, widely seen as a mouthpiece for Mugabe, switched to broadcasting pop music videos.

Mugabes inner circle, nearly all of them G40 loyalists, had no idea what was under way, according to four sources familiar with their conversations.

Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo called Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi to ask if he had any information about a possible coup. Sekeramayi said no, but tried to check with military chief Chiwenga.

Chiwenga told Sekeramayi he would get back to him. According to the sources, Chiwenga never did.

As ministers in the G40 faction tried frantically to work out what was going on, Chiwengas men closed in on Mugabes compound.

According to a source briefed on the situation, Albert Ngulube, a CIO director and head of Mugabes security detail, was driving home around 9.30 p.m. after visiting Mugabe. He met an armoured car on Borrowdale Brooke, a side road leading to Mugabes house.

When Ngulube confronted the soldiers and threatened to shoot them, they beat him up and detained him, the source said. Ngulube was later released, but had suffered head and facial injuries, the source added.

Other G40 ministers were also picked up by soldiers. Finance minister Ignatius Chombo was found hiding in a toilet at his house and beaten before being detained at an undisclosed location for more than a week.

On his release on Nov. 24, he was hospitalised with injuries to his hands, legs and back, his lawyer told Reuters, describing the armys behaviour as brutal and draconian.

Soldiers used explosives to blow the front door off the house of Jonathan Moyo, the main brains behind G40, according to video footage of the house seen by Reuters. Others burst through the front gates of the residence of local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, another key Grace supporter.

Contacted by Reuters shortly after midnight in the early hours of Nov. 15, Kasukuwere was audibly stressed. I cant talk. Im in a meeting, he said, before hanging up.

For another week, Mugabe clung on to the presidency as Chiwenga and his forces tried to engineer a peaceful, and quasi-legal, exit for the long-serving leader.

But as parliament began impeachment proceedings on Nov. 21, Mugabe finally gave up. After 37 years in control, during which much of his country fell into poverty, his letter of resignation said he was stepping down out of concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe.

Reported by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Joe Brock and Ed Cropley; Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka in HARARE, Michael Martina in BEIJING and Jack Stubbs in MOSCOW; Editing by Richard Woods and Mike Collett-White

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Ireland, Tonga and Chile are among the climbers in the World Rugby Rankings following this weekends matches.

World Rugby: November 27, 2017 - Ireland have replaced Australia in third place in the World Rugby Rankings thanks to the Wallabies heavy defeat at the hands of Scotland at Murrayfield. The 53-24 scoreline resulted in a loss of 1.8 rating points for Michael Cheikas side, to leave them on 85.49 points  nine-tenths less than Ireland whose total stays at 86.39 after a 28-19 home win over Argentina.



New Zealands 33-18 win over Wales in Cardiff sees them preserve their 3.12-point advantage over England at the top of the rankings heading into 2018. The All Blacks are unchanged on 93.99 points, while England stay on 90.87 points as no points were on offer for their 48-14 victory against Samoa because of the points difference between the two.

VIEW FULL RANKINGS >>

Scotland countered the loss of star full-back Stuart Hogg in the warm-up to rack up a record score against the Wallabies, Byron McGuigan making the most of his late promotion to the starting XV with a brace of tries. The result did not affect their rankings position, however, as the Springboks 35-6 win over Italy in Padova meant they kept hold of fifth. The gap between the two is now only 0.79 of a point though.

Despite their loss to Ireland, Argentina gain a place and move into eighth at the expense of France, who could only draw at home to Japan. Shintaro Ishihara crossed with seven minutes to go to level the scores at 23-23, but the Brave Blossoms were denied another famous win, following on from their victory over South Africa at RWC 2015, when Yu Tamura missed the simple conversion.

Even so, Japans rating goes up to 75.66 points, on the back of a 0.68 of a point gain. Japan continue to be ranked 11th, behind Fiji who saw off Canada 57-17 in Narbonne. Eight different Fijian players got their names on the scoresheet plus they were awarded a penalty try.

Georgia survived the loss of points by the skin of their teeth after the USA pushed them all the way in Tbilisi before losing 21-20.

Tongas terrific 25-20 win over Romania in Bucharest lifts the Ikale Tahi up two places to 13th, relegating Italy and Romania in the process, while Hong Kong are also on the up, to 22nd, after Namibias second loss in as many weeks to Uruguay dropped them below the Asian side.

Having been beaten 52-36 in the first match, Namibia were far more competitive second time around, matching Uruguay try for try, but the goal-kicking of winger Federico Favaro ultimately proved the difference as Los Teros squeezed home, 39-34, to take the series 2-0. Uruguay stay in 18th place but with an improved total of 65.63 points.

Chile were the biggest winners, in terms of places gained, jumping four to 24th after a 32-10 win over Germany in Offenbach in the first-ever international between the sides. Germany drop to 26th.

A third straight loss in this seasons Rugby Europe Trophy competition, 22-20 at home to Switzerland, has cost Moldova a five-place fall in the rankings to 46th, with Colombia, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe all profiting. The Swiss move up to 32nd  one off their historic high.
BOISE, Idaho  Stinker Stores is celebrating a record-breaking effort in its annual Stomp Out Hunger campaign. This year, from November 3-13, Stinker Stores customer in Idaho were encouraged to add donations on their final totals at the register. Stinker Stores officials tabulated those donations and informed The Idaho Foodbank that this years total breaks last years record-setting fundraiser.

Customers donated $56,772 and Stinker Stores adding another $25,000. The total amount, $81,772, is enough to provide the food for 408,860 meals. Last year, customers donated $51,614. With the same generous match from Stinker, the total of $76,614 was enough to provide the food for 383,070 meals.

The donation comes as the Foodbank endeavors to provide the food for three million meals in the last two months of the year.

Every year, were astonished by the generosity of Stinker Stores, their owners Charley and Nancy Jones and the customers who make this campaign possible, said Karen Vauk, president and CEO of The Idaho Foodbank. Somehow, they all work together to continually out-do themselves and were so honored to make sure these 408,000 meals go to the Idahoans who need them the most.
Graduating apprentices from Tipperary who recently completed their apprenticeship were presented with their Advanced Certificate Craft this week.

Apprentices graduated in a range of crafts including Electrical, Motor Mechanics, Agricultural Mechanics and Carpentry and Joinery. The Advanced Certificate Craft is at Level 6 of the National Framework of Qualifications and is an internationally recognised qualification.

The event was co-hosted by SOLAS, Kilkenny and Carlow ETB, Tipperary ETB and Waterford and Wexford ETB.

Speaking at the presentation, Dr Mary-Liz Trant, Executive Director, Skills Development, SOLAS, spoke of the Apprenticeship programme and drew particular attention to the calibre of the Irish Apprenticeship system which is recognised nationally and internationally. You have completed a comprehensive Apprenticeship that is recognised at home and abroad as one of the best in the world. An example of the standards achieved by apprentices during their apprenticeship is the success obtained by the Irish Team at successive World Skills Competitions. This is a remarkable achievement and it proves beyond doubt that our Apprenticeship system and our Apprentices are among the best in the world.

Representing the Education and Training Boards, Cynthia Deane, Chief Executive of Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board congratulated the graduating apprentices saying Today is a day that you should be very proud of and it is a real pleasure to see you with your family, friends and employers supporting you and celebrating with you the achievement of your Advanced Certificate Craft. You will now become the mentors, employers and trainers of the next generation of apprentices. On behalf of Kilkenny and Carlow ETB; Tipperary ETB; and Waterford and Wexford ETB, I would like to congratulate all of you who are about to receive your Advanced Craft Certificate.

As Irelands economy continues to recover and businesses expand, there is a growing demand for people with vocational skills. Businesses need people with strong practical skills and apprenticeship is key to delivering this. The Irish Apprenticeship system has proven highly successful in developing highly skilled workers like those receiving the Advanced Certificate Craft today.

There has been an increased focus on Apprenticeships in recent years. Apprenticeship in Ireland has traditionally been the path to skilled occupations in a range of sectors such as construction, engineering, motor and electrical. Recently, under the guidance of the Apprenticeship Council, the apprenticeship system in Ireland is expanding resulting in a wider range of occupations available which aims to attract more people into apprenticeships.

Since 2016 the range of apprenticeship options in Ireland has extended in areas such as Insurance Practice, Electrical Engineering, Polymer Processing, Manufacturing Engineering, International Financial Services, Commis Chef and Accounting with many more on the way. Alongside this, we are seeing an increase in the number of new apprentices being registered across the all of the current trades. This is a testament to the high regard which the apprenticeship system in Ireland is held. It has long been respected as a comprehensive and successful career and education route for people of all ages.

Concluding the ceremony, Dr Mary-Liz Trant congratulated the apprentices who received their Advanced Certificates Craft on their achievement of being recognised as highly skilled craftspeople and wished them every success in their careers.
A Clonmel woman was one of ten female students who were presented with bursaries by global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as part of its WiSTEM2D Award Programme at a ceremony in University of Limerick (UL).

WiSTEM2D refers to Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design.

This is the second year of this initiative which is an integral part of J&Js commitment to developing and implementing high-impact strategies to support female students undertaking STEM2D degree courses at UL and in universities around the world.

At a national level, just 25% of people currently working in STEM-related careers in Ireland are women.

Among the ten were Maram Youssef from Clonmel, studying Aeronautical Engineering.

Research undertaken during Year 1 of the WiSTEM2D programme by EPI*STEM, the National Centre for STEM, at UL, highlighted the challenges facing women in STEM.

In particular, some female students described feeling isolated in classes where there were very low numbers of females. More than half of those surveyed noted that the introduction of a mentoring scheme would assist them in pursuing a career in STEM.

The WiSTEM2D programme provides opportunities for students to meet and be mentored by female role models from J&J, to visit J&J sites around the country and develop their STEM networks. The ten successful WiSTEM2D students are accomplished, ambitious women currently studying STEM subjects at UL and came through a rigorous selection process.

15 Tipperary students awarded UL scholarships
By Online Desk

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today freed Hadiya from her parents' custody and has appointed the Homeopathy college dean as her guardian in the Kerala 'love jihad' case. Hadiya will return to Kerala tomorrow.

The court has directed that Hadiya should be taken to college for her to finish her studies and that college should allow hostel facility to her. The next date of hearing has been fixed for third week of January.

The court has ordered for Hadiya be taken to Sivaraj Homoeopathic Medical College and Research Institute at Salem, Tamil Nadu to continue her studies, where the Dean of the college has to make all arrangements for her to complete her education.

The court also directed that she should be allowed to meet people as per the medical college hostel rules.

The court order came after the bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra, also comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, interacted with her for about 25 minutes during which she expressed her desire to complete her house surgeon internship and pursuer her career as a homeopathic doctor.

The court further directed the Kerala government to ensure that she safely reaches her medical college in Salem in the custody of plainclothes police personnel.

"I want my freedom. I was in unlawful custody till now," Hadiya was quoted as saying in court by the TV media.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has submitted a 100-page probe report to the Apex Court.

Kapil Sibal appearing for Hadiya's husband Shafi Jahan, told the court that he was really saddened today, instead of asking Hadiya on what she wants, we are talking about the venom filled in news channels.

He further said that when Hadiya was here, the court should listen to her, not the NIA and that she is entitled to make decisions of her life.

Supreme Court Justice Khanwilkar was quoted by the TV media as saying, "Normally, we would have heard the girl and decided, but this is an unusual case."

The Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra further asked Hadiya if she wanted to continue her studies on state's expense to which she has told, "I want to but not on state's expense when my husband can take care of me".

Hadiya wanted her husband to act as her guardian but court refused stating husband can't be guardian @NewIndianXpress

On the other hand, the counsel for Hadiya's father said, material submitted by NIA should be looked into first, and only then should Hadiya be talked to. The counsel asserted that there's an operational apparatus existing for conversion.

WATCH VIDEO | Will Hadiya get justice? Here's all you need to know

The 24-year-old has been in the headlines since she converted to Islam, and then married Shafin Jahan.

Hadiya's parents have been alleging that her marriage was a case of love jihad, or forceful conversion through marriage.

The Kerala High Court had nullified her marriage to Jahan and she was directed to be in the custody of her father. Later, Jahan had challenged the Kerala High Court order and sought recall of the court order asking the NIA to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

ALSO READ: Police says no physical torture from Hadiyas father side

Contrary to her parents' take, Hadiya, on Saturday, told reporters that her conversion was not by force.

"I was not forced to marry. Shafin Jahan is my husband. I should get justice. I am a Muslim. I want to be with my husband," she said.

Earlier, Hadiya's fathers lawyer had claimed that her mental stability was doubtful and said that her statement cannot be taken at face value.

In the last hearing, Hadiya's father was asked to produce her before the Supreme Court. The Highest Court had also asked the NIA to investigate the love Jihad angle to the case.

(With inputs from agencies)

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today freed Hadiya from her parents' custody and has appointed the Homeopathy college dean as her guardian in the Kerala 'love jihad' case. Hadiya will return to Kerala tomorrow. The court has directed that Hadiya should be taken to college for her to finish her studies and that college should allow hostel facility to her. The next date of hearing has been fixed for third week of January. The court has ordered for Hadiya be taken to Sivaraj Homoeopathic Medical College and Research Institute at Salem, Tamil Nadu to continue her studies, where the Dean of the college has to make all arrangements for her to complete her education. The court also directed that she should be allowed to meet people as per the medical college hostel rules. The court order came after the bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra, also comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, interacted with her for about 25 minutes during which she expressed her desire to complete her house surgeon internship and pursuer her career as a homeopathic doctor. The court further directed the Kerala government to ensure that she safely reaches her medical college in Salem in the custody of plainclothes police personnel. "I want my freedom. I was in unlawful custody till now," Hadiya was quoted as saying in court by the TV media. The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has submitted a 100-page probe report to the Apex Court. Kapil Sibal appearing for Hadiya's husband Shafi Jahan, told the court that he was really saddened today, instead of asking Hadiya on what she wants, we are talking about the venom filled in news channels. He further said that when Hadiya was here, the court should listen to her, not the NIA and that she is entitled to make decisions of her life. Supreme Court Justice Khanwilkar was quoted by the TV media as saying, "Normally, we would have heard the girl and decided, but this is an unusual case." The Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra further asked Hadiya if she wanted to continue her studies on state's expense to which she has told, "I want to but not on state's expense when my husband can take care of me". Hadiya wanted her husband to act as her guardian but court refused stating husband can't be guardian @NewIndianXpress  kanusarda (@sardakanu_TNIE) November 27, 2017 On the other hand, the counsel for Hadiya's father said, material submitted by NIA should be looked into first, and only then should Hadiya be talked to. The counsel asserted that there's an operational apparatus existing for conversion. WATCH VIDEO | Will Hadiya get justice? Here's all you need to know The 24-year-old has been in the headlines since she converted to Islam, and then married Shafin Jahan. Hadiya's parents have been alleging that her marriage was a case of love jihad, or forceful conversion through marriage. The Kerala High Court had nullified her marriage to Jahan and she was directed to be in the custody of her father. Later, Jahan had challenged the Kerala High Court order and sought recall of the court order asking the NIA to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage. ALSO READ: Police says no physical torture from Hadiyas father side Contrary to her parents' take, Hadiya, on Saturday, told reporters that her conversion was not by force. "I was not forced to marry. Shafin Jahan is my husband. I should get justice. I am a Muslim. I want to be with my husband," she said. Earlier, Hadiya's fathers lawyer had claimed that her mental stability was doubtful and said that her statement cannot be taken at face value. In the last hearing, Hadiya's father was asked to produce her before the Supreme Court. The Highest Court had also asked the NIA to investigate the love Jihad angle to the case. (With inputs from agencies)
By Online Desk

The case of Hadiya has gained national prominence with Monday's Supreme court hearing dominating airtime and digital space. The Supreme court bench consisting of CJI Dipak Mishra, justices AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud had during a previous hearing on October 30 ordered Hadiya to be present for the next hearing on November 27. However on Monday, for two hours there was hectic arguments and the bench didn't direct attention towards Hadiya.

According to a Live Law report, only after some counsel cautioned the bench that Hadiya was a doctor and has her own mind, Justice Chandrachud had a one-on-one conversation with her through senior counsel, V Giri, who functioned as an interpreter from Malayalam to English.

Hadiya is a Kerala woman who had converted to Islam before marrying a Muslim man in an alleged love jihad case

Here are the arguments that took place in court today:

Shyam Divan, representing the father of Hadiya, asked the bench to reconsider its decision not to hold an in-camera hearing. Divan spoke about the very highly communally charged atmosphere in Kerala and warned the bench that there would be some threats to what Hadiya might say in the open court. During the previous hearing, Divan had submitted that there was a well-oiled organisational apparatus operating for carrying out indoctrination. Today he repeated the same argument as to how the well-oiled machine is masquerading as a cult organisation and converting young women.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, representing the National Investigation Agency (NIA), told the bench that a wider hearing is needed on indoctrination and its impact. It is psychological, a result of kidnapping, and involves individual autonomy. It is programming, and there deprogrammers (sic), he told the court.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Hadiyas husband Shafin Jahan, told the bench that assuming whatever the other side says is true, Hadiya still had a right to say that she is doing things on her own. She is in custody of her parents, for the past eight months, with no access to anybody else. Why do you want to communalise Kerala, in this fashion? he asked.

Sibal opposed Divan's plead for in-camera hearing saying he was concerned about her autonomy. In the national interest, it should be done in the open court. She may decide whatever she wants to decide, he said. Sibal also told the bench that even if the marriage is a wrong decision, she is entitled to go through it; if there is a break-up, so be it.

Sibal and senior counsel Indira Jaising told the bench to hear what Hadiya had to say. "First talk to her, get prima facie idea about her, see whether there is compelling evidence to conclude. Send her to a medical facility or declare that she is exercising free choice. She is here for that purpose," Sibal told the bench.

Justice Chandrachud said the bench is concerned about the danger of indoctrination, and said, We are sworn to do our duty. Sibal then asked why did the bench call Hadiya all the way from Kerala if it was going to decide whether to hear her at all. Indira Jaising asked whether the bench would have doubted Hadiya's faculties if she had been a man rather than a woman. Justice Chandrachud, offended by the remark, responded that the bench treated both genders equally. Many counsel then pointed out to the bench that Hadiya was a doctor and could very well understand what was going on in the court.

After this, Justice Chandrachud had a conversation with Hadiya. Hadiya answered his questions about her qualification, interest in studies, habits, and perception of life. She told the court, " I want freedom". When the CJI asked her whether she wanted to continue studies on the state's expense, Hadiya replied she wanted to study but not on state's expense as her husband could take care of her.

The bench decided that Hadiya would be freed from her parents' custody and directed her to complete her studies. The Bench postponed adjudication of larger issues such as alleged indoctrination to another day.



What the Supreme Court directed:

1) As desired by her, Hadiya should be taken to Salem so as to enable her to pursue her internship/housemanship.

2) The college should admit her and allow the facility of a room or a shared room in the hostel as per practice to enable her to continue her internship/housemanship afresh

3) If any formality is to be complied with, the college shall communicate with the university and the university shall accede to the same

4) When she stays in the hostel, she will be treated like any other student and will be guided by the hostel rules.

5) If necessary, the expenses for pursuing the course and for the hostel shall be borne by the State of Kerala

6) The Dean of the College shall approach the Supreme Court if there is any problem with regard to any aspect. 'Any problem' does not mean admission in the hostel or continuance in the course.

7) State of Kerala should make all necessary arrangements so that she can travel to Salem in Tamil Nadu.

8) The State shall attend to her request that she should be accompanied by policewomen in plainclothes

9) State of Tamil Nadu shall make local arrangements if any security problem arises.

10) She shall be permitted to stay in Kerala Bhawan till she moves to Salem.

11) Court made it clear that the NIA investigation shall continue in accordance with law.

The case of Hadiya has gained national prominence with Monday's Supreme court hearing dominating airtime and digital space. The Supreme court bench consisting of CJI Dipak Mishra, justices AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud had during a previous hearing on October 30 ordered Hadiya to be present for the next hearing on November 27. However on Monday, for two hours there was hectic arguments and the bench didn't direct attention towards Hadiya. According to a Live Law report, only after some counsel cautioned the bench that Hadiya was a doctor and has her own mind, Justice Chandrachud had a one-on-one conversation with her through senior counsel, V Giri, who functioned as an interpreter from Malayalam to English. Hadiya is a Kerala woman who had converted to Islam before marrying a Muslim man in an alleged love jihad case Here are the arguments that took place in court today: Shyam Divan, representing the father of Hadiya, asked the bench to reconsider its decision not to hold an in-camera hearing. Divan spoke about the very highly communally charged atmosphere in Kerala and warned the bench that there would be some threats to what Hadiya might say in the open court. During the previous hearing, Divan had submitted that there was a well-oiled organisational apparatus operating for carrying out indoctrination. Today he repeated the same argument as to how the well-oiled machine is masquerading as a cult organisation and converting young women. Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, representing the National Investigation Agency (NIA), told the bench that a wider hearing is needed on indoctrination and its impact. It is psychological, a result of kidnapping, and involves individual autonomy. It is programming, and there deprogrammers (sic), he told the court. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Hadiyas husband Shafin Jahan, told the bench that assuming whatever the other side says is true, Hadiya still had a right to say that she is doing things on her own. She is in custody of her parents, for the past eight months, with no access to anybody else. Why do you want to communalise Kerala, in this fashion? he asked. Sibal opposed Divan's plead for in-camera hearing saying he was concerned about her autonomy. In the national interest, it should be done in the open court. She may decide whatever she wants to decide, he said. Sibal also told the bench that even if the marriage is a wrong decision, she is entitled to go through it; if there is a break-up, so be it. Sibal and senior counsel Indira Jaising told the bench to hear what Hadiya had to say. "First talk to her, get prima facie idea about her, see whether there is compelling evidence to conclude. Send her to a medical facility or declare that she is exercising free choice. She is here for that purpose," Sibal told the bench. Justice Chandrachud said the bench is concerned about the danger of indoctrination, and said, We are sworn to do our duty. Sibal then asked why did the bench call Hadiya all the way from Kerala if it was going to decide whether to hear her at all. Indira Jaising asked whether the bench would have doubted Hadiya's faculties if she had been a man rather than a woman. Justice Chandrachud, offended by the remark, responded that the bench treated both genders equally. Many counsel then pointed out to the bench that Hadiya was a doctor and could very well understand what was going on in the court. After this, Justice Chandrachud had a conversation with Hadiya. Hadiya answered his questions about her qualification, interest in studies, habits, and perception of life. She told the court, " I want freedom". When the CJI asked her whether she wanted to continue studies on the state's expense, Hadiya replied she wanted to study but not on state's expense as her husband could take care of her. The bench decided that Hadiya would be freed from her parents' custody and directed her to complete her studies. The Bench postponed adjudication of larger issues such as alleged indoctrination to another day. What the Supreme Court directed: 1) As desired by her, Hadiya should be taken to Salem so as to enable her to pursue her internship/housemanship. 2) The college should admit her and allow the facility of a room or a shared room in the hostel as per practice to enable her to continue her internship/housemanship afresh 3) If any formality is to be complied with, the college shall communicate with the university and the university shall accede to the same 4) When she stays in the hostel, she will be treated like any other student and will be guided by the hostel rules. 5) If necessary, the expenses for pursuing the course and for the hostel shall be borne by the State of Kerala 6) The Dean of the College shall approach the Supreme Court if there is any problem with regard to any aspect. 'Any problem' does not mean admission in the hostel or continuance in the course. 7) State of Kerala should make all necessary arrangements so that she can travel to Salem in Tamil Nadu. 8) The State shall attend to her request that she should be accompanied by policewomen in plainclothes 9) State of Tamil Nadu shall make local arrangements if any security problem arises. 10) She shall be permitted to stay in Kerala Bhawan till she moves to Salem. 11) Court made it clear that the NIA investigation shall continue in accordance with law.
By PTI

Bettiah (Bihar), Nov 27 (PTI) The Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) has recovered a huge quantity of charas, worth around Rs 2.5 crore in the international market, near the Indo-Nepal border in West Champaran district, an official said today.

"About 12.5 kg of charas, worth Rs 2.5 crore, was seized near the Inarva border out post late last night. Although the smugglers were spotted by SSB personnel, they fled dropping the sack containing the narcotic", Deputy Commandant, 44th Battalion SSB, Ajay Kumar Rajak, said.

He said "we had received information that some narcotics were being smuggled into the Indian territory along the Don Canal. Accordingly, Assistant Commandant Rajiv Kumar was directed to conduct a search in the area. His team spotted some persons carrying a sack".

"However, the smugglers somehow sensed the presence of the SSB personnel nearby and they ran away leaving the sack behind. The sack contained 12.5 kgs of charas.

The contraband has been handed over to Inarwa police.

Further investigations are on, Rajak said. PTI CORR NAC SNS .

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

Bettiah (Bihar), Nov 27 (PTI) The Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) has recovered a huge quantity of charas, worth around Rs 2.5 crore in the international market, near the Indo-Nepal border in West Champaran district, an official said today. "About 12.5 kg of charas, worth Rs 2.5 crore, was seized near the Inarva border out post late last night. Although the smugglers were spotted by SSB personnel, they fled dropping the sack containing the narcotic", Deputy Commandant, 44th Battalion SSB, Ajay Kumar Rajak, said. He said "we had received information that some narcotics were being smuggled into the Indian territory along the Don Canal. Accordingly, Assistant Commandant Rajiv Kumar was directed to conduct a search in the area. His team spotted some persons carrying a sack". "However, the smugglers somehow sensed the presence of the SSB personnel nearby and they ran away leaving the sack behind. The sack contained 12.5 kgs of charas. The contraband has been handed over to Inarwa police.Further investigations are on, Rajak said. PTI CORR NAC SNS .This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
By Express News Service

TIRUVARUR, MADURAI, VIRUDHUNAGAR: A father, mother and their daughter committed suicide near Thiruthuraipoondi allegedly because of the cancellation of the wedding fixed for the daughter.

Sources said Ganesan (55), a goldsmith of Pillayarkoil North Street in Ammalur and his wife Rajathi (50) had fixed the marriage of their daughter Geetha (25) with a bridegroom from Tiruvarur and the engagement formalities had been completed. The marriage was scheduled for January 24, 2018. The bridegrooms family abruptly cancelled the wedding a few days ago without citing any reason.

On Sunday morning Ganesan, Rajathi and Geetha were found dead in their house. Rajathis second son, Harihara Sudan (20), who found the bodies, informed neighbours. Edayur police rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies of the deceased and sent them to Thiruthuraipoondi Government Hospital for post-mortem. The police suspect the trio might have consumed poison but said only the postmortem report would reveal the exact cause of death.

The police have registered a case under Section 174 (suspicious death) and are conducting an investigation. If it is confirmed the deaths were due to suicide caused by the wedding cancellation, the case would be altered to one of abetting suicide, police sources added.

In another unrelated incident in Madurai, a woman attempted suicide by hanging herself after she was allegedly forced to do so by usurers. The incident occurred on Saturday, following which the city police registered a case against two women under Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act, 2003.

According to police sources, the case was registered against D Avvaiyar and M Thangam of Anna Street at Old Vilangudi in Madurai.

Police said that S Marishwari of Old Vilangudi had taken a loan of Rs 25,000 from one Avvaiyar and Rs 20,000 from one Thangam three years ago. However, when she failed to repay the loan amount, the two moneylenders went to her house and allegedly abused and threatened her. As a result of this she went into depression and attempted to kill herself.

The woman was rushed to the Government Rajaji Hospital. She is now undergoing treatment there.

In another case of crime, two Dalits were found dead in an agricultural land in Vachakarapatti Police limits in Virudhunagar.

District Collector A Sivagnanam ordered a magisterial enquiry in connection with the suspicious deaths.

TIRUVARUR, MADURAI, VIRUDHUNAGAR: A father, mother and their daughter committed suicide near Thiruthuraipoondi allegedly because of the cancellation of the wedding fixed for the daughter. Sources said Ganesan (55), a goldsmith of Pillayarkoil North Street in Ammalur and his wife Rajathi (50) had fixed the marriage of their daughter Geetha (25) with a bridegroom from Tiruvarur and the engagement formalities had been completed. The marriage was scheduled for January 24, 2018. The bridegrooms family abruptly cancelled the wedding a few days ago without citing any reason. On Sunday morning Ganesan, Rajathi and Geetha were found dead in their house. Rajathis second son, Harihara Sudan (20), who found the bodies, informed neighbours. Edayur police rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies of the deceased and sent them to Thiruthuraipoondi Government Hospital for post-mortem. The police suspect the trio might have consumed poison but said only the postmortem report would reveal the exact cause of death. The police have registered a case under Section 174 (suspicious death) and are conducting an investigation. If it is confirmed the deaths were due to suicide caused by the wedding cancellation, the case would be altered to one of abetting suicide, police sources added. In another unrelated incident in Madurai, a woman attempted suicide by hanging herself after she was allegedly forced to do so by usurers. The incident occurred on Saturday, following which the city police registered a case against two women under Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act, 2003. According to police sources, the case was registered against D Avvaiyar and M Thangam of Anna Street at Old Vilangudi in Madurai. Police said that S Marishwari of Old Vilangudi had taken a loan of Rs 25,000 from one Avvaiyar and Rs 20,000 from one Thangam three years ago. However, when she failed to repay the loan amount, the two moneylenders went to her house and allegedly abused and threatened her. As a result of this she went into depression and attempted to kill herself. The woman was rushed to the Government Rajaji Hospital. She is now undergoing treatment there. In another case of crime, two Dalits were found dead in an agricultural land in Vachakarapatti Police limits in Virudhunagar. District Collector A Sivagnanam ordered a magisterial enquiry in connection with the suspicious deaths.
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

MDC-T Bulawayo spokesperson Felix Mafa Sibanda has urged all political parties to adhere to the constitution to ensure that peace and democracy prevail."All political players must adhere to constitutionalism and never pretend that all is right in Zimbabwe."The precedent set by the military must never be allowed again. Yes, Robert Mugabe has gone but that does not justify illegality of whatever nature by whoever," he said."To avert misrule or misgovernment, I sincerely urge all legible voters to register for 2018 plebiscite. We still have 60 to 80% chance of winning the said elections as long as they shall be free, fair and credible."
Kawasaki India has launched the Versys X-300 in India at a price tag of Rs 4.6 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The newly launched model belongs to Kawasakis family of adventure touring motorcycles and is the entry-level offering of the same. The X-300 will be assembled at Kawasakis plant in Chakan, Pune.

It is powered by a 296cc parallel-twin engine which has been tuned for better low-end and mid-range torque delivery. The fuel-injected engine comes mated to a 6-speed transmission and develops 39 PS of power and 27 Nm of torque.

Yutaka Yamashita, Managing Director of India Kawasaki Motors said: What makes Versys-X 300 versatile is comfortable highway cruising and easy riding in the city. The versatility is possible mainly because of long travel suspension, wide reach bars and a low seat aid the manoeuvrability of the twin-cylinder machine.

Other features include a long-travel 41mm suspension at the front and a mono-shock setup at the back. Theres also a big 19-inch spoked wheel at the front and braking duties are done by a single 290mm disc at the front and a 220mm disc at the back.

Also Watch:
Tata Motors has announced the launch of its lifestyle SUV  Tata Hexa in the Nepal market. Commencing retail of the Hexa in Nepal, CEO & MD of Tata Motors, Guenter Butschek today handed over keys to the first batch of eleven customers on the momentous occasion of the launch. Available at a price of NPR 77.95 Lakhs, the Hexa will be available in the XT 44 variant across Nepal.

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Commenting at the launch ceremony, Mr. Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata Motors, said  At Tata Motors we have always been at the forefront of providing a rich and dynamic product experience to our customers through our product innovations and the new Tata Hexa reinforces this commitment. We understand that our customers in Nepal are aspiring for more stylish, lifestyle-oriented products and the Tata Hexa is an important step in catering to these emerging customer needs. We are confident that this complete package will be an instant hit in a highly popular but immensely competitive segment and will surely excite the new-age customers of Nepal."

The Hexa comes with a 2.2-litre VARICOR diesel engine with 156PS / 400Nm. Additionally, the XT 44 is available with a 6-speed manual transmission. The Hexa also features Super Drive Modes that can be activated through a rotary knob, on the center console. The Super Drive Modes allow the driver to switch between the four different driving modes  Auto, Comfort, Dynamic and Rough Road, to provide the occupants with a choice of driving experience that is customizable to the terrain as well as to the mood of the driver.

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Packed with segment-leading features the Tata Hexa comes equipped with Projector Headlamps, 19-inch Alloy Wheels, LED Tail Lamps, 6 Airbags, Traction Control System, Hill Hold Control, Hill Descent Control, Automatic Headlamps and a 10-speaker JBL Audio System amongst others.

Also Watch: Maruti Suzuki's Senior Executive Director, RS Kalsi Asks #PehniKya?
New Delhi: N K Singh, the newly appointed Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, on Sunday said it is imperative for such a panel to examine implications of GST on finance of the Centre and states.

"The fact that GST was propelled through several constitutional amendments which included the states being participants in these constitutional amendments enjoins upon any Finance Commission the need to examine implications of GST in terms of finances of both the Centre and states because this is about the fiscal issue of the general government," he said.

Soon after the appointment, he said it comes as no surprise that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is included in terms of reference.

Earlier, the government appointed the former Planning Commission Member as head of the 15th Finance Commission. Other members of the commission, which is required to submit its report by October 2019, are former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri, Niti Aayog Member Ramesh Chand and Georgetown University professor Anoop Singh.

The commission will review the current status of the finance, deficit, debt levels, cash balances and fiscal discipline efforts of the Union and the states. It will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for sound fiscal management.

As per Article 280 of the Constitution, the commission is required to make recommendations on the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Centre and the states.

The new Finance Commission will cover five-year period commencing April 1, 2020.

The 14th Finance Commission was set up on January 2, 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020.
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF has warned against purging members and has since promised that a definitive party position is expected to come out of the Extraordinary Congress that will be held next month.Party spokesperson Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday directed party members to stop holding provincial executive council (PEC) meetings that were ostensibly meant to blacklist or fire members from the revolutionary party.In an interview, Ambassador Khaya Moyo said party members should desist from holding meetings that are not sanctioned by the party."As the Zanu-PF party spokesperson, my attention has been drawn to the fact that some provinces are holding provincial executive council or provincial coordinating committee meetings, or both, and in the process purging some members from the party," he said."All provinces are directed to stop such processes forthwith until after the Extraordinary Congress, where the party shall issue further instructions as to the due procedures to be followed in implementing recent Central Committee resolutions to provincial structures."He said only the Extraordinary Congress, which is to be held in a two weeks' time, will outline the route the party has to follow.Delegates that are supposed to attend the Extraordinary Congress, Ambassador Khaya Moyo said, have all been communicated to though their provincial chairpersons."Delegates to the Congress, category-by-category and the numbers, are already known by provincial chairpersons. There is therefore no need for the current shenanigans. Anyone not heeding this directive shall face the full wrath of disciplinary action," he said.
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed that the state meets a whopping 336 of the 372 parameters considered to rank a state for ease of doing business.

While addressing the Horasis Asia Meeting in Kolkata, Mamata said, Bengal is the future destination for investments and I would like to request business houses/investors from across the globe to participate in the Bengal Global Business Summit in January next year. Earlier, Bengal was ranked 30 in the ease of doing business rankings. Three years ago the rank improved to 15 and now, we are third in India.

Acknowledging the fact that there are some issues over how Bengal is perceived as an investment destination, the Chief Minister said, It is because of a misrule of 34 years of the Left Front government that we are facing some legacy issues. It will take time to improve our ratings in terms of investment.

We have taken lot of initiatives in creating a favourable atmosphere for doing business in Bengal. The state has progressed like never before. It is emerging as the industrial destination. Please come and invest and I promise that my government will provide all kinds of assistance to you, she assured the investors.

Mamata also emphasized that the strategic location of Bengal makes it a gateway to southeast Asia and is crucial for ones outreach to Thailand, Malaysia and other investment destinations.

Bengal is a gateway to south-east Asia. From Bengal you can expand to the eight north-eastern states. You can reach Bhutan and Nepal too from here as they are just 30 minutes away from Bengal. There is easy access to Thailand, Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur too, she said.

Chairman of Manipal Global Education and former Infosys Director TV Mohan Das Pai, who was also present at the event, stressed that Bengal must change its image to convince the investors.

He added that while the present government in the state is trying to change the image, there is a need to also change the perception of the investors.

The Horasis business summit is being attended by about 350 delegates from 65 countries, other than India.
Washington: Ivanka Trump, the advisor and daughter of US President Donald Trump, has said the Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by India and America is a testament to their growing economic and security partnership.

Ivanka will be leading a delegation of senior Trump administration officials and entrepreneurs at the three-day Summit in Hyderabad beginning tomorrow(Tuesday).

To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 1200 young entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are women, from 127 countries would attend the summit.

In addition some 300 investors and ecosystem supporters are also attending the mega event.

The worlds largest gathering of young entrepreneurs is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

It is "a testament to the strong friendship between our two people and the growing economic and security partnership between our two nations," Ivanka Trump told reporters during a preview of her India visit.

Ivanka, 36, has travelled to India before, but this is her maiden trip to the country as a senior presidential advisor.

Accompanied by several top administrations official, a large number of Indian Americans are part of her delegation, which numbers 350 from 38 states.

Prime Minister Modi had personally invited Ivanka to participate in the GES, which is being held in India for the first time, when he travelled to the US in June.

This year's summit theme, 'Women First, Prosperity for All', demonstrates the Trump administrations commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, she told reporters last week.

Five per cent of entrepreneurs at GES are 30 years or younger. The youngest entrepreneur is 13 and the oldest entrepreneur is 84.

Ivanka said she aims for this summit to serve as an open and collaborative environment for the exchange of ideas, to broaden networks, and to empower entrepreneurs to take their ideas and passion to the next level.

"The US and India will continue to work together to increase economic opportunities and inclusive growth. I very much look forward to my visit and to seeing Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Swaraj once again," she said.

The summit would also be the first major engagement of the new American Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

"Amazing first week in India! Thanks so much for the warm welcome. Looking forward to exploring this fascinating country. Excited to begin my journey in Hyderabad at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit!" he tweeted last week.
Kerala woman Hadiya, who is at the centre of the Love Jihad controversy, appeared before the Supreme Court today and told the court that she wants her freedom. In interaction in the apex court, Hadiya said she wanted to go with her husband Shafin Jahan. SC directed college and university concerned to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facility. SC also appointed dean of Salem-based homoeopathic college as Hadiyas guardian, and granted him liberty to approach it in case of any problem.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday heard Hadiya alias Akhila in the alleged love-jihad case and sent her to Salem in Tamil Nadu to enable her to pursue her homoeopathic studies.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the Kerala police to provide Hadiya with security and ensure that she travelled to Salem at the earliest.

The apex court appointed the dean of the Salem-based homoeopathic college as Hadiya's guardian and granted him liberty to approach it in case of any problem. Hadiya has been staying at her parental home for several weeks.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, directed the college and the university to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facilities.

During the hearing which went for over-two hours, she said she wanted to go with her husband Shafin Jahan. When Justice Chandrachud asked her about her dreams for the future, she said,"I want freedom."

The chief Justice admitted that he has never seen such a case in his life.

The top court fixed the hearing on Jehan's plea against Kerala HC order annulling his marriage with Hadiya to third week of January next year.

Jehan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage.

The Kerala High Court had annulled the marriage terming it as an instance of 'love jihad', following which he had approached the apex court.

The top court had on August 16 directed the NIA to probe the incident under the supervision of retired apex court judge, Justice R V Raveendran.

Jehan, who had married Hadiya in last December, had moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.

Hadiya had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that she was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.

Ashokan K M, Hadiya's father, had alleged that there was a "well-oiled systematic mechanism" for conversion and Islamic radicalisation.

The high court, while declaring the marriage as "null and void", had described the case as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered the state police to conduct probe into such cases.
New Delhi: Kerala woman Hadiya, who is at the centre of the Love Jihad controversy, will appear before the Supreme Court on Monday and present her side of the argument on her alleged forced conversion to Islam.

Hadiya, who arrived in the national capital on Saturday, has said she wanted to be with her husband. "I am a Muslim. I was not forced. I want to be with my husband," the 25-year-old woman, wearing a head scarf, shouted as she was being taken to an airport in Kerala for departure to Delhi.

Her fathers lawyer has said that no relevance should be given to what she has to say, claiming that Hadiya was highly indoctrinated and brainwashed and needs to come out of the mental kidnapping.

Hadiya had converted to Islam and married a Muslim man named Shafin Jahan.

The direction by the apex court for producing the woman for an interaction came amid an assertion by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that this was a case in which the woman was indoctrinated and she may be incapable of giving free consent to marriage.

A Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, had asked senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the father of the woman, to ensure she is produced before them to ascertain whether she had married of her own volition.

The NIA, represented by Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, had said there was a well-oiled machinery working in Kerala that was indoctrinating and radicalizing society in the state.

As many as 89 cases of similar nature have been reported from the southern state, the ASG had said.

Divan, appearing for woman's father KM Ashokan, claimed that Jahan was a radicalised man and several organisations like Popular Front of India were involved in radicalisation of society.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, counsel for Shafin Jahan, had opposed NIA's submission and that of the woman's father.

Hadiya, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that she was recruited by ISIS' mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.

Jahan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its August 16 order, directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him.

Meanwhile, the Kerala government on October 7 told the Supreme Court that its police conducted a "thorough investigation" into her conversion and subsequent marriage to Jahan and did not find material warranting the transfer of probe to the National Investigation Agency.

Jahan had moved the Supreme Court after the Kerala high court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.

(With PTI inputs)
Neemuch: Controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansalis period drama Padmavati takes a new turn every day, with the latest coming from Madhya Pradesh, where a journalist has been booked over a Facebook post.

Recently, the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had said that the Bhopal gangrape victim would be given a Padmavati award constituted by the CM, for her courage and determination to bring her tormentors to book. Responding to this, journalist Jinendra Surana, who is associated with local daily Naividha in Neemuch, had posted an objectionable comment on Facebook.

Taking suo moto cognizance of the comment, Khargone Police booked Surana under Sections 117, 292, 505 (2) of IPC and 67 (A) of the IT Act. As the matter was started doing the rounds in Neemuch through social media, some unidentified men attacked Suranas house in Shikshak Colony on Sunday evening.

Khargone Superintendent of Police, Kalyan D Chakravarthy said that the post seemed to have malicious inspiration for sexual assault on women and a team has been sent to Neemuch to arrest Surana.

Neemuch police has also started probing those who attacked Suranas house.

Surana, on the other hand, deleted the said Facebook post soon after it kicked up a row. Surana could not be reached for comments.

The local wing of Karni Sena, too, protested against Surana at Neemuch on Sunday evening and handed a memorandum to the police, seeking action against the scribe for insulting queen Padmavati.
Addressing a rally in Rajkot, his second big public meeting of the day in poll-bound Gujarat, the PM has taken aim at both the Congress and the AAP, accusing them of indulging in hit and run politics. Bhuj was first of the PMs four big rallies today. He will proceed to Surat and Kutch later.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to admit a petition from 37-year-old woman who claims to be the daughter of the late former chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa and wanted a DNA test.

Amrutha aka Manjula had sought exhumation of Jayalalithaa's body for the test.

She moved the petition along with her cousins LS Lalitha and Ranjani Ravindranath.

Amrutha claims that she was brought up in Bengaluru by Jayalalithaa's elder sister Shylaja and her husband Sarathy. Sarathy reportedly told her that she was Jayalalithaas daughter just before his death in March.

She had made efforts earlier as well to establish her claim which was thwarted by supporters of Jayalalithaa's confidante VK Sasikala, Amrutha said. She has also made representations to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, individual Supreme Court judges and the CBI but to no results.

The petition claimed that Jayalalithaas family had decided to keep Amruthas identity a secret to protect Jayalalithaas honour unblemished and keep the dignity of the family intact. According to Amrutha, she was born on August 14, 1980, at Jayalalithaa's home in Chennai's Mylapore locality.

Amrutha said in the petition that she tried to meet Jayalalithaa four times at Apollo Hospita but was turned away by security on Sasikala's instructions. She also claimed that Jayalalithaa had never expressed any wish to be buried after her death.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE US has pledged to continue supporting Zimbabwe in all sectors of the economy and assist with the political and economic reforms following the inauguration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the country's new leader on Friday.The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Harry K Thomas Jnr yesterday said his country was prepared to help Zimbabwe achieve the much needed economic stability."The US remains a friend to the people of Zimbabwe and we're proud of our long term commitment to develop Zimbabwe. The US stands to assist with the much needed political and economic reforms to achieve a more stable and prosperous future for the people of Zimbabwe."Last year alone, the US provided more than $253 million in assistance to Zimbabwe, which supported the improvement of health systems, services, food and nutrition, security, democratic governance and economic growth," said Ambassador Thomas.He said the new US Embassy campus, which will open next year, is the most concrete example of his country's continued commitment to the people of Zimbabwe.He congratulated the country on having a new President, saying it is an opportunity for Zimbabwe to set a new path for itself."Congratulations, Amhlophe, Makorokoto, Zimbabwe with the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe and the swearing in of new President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Zimbabwe has a historic opportunity to set itself on a new path."The path that must include democratic elections and respect for human rights. It must be the people of Zimbabwe who choose their Government. Through that process, the US urges unwavering respect for the rule of law for established democratic practices," said the Ambassador.The people of Zimbabwe, he added, have firmly voiced their desire for a new era that will bring an end to Zimbabwe's isolation and allow the country to rejoin the international community."The future of Zimbabwe must be determined and established by the people of Zimbabwe to help them shape the future they desire for themselves," he said.Ambassador Thomas commended President Mnangagwa's maiden speech and urged him to put his words into action."The President's words were important but it is the actions of the new Government that matter the most in the weeks and months ahead. Whatever short term arrangements the Government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair and inclusive elections."Elections in which the people of Zimbabwe are free to assemble peacefully without undue interference and to voice their opinions without fear to choose their own leaders," said Ambassador Thomas.In a speech that has received worldwide acclaim, President Mnangagwa said his Government will, with immediate effect, implement sweeping measures across sectors to stimulate economic growth and create employment.Among the many measures, President Mnangagwa promised a sturdy re-engagement with the international community as "isolation has never been splendid or viable."The positive maiden speech elicited an immediate response from the British government that pledged to work closely with the new Government to turn around the economy.Britain's Africa Minister Rory Stewart, who became the first envoy to pay a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa, said his country was ready to strengthen its relations with Zimbabwe.
New Delhi: A wife is not a chattel and the husband cannot be her guardian, the Supreme Court said on Monday after interacting with Hadiya, the 25-year-old Kerala resident, whose conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage had started the whole love jihad debate.

The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud hearing the love jihad case, now being investigated by the NIA, interacted with her for nearly half-an-hour and posed questions on her life, ambition, studies and hobbies.

Hadiya told the apex court that she wanted 'freedom' to live with her husband, Shafin Jahan, profess her faith in Islam and that she very well understood what she was doing.

When the bench asked Hadiya to name any relative or any near acquaintance to be named as her local guardian in college at Salem in Tamil Nadu, she said her husband could be her guardian and she does not want anyone else in that role.

"A husband cannot be a guardian of his wife. Wife is not a chattel. She has her own identity in life and society. Even I am not guardian of my wife. Please make her understand," Justice Chandrachud said.

The bench posed questions to Hadiya in English while she answered in Malayalam, which was translated by senior advocate V Giri, who appeared for Kerala government.

When the bench asked Hadiya what your dreams are for the future, she replied she wanted freedom and to live with her husband.

The bench then asked whether she was comfortable in professing her faith and studying simultaneously and told her that being a good citizen, she can profess her faith and be a good doctor.

Hadiya replied she wanted freedom to profess her faith and she fully understood what she is doing. The bench asked her whether she wanted to continue her studies and pursue internship in house surgeonship at the expense of the state government.

The woman said she wanted to pursue her studies but not at the state's expense as her husband will take care of her.

She further requested the court that she be allowed to visit her friend before being taken to Salem, to which the court agreed and directed the state government to provide her security.

The court asked Kerala police ensure that she travelled at the earliest to Salem in Tamil Nadu to pursue homeopathy studies at Sivaraj Medical College there and appointed dean of the institution as her local guardian.

(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed Hadiya alias Akhila, the 25-year-old Kerala resident, whose conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage had started the whole love jihad debate, can return to Salem and resume her studies.

Hadiya's father claimed that her husband Shafin Jahan was a stooge of terrorist organisations.

Speaking exclusively to Tanushree Pandey of News18 after the Supreme Court order, Shafin Jahan said, "I'm very happy. My stand has been vindicated. She is free now."

In May, the Kerala High Court had annulled the marriage terming it as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered her to return to her parents' house, following which the husband had approached the apex court.

The Supreme Court directed her to pursue her studies and said that she was free to meet anyone she wanted, in accordance with the hostel rules.

"I'll meet her at the first opportunity whenever she gets admission in her college," Shafin Jahan said.

He added, "Any person can profess any religion. I want to choose Hinduism, or Christianity or Islam. It's my choice. We should be given liberty to make our own choices, there should not be any problem."
Patna: A woman was allegedly illegally confined at a private hospital in Patna and her seven-year-old son forced to beg for money to pay the bills hours after she delivered a stillborn baby.

Lalitha Devi, 31, was reportedly rescued after the intervention of MP Pappu Yadav, who accused the state government of allowing nursing homes to operate without a licence.

Lalitha was admitted to the Maa Sheetla Nursing Home in Patna on November 14 after doctors in her native district if Madhepura found complications in her pregnancy. The admission was facilitated by an agent who asked her husband Nirdhan Ram to deposit Rs 25,000 for treatment.

Doctors at the nursing home could not save Lalithas baby which was stillborn. The hospital authorities then allegedly asked the couple to deposit additional Rs 30,000 for the treatment and when they were unable to pay, the officials refused to discharge Lalitha.

The agent had asked me to deposit Rs 25,000 and assured us that it was enough for the entire treatment. I did as told. Despite that, the doctors could not save my child. Then they demanded Rs, 30,000 more from us, Nirdhan told News18.

To free Lalithaa, Nirdhan and his seven-year-old son Kundan started collecting the additional amount, and the latter set out to their native village where the child begged for help from locals.

A few locals informed MP Pappu Yadav of the familys plight and the lawmaker then accompanied Kundan back to Patna where they finally got Lalitha discharged with help from the police.

Civil Surgeon Pramod Jha assured the MP that an investigation would be conducted and action taken against the hospital if found guilty.
When Yohei Fukuda left for England more than a decade ago to learn his trade as a master leather shoemaker, he could hardly have imagined that his native Japan would one day become a leader in this traditionally European art.

"The number of bespoke shoe workshops has been booming in Japan in the past few years," explained the elegant-looking bald and mustachioed 37-year-old, sporting a smart shirt and tie under a dark-blue work apron. "There are at least 40 in Tokyo today and maybe as many as 100 in the whole country," Fukuda told AFP.

Bespoke leather shoemaking has historically been dominated by European artisans but Japan developed a taste for the luxury footwear at the beginning of the 2000s and local manufacturing classes quickly took off.

Fukuda's own workshop is located close to the upmarket area of Ometesando in Tokyo, often described as Japan's answer to the grand Champs Elysee avenue in Paris. A narrow staircase leads up to his old-fashioned workspace that smells strongly of leather and glue, the basic tools of the trade. There is not one machine in the whole place -- everything is done by hand, from the precise measurement of a client's feet to the delicate business of attaching the soles to the shoe.

"Each pair of shoes takes between 120 and 140 hours of work and we produce around 80 a year," explained Fukuda. He does not want to go at a faster pace: "I want to make good shoes," he stressed. Fortunately, his customers are in no hurry and willing to pay a hefty price for the bespoke quality -- a 100-percent made-to-measure pair costs 480,000 yen ($4,200) at least.

- 'Japanese spirit' -

Why Japan? Mari Yamaguchi, who teaches this meticulous trade in a private school in the trendy Harajuku area of Tokyo says that bespoke shoes "speak to the Japanese spirit, with its sense of detail."

At Yamaguchi's school, dozens of young students are bent over workbenches, carefully learning each one of the individual painstaking steps required in the manufacturing process.

"A foot is something very special. Each foot is unique, like each piece of leather. When making bespoke shoes by hand, the challenge is to get close to perfection by bringing together these two imperfect but magic elements," she said.

Maybe Japanese people think about shoes more than in other cultures because most people put them on and take them off several times a day -- whenever entering a house," mused the 43-year-old teacher. Not for the first time, the Japanese have travelled abroad to adopt the skills and then improved them, said Jesper Ingevaldsson, Swedish author of a specialist blog on shoemaking.

"They have done with shoes what they have done with other things, like denim for example: they learn from the west, come home, and perfect it and evolve it" said Ingevaldsson. The Japanese have developed such a good reputation in the field that Western apprentices are now heading east to learn the trade. In Fukuda's workshop, five young apprentices labour on workbenches made from old 1920s English chests of drawers.

One scrutinises the quality of a new delivery of leather, another sews on a sole, making sweeping gestures with his arm every time he pulls the thread. And these interns are in turn bringing their own Japanese-inspired creativity to the ancient tradition. Clemence Rochard, a 27-year-old French apprentice, created a pair of hand-made shoes made partly of leather and partly from material from a sparkling and flowery kimono she found in Kyoto.

"In Japan nobody would have thought about it," acknowledged Fukuda.
The heart of Frederic Chopin, among the world's most cherished musical virtuosos, may finally have given up the cause of his untimely death. The prolific 19th-century Polish-French pianist and composer died at the age of 39, of what had long been believed to be tuberculosis (TB).

However, in 2008, Polish medical experts raised the possibility that Chopin -- whose health had always been very frail -- had actually suffered from cystic fibrosis (CF). The genetic respiratory illness clogs the lungs with sticky, thick mucus and sufferers on average generally do not survive past their late thirties. Now, Polish scientists, who were the first to use modern technology to study Chopin's heart -- preserved for the last 168 years inside a crystal jar in what appears to be cognac -- believe they are a step closer to an accurate diagnosis.

"We can say that it is highly possible that it was tuberculosis," lead researcher Professor Michal Witt, a top specialist in molecular and clinical genetics, told AFP. Unable to open the hermetically sealed jar, his team of medical experts used high-resolution photographs taken in 2014 to make their diagnosis. "The lesions which we saw fit well with the initial diagnosis which was held for years, namely tuberculosis. "The lesions are clearly visible on the pericardium of Chopin's heart," Witt said, referring to the organ's outer membrane typically affected by complications stemming from TB.

The findings of Witt and his team are due to be published in the February print issue of the esteemed American Journal of Medicine, complete with a unique photograph of the pickled heart. But without DNA tests, Witt admits that he cannot entirely rule out the possibility of cystic fibrosis. In 2008, Poland's culture ministry rejected a request by academics to run DNA tests on the relic to check for the CFTR gene, a telltale sign of cystic fibrosis, over fears the procedure could irreparably damage the heart. Whether Chopin suffered from cystic fibrosis "is still debatable", Witt told AFP, adding in "We cannot prove this for sure, but the likelihood that it was tuberculosis rather than cystic fibrosis is far, far higher. We can say that with a high degree of confidence."

Records show that as an adult weighing 40 kilograms (88 pounds) at a height of 1.70 meters (five feet seven inches), Chopin was chronically underweight, a typical symptom of cystic fibrosis. Without genetic tests, it is also impossible to be entirely certain that the organ itself is Chopin's, although as Witt points out, there "is no reason to believe that it isn't, at least to our knowledge."

Last examined in 1945 after World War II, the heart is "clearly visible" and well preserved in what Witt calls a "light amber brown" liquid. "It's highly possible that it is cognac," he said, adding that "since the French Revolution, cognac has been used as a preservation fluid in France." Chopin's heart is kept inside a pillar in Warsaw's sprawling and ornate baroque Church of the Holy Cross. After his death in exile in Paris in 1849, it was brought to Chopin's native Warsaw that same year by his elder sister Ludwika to honor his dying wish. The rest of Chopin's remains are buried in the French capital's Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Born in Zelazowa Wola near Warsaw in 1810, Chopin composed many of his most moving pieces in his father's native France, where he ended up after an 1830-31 uprising of Polish insurgents against the 1795 partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Having refused to take a Russian passport, he was never able to set foot on his and his mother's native Polish soil following the failed insurrection. Described by 19th-century German composer Robert Schumann as "cannons hidden among blossoms", Chopin's music was and remains a symbol of Poland's long and turbulent struggle for freedom.
New Delhi: Ishaan Khatter was named the Best Actor for his debut film Beyond The Clouds at the International Bosphorus Film Festival in Turkey. The actor dedicated the accolade to his mother and actress Neelima Azeem and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi.

"This is an absolute honour. My mother is here in the audience -- Everything I earn from my work will always, first and foremost, be dedicated to you. Thank you for giving me the gift of life and art. Firstly (for this piece of work) the award goes out to Majid Majidi - the masterful, wonderful, absolute legend of a man.. who trusted me and gave me this film as my first leading performance," Ishaan said after receiving the award.

"Thank you sir and I will forever be indebted to you for that. I have to thank the cast and crew of this movie, we did this together. Malavika Mohanan -- you and I will always share this experience. And thank you to Shareen, our producer. Thank you all," he added.

Majidi's maiden India set project "Beyond The Clouds", which celebrates the triumph and adoration of life against a Mumbai backdrop, was screened at the International Bosphorus Film Festival in Istanbul, and was competing as part of the International Feature Film Category, read a statement.

The film won Hassan Hassandoost the Best Editing award.

Ishaan was present at the festival in support of his film along with Majidi, Malavika, producers Shareen Mantri Kedia (from Namah Pictures) and Vibha Chopra from (Zee Studios International) along with Neelima.

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who is producing Ishaan's next film "Dhadak", also congratulated the whole team, and tweeted: "Huge congratulations to Ishaan on his very first Best Actor award! So proud of you!!! And many more to come."

"Beyond The Clouds" had its Indian premiere as it was the opening movie of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on November 20.

Produced by Zee Studios and Shareen Mantri Kedia and Kishor Arora of Namah Pictures, "Beyond The Clouds" narrates a heart-warming tale of a brother and sister, and how they find happiness in separation and turbulent time.

The film explores serious issues like separation, but Majidi has not narrated a depressing tale, but with a ray of hope.

"Beyond The Clouds" is scheduled early 2018. The music of the film is given by award-winning composer A.R. Rahman, cinematography by Anil Mehta and Hindi dialogues have been penned by Vishal Bhardwaj.
Mumbai: The BJP on Monday announced its Maharashtra unit vice-president Prasad Lad as its candidate for the Legislative Council bypoll slated for December 7, and ended speculation that it may field former chief minister Narayan Rane.

"I was confident of my victory in these by-elections. I told them (BJP), I will easily get above 155 votes... but they didn't want to take that risk," Narayan Rane told News 18 after BJP did not name him as their candidate.

The bypoll is being held for the seat vacated by Rane who quit the Congress party in September. On October 1 this year Rane formed a new political party called Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, saying he would support the BJP-led NDA. Last month, he said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had invited him to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

On Sunday, Rane called upon NCP chief Sharad Pawar to seek advice from him. "I wanted to seek some advice from Pawar. Since we have personal relations, I called him," Rane said.

He claimed the fact that all three parties, including Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, would have united against him, showed how powerful he was. "Does this not show my strength?" he asked. In a late night development, Rane met the Maharashtra CM as well.

When asked about the details of the discussion between him and CM Fadnavis, he said, "The CM told me that BJP did not want to take risk at a time when the Gujarat polls were round the corner. Even one defeat at such a time is demoralising. As all three parties would have probably united if I would have been given the candidature. BJP did not feel like taking the step. I told him that though I am confident of winning, I agree with you."

When asked if it disappointed him, he said, "Had I been in Devendra's palce, I would have taken the same decision. What difference does it make if I am inducted in the cabinet after a fortnight? But why show desperation? They (BJP) have delayed this till now. But I trust them," he said.

The winner will need votes of at least 145 MLAs in the 288-member Lower House.

In the Assembly, the BJP has 122 members, followed by Shiv Sena (63), Congress (42), and NCP (41).

Fadnavis had recently said Rane would be made a cabinet minister from the BJP quota. The cabinet expansion now looks unlikely before the winter session of state legislature, beginning in Nagpur on December 11.
Patna: In a significant shift in Bihars political landscape, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has rather surprisingly touched the settled beehive of reservation and has left his alliance partner BJP in an uncomfortable position, as he tries to undo RJDs new social formulation.

Recently, while announcing reservation in outsourced contractual jobs, Nitish even floated the idea of reserving jobs in the private sector and calling for a national debate on the matter.

Nitish Kumars move has visibly irked Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has challenged him to pass a Bill in this regard and send it to the Centre.

Janata Dal (United), in alliance with the BJP, had kept Vikas (development) at the centre of their political narrative since 2000 when the Lalus RJD was in power in the state. Then the NDA won the 2005 Assembly elections on the basic premise that the RJD rule was actually Jungleraj and Nitish, as the new chief minister, would be the harbinger of development.

Nitish had kept good governance and development at the core of his governance till 2013, when he pulled out of NDA over BJPs choice of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. His party fared poorly in the next Lok Sabha elections forcing him to join hands with the old foe Lalu Prasads RJD, which resulted in an unexpected defeat of the powerful BJP, despite the much talked about Modi wave in the 2015 Assembly election.

Nitish knows that his short-lived alliance with the RJD was successful in the elections only because of the caste combinations. The Mahagathbandhan was backed by the Muslim-Yadav (MY) combination along with an RJD constituency, which is still strongly allied with the RJD and some sections of the OBC and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC).

To add more power to this combination, a statement by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat made it worse for the BJP just before the first phase of polling. He vouched against the continuation of reservation in perpetuity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself got into a damage-control mode, but to no avail and BJP was routed out of the state.

However, the same BJP is now aiding Nitish Kumar to stay in power after he dumped RJD and the Mahagathbandhan in July this year.

Surprisingly, the number of crimes in the state has gone up in recent times as the chief ministers focus has shifted to other issues like dowry and child marriage.

At the same time, Nitish Kumar is also worried about his own political base. He must have guessed by now that development and good governance alone might not work for him again as Lalu, a master poll strategist, is trying to stitch the MY+Dalit combination along with the Congress. This was evident even when Lalu went against his partner Nitishs decision to support the NDA Presidential candidate, Ram Nath Kovind and openly sided with Congress-backed Meira Kumar, for being a Dalit from Bihar.

Caste Identity Critical in Bihar Politics

Politically awakened voters in the state often engage in a rational political discourse. But when it comes to casting their votes, caste does a play a crucial role. As social scientist Shaibal Gupta explains, There is no unifying state identity here like the Tamils or Malayalis have. A Bihari has either a caste identity or national identity.

The BJP is a champion of the nationalist identity, but as Shaibal puts it, the caste identity is so strong in Bihar that nationalism might fail to have an impact here.

Even an attempt to polarize the people wont work here like in Uttar Pradesh. If it was to be, the 2015 results would have been different, says Shaibal.

When it comes to the caste identity, political parties championing social justice have an upper hand in the elections and Lalu Prasad has been able to maintain an image of a grassroots leader who champions the voice of the marginalized sections. Charges of corruption and amassing benami properties, do not work against him. On the contrary, he enjoys sympathy among his supporters.

Nitish too knows that JD(U) is not a cadre-based party and its prospect largely revolves around his own persona, which has received a severe dent recently, largely due to the overnight change in his government.

However, during his term as the chief minister, between 2005 and 2013, he carved out EBC from OBC and Mahadalit from Dalit communities to help his party form a permanent vote bank. He had outdone everyone to become the first chief minister to implement a 50 percent reservation for women in Panchayati System and 35 percent reservation in government jobs. However, BJP took credit for the move as Nitish was heading an NDA government.

It is a popular belief that the JD(U) has never been able to perform well on its own. Either it required the support of BJP or RJD to win an election. Despite ten years of good governance, decimation of the JD(U) in the 2014 general election is a testimony to this fact.

Therefore, by pitching for reservation, Nitish is trying to win hearts and create a permanent vote bank and consolidate support among EBCs and Mahadalits and snatch the baton from Lalu.

JD(U) spokesperson Nikhil Mandal, grandson of BP Mandal, whose recommendations formed the Mandal Commission report, says, Caste is a bitter truth and there is no denying the unequal social system arising out of it. Lalu Ji has indeed championed the cause of the oppressed but he used the Mandal Commission only as a political weapon and sloganeering.

On the other hand, Nitish Kumar, as he claims, has believed and implemented social justice with development and participation.

The basic difference between Lalu and Nitish Ji is that the former believes in propaganda and the latter is a natural leader who works diligently for the betterment of the marginalized sections, Mandal says.

So what forced Nitish Kumar to initiate a debate on reservation in the private sector? An obvious reason may be a fear of consolidation on the caste lines as the JD(U) tries to tap young voters from SC and OBC castes apart from the Luv-Kush (Kurmi and Koiri) combination having roughly 8 percent vote share, who have solidly backed Nitish.

Moreover, Lalu has been raising the reservation issue every now and then and has accused BJPs ideological arm RSS of conspiring to end the reservation system. By advocating reservation in private sector jobs, Nitish Kumae has attempted a pre-emptive strike.

If the plank of development and social justice works in tandem, there will be no stopping Nitish Kumar.
Ahmedabad: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Monday announced his decision to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat of Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate, ending the suspense over his electoral plunge.

The Congress, which had earlier offered ticket to Mevani, has decided not to put up a candidate against him, shifting sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela to the Idar seat.

"The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an Independent, he will have Congress' support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

In a message posted on social media, Mevani, the face of the Dalit agitation in Gujarat claimed that he decided to jump into the poll battle after being "persuaded" by youth and numerous agitators. He even requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers.

"Since the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file their papers, so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is people's battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election," he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP's Vijay Chakravarthi.

Earlier this month, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat.

After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 per cent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.

Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases  on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.

(With PTI inputs)
Bhuj: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday kick-started his campaign trail in poll-bound Gujarat and launched a stinging attack at the Congress, saying that the upcoming election will be a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

Choosing to speak in Gujarati for the benefit of the local audience, he said that people of Gujarat would teach the Congress a lesson for making baseless allegations against him.

In a veiled reference to Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, he said that people come from outside and say all kinds of things to malign the image of the state, but it would only help the BJP retain power here.

I am grateful for all the 'kichad' being thrown at me. After all, a lotus blooms only in 'kichad' so, I don't mind if more is thrown at me, he said to loud cheers.

He also took the allegations of corruption thrown at him by Congress leaders head-on. This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you, he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

He also accused the Congress of clapping and rejoicing at the release of terrorist Hafiz Saiyed, questioning the surgical strike and asking for proof instead of lauding the bravery of soldiers and meeting the Chinese ambassador to India even as Indian troops were locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball standoff with the Chinese troops at Doklam.

Talking about his own track record, he said that BJP completely changed the fortunes of Kutch and turned it into a tourist spot. Earlier, he said, government officers did not want to take up jobs in Kutch as the water that flowed through the region was black, but now they want to return Narmada dam became operational.

Congress did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region. What if the Narmada waters had come to Kutch 30 years earlier? It would have made such a big difference. People would not have to migrate because of drought, he said.

Taking another dig at the opposition party, which is making all out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, "When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Dokalam for 70 days, why were you hugging the Chinese ambassador."

The PM also made a concerted effort to woo the disgruntled Patidar community. At Jasdan in Rajkot, Modi, while recounting the Maha Gujarat Andolan, said  Babubhai Jasbhai Patel became the first Patidar chief minister of Gujarat. The Congress has been responsible for removing four Patidar CMs.

The elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be on December 18.
News / National

by Staff reporter

An online petition launched calling for a 'Zimbabwe Truth and Reconciliation Commission' which will be delivered to David Coltart. The petition started by Audrey Van Niekerk aims to have 100 signatures and by Monday morning it already had 47 supporters.The petition read, "For the past 37 years, Zimbabwe has been ruled by a regime bent on destroying a hard won democracy, which many of its future saboteurs fought hard to establish."Rigged elections, arrests and incommunicado detentions,disappearances of political opponents, extra judicial killings of innocent women and children,looting of Zimbabwe's treasury by a kleptocratic regime, sabotage of the national economy, became commonplace in this beautiful land."Unemployment of 90%. Yes, 90%! There are many Zimbabwean men women and children who were born during this time who have not experienced the dignity of having a job and earning a paycheck. Economic ruin across all sectors is regarded as the norm. Zimbabweans die daily due to disease and health issues that are avoidable."A genocide named Gukurahundi in the early 1980's resulted in the massacre of over 20,000 people. A later similar urban destruction of property and arrest of innocents was carried out by the regime in an operation named Murambatsvina."The First Lady and her cronies have looted billions of dollars in diamonds and other precious resources. A former vice President's daughter was stopped short of trying to sell over 3 tons of gold to a Swiss company."The national treasury is empty. People are starving. There is no clean water, and sanitation and electricity and other utilities are sporadic."We need immediate jobs, food and medicines for the rural and urban people who have nothing. Above all we demand Dignity, Democracy and the Rule of Law and the Dignity of Work!"
New Delhi: The Congress Party released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly election late on Sunday night, the filing of nominations for which ends on Monday.

The party, which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

The party, however, could not finalise the names of its candidates in 20 more seats.

Congress general secretary Oscar Fernandes released the third list to the media on Sunday night.

The list featured at least 11 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and three from Scheduled Caste communities.

The Congress has been out of power in the crucial state for over two decades.

The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat, having total 182 seats, will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18.

Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.
New Delhi: AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, who shared an uneasy relationship with the party leadership, on Sunday asserted he would not quit the outfit and that the party strayed from the path it had chosen to tread five years ago.

Addressing party volunteers on the occasion of 5th Foundation Day of the AAP, Vishwas took on his detractors within the party and said he was like Abhimanyu, the warrior son of Arjun who lost his life while fighting in the epic 'Mahabharata'.

"I was told that I will be insulted and compelled to quit. I would like to say that I am not going anywhere. I am like the Abhimanyu who will be victorious even in his death," Vishwas said.

Vishwas also emphasised the need for dialogue within the AAP and said the people who built the party believed in disagreeing over issues. Running away from questions amounts to being timid, he said. The comment was seen as a jibe to a section of party leaders.

He said the easiest way to crush a movement is to give it a face, a comment also seen as a jibe to his detractors within the party.

"This is why it is paramount to keep the country first, followed by the party and then the leader," he said. He retorted to the tag of being a "part-time politician" labelled by a section of party leaders and said he preferred being a "full-time Indian and part-time politician', and added it was essential to look after one's own livelihood to ensure a spotless political life.

"Don't you think, we have strayed away from the road we took five years ago. We have to walk on the right path from where we started. We have lost some good volunteers due to arrogance and insecurities and we need to bring them back," Vishwas said.

The poet-politician and founder member of the AAP has had an uneasy relationship with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

Vishwas is unhappy with the leadership for several reasons and has been attacking a "coterie" surrounding Kejriwal. But a major reason has been revoking the suspension of AAP MLA Amantullah last month, who had accused Vishwas of being a "BJP-RSS agent".
Surat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded the first leg of his mega campaign spree in Gujarat with a grand rally in Surat, by surprisingly skipping talk on GST and patidars. He chose to remember 'Gujarat ke Gadhe (donkeys)' jibe instead.

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav during a rally in Surat, he said: "Those who said Gujarat ke gadhe are now having to bow to that Gadha's feet."

Earlier this year, in the run up to UP elections, Akhilesh Yadav had quipped about a Gujarat tourism ad showing donkeys in Gujarat. This had become an issue of debate back then.

Modi reached Surat as part of his mega rally spree on Monday for the Gujarat elections.

He also expressed confidence that the BJP will easily cross 150 plus in the 182-member vidhan sabha.

"I have full confidence we will cross 150 plus in Gujarat," Modi said.

Addressed a rally in Surat district. Happy to see people from all sections of society join us. Congress anti-development politics is not connecting with the people of Gujarat. https://t.co/pUxSgJgyx5 pic.twitter.com/sqaopviX6D Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 27, 2017

Modi chose to speak on the outskirts of Surat city and not in the city as planned earlier.

Surat has been the epicentre of the Patidar movement and the anti-GST protests, and the IB is believed to have suggested that the PM's rally be taken out of city limits fearing protests from Patidars.

Amid loud uproar, Modi also took potshots at Rahul Gandhi for temple hopping.

"People ask me what we have done in 22 years in Gujarat. I tell them - I was able to get people to go to temples to seek divine intervention," said Modi.

He also urged people to punish 'paapi' Congress with 'kadak sazaa (Stiff punishment)'.

Modi's Surat speech had a strong message for the business and trader community as well. He briefly touched upon demonetisation, ease of doing business for small traders. Surprisingly, there was no mention of GST.

"Demonetisation has hit shell companies. In fact, I feel politicians went to sleep in a state of shock after the 8th of November."

"There was a time when big people were benefitting in business. Big malls came up, just like in Surat, they ran till late in the night. But small hawkers used to be told to shut down. I went to Delhi and made a rule that everyone can run shop as long as they want. why only big malls should benefit," said Modi.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh School Education Minister Vijay Shah on Monday said that students in government schools will respond to attendance call with 'Jai Hind' to instill a sense of nationalism among them. The minister said an advisory to this effect will be issued soon.

"Whenever people of armed forces meet, they greet each other with Jai Hind and we all feel a sense of nationalism, so I thought about implementing this in schools," said Vijay Shah.

Shah's cabinet colleague and the Minister for Higher Education Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya had earlier proposed the idea of abolishing words, like, 'Yes, Sir' and 'Good Morning' from schools and replacing them with Jai Hind.

Shah made it clear that he sees nothing wrong in students responding to roll call with Jai Hind. He said some of the schools are already practising it after he got this implemented in schools in Satna in September.

As far as the private schools were concerned, Shah said, any order can't be issued for them, but an advisory would be released making them aware about the state governments intentions.

The minister made headlines recently by making it mandatory for Madrasas to unfurl national flag and recite national anthem.

However, wary of the controversy his earlier order on Madrasas created, Shah, responding to queries on whether the new order would be imposed on Madrasas, treaded cautiously.

"We are still debating whether to issue an advisory or an order to Madrasas in this regard," said the minister.

The minister said that the government had contacted some of the Madrasas who receive government aid for implementing this and many among them agreed.

Shah also made it clear that the order was not religion specific.
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday latched on to the Chaiwala meme to hit out at the Congress party and said he only sold tea, never the nation, referring to the numerous scams under the UPA government.

Pushing the campaign in the poll-bound state into high gear, he extended the attack on the Congress and Gandhi family from one rally to another.

At Rajkot, in his second rally for the day, Modi asked the Congress not to mock his poor origins. The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They so not hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea, but I did not sell the nation, Modi said.

He also took a veiled dig at the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, saying that Congress is learning from their hit-and-run style politics.

A new party came up in Delhi, whose style is to keep abusing and running away. I thought the Congress, being an older party would not indulge in such politics but they have also taken this short cut in the past two months and only hurled abuses and lies, he said.

The PM was responding to the meme posted on the twitter account of Yuva desh, a youth magazine of Congress, which mocked him for his poor English skills and said that he should restrict himself to selling tea.

The meme went viral for all the wrong reasons and the BJP has used it in its high-voltage campaign in the state. The party had set up tea stalls in all the over 50,000 voting booths across the country on Sunday.

Party leaders, including BJP chief Amit Shah and finance minister Arun Jaitley, sipped tea with party workers and supporters as they tuned into the PMs radio address  Mann ki Baat.

Congress was quick to issue a rebuttal, saying that Modi was just using the controversy to gain sympathy ahead of the election.

Narendra Modi is an expert in marketing. When a person holds a post, discussions are done on his performance and not his economic status. He is saying such things to gain sympathy ahead of the election, Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, said.

Former union minister Anand sharma also hit back and gave the Prime Minister a history lesson. Maybe he forgot that Lal Bahadur Shastri belonged to a poor family. Manmohan Singh came to India as a refugee and was from a poor family too. The PM must recall Indira Gandhi's slogan of 'garibi hatao'. She nationalised banks so poor can get money easily, he said.
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena was a happy alliance partner on Monday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) overruled the candidature of senior leader Narayan Rane for a Legislative Council seat by-election in Mumbai.

Prasad Lad filled his nomination papers on Monday for the same seat and Shiv Sena announced its support for Lad.

Late on Sunday night, Lad, another BJP candidate, met Uddhav Thackeray at his residence 'Matoshree'. Before that, several senior BJP leaders too made rounds of Matoshree to discuss a consensus over the candidate.

The names of Madhav Bhandari and Shaina NC were also being discussed in the past one week. Finally, BJP decided to field Prasad Lad.

The decision was preceded by a meeting between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Narayan Rane. "The CM told me that all three parties (NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena) are likely to unite if BJP supports my candidature and at a time when the Gujarat polls are round the corner, the party did not want any adverse political decision. I agreed and I trust BJP to fulfill the promises has made to me," Rane told News18.

Since the time Narayan Rane left Congress a few months ago to become a minister in the BJP-Sena government in Maharashtra, the Sena had made its displeasure clear to the BJP. Rane and Uddhav don't see eye-to-eye ever since Rane deserted the Sena to join Congress a few decades ago.

Though Rane said he did not believe that Shiv Sena had the power to sway BJP's opinion on this matter, he agreed that the saffron party might have had to consider the objections raised by Shiv Sena.

"It is true that the Sena would have raised objections to the candidature of Narayan Rane, as the party is still angry about the way he betrayed Balasaheb Thackeray. We have decided to support the BJP candidate. This is a good step taken by the BJP. It will help improve relations between the two parties who have been in alliance for 25 years now," Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of State for Home, told News18.

Lad will need 145 votes to be victorious in the Legislative Council by-election. The BJP has 122 seats, and the Sena has over 60.

Now, if Narayan Rane is inducted in the Maharashtra cabinet, he will have to get elected within six months of becoming a minister.
A fake advertisement reportedly led some users searching for "Amazon" on Thanksgiving to a scam website just before the Black Friday shopping frenzy, media reported. "Some Google users searching for "Amazon" on Thanksgiving were shown a phoney ad that redirected to a scam website, one day before the biggest shopping day of the year," CBS News reported late on Friday.

"The advertisement appeared at the top of search results on Google for an unknown number of users for at least part of the day on Thursday," the report added. Meanwhile, the search engine giant has said that the advertisement violated its policies and has been removed. "This was an abuse of our platform. We strictly prohibit advertising of illegal activity and have removed these ads and suspended the account," a Google representative was quoted as saying.

The app which redirected users to a scam site purporting to be run by Microsoft's support team with a message saying the computer was infected with malware, according to CNET. However, the site's URL suggested that it was not affiliated with Microsoft.

Tech And Auto Show | EP21 | Apple iPhone X, Suzuki Intruder 150 & More
Mexico's transparency body said on Sunday it would seek information from Uber about the consequences of a large data breach that the ride-hailing company disclosed on Tuesday. The National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data said it would attempt to determine how many users, drivers and employees in Mexico had been affected, as well as the steps Uber [UBER.UL] would take to mitigate the damage and prevent such breaches from occurring in the future.

On Tuesday, Uber said it paid hackers $100,000 to keep secret a massive breach last year that exposed personal data from around 57 million accounts. "We confirm that no type of historical information related to trips, credit card numbers, birth dates or social security numbers was exposed in the case," an Uber spokesman said in a statement. "We will continue to provide in a timely manner all the information that pertains to this case."

The disclosure sparked concerns from regulators around the world. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday that it was "closely evaluating the serious issues" presented by the incident, and Britain's data protection authority said that concealment of the data breach raised "huge concerns" about Uber's data policies and ethics.

Tech And Auto Show | EP21 | Apple iPhone X, Suzuki Intruder 150 & More
Jakarta: The Mount Agung volcano on Bali has erupted for the first time in more than half a century, forcing closure of the Indonesian tourist island's busy airport. More than 400 flights were cancelled Monday and nearly 60,000 travellers have been stranded. Travel disruptions will ripple around the globe as the island is one of Asia's top destinations, attracting 5 million visitors a year. December through the first week of January is one of its busy periods. The airport's initial closure is for 24 hours until early Tuesday but there could be prolonged or repeated disruptions because the volcano may gush ash for weeks or have even bigger eruptions.

TRAPPED IN PARADISE?

Travelers can still leave Bali, though probably at significant cost, by taking a ferry from Gilimanuk port to Banyuwangi on Java island to the west and then travelling by car, train or plane to the Indonesian capital Jakarta for international connections. Another possible route is a ferry to the neighbouring island of Lombok and then a flight to Java though ash temporarily closed Lombok's airport on Sunday and there could be further closures. The government says it has provided 100 buses to transport people from the international airport to ferry ports. Alternatively, visitors could wait to see if the airport reopens though there's likely to be long waiting lists for flights when it does. Indonesia's tourism ministry said member hotels of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association will provide a night's free accommodation to guests affected by the airport closure.

HEADING TO BALI

Some governments are advising citizens to defer travel to the island. Malaysia's foreign ministry said all but non-urgent travel should be delayed while Australia, a big source of tourists for Bali, said people should be aware that ash clouds could also close other airports in Indonesia depending on weather conditions. A spokesman for major Japanese travel bureau JTB Corp. said all tours set to depart Monday from Japan were cancelled because of the airport closure. Yoshimi Tajima said some people can't change their travel dates and are switching to other destinations while others are changing the dates. "What will happen from tomorrow is still unclear," she said.

LOCAL CONDITIONS

The popular tourist areas of Kuta and Seminyak and the airport are about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the volcano and largely safe even with a major eruption though masks and goggles could prove necessary if there's significant ash fall. Authorities have ordered 100,000 people to leave a danger zone that extends 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the crater in places and tourists shouldn't enter it. The area, which includes a much-visited Hindu temple on the slopes of the volcano, will be prone to deadly mudflows and lava. The risk of mudflows, which combine water and volcanic debris, is high because it's the wet season in Bali. Authorities have warned people to stay away from rivers.
Washington: Britain on Monday appointed Karen Pierce as its new Ambassador to the UN, replacing incumbent Matthew Rycroft under whom it suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of India in the recent election to the International Court of Justice.

Pierce is the first woman appointed to this role, and is uniquely suited for the position having previously served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and more recently as the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, the UK Mission to the UN said in a statement.

Britain's Permanent Mission to the United Nations did not give any reason for appointing Pierce as new ambassador to the world body, which comes days after it failed to get its judge Christopher Greenwood elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after India's Judge Dalveer Bhandari consistently received nearly two-third of the votes in the UN General Assembly.

Bhandari was on Tuesday re-elected to the ICJ as the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly threw its weight behind him, forcing Britain to withdraw its candidate from the hard-fought race to the world court.

This is for the first time in 70 years that Britain would have no judge in the 15-member panel of the ICJ. Political analysts and editorials in British media have described it as a diplomatic failure of the Therasa May government.

"Britain has a proud history of working for positive change through the United Nations, not least in addressing the problems in Libya and Syria," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement without addressing the reason for sudden replacement of Rycroft.

Rycroft has been in the post since 2015 and will handover in January 2018 when he returns to London to take up his new role as Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Development.

"I know Karen has the diplomatic skills, energy and patience to continue this vital work, and I congratulate her on her appointment," Johnson said.

In a statement, Pierce said the UK had long been a strong supporter of the UN and its role at the heart of the global rules-based international system at a time when it is coming under challenge.

"Through our role as a permanent member of the Security Council and position as the UN's third largest donor, the UK will continue to work with others to tackle the pressing security, stability, development and prosperity challenges of today," she said.

"Our security and economic interests depend to a large extent on a strong and effective United Nations...I undertake to ensure we are an active force in New York for progress and partnership," Pierce said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Man of the moment and ZIFA President Phillip Chiyangwa (Phidza) has come out in the open to debunk rumors that he was arrested as he was trying to flee the country.Chiyangwa spoke via a video call coordinated by his friend and fellow businessman Mutumwa Mawere.Chiyangwa was reported to be among the 'criminals' who were targeted by the military as part of 'Operation Restore Legacy' which saw several high profile names being detained. Chiyangwa called the rumors hogwash, he reiterated that he was safe and sound and was never arrested.An angry Chiyangwa slammed attention seeking rumor mongers who cook up malicious stories to tarnish his reputation and advised them to get a life and in usual Chiyangwa fashion said 'havana cash' (they are broke).The ZIFA president denied lending any support to ex first lady Grace Mugabe after being quizzed about chanting a pro-Grace slogan. A visibly riled Chiyangwa seemed to suggest that he was just doing it for show.You can watch the rest of the video below
Fort Worth: A woman accused of mailing potentially deadly homemade bombs to then-President Barack Obama and Texas Governor Greg Abbott in 2016 was arrested, in part, due to cat hair, a cigarette box and an almost-destroyed shipping label bearing her address.

Julia Poff, 46, mailed the devices in October 2016, along with a third package that she sent to the Social Security Administration, near Baltimore, according to an indictment. Of the three packages, only Abbott opened his. It did not detonate because "he did not open it as designed," court documents said.

A grand jury indicted her this month on six counts, including mailing injurious articles and transporting explosives with the intent to kill and injure, according to documents filed this week in district court in Houston.

Federal investigators said the improvised explosive device sent to Abbott contained a cellphone, a cigarette packet and a salad dressing cap, according to a court document from a November 17 detention hearing. It says a similar device was sent to Obama and that "the same" device was sent to the Social Security Administration.

The device sent to Abbott came in a package still bearing an "obliterated shipping label" addressed to Poff, the court document said. The cigarette box used in the device bore a Texas tobacco stamp that identifies the store where the cigarettes were bought. Poff's bank card records showed a purchase of cigarettes at that store. The two incendiary powders in the box matched materials found in Poff's home, federal court documents showed.

Investigators traced Poff to the package sent to Obama because of cat hair found under an address label, according to the detention hearing court document. An FBI crime lab compared the hair to two of Poff's cats and found it "microscopically consistent" with the hair of one of those animals, according to the court filing.

At the hearing, a federal agent testified that Poff was angry with Abbott because she did not receive support from her ex-husband when Abbott served as Texas Attorney General before he was elected governor in 2014. According to court documents, Poff's application for social security benefits was denied.

The agent also testified that Poff said she just didn't like Obama.

Katie Hill, a spokeswoman with the former president's private office, declined to comment Friday. A call by The Associated Press to Abbott's public affairs office in Austin was not returned.

Poff is being held at the Houston federal detention centre. Poff's attorney, Ashley Kaper, declined to comment except to say she had been unable to keep her client out of custody.

A criminal background check shows Poff has a misdemeanour conviction for theft. She was also convicted of state felony fraud. In both cases, she was given probation.

A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for early next year.
Athens: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday defended a controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia which Amnesty International said should be scrapped over Riyadh's involvement in fighting in Yemen.

Tsipras said there was nothing improper in the deal, which opposition parties said was poorly handled and whose fate is currently unclear.

The PM, whose Syriza party has a strong pacifist background, was specifically asked if the deal would be abandoned. He said it was a "beneficial agreement for the Greek state."

He called the attacks "a fabrication designed to disorient public opinion," adding that the main opposition New Democracy party should "apologise" to the defence ministry.

Opposition lawmakers say the botched deal for surplus military stock cost Greece 66 million euros ($78 million), while several ruling party officials have questioned the sale of munitions to Saudi Arabia owing to its involvement in the Yemen conflict.

The defence ministry has released a document showing that it had agreed in June to sell 300,000 tank shells at a cost of 66 million euros to a Greek contractor claiming to represent Saudi Arabia.

"We reached a deal to sell outdated munitions that were going to be destroyed," Kammenos said.

"And we will try to do it again. Not to terrorists, but to countries on which we are on the same axis, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt," he said.

But on the day the deal was signed, Greece's Riyadh embassy wired to say that the Saudi military had no knowledge of the Greek contractor's activities.

'Internal problems in Saudi Arabia'

After the deal was signed, a Saudi military delegation came to Greece and tried to purchase 100,000 shells.

"There are internal problems in Saudi Arabia," Kammenos said.

Amnesty International, whose Greek branch is headed by the PM's former spokesman, noted that Greece in 2016 ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, pledging not to sell arms that could be used in violating international law.

There are fears in Greece, which has a long tradition of neutrality in the Arab world, that the missiles could have been used in Saudi Arabia's fight against rebels in Yemen.

More than 8,750 people have been killed in the conflict and the country also faces a deadly cholera epidemic and millions stand at the brink of official famine.

Tsipras' coalition government depends on the nationalist ANEL party headed by defence minister Panos Kammenos.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the PM was being "blackmailed" by his junior coalition partner in what he described as a "scandalous sale."

The opposition has also accused Kammenos of trying to bury the issue by transferring the officer who oversaw the attempted sale.

An opposition lawmaker investigating the case has also been threatened with prosecution after submitting to parliament documents which the government says are covered by state secrecy laws.

The opposition says the government's refusal to shed light on what was supposed to be a legal bilateral deal is suspect.
Jakarta: Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said 40,000 people had been evacuated from near Bali's erupting Mount Agung volcano, but tens of thousands still needed to move with an imminent large eruption warning issued on Monday.

"We really ask people in the danger zone to evacuate immediately because there's a potential for a bigger eruption," said Sutopo, a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB).

He told a briefing that 40,000 people had evacuated out of around 90,000-100,000 residents estimated in the 8-10 km (5-6 miles) exclusion zone around Agung.

"Not all residents have evacuated yet. There are those (who haven't evacuated) because their farm animals haven't been evacuated yet. There are those who feel they are safe," he said, adding that security personnel were trying to persuade people to leave but they could be evacuated by force.
Naypidaw: Pope Francis met Myanmar's powerful army chief on Monday at the start of a highly sensitive trip, with the military man saying he told the pontiff there was "no religious discrimination" in his country despite allegations of ethnic cleansing.

The 80-year-old pope, the first to travel to Myanmar, received Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for a 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence in Yangon, where the pontiff is staying during his visit.

At least 620,000 Rohingya have fled western Rakhine state to Bangladesh, describing rape, murder and arson at the hands of Min Aung Hlaing's army and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs.

The UN and US have accused the military of "ethnic cleansing" in a campaign sparked by attacks by a militant Rohingya group on police border posts in late August.

The army chief told the pope that "Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all. Likewise our military too... performs for the peace and stability of the country", according to a Facebook post published by the general's office a few hours after the meeting.

There is also "no discrimination between ethnic groups in Myanmar", he added.

The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship, are not recognised as one of the Buddhist-majority country's formal ethnic groups.

After the meeting a Vatican spokesman said the religious leader and the army chief had discussed the "great responsiblilty of the country's authorities in this moment of transition".

Myanmar was ruled by a junta for five decades until a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi came to power last year. The army retains sweeping powers over security and political heft through a parliamentary bloc of seats.

The army crackdown on the widely reviled Rohingya looms large over the pope's four-day trip to a country with a tiny Catholic minority.

Francis has called the Rohingya his "brothers and sisters" in repeated entreaties to ease their plight as the latest round of a festering crisis has unfolded.

Earlier on Monday he was welcomed at Yangon's airport in a colourful ceremony led by children from different minority groups in bright bejewelled clothes, who gave him flowers and received a papal embrace in return.

Nuns in white habits were among devotees waving flags as his motorcade swept past the golden Shwedagon Pagoda.

"I saw the pope... I was so pleased, I cried!" Christina Aye Aye Sein, 48, told AFP after the pope's convoy received a warm but modest welcome.

"His face looked very lovely and sweet... He is coming here for peace."

Myanmar's estimated 700,000 Catholics make up just over one percent of the country's 51 million people.

But around 200,000 Catholics are pouring into Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon before a huge open-air mass on Wednesday.

"People came from all corners of the country, even if we could only see him for a few seconds," Sister Genevieve Mu, an ethnic Karen nun, told AFP.

Peace and prayers

The pope's speeches in Mynamar will be scrutinised by Buddhist hardliners for any mention of the word "Rohingya", an incendiary term in a country where the Muslim group are labelled "Bengalis" -- alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

On Tuesday Francis will meet Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose lustre has faded because of her failure to speak up publicly for the Rohingya.

He will hold two masses in Yangon.

Speaking shortly before he left Rome, the pontiff said: "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope."

The army insists its Rakhine operation has been a proportionate response to Rohingya "terrorists" who raided police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen officers.

But rights groups have accused the military of using its operation as cover to drive out a minority it has oppressed for decades and forced out in great numbers in previous "clearance operations".

Days before the papal visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a deal vowing to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of returning without guarantees of basic rights.

Francis will travel on to Bangladesh on Thursday, where he will meet a group of Rohingya Muslims in the capital Dhaka.

In Kutupalong, the largest fresh encampment of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, 25-year-old Aziz Khan implored the pope to help his people.

"If he can help us, then I want to tell him that we want our country and our rights back," he told AFP.
Islamabad: Pakistan's Law Minister Zahid Hamid has reportedly resigned following clashes between police and protesters triggered by a clearance operation, Pakistani media reported on Monday.

Hamid had made the decision to resign during his meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said the Express news.

Meanwhile, the Islamist group whose supporters clashed with the police over the weekend is to call off its weeks-long protest.

"Our main demand has been accepted," Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesman of the Tahreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, told Reuters. "Government will announce the law ministers resignation and we will end our sit-in today."

The Pakistani government last month passed a religion-related bill and triggered strong opposition from religious community. The government later retracted the bill, but some religious groups demanded the resignation of the law minister and staged the sit-in protest for almost three weeks.

The protesters blocked the main road linking Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The government took a clearance operation on Saturday after rounds of negotiations with the protesters. However, the operation triggered more protests in major cities across the country.

Local reports said that several were killed and over hundreds injured during Saturday's nationwide clashes.
Vatican City: Pope Francis' aim in visiting Myanmar and Bangladesh is to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and bring a message of friendship and peace to some of Asia's most peripheral and poor. The big question looming is whether he'll utter the word "Rohingya" while he's there.

The "will he or won't he?" issue has dominated debate before Francis' trip, which begins Monday when his Alitalia charter flight lands in Yangon and ends with a youth rally in Dhaka on Dec. 2.

In between, Francis will meet separately with Myanmar's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, its powerful military chief and Buddhist monks. He'll greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country. Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in poverty-wracked Rakhine state.

Francis, though, has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters," and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

"Being a religious leader  Catholic leader  means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, 'OK, he just came to meddle,'" said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. "So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations."

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

The signals from the Vatican going into the trip were mixed: The Vatican spokesman used the term "Rohingya" in a pre-trip briefing and said "It's not a prohibited word" as far as the Vatican was concerned. But the Holy See's top diplomat, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, avoided it in an interview with Vatican media on the eve of the trip.

The debate isn't just semantic: Myanmar's government and most of the Buddhist majority consider them Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have lived there for generations.

"It's going to be a tricky situation (if he uses the word), I think because most of the people can't accept it," said farmer Win Myaing.

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term "Rohingya" carries so much political weight for all of Myanmar's people.

"But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people aren't going to like the pope anymore," he said.
The ash cloud also caused the closure of the international airport on the island of Lombok on Sunday afternoon, which triggered the authorities to recommend the use of protective masks for the population. (Image: AP)
Rohingya refugee Suray Khatun, 70, is carried by her son Said-A-Lam, 38, as they enter Kutupalong refugee camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh a day after crossing the Myanmar border. (Image: Reuters)
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum have hailed the smooth transition in government but made demands which they expect the new administration to implement as soon as possible"We, the undersigned civil society organisations based and working in Zimbabwe welcome the peaceful and smooth transition in the presidium currently underway in Zimbabwe. We congratulate the incoming President and all members of his emerging government. It is our hope that this transition will usher in a new era in Zimbabwe based on the recognition of all fundamental rights of all people, respect for the rule of law and adherence to the Constitution of Zimbabwe," the organisation said."We, as civil society, wish to express our commitment to work with government in all efforts that are aimed at ensuring peace, development, respect for human rights and fostering the rule of law in our country. We also wish to draw the attention of the incoming President and all members of his emerging government to the following five key issues we strongly feel are critical in the realization of our shared vision of a new, progressive and better Zimbabwe."The organisation said on behalf of all citizens, Zimbabwe civil society calls upon the new President and his government to create an environment conducive to the holding of free, fair and credible elections, managed by a fully independent electoral body."We also appeal to the new President and his government to ensure the establishment of a genuine constitutional democracy with a clear separation between party, state and security sectors. Our hope is that the new government will be able to foster national unity based on the recognition that Zimbabwe belongs to all its citizens regardless of colour, ethnicity, tribe, gender, age or political affiliation. We urge the incoming President to guarantee inclusivity and transparency in the process of rebuilding our nation. It is our hope that the new government will be created based on the involvement of all Zimbabweans, including those outside the ruling party and beyond the political realm," reads their statement."We support the government's pledge to respect and honour the (existing) Constitution of Zimbabwe and to uphold the rule of law. We therefore call upon the new government to abide by the (existing) constitutional requirements for term limits for the presidency. We also hope that the new government will ensure that there is a public commitment by security forces to respect the outcome of elections regardless of the liberation credentials of the successful party or candidates."ZimRights said they strongly believe that no political transition can be complete without fulfilment of the obligations to respect and promote the enjoyment of all human rights by all people regardless of race, ethnicity or political affiliation."These fundamental rights, including freedom of association, expression and right to a fair trial should be extended to all including those recently detained. It is also vital that freedom of speech is respected, and that there is a reversal of recent measures to censor the traditional media and social media. Human rights should also be understood in an inclusive way that recognizes the economic rights of Zimbabwean citizens. In order to safeguard human rights going forward, independent constitutional commissions such as the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission should be empowered to carry out their constitutional mandates," said ZimRights."Civil society believes that a key part of any process of democratic transition is that the government be civilian-led as set out in the constitution and that this is true in practice as well as in theory. This will involve a quick return to barracks for the military, and a commitment that there will be no further military interference in the government, with no military leaders appointed to civilian political positions, and a commitment to non-violent politics before, during and after elections. To further strengthen the re-assertion of civilian rule, there should be a public commitment that all security forces are meant to serve and protect all the people of Zimbabwe without fear or favour. We urge the new government to urgently engage in security sector reform in order to build more capable, neutral and professional security services."It also urged the incoming President and his government to make good on the opportunity to build a new and more united country that is before them. We believe that the new, united and prosperous Zimbabwe should be built on the firm foundation of sincere acknowledgment of past wrongs and earnest efforts to ensure national healing."We wish to draw the attention of the new government to such past wrongs as the early post-independence Matabeleland massacres or Gukurahundi, violent land seizures, Operation Murambatsvina and the politically motivated violence in our past elections which continue to cast dark shadows over our nation. We strongly urge the incoming President and his emerging government to commit fully to a genuine people-driven national healing process that addresses these issues, puts an end to the culture of impunity, and charts the path of the nation to peace and prosperity," said ZimRights.
News / National

by Staff reporter

SEVERAL prophets and Pentecostal pastors who gathered for the historical Super Sunday have been exposed after failing to correctly predict the coming events.All the prophets who stepped on the podium trumped up support for Grace Mugabe to be one of the country's leaders yet the opposite was true.Zimbabwean Prophets exposed as Grace Prophecy turns out to be liesDubbed the Super Sunday, the function was set to trump up support for Mai Mugabe to presidium while denigrating Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa.Bishop Johannes Ndanga the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ) president who called himself life president of the council, declared that former president Robert Mugabe will be life president. He is however not new to succession fights.Zimbabwe Amalgamated Churches Council patron Jimayi Muduvuri says declarations made at the Super Sunday were wrong and ungodly.Muduvuri said people should stop making such declarations without God's word."God doesn't want such declarations. They were made without consultation with God and the Holy Spirit. If you notice the things that happened at the Super Sunday, God was not happy and His hand was seen in the events that followed. Zviroto zviya zvaitaurwa, hazvidiwi naMwari and vakazviratidza," he said."All the churches, Vapostori, Zion, Zviratidzo, Masowe, Pentecostal, this is what we have been praying for. A new beginning in the land of Canaan. What we prayed for is what is happening tomorrow (today), the swearing in of ED Mnangagwa," Muduvuri added.Musician and politician Energy Mutodi said Johannes Ndanga and his team have shamed themselves."Ndanga and his team must be ashamed of themselves."He demonstrated that he is an id**t of the highest degree. I heard him saying he wanted to take the then First Lady Grace Mugabe to Masvingo and then to Midlands. He wanted to enhance state capture by the G40 while abusing the good gospel of Jesus Christ."There are many pressing issues that he could have concentrated on to help churches instead of trying to endear counter-revolutionaries with the people," Mutodi said.Another commentator Collen Majoka who spoke to this publication said it was worrying that all those numbers who attended had fooled Amai Grace Mugabe yet they had some spiritual powers to see beyond.The occurrence has been a hit on social media with many questioning the ability of the so called men of God'."What happened on the Super Sunday makes people lose confidence in churches. Churches should be symbols of purity and the men of God should be trusted but what happened on the Super Sunday makes one doubt the credibility of the so-called men of God," said Majoka.Douglas Mandaza of Nesimba RaMwari Apostolic sect who was part of the congregation said as men of God' they are called to pray at different functions dodging the question of the prowess of their spiritual powers."As men of God' we are supposed to submit to those in authority for that particular time."Asked whether any of them had not prophesied the end of Mai Mugabe's ambitions, he said there could be some who felt it in their hearts."The platform was not meant for everyone so some could have failed to prophesy yet they saw it," said Mandaza.Popular Madzibaba Rami of Johanne Masowe YeChishanu yeSinai sent his emissary who almost fell into trance showering praises for Amai Mugabe. She even suggested that she saw her ruling the country.Another popular madzibaba Israel of Johanne Masowe YeChishanu who operates near Coca Cola along Cripps Road where several big fish worship also failed to spot what lay ahead as he showered praises for Mai Mugabe in the political arena.
Passengers Association of Zimbabwe has expressed displeasure over the treatment of accident victims at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals after an accident during celebrations over former president Robert Mugabes resignation.





The association said it witnessed victims not being attended to as they did not have the required money to cover their medical bills.





However, the hospital  in response to questions sent by the Daily News  said the policy of the hospital was to treat every case and then claim the money later, as they invited the association to a meeting for dialogue on how the processes work.





The accident involving a kombi and an Isuzu twin cab occurred at the corner of Samora Machel Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street. One person died while 11 were injured.





We, as Passengers Association of Zimbabwe, believe that victims of road accidents should get all the medical assistance they need as a matter of urgency, including x-rays and medication, whether they or their relatives have the immediate financial capacity to pay for medical services, the association said in a statement.





People cannot suffer or die because they do not have the finances. No one foresees a road accident, which is why it is an accident and government hospitals should prioritise saving lives and reducing the suffering of accident victims.





We visited the accident victims at Parirenyatwa Hospital. When we got there just after the accident, victims were being asked to buy medication. Those who did not have money to buy medication started phoning their relatives for assistance.





The hospitals public relations department said the statement by the association showed lack of appreciation to hospital procedures, hence the need for dialogue.





We have noted that concerns may have arisen due to lack of appreciation of how the system works.





The hospital has arranged a meeting with the Passenger Association of Zimbabwe to clarify the issues and listen to their concerns, the public relations department said in written responses.





Parirenyatwa Hospital Group treats all accident victims without the requirement of payment upfront.





Accident victims are attended to as emergencies and payments are claimed from the respective insurance companies after patients are attended to.





Where the victims are not covered by insurance, the hospital attends to them immediately and they will be given their bills afterwards.





The fact that some insurance companies owe the hospital substantial amounts of money is clear indication that accident victims are being treated before making payments.





In this particular case, and as usual, all the victims of the accident were attended to without any payment and those who had soft tissue injuries were immediately discharged and given prescriptions to buy medicines after x-rays were done on them and reviewed by the doctors. Daily News








ZANU-PF has warned against purging members and has since promised that a definitive party position is expected to come out of the Extraordinary Congress that will be held next month.



Party spokesperson Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday directed party members to stop holding provincial executive council (PEC) meetings that were ostensibly meant to blacklist or fire members from the revolutionary party.



In an interview, Ambassador Khaya Moyo said party members should desist from holding meetings that are not sanctioned by the party.





As the Zanu-PF party spokesperson, my attention has been drawn to the fact that some provinces are holding provincial executive council or provincial coordinating committee meetings, or both, and in the process purging some members from the party, he said.





All provinces are directed to stop such processes forthwith until after the Extraordinary Congress, where the party shall issue further instructions as to the due procedures to be followed in implementing recent Central Committee resolutions to provincial structures.

He said only the Extraordinary Congress, which is to be held in a two weeks time, will outline the route the party has to follow.





Delegates that are supposed to attend the Extraordinary Congress, Ambassador Khaya Moyo said, have all been communicated to though their provincial chairpersons.





Delegates to the Congress, category-by-category and the numbers, are already known by provincial chairpersons. There is therefore no need for the current shenanigans. Anyone not heeding this directive shall face the full wrath of disciplinary action, he said. Herald
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Jared Kushner's influence in his father-in-law's White House comes under the microscope on the Sunday front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post in separate articles speculating that his role is waning. Both offer up a bevy of reasons Kushner is no longer front-and-center in both photo ops and the presidents inner circle. Per the Times, just 10 months into spearheading the Office of American Innovation, the do-whatever-you-want stage of Kushners tenure is over," largely because a new sheriff is in town. Under White House chief of staff John Kelly, Kushners free reign and access to the president has been limited, with reports he told associates, "Jared works for me." Three advisers to the president also say Kelly has discussed the possibility of ousting Kushner and Ivanka Trump from the west wing by end of year.

Kelly disputed those claims in an interview Friday, followed by an email from the White House in which the president praised Kushners efforts. "Jared is working very hard on peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the last thing I would ever do is get in the way of that possibility," Trump wrote. One possible source of tension: Special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation, which sources tell the Post that the president blames Kushner for its widening scope (the White House denies this.) Kushner has yet to be interviewed by Muellers team. The Post points out that the recent exit of adversaries like Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus may mean Kushners absence from headlines could simply mean he's no longer clamoring for space and can finally put his head down and work. (Read more Jared Kushner stories.)
A Danish mother whose 1997 arrest for leaving her baby outside a New York eatery sparked an international debate about parenting styles says she still feels she was unjustly vilified. My "case that happened 20 years ago is even more relevant today," Anette Sorensen tells the New York Post.. She says American parents "live in fear," and she still wants "to show it's possible to live another way." Sorensen parked her 14-month-old daughter in a stroller outside a restaurant in Manhattan while she and the baby's father, a New York-based playwright, had margaritas inside on a chilly May evening, the AP reports. Sorensen said she repeatedly checked on the blanket-covered baby during the hour they were at the restaurant before a patron summoned police.

The parents were arrested on child-endangerment charges that were eventually dropped. Child welfare authorities briefly took charge of the girl. "I don't think there's any greater punishment than to have your child taken away from you," Sorensen says. The episode sparked outrage from New York, where residents were astounded at the idea of parents depositing a child alone on a sidewalk, to Denmark, where residents were equally stunned by the notion of being arrested for leaving a child unattended for a spell while dining. Sorensen filed a $20 million false-arrest lawsuit against the city. A jury in 1999 awarded her $66,000, rejecting many of her claims but agreeing that she should not have been strip-searched, among other findings. She has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an English translation of a novel she wrote based on her 1997 experience.

(Read more New York City stories.)
Authorities in China detained a woman suspected of abusing children at a Beijing kindergarten run by a US-listed company in a case that has caused nationwide anger. Police in Beijing's Chaoyang district said in a statement Saturday that an investigation into a kindergarten run by Beijing-based RYB Education has led to the criminal detention of a 22-year-old female teacher on suspicion of abusing children. The statement, posted on the district police account on the Sina Weibo microblog platform, identified the woman only by her surname, LiuCNN notes Chinese police often don't provide suspects' full namesand didn't provide further details on her. RYB Education, meanwhile, said it was "extremely shocked and distressed" about the crimes the teacher is suspected of committing. The statement didn't provide details of Liu's alleged abuses.

RYB said it had fired Liu, removed the head of the kindergarten, and is cooperating with further investigations. It also said the company is hiring doctors and psychologists to aid the children who'd been affected, as well as inspecting other branches. The Beijing scandal erupted after local media quoted parents as saying their children were forced to strip as punishment and were found with unexplained apparent needle marks on their bodies. The claims couldn't be independently verified. Chaoyang police said a 31-year-old Beijing woman, who Reuters notes is also surnamed Liu, was detained after admitting to spreading false info about the involvement of a military regiment in sexually abusing the children. The statement said the woman expressed "deep regret" for her actions. RYB and its franchisees operate 1,300 day care centers and nearly 500 kindergartens in 300 Chinese cities.

(Read more China stories.)
Monday is likely to be a chaotic day at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: The federal agency now has two dueling directors, and they both say the law is clearly on their side. Leandra English, who was set to become acting director after the early departure of Richard Cordray, filed a lawsuit Sunday night to block President Trump's appointment of White House budget director Mick Mulvaney to head the agency, the New York Times reports. "The law is clear: Ms. English is acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until the Senate confirms a new director," attorney Deepak Gupta said in a statement. The lawsuit seeks an emergency restraining order against the Trump appointment and a court declaration that English is the agency's director.

The administration is aware of the lawsuit, but "the law is clear: Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Sunday, per CNN. She added that the CFPB's own general counsel agrees with the administration's interpretation of the law, and slammed Cordray for the "stunt" of appointing English as deputy director, which would make her acting director under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that created the agency. The White House says Mulvaney was appointed under a different law, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. Georgetown law professor Marty Lederman tells the Times that the administration's move is "at the very least, contestable." While serving in Congress, Mulvaney voted to kill the watchdog agency, calling it a "sad, sick joke." (Read more Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stories.)
Indonesian authorities ordered a mass evacuation of people Monday from an expanded danger zone around an erupting volcano on Bali that has forced the island's international airport to close, stranding tens of thousands of travelers. Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark gray ash about 9,800 feet into the atmosphere since the weekend. Video released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcano's slopes. The agency raised the volcano's alert to the highest level early Monday and expanded the danger zone to 6 miles in places, the AP reports. It said in a statement that a larger eruption is possible.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people. He said about 40,000 people have evacuated but others have not left because they feel safe or don't want to abandon their livestock. "Authorities will comb the area to persuade them," he said. "If needed we will forcibly evacuate them." Bali's airport was closed early Monday after ash reached its airspace. An airport spokesman said 445 flights were canceled, stranding about 59,000 travelers. The closure is in effect until Tuesday morning though officials said the situation will be reviewed every six hours.

(Read more volcano stories.)
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, who represented South Africa, won the Miss Universe crown Sunday. The 22-year-old, who wants to use her reign to champion HIV/AIDS and self-defense causes, was crowned at the AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip, the AP reports. "HIV/AIDS is a very big problem in my country South Africa, so I hope to stand as an advocate for that," she said to reporters after the event. She is the second woman from her country to earn the crown. The runner-up was Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, while the second runner-up was Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett.

Nel-Peters is from the coastal South African community of Sedgefield in the Western Cape province. She helped develop a program to train women in self-defense in various situations after she was robbed at gunpoint a month after she was crowned Miss South Africa. Steve Harvey returned as the show's host despite botching the 2015 Miss Universe crowning. On Sunday, he poked fun at his mistake throughout the night. Harvey told the audience he is "grateful for the Oscars," referring to the best-picture flub at this year's Academy Awards. This year's edition of the decades-old pageant had a record 92 participants, included the first-ever representatives from Cambodia, Laos, and Nepal.

(Read more Miss Universe stories.)
News / National

by Staff reporter

War veterans' leader Christopher Mutsvangwa said the former Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) director, Happyton Bonyongwe and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri should be held accountable for human rights violations they committed when they were under the former President Robert Mugabe."When we wanted to show this regime that we the fighters of the liberation were the ones who brought Zanu PF and Mugabe to power and that we were not happy, we became victims of violence which hit the conscience of all Zimbabweans. You all know that two years ago we were tear-gassed and water cannoned by the Zimbabwe regime," Mutsvangwa told journalists in Harare.The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) chairperson, said they were still nursing the wounds from the police brutality."It was a painful occasion and we want people who did that to be still accountable in the fullness of time, but what it also did is that it opened the eyes of the Zimbabwe people as to the extremities to which this regime would go to try to maintain its power," he said.Mutsvangwa said the CIO was also at the centre of promoting corruption and human rights abuses."All the rot which have forced you the people of Zimbabwe to suffer so much, the CIO should have been vigilant. All the problems which have finally forced the Army which is normally there to just protect the boarders to intervene in national politics would have been corrected if the CIO and the police had done their job and we are saying you were derelict on duty Bonyongwe (former CIO boss) as Mugabe was," said Mutsvangwa.
The Chicago Tribune described it as a "highly unusual move": An Illinois woman was granted bond by appellate court judges last year after beginning a four-year prison term related to the death of her severely disabled adult daughter . Now, just days before Bonnie Liltz was to report back to prison, she apparently took her own life. Liltz pleaded guilty in May 2016 to involuntary manslaughter, claiming she was worried about what would happen to Courtney, 28, if Liltz's own health issues killed her; NBC Chicago reports she had ovarian cancer at age 18, and it caused serious and lingering intestinal issues. "I felt the only place she would be safe would be in heaven with me," she told the court . She spent 70 days in prison but was released after her lawyer argued she wasn't receiving the proper medical care.

But Liltz, 57, was ordered to surrender Monday after the state Supreme Court decided not to take up her case; she was found dead Saturday. The Tribune reports police were called to the apartmentthe same one where Liltz put powder from broken-up medicine capsules into Courtney's feeding tubes, then into her own wine in an apparent suicide attemptby concerned family members. "It's a tragic, tragic end," says her attorney, Tom Glasgow, who adds that she did leave a note. "She just didn't want to die in prison." Police say there is no sign of foul play, but an investigation is ongoing. Though they haven't released details, Glasgow said she overdosed on pills, per WGN. Liltz's mother, Gladys, says her daughter got what she wanted: "She's at peace now, in heaven with her daughter." Read more on the case here. (Read more involuntary manslaughter stories.)
Britain's next big royal wedding will involve an American bride. Royal officials announced Monday that Prince Harry is now engaged to American actress Meghan Markle and they will marry next spring, NBC News reports. A statement from Kensington Palace did not disclose the wedding venue, though it said more details will be released in "due course." Markle and the prince started dating last year and made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September. "His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month," the palace statement said. "Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family."

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markles parents," the palace statement said. Royal officials say the couple will live in a London palace, not in Toronto, where Markle is currently based, the BBC reports. Harry, 33, is fifth in line to the throne. Markle, 36, grew up in the Los Angeles area, where parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland say they are delighted by the engagement, the AP reports. Their daughter "has always been a kind and loving person," they say. "To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents." (Almost 500 years ago, one of Markle's ancestors was beheaded on the orders of one of the prince's forebears.)
A New York Times story over the weekend caused such a ruckus that the newspaper has responded publicly. But this one wasn't about politics or sexual harassmentthe story in question was a profile of Ohio resident Tony Hovater, a white nationalist and Nazi sympathizer who took part in the Charlottesville demonstrations. The story depicted Hovater as a fairly typical American outside his Nazi ways, someone who eats at Applebee's and has "Midwestern manners [that] would please anyones mother." The reaction came swiftly, and a tweet from Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com is typical of the criticism: "What the hell is this, @nytimes? This article does more to normalize neo-Nazism than anything I've read in a long time." So many people agreed that national editor Marc Lacey has posted an explanation of the rationale behind the story.

"The point of the story was not to normalize anything but to describe the degree to which hate and extremism have become far more normal in American life than many of us want to think," he writes. Lacey points out that the story described Lovater as a bigot and detailed his Nazi sympathies. ("A Voice of Hate in America's Heartland" was the headline.) "We regret the degree to which the piece offended so many readers," he adds, while defending the need "to shed more light, not less, on the most extreme corners of American life." The story has its supporters, including Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer. "People mad about this article want to believe that Nazis are monsters we cannot relate to," he writes. Until we understand that they are "normal ass white people," we "will continue to be in trouble." (Read more New York Times stories.)
Pope Francis has spoken out about cigarettes, whiners, and a dying babyand on Monday, some Catholics are watching to see if he avoids one subject entirely. The pope has touched down in Yangon, Myanmar, in what is the first visit any pope has ever made to the country. The Catholic population is quite smallabout 650,000but it's another minority population that's in focus: Rohingya Muslims, who have allegedly suffered brutal treatment in the Buddhist-majority country. CNN reports Francis has previously come to the defense of the Rohingya, referring to them his persecuted "brothers and sisters." But Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, described by the Guardian as Myanmar's "most prominent Catholic," has recommended he not even directly use the word "Rohingya." More:

Alternative: The Guardian explains "Bengali" is generally what's used locally, which carries with it the implication that the group consists of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh; one suggested workaround is that Francis use language along the lines of "the people who identify themselves as Rohingyas."

The AP explains the stakes: "Any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic." The AP does note that the trip was scheduled prior to August, when the situation was said to have severely worsened.

"Any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic." The AP does note that the trip was scheduled prior to August, when the situation was said to have severely worsened. One take: CNN quotes Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at Australia's Lowy Institute, whose view is that "clearly the thing that motivated this visit was always a desire to talk about the Rohingya. The question is ... is he going to do that in a way which is less confrontational and engages? Or is he going to say, this is outrageous, these people have a right to be in Myanmar?"

CNN quotes Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at Australia's Lowy Institute, whose view is that "clearly the thing that motivated this visit was always a desire to talk about the Rohingya. The question is ... is he going to do that in a way which is less confrontational and engages? Or is he going to say, this is outrageous, these people have a right to be in Myanmar?" Another take: Rakhine nationalist leader Dr. Aye Maung does see the trip's timing as unusual, and, in suggesting restraint, offers this to the Guardian: "Before the bird sits on the tree branch, the branch doesn't have any vibrations, but when the bird flies out the branch is left swaying."

Rakhine nationalist leader Dr. Aye Maung does see the trip's timing as unusual, and, in suggesting restraint, offers this to the Guardian: "Before the bird sits on the tree branch, the branch doesn't have any vibrations, but when the bird flies out the branch is left swaying." Pre-trip hints: Going into the trip, a Vatican rep not only used the word in a pre-trip briefing but described it as "not a prohibited word." But the AP notes top Vatican diplomat Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin declined to use it when speaking with Vatican media just prior to the trip.

Going into the trip, a Vatican rep not only used the word in a pre-trip briefing but described it as "not a prohibited word." But the AP notes top Vatican diplomat Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin declined to use it when speaking with Vatican media just prior to the trip. What the US thinks: Last week, the US officially declared the situation to be an example of ethnic cleansing. "No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued," said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Read one horrifying account here.

(Read more Pope Francis stories.)
Somewhere out in the great abyss of space, an alien may be jamming to Chuck Berry this very moment. Now, earthlings can buy the very same record. The Washington Post reports that startup Ozma Records is poised to begin shipping copies of the famed Golden Record that NASA sent into space aboard the two Voyager spacecrafts in 1977. The original records, made of copper and coated in gold to withstand the rigors of space, contain the music of Berry, Beethoven, and others, along with various greetings and animal sounds from Earth. The company is accepting orders now at $50, and it expects to start shipping in January. A three-LP box set follows in February, notes Mixmag. (Listen to the "Sounds of Earth" portion here.)

"This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings," then-President Jimmy Carter wrote in a message accompanying the records. "We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations." The aliens would need to be pretty handy, however: NASA didn't send along a device on which to play the records. (Ozma first conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign with the goal of making the record available to the public.)
Count Melania Trump among those surprised that her husband won the presidency. A profile of the first lady at Vanity Fair quotes two insiders who say that Melania gave Donald Trump an ultimatum of sorts: Either run for the presidency or stop brooding about it. "She was very clearly the one who said, 'Either run or don't run,'" says Roger Stone, who paraphrases Melania's message to her husband: "Your friends are tired of this striptease. Every four years you talk about it.'" And with that quasi-encouragement, Trump ran, but Melania wasn't counting on a victory. "She didn't want this come hell or high water," says another source, described as a longtime friend of the Trumps. "I don't think she thought it was going to happen." (In a statement to CNN, the first lady's spokeswoman says Melania is "honored" by her role and that the story is filled with "false assertions.")

The profile goes on to recount her unusual approach to her new role as first lady, including a relatively sparse staff and her decision to remain in New York with son Barron for the first five months of her husband's presidency. But the latter dovetails with what seems to be Melania's No. 1 priority: shielding the 11-year-old (who speaks her native Slovenian) from the media glare. The story provides a mixed view on the relationship between Melania and Donald, with one of her friends saying it is "old news" that they lead largely separate lives. A longtime friend of the president, however, has a warmer picture. "The one who has the most control over Donald is Melania, 100 percent," says Thomas Barrack Jr. "And he listens to her and adores her." (Click for the full profile.)
A reindeer herder describes himself as "dizzy with anger" after freight trains barreled into more than 100 reindeer in Norway over three days, killing 106. Torstein Appfjell, who Sky News reports oversees about 2,000 reindeer, calls the deaths "totally tragic" and frames that toll in that period as "unprecedented." Appfjell says the deadliest day was Saturday, when 65 were killed, reports the AP. Deutsche Welle has this tough detail: Per a documentary filmmaker who was on the scene, some animals were not killed upon impact and had to be shot.

The animals are undertaking their winter migration, which sees them travel from mountainous pastures to the coast in search of food. It's a perilous journey, and deaths are not uncommon. Though Appfjell says train accidents previously killed a maximum of 250 reindeer over 12 months, Deutsche Welle reports a far higher toll, saying 2,000 have lost their lives along the northern railway line over the 2013 to 2016 period. Suggestions that a fence be added along the line have gone nowhere due to a lack of funding, though train drivers have now been told to reduce their speeds in the area. (More than 300 reindeer lost their lives in a very different kind of accident last year .)
Prince Harry and his future wife Meghan Markle made a brief appearance before photographers on the grounds of Kensington Palace hours after their engagement was announced. Harry, wearing a blue suit and tie, said he was "thrilled" and said details about his proposal will come out later, reports the AP. He was then asked if the proposal was romantic, and he replied: "Of course!"

Markle, who said she was "so happy," was wearing an engagement ring for the first time in public. The Guardian quotes ITV's royal editor as saying the 3-diamond ring contains two stones from Diana's collection and one from Botswana, where the two vacationed together. Markle held Harry's hand and rubbed his arm, and they left with their arms around each other. The couple plan to give their first interview later in the day.

(Read more Prince Harry stories.)
South Korea is making sure that North Korean soldiers at the border hear all about the defection of their fellow soldier. The South has been broadcasting news of the defection over loudspeakers installed near the DMZ, reports the Yonhap News Agency. On Sunday, for example, the loudspeakers spread the news about the soldier's lousy nutritiondoctors reported finding large worms inside him. The apparent goal of the low-tech propaganda is to encourage other soldiers to follow suit.

"The news about an elite soldier like a JSA guard having fled in a hail of bullets will have a significant psychological impact on North Korean border guards," a South Korean military spokesman tells the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, per Business Insider. The defector, identified only as a 24-year-old named Oh, continues to recuperate after being shot at least five times during his escape. One thing known about him: He likes the show CSI. (Read more North Korea stories.)
He didn't have a functioning website as of Monday morning, but a retired Marine colonel thinks things are such a mess in the Alabama Senate race he has a shot. With just 15 days before voters go to the polls (his now-working website has a giant countdown), Lee Busby announced his write-in candidacy. The 60-year-old, a former vice chief of staff to John Kelly when the now-White House chief of staff oversaw the Marine Forces Reserve, says he believes the recent controversy surrounding Republican candidate Roy Moore has opened the door for a centrist to run and win. "If this were a military operation, the left flank and the right flank are heavily guarded. I think that gives you an opportunity to run straight up the middle," Busby tells the Washington Post.

Since retiring from the Marine Corps in 2013, Busby has focused on sculpting busts of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Busby, who says he voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and supports repealing ObamaCare, will run as an independent write-in candidate, something Republicans in Washington have been both dreaming about and dreading ever since Moore was first accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with teenage girls. Busby says the accusations against Moore have "created enough distaste" in his mind to disqualify him, but he also said of Moore's opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, "The people of Alabama are not going to be represented by someone who supports a liberal abortion policy." Adding to Moore's rough Monday, a White House official told the AP that the president will not be campaigning on the candidate's behalf. (Read more Alabama stories.)
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

An analyst Amos Ngonyamo has said if President Emmerson Mnangagwa fails to revive the country's economy he will prove to be a fool more worse than former President Robert Mugabe."If Mnangagwa will fail, then he is the dullest president in the world," he said."Robert Mugabe was a revolutionary, the things he achieved were very difficult and needed someone brave to achieve them, Robert was not short of that, he took the bull by the horns and fought for the empowerment of the indigenous black, gave back the land to its rightfully owners, emancipated the blacks through the indigenization policy."He said remember, everywhere in history, wherever radical revolutions occur, there is flow of blood, in Zimbabwe case there wasn't that much flow of blood but suffering came through economic hardship, Mugabe presided over all this until the end."As for Mnangagwa, he comes when all the junky work has been done for him, he has no reason to make enemies because the former president, Robert Mugabe, has already left the nation at another level. What made Zimbabwe get hated through out the west is that we redistributed land, let no one lie to you that its because of human rights abuses or anything else, it is because of the land issue. Now that we have what we want, we can befriend everyone and use them to develop our nation, simply because the ball is already now in our hands," he said."Kana kuri kubhora tisu takahwinha 6 - 0, isu chatava kuda Ku defender chete up to 90 minutes, we won't lose anything by not attacking cz already mutambo ndewedu, but hatingofaniri kusiya defence isina Munhu just to maintain. As Mnangagwa comes in his major task is to maintain and safeguard the gains of independence that our father Robert Mugabe already dished to us in a silver plate."He said if someone's main task is to maintain only it means he has a lot more time to concentrate on other things that might also need attention, the economy needs attention, uniting all Zimbabweans from all walks of life with various perceptions needs attention, improving our politics in terms of democracy needs attention, growing the economy and attracting foreign direct investment needs attention, to mention but a few.
Al Franken apologized today and said he feels "embarrassed" and "ashamed" of his behavior in light of recent accusations of sexual harassment, USA Today reports. At a press conference outside his Senate office as he returned to work, the Minnesota senator told reporters, "To all of you I just want to again say I am sorry. I know there are no magic words I can say to regain your trust and I know that's going to take time. I'm ready to start that process and it starts with going back to work today." Franken also said, "This will not happen again going forward." At least four women have accused Franken of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The first story broke on Nov. 16, when radio personality Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing her during a USO tour, before Franken was a senator. Tweeden also shared a photograph that she said showed Franken grabbing her breasts while she was asleep. Since then, three other women have accused Franken of groping them while posing for photographs, two during his 2008 campaign and one since he joined the Senate. In the press conference, Franken brushed off questions about stepping downCBS News notes he wouldn't speak to how serious an accusation would have to be in order to trigger a senator's resignationbut he did say he would "gladly cooperate" with a Senate ethics investigation. (Read more Al Franken stories.)
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- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
Japanese cosmetics maker Pola apologized for a poster described as racist that was hung on the door of one of its outlets on Saturday barring Chinese customers.

Japanese cosmetics maker Pola apologized for a poster described as racist that was hung on the door of one of its outlets on Saturday barring Chinese customers.

The apology came after Chinese social media users shared a photo of the red-lettered poster, which said, "No entry by Chinese people".

The message was handwritten in Japanese, but is understandable to Chinese readers.

It was not clear where the sign was posted.

"We are sincerely sorry and regret that an inappropriate poster ... has caused unpleasant feelings and nuisance to many people," Pola said in a statement issued on Saturday in Japanese and Chinese on its website in Japan as well as on its account on Sina Weibo.

The company said it had identified the outlet and had the sign removed. It did not specify where the shop was.

"Our company takes this issue seriously. ... We will suspend operations at the shop and punish those responsible as soon as we confirm the facts of the matter," it said.

Chinese netizens questioned the company's sincerity, despite the apology, with many saying the apology was not written in Chinese first.

Some complained there was no apology letter on its official Chinese website, but one was posted on an obscure page on its site.

"It is an apology to the Chinese people, however the company only had a Japanese apology letter on its website at the beginning." Sina Weibo user Xinxiu604 said.

"Do they really think their products are irreplaceable?" asked another Sina Weibo user, Paopaobubbling.

Attempts to reach the company's Chinese office in Shanghai were unsuccessful.
New Delhi :

Pushing the BJPs campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi why his party applauded the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

Modi, who started his high-voltage campaign with a rally in Kutch districts Bhuj town, launched a stinging attack against the Congress party.

You are happy to hug Chinese ambassador, you are clapping on the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Armys surgical strike. But why did you speak up about it? You could have just remained silent, he said.

Gandhi had recently tweeted: Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed.

Also Read| Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017: Supreme Court allows Centre to deploy four companies of CAPF in poll-bound state

The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed by a Pakistan court.

Modi said the election in his home state is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He was addressing a BJP rally in Kutch districts Bhuj town ahead of the first phase of the elections on December 9.

Recently Pakistani court released a terrorist, I cannot understand why these Congress people are clapping here, Modi said in his speech delivered in Gujarati.

He also alluded to allegations by Congress leaders, including the Congress vice president.

This Gujarat son has no stains in his public life. You come to the state and level baseless allegations on the son of the soil... the people of the state will not forgive you, he said.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

Also Read: Gujarat Polls: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani to contest as Independent with Congress' support

Taking a dig at the opposition party, which is making all out efforts to dislodge the long-ruling BJP in Gujarat, Modi asked, When our soldiers... were standing eye-to-eye against the Chinese soldiers for over 70 days, at that time you were hugging the Chinese ambassador here...

For whose benefit did you do this? I am asking you, Modi said, without taking any name.

He referred to the Mumbai 26/11 terror strike and the attack in Uri and asked what was the difference between one government and another, one leader and other.

The meaning of living and dying for the country can be known by the response, Modi said.

They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks, he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress raised questions on the surgical strike in September 2016.

They could not respect Indian Army, they asked questions like none of our soldiers was injured? None of them died? Have you any photo or video evidence? Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan? he said.

When you go to the house of the poor and eat rotis, you ensure that you are filmed, but does that mean that a surgical strike should be filmed? the prime minister asked.

PM Modi addressed a series of campaign meetings on Monday in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The second phase of elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on 14. The votes will be counted on December 18.
New Delhi:

The Centre has been allowed by the Supreme Court to pull out four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal.



The four companies of CAPF will be deployed in poll-bound Gujarat.



A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed to the Centre's plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state.



The apex court had earlier on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for deployment along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states and to the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.



The Calcutta High Court had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling hills.
New Delhi:

The Congress on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to give a lesson on terrorism to a party whose history was full of lives lost in fighting terrorism.

Accusing the BJP of trying to politicise the issue of terrorism, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also questioned Modi over his silence on the issue of corruption.

Surjewala targeted Modi for saying at a poll rally in Gujarat today that the Congress had applauded the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and party vice president Rahul Gandhi hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

At least dont give lessons to a party whose history is replete with sacrifices while fighting terrorists, he told the BJP.

The Congress spokesperson, while talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, hurled several charges and questions at the BJP.

Wasnt the ISI, which is behind terrorist activities in India, brought to Pathankot and Uri by the Modi government after terror incidents there, Surjewala asked.

Also Read | Gujarat assembly polls: PM Modi says Congress applauded Hafiz Saeed's release

Havent terror incidents increased during the (rule of) the Modi government? Hasnt the PDP-BJP government in J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) made separatist and terror sympathiser Asiya Andrabi a poster girl? Wasnt a BJP official found to be an ISI agent, he asked.

He said the entire country was united in its fight against terrorism.

The BJP might see politics in terrorism, but I would like to tell my BJP friends and PM Modi that the history of the Congress is full of martyrdom in fighting terrorism and thousands and lakhs of Congressmen have sacrificed their lives for India, he said.

Surjewala also attacked Modi over corruption in the case of BJP President Amit Shahs son Jay and national security advisor Ajit Dovals son Shaurya, among others.

Also Read | PM Modi in Gujarat says Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins

The prime minister did not fulfil promises made to the people of Kutch in 2013 on providing water to their land, he said, responding to Modis remark that the Congress had stalled water supply to the region.

Why did Narmada water not reach the land of Kutch? Has he (Modi) forgotten that he said in 2013 all dams and canals will be made in 16 months, he asked.

Surjewala believed Modi looked worried while addressing the people of Gujarat.

Modiji was looking worried and agitated. Dont be frightened. Just tell us what happened in 22 years in Gujarat? What happened to Gujarat businesses (after note ban and GST)? Why are traders in Surat and Rajkot, farmers of Kutch-Saurashtra feeling cheated? Just answer these questions, he said.
New Delhi:

Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 covers the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir, where J&K Right to Information Act is in force.

Every public authority is obligated to maintain computerised versions of all records in such a way that it can be accessed over a network anywhere in the country and issued to the person who has requested for information.

Every public authority should provide essential information to the public through various channels of information (including internet) at frequent intervals so that the use of the RTI Act to obtain information can be kept to a bare minimum.

Any person who desires to obtain information shall submit a written or electronic request in English or Hindi or in the official language of the area to the Central Public Information Officer or his/her counterpart at the state level.

No applicant will be required to give any reason for application for request or to provide any personal information except for contact details where it is necessary for the authorities to contact the applicant.

Under normal circumstances, the information requested for will be provided in the form sought for - if a citizen asks for some information in the form of an email attachment, it will be provided unless it causes damage to the original document itself.

Also Read | Know Your Rights: Parents can seek maintenance from their children

The authority will be under no obligation to provide such information that might hurt the sovereignty and integrity of India, information that has been forbidden to share by any court of law, information received under confidence by a foreign Government and cabinet papers.

With the information provided, any citizen will be able to file a case/appeal under the RTI Act.

Contact: Director (IR), Room No. 279A, North Block, New Delhi-110001

Email: osdrti-dopt@nic.in

Under Secretary (IR), Room No. 281, North Block, New Delhi-110001

Email: usir-dopt@nic.in
New Delhi :

Its romance in Austria for Salman-Katrina as they shoot for their most romantic song ever in Austria for Tiger Zinda Hai.

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are the hottest on-screen pair and audiences expected them to bowl them over when they decided to come together again after 5 years. From the trailer to Swag Se Swagat  the two have sizzled together and now Sal-Kat will showcase their breath-taking chemistry in Dil Diyan Gallan  their most romantic track to date.

The romantic song will see Salman woo Katrina in Austria as they do the Waltz. Dil Diyan Gallan makes you believe in love all over again and it sums up the love story of super-spies Tiger and Zoya. The song has been shot across extreme climatic conditions of Austria. While the mountains were difficult to film in because of bone chilling, sub-zero temperatures, the song has turned out to be visually grand since its set in the gorgeous and romantic places of the country.

Director Ali Abbas Zafar sums it up as, It is a passionate, romantic track that captures the beauty of a mature love story. We have filmed Dil Diyan Gallan in an old school, vintage way to bring alive the romance that two mature people share. It comes at a crucial moment in the film and sums up the love story of Tiger and Zoya, who are hardened ruthless spies and their hearts only melt for each other.

YRFs mega action entertainer Tiger Zinda Hai will release on December 22, worldwide.

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New Delhi :

Unusual pair of Siddharth Mallhotra and Manoj Bajpayee will soon appear on silver screen in the upcoming flick aAiyaarya. A candid picture of both the actors was shared by Sidharth Malhotra.

The aIttefaqa star captioned the image and wrote, "The deception ends soon! 2 Months ToA AiyaaryA @BajpayeeManoj @aiyaaryaa.

Even, Manoj Bajpayee shared the picture and wrote "The trickster will have a face.unveiling on republic day. 26th January 2018. #2monthstoaiyaaryaa.

The trickster will have a face.unveiling on republic day. 26th jan 2018.#2monthstoaiyaary pic.twitter.com/n2KouUnrzS a Manoj Bajpayee (@BajpayeeManoj) November 26, 2017

In the flick, both Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee plays the role of Army officers who are strong-minded having completely different views and yet are right in their own ways.

Speaking about his co-star and the film, Manj Bajpayee told to IANS, "Sidharth is a great guy to work with and a great guy to know. We kind of developed some kind of fantastic bond while working forA Aiyaaryaa.

"It is one of the best scripts I have been a part of. It's a story based on true events. It's about military intelligence and the people working for itaa, he further added.

On the other hand, Sidharth Malhotra speaks on working with veteran actor, "Itas the same with Manoj Bajpayee. I think that since Manoj Bajpayee is from theatre he isA purerA as an actor, and he was far more involved in helping me, and making the environment nice and comfortable for me in Aiyaary, even though we have very few scenes together in the filmaa.

Helmed by Neeraj Pandey, Aiyaary is slated to release on Republic Day, 2018.

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London:

Britain's Prince Harry, who is considered as one of the world's most eligible bachelors, is getting married to outspoken American actress Meghan Markle next year after they announced today that they got engaged earlier this month.

The wedding is scheduled for Spring of 2018 and the couple will make Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London their marital home.

"The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle," Clarence House said in a statement on behalf of Harry's father Prince Charles. "The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in duecourse," it adds.

The announcement confirms that the couple had got engaged in London earlier this month and that the 33-year-old fifth in line to Britain's throne had informed Queen Elizabeth II of his intention to marry Markle.

Markle a mixed-race American raised in California, an outspoken full-time actress, and a divorcee makes a surprising addition to Britain's monarchy.

Markle, besides being an actress and model, is a blogger who has written about her heritage on her website, describing herself as biracial, and has been a United Nations (UN) women's advocate.

She has campaigned with the United Nations on gender equality, written in Time magazine about girls' education and the stigma surrounding menstruation, and has travelled to Rwanda as global ambassador for the charity World Vision Canada.

In January, Markle visited India with World Vision to meet girls and women who directly bear the brunt of social stigma associated with periods and how it costs them their right to education.

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace," Clarence House said.

Harry has been dating 36-year-old Markle since July 2016 and there has been increasing speculation of a wedding in the New Year ever since the actress moved her dogs to the UK from her Canadian home in Toronto recently.

Best known for her role in the US legal drama 'Suits', Markle has virtually moved into Kensington Palace and?had been photographed shopping in Chelsea in London last week.

It is unclear if the wedding will be a full church wedding, given that Markle is a divorcee. Historically, Britain's royals have frowned upon such weddings but that changed as the Queen gave her consent in 2005 for Prince Charles to marry Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who was also a divorcee.

The UK bookmaker Ladbrokes had stopped taking bets on the engagement last week and some press reports over the weekend indicated that British Prime Minister Theresa May had "cleared her diary" in expectation of an announcement.

May offered her "very warmest congratulations" to the royal couple. "This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future," she said in a statement.

It had been reported last month that the couple went for tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, which was seen as a meeting to seek the monarch?s blessing for an engagement.

"The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness," the Buckingham Palace said in a statement. Harry's older brother, William, and sister-in-law Kate Middleton said they were "very excited" by the announcement.

"We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together," the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said soon after the announcement today.

Harry and Meghan's spring wedding is widely expected to take place some time in May 2018, soon after William and Kate?s third child is born in April 2018.

According to royal observers in Britain, Markle, who has an African-American mother and a white father and was brought up a Catholic, is unlikely to continue with her acting career once she becomes a part of the country's royal family.

The couple had met through mutual friends in London and have been seen in public together with greater frequency in recent months.

In September 2017, Markle spoke publicly about their relationship for the first time in an interview with 'Vanity Fair' magazine and said they were "really happy and in love".

Markle's parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said they were "incredibly happy" with the couple's engagement, adding: "We wish them a lifetime of happiness."

"Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents," they said. "We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

She is also a global ambassador for World Vision Canada and owns her own clothes line, Meghan Markle Collection.

In 2015, Prince Harry was named as the world's most eligible bachelor after he ousted George Clooney from that slot, British media reported.

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New Delhi :

Roopal Tyagi who had earlier acted with Piyush Sahdev in the show 'Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke' says, itas not good to judge someone without knowing the entire picture.

Piyush was arrested by the Mumbai police after a girl, who said to be a model, filed a case against him. The Versova police have kept him in custody until November 27, and post that his case will move towards the judicial proceedings.

Roopal Tyagi said, "I donat exactly know what has happened. As far as I know Piyush, he was a professional co-star.. co-operative and easy to work with. Havenat been in touch with him post my show. I just hope and pray Gossip mongers to not jump to conclusions without knowing the entire pictureaa.

Recently, Kushal Tandon also spoke over the issue and said, aThis is a matter of somebodyas life. His career, reputation, familya everything is at stake. I feel this matter needs to be investigated thoroughly. There are so many laws now made for the protection of women and rightly so, but they should not be misused. From what I hear, Piyush was living in with this woman for the last two monthsaa.

aaThis is not some random person he suddenly met. Nobody knows what transpired between the two. All I can say is that in any such case, we should wait for the police to investigate and the courts to decide, rather than jumping to conclusions about a personas characteraa, he further added.
New Delhi:

The RJD and Congress MLAs on Monday staged a protest against Nitish government outside Bihar Assembly in Patna on the first day of the winter session.

The legislators shouted slogan against the government, alleging corruption and lawlessness in the state.

While holding placards, the legislators accused the JD (U)-BJP coalition government of corruption and demanded chief minister Nitish Kumar'sA resignation.

On Sunday, JD (U) leader Tejashwi Yadav took potshots at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish A Kumar's name not figuring among the star campaigners of the Janata Dal (United) for the assembly polls in Gujarat, where the party is contesting more than 50 seats.

On the first day of winter session RJD & Congress MLAs protest against Bihar govt outside Assembly in Patna; allege corruption& lawlessness in the state. pic.twitter.com/6Sxrx5Mmzz a ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

"This is strange that Nitish was a star campaigner of his party in the Delhi municipal polls. But he is staying away from the poll campaign in Gujarat despite his party contesting more than 50 assembly seats," Yadav said in a statement.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Centre has scaled down RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadavs Z+ VIP security cover of NSG commandos after a recent review, official sources informed on Monday.

Sources said the former Bihar chief minister will now be given Z category security.

The RJD chief will now be guarded by an armed commando squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, the sources said.

After the decision, the National Security Guard black cat commandos will be withdrawn from his security as the NSG only provides Z+ security cover.

The decision was taken after the Union home ministry recently reviewed the threat levels of various VIP protectees, the sources said.

The Z+ CRPF VIP security cover of former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has been withdrawn completely. He will have state police cover now.

The Z cover of Union minister Haribhai P Chaudhary has also been scaled down to Y+, entailing less manpower and other paraphernalia, they said.

The minister of state for coal and mines was accorded the larger security cover of central security forces commandos when he was minister of state for home. (With PTI Inputs)

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The head of RYB kindergarten Xintiandi branch in Beijing and a female teacher suspected of child abuse have been fired, the company announced in a statement on Saturday.

RYB said further investigation at the kindergarten will begin immediately in cooperation with police and authorities.

The kindergarten will also communicate with parents and invite mental health experts to provide help for children involved.

On Wednesday, several parents of Xintiandi kindergarten students, all about 3 years old, reported to police that their children had suspicious marks on their bodies that looked like needle pricks, and that they had repeatedly been given white pills.

Beijing police and authorities said on Saturday a 22-year-old female teacher, surnamed Liu, from Hebei province, had been detained and that a 31-year-old Beijing woman, also surnamed Liu, had been detained on suspicion of spreading rumors about molestation.

The Chaoyang district government had ordered RYB Education to immediately dismiss the head of the kindergarten and punish anyone found responsible.

Officials went to the kindergarten to investigate potential safety risks, and the school was asked to communicate with the parents to make certain the children were safe, according to the Chaoyang government.

The education commission of Beijing's Chaoyang district, which oversees the kindergarten, strongly condemned the situation and asked districts and kindergartens concerned to cooperate with judicial authorities for improvements.

"We consider this an extreme case in which children were harmed, generating serious social repercussions," a spokesman for Chaoyang district government said.

A thorough investigation was conducted in Chaoyang to verify kindergartens' qualifications, the district government said.

The Ministry of Education has begun an inspection of kindergarten management nationwide and has told local education authorities to take measures to improve teachers' morality and tighten supervision, according to a news release on Thursday.

Last year, RYB Education was China's largest early years education service provider by revenue, according to industry analysis consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

On Friday, shares in the company plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange by 38 percent by the close of trading, almost wiping out the company's 44 percent gains since it went public in September.

This has been the third reported child abuse case this month. On Nov 13, Shanghai police detained a person surnamed Zheng who was in charge of a day care center where staff were caught on camera abusing toddlers. Three other staff members were detained, according to Shanghai police.

At about the same time, Golden Cradle Education and Technology Group, which has more than 700 kindergartens and schools nationwide, became involved in a similar accusation as parents said teachers at one of its kindergartens in Beijing abused children. Police are investigating, but no details have been released.
New Delhi:

Noted historian Ramchandra Guha on Monday took to Twitter to express his discontent over the "unprovoked rudeness" by staff of low-cost carrier IndiGo.

"Three times this time, I have been subject to unprovoked rudeness by an @IndiGo6E staffer. Different people, different airports, same airline. Absolutely shocking," Guha tweeted.

He said he does not normally use Twitter as a means of consumer redressal, but did so as the same airline misbehaved thrice in a single week.

"Friends and family also confirm that rudeness has become a habit with @IndiGo6E," he said. The airline declined to comment on Guha's allegations.

Earlier this month, IndiGo was at the centre of a controversy after a video showing one of its staff members allegedly manhandling a passenger went viral.

The outrage over the incident forced the airline to apologise, while in a report to the ministry of civil aviation it also maintained that the employee was doing his job.

The government has also asked regulatory body Directorate General of Civil Aviation to probe the incident.

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New Delhi:

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking a CBI probe into the lynching of 17-year-old Junaid Khan, who was stabbed to death on a train in June.

On November 17, the HC had reserved its order on the petition filled by the family of Junaid Khan seeking transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Earlier in the month, the CBI had also informed the High Court that it cant take over the investigation into the lynching of Junaid Khan as the charge sheet has already been filed by the Haryana Police.

Also Read | Junaid Khan killing: Prime accused worked as guard in Delhi, relative helped him getting job in Maharashtra

The Central investigation agency in its reply to the High Court had said, State Police of Haryana is well equipped and has the requisite resources at its command to conduct investigation of the case properly under supervision of senior officers. The case has, in fact, been chargesheeted by Haryana Police, with six accused having been arrested, out of which two are still in judicial custody.

Junaid, on board a Mathura-bound train, was stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers, was returning home to Khandawli village after shopping for Eid in Delhi in June this year.

His body was dumped close to Asaoti village in Faridabad and the trial is going on in a court in the district.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi :

Hadiya alias Akhila Ashokan, a 24-year-old woman from Kerala who converted to Islam to marry a Muslim man, on Monday told the Supreme Court that she wants freedom.

The Supreme Court directed Hadiya to resume her studies in Tamil Nadus Salem. The dean of the Salem-based college has been appointed as her guardian. The bench directed college and university concerned to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facility.



Her deposition began after the apex court in its last hearing on October 30 said, Hadiyas consent as an adult is prime. The top court wanted to ascertain her views on her marriage to Muslim man.

Kerala womans decision to convert to Islam to marry has instigated a countrywide debate over love jihad.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra while interacting with Hadiya asked her about her school, why she chose medicine as her study, what she does during her free time, what were her hobbies during her college days.

Replying to the top courts question on if she would like to continue her studies on state expense, she said, I want to but not on state's expense. I will when my husband can take care of me.

The bench has directed the Kerala Police to provide adequate security to Hadiya and ensure she travels to Salem at the earliest. The top court also directed the state of Tamil Nadu to provide protection to Hadiya.

Also read: Nobody forced me to convert, want to live with husband, shouts Hadiya before leaving for Delhi



However, Hadiyas father K M Ashokan and National Investigation Agency (NIA) have contended that Hadiya had been indoctrinated by radical groups and her consent was not free.

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New Delhi:

A team of doctors performed a rare surgery and removed coins, shaving blades from a mans stomach in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh.

Of late, the doctors removed 5 kg iron objectsa chain, as many as 263 coins and shaving blades--from the stomach of one, 32-year-old Mohammed Maqsood, who hails from Sohaval in Satna district.

The doctors said that the man is not in good frame of mind.

After complaining stomach pain, Maqsood was admitted to the state-run Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Rewa on November 18.

Dr Priyank Sharma, attached to the Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (SGMCH), told that they identified the cause behind Maqsood's stomachache after conducting tests and through an x-ray.

He said a team of six doctors surgically removed 10-12 shaving blades, four big needles, a chain, 263 coins, besides pieces of glasses--collectively weighing 5 kg, from the stomach of Maqsood on Friday.

He said Maqsood had been treated for six months in Satna before he was brought to Rewa.

The patient was not in a good frame of mind and it seems he swallowed these objects secretly," Dr Sharma said, adding that Maqsood is doing well and is currently under the observation of a team of experts.

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New Delhi:

To ainstill a sense of patriotism among the youth,a Madhya Pradesh Education Minister Vijay Shah on Sunday decreed that from now onwards, the students in all government schools shall answer their roll-call with aJai Hinda instead of "Yes Sir", "Yes Ma'am.

aFrom now in Govt schools during attendance call, students will reply with 'Jai Hind' instead of 'Yes sir' or 'Yes Madam'. This will instill a sense of patriotism among the youth.I don't think anyone will have an objection to it,a Shah told news agency ANI.

The Education Minister was addressing a gathering of NCC cadets on the occasion of National Cadet Corps Day when he made this announcement.

Earlier, the system of answering roll-call with aJai Hinda was implemented in the government schools of Satna district as an experiment from October 1.

The bizarre order came days after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhanas said that people of India should use words aMataa for mother and aPitaa for father.

From now in Govt schools during attendance call, students will reply with 'Jai Hind' instead of 'Yes sir' or 'Yes Madam'. This will instill a sense of patriotism among the youth.I don't think anyone will have an objection to it: Vijay Shah,Madhya Pradesh Education Minister pic.twitter.com/l50eJneXLp a ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

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Patna:

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav defended his son Tej Pratap Yadav over his remark to scalp Prime Minister Narendra Modi alive for downgrading his fathers security.

The RJD supremo said, I disagree with my sons language but not his sentiments. Any sons blood will boil if he comes to know someone is conspiring against his father.

He added, I dont approve for his act. I have spoken to him to not speak anything like this again.

Lalu Prasad Yadav also added, If Narendra Modi thinks I will be scared, I wont. All people, including children of Bihar will protect me.

Tej Prataps comment came in response to a question over withdrawal of Lalu Prasad's Z-plus VIP security cover by the Centre.He said, A murder conspiracy is being hatched against my father. We will scalp Narendra Modiji alive.

Also read: Centre scales down Lalu Prasads security cover, withdraws Z+ category

He also said, If anything happened to Lalu Prasad, PM Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would be held responsible.

Also read| I am no terrorist, Sushil Modi should continue with sons marriage function without fear: Tej Pratap Yadav

Suresh Sharma, BJP leader and Minister in Bihar, said "Only a mentally unstable person will make such statements. Lalu Prasad Yadav in past had made outlandish remarks but never crossed the line like this."

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New Delhi:

Scientists in Australia have successfully bred baby coral on the Great Barrier Reef to prove that the World Heritage Site can still survive in the face of increasing environmental pollution.

The Southern Cross University project has raised the concern of restoring damaged coral populations.

The larvae were returned to the wild and placed on to reef patches in underwater mesh tents, with 100 surviving and growing successfully.

Coral eggs and sperm were collected from Heron Island's reef during last November's coral spawning to produce more than a million larvae.

The lead project researcher and Southern Cross University professor Peter Harrison, who discovered mass coral spawning in the 1980s, says the results are very promising.

The success of this new research not only applies to the Great Barrier Reef, but has potential global significance, Harrison said.

It may [also] be one of the answers to some of the problems in the Great Barrier Reef. Its a glimmer of hope.

The project has the ability to restore damaged coral populations and has seen similar success in the Philippines where blast fishing using explosives to kill schools of fish has destroyed coral.



Coral bleaching badly affected reefs of Kimberley, study finds Read moreThe Great Barrier Reef Foundation managing director, Anna Marsden, said the research is an important step for the reef, but one that should not lessen the strong action needed against climate change.

There is much more to be done, but this is definitely a great leap forward for the reef, and for the restoration and repair of reefs worldwide, she said.

Its time to be bold and take some calculated risks because thats the way well make a change in how we can help restore our coral reefs.

The team returned to Heron Island in November to collect further coral eggs and sperm for the next step in the project.

Also Read: Great Barrier Reef in danger: UNESCO raises serious concerns over frequent coral bleaching

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New Delhi:

Researchers from the University of Western Australia have found out that male dolphins offer several gifts to females such as marine sponges and perform acrobatic stunts in order to mate.

Scientists from UWAs School of Biological Sciences, the University of Zurich and Murdoch University conducted a decade of boat-based research on coastal dolphins across north-western Australia.

It's the first time that such sort of behaviour has been documented in this species.

The first observation was conducted between a male, female dolphin and a calf. The male dived to the seafloor for marine sponge, balanced it on his beak and pushed it towards the female.

Lead author Dr Simon Allen from UWAs School of Biological Sciences, claimed that the findings suggested an advanced level of social complexity in humpback dolphins.

We were at first perplexed to witness these intriguing behavioural displays by male humpback dolphins, but as we undertook successive field trips over the years, the evidence mounted, Dr Allen said.

Co-author Dr Stephanie King said that sometimes large adult male dolphins also appeared to be working together in pairs.

Dr Allen and other researchers spent 10 years examining the behaviour. They now hope to demonstrate whether the efforts of the male are actually successful by examining behavioural observations and genetics.

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New Delhi:

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said he is keen to have Apple in India but the company has to submit specific proposals on investment.

While talking to the Indian Express, he said, We are very keen to have Apple here and ensure that their application is processed on time. So let them come with specific proposals on investment and it will be taken up with the line ministry (MeITY) for further action.

On asked if any special dispensation is being planned for the given pre- conditions that Apple presented, he said, Let a specific proposal come from them and it will be sent to the relevant ministry for examination.

He also talked about Indias position on public stock-holding of food grain at the upcoming World Trade Organizations (WTO) ministerial meet that will be conducted in December in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

We are very clear that our policies on public stock-holding are going to stay. We already have a permanent peace clause which protects Indias food procurement programmes against penal action from WTO members, if in case subsidy ceilings are exceeded. If we get a better solution than this, we will of course be more than happy to push for it. But until then, even with the current arrangement, our public procurement wont get affected at all, and we wont compromise on this issue either, he said.

Also Read: Prabhu asks US to ease H1B visa norms else its economy will find it difficult to cope with reality

He spoke about Indias service sector and how it attracts employment. We have some advantage in services trade, which will grow faster than goods trade in future and the services sector is very employment-intensive as well, said Prabhu.

Also Read: Suresh Prabhu says number of train accidents gone down during his tenure

He also spoke about the neutralization of taxes on exports after the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He said, After the launch of the GST, the taxes on exports will be neutralized by and by. Initially, there was a bit of problem because of the delay in refunds; once thats settled, exports will benefit from the GST regime in a big way.
Washington:

Ivanka Trump, the advisor and daughter of US President Donald Trump, has said the Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by India and America is a testament to their growing economic and security partnership.

Ivanka will be leading a delegation of senior Trump administration officials and entrepreneurs at the three-day Summit in Hyderabad beginning Tuesday.

To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 1200 young entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are women, from 127 countries would attend the summit.

In addition, some 300 investors and ecosystem supporters are also attending the mega event.

The worldas largest gathering of young entrepreneurs is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

It is aa testament to the strong friendship between our two people and the growing economic and security partnership between our two nations,a Ivanka Trump told reporters during a preview of her India visit.

Ivanka, 36, has travelled to India before, but this is her maiden trip to the country as a senior presidential advisor.

Accompanied by several top administrations official, a large number of Indian Americans are part of her delegation, which numbers 350 from 38 states.

ALSO READ | Ivanka Trump: Global Economic Summit is testament to US-India friendship

Prime Minister Modi had personally invited Ivanka to participate in the GES, which is being held in India for the first time, when he travelled to the US in June.

This yearas summit theme, aWomen First, Prosperity for Alla, demonstrates the Trump administrationas commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, she told reporters last week.

Five per cent of entrepreneurs at GES are 30 years or younger. The youngest entrepreneur is 13 and the oldest entrepreneur is 84.

Ivanka said she aims for this summit to serve as an open and collaborative environment for the exchange of ideas, to broaden networks, and to empower entrepreneurs to take their ideas and passion to the next level.

aThe US and India will continue to work together to increase economic opportunities and inclusive growth. I very much look forward to my visit and to seeing Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Swaraj once again,a she said.

The summit would also be the first major engagement of the new American Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

aAmazing first week in India! Thanks so much for the warm welcome. Looking forward to exploring this fascinating country. Excited to begin my journey in Hyderabad at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit!a he tweeted last week.

ALSO READ: Ivanka Trump to lead US delegation to Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017

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China's first Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic based on an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnosis system opened in Zhejiang Province on Saturday, November 25, 2017, zjol.com.cn reported.

Using AI technology containing a large number of clinical cases from experienced TCM practitioners, the 4,500-square-meter clinic in the historic town of Wuzhen is the first of its kind in China.

After a human doctor inputs a patient's condition, the system can deliver a diagnosis and write a fundamental prescription based on cases in its huge database. The human doctor can then modify the prescription to make it suitable for the patient.

"The platform allows doctors to receive back up from famous TCM masters from both ancient and modern times," said Nie Rong, chief designer of the program.

Apart from a diagnosis, the platform helps to facilitate the dispensing process. It can automatically prepare convenient traditional medicines within 10 minutes.

TCM physicians can also take advantage of the system to consult with other doctors.

China is making efforts to increase data sharing between hospitals to improve the country's healthcare system.
New Delhi:

Pakistan's Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid reportedly tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday.

Nearly 2,000 activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) staged a sit-in in Islamabad demanding the removal of Hamid for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017. They alleged the action undermined Islamic beliefs and linked it to blasphemy.

"I was not directly responsible for the introduction of the controversial amendment to the Finality of Prophethood declaration for electoral candidates," said Hamid.

Hamid further said that he had decided to step down in order to restore peace in the country.

The resignation came as part of an agreement reached between the government and the protesters. The deal came after a two-day face-off in Islamabad and other parts of the country between protesters and security forces that saw at least six people killed and hundreds injured.

With PTI inputs

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From a television commercial that gives a humorous twist to a theme parkas impending closure to hotels staffed by robots, tactics to capitalize on company outings, and ads featuring Japanese pop idols and actors a theme parks in Japan are squeezing their creative juices to attract more first-time visitors and repeaters through avant-garde ways.

Firms in the sector are hoping to ride the momentum of the expanding domestic theme park market, which marked another record in 2016 in terms of size, thanks partly to an increase in foreign visitors to Japan.

The Space World amusement park in Kitakyushu will close by the end of December. The self-deprecatory take on its demise, as seen in its commercial, has caught public interest.

The commercial (bit.ly/spaceworldCM) goes something like this: While a melancholic piano melody is played in the background, a male executive, who stands at the center of around 100 workers, says aloud, "Nakunaruyo!" which means in Japanese "It will be gone," in this case in connection with the park's closure.

The people around him then raise their fists and say with a smile, "Zen-in shugo!" (Everyone gather!) The ad is a parody of a hugely popular live comedy show aired on the Tokyo Broadcasting Station TV network from 1969 till 1985, titled "Hachijidayo! Zen-in Shugo" ("It's 8 o'clock! Everyone Gather").

The Space World amusement park will be closing at the end of 2017, its operator said last December.
In the first surgery of its kind worldwide, an 84-year-old Chinese man has received knee surgery using 3D printing technology to fill large bone defects with tantalum, a rare metal, at a hospital in Chongqing Municipality, reported cqnews.net.

The X film before operation. [Photo: WeChat]

As the incidence of arthritis among people aged from 50 to 59 has reached 62 percent, the first hospital affiliated to AMU (southwest hospital) now performs about 400 knee replacement surgeries annually, according to reports.

"Total knee replacement is the most effective way to treat late-stage knee diseases, as it can reduce the pain for patients and improve their quality of life," said Yang Liu, a professor at the hospital.

However, bone defects may occur around the joint due to post-operative infections or other reasons. The shape of the bone defects varies greatly, and existing modular metal cannot correct the defects.

Tantalum is used in dental and surgical implants; however, titanium alloy is more commonly used as the high melting point of tantalum exceeds the limit of most 3D printers available.

Porous tantalum has been developed to solve the technical problem. Tantalum pads are individually designed for patients by computer-aided design and precise 3D-printing technology.

The surgery is greatly simplified, avoiding many possible risks. Mr. Zhang, who received the knee surgery was able to complete some basic movements on the first day after his surgery and is expected to leave the hospital in just four to five days.
Chinese leaders and mainstream scholars always like to express respect for the diversity of civilizations, and mutual inclusiveness of and mutual respect for them  unlike the Western approach of sometimes seeing clashes in this regard.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech entitled "Work Together to Build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind" at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 18, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

The report of the 19th CPC National Congress urged replacement of "estrangement with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and superiority with coexistence" in handling relations among civilizations.

As has often been stressed, this approach had served to maintain China's sound relations with countries of different cultural backgrounds, and particularly those in the Islamic world, and will now serve Chinese efforts to build a community of a shared future for all humanity.

Respecting the diversity of civilizations should be universal, but what it actually means could vary in different periods of history. During Jiang Zemin's and Hu Jintao's eras, China, instressing the concept, actually meant that the West should respect other civilizations, especially that of China.

Chinese leaders would always emphasize this principle while talking with Western politicians, and would always have the saying that different development patterns and roads nations chose to follow should be respected. During those periods, China's development road was not sufficiently recognized or respected.

Recent years witnessed a tacit change. It seems that China attaches more importance to the respect for Islamic civilization, now. As is evident, China's leaders mentioned the concept mostly in meeting leaders from Islamic countries.

President Xi Jinping talked about the concept in his speech marking the opening of China-Arab Cooperation Forum in 2014. He also mentioned it during his January 2016 visit to three Middle East countries.

Islamic civilization has contributed to human development in general during a long history of interaction. Islamic civilization should always be worthy of respect, even though the Islamic world, especially Arab countries, have been frustrated in their modernization, and religious values have been frequently distorted and misinterpreted.

China has been abiding by the principle of diversity all through its history. It is out of its cultural traditions of being inclusive and tolerant, and in return, China's relations with the Islamic world have proved to be sound and this will continue.

This principle firstly has served as a cornerstone in the relations between China and Islamic countries in the era of fighting against terrorism. The West at large always blames terrorism on religion, with former U.S. President George Bush describing the American post 9/11 fight against terrorism as a "Crusade," a word with negative connotations in the Arab world.

In contrast to Western approach, China had always made some differentiation. While expressing on different occasions and at different levels that China opposes terrorism of any kind, China clearly opposes the arguments linking terrorism to a certain religion.

It is because of this differentiation that many Middle East leaders and scholars describe China is a trustworthy partner.

Respecting diversity will also serve to jointly construct the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle East and other parts of the Islamic world.

Western researchers often pose the question in academic discussions as to how China will deal with security issues regarding the implementation of the BRI. It is reasonable they raise such questions since Many western companies and institutions are always targets of various kinds of attacks.

Though Chinese companies and institutions had not been immune to violence in the broader Middle East, generally speaking, the frequency has been much lower, considering how intensively China is involved economically in the Middle East in the last decade.

What's more, China received a lot of assistance from local people in its evacuation of Chinese personnel both in Libya and Yemen in 2011 and 2015 respectively. China also got help from a large variety of local factions in several of its efforts rescuing hostages in the last decade.

It is true there are a lot of conflicts in the Middle East, but it is also true that very few of the conflicting parties would like to take Chinese companies or institutions as targets. And they even proved to be willing to provide assistance in emergencies.

All these benign interactions could be attributed to the principle of respecting diversity. And this should be solid foundation for China to push forward Belt and Road construction jointly with Islamic countries, particularly in security cooperation.

The respect for diversity of civilizations will also serve to build a community of shared future for humanity. Different civilizations make up the colorful world, and the spirit of respecting diversity will be indispensable in building a shared community for all civilizations.

Mutual exchange and learning between the Chinese and Islamic civilizations will be of special significance. Together, they comprise a population of more than three billion, three-sevenths of the world total.

All in all, respecting the diversity of civilizations, as one characteristic of China's foreign policy, is part of a strong Chinese tradition of inclusiveness, tolerance and harmony. It not only has served to guide China's policy toward and relations with the Islamic world but also will play indispensable role in building a community of a shared future for all humanity.

Dr. Jin Liangxiang is deputy director and Senior Research Fellow with the Center for West Asian and African Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/jinliangxiang.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.








The year isn't over yet, but it looks like air travelers are having fewer things to complain about in 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

From January to September of this year, passengers filed 1,434 complaints related to customer service. That's 52 less than in 2016.
It's no surprise that a place nicknamed "Sin City" would land at number one on a list of the most sinful cities in the U.S. What's less obvious are the Connecticut cities that also got a spot on the list.

Financial site WalletHub analyzed 182 cities to determine the most sinful cities in the country and New Haven and Bridgeport made the cutalbeit not too high in the rankings. New Haven came in at 101 out of 182 and Bridgeport at 157.
Five words I never thought Id write: I feel sorry for Dannel Malloy.

Sure, weve had our differences. And yeah, the governor does have the personality of a porcupine and the disposition of a bully, sometimes. But the man is not evil and he doesnt deserve whats happening to him now. Nor do we.

Our governor is a lame duck. Because hes announced hes not running for re-election, he has the political clout of a used teabag. And even though hes our states leader for another 11 months, nobody cares about him or his ideas any longer.

Legislative leaders declared him irrelevant during the budget negotiations, ignoring his ideas and then handing him a billion-dollar problem. Sure, they met for weeks and hammered out a compromise budget, but it wasnt balanced unless the governor specified over $1 billion in cuts.

Lawmakers didnt have the guts to order the cuts themselves. They made Malloy do it so he would take the blame, not them. So when the governor cut municipal aid, social services and education, our lawmakers feigned shock and anger.

More importantly, whatever happened to the governors (and our) transportation dreams? What became of Lets Go CT , his 30-year, $100 billion plan to rebuild our roads and rails? Its pretty derailed, like his political clout.

Sure, legislators scraped together a few million to ramp up the grand plan. And about $5 million to do more studies on widening I-95 and improving rail service. But our states Special Transportation Fund (STF) is going to run out of money within a year or so if we dont find new funding sources. No money in the STF means no new projects, no road repairs and, probably, cuts in mass transit.

None of the new funding ideas for transportation are popular, which is why lawmakers (facing re-election) couldnt pull the trigger on tolls or taxes, knowing there would be no appetite for any added costs to transportation among skeptical voters unless there was a lock box.

Even then-candidate Malloy broke his own promise to not use the STF like a petty cash box to balance the budget. Which is why he pushed hard to safeguard those funds from future governors: with a lock box we would know that our tolls and taxes could only be spent on transportation.

Tolls could bring in $62 billion over 25 years, 20-30 percent of that revenue coming from out-of-state residents. Imagine what that money would do for our roads and mass transit.

Yes, lawmakers did vote to move the lock box idea to a 2018 referendum. But the Democrats lock box is no more than a sieve to Republicans who think it can be picked with a bobby pin.

Without a lock box, nobody will support new revenue. And without money, the STF will be bone dry in a few years and Malloys transportation dreams will be dead.

Somewhere in Hartford, maybe at the State Library, I imagine theres a special room where plans like Lets Go CT go to die. I envision that room as stacked ceiling to floor with scores of multi-million-dollar consultant studies on how to fix our transportation crisis. A few have been read. Fewer still acted upon. Almost none have been funded.

So yes, I feel sorry for Dannel Malloy. But mostly I feel sorry for us.
 Flash

Red tourism sites have attracted more visitors in recent years and are receiving huge investment from the country. (Photo/Xinhua)

Mao Haofu, 28, has returned from studying in Britain to his hometown in Ciping in East China's Jinggangshan city, which was the first rural revolutionary base established in 1927 by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

He is now an on-site teacher at Jiangxi Executive Leadership Academy. Although most tourists are Chinese, he is prepared to tell the Party's story in English.

He has been influenced by his father and grandfather, both masters of Party history, as well as his colleagues who have devoted themselves to teaching despite poor living conditions.

"I felt a sense of achievement when I saw more foreign officials come to our academy. They were keen to know more about our country," he said.

Kuang Sheng, vice president of the China Executive Leadership Academy of Jinggangshan, said the world is eager to know more about the CPC and the Chinese path and experience, as China offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving problems.

To introduce the former residence of Comrade Mao Zedong, Mao Haofu studied materials in a local museum and the authoritative English versions of the works of Mao Zedong, rather than directly translating the tour guide introduction.

The Jinggangshan Mountains are known as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army, and the cradle of the Chinese revolution.

Liu Hong, Party chief of Jinggangshan, said that the city is developing an open economy led by tourism. It has been visited by delegates from several foreign countries, including Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and African countries.

Liu said a leader of an African delegation told him that China's experience in helping people get rid of poverty were worth learning from.

Mao Haofu, 28, has returned from studying in Britain to his hometown in Ciping in East China's Jinggangshan city, which was the first rural revolutionary base established in 1927 by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

He is now an on-site teacher at Jiangxi Executive Leadership Academy. Although most tourists are Chinese, he is prepared to tell the Party's story in English.

He has been influenced by his father and grandfather, both masters of Party history, as well as his colleagues who have devoted themselves to teaching despite poor living conditions.

"I felt a sense of achievement when I saw more foreign officials come to our academy. They were keen to know more about our country," he said.

Kuang Sheng, vice president of the China Executive Leadership Academy of Jinggangshan, said the world is eager to know more about the CPC and the Chinese path and experience, as China offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving problems.

To introduce the former residence of Comrade Mao Zedong, Mao Haofu studied materials in a local museum and the authoritative English versions of the works of Mao Zedong, rather than directly translating the tour guide introduction.

The Jinggangshan Mountains are known as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army, and the cradle of the Chinese revolution.

Liu Hong, Party chief of Jinggangshan, said that the city is developing an open economy led by tourism. It has been visited by delegates from several foreign countries, including Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and African countries.

Liu said a leader of an African delegation told him that China's experience in helping people get rid of poverty were worth learning from.

Red tourism sites have attracted more visitors in recent years and are receiving huge investment from the country.

China's National Development and Reform Commission has encouraged more efforts to preserve revolutionary sites and released a list of red tourism sites in 2015.

In 2016, a total of 1.55 billion yuan (about $228.3 million) was spent to support "red tourism," according to the Ministry of Finance.

At another revolutionary site, Xibaipo, in Pingshan County of north China's Hebei Province, Duan Keqian, a tour guide of the Xibaipo Memorial Hall, was busy preparing an English version of her speech.

Xibaipo is an old revolutionary base where the leadership of the CPC was garrisoned from May 1948 till early 1949, drawing up the blueprint for a new country and preparing for the CPC's new role as the ruling party.

"We have been really busy in the last month, but are happy to introduce more information to our audience," said Duan, adding that she has witnessed a growing number of visiting foreign teachers, doctors and business people who work near Xibaipo.

"We have taken exams to qualify as guides. Each of us should focus on a certain field, and I focus on people's daily lives," Duan said. "People will be fired if they get poor regular assessments."

According to Duan, there are about 80 such guides at the memorial hall, as well as at the revolutionists' former residences, working in Chinese, English, Russian, Italian and Japanese languages.

Russian Andrey Lyakh, 45, visited Xibaipo after doing business in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, about a two-hour drive away.

He listened carefully to his interpreter and nodded at times, walking in the yard of the former residences.

"I have heard of Lenin and Mao Zedong since I was a child, and I think they are all great men," said Lyakh. "The site impressed me very much."
CGI continues to expand its network of security operations centers worldwide to address the increasing demand for protection in the face of ever-evolving cyber attacks

SULZBACH, Germany, Nov. 27, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A) has opened a new security operations center (SOC) in Germany to provide commercial and public sector clients with a wide range of global IT security services backed by the support of local, highly qualified cybersecurity experts. The SOC facilitates the comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of an organization's data and systems to proactively identify, recommend and assist in remediation of security risks. Through sophisticated big data capabilities, CGI's cybersecurity experts can uncover hidden patterns of cyber attacks that would otherwise go undetected.

The new Germany SOC is part of CGI's expanding network of SOCs around the world, with each SOC focused on countering today's increasing security threats and challenges. Through these SOCs, CGI detects and analyzes hundreds of millions of cyber attacks each month, and, as a result, CGI's cybersecurity experts have up-to-date knowledge of acute threat situations.

Hundreds of clients around the world and in Germany rely on the CGI's managed security services, including email and anti-virus protection, endpoint protection, incident management, firewall and network security, data encryption, intrusion detection and prevention, as well as defending against denial-of-service attacks. CGI also offers security information and event management as a service. Key components of this offering include active security monitoring and alerting through a comprehensive, transparent and modular approach.

"Today, an organization's success is dependent on an effective IT security strategy more than ever," said Torsten Stra, Senior Vice-President of CGI's operations in Germany. "Based on the findings of in-depth interviews with more than 1,300 business and technology leaders as part of the 2017 CGI Client Global Insights, cybersecurity is a top priority for 74% of leaders interviewed worldwide, up from 62% in 2016. It is a key factor in the digitalization of an organization's business processes and the rapid implementation of its digital transformation strategy. CGI's managed security services support organizations in managing risks in a proactive and holistic manner."

"On average, cyber attacks are detected only after approximately 200 days," explained Frank Reilander, Director of Cybersecurity for CGI in Germany. "Building the necessary infrastructure and hiring highly qualified specialists imposes a considerable financial cost on organizations. Specialized IT services providers like CGI can provide the required services more effectively and for less cost. Ideally, we can reduce the time needed to detect an attack down to minutes."

To learn more about CGI's SOCs, watch this video. Also, read CGI's latest cybersecurity research, The Cyber-Value Connection, released this year.

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI is the fifth largest independent IT and business consulting services firm in the world. With approximately 71,000 professionals worldwide, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of high-end IT and business consulting services, systems integration and IT and business process outsourcing services. CGI's client proximity model, best-fit global delivery network, and intellectual property solutions help clients accelerate results and digitally transform their organizations. With annual revenue of C$10.8 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Website: www.cgi.com.

SOURCE CGI Group Inc.

For further information: Investors and media, Lorne Gorber, Executive Vice-President, Global Communications and Investor Relations, [email protected], +1 514-841-3355; Local Media, Sabine Ernst, Media Lead, Germany, [email protected], +49-6196.7742-463

Related Links

http://www.cgi.com/


Innovative wellness therapies such as Earthing put participants in direct contact with nature and are popular in the Central Valley, Caribbean and the Pacific regions. Earthing, which involves physically touching the ground with your hands or bare feet, can be practiced with a short barefoot walk along any one of its many pristine beaches or deep in the mystical rainforests of Costa Rica.

Studies have shown that this method of connecting with the earth allows the body to absorb free electrons which enter the body and act like antioxidantsto neutralize the damage caused by free radicals. Out in the surrounding highlands of the Central Valley region, visitors can discover earth's natural energy with a visit to Irazu, one of two active volcanoes, or to Braulio Carrillo National Park. It has been shown that this type of communion aids in diminishing chronic pain and inflammation, combats fatigue and improves sleep. Visitors to the Osa Peninsula in the South Pacific region, will find a haven of unspoiled beauty, perfect for practicing Earthing.

Forest bathing is a preventative healthcare and healing technique that continues to grow in popularity. It is not actual bathing but the practice of taking a leisurely stroll through a forest as a way to clear the mind and open up the senses. Enthusiasts who visit Costa Rica's magnificent volcanoes, rain forests and tropical landscapes will find plenty of options to put mind to nature.

Arenal Volcano National Park, found in the Northern region, is home to 75 percent of Costa Rica's bird population and provides visitors with endless opportunities for connecting with nature. Unlike traditional nature walks or hikes through a park or forest, Forest bathing therapy involves using the senses to bond with the natural environment. The technique simply puts an individual in the moment, by asking the participant to "be here now." A number of studies have shown a significant positive impact from Forest bathing, indicating benefits such as lowered cortisol levels (the stress hormone), lowered blood pressure and reduced depression.

Monteverde, which sit amongst the clouds high above the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines of Costa Rica, is another tranquil location for Forest bathing. The area has been recognized worldwide for its conservation and preservation efforts, in large part due to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve which border the region. Similarly, Atenas, which is located in Alajuela, is surrounded by lush mountains and coffee plantationsa serene location for calming the mind and taking in the moment. With year-round warm climates and a biodiverse terrain, Costa Rica is the ideal backdrop to be present for this holistic practice.

In addition to novel remedies like Earthing and Forest bathing, visitors will also find alternative choices such as silent retreats, mud baths and thermal mineral hot springs therapy. Visitors interested in experiencing the benefits of mineral baths will find 72 individual hot springs throughout Costa Rica, with the largest concentration found throughout Northern Guanacaste, Central Valley, the Caribbean and Perez Zeledon in the South. It's been reported that the ancient healing powers of a soak in mineral-rich waters helps improve circulation, boosts the immune system and detoxifies.

Whether it's letting the forest guide you into experiencing the moment with all the senses or it's blocking out the noise with a temporary vow of silence, travelers seeking new ways to heal body, mind and soul will find an endless selection in beautiful Costa Rica.

For more information on Costa Rica, visit www.visitcostarica.com

About Costa Rica

Nestled between Nicaragua and Panama, Costa Rica offers visitors an abundance of unique wildlife, landscapes and climates -- meaning a trip to this Central American country is anything but run-of-the-mill. The country proudly shelters approximately five percent of the known biodiversity in the world and has become a global leader in sustainable practices. Visitors to Costa Rica enjoy a highly organized tourism infrastructure offering a broad terrain of activities and accommodations.

About Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT)

Established in 1955, the Costa Rica Tourism Board (the ICT), alongside its partners in the private sector, spearheads the vital task of regulating and promoting Costa Rica's extensive tourism offerings.

SOURCE Costa Rica Tourism Board

For further information: Media Contact: Ines Cano, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications, P: 305-444-4033, [email protected], http://www.visitcostarica.com

Related Links

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Expanding on Physician Assistants in Canada will address the gaps in our healthcare system!

OTTAWA, Nov. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Physician Assistants (PAs) have been proven to play a key role in Canada's health system. In celebration of National PA Day, the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants (CAPA) is calling on governments across the country to expand the role of PAs so that patients can benefit from improved health outcomes, better access to care and reduced wait times at a lower cost to the health system.

New research demonstrates the value that PAs bring to Canadians. Recent reports published by the Conference Board of Canada showcase the benefits that PAs can offer and provide recommendations for their integration across Canada. "The reports demonstrate that PAs can play an essential role in the healthcare system in terms of addressing service delivery gaps in medical care in a cost-effective manner" said Louis Theriault, Vice-President Industry, Strategy and Public Policy, Conference Board. "Our research offers considerations for government on how to introduce and implement PAs into their provincial healthcare systems while saving millions."

PAs are practicing in all specialty settings across Canada: however, many provinces have yet to get on board with PAs. CAPA has published a National Report Card comparing how provinces are faring in comparison to one another, as well as other countries and are asking governments to support the expansion of their role in their respective health systems. In reviewing the findings, Ontario and Manitoba are the clear winners in Canada. Both provinces offer licensing, training and certification of PAs and there is strong stakeholder support including a commitment from government for the development of the profession. Other provinces such as Alberta and New Brunswick are well on their way: however, need to put various steps in place to ensure the growth of the profession. Jurisdictions such as British Columbia, Quebec and the other Atlantic provinces need to catch up with the rest of the country. The US, Netherlands and the UK are way ahead of Canada with implementation and are shining examples for Canada to follow.

With its origins in the Canadian Armed Forces, PAs have been working in Canada's healthcare system for over 40 years. PAs were introduced into Manitoba in 1999, and today they are integral members of healthcare teams in Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta, with nearly 600 PAs practicing throughout the country. Across Europe, including the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, governments are investing in PAs.



In the US, PAs have been practicing for over 60 years, and are among the fastest growing segments of the healthcare workforce; with over 130,000 PAs practicing in virtually every medical specialty. Both the Netherlands and UK governments are fully committed and are going all in on PAs with anticipated dramatic growth over the next few years.

Approximately 4.5 million Canadians do not have access to a primary care provider, and most have great difficulty in accessing medical care in a timely manner; PAs are part of the solution. Through a collaborative partnership with supervising physicians, PAs work independently within a multidisciplinary patient-centered model of care. In this role, PAs can diagnose and treat patients in a manner that allows for a better distribution of time and resources within the team.

"PAs are essential in addressing the health human resource challenges that exist across Canada and are instrumental in improving access to safe high quality medical care in a cost-effective manner" said Trevor Stone, National President, CAPA. "In many jurisdictions, patients, like physicians have come to rely on PAs to expedite care especially in underserved populations. Now is the time to expand on PAs. Patients would be the real winners with improved access and reduced wait times", said Stone.

SOURCE Canadian Association of Physician Assistants

For further information: Natalie St-Pierre, 613-854-0675

Related Links

capa-acam.ca


Discover how "stuff" is put together at the Strange Matter exhibition . Go on an immersive IMAX  Amazon Adventure. Look up to explore the beauty, ecology and majestic depths of Lake Ontario with art installation DEEP BLUE . Put a human face on climate change with Portraits of Resilience: Teens Take on Climate Change. Plus, it's that time of year when the Science Centre puts some "magic" to science yes the Emetts are back! The Ontario Science Centre boasts the world's largest collection of Magical Machines created by British artist and inventor Rowland Emett, and these are only on display over the winter holidays.

"Science matters and so does science literacy," said Maurice Bitran, Ph.D., CEO and Chief Science Officer, Ontario Science Centre. "Every Ontarian should have a basic understanding of how our world works. Something as artful, and creative as origami can demonstrate how science impacts our daily lives and the holiday season is an ideal time to discover the science behind the everyday from the intersection of art and science with Portraits of Resilience: Teens Take on Climate Change, to our world famous collection of Magical Machines by Rowland Emett, the Ontario Science Centre has festive season celebrations down to a science."

Returning Exhibition: Strange Matter

Runs until January 7, 2018 on Level 6 in the Special Exhibition Hall

Free with general admission

#StrangeMatterTO

This hands-on exhibition delves into the world of materials science, or the study of "stuff." A dynamic blend of physics, chemistry and engineering, this field of research studies how things are put together, how they might be improved, or how they can change to create brand new materials. From metals to crystals to magnets to glass, Strange Matter will give visitors the chance to dig into the science behind the materials they use every day. Strange Matter uses science to explore the bizarre world of modern materials and provide a glimpse into where the future of they might take us.

Holiday Feature Installation: The Magical Machines of Rowland Emett

On display from December 16, 2017 to January 14, 2018 on Level 6 in the Rock Paper Science Hall

Free with general admission

It's that time of year when the Ontario Science Centre brings some "magic" to science....yup the Emetts are back!!! The world's largest collection of Magical Machines is on display from December 16, 2017 to January 14, 2018 and is free with general admission.

New Film: Amazon Adventure

Screening in the Shoppers Drug Mart  OMNIMAX Theatre

IMAX films tickets are $9 ( and are not included with general admission)

#AmazonAdventure

AMAZON ADVENTURE traces the 11-year Amazon rainforest expedition of naturalist, explorer and scientist Henry Walter Bates, who provided "the beautiful proof" to Charles Darwin for his then controversial theory of natural selection, the scientific explanation for the development of life on Earth. AMAZON ADVENTURE is a compelling detective story of peril, perseverance and success, drawing audiences into the fascinating world of animal mimicry, the natural phenomenon where one animal adopts the look of another, gaining an advantage to survive. The film's run time is 45 minutes.

Trailer: http://bit.ly/AmazonAdventureFilm

New Art Installation: DEEP BLUE

On display indefinitely on Level 6 in the Living Earth

Free with general admission

Ontario Science Centre celebrates Lake Ontario's beauty, ecology and majestic depths with community-created art installation DEEP BLUE. This stunning, collaborative art installation comprised of more than 2000 origami swans, carp, bass, sturgeon and turtles, depicting the bathymetry of majestic Lake Ontario is a part of the Great Art for Great Lakes initiative to celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial, DEEP BLUE was created by Labspace Studio in collaboration with 12-year-old Great Lakes Trust junior ambassador Daniel Ranger  with help from Science Centre visitors.

New Art Installation: Portraits of Resilience: Teens Take on Climate Change

On display indefinitely on Level 6 in the Living Earth

Free with general admission

The Ontario Science Centre puts a human face on climate change with Portraits of Resilience: Teens Take on Climate Change. This new installation documents the effects of climate change from the perspective of youth aged eight to 16 in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). As residents of geographically distant communities that share characteristics of vulnerability and resilience, these youth are among the first to feel the effects of climate change.

Video: http://bit.ly/PortraitsOfResilience

About the Ontario Science Centre

The Ontario Science Centre, a Centennial project, has welcomed more than 51 million visitors since it opened in 1969, implementing an interactive approach now adopted by science centres around the world. Today, the Science Centre is an international leader in free-choice science learning and a key contributor to Ontario's education and innovation ecosystems, offering lifelong learning through hands-on, engaging experiences. The Ontario Science Centre is an agency of the Government of Ontario funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. As a publicly assisted organization, the Science Centre relies on generous individuals, corporations and foundations who share a commitment to science and education for additional operating support. For more information about the Ontario Science Centre, please visit OntarioScienceCentre.ca.

Social Media

Facebook www.Facebook.com/OntarioScienceCentre

Twitter @OntScienceCtr

Instagram @OntarioScienceCentre

YouTube www.YouTube.com/user/OntarioScienceCentre

SOURCE Ontario Science Centre

For further information: Media contacts: Anna Relyea, Director, Strategic Communications, 416-696-3273, c: 416-668-1967, [email protected]; Jefferson Darrell, Media Relations Officer, 416-696-3154, c: 647-464-9665, [email protected]; Andrea Mus, Media Relations Officer, 416-696-3191, c: 416-895-5482, [email protected]

Related Links

https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca


Currently Reading

All aboard the trolley in East Haven for Santa Claus
MIDDLETOWN  After a career spent ensuring local children have what they need to thrive, Kathy McPherson derives great joy from continuing that work during her retirement years.

The Warm the Children volunteer shopper, former Cromwell Board of Education employee and resident has donated her efforts to the organization for more than a decade, making sure families can adequately outfit their kids for New England cold winters.

With so many children in need, how can you not step up? said McPherson, who began shopping early this month. That need has increased in the wake of recent natural disasters such as the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Hurricane Maria, which wreaked damage in Puerto Rico this September.

One of the most heartwarming stories was after the earthquake in Haiti, she said, when a family with four children came to town for refuge. They had nothing. They had no winter coats, no gloves, no hats, no boots, no anything. They were in short sleeves and shorts.

Warm the Children got them everything they could possibly need for winter: pajamas, underwear  they didnt have anything when they came here, said McPherson, who, already this season has shopped with four families.

Warm the Children volunteer shoppers accompany families to Walmart in Cromwell, where they buy new clothing and footwear for the children they are assigned. Each child in a family is allotted $80; $60 for those under 4, said Lynn Baldoni, retired Middletown Police Chief and Middletown Kiwanis Warm the Children program coordinator.

The local Middletown Warm the Children was established in 1992 with the cooperation of The Middletown Press and former publisher Mack Stewart, of Haddam, who started the program in 1988 while publisher of the Torrington Register Citizen.

The program, supported by members of the local Kiwanis and other volunteers, provides new, warm winter clothing and footwear to children in need  from newborns to age 15.

In the early years, the Middletown Kiwanis Club provided financial support and volunteers. In 2008, the Middletown Kiwanis Foundation became the sponsor of the Middletown-area chapter, which has helped more than 700 kids over the last three to four years.

In 2010, Warm the Children hadnt yet expanded to Cromwell. McPherson was asked by a school official if she would help some families out in town.

I said, Im calling Mack right away. He said immediately, Were going to include them. There was no hesitation, McPherson said.

Wow. The program is wow, she said. That is the kind of organization it is. If there is someone that needs a helping hand, we are there to do it and thats why I love the program.

Walmart charges the purchases to the Kiwanis account so no money exchanges hands, Baldoni said.

Slippers, jeans, whatever it is they need, they can pick out themselves, she said. Some families have never had new stuff.

I cant overstate the charitys impact, McPherson said, which, during the last two to three years, has been able to reach its $60,000 fundraising goal, Baldoni said.

Its simple and effective. So many people come together, giving their time and money to help their neighbors, said Baldoni, who has volunteered for nearly 10 years. We could not have had the success weve had without all of our volunteers.

Im the kind of person who enjoys doing for others. Working in a school system, if you cant have children touching your heart, you dont belong in the school system, McPherson said.

This is Jen Larsons second year shopping and coordinating the Warm the Children program at Wilbert Snow Elementary School in Middletown. The preschool social worker gets so much satisfaction out of taking part that she said shed do it even if it wasnt her job.

Its nice knowing these families are getting stuff they actually need, Larson said. Clothing is such a huge deal. Yes, you can go to Goodwill, but you cant always find things that really fit or things that look clean or things that your kids actually like. They can pick out stuff they really like, thats brand new from a store, and they get all this stuff for the winter, which is phenomenal.

Last year, Snow was allotted 15 slots for children and Larson ended up referring 19. This year, she referred 17.

Its really lovely. It really is. It makes you feel good. Ive worked with families in need for a really long time now and its nice to be doing something that so concretely is helping, Larson said.

Sometimes parents bring kids and sometimes they dont, she said.

I got to hang out with these kids for an hour and a half. We got to shop and the little boy is trying on his jacket and I enjoyed just how proud he was, said Larson, who has experience making tough choices on a lean budget. Ive got kids. There are times when money is tight and I say, Maybe we dont need those pair of shoes right now. 

School coordinators recommend children based on their familys income and teacher recommendations.

Warm the Children funds reach really far at Walmart, said Larson, who has shopped for two families so far. One, with two kids, was able to buy heavy winter coats, snow pants, hats, gloves and three or four long-sleeved shirts for each child.

They filled three of the really big shopping bags, Larson said. (The mother) couldnt really find any coats that day for the little boys size. She got sweatpants, sweatshirts, underwear, socks, gloves, pajamas, long-sleeved shirts and school pants. We were 22 cents under. Its doable. It works. Its a good amount of money.

Theres not a single penny that is raised that goes for administrative costs, said McPherson, who anticipates there will be folks from Puerto Rico needing warm clothing as well this winter. Well accommodate them. Whenever theres a need, we find a way to accommodate them.

Children in the greater Middletown area are referred to the Warm the Children coordinator from public schools in Middletown, Portland, Cromwell, East Hampton and Regional School District 13 (Durham-Middlefield) Head Start, Middletown Adult Education Even Start and other social service groups such as Haddam Public Health.

The group has no paid staff and the program is a 100 percent volunteer activity.

To give a tax-deductible donation, make out a check to Warm The Children, c/o Leah Pickard, Liberty Bank, 315 Main St., Middletown, CT 06457, or visit middletownkiwanis.org. For information, see Kiwanis Club of Middletown, CT and Warm the Children on Facebook or warmthechildren.org.

Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com.
NEW HAVEN  Yale University history professor Timothy Snyder, whose Facebook post after the election of President Donald Trump formed the basis of a book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, will deliver a lecture Tuesday sponsored by Promoting Enduring Peace.

Snyder, a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, has compared Trumps actions to those of Adolf Hitler when the German dictator came to power.
 Flash

Police in Britain will be given new powers to prevent the unsafe or criminal use of drones as part of a new package of legislation announced Sunday.

Banning drones from flying near airports or above 122 meters will also form part of the new regulations.

New drone-safety laws will help put the UK at the forefront of drone technology development, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.

New measures will also make it mandatory for drone owners to register to improve accountability. And drone operators will be required to use apps - so they can access the information needed to make sure any planned flight can be made safely and legally.

The clampdown aims to allow drone users to continue flying safely and legally, helping to place the UK at the forefront of the fast-growing drone industry. It will also pave the way for the devices to be harnessed for a range of uses by businesses and public services.

The draft Drone Bill, which will be published next spring, will give officers the right to order operators to ground drones where necessary. Officers will also be able to seize drone parts to prove it has been used to commit an offence.

The news comes as funding for a pioneering new drones program was announced to help cities shape the way drone technology operates.

Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg said: "Drones have great potential and we want to do everything possible to harness the benefits of this technology as it develops. But if we are to realise the full potential of this incredibly exciting technology, we have to take steps to stop illegal use of these devices and address safety and privacy concerns."

"These new laws strike a balance, to allow the vast majority of drone users to continue flying safely and responsibly, while also paving the way for drone technology to revolutionise businesses and public services."

Changes to the law will mean that drone users will have to sit for safety awareness tests. Users of drones weighing 250 grams and over will have to be registered, while the government is also working closely with drone manufacturers to use geo-fencing to prevent drones from entering restricted zones.

A government-funded Flying High Challenge is to launch Monday when up to five British cities will be supported in the research and development of drone technology.

The research could transform critical services in emergency health services and the transport of human organs for transplants. It could also lead to essential transport infrastructure assessment and repair, and parcel delivery and logistics.

Assistant Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said, the national police spokesperson for the criminal misuse of drones, said: "We are working with relevant partners to understand the threats this new technology can pose when used irresponsibly or illegally. If you use a drone to invade people's privacy or engage in disruptive behavior, you could face serious criminal charges."

Tim Johnson, Policy Director at the Civil Aviation Authority welcomed plans to increase drone operator training and the creation of no-fly zones.
First son of the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr, has noted that Ndigbo supported former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, adding that now is the time to support President Buhari.He noted that the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano are loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari.Emeka explained that his decision to join the All Progressives Congress APC, is to ensure that similar ideals that informed his late fathers action are upheld.Ojukwu Jnr. who spoke with the Guardian, added that he was merely walking in his fathers steps.He recalled that shortly after his fathers return from exile in 1982, he joined the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, rather than the Nigeria Peoples Party, NPP.He said, I can afford to stay back (in APGA) and wallow in sentimental politics that nkea bu nkeanyi (this is our own), but in the long run, what becomes of our tomorrow and place in the great Nigeria project, for which our forefathers laboured, invested their time, talent and even their blood?Which is preferable: to be a big fish in a small pond or a big fish in the ocean? Real champions are never afraid of the big league.That could be why late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, asserted that if you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind. NdIgbo are not better off with emotional politics.The son of the late Igbo warlord spoke in reaction to comment by re-elected Governor Willie Obiano that he considers him (Ojukwu Jr.) as of no consequence.He said the governor is still playing kindergarten politics.So, while they seek to crucify me for joining APC, they express support and solidarity for the APC leader.Which is worse, to walk the talk or pander to politics of deceit and duplicity?What is the essence of being in a party that would rather support the presidential candidate of another party than choose its own?According to him, having supported Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan in office, NdIgbo have decided to support President Buhari in the spirit of fairness and political goodwill.
Former Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Ignatius Chombo

Zimbabwes former finance minister, Ignatius Chombo, who is facing graft charges dating back more than 10 years, was denied bail Monday by a magistrates court, according to a report by AFP.





The court is of the view that indeed there are compelling reasons to deny the accused person his right to bail, magistrate Elisha Singano said.





I concur with the state that if the accused is released at this time there will be a public outcry.

He also said the risk of Chombo fleeing was high. Chombo is a former secretary for administration in the ruling ZANU-PF party and the last finance minister under President Robert Mugabe.

Chombo was charged to court after Mugabe was forced out of power following a military intervention. He was remanded in custody on fraud charges dating from 2004-2009 when he held a different ministerial role.

Chombo  seen as an ally of Grace Mugabe, the ex-presidents controversial wife  told the court on Saturday that armed men in uniform had detained and questioned him for days at an unknown location.

Chombo appeared on Monday in the same court that denied bail to Kudzai Chipanga.

The former ZANU-PF youth league leader is facing charges of causing disaffection in the military after he denounced the army chief, Constantino Chiwenga.

He was remanded in custody to December 8.
Libyan coastguards carry the body of an African migrant at a naval base in the capital Tripoli

It has been revealed that some migrants were attacked by dangerous sharks during a rescue operation after their boats sank in the ocean.

At least 31 migrants died and 200 were rescued after they were set on by sharks during a perilous crossing from Africa to Italy, Libya's navy has said.

Some 18 women and three children were among the dead, while 40 people were still missing.

When Libyan coastguard boats arrived at the scene, they spotted large blue sharks swimming around the boat, according to Italian media.

'When we arrived in the area, off the town of Garabulli, [one] dinghy was semi-submerged and still had 44 people clinging on to it, whom we saved,' Libyan patrol boat commander Nasser al-Ghammoudi told Italian newspaper Il Giorno.

'There were lots of bodies all around and we saw there were four or five sharks swimming among them, large blue sharks, a very aggressive species.

'When we brought the bodies on board we noticed that some of them had been bitten, so it's possible that among the missing some may have been eaten.'

The coastguard conducted two rescue operations off the city of Garabulli, 40 miles east of Tripoli, Libyas navy said.

Those rescued were brought to a naval base in Tripoli where they were given water, food and medical care.

Spokesman Colonel Abu Ajila Abdelbarri added that patrols had found 31 bodies and 60 survivors from one boat, while all 140 passengers had survived in the second boat.

He said: When we arrived at the spot, we found an inflatable dinghy with several people clinging to part of it.

Migrants from Somalia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and four from Pakistan were among those rescued on Saturday.

Al-Ghammoudi said one of the vessels was three-quarters under water when the coastguard arrived.

He added: We looked for other survivors for more than five hours. We were able to rescue one woman after we heard her shouts.

Mild weather and calm seas have led to a rise in the number of migrant journeys from Libya to Europe in recent days.

Hours later on Saturday, more than 400 people were rescued from a stricken wooden boat further off the Libyan coast.

Italys coastguard, which coordinates the rescue effort in international waters, reported that 1,500 had been saved on Thursday and Friday.

The large numbers in recent days contrast with a sharp drop since mid-July in the number of migrants being brought to Italy.

On Thursday, the UN put the number of arrivals at Italian ports in the previous three months at 21,666, the lowest total registered in four years for that period of the year.

The downward trend has been attributed to a controversial combination of an Italian-led boosting of the Libyan coastguards ability to intercept boats and efforts to enlist the help of powerful militias to curb traffickers activity.

There have also been moves to tighten Libyas southern borders, accelerate repatriations directly from Libya, and measures to stem the flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa through transit states such as Niger and Sudan.

***
The Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, on Sunday declared that the death of the late warlord, Odumegu Ojukwu, six years ago, signalled the commencement of a new era of Igbos and Nigeria in general.Ubah made the remark to commemorate the 6th anniversary of the death of Ojukwu.In a statement personally signed by him, entitled, In Remembrance Of A Colossus, The Great Ikemba, Ubah said Ojukwus conviction, confidence, strength, character, wisdom and inspirational leadership availed the Igbos a strong identity, in Nigeria.The statement reads: Today, the spirit of Ndi Igbo is awakened! On this day, six years ago, an era ended with the passing of our leader and the founding father of our great party, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Ezegburugburu of Igboland).The glorious exit of this great Nationalist signalled the dawn of a new era for Ndi Igbo and Nigeria as a nation.Ojukwus conviction, confidence, strength, character, wisdom and inspirational leadership availed the Igbos a strong identity within the scheme of affairs in our country, Nigeria.He became THE LEADER when we, as a people were in dire need of one; a thundering voice and a breath of life into the overwhelming recognition we enjoy today as Igbos.As we at AFA IGBO EFUNA commemorate the 6th year of The Great Ikembas passing on to higher glory, nothing hurts more than the actuality that our hero is no longer here with us.However, on account of the fulfilled and noble life he lived, we join hands with Ndi Igbo and Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to remember and celebrate an iconic life well lived and a journey through life well travelled.AFA IGBO EFUNA remains perpetually grateful for the legacy Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu bequeathed to us, Ndi Igbo, as we stay resolute in ensuring that the labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain. Continue to rest in peace, Ikemba Nnewi! Your memory and legacy lives forever in our hearts.
Former President, Goodluck Jonathans pardon of late ex-Bayelsa Governor, DSP Alamieyeseigha made the international community to turn against him during the 2015 Presidential election.This claim was disclosed by the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bolaji Abdullahi, in his upcoming book, , On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria.Alamieyeseigha, Governor of Bayelsa state from 1999-2005, was arrested in London in 2005, over claims of money laundering.It was then alleged that about 1 million cash found in his London home, and later another 1.8 million in cash and bank accounts.The former governor was subsequently convicted and jailed on corruption charges in 2007.However, the then administration of Jonathan granted him presidential pardon in March 2013.In his book, Abdullahi noted that the amnesty pardon was the turning point for the international community, adding that it was Jonathans original idea to pardon his former boss.He wrote: Of all the issues, the one that perhaps rankled the Americans more than any other was the March 2013 pardon for Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The former Governor of Bayelsa State had, in July 2007, pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and money laundering brought against him by the EFCC; and was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison. However, because he had already spent two years in custody, he was deemed to have served his time and was allowed to go, he wrote.Abdullahi wrote: While Jonathan is often credited or skewered for his former boss rehabilitation, the move was actually initiated by late President YarAdua who knew Alamieyeseigha from their time as governors and who also believed that the former governors release would help the amnesty deal that he was putting together in the Niger Delta. Despite his fall from grace, the former Bayelsa governor remained hugely popular with the militants.Shortly after becoming president, therefore, YarAdua sent word to his former colleague through Vice President Jonathan that he was worried about Alamieyeseighas state of health and would not like him to die in prison. The president offered a lifeline  if Alamieyeseigha would agree to plead guilty and forfeit the majority of his assets and monies to the Federal Government. On 25th July, Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty before a Federal High Court Judge on the proposed terms; and was released from Ikoyi Prisons the following day.Jonathan and a number of other politicians began to push for a presidential pardon for Alamieyeseigha. YarAdua was initially receptive to the idea, until he received information that the former Bayelsa governor had teamed up with the presidents political rival, Atiku Abubakar, a behaviour YarAdua was disinclined to reward. Fate would however remove YarAdua from the equation and bring Jonathan in as president. From then on, Alamieyeseighas pardon became only a matter of time. Jonathan was hugely popular at home and abroad before the 2011 election. He was therefore, advised not to grant the pardon, so as not to damage his brand  especially in the eyes of the international community which regarded him as somewhat different from the traditional pack of Nigerian politicians. But the time would come.Jonathan did not have any real constituency or political structure of his own in Bayelsa. And so, with his eyes on the 2015 election, granting the pardon to a politician who remained very popular in the state would be a masterstroke, whether this was the intention or not. It would also be a good way to generate real support for himself in Bayelsa, where he faced serious political challenge from his successor, Timipre Sylva. When Jonathan raised the matter at the National Council of State, there was not a single dissenting voice. Even if there was, it was not likely to matter under the circumstance.One South-South governor who spoke strongly in support of the proposal argued that Alamieyeseigha had, more than anything else, been a victim of political persecution by former President Obasanjo. The announcement of the pardon was met with wide condemnation, with former Chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, declaring it as the final nail in the coffin of the fight against corruption under Jonathan. The president responded with an uncharacteristic bullheadedness, saying he owed no one any apology for his action. The Americans condemned the pardon and even threatened to cut aid to Nigeria. Rather than punish innocent Nigerians by cutting aid, perhaps America decided to bide its time  until the opportunity presented itself to hit Jonathan where it hurt.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar early this morning consulted the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State and...

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar early this morning consulted the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State and the entire Northeast.Atiku resigned from the APC on Friday following what he called Unconstitutionality actions of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).The Adamawa chapter of the APC yesterday confirmed the receipt of Atikus resignation letter.State Secretary of APC Alhaji Saidu Nera confirmed this in Yola.Nera said he was yet to get the letter but the party officials of Jada 1 Ward in Jada Local Government Area where Atiku registered had told him that they had received the letter.Atiku spent the weekend holding talks with some of PDPs Northeast Zonal executives; Adamawa PDP executives and party leaders from Jada Local Government, Jada 1 Ward and zonal executives.PDP State Secretary Abdulllahi Prambe described the meetings as fruitful.Our meeting with him has been fruitful and from his body language, he will soon return to PDP, Prambe said.With Atiku, the party will carry more weight and more people will also troop in, he said.It was learnt that Atiku might meet Governors Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) and Ishaku Darius (Taraba) in Abuja this week on his plans to return to the PDP and seek their cooperation.Although he was silent on when he would rejoin the PDP, there were speculations that he might re-register in Jada 1 Ward of PDP on December 6.It was learnt that some of the PDP governors might have opted to work for Makarfi when he leaves office at the National Convention on December 9.The governors have reportedly said they were not keen to work for Atiku.A governor who spoke in confidence said: Not all the PDP governors have bought into the Atiku agenda, we are not united on him. If we have our way, some of us will go for Makarfi who has shown uncommon leadership in reuniting PDP. And those of us in this group are encouraging him to join the presidential race.Some of our leaders also prefer Lamido or Shekarau. If we have any issue with Makarfi, it is about rumours on his health and we have conducted our research, the ex-governor is as fit as a fiddle. It is all propaganda.As I am talking to you, we have not been fully consulted by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Atikus candidature.At the end of the day, we will follow the rule of law, the partys constitution and go to the field to elect a presidential candidate. What if our members decide not to grant Atiku a waiver to contest the presidential primaries? He is a new member, he can as well queue like others.Some of our leaders speak about Atiku as a political asset in the North but he was a distant third in the APC presidential primaries. We wont be blind on our choice this time around. I think programmes and not personality should matter to PDP.A former member of the National Working Committee (NWC) said: Some of the governors have been working behind the scene with Jonathan on the Atiku project. We see him as a game changer and that is why we are desperate to woo him.
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairmanship aspirant, Chief Bode George, said, yesterday, that the resignation of the former Vic...

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairmanship aspirant, Chief Bode George, said, yesterday, that the resignation of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, from the All Progressives Congress, APC, was not the end, saying many more APC chieftains were on their way to the PDP.Similarly, National Publicity Secretary aspirant of the party, Mohammed Kabir Usman, said former and serving APC governors, as well as federal lawmakers who left the PDP for one reason or the other, were also ready to return to the party.Bode George, who spoke while fielding questions from newsmen in Katsina, Katsina State, also warned the party against shortchanging anybody, noting that the party belonged to Nigerians. The fact is, I told them that not only him (Atiku), there are still many more who are founding fathers that are preparing to come back to PDP.When your house is leaking, do you abandon it and go become a tenant? You will repair and stay in the house because you are a landlord. Because once you are a tenant anywhere, the landlord can kick you out anytime. So, he is trying to come back home, the home they all built, the home which they were the foundation fathers of. Dont jump from frying pan to fire. There are still so many that will come. Let them come.APC, party of strange bed fellowsAPC is a contraption, what you call a congregation of strange bed fellows, unlike PDP. PDP is a solid party with a very deep taproot in the heart of this country. I have traversed everywhere, in every nook and cranny of this country, you will find this party. Not like this one (APC). And it bears the full emblem and colours of Nigeria, said George. He said the party was at a crossroad and shouldnt fail in the December 9 party convention towards wrestling power from the ruling APC in 2019.He likened the party to a ship in distress on the high sea and needed to be stabilized and then launch an attack. I liken it to a ship on sea; if a ship is in distress, do you go and look for untested hands, somebody who has never worked in any management level of the party? You need a tested and trusted hand.You need that experience to take that ship on stage. First, stabilize the ship and then you can launch your attack. We must get it right; every Nigerian, the electorate are waiting and watching. We must do what is just, fair and equitable. If we fail on December 9th, God knows what will happen to the party. God gives you a second chance and we must not blow it.That is why people should not try and appropriate the party in the hands of a few. The people of these country own the party and that is the mental discussion in minds of those people who established the party. Every Nigerian must have that semblance of being a member and proud to be a member, not a group of people. It was not meant for that. And that is why this convention is very very important. We must get it right. Dont shortchange anybody, Bode George cautioned.Meanwhile, National Publicity Secretary aspirant of the party, Mohammed Kabir Usman, said, weekend, that former and serving APC governors as well as federal lawmakers, who left the PDP for one reason or the other, were on their way back to the party.Usman made this known in an interaction with journalists in Abuja, saying a number of former and serving governors who initially left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress, APC, had been consulted to pave way for their return to the party. Usman, who had been endorsed by the North Central geo-political zone for the office of the spokesperson of the party, said: We have been very active and involved in a lot of issues in the party.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors are split over the expected defection of ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to the party and his bid...

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors are split over the expected defection of ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to the party and his bid for the presidential ticket.





Some of the governors and party leaders prefer National Caretaker Committee Chairman Ahmed Makarfi, former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and one-time Governor of Kano State Ibrahim Shekarau.





There were indications that some of the governors might oppose former President Goodluck Jonathans plan to back Atiku as the partys presidential candidate.





They claim not to have been consulted by Jonathan.





Atiku has continued his consultations prior to his return and registration as a PDP member in Jada 1 Ward, Adamawa State.





The Adamawa chapter of the APC yesterday confirmed the receipt of Atikus resignation letter.





State Secretary of APC Alhaji Saidu Nera confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.





Nera said he was yet to get the letter but the party officials of Jada 1 Ward in Jada Local Government Area where Atiku registered had told him that they had received the letter.





Atiku spent the weekend holding talks with some of PDPs Northeast Zonal executives; Adamawa PDP executives and party leaders from Jada Local Government, Jada 1 Ward and zonal executives.





PDP State Secretary Abdulllahi Prambe described the meetings as fruitful.





Our meeting with him has been fruitful and from his body language, he will soon return to PDP, Prambe said.





With Atiku, the party will carry more weight and more people will also troop in, he said.





It was learnt that Atiku might meet Governors Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) and Ishaku Darius (Taraba) in Abuja this week on his plans to return to the PDP and seek their cooperation.





Although he was silent on when he would rejoin the PDP, there were speculations that he might re-register in Jada 1 Ward of PDP on December 6.





It was learnt that some of the PDP governors might have opted to work for Makarfi when he leaves office at the National Convention on December 9.





The governors have reportedly said they were not keen to work for Atiku.





A governor who spoke in confidence said: Not all the PDP governors have bought into the Atiku agenda, we are not united on him. If we have our way, some of us will go for Makarfi who has shown uncommon leadership in reuniting PDP. And those of us in this group are encouraging him to join the presidential race.





Some of our leaders also prefer Lamido or Shekarau. If we have any issue with Makarfi, it is about rumours on his health and we have conducted our research, the ex-governor is as fit as a fiddle. It is all propaganda.





As I am talking to you, we have not been fully consulted by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Atikus candidature.





At the end of the day, we will follow the rule of law, the partys constitution and go to the field to elect a presidential candidate. What if our members decide not to grant Atiku a waiver to contest the presidential primaries? He is a new member, he can as well queue like others.





Some of our leaders speak about Atiku as a political asset in the North but he was a distant third in the APC presidential primaries. We wont be blind on our choice this time around. I think programmes and not personality should matter to PDP.





A former member of the National Working Committee (NWC) said: Some of the governors have been working behind the scene with Jonathan on the Atiku project. We see him as a game changer and that is why we are desperate to woo him.





A fresh twist to Atikus exit from APC emerged yesterday following the revelation that he left the ruling party since October 18.





Notwithstanding the discrepancy in the date of resignation and formal announcement of his exit, Atikus letter, which was sent to the chairman of Jada 1Ward, reads: I wish to inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this ward with effect from the date of this letter (October 18, 2017).





I am resigning from a party we formed and worked so hard with fellow compatriots across the country to place in government. I had hope that the APC government will make improvements to the lives of our people and the continued existence and development of Nigeria as one indivisible nation. This hope has now been dashed.





I am unable to reconcile myself with the dismal performance of the party in government, especially in relation to the continued polarization of our people along ethnic and religious lines, which is threatening our unity more than any other time in the recent past, and the unbearable hardship that our people are currently undergoing.





As I said in 2006, it is the struggle for democracy, constitutionalism and service to my country and my people that are driving my choice. Let me emphasize, again, that this is not about me. We have to have a country before people can aspire to lead it.





While wishing you well, let me express the hope that, in the near future, a substantial number of you will join forces with us to, once again, defeat impunity, and restore vision and purpose to the politics of our great country. Please accept the assurances of my highest regards.





Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has described Atikus resignation from the APC as a disgrace.





The ex-governor who spoke at the weekend during the inauguration of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) office in Ringim local government of the state, said: If Atiku would quit this party it will be morally wrong for any Nigerian to continue to patronise the APC





It is unfortunate that the APC that comprises of those seen as saints could be classified by Atiku as a symbole of poverty, betrayal, disrespectful and a dungeon of hell.





He pleaded with the former leaders of the PDP in the APC to retrace their steps.





He named Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Senator Aliyu Wammako.





He said: We had known that sooner or later this would happen, because it is an amalgamation of strange bed fellows that formed the APC that people like Atiku felt he could support its course, yet today they have betrayed him and they will all betray you if you dont leave them, he declared.





But Accord Party chieftain Dr. Doyin Okupe advised opposition parties to form a coalition if they hope to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC in the 2019 general elections.





Okupe, a former presidential spokesman, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as presently constituted, is weak to upstage APC from power but should team up with other parties to realise the dream.





Okupe described Accord as a veritable third force that is blowing like a whirlwind across the Southwest Nigeria and the country at large, expressing confidence that the party would win the 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State.





He spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, at the weekend during the election and inauguration of the partys State executive and the official adoption of Banjo Ojo as the governorship candidate for the 2018 election.





At the event, 500 members of the PDP, APC and Labour Party defected to the party and were received by the State chairman of the party, Chief Abiola Odeoba and National Chairman, Mr. Lawan Nalado.





Okupe said: It took a coalition in 1998 to be able to send away military. The coalition crystallized into PDP, won election and held it for 16 years.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday sympathised with the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, over the exit of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from the party.Buhari chose the venue of the inauguration of the Ama Pepple-led National Minimum Wage Committee to convey his sympathy to the party chairman who joined top government officials for the event.The President made his position known while acknowledging dignitaries that attended the event ahead of his remarks.Turning to Odigie-Oyegun, Buhari said, Accept my sympathy for losing a senior member of your party.Although he did not mention a name, it was obvious that the President was referring to Atiku who announced his resignation from the APC on Friday.The former vice-president was one of those who contested the partys presidential ticket ahead of the 2015 general elections and lost to Buhari.He came a distant third behind Buhari and a former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.Buhari and his spokesmen had avoided speaking on Atikus exit since the news broke on Friday.Before making his position public on Friday, Atiku had resigned from the APC since October 18, 2017.In his resignation letter, the former vice-president said he left the APC because he could not reconcile himself with the ruling partys dismal performance.The resignation letter was addressed to the ward chairman of the APC in Jada 1, Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa State.The letter, which was titled resignation, was received by Usman Muazu.The letter dated October 18, 2017, read in part, I wish to inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the All Progressives Congress in this ward with effect from the date of this letter.Im resigning from a party we formed and worked so hard, with fellow compatriots across the country, to place in government.I had hope that the APC government would make improvements to the lives of our people and the continued existence and development of Nigeria as one indivisible nation. This hope has now been dashed.Im unable to reconcile myself with the dismal performance of the party in government, especially in relation to the continued polarisation of our people along the ethnic and religious lines, which is threatening our unity more than any other time in the recent past, and the unbearable hardship that our people are currently undergoing.Let me emphasise again that this is not about me. We have to have a country before people can aspire to lead it.While wishing you well, let me express the hope that in the near future, a substantial number of you will join forces with us to, once again, defeat impunity, and restore vision and purpose to the politics of our great country.
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has stated that Nigerians were yet to see real the consequences of electing Muhammadu Buhari ...

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has stated that Nigerians were yet to see real the consequences of electing Muhammadu Buhari as their president.





Faulting Buharis administration, Fani-kayode claimed that the current administration was the worst calamity that befell Africa since the fall of Muammar Ghadaffi of Libya.





In a series of tweets on Monday morning, the PDP chieftain wrote, The greatest calamity that befell Africa in the last 20 years was the murder of Muammar Ghadaffi in Libya.





The second was the coming to power of Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria.





The full implications of these 2 tragic, monumental and cataclysmic events are yet to be seen.





Earlier, Fani-Kayode had accused Buhari of being a shape shifting reptilian.








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A view of the Mount Agung volcano erupting at sunrise in Karangasem, Bali island, Indonesia, Sunday, November 26, 2017. A volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali erupted for the second time in a week on Saturday, disrupting international flights even as authorities said the island remains safe. [Photo/Agencies]

Indonesia has raised alert for Mount Agung volcano to the highest level 4, disaster management sources said on Monday.

Authorities also shut the main airport in Bali island after powerful eruptions on Sunday, spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Xinhua.
The Baba Aladura of the Eternal Sacred Order of The Morning Star & St. Michael Star, Fountain of Life-Mount Zion, His Most Eminence, Olatunji Adenaike has said President Buhari was chosen by God to lead Nigeria and also take the country to the promise land.Speaking during the 60th anniversary and 2017 general conference of the church at the International Headquarters of the church at Ojuelegba, Lagos, the Baba Aladura stressed that Buharis emergence was an act of God and that he was convinced that Gods plan is to set things right and heal Nigeria through Buharis administration.He added that the presidents zeal and sincerity in governance had made him to be unperturbed inspite of the criticisms from various quarters in the country.In his words: In the last election, we took it upon ourselves to earnestly pray that God should appoint somebody that will rule this country well and I am happy that God answered that prayer.To the best of my knowledge, President Mohammadu Buhari is the best we can get as at now, I did not know about tomorrow. I came to that conclusion that President Buhari is the best that we can have at the moment because I know him to be an honest person whose integrity shows through in whatever he is doing.The man of God however advised President Muhammadu Buhari to drop non performing ministers in his cabinets and also push through, policies that would reduce high level of poverty in the country.He said: President Buhari should rely solely on God because most of the people that are working with him did not pray for his success, most of these people are not honest and they failed to give Mr. President correct information when there is need for itHe should ensure that he removes any minister that fails to discharge his or her duties effectively, he must not compromise but rather maintain his integrity.Advising politicians to close ranks and shun acts capable of truncating the nations democratic system, Adenaike enjoined Nigerians to embrace peace, which he said is the key to the country achieving any meaningful progress envisaged by all.He further enjoined Nigerians especially to embrace peace, which he said is the key to the country achieving any meaningful progress envisaged by all.
Taraba State Governor, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku has described former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, as the architect of Nigerias modern democratic system.The governor made the remark in a tribute sent to the family of the former Vice President and made available to Vanguard on Sunday.In the tribute signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Bala Dan Abu, the governor said, Chief Ekwueme played a critical role in the political engineering process that gave birth to the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria.His very mature approach to politics, forthrightness and patriotism also helped in no small way to nurture and sustain that process. His contributions will certainly be accorded a generous place in the political history books of the country.Governor Ishaku, who is an architect like the late Vice President, consoled with the family of the late elder statesman and extended his condolences to the members of the family, the Governors and the entire people of the South East States of Nigeria over the demiseHe also prayed God Almighty to grant them the fortitude to bear the loss of Ekwueme, whom he described as an illustrious gift to the Nigerian federation.
The presidential pardon granted to DSP Alamieyeseigha effectively turned the international community against the government of former Presi...

The presidential pardon granted to DSP Alamieyeseigha effectively turned the international community against the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Bolaji Abdullahi has asserted in his upcoming book.

Alamieyeseigha, who was the governor of Bayelsa state from 1999-2005, was arrested in London in 2005 on suspicion of money laundering.





About 1 million cash was said to have been found in his London home, and later another 1.8 million in cash and bank accounts.





He jumped bail and escaped from the UK but was impeached on his return to Nigeria, with Jonathan, his deputy, replacing him.





Alamieyeseigha was then convicted and jailed on corruption charges in 2007 after a plea bargain deal  and subsequently released.





Jonathan granted him presidential pardon in March 2013 to obliterate the criminal record.





In his new book, On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria, Abdullahi  who served as a minister under Jonathan from 2011-2014  said that particular gesture was the turning point for the international community.





In the advance copy, Abdullahi argued that Nigerians had more than enough basis to conclude that even if Jonathan himself was not personally corrupt, he had demonstrated ample tolerance for corruption and corrupt officials.





AMERICA WILL KNOW





The author also referred to the case of the billions of dollars the NNPC was accused of failing to remit to the federation account by then-CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.





In a Presidential Media Chat soon after Sanusis ouster, Jonathan denied that any money was missing and declared, quite memorably, that: If anyone steals $50 billion or $20 billion anywhere, America will know. They will tell you where it is; it is their money. Quite possibly, the Americans had no evidence of $50 billion or $20 billion having gone missing, but Jonathans government gave no one the confidence that no money was being stolen, Abdullahi wrote.





Since the Transparency International started monitoring political corruption in countries across the world, perception has taken precedence over facts and figures in measuring where countries stood in corruption rating. The problem with perception however is that it does not need to be proved beyond reasonable doubts. On this basis alone, Nigerians, and whoever else was interested, had more than enough basis to conclude that even if Jonathan himself was not personally corrupt, he had demonstrated ample tolerance for corruption and corrupt officials  allegations of missing billions from government oil corporation, legislative inquiries into mind boggling subsidy scams, a cabinet minister and close confidant of the president embroiled in hundreds of million naira armoured cars scandal, another ministers recruitment racket leading to the death of hapless jobseekers, pension administrator disappearing with billions of naira, an ex-convicts presidential pardon  the list seemed endless.





Put together, these stories formed an ugly compendium that could make the Obama Administration to feel justified in supporting a regime change in Nigeria, especially if the substitute was a Muhammadu Buhari, marketed as an ascetic, sandal-wearing old soldier, who had zero-tolerance for corruption.





NOT HIS IDEA





He said the Alamieyeseigha pardon was the tipping point.





Of all the issues, the one that perhaps rankled the Americans more than any other was the March 2013 pardon for Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The former Governor of Bayelsa State had, in July 2007, pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and money laundering brought against him by the EFCC; and was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison. However, because he had already spent two years in custody, he was deemed to have served his time and was allowed to go, he wrote.





But he also said it was not originally Jonathans idea to pardon his former boss.





The credit, according to him, would have gone to former President Umaru Musa YarAdua.





Abdullahi, who is now the national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), wrote: While Jonathan is often credited or skewered for his former boss rehabilitation, the move was actually initiated by late President YarAdua who knew Alamieyeseigha from their time as governors and who also believed that the former governors release would help the amnesty deal that he was putting together in the Niger Delta. Despite his fall from grace, the former Bayelsa governor remained hugely popular with the militants.





Shortly after becoming president, therefore, YarAdua sent word to his former colleague through Vice President Jonathan that he was worried about Alamieyeseighas state of health and would not like him to die in prison. The president offered a lifeline  if Alamieyeseigha would agree to plead guilty and forfeit the majority of his assets and monies to the Federal Government. On 25th July, Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty before a Federal High Court Judge on the proposed terms; and was released from Ikoyi Prisons the following day.





Jonathan and a number of other politicians began to push for a presidential pardon for Alamieyeseigha. YarAdua was initially receptive to the idea, until he received information that the former Bayelsa governor had teamed up with the presidents political rival, Atiku Abubakar, a behaviour YarAdua was disinclined to reward. Fate would however remove YarAdua from the equation and bring Jonathan in as president. From then on, Alamieyeseighas pardon became only a matter of time. Jonathan was hugely popular at home and abroad before the 2011 election. He was therefore, advised not to grant the pardon, so as not to damage his brand  especially in the eyes of the international community which regarded him as somewhat different from the traditional pack of Nigerian politicians. But the time would come.





Jonathan did not have any real constituency or political structure of his own in Bayelsa. And so, with his eyes on the 2015 election, granting the pardon to a politician who remained very popular in the state would be a masterstroke, whether this was the intention or not. It would also be a good way to generate real support for himself in Bayelsa, where he faced serious political challenge from his successor, Timipre Sylva. When Jonathan raised the matter at the National Council of State, there was not a single dissenting voice. Even if there was, it was not likely to matter under the circumstance.





One South-South governor who spoke strongly in support of the proposal argued that Alamieyeseigha had, more than anything else, been a victim of political persecution by former President Obasanjo. The announcement of the pardon was met with wide condemnation, with former Chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, declaring it as the final nail in the coffin of the fight against corruption under Jonathan. The president responded with an uncharacteristic bullheadedness, saying he owed no one any apology for his action. The Americans condemned the pardon and even threatened to cut aid to Nigeria. Rather than punish innocent Nigerians by cutting aid, perhaps America decided to bide its time  until the opportunity presented itself to hit Jonathan where it hurt.





WHERE THE BUCK STOPS





The former minister of sport said nothing that happened under Jonathans watch as president could present a more difficult conundrum in defining his legacy than these allegations of corruption in the defence sector, so massive they dont bear thinking about.





To argue that he was not aware that the stealing was going on, the author posited, is to give ammunition to those who have accused him of incompetence.





To say he knew about it is to admit that he either condoned it, or lacked the will to stop it, he wrote, offering the example of the war against Boko Haram.





A senior member of the Turaki Amnesty Committee posited that, while President Jonathan may not have been aware of the scale of the looting that went on in the name of fighting Boko Haram, he could not be entirely ignorant of it. He knew. But he was in a precarious situation. He was not sure of his own position. If he moved against them, they could sabotage the entire war against Boko Haram, or even overthrow his government. He just had to pretend that he did not know and hope that whatever they were doing would not be so bad as to compromise the entire operation, Abdullahi wrote.





The committee member told of one instance when bullet proof vests were procured, only for the soldiers to find that, instead of the usual ballistic plates, the vests were loaded only with sand. You cannot blame Jonathan for this. After approving money for military equipment, was he to start going round again to ensure that they were actually bought or that the right caliber of equipment was bought? Difficult as it may be to fault this argument, it is impossible to ignore those who insist that as the Commander-In-Chief, Jonathan must take the final responsibility for everything that happened under his command. The buck stopped with him.




The Federal Government has met with some officials of the Italian government in its attempt to investigate the burial of 26 Nigerian ...





The Federal Government has met with some officials of the Italian government in its attempt to investigate the burial of 26 Nigerian women who died in the Mediterranean Sea three weeks ago.The FG, through the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, met Italian officials including the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini; the Chief of Italian Police, Franco Gabrielli; and the General Commander of Italys Carabinieri, Tullio Del Sette, in Italy.The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, was one of the Nigerian delegates at the meeting.According to a release by NAPTIP on Sunday, the agencys Director General, Julie Okah-Donli, condemned the hasty burial of the 26 women, noting that a report was being awaited from Italy on the identities of the deceased.The forum was titled, Women empowerment and the fight against trafficking in persons: the partnership between Italy and Nigeria and organised by Boldrini, the head of the Italian lawmakers.The remains of the women believed to be crossing the Mediterranean were recovered from a Spanish warship, Cantabria, which docked in Salerno, a coastal area in Italy on Monday, November 6.The ship was reportedly found to be carrying 375 rescued migrants and the dead women.Okah-Donli, asked the Italian authorities to ensure that those involved in the incident were properly prosecuted.She said, To stem the tide of such dangerous journeys, the Nigerian government has introduced a number of economic and social measures to reverse this unfortunate trend.We frown on the haste with which the 26 girls were buried without full disclosure of their identities and nationalities. We express sadness that the remains of the girls were buried on Friday, November 17, just a day after the Italian Embassy in Nigeria communicated to us through an email that the remains would be buried on November 26.We convey the anger and sadness of the Nigerian people over the news of the death of the young girls, especially with the unavailability of their proper identities and how they died. We demand that those who are involved in the gruesome death of these girls be properly identified and prosecuted.The DG asked Italy to implement the Palermo Protocol especially with victims care and support rather than treat victims from Nigeria as criminals.The statement added, As of the time the DG left Italy, the Nigerian Embassy was still awaiting a formal response to the request for a proper report on the matter from the Italian authorities, especially with regard to the number of identified Nigerians and their identities.
Female lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, who stabbed her husband, Adelowo, to death has been sentenced to seven years in jail for manslaughter.Oyediran a state counsel with the Department of Public Prosecution, Oyo State, was said to have stabbed her France-based husband on the neck during an argument.According to the charge sheet, Yewande on February 2, 2016 at about 6:10am at No 30 AbidiOdan, Akobo area, Ibadan, in the Ibadan Magisterial District, did unlawfully cause the death of one Oyelowo Oyediran, 38, by stabbing him with knife on the neck, which later resulted to his death.The couple had no child.
A young South African man has professed his love for his gay partner and says he's willing to go to hell just for him.

A young South African man has professed his love for his gay partner and says he's willing to go to hell just for him.

Vuyolwethu Vee Sithathu posted loved-up photos of himself and his male partner on various Facebook posts and made it known that the guy will always be his babe.





"Even though we fight a lot but He'll always be my Babe," he wrote in one post.

In another, he wrote: "I was a Fuckboy "I? but I changed, I changed just for you "I? Only You "I? O.M "I? "





He later shared another post where they were in bed together with no visible piece of clothing and he captioned it: "They all say being (GAY) is a sin but then I'm willing to go to Hell just for you."









See more photos of the couple below.








The People Democratic Party, PDP, National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has refuted insinuations going round that he was presently nursing presidential ambition.

Speaking in Liberty radio programme on Guest of the week in Kaduna Sunday, he said, I have not solocited to anybody to talk on my presidential ambition. My focus is the PDP national convention that is coming, lets get over the convention. Speaking in Liberty radio programme on Guest of the week in Kaduna Sunday, he said, I have not solocited to anybody to talk on my presidential ambition. My focus is the PDP national convention that is coming, lets get over the convention.





Senator Makarfi said that after the PDP national convention, he was free like every other Nigerian to determine how his future would look like.





He assured Nigerians that after the partys convention, those who left the party for one reason or the other and those who are not members of the party would have no reason but to embrace the party as a result of the transparency of the convention.





Commenting on the problems associated with PDP in its 16 years of leadership in the country, he explained, Some problems facing the country could be traced as far as during the amalgamation of the country and at other stages of leadership of Nigeria before the coming of PDP in 1999.





He acknowledged that the ruling party has tried in fighting insurgency but added, Today we are witnessing more kidnapping in all nooks and crannies of the country and other social vices that were not known during the PDP era.




Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday revealed those he found difficult invest...

Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday revealed those he found difficult investigating on assumption of office.

Magu disclosed that he found it difficult investigating some, senior journalists and media owners who were allegedly involved in the sharing of the funds meant for the fight against insurgency in the North East.





The acting Chairman of EFCC said this at the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria, BON, in Abuja.





Magu noted that journalists should be partners with security agencies in the fight against corruption.

According to Magu, media practitioners who should help expose corruption have taken to the vice, in a bid to satisfy some of their alleged paymasters.





He said, Corruption has made Nigeria a laughing stock among committee of nations. We have never been in doubt that checking corruption is the part way to escape from poverty in the country, this is the reason why successive administration made the fight against corruption a priority.





The success has been mixed, while some of us are blaming past administrations for lacking the will to tackle corruption, I believe that we also share in the blame. As citizens and professionals, we have roles to play. The question is how effective have we played our roles?





As media practitioners, how effective have we being in helping to fight corruption, the media occupy a unique place in the fight against corruption and impunity in Nigeria. As the fourth estate of realm, the media is the only profession that is constitutionally mandated to hold the nations leaders to account, but how has the media fared well in the discharge of this sacred mandate?





The media has been in the vanguard of the liberation of democracy from the shackles of military dictatorship, but since the return to democracy in 1999, the experience as an observer, has been mixed, we have seen flashes of courageous reporting that have straightened our public accountability.





Let the truth be told, there is no way law enforcement agencies can know about all cases of graft in the society. Journalists as investigators in their own right are supposed to help in exposing corruption and other societal ills, wherever they exist.





Unfortunately, this is one area we have challenges, media practitioners that are supposed to help fight corruption have been swapped into malpractice.





One of the difficult tasks I faced soon after I took over as acting Chairman of the EFCC was having to investigate senior journalists and media owners that partook in the monies meant for sharing of arms to fight insurgency in the North East.





It was shocking that even those arraigned in court still feel they have done nothing wrong, it is difficult to understand the disposition of many media practitioners who are comfortable helping the corrupt to undermine the fight against corruption by attacking anti-corruption agencies.





Im not against critical review of anti-corruption fight if such arguments are based on facts. Journalists are supposed to be investigators like us by training but investigative reporting is less fancied these days as media practitioners pursue bread and butter issues.




Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose has blasted human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) over the allegations by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) linking the lawyer to a N1bn property located at 43 Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, saying it was embarrassing, shameful, disgraceful that such a man of his stature, reputed to be a human rights activist, friend of the masses, crusader of justice and defender of democracy could be linked to such scandal.While addressing the press in Ado Ekiti on Monday, the Governor said, It is has become necessary to add my voice to the new scandal where you find our supposed men of honour, defenders of democracy, crusaders of justice, people who want corruption stamped out of our land, allegedly traced to similar unfortunate purchases of alleged stolen property.Especially, when such allegations are coming from the number one minister of justice for the nation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), he said.Recall that the embattled former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, had accused Falana of buying the building which was one of the properties he helped to seize from pension thieves and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.Malami had while testifying before the National Assembly last week, echoed the allegation, saying the property was sold to a Lagos lawyer.Falana has however denied the allegation but the governor said,  The disclosure by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, that a Lagos-based lawyer, was one of many highly placed Nigerians who allegedly were compensated by the EFCC and Ibrahim Magu with properties retrieved from corrupt government officials was initially taken with a pinch of salt.However, Mr Falana, friend and defender of every obnoxious act by EFCC and Magu, has come into the open to not only give veracity to the allegation but also admit that he was the Lagos-based lawyer in question. Falanas attempt to be clever by half in the explanations he offered to justify his alleged atrocious act; whether or not he was a first degree or third degree buyer; his efforts to white-wash what is an alleged fraudulent deal and a betrayal of public trust ; whether or not he bought personally or through company or proxy; and his desperate double speak to wriggle out of this tight corner; whether court has ruled or has not ruled, all fell flat on its face, he said.Governor Fayose who insisted that truth must be told, further said: We must call a spade a spade and what is bad is bad. It is sad, disgraceful and shameful that Falana, a supposedly social crusader, anti-corruption advocate, and friend of the masses, can be cited in such odious, obscene, and offensive conduct.The governor, therefore, urged the Federal Government to ensure that the allegation against Falana is properly investigated and not swept under the carpetLinking Falana to illegally acquired properties seized by the EFCC is bad enough but the facts provided by Malami makes the case against Falana even worse.This must be the real reason why Falana always falls head over heels in defence of the EFCC and Magu, not minding the vicious violations of the constitutionally-guaranteed rights freedoms, and liberties of citizens. What we have always suspected has now been confirmed publicly and by no less a person as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.Falanas alleged unprincipled and disgusting defence of the EFCC and Magus penchant for disrespect of the rule of law and due process is for selfish reasons and personal gain.How many more Falanas do we have in the system? Malami should please help us to expose them. Some dubious elements have been deceiving the people and feeding fat on a so-called anti-corruption war that exists only in their imaginations. This Falana-gate must not be swept under the carpet like so many others before it. It is so disgusting that what was recovered from a thief has been stolen by an armed robber. It is a case of the loot being re-looted. Investigations must go back to the time of the pioneer EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu to uncover those who have been cornering all choice properties recovered from looters.
The Federal Government has urged the Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States sitting in Abuja to dismiss a fund...

The Federal Government has urged the Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States sitting in Abuja to dismiss a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.It stated that Kanu having been granted bail and allegedly escaped from his ongoing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the judgment of the ECOWAS Court on the suit would serve no purpose.Kanu had filed the suit on March 3, 2016 demanding $800m as compensation from the Federal Government for his alleged unlawful arrest in 2015 and continued detention.But the lawyer representing the Federal Government, Mrs. Maimuna Shiru, stated in an objection to the suit that Kanu having been granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja where he is being tried alongside others on charges of treasonable felony, on April 25, 2017, it was unnecessary for the ECOWAS Court to adjudicate on the IPOB leaders suit.She also noted that Kanu having allegedly jumped the bail granted him by the Federal High Court, Abuja, event had overtaken the suit.The three grounds of the application stated, Having regards to Article 88(2) of the Rules of the Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, this suit has become devoid of purpose and unnecessary to adjudicate upon.The result of a judicial decision in this suit will serve no purpose. There are no live issues in controversy between the parties for the court to determine.Mr. Thomas Etah, who deposed to an affidavit filed in support of the Federal Governments motion, stated that Kanu filed his notice of registration before the ECOWAS Court on March 3, 2016, while the plaintiff was granted bail by the Federal High Court on April 25.He added, That the plaintiff/respondent has now jumped bail and his whereabouts are unknown.That further to paragraph 8 above, it is public knowledge that the Federal High Court of Nigeria has ordered Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe and two other sureties to produce the plaintiff/respondent or forfeit their bail bonds.That the plaintiff/respondent and the group he represents, the Indigenous People of Biafra have been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the defendant/applicant (Federal Government).That this suit before this honourable court has been overtaken by events and has become devoid of purpose.Kanus lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, told the ECOWAS Court on November 21 that he needed to respond to the application by the Federal Government.He alleged that the Federal Government deliberately delayed the filing of the motion in order to frustrate the hearing of the case.But the Federal Governments lawyer denied the allegation insisting that the motion was filed early enough.The presiding judge of the ECOWAS Court panel, Justice Hameye Mahalmadane, also noted that the court paper filed by the Federal Government had to be interpreted to the panel members who were all French-speaking.The court adjourned until February 7 for hearing.
President Muhammadu Buhari Monday told members of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, that he will only give to them what the nations tre...

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday told members of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, that he will only give to them what the nations treasury can afford in order not to collapse the economy.Already the President has directed his key finance officials to sit down with representatives of the NGF to determine how much of their unpaid debts can be released to them before Christmas. The directive came as a result of the demand from the Nigeria governors appeal to the President to release the 50 balance of the Paris Club refunds for them to settle arrears of salaries.The President who held a meeting with the governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, expressed his pity for the workers who depend on their salaries to celebrate the Christmas and ordered his key ministers in charge of the economy to negotiate with the governors on how much they needed to settle their debts. According to a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the governors had sought commitment from the President.Responding to pleas by the governors who came to the State House on Monday under the leadership of Abdul-Aziz Yari, the Chairman of the Forum asking that the President give a commitment to pay all outstanding debts owed them from London and Paris Club deductions to ease their financial hardships, President Buhari said he was not averse to the payments so long as the treasury can afford it and the economy will not be destabilised, it read. It further stated that The Governors informed the President that they wanted his commitment on this repayment so that they could factor the money into their 2018 appropriation plans. In his reaction, the President said that the issues affecting the States were familiar to him.As such, he remarked, I will not be saying much because the responsible ministers are here: Finance, Budget and Planning and the Central Bank of Nigeria. I request you to appoint your own team to come and sit down with them. This should be done, not only for next years budget but for this Christmas. The Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning and the Central Bank should sit down with you in a sub-committee to see how much can be released before Christmas.For Nigerians without sources other than their salary, I am concerned that workers should be able to pay rent, school fees, buy drugs and take care of their families.I am so much concerned that people should have something to eat at Christmas. Following the presentation by the Chairman of the Governors Forum, four other Governors  Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbosola, Osun; Udom Gabriel Emmanuel  Akwa Ibom State and Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Imo State took turns to commend the President for caring for the States and their workers; for his equal treatment of the States irrespective of political party differences and for approving these refunds to the States going back to 2015 which according to them, previous leaders chose not to give attention to.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says he has not ruled out the possibility of holding talks with his former boss, President Olusegun...

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says he has not ruled out the possibility of holding talks with his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, in pursuit of his political ambition.Atikus Media Adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe, stated this on behalf of his principal during a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.Ibe explained that Atiku, a master of consensus building, would not discountenance the importance of carrying everyone along.He spoke in reaction to the advice given by former President Goodluck Jonathan.Jonathan had, in an interview, described ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as the boss of bosses. He had advised the former vice-president to reconcile with Obasanjo in order realize his political ambition.Ibe said, His Excellency, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, is a savvy politician and he will not discountenance the importance of carrying everybody along in order to build a consensus.It was gathered on Sunday that Atiku had been meeting with leaders of the PDP.The News Agency of Nigeria reported on Sunday that the former number two citizen had met with members Adamawa PDP executive at all levels, as well as state chairmen from the six states that made up the North-East.He was also said to have met with the PDP national vice-chairman in the North-East.The Adamawa State PDP Secretary, Abdullahi Prambe, said, The meetings have been fruitful.Our meetings with him (Atiku) have been fruitful and from his body language, he will soon return to the PDP.With Atiku, the party will carry more weight and more people will come back.NAN reported that Ibe, Atikus spokesman, declined to comment.
President Muhammadu Buhari is set to depart Nigeria for Ivory Coast on Tuesday to attend the 5th European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summi...

President Muhammadu Buhari is set to depart Nigeria for Ivory Coast on Tuesday to attend the 5th European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit in Abidjan.





According to a statement by Femi Adesina, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, President Buhari will, participate in working sessions on the Summit theme: Investing in the Youth for a Sustainable Development, and on the margins of the Summit, meet with a number of African Heads of State and their European Union counterparts.





President Buhari will use the occasion of the Summit to reiterate Nigerias readiness to work with African and European countries to address the challenges affecting both continents, such as peace and security.





The statement added that the Nigerian leader will also attend the official luncheon to be hosted by the government of Cote dIvoire in honour of visiting Heads of State and Government and other delegations.





83 Heads of State representing 55 African countries and 28 European countries are slated to attend this high-level meeting.





Also, delegations from partner countries, the African Union Commission, the European Union Commission, regional and international organizations, will also participate at the Summit.




An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on Monday sentenced a lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, to seven years imprisonment for stabbing her ...

An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on Monday sentenced a lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, to seven years imprisonment for stabbing her husband, Lowo, to death.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the trial judge, Munta Abimbola, said Yewande was convicted of manslaughter and not murder as charged.Abimbola said that while the prosecution proved that the defendant caused the death of the deceased, it failed to proof that it was done intentionally.He ordered that the seven year imprisonment should commence from Feb.2, 2016 when she was arrested.The judge said that with the evidence before the court, the convict and her late husband had frequently engaged in domestic violence.He also adjudged the evidence of the couples landlord and wife, Mr and Mrs Akinpelu, as credible.The landlord and his wife had told the court that they saw the convict holding a knife, while the deceased was in a pool of blood.Having seen the defendant holding a knife and the defendant had earlier confirmed that she had earlier stabbed her husband with a pair of scissors a day before, I hold that it was the defendant that stabbed the deceased, said the judge.Abimbola also said that he took into consideration the autopsy report of Prof. Abideen Oluwashola, a consultant from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.According to the autopsy report, the deceased died as a result of shock from a deep wound caused by a sharp object, Abimbola said.The court said that the evidence of the convict could not be relied upon, because her statement with the police was different from her statement before the court.Mr Leye Adepoju, the defence counsel, pleaded for leniency for his client, as she was a first time offender. He argued that imprisonment was not to ruin, but to reform.If it is too long, it would ruin the life and as well jeopardise the job of the defendant, being a legal practitioner, he said.The prosecution counsel, Mr Sanya Akinyele, however, said he was leaving the issue of the sentencing to the discretion of the court.NAN reports that Yewande Oyediran, a staff of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Oyo State Ministry of Justice, stabbed her husband to death on 2 Feb. 2016, at Akobo area of Ibadan.The convict stood trial on a lone count of murder. She pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The description reads like the chilling start to a crime drama.

Shortly before 2 a.m. Monday, a Short Hills family of four returned to their Addison Drive home after a five-day Thanksgiving weekend vacation. A mother and 20-year-old daughter walked toward their home. While a father and 13-year-old daughter were in the process of grabbing luggage from their car, a 2017 white Range Rover, they say two armed, masked men came up to them and grabbed the little girl.

"All of the sudden two guys...just appeared," said the family's father, who declined to give his name or be videotaped while talking to a throng of reporters outside his home Monday afternoon.

"They pushed my daughter against the car. I believe they had a gun. And they said, 'we're going to kill her, or give us the keys to the car and the money,'" he stoically explained.

After the man handed over the keys and cash from his wallet, the duo demanded the keys to a second 2017 white Range Rover parked in the driveway. This one belonged to the man's older daughter, he said.

After he handed over the second set of keys, "they let my daughter go."

The pair only made off with the first car. After having trouble starting the second, Millburn police say one of the men ran off and fled in a third vehicle that was waiting nearby.

With help from a Range Rover location app, police found the stolen car abandoned in Newark a short time later, the man said.

The family has a security camera at the front door, but the man said it's been turned off for about a month. Getting it back on-line was on his "to-do list," he said.

Police did not immediately answer questions Monday afternoon about how the carjackers happened to meet up with the family in front of their home. But, the man said he thinks they were originally there to steal the Range Rover parked in the driveway, and were interrupted by the parents and kids returning home from the vacation.

"I don't think anybody followed us," he explained.

In the upscale community still reeling from the 2013 fatal carjacking of a Hoboken lawyer shopping at the nearby Short Hills mall, the violent car thefts remain a threat.

According to the state police Uniform Crime Report, there were 13 auto thefts reported in Millburn from January to October of this year, a 28 percent decrease from the same period last year.

There were 138 carjackings in Essex County in 2015, the report said, a slight drop from the 2014 rate. Still, the county reported, by far, the most carjackings of any county in the state. All of New Jersey saw a total of 186 reported carjackings in 2015, data shows.

Still, the harrowing tale sent a shock through the quiet neighborhood.

The man, whose family has lived in the house 11 years, and his neighbors said they can't remember anything like this happening before. Monday afternoon, dozens of kids and their parents and nannies were walking the tree-lined streets of the block, heading home from the nearby Hartshorn Elementary School.

Most declined to talk to reporters about the incident, but a 16-year-old neighbor who has lived down the street his whole life, said the news of the violent carjacking was whirling around the neighborhood Monday morning.

"My brother's 14, so (the girl is) almost his age," he said. "It's scary to think that it could have been us. It's right down the block...it's just a little unnerving."

Authorities say they are actively seeking suspects in the case. As for the affected family, its patriarch asked for privacy as family members cope with the frightening experience.

"She seems ok," he said of his 13-year-old daughter, noting that he was glad his family was not hurt.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A truck driver parked a loaded tractor-trailer in Newark on Wednesday only to return Saturday to discover it stolen, city police said.

Now, authorities are asking for the public's help in getting it back.

The identifying letters and numbers on the stolen trailer. (Newark Department of Public Safety)

The red 2004 Mack truck, New Jersey license plate AU158A, was carrying a blue container of refrigerators when the driver parked the rig in the 300 block of Elizabeth Avenue, according to a statement from Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose.

Police said container is also missing along with the truck and trailer, which bears the identifying letters and numbers XYZZ2040282. The trailer's license plate was not immediately available, authorities said.

Authorities said the investigation is continuing, and have asked anyone with information about the theft or the vehicle's whereabouts to call the department's 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867).

Police said anonymous tips may also be made using the department's website at www.newarkpd.org or through the Newark Police Division smartphone app available on iTunes or Google Play.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips
JERSEY CITY -- A detention hearing will be held tomorrow for a 54-year-old Newark man who may have avoided drug charges if he had paid his fare to board a PATH train in Jersey City last week.

Port Authority Police said they stopped Arion Butler, of Osbourne Avenue, after he attempted to get on a PATH train using a handicap gate on Nov. 20, the criminal complaint says.

When police stopped Butler they found he had one bag of suspected heroin, one tab of Suboxone and he gave a false name and date of birth, the complaint says. Suboxone is a prescription drug used to treat opioid addiction. The criminal complaint did not say at which PATH station Butler was arrested.

Butler is charged with two counts of drug possession, theft of services and hindering apprehension, the complaint says.

Butler made his first appearance on the charges on Tuesday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.

At the hearing, the state moved to detain him through the course of his prosecution. A detention hearing is scheduled for tomorrow before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.
JERSEY CITY - Speed does not appear to have been factor in the early morning car crash that claimed the life of an off-duty firefighter, according to a preliminary crash report.

Matthew Nierstedt, 29, was the backseat passenger in a 2013 Mazda on Nov. 16 when it collided head-on with a 2006 Acura on Paterson Plank Road. Nierstedt was pronounced dead at Jersey City Medical Center about an hour after the 2 a.m. crash.

While it's evident one of the drivers crossed over the double yellow line as they approached the curve in the road, both motorists have denied being the person to cross the line.

Steven Carvache, 40, told police he was driving his Acura south on Paterson Plank Road when the Mazda, driven by 27-year-old Steven Zadroga, crossed over the double-yellow line, striking him head on near Congress Street, the crash report indicates.

Zadroga, however, said he was driving north when Carvache crossed into his lane. Zadroga said he swerved to the right and hit a guardrail, forcing his car back to the center of the roadway where he collided with Carvache's car, the report states.

Carvache and the passenger in his car, a 31-year-old Whippany resident, were both treated for injuries at Christ Hospital. Zadroga initially refused medical attention but later went to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment. The front seat passenger in Zadroga's car was brought to Hoboken University Medical Center.

The preliminary report indicates neither driver appeared to have been traveling at an unsafe speed or committed any other improper actions. Carvache was the only driver to have a blood sample taken, but the report indicates both drivers were in an "apparently normal" physical status - meaning drugs, alcohol, fatigue, or illness, were not visibly present.

Authorities from the Jersey City Police Department and Hudson County Prosecutor's Office continue to investigate the crash. As of Monday morning, no charges or summonses have been issued.

Nierstedt, a Navy veteran, was remembered as an "up and coming" firefighter who died just days before he was scheduled to take a promotional exam.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
In the moments after a gunman executed Devin Smith inside Applebee's in Lawrence earlier this month, calls to 911 describe a mortally wounded man and a shooter without a description.

Noel Powell III

"Someone just got shot at the bar," one caller says.

The dispatcher asks about the gunman, and the caller says the shooter left the scene. The victim was apparently shot in the head. He wasn't breathing, the caller says.

"He's face down in the bar, right now. He's not moving at all," a second call reports.

The dispatcher gives the caller CPR instructions and says it's OK to touch the victim. It's unclear what aid, if any, Smith received from bystanders, but authorities later said he was pronounced dead at the scene of the Nov. 14 crime.

In a call that was apparently a followup to 911 from what sounds like an Applebee's employee, a dispatcher presses the male caller for a description of the gunman.

"It happened so fast, but we do have cameras here," the man says. The caller appears to be talking to other people in the restaurant too.

"Does anybody know anything, sir?" Can anybody tell me anything?" the dispatcher asks.

"No, everybody's so shaken up and scared. It happened so fast nobody knows what happened," the caller says. The dispatcher asks if the man can "pull tape" and show it to the responding police officers. "Yep," the caller says.

The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office would later allege the gunman was Noel Powell III, 27, of Lawrence, and he killed Smith, 23, also of Lawerence. The crime was caught on the restaurant's security cameras, court documents show.

An eyewitness to the 12:25 a.m. slaying told investigators Powell shot and killed Devin, and he knew both Powell and Smith, "for a number of years."

A decades-old dispute involving Powell and Smith, and their families, led to the killing, two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case say.

Powell surrendered to authorities Sunday a few days later and is expected to be in Mercer County Superior Court for a hearing Tuesday.

Devin Smith, Facebook photo

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- A man has been charged in a fatal shooting in the city earlier this month, authorities said.

Kim Carter, 37, of New Brunswick, was arrested last week and charged with first-degree murder and possession of a weapon in the Nov. 17 killing of Tawan J. Moses, 25, of East Orange, according to a statement from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Carter is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center.

Police found Moses shot multiple times on Throop Avenue, near Feaster Park. He was pronounced dead at the scene at about 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, according to officials.

The investigation remains ongoing and no motive was provided.

Anyone with information can contact call Detective Brandt Gregus, of the New Brunswick Police Department, at 732-745-5217 or Detective David Abromaitis, of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, at 732-745- 4436.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A set of bamboo slips featuring Chinese family names on sale in a bookstore in Beijing in 2007. [Photo/VCG]

Baby with controversial surname draws attention to the rights of a person to be properly named.

A child, named Beiyan Yunyi (loosely translated as north-bound wild goose in the clouds), was denied household registration in 2009 by local public security authorities in Jinan, Shandong province, on the grounds that she was not named after her parents.

The girl was born in 2009. Her parents Lyv Xiaofeng and Zhang Ruizheng were both poetry aficionados.

The father Lyv filed a lawsuit in December 2009 to the Lixia district court of Jinan in the name of his daughter, claiming there should be no interference in her name rights. The case was the country's first administrative case related to name rights. It was later submitted to the Supreme People's Court and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

According to the Supreme People's Court, a person should be named in line with social ethics and parents should not create family names for children at their will.

Articles in the Marriage Law and the General Provisions of Civil Law stipulate that a person should be named after his parents in principle. Exceptions include situations when one is named after an immediate family member or an adoptive parent, or using another surname other than that of his parents for "justifiable reason which is not against social customs".

Based on this principle, in 2015 the Lixia district court of Jinan rejected the appeal of Beiyan Yunyi to be registered.

It is not the first time that weird names have made headlines in China.

In September, a newborn whose name is Wangzhe Rongyao, or King of Glory, a popular online game, went viral. And a college student in Chongqing became famous because of her name Huangpu Junxiao, or Whampoa Military Academy, the first modern military school in China.

There are thousands of surnames in China. And according to the latest national population census in 2010, the top five most commonly seen family names - Li (), Wang (), Zhang (), Liu () and Chen () - make up nearly one-third of the total population.
ASBURY PARK -- A 27-year-old city man who was found slain in a sport utility vehicle on Wednesday night has a criminal record that includes charges of kidnapping in Virginia and was just released from prison in July, according to court records and news reports.

Denzel Morgan-Hicks was release from state prison on July 30. He was found dead in a vehicle in Asbury Park late Wednesday night. ( New Jersey Department of Corrections).

Denzel Morgan-Hicks was found dead late Wednesday in the driver's seat of a 2017 Ford Expedition in the 100 block of Prospect Avenue, according to authorities. Law enforcement sources say he was found shot to death.

As authorities continue to search for Morgan-Hicks' killer, court records and previous media reports provide a clearer picture of his criminal past, which started at the age of 20.

Morgan-Hicks was charged in August 2011 with two other men for holding a man, woman and a young child hostage at gunpoint at residences in Smyth County, Virginia, which is roughly 100 miles south of Roanoke near the border of North Carolina.

According to a report in the Bristol Herald Courier, Morgan-Hicks and another Asbury Park man, Tyshawn Byrd, took a man at gunpoint from one home to another in search of money to steal. Another man stayed at the home with a woman and an 18-month-old child, the report said.

The woman and child were able to escape from the back window of the mobile home and flee to a neighbor's home, according to the report.

Authorities were able to locate the Chevrolet Impala Morgan was driving and he was arrested and charged with malicious wounding, three counts of kidnapping and one count of breaking and entering.

Morgan-Hicks, then 22, was indicted in September 2011. A spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections said he entered prison in Virginia on March 14, 2012.

While locked up in Virginia, he was sentenced on Nov. 8, 2012, to five years for weapons charges he received in New Jersey on Oct. 31, 2010. No details of that incident were immediately available.

Morgan-Hicks was released from prison in Virginia on May 11, 2015, and was transferred to South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton to serve the remainder of his sentence for the weapons charges. He was released on July 30.

Court records in New Jersey also show that Morgan-Hicks pleaded guilty on March 14, 2011, to resisting arrest in Ocean County, a fourth-degree crime.

Morgan-Hicks, then 20, was arrested on Oct. 10, 2010 -- just days before his gun charges in Monmouth County -- after he was involved in a fight in Jackson Township in front of a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, the Asbury Park Press reported at the time.

The report said police arrived to find 300 people gathered in the parking lot and several fights happening. A police officer was injured as a result of one of the brawls, the report said.

Morgan-Hicks was sentenced on Aug. 2, 2013, again while serving time in Virginia and did not receive any additional jail time for the resisting arrest offense.

Authorities in Monmouth County are continuing to look for leads in Morgan-Hicks' death.

Anyone with information is urged to call prosecutor's office Detective John Leibfried at 1-800-533-7443 or Detective Dillan Gourley, of the Asbury Park Police Department at 732-775-2936.

Anonymous tips can also be provided to Monmouth County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-671-4400, or by texting "MONMOUTH" plus their tip to 274637, or, email via the website at www.monmouthcountycrimestoppers.com.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Firefighters were battling a blaze Monday afternoon at Billy & Madeline's Red Room Tavern in Hanover.

Flames were visible through the windows and attic, and heavy smoke poured from the three-story building at the corner of Mount Pleasant Avenue and Parsippany Road. Firefighters were using ladder trucks to douse flames from above.

Authorities at the scene said the owners of the tavern live above the bar and restaurant. Though there was no immediate information about injuries, authorities said everyone had been evacuated from the building. Several were also taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

The smoky fire was causing traffic delays on Route 10 in the Whippany section of Hanover Township. The restaurant's parking lot has an entrance from that highway.

The bar and restaurant has been a local stop for decades, according the tavern's website: "It opened in 1933 by Billys parents as Fornaros Tavern. It became Billys Red Room when Billy officially took over in 1959. The legendary Billy & Madelines Red Room Tavern was created in 1980 when Billy married the love of his life, Madeline."

Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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Rep. Smith Condemns Terrorist Attack on Muslim Worshipers in Egypt

Contact: Jeff Sagnip, D.C. Press Office, U.S. Cong. Chris Smith, 202-225-3765

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) today released the following statement on the horrific terror attack on a mosque in Egypt.

"I mourn the devastating loss of life that resulted from the recent terrorist attack on a mosque in Egypt. This meticulously planned massacre targeted hundreds of innocents, including dozens of children, peacefully worshipping during Friday prayers.

"The terrorists responsible for this atrocity hold in contempt the life and liberty of all Egyptians. The United States should support the Egyptian people in their battle against this threat and support their aspiration to live in freedom, peace, and security."
Welcome to nonleaguedaily.coms news provision, your go-to source for all non league updates, rumours, interviews, and much more besides.

Founded by a team with a genuine passion for the world of non league football, nonleaguedaily.com understands exactly what supporters of the so-called lower leagues are looking for. You want the high-quality reporting, in-depth analysis, and match reporting that matches that is more commonly found in the journalism for the top flights, but with the focus firmly fixed on the national leagues.

We understand that your passion, interest, and dedication is constant, and we believe you need a news service that matches that commitment with its own dedication and thoroughness  so thats what you can expect from our site.

The latest non league news, as and when it happens

Conventionally, non league news has always travelled fairly slowly, especially when compared to the instantaneous, constant breaking news cycles found in the upper leagues. Tales are told on terraces, rumours passed between pub patrons and circled between supporters at the latest game, often forced to remain somewhat local initially before word eventually spreads to other locales.

For us, this slow spread may be fairly organic in nature, but it simply isnt compatible with the modern football environment. Its also not conducive to the current fast-paced, always-available media landscape, nor the way that people tend to consume news nowadays. Thats why we have put together a non league news source that fans can turn to for the latest updates, as and when they happen, and as and when you want to read them. Non-league news now is the only acceptable speed at Betting.co.uk.

We update our non-league football news coverage constantly, bringing you all the latest developments and seeking to spread the word as quickly and accurately as possible. So if youre wondering whats happening both with your local team and with the lower leagues as a whole, you can visit us for non league news now, and be confident the stories you find are completely up to date.

News reported by passionate fans

Our efforts to bring you the very best non league football news are undeniably a professional concern, and one that we take seriously. We are  if youll excuse the uncharacteristic tooting of our own horns  good at what we do, and we know that the efforts we make in this regard are one of the reasons our site has enjoyed such success thus far.

However, everyone who writes for us also shares our readers enthusiasm for non league football. Were not just churning out content in the hopes of cashing in on a professional dream; were here because we want to be, and will always be dedicated and committed to non league football as an entity and thriving in the experience of being able to talk about our favourite subject whenever we can. We create non-league news now that is written by genuine fans and enthusiasts, for fans. We know what you want to know and what matters most to an ardent non league supporter, and we always ensure that focusing on these elements is our guiding principle as we seek to solidify our status as an online non league paper fans can always rely on.

When compiling non league news, we think with the mind of a fan first and foremost. We cover the angles and stories that we find compelling and that we know our fellow non league enthusiasts also care about. News doesnt have to be dry and formulaic, in our opinion. When its written by people who are genuinely as fascinated by the stories they are reporting on as their readership will be, we believe news can be interesting, compelling, and even have a sense of personality and humour.

News content written with passion and expertise

We believe that thanks to our dedication, insightfulness, and commitment to our subject matter of non league today, we are offering the best of both worlds to those searching for an online non league paper. We give you the professional approach we feel is appropriate for news about one of the most intriguing aspects of UK football; an aspect that we genuinely feel does not receive the interest and plaudits that it should be generating. Nevertheless, we dont let that professionalism take over everything we do: we remain committed fans, nurturing our own personal interest in non league football and ensuring every word we compose is infused with a sense of passion and dedication that enhances the posts we create.

Its therefore obvious that our non-league content today isnt ever going to be dry, basic, or put together by a tired staff writer who has never heard of any team below the Championship before they rush off to the pub for the evening. Our writers are genuine experts: were covering non league football because we want to, because we believe in it, and because its where our strengths lie. The result is informed content that capitalises on our deep knowledge of the history, as well as the present-day realities, of non league football in the UK.

Beyond news: the nonleaguedaily.com interview series

One of our goals with nonleaguedaily.com is to not just dryly report the news from an outsiders perspective, effectively regurgitating press releases that are devoid of genuinely illuminating information. We also go right to the source of the stories: the managers and club insiders who have direct experience, and often influence, on the sport and how it is managed.

We regularly conduct interviews as part of our news provision, asking the questions that are on everyones lips and providing the best possible view into the non league world. We have reporters pitchside at matches, microphone to hand and plentiful questions ready to be asked. The end result for you, the reader, is the kind of information and close-up looks into the non league world that just cant be found anywhere else.

As our commitment to providing interesting interviews amply demonstrates, we want to be involved in breaking the stories that everyone then talks about, rather than following along and focusing solely on what everyone already knows. If youre looking for leading content that you cant find anywhere else, and that goes right to the centre of the non league world, then you can turn to nonleaguedaily.com for all the benefits of a conventional non league paper, but in electronic, easily-accessed form.

A host of other content to enjoy alongside the non league today

Our focus on providing non league news will always be maintained: we consider this aspect the most important of what we do, and it will always be the recipient of our time, dedication, and interest. Well be here, a consistent and trustworthy news portal, for as long as non league football news exists.

With that said, when you have read up on the latest goings-on, were here with further content for you to enjoy. Naturally, given our partnership with leading brand Betting.co.uk, we provide guidelines for those interested in the world of sports betting. Well help you find the best UK bookmaker with our plentiful coverage of existing brands; ideal if youre looking to put your newfound knowledge, courtesy of us, about non league to use and place a few bets.

Furthermore, we also provide highlights of all the latest UK betting offers, so you can ensure youre achieving the best value with all the latest betting deals whenever youre betting on the latest non league matches. Youll find all of this coverage is as consistent and reliable as our non league news provision,

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Returning to the world of non league football, we also provide a range of feature content that goes deeper and further into the non league world than ever before. Less instantaneously topical but still hugely relevant to the modern game, our features are the dream deep dives that we feel non league fans deserve. Were always striving to do better, offer more, and ensure that non league fans can enjoy the same wealth of content as followers of the top tiers, so you can expect top-flight content with the same commitment and dedication as found throughout the upper echelons of the sport.

So whether youre looking to find the most recent non league football news, seeking a new bookmaker for your non league bets, or hoping to delve deep into a niche non league-related topic, nonleaguedaily.com is always going to be worth a visit.

Return to nonleaguedaily.com for all your non league news needs

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INDIANAPOLIS  The state's most powerful business organization is asking Indiana lawmakers to focus on reducing the number of Hoosier smokers, in addition to addressing traditional corporate concerns, during the legislative session that begins Jan. 3.

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce last week announced that it wants the minimum age to purchase and smoke cigarettes increased to 21, from 18, and for businesses to be allowed to deny employment to otherwise qualified applicants solely because they smoke.

Caryl Auslander, the chamber's vice president of education and workforce development, said Indiana has one of the highest smoking rates in the country, and it's harming the bottom line of both the state and its businesses.

"Smoking causes $3.1 billion in productivity losses in our state alone, and nearly $3 billion in annual health care costs," she said.

In prior years, the chamber has endorsed a $1 per pack cigarette tax increase to discourage smoking.

It's not pushing that idea for 2018, since tax matters typically only are debated by the Legislature in odd-numbered years when the two-year state budget is crafted.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, suggested the chamber will have a tough enough fight trying to convince the Republican House and Senate supermajorities that increasing the smoking age is the right policy.

"I have a bit of difficulty telling somebody that they can go to Iraq and fight for freedom, but they can't buy a pack of cigarettes," Bosma said. "I get that we do something different with alcohol in that regard  we'll see."

Education and workforce

Beyond smoking, the chamber primarily is focused on advancing policies it believes will ensure Indiana businesses, today and in the future, have a plentiful number of potential employees with the training and skills companies require.

Auslander said that's one reason why the organization is backing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb's plan to align Indiana's elementary, high school and post-secondary education programs to meet specific workforce goals of Hoosier companies.

"The chamber supports increased coordination between the state's education and career-related entities, with overall efforts inclusive of the business community's needs," she said.

"Such a process will result in more Hoosiers being educated, trained and subsequently employed in higher wage, in-demand jobs."

In addition, the chamber wants lawmakers to add science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses to the school curriculum, and require all students to complete a computer science course to graduate from high school.

"As we increase the number of jobs in the tech sector, it becomes even more important to have required STEM offerings in high school, specifically computer science," Auslander said. "This will better prepare students for in-demand jobs and help to improve the skills gap."

Bosma said he agrees with the chamber that STEM education is key for the state's future, though he remains a "maybe" on adding computer science as a high school graduation requirement.

"We have to require computer science in some form," Bosma said. "I'm not thinking one class is enough, personally. I think it needs to be injected throughout the curriculum, kindergarten through 12th grade."

Another chamber workforce priority is enacting a "workshare" program, where companies avoid layoffs by instead reducing employee hours during an economic downturn and those workers receive a partial unemployment benefit while maintaining their jobs.

"Our economy is doing well right now, but it's better to prepare for a downturn now than to be left scrambling when that inevitably happens," Auslander said.

"This has been on our list for the last several years. It hasn't even been voted on in committee due to factors that defy the common-sense nature of this policy."

Bosma attributed the hold up to the administration of Republican former Gov. Mike Pence which he said lobbied against the measure.

Other chamber priorities

Auslander indicated that eliminating or reducing township government remains a chamber goal, even though state lawmakers have shown little appetite for local government reform in recent years.

"Taxpayer money is being wasted versus the services that are being delivered (by townships), and there are too many instances of fiscal mismanagement across the state," she said.

Another continuing chamber priority is developing a statewide water plan to ensure Indiana has sufficient resources to meet its water needs, particularly for manufacturing. It also favors creating a statewide energy plan.

On taxes, the chamber supports the governor's call to treat business computer software as a service that's not subject to sales tax. It additionally wants the state's business personal property tax eliminated.

Finally, the chamber is calling on lawmakers to enact civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers, though Auslander acknowledged there probably is insufficient support in the General Assembly to actually do so.
MICHIGAN CITY  A manufacturing firm with deep roots in Michigan City is bringing jobs from China as part of its latest expansion.

The city council awarded Michigan City Paper Box Co. a five-year tax abatement Tuesday night on $1.2 million in new equipment.

"I love hearing that," said councilman Don Pryzbylinski about work overseas coming back to the United States.

At least 12 new jobs could be added to the existing workforce of 87.

The investment will allow the third generation family-owned company to launch a new e-commerce site for customers to customize and design their own boxes and place orders directly online.

Anthony Novak, a LaPorte attorney for Michigan City Paper Box Co. which was established in 1904, said larger boxes now made exclusively in China will also start being produced locally by adding the advanced pieces of machinery.

"Theyre going to move all of that production from China and bring it right here to the confines of Michigan City, Novak said.

The firm makes packaging for Wal-Mart, Sams Club, Kmart, Banana Republic and Nordstrom. Cotton filled jewelry boxes also roll off its production lines.

The firm inside an old shirt factory for decades at 1206 Pine St. in recent years added a second location at 955 S. Woodland Ave.

Councilman Bryant Dabney said he was impressed with the company living up to job and other projected benefits from each of the tax abatements on expansions from 2011, 2015 and 2016.

"Thats really key for me moving forwarded, Dabney said.

Novak said the new equipment includes a digital printer and stamper along with robotic spotters, which will be installed next month.

According to the company website, one-half of the business during its early days involved manufacturing punch boards, push cards and seal cards but when the popularity of those products diminished in the 1940s a switch was made to high-end hand-made satin-lined boxes for jewelry.
CROWN POINT  Rick Speichert remembers as a boy looking forward to Christmas each year for more than just the gifts under the tree.

That time of the year was special because his father would allow him to bring out the model train set for the holidays.

"That's how it started," said Speichert, who owns Spikes Railhead model train store in Lowell.

He was among 70 vendors and more than 1,000 visitors taking part in the fourth annual Thanksgiving Weekend Model Train Show at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

"I was always fascinated with trains," said Speichert, who grew up with plenty of them around him as a boy in north Hammond.

Former Munster resident Joe Algozzini said he, too, caught the model train bug as a boy and went on to write several books and organize the annual two-day train show.

"Toy trains are more popular today than at any other time," he said.

Algozzini said he put together the train show because there was a demand for it and it attracts enthusiasts and vendors from outside the state.

Chin Hu, who along with her husband Randy Bekins, operates Choo Choo Boutique in Douglas, Michigan, were among the larger vendors taking part in the weekend show.

"We love trains," Hu said. "They all have their own personality."

Bekins said he received his first model train set in 1966 at the age of 10 and has been a big fan every since.

"I like to see them," he said of the real trains he encounters during his day. "Some people look at it and they're annoyed."

While many of the people wandering around the show Sunday afternoon were adults, Bekins said he has seen a good number of children.

"Here we see young kids," he said. "At some shows, that isn't the case."

Valparaiso resident Mark Liszkiewicz stood with his 3-year-old son, Adrian, on his shoulders and watched the model trains running at the center of the show hall.

"He loves trains and so do I," the elder Liszkiewicz said.

The family visits various train shows and museums, he said.

If Algozzini has anything to say about it, there will be plenty more opportunities in the future for those who love trains to pass it on to younger people.

"I'm already sold out for the next 20 years," he said, referring to vendors for the popular weekend show.
CROWN POINT  The Lake County Sheriff's Department helicopter was called in Saturday afternoon to help extinguish a brush fire before it could threaten nearby homes.

Firefighters with the Lake Hills Fire Department were unable to reach all of the blaze along 93rd Avenue, west of Colfax Street, because of the muddy ground, according to the sheriff's department.

The sheriff's department said it was called in for help and sent its helicopter up with a Bambi Bucket to drop water on the fire. Four loads of water extinguished the fire and cooled hot spots shortly after 2 p.m.
NEW CHICAGO  Town officials are excited about building a new public works facility and new businesses coming to town.

New Chicago recently broke ground for the 4,400-square-foot public works structure that will be built at 400 Lincoln Ave.

The start of the project comes within days of a Dunkin' Donuts opening in town and the completion of a new Luke gas station. Both of the businesses are located on 37th Avenue.

Alicia Barber, the town's utilities manager, said the public works facility will house the water, sanitary sewer and stormwater departments, all of which currently occupy space at Town Hall.

GM Development, of Fishers, is the contractor for the project that's expected to cost about $680,000, Barber said. Funding generated by the utilities is funding the construction.

Barber said the structure is much needed and addresses an issue the town has encountered with housing some of the departments' equipment.

Some items must be stored in heated facilities because water is always present in them. The town has been shifting that equipment from one place to another to ensure it's being stored properly. That practice no longer will be necessary with the new public works facility, which will be heated, Barber said.

After the departments move into the new structure, the Police Department will have more space available at Town Hall, Barber said.

Everybody wins with this building, she said.

The town hopes to have the public works facility in operation by mid March.

I can't wait, Barber said.

Officials also are pleased with the commercial activity taking place.

We are growing, Barber said.

The Dunkin' Donuts location at 328 W. 37th Ave. is in a building that formerly housed a Pizza Hut.

It was remodeled from top to bottom, Barber said.

She said New Chicago also is happy Luke decided to build a new gas station near 37th Avenue and Wisconsin Street.
Dr. Clyde Rivers, founder and president of iChange Nations, has carried the message of Community Civility Counts and World Civility Day to other nations.

He and his organization recently presented awards to leading humanitarians and people of civility at a ceremony at Our Daily Bread Ministries in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Northwest Indiana was well represented.

Dr. Gordon Bradshaw, public policy chair of the Gary Chamber of Commerce and one of the founders of the Community Civility Counts Initiative, received the iChange Nations Pillar Award for his continued strong support of the global Golden Rule Movement.

Vincent Harlston received the ICN Christian Media of Excellence Award, and Dr. Anthony Branch received an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from United Graduate College and Seminary International for journalism.

Rivers also presented the ICN World Civility Award  created to spread the honor of World Civility Day -- to the following in Grand Rapids:

Lew Bayer, CEO of Civility Experts Worldwide Inc., for her work to change environments through civility training, bringing solutions to a world full of incivility.

Naldy Consuelo and Portillo Folgar, the Women of Peace for the country of Guatemala, for her work in peace building her country.

Alpha Kabine Baro, a presidential candidate for the country of Guinea, for his work to keep peace amongst the youth of his nation, and Patrick Kucera, gubernatorial candidate for the state of Kansas.

Dr. Charles Kinuthia, for his work in the nations to bring equity and an entrepreneurial spirit into business systems supporting World Civility globally.

We need to brand a new kind of hero, a new role model for the people of the world to follow. If we dont bring these great people to our global platforms to acknowledge and honor them, we have lost a huge part of legacy intended to guide and better the world. That is the reason ICN seeks out people doing great things to help the world and bestows honor upon them. We are creating a new standard and the world will follow, Rivers said.
GARY  Mel Goldman has been operating the Ace Hardware along Broadway in downtown Gary through good times and bad.

Even the downturn in business he says is caused by a recent paving project isn't making him leave.

It doesn't mean he's happy about the project, however, which ran through one of the better sales periods of the year.

Goldman said he saw about a 20-percent loss in business during the project. The downturn seems worse when compared to other area Ace Hardware stores that he says have seen healthy sales growth in the same time period.

Preliminary work on the project began around the first of July; the paving between 4th and 25th avenues only recently wrapped up. Work was being done on temporary striping for the winter during the past week, with permanent markings to be placed in the spring. The paving between 25th and 61st avenues is scheduled to be completed in June.

Esam Sulah, owner of ABC Cellular at 13th Avenue and Broadway, noted that Goldman at least has a parking lot in front of his store. In addition to the work on Broadway, Sulah said, his phone service company also was faced with the side street next to his shop being closed for a couple of weeks.

Sulah estimated he saw a minimum 50-percent drop in business during the work.

He was so grateful to some of the customers who made it to his shop, Sulah said he was hugging and thanking them for braving the road work to get there.

'A MESS'

City Council President Ron Brewer, D-at large, also expressed concerns about the project at a recent council meeting.

Councilwoman Rebecca Wyatt, D-First, called it "a mess."

"You can't tell where you are supposed to be going," she said. "There's no arrows."

Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said there appeared to be some disorganization on the state project, but pointed out that the job was "a massive undertaking" that involved a lot of repair work as well as lights, curbing and other features.

The state is paying the lion's share of the project, the mayor noted, and when it is completed there is no question it will be a positive for the city.

"You know sometimes you have to be inconvenienced to make progress," she said.

The cost of all the work being done on Broadway, from U.S. 231 in Crown Point to U.S. 12 in Gary, is $14.8 million, according to state Department of Transportation spokesman Doug Moats. That figure includes decorative crosswalks at Indiana University Northwest, bus shelters and decorative lighting from 25th to 45th avenues, with the city providing some matching funds for the latter.

Moats said in any construction project there always are inconveniences. He said one of the challenges had to do with the lighting project that required protective barriers for pedestrians so business access could be maintained when trenches were dug for the work.

Still, some store owners north of I-80/94 feel they are getting the bad end of the deal. Goldman suggested it would have been better for the businesses if the work had been done in stages, rather than the entire stretch of Broadway.

Brewer said he has heard similar concerns from other businesses in the area.

While it may have been more economical to pave the longer stretch of road, Goldman said the economic impact on the retail companies needs to be taken into account. He doesn't think that was considered at all.

"I think someone should be held accountable for this," he said.

IS IT ENOUGH?

In addition to the disruption to businesses, another concern raised by Brewer had to do with the scope of the project. He was hoping that sidewalks would be improved along Broadway as part of the Indiana Department of Transportation project.

While they are being made handicap accessible at intersections, Brewer said the sidewalks otherwise are in such bad shape people using wheelchairs or the visually impaired cannot use them. He also said updated traffic signals with audio warnings were not installed.

Charles Bradsky, the state transportation department's original project manager for the roadway, said the sidewalk work was looked at initially, but the cost to replace the sidewalks would have more than doubled the cost of the project. Moats said it was determined replacing the sidewalks would have added $9 million and delayed the project by two years.

Brewer also was hoping more curbs and lighting would be improved.

Bradsky, who is now with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, said some curb work is being done as part of the project, although Brewer said it is very limited.

Bradsky noted INDOT will work with communities to coordinate efforts to keep costs down on ancillary projects the community wants to do at the same time state transportation projects are underway.

LIGHTING PROJECTS

Public Works Director Cloteal LaBroi said that new LED lighting is being installed along Broadway from 25th to 45th avenues during the same time. NIRPC provided about $2.2 million in federal funding for that project, with the city providing matching funds of $285,000, according to LaBroi.

The lighting work is expected to be done by the end of the month. Brewer said he would have liked to have seen additional lighting installed, especially in the midtown section of the city.

The portion of Broadway between 4th Avenue and I-80/94 is expected to be done by Thanksgiving, Brewer said. He is concerned, however, about the impact of cold weather on the quality of the completed road.

Goldman had the same concern. "We don't think the integrity of the blacktop is going to hold up," he said.

Moats replied that paving has to meet temperature specifications before the work is done and testing is done to ensure the specifications are met.

"All paving on this project is meeting all the proper criteria to ensure a quality, long-lasting roadway is paved," he said.
ST. JOHN  A Lake Central High School teacher, who was arrested last week after a video of her allegedly doing drugs in an empty classroom went viral, has been formally charged with possession of a controlled substance, a level 6 felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.

Samantha Cox, 24, of Cedar Lake, was removed from the classroom Nov. 22 and held at the Lake County Jail until she posted a $10,000 bond later that same day.

She has been placed on paid administrative leave from Lake Central, school officials said.

The teacher allegedly told police after her arrest she purchased $160 worth of cocaine that morning before coming to school, according to court records released Monday by the Lake County Prosecutor's Office.

Cox told police she usually purchased "dope" after school, but was feeling sick that morning, records state. She said she had used cocaine for four years, since her freshman year at college.

Cox said she snorted the cocaine at 10:20 a.m. while alone in her classroom, records state. She said the door was locked, but students must have seen her through the door window.

Authorities learned about the drug use after someone took video of Cox in an empty classroom and posted that video online. The footage spread quickly on the internet.

The information was brought to the attention of school administration by student witnesses, and school administrators notified the St. John Police Department.

A detective was dispatched to the school at noon and requested help from a drug-sniffing dog, records state.

The dog alerted to the teacher's desk, where police located a plastic cigarette wrapper filled with rolled up pieces of tin foil, records state. Police also found a piece of paper wrapped up like a straw.

Cox allowed police to search her vehicle, where they found a glass pipe and multiple small pieces of tin foil, torn plastic baggies and two rolled up pieces of paper, according to records.

The records state Cox was polite and cooperative throughout the incident.

Lake Central schools Superintendent Larry Veracco said Monday that Cox was in her second year as a teacher at the high school. She taught English 10 and 11. She was hired in 2016, soon after graduating from Purdue University Northwest in May.

"She was popular with the students," Veracco said. "She did her student teaching at Lake Central High School, then we hired her.

"It's a sad situation. We are happy that we got her removed from the classroom very quickly after being tipped off by a student. But we are also concerned about her welfare, too. She seemed to be a very good teacher," Veracco said.

Cox graduated from Hanover Central High School in 2012 and was the salutatorian. She attended Purdue University Calumet, now known as Purdue University Northwest, graduating in May 2016. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English and concentration in English teaching.
Here's a look at how area members of Congress voted the week of Nov. 10-16. Look for this roll call report by Targeted News Service (with a week delay) regularly in Sunday Forum.

HOUSE VOTES:

YEMEN POLICY: The House has passed a bill (H. Res. 599), sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., expressing the sense of the House condemning Iranian interference in Yemen by supporting the Houthi rebels, and urging foreign governments to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The vote, on Nov. 13, was 366 yeas to 30 nays.

NOT VOTING: Visclosky, D-1st

RENTING GOVERNMENT EQUIPMENT: The House has passed the Federal Acquisition Savings Act (H.R. 3071), sponsored by Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., which would require federal executive agencies to consider the option of equipment rental in their cost-effectiveness analyses for buying equipment for agency use. The vote, on Nov. 13, was unanimous with 396 yeas.

NOT VOTING: Visclosky, D-1st

FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM: The House has passed the 21st Century Flood Reform Act (H.R. 2874), sponsored by Rep. Sean P. Duffy, R-Wis. The bill would change the federal government's National Flood Insurance Program by allowing the sale of private flood insurance policies, provide increased funding for housing relocation and flood mitigation efforts, and provide subsidies for low-income families to buy flood insurance. A bill opponent, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said it would make flood insurance more expensive by increasing premiums and surcharges, and would cut coverage for low-value homes with repeated insurance claims. The vote, on Nov. 14, was 237 yeas to 189 nays.

NAYS: Visclosky, D-1st

2018 MILITARY BUDGET: The House has agreed to the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810), which would authorize spending on the Defense Department and military construction programs in fiscal 2018. A supporter, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said the report addressed concerns about military readiness, adequate treatment of servicemembers, missile defense, and reforms of various military programs to help it meet the nation's security challenges. The vote, on Nov. 14, was 356 yeas to 70 nays.

NAYS: Visclosky, D-1st

GOVERNMENT WEBSITES AND SMARTPHONES: The House has passed the Connected Government Act (H.R. 2331), sponsored by Rep. Robin L. Kelly, D-Ill. The bill would require federal agencies to have websites that are easily viewed on smartphones and other mobile devices. The vote, on Nov. 15, was unanimous with 423 yeas.

YEAS: Visclosky, D-1st

TAX REFORM BILL: The House has passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1), sponsored by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. The bill would introduce a variety of changes to the federal tax code, including adopting four tax brackets in place of the current seven, increasing the standard individual deduction, and cutting the corporate tax rate to 20 percent. Brady said the changes would allow 9 out of 10 taxpayers to use a postcard system to file their taxes, would cut taxes for the average family by more than $1,000, and would result in "better jobs and bigger paychecks" across the country by creating a simpler, fairer tax system. A bill opponent, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, D-N.Y., said it would increase the debt by trillions of dollars by giving "tax cuts to America's wealthy families and corporations while stripping credits and deductions from middle class families." The vote, on Nov. 16, was 227 yeas to 205 nays.

NAYS: Visclosky, D-1st

The House also passed the Market Data Protection Act (H.R. 3973), to require certain entities to develop internal risk control mechanisms to safeguard and govern the storage of market data; the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act (H.R. 3739), with respect to the monetary allowance payable to a former president; and a bill (H.R. 4374), to authorize additional emergency uses for medical products to reduce deaths and severity of injuries caused by agents of war.

SENATE VOTES:

TRANSPORTATION POLICY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Derek Kan to serve as Policy Under Secretary at the Transportation Department. Kan, an executive at the ride-share company Lyft and a member of the Amtrak board, previously served as a Senate and White House staffer. The vote, on Nov. 13, was 90 yeas to 7 nays.

YEAS: Young, R-IN; Donnelly, D-IN

TRANSPORTATION COUNSEL: The Senate confirmed the nomination of Steven Gill Bradbury to serve as General Counsel for the Transportation Department. Bradbury, a partner at the Dechert law firm, was previously a Justice Department official from 2005 to 2009 and a private practice lawyer. A supporter, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., called Bradbury "well prepared to address the many challenging legal questions that will come before the department." An opponent, Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan, D-N.H., said that at Justice, Bradbury worked to "find legal loopholes that were an affront to our American values" when he devised memos to support the Bush administration's defense of torture practices against suspected terrorists, which showed "a lack of sound legal judgment" on Bradbury's part. The vote, on Nov. 14, was 50 yeas to 47 nays.

YEAS: Young, R-IN

NAYS: Donnelly, D-IN

ARMY SECRETARY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Mark T. Esper to serve as Army Secretary. Esper, an Army veteran who most recently was VP for government relations at Raytheon, has also served as a senior staffer in the House and Senate. The vote, on Nov. 15, was 89 yeas to 6 nays.

YEAS: Young, R-IN; Donnelly, D-IN

OVERSIGHT OF COAL MINING: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of David G. Zatezalo to serve as Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health at the Labor Department. Zatezalo is a former coal miner and executive at the Rhino Resources coal company. A supporter, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Zatezalo's career in the industry gave him "a keen understanding of the challenges and risks sometimes associated with mining." An opponent, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called Zatezalo "one of the industry's worst health and safety offenders" and a nominee who would prioritize coal corporations over workers' safety. The vote, on Nov. 15, was 52 yeas to 46 nays.

YEAS: Young, R-IN

NAYS: Donnelly, D-IN

CURRENCY COMPTROLLER: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Joseph Otting to serve as Comptroller of the Currency for a five-year term. Otting had been CEO of OneWest Bank and an executive at various regional banks. A supporter, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said Otting had over three decades of experience in diverse roles across the banking industry, and voiced confidence that Otting "will bring strong leadership" to the job of supervising financial institutions and identifying emerging threats in the U.S. financial system. The vote, on Nov. 16, was 54 yeas to 43 nays.

YEAS: Young, R-IN

NAYS: Donnelly, D-IN

SOUTH CAROLINA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Donald C. Coggins, Jr., to serve as a judge on the U.S. court for the South Carolina district. Coggins, who was previously nominated by President Barack Obama in 2016, had been a private practice lawyer at a South Carolina law firm for several decades. The vote, on Nov. 16, was unanimous with 96 yeas.

YEAS: Young, R-IN; Donnelly, D-IN

Along with roll call votes, the Senate also passed the FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act (H.R. 1679), to ensure the Federal Emergency Management Agency's efforts to modernize its grant management system include applicant accessibility and transparency; the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (S. 807), to provide anti-retaliation protections for antitrust whistleblowers; the VALOR Act (H.R. 3949), to provide for the designation of state approving agencies for multi-state apprenticeship programs for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs; and the VA Prescription Data Accountability Act (H.R. 1545), to clarify the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to disclose certain patient information to state-controlled substance monitoring programs.
Here is a selection of stories curated by AP editors to keep you informed as you start your weekend.
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Step aboard my way-back machine to 1985 and 1986, when it was morning in America and President Ronald Reagan wielded moral authority and an ability for cutting deals to achieve great outcomes.

The Tax Reform Act of 1986, which simplified the income tax code, broadened the tax base and eliminated many tax shelters, was sponsored by Democrats Richard Gephardt in the House and Sen. Bill Bradley in the Senate. It passed the House on a voice vote and in the Senate 97-3. The joint conference committee report passed the House 292-136 and the Senate 74-23.

So one of Reagans greatest achievements was a truly bipartisan effort that took three years to achieve, and lasted over three decades.

Now look at the freak and creep show on Capitol Hill today. Republicans are trying to ram through tax reform in the most partisan fashion, in just a matter of weeks, because President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans really need a victory. Having abjectly failed on another set of partisan blunders, the repeal and replace of Obamacare, their donor base is angry and threatening to stop writing campaign checks.

They are trying to woo three Senate Democrats, including Indianas Joe Donnelly, after not attracting a single Democrat in the House. But theres a big poison pill for Donnelly  the Senate version included repealing the Obamacare individual mandate, which could end coverage for 13 million Americans.

Ive said from the beginning that Im willing to partner with Republicans and Democrats as well as the administration on tax reform, Donnelly said. This should not include making health care more expensive for or taking it away from millions of Americans.

So intent is Trump to get this win that hell make a deal with the devil, or in this case Republican Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore, who has been accused by nine women (including one who was age 14 at the time), of sexual harassment and/or assault.

If the political machinations arent troubling enough, lets look at the actual legislation. It does some good things, like cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. It allows U.S. companies to bring back off-shore profits tax free, or as Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who ran the Congressional Budget Office during the George W. Bush presidency, puts it, That levels the tax playing field.

But there are problems, with economist Steve Rattner observing, It helps the rich more than anyone else, it increases the debt and kicks a lot of people off of Obamacare. He notes that 50 percent of the benefits go to the top 5 percent. This administration is running around calling it a middle class tax cut. But the middle class cuts get phased out after a few years.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University adds, "What will happen is we will have bulging budget deficits, we will have a fiscal crisis, we will have a downturn in the housing market because they are cutting corporate taxes in part by raising the property taxes. So the Republicans want us to forget the fact that the starting point of all of this is $1.5 trillion of deficits accumulated over the coming decade.

White House economic adviser Gary Cohn says the corporate tax cuts will fuel the economy and cut deficits. But at a meeting of CEOs hosted by the Wall Street Journal, Cohn asked how many planned to increase their capital expenditures. CNBC reported: only a smattering raised their hands. "Why aren't the other hands up?" an incredulous Cohn asked. Perhaps its because a National Bureau of Economic Research study published in 2014 found "little evidence that corporate tax cuts boost economic activity."

The way-back machine is back on, and we hear U.S. Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer, both running for the Senate, talk about the evils of budget deficits. In 2012, Messer told WTHR-TV, Today, the federal government is five times as big as it was 30 years ago, and the federal national debt has ballooned  growing from $1.2 trillion in 1983 to almost $16 trillion today. We have to do better. Rokita said in 2011, "The debt hole is too great now that you can't just grow your way out.

Both voted for the House version, so the deficit hawks no longer chirp. Anything for a partisan victory, because Trump needs one, even if our kids and grandchildren get stuck with the bill.

Yes, bipartisan reform. What a concept.
YANGON, Myanmar  Pope Francis arrived Monday on a visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's most peripheral and poor, but the big question looming was whether he would utter the word "Rohingya" while he's here.

Francis immediately dove into the Rohingya Muslim crisis by meeting Monday evening with Myanmar's powerful military leader, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations. The general is in charge of the security operations in Rakhine state, where a military crackdown against the Muslim minority has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke didn't provide details of the private, 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence, other than to say that "They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in Rakhine. But Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohyingya" because it is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

Francis, though, has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters," and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

Burke didn't say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

Upon arrival in Yangon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Myanmar's Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children in traditional dress greeted him as he drove in a simple blue sedan, chanting "Viva il papa!" (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Burmese and Holy See flags. Posters wishing Francis "a heartiest of welcome" lined the route into town.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologized for the expected heat, which was 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) upon his arrival and is expected to rise during his stay.

On Tuesday, Francis begins the main protocol portion of his week-long trip, meeting with the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and delivering a speech to other Burmese authorities and diplomats. He'll greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

In the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, Senu Ara, 35, welcomed Francis' arrival for what he might be able to do for the refugees.

"He might help us get the peace that we are desperately searching for," she said. "Even if we stay here he will make our situation better. If he decides to send us back, he will do so in a peaceful way."

But in Yangon, the sentiment was different. Myanmar's government and most of the Buddhist majority consider them Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have lived there for generations.

"Being a religious leader  Catholic leader  means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, 'OK, he just came to meddle,'" said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. "So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations."

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term "Rohingya" carries so much political weight for all of Myanmar's people.

"But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people aren't going to like the pope anymore," he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Min Kyi Thein in Yangon and Rishabh R. Jain in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.
It is difficult to fathom the depth of sadness when a mother gives birth to a stillborn child. Their heartbreak is compounded when bureaucrats treat those mothers badly.

Mothers in Indiana now have the right, since 2002, to receive birth certificates for stillborn babies. But in some county health departments, that right has been denied.

Jamie Lukas, of Crown Point, and Jennifer Stick, of Cedar Lake, said they had babies die in their wombs after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

"I was essentially told that since my baby was born dead, I couldn't get a birth certificate," Lukas, 32, told The Times' Giles Bruce.

Nick Doffin, administrator for the Lake County Health Department, said the office can issue birth certificates in that situation if a fetal death certificate is on file for the baby.

The employee who told the women no likely was unaware of the policy, he said.

This problem isn't limited to one employee at one county health department, however.

Heather Blythe, 30, of Kouts, said she had tried to get a birth certificate for her daughter, who was stillborn in September 2016, but the Porter County Health Department denied her request.

"I felt stupid and dismissed. It was a bad experience," she said. "What I went through was 100 percent child labor. I had a baby exit my body."

Blythe kept trying, and eventually she got that birth certificate.

"No moms should have to go through what we went through and be denied pure, simple evidence of the child's existence," she said. "We all saw the heartbeats on the ultrasounds or heard them on the Doppler. Why not give us a birth certificate? Acknowledge that life."

Denying those birth certificates is contrary to state law and only added to the mothers' grief.

Thats why its so important to educate government workers whenever state laws affecting their duties change.

In this case, the mothers deserve a public apology as well as the birth certificates.
A firm is exploring ways to link people's social media network with their ability to pay back a loan, writes ALON MWESIGWA



Are you fond of accepting friends on your social media platforms anyhow? Or do you just comment on or share content just for just? Stop it!

In typical tell me your friend, I tell you your character, a finance and technology company is exploring peoples behaviour on social media and their ability to pay back a loan from the bank. The assumption is that your social media friends speak of your social standing and behaviour.

The idea is being championed by Social Lender, start-up founded by Nigerians and is one of the fintech firms currently being tested at the Barclays Africa Group headquarters in Johannesburg.

Fintech is a buzzword used to mean finance driven by technology. A lot of start-ups are working on technologies changing the way people are making transactions.

Nvalaye Kourouma, the chief digital officer, Barclays Africa said the idea is who is your friend?



The lender can be able to assess your credibility for a loan [looking at your friends on social net- works, Kourouma said. If youre a friend with Obama, then there is a likelihood you may pay back.



Social media networks have already become a key avenue for companies to assess ones employability. People have lost jobs because of what they post on their social media platforms but some have gained employment because of their social media life.

Now that lenders might start using them to inform their decisions on who to give a loan or not means they have become so impactful in our lives  far from just socialising.

Kourouma said Barclays is yet to use the idea to assess its clients but it is promising.



It is one of the start-ups we are helping. Were testing and it has to show that this idea can be used on 1,000 clients, he said, indicating that it means the start-up has to work out a way to track many clients at one go.



Most formal lenders depend on credit reference bureaus to look at ones likelihood to service their loans. These look at past behaviour whether you have ever defaulted or have other loan obligations from other institutions.



Exploring your social media networks means banks are going beyond the traditional parameters of looking at a borrower to now also assess their social life, which most likely will be found on their Facebook, Twitter and other social network platforms.



For instance, someone sharing money-making or business-related content on their Facebook walls could be an indication they are interested in business. When they access finance, they are likely to use it better than someone sharing nude pictures of a local socialite.



What you post can also indicate whether you are extravagant or not. A perceived-to-be-extravagant person may not get a quick node from the lender compared to one thought to be frugal in their money handling habits.



Technology start-ups are receiving huge funds because of their potential to change the way people access financial products easily. They attracted $12bn of investment in 2014, up from $4bn the year before, according to The Economist.



In Africa, Nigerias ($109m), South Africas ($96.7m) and Kenyas ($92.7m) fintech start-ups received the biggest chunk of that money last year, according to a report by Partech Ventures. Ugandan fintech start-ups only received $270,000 last year.

amwesigwa@observer.ug
Buganda Road court has denied bail the eight Red Pepper editors and directors accused of a publication prejudicial to national security purportedly to allow the state undertake thorough investigations on the matter.



The eight are charged with publication of a news story which is prejudicial to national security and publication of a story that defamed President Museveni, his brother Gen Salim Saleh and security minister Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde.



They were also charged with the use of the electronic system to publish information that portrayed Museveni, Salim Saleh and Tumukunde as if they are planning to overthrow Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Prosecutors argue that the report subjected the trio to ridicule, contempt and hatred.



The charges refer to a story published by Red Pepper last week, Monday indicating that Museveni was plotting to overthrow Kagame.

The suspects in court

Arinaitwe Rugyendo, Patrick Mugumya, Johnson Musinguzi, Richard Tusiime James Mujuni, Ben Byarabaha, Richard Kintu and Francis Tumusiime denied the charges.



The suspects were arrested on Tuesday after a police siege at the Red Pepper offices in Namanve. They were later detained at the dreaded Nalufenya detention facility in Jinja.

Today, they appeared before the court and applied for bail through their lawyer Maxim Mutabingwa. He told the court that the charges read against his clients are bailable by the court and that since the investigations are not complete, the trial may not kick off soon.



He also told the court that all the accused are directors or editors who stay in Kampala and are law-abiding citizens. Each of the accused presented two sureties.



However, their application for bail was thwarted by state prosecutor Abdu Salaam Waiswa who asked for more time to scrutinize the documents presented by their sureties. He asked the court to remand them investigations continue.



Buganda Court Grade 1 Magistrate James Ereemye adjourned the matter to December 5, to allow the prosecution to respond to the bail application presented to the court by the lawyers of the accused.
The German town of Staufen is falling apart at the seams. The town of 8,100 residents, located on the edge of the Black Forest, decided to invest in geothermal energy back in 2007, aiming for a green energy future. Unfortunately, the decision backfired when the underground drilling went wrong causing hundreds of buildings to begin cracking apart.

The town rests on a layer of soft anhydrite, below which is a layer of groundwater confined to an aquifer. It was this combination which proved to be fatal for the Baden Wurttenburg hamlet. When the drills hit the groundwater, it poured into the anhydrate, which soon formed gypsum and expanded by about 50 percent. Over 270 buildings have suffered fractures in the ten years since and things dont appear to be getting any better.

Photo: Ekem/Wikimedia Commons

Weve been in crisis mode for ten years, Mayor Michael Benitz told news agency DPA. Its a slow-motion catastrophe. In combination with groundwater, this layer of earth turns into cement, expanding the layers and forcing the earth upwards.

In some places the town of Staufen has risen nearly 62 centimeters and moved sideways by 45 centimeters, causing buildings to pull apart. Two houses have been demolished already, and the town fears that several more buildings will need to be torn down to avoid accidental collapsing. Demolitions are necessary because structures structures are not shifting uniformly, but instead different parts of a building are shifting by slightly different amounts, so repairs are virtually impossible.

The financial fallout for the residents is immense, with over 400 claims filed so far with a mediation body established to manage the crisis.

Photo: Baden de/Panoramio

Fractures have become our daily companions, resident Csaba-Peter Gaspar told The Local. His apartment is located in the towns historic core and has suffered significant damage.

Pumps in Staufen are working around the clock to dredge groundwater and minimize imminent damage, but while they have helped reduce the buildup of cement and slow down the rise of the ground to millimeters from the initial phase of several centimeters, it is uncertain how long they will need to be in operation before things go back to normal

Im working on the assumption that well be grappling with this problem for several more years, probably even decades, Staufens mayor said.



Unfortunately, Staufen is not the only community suffering as a result of the botched geothermal drilling. Geologists from nearby Freiburg have reported similar issues unfolding in the nearby towns of Boblingen and Rudersberg.

Despite this serious catastrophe, the Berlin-based German Geothermal Association insists that the benefits outweighs the risks, and that geothermal energy remains a smart and environmentally sound option. Meanwhile, Staufen is in for decades of devastation and ballooning repair costs.
Americans spend an estimated $30 billion yearly on physical therapy to attack aches and pains. Doubts remain as to the effectiveness of the treatments.

PTs deliver an average of 3.4 weighted procedures during a visit. Since the average Medicare payment is between $26 and $30 per procedure, a single PT session costs around $100.

PR people are among those footing this bill and may have had experiences with PT themselves.

PT treatment centers have numerous pieces of expensive equipment designed to build muscle strengtha 180-degree flip-flop from decades ago when the dominant regimen for muscle-building was Dynamic Tension as promoted by Charles Atlas.

That involved applying one muscle against another to build strength.

This writer spent much of his youth at the local YMCA whose purpose was to develop a healthy spirit, mind and body. That remains its purpose.

As a junior leader we helped to conduct classes in exercises that included push-ups, deep-knee bends, sit-ups, running around a track at the gym, swimming, etc. No devices were used.

U.K. Study Backs Self-Treatment

The British Medical Journal found in 2016 that self-treatment for ankle sprains, the most common musculoskeletal injury, worked just as well as PT.

Queens University in Canada studied 503 patients who had torn a lateral, or outer, ankle ligament and monitored their recovery. Over the next six months, they were told to rest, ice, elevate, apply compression, and restrict weight-bearing activities on their own. Half of the patients got up to seven sessions of PT.



At one, three, and six months, the researchers assessed both groups recovery. At no time were the participants receiving PT faring any better than the participants who did self-care. Everyones ankle functionality, on average, progressed about equally.

"Intuitively, youd expect that if you were getting additional therapy, youd see better results," says lead researcher Brenda Brouwer. "But we just didnt see that in terms of functional benefits."

Had Bad Personal Experience

This writer had a bad personal experience with PT after we sustained a hairline fracture of our left ankle in a fall.

A doctor prescribed a heavy boot designed to immobilize the ankle. The ankle healed in about six months but weakness developed in our right leg.

The doctor prescribed PT. However, strenuous exercises resulted in lower back pain that made sleeping difficult and PT was halted. Rest had been the best cure.

NYT Covered PT

A New York Times article 1/6/2010 on PT by Gina Kolata, was titled: Treat Me, But No Tricks Please.

There is a growing body of evidence that supports what physical therapists do but there is a lot of voodoo out there too, James Irrgang, Ph.D., told Kolata. He is currently Scientific Director of the American Physical Therapy Assn.s Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry.

Voodoo treatments Irrgang described were ice and heat and ultrasound. There is no evidence showing laser and releasea massage techniqueto be effective in helping injuries heal, he said.

Ice and heat can control pain but the underlying injury remains, he said.

He noted that people often drop out of the PT programs before completion and it is often because the treatment is not helping or is making them feel worse.

NYT Generated 183 Comments

The NYT article generated 183 comments, most of them in praise of PT. Negative comments included the following.

"A runner" based in Washington, D.C., told NYT on 1/7/2010:

A comment from ripper 999 was:

I have only once had PT help me and that was when I broke my hip and needed their help to get me walking again and believe me that was quite the journey of pain.

I have gone to PT many times for shoulders injuries/pain and most recently a partial rotator cuff tear and biceps impingement and just like all the other times PT was a serious let down and waste of time and money.

Don't you find the first day to PT is awesome, they sit and talk and find out all your problems and even start a few exercises and you think..."Wow, finally I might get some relief!" of course thats short lived till visit two and every visit after when it seems they are way overbooked and come into your stall and say "okay lets ice this for 15 mins and then I want you to do this exercise for 20 mins

You then don't see your PT till your session is up and they say something like "Well does it feel better? How about you do this exercise until our next session?

A letter came from an old, beat-up ballet dancer who said that 15 years of dancing had produced numerous injuries but he never met a doctor or therapist who could help with a soft-tissue injury. Time alone cured those, said Mike in Austin.

APTA Describes Its Mission

Sharon Dunn

APTA, founded in 1945, based in Alexandria, Va., had revenues of $64.4 million in its latest reported year and $47.6M in net assets. EIN: 13-1512769.

Sharon Dunn is president and Lisa Saladin is VP.

APTAs Vision Statement says its mission is Transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience.

Movement is a key to optimal living and quality of life for all people that extends beyond health to every person's ability to participate in and contribute to society, says the statement.

The complex needs of society, such as those resulting from a sedentary lifestyle, beckon for the physical therapy profession to engage with consumers to reduce preventable health care costs and overcome barriers to participation in society to ensure the successful existence of society far into the future.

While this is APTA's vision for the physical therapy profession, it is meant also to inspire others throughout society to, together, create systems that optimize movement and function for all people. The following principles of Identity, Quality, Collaboration, Value, Innovation, Consumer-centricity, Access/Equity, and Advocacy demonstrate how the profession and society will look when this vision is achieved.

Full text of the principles is in this link.


Carl Icahn

Sard Verbinnen & Co. represents SandRidge Energy as it adopts a poison pill provision to head off a potential raid by activist Carl Icahn, who has knocked its $750M proposal to acquire Bonanza Energy.

Owner of a 13.5 percent stake in SandRidge, Icahn has blasted the Bonanza deal as nonsensical. In last week's federal filing, he questioned management's "possible justifications" for the deal.

The poison pill precludes any investor from acquiring more than a 10 percent stake in the Oklahoma-based company and "grandfathers in" current investors.

SandRidge chairman John Genova called the poison pill, which expires a year from now, a short-term move to protect shareholder rights to vote on the merger plan with Bonanza.

The rights plan is designed to deter the acquisition of actual, de facto or negative control of the company by any person or group without appropriately compensating its shareholders for such control, according to SandRidges Nov. 27 statement.

SV&Cs Bryan Locke and Kelly Kimberly handle media for SandRidge.
27/11/2017 - Switzerland has a low-carbon energy mix and falling emissions, and is working to restore the health of its rivers and lakes. It should now try to reduce threats to biodiversity and seek more sustainable consumption patterns, as high levels of waste generation and road traffic are putting pressure on the densely populated Central Plateau, according to a new OECD Review.

The OECDs third Environmental Performance Review of Switzerland finds that despite being one of the greenest OECD countries in terms of energy supply, greenhouse gas emissions and domestic material consumption per unit of GDP, Switzerland urgently needs to address pressures on its biodiversity. Four out of five Swiss reptiles, two in three amphibians and one in three mammals and birds are classed as vulnerable or endangered, including 60% of the countrys bats. These are high percentages by OECD standards.

There is also room to broaden environment-related taxes, currently among the lowest in the OECD as a share of GDP and decreasing. For example, Switzerlands carbon tax is high at EUR 77 per tonne but narrowly applied: transport fuels are exempt, as are companies that voluntarily commit to reducing their emissions. More taxes could also be applied to reduce environmental and health damage from pesticides used in agriculture, and mobility pricing  such as congestion charges  could be introduced.

Switzerland is one of the greenest countries in terms of its energy supply, but unsustainable consumption patterns and biodiversity loss are driving down its environmental performance, said OECD Deputy Secretary-General Masamichi Kono, presenting the Review in Bern. As a world leader in research and innovation and a finance hub, Switzerland is in a good position to foster development of green alternatives and encourage climate finance.

Switzerland has the lowest carbon intensity of OECD countries, thanks to high shares of renewable and nuclear energy and a service-led economy. Fossil fuels make up less than half the primary energy supply, far below the OECD average of 84%, with coal accounting for less than any other OECD country at below 1%. However, Switzerlands decision to phase out nuclear energy means it will need to scale up the deployment of renewable sources and energy efficiency solutions.

Switzerland is one of the first countries to start removing micro-pollutants from municipal sewage, and is working to restore its rivers and lakes, many of which suffer from pollution or have been structurally modified due to construction and hydropower infrastructure.

At the same time, the Swiss produce the second-highest amount of municipal waste per inhabitant in the OECD (after Denmark), up 27% since 2000 to 742 kg per head in 2015 and rising. Waste from construction and demolition produces 15 million tonnes a year. The country also has high road traffic intensity compared to other OECD countries.

The Reviews recommendations include:

Move forward with implementation of the countrys long-awaited biodiversity action plan, ensuring quantifiable objectives are set and clear indicators used to measure progress.

Find ways to improve consumption patterns, such as preparing federal waste prevention and resource efficiency strategies and increasing taxation of road fuels.

Expand the carbon tax base and phase out remaining tax exemptions and rebates on fossil fuel use.

Ensure coherence between different river health restoration objectives and their financing.

Further reduce emissions of air pollutants, including ammonia, in accordance with the polluter-pays principle.

Foster eco-innovation, including through venture capital, and capitalise on Switzerlands position as a major financial centre to promote green investment.

Download an embeddable version of the Review.

Read the Review Highlights online in English, French, German or Italian.

Read more on the OECDs Environmental Performance Reviews: www.oecd.org/environment/country-reviews/

For further information, or to arrange an interview with the author, journalists should contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 97 00).

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Related Documents
Local regulations to protect water quality and quantity along much of Nebraskas eastern border are being updated for the first time in more than 20 years, and the proposed rules aim to further control pumping and reduce the potential for ag pollution.

The new groundwater management plan for the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District would limit when farmers can use fertilizers, and how close certain wells can be dug to each other.

Beginning this week, the rules will be discussed in public forums  one each in Dakota City, Tekamah and the Omaha area. The plan, which was last updated in 1994, is available for review on the districts website.

It covers the Papio NRDs territory: Douglas, Sarpy and Washington Counties and parts of Burt, Thurston and Dakota Counties. It was created with the input of a range of people, including irrigators, tribal officials, utility operators and governmental officials.

The districts board could vote on the plan as soon as February.

Officials said the new plan was needed because of increasing threats of contamination and pollution. Also, its required: The Papio-Missouri River NRD, like all NRDs in Nebraska, is required by law to maintain a groundwater management plan, based on information on the quantity and quality of groundwater.

Since 1994, the understanding of groundwater resources in the district has improved significantly, and the plan reflects that expanded base of knowledge.

One of the big changes: At the start of the growing season, farmers in the Platte or Elkhorn River valleys will not be allowed to apply nitrogen fertilizer until March 1, and no fall applications will be allowed. In the rest of the district, fall fertilizing will be allowed beginning Nov. 1.

The fertilizer rules are designed to keep excessive nitrates out of the water system. High levels of nitrates particularly affect infants and are associated with blue-baby syndrome, a condition caused by a lack of oxygen.

Nitrates also are suspected of causing other problems in infants and adults, including possibly contributing to cancer.

The rules are important to the Platte and Elkhorn River valleys because the water table is closer to the surface and the soil is sandier, which makes it more vulnerable to fertilizer.

The timing of nitrogen-containing fertilizer is based on the likelihood the fertilizer will get absorbed by plants rather than lost to runoff or seepage. If a farmer waits to apply fertilizer after April 1, its more likely to be absorbed by plants, because the growing season has gotten underway and plants are pulling nutrients and moisture from the soil.

Earlier than that, it might languish on fields until it seeps into groundwater or washes into area waterways as a result of rains or snowmelt.

These rules are aimed at protecting the integrity (of) the water quality that we have, said Paul Woodward, groundwater management engineer with the NRD.

Woodward said he does not believe most farmers fertilize outside these dates anyway. If fertilizer washes away, it doesnt do the farmers crops any good.

Its ... implementing a process that most of them already do ... (by) making it something they have to do, he said.

John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said farmers typically fertilize based on temperature and soil conditions, and the new requirements may take some getting used to.

We are encouraging farmers and landowners and community folks to participate in these outreach meetings, said Hansen, a former Lower Elkhorn NRD board member. The worst place to get information is from the coffee shop.

The plan will require the NRD to take steps if nitrates in drinking water get too high.

When it comes to drinking water, a nitrate level of 10 parts per million is the maximum allowed. The vast majority of the district has zero to five parts per million nitrates in water, but there are two areas that have nitrates in the five- to eight-parts-per-million range, one near Springfield, the other near Tekamah.

The NRD will require anyone applying fertilizer to submit a fertilizer plan. Also, the district will work with local communities to prepare plans for wellhead protection areas.

The second major proposed change in groundwater rules is that any well that pumps more than 50 gallons per minute will have to get a permit from the NRD before construction, and wells of this size must be 600 feet from any other well.

This groundwater management plan kind of becomes the umbrella that protects everyones drinking water, Woodward said.
Two city employees in Sarpy County were recently honored by the Nebraska Chapter of the American Public Works Association.

Marty Leming, the longtime Papillion Public Works director, was honored as the 2017 Leader of the Year. And La Vista Public Works Director Joe Soucie was named Outstanding Member of the Year.

Both awards came during an awards banquet and annual fall chapter dinner in Kearney.

Leming, whos retiring in January after a 43-year career, said it was an honor to be recognized among his peers.

It really came out of left field and knocked my socks off, he said. I feel very blessed to be selected and feel really good that people nominated me.

Soucie has been with the Nebraska chapter of the association for almost 20 years and has garnered this award two other times.
ULYSSES, Nebraska  One hundred yards west of Dave Rechs farmhouse, buried 4 feet deep in the rich soil of Butler County, hundreds of thousands of barrels of Canadian crude flow by each day.

When TransCanada placed its 30-inch Keystone pipeline across Rechs farmland a decade ago, he said he didnt give it much thought.

There wasnt much controversy, he said.

But now Rech said hes not sure he wants his land crossed by a second pipeline, the Keystone XL, which is bigger and has sparked much more controversy.

I wish it would go away, he said, but its probably not going to.

Last week a state agency narrowly approved a route across Nebraska for the new Keystone XL. But it was a curveball to Calgary-based TransCanada, because it wasnt the pathway favored by the pipeline company.

Instead of celebrating the completion of a nine-year-long odyssey to get regulatory approval from the State of Nebraska, TransCanada officials now have to consider the delays and extra money it will take to adjust their preferred route across the state for what will be a third time.

Landowners like Rech learned Monday and Tuesday that they were suddenly on the proposed path of a 36-inch pipeline that would pump 830,000 barrels of crude a day from tar sand mines in northern Alberta to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast at Port Arthur, Texas.

Are you kidding me? responded farmer Gerry Werkmeister, whose land east of Madison appears to be on the new pipeline route.

We knew it was a possibility, but I always kind of thought it was a remote possibility, said Ron Schmidt, a Madison County Board member who owns land in the center of the county that also appears to be on the new pipeline path.

A TransCanada spokesman said last week that the company was gearing up to begin contacting landowners along the approved mainline alternative route but had not yet begun the process. The World-Herald interviewed a handful of people whose land appeared to be on the route, according to maps submitted by TransCanada. None said they had been contacted by anyone from the company yet.

But many of them said they would welcome the pipeline.

People were talking about it. It was mostly guys who wanted to buy new pickups if it went across their quarter (section), said Norm Funk, a Norfolk-area farmer, referring to the right of way payments made by TransCanada.

Funk said he already farms over more than one pipeline without any concerns. Pipelines, he said, are much safer than shipping oil by truck or train.

Schmidt, the County Board member, said Madison County would welcome the increased tax payments generated by the pipeline.

Neighboring Stanton County was paid more than $818,000 by TransCanada last year for taxes on its pipe and a pumping station.

Schmidt added that hed donate his land to the pipeline company if it meant keeping America out of another war over oil in Iraq or Afghanistan, where two of his sons both served in the military.

Id rather see our young people carrying shovels and wearing construction helmets than shouldering guns and driving tanks, he said.

Rech, meanwhile, has two farms that are affected. His home place near Ulysses as well as another farm in Boyd County, in north-central Nebraska, are both on the route of the Keystone XL.

That Boyd County land, along the Niobrara River, is sandy, fragile and prone to landslides, he said.

The recent 210,000-gallon oil leak from the Keystone pipeline in South Dakota, Rech said, has conjured up visions of crude oil running down the ditches here.

Whether the surprise routing decision by the Nebraska Public Service Commission makes it more, or less, likely that the Keystone XL pipeline is ever built was anyones guess as of last week.

I really dont know, said Terry Cunha, TransCanada spokesman. Were still reviewing the decision and understanding how it may impact cost and scheduling.

On the old route, the company had obtained right of way agreements with about 90 percent of the landowners. But many of those agreements are now useless.

The new mainline alternative route that was approved by the PSC last week is 5 miles longer and shifts eastward across 63 miles of different farmland, to hook up with the north-south path of the Keystone pipeline, which went into operation in 2010. The PSC said that it would be easier for the company to monitor both pipelines if they were close together and that it could respond more quickly to any problems. The alternative route also crosses fewer miles of the migration path of the endangered whooping crane.

Some of the landowners on the path of the existing Keystone pipeline, like Rech, signed agreements to host only one pipeline. So new agreements would have to be negotiated with them, as well as agreements with the estimated 40 landowners on the 63-mile detour of the Keystone XL route.

A new pumping station would be needed along the new route, adding more expense. And more regulatory reviews by state and federal agencies would be required.

Opponents of the pipeline said the additional time, money and hassle caused by the change will surely make it more difficult to move ahead with the Keystone XL, which was already facing uncertainty because of questions about whether it still makes economic sense.

Were delighted that theres further delay of a project that we think shouldnt be built at all, said Jim Cavanaugh, legal counsel for the Nebraska chapter of the Sierra Club.

Theres no way this pipeline is going to be built, said Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska, the main opposition group. She predicted that the extra reviews and negotiations will delay the Keystone XL for at least two years, souring shippers on the project.

By law, TransCanada and opponents have 10 days to ask the PSC to reconsider its order. The parties have a deadline of 30 days in which to file an appeal with the Nebraska Court of Appeals.

Before then, however, the company may have announced its final decision about whether the $8 billion Keystone XL is financially viable.

Doubts have been raised because the world oil market has changed dramatically from when the XL was proposed. And a Washington Times story last week estimated that the delays may cost an additional $1 billion to $2 billion.

Back in 2008, oil was trading for nearly $150 a barrel. Now its just above $50 a barrel, which has caused some major oil companies to flee the tar sands region for cheaper, more profitable and more easily accessible sources of oil.

TransCanada extended its open season to sign up shippers for long-term contracts to use the pipeline after the initial response was lackluster, according to an industry observer. The company has said it will decide by mid-December whether there are enough customers to financially justify building the Keystone XL.

Jeff Share, the editor of Houston-based Pipeline & Gas Journal of Houston, said the companys prestige might now be on the line after President Donald Trump resurrected the project. TransCanada has invested nearly $2 billion in the XL, buying pipe, doing environmental studies and paying for right of way.

After saying this summer that it was probably 50-50 whether the Keystone XL project would move forward, Share said last week that the odds had improved slightly, because other pipelines have been canceled, leaving the XL as one of the only remaining projects to ship oil from the tar sands regions.

The political pressure is enormous on them. If they can find any way to make it economically feasible, theyre really obligated to continue forward, he said.

One of the Nebraska Public Service Commission members who voted against granting a route across the state to TransCanada, Crystal Rhoades of Omaha, said she thought the PSCs decision last week should make it easier, not harder, for the pipeline to be built.

After all, Rhoades said, the company now has a state-approved route, something it had sought for almost a decade.

Theyve invested a lot of time and a lot of money, and I think that rerouting, to them, might be a minor inconvenience, she said.
Nebraskas new Choose Life license plate design, which generated controversy in the last state legislative session, was unveiled Monday in Omaha.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, Lt. Gov. Mike Foley and State Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, plus representatives from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Students for Life, Bethlehem House and other groups, gathered at the Bethlehem House for the announcement.

Starting Jan. 1, the specialty plate will be made available for an extra $5 as an alternative to the states standard license plate. Some money from plate sales will go to a federal program for the poor: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Were very proud of this plate, Ricketts said at the Monday ceremony. Its indicative of how we treat people in Nebraska.

The plate, designed by Lincoln graphic designer Shelley Novosad, shows a mother and a child admiring a colorful Nebraska sunrise with Choose Life at the bottom of the plate.

It symbolizes that youre not alone, Ricketts said. And it says Nebraska is a pro-life state.

The governor praised Watermeiers efforts at shepherding the bill that created the plate through the Legislature, including getting it past six filibusters.

Every community in Nebraska has an obligation to choose life, Watermeier said. The plates offer a glimmer of hope.

Bethlehem House, near 15th and Martha Streets, provides housing for pregnant women in crisis. The center is supported by private donations.

In response to the new plate, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland is gathering orders for a My Body, My Choice license plate. As of mid-November, the organization reported that it had gotten 220 preorders toward the 250 needed to get an organizational plate. The cost of an organizational plate is $70, compared with the $5 fee for the Choose Life plate.

During this years legislative session, State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said the Choose Life plate represents state support of a particular political viewpoint.

This plate Im opposed to because it chooses sides on a very contentious issue and it puts the state behind it, he said.

Other senators warned that the bill could open the door to other political views on license plates, either through future legislation or by groups gathering 250 paid applications for new plate designs.

Where do we draw the line? Where do we say No, this is too controversial? asked Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, arguing that plates would do little to stop abortions. This is not about choosing life. This is about a darn license plate.

Watermeier argued at the time that he didnt think the plate represents a wedge issue, although the plate does take a side in the debate over abortion rights. He said drivers have a choice whether to put the plates on their vehicles.

Nebraska drivers will have another new license plate option available Jan. 1: the Native American Cultural Awareness and History plate. The design of the Native American plate has not been unveiled yet.

World-Herald staff writer Martha Stoddard contributed to this report.
Two new ideas have been offered that could help people in mental health crisis avoid the risks of law enforcement intervention and ease the burden of mental health response on officers and taxpayers. These ideas from the City of Omaha and Douglas County are worth consideration.

The first proposal involves the authority to commit someone to emergency protective custody  compulsory, short-term mental health treatment for people considered a danger to themselves or others. Law enforcement officers exercise that power. The city and county are proposing that mental health practitioners also be given that authority.

The proposal, which is being discussed with legislators, would limit the authority to people licensed to practice medicine or psychology and to nurses with certification or specializations in mental health or a related field.

The second proposal is for the state to allow border cities, counties and towns to access available beds for emergency protective custody use across state lines. Iowa already allows this, but Nebraska officers cant take someone across state lines to access an available mental health bed.

The city and county should find a receptive audience among state senators across the state. Nearly every law enforcement agency faces waves of calls responding to people in mental health crisis. Omaha police officers filled out 1,193 forms from September 2014 to August 2015 indicating they had responded to a call involving someone they suspected was mentally ill. It also costs less to treat someone who is ill, rather than jail them.

Having professionally trained mental health practitioners weigh in before a person escalates to the point that a police response might be needed could build trust with providers and improve outcomes for patients and law enforcement officers.

Having access to more beds when local ones are full could help, as well. Its noteworthy that neither proposal appears to add much, if anything, to the states costs.

City Councilman Pete Festersen worked on both ideas with County Board Chairwoman Mary Ann Borgeson. Proposals to push for the state law changes necessary passed the City Council and County Board with 7-0 votes.

Festersen told The World-Herald he had consulted Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer, mental health professionals and private philanthropists. Its clear that more needs to be done to address this complicated issue.

The encouraging thing is there seems to be acknowledgment here . . . that this is the direction we need to be going, Festersen said.

These two steps, while far from a full solution to the challenges of helping those suffering mental health crises, will start a broader conversation about the issues involved and what can be done.

The Legislature would do well to encourage further debate.
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BY JOEL GREENBERG

You may not know it, but many Oregon children don't attend full days of school for months or years at a time because of behavior problems caused by disabilities. Increasingly, this happens in small rural districts located far from the expert behavioral help found in the state's bigger cities.

We know that with that expert help, virtually all of these children could attend a full day of school and learn. Instead, forced to spend the day at home in hopes the behavior will improve, the students rarely learn anything. Some are removed from school altogether and given an hour or two of tutoring per day, a plan that robs them of the opportunities to learn and practice social skills with other children.

You may picture a large, angry 17-year old boy when you think about a child so out of control that he or she isn't allowed to be in school for more than an hour or two. Sometimes, that's accurate. But our caseload tells us that many of those children weigh 60 pounds soaking wet. We have open cases with children who are receiving short school days at ages 5 and 6.

Behaviors that result in shortened days are as varied as the ages and sizes of the children. They range from ritualistic pinching and funny noises to full on aggression with punches and kicks. Far less varied is what happens when these kids are removed from school for long periods.

They fall behind academically and don't get to practice the social skills that are key to better control. The behaviors worsen and parents miss work so they can be home to watch their children. Jobs are lost and marriages fall apart. Some parents must choose between homelessness and giving up a child to state custody, which can mean special schools and programs that are far away and cost tax-payers thousands per month.

We don't know the size of the short school day problem because the Oregon Department of Education doesn't collect relevant data. But we estimate that it affects thousands of children each year.

More concerning is that the education department refuses to consider its responsibility to help rural districts. To the extent the agency addresses the issue, the Oregon Department of Education relies on guidance and a complaint system that allows well-resourced parents to seek better services -- often by punishing a district that has violated special education law. We know that those measures aren't fixing the problem because it is growing.

The education department should create a small cadre of on-call behavior and communication experts who could travel to rural districts for tough cases. They would analyze a child's behavior and provide short-term training, modeling and technical assistance for families and school staff. And they could remain available for remote troubleshooting if needed.

This model would boost district expertise by teaching district staff how to help an individual child. Admittedly, it wouldn't be cheap to create and operate such a team, but we believe that the associated expense would pale in comparison to the cost borne by the families of children who sit at home and become more and more difficult to educate or control.

It would also be dwarfed by the cost that all of us share when the behavioral needs of children are unattended until they become the adults who fill our prisons and hospitals.

Joel Greenberg is an attorney with Disability Rights Oregon. He lives in Southwest Portland.

Share your opinion

Submit your 500-word essay on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonlive.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.
An endangered sea turtle is recovering at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport Monday morning after it was rescued from a Washington beach on Thanksgiving.

Chad and Mickey Heidt, both Beaverton residents, were camping at Cape Disappointment State Park just across the Columbia from Astoria, when they discovered the stranded olive ridley sea turtle during a walk on Benson Beach around 4:30 p.m.

"I knew there was a major sensitivity to time, so we hurried to contact someone who could help," Chad Heidt said in a statement provided by the aquarium.

The couple reached out to the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, run out of Oregon State University, and arranged to transport the female turtle to Seaside with the help of a park ranger.

Laura Todd, a supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, picked up the sickly turtle and brought her to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, one of only two facilities in the Pacific Northwest authorized by the federal government to provide rehab for wayward sea turtles.

After arriving at the aquarium around 12:30 a.m. on Friday morning, vet staff gave her a quick evaluation, administered fluids and performed a blood draw. The initial results showed the animal was suffering from a number of problems. She was "extremely emaciated" and had likely been floating for a long time, officials said.

Her temperature, which should have been around 75 degrees, was 59.

Sea turtles prefer warm water, but shifting currents and storms, common in the winter months, can push them north, out of their comfort zones and into the cold waters off the Oregon coast. As their internal temperature drops, they lose the ability to swim and eat.

Some wayward turtles develop buoyancy problems, wherein they lose the ability to dive, which leaves them susceptible to strong winds. A floating turtle can easily be blown ashore.

Two of the most common turtles that wind up in trouble along the Oregon coast, Pacific green sea turtles and olive ridley sea turtles, are protected by the Endangered Species Act.

"Today we are especially thankful for the dedication from all parties involved given the short notice on a holiday," Jim Burke, Director of Animal Husbandry at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, said in a statement. "Although we are always uncertain of the outcome when we receive extremely sick animals, we are hopeful for this turtle's successful rehabilitation."

The aquarium has had recent success in its rehab efforts.

Solstice and Lightning  both olive ridley turtles rescued off the northwest coast in 2014 and 2015, respectively  faced long odds of survival.

"Solstice was pretty sick," Todd told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "She had buoyancy problems and we almost didn't consider her releasable. Lightning was pretty beaten up. Her pelvic girdle, pectoral girdle, the base of her skull and one of her fins were broken."

After a lengthy rehab, both Solstice and Lightning, along with another turtle, were recently released off the coast of San Diego, into waters much more conducive to their survival.

Burke warned that, as winter sets in, more turtles are likely to end up in need of help along the coast.

"Sea turtles do not reach Oregon beaches unless injured or sick, and once stranded, they require immediate specialized care to survive."

If you find a sea turtle on the beach, immediately note its location, remain nearby to observe it, and contact the Oregon State Police Tipline at 800-452-7888 or the Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 1-866-767-6114.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048
Christopher R. Ponte, a so-called cop watcher who has drawn the ire of local officials for visiting and filming the homes of the former police chief, a police supervisor and Multnomah County prosecutor, has now been accused in federal court of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

A Portland police detective started a criminal investigation into Ponte in July after learning Ponte was pictured on his Facebook page firing a shotgun, according to a federal complaint.

Ponte, who was convicted in 2016 of possession of a stolen vehicle, a felony, is not allowed to possess or use a firearm, the complaint says.

"They are trying to silence cop watchers, so they targeted me and fished for a case against me,'' Ponte said Monday.

According to the complaint, Ponte was photographed firing guns with a co-worker at a campsite off Oregon 224 in Clackamas County in January.

Ponte wrote on Facebook, "More work peeps blastin off some rounds.''

Investigators found a video posted to Ponte's Facebook account that showed Ponte firing five rounds from a shotgun at the campsite.

The unidentified Portland police detective contacted Ponte's co-worker, who told police he would go shooting with his co-workers at the site pictured in the videos and photos. At one point, Ponte was holding his co-worker's Uzi Pro Pistol, according to the co-worker who is not named in the complaint. Ponte also was captured holding and firing a co-worker's AK-47, according to the complaint.

The Portland detective investigated the case with help from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The federal charge was issued Nov. 15. Ponte, 36, was arrested in Milwaukie that night and appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Portland the next day. He was released on conditions and is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 15.

Ponte, who started a police watchdog group called Oregon Cop Block, has previously posted a video on his Facebook page of a nearly 19-minute traffic stop by a Columbia County sheriff's deputy of him and others after the group had driven away from former Portland police Chief Mike Marshman's home earlier this year.

Portland police Capt. Mark Kruger obtained a stalking order against Ponte in Washington County after Ponte showed up at Kruger's house July 10. Ponte also was cited for trespass recently in Multnomah County, accused of going to Deputy District Attorney Ryan Lufkin's home and ringing his doorbell despite a sign that warned "unauthorized persons'' not to step on the property. Ponte said he went to Lufkin's home to ask him about statements he made about the prosecution of fellow copwatcher Eli Richey.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
Monday 27 November 2017 4:53pm



Otago Business School researchers have found New Zealand consumers have difficulty finding information on how to shop sustainably. Photo: Sharron Bennett.

More and more New Zealanders are keen to act sustainably, but cant because producers arent providing enough product information to guide them.



University of Otago Business School researchers have been examining the disparity between what consumers say they would like to do and what they actually do, studying the link between labelling information and the intention to buy organic products in New Zealand.



Their research suggests that only three percent of consumers are currently putting their money where their mouth is and making purchasing decisions based on the sustainability of the product, although an estimated 30 per cent now say they want to act more sustainably when they are shopping.



Marketing Associate Professor Robert Aitken and his team found almost three quarters of those studied said they need more product-specific information at point-of-purchase to help them act more sustainably.



Marketing Associate Professor Robert Aitken.

People wanting to buy sustainably are aware of the wider issues but want to know about the specific ingredients, the packaging and what efforts the producers and suppliers have made to make their products sustainable. They want to know if the product is sourced responsibly and ethically, he says.



Consumers want genuine, credible information on the label. They dont want a company to give them greenwash sustainability messages; they are actively asking if some products are as environmentally sensitive as their producers portray them.



They also want producers to actively help consumers to be more sustainable  such as what to do with the product packaging.



This gives producers and suppliers a clear message.

Producers have a social responsibility to convey meaningful information, particularly given the current lack of regulation on product information. If consumers ask for information on the quality of their product, surely the company has a duty to provide it, he says.



He suggests, therefore, that New Zealand companies need to consider a sustainability framework and to incorporate sustainability as part of their overall service.



This will get them back in touch with what consumers actually want.



Contact:



Dr Rob Aitken

Marketing Department

University of Otago

Email: rob.aitken@otago.ac.nz
A new group of K-12 education leaders committed to professional growth will join the Saginaw Valley State University Gerstacker Fellowship program in 2018.

As part of the initiative, 12 teachers, principals, and program administrators from across Michigan will receive concentrated leadership training over a 1-year period. The experience concludes with a capstone international trip to China in June.

Previous overseas trips have included Finland, China, South Korea and Taiwan. Last year's group traveled to Japan.

These trips send participants to educational institutions, where they learn about international educational systems and corporate settings, and they discover how leadership plays out in different cultural and economic settings. Last year's group visited Tokushima, Nara, Kyoto, and Dow Japan & Korea Headquarters in Tokyo.

The program was established in 2005 with a $1.5 million endowment from the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation of Midland as part of SVSU's community-minded commitment to support K-12 educators. Participants are known as Gerstacker Fellows. They meet monthly on weekends.

SVSU faculty from various disciplines instruct the group on subjects such as organizational leadership, ethics, finances, communication, human resources, entrepreneurship and education with a global perspective.

The Michigan educators selected to participate in the program in 2018 are:

 Lisa M. Butts, career and technical education administrator and work-based learning coordinator for Oxford Community Schools

 Kimberly Cairy, a visual arts and design educator in Saginaw Township Community Schools

 Christopher Collins, an elementary school principal for Port Huron Schools

 Nancy Mahoney, an administrator of curriculum instruction and professional learning for Clarkston Community Schools

 Scott Sawyer, director of human resources for the Saginaw Intermediate School District

 Kurtis Pake, an elementary school principal for Bangor Township Schools

 Jennifer Servoss, the IB Primary Years Programme and STEM Coordinator for Midland Public Schools

 Jennifer Todd, an elementary teacher in the Swan Valley School District

 Jill Verburg, a middle school mathematics teacher in the North Branch School District

 Laura Walsh, assistant director of special education for Rochester Community Schools

 Jill Wrzesinski, an assistant high school principal and director of college prep for Bay City Public Schools

 Zak Zuzula, a middle school teacher for Carrollton Public Schools

The Fellows were nominated by their schools and selected on the basis of their past academic and service accomplishments, and the recommendations of others as to their potential for true excellence in leadership.
Unity of Bay City, Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center and the Bay County Health Department will host a prayer vigil in honor of World AIDS Day at 7 p.m. Thursday at Unity of Bay City, 3736 State Street Road. The vigil is free and the public is welcome.

"World AIDS Day is an annual worldwide observance providing us with an opportunity to focus our attention on this global pandemic which has claimed the lives of more than 36 million people," said Tom Brubaker, community relations coordinator for Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center. "Over the past 36 years, we have also lost several people to HIV/AIDS in our community. Sadly, the stigma and discrimination which have historically surrounded the disease has caused many people to live in the shadows as far as their HIV status or the cause of a loved ones' death."

Since the first report of AIDS in 1981, over 600,000 American have died from the disease. Worldwide, global hotspots for HIV/AIDS worldwide includes sub-Saharan African, southeast Asia and South America.

In Michigan, over 18,000 Michigan resident are living with HIV/AIDS, including an estimated 360 in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Since 1988, Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center has provided free, confidential AIDS care services including care case management, housing assistance, and support services. Sacred Heart also provides, free confidential HIV prevention education and testing at 10 locations.

Organizers encourage members of the community to attend this event to remember those lost, as well as broaden awareness to the disease of HIV/AIDS.

"(As) an increasing number of people in the United States are feeling marginalized and threatened for their differences -- such as ethnicity, faith, gender identification or economic status -- it has become more important now more than ever for us to stand in solidarity with one another," said Rev. Greg Coles, senior minister at Unity of Bay City. "This is an evening to celebrate our diversity and our oneness, to remember those lost or struggling with HIV/AIDS and the social stigma that comes with it, as people of all faiths and non-faiths. We are one."

Glass memorial candles decorated with red ribbons will be available for those who want to light a candle to remember a loved one or friend. A name card will also be available to write the first name or initials of someone in memory to maintain confidentiality. At the conclusion of the event, attendees are encouraged to take the memorial candles home.

Anyone living with HIV/AIDS who is seeking care services can contact Sacred Heart by calling 989-776-6000, ext. 6516. Free, confidential HIV testing and prevention education are also available by calling 989-776-6000, ext. 6514.

The prayer vigil will feature the lighting of memorial candles, prayer, music and the recitation of names.

A reception of sandwiches, cookies and beverages will immediately follow in the reception hall.
A bar fight involving numerous people in Lincoln Township resulted in the hospitalization of a 63-year-old Hope Township woman who was not involved in the incident, the Midland County Sheriffs Office reports.

The incident was reported at 3 a.m. Sunday at Northern Lanes Recreation, 1129 E. Saginaw Road. Deputies arrested a Lincoln Township man, 42, for felonious assault and assault causing great bodily harm in connection with the fight.

Capt. Tracy Thomas said it appears the incident began when a couple women had an argument. Witnesses told deputies the suspect picked up a pool cue and used it to strike others, including the 63-year-old woman, who appears not to have been involved in the argument or the ensuing fight.

The woman suffered significant facial and eye injuries and is being treated at the University of Michigan Health System. A media log entry states a 43-year-old Lee Township man also was hit by the man wielding the pool cue.

Thomas said deputies had interviewed 16 people as of Monday afternoon, and an initial report has been forwarded to the Midland County Prosecutors Office.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the sheriffs office at 989-839-4622 and ask to speak with a shift supervisor.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Kelly Dame.

Sunday, Nov. 26

12:35 a.m. -- A motorist was arrested in the 400 block of Eastlawn Drive for second-offense driving while license suspended.

3:43 a.m. -- Police were called to a South Saginaw Road address for a report of domestic assault.

Saturday, Nov. 25

10:58 p.m. -- Officers assisted Department of Health and Human Services staff in the 1500 block of Lee Street after a report of family abuse and neglect.

Friday, Nov. 24

11:16 p.m. -- Police were sent to a report of a loud party in the 6200 block of Alyse Lane, and investigated alcohol violations at the scene.

Thursday, Nov. 23

1:03 p.m. -- Police were sent to a report of domestic violence in the 3300 block of Dawn Drive.

8:54 p.m. -- Police were sent to a domestic assault at an Arbury Place address.

Wednesday, Nov. 22

2:49 a.m. -- Police investigated a minor in possession of alcohol at Kentucky and Maryland streets, and made an arrest for resisting and obstructing.

8:08 a.m. -- Property in the 900 block of West Wackerly Street was damaged.

10:15 a.m. -- Police investigated a report of a theft from a vehicle in the 5200 block of Eastman Avenue.

11:54 a.m. -- Police investigated a hit and run traffic crash in the 800 block of Cinema Drive.

6:06 p.m. -- Officers investigated a hit and run traffic crash at South Saginaw Road and East Haley Street.

8:21 p.m. -- Police investigated a theft, and made arrests for heroin possession, second-offense driving while license suspended and improper plate, in the 2500 block of Isabella Street.

9:33 p.m. -- Police made an arrest for marijuana possession at South Saginaw and East Patrick roads.
A deputy sent to assist a motorist ended up in the middle of a case of a vehicle that was stolen from another county.

The deputy was sent to M-20 near Geneva Road in Greendale Township Sunday night to assist a motorist. Before reaching the scene, Midland County Central Dispatch informed the deputy that the vehicle he was going to check on had been reported as stolen out of Mason, a media log entry states.

The driver, a 32-year-old Davidson man, was arrested for driving without a valid license and was held on a count of vehicle theft for the Mason Police Department.
A pair of loose dogs killed a 500-pound pig then were trapped when they were locked in the pigs pen Sunday, the Midland County Sheriffs Office reports.

The report of damage to property was filed at 9:09 a.m. when deputies were called to a Geneva Township home. The resident, a 44-year-old man, reported the two dogs, identified in a media log entry as pit bulls, had entered a pig pen on his property and killed one pig. The animal is valued at about $1,000.

The dogs, which became locked in the pig pen, were retrieved by their owner, a 32-year-old Geneva Township man.

The case has been turned over to the Animal Control deputy.
Historic tax relief for Americans is one step closer to happening. The House passed tax relief on Nov. 16 and this important legislation will deliver more than $1,000 in reduced taxes for middle-income families if it becomes law.

I have heard from thousands of constituents about what tax reform would mean to them and the overwhelming majority of them believe the federal tax system is too complicated. They believe it is time for the first major overhaul of federal taxes since 1986. With all the changes that have happened in everyday life since then, dont you agree it is time to bring the tax code into the 21st century?

Here is what the tax reform passed by the House will mean for residents in mid and northern Michigan.

One, it means a tax cut for hardworking families. As I mentioned, this is a big tax cut for the middle class. A family of four with an income of $59,000 would see its annual tax bill decrease by more than $1,000.

The legislation will double the standard deduction for individuals and married couples to $12,000 and $24,000 respectively. That means the first $24,000 a couple earns will be taxed at zero percent.

Tax reform also increases the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $1,600. This will let parents keep more of their money to provide for their kids. Michigan families have seen their costs go up for everyday items and this extra $600 dollars per child will go a long way for every family. More than 43,000 families in my district use the child tax credit and I know they overwhelmingly support increasing it.

Two, tax reform means lower taxes for small business, and that means more jobs and bigger paychecks for Michigan residents.

The owner of a business in Clinton County told me lower taxes would free up capital to expand our business and hire more people.

Another business owner in Midland said, lowering taxes will put more money in the pockets of my employees.

Under the legislation, a Main Street business with $62,000 in income would see its tax bill fall from over $8,600 to less than $5,700. This is a significant savings for our local businesses.

And that is what tax reform is all about, more money staying here, benefiting our residents and our communities.

Three, tax reform means taxes will be simpler and fairer.

Hundreds of constituents have written to me and complained about the time and expense of doing their taxes every year.

As one Lake City resident told me, I think the tax code is way too complicated for individuals and businesses. Simplifying would make things much better.

Another constituent, a farmer from Sanford, put it, less time spent on doing taxes means more time actually doing business.

I could not agree more and that is why I voted for tax reform.

Tax reform is tax relief for middle class families and main street, bigger paychecks, more jobs and a simpler, fairer system. This is the first major tax reform since 1986 and I will continue to fight for tax relief for hardworking Michigan families.

Congressman John Moolenaar represents Michigans Fourth Congressional District which is made up of Clare, Clinton, Gladwin, Gratiot, Isabella, Mecosta, Midland, Missaukee, Ogemaw, Osceola, Roscommon, Shiawassee, and Wexford counties, and parts of Montcalm and Saginaw counties.
NORMAL  Residents from Normal attending Illinois State University and Millikin University were among 55 outstanding college seniors recently recognized by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois for their classroom and extracurricular work.

Wesley Ward, a finance and political science double major at ISU, and Justin DeBo, a music business and information systems double major at Millikin, were among those named student laureates by the academy.

Others who received the academy's Civic Engagement Award included Brock Taylor, an Illinois Wesleyan University biology major from Mattoon; Rachel Smith, a communication major at Eureka College; and Ashlyn Carrol of Lincoln, who is majoring in business at Lincoln College.

This is the 43rd year that the awards have been presented. Each recipient receives a medallion and $1,000. The awards were presented during a convocation at the Old State Capitol in Springfield on Nov. 11.

One student laureate is selected from each four-year degree-granting college and university in the state. One community college student also is honored. The students are selected by their college or university.

Ward, a graduate of University High School, is a walk-on member of the ISU cross-country and track and field team. The honors student was named 2016-17 Scholar-Athlete of the Year at ISU. His volunteer activities include the ISU Honors Council, Illinois Sierra Club and College of Business Week. He also serves as the environmental committee chair for the College Democrats at ISU.

Taylor, a pre-med student, is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the Tri-Beta National Biological Honor Society. He volunteers at the McLean County Medical Society Cadaver Lab and has volunteered at the Cancer Center and Pediatric Unit at the Sara Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon. He served on the IWU Student Senate for three years.

President Lincolns legacy is a reminder of the power of public service and civic engagement, Gov. Bruce Rauner said. The students chosen to receive this honor have exemplified the principles and ideals of the greatest Illinoisan through their hard work and dedication to their schools and communities.
BLOOMINGTON  Alderman Amelia Buragas is urging her City Council peers not to delay any longer in preserving the city's few remaining brick streets.

"It's now or never," said Buragas, who represents Ward 4. "We have not had any plan for how to preserve this resource in our community. Because of that, this resource has been allowed to deteriorate over time.

"We really are at the point that if we don't take action now we will lose this resource."

The council is expected to vote on the city's revised Brick Streets Master Plan when it meets at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

The city, which has about 320 miles of streets, once had 41 miles of brick streets, but now only 3.5 miles remain. Some brick streets have been lost since the 2009 plan was developed but never adopted.

"Brick streets are part of our historic past, and because of that they are part of what makes Bloomington unique," said Buragas. "They are part of what makes Bloomington a great place to live."

But the cost to restore and repair brick streets is significantly more than a typical street. The upside is a brick street's life expectancy is 100 to 150 years compared to an asphalt street's expected lifespan of 30 years.

The vote comes as the council has discussed recently cutting some city programs because of a projected deficit of about $3 million next year that could grow to $8.5 million by 2022 if revenue does not increase and the budget is not trimmed.

Using some of the money earmarked for annual street resurfacing projects to preserve brick streets, no new source of revenue would be needed to fund the work, said Buragas.

Street resurfacing and sidewalk projects are funded annually with $2.4 million the city receives from the 4-cent-per-gallon motor fuel tax and $2.4 million from added sales tax revenue. The city recently raised the sales tax by 1-cent-per-dollar and designated a fourth of that money for streets and infrastructure.

The plan proposes reconstruction of 10 blocks of brick streets and patching 20 more over 10 years, beginning with the streets in the worst condition.

The Public Works Department initially proposed $400,000 a year for reconstruction costs and $100,000 per year for patching costs.

But after cost estimates totaling $839,000 were provided for the first brick street project  Monroe Street between Clinton and Robinson streets  the city staff revised upward the plan's total estimated cost over 10 years from $5 million to about $7.4 million, said Public Works Director Jim Karch.

"The time frame for the implementation for the master plan can be modified as the city moves forward through the budget process," said Karch. "But the important thing is that (the council) put some policy direction in place for staff to be able to understand how they want us to handle brick streets."

In other action, the council also will consider:

 Approving a funding agreement for the Small Business Development Center between the city, the town of Normal, Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council and Illinois Wesleyan University.

The center, located on the IWU campus, opened in March to assist in starting and/or developing new small businesses in the community. Its primary funding is $80,000 in annual federal funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration passed through an Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity grant.

The council will consider two alternative funding ratios.

If Bloomington and Normal split their share of the cost 50-50, each municipality would spend a total of $61,845 over three years.

Based on a 60-40 percent split, Bloomington would provide $74,214 while Normal would contribute $49,476.
=Stefan Zaklin/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Congress returns to Washington after the Thanksgiving holiday facing a crushing to-do list of must-pass legislation and GOP agenda items, along with the looming threat of a government shutdown in December.



The House has just 12 legislative days scheduled until the end of the year, while the Senate has 15.



Senate Republicans are working to approve their tax proposal this week, in order to reconcile their bill with House Republicans version and send a compromise to President Donald Trumps desk by the end of the month.



Government funding



Lawmakers will soon confront the Dec. 8 government funding deadline, which could result in the passage of a stopgap funding measure -- keeping the government open at current funding levels -- a catch-all spending bill or a partial government shutdown. (The U.S. Treasury also hits its borrowing limit on Dec. 8, but action isnt expected on the debt ceiling until next year.)



Liberal Democrats hope to leverage the deadline and must-pass legislation as a way to force action on legal protections for hundreds of thousands of "Dreamers" after Trump moved to phase out the program by March of 2018. Some, including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., have pledged to withhold their vote for a spending deal without protections for Dreamers.



Complicating that debate is Trumps own push for a border wall, which still resonates with his supporters but has little chance of clearing the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.



Democrats also want to push Republicans to approve a bipartisan measure reinstating cost-sharing subsidies for insurers that help low-income Americans afford health insurance. But many Republicans are reluctant to approve any legislation that would help prop up the current Obamacare system, following their efforts to repeal and replace the legislation with their own plan.



Additionally, Republicans and Democrats are negotiating changes to government spending limits, which must be dealt with before addressing next years spending figures.



Hurricane relief and children's health insurance



Congressional leaders have plans to consider additional supplemental hurricane recovery funds for Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, after the White House requested more than $44 billion in aid, along with funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Congress failed to reauthorize the program in September, and states are quickly running out of money.



A key element of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act regarding National Security Agency surveillance is set to expire at the end of the year -- adding a crucial national security item to the to-do list on Capitol Hill.



Trump will meet Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at the White House to discuss spending caps and the rest of the legislative calendar.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Q: I am a retired veteran and receive retirement benefits and a small service-connected VA disability compensation. I have TriCare Prime health insurance benefits. The VA says it is in the process of transforming the TriCare benefit. How will this transformation affect my insurance benefits?

A: Vice Admiral Raquel Bono recently announced the interim final rule that charts the way forward for transforming TriCare, the military health care system, with changing affecting the systems 9.4 million beneficiaries.

TriCare Select, the new preferred-provider organization benefit, incorporates TriCare Standard and TriCare Extra; it goes into effect Jan. 1. On that day, TriCare Prime beneficiaries will automatically be enrolled in Prime or Select. An annual enrollment period is a part of the plan and the plan year will be changed to calendar year from fiscal year.

The definitions of life-changing events during which changes can be made also will be revamped. For Select beneficiaries, the plan offers access to no-cost preventive services now are offered only to TriCare Prime beneficiaries. The new plan also converts the current cost share from a percentage to a fixed dollar amount.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Library of Congress and the Illinois State Library, a division of the Secretary of States Office, provide audio-books for use by blind or physically handicapped veterans who have difficulty reading regular print.

If you own an iOS device such as an iPad, iPod or iPhone, or an Android phone or tablet, audio-books can be downloaded directly with no limit. The audio-books and players are provided free by mail if the veteran does not utilize cell or Wi-Fi access. Call 1-217-782-9435.

Access BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) web-based service or through the BARD Mobile app for smartphones and tablets.

Q: I am a Vietnam boots on the ground veteran. I utilize the VA Health Care System for my health care. I recently had a test at the VA for liver problems and the test indicated that I had cysts. I had surgery to remove them and a regimen of medications.

I know all about the Agent Orange (AO) exposure issues for veterans who served in Vietnam, but could my liver problems be associated with AO exposure?

A: According to information provided by the VA, liver problems are not on the list of medical problems associated with exposure to Agent Orange. However, a report from The Associated Press indicated that river flukes (worms) common in southeast Asia waterways may cause liver problems and in some cases liver cancer in veterans who consumed raw or undercooked freshwater fish while serving in Vietnam.

The more recent limited VA study that began in the spring of 2017 (as reported in The Pantagraph last week) indicated that although the sample size was small, the results deserve a more in-depth study.

Vietnam veterans who use the VA for their health care should discuss the issue with their VA primary provider. Vietnam veterans who do not utilize the VA for their care should consult with their civilian doctor.

The flukes can easily be wiped out with a handful of pills early in the infestation. Left untreated, the danger of serious medical or fatal consequences is real. Symptoms may not appear until many years after the initial infestation.

UPDATE

The Land of Lincoln office of the Illinois Armed Forces Legal Aid Network (IAFLAN) has opened in the VA Illiana Health Care System in Building 103, Ward 6, Room 105 at the VA Medical Center complex in Danville. Hours are 1:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays starting Nov. 28.

The office provides free legal services for qualifying veterans, active-duty and reserve members. Walk-ins are accepted. For priority appointment consideration, call 1-217-356-1351.
The people who light up the nightlife with their antics are always worth remembering, so let me do so, starting way back in the 18th Century (when I was a mere child).

1702

EDWARD HYDE

The British-appointed governor of New York and New Jersey from 1701-1708, Hyde was awful, but at least he provided a fetching sight when he rode to King's Arm Tavern on horseback, in full drag. He also opened the 1702 New York Assembly in a hoop dress and the requisite accessories. Hyde was dedicated to representing the Queentruly.

Mid 1800s

CRAZY LOU

A showgirl/prostitute from Boston, Lou was a regular at pubs like the Haymarket and the Cremorne. Long after she lost her looks, she ate out of garbage pails and sold flowersbut still went clubbing. I know the type.

1889

SILVER DOLLAR SMITH

Smith (aka Charles Solomon) had an Essex Street bar with silver dollars embedded in the floor and rich-in-character regulars like Cross-Eyed Murphy and Big Feet Louie Gorden. Smith was an extremely shady entrepreneur, but he did sometimes give out free matzoh to poor Jews.

1925

EVA KOTCHEVER

Leaving Poland for Greenwich Village, Eva (calling herself Eve Adams) opened Eve's Hangout downstairs at 129 MacDougal Street, where the sign on the door blared, "Men are admitted, but not welcome." If they dared go in anyway, guys would find lesbians reading poetry, singing, and having heated discussions on a variety of societal topics. But the cops weren't thrilled. In fact, an undercover female one who snuck into the Hangout claimed that Eva made a pass at her, resulting in the Polish lesbian's arrest for "disorderly conduct." Seized as evidence of her obscenity was a copy of her book, Lesbian Love. Gee, that's proof enough, no? (Eyeroll.)

1947

BABE PALEY

The Boston-born daughter of a brain surgeon, Babe was a Vogue fashion editor who was regularly named to Best Dressed lists for her simple, elegant style. In 1947, she married her second husband, CBS magnate William S. Paley, which cemented her power status. As one of Truman Capote's "swans" (his glam women friends), she went on to swank up many a joint, lunching at La Cote Basque and dazzling at Capote's Black and White Ball at the Plaza. The 2006 movie Infamous has Sigourney Weaver as Babe and Toby Jones as Capote enjoying live music at El Morocco.

1977



KEVIN BOYCE

Philadelphia born Boyce wore thrift shop dresses and looked so good in them, he was swept into the ultimate '70s disco scene: Studio 54. Designers took note of his style and sent him stacks of free couture gowns. It was also noticed that Boyce had the same measurements34-28-35as the top female fitting model, so he became a fitting model himself. Boyce and girls went together. The late, hardly credited figure helped pave the way for androgynous chic.

1988

ZALDY GOCO

With Mathu Anderson, Zaldy worked on party thrower Susanne Bartsch's fanciful looks and images. Zaldyan ex-model from Connecticut-- went on to design glam outfits for Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga, though his clothes for Michael Jackson's last concert series never got to be worn.

1990

LAHOMA AND LARRY TEE

In 1989, these off-center talents came to New York from Atlanta and seized the clubbing landscape with their wacky clothes and giddy antics, at clubs like La Palace De Beaute. Tee wrote Ru's 1992 hit "Supermodel (You Better Work)" and DJ'd/produced and Lahoma cavorted around Disco 2000, though she eventually got back into male attire as Jon Witherspoon and left nightlife behind.

1998

TARA REID

A sort of precursor to Lindsay Lohan's rockier periods, Tara was a former child star from New Jersey who'd blossomed into a fairly undistinguished film career, though she certainly excelled at partying and making headlinesand I found her to be charismatic and well-spoken. Tara could be spotted at Moombaa trendy restaurant/lounge on Seventh Avenue South--among other places, though getting on the guest list for rehab seemed like a "duh." Sharknado (and its many sequels) has proven to be a perfectly bizarreand bizarrely perfect--comeback.

2001

THE RONSONS

Writer Ann Dexter-Jones and real estate biggie Laurence Ronson have brought quite a stimulating brood into the world. Samantha's a musician/DJ/Lindsay Lohan-ex, while her twin, Charlotte, is a snazzy designer. Their older brother Mark, is, of course, a music biz titan who has worked with artists like Bruno Mars and Adele. The trio's omnipresence may well have been most noticeable in the early aughts, when you couldn't escape their genealogy-laden glow.

Images via Getty


There's a lot they don't teach you in fashion school. Having started as a designer before becoming a stylist, I know how hard it is to build your own label, for instance, next to multimillion giants like Inditex and Mango. Still, each year a new crop of fresh graduates continue to hit the ground running, inspiring industry insiders with their communication and presentation.

Here's a list of some of the brands that have caught my eye since Fashion Week. I'm curious to see how they will shape fashion and to witness their growth into global brands. Stay tuned

XU ZHI

Xu Zhi first interned with JW Anderson (and now works from his old studio) before launching his London-based fashion brand with a contemporary aesthetic based on craftsmanship and a unique detail for textures. At first it looks like knitwear, but each of the yarns are braided individually by hand and laid down onto jersey/wool/silk on a pattern and embroidered over the top. Stocked at DSM in London.

SHIORI SUZUKI

After studying womenswear at Central Saint Martins in London, Shiori Suzuki gained many skills working for fashion labels across the globe. Bringing her experience to her own label in 2016, her SS17 collection RED & BLACK takes inspiration from androgyny and texture from various movements throughout London. Her collection portrays a Punk and Rave energy whilst still appealing to the feminine side of fashion.

DBX BERDANXX

London-based brand DBX BERDANXX show they are very much in the now with their season motto "Fake is the New Black." Their gender fluid clothing is pushing their brand into the cool side of London fashion. Its underground sportswear look and eye-catching colors make it one to watch.

GIUSEPPE di MORABITO

Finalist of the Woolmark Prize, Morabito is a top newcomer in the industry. Conservative pieces are twisted into a cool, fresh, and personal aesthetic. Ruffles, embroidering (mostly flowers), organza, tulle and faux-fur are so Italian over-the-top but oh so refined and the finishing is perfect. Everybody who works with me knows that's all I talk about!. The structure of the collection is offering pieces for every hour of the day.

ACT N1

Act N1 is a womenswear label founded in Italy by Luca Lib and Galib Gassanoff in 2016. Their multicultural background is brought to life into the SS18 collection with a melting pot of prints and asymmetries. It's interesting to see how the pattern-making process offers a variety of looks in one, as dresses turn into tops and sleeves turn into belts. In July 2017 they won the Vogue Italia and Alta Roma contest "Who is Next." Keep your eyes on Act N1.
Kim Kardashian is just one of a few celebrities who are advocating online about the case of Cyntoia Brown, a former sex-trafficking victim who was sentenced at the age of sixteen to life in prison for murdering her captor.

Though Brown was sentenced in Tennessee thirteen years ago, her case has received renewed attention after Rihanna first posted it's details on Instagram. T.I., Lebron James, Cara Delevingne, Snoop Dogg and Kardashian are some of the celebrities who followed suit, starting the hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown.

"The system has failed," Kardashian tweeted on November 21. "It's heart breaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what's right. I've called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this."

The system has failed. It's heart breaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what's right. I've called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this. #FreeCyntoiaBrown pic.twitter.com/73y26mLp7u

 Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) November 21, 2017

Now it seems that Kardashian is following through on this claim as TheBlast.com reports that Kardashian's attorney, Shawn Holley, has a conference call scheduled to discuss a plan of action for Brown's legal options.

In 2004, Brown was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 43-year-old Nashville realtor Johnny Mitchell Allen. Brown, who was just sixteen at the time, had reportedly been sold to Allen as part of a sex trafficking ring. Brown maintains that she killed Allen in self-defense. Notably, a series of changes in the law that went into effect in 2011 mean that if her case were heard today, she'd likely be tried as a sex trafficking victim and not an adult.

Holley worked under the late Johnnie Cochran on O.J. Simpson's infamous 1995 murder trial alongside Kardashian's late father.

Kardashian also asked Holley to look into the case of Alice Johnson, a 62-year-old grandmother who is 21 years into a life sentence for her first-time, nonviolent drug conviction, whose story was first reported by Mic.

[h/t Complex]



Image via BFA
While the fallout from the various assault accusations involving some of the media biggest players has been severe (despite profuse denials from almost all), we have thus far been yet to hear of any legal repercussions. Now, Deadline reports the LAPD has confirmed they are indeed investigating 28 (!) separate sex crimes, 37 other reports have been filed with other jurisdictions, after many victims came forward to report their experiences with Hollywood hotshots.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck revealed he has five teams of two detectives assigned to investigate the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Ed Westwick, Girls writer Murray Miller (who Lena Dunham infamously defended) and many others. But that's not all, Beck also claimed he expects "the LAPD and other jurisdictions will receive even more high profile sex crime reports in the coming weeks and months. We encourage all victims of sexual assault to come forward to report these crimes."

"We recognize the significant trauma these victims suffer at the hands of the predators who commit these heinous crimes," Beck said. "Our detectives are coordinating closely with our local prosecutors and other police agencies, including the NYPD. The high-profile nature of these particular cases has not changed our unyielding commitment to seek justice for ALL victims of sexual assault."

Cold case units have also been brought in investigate older allegations where there is little physical evidence involved. In California the statute of limitations for lewd acts (groping, indecent exposure, which make up m) can be one year, whereas in most rape cases can still be prosecuted for up 10 years. Regardless the LAPD are launching major investigations into each case, also declaring they have never before seen so many reports.

Get 'em.

Splash photo via Getty


In two reports last month (one and two) we covered the story that Apple, BMW, Google, Dell, Tesla and others were voicing concern that the EU was considering the adoption of Qualcomm's patent value system.

The report noted that the European Union was drawing up guidelines on how much patent holders should charge for their technologies, a thorny issue that pits Apple and other users against Qualcomm and Ericsson. More specifically, the report noted that "Trillions of dollars in sales are at stake as regulators ponder whether a fridge maker should pay a different rate for crucial patents than a carmaker, or whether a flat, fixed rate would be fairer."

The patent fee model used by Qualcomm predominates in the tech industry and is based on how much value a technology adds to a product, but is opposed by Apple and others in Silicon Valley.

Today Reuters is reporting that "EU regulators are set to unveil patent fee guidelines which favor Qualcomm, Ericsson and other patent holders despite intense lobbying by Apple, German carmakers and other users, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The Commission's latest draft no longer has the phrase 'licensing for all,' the sources said, a victory for Qualcomm as it removes the obligation on patent holders to provide patent license to all companies asking for them.

A key sentence in an earlier proposal has also been deleted, people said. The sentence said that right holders could not unilaterally set prices according to the way in which a patent is used. For more on this, read the full Reuters report here.

With Apple appealing the EU's largest tax fine ever to hit an American company, is in wonder why they would favor Qualcomm to further stick the knife in Apple's back?

If the final decision does in fact choose the Qualcomm patent fee schedule, it may affect certain European based lawsuits between Apple and Qualcomm.

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Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, at the party's working committee meeting at his residence on Sunday, took yet another shot at his former political-enemy-turned-ally-turned-enemy-again Lalu Prasad Yadav saying 'some' leaders in the now-defunct Mahagathbandhan administration were interfering in even the lowest level of government functioning giving a bad name to the administration.

Kumar, without mentioning the name of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief, his two sons, or any of the RJD or Congress leaders, said regular interference by ministers and legislators in even the minor government deliberations led to his rethinking of his decision to join hands with RJD and Congress leaders.

"While I was focused on social welfare and improving the lives of the people of Bihar, others came into power with the sole intention of amassing wealth and properties. This was giving a bad name to the government and I had no choice but to walk out of the previous government," the Janata Dal  U leader said at the meeting.

The Chief Minister, who has practically given up talking about investment and economic development, harped on his decision to impose prohibition in the state and steps taken to discourage dowry system and child marriages in Bihar.

Rest of the time Kumar talked about strengthening the party and how to recruit more members at the grassroots level who, he said, would be trained to manage party cells at the block level. He also discussed 'booth management' in Bihar saying the party had already appointed 'Booth Level Agents' at 31,000 of the 62,740 booths in Bihar in preparation of the next state and national elections.
Iran, Turkey, Qatar move to bolster trade amid Saudi-led blockade

11/27/17

Source: Press TV

Iran, Turkey and Qatar have signed a trilateral agreement aimed at boosting trade with Doha amid a Saudi-led blockade on the Persian Gulf sheikhdom. Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Business Mohammad Shariatmadari, Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci and Qatari Economy Minister Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani signed the deal in Tehran on Sunday.

The measure would facilitate the process of transiting goods among the three countries, by tackling obstacles created to economically isolate Doha.



Earlier, Shariatmadari announced Qatar was eager to expand ties with the Islamic Republic in all areas as a result of the current conditions that the Saudi-led blockade against it had created.



Back in June, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates imposed a trade and diplomatic embargo on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, an allegation strongly denied by the emirate.



The Saudi-led bloc presented Qatar with a list of demands, among them downgrading ties with Iran, and gave it an ultimatum to comply with them or face consequences. Doha, however, refused to meet the demands and said that they were meant to force the country to surrender its sovereignty.
Barclays Africa is expected to rebrand in March 2018 following its de-consolidation from Barclays PLC, its parent company.



In South Africa, its headquarters, the group could adopt new name which is still being discussed, while in its other markets on the continent, a period of up to three years is allowed to elapse before any rebranding could take place.



Songezo Zibi, Head of Group Communication at Barclays Africa, told a group of journalists in Johannesburg on Thursday that for its other markets, including Ghana, the rebranding could make it possible to list the new entity on the local Stock Exchanges, given the new investment opportunities that the rebranding comes along with.



The Barclays Africa Group has 1,160 branches out of which Ghana has 62, 41,714 employees, 1110 of whom are Ghanaians, 11.6 million customers of which 351,339 are Ghanaians and 10,076 Automated Teller Machines of which Ghana has 170?



In June this year, Barclays Africa Group Limited announced that following the completion of its largest bookbuild in South African rand, Barclays PLC had sold 33.7% of Barclays Africas issued share capital.



The move paved the way for an accounting deconsolidation of Barclays Africa from Barclays PLC.



Barclays PLC sold 285,691,979 Barclays Africa ordinary shares at a price of R132 per share, which resulted in Barclays PLC reducing its shareholding to 23.4%, with a further 7% to be taken up by the Public Investment Corporation later after the necessary regulatory approvals had been done.



The shares in the overnight bookbuild were multiple-times subscribed and sold to a mix of existing and new investors, both locally and internationally.



The completion of this transaction demonstrates an exceptionally healthy investor appetite for Barclays Africa and our strategy of becoming a leading standalone financial services group in Africa, said Maria Ramos, Barclays Africa Group Chief Executive Officer.



He added: This is a very exciting time for Barclays Africa. There is an opportunity for increased African ownership of our business through a planned staff share scheme, as well as a broad-based black empowerment scheme.



Barclays PLC announced on 1 March 2016 its intended reduction of its 62.3% shareholding in Barclays Africa over time because of regulatory changes in the UK.

Source: Daily Guide









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Ace broadcaster, Kwami Sefa Kayi has been honored by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).



The Council of the University conferred a "Distinguished Service Medal" on him for his tremendous contributions to the development of Ghana.



The multiple award-winning Host of the Peace FM's morning programme "Kokrokoo", received the honor together with eight (8) others on Friday morning.



According to the Council, it's become necessary for the renowned broadcaster to go into the University's Hall of Fame having considered his "strong advocacy role in support of infant health delivery services and your outstanding career in journalism, among several other roles being played to promote good governance in the country".



Speaking at the 51st Congregation and 2017 Founders Day Special Congregation Ceremony and graduation of the university, KNUST Vice Chancellor Prof. Kwesi Obiri Danso lauded Mr. Sefa Kayi, affectionately called "Chairman General" for being a role model to several Ghanaians and serving as a check on successive governments towards economic progress.



Prof. Obiri Danso added that the University, over the years, has keenly noted his good works in diverse ways, hence the need for him to be acknowledged and recognized in the historical books of the school.



"Chairman General", who doubles as President of Kokrokoo Charities Foundation, expressed profound gratitude to the University Council, his production team and the management of Despite Group of Companies for the honor done him.



A citation in his honour, read as follows:



"Multiple award-winning broadcast journalist, KNUST salutes you. An astute and experienced broadcast journalist, your style of presentation has endeared many to the famous Kokrokoo morning show. Every day of the working week, you capture the sense and sensibilities of your patrons, facilitating their opinion and decision making in the process. You make optimal use of the medium at your disposal to influence change at various levels.



"Your ability to keep government and its machinery alive to their responsibilities is commendable. And your desire to enhance the lives of many and thus contribute to the development of your nation is unquestionable. As a public spirited individual, you're also deeply involved in community initiatives that have had great impact on society. You are the founder and Chairman of Kokrokoo Charities Foundation, non-governmental organization that is currently engaged in soliciting funding for the procurement of a 100 incubators for distribution to health facilities in the country.



"Your passion for child health is evident from your statement that infant mortality must not be news to report on. For the immense role in keeping governments and opinion leaders of this country on their toes, for the influence you have so effectively wielded to positively impact on the lives of many and for all the efforts you make towards the transformation of the Ghanaian society; the Council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology takes pleasure in awarding you the honour 'Distinguished Service'".



Watch video of the ceremony below:





Source: Sampson K. Nyamekye/Peacefm News









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The Christian Council of Ghana has urged President Akufo-Addo to be bold and declare Ghanas stance on homosexuality.



According to the Council, Ghana is totally against the legalization of homosexuality thus the President must not surrender to the whims and caprices of the international community.



This comment follows an indication given by President Akufo-Addo that the country's position on homosexuality might change if there is pressure from advocacy groups.



Speaking to Aljazeeras Jane Dutton the president said: "this is a social, cultural issue, I dont believe that in Ghana so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say change it, lets now have a new paradigm in Ghana. At the moment, I dont feel, I dont see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something we need to deal with. It is not so far a matter that is on the agenda...



However, General Secretary of the Council, Rev Dr. Opuni Frimpong finds the President's position worrying



According to him, such remarks would encourage gay groups to start lobbying and put pressure on Ghana to legalize it.



The Council General Secretary has therefore challenged President Akufo Addo as compared to the late former President Atta Mills to set the records straight to send a strong signal to any group wanting to lobby for the legalisation of homosexuality.



He [late Mills] was very exact and that is what we want to hear from our leaders. Maybe I didnt hear him well, so somebody should come and explain to us exactly the policy direction of this government as far as same sex marriage is concerned, it will help us...somebody needs to be very clear that we dont need pressure to change. We want to keep what is good for us, even if we are poor" he said.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Lawyer and former Executive Director of Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has mounted a strong defense for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following the latters statement on decriminalizing homosexuality.



click to listen



The Christian Council has asked President Akufo Addo to be bold in declaring the country's stance on homosexuality. According to them, his statement was not clear enough.



Contributing to the debate in a Facebook post, Gabby said:



The President is absolutely, legally right. Homosexuality is NOT a crime in Ghana. That does not necessarily mean that it is legal. What is a crime, per the law, is unnatural carnal knowledge - and that law was taken straight from the criminal code of England & Wales. Now, lawyers can argue over what is unnatural carnal knowledge to expand and narrow case law. Strictly speaking, having unnatural carnal knowledge with even your spouse (lawfully married) of the opposite sex may be construed as an offense! Now, you couples of perverse proclivities do take a moment to think about that!



The President was also right to say that our society doesnt seem yet ready for legalizing gay marriages. What we must all protect against is the culture of hate against any man or woman for their sexual orientation. You do not have to be pro-gay to respect your neighbours right to choose the one he or she wants to love.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs has described Ghana as a bright spot in Africa that deserves praise for striving to grow its democracy.



Mr Anders Samuelsen said the country had consistently shown that its democratic values were worth emulating.



These few days here have shown me that this is a stable country with high democratic values and with a focus on growing new opportunities, Mr Samuelsen stated when the Daily Graphic spoke to him on the sidelines of a meeting with some of the countrys young entrepreneurs.



IEA meeting



Organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the event served as a platform for the young entrepreneurs to discuss their prospects and challenges with the Danish Foreign minister and his team.



The young entrepreneurs cut across technology start-ups, cosmetics, food and beverage, clothes designs, shoe making, furniture, water provision and lifestyle products.



Mr Samuelsen, who was in the country on a two-day visit with Danish Queen Margrethe II, said entrepreneurship was a key element of development.



Aid to trade



With the Danish government shifting focus from aid to trade as part of its economic engagement with the developing world, Mr Samuelsen observed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos vision of developing Ghana beyond aid was one that would transit the country from aid to trade, thereby attracting investments locally and internationally.



This means creating more businesses and more jobs. We came with 39 companies, which are interested in different fields, he added.



The participants mentioned some of the challenges inhibiting entrepreneurship in the country to include an educational system that was disconnected from the needs of industry, lack of skilled personnel, lack of financial support and inadequate capacity-building programmes for young entrepreneurs.



Entrepreneurs & future



Coming from a country considered to be highly entrepreneurial friendly, Mr Samuelsen said it was inspiring to meet young, bright entrepreneurs with great spirits to change things around them, as well as create businesses that would meet the needs of society.



What we have been able to do in Denmark is to make it very easy to start a new business. We have more or less everything outlined such that you can easily register your businesses without difficulties. The future belongs to you. You are your countrys young population and entrepreneurship is in you. Entrepreneurship creates unique opportunities to create something special that can lead to economic growth, job creation and solve problems of your country, he said.



Headaches



Contributing to the discussions, Mr Amfo-Akonnor, the owner and chef at Biishville, a restaurant, observed that Ghanas educational system was full of theory and lacked practical training that would awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship among young people.



The founder and CEO of Mansuki Ghana Limited, a company that produces cosmetics, Ms Israella Mansu made a case for capacity building for young entrepreneurs when she stated that a training programme she attended in the United States (organised by the US Department of State) changed the fortune of her GH300 start-up to one worth more than GH1 million today.



For his part, the Co-founder and General Manager of SMSGH, a mobile and internet value added service (VAS) provider, Mr Alex Adjei Bram, said the way forward to growing entrepreneurship in Ghana was to provide an enabling environment in which taxes did not stifle growth but entrepreneurs were supported to expand and employ others.



Adding value



Earlier, the Board Chairman of the IEA, Mr Charles Mensa, observed that President Akufo-Addos vision of Africa beyond aid was tied with Denmarks policy of from aid to trade.



However, in our humble view, this vision of ours and the Danish policy can be very successful if Ghana is able to trade value added products or manufactured goods and services, using our abundant labour. If that happens, we can drastically cut down the number of young country- men and women who try to escape our shores and risk everything, including their lives, to cross the Mediterranean to get into Europe, he said.



Ghana-Denmark relations



Ghana-Denmark relations stretch back to the days of colonialism in the 18th century when the then Gold Coast was made a Danish crown colony in 1650.



However, in 1850, the Danish government sold its major stakes in the Gold Coast such as forts and castles, including what would later become Ghanas seat of government for yearsChristianborg (Osu)to the British.



Soon after Ghanas independence in 1957, Denmark assisted the newly independent country by building and running the Folk High School at Tsito in the Volta Region.



This was one of the first development projects in Africa, carried out by a Danish NGO. The official development cooperation between Ghana and Denmark began in 1958.



In 1961, a Danish Embassy was opened in Accra. However, due to political developments, the embassy was closed again in 1983 to be opened eight years later. Denmarks support for Ghana over the last 30 years through its aid agency, Danida, has been in areas including good governance, skills development, rural finance and business advocacy.

Source: Daily Graphic









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Former President Kufour, owner of Despite Group of Companies and businessman Ibrahim Mahama were among the many individuals and companies that have donated towards the late Kwadwo Asare Baffour Acheampongs funeral.



They made cash donations of undisclosed amounts to the family at the one-week memorial of the late Asempa FM presenters passing. The event held at the forecourt of The Multimedia Group at Kokomlemle Saturday saw hundreds come to contribute their widows mite towards the funeral of the late 'Ekosii Sen' presenter.



Apart from cash donations some individuals and companies also donated cartons of their products including alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and water. This includes Kasapreko Ghana Limited presented cartons Awake Water, Soloku Bitters as well as Royal Bitters.

The Despite Group of Companies, operators of Peace FM, Okay FM and Neat FM donated cash as well as 50 boxes of bottled water.



Global Media Alliance (ETV and Happy FM) presented 10 boxes of bottled water and three boxes of Kasapreko. Representatives of Progressive People's Party (PPP) greeted the family and Multimedia with 15 cartons of bottled water. Atinka Media Village presented 20 cartons of bottled water four crates of drinks.



The late presenters Class of 1999 at Techiman Senior High School should solidarity with the family as they presented 12 boxes of bottled water and four crates of Malt drinks.

Oheneba Kasemba Enterprise also donated 10 cartons of Nsuo Bitters. The Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) donated 20 boxes of bottled water in support of the funeral.



Assemblywoman for Kokomlemle West, Elizabeth Adomako, where Multimedia operates from supported the family with 10 boxes of bottled water. Nana Ansah Kwao IV, chief of Akwamu Adumasa, also donated 10 boxes of bottled water, four cartons of Malta drinks as well as 6 packs of soft drinks. Royal Nick Hotel, at Tema Community 6, commiserated with the family by supporting



KABA died on November 18, 2017, at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital after a short illness. He was survived by a wife, Valentina Ofori Afriyie and a seven-month-old baby girl.



He will be buried on December 16 in Accra, the family head, Elder George Nyarko, disclosed Saturday, at the one-week celebration of the late presenters passing.







Source: JFM/Ghana









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The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba has won the admiration of the former President, Jerry John Rawlings after delivering a speech to motivate young girls of Mamfe Methodist Girls Senior High School.



The former President gave the Minister a standing ovation and openly commended her for her passion to the development of the girl child.



The Minister has inspired me, I hope I will meet her on a high Political Platform someday, The former President said this Saturday when speaking as the guest of Honour at the 4th Speech and Prize Given Day organized by Mamfe Methodist Girls Senior High School in the Eastern Region on the theme: Discipline; a Prerequisite for Academic Excellence, Stakeholders Take.



The Gender Minister charged the students to develop a resilient mentality and believe in themselves despite the challenges that may come their way.



According to the Minister, young women must be self-motivated and not to give in any sexual exchanges for favours because hardworking and determination is the only key to success.



She said the Gender Ministry is making sure that no Ghanaian Child is left out or behind in getting access to quality education. She said the free SHS policy is to provide equal opportunity for all to have access to education.



Government of Ghana is committed to ensuring that every Ghanaian child of school going age is given free, quality education from kindergarten to the Senior High School level in order to ensure equal opportunities, gender equality and equity for all and to achieve the SDG Goal 5. My Ministry the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in line with the vision of the NPP Government is leaving no Stone unturned to ensure.



The Headmistress of the Mamfe Methodist Girls SHS, Ms. Sylvia Isabella Laryea speaking to Kasapa News said the School is facing infrastructural challenges and in dire need of an ultramodern dining Hall, Assembly Hall, Kitchen, teachers bungalow and the construction of roads in the school as the dust affects asthmatic students.



She added that, 400 beds were supplied to the school during the admission challenges of the free Senior High School beneficiaries which some classrooms have been converted as dormitories accommodating some of the students while the work has resumed on the stalled dormitory block.

Source: kasapafmonline.com









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated the governments determination to deal with the challenges confronting the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy.



We have taken that first step in Ghana and we shall deal with the challenges. In dealing with them, tenders have already gone out and, soon, contracts will be awarded for the provision of some 69,500 mono desks and some 13,100 bunk beds, he said.



Addressing the 68th Speech and Prize-giving Day of Prempeh College in Kumasi last Saturday, the President said tender notices have been issued for the supply of furniture for dining halls, staff rooms and computer laboratories and the provision of marker boards for classrooms.



He also used the occasion to launch the 70th anniversary of the school.



The event, which also attracted some prominent old students of the school, including former President John Agyekum Kufuor, was on the theme: Educating the boy child: The role of stakeholders in contemporary times.



Free SHS has come to stay



He said the free SHS policy had come to stay, saying that the policy would ensure that Ghanas children would be educated to at least secondary level and money, or the lack of it, would no longer mean denial of education.



Already, the policy has led to an increase of over 90,000 children who have entered SHS this academic year and who would otherwise have dropped out at this stage, he said.



President Akufo-Addo announced that the government had secured a $40-million loan from the World Bank under the Secondary Education Improvement Project for the expansion and upgrading of facilities in 75 SHSs across the country.



He said construction work on existing community day schools were also ongoing, adding that the government will also upgrade 42 SHSs into model school status.



Dropout



He assured Ghanaians that the free SHS would be sustained, contrary to claims that the policy would crash in five years.



Let me burst their bubble again. Free SHS is here to stay because leadership is about choices and I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of Ghanaians support the choice that I have made. They recognise the importance of the investment we are making in the youth and in the future of our country. The investment will be sustained, he declared.



Prior to the launch of the free SHS policy, the President noted, available data indicated that Ghanaian children were falling out of the educational system in alarming numbers at every stage.



He revealed that over the last four years, for example, an average of 100,000 JHS graduates who were placed in public SHSs each year did not take up their places.



This means that in the next decade, at least one million of our young men and women, without any employable skills, would have had their education terminated at junior high school. It would have been too dangerous for Ghanas stability, as we would have been building a future of hopelessness for our youth, he said.



Such a situation, the President bemoaned, was totally unacceptable and intolerable.



STEM



He said in the next five years, the government would increase the number of students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and train over 38,000 basic school teachers to strengthen the foundational skills in the study of Science and Mathematics.



The idea, according to him, was to make Ghanaian students marketable in the global economic world and position them to be the best.



The best way to create opportunities for all children and build potential is through access to quality education. It is the most effective way to change the fortunes of our country and join the group of developing nations, he said.



Headmaster



The Headmaster of Prempeh College, Mr Samuel K. Fordjour, appealed to the government to upgrade and expand facilities in the school which had been overstretched because of the increase in intake.



He called for total rehabilitation of the facilities and a redesign of the Sofoline main road which blocked the entrance of the school.



Former President



Former President Kufuor called for a redirection and focus on Science and Technology-related programmes in the school.



He later inaugurated a new Science laboratory dubbed the Aidan Heavey Science Lab sponsored by Tullow Oil to mark the 10th year of Ghanas discovery of oil in commercial quantities.



Otumfuo



In a message sent through his Adontenhene, Nana Adu Gyamfi, the Asantehene called for judicious use of time by students and urged them to develop a plan to keep them on track.



He congratulated the school on making the region proud by winning the National Science and Maths Quiz.

Source: Daily Graphic









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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A Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho considers President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos response on homosexuality as a subtle move to welcome wealthy gays into the country for a purpose.



Koku, who believe gays are influential and rich people, will help the president fund "his free SHS policy which is already in danger.



The President is desperate; he is looking for money to fulfill his promises...His one million dollars per constituency, his free SHS education, and one-district one-factory among others. Now the President is prepared to wine and dine with anybody at all to make money, he emphatically stated in an interview on Neat FMs, morning show dubbed Ghana Montie.



Kokus comment follows what some Ghanaians believe is a clear indication from President Akufo-Addo that the country's position on homosexuality could change if there is strong advocacy.



Speaking to Aljazeeras Jane Dutton, the president said the country's culture and tradition for now does not allow the legalization of homosexuality, but was quick to add that if public opinion changes, the law may just be amended.



This is a social, cultural issue, I dont believe that in Ghana so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say change it, lets now have a new paradigm in Ghana.



At the moment, I dont feel, I dont see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something we need to deal with. It is not so far a matter that is on the agenda, Nana Addo added.



But the NDC deputy Chief Scribe said the presidents response, which was quite deliberate, shows his administration is cash-strapped.



Theres no money to fulfill their promises so they have to fashion out other means to get the money to undertake what they have earlier assured the people of Ghana. The president doesnt care anymore where the money will come from, he told the host, Kwasi Aboagye.





Watch Akufo-Addos comments below





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash









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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The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs has described Ghana as a bright spot in Africa that deserves praise for striving to grow its democracy.



Mr Anders Samuelsen said the country had consistently shown that its democratic values were worth emulating.



These few days here have shown me that this is a stable country with high democratic values and with a focus on growing new opportunities, Mr Samuelsen stated when the Daily Graphic spoke to him on the sidelines of a meeting with some of the countrys young entrepreneurs.



IEA meeting



Organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the event served as a platform for the young entrepreneurs to discuss their prospects and challenges with the Danish Foreign minister and his team.



The young entrepreneurs cut across technology start-ups, cosmetics, food and beverage, clothes designs, shoe making, furniture, water provision and lifestyle products.



Mr Samuelsen, who was in the country on a two-day visit with Danish Queen Margrethe II, said entrepreneurship was a key element of development.



Read also: Minister causes arrest of pastor over excessive noise during watch night service



Aid to trade



With the Danish government shifting focus from aid to trade as part of its economic engagement with the developing world, Mr Samuelsen observed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos vision of developing Ghana beyond aid was one that would transit the country from aid to trade, thereby attracting investments locally and internationally.



This means creating more businesses and more jobs. We came with 39 companies, which are interested in different fields, he added.



The participants mentioned some of the challenges inhibiting entrepreneurship in the country to include an educational system that was disconnected from the needs of industry, lack of skilled personnel, lack of financial support and inadequate capacity-building programmes for young entrepreneurs.



Entrepreneurs & future



Coming from a country considered to be highly entrepreneurial friendly, Mr Samuelsen said it was inspiring to meet young, bright entrepreneurs with great spirits to change things around them, as well as create businesses that would meet the needs of society.



What we have been able to do in Denmark is to make it very easy to start a new business. We have more or less everything outlined such that you can easily register your businesses without difficulties. The future belongs to you. You are your countrys young population and entrepreneurship is in you. Entrepreneurship creates unique opportunities to create something special that can lead to economic growth, job creation and solve problems of your country, he said.



Headaches



Contributing to the discussions, Mr Amfo-Akonnor, the owner and chef at Biishville, a restaurant, observed that Ghanas educational system was full of theory and lacked practical training that would awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship among young people.



The founder and CEO of Mansuki Ghana Limited, a company that produces cosmetics, Ms Israella Mansu made a case for capacity building for young entrepreneurs when she stated that a training programme she attended in the United States (organised by the US Department of State) changed the fortune of her GH300 start-up to one worth more than GH1 million today.



For his part, the Co-founder and General Manager of SMSGH, a mobile and internet value added service (VAS) provider, Mr Alex Adjei Bram, said the way forward to growing entrepreneurship in Ghana was to provide an enabling environment in which taxes did not stifle growth but entrepreneurs were supported to expand and employ others.



Adding value



Earlier, the Board Chairman of the IEA, Mr Charles Mensa, observed that President Akufo-Addos vision of Africa beyond aid was tied with Denmarks policy of from aid to trade.



However, in our humble view, this vision of ours and the Danish policy can be very successful if Ghana is able to trade value added products or manufactured goods and services, using our abundant labour. If that happens, we can drastically cut down the number of young country- men and women who try to escape our shores and risk everything, including their lives, to cross the Mediterranean to get into Europe, he said.



Ghana-Denmark relations



Ghana-Denmark relations stretch back to the days of colonialism in the 18th century when the then Gold Coast was made a Danish crown colony in 1650.



However, in 1850, the Danish government sold its major stakes in the Gold Coast such as forts and castles, including what would later become Ghanas seat of government for yearsChristianborg (Osu)to the British.



Soon after Ghanas independence in 1957, Denmark assisted the newly independent country by building and running the Folk High School at Tsito in the Volta Region.



This was one of the first development projects in Africa, carried out by a Danish NGO. The official development cooperation between Ghana and Denmark began in 1958.



In 1961, a Danish Embassy was opened in Accra. However, due to political developments, the embassy was closed again in 1983 to be opened eight years later. Denmarks support for Ghana over the last 30 years through its aid agency, Danida, has been in areas including good governance, skills development, rural finance and business advocacy.





Source: Daily Graphic









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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Richard Chang, 31, and Shilpa Mody, 32, both of Mississauga, Ont., and living currently in San Francisco, CA., are two of the 403 registered Canadians currently trapped in Bali, Indonesia, as the eruption of Mount Agung, rear right, has left the international airport on the island closed. Chang and Mody are seen in this November 27, 2017, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Shilpa Mody, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Akos Stiller/Bloomberg U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said he's optimistic the producers will extend their deal on output cuts when they meet on Nov. 30. Saudi Aramco sees oil market balanced as crude rises.

Global crude inventories are declining and supply and demand are in balance, according to the head of Saudi Aramco , while the United Arab Emirates energy minister said U.S. shale oil doesn't threaten OPEC's efforts to support the market.

Demand for crude is continuing to rise and oil inventories are returning to the levels of the past five years, Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said Sunday in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran. This is helping prices improve, he said, as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied suppliers prepared to gather this week in Vienna to assess the market.

U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said he's optimistic the producers will extend their deal on output cuts when they meet on Nov. 30. Shale oil represents only a fraction of global production and is not an enemy to OPEC, he told reporters in Abu Dhabi, referring to the U.S. deposits that contributed to a worldwide glut.

OPEC and Russia have outlined a deal to extend their oil production limits to the end of next year, though both sides are still working out crucial details, according to people involved in the conversations. The cuts, which took effect in January, will expire in March unless OPEC and its fellow producers extend the historic accord. Participants in the deal collectively pump 60 percent of the world's oil.

Aramco's Optimism'

The balance between supply and demand is very good, said Nasser, head of the state producer known formally as Saudi Arabian Oil Co. What we are seeing today is that prices are in continuous improvement.

Benchmark Brent crude has gained 12 percent this year and ended London trading on Friday at $63.86 a barrel, up 31 cents. Prices tumbled from more than $115 a barrel in 2014 amid a surge in supplies, including U.S. shale oil.

Oil markets are on track to come into balance next year, Al Mazrouei said. The U.A.E., which takes over OPEC's rotating presidency for 2018, will seek to ensure that members adhere to any decision on cuts that they may agree to at their meeting in Vienna, he said.

The U.S. produced about 8.9 million barrels a day of crude, nearly half of it from shale, last year, according to Energy Information Administration data. U.S. fields are set to pump about 9.2 million barrels a day this year, before raising output to a record 9.9 million in 2018, the EIA said in its short-term energy outlook earlier this month.

By contrast, OPEC pumped 32.6 million barrels a day in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Russia produced 10.2 million barrels a day in September, according to OPEC data.
Rodrigo Buendia/AFP Ecuador's vice president Jorge Glas arrives in court on Nov. 24, 2017 in Quito, Ecuador. Trial's outcome crucial for the future of Moreno government.

"It's the most important trial since the return of democracy" in 1979, said political scientist Simon Pachano at Flasco university in Quito.

The proceedings could damage the legacy of Correa, who has been abroad for almost five months, and the continuity of current President Lenin Moreno's anti-corruption drive . Glas, 48, who served as Correa's vice president 2013-2017 before being reelected on a ticket with Moreno, insists he has done nothing wrong and calls the trial a political vendetta. Glas and Correa are now fighting for control of the ruling party, Alianza Pais.

In its plea bargain with U.S., Brazilian, and Swiss authorities, Odebrecht has admitted to paying more than $31.5 million in bribes in Ecuador. Testimony from a company executive led Glas and the others to face a charge of "illicit association" that could put them behind bars for up to five years. Four individuals accused have fled the country, including former Comptroller General Carlos Polit, who now lives in Miami.

The trial will likely run no longer than two to three weeks, said Farith Simon, dean of law at Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

On Oct. 4, a day after Glas's arrest, Moreno temporarily replaced him with Maria Alejandra Vicuna, the housing minister.
In general, men are twice as likely to cheat on a spouse than women are. That frequency increases over the lifespan, peaking among the elderly. Among men 18 to 29 who have ever been married, about 1 in 10 is
Ping Zhang was five years into his $12-an-hour job at Winner Ford in Cherry Hill, installing prisoner seating, computers, and gun racks into nonemergency vehicles to convert them into cars for police, when he learned something that angered him.

Zhang, who had experience performing electrical work when he joined the dealership in January 2011 and gained more of it on the job, discovered that a new hire, a non-Chinese with little or no electrical or auto-body experience, would be earning $13 an hour. When Zhang started as a new hire with more experience in January 2011, he was paid $9 an hour.

Last week, the dealership, Charles S. Winner Inc., agreed to pay $150,000 in back wages and damages to eight Chinese emergency-accessories and installation technicians, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

On Sept. 30, 2016, the EEOC sued the dealership in federal court, accusing it of routinely paying Chinese technicians $3 an hour less than its non-Chinese technicians. The three-year consent degree requires the dealership to distribute an antidiscrimination policy to its staff and to train its managers and supervisors on federal equal employment opportunity laws.

"Workers deserve equal pay for equal work," EEOC regional attorney Debra M. Lawrence said in a statement announcing the settlement. "We are pleased that Winner Ford worked with us to address these pay disparities, and that it will take affirmative measures to ensure that no workers are paid less based on national origin."

The dealer's attorney, Elizabeth Walker, did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

In its suit, the EEOC said Winner employed 15 to 20 emergency-accessories installation technicians as of March 2016. Winner started its Chinese technicians at $9 an hour, while non-Chinese technicians earned at least $12 an hour to start, the suit said. After a period of time on the job, non-Chinese technicians, often with less experience and tenure, were paid $15 to $17 an hour. After 5 years, Zhang and the other Chinese techs were earning $12 to $13 an hour.

When Zhang complained, he was brought into a meeting with upper management, "who cursed him and threatened that if he sought legal advice, he'd be out of a job," the lawsuit said.
The residential tower under construction at 1199 Ludlow St.part of the East Market mixed-use developmentwill feature 60 extended-stay hotel suites run by Roost. Read more

National Real Estate Development's sprawling project in Center City's Market East area has apartments, offices, restaurants, a fitness club, and food markets.

Now add to the project, known as East Market, upscale hotel rooms for guests to stay a month at a time or longer.

National, of Washington, is leasing five floors of the 23-story apartment-and-retail tower now rising at 12th and Market Streets to Philadelphia-based Method Co., operator of extended-stay hotel brand Roost Apartment Hotel.

The deal means that 60 of the 240 apartment units planned at the 1199 Ludlow St. tower will be furnished suites for short-term guests instead, National managing director Daniel Killinger and Method chief executive Randall Cook said last week ahead of a formal announcement planned for Monday.

Method currently operates two Roost hotels, both in Philadelphia and each with 27 guest suites: the Roost Rittenhouse, near 19th and Chestnut Streets; and the Roost Midtown, which shares the Charles S.W. Packard Building on the southeast corner of 15th and Chestnut Streets with condos.

The East Market hotel will be Roost's largest operation yet and its first foray into Center City's eastern half. The architect on the 1199 Ludlow tower, set to open to apartment tenants and hotel guests in August 2018, is Morris Adjmi, who designs Roost's interiors.

"For some time, we've been looking for inventory on this side of Broad Street," said Cook, who cofounded Method about five years ago with Philadelphia property investor David Grasso. "We've always felt some demand from over here that we haven't been able to serve at our other two locations."

The company's growth follows a nationwide increase in extended-stay hotel rooms, typically furnished suites with kitchens and other apartment-style accouterments that are reserved for longer durations than a typical hotel room, according to data from corporate-housing consultancy the Highland Group.

Since mid-2014, about 80,000 extended-stay rooms have opened nationally, but occupancy rates have remained at around 76 percent, close to their highest levels recorded in data going back to 2002, Mark Skinner, a Highland partner, said in a post on the website Hotel News Now in September.

Center City has an existing extended-stay inventory of fewer than 1,000 rooms, mostly at Korman Communities' AKA Rittenhouse Square and AKA University City, the Home2 Suites by Hilton near the Convention Center, the Marriott Residence Inn across from City Hall, and the Windsor Suites Hotel on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, said Tony Biddle, regional leader for CBRE Hotels, a division of real estate firm CBRE Group.

That's just a fraction of the roughly 11,300 hotel rooms tallied by the firm across central Philadelphia through 2016, although supply is set to surge next winter when the 460-room Element hotel is expected to open alongside the W Philadelphia on the northeast corner of 15th and Chestnut.

"You don't have a lot of extended-stay product, and they all have historically done well," Biddle said.

Michael Silverman, a senior vice president with commercial real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank in Philadelphia, said he attributes some of the sector's success to the city's employment growth, with people moving here for new jobs needing temporary places to stay. Philadelphia has added 40,000 jobs in the last 11 years, its longest period of expansion since at least 1969, according to Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited in a report this year by the Center City District.

Extended-stay brands that cultivate a "homey" vibe, such as AKA and Roost, are also attractive to guests who have grown appreciative of such an atmosphere by staying in private homes through services such as Airbnb.

Cook, a former Korman executive, said those have been factors in the success of Roost's existing locations, as has demand from visitors to the city on short-term work assignments. He said he anticipates similar demand at the new location, with a large contingent of guests connected to nearby Thomas Jefferson University, such as visiting physicians and professors, and patients in town for medical procedures.

The commercial activity at the East Market development  including a currently operating Mom's Organic Market and a yet-to-open City Fitness health club, and an Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant  will be another draw for extended-stay guests, Cook said.

Meanwhile, Cook and Killinger said the Roost deal won't impact National's hope of making the historic Stephen Girard Building on 12th Street, just south of 1199 Ludlow, into a hotel for more conventional stays of a few nights at a time.

"We're a niche that doesn't really compete with traditional hotel or apartments," Cook said. "We prefer to be in these types of communities where all types of things are happening."
It's the movie that, as Britain's Independent put it, Netflix viewers "are struggling to believe exists."

If you were bingeing Netflix over the Thanksgiving weekend, you might have noticed promotions for A Christmas Prince, one of the new original films from the streaming service that's known for prestige projects like The Crown (returning for a second season on Dec. 8) and Orange is the New Black.

And, OK, for Fuller House.

If you were on Twitter, you may have noticed some chatter about this probably too-oft-told tale of an American who falls in love with a royal from a country that only sounds like a country.

Some may have been charmed, but some were skeptical. I watched and I'm still shaking my head. Before you click Play, here are some things to know about Netflix's A Christmas Prince:
After a minor knee procedure, the writers doctor wrote a prescription for 90 Percocets, well in excess of guidelines. Read more

I recently hobbled to the drugstore to pick up painkillers after minor outpatient knee surgery, only to discover that the pharmacist hadn't yet filled the prescription. My doctor's order of 90 generic Percocet exceeded the number my insurer would approve, he said. I left a short time later with a bottle containing a smaller number.

When I got home and opened the package to take a pill, I discovered that there were 42 inside.

Talk about using a shotgun to kill a mosquito. I was stiff and sore after the orthopedist fished out a couple of loose pieces of bone and cartilage from my left knee. But on a pain scale of 0 to 10, I was a 4, tops. I probably could have gotten by with a much less potent drug than a painkiller like Percocet, which contains a combination of the opioid oxycodone and the pain reliever acetaminophen, the active ingredient found in over-the-counter Tylenol.

When I went in for my follow-up appointment a week after surgery, I asked my orthopedist about those 90 pills.

"If you had real surgery like a knee replacement you wouldn't think it was so many," he said, adding that the electronic prescribing system set the default at 90. So when he types in a prescription for Percocet, that's the quantity the system orders.

Such standard orders can be overridden, but that's an extra step for a busy physician and takes time.

As public health officials grapple with how to slow the growing opioid epidemic  which claims 91 lives each day, according to federal statistics  the over-prescription of narcotics after even minor surgery is coming under new scrutiny.

While patients are today often given opioids to manage post-operative pain, a large supply of pills may open the door to opioid misuse, either by the patients themselves or others in the family or community who get access to the leftovers.

Post-surgical prescriptions for 45, 60 or 90 pills are "incredibly common," said Chad Brummett, an anesthesiologist and pain physician at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a general guideline saying that clinicians who prescribe opioids to treat acute pain should use the lowest effective dose and limit the duration to no longer than seven days.

But more detailed guidance is necessary, clinicians say.

"There really aren't clear guidelines, especially for surgery and dentistry," Brummett said. "It's often based on what their chief resident taught them along the way, or an event in their career that made them prescribe a certain amount." Or, as in my case, an automated program that makes prescribing more pills simpler than prescribing fewer.

Brummett is co-director of a Michigan program that has released recommendations for post-surgical opioid prescribing for a growing list of procedures.

To determine the extent to which surgery may lead to longer-term opioid use, Brummett and his colleagues examined the insurance claims of 36,177 adults who had surgery in 2013 or 2014 for which they received an opioid prescription. None of the patients had prescriptions for opioids during the prior year.

The study, published online in JAMA Surgery in June, found that three to six months after surgery, roughly 6 percent of patients were still using opioids, having filled at least one new prescription for the drug. The figures were similar whether they had major or minor surgery. By comparison, the rate of opioid use for a control group that did not have surgery was just 0.4 percent.

Some insurers and state regulators have increasingly stepped in to limit opioid prescriptions. Insurers routinely monitor doctors' prescribing patterns and limit the quantity of pills or the dosage of opioid prescriptions, said Dania Palanker, an assistant research professor at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms who co-authored a study on insurers' response to the opioid crisis.

At least two dozen states have passed laws or rules in just the past few years aimed at regulating the use of opioids.

In my state of New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year signed legislation that reduced the initial opioid prescription limit for acute pain from 30 days to no more than a seven-day supply.

As my experience demonstrated, however, a seven-day limit (those 42 pills in my case) can still result in patients receiving many more pills than they need. (For those who find themselves in a similar situation with excess pills, here is the safe and proper way to dispose of them.)

Still, some caregivers and patients worry that all this focus on overprescribing may scare physicians away from prescribing opioids at all, even when they're appropriate.

"That's my concern, that people are so afraid of things and taking it to such an extreme that patient care suffers," said Edward Michna, an anesthesiologist and pain management physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who is on the board of the American Pain Society, a research and education group for pain management professionals. Michna has been a paid consultant to numerous pharmaceutical companies, some of which manufacture narcotics.

But other doctors say that one of the reasons doctors call in orders for lots of pills is their convenience.

"When you land on the front lines, you hear, 'I like to write for 30 or 60 pills because that way they won't call in the middle of the night'" for a refill, said Martin Makary, a professor of surgery and health policy at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Makary is spearheading a consortium of Hopkins clinicians and patients that provides specific guidelines for post-surgical opioid use. The program, part of a larger effort to identify areas of overtreatment in health care, also identifies outlier prescribers nationwide to encourage them to change their prescribing habits.

The Hopkins group doesn't have an opioid recommendation for my surgery. The closest procedure on their website is arthroscopic surgery to partially remove a torn piece of cartilage in the knee called the meniscus. The post-surgical opioid recommendation following that surgery: 12 tablets.

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
Art Van Furniture today announced that it has acquired two privately held Pennsylvania furniture companies: Pittsburgh-based Levin Furniture and Altoona-based Wolf Furniture.

Todays acquisitions of these two well-established furniture retailers, both intricately woven into the fabric of their communities, underscores a transformative new era of thoughtful expansion at Art Van Furniture, said Kim Yost, president and CEO of Art Van Furniture, which is based in Michigan. From their commitment to their customers to their long-standing histories and corporate cultures, Levin and Wolf are a perfect fit for Art Vans growing family of brands.

Levin Furniture was founded by Sam Levin in 1920, and is led by his grandson, Robert Levin, who serves as president. Art Van Furnitures acquisition of the 97-year-old, family-owned and operated business will add 35 stores across Pennsylvania and Ohio to its portfolio of brands and showrooms.

This exciting new chapter for Levin Furniture comes as we near the 100th anniversary of my grandparents very first store, Levin said. Becoming part of the Art Van Furniture family of retailers will allow Levin to cement future growth, continue to be of service to the community and provide a superior shopping experience.

Wolf Furniture was co-founded in 1902 by Charles Wolf and Jon Fox, and is led by CEO and fourth-generation family member Doug Wolf. In 2015, Wolf Furniture acquired Maryland-based Gardiners Furniture, and rebranded the stores Gardiner Wolf Furniture. Wolf Furniture operates 18 showrooms in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, including a location at Gateway Square in Hampden Township.

The timing was right, and the opportunity presented itself, Wolf said. The heart and soul of our 115-year-old company will remain the same with this acquisition, and Wolf Furniture will benefit from Art Vans enormous buying power, warehouse and distribution capacity and services.
Professors say they are concerned that in an age when speech can go viral online, some teachers may censor themselves in the classroom. Read more

When Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher tweeted about wanting "white genocide" for Christmas, the university's phone lines were overwhelmed.

Last month, after tweets saying "the narrative of white victimization" was behind the Las Vegas massacre, Drexel placed him on leave, citing "growing" threats and public safety.

After Princeton University professor of African-American studies Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor called President Trump a "racist, sexist megalomaniac" in a commencement speech, threats led her to cancel public appearances.

In June, Trinity College in Connecticut shut down its campus in response to threats to a professor who shared Facebook posts that were seen as anti-white.

As such incidents have become more common, professors across the nation are asking themselves: Do I have to worry about what I say?

It's a complicated question, professors and administrators say, and one unique to a time when divisive politics and social media collide with longstanding questions about academic freedom.

"Unfortunately, the answer is yes, they should be concerned. What's that saying? Be afraid. Be very afraid," said Michael Sachs, a kinesiology professor at Temple University who heads its faculty senate. "Unfortunately, the political climate is such that anything one says in a public setting  can very easily get scrutinized."

In interviews, more than a dozen area professors said concern is growing about how incivility and outrage can affect the classroom, particularly in self-censorship.

Some said it's made them more thoughtful in lesson planning or more sensitive to students' reactions. All said they hoped that teachers ultimately would not shy away from touchy subjects.

"I see young faculty very concerned about what will happen if a student complains about them and what they're doing in the classroom," said Wendel White, an art professor at Stockton University in New Jersey. "At the same time, I also see some really great and smart and good faculty members who are grappling with really challenging materials in different disciplines  even if they don't have tenure. Because it's their belief that that's the best possible way to do their job."

The power of internet crowds

Colleges have long been under pressure to fire faculty members seen as politically extreme, said Hans-Joerg Tiede, an officer at the American Association of University Professors, a nonprofit professional group often involved in issues of academic freedom.

Schools tend to come under attack during periods of societal stress, Tiede said, pointing to the Great Depression and the late 1960s and '70s.

The difference now, he said, is the reach of online outlets.

One conservative group set up Professor Watchlist, a directory of "college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom"; another created Campus Reform, a website that proclaims to expose "bias and abuse on the nation's college campuses."

At Rutgers University, Kevin Allred said his teaching contract wasn't renewed after tweets recreating an absurdist hypothetical he had posed in class.

Allred had been discussing how political responses to gun control intersect with victims' race, when he asked whether conservatives who oppose gun control would feel the same way if he bought a gun and started shooting at white people.

Later, Allred said, he was reliving the day on Twitter when he tweeted: "Will the [Second Amendment] be as cool when I buy a gun and start shooting at random white people or no?"

He quickly came under a barrage of criticism; Rutgers contacted police after a student complained. Officers detained Allred for evaluation, and the university placed him on leave.

A year later, Allred said, some websites remain dedicated to insulting him, and social media accounts mock him and send him death threats.

"They love to just go at you, harass you, make you afraid," he said. "They want us to be terrified."

How it affects the classroom

Campuses have long been havens where lively debate is encouraged.

But Chika O. Okeke-Agulu, an art professor at Princeton, said he senses a kind of anti-intellectualism on the rise as people use social media to attack academics who grapple with controversial ideas.

A danger in the classroom is that teachers, worried about being targeted, end up censoring themselves and shy away from a topic, soften language, or approach a discussion differently.

"The hypersensitivity that particularly we in the academy have to feel about what we say, it can have chilling effects," said Shauna L. Shames, a political science professor at Rutgers-Camden.

Some young professors and graduate students, lacking tenure and still learning how to teach, worry that one misstep could derail their careers. Several said they particularly worry that those who are already targets  women, people of color, LGBT people  can be particularly vulnerable.

"As faculty, if we're going to expect our students to be global citizens and think about issues in a broader sense," said Katherine R. Goodrich, a Widener University biology professor. "We need to be good at exemplifying those behaviors and those topics without shying away from them."

Responding to the challenge

Several professors said the climate of outrage was forcing them to pause more often and challenge their own assumptions, to be more thoughtful, and to make sure they connect with students.

"What I notice I'm doing much more often is really trying to stay away from personal opinions and using the sources and data, really backing up everything with facts," said J. Wesley Leckrone, who chairs Widener's political science department.

Others said they take an approach that emphasizes transparency and disclosure.

Kelly Dittmar, a political science professor at Rutgers-Camden, is already visible on social media and as a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers-New Brunswick. So in class, she said, she's open about her advocacy, such as for gender equity in politics  but also makes clear that she wants students to think for themselves.

"I shouldn't be working to persuade them of my own [opinions], but instead equip them with the tools and information to refine their own belief systems," she said.

Faced with an outside climate of division and outrage, Dittmar was among the professors whose solution is to focus on the climate inside the classroom: If a professor creates an environment in which disagreeing viewpoints are welcome, and discussion can be civil but provocative, she said, then students can feel comfortable challenging each other in class and not take to social media.

Colleges and universities also are responding proactively to help professors.

Rutgers has held town hall meetings with students to discuss types of speech, said Barbara Lee, the university's senior vice president for academic affairs. The university has held training for deans and chairs to discuss academic freedom and protections under the First Amendment.

Stockton has revised its campus code of conduct to make it clearer, and is creating a task force to explore speech on campus.

Ultimately, professors said, fears of backlash can't stop professors from doing their work. And much of that work focuses on delving directly into society's most controversial pressure points.

"The inability of students to talk about this stuff is really clear to everybody," said Emily Marker, a history professor at Rutgers-Camden. "The more and more we shy away from those things, the crazier and more dangerous things get."
A memorial plaque for the four little girls killed in a bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1963 is shown in the churchs basement in 1977. Read more

I grew up in Florida. North Florida.

But some of my earliest memories are of Alabama: red-clay roads traveled to visit grandparents; a rickety, wooden bridge that seemed too dangerous to cross even to a child; and the time I dashed into the house to see pictures of four young girls  girls who looked like me  flash across the television screen.

It was Sept. 15, 1963.

The four girls  Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley  had been killed in the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. Denise was 11, the others 14.

Until that moment, it was possible for a black child living in a segregated South to have no concept of racism. Unless you were taking part in demonstrations in Bull Connor's Birmingham, unless you were in Selma, or in Jackson, or in Philadelphia, Miss., a black child could feel sheltered and safe in countless small Southern towns where there was little "agitation."

But suddenly, looking at the girls' faces, I understood what it meant to be black in America. I was 9, and I realized I could be killed for going to church.

Now, decades later, Alabama's controversial U.S. Senate race has summoned the ghosts of Birmingham's past.

Accusations that Roy Moore, the Republican candidate, molested a 14-year-old girl has put him and his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, in the national spotlight.

And Jones is best known for prosecuting the last two surviving Ku Klux Klansmen long suspected in the church bombing.

Seeing news of that case again, I was carried back to the bombing and my own pilgrimage to Birmingham 30 years afterward.

"People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them," James Baldwin once wrote.

Despite FBI evidence collected by 1965 showing that at least four men  Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss," Thomas E. Blanton Jr., Bobby Frank Cherry, and Herman Cash  had bombed the church, then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover refused to arrest them, testimony from the trials Jones prosecuted revealed.

It would eventually take nearly 40 years for some semblance of justice.

Chambliss was the first to be tried and convicted in 1977. Later, Jones prosecuted Blanton in 2001, and Cherry in 2002. Both were convicted and sentenced to life in prison; Cherry died in 2004. Cash had died in 1994 without being charged, and Blanton was denied parole last August.

But years before these men ever saw their day in court, somehow, we who were children at the time of the girls' death understood that a nation's grief would bring change to America. Others my age  Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Condoleezza Rice  were told by parents, teachers, and the little old ladies at church to make sure to "get your education." There would be no celebrating Christmas that year, as many black families were protesting the violence, but still, there was hope. Our parents knew that doors would be opening for us that had not been opened to them.

A year after the bombing, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, followed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (We had no idea then those advances would be followed by policies leading to mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline.)

Young people knew "this was our moment," said Kariamu Welsh, a professor of dance at Temple University. Black people were about to help shape change in the country.

Welsh was about 13 and living in Brooklyn in 1963. She said the memory of the girls "still haunts me.

"I think of them in those pictures and they were just waiting to live their lives."

I, too, remained haunted by what could have been, and in 1993, on the 30th anniversary of the church bombing, I traveled to Birmingham.

The editors at my newspaper denied my request to cover a week of events commemorating the girls. (Interestingly, newspapers weren't covering issues about race and gender then; now we have a team of reporters covering identity, and I am one of them.) So, I took vacation time and went to Birmingham, anyway.

I made my way to the church; to Kelly Ingram Park where statues depicted children being threatened by police dogs; to the Civil Rights Institute; and to the cemetery where three of the girls were buried.

Then I found myself at the front door of Alpha Robertson, the mother of bomb-victim Carole.

It was a sunny September afternoon, and I paused as I stood on her wide front porch, listening to the Parker High School Band practicing at the school nearby.

I didn't know then that Carole had played the clarinet and was supposed to join the band the Monday after she was killed. I only wondered if living near the high school had been a constant source of sadness for her mother.

Mrs. Robertson, a retired school librarian, was gracious and kind, even though she declined to give me an official interview. (I discovered that many of the girls' relatives were soured about reporters coming to town.) Still, Mrs. Robertson invited me inside and offered me a cold soda.

Something besides journalism had propelled me to her front door, I told her. Something about the debt one generation owes another for its sacrifices.

I told her if she didn't want to talk to me, then perhaps I could talk to her, about how I had never forgotten her daughter and the other girls.

I told her I had grown up with two friends I met in our 4th grade class the year of the bombing and that we had remained friends throughout our lives.

As we graduated high school, began college, careers, marriages and families, I sometimes thought of what lives the four girls might have lived.

Mrs. Robertson took my business card, and I was surprised and flattered a few months later when she sent me a Christmas card. We stayed in touch sporadically over the years, and I continued to keep a file about the case.

After Blanton's conviction in 2001, she had been quoted in the New York Times: "I'm very happy that justice came down today, and, you know, that's enough, isn't it? You know, I didn't know if it would come in my lifetime." She was then 82.

Mrs. Robertson once told me how she refused to hate all people because of what a few white men had done.

"You can't waste your life hating," she said.

I had not known she had suffered from cancer and strokes. Then in August 2002, I saw a news report that she had died at age 83.

It made me reach out to Jeff Wallace, the district attorney's representative for the team Jones led.

"She was one of those people that you warm up to, just in the way she talks," he told me. "The honesty's out there on her sleeve, the sincerity is on her face."

Jones offered a similar take in her New York Times obituary: "We referred to her as the moral center of the universe. She just had that presence and aura that brought you in and cradled you."

On the morning of Sept. 15, 1993, church bells rang across Birmingham at 10:22. The anniversary program was to take place at the 16th Street Baptist Church. When I got there, I saw that someone had placed a single yellow rose on the front steps.
This edited photo, taken Nov. 17, shows the profane sign removed by the Streets Department last week. Read more

The Philadelphia Streets Department has finally fixed an embarrassing mistake that had been a joke and blemish at a Center City intersection for months.

Last week, the agency removed a profane street sign had been gaining some notoriety on social media since at least September. A missing "f" turned what was meant to be a warning of an upcoming "Lane Shift" on 12th Street at Filbert into an expletive more suited to an adult conversation than a public space near the tourist-friendly Reading Terminal Market.

Officials for PennDOT and the Streets Department said neither agency was responsible for putting up the sign with the unfortunate typo, which some suggested, tongue in cheek, was a commentary on the state of Philly's roadways.

Keisha McCarty-Skelton, a spokeswoman for the Streets Department, said via email that the department had received no complaints until it learned about the sign through a social media post. The sign was taken down Tuesday.

"It was put up by either a contractor or someone being cheeky," McCarty-Skelton said, who noted that the department has the authority to remove the sign as "a municipal agency that governs the public right of way."

While it's not clear exactly how long the sign lived in the Center City spot or how it got there, it's been well-archived on social media. Older posts show a gap between the "I" and "T," while some newer photos show the full cuss word.

Bob Skiba, 56, of Bella Vista, said he hadn't seen the sign in person, but had to share a friend's photo on UrbanPHL, a private Facebook group for discussions on city planning.

"I thought this made a good commentary on what was going on in Philadelphia for this fight for space," he said.

Skiba said he was surprised to find others took to social media to comment on the sign long before he did. The sign is funny, nonetheless, he said.

"Well, the Philly attitude is that things are all [screwed] up but it's our city and we accept it the way it is," he said.
Former FBI director James Comey's latest tweet was a defense of the press  a quote from Thomas Jefferson's Jan. 28, 1786 letter from Paris to physician James Currie.

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost," Comey tweeted Saturday evening along with a picture of the Capitol.

Lifting a quote from a 200-year-old letter that Jefferson had written to the doctor who treated Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson, his daughter, and tweeting it may seem random and innocuous on the surface, but its timing suggests otherwise.

Comey's tweet was sent at 6:08 p.m. Saturday, about a half-hour after President Donald Trump attacked CNN International, the latest in his war against the mainstream press.

CNN's public relations department fired back with a reply to Trump's tweet several minutes later: "It's not CNN's job to represent the U.S. to the world. That's yours. Our job is to report the news."

Many, including some CNN reporters and analysts such as Christiane Amanpour and Jake Tapper, also did not sit silent, and criticized Trump for undermining the work of foreign correspondents in war zones around the world.

Comey, who began tweeting under a pseudonym, has been somewhat active on the social media platform within the past month. Many see his tweets as more than just simple quotations attached to random nature photos. To those who follow Comey's semiregular Twitter activity, his tweets are subtle jabs at political leaders, particularly at the one who fired him.

During Trump's trip to Asia two weeks ago, the president resurrected his attacks against Comey and called him a proven "liar" and "leaker" while speaking with reporters in the press cabin on Air Force One.

Hours later, Comey tweeted a sermon from the late English Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It was about the difference between a truth and a lie.

"If you want truth to go around the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go around the world, it will fly; it is light as a feather and a breath will carry it," Comey said.

The tweet included a picture of the Great Falls of the Potomac. Comey explained hours later that he included the picture because he likes it and it reminded him of his favorite Bible verse. Quoting Amos 5:24, he said, "But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Comey, arguably one of FBI's most controversial directors, has been criticized, particularly by Trump, for leaking information to the press.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, Comey revealed that a tweet by the president  incorrectly suggesting he may have had taped his conversations with Comey  prompted the former FBI director to ask a close friend to leak a private memo he had kept recounting his interactions with Trump.

As reported by the New York Times, Comey wrote in the memo that the president asked him to shut down the federal investigation into Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn during a meeting in the Oval Office in February.

Comey testified before Congress that he immediately documented the conversation in the form of an unclassified memo and discussed it with FBI senior leadership.

In a flurry of early-morning tweets in July, Trump accused Comey of violating the law by leaking classified information.

Criminal violations are hard to justify because Comey had described the document as an unclassified and personal memo, not a government one, even though it was typed in an FBI computer, according to the Washington Post's Fact Checker. Whether it contained privileged information has not been proven.

Comey also may have violated his employment agreement for leaking the memo, but was already out of a job by then.

The Washington Post's Ashley Parker contributed to this report.
HARRISBURG  Former Cumberland County District Attorney David J. Freed was sworn in Monday as U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania administered the oath of office in Harrisburg.

It is a true honor to be sworn in to work alongside of the excellent career prosecutors, civil attorneys and staff of the Middle District, Freed said. I look forward to continuing the great work of the office on behalf of our citizens.

Freed was nominated to serve as U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump on Sept. 8, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Nov. 15. He replaces Bruce D. Brandler, who was appointed U.S. attorney on an interim basis on Oct. 2, 2016, upon the resignation of Peter J. Smith, who had served in that capacity since 2010.

Freed, 47, of Camp Hill, will serve a four-year term and preside over an area that covers 33 Pennsylvania counties in central and northeast Pennsylvania. He has been Cumberland County district attorney since 2006, and also has served as first assistant district attorney in Cumberland County and as an assistant district attorney in York County.

Freed also served as president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association in 2013-14 and was a law clerk for Judge Harold Sheely of the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle.
WASHINGTON  The Senate Republican tax plan would give substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation's poorest would be worse off, according to a report released Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans are aiming to have the full Senate vote on the tax plan as early as this week, but the new CBO analysis showing large, harmful effects on the poor may complicate those plans. CBO also said the bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, a potential problem for Republican lawmakers worried about America's growing debt.

Democrats have repeatedly slammed the bill as a giveaway to the rich at the expense of the poor. In addition to lowering taxes for businesses and many individuals, the Senate bill also makes a major change to health insurance that CBO projects would have a harsh impact on lower-income families.

By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries, according to CBO calculations.

The main reason the poor get hit so hard in the Senate GOP bill is because the poor would receive less government aid for health care.

The Senate Republican bill reduces many taxes for businesses and individuals, but it also eliminates the requirement that almost all Americans purchase health insurance or else pay a penalty fee. CBO has calculated that health insurance premiums would rise if this bill goes into law, leading 4 million Americans to lose health insurance by 2019 and 13 million to lose insurance by 2027.

Many of the people who are likely to drop health insurance have low or moderate incomes. If they drop health insurance, they no longer receive some tax credits and subsidies from the government. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the other official nonpartisan group that analyzes tax bills, put out a similar report showing how lower income families are hurt by the loss of the health-care tax credits. But CBO goes a step further than JCT. CBO also calculates what would happen to Medicaid, Medicare and the Basic Health Program if the Senate GOP plan became law. CBO is showing even worse impacts on poor families than JCT did.

Republicans, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) have argued that their bill helps Americans across the income spectrum. They say the JCT and CBO analyses are misleading because buying health insurance is a choice. If an individual or family no longer wants to do it, then that is their decision. They also argue that lower income families are not losing any money in their wallets.

The CBO and JCT analysis make it seem as if a family is actually getting money taken away from them, but in reality, most of these families making under $30,000 don't pay any income taxes. The credits and subsidies they received to help them buy health insurance were typically sent directly from the government to the insurance company. So these families are unlikely to see any changes to their tax bills.

But Democrats and advocates for the poor say these lower-income Americans are going to be worse off if they no longer have health insurance.

Senate Republicans asked JCT to calculate what happens to families across the income spectrum if only the tax impacts of the Senate bill are taken into account (so assuming zero impacts from the individual mandate repeal). JCT sent the table below to Senate Republicans. It shows that all income groups  including people earning less than $30,000  receive a tax cut.

The only year there are tax increases is 2027 because the Senate GOP bill currently allows the individual tax cuts to expire in 2026. Republicans say Congress will likely extend those cuts, but that counts on future lawmakers taking action.
Tufts University is postponing a talk by Anthony Scaramucci, who was briefly a spokesman for President Trump, after he threatened to sue a student who wrote an unflattering opinion piece about him in the student newspaper.

An attorney retained by Scaramucci, Samuel Lieberman, sent a letter to the graduate student who wrote the opinion piece and to the editor in chief of the Tufts Daily. The letter explained that Lieberman's firm had been retained to "pursue claims arising from blatantly false and defamatory statements," and demanding a retraction of certain statements and an apology. The letter was published by the Boston Globe.

The news sparked an online debate about freedom of speech and freedom of the press on college campuses.

Lieberman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. In the letter, he cited a case in which even statements that contained some amount of opinion were found to be defamatory when they claimed a public official had been unethical, and wrote that Scaramucci "has never been charged nor found to have committed any ethical violation. . ."

A spokesman for Tufts, Patrick Collins, said in a written statement Monday that the Boston-area school is disappointed by Scaramucci's action.

This fall, more than 200 students signed a petition arguing Scaramucci is not qualified to serve on the Board of Advisors for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts.

"The university has been working to facilitate a conversation that had been scheduled for Monday evening between Fletcher School students and Mr. Scaramucci about his background, experience and the petition calling for his removal from the Fletcher School Board of Advisors," Collins said.

"In light of recent developments, we are postponing the event until these pending legal matters are resolved."

Scaramucci, a 1986 graduate of the university, was appointed to a five-year term on the board in 2016. The university has 10 such boards, which have no fiduciary responsibility or other authority, Collins said, but offer advice to deans and center directors based on discussions among the members.

Scaramucci did not respond immediately to a request for comment Monday, but he responded publicly on Twitter, saying, "All I need is an apology and correction. Get the facts right. Defamation is not unflattering coverage. It's defamation."

He also wrote, "I asked for an apology. Plain and simple. In our country defamation comes with its consequences."

The Fletcher student who created the petition seeking the removal of Scaramucci, Carter Banker, said she had been concerned about Scaramucci's role after his controversial stint as spokesman for Trump, which ended abruptly after a vulgar tirade in an interview with the New Yorker was published this summer.

But Banker said she was spurred to action when she saw his publication, the Scaramucci Post, share a poll on social media this fall about how many Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust. She said the publication later apologized, but in her opinion, it was another example of his questionable judgment.

In the petition, signed by about 240 Fletcher students, alumni and faculty members, Banker argued her belief that "his very public, embarrassing conduct reflects poorly on our institution," and she questioned how valuable his advice could be to the school.

In the letter, Lieberman wrote that the poll was posted without Scaramucci's consent by an employee who is Jewish, who apologized and who explained it had been intended to highlight ignorance about the Holocaust.

Earlier this month, a Fletcher student, Camilo Caballero, wrote two opinion pieces arguing that Scaramucci was unfit for the post on the Fletcher School board.

"A man who is irresponsible, inconsistent, an unethical opportunist and who exuded the highest degree of disreputability should not be on the Fletcher Board," Caballero wrote in the Tufts Daily.

". . . If his credentials lie in the billions of dollars he made on Wall Street, then we have, as a school, abandoned our principles and vision," Caballero wrote.

Banker said she was in class not long after the opinion pieces were published when she was startled to receive an email from Scaramucci, asking to be invited to campus. She said she spoke with administrators, and they agreed to host a moderated discussion between Scaramucci and the Fletcher student body.

She said the letter to Caballero and Gil Jacobson, the editor in chief of the Tufts Daily, initially shocked her, but then she felt it was illustrative of Scaramucci's character. "It's purely an intimidation tactic. . . . He's doing this to shut people up," Banker said.

Caballero directed questions to his attorney, Matthew Segal. Segal did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the group offered to help.

"Sending a graduate student a letter accusing him of something two days before Thanksgiving and demanding a response within five days is clearly mean-spirited," Rose said. "The ACLU of Massachusetts is not going to allow Mr. Caballero or anyone who's a journalist to be bullied into silence. There's a long history in this country of trying to use defamation law to silence critics."

Frederick Lawrence, the secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa society, who is a lecturer at Georgetown Law, said, "The Supreme Court has said when a public figure is involved, defamation requires that the reporting was done with knowledge of falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth. The burden of proof for a plaintiff who is a public figure in a defamation suit is very, very stiff."

The First Amendment standard was intended to give breathing space for the press to explore controversial ideas and to write about public figures without self-censoring, he said, as long as reporters are operating with a reasonable belief in the truth of what they are writing.

"It's really most unfortunate," Lawrence said. "This is the essence of a free press and the essence of a university campus where students are engaged in free and robust debate."

Jacobson, the editor in chief of the Tufts Daily, said he almost immediately consulted with a lawyer at the Student Press Law Center when he received the email from Scaramucci's lawyer Tuesday. "With anything that we publish, as a student newspaper with a fairly wide readership," including the surrounding community off campus, "we have to be prepared for all extremes to happen."

The paper published a story Monday that stated that the paper had received the letter, which it published in full, and that the editorials remain on the paper's website with the original text.

"Mr. Scaramucci's threat to sue a graduate student and a college newspaper over an op-ed would be purely frivolous if it weren't also so menacing," Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America wrote. "The First Amendment clearly and fully protects the expression of personal opinion. This is nothing more than a heavy-handed attempt to bully them into printing an apology, and to scare other critics into silence. Good for Mr. Caballero and for the Tufts Daily for standing firm."

The Post's Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.
American Ballet Theatre principal Marcelo Gomes heads south this winter to create a piece on Sarasota Ballet to premiere December 1 at the Sarasota Opera House. Following the success of his 2015 ABT main-stage production AfterEffect, the burgeoning choreographer is looking forward to continuing to create outside of New York City. We all know the big companies, but there are some really beautiful groups all throughout the U.S. that deserve just as much praise, and Im really looking forward to spreading my work to them, he says.

Gomes comes to Sarasota Ballet from a place of familiarity. After following Gomes career for years, director Iain Webb invited him to guest star in Sir Frederick Ashtons The Two Pigeons for a company gala last season. He seemed to fit like a glove with us down here, says Webb about the experience. He commissioned this premiere soon after. Gomes work will be featured on the companys Metropolitan program alongside Balanchines Theme and Variations and Ashtons Illuminations. When asked how it feels to be grouped in with these masters, Gomes broke into laughter. Its intimidating. It takes a lot of courage for directors to take a chance on young choreographers. But Im humbled and honored to be next to those geniuses of ballet.

Gomes will choreograph on a large cast featuring a male principal. The piece, Dear Life, will be set to Beethovens Symphony No.7, which Gomes has lightly edited with the help of ABT music director Ormsby Wilkins. Though the work will be a blend of classical and contemporary ballet, it will include a narrative thread. My choreography is a lot about commitment and pushing through that most tired moment that a dancer can have to regain the commitment to finish. I just hope that theyll come along for the ride.
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Senate Republicans are scrambling as at least 6 Republicans have concerns about the bill that cuts taxes for the wealthiest Americans, and the legislation is coming closer to collapse.

The Washington Post reported:

Senate Republicans are seriously considering several last-minute changes to their tax legislation in an effort to mollify wavering members, four people familiar with the discussions said, as GOP leaders seek to keep their members from defecting ahead of crucial votes this week.

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There are numerous members demanding changes, and their needs dont all overlap. Together, the requests put Republican leaders in a difficult position, as they attempt to accommodate individual holdouts on a one-off basis without losing other members or creating a situation in which the bill collapses under the weight of disparate demands.

Republicans need to swing more than a vote or two to pass the bill. There are at least six Senators voicing public concerns, and it is impossible for leadership to appease them all, and stay within the limits that make it possible to use reconciliation. On top of the tax cut bill, Republicans also have to avoid a government shutdown before December 8, and there is a showdown coming on the Dreamers.

If two Republicans vote against the tax cut bill, it will be dead, and Republicans have enough internal division to kill it in the blink of an eye. Trump and Paul Ryan continue to express misplaced confidence in the eventual passage of the legislation. The bill is a lot closer to death than any Republican wants to admit, which is why it is important for those who are opposed to the GOP tax cut scam to call their Senator and make their feelings known.
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On Sunday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new report concluding that the Republican Senate tax bill is even worse than previously thought. Whereas Americans earning over $100,000 a year and corporations would enjoy significant tax breaks, people earning less than $30,000 annually would start being negatively affected as early as 2019.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hoping to hold a vote as early as this Thursday. With Republicans holding a majority of 52-48, the party cant afford to lose more than two votes in order to pass the bill.

If youre wondering which GOP members are most likely to vote against the plan, here are six Republicans who have expressed views opposing or wavering on it.

Susan Collins

The Maine senator has said she opposes including a mandate repealing the requirement that all Americans enroll in Obamacare.

I want to see changes in that bill, and I think there will be changes, she said during an appearance ABCs This Week.

Though she isnt a guaranteed no  she said she wouldnt be making a final decision until after seeing all provisions  she is also not completely on board.

Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, and John McCain

We need real, fiscally responsible #TaxReform that doesn't explode the nat'l debt. https://t.co/h0iBN2wcoD  Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 9, 2017

According to the CBO the GOP tax plan would add an estimated $1.4 trillion deficit to the national debt. Senator Flake has criticized the bill on those grounds.

I remain concerned over how the current tax reform proposals will grow the already staggering national debt by opting for short-term fixes while ignoring long-term problems for taxpayers and the economy, he said in a statement.

Senators John McCain and Bob Corker have shared similar reservations.

Ron Johnson

Pass-throughs account for 96% of all U.S. businesses, including many leading job creators in Wisconsin. They deserve a fair shake. #TaxReform pic.twitter.com/9y7gmplMtC  Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) November 16, 2017

Johnson has explicitly stated his intention to vote against the bill, arguing that it presents no benefits for small business, but rather only for large corporations.

Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski is currently a swing vote. Like Senator Collins, she has expressed opposition to including an Obamacare repeal mandate in the GOP tax plan. Tax reform is complicated enough, and when you add health care reform in at the same time, it continues to complicate it, she said a few weeks ago.

However, she wrote an op-ed earlier this month, claiming to support including the mandate. Though this would seem to indicate she plans on voting in favor, her office denied that her approval of the mandate meant she would be supporting the bill.

If you or anyone you know is from the states represented by these legislators, make sure to let them know you oppose this law and expect them to vote against it.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is on a roll and, it would appear, hell bent on keeping his job.

Making his best effort to please his boss and rid himself of the taint associated with his recusal from the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, he has instructed the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice to put the kibosh on AT&Ts proposed merger with Time Warner if it does not spin-off Time Warners CNN unit. Because, as we all know, CNN is the chief culprit when it comes to purveying fake news.

Were this any other administration, consumer protection would be sufficient motivation for the DOJ to initiate an anti-trust investigation into this deal. Media consolidation, where a small group of companies controls vast holdings, does not always yield a positive outcome for consumers. Yet, the brazen misuse of power being exercised by the president through his proxy, AG Sessions, is a blast across the bow of the ship of state. The Trump administration is launching a preemptive nuclear assault on the First Amendment.

Mr. Trump does not like the reporting CNN shares with its viewers. Nor that of MSNBC. Or ABC or CBS or NBC. And lets throw in the New York Times, Politico, and the Washington Post; and, at times, the Wall Street Journal as well. The president chooses not to hear them, read them, or recognize these news organizations. He sees them as the enemy, even as he often attempts to manipulate them to his advantage. He would prefer they be silenced because they speak truth to power. They dig deep to uncover, expose, and honestly report on the sometimes-unpleasant realities of our world; and shed light on stories whose importance is unknown to those who choose to dwell in darkness.

The only news that isnt fake news for the president is that which airs on Fox News or in Breitbart, the Drudge Report, and the sundry other websites that make a point of channeling the thoughts, hate-speak, deranged philosophy, and outright lies promulgated by some of the more extreme alt right organizations currently blighting the American landscape.

The president chooses to ignore any factually-accurate, heavily sourced, well-reported stories that call into question the behavior of those surrounding him, his own missteps and misdeeds, as well as his incomprehensible agenda.

News organizations that the president targets, in this case CNN, are not perfect. They do, on occasion, make mistakes. There have been instances where their reporting has been inaccurate. The difference between these legitimate journalists and those occupying the presidents preposterously parallel universe, however, is that they are willing to own up to their gaffes when they occur; publicly apologize, or print retractions and, in some cases, dismiss editors and reporters who fail to get the story right.

Unlike the mainstream media, there are few true fact-checkers in the far-reaching social media world; mostly, there are algorithms. There arent enough bodies  canine or human  to pull back the proverbial curtain and reveal for all to see that the great and powerful Oz might just be a racially-motivated social misfit, a four-hundred-pound hacker sitting on their bed, as the president would have us believe; or someone in Russia, China, North Korea, the Ukraine or, quite possibly, merely a wretched propagandist like Stephen K. Bannon.

Technology may accelerate the ability to source and gather information and check facts, but there is nothing more reliable than doing so the old-fashioned way: pick up the phone, pound the pavement, collar those in the know. Which is exactly what the free press in all its permutations attempts to do. And precisely what the president doesnt want them doing.

The draconian measures the Executive Branch is attempting to employ to silence CNN through the judiciary should frighten anyone who values truth and free speech. Opinion and propaganda is not news, yet it is precisely what the president and his proxies want us to accept as reality through their efficient and unbridled use of social media. Consumer beware.
Straight No Chaser is celebrating its silver anniversary with a three-month tour that would exact a physical toll on any performer  vocalists especially. Yet despite the grueling schedule (they are almost exactly in the middle of more than 60 performances), SNC performed an outstanding show Nov. 13 at the Charleston Gaillard Center. Read moreReview: Straight No Chaser delights young and old on a cappella tour
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State Circuit Judge DeAndrea Benjamin appears poised to join a powerful federal appeals court bench following a U.S. Senate hearing in which Republicans repeatedly questioned her handling of two cases out of thousands she'd handled in South Carolina over two decades. Read moreSC Judge Benjamin praised by Clyburn, questioned by Republicans during US Senate hearing
A dispute over a girlfriend escalated into an assault involving gunfire Sunday morning, leading to the arrest of two suspects, a Rochester police spokesman said.

Shortly after 1 a.m., police rushed to the 400 block of 14th St. NW, Rochester upon receiving a report of an assault and shots being fired, said Rochester police Sgt. Ryan Manguson.

Police found two male victims who reported being pistol-whipped by the suspects. Police also discovered a shell casing as evidence that a gun had been fired. Neither victim was injured from the gun being fired nor did they require hospitalization from the assault.

The suspects, a 28-year-old Rochester male and 24-year old Rochester male, fled the house where the dispute occurred and were apprehended by police a short distance away on foot.

The cause of the dispute was over a mutual relationship between one of the suspects and one of the victims, Manguson said. Both men are now in Olmsted County Adult Detention Center, face second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon charges and will likely be arraigned on Monday.
WINONA  A former employee of the Catholic Diocese of Winona faces multiple felony charges after authorities say she stole more than $80,000 from the organization.

Rose Anne Hammes, 55, now of Kansas City, Mo., made her first appearance earlier this month in Winona County District Court, where she's been charged with four counts of theft by swindle.

Hammes was released on her own recognizance and is due back in court Jan. 10.

The investigation began in March 2016, when officials with the diocese contacted Winona police.

Hammes worked for the diocese from April 2004 to August 2010, when she moved to Kansas, then Missouri. She came to the attention of the church officials when they learned she'd been charged with theft from her Kansas employer  the Archdiocese of Kansas City.

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Local diocesan officials initiated an audit of the organization's records dating from July 2008 and August 2010, which confirmed at least 21 invoices Hammes submitted for reimbursement were fake or altered, the criminal complaint says.

The total Hammes received in reimbursement from the Winona diocese as a result of allegedly fraudulent invoices was $83,752.24.

Investigators found bank records that corresponded to the transactions, court documents say, though some of Hammes' former accounts were closed after she moved, and the records were purged.

According to the court paperwork, Hammes received reimbursements totaling $38,722.76 from July 2008 through October 2008; $7,295.51 from January 2009 through June 2009; $7,600.60 from October 2009 through March 2010; and $30,433.37 from April 2010 through August 2010.

She apparently continued the pattern when she moved to Kansas and worked for the archdiocese there, records show.

The Wyandotte County prosecutor's office said more than $116,000 was taken between 2010 and 2014.

Hammes served as the director of communications and pastoral planning for the archdiocese from September 2010 through April 2014, when the theft was discovered.

According to a statement from the archdiocese at the time, the Wyandotte County district attorney's office was notified when the archdiocese discovered "financial irregularities in April 2014. The archdiocese contacted law enforcement because it believed it was the victim of fraud and had suffered a sizable loss, in excess of $100,000."

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In the Winona Diocese, she served as director of communications, purchased technology and was also editor of the diocesan newspaper, The Courier , from June 2004 until she left to work for the Kansas City archdiocese.

Hammes started her career in the Diocese of La Crosse as a writer and advertising saleswoman for the diocesan newspaper in 1985  the same year her father was murdered in a Wisconsin church.

William Hammes, a custodian at St. Patrick's Church in Onalaska, Wis., was killed Feb. 7, 1985, when Bryan Stanley walked into the church and opened fire with a shotgun. Also killed that day were Ferdinand Roth Sr., a parish lay minister, and the Rev. John Rossiter, the parish priest.

According to court documents in Kansas, Rose Hammes filed for bankruptcy in June 2015.
Rochester police are investigating after a pair of teenage girls reported a man exposed himself to them Friday at Quarry Hill Nature Center.

The girls, ages 14 and 15, told officers they were walking on a trail on the west side of the park about 2:45 p.m. when the suspect approached from the opposite direction.

As he passed them, they noticed his genitals were exposed and he was touching himself, the report says. The girls ran away and called police.

The suspect is described as a white male in his 30s or 40s, about 5 feet 9, with a "heavier" build. He has blond hair and was wearing a baggy dark blue sweatshirt, baggy dark gray sweatpants, hiking shoes and sunglasses.

Officers responding to the scene found someone who resembled the description, said Capt. John Sherwin, but he wasn't positively identified by the victims.

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The man was released at the scene.
AUSTIN  A 49-year-old man accused of holding a store clerk hostage with a pair of scissors will make his initial appearance next week in Mower County District Court.

Jeremy Reid Johnson, of Austin, is scheduled to appear Monday. He's been charged with one count each of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, terroristic threats and false imprisonment, all felonies.

He remains in custody in lieu of $50,000 conditional bail.

The charges stem from an incident Nov. 15, when Austin police were called to Jim's Marketplace Foods , 301 11th St. NE, for a report of a man who appeared to be "on drugs" holding a girl hostage with a knife.

An officer approaching the front of the store saw Johnson screaming; he had his left arm around the neck of a teenage girl and was holding a pair of scissors to her chest with his right hand, the complaint says.

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Officers told Johnson several times to release the girl, who eventually got away. Officers then entered the store and took Johnson into custody.

A couple told authorities they first saw Johnson outside the store, and he looked "really drunk or had serious problems." He was screaming and talking about the government, they said.

Moments later, as they shopped, they heard the girl scream; the two ran to the front of the store and saw Johnson behind the counter, holding the employee.

They tried to convince Johnson to put down the weapon and release the girl; Johnson told them to call police.

The victim told officers Johnson grabbed her from behind with his arm around her neck in a chokehold, court documents say. She believed he had a knife, which was against her neck.

Johnson repeatedly said, "the government chose me for something bad and I'm crazy. I live down the road and they chose me for something bad and I can't do this."

He allegedly threatened to cut her if the police didn't arrive in five minutes, the girls said, and was also yelling at the male customer.

A male employee at the store said Johnson also told him to call the police; he believed Johnson wanted the police to shoot him, the documents say, because Johnson said, "they better bring a gun."

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He heard Johnson threaten to cut the victim, the complaint says.

The teenage employee wasn't physically injured.
Rochester Public Schools is making slow progress on the goals it sets to make sure students are graduating, and with the skills they'll need to enter college or the workforce.

The district's World's Best Workforce Plan, required by the state since 2013, fits with a number of other district plans, including RPS' strategic and literacy plans. It's a way for school districts to develop a system "to ensure college and career readiness for all learners," said Jayne Gibson, the district's director of curriculum and instruction.

"It's a plan that threads all of the district plans together around these five areas," Gibson said. Goals and strategies are established in the five categories each year. "Ultimately, the goal of the plan is student learning  preparing our students to be successful not just within the E-12 system, but what happens after they leave us."

The plan was created with input from community and staff members who met on June 15, Gibson said, and who serve on the Community Curriculum and Instruction Committee. The state reviews the plan annually, and it is required the school board review it as well.

GOAL (NOT MET): All children are ready for kindergarten

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RESULTS : 30 percent of incoming students demonstrated kindergarten readiness in all eight district-established categories.

: 30 percent of incoming students demonstrated kindergarten readiness in all eight district-established categories. EXPLANATION : Last year, 31 percent of students were "ready" in all eight areas, including: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, colors, shapes, number recognition, rote counts and one-to-one correspondence. The biggest struggle for incoming students? Letter sounds. This list is part of a diagnostic tool created by the district, Gibson said.

: Last year, 31 percent of students were "ready" in all eight areas, including: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, colors, shapes, number recognition, rote counts and one-to-one correspondence. The biggest struggle for incoming students? Letter sounds. This list is part of a diagnostic tool created by the district, Gibson said. WHAT'S NEXT: The district hopes to increase early childhood programming, outreach and family engagement to boost the number ready for kindergarten, Gibson said. RPS may also review what's included in the "Readiness Assessment Tool," Gibson said, considering the addition of measures such as social-emotional readiness that aren't among the eight now evaluated. The goal for fall 2018: 35 percent ready for kindergarten, Gibson said.

GOAL (NOT MET): Third-grade literacy

RESULTS : About 57 percent of third-graders are proficient, as measured by spring 2017 reading accountability tests; this is a 4 percent drop from last year . The goal was 63 percent.

: About 57 percent of third-graders are proficient, as measured by spring 2017 reading accountability tests; this is a 4 percent drop from last year . The goal was 63 percent. EXPLANATION : Discrepancies in subgroups  breakdowns of race, ethnicity, free and reduced price lunch, and special education  show "we have some work to do here, and we recognize that," Gibson said. Literacy is measured by all the proficiency tests that students take at the end of third grade.

: Discrepancies in subgroups  breakdowns of race, ethnicity, free and reduced price lunch, and special education  show "we have some work to do here, and we recognize that," Gibson said. Literacy is measured by all the proficiency tests that students take at the end of third grade. WHAT'S NEXT: The district will continue to train administrators in "literacy leadership," Gibson said, as well as focusing on what is happening in the classroom between students and teachers. "We're going to spend a lot of time drilling in on that," Gibson said. Next year's goal: 62.3 percent of all RPS third graders will be at, or above, grade level proficiency  a 5 percent increase from this year.

GOAL (NOT MET): Close all academic achievement gaps

RESULTS : Achievement gaps remain, with a greater than 10 percent gap between student groups for math, for all subgroups except Asian students. For reading, Native American students have nearly closed the gap, but gaps for Hispanic and black students remain.

: Achievement gaps remain, with a greater than 10 percent gap between student groups for math, for all subgroups except Asian students. For reading, Native American students have nearly closed the gap, but gaps for Hispanic and black students remain. EXPLANATION : The goal is to have less than a 10 percent difference in math and reading achievement for all groups; subcategories of students include Asian, Black, Hispanic, English language learner, special education and low-income.

: The goal is to have less than a 10 percent difference in math and reading achievement for all groups; subcategories of students include Asian, Black, Hispanic, English language learner, special education and low-income. WHAT'S NEXT: The district will focus on professional development with consultants and internal staff, especially with culturally relevant teaching practices, Gibson said. Leadership training in equity and increased engagement opportunities for students, including career and college readiness skills. "Not only do we want to bring these bars more within reason, but we want them to all be shifted up a little bit higher across the board..." Gibson said.

GOAL (NOT MET): Have all high school graduates career and college ready

RESULTS : About 55 percent of students are ready in math and 56 percent in reading, according to ACT scores.

: About 55 percent of students are ready in math and 56 percent in reading, according to ACT scores. EXPLANATION : Results come from high school juniors' ACT scores  an ACT score of 22 indicates the students are "college and career ready." Last year, 88 percent of juniors took the ACT, Gibson said. The goal was to have more than 60 percent of students on track to an ACT score of 22 or higher.

: Results come from high school juniors' ACT scores  an ACT score of 22 indicates the students are "college and career ready." Last year, 88 percent of juniors took the ACT, Gibson said. The goal was to have more than 60 percent of students on track to an ACT score of 22 or higher. WHAT'S NEXT: Gibson said the district hopes to get closer to 99 percent of high school juniors taking the assessment for free during the school day. RPS hopes to provide more college credit options for students to take advantage of while in high school. Gibson added that the district hopes to have more conversations with students in "middle-level" programming about college and career readiness. The goal for next year continues to be getting 60 percent of student on track to an ACT score of 22 or higher.

GOAL (NOT MET) : Graduate all students from HS
A locally owned, longtime area bank is planning for the future with a major change at one of its Rochester locations.

Sterling State Bankhas filed plans with the City of Rochesterto demolish its 3,000-square-foot branch at 5600 U.S. Highway 52 North, along Bandel Road Northwest.

After the 23-year-old bank building is gone, Sterling State plans a new 30,000-square-foot complex to serve as the bank's corporate offices, according to the permits.

Sterling, which began in Austin in 1958, has nine branches in Minnesota, including three others in Rochester in addition to the northwest branch.

The northwest branch had a moment of fame in December 2015, when it was robbed two days in a row. The would-be bank robber ran in front of a KIMT-TV reporter filming a story about the previous robbery. Rochester police caught the bank robber.

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Professional notes

 KSMQ, the Public Broadcasting Service station based in Austin, recently added two new board members  Miguel Garate and Kim Norton.

Garate, of Austin, is a multicultural advisor at Riverland Community College. He is a board member of the Latino Economic Development Corp., director of the Multicultural Clubat Riverland and is chairman of the annual Taste of Nationscommunity celebration.

Norton, of Rochester, served eight years on the Rochester School Board,including one term as board chairwoman. In 2006, she was elected to the Minnesota Legislature, where she represented Rochester for 10 years. Norton was chosen as a Bush Foundation Fellow in 2016.

 Rochester-based Think Mutual Bankhas named Amanda Kellerto the position of vice president of the bank's customer support center. In this role, Keller will oversee the center and "advance business strategies that focus on meeting customer needs."

Keller previously served as the assistant vice president of the center.

Keller has 15 years of experience at Think, having worked as a branch manager, support center assistant manager, banker and teller.

Think has 10 bank offices. They are in Rochester, Apple Valley, Eagan, Edina and St. Paul.
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A group of 65 elected women in Minnesota issued a statement of support for Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken on Sunday, including DFL gubernatorial candidate and Rochester Rep. Tina Liebling.

The statement reads as follows: "We are longtime supporters of Senator Franken, and our support is rooted in the core values that we share. During his time in the Senate he has been a champion for these values and a steadfast supporter of women's rights. While we are disappointed by these allegations, we appreciate that he has apologized and is committed to regaining the trust of Minnesotans. We believe a Senate investigation into these allegations is the appropriate course of action and will continue to support the Senator throughout this process."

That puts Liebling squarely at odds with two fellow DFL gubernatorial candidates  Rep. Erin Murphy and State Auditor Rebecca Otto. They have both called on Franken to resign. Others signing the list of support include former Minnesota State Auditor Judi Dutcher, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and DFL House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman.

The allegations against Franken emerged after radio host Leann Tweeten accused him of forcibly kissing her on a USO tour. She also shared a photo taken while she slept of the senator posing with his hands grabbing at her chest. Three other women are accusing Franken of grabbing their buttocks while posing for photos during campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

Mayo spends $1.3 million on lobbying

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Mayo Clinic spent more than $1.3 million lobbying at the state and federal level in 2016, according to its 990 form filed with the IRS. The form does not provide much detail about how those lobbying dollars were used.

The clinic wrote that Mayo officials "had meetings and contacts with federal and state government officials, including members of Congress, state legislatures, and respective executive branch officials to discuss various health care reform proposals and proposed legislation."

In addition, Mayo sent letters outlining its position on proposed legislation and regulations.

Mayo Clinic also spent $1.3 million on lobbying in 2015, according to that year's 990 form.

Sexton leaves lobbying post

One of the most well-known Rochester faces at the Minnesota Capitol is moving on to another job.

Erin Sexton, Mayo Clinic director of government relations, has taken another job at the clinic. She will serve as director of enterprise community engagement. In that role, she will be responsible for community engagement activities in Rochester, Florida and Arizona. The job description states that she will "work in collaboration with social service groups, the business community and local government to advance and support Mayo Clinic patients, staff and the community."

Sexton has served as Mayo Clinic's lobbyist in St. Paul since 2011. She played a key behind-the-scenes role in helping lobbying for passage of Destination Medical Center in 2013. That legislation provides up to $585 million for public infrastructure to support Mayo Clinic's $5.5 billion DMC initiative. The clinic is currently in the process of hiring Sexton's replacement.
Cliff May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, argues that territories taken from the Islamic State (ISIS) must not be surrendered to the Islamic Republic (Iran). Such a surrender is almost certain unless President Trump acts to prevent it.

The territory in question is in Syrias Deir Ezzor province, which contains large oil and gas reserves and is adjacent to the Iraqi border. May warns that if Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is allowed to seize Deir Ezzor, it will have effectively established a land bridge through the northern Middle East from Tehran all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Not for more than a thousand years has a Persian empire controlled those lands.

There is no question that Iran covets control of that land  the fruit of victories won by the U.S. and its allies in the war against ISIS  and few would question the undesirability of permitting Iran to appropriate it. The question is, whats required to prevent this seizure. May answers:

Preventing that outcome will require a continuing American commitment to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish and Arab warriors that has proven its mettle in battle against the Islamic State. The SDF will need funding, American air power and the assistance of U.S. Special Forces if it is to prevail over Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as Iranian-backed Shia militias (of many nationalities) and Hezbollah fighters.

May acknowledges the risks associated with this course of action. They include, of course, a military confrontation with pro-Iranian forces. Indeed, Iranian officials are now saying that the next phase of the conflict in Syria is for the resistance forces to confront the U.S. military and its local allies.

The primary risk of inaction is the establishment of what Jordans King Abdullah II calls a Shia Crescent in the Middle East. It would encompass Iraq, where no government would dare defy Iran; Syria, where the mass-murderer Assad would serve as Irans obedient satrap; Lebanon, where Hezbollah, Irans terrorist foreign legion, has been tightening its grip; and possibly Yemen, where Iran is funding, arming, and presumably instructing Houthi rebels.

Once the Shia crescent is established, Iran would be in a strong position to threaten the pro-American nations of the region, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and of Israel.

Last month, President Trump announced a new strategy to confront the Iranian regimes hostile actions, including its development of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, its support for terrorists, and its neo-imperialist aggressions. Soon, in Deir Ezzor province, we will find out if Trump is serious about confronting Iran.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the federal agency thats supposed to protect consumers in the financial sector. It was created by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The CFPBs director heads the agency free from presidential supervision. Given the CFPBs broad authority over the U.S. economy, the director enjoys significantly more unilateral power than any single member of any other independent agency. So said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in declaring the leadership structure of the CFPB unconstitutional.

This decision is under review by the full D.C. Circuit, a body dominated by liberal Democrats. The matter may be headed to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, we are in the midst of a struggle over who will be the CFPB director. Richard Cordray, a left-wing Ohio politician, has been the director. He was appointed when it became clear that Elizabeth Warren, whose brainchild the CFPB is, could not be confirmed to lead it.

On Friday, Cordray announced his resignation effective immediately, and appointed Leandra English, his chief of staff, to be the deputy director of the CFPB. He did so in order to prevent President Trump from reining in the agency.

Shannen Coffin explains the move:

Trump has express constitutional authority to appoint Cordrays replacement and, in time, will do so. But like much that happens in Washington, installing a new director of the CFPB will take time. The appointment is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, and Senate Democrats will throw as much sand in the gears of the confirmation process as a minority party can muster. The directorship could remain vacant for months, or longer. By slow-walking the confirmation process and, at the same time, blocking the presidents appointment of an interim director, Democrats could for, the foreseeable future, extend Cordrays regulatory mischief and forestall efforts to roll back the CFPBs regulatory programs.

Mick Mulvaney, who currently heads the Office of Management and Budget, is Trumps choice to direct the the CFPB. Mulvaney has called the CFPB a sick, sad joke, and a wonderful example of how a bureaucracy will function if it has no accountability to anyone. As acting director, Mulvaney could begin the process of unwinding the CFPBs regulatory overreach.

Recently, that overreach has been particularly pronounced. According to Coffin:

In the months leading up to his resignation, Cordray accelerated the CFPBs work and its regulatory overreach. He rolled out new regulations prohibiting mandatory arbitration in financial services agreementsthey were subsequently overturned by Congress under the Congressional Review Act. Cordray finalized a far-reaching rulethe breadth of which is evidenced by more than 1,700 pages of official commentarythat seeks to police out of existence much of the payday and title-loan industry without providing alternative credit avenues to the millions of cash-strapped consumers who use these lenders of last resort. The CFPB also stepped up its enforcement efforts against financial-services businesses aimed at the individual consumer, invoking a muscular and seemingly boundless statutory view of its authority to curb unfair, deceptive and abusive practices. This trend would likely continue under Cordrays hand-picked successor.

President Trump responded to Cordrays power play, or resistance as Sen. Tom Cotton describes it, by designating Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB. Trump invoked his power under the Vacancies Reform Act of 1988. It permits the president to designate any Senate-confirmed federal official (and certain other federal officers and employees) to perform the functions and duties of a vacant federal office (with some limited exceptions) in an acting capacity for a statutorily-limited time period.

The General Counsel of the CFPB issued a memorandum concurring in the Presidents action. However, English filed a lawsuit to force Mulvaney out and keep control over the agency.

The basis of Englishs suit is that the Dodd-Frank Act provides that the director has the authority to appoint a deputy director who shall . . . serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director. English argues that this provision controls because the Vacancies Reform Act provides that its methods of temporarily filling a vacant office are meant to be exclusive, unless some other statutory provision explicitly permits another mode of designation or designates an officer or employee to perform the functions and duties of a specified office temporarily in an acting capacity. She contends that the Dodd-Frank Act is such a separate statute, and it designates the deputy director to perform the functions and duties of the vacant director position in an acting capacity to the exclusion of the presidents authority.

Coffin rejects Englishs argument. He points out that the Vacancies Reform Act does not say the presidents authority is overridden where a separate statute, such as Dodd-Frank, provides for other modes of designating an acting official. It merely says that the presidents power is not exclusive in those circumstances  in other words, the president can decide to appoint someone or to allow go along with the designee selected pursuant to another statute.

Thats been the position of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel. In addition, the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case involving the National Labor Relations Board Office of General Counsel, concluded that the president may elect which avenue to choose where another statute also authorizes a method of temporarily filling a vacancy.

In addition, Coffin argues that the Dodd-Frank Act doesnt really address vacancies in the office of CFPB director at all. It speaks of situations in which the director is absent or unavailable, not cases in which there is no director.

By contrast, the OMB statute applies when the office of Director is vacant. Other statutes similarly speak of vacancies in office. Thus, Congress knows how to authorize an official to act in the event of a vacancy. It did not do so in Dodd-Frank.

In any event, courts now have two issues to sort out: (1) is the structure of the CFPB constitutional and (2) who is the agencys acting director.

What should happen in the meantime? I call on Sen. Tom Cotton:
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Creative Eye Limited producers Dheeraj Kumar, Zuby Kochhar, Sunil Gupta celebrated the launch of Diwane Anjaane at grand party held on the set at Mira road, Mumbai.Specially decorated space with twinkling lights, flowers and colorful cloth drapes were put around in every nook and corner of the studio set. In the central hall a huge TV set was put up to watch the 1st Episode of Diwane Anjaane.Anooj Kapoor, the creator of the show along with principal Artists Jay Pathak, Gaurav Sharma, Jayshree Soni, Manju Sharma, Gopi bhalla , Preet Kaur Madan, Shubhi Ahuja were present along with certain distinguish guests, together everybody watched the show with lots of cheering and masti.Producer Dheeraj Kumar spoke on the occasion and said every product is a team effort and without the contribution of each and every person involved in the show nobody can ever produce a successful product. Later on delicious dinner was laid not only for the Artists and the guests but for every single technician from down to top. Till late everybody enjoyed the get together with fun frolic and hungama.In the end Dheeraj Kumar thanked the channel Bigmagic, Mr Tarun Katial, Amerpreet, Shamik Maulik, Rahul and all others for providing once again an opportunity to Creative Eye Limited to produce Diwane Anjaane which telecast on Bigmagic Zee every Monday to Friday @ 9 PM.On concluding note Dheeraj Kumar said we believe in karma and rest we leave to the audience to judge our credentials.
ATLANTIC CITY  A South Jersey proposal for an all-boys charter school, which would have been the first of its kind in New Jersey, was denied by the state Department of Education earlier this month.

The Frederick Douglass Charter School for Boys, the brainchild of Atlantic City teacher Ricardo Belgrave, was one of 17 charter school proposals up for approval in the state of New Jersey this year.

Although he made it successfully through the first two rounds of the application process, Belgrave said he found out earlier this month that he was not one of the two applications approved in this round.

We believe most of it has to do with the financial instability of Atlantic City at the moment and them not wanting to put an additional financial burden on the city with the charter school, Belgrave said Tuesday.

The two charter schools approved were the Achievers Early College Prep Charter School in Trenton, serving 90 sixth-graders, and the Middlesex County STEM Charter School in Perth Amboy, serving 180 kindergartners through second-graders.

Each approved charter school must complete the state Department of Education preparedness review before a final charter is granted. If approved, they would open in the 2018-19 school year.

Belgrave said the Frederick Douglass Charter School, unlike other charters in the state, is considered a mom-and-pop charter because it does not have the financial backing of a larger, for-profit company. That also may have hurt his application, Belgrave said.

Of the 89 charter schools in the state, South Jersey is home to few compared with North Jersey, with four in Cumberland County, one in Ocean County and none in Cape May County. Belgraves all-boys school would have become only the fourth charter school in Atlantic County.

Belgrave said he is not sure if there is an expanded opportunity for charter schools with Gov.-elect Phil Murphy, who has close ties to the New Jersey Education Association.

He said he is not giving up hope.

Were not taking reapplying off the table, but we are moving forward with a private-school model, Belgrave said.

Belgraves original application called for 180 students in kindergarten through second grade.

As a private school, the Frederick Douglass School would start out with 30 students in kindergarten and first grade, with plans to open in 2020 as opposed to 2018.
The Atlantic County Republican Committee is asking U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate possible voter fraud during the November election.

In a letter dated Nov. 21, Keith A. Davis, chairman of the Atlantic County Republican Committee, asked Sessions to review their concerns.

During the Atlantic City mayors campaign, Mayor Don Guardian, a Republican, claimed the race was being hijacked by a plan to pay homeless people for votes, illegal use of mail-in ballots and the intimidation of others into voting for his Democratic opponent, Councilman Frank Gilliam.

We have repeatedly asked our New Jersey Attorney Generals Office on successive occasions to investigate these practices, and it has refused, according to the letter. That is why we are reaching out to your office for help to restore integrity in our voting system in Atlantic County.

Davis writes in the letter that possible fraud also could have impacted the Pleasantville Board of Education race.

A few political activists have used the practice of messenger ballots to control hundreds of votes for particular candidates, according to the letter. These practices have taken place over the last 15 years with no law enforcement investigations.

Gilliam defeated Guardian at the polls Nov. 7 before the mail-in ballots were added to the totals, so the issue of those votes became a moot point. Prior to the election, Guardians campaign hired private detectives, requested investigations and took legal action in attempts to get permission to challenge the ballots before they were counted.

Mike Suleiman, chairman of the Atlantic County Democratic Committee, called the claims sour grapes.

When Republicans win in Atlantic County, its because theyre Gods gift to politics, Suleiman said. When they lose, its because of voter fraud. Ridiculous.

The Atlantic County GOP previously asked the state attorney general to investigate similar concerns.

The state said in an Oct. 12 letter it had received the letter and reviewed the Atlantic County Clerks Offices handling of mail-in ballots and found officials there had proper procedures in place.
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In South Jersey, when September ends, deer hunting begins. For many, its more than just a sport, its a family tradition.

Clem Thomas has been hunting the same land in Mays Landing that he learned to hunt on when he was a boy. Perched atop a familiar tree in the woods behind what used to be his great-grandfathers home, Thomas has spent many days sitting in silence, waiting for his shot.

Not so much when I was a kid, (but) now it gives me a chance to get away from technology and the fast-paced stuff, said Thomas, 37, of Mays Landing.

Although hunting is on the decline nationwide, it is still a widely popular sport, with more than 39.6 million Americans participating last year.

Overall, hunting license sales have dropped in recent decades, said Alfred Ivany, information and education bureau chief at the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Ivany said there are many reasons for the decline, including time, money, loss of hunting land due to urbanization. But he believes its mostly due to competing interests.

Kids are involved in more activities than they were in the past, Ivany said.

To help spur interest, Fish and Wildlife instituted its Take a Kid Hunting program in 2001, which has become very popular, Ivany said.

Young hunters are being mentored in a way of learning that sport in a safe and controlled manner, he said.

Ivany said hunting helps teach discipline, ethics and understanding the importance of conservation and protecting natural resources.

If they get outside and participate in those activities, theyre more likely to become good stewards of the land theyre enjoying, he said. Theres a long connection there.

That connection is not lost on Rick Fognano, of Mullica Township, whose family has been hunting for many generations, and whose 7-year-old son, RJ, is beginning to help him set bait. His youngest son, Jackson, 3, will probably be heading out soon.

Theres things that you see out in the woods that youll never experience behind a desk or sitting on a couch, said Fognano, 34.

He said hunting gives him a chance to be a part of nature.

A lot of people say youre not going hunting, youre going thinking. Its hard to explain, he said.

When he was young, Fognano began hunting as soon as he legally could.

Always growing up, my dad would bring home ducks and deer, he said. I remember my dad taking me out to go put deer bait out. That was my first experience. We would go for walks and set up his tree stand, and I would help him set up bait.

Fognano still hunts with his dad, also named Rick, most recently on a trip to Nebraska, and especially during firearm week in New Jersey  the first week of December. He also hunts with his in-laws.

Fognanos dad and grandfather chartered a gun club in Hammonton in the 1950s, and going there when he was a kid are some of his fondest memories.

Now, he brings his own sons to the club during kids nights, where they serve up spaghetti and meatballs with deer meat. The boys are eager to get out hunting with their father.

Every time I put my boots on, they say, Where are you going, Dad? They want to go. They love it. Its something else, Fognano said.

Thomas learned to hunt from his dad, too, who picked up hunting while living in Minnesota. While there wasnt much talking, Thomas said it gave him a chance to bond with his father.

It was something that we could share. It wasnt so much you were out there chit-chatting, because the whole point was to be quiet, he said. You might not even be together, but you know youre out there doing the same thing.

Thomas said he is teaching his son all about hunting now, although hes too young for his own license.

He thinks its cool. Im trying right now to explain what huntings about, why we hunt, why its important, Thomas said. I think if I do my job, hell want to just like I wanted to.

He said his daughter likes that her father hunts, and if she shows interest, he will teach her how, too.

Despite the declining numbers, Thomas said he thinks deer hunting is still a popular tradition in South Jersey, but he sees it declining with future generations.

I think that the generation after me is geared more toward virtual experiences rather than tangible, in-person experiences, he said. If we can put down the tablets and get out into the woods, go fishing or whatever it is, I think wed be better off.
Children and people of all ages with disabilities who need care in a group setting shouldnt have caregivers who might harm them. So at a minimum, such caregivers shouldnt have a history suggesting they might.

This year, New Jersey has enacted a couple of laws that helpfully tighten such protections for some of its most vulnerable residents.

In June, Gov. Chris Christie signed into law a bill requiring criminal background checks for providers of family day care.

The checks will be done by the State Police, and if any crime from a long list of serious offenses is found, the Department of Children and Families will not issue or renew the registration to provide care.

October brought a new law improving state Department of Human Services oversight of care for those with developmental disabilities, in order to prevent their abuse and neglect by caregivers. Its named in honor of Stephen Komninos, who died in 2007 while under the care of a private, state-licensed facility.

Starting in January when the law takes effect, DHS officials will make unannounced visits to such facilities to check on care. The law also permits employees to be tested for drug use and requires care providers to notify family members within two hours if a resident is harmed.

More work needs to be done, which became apparent last month when a state audit found that at least 28 people with serious federal criminal histories had provided care to disabled residents at state-licensed facilities in the past five years. Among those still working this year was a murderer out on parole.

Licensed facilities had hired the employees despite state-required background checks turning up their past crimes. Under current law, facilities can hire former criminals if they can show they have reformed their behavior.

The auditor from the Office of Legislative Services also found about 175 employees had been hired without a criminal background check, and 136 of them were still employed at the start of this year.

Legislative leaders said the audit report confirmed some of their worst fears about care for vulnerable residents of group homes and other facilities.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Deputy Assembly Speaker Valerie Vainieri Huttle, who chairs that bodys Human Services Committee, said they would introduce legislation in this falls lame duck session to tighten the rules and give DHS the responsibility for conducting criminal background checks and deciding who is disqualified for employment. There should be no confusion when it comes to entrusting people with the responsibility to care for this vulnerable population, Sweeney said.

Thats as it should be. Inconsistencies in the vetting process and in hiring decisions only seem like typical innocuous bureaucratic stumbles until they allow a tragedy to happen. We look forward to a law ensuring the background check process fully serves the safety and interests of disabled residents needing care.
(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/610113/LC_Waikiki_Logo.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/610114/LC_Waikiki_glam_men_velvet_women.jpg )

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(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/610117/LC_Waikiki_romantic_feeling_lace.jpg )

The special dress collection for the new year is set to 'come to life with dazzling pieces,' according to LC Waikiki. The collection will include velvet jackets, Tulle detailed dresses, sparkling jumpers and beaded trousers. The retailer says women who prefer to be dressed up with LC Waikiki's special new year's collection which incorporates dignity with stylish details will be the center of attention on new years. The collection called, "Rich Noir" is inspired by the glamor of a feel-good atmosphere that comes along with new year focusing on elegance and chic silhouettes, glittering fabrics and deluxe accessories. Pearl embedded details and glittered fabrics provide a touch of elegance and present a feminine look. The dominant color black will be accompanied by red and grey treated with the texture of velvet and embroidery. The collection aims to express a luxury spirit through trendy fits and fashionable tops.

LC Waikiki New Year's collection, the softness of the velvet, the romantic feeling of the lace and the shimmer of the beads carry the New Year's air into the collection. The Collection aims to keep the energy and the excitement of new year through shining blouses, embellished skinny jeans, tasseled skirts and dresses. It hopes to embody the elegance through different designs with matched accessories.

LC Waikiki New Year Collection for Men will include suits designed with a tailored fit and high quality fabrics. Black and white will be the base of this collection. The luxury presented by the classic pieces, mirroring the glam will, according to LC Waikiki, perfectly match with the women's collection.

About LC Waikiki

Founded in Turkey in 1988, LC Waikiki's motto is 'Everbody deserves to dress well.' Today, LC Waikiki, the leader in the ready-to-wear clothing industry, provides service in 38 countries with more than 850 stores and approximately 40,000 employees. It aims to make its mark as one of the three most successful European fashion brands by having 1,500 stores by 2023.

http://www.lcwaikiki.com

SOURCE LC Waikiki
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Shimla, Nov 23 : A court on Thursday sent an Army Colonel arrested on charges of raping a fellow officer's daughter to three days in police custody.

The young woman, aged 21 and an adopted daughter of a Lt Colonel, filed a police complaint on November 20 against the 56-year-old accused posted at the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) here. The Lt Colonel is also posted at the ARTRAC.

After preliminary investigations, a case under the Indian Penal Code was registered and the Colonel arrested on Wednesday evening.

In her complaint, the woman said she was called by the Colonel to his residence with a promise to introduce her to people associated with the modelling industry.

She accused the Colonel of forcing her to drink alcohol and raping her. He even allegedly threatened to 'ruin' her father's career if she revealed the crime to anyone.

Superintendent of Police Soumya Sambasivan said the medical examination report of the young woman was awaited. Police did not disclose the identify of the accused officer.

Director General of Police Somesh Goyal told reporters that investigation into the woman's complaint was on.
New Delhi, Nov 23 : The mother of a four-year-old girl sexually assaulted by a classmate in west Delhi school demanded on Thursday strong action against school staff whose laxity led to the crime in a classroom last week.

"I am shocked to share that my child, a student of a school in Sector-7 in Dwarka, was sexually assaulted by one of her minor classmates while the teacher was outside, leaving an attendant (ayah) to look after the children on November 17. The incident happened during school hours on school premises due to the teacher's negligence," she said in a statement here.

The woman said the development was traumatic for her and her husband. She alleged that she texted the class teacher and coordinator to inform them about the crime, but they did not take it seriously.

She said she then took her daughter to a paediatrician, who suggested a medical examination. Once the sexual assault was confirmed, she was asked to file a case.

A case of rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 21 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was registered by the Delhi Police on a complaint by the girl's mother.

"The school principal appeared casual about the entire incident, as if I was reporting the loss of my child's belongings or talking of a physical injury. She asked me to speak to the counsellor and assured that school authorities will meet on (next) Monday morning to resolve the issue," the girl's mother said.

On Monday (November 20), once an FIR had been lodged, the girl showed police the scene of the crime and said there was no teacher around in the classroom. She narrated the events before the Metropolitan Magistrate.

"The teacher's negligence is very clearly visible from closed-circuit television footage. I paid a bomb as school fee, handed them my child in the hope that she is safe in school, only to be let down," the woman said.

"The matter is under investigation. We have filed an FIR on the basis of a complaint received as per the law. We are examining the CCTV footage from the school," Special Commissioner of Police Depender Pathak said.

As per the Indian Penal Code, children below the age of seven are given protection against prosecution. The girl has been provided counselling.
Kottayam, Nov 25 : Hadiya, a 24-year-old Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, on Saturday told newspersons in Kochi airport that she wants to live with her Muslim husband. Hadiya left for Delhi to be present before the Supreme Court on Monday in a case of alleged forced conversion.

As she was brought to Kochi airport amidst tight security, Hadiya loudly told the waiting mediapersons that she wants to go with her husband, Shafin Jahan.

Hadiya was accompanied by three women police officials and two male policemen besides her parents.

On Saturday afternoon, she was moved from her home near here at Vaikom in a convoy of police vehicles to Kochi International Airport to take the evening flight to Delhi.

In Delhi she will be put up at the Kerala House, where four rooms have been booked for the party from Kerala.

The apex court on October 30 had directed Hadiya's father, Asokan to present her in the court on November 27 to ascertain her views on her marriage to Shafin Jahan.

On Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the application for in-camera hearing of the proceedings when Hadiya appears before the court on November 27 would be taken up on that day itself after a lawyer mentioned Asokan's application for an early hearing.

The court in the last hearing had said that before examining the latter issue, it would like to ascertain if Hadiya had voluntarily converted to Islam and her views on her marriage.

The court is hearing a plea by Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya and seeking recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

The NIA in its earlier report has pointed to a "pattern" involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala. On November 18, an NIA team arrived at her home for the second time and took statements from her and her parents to present their case before the court.
Chennai, Nov 25 : The by-election scene in Tamil Nadu hotted up on Saturday with the DMK renominating its candidate Marudhu Ganesh in the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency, and immediately got support from the Congress, Viduthalai Chiruttai Katchi (VCK) and All India Forward Bloc.

The party also asserted that it was not worried about the "Two Leaves" going to the ruling AIADMK faction.

Ganesh, who was the party candidate in the April by-election that was later countermanded, will be fielded again in the December 21 bypoll, DMK Working President M.K. Stalin announced, quoting a statement of General Secretary K. Anbazhagan.

"We will face the elections in a democratic way and we will win it in a big way with the support of allies. We already have the support of our allies and would appeal to more parties to support our candidate," he told reporters.

Asked about Chief Minister K. Palaniswami claiming big victory after the allotment of the "Two Leaves" symbol to his faction, Stalin said "We have faced Two Leaves in the past and have won elections and come to power in the past. There is no fear or worry about Two Leaves."

Tamil Nadu Congress unit President S. Thirunavukkarasar announced the party's support to DMK candidate while VCK leader Thirumavalavan extended his party's backing to DMK. He hoped the by-election would be held in a fair manner without money power being allowed to play a part in it.

The bypoll in R.K. Nagar was necessitated by the death of then Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha in December last year.

The AIADMK, which had fielded its Presidium Chairman E. Madhusudanan, is yet to announce its candidate, while the BJP said it would decide whether to contest or not in the changed circumstances in consultation with the high command.

BJP state unit President Tamilisai Soundararajan said the issue was discussed at a meeting of the state leaders and the views have been conveyed to the high command. The BJP had fielded well-known Tamil music composer Gangai Amaran in the countermanded election.

Soundararajan, however, said the symbol of "Hat" which was given to the T.T.V. Dinakaran faction during the countermanded election should not be allotted to them this time because it is associated with the corrupt practices adopted by Dinakaran earlier.

Dinakaran, whose faction lost the symbol battle, has decided to contest again in R.K. Nagar.

Thangathamizh Chelvan, leader of the Dinakaran faction, said the party's governing council would meet on November 29 and make a formal announcement on the candidate.

He, however, rejected the view that their faction should not be given "Hat" and asked were the rivals worried that they would be defeated.
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 26 : Amid protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming film "Padmavati", the Congress' Kerala unit on Sunday asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to ensure that the film is released in the state.

Questioning the Chief Minister's silence on the issue, state Congress president M.M. Hassan told IANS: "What baffles me is the silence of Vijayan."

"We all expected Vijayan would come out strongly against the present opposition against this film, but surprisingly he has not uttered a word.

"I have now written to him to see that the state government should ensure that the film is released here and, if need be, security should also be given wherever the film is released in Kerala," said Hassan.

In his letter, Hassan also pointed out that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also promised to release the film in her state.

"The opposition to this film from fascist forces is a clear example of curbing expression of freedom," said Hassan, adding that Vijayan's silence is meant not to ruffle the "good" relations that he has with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Bhansali's historical drama "Padmavati" has been facing protests from Hindu groups and some critics have even issued violent threats over claims that the movie distorts various historical facts.

The film was scheduled to be released on December 1 but has been deferred by the makers amid the controversy.
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 26 : The Congress on Sunday stepped in to woo the Communist Party of India (CPI), the second-largest constituent of Kerala's ruling LDF, as its relationship with the front major, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), blew hot and cold.

At a public meeting in Kottayam, senior Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, in the presence of CPI's Assistant State Secretary Prakash Babu, recalled the glorious days of Kerala were when the state was led by Chief Minister C. Achutha Menon, who headed a CPI-Congress combine 1969-77.

"No one has any doubt on what is often described as the golden period of Kerala. Numerous development initiatives were flagged off during this period. If not today, let us all hope that there arises an occasion tomorrow that we (Congress and CPI) can stand together, for the good of our state," said Radhakrishnan, a two-time state minister.

Former state Finance Minister and former Maharashtra Governor K.Sankaranarayan was another Congress leader who heaped praises on the CPI on Sunday.

"The CPI is a party that has credible leaders and all of them conduct themselves in a very decent way and have high regards for them, as I have worked with them in the seventies," he said at a public function in Kasargode.

The CPI and the CPI-M have been frequently skirmishing since the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front assumed office in May last year, with a flashpoint over fate of state Transport Minister Thomas Chandy, who faced charges of land grab encroaching on government land, leading to the four CPI ministers boycotting the weekly cabinet meeting on November 15.

As the spat between the two Communist parties was at its height, CPI's state Secretary Kanam Rajendran had reminded the CPI-M that they should not forget that whenever the CPI-M ruled the state, the CPI was always with them and they should not forget that they were sitting on the sidelines, when the CPI ruled in the 1970s.

In the 140-member Kerala Assembly, the has 91 members, with the CPI having 19 legislators.
He has tried to do just what he told the nation he would..if elected. Unlike far too many others. Do you have far too short a memory of how and what Obama campaigned on? He thought the deficit was far too big...he was going to "move beyond" racial divisions and have better relationships with our allies and others in the world. None of those happened. AND...he sure didn't have to out right hate targeted group constantly attacking him.



The Dems even try to stall every appointment the President tries to make, to tie his hands as much as possible. People appointed to positions we never even know about...lower level...are subjected to hours and hours of Senate time use before it is done. Many could be accepted by a simple voice vote,when first coming to the floor.



All the "hate Trump" shown every day is ...really...an slam on the US and not helpful in the view of the world.
Bangkok, Nov 26 : Authorities in the Indonesian island of Bali on Sunday raised the flight warning level to the highest -- from orange to red -- as the Mt Agung volcano continued to spew columns of ash up to 4,000 meters high, official sources said.

Around twenty flights to and from Bali, the main tourist destination in Indonesia that records around 200,000 foreign tourists annually, were cancelled on Saturday night, stranding more than 2,000 people, Efe reported.

"The volcano and movement of ash cloud are highly unpredictable which means we may need to cancel flights at short notice," Australian low-cost airline Jetstar said on its website.

On Sunday, Qantas and Jetstar had cancelled two flights, while over a dozen were delayed.

Several domestic flights to the nearby island of Lombok were also delayed or cancelled.

Low-cost carrier AirAsia had also announced on Sunday the cancellation of 32 flights to and from the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok.

Indonesia's flagship carrier Garuda also announced that it was cancelling all flights on Sunday to and from Lombok.

Meanwhile, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, director of information of the National Board for Disaster Management (BNBP), had said in a statement that the island was safe and the Gusti Ngurah Rai airport and the Lombok international airport were functioning as usual.

The BNBP had also retained the eruption alert level at three and warned of ash rain in at least seven localities on the island.

On Saturday night, Nugroho had urged local people and tourists to remain calm and guard against the effect of the ash rain, adding that an exclusion zone established around the crater continued to remain at a radius of 6-7.5 km (3.7-4.7 miles).

The volcano, located in the eastern part of the island, in the Karangasem district, is away from a majority of the tourist attractions in Bali.

More than 25,000 residents of Karangasem district continue to be displaced owing to the eruption alert although the number had reached 140,000 at the end of September.

On Tuesday, the volcano had expelled a 700 metre high cloud of black vapour, the first non-magmatic discharge since 1963 and 1964, when the eruptions had lasted almost a year and caused more than 1,100 deaths.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region that records high seismic and volcanic activities, and experiences thousands of tremors - mostly moderate - every year.
Rome, Nov 27 : Pope Francis on Sunday began a trip that will take him to Myanmar and Bangladesh, where he will be until December 2 and on which he will meet with representatives of other faiths with the harsh persecution of the local Muslim Rohingya minority in the background.

The Alitalia Airbus A330 took off from Rome's Fiumicino Airport at 10:10 pm with the Vatican delegation and 69 journalists on board, Efe news agency reported.

Among the members of the Curia accompanying the pontiff are Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Filoni.

The aircraft is scheduled to land in Yangon, Myanmar - formerly known as Rangoon - on Monday at 1:30 pm and afterwards the pope will be ferried to the local archbishopric to rest.

Although nothing is on the pontiff's agenda for Monday, Francis might surprise people with a last-minute visit or event of some kind.

On Tuesday, Francis will begin his official agenda and will meet with Myanmar President Htin Kyaw and with Nobel Peace Prize winner and de facto government opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Naipyidaw, the Burmese capital.

Some 650,000 Catholics live in Myanmar representing a little more than 1 percent of the population of 53 million. Overall, Christians make up just over 6 percent of the country's population.

The pope will also meet with local Buddhists and will celebrate two Masses for the Catholic faithful in Myanmar.

In contrast to Rohingya Muslims, Christians in Myanmar have not faced significant violence or persecution and local Christian leaders say that they enjoy "peaceful coexistence" in the largely Buddhist country formerly known as Burma, which was ruled by the British for about a century until its independence in 1948.

On November 30, the pontiff will fly to Bangladesh on the second leg of his Asia trip.
Srinagar, Nov 27 : Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir imposed restrictions in many areas here on Monday to prevent separatist-called protests.

"Restrictions under section 144 CrPc have been imposed in Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, M.R.Gunj and Safa Kadal. While partial restrictions have also been imposed in Maisuma and Kralkhud," the police said.

Leaders of separatist conglomerate, Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) have called for a valley-wide protest shutdown to express solidarity with local prisoners lodged in different jails.

The authorities have also placed Mirwaiz Umer Farooq under house arrest in his Nigeen residence in the city outskirts.

Octogenarian separatist leader, Syed Ali Geelani continues to remain under house arrest in his uptown Hyderpora residence in the city.

Rail services between south and north Kashmir have also been suspended as a precautionary measure.

Heavy deployments of police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been made in areas placed under restrictions and other law and order sensitive areas in the city and other district headquarters of the valley.
Jakarta, Nov 27 : Indonesian authorities on Monday raised the alert level for Bali's Mount Agung to its highest level over fears of an imminent major eruption and have closed the island's main airport until Tuesday.

Thick ash started shooting upto 3,400 metres into the air above the mountain's summit on Saturday, driving east and southeast along the archipelago, causing dozens of flight cancellations, reports CNN.

At Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali's main airport, flights were cancelled for 24 hours from 7.15 a.m., on Monday, stranding roughly 59,000 domestic and international passengers.

"While the sun is shining and there is little sign of volcanic ash in the southern regions of Bali, evidence of volcanic ash at higher altitudes on aviation approach and departure paths has prompted the decision to close the airport," Bali Tourism Board Chairman Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana said in a statement.

Over the weekend, 24,000 residents were evacuated from across the island while Lombok International Airport on Lombok, the island due east of Bali, closed temporarily, said Ari Ahsan, spokesman for Ngurah Rai airport.

Flights from Lombok resumed early on Monday, CNN reported.

The National Agency for Disaster Management issued a Level 4 alert, recommending no public activities within 8 to 10 kms from the peak.

"The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent," it said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Anyone within that distance of the peak was advised to evacuate.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes around Mount Agung in September when the alert was first raised.

At the time, an evacuation zone of 12 km around the mountain was established, and travelers were warned to stay clear of the area.

Bali's main tourist centres are some distance from Mount Agung. The island's artistic hub, the small town of Ubud, is about 50 km southwest of the volcano, and Denpasar (where the airport is located) and the popular Kuta Beach are more than 63 km away.

The last time Mount Agung erupted, in 1963, more than 1,000 people were killed, the BBC reported.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

It is home to more than 130 active volcanoes.
Kolkata, Nov 27 : A decade-and-a-half back he had ruffled many feathers in West Bengal's Left Front establishment with his bold play "Winkle Twinkle". Now a senior minister in Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government, Bratya Basu, whom many regard as the most powerful contemporary Bengali playwright, concedes the twin roles at times trigger conflict of interest.

But the playwright-actor-director averred he finds a way out using metaphors in his writings when faced with such a conflict.

"Yes, there is a conflict. But when I'm determined that I want to write, a metaphor comes, so there's a way out," the minister, celebrated for his writings that break free of straitjacketed norms, told IANS in an interview here on the sidelines of the Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsav.

For example, in the Kaushik Ganguly directed "Darjiparar Marjinara", penned by Bratya, prostitution is used as metaphor for exploitation and oppression.

Or consider the play "Boma" (2015), said to be a take on modern-day politics, based on the 1908 Alipore bomb case in which nationalists such as Aurobindo Ghosh were among the 33 on trial in the wake of the attempt on the life of Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford at Muzaffarpur by Bengali revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki in April that year.

Notwithstanding the political undertones in his writings, Bratya said he keeps politics separate from theatre.

"It is going parallel... I don't know what will happen when both (theatre and politics) come face to face," said the 48-year-old multifaceted man, whose expanding oeuvre is now embellished with acting roles and directorial ventures in films.

An academician, armed with a post-graduate degree in Bengali literature, Bratya now handles the crucial Information Technology portfolio in the state cabinet, after stints with the high profile education and tourism ministries since 2011 when he entered the assembly by humbling CPI-M heavyweight Gautam Deb.

Bratya is equally adept at "balancing the stage", having started out with the theatre group Ganakrishti while in college to launching his career as a dramatist with the play "Ashaleen" (1996), described by theatre critics as the first post-modernist Bengali play.

In 2008, he formed the Bengali theatre group "Bratyajon". He has constantly pushed the envelope, introduced new socio-political trends and not shied away from speaking the truth with plays such as "Aranyadeb", "Winkle-Twinkle" (an allusion to Washington Irving's classic Rip van Winkle) and the anti-establishment play "Ruddhasangeet" (Stifled Songs of the Marginalised).

Apart from directing films like "Raasta", "Teesta" and "Tara", Bratya has also stepped in front of the camera to act in several movies including "Kaalbela", "Hemlock Society" and "Muktodhara".

Having flirted with ultra-left politics during his student days at Presidency College (now university) -- "I was one of the founder members of (student body) Independent Consolidation (IC) at Presidency" -- Bratya found himself in the vortex of Bengal's political cauldron towards the second half of the last decade when he joined the growing tribe of civil society representatives upset with the Left Front's handling of anti-land acquisition peasant movements in Singur and Nandigram. He soon emerged as one of the most powerful anti-Left Front voices in television debates and public meetings.

It was not long before an impressed Banerjee requested him to contest the assembly polls.

"I don't think it was my conscious effort or my choice to join politics. It was the situation. In 2011, she (Banerjee) asked me to fight the elections and I won. I'm still enjoying this," the minister said pensively, but pointed out he has never set aside theatre for politics.

How does he see through his commitments in both arenas?

"I don't know how I balance. Each has a different facet. I ask myself how would I balance, how do I manage it? I am still an agnostic. This is all part of life; so I am enjoying living it. I ask myself every day, 'What you do, is it fulfilling?'," he observed in-between puffs of smoke.

Bratya said he was ignorant of politics from 1990 till 2002, when he wrote "Winkle Twinkle". The play was sharply criticised by the CPI-M mouthpiece, Ganashakti.

It revolves around a political prisoner shot dead in police custody in January 1976 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Akin to Rip van Winkle, he returned in the year 2002 and discovered everything had changed.

"I don't consider 'Winkle Twinkle' an anti-Left play... this is the depiction of two different time periods. It shows a conflict between two different times. Politics is a part of this. It is not hardcore political theatre... I won't believe that," he averred.

Bratya concedes politics has deepened his understanding of society.

"I've learnt a lot from politics. I've matured as a human being. I've actually learnt how people are living in this world.... politics is an eye opener."

Theatre, he said, has taught him discipline.

"From theatre I have learnt discipline, time management and to obey your leader because when I am doing theatre... there I am a leader. So when I am doing politics there should be a leader," he said.

(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in )
Islamabad, Nov 27 : Pakistan Law Minister Zahid Hamid resigned on Monday after deadly clashes that rocked the country amid accusations of blasphemy over a proposed change in parliamentary laws, media reports said.

The protest leaders of various religious groups called off demonstrations that have been hampering daily life in cities across the country since November 6 after their list of demands were accepted by the government including Hamid's resignation, reports Dawn news.

The minister's resignation comes in the aftermath of Saturday's botAched operation against protesters at Faizabad and "successful negotiations" with the protest leaders of the demonstration late Sunday night.

Six people were killed while hundreds were injured during the operation that was eventually suspended.

Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi while addressing a press conference ordered his followers all over the country to end the demonstration and go home.

He also announced an end to the strike being observed on Monday and called for opening businesses and shops.

He said the protesters camped out at Faizabad will depart from the protest site within 12 hours.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has accepted Hamid's resignation and a notification in this regard will soon be issued by the Cabinet Division, Dawn news reported.

"I made the decision to resign in a personal capacity," Hamid said late Sunday night.

The protesters that gathered in Faizabad were from the groups TLY, Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST).

They called for strict action against those behind the amendment to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat oath in the Elections Act 2017 - which had earlier been deemed a "clerical error".

The government apologised and later retracted the amendment.
Agartala, Nov 27 : Four Tripura Gramin Bank officials kidnapped last week remained untraced even as their car and a motorcycle have been found, police said here on Monday.

Tripura State Rifles and other security forces meanwhile continued to search for the abducted officials in Khowai, Dhalai, and Gomati districts, Gomati District Superintendent of Police Bijoy Debbarma told IANS.

Director General of Police Akhil Kumar Shukla and other senior officials are supervising the manhunt.

A police official said the officials' car and motorcycle were found in Ambassa in Dhalai district and Teliamure in Khowai district respectively.

Police has asked the Border Security Force to intensify vigil along the India-Bangladesh borders so that the four are not whisked across the border by their kidnappers.

Taidu Branch Manager Tanumoy Bhattacharjee, 30, Sujit Chandra Dey, 28, and Raktim Bhowmik, 31, were abducted on Friday night by armed miscreants while returning by car to Agartala through Teliamura. Subrata Debbarma, 32, was riding a motorcycle when he was abducted.

Families of the officials said an unidentified person called up and demanded Rs 20 lakh each for the release of the bank staff.

The state Bharatiya Janata Party has threatened to gherao Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's official residence if the bank officials were not rescued by Tuesday.
Tokyo, Nov 27 : The Japanese Coast Guard on Monday said the eight corpses found in a boat drifting near the coast of Akita prefecture might be of North Korean fishermen.

The boat was spotted for the first time on November 24 close to the shore, but due to strong waves, the rescue personnel could reach it only on Sunday, a Coast Guard spokesman told Efe news.

He added that the authorities were trying to determine the sex of the bodies, which were found in a highly decomposed state.

In a separate incident over the weekend, the the Japanese Coast Guard recovered two bodies from different parts of the island of Sado in Niigata prefecture, as well as the remains of a boat, the spokesperson added.

Boxes of North Korean tobacco were found close to the bodies, along with life jackets with phrases written in Hangul, the Korean script.

On November 23, a group of eight fishermen, claiming to be from North Korea had reached Yurihonjo, also in Akita prefecture, claiming to have lost their way owing to an engine failure.

Dozens of North Korean boats with fishermen, often dead, are recovered along Japanese coasts every year, the spokesman added.

These boats, known as ghost boats locally, drift away mid-fishing owing to adverse weather conditions, lack of radar equipment, shortage of fuel or engine problems.
Bhuj, Nov 27 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hit back at Rahul Gandhi over his 'hugplomacy' jibe saying, it was the Congress leader who hugged the Chinese Ambassador when the Indian Army was in a stand off with Chinese troops in Doklam earlier this year.

"When the Indian Army was standing eye-to-eye with Chinese in Doklam for 70 days, you were hugging the Ambassador of China. When the Indian soldier stood for the country, you were hugging the Chinese Ambassador. For whom? I am asking you a question," he said addressing a public meeting resuming his election campaign in north Gujarat after a break.

"This is Modi. He has been nurtured in this land of Sardar Patel...The people who have looted the country will have to give it back," he said, reminding his audience of the surgical strikes carried out last year by his government after the Uri attack "I asked a Congressman to write down the names of all the Presidents of Congress. The people who do not know the names of Congress leaders, how will they develop our nation?" Modi asked.

He said the Congress cannot think beyond one family. "How many people remember Kamaraj or Debharbhai (U.N. Dhebar), who were presidents of Congress nationally. Many in the party would not even know that Debharbhai was a Gujarati. The party that does not go beyond one family, what do you expect from them?" he added.

Modi expressed his confidence that the BJP in Gujarat will win 151 seats in the 182-member assembly.

On Saturday, Gandhi had in a sarcastic tweet raised questions over Indian diplomacy after a Pakistani court allowed release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Sayeed from jail. "Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani (this is not done). Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed," Gandhi tweeted on Saturday morning.

Latest updates on Gandhi Jayanti 2019
Aizawl, Nov 27 : The Mizoram government has given shelter and relief to around 1,300 tribals from neighbouring Myanmar's restive Arakan state who have taken refuge in southern Mizoram, officials said on Monday.

"Around 1300 men, women and children have fled from Arakan state and taken refuge in four villages of Lawngtlai district (in southern Mizoram) on Saturday night," Lawngtlai district police chief Lalsanglura told IANS.

"The Myanmarese fled their homes after the Army clashed with the outlawed 'Arakan Army' militant outfit cadres last week. As the armed clashes continue, we would not push back the refugees due to humanitarian grounds."

According to the police official, the district administration now constructing makeshift relief camps for the refugees, adding that since the clashes are on, more refugees might cross over to Mizoram.

Assam Rifles and state police were deployed in the area.

Lalsanglura said he, Lawngtlai Deputy Commissioner Arun T., and senior Assam Rifles officials would visit the areas on the Myanmar border on Tuesday to supervise the relief and other necessary arrangements for the refugeees.

The people who crossed over to Mizoram were mostly Buddhists and Christians and they speak the same tribal language as the locals.

This is the fourth instance in recent past of Myanmarese people entering Mizoram after ethnic troubles in the neighbouring country.

The local villagers initially volunteered to provide food to the Arakanese people and arranged shelter for them.

The mountainous, northeastern state of Mizoram has a 510-km border with Mynamar and 318 km with Bangladesh, guarded by Assam Rifles and the Border Security Force, respectively.

Meanwhile, during the past twelve weeks, over 622,000 non-tribal Rohingya refugees fled to southeastern Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The current Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh started with the Myanmar security forces responding to the August 25 attacks on government outposts by the Rohingya rebel group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
San Francisco, Nov 27 : To help existing on-premises VMware workloads move to Azure Cloud, Microsoft on Monday announced new migration offerings for customers as additional solutions.

This includes migrating VMware-based applications to Azure, integrating with Azure, and deploying VMware virtualisation on Azure hardware, the company said in a blog post.

"On November 27, Azure Migrate, a free service, will be broadly available to all Azure customers. While most cloud vendors offer single server migration capabilities, 'Azure Migrate' helps you through the journey of migrating an entire multi-server application," the post read.

"Azure Migrate" will help VMware customers through the journey of migrating an entire multi-server application.

"There are many Azure services that you can use together with VMware workloads without any migration or deployment, enabling you to keep your entire environment secure and well-managed across cloud and on-premises," said Corey Sanders, Director of Compute, Azure.

Azure Migrate can discover on-premises VMware-based applications without requiring any changes to the VMware environment.

Azure is the Hybrid Cloud that enables consistency across application development, management, security, data, and identity.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : Stars like Luke Evans, Kiefer Sutherland, Hugh Bonneville and Kevin Pietersen will be joining the second series of "The Grand Tour" as special celebrity guests.

Each week, two celebrities who are connected in some unusual way will be pitted against each other to see who is fastest around the new track in a new segment "Celebrity Face Off", read a statement.

The second series of "The Grand Tour" will launch on Amazon Prime Video on December 8. The new episodes featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will be released weekly, exclusively for Prime members.

Other star guests include names like Dominic Cooper, Dynamo, Rory Mcllroy, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.

In the first instalment of "Celebrity Face Off", airing on December 8, Hasselhoff will go up against Ricky Wilson from "The Voice UK".

"I'm basically an actor, I'm not really a good driver but I just look good doing it," said Hasselhoff.

To that, Wilson said: "I'm fiercely competitive and whilst I don't know the results yet, it's ok if Hasselhoff beats me because he's my hero! I really enjoyed it and I hope it looks as good on TV as it felt being in the car."
Chennai, Nov 27 : Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland Ltd on Monday said it has entered into a Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Japan's Hino Motors Ltd for engine technology.

In a statement issued here, Ashok Leyland said under the agreement, it will utilise Hino's engine technology for Euro-VI development. The Indian company will also support in development of Hino's engine parts purchasing in India for its global operations.

Hino and Ashok Leyland have had a cooperative agreement for engine production in India since 1986. By this mutual cooperation agreement, both companies will leverage each other's strengths in diesel engines to enhance their competitiveness, the statement said.

Ashok Leyland will enhance its competitiveness by jointly developing engines for BS-VI compliance in India through the engine technology of Hino Motors.

"We believe in long term partnerships, and have great respect for Hino Motors. This cooperation between our companies would be mutually beneficial and enable both of us to produce globally competitive products," Vinod K Dasari, Managing Director & CEO, Ashok Leyland was quoted as saying in the statement.

"We believe this cooperation with Ashok Leyland takes advantage of the strengths that the two companies have cultivated.A Hino will enhance its global competitiveness by utilising Ashok Leyland's parts procurement capabilities in India," Yoshio Shimo, President & CEO, Hino Motors was quoted as saying in the statement.
Lucknow, Nov 27 : The condition of 90-year-old Buddhist monk Pragyanand, who gave "diksha" to Bhim Rao Ambedkar continues to be critical, doctors at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) said here on Monday.

He was admitted to the medical college after he complained of breathlessness and chest pain.

Doctors said he had been shifted from the trauma centre to the Gandhi Ward where he was under 24x7 observation by experts.

Pragyanand was born in Sri Lanka and has been staying in India since 1942. He was one of the seven Buddhist monks who gave the "diksha" to Ambedkar on April 14, 1956 at Nagpur.

His close aide Bhante Suman told IANS that while the monk had been suffering from many old age-related diseases for the past two years, his condition became critical in the last two days following severe chest congestion and difficulty in breathing.

Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of KGMU Dr. S.N. Shankhwar told the media that Guru Pragyanand was critical and that efforts were underway to "ease out the congestion" and improve his serious physical condition.
Kabul, Nov 27 : Nine soldiers were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked an Army checkpoint in Afghanistan's Nimroz province on Monday.

"Armed militants attacked the checkpoint in Khash Rod district along a main road, killing nine soldiers," a government spokesman told Xinhua news agency.

Several militants were also killed and wounded during the gun battle, but their number could not be verified, he said.

One trooper was also wounded and the checkpoint was destroyed.
Dhaka, Nov 27 : A Bangladesh court on Monday upheld the death sentences of 139 people for their involvement in the 2009 mutiny at the border guards headquarters here which left 74 people dead.

A division bench of Justice Nazrul Islam, Justice Shawkat Hossain and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique delivered the verdict, reports Xinhua news agency.

The High Court division also upheld the jail terms for 196 border guards.

The mutiny on February 25 and 26, 2009 was staged by a group of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), a paramilitary force that guards the country's borders.

The victims included civilians, the BGB Director-General and some Army officers.

A total of 850 people -- 823 BGB soldiers and 23 civilians -- were accused in the case.

Among the accused, 813 were arrested, 13 are on bail, 20 are on the run while four died in custody.
Hyderabad, Nov 27 : The US is undertaking a comprehensive review of its visa policy but it's not focused on any one country or H-1B visas, said new US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster on Monday.

He said as the US administration had not yet announced the policy, he can't comment on the impact it may have.

The Ambassador was replying to queries at a news conference here on the eve of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) beginning on Tuesday.

Juster said the visa policy review was not focused on any country or any particular sort of visa and also did not agree that US stance on H-1B visas was contradictory to its policy to promote innovation.

"Those visas are designed to help the US companies attract high quality talent to the US," he said, adding the purpose was to ensure that the companies can fulfill their business goals.

The Donald Trump administration is tightening rules governing H-1B visas. A Congressional committee this month passed a legislation that proposes to hike the minimum salary of H-1B holders from $60,000 to $90,000. The move is likely to impact Indian IT companies.

Asked if the GES would help ease the visa policy, Juster said the conference was designed help generate entrepreneurship and innovation leading to creation of jobs for people near places where they live.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : The Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered from an "unhealthy mentality" and accused him of making irresponsible and untrue statements.

The party also accused Modi of misleading the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru.

"The Prime Minister has said the country's first Prime Minister had not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from the truth. We condemn it," party spokesperson Anand Sharma told the media here.

The Prime Minister suffers from an "unhealthy mentality, which is an issue of national concern", Sharma said.

"He feels that nothing happened in Gujarat and the country before he came," he said.

"Unhealthy mentality is when a person says the universe was not created before me, India did not have an identity before I came... He (Modi) always says this is happening for the first time.

"He needs to be told that India became a nuclear power in 1974, we went to space, Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan had already been launched... India was recognised worldwide.

"If he feels nothing happened before he came, it is the responsibility of the opposition to correct him. Whatever he is saying is untrue. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is very nervous. They are rattled over the increasing support for the Congress in Gujarat."

Sharma countered the BJP charge of dynastic politics in the Congress, saying the last member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to take oath of an important post was when Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister in 1984.

"It means 32-33 years have gone... For 10 years, Congress was in power and I need to remind him (Modi) that Rahul Gandhi is an elected member of Parliament.

"He has forgotten that the Congress gave Prime Ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh who came from humble backgrounds."

He added: "The Congress has never told the BJP who it should elect as its leader. The Prime Minister should stop worrying about the Congress and focus on his party instead."

The Prime Minister was trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and trying to lure the voters, Sharma said.

"He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his own government."

Attcking the Modi government for delaying the winter session of Parliament, Sharma said: "The Modi government is running away from accountability. That is why the Prime Minister never convened Parliament ahead of the Gujarat polls."
Ghaziabad, Nov 27 : A girl student pursuing B.Tech degree from Jaypee University in Noida has been found dead in mysterious circumstances.

The incident came to light on Monday morning when Fortis Hospital informed the police about the incident.

The police said the diseased, a resident of Aligarh, was identified as Subhi Agrawal, a second year student. She had been living in a rented accommodation in Shipra Sun City in Ghaziabad along with another girl student.

Police Inspector Sushil Kumar Dubey said the hospital said she was admitted by some persons with injuries but she succumbed to them.

The officer said the police were awaiting the autopsy report.
Dubai, Nov 27 : Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Vice President, on Monday ordered the release of 606 inmates of Dubai's punitive and corrective institutions ahead of the UAE's 46th National Day, media reports said.

The Gulf Arab state will observe its 46th National Day on December 2, Xinhua news agency reported.

Dubai's Attorney General, Essam Eisa Al-Humaidan, said that the order reflects the keenness of the UAE Vice President "to offer the pardoned inmates a chance to reintegrate into society and an opportunity to start a new life and ease the suffering of their families".

No further details about the pardoned inmates' nationalities, gender or ages were provided by state news agency WAM.

Al-Humaidan added that the Public Prosecution has started coordinating with Dubai Police to implement the order.

Gulf Arab leaders traditionally announce the release of local and foreign inmates ahead of religious festivities and national holidays.
Health Services earns award

The Samaritan Health Services Employee Health and Safety Department won the Safety and Health Advocate Team Award as part of the 2017 Oregon Governors Occupational Safety & Health Conference.

The employee health and safety team was recognized for its efforts in making the health, safety and well-being of employees a priority at all of the Samaritan locations across the mid-Willamette Valley and Oregons central coast.

The award highlights successful programs that have been implemented at Samaritan, including improved employee accident reporting, ergonomic evaluations, management of employee vaccinations, annual safety fairs, reducing on-the-job injuries and offering employee wellness opportunities.

The employee health and safety team accepted the award at the Oregon Governors Occupational Safety & Health Conference last March 8 in Portland. The conference is the largest workplace safety and health conference in the Northwest. It is held every other year and is sponsored by the American Society of Safety Engineers, Columbia-Willamette Chapter and Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Physician joins clinic in Albany

Rebecca Pengilly recently joined The Corvallis Clinic at Waverly Drive in Albany as its newest family medicine physician.

Pengilly comes to the clinic from Sanford Health Clinic in Watertown, South Dakota, where she had practiced since 2002.

Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, she also has a special interest in non-obstetrical womens health.

A self-described country doctor, Pengilly chose her specialty because she likes to provide individualized care for the whole family.

She completed her residency at the University of North Dakota Center for Family Medicine in Bismarck in 2002 and earned a doctor of medicine from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks in 1999.

For an appointment, call 541-967-8221.

Greenberry hires fabrication chief

Greenberry announced last month that Robert Cowling has joined the company as its fabrication general manager to further develop the growing fabrication portfolio in the Pacific Northwest.

Cowling is managing the fabrication shops in Vancouver, Washington, and Corvallis. He comes to Greenberry with experience in the industry, mainly in high-alloy steel fabrication, and is an expert in the design and fabrication of shell and tube heat exchangers and pressure vessels. He will manage the fabrication facilities in the Northwest and lead all workload, crews, backlog, and profit and loss; oversee engineering and fabrication estimating; and generate new fabrication business development.

Cowling has worked in the fabrication industry for more than 30 years. He came to Greenberry from Northwest Copper Works, where he was general manager for six years. Prior to that, he was general manager of the pressure vessel division at Marks Brothers.

He began his career as a shop worker, functioning as a boilermaker and iron worker for 18 years. He earned a mechanical engineering degree while working full time. He later became a licensed professional mechanical engineer.

Corvallis teacher receives award

Danielle Black of Mountain View Elementary School, Corvallis, was honored as 2017 Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year during an event held Oct. 21 at the CH2M Hill Alumni Center.

Black was chosen for her work in helping her students integrate and understand how their food, forestry products and fiber are produced. She uses various resources in the AITC Free Loan Library and coordinates various agricultural activities to deepen her students understanding of agriculture.

Police dispatcher completes class

The Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training has announced the graduation of its 106th Basic Telecommunications Class on Nov. 10 at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem.

Clarissa Baker, a dispatcher for the Corvallis Police Department, graduated as part of the class.

The two-week course includes emergency call-handling techniques, stress management, civil liability, ethics, criminal law, overview of fire-rescue and law enforcement operations, and a number of other topics. Upon completion of the course, students return to their employing agency to continue their training for a number of months with a field training officer.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : The Indian Income Tax Department will accept applications for Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) in transfer pricing disputes, as well as for bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs), even for entities resident in countries with which India has double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA), minus the provision to claim corresponding tax adjustments, an official release said on Monday.

A Finance Ministry release here said the issue had arisen in cases where the associated enterprise of the Indian entity is resident of a country with which India has entered into a DTAA without the provision relating to "corresponding adjustment", or tax relief.

"The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to accept Transfer Pricing MAP and bilateral APA applications regardless of the presence or otherwise of Paragraph 2 of Article 9 (or its relevant equivalent Article relating to 'Corresponding Adjustment') in the DTAA," it said.

Article 9(2) is from the Model Tax Commentary developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based think tank of developed nations, and it allows taxpayers to claim corresponding tax adjustments in case of transfer pricing disputes arising from cross-border transactions.

In case of such a dispute, where the income of a taxpayer is re-determined on account of a transfer pricing adjustment, then Article 9(2) enables the enhanced income to be taxed in one country, with the other country providing tax relief, or a corresponding tax adjustment to the extent of the enhancement. This is to prevent double taxation of income.

Bilateral APAs include a rollback option which enhances certainty for such taxpayers for up to 9 years and allows them to seek assurance on their past years' transfer pricing positions as well.

The OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project is designed to counter the tax planning strategies used by multinational companies, that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions or offshore havens. The BEPS project was initiated by the G20 group of economies in 2012.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin's son Syed Shahid, arrested in a six-year-old terror funding case, on Monday moved a bail plea in a court here.

District Judge Poonam Bamba, during the in-camera proceedings, asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file a reply on his bail plea and listed the matter for December 15 for further hearing.

The court also extended his judicial custody till December 22.

Shahid, 42, a Jammu and Kashmir government employee, was arrested here on October 24 after he was called for questioning at the NIA headquarters.

The agency alleged that Shahid was collecting funds from Aijaz Bhat, a Srinagar resident now based in Saudi Arabia and a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, on the direction of his father Salahuddin, who is on the run.

The NIA said Shahid was one of Bhat's several contacts who were in telephonic touch "to receive the money transfer codes". The money was meant to fund Hizbul Mujahideen's militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shahid, who lives with his family in Soibugh village of J&K's Budgam district, works as a village agricultural assistant in the state Agriculture Department. His contractual job was confirmed by the government in March this year.

The 2011 terror funding case pertains to terror money sent through hawala channels by militants based in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to Jammu and Kashmir.

The NIA had filed two chargesheets against six accused in the case in 2011. Four of them -- Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, one of the closest aides of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Sidiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmad Dagga -- are currently in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Two of the accused, Mohammad Maqbool Pandit and Aijaz Bhat, are on the run and have been declared proclaimed offenders. Pandit, like Aijaz Bhat, has been an active Hizbul Mujahideen militant and is currently based in Pakistan.

Aijaz Bhat, according to NIA records, received arms training with the Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK) in the early 1990s.

He never returned to Srinagar and began working for the militant group in Pakistan. He is said to have stayed in Sialkot before shifting to Saudi Arabia for generating funds for the group's activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

An NIA official said the agency, through phone records, found that he was in touch with Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, a Srinagar-based lawyer, in 2011.

According to NIA, the lawyer separatist had procured over Rs 4.50 crore from Pakistan through hawala channels within three years after 2008 for funding militant activities in the Kashmir valley.

Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, Ganai, Liloo and Dagga were arrested on January 22, 2011 and Rs 21.20 lakh was recovered from them.

After their arrest, Aijaz Bhat used to send money to Shahid. The Hizbul founder's son, according to an NIA official, received at least four instalments of money in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Shahid is the third son of Salahuddin, who also heads the United Jehad Council, the amalgam of Kashmir militant groups based in Muzaffarabad in PaK.

Salahuddin unsuccessfully fought the 1987 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He then crossed over to Pakistan and founded the Hizbul Mujahideen -- the largest militant group in Jammu and Kashmir. Salahuddin has five sons and two daughters, who are all employed with the state government.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : A new party led by former Union Minister Sharad Yadav will be formally floated after the December Gujarat assembly elections and its name and symbol announced within a week, a JD-U leader owing allegiance to Yadav said on Monday.

"The Janata Dal-United's faction led by Yadav will contest seven of the 182 seats in Gujarat in alliance with the Congress and under the banner of a newly formed regional outfit called Rashtriya Tribal Party," party General Secretary Arun Kumar Srivastava told reporters here.

"All seven candidates will contest on 'auto-rickshaw' poll symbol," Srivastava said after a National Executive meeting, attended by Sharad Yadav and party Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar.

He said Sharad Yadav, a former President of the JD-U, will campaign for these seven candidates from December 4 in Gujarat, which goes to the polls on December 9 and 14.

The announcement marks a formal parting of ways between Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Sharad Yadav and his supporters broke away from the Nitish Kumar faction after the latter joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in July.

Taking a dig at Nitish Kumar, who is also the JD-U President, Srivastava said: "He has become a 'B' team of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He said the Sharad Yadav faction called a National Executive meeting in view of the Election Commission recognising the faction led by Nitish Kumar as the real JD-U on November 17 and allotting the poll symbol of "arrow" to it.

"After the Election Commission order, Gujarat's Chagadia MLA Chhotubhai A. Vasava resigned from the party's primary membership. The Sharad Yadav faction has since appointed Tamil Nadu leader K. Rajasekhran as party acting President and M.P. Nagagauda as Vice President," he said.

Earlier, addressing his supporters at the meeting, Sharad Yadav asked them to carry on with politics through the proposed party even as the faction will contest the EC decision in a court of law.

He accused Nitish Kumar of betraying the faith of over 11 crore people in Bihar who had voted for the Grand Alliance, formed in 2015 and comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal, JD-U and the Congress.
Mumbai, Nov 27 : Dutch DJ Hardwell, who is scheduled to perform at 'Guestlist4Good' music concert, is planning to visit Siddhivinayak temple before the show.

The concert will be held at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on December 3.

DJ Hardwell, Dutch DJ duo W&W, which is composed of Willem van Hanegem and Wardt van der Harst, artistes Kill the buzz (Adithya Nanuru) and Suyano, will be spending some time with the children from NGO Magic Bus.

The NGO has collaborated with the concert officials for the education of one lakh underprivileged children.

The show organizer, Shailendra Singh, said: "He has heard of the temple and we want him to experience the 'aarti' there. He has been associated with Magic Bus NGO for a while now and has been contributing to the cause. He is keen to meet these underprivileged kids."

The second edition of the musical extravaganza will take place on Saturday and Sunday where Indian artistes like Mithoon, Nucleya and Lost Stories will also perform.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : A court here on Monday deferred hearing on the bail plea of alleged hawala dealer Muhammad Aslam Wani, accused in a money laundering case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma deferred the hearing for December 1 as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought more time to file a reply on the plea.

Wani's counsel M.S. Khan has moved the bail stating that "since the section 45 PMLA has been declared unconstitutional, the present application is being filed in view of this changed circumstance".

The Supreme Court last Thursday struck down Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), paving the way for accused to get out on bail as per the provision applicable to other offences.

The ED in September filed a charge sheet against Wani and Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah under the provisions of the PMLA.

Wani was arrested on August 6. He had reportedly confessed that he had passed on hawala money amounting to Rs 2.25 crore to Shabir Shah.

Shah was arrested on July 25 on charges of money laundering in a case dating back to 2005 when the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Wani.

In the 2005 case lodged by the Special Cell, the court had acquitted co-accused Wani of the charges of criminal conspiracy and other offences but convicted him under the Arms Act, his defence counsel told the court.

The ED submitted that conviction under the Arms Act is a triggering point to take action under PMLA.

Both of them have denied the charges.
Indore, Nov 27 : Journalists in Indore on Monday protested against the registration of a case against a senior media person from Neemuch for an alleged offensive Facebook post and demanded its cancellation.

Indore Press Club President Arvind Tiwari said they have sent a memorandum to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to demand cancellation of the FIR against Jitendra Surana.

He said the case was an attempt to throttle the right to free speech and expression.

Surana was booked at Kotwali police station in Khargone district after he posted comments following Home Minister Bhupender Singh's announcement of Padmavati award for a gang rape survivor.
Mumbai, Nov 27 : Record Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai guaranteed themselves a berth in the quarter-finals of the 2017-18 edition of the premier domestic competition after thrashing Tripura by 10 wickets in their Group C clash here on Monday.

Chasing a paltry 63 in their second innings, opener Prithvi Shaw scored a quickfire unbeaten 50 (26 balls, 8 fours) and with a helping hand from Jay Bista (13 off 12 balls), the duo etched a 10-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium here.

The 41-time Ranji champions are now assured of a place in the quarter-finals. Depending on Madhya Pradesh's result against Odisha, it will be known whether Mumbai play Karnataka or Delhi in the last-eight clash.

Delhi, meanwhile enforced a follow-on over Hyderabad in their Group A match in Hyderabad.

The home side rode on opener Akshath Reddy's impressive century (107) and Rohit Rayudu's unbeaten 61 to finish the third day at 233/2, and take a slender 23-run lead.

Group A toppers Karnataka, on the other hand ended the third day on 208/1, with a healthy lead of 309 over the Railways.

Mayank Agarwal was unbeaten on 104 and Dega Nishcal on 41 not out, when the umpires dislodged the bails for the day.

In another Group A clash, Maharashtra rode on Naushad Shaikh's century (108) to beat Assam by seven wickets.

The Group C match between Odisha and Madhya Pradesh at Indore witnessed the tourists trailing by four runs on the penultimate day.

Odisha ended the third day at 237/4 with Subhransu Senapati unbeaten on 78 and Shantanu Mishra on 10.

In Group B, Jharkhand ended the third day at 106/2, trailing defending champions Gujarat by 63 runs going into the final day while Rajasthan were 13/0 and trailed Saurashtra by 246 runs.

In Group C, Tamil Nadu finished the day at 2/0 and need another 231 runs for a win over Baroda on the final day.

In Group D, the Services ended day three on 118/3, still trailing Punjab by 212 runs while Bengal were at 108/3, to find themselves 177 runs ahead of Goa.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : The central government has downgraded the security of eight VIPs, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad and two other senior politicians from Bihar, an official said on Monday.

The security cover of Lalu Prasad has been downgraded to 'Z' category from 'Z plus', said the Home Ministry official, adding that the Centre has also completely withdrawn the National Security Guard (NSG) cover being provided to Lalu Prasad by Black Cat commandos.

Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's 'Z plus' security has also been downgraded to 'Z' category.

The decision was taken after a Union Home Ministry order issued on Sunday following a review of security cover for VIPs by the Union Home Ministry, informed sources said.

The security of Union Minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, former Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav, former Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former Chief Election Commissioner Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari have also been scaled down, said sources.

The 'Z' cover of Chaudhary has been scaled down to 'Y plus', entailing less manpower and other paraphernalia.

As part of his enhanced security cover, former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad was provided with two NSG and two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) escort vehicles, along with eight NSG commandos.

However, with the implementation of the new order, Lalu Prasad is expected to have 35 CRPF commandos only. All the eight NSG bodyguards have been withdrawn, sources said.

In July this year, the Home Ministry had reportedly abolished the special facility being provided to Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi at Patna airport.

Lalu Prasad's son and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the withdrawal of NSG security and said: "If anything happens to Lalu Prasadji, Modi will be responsible and blamed for it."
Kolkata, Nov 27 : Denouncing the protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming film "Padmavati", the Bengali film fraternity on Monday called for a "15-minute black out" in the entire industry on Tuesday afternoon.

Terming it a token protest against the ongoing agitation in parts of the country over the release of Padmavati, National Award winning Bengali filmmaker Gautam Ghose said the industry would welcome a debate over the film only after it was released and seen by people.

"As a token protest against the untoward incidents that are happening surrounding Padmavati, we will hold a blackout for 15 minutes from 12 noon to 12. 15 p.m tomorrow (Tuesday). It would be a complete blackout of all departments starting from the studio to post-production units," Ghose said at a press conference on Monday.

Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, producer Shrikant Mohta and other heavyweights of the industry were also present.

"It is true that in a democratic country, there should be voices of dissent and debate. We welcome the debate about Padmavati. But the debate should start after the release of the film," Ghose clarified.

"It is important that we find out why this is happening. This has no logic. Let us first see the film. There is a censor board to take care of things," he said.

On Sunday, Indian Films & Television Directors' Association (IFTDA)'s president Ashok Pandit called for a 15-minute tools-down for the entire Indian film industry opposing the escalated Padmavati protests.

The members of the film fraternity also criticised BJP leader Surajpal Amu's comments against state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for welcoming the film in Bengal.

"In West Bengal, our Chief Minister has taken a different stand. She has invited the Padmavati unit to release the film here. And now, bad things are being said against her. Where are we heading with all this. It seems we have gone back to the medieval ages," Ghose said.

"The Chief Minister has only talked about releasing the film here. She has not hurt or said anything wrong about anyone. The comments against her are shameful," Mohta added.

On November 25, Haryana BJP leader Amu threatened West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that she would meet the same fate as "Shurpanakha", a demoness from the epic Ramayana whose nose was cut off by Lakshman.
Kochi, Nov 27 : Malayalam superstar Dileep, currently out on bail in a case involving alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of an actress in February, on Monday collected his passport from the Angamaly magistrate court for his travel to Dubai.

Accompanying Dileep on his Dubai trip is his actress wife Kavya Madhavan and his daughter from his earlier marriage to actress Manju Warrier.

Last week the Kerala High Court permitted Dileep to travel to Dubai and directed the trial court to hand over his passport for six days and gave him permission to be in Dubai for four days, so as to enable him to take part in the inauguration of -- Dhe Puttu -- a restaurant that he co-owns with friend and actor Nadir Shah.

The two have a hugely successful - Dhe Puttu - that has been functioning here for a few years.

The High Court gave the nod for his travel despite stiff opposition from the prosecution and the police on the grounds that Dileep, after coming out on bail, had been trying to influence crucial witnesses in the case -- a charge denied by the actor's counsel.

The High Court nod came one day before the police probe team filed the final charge sheet in the case naming Dileep as the eighth accused in the case.

The court granted him travel permission but asked him to furnish all the details of his whereabouts once in Dubai and directed that no attempts should be made to influence the case.

Miffed by the actor getting permission to travel abroad, the police probe team according to sources is working to see if they can garner enough evidence to nail the superstar by approaching the court to cancel his bail.

Dileep was arrested on July 10 after the police found evidence to link him to the conspiracy angle in the kidnap case.

After 85 days in jail, he got conditional bail and has been on a religious sojourn.

The abduction of the popular actress took place in February when she was on her way from Thrissur to Kochi.

She was forcibly driven around in her vehicle for about two hours and allegedly molested before being dumped near an actor-director's home.

The key accused -- Pulsar Suni and his accomplices involved in the actual abduction -- were arrested a week later.
Looks like you got through the first big weekend of the holiday shopping season. If you're among those people who get their holiday "to-do" list done with a month or so to go before Christmas, well, nice work  but the rest of today's editorial will be of no interest to you.

Most of us, however, are at that point in the holiday season when we're just making our lists. After all, we tell ourselves, we've got weeks to go. No sweat, we tell ourselves, even as we break out into a light sweat.

So here's a suggestion for this holiday shopping season that could pay off big for you  and certainly will have a payoff for the mid-valley's economy:

Keep it local this holiday season. Not only will you be saving yourself considerable time and stress, you'll be helping out your friends and neighbors who increasingly have found employment in the retail and restaurant sectors of the mid-valley's economy.

A story in today's paper by Kyle Odegard offers a timely reminder of how these areas of our economy have boomed as we recovered from the recession.

Figures compiled by the Oregon Employment Department suggest that Linn and Benton counties now have around 8,500 workers employed in the retail sector of the economy, and that number has grown by about 1,070 employees since 2009.

Growth has been even faster in the food-service sector of the economy, although it employs fewer people in both counties: The total is about 6,500 employees. But that sector has added some 1,400 jobs since 2009.

One happy result is that mid-valley shoppers have more options available to them as new retail outlets open their doors. And, if you want the perfect end to a busy day of shopping, you have more dining options available as well.

In past years, we've made the case about shopping locally during the holidays on purely economic grounds  and these employment numbers certainly bolster this case. The people working in stores and restaurants are your friends and neighbors. Giving back to their communities is part of their business plans. A successful holiday season often is the key to a successful year for many of these businesses.

All that remains true.

But there's another compelling reason why you should keep it local during the holidays, and it's all about you: It's just better for you.

Sure, you could hop into the car and drive to Portland and Woodburn. But think about the time and aggravation you'll save if you opt for a local retailer instead. You can sleep in a little later and head off to a local store, where you might meet your friends and neighbors. You might be able to spend a little time browsing in search of that perfect gift. And then you can end the excursion with a relaxing meal at an area eatery.

With online shopping booming, remember that many local retailers also have useful websites  and offer an additional benefit as well: If you see something interesting on the site, not only can you buy it, you can journey to the store and examine the item with your own eyes. Or you can call somebody at the store and talk to someone who actually lives in the mid-valley. If a local store doesn't have a particular item in stock, it usually can order that item and have it ready in a couple of days. And then you can celebrate by grabbing a takeout meal from a local restaurant.

We know that, to some extent, we're preaching to the converted: Many of you shop locally during the holidays to support the community. For that, we salute you. And if part of the reason why you shop and eat locally is because you know it's better for you, well, that can be our little holiday secret. (mm)
New Delhi, Nov 27 : The Union Health Ministry on Monday bagged the bronze medal for its "creative and informative display" at the 37th India International Trade Fair 2017.

According to a statement issued by the Health Ministry, its pavilion highlighted programmes and initiatives of the ministry such as Mission Indradhanush for expanding full immunization coverage, introduction of new vaccines, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), Mother's Absolute Affection (MAA) for encouraging breastfeeding among others.

The award was presented by Minister of State (Commerce and Industry) C.R Chaudhary, to the Health Ministry, Joint Secretary Vandana Gurnani who received the award.

The Union Health Ministry said that Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) also participated in the exhibition through a unique selfie corner which encouraged couples to adopt small family norms.

"It created awareness about various schemes for population stabilization through 'nukkad natak' and street plays at Pragati Maidan. The Ministry of AYUSH also participated to inform and educate people about the traditional systems of medicine," said the statement.

Three Swasthya Chetna camps were also organized by the Health Ministry for providing free health check-ups, counselling and referral.

"AYUSH doctors provided counselling along with doctors from the Central Government hospitals at these camps. More than 62,000 people have visited these health camps during this fortnight," the statement added.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : Several educationists, including members of the Sikh community, on Monday opposed the proposal to change the name of Dyal Singh College to Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya.

At a meeting chaired by veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar and attended by BJP legislator Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the group passed a resolution to seek the Centre's intervention to keep the college name unchanged after the 19th century social activist Dyal Singh Majithia.

"We are not talking about the trust or its ownership. We are neither trustees nor do we claim to be his (Dyal Singh's) heir," Sirsa told reporters here.

"It's the matter of national pride. Dyal Singh College, Punjab National Bank, Tribune newspaper are the legacy of Dayal Singhji... The name of the college cannot be changed at any cost. There is no reason to change the name."

He said another meeting will be called soon to decide the next course of action. He added that they will make sure the issue was not given communal colour.

Nayar said the move to change the name to "Vande Mataram" was not without a design and that it was a very "serious matter". He, however, advised the attendees to explore all options of dialogue rather than resorting to rash talk or action.

The governing body of the college had announced on November 18 that Dyal Singh College (Evening) will be called Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya.

The decision entailed having two morning colleges as there is already a Dyal Singh College (Morning) in operation.

The President of the Dyal Singh College Teachers Association opposed the decision of morning college as well, saying the premises were too cramped to house two colleges.

"Originally the building was supposed to support only 1,000 students but now there are 6,000. Now with the Evening college turning into Morning, this will go up to 12,000... The decision is going to affect us all," said Professor P.K. Parihar.

Built on the estate of Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, the college was first started in Lahore in 1910 and is called after its founder. The one in Delhi was built in 1959.
Bengaluru, Nov 27 : Coca-Cola's Indian arm on Monday announced plans to become a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant worth $2.5 billion by 2020, the realisation of which would involve some restructuring.

To this end, the company aims to open one million new outlets by 2020, a Coca-Cola release said here. It currently distributes its products through two million outlets across 25 Indian states.

"Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) announced its plans to become a $2.5 billion FMCG company by 2020. Plans include manufacturing and selling a wide range of beverages -- from premium to value -- and modifications to its operating structure," it said.

"The company is also apportioning more resources to its frontline and field -- both financial and human.

"This includes setting up a Premium Division to service customer requirements around niche and premium beverages -- smartwater, frozen fruit desserts, mixers and tonic water and amalgamating the existing Alternate Beverages Division with the mainstream distribution system," it added.

Coca-Cola in India will now operate through seven zones, instead of the current five, and will also reorganise its corporate centre resources, it said.

"The company will have a leaner corporate office and a much strengthened sales and supply-chain organisation, thereby creating several hundred new jobs," the release said.

"The reorganisation will however make a few existing jobs redundant. No additional details are available at this time, since this exercise is yet to begin," it added.

"It was very clear from our research, conversations and market data that today we are not structured in a way that allows us to fully leverage our scale and market capabilities," HCCB Chief Executive Christina Ruggiero said in the statement.

For the financial year 2016-17, HCCB posted a 11 per cent growth in revenues at Rs 9,472 crore.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : Chief of General Staff of Kyrgyz Republic's Armed Forces, Gen. Raimberdi Duishenbiyev, who is on a visit to India, met army chief, Gen. Bipin Rawat on Monday.

Gen. Duishenbiyev was also accorded a guard of honour in the lawns of South Block, which homes the Defence Ministry, and later laid a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate.

He has also been invited as Reviewing Officer of the Passing Out Parade at National Defence Academy on November 30, Army sources said.

Bilateral defence relations between India and Kyrgyz Republic has been growing. The two countries hold the 'Khanjar' series of annual bilateral exercises, and India has also been involved in setting up IT Centres at Kyrgyz Military Institutions.

India and Kyrgyzstan are jointly constructing the Kyrgyz-Indian Mountain Training Centre in the city of Balykchi in Issyk-Kul district of the central Asian republic. This Centre will provide instruction and training for Kyrgyz personnel as well as hosting Kyrgyz-Indian joint mountain training exercises.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Kyrgyzstan in 2015, while Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev paid a state visit to India from in December last year.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : The Indian Auto LPG Coalition (IAC) on Monday asked the government to provide subsidy for adoption of clean transport fuels like LPG for passenger cars to mitigate the problem of air pollution.

"There are several countries where government incentivises people to choose clean automotive fuels over conventional fuels like petrol and diesel," said Suyash Gupta, Director General, IAC.

"The Australian government gave away 2,000 dollars to each car owner who got the Auto LPG kit installed and 1,000 dollars to each of those who bought a new car running on Auto LPG."

According to Gupta, incentives can also be provided to cab aggregators and other commercial vehicle owners, who switch to clean fuels like CNG and Auto LPG.

"This will be in the interest of the society and dire efforts are required to reduce the menace of pollution in our cities," Gupta added.
New Delhi, Nov 27 : India on Monday signed an agreement with Russia -- Cooperation on Security -- aimed at a comprehensive approach on issues like high-tech crimes, counterfeit currency and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and humans, an official said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokoltsev signed the agreement and agreed to hold the next Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on counter-terrorism between India and Russia in 2018.

Rajnath Singh is on a three-day visit to Russia from November 27 to 29.

"This is an updated and more comprehensive agreement on cooperation on security between Ministry of Home Affairs of India and the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation," a Home Ministry statement said.

"This agreement provides a comprehensive approach for cooperation in security-related issues, including IT crimes, counterfeit currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in human beings, economic crimes, crimes related to intellectual property and cultural property, amongst others."

Both ministers emphasised on the strength of the relationship between India and Russia and underlined that cooperation in the field of security was an important aspect to further strengthen the efforts against terrorism, extremism and radicalism.

The two leaders agreed that "terrorism must be fought unitedly and there are no good or bad terrorists".

They also agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhanced exchange of information, cooperation in building a data base and in training of police and investigating agencies, the statement said.

A Joint Action Plan between India and Russia for 2018-20 was also signed by the Ambassador of India to Russia Pankaj Saran and State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Russia Igor Zubov.
New Delhi, Nov 28 : A 37-year-old man was stabbed to death by a group of unidentified men outside his brother's house here, police said on Monday.

Police said incident in north Delhi's Khajoori Khas area took place on 8 p.m. on Sunday, when Aasif was alone at the ouse while his family went to attend a wedding.

"When Aasif was out taking a stroll near his house, he was allegedly got into a scuffle with a group of men. He was stabbed multiple times on his chest by the accused," a senior police officer said.

Though the murder took place in full public view, no eyewitness has come forward. On the other hand, a local informed police, following which a team reached the scene and took Aasif to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

The family alleged that 15 days ago, Aasif had a fight with someone over financial issues, but it was later resolved.

Meanwhile, police said it was examining the nearby CCTV footage to ascertain the identities of accused.
"This will allow them to focus on making optimal decisions for women with potentially abnormal exams in which cancer is most likely, said Prof. Nico Karssemeijer, PhD, CEO of ScreenPoint Medical.

Deep learning and artificial intelligence improves the efficiency and accuracy of reading mammograms, according to research presented, here at the upcoming 103rd Annual Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting, November 26-December 1, 2017. (South Hall #3178). Three studies accepted for presentation at RSNA this demonstrate that the performance of Transpara deep learning system developed by ScreenPoint Medical BV (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) is approaching that of experienced breast radiologists.

The study Detecting Breast Cancer in Mammography: How Close Are Computers to Radiologists? (SSK02-02, Wednesday 10:30-12:00 PM, Room: E451A), will be presented by Alejandro Rodriguez-Ruiz during the Science Session with Keynote - Breast Imaging (Deep Learning, Quantitative Imaging and Big Data). In the study, researchers from Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, Netherlands, compared the performance of experienced radiologists to that of the deep learning computer detection system Transpara in detecting breast cancer on mammograms.

Researchers collected reader study data from multiple breast imaging centers across Europe to assess performance. In four different studies, more than 1,400 mammograms from three different vendors were retrospectively reviewed by groups of radiologists to measure their ability to detect breast cancer. The data included 336 exams with cancer, 430 with benign abnormalities, and 669 normal mammograms. In total, 24 radiologists participated in these studies. Results showed no significant difference between automated reading with the Transpara software and reading by the radiologists. In two studies the radiologists had a higher AUC performance while Transpara had a higher AUC in the two other studies.

In the session, Development of Deep Learning Systems for Improving Breast Cancer Screening, (SPSH40B, Wednesday 7:15-8:15 AM, Room: E450A), Prof. Nico Karssemeijer presents on how recent developments in machine learning offer unprecedented opportunities for researchers to develop fully automated systems for the reading of mammograms and breast tomosynthesis.

The scope of these systems will be much wider than that of existing CAD systems for mammography. They will provide decision support to improve recall decisions and pre-screening of exams by computers will become a reality. This will lead to more efficient screening procedures where human readers rely on automation to select normal exams that they don't need to read. This will allow them to focus on making optimal decisions for women with potentially abnormal exams in which cancer is most likely, said Prof. Nico Karssemeijer, PhD, CEO of ScreenPoint Medical.

The scientific exhibit, Automated Pre-Selection of Mammograms without Abnormalities Using Deep learning (BRS-TUB, Tuesday 12:45-1:15 PM), will be presented by Jonas Teuwen, MSc, PhD, at Breast Tuesday Poster Discussions at the Learning Center.

Exploiting Big Data, Deep Learning and the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Transpara is based on innovative insights into how breast radiologists can best be supported to improve the efficiency and accuracy of reading mammograms.

Utilizing state of the art image analysis and revolutionary deep learning technology, Transpara automatically identifies soft-tissue and calcification lesions and combines the findings of all available views into a single cancer suspiciousness score. While calcifications are marked as in traditional CAD systems, only a small number of soft-tissue lesion marks are shown and are proven to have extremely low false positive rates. However, readers can probe any suspicious image region for decision support to help determine whether further investigation is needed.

About ScreenPoint Medical BV

ScreenPoint Medical develops image analysis technology for automated reading of mammograms and digital breast tomosynthesis exams, exploiting Big Data, Deep Learning and the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence. ScreenPoint Medical was founded in 2014 by Nico Karssemeijer and Michael Brady, two experts in breast imaging, machine learning, computer vision, and computer-aided detection. The main office is in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

# # #

Media Contact:

Chris K. Joseph

510/435-4031

chris(at)ckjcomm(dot)com
LINN COUNTY SHERIFF

Elude  8:37 a.m. Sunday, South Main Road, Scio. A deputy attempting to stop a Honda F4I motorcycle for speeding and no rear license plate gave chase when the operator of the motorcycle failed to stop. The cyclist went south on Highway 226 to Hungry Hill Road, then did a U-turn and went back along the highway north at speeds of about 90 mph, according to the sheriff's office.

The motorcycle slowed to make another U-turn about Montgomery Hill and the tire got caught in gravel, causing the operator to lay it down. He was not injured. Deputies took Benjamin Grafton, 41, of Scio into custody on charges of elude plus outstanding warrants for Marion County.

The owner of the motorcycle was not yet known and the investigation is continuing.

Injury wreck  7:23 a.m. Saturday, 36600 W. Airport Road, Lebanon. Deputies responded to a report of a single vehicle rollover of a 1996 Nissan Sentra. Diamond McKinley, 24, of Albany was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Facility for treatment of injuries. The sheriff's office said McKinley had fallen asleep.

Criminal mischief  1:41 a.m. Saturday, Broadway Street, Mill City. Deputies responding to a call about a male breaking the windows of businesses on Broadway Street arrested Anthony Del Fierro, 33, on an outstanding warrant and four counts of criminal mischief.

Disturbance  12:17 a.m. Saturday, 41600 Clark Smith Drive. Trent Wayne Killgo, 30, of Lebanon was arrested and charged with menacing and pointing a firearm at another person.

Arson investigation  9:39 p.m. Friday, 38900 block of Fourth Avenue, Scio. A caller told the sheriff's office two people had been seen walking in the area, and then the caller saw a fire at the base of a power pole there. Deputies found white paint burning in a 5-gallon bucket in a ditch near the pole. The fire charred the bottom two feet of the pole and some grass in the ditch but did not cause extensive damage, the power company told the sheriff's office. Scio firefighters put out the flames. The investigation is continuing.

Disturbance  9:44 p.m. Saturday, 300 block of West Second Street, Halsey. Deputies responding to a report of a disturbance charged Michael Mooneyham, 60, of Springfield with fourth-degree assault. Someone in the altercation allegedly brandished a knife but no one was injured by it.

Theft  11:14 a.m. Saturday, 3600 block of South Santiam Highway. A shotgun was reported stolen from a hiding place on a front porch. No listed value.

Window smashed  1:03 p.m. Saturday, 38600 block of S.W. Beech Street, Scio. A caller reported the rear driver's side window of a vehicle had been broken out by a billiard ball while parked. The vehicle was parked not far from where deputies had investigated a report of a burning power pole and may be related to that case, according to the sheriff's office.
New York Institute of Career Development It is both incredibly exciting and deeply satisfying that our students will have the opportunity to receive practical training from pharmacies that share our passion for excellence.

The New York Institute of Career Development (NYICD) is proud to partner with national pharmacy chains, CVS and Walgreens, for their online Pharmacy Technician Course. This partnership provides all students the opportunity to fulfill their required externship at a conveniently-located and nationally-recognized pharmacy.

CVS and Walgreens Pharmacies are household names, providing superior affordability, stellar service and unparalleled accessibility for many decades. To complement an otherwise fully-online educational experience, students will receive in-person, hands-on training and networking opportunities during their externship. This experience is critical to getting certified and hired in the field.

The New York Institute of Career of Developments Pharmacy Technician Course provides students everything they need to start a career in the industry. All students receive top quality curriculum accessible at all hours from any internet-connected device, personal mentorship from industry professionals, and an externship with our esteemed partners. After completion, students will be fully prepared to pass the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) offered by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) or the Pharmacy Technician Certification (ExCPT) offered by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA).

Weve designed our Pharmacy Technician Course curriculum to the highest possible standard, said Thomas Frisco, a long time pharmacy technician instructor and student advisor for the New York Institute of Career Development. It is both incredibly exciting and deeply satisfying that our students will have the opportunity to receive practical training from pharmacies that share our passion for excellence.

To learn more about our online Pharmacy Technician Course, visit https://www.nyicd.edu/career-courses/pharmacy-technician.

About the New York Institute of Career Development

The New York Institute of Career Development is part of the Distance Education Company (DEC) cadre of schools. DEC strives to be the leading non-traditional academic institution, educating people motivated to improve their lives and empowering students to achieve that self-improvement through flexible and affordable educational programs. DEC has been providing best-in-class education for more than 100 years via NYICDs sister schools, the New York Institute of Photography and the New York Institute of Art and Design. The New York Institute of Career Development proudly continues that tradition, making online career education as simple and stress-free as it can be.
SearchBlox for Amazon Elasticsearch Service By supporting Amazon Elasticsearch Service, SearchBlox provides customers the capability to replace Google Search Appliance on AWS with a zero-downtime, fully managed service. - Timo Selvaraj, Co-Founder and VP of Product at SearchBlox.

SearchBlox, Inc., a leader in enterprise search, has joined the list of vendors participating in this years AWS re:Invent conference, held at The Venetian Las Vegas, from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, 2017. The SearchBlox team will showcase its enterprise search solution incorporating Amazon Elasticsearch Service.

SearchBlox for Amazon Elasticsearch Service is an enterprise search solution for AWS that uses Amazon Elasticsearch Service, the fully managed and scalable Elasticsearch service available on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Customers can build a zero-downtime, fully-managed enterprise search solution on AWS within minutes.

The solution includes an integrated web crawler, file system crawler and connectors for more than 75+ data sources, as well as indexing of more than 40 document formats, fully customizable search front-ends and a Web-based admin console. The service also offers secured search, and high availability using multiple search servers and data replicated across two AWS Availability Zones. Data can be indexed from AWS services like Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS).

SearchBlox is a leading replacement solution for the now discontinued Google Search Appliance and Google Site Search products and has migrated more than 100 customers from Google Search Appliance (GSA) to the SearchBlox Enterprise Search platform.

SearchBlox was an early adopter of Amazon Elasticsearch Service and continues to leverage new features of Amazon Elasticsearch Service to offer our customers a robust and highly scalable enterprise search solution, said Timo Selvaraj, Co-Founder and VP of Product Management at SearchBlox. By supporting Amazon Elasticsearch Service, SearchBlox provides customers the capability to replace Google Search Appliance on AWS with a zero-downtime, fully managed service.

SearchBlox for Amazon Elasticsearch Service is available on AWS Marketplace on hourly and annual pricing.

About SearchBlox

Since 2003, SearchBlox has been providing businesses with simple, affordable solutions for their data management needs including web-based administration and integrated data connectors to index enterprise and web content. SearchBlox was recently included in KMWorlds 2017 list of 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management, and was featured as the KMWorlds Trend-Setting Product in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Based in Richmond, Virginia, SearchBlox is considered a marketplace leader for search technologies, and proudly serves more than 400 customers in 30 countries. For more information, visit https://www.searchblox.com/
A Widmer brewer pours Oregon Fruit puree With its intense color, bright aroma and balanced, sweet/tart flavor, we are looking forward to tasting how our brewers make the most of it.

Oregon Fruit Products LLC today released its winter limited-edition Fruit for Fermentation puree: Pomegranate. The puree has a tart, vibrant flavor, crimson-red color, and smooth consistency that makes it ideal for adding flavor, aroma and texture of real fruit to a variety of fermented beverages, such as beer, cider, mead, spirits, wine and kombucha.

Like all Fruit for Fermentation purees, Pomegranate has no added sugar, preservatives or additives, and is packaged aseptically for shelf-stability and ease of use.

As we wrap up 2017, this seasonally-appropriate release is a great ending to another fun year of new and innovative fruit purees, says Chris Hodge, director of sales for fermentation at Oregon Fruit Products. The fruit for this puree was just harvested in October using California-grown pomegranates. With its intense color, bright aroma and balanced, sweet/tart flavor, we are looking forward to tasting how our brewers make the most of it.

More tips for brewing with Oregon Fruit Products Fruit for Fermentation is available here.

About Fruit for Fermentation Purees

Like all of Oregon Fruit for Fermentation products, the fruit is carefully selected for maximum ripeness and flavor and pureed into a velvet-smooth consistency so that it is ready for incorporating into a variety fermented beverages, including beer, cider, mead, spirits, wine, and kombucha. All of Oregon Specialty Fruit purees are aseptically packaged to ensure shelf-stable, clean fruit brewers can count on. The product is minimally processed to ensure the best fresh fruit flavor and color. Most of the purees have a shelf life of 18 months in ambient temperature.

Oregon Fruits pomegranate puree is now available in 42 lb. bag-in-box. The product is certified kosher, made in the U.S.A., non-GMO, gluten-free and vegetarian. Oregon Fruit Products does not use, nor does it allow, any of the eight major allergens (milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat) in the products or processing areas.

Oregon Fruit Products LLC

Founded in 1935, Oregon Fruit Products offers a complete line of canned, frozen and shelf-stable premium fruit for consumers, foodservice operators and ingredient sales. The company is located in Salem, Oregon and can be found on the web at http://www.oregonfruit.com and shop.fruitforbrewing.com.
With INDEVCO joining the ePac team, weve added a great partner with over 60 years in flexible packaging - Jack Knott CEO, ePac LLC.

ePac, a leader in fast time-to-market flexible packaging, announced today that INDEVCO Plastics has acquired an equity stake in the company. The partnership between ePac and INDEVCO, a global plastic film and flexible packaging manufacturer, will accelerate ePacs leadership position in the rapidly growing short and medium-run digital packaging market. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

With plants in Middleton, Wisconsin and Boulder, Colorado, ePac recently announced plans to add additional locations in Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles. According to ePac CEO, Jack Knott: With INDEVCO joining the ePac team, weve added a great partner with over 60 years in flexible packaging. Our partnership will create tremendous operational synergy and a shared vision for future growth.

INDEVCO has grown its 60 operations around the globe by responding to unmet needs in specific markets and geographical locations and by focusing on both profit and purpose. According to Robert Laird, EVP of Operations for INDEVCO Plastics, Were excited about our partnership with ePac and its technology-driven solutions. The market  from consumer brands and flexible packaging converters to co-packers  is asking for short and medium-run digital packaging, and we are pleased to be a leader in this technology in North America.

ePac plants print on demand with no plate or set-up fees, which is suited for multi-SKU orders, customized products, and promotions. The focus on short-to-medium runs promotes print to demand, reduces inventory, and increases delivery speed of roll stock and finished pouches to the customer.

Compared to conventional flexo and rotogravure printing, ePacs wide-web digital printing process has a substantially lower environmental impact, given less global warming potential, cumulative energy demand, and water depletion. In addition, the company sources recycled raw materials for specific packaging applications.

Additional information about ePac products can be found at http://www.epacllc.com

Contact:

Carl Joachim

Chief Marketing Officer

ePac Holdings, LLC

cjoachim(at)epacllc.com

754-220-9212

http://www.ePacLLC.Com
Elevator Consulting Hospitals obviously have a lot of exposure to elevator and other types of vertical transportation in terms of both safety and cost.

The Elevator Consultants, a leading elevator consulting firm helping building owners and managers to improve elevator efficiency and increase the bottom line, is proud to announce a pithy blog post explaining many of the details faced by hospitals and others in the medical industry when facing elevator modernization, research into building costs and ROI, and even conflicts of interest among building management, elevator maintenance companies and other stakeholders.

"Hospitals obviously have a lot of exposure to elevator and other types of vertical transportation in terms of both safety and cost," explained Laurie Axium, marketing manager at The Elevator Consultants. "Our blog is a short conceptual piece about some of the issues facing hospital building management and owners vis-a-vis vertical transportation."

To read the blog post in its entirety visit http://theelevatorconsultant.com/elevator-consulting-hospitals/. Interested persons can reach out via the website's "Contact" tab to request consultation if they are in the hospital or medical industry. Those seeking an overview to the company's vertical transportation consulting services should visit https://theelevatorconsultant.com/vertical-transportation-consulting/.

HOSPITALS, MEDICAL, AND ELEVATOR CONSULTING

A quick walk through of any major hospital in even a medium-sized city will quickly alert one to the problems and vulnerabilities posted by elevators and escalators. Hospitals often pitch themselves to the public as technology leaders, but when it comes to vertical transportation they can be seen as technology laggards. The blog post overviews some of the issues, including the conflict of interest inherent in having the building management and/or elevator repair company evaluate safety and/or cost and/or modernization issues. By bringing in an independent, third party elevator consultant, the Hospital ownership can secure an objective assessment of possible costs, cost-savings (ROI), modernization, and even safety vulnerabilities. Anyone in the hospital industry will be well served by a quick read of this post, and even better served by a confidential consultation with The Elevator Consultants on their particular needs with respect to vertical transportation.

ABOUT THE ELEVATOR CONSULTANTS

The Elevator Consultants is a leading elevator consulting firm helping building owners, property managers, building engineers, facility managers, and REITs oversee and optimize their elevator and vertical transportation assets for greater efficiency and increase bottom line. Service offerings including elevator consulting services like elevator audits, elevator due diligence and even elevator cost reduction and elevator management services. The firm provides elevator service monitoring software to escalator and elevator insurance claims, not to mention other consulting services, elevator modernizations and new elevator maintenance service contracts. Anyone looking for an elevator advisor, elevator expert, or elevator consulting firm, is encouraged to reach out for a no obligation consultation.

Media Relations

Web. https://theelevatorconsultant.com/
Nine organizations in the United States and Europe are launching a campaign to bring life-saving winter gear and supplies to the island of Lesvos, Greece, where over 8000 refugees are living in increasingly overcrowded conditions, without access to shelter or proper clothing.

The campaign is being led by trans-Atlantic humanitarian aid startup, NeedsList, which helps vetted charities in Europe and the United States create web-based lists of items and services they need to serve refugees. Individuals and companies can purchase supplies or sponsor lists of needs from local businesses through the platform. The process reduces shipping costs and time, getting help to refugees where they need it, fast. Joining NeedsList in the campaign are humanitarian innovation organizations Humans on the Move, IPA | Switxboard, and Beyond CSR.

This is the third year in a row that refugees have, quite literally, been left out in the cold. With no long-term solution in place, we need to make sure that basics such as sleeping bags and jackets are available as temperatures drop, new boats keep arriving, and governmental institutions negotiate how best to provide adequate shelter, says NeedsList CEO Natasha Freidus.

The situation is very difficult, very critical on Lesvos, says Qays Hassad of Jafra Foundation in Greece. The biggest challenge is the number of people who are arriving--a lot of children are arriving, and a lot of them need care not only in terms of the items, but also psychosocial support.

The campaign is timed to coincide with Giving Tuesday and the holiday season. Individuals can purchase sleeping bags, jackets, socks, and other winter gear on the NeedsList website, which sources supplies from local Greek suppliers. Five organizations working on Lesvos will be distributing the supplies to refugees, including Jafra Foundation, The Hope Project, A Drop in the Ocean, Refugee4Refugees and the Schoolbox Project.

We are proud to partner on this initiative which will provide much needed direct support to refugees in Lesvos, says Killian Kleinschmidt, Chairman of the humanitarian innovation agency IPA | Switxboard. NeedsList fills a core gap in humanitarian relief by enabling individuals to provide direct one to one support for critical needs.

The campaign runs through the month of November.

About NeedsList

NeedsList is a global marketplace where companies, individual donors, suppliers and nonprofits can meet the urgent needs of refugees. NeedsList is a Public Benefit Corporation in the state of Delaware
Our employees have built a truly unique culture here at iHire. We work hard, play hard, and never stop searching for ways to improve not only for ourselves but also for our customers. I couldnt be more proud to receive this award!

iHire was recently named one of the 2017 Best Employers in Maryland. The awards program was created in 2017 and is a project of The Daily Record, Maryland SHRM State Council, Inc., and Best Companies Group.

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best places of employment in Maryland, benefiting the state's economy, workforce, and businesses. The 2017 Best Employers in Maryland list is made up of 9 companies, and iHire ranked #3.

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:



Have at least 15 employees working in Maryland

Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business

Be a publicly or privately held business

Have a business facility in the state of Maryland

Be in business a minimum of 1 year

Were extremely honored to be named one of the top 3 employers in Maryland, said iHires Administrative Manager Vickie Krolak, PHR, CP-SHRM. Our employees have built a truly unique culture here at iHire. We work hard, play hard, and never stop searching for ways to improve not only for ourselves but also for our customers. I couldnt be more proud to receive this award!

Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Employers in Maryland. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, systems, philosophies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final rankings. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Maryland and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.

The list of the inaugural Best Employers in Maryland and how they rank was revealed by The Daily Record in their November 17 publication.

For more information on the Best Employers in Maryland program, visit http://www.bestemployersMD.com.

About iHire, LLC

iHire offers a network of industry job boards dedicated to specific professions, enabling job seekers and employers to reach their employment goals by focusing their searches. iHire provides job seekers a single place to find jobs that are posted all over the internet, including places like small and large business websites, government databases, and industry associations in addition to other services such as resume writing/formatting. For employers, iHire provides straightforward hiring tools to help fill open positions quickly and cost effectively. iHire understands that successful recruiting isnt about a lot of resumes; its about the right resumes. Thats why iHire offers an industry focus with network reach, enabling employers a fast, affordable way to reach the right candidates. Visit http://www.ihire.com for more information.
Clete Thompson, MBA

Capstone Associated Services, Ltd. is proud to announce that it has expanded into the U.S. southwestern region, with the addition of Clete Thompson, MBA, a 7-year veteran with Capstone.

Mr. Thompson returns to Capstone as Vice President of Business Development, where he previously served as Director of Sales & Marketing, after a four-year hiatus. Mr. Thompson is a seasoned sales and marketing executive with over 20 years of experience at both Fortune 500 and middle-market companies.

Were excited to welcome Clete back to Capstone, commented Stewart A. Feldman, CEO. Clete has deep knowledge of the captive insurance industry, and a keen ability to establish lasting business relationshipsqualities that bolster Capstones existing multidisciplinary team. In general, Capstone has long-recognized the critical risk coverage and financial needs of mid-market businesses. With the addition of Clete, Capstone will continue to expand and educate business owners on the benefits of captive and alternative risk planning while maintaining existing relationships.

Prior to his initial tenure at Capstone, Mr. Thompson developed his marketing expertise in the mortgage lending and fast-evolving Fintech industry where he was responsible for managing post-acquisition rebranding initiatives for two top national lenders.

Prior to his first tour with Capstone, Mr. Thompson had served as Director of Marketing for a national mortgage company, where he was responsible for a host of revenue-driving, business-to-business marketing programs. Mr. Thompson was successful in developing large-scale customer acquisition and client retention programs for the company's retail branches.

Mr. Thompson began his career as Director of Sales and Marketing at a Chicago-based public relations services firm, where he established and managed client relationships with dozens of Fortune 500 advertisers. He also taught marketing and consumer behavior at Loyola University Chicago in 2003.

This experience has positioned Mr. Thompson to again make a significant impact at Capstone. Based in Phoenix, AZ, Mr. Thompsons reach throughout the Southwest ensures that businesses in a variety of industries in the region can mitigate risks while promoting better financial efficiency.

About Capstone

Capstone Associated Services, Ltd. is the most integrated and largest outsourced provider of captive insurance services for the middle market. In association with The Feldman Law Firm LLP Capstone administers property & casualty insurance companies that provide alternative risk financing services throughout the U.S. Now in its 19th year, Capstone provides turnkey services usually under a joint engagement with its affiliated law firm to manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and professional organizations.

Capstone's own staff of insurance professionals includes Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters, Associates in Risk Management, accountants and administrators, in addition to the affiliated The Feldman Law Firm LLP's tax, corporate, financing and regulatory lawyers, and outside CPAs, risk managers, property & casualty professionals, and actuaries. On staff at Capstone include six CPCUs with more than 130 years of experience. Together, this team offers middle market companies the most comprehensive risk planning solution available. Today, captives are the premier risk management and risk-financing tool for qualified middle market companies.

To learn more about how alternative risk planning and captive insurance can protect your business from uninsured risks, please visit us at http://www.CapstoneAssociated.com or contact us at 800-500-3190.

NOTICE: To the extent this communication contains any statement of tax advice, such statement is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of, or as the basis for, avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Unless expressly stated otherwise in writing, this communication is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any matter addressed in this communication.
If this grant is matched the hopes and dreams of many Ugandan children will be met this holiday season!

For children living in extreme poverty in Uganda an education is their only ticket out of poverty. Without a building the education they desperately need is not possible. A school building means hope for their future.

Recently many Ugandan children in several school locations have had their hopes for a safe and quality education dashed as their school buildings have crumbled due to termite and storm damage. The schools built over 20 years ago, were made from mud and sticks and had slowly been eroded by termites. When recent storms blew through their areas, two roofs were ripped off the already compromised structures and endangered the lives of the children and teachers even further.

The education provided has received the highest excellence award recognized by the country of Uganda. Graduates had gone from extreme poverty to leading productive lives as contributing members of society. Some students were even becoming doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and pilots.

But now without a safe structure the hopes of the young children are eroding. Their school was condemned by the government and without the financial means to rebuild there is no place to meet. Even the prior structures require children to gather on dirt floors. While being exposed to the environment and endure painful jigger bites the children have desperately been trying to continue their education.

ServeNow has already built five new school buildings in Uganda in the past four years. However, there is a need for a total of 34 additional school buildings among a network of eight school locations spread out across Uganda. ServeNow is partnering with the school system to assist in the education of over 4,000 orphan and underprivileged children. The new buildings are being constructed according to regulations with concrete floors and brick walls. The buildings are also being equipped with proper school benches, desks and lighting.

The president of ServeNow, Ben Foley, stated, "I will be traveling to Uganda in early December and hope to announce, on location with the hundreds of children present, the building of this new School. If this grant is matched the hopes and dreams of many Ugandan children will be met this holiday season!"

If you would like to be a part of making this a reality for these children by contributing towards this matching grant opportunity, you can donate online here: https://weservenow.org/donate/uganda-school-buildings/.

To mail a check, please send to:

ServeNow

5225 North Academy blvd

Suite 206

Colorado Springs, CO 80918

You can also call us at 719-900-1800 or e-mail us at office@weservenow.org for more information.

About ServeNow: "Serving people in need by caring for orphans, widows, underprivileged children and youth as well as equipping the church for greater fulfillment of its ministry, and providing humanitarian assistance where needed.
Heat Treat 2017, the biennial conference and expo organized by the ASM Heat Treating Society, took place from October 24-26 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH. Co-located with GearExpo 2017, the conference and expo attracted more than 5,000 attendees and featured an exciting mix of new technology, exhibits, technical programming and networking events geared toward the heat treating industry.

The Heat Treat 2017 technical program highlighted the latest research and industry insights from more than 100 industry experts, including special symposiums honoring innovators in heat treating. The exhibit hall showcased products and services from approximately 200 of the top companies and biggest names in the heat treating industry.

Heat Treat 2017 also provided an opportunity for the next generation to discover the world of heat treating. More than 150 middle and high school students from the Columbus area participated in a mini-materials camp, hosted by The ASM Materials Education Foundation. The This is Heat Treat student program gave college students free attendance at the event and allowed numerous educational and networking experiences during an emerging professional panel, mixer, and poster competition.

Additional conference highlights comprised of special educational session offerings on a wide range of subjects, including two corporate sponsored courses; a VIP Guided Industrial Tour; and a special Taste of Columbus networking event at Columbus famed North Market.

Overall, the event was a big success and paved the way for the 2019 Heat Treat Conference and Exposition in Detroit. To find more information on the 2019 conference and exposition, visit: bit.ly/HeatTreat19 or to learn about other ASM International conferences and events, visit: bit.ly/ASMEvents

ASM International is the worlds leading professional organization for materials scientists, engineers, and technicians. ASM delivers professional development and improved materials performance for over 25,000 individual members, and over 7,000 corporations served by ASM members worldwide. ASM engages and connects members to a global network of peers and provides trusted materials information through reference content, education courses, international conferences, and applied research.

To learn more about ASM International, visit asminternational.org or call 440.338.5151 to speak with an ASM International representative.
Rich Cisek, CEO of Peco-Inspx Corporation, a leading provider of advanced X-Ray inspection solutions for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries, is delighted to announce that Kris Bulmer has joined the Company as General Manager for Canada.

Peco-InspX works across the food manufacturing sector in Canada with many household names. Given the Canadian focus on food safety, demand for our products and services continues to accelerate coast to coast. In response to this, it is critical we further develop the companys capability to better serve our customers in Canada, said Rich Cisek.

Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Kris will be responsible for the continued build out of Peco-InspXs Canadian sales and service capability, including channel partner network expansion and the creation of a direct Canadian based service team. In addition, Kris will also immediately assume management of relationships with many of Peco- InspX key strategic clients.

Kris has worked in a variety of sales and service leadership roles over the last 15 years and has extensive experience with both product inspection and the weighing industry. Kris grew up in Ottawa and as result, he is fluent in both French and English.

With broad experience in the Food Safety segment, I am excited to join the leader in rigid container and glass in glass in inspection. In fact all of the Peco-InspX products are simply first-in-class. Designed in Silicon Valley, it's little wonder Peco-Inspxs cutting edge X-Ray inspection solutions are the number one in terms of performance and mechanical robustness. And its now my role to continue the strong growth Peco has had already in Canada.

To learn more about Peco InspX, please visit: http://www.peco-inspx.com/

About Peco InspX

Peco InspX Corporation and InspX Corporation are leading providers of advanced technology inspection solutions for the food and beverage industries. With headquarters in Silicon Valley, CA, the company serves customers around the world and inspects over 120 million food and beverage containers daily. The company specializes in accurate high speed package inspection in machines that are easy to use with a low cost of ownership.
Maria Shireen, maker of the original hair tie bracelet, announced today the company has earned three 2017 Stevie Awards, the premier awards program for women in business. Maria Shireen was named the Gold for Startup of the Year: Consumer Products and the Bronze for Company of the Year: Consumer Products, 10 or Less Employees, while CEO and Co-founder Shireen Thor earned the Bronze for Female Entrepreneur of the Year: Consumer Products, 10 or Less Employees. Thor received these prestigious recognitions at the 14th annual awards dinner on Friday, November 17, 2017 in New York City.

The visionary at the helm of the first-and-only jewelry accessory company to combine the function of elastic hair ties with the stylish appeal of a bracelet, Thor has earned her recognition for steering Maria Shireens impressive growth and industry positioning, which includes bringing its patent portfolio to a total of 8 utility and 9 design patents - more utility patents on jewelry bracelets than any other company in the world. Currently, Maria Shireen sells to over 45 countries and has grown into $6 million business through ecommerce alone since its inception in 2015.

It is a great honor to be recognized by the Stevie Awards and earn recognition among a group of such dynamic women and businesses, said Thor. Celebrating the accomplishments of women in business is empowering on both a professional and personal level, and I am thrilled to be part of a community of such inspiring peers.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the worlds top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. All individuals and organizations worldwide are eligible to submit nominations  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2017 awards received entries from 25 nations and territories.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Stevie Award winners are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

For more information on Maria Shireen and Shireen Thor, visit http://www.MariaShireen.com.

About Maria Shireen

Maria Shireen is the first-and-only jewelry accessory company to combine the function of elastic hair ties with the stylish appeal of a bracelet. Created by visionaries Arni and Shireen Thor, Maria Shireen hair tie bracelets have revolutionized the way women utilize and keep track of elastic hair ties across the fashion, beauty, accessories, and health industries. The hair tie bracelet is designed to create a unique piece of jewelry that keeps easy-to-lose accessories on lock and comfortably on-hand. The sleek slip-on bracelet has a channel that holds thick or thin bands in place, alleviating the pressure from the elastic around the wrist while giving the blase hair tie a bold makeover. Maria Shireen hair tie bracelets are available in a variety of designs to suit a range of styles and lifestyles.

The Maria Shireen patent-protected hair tie bracelet holds more utility patents on jewelry bracelets than any other company in the world, and has been featured in over 100 print, online and broadcast media outlets. Industry recognitions include Red Herring North America Top 100 (2017) and Red Herring Global Top 100 (2017). Shireen Thor was awarded a Stevie international award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year (2017) among other Stevie Award recognitions and was also a top finalist in her local community as San Diego's 2017 Business Women of the Year. Since 2015, Maria Shireen has expanded sales of its bracelets to over 45 countries, growing into a multi-million dollar business through e-commerce alone.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.
Sloan Saverine, Trust Officer and VP, Key Private Bank; Mary K. Spengler, MS, CEO, HOW; Holly K. Benedict, Director of Public Affairs & Development, HOW; Joseph F. Markey, KeyBank Market President This grant will help us continue to provide quality and compassionate services to those in our care in the comfort of their own homes.

Hospice of Westchester (HOW) is pleased to announce that it has received a $10,000 grant from the KeyBank Foundation. The funds will support the heart of HOW, the organizations Home Care Services.

The KeyBank Foundation has been a steadfast supporter of our organization throughout the years, and we are grateful for their generosity, said Mary K. Spengler, MS, Chief Executive Officer, HOW. This grant will help us continue to provide quality and compassionate services to those in our care in the comfort of their own homes.

Research has shown that the majority of Americans would prefer to be at home at the end of life. HOW makes this possible for Westchester County residents.

The KeyBank Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization funded by KeyCorp. Through its civic programs, corporate contributions and volunteerism, the Foundation supports organizations that make an impact in the communities served by KeyBank.

At KeyBank, serving our community is at the core of what we do, said KeyBank Market President Joseph Markey. We are proud to support the mission of Hospice of Westchester, and the care and quality services they provide.

About Hospice of Westchester:

Hospice of Westchester (HOW) is a private, not-for-profit healthcare agency that provides skilled, compassionate and comprehensive end-of-life home care to patients diagnosed with any serious or life-limiting illness and gives support to their families and loved ones. Hospice of Westchester is located at 1025 Westchester Avenue, Suite 200, White Plains, NY. For additional information, visit http://www.hospiceofwestchester.com or call (914) 682-1484. For the latest news and updates, find HOW on Facebook.

About KeyBank Foundation:

KeyBank Foundation serves to fulfill KeyBanks purpose to help clients and communities thrive, and its mission is to support organizations and programs that prepare people for thriving futures. The Foundations mission is advanced through three funding priorities  neighbors, education, and workforce  and through community service. To provide meaningful philanthropy that transforms lives, KeyBank Foundation listens carefully to understand the unique characteristics and needs of its communities and then backs solutions with targeted philanthropic investments. KeyBank Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation, funded by KeyCorp.
DiscoverLehighValley.com From exploring the enchantment of the Christmas City and Christkindlmarkt to ringing in the new year at PEEPSFEST, Lehigh Valley is the perfect place to lift this holiday season.

Discover Lehigh Valley, the destination marketing organization dedicated to promoting tourism in Pennsylvanias Lehigh and Northampton counties, also known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area, welcomes travelers to experience true holiday magic throughout Lehigh Valley. From exploring the enchantment of the Christmas City and Christkindlmarkt, to becoming mesmerized at Lehigh Valley Zoos Winter Lights Spectacular, and ringing in the new year as a family at the nationally-known PEEPSFEST, Lehigh Valley is the perfect place to lift and make holiday spirits bright.

Lehigh Valley is home to an abundance of unique holiday events and attractions rich in holiday traditions  like the Easton Peace Candle, Christkindlmarkt, Koziars Christmas Village and PEEPSFEST  that make for great weekend getaways with family and friends to help jumpstart the holidays, said Alicia Quinn, strategic brand manager for Discover Lehigh Valley. Consider a weekend stay in the Christmas City with brunch at Historic Hotel Bethlehem and a horse-drawn carriage ride, followed by a visit to see one of the areas beautiful light displays, and a stop by one of our museums for a holiday tour or exhibit. There is just so much to see and do in Lehigh Valley this holiday season.

When planning a winter getaway, consider adding these 10 holiday attractions to your wish list:

Christmas City, Bethlehem, Pa.

1. Christkindlmarkt  The true hub of holiday magic, Christkindlmarkt is a European-style holiday market that showcases aisles of exquisite handmade works by the nations finest artisans, the heart-warming sounds of live Christmas music, delicious food, and more! In fact, the event has grown steadily and is now considered one of the premier holiday attractions in the Northeastern United States.

2. Bethlehem Carriage Company  Take in the charm of Bethlehem during the holiday season as you ride in a horse-drawn carriage through the citys historic district on streets lined in twinkling lights. The Bethlehem Carriage Company offers a number of options for couples or small groups to make the most of this unique experience.

3. Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites Weaving through the historic roads of the Christmas City, the Bethlehem by Night Bus Tour provides iconic views of the over 275-year-old city. Once you hop on the bus, enjoy a tour of the lights along both the north and south side of the city and learn why the north side of Bethlehem is filled with white lights and the south side is filled with colored varieties. Tours operate from November 24 to December 30. After exploring all day, join the likes of Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope, the Dalai Lama, and other famous guests with a stay at Historic Hotel Bethlehem, which was recently recognized by Historic Hotels of America as a winner in the 2017 Awards of Excellence for Best Historic Hotel. And, dont miss the Musical Sunday Brunch, named one of the Top 100 Brunches in the Country by OpenTable.

Family-Friendly Holiday Favorites

4. Show-Stopping Performances  A family tradition for many, the annual production of A Christmas Carol at the Civic Theatre of Allentown has been entertaining enchanted audiences for years. If looking for a holiday tradition with a twist, enjoy the Touchstone Theatres Christmas City Follies XVII, a high-spirited, heartfelt show that merrily showcases the fun and foibles of the holiday season.

5. Holiday Train Display at the America On Wheels Museum  Enjoy in wide-eyed wonder as you take in the sounds, lights, and action of model trains stationed around the museums galleries. Perfect for the whole family, the America On Wheels Museum also serves as a Toys for Tots drop-off site, so feel free to bring a new, unwrapped toy and give back to a child in need.

6. Easton Peace Candle  Thought to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the country, the Easton Peace Candle shines brightly each year in the citys Centre Square. An area tradition since 1951, the candle is a symbol of peace for all religions and denominations. While adoring the candle that burns bright throughout the holiday season, enjoy Easton Main Street and get a jumpstart on holiday shopping.

7. PEEPSFEST  Coming in at nearly 5-feet and 200-pounds, a giant yellow, light-up PEEP will usher in the New Year as it drops at 5:15 p.m. on December 31 during the two-day family friendly celebration. With plenty of activities for the whole family, including music, entertaining acts, and plenty of marshmallow PEEPS to go around, PEEPSFEST is one of the most unique family-friendly New Years Eve celebrations.

Twinkling Lights

8. Winter Lights Spectacular at Lehigh Valley Zoo  Featuring tree-lined paths lit by thousands of twinkling lights and animated displays, the Winter Lights Spectacular transforms Lehigh Valley Zoo into a winter wonderland. Enjoy the Winter Lights Spectacular Wednesday thru Sunday, November 10 to December 31, excluding November 23, December 24 and December 25.

9. Koziars Christmas Village  Filled with over a million Christmas lights covering buildings, barns, and countryside, family-owned and operated Koziars Christmas Village overlooks a beautiful lake that further reflects the stunning lights. Featuring its winter wonderland for 68 years, Koziars Christmas Village is shining from November 4 to January 1.

10. Lights in the Parkway  A favorite display of many locals, Allentowns Lights in the Parkway is a spectacular, more than one mile long, drive-through display on the Lehigh Parkway. Featuring dazzling displays with thousands of brilliant lights, this attraction will truly brighten your holiday season. The display runs between November 24 and December 31.

For more information on Lehigh Valleys holiday attractions, visit LehighValleyHolidays.com, or for photos of Lehigh Valley during the holidays, click here. Follow @LehighValleyPa on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About Discover Lehigh Valley

Established in 1984, Discover Lehigh Valley makes Lehigh and Northampton counties a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases the number of visitors, the number of nights they stay and the number of things they do in the region.

Discover Lehigh Valleys official visitor website and blog, DiscoverLehighValley.com and LehighValleyInSite.com keeps locals and visitors abreast of all things happening in region. Visitors can explore things to do, upcoming events, themed itineraries and hotel packages. Compelling photography and videos, brochures and detailed visitor information make the sites effective trip-planning tools. Along with Discover Lehigh Valleys social media channels, the online platforms communicate directly with consumers. Travelers can also call and stop into one of the many visitor centers for additional information.

About Lehigh Valley, Pa.

Set amid gentle hills and charming country sides, Lehigh Valley, Pa. is home to Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, as well as dozens of small towns and picturesque boroughs.

The region is steeped in pre-Colonial, Early American and industrial history. Lehigh Valley has an impressive range of tourist attractions including nationally-recognized events like Musikfest, wineries and breweries, the Lehigh Valley Zoo, outdoor activities, world-class sporting events, 10 colleges and universities, and is home to Americas favorite brands such as Crayola, Peeps, Mike & Ike, Martin Guitars and Mack Trucks. The region offers a diverse array of memorable things to do and plenty of dining options to fit every budget and taste.

And, its easy to get to and around. Lehigh Valley is located approximately 60 minutes north of Philadelphia and 90 minutes west of New York City by car.
InsurMark owners Steven and Becky Kerns present scholarships to Joshua Long and Kiera Bradley.

For the third year, InsurMark, a national financial advisor development organization with headquarters based in the Memorial area of Houston, Texas, awarded two $5,000 scholarships to local Houston students through its corporate charity, Folds of Honor. This scholarship, part of the InsurMark Cares program, benefits local-area students whose parents received a medical discharge or a loss of life from the United States armed forces for injuries sustained during their time on duty.

About the Scholarship Recipients

Kiera Bradley is the proud daughter of United States Army Captain Kendrick Bradley and a freshman at Texas State University. Sharing in her fathers dedication to service, Kiera is studying to be a nurse with a goal to become either a nurse practitioner or to work in pediatrics when she graduates. Captain Bradley, a veteran of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, was discharged after a distinguished career due to combat related injuries to his leg.

Joshua Long, son to United States Army Specialist Darrell Long, is a freshman at Texas A&M and a Missouri City resident. Josh has been fascinated with engineering since he was a young child. That fascination has never gone away and has lead him to pursue a degree in Engineering. His father, Specialist Long, served six years in the Army. Long was stationed in Germany until 1990, when he was medically discharged due to a work-related injury.

About InsurMark

Based in Houston for 34 years, InsurMark has helped over 20,000 independent financial advisors across the country propel their businesses, and reach or exceed their goals. With decades of year-over-year growth, InsurMark offers specialized expertise in case design, education and marketing for fixed and fixed-indexed annuity, life-insurance, and asset-based long-term care products. InsurMark offers:



Premier wealth accumulation and retirement income products and carriers

Licensed, experienced business development consultants

Lead generation and prospecting programs

Marketing and branding support

Onsite and online sales training and education

Practice-betterment solutions

Advanced technology tools and solutions

About Folds of Honor Foundation

Founded by Major Dan Rooney in 2007, Folds of Honor provides college scholarships to the spouses and children of service members disabled or killed during U.S. military service. More than one million dependents have been affected by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and 87 percent of them do not qualify for federal scholarship assistance. Folds of Honor, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, has a mission to empower deserving military families with educational support and opportunities.
Hawthorne Cat will always work with you to find the best equipment solutions for your business. Give us a call today!

Hawthorne Cat, the exclusive Cat equipment dealer in San Diego, the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Region, announces new year-end tax savings opportunities for 2017. Qualified buyers are eligible for significant tax advantages on new and used equipment through the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act (PATH Act).*

Section 179 expensing levels are set at $500,000, meaning taxpayers can expense up to $500,000 in purchases for 2017 as long as certain taxable income limitations are met. If total purchases exceed $2 million, a dollar-for-dollar phase out takes effect and the deduction is completely eliminated at $2.5 million. Section 179 is permanent at the $500,000 level until further notice. Both new and used equipment are eligible for expensing.*

In addition to normal depreciation, 50% bonus depreciation is in effect for new equipment purchases this year. Equipment must be purchased and placed in service during 2015, 2016, or 2017 to qualify. This provision has been extended to 2019. Bonus depreciation will decrease to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019.*

According to Sales Manager Ross Farmer, The year is almost over, but you can still take advantage of these huge tax savings opportunities. Farmer continues, Hawthorne Cat will always work with you to find the best equipment solutions for your business. Give us a call today!

Purchase a new or used Cat machine in 2017 to benefit from these tax advantages. Visit the Hawthorne Cat website or contact your Hawthorne Cat Sales Representative at 800.437.4228 for more information.

*Hawthorne Cat does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. Always check with your accountant or tax attorney to verify your eligibility for any tax deductions.

About Hawthorne Cat

Hawthorne Cat is the authorized dealer for Cat construction and power equipment in San Diego, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. Hawthorne sells, rents, provides parts and service, training and emission solutions to various industries including general building construction, landscaping, marine, paving and power generation. For more on Hawthorne Cat, visit http://www.hawthornecat.com.
Pieology, the creator of personally-inspired pizzas, announces the Grand Opening of its newest location at 1147 Broadway, Unit 103 in Denver, Colorado.

Join the local Denver community as it officially welcomes Pieology to the neighborhood on Wednesday, November 29. To celebrate its newest location, Pieology is offering free pizza to the first one hundred guests, and $5 pizzas all day long for members of the restaurants Pie Life e-club. For an extra slice of fun, guests can also enjoy games, prizes and balloon animals, as well as an on-site radio broadcast from KOSI 101.1. As the restaurant opens its doors, guests can expect delicious handmade personal pizzas crafted with only the freshest ingredients and signature sauces. Boasting a variety of menu options as well as the ability to create your own personalized pie, Pieology delivers limitless pizza combinations, all of which are stone oven fired in six minutes or less.*

The fast-casual pizza restaurant is excited to bring its newest location to Denver as it continues to grow its community of Pieology lovers. What began in California as a promise to deliver creative and delicious personally-inspired pizzas has grown into a nationwide family of restaurants that is excited to bring that same quality experience to the Denver community.

Award-winning Pieology has been dishing out delicious hand-crafted pizzas since 2011, growing from a simple idea to bring creativity back to pizza that now encompasses over 140 stores across the nation. In addition to Pieologys original thin crust and new PieRise* thick crust pizzas, guests can enjoy custom salads as well, along with a variety of beer and wine selections. Even dairy-free diners can rejoice, as this location will offer Daiya Vegan Mozzarella Cheese. With all of these delicious offerings available for dine-in, carry out, and online ordering options, Pieology truly offers something for everyone.

The Denver Pieology team has enjoyed serving communities throughout the greater Denver area, and is excited to bring Pieologys service and passion to the new downtown location. With hopes to open over a dozen locations in Colorado, the company looks to expand their robust team as they continue to inspire, train and grow the Pieology Denver family. Along with serving delicious pizza, Pieology is committed to making a positive difference in the community it serves by hosting fundraising events to support local causes.

Pieology Denver will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Guests can stay up to date on the latest offerings and get special access to deals by joining Pie Life, Pieologys community of friends and flavor pioneers. To learn more about Pieology, visit http://www.pieology.com or find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

*PieRise may take slightly longer depending on location

About Pieology Pizzeria

Using only the freshest ingredients along with signature sauces and crusts, award-winning Pieology offers hand-crafted, personally-inspired pizzas in unlimited flavor combinations that are stone oven fired in six minutes or less. Founded in 2011, Pieology was created from the simple idea to turn Americas most craveable food into an affordable and interactive experience. Pieologys mission is to inspire individual creativity in a positive atmosphere where guests can gather with family and friends, while enjoying their delicious pizza creations. Along with providing great food and a memorable dining experience, Pieology is committed to making a positive difference in the communities it serves, one pie at a time. For more information, visit http://www.pieology.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Attorney Gayle Gerling Pettinga We are grateful for and motivated by the opportunity to serve our clients; and we are committed to treating every client with respect and sincerity. Its important to us that our clients feel good about their experience with our firm. Past News Releases RSS Gerling Law Empowers Women and...

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Gerling Law Attorney Neal Anderson...

Award-winning attorney Gayle Gerling Pettinga, owner and managing attorney of Gerling Law, was recently honored by Marquis Whos Who for excellence in the legal field. Additionally, Pettinga has been named to the 2017 10 Best Personal Injury Attorneys for Client Satisfaction list by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys.

We are grateful for and motivated by the opportunity to serve our clients; and we are committed to treating every client with respect and sincerity. Its important to us that our clients feel good about their experience with our firm, said Pettinga, who is also a board member for the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association.

No stranger to recognition, during the course of her distinguished thirty-year legal career Pettinga has been named among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the American Trial Lawyers Association every year since 2007 and is an AV peer-review-rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell.

In addition to law, Gerling-Pettinga and Gerling Law are deeply committed to the communities in which they live and work and passionate about helping others. Since 2007, Gerling Law has provided over 7,000 free bicycle helmets to children in need throughout their community with the Great Helmet Giveaway.

Furthermore, the attorneys of Gerling Law demonstrate an ongoing commitment to civic duty through the Gerling Law Giving Pledge. Altogether, the firm has supported over 100 charitable, non-profit organizations including the Tri-State Food Bank, Evansville Christian Life Center, and the Evansville African American Museum.

About Gerling Law

For over five decades, Gerling Law has pursued justice and fair compensation for people who have been injured by someones actions or neglect, along with people who can no longer support themselves because of an illness or injury. Practice areas include personal injury, medical malpractice and Social Security disability. Gerling Law has four locations: 519 Main Street, Evansville, IN 47708; 120 East Market Street, Suite 1271, Indianapolis, IN 46204; 4965 U.S. Highway 42, Suite 1000, Louisville, KY 40222; and 2645 Frederica Street, Suite 200-A, Owensboro, KY 42301. For more information, please call (888) 437-5464, or visit http://www.gerlinglaw.com.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
48 Hours of Prayer 2018 48 Hours of Prayer is a unique and powerful experience Dr. Bonadie said. There is nothing like starting off your new year with dedicated prayer for the issues that we are facing - whether its getting over your past or claiming your future. Its healing for the soul.

48 Hours of Prayer  the internationally acclaimed two-day prayer conference hosted by author and pastor Dr. Peter Bonadie  will host all services at the famous Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, NY, attracting an estimated 10,000 people to the event on January 12  January 14, 2018.

48 Hours of Prayer is a unique and powerful experience Dr. Bonadie said. There is nothing like starting off your new year with dedicated prayer for the issues that we are facing - whether its getting over your past or claiming your future. Its healing for the soul.

Due to the overwhelming attendance at the 2017 edition of 48 Hours of Prayer with over 3,000 people attending the event, The Kings Theatre was selected for all services in 2018. Our theme for 2018 is Cancer Free - we will pray for 1,000 cancer patients at the event.

The 2018 speaker line-up include:



Dr. Peter Bonadie - author and pastor of the 1,000 member church, Kingdom Life Ministries International;

Dr. Cindy Trimm - best selling author, sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader;

Apostle John Eckhardt - best selling author and pastor of the 4,000 member Crusader Church in Chicago, Illonois;

Rev. Xola Nzo - South Africas preaching machine and senior pastor of Change Bible Church

in Katlehong, South Africa;



Pastor Randy Thurman - Founder of Living Word Church in Niagara Falls; International Evangelist having ministered in 16 Countries around the world

To Register visit our website - http://www.48hoursofprayer.com

About 48 Hours of Prayer - Since its inception in 2005, 48 Hours of Prayer has been a meeting place for diverse audiences from Brooklyn, New York to Mumbai, India and has reached nearly 1 million people. Visit 48HoursOfPrayer.com to register, more information and updates. Stay connected via Twitter by following @DrPeterBonadie, on facebook @DrPeterBonadie, on Instagram @KLMINY.

Contacts:

Sheldon Elliott

P: 347-957-2068
BIA Baldy View Chapter President Ali Sahabi will present the President's Award to Ikhrata at the annual gala Dec. 7. (Ikhrata's) pioneering spirit  reflected in an ongoing push to do what is right  is what is needed to address regional housing affordability and transportation needs now and long into the future.

The Building Industry Association Baldy View Chapter will honor Southern California Association of Governments Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata  one of the regions foremost smart growth pioneers  at the associations annual holiday gala next month in Pomona. Proceeds will benefit HomeAid, a leading nonprofit provider of housing for todays homeless.

Ikhrata is considered one of the preeminent transportation experts in the nation, promoting smart growth approaches to land development that combine higher-density, transit-oriented mixed-use neighborhoods. He has more than 25 years of public and private sector experience in transportation planning in Southern California and is credited with being a transformational and unifying leader in fostering public participation in the development of regional transportation plans. Prior to joining SCAG, he worked for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. He holds degrees in Civil and Industrial Engineering from Zaporozhye University in the former Soviet Union; a masters in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles; and Ph.D. candidacy in Urban Planning and Transportation from the University of Southern California.

The Presidents Award will be presented to Ikhrata as part of BIA Baldy Views 2017 Annual Holiday Charity Gala to be held Thursday, Dec. 7, at the Sheraton Conference Center, 601 West McKinley Ave., in Pomona. For information, visit http://bit.ly/2iVEpYZ.

Hasan Ikhrata has an amazing wealth of knowledge and insight into the future needs of L.A.s urban environment, said BIA Baldy View President Ali Sahabi. His pioneering spirit  reflected in an ongoing push to do what is right  is what is needed to address regional housing affordability and transportation needs now and long into the future.

Randall Lewis, Executive Vice President of Lewis Group of Companies, praised SCAGs accomplishments under Ikhratas leadership to promote housing availability and affordability.

Hasan is a leader in the industrys growing movement to address these challenges and promote the American Dream of homeownership, Lewis said. California is experiencing a severe shortage of two million homes, and housing affordability is ranked 29th in the nation. The innovative approaches being implemented through SCAG are making a difference in the ability of our children and our childrens children to buy homes in Southern California.

ABOUT BIA BALDY VIEW CHAPTER

The mission of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, Baldy View Chapter is to promote, advocate for and grow the homebuilding industry through member representation and community education at the local level. In addition, the Baldy View Chapter maintains a presence and influence on industry-related issues at regional, state and national levels. Visit http://www.BIAbuild.com.
Tartu University Hospital was established in 1804 and is the only university hospital in Estonia. It covers all medical fields from nursing care to oncology and organ transplantation. The hospital has a catchment area which covers ~50% of the Estonian population. It performs 40,000 inpatient treatments and receives 400,000 outpatient visits annually.

Tartu University Hospital is the pioneer of e-Health in Estonia. 80% of its medical data communication is digital.

Tartu University Hospital currently runs 30-40 clinical trials per year, with capacity to do many more, and the expertise to back it up. By joining, the PRS platform, the university hospitals clinical trials facilities will be exposed to a wide range of global clinical trials run by Clinerions clients, international pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations.

Cooperation with Clinerion will make our immense trial capabilities and expertise more visible and accessible internationally. It will certainly bring Tartu more trials at the cutting edge of medical innovation. With our partnership, we also hope to improve our data quality and harmonize our coding practices to international standards, says Margus Ulst, Chief Medical Officer of Tartu University Hospital.

Clinerions coverage is on a steep expansion curve. We are thrilled to expand our footprint to Estonia, says Ulf Claesson, CEO of Clinerion. Tartu University Hospital is a particularly welcome partner for our platform due to its great clinical facilities and high digitization level.

Clinerions network now covers Europe, Asia, South America and North America, with around 150 M patients searchable for trials. The PRS solution queries electronic patient health records to offer patient search and identification for clinical trials, as well as report generation for real-world evidence and market access exercises. PRS utilizes Clinerions proprietary Anonymized Identification technology, which ensures patient privacy by performing patient search and identification from fully anonymized records.

About Clinerion

Clinerion enables early patient access to innovative treatments through solutions for clinical trial patient recruitment, real-world evidence, and market access. Clinerion's PRS accelerates clinical research by radically improving the efficiency and effectiveness of trial recruitment. Clinerions key patient data services include data-assisted protocol optimization, site feasibility evaluation and patient identification. Clinerions solutions allow member hospitals to participate in leading-edge, industry-sponsored trials and save time in patient recruitment. They enable pharmaceutical companies to gain time and save costs by streamlining operations and leveraging strategic intelligence. Clinerions proprietary Big Data analytics technologies leverage real-time data from electronic health records which remain under the full control of participating hospitals. Clinerion is a global data technology service company headquartered in Switzerland. Clinerion's solutions comply with international patient privacy and data security regulations.

Clinerion website: http://www.clinerion.com

Clinerions PRS: http://www.clinerion.com/index/OverviewOurSolutions/PatientRecruitmentSystem

For more information, please contact:

Le Vin Chin

Head of Marketing and Communications

Clinerion Ltd

Margarethenstrasse 47, CH-4053 Basel, Switzerland

Tel.: +41 61 865 60 54

media(at)linerion(dot)com
Carol Ortiz I just completed Anahatas Empowerment & Awakening Courses. With clarity and grace, Anahata fully explained and demonstrated the workings of energy medicine. I have gained valuable tools for myself and for my clients. Thank you, Anahata!

Soul guide and shamanic healer Anahata Ananda of Shamangelic Healing Center, Sedona Arizona's premier center for Shamanic Healing and Spiritual Awakening, is proud to announce the return of her dynamic Weekend Intensive for Empowerment and Awakening. Those interested in learning more about the mind, body and spirit connection can register for this dynamic three and a half-day experience. The retreat will be held at the center March 8  11, 2018.

The Sedona Weekend Intensive for Empowerment and Awakening is for those craving deep and lasting change in their lives. Led by Anahata Ananada of Shamangelic Healing, the Weekend Retreat is designed to guide people who are taking that vital next step on their path of self-discovery.

During the retreat participants will explore and learn tools and practices for healthy relationships, chakra balancing, how to achieve a higher and stronger spiritual connection, tuning into and working with spiritual guides, practical tips for achieving and maintaining vibrant health, balancing the inner divine feminine and divine masculine energies, effective meditation practices and so much more.

The retreat, held in the spectacular Red Rocks and energy vortexes of Sedona, Arizona includes 10 essential Courses for Empowerment and Awakening which provide fundamental tools and perspectives for living a balanced and vibrant life.

This retreat is specifically designed to support people who are feeling off-balance, lost or frustrated in their lives and ready to make profound, lasting changes. Some of the workshops included are: "Clear, Balance and Awaken Your Chakras," "Quantum Manifestation", "Maintaining Healthy Conscious Relationships," "Meditation Tools for Deeper Spiritual Connection," "Maintaining Clear Boundaries," "Balancing the Divine Feminine and Masculine Within" and "Vibrant Spiritual Nutrition."

The weekend intensive is packed with tools, practices and perspectives to provide mainstream audiences with simple applicable concepts for living an empowered, healthy and conscious life. With its healing vortexes and breathtaking beauty, people will find Sedona, Arizona to be the perfect backdrop for their soul-path adventures.

Many people are overwhelmed by life's challenges and frustrated with the often ineffective traditional approaches to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Today more people are realizing and appreciating the surprising results of an integrated mind, body and spirit approach. More individuals are seeking meditation practices, Shamanic healing, Spiritual retreats and sacred land experiences. Shamangelic Healing offers them all in the breathtaking beauty of Sedona, Arizona.

Participants whove experienced the Sedona Weekend Intensive Retreat report a greater sense of calm, peace of mind and even expanded consciousness from their weekend. The Retreat gives participants new tools for staying centered, feeling authentic inspiration and experiencing greater clarity in their life. Each individual leaves with practical tools for integration along with ongoing counseling support to address any challenges and to mentor them in their process of implementing their newfound awareness into their everyday lives.

Shamanic Healer and Spiritual Counselor, Anahata Ananda, has trained extensively with gifted shamans, energy healers and spiritual teachers from around the world in order to artfully integrate the fields of spirituality, energy healing, self-empowerment, and shamanic teachings. Her client-base spans the globe with individuals from all walks of life who are seeking to heal and awaken to their fullest potential.

The Shamangelic Healing Center is based in Sedona, Arizona. It is nestled beneath Thunder Mountain, with 360 degrees of breathtaking views, and within walking distance to a medicine wheel and healing vortexes, making it the perfect setting for healing and expansion. Inside, the retreat center's calm and relaxed environment helps to engage all of the senses, making it easy to settle into a session. Clients seeking Spiritual awakening, transformational healing services, counseling, sacred land journeys or training courses may choose from a wide range of options that can be tailored for the ultimate personal experience.

For those unable to attend or come to Sedona, Anahata has created online courses on the Kajabi platform. Shamangelic online courses are for the global audience, with convenient 24 hour access to videos and self-paced exercise handouts that help people explore the tools and practices to live a more empowered, balanced and conscious life in their everyday lives.

The Sedona Weekend Intensive for Empowerment and Awakening is an intimate event with limited space and participants are advised to register early. For detailed descriptions and a calendar of more upcoming retreats, workshops, courses, and all services offered by Anahata Ananda, visit http://shamangelichealing.com/
The new upgrade is based on the systems core ZONE Sonography Technology (ZST+), which enables software upgrades for new applications such as contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), Sound Touch shear wave elastography and new transducer options.

Mindray, a developer of next generation medical technology, will feature a new upgrade for its premium Resona 7 ultrasound system at the Radiology Society of North America annual conference being held in Chicago November 26  30, 2017. The new upgrade is based on the systems core ZONE Sonography Technology (ZST+), which enables software upgrades for new applications such as contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), Sound Touch shear wave elastography and 10 new transducer options.

As part of our commitment to Living Technology and ensuring ongoing state-of-the-art performance, we have been developing upgrades and new technology for our flagship ultrasound system for our clinical partners, said Glen McLaughlin, PhD, chief product officer, Mindray. This release also includes multiple new transducers, which will significantly broaden the scope of applications for general imaging, vascular, womens imaging, and shared service applications.

Other imaging, software, and calculation enhancements include fetal CNS Smart Planes, Smart Pelvis and a dedicated pelvic congestion syndrome package. The new transducers include C6-2GU interventional/intraoperative; C11-3U microconvex; P10-4U and P7-3U phased pediatric cardiac; P7-3TU adult transesophageal; L16-4HU; SC6-1U and DE10-3WU (3D). There are also two new CW transducers, CW2S and CW5S, for the support of shared service. The new upgrade is expected to be available to Resona 7 customers early next year.

In addition to the upgrade, Mindray will showcase other Resona 7 system advancements including an innovative imaging capability, HD Scope. HD Scope is an image processing technique that focuses imaging resources within a specified region of interest (ROI), analyzes the received channel data, and applies various filtering and processing algorithms. This results in more optimal spatial and contrast resolution for various tissue types, especially small and complex lesions.

All of Mindrays ultrasound systems come with the industrys best investment protection and cost of ownership with a five (5) year warranty when purchased directly from Mindray North America.

About Mindray

Mindray is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices worldwide. Mindray maintains its global headquarters in Shenzhen, China; North American headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey; and multiple development facilities and offices in major international markets including an ultrasound Innovation Center in Silicon Valley. Mindray supplies a broad range of products across three primary business segments, patient monitoring and life support, in-vitro diagnostics, and medical imaging systems. For more information, please visit http://www.mindray.com.
Production Testing Horizontal Berea Well Location Encore has positioned additional horizontal wells off-set to some of the best oil production in the Berea play where investors can deduction 100% of the intangible drilling cost in the first year, typically resulting in a ~40 - 50% or more immediate tax savings

Encore Energy, Inc. is currently testing its first horizontal Berea well and making plans to drill three (3) immediate horizontal wells with five (5) additional horizontal Berea prospects planned in Lawrence County. The Berea play in Eastern Kentucky represents more than 20% of the state's annual oil production with the lion's share of this crude production coming from Lawrence County.

Tax Savings Example: Assuming a federal tax rate of 39.6%, state tax of 10% and a 95% first-year intangible expense allocation, your typical investor could receive $95,000 in deductions and $47,120 in tax savings, in the first year alone, from a $100,000 investment.

The Berea is projected to produce and provide income for up to twenty (20) years or more. Encore is a proven operator in the Berea play. Be sure to check out the investment Due Diligence Section online at http://www.encore-energy.com/Operations.html

Oil and gas investments involve a high degree of risk and are suitable for investors who can afford the loss of their entire investment. Encore Energy, Inc. does not provide tax advice, and prospective investors should seek advice from their tax advisor(s).

For more information and to see if you qualify as an SEC defined accredited investor, please contact Joseph Hooper at (270) 842-1242, ext. 224 or by e-mail at Joseph.Hooper@encore-energy.com

Assumptions, Disclaimer and Cautionary Statement: The information herein may contain forward-looking statements, and actual results may vary. Words such as "estimate", "will," "intend," "continue," "target," "expect," "achieve," "strategy," "future," "may," "goal," or other comparable words or phrases or the negative of those words, and other words of similar meaning indicate forward-looking statements and important factors which could affect actual results. Forward-looking statements are made based upon Management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Encore Energy, Inc. Oil and gas investments involve a high degree of risk, uncertainty and are only suitable for qualified Accredited (SEC Definition) investors who are sophisticated in making business decisions and can bear the financial loss of their entire investment, while delivering a turnkey profit to the Company for proving the prospect development, lease acquisition, drilling, completion, engineering and ongoing production operations. The Company does not provide tax advice and investors should seek the advice of their tax professional. Any tax and/or other information herein is provided for illustration purposes only and may include estimates that are uncertain and subject to change. It is impossible to accurately forecast profitability, production, reserves, income, expenses and timelines for any project. No assurances can be made as it relates to reserves, production, income, profit, prices, timelines and/or other estimates. Actual production and results are beyond the control of management. In the event that commercial production is achieved, it may take many years for the investor to recoup his or her investment. The Company's lease acreage position under is subject to change and includes acreage under lease, Farmout agreement, verbal agreement, renewals, expired terms and any other prospective acreage in which the Company has communicated and/or negotiated with the landowner the leasing of oil and gas rights, now or in the future, and the lease / mineral owner has leased or communicated their intent to lease there mineral lease rights to the Company. It is important for qualified investors to acknowledge the fact that the US government provides them with tax savings (100% IDC tax deduction) to mitigate or at least off-set some of the financial risk associated with domestic oil and gas investments. This is not an offer to sell or buy a security. An offer shall only be made pursuant to SEC Regulation D, Rule 506(c) by a private placement offering memorandum which further governed by the National Investment Securities Marketing Improvement Act of 1996. This is not a private placement offering memorandum.
The recent dissolution of Cambodias only credible opposition party has heightened the risk of political and social instability in the Southeast Asian nation in the run-up to next years general elections, but will likely have limited economic implications over the short term, according to an assessment by risk consultancy Access Asia Consulting Co Ltd.

We view Cambodias political situation as unstable, yet the economic implications as slight, the Hong Kong registered company wrote in the assessment, cautioning however that the political situation in Cambodia is fluid and events are changing daily. The likelihood of an intensification of the ruling party's crackdown on members of the now defunct CNRP, civil society and the media is high.

The assessment  The Dissolution of the CNRP and Implications for Foreign Investment  is based on research conducted inside Cambodia and abroad during, preceding and following the week of the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party on 16 November.

Key informants from the now disbanded CNRP and the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) were interviewed for the assessment, as well as regional security experts, diplomats, academics and executives. Moreover, Access Asia regularly conducts assessments, investigations, due diligence and field research in the Kingdom.

Although an intensification of the crackdown could trigger a backlash, anti-government protests are likely to be small-scale and uncoordinated due to the CPP's firm control over the police and military, the assessment concluded.

The ASEAN-focused consulting firm identified the major threat to Cambodias economy to be a possible exclusion from the European Unions Everything but Arms initiative, which allows preferential access to the market for Cambodian exports. This threat, however, would not be immediate because the process of excluding a country from the EBA can take three years and is preceded by a review and dialogue process.

The assessment also notes an increase in geopolitical interference in Cambodian politics, one sign of which is anti-American rhetoric. This rhetoric indicates that geopolitical interference in Cambodian politics is on an upswing, with rivals of Western democracies sensing weakness as Washington withdraws from its preeminent role in the region and China displays its rising assertiveness, the assessment notes, pointing to Chinas investments along Cambodias coastline as strategic moves for greater influence in maritime routes.

Nelson Rand, co-founder and Director of Research and Investigations of Access Asia, said the company has expanded its research network in Cambodia to meet increased demand for independent and detailed research tailored to the specific needs of its regional and global clients. What we are seeing in ASEAN in general is an uptick in demand for risk-related research from corporates, he explained, adding that ASEANs smaller economies have been under closer scrutiny since the advent of the AEAN Economic Community. The opportunities in the region, including Cambodia, are immense. Risk assessment is vital to effective decision making that maximizes opportunities and avoiding losses, Rand said.

About Access Asia Consulting Co Ltd:

Access Asia Consulting Company is a boutique risk management firm specializing in corporate investigations, due diligence, and security-related services across Southeast Asia. We maintain extensive local networks that enable us to gain access, insight and client-oriented information to help foreign investors and other clients navigate the complex business, political and security landscape of the region.

In Ho Chi Minh City contact: (nelson.rand(at)accessasiaconsulting(dot)com)

In Bangkok contact (chandler.v(at)accessasiaconsulting(dot)com)
Ellen Rubino

Haute Residence welcomes Ellen Rubino to its invitation-only network of acclaimed real estate agents. As a Haute Residence partner, Rubino is the sole broker who represents the high-end real estate market in Vero Beach and along the Space Coast of Florida.

With 18 years of experience as a realtor on the Space Coast, Rubino has risen as the premier Space Coast luxury waterfront home specialist. She is ranked in the top 1 percent of realtors for real estate sales along the Space Coast of Florida.

Attesting to her expertise are the many accolades Rubino has earned during her prolific career. She has been recognized as a multi-million dollar producer year after year and has achieved the prestigious RE/MAX Hall of Fame award.

Surrounded by a talented support team that allows her to provide excellent customer service, Rubino is the top agent at RE/MAX Aerospace Realty, which has over $265 million in sales in 2017.

About Haute Residence:

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners.

The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts.

HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more.

Access all of this information and more by visiting: http://www.hauteresidence.com
Magnus Jennemyr

Haute Residence welcomes acclaimed broker Magnus Jennemyr to its invitation-only network of top real estate agents. As a Haute Residence partner, Jennemyr exclusively represents the high-end real estate market in Coconut Grove, Florida.

As one of the top producing brokers in South Florida, Jennemyr specializes in luxury properties in Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and Miami Beach  be they waterfront homes, commercial investments, retail opportunities or vacation residences. With over 10 years of experience in residential and commercial agency and real estate investment sales, Jennemyr possesses the insight, resources and dedication to find the very best estates that fit his discerning clients needs.

Jennemyrs unmatched white-glove service rests on his understanding of how crucial home buying is  both financially and emotionally. But so is home selling. For home sellers, he provides complimentary analysis of how much a home might be worth without expecting a commitment. For Jennemyr, it goes back to fostering a community and helping others attain their dreams.

He genuinely loves teaming up with colleagues and helping people irrespective of transaction and includes charitable donations and volunteering as part of the service. Always seizing a chance to give back to the community, Jennemyr is a major advocate for the impoverished and underprivileged.

Native of Sweden, Jennemyr moved with his wife Chelsea to Miami and Coconut Grove in 2004 from London, UK after getting married in Coconut Grove in 2002. Prior to that, he had spent over 15 years as a successful leader in the financial and technology sectors overseas and traveled extensively across the globe.

In 2006, Jennemyr decided that he needed a change of lifestyle with less work-related travel. With his international background and a hotbed for Real Estate in Florida it was a natural transition. He was quickly employed by Pointe Group Advisors and very soon became the Broker for Pointe Group Realty. In 2015, PGA was sold to Colliers International. Around the same time, Jennemyr successfully opened Select Realty Group to the South Florida and international market. Select Realty Group is a boutique real estate company, providing white-glove service to sellers and buyers in the residential and commercial markets and catering to its clients well beyond the transaction.

Jennemyr enjoys the lifestyle balance of family, real estate, friends, community, sport, charity and fundraising.

About Haute Residence:

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners.

The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts.

HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more.

Access all of this information and more by visiting: http://www.hauteresidence.com
Best SEO Firms in New York

10 Best SEOwhich rates and ranks the very best search engine optimization (SEO) companies in the United States of Americahas chosen Youth Noise, SEO Image, and Hudson Integrated as the top three in its 10 Best SEO Agency category for the New York area. The companies are ranked numbers 1, 2, and 3, respectively for November 2017.

10 Best SEO is a division of San Francisco-based 10 Best Network LLC, which provides information on digital marketing agencies across the nation. 10 Best SEO specifically focuses on companies that provide SEO services to boost clients visibility online, thereby increasing website traffic and potentially improving sales and revenue. 10 Best SEO uses attributes such as customer reviews, amount of web traffic, and number and type of awards won to rate and rank SEO agencies.

As the best New York SEO firm, Youth Noise is based in the New York metro area. (Its headquarters are in Jersey City, N.J.) Youth Noise prides itself on the personalities of its founders, Ajay Paghdal and Ronell Stewart, who currently serve as the CEO and president, respectively. Paghdal and Stewart met at an online marketing event and decided to collaborate in an effort to assist business owners who desperately want to attract more website traffic. Tools that Youth Noise uses to accomplish this include video optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design and development, content marketing, real-time bidding (RTB), and Facebook marketing. Clients of Youth Noise have included Coldwell Banker, Mr. Rooter, Dharma Merchant Services, and Honeyfund.

Ranked number 2 on the list, SEO Image is a top SEO agency that centers its digital marketing services on SEO. Such solutions include PPC management, content marketing, conversion rate optimization (CRO), web design and development, and social media promotion. In addition, SEO Image provides complimentary tools like keyword density checker and a sitemap generator. SEO Images clientele has included BLT Steak, Law.com, and GlobalSign.

At number three on the roster of leading New York SEO firms is Hudson Integrated, which describes itself as The USER First Digital Web Agency. Using a more holistic approach to SEO, Hudson Integrated has worked with clients such as Numrich, MOVE Bumpers, Handy Store Fixtures, and John Mini Distinctive Landscapes. Hudson has been recognized by media outlets and industry experts like BtoB Magazine, NJBIZ, PR News, and the Web Marketing Association (WMA).

For more details about winners for this month, please visit http://www.10bestseo.com.
Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific aims to provide agricultural businesses the right technology to better engage with their customers, and automate their business operations. - Sandeep Walia, President, Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific

Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific, a leading provider of industry specific business solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, will be exhibiting at the Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2017 on November 28, 2017 at the Hilton Brisbane, Australia.

The Hitachi Social Innovation Forum will bring together industry experts to discuss Technology in Agriculture as well as Digital Transformation in Mining. This half-day event will provide the opportunity to resolve issues faced by the Agriculture and Mining industries in Australia by combining advanced IT with new technologies, allowing Hitachi to provide total solutions.

With the ever changing economy, the agriculture industry faces various challenges including seasonal inventory requirements, cost control, and scalability which causes irregularity on their business planning. Having the right business management solution that adapts to these challenges can improve every aspect of the industrys operations.

Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific will share new insights on how agribusinesses can simplify their processes, measure crop yield and improve profitability with the Agriculture ERP and Grower Management Solution built within Microsoft Dynamics 365. This ERP for Agribusinesses solution will support multiple processes such as planting, field monitoring, financial management, warehouse and inventory management, operational and management reporting, and grower management.

As the population grows, the agriculture industry faces the challenge of rising demand and therefore must increase their productivity. In order to overcome this challenge, digital transformation and automation is the answer, said Sandeep Walia, President, Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific. Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific aims to provide agricultural businesses the right technology to better engage with their customers, and automate their business operations.

For more information on the Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2017, Brisbane, please visit this link: https://hsifbrisbane.hitachi/.

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About Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific

Hitachi Solutions Asia Pacific helps its customers with industry specific solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 enhanced with world class Business Analytics, and Portals and Collaboration. Recognized as worldwide Microsoft Dynamics Cloud Partner in 2017, Microsoft ERP Partner of year for Philippines in 2015 and 2016 and Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year in Asia Pacific in 2015, Microsoft CRM Global Partner of the Year in 2014 and the 2014 Dynamics Global Outstanding Reseller of the Year, Hitachi Solutions Group provides global capabilities with regional offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Japan, China, and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit: http://apac.hitachi-solutions.com.

About Hitachi Solutions, Ltd.

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the core IT Companies of Hitachi Group and a recognized leader in delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to companies across many industries. The company provides value-driven services throughout the IT life cycle from systems planning to systems integration, operation and maintenance. Hitachi Solutions delivers products and services of superior value to customers worldwide through key subsidiaries in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China, and Asia Pacific. For more information on Hitachi Solutions, please visit: http://www.hitachi-solutions.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer societys challenges with our talented team and proven experience in global markets. The companys consolidated revenues for fiscal 2016 (ended March 31, 2017) totaled 9,162 billion yen ($81.8 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes power & infrastructure systems, information & telecommunication systems, construction machinery, high functional materials & components, automotive systems, healthcare and others. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the companys website at http://www.hitachi.com.
Our partnership with MyMipsScore gives healthcare providers and medical practices a streamlined path through the maze of requirements they must fulfill to earn the best MIPS score possible.

HIPAA Secure Now! (HSN) and MyMipsScore (MMS) are joining forces in a new partnership designed to give healthcare providers a competitive advantage as they adapt to the requirements of MIPS  the Merit-based Incentive Payment System  which determines Medicare reimbursements using value-based care criteria rather than the traditional fee-for-service model.

Higher scores equal higher reimbursements, said Art Gross, CEO of HIPAA Secure Now! Our partnership with MyMipsScore gives healthcare providers and medical practices a streamlined path through the maze of requirements they must fulfill in order to earn the best MIPS score possible, while also complying with HIPAA regulations and avoiding penalties.

With the aim of linking reimbursements to the ability of physicians to provide higher quality care at lower costs, MIPS assigns points in various performance categories to establish a base score. The partnership between HSN and MMS enables doctors to maximize those scores and avoid penalties, particularly in the Advancing Care Information (ACI) category of the MIPS assessment.

For medical practices, HSN simplifies the process of conducting a Security Risk Analysis (SRA), a key requirement for earning points in the ACI category (which replaced the older Meaningful Use guidelines)  as well as complying with HIPAA regulations. And the MyMipsScore app eases the task of compiling, calculating, and analyzing data across all 271 quality measures that comprise the MIPS scores.

Pawan Jindal, founder of MyMipsScore, emphasizes the importance of earning points  and potential bonuses  in the ACI category. If physicians are trying to get the maximum score with the minimum effort and earn bonuses it definitely helps to meet the criteria in the ACI category  especially for the many providers who have already been following the Meaningful Use guidelines, he said. But its important to remember that medical practices must complete the Security Risk Analysis in order to earn those ACI points and show that they are serious about protecting patients health information.

Not only do MIPS scores serve as incentives for improving the delivery of medical care, they have a direct impact on the bottom line. Based upon their MIPS performance scores in 2017, physicians can expect to see their Medicare reimbursement payments vary by +/- four percent beginning in 2019. By 2022, payments will vary by +/- nine percent.

MIPS scores affect the reimbursement percentage, and most importantly, patients will know which providers earned high or low scores, HSNs Gross said. When healthcare providers fail to perform a Security Risk Analysis it results in an ACI base score of zero, an automatic loss of 25 points from the MIPS score, lower reimbursements, and a lower ranking  all made visible to the public. When patients see these scores, it affects the reputation of the medical practice.

Essentially, the Security Risk Analysis process enables medical practices to identify areas where patient health information may be vulnerable to hackers and ransomware demands  and to take steps to protect that data through training employees to avoid phishing scams, establishing encryption procedures, developing breach response plans, and implementing other security measures.

We believe this partnership with MyMipsScore gives medical practices the best tools possible for achieving the best possible scores, Gross said.

About HIPAA Secure Now!

HIPAA Secure Now! has been helping clients comply with the HIPAA Security Rule since 2009. The companys all-in-one solution provides Security Risk Assessment, which also satisfies MIPS Advancing Care Information (ACI), as well as privacy and security policies and procedures, and training. HIPAA Secure Now! moves customers toward HIPAA compliance quickly and easily, and protects them in the event of an audit. Customers can complete the entire process in less than three hours, and regularly comment that it is painless and has made their lives easier. For more information visit http://www.HIPAASecureNow.com.

About MyMipsScore LLC

MyMipsScore is a healthcare technology company focused on helping clients achieve their goals through highly customized, end-to-end People Compatible software solutions. More information is available at http://www.mymipsscore.com.
With the addition of Burness Paull, Lex Mundi strengthens its presence in Europe and underscores its commitment to provide its member firms and their clients access to the most experienced and most highly regarded counsel around the world.

Lex Mundis Board of Directors voted unanimously to admit Burness Paull LLP as its exclusive member firm for Scotland.

Burness Paull LLP is a leading, full-service law firm with more than 300 lawyers in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Acting for clients in Scotland, the UK and around the globe, the firm has highly resourced teams with extensive experience in corporate; commercial; intellectual property; property and planning; finance; employment and pensions; health, safety and environmental; construction; dispute resolution; and private capital.

Philip Rodney, Chairman of Burness Paull LLP, stated, Serving our clients globally is a key part of our strategy. Lex Mundi membership will enhance our ability to do so, wherever in the world our clients business takes them. We look forward to working with Lex Mundis network of leading member firms globally.

Carl Anduri, President of Lex Mundi, commented, "We are pleased to welcome this outstanding firm to our network. With the addition of Burness Paull, Lex Mundi strengthens its presence in Europe and underscores its commitment to provide its member firms and their clients access to the most experienced and most highly regarded counsel around the world."

About Lex Mundi

Lex Mundi is the worlds leading network of independent law firms with in-depth experience in 100+ countries. Lex Mundi member firms offer clients preferred access to more than 21,000 lawyers worldwide  a global resource of unmatched breadth and depth. Each member firm is selected on the basis of its leadership in  and continued commitment to  its local market. The Lex Mundi principle is one independent firm for each jurisdiction. Firms must maintain their level of excellence to retain membership within Lex Mundi.

Through close collaboration, information-sharing, training and inter-firm initiatives, the Lex Mundi network is an assurance of connected, on-the ground expertise in every market in which a client needs to operate. Working together, Lex Mundi members are able to handle seamlessly their clients most challenging cross-border transactions and disputes.

Member law firms are located throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and North America. Through Lex Mundis nonprofit affiliate, the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, members also provide pro bono legal assistance to social entrepreneurs around the globe.

For more information, please visit http://www.lexmundi.com and http://www.lexmundiprobono.org.
Amplify Logo "Were looking forward to Margarets leadership to help Amplifys clients achieve their business and financial results." - Andy Badstubner, CEO Amplify Techology Group

Amplify Technology Group, the leading provider of talent, processes, and platform technology consulting in the Southeast is pleased to announce Margaret Darby has joined the team as chief operations officer. Darbys more than 25 years of experience in information services and information technology will bring immediate value to Amplify clients.

Darbys impressive career includes 24 years at Accenture and managing projects with premier brands including BellSouth/AT&T, Telstra, StarHub, Level 3 Communications, US Cellular, Metrolinx, and Marriott. Having led teams from 15 to 1500 IT professionals in both North America and Asia Pacific, Darbys hands-on approach and focus on operational excellence drives measurable results.

Margaret is versatile, pragmatic and adaptive. She is able to rapidly assess unfamiliar situations, analyze options and develop action plans, said Andy Badstubner, CEO of Amplify. She has repeatedly demonstrated her ability to solve complex problems and navigate intricate organizational structures. Were looking forward to Margarets leadership to help Amplifys clients achieve their business and financial results.

Andy and the Amplify team are providing the technology talent, processes, and platforms that will allow midsize businesses to scale, said Darby. The opportunity to use my tenure as an enterprise consultant and to make a real impact on midsize companies was too good to pass up. Im looking forward to hitting the ground running and making immediate impact for our clients.

Amplify is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and services domestic clients as well as clients in Mexico, Australia, and Africa.

About Amplify Technology Group

Amplify Technology Group specializes in solving the most challenging technology issues facing high-growth companies from the Fortune 500 to small startups. Our proprietary assessment and advisory approach gives companies a holistic view of their technology capabilities and gaps, helps develop actionable roadmaps and execute at-speed to achieve business objectives. Our team of technology and execution experts helps domestic and international clients solve problems in IT strategy, enterprise architecture, application development, program/project management, and infrastructure strategy. Please see https://amplify.io for more information.
ExtensionEngine, a leading provider of Custom Learning Experiences, today announced it was chosen by Magnify Ventures, an emerging leader in online education, as a technology partner on the development of a new online university.

Founded by entrepreneurs with extensive experience in emerging markets along with a bold vision around the need for a modern higher education offering, Magnify is establishing a new online learning initiative to educate a growing base of international students seeking access to a high-quality higher educational experience. The kind of experience that aims to fill the gap that currently exists between employer expectations and student education.

With this initiative, we are seeking to address one of the key challenges impeding growth in developing markets - access to skilled, educated talent, said Fadl Al Tarzi, Managing Partner, Magnify Ventures. UNESCO is reporting 100 million students could find themselves unable to attend university by 2025 due to a shortage of university seats. Poor educational standards coupled with a looming shortage in university seats across developing countries are leading to a growing talent gap. We are creating a best of breed technology-based educational experience to ensure learning is aligned with rapidly evolving markets. We chose to work with ExtensionEngine because of their experience with innovation at elite universities such as Harvard, MIT and the University of Notre Dame. 

Magnify is taking an innovative approach with this initiative. They have asked us to build the technology required to support the learner and the market, said Furqan Nazeeri, Partner, ExtensionEngine. They are thinking big and have none of the constraints that legacy approaches and technology imposes on most in higher education. Were excited to be working with them on this ground-breaking project.

Weve been anticipating a disruption of the traditional, classroom-based delivery model of higher education for two decades now. Some saw early evidence of it in the growth of online masters programs, others in the MOOC explosion of five years ago, while more recently others have turned their attention to the promise of competency-based education models, said Peter Stokes, Managing Director, Huron Consulting Group, which is also consulting Magnify on this project. Magnify is setting out to bring the best of these capabilities to a global market at scale, at a very affordable price. That has the potential to be truly disruptive  bringing high-quality educational programs to emerging markets of higher education consumers around the world, supported by an engaging curriculum and state-of-the-art personalized learning technologies.

About Magnify Ventures

Magnify Ventures @magnifyventures is a hybrid technology firm. We combine operating technology startups with an angel fund, both designed to run, build and invest in disruptive businesses - while making the world a better place in the process. Our sector of focus is online education. Were entrepreneurs, innovators, and business people who have built and operated successful organizationsnot financial analysts or venture capitalists looking for the next big idea. Magnify Ventures does not intend to find cures to the world's diseases or to foster world peace, rather our intent is to invest in highly promising and innovative ideas which have the ability to positively impact our world one step at a time.

About ExtensionEngine

ExtensionEngine develops Custom Learning Experiences, delivering online and blended programs for universities, corporations and not-for-profits. Leveraging the latest advances in learning science and technology, the company takes a comprehensive, unbundled, fee-for-service approach to develop programs that engage learners, encourage collaboration, and increase retention. A privately held company based in Cambridge, MA, ExtensionEngine has launched over 70 programs for more than 40 organizations. To learn more, visit http://www.extensionengine.com.
The Daily Commercial News (DCN) is the leader in delivering essential construction news, tender information and project leads to eastern Canadas construction marketplace. The redesign, along with the addition of a new Canadian section to the ConstructConnect website, gives our audience a best-in-industry content experience, while bolstering the digital foundation of the most innovative news and project information source in the Canadian construction industry

ConstructConnect, a leading provider of construction information and technology solutions in North America, announced today the launch of two new websites for its award-winning, legacy publications the Daily Commercial News (DCN) and the Journal of Commerce(JOC). The websites are positioned to support DCN and JOC as trusted online resources for essential construction news, tender information and project leads.

DCN has served Eastern Canadas construction marketplace for almost 100 years. Although JOC focuses on Western Canada, it holds the unique honour of being Canadas oldest construction industry trade publication.

The new websites are an investment in a new dynamic publishing platform that allow the publications to share the valuable content the readers want, as well as roll out additional functionality to support the readers business needs. Optimized to provide an inclusive, user-friendly experience on both desktop and mobile devices, the new websites make it even easier to find, view, and share industry news and information.

The redesign of the Journal of Commerce and Daily Commercial News websites marks the next chapter in our companys historic transition for these iconic publications, explained Mark Casaletto, president of ConstructConnect-Canada. At a time when our journalism, project data and analytics are read and respected by more people, across more channels than ever before, enhancing our digital platform to provide a more valuable and effective experience for our readers and advertisers just made sense.

The new DCN and JOC websites were designed with special consideration for construction industry professionals, and provide readers with the following new features:



Sleek new design with improved user navigation and interface

Enhanced search for Certificates of Substantial Performance and legal ads, - including the ability to filter by owner, contractor and custom date range

Embedded video capabilities

Easier access to the content users want

Increased visual imagery to complement articles and promote engagement

The redesign, along with the addition of a new Canadian section to the ConstructConnect website, gives our audience a best-in-industry content experience, while bolstering the digital foundation of the most innovative news and project information source in the Canadian construction industry, said Casaletto.

The DCN and JOC publications are recipients of multiple Construction Writers Association awards for coverage in local, national and international construction news stories. The new websites will continue to showcase the same award-winning industry news, project leads and special features.

To learn more about the Daily Commercial News or the Journal of Commerce, visit constructconnect.com.

About ConstructConnect

ConstructConnect is a leading provider of construction information and technology solutions in North America. Through the combination of its four legacy brands (iSqFt, Construction Market Data, BidClerk and Construction Data), ConstructConnect brings project participants together with the most complete, accurate and actionable construction data and tools to drive success in national, regional and local markets. Its collaborative network empowers the construction industry to be more successful with access to relevant information through easy to use technology. For more information, visit constructconnect.com.
Ben Holt, Gray House Food Pantry Director; Brian Lawler of The Gaudreau Group; Teresa Liberti, Gray House Executive Director For almost 100 years, our company has proudly supported organizations like The Gray House to help those in need and make our community a better place. - Jules Gaudreau, President

The Gaudreau Group of Wilbraham, MA donated 177lbs of Thanksgiving sides, baby food, and diapers to The Gray House on their Thanksgiving Donation Drop Off Day. Gaudreau Group team members Kate Roy and Brian Lawler delivered the donations to The Gray House at their North End location. Jules Gaudreau, President of The Gaudreau Group said, For almost 100 years, our company has proudly supported organizations like The Gray House to help those in need and make our community a better place.

Founded in 1921 and headquartered in Wilbraham, The Gaudreau Group is a fourth generation, family owned independent Insurance, Employee Benefits and Financial Services firm which insures over 6,000 businesses and families in 14 states. Their team is comprised of 30 professionals, including one of the largest Employee Benefits divisions in the region.

The Gray House is a private non-profit social service agency in the North End of Springfield, Massachusetts. The mission of The Gray House is to help its neighbors facing hardships to meet their immediate and transitional needs by providing food, clothing, and educational services in a safe, positive environment.
Hobsons today announced that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has officially endorsed the Education Planning Initiative (EPI) suite of tools, which includes Starfish by Hobsons. American Association of Community College (AACC) schools now have the opportunity to include the student success and analytics platform that employs data-driven interventions to help students thrive and succeed in college as part of their Guided Pathways process proposals.

Guided pathways refers to a student-centered system for colleges to help increase credential completion and graduation rates for all students, and is a key part of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) recommendations through the 21st Century Center. The California Guided Pathways Project is a grant program that offers an opportunity for community colleges in the state to apply for grant money in order to adopt the guided pathways approach at scale within three years.

Many colleges are seeking ways to engage in a redesign of their colleges using Guided Pathways principles, says Randy Beach, South Representative for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Executive Committee. The ASCCC sees great potential in these tools as a strong starting point for colleges to fulfill their own guided pathways framework. For that reason, Starfish has been endorsed as a useful tool for designing a guided pathways framework and because faculty at pilot colleges using these tools have seen results and promise for their school.

The Starfish Enterprise Success Platform employs data-driven capabilities to plan college coursework, through Starfish Degree Planner, and mitigates risks through early alerts, case management, and other advisor workflow tools. The Degree Planner is useful for fulfilling the four pillars of Guided Pathways, by clearly identifying the coursework and curriculum students need to earn their degrees. Thirty-four community colleges in California already have active contracts with Starfish.

Having Starfish on board is essential for us to initiate Guided Pathways, said Michelle Stricker, Matriculation/SSSP Coordinator at Reedley College and Co-Chair of the CCC Education Planning Initiative (EPI) Steering Committee. We are now beginning to roll out Starfish Degree Planner and Early Alert, and expect to be live with the entire platform, including Analytics, by the fall. Theres a variety of components to the platform that really support the idea of Guided Pathways.

Not only does Starfish allow faculty to intervene when students veer off path, but it also ensures that students stay on that path and are celebrated for their efforts, said Dr. Mike Munoz, Executive Dean of Counseling & Student Equity at Rio Hondo College. Starfish is the high-powered, responsive solution that aids us in properly serving our 20,000 students.

Starfish expands the efforts of academic counselors and faculty exponentially. As colleges with limited resources seek to serve a growing body of students both online and off campus, its essential to have the technology in place to serve thousands of students.

We are proud to support the California Community Colleges as dedicated academic professionals strive to help every student succeed, said Howard Bell, Hobsons Senior Vice President and General Manager of Starfish. We applaud the colleges diligently working to motivate students towards credential completion, and are honored to be a part of the solution to help scale Guided Pathways.

To learn more about Starfish, visit http://www.starfishsolutions.com.

About Starfish by Hobsons

The Starfish Enterprise Success Platform helps hundreds of colleges and universities efficiently scale their student success programs so that more students can achieve their academic and life goals. Starfish supports millions of students each term, using its analytics solution to identify at-risk students in real-time, pinpoint areas of concern, and connect students with valuable services. It also helps higher education institutions use reliable, actionable data to assess which services and interventions are working to keep students on track. Starfish was recently awarded the 2017 Guided Pathways to Success (GPS) Seal of Approval from Complete College America.

About Hobsons

A global leader in education technology, Hobsons helps students to identify their strengths, explore careers, create academic plans, match to best-fit educational opportunities, and reach their education and life goals. More than 12,000 K-12 and higher education institutions partner with Hobsons and leverage our solutions -- Naviance, Intersect, and Starfish -- to improve college and career readiness, holistic college admissions, and higher education student support for millions of students around the world.
Joining AWS Marketplace and being showcased among new AI sellers is a significant milestone for Clarifai

Clarifai, a leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) company that uses machine learning to understand images and videos, today announced the availability of its award-winning visual recognition API on AWS Marketplace. Clarifais growing library of ready-to-use image recognition models is now available on AWS Marketplace to an active user-base of more than 135,000 customers through a Software as a Service (SaaS) Subscriptions delivery model.

In addition to its catalog of more than 20 ready-to-use image recognition models (including Face Detection, Food, NSFW, Moderation, Celebrity, Demographics, and Travel), AWS users can also take advantage of Clarifais powerful Custom Training software, which enables them to teach Clarifais AI to understand concepts that matter to them (e.g. logos, products, aesthetics, etc.). Customers are increasingly demanding more personalized AI solutions and, with Custom Training, new concepts can be trained with high accuracy orders. The algorithm requires less than 10 pre-labeled images per concept to start predicting inputs (as compared to the thousands of images per concept traditional AI training requires) and gets smarter as you continue to teach it.

For Clarifai, the AWS Marketplace listing will enable the technology to more easily reach a global user base of AWS developers and enterprise customers.

Joining AWS Marketplace and being showcased among new AI sellers is a significant milestone for Clarifai, said Matt Zeiler, founder and CEO of Clarifai. Customers select us for the power of our Custom Training model, and being able to provide our technology to thousands of AWS customers that will improve the lives of millions of people is a huge privilege and opportunity that were thrilled to be a part of.

Clarifai is one of the foremost independent AI and machine learning platforms and can be used by any developer and business. Last month, the company announced momentous growth in Q3 2017, including record revenue growth, product updates, and new customers including Vevo, 9Gag, and Homes.com.

To learn more about Clarifai, and to get started with a free trial of Clarifai, please visit https://clarifai.com/developer/account/signup/.

About Clarifai

Clarifai is an artificial intelligence company that excels in visual recognition, solving real-world problems for businesses and developers alike. Founded in 2013 by Matthew Zeiler, a foremost expert in machine learning, Clarifai has been a market leader since winning the top five places in image classification at the ImageNet 2013 competition, and predicts more than three billion concepts in photos and videos every month. Clarifais powerful image and video recognition technology is built on the most advanced machine learning systems and made easily accessible by a clean API, empowering developers all over the world to build a new generation of intelligent applications. The company has amassed a suite of clients that range from Fortune 500 companies to startups and small development teams, including Buzzfeed, Trivago, West Elm, Vevo, 9Gag, StyleMePretty, and many more. Clarifai is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.
Tracey Klein, Jessi Guenther, and Amy Mallia of Allegis Global Solutions Win Stevie Awards for Women in Business

Allegis Global Solutions (AGS), a leading provider of global talent acquisition and workforce solutions, won three Stevie Awards at the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business on November 17, 2017. AGS was recognized for excellence in the following categories:



Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Internal Communications: Internal Communications Strategy Developed and Led by Amy Mallia (Silver Stevie Winner)

Best New Product or Service of the Year - Business Services: SIGMA MSP - Led by Jessi Guenther (Bronze Stevie Winner)

Company of the Year  Business Services  More Than 10 Employees: GettingHired, Inc. - Led by Tracey Klein (Bronze Stevie Winner)

Im thrilled to congratulate these trailblazing executives for their remarkable contributions to our business and innovative approach to leadership, said AGS President Chad Lane. Whether its changing the way small and mid-size companies do business with SIGMA, transforming GettingHireds go-to-market strategy, or increasing our employee engagement levels to best-in-class rankings, these leaders are integral to AGS as we continue to pave the way in our industry.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the worlds top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. All individuals and organizations worldwide are eligible to submit nominations  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2017 awards received entries from 25 nations and territories.

Stevie Award winners were selected by more than 170 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process.

The judges were so impressed with the accomplishments of all of the Stevie Award-winning women and organizations. The 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business received a record number of nominations and had a record number of ceremony attendees, said Michael Gallagher, founder and president of the Stevie Awards. We congratulate all of this years Grand, Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners for their achievements.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Stevie Award winners are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

About Allegis Global Solutions

Allegis Global Solutions (AGS), an Allegis Group company, is a leading provider of global talent acquisition and workforce solutions. We support clients in more than 60 countries with world-class recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), managed service provider (MSP), and services procurement (SOW) solutions.

Our core strength is providing our clients with universal access to talent by engineering complex, next generation workforce capability. Whether our customers require our services regionally or globally, we have the experience, state-of-the-art technology and sustained investments in innovation to ensure we deliver workforce solutions that improve organizational efficiencies, save costs and promote growth.

For more information, visit http://www.allegisglobalsolutions.com or follow on Twitter @AllegisGlobal.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.
The Board feels strongly that Dave Ricci is well positioned to lead the hospital. SFMC Board Chair Joseph Youngblood II, Ph.D.

The Board of Trustees for St. Francis Medical Center has appointed David Ricci as the hospitals Interim President. Ricci will be responsible for strategy and management at St. Francis Medical Center.

Ricci comes to St. Francis Medical Center with 35 years' experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining St. Francis, Ricci served as the Interim President and CEO of Saint Francis Healthcare, Wilmington, DE. Both hospitals are members of Trinity Health.

After the recent passing of the hospitals Chief Administrative Officer, Vincent Costantino, and while we engage with Cooper University Health Care in our planned merger, we found it imperative to identify a leader with the experience and knowledge of both the healthcare industry as well as the New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania marketplace, notes St. Francis Medical Center Board Chair Joseph Youngblood II, Ph.D. The Board feels strongly that Dave Ricci is well positioned to lead the hospital during this important period of transition.

Ricci has spent most of his career in the not-for-profit sector. Prior to his appointment at Saint Francis, he served as the President and CEO at Saint Michael's Medical Center in Newark, NJ. He served in that capacity until the hospitals transition to Prime Healthcare.

Prior to joining Saint Michaels, Ricci served for six years as a Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal, one of the countrys leading turnaround and restructuring firms based in New York City. In this role, Ricci served numerous hospitals and health systems across the country, focusing primarily on operational and financial improvement, managed care, medical staff development and alignment, governance, strategy and mergers and acquisitions. This included several senior positions at hospitals in the Philadelphia market including Vice President of Operations at Abington Memorial Hospital; President and CEO of Germantown Hospital and Senior Vice President at Einstein Medical Center.

Throughout his career, Ricci has built cohesive teams, planned and negotiated complex transitions, maintained strong business relationships and consistently delivered results that surpassed expectations.

Ricci is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He has served as a board member and Vice Chair of Health Partners, a Philadelphia-based Medicare and Medicaid managed-care company, and has served on several committees of the Hospital and Healthcare Association of Pennsylvania. In 1992, he received the ACHE Regents Award for significant contributions toward achieving Southeastern Pennsylvanias healthcare goals and was a member of the Healthcare Forums first class of Fellows for Creating Healthier Communities in 1993.

Ricci earned a bachelors degree from Mount Saint Marys College and a masters degree in administration from American University.

# # #

About St. Francis Medical Center

St. Francis Medical Center, a member of Trinity Health, is an acute care teaching hospital, is most noted for its Cardiac Surgery program and the first accredited Stroke Center in Mercer County. St. Francis features regional services including the Heart Hospital, a Regional Cancer Center, a Sleep Disorder Center and an extensive Community Outreach Program. St. Francis partners in care include LIFE St. Francis (Living Independently For Elders) and LifeCare Physicians, PC, which includes Primary Care and Surgery throughout the region, as well as Lourdes Health System (also a part of Trinity Health). St. Francis Medical Center and Lourdes Health System work together closely in serving the South Jersey community.
Colavita (http://www.colavita.com), the leading family-owned specialty food producer of one of the top-selling extra virgin olive oils in the United States, is proud to announce the latest expansion of its partnership with The Culinary Institute of America (http://www.ciachef.edu), with the opening of the Colavita Olive Grove Terrace and Outdoor Kitchen at the CIA at Copia.

Located in downtown Napa at the recently opened CIA at Copia, the latest expansion provides students the opportunity to host festivities and celebratory events all while engaging in hands-on learning about making the perfect olive oil, from harvesting to extraction and finally, production.

Colavita USA was founded in 1978 by John J Profaci along with Enrico and Leonardo Colavita and pioneered the first major brand of extra virgin olive oil in the US. The partnership with CIA became an additional platform to keep extra virgin olive oil and Italian heritage at the forefront of culinary education. From advancing Italian cuisine through The Colavita Center for Italian Food and Wine, to establishing the John J. Profaci Legacy Scholarship and sponsoring the CIAs annual Leadership Awards, the Colavita family has remained committed to enhancing education and understanding of the quality of extra virgin olive oil for the last 25 years.

We are proud to be part of the leading culinary college in the world, and we hope that the opening of the Colavita Olive Grove Terrace and Outdoor Kitchen at the CIA at Copia will continue to shape the education and experiences students have at the CIA, said President and CEO of Colavita USA, Giovanni Colavita. Napa Valley is renowned as a world-class destination for food and wine, and were happy to be able to expand our relationship with an esteemed and recognized partner here.

Colavita is distributed in over 80 countries and is recognized worldwide as the top authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil. Colavita is the leading brand in premium extra virgin olive oil, Italian pasta, and Italian vinegar in the USA in both the retail and foodservice sectors.

For more information about Colavita, visit http://www.colavita.com. You can follow Colavita on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

For hi-res images of the Colavita Olive Grove Terrace and Outdoor Kitchen at CIA at Copia please go to: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bj8o68eirrd21bm/AABMdzjc5_WPl3_kLnSiueg2a?dl=0. For questions or further information, please contact Krisna Bharvani or Diana Zahuranec of Colangelo & Partners.

About Colavita:

Colavita (http://www.colavita.com)  A long time ago in the quaint hilltop village of SantElia a Pianisi, located in the Molise region of Italy, two small family businesses were born. They were both Colavita families. Today, the Colavita Olive Oil and Colavita Pasta companies are still family-owned and operating in the same town of their ancestors. They have since joined with another family-owned company, Colavita USA, and together they have shared the fruits of their respective crafts with American consumers for over twenty years.

About The Culinary Institute of America:

Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is the worlds premier culinary college. Dedicated to developing leaders in foodservice and hospitality, the independent, not-for-profit CIA offers bachelors degrees in management, culinary arts, culinary science, and applied food studies, and associate degrees in either culinary arts or baking and pastry arts. The college also offers executive education through its Food Business School along with certificate programs and courses for professionals and enthusiasts. Its conferences, leadership initiatives, and consulting services have made the CIA the think tank of the food industry and its worldwide network of nearly 50,000 alumni includes innovators in every area of the food business. The CIA has locations in New York, California, Texas, and Singapore. For more information, visit http://www.ciachef.edu.
Businesses and attractions in the Grand Rapids area are joining forces to celebrate the start of winter through a three-day WinterGlo Festival. Family friendly events kick off Friday, December 1, with a wide range of events for people of all ages. WinterGlo includes special events, holiday shopping and activities to help residents and visitors make the most out of Minnesotas frozen season.

Many WinterGlo activities are free. All are family friendly. Key WinterGlo Highlights include:

Friday, December 1:



10 am: Holiday Market at Central Square

4 pm: First Friday Art Walk

5 pm: Santa Claus lighting the lights on Central School Park

5-6:30 pm: Special events, including selfies with Santa, horse drawn wagon rides, caroling, snacks and warmup by a fire pit, and other activities

6 pm: Madrigal dinner at Sugar Lake Lodge (Grand Rapids A Capella Choir performance at 6 PM, feast at 7 PM)

7:30 pm: John Berry Christmas at the Reif Performing Arts Center

Saturday, December 2:

9-11 am: Breakfast with Santa at Central Square Mall

10 am  4 pm: Santas workshop in Central School

10 am  4 pm: Skiing, snowboarding and tubing at Mt. Itasca

10 am - 4 pm: Christmas in the logging camp at the Forest History Center

10 am  4 pm: Holiday bazaar at St. Josephs Church

10 am  6 pm: Holiday Craft Market, Central Square Mall

10:15 am  1:15 pm: Warm winter stories and crafts at the Grand Rapids Library

Noon  4 PM: Pictures with Santa at Central Square Mall

1-5 pm: Free admission to the Childrens Discovery Museum

6 pm: Madrigal dinner at Sugar Lake Lodge (Grand Rapids a cappella choir performance at 6 PM, feast at 7 PM)

Sunday, December 3:

Noon  4 pm: Pictures with Santa at Central Square Mall

Holiday shopping and various activities continue through the day in Grand Rapids

More information is available via the Grand Rapids Downtown Business Association Facebook page in the events section.

About Visit Grand Rapids

Visit Grand Rapids is the official destination marketing organization for the Grand Rapids, Minnesota, area. Visit Grand Rapids was founded in 1983 as a 501(c)(6) non-profit business association, with the objective to promote the Grand Rapids area as a destination for conferences, conventions, events, group tours and leisure travelers, thereby enhancing the economic growth of the area through travel and tourism. Visit Grand Rapids mission is to generate a positive economic impact through travel and tourism. For more information, visit http://www.visitgrandrapids.com.
Having the BBB seal tells the world that we operate with integrity and follow through on our commitments.

Titanium Blockchain, a leading provider of infrastructure-based enterprise management, has earned accreditation from the Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles, signaling a commitment to ethical behavior and marketplace trust.

We put open and honest relationships first and seek to mutually encourage innovation and growth with our customers, says Michael Stollaire, Founder and CEO of Titanium Blockchain. Having the BBB seal tells the world that we operate with integrity and follow through on our commitments.

Accredited Businesses like Titanium Blockchain meet the standards embodied in the BBB Code of Business Practices: build trust, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy and embody integrity.

Michael and his associates have advanced an IT infrastructure solution based on principles of security and reliability so they are eminently qualified to display the BBB seal, says Steve McFarland, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles & Silicon Valley. We count numerous tech companies among our members and are pleased to welcome Titanium Blockchain to the fold.

Titanium Blockchain is fueling everything from startup growth to large enterprise efficiency, helping organizations virtualize their entire IT enterprise and create a private cloud environment with native monitoring of mission-critical devices, applications and services.

Almost everything can be virtualized these days and that includes creating an entire company, with IT infrastructure, from the privacy of ones home, says Stollaire. After decades of basically doing things the same way, this will be the new normal for business and it will be more efficient, more secure and less expensive.

Stollaire continues: Technologies change, but trust endures. We understand that the way to earn and keep the publics trust is to consistently deliver on our promises.

About TBIS

Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services (TBIS) is a pioneer in shockproof Internet infrastructure built on blockchain technology. Unlike typical infrastructure services, where a companys technology may exist on up to several hundred devices, the TBIS infrastructure resides on the decentralized Ethereum blockchain, which means zero outage time and impenetrable security at a fraction of the cost of traditional infrastructure systems. TBIS was founded by Michael Stollaire and is based in Los Angeles. Learn more at tbis.io.

About BBB

BBB of Los Angeles & Silicon Valley serves the counties of Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. Search business reviews and ratings on more than 5.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities at bbb.org.
The new tiger mascot at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge moved into his new, upgraded habitat with the start of school in August 2017. Construction of the habitat specified PENETRON ADMIX SB (in soluble bags) for the shotcrete application that ensured a durable and robust solution.

Mike the Tiger is the official school mascot of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Traditionally a live Bengal tiger, the school first adopted the Tiger nickname in 1896. The schools original enclosure was only 2,000 square feet in size with minimal amenities for the tigers. The habitat features an Italianate tower  a campanile  that creates a visual link to the general architectural vernacular of the LSU campus. Prior to the arrival of a new tiger in the summer of 2017, over $950,000 in contributions was collected to finance an upgrade of the 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) tiger habitat.

Already among the largest and finest tiger habitats in the country, the new enclosure features numerous upgrades. These include: an expanded water area (with a large pond and waterfall) to help the tiger stay active during cooler weather; a roughly 100-square-foot synthetic rock; and new landscaping. The habitat facility also features research, conservation, and husbandry programs, as well as educational and recreational activities.

The upgrade that will most likely please Mike the Tiger is the big lookout rock that is cooled in the summer and heated in the winter, says Christopher Chen, Director of The PENETRON Group. By the time classes started this fall, Mike was relaxing on his new  PENETRON-treated  rock, enjoying the view!

The Weber Group construction team used PENETRON ADMIX as an integrated crystalline waterproofing solution for the water areas and synthetic rock. PENETRON worked with Sorrento Lumber of Baton Rouge, the ready-mix supplier, to ensure the success of the wet process shotcrete application. PENETRON ADMIX SB was added to the PENERON ADMIX-Enhanced Shotcrete (PAES) to create a durable and naturalistic surface for the lookout rock and provide a new waterproof surface for the pond and waterfall area.

Impermeability in concrete is the most important aspect when looking to increase durability of concrete, especially when used for rounded, naturalistic shapes that are applied as shotcrete. PENETRON ADMIX reduces shrinkage cracking and seals micro-cracks, and has the capability to self-heal new cracks. The admixture provides a 70% (or more) reduction in permeability as defined by the ACI guidelines for permeability-reducing admixtures for hydrostatic conditions (PRAH).

The contractor completed hydraulic tests of the treated surfaces that resulted in no leaks in the PENETRON ADMIX-treated structures. In addition, adding the crystalline admixture into the concrete in pre-measured soluble bags helped save time during the batching phase and ensured accurate mixing.

Overall, PENETRON ADMIX turned out to be a cost-effective solution for the construction team, adds Mr. Chen.

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 waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com, or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700.
In Texas, women make up a growing group of consumers who buy guns and keep their weapons concealed for reasons including safety and comfort.

More than 268,000 women hold active handgun licenses in the Lone Star State, up 35% from 2014. Their rising numbers have led to a booming shadow industry of firearm accessories, including bra holsters, concealment leggings, and leopard-print gun holders for their cars.

In an effort to document women's roles in modern gun culture, photographer Shelley Calton took portraits of her gun-toting friends in Texas for her book, "Concealed, She's Got a Gun."

Some Texas women see carrying a concealed handgun as more than a right  but a matter of life or death.

As of January 1, 2016, state law permits them to carry a handgun openly or concealed so long as they get a license from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

More women are packing heat than ever. The number of women issued a license to carry rose from 22,000 in 2010 to 103,000 in 2016, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Source:

Shelley Calton is one of them. Her book, "Concealed, She's Got a Gun," shows women bearing arms in her native state. They share a similar family history of gun use and education.

At a young age, Calton and her sister learned to shoot tin can targets in the Texas countryside. Their father kept a pistol in his nightstand and shotguns for hunting wild game. "Growing up in Houston was synonymous with an induction into Texas gun culture," Calton told Business Insider in 2015.

For her photo series, Calton reached out to her circle of female friends and asked if she take portraits of them with their guns. She says there was no shortage of subjects.

She learned quickly that many of the women grew up around guns and felt comfortable handling them, especially those who practice regularly at a shooting range.

They kept their pieces in gun safes, under the mattress, or tucked in a bedside table.

My gun(s) serve as my personal militia of self-protection, perseverance, and 'badass-ery'," one woman told Calton. "Sleeping with my Glock under the mattress has afforded me more security than any door lock, alarm system, or boyfriend."

Others come up with more original hiding places.

Calton rejects the idea that Texas women are "gun-crazy." "Each has her own personal story for carrying a handgun," she said. "Some have had incidents and others have been threatened."

"I have always worked in 'dangerous businesses,'" said one woman who worked at a used-car repo and a liquor store. "The guns make me feel safe and in power of my life."

For others, the danger is closer to home. One woman lives on a 800-acre ranch in south central Texas, where she often encounters mountain lions, feral hogs, and wild dogs.

Another subject said her brother-in-law's bipolar disorder made him turn violent, and said he's threatened her before. She's prepared to defend herself if he ever follows through.

Ninety-three Americans die from gun violence every day, according to advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. While research shows more guns don't make for a safer society, these women are determined to take their protection into their own hands.

Source: and

"In the required [concealed handgun license] classes, one is taught that if you pull your gun you must be ready to use it," Calton says. "Otherwise, the bad guy will take it from you."
Meghan Markle gave tribute to her roots in her first public appearance after her engagement to Prince Harry was announced.

On Monday morning, Prince Harry and Markle posed for photos at Kensington Palace in London.

Markle wore a coat by the Canadian fashion brand Line.

The actress was born in the US but has resided in Toronto in recent years. The pair reportedly met in Toronto last year.

Soon after news broke that Markle wore a coat from Line on Monday, the brand's website was slow or crashed for many people.

The couple's plan to wed next year will make Markle a rare American to marry into the royal family.
LONDON International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has been accused of holding Ireland to ransom after he said that there can be no solution to the border dilemma until future trade between Britain and the EU is agreed.

Conservative minister Fox said over the weekend that the UK government "cant come to a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state" amid concern in Dublin over the possible return of a hard border.

Responding to Fox's remarks, Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness told the Guardian: "I hope that the UK is not holding the Irish situation to ransom in these negotiations. It is far too serious and far too critical."

Fox was backed by fellow Brexiteer Kate Hoey on Monday morning. The Labour MP told Radio 4 that the Irish government "will have to pay" for any physical border after Brexit and urged Ireland to be more "positive" about leaving the EU.

Irish officials over the weekend said that Ireland would veto negotiations moving until the second phase unless Theresa May offers a solution that will prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Its EU Commissioner, Phil Hogan told the Observerthat the veto threat was real, as did Irelands Minister for European Affairs, Helen McEntee, who told Channel 4: "We need the UK govt to come forward with what might be possible.

"Absolutely nothing has been brought forward [on border question]. Weve been saying the same thing for 18 months."

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said that he wants a written guarantee from his UK counterpart May that there will be no hard border after Britain leaves the European Union.

The Irish government believes that either Northern Ireland or the entire UK remaining members of the single market and customs union is the best way of avoiding the return of a physical border.

However, the UK government has insisted that the entire country will leave the EU's core institutions on exit day in Marc, 2019, while the DUP  the Northern Irish party propping up Prime Minister May's Conservative government  has warned it will oppose any attempt to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union.

The Irish border question has emerged as the most difficult question facing Britain as it attempts to unravel itself from the European Union.

"I don't how a clue they are going to sort it out... Even the most optimistic view must accept there will be some sort of physical border" [unless UK stays in the single market and customs union]," a former senior EU official told Business Insider.

"I dont think Ireland will have to block anything on its own"

The British side is determined for Brexit negotiations to move onto the next phase before New Year so they have as much time as possible to discuss future trade arrangements and a possible transition deal.

However, the EU has been insistent that talks cannot move on until "sufficient progress" is made on citizens' rights, the size of Britain's financial settlement, and the controversial issue of the Irish border.

This means the UK government is under pressure to produce a workable solution to the border question in time for the EU's December summit or risk talks being stuck in deadlock into the New Year.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told a committee last week that he believed the EU27 would not hesitate to stand by Ireland in blocking Brexit talks from moving beyond phase one if it was felt that the British side's proposal for avoiding a hard border in Ireland was not satisfactory.

"I dont think Ireland will have to block anything on its own," he told the committee.
Starfmonline.com reported that a disagreement ensued between the couple after they both returned from a funeral.

The man said he was not enthused how the deceased related to other men at the funeral, hence his suspicion heightened.

According a resident whom Starr FM spoke to, the suspect could not control his temper during the altercation and he picked his gun and shot the woman dead.
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The man was taken to the hospital on suspicion of food poisoning following complaints of a stomach upset. However, doctors realised that the problem had nothing to do with food poisoning.

After an endoscopy, they then decided to rush Khan to the surgical theatre for surgery. It was there that the surgeons had the shock of their lives.

After extracting the aforementioned metallic and glass objects from his stomach, leader of the surgical team, Dr. Priyank Sharma said The patient was complaining of stomach pain, so we thought of getting an endoscopy done. We were shocked to discover coins, nails, and nut-bolts in his stomach. Its the first time weve come across such a case in our career. This man looks mentally unstable as no sane person would do something like this.

Another surgeon also said the operation was done in the nick of the time as some of the nails lodged had pierced his stomach, caused bleeding and resulted in loss of hemoglobin.

READ ALSO: Man shoots wife dead for alleged infidelity

Odditycentral.com reported one family member as having said that Khan is mentally unstable and washed down coins with water whenever he felt compelled to ingest one.
READ MORE: See how this young lady makes all the riches she displays on social media

57-year-old Ian Squire had performed the popular gospel song, Amazing Grace on his Guitar to entertain him and his colleague captives and give them hope, but according to Dr. Donovan, one of the four who were then in captivity, Ian got shot just after the refreshing performance.

It was the perfect song, and at that point things began to look not quite as bad.

But after Ian finished playing, he stood up, and a salvo of gunshots killed him. It was terrifying, Dr. Donovan narrated.

According to thesun.co.uk, the three missionaries who were kidnapped in Nigeria included ex-GP David Donovan, wife Shirley, both 57, and Specsavers worker Alanna Carson, 24.

Dr. Donovan added that after killing their colleague, We jumped out of the shack and into the water because we thought they were coming for us next but a gang member came and put us back in there with Ian.

He said their blood run cold when the kidnappers even threaten to sell them off to Boko Haram militants.
-by Noah





Remember when our Madman President and The Whore of Slovenia went to Texas after Hurricane Harvey hit and they stepped off Air Force One sporting new POTUS and FLOTUS hats that were available for purchase? Damn. These two despicable assclowns would use any disaster, natural or manmade to make a few bucks. What kind of minds are these? I can just see what would happen if we had a nuke war with North Korea. If anyone was left, the Trumps would be selling Trump hats with fallout shelter symbols on them. Hell, he's probably having them made already, in China, no less.





So, here we are. Now that Trump has endorsed the uber-creepy Roy Moore, there's this brand new Trump hat! Sure to get lots of laughs at your local Repug hangout, Repug bar, or fraternity house. Don't worry about the hat's typo. Republicans aren't into that education thing anyway. Imagine if Trump goes to Alabama to hold a rally for Moore. All those Alabama Pastors of Perversion that I mentioned in yesterday's Midnight Meme will be wearing these, as will the entire Republikook audience. I bet these hats are already selling like hotcakes at the Birmingham airport, right next to the Crimson Tide sweatshirts and tourist maps. Hell, you know all those Christian pedophile supporters are topping their Christmas trees this year with these "She Didn't Look Fourteen" hats instead of a star. Every Joseph in every town creche in Alabama is probably wearing one too!





The thing is, though, there's a whole lot of irony in using "She didn't look fourteen" as an excuse for your actions, when, if you're Trump or Moore, that's what appealed to you about her in the first place.
These customs still exist in the remote parts of this continent, many years after civilization. These ethnic communities practice certain traditions that will leave you shocked.They signify different aspects of life within the continent like achieving a new status on the social ladder or coming of age.

Here are five of the most weird African Traditions brought to you by Pulse.com.gh

1.Blood-WaterBeverage

In Tanzania and Kenya, the Samburu and the Maasai communities are regarded as the most hospitable. They would always welcome a visitor. These communities usually treat their guests with roasted meat. However, one may also, at times, be required to drink fresh blood either mixed in milk or oozing from a live animal.

READ ALSO: 4 things that would make you love the Volta Region

2.Bull Jumping

In the Hamar tribe of Ethiopia, there is an interesting initiation tradition as well. A tradition that harms not only the boy, basically. Firstly, the female friends of the boy to take the test dance and get beated by their elders, until they have actual wounds on their bodies. This shows their loyalty to their friends. After that, the boy has to announce his manhood by stepping over 4 bulls and making 3 turns back and forth. Actually, the boy announces his manhood in all possible ways, since he has to do this naked.

3.Lipstretching

When a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern Sudan, she begins the process of lip stretching. The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually.

READ ALSO:10 beautiful photos from around the world that impressed us

4.Banyankoles potency test

In Uganda, ones aunt is not only expected to advise a new bride but they also have to have sex with the groom as a potency test. Additionally, the aunt has to test the brides purity before the bride and groom are allowed to consummate their marriage.Another tradition directs the aunts to prove the potency by listening in or watching as the couple engages in sexual intercourse.

5.The groom wears a veil
The festival, which takes place on Farmers Day (December 1, 2017) will host over 100 artistes (Musicians, DJs, Comedians, Poets) on one stage from 9am  9pm. Something they plan to do every year, on farmers day.

Like the saying goes, there will be many bests but only one first. Dont miss the maiden edition of this history in the making.

The Accra Open Mic Festival 2017 will happen at the Kona Cafe in Osu this Friday. What better way to start your long weekend and make your holiday a memorable one, enjoying great live performances amidst some good friends, good food and drinks.
The stakes have never been higher for stars to make an indelible impression on television, on social media, and in the pages of a magazine.

Style inspiration for today is taken from business maven, Pokello Nare. She is married to Ghanaian fashion designer and actor, Elikem Kumordzi. Pokello is wearing a gorgeous apparel by Khosi Nkosi, multiple awards winning Ladies clothing brand retailing in YDE.

The stunning outfit is perfect for any occasion; red carpet, weddings, and church. The one-hand lace dress has ruffles from below her knee which add more flare to her look.
The Student CEO Summit is an entrepreneurship, innovation & investments conference with a mission to discover, develop and mentor the next generation of globally minded entrepreneurs right from school.

Speaking at the launch of the programme the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) of Crystal Capital, Martin Ofori raised concerns about the need for financial institutions to design products that are suitable for young entrepreneurs.

He explains that a package such as the Student CEO summit challenges young people with sustainable business ideas to compete through stages and get supportted.

"There is no doubt that one of the paramount challenges that confront young people is Funding. So with this project, hope will be restored and the youth can bank on this opportunity to start their business ventures.

The Student CEO summit which visions to empower 30,000 students in 100 tertiary institutions across Ghana to be Entrepreneurial and Investment minded was launched at Lancaster University,Ghana.

Also, chairman of Ekow Mensah Investments and CEO of The African Network of Entrepreneurs (TANOE) expressed the need for financial institutions realise challenges and take steps to support potential and young entrepreneurs by offering advisory services, as well as funds to either expand or start their businesses.
The General Secretary of the Council, Rev. Dr Kwabena Opuni Frimpong said President Nana Akufo-Addo must emulate the late president John Evans Attah Mills, who made his stance clear.

He [late Mills] was very exact and that is what we want to hear from our leaders today or tomorrow.

Maybe I didnt hear him well, so somebody should come and explain to us exactly the policy direction of this government as far as same-sex marriage is concerned, it will help us, he added.

This call follows President Akufo-Addos indication that Ghana could change its position on homosexuality if there is strong advocacy.

Speaking to Aljazeeras Jane Dutton the president said: this is a social, cultural issue, I dont believe that in Ghana so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say change it, lets now have a new paradigm in Ghana.

At the moment, I dont feel, I dont see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something we need to deal with. It is not so far a matter that is on the agenda, he added.

For now, any act considered to be unnatural is considered by the country's laws as illegal.

READ ALSO: Otiko Djaba wins admiration of Rawlings

However, Rev Dr Frimpong said this means the current government will yield to pressure by advocates to legalise homosexuality.

However, in his view homosexuality should not be legalised in Ghana.

In public policy, they say that what governments do or decide not to do are all policies so if we hear that one day if somebody can put pressure on Ghana we may change

Somebody needs to be very clear that we dont need pressure to change. We want to keep what is good for us, even if we are poor, he added.
Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid told Joy News that homosexuality in Ghana is unacceptable because there is no cultural orientation that supports it in Ghana.

Although he admitted a societys culture could change to reflect modern times, he said same-sex relationship cannot be legalised at the moment.

This clarification follow the controversy surrounding the presidents latest comments on homosexuality.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Aljazeera that legalisation of homosexuality is bound to happen in Ghana if public opinion for it legalisation grows stronger.

READ ALSO: Mugabe national holiday instituted

At the moment, I dont feel, I dont see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something we need to deal with. It is not so far a matter that is on the agenda, he said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has told Aljazeera that legalisation of homosexuality is bound to happen in Ghana if public opinion for it legalisation grows stronger.

I dont believe that in Ghana, so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say: Change it [the law], lets then have a new paradigm in Ghana.

I think it is something that is bound to happen like elsewhere in the world, they are activities of individuals of groups, he said.

But his comments have not gone down well with many Ghanaians, who consider his comments as some kind of an endorsement of homosexuality in the society, and the country likely allowing the practice in the future.

Mr Bentil, however, on his Facebook page wondered why Ghanaians should be bothered about issues such as the legalization or otherwise of homosexuality when there are more pressing social and developmental issues to worry about.

You dont have good water, good health, good roads, reliable energy, good education, good transportation, You have women delivering on the floor, people dying from cholera, avoidable floods, open defecation, filthy towns, cities and beaches, and so many disgraceful unacceptable situations!

And you want government to control what grown men do in their bedrooms!!!!!!!!
According to him, legalising homosexuality will bring tragedy in Ghana.

His comment comes at the back of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who disclosed that although legalizing homosexuality is currently not of significance to Ghanaians, there is a likelihood that it would happen in the near future.

"I think it is something that is bound to happen like elsewhere in the world," he said.

"This is the socio-cultural issue if you likeI dont believe that in Ghana, so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say: 'Change it [the law], lets then have a new paradigm in Ghana, he said in an interview with Aljazeera.

The issue of legalizing homosexuality gained massive public interest when late President John Evans Atta Mills strongly opposed to legalize it, after the UK threatened to reconsider aids given to countries that are against homosexuality. Reports indicated that Britain put on hold 19 million in aid to Malawi because of concerns including its treatment of gays as most Africans frown at the thought of legalizing the act as it defies every aspect of their socio-cultural and religious principles.

Dr. Lawrence Tetteh speaking on the development in an interview on Accra-based Starr FM said "I know the tragedy, the pain and the frustration that people are going through in the UK [where the act has been legalised]. Men are wearing pampers and I am a pastor and I pray for some of them."
COALITION OF CONCERNED NURSES AND MIDWIVES (CCNM)PRESS RELEASE27th NOVEMBER 2017GHANA REGISTERED NURSES AND MIDWIVES ASSOCIATION MUST SUSPEND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW INCREMENTS IN DUES AND BUILDING LEVY OR RISK MASS RESIGNATION OF MEMBERSCoalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives (CCNM) monitored keenly the events and decisions that ensued in the just ended 16th biennial conference of the Ghana Registered Nurses Midwives Association (GRNMA) held in Cape Coast in the Central Region on the 21st to 24th of November 2017.It is with deep sorrow and regret for one to belong to such an association which does not have the welfare of its members at heart but their own parochial interest. On that note the Coalition of Concerned Nurses and Midwives will not sit down this time round for the GRNMA to have their way.To begin with, GRNMA devised a strategy to make members who are not sponsored delegates to stay away from the conference by imposing a hefty amount of GHC 1000.00 per person who wish to observe proceedings at the conference. This CCNM believes was not fair as members have been paying their dues and levies to the association.As if that was not enough, GRNMA through the conference is trying to force down the throats of nurses and midwives in this country some 33.3% increment of dues without broader consultation with members at the grass root whose monthly deductions is keeping the association alive.This decision has left many members discombobulated as the dues are already in percentage of 1.5% of their basic salary. The reason for the dues in percentage and not a flat amount is to see the amount increase every year from the annual base pay increments all GoG workers enjoy. There is no justification taking into consideration the various measures they have mentioned to implement hence feel the money would not be enough. This is an attempt to impoverish the ordinary nurse or midwife who is already struggling to pay his/her fees to further his/her education.These same reasons were given 4 years ago when the last increment in dues came yet members did not see the association do the very things they mentioned as reasons for the increment. GRNMA should think on ways of getting all nurses and midwives onboard and ensure all members pay their dues and use the profit accrued from the existing hostels to run the association.In 2015, the total number of nurses on government payroll was 38,228 of which if every member should pay their dues the association has no locus to say they are broke because if all these members should pay the association will make a minimum of GHS382,280.00 every month. CCNM therefore asks the association to find strategies to ensure they widen the net to capture all members and not overburden the few that are committed.As a leader it is your responsibility to listen to the majority of your members and fight for them.Secondly the 100% increment of the building Levy being imposed on members is sickening and misplaced. One will ask why the current executives want to complete all hostel projects before exiting office? If there are not enough funds to finish the projects and there are no selfish undertones why the rush?What is the need for building hostels when members have salaries in arrears, when members' Condition of service is not being pushed for it's complete implementation like the other healthcare givers, when members are being harassed by medical superintendents, medical directors and some DDNSs who should know better?Can the association explain to members how much proceeds have accrued since the current executives took office six years ago? Which account holds the proceeds of these hostels and how are they beneficial to the ordinary member?A facility that does not make any profit why should the GRNMA continue to secure loan facility to hastily complete them and /or seek to increase by 100% levies for such projects?CCNM being the mouthpiece for all nurses and midwives in the country, demands answers from GRNMA. No attempt should be made to implement these unwarranted increments since they do not reflect the decision of majority of members across the length and breadth of the country.A simple survey on Facebook by Nursing in Ghana has showed 96% of nurses and midwives kicking against the decision. This clearly shows that the decision of this increment is misplaced to nurses and midwives.For the past 6 years when the current executives took office, members have not seen any financial reports to know how the monies they contribute are being used for.If the hostels are so much of a "hot cake" and give us so much profit then why not use the profit from the completed ones to continue the rest?And if the existing hostels do not give us profit, then why worry about their completion so fast to the extent of thinking of a loan to hasten their completion or worse still increasing the levy assigned to it by 100%?CCNM is urging the GRNMA to come out with a date that the current building levy will stop to alleviate the financial burden members are going through since most of the members have their payslips already burdened with lot of deductions from personal loans and insurance facilities to make their lives better.CCNM is therefore cautioning the GRNMA to suspend the implementation of these impositions until further consultations and call emergency conference to relook at the issues or face en_bloc resignation by members of the association and demand payment of our contributions with accrued interests from time of contributions.On the 150% increment on the nurses fund, we think it is a matter of choice .It should be optional for one to choose the amount he or she wants to invest towards retirement.GRNMA should be able to give nurses soft loans from this fund. A lot of unions have these schemes and give soft loans to their members and GRNMA can do something similar, for as it stands now we only contribute the monies towards our retirement which is not guaranteed .So of what benefit will such nurses or midwives derive from the fund if unfortunately they dont live to their retirement?GRNMA must be innovative and spare us the too much levies and unauthorized deductions.Government knows of the hardships at the end of each year hence decided to give a pay rise which mostly is around 10%, why would GRNMA use clandestine tactics to rob its members of that money?It is said that A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Leadership is not about a title or a designation. One is not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep but afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion. The art of communication is the language of leadership hence we expect the leadership of GRNMA to execute competent leadership.Long live CCNM, Long live nurses and Midwives in Ghana.
The project is located at the green tree land area (plot No. 23) under Royal International Corporations detailed plan for the construction of villas and hotels approved by Quang Ninh People's Committee on August 5, 2008. In February 2017, the chairman of Quang Ninh province agreed to let this company set up a feasible project to build more super hotels in Bai Chay international tourist area.

According to the detailed planning introduced in February 2017, the five-star hotel will be constructed on an area of 8.7 hectares in zone 5a, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh province. It is expected that the five-star hotel cluster consists of four 28-34 storey buildings with about 1,500-1,800 rooms. The area of each room ranges from 24 to 85 square meters.

In order to ensure the general architectural space of the area, Long asked Royal International Corporation to update the adjusted plan of the five-star hotel and service in Bai Chay Ward to ensure the synchronous and comprehensive design of the construction.

Quang Ninh province also required the company to reduce the construction area to ensure the maximum construction density of only 25 per cent in accordance with the Vietnam Construction Standards. Accordingly, the company must lay the backward distance of the works with the Ha Long road at a minimum of 20 meters, arrange parking spaces in the basement only and set up no parking lot adjacent to Ha Long road.

The Corporation was also required to consult the idea for the planning of the Bai Chay tourist center proposed by the USs Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG), one of the world's leading integrated design firms and ranked as second in the world among hotel architectural firms. Accordingly, the hotels along the road in Ha Long have the form of the parallel sails, creating the unique and arranging the maximum layout of the hotel room overlooking the Ha Long Bay. The company may also study the layout of two towers.

The company was also asked to study parking schemes, night lighting systems, and landscaping.

Royal International Corporation, formerly known as Royal International Joint Venture Co., a foreign-invested joint venture company established in Vietnam in 1994, started listing on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) as RIC on July 31, 2007.

The company's main operations include a number of key services such as Royal villas and restaurants area and amusement park exclusively for foreigners.

Royal International Corporation owns the sole casino Ha Long city, which is currently only open to foreigners. However, according to a recent report on the casino business in Vietnam of Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), since 2013, the Royal International Corporation has suffered from losses, especially in 2014 with the after-tax loss of over VND153 billion (roughly US$6.74 million).

In 2016, the Corporation reported a loss of VND18.55 billion (roughly US$0.82 million) and the first half of 2017 continue experiencing a loss of VND32 billion (roughly US$1.41 million), mainly from the casino business.
The former president was speaking as the guest of Honour at the 4th Speech and Prize Given Day organized by Mamfe Methodist Girls Senior High School in the Eastern Region on the theme: Discipline ;a Prerequisite for Academic Excellence ,Stakeholders Take."

The Gender Minister urged the students to believe in their aspirations despite the difficulties that may come their way.
The leader who doubles as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs was installed at a ceremony under the auspices of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, chiefs, executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the entire Suame Constituency.

This was to honour the Suame MP for his enormous contribution in the area.

A number of dignitaries were present at the ceremony. Some of those present include President Nana Akufo-Addo who was the guest of honour, the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, Members of Parliament from both the majority and the minority side, traditional and religious leaders, as well as his constituents and other inhabitants of the Ashanti Region.

President Akufo-Addo, in his address, described Kyei Mensah Bonsu as a hardworking fellow who is dedicated to serving his nation.

He said he has not regretted appointing him as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs to provide the interface between the Executive and Legislative arms of Government.

READ ALSO: Otiko Djaba wins admiration of Rawlings

Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin, also described the Sompahene as a well-deserved person for such honour.

The Sompahene said he was grateful for the honour and pledged to do more in the development of his constituency, and also use his influence to contribute positively to the development of the country.

He added that the Suame Constituency will experience rapid development when it attains a Municipal status.
But a spokesman for health minister Yaakov Litzman told AFP that his United Torah Judaism party would remain in the ruling alliance "at this stage", preserving Netanyahu's slim parliamentary majority at least for the time being.

"I resign from my cabinet position as health minister," Litzman wrote in his resignation letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP.

"The decision follows the public works conducted on the Sabbath by Israel Railways," he added.

"I cannot bear ministerial responsibility for the severe harm to one of the eternal values of the Jewish people, which is the Sabbath."

Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, said he regretted Litzman's decision and signalled he wanted to avoid calling for fresh elections.

"The national government headed by the Likud is the best for the state of Israel," he said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

"I think that every member of the coalition has an interest in its continued existence; I don't think, I know."

Litzman will retain his seat in parliament.

The dispute is over railway maintenance work, which is less disruptive to travellers on the Sabbath, when no trains run.

The national rail company says some Sabbath work is necessary in the interests of public safety and to avoid congestion on roads.

Litzman says that is untrue.

"To my regret Israel Railways has lately made the Sabbath day national maintenance day," he told Israeli army radio after handing in his resignation to the cabinet secretary.

"It unnecessarily does all its rail maintenance work on the Sabbath," he said.

Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday.

Netanyahu had reportedly been seeking to persuade Litzman not to resign by offering backing for various measures the health minister and his supporters favour.

Ultra-Orthodox parties have often played a kingmaker role in Israel's politics.

They control 13 seats in Netanyahu's coalition, which has 66 out of 120 seats in parliament.
A joint statement by around 40 civil society groups and two trade union federations who called the protests said Romania has been "taken over by a political mafia".

They want the withdrawal of proposed legislation that would overhaul Romania's justice system and reduce the powers of the respected anti-corruption directorate, the DNA.

Critics say the changes would dent progress in tackling graft, which Brussels has long complained about in the 10 years since Romania joined the European Union.

"Laws are being drawn up that go against Romania's interests just in order to save a few people under investigation. To me that seems awful," pensioner Ion Nica told AFP at the protests in Bucharest.

Another source of dismay is Liviu Dragnea, head of the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) who is barred from office due an electoral fraud conviction but who is seen as being in charge.

Last week prosecutors seized his assets in a probe into alleged misappropriation of public funds. He is also on trial for alleged abuse of power but denies wrongdoing.

Dragnea's PSD returned to power after a thumping election victory last December but has had a rocky ride.
Guns were also a top item for bargain hunters on Black Friday.

Hopeful gun owners sent in a record number of single-day requests to the FBI's background-check system on Friday. They topped the two previous milestones that were also set on the discount-driven shopping holiday after Thanksgiving in previous years, according to USA Today.

Prospective gun owners filed 203,086 requests to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Because the FBI may turn down some buyers, these requests aren't a perfect representation of gun sales, but they are suggestive of demand.

Prospective gun owners got more reason to move faster with purchases just as gunmakers ramped up their discounts.

Last Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to review the NICS so that guns do not fall into the wrong hands.

Sessions cited the November 5 shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, as proof that "
Sen. Steve Daines of Montana on Monday became the second Republican senator to publicly come out against the current iteration of the Senate GOP tax bill.

A representative for Daines said the senator is a "no" on the current version of the bill but "remains optimistic and is continuing to work with colleagues."

Daines joins Sen. Ron Johnson as Republicans opposed to the current form of the tax legislation. Republican leaders, who are hoping to hold a vote on the bill later this week, can only afford to lose two GOP votes.

Daines' office said his primary concerns come over the treatment of pass-through businesses, such as limited liability companies and S-corporations, when compared to larger corporations.

"Senator Daines has concerns with how the tax bill looks at Main Street versus Large Corporations," his spokesperson told Business Insider. "The senator wants changes to the tax cut bill that ensures Main Street businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage against large corporations."

Those concerns mirror Johnson's own reasons for coming out against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Currently, owners of pass-through businesses who book profits as their personal income can deduct 17.4% of their earnings from their tax bills. GOP leaders are reportedly considering increasing this deduction to 20% in order to satisfy Daines and Johnson.

On the other hand, corporations would see their federal tax rate drop to 20% from the current 35%.

Daines also tweeted earlier Monday that he spoke with President Donald Trump about the issues over the weekend.
Sen. Al Franken held a short press conference on Monday afternoon to address accusations of sexual misconduct against him made by several women in recent weeks.

The Minnesota Democrat said that he was "tremendously sorry" for causing the women to feel disrespected and that he had been "trying to take responsibility by apologizing."

"I know that I've let a lot of people down," he said, adding that he would work to rebuild trust with Minnesotans as well as his staff and colleagues.

Asked whether he thought he would face more allegations of inappropriate conduct, the senator said he could not speculate about that.

"If you had asked me two weeks ago would any woman come forward with an allegation like this, I would have said 'no,'" Franken said. "And so I cannot speculate. This has been a shock and has been extremely humbling."

Four women have publicly accused Franken of misconduct. Three say he groped their buttocks while posing for photos with them.

Franken said he didn't remember those instances, arguing that he takes "thousands" of photos with constituents.

One woman, a Los Angeles TV and radio host named Leeann Tweeden, two weeks ago accused Franken of forcibly kissing and groping her during a tour performing for military service members abroad in 2006, when Franken was a professional comedian.

Franken has apologized to Tweeden, though he said he remembered the incident differently.

Franken refused to resign as a senator but said he would "cooperate completely" with any investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee into his past behavior.

"I know that I am going to have to be much more conscious in these circumstances  much more careful, much more sensitive," Franken said on Monday. "It's going to take a long time for me to regain people's trust, but I hope that starting work today that I can start to do that."
A Breitbart News editor attempted to use a Ringo Starr song to dismiss allegations that the Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore engaged in sexual misconduct with teenage girls.

In an interview on CNN's "New Day" on Monday, the Breitbart editor Joel Pollak pointed out that in the 1970s, Ringo Starr released a cover of "You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful, You're Mine)," a cover of a song that had appeared earlier that year in the popular film "American Graffiti."

Pollak compared Moore's behavior to lyrics in Starr's song.

"He was 30-something at the time singing about a 16-year-old," Pollak said. "You want to take away Ringo Starr's achievement?"

"You can't be serious," Cuomo said. "I'm dead serious. You think that Ringo Starr's song is supposed to be a nod toward allowing 30-year-olds to prey on teenagers? You don't believe that, Joel."

Pollak has often been an unofficial spokesman for Breitbart News' defense of Moore, who has been accused of pursuing relationships with girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s.

Earlier this month, the Breitbart News editor said The Washington Post should not have published several accounts of Moore's relationships with some older girls because 16-year-olds could legally consent in Alabama.

"The 16-year-old and the 18-year-old have no business in that story because those are women of legal age of consent," Pollak said.

He added: "The Post has successfully put a narrative out, at least on MSNBC and in other places, that there's this pattern of teenagers. There's really, as far as know, the facts could come out differently but as far as we know, there's only one relationship that's been alleged that's problematic."

Watch the clip via CNN:
The use of slang among Nigerian students is so popular that some of these slang terms have become mainstream and have also evolved to what we can regard as Nigerian English.

There are one hundred and one million slangs in Nigerian universities campuses as the use of these slang terms differ from one campus to the other.

Undergraduates usually unconsciously punctuate their expressions with slangs. The prominence of these slang terms show that Nigerian students can hardly do without using these campus lingo.

Apart from the commonly used slang terms like Okada, Aristo and hammer which have become very popular on the street, the most commonly used slangs among Nigerian students which form the greater part of their daily conversations are those which have to do with academics.

Here are eight academic related slangs in Nigerian universities.

1 Efico/Scholar:

An Efico is a very brilliant student who in another school regard as a scholar. In Lagos State University and the University of Lagos, campus scholars are those students with a very strong Grade Point Average. But generally, an efico is an undergraduate scholar in the university.

2. Tsunami:

This slang denotes mass failure or expulsion in other schools.

3. Iwe Factoria:

Literally, this slang is a metaphor for students who love to use the school library. Instead of calling them bookworms, they call them Iwe factoria. Iwe is a Yoruba name for books while factory denotes that the student is so loaded that his or her knowledge base is compared with a factory that manufacture books.

This slang is an exaggerated statement which suggests that a brilliant student is a book factory.

4. Dub:

Dubbing is a form of malpractice that involves copying another student's test answers word for word.

5. Shotgun:

This is a slang for an unexpected test.

6. Jack/Jacko :

To jack is to read while Jacko is a slang for a student who reads a lot. It is a synonym for Iwe factoria.

7. Department of EFCC:

This refers to faculties or departments where students grades start from C, D, E and F. This slang is commonly used in Obafemi Awolowo University where certain departments like English and Geology hardly produce first-class students.

8. Chips:

Chips is a slang that is closely related to examination malpractice. It is a code name for a small piece of paper on which likely answers to exam questions is scribbled to take into the exam halls to cheat.
The University which was established in 2002 is one of the institutions with a very high tuition fee in Nigeria. Tuition fee in this institution ranges between N799, 500 and N819, 500 per session.

However, In an interview with The Education Explorer, Oyedepo while responding to a question on why faith-based Universities charge high tuition said people need to find out what the students of Covenant Universities are paying for.

He said, ''compare what they pay here and there and what those payments cover. The rate of power consumption in the hostels alone is out of this world. All we need to juxtapose this is that they should rent the room and pay for electricity and they would pay ten times the amount.

''People should just sit down and find out what exactly they are paying for. The church has not drawn anything from Covenant University since inception in 12 years. But this year, the church reserves about N1.6bn stakes in its development. So, its not a business, its a service platform.''

Oyedepo explained that the tuition fee students pay at Covenant University is worth the service the institution renders.

ALSO READ: 5 acts that could get you kick out of Covenant University

"In every nation of the world, the government subsidises education to all the stakeholders, not in this country, not a dime has ever crossed from government to any private university in Nigeria. And ask those who are in it how much profit they are making, they would explain to you how it has been wonderful to pay staff salaries and keep the system running. Move to the next country where people rush to study, look at how much they pay and what they get for it. Whether they have teachers or not doesnt matter.''

''Tuition fees hike has God approval''- Oyedepo 2016

The current tuition fee of the University was increased in November 2016 from N631,000 to N799, 500. According to Bishop Oyedepo, the tuition fees had God approval.

He however warned people to stop criticising Covenant University school fees or face God's wrath.

The tuition fee of faith-based institutions in Nigeria always attracts controversy as people complain and accuse church founders of shortchanging their poor members who financially contribute to the establishment of the universities but can not send their parents to the schools.
While "Game of Thrones" has had enough battles, dragons and power play, every true fan of the show knows that it isn't one to shy away from nudity and sex.

The show has constantly come under attack for its depiction of sexual violence against women - in a total of 67 episodes, there are 17 cases of rape or attempted rape.

During an interview with Harpars Bazaar about the nudity and sex scenes on the show, Clarke said she is tired of people focusing on that part of the show.

Im starting to get really annoyed about this stuff now because people say, Oh, yeah, all the porn sites went down when Game of Thrones came back on, Clarke says.

"There are so many shows centered around this very true fact that people reproduce. People fuck for pleasure  its part of life.

ALSO READ: 5 BEST GAME OF THRONES SEX SCENES

Clarke has played Daenerys Targaryen on the show since the pilot episode. She is currently filming the shows eighth and final season.

This isn't her first time of defending the show's graphic nudity and controversial rape and sex scenes.

In the first season, a 15-year-old Daenerys was raped by her husband Khal Drogo. In an interview with Glamour Magazine, Clarke spoke on her controversial season one rape scene, and how it affected her character.

In season five of "Game of Thrones," Sansa Stark was raped by her husband leading to US senator Claire McCaskil demanding for a boycott.
According to The Telegraph, Squire, a 57-year-old optician, was one of four missionaries providing free medical services for the people of the Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State when they were kidnapped by the gang during a raid in the early hours of October 13, 2017.

Others were Dr. David Donovan, his wife Shirley and Alanna Carson.

Details of the medical charity worker's death were initially withheld but two of the other hostages held alongside Squire have now spoken of their horrifying ordeal.

While speaking of their ordeals in the hands of their abductors, Shirley and Donovan explained that Squire was shot to death the day after the four Britons were captured, and just after singing the soul inspiring hymn.

Dr. Donovan said the group's spirits were lifted when the kidnappers gave Squire a guitar and he played 'Amazing Grace' for them.

"It was the perfect song and at that point, things began to look not quite as bad. But then, after Ian finished playing, he stood up, and a salvo of gunshots killed him instantly," Dr. Donovan began.

Continuing, he said:

"We didn't see who did it, but it was obvious that someone in the gang had shot him.

We jumped out of the shack and into the water as we thought they were coming for us next, but a member of the gang came and put us back in there with Ian for the rest of the day."

The couple said they did not know why the captors murdered Squire, stressing that the gangsters refused to explain why they did it.

The captives were freed after the kidnappers told them a ransom had been paid and were met by two SUVs, with Donovan saying the smell of the leather and the air conditioning 'was like stepping from one world into another'.

They also reported that their captives were cultists whose gang was named after a local warrior god, Egbesu, and were often seen drinking and taking drugs during the period they were in captivity.
Nov. 22

Anthony P. Burnett, 49, of Carlin was arrested at 125 W. Bush St. for resisting a public officer, domestic battery and disturbing the peace. Bail $4,635

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Joseph L. Cramer, 19, of Spring Creek was arrested under a felony warrant at 340 Commercial St. for possession of visual pornography of a person under 16, and usage or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail $20,640

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Patricia M. Jones, 29, of Spring Creek was under gross misdemeanor arrest at the Elko County Jail for two counts of taking or possession of a vehicle without owners consent. Bail $5,000

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Jesus O Jurado-Chavez, 24, of Taylorsville was arrested under a warrant at the Peppermill Casino for failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. No bail.

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Alex M. Knudson, 24, of Elko was arrested on a warrant at Third and Commercial streets for five counts of failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail $5,025

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James G. Robbins, 49, of Carlin was arrested under a warrant at 12th and Idaho streets for failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime, driving without a drivers license, and no proof of insurance. Bail $1,435

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Alexis N. Watkins, 24, of Twin Falls, Idaho, was arrested under a felony warrant at Cactus Petes Hotel as a fugitive felon from another state. No bail.

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This will require persons of either the male or female gender to prostrate or kneel when greeting someone thought to be older or in a high position.

Such activity is not important to most tribes in Nigeria. The Yorubas who occupy the South-West part of the country are keen about giving attention to people who acknowledge the idea of showing respect to folks older than them. It suggests a community attracted to the romance associated with the image of being superior.

A few people can testify to enjoying goodwill from a member of this tribe just by showing respect. A consistent amount of "E kaaro ma" (Good morning ma'am) while prostrating can earn you a job referral at Shell Oil from Mrs. Birkenstirth who loves the way you stretched your whole length and displayed a sufficient amount of proficiency in your local dialect, Yoruba.

ALSO READ: 5 ways to experience the Yoruba culture

Despite her exposure and civilization being a child of the colonial era, she still appreciates one who is reverent in his manner of addressing elders. Do you know that Iya Ishola can be more than an 'Ankara' (African fabric) and lace seller to you on your first visit to her shop in Idumota market, just because you showed the willingness to bend on your knees?

"Kaa bo oko mi," (Welcome my child) she would have said to you when you kneeled in front of her as you entered her fabric clustered business center. Iya Ishola will have showed more interest in you when you have explained to her that you are on a visit to compare samples for your upcoming wedding event. She would have called you her daughter despite just meeting you. An amount of goodwill can abound to you when dealing with an adult who is all about the culture in a Yoruba setting.

If you are a young bachelor approaching a stage where you are expected to get married, you are likely to encounter issues with your mother over your girlfriend who is well educated, a successful career lady who can organize your awesome personality, but doesn't understand a need to consider the Yoruba greeting culture as a subject of serious concern and this doesn't apply to the very traditional homes alone.

Perception about the Yoruba greeting traditions

You will often hear people with tribal affiliations different from the Yorubas utter an expression such as "Yoruba people too laik respect" or "Yoruba people are too respectful". This is a response to the pressuring feeling they get in company of the subjects who are likely to show either warmth or scorn to a person who have failed to express an intention to readily greet an older person in a retracted posture.

The African culture in general emphasizes on respect for elders but the hunger for it in a Yoruba setting can be described as rather extreme.

Imagine you are a Yoruba boy on your father's 50th birthday. You are the first son and your aunts and uncles are part of the guests your family is expecting. You probably have a hard time recognizing most of them because you last set eyes on each other on your grandmother's burial ceremony when you were only 10 years old.

The expectancy to prostrate flat on the floor is there whether you are able to recall who they are or not. It can be an endless cycle of prostrating so much if you are trying to keep up with the demands. You would have scored some points for your parents who are likely going to be praised for doing a good job training you or done the opposite if the reverse was your reaction.

Majority of the Yoruba people are folks with a great awareness due to the status of the west as a key region during the era of the British colonial rulers in Nigeria. They know how to assert themselves and can be quite vocal when insisting on what they consider their rights. This is the amount of vigour that has surrounded their protection of a cultural value that places too much emphasis on obedience and valuing those superior to one.
But what about the state's lesser-known attractions? Here is a look at some of its best-hidden attractions and more off-the-beaten-path places.

ALSO READ: Top 5 reasons you must visit Lagos

1. Visit Jaekel Museum, Ebute-Metta

The Jaekel house is a beautifully restored classic colonial mansion, located within the grounds of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Ebute-Metta.

Now a mini Museum and photo Exhibition centre, it celebrates the prime of the Nigerian Railway Corporation during colonial times.

The Railway Compound itself is an oasis of tranquillity, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city.

2. Take a walk through, Ebute-Metta

Enjoy old colonial structures on Lagos Mainland. Arm yourself with a camera and visit old relics while enjoying the sights of the busy markets.

Ensure you visit the Nigerian Railway Corporation to see a steam engine while at it.

ALSO READ: 5 extraordinary aquatic adventures on Lagos coast

3. Epe Mangrove

By taking a boat from Ajah, youll catch a glimpse of the glorious mangrove entering through a narrow, six-and-a-half-foot opening.

Escorts are ready to paddle you across the mangrove as you enjoy nature at its finest.

4. Go swimming with nature at Tarkwa Bay

Lagos has countless coves and beaches that will capture your heart. Boasting sugar-white beaches, sometimes clear waters and astounding coral reefs just offshore, they are holiday-brochure perfect.

But Tarkwa Bay is the safest beach to swim at. Artificially controlled by sand filling, the island also boasts beautiful resorts and offers water sport activities.

5. Go kayaking at twilight
Inaugurating the committee in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Buhari said that re-negotiation of a new national minimum wage had become imperative because the existing minimum wage instrument had since expired.

We all know that the last minimum wage instrument has expired."

It is in recognition of the need to ensure a fair and decent living wage that the Federal Government put in motion necessary mechanisms so that we can today inaugurate this large committee with a big task ahead of you."

You are all aware that during the period following the increase in petrol pump price in May 2016, a technical committee was established to examine and make recommendations to government, the measures to be adopted to cushion the envisaged painful effects of the increase on workers and the Nigerian populace at large."

During the deliberations of the technical committee, which comprised government and organized labour, the need for the review of the national minimum wage was highlighted and recommendation to set up a committee to look into the level of minimum wage was made accordingly, Buhari said.

The president noted that the subject of a national minimum wage for the federation was within the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution.

He, therefore, enjoined the committee members to go above the basic social protection floor for all Nigerian workers, based on the ability of each tier of government to pay."

I say this because minimum wage is the minimum amount of compensation an employee must receive for putting in his or her labour and as such should be anchored on social justice and equity.

Buhari also told the members to amicably consider the issue of a national minimum wage and all matters ancillary to it with thoroughness and concern, not only for the welfare of the nations workforce but the likely effects on the countrys economy.

He expressed his optimism that the outcome of the deliberations of the committee would be consensual and generally acceptable.

According to him, governments decision after considering the final recommendation will be sent as an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for it to undergo appropriate legislative scrutiny before passage into law.

As is evident by the membership of the committee, state governors and private sector employers are part of this process."

This will ensure ease of implementation of a new minimum wage nationwide.

The president also expressed hope that the principles of full consultation with social partners and their direct participation would be utilised by the committee, bearing in mind the core provisions of the International Labour Organisations Minimum Wage Fixing Convention No. 131 and Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention No. 26.

Accordingly, conditions of genuine social dialogue should prevail in the spirit of tripartism and collective bargaining agreements.

Buhari further told the committee members to collectively bargain in good faith, have mutual recognition for each other and always in a spirit of give and take.

According to him, the committee is expected to complete its deliberations and submit its report and recommendations as soon as possible to enable other requisite machinery to be set in motion for the implementation of a new national minimum wage.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, lauded the president for inaugurating the committee, expressing hope that the committee would perform its duties diligently.

The committee has a former Head of Service and Minister of Housing, Ms. Ama Pepple as Chairman, while Ngige is to serve as Deputy Chairman.
The Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

The presidential aide said that the President had expressed satisfaction over the progress so far made in the rehabilitation of the freed Chibok schoolgirls.

According to him, Buhari expressed his feelings while reviewing progress report on the affected girls.

He said that the report was submitted to the President in line with his commitment to personally monitor the rehabilitation and reintegration into society of the freed Chibok girls.

Shehu said the President also assured that the Federal Government would continue to provide full support for their education.

The President has approved payment of the sum of N164,763,759 million (one hundred and sixty four million, seven hundred and sixty-three naira) for the second semester school fees of the 106 Chibok girls at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola.

According to the progress report received by the President, the decision to pursue avenues in addition to military action to free the abducted girls is in the resolve to protect the lives of all Nigerians.

To end the insurgency in the northeast of the country, and to fulfill one of the campaign promises of the President.

In line with this, the Federal Government entered into negotiations with the Boko Haram terrorist group for the release of the Chibok girls who were kidnapped from their school dormitory on the night of April 14, 2014.

So far, two batches of 21 and 82 girls have been freed as a result of those negotiations.

Three additional girls were rescued by the gallant efforts of our armed forces, bringing the total number of freed Chibok girls so far to 106.

Shehu noted that as a result of their experiences while in captivity, the freed girls were severely traumatised and afflicted by various ailments and injuries.

He stated that the girls were taken to secured medical centres for attention.

They also went through debriefing and de-radicalisation by security operatives, after which the girls were handed over to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development was assigned the main role in supervising the rehabilitation and reintegration of the girls back into society.

Long before the girls were released, the Federal Government had established the Chibok Girls Desk in the ministry, responsible for acting on matters relating to the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, and serving as a channel of communication between relevant agencies and the parents and relatives of the abducted girls.

The media aide said that the ministry of women affairs, in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), UN Women, and other donour agencies, embarked on programmes earmarked to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of the Chibok girls with a nine-month time frame.

According to Shehu, a hostel in the National Centre for Women Development was converted into a suitable shelter, where the girls were kept for the nine-month period.

The programme, which began in Jan., ended in Sept. 2017. During the period, the 106 girls were given lessons in English, Mathematics, Biology, Agriculture, and Civic Education. In addition, they were trained on ICT and vocational skills.

Professionals were engaged to provide them with psychosocial therapy and one-on-one counseling to help them overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Shehu revealed that the girls were also provided with religious instruction and comprehensive care by two in-house doctors and two nurses.

He said that periodic visits from the girls parents to stimulate family support and reunion were sponsored and organised by the ministry.

Having successfully achieved the desired goals of the rehabilitation and reintegration programme, with recorded significant improvement in the academic performance of the girls, in September, a final send-off party was organised for the 106 Chibok girls.

They were subsequently moved to the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola for their foundation studies and continuation of their education.

He disclosed that the AUN had successfully established a foundation school for 14 out of the 57 Chibok girls who earlier escaped when the rest of their classmates were taken to the Sambisa forest by Boko Haram in 2014.

The presidential aide observed that the absorption of the 106 girls into the AUN marked the beginning of their integration into the larger Nigerian society, thus fulfilling Buharis promise of providing the best education for them.
The theme of the summit is "Investing in the Youth for a Sustainable Development" and President Buhari will use the occasion to meet with a number of African Heads of State and their European counterparts.

Adesina's statement read, "President Buhari will use the occasion of the summit to reiterate Nigeria's readiness to work with African and European countries to address the challenges affecting both continents, such as peace and security."

The president will attend the official luncheon to be hosted by the Ivorien government in honour of the visiting 83 Heads of State representing 55 African countries and 28 European countries and other delegations.

According to the statement, delegations from partner countries, the African Union Commission, the European Union Commission, regional and international organizations, will also participate at the summit.
LAS VEGAS  A free presentation on supported decision-making will be broadcast via video conference to Elko at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension office at 701 Walnut St.

Two sessions will be available. The first is 9 a.m. to noon and the second is from 1:30-4:30 p.m.

The seminar includes judges, attorneys, advocates families and adults with disabilities to discuss using supported decision-making as an alternative to adult guardianships.

Jonathan Martinis, Esq., Senior Director of Law and Policy at Burton Blatt Institute will highlight national and international trends, including his personal experiences advocating on behalf of adults with disabilities.

Judge Francis Doherty, Dr. Elaine Brown, Debra Bookout, Esq., and Mary Bryant of UNR will join Martinis in an interactive conversation about how to support individuals autonomy and what supported decision-making looks like in Nevada.

Nevada Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty encourages attendance for the public to learn more about supported-decision making.

I recommend all attorneys, advocates, families caring for loved ones and persons with disabilities attend this free program for an opportunity to learn about supported decision-making as an innovative, alternative to guardianship from national expert, Jonathan Martinis, said Hardesty.

The event is sponsored by the Second Judicial District Court, National Resource Center on Supported-Decision Making, State Bar of Nevada, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, and Washoe County Bar Association.

Attendance also qualifies for three free CLE credits and Professional Certificates of Completion is available.

For information or to pre-register, visit https://www.washoecourts.com/index.cfm?page=adultguardianship or call 775-328-3470.
The government says Kanus suit is now useless and meaningless since the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB)has jumped bail and disappeared.

Disappearing act

Kanu hasnt been seensince September 14, 2017, in the wake of an invasion of his dads compound in Afaraukwu, Umuahia.

Kanu is being prosecuted by the State for charges bordering on illegal possession of firearms and treason.

He was granted bail on April, 25, 2017.

Kanu was billed to show up in court on October 17 and November 20, but the government and his lawyer have been trading blames over his disappearance.

No one knows where he is.

Fundamental rights suit

In March 2016, Kanu filed a case of unlawful arrest against the Nigerian government and demanded N800M in compensation.

Kanu also told the court that his fundamental rights have been violated by the Nigerian government.

Counsel to the federal government, Maimuna Shiru, says it is now unnecessary for the court to hear that case because Kanu has flouted his bail conditions.

'Devoid of purpose'

Punch quotes Shiru as saying: Having regards to Article 88(2) of the Rules of the Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, this suit has become devoid of purpose and unnecessary to adjudicate upon.

The result of a judicial decision in this suit will serve no purpose. There are no live issues in controversy between the parties for the court to determine.

Thomas Etah who filed an affidavit in governments support said that the plaintiff/respondent has now jumped bail and his whereabouts are unknown.
The Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr Maikanti Baru, said this in a statement issued by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC Group General Manager Public Affairs Division in Abuja on Sunday.

Baru, after a follow-up meeting with a Benue State delegation led by Dep. Gov. Benson Abounu, said arrangements had been finalised to name the prospective investor in the weeks ahead.

Represented at the meeting by the Chief Operating Officer, Ventures Directorate, Dr Babatunde Adeniran, Baru explained that the core investor would provide 70 per cent of the required funding for the project.

According to Baru, the Benue State government and the NNPC will take up the balance equity contribution.

He said upon completion, the plant was projected to generate about one million direct and indirect jobs for the populace, noting that the project would help link the energy sector with the agricultural sector through the commercial production of bio-fuels from selected energy crops.

The NNPC boss listed other components of the project to include a sugar cane feedstock plantation of about 20,000 hectares; a cane mill and raw/refined sugar plant capable of producing 126,000 tonnes annually.

According to him, it also includes a fuel-ethanol processing plant with production capacity of 84 million litres annually.

The bio-fuels projects will also help to establish the bio-gas cogeneration power plant which will generate 64 MW; a carbon dioxide recovery and bottling plant that will produce 2, 000 tonnes annually as well as an animal feed plant that will produce 63, 000 tons annually.

The statement also quoted Abonu, Benue deputy governor as saying Benue State is offering the 20, 000 hectares of irrigable land space along the bank of the river Benue as its equity contribution to the project.

In addition to a yet to be specified tranche of funds to shore up its stake to the level of directorship in the yet to be constituted board.

ALSO READ: Falana accuses Buhari of encouraging Baru to disgrace Kachikwu

Abonu also commended the NNPC on the strides so far recorded, and assured that the state government had since taken concrete measures to sensitise the host communities on the bio-fuel project.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kazaure made the call on Sunday while addressing the NYSC 2017 Batch B at the Permanent Orientation Camp in Tsafe, Tsafe Local Government Area of the state.

The DG urged corps members to always cooperate with security agencies and report any breach of security or suspicious movement of any person to the nearest security points around them.

You should avoid night party, travelling without permission, you should always move in group and make sure that you report to the security agencies on any activities you are engage in.

You should feel free while serving your mother Land, we have made adequate arrangement with security operatives to give effective security for you in Zamfara, he said.

Kazaure, however, directed the state NYSC office not to post corps members to areas with security challenges.

He tasked the corps members to take advantage of the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme (SAED) during the orientation course to be self-reliant after the service.

Part of efforts to address the problems of unemployment in this country, the Federal Government introduced SAED as part of the NYSC activities.

This is to train corps members on various skills for them to be self-reliant after the service year.

We all know the issue of unemployment in this country, we all know that the white collar jobs are no more available today.

So pay attention to SAED programme, so that you can learn what will be good for your future, Kazaure said.

He called on the corps members to support federal government policies on national unity and development.

ALSO READ: 5 reasons why NYSC scheme should be scrapped

As leaders of tomorrow you will determine the future of this country.

You should be patriotic, disciplined, honest and hard working for good future of Nigeria, he said.

Earlier, the state NYSC Coordinator, Hajiya Walida Isa said about 2,000 corps members deployed to the state registered for the orientation exercise.
Kalu disclosed this while speaking on ChannelsTv programme, on November 26, 2017.

The governor stated that President Buhari would compete for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside other presidential aspirants.

"All I know is that the APC will have a lot of presidential aspirants in 2019 and President Buhari will be running for re-election," Kalu announced.

"Buhari has to run. He is the President of Nigeria and he is healthy. What will stop him from running?" the former governor asked Seun Okinbaloye, anchor of the programme.

"Whether he declares or not, that is immaterial. President Buhari will run for re-election," the ex-governor and businessman categorically stated.

When asked if the President must seek re-election, Kalu said: "It's not a must but he is going to run. I'm telling you that he will run. Is there any Nigerian President that did not run for second term? President Buhari has to run.

All I know is that Buhari remains one candidate that has ten million followership. So if you do the election tomorrow, ten million voters will follow him unasked-for. ," he said.

ALSO READ: Atiku reportedly meets with PDP leaders

The former governor noted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not return to power except they have a name change.

There is a difference between government taking ten percent for contracts awarded. In this case, our treasury was looted. People opened our central Bank and massed out the money. So how can they return again?

There is no international power that can allow that to happen. The international community was very disappointed that was why they insisted that the former government was pushed away. I am speaking on the point of strength," he said.

Reacting to the alleged marginalization of Nigerians in the south-east, Kalu maintained that President Buhari has treated the Igbos better that other presidents of the country.

Buhari did not start this marginalization. It started after the civil war. But, President Buhari has done better for the Igbos than all the past presidents. Buhari is building roads in the south-east like the Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

I tell my brothers that we do not need ministers but development and infrastructure to increase our development. President Buhari is adequately addressing these issues, he added.

The former governor also reacted to Atiku Abubakars resignation from the APC.
According to the party, members have the right to free speech, but they should be responsible about it.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Rivers sate chairman of the party, Davies Ikanya.

Amaechi needs encouragement

Ikanya also said that the minister needs all the encouragement he can get for working hard to unite the party in the state.

The chairman also said This class of leaders in their quest for political relevance have not ceased on daily basis to disparage the person and personality of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, erstwhile Governor of Rivers State and incumbent Minister of Transportation and the undisputed leader of our party in the State.

That the party leadership decides to keep calm and quiet all these while shouldnt be misconstrued as a sign of weakness to warrant these ceaseless attacks on our party leader, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi whose single mission is to build a virile, vibrant, cohesive, united chapter of the party capable of salvaging the State from the hands of undemocratic elements currently pervading and exhibiting all manners of bad governance inimical to the growth and prosperity of our dear State.

As much as we will not discourage or hinder any member of our great party from exercising their powers of freedom of speech, association or movement but such speeches, movements or associations shouldnt result to stunted growth of our party both at the State and National levels.

Let us for once warn and caution those concerned not only to call themselves to order but direct their subordinates and supporters to understand the limits they can be used to run down our party or bring down all the efforts we have collectively put in building this party to what it is today.

Rotimi Amaechi served as the Governor of Rivers state from 2007  2015.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier described Obasanjo as "the boss of bosses" who is very instrumental to any presidential candidate's ambition.

On Sunday, November 26, 2017, Atiku's media aide, Paul Ibe, told The Punch in a telephone interview that the former Vice President won't rule out the importance of anyone in his quest to become Nigeria's president.

"His Excellency, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, is a savvy politician and he will not discountenance the importance of carrying everybody along in order to build a consensus," he said.

Atiku served as Obasanjo's deputy during his two terms as president between 1999 and 2007 but the two didn't end on friendly terms due to their clashing ambitions.

Atiku's resignation

In a resignation letter signed by Atiku on Friday, November 24, he accused President Muhammadu Buhariof neglecting him and condemned the APC for "instituting a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy".

In a reaction to his exit from the ruling party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) urged him to return to the party where he had served as Vice President and also won the Adamawa gubernatorial election in 1999.

While Atiku failed to mention which party he'll be joining, or whether he'll contest for the presidency in 2019, he's expected to pitch his tent with the PDP after a series of private meetings with the party's leadership.

ALSO READ: 6 reasons Atiku dumped APC

Atiku's presidential ambition

Atiku has contested for the president's seat a number of times, losing to the late President Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 presidential election and losing in the primaries to eventual winners President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and President Buhari of the APC in the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections respectively.
The pictures started circulating on social media late on Sunday, November 26, 2017, with the image of someone that appears to be Atiku himself inspecting the cars.

The cars were branded with his name and the inscription "Yes. Atiku for Nigeria 2019."

While the pictures appear to be genuine, the Vice President's media office has denied that Atiku himself shared the pictures as reported in some circles.

ALSO READ: 6 reasons Atiku dumped APC

Atiku's resignation

In a resignation letter signed by Atiku on Friday, November 24, he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of neglecting him and condemned the APC for "instituting a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy".

In a reaction to his exit from the ruling party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) urged him to return to the party where he served as the deputy to former President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007, and lost the primaries election to former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

While Atiku failed to mention which party he'll be joining, or whether he'll contest for the presidency in 2019, he's expected to pitch his tent with the PDP after a series of private meetings with the party's leadership.

Atiku's presidential ambition

Atiku has contested for the president's seat a number of times, losing to the late President Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 presidential election and losing in the primaries to eventual winners President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and President Buhari of the APC in the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections respectively.
Kalu said Buhari, as the Commander-In-Chief, should be interested in what is happening in the APC.

He said The president should be more interested in the things of the party. As Commander-in-Chief, he should be interested in who leaves.

If I was in position, I would have stopped the movement.

The president should have consulted the governors in appointing men like Kwankwaso, Atiku into the system.

He should have given them a ministerial position to pacify everybody and call governors to bring five names of candidates for ministerial slot, that way democracy becomes a participated one.

Im not scared of PDP coming back in 2019, they cant return because no international agency likes them and they insisted PDP be pushed away

All I know is that Buhari remains one candidate that has 10million followership even in the south east

Even if south east has been marginalized Buhari has done better than past presidents that emerged from south east.

Atiku says APC is dying

On Friday, November 24, 2017, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar resigned from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Atiku accused the APC of instituting a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.

The former Vice-President of Nigeria, has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a dying party.

His words: How can we have a federal cabinet without even one single youth?

A party that does not take the youth into account is a dying party. The future belongs to young people.
During his inauguration of the 30-member tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee at the Council Chambers on Monday, the president addressed the national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, and said, "accept my sympathy for losing a senior member of your party."

Atiku's resignation

In a resignation letter signed by Atiku on Friday, November 24, he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of neglecting him and condemned the APC for "instituting a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy".

In a reaction to his exit from the ruling party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) urged him to return to the party where he served as the deputy to former President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007, and lost the primaries election to former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

While Atiku failed to mention which party he'll be joining, or whether he'll contest for the presidency in 2019, he's expected to pitch his tent with the PDP after a series of private meetings with the party's leadership.

ALSO READ: 6 reasons Atiku dumped APC

Atiku's presidential ambition

Atiku has contested for the president's seat a number of times, losing to the late President Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 presidential election and losing in the primaries to eventual winners President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and President Buhari of the APC in the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections respectively.
The general in charge of Americas nuclear arsenal, John Hyten, recently said he would resist carrying out an illegal order from the president to use those weapons.

His comments echoed the ones made a few days earlier by one of his predecessors, retired Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Nov. 14, Kehler asserted that nuclear operations officers would refuse to implement an unlawful order.

While the generals are no doubt military men of integrity, my four decades of experience as a diplomat and scholar of American foreign policy suggest there is no law that would make a presidential order to launch a preemptive nuclear strike on North Korea illegal.

Heres why.

No applicable law

Congress has the constitutional responsibility for declaring war, but it has not done so since World War II. That has not prevented every president since then from engaging in military conflicts large and small. Even American participation in the Korean War was not authorized by Congress. So, the absence of a formal declaration of war against North Korea is no barrier to a nuclear strike.

The War Powers Resolution attempted to rein in the presidents prerogatives when it comes to armed conflict. It requires the president to explain to Congress why he is using military force within 60 days of his doing so. But that 1973 law has often been ignored, kicks in only months after military action has been initiated and is considered by some to be unconstitutional.

In recent years, Congress has often acted to allow the president to use military force without a declaration of war. After 9/11, it passed an Authorization for the Use of Military Force to permit the president to go after those involved in the terrorist attacks that day. President Bush used that authorization in his rationale for invading Iraq, even though there was no connection to the attack. President Obama used it during his time in office to justify drone strikes and other military actions. In other words, the 9/11 authorization has been used by presidents to kill people considered terrorists, including American citizens abroad like Anwar al-Awlaki.

Given the lack of congressional restraints, are there other checks on the presidents ability to wage war?

Not just lack of a law

In his congressional testimony, Gen. Kehler stated that the use of nuclear weapons was governed by the law of war. According to the Defense Department manual on the subject, the law of war is defined as that part of international law that regulates the resort to armed force; the conduct of hostilities and the protection of war victims in both international and non-international armed conflict; belligerent occupation; and the relationships between belligerent, neutral, and non-belligerent States.

The law of war, therefore, amounts to little more than a philosophical discussion and international law and treaties like the Geneva Convention, all of which are not considered an obstacle when a president asserts that protecting national security requires it. The Bush administration ignored these conventions when they wanted to use torture.

Kehler also noted that the Nuclear Posture Review of 2010 provided the context for the use of nuclear weapons. The 2010 review was an Obama-era update of nuclear policy left over from the Cold War. It clarified that policy by stating that the United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in compliance with their nuclear non-proliferation obligations. North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to totally destroy that country with fire and fury.

The Washington way

Another reason Trump has no constraints against carrying out those threats is the way Washington works. In his comments at the conference, Gen. Hyten said, If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. Not only did none of the senior officials involved in crimes like illegal enhanced interrogation techniques go to jail, they were often promoted. One example is the current deputy director of the CIA who, according to The New York Times, oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects and later took part in an order to destroy videotapes documenting their brutal interrogations.

No one is likely to be punished for carrying out a presidential order that was subsequently deemed illegal. It would not be considered illegal at the time it is given because a president can surround himself with lawyers like John Yoo and former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who had no trouble telling George W. Bush anything he wanted to do was legal. And if someone in the military chain of command refused to carry out such an order, how long would it take for the man who became famous with the phrase youre fired to say just that?

After all, he had no hesitation about firing the director of the FBI, James Comey.

In addition, Trump has taken a step that further removes the possibility of a legal constraint. He has added North Korea once again to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. As I wrote in a 2014 article, the list has frequently been used for political purposes that have nothing to do with terrorism. That is demonstrated by the fact that the Bush administration took North Korea off the list in an attempt to salvage a deal regarding its nuclear program.

Many might believe that Congress will surely act to impose limitations on the president. They need to read only the first sentence of the Washington Post story on the hearing where Gen. Kehler testified to have that idea thoroughly dispelled.

One expert asserted that as commander-in-chief, the president has the sole authority to decide to use nuclear weapons. Another, reflecting a mentality more suited to the Cold War, said constraints might reduce the deterrent value of those weapons.

The bottom line is that a nuclear war wont be prevented by military officers refusing to obey an order they consider illegal. And such a situation wont be avoided by congressional action. The legislative branch is paralyzed by partisan politics. Using the bomb is up to the discretion of a president who came to office with no experience in the military, government or foreign affairs beyond real estate deals in other countries. And after ten months of on-the-job training, he seems no better prepared for such a responsibility.
The former Governor said this while speaking on a Channels TV Program  Sunday Politics.

He said President Buhari will run for re-election, not a must but he is going to run. He has to run (and if he says he is not running), we will force him to run.

Whether he declares or not, it is immaterial. All I know is that APC will have a lot of candidates in 2019 and President Buhari will be running for re-election.

He has to run; he is the President of Nigeria and he is healthy, what will stop him not to run? He is a capable man, so he will be running with the other candidates who want to run in the APC.

No automatic ticket for Buhari

Kalu also debunked reports that the APC is planning to impose the President on intending presidential aspirants.

The former Governor said Even President Buhari himself will reject an automatic ticket, hes a Democrat to the heart. He will like to see his popularity being tested.

Hes not afraid of any candidate coming to run, he is willing to challenge any candidate to challenge him in the primaries. I believe he is still the presidential candidate who has 10 million people behind him and he is not threatened.

So if you conduct the election tomorrow, 10 million voters will follow him unasked for and he will make a good show in all parts of the South East.

You will recall that the National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, had earlier said there will be no automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari.
The General Manager of HMD Global in-charge of West, East and Central Africa, Mr Joseph Umunakwe, made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

What happens is that even when you keep the phone on the table, you are not aware that the software are running on the background and are draining your battery."

When we say that our android is pure, what we are saying is that we will have no preloads, no hidden processes."

What we have done is to give a choice to consumers to download and install the apps they need, he said.

According to him, Nokia has democratised technology by giving consumers the opportunity to make the choice.

He said that Nokia had six service centres across Nigeria and over 100 collection points, where customers could drop their phones for repairs.

With the aid of the Nokia Support App, Nokia Android smartphone users can talk with the companys representatives regarding any problems with their devices."

The Nokia Support App also helps smartphone users to find details on care centres around them."
The talks began from November 15 when Mugabe was placed under house arrest by soldiers; culminating in Mugabe accepting to step down on November 21.

Here are five things Rev Mukonori said about those six days of intense negotiation with Mugabe.

The 73-year-old Jesuit priest spoke to CNN.

1. Rev says hes a tough nut to crack

Rev Mukonori collected evidence of atrocities during Zimbabwes brutal civil war that preceded Mugabe's reign.

He was a young priest at the time.

Years later, he would become part of the team charged with persuading Mugabe to loosen his hold on power.

"I'm a tough nut to crack. I've done this before," Mukonori says.

2. The strategy was to listen to Mugabe, not debate him

The negotiators allowed Mugabe do most of the talking.

"He is a debater, he is a thinker, he argues intelligently, he can philosophize," Mukonori says. "It was a question of making President Mugabe see what was happening in the country economically and politically at that time and what was at stake with regard to issues pertaining to the soldiers moving in."

3. 60,000 protesting on the streets moved Mugabe

As thousands of Zimbabweans emptied into the streets, Mugabe knew his time as president was finally over.

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"The protesting crowd moved him, Mukonori says. It moved him in the sense that he realised that they are speaking to say this is enough."

4. Soldiers treated Mugabe with respect all through

"The Generals always treated him with respect during the discussions, they even saluted him," Mukonori says. "He knew he would love to leave with dignity."

5. The amount of soldiers stationed outside government buildings during takeover worried Mugabe

"The fact that the soldiers had taken that step -- Mugabe didn't disagree that there were issues but he wondered why it had to be done that way," Mukonori told CNN.
Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz had vowed to go into opposition after a disappointing showing in September's general election, but in a U-turn Friday said he was ready for talks with Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc.

Bavaria's powerful state premier Horst Seehofer, a key Merkel ally, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that a repeat left-right "grand coalition" was the right way forward.

"An alliance between the conservatives and the SPD is the best option for Germany, better in any case than 'Jamaica', new elections or a minority government," said Seehofer, who heads Merkel's Bavarian CSU sister party.

The failed three-way tie-up between the CDU/CSU, the Greens and the FDP had been dubbed "Jamaica" because the parties' colours match those of the Caribbean country's flag.

Seehofer warned the SPD however that there would not be a deal at any cost.

"I can only advise the SPD not to enter into talks with the conservatives with exaggerated demands, but to stay realistic," he told the daily.

"There shouldn't be a grand coalition at any price."

Merkel, who has baulked at the idea of a repeat election, on Saturday said she wanted to form a government "very soon".

Talks with the SPD should be based on "mutual respect" and "compromise", she added.

Piling on the pressure, the youth wing of Merkel's CDU party called for a deal on another "GroKo", as the grand coalition is known in Germany, to be in place by Christmas.

If the two sides can't reach an agreement by then, "the conservatives should aim for a minority government",Paul Ziemiak, head of the CDU youth, was quoted as saying by Bild.

He too warned against making too many concessions to the SPD, urging the CDU to stand firm on stricter migration policies and its commitment to a balanced budget.

Muscle flexing

Leading SPD politicians however signalled they were ready to flex their muscles.

"Ms Merkel is in no position to dictate terms," said the SPD's Malu Dreyer, premier of Rhineland-Palatinate state.

The Social Democrats centred their campaign on building a more socially just Germany, pledging more investment in education and infrastructure.

Merkel, who is eyeing a fourth term, will meet with top brass from her CDU party on Sunday evening to discuss the next steps.

A breakthrough could come Thursday, when President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosts talks between Merkel, Seehofer and Schulz.

An Emnid survey for the Bild newspaper on Sunday showed that 52 percent of Germans were in favour of a repeat grand coalition.

'Smells like GroKo'

Schulz had categorically ruled out another stint as junior coalition partner after four years of governing in Merkel's shadow led the SPD to its worst result in decades in the September 24 poll.

But with Europe's top economy facing prolonged political uncertainty after the collapse of the Jamaica talks, and with fears that snap polls would mainly benefit the far-right AfD, Schulz caved to demands to soften his stance.

Leading Greens MP Claudia Roth told Deutschlandfunk radio she doubted whether another GroKo was the best outcome, given its "anaesthetising" effect on the country last time.

"But it smells like it (another grand coalition)," she said.

FDP leader Christian Lindner, who triggered the crisis when he pulled out of the Jamaica talks last Sunday, also said he expected to see the SPD agree to another stint in government.

"The hurdles are lower for them than for us," Lindner told Bild.
UN mediator Staffan de Mistura, who describes himself as a "chronic optimist", has voiced hope that the next talks will mark the first "real negotiation".

For that to happen rival sides will need to overcome the hurdle that has derailed past discussions: the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

De Mistura, typically a cautious diplomat, has bluntly told the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) that its demand for Assad's ouster may no longer be tenable.

In September, he said the HNC needed to be "realistic" and realise "they didn't win the war". Those comments infuriated the opposition.

But the UN envoy's position is supported by facts on the ground.

Backed by Russia's decisive military support, Assad's government has regained control of 55 percent of the country, including major cities Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, and around two-thirds of the population lives in regime-held areas.

The rest is carved up between rebel factions, jihadists and Kurdish forces.

Opposition unites

Meeting in the Saudi capital this week, disparate Syrian opposition groups agreed to send a united delegation to Geneva.

The hardline HNC has joined with opposition groups based in Moscow and Cairo, which take a softer approach on Assad's future.

The opposition unity bid has already rankled the Saudi-backed HNC.

Riad Hijab stepped down as the group's leader over what he called "attempts to lower the ceiling of the revolution and prolong the regime".

The HNC on Friday chose Nasr al-Hariri to lead its 36-member delegation in Geneva.

Hariri, the HNC's chief negotiator at previous rounds, has insisted that Assad needs to go. There were no immediate signs that the new opposition grouping will row back its stance on the president.

The US State Department on Sunday called the opposition unity push "a positive step" and said now was the time for the Syrian regime "to enter into substantive negotiations in Geneva".

Russia 'sets the rules'

Initiatives spearheaded by Moscow have taken centre-stage in the efforts to end the conflict, especially as US President Donald Trump's administration has pulled back from Syrian diplomatic front.

Russia, fellow regime ally Iran and rebel-backer Turkey have hosted negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones" which produced a drop in violence, though deadly air strikes and battles continue in some areas.

And this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a "congress" of Syrian regime and opposition figures, a move backed by Ankara and Tehran.

Putin has also said that the coming Syrian congress would be a "stimulus" for Geneva.

Some experts believe that Russia has clearly put itself in the drivers seat.

For Fyodor Lukyanov, who chairs Russia's Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, the diplomatic successes achieved by Russia, Iran and Turkey have proved that the three nations "are playing a leading role".

"They set the rules and set the next steps," he added.

After Russia's announcement this month that it would be scaling back its military involvement in Syria, Lukyanov noted that Moscow is now keen to pivot towards finding a political solution to the conflict.

But, he cautioned, Moscow's diplomatic efforts on Syria will be meaningless "without their legitimisation by international organisations, starting with the UN."
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo confirmed this development to State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with the President in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday, November 27, 2017.

He said workers' issue took the centre stage during the meeting, adding that the president was so much concerned with those who depend on salaries to feed their families, pay school fees and their house rents.

Okorocha said Buhari specifically directed the governors to ensure that they keep workers and pensioners happy by paying their outstanding salaries and allowances from the balance of the outstanding Paris Club refund which will soon be paid to them.

He said: "It was a brief meeting between the governors of Nigeria and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

"The discussion centred on basically the end of year and president himself has expressed the need to make sure that every Nigerian, especially the workers have a beautiful Christmas.

"The issue of outstanding Paris Club was discussed and that was taken care of to make sure that workers in various states, everywhere in the country get to celebrate the Christmas.

"We also use the opportunity to review our working relationship with the president and we found out that we are in harmony; there is no difference between us and the president, everybody seems to be very happy; we are working together.

"We particularly commended Mr President for getting Nigeria out of recession".

Okorocha stated that the governors lauded Buhari for approving the payment of the remaining balance of 50 per cent of the Paris Club refund to the states.

He said the president's approval will enable the states to include part of the refund in their 2018 budget proposals.

"We are looking at getting the balance of Paris Club refund thrashed out once and for all.

"We also made a request for Mr Presidents approval that the balance should form part of our 2018 budget, because we cant include it until we are sure that the money is coming. That was also sorted out," he added.

ALSO READ: Buhari approves 30-member new national minimum wage committee

Okorocha stated that the governors assured the president that they would meet up with the obligations of paying the salaries of their workers.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who also spoke on the outcome of the meeting, said the president has ordered that the balance of the first 50 per cent be paid to the state governments to meet their obligations before Christmas.

He said: "The Paris club figures need to be reconciled. While the reconciliation process was going on, the president approved that 50 per cent of the original amount be paid to the states. The payment started from last year.

"We still have the balance of the first 50 per cent.

"This is what the president said should be paid to state governments to meet their obligations before Christmas because hes concerned that many families depend solely on their salaries to pay for rent, for the festive period. That had been decided."
Despite mourning the jihadist attack thought to have been carried out by the Islamic State group, the Sufis say they will mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed as planned, a week to the day after the massacre.

The gun and bomb assault on the Rawda village mosque in restive North Sinai roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the provincial capital of El-Arish killed 305 people including 27 children.

Another 128 people were wounded.

Authorities said up to 30 militants in camouflage flying the black banner of IS surrounded the mosque and massacred worshippers during weekly Friday prayers.

In a defiant statement late Saturday, the Egyptian Supreme Council for Sufi Orders said the annual commemoration would still take place at Cairo's Al-Hussein mosque, one of Islam's most prominent sites in Egypt, and also "across the country".

However, a procession that normally takes place has been cancelled "in mourning for the souls of the martyrs of the terrorist incident at the Rawda mosque, and to ease the security burden".

The procession from Cairo's Salah al-Jaafari mosque to the Al-Hussein mosque, named after the prophet's grandson, covers a distance that would normally be just a 15-minute walk.

'Not alien to Islam'

But "it takes hours for the procession to reach Al-Hussein because it is attended by thousands of people", council spokesman Ahmed Kandil told AFP.

Egypt's North Sinai-based IS branch has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians accused of working with the authorities, since the July 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The jihadist group has also targeted Sufis and Christians since authorities cracked down on Morsi supporters, killing more than 700 in one August day in 2013 as they cleared a protest camp in the capital.

IS is suspected of being behind Friday's attack because the mosque is associated with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam whom it has branded heretics for seeking the intercession of saints.

But in a separate statement on Saturday, the Sufi supreme council said the sect has always been an integral part of Islam.

"Sufism is not alien to Islam. It is Islam itself with the full worship and application of what is stated in the book (the Koran) and the Sunnah" or teachings attributed to the Prophet Mohammed, it said.

Sufism "represents excellence in worship, of which the prophet -- peace be upon him -- said that you worship god as if you see him, and if you do not see him, he sees you."

In Rome, Pope Francis expressed sorrow in his St Peter's Square address Sunday. He had visited Egypt in April to support the embattled Christian community and encourage dialogue with Muslims.

'Great pain'

"It caused us great pain, Friday's news of the slaughter," Francis said.

"I continue to pray for the numerous victims, for the injured and for this whole community that has been hit so hard."

Egypt also received messages of support from the United States and France, which are among the North African country's main military backers.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on Saturday that destroyed a military bulldozer and armoured personnel carrier close to the border with Gaza, but there has yet to be any such claim issued for the mosque attack.

IS usually claims an attack within a day or two, through its self-styled Amaq news agency or via the Telegram social media app.

However, in Egypt such claims have been irregular, with attacks claimed late or not at all.

This is in part because of disrupted links between IS in Egypt and remnants of the embattled organisation in Syria and Iraq.

There has also been a chorus of online condemnation of the attack by jihadists including by IS supporters.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said late Saturday that since the attack many countries have expressed solidarity with Egypt, "but the issue goes beyond moral support".

"What is needed is a clear political stance against all terrorist organisations," he told the private DMC television channel.

This should come from nations with the financial and political ability to counter states "which provide support for terrorist organisations", Abu Zeid said.

jpegMpeg4-1280x720President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared three days of mourning and vowed to "respond with brutal force" to the attack, among the deadliest in the world since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
The Mexican Navy, Puebla state medical services and a Mexican alpine rescue group participated in the search.

A navy helicopter searched for the climbers on Saturday before a ground operation took over on Sunday, as weather took a turn for the worse.

Two of the travelers were rescued by land overnight and were taken to Mexico City, according to civil protection authorities.

Two more climbers were found in the early morning and taken to the town of Tlachichuca before being hospitalized in the state capital of Puebla. They were being treated for bruises.

Tighter rules planned

At midday, with bad weather grounding search helicopters, workers on foot were trying to find and bring the fifth member of the expedition off the volcano.

The governments of Puebla and Veracruz states, along with the National Defense Ministry, said they planned to revise rules on access to the peak to prevent inadequately trained or poorly equipped climbers from risking their lives.

Citlaltepetl, on the border of Puebla and Veracruz states, rises 18,372 feet (5,600 meters).

Also known as the Peak of Orizaba, the mountain is popular with climbers but has proved deadly in the past.

On Thursday, the body of a US hiker was recovered from the peak during a risky operation in which a rescuer fell into a ravine and was injured.
The moves have already raised the ire of trade unions and civil society groups at home, and now Washington has added its diplomatic voice to the swelling protests.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US administration regarded the draft law "with concern."

As proposed, she said, the government's move "could undermine the fight against corruption and weaken judicial independence in Romania.

"This legislation ... threatens the progress Romania has made in recent years to build strong judicial institutions shielded from political interference.

"We urge the parliament of Romania to reject proposals that weaken the rule of law and endanger the fight against corruption," she said.
Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaybi has ordered documents to be prepared towards building the new pipeline to "transport crude oil from Kirkuk's oilfields to the port of Ceyhan" in Turkey, a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

An older pipeline was "too damaged by attacks by Daesh terrorist gangs to be rehabilitated," Assem Jihad said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

The new pipeline is to stretch for around 250 kilometres (150 miles) from the area of Baiji, in the province of Salaheddine to the south of Kirkuk, to the Fishkhabur border post with Turkey further north.

Earlier this month, the oil minister said Iraq aimed to double the output of Kirkuk oilfields to one million bpd after retaking the province from Kurdish forces in October.

Iraqi government and paramilitary forces moved in to take over Kirkuk and its oilfields after Iraqi Kurds in September voted for independence in a controversial referendum opposed by Baghdad.
Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE

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With 57 percent of the ballots counted, the leftist Nasralla had claimed 45.17 percent of votes compared to Hernandez's 40.21 percent, according to the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The opposition has denounced the Constitutional Court's decision to allow Hernandez to run for re-election despite a one-term limit, a move that has sparked fears of a crisis in the crime-racked country.

Hernandez, 49, declared himself the winner before official results were announced -- and his top rival did the same.

"The result is more than clear: we won this election," he told supporters who cheered him in the capital Tegucigalpa.

Following that announcement, 64-year-old Nasralla, representing the Alliance Against the Dictatorship coalition, told supporters he was in the lead and could not be caught.

"I am the new president of Honduras," he said.

An estimated six million people were eligible to cast ballots, electing not just a president but also members of Congress, mayors and members of the Central American Parliament.

Though both candidates proclaiming themselves president had stoked fears of unrest, election observers said the vote was smooth.

"What we have seen so far has been positive," said Marisa Matias, a European parliament observer from Portugal, one of 16,000 monitors.

'Between dictatorship and democracy'

Hernandez's conservative National Party -- which controls the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government -- contends that a 2015 Supreme Court ruling allows his re-election.

"Thanks to everyone for strengthening democracy," Hernandez said on Twitter. "We are leading and we are going to win decisively."

The opposition has denounced his bid, saying the court does not have the power to overrule the 1982 constitution.

Hernandez's main rivals -- former TV anchor Nasralla and Luis Zelaya, 50, of the right-leaning Liberal Party -- had both said before the vote that they would not recognize a Hernandez victory.

"It's an atypical electoral process with an illegal re-election," said Zelaya after voting.

Nasralla, while visiting voting stations around the capital to rally his supporters, urged them to be vigilant for signs of fraud.

"They are out here offering poor people food, roof tiles or cement in exchange for their vote," he complained.

"I tell them that that's how they are going to stay poor. I am going to create jobs for them."

Hernandez cast his vote early in his home town of Gracias, in the country's mountainous west, accompanied by his daughter and several National Party deputies.

"Four more years!" supporters chanted as he arrived. Hernandez told reporters he had been up early, messaging with organizers to be sure the elections would take place smoothly.

Honduras, in the heart of the "Northern Triangle" of Central America where gangs and poverty are rife, has one of the highest murder rates in the world, though it has fallen during Hernandez's tenure.

What credit he claims from that progress is counterbalanced by tensions from a 2009 coup.

That year, then-president Manuel Zelaya was deposed by the armed forces, with backing from the right and from powerful businessmen, for nudging closer to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

Zelaya -- no relation to the Liberal Party candidate -- was accused of wanting to change the constitution to seek a second term.

The streets of Tegucigalpa were festooned with the main parties' colors over the weekend.

Tensions could boil over

But some analysts warned the calm was deceptive and tensions could boil over because of the president's desire to hold on to power.

"For the first time, it's not a race between conservatives and liberals, but between a dictatorship and democracy," said Victor Meza, a political analyst at the Honduras Documentation Center.

Hernandez's top rivals accuse the electoral board of preparing poll fraud to declare the incumbent president the victor. The TSE denies that.

"I hope you won't get discouraged when false information starts going around. We need to stay vigilant," Nasralla told his supporters on Friday.
The visit comes as Myanmar's military stands accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya Muslims. More than 620,000 have fled a crackdown in northern Rakhine state for neighbouring Bangladesh over the past three months.

The pope's four-day visit intensifies pressure on Myanmar over its treatment of the stateless minority, a group he has called his "brothers and sisters" in repeated entreaties to ease their plight.

His speeches will be scrutinised by Buddhist hardliners for any mention of the word "Rohingya", an incendiary term in a country where the Muslim group are reviled and labelled "Bengalis" -- alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Francis will meet civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose lustre has faded because of her failure to speak up publicly for the Rohingya.

He will also hold talks with army chief Min Aung Hlaing -- a meeting between a religious leader who has championed the rights of refugees and the man accused of overseeing the brutal campaign to drive out the Rohingya.

Speaking to a crowd of 30,000 people in St Peter's Square, shortly before he left Rome, the pontiff said: "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope."

His visit is a historic chance for Myanmar's flock to get close to the head of their church.

Myanmar's estimated 700,000 Catholics make up just over one percent of the country's 51 million people and are scattered in far-flung corners of the nation, many of them roiled by conflict.

Around 200,000 Catholics are pouring into Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital, by plane, train and car ahead of a huge open-air mass on Wednesday.

"We are ready to welcome the Pope cheerfully... with pure hearts," a woman from the northernmost state of Kachin told AFP, one of hundreds waiting near the archbishop's residence in Yangon.

Prayers for peace

But the Rohingya crisis frames the pope's visit.

The army, which ran the country with an iron fist for nearly half a century, insists its Rakhine operation was a proportionate response to Rohingya "terrorists" who raided police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen officers.

But rights groups, the UN and the US have accused the army of using its operation as cover to drive out a minority it has oppressed for decades.

That is at odds with views inside the country.

"The vast majority of people in Myanmar do not believe the international narrative of abuse against the Rohingya and the refugee numbers that we're seeing in Bangladesh," said Myanmar-based political analyst Richard Horsey.

"If the pope did come and weigh in heavily on this issue, it would inflame tensions and it would inflame public sentiment," he added.

Days before the pope's visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a deal vowing to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of coming back without guarantees of basic rights.
France has requested an urgent meeting of the council for Tuesday, a week after the top UN body held a debate on human trafficking that touched on the abuse of migrants in Libya.

"We must go much further, much further in terms of saying 'no' to an unacceptable situation," French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters.

Asked whether sanctions were possible, Delattre said: "We are working on every conceivable measure to fight against this scourge. We don't exclude anything."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week he was horrified by footage aired by CNN showing an apparent live auction of African migrants to be used as farmhands.

The men were sold for as little as $400.

'Egregious abuses'

Guterres said the slave auctions were "among the most egregious abuses of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity."

African leaders have expressed outrage over the images and called for an inquiry; Libyan officials say they have opened an investigation.

The reported slave auctions have raised questions about whether European Union migration agreements meant to curb Mediterranean crossings are instead turning human traffickers into slave traders as increasing numbers of migrants find themselves stuck in Libya, penniless, desperate and vulnerable.

Libya became an enormous transit hub for sub-Saharan Africans setting sail for Europe after the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 tipped the country into chaos.

The European Union has been desperate to stem the migrant influx, as more than 1.5 million migrants have reached Europe since 2015.
According to a report in Vanguard, President Yayi will be supporting the Nigerian government with a total of 800 troops to join a new multinational force tasked with fighting Boko Haram militants.

This is coming after the President's meeting with Nigerian President, undefinedon Saturday, August 1, 2015 during his one day visit.

After a visit to Cameroon earlier this week to discuss the fight against the Islamist group, Buhari was in Cotonou to attend celebrations marking Benins 55 years of independence.

Boni Yayi told reporters after a meeting with Buhari that Benin will show solidarity with its brothers in arms in the region by sending a contingent of 800 men to permanently combat these outlaws.

Troops for the new multinational force, which includes soldiers from Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad as well as Benin, were set to be deployed at any time, according to its commander Major General Iliya Abbah on Saturday, August 1, 2015.
Zimbabwe's army chief General Constantine Chiwenga visited Beijing shortly before the political crisis erupted in Harare, leading to questions about whether Beijing had any role in the power transition.

China had long been one of Mugabe's most powerful allies and a major trade partner, as the West shunned him over his government's human rights violations.

Calling the army chief's visit a pre-arranged and "normal interaction", foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang denied any involvement in Zimbabwean politics.

"It was planned long before and it was also approved by the former President Mugabe," Geng said.

"China always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and this remains unchanged."

Beijing pointedly did not take sides after the army put Mugabe under house arrest earlier this month. Last week the Chinese foreign ministry declared that it respected his decision to resign but praised him as a "good friend" of China.

Relations between the two countries date back to the liberation struggle of the 1960s, when Beijing provided arms and trained some of the top guerrilla leaders.

During those years, Mnangagwa received training in China.

Nicknamed "the Crocodile" for his ruthlessness, Mnangagwa was Zimbabwe's vice president until his sacking earlier this month, which ultimately led to Mugabe's downfall.

"We congratulate President Mnangagwa on his inauguration," Geng said.
BETTENDORF -- Ascentra Credit Union has announced it will relocate its home office from 1710 Grant St. to a new four-story building in the Town Square Development site located across from the Waterfront Convention Center parking lot.

As the credit union grows, so has the support staff needed to serve the entire membership. The building will house the heart of the credit union that supports 10 branches from Clinton to Muscatine and the 38,138 credit union members in the region and nationwide, according to its press release.

The project is expected to bring 60 additional credit union jobs to downtown Bettendorf that will spur more business for area retailers and provide value for the city that is rarely seen in tax increment financing (TIF) projects.

We see our project as a signature building for downtown which will supercharge further development, said Dale Owen, Ascentra president and CEO. We are excited to help play a lead role in the development of downtown Bettendorf and look forward to the synergy our project will provide for further development in the area. Lets keep the momentum going!

Plans are in place to expand on all of the services offered at the current branch such as business lending and insurance through Ascentra Insurance Services. When completed the building will be a full-service financial center that will house Ascentra Retirement & Investment Services, and provide access to trust services through First Community Trust, N.A.

It will also provide office space for the Downtown Bettendorf Organization, and will even house a large community room for gatherings and presentations.

Our collaborative partnership with the City of Bettendorf on the Town Square Development is a needed next step in the evolution of our business and the downtown, says Larry Ridenour, chairperson of the board of directors at Ascentra. Were addressing todays needs while positioning the credit union for continued long-term responsible growth for decades to come.

The goal of the credit union is to attract and retain top talent to serve the region. according to the release. Located a stones throw away from the current location, the move will provide a seamless transition of services for current members while expanding the credit union offerings.

At a time when the big corporate banks are leaving large empty buildings for cities nationwide to deal with, we are proud to take our best step forward in reinforcing our commitment to the communities we serve, added Mr. Owen. This project is a big deal that has the ability to retain and grow great paying jobs and resources for the betterment of the region. We are an invested collaborative partner in helping all of the communities we serve reach their full potential.

Ascentras Facebook page will show the progress of the constructions which is anticipated to be completed in early 2019. More renderings of the project are posted on Ascentras news site The Teller.
A new, full-length book on the history of Illinois celebrates the states bicentennial while covering the fascinating people, places and events of the last 250 years in the area that became the state.

"The History of Illinois" is a fully documented, illustrated softcover work of 220 pages by historian Tom Emery of Carlinville, a contributor to multiple Illinois newspapers, including the Dispatch-Argus-QCOline.com, who has lectured on his research to audiences statewide.

His new release is a compilation of a newspaper column on Illinois history that appeared in the Dispatch-Argus-QCOnline.com from May 2014 to January 2017. The columns cover all major topics of state history, including top leaders, political and social history, arts and culture, military events, womens issues, racial progression, industrial advancements, disasters and, of course, Abraham Lincoln.

"The History of Illinois" is intended to complement the states upcoming 200th anniversary, as Illinois achieved statehood in 1818.

The book includes over 40 photos as well as a 10-page bibliography, complete footnotes with annotation, and index.

Mr. Emery said readers can learn a lot from the book in just a little time. This isnt something that takes a long time to read, or learn from, he said. A reader can pick up the book, turn to any page, spend a few minutes, and take something away from it.

"The History of Illinois" will appeal to readers of all ages and levels of interest in history, including students. I wanted this book to be easy for everyone to read, Mr. Emery said. The history of the state belongs to everyone, and I wanted to reach a general audience, with people of all ages and interests.

The book is being released in time for the Christmas holidays, though quantities will be limited. Anyone wanting a copy should order by Dec. 8. Orders received after that date are not guaranteed to be filled or delivered in time for Christmas. Delivery is expected around Dec. 20.

"The History of Illinois" sells for $21.99 plus $1.37 tax and $3.64 postage and handling ($27 total). Orders may be placed with PayPal (use the email address enjoyhistorytoday@gmail.com) or by mail by sending your name, address, phone, and check or money order to History in Print, 337 E. 2nd St. South, Carlinville, IL 62626. For more information, call 217-710-8392.
The agreement, which starts in December, is worth Rand 6.5m ($US 474m) and is being paid for through a grant from the AFD.

The Alstom-led Gibela Rail Transport Consortium started to commission the first 600 XTrapolis Mega EMUs early this year under a Rand 59bn contract awarded in 2013, and the first 16 trains entered service between Pretoria and Pienaarspoort in May. Delivery of the fleet will continue in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and lastly the Eastern Cape, and is due to be completed in 2025.

The partnership with SNCF is designed to ensure that the new trains are operation-ready and deployed on time. An SNCF technical expert will be based in South Africa for the duration of the agreement to assist with any operating problems.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) has awarded RailWorks Corp. subsidiary L.K. Comstock & Company Inc. two contracts worth a combined $74.3 million for underground electrical substations on the New York City Transit (NYCT) Canarsie L line in Brooklyn. Both projects will increase power capacity.

Harrison Place is a 39-month project valued at $39.6 million at Harrison Place and Flushing Avenue, in the Bushwick neighborhood in the northern part of Brooklyn, N.Y. L.K. Comstock will design and build a 5,000-square-foot underground substation structure and install the associated electrical equipment.

The 39-month Maspeth Avenue project, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, involves building a 5,000-square-foot underground substation structure and installing associated electrical equipment, including two circuit breaker houses. This project is valued at $34.7 million.

L.K. Comstock is proud to be working on expanding power capacity on Canarsie Line in Brooklyn, said Ben DAlessandro, president of L.K. Comstock. Once completed, these upgrades will help to increase the volume and reliability of train service on this vital subway line.

The underground substation contracts with New York City Transit, along with a growing volume of transit-related work across the U.S. and Canada, have contributed a record backlog for RailWorks, noted President and CEO Kevin Riddett. RailWorks is pleased to be a part of continuing to improve, expand and construct new transit systems across North America.

L.K. Comstock is one of the largest specialty electrical contractors in the U.S. Founded in 1904, the firm serves the transit industry and specializes in performing design support, engineering and installation, testing, start-up and construction and maintenance services. L.K. Comstock is based in East Farmingdale, N.Y., and performs work on projects throughout North America. It is a subsidiary of RailWorks Corp., which provides track and transit systems construction and maintenance services throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In January 2017, NYMTA awarded a $223.3 million contract to L.K. Comstock & Company Inc. to upgrade the NYCT Queens Boulevard Line (QBL) signaling system and install communications-based train control (CBTC).
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MOSCOW, November 27 (RAPSI, Nikita Shiryayev)  Moscows Zamoskvoretsky District Court on Monday dismissed a motion to return a bribery case against former Russias economy minister Alexey Ulyukayev to prosecutors, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

According to Ulyukayevs defense, several provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code have been violated during pretrial investigation. There is the lack of such facts as location, time and way of crime in the indictment; moreover, case papers contain different dates of alleged extortion of bribes by Ulyukayev from Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Ulyukayevs lawyer Daredzhan Kveidze said.

A prosecutor asked the court to dismiss the motion.

Ulyukayev stands charged with taking $2 million in bribes. He was arrested while receiving an alleged bribe in mid-November 2016. According to the Investigative Committee, the former minister threatened to create obtrusions for Rosneft with the use of his position. On November 15, 2016, the ex-minister was put under house arrest. Later in the evening, President Vladimir Putin relieved Ulyukayev of his post because of loss of trust.

Ulyukayev pleaded not guilty and stated that he believed the case was fabricated. The defendant noted that there was a provocation, orchestrated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and that there was no sound evidence in the case, aside from a testimony provided by Sechin.

The court has seized 15 property items and over 564 million rubles ($9.5 million) belonging to Ulyukayev as part of the case.
Russian Guard Service General appeals sentence in corruption case

MOSCOW, November 27 (RAPSI)  The Federal Guard Service (FSO) General Gennady Lopyrev, who had earlier been found guilty of taking 6.3 million rubles ($105,000) in bribes, appealed his prison sentence, lawyer Ruslan Zakalyuzhny told RAPSI on Monday.

On November 17, the Znamensk Garrison Military Court in the Astrakhan region sentenced Lopyrev to 10 years in prison and fined him 150 million rubles ($2.5 million). However, the court refused to strip the defendant of his military rank and state awards.

Lopyrev has pleaded not guilty.

The Federal Guard Service (FSO) General Lopyrev was arrested on November 25, 2016, following an internal check conducted in the FSO units in the Caucasus region. Later in the evening, the 94th Garrison Military Court ruled to put him in jail. Investigators claimed that Lopyrev had taken bribes from businessmen for protection during signing and execution of government contracts on construction and repair works.

The defendants apartments in Moscow and Sochi, a living house in the Leningrad Region belonging to the Lopyrev family as well as with premium class automobiles were seized by the court. During the searches of an apartment belonging to Lopyrevs son, law enforcement officers discovered 63 million rubles (about $1.1 million), over 1,000,000 and $350,000.
MOSCOW, November 27 (RAPSI)  Russias economy ex-minister Alexey Ulyukayev, who stands trial on bribery charges, has accused CEO of the countrys largest oil corporation Rosneft, Igor Sechin, of perjury, RAPSI correspondent reports from the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on Monday.

Ulyukayev claims that he did not know about $2 million in a bag given to him by Sechin. When he was asked about contents of the bag by a prosecutor, Ulyukayev said: His testimony is false, and I speak the truth.

On Monday, the court heard testimony of the defendant. Ulyukayev spoke about privatization of Basneft company and involvement of Rosneft in the deal as well as his meeting with Sechin, and a bag.

Earlier today, the court dismissed a motion to return the case to prosecutors. According to Ulyukayevs defense, several provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code have been violated during pretrial investigation. There is the lack of such facts as location, time and way of crime in the indictment; moreover, case papers contain different dates of alleged extortion of bribes by Ulyukayev from Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Ulyukayevs lawyer Daredzhan Kveidze said.

Ulyukayev stands charged with taking $2 million in bribes. He was arrested while receiving an alleged bribe in mid-November 2016. According to the Investigative Committee, the former minister threatened to create obtrusions for Rosneft with the use of his position. On November 15, 2016, the ex-minister was put under house arrest. Later in the evening, President Vladimir Putin relieved Ulyukayev of his post because of loss of trust.

Ulyukayev pleaded not guilty and stated that he believed the case was fabricated. The defendant noted that there was a provocation, orchestrated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and that there was no sound evidence in the case, aside from a testimony provided by Sechin.

The court has seized 15 property items and over 564 million rubles ($9.5 million) belonging to Ulyukayev as part of the case.
Council of Europe asks Russian Ombudsman to join womens rights project

MOSCOW, November 27 (RAPSI) - Marja Ruotanen, Director of Human Dignity and Equality of the Council of Europe, has asked Russias High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova to participate in the program on protecting womens rights, according to the statement published on the Ombudsmans website.

On Monday, Moskalkova met with Ruotanen, who is involved with a project called Russias action strategy in womens interests for 2017-2022 in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Russia. The plan envisages establishment of system aimed to uphold equal rights to men and women in different spheres, as well as means of their achievement by 2022, the statement reads.

Moskalkova and Ruotanen also discussed such problems as protection womens rights, measures for combatting domestic violence and strengthening the institution of family. Priority guidance for cooperation were drawn up during the meeting.
Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE

Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia

Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases.

UCOM HAS INTRODUCED FUTURE NETWORK WI-FI 6E ROUTERS

Google Ad

Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights

Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh

Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom

Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Google Ad

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces
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How much would collectors be willing to pay for owning a part of Indian history, asks Kishore Singh.

I met Salvator Mundi a fortnight ago within a tightly regulated security cordon, and though I was permitted to take pictures, and even a selfie, I flubbed it because the security guards admonished me for using a flash.

The gentleman was so old, the light could likely cause him damage.

Certainly, his eyes looked a little dazed -- perhaps at the late recognition he was receiving, having lived in relative anonymity -- as a result of which his worth had rapidly gone up from $10,000 in 2005 to, on Thursday, November 16, a handsome $450 million (about Rs 3,000 crore/Rs 30 billion, give or take a few lakh).

On the occasion, and in conversations subsequently, everyone seemed to have a view on poor Mr Mundi and what to make of his relatively recent appearance.

Unless you have been living under a rock, everyone by now knows that the slightly over two feet long painting of Jesus Christ by Leonardo da Vinci auctioned by Christie's in New York has become the most expensive painting in the world.

It has also became infamous for the chin-wagging around its authenticity, or lack of it, its scrubbed-up appearance post restoration that stripped layers that had been painted over it, and the unlikelihood that da Vinci might have painted it, or at least all of it, given a missing cross over the globe (blasphemy, if the painting was commissioned by the Church), and for the globe not allowing for the distortion of light and form that the painter, widely recognised for his scientific temper, could not have missed.

Those doubts were widely reported, and made an instant expert of everybody who cared to share his opinion on the subject, overturning the views of those experts who must have provided proof of its authenticity to convince the, as yet, anonymous buyer of its genuine credentials.

Or maybe the attribution to da Vinci and its 500-year-old history was enough reason to pay for a work that is now ascribed as the only painting by the master in private hands.

Whatever the case, it shifts, once again, the spotlight to art as an asset class. The da Vinci -- loosely, or laughingly at least, referred to as 'Mr Mona Lisa' for the attention it has drawn -- has had a trail of making money for its owners that probably far surpassed their expectations.

Spotted, and sold, in 2005 for $10,000, it was resold to the Swiss art dealer, Yves Bouvier, for $80 million, and then, again, to the Russian collector Dmitry E Rybolovlev for $127.5 million.

Whether it will be re-sold once again remains, for now, a matter of speculation, but at that price, it seems more likely to form part of a permanent collection.

But that doesn't mean it will not be coveted at a higher value, if not for its quality -- which seems to have the art community's knickers in a twist -- than for its very engaging history.

Parallels might be odious, but it would be fair to ask how much collectors would be willing to pay for owning a part of Indian history, and what such works might be.

The problem is, most of our magnificent miniatures have always been privately owned and simply do not have the aura that works by artists in the West command for being better documented and written about.

Still, enough works are well identified, whether paintings or, of course, sculpture, to render them virtually priceless.

But whatever the anomalies, there's no escaping the fact that well-chosen works of art create value the way no other asset class has so far managed. It's time our fund managers realised this.

Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated.

IMAGE: Salvator Mundi, now the most expensive painting in the world. Photograph: Christie's New York/via Reuters
'The history of Moody's India ratings tells its own story,' points out T N Ninan.



Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

India's sovereign rating upgrade by Moody's Investors Service is a second shot in the arm for the Modi government, still reeling from domestic criticism for economic bungling.

The first booster shot was the sharp improvement in the country's position in the World Bank's Doing Business rankings.

It will be the icing on the government's cake if the July-September numbers on economic growth (due at the end of the month) show recovery from the low points of the previous two quarters.

Even a mild upswing will mark a reversal from a six-quarter declining trend, and justify the relentless investor optimism that finds reflection in rising stock market indices.

Inevitably, critics will point to the limitations of such rankings and ratings; indeed, they already have.

It is a fair counterpoint that these limitations were usually forgotten when the ratings were less flattering.

In fact, it is arguably the case that emerging markets quite often get a rum deal in such exercises -- especially since some of the ratings are dependent on polls of expatriate business executives posted in unfamiliar environments.

The biases that are inherent in such an exercise invariably work to the detriment of the host country.

For instance, India has always got a very poor rating on the time taken for getting construction permits -- perhaps justifiably so.

But, in a conversation not too long ago, the chief executive of an international mining giant confessed that it had taken his firm five years to get the permissions required to build a corporate office on a piece of land the company owned in Manhattan.

Similarly, it is worth asking why the global competitiveness rankings announced annually by the World Economic Forum never give a top rank to the fastest-growing economies, or to those receiving the maximum foreign investment, or to those with rapidly growing exports.

That should prompt the question as to what exactly is meant by competitiveness. The Forum says it measures productivity; so why not call it a productivity index?

Because an index that reflects neither growth nor investment nor exports can hardly claim to be measuring competitiveness.

Emerging markets often suffer in sundry rankings because of high levels of perceived corruption.

But Germany's ranking actually improved after Volkswagen confessed to massive, organised, company-wide cheating on the level of emissions of its diesel engines.

Nor has Switzerland, which has prospered for decades by providing a safe haven for money stolen from poor Third Worlders, suffered on any corruption score.

It depends, of course, on what you mean by corruption, and whose definition it is.

The history of Moody's India ratings tells its own story.

The ratings were at their best in the late 1980s, when the country was rated A2 (upper-medium grade, below high grade) before the signs of a foreign exchange crisis led to a downgrade in October 1990 to Baa1, then to Baa3 six months later.

This was lower-medium but still investment grade, though the Chandra Shekhar government had fallen, had been unable to present the Budget, and was therefore in no position to honour the commitments given to the International Monetary Fund for a loan that had been negotiated.

It was only three months later, in June 1991, that Moody's pushed the country below investment grade, to Ba2 -- perhaps because Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated in the middle of the elections and political uncertainty had been piled on top of a payments crisis.

On any reckoning, Moody's was well behind the curve then, as indeed it continued to be because it did not upgrade India for another three years, when by any yardstick the economy had been rescued from crisis long before.

The point of this long ramble is that ratings are not the last word on anything -- sometimes they are unfair, at other times they flatter to deceive.

In general, to the extent that ratings have started showing India in a somewhat better light, one should take it as a reflection of India's improved macro-economic standing and its incremental reforms.
'We think FY18 will end with a 10 to 12 per cent earnings growth, but FY19 will see a recovery to over 15 per cent.'

Mutual fund investments in equities are near record highs at a time foreign institutional investors have been mostly fence-sitters.

Jyotivardhan Jaipuria, founder and managing director, Veda Investment Managers, tells Puneet Wadhwa that FIIs are justified in investing in developed markets which look more attractive.

Once growth picks up back home, we should see them come back to India, he adds.

Is the scale of public sector bank recapitalisation and the Bharatmala project too ambitious?

There was a fear that the debate around the goods and services tax implementation would mean that the government would tend to avoid any further 'big bang' reforms till the election in 2019.

The scale of the Rs 2.11 lakh crore recap showed that the government has taken the bull by the horns and in one bold move provided a solution to the vexed issue of bank capitalisation.

This will reduce the risk premium in PSBs and make lending easier as well as enable banks to provide for non-performing loans adequately.

While this takes care of the supply side, a big turn in investment demand in India is still likely to take longer, since low utilisation levels mean that the private sector capital expenditure will still be slow.

That is where the Bharatmala project ensures that the government will continue to spend on roads and highways, an area which has seen a strong thrust over the past few years.

How do you see the markets playing out in the next one year?

There has been a sharp rally, both in the domestic as well as global markets.

In fact, developed markets have outperformed emerging markets, including India.

The biggest risk remains a reversal in global markets, which will hurt India too.

We are getting into a period where after 10 years of easy monetary policy, the central banks are starting to normalise monetary policy in the developed world.

We will see the US Federal Reserve shrinking its balance sheet soon and the European Union will start tapering its quantitative easing and probably stop QE over the next year.

The impact of this on global equities (and indeed on bonds) over the next year is the biggest risk to markets.

Domestically, the pace of earnings recovery remains a key to watch for.

Overall, we think return from equities in 2018 will be lower than in 2017.

Why have FIIs been fence-sitters?

FIIs have to look at the whole world in a relative context. Two factors are playing out here.

First, relative valuations in many EMs (emerging markets) are much cheaper.

Second, we have seen an uptick in global growth momentum at a time the Indian growth story has been constrained by the implementation of GST.

We have seen developed markets outperform EMs and to that extent foreign investors are justified in playing developed markets over emerging ones.

Once growth picks up back home, we should see foreign investors come back to India.

Will the booming primary market hurt secondary market liquidity?

The initial public offering market will suck some liquidity out of the system.

This is a trend seen in every cycle where companies tend to increase issuances as markets go up and valuations start to seem attractive for the issuer companies.

In many cases now, IPOs are tending to come at valuations that are steeper than those of similar companies in the secondary markets.

Can mid- and small-caps outrun their large-cap peers over the next one year?

Mid-caps are currently expensive relative to large-caps.

In the near-term, they may underperform, especially in any correction.

However, over the next few years, we see mid-caps continuing to outperform as they are more leveraged to an economic recovery.

What are your sector preferences?

We continue to play domestic companies relative to exporters, but near-term valuations are making this trade less compelling.

Within domestic plays, we still like the rural stories and select capital goods companies benefiting from government capex.

We are not as excited about consumer staples due to valuations.

Are markets ready for a further delay in earnings growth?

We think FY18 will end with a 10 to 12 per cent earnings growth, but FY19 will see a recovery to over 15 per cent.

The GST impact was largely felt in the June and September quarters. But, over the next four quarters, earnings will bounce, though this may or may not represent a major secular revival.

This is because the next four quarters will see a bit of distorted base due to demonetisation in the December and March quarters, and the GST in the June and September quarters.

Photograph: Reuters
Manufacturer Nissan plans to get aggressive with brand communication and increase the number of customer touchpoints through showrooms, experience zones and other initiatives.



Nearly three years back Nissan relaunched the Datsun brand and brought it to India, but Jerome Saigot, managing director, Nissan Motor India is candid enough in his assessment of the brands performance.

He admits that the company needs to do more to ease the small cars drive in the country.

We are not known enough in the Indian market, he said and that is despite having, he believes, a strong product.

The solution: get aggressive with brand communication and increase the number of customer touchpoints through showrooms, experience zones and other initiatives.

Recently Saigot announced the sale of 100,000 Datsun cars and spoke about the brand and the direction he wanted to give it in the coming months.

India was the first market that Nissan brought its made-over Datsun to in 2014; followed by Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.

Datsun competes with Marutis Alto and Wagon-R and Hyundais Eon in the country.

Saigot says that sales are not where they should have been given the size and potential of the small car segment in the country.

Datsun swings between third and fourth place said industry analysts in the small car segment that is dominated by Maruti Alto with close to 58 per cent share followed by Renault Kwid (21 per cent) and Hyundai Eon (14 per cent) according to the Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The gap with the leader would be near impossible to close.

However there is untapped potential within the category that Datsun is hoping to unlock.

We need to improve awareness about the brand. To address this issue, besides increasing marketing spend, we are betting big on digital and social marketing, says Saigot.

In June this year, the company launched a campaign called #voteforchange with actor Vinay Pathak as brand ambassador for Datsun redi-Go.

The campaign created by TBWA parodied popular actors, politicians among others and attracted a fair bit of attention on social media.

The campaign was an attempt to break through the communication clutter in the space.

The objective is to disrupt the longstanding conventional window about choices consumers have in the small car segment, said Saigot.

Armed with a smart script, the ads were aimed at grabbing the attention of young first time car buyers.

Datsun is a challenger brand and we have been competing with the established players in the industry for three years now.

"Our new campaign was sparked by the notion of elections and choices, added Saigot.

Digital is the next frontier and a new campaign aimed at young commuters will be launched in the next few weeks.

The company does not have the financial muscle to take on the market leader says Saigot but it believes that it can get the brand greater visibility on digital media and expand its footprint.

Analysts have said that there are many challenges that the brand needs to address, not just communication.

From the product, marketing and even management, the brand philosophy for Nissan and Datsun is different, target customers are different and the company needs to make the distinction without diluting its core values.

Datsun is also expanding its foot print through standalone outlets.

The company started the year with 50 standalone outlets, it has around 100 now and expects to touch 150 by end of FY2017.

Saigot says that the company is opening its new outlets in tier-II and III towns where Datsun has greater appeal.

We are offering a lot of value with the car. Getting it out to the people is the biggest focus now, he added.

However, industry analysts point out that Datsun needs to focus on more than improving communication.

There are issues related to mileage, pick-up and cost of ownership that dampen commuter enthusiasm over the brand, they said.

The company said that it has taken some of the feedback on board.

For example, Saigot said, there are 10 additional features, space has been expanded and the company has worked on ambience, performance, style, comfort etc.

Plus there are attractive offers now after tie-ups with retail finance firms.

The company has also introduced Datsun Care to address service issues.

Saigot said, by 2020 Nissan and Datsun together have targeted 5 per cent market share in the Indian passenger car market as against 1.7 per cent now.

Of the total market share, 1.3 per cent is Datsuns and balance 0.4 per cent is from Nissan.

We agree that there is a vaccum in offering and we will be addressing it with new launches including new AMT version of Datsun said Saigot.

Laying the pitch

Maruti Alto dominates the small car segment with 58% market share; Renault Kwid is at second spot with 21% while Hyundai Eon is third with 14%

Datsun wants to break into the top league, is getting more aggressive with advertising and service

More customer touchpoints being created, special focus on tier-II and III towns

#voteforchange campaign launched for Datsun redi-Go in June 2017, second phase of the campaign, entirely on digital media, to be launched soon

Photograph: Kind courtesy, Datsun.
The AIADMK symbol issue may be a fit case for the courts and the legislature to provide for a new law for application in similar fluid, dynamic political situations, says N Sathiya Moorthy.

Image: AIADMK workers celebrate outside their party headquarters in Chennai soon after the Election Commission has alloted two leaves symbol to the EPS-OPS faction, on November 23, 2017. Photograph: PTI Photo.

Now that the Election Commission has found a quick-fix ahead of the pending court case over the Two Leaves symbol involving the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, it may be time for appropriate authorities at all levels to put their heads and come up with a relevant law on party splits and defections, it would seem.

This is because the yardstick applied by the EC in this case, and also to the ruling Janata Dal-United case in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party in UP, which the TN order has cited, has its roots in a Supreme Court verdict belonging to a different era.

It was an era of vertical splits in the ruling Congress at the Centre (1969) when no anti-defection law existed, at least as far as legislative majorities were concerned, which encouraged further defections in furtherance of the ruling faction within the party that is in power, mostly in one state.

Such an approach to law-making and application should be considered ab initio flawed. Despite the Supreme Court verdict in the Congress symbol case of the early 70s, the majority in the legislative group and general council of a split party has not been tested for a party not in power, or does not have any legislative presence.

Two, the anti-defection law came into force under the Rajiv Gandhi regime at the Centre, years after the Congress symbol case. The law itself has gone through major modifications and amendments, both at the hands of Parliament and the Supreme Court of India, since.

Three, long after the Congress symbol case and the anti-defection law of the mid-80s, the EC in its wisdom has been insisting on political parties registered under the law holding periodic organisational elections, based on their bylaws or the constitution that such political parties have given unto them. Defaulters are punished with derecognition, and the threat has worked.

Therein is the crux of the problem, as applicable to the AIADMK in particular. It is possibly the only party whose by-laws provide for direct elections to the party chief, named the general secretary.

Jayalalithaa was the last general secretary elected to the post thus, or supposedly through overall acclamation at a party rally (and not through direct election per se), as there was no contest for the post during her long years at the helm.

Hence, for the EC to have applied a Supreme Court verdict from the past when the situation prevailing in the AIADMK was/is pertinently different from those existing in the Samajwadi Party and the JD-U may need a review, too.

In doing so, the EC may also have to ask itself, how it allowed the AIADMK to continue with an unworkable process as direct election to general secretary without verifying if the party had the mechanism to undertake such an arduous task.

Such a task as conducting direct elections to the party post may have been divined by the break-away AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, MGR, who had betted on his own personal charisma while much of the party remained with then DMK Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

But such direct elections always involve all processes and elements which only the EC and state election commissions are known to possess and/or command -- that too by involving government, bank and other PSU employees, so to say.

Thus the question arises if the EC could have applied a court ruling not entirely relevant to the case on hand and thus grant the Two Leaves symbol, the party and the name, to the ruling EPS-OPS faction within the AIADMK.

It remains to be seen if the losing faction identified with jailed V K Sasikala Natarajan and her nephew and deputy, T T V Dinakaran, would actually appeal the EC order in the Supreme Court, as the latter had declared soon after the Two Leaves went to the other side last week, and would flag basic questions of law.

Truth be acknowledged, the EC did not fix a reference date to the Two Leaves symbol case while disposing of it. The facts on the ground had taken an 180-degree turn between the time the case first came before the EC and mid-way through the process when it was being heard.

Originally, the Dinakaran and EPS factions were one and the same, going by the facts and circumstances of the case at the time.

If legislative majority was/is a factor for deciding the symbol issue, then incumbent Edappadi K Palaniswami became chief minister at a legislative group meeting presided over by Sasikala.

Incidentally, Dhinakaran handed over to Tamil Nadus then acting governor, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, the legislative partys decision (or, of what was then the Sasikala factions) choice of EPS as chief minister.

Both camps were together on the same side, and it was the other faction, then under three-time chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS), which had moved the EC in the first place, with only 11 MLAs on its side from a total of 135 that the AIADMK had after Jayalalithaas death.

As the immediately preceding election of Sasikala as party general secretary showed, the candidature incidentally proposed by OPS as then chief minister, and its instant acceptance by the general council, were all proof that the Sasi-TTV faction obviously had the majority in that forum.

The situation changed later, when EPS came to lead the ministerial faction, patched up with the rival OPS faction, and became one, and together they contested Dinakarans hegemony.

The character of the case pending before the EC also changed, and new affidavits were filed, new hearings scheduled, and a new order relevant to the prevalent ground situation ordered, now.

The question thus arises as to the way the EC should handle a dynamic situation such as the one that prevailed in the AIADMK between the original split post-Jaya and the EPS-OPS re-union to the exclusion of the Dinakaran faction.

After all, laws and rules, while being flexible for application to specific situations, should have an element of standardisation and precedent-setting character to be able to provide a pre-determined guideline of sorts for contesting factions to go by.

Such laws, including those laid down by the Supreme Court or Parliament or both, cannot be overly flexible to be able to absorb situations that are not relevant to the existing one, or become irrelevant, given the dynamism of the existing and emerging situation(s).

The AIADMK symbol issue may still be a fit case for the courts and the legislature to agitate the possibilities and provide for a new law that could be considered for application in similar or such other dynamic political situations.

In doing so, the authorities concerned should also consider the way the much-hoped-for anti-defection law has been used, abused and misused by all stake-holders, despite the Supreme Court having to intervene in almost all instances of such mal-application over the past three decades.

It is another matter that the EC, in its wisdom, ordered the cancelled by-election to the R K Nagar assembly seat (held by Jayalalithaa) for December 21, less than 24 hours after passing the order in the AIADMK symbols case, leading to avoidable criticism against itself.

If nothing else, it could still have advanced the former, or delayed the notification of the latter, by a few more days, to avoid the kind of embarrassment that no constitutional authority in the country should suffer or entertain, if only to uphold the credibility and integrity of the system.

There can be no denying the fact that the Madras high court had more than once in the past directed the EC to conduct the much-delayed R K Nagar by-poll by December 31, and the EC thus had little choice in the matter.

But by delaying the by-election notification by a couple of days and still having the polling any day before December 31, the EC could have abided by the HC order.

By advancing the polling day before Christmas and thus possibly arguing that the EC wanted to have it all before the New Year holiday mood set in, among the voters.

After all, in elections 2011 to the Tamil Nadu and Kerala assemblies, the EC ordered polling on April 13, on the very eve of the Tamil New Year and the Vishu festivities in Kerala.

The poll percentage on that occasion was a high 78.12 per cent in Tamil Nadu, and 75.12 per cent in Kerala.

As against this, now after the by-poll notification, it remains to be seen if the SC or the HC would want to interfere in the election process already set in motion by the EC until after the declaration of the results on December 24 (as notified now), citing constitutional directions in the matter.

This would imply that for the by-election at the very least, the Sasi-Dinakaran faction cannot contest the issue in the SC and take an interim stay of the EC symbol order, for granted.

In effect, it would mean that the Dinakaran faction would have to look around for a new identity and symbol, and cannot claim to be a faction of the AIADMK, either in letter or spirit, while the same the ministerial faction can claim as a right.

There is a glitch, however, but not insurmountable. Post-EC order, the inherent differences within the EPS-OPS faction are seen as coming out in the open more frequently than earlier.

OPS himself stayed away from the instant victory rally organised by the EPS faction at Madurai even while he was in the temple town.

Though second-line ministers in the EPS faction held that OPSs boycott was no boycott and they had actually informed/invited him but he had to stay away owing to personal commitments, the OPS faction itself has not said anything to the effect in the matter.

One after the other, starting with parliamentarian V Maithreyan, once an office-bearer in the state BJP who was/is close to the powers-that-be at the Centre, leaders from the OPS faction have been talking/tweeting about the non-meeting of minds between the two groups even three months after the reunion.

More to the point, the EC order has handed over the title and symbol of the AIADMK to one-time presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan, who was holding the position when Jaya was around and stayed on with the OPS faction, and was its original candidate for the R K Nagar by-poll.

Over the past weeks, EPS faction minister and spokesman, D Jayakumar, has been stalling septuagenarian Madhus return to the centre-stage in the partys local affairs in the spread-out North Chennai neighbourhood, but the EC order creates a new situation of sorts for the re-united faction leadership.

At Mondays forenoon meeting of what was considered to be a routine affair, the party presidium ended up putting off a decision on the candidate until Wednesday, reflecting the continuance of the post-merger convulsions between the EPS and OPS factions, clearly indicating that Madhu is not exactly an automatic choice, even despite his long years in the party.

It is another matter that even sections within the original OPS faction feel left out by the boss, who seems to be feeling uncomfortable in EPSs company yet does not feel encouraged to rebel a second time, if only to protect the political interests of all those that had stood by him -- now, possibly including Madhusudhanan.

Yet, the question would remain as to what all did the EC achieve by extending the cooling-off period for the by-poll after cancelling it, citing large-scale money-play at the instance of Dinakaran, and involving EPS and his ministers, as known from a tax raid on one of them, to make it fool-proof.

That need not be the issue before the SC, if moved on the symbol issue, now or later, but could become one, post-poll, and more so for the media and the people at large -- as events and episodes unfold between now and the polling day.

Last but not the least, the EC order now confers greater legitimacy on the OPS faction, represented only by Madhu when they had only 11 MLAs, and when a series of defection cases referred by the Dinakaran faction with 18 MLAs and the Opposition DMK against the the OPS-Madhu faction are all still pending before the Madras high court.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
'My daughter is not willing to go back to that school because she is scared the boy will do something to her again.'

'Unless the school is held responsible for what happened, we will not get justice.'



Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Ten days after it came to light that a four-and-a-half-year-old boy inserted his finger and a sharpened pencil in the private parts of his classmate in a Delhi school, the girl's mother says the biggest hurdle in getting justice for her daughter is to battle the disbelief that she faces since the accused is so young.

"The biggest hitch with this case is that, when you read about the case, the first thing you think is it is not possible. Keeping in mind the boy's age... People think aisa kaise ho sakta hai (How can this be?)! People think how can this even happen! Yeh disbelief jo hai (it is this disbelief), that accounts for 95% of the entire narrative on the case."

"Woh disbelief ko agar mere taraf se dekho, if you stand in my shoes; someone who has seen my daughter before this and after this incident will know the difference in her."

The boy has been accused of committing the acts in the classroom and washroom at the school. He cannot be indicted, according to section 82 of the Indian Penal Code, which says a child under the age of seven cannot be prosecuted.

The girl's mother says the boy's act of unhooking her daughter's trousers and touching her private parts indicates it is not just physical assault, but sexual assault.

"He opened the hook of her trousers and touched her bloomers. It's unusual and untoward because he opened her trousers. It would have been different had he hit her in the eye. I'm not saying he went into penetrative sex. But he put his finger into her, put a pencil into her."

While the boy, she says, needs help, needs counseling, she feels the school should be indicted for being criminally negligent about the security of its students.

She wants the school principal, coordinator and teacher sacked, the boy rusticated and a public apology from the school.

The school, she says, has responded saying a 'committee will look into it'.

"I don't know the boy. He is not my concern. My concern is my daughter. What he did to my daughter is my concern," the mother tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.

Why do you believe that the school is responsible for what happened?

I don't believe, I am sure.

The school is responsible more than the boy and the school should be booked under Section 26 of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.

A case has already been registered under sections of rape and the POCSO Act against the boy.

Do you term what happened to your daughter sexual assault given the age of the boy? Would a four year old understand what he did?

I have no idea whether he understood or otherwise. I don't know the boy. He is not my concern.

My concern is my daughter. What he did to my daughter is my concern.

Whether he understood what he did is his parents' lookout, the school's lookout and his counsellor's lookout. Society's lookout should be what he will become when he is an adult.

I want to make it very clear that I am not hitting out at the boy or want him punished. But he should be counselled.

My intention is to bring the school under the ambit of the law. Bachche ne jo kiya... he is as old as my daughter! But woh jis part pe hit kiya, woh part private hai. Woh part sexual hai. Uska connotation sexual nahin ho sakta hai, lekin he hit her at a part that is hidden.

That part (of her body) is sexual. His thinking is not sexual.

To remove someone's clothing and to hit the person there, that is alarming.

The way his mind works, to remove my daughter's pants, finger her... that is bad, that is perverted.

It is a sexual assault because he hit her sexual organs.

Physical assault would have been if he had hit her on her hand or legs. See, a child will not understand which body part to hit.

But to remove her clothes and assault her, that is a point to ponder over.

Yes, everyone has been saying that a child that age could not have assaulted her with a sexual intention.

I agree it may not have been sexual assault, but he opened the hook of her trousers and touched her bloomers. It's unusual and untoward because he opened her trousers.

It would have been different had he hit her in the eye. I'm not saying he went into penetrative sex. But he put his finger into her, put a pencil into her.

Because it is on her sexual organ, it is sexual assault.

A rod was inserted into Nirbhaya. Are we waiting for something like that to happen again?

How is your daughter coping?

Of course, she is not OK. I want her to meet a counsellor, but it hasn't happened yet.

Yesterday (Friday, November 24) she slept at 1 am and every half an hour she would get up startled.

"Where are you, mamma?" she asks and I tell her, "I am very much here, beta".

I am trying to make her feel secure, happy, by being around her. I've kept everything else on hold to be with her.

There are a lot of legal formalities to complete. I have to keep going out and meet people, but yes, we are trying to get back to normal as much as is possible.

Has she gone back to school?

Not at all. I am on the lookout for a good school for her which follows CBSE guidelines.

Maxfort school has not bothered to follow CBSE guidelines. They do not have a POSCO committee, a sexual harassment committee, a parents-teachers association, and many other things are not in place as well.

My daughter will not go back to the school come what may.

Even if she has to miss a year I will not let her go back there.

And she is not willing to go back because she knows that boy is still there.

She is scared the boy will do something to her again.

The school told me I can send her back as they have changed that boy's section. But a boy who could be so perverted, can't be trusted.

Neither can the school be trusted to take care of my child.

Do you know if the boy has begun going for counselling?

I have no idea. My priority is the school.

But the school has been in denial, the police have been in denial.

See, they know that the boy is around four and a half years old and will not be punishable in any case.

Unless the school is held responsible for what happened, we will not get justice.

I pay hefty school fees, for what? For this?

A news report said that there is no CCTV footage of the boy entering the washroom. (The girl said she was assaulted in the washroom and the classroom).

I have seen the CCTV footage in the police station. There is footage from 9:51 am to 12:15 pm. But there is no footage from 9 am to 9:51 am and from 12:15 pm to 1 pm.

I don't believe what the police or the school is saying.

If my daughter is saying that it has happened, it has happened!

Now, they are hell-bent on highlighting the washroom part, because that is the only part that is very well covered by the CCTV footage.

Why is the classroom footage not there? Why was one ayah taking care of three classes?

An ayah takes the child to the washroom etc, but should not manage a class.

When we met the ayah, she was completely blank, she had nothing to say.

The grievous injury on my daughter's private parts could not have happened at one go.

The CCTV footage shows she was the last to come out of the classroom because the boy had unhooked her trousers and she couldn't hook it back.

Has she ever complained about the boy at any other time over any other matter?

This was the first time she was sitting next to the boy. Another boy used to sit next to her.

What is your next course of action?

The boy needs counselling, the boy needs help. Woh bachcha bahut hi troubled hai (The boy is extremely troubled.).

The boy should be counselled so that in the future he doesn't become more violent and turn on his near and dear ones. The school needs to pull up its socks.

Do you blame his parents? Do you believe he picked up something from home?

I am not getting into that. I have no idea.

As a mother I don't want to blame somebody's parenting. Humko nahin pata. Woh kya kar rahein hai, kya karna chahiye (I don't know what they are up to or what they should be doing).

Their counsellor should tell them. I'm not here to counsel them. I'm not indicting them nor am I exempting them for what happened.

But I will not exonerate the school because it is at fault.

What are your legal options?

I want POSCO charges to be filed against the school. It happened under the school's jurisdiction, so they are responsible.

My worst fear is that the case will be dropped in a week's time.

The media has lost interest, they are not taking this up. But I don't have a lawyer, I can't afford one.

The biggest hitch with this case is that, when you read about the case, the first thing you think is it is not possible. Keeping in mind the boy's age...

People think aisa kaise ho sakta hai! (People think how can this even happen! Yeh disbelief jo hai (it is this disbelief) that accounts for 95% of the entire narrative on the case.

Woh disbelief ko agar mere taraf se dekho, if you stand in my shoes; someone who has seen my daughter before this and after this incident will know the difference in her.

She starts crying for no reason, she clings to me.

There was a news report saying she has been tutored. Why would we do that?

My daughter is not the kind of person who will cook up a cock and bull story.

She is strong, she is courageous, and she speaks her mind.

Has your daughter given a statement to the police?

On Monday (November 20) I got a call from the investigating officer from the police station asking me to come to court to register my complaint.

When I reached the court I was told to come to the school.

When I rushed to the school I see that the police is already having a nice conversation with the principal.

The first thing the ACP (assistant commissioner of police) tells me is: 'I am not here to sort out the matter. I am not here to compromise', and I thought that's exactly why they are there.

The ACP said his lookout was why the boy did it. I said it was not my lookout why the boy did it. That's his parents and the school's lookout.

My lookout is how it happened. And how could the boy do this in the school?

If I had left my child in the park with a stranger, I would have still accepted it. But you send your child to school and she comes back and tells me "dard ho raha hai, mumma" on her private parts!

Aap ek baar bhi nahi sochoge ki this is what has happened. It never crossed my mind.

Until I examined her myself I would never have believed it could ever happen to my child.

Going back to the question, did your daughter give a statement to the police?

My daughter took the investigating officer around the classroom. She showed her where she and the boy sit in the classroom. And told the IO what the boy did.

Now, the policewoman said she could not understand what my daughter said.

My daughter is well-versed in English and she gave her statement in English to both the IO and the metropolitan magistrate.

Even if they didn't understand what she said, they could understand her actions when she demonstrated what happened to her.

The police have been very negligent in the probe. They should have had a counsellor accompanying the child that day to understand the psychology better and what she was saying.

Police ko pata hai ke hum bhaiyya char saal ke bachche par case kya banayenge (The police know that a case cannot be slapped on a four-year-old child). It will be dropped tomorrow. The FIR is very wishy-washy.

News reports say your daughter looked happy according to the CCTV footage of the day of the incident.

Ask the principal, school coordinator and management that if the child is smiling as shown in the CCTV footage, does it mean that she didn't undergo this assault?

It is belittling the pain that she went through, but had no one to confide in as her class teacher was absent that day.

The school does not have CCTV footage to corroborate my daughter's statement about what happened in the classroom.

The police know they have filed a case against the juvenile so they will not have to pursue it, they will have to drop it.

They did not even bother to ask the school to provide full CCTV footage.

I want to know why aren't there checks and balances in place in the school.

If it has happened to my daughter it could happen to any other child.

They should have been enough manpower deployed on a daily basis to prevent such an untoward incident.

If they were short staffed that day, they shouldn't have held classes.

Don't hand over the responsibility to the ayah.

Her class teacher was absent that day. If she was present, it would not have happened. She (her daughter) would have reported it to her class teacher at the first instance of assault.

That teacher is like a second mother to my daughter. That day there was a new teacher who was missing from the classroom for a very long time.

Is the school waiting for something like what happened in Ryan (International school, Gurgaon)?

This should be a wake-up call for schools everywhere.

Does your daughter want to go to school?

She says she wants to go to school, but not Maxfort. She knows that Maxfort has hurt her.

Actually she did not want to go to school that day.

A few days before the incident, on a Monday (November 13), she had fallen on some potted plants and bruised herself.

So she skipped school on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I insisted she should go to school on Friday.

She was clinging to my hand. I told her she has to go.

That will always haunt me. Why did I send her?
In the worst terror attack this year, ISIS terrorists killed 305 Muslims and wounded over a hundred others at a Sufi mosque in Bir al-Abed on Friday, November 24.

'It is important to destroy, to undermine, to debunk the narrative of ISIS,' Olivier Roy -- one of the world's leading experts on radical Islam -- tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel in an exclusive interview.



Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Sydney-born Khaled Sharrouf was just 36 when he was killed in Syria.

Radicalised when he was a teenager, Sharrouf, of Lebanese descent, was charged with his first terrorism-related crime by the time he was 24.

In 2013, he fled Australia with his wife Tara Nettleton and five children to join ISIS in Syria.

Before his death he had a macabre presence on the Internet where he would post photographs of his murderous activities, including an image that shook the world -- of his seven-year-old son gleefully holding up the severed head of a Syrian soldier with the caption: 'That's my boy'.

When Olivier Roy wrote his latest book Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State, which released in April 2017, he profiled ISIS followers, men and women with character sketches extraordinarily similar to Sharrouf's or the recent New York attacker, Sayfullo Saipov.

Most ISIS adherents, like Sharrouf, have been in and out of trouble with the law and are looking for death thrills from a young age.

Evil individuals, whose life narratives, Professor Roy says, have nothing to do with religion, the families that brought them up or their local Muslim community.

Professor Roy contends that young Western Muslims, often finding themselves unmoored in a society their immigrant families do not belong to, are in need of an adapted, modern, Western version of their religion.

Professor at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, Dr Roy is one of the world's leading authorities on Islam, one of the most radical thinkers on 21st century jihadism. His latest book underlines the premise that the world is presently witnessing 'not the radicalisation of Islam, but the Islamisation of radicalism.'

In a conversation with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel Professor Roy -- who is fluent in several languages including Persian, and has written more than a dozen books on Islam, the Islamic world, secularism, religion -- discusses where modern global jihadism is headed.

The first of a two-part interview:

IMAGE: 25 to 30 terrorists first detonated a bomb at the al-Rowda mosque in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula during Friday prayers, November 24, 2017.

As the worshippers fled, gunmen -- who raised the ISIS flag -- opened fire on them, killing scores of others.

305 people were killed and over 130 injured in the attack, the deadliest in Egypt's history.

The premise of your recent book, Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State, is that the jihadist who commits terrorism in the West does not have a typical Muslim profile.

Further, you believe he doesn't come from the usual Salafi-ised spaces.

Instead you suggest they are usually lapsed Muslims. And they are rebels who choose radicalism and then sort of fit it to an Islamic mould.

How do families and societies stop a young person from becoming an ISIS terrorist?

I would say it depends on the local situation. The big issue is: What is the relation between the terrorist and the Muslim community of their own country.

Particularly if we pick Western Europe or the US, (these) terrorists are on the margins of the local population. They are not part of any political Islamic movement.

They are usually not regular attendants of a specific mosque. They have no real religious past... They were not part of Muslim protest movements... or things like that.

We have 20 to 25 percent of converts (like this, from the local Muslim population of a country). By definition (that is) marginal in comparison with the local Muslim population. So we can say that in Europe and the USA, there is no or little connection between the stakes of the Muslim population and terrorism.

The issue is now how does it work in Muslim countries like Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan. See (that) also is a complex situation.

In Turkey and Tunisia, the terrorists are also on the fringes of the Muslim population. A good indicator of that is the relationship between Islamic terrorists and their parents, their father and mother.

In Tunisia and Turkey, for instance, the families very often -- and I say in the majority of the cases -- the families refuse to bury the bodies of their terrorist sons, which shows that there is clearly a gap between the terrorist and their family.

IMAGE: Damaged buildings after government troops cleared the area of pro-Islamic State terror groups inside Saduc, Marawi city, southern Philippines, October 22, 2017. Photograph: Romeo/Reuters

While in Pakistan it doesn't seem to be the case. In Pakistan, the terrorists are part of the radical Islamist parties or organisations like Lashkar-e-Tayiba for instance.

They have contacts with a mosque, with even possibly some societies. They are not marginals (on the fringes). And that is a big difference.

There is genuine social ground for radicalisation in Pakistan, which is very true, for instance, in the Pashtun Khyber areas.

They have (there) a radicalisation of the locals, who are fighting, not just the radicalisation of individuals.

It is also in Punjab, particularly south Punjab. The majority of the radicals come from Punjab. They don't come from Sind or Baluchistan. They come from Punjab.

So clearly there is something here which is specific. There are some social roots for radicalisation.

In India, it is not the case, you know. The terrorists in Bombay (who attacked the city on November 26, 2008), they came from Pakistan. There was no homegrown terrorism. It is not the result of the radicalisation of Indian Muslims.

As you probably know, there was an underground core ISIS cell which had been discovered in Kerala. Most of the people of this radical group were lapsed from Christianity and Hinduism.

It seems that radicalisation in India is along patterns very common with Europe.

While in Pakistan? No. It is connected with the social movements in Pakistan.

IMAGE: Kurdish Peshmerga forces detain an Islamic State terrorist southwest of Kirkuk, Iraq, October 5, 2017. Photograph: Ako Rasheed/Reuters

But when it comes to the West, how can the conversion of local youth to ISIS be checked? How do you stop them?

It is very difficult to stop people who self radicalise. They are (leading) a normal life and suddenly in the span of one or two years they become radicals...

The problem is (how) to deprive them of the religious legitimacy they give to themselves.

The problem is (how) to undermine the narrative of terrorism that has been forged by ISIS.

They are fascinated by that narrative. The narrative of the lonely soul who dies and goes to paradise, in order to avenge the (suffering of) the global ummah, the Muslim community (Ummah means the global community of Muslims bound together by ties of religion).

(It is important) to destroy, to undermine, to debunk the narrative of ISIS.

For that, yes, there is a necessity to have a normal, Muslim -- I would not say liberal -- religious visibility and legitimacy (in these places).

What is lacking in Europe are legitimate Muslim theologians and imams because the present intellectual level of the imams (there) is quite low.

Most of the institutional expressions of Islam in Europe have gone under the control of (imams from) foreign States, namely Turkey, Morocco and Algeria.

This is a problem, because (though) the Islam of these States is moderate, it does not fit with the European cultural environment.

It is traditional Islam, foreign Islam, and it has little attraction for the youth who have been educated in Europe, who, I would say, share Western youth culture...

These guys are not fascinated by the traditional ulema (views of the recognised international body of Muslim scholars) or imams coming from Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, you know.

They are looking for something which is both Islamic and Western. Modern.

IMAGE: Professor Olivier Roy. Photograph: Kind courtesy Professor Olivier Roy

Basically they find that with ISIS!

ISIS is a very modern organisation. They (ISIS) are very professional in terms of video clips, in terms of propaganda, in terms of using the Internet, in terms of using the aesthetic codes of the modern Western youth culture.

So it is why ISIS fascinates young Muslims.

The best way to counter ISIS propaganda is to develop Western Islam. Not to adopt some sort of Oriental moderate Islam because these guys, they are European now.

They are looking for a religion which is adapted, which is ideologically embedded in Western youth culture.

As I said, ISIS provides them with this kind of merging between modern youth culture and Islam.

Of course, it is a very negative form of ideology, but it fits with the nihilistic feeling which is now a big part of the Western youth culture -- the fascination for death, the fascination for killing, the fascination for very violent movies.

If you look at the language of rap music, for instance, if you look at crimes like Columbine (the April 1999 massacre of 13 at a Colorado school by two of its students) when young school children kill their friends and teachers in their own school, which is very common practice now in the USA, then we can conclude that: Yes, there is a problem especially on the part of Western youth.

And ISIS is (playing) on that... To redeem the suicidal young if I can say that.

But mainly, you say, it is an issue of how the mullahs in Western mosques need to get modern to appeal to the youngsters.

Exactly. It is very much a conflict of generations among Muslims in the West.

IMAGE: The scene at the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, France, after a truck rammed into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating Bastille Day, July 14, 2016. Photograph: Eric Gaillar/Reuters

No one talks about a Jewish terrorist or a Christian terrorist committing a crime. But any violent Muslim youngster is immediately a terrorist.

Exactly. Let's take an example. When the German pilot crashed his plane a few years ago and 150 were killed (Andreas Lubitz of Germanwings Flight 9525 on March 24, 2015) it did not make the headlines of the newspaper anymore as soon as it was clear that the guy was not a Muslim.

When we recently an attack in Paris (April 2017) during the election and a British man was killed -- just one man -- then it was a big story, because, of course, the killer said he was killing for ISIS.

If he has an Islamic tag, it is a big story.

If he has no Islamic tag, it is just a killing.

IMAGE: The truck Sayfullo Saipov rammed into cyclists and pedestrians in Lower Manhattan, October 31, 2017, the worst terror attack in New York City after 9/11. Photograph: Reuters

Three young men were responsible for the London attack (June 3, 2017 on London Bridge). Based on your theory, maybe two of them were these death cult types, looking for thrills. But perhaps not the third, Rachid Redouane.

Also, could there be other factors?

You have said it is not alienation, not bullying, not feeling left out or being migrant. But maybe it is a combination of factors?

That there is a bit of all of this that turns them towards terrorism? Like it might have happened for Redouane?

They all claim to act in revenge for the suffering of the Muslim ummah. They all say that.

But almost none of them have experienced suffering as a Muslim. We have very few Palestinians -- very, very few -- among the global terrorists.

We have very few Muslims coming from India. We have several from Great Britain, we have several immigrant Hindus converting to Islam (like ISIS militant Abu Rumaysah al-Britani, who was born Siddhartha Dhar in London and now reportedly in Syria). They have not experienced any kind of persecution.

They live in an imaginary world.

The guys who are really suffering, like in India ... these are not the guys who go for jihad or who justify taking terrorist action.

There is a discrepancy between real life and this kind of imaginary world, where individuals play heroes avenging the sufferings of the ummah.
In a yet another gloating bid, United States President Donald Trump boasted about his administration's progress, saying that he has 'the economy booming' and that he has 'possibly done more than any 10 month President.'

"Since the first day I took office, all you hear is the phony Democrat excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia, Russia. Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump tweeted.

Trump's tweet comes in the backdrop of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The President's tweet also comes as he returns to Washington after spending his Thanksgiving holiday at the winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump is expected to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday ahead of a possible vote on tax reform this week.

Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Monday announced to contest the Gujarat polls from the Vadagam (SC) seat in Banaskantha district as an Independent candidate with the indirect support of the Congress.

Mevani, the face of last years Dalit agitation in Gujarat, also received the backing of the Aam Aadmi Party.

He declared his candidature as sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state unit of the Congress had asked him not to enter the fray as a part of an agreement with the Dalit activist.

Vaghela said the Congress had given its indirect support to Mevani for the Vadgam seat, reserved for scheduled caste (SC) candidates.

The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the poll as an Independent, he will have the Congress support. Thus, there wont be any Congress candidate on this seat, Vaghela said.

Mevani has been a vehement critic of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. He shot to fame when he led a massive protest against the Una Dalit flogging incident last year.

Later in the day, the Aam Admi Party said it will not field any candidate against Mevani.

The AAP has decided not to field any candidate from Vadgam from where Dalit protest leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as an Independent candidate.

Looking at the appeal made by him, the party believes that the contest should be between the BJP and Jignesh Mevani, the party said in a statement.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal extended best wishes to the 34-year-old Mevani through Twitter.

Mevani also took to the micro-blogging site to announce his candidature. He wrote, Friends, Im contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win.

All political parties opposed to the BJP are saying that Jignesh Mevani is a symbol of struggle against the ruling BJP, and they believe the contest should be between these two people only.

We have appealed to all political parties to support me, Mevani told reporters.

The AAP has announced candidates for over 30 seats in Gujarat so far. The Delhi-headquartered party has maintained its contest is with the ruling BJP.

In a message posted on social media, Mevani claimed that he decided to jump into the poll fray after being persuaded by youths and numerous agitators.

He even requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers.

As the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request the aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file papers so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP. This is peoples battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election, he said.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJPs Vijay Chakravarthi.

Earlier this month, Mevani had a meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during the latters visit to south Gujarat.

After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party assured him that more than 90 per cent of his demands would be incorporated in its manifesto.

Stopping short of declaring open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat the BJP in the Gujarat polls.

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat assembly will go to the polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.
Pakistans law minister Zahid Hamid on Monday quit as the government surrendered to hardline religious groups, who called off their violent protests in Islamabad that had left six people dead and hundreds injured.

IMAGE: Supporters of the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan Islamist political party shout slogans against the government. On Monday, Pakistan Law Minister Zahid Hamid's resignation was accepted.

Photograph: Caren Firouz/Reuters

An official of the Prime Minister House confirmed that the law minister on Sunday night sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who accepted it on Monday.

Hamids resignation cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the capital by protesters who demanded his removal for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017.

His resignation comes in the aftermath of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters during the weekend, that killed six people and injured hundreds. The sit-in had paralysed the national capital for three weeks.

Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan religious groups started protests three weeks ago.

Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.

Following the agreement and the subsequent resignation of Hamid, TLY chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home.

We have decided to end the protest after assurance by the army chief and an agreement with government, he said at Faizabad interchange, where he was camping with over 2,000 supporters for last three weeks.

He said that law minister resigned and government agreed to take action against those who were responsible for making changes in the oath about finality of prophethood.

IMAGE: Supporters of the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan Islamist political party watch as a crane removes a container blocking the highway to Islamabad from their protest site at Faizabad junction. Photograph: Caren Firouz/Reuters

The right wing cleric, who paralysed life in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi, said his party was not in favour of violence. He said all of his supporters arrested during crackdown would be released by the government.

He also expressed anger at media for not showing his announcement live and threatened that media persons would not be allowed to leave the venue until his announcement was shown on channels. But he later allowed reporters to go.

Meanwhile, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad high court lashed out at the government and the powerful military for the role assigned to the Army as the mediator in striking the deal with the protesters to end their sit-in.

The court had asked the government to clear the roads and not for an agreement with protestors. What you have done is surrender, the judge told Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

He also used strong words against armys role to mediate the agreement, when the minister said the agreement with the protesters was reached with the help of the army.

Who is the army to play the role of mediator? Where does the law assign this role to a major general? he asked.

In more scathing words, the judge said the protesters could not sit at Faizabad if it were located closer to the armys headquarters.

Justice Siddiqui told Iqbal that the government had constitutional right to call in the army to help civil administration in any emergency situation.

He also said the army chief is an officer in an institution that comes under the state and rhetorically asked Is he above the law?

Later in the day, the government opened the Islamabad Expressway linking the capital with its only airport and thickly populated suburban areas along the highway.

Radio Pakistan said that Hamid, the minister for law and parliamentary affairs, voluntarily presented his resignation to Abbasi to bring the country out of a state of crisis.

The protesters were demanding Hamids ouster over his alleged role for changes in the oath about finality of prophethood in the recently passed elections laws.

They had linked the action to blasphemy -- a highly contentious issue in the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Hamid said in resignation that the Election Act was formulated by a parliamentary committee comprising members belonging to all political parties.

According to the agreement, government would take back all cases against protesters and make public the probe regarding the changes in the oath and also punish those who were responsible for crackdown on protesters.

The agreement lauded efforts of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for playing key role in peacefully ending the stand-off, which became possible after an important meeting between Bajwa and Abassi on Sunday.

Citing military sources, Dawn reported that the army chief had opposed use of force against its own people since the populations trust in the institution of the army cant be compromised for little gains.
The two announced their engagement after dating for at least 15 months.

IMAGE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry early next year after the British royal was granted permission by the Queen. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation

Britains Prince Harry is to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle, after they got engaged earlier this month, according to an official announcement on Monday.

Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, is engaged to Markle, confirming months of rumours that the couple was close to tying the knot.

Markle a mixed-race American raised in California, an outspoken full-time actress, and a divorcee makes a surprising addition to Britains monarchy.

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, Clarence House said in a statement on behalf of Harrys father Prince Charles.

The wedding will take place in spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course, it adds.

IMAGE: Meghan and Harry made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in September. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation

The announcement confirms that the couple had got engaged earlier this month and that the 33-year-old Harry had informed Queen Elizabeth II of his intention to marry Markle.

Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Markles parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at KensingtonPalace, Clarence House said.

Harry has been dating 36-year-old Markle since July 2016 and there has been increasing speculation of a wedding in the New Year ever since the actress moved her dogs to the UK from her Canadian home in Toronto.

The star of the US legal drama Suits has virtually moved into Kensington Palace and had been photographed shopping in Chelsea in London last week. It is unclear if the wedding will be a full church wedding, given that Markle is a divorcee.

Historically, Britains royals have frowned upon such weddings but that changed as the Queen gave her consent in 2005 for Prince Charles to marry Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who was also a divorcee.

IMAGE: Meghan is most famous for her role as Rachel Zane in the popular drama series Suits. She will be one of the most atypical royal brides -- she's a divorcee, biracial and Jewish American.

Photograph: Alberto E Rodriguez/Getty Images

UK bookmaker Ladbrokes had stopped taking bets on the engagement last week and some press reports over the weekend indicated that British Prime Minister Theresa May had cleared her diary in expectation of an announcement.

It had been reported last month that the couple went for tea with the Queen at BuckinghamPalace, which was seen as a meeting to seek the monarchs blessing for an engagement.
The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to mislead the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru with his 'untrue' statements and said it reflected his 'unhealthy mindset'.

Hitting back at Modi over his charge that the Congress propagated dynastic politics, the party's senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the prime minister 'has forgotten' that the Congress gave prime ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh, who came from a humble background.

Defending the Nehru-Gandhi family, the former Union minister said none of the Gandhis were part of the government since the last almost three decades.

He condemned Modi's claims that the Congress and country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru did nothing for Gujarat and alleged that such a campaign emanated from the Bharatiya Janata Party's frustration due to its 'impending defeat'.

"The prime minister has said that the country's first prime minister has not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from truth. We condemn it.

"The prime minister is afflicted with an unhealthy mindset (aswasth mansikta) which is an issue of national concern," he told reporters.

"I am saying it with respect. An unhealthy mindset is when a person says that the world was not created before him and India had no identity....

"He (Modi) always says that there was no achievement in India before him. Narendra Modi needs to be told that India was a nuclear power in 1974, India had ventured into space.... It is the Opposition's duty to correct him," the Congress leader said.

Sharma said that the prime minister's remarks at an election rally in Gujarat today were 'untrue'.

"The BJP is disturbed over the increasing support for the Congress in the state," he claimed.

Sharma cited several projects initiated by Nehru in Gujarat like Amul cooperative movement, IIM Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design, formation of Gandhinagar, the state's capital, ONGC's complex at Ankleswar and development of ports like Kandla and Dahej, besides setting up of airports.

"It is not right on the part of the prime minister to speak like this. He should abstain from giving such statements as the Congress is capable of denying them with facts.

"The prime minister is trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and is trying to lure the people of the state ahead of assembly elections," he alleged.

Sharma asked what the Modi government had done for Gujarat and said it should be left to the people of the state and the country to judge its performance.

"He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his government," he said, alleging that the government was full of 'tainted' people and was trying 'to put a lid on big scams'.

"The Modi government is running away from accountability and that is why the prime minister never convened Parliament session ahead of Gujarat assembly polls and neither did he answer any of our questions," the Congress leader said.

On Modi's charge of dynastic politics, Sharma said the Congress was led by stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gopal Kishna Gokhala and Madan Mohan Malviya.

Countering the prime minister's attack on Nehru-Gandhi family, he said Rahul Gandhi, being an elected representative, was asked by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh to join him, but he did not do so during the 10 years of United Progressive Alliance government.

"The Congress has never told the BJP whom it should elect as its chief. The prime minister should stop worrying about the Congress and focus on his party instead," he said.

On the Rafale aircraft deal, he said the prime minister had no right to cancel the previous deal signed between the governments of India and France during the UPA.

He alleged a scam in the deal as a public sector undertaking was ignored and a private entity without any experience in the defence sector was brought in.

Earlier the prime minister, while campaigning in Gujarat on Sunday, hit out at the Congress over dynastic politics and alleged that the party did not do anything for the state.

"On one side there is 'Vikas' (development) and 'Vishwas' (faith) while on the other side there is 'Vanshwad' (nepotism). Gujarat will never forgive the Congress Party and this has been the case for long. Congress has never liked Gujarat, has always preferred to see it lag behind," Modi said while campaigning in Kutchh region.

Modi also alleged, "Congress has shown contempt for Gujarat. They prevented Narmada waters from reaching people across the state, their reign was characterised by poor law and order, and they destabilised chief ministers from the Patel community be it Babubhai, Chimanbhai, Keshubhai and Anandiben'."

Photograph: Kind courtesy @narendramodi/Twitter
Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
UNHCR  Rohingya refugee returns must meet international standards

Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR  Rohingya refugee returns must meet international standards, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bc9764.html [accessed 17 November 2022]

UNHCR takes note of reports that the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar have reached agreement on the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. Some 622,000 people have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine State since 25 August, triggered by a wave of violence underpinned by denial of citizenship and decades of deep discrimination.

UNHCR has not yet seen the details of the agreement. Refugees have the right to return. And a framework that enables them to exercise this right in line with international standards, will be welcome. First and foremost, this means that return must be voluntary, and take place in safe and dignified conditions that pave the way for lasting solutions.

At present, conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine State are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns. Refugees are still fleeing, and many have suffered violence, rape, and deep psychological harm. Some have witnessed the deaths of family members and friends. Most have little or nothing to go back to, their homes and villages destroyed. Deep divisions between communities remain unaddressed. And humanitarian access in northern Rakhine State remains negligible.

It is critical that returns do not take place precipitously or prematurely, without the informed consent of refugees or the basic elements of lasting solutions in place. People must have the option of returning home, and not be confined to specific areas. Progress towards addressing the root causes of flight, including their lack of citizenship, as recommended by the Rakhine Advisory Commission, will also be crucial.

UNHCR looks forward to seeing details of the agreement between the two countries, and stands ready to help both governments work towards a solution for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh that meets international refugee and human rights standards.
Frozen and forgotten: The neglected displacement crisis on Europe's doorstep

Publisher IRIN Author Michael Bociurkiw Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as IRIN, Frozen and forgotten: The neglected displacement crisis on Europe's doorstep, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bcb1a4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Many of the world's humanitarian catastrophes are described as forgotten emergencies, but only this one is playing out relatively unnoticed on the doorstep of Europe, over an area roughly the size of Switzerland.

The frozen, low-intensity conflict in Ukraine's Donbass region will mark a grim, four-year milestone in April. And the numbers aren't pretty: more than 10,000 killed and at least 23,000 injured.

At the beginning of 2014, Ukraine had no displaced people. Now, it's on the world's top ten list, with an estimated two million.

The roots of the conflict can be traced back to the winter of 2013/2014, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych backtracked on a promise to enter into an association agreement with the European Union. That, in turn, sparked the Revolution of Dignity, which ousted the pro-Russian president in February 2014 but cost the lives of at least 100 civilian protesters. Shortly afterwards, thousands of armed separatists invaded Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and remain there to this day. Several ceasefire agreements, including the latest "Back to School" initiative in September, have failed to bring about an enduring peace. The two regions, knows as oblasts, are now self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians face an uncertain winter as the shelling continues unabated. Two major water plants are located near the front line (known as the contact line), so these civilians have to live with the constant threat of having their water and heating cut off. And there's the added risk of a chlorine gas explosion should a wayward shell hit storage areas at the plants.

The sharp decline in conditions from an escalation in hostilities and lack of access for repair crews has led the UN to warn of "grave consequences" for millions of Ukrainians if water or heating is cut off, and a reminder that the intentional disruption of quality water supply or critical heating systems is a violation of International Humanitarian Law.

Humanitarian crisis

A recent UN appeal targets 3-4 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection. Of those, 70 percent are either elderly, women, or children. Many live in unbearable conditions such as abandoned sanatoriums. UNICEF estimates that more than 200,000 boys and girls live within 15 kilometres of each side of the contact line, of which about two percent are regularly forced to take refuge in improvised bomb shelters. The children's agency also estimates that one school in five has been damaged or destroyed.

About 700,000 civilians cross the 459-kilometre "contact line" each month to purchase groceries, visit relatives, withdraw money, or receive pensions. What should be a short journey is often turned into a long ordeal because of excessive waits at checkpoints on both sides. Although the situation has improved in the past year, travellers are exposed to shelling, the threat of land mines, and, in winter, to sub-zero temperatures. Bombed-out roads and bridges add to the frustration.

The situation in eastern Ukraine can best be described as a low-intensity conflict that spikes regularly. As of mid-November, the number of ceasefire violations has increased. In just one day there were almost 2,000 explosions. "This, I believe, was the saddest record in the second half of the year," said an OSCE representative.

A huge barrier to peace is the concentration of heavy weaponry and the close proximity of the two sides. When shelling occurs, it often lands in densely populated areas, inflicting maximum damage and casualties. When one side fires, the other retaliates. It's now hard to find apartment blocks, bridges, schools, or hospitals in the towns dotted along the contact line that have remained untouched by the heavy shelling.

Land mines are also becoming an increasing problem. In November a police car near the southeastern city of Mariupol drove over one, killing a police officer and severely injuring two others. Many farmers are afraid to work their land for fear of unexploded ordnance. Earlier in the conflict, cluster munitions - banned by international treaties - were used by both sides, according to Human Rights Watch.

Stalemate

The prospects for progress couldn't be much bleaker: Experts and diplomats at the recently concluded Halifax International Security Forum said even the tightening of sanctions against Russia may not be enough to force peace.

The diplomatic tool box appears shockingly empty after several failed attempts in Minsk and elsewhere to achieve a long-lasting, sustainable peace. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, which has about 700 monitors in the east, is being continuously targeted or denied access, especially to strategic areas along the Ukraine-Russian border.

Desperate for progress, both sides have proposed a UN peacekeeping mission. However, Ukraine is demanding it be deployed throughout the conflict zone, including the international border, while Russia wants a mission limited to the contact line. Aside from reconciling vastly different proposals, UN diplomats would also need to secure commitments from member states and a unanimous vote in the UN Security Council.

As for the OSCE, it shows little enthusiasm for a UN mission, preferring instead to press ahead with a multi-level diplomatic negotiations track based on the Minsk Protocol, an accord to halt the war reached in September 2014.

But more than three years after the Minsk agreements, both the peace process and the conflict appear deadlocked, and millions of Ukrainians are digging in for yet another hard winter.
In Bangladesh refugee camps, the nascent Rohingya insurgency commands support and sows fear

Publisher IRIN Author Poppy McPherson Publication Date 27 November 2017 Cite as IRIN, In Bangladesh refugee camps, the nascent Rohingya insurgency commands support and sows fear, 27 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bcbdc4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Out of earshot of worshippers at his makeshift mosque in the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp, the imam - a middle-aged man dressed in a white robe and prayer cap - begins to open up. "It's good that you interviewed me alone," he whispers, gesturing at a group of men standing outside. "There are ARSA people around."

Like hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine State for Bangladesh in recent months, he endured years of persecution culminating in a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military. Human rights groups say soldiers and local Buddhists drove Rohingya out with a systematic campaign of massacres, rape, and arson.

But the imam, who asks not to be named for fear of reprisals, feels caught between two threats. "We are persecuted on both sides: by ARSA and the military," he says.

ARSA, or the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, is the fledgling Rohingya insurgency whose attacks on police posts across northern Rakhine on 25 August provided the justification for the massive army clampdown that has prompted the region's most severe refugee crisis in decades.

While many of its members and supporters have now been pushed into grim and overcrowded refugee camps outside Bangladesh's port town of Cox's Bazar, analysts say the movement is likely seeking to regroup.

Pressure from both sides

Despite the devastating impact of their actions on the entire Rohingya population, ARSA's name still commands a mix of cautious respect and fear among some in the Bangladeshi camps.

The imam speaks in a low hush as he recounts how, in Rakhine State's Maungdaw township, where most of the group's attacks have taken place, insurgents targeted Rohingya "brokers" or village leaders who were close to Myanmar authorities and accused of being informers. They slashed the leaders' throats, he says.

These killings began as ARSA was planning its first attacks on Myanmar authorities, according to research from the International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution nonprofit. Myanmar officials have said dozens of Rohingya were killed in this way in the lead-up to 9 October 2016, when ARSA raided several police posts in northern Rakhine in a precursor to this year's explosive violence.

Around that time, the imam says soldiers came to his village and warned residents not to feed insurgents or otherwise help the organisation.

While many men and boys joined up voluntarily, some were forcibly recruited or given cash incentives, according to research by Fortify Rights, a Southeast Asia-based rights group.

But now in Bangladesh's bleak camps, where stick-thin refugees struggle to survive from one day to the next, few people want to talk about the insurgents. Some view the group, and the Myanmar authorities' portrayal of them as terrorists, as a sort of sick joke, given their present circumstances.

For decades, the Myanmar authorities have persecuted the Rohingya, deeming them illegal immigrants, stripping them of citizenship, and severely curtailing freedoms including education and movement. Some Rohingya say soldiers regularly came to their houses to confiscate sharp tools, even kitchen knives.

"We have nothing. We can't eat, so how can we fight?" says Hasina Begum, a woman in her mid-twenties.

"You can't fight with empty hands," adds one of her relatives, a middle-aged man named Mohammad Rafique.

'He said to stand against the military'

But some young men, exasperated after years of marginalisation and persecution, are willing to openly praise ARSA.

"I heard about that organisation but I haven't been able to connect with it - if I got the chance, I'd do it," says Mohammed Salim, a Rohingya man in his early thirties who worked as a shopkeeper in his village in Maungdaw township before he fled to Bangladesh along with the recent wave of refugees.

Salim says he hasn't known a "blow of happiness" since he was seven years old. "Even as a shopkeeper or farmer we worried that the military would come and snatch our crops or the profits of our business," he says. "And what would they do with our sisters and mothers?"

He says he learned about ARSA from a video clip of its leader, Ata Ullah, circulated on Rohingya Vision, a Rohingya-language TV channel. Ata Ullah, a Rohingya man reportedly born in Pakistan who appears in the group's videos, is often described as a highly charismatic leader; some Rohingya in the camps have pictures of him on their cell phones.

"I listened to the speech of that man. He said to stand against the military," says Salim. "'They have raped our mothers and sisters and tortured and harassed us,' he said."

Motivations

While Myanmar dubs the group "extremist terrorists", there is no evidence that jihadist ideology is a motivating factor for recruits. But some reports suggest religion has played more of a role than admitted by the group, or at least international backers who publicly depict it as an ethno-nationalist movement.

And, according to the International Crisis Group, religious leaders conferred legitimacy on the group - or were corralled into conferring it, as the imam implies - by issuing religious fatwas supporting its cause. Younger imams have given their blessing to ARSA's operations.

"This ARSA group, if it fights with the government, I believe that is OK," says one imam, Nabir Hossein, who runs a mosque which, like many in the Kutupalong refugee camp, is affiliated with Tablighi Jamaat. This is a global Sunni Muslim movement that encourages followers to observe conservative practices but describes itself as apolitical.

"But we are not part of ARSA," says Hossein. "Why did the Myanmar government torture our village? Everyone is not ARSA."

Another imam, a man in his late thirties who gives his name as Mahmood, says villagers are rising up against government torture. "That's why maybe some have stood against them," he says. "We need equal rights like Buddhists."

'I would fight'

Little is known about ARSA's origins and plans, but International Crisis Group research suggests the leadership consists of several Rohingya emigres based in Saudi Arabia who have been directing a loose network in villages throughout northern Rakhine.

"This is a group that was not operating in uniforms out of camps in the hills - it was very much operating in cells in the villages," says Myanmar-based analyst Richard Horsey, a consultant with the International Crisis Group. "They already had a fairly large network of members and supporters and those people are now in Bangladesh, so I suspect it's less a question of recruiting and more a question of regrouping and planning what it will do next."

Aid workers who spoke to IRIN are also worried about the potential for support for the group to grow in the mushrooming refugee camps.

At a summit last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the crisis as a potential source of regional instability and radicalisation.

Several killings of local Rohingya leaders in Bangladeshi camps this year are believed to be linked to ARSA, according to a Western official who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media.

Myanmar has arrested several people it claims are ARSA members in recent weeks.

Horsey believes it's unlikely the leaders of the group are in the Bangladeshi camps, where the military has a strong presence, but thinks they could be planning fresh attacks from bases elsewhere.

"The obvious possibility is cross-border attacks that require very different equipment and a sort of safe haven in Bangladesh, and if they will get that I don't know, but certainly the conditions are ripe for that," he says.

Fortify Rights has raised the spectre of further attacks spurred on by the Myanmar military's brutality. "The lack of accountability for atrocities committed by the military may aid ARSA's recruitment efforts and contribute to future conflict and cycles of atrocities," the group said in research published last week.

They may find willing participants in desperate young men like Salim, the former shopkeeper now forced to spend his days in a hot and crowded tent waiting for handouts.

"If the authorities can't solve this problem, and anybody gives us advice on fighting, then I would fight for my resources and my village and my house," he tells IRIN. "We can't do it alone. If all the young Rohingya agree then I will decide to fight."
Is Zimbabwe's new president up to the task?

Publisher IRIN Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as IRIN, Is Zimbabwe's new president up to the task?, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bcdb44.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

After a tumultuous two weeks of political brinkmanship, Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in today as Zimbabwe's new president, replacing the ageing Robert Mugabe who has led the country since independence.

In his inauguration at a packed national stadium, Mnangagwa delivered a positive speech promising to "rebuild our great country", to crack down on corruption, strengthen the "pillars of democracy", attract foreign investment, and to hold elections as scheduled in 2018.

"He gave reassurances that he would re-engage international partners," said political analyst Ibbo Mandaza. "That is all because the international community is insisting on that because it's backing him."

But how much change is really on the cards and what are the major challenges ahead?

Mnangagwa, 75, will lead a deeply divided party, seemingly bankrupt of fresh ideas, but with the weight of the country's hopes for better times on his shoulders.

Mnangagwa served Mugabe for four decades as his enforcer and heir apparent, but after a spectacular falling out and dismissal as vice-president, he left for South Africa until a palace coup cleared the way this week for his return.

He arrived in Harare on Tuesday to rock star status as jubilant crowds cheered Mugabe's resignation - but it was novel celebrity standing for a man more usually feared as a former spy chief and ruling party hardliner.

Mnangagwa himself seemed swept up in the moment. He told supporters at ZANU-PF party headquarters: "I appeal to all genuine, patriotic Zimbabweans to come together; we work together. No one is more important than the other. We are all Zimbabweans."

Despite trying to cultivate a new, kinder image, the lawyer and former guerrilla leader repeated the same old revolutionary slogans at party headquarters, including "Pasi nemandu!" or "Death to the enemy!"

"Mnangagwa has a lot to prove," said Kuda Hove, a Harare-based lawyer. "People are already sceptical, because it's still ZANU-PF in form and deed."

Mugabe's exit "certainly represents the end of a painful era, but then it is also possible that Mnangagwa's entry could usher in a new error", he added.

National unity?

ZANU-PF looks set to govern alone. Mnangagwa has now spurned calls for the repeat of a coalition with the Movement for Democratic Change that led to a period of economic stability after deeply flawed elections in 2008.

The country's trade union movement and the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a 115-member civil society grouping, had both urged the creation of a broad-based transitional administration until fresh elections.

"It is time to open a new page," said trade union secretary-general Japhet Moyo, and condemned what he fears will be the retention of "career ministers" by Mnangagwa, some of whom were well known "thieves and thugs".

Will next year's elections be free and fair?

"The military has helped steal elections before and there is no reason to suspect that it will not help [to do so] in future elections, whenever they are held," noted Mandaza.

Opposition MDC spokesman Obert Gutu said political reforms are urgently needed to remove the "pillars of repression and oppression" put in place by Mugabe, but added that he was "cautiously optimistic" that this could be achieved.

University of Zimbabwe political science researcher Eldred Masunungure told IRIN that any changes, especially to the working of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, would need time to be "internalised and institutionalised".

He said he feared Mnangagwa might "put big and heavy spanners in the reform works".

Elections next year could not come at a worse time for the MDC. Veteran leader Morgan Tsvangirai is gravely ill, and the succession issue within his party is far from settled.

The economy

The biggest challenge for Mnangagwa is the state of the economy. Zimbabwe has been in crisis for close to two decades. Unemployment is sky-high (90 percent is the often-cited figure, although the data is disputed), and there are biting cash shortages and crumbling social services.

Between 2000 and 2008 Zimbabwe's GDP nearly halved, the sharpest contraction of its kind in a peacetime economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. As a consequence, one in five Zimbabweans lives in "extreme poverty".

Mnangagwa recognises the challenge. "We want jobs, jobs, jobs!" he told the crowd at ZANU-PF headquarters. "We need also the cooperation of our neighbours in [the regional development bloc] SADC, the cooperation of the continent of Africa; we need the cooperation of our friends outside the continent."

The problem is that the structural reforms needed to attract foreign support will be painful.

The World Bank has called for a sharp reining in of public spending, including cuts to public sector salaries and moves to tackle Zimbabwe's debt. The country owes $9 billion to foreign lenders and has been in default for nearly 20 years.

"It looks like workers' woes might persist," said Tafadzwa Choto, who heads the Zimbabwe Labour Centre, a pro-workers NGO. "There is need to reconfigure parastatals (state-linked companies) and remove cronyism and nepotism, but this will not be easy for [Mnangagwa] because he has too many people to accommodate in the new dispensation."

Zimbabweans are expecting free - and improved - social services. Years of neglect have starved a once-proud health service, and left power and sanitation systems unable to cope with demand.

Rudo Gaidzanwa, a sociology professor, has a list of what she considers "essentials" for the government to spend its money on, and it's long - from better transport to refuse collection.

"The new government must also be able to provide free medical care and schooling up to secondary school, in addition to [better] housing and other infrastructure," she told IRIN.

Such high public spending would be diametrically opposed to the cost-cutting regimen the IMF and the World Bank has in mind.

Matabeleland massacre

The people of Matabeleland are a constituency Mnangagwa will struggle to win over. As minister of state security, he was responsible along with Mugabe and current Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, for the killing of an estimated 20,000 Ndebele people between 1983 and 1987.

The campaign, known as Operation Gukurahundi (the rains that wash the chaff), was carried out by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade made up of mainly Shona-speaking soldiers.

Whole villages were purged with incredible brutality for the merest suspicion of supporting a small dissident armed group backed by apartheid South Africa.

It still remains an emotive issue in Zimbabwe between the Shona and the minority Ndebele, who make up roughly 20 percent of the population.

"It is very important for the administration to acknowledge and address the issue of the Gukurahundi massacres as we have never felt a part of the nation since the genocide," explained civil society campaigner Dumisani Nkomo.

Stability

If Mnangagwa is to make headway with this long list of challenges, he is going to the need political support. But ZANU-PF is badly divided. The succession issue pitted Grace Mugabe and her so-called Generation 40 supporters against Mnangagwa's Team Lacoste. Key G40 members were on the military's arrest list when they rolled their armoured vehicles onto the streets.

The split within the ZANU-PF is also along regional lines. It was Mnangagwa's Masvingo and Midlands Karanga powerbase that challenged the continued rule of Mugabe's Zezuru Mashonaland-based clan. The Karanga are the largest Shona clan.

There are also concerns that the military's decision to step in to support Mnangagwa - despite their insistence (with one eye on the region and the other on Western donors) that it was not a coup - has reinforced its already influential position.

The hard truth emerging for many Zimbabweans is that they're already seeing strong similarities between the Mnangagwa era ahead and the Mugabe era that just ended, or as Mandaza put it: "The securocrats will remain in charge of state systems and processes, and the politicians will serve at their pleasure, as has been the case for a long time."
A year of Chinese prison mistreatment for RSF laureate

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 25 November 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, A year of Chinese prison mistreatment for RSF laureate, 25 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bce4b4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is concerned for the survival of Huang Qi, a leading civil rights journalist who will complete a year in detention on 28 November and who is being subjected to mistreatment and violence in prison.

The founder of the 64 Tianwang civil rights website and winner of the RSF Press Freedom Prize in 2004, Huang Qi was arrested at his home in Chengdu, in the western province of Sichuan, on 28 November 2016. A year later, he is still detained provisionally in alarming conditions in Mianyang prison.





According to his lawyer, Li Jinlin, who was able to visit him on 3 November, the 54-year-old Huang has "lost weight," complains of being "forced to work four to six hours a day" despite being in poor health, and has been beaten several times. A large bruise testified to the violence.





Unlike other detainees, Huang is denied access to medicines, food supplements and other basic supplies that he needs.





"Mistreatment and denial of medical care are common practice in Chinese prisons," said Cedric Alviani, the head of RSF's East Asia desk. "Evidence of this was seen in he recent deaths of Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, also an RSF prize winner, and the blogger Yang Tongyan. Both were the victims of cancer left untreated in detention. We urge the Chinese authorities to show humanity by immediately freeing Huang Qi and all other detainees in poor health."





Effects of eight previous years in prison





As a result of his journalistic work, which has always focused on the victims of the Chinese state apparatus, Huang had already spent a total of eight years in prison, during which he developed heart problems, nephritis and liver cysts.





His arrest on 28 November 2016 was apparently prompted by what he had written about Sichuan police violence against local petitioners. Eighteen days after his arrest, he was formally detained on the catch-all charge of "illegally providing state secrets abroad," which in extreme cases is punishable by death.





Other detained Chinese journalists whose lives are in danger include:

- Gao Yu, 73, a well-known reporter who was awarded the Plume d'Or de la Liberte in 1995 and UNESCO's Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 1997. She is under house arrest and is being prevented from travelling abroad to seek treatment.

- Yiu Mantin, 73, a Hong Kong publisher who is serving a ten-year jail term for trying to publish revelations about President Xi Jinping.

- Liu Xia, 56, who is Liu Xiaobo's widow. The authorities have kept her isolated for the past 10 years.





The world's biggest prison for journalists and civil rights activists, China is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Rif protests trial: concern about treatment of detainees

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Rif protests trial: concern about treatment of detainees, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bcee00.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Moroccan authorities to respect the rights of the detainees currently on trial in Casablanca for their role in the "Hirak" protest movement in the Rif region. They include a journalist and five citizen-journalists and media workers.





RSF urges the authorities to adhere to international standards governing the treatment of detainees. The trial was postponed for the fifth time at a hearing on 21 November - this time at the request of the defence, which asked for a delay in order to prepare its arguments.





The 54 defendants include Badil.info news website editor Hamid El Mahdaoui and the following citizen-journalists and media workers: Mohamed El Asrihi and Jawad Al Sabiry of Rif 24, Houssein Al Idrissi of Rif Press, Fouad Assiadi, the editor of the Awar TV Facebook page, and Rabiaa El Ablak of Badil.info.

They are all currently held at Okacha prison, which is more than 500 km from their homes in and around the city of El-Hoceima, in the northern Rif region, where they were arrested.





According to the information obtained by RSF, their treatment in prison does not comply with the international principles established by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa.





"When we met Hamid El Mahdaoui's family and some of the lawyers for the Hirak detainees last week in Morocco, they described to us the deplorable conditions and constant humiliation to which these journalists are being subjected in detention," said Yasmine Kacha, the head of RSF's North Africa bureau.

"We urge the Moroccan authorities to respect standards on the treatment of detainees both in prison and during hearings. We have shared our concerns with the protection department at the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH), which took note of them."

Yasmine Kacha from RSF with Bouchra el Mahdaoui on November 15 in Rabat.





El Mahdaoui staged a two-week hunger strike in September in protest against the conditions in which he is being held and the fact that he has been in solitary confinement for several months. He is allowed into an exercise yard for only two 30-minute periods a day during which he cannot talk to anyone.

El Ablak began his third hunger strike on 9 November against the "inhuman" and "shameful" treatment he is receiving. A few weeks ago, the detainees stopped being allowed to receive food packages from their families. El Ablak ended his hunger strike on the eve of the 21 November hearing.





When they appear in court, the defendants are confined to an area behind tinted glass and are monitored by cameras. During the hearing on 21 November, police manhandled El Mahdaoui's wife, Bouchra, when she tried to approach her husband.





"Mistreatment by prison guards is a distinguishing feature of the detention of these journalists," said Khadija Riyadi, a winner of the 2013 United Nations Human Rights Prize and a co-founder of the committee set up to support El Mahdaoui and the other journalists held in connection with the Hirak protests.

"The food they are getting since their families were prevented from bringing food baskets is of poor quality," she said. "A few days ago, the detainees were subjected to a humiliating search. Medical care is lacking. We regret not being allowed access to the detainees. The support committee has requested access but has not received an answer."





El Mahdaoui was already sentenced in a separate case in September 2017 to one year in prison and a fine of 20,000 dirhams (2,000 euros). He is also facing a possible five-year jail sentence on a charge of endangering state security. The citizen-journalists and media workers in the Hirak mass trial are being prosecuted under the criminal code and the law on public gatherings.





RSF has repeatedly called for their release. If the authorities insist on bringing any prosecution against them, it should be on the basis of the press and publishing law, and the defendants should not be detained while being tried or awaiting trial.





The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners permit solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days only in exceptional cases and only as a last resort after an independent review. Also, detainees must normally be allowed to communicate with their families at regular intervals and must receive medical care.





Under the Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, which the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights adopted in 1999, every accused person has the right to an effective defence, and states must ensure that detainees are treated in a humane manner and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.





Morocco/Western Sahara is ranked 133rd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Death threat to Bulgarian news website publisher

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Death threat to Bulgarian news website publisher, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bcf6e4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled to learn that Bulgarian criminal gang leaders are allegedly planning to murder Zov News website publisher Georgi Ezekiev and calls on the Bulgarian authorities to carry out an immediate investigation.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled to learn that Bulgarian criminal gang leaders are allegedly planning to murder Zov News website publisher Georgi Ezekiev and calls on the Bulgarian authorities to carry out an immediate investigation.





The alleged murder plan came to light earlier this month in the course of a joint investigation by Zov News and the investigative news website Bivol into a drug trafficking ring in which police officers are thought to be implicated. A person who used to be involved in this network told the reporters in a filmed interview that his former mafia bosses were planning to eliminate Ezekiev.





One of the reporters participating in this investigation, Maria Dimitrova, meanwhile received threatening messages by SMS and on Facebook. And shortly after Dimitrova managed to get one of the gang's victims to talk to her, three unidentified men physically attacked her informant.





"We are very worried about the threats to website publisher Georgi Ezekiev and one of his reporters, who filed a complaint that was ignored by the police," said Pauline Ades-Mevel, the head of RSF's EU-Balkans desk. "The Bulgarian authorities must take these threats and attacks seriously, must do everything possible to protect the targets and must carry out a thorough investigation into this affair."





Bulgaria is ranked 109th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index, the lowest position of any European Union member.
Egypt: Sinai Attack Inflicts Horrendous Civilian Toll

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Egypt: Sinai Attack Inflicts Horrendous Civilian Toll, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bd05b4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The horrific attack by armed militants on a mosque in Egypt's North Sinai region during Friday prayers is a grim reminder of the dangers facing Sinai residents today, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch expresses its sincere condolences to the relatives of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery for the wounded.

"This is an outrageous attack on people in a holy place who should have been able to conduct Friday prayers in safety," said Nadim Houry, director of the terrorism and counterterrorism program at Human Rights Watch. "The Egyptian authorities should bring those responsible to account and allow journalists and other independent observers into North Sinai."

The attack on al-Rawda mosque, which is affiliated with a Sufi school, killed at least 235 and injured 109, according to the Office of the Public Prosecutor. The mosque is in the Bir al-Abed area. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of writing. Eyewitnesses told Mada Masr, an independent Egyptian news site, that armed militants detonated an explosive device near the mosque, then opened fire at the worshippers, including children.

Violence has significantly escalated in North Sinai, a long-marginalized governorate that borders Israel and Gaza, since July 2013, after the military orchestrated the forcible removal of former President Mohamed Morsy.

The extremist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and renamed itself "Sinai Province" in November 2014, has established a stronghold in the area and has waged a series of attacks on Egyptian police and armed forces there, in addition to targeting Christians and suspected collaborators. The group also kidnapped and executed an elderly Sufi sheikh, Suleiman Abu Haraz, in November 2016. The extremist group is enforcing its interpretation of sharia laws on areas of East Sinai, such as banning cigarettes and punishing those who sell them, local residents told Human Rights Watch.

More than 130 attacks were reported across North Sinai in the first quarter of 2017, according to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Sinai is effectively a closed military zone.

Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, declared a state of emergency, including a curfew, in most of the Sinai governorate in October 2014 and has extended it ever since. Tens of thousands of civilians are caught up in the fighting between the extremist armed groups and government forces, and many people have been displaced or have left their homes, especially in the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuwayed.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine not in place to enable safe returns  UN refugee agency

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine not in place to enable safe returns  UN refugee agency, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf1194.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Amid reports of an agreement between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar on return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, the United Nations refugee agency has underscored that the returns must be voluntary, and take place in safe and dignified conditions.

At present, conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine state are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns. Refugees are still fleeing, and many have suffered violence, rape, and deep psychological harm, Adrian Edwards, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told journalists at a regular media briefing in Geneva Friday.

It is critical that returns do not take place precipitously or prematurely, without the informed consent of refugees or the basic elements of lasting solutions in place, he stressed.

Over the past three months, widespread inter-communal violence in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state resulted in some 622,000 people fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh. Prior to this latest crisis, Bangladesh was already hosting well over 200,000 Rohingya refugees as a result of earlier displacements.

According to the UN refugee agency, some of those who fled witnessed the deaths of family and friends, and most have little or nothing to go back to with their homes and villages destroyed.

Deep divisions between communities remain unaddressed, added Mr. Edwards, underscoring that progress towards addressing the root causes of flight, including lack of citizenship for members of the Rohingya community, as recommended by the Rakhine Advisory Commission, will also be crucial.

Furthermore, humanitarian access in northern Rakhine state remains negligible.

At the briefing, the UNHCR spokesperson also noted that the UN agency looks forward to seeing details of the agreement between the two countries, and that it stands ready to help both governments work towards a solution for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh that meets international refugee and human rights standards.

Refugees have the right to return [and] a framework that enables them to exercise this right in line with international standards, will be welcome, he said.
Mediterranean crossing still world's deadliest for migrants  UN report

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Mediterranean crossing still world's deadliest for migrants  UN report, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf2d54.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

rossing the Mediterranean to Europe is by far the world's deadliest journey for migrants, with at least 33,761 reported to have died or gone missing between 2000 and 2017, a United Nations report finds.

The report, released Friday from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), notes the highest number of fatalities, at 5,096, was recorded in 2016, when the short and relatively less dangerous route from Turkey to Greece was shut, following the European Union-Turkey deal.

Shutting the shorter and less dangerous routes can open longer and more dangerous routes, thus increasing the likelihood of dying at sea, said Professor Philippe Fargues of the European University Institute, who authored the report, Four Decades of Cross-Mediterranean Undocumented Migration to Europe.

The report reviews available evidence on trans-Mediterranean irregular migration to Europe along various routes going back to the 1970s, particularly on the magnitude of the flows, the evolution of sea routes to Southern Europe, the characteristics of migrants, the extent to which one can separate between economic and forced movements, and mortality during the sea journey.

More than 2.5 million migrants have crossed the Mediterranean in an unauthorized fashion since the 1970s.

Irregular sea journeys started rising in those years in response to the introduction, by Western States grappling with rising levels of unemployment during the 1973 oil crisis, of visa requirements for people who until then had been exempted  most of them temporary labour migrants from North Africa and Turkey.

These policies encouraged those who were already in Europe to stay, increased irregular migration of family members to join their relatives in Europe and gave way to the smuggling business, the report states.

The report also highlights differences between the modern pattern of migration from Africa to Italy, mostly via Libya, and that from the Middle East to Greece via Turkey.

Arrivals to Italy from North Africa largely originate across sub-Saharan Africa in response to deep migratory pressures  population growth coupled with limited livelihood opportunities, high unemployment and poor governance and political and economic instability.

Arrivals to Greece from Turkey since 2009 have been primarily of nationals from origin States affected by conflict and political instability, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Noting the limitations of available data on irregular migration, the report says the numbers of deaths at sea may grossly underestimate the real number of people who die or go missing while crossing the Mediterranean, as they are based on numbers of bodies found and survivors' testimonies.
UN rights expert calls on Mexico to investigate killing of state-level Ombudsperson

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN rights expert calls on Mexico to investigate killing of state-level Ombudsperson, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf3b54.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Strongly condemning the attack on a state-level Ombudsperson and his family in Mexico, the United Nations expert on human rights defenders has called on the authorities to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Silvestre de la Toba Camacho, the Ombudsperson in Mexico's Baja California Sur state, along with his son died in the 20 November attack and his wife and daughter were seriously injured.

I condemn the killing of Silvestre de la Toba Camacho in the strongest possible terms, and am equally outraged by the assault on his family, said Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, in a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

I call on the state and federal authorities to ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted and the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Earlier this year, at the end of his mission to Mexico, Mr. Forst had underscored that ending the country's current cycle of impunity was one of its biggest challenges.

The best way to ensure the safety of human rights defenders is by bringing those who attempt to harm them to justice, the rights expert added in the news release today.

Further, Mr. Forst also underscored the importance of the role of national human rights institutions in the protection of human rights and stressed that governments should put in place protection schemes to ensure that persons who work for them are able to perform their functions in a safe and autonomous manner.

In particular, he urged the Government of Mexico to set up protection mechanisms for defenders at risk, including people working in national human rights institutions.

UN Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
UN experts urge China to 'immediately and unconditionally' release human rights lawyer

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN experts urge China to 'immediately and unconditionally' release human rights lawyer, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf44a4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Voicing concern that the trial of a human rights lawyer - leading to his imprisonment - fell short of international standards, a group of United Nations rights experts has appealed to the Government for the lawyer's immediate and unconditional release.

According to a news release issued Thursday by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the lawyer, Jiang Tianyong, was jailed for two years after being found guilty of inciting subversion of the State's power.

"Mr. Jiang's trial clearly fell short of international standards and his conviction represents an unfair and arbitrary punishment of a human rights lawyer and defender, whose only crime was to exercise his rights to free speech and to defend human rights," the experts said in the release.

"Domestic judicial procedures should be in compliance with China's international human rights obligations," they added.

According to the news release, Mr. Jiang, whose wife and daughter are in exile in the United States, was an outspoken defender of his fellow human rights lawyers who were arrested in an unprecedented crackdown in July 2015.

On Tuesday, 21 November, he was found guilty of the incitement charge by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court after a supposed confession in August, the release noted, adding that the UN experts had previously expressed concern that his confession may have been coerced by the use of torture, in contravention of the Chinese Criminal Procedures Law and international human rights standards.

Those adding their voice to the call on the Government are Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; David Kaye, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Jose Antonio Guevara Bermudez, the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

The release also noted that last August, during a visit to China, Mr. Alston had met with Mr. Jiang, and, in December, expressed concern that Mr. Jiang's enforced disappearance may have occurred, at least in part, in reprisal for the lawyer's cooperation with the UN during his visit.

The rights experts have been in contact with the Chinese Government on several occasions to raise their concern, it added.

UN Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
Egypt: UN chief and Security Council condemn attack on Sinai mosque

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Egypt: UN chief and Security Council condemn attack on Sinai mosque, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf4b04.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the United Nations Security Council have condemned in the strongest terms the attack on al-Rawdah Mosque during Friday prayers in the town of Bir al-Abed in North Sinai, Egypt, that left scores of people dead and wounded.

The Secretary-General extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of Egypt and wishes a swift recovery to those who have been injured, his spokesperson, Farhan Haq, said in a statement.

The Secretary-General calls for those responsible for today's horrific attack to be swiftly brought to justice, he added.

In a statement issued to the press by Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi of Italy, which holds the presidency of the Security Council for November, the 15-member body also strongly condemned the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack which reportedly left at least 235 people dead and over 100 injured.

Council members reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice.
Situation on Australian offshore processing facility at risk of further deterioration, UN warns

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Situation on Australian offshore processing facility at risk of further deterioration, UN warns, 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf69b4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Stating that the beating of refugees and asylum-seekers at the former regional processing centre on Manus Island by uniformed officers is both shocking and inexcusable, the United Nations refugee agency has urged the Australian Government to take immediate action to ensure their safety and protection.

The situation still unfolding on Manus Island presents a grave risk of further deterioration, and of further damage to extremely vulnerable human beings, said Thomas Albrecht, the Regional Representative for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Australian capital, Canberra, in a news release.

[We] renew [our] call for all Australian parliamentarians and leaders to take immediate action to provide protection and safety for all refugees and asylum-seekers transferred to Papua New Guinea, he added.

According to the news release, the beatings  including with metal poles  has been seen on footage released today. UNHCR staff have also received reports that several men remaining inside the regional processing centre have been seriously injured.

Limited access, however, has hampered the UN agency's officials from gaining a better picture on the ground and the agency is seeking additional information from the Governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Medical treatment for all refugees and asylum-seekers who require it is of paramount importance, said UNHCR in the release.

The UN agency further added that it had unequivocally advised Australia and Papua New Guinea prior to closure of the regional processing centre that comprehensive, intensive support for refugees and asylum-seekers is critical.

Despite this, medical care remains inadequate, and caseworkers, interpreters, and torture and trauma counselling are completely unavailable, it said, adding that similar concerns have also been raised by the authorities in Papua New Guinea, who lack the means and infrastructure to provide such services without further resources.

Recognized refugees still being offered 'enticements' to 'voluntarily' return  UNHCR

Also in the release, UNHCR voiced particular concern that recognized refugees are still being offered enticements to voluntarily return to their home countries.

According to the news release, these places include countries where human rights conditions have significantly deteriorated in the past 12 months.

Severely inadequate services and conditions may now further coerce refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution to nevertheless return to their countries of origin, said the UN agency.

It added that it is aware, for example, of a refugee who recently returned to his home country, despite the precarious situation there, given fears for his safety and health in Papua New Guinea.

Having been attacked by machete, and unable to get required medical treatment for a serious existing medical condition that had then been exacerbated, he felt he had no choice but to go back, it noted.

According to the UNHCR, Manus Island (located some 320 kilometres or 200 miles off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea) has been the focus of Australia's off-shore processing policy. Of the approximately 3,000 refugees and asylum-seekers forcibly transferred by Australia to facilities in Nauru and Manus, some 1,200 remain in Nauru and 900 in Papua New Guinea.
Girls Denied Education in Afghan Province

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Sabawoon Publication Date 24 November 2017 Citation / Document Symbol ARR 581 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Girls Denied Education in Afghan Province, 24 November 2017, ARR 581, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf7874.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Residents of Maidan Wardak province in central Afghanistan have criticised the government for failing to provide adequate education for girls.

Local leaders claimed that female students were routinely denied access to education across the province, with a number of districts failing to provide a single school for girls.

Nafisa Sailai Wardak, deputy head of Maidan Wardak's provincial council, said that ongoing security concerns were accentuating the problem.

"Due to the continuing threat posed by the Taleban, girls' schools have been closed in some areas while in others only young girls up to the age of 13 can attend," she said.

"There just aren't enough separate girls' schools staffed by female teachers," agreed local activist Abdul Qayyum Rastman. "Many families don't want their girls to be taught by male teachers."

With a population of a around a million, Maidan Wardak province lies 35km west of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

According to officials, the area has 482 educational centres and teacher training facilities, although more than half of these -247 - are simply outdoor meeting areas rather than physical structures.

They estimate that 176,000 children in the province are currently in education. Just over a quarter of these students are girls.

According to their figures, more than 4,800 teachers - including around 350 women - are employed in schools across the province's nine districts.

Rastman told IWPR that aside from the predominantly Hazara districts of Hisa-i-Awali Bihsud and Markazi Bihsud, much of the province was controlled by the Taleban.

He said the insurgents monitored many of the schools and in some cases had banned vocational curriculums and replaced lessons on history and culture with religious studies.

The activist said he believed that more than 50 per cent of school age girls in the province were currently deprived of any form of education due to a combination of Taleban rule and a lack of female teachers.

In districts controlled by insurgents, he continued, girls were usually only allowed to attend school up to the sixth grade. Those who were allowed to study beyond the age of 13 were only permitted to do if they had not yet reached puberty and their physical appearance made them seem younger.

Abdul Rahman Mangal, a spokesman for Maidan Wardak's governor, maintained that all districts across the province were committed to improving education.

He acknowledged that the number of female students was low, but said that there had been "positive changes" in the number of male students going on to university.

Zinatullah Wahidyar, a teacher at Awal Baba high school in the centre of Maidan Shar district, also said that facilities were improving.He claimed that there was increased teacher training provision and that a number of schools now boasted computer and science laboratories as well as libraries.

Similarly, Suleiman Khan, a teacher in Shaikh Abad school in Saydabad district, argued that both educational standards and security were on the up.

"Residents of Maidan Wardak province have a special interest in education because there is less opportunity for farming here and therefore parents have to ensure their children study if they're to have any opportunity of a brighter future," he said.

Sharifullah Hotak, a member of the provincial council, emphasised that security was essential if access to education was to be improved.

Continued conflict in more remote areas, he noted, was still preventing students from attending schools.

"All parties - farmers, village heads, families and state forces should all support the process," he said.

Mohammad Sharif, a 34-year-old resident of Chak district, said that while there were only a few schools for female students in his area, there were also clear issues with boys' education too.

He cited one particular problem of teachers sending their students home from class should that teacher take the view that he had something more important to do.

"One of my sons who is at Omar Farooq High School in Chak district comes home twice a week during lesson time," he said. "He says that his teacher tells him to go home because he has other work to do.

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Four peacekeepers killed in two deadly attacks against UN mission in Mali

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Four peacekeepers killed in two deadly attacks against UN mission in Mali , 24 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1bf8d34.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Four United Nations peacekeepers and a member of the Malian armed forces were killed and 21 others were wounded on Friday in what Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called outrageous attacks against the UN mission in the country.

Mr. Guterres joined his Special Representative for Mali, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, and the Security Council in strongly condemning the attacks against the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in the Menaka and Mopti regions.

The Secretary-General conveys his deepest condolences to the Governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and his profound sympathies to the families of the victims. He wishes a swift recovery to the injured, his spokesperson said in a statement.

He pays tribute to the dedication of the brave women and men of MINUSMA for implementing and defending the Mission's mandate as well as to the members of the Malian armed forces, despite the increasingly challenging security environment.

In a statement issued to the press, the 15-member Security Council underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.

The Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed, reaffirming the need for all States to combat, by all means, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

It further stressed the importance of MINUSMA having the necessary capacities, including combat convoy companies, to fulfil its mandate and promote the safety and security of the UN peacekeepers.
Turkey: The travesty of justice continues for Taner and the Istanbul 10

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 27 November 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Turkey: The travesty of justice continues for Taner and the Istanbul 10, 27 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c253f4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Last Wednesday, the trial of 11 human rights defenders including Taner Klc, and Idil Eser the chair and director of Amnesty International Turkey, resumed in Istanbul.

The 11 face outlandish "terrorism" charges in what can only be described as a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country. If convicted they could face jail terms of up to 15 years.

I was among the international delegation of observers at the trial.

We began the day in the morning, when a group of us organised a protest outside the Caglayan Justice Palace (as it is called), a vast, modern circular building which is the largest courthouse in Europe. The protest was well attended by different civil society groups and individuals despite the fact that it was bitterly cold and windy. The foreign observers included the Amnesty chairs of Brazil and the UK, and also diplomats from the European Union and the United States.

A statement was read out in support of the human rights defenders. Taner's 19-year-old daughter Gulnihal was with us and we were in good spirits.

The court could hold about 120 people in it besides the lawyers and other officials and every seat was taken and there were people outside who could not get in.

The court had three judges, two men and a woman, in black robes with an upturned red collar. They sat on a raised platform, as judges do in India. Interestingly, the prosecutor also sat with them, to one side. This man I heard speaking only once briefly during the entire hearing, which went on for more than six hours.

Most of this time was taken up by the defence of Taner. The defence had an expert witness who spoke at length on the issue of the app Bylock. Taner's phone had been returned to him by the police after they had made a copy of the software on it. The expert concluded that there was no chance that he had ever downloaded Bylock. In his witness statement Taner said he had not even heard of the Bylock app until after the coup attempt. Despite this, during the first hearing, he had not been granted bail. After that hearing, my colleague John Dalhuisen said that "it took the prosecutor more than three months to come up with nothing. It should not take the judge more than half an hour to dismiss the case against them."

The case was not dismissed, and continued into the second hearing that I am describing. The senior judge, who sat in the centre, had a few questions of the expert, and in all of the time it seemed to us that the day had decisively gone in favour of the truth. The trial was conducted entirely in Turkish, with the exception of a very few English words (like "IP address" and of course "ByLock", but it was not difficult to gauge the impact the expert's testimony had made). Taner made a direct and unemotional plea to be released on bail, given that there was no evidence against him. The prosecutor spoke the one line I heard him speak the entire day. He said the state opposed bail.

At the end of the six or so hours, the courtroom was emptied of all but the lawyers and the accused. We were asked to wait outside. We were informed later that bail had been denied, and the news hit all of us but it devastated young Gulnihal.

I have been a court reporter for many years and have not seen such blatant suppression of those who are fighting for human rights, suppression of freedom of expression, and linking it to terrorism. I wish the Indian government had sent a representative also to the trial and I hope it does it for the next hearing. This is an issue which we must take up with Turkey.

"I am so sad because Taner wasn't released today and he will have to endure prison for at least another two months," said Idil Eser after the trial. "But we will continue to fight relentlessly for his release relentlessly."

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 31 January 2018.

This article was first published here by Outlook India.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
UN chief strongly condemns attack that kills peacekeeper in Central African Republic

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 27 November 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief strongly condemns attack that kills peacekeeper in Central African Republic, 27 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c2c474.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned Sunday's attack allegedly perpetrated by the anti-Balaka group against a convoy of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, in which one peacekeeper from Egypt was killed and three others were injured.

The Secretary-General offers his deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the victim and to the Government of Egypt. He wishes a swift recovery to the wounded, said a statement issued by his Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq following the attack, which took place on the Bangassou-Kongbo axis in the country's southeast.

With this latest attack, hostile acts have claimed the lives of 13 peacekeepers in the Central African Republic since January 2017.

The statement said that the Secretary-General firmly recalls that attacks against UN peacekeepers may constitute a war crime and calls on the country's authorities to investigate the attack to swiftly bring those responsible to justice.

The Secretary-General reaffirms the determination of the UN to advance the implementation of the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), recently renewed by the Security Council, in particular to protect civilians and to help advance the political process in the country, the statement added.
EU must use upcoming dialogue to raise ongoing abuses

Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 17 November 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, EU must use upcoming dialogue to raise ongoing abuses, 17 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c2e2f4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The EU must use the upcoming EU-Iran human rights dialogue to demand the government address serious ongoing human rights abuses in the country, FIDH and its member organization League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) said today. The dialogue is scheduled to take place on 20 November 2017 in Tehran.

"Given Iran's longstanding refusal to cooperate with international human rights bodies, the EU is in a unique position to discuss human rights directly with the Iranian authorities. The EU must use this opportunity to channel its concern over human rights violations and press the Iranian government for progress on key issues."

Iran is the world's second largest executioner, having executed over 435 persons since the beginning of 2017. Two-thirds of the executions involved drug-related offenses, a category that does not meet the threshold of the "most serious crimes" as stipulated in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party. Iran has also continued to sentence to death and execute juvenile offenders. Since January 2017, Iran has executed at least four individuals for crimes they allegedly committed when they were under 18 years of age. At least 86 juvenile offenders remain on death row.

Political dissidents have been routinely subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, kept behind bars in appalling conditions, and denied their right to access to a lawyer. Many political prisoners have lost their lives in Iranian prisons due to torture and other forms of inhumane treatment, including the deliberate deprivation of medical treatment.

Women, religious minorities, and ethnic communities have continued to be discriminated against. Iranian law ostracizes women and minorities in blatant disregard of international law. These groups are often persecuted and are denied access to work and education.

Labor rights remain highly restricted and authorities have harshly repressed those who have sought to promote and protect them. Legislation bans independent trade unions and ensures strong government control over state-sanctioned unions. Labor rights activists have been routinely harassed and imprisoned on trumped up charges, such as 'acting against national security' and 'spreading propaganda against the system'. Strikes are brutally suppressed.

FIDH and LDDHI call on the EU to use the upcoming dialogue to ask the Iranian government to detail what concrete measures it has taken to make progress towards the abolition of the death penalty, the release of political prisoners, and the respect of key civil and political rights.
Ukraine: UN review must be seized as a unique opportunity to tackle long-unaddressed discrimination against women

Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 17 November 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Ukraine: UN review must be seized as a unique opportunity to tackle long-unaddressed discrimination against women, 17 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c2ec04.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Ukraine must seize the opportunity of a UN-backed review process to unequivocally commit to putting a decisive end to gender discrimination in the employment field by abrogating the list of banned professions for women, FIDH, its member organisation ADC "Memorial" and the Centre for Social and Gender Research "New Life" from Ukraine said today.

Ukraine's third UPR was held on 15 November in Geneva, Switzerland. Gender-based discriminations and violence against women were at the heart of the recommendations of diplomatic delegations to the government of Ukraine, from the large call to ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence to concerns about the prohibition for women to exercise certain professional occupations. Earlier this year, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women explicitly called on Ukraine to review the list of prohibited jobs for women and facilitate women's access to previously prohibited occupations. [1]

"In today's Ukraine, more than 450 jobs are still banned for women. It is about time Ukraine revised the obsolete provisions of its Labour Code and moved forward with implementing the necessary legislative and institutional reforms that would make it a rights respecting country," said Yevheniia Lutsenko from the Centre for Social and Gender Research "New Life" (Ukraine).

Ukraine's list of professional occupations banned for women comes from the Soviet times, and is justified as a "concern for women's reproductive health". [2] Women of all ages and irrespective of their wish or ability to bear children are prohibited from working underground, driving trucks and trains, with no legally enforceable medical prove that working in these conditions damages female reproduction. No prohibitions exist for men to protect their reproductive health. Moreover, a number of restrictions can hardly be explained by an intention to protect women's health. For instance, women are prohibited from driving intercity buses carrying over 14 passengers.

"The government must end discrimination against women in Ukraine and ensure real access for all women to all jobs" said Head of ADC "Memorial" Stephania Kulaeva who is running the campaign #alljobsforallwomen.

FIDH, its member organisation ADC "Memorial" and the Center for Social and Gender Research "New Life" (Ukraine) reiterate their call for the Ukrainian government to revise the Labour Code and abrogate the list of forbidden for women professions in compliance with its Constitution and obligations under core international human rights instruments. The UPR process is an opportunity for Ukraine to demonstrate its commitment and political will to take concrete steps to irrevocably end discrimination.

Footnotes

[1] http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2fC%2fUKR%2fCO%2f8&Lang=en

[2] https://adcmemorial.org/all-jobs4all-women/
New Decree on Associations is the last nail in the coffin for civil society

Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 21 November 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, New Decree on Associations is the last nail in the coffin for civil society , 21 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c2fbb4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

International donors must urge the Lao government to scrap new legislation that imposes severe restrictions on civil society, FIDH and its member organization Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) said today. The new Decree on Associations, signed by Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on 11 August 2017, came into effect on 15 November 2017. The decree replaces a previous Decree on Associations enacted in 2009 and applies to all domestic associations, commonly known as Non-Profit Associations (NPAs).

FIDH and LMHR made their call ahead of the Round Table Implementation Meeting (RTIM), an annual conference attended by Lao government officials and representatives from development partners. The RTIM is scheduled to be held in Pakse, Laos, on 22-23 November 2017.

FIDH and LMHR also urge Laos' development partners to express their concern over the government's protracted failure to thoroughly investigate the enforced disappearance of prominent civil society leader Sombath Somphone and to determine his fate or whereabouts.

Sombath Somphone was last seen at a police checkpoint on a busy street of the Lao capital, Vientiane, on the evening of 15 December 2012. Sombath's disappearance was captured on a CCTV camera placed near the police checkpoint. CCTV footage showed that police stopped Sombath's car and, within minutes, unknown individuals forced him into another vehicle and drove away. The CCTV footage clearly shows that Sombath was taken away in the presence of police officers.

FIDH and LMHR express their grave concern over numerous provisions of the law that are inconsistent with international standards of freedom of expression and association. Below is an analysis of the most troubling aspects of the new Decree on Associations.

1) Registration is mandatory (Articles 20, 22, 48, 81)

Only associations that obtain registration are legally allowed to exist. In addition, registration is valid for only one year and associations have to seek renewal annually thereafter. Associations established under the previous Decree on Associations cease to exist if they fail to re-register with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) within 15 days from the entry into force of the new decree. Re-registration follows the draconian conditions set by the new decree. MOHA is the sole authority responsible for the approval of registration applications by all associations. The decree does not set out an appeal process in cases where an application for registration is denied.

2) Human rights associations outlawed (Article 8)

The decree lists only three types of associations (1. economic; 2. professional, technical and creative; and 3. social welfare and development) that can be established. As a result, the decree effectively outlaws associations that have a mandate to work in other fields, such as human rights and advocacy.

3) Restrictive criteria for establishment (Article 7)

Authorities can use vague and broadly worded principles as grounds for preventing associations from being established.

Article 7 of the decree stipulates that in order to be established, associations must "define areas of activities that are not in conflict with the Lao constitution, laws, and fine national, local and ethnic traditions, not to represent a threat to national security, social order and individual's freedom."

Another potential obstacle to the establishment of associations is the requirement of minimum membership thresholds of 25, 15, or 10 individuals for associations operating at the national, provincial, or district/village level, respectively.

4) Intrusive registration process (Articles 16-20, 23)

The successful registration of an association is the culmination of a lengthy and tightly controlled four-step process that involves scrutiny of all individuals involved in the establishment of the association by multiple government agencies and authorities.

Particularly intrusive are the requirements for those seeking to establish an association to provide their CV, copies of family books, and disclose any criminal records. Founders and/or members' actions and character could be scrutinized to ascertain if they are considered critical of the government or not aligned with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's ideology. This may constitute grounds for the authorities to deny the establishment and registration of the association.

5) Sweeping ban on activities (Articles 29, 31, 48)

The decree prohibits associations from conducting a number of activities that are described in such broad and vague terms that they could cover many actions that amount to the mere exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Prohibited activities include: 1) "abusing the right to freedom to establish an association;" 2) "activities that threaten national security, social order, individual freedom and fine national, local, and ethnic traditions;" 3) "activities that will divide national, local solidarity, religions, and ethnic groups;" and 4) "destroying national, collective, and individual interests."

Conducting any of the above-referenced activities can lead to an association's dissolution by MOHA. The decree does not set out a procedure to appeal the government's decision to dissolve an association.

In addition, associations have the duty "to properly operate in accordance with the Party's policy." An association that is found to operate "in serious violation" of "the Party's guidance and policy" is also subject to dissolution.

6) Tight government control over operations (Articles 55, 59-75)

The decree also ensures that a multitude of agencies exercise control of virtually all aspects related to the life of associations, including the approval of their logos and seals. Various ministries (including MOHA and the Ministry of Public Security) and authorities at the provincial, district, and village level are responsible for "supervising, monitoring, and inspecting" associations. This includes their activities, members, funds, annual reports, and compliance with a myriad of requirements under various laws. In addition, representatives of the government-backed mass organization Lao Front for National Construction have the authority to interfere with activities of associations by acting as their representatives in interactions with government authorities.

7) Strict operational requirements (Articles 30, 55)

The decree imposes strict operational requirements on associations with regard to several key areas. Associations have an obligation to submit annual reports to relevant government authorities on "the status of the implementation of activities, revenues-expenditures."

Associations also have an obligation "to operate in areas, sectors that are under the supervision of the government's agencies responsible for those areas and sectors." This requirement could be used by the authorities to limit the scope of an association's activities.

Finally, in an attempt to closely monitor the sources of funding for associations, the decree stipulates that associations who receive funds from Lao individuals, legal entities, or organizations have to notify relevant authorities in writing within seven days of the receipt of such funds.

8) Conditional access to foreign funds (Articles 55 and 64)

Associations who want to receive "funds and assets from foreign individuals, legal entities, or organizations" have to seek approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). MOFA has the exclusive authority to "inspect, certify, and consider" matters in relation to the acceptance of foreign funds and assets. The decree does not set out a procedure to challenge MOFA's decisions to deny an association's access to foreign funds.

9) Foreigners barred from membership, employment (Articles 31, 38)

Membership in the associations is reserved for Lao citizens. In addition, associations are barred from accepting "foreign experts and volunteers" as staff.
Bahrain: Call for immediate release of Nabeel Rajab, as prison sentence is upheld

Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 22 November 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Bahrain: Call for immediate release of Nabeel Rajab, as prison sentence is upheld, 22 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c302b4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT partnership, strongly condemns the prison sentence against prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab and calls for his immediate release. Nabeel Rajab is spending his 527th day in arbitrary detention and will have to serve a two-year prison sentence for stating during TV media interviews that Bahrain bars reporters and human rights workers from entry into the country.

Mr. Nabeel Rajab is the co-founder and President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Founding Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), Deputy Secretary General of FIDH, and a member of the Human Rights Watch Middle East advisory committee. Detained since June 13, 2016, he is facing a series of charges and up to 18 years in prison in relation with his freedom of expression in different criminal cases.

In the "TV interviews case", he was facing charges of "spreading false information and malicious rumours about domestic matters with the aim of discrediting the State" in relation to three televised interviews made in 2015 and 2016 in which he exposed Bahrain's poor human rights record, in particular its ban on journalists and human rights workers. After fifteen hearings before a lower court and eight appeal hearings, the verdict took place today, November 22, 2017. The Appeal Court upheld the two-year prison sentence. Mr. Rajab is also facing a further 15 years in prison for tweets in which he denounced human rights violations. The 18th court hearing in that case is scheduled for December 31, 2017.

Mr. Rajab is also being investigated for op-eds published on his behalf in The New York Times and Le Monde. In September, the Public Prosecution brought new charges against him related to social media posts made while he was already in detention.

Nabeel Rajab was transferred to Jau Prison on October 25, 2017. He was subjected to humiliating treatment on arrival, when guards immediately searched him in a degrading manner and shaved his hair by force. Prison authorities have singled him out by confiscating his books, toiletries and clothes, and raiding his cell at night. Nabeel Rajab is isolated from other prisoners convicted for speech-related crimes and is instead detained in a three-by-three metre cell with five inmates.

Mr. Nabeel Rajab, 53, suffers from poor health conditions which have worsened because of his detention. On May 12, 2017, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UN CAT) issued a strong criticism of Bahrain's record on torture and ill-treatment, and noted "with deep concern" the arbitrary imprisonment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders, including Mr. Rajab and Mr. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, former BCHR President, sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 for politically motivated charges and whose health conditions have also been worsening [1].

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

Footnotes

[1] The CAT concluding observations also refer to Messrs. Naji Fateel, co-founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) and blogger, Abduljalil Al-Singace, an engineer and blogger, and Hussain Jawad, President of the European-Bahraini Human Rights Organisation with regard to their lack of access to medical care while in detention.
Ratko Mladic convicted to life imprisonment for international crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 22 November 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Ratko Mladic convicted to life imprisonment for international crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 22 November 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a1c308e4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

In its last trial judgment before ending its mandate, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found, today, Ratko Mladic guilty of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the conflict which took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. Our organisations welcome this decision that confirms that those bearing the most responsibility should and can be held accountable.

Commander of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) from May 1992 to at least November 1996 and Colonel General, Ratko Mladic was convicted to life imprisonment for genocide, the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer of population, and the war crimes of murder, terror, unlawful attacks of civilians and hostages takings. His responsibility in the execution of nearly 8000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995 was recognised. He can appeal the decision. The appeal proceedings, if any, will be carried out by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT).

Mladic was arrested and transferred to the ICTY in May 2011 and his trial began in May 2012. This is the last trial judgment of the ICTY before the end of its mandate and the closing of its doors planned for 31 December 2017 (except for the appeals chambers and the penitentiary). Since its establishment in 1993, the ICTY has issued 161 indictments that led to 123 arrests and 84 convictions, including Mladic's conviction today.
A high-stakes legal clash is unfolding over President Donald Trump's temporary pick to run Elizabeth Warren's favorite bank regulator, and the White House is holding its ground.

Trump on Friday said he's naming White House budget director Mick Mulvaney to be the temporary head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The announcement came hours after outgoing CFPB Director Richard Cordray said he was tapping a deputy to run the agency on an acting basis, a move widely seen as an attempt to prevent the White House from naming a successor.

The CFPB "has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administration's pick," the president said on Twitter late Saturday. "Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!"

With two officials having been appointed to the same post, it's unclear who'll be in charge of the consumer regulator's more than 1,000 employees when they come to work on Monday. It's possible the dispute will play out in the courts for months until a permanent successor is named and confirmed by the Senate.

Trump's right to make a temporary appointment was backed on Saturday by the Department of Justice, which said in a memo signed by Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel that the president "may designate an acting director of the CFPB." A senior White House official said on Saturday that Trump is expected to decide on a permanent replacement for Cordray in the coming weeks.

Republicans are eager to start remaking the six-year-old agency, which they blame for burdening banks with unnecessary rules and have criticized as being unaccountable. Cordray and other Democrats are desperate to keep it out of the administration's grip as long as they can.

"It's an agency that needs to be reformed," Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said on "Fox News Sunday." "I expect that Mick Mulvaney will be on the job and he'll be calling the shots over there." The Senate will "process" a permanent nomination as quickly as it can once Trump names one, he said.

Cordray, 58, appointed by former President Barack Obama, officially stepped down on Friday. As he exited, the former Ohio attorney general announced that his chief of staff, Leandra English, would become deputy director and thus automatically rise to serve as acting director when he left.

But there's a legal debate over how much power Cordray has to name his replacement. The White House indicated that Trump believes he has the authority to name the agency's interim leader using a federal vacancies law. The administration consulted with the Office of Legal Counsel, a unit of the Justice Department, before making the decision, White House officials said.

"The President looks forward to seeing Director Mulvaney take a common sense approach to leading the CFPB's dedicated staff, an approach that will empower consumers to make their own financial decisions and facilitate investment in our communities," the White House said in a statement. "Director Mulvaney will serve as Acting Director until a permanent director is nominated and confirmed."

As director, Mulvaney, 50, is expected to bring sweeping changes to an agency he's called "the very worst kind of government entity." Mulvaney will continue to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget while also filling in at the CFPB starting on Monday, senior White House officials said. The officials deferred to Mulvaney questions on how he'd manage his time between the two jobs.

Succession of the CFPB director is disputed by legal experts and is the latest source of partisan bickering over the agency's power and structure. The Dodd-Frank Act states that the deputy director is in charge "in the absence or unavailability" of the director.

Democrats including Cordray and Sen. Warren, D-Mass., who's credited with having helped create the CFPB, believe that means English -- a senior adviser to the OMB during the Obama administration -- is now in charge. On the other hand, a federal vacancies law allows the president to name a temporary head of an agency when the director resigns. The White House believes the Vacancies Act takes precedence.

Cordray announced on Nov. 15 that he planned to resign, amid speculation that he'll run for governor of Ohio as a Democrat. The role of deputy director had been vacant for months before Cordray named English, a move that banking industry lobbyists says creates uncertainty in the marketplace and illustrates the flaws of having just one person in charge of the bureau.

"This is absurd that we may have a pay-per-view event when Mulvaney walks in on Monday," Consumer Bankers Association President Richard Hunt said in an interview. "It was a little arrogant that Cordray believes he could pick his own successor."

The CFPB was established in the wake of the global financial crisis to police credit cards, auto loans, and other consumer finance products. Since its inception the agency has often been at the center of bitter partisan bickering. Democrats, led by Warren -- a special adviser to the CFPB before its launch -- have praised the agency for returning billions of dollars to harmed consumers. Republicans call it a "rogue" entity with a leader that wields too much unchecked power.

Warren backed Cordray's move to appoint his deputy. She wrote on Twitter late Friday that "the Dodd-Frank Act is clear: if there is a CFPB Director vacancy, the Deputy Director becomes Acting Director. Donald Trump can't override that."

"Donald Trump can nominate the next CFPB Director -- but until that nominee is confirmed by the Senate, Leandra English is the Acting Director under the Dodd-Frank Act," Warren wrote.

---

--With assistance from Margaret Talev
Chinese people wearing masks for protection against pollution exercise at Ritan Park during a heavily polluted day in Beijing, Dec. 19, 2016.

China is gradually transforming its economy and patterns of energy consumption, but it may be decades before citizens see dramatic improvements in air quality, according to a recent report.

The finding this month by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) came as an international group of climate scientists blamed an increase in China's coal consumption for the first big rise in global greenhouse gas emissions since 2013.

The warning from the Global Carbon Project of a two-percent jump in 2017 emissions coincided with the IEA's release of its long-range energy forecast and its first in-depth China analysis in the past 10 years.

In its 2017 Global Carbon Budget, the scientists' group cited a projected three-percent rise in China's coal use this year and a 3.5-percent increase in emissions as causes of the climate setback after three years of relative stability.

"The 2017 growth may result from economic stimulus from the Chinese government, and may not continue in the years ahead," the scientists said during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany.

Speaking at the conference, China's top climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua acknowledged the findings but argued that the higher emissions were not the start of a trend.

"Carbon emissions do fluctuate, but a single indicator cannot reflect the whole picture," Xie said in remarks reported by the official English-language China Daily.

The IEA's long-term analysis as part of its annual World Energy Outlook was generally positive about the decarbonization trends of China's transition to more sustainable economic growth and cleaner fuels.

Even so, some details of the 780-page study may raise concerns about how long it will take for China's "war on pollution" to pay off with public health benefits in terms of exposure to fine particulates known as PM2.5, mainly from coal.

As it stands now, only about two percent of China's nearly 1.4 billion people breathe air that meets World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, the IEA said.

That proportion would rise to only three percent by 2040, even if China meets all the targets set in its expected economic, energy and environmental plans, according to the report.

The massive IEA study does not present an overarching theme, as the agency's annual forecast did five years ago in predicting a "golden age of gas."

Instead, it is a collection of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of implications of energy data points and emerging trends with consequences for the global economy and the environment.

Changes in the global scheme

Sweeping shifts are predicted as a result of factors including greater U.S. oil and gas production, lower costs for renewable energy, broader use of electricity and China's economic transition, the IEA said.

China's place in the global scheme has changed since the last major analysis. Projections of its energy use and emissions are falling behind those of India and Southeast Asia in long-term forecasts of world growth.

But it continues as the leading emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), with 28 percent of the world total in 2016, making its carbon reduction efforts critical to both climate change and smog.

Echoing earlier studies, the IEA estimates that outdoor air pollution causes nearly 1 million premature deaths in China annually, while indoor pollution claims an additional 900,000 lives.

China is already ranked first in growth of renewable energy, but high-polluting coal still accounts for nearly two-thirds of primary energy use, the IEA said.

With contributions from solar, wind and nuclear sources, low-carbon generation capacity will surpass that of fossil fuels in power production by around 2025 under the study's "new policies scenario," which includes agreed and intended plans.

China's transition to a slower-growing economy, driven by services, consumption and light industry rather than investment and heavy industry, promises continued gains in energy efficiency and lower rates of demand.

The share of all fossil fuels in primary energy demand will slowly slide from 89 percent in 2016 to 76 percent in 2040. Demand for coal is forecast to decline at an average annual rate of 0.6 percent.

But other trends in China's complex transition may limit the relief that citizens can expect. Demographic shifts are a major factor.

Urbanization is proceeding at a rapid rate, exposing a higher proportion of the population to pollution, while the average age is also rising.

The phase-out of firewood and biomass for cooking in rural areas may reduce indoor deaths to 500,000 by 2040, but premature deaths from outdoor pollution could rise to 1.4 million with the more elderly population, even though PM2.5 may fall to half of current levels by then.

By the end of the forecast period, the share of the population older than 65 will grow to 14 percent from 4 percent now, the study said.

Chinese people wearing masks for protection against pollution walk past the turret of the Forbidden City on a heavily polluted day in Beijing, Dec. 8, 2015. Credit: Associated Press The presence of uncertainties

To a greater degree than previous annual outlooks, the study frequently cites uncertainties in its forecasts.

"There is no certainty about the CO2 emissions outlook for China," the study said. "It is entirely possible that emissions could peak later than 2028, or indeed earlier. But perhaps the bigger issue is uncertainty about the actual level of the peak."

One major concern is the pace of China's economic transition.

A 10-year delay in the reform agenda could add more than 1 billion metric tons to coal demand, or 35 percent, to the central projections for 2040, the IEA warned.

Although the study does not say so, China's credit-fueled growth spurt to spur recovery this year from a slump in 2015 has raised questions about its commitment to sustainable growth policies.

In the first three quarters of this year, China's gross domestic product topped government targets with a growth rate of 6.9 percent, rising from a 6.7-percent pace in 2016.

Infrastructure spending has driven demand for building materials including steel, despite the government's directive to cut production overcapacity in the industry.

The study estimates that lower iron and steel output accounts for about 80 percent of the projected decline in coal consumption by 2040.

Failure to meet the capacity cutting targets for steel and cement could add 100 million tons of coal equivalent to the energy total in 2040, nearly equal to South Africa's current coal consumption now.

A 10-year delay in meeting targets for lower steel and cement output would increase CO2 emissions by 5 gigatons, or more than all the current emissions from China's power sector.

China's own official statistics this year have not been encouraging.

In the first 10 months of the year, steel production climbed 6.1 percent from the year-earlier period after rising 1.2 percent in 2016, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

Pig iron production is up 2.7 percent, and coal output has risen 4.8 percent, the NBS said.

Renewed outbreaks of winter smog in China's northern cities may also be a sign of unreported coal burning despite the government's push to require heating with natural gas.

At a pre-release press conference for the IEA report, the study's main authors were asked about concerns that China's higher rates of GDP growth and steel production this year may conflict with forecasts.

"It shouldn't be taken for granted that China jumps into this new era with no bounds whatsoever," said Laura Cozzi, head of the IEA's energy demand outlook division, in response to questions from RFA.

Cozzi said the agency had analyzed the consequences of delay or failure to meet China's targets for transition to more sustainable growth.

"I think the findings are quite remarkable and quite important, and we are telling those to Chinese policy makers, as well," Cozzi said.

Tim Gould, head of the supply outlook division, said the IEA was "aware of the data coming in, in relation to China's coal consumption" so far this year.

"I think it's too early to draw definitive conclusions from that," he said.

"Our analysis is really trying to look at longer-term structural trends, even while we pay very close attention to the short-term data," he said.
Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on the countrys Ministry of the Interior to investigate and shut down a leading human rights group in a move that appears linked to charges of treason facing opposition leader Kem Sokha and the recent dissolution of his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).



In a speech addressing thousands of garment workers in the capital Phnom Penh on Sunday, Hun Sen said that the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)cofounded by Kem Sokha in 2002will have to be shut down because it was commissioned in accordance with foreign ideas.



The ministry of interior needs to look into this matter, because it was created by foreigners, not by Cambodians, Hun Sen said.



This involves a Cambodian [Kem Sokha] who followed foreigners to create the center in Cambodia. This is the same guy who incited people to topple the government  We have laws that prohibit Cambodians from contacting or serving foreign powers.



Kem Sokha was arrested on Sept. 3 for allegedly collaborating with the U.S. to overthrow the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP)charges the U.S. embassy has rejected. Cambodias Supreme Court on Nov. 16 unanimously ruled that the CNRP be dissolved for its part in the plot, essentially eliminating any competition to Hun Sen ahead of a general election scheduled for July 2018.



Hun Sens government has faced widespread condemnation in recent months over its actions targeting the CNRP, as well as for orchestrating the closure of independent media outlets and cracking down on nongovernmental organizations.



In response to Hun Sens comments, CCHR issued a statement Sunday affirming its non-partisanship and independence from all political parties.



Strict independence is a core value of CCHR, which strives to provide a balanced and principled human rights analysis of public affairs, without favoring any party, the statement said.



In fact, CCHR is one of the very few groups in Cambodia which has faced backlash from both the ruling party and the opposition as a result of its principled criticism of their policies, actions or rhetoric.



CCHR said it believes that any independent and impartial investigation into its activities would find no wrongdoing whatsoever, and called on the government to enter into dialogue in order to resolve allegations against it.



Other reactions



Pa Nguon Teang, executive director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media and cofounder of the CCHR, told RFAs Khmer Service that he had grave concerns over Hun Sens remarks, noting that the rights group and other NGOs had played important roles in building the nation over the past two decades.



Its completely wrong to say that the center was created by foreigners, said Pa Nguon Teang, who is also the director of the independent Voice of Democracy Radio station in Cambodia.



If Hun Sen orders the closure of the CCHR based on the accusation that it is funded by foreign funds, then he will have to close down all NGOs in Cambodia, as none of them receives funds from the Cambodian governmentthey are all funded by foreign governments.



While CCHR receives foreign funding, he said, the organization works to improve human rights and democracy in Cambodia, and thus benefits Cambodians.



If this center is closed, Cambodians will be the ones who lose, Pa Nguon Teang said.



Hun Sen is selfish. He is trying to consolidate and cling on to power through political repression of NGOs, the free press, and the opposition, using the law as a facade.



New York-based Human Rights Watch also weighed in on Hun Sens comments Monday, urging international donors to pressure the government to end its investigation into the CCHR and permit the group to continue its rights work.



Prime Minister Hun Sen needed little time after shutting down the main opposition party to go after a major human rights group, Brad Adams, Human Rights Watchs Asia director, said in a statement.



The prime minister is showing his fear not only of free elections, but of free expression and association.



Human Rights Watch said that the current crackdown in Cambodia appears linked to concerns that the CPP may lose next years ballot, following significant gains by the CNRP during the 2013 national elections and commune elections held in June this year.



It said that the U.S. and European Union should do more than recent threats of action in response to the crackdown, and called on Cambodias donors and trade partners to impose targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on Hun Sen and senior members of the CPP and Cambodias armed forces.



Hun Sens increasing attacks on Cambodias human rights groups are nearing the point of no return, Adams said.



Without a legitimate political opposition in the country, Cambodians need a vibrant and independent civil society more than ever.



Parliament changes



Hun Sens call for the shuttering of the CCHR came as 44 officials from three minor government-aligned political parties that failed to win seats in Cambodias 2013 general election gathered at the National Assembly, or parliament, Sunday to be recognized as new lawmakers, following the dissolution of the CNRP and reallocation of its 55 seats.



According to amendments to the electoral law recently passed by the CPP-majority parliament, the National Assembly announced Sunday that it would reallocate 41 of the CNRPs seats to the royalist FUNCINPEC party, two to the Cambodian Nationality Party, and one to the Khmer Economic Development Party.



The League for Democracy Party and Khmer Anti-Poverty Party refused to accept six and five of the CNRPs former seats, respectively. Those 11 seats now belong to the CPP.



CNRP deputy president Eng Chhay Eangwho has fled Cambodia fearing retaliation from the CPP along with more than half of his partys lawmakersposted a photo of the new lawmakers in front of the National Assembly building on his Facebook page Sunday, commenting that these are the people who have robbed the people of their votes and will.



His post echoed a statement from the CNRP last week, after the National Election Committee (NEC) submitted a list of reallocations for the partys 55 seats, which said the electoral body had colluded with the CPP and the Supreme Court to rob Cambodians of their legitimate votes.



Kem Sokhas lawyer, Hem Socheat, noted that the National Assemblys mandate lasts for five years, according to Cambodias constitution, and likened the redistribution of the CNRPs seats to dissolving parliament.



Political analyst Lao Mong Hay also questioned the legitimacy of the redistribution, saying that the more than three million people who had voted for the CNRP would no longer enjoy representation in parliament.



[The new members of parliament] are not the representatives of the peopleI dont know who they represent, he said.



Based on the constitution, a lawmaker is legitimate only after he is elected in a free and fair election.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
A security guard stands behind the gate of the RYB Education New World kindergarten in Beijing, where Chinese police have launched an investigation into alleged child abuse, Nov. 24, 2017.

A kindergarten in the Chinese capital has fired its principal amid a probe into alleged child abuse of children and toddlers that has rocked the nation.

New York-listed RYB Education said it had removed the principal of its New World kindergarten in Beijings Chaoyang district, and also fired a 22-year-old teacher surnamed Liu, who is now being detained by district police on suspicion of abuse.

Chaoyang authorities said they have ordered an immediate safety review of all childcare facilities operating in the district.

Police last week confiscated surveillance footage and carried out forensic tests, amid reports from parents that their children had been sexually abused, while others said pupils had been pierced by needles and given unidentified pills, it said.

Several teachers at the kindergarten have been suspended, amid reports from parents that children as young as three said a naked adult male had conducted "medical check-ups" on unclothed pupils, Reuters cited media reports as saying.

But Chinese lawyer Zhang Tingyuan said the police had only made very vague statements about the allegations so far.

There has been no transparency, for example about whether they were raped, or sexually assaulted, or physically abused or deliberately harmed, Zhang said. They should let people know exactly what kind of abuse was involved.

And yet, weve only had one incidence of abuse detailed by the police, he said. People should be told, and the more bitty the information, the more people will suspect it.

In 2015, a court in Jilin province found two teachers guilty of physically abusing children at another RYB kindergarten in Siping city.

Staff were found to have used needles and intimidation tactics to abuse many of the children under their care on multiple occasions," it found.

Investigation at second facility

Meanwhile, further abuse allegations are being investigated at a second childcare facility in Beijing, media reports indicate.

Staff at the Huanyu Kindergarten, also in Chaoyang district, confirmed to RFA on Monday that they are in the process of trying find out about allegations that children there were also pricked with needles.

But the staff member said those teachers accused by parents were currently still working at the kindergarten, which has 300-400 pupils.

U.S-based academic Wu Zuolai called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to conduct an inquiry of its own, without input from local officials.

They need a whole slew of public relations measures, and if they were to run the investigation from the central government, this would have the effect of protecting the whole investigation, Wu said.

This is a company that was created by officials to raise money on overseas markets, and I think there are very deep waters here, he said.

An official who answered the phone at the Chaoyang district government education bureau declined to comment on recent police announcements.

You should rely on the Chaoyang district police announcements, the official said.

A Beijing parent of a kindergarten-age child surnamed Shen said parents across the capital are anxiously waiting to hear more about the RYB allegations.

Its been several days, and we still have no result, Shen said. This is totally about them coming up with a strategy to deal with this.

If they go into this properly, it wont just be teachers who are implicated; the company would be too, she said.

Beijing-based rights lawyer Mo Shaoping said the charges involved could be very serious indeed, including child rape.

This are absolutely egregious crimes, Mo said.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFAs Mandarin Service, and by Wong Siu-san and Lam Kwok-lap for the Cantonese Service.
Authorities in the Chinese capital were continuing on Monday to evict the citys out-of-town migrant population in the wake of a fire that left 19 people dead earlier this month, with many being made homeless in sub-zero temperatures.



As officials in Beijings Daxing district government officials continued to evict migrants, many of whom hail from neighboring Hebei province and the eastern province of Zhejiang, from their unlicensed rental premises, many said they have no money and nowhere left to go.



Im from Hebei, and I work in the textiles industry, one worker told RFA. I have now been forced to move three times, twice this year and once last year. Im never coming back to Beijing.



Beijing-based artist and rights activist Hua Yong, who has spent the past few days in Daxing finding out about the evictions and trying to help those affected, said at least 100,000 people have been forced out of the city, some by the authorities switching off their heating so they cant stay warm.



The [remaining] evictees still have water and electricity over there in Daxing but they have no heating and no supermarkets to shop for groceries, because they have all been shut down, Hua said.



All of the hotels and guesthouses have been shut down too, so that you have to drive about three kilometers (1.86 miles) to find one that is still open, he said.



Chen Yongqiang, vice mayor of Daxings Xixinmen township promised on Monday that the government will provide transitional accommodation to eligible affected people and provide return tickets for those who wish to return to their hometowns.



And an official who answered the phone at the Xihongmen township government said it had set up a temporary rescue service to provide temporary emergency help to evictees most in need.



Deadly fire



Nineteen people died, eight of them children, when a blaze ripped through an apartment building at a factory in the southern district of Daxing on Nov. 18.



The Beijing city governments work safety committee has launched a 40-day crackdown on buildings with potential fire hazards, targeting industrial and logistics warehouses, former agricultural properties remodeled and let as residential apartments, and older buildings in downtown areas, official media reported.



Government documents seen by RFA called on 10 government departments including police and firefighters to work together to identify hazardous enterprises and premises inhabited by low-income groups in the crackdown.



Beijing rights activist Ye Jinghuan said he believes the government is using the Daxing fire as a pretext to rid the city of the low-paid migrant worker population.



He said authorities in Beijings Chaoyang district quickly followed suit with an announcement requiring out-of-town migrants to leave.



This fire just happened, and some people died, so they thought this was a good opportunity, and now they are moving them out of all of the districts, Ye said.



But the plan was already in place, including targets for how many people should be driven away from each district, hundreds of thousands of them, he said.



Academics respond



Beijing universities have rallied to the migrants cause setting up temporary shelters for homeless migrant workers staffed by volunteers.



A group of academics penned an open letter to the ruling Chinese Communist Partys Central Committee last week, calling for an end to the mass evictions and criticizing the government for violating the migrants human rights.



Constitutional scholar Zhang Lifan said he had signed the letter because China should abide by its own constitution.



They say they want social stability, but then they carry out a mass operation that is inherently destabilizing, Zhang said. It is discriminatory to target the low-income population.



And yet all of our leaders once came from rural areas.



Fellow signatory Wang Jiangsong said the evictions were in breach of President Xi Jinpings policy of running China according to law.



There is a direct clash with [Xis policies], and if you are going to move these groups of people, you have to have an overall plan or strategy for that, and it needs to be done legally, and in an orderly manner, he said.



Reported by Wong Lok-to and Hai Nan for RFAs Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Singaporean journalist Lau Hon Meng (center-L), and Malaysian journalist Mok Choy Lin (center-R), are escorted during their trial at a court in Naypyidaw, Nov. 10, 2017.

A Myanmar court on Monday added a new charge against two foreign journalists sentenced earlier this month to two months in prison for illegally using a drone to film near parliament in the countrys capital Naypyidaw, the attorney representing the pair said.

Singaporean journalist Lau Hon Meng, and Malaysian journalist Mok Choy Lin, their interpreter Myanmar interpreter, Aung Naing Soe, and driver, Hla Tin, were arrested on Oct. 27 as they worked on a documentary for Turkish Radio and Television Corporation subsidiary TRT World.

The Zabuthiri township court in Naypyidaw has now charged the two journalists under the countrys Immigration Act for allegedly conducting illegal activities inside Myanmar  an offense punishable by six months to five years in jail.

They have been charged under section 13(1) of the Immigration Act, said attorney Khin Maung Zaw. It means they committed an unlawful action though they entered the country in accordance with the law.

On Nov. 10, a Myanmar court sentenced the four to two months in prison for violating the 1934 Aircraft Act that allows authorities to pursue legal action against anyone who flies aircraft over any specified area, either absolutely or at specified times. The law carries a maximum three-month jail term for offenders.

The four also have been charged under the Import-Export Act for importing a drone, an offense that carries a three-year prison sentence if they are found guilty.

The same court on Monday denied Khin Maung Zaws request to have the import charge dropped.

Earlier this month, he said that authorities should have released Aung Naing Soe and Hla Tin because they did not own or operate the drone.

The next court date in the case is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Reported by Kyaw Zaw Win and Aung Theinkha for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Pope Francis met with Myanmars military commander on Monday during the first-ever papal visit to the Southeast Asian country amid scathing criticism by the international community over the governments handling of the Rohingya Muslim crisis in Rakhine state.

At a brief meeting in the commercial capital Yangon, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing told the pontiff that no religious discrimination existed in Myanmar despite evidence and allegations of ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine where a military crackdown has driven out more than 620,000 Rohingya.

Rights groups and some of the refugees who fled to neighboring Bangladesh have accused soldiers of indiscriminate killings, torture, rape and arson, though both the army and the Myanmar government have denied the allegations.

Min Aung Hlaing told the pope that people in Myanmar are given the right to worship freely, that there is no inter-ethnic discrimination in the country, and that the military works for peace and stability in Myanmar, according to a post on his official Facebook page.

Pope Francis has spoken out on Myanmars treatment of the Rohingya, who are disparagingly referred to as Bengalis because they are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

For decades, Myanmar has subjected the Rohingya to systematic discrimination by depriving them of citizenship and access to basic services, though many have lived in the country for generations.

After initial reports surfaced in late August of Rohingya fleeing the army crackdown in northern Rakhine following a deadly attack blamed on Muslim militants, Pope Francis publicly called for prayers for the Muslim minority group.

He told a group of pilgrims in St. Peters Square, The Vatican, that he was saddened by the news of the persecution of a religious minority, our Rohingya brothers and sisters, Catholic News Service reported at the time.

Let us ask the Lord to save them, and to raise up men and women of goodwill to help them, that they may be given full rights, the pope said.

Before the pontiffs visit to Myanmar, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, the archbishop of Yangon, cautioned Pope Francis to refrain from using the word Rohingya, which government and military leaders do not recognize.

Earlier this month, the cardinal spoke out against what he called very unfair criticism by the international community of Nobel Peace laureate and de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyis perceived indifference to the plight of the Rohingya.

Greeted by thousands

Thousands of Myanmars estimated 700,000 Catholics came from across the country to greet Pope Francis as he rode through the streets of Yangon.

A Catholic priest who gave his name as Father Michael said the pope's visit will have a positive bearing on peace and stability in Myanmar.

He has come here to do something to resolve the problems with the peace process and with unity within ethnic groups and other difficulties, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. Because he is not only visiting Myanmar, but also meeting and talking with the nations leaders, I think the problems he wants to resolve will be achieved.

Sister Cilia Daw Daw, a Catholic nun from Kengtung, a town in eastern Myanmars Shan state, also expressed encouragement about the popes visit.

God will arrange good things for us during his visit, she said. The pope will encourage us to live peacefully together, so we must try to achieve this.

The pontiff is also scheduled to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and President Htin Kyaw, cabinet members, diplomats, leaders of religious associations, and Catholics in Yangon and Naypyidaw before heading to Bangladesh for a two-day visit on Thursday. He is scheduled to meet with a group of Rohingya in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, executive director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, in an undated photo. Credit: Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue Repatriation agreement

The popes visit comes on the heels of an agreement that Myanmar signed with Bangladesh on Nov. 23 to begin repatriating Rohingya who have been displaced by the recent crackdown and are living in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh.

The agreement, however, did not include information about the use of temporary shelters for those who return to Myanmar.

Some rights groups and United Nations organizations argue that conditions for the safe return of the Rohingya are not yet in place, and that those who have lost their homes have nowhere to return and that they will continue to encounter systematic discrimination.

On Monday, the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue welcomed the agreement, which applies to Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh who fled two major crackdowns in northern Rakhine since October 2016.

But the center also expressed dismay that the agreement failed to include roughly 400,000 Rohingya refugees who have been living in camps in Bangladesh since before that time.

We therefore call on the international community to insist that a solution be found urgently to end the predicament of all refugees who have fled to Bangladesh, said Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, the groups executive director.

The think tank also appealed for those responsible for committing atrocities against the Rohingya to be held accountable for their actions.

[W]e appeal to the Human Rights Council and to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to make sure that allegations of crimes committed be investigated and to ensure that all perpetrators of human rights violations be held accountable and prosecuted, Jazairy said.

Meanwhile, Rohingya refugees are still fleeing across the border to Bangladesh, Agence France-Presse reported on Monday, citing a Bangladeshi border guard commander.

The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold special session in Geneva on Dec. 5 on crimes committed against Rohingya in Myanmar, Reuters reported on Monday, citing unnamed U.N. sources.

Reported by Thant Zin Oo for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A court in Vietnam sentenced blogger activist Nguyen Van Hoa to seven years in prison Monday for conducting propaganda against the state, saying he had tried to incite protests over the governments handling of a devastating toxic waste spill in 2016.



The Peoples Court of Ha Tinh province found Hoa, 22, guilty of violating Article 88 of Vietnams Penal Code in a two-and-a-half hour trial and also ruled that he be placed under house arrest for three years after his jail term is complete.



The hearing for Hoa, who blogged and produced videos for RFA, had initially been scheduled for Nov. 28, but the proceedings were moved up unexpectedly. No attorney was present to represent him.



Attempts by RFAs Vietnamese Service to reach Hoas family members for comment after the trial went unanswered.



State media reported Monday that Hoa had produced video, photos, and articles about Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Groups April 2016 release of toxic chemicals from its massive steel plant located at the deep-water port in Ha Tinh for the purpose of propagating against, distorting and defaming the government.



Hoa received money from extremists and hostile forces to cause public disorder, the reports said.



The Formosa spill killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen and tourism industry workers jobless in four central provinces. The company pledged U.S. $500 million to clean up and compensate people affected by the spill, but the government has faced protests over the amount of the settlement and the slow pace of payouts.



Hoa, who is also a digital security trainer and regular contributor to RFA, was the first person to broadcast live footage of protests outside the companys steel plant in Ha Tinh using a flycam drone. Last October, his footage of more than 10,000 peaceful protesters went viral.



He was initially arrested on Jan. 11 for abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state under Article 258 of the Penal Code, but the charges against him were upgraded in April to the more severe "propaganda against the state" under Article 88.



Predetermined judgment



Rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh called the ruling against Hoa a predetermined judgment that was completely predictable.



He condemned what he said was a secret trial, saying the court had tricked people into thinking that the hearing would take place on Tuesday.



Under Vietnamese law, the defendant has the right to refuse a lawyer, he told RFA.



But a trial without a lawyer, like this one, fails to meet an important legal standard that everyone around the world agrees on the need for.



Dinh said that Vietnams government works hard to prevent lawyers from taking part in political cases, such as Hoas, because they fear the evidence they provide will be challenged.



We all know that most of the evidence is fabricated and falsely interpreted, he said.



Therefore, its not surprising to know that there was no lawyer at his trial.



Facebook user Huy Jos, a fellow activist and friend, told RFA that he found Hoas sentence particularly harsh.



[The sentence] is very unfair for such a young man fighting for a better society, he said.



But I know he will never regret what he did.



International response



The Ha Tinh courts ruling also drew condemnation from Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with the head of its Asia-Pacific desk, Daniel Bastard, calling it totally disproportionate in a statement Monday.



It was all the more severe because Hoa showed his good faith by accepting all the police recommendations, Bastard said, noting that the blogger had agreed not to take a lawyer and signed a confession that was broadcast on state TV in April.



Not even his family was warned that this trial was going to take place. Such drastic action confirms the intransigence of Vietnams refusal to tolerate any reporting freedom. Vietnams commercial partners should draw the appropriate conclusions.



RSF noted that Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a blogger better known as Me Nam (Mother Mushroom), was given a ten-year jail sentence last June for similar reasons.



On Monday, Quynhs lawyer Vo An Don was struck from the bar association, days before her Nov. 30 appeal hearing.



Authorities have been targeting activist writers and bloggers in a months-long crackdown in one-party Communist Vietnam, where dissent is not tolerated.



Vietnam is currently holding at least 84 prisoners of conscience, the highest number in any country in Southeast Asia, according to rights group Amnesty International.



RSF ranked Vietnam 175th out of 180 countries in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Ajay Brewer had already chosen Red Rooster Coffee Roaster to supply his new shop when he traveled to the Southwest Virginia town of Floyd for a sample.

He had rarely had a cup of coffee in his life. When he sipped a Red Rooster espresso a couple of years ago, he didnt like it.

But that didnt bother him as far as his business plan was concerned. As a financial analyst, he learned that you dont know what you dont know.

Brewer, 32, had quit his job as a stockbroker in late 2014 and decided to start Brewers Cafe in Richmonds Manchester neighborhood, where he went to church growing up. He opened the shop in fall 2015.

Two years later, a sign on the sidewalk outside his shop on Bainbridge Boulevard advertised Small Business Saturday discounts. Inside, a flow of customers bought club sandwiches from Brewer as well as waffles from a pop-up waffle maker, both at the discounted price of $5 for the informal shopping holiday the day after Black Friday.

Brewers shift from a high-earning profession to one in which he now has eight employees but isnt getting rich himself was something he felt he had to do personally and to help his community. He has gone from someone who flinched at the taste of coffee to a business owner who was recently mentioned in a New York Times story about things to do in Richmond.

Brewer is planning to move into a larger location in a planned development next door and wants his existing shop to be used for coffee roasting. He wants young African-American boys to see a black business owner and understand that they, too, can do that.

His 3-year-old son Parker already has a business of his own  he stocks several candy machines at Brewers, another coffee shop and a barbershop. Customers can get a handful of Reeses Pieces or Skittles for a quarter.

This is where I lived, and I also grew up around here, Brewer said Saturday, taking time away from Small Business Saturday for an interview in his shop. A lot of what makes sense to me is creating and building my own community.

I want to be able to create something and let my legacy stand there.

Brewer grew up in Richmonds Randolph neighborhood, attending both private and public school and spending many days at his church a few blocks from where his business now is in Manchester.

After studying accounting at Virginia State University and Virginia Commonwealth University, he got an internship as a junior stockbroker that turned into a full-time job.

He worked as a stockbroker in Richmond and Washington. He grew up poor and hadnt imagined such a career.

He got into accounting to help people, but said the idea of living his life to help wealthy people earn even more money was something that wasnt personally satisfying  even as he himself sought positions that could offer him a better salary.

He had already moved back to Richmond from Washington in November 2014, when he abruptly quit his job.

A year earlier, his friend L.C. Baker suggested a coffee shop as a great business. Brewer, even though he never drank coffee, liked the idea of a meeting space. When he quit his financial job, he made a Facebook post to ask friends if they knew any pastry chefs because he might want to start a shop.

In February 2015, scared and with a 6-month-old son to support, he asked for his old job back and was denied.

He wrote a business plan for a coffee shop later that day, and eventually scouted a spot at 12th and Bainbridge in a fairly new apartment building. He secured loans from a bank and from the city and opened eight months later.

Brewer said the business did well from the start: There was nothing comparable in the neighborhood, its walkable for growing residential components of Manchester, and he was serving a quality product.

He got ideas by traveling to other coffee shops. He added bourbon to his offerings this year, makes sandwiches, and sells baked goods from area businesses. But limited space has stopped him from doing salads and smoothies.

Brewer said his shop has grown every single quarter. Ive got to continue to push it forward. I cannot become complacent.

He loves the freedom to work with and serve friends and promote a growing community.

On Saturday, Steven Schwartz was making gluten-free waffles at the shop. A native South African who has lived in Richmond for about three years, he said Brewers is one of several coffee shops where he routinely sets up his waffle maker as he explores business options for packaging his batter  a mix of coconut flour, oat flour and sweet white rice flour.

Manchester has a traditionally black population but is home to a new scene of younger, white professionals moving into apartments. Brewer said he encourages black families to remain in the neighborhood and send their children to Richmond Public Schools.

Aside from his business, Brewer is on the board of the Richmond Heritage Federal Credit Union and Thriving Cities, a project that helps urban areas assess themselves.

Chelsea Higgs Wise, a consultant whose work includes helping black-owned businesses, does work for Brewer but also just likes hanging out in a space where she knows people.

Brewers creation of a comfortable space with art and good music makes people comfortable, she said.

As for coffee, Brewer now drinks it himself  mainly espresso, without milk or anything that would mask the flavors.

I love it, he said.
Dumbarton Square shopping center at Hilliard and Staples Mill roads in Henrico County is getting a new name and new tenants, according to leasing broker James Ashby IV.

A Family Dollar store recently opened in a 10,000-square-foot space in the shopping center.

An Advance Auto has leased the 31,000-square-foot former Martins Food Markets store space, said Ashby, who with Alex Wotring is handling leases for the 45-year-old shopping center.

About 8,000 square feet of it is going to be their actual store, said Ashby, a senior vice president for commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.

The remainder is going to be industrial distribution space where they will be supplying all the other stores via that location, Ashby said.

Martins Food Markets closed that location in July 2015. It had opened as a Ukrops Super Markets location in 1972  the first store the Ukrop family opened north of the James River.

Our goal is to backfill the remaining vacant spaces. The owner also is going to be renaming the center The Shops at Staples Mill at Glenside, getting rid of the Dumbarton name and signage, Ashby said.

Ashby said the shopping center had dropped to about 20 percent occupancy, but with new tenants signed on, occupancy will jump to more than 80 percent.

Thalhimer took over leasing and management of the property in March 2016 when there was a transfer of ownership of the property, Ashby said.

The 88,967-square-foot shopping center is on 10.72 acres, according to leasing materials. The square footage includes a 12,000-square-foot expansion in 1987.

A Shoneys restaurant on the edge of the shopping center closed in 2016.

Now that we have completed the big box and junior anchor (tenant), we are focused on the infill. Our hope would be to attract a decent restaurant, Ashby said.

There is finally some life being breathed into this center, he said. We anticipate a lot more leasing during the first and second quarters of next year. Our goal is to get it back to 100 percent occupancy.

Ashby said attempts to get a grocer to take the vacant spaces were futile.

Alex and I went out to the entire grocery market hoping that we could lure a Trader Joes or a Whole Foods or an Earth Fare, someone along those lines. But we found out that most of the grocers felt that the market was just completely saturated, Ashby said.

So we started looking at alternative uses.

Across Staples Mill Road from Dumbarton Square, a new tenant is on tap for the vacant half of the refurbished former Safeway building in the Staples Mill Shopping Center, said Ashby, who is handling leases for that property also.

An OReilly Auto Parts store moved from elsewhere in that shopping center into part of the former Safeway space. OReilly is occupying 18,000 square feet of the refurbished building. A different tenant will occupy the remaining 14,799 square feet, Ashby said.

He said the other tenant is an automotive accessories-type business that would be complementary to the auto store, but he was unable to disclose the tenants name yet.

That will lease up the Safeway box that had been vacant for 30 years. Its amazing it sat vacant that long, Ashby said.

Creators of decorative dip container are HSN finalists

Richmond interior designers Myrf Bowry and Leah Dodge have hit the big time with their Dipadidoda invention.

Dipadidoda (pronounced Dip-a-di-do-da) is a decorative container that lets you plop in store-bought containers of dips so your table presentation doesnt look cheap and tacky.

Bowry and Dodges invention is one of five products vying in the American Dreams Contest presented by the Home Shopping Network and Good Housekeeping.

You can see all the finalists on the HSN website. Bowry and Dodge are scheduled to showcase their product on HSN on Dec. 4 between 6 and 7 p.m.

We are beyond excited to bring our passion project to national light, after funding for it for several years through our interior design business, Bowry said in a statement.

The contest winner will be featured in Good Housekeeping magazine and will have the opportunity to sell the product on HSN.

Winners will be selected by the public, with voting on the HSN website at https://www.hsn.com/content/American Dreams/250 where you can view brief videos on the five finalist products. (Note: You need an HSN account to vote.)

Also competing for the top prize are products Bakers Sto N Go, Wool Dryer Balls, The Headache Hat and Decz Rain Boots.

Voting ends Dec. 31. The winner will be announced in March.

New hair salon set to open at Stony Point Fashion Park

Payton Hackney and Megan Valentine Howard are planning a Dec. 4 grand opening for Hacked Hair Salon in Stony Point Fashion Park in South Richmond.

The salon will offer hair and nails care. The grand opening event is 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

I am thrilled to open my salon in Stony Point, said Hackney, who previously worked at a different salon and also operates Pearls and Perfection, a special events hair and makeup business.
Danielle Dick, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, shared her story Monday morning on ABCs Good Morning America and NBCs Today show about a sexual assault at a Massage Envy spa in Henrico County.

She was one of three women featured in the Today segment claiming similar humiliating experiences at a Massage Envy franchise location, after a BuzzFeed News report was published this weekend saying that the chain is dealing with more than 180 cases of sexual assault.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based chain operates nearly 1,200 locations across the country, including six in the Richmond region. The chain and its franchises have largely ignored or mishandled the complaints, according to claims against the company.

No one ever reached out to me to ask how I was doing or to see if they could support me after their employee was convicted, so it was no longer just an alleged assault, Dick said during the Today segment.

She noted on the show how the Massage Envy therapist leaned over and whispered our little secret after violating her at the end of a 90-minute massage at the Willow Lawn location in 2015. Daeshawn Bullard is serving five years in prison for sexual battery and forcible sexual object penetration, according to Henrico Circuit Court records.

Dick broke her silence and shared the details of her assault with the Richmond Times-Dispatch last month in an attempt to prevent others from becoming victims.

I wanted to thank you again for being among the first to start raising awareness about this issue, she said in a Monday email to The Times-Dispatch. It appears weve finally gotten a national stage.

Dicks suit claims the companys behavior was outrageous and intolerable in that it offends generally accepted standards of decency and morality.

The company said in a statement released Sunday that every incident was heartbreaking for us and for the franchisees that operate Massage Envy locations.

Even one incident is too many, the statement said. Thats why we will never stop reinforcing to our franchisees the importance of a safe environment. Its why we are constantly listening, learning and looking at how we can do more, including how we support franchised locations with best practices in handling these incidents and supporting their clients.

The criminal case involving Dick went to trial last year. Dicks civil suit against Massage Envy is set to go to trial in August.

Susan Ingram from West Chester, Pa., the other woman featured in the BuzzFeed article, will see her assailant  who has admitted to molesting nine women  in court in January.

To our knowledge, these are the first cases to ever actually move forward to trial rather than presumably settling quietly with nondisclosure agreements, Dick said.

Dick  a tenured psychology and genetics professor who has worked with VCU to develop its policies regarding sexual harassment  said she wants to send a message to Massage Envy that it needs to change its policy and put procedures in place to support victims of sexual assault.

The Times-Dispatch usually does not identify sexual assault victims, but Dick chose to go public last month to bring awareness to the crime and help prevent others from becoming victims.

Ill spare you the horrible details of those 90 minutes at Massage Envy, but in the end, I found myself with a masseuses hand around my throat, and then face down with his hand covering my mouth while he violated me.

She immediately reported her assault to the person on duty at Massage Envy and repeatedly told the manager that they needed to call the police. She said she was informed that Massage Envy would handle the matter internally and that it was not necessary to call the police.

Still traumatized by the event, Dick took it upon herself to go to the police station, where she waited for hours and, in a state of shock, filled out a report, she said.
Midlothian Middle School teacher receives award

CHESTERFIELD  Tracey Zaval, a Midlothian Middle School teacher and a former Region I Teacher of the Year, recently was named the 2017 Virginia Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year, according to a news release.

This award is presented annually at the state conference to a Virginia social studies teacher who exemplifies mastery teaching and demonstrates a commitment to student learning. Zaval was recognized for her ability to promote problem-solving and civic action in the classroom, according to the release.

Ms. Zaval is emblematic of the amazing teachers we have in our classrooms, said School Board Chairman Javaid Siddiqi, whose district includes Midlothian Middle, in the release. She creates a fun, innovative classroom environment where kids love to learn. Shes the type of teacher who guides students through hands-on learning programs that not only meet curriculum requirements but provide important authentic lessons about good citizenship.

Zaval, who has taught for 19 years, teaches eighth-grade civics and economics at Midlothian Middle. Previously, she was a teacher at Robious Middle.

Henrico adds seat belts to 22 of its school buses

HENRICO  Henrico County became the first school division in Virginia to add seat belts for general student use to some school buses.

The division added seat belts to 22 buses for general student use and two for exceptional education students, officials said.

Each seat contains three seat belts that can be used by smaller children. Larger children can sit two abreast, using two of the belts. Use of the seat belts is encouraged but will not be mandatory.

Henrico school bus drivers have received training in the belts operation, so they can make sure students understand how they work.

Henricos fleet contains more than 600 buses. As buses age out of use, they will be replaced by new ones equipped with seat belts.

Midlothian girl recognized for her study of languages

MIDLOTHIAN  A Midlothian student was honored last week with speaking at the Confucius Center U.S.s annual gala.

Isabelle Szczerbinski, 12, speaks five languages and earned recognition for her studies in Mandarin. The home-schooled student gave the keynote speech at the gala along with former NASA administrator Charlie Bolden.

Va. teacher who removed hijab headed back to work

BURKE  A Virginia teacher who was suspended after being accused of pulling off a students hijab will be returning to work this week.

Fairfax County schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand told parents in a letter that the teacher made a mistake, WTOP reported. Brabrand said the teacher violated district policies and practices but that it does not appear there was any intent to act maliciously or disrespect or infringe on the students religious beliefs.

The student at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke tweeted that she was infuriated after the male teacher pulled off her hijab and then said, Oh, your hair is so pretty.

Brabrand described the teacher, whose identity was not released, as long-serving and well-respected.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
The bell ringers are out, the Angel Trees are up, and the tots are ready for their toys.

In other words, the time has arrived to teach children how to be givers during the holidays, instead of just receivers.

Toys for Tots

This popular program sponsored by the Marines accepts new, unwrapped toys that will then be given to children. Toys for Tots has drop boxes all over the Roanoke and New River valleys for people to donate toys, most notably at Toys R Us, A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts locations and Walgreens. Many local businesses have boxes, too. Type in your town or zip code on the Find a Local Campaign link on the website (www.toysfortots.org) to find a drop-off site near you. You can also call 524-2048 in Roanoke or 382-7085 in the New River Valley for more information.

The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation gets a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the nonprofit organization that researches charitable groups.

Red Kettle Campaign

Perhaps the most ubiquitous holiday-season fundraiser is the Salvation Armys Red Kettle Campaign, for which volunteers ring bells outside of grocery stores, shopping malls and other public places. The campaign started in 1891 in San Francisco when Salvation Army Capt. Joseph McFee placed a large iron kettle by the ships docks to collect money for a Christmas dinner for the poor. Keep the Pot Boiling read the sign he placed beside the kettle, according to a Salvation Army history. The campaign was a success.

The jingle of the bells reminds shoppers they have change jingling in their pockets that they can drop into the bucket. Last year, the national campaign raised $147.3 million between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The money is used to provide toys for children, clothing, food, shelter and other services for families.

This campaign makes it easy for children to make donations. Kids should take some change from their piggy banks when they go shopping with family and drop the money into the kettle themselves.

The Salvation Army also sponsors the Angel Tree program that brings Christmas cheer to children. The trees at Tanglewood, Valley View and New River Valley malls are decorated with angels that include a childs name and wish list. Shoppers choose an angel, buy a gift and return it to the tree before the deadline.

Help an organization

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving has become Giving Tuesday, a day to celebrate charities. Children can also make donations to museums and other family-friendly places and institutions. For example, the Science Museum of Western Virginia in Center in the Square offers family memberships and other ways to contribute. Check out the website at www.smwv.org/support or call 342-5718.

Kids can clean out their rooms to make space for their expected Christmas loot (if theyve been nice) by donating clothes or toys to thrift stores, such as the ones operated locally by Goodwill, the Roanoke Rescue Mission, the Disabled American Veterans, the Samaritan Inn Thrift Store, the Salvation Army and other charitable groups. Kids can also organize their own food drive for a local food bank. Feeding America Southwest Virginia lists a pantry full of holiday campaigns on its website (www.faswva.org/faswva-for-the-holidays).

And dont forget The Roanoke Times Good Neighbors Fund, which raises tens of thousands of dollars every year for the Roanoke Area Ministries Emergency Financial Assistance Program. Read stories in the newspapers Virginia section about people who have been helped by the program. You can donate by clipping out the form and mailing it to The Roanoke Times, or by going online to www.roanoke.com/news/good_neighbors.

Children always look forward to getting presents at Christmas  and they should. They might also discover that they like giving to others just as much. OK, maybe not just as much, but they will learn a lifelong lesson about the value of giving.
Virginia Republicans are anticipating that a state lawmaker will join the GOP primary race for a chance to challenge U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., next year, according to GOP insiders.

The new contender would be Del. Nicholas J. Freitas, R-Culpeper, an Iraq combat veteran first elected to the General Assembly in 2015 and easily re-elected this year. Freitas would join Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, in seeking the GOP nomination.

Freitas supporters in a Facebook group called Draft Nick Freitas for U.S. Senate have been calling on him to run.

Freitas did not return a phone call, but said two weeks ago in an interview on the John Fredericks talk radio show that he would soon announce a decision on whether to run.

Republicans will gather at The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs the weekend of Dec. 8 for their annual Advance, a weekend of speeches, hobnobbing and politicking. Candidates for office often host hospitality suites.

"I hope to see you all at the Advance," Freitas wrote Nov. 16 in the Draft Freitas Facebook group, ending his post with a winky face emoticon.

Should Freitas announce, he will face a bombastic primary opponent in Stewart, who was a chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in Virginia and has pledged to run a "vicious and ruthless" campaign against Kaine. In a June primary, Stewart narrowly lost the GOP nomination for governor to Ed Gillespie, who then lost the general election to Democrat Ralph Northam.

Stewart centered his gubernatorial campaign on protecting Confederate monuments while attacking Gillespie as an establishment figure, and appeared at an event in February in Charlottesville with Jason Kessler, the man who coordinated the August "Unite the Right" rally there that turned deadly. In October, Stewart mocked transgender House of Delegates candidate Danica Roem over her gender identity. Roem, who is from Stewart's county, won her race and will join the legislature in January.

Martha Boneta, a GOP activist from Fauquier County, said Freitas is respected by Republicans across the state.

"It's going to be very difficult to attack Nick Freitas. He's a combat veteran, he would have given his life for this country in combat and he has a great love for his country. He's the new face of the Republican Party," said Boneta, who said she is not yet making an endorsement.

"Nobody can deny that Corey Stewart is masterful at his ability to use social media, I should say use media in general, by throwing flames. He does have a strong base. At the end of the day, people need to ask themselves who is best to lead Virginia in these unique times that we're in. And it has to be somebody who's a fighter and who's always going to put the constituency, the public, before their own interests."

Fredericks asked Freitas on the radio show how he'd handle attacks from Stewart.

"He's going to paint you as establishment," said Fredericks, who worked with Stewart on the Trump Virginia campaign before Stewart was fired from the position and remained on as a volunteer. "He's going to paint you as basically a Republican Party of Virginia tool of the elected officials and you're going to have to run into the Corey Stewart chainsaw. Why would you put yourself through that?"

Freitas said he would be running against Kaine, not Stewart.

"I'm not getting into this with the concern of what Corey's going to say or what Corey's going to do," Freitas said. "I'm going to let Corey run his race and I'm going to run mine if I decide to run."

Freitas added: "Trying to paint me as establishment is about as ridiculous as you possibly could go. I've been in the General Assembly two years. Take a look at my voting record. Take a look at my stances."

Bishop E.W. Jackson of Chesapeake, who was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2013, is another possible Republican candidate for next year's Senate primary. Jackson is a social conservative who lost the 2013 race to Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

The Republican Party of Virginia's state central committee has opted for a primary next year to nominate a candidate to challenge Kaine, who is seeking a second term.

"Tim Kaine's definitely going to have a robust challenger next year," said John Findlay, the party's executive director. The GOP will have a "well-funded, well-organized opponent to highlight how out of touch Tim Kaine is with the voters of Virginia."
Again, we have grave matters to discuss.

Q: I am curious about the exact location of the grave of Col. James Patton, who was one of the victims of the Indian attack on Drapers Meadow at the end of July 1755.

Roger E. Harris

Roanoke

A: The answer to the question involves a measure of historical sleuthing accompanied by what a scholar may refer to as educated speculation.

Others may call such ruminations what they are: guessing. The record, as is often the case with events seen in the rear-view mirror from two-plus centuries distant, is unclear.

Our letter writer, an investigator with a strong measure of scholarly tenacity and insight, has his own ideas about the dispensation of the brave colonels final remains. Those will be aired balanced against other views shortly.

First, what we do know?

Part of current knowledge about Col. Patton comes to us courtesy of the writings of Joseph A. Waddell, whose 1902 second edition of Annals of Augusta County, Virginia; 1726-1871 was referenced by email-writer Harris in recapitulation of his studies of the Patton matter.

At the time of the bloody deeds at Drapers Meadow, the site anchored by the restored Smithfield Plantation in Montgomery County was part of Augusta County. (Today its on the western edge of Virginia Techs campus .) By virtue of royal grant from the King of England then or soon after that property was originally part of the 120,000 acres deeded to Patton, according to Waddell.

As for Patton , his origins are frustratingly elusive, according to Blacksburgs Jim Glanville, a retired Virginia Tech chemistry professor who has an extensive second career as a historian. Glanville concentrates his writings and public speaking on Southwest Virginia.

Glanville referred to Pattons sole biographer, Patricia Givens Johnson, a late local historian whose 1983 third edition of James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists provided details.

Patton does not enter the historical record until he was about forty-five years old, Glanville reported in his 2010 piece co-written with Ryan Mays for the Essex County Museum and Historical Society Bulletin entitled William Beverly, James Patton and the Settling of the Shenandoah Valley.

Scots-Irish by birth, Patton was litigious, dominated county politics, and gave no quarter to Indians, his pastor, or his former associates. Patton was instrumental in settling western Virginia, but he was not the stuff of which popular heroes are made, the University of Virginias D. Alan Williams wrote in a 1976 review of the Johnson book.

On the day of the attack at Drapers Meadow, Patton  recently having returned from an overseas business trip with nephew William Patton  stayed at the residence of William Ingles resting from the fatigues of his journey, and also seeking recovery from sickness, according to a previous work by Dr. John P. Hale that was cited by Waddell.

Matron of the house Mary Draper Ingles was shot in the arm and witnessed the death of her infant child, whose head was battered on the log side of the dwelling during the massacre. She is, of course, the most famous figure in this episode.

As we know, Mary Ingles was kidnapped , then later escaped and returned home on foot from the wilderness of the distant Ohio country. It is without question one of the great epics of American Colonial history. However, the focus here is Patton.

The colonel was at work writing at a table inside the cabin, his broadsword before him, when the hideous sounds of the raid reached him, Waddell reported.

Being a man of great strength, of large frame, and over six feet high, he cut down two Indians, but was shot and killed by others out of his reach.

In his will that was dated by Waddell at Sept. 1, 1750, Patton requested burial beside the grave of his wife at the Presbyterian Church at Tinkling Springs cemetery in Augusta County, located about halfway between present-day Fishersville and Stuarts Draft. Instead, he was interred under a pile of field stone near where he resigned his last breath.

There was no grave marker. Waddell offered an account of an alleged grave robbery in a ghoulish search for a supposed fortune attached to the deceased. For these atrocities, no proof was furnished.

So, then to return to the original question, where are the colonels remains? The emailer speculated that the final resting place had to be somewhere in the vicinity of Virginia Techs Duck Pond. In keeping with the custom of the day , Harris suggested the grave could be at one of the hills in the area, perhaps the island in the pond that was a small peak before the pond was dammed in.

Glanville remains skeptical.

I doubt that we will ever know exactly where James Patton was killed and buried, he wrote in an email last week. Even the burial on top of a hill theory is suspect. The day he was killed was surely chaotic and I suspect his burial was at best informal and unorganized. He might have simply been buried where he was killed.

In the Drapers Meadows vicinity is my guess as to how history should record his burial site.

Saving the best for last, Glanville offered a handwritten 33-page letter dated Feb. 22, 1843, penned by Letitia Preston Floyd (1779-1852). Born at Smithfield as the sixth daughter of William and Susanna Preston, she was later wife to a Virginia governor.

Rediscovered in 2015 by Glanville and Mays in a box of Preston family documents donated by the family to Smithfield Plantation, Letitia Floyds letter was addressed to her fifth son Benjamin Rush Floyd. The central topic was early family history.

Letitia Floyds account of the massacre, written many years earlier, must have served as basis for the Hale/Waddell version. The similarities are striking. One difference was her mention that nephew William Preston was told by Patton to sew up in the fob of his small clothes thirty English guineas for safe-keeping in his travels. Perhaps that was the buried treasure alluded to by Wadell.

In any event, there was no mention in the Floyd primary source of where the old colonel is buried. The Daughters of the American Revolution erected a marker in the 1930s that is not considered precise location. That leaves us with a final thought from Glanville.

We know so little in terms of the actual historical record about that day that any speculations about where his body might be are just that: speculations.

If youve been wondering about something, call Whats on Your Mind? at 777-6476 or send an email to whatsonyourmind@roanoke.com. Dont forget to provide your full name (and its proper spelling) and hometown.
Ben Chivers

A GROOMER who preyed on three schoolgirls online before subjecting them to "horrendous" sexual abuse has been jailed for ten years.

Ben Chivers (20), of Rawmarsh, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today (Monday) after pleading guilty last month to the offences which occurred in Rotherham in 2015.

Chivers admitted raping a 12-year-old girl, three counts of sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl and three counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl.

He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

His co-accused, Brett McLaughlan (25), of Rotherham, will appear at the same court in January after being found guilty of rape following a trial last month.

Det Sgt Gareth Gent said: Chivers targeted underage girls online, grooming them with affection.

Once his victims were in his grasp, he encouraged them to meet up and subjected these three girls to horrendous sexual abuse.

They have been remarkably brave throughout our investigation and they are to be commended for their courage.

I hope that with the lengthy sentence passed down today, this is another step forward in the girls recovery from their abuse, knowing that the person who caused them such harm is now behind bars for a long time.

Ian Thomas, RMBCs strategic director of children and young peoples services, said: Chivers clearly preyed on these young girls vulnerability knowing full well their ages and knowing full well what he was doing was wrong.

Rotherham is no hiding place for evil and through our partnership working with both South Yorkshire Police and Barnardos we have been able to work with these courageous victims to support them and to help them bring their perpetrators to justice.

This sentence today once again shows we will not stop until we find the people committing these acts of evil and making sure they pay for what they have done.

Anyone with concerns about a child can call police on 101 or call or text the national helpline Say Something on 116 000.

The NSPCC also has 24/7 help available by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing help@nspcc.org.uk.
Barclays Bank, Stag

A MAN will appear in court next month accused of four counts of kidnap and attempting to rob a bank following incidents in Wickersley and Stag.

Michael Edward Dunphy (45), of Worsley, Manchester, has been charged after a woman and her young child were kidnapped before being driven to Barclays Bank in Stag, where there was an attempted robbery.

Three other people  a 37-year-old woman, a 36-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were arrested and released on bail.

Dunphy, of Barton Close, Worsley, was recalled into custody and will appear at Sheffield Magistrates Court on Tuesday, December 12.

Det Insp Mark Monteiro, leading the investigation, said: This is very much an ongoing investigation and we are continuing to follow up enquiries into these incidents which we believe were targeted.

Id like to thank the public for their response and co-operation during this investigation.
For observers searching for an industry body covering literally every aspect of the jewelry pipeline, an influencer that is able to shape the debates in the trade, the evidence was on display at CIBJO's annual congress in Bangkok in November. CIBJO, or the World Jewelry Confederation, staged comprehensive discussions on everything from the latest developments in gemology, diamonds, colored gemstones and precious metals to ethics, responsible sourcing, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability  and more.

As a seasoned observer of CIBJO's debates, I can attest to the strength of commitment and dedication that its delegates bring to the annual proceedings. In fact, the annual congress is just the tip of the iceberg because much of the work of the various commissions is done between congresses in emails, phone calls, and meetings at industry events which are topped off at the steering committee meetings held over two days before the congress officially gets underway.

This year, the congress saw some 150 official delegates  who represent a wide range of trade bodies stretching across the gemstone and jewelry industry pipeline  and a total of approximately 300 participants from around the world.





Image credit: CIBJO



What was especially noticeable at this year's congress was the strong role CIBJO is playing in the jewelry supply chain as a result of realizing the importance, about a decade ago, and long before other industry figures or bodies, of the importance of ethical behavior, CSR and sustainability, with most of the credit for that going to long-time CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri who has led the World Jewelry Confederation for 10 years and was re-elected unopposed and unanimously for another two-year term.

Responsible sourcing, CSR, ethical business methods and sustainability have become increasingly relevant for all industries in recent years, not just the jewelry trade, and CIBJO can quite rightly claim the credit for having the perception to understand this well before the rest of the trade.

As Cavalieri told guests and delegates, the international body's guidelines have become increasingly important and are playing a leading role in ensuring that workers and consumers are not exploited. In his address to the official opening ceremony, Cavalieri stressed the role of the congress and the mission of the World Jewelry Confederation. "As most of you know, a CIBJO Congress is not a commercial event. There are no gemstones or jewelry on sale. We gather each year to talk about rules and regulations, standards and ethics, and strategies for the years ahead. We do so out of the firmly-held belief that, in order to succeed in business, we have to conduct our affairs in a manner that is beyond reproach, and we need to see over the horizon. The subjects we address make that possible," he said.





Image credit: CIBJO



"We have no illusions. Jewelry and gemstones are luxury products that consumers purchase because they want to, and not because they have to. For us there is no margin of error. If we lose the confidence of our consumers, and in so doing undercut the value of our product, we will not remain in business, let alone prosper," he added.

Meanwhile, World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) President Ernie Blom spoke of the importance of CIBJO to the diamond industry and also the joint strength that is created when the two international bodies cooperate. "Gaetano describes this illustrious organization as the 'United Nations of the jewelry business' because it represents the interests of individuals, organizations and companies everywhere earning their livelihoods from jewelry, gemstones and precious metals. CIBJO is the oldest international confederation of national jewelry trade organizations. Its purpose is to encourage harmonization, promote international cooperation in the jewelry industry and to consider issues which concern the trade worldwide. And foremost among these is to protect consumer confidence in the industry.

"CIBJO carries out a very similar function for jewelry industry members from across the pipeline, boldly setting the agenda for the trade on carbon-free operations and Corporate Social Responsibility, for example, as well as representing the industry at meetings of national and international parliaments, the OECD, the United Nations and other important organizations," Blom added.

The importance to the diamond trade of CIBJO was clearly seen with the ratification by CIBJO's Diamond Commission of changes to its Blue Book  or industry guide  that the International Diamond Council (IDC) had proposed. This, essentially, led the way for IDC's diamond nomenclature terms to be combined with those of CIBJO. Consequently, the CIBJO Diamond Book becomes the definitive guide to nomenclature in the diamond trade across the world.

The CIBJO Diamond Book may now function as the single official reference book for nomenclature in the entire diamond and jewelry industry, with the goal of enhancing consumer confidence," explained Udi Sheintal, the CIBJO Diamond Commission President.

The true beneficiaries of this agreement are the diamond consumers, who will now be able to refer to a single set of rules for describing diamonds, said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. Our Blue Books are living documents, which are reviewed year in and year out on a continuing basis, to ensure that they are current with changing conditions and technological developments. The fact that the CIBJO Diamond Book now endorsed by the WFDB and the IDMA, serves the interest of both the industry and the marketplace.

"This is a major step forward that we have worked towards for a long time. The IDC was created by the WFDB and the IDMA to defend the integrity of the diamond, and the step of creating a single, universally applicable book will combat any confusion in the market about nomenclature, said WFDB President Ernie Blom.

The IDC was established in 1975 to provide its founders  the WFDB and IDMA  with a set of universally accepted standards of nomenclature for polished diamonds within the international diamond trade.

And in other diamond industry-related subjects, the Diamond Commission agreed to a proposal that Cavalieri begin talks with synthetic diamond manufacturers with the aim of bringing them into the overall jewelry industry forum as a way of protecting the interests of both consumers and the industry generally.

The power to achieve "top-billing" for CIBJO's annual congress was again in evidence this year, with Cavalieri securing an official opening by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Prime Minister of Thailand. He was accompanied by Apiradi Tantraporn, Thailand's Minister of Commerce, and Sontirat Sontijirawong, the country's Deputy Minister of Commerce.

General Chan-o-cha stressed his government's support for the Thai gem and jewelry industry, which is the country's third largest export earner. "We need to take care of the people in the value chain to make sure that nobody is left behind, especially the lower income workers, and we also want to ensure transparency and good governance," he stated. "Thailand is committed to improving our products and to becoming a global jewelry hub in the next five years, and I hope we can grow stronger together and enable Thailand to secure this vision."

Given that the congress was being held in one of the world's leading colored gemstone centers, many of the speakers and the sessions focused strongly on this sector, and of the growing urgency to formulate for it a viable responsible sourcing policy, which on the one hand will defend the integrity of the product from the perspective of consumers and outside observers, but at the same recognize the critical role it plays in the lives and communities of artisanal and small-scale miners who produce more than 80 percent of its rough.

On the issue of the integrity of supply chain integrity in the colored gemstone trade, the congress enjoyed a session focused on that very topic moderated by Anne-Marie Fleury, the Standards and Impacts Director at the Responsible Jewelry Council.

Cavalieri said that government involvement is necessary to help verify the veracity of the source of supply, and that element, coupled with self-administered due diligence at the industry level, is likely to provide the most viable alternative available. "I propose that we work towards creating a Kimberley Process-type structure for rough colored gemstones, which will enable the industry to demonstrate the integrity of its chain of distribution through a combination of government monitoring, and self-administered due diligence, he said.

"I am not naive," Cavalieri said. "I realize the conditions in the diamond industry are vastly different to those in colored gemstones. In diamonds, just a handful of large companies control well over 90 percent of world supply, whereas in colored gemstones some 80 percent of supply comes via literally thousands of small and artisanal miners. But if we, as an industry, take the lead and work on an individual basis with governments that are eager to legitimize their artisanal colored gemstone sectors, then we can grow organically the group of nations working within a KP-type structure. At the same time, we can provide a legal and non-discriminatory path to the market for artisanal colored gemstone miners who otherwise may find themselves locked out."

Meeting on the final day of the of the congress, in addition to electing Cavalieri to another two-year term as CIBJO President, the CIBJO General Assembly also elected, for the first time, three Vice Presidents. They are: Roland Naftule of the United States, Eli Avidar of Israel, and Corrado Facco of Italy, while a new Board of Directors was also elected for a two-year term.

By our Israel correspondent Abraham Dayan




The success of TAGS over the past 5 years has encouraged many large tender houses to establish regular and sizeable tender operations in Dubai Mike Aggett is an experienced Private Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the mining and metals industry. Skilled in Luxury Goods, Business Planning, Sales, Gemology, and Jewelry, Mike is a professional who graduated from Dover College...

It all starts with stones - it is they that give impetus, determine the image and embodiment Maxim Selikhov is the founder of the SelikhoV Diamonds brand launched in 2006, and the company manufactures unique handmade jewellery with rare high-quality gemstones. He is also known as a collector of unique and large-size jewellery stones who considers...

Our technologies  CVD machines and growing technology  are game changers, asserts Arnaud Flambeau, Executive Chairman, 2DOT4 Diamonds LLC Arnaud Flambeau is the Executive Chairman of 2DOT4 Diamonds LLC, Dubai, a fully integrated lab-grown diamonds company. The Company provides rough 'as grown' diamonds, in-house polished IGI certified loose polished diamonds and high-quality...

Stargems brings the DaVinci system to Botswana Stargems, which was founded by Shailesh Javeri in 1981, has diversified into manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing and tendering or auctioning of diamonds and diamond jewellery.

It is also one of the leading players in the manufacturing, wholesaling...
The American Depositary Receipts of Indivior plc (INVVY.OB), a global specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing opioid dependence treatments, are up nearly 38% year-to-date.

After getting thumbs up from an FDA panel for RBP-6000, its investigational treatment for opioid use disorder, Indivior now awaits the regulatory agency's final decision, which is expected on November 30, 2017.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines opioid use disorder as a pattern of opioid use characterized by tolerance, craving, inability to control use, and continued use despite adverse consequences.

RBP-6000 is a subcutaneous (SC) long-acting monthly depot injection that delivers a sustained-release formulation of buprenorphine. It aims to reduce opioid drug misuse by decreasing cravings and addressing withdrawal symptoms.

According to the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health report, 11.8 million Americans engaged in misuse of opioids last year, and about 2 million American adults (age 12+ years old) met the criteria for opioid use disorder. The same report suggested that 935,000 adults have used heroin in the past year, and 625,000 adults had a heroin use disorder.

If approved, Stifel analyst Max Herrmann expects RBP-6000 to generate peak sales of $700 million by 2021 while Jefferies analysts have pegged the drug's sales at $1.3 billion by 2025.

Currently, the Company derives all its revenues from sales of SUBOXONE Film, currently marketed in the United States, Australia and Malaysia; SUBOXONE Tablet, currently marketed in 40 countries, and SUBUTEX Tablet, marketed in 21 countries, all of which are treatments to reduce withdrawal symptoms and help ease cravings.

The results of a study comparing the effectiveness of Suboxone, given daily as a sublingual film, and Vivitrol, a monthly intramuscular injection, on patients dependent on non-prescribed opioids, were released recently. The study involved 570 participants, and they were followed for up to 24 weeks of outpatient treatment. The results were published in The Lancet recently.

According to the study results, both the drugs were equally effective once medication treatment is initiated. But it is more difficult to initiate patients to Vivitrol than Suboxone. The patients need to get through detox in order to start Vivitrol.

Suboxone, which costs around $144 for a supply of 30 film, generated revenue of $828 million in the first nine months of 2017. In contrast, Vivitrol, which costs around $1,300 per shot, logged net sales of $193.8 million in the same period.

Recent events:

-- On August 31, 2017, the US District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Dr. Reddy's Laboratories' proposed generic version of Suboxon sublingual film does not infringe the patents '150, '514 and '497, as asserted by Indivior.

-- On September 15, 2017, Indivior filed patent lawsuits against Dr. Reddy's, Actavis, Par, Alvogen, Teva, and Mylan for infringement of patent '454 relating to their respective proposed generic versions of Suboxon sublingual film. The '454 patent was issued to Indivior on June 27, 2017.

-- On September 28, 2017, the Company submitted its New Drug Application to the FDA for RBP-7000 Risperidone Monthly Depot for the treatment of Schizophrenia.

Indivior is listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market, under ticker symbol INDV, and its American Depositary Receipts are publicly traded in the US on the OTC Market, under symbol INVVY.

INVVY closed Friday's trading at $25.30, unchanged from the previous day's close.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Jean Arnault, head of the United Nations Mission in Colombia, traveled to Quito, Ecuador on Monday to meet with the negotiators of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Colombian government.

According to Radio Caracol, Arnault wants to assess the current stage of the peace talks between the guerrilla and the government. Arnault is scheduled to meet separately with both delegations, first with the ELN and then with the government.

On February 8, both parties launched peace talks in Quito amid bilateral tensions. So far, the greatest achievement has been the ceasefire that came into force on October 1.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

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Appealing to the Gujarat electorate as "son" of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lashed out at the opposition Congress, saying that people of the state would not forgive those who are "insulting the son of Gujarat" who has never had a single blot on his political career.

Appealing to the Gujarat electorate as "son" of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lashed out at the opposition Congress, saying that people of the state would not forgive those who are "insulting the son of Gujarat" who has never had a single blot on his political career.

Attacking the Congress, the Prime Minister said: "You (opposition) dare to come to Gujarat and say things against the son of Gujarat? Will any Gujarati forgive people who make charges against the son of Gujarat? No Gujarati will endure this insult. This is my mother and I am its son."

"You (people) have helped me grow as its son. You have helped shape me. You gave strength and nurtured the good in me, the people of Gujarat and Gujarat my motherland," he said at a public rally in Bhuj after his visit to the local deity.

Modi landed in Kutch in the morning and went to pay respects to local deity - Ma Ashapura - at her temple Mata no Madh. After prayers Modi informally interacted with women, children and shook hands with people gathered within the temple premises. A scene now familiar at events of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi during his recent Gujarat campaign tours.

This is Narendra Modi's first political visit to his home state, one on Monday and the other on Wednesday. All the previous visits were officially in the capacity of a Prime Minister to inaugurate various schemes and projects of public interest.

It is the first by any Prime Minister to the Mata no Madh temple and is symbolically important for BJP's fortunes in the constituency of Abdasa, a Congress bastion having almost one-fourth of its voters from the minority community. The party feels the visit by Modi here could help it consolidate majority votes in its favour this time.

At Lallan College ground in Bhuj, Modi began his speech in the local Kutchi language, saying that the BJP does not believe in politics of visiting only during times of elections but in development. He said that when he first visited Kutch in 2002 it was all ruins and shambles due to the earthquake, and now after the development works there is no iota of the quake destruction.

Modi hit back at the Congress over the 'hugplomacy' jibe by Rahul Gandhi, saying, "When the Indian Army was standing eye-to-eye with Chinese at Doklam for 70 days, you were hugging the Ambassador of China. When the Indian soldier stood for the country, you were hugging the Chinese Ambassador. For whom? I am asking you a question," he said.

"This is Modi. He has been nurtured in this land of Sardar Patel...The people who have looted the country will have to give it back," he said, reminding his audience of the surgical strikes carried out last year by his government after the Uri attack

"I asked a Congressman to write down the names of all the Presidents of Congress. The people who do not know the names of Congress leaders, how will they develop our nation?" Modi asked.

He said the Congress cannot think beyond one family. "How many remember Kamaraj or Debharbhai (U.N. Dhebar), who were presidents of Congress nationally. Many in the party would not even know that Debharbhai was a Gujarati. The party that does not go beyond one family, what do you expect from them?" he added.

Modi expressed his confidence that the BJP in Gujarat will win 151 seats in the 182-member assembly.
Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Monday announced he will contest the Gujarat Assembly elections as independent candidate from Vadgam constituency in Banaskantha district.

The Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch leader, social activist and lawyer made the announcement on his Twitter handle, hours after the opposition Congress declared its third list of 76 candidates, which failed to show candidature for Vadgam.

Mevani had earlier shown disinterest in contesting the elections and had expressed support for the Congress.

His announcement came after the Congress brought out its third list of candidates for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections. In a tweet, he said: "Friends, I'm contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win."

The Congress in its third list failed to show any candidature for Vadgam constituency, which will be contested on December 14.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Mevani and expressed his best wishes to the young activist.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in an official statement said, "When the Dalit agitation leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting the Vadgam seat as an independent, the AAP won't be fielding any contestant for the seat and as appealed by him, the party believes that it should be a straight fight between him and the BJP."

Mevani will file his nomination papers on Monday, the last day for filing nominations for the second phase of the elections.

The young Dalit leader had made the headlines after he led the Dalit pride march from Ahmedabad to Una to protest the thrashing of Dalit skinners from Saurashtra region who were attacked by cow vigilantes last year.

Earlier, he had expressed his wish not to join any political party or contest. He had also met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and announced his support for the grand old party.
Hardships can either break us or make us stronger.

Unfortunately, in the case of Sandra Tiatia she is struggling to cope.

The mother of six revealed the source of her worries was mainly because of a lack of money.

Everything went off the rails when my husband became sick. He was working for the Samoa Ports Authority and his pay was decent enough for us to make it through to the next week. But the doctor has given out specific instructions that he cannot work anymore, she said.

The 45-year-old said that she had to work and let the father of the family rest because he was not in any condition to work anymore.

They have had to send their eldest daughter overseas to live there so she can work and help their family.

It is hard for my husband to walk nowadays which is why I have decided to go to work so he can take a break. It was really heartbreaking that we had to send our eldest daughter overseas to work so she could help me look after our big family.

Sandra said that is the cause of her daughter travelling overseas to help her family.

It has been almost a year ever since her daughter left but she still weeps at times thinking of her.

I still cry every night missing my daughter, hoping that she is okay. I know she is living with our family but it is not the same as being home where she belongs. It feels like she just left yesterday, she told the Village Voice team.

Her four younger children are still in school and she was not looking forward to next year because her other daughter would be in Year 12 and there were so many things that would be needed.

I am not excited about next year because it means her school fees will increase and that is excluding S.S.C. fees. I dont know where to find the money to pay that off, she added.

Sandra admits her family is struggling and she gets emotional when she cannot provide what her children want.

I only receive $180 a week. I buy four noodles which mean one noodle per day. Sometimes we dont eat or have any dinner. We need to pay off the water bill and get cash power as well. Not only that, but the events that the kids have at school such as their English Day or mufti are for fundraising and they need to contribute.

Life is very hard but Sandra believes that it doesnt matter how poor she is, she will always take her kids to school because she wants them to have a better life.

My eldest daughter had to stop school so she could help our family and now she has moved away to help her younger siblings with their education.

I am certain that education is everything and it is the key for them to have a better future, she said.
Just like any father, Sivea Amani from Vaitele-Uta is determined to be a good breadwinner for his family.

The father of three works as a contracted lawnmower and he spoke about his job to the Village Voice team.

The money I earn still does not change the fact that life in Samoa is costly.

As a contracted lawnmower he said he gets called out for jobs from one place to another.

I make good money out of it like $500, but even with that money, it does not cover all the things that we need in the house and to also look after the kids, he said.

Siavea said that he lived with his extended family and just the two of them work as contracted lawnmowers.

There are 12 people in my family and it is only just me and my cousin who work. So every time we get paid, we need to split the what we earn, he said.

According to Siavea, the money he receives is not enough for him to support his family especially in cases where the client does not pay on time.

Also it is not every week that we get a call on a job that needs to be done but sometimes when we do get the call the client takes a while to pay up but we dont have time to wait.

The jobs that people call in for are not consistent but this is our only source of income to help our families, he added.

One thing is for sure from my own observations, is that life is not getting any easier. The influx of Chinese people here in Samoa means there are many other establishments of different businesses that are here too.

I am not the only one that could be a lawnmower, anyone can be a lawnmower.

Sivea understands that everyone is out there looking for money so they will be able to have a better life but for him as a father and the head of the family; it is difficult to turn a blind eye to his responsibilities.

If I am going to have less money and we are already struggling, how am I going to support my family? It is the greatest fear that most of us are facing. Not being able to provide for our loved ones, he added.
The good thing about Samoa is that over the years, it has slowly developed into a formidable venue for national and international gatherings of all sorts.

While Fiji remains the undisputed hub of meetings in the Pacific, Samoa seems to be making some headway into the lucrative market of conferences, workshops, talkfests and whatever else goes on during and after.

Which is a good thing for Samoa in as far as filling up our hotel rooms, tourism and all who benefit from the effect of this flow.

But what are the actual outcomes? What is actually achieved? You see there has to be a method in thy madness in the way some things are today.

How else can we explain meetings after meetings, consultations after consultations, framework of this and that and those countless workshops we see and hear about on the news every day.

Were not singling out the handling of any particular issue here.

And it doesnt just happen in Samoa. It happens all over the world believe it or not. There are people who have made a pretty decent living from going from one meeting to another.

Some of them literally transit in their home countries so that they are always on the go.

It could be any issue, social, economic and others and you will observe this trend.

But sometimes, we need to step back and ask some hard questions about what is actually achieved, tangible outcomes and assess whether peoples lives are better after them.

In Samoa today, there is no doubt that there are many great intentions when it comes to the issues we face.

It involves solving our pestering problems, improving our lot in life and of course the endless pursuit for satisfaction and happiness.

But its hard to ignore the fact that the stronger we push in our haste to eliminate some of our problems, the more persistent they become. So what are we doing wrong?

Why is it that after a gazillion meetings, workshops, conventions, seminars or whatever you prefer to call them, nothing seems to change?

Why have things become considerably bad despite so much effort to change them for the better?

Where are we missing it? What are we not doing right?

There are many answers.

Weve said this before and we want to highlight this again. From where we stand, we see that life and its challenges involve real people with real problems. Which means the solutions we are looking for should also be real and tangible, not the feel-good ones that allow us to tick the boxes at the workshops and set up the next meeting.

Dont get us wrong. There is nothing wrong with meetings when there are clear, concise and hard evidence that they are producing results. Besides, we should not deride the value of talking and discussing the challenges we face today. Its a lot better than not talking about them I tell you.

But the ultimate goal should always be to translate what is being discussed at these meetings, workshops and what have you into action so that it will have an impact on ordinary people whose lives are affected by it.

If these things dont make a difference at the grassroots level, whats the point? Who cares about what fancy name you give to a workshop and how flash the venue it is held at?

Which brings us to Samoa. We find that a lot of the time the talk about issues beats around the bush too much. We come up with all this fancy talk to try and hide the reality of our problems when they are so glaringly obvious to see.

Take the issue of poverty and hardship for instance.

What are we doing about poverty here? What is the government doing for the 27 per cent of people identified by the I.L.O. on the front page of the paper you are reading today?

Hardship is real in Samoa. Just as poverty is. Look at the growing number of beggars and young children resorting to a life of petty crime and street menacing? Are those not signs of poverty?

What about the issue of family, domestic and violence in general? Are these statistics not getting worse by the day? What are we actually doing about them apart from just talking and pretending we care?

What about job creation? Are there enough jobs in Samoa? If the answer is no, what is the government doing to create more jobs?

These questions are not new. And this piece is certainly not the first time we have highlighted these issues. They have been around for ages and yet they appear to be deteriorating every year.

But here is the truth folks, there has been no shortage of talking about them too. Every week, every month there are meetings after meetings to plan more talkfests. And yet real people with real problems continue to suffer. We see them every day.

Today lets be reminded once again that poverty, hardships and corruption are hurting our people, resulting in many of our social problems  including violence and other petty crimes. Those women and children suffering from domestic violence is a direct consequence of societys failure to address poverty and hardship.

We can have this and that commemoration but at the end of the day those women will have to go home to their banged up husbands who are stressed out from earning lousy money for all their work. This is the real issue.

And we believe the government should take the lead to address them.

Start by holding certain public officials to account for the millions of public monies they have abused and misused through corrupt ways and collusion.

The truth is that many people are struggling to put food on the table because of the lack of income. What is happening now is the gap between the rich and poor in Samoa is getting wider and there is a deep sense of frustration boiling beneath the surface. Its a disaster waiting to happen.

No amount of talkfests will solve this unless we start showing love by saving some money from all those expensive meetings to give to the people who need them the most.

What do you think? Write and share your thoughts with us!

Have a great Tuesday Samoa, God bless!
Daniel Iuogafa is a free man. It follows a decision by Supreme Court Justice Mata Keli Tuatagaloa dismiss both charges of rape and indecent assault against him yesterday.

The former referee of the Samoa Rugby Union (S.R.U.) had maintained his innocence in relation to the allegations against him.

The man from Vaovai, Falealili and Vaimea was accused of raping an overseas-based woman.

He was represented by lawyer, Aumua Ming Leung Wai. The Prosecutor was Fatumanavaupolu Ofisa Tagaloa of the Attorney Generals Office.

A suppression order was issued by Justice Mata to safeguard the womans details and identity.

During the trial, the defendant gave his version of what happened that night.

When Club X closed we came with Tupu and Salesa bought some beers at Togafuafua and then we came to Fias Shop at Vaitele and bought barbeques and then we went to S.R.U, he said.

When we got to S.R.U, Salesa told the security guard who we were and so the security guard allowed us inside. Not long after Hugh came, Salesa offered him a beer but he was looking for his wallet and he came back outside and entered the two-storey building next to the main office of the S.R.U.

Not long after, Tupu said that he was going to lie down because he had a headache from the fight that night and he walked to the building that Hugh went to.

Iuogafa said around 3.30am he told Salesa that he was going home.

At that time Salesa told me to drop off Tupu as well because they had to go to Savaii the next day with some of the S.R.Us officials, said Iuogafa. I then walked to the house that Tupu went into and in this building, the gym is downstairs and the rooms are upstairs.

I knocked in all the rooms on the top floor but nobody answered so I came back down. As I was walking down the stairs I heard a voice of a female asking me where I was going.

I turned around and told the person that I was looking for Tupu and at that time I saw this girl wearing only her underwear and her bra. We exchanged questions and then I walked up to her and kissed her.

She took me inside her bedroom and I saw that there were two beds in the room and someone was sleeping on the other bed.

Iuogafa told the Court that he asked the girl about the person sleeping on the other bed.

Iuogafa insisted that the complainant was awake and fully agreed to what they did.

Prosecution also called the alleged victim and her boyfriend.

However, she told the Court she could not recall what occurred on the night in question.
The Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu, opened a three-day Empowering the Family Unit to Stop Violence conference at Hotel Tanoa Tusitala yesterday.

The training is being driven by a partnership between the Youth and Family Violence Court and U.N.I.C.E.F. in a bid to curb the growing number of violent incidents involving youths.

This conference is not only to inform the participants of the Samoa Youth Court and Family Violence Court in addressing the problem of violence, in particular violence related criminal offenses, but more importantly to provide a forum that deals with issues that so often arise before those Courts, he said.

It is my hope, from the discussion and exchange of views, solutions will be identified to combat the causes of criminal cases particularly violence related offenses that these Courts have to deal with.

His Honour Patu also called for a community approach to addressing violence.

He said the notion that it is only for the Police and the Court to deal with crimes committed in society is wrong. He said everyone has a responsibility to address them.

A start has to be made by someone at some point and with respect I think this conference is a good way to begin.

The conference hopes to identify preventative measures and post court strategies that can be used by the Courts and other relevant stakeholders to combat youth related violence.

The gathering has been prompted by the increasing number of matters heard by the Youth Court and Family Violence Court.

The aim is that the Court will work with all stakeholders to curb violence and to raise public awareness of the adverse effects and impacts of violence on youth and family unit.

Among the speakers yesterday was Judge Fepuleai Ameperosa Roma, Justice Vui Clarence Nelson and U.N.I.C.E.F. Child Protection Officer, Tupepepa Aumua, Police Commissioner Fuiava Egon Keil, Attorney General Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff and others.

The meeting is supported by M.J.C.A, U.N.I.C.E.F., U.N. Women, D.F.A.T. and the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development.

The conference continues today.
The annual inter Samoa talks is scheduled to be held in Apia this week.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi during his weekly press conference.

Asked if the issue of American Samoa setting up an office in Samoa would be among the topics discussed, Tuilaepa said the issue is not as simple as it sounds.

When it comes to dealing with other sovereign nations, Tuilaepa said American Samoas authority is limited since it is still under the United States of America.

There are areas where they (A.S.G.) have the authority to act within while there are issues they need pre-approval from the United States Federal Government in order to proceed, he said.

The American Samoa Government operates under the protection of the United States of America and that is why they have to seek permission before they act on certain issues.

This is what I see whenever we have these meetings and I am certain that if they had the freedom, the Governor would have already acted on establishing an office in Samoa.

That is the difference we have with American Samoa, said Tuilaepa.

The American Samoa Government delegation will be led by Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga. Media reports out of American Samoa indicates the A.S.G. delegation met last Friday in Pago Pago to finalise their agenda.

Director of Commerce, Keniseli Lafaele and Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale are part of the delegation.

In October 2017, the Press Secretary issued a statement saying the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet (M.P.M.C.) has become the implementing agency to organize the event.

In the last few months a series of meetings with government stakeholders have since taken place to prepare Samoas agenda.

The issues on the table include Trade and Economic Integration, Agriculture, Immigration, Health, Education, Transport, Telecommunication, and Tourism.

Regarding exports, the Agricultural Sector remains optimistic that their American Samoa counterparts will assist with a request from Apia to the United States Department of Agriculture to certify the two mobile abattoirs and the soon to be built permanent and Central Abattoir that will open up the lucrative meat export markets to the United States via American Samoa.

Then there is the Tui-Samoa fiber optic cable that Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is hoping for the territorial government to come to the negotiating cable and become part of the Tui-Samoa family which now includes neighboring Pacific Island countries.

The target is for improvement on telecommunication connectivity at affordable rates for residents of the 2-Samoas.

Immigration issues which include the current reciprocal permit regime between the two countries is another issue expected to be revisited during the talks in bids to minimize the red tape in processing entry permits.

And of course, the long awaited trade agreement that would be mutually beneficial to Samoa and American Samoa.

The talks is geared at providing focus areas that includes the identification of improvements to the immigration, customs, taxes, business creation, and foreign investment rules of the countries that would benefit economic integration, says the Press Statement.

As a lead up to the talks, Prime Minister Tuilaepa reiterated that under these circumstances, it is imperative for the two Samoas to try as much as we can to cooperate in every area available.

We are already doing this successfully in the number of sectors, and with mixed success in the various other facets of our engagement.

However we obviously need to do more and we must continue to collaborate and cooperate in working towards goals that would mutually benefit our islands.
A flurry of activity is underway to prepare for the long-awaited restoration of the San Elijo Lagoon, a nearly $120 million project planned for decades that starts in December.

Biologists are surveying birds, fish, water quality and other details of wildlife in the lagoon to collect baseline data before the dredging begins, said Doug Gibson, executive director and principal scientist of the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy.

Thats the big push right now, to lock on data that will be used to analyze the success of the project, Gibson said.

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Southern Californias coastal wetlands have largely disappeared. More than 50 percent and by some estimates as much as 90 percent of those estuaries, salt marshes, mudflats and similar tidal-region landscapes have been lost to development over the past 150 years.

San Elijo Lagoon, at the border of Solana Beach and Encinitas, is one of the best examples of that habitat and the challenges it faces. The 1,000-acre reserve is owned and managed by a partnership of the state, the county and the conservancy.

Lined with seven miles of trails used by joggers, dog walkers and school children on field trips, the lagoon has become an oasis where nearby residents can get a quick dose of nature and escape the noise, traffic and pavement that pervade so much of San Diego County. Its also a safe haven for the native species of plants, birds, fish, and other wildlife that need the special habitat to breed and survive.

Gibson and his fellow biologists have been studying the lagoons biology for decades, in part to determine what needs to be done to save it.

The mouth of the lagoon is periodically bulldozed open to release stagnant water to the ocean and stave off environmental disaster, but that has never been enough to prevent the low-lying areas from slowly filling with silt and sediment. Water flow has long been restricted by the bridges that cross the channel for coastal Highway 101, the railroad, and Interstate 5.

The entire wetlands is overdue for extensive dredging and grading to restore and maintain tidal flows. And until now there was no money for that.

The solution turned out to be the $6 billion North Coast Corridor Program, an ambitious collection of transportation, environmental, and coastal access projects that will take shape over the next 30 years across the 27 miles from La Jolla to Oceanside. Overseen by the California Department of Transportation, the San Diego Association of Governments, and other federal, state and regional agencies, the program provides funding for a number of environmental projects, including the restoration of the San Elijo Lagoon.

The wetlands restoration, expected to take up to four years, is considered mitigation for the new bridges being built in the first phase of the corridor improvement program. Revenue from the TransNet sales tax paid by San Diego County residents will cover all the costs of the restoration, including the construction and long-term monitoring of the results.

Construction of the freeway and rail bridges are separate contracts that will cost a total $220 million, to be funded with a combination of federal, state and local money.

All the work is being done at the same time to minimize the negative effects on commuters, residents and wildlife, and to speed up the individual projects.

Its a great example of how work should be done, said Arturo Jacobo, project manager for the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans. The end result is improved quality of life for the traveler, the community and the natural environment.

Work on railroad and Interstate 5 bridges began a year ago. Completion of the freeway bridge  which will be wider with more carpool lanes  is expected in four years, while the railroad bridge  wider for a second set of tracks  should be finished in about 18 months. About 70 percent of the coastal railway has already been double-tracked between Union Station in San Diego and the Orange County line as part of the corridor improvement program. Eventually, the carpool lanes and double-tracking will extend the length of the county.

Also, the new bridges will be twice as long as the existing ones. Experts say that will go a long way to improve the health of the lagoon by placing less of a footprint in the channel and allowing more water to flow in and out.

The San Elijo Lagoon is more like an estuary than a lagoon, with a long, meandering channel where the river mixes with the ocean tides. Unlike other North County lagoons  Batiquitos, Agua Hedionda, and Buena Vista  which have been deeply dredged in the past, San Elijo has never been extensively excavated.

The main stream into the lagoon, Escondido Creek, is a seasonal waterway. Nearly dry most of the year, it swells with storm runoff during winter storms and carries sand, silt and sediment into the lagoon. Without the restoration, the lagoon would continue to shrink, eventually becoming a grassy field with a creek running through it.

The muck is accumulating, said Keith Greer, a principal regional planner for the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG.

The goal of the restoration is to remove the built-up material and to leave the lagoon in a more manageable state, Greer said

Those channels will be deeper and wider, and there will be more water, he said.

Beach quality sand taken from the lagoon will be placed on the shore at Fletcher Cove and Cardiff, and some will be stockpiled offshore to be pumped back onto beaches in the future. The rest of the dredged material will be placed in a pit in the lagoon and capped with clean sand.

Visitors to the lagoon and people who drive over the site on the freeway will see a lot of bare ground for the next few years..

Its going to look kind of brutal for a while, until its all completed and the vegetation starts growing back, Greer said. However, the payoff is the long-term health of the lagoon.

The restoration was first proposed in the 1990s, but the funding dried up before any work was done. That delay may turn out to be a good thing because it gave the conservancy more time to prepare a plan thats best for the lagoon, said Gibson, the conservancys director.

Weve been developing this project for a long time, before any of us had heard anything about what was happening with I-5, Gibson said. Our goal all along was ... a plan that the lagoon needed, not what somebody else needed for mitigation.

The word restoration may not be the best way to describe the work planned for the lagoon, Gibson said, explaining that its more of an enhancement. The lagoon and the watershed around it have been so greatly altered by development that the area could never be restored to what it was 100 years ago, he said.

The goal is more of a fairly natural balance of wetlands habitats that allow native species to thrive, visitors to enjoy the lagoon, and the lagoon to adapt to the changes ahead.

Were enhancing now and for a future condition  like sea-level rise, Gibson said. Its not a number thats going to sit still; we are aiming for ranges.

If done right, he said, the enhanced lagoon, or estuary, will be able to adapt to whatevers ahead.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
There were 12 trees, one for each year of Stephanie Crowes life.

Planted at Dixon Lake in Escondido, they were meant as a memorial to the seventh-grader, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom in January 1998.

Now most of the trees were dead, too.

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Cheryl Crowe, Stephanies mother, was upset when she saw them. Hasnt there been enough loss?

Leaving the park that day several months ago, she spotted one of the rangers, Richard Studinka, working outside a maintenance shed. She told him who she was, who her daughter was.

He already knew about Stephanie. Her murder is one of the most notorious in county history. Authorities first arrested Stephanies teen brother and two of his friends, then dropped the charges when her blood was found on a shirt worn by a transient seen roaming the Crowes neighborhood the night of the slaying.

The transient was put on trial and convicted. An appellate court overturned the verdict. Tried again, he was acquitted.

The whole thing was tragic, Studinka said.

So he wanted to help the girls mother. Cheryl Crowe explained that she and her husband, Steve, live in Oregon now but they come back to Escondido often because another daughter lives nearby.

And Stephanie is buried in town, at Oak Hill Memorial Park.

Visiting the grave is hard, Cheryl Crowe said, which is why she likes to visit Dixon Lake afterward, to see whats known as Stephanies Grove. She feels her daughters spirit there. Its a happier place.

Or it had been, until eight of the 12 trees died.

Ill pay for replacements, she told the ranger. Cant something be done?

Something could.

Make It Happen

Studinka has been a ranger for close to 22 years at Dixon Lake, located at the north end of Escondido.

He was familiar with Stephanies Grove, which was created in 1999, the year after the slaying. Volunteers helped buy and plant the trees, and over the years other features were added.

Boy Scouts working on their Eagle projects built benches and put in sprinklers. The family of one of Stephanies friends paid for a marker to be installed in the ground.

Trees die for a variety of reasons, and when they die at the park they arent always replaced. Depends on the location. Depends on the tree.

But Studinka saw this as a chance to turn something bad into something good. He told his boss about the grove. Make it happen, his boss said.

He researched what trees would be best and gave Crowe a list of local nurseries that specialize in native species.

She called Moosa Creek, in Valley Center, where Su Krauss heard about the request.

Yes, we have Coast Live Oaks and native sycamores, said Krauss, who co-owns the nursery with her husband.

No, you cant pay for them.

I was aware of the tragedy from all those years ago when Stephanie was murdered, she said. I felt honored to have the opportunity to donate to what I feel is a very important memorial. I wouldnt feel right profiting from the situation.

The old trees were cut down. The stumps were ground. New holes were dug.

Studinka drove to Valley Center and picked out the trees. The first three, all sycamores, went in on Nov. 2.

He hadnt planned it that way, but Nov. 2 is All Souls Day, a time among the Christian faithful for remembering the departed.

How perfect is that? he said.

A circle closes

A day later, the rest of the trees went in. A group of kids from Community Montessori, a charter school in the Oak Hill area of Escondido, helped.

The students wore blue T-shirts with a drawing of a tree on the back and these words: Roots in the community, wings for the world.

Several of them are about the same age as Stephanie was when she died.

It kind of completed the whole circle, Studinka said.

Back home in Oregon, Cheryl Crowe watched all this unfold and was moved by the kindness of strangers.

Stephanie in life brought an amazing positive energy to those within her touch, she wrote in an email to Studinka and Krauss. Thank you for helping her spirit to live on with the grove.

Studinka has about 10 years until retirement  a decade, he said, to pay special attention to the oaks and sycamores and give them what they need to thrive.

Crowe has her own end-game in mind.

I would love, she said, for these trees to outlive me.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
What started more than a decade ago as a hunch among a small group of San Diego researchers has grown into real hope for treating currently-incurable neurodegenerative diseases.

Next year, Carlsbads Ionis Pharmaceuticals is expected to release clinical trial results for Huntingtons and Lou Gehrigs diseases that use designer DNA drugs to mute the mutant genes responsible for causing patients nervous systems to gradually go haywire.

If early trial results show a reduction in levels of the harmful proteins believed to cause these diseases, then larger trials are likely to follow providing a new path to fight life-stealing conditions that, for all of human history, have remained untouchable by medicine.

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While positive results are far from certain, Ionis already has a serious proof-of-concept in Spinraza, a drug approved late last year that uses a similar but not identical approach to successfully treat a neurological condition that kills one in 1,000 children before they reach their second birthdays.

The big deal here is that Ionis has been able to show success working on the far side of the blood-brain barrier, a protective shield of sorts that automatically filters out most drugs injected into the bloodstream, making targets in the brain and spine extremely difficult to hit.

So, if early-phase results, the first of which are expected in January, show that these DNA drugs  formally called antisense oligonucleotides  can reduce harmful proteins in nerve cells, well, that will be a very big deal indeed, especially because Spinraza has already proven that Ionis chemists have found ways to make these drugs last long enough in patients systems to create viable long-term treatments.

Its quite a moment on the horizon, given that, just a decade ago, nobody thought this approach could work.

Well, almost nobody.

Dr. Richard Smith, a local neurologist and director of the Center for Neurologic Study in La Jolla, explained that the difficulty, the point that has drawn the most skepticism form peers, has always been drug delivery. The blood-brain barrier requires these drugs to be injected directly into the cerebrospinal fluid, and most thought such an approach would result in drugs simply floating around doing nothing.

Everyone thought that, even if you put it directly in the spinal fluid, nerve cells wouldnt take them up, Smith said.

But Smith, who did pioneering work in the use of interferon to treat neurologic disease and who spent much of his career treating patients with Lou Gehrigs disease, which scientists call amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, said he had an intuitive feeling that these drugs, these tiny pieces of DNA, might surprise everyone.

He approached high-flying UC San Diego neurobiologist Don Cleveland, a researcher known foundational work mapping the mechanisms of neuron growth and protein production. Smith recalls that first meeting with Cleveland as a bit of a roller coaster ride.

I think this is pretty much a direct quote. He said it was the looniest idea hed ever heard, Smith said.

There was a pause, and Smith said he figured hed be accused of wasting Clevelands time.

Then he said with the greatest enthusiasm, lets do it! Smith said.

They approached Frank Bennett, now senior vice president of research at Ionis, and pitched the idea. With a doctorate in pharmacology, Bennett knew the challenges involved in getting tiny pieces of DNA to enter nerve cells and was skeptical but still open to Cleveland and Smiths ideas even though Ionis, previously known as Isis Pharmaceuticals, was not at the time involved with trying to use the technology on neurological diseases.

The key, Bennett said, was that Smith and Cleveland had identified a specific type of messenger ribonucleic acid or m-RNA that could, theoretically, be blocked by a designer DNA drug.

I listened to the idea and said, its interesting and attractive because we finally have a target we can go after, Bennett said.

Ionis agreed to make a batch of drug candidates for further research, and when that first batch didnt pan out, agreed to do a second round of 80 candidates. Smith described this progression with wonder in his voice. To receive so much commitment on such a long shot, he said, is unheard of, especially because most of Ionis work at the time was in cancer.

I mean, they were a cancer company, so for them to make 80 different molecules for us to try, and then another 80 after that, it was just remarkable, Smith said.

The key to early success in animals that has allowed further work in human patients has been the ability to prove that these drugs do get sucked in by nerve cells and that chemical wizardry performed in Ioniss huge labs has made the drug stable and durable enough to last long enough to bond with passing mRNA strands.

The efficacy, Cleveland said, has amazed everyone.

We dont get two hours of efficacy. We dont get two to three days. We dont get two or three weeks. We get three or four months. The drug lasts a really long time, Cleveland said.

That means that patients could theoretically come in a few times a year, get a shot in the spine, and go home.

That would be more like going to the dentist. You dont necessarily look forward to it, but you do it, Cleveland said.

This approach has recently produced startling results with spinal muscular atrophy, Spinrazas successful target. Lack of a key protein causes the motor neurons in patients spinal cords to whither and die, but, using a specially-designed antisense oligonucleotide, researchers have been able to fix a critical error in messenger RNA, allowing a very similar substitute protein to be produced.

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December after its development by Ionis and a team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, the drug has already been delivered to hundreds of children and adults and, in many cases, has dramatically reversed nerve damage.

Now they have kids who are walking, kids who never could move, for those families, its a miracle, Cleveland said.

These results, coupled with the trials that are about to show results, caused a fair bit of excitement at the recent annual meeting of the American Neurological Association recently.

Gathering in a large meeting room at the Sheraton San Diego hotel, extremely sharp minds from all over the world listened as Cleveland explained the trials underway.

Its a big change, Cleveland said, from where things were at just a few years ago.

I wouldnt have even been invited to speak to a meeting like that, because no one thought it could work. Weve really gone from total skepticism and outright criticism to a feeling that these drugs are just obvious and inevitable, Cleveland said.

After hearing Cleveland speak, Dr. Craig Blackstone, senior investigator in the cell biology section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said Cleveland and Smith get lots of credit for their sheer tenacity.

Theyre the ones who really moved things forward in terms of convincing Ionis that they should do this. Theyve shown lots of people that theres a real possibility that this approach is going to be effective, Blackstone said.

So, are similar results coming for Huntingtons and ALS given that they use the same designer DNA approach in a different way?

At the moment, all results are still blinded, and researchers dont know whats coming.

Its important to note that, while all of the estimated 30,000 Americans living with Huntingtons could potentially be affected, it is not yet known what a reduction of harmful protein levels will mean for these patients. And, for ALS, these drugs will affect only the familial form of the disease, which is estimated to affect only 5 percent to 10 percent of all cases. The vast majority of ALS cases are termed sporadic and their cause has not been traced to specific genetic mutations.

Still, a detectable drop in the harmful proteins that cause ALS or Huntingtons, Cleveland said, even if it does not cause a meaningful reversal in symptoms, will be good enough to justify larger and longer trials where more significant results would be more likely.

If we can shut off the bad gene, its just really likely that will have a big effect on disease, Cleveland said. That would be very exciting.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
Though they continue to see fewer cases, and no new deaths have been reported since Oct. 31, San Diego County supervisors chose Monday to continue the local health emergency status for the regions ongoing hepatitis A outbreak.

Supervisor Ron Roberts noted that, while he considered the latest hepatitis A report from the county Health and Human Services Agency good news, the emergency wont be truly over until new-case rates shrink further.

I hope that day is not too long off, Roberts said.

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It was a decidedly more hopeful tone than was used in early September when the board first declared an emergency, pushing forward to install hand-washing stations and asking cities across the region to help increase vaccination rates and street-level sanitation efforts designed to stop a rising tide of deaths largely among homeless and drug-using residents.

This week, the outbreaks tally of confirmed and probable cases reached 561, eight more than last week, though most of those were reported to the county in previous weeks. The outbreaks death total remained at 20 for the fourth straight week.

Dr. Eric McDonald, chief of the countys Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch, said that his department continues to receive reports of one or two new suspected cases each day. Thats far fewer than the 28 cases that were referred during the week of Sept. 3, which now looks to be the outbreaks high point.

It appears that we are past the peak of cases, but we are still quite a ways from the baseline before the outbreak when there were only a couple of cases per month, McDonald said. That is why it is critically important that anyone with a known risk for hepatitis A who is still not vaccinated get vaccinated now.

The county reported that its ongoing vaccination outreach efforts reached another 5,000 people throughout the region since Dr. Wilma Wooten, the countys public health officer, reported crossing the 100,000-shot threshold two weeks ago. Wooten said Monday morning that its getting harder and harder to find at-risk residents who havent already been vaccinated.

We are noticing that saturation is increasing, Wooten said.

The county also appears to be making progress in clearing its backlog of suspected hepatitis A cases. Last week, there were 31 cases awaiting confirmation but this week that number had dropped to 12.

Since the beginning, public health experts have warned that the outbreak has the potential to cross over and become more common among gay men who are at an elevated risk of infection. Such a crossover has been reported in Southeast Michigan where a deadly hepatitis A outbreak has grown nearly as large as San Diegos. Wooten said that four vaccination clinics at San Diegos LGBT Center were held between Oct. 18 and Nov. 22. A mobile effort, she added, is expected soon.

During the first two weeks of December, four mobile van clinics are scheduled at several sites in Hillcrest, Wooten said.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
A 65-year-old motorcyclist suffered fatal injuries when he crashed into the side of a minivan turning in front of him in Pacific Beach Sunday evening, police said.

The collision was reported around 9:20 p.m. on Ingraham Street near Moorland Drive, San Diego police Sgt. Jordan Wells said.

The motorcyclist was heading north on Ingraham and the minivan was heading south when the 73-year-old driver of the minivan made a left turn into a parking lot directly in front of the rider, Wells said.

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The rider collided into the side of the van. He was transported to the hospital, where he died. He was identified by the county Medical Examiners Office as Mike Wilson.

Police do not believe alcohol was a factor.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
About 35 firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze late Saturday that caused substantial damage to a Spring Valley home.

The fire was reported around 9:30 p.m. at Artesian Springs Court near Pointe Parkway, said San Miguel Fire & Rescue spokesman Stephen Moran. The blaze appears to have started on a first floor but climbed into the attic and roof of the two-story home, which led firefighters to request a second alarm. Two houses on either side were temporarily evacuated.

Four engines from San Miguel responded to the blaze. Crews from Heartland Fire, Chula Vista, San Diego and other jurisdictions also were involved. Firefighters fought the blaze for several hours.

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The homeowner was home at the time. No injuries were reported. The cause and damage amount have not been determined. Remodeling work was underway downstairs to repair previous water damage, said Moran.

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mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973
Our beaches, bays and open spaces make San Diego a desirable place to both live and visit. Balancing the needs of the residents who live here and the tourists who come to visit requires political will and leadership. After years of discussions and failed proposals, it is time for clarity on an issue central to San Diegos housing and tourism markets  short-term vacation rentals.

Through a March 15, 2017 memo, City Attorney Mara Elliott opined that short-term rentals are illegal under the current city zoning laws. The city is now awaiting regulatory guidance from the City Council before taking any action to enforce the city attorneys memo. My proposed regulatory framework respects the rights of property owners, upholds current zoning laws and creates a workable compromise.

My proposal protects the rights of homeowners who wish to participate in home sharing by renting out a room in their home to help make ends meet. It further allows property owners to rent out their primary residence for up to 90 days per year if they want to go on vacation or make extra income during special events like Comic-Con. As a high-tech entrepreneur, I embrace the sharing economy as an innovative and integral part of our overall economy. I know it is here to stay and that it will continue to grow.

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THREE COUNCIL MEMBERS WEIGH IN:

Barbara Bry on short-term vacation rentals: Be fair.

Chris Cate on short-term vacation rentals: Act now

Lorie Zapf on short-term vacation rentals: Protect neighborhoods

While my plan preserves homeowners ability to rent out a room or even their entire primary residence, it prohibits absentee investors from commercializing single-family homes by turning them into full-time mini-hotels in residential zones. To put it simply, I propose to enforce the current law that prohibits these short-term rentals in residential zones, and I believe that a short-term rental is any time period less than 30 days. We can uphold the current zoning law, maintain the character of our neighborhoods, consistently collect Transient Occupancy Taxes from both home sharing and legal whole-house rentals, and preserve our precious housing stock for families who live and work in San Diego. Simultaneously, we can offer San Diego visitors unique and affordable options for accommodations.

San Diego has a severe housing shortage that makes it difficult for residents to rent, let alone purchase a home. If we want a future for our children and grandchildren here, we need to move quickly to address this issue. Advocates, experts, elected officials and associations all agree that we must increase the housing pipeline. My proposal both protects housing stock and allows residents to supplement their income.

The City Council recently took steps to remedy the housing shortage by passing a package of legislation aimed at creating more units, lowering construction costs and encouraging transit-oriented growth.

That package included eased regulations for building companion units, affectionately known as granny flats. While legislation at the state level went into effect in January to make building companion units easier, the City Councils new policy went even further to streamline regulations. During the council discussion of this item, an important amendment to limit the rental of these units to no less than 30 days was added. This 30-day minimum requirement makes it clear that this policy is meant to incentivize the creation of units to make housing more affordable for San Diegans. The policys intention is not to make it easier to build commercial enterprises in our backyards, and the City Council recognized this by passing the companion unit legislation with an 8-1 vote.

The proliferation of mini-hotels in residential communities is an issue Ive been hearing about from community members since I began my campaign for the District 1 council seat. Understandably, residents are concerned about the character of their neighborhoods and quality of life. When you purchase a home in a residential neighborhood, you are not signing up to live next to a Marriott. My office sought extensive community input in developing my proposal and will continue to do so until the council takes action on this issue. We will present a draft ordinance for community review at a public town hall meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the La Jolla Community Center.

As the District 1 council member, it is my duty to ensure that we maintain the quality of life that we all love about San Diego. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the City Council to pass fair and sensible short-term rental regulations for the residents and visitors of our beautiful city.

Bry represents District 1 on the San Diego City Council.
California Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-Pacoima, resigned from office on Monday morning, a week after the Los Angeles Times reported a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him and he had said he would step down in September when the current legislative session ends.

His new announcement comes as the culture in Sacramento, like other state and American institutions, is under fire for allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct and as state lawmakers begins to change how they handle such accusations. The Los Angeles Times reports that Bocanegra faces allegations of unwanted sexual advances or communication from six women.

Upon further reflection during the recent holiday weekend, and conversations with family, friends, supporters, I have decided to resign earlier from the State Assembly effective immediately, which was my original intention, said his statement released on Monday.

Who is Bocanegra and what took him so long to step down? Heres what you need to know.

Who is Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra?

Bocanegra, 46, represented District 39 for the California State Assembly. District 39 is in the northeastern San Fernando Valley and includes cities like Lake View Terrace, North Hollywood, Mission Hills and Pacoima.

He was elected to the state assembly in 2016 but had previously held the position from 2012 to 2014. He was defeated in the 2014 election by Democrat Patty Lopez.

Before joining the state assembly he was an aide to then Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla and chief of staff to California Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes. He was also an instructor at Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge. On his 2016 campaign website, he lists his main policy issues as education, healthcare, creating jobs, protecting the environment, fighting domestic abuse and standing up for womens equality.

By stepping down now, hell leave vacant his position on five committees, including housing and community development.

What accusations does he face?

The Los Angeles Times first reported on Nov. 20 that six women were accusing Bocanegra of unwanted sexual advances or unwelcome communication. The allegations have all occurred since 2009 and range from emails soliciting dates with a subordinate to unwanted physical contact with women he did not know, the Times reports.

Is this the first time Bocanegra has been accused?

The Los Angeles Times also found out and reported in October that Bocanegra had been disciplined by the Legislature following allegations that he groped a fellow legislative staffer.

This unfortunate experience I was involved in as a staffer nearly 10 years ago was something I regret and learned from. As to the complaint filed, I fully cooperated with the investigation and after a comprehensive review by an independent body, which included interviews of over a dozen witnesses, the investigation was closed, Bocanegra said in a statement.

He was told to stay away from his accuser, legislative staff member Elise Gyore, but was not otherwise disciplined by the Assembly Rules Committee.

Why did it take him so long to resign?

In a statement posted to Facebook on Monday, Bocanegra said when he first announced he would wait to resign until 2018, it was because it was more important to prevent the Northeast Valley from losing representation and to avoid the significant taxpayer cost of a special election. He also added that he didnt want to undermine the credibility of his accusers so the he and they would have access to a fair due process.

He maintains that hes not guilty of any crimes but that hes admittedly not perfect.

I believed in our system of innocent until proven guilty and that the truth would come out clearing my name and reputation, Bocanegra wrote. But clearly, the principle of innocent until proven guilty has been temporarily lost in a hurricane of political opportunism among the self-righteous in my case - to the detriment of both the accuser and the accused.

Check out the latest editorials on the issue from the San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board:

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  She stands convicted in the death of her second husband, and prosecutors have suggested in open court she had something to do with the demise of husbands one and three.

Now, husband No. 4 is bitterly denouncing the Louisiana legal system, saying hes nearly bankrupted himself paying for her legal defense.

Emma Raine was convicted of second-degree murder Friday in the 2006 death of Ernest Smith. Prosecutors say she and her then-lover, James Raine, arranged to have Smith killed for insurance money.

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James later married Emma. He was found shot to death in their Poplarville, Mississippi, home in 2011.

Emma Raine had moved to Missouri and married John W. Golston by the time a cold-case investigation led to her 2013 arrest.

She faces a mandatory life sentence. But Golston still insists shes not guilty.

Prosecutors in the Raine case spun a lurid yarn of money, infidelity and murder, and Golston said Friday that its proliferation in media and online, where his wife was portrayed as a black widow, played right into their hands.

They had her tried and convicted before she went to trial, Golston told The Associated Press when reached by telephone hours after Fridays verdict.

Emma, 52, had moved to Missouri a few months after James Raines October 2011 death.

Golston, 50, said he had not known Emma very long before he married her in December 2012 but knew she was three times a widow.

Her honesty, he said when asked what drew her to him. She seemed really nice and she was easy with her heart. I still dont see all this devious stuff that Ive been seeing on the internet. I still dont believe that she could have done that.

They had only been married about a half a year when police showed up. They said it was for forgery, he said. But police in New Orleans actually jailed her on a murder charge in Smiths death seven years earlier.

Smith had been gunned down just outside the couples apartment in an all-but abandoned complex in eastern New Orleans, where months earlier, floods following levee failures during Hurricane Katrina had laid waste to everything.

Police claimed she showed little emotion at her husbands death, but the case soon went cold.

James Raines murder more than five years later would lead to its reopening. According to testimony from Raines brother Enoch and two uncles, adopted brother Terry Everette was shaken by Raines gunshot death. He anxiously confessed to the family that he had killed Ernest Smith years before at the behest of James and Emma for $10,000 of Smiths $800,000 benefit.

The relatives said they urged Everette to turn himself in. They waited months. He never did. So, they contacted a cold case detective in New Orleans.

Everette was tried and convicted of second-degree murder in December 2014. It was then that prosecutors introduced evidence they said indicated the 1994 death of Emmas first husband, while he was under care following a car accident, was suspicious.

That evidence was not allowed at Emmas trial this week.

Prosecutors produced insurance records and other documents showing Emma had increased insurance on Smith over the years. Even her defense team acknowledged she engineered a forgery scheme to keep Smiths daughter from her share of the benefits.

But, in echoes of the defense argument, Golston insisted Friday that the murder case was built on hearsay and documents that dont prove guilt.

I think this whole thing was fabricated. It was a setup and it wasnt right, Golston said. She didnt have anyone killed and she didnt kill anyone.

Asked his occupation, Golston said he was an average worker. He said he didnt want to try to calculate how much he has spent on Emmas defense. Id get sick. It bankrupted me, almost.

He faults the prosecutors and the judge and says defense attorneys were too slow to run down leads.

I dont go to New Orleans and I wont, he said. From what Ive seen, the judicial system down there is really corrupt.

Golston was uncertain when asked how the conviction will affect his future and his marriage. I dont know what Im going to do, he said. But I have to live, too.

The fallout is hard on James Raines family, as well. His adopted brother, Everette, is serving a life sentence. Like Emma, he was convicted of second-degree murder.

Raine family members declined comment after sitting through the trial but handed out a prepared statement thanking police and prosecutors, expressing sympathy for Smiths family and saying they will pursue closure in James Raines still officially unsolved death in Mississippi.
BANGKOK (AP)  Anti-government protesters are planning to shut down Thailands capital on Monday by blocking traffic at key intersections, providing a fitting metaphor for the countrys politics: no way forward, no backing out.

Crisis Deepens, read a big headline in the Bangkok Post newspaper. Poll boycott draws nation into uncharted territory.

That was Feb. 28, 2006, when then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was seeking to defuse protests against his rule by calling early elections, and the opposition Democrat Party refused to take part. In September that year, the army deposed Thaksin in a coup.

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Eight years later, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra  billionaire Thaksins sister  has called early elections to defuse anti-government protests, and the opposition Democrat Party is again boycotting the polls.

The protesters planning to tie up traffic in Bangkok on Monday are demanding that Yingluck and her caretaker government step down and freeze elections for up to two years, during which time an interim Peoples Council  which they apparently would appoint  would implement reforms to fight corruption and put an end to money politics.

Tensions are high, with eight people killed over the past two months in connection with the protests. The demonstrators have engaged in running street battles with police, cut off water and electricity to national police headquarters, and forcibly occupied the compounds of several other government agencies. Several drive-by shootings have taken place near their main encampment, the latest one leaving seven protesters injured Saturday morning.

The demonstrators slogan is Reform before election, but their agenda really is Stop Thaksin, again. It reflects the reality that Yingluck is acting as a stand-in for her brother, who is calling the shots from exile, where he fled in 2008 to avoid a jail term for a corruption conviction.

The political crisis could play out several ways.

One scenario is a military coup. The protesters  headed by the so-called Peoples Democratic Reform Committee  clearly hope to trigger enough chaos to force the army to take over to restore order.

The military is noted for having staged about a dozen successful coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. As recently as Tuesday, army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha refused to rule out the possibility of another.

The 2006 coup against Thaksin was a bloodless one, but it was followed up by an inept interim government and triggered the violent polarization that has dogged Thai politics ever since.

Another possibility for the current crisis is a so-called judicial coup. Several cases are pending in the courts and the countrys independent oversight agencies  all tilting heavily against the Shinawatras political machine  that could see Yinglucks party thrown out of office and its members barred from politics. The key bodies are stacked with figures who were opposed to Thaksin and appointed by the unelected government after the 2006 coup.

In a situation where the government has an overwhelming electoral mandate, the court is the last fortress of the establishment and the authoritarians, said Thamrongsak Lertpetchanan, a political scientist at Rangsit University.

In another scenario, the Feb. 2 elections would take place as scheduled. But if candidates who were blocked from registering by protesters are unable to run, seats in their constituencies will be empty, making it impossible to meet a quorum in Parliament.

If Parliament is not convened, a caretaker government would remain in place, unable to initiate laws or treaties, pass a budget, or carry out most functions of government. Such a crisis would increase pressure for it to be replaced, by force or even royal intervention under vague clauses of the constitution that have never been invoked.

The 2006 coup sparked years of sometimes violent struggle for political power between Thaksins supporters and opponents, hitting its nadir in 2010 when an army crackdown on pro-Thaksin demonstrators led to the deaths of 90 people.

The so-called Red Shirts who came out then on Thaksins behalf proved their mettle in Bangkoks streets, and their leaders are promising that they would resist a new coup, raising the prospect of fresh violence.

Thaksin commands overwhelming support in Thailands less well-off rural areas, where voters are grateful for his populist programs, such as virtually free health care. Pro-Thaksin parties have easily won every national election since 2001.

These people will come out to support us, Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul told foreign journalists Friday.

He said they were avoiding confrontations in the hope that the situation will calm down, but that if anything happens to the government, they will rise up.

Corruption and accusations of abuse of power by Thaksin, the stubbornness of a ruling class dismayed that democracy may force it to share power, and questions over the royal succession after ailing 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies have all been cited as causes of Thailands long-running political crisis.

But the immediate trigger for the latest protests was an ill-advised move late last year by ruling party lawmakers who tried to push through a bill under the guise of a reconciliation measure offering a legal amnesty for political offenders. The last-minute inclusion of Thaksin, a polarizing figure, led to public outrage and the bill was voted down.

Criticism of Thaksin runs deep because of personal animosity. While in office, he often treated critics with contempt, and some of the most vitriolic denunciations of him come from people he bullied or intimidated.

Others claim that Thailands traditional ruling elite, who closely associate themselves with the monarchy, oppose Thaksin because they resent losing influence to a popularly elected leader.

They are uneasy about what will happen when the king dies, and whether Thaksin could influence the succession.

Its about the royal transition that would shift the entire political landscape, which has long been dominated by the establishment but has come loose at the seams because Thaksin  even after he has gone  his legacy is still here and these people here fear that once their beloved king passed from the scene everything will be crashing down, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at Kyoto Universitys Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Short- and long-term solutions to the crisis remain elusive, since both sides call for political reforms but differ on the goal and the way to get there.

Further violence and bloodshed in Bangkok could have a major impact on the economy, especially investment, a worry already reflected in a downturn of the stock market and a weakening of the local currency, said Anusorn Thammachai, dean of the economic faculty at Rangsit University.

But, he added, if the situation leads to reform giving birth to more transparent and better political and economic systems, then the current crisis is perhaps a price Thailand needs to pay.

For now, a dark mood prevails.

The signals are clear and ominous. We are at the edge of a precipice staring into a dark abyss, read a front-page editorial in Fridays Bangkok Post, warning that a coup is no solution.

With the political divide that has engulfed the country over the past decade, the consequences of a coup this time would be worse than the vicious cycle we have experienced in the past, the editorial read. This time a coup would be the spark sending the country into turmoil.

___

Associated Press writer Sinfah Tunsarawuth contributed to this report.
Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Deputy Speaker of the Singaporean Parliament Lim Biow Chuan (Source: VNA)



NA Chairwoman Ngan was welcomed at the airport by Deputy Speaker of the Singaporean Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Nguyen Tien Minh and staff of the Embassy.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties on August 1st, 1973, the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore have progressed effectively on the pillars of politics; economy; national defence-security; education, law, health care, culture-arts-sports; and cooperation at regional and international forums.

As of September 2017, Singapore was the third largest foreign investor among 126 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with over 1,917 projects worth more than USD41.5 billion.

Vietnam poured some USD241 million into 65 projects in the island state, placing Singapore at the 12th place out of 68 countries and territories receiving Vietnamese outbound investments in oil and gas, mining, information technology and services.

Over the past years, the Vietnamese and Singaporean legislatures have maintained the exchange of visits by high-ranking parliament leaders and officials. Apart from discussing law-building and legal supervision, they have contributed to promoting bilateral trade and investment.

The two sides have worked closely together at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

They have offered mutual consultations and shared similar stances on the settlement of security and environment issues in the region.

This is the following visit to Singapore by a top Vietnamese legislator since the previous trip by NA Chairman Nguyen Van An in 2003.

The visit is an important diplomatic activity to strengthen the Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership, towards celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties./.






Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Pereric Hogberg speaking at the event

The forum, organized for the first time in the capital, is a significant event marking 20 years since the introduction of Internet in Vietnam.

The two-day event, co-hosted by the Embassy of Sweden in Vietnam and the Ministry of Information and Communications, seeks to provide a platform for exchanging views on how the Internet can foster development in ways that are sustainable and inclusive.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Pereric Hogberg said the Internet has developed in ways we had never imagined and made a huge impact in Vietnam, Sweden and around the world. It has undeniably sparked innovation and entrepreneurship, created new forms of economic activity, and offered a renewed opportunity for citizens to be heard on a wide range of issues, and for governments to be more open, transparent and accountable.

The growth of Internet in Vietnam during the last 20 years has resulted in well-developed infrastructure and technologies, as well the wide spread of applications and social media. The Internet now is in all aspects of peoples everyday life, both socially and economically.

Mr. Vu The Binh, Secretary General of Vietnam Internet Association, said that VIF17 would be a good chance for hearing different views about life on the Internet in an open environment, so that we can all head towards the establishment of internet ecosystem with openness, transparency, diversity and safety.

Currently, the Government is trying to promote the development of IT and digital industry, and the application of value added on the Internet, in combination with the development of many types of services; bringing more convenience and effectiveness for people and businesses.

VIF aims to be an annual platform where government officials, civil society representatives, academia, business leaders, social entrepreneurs, investors and other relevant stakeholders come together to discuss the Internets contribution to an open, sustainable and innovative society./.




Las Vegas, NV -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2017 -- CIMON Inc., a global supplier of industrial automation products and reliable process control systems, released their latest Industrial software updates at the Assembly and Automation Technology 2017 exhibition in Thailand.



The exhibition, held in Thailand's BITEC (Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre) attracted some 330 companies from 27 countries around the world, and proved the ideal opportunity for CIMON Inc., to showcase its industrial PC and OPC UA communication module for PLC and PLC-S, a standard communication protocol for IoT (Internet of Things).



While there were a number of Japanese participants, CIMON Inc., was the sole participant in the industrial automation field, showcasing the many advances in Korean technology. The company attracted widespread interest from industry media, with a large number of interview requests to discuss the smart factory solutions. This follows on from the company's recent expansion into the United States, with the opening of an office in Las Vegas.



In this software update, HTML 5 technology will be readily integrated into the UltimateAccess SCADA product, resulting in easier remote access. This provides an exciting ability to monitor and control systems such as factories, farms, buildings, and airports, from simple mobile or tablet devices anywhere in the world.



During the exhibition, CIMON Inc., demonstrated a positioning service connecting its OPC Unified Architecture (standard communication protocol for IoT compatibility) to the servo motor. This OPC UA communication module is the only module of its kind to be developed in Korea, and will be supplied to companies around the world to increase performance of factory systems.



Developed by manufacturers, users, and research agencies, to ensure the safe exchange of information between various systems, the technology will play a key role in the manufacturing industry and IoT.



The development of CIMON Inc.'s Industrial Panel Computer (IPC) to endure harsh environmental conditions typical of manufacturing sites, while providing high performance and system stability (by using Intel CPU and SSD) is also an exciting indication of the system's stability.



"We are constantly working to incorporate the latest technology afforded to us right now, and are delighted to have showcased our updates to AAT17 delegates" said Mr. An Che Bong, CEO and President of CIMON Inc.



"Our new SCADA updates mean that preventative maintenance, through collecting, comparing, and analyzing data, as well as alerting users of potential errors and damage, will occur completely on its own. The event was a hugely useful opportunity to show the industry just how smart their business can be with our services and products" he added.



Among the updates, a new user-friendly graphics tool and scheduler was also announced at the show. In addition, images and graphics will no longer need to be created in two separate environments for the PC and subsequent mobile devices. The system will now automatically perform the conversion for users.



About CIMON

CIMON Inc., will extend its services and products globally to strengthen and position itself as a leader in the automation industry. Founded in 1999, the company will be celebrating 20-years in business in 2019. Today, CIMON Inc., is regarded as an expert in the field, as well as an unmatched industrial PC products provider.



For more information, visit: http://www.cimon.com/.



Contact:

US Address: 2538 Anthem Village Dr. #110, Henderson, NV 89052 United States

Contact Person Name: Paul An

Phone: 213-384-8703

E-mail: info@cimon.com

PR Agency InterAd

Rachael H. Jarvis,

pr@interad.com

Stanley Chang,

+82-2-3454-1513

jeawook@interad.com
Bonham, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2017 -- Farmers across Texas have many similarities. They till the ground, removing obstacles, make rows, plant seeds, water, weed, fertilize and carefully tend crops until harvest. Farmers battle various pests that not only damage crops but also destroy the land. Many hours of toil and diligence can be destroyed overnight.



Besides these pests there is one not indigenous to the area, doing more damage than all combined. Wild pigs have become so widespread, that farmers in the state of Texas are desperate to keep them at bay. These feral hogs have done extreme damage to the natural ecology and that some experts wonder if the damage can be reversed. Wild hogs can destroy 40+ acres of corn per night depending on the size of the "sounder" or group of feral pigs.



In Fannin County, farmers battle this invasive species yearly and it's largely been a losing battle.



Farmers have been very happy to have help, and offset of costs they would pay for eradication from Skyhunter Outfitters who allow private shooters the opportunity for helicopter hog hunting in Texas. Hunters can act as a "subagent gunner" and shoot the hogs from the air.



A Skyhunter representative stated, "Over the last 2 years locals have seen up to a 25-50% reduction in crop damage, and one farmer claims they didn't lose any of their 2016 corn crop as a result of helicopter hog hunt flights."



About Skyhunter Outfitters LLC

Owned and operated by a US Army Veteran and former Calvary Scout Pilot along with his qualified staff, Skyhunter Outfitters LLC provides shooters with the ultimate aerial feral pig hunting experience. Help save the eco-system of Texas while experiencing this unparalleled opportunity.



Hunters that want experience helicopter hog hunting can visit https://sky-hunters.com.
Bonham, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2017 -- Hogs were first introduced to Texas over 300 years ago by early Spanish explorers. As settlers increased, hog numbers increased. Many hogs were freed during the Texas fight for independence when people were escaping to the United States or Mexico. Hogs began to range freely increasing the feral population.



European wild hogs, or "Russian boars," were first brought to Texas in the 1930's for sport hunting. Most eventually got loose, became wild, and bred with feral hogs. In light of the crossbreeding, few, if any at all, true European hogs remain in Texas.



Feral hogs are destructive, non-game animals. Their damage so extensive law permits year round hog hunting in Texas with no bag limits. Ground hunting is slow and dangerous, with some hogs weighing 300 pounds or more, so helicopter hog hunt can help. Landowners appreciate hog hunting from a helicopter and many give flying permission for aerial hunters as wild hog populations are growing and the need for helicopter hog hunting in Texas will continue to grow.



For helicopter hog hunting in Dallas we spoke with a representative from Skyhunter Outfitter LLC, "Our goal is to provide a needed service for Texas. Save crops, and minimize feral hog destruction while providing shooters the ultimate helicopter hog hunting experience. We want hunters to leave with lifetime memories and offer them helicopter hog hunting videos to share those memories with friends and family for a lifetime!"



About Skyhunter Outfitters LLC

Owned and operated by a US Army Veteran and former Calvary Scout Pilot along with his qualified staff, Skyhunter Outfitters LLC provides shooters with the ultimate aerial feral pig hunting experience. Help save the eco-system of Texas while experiencing this unparalleled opportunity.



Hunters that want experience helicopter hog hunting can visit https://sky-hunters.com.
Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2017 -- Kids Yoga Stories is an exciting Boston-based company working strongly to encourage kids to explore yoga in a fun and carefree way, through a series of kids yoga books. Most recently, Kids Yoga Stories celebrated the exciting news that one of their more popular kids yoga books, Katie's Karate Class won a Family Choice Award. The Family Choice Awards recognizes the best products, services and resources for all members of a family. This awards program, now in its 19th year, is one of the most coveted, family friendly consumer awards program in the nation.



With yoga having such a powerful effect on so many lives, it's only natural many parents would want to introduce yoga and yoga's benefits to their children as early as possible. Kids Yoga Stories, who offer a series of fun books incorporating yoga into their lessons, recently released Katie's Karate Class to help children address their fears about trying new things.



"It's always wonderful to see our work being appreciated, both by our valued readers and by something as prestigious as the Family Choice Awards," commented Giselle Shardlow, owner of Kids Yoga Stories and author of Katie's Karate Class. "Our passion is bringing yoga to kids in a fun and inspirational way, and we look forward to Kids Yoga Stories continuing to grow at a natural and healthy pace."



On the way to her first karate class, Katie feels self-conscious about starting something new and meeting new people, but her brother shows her how to recognize the feeling of fear and how to use something familiar to inspire her courage. Feedback for Katie's Karate Class has been incredibly positive.



"What a lovely story to share with children that struggle with fear and anxiety. My daughter has been going through this exact scenario with starting karate and the anxiety of new people, new activity, and new feelings. Fear can be crippling to a young child, and helping them understand and overcome it is a wonderful tool that they will come back to many times as they grow up. The language is clear and simple enough for a young, early reader to read on her own but also great to sit and read together. My daughter was so excited that something she was experiencing was written in a book!" said Kimberly, in an Amazon review of Katie's Karate Class.



For more information, yoga tips, and free yoga resources, sign up for the free weekly Kids Yoga Stories newsletter.



About Giselle Shardlow

Founder, author, and owner Giselle Shardlow is a certified yoga instructor and a former primary school teacher in Australia, Canada, Guatemala, and the United States. She holds a Masters of International Education, and her mission is to bring education, health, and happiness to children worldwide.



Media Contact:

Giselle Shardlow

Kids Yoga Stories

Email: Giselle@kidsyogastories.com

Location: Boston, MA

Website: www.kidsyogastories.com
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2017 -- The Global Vasectomy Market is expected to reach USD 24.0 billion at a CAGR of ~ 7.1 % during the by the end of forecast period 2017-2023. The Vasectomy Market professional survey report 2017-2023 by reviewing the company profiles of the leading players functioning in this market. The market hierarchy has also been identified in this study by analyzing the current developments and future prospects of these players.



Global Vasectomy Market Segments:



The Global Vasectomy Market has been classified into type, drugs, end user, and patients,



On the basis of type, the market has been segmented as conventional vasectomy, no-scalpel vasectomy, and minimally invasive vasectomy.



Based on the drugs, the market has been segmented as anesthetics, painkillers, antibiotics, and others.



Based on the patients, the market has been segmented as human and animals.



Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as hospitals and clinics, research and academics, and others.



Get Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4703 .



The Global Vasectomy Market report is an expert comprehensive research data from the well know key players as Pfizer, Inc., Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Sanofi S.A., Novartis AG, Bayer AG, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, Inc., Accurate Surgical & Scientific Instruments Corporation, Sklar Surgical Instruments, Advanced Meditech International and others.



Vasectomy Market Regional Analysis:



The Americas account for a major share of the market owing to high expenditure on the health care, especially, of the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, the greater number of vasectomies due to greater male-female equality in the U.S. and Canada drives the vasectomy market. The high concentration of the major hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with good reimbursement rates is adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the large share of surgeries in the returns of hospitals favors the market. Canada has a higher rate of people undergoing vasectomies than the U.S.



Europe is the second largest market in the world due to growing the pharmaceutical and industrial base. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period. Belgium, Denmark, and Switzerland have a higher rate of people undergoing vasectomies than other nations of Europe.



Asia Pacific region is expected to proliferate; China and India are likely to lead this market due to the fast-growing healthcare sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. India was the first nation in the world to include population control as a national program way back in 1952. South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future vasectomy market in the region.



Order Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=4703 .



Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a poor growth owing to weak economic and political conditions, and inadequate healthcare development. Botswana and South Africa are expected to be the future markets with approximately 1% rate of people undergoing vasectomies. Other regions are projected to be laggards due to the poor social development and tribal identities such as sub-Saharan Africa.



Major TOC for Vasectomy Market:

1 Introduction



1.1 Definition

1.2 Scope of Study

1.3 Research Objective

1.4 Assumptions & Limitations

1.4.1 Assumptions

1.4.2 Limitations

2 Research Methodology



2.1 Research Process

2.2 Primary Research

2.3 Secondary Research

3 Market Dynamics



3.1 Introduction

3.2 Growth Drivers

3.2.1 Increasing Number of Dental care

3.2.2 Increasing Per Capita Income In Emerging Markets

3.2.3 Rising Dental Tourism

3.2.4 Increasing Cosmetic dentistry treatments

3.3 Restraint

3.3.1 Cost of Dental Procedures

3.3.2 Grey Market of Vasectomy

3.3.3 Slow Adoption Of New Technology

3.4 Opportunities

3.5 Macroeconomic Indicators



Ask to Expert @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/4703 .



About Market Research Future

Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.
[MANILA] The 23rd UN Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP23) in Bonn (November 617) saw acknowledgement and emphasis of the role of women in the global fight against climate change through a gender action plan (GAP).



Building on existing frameworks, the plan will create new processes to enable women to become agents of change for climate action. The GAP's main goal is to support and enhance the implementation of gender-related decisions and mandates so far adopted by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through specific initiatives over the next two years.

The question for me is whether these types of gender-sensitive projects can initiate change in attitudes about gender or just postpone a clash between men and women Lisa Schipper, Environmental Change Institute  Oxford University

The GAP notably moves beyond gender parity in policy negotiations to integrating gender equality in all aspects of climate policy and action. That means strengthening women's roles in all activities related to climate adaptation and mitigation as well as implementing processes, including technology development and transfer. Priority areas in the plan include capacity-building, knowledge sharing and communication; and gender balance, participation and women's leadership.



According to the New York-based Women's Environment and Development Organisation, women comprise 42 per cent of UNFCCC national delegations in the Bonn, Germany sessions this past May, about the same number from the same conference in 2016.



Climate change specialists based in the Asia-Pacific say that the region is uniquely primed to adopt the GAP.



"Obviously there are some very traditional beliefs throughout the region, but this parallel process of change and people adapting to these new things happening, like in the realm of technology, gives me optimism that it provides the right place for changes around gender to also happen," Lisa Schipper, a Vietnam-based research fellow at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, tells SciDev.Net.



But Schipper warns that gender sensitivity in climate change is a relatively new area and there isn't enough evidence to determine whether gender-sensitive projects really work in reducing people's sensitivity to climate change over the long term.



"The question for me is whether these types of gender-sensitive projects can initiate change in attitudes about gender or just postpone a clash between men and women," Schipper says. "As resources start dwindling and the pressure is on everybody, will initiatives to make things gender-equal without actually making a cultural change just cover up underlying problems that will then emerge later as things get more difficult?"

In the meantime, Esther Nabuti, a 29-year-old from Kiribati who attended COP23, tells SciDev.Net that she is optimistic about what the new GAP will mean for the future of young Pacific women like her."Women are a vulnerable group, we are often harder to see, harder to hear and not at the decision-making table," said the Red Cross volunteer. "We need to be part of decision-making and action, to ensure it reflects our experiences and realities."This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
Nikita Floyd, Owner of Green Forever

Greg Cannito, Managing Director, Corvias

Sanjiv Sinha, Ph.D., Vice President, Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc.

P3GreatLakes Initiative. Find out more about green stormwater infrastructure and how public-private partnerships can work at www.p3greatlakes.org

When Nikita Floyd was 11 years old, his father took him to a job site in a low-income area of Washington D.C. and put him to work picking up trash and mowing lawns. At the time, Floyd says he didnt want to do that kind of work for a living because, I didnt get paid for it, it was a chore.But when he grew up, Floyd recognized an opportunity. He launched his own landscaping firm, Green Forever, and was eventually awarded Business of the Year in 2014 by the Prince Georges County Chamber of Commerce.One of Green Forevers signature services is something Floyds father likely never would have dreamed of. Floyd specializes in maintaining green infrastructurethe constructed wetlands, porous concrete, and bioswales increasingly being built across the nation to help manage stormwater.Floyd came to the work through a Mentor/Protege program developed by Prince Georges County, Maryland as part of its commitment to assisting local and minority-owned businesses. The program was part of an effort to comply with a federal mandate to reduce polluted stormwater runoff draining to the Chesapeake Bay.Prince Georges county didnt just want to comply with a federal mandate. Instead, county leaders sought a more holistic solution to the problem. The county wanted not only to reduce its polluted stormwater, but also to help the community along the way.The high road: A community benefits public-private partnership.According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the total investment gap for water and wastewater infrastructure in the United States is expected to be $105 billion by 2025. Increasingly, public agencies are looking to the private sector as a new way to help pay for underfunded public services and infrastructure.Sanjiv Sinha, Ph.D., is a vice-president with Ann Arbor-based consulting firm Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc. (ECT). With funding from the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Sinha is pioneering the application of market-based business concepts to stormwater work. He is leading market sizing studies and development of business plans for the use of these new concepts in the Great Lakes basin. His work is profiled in at www.p3greatlakes.org, a resource dedicated to assessing and, where appropriate, promoting the use of public-private partnerships (P3s) in the Great Lakes basin.Traditionally, looking at private sector has meant working with private investment to pay up-front costs for projects, allowing public agencies to build more quickly than slow public bonds would allow, and hopefully leveraging private sector efficiencies to lower cost, Says Sinha. But new P3 models go beyond this to combine private finance with project delivery, management, and maintenance, even linking outcomes to project performance and social goals.Prince Georges County entered into a novel kind of partnership agreement with a Rhode Island-based Corvias Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in public-private partnerships for building and managing public infrastructure projects.The Clean Water Partnership is a Community-Based Public-Private Partnership (CBP3) between the county and Corvias Solutions. Through the 30-year agreement, Corvias executes and performs the finance, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Prince Georges Countys stormwater management programs. This means an entirely new approach to building new infrastructureone that looks beyond water to solving additional challenges identified in the community.We sign on to achieve the goals built from a delivery standpoint, but also broader policy objectives, and we assume the risk, says Greg Cannito, a managing director with Corvias. For example, in our performance-based system, its not just about delivering work on time and under budget. We also have socio-economic workforce development hiring goals.Prince Georges County was under a court order to meet EPA Clean Water regulatory requirements, which requires it to treat 15,000 acres of polluted runoff by 2025. As part of this goal, CWP has been tasked with treating up to 2,000 acres of these impervious surfaces by constructing green infrastructure on both public and private land. Prince Georges County set additional requirements to utilize certified local, small, minority and women-owned businesses for 3040 percent of the total project scope.High-road infrastructure is where youre utilizing infrastructure as a platform in order to achieve greater services and greater outcomes for the community, says Cannito. We help develop and design the program, assume long-term management as the private partner with the public entity, and if they want to finance it, we can do the financing as well. Then we procure for the local market, develop programs with the schools with the local subcontractor base, and make sure the work gets done in the way that the public partner is hoping. Finally, we measure that based on the already predefined outcomes they hope to achieve.The project has exceeded these goals under budget and on-time, according to Cannito.Weve saved by cutting the costs to achieve about 50 percent savings, and weve utilized 80 percent local, small, disadvantaged, county-based contractors, says Cannito.How was the Clean Water Partnership able to deliver such outstanding results? According to Cannito, its all about leveraging the efficiencies of the private sector.Stormwater is a highly piecemealed, fragmented type of work that municipal governments or governments do in the traditional design/bid/build mode, says Cannito. We were able to aggregate the work and put it into more of a large-scale design/build/operate/maintain kind of manufacturing line. We were able to scale it. That gained us a lot of efficiency and economy of scale. Part of that process, says Cannito, was about taking the time to design the marketplace and create what he terms a demand-based pipeline of qualified labor to get the job done.Instead of just running out and designing the project and building it, we assess the subcontractor capacity of the marketplace. Its a little bit of a go slow to go fast approach, but what youll find is that the marketplace has the capacity. Nobody really takes the time to connect the dots.According to Cannito, many design-build projects undertaken in the public sector are missing opportunities to work with the private sector to leverage private competition and innovation.The public sector doesnt ask enough of the private sector, he says. Typically in a lot of cases, theyll do an RFP for a project, and theyll prescribe so much that the private sector just bids on what they prescribe knowing that theyll change-order it later. Even if what they prescribe they know is not feasible, they know as long as they can check the box on that RFP, they can get selected and they can change order. This approach is really where instead of prescribing a scope to the private sector, its asking the private sector to provide proposals based on the outcomes that they want to be achieved.Financing is another key area where public-private partnerships can change the paradigm for how public infrastructure projects are executed. According to Cannito, financing should follow project design to allow the public agency to identify clear goals.Too many people are so focused on going to get financing, they forget about structuring a really good project, he says. The public sector should really be focused on their goals and achieving those outcomes, and allow the private sector to propose innovative solutions. The better you can structure a projects goals, the public sector can have their pick of any type of financing that they want which can be approached at a later stage.That may include a mix of public and private financing. Cannito says that private financing is not necessarily more expensive than public financing if you consider overall costs of execution, and has the advantage of being able to fund a project up-front, which means water quality benefits can be realized right away as opposed to a decade down the road.Investors are attracted to project execution and surety, says Cannito. Having a program that is goal-oriented based on a broader vision is in line with the newer metrics of investors. And a project where you are getting the private sector to guarantee the surety of execution? Now youve taken the risk out of the project and that makes it much more financeable for investors.One novel and promising approach to structuring financing is called an Environmental Impact Bond whereby a private financial institution provides financing upfront and then the payer, the government entity who benefits from that solution, pays back the financing based on predefined performance. This type of financing shifts the risk away from the public agency and onto the private investors.Todd Appel is a vice-president with Washington D.C.-based investment firm Quantified Ventures, pioneering a Pay-for-success financing model that links investment performance outcomes.Appel recently worked with the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority to pilot a project to finance 20 acres of green infrastructure as part of the Districts consent decree to reduce its combined sewer overflows under the Clean Water Act. The District was on the hook to build $2.5 billion in tunnels to reduce CSO volume but got an amendment to substitute 350 acres of green infrastructure to handle some of that reduction.So they were embarking on that and they were worried about the performance risk of the green infrastructure, would it actually reduce the volume of stormwater flowing into the sewer system under the consent decree?  says Appel. So they decided to do two things. One, start with a pilot. Theyll build green infrastructure on 20 acres initially. And secondly, finance that pilot with performance-based financing. So they issued a municipal bond of $25 million dollars for the design, build and maintenance of the green infrastructure on the 20 acres. And unlike a normal municipal bond, this one is tied specifically to the success of the green infrastructure in reducing the volume of stormwater.The investment is modeled based on expected outcomes and assigned probability ranges to create three payment tiers. The middle one is as expected or the most likely outcome that covers a wide range of probable outcomes. For this range, D.C. Water pays out their normal cost of capital. But if its below expected then the investors get close to zero percent interest.Effectively the investors are providing an insurance policy to D.C. Water if the green infrastructure totally fails, says Appel. And if the performance is better than expected the investors get premium. So this environmental impact bond is a way of passing on some of the risks of a green infrastructure deployment to investors.To determine payouts, baseline data on performance is being collected in the field and follow-up data will be collected over four years. In year five investors will know what tier the investment ended up based on performance, and will square up based on that. This was the first environmental impact bond issued in the country and the first instance of a municipal bond having an outcome-based payment according to Appel.Quantified Ventures is now looking to replicate the program through a program funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to identify two U.S. cities in which to test this model of financing for green infrastructure. The firm is also working with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to select four communities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to finance their green infrastructure programs with environmental impact bonds. Clearly, while the concepts are new, many thought leaders are rapidly beginning to explore it.So far, public-private partnerships have not been a part of stormwater management in the Great Lakes region, which still relies mainly on public funding to create and implement green infrastructure.Sinhas Great Lakes focused team includes both Corvias and Quantified Ventures, as well as other companies that bring in cutting-edge, national expertise to the basin.One key challenge to the use of these new concepts to water infrastructure is that there is a significant knowledge gap. So far no one is advising communities or agencies by clearly articulating why they should even consider this approach, says Sinha.Sinhas team has analyzed several P3 frameworks for Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District that collectively serve dozens of Great Lakes communities, and has developed prototype business plans for implementation.We believe these frameworks are equally relevant in other regions across the Great Lakes and beyond, says Sinha. We do know the Great Lakes market has the appetite for large-scale green infrastructure. A report we recently published shows that five Great Lakes states can support well over a billion dollars of investment in green infrastructure.Sinhas work with the MMSD shows that there are significant values to be gained by the use of a CBP3.The MMSD is a regional wastewater utility with a 411 square-mile service area serving 1.1 million people. The MMSD has built a deep tunnel system and has been able to reduce its combined sewer overflows to a point where they only occur once or twice a year now, meeting its obligations under the Clean Water Act.Despite this achievement, MMSD is looking to implement green infrastructure within its service area as part of its 2035 Vision, which calls for a goal of 740 million gallons of treatment via green infrastructure to be built.Were looking for green infrastructure to add a layer of additional capacity and resiliency where water falls, says Kevin Shafer, Executive Director of the MMSD. The benefit of green infrastructure is that its not only for stormwater quantity and quality, but that it also produces a whole host of benefits that gray infrastructure cant. So, whether its increased property values, better quality of life, aesthetics, what have you, there are so many other things that green infrastructure brings to the table.And Shafer is looking with keen interest at what has been happening in Prince Georges County, Washington D.C. and elsewhere.We see green infrastructure, both the infrastructure and the maintenance of it, as a possibility of employing a variety of folks, to be able to give them a living wage to move forward, and as a way to revitalize and improve the quality of life in some of the lower-income areas, says Shafer. And were finding that gallon for gallon, green is at least cost-competitive with gray infrastructure.Shafer is looking into multiple ways of financing and implementing its green infrastructure goal. According to a report by ECT, MMSD stands to save $500 million in costs over 30 years by taking a CBP3 approach. But for Shafer, while compelling in looking out for ratepayers interests, the appeal goes beyond dollars and cents.As chairman of the board at the U.S. Water Alliance Shafer is at the vanguard of a movement to integrate water quality into the entire quality of life of an area.It really is looking at this one water approach, trying to not just improve water quality, but to improve neighborhoods, the livability of cities, increase economic development, and benefit the quality of life of the entire area, says Shafer. That brings with it a lot of efficiencies that can also help meet some of these other social goals that were looking for as well.
Press Release

November 27, 2017 Drilon: House cannot force CJ to attend own impeachment hearing Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon warned of a serious constitutional crisis if the House Committee on Justice proceeds with its plan to issue an arrest order to compel Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to attend the impeachment complaint hearing against her. "I urge Rep. Reynaldo Umali to exercise extreme caution in using the coercive powers of Congress to issue a subpoena against Sereno as there is no basis and will provoke a needless constitutional crisis," Drilon said. "The House Committee on Justice cannot force Sereno to attend and testify in an impeachment hearing against her. It cannot be done without triggering a constitutional crisis," he said. He stressed: "The power of the House of Representatives to issue a subppoena, motu prioprio, cannot be used during the investigation of an impeachment complaint." He explained that an impeachment hearing is different from investigations in aid of legislation where Congress is allowed to issue a subpoena and order the detention of a witness. Drilon explained that "requiring her to testify against herself would place her under the strongest temptation to commit perjury, and subject her to an extortion of confessions by duress." This, Drilon added, will violate Sereno's constitutional rights and the principles of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. "Since the primary purpose of the request to subpoena the Chief Justice is to require her to testify for the prosecution in relation to the Articles of Impeachment filed against heart, this runs afoul of her constitutional right against self-incrimination. Section 17, Article III of the Constitution states that 'No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself,'" Drilon warned.
Press Release

November 27, 2017 GORDON THANKS SUBIC FREEPORT'S PIONEER INVESTORS, WORKERS Senator Richard J. Gordon on Friday expressed his gratitude to the pioneer investors who answered his call and set up shop when the Subic Bay Freeport and Special Economic Zone was created. During the commemoration of the Freeport's 25th founding anniversary, Gordon noted that, aside from the volunteers who sacrificed a lot to ensure the realization of the vision that was Subic, the pioneer locators were Instrumental in its success. "Thank you for placing your faith in Subic during a most uncertain time," he said, adding that since the volunteers ensured that the military installation, including its furniture and fixture was preserved and protected, speedy opening of business locators were made possible. "The military equipment was given to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, so we marked them with GOP (Government of the Philippines) or Navy or Amy. We made sure that we kept those and that gave us a lot of opportunity to invite folks to come in and there were furniture already in the buildings and that was another incentive for the locators to come in. The buildings were not robbed, the equipment were still there, the air conditioning was still running and so there was a quick start," the senator said. In line with this, Gordon recounted how residents eagerly lined up to buy imported goods when the first Duty-Free shop opened two days before Christmas Day that year, 1992. This, despite the locator having previously informed him that they would be unable to keep their agreement of opening shop on December 23 because their shipment of goods would not arrive until December 29. "I was surprised by the long line of shoppers. And among the first on the line with cartful of goods were the people who did not believe me when I vowed that we will have Duty-Free shops before Christmas so that residents could buy the imported goods that only the American military were allowed to buy when they were still here. I asked the locator how he was able after all to open on time. He said they purchased the stocks of goods from Cash and Carry and sold them at Duty-Free prices. The goods were sold at a loss but the locator was able to recoup his losses when his own shipment of stocks finally arrived. Gordon also cited the succeeding waves of workers who made the Freeport happen by dogged determination, sheer dedication to the community, and unfathomable love for country. Learning from the experience of Sangley Point when the American military left the naval station, Gordon developed a master plan for the conversion of the Subic Naval Base into a Freeport years before the American military left the base. He said that with citizens of, and businesses in, Olongapo, Subic and the other nearby provinces depending on the base for their livelihood, they would have to prepare for the time when the American military pulls out from Subic so that the people will not be left jobless. When the U.S. Navy helicopter carrier USS Belleau Wood finally sailed out of Subic Bay on November 24, 1992, Gordon, who was then mayor of Olongapo City, with 8,000 volunteers took over the facility to preserve and protect US$8 billion worth of property and facilities and started the conversion of the military base into a free port like Hong Kong and Singapore. In the same year, Congress passed Republic Act 7227, known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, which created the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to develop and manage the Freeport which provides tax and duty-free privileges and incentives to business locators in the special economic zone. Gordon became the first SBMA chairman and Subic became the framework for bases conversion in the country.
Press Release

November 27, 2017 'Balik' scientists program to have more benefits, incentives The Senate today approved on third and final reading a bill which seeks to institutionalize benefits and incentives for scientists, engineers, and innovators of Filipino descent residing overseas to encourage them to stay in the country and work for national development. Senate Bill No. 1533, also known as the Balik Scientist Act, was principally authored and sponsored by Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV. It was approved on third and final reading with 13 affirmative votes, no negative vote and no abstention. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Richard Gordon, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, JV Ejercito and Cynthia Villar also served as co-sponsors of the measure. Aquino said the measure would institutionalize the Balik Scientist Program, which was first launched in 1975 "to bring back Filipino scientists, engineers, and technology entrepreneurs to work in various fields, including heath, food and agriculture, information and communications technology (ICT), and even alternative energy." "It is about time that we institutionalized and strengthened the Balik Scientist Program so that more brilliant Filipino minds residing abroad can help our nation move forward into prosperity," he said. Among the benefits, incentives and privileges to be made available to Balik scientists under the program are tax and duty exemptions to importation of professional equipment and materials, exemption from licensing or permitting requirements, free medical and accident insurance "covering the duration of the engagement awarded by the Department of Science and Techonology (DOST), reimbursement of expenses for baggage related to scientific projects, and even exemption from "renouncing their oath of allegiance to the country where they took the oath." Grantees can participate in Grants-in-Aid (GIA) research and development projects of the DOST with an initial lump sum research subsidy of P 500,000 for short-term program, P 500,000 to P 2,000,000 for the medium-term program, and P 2,000,000 for the long-term program, in accordance with relevant government rules and regulations and the need of the program involved. The benefits also include special working and non-working visas, a round-trip business class airfare from a foreign country to the Philippines "exempt from local travel tax," and DOST-subsidized visa applications. Aquino said the bill sets different incentives and benefits for Balik scientists who would either work for the Philippines under a short-term program (minimum of 15 days to maximum of 6 months), a medium-term program (more than 6 months but not exceeding 1 year) or long- term program (1 to 3 years, subject to DOST renewal). The bill also mandated additional benefits and rewards for "long-term" Balik scientists, such as the grant of special non-immigrant visas to the scientist, his or her spouse and their dependents as well as exemptions from requirements like immigration clearance certificate, alien employment permits, and payment of multiple entry fees. Under the bill, long-term Balik Scientists awardees would enjoy relocation benefits, such as support in securing job opportunities for the spouse of the awardee, and admission support for the children of awardees in preferred schools, relocation allowance and monthly housing or accommodation allowance, and funding for the establishment and development of a facility or laboratory. According to Aquino, the array of benefits and incentives aim to help address the lack of scientists working in the Philippines, caused by their exodus for greener pastures abroad. During the public hearings held by the committee on the bill, it was discovered that the Philippines has only 189 scientists per million population, far from the ideal target of 380 per million population. Aquino said that the country "pales in comparison" with other countries. For instance, he said, South Korea and the United States have 5,300 and 3,500 scientists per million, respectively, while Malaysia has 2,000 scientists per million. "We cannot stress enough that science and technology, engineering, and innovation can help solve some of our nation's biggest problems, like disaster preparedness, effective delivery of healthcare and other social services, hunger and nutrition, poverty and unemployment," Aquino ended. (Olivia Caunan)
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There was a time when Marin County was a capital of cannabis hipsterism, a New Age outpost of ganja in a weed-hostile world, but when recreational sales of marijuana become legal Jan. 1, the county that rarely abstains will be sitting out.

County officials recently rejected all 10 applications for licenses to operate medical marijuana dispensaries. Thats despite the fact that nearly 70 percent of Marin voters approved Proposition 64, the 2016 initiative that legalized recreational cannabis, and that county supervisors previously passed an ordinance allowing up to four medicinal shops on unincorporated land.

It turns out that many residents are fine with the idea of cannabis capitalism, as long as it isnt happening in their backyard.

We had significant public opposition from neighbors, said Tom Lai, principal planner and assistant director of the countys Community Development Agency.

Because Marin officials had hinged all future commercial activities related to adult use on how the medical applications worked out, the rejection means the county is guaranteed to be almost totally devoid of marijuana shops for the foreseeable future  even after recreational use becomes legal statewide on Jan. 1.

There will just be one tiny exception, and its not on county land: a longtime dispensary in the town of Fairfax that has been grandfathered into the current era of rejection.

I think it was probably just a classic, like, NIMBY thing, said Will Hutchinson, co-founder of Proof Lab Surf Shop in an unincorporated area of Mill Valley, where there were five dispensary applications, including four near his shop on Shoreline Highway.

Space is tight in Mill Valley, so I get it, said Hutchinson, whose clients probably skew in favor of marijuana outlets, but who personally did not have a dog in the fight. My sense is that people wanted it to be in some area that was lower profile.

No area was low-profile enough, according to Lai, who described a near frenzy of opposition, including two petitions with hundreds of signatures opposing dispensaries in neighborhoods where they were proposed. The dispensaries under consideration were too close to homes, schools or passing children, or were simply incompatible with neighborhoods, according to the complaints.

The public opposition prompted County Administrator Matthew Hymel to reject the medical retail licenses, even though the county had just gone through a nearly two-year rule-making and application process, including numerous public hearings. His decision was recently upheld by county supervisors after seven of the applicants appealed.

Then, on Nov. 14, the supervisors repealed the ordinance they passed in 2015 allowing dispensaries.

The rejection of storefront sales of the medical herb is not isolated to the unincorporated areas of Marin. Every city and town council except Fairfax has either banned dispensaries and adult use shops or taken public positions opposing them. The city councils in San Rafael, Larkspur and Novato have discussed the possibility of allowing dispensaries in the future, but no action has been taken.

For cannabis enthusiasts, its a case of reefer sadness.

We voted to make it legal, Doretta Boehm of Sausalito wrote during a heated argument on Nextdoor over whether the will of the people was being ignored. Why should a few put the (kibosh) on what most are in favor of? Are we really so provincial that we think pot is a scourge who will lead our youth into heroin overdoses?

Prop. 64 imposes strict regulations on marijuana cultivation and sales, including pesticide testing, labeling of ingredients, video monitoring and security at storefronts. Merchants will pay a 15 percent excise tax on retail sales starting in January, but the state will not license any business that does not first obtain a local permit.

However, not having any storefront weed outlets doesnt mean the county is going to be marijuana-free.

Inge Lundegaard, the countys cannabis project manager, is in charge of a delivery-only retail licensing system, approved by county supervisors on Nov. 14, that would allow folks hankering for a toke of medicine to have it brought to their home.

We are requiring them to be closed to the public, Lundegaard said of the distribution shops, which would own delivery vehicles and employ drivers. She said the county will also consider testing laboratories and manufacturing plants.

The lone exception in Marin to the over-the-counter sales ban is the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax, where the proprietor, Lynnette Shaw, spent two decades battling the federal government in court for the right to sell medical marijuana.

Shaw, who began providing cannabis to HIV/AIDS patients and women with breast cancer in the early 1990s, opened her dispensary in 1996, a fly-by-night operation in which communications were carried out using a pay phone and a pager.

It was covert action, but we had a lot of really sick people, she said. We were their only safety net, and we were illegal.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

Shaw said she fought efforts to kick her out until 2011, when a federal judge ordered her to abandon her business and promise never to sell marijuana again. The order was revoked after Congress passed a bill in 2014 prohibiting the U.S. Justice Department from spending money to bust dealers in states where medical marijuana had been legalized.

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It is ironic, Shaw said, that the primary battleground in the fight to legalize medical marijuana is now itself limiting cannabis commerce. She thinks the public opposition is all about protecting Marins astronomical property values from stoner blight, a fear she finds irrational.

This is a funny, quirky, beautiful county where the people support cannabis, Shaw said, but they also want their solitude and they dont want anything to devalue their real estate.

Marin isnt the only jurisdiction in California to go against the grain as the state prepares for recreational sales. Many rural and conservative inland communities, where incomes are generally lower than those in leafy Marin, have passed regulations prohibiting the cultivation, distribution and sale of marijuana.

In the Bay Area, Colma banned commercial recreational cannabis activity and personal cultivation, despite the fact that 59 percent of the residents voted for Prop. 64.

Still, most of the 110 cities and counties in the Bay Area, including San Francisco, are working on zoning and other laws that would permit adults to use the redolent weed. A few cities have rules in place, among them Oakland, Berkeley and Santa Cruz.

Sonoma County, which already has as many as 9,000 growers and 12,000 people in the business, is a leader in the cannabis trade among Bay Area counties. Supervisors there plan to begin collecting taxes on medical marijuana and add rules for recreational sales at a later date.

Shaw, who is known as the godmother of ganja in Marin, said she will apply for a recreational sales license if and when the Fairfax City Council votes to allow that option. Until then, she said, she will be perfectly happy to continue cornering the market on medical marijuana.

I think some towns will eventually allow dispensaries, but it will be a while, she said. At least there is one.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite
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Toby Levine braced for noise and pollution 10 years ago when she moved into San Franciscos Mission Bay neighborhood, two blocks away from the Caltrain station at Fourth and Townsend streets.

Yet the pervasiveness of the diesel dust surprised her. It frosted the geraniums on her balcony and caused the leaves of the podocarpus trees to droop and turn brown. It stuck to her windows, freckled her neighbors deck furniture and collected in air vents.

It wouldnt be so bad if we were dealing with a less-dangerous chemical, but diesel is poison, said Levine, who for years has led a neighborhood campaign to get Caltrain to minimize the emissions from its locomotives while neighbors wait for the rail system to go electric in 2022.

Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle

At the San Francisco station, which has 12 tracks, the first trains start rolling around 4:10 a.m. every weekday, and the last one pulls in at 12:05 a.m. During the slower-paced weekend schedule, trains run from 8 a.m. until midnight.

So for much of the week, diesel wafts through the air up to 20 hours a day in a booming new neighborhood. Plus, Caltrains fleet is more than 30 years old  near the end of its life span, said spokesman Dan Lieberman  and its engines dont burn fuel that efficiently.

To further complicate matters, there are no state or federal laws that regulate idling diesel locomotive engines, so neighbors have depended on the rail line and its contracted manager, TransitAmerica Services, to write their own rules.

Caltrains manager of rail operations, Ben Burns, said the agency developed a strict protocol in February, partly in response to complaints by neighbors. The 29 passenger trains all have technology installed to turn off their engines automatically for layovers of more than 20 minutes, provided that the outside temperature, battery voltage and engine pressure are at levels that allow the trains to restart. Engineers are also required to shut trains down and hook them up to electricity if a layover is expected to exceed one hour.

From a monetary standpoint, we dont like trains sitting around and idling for no reason, Burns said. Thats money wasted for us.

Burns pointed out that trains can burn through 10 to 20 gallons of fuel  up to $45 in taxpayer money  for every hour they spend parked with their engines running.

The protocol impressed Bruce Agid, who bought a condominium at 300 Berry St. in 2009, with a deck overlooking the rail yard. He said that after years of complaints and community meetings, the trains appear to be idling less.

I think theyre being sincere, Agid said.

Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle

Others are more skeptical.

Mike Cheney, a retired trainer for the diesel division at San Franciscos Muni, noted that the protocol is voluntary and subject to human vagaries.

They have the technology, Cheney said, but if the engineers dont turn it on, theres no punishment.

As the rail system inches toward its goal of electric power, some neighbors are getting impatient. Smoke-belching trains werent such a big deal when Mission Bay was an industrial hinterland, but now the area is booming. Since 2000, developers have quilted the once-deserted terrain with 24 residential buildings and nearly 5,500 residential units.

Now that there are thousands of people living here, its quite a bit more bothersome, said Darren Orgel, who lives in Agids building. If they cant switch to electric for five years, maybe they should have come up with a way to get cleaner engines.

Before moving to 300 Berry St. in 2013, Orgel lived for six years in an apartment at 260 King St., across from the train station. He said so much soot blew in that the vents in his ceiling turned black.

The most recent figures available from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District  a map based on 2010 data  show air pollution is higher in the South of Market and Mission Bay areas than in other parts of the city. Caltrain, diesel trucks and construction equipment are all major contributors, said air district spokesman Tom Flannigan.

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Supervisor Jane Kim, whose district includes SoMa and Mission Bay, said shes witnessed several neighborhood battles over air quality  a widespread concern when condo buildings are sprouting up next to train stations and freeways.

There was a similar issue when we built housing by the Bay Bridge, said Kim, whose staff has attended every community meeting about Caltrain. For me there are ethical questions about building in certain areas. But that being said, weve built this neighborhood in Mission Bay. And then we pushed hard for electrification.

Concerns over fuel emissions compelled the air district to award Caltrain $20 million in 2015 to help build the electric system.

That effort is under way, and to old-timers like Levine, it cant happen fast enough.

Ive been hearing about electrification for 10 years, Levine said. My feeling is that Caltrain should be doing the best it can for the thousands of people that live here now.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
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The evening began with samosas and tea and a recitation of a verse from the Koran, first in Arabic, then in the English translation.

Then, inside the banquet hall at Santa Claras Muslim Community Association, UCSF oncologist Pamela Munster asked the crowd of more than 100 Bay Area residents:

Who here is worried about having cancer? Whos had anyone in the family who had cancer? Did you ever wonder why?

As a smattering of hands went up, Munster continued, Were hoping to provide some answers.

Some genetic mutations, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, can be a risk factor for developing hereditary cancers, Munster explained using slides on a projector.

The Friday night event, held at one of the largest Muslim community centers in California, was organized by UCSF and Color Genomics, a Burlingame company that sells DNA tests that analyze 30 genes linked to common hereditary cancers including breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Genetic counselors from UCSF and Color were on hand to demonstrate how to use the saliva kits so participants could take the test themselves.

While learning about about their own genetic risks, they could also contribute to a scientific goal.

For months, Color and UCSF have been hosting similar events across the Bay Area  at a synagogue, an African American church and a Latino community center  to recruit members of those historically underrepresented communities to submit saliva samples. The goal is to collect 500 samples, split evenly among people of African, Asian, European and Hispanic descent. The campaign strives to solve a diversity problem: 80 percent of people whose DNA has been analyzed in scientific research on genetic variants linked to disease are of European descent. Similarly, most published studies on human genomics have analyzed the genetics of people of European ancestry.

Theres a gap in the knowledge for other, non-European groups, said Alicia Zhou, head of research at Color Genomics.

Many diseases are known to be more prevalent in some ethnic groups than others, such as some cancers in Asian and African American populations. And some ethnic groups are more prone to genetic variants that can render medications less effective or lead to a higher likelihood of developing certain diseases. Having a more diverse database of genomic information could lead to a better understanding and ability to treat diseases across ethnic groups.

Colors event at the Muslim Community Association prompted 60 people to participate in the study, including Habiba Nasseri. The 43-year-old Santa Clara resident said she does not have a family history of cancer  except for one cousin with breast cancer  but she sees value in improving scientific knowledge about genetic similarities and differences among populations.

The world is so large, were all genetically connected somehow, Nasseri said. If it doesnt help me out, itll help my kids or grandkids. Itll help benefit research for future generations  everyones kids and everyones grandkids.

Once all 500 samples are collected, Colors lab will analyze the anonymous aggregate data with the intention of publishing the information at a conference. The company provides the tests, which normally sell for $249, to participants for free.

One commonly cited analysis in Nature, from 2009, found that 96 percent of participants in genome variant studies were of European descent. Since then, the proportion has improved slightly to about 80 percent, according to an updated analysis published in 2016. But progress is not advancing quickly enough, some experts said.

The Exome Aggregation Consortium, a publicly available research database out of MIT and Harvard with sequencing data of 60,000 people, has just 5,000 samples from people of African descent and 4,000 from people of East Asian descent.

This is a tremendous problem the field of genomics faces, said Adam Auton, senior statistical geneticist at Mountain Views 23andMe, which sells kits that test for genetic variants linked to celiac disease, Parkinsons, late-onset Alzheimers and other diseases.

Prior to joining 23andMe, Auton studied genetic variations in human populations as an assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He said the disparity is structural: When proposing a new study, its often easier to get funding to study populations that have already been studied.

From an ethical standpoint its indefensible, Auton said. From a scientific standpoint its also indefensible. The genetic diversity in European populations only represents a small subset of global genetic diversity. By not studying the complete spectrum of human diversity, theres a huge risk well be missing many of the discoveries that could be beneficial for all humans across the globe.

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23andMe recently completed enrollment for a project, backed by a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, to recruit 2,000 African Americans to create a dataset that will help researchers better understand patterns of genetic variation, company officials said. The information will be included in the NIHs data depository, where it will be available for researchers.

Gaining data from 2,000 people may not seem like a huge number, Auton said, but its four times larger than the largest publicly available database of human genetic variation, the 1000 Genomes Project, which contains 500 genomes of people of African descent. The project is a global academic initiative created in 2008 to sequence the genomes of 1,000 people from around the world, and the information is made available to scientists to use in their own genetic research.

The human genome is more than 99 percent identical in all people regardless of their ancestry. Genetic variants are not uncommon and do not necessarily indicate medical problems. But some variants are mutations that heighten the risk for developing some cancers, or render some drug less effective.

In 2014, the attorney general of Hawaii sued drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi over the labeling of the blood-thinning drug Plavix. The drug was problematic for many people of East Asian and Pacific Islander descent  a large portion of the states population  because they carry a variant of a liver enzyme that makes it harder to properly metabolize the drug. Marketing the drug in Hawaii put the population at risk for gastrointestinal bleeding and other health complications, according to the suit, which is ongoing. A Sanofi spokeswoman said the Plavix label includes information about the metabolism of the drug in patients of different ethnic groups. A spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers Squibb declined to comment.

Thats an example where lack of diversity with respect to genetic and biomedical research can lead to tragic outcomes, said Dr. Esteban Burchard of UCSF, who studies genetic risk factors for disease in ethnically diverse populations.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
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Editor s note: Here are three Bay Area startups worth watching this week.

In a world that is quickly replacing in-person retail with online shopping, Gower Smith says he has a cheaper and less space-consuming way to keep it alive.

His company, Swyft, creates sophisticated vending machines that sell products from retailers like Best Buy, Nespresso and Uniqlo. These machines are located in places like malls and airports, taking up a fraction of the space that a regular store would.

The growth of Swyft comes at a turbulent time for brick-and-mortar chains, because Amazon and other online sellers are taking a bigger share of retail.

With their products in Swyft machines, companies can have a physical presence without the space requirements of retail, Smith said: We deliver immediate gratification to the consumer.

The San Francisco company is trending on startup database Crunchbase because it has made deals with one of the largest drugstore chains as well as a grocery chain, Smith said. Smith declined to name the companies, but CVS announced a pilot program with Swyft in September.

Swyft also acquired startup ZoomSystems, which makes a similar product and operates in North America and Europe. Smith, named Swyfts CEO last year, founded ZoomSystems, which he left in 2014.

Swyfts vending machines  Smith prefers the phrase automated retail  are in hundreds of locations around the country, including the airports in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland.

The company has $5.5 million in funding and about 70 employees.

Were moving into retail automation to help retailers and online companies that want to have a traditional presence and compete with the online giants, Smith said.

Also trending:

HiQ Labs

What it does: Makes software that analyzes public data from LinkedIn profiles to help employers determine whether workers are likely to leave or stay.

What happened: HiQ Labs, which could not be reached for comment, is involved in a legal battle with LinkedIn over access to what HiQ says is publicly available data. It recently started a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the legal battle.

Why it matters: This is the latest case of a powerful tech company cracking down on a firm suspected of data scraping, the practice of extracting information from social media accounts or websites. This brings up questions about ownership of personal data that is publicly available.

Headquarters: Mountain View

Funding: $12.4 million, according to Crunchbase

Employees: 11-50, according to Crunchbase

Elation Health

What it does: Builds an electronic health records system, which removes paper forms from the patient-physician interaction.

What happened: It is unclear why this company, which declined to comment, is trending on Crunchbase this week. A bill, called the EHR Regulatory Relief Act, which could make it easier for hospitals to adopt electronic records, was introduced in the Senate this month.

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Why it matters: Many doctors use paper records in their medical practices, making it difficult to transfer and share information. Elation Health is one of many companies attempting to digitize this process.

Headquarters: San Francisco

Funding: $15 million, according to Crunchbase

Employees: 11-50, according to Crunchbase

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani

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 three that are moving up in the ranks. For more information on the companies: www.crunchbase.com
When Kate Riley, Leanna Lewis and Janine Galligani bought Mercedes Restaurant in 1994, they had a simple plan in mind: provide the bustling neighborhood with a fun, low key lunch destination.

Were off the beaten path, Kate Riley said.

Before Riley and her partners took over the Commercial Street location, it was home to a Mexican restaurant which opened in 1967. Many of the cooks at the original restaurant stayed on through the new iteration. For decades, the Mexican fare pulled in a lunch crowd of locals familiar with the area, folks who knew to navigate the quiet alley between Kearny and Montgomery.

We survived the dot-com boom and bust, 9/11, the Bart strikes, Janine Galligani said. We have cooks who have been here since the previous owners were here, so thats 20 to 30 years at one place. Theres a lot of history.

In recent years, the restaurant market has become increasingly competitive and operating costs continued to increase. Last year, the restaurants building was sold to a new owner, Riley said, and subsequently the restaurants rent went up.

It was a 75 percent increase and we just couldnt afford that, Riley said. This alley doesnt warrant market rent.

Mercedes officially had its last service on Nov. 22.

This was my baby before I had babies. Its sad. Weve been fighting this landlord for a year, but I couldnt be more proud with how we went out. We had a good time with our customers, said Galligani, who along with Riley, spent Monday packing the remnants of their restaurant.

The new owners, according to the liquor license transfer, are Priscilla Dosiou, Thomas Glenwright, Paul Schulte and Michael Timbs.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

There is no plan to keep the longtime Financial District haunt alive anywhere else in the Bay Area.

Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle

Theres hardly a more receptive or captive audience for marketing an intoxicant than the beleaguered commuters crowded onto a rush-hour Muni bus (except perhaps the ones packed onto a rush-hour BART train). But unlike many of the dopey regulations proliferating ahead of Californias legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes in 2018, Munis decision to ban cannabis advertising makes sense.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agencys board voted Tuesday to ban recreational marijuana advertising and stop accepting medical marijuana ads once current contracts expire. The policy is in keeping with Munis refusal of alcohol, tobacco and firearms advertising in light of the number of children who ride city buses and trains. Its also in line with statewide regulations that prohibit cannabis advertising that targets children or reaches audiences with large numbers of young people.
Two Bay Area counties are home to oil refineries, but only one has an industrial safety ordinance directed at preventing accidents that could harm workers and pollute the air  Contra Costa County. Solano County has no ordinance, but Benicia, where Valero operates a refinery, is beginning a conversation on adopting a city safety ordinance.

The push for the city ordinance comes at a time when the state recently has adopted its own industrial safety ordinance modeled on the Contra Costa County ordinance. The regional air quality board also unanimously adopted on Nov. 15 the strictest regulation in the nation to limit emissions of cancer-causing toxic air contaminants. Solano County officials say they are studying the new state regulations but question the need for another layer of governmental oversight.

The goal, said Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, who called the Nov. 14 community meeting along with a coalition of environmental and community groups, is to get a seat at the table.

Air quality is always a concern in a refinery town, but a May 5 incident at Valero that sent huge plumes of black smoke and flames soaring into the sky reignited community worries. The flaring resulted in shelter-in-place and evacuation orders and raised the price of gasoline. It was later determined the refinery had released 80,000 pounds of toxic sulfur dioxide  a huge amount, experts said.

Two investigations (one by the state, one by the county) found Valero not at fault, but the countys findings were never forwarded to the city and only revealed through a public records act request. The regional air board is still investigating.

Valero is suing PG&E over a power failure that preceded the refinery losing control of its process.

An industrial safety ordinance would bring Benicia  and surrounding communities  into the know and give residents directly affected some say.

An ordinance also would require Valero to pay fees to the city, or Solano County if the Board of Supervisors adopts an ordinance, to contract for the engineering expertise needed to oversee prevention programs, audits and inspections. Unsurprisingly, Valero is against the idea.

Contra Costa County adopted its industrial safety ordinance in December 1998 after a series of incidents, and just days before four men were killed and a fifth seriously burned in a gruesome refinery accident. Richmond soon after adopted its own ordinance. Contra Costas ordinance is held up by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board as a model. The record shows the number of refinery and chemical facility incidents has diminished since adoption.

Industrial safety is a public concern. The public deserves to be in the know.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
My introduction to Pacific News Service came in 1996, when I was an angry teenager housed at San Franciscos Juvenile Hall. Officially, PNS was a nonprofit news service based in San Francisco, but it had many projects, including the Beat Within, which facilitated weekly creative writing workshops with the kids in the hall. It printed our work in a newsletter, a rare bright spot in our lives.

One week, Sandy Close, the brilliant and brash executive editor of PNS, came in lieu of the regular facilitators. After the workshop, Close grabbed me by the arm as I was shuffling out and asked me, Whats it like being the only white kid in here? I shrugged. She smiled and leaned in. Write about that.

It was my first assignment in a now 20-year career in journalism that has taken me from the juvenile justice system to the Ivy League, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a short bout on an MTV reality show. And none of it would have been possible without Pacific News Service and Close. For more than 45 years, PNS fostered journalists, gathered news reports and sold articles to a subscriber network composed of newspapers, magazines and other outlets across the country and beyond. This month, the nonprofits board of directors announced that the media organization, along with its subsidiary New America Media, would cease operations on Nov. 30.

Founded in 1970 to get accurate news on the war in Vietnam, the organization went on to pioneer youth media and citizen journalism, build a coalition of ethnic media outlets, commission the countrys first major multilingual polls, and win an Academy Award.

There is much to mourn here.

PNS, at its core, had a commitment to local, socially conscious reporting and the needs and experiences of people on the margins of society. The unofficial mission statement of the organization was that the people affected by the story should write the story. This idea was implemented at PNS decades before anybody uttered the phrase citizen journalist or could imagine what a blog might be.

Its demise is part of a national trend that is the result of profit-driven media dominance and click-bait headline writing. (Close used to sneeringly call this Hollywood journalism: Write the headline first, then report.) Many have noted that the announcement came just days after DNAinfo and SFist were shut down in response to an attempt to unionize.

The great accomplishment of PNS was that it was a home for journalists who would never have been brought into any other media organization. You can talk about diverse newsrooms all you want, but I sat in on editorial meetings attended by a man with diamond teeth and a Che Guevara tattoo on his neck who spent 20 years in Pelican Bay State Prison, a Vietnamese refugee, a pregnant teenager, a homeless heroin addict and her dog, a former Black Panther and a Filipina nun. This is not an exaggeration.

Its impossible to talk about the organization without talking about Close. PNS, in many ways, was a cult of personality, and our work was heavily informed by the whimsy and intellect of our leader, a woman who sped through the office barefoot with a lovebird named Dutch perched on her shoulder. In the same breath, she could remind us of the Maoist roots of the Black Panther movement while insisting that Russell Crowe wasnt half the man that Charlton Heston was, clicking her false tooth out of place and winking for emphasis.

I showed up at PNS door, said I needed a job, and got one. I started by typing and editing the handwritten pieces from contributors in juvenile hall. Within a week, I was working on a reported piece about juvenile justice reform that went out on the wire. My editors at Youth Outlook, PNS monthly youth magazine, quickly encouraged me to expand beyond criminal justice. I went on to write about school shootings, illegal street racing and deportations under the Patriot Act. I covered three presidential elections.

Although we explored progressive themes, Close and others would rightly bristle at the suggestion that PNS was a liberal media organization. A refugee of the East Coast Establishment, she saved her harshest criticism for the media elite echo chamber and sheltered liberals. We were contrarians, eccentrics and outcasts. We were encouraged to upend conventional narratives and, as a result, our newsroom was chaotic and contentious. While MSNBC and the New York Times were falling at President Barack Obamas feet, PNS was running pieces critical of his immigration policy.

PNS will no longer have a home in San Francisco in part because the changes the city has experienced in the past 10 years have pushed it out. There is no room in San Francisco for a nonprofit media organization that puts foster youth on its payroll and prioritizes the stories of people on societys margins.

When we moved to our office on Ninth Street, our neighbors were gay leather bars and cannabis dispensaries. As it prepares to close its doors, PNS is in the literal shadow of Twitters headquarters. The irony there, of course, is that an organization committed to contrarian thought and chaotic discourse is being eclipsed by an industry founded on the premise that you can create your own global echo chamber and carry it around in your pants.

Russell Morse is a writer living in New York City.
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It started out as a joke, but my pal, Foonski, taught me some quirky ways to flourish in the outdoors from Thanksgiving to New Years, when so many seem to go crazy.

Live in reverse: When everybody is doing the same thing, that is, driving, shopping and generally pushing with an aggravated sense of urgency, do the opposite. Bail. Drive or hike to where you feel a special sense of self and place. One calm winter night, right when the Christmas parties were hitting and traffic was jammed like too many rats in a maze, Foonski pulled out a tide book and noticed a series of night-time minus low tides (just as will arrive next week). Foonski talked me into heading to an extended coastal reef with tidepools, where we put our waders on and walked in the tidepools with high-power flashlights. The number of critters we saw, incuding octopus, was like something out of a National Geographic film.
Ta-Nehisi Coates isnt a rapper, but he writes like one.

Coates writes about race and politics with a musical bop that thumps readers in the chest, as his phrases bang over the drumbeat of history. For Coates, black identity isnt something to be feared. Rather, its something to be acknowledged.

When the National Book Award-winning author, who rose to prominence because of his incisive essays in the Atlantic, publishes a new work, the response is similar to when an album is released. People devour his provocative words and ideas, then quote them on social media.

Twitter and Facebook lit up when The First White President, from the October issue of the Atlantic, went online. The essay is also the epilogue of his latest book, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. The book is ostensibly a collection of his essays  Fear of a Black President, The Case for Reparations and My President Was Black, among others  from the eight years of Barack Obamas presidency. But its so much more. Each essay has a prologue, a diary-like entry by Coates about what he was thinking and feeling  ruminations on how he reached conclusions.

The book is the equivalent of meticulous liner notes, a bridge into the mind that has captured the hope and hopelessness of a nation grappling with its past, present and decidedly dark future. The introductions reminded me of The Mask of Metal Face Doom, the profile of the rapper and producer MF Doom that Coates wrote for the New Yorker in 2009. Doom allowed Coates to flip through his rhyme books.

It was a great honor  an m.c. sharing his rhyme books is like a magician sharing notes for his tricks, Coates wrote.

I spoke to Coates on a recent afternoon at a hotel in San Francisco. His answers have been edited and condensed.

Q: Does hip-hop  particularly the lyricism  reverberate through your work?

A: Im tremendously influenced by hip-hop. Its probably the biggest single influence on how I write. Its the literature I grew up with. Its the literature I knew as a child.

(Coates recites lyrics from LL Cool Js I Cant Live Without My Radio: Walkin down the street, to the hardcore beat/ While my JVC vibrates the concrete.)

Hearing that  this feeling I have right now, its the feeling I like to give people when I write. That feeling. I can remember being in college hearing Mobb Deep, and I was writing poetry at the time, and the way Mobb Deep described the world  it was a world I knew. And I wanted to describe that world, too. So when I finally got a chance, it was only natural that that would be what was in my head still.

Q: Is the flow already there when you sit down to write?

A: With the First White President, the first sentence  It is insufficient to state the obvious of Donald Trump: that he is a white man who would not be president were it not for this fact  once I had that and maybe the line after that, then you just go in with details, details. One of the things people dont give hip-hop enough credit is  Im talking about the great ones  the amount of weight they put on each line, how much energy is actually put into each line and how that has a cumulative effect. For me, the way I do that is  even though the lines are written a certain way  theyre facts. If I say something poetic about Trump, its going to be facts after that.

Q: Lets get to the facts. The facts are under attack in this country. Does that anger you?

A: When First White President came out, I knew people would have all sorts of responses. They could be pissed about it, they can be angry about it, a thousand people can reply to it, but theyre gonna read it. And theyre gonna read the next one, too. And the reason why is because of the facts. If I was just lying all the way through, eventually people would figure it out  this is an act. But the facts, even when people dispute them, disagree with them, thats what brings them back time and time again.

Q: Do you ever need to retreat after deep dives examining the consciousness of the country?

A: I dont. I love coming to an understanding that feels credible. It doesnt feel painful to me. What America does is it gaslights black folks. It lies to you. It tries to wheel you into a game debating people over your humanity. But if you do not take these people seriously from the jump, its hard to be gaslit. The notion that you voted for Trump for non-racist reasons, I just dont take that seriously. I dont accord it respect. So it doesnt bother me in the same way to hear folks lying.

Q: What do you want? Youve made it clear in interviews that you dont want to be the anointed one, someone who speaks for all.

A: I want a world where all of these black folks who are out here creating  Nikole Hannah-Jones, Alexis Okeowo, Jelani Cobb, Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Issa Rae  where these folks are seen as representing diverse aspects of an experience, and you dont look to one to interpret all.

Otis R. Taylor Jr. is the East Bay columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: books@sfchronicle.com
Recommendations of recent books from the staffs of a rotating list of Bay Area independent bookstores. This weeks list is from Books Inc., Santa Clara, 2712 Augustine Drive, Suite 120, Santa Clara. (408)727-1500. www.booksinc.net.

Forest Dark, by Nicole Krauss: Journey to Tel Aviv and experience the changing worlds of a young writers brush with Kafkas history, and an older lawyer, as they venture beyond their normal lives. From the posh, immense Tel Aviv Hilton to the ancient desert landscape, each travels inward while searching for answers.

Landscape With Invisible Hand, by M.T. Anderson: Short, pointed commentary on art, politics and aliens! Funny and tense. How would a young artist respond to a world upended by an alien takeover, especially one done in such a capitalist manner?

Afar, by Leila del Duca and Kit Seaton: This lush graphic novel chronicles a tough young ladys journeys to beautiful worlds while she sleeps. She is at first a new character in each story she enters, and has to figure out her role.

NONFICTION

Real American: A Memoir, by Julie Lythcott-Haims: This is a thoroughly riveting poetic memoir of a mixed-race woman questioning her identity and place in American life and culture. Genuinely inspiring.

Vacationland: True Stories From Painful Beaches, by John Hodgman: Witty, moving evocation of New England landscapes and social mores. Great skewering of white privilege, too.

WTF? Whats the Future and Why Its Up to Us, by Tim OReilly: Open-source pioneer and publisher OReilly has written a manifesto for considered progress. This informative call to action is filled with insights and facts about our use of technology and how best to mold it for the good of humanity.

Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York, by Roz Chast: Chast takes a tour of New York as only she can. Her illustrations and photographs punctuate her hilarious, terribly interesting presentation of her city.

This Little Trailblazer: A Girl Power Primer, by Joan Holub: This board book is the best shower gift for a girl or boy. Babies will love the big eyes, and parents will love sharing powerful, diverse women with them. And who can resist Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai in board-book form?
Lianna Haroutounians back-to-back Puccini performances with the San Francisco Opera in recent years  a formidable 2014 company debut as Tosca followed two years later by a delectable appearance in the title role of Madama Butterfly  served notice that the Armenian soprano was an important new presence on the operatic scene. Her contributions to both of those productions were marked by a memorable combination of vocal splendor and theatrical finesse.

On Saturday, Nov. 25, Haroutounian returned to San Francisco to make her U.S. recital debut in Herbst Theatre and demonstrated that those successes were no kind of fluke.

In a sumptuous and expressive program, superbly accompanied by pianist Tamara Sanikidze, Haroutounian brought her artistic powers to bear on a range of repertoire, including Italian and French opera, Russian songs and Armenian folk melodies as crafted by the musical priest known as Komitas. Each segment of the recital seemed to open up a window on some new corner of her artistry.

Its not as though the triumph of this program could have come as much of a surprise. But the operatic stage and the vocal recital, in spite of their considerable overlap, draw on somewhat different combinations of skills, and success in one arena doesnt necessarily translate to the other.

Yet Haroutounian wasted little time in demonstrating that the same qualities that had made her appearances at the War Memorial Opera House so memorable  rich-hued vocal tone, expansive breath control, a knack for shaping a melodic phrase into something at once grand and intimate  were in play here as well.

The event was not sponsored by any of the standard local presenters, but rather by what seems to have been an ad hoc committee assembled from among the luminaries of the Bay Areas Armenian community. It was certainly a welcome addition to the musical calendar.

Haroutounians particular gift, at least on this occasion, was to smuggle the big gestures of the opera house into the confines of the recital hall. In the three lyrical showpieces by Bellini that anchored her opening set, she spun out the composers extravagantly broad-beamed melodies without a hitch. The results, especially the apostrophe to the moon, Vaga luna, were simultaneously buoyant and probing, clothed in an air of serene grace.

There was a similar expressive urgency in her final set of arias by Cilea, Mascagni and Gounod, only now ramped up to a new level of theatrical intensity and rhythmic vigor. Io son lumile ancella from Cileas Adriana Lecouvreur boasted a welcome luster, matched by the glittering brilliance of the Jewel Aria from Gounods Faust.

The Armenian melodies, collected and reframed by Komitas in spare but eloquent arrangements, brought out Haroutounians most plain-spoken and vivid singing. And in a series of songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff  dedicated, in a moving gesture, to the memory of the late baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died on Nov. 22  Haroutounian found a splendid balance between subtlety and ardor.

Sanikidze made a gallant partner throughout, and also took a moment in the spotlight for a ravishing account of a Chopin Nocturne. The recital ended with a string of four encores, including Ebben ... ne andro lontana from Catalanis La Wally, and, of all things, George Gershwins Summertime, delivered with wit and warmth.

Joshua Kosman is The San Francisco Chronicles music critic. Email: jkosman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoshuaKosman
WASHINGTON  Mick Mulvaney, President Trumps pick as leader of the nations top financial watchdog agency, said Monday that he was imposing a 30-day freeze on hiring and new rulemaking as he moves to take control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Meanwhile, Leandra English, who was elevated to the same position by the bureaus outgoing director, met with top Senate Democrats. She has asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau.

The fight moved to a federal courtroom in Washington, where Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee approved recently by the Senate, heard arguments on the case later Monday.

Mulvaney, the current White House budget director and a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, has called the agency a joke and an example of bureaucracy run amok. But he said Monday that he would keep the CFPB open.

This agency will stay open. Rumors that Im going to set the place on fire, or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false, he said. I am a member of the executive branch of government. We intend to execute the laws of the United States.

He said there will be a 30-day freeze on hiring and new rulemaking, as well as a freeze on payment from the civil penalties fund for at least 30 days. He said if there were statutory or legal guidelines, they would be met.

Mulvaney said the day went smoothly, though he said the power struggle may be awkward for people who know English. Responding to news reports about the conflicting leadership, he said, There was one person today who showed up at work claiming to be director. She wasnt here.

But earlier in the day, it was a battle of optics as Mulvaney and English jostled for control via emails, tweets and doughnuts.

English sent staff an email offering Thanksgiving wishes. Mulvaney then emailed staff to tell them to disregard any instructions from English. Both signed their missives Acting Director.

English was promoted from chief of staff to deputy director by Richard Cordray as he prepared to resign Friday. Cordray was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama and has been lauded by consumer advocates for aggressively going after banks for wrongdoing.

Ken Sweet and Catherine Lucey are Associated Press writers.
HOUSTON  Hundreds of day laborers have quietly become an integral part of the recovery from Hurricane Harvey, toiling in dangerous conditions amid the fear of being picked up by immigration authorities.

Harvey damaged or destroyed 200,000 homes and flooded much of Houston and smaller coastal communities with record amounts of rain and high winds. In a construction industry that already had labor shortages before the storm, it created a massive demand for the kind of work that day laborers have long performed after hurricanes and tropical storms.

Day laborers interviewed by the Associated Press said theyve been hired by a mix of individual homeowners, work crews from out of state and subcontractors. Mostly immigrants, they gather in parking lots near construction stores and gas stations and wait to be offered work.

Advocates from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network recently fanned out to survey the workers about the conditions theyre experiencing. Interviews suggested most are routinely exposed to mold and contamination and arent aware of legal protections they have even if theyre not in the country legally.

About a quarter of the more than 350 workers surveyed said they had been denied wages promised for cleanup work after Harvey, sometimes by employers who abandoned them at work sites after they had completed a job, according to a report on the survey by Nik Theodore, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Around 85 percent had not received safety training.

More than 70 percent of the day laborers are in the U.S. illegally, the survey found. Their wages have stayed at around $100 a day, according to the survey, though some said they were being paid more after the hurricane.

In Houston, which has an estimated 600,000 residents who are in the country illegally, community leaders worry about the impact of immigration policies on worker safety. Even day laborers without legal residency are entitled to federal protections against wage theft and safety hazards.

These people are scared, said Stan Marek, who owns a construction company and has long pushed for a program to legalize workers. Theyre not going to go to the police if they get robbed. Its a formula for disaster in our community.

Nomaan Merchant is an Associated Press writer.
President Trumps appointment of his budget director as interim director of a consumer financial protection agency championed by Democrats was challenged in a lawsuit filed in federal court Sunday night.

Leandra English, the federal official elevated to the position of interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by its outgoing director, filed the suit against Trump and his choice, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asked for a declaratory judgment and a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau.

English cited the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She said that as deputy director, she became the acting director under the law and argued that the federal law the White House contends supports Trumps appointment of Mulvaney doesnt apply when another statute designates a successor.

English was chief of staff to bureau director Richard Cordray when he named her deputy director as he prepared to resign Friday. Cordray was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama and has been long criticized by congressional Republicans as overzealous.

The White House, with the support of an opinion issued Saturday by the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, maintained that the president has the power to appoint an acting director. Steven Engel, newly confirmed head of the office, wrote that, while the deputy director may serve as acting director under the statute, the president still has authority under the Vacancies Reform Act.

A new director must be confirmed by the Senate. Earlier Sunday, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking GOP leader, pledged swift action whenever Trump nominates a successor to Cordray. Meanwhile, Thune said he expected that Mulvaney will be on the job and hell be calling the shots over there, but acknowledged the issue could end up in court.

Beyond the fight over whos in charge is the future direction of the bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis and given a broad mandate as a watchdog for consumers when they deal with banks and credit card, student loan and mortgage companies, as well as debt collectors and payday lenders.

Bernard Condon is an Associated Press writer.
BOSTON  Murals celebrating immigrants past and present are cropping up in Boston neighborhoods as part of the citys contribution to the national To Immigrants With Love campaign.

The murals, which began cropping up this summer, juxtapose Boston immigrants from past generations with more recent newcomers.

One mural features a Russian couple who founded a local liquor store empire with a Dominican man who owns an electronics repair store. Another depicts an Italian catering company owner and a Mexican community activist.

The works of art also include a quote translated into Spanish, Italian, Yiddish and other languages: You will always be welcome in the city of Boston.

Its a very powerful message of welcome, says Veronica Robles, a recent Mexican immigrant featured in one of the murals. It makes people feel safe and appreciated. More than ever, thats an important message to put out there.

Robles arrived in Boston in 2000 and founded the Veronica Robles Cultural Center to promote Latin American dance and culture. She is joined in the mural by Carmello Scire, an Italian immigrant from the 1930s who founded a long-running catering company now known as Sammy Carlos Delicatessen and Catering.

Katherine Copeland, who works in the Mayors Office for Immigrant Advancement and helped developed the project, says the program was inspired by #ToImmigrantsWithLove, a social media campaign started by the nonprofits Define American and I Am an Immigrant to show solidarity with immigrants nationwide.

Thats what really sparked the idea, Copeland said. We wanted to take that message one step further but more specific to Boston.

The first of three murals were completed this summer by the Mayors Mural Crew, a long-running program paying high school students to complete public art throughout the city.

Philip Marcelo is an Associated Press writer.
MIAMI  Javier Gonzalez has joined a human tide of more than 130,000 U.S. citizens arriving in Florida since Hurricane Maria wrecked Puerto Rico, grateful for a place to start over but resenting how their island has been treated since the disaster.

More than a million Puerto Ricans  about 5 percent of Floridas population  already call the state home, and given the outrage many feel over President Trumps handling of the storm, political observers say this voting bloc could loosen the Republican Partys hold on this battleground state.

Gonzalez, 38, saw the storm destroy the restaurant he opened with his father five years ago. Without power or reliable water, he became violently ill from food poisoning for three weeks. Finally, he packed his bags, determined to make his future in Miami instead.

There is resentment, and we feel abandoned compared to Texas and Florida, Gonzalez said. We were desperate for help.

Like any Puerto Rican, Gonzalez can vote in all elections now that hes moved to the mainland. He doesnt plan to register for any party, but he follows the news and understands their platforms. Hes aware of Trumps tweets.

Its not right that weve fought from World War I, to Vietnam and Afghanistan, and that the first thing the president says is: You have a large debt, big problems and have cost us millions, Gonzalez added.

Puerto Ricans are not the gift to the Republican Party that the anti-Castro Cuban diaspora has been historically. Theyve tended to favor Democrats, given their support for public education and social services. Around 70 percent of Floridas non-Cuban Latinos voted for Hillary Clinton.

Both parties are courting the new arrivals to Florida, which Trump won last year by just 112,000 votes out of 9.6 million cast.

There is an intent to grab those who are coming, said Rep. Robert Asencio, a Democrat of Puerto Rican descent who represents Miami in the Florida House and leads the Miami-Dade Committee for Hurricane Maria Relief.

A lot of my colleagues say they are not politicizing this, but there is an effort to bring people either to the Democratic or the Republican side, Asencio said.

Newcomers must register by July 30 to vote in 2018 for a new governor to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Scott and choose Floridas congressional delegation, now 11 Democrats and 16 Republicans.

Adriana Gomez Licon is an Associated Press writer.
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WASHINGTON  Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the longest serving member of Congress, stepped aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee on Sunday amid growing internal pressure as an ethics investigation begins into sexual harassment allegations.

Conyers, 88, said he would not resign from Congress and instead would fight the allegations in the hope of reclaiming his spot atop the committee overseeing federal laws and other legal issues. I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics, he wrote in a letter to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

Conyers, 88, settled a sexual harassment allegation brought by a former staffer, paying out just under $30,000.

Pelosi issued a statement immediately after Conyers announcement: I particularly take any accusation of sexual harassment very seriously. Any credible accusation must be reviewed by the Ethics Committee expeditiously. We are at a watershed moment on this issue.

The announcement came after days of internal pressure on Conyers, particularly from Pelosi, to step aside from the leadership post, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the process.

It followed a Sunday morning dominated by the sprawling issue of sexual harassment and assault on the political news shows.

Members of Congress have said the due process system on Capitol Hill is outdated and biased toward insulating lawmakers from suffering penalties for misbehavior. The whole system needs to have a comprehensive shift, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, said on ABCs This Week.

Speier and Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., are the lead sponsors of legislation slated for a vote this week that would streamline the process, amid growing accusations and revelations about members of Congress that are similar to those involving powerful men from Hollywood, the media and Silicon Valley.

The legislation would require mandatory training on harassment and discrimination for all lawmakers and staff. There needs to be one standard for members, Comstock said on ABC, noting that Conyers benefited from making a payment that was never revealed until a BuzzFeed report last week. No more secret payments.

Conyers has denied any wrongdoing and said his payout did not constitute an admission of culpability.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., has suggested that Conyers should just resign from Congress altogether, something Comstock endorsed Sunday.

Paul Kane is a Washington Post writer.
WASHINGTON  Breast cancer treatment left Susan Wolfe-Tank with an arm too painfully swollen to lift anything heavy or even fit into her usual clothing  a debilitating condition that gets little attention and has no cure.

Desperate, the Wisconsin woman traveled hundreds of miles to seek a delicate operation  replacing underarm lymph nodes lost in cancer surgery  as a small but growing number of hospitals offer microsurgical attempts at relief from lymphedema that help some patients but not all.

Right in this area, feel that  that is your lymph node, Dr. David Song of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington told Wolfe-Tank during a recent checkup.

Song, Georgetowns plastic surgery chief, had removed healthy lymph nodes from Wolfe-Tanks back and side and implanted them in the affected arm. As the new nodes took root, her arm was shrinking. A delighted Songs only caution: Take care of them, by wearing a compression sleeve as prescribed.

This isnt a cure. I will still have to be careful, said Wolfe-Tank, 51, of Hurley, Wis. But, I will be able to cross-country ski again, just live a normal life. Look at my arm, its incredible.

Lymphedema is a chronic swelling, often in an arm or leg, that in severe cases can be disfiguring, impair mobility, cause disabling pain, harden the skin and lead to infection.

Lymph nodes work like biological pumps in a network thats part of the immune system. They drain watery fluid called lymph that, traveling through tiny channels, brings nutrients to cells and takes away bacteria and waste material. Lose or damage enough lymph nodes or channels in a particular area and that fluid builds up.

Millions of Americans are estimated to have some degree of lymphedema, and while it can be hereditary or result from injury, many U.S. cases are a lasting side effect of treatment for a variety of cancers.

Yet too often women arent warned about symptoms or checked for early signs, when lymphedema is more easily treated, said Dr. Sheldon Feldman of New Yorks Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care. He co-authored physician guidelines issued this fall by the American Society of Breast Surgeons on prevention and treatment of breast cancer-related lymphedema.

Lymph node transfer is not the only option. A technique called lymphovenous bypass reroutes lymph-carrying channels, going around damaged or missing nodes to drain into veins instead.

Lauran Neergaard is an Associated Press writer.
The Christmas season is officially upon us, and with it comes the tradition of purchasing a fresh-cut tree to bring home for the holiday.

Those who have already done their tree shopping may have experienced sticker shock when picking up their tree at the local lot, however: The country is in the midst of what tree growers are calling a shortage with prices increasing at many places.

The recession is largely being blamed as the reason we're experiencing higher prices at lots. Christmas trees take about 10 years to grow for retail, according to National Christmas Tree Association spokesman Doug Hundley, which is why consumers are mostly seeing the slowdown in selection and the increase in prices now.

"In 2007, we were at the beginning of our recession and tree sales were down, prices were down, farmers didn't have the space in their fields to replant because they weren't harvesting as many," Hundley said.

Now Playing: Bill Norquist explains why his family operates a small Christmas tree farm off of Black Rd., outside of Los Gatos. Video: Bill Disbrow

"There was a slowdown in planting 10 years ago, and that's what's leading to this: it's not the fires, it's not the weather, it's just the planting rhythm of this crop is very long and we can't grow them fast."

And while that may be true, some family tree farmers in the Santa Cruz Mountains say the California drought did prevent many new plantings from taking root and surviving, potentially further limiting the local supply.

Ken Orsow, manager and former owner of Christmas Tree Jamboree in the Bayview district of San Francisco, noticed the increase in prices. Orsow noted that prices jumped "dramatically" in the last three years, saying he's looking at $5 to $10 more per tree than last Christmas.

"This is the most expensive I've seen the trees hit in my lifetime," Orsow said. "Some of the trees are costing as much as $70 just for the wholesale of the tree. That's a lot of money."

Orsow's worked with Christmas trees for about 50 years by his estimate, and he's guessing that there may be another year of raised pricing before the market slows down.

"It's a commodity: Prices go way up, (then) it goes way down," Orsow said of the trees. "I've always tried to stay even on the pricing, but when it goes up this far, there's no way that you can not raise the price of your trees. You have to at least match what you've been raised.

"This is a community lot for the people down in the Bayview and Hunter's Point area, and I've always tried to keep the prices way, way down," he added. "If I go up $5 or $7 wholesale, that's what they go up on my retail."

The majority of Christmas trees are grown in North Carolina and Oregon, and this is the first time in years that both states are in short supply, according to Hundley. Oregon largely supplies the West Coast with its trees and its shortage will largely affect California pricing.

Noble firs in Oregon are particularly experiencing growing issues, beyond the pullback from growers over the recession. Willamette Valley experienced a "practically nonexistent" crop of Nobles for about 15 years, before finally reaping a good crop in 2016. That tree species is expected to continue commanding a much higher pricing.

"There is a shortage of Noble trees grown in the Northwest and it is expected to last eight years or more, so prices for Nobles will definitely rise probably from 5 to 10 percent this year," according to Sam Minturn executive director of the California Christmas Tree Association.

The national group is predicting a 5 to 10 percent increase across the country for all trees, saying higher prices are also expected to happen with East Coast tree lots purchasing from North Carolina suppliers as well, according to Hundley. The hope is that the market will return to normal before 2020.

"It'll take some patience, the Christmas tree growers since 2010 have been planting heavily, and we think this undersupply or tight market will pass in just a couple more years," Hundley said.

One suggestion to avoid a limited selection of trees is to head to local farms that allow customers to choose and cut down their own tree. Places such as the Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm in Petaluma grow their own trees and reported that they're not experiencing the shortages and raised prices that lots featuring trees from commercial growers are seeing.

"This is a good time to visit a local tree farm as they nearly all grow more than one species of tree," Minturn said. "We haven't heard of any shortages with them unless they were affected by the forest fires such as the one in the Santa Rosa area."

Now, the shortage doesn't mean that Christmas tree lots are empty of trees, but it will become difficult for procrastinators to pick up a last-minute tree. Retailers and experts are suggesting customers pick up their trees earlier this year in order to avoid slim pickings later in December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A recent interview on Fox News featured an especially precocious political pundit.

On his show Saturday, Fox News host Jesse Watters spoke to Jacob Silva, identified as "President Trump's youngest fan." Silva is 9 years old, according to reports.

In the four-and-a-half-minute interview, Silva and Watters discuss immigration, tax reform, and the president's recent trip to Asia.

ALSO READ: Trump lashes out at CNN, calls Fox News 'MUCH more important'

On tensions with North Korea, Silva says, "I feel like Trump needs to be very strong with that because that is a very bad country and we're in a very bad situation at the moment because they have a very bad leader."

Watters agrees with the 9-year-old, saying, "We're going to take care of 'Little Rocket Man.' Don't you worry."

Watch the entire interview in the video above.

Jesse Watters is a Fox News personality who frequently appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" before its host, Bill O'Reilly, was ousted from the network amid sexual harassment allegations. Watters is perhaps best known for a 2016 segment he did in Chinatown that many, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, called racist.

Watters now hosts a weekly Fox News show called "Watters' World" that airs Saturdays.

This isn't 9-year-old Silva's first time in the spotlight either. He appeared on Fox News and ABC's "Good Morning America" during the presidential campaign and attended the inauguration in January, according to the Associated Press.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.
Iranian state television aired videos Sunday targeting a Briton and an American serving time on espionage charges, likely trying to pressure the U.S. and Britain as London considers making a $530 million payment to Tehran.

The case of Iranian-British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gained momentum in recent weeks as British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson faces tremendous criticism at home over his handling of it.

Meanwhile, state television aired footage of an emotional Chinese American national Xiyue Wang as U.S. President Trump continues his hard line against Tehran and its nuclear deal with world powers.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, already serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the soft toppling of Irans government while traveling there with her toddler daughter, faces new charges that could add 16 years to her prison term.

The state television report comes as the British foreign minister faces criticism after he told a parliamentary committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching people journalism when she was arrested last year. Johnson later corrected himself.

The report comes as Britain and Iran discuss the release of 400 million pounds ($533 million) held by London, a payment Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered. The shah abandoned the throne in 1979 and the Islamic Revolution soon installed the clerically overseen system that endures today.

Authorities in London and Tehran deny that the payment has any link to Zaghari-Ratcliffe. However, a prisoner exchange in January 2016 that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans also saw the United States make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran the same day. That money too involved undelivered military equipment from the shahs era, though some U.S. politicians have criticized the delivery as a ransom payment.

Late Sunday, Iranian state TV aired a feature focused on Wang, a graduate student at Princeton who is accused of passing confidential information about Iran to the U.S. State Department. He was arrested while conducting research for his doctorate in Eurasian history, according to Princeton.

Wang was arrested on Aug. 8, 2016. Princeton, his wife and others had been quietly working toward his release when Iran publicly announced his prison sentence in July.

Jon Gambrell is an Associated Press writer.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has permitted state-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) to gain control over assets of Niteko LLC (Kyiv). This allows the bank to carry out economic activities and lease offices, retail premises and provide hospitality services, the committee has reported on its website.

The committee also permitted Niteko to carry out economic activities and lease offices, retail premises and provide hospitality services via getting the right to use the assets.

The press service of Oschadbank told Interfax-Ukraine that the permits are linked to the financial restructuring of Niteko.

"There are several options for this restructuring. The decision of the Antimonopoly Committee is required to implement one of the possible scenarios," the press service said.

According to a posting on the website of the administrative secretariat at the Independent Association of Banks of Ukraine (NABU), which oversees the financial restructuring system, Niteko LLC on September 1, 2017 submitted an application for restructuring of its liabilities to Oschadbank using the procedure described in the law on the financial restructuring.
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If you returned to social media after a holiday weekend break, your feed was likely filled with mentions of a controversial New York Times profile of a Nazi sympathizer living in Ohio.

Many criticized the article for being "too soft" on its subject, 29-year-old Tony Hovater. Some even called the story a "puff piece."

The article, which was published online Saturday and appeared in the Times' Sunday paper, follows Hovater as he goes about his daily life, eating at Applebee's with his fiancee and boiling pasta in his kitchen, all the while explaining his white nationalist political views to Times reporter Richard Fausset.

In the first several paragraphs of the profile Fausset describes Hovater as "the Nazi sympathizer next door, polite and low-key" with innocent, apolitical tattoos.

Following the article's publication, New York Times readers, political activists and celebrities took to Twitter to skewer the piece. A common criticism was that the newspaper's portrayal of Hovater served to "normalize" his extreme beliefs.

The Atlantic parodied the Times article with a satirical piece headlined "Nazis are just like you and me, except they're Nazis."

Click through the slideshow above to see some of the most retweeted responses to the New York Times' article "A voice of hate in America's heartland."

Others pointed out that the Times linked to a website that sells swastika armbands when referencing the white nationalist group that sells the product (a group that Hovater helped establish). The New York Times removed the link in response to readers' criticism, the paper's national editor Marc Lacey said.

In an online response to the outpouring of criticism, Lacey wrote, "Our reporter and his editors agonized over the tone and content of the article. The point of the story was not to normalize anything but to describe the degree to which hate and extremism have become far more normal in American life than many of us want to think."

"We understand that some readers wanted more pushback, and we hear that loud and clear."

Fausset also published a separate article online Saturday that didn't directly address readers' criticism, but acknowledged his reporting's shortcomings.

"There is a hole at the heart of my story about Tony Hovater," Fausset writes, explaining he wasn't able to fully understand what had radicalized his subject.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.
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Northern Californias most wanted list just got three more criminals added.

Robert Lee Randolph, Gregory Wayne Davis III and Daniel Molintas Rillera are all wanted on charges related to homicides. Rillera is wanted in connection with a 1983 killing.

Click on the slideshow above to see everybody on the Northern California Most Wanted list.

ALSO: Man found shot dead under the I-880 overpass in Oakland

The most common crime cited on the most wanted list was murder (seven cases) and failure to register as a sex offender (three cases), but there's a wide array of other crimes that include assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, and parental kidnapping.

Not mentioned is Russell Lyles, Jr., 36 of Windsor, an alleged Hells Angels member accused of running a racketeering operation that included murder, assault, maiming, robbery, extortion and witness intimidation. A federal indictment was issued Monday for Lyles, and a reward is being offered.

Since our last update earlier this year, three new criminals have been added and four criminals have been captured, bringing the current number down to 68 criminals on the most wanted list.

ALSO: 1 of 2 escaped South Bay inmates captured in Stockton

Anyone who has information about suspect whereabouts is urged to call 911 or submit an anonymous tip.
UIA to launch paid Internet access service via Wi-Fi on board of Boeing 777-200 planes in 2018

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) seeks to launch the paid Internet access service via Wi-Fi on board of long-haul Boeing 777-200ER planes which will be delivered by June 2018.

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that UIA President Yuriy Miroshnykov gave the information at a press conference devoted to the 25th anniversary of the airline in Kyiv last week.

He said that four Boeing 777-200ER planes will be supplied by June 2018. The first plan will have Wi-Fi network in February. The planes will service flights to New York, Beijing, Bangkok and other long-haul destinations of the UIA chain.

UIA will offer three Internet access packages: the first one with 20 megabytes for $7, the second with 5 megabytes for $15 and the third with 100 megabytes for $23.

UIA, the leading Ukrainian air carrier, was founded in 1992. It connects Ukraine with more than 80 capitals and key cities in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the Middle East and CIS countries, and also provides connections with the routes of partner airlines to more than 3,000 cities of the world.

UIA performs more than 1,100 regular flights a week. The fleet consists of 40 airplanes of different modifications, including 25 medium-range Boeing-737 NG aircraft. The basic airport is Boryspil International Airport (KBP).

One of the ultimate beneficiaries of the company is businessman Ihor Kolomoisky.
Theres a glaring paradox in Zinzi Clemmons semiautobiographical first novel, What We Lose. Its structured like a mishmash smattering of photographs, hand-sketched graphs and short chapters of half-formed thoughts, yet it carries the thematic weight and import of a well-steeped and fully realized work of art.

Whats more, the contrast works brilliantly.

Let me explain. The novel loosely circles around a straightforward story. When Thandi is in college, her mother is diagnosed with incurable cancer. Derailed by the news, Thandi takes a leave of absence from school and moves back home to take care of her, watches her mother suffer, slowly disintegrate and die.

Her support system upended, Thandi flails as her workaholic father disengages. Later, she pushes back as he finds a new partner. She masturbates; has random, callous sex to staunch her loneliness; and makes rash decisions in her love life, including an unplanned pregnancy and a hasty marriage to the soon-to-be babys father.

Lest you get the wrong idea, this isnt a fully formed treatise on how cancer shatters families or rips apart coping mechanisms. It is on one level, of course. Clemmons shows restraint yet writes boldly and beautifully about grief: My mother is dead. But I still see her. ... Parts of her will live on in the trees and the streams and the birds of tomorrow. She is the water and the plants and the bits of dust I see swirl in columns of light. But she is dead.

Instead, what Clemmons offers up is a novel full of honest, bracing questions about how to actively love someone who is permanently gone, how to adjust to your new reality in the face of absence and how to gracefully  and sometimes not so gracefully  shut down and give up when it becomes necessary to do so.

The book covers so much other ground too, and none of it  save (maybe) for a discussion about Winnie Mandelas potential transgressions in the late 1980s or the occasional rap lyric on its own page  feels out of place.

Take race, for instance. Part of the complexity of What We Lose stems from the fact that Thandi, like Clemmons, is light-skinned and hails from a diverse heritage. Her mother, like Clemmons late mother, was born and raised in South Africa to middle-to-upper-class coloureds  mixed-race, not black  during the tail end of apartheid. Her father, like Clemmons, is black and was born and raised in New York.

As with Clemmons parents, Thandis mother and father met in South Africa when Thandis father was volunteering abroad after college. They move to an affluent, predominantly white suburb of Philadelphia to raise a family. During summers, they spend a few weeks visiting relatives and relaxing at their vacation home in Sandton, an enclave outside of Johannesburg referred to as the richest square kilometer in Africa. Similar to such playgrounds for the wealthy in the United States, Sandton is 40 minutes from one of the poorest areas in the region.

Its no secret that theres a massive, deeply entrenched racial and class divide in both South Africa and the United States, nor should it come as a shock to find out that many (many) people have it wrong when it comes to their attitudes and behavior concerning matters of race. In one of many poignant vignettes in the book, Clemmons throws a harsh light on white privilege and the insidious racism that exists in America when, after Thandi remarks at being the only black person at a high school party, one of her white classmates responds with, But youre not, like, a real black person.

Right. That problem.

What becomes clear is that Thandi, like Clemmons, is a strange in-betweener. As a second-generation, mixed-race woman, she doesnt fit in completely in white culture, nor does she find true kinship and recognition with blacks  in either country. That daily reality and cognitive dissonance is discomfiting. In another on-point way of explaining it, Thandi says: Ive often thought that being a light-skinned black woman is like being a well-dressed person who is also homeless. You may be able to pass in mainstream society ... but in reality you have nowhere to rest, nowhere to feel safe.

Aside from Thandis never-cloying struggles with identity, Clemmons (via Thandi) broaches other topics too  like motherhood, gun ownership and violence in South Africa, gender inequality, and why women internalize oppression. She also touches on the moneyed-ness of cancer as a First World disease of privilege, especially when juxtaposed with HIV/AIDS, a dirty and inconvenient epidemic most often associated  at least in the current day  with Africans who [live] in huts and [play] with elephants.

As you can see, theres a lot simmering in this small little package. It succeeds because throughout What We Lose, Clemmons writes with her eyes wide open, her brain fully engaged. She poses provocative theories and makes shrewd observations instead of doling out pat answers.

In 2012, while she was still in graduate school at Columbia University pursuing an MFA, Clemmons moved home to take care of her mother who was dying of breast cancer. She was also working on her thesis, a manuscript involving a woman suffering from AIDS.

After she graduated, Clemmons agent advised her to put that novel aside to, instead, expand upon a thread that involved coping with loss. Clemmons later cut the new manuscript apart and reordered it on the floor into what would eventually become What We Lose.

Without having read the original work or judged its merit, its safe to say that her decision to follow her agents advice was a good one  if only to get this giant of a novel into the light.

Alexis Burlings reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Oregonian. Email: books@sfchronicle.com

What We Lose

By Zinzi Clemmons

(Viking; 224 pages; $22)
PM urges Georgia to attract Ukrainian companies to implementation of projects for New Silk Road

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has urged Georgia to attract Ukrainian companies to the implementation of projects under the New Silk Road initiative.

The press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported after a meeting of Groysman with Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili that the sides discussed stepping up cooperation in the transport and transit spheres.

"The Prime Minister of Ukraine pointed out that the combination of geographical and transport opportunities of Kyiv and Tbilisi could and should become an important component of the New Silk Road international initiative," the press service reported.

Kvirikashvili said that the implementation of this project is impossible without Ukraine, which provides access to the European Union.

"He [Groysman] also invited the Georgian side to think over the possibilities of attracting Ukrainian companies to the implementation of infrastructure projects under the New Silk Road project," the press service said.

According to Groysman, Kyiv is also interested in Tbilisi's experience in the fight against corruption, the creation of the land market and large-scale privatization.

Groysman considers expedient the format of permanent expert consultations on these issues at the level of responsible ministries and departments, as well as strengthening the work of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.

He also said that Georgia is in the top 20 promising markets for Ukrainian exports, and this is reflected in the indicators of mutual trade. If last year the trade turnover between the states amounted to almost $500 million, then for the first seven months of this year it exceeded $345 million.

In addition, the Ukrainian prime minister expressed his condolences in connection with the recent death of people in Batumi, and declared Ukraine's readiness to help in overcoming the consequences of the incident.

As reported, the New Silk Road is the concept of a new Pan-Eurasian transport system promoted by China to move cargo and passengers overland from China to Europe.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has fined the largest Ukrainian mobile communications operator Kyivstar UAH 54,400 for the refusal to present information in the term set by the committee. The operator has criticized the decision and will insist on the fact that the company acted in line with legislation in court.

"The Antimonopoly Committee asked information concerning phone talks of one of economic entities from Kyivstar. It is known that according to Article 31 of the Constitution of Ukraine, privacy of phone communications is protected by the law and can be violated only under a ruling of a Ukrainian court," Kyivstar told in comments sent to Interfax-Ukraine.

The operator said that the committee, in turn, refers to the profile law which allows the authority to ask information with restricted access.

Kyivstar believes that the provisions of the law do not envisage that this right applies to personal data of mobile communications subscribers, and in particular, information about their phone calls, which are protected under a special regime.

The operator said that it presented the explanations to the committee why the operator cannot provide information about its subscribers.

Kyivstar will challenge the decision to fine the company in court.
The State Fund of Ukraine for the Promotion of Youth Housing Construction expects in 2018 to increase the number of families provided with affordable housing to 5,000, head of the fund Serhiy Komnatny has said.

"Our budget request to finance the program [providing citizens with affordable housing] next year is UAH 1 billion. This will allow us providing 5,000 families or about 15,000 citizens with housing," he said at a press conference in Kyiv.

According to Komnatny, the government approved the corresponding draft resolution on September 20, 2017.

"When the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law on the national budget, it also approved the resolution, which instructed the Cabinet to decide on the feasibility of funding affordable housing programs," Komnatny said.

According to him, the draft resolution is now being considered by the Ministry of Finance.

According to the state fund, in the nine months of 2017 over 330 citizens of Ukraine have been provided with housing under the fund's programs, and by the end of the year the fund plans to provide another 100-120 families (approximately 300-360 citizens) with housing.
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Earlier this month a case was filed in federal court, purportedly by the family of Sutherland Springs shooter Devin Patrick Kelley, claiming a federal agency was spying on him long before he killed more than two dozen people in a church earlier this month.

In fact the suit appears to be the work of an Ohio inmate with a propensity for filing bogus lawsuits - hundreds of them, according to media reports.

Frederick Banks filed the hand-written lawsuit. obtained by mySA.com, against the Central Intelligence Agency on Nov. 13, asking for any electronic surveillance recorded of the shooter who killed 26 people and himself in Sutherland Springs Nov. 5. The lawsuit alleges the CIA spied on Kelley using GPS tracking that would have caused him to "act out."

RELATED: Apple served with search warrant in Sutherland Springs shooting

Now Playing: A former friend of Devin Kelley said looking back, there were red flags indicating he was troubled, even in a situation involving herself. Video: FoxM9NJ

"This signal can cause a human organism or animal to act out or take some other form of CIA affirmative action, according to numerous sources," reads Banks' suit, which is signed by an attorney named Hamilton Brown.

Brown, however, is one of Banks' aliases, according to another suit he filed, that one on behalf of Kurt Cobain. A phone call to the number listed on the lawsuit for the attorney does not go to Banks or Brown or a law office.

The Northeast Ohio Correctional Center did not immediately respond to a request for information on Banks' incarceration, but previous reports and news releases show Banks has had a myriad of charges brought against him and is a convicted felon.

He was indicted in August 2015 on a charge of interstate stalking and in January 2016, for instate stalking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and making false statements in Pennsylvania.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in December 2015 that Banks has filed more than 300 "bogus lawsuits." At the time, officials were determining if Banks was competent to stand trial in a case where he was accused of stalking a Florida FBI agent.

Dr. Robert Wettstein said, according to the Post-Gazette, that Banks suffers from an "ongoing delusional disorder which has a paranoid flavor to it."

RELATED: Sutherland Springs church shooter's dad speaks out: 'We are grieving'

Banks has filed dozens of suits against the CIA, often claiming the federal agency is spying on people with electronic tools and controlling his thoughts with "voice to skull" technology, according to the Post-Gazette. He sued President Donald Trump, along with a slew of other government officials, in October.

He has also filed fake appeals he claimed were on behalf of a Pennsylvania woman accused of drowning her sons in a bathtub and Bernie Madoff.

For unknown reasons, Banks quotes Trump in his suit on behalf of Kelley saying, "'This is a mental health issue at the highest level.' The highest level of government to include the CIA and respondents."

The Kelley case has been assigned to U.S. Judge David A. Ezra, who left Hawaii for San Antonio in 2012.

Staff researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. | Kelsey Bradshaw is a digital reporter for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| kbradshaw@express-news.net | Twitter: @Kbrad5
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip have confirmed mutual support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two states amid existing challenges and threats.

"The prime minister of Moldova welcomed the appointment of Ukraine's special representative for Transdniestria settlement and the beginning of his active work," the presidential press service reported on Friday, November 24.

Poroshenko and Filip discussed the implementation of bilateral agreements in the field of cross-border cooperation. They praised cooperation in the introduction of common border and customs controls in a number of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Moldovan state border.

They also discussed cooperation in the sphere of European integration in the context of the agenda of the Eastern Partnership summit.

The meeting was held in Brussels on November 24.
SACRAMENTO  The Assembly will turn the spotlight on itself Tuesday as the house convenes its first public hearing to examine complaints that the Legislature has fostered a culture of pervasive sexual harassment and abuse.

The hearing comes a day after Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando Valley, who served as majority whip until last week, announced he would resign immediately following several recent allegations of sexual misconduct. Lawmakers are expected to review the Assemblys existing harassment policies then hear from women who have shared their stories of harassment in the news media.

The women who will speak at the hearing include Pamela Lopez, a partner at a lobbying firm, who said a lawmaker, whom she has not named, forced himself into a bathroom with her last year and masturbated in front of her.

Jennifer Kwart, the district director for Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, is also listed as a speaker. Kwart is among three women who have publicly accused state Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia (Los Angeles County), of sexual misconduct.

More for you California state senators will give sexual harassment...

The hearing comes as both the Assembly and state Senate try to address a wave of allegations of sexual misconduct against lawmakers and men who work in and around the Capitol. A Senate committee voted Monday to strip Mendoza of his chairmanship on the Insurance, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee until an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations is completed.

Adama Iwu, a government relations executive for Visa who has helped organize the Sacramento campaign We Said Enough to expose sexual misconduct in politics, said it is clear that women feel more comfortable turning to a news reporter than they do going to the state Senate or Assembly with their complaint.

Its important to talk about how we can rebuild that trust, which we think involves a confidential hotline and a truly independent investigation, Iwu said.

Samantha Corbin, a lobbyist who will testify on behalf of the We Said Enough campaign, said she will emphasize what women have called for  a confidential hotline to report misconduct and confidential crisis counseling for those who do. Whistle-blower protections and other reforms will probably need to wait until the Legislature returns in January, she said, but setting up a hotline and counseling could happen now.

Those would go a long way toward building trust and building an appropriate climate in order to have these conversations, Corbin said.

The Assembly hearings will conclude with public comment, with some Capitol sources saying there is heightened anxiety about the prospects that new allegations will surface.

We want to know where our system breaks down, and how we can improve it to protect everyone who works in and around the Capitol, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale (Los Angeles County), who will chair the hearing Tuesday, said in a statement.

Additional Assembly hearings, possibly including one in which women can testify confidentially, are planned for January.

The hearing comes after Bocanegra resigned Monday. Bocanegra had initially announced last week that he would step down in September in order to avoid a costly special election to replace him. Bocanegra said he is confident that an ongoing investigation will clear his name.

But clearly, the principle of innocent until proven guilty has been temporarily lost in a hurricane of political opportunism among the self-righteous in my case  to the detriment of both the accuser and the accused, he said in a statement on Facebook.

Bocanegra apologized for a 2009 incident in which he was quietly disciplined for groping a female staffer when he was also a legislative staffer. Then, last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that six additional women have accused Bocanegra of sexual misconduct, including one woman who said he forcibly kissed her when he was a legislative staffer in 2010 and another woman who said he groped her in 2012 when he was running for the Assembly. Bocanegra has not addressed each new allegation, saying in his statement that he doesnt want to fight he said, she said allegations in the press or undermine the credibility of any accusers so that each of us would have access to a fair due process.

Furthermore, it is my hope that in taking this action we can help clear the path so that women and men who have been truly victims of sexual assault and workplace harassment can step forward and get justice for any crimes committed against them, Bocanegra said. While I am not guilty of any such crimes, I am admittedly not perfect.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
At an event Monday at the White House paying tribute to Native American veterans who served as Navajo code talkers in the military, President Donald Trump again invoked the label "Pocahontas," which he has used as a nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

"You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said to the vets present. "Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas."

As Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale pointed out on Twitter, Trump delivered this comment while standing in front of a portrait of President Andrew Jackson, who signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830.

Senator Warren has maintained that she is of Native American heritage, and some critics have said the claim was used to advance her career. In any case, Warren has stated that she believes the term is a "slur."

When asked to justify the "offensive" statement at the press conference that followed the event on Monday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders redirected, stating, "I think what people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to further her career."

"The President certainly (has) an extreme amount of value and respect for these individuals, which is why he spent time ... honoring them today," she continued. "He's constantly finding ways to honor these individuals."

Huckabee Sanders was further pressed on the issue, and was asked if she believes the president using a racial slur is appropriate in any context.

"I don't believe it is appropriate to use a racial slur in any context ... I don't think that (this) is (a slur)," she responded. "I think that Senator Warren was very offensive when she lied about something to advance her career."

Senator Warren has not yet responded to the comment.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree and Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib were ejected in the first quarter of Sundays game at the Coliseum after exchanging punches on the field.

Lined up wide on a running play, Crabtree locked up with Talib and pushed him over the sideline and out of bounds. Talib appeared to throw Crabtrees helmet at him as Broncos and Raiders players sprinted to the area.
Two strangers who met via a wrong number and became a social media sensation last year, met up again for a second Thanksgiving dinner, marking a new tradition for both.

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench met in 2016, after a Thanksgiving invite intended for Dench's grandson was instead mistakenly sent to 17-year-old Hinton. After the mixup was discovered, Hinton joked about whether he can still get a plate of food, despite the wrong number. Dench replied, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do... feed everyone."

After screenshots of the text exchange were posted to Twitter, the story went viral. Dench officially extended the Thanksgiving dinner invite to the teenager that year and Hinton accepted, much to the delight of those who followed the story.

VIDEO: Wrong text leads to unexpected Thanksgiving dinner

Now Playing: What began as a wrong text from a grandmother to a 17-year-old ended with the 17-year-old and his entire family being invited over for Thanksgiving. FOX 10's Marcy Jones reports. Video: Orlando Sentinel

But rather than leave that meeting in the past, the two reunited Thursday for a second year  revealing to the Arizona Republic that they've been in contact just about every week since their first meeting. Hinton told the newspaper that he considers her in some ways an adopted grandmother.

"The world is becoming a better place than it used to be," said Hinton. "I'm loving it. I love that you don't have to know someone or know their background to be nice to them."

Dench welcomed Hinton and his girlfriend into her Mesa, Ariz., home this year and told broadcast station KPNX that Hinton has an "open invite" to her house for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Hinton posted a photo of him and Dench last year, alongside a photo of the two this year, captioning it, "2016-2017 Thanksgiving." The photo has since been retweeted over 57,000 times, with over 160,000 likes as of Sunday.

"For him to continue with the relationship," Dench said, "I'm just really pleasantly surprised."

"We're more of extended family and, best of all, friends."
HANOI, Vietnam  A court in central Vietnam on Monday sentenced an activist to seven years in prison for producing online videos and interviews related to an environmental disaster that instigated antigovernment protests, in the authorities latest crackdown on dissent.

Following a trial that lasted half a day, Nguyen Van Hoa was convicted of spreading antistate propaganda by the Peoples Court in Ha Tinh province.

He was also charged with using social media platforms including Facebook to spread documents that defamed the government, the state-run online Ha Tinh newspaper reported.

In April last year, Taiwanese-owned Formosa Plastics Groups steel complex in Ha Tinh province dumped toxins into the ocean that killed hundreds of tons of fish along 124 miles of coastline in four central provinces. It was one of Vietnams worst environmental disasters.

The incident devastated the regions seafood and tourism industries and sparked protests against Formosa and the local government for its allegedly slow response to the disaster. The Taiwanese company was ordered to pay compensation of $500 million.

The Ha Tinh newspaper said 22-year-old Hoa had directly arranged for the videos, photos and interviews related to the disaster to be posted on social media to instigate protests against the government.

Vietnam opened up to foreign trade and investment three decades ago and has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, but the Communist government continues to have almost no tolerance for dissent.

In the past year, police have arrested at least 28 people and charged them with vaguely interpreted national security violations, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras  Early results from Honduras presidential election Monday showed the leftist challenger with a surprise lead over the incumbent, an outcome that could set the Central American country on a new path if it holds.

David Matamoros, president of the electoral court, announced around 2 a.m. that with 57 percent of the vote counted, Salvador Nasralla was polling at 45.7 percent to President Juan Orlando Hernandezs 40.2 percent.

After announcing the partial results, the countrys electoral court went silent Monday, leaving many to worry whether attempts were being made to change the outcome.

Julio Navarro, a sociologist and political analyst in Tegucigalpa, criticized the electoral court. It keeps failing us, he said. Last night it promised official results early and didnt give them to us until dawn and still hasnt offered more information.

Amid the information vacuum, both candidates claimed victory.

Nasralla called for his supporters to celebrate in front of the electoral courts offices, while Reynaldo Sanchez, president of the ruling National Party, sent a recorded message to party members saying it was time to prepare our people to defend the triumph in the streets.

Nasralla, a 64-year-old sportscaster and one of the countrys best-known television personalities, is making his second bid for the presidency. He is running as the candidate of an alliance formed with former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted by a military coup in 2009.

The alliance has campaigned on eradicating corruption and bringing in a new economic model, but has offered few details beyond its interest in moving away from privatization and other policies.

Honduras already has an anti-corruption mission backed by the Organization of American States, which has worked for more than a year to help strengthen the countrys crime fighting institutions. But Nasralla has said he wants a body more akin to that of Guatemala, where a United Nations-supported commission has worked for more than a decade to prosecute corruption that has reached the presidents office.

Nasralla also vowed during the campaign to continue extraditing drug traffickers.

Hernandez, however, built his support largely on a drop in violence  the homicide rate was once among the worlds worst. Honduras National Autonomous University says the rate has fell to 59 homicides per 100,000 people, from a dizzying high of 91.6 in 2011.

Freddy Cuevas and Maria Verza are Associated Press writers.
BERLIN  Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that her conservative bloc is willing to start talks on trying to forge a stable government with the center-left Social Democrats, with an eye on the large challenges Germany faces both internationally and domestically.

We are ready to hold talks with the Social Democrats ... in a serious, engaged, honest way and obviously with the intention of success as well, Merkel said after a meeting with her partys leadership in Berlin.
ISLAMABAD  Pakistani security forces refrained Sunday from cracking down again on an Islamist sit-in, now in its third week, after violence the previous day killed six people and wounded scores.

The protesters rallied near Islamabad in support of a religious party demanding the resignation of the countrys law minister over an omitted reference to Islams Prophet Muhammad in a parliamentary bill, as solidarity protests spread across the country.

Encouraged by the countrywide protests in their support, a Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party leader called for a countrywide general strike on Monday against what he called atrocities committed by police on Saturday.

Over 3,000 protesters gathered Sunday at the Faizabad intersection, the sit-ins epicenter, which links the capital Islamabad with the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Some, angry over the polices show of force the previous day, torched a car, three motorcycles and a guard post erected near the rally site Sunday. No casualties were reported.

Pakistani riot police and paramilitary troops were deployed nearby  apparently in preparation for another crackdown after security forces failed to disperse the demonstrators on Saturday. As the day wore on, however, it became apparent they would refrain from any further action to clear the sit-in.

The law minister targeted by the group, Zahid Hamid, has apologized for the omission in the parliamentary bill  a phrase saying that Muhammad is the last prophet in Islam  and said it was a clerical error that was later corrected. But Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah  a coalition of groups that follow the Sunni Hanafi tradition  is adamant that Hamid resign.

This sit-in and protests all over the country are not going to end unless our talks proved successful and our demands are met, said Pir Mohammad Afzal Qadri, the leader of Aalmi Tanzeem Ahl el-Sunnat, one of the groups of the religious party.

Qadri appealed to traders to close their business on Monday to protest against police tactics. Fearing trouble, several state and private educational institutions across the country announced that they would close and postpone exams on Monday.

On Saturday, security forces failed to disperse the protesters when riot police moved in with tear gas and batons. Hospital officials said nearly 200 people were hurt, most of them police. They confirmed six people were killed in clashes with police at the Islamabad rally.

Sunday also saw supporters of the Islamist party block roads and stage sit-ins for a second day in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Multan and others, in a show of solidarity with the protesters in Islamabad.

Zarar Khan is an Associated Press writer.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has held a number of bilateral meetings as part of his participation in the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, in particular, with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Secretary General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid, and the foreign ministers of the Netherlands and Estonia.

"The major topics discussed at these meetings of the minister were the worsening of the security situation in Donbas, the further deterioration of the situation in the occupied Crimea, the importance of maintaining sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation and the creation of an international mechanism for de-occupation of Crimea," the Foreign Ministry's press service reported on Saturday.

Klimkin called on his colleagues to support the UN General Assembly resolution on the situation with human rights in Crimea, which was proposed by Ukraine.

In addition, Klimkin and President of the European Investment Bank Werner Hoyer discussed prospects for cooperation between Ukraine and the EIB, the implementation of a number of projects and the ways of further financial support for Ukraine.
YANGON, Myanmar  Pope Francis opened a diplomatically fraught trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday by immediately diving into the crisis over Myanmars crackdown on Rohingya Muslims: He met with the countrys military chief, even before beginning the official program of his trip.

The Vatican didnt provide details of the contents of Francis 15-minute courtesy visit with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations. It took place in the residence of the archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo, who has resisted international condemnation of the militarys operations against Rohingya as ethnic cleansing.

The general is in charge of security in Rakhine state, where the militarys clearance operations against the Muslim minority have sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Refugees there have told of entire villages being burned and women and girls being raped.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said only that They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaings office said in a statement on Facebook that he is willing to have interfaith peace, unity and justice. The general added that there was no religious or ethnic persecution or discrimination in Myanmar, and that the government allowed different faith groups to have freedom of worship.

Rohingya Muslims have faced state-supported discrimination in predominantly Buddhist country for decades. Though members of the ethnic minority first arrived generations ago, Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, denying them almost all rights and rendering them stateless. They cannot travel freely, practice their religion, or work as teachers or doctors, and they have little access to medical care, food or education.

Originally, the meeting was planned for Wednesday, after Francis was to have met with the countrys civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital. The Vatican didnt say why it was moved up.

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of textbook ethnic cleansing by the military in Rakhine. But Myanmars Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term Rohingya, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when a group of Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that resulted in Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

On Tuesday, Francis begins the main protocol portion of his weeklong trip, meeting with Suu Kyi and other officials. He is to deliver a speech to her and other Myanmar authorities and diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, in what will likely be the most closely watched speech of the trip.

Nicole Winfield is an Associated Press writer.
Rubicon says it got a bargain with the US$29 million price to buy out partners in ArborGen after refusing to waive provisions that would have allowed its former co-investors to run a formal sales process for their stakes in the biotech seedling firm.

In June, the NZX-listed forestry investor took full ownership of ArborGen, agreeing to pay International Paper and WestRock in a deal that placed a fair value of US$124 million on the seedling firm. Rubicon's annual report, released after trading closed on Friday, shows the deal resulted in a "bargain purchase gain" of US$51 million and that the purchase price didn't reflect fair value because there wasn't an orderly sales process.

"This was due to the unique nature of the then governing ArborGen shareholders agreement, which included strong pre-emptive rights over existing partners' interests in the event of a sale, and also minority veto rights in favour of the remaining partner," the annual report said. "Given Rubicon was not prepared to forgo these protective provisions, this, in turn, meant that the exiting partners were effectively unable to run a sales process for their respective shareholdings."

Auditor KPMG noted the ArborGen deal as a key audit matter, saying the accounting was complex and that fair value assessments had a wide range of potential outcomes due to their sensitivity to various assumptions.

"Based on our own understanding of the ArborGen business and our own assessment of the valuation ranges, we are satisfied that the fair values determined by management are supportable," the auditor's report said.

Rubicon shifted its balance date to align with ArborGen, and reported a net loss of US$6 million in the 15 months ended Sept. 30 on revenue of US$115 million.

Auckland-based Rubicon injected US$6 million of capital into ArborGen and has advanced a US$5 million working capital funding line and is undertaking "a complete review of the strategic, operating and financial plan necessary to ensure ArborGen meets its promise" which it expects to be done next year, chair Stephen Kasnet said in the report.

Kasnet noted the new Labour-led administration has signalled new policies to support the forestry sector and expand afforestation.

"We have yet to see the detail (eg species, regions, etc) of this policy, other than that a target of 100 million trees per annum being planted in NZ has been widely stated," Kasnet said. "ArborGen-NZ currently produces around 16 million tree stocks per annum, so there is clearly upside for it should this policy be implemented in a managed manner."

Rubicon also scaled back its exposure to Tenon, teaming up with US and New Zealand investors to buy the Clearwood manufacturing business near Taupo.

The shares fell 1.6 percent to 18.5 cents on light turnover, having dropped 15 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Finance Minister Grant Robertson will use a major speech in Auckland on Friday to announce the date of the pre-Christmas fiscal update and Budget Policy Statement, cementing in place the timetable for achieving key elements of the new government's 'first 100 days' plan.

While the government is tight-lipped about how far the statement will go beyond the usual half-year update, it is not expected to be a full mini-Budget with major, previously unannounced measures.

However, it does appear likely that the government is building a narrative intended to acknowledge the existence of a gap between its spending promises and its ability to fund them, and to blame those shortfalls to the greatest possible extent on the previous government.

The finance minister in the previous government, Steven Joyce, pursued the accusation that Labour had a "fiscal hole" in its Budget projections over the next four financial years that could be as large as $11.7 billion.

Labour vehemently disputed that charge, but has begun talking up its discovery of major capital expenditure delays it has discovered in areas such as health and education since taking office a month ago.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also confirmed the government will shortly introduce legislation to abolish the National-led government's April 1 2018 income tax cuts and family welfare and accommodation supplement payments in favour of its own 'families package', which will target tax relief through the Working for Families to low income households rather than distribute tax cuts across all income levels.

The updates are generally delivered on a Thursday, making Dec. 14 or Dec. 21, the final sitting day for Parliament this year, the most likely dates for the announcement.

Ardern said the BPS would "show our investment and spending plans are responsible, affordable and in line with our Budget Responsibility Rules" announced before the election.

The update will also spell out the renewed contribution to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund after nine years of a contribution freeze" and other legislation would be introduced shortly to implement the Best Start policy for families with new-born babies, offering support up to the age of three, and the $500 per year Winter Energy Payment benefit.

Ardern appeared at today's post-Cabinet press conference with deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, ostensibly because the pair had just finished a meeting with the UK Secretary of State, Liam Fox, who is in Wellington for talks.

However, most media questions dwelt on the government's alleged failure to release a 38-page document detailing areas the coalition government intends to work on and which Peters had said would be released publicly by Ardern in due course.

Inquiries by Newsroom under the Official Information Act revealed that Ardern didn't regard herself as holding such a document and in today's media conference talked about extensive notes of possible areas of new policy work which would only be announced if and when the government decided to proceed with them.

Peters said the document was in fact 33 pages long and that his comments, in which he clearly talked about public release, had been quoted out of context.

Ardern said it was common for any government to have policy ideas under consideration, some of which might never advance because they were found to be unworkable or unaffordable.

(BusinessDesk)

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Green Cross Health, the listed medical services provider, posted a 16 percent decline in first-half profit, mainly reflecting a one-time gain in the year-earlier half, while sales rose 6.9 percent.

Profit was $8.8 million in the six months ended Sept. 30, from $10.5 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Operating revenue rose to $254 million from $238 million. The year-earlier profit included a one-time fair-value gain of $2.8 million.

Green Cross, which was formerly known as PharmacyBrands, has a network of 354 Unichem and Life Pharmacies that represent its biggest division and posted a gain of about 12 percent in first-half operating profit before interest and tax to $13.8 million. The gain was "driven by strong dispensary and franchise revenues and consistent retail sales," it said.

Its medical division, which has 33 medical centres and operates The Doctors brand, recorded a 3.6 percent gain in operating earnings to $1.45 million. Its third business is the Community Health division, which posted 14.2 percent growth in sales to $62.9 million and operating earnings growth of 11.2 percent to $1.3 million.

Chairman Peter Merton said Green Cross "is on track to continue its upwards trajectory with a focus on growth via acquisition and continued investment in delivering health care in line with the New Zealand Health Strategy."

The company will pay a fully imputed interim dividend of 3.5 cents a share on Dec. 22 with a record date of Dec. 11. It offers a dividend reinvestment plan.

Shares in Green Cross Health last traded at $1.74 and have declined 32 percent in the past 12 months.

(BusinessDesk)

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On November 26-27, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin is on an official visit to the State of Israel, where he is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Foreign Ministry's heads, individual ministers, the leaders and other members of the Knesset.

"Klimkin, in his capacity of Chairman of the Ukrainian part of the Joint Ukrainian-Israeli Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, and Zeev Elkin, Minister of Environmental Protection of Israel, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, Chairman of the Israeli part of the Joint Ukrainian-Israeli Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, will discuss the progress in implementation of agreements reached at the tenth meeting of the Commission," the Foreign Ministry's press service said on Saturday.

The ministers will elaborate further steps to intensify practical cooperation in economic and investment spheres, as well as in the fields of high technologies and development of startups in Ukraine.

"The economic component of the visit includes, apart from discussion of relevant issues during the planned meetings, visits of Klimkin to leading Israeli research and development companies, startup companies and to the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions against Russia, fearing that Moscow will leave the organization, thus limiting the possibility of protecting human rights in the world, the organization's secretary general, Thorbjorn Jagland, has said.

"The Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions against Russia, which were imposed over Moscow's aggression in Ukraine," reads a statement posted on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's website on Monday, citing the organization's secretary general.

According to him, such a decision could be made because of fears that Russia could pull out due to restrictions, which, according to the Council of Europe, may deal a blow to human rights protection.

"Moscow is demanding its voting rights be restored in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European Court of Human Rights and the 1949 Human Rights Convention. Russia was stripped of voting rights over the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014," reads the statement.

"Nobody wants to give a signal that we accept the annexation of Crimea. It is not about undermining this position of principle," Jagland said, adding that representatives of the Council of Europe "have to keep in perspective" the mandate of the organization that foresees the protection of "human rights in Russia and Crimea, or wherever people live on the continent."
Kyiv's State Fiscal Service has given a negative response to objections of Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk regarding his tax declarations inspection, which he believes being unlawful.

"This means that in the near term I will receive a tax notice, which is a direct way to the criminal case and a possibility of again attacking me and throwing mud at me for my opponents," he said in a statement made public last week.

"Most of people understand that this case is a dead-end and artificial case. It was planned not to win, but to seriously damage reputation at the stage of accusations and suspicions," Danyliuk said.

He links the campaign against him with the introduction of a transparent VAT refund by the Ministry of Finance, the blocking of the corrupt VAT scams for bonds, the fight against fictitious VAT, the refusal to increase the financing of the prosecutor's office, the reform of the State Fiscal Service, the active position towards the liquidation of the tax police and the creation of the Financial Intelligence Service.

"I will not give up my principles. So I advise law enforcement agencies not to spill energy and finally do the work that everyone expects from you, not spin doctoring," the finance minister said.

With regard to the reply received by the State Fiscal Service of Kyiv, he pointed out that there were no answers to many points of his objections, the refusal to take into account the documents in English, the inability of tax officials to establish the fact of his tax residency and correctly determine the rate of conversion of income to the hryvnia, as well as the decision without confirmation of information from the British Revenue & Customs office where the minister worked.

"But, the most important, according to information from the Kyiv's State Fiscal Service, the decision was imposed from outside, in particular, there was an unlawful interference of the Prosecutor General's Office," the finance minister said.

"Realizing that the stable Ministry of Finance is the guarantee of financial stability of the country, I tried not to take resonant steps in response to coordinated actions aimed at my discrediting, but there is a limit to everything and to my patience too. I will not sacrifice my reputation and calmness of my family," Danyliuk said, explaining the decision to make a statement.
The Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has said that the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) forces comply with the Minsk agreements, military units did not advance, while illegal armed groups in occupied Donbas resort to information provocations.

"The Ukrainian side of the JCCC informs that the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not advance. The ATO forces fully observe the Minsk agreements. The units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the ATO zone can improve their positions on the contact line within the Minsk agreements," the Ukrainian side of the JCCC said in explanations posted on the Facebook page of the press center of the ATO headquarters on Saturday, November 25.

Russia and illegal armed groups operating in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions are waging an information war on Ukraine in order to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the eyes of the world community, the Ukrainian side of the JCCC said. According to the report, information provocations were used ahead of the visit by OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug to Donetsk and Luhansk regions in order to destabilize the situation among civilians in the region.
Editor's Note: Ken Tirado is the owner Killmeyer's Old Bavaria Inn located in Charleston. The German-themed tavern has become a Staten Island landmark, if not for its massive Hummel standing outside the building on the corner of Arthur Kill and Bloomingdale Roads, then for its charm and niche in Staten Island history.

Killmeyer's is one of three theme restaurant endeavors. Adobe Blues was his first in 1992 where he's proud of taking on restaurateur Julian Gaxholli at the onset of his successful food career on Staten Island. Then, Ken opened Killmeyer's in 1994 as a bar until the restaurant opened its kitchen a year later. He collaborated with Julian in the next venture, Bayou in Rosebank for 13 months starting in August, 2003.

Also to his credit, Tirado is an actor. He performs often in local productions. And a big moment: He was listed as a cast member of five-time nominated Academy Award film "Little Children" in 2005. It is a love for the theater and dramatic settings that might inspire patrons' gifts of knickknacks to display properly in the restaurant's Bavarian setting. Here is the story of Ken's most recent acquisition.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- I just loaded a 150-year-old piano into my side dining room at Killmeyer's. Sometimes people just give me things.

When Adobe Blues first opened over 25 years ago many people got a real kick out of our "Old West Saloon" theme and soon wanted to contribute. We had a buffalo head on the wall along with a stuffed armadillo, so with that in mind a customer came in one day with a taxidermied tableaux of a snake attacking a squirrel. Violent and ugly -- it is still on display.

The list goes on.

One good customer gave us a Wyatt Earp-shaped bottle of bourbon; another gave us cactus-like sculptures. Soon the dining room started to develop a Southwestern kitschy look, and we had to stop taking things.

When we bought and restored the building that is Killmeyer's things escalated to a new level. Our side dining room was supposed to be our "beer museum" where we displayed old Staten Island beer memorabilia along with other old brewery trays, cans, and bottles. Soon everyone was giving us the bottles that they found. Whenever someone cleaned out their husband's beer can collection we were the beneficiaries.

Our German beer hall theme inspired other gift-givers. Veterans who served in Europe gave us old postcards of Bavarian beer halls. One elderly couple gave us a huge old porcelain beer stein that belonged to her father, who had spent his life working at Stapleton's R & H Brewery. It is prominently displayed in the dining room. We even made a little plaque to tell its story.

This gift-giving reached an absurd climax a few years back.

I had gotten used to phone calls from people seeking to sell their stein collection so wasn't thrown off when the server told me I had a phone call from a woman about a Hummel. I took the call and found myself speaking to a woman from the M I Hummel offices in New Jersey. I was informed that they are closing down their U.S. operations and wanted to know if I would be interested in the large Hummel statue they had on their front lawn.

I learned that the statue is the iconic Hummel figurine "The Merry Wanderer," first presented in 1935. Hummel figurines, inspired by the drawings of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, gained a huge American following after World War II when soldiers started sending the figurines home to their families. The statue I was being offered was sculpted in 1976 by Gerhard Skrobek, and is made of ten different parts that were fired and hand-painted.

At eight feet, six inches, it is the largest Hummel in the world. I chose to display it right out front. I wanted to create a South Shore landmark; much like old Al Deppe's had the huge hot dog on its roof back when I was a kid. I wanted people to stop and take pictures.

The huge concrete monster would have to have a steel-reinforced base for it to sit on. I had that done first. Mike's Movers took on the job of lifting up and transporting the statue, which is estimated at 4000 pounds.

The same day as that first Hummel phone call, a customer had lunch with his wife and noticed the taxidermied moose head and wild boar. "How would you like a ram's head for your wall?" he asked. Like I said, sometimes people just give me things.

Since the Hummel arrived I have received many phone calls about it. Several people have actually offered me their Hummel collections. I have refused these gifts. A Hummel appreciation society in Texas contacted me and sent a copy of their newsletter.

Descendents of the Killmeyer both in the US and Germany have reached out to me, most of them are just interested in following the family tree. I received an envelope filled with clippings once from California. It was a newspaper story about how one of the Killmeyer descendents worked for the space program, on the rocket boosters that helped put man on the moon.

One older man gave me a small 19th century hand crank machine that vaguely resembled an early pasta maker. He claimed it was his grandmother's spaetzle maker. He didn't know what to do with it...so take it to Killmeyer's!

So, last week a customer touches base with me. He was in Killmeyer's for the first time the other day. He looked around and asked if I wanted the "original Killmeyer's piano."

I followed the history of the building rather thoroughly over 20 years ago when we did our renovations. I did not recall anything about a piano, but I did know that brick factory owner Balthazar Kresicsher was good friends with the Steinway family, of piano fame. The man said he had historical documents. Photos were faxed over. We did some research. We were interested.

It turns out that this piano is from 1838-1841 by Bacon & Raven Pianos (where Steinway learned his craft). It was purchased by Balthazar Kreischer and it stayed in the building when Kreischer sold the building to Nicholas Killmeyer in 1855. It now sits in my side dining room while we decide where to put it and what to do with it. Like I said, sometimes people just give me things.

-- Ken Tirado
Lithuania can provide Ukraine with weapons worth almost EUR 2 million; a respective draft resolution has been prepared, Radio Svoboda has reported.

"Lithuania intends to transfer weapons to Ukraine to the tune of EUR 1.93 million ... The annexes to the resolution indicate that more than 7,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles, over 2 million cartridges, more than 80 machine guns, several mortars, anti-tank weapons and other military equipment can be transferred to Ukraine," Radio Liberty said on its website in the early hours of Monday, referring to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry.

The draft resolution of the government of Lithuania has been submitted to that country's finance and foreign ministries for consideration.

The report says that Lithuania first handed over weapons to Ukraine in 2014. Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis said that the Lithuanian government provides Ukraine with lethal weapons and, if possible, will continue such assistance.
Gilead signs new license agreement for production of Bictegravir for treating adult patients with HIV

Gilead Sciences, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, has signed a new license agreement for production of Bictegravir medicine for treating adult HIV with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to expand access to the Bictegravir innovative medicine.

According to a posting on the website of Gilead Sciences, Gilead has also expanded its licensing agreements with Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, Strides Shasun Limited, Mylan Laboratories Limited and SeQuent Scientific Limited to include Bictegravir, and products incorporating the compound, for distribution in 116 developing countries.

Under these voluntary licensing agreements, the manufacturers may produce Bictegravir as a single agent or in fixed-dose combinations with other HIV medicines. Gilead and the MPP recently expanded the geographic scope of the licensing agreements for Gileads other HIV therapies to include Ukraine, Malaysia, Philippines and Belarus.

Voluntary licensing agreements are a key component of Gilead's efforts to increase access to the company's therapies in the developing world. Competition among manufacturers has reduced the lowest price of a Gilead HIV generic therapy to $3.50 per patient per month.

The Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association (IPMA, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited is a member of the association) told Interfax-Ukraine that all Indian pharmaceutical companies that signed the license agreement with Gilead Sciences intend to register these products in Ukraine.

"This is not the first case for India. Earlier Indian pharmaceutical companies signed many similar agreements, which makes it possible to make medicines available to patients," IPMA President Dr. Ramanan Menon said.

He said that when these agreements are signed, the countries where a particular drug can be delivered are indicated.

"In this case, Ukraine is on the list of the countries. This tool will be applied in Ukraine as well. One of the main goals of the license agreement is affordability of treatment," he said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has protested the decision made by a Moscow court to prolong the arrest of journalist Roman Sushchenko, a citizen of Ukraine, who is charged with espionage in Russia.

"The prolongation of Roman Sushchenko's arrest in Russia on the basis of falsified charges is ungrounded. We protest, we demand his release," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Later, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported that the Russian court's refusal to change the measure of restraint for Sushchenko "is a sign of pressure on him and bias of the Russian judicial authorities."

"The closed regime of the court session, the court's rejection of the petition to admit the consul to participate in the hearing as a public defender, as envisaged by the Russian Criminal Procedure Code, confirm the purposeful political nature of the case against Roman Sushchenko," the ministry said.

"We call on the world community, international human rights institutions and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media to take all possible legal and political measures to release and return to Ukraine a citizen of Ukraine, journalist Roman Sushchenko," reads the statement.

Earlier that day, the Moscow City Court left Ukrainian citizen Roman Sushchenko, who is charged with espionage in Russia, under arrest until January 13, 2018.

"The court has granted the investigative bodies' request to prolong the detention of accused Sushchenko until January 13, 2018," the court said on Monday.

Sushchenko is charged with espionage. He says he is not guilty.

The preliminary investigation into the case has now been completed. Attorneys are reading the case materials.
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ATO HQ asks people cooperating with army not to report on course of operation in Donbas

The headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO HQ) in Donbas has appealed to people cooperating with the Ukrainian army not to disclose any information about the actions of the Armed Forces units in the area of a special operation, reminding servicemen of accountability for the leaking of classified information.

"The ATO HQ asks people who cooperate with the Ukrainian Armed Forces not to disclose any information, photos and video materials concerning the course of tactical and operational actions (movement, change of positions, progress, etc.)," reads a statement posted on the Facebook page of the press center of the ATO headquarters on November 26.

The headquarters explained the need for such an address due to a case recorded a few days ago when one of the volunteers prematurely released information that jeopardized the security and life of military personnel.

The ATO headquarters also reminded servicemen of administrative and criminal accountability for the leaking of classified information.

"Once again, we insistently ask you not to spread any information about the course of the anti-terrorist operation!" reads the report.
First Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukraine's envoy in the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko criticizes Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland's position on Russia's prospects for the return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

"In an article published by The Financial Times, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Jagland, has publicly reiterated his old position: the return of Russia to PACE without any preconditions. (...) The council's secretary general does not understand that if Europe allows the Russian Federation to violate the basic European principles and human rights, Europe will remain without Europe, it will be another, degrading Europe, and that his statements are self-activity that is not in line with decisions of the CoE Committee of Ministers and PACE resolutions," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook on Monday.

She says that "we live while seeing the European institutions degrading and being weakened by Russia itself." "You can accept this and go along with the tide, or you can realize this and try to resist." The Ukrainian delegation to PACE definitely goes for the other way, but in fact it is the main and right one," Gerashchenko said.

Earlier, Jagland said in an article published by The Financial Times that "the Council of Europe, the leading pro-democracy body in the region, is considering lifting sanctions it imposed over Russia's aggression in Ukraine for fear Moscow could otherwise pull out  dealing a blow to human rights protection."
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After a failed sale and an intractable tender process, the ACT government has finally found someone to deal with its costly and inefficient streetlight network.

The government has been looking to outsource the management of the territory's 79,000 streetlights since last year, after it decided against full privatisation.

Streetlights on the Malcolm Fraser Bridge over the Molonglo River. Credit:Graham Tidy

Negotiations have begun with electrical engineering firm Electrix on a seven-year contract, which would see them repair, replace and maintain streetlights across the city.

Electrix has promised to repair blown bulbs within two days instead of the current 10.
In what other city is dodging kangaroos an every day hazard on your daily commute?

Dash cam footage of a close call with two roos at a busy Canberra intersection show the real life perils of living in the Bush Capital.

The footage posted by Dash Cam Owners Australia, which appears to have been captured on Canberra Avenue in Fyshwick, shows two kangaroos bouncing across multiple lanes of traffic before skidding to safety.

The driver makes a right turn after getting the all clear from a green arrow.

But two kangaroos have other ideas, bouncing their way from the opposite footpath across multiple lanes of traffic into the direction of the turning vehicle.
Canberra's transport corridors should have separate planning rules to encourage higher density, the ACT's peak body for architects has said.

The Australian Institute of Architects ACT chapter has released their vision for how Canberra's zoning restrictions should be changed to revitalise the city.

It comes after the ACT government released a discussion paper suggesting the rules around dual occupancies in RZ1 could be relaxed to allow separate unit titling.

President Rob Henry said he saw more dual occupancies as a "viable" option.

"We don't have a shortfall of housing in Canberra, we're producing more houses than the population growth requires right now but we're not producing the right kinds of housing," Mr Henry said.
The federal government says it won't intervene over ongoing higher than average flight cancellations between Canberra and Sydney, rejecting calls for a national taskforce to address complaints from stranded passengers.

Cancellations remained three times worse than industry standards on the route in October, with Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development statistics showing Canberra to Sydney topped the nation for cancellations in September, at 8.1 per cent.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester Credit:Jessica Hromas

The number of cancellations and delays are far higher than the national long-term cancellation rate of 1.4 per cent.

October data showed Qantas cancelled 8.8 per cent of its flights, impacting as many as 6000 people travelling on the route.
Animal activists also turned up to the rally. Credit:Karleen Minney "I think they have underestimated the greyhound power and the people." However the rally was marred by conflict between those who were opposed to the ban and those who backed it. At least 100 union members and greyhound racing industry workers took to the streets to overturn the impending ban on the sport. Credit:Karleen Minney Supporters of the greyhound racing industry hurled abuse at about 10 animal welfare activists who turned up with banners in favour of the ban.

One woman yelled "got undies on today love" at an activist. Police and security staff kept an eye on the protesters. An ACT Policing spokesman said no one was arrested or cautioned, although ACT Legislative Assembly general manager Ian Duckworth said police asked a man to leave the Parliament during the protest for an unrelated matter. The protest was organised with the right-faction Australian Workers Union and was attended by their aligned union the Electrical Trades Union and the non-aligned Professionals Australia union.

The Canberra Liberals sought to play up the union connection as leader Alistair Coe and gaming and racing spokesman Mark Parton received raucous cheers from the crowd. "I imagine there are a lot of people here who haven't voted Liberal before and probably don't care for the Liberals very much. But when you have Liberal members of the Assembly standing side by side with the [Australian] Workers Union you know that things have changed," Mr Coe said. "Whilst you may not be Labor supporters it's not because you left the Labor party, it's because the Labor party left you. I imagine there are many Labor founders turning in their graves right now to think about this elitist party and what they have become." Mr Parton received a rousing response when he said their opposition to the ban was not about the sport itself but "freedom". The Liberals will seek to delay the ban for two months but do not have the numbers to block the bill's passage.

"This isn't even about greyhound racing any more. It's not. It's about complete lack of process and complete lack of natural justice," Mr Parton said. Australian Workers Union NSW/ACT branch secretary Daniel Walton said workers came "from right around the state" to tell the government "we're not going to sit quietly and cop it". "We fought the campaign in NSW and we won and we're going to fight it again in Canberra and we will win," Mr Walton said. However a spokeswoman for Mr Ramsay said the strong interstate numbers "affirmed what the government has said all along in that the NSW industry cannot be divorced from the ACT industry". Professional Australia director Dave Smith, who is also the right convener for the Labor Party, said there was concern that the ban had been based on emotion rather than evidence.

"We're happy to support our colleagues and fight for their jobs," Mr Smith said. Electrical Trades Union official Mick Koppie said banning greyhound racing was a "fashionable diversion". "We're worrying about everything but what we should be concerned about and that's running the place," Mr Koppie said. Loading The ACT will be the first state or territory to ban greyhound racing after April 30.
ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals are split over proposed new electoral boundaries and whether Gungahlin and Belconnen should be together as a new third federal seat is created.

The Australian Electoral Commission released the first round of submissions for the territory-wide redistribution on Monday, with proposed names for the new seat including Stromlo, Molonglo, Namadgi, Griffin and Shakespeare.

Changing face of Canberra: Lake Burley Griffin could be part of a new central electorate. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Among 16 proposals from members of the public and the major political parties, Labor said the existing seats of Fenner and Canberra should be retained and a new central electorate of Molonglo be created, taking in the inner north and inner south, plus the southern belt of Belconnen suburbs and the northern-most suburbs of the Woden Valley.

Labor proposes the seat be named for the Molonglo River corridor and wants Canberra's Indigenous leaders to be consulted before the seat is determined.
The number of millionaires grew by 200,000 to 1.16 million in Australia over the 12 months to mid-2017, according to research by Credit Suisse.

And the number of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals in Australia  those with a net worth of $US50 million ($65.5 million)  jumped by 30 per cent to almost 3000, according to the latest edition the Global Wealth Report.

"No other part of the wealth pyramid has been transformed as much since 2000 as the millionaire and ultra-high-net-worth individual segments," says Alex Wade, the head of Australia, and developed and emerging asia, private banking, Credit Suisse.

Calculations by Credit Suisse suggest that 148,200 worldwide can be classed as UHNW individuals. Of these, 54,800 are worth at least $US100 million ($130 million), and 5700 have assets above $US500 million ($655 million).
All flights from Australia to Bali have been cancelled because of the ash cloud around Mount Agung.

Mount Agung emits volcanic smoke and ash from its crater as seen from Tulamben, Bali. Credit:AP

Eight flights from Perth to Denpasar Airport scheduled for Monday will not be leaving. Passengers booked on a Garuda Airlines 7.50am flight boarded their plane before being told to return to the terminal after the flight was cancelled, a Perth Airport spokesman said.

Five flights were scheduled to arrive back in Perth from Bali on Monday. A Batik Air flight scheduled to leave Perth for Bali at 6pm on Monday is yet to be officially cancelled.
The United States supports UN peacekeepers' access to the entire area of the occupied Donbas, including the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border, but it does not support the presence of Russian citizens in the peacekeeping mission, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker told The Washington Post.

"The force must have access to the Ukraine-Russia border and not have any Russian personnel in it," Volker was quoted as saying in an article published by The Washington Post on November 26.

According to the U.S. special envoy, the U.S. idea is to create a true U.N. peacekeeping force that would have not only free rein but also security authority throughout contested areas.

Volker said he would continue negotiations with Moscow.

He said the peacekeeping plan represents the best hope to return to Minsk II, a peace agreement that both Ukraine and Russia pledged to follow. That process is stalled primarily because Russia won't honor provisions mandating a ceasefire, the removal of its heavy weapons from eastern Ukraine and access to the border.
Australia can reach a renewable energy tipping point in 2020, with renewable generation costs to be less than fossil fuels, EY power leaders say.

Australia may be one of the first nations to reach this stable grid parity point, EY Global Advisory power and utility leader Serge Colle told Fairfax Media.

"As early as 2021, [globally] we reach what we call grid parity; with Australia, the expectation is that this will come one year earlier, as early as 2020," Mr Colle said.

Grid parity is when renewable or alternative sources can produce energy at a levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) equal to or less than buying energy generated from traditional power sources such as coal or natural gas.
The diversified mid-tier miner South32 has announced plans to spin out its South African coal operations, revealing it would operate South Africa Energy Coal (SAEC) as a stand-alone business from April next year and that local ownership of the business would rise.

In a busy day for the Perth headquartered miner South32, which was founded in 2015 after it was spun out of mining giant BHP, also unveiled a $US301 million investment to extend the life of one of its South African coal operations, Klipspruit, for about 20 years.

South32 CEO Graham Kerr at the company's 2016 AGM. Credit:Trevor Collens

South32 signalled that the continued transformation of its South African coal operations would create more opportunities for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment entities, communities and employees, to own a share of the miner. And eventually, the South African coal operations could be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, it said.

South32, which has operations around the world, outlined its plans for its South African coal operations in two statements published on the ASX website shortly after the market closed on Monday afternoon.
Tell the whole story The War Memorial is bringing in some virtual reality immersive experiences ("War Memorial explores artefacts with augmented reality," November 25, p.10). It is to be hoped the exhibits show the impacts of this lethal technology on human beings. For example, there will be a look inside the World War II bomber, "G for George," which already features in a short film at the Memorial. The film depicts the brave and highly dangerous work of the men of Bomber Command, but almost completely ignores what happened to the German civilian victims on the ground as the bombs fell (about 150,000 Germans were killed, including about 43,000 in Hamburg in a week in 1943 and 25,000 in Dresden in two nights in 1945, including thousands of children). The virtual George should do better than this.

The Memorial is very good at presenting ever more slick versions of the same military history (interactive map of Gallipoli as well as dioramas, names of dead men and women projected on the walls as well as in bronze on the Roll of Honour, interactive experience with warships, not just photographs) but it has always been weak at presenting the broader, non-Australia centric view. Wars have at least two sides; our common humanity demands that we give attention to them all, not just the Australian side. Doing that would deliver real empathy. David Stephens, Bruce Repudiated values

I laughed when I read the comments made by Nationals MP George Christensen in the aftermath of the Queensland state election: "I'm sorry that we in the LNP have let you down and now we need to listen more, work harder, stand up more for conservative values ... " If the repudiation of "conservative values" in the same-sex marriage plebiscite results weren't enough for Mr Christensen to realise that his brand of politics are what's costing his party votes, not the more reasonable, centrist leanings of the embattled Prime Minister, then it's difficult to imagine a less representative representative. James Allan, Narrabundah Beware legal killing Totally absent in the euthanasia discussion (Editorial, November 27, p.16) is any concern about coercion by those who benefit from the premature death resulting from "voluntary" euthanasia.

The coercion, real and imagined, will come from carers finding coping difficult, heirs who see their inheritance wasted on medical procedures and, most ominously of all, from a government attempting to reduce the cost of medical and pharmaceutical benefits. By the time you might need euthanasia, you will not be competent to volunteer, and the decision will be made for you. Is this what you want? Bruce A. Peterson, Kambah Respect for refugees The day after we see innocents being battered by thugs in an illegal Australian-run prison on PNG The Canberra Times thinks it's grand to publish Trevor Willis' (Letters, November 27) hateful rant. There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant under Australian law, there is no such thing as an illegal entry to seek protection  the only people acting outside the law are the Australian government.

This disgusting notion that people can be jailed, abused, tortured and even murdered because some racist claims they "are not refugees" should never be peddled in our papers again. Marilyn Shepherd, Angaston, SA Coalition drowning Julie Bishop confirmed that the cabinet is leaking, called for an investigation into her cabinet colleagues and reminded them that leaking from cabinet was a serious criminal offence. The leaks have been confirmed by Treasurer Scott Morrison.

Minister Peter Dutton said he had a "gut feeling" who was leaking but did not name the colleague. Does this mean Dutton will face charges of obstructing justice if he doesn't name the "criminal" offender and what happens if Bishop's investigation results in a criminal conviction against a cabinet minister. Would they still be eligible to sit in Parliament or would they join the growing conga line of MPs who didn't bother to check their now-false declarations before commencing their lucrative (and currently underworked) careers. Bruce Minerds, Macarthur Caring for pets

Mike Shaughnessy's very thought-provoking letter ("Humans, not dogs, the issue," November 25, Forum p.8) made me think of cruel puppy farms, pet shops and impulse buying of cute puppies and kittens. We become their custodians. Unless we are prepared to fill their needs, food, shelter, comfort, exercise and vet care, we should never take on an animal. These animals are natural carnivores. Every time we open a can of dog or cat food, we are reminded another animal died, in order for them to be fed. Mike Shaughnessy is right, we must carefully consider re-homing an animal and support shelters, to stop the indiscriminate breeding of "pets". Phil Cornelius, Seacliff Park, SA

What to watch? Thank God for freeview TV I get to choose between 10 to 20 year old programs, watch overrated TV celebrities with forced smiles and non coherent chit chat, whilst I consider the self gratification of upcoming programs interspersed by thousands of commercials broadcast at a higher decibel then normal programming. Thank God for free to air radio. David McVeigh, Lyneham

Tram plan a clear waste I stopped reading Ian Warden 20 years ago, but was tipped off about his comment that "Calling a tram the Red Herring could humour the anti-tram troglodytes by hinting at the ways in which the ACT government has allegedly misled us about the light rail's breathtaking costs" ("A streetcar named Desiree", Panorama, November 25, p2). Mr Warden, the costs are indeed 'breathtaking', for 12km of track, at $1.4 billion (2016 prices) even though the government insists it is only $939 million, through use of a dubious costing practice. Mr Warden and others seduced by the romanticism of European trams, love to call themselves "progressives" but what is progressive about wasting so much money on a technology rapidly being overtaken by new modes of transport? M. Flint, Erindale

Gambler also at fault The Canberra Times is complimented for its May-June coverage of the failure of ACT clubs to respect laws regarding gamblers who cannot keep their spendthrift habit in check. The Racing and Gambling Commission has now given the Raiders a well-deserved bullocking ("Raiders lose ruling in problem gambler case", November 25, p2). Nonetheless, my concern continues to be Professor Brown's apparent failure to accept any responsibility for $226,050 in losses she incurred at the pokies. Patrick Jones, Griffith

Airlines need to lift Canberrans are fast losing faith in both Qantas and Virgin to get them to and from Sydney on time. Cancellation of flights is unnervingly common ("Sydney to Canberra flights cancellations remain high in October", canberratimes.com.au, November 23) and no compensation or sympathy is offered for missed connections and appointments. The train may be painfully slow, and the bus not much faster, but for a quarter or less of the airfare, at least we can be more confident of planning our days or onward travel from a set arrival time. Which is why some train trips are now booked out. If ever we get a faster train, the airlines are really going to have to lift their game. Tim Macnaught, Narrabundah

Indigo given the flick The colours of the rainbow painted on the Braddon roundabout are disputed by Don Sephton with the colours of the primary rainbow (Letters, November 25). Since 1979 the LGBT community has used six colours for its rainbow to represent diversity in its gay community. The colours are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Famous scientist and author Isaac Asimov says "It is customary to list indigo as a colour lying between blue and violet, but it has never seemed to me that indigo is worth the dignity of being considered a separate colour". Kathryn Featherstone, Plympton SA

Nursing homes shame Is it not strange that abuse of the elderly in nursing homes seldom gets reported to the police, or brought to the notice of the media. Some seniors who arrive at these so-called nursing homes have their lives shortened and have died partly due to neglect, abuse, and inadequate medical care. I would like to point out to nursing home managers and health bureaucrats that your silence to these problems and abuses, or turning a blind eye, gives consent, for these abuses to carry on without fear of being reported to police. Who does the lonely senior, turn to for help, who may not even have one visitor for the last 12 months, and no one cares?

What a sad sorry state of affairs for these mature Australians, to be treated like this, shown no respect or care. The shame of it all. Richard Ryan, Summerland Point, NSW Protecting banks The extent to which the Turnbull government is prepared to go to protect the big four banks is again on show ("Scott Morrison working on compensation scheme for bank victims", canberratimes.com.au, November 25). The ALP, crossbench, and now some Coalition bankbenchers all want a royal commission or commission of inquiry to examine unethical or unlawful conduct by the banks and other financial institutions.

Such an inquiry would allow Joe and Jane Citizen to, under oath, present their grievances before an independent umpire. The unethical and unlawful conduct uncovered may (as in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse) lead not only to compensation for the wronged, but also dismissal and/or prosecution of the wrongdoers. On cooking up his compensation scheme, Scott Morrison "held high-level discussions with the heads of Australia's major banks". In other words, the banks are helping design the compensation scheme that will respond to their own wrongdoings. How would have child sexual abuse victims felt if Julia Gillard had sat down with the heads of the churches to head off a royal commission into their wrongdoings? Ripped off, just like the victims of the banks feel now. Hopefully, a couple of Coalition bankbenchers will cross the floor to enable Senator O'Sullivan's proposed commission of inquiry to go forward and for the banks to face a blowtorch and not a feather duster.

Mike Reddy, Curtin 'Forced' exit not so In an otherwise excellent piece on defamation law's muzzling effect on journalism ("Silenced is not the greater good", November 25, Forum, p12) Jacqueline Maley repeats Yassmin Abdel-Magied's claim she was forced to leave Australia. Abdel-Magied's overseas trips, including a recent return, are entirely of her own choosing. This phony banishment had everything to do with Abdel-Magied's propensity to exaggerate her sense of victim-hood including her remarkable claim to be Australia's most hated Muslim.

Peter Robinson, Ainslie Running scared Pauline Hanson: "Labor ran an effective scare campaign against us" (November 26). Response: "We have every reason to be scared of her." Pauline Hanson: "One Nation is not going anywhere."

Response: "Correct, and the sooner people stop voting for this stagnant pond, the better off we will be." Michael McCarthy, Deakin Drug dangers Since the US softened its approach to drugs, overdoses have soared. They're up 31 percent in just the last year. Linda Vij, Mascot, NSW

TO THE POINT The Canberra Times wants to hear from you in short bursts. Email 50 or fewer words to letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. STOP THE CRUELTY The UNHCR and Tim Costello have both said that the (resettlement) facilities (on Manus Island) are not ready. There is no work in Manus. Medical facilities cannot cope with the local population already.

Peter Dutton has not come up with any real solutions. What other countries have been approached? Nauru and Manus are not options. Sue Cory, Qld VALE STEVE DOSZPOT The contribution to the ACT and region by Steve Doszpot should be forever remembered. A genuine individual who in the end fought the good fight, to Maureen and family we send genuine condolences. Linus Cole, Palmerston

RAMSAY NOT WELCOME Once again an unaddressed item has been placed in my letter box, despite there being a "no junk mail" notice on the box. This time Gordon Ramsay was spruiking about his portfolios in the ACT government and his curriculum vitae, carefully omitting the fact that he had tenure as Minister at the Kippax Uniting Church for many years. Is he trying to forget that appointment? Ken McPhan, Spence

GIVE A.C.T. ITS RIGHTS The editorial "ACT deserves right to legislate its own voluntary euthanasia laws", November 27, p.16) seems to be arguing that the ACT become a state with state rights. Conversely, I would argue that the ACT be given its democratic rights under the referendum on self-government and the relevant legislation be repealed to remove all state-like responsibilities from our town council. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor YIANNOPOULOS DIVIDES

I learn with great concern that Senator Leyonhjelm intends inviting Milo Yiannopoulos to Parliament House for a question and answer session. Why on earth would the senator invite this awful man to our Parliament House? He is a divisive figure and should not be allowed in our Parliament House. Jan Gulliver, Lyneham NOT PLAIN SAILING Hearing that Malcolm Turnbull had cancelled the week's sitting of the Parliament my first thought was that Australia must have won the America's Cup again, and the Prime Minister was giving us all the day off. Annie Lang, Kambah

OPERATION OUCH Did Trevor Willis (Letters, November 27) have his compassion bypass on Medicare or was it self-funded surgery? M. Moore, Bonython LOCALS ONLY Let me hazard a guess: As the conservatives were routed in the Queensland election Malcolm Turnbull thinks it was fought entirely on state issues.
How has China managed to become the world's most durable autocracy? An intriguing new book by an Australian academic argues that it's because it's not really an autocracy at all.

The collapse of the Chinese Communist Party has been predicted year in and year out for decades. Yet its grip on the world's most populous country has been unbroken now for 68 years. "Yes, my prediction was wrong," wrote prominent American sinologist Gordon Chang when the party outlived the prediction in his 2001 book that it would fall within 10 years. "Instead of 2011, the mighty Communist Party of China will fall in 2012. Bet on it."

Australian academic John Lee made a career out of arguing for the forthcoming collapse of China until he finally went to work for Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop as an adviser last year. Judging by the government's new white paper on foreign policy, Lee has changed his mind or been overruled.

Their error, and the error of an army of other doomsayers, is entirely understandable. The longevity of the Chinese Communist Party's rule is unique among modern one-party states. Every day it continues is another record-setting day in defiance of precedent. So the interesting question, surely, is how they do it?
A sweeping inquiry into Australia's banking and financial system appears inevitable, with a second Nationals MP confirming he will defy Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and cross the floor to deliver the crucial final vote needed to establish the probe.

Nationals MP Llew O'Brien is set to join his Queensland Nationals colleague George Christensen and vote in the lower house for the banking commission of inquiry after the revolt was kick-started by Queensland senator Barry O'Sullivan.

But the head of the recent financial system inquiry, David Murray, warned a banking inquiry without safeguards could veer into "dangerous territory" while CLSA bank analyst Brian Johnson said it could affect the home loan market in the medium term.

Nationals sources said it was possible the party could, next Monday, decide to allow a free vote on the issue, and that if this happened more MPs could come forward and vote for the commission of inquiry.
Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for photos following their engagement announcement. Credit:Dominic Lipinski In a revealing podcast interview in April 2017, Harry confided how much of the chaos in his life was related to how he'd "shut down" all his emotions after his mother died in a Paris car crash when he was 12 in 1997. "I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle," he told The UK Telegraph's Mad World podcast. Prince Harry, pictured in 1995 with his mother Princess Diana, recently opened up about his mental health struggles following Diana's death. Credit:AP It wasn't until he was 28, when royal engagements sparked anxiety and feelings of being "on the verge of punching someone", that he sought help from counsellors.

"Because of the process I have been through over the past two and a half years, I've now been able to take my work seriously, been able to take my private life seriously as well, and been able to put blood, sweat and tears into the things that really make a difference and things that I think will make a difference to everybody else," Harry said. Prince Harry, pictured in 2005, earned a reputation as a party prince who often lashed out at photographers. Credit:AP Helping others is how he wants to make a difference. Among the causes closest to his heart is Sentebale, the children's charity he co-founded in the southern African country of Lesotho with Prince Seeiso in 2006, along with the mental health charity Heads Together he co-founded with brother William and sister-in-law Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. Britain's Prince Harry started the Invictus Games for war veterans and is passionate about his charity work. Credit:AP

Harry also founded the Invictus Games for wounded veterans, an event that's become a global hit and will be hosted by Sydney in October 2018. Harry and Ms Markle, 36, chose this year's Invictus Games in Toronto, where she lived while starring in Suits, to make their first joint appearance, complete with hand holding and kissing - public displays of affection not usually associated with the royal family. A passion for charity work is something Harry shares with his Californian fiancee, who is a United Nations women's advocate, a clean water ambassador for World Vision Canada and volunteered at a refugee camp in Rwanda. "I've never wanted to be a lady who lunches - I've always wanted to be a woman who works. And this type of work is what feeds my soul, and fuels my purpose," she has said. The prince has been fiercely protective of his fiancee, issuing an angry statement in November 2016 blasting the press for harassing her and for using "racial overtones" in stories about Ms Markle, whose father Thomas is white and mother Doria Ragland is African American.

Despite the constant media interest, Harry longs for "an "ordinary life". "Sometimes, when I come away from the meat counter in my local supermarket, I worry someone will snap me with their phone," He told Newsweek in June 201. "But I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too." Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam says Harry's relationship with an American actress who is outspoken about humanitarian issues demonstrates just how much the royal family has modernised. "There's no question this represents a broadening of the royal family, to represent society as a whole," he told AAP.

"And after all the years as a royal wild child and someone who did go over the top a bit, Harry's level of popularity is enormous." Mr Fitzwilliam said Ms Markle's interview with Vanity Fair in October 2017 when she opened up about her "boyfriend" and being in love, was also highly unusual in terms of royal protocol. "That was completely unprecedented, that he let her say they were happy and in love," Mr Fitzwilliam said. "There's no doubt at all they're doing it their way." The party prince's previous girlfriends

Chelsy Davy Zimbabwe-born Chelsy was the first to truly capture Harry's heart. They spent about six years together and coped with a long-distance relationship while the prince was training in the Army and overseas and Chelsy was at university in South Africa. Harry described Chelsy as "very special" and "amazing" but he was protective and determined to keep his private life under wraps. Harry, known for scuffling with the paparazzi, once politely approached photographers waiting for his girlfriend at Heathrow and asked them not to take pictures of her. Harry and Chelsy split in early 2009 and both were reported to have had flings with other people after the break-up. They rekindled their relationship and in May 2010, she made a rare public appearance to watch him receive his wings after completing his Army Air Corps helicopter pilot course. But the reunion was not permanent. Chelsy was not thought to be keen on the idea of royal life. Florence Brudenell-Bruce

Following his final break-up with Chelsy, Harry had a brief affair with Florence Brudenell-Bruce, a descendant of the seventh Earl of Cardigan, in the (northern) summer of 2011. Lingerie model Florence, known to her friends as Flee, also dated Formula 1 racing driver Jenson Button, but is now married to multimillionaire Henry St George. Cressida Bonas Harry's last serious relationship was with Cressida Bonas. They began dating in May 2012 after being introduced by his cousin and her close friend, Princess Eugenie. Described in the press as a "blue-blooded butterfly", Cressida is the daughter of renowned Old Harrovian businessman Jeffrey Bonas and 1960s 'it' girl Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon. The pair were widely tipped to walk up the aisle. Rumours that free-spirited actress and dancer Cressida was "the one" for Harry gathered pace in March 2014 when she joined the Prince at one of his official engagements for the first time. They sat together and embraced in the stands at Wembley Arena at a WE Day UK charity event.

But they split up in April 2014, saying they remained "the best of friends". Cressida is said to have wanted to focus on her career and disliked the attention she faced while dating a royal. The others In March 2007, Harry was pictured appearing to grab at a photographer after leaving a club where he had partied with close friend TV presenter Natalie Pinkham, who was later forced to deny they were an item. Socialite Astrid Harbord, who runs her own PR company, was once spotted going back to Clarence House with the prince at 3am after a night on the town. Harry was reportedly seen kissing singer Ellie Goulding away from prying eyes during a polo match in Berkshire. She's a friend of the younger members of the royal family, having sung at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 2011 wedding reception. She also performed at the closing ceremony of Harry's first Invictus Games in 2014.
In what was surely icing on the cake for retailers marking Cyber Monday, one of the biggest online shopping days on the calendar, Meghan Markle's engagement announcement outfit has caused websites to crash and the pieces to sell out worldwide.

For the official announcement of her engagement to Prince Harry on Monday, the Suits actress wore a white wrap coat by Canadian label LINE, a celebrity favourite.

The images that went around the world immediately sent the LINE website into meltdown, with the label telling USA Today the coat, which originally sold for $CAD700 ($823), had sold out.

"We are incredibly honoured that Meghan chose to wear a LINE coat to mark this very special occasion," LINE president and co-founder John Muscat reportedly told USA Today.
"I stress that by none of that behaviour, in her own mind, was the complainant consenting to sexual intercourse and I have already found that the Crown has proved lack of consent beyond reasonable doubt, but I accept that this series of circumstances on the early morning of 12 May 2013 amounts to reasonable grounds in the circumstances for the accused to have formed the belief, which I accept was a genuine belief, that in fact the complainant was consenting to what was occurring even though it was quick, unromantic, they had both been drinking and in the case of both of them [it] may not [have] occurred if each had been sober."

The Director of Public Prosecutions lodged an appeal against the acquittal, on the grounds that Judge Tupman had erred in taking into account Mr Lazarus' self-induced intoxication, and did not include in her judgment the steps Lazarus took to ascertain whether the woman was consenting.

The appeal was dismissed on Monday by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

In a unanimous judgment, Justice Geoffrey Bellew found the second ground for appeal was made out, but the court should exercise its discretion to not order a second retrial.

Justice Bellew said it was "undesirable" for a retrial to take place more than five years after the alleged offending, any criminal trial would be an "ordeal" for both parties, and it was significant that Mr Lazarus would face trial for a third time if the appeal was allowed.
The engine of a public bus exploded and burst into "two metre high" flames while driving in a busy street in Sydney's Surry Hills on Monday evening.

Transport for NSW confirmed the gas-powered bus, operating on route 394 from La Perouse to the City, caught fire around 7.30pm on Monday, on Flinders Street at South Dowling Street.

A bus caught on fire in Surry Hills on Monday on Flinders Street. Credit:Phil Dye

The bus was safely evacuated, and no passengers were injured.

Pictures posted on Twitter by Surry Hills resident Phil Dye show large plumes of grey smoke rising from the bus, which was stopped in the bus lane with its doors open, "20 seconds after the explosion ... before it caught fire".
The often stark divide between the "haves and have nots" has been highlighted in new research showing the poorest 10 million Australians are far more likely to die of preventable illnesses, while many of the country's most affluent are more likely to engage in risky drinking.

A report from the Australian Health Policy Collaboration at Victoria University has shown that a huge proportion of the population is at high risk of dying early from chronic diseases and other often-preventable conditions.

These most disadvantaged Australians (representing 4 in every 10 people) are almost three times more likely to die of diabetes, almost 40 per cent more likely to die of cancer and more than twice are likely to die of respiratory or cardiovascular disease, compared to richer sections of the population.

Over four years 81,400 people in the poorest 40 per cent of the nation died as a result of chronic disease, cancer and suicide, in comparison to 50,500 in the most affluent 40 per cent.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Vitalijus Vaiksnoras have met to discuss deeper cooperation between military schools of Ukraine and Lithuania and an increased number of Lithuanian instructors in Ukrainian army units.

"We are interested in developing cooperation between our educational establishments; teamwork is very important. It is effective. We will always have strategic calmness and will support Ukraine," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's website quoted Vaiksnoras as saying.

The sides also discussed their joint work within the multinational coordination committee on military cooperation and defense reform.

Technicalities of the supply of another set of Lithuanian weaponry and ammunition to the Ukrainian army were another item on the agenda.
A teenager who disappeared from her Gold Coast school, sparking an urgent police appeal and search, has been found safe and well.

The 13-year-old girl was reported missing from her Pimpama school about 11.30am on Monday and police had held concerns for her welfare because her behaviour was "out of character".

She was described as 140 centimetres tall, with an olive complexion, dark brown hair, brown eyes and of Indian descent. It was also believed she may still have been wearing her school uniform.

However, she was found safe and well about 4pm, with police thanking the public for their help.
An armed man has led police on a dramatic chase after making threats during a domestic disturbance on the Gold Coast, according to police.

It will be alleged about 10.30am a man made threats towards a woman, who was known to him, at a Meadowbank Drive residence in Upper Coomera while armed with a gun.

Police said neighbours came to the woman's aid and confronted the man, with one resident struggling with the man in an attempt to disarm him.

It will also be alleged the man then fled in a Ford hatchback, which he stole from the female resident he had threatened.

It will further be alleged the man later stole a sedan from an 18-year-old girl in nearby Oxenford, before leading police on a high-speed chase.
Bureaucrats are holding up the legal case against accused Bourke Street killer Dimitrious Gargasoulas because of their inability to pass on his medical records to his lawyers, a court has heard.

Mr Gargasoulas' case went before the Supreme Court on Monday, when a frustrated Justice Lex Lasry was told defence lawyers still did not have all of their client's medical records despite attempts to get them from Victoria's Department of Justice.

Dimitrious Gargasoulas.

The lawyers need the medical records to determine whether Mr Gargasoulas will be unfit to enter a plea or will plead not guilty by way of mental impairment.

The slow progress in the case against Mr Gargasoulas has frustrated the court to the point where Justice Lasry has several times this year taken the unusual step of requesting prosecutors and defence lawyers appear before him, even though the case is still before Melbourne Magistrates Court and yet to be referred to the Supreme Court.
Firefighters were forced to smashed a window of a parked car to rescue a child locked inside in Melbourne's north.

The incident has renewed calls for parents to not lock their children in cars this summer, with the mercury set to hit 29 degrees in Melbourne on Tuesday and 34 on Wednesday.

Firefighters were forced to smashed the window of a parked car to rescue a child locked inside in Melbourne's north. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Firefighters arrived at the scene in Pascoe Vale Road, Coolaroo, just before 3pm following reports a child was locked inside a car in front of a Spotlight store, a Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesman said.

The child was trapped in the car and sweating by the time emergency services arrived.
A member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club claims he was unfairly dismissed from a Collingwood brothel and denied up to $600,000 in superannuation and entitlements in an unusual workplace dispute before the Federal Court.

But lawyers representing the Number 100 brothel on Johnston Street have accused Joe Larosa, a member of the Hells Angels Thomastown chapter, of extorting weekly payments of more than $1500.

Hells Angels colours

The brothel, which promotes itself as "Melbourne's home of the happy ending", claims there was never any employment relationship with Mr Larosa and he should not be entitled to any compensation.

"The company was the subject of intimidation, harassment and threats from that individual so as to create the illusion of an employee and employer relationship. That behaviour first occurred in 2011 and continued into 2016", according to an affidavit filed by lawyers acting for the brothel owner.
The apartments would be among the smallest offered in Perth, with 20 square metres equivalent to around two car parking bays.

Studio apartments  featuring a double bed, bathroom, desk and kitchenette - would be around 20 square metres, while twin studios - which would use a 'divider' to separate two twin beds - would be between 24 to 32 square metres.

The studio apartments will be 20 square metres and feature a bed, bathroom, kitchenette and desk. Credit:Hayball

A look inside Blue Sky Real Estates' unique $70 million design showed the Wellington Street 30-storey building would include a cinema, lounge, pool, gym, gaming room and communal dining and kitchen areas.

The lower level of the development will include a a cafe. Credit:Urbis / City of Perth DAP

Cluster living would be offered on some of the high-rise floors, with up to five residents each having their own bedroom, study and ensuite but sharing a communal living area.

Urbis, during a planning application to the City of Perth's Local Development Assessment Panel expected to be approved on December 5, said the design provided a mix of private, semi-private and communal areas for all occupants.

"The proposal has been designed with an emphasis on providing an environment conducive to learning, and also the interaction between students," the application said.

"This results in the extensive communal areas spread throughout the building and within units."
A new online program aims to teach anxious children targeted by bullies how to be more confident in social situations and arm them with skills to help them cope.

The Cool Kids  Taking Control anti-bullying program is designed for children who are highly victimised and experiencing high levels of anxiety and researchers at Macquarie University looking for children across Australia who fit this criteria to take part.

Anxious children are more likely to be targeted by bullies. Credit:SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI

Dr Sally Fitzpatrick, project manager for PAVe, Preventing anxiety and victimisation through education, in the Department of Psychology, said a parent and their child would work through the course together and have weekly access to a psychologist.

"We know that kids who are bullied tend to be more anxious," Dr Fitzpatrick said.
A WA man has been fined more than $5600 for using an illegal fishing net in the Canning River after he left behind a trail of evidence, including his wallet.

The matter was brought to the attention of Fisheries WA via a tip off, after a witness spotted the man lifting a set gillnet out of the water on the Canning River at Rossmoyne on February 19 this year.

A bream entangled in the illegal net. Credit:Department of Fisheries.

Gillnets are long rectangular nets, set horizontally along the ocean or river floor.

It is an offence in WA for a person to take, or attempt to take, fish by means of a set gillnet in the Canning River.
Beijing: The Chinese businessman, Huang Xiangmo, whose large donations to the major parties sparked a national debate about foreign political donations, has stepped down as chairman of the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China.

The council has attracted controversy amid the debate on foreign influence in Australian politics because of its staunch support of the Chinese government's policies on Tibet and Taiwan, and careful cultivation of Australian politicians as honorary office holders over the past decade.

Huang Xiangmo with former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

At Saturday's annual meeting of the ACPPRC, Huang was lauded as a "banner" and likened to a patriotic flag who had made "heroic achievements" in the past year.

"This past year, this banner has written in the mainstream media, in a confrontation of ideas, and faced the wind fluttering," the Council reported on its website, in an echo of China's Ode to the Motherland, a famous patriotic tune with the chorus.
London: The 499 kilometre border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is of little economic significance but looms as a growing obstacle to Britain's negotiations to exit from the European Union.

What sort of boundary emerges from Brexit is fraught with political, social and historical overtones and is complicated by the weakness of the governments trying to placate their own divided constituencies.

Ireland insists on a written guarantee there will be no "hard" border with Northern Ireland, something it says can be achieved only if Britain remains within the European single market or customs union. A hard border would involve physical check points and potential searches of cross border traffic, reminiscent of the bloody days of the "troubles" when republicans and loyalists waged a low-level war for 30 years from the late 1960s.

Liam Fox, Britain's international trade secretary, says a final position on Ireland cannot be reached until the "end state" of the UK-EU relationship after Brexit is defined.
Member of the European Parliament and Co-Chairwoman of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Rebecca Harms (Germany) says she thinks that the European Union should support aspirations by EU's Eastern Partners for European integration.

"Based on the principles of differentiation and inclusiveness, the EU and Eastern Partners should make an effort to make the implementation of reforms smoother and sustainable There are ambitious aspirations and there is a strong demand for a clear political perspective towards European integration, which we have to support," the press office of the EU Delegation to Ukraine quoted on Monday Harms as saying.

According to her, the path forward towards rule of law and democracy is neither a short nor a straightforward one. "The Eastern Partnership Summit was a good opportunity to mark the EU and Eastern Partners' renewed commitment for the way ahead," she said.

Harms also noted the EU's obligations in the field of security on the European continent.

"The numerous unresolved conflicts in the region should be tackled via additional mediation efforts and initiatives, also with the participation of the EU. This is a request coming from the people and we have, as EU, tremendous responsibilities in terms of security on our continent," she said.
London: Prince Harry has announced his engagement to actress Meghan Markle, with a royal wedding to take place in Britain early next year.

Prince Charles' official residence Clarence House announced the engagement at 10am on Monday, after a weekend of speculation in the British press that the announcement was imminent.

The couple became engaged earlier in London this month, Clarence House said, and both families had given their blessing to the union.

Prince Harry and Markle have been in a relationship since 2016, after first meeting in July of that year. The wedding planned for sometime between March and May next year, will fall close to the birth of Prince Harry's brother Prince William's third child with his wife Kate.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Frans Richardson on Sunday said that anyone rejoicing over the unprecedented moves by the Dutch government to oust Prime Minister William Marlin is condoning a dangerous, self-defeating precedent that will be used again against St. Maarten. We have our differences, we have our disagreements but to give our approval to the systematic dismantling of our processes and our people is self-defeating.

The MP said the divide and conquer tactics of the Dutch is on full display, with Dutch Prime Minister Rutte boldly claiming that 90% of the population wanted to see Marlin gone so they (the Dutch government) had a right to force his departure.

So here they are, using sentiments from God knows where to use our people to get rid of and destroy our people. We have now missed two opportunities to stand as one. None of this would be happening, none of it, if we presented a united front. If we cared so much about St. Maarten and its people, did it really matter when we decided to say ok enough, we stand together? the MP asked.

He said the first opportunity missed was when the Dutch tied the aid to St. Maarten accepting the integrity chamber and border control. The second opportunity was when the Dutch tied the aid to the PM vacating his post. Even after the Marlin Cabinet had resigned, are care-taker Ministers and awaiting the process of screening to be complete for the incoming government. That still wasnt enough. Our democratic system is inadequate for the Dutch who continue to meddle and make demands.

Why? For humanitarian aid that we still have no details about almost three months after Irma. This is not normal. This is not about our people. It is about control and power. We sit back and we clap at what the Dutch are doing to us, dismantling our system through our acceptance while we allow a precedent to be set that will be used against us again and again in the future, MP Richardson said.

He said the Dutch will continue to make demands tied to the aid or any other form of assistance. When this type of treatment is inflicted upon others in the future, perhaps elected representatives you support, by rejoicing and giving your stamp of approval now, you accept what will happen to those you support in the future, MP Richardson said.

I have said it over and over, it is a shame what power, aided by manipulation, has caused parties and politicians on St. Maarten to accept. We are rubber stamping everything the Dutch wants as long as the end result is power. No discussions in Parliament, no attempts at serious negotiations by holding one head. Nothing. But we rejoice when one of our own, despite the political colour, is targeted and taken out, he added.

USP Press Release
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Ministry has been working diligently with the processing of salvaging permits. Thus far 90 salvaging permits have been given between the two companies Aquatic Solutions NV and Seacure Marine Construction.

VROMI understands the severity of the state of the Simpson Bay lagoon but also needs to make sure that companies working have the proper documentation in place.

There was some confusion post hurricanes Irma and Maria pertaining to salvaging wrecks and the barge Titan that was brought by Marine Management & Consulting.

Chairlady Sarah Wescot Williams brought the barge to the attention of the coalition members as well as the council of Ministers and questioned why the barge was not being operated at the time. Thus it is confusing as to why she would mention in various media interviews she was unaware of the barge according to Minister Emmanuel.

The Port Department in Nassau Bahamas made it clear that they are in full agreement that the vessel in question, Motor Vessel TITAN, should not be allowed to operate outside of her specified trading area.

Acting Head Maritime affairs, Claudius Carty, mentioned in the press release dated October 26, 2017, that the barge was headed back to the Bahamas and expressed that it was very sad to see the facts being twisted in order to try and justify the willful wrongdoing of an operator.

Click here to view more info on the salvaging of wrecks submitted by VROMI.

Press Release from the Ministry of VROMI
PHILIPSBURG:--- November 25th each year marks the observation of the United Nations Day which calls for greater action to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls. This day marks the beginning of 10 days of activism that end on December 10th World Human Rights Day. The observation 2017 is held under the banner Leave No One Behind: End Violence Against Women and Girls. Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls reinforces the UNiTE Campaigns commitment to a world free from violence for all women and girls around the world, while reaching the most underserved and marginalized, including refugees, migrants, minorities, indigenous peoples, and populations affected by conflict and natural disasters, amongst others, first (Un Org).

Sint Maarten has recently experience one of the most devastating storm in its history on September 6th. This storm has left in its path share destruction. It has plundered our islands eco system, homes, lives, social infrastructure, displacing many. Unfortunately, there were also loss of lives as a result. With the displacement of persons in particular women and children and services not functioning to its optimum, it places women and children at greater risk.

The after effects of such destruction is surmountable and can contribute to the rise or increase of social ills, domestic violence being one. The Gender and Disaster Network highlighted that Domestic violence also referred to as relational violence is a social fact contributing to the vulnerability of women in disaster. These women are considered a very vulnerable population who are less visibly at risk than poor women, refugees, single mothers, widows, senior or disabled women. All can agree that violence against women in intimate relationships crosses these and other social lines.

In a Global study published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies it sighted that in countries where gender base violence was reported, domestic violence was the most widespread form of violence. The reasons cited to explain this included: marital conflict; exacerbated by stress caused by loss of family members, livelihoods and homes;

limited resources; and infidelity and promiscuity resulting from cramped life in internally displaced person (IDP) camps. The combination of personal loss, financial hardship and uncertainty seems to increase violence by husbands and intimate partners within the family. Some researchers have suggested that, when stress aggravates feelings of loss of control, perpetrators tighten their authority at home, the one area in which they feel they have power.

Locally Safe Haven, the shelter for battered women, indicated that since the passage of the hurricane there has been a spike in the number of calls to the shelter from women seeking refuge from violence in their living environment. During the management of the NIPA Shelter there were women who came seeking shelter due to relational problems. In the Daily Herald of November 17th there was also a case sighted where a women was being treated by paramedics after being abused by her partner. All these incidences are indications that we do have a challenge with relational violence and persons do not know how to respond in cases of relational conflict. This however, does not mean that the violence did not exist before the hurricane; it simply means that we do have a challenge with relational violence and persons tolerance levels as well as their ability to deal with conflict and resolve conflict situations in a more amicable and humane manner.

As a community there needs to be greater effort on the part of all involved to stamp out the social surge of domestic violence in our beloved Sint Maarten. As we observe this period let us be more attentive to those families, individuals, women, girls even the perpetrator who seems to be struggling and are challenged by violence. Let us be the society that CARES, leaving no one behind.
PORT ST. MAARTEN:--- Every business entity that caters to cruise passengers by offering various services and products, will have to put extra effort in displaying the St. Maarten charm and welcome during the first and future cruise ship calls that kick-off in the month of December #SXMStrong.

Being extra courteous and embracing cruise passengers will go a long way during the cruise passenger destination experience which will be assessed by the cruise lines.

A cruise lines goal is to always provide an enjoyable and memorable cruise vacation experience for its guests. While varying by Cruise Line, sailed guests 18+ normally receive an online Guest Satisfaction Survey sent shortly after their cruise which have high completion rates.

Port St. Maarten will receive the feedback from the cruise line and this will be communicated and discussed with local cruise stakeholders in order to make what necessary adjustments are required in relation to the guests destination experience.

Cruise lines value greatly the feedback they get from their guests which gives them the opportunity to continuously enhance their on-board products and services. This is also relevant for St. Maarten as a destination with its shopping, culinary and shore excursions etc.

The first cruise ship calls will determine cruise line itinerary planning for the remainder of the high cruise season and beyond. St. Maarten has to ensure a unique, memorable and enriching visitor experience in order to rebuild cruise ship numbers via increasing cruise ship calls #SXMStrong.

It will be important for all to show a caring attitude not only to the cruise guests but to their neighbors, business or otherwise as it will be felt by the cruise guest. Everyone needs everyone to succeed. Where there will be guests on excursion an extra courtesy would go a long way and this is from traffic diversion to picking up some trash that just should not be there.

This may be a habit that will take a bit more time however if everyone got into the habit of stopping for a second and welcoming a guest, eye to eye contact, when it is obvious they are a cruise guest, this would go a long way and leave a lasting impression on the cruise visitor that would overcome any shortcomings of the physical appearances, said 30-year Cruise Industry veteran Mico Cascais, in Ship Board and Corporate Management.

The past 19 Years Mico was responsible for the Shore Excursion Programs, Carnival Cruise Lines offered to all its guests worldwide having had many interactions with current stakeholders in St. Maarten over the years.

In the past St. Maarten received high marks from cruise passenger and crew surveys. According to the BREA (Business Research & Economic Advisors) Report, which is a survey-based analysis of the impacts of passenger, crew and cruise line spending, that was prepared for the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and Participating Destinations, October 2015 edition, destination St. Maarten led all destinations with nearly US$423 million in cruise passenger spending for the 2014/15 cruise season.

St. Maarten had the second highest average expenditure of $119.13 per crew visit and the third highest number of crew onshore visits (377,400); St. Maarten had the second highest total expenditure among the 35 participating destinations, $45.0 million.

In St. Maarten crew expenditures were concentrated on retail purchases of electronics and jewelry. These were followed by spending for food and beverages and clothing. These four categories accounted for 70 percent of total crew spending in St. Maarten.

Destination St. Maarten is ready and open, and on track to return to those aforementioned numbers as the destination recovers #SXMStrong.

In this post-Irma era, everyone working in the hospitality sector will be playing a key role where service-mindedness is concerned. Residents also play an extremely important role in how cruise visitors experience St. Maarten #SXMStrong.

It is very much up to residents and other stakeholders whether cruise passengers will want to return to St. Maarten again in the future and whether they recommend it to others. Image and aesthetics also play a role, and therefore clean-up of debris and beautification will display a new St. Maarten to be discovered #SXMStrong, Port St. Maarten Management pointed out.

Port St. Maarten Press Release
GRAND CASE:--- People of all ages flocked to Friars Bay to celebrate St. Martins nature and enjoy fun activities at Les Fruits de Mers 2017 Migratory Bird Festival, which was held this past Saturday at Kalis Beach Bar.

The festivals 2017 theme was Welcome back! to the islands migratory birds and habitats that are recovering from the hurricane. The event also welcomed people back to the natural beauty of Friars Bay, and brought some to the French side of the island for the first time since Irma.

It was a gorgeous day, and there was fantastic birdwatching on the pond! People were able to see migratory species like Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers and Blue-winged Teal ducks, and year-round resident species like Snowy Egrets and Caribbean Coots, said Les Fruits de Mer co-founder Mark Yokoyama.

Professional birding guide Binkie van Es helped event-goers discover local birds at the festivals birdwatching station. Adults and kids also learned how to use binoculars and wildlife-spotting scopes to get up-close views of the birds.

The events calabash bird feeder craft was also a big hit. Festival guests painted their own feeders to take home with free birdseed to help provide food for birds while habitats continue to recover.

The Portable Pond Discovery Station drew a constant crowd as well, showcasing the tiny creatures that migratory birds come to the island to eat. Visitors young and old were surprised to learn how many flying insects, like dragonflies, begin their life in the water.

Event-goers found out how native trees and plants protect shorelines, and provide habitat for birds, from EPIC volunteers at the Restoration Station. Volunteers from Anguilla National Trust came over for the day to assist and share their knowledge about birds and nature. A team of youth volunteers from the Rotary Interact Club of St. Dominic High School also came to help out at the event.

We were thrilled to have so many people come out to the festival, and were super grateful that we had so many volunteers at a time when everyones so busy with their recovery work. We also couldnt have done it without our event sponsors, BirdsCaribbean, BZSE, Caribbean Paddling, Delta Petroleum, Lagoonies Bistro and Bar, Tri-sport and Van Dorp, said Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. People really came together to make this event happen for the island when times are tough for everyone, and it was amazing.

Les Fruits de Mer Press Release
SIMPSON BAY:--- The long-anticipated First Annual Customer Service Week did not disappoint the Holland House staff and leadership this morning. The Holland House staff attended an 8:00 am accredited customized training developed by Customer Service Mobile Academy, (CSMA) titled The Holland House Culture of Excellence Course.

The staff was introduced to a series of topics that integrated global best practices and fostered an engaging atmosphere of fruitful employee interaction, cooperative learning, bonding and team building. Most importantly, staff walked away with a certified international certificate from CSMA. The certificate illustrated their commitment to the Holland House and most importantly a commitment to self.

Dr. Gittens, President & CEO of CSMA, facilitated the session and stated: Our trainings do not only focus solely on the organization or entity. We understand that when employee(s) are confident, take accountability for their roles and work in a team-oriented environment, they soar in providing customer service excellence to clients, customers and guests.

Both TPI and CSMA are committed to the professional first because we understand that their daily performance directly impacts the success and growth of the organization. Without their commitment to service excellence, all components of the entity will be affected and the organization will never meet its full potential. Thats why our training experts stress providing Memorable Service starts with the employee. 

The First Annual Customer Service made a huge impact this morning and the staff had the following to say:

It was really successful and communicated perfectly. The course information will help me to improve my service to my guests. Which will help the overall Holland House Culture! Luisanny Martha

Dr. Gittens you are great at what you do, I will try my best to apply most of what you said to my daily interaction with all the guest and with my colleagues. Thank you so much! David Menzie.

Excellent training, provided some valid points and at the same time was very eye-opening. Shenieka Blake

All the points were very true. All customer service professional must adopt these skills. Loved the training! Georgina Vanterpool

The First Annual Customer Service Week will continue until Friday, December 1, 2017. Walk-ins welcome. Please visit academycsma.com for pricing and the course schedule or call 526-2052.

CSMA Press Release
THE BOTTOM, Saba:--- Every two years the Board of the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund Caribbean Region (PBCCG) awards a prize on each of the six Dutch Caribbean Islands in recognition of outstanding efforts in the fields of art, culture, and nature. This year we chose to award William Will Stanley Johnson with the 2017 PBCCG Prize on Saba.

On November 7, 2017, Michele Russel-Capriles, the chairman of the PBCCG traveled to Saba, accompanied by Thijs Tromp, the board secretary of the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund in Holland, to bestow the honor on Will Johnson for his dedication to documenting and preserving the Saban way of life.

We are especially impressed by the massive archive of photographs, audio recordings and documents that Will Johnson has collected throughout his life. This archive, and the many collections it contains, is precious as it tells the story of Sabas past, its people, its development and their traditions. But Will has not left it at that. A prolific writer, Will has published a number of books about specific historical aspects and continues to write a regular newspaper column Under the Seagrape Tree about the history and culture of the three Windward Islands, with special emphasis on Saba.

It is this dedication to preserving and imparting knowledge about the unique and great history of Saba and its neighboring islands that has earned Will Johnson the 2017 PBCCG prize. The prize was awarded in the presence of his family, close friends, representatives of organizations we support in Saba, as well as the Commissioner for Culture, Mr. Roland Wilson, and the Governor of Saba, Mr. Jonathan Johnson, who also represents our board in Saba.

It is the sincere hope of the board of the PBCCG that this prize will also inspire young people to contribute to the collective memory of our islands.

PBCCG Press Release
ORANJESTAD, St. Eustatius:--- Every two years the Board of the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund Caribbean Region (PBCCG) awards a prize on each of the six Dutch Caribbean Islands in recognition of outstanding efforts in the fields of art, culture, and nature. This year we chose to award Marcella Gibbs-Marsdin with the 2017 PBCCG Prize on Statia after consideration of several submittals from the community.

On November 8, 2017, Michele Russel-Capriles, the chairman of the PBCCG traveled to Statia, accompanied by Thijs Tromp, the board secretary of the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund in Holland, to bestow the honor on Marcella Gibbs-Marsdin for her dedication to keeping cultural traditions alive in Statia.

Throughout her working years, Marcella always went beyond the call of duty to ensure that typical Statia traditions such as steel pan, caroling, and July Tree Branches remained alive and vibrant. She not only organizes various events yearly, she actively participates and engages the community to uphold these tradition, norms, and values.

It is this dedication to preserving traditions and encouraging the community to do the same that has earned Marcella Gibbs-Marsdin the 2017 PBCCG prize. The prize was awarded in the presence of her family, close friends, PBCCG board member Jessica Berkel, representatives of organizations we support in Statia, as well the Acting Governor of Statia, Mr. Julian Woodley and both Commissioners Derrick Simmons and Charles Woodley.

The board of the PBCCG sees in Marcella Gibbs-Marsdin a role model for the young people of Statia. She is the embodiment of energy, tradition and the spirit of giving.

PBCCG Press Release
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in an urgent Central Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 28, 2017.

The urgent Central Committee meeting is scheduled for 15.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. The Minister of Finance will be present for this meeting.

The agenda points are:

Approval composition delegation and provisions Members of Parliament to attend the official ceremonies marking the 42nd anniversary of Saba Day on December 1, 2017 under the theme Saba, still going strong. Discussion on status update of Governments finances.

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 SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.com and Parliaments Facebook page: Parliament of Sint Maarten.
PABSEC General Assembly to be held in Kyiv on Nov 28-30

The 50th General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) will be held in Kyiv on November 28-30.

The plenary session of the PABSEC General Assembly will be opened by Chairman of Ukrainian Parliament Andriy Parubiy, the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine reported on Monday.

PABSEC Vice President, Head of the Verkhovna Rada's permanent delegation to this organization Liudmyla Denisova will preside at the meeting of the General Assembly.

It is expected that Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin will address the meeting.

During the session of the PABSEC General Assembly, reports will delivered on activities of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC), the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, the BSEC Business Council, the Black Sea Research Center, and others. Representatives of parliamentary assemblies and international organizations are also scheduled to take floor at the conference.

Participants of the plenary session are expected to adopt a PABSEC declaration on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Assembly.

As part of the General Assembly's session, the Bureau and the PABSEC Standing Committee will meet on Tuesday, November 28.

On November 30, the elections of the PABSEC chair will take place.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) was established on February 26, 1993. It includes representatives of parliaments of 12 countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Armenia, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The People's Assembly of Egypt, the Knesset of the State of Israel, the People's Assembly of Slovakia, the German Bundestag, the parliaments of France and Belarus have the status of observers in the PABSEC.
Improving the femtosecond ultrashort pulse laser

Korean and American researchers develop a new method for making extremely short pulse lasers that could lead to precision eye surgery and material processing.

SEOUL, KOREA, Nov 20, 2017  (ACN Newswire)  MXenes, conductive materials widely used in many industries, now have one more promising application: helping lasers fire extremely short femtosecond pulses, which last just millionths of a billionth of a second. The finding, made by an international team of researchers, opens up avenues for developing advanced femtosecond pulse lasers, which can be used for precision eye surgery and material processing.

MXenes are a class of two-dimensional materials made of transition metals  the metals occupying the central block of the periodic table  combined with carbon and/or nitrogen. Despite their promising performance in a broad range of applications, including energy storage and gas sensing, their potential use for ultrafast optics had not been explored.

Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and the University of Seoul in Korea, together with colleagues at Drexel University in the US, tested a MXene made of titanium carbonitride to fabricate a mode-locking device. The apparatus was placed in the laser cavity and found to produce stable laser pulses only 600 femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second) long.

This metallic MXene based device was found to be applicable for long wavelength mid-IR lasers, which is a very strong advantage for laser applications.

Femtosecond-long laser pulses have many applications, such as in i-Lasik precision eye surgery, in which tiny areas of tissue need to be destroyed in a time short enough that the energy used for this purpose cant diffuse to the surrounding tissues and damage them. These laser pulses are also used to fabricate micro-sized sensors and devices.

The research can be used to develop strategies for fabricating saturable absorber materials, which absorb less light as its intensity increases. This optical phenomenon is one of several generated as a result of a concept called nonlinearity. Nonlinear optics has been one of the most rapidly growing scientific fields in past decades. The discovery of promising nonlinear optical materials will play a pivotal role in the evolution of future optics and its impact can be very significant in both fundamental aspects and industrial applications, write the researchers in their study published in the journal Advanced Materials.

For further information:

Dr Young Min Jhon

Head, Sensor System Research Center

Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Seoul, Republic of Korea

E-mail: ymjhon@kist.re.kr

Journal Information

Advanced Materials, vol.29, 1702496 (2017). (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201702496)

About Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) was founded as the republics first science and technology research institute in 1966. Since then, many government-funded research institutes have been modeled after it, with KIST setting the standard as the national think tank for science and technology. KIST celebrated its 50th anniversary in February 2016. Its aim for the next 50 years is to meet global challenges head on, such as managing aging societies and finding solutions for shortages in energy, food and resources, while leveraging convergence research and open cooperation.

*A high resolution image is available at: http://bit.ly/2zRss0F

Press release distributed by ResearchSEA for KIST.

Topic: Research and development

Sectors: Electronics, Nanotechnology, Engineering

http://www.acnnewswire.com

From the Asia Corporate News Network

Copyright  2017 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Asia Corporate News Network.
IGELs DISRUPT forum brings together technology thought leaders to address the latest challenges in End User Computing

Register to see the latest End User Computing innovations, hear from industry experts and leading solutions providers or attend technical boot camps

Reading, UK. November 27th, 2017  IGEL, a world leader in endpoint management software for the secure enterprise, today announced plans for its DISRUPT end user computing forum in Bremen, Germany, running from January 17-19th, 2018. DISRUPT will bring together technology thought leaders to discuss the latest innovations in end user computing and workspace management, demonstrate the latest solutions and provide technical training. Registration is open now.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructures and End User Computing innovations are creating new opportunities for IT managers to more effectively and efficiently manage their desktops, said Iris Hatzenbichler-Durchschlag, IGEL European Director of Marketing. DISRUPT will provide a new European platform to bring together these ground-breaking solution providers with the industrys thought leaders and businesses IT administrators to address the workspace challenges of the moment. Challenges such as migrating to Windows 10, finding secure ways to manage endpoints, protect data and secure the desktop. Many of these same organisations are also looking at innovative ways to securely deliver applications, data and desktops from the cloud, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft to any device. DISRUPT is a chance for attendees to see the latest innovations in action and to talk to a range of industry experts about the way forward.

High profile DISRUPT event speakers include Nathan Hill of Gartner, Brian Gammage of VMware, and Mike Schuhmacher, CEO and founder of Lakeside Software. For those looking to be trained and certified to use IGEL solutions such as UD Pocket, IGEL Cloud Gateway and Universal Management Suite, there will also be Technical Boot Camp sessions.

The European DISRUPT forum will take place at the GOP & Steigenberger Hotel in Bremen. Participation costs 49 per person. Tickets including an overnight stay at the GOP & Steigenberger Hotel cost 149 or two nights for 249. Following the event in Germany, two further DISRUPT forums will be taking place in Austin, USA (February 6-8) and Melbourne, Australia (March 13-14).

For more information and to register visit: https://www.igel.com/disrupt-emea/#sponsors
The impressive fall in renewable energy prices has persuaded the European Commission to update its long-term energy projections for 2030, said Maros Sefcovic, the EUs Vice President in charge of the Energy Union.

Sefcovic believes a 30% renewable energy target could be up for discussion for the 2030 package of clean energy laws, alongside the 27% agreed by EU leaders back in 2014.

The 27% target was included in the renewable energy directive presented by the Commission in November 2016. It is currently being discussed by lawmakers in the EU Parliament and member states representatives in the Council of Ministers.

But the rapid fall in renewable energy prices that occurred in the meantime has been impressive, and is forcing a rethink of the EUs energy plans for 2030, Sefcovic told journalists on Thursday (23 November).

The costs of reaching the 27% and 30% target are roughly the same, Sefcovic explained, saying the fall happened in a very short period of time, disrupting the EUs cost projections for 2030.

Therefore, we gladly responded to the request of the European Parliament to update our modelling, Sefcovic added, saying he hoped this would make a contribution to the trilogue negotiations on the renewable energy directive that are expected to take place early next year between the European Parliament and EU member states.

The Commissions initial proposal was at least 27%, Sefcovic reminded. Now, we have additional arguments to also discuss the figure of 30%.

The updated cost modelling is already done and the document will be transmitted to Parliament, in the coming days after some final tweaks, Sefcovic said.

Jonathan Gaventa, director of the E3G think tank, hailed the Commissions move but said it could have gone even further. Its good that theyre updating the numbers because the existing ones were hideously out of date. Certainly, from the power sector, the figures were looking at are consistent with 35% and above, Gaventa told EURACTIV.

In the European Parliament, many MEPs are pushing for 35% renewables, Gaventa remarked, with environmental NGOs like WWF and CAN Europe even arguing for a 45% share.

The Commissions initial analysis, presented in the 2016 Clean Energy Package, assumed that lots of subsidies would still be needed for renewables by 2030, with costs of generation estimated at around 130 per megawatt hour. But offshore wind prices have gone down dramatically in recent years, hovering around 60 per megawatt hour in the latest auctions organised in Germany, the Commissioner remarked.

So this is a dramatic change, which happened in a very short period of time. And this trajectory can be expected to continue, Sefcovic said, expressing his conviction that prices will go down even further in the near future.

The updated modelling will be presented in the coming days, after Sefcovic makes his annual State of the Energy Union address on on Friday (24 November).

As things stand, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg are the only EU countries that are currently below the trajectory to reach their renewable energy targets for 2020, Sefcovic said.

Positions Giles Dickson, the CEO of trade association WindEurope said Its good the Commission has recognised that the EU can do better than a 27% renewables target for 2030. But he claims Europe could aim much higher. The affordable and economically desirable target isnt 30%, its 35%. Just look at whats happening: Germany awarded 1GW of onshore wind at 38/MWh yesterday; Spains last auction delivered 33. Its not clear the Commission have taken full account of this, Dickson said, warning that low ambition on renewables comes at a cost. By sticking with low ambition instead of 35% Europe would miss out on 92bn in wind investments and over 130,000 jobs that would otherwise have been created. The Parliament should stick to its guns and support 35% next week. Dicksons call was echoed by a group of European energy companies comprising EDP (Portugal), Enel (Italy), EnBW (Germany), Iberdrola (Spain), rsted (Denmark), and SSE (Scotland). In a joint statement issued earlier this month (6 November), the six companies said renewables had now become the most competitive form of new power generation in Europe. The energy sector is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, moving away from traditional ways of generating, distributing, and selling electricity towards a new paradigm where renewables are at the core, the group of six wrote in their joint statement. They called upon European policy makers to seize the moment and endorse an EU-wide binding target of 35% share of renewables in EU final energy demand by 2030, to be achieved through increased electrification of transport and heating sectors, together with a redesigned electricity market fit for renewables. The proposed EU binding target of at least 27% share of renewable energy in EU final energy consumption by 2030 lacks ambition, they warn, saying it would slow-down the current rate of renewables deployment in the EU, affecting industrial value chains and putting at risk the gains and competitive advantage achieved in the past decade.



The rapid fall in costs of wind and solar power, combined with flexible demand technology, could replace more than half of coal and gas-powered electricity in Europe by 2030, according to new research published on Tuesday (21 November).

WindEurope: Consumers are still paying for yesterdays renewables Wind turbines installed up to fifteen years ago required heavy state subsidies, usually in the form of feed-in tariffs, remarks Giles Dickson. But this is no longer the case, he says, urging governments to use market-based systems like auctions, which guarantee stable revenues.

Source

EURACTIV | Frederic Simon 2017
His term also will be concurrent to a two-year term in youth prison to which he was sentenced in August by Judge Diane Druzinski in Macomb County Circuit Court for the assaults. He pleaded guilty to two counts in June...
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has fined Berklemond Investments Ltd. (Cyprus), a member of Oleksandr Yaroslavsky's DCH Group, for acquisition of Kadish Limited (Cyrpus) which owns private joint-stock company Evraz-Sukha Balka (Kryvy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region).

"Berklemond fined UAH 340,000 for violation of legislation on protection of economic competition in the form of acquisition of shares in Kadish Limited without receiving a permit from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, which is required," the committee said.

On October 26, 2017, the committee said that it permitted Berklemond to acquire Kadish.

"[The committee] permitted Berklemond Investments to acquire shares in Kadish Limited, which grants more than 50% of the votes in the management body of the company," the committee then said.

Evraz-Sukha Balka is a leading enterprise of the mining sector of Ukraine. It produces iron ore.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Cloudy early with partial sunshine expected late. High 53F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low 31F. Winds light and variable.
MIT team design $100 handheld muon detector







Boston MA (SPX) Nov 23, 2017





At any given moment, the Earth's atmosphere is showered with high-energy cosmic rays that have been blasted from supernovae and other astrophysical phenomena far beyond the Solar System. When cosmic rays collide with the Earth's atmosphere, they decay into muons - charged particles that are slightly heavier than an electron. Muons last only fractions of a second, and during their fleeting lifespan they can be found through every layer of the Earth's atmosphere, circulating in the air around us and ... read more
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said during his current official visit to Georgia that there is the need to unite efforts to make the aggressor state abandon plans and to press for peace on the Eurasian continent.

"I am deeply convinced that by uniting our efforts, we'll be able to establish peace not only in Ukraine, but on the [entire] continent and, in general, it is necessary to coerce aggressors or an aggressor into giving up their plans, which, unfortunately, takes lives," the Ukrainian prime minister said at Mariam Makashvili Military Personnel Rehabilitation Centre in Georgia.

Groysman thanked Georgia for the rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers taking part in the Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) in Donbas.

"Ukraine highly values Georgia's contribution to our independence and restoration of territorial integrity, and we, in turn, always support and will support Georgia in its aspirations, including restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty," the prime minister said.

According to the Ukrainian government's press service, 130 Ukrainian soldiers have undergone rehabilitation at Mariam Makashvili Military Personnel Rehabilitation Centre since 2015. Now, under a memorandum and a plan of bilateral cooperation between the Ukrainian and Georgian Defense Ministries for the current year, 15 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being treated at the Center.
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Defense minister presents awards to over 200 servicemen in Donbas

KYIV. Nov 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) - About 1,100 servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who perform tasks in the area of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, will get awards ahead of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Day, which is marked on December 6, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has reported.

Such a decision was announced by Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, who was on a working visit in the ATO zone in Donbas on Saturday, November 25.

He also handed awards to the commander of a brigade, whose servicemen perform combat tasks in Luhansk region, as well as the commander of an artillery group and the commander of an assault battalion.

"In addition, under the decision of the Ukrainian defense minister, awards were presented to more than 200 servicemen from different divisions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who are serving in the area of the anti-terrorist operation," the report says.
Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) jointly with police have detained a spy of the so-called "Republican Guard" of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") near the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.

"A resident of the town of Makiyivka joined an illegal armed formation in 2014. He was trained under the guidance of Russian instructors. The terrorist participated in military operations against the [Ukrainian Anti-Terrorist Operation] ATO forces near the town of Debaltseve in 2015," the SBU's press center said on Monday.

The SBU revealed that the criminal, being part of an organized criminal group, also controlled illegal coal mining, currency exchange, and appropriated humanitarian aid, real estate and vehicles of civilians.

He was detained amid an attempt to enter the Ukrainian-controlled area for the creation of an agent network.

The detainee was notified of suspicion in committing crime under Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the creation of a terrorist group or terrorist organization) and remanded in custody.

A pretrial investigation is under way.
Nouakchott (Mauritania), Nov 27, 2017 (SPS) - The Minister of State, Adviser at the Saharawi Presidency and Member of Polisario Front's National Secretariat, Bashir Mustapha Sayed, praised Sunday the level of cooperation between Mauritania and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), expressing the determination of the two sides to boost coordination in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime which, he stressed, are real threats to the region.

In an interview to the independent Mauritanian news agency, the minister expressed the satisfaction of the two sides, Mauritania and the Saharawi Republic, with the level of bilateral relations, which are distinguished by a mutual trust and a deep willingness to strengthen them.

Bashir Mustapha Sayed stressed the socio-cultural links between the two peoples and their common destiny, challenges and threats.

He underlined "the high level of cooperation with Mauritania and exchange of information and coordination in the fight against the different threats, including drug trafficking and organized crime groups, which mainly come from Morocco and cross Western Sahara and Mauritania to flood Sahel and North African markets with drugs."

The Saharawi official warned against Morocco's plans to "transform the Mauritanian and Western Sahara territories into transit land for illegal drug."

Morocco's plans, he added, also include the use of the same territories (Mauritania and Western Sahara) as a transit for some terrorist networks in the north of Mali and even Nigeria."

The Saharawi official emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two countries in the field, in order to "curb such risks and foil the schemes of organized crime groups who contribute to Moroccan expansion."

The Saharawi minister mentioned his last visit to Mauritania, in which he met Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz and a number of top political officials to inform them of the latest developments of the Saharawi issue.

He also raised the visit made by UN chief's personal envoy, Horst Kohler, to the region, SADR's attendance of AU-EU Summit meeting and bilateral cooperation."

Bashir Mustapaha Sayed said he noticed "the attachment of Mauritanian people and their president to the sovereignty of their country and a strong determination to put an end to Moroccan interference in Mauritanian affairs."

He also said that Mauritania wants to boost its relations with the neighbouring countries, especially Algeria. (SPS)

062/SPS/TRA




Abidjan, Nov 27, 2017 (SPS) - Sahrawi Foreign Minister Mohamed-Salem Ould-Salek welcomed Monday in Abidjan the participation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) at the African Union-European Union Summit (AU-EU), scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Abidjan.

The "SADR welcomes its participation in the Summit, which will be a success at all levels," Ould Salek said in a statement to the press, adding that "through its participation in international meetings, SADR is undoubtedly moving towards independence and the fulfillment of the aspirations of its people."

The SADR participation in the AU-EU Summit represents "an evidence that the Sahrawi Republic is a continental and international reality," stressing the "struggle and the sacrifices of the Sahrawi people for presence in the major African and international fora."

"Today, after over 42 years of the invasion of Western Sahara, Morocco participates alongside SADR in this Summit. Thus, it is imperative that Morocco realizes that turning one's back on reality is no longer possible. It rather has to recognize the SADR, added the Sahrawi FM.

Ould Salek underlined that peace in North West Africa "requires from Morocco to recognize the SADR and respect the international borders," stressing that the Abidjan summit "will come to the conclusion that the European Union is set to contribute to establishing peace in the region and that cooperation with the EU is based on respect for international borders."

Morocco's position "remains an obstacle to the peace and stability (establishment) process in the region, at a time when the AU, the United Nations and the EU are combining their efforts in consolidating peace on the basis of respect for international borders, that take into account the respect, sovereignty and historical rights of the choice of the Sahrawi people," he concluded. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS
Over 120 show organisers and administrators from all over the UK, spent the weekend at Yorks Principal Hotel earlier this month, as part of a three-day programme of presentations, syndicate group sessions and valuable business networking, organised by Chief Executive Officer, David Tite and his team from the Driffield Agricultural Society.

The timetable included 8 papers covering some challenging, and at times controversial, subjects including the relevance of agricultural societies and shows in modern times, increasingly stiff competition for public interest, the impact of show activities on visitor health and safety and the commercial input required for agricultural shows to survive in the current economic climate.

One of the most impactful speakers on Saturday was Alan Lyons, Head of Shows at the Royal Bath & West, with a candid look at the stiff competition facing Britains agricultural shows in the light of more leisure time choices for the general public.

His paper prompted a lively discussion on how organisers might meet the very real marketing challenges head on.

New research stats from the National Land Based College suggesting that a staggering 60,000 new employees are needed to replace existing workers by 2020 means that ASAO work to champion the land-based sector as a source of careers for young people is even more vital. The pressure is on, so not surprisingly, education at shows was a key thread on the Conference agenda and a hot topic in syndicate sessions.

Jerry Hammer, General Manager of the Minnesota State Fair, was one of the headline speakers over the weekend, and gave a fascinating and thought-provoking insight into how shows across the pond engage with younger visitors throughout the year.

Although the Minnesota State Fair is a large-scale event (2 million visitors over 12 days), the challenges are no different, and delegates were able to glean inspiration from Jerrys paper and images.

ASAO Chairman and Westmorland Show Chief Executive Christine Knipe opened the Conference, beginning with a minutes silence to demonstrate the industrys respect for former Royal Norfolk Show CEO John Purling, who sadly passed away in April this year.

It was also an opportunity for her to recognise the achievement of ASAO Council Member, Ron Wilson, Secretary of the Border Union Agricultural Society, who received a Lifetime Achievement accolade at the 2017 Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards, the day before the Conference.

Christine congratulated the Driffield Showground, saying:

David and his team at Driffield have put together a superb Conference programme and it was wonderful to see an increased number of delegates this year, and a lot of new faces too.
Signing the memorandum is another important step that enables ZETOR TRACTORS a.s. to enter another significant market abroad. The document contains the promise to supply six thousand sets of FORTERRA tractors between the years 2018 and 2022. Part of the promise is also the delivery of three-cylinder engines and provision of technical support during production of tractors up to 50 hp. The Russian partner also showed interest in other models, namely PROXIMA and CRYSTAL.

The memorandum was signed on Wednesday November 22, in Moscow. The occasion was attended by Milos Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, and members of governments of Russia and the Czech Republic. ZETOR TRACTORS a.s. was represented by David Kollhammer, Strategy Division Director; KEMP was represented by Vladimir Vyacheslavovich Lebedev, Managing Director.

At the International Engineering Trade Fair in Brno in early October, the first agreement was signed between ZETOR and the Russian partner on the delivery of 450 tractors to Russia in 2018. Conclusion of the new document means extension of mutual cooperation both in the duration of the contract and of the amounts of deliveries. Entering Russian market is considered by the Company an important milestone in the history of the brand.
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As Career Development Month draws to an end, executives at workforce boards in the state offer the following advice: improve your soft skills and constantly upgrade your hard skills to stay relevant.

Connecticuts unemployment rate is 4.5 percent  well down from its peak of 9.2 in early 2011  but there are still plenty of people looking for work, or hoping to land better jobs.

You have to have the soft skills: Be on time, be ready to work a five-day week, put down the cellphone, pay attention to detail, said Catherine Awwad, executive director of the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board. Employers tell us: I can teach them the hard skills, but I need them to show up on time. Its something weve been hearing for quite some time.

Awwad said those types of skills should be taught long before someone enters the workforce.

We have to do a better job of that right from the get-go, she said. Get to school on time and be accountable for your actions. The 14- to 24-year-olds, they need to hold themselves accountable first because they will be held accountable by others later.

Joe Carbone, president and CEO of Bridgeport-based The WorkPlace, said preparing for a career does not end with landing your first job. In fact, with technology changing the work environment of all industries daily, the task never ends.

The changes that used to take place over five or 10 years can now happen in a matter of months. It can change on a dime, he said. People need to commit to life-long learning. It sounded like something that was cool to do 20 years ago, but now its necessary. If you dont upgrade your skill set often, youll soon become obsolete. Once youre obsolete and rejected by the workforce, its a very tough road to get back on.

Carbone said jobs from manufacturing to waiting tables at restaurants are constantly changing and utilizing new technology.

Skills that people didnt even know about two years ago are now required, he said.

State gets involved

National Career Development Month is held each November by the National Career Development Association. This year, Gov. Dannel Malloy drafted a proclamation recognizing the importance of Career Development Month.

The state Department of Labor used the month to highlight the various workshops offered at American Job Center locations throughout the state. Connecticut has 19 American Job Centers scattered throughout the state. The centers feature walk-in hours during which clients may utilize computers for jobs searches or to update their resume. Unemployment and other labor-related claims may be filed at the centers.

Workshops at American Job Centers address topics such as resume writing, job search strategies, interviewing techniques and GED preparation. The classes are free and taught by DOL employees. A list of available workshops may be found at JobCenterCT.com

Whether youre a newcomer to the job market or already working in your field of choice, the American Job Centers should be your first stop for workforce assistance, Labor Commissioner Scott Jackson said.

The new application

Awwad said the application process has become much more complex and technology-driven over the years. Nearly all jobs require cover letters, resumes and applications to be filed online.

The days of walking into a place and plopping down your resume are gone. Now, your first impression is made on a computer, she said. That application is almost a litmus test to see if youre ready for the job. Its all about the drive and effort you put in. Use offices like American Job Centers and utilize other services to help you.

There are six full-service American Job Centers in Bridgeport, Waterbury, Danielson, Hamden, Hartford and New London. Affiliate offices, such as those in Danbury, Stamford, Ansonia and Derby, offer similar services. The centers include career counselors, job postings and hiring events.

The American Job Center in Danbury earlier this year moved into a larger space at 185 Main St. The new location includes a career center with five handicapped-accessible computer stations and is large enough to hold workshops. Awwad said more workshops are now held in Danbury because of the improved and larger facility.

Regional workforce boards oversee the American Job Centers as well as develop plans and policies to improve workforce development. There are five boards in the state. The Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board is based in Waterbury and serves 41 communities as far southwest as Ridgefield and Redding. The WorkPlace serves the rest of southwest Connecticut.

The regional boards are nonprofit organizations funded by state and federal sources. They partner with DOL, community colleges and other organizations to further career development options for residents.

The boards work with employers, particularly those in manufacturing, to find qualified candidates for open job positions. The OJT, or on-the-job training, programs will reimburse employers up to 50 percent of the wages paid to new hires.

Carbone said the companies should utilize OJT and similar programs, but also be proactive in seeking out qualified candidates and improving the skills of their current employees.

Companies need to invest in the stock they have. They have people who have more potential than they are utilizing, he said. Invest in the workers you have. If you wait for the government to do it, it will be two years after you need it. Wise employers are the ones that see value in the workers they have.

cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338
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GREENWICH  About 400 people have contacted Marler and Clark, the Seattle-based law first specializing in food safety lawsuits, regarding a class action lawsuit against bartaco  the Port Chester, N.Y. restaurant that was temporarily closed last month after a food handler there was diagnosed with hepatitis A.

Two of those people were of the total five who contracted the illness and claim to have eaten at the restaurant, according to attorney Bill Marler. Others who signed on to or expressed interest in the suit were among the more than 3,000 people vaccinated after potential exposure to hepatitis A at bartaco between Oct. 12 and 23.
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Ted Kennedy Jr. said thanks, but no thanks.

Ditto for State Comptroller Kevin Lembo and now Lt Gov. Nancy Wyman, leaving Connecticut Democrats with a void of headliners willing to step forward to run for governor in 2018.

But the party in power appears poised to have its wish granted for a candidate with a household name  for better or worse. His name is Joe Ganim.

The mayor of the states largest city, Bridgeport, said Wymans decision to rule out a run puts him on the cusp of entering the wide open race. Since April, Ganim has been exploring statewide office, touting his efforts to bring jobs and development to his city while owning up to his 2003 corruption conviction that cost him the mayors office and his freedom for seven years.

You should know that it does in fact move me closer toward ultimately making decision that could be a exploratory to a full announcement, Ganim told Hearst Connecticut Media. You said January and I didnt disagree with you.

What Republicans wanted to be a referendum on the direction of the state under Wyman and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is not seeking re-election after two terms, is evolving into a competition among mayors.

And the early indications are that its about to get more crowded, with Hartfords Mayor Luke Bronin eyeing a race that already includes his mayoral counterparts from Danbury (Mark Boughton), Shelton (Mark Lauretti), Middletown (Dan Drew) and Trumbulls first selectman (Tim Herbst).

Its not something I had been planning to do, but Ive heard from a lot of people over the past few days and Im giving it serious thought, said Bronin, a Democrat who previously served as Malloys general counsel.

Easy target

The GOP field isnt entirely settled yet, either, with many gubernatorial hopefuls waiting to see if House GOP Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, who said she wants to take the Thanksgiving holiday to deliberate after four months of budget deliberations.

Im still trying to figure out where I can best serve the state of Connecticut, said Klarides, the first woman to lead her caucus.

While Republicans had been champing at the bit to go up against Wyman, some welcomed the prospect of a matchup with Ganim and Bronin, saying that both Bridgeport and Hartford arent shining cities on hill.

This isnt their A bench, said Danburys longtime GOP mayor, Mark Boughton, who is exploring his third run for governor. Listen, Joe Ganim, I think has a similar challenge as Luke. Hes got work to do there.

Ganim said hes become an easy target for Republicans since he started testing the waters.

Theyve tried to tarnish me, Ganim said. Im sure they see me as a threat.

Ganim said that none of his potential GOP foes has had to grapple with the challenges he has faced since voters returned him to office in 2015, from balancing the citys budget to combatting crime.

You can lollygag in some of these other towns and have a nice title like mayor or first selectman, Ganim said.

Later this month, Ganim will return to court to try to overturn a state law prohibiting those convicted of public corruption from receiving public campaign funds under Connecticut clean-elections program. The mayor maintains that by making him forfeit $1.6 million for a primary a $6.5 million for the general election is unconstitutional.

Ganims gubernatorial ambitions arent exactly a secret.

I was under the impression he was already in the race, Klarides said.

GOP ambitions

Boughton said it would be a heavy lift for Bronin to run for governor after the capital city recently avoided bankruptcy.

Look, I like Luke. I have respect for him. (But) how can you possibly run for governor of the state of Connecticut when youre running a city thats teetering on the brink of bankruptcy? Boughton said. Look, you want to compare Danburys finances against Hartfords finances? Ill do that all day long. Now if turns around Hartford, hes got a story to tell.

Bronin said theres no comparison between Hartford and Danbury.

With all respect to Mark Boughton, he inherited a fiscally healthy town and yet hes raised taxes, year after year, Bronin said. In Hartford, I took over a city in full-blown fiscal crisis, refused to raise taxes or kick the can, demanded that our unions be part of the solution, built partnerships around the state and re-engaged our business community.

Herbst said Wymans decision doesnt change his strategy.

While Nancy might have been the co-pilot on the Titanic for the last eight years, the iceberg was made larger and more deadly for Connecticut by horrible policy and can kicking from Democrats in the legislature, Herbst said.

Drew, the first Democrat to declare his candidacy for governor, said Republicans were sending a mixed message by saying that they wanted to run against Wyman and that the remaining Democrats in the race arent on her level.

Thats a contradiction. Its preposterous, Drew said. The simple fact of the matter is the Connecticut Republican Party, the national Republican Party and this crop of Republican candidates have never been focused on middle class economics. Theyre focused on the needs of the wealthy.

Westport businessman and GOP candidate Steve Obsitnik said hes tired of all the sniping.

Thats what politicians do, he said. They talk about each other. Lets talk about the people of Connecticut being hurt and get to work solving their problems.

Dave Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general and GOP candidate from Bridgeport, said Wyman made the right choice.

I didnt care who the Democrats put up, he said.

Mark Lauretti, Sheltons 26-year mayor and Fairfield Countys longest serving municipal leader, scoffed at the prospect of Ganim and Bronin jumping into the race.

These people you talk about have relatively little experience, Lauretti said. We need people who are tested. Here again, I think its pretty telling that some of the top Democratic candidates have opted out, which is untypical of what they do.
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Far from the village greens and train platforms of Connecticut, a handful of Republicans strayed this week beyond the traditional campaign trail to make their case why the national party should back them for governor.

Their destination: the Republican Governors Association conference in Austin, Texas, a confluence of sitting GOP governors, Vice President and former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and a raft of candidates.

It was by invitation only, which some of the attendees publicly boasted in an effort to distinguish themselves from rivals who were snubbed by the RGA.

At least five gubernatorial hopefuls said they were invited to the Lone Star State for the Wednesday/Thursday confab and to a previous RGA summit in Nashville, Tenn., in August. Among them was Dave Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general and a Bridgeport resident, who questioned whether one of his rivals was on the guest list for the summertime meeting.

There was one other candidate, but Im not sure they were invited, Walker said. They came to one session and spent the rest of the time out by the pool. Ill not mention the name to protect the guilty.

While Walker omitted the name of Tim Herbst from the other attendees, the Trumbull first selectman told Hearst Connecticut Media he was in Nashville and Austin.

I was invited to Nashville back in the summer and I didnt bring my bathing suit, and I was certainly in several sessions, Herbst said from Austin. I dont know where Walker the stalker gets his information.

There are 36 governors races on the calendar in 2018, including 21 open seats. Connecticut presents an opportunity for Republicans, who suffered losses last week in New Jersey and Virginia, to reclaim the Governors Residence in a blue state.

The Republican and Democratic governors associations can render aid to candidates in multiple ways, from funding super PAC opposition groups in the state to bringing in surrogates from other states. When New Jerseys Chris Christie was at the helm of the RGA, he campaigned for Republican Tom Foley against Democrat Dannel P. Malloy, who won races against Foley in 2010 and 2014. Malloy, who is not seeking re-election next year, is the current head of the DGA.

Mark Lauretti and Mark Boughton, the Republican mayors of Shelton and Danbury, skipped the RGA confab.

Yeah, I get invited to that stuff, but I really have no interest, Lauretti said. I think sometimes these guys go to these things because they think its going to raise their profile. Good luck. Im not convinced that the RGA has any interest in a state like Connecticut. Theres not a strong history there.

A request for comment was left with an RGA spokesman Wednesday.

Boughton hasnt declared himself a candidate yet and is getting over surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor from his brain.

The mayor was invited, but is still exploring a run for statewide office and is in the state for the week, said John Kleinhans, a political adviser to Boughton.

Westport businessman Steve Obsitnik went to Nashville and Austin, while state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, R-Glastonbury went to the first and skipped the second.

Theyve been on my case, Srinivasan said.  Arent you coming? I said, No, thank you. Austin, Texas is not our backyard and with Thanksgiving coming...

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, who is still exploring a run for governor, and Greenwich businessman Peter Thalheim, a declared candidate, said they have spoken to RGA officials about the race.

Theyre not taking sides, Boucher said.

I was not invited to the Republican Governors Association meeting, Thalheim said. I did, however, meet with a representative of the RGA at the GOP headquarters in Southington, Connecticut, last month and delivered my proposal for policies to broaden the size of the Republican tent.

Bob Stefanowski, a Madison businessman and former UBS executive, said he had a full schedule in Connecticut this week.

Mike Handler, the city of Stamfords chief financial officer and gubernatorial candidate, met with RGA representatives a month ago, said his spokesman, Chris Cooper.

Our understanding is that any candidate can go to this meeting, Cooper said. I dont know if there were any specific invites.

Requests for comment were also left for Peter Lumaj, a Fairfield immigration lawyer, and Greenwich hedge fund manager David Stemerman.

Its safe to say Herbst and Walker wouldnt be grabbing a couple of ice cold Lone Star Beers on Austins Sixth Street.

I also try to keep my distance from people who are a legend in their own mind, Herbst said.

Walker said last weeks municipal election triumph by Democrats in Trumbull, where Herbst opted against running for re-election as first selectman, spoke volumes.

Many people speculated that Tim was going to have a tough time getting re-elected, and I think the election results pretty much confirmed that, Walker said.

Herbst harkened back to Walkers unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2014, which is also when Herbst got the GOP nomination for state treasurer and narrowly lost the general election to Democratic incumbent Denise Nappier.

I have done something that Mr. Walker has never been able to do, and thats win an election, Herbst said of his four terms as Trumbulls top office holder. The one election he did run in, he came in dead last in a three-way primary.

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Former FBI director James Comey's latest tweet was a defense of the press - a quote from Thomas Jefferson's Jan. 28, 1786 letter from Paris to physician James Currie.

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost," Comey tweeted Saturday evening along with a picture of the Capitol.

Lifting a quote from a 200-year-old letter that Jefferson had written to the doctor who treated Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson, his daughter, and tweeting it may seem random and innocuous on the surface, but its timing suggests otherwise.

Comey's tweet was sent at 6:08 p.m. Saturday, about a half-hour after President Donald Trump attacked CNN International, the latest in his war against the mainstream press.

"@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!" Trump said on Twitter.

CNN's public relations department fired back with a reply to Trump's tweet several minutes later: "It's not CNN's job to represent the U.S. to the world. That's yours. Our job is to report the news."

Many, including some CNN reporters and analysts such as Christiane Amanpour and Jake Tapper, also did not sit silent, and criticized Trump for undermining the work of foreign correspondents in war zones around the world.

Comey, who began tweeting under a pseudonym, has been somewhat active on the social media platform within the past month. Many see his tweets as more than just simple quotations attached to random nature photos. To those who follow Comey's semiregular Twitter activity, his tweets are subtle jabs at political leaders, particularly at the one who fired him.

During Trump's trip to Asia two weeks ago, the president resurrected his attacks against Comey and called him a proven "liar" and "leaker" while speaking with reporters in the press cabin on Air Force One.

Hours later, Comey tweeted a sermon from the late English Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It was about the difference between a truth and a lie.

"If you want truth to go around the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go around the world, it will fly; it is light as a feather and a breath will carry it," Comey said.

The tweet included a picture of the Great Falls of the Potomac. Comey explained hours later that he included the picture because he likes it and it reminded him of his favorite Bible verse. Quoting Amos 5:24, he said, "But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Comey, arguably one of FBI's most controversial directors, has been criticized, particularly by Trump, for leaking information to the press.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, Comey revealed that a tweet by the president - incorrectly suggesting he may have had taped his conversations with Comey - prompted the former FBI director to ask a close friend to leak a private memo he had kept recounting his interactions with Trump.

As reported by the New York Times, Comey wrote in the memo that the president asked him to shut down the federal investigation into Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn during a meeting in the Oval Office in February.

Comey testified before Congress that he immediately documented the conversation in the form of an unclassified memo and discussed it with FBI senior leadership.

In a flurry of early-morning tweets in July, Trump accused Comey of violating the law by leaking classified information.

Criminal violations are hard to justify because Comey had described the document as an unclassified and personal memo, not a government one, even though it was typed in an FBI computer, according to The Washington Post's Fact Checker. Whether it contained privileged information has not been proven.

Comey also may have violated his employment agreement for leaking the memo, but was already out of a job by then.

---

The Washington Post's Ashley Parker contributed to this story.
The return of Russia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) without restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Donbas contradicts international law, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Mariana Betsa has said.

"The return of the Russian Federation to PACE without the elimination of violations of international rights, the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops contradict international law," she wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Betsa informed that the Russian Federation had not fulfilled any resolutions within the framework of the Council of Europe, the UN or the OSCE.

Compromises in the issue of observing international law are unacceptable, she added.
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Never held elected office? No problem.

Grassroots support? Overrated.

But if you can scrounge up $75,000  tip money for a hedge fund manager  you too can be on the debate stage when Connecticut Republicans hold their first gubernatorial debate on Dec. 6. at Windsor High School.

The inclusion of self-funders at the debate, as well as a private forum in Greenwich two days before for gubernatorial hopefuls, has led to criticism that some political neophytes are being allowed to buy their way into the race.

Several of the GOP contenders who have spent almost a year raising small-dollar contributions to qualify for public campaign financing under Connecticuts clean-elections program have voiced reservations about the process.

Among those invited to both events is David Stemerman, the Greenwich hedge fund mogul who seeded his campaign with $1.8 million from a credit card.

The others debate participants identified by the party are Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, former U.S. Comptroller General Dave Walker, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Westport businessman Steve Obsitnik, the city of Stamfords chief financial officer, Mike Handler, Fairfield immigration attorney Peter Lumaj, state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, R-Glastonbury, and Madison businessman Bob Stefanowski.

In my opinion, having enough money to write a check should not be enough to qualify one for the debates, said Walker, a Bridgeport resident. But I respect the chairmans decision and look forward to the debates. Look, these debates are going to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Self-funded hopefuls

Stemerman, who left his $1.6 billion Conatus Capital Management firm to join the crowded GOP field for 2018, declined to comment.

From Linda McMahons pair of unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate to Tom Foleys twice-thwarted pursuit of the governors office, the precedent of Republicans embracing self-funders is well established in Connecticut.

If the party goes down the road of another rich guy from lower Fairfield County and nominates them, were going to get exactly what we deserve, which is a huge loss, said Boughton, the longtime Danbury mayor. Connecticut voters have been very clear about what they want and what they dont want. Theyre not looking for the rich person who can empty their hedge fund and just hang out ... 

Boughton is exploring a third run for governor. The last one ended badly in 2014, with Boughton forced to withdraw from the GOP primary race after he could not raise $250,000 to qualify for public campaign financing. Candidates can get $1.4 million for the primary and $6.5 million for the general election, but have to raise the $250,000 in increments of no more than $100.

Ill enjoy comparing my street cred with their polo scores, Boughton said of self-funded candidates. Let them be part of the conversation. Thats democracy. The only concern I have is there are going to be a lot of people up on that stage.

Lauretti, the 26-year Shelton mayor who is Fairfield Countys longest-serving municipal leader, didnt mince his words, either.

Just because someone is successful financially, that in no way shape or form qualifies them to run some form of government where you have to supply public services, which come in a whole array of forms, Lauretti said. Writing a check out, theres a lot of people can do that. Im not sure that is the kind of cure that Connecticut is looking for.

State GOP Chairman J.R. Romano said money factored into the list.

This is a politics. Campaigns cost money, he said. Stemerman qualifies based on that one piece of the recipe. Hes going have to take his message to the voters. Any candidate that has a problem with someone who is a self-funder, show up at the debate and prosecute your case.

One of the newcomers who was invited to both events is Stefanowski, a former UBS Investment Bank chief financial officer and former president and CEO of General Electric Corporate Financial Services in Europe. The Madison resident seeded his campaign with $250,000, but said he has raised more than $60,000 from at least 100 contributors.

I wouldnt call me a self-funder, Stefanowski said. Its an interesting argument that (since) Im not taking $1.4 million in taxpayer money that I shouldnt be allowed to go to a debate. The state party decides who goes. It really shouldnt be the candidates.

Some left off the list

Stefanowski said he has a scheduling conflict with the Greenwich candidate forum, which is also a fundraiser for the state GOP and costs $1,000 per person to attend. Hes not sure yet whether he will participate in the Windsor debate, he said.

As part of Stefanowskis introduction to Republicans in September, he said he hired Donald Trumps pollster, John McLaughlin from McLaughlin & Associates, to survey likely GOP voters. Fifty percent of them had never heard of the top contender in the poll, while the others fared worse, he said.

I dont think Im any less credible than any other candidate when 50 to 75 percent have never heard of them, Stefanowski said.

Handler, a New Canaan resident who has raised more than $117,000 in small contributions for his campaign, said theres a real upside to participating in the clean-elections program.

Personally, I think self-funding candidates are missing a valuable opportunity to engage with the citizens of Connecticut, Handler said. I have found the process to be extremely rewarding as I share real solutions to our states challenges.

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, who was not on the list of invitees provided by Romano, said she received an invitation to the Windsor debate and was learning more about the Greenwich forum.

One GOP candidate who was completely snubbed was Joe Visconti, a Trump diehard and former West Hartford town councilor ran as a petition candidate for governor in 2014. In hasty accord with Republican nominee Tom Foley, Visconti withdrew from the race in early November, but it was too late to remove his name from the ballot. He and his running mate received 11,456 votes.

Its the Grey Poupon party. Its the 1 percenters, Visconti said of the state GOP. Im a working-class Republican. I (also) believe its the Trump factor. The GOP ran away from Trump. I represent Donald Trump in Connecticut as a candidate.

Romano said Viscontis insurgency candidacy in 2014 was not the reason that hes being excluded. Visconti had raised $2,420 as of Oct. 1, he said.

Im not putting 20 people on a stage, Romano said.

Greenwich businessman Peter Thalheim also didnt make the cut.

I dont have that money, so I will not be participating, Thalheim said. Theyre missing out on a big-tent candidate.
Every brand has a story, and if you are not effectively telling that story to consumers, then you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to create brand loyalty and attract new customers. In fact, with compelling storytelling, you can increase the value of your product or service.

Related: 13 Fun Facts That Will Make Your 'About Me' A Lot Less Boring

Psychologists have studied how people react to ads and have found that content that stirs an emotional response has the most significant potential to motivate a consumer to buy or to become a raving fan of a particular brand. As a business owner, you know your story, but you might not have the storytelling skills to captivate an audience best.

How veterans learn to tell stories

As a veteran myself, I know that serving in the military for four years and deploying to Iraq for a year refined my storytelling abilities. I still remember the day that I came home from Iraq. I was sitting in the airport, undoubtedly happy to soon be reuniting with family and friends but still nervous and anxious about my buddies left behind. The first question a civilian asked me was, "How was it over there?" My objective was to deliver a quick, one-sentence response until a follow-up question required that I elaborate on my story. The civilian asked, "Aren't you soldiers over there just fighting for oil?"

What proceeded next was a five-minute story that consisted of a firsthand account of the work our combat troops were accomplishing while fighting for our country's freedom. It was satisfying for me to see the transition in the man's face as he listened to my story, got swept up in the emotions it brought about, and the look on his face when he finally understood the meaningful work that was being done. That's the power of storytelling.

Related: 10 Tips for Creating the Perfect Social Media Content for Your Brand

As it turned out, this was not an isolated incident. I have now told my story more times than I can count, and many of my veteran colleagues have also told hundreds of stories regarding their military experiences. Just look, for example, at any war documentary or movie, and you will see just how invested people are in the stories veterans tell.

In launching my startup, I enlisted the help of five military veterans to help craft our brand's story. What resulted from their brand strategy was features and mentions in world-renowned publications for my startup.

How the style of veteran storytelling can help your business build credibility

The style of veteran storytelling, taking you from the trenches to triumph, quickly pulls listeners in and makes them feel like they are part of an experience. Humans are programmed to be intrigued by stories with setbacks and even casualties, that ultimately lead to success or new understanding.

These are the very same types of stories that can help your business grow through branded storytelling. Even if your product or service is not related to the military, hiring a veteran to help craft your story can be beneficial because over time these men and women have learned to become natural storytellers.

When military service members earn medals and awards, several accounts of the actual event has to be meticulously documented. Essentially a story of the events that occurred is used to determine if the service member deserves the award that has been recommended by their superiors. A veteran can take these same skills and apply it to your business after spending some time getting to know you, your products or services and hearing the story from your perspective.

Related: 5 Ways to Authentically Connect Your Employees to the Brand

What makes a great branding story

An excellent branding story does not try to sell. It is not a direct advertisement. A brand story is more like an introduction and a way to answer some essential questions such as who you are, what you stand for and how you can help the consumer with a specific problem or desire. Once you have one or more narratives that fit your brand, you can tell these stories through compelling images, videos and text that can be shared on your website, social media and at events.

Many companies have written down their values or have even crafted a mission or vision statement, but not many have learned to use the power of emotional storytelling. Large brands like Coca-Cola and Nike use customer-focused storytelling that is highly emotional and covers topics like making friends, falling in love, working hard and accomplishing big dreams. There is no reason your company cannot do the same.

Why hire veterans to craft your brand's story

Combining your company's story with the raw power and emotion that veterans are experts at creating their own stories can be highly beneficial. If the No. 1 factor of effective storytelling is making an emotional connection, there is no better person the help craft that experience than a combat veteran.

Related Video: The 8 Laws of Branding

Related:

Why You Should Hire One of These People to Tell Your Brand's Story

One of Tinder's First Employees Explains 5 Marketing Musts as You Grow From Startup to Global Empire

These 13 Skills Will Improve Your Branding Efforts



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


The State Fund for Promotion of Youth Housing Construction (Kyiv) on November 28, 2017 will resume the program of providing citizens with affordable housing.

"All the regional departments of the agency from tomorrow [November 28, 2017] will begin accepting documents from candidates to participate in the affordable housing program," chairman of the fund Serhiy Komnatny said at a press conference in Kyiv.

He said during 2015-2016 the program did not actually work because of a lack of state funding.

According to the expert, the program provides for the compensation of 30% of the cost of housing for people in need of better housing conditions and 50% of the cost of housing to ATO participants and internally displaced persons.

At the same time, the program ends in 2017, but the fund has developed a draft government resolution that extends the program until 2023: the resolution has already been approved by all central executive bodies and is awaiting consideration by the government committee.

According to the fund, in the nine months of 2017 more than 330 citizens of Ukraine have been provided with housing under the program.
The health of Ukrainian citizen Pavlo Hryb, arrested in Russia, has been evaluated as satisfactory by doctors and he is receiving outpatient treatment, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said in a letter to her Ukrainian counterpart Valeria Lutkovska.

Hryb was examined by doctors, who registered his chronic illnesses, upon arrival in the Federal Penitentiary Service's Detention Facility No. 5, Lutkovska's press service said on Monday, citing Moskalkova's letter.

According to Moskalkova, Hryb underwent a medical checkup in the Krasnodar Clinical Hospital on September 18, 2017, which showed that he had no grave illnesses that, according to Russian legislation, might prevent his detention.

"Pavlo Hryb's general state of health has now been evaluated by specialists as satisfactory, he is under medical workers' dynamic observation, he is being treated as an outpatient. He is receiving medications in accordance with doctors' recommendations and his illnesses," the Russian human rights commissioner said in her letter.

According to Moskalkova's information, Hryb was granted a visit with officials from the Ukrainian General Consulate on September 18, 2017, during which he made no complaints regarding his living conditions, his health or observance of his lawful rights and interests.

Ex-Ukrainian State Border Guard Service official Ihor Hryb said on August 28 that Russian special services had abducted his 19-year-old son Pavlo during a visit to Gomel, Belarus, where he went on August 24 to meet a girl whom he had met and talked to only on social-networking sites. It was agreed that Pavlo would return the same day. After he failed to return the next day, Ihor Hryb travelled to Gomel to look for him.

He said that in Belarus he had learned that Pavlo was on a Russian list of wanted persons in connection with a terrorist attack, and that a search had been initiated by the Russian Federal Security Service's Directorate for the Krasnodar region in Sochi.

It was reported on September 7 that Hryb was in a detention facility in Krasnodar, Russia.

On September 15, Pavlo Hryb's sister Olha Hryb said her brother was transferred from jail to hospital. According to her, neither Ukrainian consuls, nor Ukrainian doctors were allowed to see the detainee.

Ukrainian doctors arrived in Russia on October 12 to examine Hryb, who is being held in a pretrial detention center in Krasnodar and does not receive the necessary medical care, but the Russian side didn't allow them to examine the Ukrainian.

On October 18, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Krasnodar (Russia) extended detention term for Ukrainian Pavlo Hryb until January 4, 2018.

The next hearing of the Krasnodar court is scheduled for December 24.
The political council of the Samopomich Party is outraged by the detention of activists Leonid Lytvynenko and Anatoliy Vynohrodsky and demands explanations from the president, the Interior Ministry and the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

"At least two activists were abducted within one hour on Sunday, November 26, in different cities of Ukraine. The first one is Leonid Lytvynenko, who was captured in Novohrad-Volynsky, where he and his fellows blocked the smuggling of Russian fuel to Ukraine... The second detainee is Anatoliy Vynohrodsky, who, according to the police, was detained in the case of an attack on a security guard in Kirovohrad region," the party's political council said in a statement released by the party's press service.

At the same time, the party said that Vynohrodsky was detained for defending local residents who were victims of raiders.

Earlier, the Vyzvolennia movement reported that on November 26, several gunmen captured a volunteer of the OUN battalion, Leonid Lytvynenko, in Novohrad-Volynsky, Zhytomyr region. Earlier, this organization announced the abduction of activist Oleksandr Novikov. As it became known, he was later arrested for 60 days.

In addition, ex-commander of the Donbas battalion Anatoliy Vynohrodsky was abducted on November 26. He was taken to Mariupol.

In turn, law enforcers reported the detention of a former leader of the Donbas battalion (the issue concerns Vynohrodsky) and his associate for an attack on a security guard at a private agricultural enterprise in Kirovohrad region in July. It was also reported that in Mariupol, the court arrested for 60 days, without the alternative right to post bail, a suspect in the kidnapping of a Donbas battalion fighter in 2014.
Seeking to prove that a conspiracy of astronauts fabricated the shape of the Earth, a California man intends to launch himself 1,800 feet high on Saturday in a rocket he built from scrap metal.

Assuming the 500-mph, mile-long flight through the Mojave Desert does not kill him, Mike Hughes told the Associated Press, his journey into the atmosflat will mark the first phase of his ambitious flat-Earth space program.

Hughess ultimate goal is a subsequent launch that puts him miles above the Earth, where the 61-year-old limousine driver hopes to photograph proof of the disc we all live on.

Itll shut the door on this ball Earth, Hughes said in a fundraising interview with a flat-Earth group for Saturdays flight, which ranged across theories that NASA is controlled by round-Earth Freemasons, and Elon Musk makes fake rockets from blimps.

Hughes promised the flat Earth community to expose the conspiracy with his steam-powered rocket, which will launch from a heavily modified mobile home  though he acknowledged that he still had much to learn about rocket science.

This whole tech thing, he said in the June interview. Im really behind the eight ball.

That said, Hughes isnt a totally unproven engineer. He set a Guinness World Record in 2002 for a limousine jump, according to Ars Technica, and has been building rockets for years, albeit with mixed results.

Okay, Waldo. 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...! someone yells in a test fire video from 2012.

Theres a brief hiss of boiling water, then ... nothing. So Hughes walks up to the engine and pokes it with a stick, at which point a thick cloud of steam belches out toward the camera.

He built his first manned rocket in 2014, the AP reported, and managed to fly a quarter mile over Winkelman, Arizona.

As seen in a YouTube video, the flight ended with Hughes being dragged, moaning from the remains of the rocket. The injuries he suffered put him in a walker for two weeks, he said.

And the 2014 flight was only a quarter of the distance of Saturdays mile-long attempt.

And it was based on round-earth technology.

Hughes only recently converted to flat-Eartherism, after struggling for months to raise funds for his follow-up flight over the Mojave.

It was originally scheduled for early 2016 in a Kickstarter campaign  From Garage to Outer Space!  that mentioned nothing about illuminati astronauts, and was themed after a NASCAR event.

We want to do this and basically thumb our noses at all these billionaires trying to do this, Hughes said, standing in his Apple Valley, California, living room, which he had plastered with drawings of his rockets.

They have not put a man in space yet, Hughes said. There are 20 different space agencies here in America, and Im the last person thats put a man in a rocket and launched it.

He compared himself to Evel Knievel, as he promised to launch himself from a California racetrack  the first step on his steam-powered leap toward space.

The Kickstarter raised $310 of its $150,000 goal.

Hughes made other pitches, including a plan to fly over Texas in a SkyLimo. But he complained to Ars Technica last year about the difficulty of funding his dreams on a chauffeurs meager salary.

A year later, he called into a flat-earth community web show to announce he had become a recent convert.

We were kind of looking for a new sponsors for this. And Im a believer in the flat Earth, Hughes said. I researched it for several months.

The host sounded impressed. Hughes had actually flown in a rocket, he noted, whereas astronauts were merely paid actors performing in front of a CGI globe.

John Glenn and Neil Armstrong are Freemasons, Hughes agreed. Once you understand that, you understand the roots of the deception.

The host talked of Elon Musks fake reality, and Hughes talked of anti-Christ, Illuminati stuff. After half an hour of this, the host told his 300-some listeners to back Hughess exploration of space.

While there is not single hypothesis for what the flat Earth is supposed to look like, many believers envision a flat disc ringed by sea ice, which naturally holds the oceans in.

Whats beyond the sea ice, if anything, remains to be discovered.

We need an individual whos not compromised by the government, the host told Hughes. And you could be that man.

A flat-Earth GoFundMe subsequently raised nearly $8,000 for Hughes.

By November, the AP reported, his $20,000 rocket had a fancy coat of Rust-Oleum paint and RESEARCH FLAT EARTH inscribed on the side.

While his flat-Earth friends helped him finally get the thing built, the AP reported, Hughes will be making adjustments right up to Saturdays launch.

He wont be able to test the rocket before he climbs inside and attempts to steam himself at 500 mph across a mile of desert air. And even if its a success, hes promised his backers an even riskier launch within the next year, into the space above the disc.

Its scary as hell, Hughes told the AP. But none of us are getting out of this world alive.

This is true. Yet some may dare to fly beyond its edge.
LONDON  Bitcoin's vertiginous ascent showed no signs of abating on Monday, with the cryptocurrency soaring to another record high just a few percent away from $10,000 after gaining more than a fifth in value over the past three days alone.

The digital currency has seen an eye-watering tenfold increase in its value since the start of the year and has more than doubled in value since the beginning of October, lifted by the prospect of crossing over into the financial mainstream, amid a flurry of crypto-hedge fund launches.

It surged as much as 4.5 percent on Monday to trade at $9,721 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, before easing back to around $9,600 by 1155 GMT.

Data compiled by Alistair Milne, the Monaco-based manager of the Altana Digital Currency Fund, showed U.S. bitcoin wallet provider Coinbase added 300,000 users between Wednesday and Sunday, during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The total number of Coinbase users globally now stands at 13.3 million.

"The Coinbase data is evidence that adoption is not slowing down," Milne told Reuters. "Breaking $10,000 seems inevitable following the recent price action."

Bitcoin's price has been helped in recent months by the announcement that the world's biggest derivatives exchange operator CME Group would start offering bitcoin futures. The company said last week the futures would launch by the end of the year though no precise date had been set.

So far, institutional investors have largely stayed away from the market, viewing it as too volatile, too risky and too complex to invest other people's money into. But some say the launch of the CME futures could lure in more mainstream investors.

"Promises of bitcoin futures opening the door to institutional money are supercharging the price," said Charles Hayter, founder of cryptocurrency data analysis website Cryptocompare.

BIGGER THAN WAL-MART

The latest price surge brought bitcoin's "market cap" - its price multiplied by the number of coins that have been released into the system - to more than $163 billion, according to industry website Coinmarketcap.

The market cap of all cryptocurrencies, meanwhile, topped $300 billion for the first time, the site said, making their estimated market value greater than that of Wal-Mart.

The staggering price increases seen in the crypto-market have led to multiple warnings from central bankers, investment bankers and other investors that it has reached bubble territory.

Some say that this could prompt regulators in the West to crack down on the market in a similar fashion to China, where bitcoin exchanges were shut down earlier this year.

"Regulators know the rewards of cryptocurrency and blockchain could be huge but (they) have more than one eye on the catastrophic ramifications if good governance, stability and control are not preserved," said David Futter, a fintech partner at law firm Ashurst, in London.

"If the carrot of self-regulation proves insufficient, the regulators will not hesitate to use their stick."

Bitcoin's biggest rival, ether  sometimes referred to as Ethereum, the name for the project behind it  has seen even more stratospheric gains this year, up more than 6,000 percent. It hit an all-time high just below $500 on Monday, with its market cap nearing $50 billion.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili have discussed unity in matters of protecting the territorial integrity of both states, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported on Monday.

The meeting between Groysman and Margvelashvili took place as part of the Ukrainian prime minister's official visit to Georgia.

"I would like to thank Georgia's leadership for the unchanged position and support of Ukraine. We are pleased to note the intensification of the political dialogue between our countries. I want to emphasize that Ukraine also consistently supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. We are interested in a stable situation in your country and the preservation of the pro-European course," Groysman said.

He noted that special attention was paid to the interaction of the two countries in resolving the situation in Donbas, primarily the strengthening of the OSCE mission in the region and the promotion of diplomatic decisions on the deployment of a peacekeeping force to Donbas within the UN and inter-state associations, primarily GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova), where Georgia presides.

Groysman said that equally important was cooperation as part of rapprochement with NATO and the European Union, as well as the development of bilateral trade relations.
HILLSBORO  Dane Roper is looking at a busy day.

The assistant public defender has six sentencing hearings scheduled on a recent Thursday morning, followed by an afternoon with another sentencing and four arraignments, some of which might turn into guilty pleas.

He starts with two drug cases and one DWI. One hearing lasts three minutes. The others run about 12 each.

But his morning goes quickly. Two of his clients dont show. The other is dead.

No other defense attorney in Jefferson County Circuit Judge Carl Yates courtroom had more than one client.

Ropers boss, Courtney Goodwin, handled two hearings that afternoon, and their colleagues had eight more.

Goodwin called it a light day. The next Tuesday, she expected 15 to 20 motion hearings, a bench trial and multiple bail reduction hearings.

The workload of Roper and his colleagues has come under scrutiny in recent months, after a September decision by the Missouri Supreme Court to place a longtime public defender on probation for violating rules of professional conduct covering diligence and communicating with clients.

Officials with the Missouri public defenders office fear that their employees may face similar discipline, simply for handling a large number of cases.

The courts decision follows years of high-profile battles over funding for the legal defense of those too poor to hire their own lawyers.

Public defenders have repeatedly refused to accept new cases. The head of the system, Michael Barrett, once tried, unsuccessfully, to appoint then-Gov. Jay Nixon to handle a case.

Prosecutors say they are also handling a large number of cases.

Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Forrest Wegge did not return calls seeking comment, nor did Yates.

Alan Pratzel, head of Missouris Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, also did not return a message seeking comment. That office investigates allegations of misconduct by lawyers.

In the oral argument that preceded public defender Karl Hinkebeins recent discipline, Pratzel said it was undisputed that the lawyer breached his responsibility to numerous clients from 2011 to 2013, and pointed out that hed been admonished three times previously for the same violations. He also said an excessive caseload shouldnt be used as a defense.

Sara Rittman, Hinkebeins attorney, responded that Hinkebein was physically broken from serious health problems and was working in a system that was broken. She said he was dedicated to his clients, none of whom was legally harmed.

Amy Fite, president of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, wrote in an email in response to questions about the decision that the Legislature had enacted a safety valve several years ago for public defenders who believe their caseloads make it impossible for them to properly represent their clients.

Fite, who is also the prosecuting attorney in Christian County and a former St. Louis prosecutor, said that it was vitally important that Missouris indigent defense system continue to operate so that victims and defendants alike receive justice in a timely fashion, but also said that efficient management of dockets by the courts could address the caseload concerns.

Asked whether the Missouri Supreme Court was trying to send a message with the Hinkebein case, spokeswoman Beth Riggert replied that the order used standard language that the court often used in disciplinary cases.

Big caseloads

Goodwins office in Jefferson County opened 1,900 new cases in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. In 2016, it opened 1,737.

Roper had 115 open cases on the day of a reporters visit, although Goodwin said she expected a good number would be closed that day.

She is trying to limit staff to no more than 90 cases at a time. She said Karl Hinkebein, the lawyer put on probation, was handling 100.

Most public defenders have well over that, she said.

Hinkebein, she said, was a lifelong public defender with serious medical issues and they still went after him.

Asked if the disciplinary committee could go after other lawyers, Goodwin cautioned, It would bring the whole justice system to its knees if they did. But whats to stop them?

Different offices, different woes

Goodwin used to work in the Farmington public defender office, which handles cases from six counties. Those lawyers had only a few days of court in each county each month, but those days were packed.

Youll see them just churn through people, she said.

Lawyers working for Mary Fox, district defender in St. Louis, have caseloads in the mid-60s. But Fox said her office also handled more than 100 felony jury trials a year and had more than 60 pending murder cases.

She thinks 50 would be ideal. Think about the fact that you are managing the legal lives of 50 people at any one time. Thats a lot of responsibility.

When we have time to spend on someone, were damn good, she said. Its a question of having the time.

Fox said the Hinkebein decision, and the fear it had generated, might help publicize the problem.

Should OCDC bring an action against every attorney in the Missouri Public Defender system? Maybe that will wake people up to the fact that we are processing too many cases as opposed to effectively representing our clients.

Fox said she recently lost a lawyer who told her, I cant go on working with this level of anxiety and stress, always concerned Im forgetting to do something for a client.

Barrett said hed also had lawyers resign, citing Hinkebein.

Just do it

Supervisors from public defenders offices from around the country were in St. Louis on Nov. 17 and 18 for a workloads institute conference at St. Louis University School of Law.

Stephen Hanlon, a SLU law professor and general counsel of the National Association for Public Defense, said many judges had abandoned their primary responsibility  to ensure effective assistance of counsel. They are simply processing cases, he said.

Hanlon said the old deal with public defenders was, Dont worry, we know you have too many cases. Just process them  . Since the Hinkebein case, its do it or well discipline your license, he said.

But Hanlon said that public defenders were now arming themselves with new, more reliable and better-researched statistics on the time a case should take to be thoroughly researched and handled, versus the fraction of that time they actually receive.

They are using those statistics, with some success, both as an internal management tool and as an effective tool to argue for more funding with state officials.

But, he warned, This is a war. And there are going to be some casualties.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump will give a speech on the GOP tax overhaul plans in St. Charles on Wednesday afternoon, the White House confirmed Monday.

The speech will come as the U.S. Senate is debating revisions of the tax code that GOP senators say will boost economic growth.

Democrats oppose the plan, calling it tilted toward favoring the rich and saying that it will add to the federal debt.

Trump also chose Missouri, which will host a pivotal Senate race in 2018, to give a tax-reform speech in August. In it, he challenged Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to support tax cuts or risk being turned out of office by voters next year.

Details of the time and location of Wednesdays speech were still being worked out Monday by the White House.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who traveled to Springfield, Mo., with Trump for the August speech, has been a leading advocate of the GOP tax reform efforts in the Senate.

He tweeted again on it Monday.(tncms-asset)34be0816-d3aa-11e7-99ed-00163ec2aa77[0](/tncms-asset)

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, plans to travel to Missouri with Trump on Air Force One, his spokeswoman, Kristina Weger, said Monday. GOP Sen. Roy Blunt also will come if Senate scheduling allows, his communications director, Katie Boyd, said.

Trump on Monday posted several positive tweets about the plan, including one that suggests more fixes were on the way.

But McCaskill has increasingly been a critic. She opened hearings of the Senate Finance Committee perusing the legislation by criticizing Republicans for writing the legislation largely in secret, for not simplifying the code enough and for giving corporate tax breaks in greater proportion to those of individuals.

McCaskill was not invited on this trip, although she sat next to Trump at a meeting of Senate Finance members to discuss tax reform earlier this fall.

Prior to Thanksgiving, McCaskill had characterized herself as angry and disappointed over the GOP tax plan.

The presidents visit comes on the same day that Khizr Khan, a Gold Star father, will speak at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

Khan, whose son Humayun Khan was killed in 2004 in Iraq, spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and was critical of Trumps proposed ban on immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. Trump and Khan then got into a bitter public argument on social media and elsewhere.
President Donald Trump, during an event at the White House honoring Navajo code talkers Monday, referenced his nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "Pocahontas," a label he has long used about the Massachusetts Democrat.

"I just want to thank you because you are very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said. "Although, we have a representative in Congress who has been here a long time ... longer than you -- they call her Pocahontas!"

He then turned to one of the code talkers behind him, put his left hand on the man's shoulder and said: "But you know what, I like you. You are special people."

Trump did not name Warren.

The comment, met with silence from event attendees, revives an insult the President has long thrust upon Warren but restated during a high-profile meeting with the Native American war heroes.

"It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur. Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he is going to shut me up with it. It hasn't worked out in the past, it isn't going to work out in the future," Warren told MSNBC shortly after Trump's remark.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday the use of "Pocahontas" was not a racial slur and that it "certainly was not the President's intent" to use a racial slur.

"I don't believe that it is appropriate" to use a racial slur, Sanders said during her daily briefing, but added that she didn't think Trump's comment was such a slur.

Sanders then targeted Warren, saying that "the most offensive thing" was Warren claiming to be Native American.

"I think Sen. Warren was very offensive when she lied about something specifically to advance her career, and I don't understand why no one is asking about that question and why that isn't constantly covered," Sanders said.

Conservatives have previously criticized Warren for claiming that she is part Native American, and the senator's heritage became an issue during her Senate campaigns.

Trump has seized on the attacks and has regularly called Warren "Pocahontas." The attack dates back to his 2016 campaign.

"Pocahontas is at it again," he tweeted in June 2016. "Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice."

He added, "Crooked Hillary is wheeling out one of the least productive senators in the U.S. Senate, goofy Elizabeth Warren, who lied on heritage."

And earlier this month, he added, "Pocahontas just stated that the Democrats, lead by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Lets go FBI & Justice Dept."

He has also used the nickname privately.

Sources told CNN earlier this year that during a meeting with senators at the White House, Trump taunted Democrats by saying "Pocahontas is now the face of your party."

Trump has routinely given his political opponents nicknames, but the slight against Warren is one of his most culturally insensitive.

Warren says she is, in fact, part Native American, citing "family stories" passed down through generations of her family.

"I am very proud of my heritage," Warren told NPR in 2012. "These are my family stories. This is what my brothers and I were told by my mom and my dad, my mammaw and my pappaw. This is our lives. And I'm very proud of it."

The legitimacy of Warren's heritage has been widely debated and Scott Brown, her 2012 Senate campaign opponent, has even suggested Warren take a DNA test to prove her heritage.

Harvard Law School in the 1990s touted Warren, then a professor in Cambridge, as being "Native American." They singled her out, Warren later acknowledged, because she had listed herself as a minority in an Association of American Law Schools directory.

Critics seized on the listing, saying that she received preferential treatment for questionable Native American heritage. Warren contends that her career was never furthered because of her Native American genealogy.
Mario Tama/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The lawyer for President Donald Trumps former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn met Monday morning with members of special counsel Robert Muellers team  the latest indication that both sides are discussing a possible plea deal, ABC News has learned.



Trumps legal team confirmed late last week that Flynns attorney Robert Kelner alerted the team that he could no longer engage in privileged discussions about defense strategy in the case  a sign Flynn is preparing to negotiate with prosecutors over a deal that could include his testimony against the president or senior White House officials.



That process would typically include a series of off-the-record discussions in which prosecutors lay out in detail for Flynn and his lawyers the fruits of their investigation into his activities. Prosecutors would also provide Flynn an opportunity to offer whats called a proffer, detailing what information, if any, he has that could implicate others in wrongdoing.



When reached Monday, Kelner declined to comment on the nature of his morning visit to Muellers offices in Washington, D.C.



Sources familiar with the discussions between Flynns legal team and Trumps attorneys told ABC News that while there was never a formal, signed joint defense agreement between Flynns defense counsel and other targets of the Mueller probe, the lawyers had engaged in privileged discussions for months.



Jay Sekulow, a member of Trumps legal team, told ABC News last week that the break was not entirely unexpected.



No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about Gen. Flynn cooperating against the president, Sekulow said.



The New York Times broke the news, calling it an indication that Flynn may be cooperating with prosecutors.



Sources familiar with the Flynn investigation have told ABC News the retired lieutenant general has felt increased pressure since prosecutors began focusing attention on his son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked as part of the Flynn Intel Group, the consulting firm founded by the elder Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Michael G. Flynn also traveled with his father to Russia in 2015 for his now famous appearance at a Moscow dinner where he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.



Democrats in Congress have told ABC News they forwarded information to the Mueller team alleging that Michael T. Flynn illegally concealed more than a dozen foreign contacts and overseas trips during the process of renewing his security clearances.



It appears that General Flynn violated federal law by omitting this trip and these foreign contacts from his security clearance renewal application in 2016 and concealing them from security clearance investigators who interviewed him as part of the background check process, Reps. Elijah Cummings and Eliot L. Engel, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to Flynns attorney.



The letter highlights information House investigators collected from executives at three private companies advised by Flynn in 2015 and 2016. The companies were pursuing a joint venture with Russia to bring nuclear power to several Middle Eastern countries and secure the resulting nuclear fuel before Flynn joined then-candidate Trump on the campaign trail.



Flynn is a decorated military officer who served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 until his retirement in 2014. He was out of the spotlight only briefly. He joined the Trump campaign as an adviser in 2016, and Trump later named Flynn as his first national security adviser. He was forced to resign, however, after just 24 days on the job, when it was revealed that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian officials during the presidential transition.



Cummings told ABC News that Flynns foreign contacts  which involved high-ranking foreign officials and business executives  were so numerous they could not have been inadvertent omissions or incidental contacts.



He has, over and over again, omitted information that he should have disclosed, Cummings said. Its not an aberration, and thats clear.



Flynns lawyer has declined to comment on the letter, and when ABC News tracked down Flynn this summer at a beach in Newport, Rhode Island  his hometown  he didnt say much more.



Im just having a great time with the family here, Flynn said. Im doing good, [but] Im not going to make any comments.



The alleged omissions could be a serious matter  and not just for Flynn. While Cummings said intentionally omitting foreign contacts when applying for security clearance can carry a five-year prison term, he acknowledged that penalties are rarely so severe. The leverage the alleged transgressions provide, however, could prove useful to prosecutors seeking to use the threat of prosecution to compel Flynns assistance in the broader investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.



Former FBI Director James Comey provided a window into that strategy during his three hours of testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year.



There is always a possibility if you have a criminal case against someone and you bring them in, squeeze them, flip them, [that] they give you information about something else, Comey said.



The alleged omissions are just the latest to make trouble for Flynn. He failed to declare a December 2015 trip to Russia, where he sat next to Putin and for which was paid $33,000. In March 2017, Flynn submitted a late filing with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, revealing that the Flynn Intel Group was paid $530,000 for three months of work on behalf of a Dutch firm owned by a Turkish businessman with close ties to the Turkish government.



Flynns work for Turkey remains the subject of additional scrutiny. Of interest to federal agents, according to people interviewed by the FBI, is his alleged role in a bizarre, unrealized proposal first reported by The Wall Street Journal to kidnap Turkish dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is living in exile in rural Pennsylvania and is suspected of involvement in a failed coup attempt.



Gulen, who has denied involvement in the coup attempt, has lived legally in the Pocono Mountains since 1999, and the Turkish government has been financing efforts to persuade the U.S. government to return him to Turkey for years.



Former CIA Director James Woolsey confirmed for ABC News he was at a meeting in which Flynn allegedly raised the idea.



It became clear to me that they were seriously considering a kidnapping operation for Gulen, and I told them then that it was a bad idea, it was illegal, Woolsey said. I wont say that they had firmly decided to do that. But they were seriously considering it.



Kelner, Flynns lawyer, took the rare step of publicly refuting those assertions, saying there was no such discussion and calling them categorically false. In mid-July at a press conference, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S. also denied the notion of a kidnapping plot.



Theres no truth to that, he said, adding that the Turkish government was following traditional procedures to have Gulen extradited through the legal channels.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic (TMR) imitates participation in the 5+2 format, but in fact it is working to gain independence and recognition in the world, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko MP Iryna Friz has said.

"The TMR imitates participation and work in the 5+2 format. In fact, Tiraspol continues its efforts to gain independence and recognition by the international community, which contradicts the process of the peaceful settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict," she wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.

She said that the TMR does not have the right to independence.

"There are no authentic peoples in the TMR case, there is no religious factor, and there are no historical prerequisites. This is an artificial puppet formation completely controlled by the Kremlin. This is our attitude to the TMR. For Ukraine it is part of the Republic of Moldova," she said.

Friz said she was confident that the priority task remains the withdrawal of the entire group of Russian troops from the TMR and the replacement of the peacekeeping contingent to an international one with a UN mandate.

"This will reduce the degree of tension created by Russian troops and deprive Transdniestria of a force factor in polemics with Ukraine and Moldova. This will obviously make Tiraspol more flexible in 5+2 negotiations," she said.

As reported, another round of official negotiations on the Transdniestrian settlement in the 5+2 format begins in Vienna on November 27. Such meetings have not been held since April 2014.
As was the case when Republicans' plans to repeal and replace Obamacare reached this stage in the legislative process, congressional observers don't know when exactly senators will vote on the GOP tax plan.

And we likely won't know until, well, it's time for the vote.

On Monday, Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate Republicans' whip, said "Hopefully we will get to the floor on Wednesday." Asked to clarify if he meant the vote to proceed will be Wednesday, he said yes.

The reconciliation process on the floor is one enormous convoluted and confusing time suck. Once Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brings the bill up on the floor, which could happen as soon as Tuesday, the clock starts on 20 hours of debate. But it's not necessarily 20 hours straight -- Democrats can deploy a series of dilatory tactics to stretch that process out quite a bit. And the Senate likely won't stay in session straight through the 20 hours, so when they break, the clock stops.

Once the 20 hours of debate officially comes to an end, then the vote-a-rama starts. This could go for, well, a very long time. Historically, the end of the vote-a-rama would entail a vote on the amended tax bill, then a final vote on the bill. But as with the battle over health care, even this is subject to change. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain killed that effort in July on an amendment vote earlier than expected.

Cornyn said there will be a series of "manager's amendments at different points along the way."

"This is a dynamic process," Cornyn says, hinting at the fact that the bill is still expected to change in upcoming days.

Bottom line: There's a lot we simply won't know for days. That's OK. The real news for the time being will be on the changes to the plan being agreed to behind the scenes.

All that being said, there isn't much space for leaders when it comes to this vote. There's general agreement that it needs to be done this week. Delay, if they can't wrangle the votes this week, could be fatal. Doesn't mean it can't happen, but it would create some serious problems.

Why? Well, as CNN reports: Republicans have a very busy to-do list to address before the end of the year.

One bit of good news, Bob Corker, a key senator who has not said how he'll vote, sent a fairly upbeat if not definitive message Monday. The Tennessee Republican had repeatedly expressed opposition to adding to the deficit, something the Senate's version of the plan runs the risk of doing.

"Senator Corker spent the entire Thanksgiving break on the phone with his Senate colleagues and with the administration working on a responsible path forward," Corker spokesman Micah Johnson said in a statement. "While more work remains, all parties are hopeful that the final bill will be good for our country."
Ukrainian Ambassador in Georgia Ihor Dolhov has ruled out the possibility of a discussion of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's extradition to his homeland during Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman's ongoing official visit to Tbilisi.

"He [Saakashvili] is a private individual now and this cannot be a subject of discussion in official negotiations," Dolhov told reporters, answering a relevant question on Monday.

Saakashvili is not the only opposition leader in either Ukraine or Georgia, the ambassador said.

"If you have questions regarding the former Georgian president, you should ask him, not me. We see no problem in it, he continues his presence in Ukraine, as well as his political activities, which, frankly speaking, aren't very popular," the diplomat said.

Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani told reporters earlier that this September, the Georgian Chief Prosecutor's Office confirmed for its Ukrainian colleagues that the request for Saakashvili's extradition sent to Kyiv as far back as two years ago remains valid.

Saakashvili is charged with abuse of office and massive embezzlement in Georgia. The former Georgian president said he believes all charges brought against him are politically motivated and are lacking in documentary support.


Are leaders born or made? The Harvard University answers  leaders are made and moreover helps Ukraine through the program for young leaders to make a new generation of leaders who will lead the country. A few days ago 11 Ukrainians finished their study at such type of training at the John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University thanks to the scholarship of the Boumbouras Foundation. In the near future a meeting will be held between the management of Harvard and representatives of the Boumbouras Foundation to discuss new ideas for the scholarship program.

Ukraine needs qualified specialists for its development and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is ready to contribute to their training. The U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Ms. Marie Jovanovich declared it at the meeting with the President of the Boumbouras Foundation Mr. Pantelis Boumbouras in September 2017. The meeting was held on the occasion of the participation of 11 Ukrainian young leaders in the program "Emerging Leaders" at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leadership training programs are regularly held at this prestigious educational institution for the leaders from around the world to develop skills they need to build their countries. Eleven Ukrainian leaders from the government, private and non-governmental sectors went to the United States to participate at the Harvard executive education program. Candidates for scholarship program were chosen on the basis of the contest organized on the initiative of the Boumbouras Foundation. All of them are people who have already achieved certain successes in their industry and the goal of the short-term program is to acquire new skills that will allow them to occupy leading positions and contribute to the development of their countries.

"Ukraine is a country with a great potential and in the coming years it can reach prosperity. But for this we need the appropriate personnel, the management elite, as we used to call them. The elite which is not connected with the Soviet past of the country and will be able to create a system of public administration in accordance with modern requirements. This is not only my point of view but also the opinion of many influential businessmen and officials whom I meet in European countries. Training at Harvard allows to become familiar with a special mentality and necessary knowledge, and we help the Ukrainians to take advantage of these unique opportunities," said Vasilios Boumbouras, General Director of the construction company Gefest and Vice-President of the Boumbouras Foundation, after the meeting with Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education, Harvard Kennedy School, Ms. Debra Iles.

On the photo: Vasilyos Boumbouras, CEO of the Construction company Gefest and Vice-President of the charitable organization Boumbouras Foundation with Ms. Debra Iles, Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education, Harvard Kennedy School.

Ms. Iles thanked Mr. Boumbouras who spoke about the development of a new training program for future Ukrainian leaders and prospects for cooperation with the Harvard University. Ms. Iles stressed that the Harvard management is following developments in Ukraine and believes that this country needs leaders who will lead it along the path of reforms necessary for a modern European power. She recalled that in 2011 Harvard created a special program for the professional development of civil servants in Ukraine "Talent pool of the President." "We hope that the Boumbouras Foundation will continue to support a new wave of Ukrainian leaders. From our side we are ready for a broad cooperation in this direction, " pointed out Ms. Iles during her meeting with Vasilis Boumbouras in Harvard stressing on the importance of private companies in financing the participation of new leaders in educational programs that demonstrates their social responsibility. In the near future a high-ranking representative from Harvard will visit the Boumbouras Foundation to coordinate officially the program of cooperation between the Harvard and the Foundation in the field of education of Ukrainian leaders for the Foundation's scholarships.

In recent years more than 50 young Ukrainians participated at various short-term programs at the Harvard University. The selection criteria as well as the final selection of participants among hundreds of candidates belong to the Harvard. Such programs are in great demand all over the world. "This is one of the most popular programs for managers in the public, private and non-governmental sectors," says program director Sergei Konoplyov. "The competition is very high. This year we selected 65 candidates out of 260 applications. They were representatives of 19 countries. Including 11 representatives of Ukraine - scholarship holders of the Boumbouras Foundation," he added.

As Mr. Konoplyov notes, many of those who participated at these programs later took responsible posts in the country's administrative apparatus. The Director believes Ukraine needs to develop human resources. "I would talk not about knowledge, but about approaches and horizons of thinking - this is exactly what changed significantly after the course at Harvard. After discussing the cases and communicating with the professors you understand that you have to think more global and act more deliberately and locally", said Mr. Yuri Gusev, Advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine (2015-2016), co-founder of the International Center for Strategies Security and Defense. Mr. Gusev participated at this Harvard program in 2011 and says that this program not only provided an opportunity for his career growth, but also led to positive changes in the country. "Such programs must be continued," Mr. Gusev believes,and his opinion is shared by the majority of those who participated in such programs.

The charitable organization Boumbouras Foundation focuses on the assistance in the spheres of such charitable functions as education, health care, ecology, social protection, culture and art, science and sport, etc., as well as on the development and support of these spheres for the public benefit.

Among the Foundations goals there is a development of regional programmes, educational programmes, a search and development of talented youth, an assistance in social rehabilitation of financially disadvantaged citizens, disabled and other people who need special care, a development and spread of Greek culture in Ukraine, a protection and preservation of Greek cultural heritage, historical and cultural monuments and many others.
3 ailing finance companies to be liquidated By Quintus Perera View(s): View(s):

This weeks cancellation of the licence of the ailing Central Investment and Finance Ltd (CIFL) appears to be the first step towards liquidating a total of three troubled companies and partly settling their depositors, informed banking sources said.

The part-repayments to depositors of CIFL, the Standard Credit Finance Ltd (SCFL) and City Finance Corporation Ltd is to be met from an emergency fund, most likely the Central Banks Sri Lanka Deposit Insurance Scheme, the sources said.

The option, for many years, to find investors to resurrect these failed companies has failed as no financially, credible investor has been found, the sources said.

After the licences of the other two companies are also cancelled, liquidation of all three will proceed after which the repayments will be made under a formula that has been worked out.

A spokesperson for the CIFL Depositors Committee said they were disappointed by the Central Bank which had in October 2016 announced that under a repayment scheme, depositors will get part payment before 31 December 2017 and the balance with interest within a reasonable period

There are investors who can revive the company, he said, adding that depositors were vehemently opposed to the latest move.

In August this year, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy told reporters that the bank would soon put in place resolution plans for three defunct finance companies. A resolution mechanism for this purpose is to be introduced soon.

In the case of several depositors at SCFL who had converted their deposits to shares in the stock market, on the advice of the earlier Government, steps are expected to be taken to reconvert these back to deposits, for the purpose of settlement. The Business Times, over the years, has received and published several pleas from depositors, many ailing, for a quick return of their hard-earned deposits.
Bankers write to the Treasury By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s):

Commercial banks, visibly upset over the tax on transactions that was proposed in the recent budget, have jointly written to the Treasury requesting its removal, some bankers told the Business Times.

The letter was sent through the Sri Lanka Bankers Association (SLBA) this week, they said.

This time the banking sector was the main target for money churning for the government with the budget proposing a 0.02 per cent tax (this is down from 0.05 per cent last year when it was first proposed) on banking transactions. This tax cannot be passed down to the customers. In 2016, Rs. 106 trillion has been recorded as transactions and the Treasury expects a large amount this year.

This tax also called the Debt Repayment Levy is a temporary tax to be enacted for three years with the view of utilising the tax proceeds to fund the governments debt repayment and generate Rs. 20 billion revenue (second highest revenue measure) to the government.

The bankers say that its not fair to tax them thinking that banks are the golden goose noting that their return on equity is just 17 per cent. In what country is this so? one CEO queried. He said the Treasury should increase corporate taxes to drum up cash.
Govt. takes tourism by the horns By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is likely to make new appointments and revamp the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB). This is in the wake of allegations against delays in getting the tourism industrys much-awaited digital marketing campaign off the ground on time.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga told the Business Times earlier this week that the government wants an expeditious job and cant be hanging around for the digital marketing campaign to get off the ground.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) had decided about two weeks back to suspend the bureaus committee working on the digital marketing campaign due to delays.

The minister noted that in this context the government would be revamping the SLTPB in consultation with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He (PM) may be having someone in mind, the minister said.

He noted that the government needs to be able to work with someone who would know the government processes and system well.

Following the CCEM decision to disband the committee the SLTPBs Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara and Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam have been working together with the government appointed Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit to carry out the digital campaign.

Mr. Balasubramaniam said that this would expedite the current process by linking up the two phases that had been worked on for the digital campaign previously which was to market to the Western European market under phase one and secondly to take up markets like India, China and the Middle East.

However, the PPP Unit headed by Thilan Wijesinghe would be combing the two phases and ensure the government could market the destination in all markets simultaneously.

He also noted that they would be having another round of discussions in the course of the next 10 days when they would work out a timeline for the digital marketing.

In the meantime, the global promotion campaign for tourism is currently been worked out with the authorities having submitted the paper on the campaign to the CCEM.

The global advertising is set to take place on some of the internationally popular channels like the CNN, Al Jazeera and the BBC.

The Cabinet was likely to take up the global promotion campaign paper for discussion last week, the Minister said. SLTPB Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara was not contactable at time of going to press.
Opposition mounts against Indian footwear entry View(s):

Pressure is mounting against the entry of an Indian footwear manufacturer into the domestic Sri Lanka market with local shoe manufacturers and private sector companies jointly opposing and, now joined by trade unions.

Sources at leading footwear manufacturers like DSI and Bata who provide subcontracts to local manufacturers to supply their needs, say local manufacturers will be serious affected.

When the issue was raised at the request of local manufacturers at a meeting on Wednesday by Palitha Athukorala, Secretary of IndustriALL Sri Lanka Council who is also a veteran trade unionist, Labour Minister John Seneviratne  who also expressed opposition to the Indian footwear entry  said he would brief the President and raise the issue before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM). He requested Mr. Athukorala to provide more details of the investment by Indias Veekesy Slippers Lanka Pvt Ltd which has already set up a factory in Negombo.

Several other officials representing different segments of business and chambers of commerce voiced their concerns at Wednesdays meeting of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC). Union representatives from Bata said their management was also concerned about the development as it would affect SME companies which supply to them.

The Footwear and Leather Products Manufacturers Association has already written to the President urging that the approval be withdrawn as it would adversely affect local shoe manufacturers.

The Indian company has got approval under Section 16 of the Board of Investment rules which allow projects with a minimum US$250,000 investment. This section permits investors unlimited access to the local market sales.

This will be a precedent and open the floodgates for Indian investment through this section to set up factories to manufacture products like confectioneries, biscuits, readymade garments, cable, vegetable products and even enter retail trade in a big way, an association spokesperson said

Veekesy is part of Indian footwear conglomerate VKC, established in 1984 and now Indias largest PU (polyurethane) footwear manufacturer. Its daily production is 400,000 pairs.

Pensions plan At the same NLAC meeting, R. Paskaralingam, Advisor to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, made a presentation to the members on the proposed new pensions scheme for the public sector. He was assisted by two Treasury officials. The contribution will be similar to the EPF: 8 per cent by the employee and 12 per cent by the company (in this case, a state agency).
And now a snake in the house View(s):

Most of us have heard of that English idiom "snake in the grass". You don't have to go back to 37 BC and be a reader of the Roman poet Virgil to be acquainted with this metaphor.

Surely there are more snakes in the grass today than Virgil could have imagined. It is not because there is more grass or more people. It is simply that treachery is more widely practised today than in the days when Julius Caesar's friends turned round on him one fine afternoon and stabbed Caesar in the back right there on the senate floor. Still he had enough time to say "Et tu Brute" which subsequently appeared in collections of famous last words.



It seems even the senate where laws were made in the old days in Rome was not sacrosanct. Much like our own law-making institution called parliament where the sovereignty of the people reside, or so experts in constitution making and breaking tell us.

Thankfully nobody in our august assembly (okay, okay let it go) has been stabbed in the back -- literally I mean -- though several pugilistically-inclined have displayed their prowess now and then inside the chamber and occasionally deposited one or two of their fellow representatives in hospital or seeking some medical treatment.

How quickly they get medical attention would depend on whether paediatric Padeniya and his compadres are working and the big chief is not out there in the streets rallying his 'harm' troopers as Hitler did with his storm troopers, declaring no medicine today for the suffering people.

Why, our great assembly has even seen law makers, law breakers and other assorted types turn the chamber floor into an instant dining area where they have feasted on fried rice and curried chicken and other culinary delights and later let their full-filled selves spend a night on the chamber floor.

While in some legislatures around the world the representatives of the people end up in fisticuffs and pandemonium not only reigns but pours, in our own assembly such antics are rare though outbursts of chaos as a political tactic is not ruled out.

But that does not mean the art of political back-stabbing- frankly even the front is not safe - has not been skillfully cultivated. Such is the state of the art today that snakes from the grass are making their entry into the sanctum sanctorum where the elected, rejected but selected and dejected claim a place by the grace of the people Just a few days back I read that a snake had crept, or should it be slithered, into the House. Well, the story goes that this poisonous reptile called a cat snake or mapila in Sinhala and poonai pambu in Tamil had worked its way into Committee Room 1 on the ground floor of the parliament building.



The snake had been discovered by the cleaning staff in a corner of the committee room. Personally one can quite understand why the snake chose to hide itself in a corner. It would not be wrong to assume that it did not want the morally upright to think that it has been associating with the two-legged kind that often occupy the room.



According to the news report this particular committee room is used by ministers and public officials. See what I mean. Even the mapila seemed to be concerned about who it associates with given the stories that have spread far and wide on the political shenanigans in the house by the oya and the conduct of our politicians outside the House too. Whatever happened to that much-touted Code of Conduct for MPs?



Anyway the conscientious cleaning staff is said to have immediately alerted the House Keeping Department which had taken action to remove the snake. The speed at which all this happened might well be a record for this parliament. Believe me speed is not something generally associated with parliamentary procedure.

See how long it took Provincial Council and Local Government Minister Faiszer Musthapha to steer the legislation necessary for the revamped local elections. When they will now be held neither heaven nor Minister Musthapha appears to know.

Now the poor chap is being bombarded with no confidence motions and stories abound that some in the so-called Unity Government are sharpening their knives. Even his own side does not seem averse to sticking the knives in his back - metaphorically speaking of course.

But any genuine snake in the grass is sure to applaud such meticulous preparations for ending Musthapha's suffering though it would not surprise any but the politically naive if Minister Musthapha's political boss is patting the chap on the back for keeping his end up despite the barrage of bouncers bowled at him, if one might change metaphors.

Meanwhile one must admire the parliament staff for expeditiously evicting the said mapila from its premises. But there is no mention of what the staff did with the snake which should be a matter of concern to any genuine herpetologist.

One can well understand the parliament staff wanting to keep the premises free of wandering snakes in case one or more of our honest and upright representatives of the people is poisoned by a slithering reptile.

Imagine what a great loss it would be to the nation. A people's representative working with such energy and enthusiasm to uplift the down-trodden is bitten by an intruding mapila that had no business to be there anyway. What a tragedy it would be for democracy and for yahapalanaya whose palanaya, some say, is hardly yaha.

In a way one cannot blame the parliament staff for wanting to dispose of the snake in whatever way it did. After all the duty of the house keeping staff is to keep the premises spick and span like a penthouse at the Monarch Residencies and other up- market apartments where one can rest one's weary head far from the boisterous hustle and bustle of the Pettah market place.

It would not surprise anyone at all if a learned representative of the people dressed in nationalist garb urges the honourable Speaker to appoint a committee to inquire into the circumstances in which a poisonous snake made its way into a committee room used by ministers.

If that vociferous MP Wimal Weerawansa has his way he might well accuse the mapila of a breach of privilege. Surely he cannot forget the snakes in the grass in his political career.

It is surely an important matter unlike some of the ludicrous issues raised on the floor of the House. Who really knows whether the mapila was after a particular minister or a state official? Or did somebody introduce the poisonous snake in the hope that it will 'get' a bombastic politician.

Otherwise why would it hide in a committee room frequented by the dozens of worthies that comprise one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cabinet of ministers in the world.

Some of you might be aware of an old story about the mapila. Whether an old wives' tale or a 24-carat truth is hard to say since one does not keep company with poisonous snakes - at least not ones without two legs.

But as children we used to be told that if one kills a mapila seven others of the same kind will appear and track the killer down. Then it will be kaput for anyone who harmed the snake.

There have been previous instances when snakes have been found in parliament. Whether they were venomous or not one would not know, and there is no point dipping into the Hansard which records nothing but the wise words of our legislators.

While cobras and vipers have been spotted especially when the area was cleared to build this architectural maze which accommodates the collective wisdom of the Sri Lankan nation, some say that it later became home to depath nayas as they are locally called. Apparently they have two heads and could go in either direction without having to do a u-turn.

In political terms it could be a rather messy job. It is said that two heads are better than one. Not in this case. If the two-heads decide to go in opposite directions like our yahapalanites it would be quite a task to fathom where it wants to go.

Take for instance some politicians who are not sure on which side they want to be when all the dirt that is supposed to be dug up hits the fan. If the stories circulating in the media - some would dismiss this as fake news - are true then there are some of our GCE 'O' level failed law makers ready to go in either direction, depending on what more they can scrape out of this political existence.

Meanwhile it has emerged at the Commission of Inquiry into the Bond affair that some legislators have been in contact with Bond wonder boy Arjun Aloysius. While those like the UNP's Sujeewa Senasinghe had contacted Arjun Aloysius, purely to get information for a book he says he was researching some others who seem to have had conversations with the said Aloysius while serving as members of COPE will have their own stories to tell.

But a real depath naya phenomenon was revealed at a recent press conference featuring two cabinet spokesmen Rajitha Senaratne and Dayasiri Jayasekera. Asked by reporters about the telephone calls between Aloysius and legislators some of them COPE members, Dayasiri Jayasekera admitted that this was an issue. "Yes of course there is an issue" he is reported to have unequivocally intimated that such conduct by the MPs was reprehensible.

But his co-spokesman, Rajith Senaratne differed sharply. He found nothing wrong with all this. In fact he went on to say that it is COPE members who should speak to Aloysius which is a curious thing to say. If COPE members wish to speak to him they should do so at a COPE meeting in the presence of other members not carry out private conversations instead of at a scheduled meeting.

What Senaratne suggests is analogous to a judge making a private call to an accused to discuss the case.

In the meantime trouble is brewing in the Unity Government with the coalition allies taking pot shots at each other from behind as well as from the front. Given the emerging tragi-comedy and the nature of our politics it would not be entirely inappropriate to slightly amend Shakespeare's lines in King Lear to read "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless ally".
No-faith motions,Parliamentary privileges overshadow debate By Chandani Kirinde- Lobby Correspondent View(s): View(s):

The Committee Stage debate on the Appropriation Bill is turning out to be more eventful than expected, not because of the subjects under debate but, because of the sideshows by way of No-Confidence motions and Privilege issues.

This week saw two separate No-Confidence motions handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. One by the Joint Opposition (JO) and the other by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), both against Minister of Provincial Councils & Local Government, Faiszer Musthapha. Both groups are blaming the Minister for the delay in holding elections to Local Government (LG) bodies.

In their efforts to oust Minister Musthapaha, the Opposition lawmakers may have found an unlikely ally in a group of UNP backbenchers who, on Thursday, joined the voices calling on the Minister to step down, if he is unable to hold the elections on time. The UNP MPs, namely Kavinda Jayawardena (Gampaha), Ashoka Priyantha (Puttalam) and Thushara Indunil Amarasena (Kurunegala) hastily called a press briefing, on Thursday at the Parliament complex, to express their displeasure with the Minister who is an SLFP member.

We are unable to wait till the SLFP and the JO form an alliance for the election to be held. The UNP wants the polls held soon. This exposes the Ministers incompetency, so he should resign, said MP Kavinda Jayawardena.

The ongoing tussle between the UNP and President Maithripala Sirisenas SLFP-wing, over the LG elections, seemed to have widened this week, with a lot of finger-pointing with regard to the election delay.

Added to that, the conduct of 4 UNP MPs of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), whose links to businessman Arjun Aloysius, the man at the center of the Central Bank Treasury Bond controversy, came to light recently, has heightened tensions between the two sides.

While most SLFP members in Government have chosen to remain silent on the issue, JO members have been turning up the heat, seeking the removal from COPE of the MPs whose names transpired in records of telephone conversations submitted to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Bond issue.

The UNP MPs on their part, however, cried foul over the whole affair, and have sought refuge under Parliamentary Privilege. Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella raised a Privilege issue on Monday, saying that, recording of telephone calls of Parliamentarians who are members of COPE was a breach of their Parliamentary Privileges, and asked the Speaker to inquire into this matter and take such steps as he deemed appropriate.

While raising the Privilege issue, Minister Kiriella also tabled a document in the House, which gave details of the extent to which there had been communications between the 5 COPE members and Mr. Aloysius. All 5 MPs have denied any exchange of information with Mr. Aloysius, which compromised their positions as neutral members, during the COPE inquiry into the Bond issue.

While the Parliament (Powers & Privileges )Act safeguards the privileges of MPs and bestows them immunity and other preferential treatment, which the rest of the citizenry are not entitled to, they are also required to refrain from disclosing information that transpires before any Parliamentary committee, without authorisation or, until the relevant reports are tabled in Parliament.

However, the CoI clarified in a statement that no telephone records of any MPs were obtained nor examined, and the process was based on the date extracts from telephones and other electronic devices used by Arjun Aloysius and the former Governor of the Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran. Hence, it is unlikely the matter will be referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.

The disclosure of the telephone conversations comes at a time when a Code of Conduct for MPs has been finalised and is awaiting final approval of the House. It very specifically states that, Where any Member has any personal or pecuniary interest, whether directly or indirectly relating to any matter under consideration by Parliament or any Committee thereof, such Member shall declare the nature of such interest and shall not participate in any debate taking place in the House or, in any Committee, unless he has made such declaration.

The question now is not, if the Parliamentary Privileges of the MPs have been breached but, if they have acted in breach of their responsibilities as MPs. It is also a good time for the Speaker to re-examine the suitability of these members to sit on this important Parliamentary oversight committee.

MPs are bestowed with special privileges and many other perks because the voters of this country voted them into office. Among these is the Rs 50,000 monthly telephone allowance which, if put to good use, could benefit the public of this country, and not a chosen few.
On misplaced ecstasy and the loss of the Yahapalanaya moment View(s):

The misplaced ecstasy of those who greeted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes appearance before the Commission of Inquiry into the Treasury Bond Issuance early this week with cries of Bravo, (including former President Chandrika Kumaratunga), was equaled only by the palpable agony of those who watched the unfolding scenario with disbelief.

Need for some gravitas

Here was the Prime Minister of the yahapalanaya unity alliance elected into power in 2015 on the platform of reversing the abuses of the past finding himself in an unpleasant situation where his presence was deemed necessary to clarify details of a gargantuan financial scandal swirling around the Central Bank of Sri Lanka implicating his own party and crony capitalist associates. Never mind the sophistry regarding whether he was summoned or came voluntarily for the Commission sittings. Even if his presence was voluntary, the mere fact that this was deemed necessary should have compelled some necessary gravitas. But that was not the case.

At one level, there is some empathy with the Prime Ministers matter-of-fact comment at a symposium on cyberspace during a state visit to India some days later that, after opening the internet without any fetters to the Sri Lankan people, he has become the most maligned politician in the country. The incongruity of this statement being made in a background where the first banning of a news website (however dreadful and salacious its content may have been) had taken place weeks ago is beside the point.

The fact remains that this Government has indeed taken bold strides in bringing about an environment where critique and dissent flourishes in Sri Lanka. This is no special thing however, as one might add. On the contrary, it is the minimum of the democratic standard. And ruling politicians who pat themselves on the back for this achievement comparing it with monstrous Rajapaksa excesses should be subjected to a reality check.

No cause for joy

But this whole debate is quite a different matter to the Central Bank bond scandal. Efforts made by the United National Party government to cover up this scandal with lame complaints that it was a mere conflict of interest matter, the appointment of a committee with no credibility to inquire into the allegations and the later subversion of the report of a parliamentary committee through footnotes is now all a matter of record. It does not make for pretty reading, let us be clear.

In that backdrop and with the Presidential Commission of Inquiry proceedings revealing startling details of the wheeler-dealing that went on, the Prime Ministers appearance at the Commission was no cause for joy. That much must be emphasized. Hence President Maithripala Sirisenas fury in regard to the young bucks in the Government challenging him and his decision to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into the matter is understandable.

On its own part, the Commission has got swept up in a firestorm that must certainly not to be to the liking of its good members. Indeed, the predicament that it is in illustrates why many independent personalities prefer not to court such controversies by engaging in inquiries that inevitably lead to entanglement in the political thicket as it were. It has become a case of the Commission having to suffer blows from all sides.

Intertwining the Commission proceedings with the law

It is an interesting question if the unwarranted laxity on the part of counsel from the Attorney Generals Department and counsel from the unofficial Bar that has been daily evidenced in proceedings before it, would have been evidenced if these events had taken place in a court of law. The answer to that question is self-evident. It would not have.

Certainly the drama before this Commission has been aggravated by the behavior of counsel of the AGs Department before the Commission which cannot be condoned even though they are lionized in some quarters. Inexcusable excesses in language and behavior on the part of one counsel at least has led the Commission itself to reprimand him severely.

That said, the practice of disciplinary action being taken against individuals based on proceedings of the Commission has caused considerable heartburn with one employee of the Central Bank going to court on the basis that disciplinary action had been taken against him on that basis.

There are clear precedents urging caution in this regard. That is so, even when the final findings of a Commission of Inquiry are in the public domain. One example concerned the arrest and detention of police officers in connection with the findings of the Batalanda Presidential Commission (1998). Their complaint before the Supreme Court that their fundamental rights had been violated as they had not seen the report, nor did they know what exactly they were accused of, was upheld.

Observing principles of natural justice

A three member bench of the Court pointed out that rights protection was held available to all, even alleged rights violators (I. Jayaratne v. de Silva and others S.C. (FR) No. 609/1996, SCM 21.09.1998. Its language was exceptionally stern, warning that allegations of misconduct must be dealt with promptly and effectively but cannot be contrary to basic constitutional safeguards.

Similar cautions have been issued under the 1978 Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Act in relation to the findings of the Lalith Athulathmudali Commission. Basic principles were laid down. Once allegations are made against an affected person by investigators of the Commission, the Commission should itself question him.

Handing over this responsibility to the team of police officers authorised to investigate and record the testimony of persons is not sufficient. It cannot be said that it would be impracticable for the Commission itself to hear and interrogate large numbers of individuals. Any affected person implicated by the findings of the investigators ought to have been so informed and heard before any recommendation was made on such findings.

Remedying the public deficit of trust

Properly mindful of these cautionary principles, members of the Commission of Inquiry into the Treasury Bond Issuance have vigorously refuted the claim that any action was taken against any individual based on directives issued by it. That would be a direct violation of the principles of natural justice, it has declared.

All in all, these controversies give rise to interesting and even amusing conversations. But even at this late stage, there is need for a sober re-evaluation of precisely how that exhilarating electoral yahapalanaya moment in 2015 could have led to this weeks most disturbing of occurrences. Posters pasted on the city walls hailing the Prime Minister as a hero for deigning to appear before the Commission does not suffice to address the public deficit of trust in the Government.

Without question, that must be remedied urgently.
SLFP, JO talks intensify; Sirisena asked to sever links with UNP By Our Political Editor View(s): View(s):

Both factions appoint teams to negotiate moves to jointly contest local polls, but Rajapaksa places tough conditions

Senasinghes media conference remarks pushes President to JO corner, insists on total commitment to a clean and corruption-free Govt

Party leaders discuss various means of holding LG polls early, Musthapha no-confidence motions unlikely to come up before committee stage vote on his ministry

With a new thaw in relations, feuding factions of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) are inching their way towards reconciliation.

This is notwithstanding the main cause for that need for unity  winning the local government elections in January next year, almost fading away. Hopes have been raised again afer the Elections Commission announced yeserday theat nominations for 93 laocal bodies will be held likely on December 12, just 14 days afer tomorrow. A Gazette notification is to be issued today. Yet, a fresh rapport appears to have emerged.

On Wednesday Joint Opposition leader and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged his JO leader in Parliament Dinesh Gunawardena to raise an issue of privilege. This was after UNP State Minister Sujeeva Senasinghe made some strong remarks against President Maithripala Sirisena at a news conference following revelations that Senasinghe had been in touch with Arjun Aloysious, the man who was being investigated by COPE, the parliamentary committee on public enterprises, while he was a member of the committee. Gunawardena did raise issue saying the State Minister had violated Standing Orders. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has now referred the matter to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee chaired by Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana, PC.

Also on Wednesday, four leading Buddhist prelates, including the head of the Buddhist Vihare in Los Angeles, met President Sirisena. This was over reports that former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was to be arrested over a case involving the construction of a memorial in remembrance of his father D.A. Rajapaksa in their southern ancestral home of Medamulana. If there were any allegations, they said, that a case could have been filed against him. The fact that an arrest was being planned smacked of political vengeance. That such a move came in the backdrop of the new rapport and the ongoing dialogue was cause for concern for Sirisena. He put the matter on hold.

The past many days have seen an increase in contacts between the two factions. The two sides have appointed committees of three members each to take forward the reconciliation efforts. Representing the Sirisena faction are Nimal Siripala de Silva, Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Dilan Perera. Representing the Rajapaksa faction are C.B. Ratnayake, Pavithra Wanniaratchchi and Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena. The task of the two teams is to narrow down the differences and to reach accord on contesting the local government elections together. That could well be a stepping stone for cooperation in other areas.

Even issue by issue we can extend support to the Government. However, first our expectations will have to be fulfilled, JO leader Mahinda Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times. As revealed in these columns earlier, Minister Susil Premjayantha, with the blessings of President Sirisena, initiated the first dialogue between the two rival factions. He went as far as to address a meeting of the JO parliamentary group. There, he explained the need for the SLFP to unite so the party will become stronger.

At this meeting, some MPs expressed the view that they would have to face the same issues they encountered during the parliamentary elections in August 2015. At that time, Sirisena declared that Rajapaksa, even if he won, would not be made the Prime Minister. Rajapaksa said Premajayanthas verbal proposal was rejected at the first meeting. After a lengthy debate, Premjayantha was asked to forward a letter setting out the issues he sought to discuss. That letter reached Rajapaksa the previous Friday. One of the preconditions of the JO is for Sirisena to sack the UNP from the Government. Rather than the UNP, the policies of our two sides are almost the same, declared Rajapaksa. Another JO demand has been the immediate halt to the sale of national assets. Yesterday Minister Susil Premajayantha continued his discussions with JO leaders.

On the other side, many speakers at SLFPs Central Committee meeting chaired by Sirisena on Tuesday evening were also in favour of reuniting. There were exceptions too. Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga asked horuth ekka veda karanna puluwanda? or can we work with rogues? Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, senior Vice President of the SLFP, shot back Eeta vediya horu innawa ney deng or there are more rogues now. Felix Perera, a former Fisheries Minister, retorted obathumiya ge kaaley horu hitiye nedda? or were there no rogues during your tenure. No decisions were reached at the meeting.

Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, State Minister for Finance told the Sunday Times, President Sirisena told the Working Committee that Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and John Seneviratne were also holding discussions with the Joint Opposition and they were being assisted by former Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne. He said in addition there were several others also including Minister Susil Premajayantha.

He added, Jayaratne explained the consequences of the two sides contesting separately and the advantages if we were to contest unitedly. He said that whenever the party was divided, since 1956 the party suffered losses. He said the differences in the past were much more serious, but they were able to unite and in the event of contesting separately the chances of losing were high. Several members agreed that discussions should continue in order to bring the two sides together.

Several members also raised the issue about the criticism made by UNP backbenchers against President Sirisena. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva commented about State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghes strong criticism in particular over the Bond Commission. President Sirisena said some of the UNPers believe that they were able to form a government on their own, but Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is aware that formation of such a government on their own was not possible. The President said that internationally the governments recognition has come due to the co-habitation of the two main parties. He said he was confident that the Prime Minister did not want to breakaway.

Minister John Seneviratne said the majority of Central Committee members were of the view that we should contest together. He said President Sirisena thanked SLFP members for highlighting the Treasury bond issue. Many members asked him to act on the Commission report once he receives it.

Before leaving for his daily yoga classes, clad in a blue track suit Rajapaksa appeared relaxed as he spoke from his Wijerama residence, once the residence of President Sirisena. Interrupting him on a few occasions were a stream of visitors, most of them clasping a sheaf of betel leaves. Some greeted him, went on their knees in reverence. He touched their heads. They stood behind him to take photographs. Others were carrying invitations mostly for weddings. Ushering them in was Udith Lokubandara, his Secretary. A former parliamentarian, he is the son of W.J.M. Lokubandara, a former Speaker.

When the first moves at reconciliation were made, Rajapaksa said, he had asked that all sections of the JO be consulted. This is particularly to obviate criticism that he was acting like a dictator. So when Premjayanthas letter arrived, Rajapaksa said he spoke to the JO parliamentary group on Tuesday. Among the highlights in the letter was a proposal to reactivate the Peoples Alliance where Rajapaksa remains the President and former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne the General Secretary. A common symbol was to be found and candidates are to be fielded jointly. The basis suggested was to share 40% of the candidates by each side and leave the remaining 20% for other partner members of the alliance. Ahead of this meeting, Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and John Seneviratne also met Rajapaksa at his Wijerama Residence.

We cannot work with the UNP. This is our concern, Rajapaksa said. His remarks that even issue by issue we can support the Government seemed to suggest that his factions support would be available to Sirisena beyond the realm of the local government elections. However, the moot question is whether Sirisena would heed the JO demand to part ways with the UNP. That is a highly unlikely prospect. Even if he does not, the chances of the two sides forging unity for the local poll is not an impossibility. Here again, there could be a two-fold outcome  it could strengthen relations within the SLFP and distance it even further from the UNP. More so, when the polls campaign turns acrimonious. Asked about investigations pending or concluded against members of his family, Rajapaksa replied, Ehwaa usaviye beraagamu or we will settle them in courts. Only Maithripala Sirisena can unite the party. No one else can. He is the Executive President and leader of the SLFP, declared Rajapaksa. Yet, how far could Sirisena go?

His confidence that the Prime Minister would not want to break away is by itself a political puzzle. Ahead of the 2015 presidential polls, Sirisena teamed up with the UNP with his own backers in the SLFP. The rest in the SLFP supported Rajapaksa. Therefore, if his assertions were to come right, he is hoping to only win back the rival faction together to fight the local election and to govern thereafter  with the UNP. In a sense, such an exercise, if successful, would amount to a grand coalition with virtually no opposition or a political pyramid where Sirisena sits at the apex. Of course the question remains whether the UNP would favour such a move. A high ranking UNP source said we have no concerns about the SLFP re-uniting. That is their internal matter. However, if it is a matter of forming a Government, we have 113 in our favour.

There are other senior SLFPers who hold a different view. They concede they are badly miffed by a number of developments, some of them most recent. That includes the move by the UNP to get Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrested. This, they believe, was to scuttle their ongoing dialogue. However, a UNP minister who did not wish to be identified countered this by saying, When we do not act, we are blamed for it. When we do, we are blamed again. Another is the news conference called by Development Strategies and International Trade State Minister Sujeeva Senasinghe. There he castigated President Sirisena and claimed he was doing it on his own without the permission of the leader. If this assertion is correct, he has made himself liable for disciplinary action by the party hierarchy. Here are some of the highlights of the news conference:

I have respect among lawyers because I am a clean person. The treasury bond issue is very complicated. It may take 6-7 months to understand the transactions. I studied a lot about this. I am the one who asked most of the questions from Arjun Aloysius at the COPE. Nobody else questioned him. I am the one who questioned him about the conflict of interest of having his father in law as the Governor of the Central Bank.

The Central Bank had said that there was no Board Paper on Direct Placements since 2008. Cannot the President understand this? This is where the catch is. We submitted this to the Auditor General. He did not take care of this. After the first COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) ended its probe, I got an opportunity to write the book. I did not have the information and therefore got details from Arjuna Mahendran and other officials. Is it wrong that I spoke to him? This is a plan to fix the UNP. Even the Auditor General and COPE Chairman were on the other side. Former COPE Chairman D.E.W. Gunasekara was also on the other side. This became a headache to some. I was an obstacle to them. If I make that disclosure it will be known who pressurised me. After the first COPE committee sessions were over, I started writing the book. I had to find information from persons like Arjun Aloysius, Arjuna Mahendran and former officials as to how these transactions take place. That is the reason I had to talk to Arjun Aloysisus. He is not an accused anywhere. After the second COPE was set up, I never spoke to him.

The Commission has now said that the information gathered was not relevant, but why did they release our names and sling mud at us? The media has crucified us. One media institution has gone on to say I won the elections using this money. I am speaking on my own. I have not even asked the Prime Minister. I am disappointed about the President. We made sacrifices and got him elected not to lay political traps. One institution has created the impression that Rajapaksa era will be ended and the UNP also ended. By 2020 so he (President) will inherit power.

I called him and told him a month ago. What has happened by extending the term of the Commission? It should have been given three months and the matter ended there. Here the term is being extended to give them the opportunity to sling mud at us. Where are the Commissions for the MiG deal, what about the spectrum deal, for the ship deal, advertising firms? These are my personal ideas, not the Prime Ministers ideas. We made sacrifices to form this Government. We need to protect it. Ravi Karunanayake is my colleague. I do not criticise him, but also do not defend him. There is no COPE ruling that I cannot speak to anybody. If I am having deals it would be only two calls.

The Bond Commission is not something the President needed. It was appointed to sling mud at us and it ended. This government should continue. If the President is attacked by a website that is not correct. In the same manner if we are attacked through the media that is also not correct. When he initially said he was coming with 20 persons to join us and it was revealed that only four persons were coming. But, Ms Rosy Senanayake and I said he should be accepted. He is the President, he cannot point fingers. If he can appoint a Commission on bond transactions, he can do the same thing about other issues. This is my personal opinion. It is painful when my character is assassinated. The President should not be a part to destroy a young UNP politician.

Senasinghes remarks have generated serious controversy in Government circles. Some SLFP ministers say his role should be probed. He was not an original member of the COPE but was a replacement after a UNP Tamil parliamentarian representing the hill country resigned unexpectedly. According to COPE records, he has stoutly defended the UNP position that there was no wrong doing in the Central Bank bond issue. His book was an elaboration of this position. Telephone records before the Bond Commission claimed that from July 4, 2015 to March 3 this year, he had made 227 calls to Arjun Aloysius whose Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. (PTL) was the subject of the COPE probe. This revelation established that Senasinghe had known Aloysius at least from July 2015. A question that arises in the public interest is whether his relationship prompted Senasinghe to defend PTL, move to courts to seek to prohibit reportage (later withdrawn) and write a book defending the bond transactions?

At the SLFP Central Committee meeting Sirisena said that there was no substance in the claims made by State Minister Senasinghe. He said he would make a statement at the next meeting of the Government Parliamentary Group. Addressing a public meeting in Nikaweratiya on Friday, Sirisena alluded to the remarks. According to a news release from the Presidential Secretariat, he said, If there are complaints against my decisions to stop corruption and fraud, I will continue the struggle together with people  President.

If there are undue criticism and complaints against the decisions taken by me to stop corruption and fraud, I am ready to leave all positions and join the people to continue the struggle.

As the government of SLFP did wrong things, the SLFP candidates lost in 2015. If the UNP is doing the same faults and mistakes being in the government, people will not approve that, he said. The people elected a new government, expecting a correct programme which would change the existed (sic) corrupted system of governance. Everybody should be ready to start a correct journey to fulfil that expectation of the people. The politicians should love the country and the people, without acting according to their political powers and private agendas, the President emphasised.

Whatever said by whomsoever, I am committed to a clean and good political culture throughout my 50 years of political life. I will act with patience and equanimity with my experience of that long political journey. I am not a stranger to the political arena, he stated. Though there are complaints against the decision to postpone the Provincial Council Election, even the SLFP wants the elections to be held soon. We have done every commitment in this regard, he said.

As he made those remarks, more than 45 UNP parliamentarians handed in a signed petition to President Sirisena. In that they urged him to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to probe corruption during the previous regime. This is much the same way he has appointed a Commission to probe the current administration over the bond issue.

These developments came as the prospects of local government polls in January next year almost diminished. This was after the Court of Appeal on Wednesday suspended until December 4. the operation of the Delimitation Commission report gazetted in February this year. This, the petitioners have said, was on the grounds that the Minister, in terms of the law, was not empowered to alter the number of members from a particular ward in a local authority. He was only empowered to make alterations to the boundaries of the local authority. This was on a petition filed by six electors from different parts of the country. A three-judge bench observed that the Local Government Minister had acted ultra vires the powers vested in him under the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance. Besides hearing the petition, the Court is also to hear intervenient petitioners from political parties and civic action groups. The Attorney General is to now file a motion in the Appeal Court tomorrow to seek the early hearing and conclusion of the case.

At Tuesdays Central Committee meeting, Sirisena said that they had prepared a list of candidates and urged members to be ready for local polls in January. Though 90 percent was complete, he said that he had agreed that the lists could be amended depending on the ongoing discussions with the Joint Opposition. That has not prevented the UNP from accusing the SLFP of being responsible for moves to delay the polls. Minister Lakshman Kiriella, Leader of the House, made the charge at a party leaders meeting on Friday evening. Even Premier Wickremesinghe who had just returned to Colombo from New Delhi took part in the meeting chaired by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. However, the SLFP representatives strongly denied the allegation. The party was represented by Nimal Siripala de Silva, Sarath Amunugama and Mahinda Samarasinghe.

They kept blaming me then for delaying elections. They called me all kinds of names. People can express their views through the franchise and this Government has been denying it, said Mahinda Rajapaksa. He said various excuses have been given and added that this is killing democracy. He said there is no point blaming the people. The Government must answer whoever is responsible. There are stories that the counsel from Local Government Minister Musthaphas chambers were responsible. If this is correct, it is a shame, he said.

The JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena has already handed in a motion of no-confidence against Musthapa. Another motion of no-confidence was also handed over by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which is demanding that Minister Musthapa should resign.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva told the Sunday Times, We will not allow the postponement of elections due to internal divisions within the SLFP. They cannot rob the democratic rights of the people until they iron out their differences. It is very clear that it is the SLFP members who have gone to court to get the elections delayed. Therefore, we need to win the right to hold the elections. On the other hand, we must take stern action against all those who tried to deny the people their right to an election. For our part, the JVP will do its utmost to ensure that the election is held as quickly as possible.

We have organized a series of protests in this regard. The first of these will be held in Colombo on November 30. It is the Minister in charge of the subject Musthapha who has failed to perform his duty consecutively. It is the Minister who issues the Gazette. What he has done is to issue a Gazette notification which can be easily challenged in courts. Therefore, he has either neglected his duties or deliberately issued a Gazette notification which can be challenged.

The party leaders meeting chaired by Speaker Jayasuriya on Friday evening in Parliament focused on ways and means of holding the local elections early. Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya and Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya together with two of his officials were present.

One of the matters discussed was the possibility of the Attorney General filing a motion before the Court of Appeal to advance hearings on the petition by six electors. Another was to introduce a Bill to give legal effect to the creation of multi-member wards in local bodies, the subject of argument before the Court. However, it was noted that it would be time consuming. It would take a minimum of one and half months.

Elections Commission Chairman Deshapriya said he would recommend to his other members that polls be held to the 93 local bodies which do not have multi-member wards. However, some party representatives did not favour the conduct of a staggered poll. The meeting also saw Deputy Minister Ajith Perera who was one of those representing the UNP declare that he planned legal action over references made to him for making telephone calls to Arjun Aloysius. He, however, did not say against whom such action was being taken.

The remarks led to Premier Wickremesinghe intervening to say he was also going to make a request for the transcripts of the conversations carried out by his party members. He said this was to initiate disciplinary action if there has been any wrongdoing. However, the Commission of Inquiry into the bond issue said that only call records were available from service providers and not details of conversations.

JO parliamentary leader Dinesh Gunawardena and JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake insisted that a date be given before December 6 to debate their respective no-confidence motions against Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Musthapa. This would be ahead of the votes of his Ministry being taken up for discussion during the committee stage debate of the budget. Premier Wickremesinghe said this was not possible. Party leaders are to meet the Speaker again to decide on a date.

The political developments in the past many days, it is no secret, have further deteriorated the relations between the UNP and the SLFP. The statement by Sujeewa Senasinghe has helped President Sirisena move more towards reaching a rapprochement with the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp, said an SLFP Minister negotiating between the two SLFP factions. To that extent, it has added impetus to the negotiations now under way within the feuding factions of the SLFP. Quite clearly, the UNP has been drifting away with little or no strategy to cope with the issues it faces. Like the Sujeeva Senasinghe fiasco, sporadic responses at the lower level seems to be doing more damage to the party that is already reeling from the ill effects of the bond scam. More so with the absence of any inputs from the party hierarchy.
Parliaments honour at stake View(s):

The Commission of Inquiry on the Central Bank Bond scam concluded its public hearings earlier this week and as they say in legal circles, it unearthed some exhilarating evidence beyond a shadow of doubt. It will now be the onerous duty of the Commission to distil that evidence and pronounce its recommendations.

A powerful Cabinet Minister has already lost his job on the sheer weight of some of the evidence that made it imperative for the Government to ask for his resignation post-haste to save itself from the embarrassing disclosures.

As with the case of the Minister, a lot of collateral damage has been caused by what transpired before the Commission over the past eight months  fortunately made public due to the hearings being open to the media. It has also redeemed the image of the Attorney Generals Department, whose reputation was repeatedly tarnished by the FCID (Financial Crimes Investigation Division) and some Government Ministers accusing the states law officers of dragging their feet on corruption cases.

The fact that the FCID was producing half-baked investigations, and with new revelations that Government Ministers were applying the brakes on some of these investigations, painted a negative picture of the AGs Department which unfortunately had no spokesman to respond to the allegations and defend the honour of the Department.

One of the damning pieces of evidence happened to surface only on the penultimate date of the public hearings. That was when the telephone calls and text messages exchanged between members of the parliamentary oversight committee (COPE) and the alleged perpetrator of the bond crime were revealed.

The reaction of some MPs was typical. They said their rights were violated. Some MPs were compared to the rat-snake that got kerosene thrown on it. Some ran to the Speaker to complain that their phones were tapped  something put to rest by the Commission. But what about what they have done?

The Prime Minister has long advocated the need for non-partisan all party parliamentary oversight committees going into public accounts. Even in the best of democracies, though all this sounds good in theory, at the end of some heated issues where a political party is at stake, voting usually is on party lines. The COPE inquiry into the Bond scam was a classic example of how some MPs operate under cover. The exposure of the telephone calls and text messages only corroborates what everyone otherwise suspected.

It behoves the Speaker not to allow this episode to go without investigation. He has referred the matter to Parliaments Privileges Committee. The respect and honour of Parliament, and Parliamentary democracy are at stake, while it has been a body-blow for the PMs advocacy that Parliament and its members should be vested with the authority to scrutinize public enterprises.

On Friday, party leaders met in Parliament with the Speaker to discuss recent political developments, but the outcry on the further delay in holding local government elections took the attention of the leaders and the conduct of the MPs vis-a-vis the COPE hearings went on the back-burner.

The Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act has been drafted by MPs themselves, so it is not surprising that it is heavily weighted against those who obstruct MPs and the work of Parliament, and light on MPs who violate Parliaments own standing. While jail terms are specified for lesser folks, the maximum punishment for an MP is a suspension from the House for a month. There have been calls to change these laws; but that is another story. For now, the public will see how Parliament safeguards its own image from alleged miscreants within.

The conversation on Dual Citizenship

In recent weeks, the issue of Dual Citizenship has come into focus not only in Sri Lanka with the disqualification of a Member of Parliament, but the subject has rocked the Australian Parliament and its Government.

Even these pale into insignificance with what was to hit Lebanon where the Prime Minister dramatically tendered his resignation from foreign soil  Saudi Arabia where he has Dual Citizenship. One can imagine the shock of the people of Lebanon. It was a stark reminder how a political leader as high up as a Prime Minister could be arm-twisted and made a puppet by a third party (nation).

Some argue that at least the Lebanese PM quit his job under such pressure  and now returned. What if, they ask, unknown to his countrymen, his politics were fashioned and dictated by a foreign capital of which he was a Dual Citizen. When a political leader has some umbilical cord to another country, with vested interests in another, including owning property  chances of compromise are much higher.

The question is whether the disqualification from holding political office on grounds of Dual Citizenship  introduced under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution to keep certain individuals out of the electoral playing field in forthcoming elections, should be extended to those who hold non-political, public office.

The on-going debate on the Central Banks former Governor, now disgraced, who renounced his Sri Lankan citizenship for another country is of interest. The argument then was whether it was proper to have a non-citizen  even if he be of Sri Lankan origin, sign the countrys currency notes. The argument today is whether such a person will return to Sri Lanka to face criminal charges.

Today, the diplomatic service of Sri Lanka is filled with persons with Dual Citizenship. The debate over sovereignty and of national borders will continue for a long time. Europe experimented with a one border policy and on the other hand, the US is now closing its borders in an insular reaction to the terrorism and refugee influx. The refugee problem in Europe in particular, is a global debate now.

Many Sri Lankans overseas still support the national side when they play against the country in which they reside. Dual Citizenship has helped them continue to have links to the country of their birth. The question of non-citizens, or Dual Citizens therefore holding public office will continue to be a knotty problem, especially when some of them abuse the office they hold, and end up not being accountable to anyone.
Enjoying every minute Best Supporting Actor - Lakshitha Edirisinghe shares his experiences of being on stage View(s): View(s):

With a memorable performance as Shakespeares helicopter parent -the mouthy and nosy Polonius, played by the dynamic Lakshitha Edirisinghe secured the award for Best Supporting Actor.

Lakshithas acting resume is a mix of school and public performances, and a hodgepodge of characters. He joined the Ananda College Drama Circle in 2011, going on to become the Secretary. Since his initiation to the club he and his schoolmates have received the chance to work with established names in theater  from their regular directorial trio Nishantha de Silva, Ishtartha Wellaboda and Rajitha Hettiarachchi to Thushara Hettihamu and Ruwanthie de Chickera.

Polonius, devised by the Bard to add some comic relief to the play, with his wit and one-liners allows actors to experiment with this character  either as a devoted father or a ruthless politician.

Lakshitha stood out with his interpretation of Polonius in the natural interaction and chemistry he shared with Hamlet (played by Thilina Udayaratne).

Although it left an impression of a memorable relationship Lakshitha admits that the journey leading to this was tumultuous. Initially the chemistry was messy he laughs, adding that he and Thilina had to work religiously together to get it right.

The secret to his character he confesses was juggling concepts. The challenge of building and bringing out dynamics in personality and relationships had the cast and directors constantly pushing me to lighten up, Lakshitha laughs. His biggest challenge- to be or not to be, too funny he shares.

He has kept a consistent track record, participating in the competitions from 2011 onwards. His previous roles include Flavius in Anandas first win at the 2014 Shakespear e Competition for their adaptation of Timon of Athens. Drama is a place to have fun, he says as he talks about his drama family and its noncompetitive atmosphere.

Recounting his winning performance he muses When you perform you never know if you have done justice to the role, saying feedback from others works for me.

Lakshitha says to young thespians taking part at Shakes to keep in mind You represent your name and your school. However, taking part is a valuable opportunity. Adding  the 30 minutes on stage should be enjoyed.
Election Chief announces polls to 93 local councils View(s):

The Election Commission will go ahead with the polls for 93 local councils where there are no multi- member wards, it was announced yesterday.

The three-member Commission decided on this last evening to ensure polls are not delayed any further.

Polls to the remaining local bodies, those with multi-member wards, now await the determination of the Court of Appeal. Six electors have petitioned the court, challenging the legality of the Local Government Minister declaring numbers for the multimember wards. They argue the ministers action is illegal.

Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told reporters yesterday the Commission had instructed Returning Officers of local councils that have not been affected by the Court of Appeal interim injunction, to announce they were calling for nominations from tomorrow.

Mr Deshapriya said if the amended gazette notification regarding 40 other bodies is issued tomorrow or on Tuesday, nominations for those councils could be called on Wednesday. He noted that the petitions in the Court of Appeal had been filed over the creation of multi-member wards and stressed it was up to the court to determine if this applied to all such bodies.

If the Appeal Court dismisses the petitions on December 4, we are confident that the election for all local councils can still be held on the same day. However, if this does not happen, this may be difficult, he said. He added that holding the local council elections on a staggered basis was not unusual for Sri Lanka and cited numerous occasions when it happened from 1991 to 2011.

Meanwhile, yesterday, both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya were engaged in separate crisis sessions for the conduct of local polls early. Premier Wickremesinghe met with Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya. Speaker Jayasuriya had meetings both with the AG and Mr. Deshapriya.

It has been agreed that the Attorney General will move a motion before the Court of Appeal tomorrow to advance the hearing of the case and an early determination. This is while some groups are to make contact with the petitioners to ascertain whether they could reach a settlement and thus withdraw court action.

Several other options were also further discussed by the Prime Minister and the Speaker yesterday. However, most political parties were not in favour of them. One such option was to resort to the earlier electoral system of proportional representation. Another was to introduce legislation to give legal effect to the creation of multi-member wards.

Speaker Jayasuriya has summoned a meeting of party leaders tomorrow to discuss any further action necessary.
Perpetual Treasuries profits slump after suspension View(s):

Perpetual Treasuries Ltd (PTL), accused of insider trading in controversial bond trades in February 2015 and since July 2017 and suspended from business, saw its profits slide to Rs. 316 million in the six-month period ending September 2017 against a phenomenal Rs. 6.8 billion in the same 2016 months.

In unaudited 6-month accounts published yesterday, as statutorily required by the Central Bank, PTL reported net capital gain (from trading financial assets) at a mere Rs. 6.8 million compared to Rs. 5.6 billion in the six-months ending September 2016. However its retained earnings as at September 2017 was more than Rs. 10 billion.

The controversial money market trader was suspended from business activities on July 6 by the CB. This means that Saturdays balance sheet announcement reflects profit or loss only for the period of April to July 6. The company linked to the son-in-law of former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran was, last month, accused of spending millions of rupees to pay off dealers at the EPF. This was disclosed during evidence led at the ongoing Bond Commission hearings.

Meanwhile, the companys website link has been pulled down. A notice on the website (perpetual.lk) of its holding company (Perpetual Group) said PTLs website is unavailable.
Police dogs sent on retirement, new Dutch dogs coming soon View(s):

The Sri Lanka Police will be importing dogs from the Netherlands for its units at a cost of Rs.1 million each after a decision was taken to retire the dogs which have served for more than 10 years. Superintendent Lal Seneviratne, Director of the Police Kennels Division in Kandy, said the decision to send the dogs on compulsory retirement was taken on the recommendation of the Police Veterinary Surgeon.

At present, we have 250 trained dogs and they have been assigned to 55 divisions, SP Seneviratne said. This number, however, would decline, with six dogs scheduled to go on retirement at the end of this month after completing 10 years in service. As such, new dogs, aged between 1 to 2 years, would be imported from the Netherlands to replace the retiring ones, he said. Once the dogs were brought here, they would undergo training in both the wet and dry zones so they could acclimatize themselves to Sri Lankan conditions, he added.
RTI Commission orders search for missing Ashraff Commission report View(s):

Sri Lankas Right to Information (RTI) Commission has ordered the release of key documentation relating to the missing findings of the Commission of Inquiry Report into the death of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress founder and Minister M.H.M. Ashraff and fourteen others on September 16, 2000 in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Mi-17 helicopter crash.

The report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry constituting Former Justice L.K.G. Weerasekera had been appointed by the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga to probe the crash. His report has been missing after the relevant files were sent by the Presidential Secretariat to the National Archives in 2007. As the RTI Commission inquiry conducted on Monday revealed, the report was also missing in the files forwarded to the National Archives by the Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry in 2002.

The Commission released Extracts of Pages 69, 70 and 71 of the report relating to the recommendation of Rs. 8 million to be paid as compensation to certain parties. These were the only available pages of the report in the 2007 file. The released information also included a minute made on the file by the Presidential Secretariat claiming that the crash was not due to a willful act or an explosion or any explosive device. The crash was attributed to act or acts of omission, lack of due diligence and duty of care amounting to negligence on the part of the crew.

In their ruling, the RTI Commission Chairman Mahinda Gammampila and Commission members Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, S.G. Punchihewa and Selvy Thiruchandran, directed the release of information citing the overriding public interest attaching to a report of a statutory commission. (http://www.rticommission.lk/web/images/pdf/Basheer%20Segudawood.pdf ).

Commenting on the submission by the National Archives Director General Nadeera Rupesinghe that these were confidential records under the Archives law, the Commission referred to Section 4 of the RTI Act which gave priority to the RTI Act in the event of any inconsistency or conflict between the provisions of this Act and such other written law. It was observed that the Public Authorities in question had not raised a specific exemption under the RTI Act itself in respect of not disclosing the Report except to say that the Report was missing.

The Commission also called for the release of the list of documents that were contained in the file sent by the Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry to the Department of National Archives on 24.01.2002. The documents themselves were considerable in number and stored in boxes kept in the Archives.

The RTI Commission pointed out that the Department of the National Archives was the custodian of all records of Commissions of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act (1948) read with Section 11 of the National Archives Law (1973).

The Report of such a Commission would constitute a primary record under and in terms of the said law. Hence the Department may properly call upon the depositing body or individual (effectively the Secretary of such a Commission) to inquire if the Report had been sent to the Department in accordance with the law.

Accordingly, the National Archives was directed to ascertain from the Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry as to whether the Report of the said Commission had been handed over to the Department in 2002. It was also directed to check the actual contents of the relevant boxes where the original documents were stored in the National Archives and to ascertain if the Commission of Inquiry Report is contained in those papers.

The Order was issued following a Right to Information appeal filed by former Minister Basheer Segu Dawood to the RTI Commission after his information request under the RTI Act was declined by the Presidential Secretariat earlier this year on the basis that all available files had been sent to the National Archives and that the Report was missing. It is unclear as to when the Report had disappeared. As informed by the National Archives on being noticed to appear before the RTI Commission with all available files in its custody on Monday; the notation of the documents received at the time did not contain a reference to the actual Report.

The files also included reference to President Chandrika Kumaratunga promising that she would publish the report as a Sessional Paper. However, the report was not published and was not made available even informally to the public leading to controversy surrounding the reasons for the crash which, Air Force sources stated, had occurred despite no indication of bad weather in the area.

The RTI Commission inquiry on this issue will continue.
A place to unwind and explore surrounded by Galles rich heritage By Tarini Pilapitiya View(s): View(s):

Opening their latest venture in Galle this year, Thailands Amari Hotel has come to Sri Lanka! The hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to find, offers a scenic view of the Galle coastline. The interior design and architecture of the building pay homage to the rich heritage and culture of Galle.

A collaboration by Sino Lanka and the Thai-based ONYX Hospitality Group, this marks the first Amari hotel in Sri Lanka. This will be the third hotel Sino Lanka unveiled in Sri Lanka whereas the ONYX Hospitality Group are parent to many brands of properties for business and leisure travellers, namely  Amari, Shama and OZO.

According to team ONYX, Amari reflects the warmth and energy of modern Asia. Over the years Amari has networked into many properties in Thailand, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui, Bangkok, Buriram, Doha, Dhaka, Maldives, Johor Bahru and Yangsho in China.

The grand inauguration ceremony of Amari Galle in September was attended by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, together with the Chairman of Sino Lanka Hotels Private Limited, Bob Kundanmal; President of ONYX Hospitality Group, Douglas Martell, Joint Partner of Sino Lanka Hotels Private Limited, Manu Bhojwani; Director, Sino Lanka Hotels Rajan Bharvani, President and CEO of the ITALTHAI Group, Yuthachai Charanachitta and Minister of Tourism Development John Amaratunga.

Amari Galles 172 guestrooms and suites are designed to face the beachfront all inclusive of their own private balconies to create a beach house feel with their spacious, brightly lit interiors.

For those in need of more private quarters Amari Galle also offers a 360 square metre Presidential suite. Inspired by the concept day meets night the suite merges colours that depict the hues of dusk. Situated atop the breathtaking view at the topmost floor, the two bedroom suite includes a dining area, living area and a balcony terrace with a private plunge pool.

Open for all three meals Ahara Gourmet Galleryis a signature market style restaurant inspired by the rich street food culture of the region. Live workstations and warm service allows diners the opportunity to mingle whilst savouring the vibrant flavours of Asian and International cuisines.

For that ultimate seaside experience guests are welcome to bask either by the pool or ocean at the Shoreline Beach Club. The highlight of this innovative structure is the bar, rather ironically placed under three intersecting canopies resembling a Bodhi tree.

Serenaded by a starry sky and house DJ, guests can also enjoy the serene ambiance of the Bommu Rooftop.

The Breeze Spa is where therapies for guests are mood based  depending on whether visitors wish to be rejuvenated or pampered. Exclusive to Amari Galle the Galle Ceylon Retreat Package is a 2 1/2 hour treatment that combines Thai and Ayurvedic techniques. For guests who wish to trim the holiday weight Amari Galle also offers a fully equipped FIT Centre.

The hotel is also equipped to handle corporate events. A ballroom that can accommodate up to 350 people offers high speed internet access, video conferencing and the latest audio-visual equipment. The hotel further offers three IDEA rooms giving corporates spaces for creative meetings.

Surrounded by Galles rich heritage, and just a 10 to 15 min drive from the Highway exit (roughly 8.5 km distance), Amari offers a great base to explore and unwind.
Yes, theres history and culture too in Macau, not just gambling By Sanjiva Wijesinha View(s): View(s):

It was the first European trading post on the Chinese mainland  established by the Portuguese, who then controlled it as one of their overseas colonies from the mid sixteenth century until 1999 when it was handed back to the Peoples Republic of China.

This is Macau, a place where architectural, cultural and culinary influences from Europe and the Orient met, mingled and married. You can see here baroque Catholic churches reminiscent of Lisbon as well as typical Chinese temples like the famous and probably the oldest  the A-Ma temple situated in the parish of Sao Lourenco. You can indulge in typical Portuguese foods ranging from Pastel de nata (Egg custard tarts) and Peixaassade (baked cod), African chicken flavoured with coconut cream and spices from Portugals former colonial possessions in Africa and the Indies  plus exotic Chinese delicacies like char siubao (steamed barbecue pork buns),ha gow (shrimp bonnets) and siumai (steamed pork and shrimp dumplings).

On my first visit to Macau in the early nineties, when we were living in Hong Kong, the thirty square kilometre enclave was still a Portuguese administered colonial backwater. Today grandiose and gilded gambling palaces bathed in neon lights dominate the skyline of what has become in effect the gambling capital of the world. Macau is a popular tourist destination- it attracted a staggering 30 million tourists in 2016. This horde of visitors was fuelled no doubt by Macaus reputation as the worlds largest gambling hub. It is often referred to as the Las Vegas of the East  a poor comparison, since today Macau rakes in much more income from gambling than does Las Vegas!

Baccarat and poker aside, Macau is home to some important historic sites that are well worth a visit. Since 2005 the historic centre of Macau with over 20 important sites has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

We marvelled at the majestic ruins of St Pauls church  built in the 17th century by the Jesuits and at that time one of the largest churches in Asia. The complex was destroyed by fire in 1835 leaving only the intricately carved facade of the church standing  but the edifice constitutes one of Macaus best known landmarks.

Another sight well worth visiting is the A-Ma temple, built in 1488 during the Ming dynasty. In existence as a place of worship long before the arrival of the Portuguese, the temple is dedicated to Mazu the Chinese goddess of the sea. You can walk among the different pavilions here, admire the delicate statue of Kuanyin, the Buddhist female Bodhisatva or goddess  quite different to the modern 60 foot (20 metre) bronze statue of Kuanyin standing on a lotus shell built on an artificial island in Macau harbour  and with the scent of incense from the spirally coiled incense sticks wafting through the complex, you can observe the local worshippers making their offerings of fruit, food and joss sticks at the various shrines.

The Macau Museum was for me a must see. Located within the former Fortress of Macau, it has three storeys  the first showing the history of the Macau region as well as the parallel development of European and Chinese civilisations. The second floor houses exhibitions of Macaus festivals and art, including a short film about the fisher-folk of Macau  while the top floor is devoted to contemporary Macau but includes exhibitions of the major industries that flourished here during colonial days  like the manufacture of fireworks, matches and incense sticks. When we were children, I remember all the rathing-ngawe used to light at Christmas and New Year were mainly Yick Loong Double Duck brand fireworks from Macau!

Getting to Macau from Colombo is easy  one can combine it with a visit to Hong Kong, to which Sri Lankan Airlines and Cathay Pacific fly directly. After a few days spent in Hong Kong you can take the convenient Turbojet ferry from the Macau ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island. You will need a double entry visa for Hong Kong and a single entry visa for Macau. Information about visas can be obtained from the Chinese embassy Colombo  see http://lk.china-embassy.org/eng/lsyw/visaaffairs/.

You may not be interested in gambling away your money in Macaus casinos. But if it is history, culture and cuisine you are after, consider a visit to Macau.
Deadly earthquakes could hit a billion people next year because of Earths slowing rotation View(s):

Swarms of devastating earthquakes are set to arrive next year due to the slowing of Earths rotation, scientists claim.Experts warn we had it easy this year with just six severe earthquakes. Next year we could have at least 20 serious earthquakes, and the most intense ones are expected to occur in tropical regions, home to around one billion people.

Tiny changes in the speed of our planets rotation will trigger huge seismic activity by releasing vast amounts of underground energy, experts claim  although their research has been rejected by some scientists. The planets rotation is slowing down because of tidal forces between Earth and the moon.

The side of Earth closest to the moon feels its pull the strongest, while the side farthest from the moon feels its gravity less.

That difference in gravitational pull stretches the Earth, which causes tidal bulges. These bulges pull the moon closer or farther away from Earth by around 4cm per year. The moon exerts the opposite force on them, pulling them back toward it, creating friction and slowing down the planets rotation.

The time the Earth takes to make a complete rotation on its axis varies by about a millionth of a second per day.

While the rotational rate hasnt declined evenly, the average day has grown longer by between 15 millionths and 25 millionths of a second every year.

Scientists from the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Montana say that even fluctuations of a millisecond could increase seismic activity.

The correlation between Earths rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year, Dr Roger Bilham from the University of Colorado told the Observer.

Experts, who presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, do not know exactly why this happens but believe minuscule variations in rotation causes a shift in the shape of the Earths iron and nickel inner core. During these periods the Earths mantle sticks a little more to the crust, which changes how outer core flows, creating a mismatch between the speed of the solid crust and the mantle.

This in turn changes the liquid outer core on which the Earths tectonic plates rest. The mechanism weve come up with is that as the Earth slows down its like a skater spinning on ice. As the Earth slows down its equatorial diameter reduces, Dr Bilham told BBC Inside Science.

Its (the Earths) waistline gets smaller, but its clothes, the tectonic plates on Earth, remain the same size, which means they get rumpled up. These tiny changes to the overall shape of the Earth are enough, if there are faults that are already ready to go  to kind of kick them over into failure, she said.

Researchers found five periods in the past century when there were more earthquakes than other times.

On these five occasions, there was a 25 to 30 per cent increase in the number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 or above. These all coincided with a slowing in the rotation of the Earth, scientists found.Next year, we should see a significant increase in the numbers of severe earthquakes. We have had it easy this year. So far, we have only had about six severe earthquakes, he said.

We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018. Since 1990, more than 80 per cent of all magnitude 7 earthquakes on the eastern Caribbean plate boundary have occurred in the five years following a maximum deceleration. During these periods there could be up to 30 intense earthquakes every year, while the rest of the time the average figure was around 15 quakes.

The Earth is offering us a five-year heads-up on future earthquakes, said Dr Bilham, who said the Earth began a slowdown more than four years ago. Researchers found delayed global seismic productivity is most pronounced at equatorial latitudes 10N-30S. Many geologists are sceptical about the findings, with some claiming the correlation between earthquake phenomenon and the Earths rotation are fortuitous.

It appears to be a conference presentation and very preliminary rather than peer reviewed research, so there is no detail for us to examine, said GNS Science communications manager John Callan.  Daily Mail, London
Desist from stoking racial embers By B. Anton Jeyanathan View(s): View(s):

In the recent past extremist politicians in the south and north have been beating the drums of race and religion in order to achieve their hidden objectives against the elected government in power. With the proposed amendment to the Constitution in order to devolve powers to the provincial councils, the extremists stepped up their campaign against the proposal based on suspicion, ignorance and deliberate misinformation based on racial and religious reasons, in order to whip up support for their ulterior hidden motives, completely misleading the public.

When the late Mr. J.R. Jayewardene brought in the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, there was so much hue and cry against this proposal alleging that it was for him to arm himself with dictatorial powers. History has revealed that after the demise of the late J.R. Jayewardene, many more presidents have come and gone, having enjoyed the powers vested under the present Constitution adapted by his government. Except the incumbent President who has shed some powers vested upon him under the Constitution all the other presidents made use of it to stay in power.

The 13th Amendment was proposed and enacted despite vehement protests by extremist groups alleging that it was brought in on the instigation of the Indian prime minister at the time. Violent acts, damage to public property were a result of the protests organised by extremist groups. How many chairmen and members of pradeshiya sabhas have enjoyed or are enjoying the benefits of these bodies established under the 13th Amendment?

Even under the proposed devolution of power which is yet to be legalised, there has been whipping up of similar sentiments alleging that the country is to be divided and police powers will be whittled down from the IGP and in time to come devolution of power will pave the way for a separate State. The proposal for devolution of power has been debated in Parliament in a democratic way, where every member of Parliament had the freedom to speak for or against the proposal. This is what is called democracy.

However, whilst this democratic exercise was being undertaken, disgruntled extremist political elements went round the country inciting the people with half baked and false information to rise up against the government. When such propaganda is undertaken by politicians who are disgruntled and disappointed, the people tend to believe what is dished out to them, though the majority of them are intelligent enough to separate the chaff from the grain. The minority of the people of Sri Lanka who tend to believe what the disgruntled politicians in the extremist groups feed them, have reacted in a manner which is bound to bring about unrest and hatred between the communities who are living in our country in peace and harmony.

During the last week there has been report of a group known to be the AVAA group in the North who had been in existence for some time engaging in anti-racial activities in the north. It is also alleged that the members of this group are former members of the LTTE, or a rump of the LTTE. The police and the security agencies must take a serious view of the activities of this group before this group turns out to be a terrorist group. Extremists and disgruntled politicians in the north could make use of this group for their advantage which could turn the country once again into the dark days of yesteryear.

It is also disheartening and depressing to learn about the behaviour of a member of the Northern Provincial Council said to be a minister of education, in refusing to hoist the national flag when he was invited to do so as the chief guest at a school function. When the government and most of the Tamil politicians are joining hands to solve the ethnic problem which has been plaguing our country for so many decades, the behaviour of this minister no doubt is a step backwards. Subject to correction, other than the late Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, espousing federalism and the pact between him and the late Mr. Chelvanayagam, no government took any serious steps to settle the ever festering problem. Though not implemented no government in power has taken the initiative to propose a mechanism to solve this problem. Whilst the government is taking an initiative notwithstanding the opposition from the majority community, the act of the Minister of Education of the Northern Province should be condemned irrevocably. He has by his act provided further ammunition to the extremists in the south to strengthen their campaign against the proposal of the government in respect of the devolution of power.

Last week though, quite sensibly, the press and mass media refrained from giving publicity to the clash at Gintota, it is now known that this clash was between two communities. The police and the government are reported to have taken immediate and stern action against the miscreants of both communities irrespective of their political affiliation, and some of them who have been remanded are said to be members of the ruling party. It is a healthy sign to know that the government in power is taking action against their own people who are politicians, who have violated the law of the land. The immediate steps taken by the police and the government in arresting the miscreants and having them remanded has sent a strong message to those who are inciting people of different communities to achieve their own political ambitions. The government, the police and the security services should continue their vigilance in collecting intelligence against the rabble rousers, whether they are from the south or the north, and put them behind bars so that our country will not plunge into chaos and mayhem. Let us all strive to be citizens of one country, Sri Lanka, irrespective of our racial and religious differences. Hatred begets hatred, if you sow hatred, you will reap hatred in double measure.

One mother, one Sri Lanka, all Sri Lankans.

(The writer is a retired Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police.)
Experts scrutinise Lankas disaster preparedness View(s):

With world scientists warning of more and bigger earthquakes next year in South Asia and elsewhere owing to the variations in the earths rotation, Sri Lankas disaster preparedness and inadequacies were discussed at a timely symposium in Colombo on Wednesday. Experts from Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh joined their Sri Lankan counterparts to share their experiences in and thoughts on disaster preparedness, mitigation, management and the Asian nations ability to rise and rebuild in the aftermath of natural or man-made calamities.

The focus of the international symposium organised by the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (A-PAD SL) was on Urban Resilience: Building competitive cities amidst disasters.To minimise the damage arising out of disasters, the experts called for increased cooperation, regular dialogue and concrete partnerships between civil society, the government, the private sector, scientists, Information Technology experts, the media and the military.

The unpredictability of disasters such as earthquakes, they pointed out, should keep the governments in a state of preparedness and keep the search on for innovative solutions to prevent, mitigate and manage disasters. The Sri Lankan governments new blue-green budget proposals to deal with the challenges of climate change came in for much praise from several speakers.

They also hailed the work of Sri Lankas Disaster Management Centre in responding to disasters and finding solutions with regard to disaster prevention and mitigation. Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told the symposium that Sri Lanka was urbanising rapidly and the urban resilience in times of disasters was a major challenge. Failure to invest in city resilience would threaten the progress made with economic growth, he said, urging that the focus should be not only on post-disaster needs, but also on underlying causes of vulnerabilities and enhancing preparedness.

National Policies and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Harsha se Silva said the Government was committed to pursue an environment- friendly development plan and this policy had been given its due recognition in the governments Green-Blue budget and vision 2025 plan.

The 2016 floods, the Meethotamulla garbage mountain disaster and regular landslides figured prominently in speeches and during discussions. Deputy Minister de Silva said the Government was paying attention to flood control mechanisms such as building large reservoirs upstream to control the flow of Kelani River waters to low-lying areas during heavy rains.

He said that eliminating corruption in politics could go a long way in disaster mitigation. Corrupt politicians at local council levels often intervene to clear the path for building houses in flood retention areas and their action resulted in loss of lives and damage to property during floods and landslides.

The deputy minister called for disincentivisation measures to prevent building construction near river banks and other disaster-prone areas. He said that one such disincentivisation measure could be an introduction of an insurance scheme on the lines of motor insurance policies with the premium being raised according to the increase in the risk level.

On the garbage crisis, Mr de Silva said the Government took two major decisions and they had, to a great extent, produced results. The segregation of garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage was a clear win, while the Aruwakkalu garbage dumping site project was also moving smoothly.

During the panel discussion, Megapolis Master Plan Project Director Lakshman Jayasekera drawing attention to deputy ministers comments said a project was worked out after an extensive study to relocate people and industries vulnerable to floods in safer areas. But the project was called off due to want of funds with international donor agencies declining to commit funds because they were now sensitive to issues related to relocation.

APAD Country Director Firzan Hashim said the APAD was an interlocutor to facilitate the partnership between the state and the private sector in disaster management activities. APADs Chief Executive Officer Kensuke Onishi from Japan said Sri Lankas geographic location has made it an important country in global efforts to respond to disasters. He said the APAD would set up a base in Sri Lanka to cover a vast area including West Asia, South Asia and countries like Myanmar.

This week, scientists from the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Montana said there would be increased seismic activity next year due to the fluctuation or the slowness of the Earths rotation. But they also said there was no real way to scientifically predict the likelihood of earthquakes taking place.
Flying above the law View(s):

I was very interested to read last week that certain members of parliament had been complaining to the Speaker about the fact that the CID had been checking their mobile phones. Their plaintive wail was that this action by the CID violated the privileges they enjoy under standing orders of Parliament.

They were objecting to the CID (which for those who may not know, is the acronym of this countrys Criminal Investigation Department, the premier investigation arm of our countrys police) trawling through a vast database of telephone calls that it is alleged these members had had with the man alleged to be at the centre of the Central Bank bond scam, Mr. Arjun Aloysius  son-in-law of disgraced former Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran.

Now, making telephone calls to other people who have telephones is something almost all of us have done at some time in our lives. When I was young and people had land lines, if one did not know somebodys phone number one could look it up in a big book called a telephone directory, which listed all the phone numbers of everybody who had a telephone in Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately with the advent of mobile phones, we cannot just look up the phone number of someone we want to speak to. We have to get peoples cell phone numbers from the persons themselves, or from someone who knows them and will give them to us. We then store the number in our phones so that we can call them or send them text messages at any time. Moreover, if we use a mobile phone app such as Viber (which allows one to make calls with the touch of the phone screen to someone else to whom we are linked on Viber), communication with that person becomes so much more convenient  and completely free.

There is a small problem though  one cannot just make free Viber calls to someone else unless they have invited us to be linked to them on Viber and we have accepted that invitation. This ensures that Viber connections can only be made between consenting adults (and I presume, consenting children). What struck me as most interesting is that the mobile telephones belonging to some of these MPs have recorded them as exchanging not one but many phone calls as well as Viber calls with Mr. Aloysius.

The State Minister of Development Strategies, Mr. Sujeewa Senasinghe, is recorded as having called Mr. Aloysius no less than 26 times and received no less than six calls from him. He had also made seven Viber calls. In fact, during the period July 4, 2015 to March 3, 2017 Mr. Senasinghe had exchanged no less than 227 calls with Mr. Aloysious!

Another of Mr. Aloysius Viber contacts has been shown to be Mr. Hector Appuhamy whose phone is recorded as having made as many as 42 Viber communications with Mr. Aloysisus. Both Mr. Appuhamy and Mr. Senasinghe are members of Parliaments Committee on Public Enterprises, commonly known as COPE  a body which is established under Parliaments Standing Orders at the beginning of each parliamentary session to ensure that public corporations and other semi-governmental bodies in which the Government has a financial stake comply with financial discipline. Since it was first established in 1979, COPEs duty has been to examine the accounts of any public corporation and any business undertaking vested in the government and report to Parliament on the financial procedures, performance and management of these organisations.

In October 2016 COPE having investigated the central bank bond matter recommended that Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran should be held responsible for the bond issue scam and that legal action should be taken against him. Our President, however, ignored COPEs recommendation and appointed a commission of inquiry to further investigate the case.

What struck me as curious is that Mr. Senasinghe, who was not originally a member of COPE, was appointed to the powerful Committee which had the power to investigate financial matters in government and semi-governmental institutions following the resignation of Mr. M. Velu Kumar, another Kandy district MP.

The arts graduate from St Sylvesters College Velu Kumar conveniently resigned in July 2016 and paved the way for the lawyer from Trinity College Senasinghe to be appointed two days later to fill the vacancy on this powerful body.

Was it that the leader of the UNP wanted a lawyer on this committee investigating the Central Bank matter to protect UNP interests? Were Arjun Aloysiuss many phone communication with Mr. Senasinghe merely to discuss the weather in the central hills or to provide material for a book to be written by this aspiring author? Was the conversation between Aloysius and Senasingh similar to what Donald Trump is alleged to have told the FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating Trumps National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, I hope you can let this go?

The questions raised by the presence of these many phone and Viber communications between members of an investigative body such as COPE and the man involved in the matters COPE was investigating are, to say the least, intriguing. As a simple citizen, I firmly believe that none of us, whether we are politicians, attorneys at law or wannabe authors, should behave as if we are above the law.

Especially with regard to whom we talk to on our mobile phones.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Tauranga City Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency are investigating fast-tracking some proposed changes to public transport in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa to make the services more attractive.

At a recent Public Transport Committee meeting, councillors examined options presented in a $1 million proposal, with the cost to potentially be spread across the three partners.

The potential fast-tracked improvements include introducing a Papamoa Express Service, a Gold Line Service, and park and ride opportunities in March 2018.

The Gold Line Service will operate hourly from 9.30am to 4pm, or as can be accommodated with bus availability.

It provides access to the Mount Hot Pools and a site-seeing service for cruise passengers.

This is in addition to the extension to the bus lanes between Totara Street and the Tauranga Marina on Hewletts Road, which allows buses to move more easily through the traffic, reducing delays for people who use public transport.

Committee chair Lyall Thurston says the improvements had already been identified as part of the Blueprint programme and were due to start in December 2018, but there is an opportunity to bring some of them forward and give commuters a better choice in how they get around the city.

Ongoing growth in the region, as well as upcoming construction of the Bay Link project will see people looking for alternative options with less delays, says Lyall.

Our approach to public transport is to ensure that it is flexible to be able to adapt to the changing needs of the community and the operating environment  and this potential fast-track is a good example of that approach at work.

BOPRC have also received the necessary approvals from NZTA to proceed to tender for public transport services in the Western Bay.

The tender specification will enable the introduction of environmentally friendly buses, customer service incentives for drivers, and the ability to implement age-friendly features on the new bus contracts.

Staff attended a meeting of Tauranga City Councils Disability Advisory Committee and the feedback was invaluable, says Lyall.

We are committed to supporting the needs of the Disability sector. We were told we needed to provide urban buses that could accommodate more than one wheelchair and our tender vehicle quality standards will reflect a requirement for at least two wheelchair spaces.

In September, the contracts for the Schoolhopper services were extended to December 2018 to allow BOPRC and schools and parents to discuss proposed changes to routes and time tables.

Lyall says staff have met with both parents and administrators from each of the impacted schools where this has been requested.

We hope to provide all schools with timetable information and finalised routes towards the end of Term One next year, with the new service to start January 2019.
A woman suffered multiple injuries after her car crashed into a stream.

Emergency services were called to the crash a few miles south of 8-Mile Junction, on SH3 south of Te Kuiti on Monday afternoon.

The woman, a 45-year-old from Masterton, was the only person in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

The Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to the scene to fly the injured driver to hospital.

A spokesperson for the rescue chopper says she was taken to Waikato Hospital by the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

Her vehicle left the road and crashed through a fence into a paddock and down into a stream, says the spokesperson.

She was treated by St John and Fire Rescue staff before being flown to Waikato Hospital.
The Carnivale du Vin annual charity wine auction led to the sale of a 2015 cabernet sauvignon created by celebrity winemaker Jesse Katz, with the standard size wine bottle sold for an eye-popping $350,000.

The bottle was not purchased by a single buyer, bur rather a group of friends who teamed up with a private wine collector to bid the record amount. The winemaker is the youngest Head Winemaker in the US and has his own vineyard which boasts a long list of celebrity clients.

This 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon was created for Shep Gordon, a Hollywood talent manager, who donated the bottle for the auction.

Despite its prestigious price, the wine bottle itself is relatively minimalist, with a simple white label featuring a name The Setting, a drawing of Shep Gordon and his signature in addition to the year, vineyard and type of wine.

Founded by renowned US chef Emeril Lagasse, Carnivale du Vin has raised over $20 million for a range or childrens charities over the years.
The hull and superstructure of 263 hit the waters of Yalova this week and brought a first look at the builders latest project to follow new wave yachts such as Nerissa.

While promising outstanding performances, her technical launch has offered up a brief insight into the sleek and stylish Unique Yacht Design styling; while her H2 Yacht Design interior remains a mystery.

What we do know about life on board is that huge spaces make up the general arrangement, with indoor pool and huge beach club being central features of the nascent project.

Today is another proud day for our company says Ismail Sengun, Bilgins CEO, We are happy to see how beautiful the boat is and really look forward to presenting her to the world in a couple of years.

Built to ABS and LY3, much like the sistership already in production, Project 263 will be the biggest Turkish yacht launch to date; followed closely by a number of exciting projects set to emerge across the country. We look forward to bringing you more on the project, as and when new details emerge following the technical launch and her entrance into the 90-metre dock for completion.
The Gibraltar government is to become one of the first in the world to ban cosmetics and other products which contain plastic microbeads.

The announcement of planned new legislation to ban such imports was made this week and follows on from previous initiatives to reduce the use of plastic bags in Gibraltar.

As a result of that campaign, an increasing number of local businesses are now voluntarily moving towards using paper, textiles and other natural alternatives.

Environmental experts are very concerned about microbeads, which are the non-biodegradable components of many different products. They are small enough to pass through water filtration plants and end up in lakes and rivers. They have been found to persist in the ocean and find their way into the food chain through marine organisms, harming fish and other marine life and with as yet unknown effects on human health. Other countries including the UK are in the process of banning microbeads, which will be replaced in many products by natural biodegradable alternatives.

These microscopic particles are used in products such as shower gels, face washes, toothpastes and cleaning products, but are often not listed as such in the contents.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Ocean Village will once again be hosting its Magical Christmas celebration to raise funds for Research into Childhood Cancer. Last year's event raised 1,126 and the organisers hope that this year will be even more successful.

There is plenty for everyone to enjoy. On Wednesday, 29 November, Princess Poppy from Trolls and Sleeping Beauty will be helping Santa to switch on the Christmas lights, and there will be live music plus the Prince and Princess of Ocean Village competition.

On Thursday there will be the chance to meet favourite Disney and Dreamworks characters such as Ariel, Rapunzel, and Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Santa can be visited in his Grotto each evening: it costs 5 to enter, which goes to the charity, and inside there will be face painting for the children while adults can enjoy mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies.
Since 1901, 896 figureheads and 27 organisations have been honoured for their outstanding contributions to Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace through a special awards system. The awards were established after a famed inventor died in 1896 and left money in his will to be used for prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind. Despite initial opposition from his family members and the prizewinners he named in his will, the now prestigious awards were set up five years later.

The awards ceremony has taken place on 10 December every year since 1901, apart from the years during the two world wars. The glittering event is attended by 1,300 people, including political leaders and royalty. The queen of the host country famously wears spectacular, colourful gowns to dilute the monotone suits of the male-dominated event. There have now been a total of 585 prizes across the categories. As of this year each prize is worth nearly one million euros.

Since its inauguration in 1926, the blue building pictured above is where the prizes (apart from the peace category) are awarded. The building is usually host to world-class classical music concerts. The exterior is the site of sculptor Carl Milles' 1936 bronze fountain, the Orfeus-brunnen.

If you know the name of the building and the city it is in, as well as what is held there on December 10 every year, you could win a prize. Send your answers to english@diariosur.es and put 'Where in the world?' as the subject. Please also include your address and telephone number so we can get your prize to you.

Congratulations to Alexander van Assendelft who had the correct answer for last month's competition. He correctly identified the clock tower as the one in Musee d' Orsay in Paris, France, where they recently celebrated Armistice Day. Your prize will be with you shortly.
The performance of 'A Touch of Cabaret', held at the Casa de la Cultura in Fuengirola last week, raised more than 1,500 euros for the Lux Mundi Ecumenical Centre. Staged by Mijas-based amateur show group, 'A Touch of Class', the production presented a series of comedy sketches and music and dance routines of popular stage shows and Hollywood movies. The show included a hilarious sketch of the French resistance farce, Allo Allo.

The event was attended by 130 people, including representatives from the Mijas town hall. The group's choreographe, Pauline Hulme, now intends to make this an annual event.

The staff at Casa de Cultura couldn't have been more helpful. It was definitely a joint English/Spanish event, so I am so glad I included plenty of Spanish numbers in the programme, Pauline told SUR in English.
A representative from UNESCO, government ministers and muscatel grape experts were in El Borge recently to consider the Axarquia's muscatel grape for inclusion on the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nation's (FAO) agricultural heritage list.

The application was made by Andalucia's regional government, the Junta de Andalucia, in the summer and the visit formed part of the application process.

To help him come to a decision, Professor Mauro Agnoletti, the only European representative of GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems), was shown aspects of the muscatel grape cultivation and production including its uniqueness in Europe, gastronomy, economic importance and environmental impact.

During his visit, Mr Agnoletti was accompanied by Spain's minister for agriculture, fisheries, food and environment, Marta Cimas, as well as Javier Salas, from the Junta de Andalucia. Salas said, achieving this declaration is enormously important and comparable to the world heritage status that has been given to the dolmens of Antequera. Salas hopes that the Malaga muscatel grape's inclusion on the FAO's agricultural heritage list will preserve the sector, boost tourism, increase the value of the grapes and wine and ensure that the population of muscatel wine producing villages such as Almachar, El Borge, Iznate, Moclinejo, Cutar, Competa y Sayalonga will not dwindle. This will open up doors to subsidies and aid to safeguard the cultivation and production, explained Salas.

Other candidates for the status were the Malaga and Valle Salado de Anana (Alava) raisins along with two Italian and one Portuguese applications. The UN's GIAHS programme is designed to promote national and international understanding and recognition of producers and local communities dependence on traditional agricultural systems. This is the first European system to get on the list.
The Catalan capital has failed to win enough support to be the new base of the European Medicines Agency. The EU body responsible for regulating pharmaceuticals needs to leave London following Brexit, and Barcelona was one of the favourites to house it, especially as it had a large, modern building ready for it to move into. The agency employs around 1,000 people. However on Monday the Spanish candidate city lost out to Amsterdam.

Observers said that recent political instability in Catalonia had contributed to the loss of the chance to be the agency's new HQ. Health minister for the national government, Dolors Monserrat said: We have a very clean conscience but maybe others don't. Barcelona's mayor blamed both central and regional government for spoiling the city's chances.
The two main pro-independence groups taking part in regional elections planned for Catalonia on 21 December have ruled out including a policy of unilateral independence in their forthcoming election programmes.

Junts per Catalunya and ERC are to say that they will seek a separate Catalan state through negotiation with the Spanish government. It marks a turnaround from the previous policy when they were in power together in coalition until last month and led the region's parliament to declare unilateral independence (UDI).

Commentators say that international rejection of a proposed Catalan republic, especially by the European Union, and a flight of companies from Catalonia to the rest of Spain have forced them to reconsider. The EU is worried that an independent Catalonia would encourage other regions of Europe to declare independence.

The two groups hope that the softer tone will encourage Catalan voters to back them so they secure a majority of regional MPs in the December vote.

The more radical separatist CUP party will keep its UDI policy.

Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, said this week that his government would work with whoever won the regional election providing the new administration governed and respected the law and minorities. Rajoy called elections after suspending some of Catalonia's self rule last month.

Supreme Court move

Meanwhile, in Madrid, as predicted a Supreme Court judge has moved to combine the cases of the different Catalan public officials who are being investigated for sedition during the recent declaration of independence process. Some ex-regional ministers are still in jail without bail in a case run by the lower Audiencia Nacional court, while parliamentary officials are still free in a similar case led by the Supreme Court. Judges want to combine the cases to ensure consistency in judicial decisions, which would open the door to the government members still in jail to possibly be released ahead of the December vote if they agree to abide by the Constitution.

Former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, is still in Brussels awaiting possible extradition and will head the electoral list of Junts per Catalunya, a new electoral group including his PDeCAT party.
A subsidiary of Chinese train maker, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC), said Saturday it had established an Asia-Pacific headquarters and a research & development center in Australia.

The Melbourne-based headquarters will help provide technology support for train design, manufacturing and maintenance in the region, according to CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Company in northeast China's Jilin Province.

"The office will create more job and export opportunities for local train manufacturers," said Wang Run, chairman of CRRC Changchun.

The office employs 41 local workers.

In November 2016, CRRC Changchun signed a deal with Victoria to build high-capacity metro trains worth 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, the biggest metro train purchasing project in the Australian state's history.

CRRC Changchun has more than 18,000 employers and annually manufactures more than 8,000 trains.
A Fort Chiswell man died in a house fire Friday night. Terry G. Collins, 69, died after his home at 923 Fort Chiswell Road caught fire about 10 p.m.

Max Meadows Fire Chief Ritchie Nester said a neighbor attempted to save Collins but was unsuccessful. Virginia State Police agents are investigating the fire. VSP Public Relations Director Corinne Geller said Collins body was found inside the home.

The cause and origin of the fire were under investigation Monday. The fire is being investigated as accidental in nature, Geller said. Nester said it is possible it could have started in a wood stove.

He said the fire developed quickly and spread to the roof of the white frame house. A deputy with the Wythe County Sheriffs Office drove by the home and did not see flames about 10 minutes before firefighters arrived to find the home fully engulfed in flames, Nester said.

The home is located beside Adams Auto and is owned by car lot owner James Adams, who rented the home to Collins, Nester said.

The Lead Mines Rescue Squad and Ivanhoe Volunteer Fire Department assisted the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department.

To reach Millie Rothrock, call 228-6611, ext. 35, or email mrothrock@wythenews.com.
LONDON (AP) -- Prince Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, will marry American actress Meghan Markle in the spring, palace officials announced Monday, confirming months of speculation.

Markle, a humanitarian campaigner and lifestyle blogger who succeeded in show business before falling for Harry, will become a senior member of the royal family as the wife of one of the monarchy's most popular figures.

Harry, a bad-boy-made-good by his tireless devotion to wounded veterans and his embrace of a variety of charitable causes, has said for several years that he wants to start a family, and the rumors of his engagement to Markle have been flying for some time.

The marriage represents a first-ever blending of Hollywood glamor with the once-stuffy royal family, which has of late seemed less fixed in its ways, and brings a mixed-race American divorcee into a highly visible role.

The couple made a brief appearance before photographers on the grounds of Kensington Palace hours after their engagement was announced.

Harry, wearing a blue suit and tie, said he was "thrilled" and that details about his proposal would come out later. He was then asked if the proposal was romantic, and he replied: "Of course!"

Markle, who said she was "so happy," was wearing an engagement ring for the first time in public. She held Harry's hand and rubbed his arm.

The ring includes two diamonds that belonged to Princess Diana.

Royal officials say Prince Harry designed the ring himself. It features two diamonds from the collection of his late mother, who died in 1997 when Harry was 12. They flank a central diamond from Botswana.

Harry has visited the African country many times since childhood, and has spent time there with Markle.

The stones are mounted on a band of gold, and the ring was made by Cleave and Company, official jewelers to Queen Elizabeth II.

The couple left with their arms around each other. The couple plan to give their first interview later in the day.

Harry's brother, Prince William, and his pregnant wife Kate welcomed Markle to the royal family.

"We are very excited for Harry and Meghan," they said in a statement. "It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together."

Harry's father, Prince Charles, told reporters he was "thrilled" with the engagement.

"They'll be very happy indeed," he said.

The engagement announcement says the couple became engaged in London earlier this month and that Harry has informed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. It says he sought and received the permission of Markle's parents.

The couple plan to live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace. Markle, who lived in Toronto while filming TV series "Suits" since 2011, is also reported to have started the sometimes time-consuming process of moving her dogs from Canada to Britain. She reportedly recently left the television show, a development that helped fueled engagement speculation.

Congratulations also came in from the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, and from Prime Minister Theresa May. Markle's parents also welcomed the news.

Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said their daughter Meghan "has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents."

Markle was raised in the Los Angeles area. Her father is a Hollywood lighting director, her mother a yoga instructor and psychotherapist.

In some ways, Markle -- a mixed-race American raised in California, an outspoken full-time actress, and a divorcee -- makes a surprising addition to Britain's monarchy.

But the institution has moved on with the times, and the romance between Markle and Harry -- who has repeatedly stressed his wish to lead as "normal" a life as he could -- has a decidedly unstuffy, modern feel to it.

The announcement means another grand royal wedding may be in the offing -- the first since William and Kate married in 2011 -- though it is possible the couple may choose to have a private ceremony, perhaps in a remote location far from the paparazzi who bedeviled Harry's mother, Princess Diana.

Markle, best known for her role as an ambitious paralegal in the hit U.S. legal drama "Suits," surprised many when she shared her feelings for Harry in a September cover story for Vanity Fair.

Asked about the media frenzy surrounding their courtship, the 36-year-old said: "At the end of the day I think it's really simple ... we're two people who are really happy and in love."

Harry, once known for his dicey antics, including being photographed playing strip billiards in Las Vegas, has largely charmed the British public with his winning smile, his military career and his devotion to charities aimed at helping disabled veterans and other causes.

The 33-year-old prince recently won praise with his work campaigning for more openness about mental health issues. Speaking candidly about his personal struggle to cope with the loss of his mother when he was only 12, he encouraged others to talk about their own problems rather than keeping them bottled up inside.

Markle's Vanity Fair interview broke new ground. It is unusual for a royal love interest to speak so publicly, and candidly, before becoming engaged.

Harry's past reported girlfriends all shied away from the media limelight, and his sister-in-law, formerly known as Kate Middleton, stayed silent until she and Prince William gave a formal televised interview at Buckingham Palace after their engagement became public.

It won't be the first time that a British royal has married an American, or a divorcee. In 1936, Edward VIII famously abdicated after he was forced to choose between the monarchy and his relationship with twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, N.Y. -- Two Vermont men are accused of exchanging "illicit" messages and images with a male juvenile under the age of 17 during an online enticement investigation, according to New York State Police.

The men were arrested Friday in Jefferson County after they traveled to Upstate New York to meet the boy, state police said.

Mark S. Cuppernell, 58, and Anthony W. Allen Jr., 46, are accused of engaging in illicit communication that included the exchange of text, chat and images via social media, state police said.

Cuppernell and Allen, who are both from Brattleboro, Vt., were charged with the following:

Use of a child in a sexual performance, a felony

First-degree disseminating indecent material, a felony

Endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor

Cuppernell and Allen were taken to the Jefferson County Public Safety Building on $20,000 bail or $40,000 bond. Both remain in custody and are due in court on Wednesday.

Troopers were assisted by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations. State police ask anyone with information, to contact Inv. Adam Swenson at 315-482-2080.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Syracuse man is accused of stabbing his 47-year-old uncle in the stomach during an argument Sunday afternoon on the city's South Side, police said.

Ethan Williams, 26, of 368 W. Kennedy St., was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor.

Someone called the Onondaga County 911 Center from Williams' home to report the stabbing at 1:05 p.m.

When officers arrived, they saw the 47-year-old man had stabbed in the stomach area, police Sgt. Richard Helterline said.

American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance took the victim to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. His injury does not appear to be life threatening, Helterline said.

Williams also suffered an injury to his hand during the fight, Helterline said in a news release. Police did not say what Williams and his uncle were fighting about.

Williams will be sent to the Onondaga County Justice Center after he is treated for his injury, police said.
MARCY, N.Y. -- A state corrections officer is accused of trying to sneak drugs into a prison, according to the state police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET).

Ryan M. Santos, a 27-year-old corrections officer at Midstate Correctional Facility in Marcy, was charged Saturday with first-degree attempted promoting prison contraband, a felony.

Santos, of Rome, was arrested following a joint investigation by CNET and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Office of Special Investigations.

Utica City Court Judge F. Christopher Giruzzi arraigned Santos and released him on his own recognizance.

Santos is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Marcy Town Court.

State police say the investigation is ongoing and more charges are pending.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Jeff Glor will start his job as the lead anchor of "CBS Evening News" on Monday, Dec. 4, the show announced Sunday.

In October, CBS first announced Glor would replace Scott Pelley at the network's top news desk, but did not initially give his start date.

Glor, 42, graduated from Syracuse University in 1997 with degrees in journalism and economics.

He worked at WSTM-3 (CNYCentral) until 2003 as co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast and a reporter for the 11 p.m. newscast. From 1997 to 2000, he was also the morning news anchor.

His career brought him to Boston before he landed at CBS Studios in 2007, where he rose through the ranks as a correspondent and weekend anchor for the last decade.

As a Tonawanda, N.Y. native, Glor is a diehard Buffalo Bills fan. His first job was delivering newspapers for The Buffalo News.

Glor's wife, Nicole, also graduated from SU and went on to launch her own fitness brand.

Barbara Fought, a broadcast journalism professor at SU's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, was "ecstatic" when she heard about Glor's promotion.

Fought taught Glor in his first broadcast writing course at Newhouse when he was a sophomore. She remembers how Glor would watch his own newscasts to learn where he could improve his performance.

He'd also watch Matt Lauer on "The Today Show" to learn conversational, ad-lib skills for morning shows.

"He always wanted to be better," Fought said.

Current CNYCentral anchor Megan Coleman was an intern at WSTM-TV while Glor was reporting in Syracuse.

"He was young and hungry, and wise beyond his years," said Coleman. "Jeff was really good at getting people to talk to him. He had that ability to put people at ease."

Glor remains a fan of Syracuse cuisine. During a visit to Syracuse last week, he picked up two racks of ribs, collard greens and beans at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. He also stopped at Pastabilities to buy a jar of Spicy Hot Tomato Oil for his wife.

Katrina Tulloch writes music and culture stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (AP) -- A crowded mall in New York's Hudson Valley was evacuated Sunday after a gun discharged into the floor, causing minor injuries to two bystanders, police said.

The gun went off shortly after 3 p.m. at the Galleria at Crystal Run in Middletown, about 70 miles north of midtown Manhattan.

"At this time it appears that a male wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and gray pants discharged one round from a handgun into the floor on the second level of the mall in front of the American Eagle store," Chief Robert Hertman of the Wallkill Police Department said at a briefing outside the mall.

Hertman said police were still seeking the man whose gun went off. He said police do not know if the discharge was accidental.

Hertman said the two people were being treated for minor lacerations. He said it is unclear how they were injured.

Video posted on social media showed armed police in tactical gear running down a corridor of the mall while shoppers ran in the other direction.

Leighton Peterson was grabbing a pre-movie bite to eat in the mall's food court around 3:20 when suddenly, he heard alarms, "and all of the employees were telling everybody to get to the exits and evacuate," he told The Associated Press.

As people made orderly progress toward the exits, Peterson thought it might be a fire drill until he heard a worried-looking mall worker mention a shooting, he recalled.

Outside, holiday shoppers lingered at first to see whether there might be an all-clear and reopening. But before long, "it became pretty clear that there was an actual situation happening, so then people started leaving en masse," in a bumper-to-bumper stream out of the packed parking lot, said Peterson, 32, a video editor.

The Galleria mall also was evacuated during the holiday shopping rush in December 2008, when an odor of gas at a department store forced the shopping center to close early on a Thursday evening.
ROME, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Vatican and a Beijing-based fund have been working to organize joint art exhibitions which will take place simultaneously in the Vatican Museums and in China's Forbidden City in the spring of 2018, the Vatican Radio has reported.

The two exhibitions are part of a joint project called "Beauty unites us," which is promoted by the Vatican and China Culture Industrial Investment Fund.

The two sides will lend each other 40 works of art from their collections.

The idea is to promote "cultural collaboration through the universal language of art," according to the Vatican Radio.

This will be the Vatican's first-ever show in China, Vatican Museums Director Barbara Jatta told Vatican Radio in an interview posted online. "It is much more than an exhibition," Jatta said.

"It is a project of friendship and cultural and artistic exchange," Jatta said, adding that Pope Francis wants "to build bridges and create dialogue between different cultures, through the diplomacy of art."

Most people don't realize that over half of the Vatican Museums collections are made up of non-European works of art, said Father Nicola Mapelli, curator of the Vatican's Anima Mundi Museum, which houses tens of thousands of works of art from Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

Over the centuries, China had sent precious gifts to Catholic popes, including paintings, statues, and other priceless works, said Mapelli.

These beautiful items will be loaned for exhibition in Beijing, while China will loan 12 paintings by Chinese artist Zhang Yan as well as other works of art illustrating the thousands of years of Chinese art history, according to Mapelli. "We are trying to build bridges through art," Mapelli said.

China Culture Industrial Investment Fund Secretary General Jiancheng Zhu said the event is very important for promoting mutual trust and understanding.

Zhang said that he is inspired by the works of Italian Renaissance masters such as Caravaggio, Michelangelo, and Raphael, many of whose masterpieces are housed in the Vatican Museums complex.

"I believe art has no nationality and no boundaries, so I am convinced that cultural exchanges can be more and more beneficial, including between China and the Vatican," the artist told Vatican Radio.
Biggest ever facelift for London's Harrods to attract more Chinese shoppers

London's world-famous Harrods store is to be given a 268 million U.S. dollars makeover to attract more Chinese shoppers.

The revamp will be the biggest and most ambitious in the luxury store's history, its owners have confirmed.

A key aim of the project is to appeal to Chinese customers who are already Harrods' second-highest spenders after British shoppers, managing director Michael Ward said in media interviews on Friday.

Ward said: "This ambitious store development, the most comprehensive in Harrods history, will invest in some of our most exciting retail divisions and redesign our store around the expectations of our discerning global customer base."

The store boss added that Chinese customers are extremely important to Harrods and considered part of their redevelopment plans.

"For us the future is in the east and we have been focusing on that for a number of years," added Ward, adding research had shown that one in every five pounds that Chinese visitors spend in London is spent at Harrods.

One thing that won't change is the famous exterior of the store with its 12,000 light bulbs and green awnings.

Harrods was founded by Charles Henry Harrod as a small shop mainly selling tea. It has grown into one of the best-known shops in the world and attracts more than 15 million visitors every year.

Harrods recently reported its annual sales had broken through the 2-billion pounds mark (2.67 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time.
Authorities in South Korea have raided Apple's Seoul offices amid preparations for the launch of iPhone X in the country.

Investigators visited Apple's headquarters earlier this week to grill it about business practices just days before the launch of Apple's latest flagship phone.

According to Metro, the raid will likely raise questions as to whether South Korean authorities are attempting to sabotage the iPhone X debut, which apparently has sold out across the world.

Apple's South Korean Offices Raided, Might Raise Questions About FTC Meddling

Even more likely to raise questions is the fact that South Korea is noted for strong  and sometimes corrupt  relationships between the government and major corporations. Supposed to go on sale Nov. 24, the iPhone X is already proving popular, and once it's out, it will likely hamper phone sales of other manufacturers.

This isn't the first time for Apple to tussle with South Korean authorities. Last year, there was an investigation launched to find out whether the company struck unfair contracts with the country's phone networks.

While unclear, this raid appears to be associated with that ongoing investigation, which was launched just months after Apple took action to address the authorities' concern about its supposedly unfair contracts with local firms commissioned to repair Apple products and other devices.

Last December, the country's then-resident Park Geun-hye was impeached on grounds of accepting bribes. That investigation also lead to the ouster of Samsung's de facto head Lee Jae-yong. He was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison for bribery, embezzlement, and perjury.

Criticism On The South Korean FTC

None of those came as a surprise. The Korean Fair Trade Commission has often been accused of abusing its authority to favor local companies against competition from big international players such as Apple. In 2015, when the Cupertino brand nabbed a whopping 33 percent share of the country's smartphone market, the agency launched an investigation to determine whether foreign companies were disrupting the local market.

Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, accused the commission of having a "protectionist agenda," arguing in 2015 that the agency had been "slapping spurious charges on foreign companies." Several critics mirror Kay's position, often complaining about the commission's bias toward domestic firms.

To try and challenge Apple's rise in South Korea, Samsung recently launched promotional offer where 10,000 iPhone owners could avail a one-month trial of either the Galaxy Note 8 or Galaxy S8.

The iPhone X was scheduled to launch in South Korea on Nov. 24.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The crazy plan of self-taught rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes to prove that the Earth is flat has already hit a snag before getting off the ground, literally.

The project will still push through, though, as Hughes will not be denied in his mission to disprove the "conspiracy" that the Earth is round.

Plan To Prove Flat Earth Delayed: Rocket Launch Blocked

Hughes, a 61-year-old limousine driver and a self-taught rocket scientist, has spent the last few years and $20,000 on a steam-powered rocket.

The plan is simple: strap himself onto the rocket, fly up to space, and take pictures of what he and many others believe is a disc-shaped, flat Earth.

The first phase of the dangerous project, which was scheduled for the afternoon of Nov. 25, was to launch the homemade rocket and himself about a mile over a ghost town in California's Mojave Desert named Amboy, which only has four residents. The contraption will travel at a speed of around 500 miles per hour and will look to reach an altitude of 1,800 feet before Hughes release two parachutes.

Unfortunately, those looking forward to watch the rocket launch on Hughes's YouTube channel will have to wait a bit longer.

Hughes said that he will postpone the rocket launch to next week, as the Bureau of Land Management denied giving him the permission to fly over public land.

"It's still happening," Hughes told The Washington Post. Hughes will simply move the location of the launch to have the rocket fly over private property "three miles down the road," without saying the specific location.

According to Hughes, the BLM gave him verbal permission over a year ago to launch his rocket over Amboy, pending approval granted by the Federal Aviation Administration. However, a spokeswoman for the BLM said that there were no records of its local field office discussing the matter with Hughes, who did not apply for the necessary permit to launch his homemade rocket on public land.

The denial of the BLM on the rocket launch coincided with technical difficulties, as a motor in the modified motor home, where Hughes will attach the rocket's launch pad, had to undergo repairs.

Hughes expects that the rocket launch will not happen until about Tuesday, Nov. 28, with the flat-Earther to likely announce a specific date soon.

Is The Earth Flat? Many People Think So

Hundreds of people attended the first-ever Flat Earth International Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, earlier this month, showing that a lot of people are starting to believe that NASA and other agencies are conspiring to keep people thinking that the Earth is round.

The theory of flat-Earthers is that our world is actually a disc, with Antarctica actually walls of ice that prevent people from reaching the edges and falling off. They believe that NASA and other scientific agencies are covering up that the Earth is flat through things such as edited photos of the round Earth taken from space to stop people from venturing into dangerous territory.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Researchers have successfully developed a high-speed quantum encryption system that could prevent hackers from penetrating computers.

The new quantum encryption system represents a new level in cryptography, which is quite ironic since the advent of quantum computing has been considered a threat to current encryption methods, but it might just hold the key to keeping the internet safe and secure.

Securing The Internet

According to the researchers' study published this week in Science Advances, the new system can create and distribute encryption codes at a rate of megabits per second, which means it transmits quantum key distribution five to ten times faster than existing methods.

The team, composed of researchers from Duke University, Ohio State University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, demonstrates that the technique is immune from common attacks even in a situation where the equipment itself has exhibited a flaw that could open up leaks.

"We really need to be thinking hard now of different techniques that we could use for trying to secure the internet," said Daniel Gauthier, a physics professor at the Ohio State University.

The frequency of data breaches is no laughing matter. Just this month, there were two reported high-profile cases of hackers breaching servers: one is the massive Uber data breach last year  which Uber just recently confessed to  that had put 57 million accounts at risk. The ride-hailing company tried to guise it as a bug bounty program achievement. Then there's the Imgur data breach, which had affected 1.7 million accounts yet went unnoticed for years.

High-Speed Quantum Encryption: How Does It Work?

The trick, according to the researchers, is to put more information on the photons or light particles used in quantum key distribution and in most quantum networks today and combine it with high-speed detectors.

To achieve a high-speed quantum encryption system, the researchers had to adjust the moment when photons are deployed, which enables encoding two bits of information on a single photon as opposed to just one. Because of this, the distribution is much faster than current techniques, which can only facilitate tens to hundreds of kilobits a second.

In theory, quantum key distribution would be perfectly secure. Any attempt to circumvent a key exchange would cause transmission errors that the receiver will spot with no difficulty. Even so, implementing it in real-world situations would require imperfect equipment. Such imperfections might open up leaks that hackers could exploit, the researchers said.

Quantum key distribution remains the best attempt to improve the current state of cybersecurity, which has failed repeatedly to deal with data breaches and hacks. More importantly, the new system can run on commercially available equipment, which means the transition wouldn't be troublesome.

What do you think? Have we reached the future of cybersecurity? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Xinhua) 07:21, November 27, 2017

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is welcomed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other senior officials upon his arrival in Budapest, Hungary, Nov. 26, 2017, for an official visit to the country and the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BUDAPEST, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday arrived in Hungary for an official visit to the country and the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) in Budapest.

Leaders of the 17 countries are expected to draw a new blueprint for the 16+1 cooperation five years after the mechanism was launched. And Li's visit is also set to bring bilateral ties between China and Hungary to a higher level.

At the airport, Li was welcomed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other senior officials.

After the meeting and visit scheduled for Nov. 26-29, Li is going to attend the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Russian city of Sochi from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1.

FIVE YEARS ON, LEADERS TO DRAW NEW BLUEPRINT FOR 16+1 COOPERATION

Noting that this year marks the fifth anniversary of the launching of China-CEEC 16+1 cooperation, Li said upon his arrival that the 16+1 cooperation has been growing in the past five years, benefitting people from the two sides with substantial projects and cooperation results.

Being part of China-Europe cooperation, the 16+1 cooperation has not only boosted the development of the CEEC themselves, but also promoted a balanced development for the wider Europe, which is good for Europe's integration, Li said.

"China is willing to work with all sides to review what we have achieved in the past five years and draw a blueprint for the future to achieve greater progress," Li said.

During the meeting, Li is expected to join hands with CEEC leaders to set out an outline for future cooperation, witness the signing of a series of cooperation documents, meet the press, attend the seventh China-CEEC economic and trade cooperation forum, celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the 16+1 cooperation, and hold bilateral meetings with CEEC leaders.

Ahead of the visit, Li vowed to bring China-CEEC cooperation and China-Hungary ties to a new high.

In an article published in the newspaper The Hungarian Times, the premier said the 16+1 cooperation has been growing and the mechanism improving over the past five years, bringing about remarkable progress to cooperation in all fields.

Political mutual trust between China and the CEEC has been deepened, with the two sides having established cooperation mechanisms in about 20 areas, he said.

Economic cooperation has seen a steady growth, with bilateral trade increasing to 58.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 from 43.9 billion dollars in 2010 and the completion of a number of landmark infrastructure projects, said the premier in the article.

Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong told a recent think tank conference that the current ties between China and the CEEC are "at their best in history."

After a great start, the 16+1 cooperation demands a new direction and new momentum, the premier said.

VISIT FOR STRONGER CHINA-HUNGARY TIES

On China-Hungary ties, Li said on his arrival that the two countries enjoy profound traditional friendship. He also spoke highly of the development of bilateral relations since the two sides established diplomatic relations more than 60 years ago.

"I'm looking forward to discussing with the Hungarian side about cooperation and jointly fleshing out the content of the China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership," Li said.

In May, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Orban announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in Beijing.

During the visit, Li will hold talks with Orban, witness the signing of documents concerning political, economic, financial and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, and meet the press.

The premier will also meet with Hungarian President Janos Ader and Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover.

In the article on the Hungarian newspaper, Li said both countries are beneficiaries and supporters of economic globalization, and it is in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries to stick to trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

The premier hailed the strategic alignment of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Hungary's Eastern Opening policy, adding that the Initiative and 16+1 cooperation have put the two countries' economic and trade cooperation on a fast lane, with progress made in areas of investment, finance, agriculture, scientific and technological innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises.

China and Hungary have also made strides in people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in the areas of culture, education, sports, tourism and traditional Chinese medicine, he said.

Both sides hold that China-Hungary ties have entered the best period in history, Li said.
ANKARA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkey announced on Sunday that Monday would be a day of national mourning for the deadly terror attack in Egypt's Sinai, which killed more than 300 people.

Flags will fly at half-mast at Turkish representations in the country and abroad, the Prime Ministry declared in a written statement.

At least 305 people were killed and more than 100 others injured when attackers bombed a mosque in the town of Bir al-Abed in North Sinai and opened fire on fleeing worshipers on Friday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag as well as other senior officials condemned the terror attack and offered their condolences to the Egyptian people.
(Xinhua) 07:24, November 27, 2017

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. lawmaker John Conyers, a long-term civil right icon for many Americans, stepped down as the ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee on Sunday, amid a probe over multiple sexual harassment accusations against him.

However, Conyers said he denied the allegations, but was stepping down because of the ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation.

"I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger. I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics," the 27-term congressman said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called for "due process" before making conclusions about Conyers, repeating that she wants to see the investigation of Conyers play out.

"John Conyers is an icon in our country. He has done a great deal to protect women," said Pelosi on NBC's "Meet The Press" program, citing the Violence Against Women Act which she said Conyers had contributed a lot.

Asked if she believes the accusations against Conyers, Pelosi said: "I do not know who they are. Do you? They have not really come forward."

Pelosi later said in a statement: "Zero tolerance means consequences. I have asked for an ethics investigation, and as that investigation continues, Congressman Conyers has agreed to step aside as Ranking Member."

Conyers'office recently confirmed issuing a settlement of 27,000 dollars to a former staffer who says she was fired for resisting the congressman's sexual advances, according to a NBC news report.

Conyers has acknowledged the payout, which he said amounted to a severance package, but he denied the allegations about what it was for, said the report.

Pelosi was also asked whether she would accept an apology from Democratic Senator Al Franken, who has apologized after being accused of unwanted touching from multiple women, if no other accusers surfaced.

"His accusers have to accept an apology," Pelosi said. "The victims have some say in all of this, as well. And that has happened in the past. People have accepted an apology, as is coming forth now that I see in the press."
The last time Congress set out to avert potentially crippling rate increases in the National Flood Insurance Program, Louisiana's delegation was largely on the same policy page. There were battles over who would get credit, mostly because the legislation hit in the middle of the 2014 U.S. Senate battle between Mary Landrieu and then-U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy. In the end, though, the state's representatives pretty much rowed in the same direction.

That's what made the House vote for a recent flood insurance reauthorization bill surprising. The bill passed after Majority Whip Steve Scalise negotiated a key compromise with the program's chief skeptic, Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas. But only two of his five colleagues joined him in voting yes, and the state's senators, both Republicans like Scalise, each have their own ideas.

Scalise sits in a unique spot as both a high-ranking member of the chamber's leadership and a representative of a coastal district full of homeowners who'd face steep cost hikes were the program to bring rates more in line with actual risk. His deal with Hensarling won a key protection for homeowners who've flooded in the past.

That wasn't enough to win the support of Democrat Cedric Richmond and Republicans Garret Graves and Ralph Abraham, all of whom voted no. Graves even testified against the bill, arguing that it wouldn't shore up the program's finances but would hit homeowners too hard.

The lack of consensus suggests that the ultimate legislation is still unformed, despite the program's Dec. 8 expiration date. In a recent Washington Post list of major issues that Congress is expected to confront in December, flood insurance didn't even make the top nine.

Grace Notes: Texas congressman's retirement could have ripples in Louisiana The latest in a steady stream of Congressional retirements won't change the balance of power

More likely the program will be extended for a second time, and a full airing of how to protect residents and make the program sustainable will be kicked down the road.

It may not be in the cards, but Louisiana homeowners might want to wish for a long delay, until 2019. Hensarling has announced his plans to retire at the end of the current term, and once he's gone, Congress could wind up looking a lot friendlier.
Chudleigh plays the easily stressed postgrad student Deb in the show who loses the notes for her thesis on Virginia Woolf which Warren finds and returns to her, beginning a friendship and helping to give her a new way to look at life.

"He has hidden depths," she says.

Her role as artistic director, she says, involves "keeping our vision focused" although as the company is a small collective, all the members have a say in what happens. She, like Howes, went to Dickson College musical director Antcliff, Osvald and Zatscher were at Gungahlin College. However, they all knew each other and when Osvald came up with the idea to mount the production - "It's her favourite musical," Chudleigh says - they all came together quickly and turned their minds to the challenge of pulling it all together.

"We did think it would be hard to find people but it turned out everyone knew someone who knew someone - it was easy to reach people," Chudleigh says.

After Ordinary Days, Collective Theatre have some other,smaller projects planned in January but then the future for the company is less certain as its members make plans for their individual futures. Both Howes and Chudleigh hope to gain admission to performing arts courses next year but have contingency plans if this doesn't happen Both say they would take a gap year and Chudleigh says she might study environmental science at ANU; Howes is interested in psychology and Indonesian at the same university.
A former political refugee from Central America accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl had four children with his alleged victim, a trial has heard.

But lawyers for the man, 58, told his ACT Supreme Court trial on Monday he had believed the girl was 17 when they were first introduced.

The man, 58, pleaded not guilty to four charges. Credit:Louie Douvis

The accused pleaded not guilty to two acts of indecency and five counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 16.

Prosecutors said the girl met the man when she was 14 and they lived at the same Canberra unit block in the 1990s.
A Sydney man accused of abducting his estranged wife and driving her halfway to Sydney was acquitted on Monday of a charge of unlawful confinement.

The man, 29, who has not been named to protect the identity of his now ex-wife, clapped once on hearing the verdict and waved to the jurors as they filed from court.

His family in the public gallery cried.

As the man left the Canberra court he spoke to a police officer across the room and said: "It's my turn now, it's my turn".

He said he had spent $110,000 on his defence since he was charged, before his lawyers ushered him out.
The world's biggest miner and Wall Street's top-ranked merger firm are among the high-profile backers of a remote solar project nestled among banana crops in Australia's far tropical northeast.

For BHP Billiton, it's a chance to unlock renewable technology for the global mining sector.

As mining companies grapple with energy costs and seek to curb emissions, Melbourne-based BHP is expanding its interest in solar power in Chile, the US and Australia, including the Lakeland Solar and Storage project, about 1900 kilometres north of Brisbane.

The venture is being developed by Conergy Asia & ME, which was bought in August by a unit of Goldman Sachs and Tennenbaum Capital Partners.
Hugh White, a provocateur among his academic colleagues, publishes a Quarterly Essay this week that reads like a Tom Clancy novel  a version, perhaps, of Red Storm Rising.

In this case White is not describing the possibility of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, but conflict between the US and China over the latter's encroachments in the South China Sea.

According to this scenario Washington and Beijing venture to the brink of nuclear conflict, before a US president  unnamed  pulls back with the words in a tense White House situation room: "I'm not willing to risk a major war."

Leaving aside White's version of superpower conflict that might be retitled "Red Star Rising", no one could reasonably say in 2017 that a confrontation between a rising power and a status quo power in our neighbourhood is out of the question.
The state's controversial land-clearing codes could be overturned by a legal challenge, with lawyers leading the action advising landholders to exercise "extreme caution" before removing native vegetation until the matter is resolved.

The NSW Nature Conservation Council on Monday launched legal proceedings in the Land and Environment Court seeking to have the new codes deemed unlawful.

Land clearing has been expanding in Queensland and the pace is expected to quicken in NSW. Credit:The Wilderness Society

Documents filed with the court by the council will argue Gabrielle Upton, the state's environment minister, "failed to adequately consider the principles of ecologically sustainable development" as required by law when making the codes.

Secondly, it argues Niall Blair, primary industries minister, failed to obtain agreement from Ms Upton before making the laws.
By AN BAIJIE (China Daily) 07:34, November 27, 2017

China hopes to help safeguard stability in region, Xi tells visiting military chief

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, president of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greets Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmar's Defense Services, before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY

China would like to play a constructive role in Myanmar's domestic peace process and safeguard the safety and stability of the border region, President Xi Jinping said on Friday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while meeting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmar's Defense Services, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

China respects the sovereignty of Myanmar and pays strong attention to Myanmar's domestic peace process, Xi said.

Noting that the traditional friendship between the two sides has a long history, Xi called for joint efforts with Myanmar to enhance strategic communication and to take each other's major concerns into consideration.

The military relations between the two countries are at the best level in their history, Xi said, adding that China supports military exchanges and cooperation with Myanmar.

The CPC's 19th National Congress has provided the blueprint for China's economic and social development, which will not only inject powerful impetus into China's development, but also bring new opportunities for other countries, including Myanmar, to cooperate with China, Xi said.

Min Aung Hlaing congratulated Xi on the success of the CPC's 19th National Congress as well as Xi's re-election as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

He expressed gratitude for China's long-term support toward the national and military development of Myanmar and its support for Myanmar's peace process.

Myanmar would like to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in all areas with China, he added.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has described Triple J's decision to move the Hottest 100 countdown from Australia Day as "dumb" and told the public broadcaster to reconsider.

The youth-focused radio station announced on Monday that it would no longer hold its popular annual countdown on January 26 after surveying tens of thousands of listeners, 60 per cent of whom supported it being moved.

The announcement also follows a campaign to shift the date from Australia Day out of respect for Indigenous Australians, many of whom see the current date as a celebration of invasion by European settlers.

While Indigenous musicians, the Greens and others have welcomed the move, it has been met with an immediate backlash. Senator Fifield condemned it as "an attempt to de-legitimise Australia Day" and said he would be asking the ABC board to reverse the decision.
Over on Sky News, Resources Minister Matt Canavan is trying his darndest to spin the Queensland election result the Coalition's way.

"The election result for the LNP was actually pretty positive, despite not being able to win," Senator Canavan says.

Just think about that for a little while.

Senator Canavan says the return of the Labor government is a "hurdle" for the Adani coal mine project.
The vote of the LNP fell to just 33.5 per cent under leader Tim Nicholls. Credit:Tracey Nearmy Labor also struggled, securing just 36 per cent (down 1.6 per cent) but it rose much higher on Greens preferences in the south-east and, as Attorney-General George Brandis lamented bitterly in the Senate, on preferences from One Nation in some key contests. As the member for the federal seat of Dawson, Mr Christensen is on the frontline of the LNP's erosion and has not hidden that he shares many One Nation's values. In this he differs from the other LNP George, Senator Brandis, who pointedly said flirting with the right-wing protest party was "poison". Mr Christensen's frustration at the city-centric cosmopolitanism of the Coalition federally is well known. But how that frustration will play out is less clear. The prospect of him crossing the floor to support a banks inquiry along with another Queensland LNP member, Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien, has become virtually certain.

Bringing the banks to heel has become a totemic cause for many voters who see them as the embodiment of untouchable corporate insensitivity, and who view the government's trenchant defence of them as part of the problem. For Mr Turnbull, this spells trouble as early as next week. Beyond that, some have even used the "d" word, defection, if Mr Christensen believes he must change parties, or more likely, become an independent, to hold his seat. Many Nats believe the 2008 amalgamation, which they had entered as the senior party, has failed. Most accept that undoing that is impractical but there is a wide recognition that being seen to be under the Liberal thumb is a gift to One Nation. They warn to expect a clearer distinction in policy and presentation in future. For senior lecturer in politics at Queensland's Griffith University, Paul Williams, the election "underscored the divide between inner and middle capital city suburbs on the one hand, and urban fringes, regions and rural Australia on the other". "While the old regional National party wing of the LNP lost far more to One Nation than the southeast Liberal wing, old Nationals will blame urban Liberals for the loss of seats in Brisbane and on the Gold and Sunshine Coast, and especially for the preference decision itself that saw moderate voters shift to Labor. These tensions will inevitably raise (if not immediately) questions about how a possible de-merger, with a stand-alone National party spruiking 'country values', can corral regional voters away from One Nation," he says.

And Dr Williams says, these tensions will also spill over to the federal joint party room before long. While a Galaxy poll published on Friday suggested Labor's Annastacia Palaszczuk would hang on thanks to a 52-48 lead, the idea that One Nation would cut such a swathe through the Liberal-National Party, while crashing itself, has caught many off-guard. Mr Christensen aside, probably the two unhappiest people on Saturday night were the LNP leader Tim Nicholls, and Ms Hanson, whose party looks to have secured just a single seat - that of Mirani. Malcolm Turnbull made his own feelings clear on Monday and they were starkly different to the appeasings of Mr Christensen. He told rebellious conservatives they had cut off their nose to spite their face. "Voting for One Nation, as we've seen in the Queensland election, has only benefited Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Labor Party," he said, with a clarity that had mysteriously eluded Mr Nicholls throughout his campaign.

Labor insiders were agreeably aghast at the LNP approach to One Nation, describing its decision to put the minor party ahead of Labor in 50 out of 61 seats - for literally nothing in return - as a crucial error of both tactics and values. Labor's Milton Dick, who holds the federal seat of Oxley, where Ms Hanson made her first foray into national politics, said the LNP campaign was punished for taking what he called "an unprincipled stance" and for looking like it was part of some kind of undisclosed arrangement. "When you support a party that doesn't share mainstream values, these are the consequences for the Liberal Party, they will be punished ... if this isn't a wake-up call to Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals, I don't know what is," he said. Dr Williams agreed the optics of the One Nation preference arrangement worked against the LNP, offering a powerful lesson for Mr Turnbull. "The federal Coalition must surely now know, after the West Australian and Queensland experiences, that preference 'arrangements' of any kind with One Nation turns off the 80 to 90 per cent of Australians who reject One Nation's values," he says.

Mr Christensen aside, Nationals in Canberra were playing down the implications nationally. Privately however, they are critically aware of how easily One Nation has exposed the LNP's weakest point - its unconvincing city-country dualism. The wisdom of Labor's approach was that it ensured the One Nation factor hit the LNP from both sides. By declaring itself above any deals, Ms Palaszczuk manouevred Mr Nicholls into either matching her declaration, or fudging. He chose the latter. Thus the LNP, which was already bleeding votes to One Nation in the regions, also lost votes on its leftward fringe because of its perceived association. It is a trap Mr Turnbull is alive to. Loading
LNP backbencher Warren Entsch has lashed his Coalition colleague George Christensen for blaming the Turnbull government for the party's disappointing result in the Queensland election.

Mr Entsch also targeted conservative Coalition frontbenchers for agitating publicly for religious exemptions in same-sex marriage legislation, to be debated in the Senate this week, urging them to step down if they want to freely express their views.

Senators and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's shadow cabinet have returned to Canberra for a week that will be centred around same-sex marriage, with Labor warning it will take a dim view of attempts to derail the bill's successful passage with amendments to allow religious exemptions.

Mr Turnbull is also dismissing any federal implications of the LNP's poor showing in Saturday's Queensland state election, with Nationals-aligned Mr Christensen blaming the federal leadership and policy direction for the result.
Rural and regional voters live different lives than city voters, have some different needs and concerns, and can at times feel neglected by a capital city that, in Queensland's case, is thousands of kilometres away.

In the aftermath of the Queensland election, city people seem (again) surprised by the fact not everyone sees the world exactly as they do. This falls into the category of information so obvious that pundits seem able to frequently forget it.

Who do you think would perform worse in an election: Malcolm Turnbull running as a local candidate in George Christensen's regional Queensland seat of Dawson, or Christensen running in Turnbull's inner-Sydney seat of Wentworth?

Both have a job to do for the Coalition: George Christensen with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Andrew Meares

This is NOT NEW. Why do you think the Nationals exist in the first place?

The federal Coalition's problem is that people forget it is a coalition. As in, made up of two distinct parties. The federal Liberal Party has only ever won  secured a majority of seats  in three elections in its own right. Robert Menzies never did it. John Howard did it once  in the 1996 anti-Keating landslide. The other two were in 1975 and 1977 in the wake of the Whitlam dismissal.

At other times they've ruled with the help of the National or Country parties. The couple might seem unlikely bed partners, but in reality their alliance is just one of many such cases that emerge in a two-party system like ours. Contrast "battler" Labor electorate voters in western Sydney with inner-city cosmopolitan types and there's a similar disconnect.

But in Queensland, in 2008, the Coalition went one further, formally merging the parties. The reason for this was peculiar to Queensland. As a historically dispersed, regional state, the Nationals had always been the dominant Coalition partner in Queensland. But as the state urbanised and the south-east population grew quickly, this was unsustainable. City voters didn't want a farmer for premier. At the 2006 election campaign, Liberal leader Bruce Flegg famously erred when asked who would be premier if the Liberals won more seats than the Nats. The uncertainty contributed to a heavy defeat, creating the appetite to solve the issue by merging the parties.
Former Glee actress Naya Rivera was released from police custody Sunday after being charged with domestic battery in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

For the Thanksgiving weekend, she and her husband, Pitch actor Ryan Dorsey, were with their 2-year-old son, Josey, in the town of Chesapeake, where Dorsey's family lives just outside Charleston.

Former Glee star Naya Rivera. Credit:AP

On Saturday night, police were called to an address in Chesapeake for a domestic violence complaint, according to a statement posted online by the Kanwaha County Sheriff's Office. A sheriff's deputy arrived at the scene and spoke with Dorsey, who said his wife, Rivera, "struck him in the head and face."

According to the sheriff's report, Deputy T. Dubiel saw "minor injuries consistent with" Dorsey's statement. Dorsey also showed the officer a video of the incident supporting his statement
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said wrinkles in Sydney's new train, bus and ferry timetable will be ironed out after commuters in Sydney's west expressed frustrations with the changes.

While the minister conceded that the changes had left some commuters, particularly in western Sydney, facing a more difficult journey to work, Mr Constance said increasing interchanges were simply "a growing pain of a global city".

Sydney's timetable upgrade, which began on Sunday, was the biggest shake-up since the city hosted the 2000 Olympics, Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said.

The new timetable promises an additional 1500 weekly train and 7000 weekly bus services across the city.
A woman who allegedly ran down her partner's mother before fleeing to a pub in the NSW Riverina region has been charged with attempted murder.

The 29-year-old woman used a Mitsubishi Triton ute to deliberately run down the 46-year-old woman during a domestic dispute in front of a house at Coolamon on Sunday morning, police say.

The older woman was pinned against the tray of a Toyota Hilux until the 29-year- old allegedly reversed and hit her a second time.

She then drove the ute towards the injured woman's 51-year-old partner but he escaped injury as the Triton smashed into another parked car, police say.

The accused was arrested at a nearby hotel while police seized the vehicle for forensic examination.
The LNP recorded a primary vote drop of 7.8 per cent, mostly in regional Queensland in areas previouslt held by the Nationals.

Pauline Hansons One Nation Party received 14 per cent of the vote on Saturday, peaking at more than 30 per cent in some seats, prompting early discussion about Queenslands merged LNP.

North Queensland federal MP Warren Entsch - one of the original opponents of Queenslands 2008 merger of the Liberal and National parties - believes its time for the LNP merger to be reconsidered.

Mr Entsch said it was not a decision for him, because Queenslands Parliament included a majority of conservative MPs who had only ever served as LNP members and not as either Liberals or Nationals.

But I think its a discussion that needs to be had, Mr Entsch said.

I am not going to be campaigning against it, that will be up to them. Theyre the ones that are going to have to make this bloody decision, not me.

But I argued against it at the time and I think in many ways Ive been proven to be right.

I think we were far better off in a coalition, which allowed us to be two separate parties and we agreed on whatever we could and we stood differently on those issues where we had no consensus.
Pauline Hansons One Nation party has claimed its first seat in Queenslands 2017 election with the electorate of Mirani, which spans from Rockhampton to Mackay in central Queensland.

One Nation candidate Stephen Andrew looks set to become both the first South Sea Islander ever elected to Queensland Parliament and One Nations only joy after up to six One Nation seats were predicted before Saturdays election.

One Nation's new Queensland MP Steve Andrew.

Both Fairfax Media and ABC election analyst Antony Green have called One Nation as the winner of the seat of Mirani, over Labors long-serving MP Jim Pearce.

Mr Andrew on Monday night had not yet claimed the win, but was excited to be told the seat had been decided.
(Global Times) 08:13, November 27, 2017

A firefighter checks the site on Sunday of the Nov 18 fire that killed 19 people and injured eight others in Xinjian village, Beijing's Daxing district. [Zou Hong/China Daily]

Organizations reach out to migrants to offer homes, jobs

Beijing authorities on Sunday denied there is a systematic campaign to evict migrant workers from the metropolis, after an ongoing city-wide campaign against unsafe buildings sparked huge criticism.

The Beijing Administration of Work Safety responded to their critics by denying there is any targeting of the "low-end population," in reference to migrant workers, media reported Sunday.

"It is irresponsible and groundless to say the campaign is to evict the 'low-end population.' There is no such phrase," an official from the administration, who refused to give his name, told the Beijing Youth Daily.

Beijing launched a 40-day safety inspection campaign after a deadly fire on November 18 that killed 19 people, including 8 minors, in an apartment block in Xinjian village, Daxing district. The campaign will last until the end of December.

Xinjian was all but deserted when the Global Times arrived Friday morning, as residents hurried to leave before a local government deadline to vacate illegal buildings by Friday night.

Illegal buildings, as well as places that are simultaneously used for housing, storage and production are among the places with a high frequency of safety violations, according to a document from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The inspection covers all districts in Beijing, with the focus on the rural-urban fringes, it said.

Timely help

Like migrant workers from other places affected by the safety inspections, the residents of Xinjian told the Global Times they were either returning to their hometowns, or trying to find a new home in the capital or other nearby places, such as Langfang in Hebei Province.

Individuals and organizations, including hostels, real-estate companies, NGOs, churches and restaurants have reached out by offering free accommodation, transportation or work opportunities to people who lost their homes and jobs.

Wang, an employee from a real-estate company in Gu'an county, Hebei Province, which is close to Beijing's Daxing disctrict, told the Global Times that his company offered more than 20 apartments for the homeless free of charge for up to three months.

"Before those spare houses are sold, they are available for the people in need. Bunk beds and toilets have been arranged," Wang said Sunday.

Some organizations arranged free minivans for migrants to help them move or send them to train stations. A platform called Caibang technology dispatched about 10 vans to help people in need on Saturday.

However, a man surnamed Yang who posted information and volunteered to offer places for migrants in Tongzhou district on Saturday, was told by local police to stop providing services and shut his house down.

"Police told me I need to be certified to house migrants and offer services for them," Yang told the Global Times on Sunday.

More than 8 million of Beijing's population are migrants, Caijing magazine reported.
The Greens may not have yet claimed a seat, but analysis of the weekend's state election results has shown parts of suburban Brisbane have developed a greenish political hue.

Half of Brisbanes electorates had at least one booth in which one in four people voted Green.

The Green's Brisbane performers - Kirsten Lovejoy (McConnel), Michael Berkman (Maiwar) and Amy McMahon (South Brisbane) with federal leader Richard Di Natale in the final days of campaigning last week. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Of the 22 electorates in Brisbane, three had more than 25 per cent of the primary votes going towards the Greens  Maiwar, South Brisbane and McConnel.

Due to preference flows as of Monday night, the Greens' Michael Berkman remained in contention to claim Maiwar.
Victoria Police has dropped an investigation into alleged drug dealing by two year 7 schoolgirls from Melbourne Girls' College who were suspected of having marijuana on campus.

The school called in police in October after the students, aged 12 or 13, were allegedly seen by teachers with the drug on the school's grounds. However police have now said there is insufficient evidence to charge the pair.

"Victoria Police has investigated the matter," a spokesperson said.

"Due to insufficient evidence, no charges have been laid in respect to this matter. Victoria Police will continue to work with the school to educate their community on the harms associated with illicit drug use."
Workers for a farming company harvest asparagus in the sand, near Trujillo, Peru. Credit:New York Times Yet climate change now threatens some of these ambitious undertakings, reducing lakes, diminishing aquifers and shrinking glaciers that feed crops. Here in Peru, the government irrigated the desert and turned it into farmland through an $US825 million ($1 billion) project that, in a few decades, could be under serious threat. "We're talking about the disappearance of frozen water towers that have supported vast populations," said Jeffrey Bury, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz who has spent years studying the effects of glacier melt on Peruvian agriculture. "That is the big-picture question related to climate change right now." A Quechua family harvests flowers at the foot of Huascaran, Peru, in the Cordillera Blanca region, where greenfields have been planted.. Credit:New York Times A changing climate has long haunted Peru. One past civilisation, the Moche people, built cities in the same deserts, only to collapse more than a millennium ago after the Pacific Ocean warmed, killing fish and causing flash floods, many archaeologists contend.

Now dwindling water is the threat. While more than half of Peru sits in the wet Amazon basin, few of its people ever settled there. Most inhabit the dry northern coast, cut off from most rain by the Andes range. While the region includes the capital, Lima, and 60 per cent of Peruvians, it holds only 2 per cent of the country's water supply. The glaciers are the source of water for much of the coast during Peru's dry season, which extends from May to September. But the ice cap of the Cordillera Blanca, long a supply of water for the Chavimochic irrigation project, has shrunk by 40 per cent since 1970 and is retreating at an ever-faster rate. It is currently receding by about 30 feet a year, scientists say. Farmers along the 160-kilometre watershed that winds its way from the snowcapped peaks to the desert dunes say they are already feeling the effects of the change. The retreat of the ice cap has exposed tracts of heavy metals, like lead and cadmium, that were locked under the glaciers for thousands of years, scientists say. They are now leaking into the ground water supply, turning entire streams red, killing livestock and crops, and making the water undrinkable. Temperatures in this area have risen sharply, leading to strange changes in crop cycles, farmers say. Over the past decade, corn - which since pre-colonial times was grown only once a year in the mountains - can now be harvested in two cycles, sometimes three.

That would be a windfall, said farmers like Francisco Castillo, if it were not for all the pests that now thrive in the warmer air. For Castillo, who plants corn and rice near the Santa River in Chimbote, it was a worm that became the scourge for him and neighbouring farmers. It suddenly started devouring their crops in the early 2000s. Then, last year, came the rats. "This wasn't a place you had rats before," Castillo said. For Justiniano Daga, a 72-year-old farmer, the breaking point for his cotton crops came when red ants ate away the buds. This year, he has decided to plant sugar cane instead and move some of his production to higher altitudes where it is colder.

"But the pests will arrive there, too," as temperatures keep rising, Daga said. The Chavimochic project, which lies just north of where the Santa River meets the Pacific Ocean, is a crown jewel of Peruvian agriculture and civil engineering. The government aimed to create industrial-scale agriculture in Peru's northern deserts through a sprawling system of locks and canals. The idea's supporters promised profits through exports to markets in North America, Asia and Europe, where the fruit seasons were reversed. The first phase of the project started in 1985 with a 80-kilometre canal that irrigated a valley and brought a large hydroelectric plant, providing electricity to residents. In the early 1990s, Peru began a second phase, which irrigated two more valleys and created a water treatment plant that served 70 per cent of the surrounding population. All told, more than 40,000 hectares of desert were brought into cultivation.

"Years ago, if I gave you a plot of land here, you'd have said, 'What do I do with this?'" said Osvaldo Talavera, a spokesman for the water district. "Now you'd say, 'Do you have another plot for me?'" Among the investors was Rafael Quevedo, a wealthy Peruvian landowner who began snapping up arid tracts after studying desert hydroponic techniques in Israel. His proposition was simple: With enough water and fertilizer, asparagus could be grown directly in the sand - and at yields far higher than in the United States because Peru has no cold season and more days of sun. "We've started a new chapter in the history of cultivation," said Quevedo, who runs a farming company called Talsa. Blueberries on a sandy hillside here grow to be five times as big as a normal-size blueberry before being sent to China, where they are prized for their size. A form of white asparagus, favoured by Europeans, is grown by burying the stalks in sand. A reservoir was created out of a dune. More than 8000 tonnes of produce grows here every year. Yet at the headwaters of the Santa River, in the mountain city of Huaraz, Cesar Portocarrero, a Peruvian climatologist, sees problems afoot for those downstream.

The temperature at the site of the glaciers rose 0.5 to 0.8 degrees Celsius from the 1970s to the early 2000s, causing the glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca to double the pace of their retreat in that period, Portocarrero said. Several times a year, he and other scientists would make brutal hikes into the glacial valleys, where they found entire sections of the ice cap gone. One part of an exposed glacier revealed fossils of dinosaur footprints. A 2012 study by scientists from the US and Canada showed that water flow in the Santa River was falling, and that at current rates, the river could lose 30 per cent of its water during Peru's dry season. "Each year, there is less water; each day, there is less water," Portocarrero said. When Odar Gimez headed to Chavimochic to look for work in 1997, he was only the third person to do so from his impoverished mountain town, where many eked out a living with the subsistence farming of corn. It was the start of a wave of migration from the mountainside to the coast set off by the arrival of the water.

One coastal town, Viru, went from a population of 9000 in the 1990s to 80,000 today. Another, Valle de Dios, was an empty desert canyon until it was invaded by squatters in the early 2000s. The new arrivals were mainly agricultural workers and transformed it into a full-fledged town with a pharmacy, a grocery store and a mechanic's garage. Gomez began to work at Talsa, and he headed to the mountains on weekends to recruit others to join him. "Now in my village you have empty homes where whole families have left," he said. "People are coming from the Amazon. Chavimochic was our salvation." The water has also transformed life on the coast. About a decade ago, a Danish-Peruvian operation installed running water and electricity in the town of Huancaquito Alto, where the business was employing many residents in its packing plant. The town of 2500 now has a municipal cleaning system that employs trash collectors.

"This was all grassland," said Edgar Garcia, a member of the town council, pointing at a new public plaza that was opened last year. Mercedes Beltran grew up in San Bartolome, which was barely a village, with only three families. Her grandfather fished from a traditional reed raft. "There was no market, we bartered between ourselves," she said. Now her family plants asparagus for the US market, benefiting from competition between buyers that keeps prices high, she said. Even the slightest reduction in the flow of the Santa River causes alarm here. The hydroelectric plant now provides power to 50,000 people; treated river water supplies 700,000 people. "In years to come, we will be fighting over water," said Gomez.

The government has struggled to offer solutions. One proposal would try to capture rain runoff from the Andes during the wet season in a large dam. But construction on the dam was led by Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company that admitted to paying $US800 million ($1 billion) in bribes throughout Latin America. The dam is now "completely paralysed," with few signs that it will be starting again soon, said Miguel Chavez Castro, the director of the project. Meanwhile, planners here continue to push for more irrigation. They are now eyeing desert tracts farther to the south for a new canal that would, at least for now, supply another 20,000 hectares of desert with water. But Garcia, the council member in Huancaquito Alto, is not taking any chances. He has refurbished an old well used by his father to hold water in the days before this area was irrigated, and he is building a new one near his asparagus fields. "Because of this water, our children have been able to go to university," he said. "But if there is no water from the Santa River, that all changes."
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Tanzanian President John Magufuli (3rd R, front) inspects the guards of honor aboard Chinese hospital ship Peace Ark in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Nov. 26, 2017. Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Sunday thanked Chinese doctors for treating more than 6,000 patients in the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark during its eight-day stay in Tanzania's Dar es Salaam. (Xinhua/Jiang Shan)

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Sunday thanked Chinese doctors for treating more than 6,000 patients in the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark during its eight-day stay in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli made a visit to the Peace Ark on Sunday to see off the Chinese doctors and navy soldiers.

The ship arrived in Dar es Salaam on Nov. 19, the second in seven years, on a humanitarian mission of providing free medical services to local residents.

During its stay in Tanzania, a total of 6,441 patients were treated by the Chinese doctors.

Magufuli said the move by the Chinese government to send the Peace Ark to Tanzania has futher improved the relationship between the two countries.

"The coming of the ship has written a new history in the cordial relationship of the two countries," he said.

Chinese ambassador to Tanzania Wang Ke hailed President Magufuli for his commitment toward improving people's lives.

In 2010-2015, the Peace Ark paid visits to Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. Around 120,000 people from a total of 29 countries and regions received free on-board medical and humanitarian services.

The current tour took the Peace Ark to Djibouti, Gabon, Sierra Leone, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Mozambique before sailing to Tanzania.
(Xinhua) 08:46, November 27, 2017

A man watches Mount Agung volcano spewing volcanic ash at Muncan village in Karangasem district, Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 26, 2017. Mount Agung volcano in Bali, the resort island of Indonesia, continued powerful eruptions on Sunday with a column of ash spread by up to four km high, forcing authorities to ban flight in the territory, an official of disaster agency said. (Xinhua/Monstar Simanjuntak)

JAKARTA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Mount Agung volcano in Bali, the resort island of Indonesia, continued powerful eruptions on Sunday with a column of ash spread by up to four km high, forcing authorities to ban flight in the territory, an official of disaster agency said.

The volcano erupted three times on Sunday morning with the latest eruption spewing the highest height of ash, four km, at 06:20 a.m. local time, spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The previous two eruptions on Sunday spread ash by up to 3,000 meters and 2,000 meters high, he added.

The volcanic ash spreads to the east and southeast of the crater, heading to nearby Lombok, a tourism resort in Flores island, the spokesman said.

Planes were banned from flying above the territory as the center of volcanology and geological hazard mitigation (PVMBG) has risen volcano observatory notice for aviation to the highest level, said the official.

"PVMBG has increased warning level from orange to red," he told Xinhua in a text message.

The authorities have been ordered to immediately distributed masks to the people as volcanic ash keeps pouring down several villages.

"People living in no-go zone must immediately evacuate," he stressed, referring to the 7.5-km dangerous zone.
Henri Giraud launches Argonne 2008 cuvee

Champagne Henri Giraud has announced the launch of Argonne 2008, a new vintage from of its cuvee.

The packaging for this limited edition vintage has been designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

Working with only simple, natural materials, he has encased Argonne 2008 in a cardboard tube  one of the architects preferred materials  crisscrossed with cardboard batons that cradle the bottle.

Hand embossed in the Henri Giraud workshops and gilded in gold leaf by the artist Uwe Schaeffer, the packaging is inspired by the Far East. Enclosed within, a bottle also embossed with gold leaf, engraved and numbered.

Made exclusively from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Henri Girauds Grand Cru vines in Ay, Argonne 2008 has been crafted from grapes which have been weighed, tasted and tracked to the very vine. This policy of transparency can be seen on each bottle, coded and laser engraved at the time of bottling, and again at the moment of labelling.

As Argonne 2008 is made and aged in small barrels made of oak from the forest of Argonne, Champagne Henri Giraud selects each individual tree. They are all geo-localized and tracked in partnership with the French Forestry Commission (ONF) directly in the forest; each parcel is identified and branded by the cooper, and the staves are then assembled using buckwheat flour to avoid any traces of gluten.

Claude Giraud, president of Champagne Henri Giraud explains: With Argonne 2008 we have entered a new dimension in wine. Rationality has given way to instinct and intuition. Plus, it has been an immense joy to work with Shigeru Ban, an outstanding individual with a passion for craftsmanship, fine materials and the noble gesture, who was able to perfectly capture the essence of this incredible wine in a box that is the epitome of purity. Argonne 2008 is an extraordinary achievement and an enthralling human enterprise that we are proud to present today. This craft, that our ancestors practiced no doubt by empiricism, is unique in the world. Thanks to our curiosity, we have combined science and experience with passion and expertise.



Argonne 2008 has an RRP of 290.

27 November 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor
RICHMOND, Va. - Two weeks ago, I encouraged readers to keep your casserole-loving selves in check by filling your Thanksgiving plates with side dishes heavy on roasted root vegetables, lightly breaded and baked Brussels sprouts, and simple gratins void of butter and gobs of cheese?

Yeah, well, leftovers dont necessarily count.

Many people look forward to the days after Thanksgiving because mashing a variety of foods together into one bowl or between bread slices and drenching everything in rich gravy is, at least where I come from, typically more accepted on those days rather than at the main event. But before you skip off to the kitchen on Friday (and again on Saturday, maybe) to construct a five-layer meal with no discernible resemblance to anything you ate on Thanksgiving, consider a few other ways to use up those beloved turkey day leftovers.

For example, you could fill roasted and charred poblano peppers with cheesy leftover mashed potatoes and corn. Hand pies turn into convenient, portable lunches and can be made either savory or sweet  think turkey, stuffing and a little gravy for some, then leftover sweet potato casserole for others. (We all know that casserole is basically dessert disguised as a vegetable, anyway.)

Then theres the cranberry sauce. So lovely on its own, the leftovers can be used for so many things  whipped into compound butters, slathered on those aforementioned unrecognizable sandwiches or baked into cakes and cookies for dessert, pancakes and waffles for breakfast.

But, and I may be going out on a limb here, what if you added that cranberry sauce to ... homemade ice cream?

My friends, welcome to the reason you make (or buy) cranberry sauce this year. In fact, if you intentionally keep the cranberry sauce tucked away behind the turkey and mashed potatoes where no one can find it on Thanksgiving Day, and then later make ice cream with it, likely no one will care.

Cranberries and cream strike an amazing combo here, so pull out the ice cream maker you havent seen since July and let it do most of the work.

This works with both smooth and chunky cranberry sauce, though Im partial to the chunky. Depending on your ice cream makers instructions, you can add the sauce at the beginning or the end of the process, but either way, that crimson color is a thing of beauty. Throw in some dark or white chocolate chips and youve got a magical dessert experience suitable for any lingering holiday house guests.

And an icy treat is the perfect complement to the stuffed peppers youll make for dinner. Not that poblanos are very spicy. On the official Scoville heat scale, they rank just below jalapenos, with just a slight kick.

To elevate their smoky flavor, you can roast the peppers first  just a few minutes under the broiler, until their skins are charred and blistered  but its not necessary. Slice down the middle, take out the seeds and membranes and then stuff them with leftover mashed potatoes (why not use up the corn, too) followed by your favorite cheeses before baking. Serve with chunky salsa or sour cream, or simply eat them on their own. Poblanos are large enough that one pepper per person makes an excellent side dish.

Lastly, the hand pies. If youre like me, you tend to have a package of ready-made pie crusts on hand for those moments when youre not up to making crusts from scratch. Or maybe in the midst of the pumpkin-pie prepping for Thanksgiving Day, you made one or two extras.

Either way, once the feast is over, pull out those extra crusts and stuff them with all sorts of leftovers. I found that sweet potato casserole is the perfect filling because you dont have to add any additional ingredients.

As a clever colleague pointed out, serving the hand pies warm from the oven with a scoop of cranberry ice cream would be sublime. And chances are, this time around, there will be no leftovers.

More recipes

Sweet Potato Hand Pies

To save time and effort after a day of cooking on Thanksgiving, use pre-made pie crusts for these convenient, tasty hand pies. Sweet potato casserole works well, since it's already sweetened.

Makes 10 to 12 hand pies.

2 pre-made or from-scratch pie crusts

2 cups leftover sweet potato casserole

 cup heavy or whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out dough and cut into roughly 4-inch circles with a large biscuit cutter or wide-mouthed glass. You may need to reroll scraps as you go.

Place 5 or 6 circles on a baking sheet. Top each circle with a scant tablespoon of sweet potato casserole and place another circle on top. Crimp the edges together with a fork.

Spread heavy or whipping cream on tops and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until tops are golden-brown.

 Holly Prestidge

Cranberry Ice Cream

Ice cream makers vary, so follow your machine's instructions. The cranberry flavor is subtle, but feel free to add white or dark chocolate chips or ribbons of chocolate fudge to complement it.

Makes approximately  gallon.

1 cup whole milk or half-and-half

 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cups cranberry sauce (chunky is better)

 cup chocolate chips, optional

Combine whole milk or half-and-half with sugar and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Pour in heavy cream and vanilla. Turn on ice cream maker and add contents to the bowl. Follow your machine's instructions for when to add other ingredients. I added the cranberry sauce and chocolate chips about 5 minutes before the ice cream was finished churning.

For better consistency, freeze immediately for at least 2 hours or overnight.

 Holly Prestidge
The battle against fever ticks rages on, and a group of Texas A&M University and French National Institute for Agricultural Research scientists are doing their best to determine where the fray will head by synthesizing historical models for use in curbing the pest globally.

Texas A&M's departments of wildlife and fisheries sciences and entomology and the French institute have collaborated for a number of years to model systems approaches meant to address ecological and regulatory questions about fever ticks, said Pete Teel, who works within the entomology department's Tick Research Laboratory.

Teel, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research entomologist, said the two species of cattle ticks affecting Texas, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and R. (B.) microplus, were at the center of the study. These two closely related species are able to transmit pathogens causing bovine babesiosis, or Texas cattle fever. Both ticks and pathogens were brought to the U.S. on livestock with early settlers from other parts of the world.

Economic losses in cattle include direct losses in meat and milk production through tick blood-feeding. The R. (B.) microplus species now plagues cattle throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It also now is recognized as one of the world's most pesticide-resistant parasites.

Teel said global prevention of disease and of the direct economic effects of tick parasitism is dependent on tick suppression or elimination. Mortality rates in native cattle to bovine babesiosis range from 70 to 90 percent.

Hsiao-Hsuan "Rose" Wang, an AgriLife Research scientist at the wildlife and fisheries sciences department's ecological systems laboratory, is lead author on the recently published "Quantitative models of Rhipicephalus ticks: historical review and synthesis," which appeared in the Sept. 14 Ecosphere Journal. Go to onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1942/abstract to see the abstract, then click on the article.

Wang was joined by co-authors Michael Corson, researcher with the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Ouest, Rennes, France; Bill Grant, AgriLife Research ecologist, department of wildlife and fisheries sciences, College Station; and Teel to conduct the work.

Wang said the work is meant to put a global perspective on a number of aspects researchers encountered and how these modelers approached various problems differently.

The U.S. long has had a permanent quarantine zone hugging the Mexican border to prevent the re-establishment of ticks from Mexico. As a result of recent outbreaks of cattle ticks in Texas, there are 2,720 premises under quarantine covering almost 9 million acres.

"Rhipicephalus ticks are among the most studied group of ticks in the world due to their wide global range and the devastation they cause," Teel said.

Researchers have developed quantitative computer models of Rhipicephalus ticks since the early 1970s to study the complex biological and ecological relationships that influence the management or eradication of ticks and tick-borne diseases, he said.

"For our study, we reviewed the 45-year history of Rhipicephalus models developed first in Australia, a decade later in North and South America and then still later in Africa," he said.

According to the paper, these started as analytical models studying parts of the ticks' life cycles, progressed to simulations of their complete life cycles on to the current emphasis, which is on GIS-based bioclimatic envelope models derived from remotely sensed data and tick presence records, and then back to simulations with spatially explicit, agent-based models.

"Those earlier models predicted management techniques, such as pasture rotation, resistant cattle and anti-tick vaccines," he said. "But with global climate change, new wildlife hosts and the ticks' potential for widening its global reach, our study emphasis concentrated on the complexities of tick-host-landscape interactions and the potential for range expansion."

Teel said their study and future efforts would focus on the development of clearer comparisons for Rhipicephalus ticks to provide ways to hypothesize specific cause-effect relationships, test tick abundance patterns and pathogen prevalence in the field, and simulate how these patterns might be interrupted to achieve tick suppression or eradication.

Texas Animal Health Commission photo

Cattle fever tick in hand.
AMARILLO -- Ensuring workers are legally able to work in the U.S. and are documented properly is important for every agricultural business, whether it is a processing plant, a dairy or an orchard, said two Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists.

Ellen Jordan, AgriLife Extension dairy specialist in Dallas, and Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, AgriLife Extension agricultural law specialist in Amarillo, have joined forces to write a publication to help those in the agricultural industry deal with the issue.

They wrote the publication after the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, conducted audits and raids at dairies, slaughter plants and other agricultural businesses in recent years.

The Difference between an ICE Raid and an ICE Audit: Are You Prepared? can be downloaded from the AgriLife Bookstore at bit.ly/2iEwwLc.

"Whether an ICE audit or raid occurs at a traditional agriculture business such as a dairy or produce farm or at an urban business, the impacts can cripple a business," Jordan said. "In animal agriculture, if employees are lost or quit out of fear, it might be difficult in the short term to take proper care of the animals. For produce farms and fruit orchards, crops might rot in the field when insufficient numbers of workers are available."

Both Jordan and Lashmet said compliance with immigration laws is critical for all businesses, as "knowingly hiring" someone unauthorized to work in the U.S. is illegal and can result in legal fees, fines and prison time, and could threaten a business' survival.

ICE audits and raids are two different events and employers should understand the differences and their rights with regard to each.

"For example," Lashmet said, "an ICE audit will generally involve a Notice of Inspection rather than a search warrant, and an employer has three business days to comply with the documents requested. On the other hand, an ICE raid will involve a search warrant and agents will likely demand information identified in the warrant be provided immediately."

Lashmet said the key to surviving an ICE raid or audit is to be prepared for such an incident before it occurs. She recommends having company policies and procedures in place to ensure every employee knows what to do in the event ICE comes knocking.

"This is particularly critical on a dairy, where cows do not like their daily routines changed," Jordan indicated. "The procedures should also include biosecurity measures to protect the health of the cows."

Additionally, it is critical for all employers to comply with the rules governing an Employment Eligibility Form, or I-9, compliance for all employees.

"Ensuring a company has its Form I-9s complete and in compliance with the law is the best defense to claims of knowingly hiring illegal workers," Lashmet said.

To ensure a business is ready for an audit, she suggested conducting an internal audit through an outside human resource consultant or an attorney. These internal audits review information and check compliance just as an ICE audit would do.

In the event there are corrective measures needed, employers would have the chance to seek additional information from employees and ensure compliance before an actual audit ever occurred.

Other tips offered in the publication state employers should:

 Have an appointed spokesperson to meet with ICE agents.

 Immediately contact counsel if ICE comes to the business.

 Always be respectful to agents.

 Never alter or destroy any documents.

 Always ask to inspect a search warrant if one is being relied upon.

 Insist upon a receipt identifying all written documentation removed from the business by ICE agents.

"Ensuring compliance with immigration laws, being prepared in the event an audit or raid occurs, and understanding one's rights is critical for all businesses to ensure success and survival," Lashmet said.

Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter

Workers are essential on dairies to maintain the consistent schedule cows need.
Giving Tuesday -- the Tuesday after Thanksgiving -- has become an international day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide.

Kyle Gammenthaler, coordinator of social impact initiatives and instructor of the strategic philanthropy course at Texas A&M University's Mays Business School, offers the following tips for nonprofit organizations looking to maximize their donations and support ahead of this year's Giving Tuesday.

 Tell your story: People are naturally drawn to stories and examples of impact. Do not simply rely on the generosity of people, but make a compelling case for why your organization is making a strategic difference in this world. Telling the community how many meals you distributed is one thing. However, it would be more advantageous to tell a story about "John Doe" and how his interactions with your organization not only filled his stomach but helped give him tools to improve his overall well-being.

 Develop a strategy that cultivates online and one-time givers: Year-end and online gifts can be the beginning of a long-term relationship.

 Keep it simple: Make it easy for people to give. In our fast-paced world, it shouldn't take more than one or two clicks on a website for someone to give. Make the process to give obvious, simple, and quick.

 Mind your manners: Follow up with givers, no matter the size, to appreciate the gift. Thank you goes a long way in developing long-term relationships with donors.

 It's not all about the money: Of course nonprofits need funds to operate, but so many people have skills, knowledge and abilities that can drastically impact your organization and your beneficiaries. Find ways to engage and appreciate the individuals that give the "gift" of time or service.

Giving Tuesday also provides an opportunity for individuals to consider their own personal giving goals, especially in light of the ease of submitting donations online.

As a result of the support of the movement by technology companies, individuals will receive a number of these appeals via their social media feeds and other digital channels. Gammenthaler offers the following tips to help individuals navigate through the many appeals:

 Your gift matters: Every single dollar has impact. Philanthropy and giving is not retained for only the high-end givers. Each individual and family should consider their own capacity to give and develop a strategy accordingly.

 Be selective: If you are having trouble determining where to give, then start locally. Look in your community to see what organizations align with your values and beliefs. Expand this search as necessary, but find a couple of organizations that you want to support and dive in.

 Be informed: Ask questions. Try to understand what the organization is doing to solve its mission. An informed gift is vastly more powerful than an uninformed gift. Move beyond what you "think you know" about an organization and go straight to the source.

 Consider your motivations: Are you giving out of obligation? A sense of duty? It feels good? You've been affected by the particular organization? Tax deduction? Understanding your motivations may help you make more strategic decisions.

McDonald is a communications specialist at A&M's Mays Business School.
Photo taken on November 10, 2017 shows the cargo train during a launching ceremony of the railway route in Kouvola, Finland. With more than 40 containers on it, the cargo train bound for Chinese inland city of Xi'an departed Kouvola, southeastern Finland, on November 10, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

The "China-CEE 16+1" concept was adopted in 2012 by China and 16 Central and Eastern European or CEE countries. Focused primarily on economy and trade, one of the keys to expanding the links are the series of express trains which run between China and Europe.

Since the launch of the first China-Europe freight rail line linking Chongqing with Duisburg, Germany in March 2011, freight volume between China and European countries has risen in each of the last six years.

Thanks to the series of new routes launched by China-Europe Railway Express, more and more Chinese companies are now choosing to use rail to import goods from Europe.

The 1,000th freight train linking China and Europe in 2017 departs from the Yiwu West Railway Station in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, May 13, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

Kevin Wang is the European market sales director for the Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus Company. He said the company started to use the China-Europe freight trains in 2014, and often uses the railways to import engines and other components from Western Europe such as Italy. They are also planning to start shipping their buses to Eastern Europe via the rail lines.

Compared with air and sea freight, the trains have their own advantages. Kevin Wang said previously the company mainly shipped products by sea. Since 2014, however, the bus manufacturer has benefited from the trains between China and Europe, as the rails are cheaper than air freight while being faster and more punctual than transportation by sea.

The China-Europe freight train is a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

Photo taken on May 22, 2017 shows freight train X8428, with a total travelling length of 9,900 kilometers and bound for Minsk of Belarus, departs from Shenzhen's Yantian Port, marking the opening of a new China-Europe freight train route starting from Shenzhen. [Photo: Xinhua]

Kevin Wang said that the Belt and Road Initiative has opened up new opportunities not only for Chinese companies, buy also European ones.

He takes his company as an example, saying that "producing buses usually requires very high-cost investment. In Eastern Europe, people were used to buying second-hand buses from Western Europe; but now, with the support of the special initiative, they can pay the same amount of money and get brand-new buses. It's a good move to help Chinese enterprises go abroad."

Photo taken on May 22, 2017 shows freight train X8428, with a total travelling length of 9,900 kilometers and bound for Minsk of Belarus, departs from Shenzhen's Yantian Port, marking the opening of a new China-Europe freight train route starting from Shenzhen. [Photo: Xinhua]

Apart from bringing opportunities for domestic companies, the China-Europe freight trains also promote economic exchanges along the Silk Road.

Wang Yiwei, Director of Center for EU Studies of Renmin University of China, says rail routes have boosted connectivity between China and Europe.

"China-Europe Railway Express has been boosting the logistics and transportation, and a new type of the business between China and Europe. Most importantly, it's about the new value chain distribution, because it's located in the heartland of China and European cities. It helps China to cooperate with European local governments."

In addition, he suggests that China-Europe freight trains can narrow the gap between the 16 European nations, as well as the rail links should also help with the integration of Europe itself.

ny of the railway route in Kouvola, Finland. With more than 40 containers on it, the cargo train bound for Chinese inland city of Xi'an departed Kouvola, southeastern Finland, on November 10, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

China now has 57 China-Europe freight train routes, with trains from 35 Chinese cities traveling to 12 European countries.
WASHINGTON  When is a lie not a lie? Answer: When Donald Trump is telling it, then it is called fake news, which he applies to support persons and causes that are startling twisted and wrong-headed but suit his purpose at the moment.

Take Roy Moore, for instance, who is accused with considerable substantiation, of hitting on teenagers as young as 14 when he was in his 30s. If you havent been asleep for six months, you will know that Roy Moore is the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. He once was a local prosecutor and then a judge with an impressive record of being sanctioned and removed from the bench.

He now also has the backing of Donald Trump despite the GOP leadership that not only thoroughly disavows him but is searching for a way to prevent him from taking office if he wins. Why then would the Republican chief executive who is also the titular head of the party lend his backing to Moore?

Well, because, Trump says, Moore denies the allegations of numerous women who now are grown up and does so totally. Besides, what the country doesnt need is another liberal in the Senate, a title he ascribes to Moores Democratic opponent, who would help bollox up his (Trumps) initiatives even further than they have been. In other words, a Senate vote is more important here.

What the prevaricator-in-chief isnt saying is that a vote for Moore also would be a vote for Trumps former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who left the White House for one reason alone, to rebuild (make that reconstruct) the Republican Party pretty much in the image of a clock broken nearly 100 years ago and never fixed. One that reflects the views of white supremacy and nationalism and isolationism and separate but equal and military might, among other things associated with the one party South the Democrats finally abandoned after the Supreme Court overturned school segregation and voting rights restrictions in the 1950s and 1960s civil rights era.

What better place to start than Alabama where the message designed by Bannon and used extensively by Trump in his campaign for Oval Office glory resonated dramatically with voters who considered themselves underprivileged and deprived by Barack Obama. If youve already forgotten Obama, hes the one who Trump contended wasnt born an American and, in fact, was a Muslim and, oh yeah, was carrying black privilege a bit too far.

But he finally decided that really was fake news and reluctantly agreed that the African-American president really wasnt either but still shouldnt have been elected as the first to break the color line on the presidency. Perhaps that distinction should have gone to Trump himself. After all he has orange hair.

The Alabamans who got Moore the masher (if he is what all those women say he is) now have the chance to correct a big-time mistake. Or they can compound the crime by sending him to the place where there are female pages of high school age. It doesnt matter anyway because it is all a big lie, not as big maybe as the allegations of sexual harassment activities of Trump himself brought by women. But thats fake news even though Trump gave TV personality Billy Bush a quick tutorial on how to do it. Just grab them by the ..., Trump said. Bush laughed and lost his job. Trump should never have won his.

So, the biggest fish yet to fry in this pandemic of sexual mistreatment of women is trying his best to boost the fortunes of a like kind. Who cares about Charlie Rose? (good grief, Charlie Rose!) or Sen. Al Franken or Harvey Weinstein or Louis C.K. or on and on and on. At least some of them have admitted, to some degree, their sins.

Moore can dissemble all he wants, but when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the first day of those seeking retribution for Moores lechery says I believe them and the number of those who have come forth mounts substantially, Moores nose gets longer and longer.

Dan Thomasson is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service and a former vice president of Scripps Howard Newspapers. Email him at thomassondan@aol.com.
Making a return to our two favourite summer locations, Mount Maunganui and Nelson in early January 2023, we've got whiff of the first release lineup and me oh my, yes boy
Rocky Mounts Carilion Clinic Outpatient Therapy offers programs and a newly formed a community support group to provide Parkinsons patients with specialized therapy to improve everyday living.

Patients with progressive neurological diseases like Parkinsons frequently suffer from speech and physical limitations that affect routine activities. While many people are likely to have heard of the degenerative disorder, they may not be aware of how the condition starts. It can develop when there is a loss of brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine, which coordinates movement.

Burke Rehabilitation Hospital reported that close to 500,000 people in the United States suffer from Parkinsons, and about 50,000 other are diagnosed each year based on research from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Parkinsons normally manifests in people over 60, but can be present earlier in life as well. Physical therapy assistant Amy Meador said that Parkinsons is second only to Alzheimers in neurological conditions.

She also said there is no known cause of the condition, but researchers believe it could be a combination of genetics and environmental factors. She said there are medications that can help the symptoms, but exercise has been proven beneficial. Exercise can improve brain function and slow the progression of the disease, experts say.

In 2012, Carilion Clinic started the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment Big program for victims of the disease. The program is overseen by Meador and physical therapist Lettitia Furrow, and is a research-based intensive, high amplitude exercise program that helps stimulate motor learning and challenge the motor and sensory systems, according to the clinic.

We want them to move bigger, Meador said. Weve had great success with our patients.

Its anticipated that by continuing to practice the large movements, the patients will be able to perform everyday tasks more easily.

Carilion Clinic also offers the LSVT Loud program, which helps improve voice and speech to help with voice projection.

Clinicians must be certified in order to treat patients in the LSVT programs, and the clinic currently has three certified physical therapists. Together the three physical therapists have treated more than 45 patients through the programs, Meador said.

LSVT treatments consist of sessions four days a week for four consecutive weeks, individual one-hour sessions, daily homework and carry-over exercises. Participants must be referred by a physician, and the treatments are covered by most insurance companies.

Most recently, the clinic has decided to offer a Parkinsons support group to community members who may be suffering from the disease and their families.

We want to get the word out to the community that we have these programs, Meador said. A lot of time it helps to be with people that are going through the same things.

Meador said the support group was started as a trial to see how it would work, and was well-received by participants.

Patients seem to really enjoy it and take back useful information they can use at home, she said.

The support group is open to the community and offers guest speakers, occasional small groups, one-on-one time and helpful information.

The group meets about every three months; the next meeting will be held on Dec. 6 at the Franklin Center in Rocky Mount from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The guest speaker will be Joseph Ferrara, a Carilion Clinic neurologist from Roanoke. Pre-registration is required by calling the clinic at 800-422-8482 or online at http://www.cvent.com/d/htq0h1. Light refreshments will be served.
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STAMFORD  It all started with an email about seven years ago.

Stamford native Eric Housman-Houston and Einat Amitay didnt know each other, but they had a connection.

Amitay sent Houston an email after spending several years researching his father, Fred Hausman.

She said, you may not know this but your father is very famous in Israel, Houston said of her email. I thought to myself, this must be junk mail or something.

But Amitays email mentioned, And There Was Evening, a childrens book Houstons father had illustrated decades earlier.

I remembered this book because my dad had found a copy at a tiny little book store in Israel in the early 1990s and brought it home to us, said Houston, who now lives in New York. He couldnt believe it had been published.

Unbeknownst to his father, the book was published in 1950 and gained widespread popularity, Houston said.

Amitay, who had spent years researching the book for a personal project on Kibbutz illustrators, was trying to learn about Hausman, a search that eventually led her to Houston.

That email, Houston said, began his own quest to tell his fathers story. Houstons research culminated with him writing a book  The Lost Artist  that was recently published.

I wanted to tell my fathers story, but I never thought I would, Houston said. His story was just too complex and foreign to me. But when Einat came to me with her story  with her search for my father  I was very moved. It just seemed like this story was too much to not want to tell.

In 1934, the 13-year-old Hausman fled Nazi Germany on his own and headed to the Ben Shemen Youth Village in Palestine.

Born in 1921 in Bingen am Rhein, Germany, Houston said his father saw the writing on the wall as the Nazi party rose to power and violence against Jews escalated.

About seven years after escaping, Hausman enlisted in the British Army, eventually earning in 1944 the Distinguished Combat Medal  the highest honor awarded to a non-British citizen in the British Army.

But more than 50 years later, Houston claims his fathers medal was stolen by a British crime ring in the British Ministry of Defense and illegally sold at auction to a powerful British billionaire.

The book, Houston said, was his way of telling his fathers story and about the stolen medal with the hope of garnering support to reclaim it.

That medal is the most important medal to the state of Israel, he said. And my father felt that medal should go to his grandchildren. When he was dying, his last request was for us to get his medal back.

Houstons book is available on Amazon. He said the proceeds will support his legal efforts to reclaim his fathers medal with any remaining funds donated to a charity for veterans.

People have shown a lot of interest in my fathers story, he said. And theres been a lot of interest in my fathers stolen medal. I didnt write this book to make money. I wrote it because I wanted to tell my fathers story. I wanted people to know that these people  this crime ring  that stole my fathers medal were dishonoring his memory and those of other soldiers.

kat.russell@stamfordadvocate.com
The 12th Senior Officials Meeting of the FOCAC held in Beijing (Photo: website of the Foreign Ministry of China)

Sierra Leone is part of the 53 African Countries that participated in the 12th Senior Officials Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing in the Peoples Republic of China on Friday. Sierra Leone was represented by Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, which includes: Dr. Michael Kargbo, Deputy Director General Policy Department (Head of Delegation); Mohamed S. Kargbo, Director, Middle East and Asia Division; Ms Mamusu Tarawallie, Policy Analyst, Middle East and Asia Division; and Robert Koroma, 2nd Secretary, Embassy of Sierra Leone in the Peoples Republic of China.

Held with the aim of reviewing the implementation of the FOCAC and the 6th Ministerial Meeting and the next FOCAC to be held in Beijing next year, the meeting was also attended by 35 Members from Chinas Follow-up Committees and their African counterparts and some other African Organizations.

The meeting reviewed the implementation of outcomes of the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit and the 6th Ministerial Conference, discussed the preparations of the 2018 FOCAC Conference; Review the adoption of the minutes of the Senior Officials Meeting, and etc.

Chen Xiaodong, Co-Chair of Chinese Follow-Up Committee of FOCAC and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs said there has been a comprehensive job done on follow-ups as instructed by President Xi Jinping after the 2015 FOCAC held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

(L-R) Dr. Michael Kargbo, Mohamed S. Kargbo, Ms Mamusu Tarawallie and Robert Koroma

China and Africa, he said have maintained a very good relationship over the years. He reported that two-thirds of the US$60 billion development support pledged by the Chinese President Xi Jinping has been put into use on various projects implemented and identified for implementation.

China contributes strongly to Africas development and poverty reduction efforts. The US$60 billion development package covers the areas of industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.

The new goal set by President Xi during the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Congress, entering a new era of socialism with Chinese Characteristics, is expected to bring greater hope and rewards in the China-Africa relations.

Chen continued by saying that this is a new opportunity for China and Africa to redouble efforts and lay a solid foundation for a common prosperity. He pointed out that as China is entering a new era starting next year, and Africa is having its 2063 Agenda, there is a need to work together to achieve both dreams for the benefit of the two people.

China is currently contributing over thirty percent to global economic growth, and it is the second largest economy in the world.

We do not intend to export or force any country to implement our culture or ideas, but we are always willing to work with anyone for greater achievements, Chen said, he recommended that there is need to implement the outcomes of the FOCAC, and also seek complementariness and demonstrate unity and progress.

A statement was written by Nomaindiya Mfeketo, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Co-Chair Country of FOCAC; was read by Professor Anil Sooklal, South African FOCAC Coordinating Senior Official. He stated Africas willingness to join the development path of economic cooperation with China so as to build a prosperous society in the continent. He said since the FOCAC was established, there has been a continuous improvement on China Africa relations and assured that greater efforts will be made to ensure that the resolutions and plans in the 2015 FOCAC are implemented.
Who says you can't become an entrepreneur at 5 years old?

That's when Dean Kamen, legendary inventor of the Segway scooter, insulin pump and the portable dialysis machine, built his first gadget.

"I decided that inventing, especially solving a really important problem like making your bed automatically would be a great thing to do. And from that day forward I spent my life trying to looking at the same problems everyone else looks at, see them differently and try to figure out what technology that's now available, can be applied in some new way to this old problem to solve it," Kamen explained.

Related: A Look at the Demanding Schedule of Elon Musk, Who Works in 5-Minute Slots, Skips Breakfast and Avoids Emails

Today, he holds over 440 patents, and although he doesn't make automatic bed makers anymore, as the president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation he's found extraordinary ways to use science and technology to innovate and improve the quality of life for millions of people across the globe.

Kamen's big ideas range from the iBot, a wheelchair that raises people up to eye level and even climbs stairs to help paralyzed people, like veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, get their dignity back, to the Slingshot, a water purification device that tackles the developing world's clean drinking water health crisis.

Another big issue DEKA is trying to solve involves growing organs from stem cells to hopefully help 300,000 people on the organ donation waiting list.

But, Kamen is not just inventing things; he has created a platform for young engineers to follow in his footsteps. Through the not-for-profit organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), he is inventing inventors.

Related: 8 Hugely Successful People Who Didn't Graduate College

FIRST was founded nearly three decades ago to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. Today, it's known as the "Olympics of robotics" and has impacted millions of students around the world. This year over 460,000 students, kindergarten through high school, and 230,000 mentors, from 86 countries will take part in the competition.His mission: to make STEM cool for kids.

I wanted to get to know the genius behind these incredible accomplishments, so I met up with him at the FIRST Inspire Gala in New York City. Each year the FIRST Inspire Gala honors outstanding individuals who have positively impacted STEM education. Supporters have included President Barack Obama; Irwin Jacobs, the founding chairman and CEO of Qualcomm; and Jackie Bezos, president and co-founder of Bezos Family Foundation.

Here are 11 things you likely don't know about Kamen.

What key trait do you think defines the most successful innovators in the world?

Kamen: They never ever give up. The philosophy of a cockroach, you can step on me over and over again but I will not die.

Biggest reason entrepreneurs fail?

They lose their vision or their courage and then it's over.

Does Dean Kamen have fear?

The only thing I fear is running out of time. We can deal with any problem out there except time. Eventually it will take us all, so I want to use every second, every hour, every minute as efficiently as I can.

Related: That Time Bill Gates Answered a Tech Support Call ... and Crushed It

Favorite thing to collect?

Knowledge. New ideas.

I also collect all sorts of old technology, but it's not the technology that amazes me, it's understanding why did they build that, what problem were they trying to solve?

Favorite junk food?

Ice cream and coffee.

Book your reading right now?

Math For The Frightened. I am trying to understand why some people don't see mathematics as beautiful and elegant like they see art or poetry. So, I like to read books by people who think they have understood that problem so I can help translate their ideas into opportunities to get more kids to love math and science.

Related: How 5 Entrepreneurs With Household Names Turned Failing Businesses Into Successes

Who gets to Mars first, Elon Musk or Richard Branson?

I think that field will have so many exciting new entrances, it's probably a dark horse that you haven't seen yet, and I think the whole transformation of space is going to surprise everybody at every new turn.

If you could be any animal what would you be?

The one that lives the longest

One super power you'd like to have?

Go back in time.

Ten years from now one industry that will no longer exist?

I think you will see industries that are dangerous and dirty and boring go away and be replaced by industries where people can be creative.

Dangerous manual labor will be replaced by robotics or eliminated. If we need coal, will we find other ways to mine it instead of putting people's lives at risk.

One person you got excited about when he/she followed you on Twitter?

Every time I hear from any kid that's involved in FIRST who starts a conversation by saying something like, "I got involved in FIRST and because of it X." At that instant, that kid is my favorite kid.

Related: This 350-Year-Old Company Shows It's Possible to Innovate in Any Industry

Related:

Top 3 Ways Machine Learning Will Create Jobs

The Inventor Behind the Segway Scooter and Insulin Pump Predicts Who Will Get to Mars First -- and It's Not Elon Musk or Richard Branson

From Expanded Uses of Blockchain to the Mainstreaming of Machine Learning, Here Are 5 Emerging Business Trends to Watch in 2018



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


HASTINGS  About twice a month, yogis are nama-staying after class for craft brews at First Street Brewing Company.

The Hastings brewery hosts a yoga class where people can exercise, relax, and relax some more while having a pint afterward.

Megan Arrington-Williams, director of operations and marketing, said First Street started doing Tap Room Yoga: Beerlightenment in August. She said she saw the concept of drinking beer while doing yoga pop up on her Facebook feed and around the country.

In addition to being the director of operations and marketing, Im also a certified yoga instructor, Arrington-Williams said. Shes been an instructor for about five years.

She said people kept bringing up the idea to her, asking if First Street was going to host a yoga class with beer sometime. First Streets class isnt the type where people drink while doing yoga, mainly because holding a pint glass instead of a bottle would be difficult. She said at the first class about 10 people showed up. The class is always held on Sundays.

Arrington-Williams, who teaches yoga at Avani Day Spa & Yoga Studio, teaches some of the Beerlightenment classes and also brings in other instructors from the area.

We have a really good yoga community here in Hastings especially, so I wanted to bring that opportunity here, Arrington-Williams said.

Kim Borrell taught the class at noon on Sunday at First Street Brewing Company. Borrell has been an instructor for about three years and has practiced yoga for 10 years.

I just loved the way it made me feel, Borrell said about yoga and why she became an instructor, noting that she gets a workout and relaxation time. I wanted to share that with other people.

Borrell said being in a brewery doing yoga is unique and it offers different scents.

In yoga, you use a lot of your senses, Borrell said. It just kind of adds in with the relaxation of yoga class.

Borrell said having the beer after class extends the relaxation of the yoga class instead of rushing off to the next thing.

Thats what we try to teach as yoga instructors is to relax, Borrell said, as her Thornberrys Best pint rested on the table.

In addition to First Street brews, Arrington-Williams said they also have Kombucha on tap for after the yoga class. The class costs $10, which includes the price of the pint. Arrington-Williams said no yoga experience is necessary to participate, but those attending should bring their own yoga mat, towel and water bottle. The next class is planned for Dec. 10 from noon to 1 p.m. at First Street Brewing Company at 119 N. Saint Joseph Ave. For more information, visit the First Street Brewing Company Facebook page or call (402) 834-2400.
Chinese construction companies said on Sunday that the demand in the Middle East region remains high despite the geopolitical issues.

The remarks were made during the largest construction and building maintenance fair in the Middle East and North Africa, known as "Big 5," which attracted 2,500 firms from 60 countries.

Speaking to Xinhua at the Chinese pavilion, Vincent Deng, Managing Director of China's Tuojia International Trade Company, said that they came to the fair because they were looking forward to the potential of the market in the Middle East.

For Seven Huang, Manager of China's Hongbo Adhesive Technology company, it is the second time he traveled to Dubai for business.

"We offer a wide range of adhesive tapes with various prices, as we figured out that in the two biggest Gulf markets, namely the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, we can serve our customers better if we offer products of different qualities," added the Chinese businessman.

Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Fairmont Hotel, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia /VCG photo

"Saudi and the UAE are growing markets for us, we are also exporting to Iran," said Gina Zhou, International Business Manager of Zhengfeng Iron and Steel Corporation.

She added that the Chinese government is regulating the steel market well, "so that there is a balanced market instead of an oversupply."

China was the biggest exporter of construction products for the UAE in 2016, with a market share of 30 percent and a total value of 3.9 billion US dollars, according to the event organizer DMG Events.

"We notice that Chinese products have improved in quality, so they are no longer cheaper than their competitive products from Europe," said Abdullmajeed Al-Khalaf, a Saudi Arabian company owner.
SAN FRANCISCO  Evidence that when Democrats rule taxes are never high enough can be found at any gas station in this once politically competitive state. Last month, the California gas tax was raised 12 cents a gallon. Regular gas at some stations is again approaching, and in some cities exceeding, $4 a gallon, a level not seen since natural disasters temporarily curtailed refinery production, and Gulf States manipulated prices.

Republicans plan to put the gas tax issue on the 2018 ballot; hoping voters will roll back the increases.

Some are not waiting for the next election, but are voting with their feet. One couple I know recently moved from San Diego to Arizona solely because of high taxes on their income and regulations on their small business. They are not alone.

Coupled with the increasing cost of living in big cities, California, once a magnet for new arrivals, has now reversed polarity. Taxes are only part of the reason for the exodus. According to Chief Executive Magazines annual survey of the best and worst states for business, California has ranked last six years in a row. Texas, by contrast, has ranked first.

Add to this the recurring earth tremors, even earthquakes  there was another Monday in Monterey County that registered 4.7  and expectations of a big one, which continues to be talked about in scientific circles. Floods and forest fires destroy homes and lives. One-party rule also serves as an irritant for many of a different political persuasion.

Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed legislation declaring California a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants. The law forbids state and local police from providing any information to the federal government about illegal aliens that isnt already publicly available.

Then there is the annoying traffic. USA Today recently declared Los Angeles as having the worst traffic, not just in the country, but the world. San Francisco is not far behind.

The state legislature is flirting with a single-payer health insurance system, similar to Canadas. But with many Canadians coming to the U.S. for serious medical treatment, why would legislators want to replicate their less than ideal health care system? It again raises a question I have asked many times before and have yet to get a satisfactory answer: Why do so many turn to government as a first resource when government has proved its inability to achieve so many things competently and cost efficiently?

In this city by the bay, housing prices are so ridiculous The Guardian newspaper found a high-tech employee paying $1,400 a month to live in a private room, which resembles a closet. One Apple employee, it said, was recently living in a Santa Cruz garage, using a compost bucket as a toilet. Another tech worker, enrolled in a coding boot camp, described how he lived with 12 other engineers in a two-bedroom apartment rented via Airbnb. It was $1,100 for a ... bunk bed and five people in the same room.

Salaries in Silicon Valley are high compared to other parts of the country, but the inflated housing costs dilute whatever buying power someone with that level of income would enjoy in most other states.

California is still a mostly beautiful state, especially along the coast, but its beauty is more superficial than substantive. According to the Orange County Register, In 2016, some 26,000 more people left the Bay Area than arrived. San Francisco net migration went from a high of 16,000 positive in 2013 to 12,000 negative three years later.

Similar patterns have occurred across the state. Between 2010 and 2015, California had cut its average annual migration losses annually from 160,000 to 50,000, but that number surged last year to nearly 110,000. Losses in the Los Angeles-Orange County area have gone from 42,000 in 2011 to 88,000 this year. San Diego, where domestic migration turned positive in 2011 and 2012, is now losing around 8,000 net migrants annually.

Given the policies of state government, dont look for those numbers to improve.
All told, MTV has spent more of its life grasping for a piece of popular culture than actually affecting it. Besides its vulgar awards shows, occasional hits come and go and ideas are sometimes recycled ("TRL" being a recent example), but the network's derelict condition rarely improves in the long run. Age may certainly be a factor, but it's hard to remember the last time I heard anyone talking about what's on MTV.

Oh, wait, I do remember - it was "Jersey Shore," the surprise-hit reality series about a group of young partyers living together for summer seasons in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, which aired from 2009 to 2012 and briefly held viewers in a guido grip of voyeuristic astonishment. Fast success elevated "Jersey Shore's" cast members to a fleeting and opportunistic fame; they eventually became future answers to trivia night questions. (Sure, you can get the names Snooki and the Situation correct, but what about Pauly D? Or JWoww?)

People over 40 are fond of suggesting that MTV could solve all its identity problems by simply returning to its original, all-music video format, but that idea grows more outlandish with time, especially in the Spotify era.

Instead, the network is venturing back to the debauchery of a beach town - this time in Monday night's premiere of "MTV Floribama Shore" (the use of "MTV" in the title already suggests an erosion in brand confidence), where eight young strangers gather in an oceanfront house in Panama City Beach, Florida, and behave precisely as their forebears who settled the first "Real World" season 25 years ago.

You don't get on this show because of impressive intellect or emotional maturity. You get on this show (more specifically, you offer yourself up to this sacrifice) by embracing the stereotypes that are being sold.

In "Floribama's" case, that means commodifying one's Southernness. The first two episodes are scrubbed clean of any controversial red-state politics or inherent prejudices (gone are the days when someone on an MTV reality show made a slyly racist remark in the first 10 minutes). In fact, "Floribama" is edited in such a resolutely post-racial way that its two African-American cast members, Candace Rice and Kirk Medas, quickly become invisible. The only identity here is a mostly bogus notion of what it's like to live in the South - which, when described, doesn't sound all that special.

"There is not one other bitch like me," proclaims Kortni Gilson, a 21-year-old Panama City Beach local, who apparently hasn't looked around much. As the gang gets acquainted over binge drinking, an overserved Kortni conks out early, rising only to stumble around in search of a bathroom and eventually urinating on her roommate's bed. "I wasn't just blacked-out," she nonchalantly explains to the camera the next day. "I was blacked the hell out."

It's here where a viewer realizes that MTV is again clinging to some unworthy aspect of its past, nostalgic for those old reality shows where alcohol abuse could be seen as an affectionate quirk or rite of passage. The old defense holds true - in a documentary setting, the producers are obligated to let us see people behaving as they are, in good moments and bad - but the luridness of it has lost all meaning. Rather than laugh at Kortni, you think: Someone help this woman.

Similarly depressing is having to watch and listen as a group of young people in 2017 adhere to outdated ideas about gender roles. "I have to be a gentleman and a douchebag because I feel like that's what women want," explains the house heartthrob, Jeremiah Buoni. The effect is more regressive than retro.

This gang also correctly intuits that hooking up is the only path to pleasing their producers. Their nightly excursions to clubs have a conspicuous familiarity about them, as they twerk and strut and try to show how much fun they're having on mostly empty dance floors. (Is it possible that they've been sentenced to "Floribama Shore" as part of a work-release program?) It's a sad pantomime of Snooki's faded glory, which gives a viewer the vague feeling that an entire generation has moved on and no one remembered to tell poor ol' MTV.

---

"MTV Floribama Shore" (one hour) two-episode premiere, Monday at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.
Arrangements have been made to remember area victims who passed away in two recent highway accidents.

Hailey and Madisen Bertels died as the result of an eight-vehicle accident on Nov. 21 on Interstate 55 south of Hamel.

The sisters, ages 20 and 17, respectively, were both from Staunton.

Hailey was a student at Murray State University in Murray, Ky., while Madisen was a senior at Staunton High School.

The family has chosen to conduct private funeral services. However, a special ceremony to remember the sisters has been scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the new gymnasium at Staunton High School. Those attending are encouraged to dress as either Hailey or Madisen.

Williamson Funeral Home in Staunton is in charge of arrangements.

Memorials are suggested to the family and may be made through the funeral home.

A third victim of that accident passed away early on Nov. 23.

She has been identified as Vivian Vu, 19, of Joplin, Mo.

Vu was transported from the accident scene to a St. Louis hospital where she passed away.

Vu was born in Fountain Valley, Calif., and was attending Missouri Southern State University in Joplin on an academic scholarship, according to her obituary.

SIUE, meanwhile, sent out an email to students and staff reporting the death of Courtney Littell, who died in a two-vehicle accident on Nov. 22 on Interstate 55 outside of Lincoln.

Littell was a senior in SIUEs College of Arts and Sciences, was well-known within the English department and applied her talents in the theater department. She was active in English Language & Literature Association (ELLA), ROTC, D&D club and Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), according to the SIUE email.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Courtney Littells family and friends as they face this tragedy, said SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook said in the email. It is heartbreaking to lose someone so special. She truly will be missed by all of those who knew her at SIUE.

The family is asking that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Courtneys name to the Five As Humane Society, 4530 North Alby St., Godfrey, IL 62035.

Calvert & Metzler Memorial Home in Bloomington is in charge of arrangements.

Counseling services are available to students by calling 650-2842 or visiting the Counseling Health Services Office in the Student Success Center lower level adjacent to the Morris University Center.
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Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 08:02 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2ae0699 4 Editorial #Editorial,state-owned-enterprises,#StateOwnedEnterprise,SOEs,#SOE Free

It is encouraging to learn that the government will accelerate the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by consolidating SOEs in similar business lines. Two holding companies are expected to be established before the end of this year: one for SOEs operating in mining and the other for oil and gas industries. Four more holding companies are to be set up next year in financial services, public housing, construction and toll road development.

While not a great feat in itself, if this small target is achieved, it will still be rather impressive, because over the past 19 years only two holding companies  in the fertilizer and plantation industries  have taken shape. Then-president Soeharto merged two state-owned cement companies into PT Semen Gresik in 1995, but only after 2012 was it able to operate as a holding company under the new name PT Semen Indonesia.

That shows how challenging the consolidation effort is, mainly because of opposition from vested interest groups in the bureaucracy and at the House of Representatives that wish to keep SOEs as their cash cows. President Joko Jokowi Widodo has, however, given SOE Minister Rini Soemarno a strong mandate to push ahead with the consolidation process.

Most analysts agree that consolidating SOEs operating in similar business lines into holding companies will improve efficiency, create stronger synergy in production, marketing, procurement and financing and strengthen internal control.

The objective of the whole consolidation is to eventually streamline SOEs, so that their total number could be slashed from more than 150, including subsidiaries, at present. If the program succeeds, the SOE Ministry will no longer be necessary. In its place, we would have at the most a dozen holding companies, like Temasek in Singapore and Khazanah in Malaysia.

Certainly, the consolidation effort requires a set of corporate actions, such as due diligence on the holding companies formation and structure, benchmarking holding companies to similar corporations at the global or regional level and new tax audits etc. The government also should see to it that the new structure would not lengthen decision-making processes, thereby rendering SOEs less able to adjust to changing environments. Holding companies should not maintain virtual monopolies or oligopolies at the expense of sound competition.

But the most sensitive and daunting aspect of the process is to convince politicians and trade unions of the gains of the reform, explaining that employees would also benefit, as SOEs managed and supervised under holding companies would be more efficient and competitive than ever before in the domestic and global market.

Such a persuasive campaign is needed, because consolidation, like most reforms, always initially has destabilizing impacts, as redundant employees and complacent managers at inefficient companies are afraid of losing jobs, and many senior officials with political power over SOEs are worried about losing their cash cows.

What we badly need is the consistent leadership of President Jokowi to maintain a strong and broad legal and political framework for the reform process and provide clear-cut guidelines and transparency in structuring the holding companies.
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Linkedin Theresia Sufa (The Jakarta Post) Bogor, West Java  Mon, November 27, 2017 08:53 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2ae258f 1 Environment panda,China,Taman-Safari-Indonesia,conservation Free

JP/Theresia Sufa

Bogor, West Java

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong has hailed the giant panda conservation collaboration between her country and Indonesia as an important symbol of bilateral cooperation.

Liu Yandong visited the Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI) zoo in Bogor on Sunday to observe two giant pandas that recently arrived in Indonesia from China.

At the occasion, the vice premier said the two countries relations would be strengthened through visits by high-ranking officials to build political trust and deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields.

Hu Chun, the female Giant Panda, enjoys her food at the Taman Safari Indonesia, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java. (JP/PJ Leo)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo initiated a cultural exchange mechanism on the vice prime minister level in 2015. A second meeting within that framework was held in August 2016.

At the time, coordinating minister Puan and I witnessed the signing of the giant panda MoU, which took a year to prepare. Finally, in September 2017, the two giant pandas, Cai Tao and Hu Chun, brought friendship from the people of China to Indonesia, Liu Yandong said.

I believe the giant pandas with their adorable movements will be loved by the people of Indonesia and help usher in the momentum for strategic partnerships between China and Indonesia, she added.

In recent years, the Chinese government has implemented a number of measures to protect its ecosystems and biological diversity, including the giant panda.

Read also: Jokowi, Xi Jinping scheduled to inaugurate pandas' arrival to Indonesia

Beijing has designated a panda conservation area of 2.58 million hectares in China, where 1864 giant pandas live in their natural habitat and another 464 live in a controlled environment.

Through the panda cooperation, we will foster harmony between human beings and nature. We also aim to protect the earth as our living place. The TSI environment is beautiful and suitable for the giant pandas Cai Tao and Hu Chun, who like Indonesian-grown bamboo. Now the two are bigger, so I think Indonesia is Cai Tao and Hu Chuns second home, Liu Yandong said.

I hope with this giant panda conservation cooperation, we can further development in the economy, social affairs, culture and ecosystems between the two countries. I hope Cai Tao and Hu Chun will live happily in Indonesia, she added.

TSI director Jansen Manansang said the Panda Palace at TSI was the best panda facility in Asia outside of China, not only for its architecture, but also for the air and environment quality. He expressed his happiness about the Chinese government visit.

We are very happy and honored to welcome H. E. Madame Liu Yandong and the ministry delegates of the Peoples Republic of China, who in their tight schedule made [time for] this special visit to the TSI to take a look at the giant pandas, he said. (asw)
(Xinhua) 10:51, November 27, 2017

A military helicopter is seen in the eastern city of al-Bukamal in Syria, Nov. 17, 2017. On Sunday, the Syrian army and allied fighters fully captured the eastern city of al-Bukamal, the last Islamic State stronghold in Syria, leaving the extremist militants just a few pockets in northeastern and southern Syria. (Xinhua file photo/Ammar Safarjalani)

MOSCOW, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Six long-range TU-22M3 bombers on Sunday launched airstrikes on targets of Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the province of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"After taking off from an airfield on the Russian territory, the aircraft hit terrorists'strongholds and areas with high concentration of militants in the Euphrates valley," the ministry said in a statement.

The destruction of all targets was recorded by unmanned aerial vehicles, the ministry said.

Su-30SM and Su-35S fighter jets based at the Khmeimim airbase in western Syria provided air cover for the bombers, it added.

The Russian military have launched dozens of strikes on terrorists in Syria since the beginning of November. According to the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, the fight against IS in Syria will possibly be over by the end of the year and Russia may be able to withdraw its air force.
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Linkedin Rita Widiadana (The Jakarta Post) Ubud  Mon, November 27, 2017 08:52 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2ae1cd7 4 Books Indonesian-writer,Literature,#literature,literary-festival,Indonesian-literature,#NHDini,NH-Dini,ubud-writers-readers-festival,#ubud-writers-and-readers-festival Free

Looked after by the staff in a resort in the art village of Ubud, 81-year-old Nurhayati Sri Hardini Siti Nukatin  renowned by her pen name NH Dini, one of Indonesias living literary legends, sat in her wheelchair enjoying a sunny afternoon.

I can still walk properly, but I am a little bit tired after a night-long ceremony at the Ubud Royal Palace, she said as she got up from the wheelchair to walk toward the resorts cafe.

During the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) recently, the festivals founder Janet DeNeefe presented NH Dini with the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for her more than six-decade literary career and her tremendous contribution to the development of Indonesian literature.

The award really humbled me. For me, this is a recognition of a writers efforts, endurance, persistence and patience to stand tall on the fast-changing Indonesian literary stage, as she shared her feelings and experience in that afternoon chat.

Standing tall, she says, is a strong ability required to survive in the writing world, where appreciation from the public, the book and publishing industry and the government, are lacking, if not absent.

I have been writing since the early 1950s and will continue to write because writing is my profession. I earn money from writing.

Born to the Javanese noble couple Salyowijoyo and Aminah on Feb. 29, 1936, NH Dini is the youngest of five siblings. She began writing when she was still at junior high school.

It was my mother who kept encouraging me to write. My mother prepared a special room belonging to my late father together with his old Remington typewriter.

With dozens of novels, short stories and poems to her credit along with several literary awards, including the SEA Write Award from the government of Thailand, people might think this prolific writer led a comfortable and prosperous life.

Far from a life of glamor, she is currently residing at Panti Wredha Langen Wedharsih, a decent home for the elderly in Ungaran, Semarang in Central Java.

Honestly, I have neither savings nor health insurance. My insurance is my family, my friends and even doctors who have treated my illnesses, said the writer, who had her uterus removed because of a cancer-related illness when she was 43. After returning to Indonesia, she frequently fell ill.

Compared to the life of writers in neighboring countries like Malaysia, NH Dini said a writer of her caliber would receive lifelong state funding. Writers in Malaysia are highly regarded as the nations precious literary jewels. They are highly respected and are granted Datuk [honorary] titles, and are entitled to state financial support and other facilities.

In Indonesia, on the other hand, writers are often considered second-class artists or scholars, she said. This is the clear mirror on how the state and the people of Indonesia perceive literature, NH Dini said.

Literature is actually nutritious food for humans souls and minds. It is the basic foundation of humanity, a reflection of a society, reality, knowledge and wisdom, which many people including the government in charge of art and culture ignore.

Book royalties and intellectual property rights have long been crucial issues for writers in Indonesia. In the music industry, I heard there are some foundations and institutions helping artists acquire royalties and rights. I hope there are such institutions in the literary field.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, some of NH Dinis novels were considered controversial for taking on taboo subjects like male and female relationships, sensuality and sexuality.

In the 1970s and 1980s, my novels Pada Sebuah Kapal [On the Boat] and La Barka were banned from public school libraries as the novels could have negative impacts on young people, girls especially, she said.

NH Dini was surprised when she was invited to visit a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) belonging to fellow writer Ayip Rosidis family. This pesantrens library had the two novels  Pada Sebuah Kapal and La Barka, each with five copies.

Esteemed honor: Renowned writer NH Dini (center) is flanked by her son, filmmaker Pierre Louis Padang Coffin (left) and Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Founder Janet DeNeefe when receiving her Lifetime Achievement Award in Bali. (JP/Anggara Mahendra)

All santri (students), she said, were required to read and to discuss the contents of the books to decide the positive and negative values. I was so impressed. Rather than banning the books, this pesantren was open-minded in allowing its students to engage in discussion.

Even the late Abdurrahman Gus Dur Wahid, Indonesias former president and chairman of the countrys largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) read those novels, she said. When I asked him, Gus Dur just said the novels offered a lot to ponder.

In these two novels, NH Dini features two female protagonists  Sri (Pada Sebuah Kapal) and Rina (La Barka), portrayed as women of Javanese descent, who dare to break the rules on the patriarchal concepts of women and wives.

In the Javanese concept of patriarchy, a womens role is as a konco wingking, literarily meaning a partner in the house and bedroom. Their roles are limited to raising children and serving husbands and families  there is no place for them to be regarded as individual beings.

NH Dinis female characters are always painted in opposition to this Javanese patriarchal concept of women.

At that time, I did not relate my writings to the Western theory of feminism. What I strongly believe is that a woman, wherever she lives, deserves to be treated equally and respectfully. She should also have the rights to her own body.

And her belief obviously comes across in almost all of her literary works. Her female characters are usually depicted as women who are eloquent in expressing their minds as well as their sexual desires; individuals who stand up for themselves against abusive husbands; and many times, they are pictured as unfaithful wives  all of these characterizations are associated with strict violations of traditional, social and religious norms.

NH Dini and her characters refuse to be passive individuals in a marriage.

A marriage unites two different individuals in mutual affection and respect, she says. But when it fails, it is the woman who is blamed. When a husband cheats, a wife is expected to forgive. That is dehumanizing a woman. I dont want to portray my characters succumbing to that situation.

When asked about her failed marriage to French diplomat Yves Coffin, NH Dini is only capable of recalling sweet memories of their union.

Yves was a romantic and gentle person. I was so smitten by his kindness and manner, she said while remembering the first time they met in Jakarta when she worked as a flight attendant with Garuda Indonesia.

It was her uncle Iman Sudjahri that introduced them. Sudjahri was the father of respected scholar Edi Sedyawati, professor of archaeology. She is my cousin and my best friend who is always beside me. We have been very close since we were teenagers as Javanese and Balinese dancers at the State Palace in the 1950s and 1960s.

Despite family opposition to her foreign husband, NH Dini and Yves Coffin later got married in January 1960.

My family said Yves was kumpeni, referring to a Dutch colonialist. The locals used to refer to any Westerners as kumpeni, regardless of their countries of origin. Yves was a French citizen, she laughed.

The couple had two children  Marie-Claire Lintang Coffin and Pierre Louis Padang Coffin. As a diplomat family, they lived in Japan, France, the United States and other countries.

But, the romantic love did not last forever and it did not necessarily lead to a good marriage. After Padang was born, the passion dissipated. A mans love is so short-lived, I just couldnt understand. The couple divorced in l984 and NH Dini returned to Indonesia.

That was my lifes journey and I am very grateful no matter what. I have two adult children Lintang and Padang and beloved grandchildren even though they live so far away they are all in my heart.

Padang, best known for co-directing the blockbuster Despicable Me moviefranchise, Minions among others, was present at the festival in Ubud when her mother received the award.

I felt very touched when I heard Padang acknowledge during a joint interview that his artistic talent came from his mother  from me.

Her daughter Lintang wrote in a commemorative book to celebrate NH Dinis 80th birthday: What I miss so much about my mother is her roaring laughter.

Despite mountainous adversity, NH Dini is at peace with herself. In the Javanese philosophy, a human being must be eling [alert], performing tirakat [continuous soul-searching] in order to humbly accept everything that comes to ones life. It is the way I am now  a life full of gratitude.
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Linkedin Mark Heyward (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 09:02 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2ae280e 4 Books Book,book-review,#bookreview,Ian-Burnet,#IanBurnet,Australia,Asia,nonfiction,history,#history Free

Where Australia Collides with Asia is the story of how continental drift created the world in which we live, and, in particular, the unique and fascinating archipelago of Indonesia, a string of islands that spans Asia and Australasia, a volatile and diverse region.

The book is also a wonderful retelling of the tales of three great English naturalists: Joseph Banks, who charted the east coast of Australia with Cook; Charles Darwin, whose youthful voyages on the Beagle changed our understanding of the world, and the less-known Alfred Russel Wallace, whose wanderings across what is now the Indonesian archipelago led to his own theory of natural selection.

This is Ian Burnets fourth book about Indonesia. In East Indies he tells the story of the 200-year struggle for supremacy in the Eastern seas  between Portugal, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company.

In Spice Islands, Burnett hones in on the rivalry between the Sultans of Ternate and Tidore and their turbulent relationships with the Portuguese, Dutch and English. And, in Archipelago, A Journey Across Indonesia, he takes us on a trip across the archipelago to discover the rich cultural diversity of Indonesia.

Burnet is a natural storyteller. After 30 years living, working and traveling in Indonesia, he knows his stuff. In the richly illustrated Where Australia Collides with Asia, we accompany Joseph Banks on his voyage of discovery with James Cook, sharing in his excitement as he collects and documents the curious plant and animal species he encounters in Australia.

We meet a young Charles Darwin, galloping across the Argentinian pampas, shooting, riding, collecting and looking forward to a few revolutions. Accompanied by Syms Covington, a fiddler and boy to the poop cabin, Darwin took the opportunity to explore the coastal regions of South America, where he is puzzled about the presence of fossil marine shells 4,000 meters above sea level on the Andes. I felt glad I was by myself, he wrote of his experience of the Andes, it was like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing in the full Orchestra a chorus of the Messiah.

We also meet Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwins junior and ardent admirer. After spending more than two years exploring the Amazon, the young naturalist was lucky to escape with his life, when the brig on which he was returning to England caught fire and sunk, along with all his notes, sketches and the entire collection of specimens that was to fund the trip.

Wallaces fortitude and humility shine through as the story unfolds. Undaunted by this devastating loss, he picks himself up and returns to the field two years later, this time to the Malay Archipelago.

Back in England, for 20 years, Darwin had been developing his theory. An unpublished essay in a locked drawer was the only evidence that, he in fact, was the first to propose the theory of natural selection. Unwell and anxious about the impact his theory would have, aware of the likely backlash and damage to his family and his reputation, the pain it would cause his wife, who was a committed Christian, he had put off publishing.

Meanwhile, in the steamy jungles and remote islands of what is now eastern Indonesia, Wallace finally arrived at the same conclusion. Individual species of plants and animals were not created by God in a single act of creation, but, rather, evolved gradually over time, the key principle being the survival of the fittest.

Having failed to generate any interest from an initial published paper, Wallace decided to write directly to Darwin. The older man was prompted to present a pair of articles to the elite Linnean Society in London in July 1857.

Was Wallace robbed of his rightful place as the author of the theory of evolution? Did Darwin and his friends conspire to ensure that the older scientist got the glory; to sideline a social inferior? Or is this a story of gentlemanly conduct and scientific collaboration?

As Burnets book explains, Darwin certainly arrived at the same conclusions as Wallace many years in advance. He just hadnt had the temerity to publish. And following the publication and Wallaces eventual return to England, the two men became friends and remained so until the end.

What stands out in Burnets tale is the immediacy of this history. The characters that Burnet portrays in this book are not so different from you and me.

Away from the confines of a dusty school textbook, Banks, Darwin and Wallace are brought to life. Here we get to know them as flesh and blood, subject to the same social pressures as are we; the same excitements and disappointments, arguments and friendships, loves and jealousies, seasickness, hangovers, fevers [] and bright mornings when, as Darwin describes his time in Argentina, he had the sky for a roof and the ground for a table.

At the same time, Burnets backstory is the immensity of the planets geographic and biological history. And, consequently, our own fragility as a species.

Perhaps we can find parallels between Darwins reluctance to challenge religious authority and todays debates over climate change, the reluctance of vested interests to accept the weight of scientific evidence for humanitys impact on the climate.

The writing is robust; no-nonsense. It is the writing of a man who means business, and it builds trust. The story is light and entertaining yet full of insight. Through the frequent use of excerpts from Banks, Darwin and Wallaces own writing, we get to see the world through their eyes. And through this, we get occasional glimpses of a wry, understated humor.

These were men of the world; artists, writers, scientists, adventurers, seafarers. It raises the question, where are these men and women today? After reading this book I am inclined to answer that Burnet may be one of them  a scientist, a historian, a traveler and a fine writer.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 18:41 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2aff6c9 1 City 212Rally,anniversary,anies-baswedan,ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama Free

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has declined to respond to a so-called reunion rally of Muslim protestors who staged a demonstration on Dec. 2 last year to demand the resignation of then Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama.

Protestors dubbed it the 212 rally to reflect the date on which it took place.

"That's none of my business," Anies said at City Hall on Monday when asked to comment.

Anies also remained tight-lipped on whether he would grant the protestors permission to gather at the National Monument in Central Jakarta, as they did last year.



Earlier, Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said that permission to use Monas as a meeting point for large crowds was under the authority of Anies as governor.



Participants of last year's major rally had announced that they planned to commemorate the event, which also pushed for the prosecution and imprisonment of Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descend, for blasphemy.

Ahok was found guilty of blasphemy in May and sentenced to two years in prison.

Jakarta Police chief insp. Gen. Idham Azis suggested that the reunion rally be held at Istiqlal mosque in Central Jakarta.

However, presidium chairman of the 212 Alumni, Slamet Maarif, claimed he had obtained the necessary permit to hold the event at Monas.

Earlier this month, Anies lifted a ban that prohibited religious and cultural activities from taking place at Monas. (dis)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 11:16 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2ae9a4b 1 Business Coca-Cola,coffee,Indonesia Free

The local arm of Australia-listed Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) plans to start selling hot coffee in Indonesia by the end of the year.

We will celebrate our 25th year [of operations here] with some exciting news. In the very near future, well be bringing very high-quality coffee into Indonesia, CCA Indonesia (CCAI) president director Kadir Gunduz said at a media briefing.

Its not going to be a cold [drink], but if you want, you can add ice and have an iced coffee, he added, refusing to disclose further details.

CCAI has managed the Coca-Cola brand in Indonesia since 1992.

The coffee will initially be produced abroad, but the firm is considering building a local plant for coffee, if the sales volume justifies such a move.

The new product will complement six drink categories the firm produces and sells in Indonesia, namely sparkling water, mineral water, juice, tea, dairy products and isotonic drinks.

The firm has eight plants in different provinces, producing an average of 2.2 billion packaged drinks a year. (bbn)
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Linkedin (AFP) Cairo  Mon, November 27, 2017 06:32 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2adfd05 2 Politics Egypt,homosexuality,discrimination,human-rights Free

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced 14 men convicted of being homosexuals to three years in jail each for "abnormal" sexual relations, a defence lawyer said.

Ishaq Wadie said the men were released on bail of 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($283, 230 euros) each until an appeals trial.

The trial of three other suspects was delayed over procedural reasons, the lawyer said.

Homosexuality is not expressly outlawed in Egypt, but gays have previously been charged with debauchery in the deeply conservative Muslim society.

In recent months, authorities have cracked down on people who practice so-called "abnormal" sexual relations, which in Egypt means homosexuality, or for inciting debauchery.

The stepped-up measures follow an outdoor concert in Cairo on September 22 by Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila, when the flag representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community was raised.

Thirty-one people have been arrested since the show, 10 directly linked with the event, according to judicial and security officials.

London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International said the number was more than 70 people, some of whom had been subjected to anal examinations.

On November 9, Amnesty condemned a draft bill in the Egyptian parliament that would criminalise homosexuality.

The bill lays jail terms of between one and three years for first time offenders, whether the act takes place in public or a private place. Repeat offenders would receive five years.

"This deeply discriminatory bill would be a huge setback for human rights and another nail in the coffin for sexual rights in Egypt," said Najia Bounaim, North Africa campaigns director at Amnesty.
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 17:40 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2afc31d 1 Business DarminNasution,oil-palm-plantations,replanting-project,North-Sumatra Free

The government is planting oil palm trees to replace old ones on 9,109.29 hectares of plantations owned by local growers in North Sumatra to help increase the productivity of the plantations.

The plantations are located in 12 regencies: Serdang Bedagai, Langkat, Labuhan Batu, South Labuhan Batu, North Labuhan Batu, Asahan, Batubara, Simalungun, Padang Lawas, North Padang Lawas, Deli Serdang and Central Tapanuli.

"The replanting program is crucial because 470,000 has of oil palm plantations in the province are owned by local farmers, 350,000 has of which are too old," said Economic Coordinating Minister Darmin Nasution, when accompanying President Joko "Jokowi" Widodos visit in North Sumatra on Monday.

Indonesia is the worlds biggest palm oil producer, with 11.9 million has of oil palm plantations, 41 percent of which are owned by individuals. Around 2.3 million households cultivate their own oil palm plantations.

"It is a big job to replant the oil palm trees owned by local farmers. There are 4.6 million has," he said.

In addition to the large areas that need to be planted, the government also faces other problems, including uncertain status of land ownership. (bbn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27 2017

Merdeka Park, home of the National Monument (Monas), was bustling with activity on Sunday morning as Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan inaugurated its return to accommodating religious and cultural activities.

Situated in the heart of the capital, the 80-hectare park was filled with loud Betawi music and the bright colors of about 100 ondel-ondel (giant Betawi effigies) and thousands of dancers. Loud cheers also came from a group of Persija soccer club supporters, known as Jakmania, wearing bright, orange shirts.

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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 12:14 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2aecf41 1 Business KLM-Royal-Dutch-Airlines,criticism,negative-campaign Free

An industry association has called on Netherlands-based KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to remove a statement in its inflight magazine that requires its suppliers to "avoid using palm oil in their products."

In a letter to KLM CEO Pieter Elbers, Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) executive director Mahendra Siregar says the notion was a somewhat misguided ignorance of the current developments in the global vegetable oil market in general and the related implication for the global environment.

Let me take this opportunity to enlighten KLM. The sole vegetable oil that can meet the increasing global demand is palm oil, because its productivity is far greater than competing products, such as rapeseed, he wrote in the letter dated Nov. 23.

In this context, several supplying countries of alternative vegetable oils have stated that they no longer have the land bank nor natural resources like water available to meet the future demand.

Rapeseed yields 0.3 tons of oil per hectare, while soya and sunflower yield 0.6 tons and oil palm trees yield 3 to 6 tons of oil per hectares, according to the council.

KLMs inflight magazine explicitly states the carriers demand for its suppliers to use no palm oil in their products. (bbn)
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Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram  Mon, November 27, 2017 14:26 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2af16b7 1 Business Lombok-international-airport,Mount-Agung,closure,airport-reopening Free

Lombok International Airport (LIA) in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, reopened at 6 a.m. on Monday after halting operations at 5:55 p.m. on Sunday because of the spread of volcanic ash from Mount Agung in Bali.

Apart from referring to a NOTAM (notice to airmen), we also carried out monitoring. The conditions were conducive to a reopening, said LIA general manager I Gusti Ngurah Ardita said in Mataram on Monday.

Ardita said the airport was expected to serve 104 flights on Monday, including 27 flights that were delayed since Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, the operational director of state-run air navigation company Airnav Indonesia, Wisnu Darjono, said that with the reopening of the airport, it would immediately serve the airport users that had crowded the airport since the closure.

He also said that his company closely monitored the volcano to ensure the safety of the airport users.

Ardita explained that the NOTAM was issued on Sunday because the volcanic ash of Mount Agung had spread to the neighboring province, covering the air surrounding the airport.

Twenty-three flights from 10 airlines from Lombok were affected as a result of the closure. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 21:55 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2b03921 1 City martial-art,Banten,injury Free

The Tangerang Police in Banten are hunting down a martial art "master" in Rawa Kopi, Pakuhaji district, whose teachings have put 14 of his apprentices into danger.

The man claimed to be a master of Debus, a Banten traditional martial art and an ancient ceremony of proving the power of faith. A typical Debus performance includes attempts to slash ones body with a machete or set oneself on fire.

Tangerang Police chief Sr. Comr. Harry Kurniawan said on Monday that the man recently went under the radar following a report that 14 men had suffered burns after the "master" told them to wash their hands with acid to test their invulnerability.

The feat severely injured those who attempted it last Thursday, as they were then rushed to Mitra Husada Hospital.

The Debus instructor escaped from the scene.

"We have deployed personnel to trace his whereabouts," Harry said as quoted by kompas.com.

He said the dangerous feat was attempted after they had undergone a week of training. (fac)
Nepal identifies three potential projects to be implemented under Belt and Road Initiative

KATHMANDU, Nov. 27 -- Nepalese Officials have identified three potential infrastructure projects to be implemented under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The projects discussed by officials on Sunday include a cross-border railway project connecting China's bordering town Kerung with Nepal's capital Kathmandu, electricity transmission line connecting Kerung with Nepal's Galchhi in Dhading district, a neighboring district of Kathmandu and the Sunsari-Marin Diversion Irrigation Project in eastern Nepal, according to a press statement of Nepal's Finance Ministry.

During a meeting of the Project Development and Facilitation Committee to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Nepal and China related to the Belt and Road Initiative, officials from ministries including finance, physical infrastructure and transport, energy, irrigation, urban development, agriculture and tourism discussed these projects.

"Although we have identified these as potential projects to be implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative, we have not finalized them yet," Yugraj Pandey, under secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Finance, told Xinhua on Sunday.

At the meeting, Finance Secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari urged officials from other ministries to submit the potential projects which are ready for implementation within the next five days.

"A consensus reached among the officials is that the Finance Ministry will propose the projects to the Chinese government based on national priority and necessity of the country," the ministry said in the statement.

Also at the meeting, Economic Advisor to Nepali Prime Minister Gyan Chandra Acharya urged the ministries to propose projects that could promote connectivity with productivity so as to reap as much as benefit from the the initiative.

A Cabinet meeting of the Nepali government on Aug. 15 also asked the Energy Ministry to seek the Chinese support to build reservoir projects and transmission lines under the initiative.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 15:16 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2af35f5 1 City Rizieq-Shihab,212Rally,police Free

The Jakarta Police plan to install a temporary security detail at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, to anticipate the return of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab, a suspect in a pornography case.

Rizieq is expected to attend the "212 Rally Alumni" anniversary event at the National Monument on Dec. 2. The event is to mark the Dec. 2, 2016 rally, which included members of the FPI and pushed for the prosecution of then governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, on blasphemy charges.

"We are waiting for certainty [on Rizieq's return]. We don't want to speculate," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Monday, as quoted by tribunnews.com. "Yes, personnel will later be [stationed] at Soekarno-Hatta airport."

Argo could not confirm whether the team would arrest Rizieq immediately upon arrival.

Rizieq's lawyer, Kapitra Ampera, had announced earlier that his client would return to Indonesia soon, following a stay of several months in Saudi Arabia after he was named a suspect in a pornography case.

Rizieq left the country in May, not long after police named him a suspect over the dissemination of sexually explicit WhatsApp messages in an alleged chat between him and Firza Hussein. Firza was also named a suspect in the case. (yon)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 11:19 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2ae9f9f 1 Business Mount-Agung,Airport,closure,Ngurah-Rai-International-Airport Free

Following the closure of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, authorities have so far redirected seven flights to other cities.

According to the Transportation Ministry, Garuda Indonesias Denpasar-bound flights GA 5150 from Zhengzou and GA 897 from Guangzhou were redirected to Surabaya and Garuda Indonesia flight GA 859 from Shanghai to Denpasar was redirected to Jakarta, as was China Eastern flight MU 5029 from Shanghai.

Meanwhile, China Eastern flight MU 781 from Beijing was redirected to Singapore, Citilinks CTV 856 from Jakarta to Denpasar was redirected to Surabaya and Lion Airs JT927 from Makassar was also redirected to Surabaya.

Operations at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport are suspended since 7:15 a.m. on Monday as volcanic ash has been detected in the airspace above the airport.

State-run air navigation company Airnav Indonesia explained that the plotting area for the flight guidance at the airport in Denpasar was affected by volcanic ash.

Based on the latest report, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport has been affected by the volcanic ash. Therefore, the Transportation Ministrys air transportation directorate general has decided to close the airport for safety reasons, air transportation directorate general secretary Praminto Hadi Sukarno said in a statement. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 21:01 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2b0281c 2 National AJI,Alliance-of-Independent-Journalists,Tempo,CNN,CNN-Indonesia,2017-Festival-Media Free

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has elected Abdul Manan, a journalist with TEMPO, and CNN Indonesia journalist Revolusi Riza as its new chairman and secretary general, respectively, during the 10th AJI congress in Surakarta, Central Java on Monday.

37 AJI representatives from across the country have elected Abdul Manan and Revolusi Riza as the new leadership team for the 2017-2020 term, chairman of the congress Iman Dwi Nugroho announced, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Abdul and Revolusi took over from Suwarjono and Arfi Bambani Amri who acted as the previous chairman and secretary general, respectively.

In his speech, Abdul underlined his commitment to preserving the organization.

The AJI congress ran from Friday to early Monday. Besides the main agenda of the congress, the journalist group also held the 2017 Festival Media exhibition, which was open to the public. (kuk/ebf)
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Linkedin (AFP) Tokyo, Japan  Mon, November 27, 2017 11:49 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2aebf4e 2 World North-Korea,Japan,fishing-boat Free

The heavily-decomposed bodies of two men, possibly North Korean fishermen, have been found on a beach in central Japan, alongside the wreckage of a boat, police said Monday.

The discovery comes just days after a group of eight fishermen, who claim to be from North Korea, washed up on Japan's northern coast.

"There were two bodies separately found on the edge of the surf over the weekend," on Sado island in Niigata prefecture, senior local police official Hideaki Sakyo told AFP.

One of the bodies was found early Saturday, with the second corpse discovered Sunday by passers-by who were walking along the beach, which is some 750 kilometers (465 miles) east of North Korea, he said.

The bodies had decomposed significantly and "there was nothing nearby left that helped identify them," he said.

However, close to one of the bodies police found 11 boxes of North Korean tobacco as well as boat parts and life jackets with some Korean words written on them, he added.

Separately, authorities discovered a wrecked wooden boat with squid-fishing equipment which again contained some Korean words on Thursday, he said.

"We are investigating the link between the bodies and the boat," Sakyo said.

Dozens of North Korean fishing vessels wash up on Japan's coast every year.

Sometimes the boats' occupants have already died at sea, which local media refer to as "ghost ships."

Experts say some North Korean fishermen travel far out into the Sea of Japan -- known on the Korean peninsula as the East Sea -- in order to satisfy government mandates for bigger catches.

But their old and poorly equipped vessels are prone to mechanical and other problems, including running out of fuel, and there are few ways for them to call for rescue.

Often surviving drifters are fishermen who request to be sent home, but some of them are defectors who are eventually sent to South Korea.

Japan and North Korea have a tense relationship, with Pyongyang routinely issuing verbal threats as well as firing missiles near or above Japan.

But the Japanese coastguard occasionally rescues North Korean fishermen in maritime accidents in regional waters.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Sultan Kudarat, Philippines  Mon, November 27, 2017 21:16 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2b02ea1 2 SE Asia Islam,duterte,MILF,Mindanao Free

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to correct "historical injustice" in a speech to Filipino Muslim rebels on Monday as his government seeks to reignite a stalled peace process in the nation's troubled south.

He made the remarks at a mammoth gathering hosted by the country's main Muslim guerrilla group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but which has also brought together Christians, rival Muslim factions and tribal groups from the southern region of Mindanao.

Since the 1970s, Muslims have been waging a rebellion seeking autonomy or independence in the southern areas of the mainly Catholic Philippines that they regard as their ancestral homeland.

The conflict has claimed more than 120,000 lives and left large areas of Mindanao in poverty.

Duterte, who boasts of having Muslim ancestry, warned that the region could see worse violence if the issue is not resolved.

"What is at stake here is the preservation of the Filipino republic and to correct historical injustice," he said.

Duterte said that during the decades when the Philippines was under Spanish and then American colonial rule, the Christian majority had taken control of vast parts of Mindanao, leaving native Muslims and other tribes marginalised.

He also warned that the violence could be exacerbated if Islamic State followers flee to the Philippines after losing their bases in the Middle East.

Duterte's warning came just a month after the foreign and local IS supporters who ravaged Mindanao's main Muslim city Marawi were defeated in October, ending a five-month conflict which left about 1,100 people dead.

The 10,000-strong MILF signed a peace deal in 2014 that would give the nation's Muslim minority self-rule over parts of Mindanao, but the proposed law to implement the pact has not managed to get through Congress.

The immediate objective of Monday's rally was to build support for the proposed law.

Duterte said he would work for the law's passage, even calling Congress to a special session where Muslim leaders could explain their plans to the legislators.

Such an agreement must be "inclusive" and acceptable to all groups in Mindanao, he added.

Topics : Islam duterte MILF Mindanao
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Linkedin (AFP) Sultan Kudarat  Mon, November 27, 2017 12:25 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2aedf1a 2 SE Asia Muslim,rally,religion,peace-accord Free

The Philippines' main Muslim guerrilla group staged a huge rally Monday at its southern headquarters that attracted Christians and rival rebels, in a joint effort with the government to reignite a stalled peace process.

President Rodrigo Duterte was scheduled to speak at the event at the main base of the 10,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Monday afternoon, with both sides hoping peace will help quell the rising threat of the Islamic State group.

Muslims have been waging a rebellion since the 1970s seeking autonomy or independence in the southern areas of the mainly Catholic Philippines that they regard as their ancestral homeland.

The conflict has claimed more than 120,000 lives.

The MILF, the biggest rebel group, signed a peace deal in 2014 that would give the nation's Muslim minority self-rule over parts of the southern region of Mindanao, but a proposed law to implement the pact has not been able to get through Congress.

The immediate objective of Monday's rally was to build support for the proposed law.

"There is no way that we can find peace forever if we do not give them back at least a part of their heritage," Duterte said in a speech last week, referencing Filipino Muslims who consider the south their homeland.

"If we do not give them that, there will be trouble because they will open really to (join a) cabal with the other terroristic activities or the terrorists there."

The MILF had said it wanted a million people to turn up on Monday at its sprawling Camp Darapanan base just outside of Cotabato city in Mindanao.

No firm crowd numbers were immediately available on Monday morning but an AFP journalist at Camp Darapanan reported seeing tens of thousands of people.

Among those in attendance were Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, the archbishop of Cotabato and the highest Catholic Church official in Mindanao, as well as members of the MILF's main rival, the Moro National Liberation Front.

The rally came about a month after Duterte declared the southern city of Marawi "liberated" from IS supporters who attacked it in May in a bid to put up a caliphate.
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 19:33 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2b01f6c 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Lombok,West-Nusa-Tenggara,Mount-Agung,#MtAgungVolcano Free

While Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali is currently closed until the next 18 hours, Lombok International Airport reopened on Monday morning (Nov.27) after being closed for one full day due to volcanic ash from Mount Agung.

With this news, theres a possibility that stranded tourists in Bali might decide to travel to Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) instead.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that the people of Lombok should facilitate these tourists and serve them well.

He suggested for hotels, resorts, homestay and lodgings in Lombok to give more than 50 percent discount.

Lombok should also provide free transportation from hotels to the airport and entertain visitors with any kind of attractions.

Today, NTB tourism department head Lalu Faozal has gathered all tourism industry players in Lombok.

Suggestions from minister Arief Yahya will be passed on to our friends in the industry. We are going to offer tours and promotions in order to introduce leading attractions in Lombok, said Lalu. (asw)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 17:31 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2afbc94 2 News Tourism-Ministry,Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Arief-Yahya,Mount-Agung,#MtAgungVolcano,Hotel,Bali-tourism Free

Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali has been closed temporarily since 07:15 a.m. due to volcanic ash from Mount Agung. The Indonesian Flight Navigation Service Institution (LPPNPI) or AirNav Indonesia has released Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) No. A4242/17 regarding the issue.

The airport will remain closed for the next 18 hours. Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya who initially was scheduled to travel to Bali has instructed his team to prepare for the Mount Agung eruption.

Make sure all of the passengers whose flights have been canceled and have to check-in to hotels are given special rates, like 50 percent discount, Arief said.

For airlines, especially low cost ones, dont charge cancellation fee or rescheduling fee, he added.

And for international tourists whose visas have expired, their visas will be extended to a month.

The volcanic ash from the eruption has traveled to the east, causing the temporary closure of Lombok International Airport and cancellation of more than 5,000 flight seats, both domestic and international flights.

The statement from NOTAM reads Mount Agung volcanic ash has covered the area above Denpasar. Due to safety reason, the aerial area cant be used and I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar is temporarily closed.

The NOTAM also mentions that the airport will be opened on Nov. 28 at 07:00 a.m.

All of the domestic and international flights to Denpasar who are flying at the moment will be redirected to the closest airport such as Juanda [Surabaya], Makassar, Lombok or Kupang. The latest data shows that seven flights have been redirected, explained AirNav Indonesia operational director, Wisnu Darjono.

Garuda Indonesias Denpasar-bound flights GA 5150 from Zhengzhou and GA 897 from Guangzhou are redirected to Surabaya and Garuda Indonesia flight GA 859 from Shanghai to Denpasar are redirected to Jakarta, as is China Eastern flight MU 5029 from Shanghai.

Meanwhile, China Eastern flight MU 781 from Beijing is redirected to Singapore, Citilinks CTV 856 from Jakarta to Denpasar is redirected to Surabaya and Lion Airs JT927 from Makassar is also redirected to Surabaya. (asw)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 13:34 1815 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2aef47e 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Tourism-Ministry,North-Sumatra Free

The Tourism Ministry conducted a seminar called North Sumatra Tourism Development at Aryaduta Hotel, Medan on Nov. 25.

The seminar talked about improving the economy through tourism.

We are lucky to have Tourism Minster Arief Yahya because he knows very well about the capabilities of tourism in Indonesia. He doesnt just focus on developing Bali but also creating 10 New Balis from other regions, said Member of the Commission X of DPR RI Sofyan Tan.

Sofyan moreover said that geographically speaking, North Sumatra is located in Strait of Malacca that is close to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Infrastructure development acceleration is the key point for North Sumatra, especially for its port, airport and highway.

Development of supporting infrastructures such as hotel, restaurant, tourist attraction and human resources need to be done in North Sumatra, said Sofyan.

Currently, North Sumatra has 10 national strategic projects, one of them is speeding up the infrastructure development of transportation, electricity and clean water for the national strategic tourism plan (KSPN) Lake Toba.

In August this year, Indonesia welcomed 1.35 million international tourists. The Tourism Ministry is aiming for 15 million overseas tourists by the end of 2017.

The growth of tourism in Indonesia is very high, it has reached 22.4 percent in a year and listed in the top 20 in the world. To become a world-class destination, we are going to use the global standard, especially in attraction, accommodation, and accessibility. For attraction, we have advantages in nature, culture and manmade, Sofyan explained.

Tourism Ministry is pushing for North Sumatra and Lake Toba to become an icon in tourism, thus they are developing nature, cultural, sport and MICE (Meeting Incentive Conference & Exhibition) tourisms in North Sumatra.

Lake Toba is a tourist attraction that has been known for a long time, so it's relatively easier to develop the natural, cultural and MICE tourism there, told Tourism Ministrys deputy assistant for government and business market development, Tazbir. (asw)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Mon, November 27, 2017 11:32 1816 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2aeb76e 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Australia-Indonesia,tourism-promotion Free

One the biggest travel agent in Melbourne, Australia, Helloworld, plans to promote other destinations in Indonesia other than Bali.

Weve had a conversation, there are five destinations that will be the target for Helloworld. I hope more tour packages will come up and more international tourists will visit other destinations besides Bali, said Visit Indonesia Tourism Officer (VITO) Emil Hardy Ridwan.

The five destinations mentioned are Lombok, Jakarta, Makassar, Labuan Bajo and Yogyakarta.

Weve also coordinated with several airlines, the most prominent one being Garuda Indonesia because it has flights to these destinations. If its done correctly, there will be plenty of entrance gates for Australians to Indonesia, Emil added.

Meanwhile the owner of Helloword Westfield Southland, Daniel Addiecoat told that currently, his company is coordinating with all related parties in Indonesia.

We have a well-established network in Bali and Lombok but we will add more connections to other industries outside those two places. Indonesia is a beautiful country and were sure more people will come to Indonesia, said Daniel.

Tourism Ministry's strategic management special force, Priyantono Rudito said that the number of Australian tourists will continue to increase in 2017.

Especially in December, there will be a long holiday period for the Australian people. Other destinations besides Bali need to promote continuously, as well as airlines, told Priyantono.

Indonesia is currently conducting an Integrated Promotion activity with Helloword where promotional tour packages to Indonesia are being sold online and offline. The activity runs from Nov. 20 to Dec. 3, whilst the activation event was held from Nov. 20  26. (asw)
Three years after the first cargo train embarked on its adventure from Yiwu, Chinas most famous commodities center, to Madrid, nine routes to Europe have been established for the intercontinental rail freights, which have become a carrier of Sino-European trade and communication.

Photo taken on Nov. 22, 2017 shows a Chinese Railway Express cargo train leaving for Madrid, Spain from Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province. According to customs statistics, imports and exports via Yiwu's Sino-Europe freight service have grown rapidly, reaching 3 billion yuan in 2016. (People's Daily Online/Kou Jie)

Linking Zhejiangs Yiwu, the worlds largest wholesale market for small consumer goods, with the European commodity center of Madrid, the Yiwu-Madrid freight route was launched in 2014. It has seen 264 intercontinental trips so far, carrying 21,536 twenty-foot equivalent units. As of press time, the route has covered 8 countries, including Russia, Poland and France, boosting foreign trade in east Chinas export powerhouse of Zhejiang.

(People's Daily Online/Kou Jie)

The trade between China and Europe is booming. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Yiwu-Madrid route will conduct cooperation with more countries in the future, while the frequency of our freight trains will be increased accordingly, Fang Xudong, vice director of Yiwu Timex Industrial Investment Co., which is the only private operator of the Yiwu-Madrid freight route, told Peoples Daily Online.

Booming opportunities for Sino-EU Trade

The Yiwu-Madrid freight route has eyed a boom in freight volume this year. At least two freight trains laden with various goods are sent to Madrid weekly. The number can reach to five due to the influence of the upcoming Christmas, Mao Yaokun, an official of the Yiwu Freight Station, told Peoples Daily Online.

The booming intercontinental transportation has led to strong economic growth in Yiwu. The citys total value of imports and exports has reached 48.88 billion yuan ($7.08 billion) in the first quarter of 2017, growing 23.72 percent year on year. Over 1.8 million kinds of commodities have been exported from Yiwu to 219 countries and regions in the world, according to Xinhua News Agency.

(People's Daily Online/Kou Jie)

When the freight route was first established, its main function was to bring Chinese small goods to the European market. After three years of development, many European companies have also used our freight service to promote their products in China, creating a win-win solution for both sides, said Zheng Xin, a custom officer of Yiwu freight station.

According to statistics from local authorities, import goods carried by the freight trains have become more diversified in recent years, from wine and edible oils to maternal and children supplies, as well as industrial equipments and components.

Im very interested in the freight train service, as it seems to be much cheaper than air transportation, and much safer and faster than sea transportation. It would be nice if the train can bring our agricultural goods to China, helping us to open the market, said Sergey Dolohov, a merchant from Ivanovo Oblast, Russia.

As more countries have accepted the concept of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, more foreign companies have considered using our service to bring their goods to China. We are planning to put more trains in use, as well as making connections with more countries, said Fang.

(People's Daily Online/Kou Jie)

Fang noted that the transportation fee of the freight train has dropped 50 percent compared to three years ago, while the shipping time has been reduced from 21 days to 16.

The freight train has also brought new opportunities to Sino-EU trade. According to Xinhua, eight overseas warehouses and five distribution stations were built along the Yiwu-Madrid freight route, while a commodity market is expected to be built in Madrid soon.
China should establish a job alert system for preschool education to meet the increasing demand of kindergarten teachers as the effects of the two child policy gradually show, according to the countrys education experts.

The number of children at preschool ages will increase greatly in 2019 and reach its peak two years later. The country is likely to see 15 million new kindergarten students in 2021, which suggests a demand gap of 110,000 kindergartens and three million professionals.

Statistics show that the ratio between the nations teachers and preschool students stood at a low point of 1:12 in 2016, which means nearly 2.5 million more teachers are needed to increase the figure to a more reasonable proportion of 1:7.

According to Li Yan, head of the preschool education department of Shanghai Normal University, though preschool organizations recruit almost all the graduates of this major at each graduation season, the annual demand gap of nearly 3,000 newly added job vacancies in the city of Shanghai is still hard to meet.

Some of the kindergartens recruit supernumerary teachers or child-care workers to deal with the demand, while others hire graduates with unrelated majors but who have the required licenses.

However, experts warn that this approach is not the ideal solution, because the children are at an important phase of development and the teachers need to be strictly screened.

Shanghai is expected to establish a job alert system for preschool education, said Jiang Ming, head of the Shanghai Educational Human Resource Exchange & Service Center, which will make alerts and suggestions based on changes in this industry.
As we head into another essay season, filled with deadlines and stressful nights, library sessions and head banging (both figuratively and, at times, literally), we can all feel overwhelmed.

For some people, this stress is more debilitating, leading to a continuous state of anxiety, panic attacks, lack of sleep, loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating.

In a world where we are taught that we must succeed and that every step of our education will impact how we do in the job market, students sometimes choose not to go to a doctor when they need help. Afraid of being labelled with anxiety or depression, and thus the stigmas that go with them, they sometimes choose to handle the situation on their own. While not the wisest choice, it is certainly understandable, as there is such pressure to succeed now, especially for those with massive student debts that they will soon need to pay. As such the idea of admitting your issue in a job application, as requested, is daunting, as statistics often show employers are hesitant to hire those with mental illness.

Mental illness is not something you can ignore, and problems relating to these issues will continue to arise for those who suffer from them. This has led to a significant increase in online purchasing of prescription medication. Unfortunately, as with any flourishing market space, there are those who will take advantage. Indeed, as of now, over half the medications sold online are fake, and can lead to problems such as heart attacks, strokes, and death. Additionally, not all websites that sell medication are legitimate, and dodgier sites can lead to credit card fraud and identity theft.

Thankfully, a new campaign run by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) is highlighting these dangers, in the hopes of warning consumers away from such purchases.

The MHRA is running the #FakeMeds campaign to help students protect their health and money, with tips on how to avoid potentially dangerous or useless medicines sold by illegal online suppliers.

According to the MHRA Head of Enforcement, Alastair Jeffrey, Purchasing medicines outside the regulated supply chain has inherent dangers as there is no assurance of quality and standards. Medicines purchased in this way could have the wrong active ingredient, no active ingredient, or indeed the incorrect dosage.

 Prescription only medicines are, by their very nature, potent and should only be prescribed by a doctor or appropriate healthcare professional. We would advise people not to buy medicines from unregulated sources as they pose a danger to their health.

Self-diagnosis and self-medication can be dangerous. If you have a concern about your health, visit your GP, get a correct diagnosis and if medicines are prescribed, buy them from a legitimate source.

But have no fear, as the MHRA have come up with a list of ways to protect yourself.

These simple steps can be found below:

1. Look for the distance-selling logo

All online retailers of medicines, operating legally in the EU, must display it. The most reliable way to ensure you are buying products from a registered and approved online seller of medicines is to click here to check the approved list.

2. Look for the CE mark on medical devices

A manufacturer displaying a CE mark on their medical device is saying their product complies with the essential regulatory requirements, designed to make sure products work as theyre supposed to and are acceptably safe.

3. Natural does not mean safe

Products that claim to be herbal or all-natural can actually contain chemical ingredients. In fact, thousands of slimming products are seized each year which claim to be herbal, but actually contain sibutramine. This is a medicine which is so dangerous (causing both strokes and heart attacks) it was removed from sale in this country. Similarly, there are countless herbal erectile dysfunction medications available online that could seriously harm your health.

When in doubt, check any medicine for a Product Licence (PL) number or Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) number to make sure it is safe.

4. Check for secure payment options

When entering personal information, look out for a small padlock in the address bar or elsewhere in the frame of your browser (not the webpage itself). This will indicate that the information you enter will be encrypted and isnt being stolen. If the padlock symbol is not present, do not enter your information. This will help you avoid any private information, such as your card details, being stolen.

5. Check the small print

Unfortunately, as we all know, there are people out there who will do anything for a quick buck, including trick you. As such you have to be on your guard, especially when using sites that seem dodgy. Scam sites often encourage you to sign up, committing you to hand over your money for a trial. In fact, you could be agreeing to a schedule of large regular payments from your account for useless or dangerous products. Always read the small print carefully so you know what your signing up to and wont have any nasty surprises when you check your account.

6. Be wise to gimmick marketing

Terms like detox and fat-melting are meaningless, without any scientific or medical basis. However, they are the kind of words popular with those selling dodgy slimming pills. Dont be one of the people who fall for this trick!

7. If they tell you its safe, they might be lying

This one might seem obvious, but its worth noting all the same. No matter what the vendor tells you, do not, under any circumstances, consume a product if it arrives in packaging whose label reads not for human consumption. You have no way of knowing how your body is going to react  especially if the product has been designed for livestock. No reassurances in the world are worth taking the risk!

8. Dont self-diagnose

While it is tempting to Google symptoms and self-diagnose, there are many things which could be wrong with you, some serious, most not so much. As such it is far more beneficial to visit your healthcare professional if you believe you need medical treatment for something. After all, a doctor can:

a) give you their expert opinion about your condition and help work out the right treatment for you, in light of your medical history

b) prescribe you medicines which you can be sure have gone through the proper tests for safety and effectiveness

Additionally, they will be able to recognise if your issue is isolated, or whether it is a symptom of something else of which you were not previously aware.

9. Dodgy website design can mean a dodgy website

Always pay attention to the website! If it looks amateurish or like it could be a scam dont put any information in and leave as soon as possible. Scam websites will have signs such as poor design, pop-ups and spelling and grammar errors. It is also wise to check reviews, as they will often highlight issues and let you know if a site is a scam. Unfortunately, scammers are known to add their own fake reviews, of which you must beware. The consumer association Which? have put together a guide on how to spot genuine online reviews, which should be helpful when looking out for scams.

10. If in doubt, report it!

If you suspect a website of selling fake medication or think youve bought something fake, report it to the MHRA!

Visit https://fakemeds.campaign.gov.uk for tips on buying medicines safely online and how to avoid unscrupulous sites.
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Experts have called for legislation on e-commerce to protect Chinese consumers after a number of bike-sharing companies went bankrupt.

Six bike-sharing service providers in China have shuttered so far, and costumers are having trouble getting their deposit back because of broken capital chains and business closures.

China is now home to over 70 bike sharers with 130 million registered users. A total of 16 million bikes are currently in service. Social credit scoring system Zhima Credit said that more than 1 billion RMB ($151 million) is unlikely to be refunded.

At a seminar held by the Chinese Consumers Association on Nov. 22, experts and lawyers made suggestions for stronger consumer protection laws.

Zhu Wei, a communication researcher at China University of Political Science and Law, said customers deposits should be separated from companies self-owned capital, so that service providers have no right to use the deposits.

Zhu said that, given the current situation, it is possible the deposits have been embezzled by the bike-sharing companies. Besides, according to bankruptcy law in China, customer deposits may not be fully refunded.

As a result, he suggested that the country find a solution to the problem of deposit security for the sharing economy and even the e-commerce industry through legislation.

Zhu said that future e-commerce law should be clear, pointing out that the deposits should not be considered as company property and refunds should be prioritized after a business failure.

A report issued by the sharing economy research branch under State Information Center earlier this month called for the establishment of a credit system to accelerate the development of the sharing economy.

Some of the bike-sharing companies have offered deposit-free services based on personal credit reports. For instance, users of Ofo, one of Chinas major bike-sharing players, can use the companys bikes in 25 cities without paying the deposit as long as they have over 650 credit points on Zhima.

However, Zhu stressed that it takes time to build a credit system that can be applied to every person and company.
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The Dubai Watch Week once again set the standards by which other watchmaking events are measured. Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons brought together leading brands, industry experts and craftsmen for a week of talking watches, looking at watches and  for a lucky few  even trying to assemble, engrave and paint watches. A number of panels tackled the burning issues of the moment, while creative hubs offered visitors a chance to delve deeper into the histories of watch brands as well as discover some new models. Watch aficionados could see examples of the art of fine watchmaking in two dedicated pavilions, while the curious could discover the importance of timekeeping throughout history thanks to virtual reality experiences organised by the Fondation de le Haute Horlogerie. Read my two-part write-up from the event, split into the educational side and the new watches side, this week on WorldTempus.



We start the week with a celebration of 25 years of the Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece collection. Olivier Muller looks at the unique models that grace the upper echelons of the Maurice Lacroix collection and play with our perceptions of time, where seconds are mysterious and wheels are square.



By pure coincidence we have two interviews this week with watch brand CEOs with the same first names: Patric Zingg has been in charge of Graham since last year and explains his priorities for the brand; Patrick Pruniaux, who joined Ulysse Nardin just a few months ago, spoke to Roberta Naas about the transition from technology company Apple to the traditional watchmaking brand.



Breakfast at Tiffanys is now a real possibility rather than just a work of fiction, as Roberta Naas explains on Wednesday after her visit to the new cafe in Tiffany & Co.s flagship store at 727 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Rather than stare through the windows with your coffee and croissant in hand, as Holly Golightly did in the movie, you can now take your breakfast inside the store itself.



For those who are unable to pop over to New York for their Christmas shopping, the 2017 issue of GMT Lady offers a great overview of the latest jewellery and ladies timepieces. You can download a PDF version in French and English from the WorldTempus shop and browse through the magazine from the comfort of your own home.
At least 235 worshippers have been killed by gunmen who attacked a mosque affiliated with Sufi groups in Egypts North Sinai during Friday prayers, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the country in recent years.

A statement from the prosecutor-generals office on Friday afternoon said 235 people had been killed and at least 109 injured in the attack on Al-Rawdah mosque in Al-Radwa village situated between Bir Al-Abed and Al-Arish ciies.

The presidents office has announced a nationwide three-day mourning following the terrorist attack, state TV has reported.

Health ministry sources in the governorate said 30 ambulances were deployed to the scene to transport the injured to Arish Bir Al-Abed and Arish General hospitals.

Eyewitnesses told Ahram Online that improvised explosive devices were detonated at the mosque initially, then gunmen fired at worshippers, including targeting ambulances transferring the injured to hospital.

The Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis terrorist group have pledged allegiance to the IS group and have previously executed Soliman Harraz, a Sufi sheikh on November 2016; two Sufi shrines in Mazar village were also targeted with explosives.

"The area is known for the existence of Sufi Muslim groups, and it does not have an intensive security presence as it is outside of Arish and far from the traditional areas that host those militant groups," Mohamed Hamad, son of a tribal sheikh, told Ahram Online.

Hamad added that the long distance between Al-Rawda village, Bir Al-Abed city and Ismailia delayed the arrival of the ambulances, while the targeting of the ambulances increased the number of victims.

In an official statement, Prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek ordered that Ismailia prosecutors and high state security prosecutors be deployed to the scene to carry out needed investigations.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is set to hold a meeting with a security committee to discuss the repercussions of the terrorist attack.

Egypt's security forces have been fighting an Islamist insurgency based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula which has gained pace since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The insurgency has mostly targeted security forces, with attacks on military and police checkpoints common place.

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The office of Egypt's prosecutor-general on Sunday described as "groundless" the reasons given by the Swiss attorney general's office for suspending their legal cooperation with Egypt over efforts to restore the family assets of former President Hosni Mubarak.

In an official statement issued on Sunday, the Egyptian office said that the reasons given aimed to evade a newly implemented Swiss law that would allow Egypt to repatriate the funds, which were acquired by the Mubarak family through corruption and stored in Swiss banks.

According to the statement, during an earlier meeting with Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek, the Swiss attorney general discussed the suspension of legal cooperation for two reasons.

The first was that the Swiss justice ministry did not send the Egyptian judicial assistance requests to the Swiss attorney general's office, allegedly due to lack of legal basis, as the Swiss justice ministry claimed no connection between the investigations in Switzerland and the persons under investigation in Egypt.

The second reason was that, although the Swiss justice ministry did forward Egyptian requests on other individials in question to the Swiss attorney general's office, the latter decided they lacked legal basis as some of the individuals had already been acquitted in Egyptian courts.

Among the forwarded requests were ones on Suzan Thabet Mubarak, Alaa Mubarak, Heidy Raskh, Gamal Mubarak, Ahmed Ezz, Khadija Yassien, Alaa Salama, Shahinaz El-Nagar, Ahmed Ahmed Ezz and Zohair Garna, according to the statement.

"Those reasons are untrue, as there are still investigations regarding the persons in question. Besides, there are no reconciliation deals with the individuals in question and they are either being investigated or standing trial up till now," said the the statement of the prosecutor's office, adding that Egypt sent their Swiss counterpart a list of names of individuals who had reconciled with the Egyptian government.

The Egyptian prosecution added that there were final convictions concerning some of the individuals in question, and the Swiss attorney general was informed of these, including the conviction of former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal in the case known in the media as the "presidential palaces case."

In the May 2015 verdict, a Cairo criminal court sentenced ousted President Mubarak and his sons to three years in jail for embezzlement of public funds. In January 2016, the cassation court rejected the defendants' appeals.

The Egyptian prosecution also listed in its statement other Mubarak regime members convicted in the past few years.

In December 2016, the cassation court upheld a prison sentence issued in September 2015 for Mubarak's former minister Ibrahim Soliman for for embezzlement of public funds.

In March 2013, the criminal court sentenced businessman and Alaa Hosni Mubarak's father-in-law Mohamed Magdy Raskh to five years in prison for corruption-related charges in absentia. The defendant has not appealed the court ruling and is still on the run.

In April 2017, the court sentenced Mubarak-era interior minister to seven years in prison, also for embezzlement of public funds.

The statement added that the Egyptian general prosecutor's office cooperated with all requests sent from its Swiss counterpart, whereas the Swiss authorities did not cooperate in the same way with Egyptian requests.

It suggested that the Swiss attorney general informed Nabil Sadek during a meeting in December 2016 that a Swiss investigation concerning money laundering charges against Alaa and Gamal concluded that there was no provable connection between their assets in Switzerland and the crimes of which they were accused in Egypt.

Although the attorney general said he would send a copy of the Swiss investigation report to his Cairo counterpart as part of mutual cooperation, Sunday's statement claimed the Egyptian office has not yet received it, despite an Egyptian request in accordance with Swiss law.

In September, the Swiss embassy in Cairo announced that investigations into the Mubarak family's frozen assets are being conducted independently in both Switzerland and Egypt.

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In a twist to the drug case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Khaira, AAP-ally Lok Insaaf Party on Monday released an audio recording claiming it to be a conversation about payment of Rs 35 lakh to a Punjab and Haryana High Court judge for action against Khaira in the drug smuggling case.

Releasing the an audio, the two LIP legislators and brothers, Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, said the audio recording contains conversation between Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer TK Goyal who is under suspension following corruption charges and former additional advocate general (AAG) Amit Chaudhary who served as AAP in the previous Parkash Singh Badal regime.

They said in the clip, the latter can be heard claiming that he will pay the money to the Punjab and Haryana High Court judge.

Addressing a Press conference, the Bains brothers claimed that the payment was made in conection with Khairas petition in the high

court against his recent summoning by a Fazilka court in the drug smuggling case.

Seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Simarjit Singh Bains said the veracity of the conversation needs to be ascertained and it needs to be found who was the person who paid Rs 35 lakh for adverse decision against Khaira in order to spoil his political career and weaken his crusade against corruption by the Congress government.

We will put the CD before the Chief Justice of High Court and the Chief Justice of India so that the truth comes out Simarjit said adding that they may release the video recording of the the same at appropriate time.

Bains brothers and AAP legislators met Governor VP Singh Badnore on Monday to demand a CBI inquiry into the matter. Later, speaking to reporters, Khaira said the facts that the Bains brothers had brought to light were sad. We have faith in judiciary, but they too have failed us. It shows I am victim of a big controversy, he said.

We bow to the judiciary. But a tout of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (referring to the lawyer) is claiming that he ensured that Khaira did not get relief (dismissal of revision petition). We consider judges like God. But its sad if justice is being compromised. We still do not know who is behind the controversy, though the name of Capt Amarinder Singh is there in the clip, Khaira added.

He expressed suspicion that Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia or power minister Rana Gurjit Singh could be involved in this controversy.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said as the matter was in the court, it will not be appropriate for him to comment in the matter but the Bains brother should put whatever evidence they have before the High court.
State Transport and Civil Supplies minister G S Bali on Monday sought ban on sale of liquor 15 days before polling is scheduled and said politicians had used liquor to influence voters during the recently held assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh.

Talking to mediapersons, Bali said liquor was widely used to woo the electorate and he had even approached the Election Commission to stop the malpractice. However, the Election Commission officials cited lack of adequate manpower in curbing the menace, he alleged.

Terming the trend as disturbing, Bali said the Election Commission should have taken stringent action against such practices, though no concrete action or plan was in place to curb the trend.

Bali demanded that there should be complete ban on sale of liquor, at least 15 days before the scheduled the date of polling.

He alleged the complete exercise of conducting assembly polls in the state wasnt correct as there werent proper arrangements in place at many polling stations.

He even raised questions over the credibility of EVM machines and said the Election Commission should issue clarification amidst various allegations of hacking.Bali claimed that the huge voters turnout may go in favour of the Congress party as the people of the state were against ill-conceived central schemes such as demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST). The hike in the prices of LPG would also go in favour of the party, he said.

There was no anti-incumbency against Congress government and the people of the state were satisfied with governments functioning in five years rule, he said.
The three-day Punjab Assembly session began on Monday with the House being adjourned after obituary references. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal accused the Congress government of running away from debate rather than owning up to its failures.

In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that legislative business in the ongoing session had been curtailed from three sittings to two.

The SAD had submitted a memorandum to the Speaker demanding the session be extended to discuss emergent issues. The Speaker had assured he would look into the demand. However instead of doing this the business advisory council of the Assembly, which is packed with Congress nominees, decreased the number of sittings from a meagre three to two, Badal said.

This proves that the government does not want to discuss any of the issues listed by the SAD, including a discussion on the crisis in the farm sector, breakdown of law and order, withdrawal of all social welfare facilities and non-fulfillment of all promises made to farmers, youth and unemployed, he added.

Asserting that such an anti-democratic attitude did not behove any responsible government, the SAD president said the SAD-BJP alliance was not even consulted on the issue.

Badal said despite such blatant attempts to suppress the voice of the people and its representatives, the SAD would relentlessly expose the government and take up people issues vigorously in the session.

We will not let the government escape from its responsibilities and ask it to explain to Punjabis why they deceived and betrayed them and failed to deliver on each and every front, he added.
Restrictions were imposed in Srinagar on Monday to thwart any untoward incident during the shutdown that was called by the separatists against the illegal detention of certain Hurriyat leaders.

Most educational institutions remained closed and train services were also suspended as a precautionary measure.

Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house arrest, while Syed Alishah Geelani is already under house arrest. However, the two separatists continued tweeting and issuing statements from their houses.

The separatists were also protesting against the raids by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on their supporters in the hunt for terror funding by Pakistan. CRPF and police were deployed in strength throughout the valley as a precautionary measure.
MPs said the government should move quickly to financially compensate the families of the victims of the terrorist attack which killed 305 worshippers in Al-Rawda mosque in North Sinai on Friday

In an urgent plenary meeting on Monday, members of the Egyptian parliament came together to denounce the terrorist attack which hit Al-Rawda mosque in North Sinai on 24 November, leaving 305 worshippers dead and 125 injured.

Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said he has asked the committee of legislative and constitutional affairs to accelerate the process of debating a law aimed at financially compensating the families of the victims of the attack.

Abdel-Aal also indicated that he received assurances from acting Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli that the government will do everything possible to help the victims' families get the necessary financial compensation as decided by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

This is not a moment for sadness, rather this is a moment of action for helping the families of the victims, said Abdel-Aal, adding that "the government promised that judicial courts will also soon be back to business in the city of Al-Arish, the capital of North Sinai, to help families get all the legal documents necessary to obtain the compensation."

MPs, especially those affiliated with North Sinai, said they want to sit down with Minister of Defence Sedki Sobhi to discuss security-related issues in North Sinai. "We want to tell him that terrorists were able to hit a mosque on a Friday and that the next time they might hit a school," said North Sinai MP Gharib Hassan, adding that "citizens want to tell Sedki that there should be more coordination with the army and police forces in fighting terrorist groups there."

North Sinai MPs also said they want a parliamentary delegation pay a visit to Al-Rawda mosque next week and perform the Friday prayers there to show solidarity with citizens there.

Abdel-Aal argued that the attack in North Sinai on 24 November shows that terrorists are ready to direct their guns at Muslims in the same way they kill the followers of other religions.

"These terrorists know no discrimination among religions and their main goal is to spread chaos and drive a wedge between the Egyptian people on one side and its army and police forces on the other," said Abdel-Aal, urging that "all Egyptians stand united in one line until we all defeat these dark forces."

Abdel-Aal said "there are thousands of mosques in Egypt and it is quite difficult for army and police forces to be mobilized to safeguard these mosques."

"But ordinary citizens themselves can help in preventing terrorists from targeting mosques and churches by cooperating with police and army forces," said the speaker.

The head of parliaments legislative and constitutional affairs committee said that MPs are keen to see the completion of the debate on two laws compensating families of the victims of terrorist attacks and on toughening penalties against terrorism-related crimes.

But apart from legislative measures, I want to say that though North Sinais terrorist attack is the worst in Egypts history in terms of number of victims, it will never break the national will of Egyptians, said Abu Shoqa, adding that Egypt, which defeated the Hyksos and Tartars in ancient times, will also be able to defeat terrorists.

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In the alleged forced conversion case, the Supreme Court (SC)bench-led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra directed that Hadiya should be taken to her college in Tamil Nadu for resumption of her studies and should be provided a hostel facility.

The SC bench also appointed dean of Salem-based homoeopathic college as Hadiyas guardian. Next date of hearing fixed for the third week of January.

During the hearing, when asked by CJI Dipak Misra that does she want to continue her studies on states expense, Hadiya responded that I want to but not on states expense. My husband can take care of me.

Earlier in the Supreme Court, Hadiya had told the bench that she wants her freedom. She had further claimed that she had been unlawful custody for the last 11 months.

Hadiya also told the the court that she wanted her husband to be her guardian, and wanted to go back to her studies and be a good doctor.

Counsel for Hadiyas father told the CJI Dipak Misra-led bench that first the material submitted by NIA should be looked into and then her version should be heard.

Counsel also told the bench that theres an operational apparatus existing for conversion.

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) had submitted a 100-page probe report to the Supreme Court and included Hadiyas testimony that she married of her own free will.

Earlier in the day, Kapil Sibal had told the bench that when Hadiya is present in the court room, then the court should listen to her, not the NIA and that she was entitled to make decisions of her life.

Appearing for Hadiyas husband Shafin Jahan, Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that he was really disappointed that instead of asking Hadiya on what she wanted, people are focusing on the venom filled in news channels

Hadiya Shafin, a 25-year-old homoeopathic trainee, who married a Muslim man after converting to Islam, was produced before the apex court in a case of alleged forced conversion.

ALSO READ: Conversion case: Hadiya Shafin to depose before SC

The SC is hearing a plea by, Hadiyas husband, Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage and seeking recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Hadiyas father KM Ashokan have contended that Hadiya had been indoctrinated by radical groups and her consent was not free.

Her father has reportedly told media that Hadiya does not have an independent mind as she has been mentally kidnapped.

(With agency inputs)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hit back at Rahul Gandhi over his hugplomacy jibe saying, it was the Congress leader who hugged the Chinese Ambassador when the Indian Army was in a standoff with Chinese troops in Doklam earlier this year.

When the Indian Army was standing eye-to-eye with Chinese in Doklam for 70 days, you were hugging the Ambassador of China. When the Indian soldier stood for the country, you were hugging the Chinese Ambassador. For whom? I am asking you a question, he said addressing a public meeting resuming his election campaign in north Gujarat after a break.

This is Modi. He has been nurtured in this land of Sardar PatelThe people who have looted the country will have to give it back, he said, reminding his audience of the surgical strikes carried out last year by his government after the Uri attack

I asked a Congressman to write down the names of all the Presidents of Congress. The people who do not know the names of Congress leaders, how will they develop our nation? Modi asked.

He said the Congress cannot think beyond one family. How many people remember Kamaraj or Debharbhai (U.N. Dhebar), who were presidents of Congress nationally. Many in the party would not even know that Debharbhai was a Gujarati. The party that does not go beyond one family, what do you expect from them? he added.

Modi expressed his confidence that the BJP in Gujarat will win 151 seats in the 182-member assembly.

On Saturday, Gandhi had in a sarcastic tweet raised questions over Indian diplomacy after a Pakistani court allowed release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Sayeed from jail. Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani (this is not done). Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed, Gandhi tweeted on Saturday morning.
The legal term may be clunky  enforced disappearance- but the human story is simple: People literally disappear, from their loved ones and their community, when state officials (or someone acting with state consent) grab them from the street or from their homes and then deny it, or refuse to say where they are. It is a crime under international law.

Thus reads the introductory paragraph on Amnesty Internationals (AI) webpage on Disappearances.

On November 7, Mubashar Hasan Caesar, an assistant professor at the department of political science and sociology at North South University in Dhaka, left home for work in the morning, followed by a meeting in the afternoon. He hasnt returned since. With his disappearance, his research on politics and religion and anti-radicalisation has stopped. His classes have come to a standstill. His blog has become inactive. His family and loved ones live in limbo.

Also on the AI website: Often people are never released and their fate remains unknown. Victims are frequently tortured and are in constant fear of being killed. They know their families have no idea where they are and the chances are no one is coming to help. Even if they escape death and are eventually released, the physical and psychological scars stay with them.

Mubashar Hasan Caesar is the ninth person in Bangladesh to have been reported missing since August. According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 524 people have allegedly become victims of enforced disappearance since 2010. Of them, 334 are still missing. Fifty people were allegedly abducted between January and September 2017 alone. As the Inspector General of Police has said in a recent statement, enforced disappearances are nothing new and have been taking place since ancient times. Indeed.

According to Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, an enforced disappearance is where a person is arrested, detained, abducted or otherwise deprived of their liberty by agents of the state, or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support, or acquiescence of the state. This is followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places them outside the protection of the law. Forced disappearances became a global concern after hundreds of thousands of people were made to disappear during the military dictatorships in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s as a means of thwarting political opposition.

According to Amnesty International, every disappearance violates a range of human rights including the right to security and dignity of a person; right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; right to humane conditions of detention; right to a legal personality; right to a fair trial; right to a family life; right to life (if the disappeared person is killed or their fate is unknown).

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance came into effect in 2010. It aims to prevent enforced disappearances, uncover the truth when they do happen, and make sure survivors and victims families receive justice and reparation.

Governments are responsible for investigating and prosecuting those responsible in a fair trial, legislating to make the International Convention national law, implementing the International Convention and accepting the competency of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, living up to their obligations under international law, making sure survivors and people who have lost their loved ones receive reparationthis includes compensation, rehabilitation, restitution and a guarantee that it wont happen again.

Also on the Amnesty International website it says that: Enforced disappearance is frequently used as a strategy to spread terror within society. The feeling of insecurity and fear it generates is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects communities and society as a whole.

There is no conclusive evidence to show that the state is responsible for the disappearances of hundreds of people in Bangladesh in the last seven years. Neither is there evidence to show that the state has done enough to bring them back. Not only do hundreds of people remain missing, but those who have come back have said nothing about the time they were gone. Whether or not the state intends it, its citizens live in constant fear.

Meanwhile, the statistics, the names, the stories, continue to pile up, an almost normalisation of the crimes taking place  anyone, doing anything, might disappear. Until one day, until this time, it is one of our own. An academic, a journalist, an activist, a businessperson, a politician, a father-brother-son, a friend.

Caesar is my friend. I didnt know him when he was two years my senior at university. We became friends in England-Scotland when we were both doing our Masters. For almost a year, not a day went by that I didnt talk to him. We would Skype for hours on end, talking about everything, including our dreams for ourselves and our country. He would give me feedback on my dissertation and email me files with his favourite songs. He would introduce me to thought-provoking films and his ever-widening circle of friends; ask for help setting up a Facebook page for the department of which we were both alums; or initiate fund-raising for a current student in need. He would send me funny videos or pick out specific lines from my feature stories and tell me why he loved them.

I still remember a line I had written  History unfolds in front of my eyes as I turn the pages with dirty fingers  referring to the dusty and fragile newspaper archives of 1972. He called me from the UK just to talk about that one line. Who knew then that eight years later, I would be writing about him in the newspaper Over the years, we were in touch less frequently. He would write for my publication, I would check on him to see how his PhD was going, and he would check on mine. My last messages to him last year were congratulatory, for the academic success he was seeing. I said he had almost become a celebrity! He said jokingly that he was making the best of it while I was still away.

Im here now, and Id rather he was here too. Both of us free from fear, our rights intact, safe in our homes, with our parents, our sisters, our daughters. Free to speak, free to write, free to stand up for what we believe in, free to challenge and be challenged. Only then would it be fair. How does one, be it a friend, an enemy, or the state, challenge someone who isnt even there? How does one deal with the disappeared?

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, University of Dhaka.)

The Daily Star/ANN
The defence ministry has cancelled a negotiated USD $500 million deal with Israel for the Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) and has tasked the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to indigenously develop a man-portable version of a similar system. The Spike missile is a third generation, fire and forget, top attack ATGM. This implies that once locked on, it tracks its target and strikes enemy armour from the top where it is the weakest. The army had planned to equip all infantry and mechanized infantry battalions, operating in plains and deserts, with it.

As per reports, the deal was to be inked soon and in anticipation the Israeli company, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, had even set up a missile sub-systems manufacturing unit near Hyderabad in partnership with the Kalyani group. Rumours are that the deal was cancelled to push indigenous development.

The DRDO claims that since it has developed the Nag missile system it could also produce this in the next three to four years. The fact is even if it delays development or fails, there would be no action taken, nor would the original deal be revived; hence the only losers would be the army and its operational preparedness. It would lose a capability which is essential for operations solely to fulfil a development attempt by the DRDO.

The Nag had undergone two test firings this year, the last being in October, which the DRDO claimed were successful. A DRDO statement released after the trials stated, With these two successful flight trials and the flight test conducted earlier in June in the peak of summer, the complete functionality of the Nag ATGM along with launcher system NAMICA (Nag Missile Carrier) has been established and marked the successful completion of development trials of the Nag Missile.

The army on the other hand commented, The developmental trials of the Nag ATGM carried out earlier this month have only proven partial success and many more user trials would be needed. The entire exercise of hot-and-cold region trials of the Nag missile will take more than a year to complete, after which the missile could be ready for production. Thus, it appears that the army still has doubts on the functioning of the missile. It is essential that soldiers operating equipment in battle have complete faith on its functionality.

The armys main objection to the missile remains its prohibitive cost and multiple technical shortcomings, including thermal sensors. Though the armys overall demand is for 8,000 Nag missiles with an immediate requirement of 2,000, however it is only willing to place an initial order for 500 pieces.

The cancellation of the Spike deal has invited adverse comments from strategic experts. Operations in plains and desert sectors would involve mechanised formations. Thus anti-tank weapons will be an essential equipment with forces operating in the region. The cancellation of the deal puts Pakistan in an advantageous position. Pakistan employs a locally manufactured variant of the Chinese designed HJ-8 missile alongside US manufactured TOW missiles which can strike tanks and bunkers at a range of 3-4 kms, while missiles in service with India presently have a maximum range of two kms.

This decision by the MoD may have been prompted by two major factors, though no official announcement has been made. The first is hesitation on the part of the army to enhance orders for the Nag missile system in its present form, unless it clears trials planned in the future. Second has been a visualisation that by cancelling the contract, yet to be inked, the army would be compelled to accept future indigenous systems despite shortcomings, as against its desire to import battle hardened and tested equipment, as these options would be closed.

However, this decision by the defence minister is wrong. The reliability of the DRDO to produce a similar product within the desired time as also capability remains unconfirmed. Whether the Nag system itself would undergo the balance tests successfully and be suitable for introduction into service, only time would tell.

The army has a reputation of not accepting low quality equipment, as once inducted it would remain in service for decades, preventing any purchase of technically advanced systems. Further, as history has proved, dependence on DRDO has rarely paid off. Ideally, purchase with technology transfer would have been ideal as the DRDO could have a better base technology for further development of systems.

Giving the DRDO an opportunity with a time factor may imply giving undue support to home production. However warfare is not a game, since national prestige and lives are involved. The DRDO receives government funding and has immense laxity in research and development hence must be able to stand its ground on proven capabilities with comparable products from the world market. Only by facing open competition and securing contracts will it be able to enhance its development capabilities. Protectionism in any industry has led to its collapse, as has clearly been the case with DRDO, through the decades.

India has maintained reservations in every field and academic institutes of the government, except the army. To commence reservations even in defence manufacturing, by blocking imports, sets a wrong precedent which must be avoided. If maintaining a white elephant like the DRDO is beyond the governments capabilities, then its assets should be sold to large business houses now venturing into the defence field.

While rumours are resurfacing that the government may consider limited procurement of the Spike ATGM, it will be a haphazard decision as the army will be saddled with multiple equipment for the same task. The defence minister needs to realise that she cannot push reservation into defence production. A wrong decision forced down the militarys throat can cause loss of lives; hence she needs to rethink before accepting advice from her non-military staff. The government must understand that it is responsible to ensure that the army always remains prepared for war and possesses requisite equipment.

(The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army)
With its veto power in the United Nations Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked attempts to designate the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the Councils Al Qaida Sanctions Committee.. Even though the other members, notably the US, France and UK have backed the proposal, the Chinese have incredously maintained a lack of consensus, and technically stonewalled the application for the last couple of years. This Chinese leniency towards terror is rooted in its all-weather-friendship with Pakistan, one that is based on realpolitik.

Islamabads equation with Beijing has no civilizational, cultural or even ideological alignment. Such double standards are consistent with Chinas expansionist designs that can often lead to questionable patronage of its other rogue clients, notably Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and till very recently, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

Despite the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted Omar al-Bashir for war crimes against humanity and on charges of genocide during the conflict in the Darfur region, China regards the Sudanese warlord as an, old friend of the Chinese people.

The liberal Chinese recipe of managing its external affairs is in sharp contrast to its crackdown on Islamic insurgency ~ specifically the Uyghurs ~ in the Xinjian province. The Muslim Uyghurs are ethnically close to the cultures of the contiguous Central Asia, rather than that of the majority Han Chinese culture. The memories of the short-lived independence of the Uyghur nation in the 1940s as the Second East Turkestan Republic have lapsed in the limbo of history, the relative opening up and increased interaction of the Chinese people with the outside world coincided with the global resurgence and assertion of Pan-Islamism. This reignited the dormant Uyghuristan insurgency. The Urumqi bombings in 1992, the bus bombings in 1997, the Aksu bombing in 2010, the Hotan attack in 2011 and the Urumqui attack in 2014 were condemned by the government in Beijing as the Three Evils ~ terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

Today, the Chinese hyper-sensitivity towards any stirring of Islamic insurgency by the Uyghurs can yield a measure of paranoia, a trend that is almost unprecedented. Anyone under the age of 16 can be ordered to effect a name-change if that name sounds somewhat similar to such Islamic words as Mecca, Quran, Saddam, Jihad, Imam, Arafat, Hajj, Medina or even Islam (deemed to be overly religious)! At another remove, a move to compel the hapless Uyghurs to attend party rallies and express their loyalty to the Communist party is on the anvil.

Even the Quran, as published before 2012, was declared illegal for ostensibly carrying extremist content. Indeed, religion and religious practices are considered to be regressive and regarded as impediments to economic growth. Therefore, there is increasing attention to such matters as the construction of a mosque. It thus comes about that the traditional Chinese pagoda-style mosques are giving way to the Arabian-style shrines, the official line being that mosques should not be luxurious or oversized and have to be in line with Chinas socialist values. Even basic adherence to cultural-religious identity, such as the fast in the holy month of Ramadan, was banned for Chinese civil servants. Religious ceremonies in marriages were discouraged in favour of bureaucratic-legal paperwork. There has also been a clampdown on using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others.

The other ostensibly extremist behaviours include the ban on head scarves, veils and long beards from boarding public transport. Beyond the crackdown on such totems of ones faith, the measures include the surrender of passports, mandatory GPS in cars, enforcement of family planning policies and rejection of state products and services that include radio and television programming. This culture of surveillance on the Uyghurs is part of what the Chinese President Xi Jinping calls the, great wall of iron, to safeguard Xinjiang.

Indeed there is an underground East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM, or now called Turkistan Islamic Movement), which was rightfully declared as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department. More than 100 Uyghurs are estimated to have gone abroad to fight the ISIS. ETIM is said to be allied with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and therefore Beijing has constantly urged Islamabad to take action against the group, given the threat of the terror organisation to specifically target components of the strategic China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC) investments, including the ultra-sensitive and Chinese-funded port of Gwadar.

Recently, the Chinese Government asked Pakistan to step up security for its newly-appointed ambassador in Islamabad in the wake of threats to his life, by the ETIM. Although Pakistan has been selectively ambivalent about its relationship with various terrorist groups (e.g. the China-Pakistan agreement on routinely bailing out Masood Azhar), Islamabad was unequivocal on ETIM after it conducted the Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Its Defence Minister had stated, We believe they (ETIM) have all been eliminated.

The fight against ETIM is our own fight. Its not only Chinas fight. Its a joint fight against ETIM, between Pakistan and China, so there is absolutely no difference of opinion on the elimination of ETIM from our tribal areas.

While China betrays extreme intolerance towards any form of religious assertion or call for freedom on its own soil, and actively seeks regional and global support for targeting Uyghur separatists, it shows no such sensitivity or urgency when it comes to backing Indias efforts to weaken the terror groups such the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), both based in Pakistan. Despite incontrovertible evidence of the complicity of Masood Azhar and his group in the terrorist outrages in India, China naively urges, more deliberation, while India can only allude to the inherent, consistent and patent duplicity in the Chinese behaviour.

Away from the media glare of Western journals, the Chinese governments comprehension of the Islamic terror network, its funding from the Sheikhdoms and rogue agencies like the ISI, training centres in places like Pakistan and the impact of pussyfooting on technicalities (as in the case of Masood Azhar) are instances of double-think, almost deliberate. However, since the Chinese government is not answerable to anyone, including its own citizens, for any moral conundrum in retaining two very different recipes with the same ingredients, China betrays contrasting behaviour, with utter impunity.

(The writer IS Lt Gen PVSM, AVSM (Retd), Former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands & Puducherry)
A virtually lame-duck government in Pakistan has fared disastrously in its handling of the raging turmoil, as political as it is blasphemy-linked, in Islamabad. Details of the provocation for the upheaval are still rather fogbound; but the names of the parties involved would suggest that they are of the fundamentalist variety ~ Tehri-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwa, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan. Not much is known of these fledgling political parties that have, for close to three weeks, been engaged in a robust expression of muscle-flexing, and crucially on the eve of the general elections. With rail and road connectivity snapped by blockades, the tremor in Islamabad has jolted the country no less.

Saturdays mobilisation of the military and the killing of six people in shootouts have served to bring matters to a head. That said, the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has been remarkably restrained in his response. He hasnt spoken in favour of ratcheting up operations against the disruptionists, but has appealed to the government and the political class for negotiations aimed at a settlement of the contentious issues. Given the fact that it is intrinsically a politically-inspired movement, the settlement must of necessity be political, without the terms of engagement being dictated by the men in uniform. This is the upshot of Sundays meeting of the Army chief and the Director-General, ISI, with the Prime Minister and Interior Minister. The fact that Gen Bajwa has had to curtail his visit to the UAE is suggestive of the gravity of the situation.

Blasphemy can be as emotive as it can be mortal; the killing of the Governor of Punjab by his orthodox security guard comes readily to mind. This time, one major demand of the protestors is the dismissal of law minister Zahid Hamid over changes in a law related to the oath on the finality of prophethood in the Election Act, 2017.

With its leader fighting his battles in court, the ruling PML-N is virtually rudderless, a fact that in large part accounts for its bumbling approach to the protest as it spread from Lahore to Islamabad, with the resultant dislocation in such places as Faizabad, in the vicinity of the national capital. With elections scheduled next year and the government loath to rock the right-wing applecart, it has failed to act decisively to rein in the agitators and protect the life and property of the people.

The government of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has watched rather helplessly as the federal capital ~ not too far from the Rawalpindi GHQ ~ has been held to ransom. In point of fact, civilian governance and the rule of law have been in suspended animation as has education in the dominant provincial capital of Lahore. This precisely is the impression that Pakistan has conveyed to South Asia and the world in the larger canvas. The crisis cries out for a settlement.
The Islamabad High Court on Monday strongly criticised the Pakistan Army for mediating between the government and anti-blasphemy protesters, who have been blocking a key highway for 20 days demanding the resignation of the countrys Law Minister over the recent amendment to a federal law that referenced to Prophet Mohammed.

The government finally caved in to the demands of the hardline Islamist protesters, led by the Tehreek-e-Labaik party, earlier on Monday with the resignation of Zahid Hamid and the release of arrested protesters, Efe news agency reported.

Who is the Army to play the role of mediator? asked judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui during a hearing where Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was summoned to explain the developments related to the Islamist protests that have been roiling the country for over three weeks, court spokesperson Adnan Majeed told Efe.

The judge expressed alarm that the agreement was signed by an Army officer, Major General Faiz Hameed, among others, according to a court order accessed by Efe.

This is the same court that had ordered the government on Saturday to clear the highway blockade by the protesters, who considered the amendment  that was withdrawn later  an act of blasphemy, a serious crime in Pakistan that carries the death penalty.

Following the order, the Pakistani police had cracked down on the protesters resulting in clashes that killed six people and injured hundreds, but failed to disperse the protesters.

The government had subsequently ordered an Army deployment to control the situation. However, Siddiqui confirmed on Sunday that Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa played the role of a mediator instead of deploying troops to control the situation.

The Army needs to stay within their Constitutional duties, it is baffling how the Army remained neutral in the office of law-breaking protesters in the country, the judge said.


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Iraqi forces said Monday they face a tough battle against the IS militant group in deep gorges and other natural hideouts in the western desert along the Syrian border, their last bastion in Iraq.

"Our units have cleared 50 percent of the total area of the desert of around 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq miles). The first phase is over," General Yahya Rassoul, spokesman of the Joint Operations Command, told AFP.

"Now our units will proceed to clearing the rest of the desert zones, including Wadi (valley) Hauran," he said.

"The valley is deep and reaches Syrian territory. The mission is to destroy all the hideouts in the desert and valleys to secure western Iraq's border with Syria" before soldiers are posted along the frontier, he said.

Wadi Hauran, with 200-metre-deep (650-foot-deep) gorges, is the longest valley in Iraq, stretching 350 kilometres (210 miles) from the Saudi border to the Euphrates River, also reaching the frontier with Jordan.

The IS militant group has controlled most of the valley in Anbar province since 2014, setting up arms depots and resupply posts.

Troops and paramilitaries launched the desert offensive on Thursday aiming to inflict a final defeat on IS.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he will not proclaim victory until the militants have been cleared from the western desert bordering Syria.

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Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy

By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat
Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan made a strong case for broad-basing economic growth and generating more employment opportunities, arguing that short-term political solutions to the job reservation issue can damage the fabric of the country.

On the solution to the problem of majority of people feeling discriminated, he said, "The only way to solve this is to broad-base economic growth. We need to focus on that as the ultimate solution rather than emphasise grievances... (they are) politically in short-term very convenient but have potential to bring apart the fabric of this country."

Rajan made these comments referring to rising populist nationalism and also agitation by powerful communities, including Patidar community in Gujarat which is feeling discriminated and is seeking reservation in jobs.

"It (populist nationalism) has a potential to damage. I would define very simply as the majority community feeling aggrieved that it is being discriminated against. It exists across the world. It exists in India also. There are often underlying issues, for example an issue of job," the ex- Reserve Bank governor said in a recorded interview played at a media fest.

Some strong communities in India have started protesting to press for reservations because they are not finding jobs, he said, adding that it is very important to tackle underlying economic issues, including unemployment.

On the issue of "illiberal democracy, he said, it is worrying and this system needs to be tackled.

"Illiberal democracy is not only function of leader, function of system which cowed out very easily to strong leader... the press, the business group, all of them tend towards bowing even though there are exceptions because their interests are all aligned," Rajan said.

There are cosy relationships between political and corporate establishments, he said adding that often press is also owned by corporate establishment and independent voices tend to get suppressed.

On increasing incidences of censorships and bans, the former central bank chief said, these are not a feature of any particular government and have happened again and again since independence.

It is important to recognise that as a tolerant society India is better off having free speech with the provision that it should not propagate violence, Rajan said.

On criticism from various quarters faced during his stint as RBI governor, he said, "We have to develop thicker skins."

Citing example of flag burning incidents in the US, he said, once the Supreme Court decided to allow this as part of protest, the incidences slowly diminished.

Rajan also said that India is a vibrant democracy and it has to be seen as a strength rather than as a weakness.

"Growth in democracy is much more stable unlike authoritarian rule. It is beneficial because it tends to be egalitarian. It tends to take people along with. Democracy gives right, allows people to protest," he said.

On the threat to Hinduism due to rising intolerance, Rajan said "it is a vast house and it can survive".

"Hinduism is a tolerant religion which is the way it has always structured or evolved. So, I think specific incidence of intolerance is overstating the risk. My sense is that we have gone through this but Hinduism has survived," he added.
Mukul Roy has decided to hit West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee where it could hurt her the most... without directly targeting her. Roy's plans appear to have put West Bengal's ruling party on the back foot already.

A month after leaving the Trinamool, which he helped establish, and joining the BJP, Roy, does not plan to target Mamata directly but is aiming his guns on Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata's nephew.

Roy had earlier revealed that the logo of West BengalBiswa Banglawas not a public but a private property, which was owned by Abhishek. Some days back, Roy also publicised some papers where he said that Abhishek had given a declaration that he owned the logo at the insistence of his aunt, the chief minister.

I had applied for the patent of the logo at the insistence of the chief minister, said Abhishek in an affidavit given to a court.

Abhishek's lawyer Sanjay Basu said, Its irrelevant now whether he applied for a patent or not as he subsequently withdrew it. The lawyer might have wanted to downplay the issue. But it has created enough of a political storm.

Already, the government is trying to stop Roy from making further comments on the issue. A North Bengal sessions court, under whose jurisdiction the mater does not even fall, has issued a gag order to Roy.

I will move the highest court in the state about it. I cannot be asked to shut up. More will be on the way, said Roy.

Sources confirmed that Roy told the BJP leadership that it would be improper to target Mamata directly as, despite all odds, she was the most popular leader in Bengal today.

So it will be better to hit her close aides and make the Trinamool Congress unstable, said a BJP source.

Roy's performance for the past one year had drawn immense applause from the central leadership of the BJP. Roy has also been able to start cracking the ground-level support of the Trinamool Congress.

Around 2,000 workerscomprising Panchayat members and pradhan and common workersjoined the BJP in the last one month from different parts of Bengal. At its state office, Roy was given a separate cabin. Sources said that the BJP might consider sending Roy to the Rajya Sabha after the Gujarat election.

The central BJP leadership had also instructed state-level leaders to take Roy's advice. Roy had been asked to report directly to general secretary in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and party president Amit Shah.

Roy had also advised the party to translate the BJPs national slogans into Bengali.

Even Bharat Mata ki jai should be called as Bharat Mata r joy in Bengali. Only then, can such slogans be accepted by Bengalis, he reportedly told the BJP leadership.

So does that mean that Roy would lead the BJP in the coming panchayat elections?

My leader in West Bengal is (state unit) president Dilip Ghosh and at the centre, its Amit Shah. Let me work as a soldier of the party, Roy said, in response to queries.
The Congress released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat assembly election, filing of nominations for which ends on Monday.

The party, which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

The party, however, could not finalise the names of its candidates in 20 more seats.

Congress general secretary Oscar Fernandes released the third list to the media.

The Congress has been out of power in the crucial state for over two decades.

The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat, having total 182 seats, will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18.

Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.
The Supreme Court will begin hearing a case on Monday that prosecutors say shows how Islamic State sympathisers are using Love Jihad  marrying Hindu women and converting them to Islam  to win recruits and spread their message.

Over the past 28 months, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has picked up dozens of interfaith couples in the southern state of Kerala to question them about their marriages.

The womenall Hindus who married Muslim menwere asked extremely personal questions during the interrogations, two police officers from the agency said: Did you sleep with your husband before getting married? Did he suggest you visit Islamic shrines before marriage? Did he blackmail you before you converted to Islam?

They were looking for cases of Love Jihad, a term publicised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other hardline Hindu groups soon after they helped propel Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power in 2014. It refers to what these groups say is an Islamist campaign to convert Hindu women through seduction and marriage.

Police investigations at the time found no evidence of any organised strategy, and the claim was widely ridiculed. But since then, the NIA began focusing on Keralaa southern state along the Arabian Sea with strong economic links to the Middle East.

It investigated 89 cases of Love Jihad and found nine to be alliances planned by people linked to the Islamic State, two NIA sources said, requesting anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The NIA plans to present evidence in all nine cases to the Supreme Court. The agency declined to disclose the evidence they have. But in two of the cases the agency was examining money sent from an Islamic school in Iraq to the womens bank accounts, and in another case a woman and her husband had shared IS videos among people in their Kerala village, the sources said.

RSS expanding influence

Opposition parties say the investigation shows the government is allowing the RSS and others to use the state apparatus to further an agenda of establishing Hindu dominance in India, where 13 per cent of the population is Muslim.

M.B Rajesh, a federal lawmaker and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which rules Kerala, said the NIA and the RSS are trying to prove that marriages between Hindus and Muslims are forced unions.

The NIAs probe is creating religious fault lines to help Modis party win (Keralas) state elections, but we will defeat them.

J. Nandakumar, an RSS leader who oversees the groups activities in the state, said the NIA probe vindicates the Hindu rights campaign against religious conversions.

Their first step is to convert Hindu boys and girls, hypnotise them and prepare them for jihad, he said.

The RSS, which founded the first iteration of Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party six decades ago, believes India is fundamentally a Hindu nation. Since Modis election in May 2014, the RSS has expanded its membership and influence across India and either it or its affiliates now run key ministries, such as the home ministry that supervises the NIA and the finance ministry.

Muslimswho account for 172 million of Indias 1.32 billion citizenshave been under increasing pressure from the Hindu right. Muslims have been lynched for killing cowsconsidered sacred in Hinduism - and some of their slaughter houses forced to shut down.

Neither Modis office nor the NIA would comment because the issue is before the Supreme Court.

'Simple love story'

One of the Muslim men, whose marriage to a Hindu woman was annulled by Keralas High Court, has appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

The NIA has accused the man, Shefin Jahan, in court of trying to recruit people for the Islamic State, a charge he denies.

The 24-year-old woman, who converted to Islam before marrying him and changed her name from Akhila to Hadiya, was placed in her fathers custody by the high court after he said he feared for her well-being. There is no criminal case against her.

Indias chief justice has summoned Hadiya to New Delhi to testify on Monday on whether she was converted forcefully. The lower court had rejected her husbands request to have her testify.

This is for the first time in the history of India the top court will be asking a woman the validity of her marriage and her religious conversion, said Kapil Sibal, a lawyer and a leader of the opposition Congress party. Sibal is representing Jahan.

Jahan, 26, told Reuters he met Hadiya through a matrimonial website for Muslims while he was working in a pharmaceutical factory in Oman. He said he wants to live with his wife, with whom he stayed for only 48 hours before her father complained to the police.

Our simple love story has turned into an ugly religious and legal battle, Jahan said.

IS hotbed of recruitment

The NIAs probe started in 2015 after the government identified Kerala, which sends tens of thousands of workers to the Middle East, as a potential hotbed of Islamic State recruitment. Nearly half of Keralas 33 million people practice Islam and Christianity. Local police and the NIA said at least 100 people from Kerala have joined the IS in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The NIAs nine Love Jihad cases were based on complaints lodged by the parents of the Hindu girls and all were found to have links with IS, the NIA police sources said. The agency dropped the investigations into the other 80 cases because no links to militants were found, the sources said.

Across India, over 270 men and 20 women have been arrested for working directly or indirectly with the IS, according to data at the federal home ministry. But Kerala was the only state where the NIA found a direct link between cases of Love Jihad and the IS, the NIA sources said.

The agency says it has uncovered attempts by IS sympathisers to possibly send the women in Love Jihad marriages off to marry or stay with fighters from the militant group, the NIA sources said.

Two couples, who were questioned by the NIA last year, told Reuters police searched their homes.

I was shocked when they said maybe my husband was a jihadi, and he could be planning to send me to Syria, said one woman who married a Muslim information technology professional in 2015.

Police questioned her for six hours, she said, and before leaving, took pictures of her wedding album.

Reuters
Related Hamas cedes Gaza border crossings to Palestinian Authority control

Palestinian movement Hamas again refused to disarm on Monday ahead of a key reconciliation deadline, instead threatening to carry out attacks against Israel in the West Bank.

By Friday, the Islamists are due to hand over control of the Gaza Strip to the internationally recognised Palestinian government, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

But the future of their armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, remains unclear.

"The weapons of the resistance are a red line that is non-debatable," Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas in Gaza, told a press conference, referring to the Qassam Brigades.

"These weapons will be moved to the West Bank to fight the (Israeli) occupation. It is our right to resist the occupation until it ends."

The United States and Israel have said they will reject any reconciliation agreement leading to a unity government including Hamas unless it disarms.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has also said there will only be one security force in the Palestinian territories.

The reconciliation agreement signed on October 12 in Cairo does not specify a future for the Qassam Brigades.

Also on Monday a delegation from Egyptian intelligence arrived in Gaza, as they seek to push forward with the agreement they brokered.

"We are working with everyone and we are optimistic of implementing reconciliation, achieving Palestinian unity and ending the suffering of the Palestinian citizens," an Egyptian security official told AFP.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

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The BJP in poll-bound Karnataka on Monday launched a statewide protest demanding the resignation of Bengaluru City Development Minister K.J. George and Mines and Geology minister Vinay Kulkarni over their alleged involvement in two separate criminal incidents.

If George has been named as one of the main accused in the DySP M.K. Ganapathy death case, now being probed by the CBI, Kulkarni is being accused of pressuring the family members of Yogish Gowda, a Dharwad Zilla Panchayat member, who was hacked to death in June 15, 2016, to withdraw the case.

The BJP is demanding that the two "tainted" ministers be dropped from the Siddaramaiah government to pave way for a free and fair probe.

The constant barbs by the BJP leaders had lead to George moving a motion on breach of privilege against Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar and a private Kannada television news channel, in the Legislative Assembly recently. George, who had earlier quit the cabinet after the CID had taken up the DySP MK Ganapathy's case, was reinstated after the CID filed a closure report. However, the case was handed over to the CBI after the family members of late Ganapathy finally approached the Supreme Court.

George contended that Shettar had levelled baseless allegations against him, claiming that Dr Shailaja, who conducted the autopsy of Ganapathys body, had admitted before the CBI that she was under pressure from the government to file a suicide report. "Shettar has made false claims. I am affected by all these allegations," said George.

Meanwhile, the family members of late Yogish Gowda, who was hacked to death by unknown assailants in Dharwad last year, had told a private channel that a police officer allegedly met them and pressured them to withdraw the case. They suspected it was being done at the behest of Kulkarni.

The police officer's alleged threats have been recorded, and the audio clips of the conversation have the officer warning the family against "taking on the minister" and to "come to a compromise".

The accused in the Yogish murder case are in the jail, and the matter is in the court. However, the BJP has alleged that the Congress government and the chief minister are shielding the 'tainted' ministers.

Incidentally, Kulkarni is one of the two Congress ministers spearheading the Lingayat movement seeking a separate religion status and minority tag. The Congress now suspects Kulkarni is being targeted by the BJP as the Lingayat movement has polarised the community, which has traditionally been a staunch supporter of the BJP.

Said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,"The BJP has developed a habit of making false accusations. They are upset with Kulkarni foe leading Lingayat movement. This attack on Kulkarni is politically motivated."

Siddaramaiah had been vocal in his support for George too, as he dares the BJP to drop the union ministers facing criminal charges. "The BJP is being lead by Amit Shah at the Centre and Yeddyurappa in the State and both have been to jail," mocks Siddaramaiah.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday set free the 35 crew members of a privately operated anti-piracy vessel as the prosecution failed to prove its charge that the ship and its crew were in Indian waters with unlicensed arms, said an advocate.

"The prosecution failed to prove its charges and hence the court has now set them free. It is not known whether the prosecution would go for appeal against the judgement," P. Muthusamy, counsel for the Indian crew members of the ship, MV Seaman Guard Ohio, told mediapersons from Madurai, around 500 km from Chennai.

With this, the High Court set aside the 2016 sentence of a Tuticorin court that awarded five-year jail terms to the 10 crew and 25 security guards aboard the American ship that was seized by authorities in Indian waters in 2013. The crew members were also fined Rs 3,000 each.

Muthusamy said the fine paid will be refunded.

Flying the flag of Sierra Leone, a West African country, Seaman Guard Ohioowned by US company AdvanFortwas found in Indian waters at night in October 2013 around 15 nautical miles from Tuticorin port.

An Indian Coast Guard escorted the ship to Tuticorin port, around 600 km from Chennai.

The Coast Guard said the crew included eight Indians and two Ukrainians, while six British nationals, 14 Estonians, a Ukrainian and four Indians were among the security guards on the ship, and all were arrested after arms and ammunition without valid authorisation or documents was found aboard.

The state police had also alleged that the ship had obtained 1,500 litres of diesel illegally from private sources.

The ship's owners, AdvanFort, specialise in providing maritime security against pirates.

After the Indian Coast Guard escorted the ship to Tuticorin port, those aboard were questioned by officials of different security departments and agencies.

In 2014, the Madras High Court dismissed the charges against the crew and armed guards but reaffirmed charges against the ship's captain and the fuel vendors.

On appeal by the Tamil Nadu Police, the Supreme Court in 2015 set aside the High Court judgement and ordered a trial by a Tuticorin sessions court.
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Hadiya, a 24-year-old Muslim converted Kerala woman, to complete her study at Salem in Tamil Nadu and appointed the dean of the homoeopathic college as her guardian. The top court, while hearing the sensational 'Love Jihad' case, also directed Tamil Nadu government to provide security for Hadiya for next 11 months.

Allowing Hadiya to walk free, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, directed the Kerala police to provide Hadiya with security and ensure that she travelled to Salem at the earliest. It also directed the Salem college to allow her to meet people as per the medical college hostel rules.

Earlier, while disposing before the apex court, Hadiya expressed her desire to complete her house surgeon internship and pursue her career as a homeopathic doctor. She also said that she wanted her freedom back and that her husband was her real guardian.

Hadiya has been under the custody of her parents ever since the Kerala High Court annulled her marriage with a Muslim man Shafin Jahan.

The Supreme Court had directed her parents to produce Hadiya on November 27 amid an assertion by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that this was a case in which the woman was indoctrinated and she may be incapable of giving free consent to marriage.

The NIA, represented by Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, had said there was a well-oiled machinery working in Kerala that was indoctrinating and radicalising society in the state.

As many as 89 cases of similar nature have been reported from the southern state, the ASG had said.

Divan, appearing for woman's father K.M. Ashokan, claimed that Jahan was a radicalised man and several organisations like Popular Front of India were involved in radicalisation of society.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, counsel for Shafin Jahan,had opposed NIA's submission and that of the woman's father.

It was alleged that Hadiya was recruited by Islamic State mission in Syria and her husband Jahan was only a stooge.

Jahan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its August 16 order, directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case.

Meanwhile, the Kerala government on October 7 told the Supreme Court that its police conducted a "thorough investigation" into her conversion and subsequent marriage to Jahan and did not find material warranting the transfer of probe to the National Investigation Agency.

Jahan had moved the Supreme Court after the Kerala high court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.
Swami Vivekanandas tour of India was a journey that touched the soul of the country. He explained to the world the spiritual dynamism of India in a manner that only a philosopher could comprehend and put across. It is through Vivekanandas words that not only foreigners but also Indians came to know how we got a distinctive and rich heritage, which are different from those in other parts of the world.

What Vivekananda told us

It was through Vivekananda that western geniuses like Romain Rolland and Paul Deussen realised that keeping alive the identity of Indiathe cradle of spiritualityis the need of the world. Margaret Noble of Ireland, who later came to be known as Sister Nivedita, described Vivekananda as India solidified. No other person studied and comprehended India in its totality and uniqueness as Vivekananda did. It was through him that even Mahatma Gandhi understood and imbibed the soul of our land.

Vivekananda reached Kerala at the conclusion of his epoch-making tour of India that lasted two years. He set out for Kerala with some rough idea of the land which he had received from Dr Palppu. Vivekananda told Palppu, who had lamented the sad state of affairs in Kerala, two important things that need to be done. One, for any change to succeed in India, it must be based on spirituality. Two, instead of seeking help from the outside, we need to strive for reformation by centering on a spiritual leader from our land. Two things that came out of Vivekanandas advice are: 1) any change that might occur by keeping spirituality away would be superficial, and 2) whatever be the social category, it will include those who possessed purity. And, this must be the reason why reformation movements in other lands cannot be compared with those taking place in India.

Introspection as a self-treatment

Kerala could be the only land that was so deeply affected by cultural invasion. Here, negation of identity and uniqueness of the ethnic culture co-existed along with ugly discrimination based on caste. This was why Vivekananda was forced to describe Kerala as a 'lunatic asylum' despite the fact that caste-based discrimination was rampant all over India. The people of Kerala, who could take in Vivekanandas caustic criticism with an open mind and in the right spirit, made use of the lunatic asylum observation as an opportunity and inspiration for introspection and self-evaluation. The 'self-treatment by making use of Vivekanandas description of Kerala continues even today.

Vivekananda did not just leave Kerala after terming the place a 'lunatic asylum'. He designated one of his fellow saints Srimad Ramakrishnananada as the reform campaigner for south India. He also entrusted Sister Nivedita with the task of assisting barrister G.K. Pillai, who was sent to the British parliament to apprise it of the sad state of affairs in Malabar. At the Thousand Island Park, Vivekananda spoke enthusiastically to the Americans about the good command of Sanskrit that women in Kodungalloor possessed. Vivekanandas letters tell us how he met Chattambi Swamikal. Swami Nirmalananda, who reached Kerala to spread the message of Vivekananda following the footsteps of Swami Ramakrishnananada, was a great personality who devoted his life to the upliftment of Malayalis. Nirmalananda, born in Bengal, was instrumental in starting all over Kerala, Ramakrishna ashrams that became centres of social reformation. It was he who shaped strong reformist leaders like Swami Aagamananda. By declaring that devotees have no caste, Nirmalananda held together people from both the lower castes and the priestly caste.

Idea of equality a timeless message

Even while advocating the concept of Adwaita (non-dualism), the people of Kerala indulged in preaching and practising untouchability and other social evils. Vivekananda described this as utter foolishness. To remedy this, one needed the wisdom to see the truth of equality. Through the discernment which one attains by recognising his own identity, he learns to give up all misunderstandings and embrace all fellow humans. Only by learning and practising this path to equality can we live happily and with a sense of security.

The article was originally published in Malayala Manorama. The writer is editor of Prabuddhakeralam magazine published by Sri Ramakrishna Math.
Nine years have passed since 10 LeT terrorists killed 166 people in Mumbai, but none of the suspects have been punished, indicating that this case has never been a priority for Pakistan, especially after the release of the attack's mastermind Hafiz Saeed, observers say.



The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks, killing 166 people and injuring over 300 in November 2008.



"The Mumbai attack case is being tried in an anti- terrorism court in Islamabad since 2009. There has hardly been any such case in any ATC in country taking more than eight years and still pending. ATC is meant for speedy trial but in this case the ATC is acting like that of sessions court where a case is usually not decided in years," a senior lawyer said.



"It appears that the state is not in hurry to decide this case since the matter is related to its arch-rival India," the lawyer told the media on condition of anonymity, two days after Pakistan released Saeed, the LeT founder ahead of the 9th anniversary of the 26/11 attack.



He said had the authorities concerned here been serious this case would have been decided years ago.



Pakistan has justified the release of Saeed, saying that courts, pursuant to their constitutional duty, were determined to uphold rule of law and due process for all citizens.



Read more: Trump warns Pakistan of 'repercussions' over Hafiz Saeed's release



Advocate Supreme Court Mobeen Ahmad Qazi told the media that since this case was being tried in ATC it should have been decided much earlier.



"For that long (eight years) evidence is destroyed in such cases. I wonder why Pakistan is taking too long to decide this criminal case. If India does not provide concrete evidence it should decide the case forthwith and give benefit of doubt to the suspects and acquit them," Qazi said, adding it appears that Pakistan is facing "international pressure" to keep the Mumbai attack suspects in jail "without evidence".



"The state is responsible for the protection of the rights of its citizens. Justice delayed is justice denied," he added.



Saeed's release has virtually "boosted up the morale" of the six suspects facing the trial in Pakistan for the last eight years, believe Saeed's supporters.



The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah head, who carries a bounty of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities, was released from house arrest on November 24. The fire-brand cleric was under detention since January this year.



The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack.



Read more: Freed, Hafiz Saeed vows to fight for Kashmir



According to a JuD activist, the six suspects feel confident and one day they will walk out free from jail as nothing has been established against them as yet like their leader (Saeed) in the Mumbai attack case.



He thinks that the suspects Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum who have been facing charges of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the Mumbai attack since 2009, would have been acquitted had their trial been put on fast track. They are kept in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi.



The seventh suspect  LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi  got his freedom over two years ago after he secured bail. He has been living in undisclosed location since then. There are reports that Lakhvi had come to JuD headquarters in Lahore to greet Saeed on his release from the 10-month detention under terrorism and public safety laws. The JuD activist, however, denied the duo s meeting in Lahore.



There was also the eighth suspect, LeT militant Sufayan Zafar, who was arrested last year and separately charged for his involvement in 26/11 attack has also been freed on bail.



Zafar was accused of providing Rs 3.98 million to co- accused Shahid Jamil Riaz prior to the Mumbai attack.



He also deposited Rs 14,800 to the bank account of his brother (another suspect in the case). He was hiding after being declared proclaimed offender in the Mumbai case since 2009. He was arrested in August last year from his hideout in Kyber-Pakhtaunkhawa province. Zafar was among 21 other (absconding) suspects wanted in this high-profile case.



The Mumbai attacks' 9th anniversary is being observed today but still this case never seems to be reaching its logical conclusion.



India has been demanding Pakistan not only to arrest Saeed and try him in the Mumbai attack case being the mastermind but also punish all those involved in this carnage.



India has presented a dossier about Saeed's involvement in the Mumbai attack but Pakistan insists 'solid evidence' against him. Pakistan has also asked India to send its 24 witnesses here to record their statements.



"The Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad has recorded the statements of 70 Pakistani witnesses in the case. Now it is up to India to send its 24 witnesses for early disposal of the case," chief prosecutor in the case Chaudhry Azhar told the media.



A number of Pakistani witnesses both official and private testified and provided evidence against the seven accused.



but still the Pakistani authorities have been insisting on sending Indian witnesses here for reaching a verdict.



There are irrefutable witnesses against them. For example one of the seven accused  Shahid Jamil Riaz  had been identified by witnesses that he (Riaz) had bought inflatable boats used by the terrorists involved in the attack.



Riaz and 10 other people had bought 11 inflatable boats, according to the witnesses.



The witnesses identified 10 men, including Amjad Khan and Atiqur Rehman, who were involved in planning and executing the Mumbai attacks. These men were earlier declared "proclaimed offenders" or fugitives by the anti-terrorism court.



One witness told the court that Amjad Khan had obtained from him a "port clearance certificate" for Al-Hussaini, a fishing boat used by the terrorists.



Amjad Khan was also involved in purchasing the inflatable boats. Khan, the fugitive identified by the witnesses, is a shadowy LeT organiser and financier from Karachi who figured in a majority of dossiers provided to Pakistan by India.



Khan, who hails from Multan, played a key role in arranging and providing funds to the ten LeT attackers. He is one of 20 suspects in the Mumbai attacks who are yet to be traced by Pakistani investigators.



These 20 suspects were named in a chargesheet filed in the anti-terrorism court in 2009. They were all accused of playing a key role in facilitating the Mumbai attacks.



No effort has been made so far by the Pakistani law enforcement agencies to track down these fugitives in the case, showing Pakistan is keen to dump the case.



Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and hanged after trial.



Soon after his release on November 24, Saeed vowed to mobilise people across Pakistan for the "Kashmir cause".



It is not clear how many of the fugitives are still in contact with the JuD/LeT leadership. As Saeed is a free man it will be easy for him to execute some of his plans more freely than from the house arrest.

 PTI
North Korea has fortified a part of its border with South Korea from where one of its soldiers defected to Seoul earlier this month, a media report said on November 27.



A photograph posted on Twitter by Acting US Ambassador to South Korea Marc Knapper showed a small group of civilian workers, monitored by North Korean soldiers, digging a deep trench at the point where the defector abandoned his vehicle and ran across the demarcation line separating the two countries on November 13, the media report said.



Security camera footage released by the UN command last week showed the soldier, who is known only by his surname Oh, get out of the vehicle after getting it stuck in a shallow ditch.



He then runs across the border in the Joint Security Area (JSA) as his compatriots shoot at him from behind.



The soldier, who was shot five times, collapses in a pile of leaves near a wall, before being dragged to safety by South Korean forces.



Oh is currently in a stable condition after undergoing operations to treat his wounds and remove parasitic worms, according to Lee Cook-jong, a surgeon at Ajou University hospital south of Seoul.



North Korea has also erected a gate on the bridge the soldier used during his high-speed drive towards the JSA, according to the media.



The regime has also placed more machine guns in the area.



South Korean military officials will question Oh as soon as he has recovered from his injuries.
Pakistan Law Minister Zahid Hamid resigned on November 27 following deadly clashes between the police and protesters of various "religious" parties, media reports said.



The resignation came as part of an agreement reached between the government and the protesters late on the night of November 26, reported the media.



The agreement followed after a two-day face-off at Faizabad Interchange and other parts of the country between protesters and security forces that saw at least six people killed and hundreds injured.



Following the agreement, the protest leaders were likely to announce an end to the sit-in at a press conference later on November 27.



The minister on the night of November 26 presented his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis".



Abbasi is expected to accept the minister's resignation later in the day, informed sources told the media.



The protesters that gathered in Faizabad were from the groups Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST). They called for Hamid's sacking and strict action against those behind the amendment to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat oath in the Elections Act 2017 - which had earlier been deemed a "clerical error".



The government later retracted the amendment.



On Sunday, the government deployed the Punjab Rangers to handle the agitated protesters in Faizabad and other parts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.



Around 1,000 Rangers personnel were deployed in Islamabad.
The worlds fourth largest air force, which had 42 squadrons of fighter jets in 2002, will be down to 28 by 2020 and to 19 by 2042, if the government does not act fast. Currently, the Indian Air Force has 32 combat squadrons, each with 18 jets.

The IAF needs at least 10 more squadrons to effectively counter a two-front war. Against the IAFs 550 combat aircraft, China has over 1,700 and Pakistan 450.

We are now fighting over the issue of best price for fighter jets, said former IAF chief A.Y. Tipnis. But, we are not paying attention to what is happening in our neighbourhoodin China and Pakistan. The IAF has to be strengthened to save this country. Even if all goes well with the Narendra Modi governments deal for 36 Dassault Rafales, the first aircraft would reach India only by mid-2019 and rest over the next 30 months.

Do not politicise the issue, said Air Marshal (retd) M. Matheswaran, who was deputy chief of integrated defence staff and a key negotiator in the Manmohan Singh governments efforts to buy 126 fighter jets. IAFs force structure is in a very critical stage. In 2004, when the IAF initiated the process of acquiring 126 aircraft, we needed them by 2008. But, nine years have been wasted, and we are nowhere close to getting the aircraft.

Air Vice Marshal (retd) Manmohan Bahadur said two new squadrons were not enough. The Rafale is a good and capable aircraft, and I would like the IAF to have more Rafale jets in its inventory, he said. Though we are getting 123 Tejas light combat aircraft, I have serious doubts over Hindustan Aeronautics Limiteds (HAL) ability to deliver in time. Moreover, we selected the Rafale after trials and due process. Rafale and Tejas are not in same class, in terms of capability and endurance. Tejas is also a high maintenance aircraft.

It was in 2001, that the IAF told the defence ministry that it needed at least 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA). The National Democratic Alliance was in power, with A.B. Vajpayee as prime minister. George Fernandes was defence minister, except for a seven-month stint by Jaswant Singh.

In 2004, the United Progressive Alliance came to power with Manmohan Singh as prime minister and Pranab Mukherjee as defence minister. The government floated a request for information on MMRCA. In 2007, with A.K. Antony as defence minister, the government floated a global tender for 126 MMRCAs.

In 2012, French defence major Dassault won the contract with its Rafale, beating stiff competition from five biggiesBoeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, Mikoyan MiG-35 and Saab JAS 39 Gripen. It helped that the Rafale was logistically and operationally similar to the Mirage 2000, which the IAF had used in Operation Safed Sagar during the Kargil War.

After multiple rounds of negotiations, the deal was settled at $10.2 billion (approximately Rs 54,000 crore as per the 2012 conversion rate). Out of the 126 jets, 18 jets were to be in fly-away condition. The remaining 108 would be manufactured by HAL, in collaboration with Dassault, under the transfer of technology clause. The agreement also required Dassault to invest half of the total transaction amount in India.

Then, the defence ministrys cost negotiations committee took over, and narrowed down the modalities of the deal. In March 2014, HAL and Dassault signed the work-share agreement. But, the deal failed to move forward allegedly because Dassault refused to provide guarantee for Rafales produced in India. It was a clear cut violation of the request for proposal [document]. Eventually, it led to stalling of negotiations, an officer privy to the developments said.

The Modi government took over in May 2014. Exactly a year later, in Paris, Modi announced the decision to buy 36 Rafales in fly-away condition. It came as a surprise, especially because defence minister Manohar Parrikar did not accompany him on the trip.

Randeep Surjewala, who heads the Congresss communication department, recently said the deal was marred by complete non-transparency, flagrant violation of mandatory provisions of the defence procurement procedure, sacrifice of national interests on transfer of technology to HAL and blatant promotion of financial interests of crony capitalist friends of PM. Surjewala said the Manmohan Singh government had sealed the deal for Rs 526.1 crore per plane, compared with Rs 1,570 crore now.

Surjewala also raised the issue about the 50 per cent that was to be invested in India. He said the Rs 30,000 crore deal went to Anil Ambanis Reliance Defence Ltd, instead of HAL. India signed the deal with Dassault on September 23, 2016, he said, and just 10 days later, on October 3, Reliance Defence and Dassault inked a joint venture.

Responding to allegations, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the current deal was better than the earlier one. We will inform the parliamentary committee and Parliament about the price, she said. Bickering over price by the Congress is shameful and a disservice to the armed forces.

Sitharaman said it was not economically viable to have transfer of technology for just 36 jets, as it would lead to price escalation. She also said that Dassault and Reliance Defence had not signed an offset agreement.

Currently the IAF has a complex inventory of Mirages, Jaguars, MiGs, Sukhois, Tejases and Rafales. Bahadur said it is ideal to have minimum variety of fighter jets as complex inventories increase the cost of logistics, maintenance and training. Both Bahadur and Matheswaran highlighted the need to develop indigenous fighter jets.

Another issue troubling the IAF is aircraft availability, which should be around 75 per cent in peacetime. But, it is around 54 per cent to 56 per cent now. Of the 200 strong Sukhoi-30 fleet, only half are ready to undertake missions at all times. Against this backdrop, the IAF is banking heavily on the Rafale deal and it is relying on its missile suite (see graphics) to boost nuclear deterrence.
The decision comes in response to a new Egyptian policy banning exports from unregistered farms

Related Egypt says Jordan to lift import ban on Egyptian potatoes Bahrain, Kuwait, and UAE to lift ban on Egypt's agriculture exports: Agriculture Ministry The European Union agreed to remove Egyptian table grapes from a list of foods that are subject to an increased level of official import controls, Agriculture Minister Abdel-Moneim El-Banna announced Monday, Ahrams Arabic website reported.



The European Commissions Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed voted in favor of removing the Egyptian grapes from the list during meetings held in Brussels on 8-10 November.



The reduction of the level of official controls comes after the Agriculture Ministry implemented a new policy under which only registered Egyptian farms are allowed to export grapes.



The decision is yet to be made official, as the standing committee only delivers opinions on draft measures that the Commission intends to adopt, according to its official page.



The current inspection protocol requires an additional 20% inspection rate over other imports, which means that two out of every 10 containers in each shipment are inspected, Agriculture Export Council Executive Director Hani Hussein told Al-Ahrams Arabic website.



Since 2012 Egyptian grapes been on the list of food subject to an increased level of official controls for certain pesticides at the point of entrance into the EU territory, according to the EUs official document.



Last month, Jordan lifted a ban on imports of Egyptian potatoes imposed in June 2016.



Also last month, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates agreed to lift a ban on imports of Egyptian agricultural products.

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Victoria Beckhams fashion empire has been valued at 100million after winning fresh investment from the former boss of French bakery Paul.

Neo Investment Partners, run by David Belhassen who headed up Paul until 2010, has reportedly ploughed in 30million in exchange for a minority stake.

In the money: The fashion house is controlled by Beckham Brand Holdings, which is owned by Victoria (pictured), her husband David and former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller

The fashion house is controlled by Beckham Brand Holdings, which is owned by Victoria, her husband David and former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller.

Senior management also hold minor shares in the brand, which makes clothes, shoes, glasses and accessories.

The cash is expected to be spent on boosting international internet sales.
The Government has unveiled a 725million plan to transform the UK into the world's most innovative nation by 2030.

The measures are part of a new 'Industrial Strategy', which sets out the Government's long-term vision on how to tackle the UK's well-documented poor productivity level compare to other advanced economies.

The relatively low level of average productivity among British workers is considered one of the main headwinds holding back wages and economic growth in the UK.

The government aims to transform the UK into the world's most innovative nation by 2030.

'Productivity' refers to the amount of a good or service a worker can create or provide for every additional unit of input, such as an hour of time worked for example.

The 725million includes 170million towards building houses that are more affordable and use less energy, and 210million to improve early diagnosis of illnesses and development of 'precision medicine' for patients.

The new money will go into a fund over the next three years, on top of a previously announced 1billion earmarked for development projects.

The Government said it will press ahead with a series of 'sector deals' covering life sciences, construction, artificial intelligence and automotive.

Ministers said these represent a 'new strategic and long-term partnership' with Government, backed by private sector co-investment.

The move aims to build on an announcement by the Prime Minister last week that the Government's ambition is to deliver a step change in the level of research and development (R&D) investment, bringing it from 1.7% of GDP to 2.4% by 2027.

There will also be an additional 406million investment in maths, digital and technical education, helping to address the shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths graduates, while the rate of the R&D tax credit will be increased to 12 per cent.

Theresa May said: 'Our modern Industrial Strategy will shape a stronger and fairer economy for decades to come. It will help create the conditions where successful businesses can emerge and grow, and support these businesses in seizing the big opportunities of our time, such as artificial intelligence and big data, whilst also making sure our young people have the skills to take on the high-paid, high-skilled jobs this creates.'

'As we leave the European Union and forge a new path for ourselves, we need to focus on building a better future for our country and all the people who live in it. With the Budget last week, and our Industrial Strategy in the years ahead, we will build a Britain fit for the future.'

UK productivity growth is lagging other advanced nations badly at the moment.

Business Secretary Greg Clark added: 'Any serious strategy should address the weaknesses that stop us achieving our potential, as well as our strengths, and this Industrial Strategy does that.

'Britains productivity performance has not been good enough, and is holding back our earning power as a country.

'So this Industrial Strategy deliberately strengthens the five foundations of productivity: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places.'

Alongside the launch of the White Paper, life sciences company MSD said it will open a 'state-of-the-art hub' in the UK to drive research into future treatments for patients.

Around 150 research roles will be created, and it is envisaged that the new site will accommodate hundreds of staff for the UK domestic market and other European clinical functions currently based in MSD's Hoddesdon offices in Hertfordshire.




EZULWINI  The road to Mr Swaziland 2018 is on. Mr Swaziland 2018 was launched last Saturday morning at Sibane Hotel where the organising committee revealed one of their main sponsors towards the crowning of Mr Swaziland next year in March.



Speaking on behalf of the committee, Linda Chester thanked Sibane Hotel for being the first to show interest in making the next Mr Swaziland pageant a success. Present during the launch was the organising committee which consists of Nathi Dlamini, Thembisa Maseko, Linda Chester who wass the coordinator and newly appointed member, Sakhelo Nkambule.



Robbed



Chester said they had roped in Nkambule because he was a young vibrant model and motivational speaker, who would have a lot to share with the Mr Swaziland contestants.

He said the main reason why he joined the team was to motivate and groom the contestants on stage presence, media interaction and handling the pressures of being in the public eye as an ambassador for the young men.



Anyone who is interested in taking up the opportunity of being in the competition can visit the Swaziland National Arts and Culture offices in Manzini, to get a registration form at a cost of E100. Everyone who will be interested is reminded to bring a copy of their ID to be able to get themselves the entry forms.



Revealed



During the launch, Chester also revealed that the recruitment process will commence on December 9, and details will be announced soon. After four years of no one taking the title away from former Mr Swaziland Bonelelwe Makhanya, we have to make this finale an interesting one, said Chester.



He further encouraged other corporate organisations to follow in Sibane Hotels footsteps and sponsor the event.

No pageant can be a success without sponsorship and we urge all businesspeople as well to help us make the Mr Swaziland 2018/19 pageant a success.


NDZINGENI  When a woman walked in on an ongoing court session and threw a spray bottle of holy water and insulted a magistrate, members of the public had two questions.



Who the woman and why was she so angry.

The woman has now been identified as Lindiwe Maphalala, who had been operating a preschool at Ndzingeni.

The preschool is the bone of contention in a dispute that involves a businessman identified as Anderson Mkhonta and Maphalala, according to previous court papers.



Maphalala allegedly blamed the magistrate court for failing to assist her in the ongoing dispute over the structure being used for the preschool.



Maphalala has been complaining that the dispute has been making it difficult for her preschool to operate, making it impossible for children enrolled there to graduate.



In June last year, according to court papers, Maphalala was evicted from the preschool following the dispute over the ownership of the land where the structure is built.



The preschool had about 15 children who were stranded at the time as they were removed before year end.

Parents who arrived to fetch their children were shocked to find their children locked out.



At the time of her eviction in 2016, she spoke with this reporter concerning the reasons of her eviction while a deputy sheriff stood by, ensuring that all items were removed from the structure she uses as the preschool.
MANZINI  Premiers Food bread lovers should brace themselves for a possible shortage this week. This follows that Premier Foods in Matsapha was among the structures that were damaged by the heavy storm on Friday.



According Premier Foods Sithembile Khumalo, most of the bread that was baked on Friday in readiness for the market on Saturday was destroyed, leaving only a few loaves.



In other parts of the building, including the production section, Khumalo said the damage was not too severe hence bread production continued while the affected machinery was fixed.



We were greatly affected and as a result, Saturdays distribution was not at the normal quantity, she said.

On a daily basis, Khumalo said the company produces an average of 95 000 loaves of bread and on Saturday, operations were stalled since machinery was being fixed during the course of production.



For this reason, Premier products; including bread, might not be able to meet the demand of customers and a possible shortage might be resultant.



Khumalo said this was due to that some of the bread-making machines would be faulty as a result of being wet.

However, Khumalo gave assurance that the company management was optimistic that during the course of the week, all operations would be back to normal.
MBABANE  Could the affording elderly, among others, stop benefitting from governments grants?



This question arises after it transpired that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) was working on sifting through the list of social grant beneficiaries following allegations of the fund abuse, which resulted in non-deserving of receiving the grant.



The exercise to filter the list of recipients emanates from the ongoing impasse between the DPM, Paul Dlamini, and parliamentarians who were demanding payment of grants for those who turned 60 years in April this year.



Dlamini, who was the acting PM, was on two occasions about a fortnight ago kicked out of Parliament together with Cabinet ministers to go and fix the payment of the new elderly.



The MPs requested for a time frame on when the issue which they said was of national concern, would be addressed. Matsanjeni MP Phila Buthelezi was the mover of the motion that saw Dlamini and his ministers being thrown out of Parliament.

Information sourced from highly placed sources within the DPMs Office revealed that the social grants were targeted at assisting the destitute and vulnerable.

In fact, the source said there was a circular that was prepared by the then Minister of Finance, Majozi Sithole, which was left hanging to correct the anomaly.



According to the source, what was required were regulations on who qualified to receive the grants. Senators, during the meeting of the DPMs Office Portfolio Committee, also suggested that in order for government to cut the costs on elderly grants, there was a need for the implementation of a regulation that would force all affording people to take care of their elders.
In 2014, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino formed the Stop Common Core Party in an effort to give voters who felt they couldn't vote for him on the GOP line a place to cast a ballot against incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo turned around and created the Women's Equality Party, the idea being that those supporting women and the 10-point Women's Equality Agenda could elect candidates on that line. Political observers also noted that the party's initials "WEP" are quite similar to the Working Families Party's "WFP," with whom Cuomo has had an icy relationship).

Both gubernatorial candidates received 50,000 votes on their respective third party lines (small chunks of much larger overall totals), giving their parties automatic spots on the ballot through next year.

But the future of these and other third parties can be an uncertain, and sometimes volatile, one.

They need to get 50,000 votes again for their endorsed gubernatorial candidates next year to remain on the ballot. Both parties experienced coup attempts that dragged them into court. And, both Stop Common Core and Women's Equality have only about 5,200 members  out of 11.5 million voters. Members of the Reform Party (Stop Common Core underwent a name change in 2015) went before an appeals court in Albany recently to battle over who actually controls the party  the leadership of the national Reform Party who partnered with Astorino, or those who want the party to act with more independence.

The Women's Equality Party, whose website doesn't appear to have been updated since 2015, spent time in court a year after it was created, ultimately beating back separate attempts by a former Democratic state senator, as well as western New York Republicans, to take control.

Despite it's creation by a Democratic governor, Manhattan Republicans were able to put three of their state legislative candidates on the WEP line last year. Underscoring the bizarreness, they needed only three Republicans to change their registration to take advantage of an arcane state election process that allowed them to get the candidates on the WEP line.

The Reform Party flipped and endorsed Astorino's Democratic opponent in the Westchester County executive's race this year. The Democrat, George Latimer, won.

And then there's the Reform Party's move to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in its primaries. The move flies in the face of New York's closed primary system, in which only those registered with a party may participate in that party's primary elections.

The last two years for the Reform Party have been more tumultuous than that of the Women's Equality Party, whose chair, Rachel Gold, did not respond to request for an interview.

The Reform Party currently is controlled by Curtis Sliwa, the red beret-wearing founder of the Guardian Angels in New York City. Sliwa and others gathered in September 2016 to elect officers and enact new party rules.

The problem is that the existing leadership believes the meeting was null and void, an argument central to the ongoing court battle over who controls the party. As things stand now, Sliwa's group still holds the reins.

"(Curtis) really worked to persuade me that this was something worth doing, that we could take this, which (the existing leaders) were basically just going to use as a vehicle for rubber stamping Republican candidates, and turn it into a viable opportunity for reform," party Secretary Frank Morano said.

National party Chairman and would-be state Chairman Bill Merrell denies collusion with the GOP, saying he worked extensively with both the state Conservative Party to assure the two parties wouldn't compete, and with Democratic officials to reach a deal for cross endorsements of those on the left when applicable.

"I did everything I could to calm every party down to work with us, and once the parties were willing to work with us, it was during that period of time that Frank and Curtis decided that they thought that we were just puppets for Republicans," he said. "They knew nothing about the backstory because they didn't spend any time on the backstory."

Merrell also contends that even if the Sliwa group wins in court, they'll have to change the name of the party because Reform is trademarked by the national party and wouldn't be affiliated with a Sliwa-run party.

For now, under Sliwa's leadership, the party is on a rather unique trajectory. As noted, opening the party's primaries to unaffiliated voters is a seemingly unprecedented move that Morano said was to help make the party more independent. He indicated the party is open to cross-endorsing major party candidates or running their own, similar to other parties.

Notably, the party notched a big victory in Syracuse this month, with the Reform's Ben Walsh  an unaffiliated candidate who initially sought the Republican line  winning the Syracuse mayoral race. Walsh also held two other minor party lines.

"Even though we have our fair share of colorful personalities, all of whom have their fair share of baggage  I'm hoping that people view the Reform Party as really a party that is a party of principle, not necessarily a personality-driven movement," Morano said.

As for what history tells us could happen with the Reform and Women's Equality parties, some third parties have remained, while others have died. More often though, they exist on the periphery in the shadow of the major parties.

"We have the occasional minor party making an influence, having an impact  certainly Syracuse this year (is an example)," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. "But ultimately most elections come down to a choice between candidates, and I don't think it matters to most voters whether candidate A is on lines W, X and Y or J, K and L."

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449 @matt_hamilton10
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BALLSTON SPA - A building was damaged when a fire started early Monday at the Curtis Lumber yard on Route 67.

The fire at the 885 Route 67 home improvement complex was reported at about 3:30 a.m., a company official said.

A security guard noticed at power went out at one of the buildings and a odd odor filled the air, John Hallgren, Curtis Lumber's vice president said.

The flames were noticed a short time later.

Hallgren said the fire was contained to one building and some building supplies were destroyed, he said.

So far, no injuries were reported.

Firefighters from five different companies were summoned to the fire scene.
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Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

That's the political reality in Democrats' eyes for U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, in the 19th Congressional District, considered a toss-up district heading into the 2018 elections.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was undeterred by Faso's vote against the House GOP tax reform bill earlier this month, releasing social media ads last week tying the first-term congressman to the bill anyway.

The ads, part of a nationwide campaign in a number of Republican districts, call out "John Faso's Republican Congress" for approving the controversial GOP tax bill. They feature news coverage about the bill and appear on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Also targeted in New York are Reps. Dan Donovan of Staten Island (who voted against the bill), Claudia Tenney, John Katko and Chris Collins (all of whom voted yes), according to Roll Call.

Why target certain reps who voted both yes and no on the bill?

"Every single Republican in New York and across the country will be held responsible for this twisted tax plan, which hikes taxes on middle-class families in order to slash taxes for big corporations and the wealthy," DCCC spokesman Evan Lukaske said in a statement.

In a statement last week, Faso said he voted against the bill because he believed "it did not do enough to help New York families and taxpayers."

"It is pathetic that Democratic leaders like (Nancy) Pelosi are more interested in playing political games by literally attacking members that voted yes and members that voted no on the tax reform bill," he said. "Even more telling is the silence we hear from the Democratic candidates in this district  if they really want to change the discourse they could start by calling out their party leaders who are launching these lies and false political attacks on their behalf."

New laws coming soon

There is a batch of 74 bills currently on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk, all but one of which he gets until next week to act on. He'll have until Dec. 4 to act on the outlier.

Bills must be signed or vetoed within 10 days (excluding Sundays) of hitting the governor's desk, otherwise they automatically become law.

Among the notables:

Increased penalties for illegal hunting: This bill would boost the fines for killing deer, beer, moose or elk out of season to a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $5,000. Those penalties also apply to "deer jacking," or shining a spotlight on deer at night to aid hunting. The bill also increases penalties for repeat offenders.

Public disclosure of parole decisions: The bill would require that state Parole Board decisions be posted online within 60 days. The legislation was vetoed by the governor in 2016 because it would have required the parole decision database be operable within 30 days and didn't come attached with funding. The 2017 version wouldn't take effect until a year after it is signed, with sponsors contending that allows plenty of time to create a database and secure funding to manage it.

Insurance coverage requirement for 3-D mammograms: This bill would require insurers to cover breast tomosynthesis mammography screening, which creates 3-D images. Bill Hammond of the Albany-based Empire Center think tank recently wrote that while clinical studies have found that 3-D mammograms are better for finding potential tumors, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force has not recommended breast tomosynthesis because of a lack of long-term research. Bill sponsors contend such screening has been able to detect cancer earlier than traditional mammography and reduce false-positives.

Mark your calendars

The legislative session calendar was released last week.

Of note: There is no session scheduled for Friday, March 30, and no session scheduled that weekend, March 31 and April 1 (there isn't usually session on the weekends). Passover begins March 30 and Easter falls on April 1.

Why does that matter?

The beginning of the next fiscal year is April 1, meaning that if lawmakers are going to observe the holidays and meet the budget deadline, they've got to wrap up before sundown March 30.

For context, this year's budget wasn't approved until a week after the deadline, the latest of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tenure.

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449  @matt_hamilton10
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SARATOGA SPRINGS  With 10 votes deciding the referendum, a member of the city's now-dissolved Charter Review Commission is asking for a recount of the vote on the proposal to change the city's form of government.

On Friday, commission member Gordon Boyd asked the New York State Supreme Court to impound Nov. 7's nearly 9,000 ballots.



"A review of all ballots and scanner machine records is imperative to assure that the voters can have confidence in the final count," Boyd said in a statement. "Our goal is to determine with utmost certainly that the final vote tally is valid."



But asking for a recount does not guarantee one. The state Board of Elections allows a voter to seek a court order for a recount or a re-canvassing, but the petitioner must show that a mistake was made. Boyd could only say that voting machines are not 100 percent accurate and that a full recount is the only way to ensure the machine's accuracy.



"I think we can demonstrate that statistically there is a chance for error," Boyd said. "We don't think anyone did anything improper, but we are eager to review all of the ballets, especially those that have been rejected by the machine."



He said he knows of five ballots that the machine did not accept, all of which were yes votes. On Nov. 7, the yes votes were up by 48. After the absentees were counted on Nov. 14, the no votes dominated by 10.



Richard Sellers, spokesman for SUCCESS, the group that opposes charter change, said he has complete faith in Saratoga County Board of Elections and does not believe a recount is necessary.



"We were all extremely impressed by the count of the absentee ballots," Sellers said. "No one, even Gordon, made any objections. Our point of view is we will trust in the professionals in determining the outcome."



The lead-up to the vote, which was a choice between preserving the city's 100-year-old commission form of government or scraping it for one run by a city manager and an expanded city council, was contentious. The members of the Charter Review Commission became targets of criticism from the city council, which blocked a special referendum on the issue in May and then attacked the charter review commission's fiscal analysis and their educational efforts. At times, the battle included name calling on both sides.
ALBANY  Nearly two dozen transparency groups are pressing Gov. Andrew Cuomo to embrace legislation that would strengthen the ability of parties in Freedom of Information Law cases to recover litigation costs associated with battles for public records.

The bill, which has not been sent to Cuomo, would require that attorneys' fees be covered when a person who requested public records "substantially prevails" and a court finds that an agency had no reasonable basis for denying or delaying access.

Under current law, the awarding of litigation costs is at the discretion of a judge.

The 2017 version of the bill, passed by the Legislature earlier this year, is similar to legislation approved by lawmakers in 2015 that was vetoed by the governor. Lawmakers appear to have made changes to address two of Cuomo's concerns with the last bill.

Still, Cuomo in his 2015 veto message took issue with allowing "for attorney's fees to be assessed solely against a state agency, rather than uniformly against both parties." It's unclear where the governor stands on the latest version of the bill.

The transparency groups, from New York and across the nation, are hoping the legislation will be signed into law and agencies will be dissuaded from blocking access to public records.

"Journalists and members of the public may face thousands of dollars in attorney's fees and other litigation costs simply to enforce their statutory right to obtain government information," the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and dozens of media organizations wrote to Cuomo last month. "Without a provision in FOIL enabling requestors to recover those fees and costs, even the most meritorious litigation to vindicate the public's right to know can be thwarted."

The Hearst Corporation, which owns the Times Union, signed onto the letter.

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449 @matt_hamilton10
A town judge in Washington County will be admonished after he failed to tell attorneys in a 2015 assault case that he had received unsolicited information that a defendant had violated an order of protection.

James P. Curran, justice of the Hebron town court, agreed to the admonition, according to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The case sprang from a February 2015 assault accusation in a domestic violence case. The alleged victim worked for Currans wife for about a month in a store the judge's wife owned in 2014. Curran, a lawyer, also had an office on the upper level of the store at the time and his wife worked as his court clerk. The defendants attorney raised that issue but Curran said he had seen the woman maybe twice during her entire time of employment.

The woman later asked for the charges against the defendant to be dropped and Curran denied the defenses motion to drop the charges. The victim later submitted a sworn affidavit that Curran and his wife had both made denigrating remarks to her about the defendant while she worked for Currans wife.

In July, a man who identified himself as the womans husband approached Curran at a gas station and told him that the victim and the defendant had been traveling to Vermont together, violating the order of protection. A week later he received a voicemail containing much of the same information, according to court documents. Curran did not tell either the prosecution or defense attorneys about either incident.

Later in a pre-trial conference Curran repeatedly accused the defendant of violating the order of protection. Im aware theres been multiple violations of the order. Multiple, he said, according to court records.

The commission noted that while Curran failed to disclose the communications he had regarding the defendant and repeated the allegations in court, he did not take any punitive action against the defendant.
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People around the Capital Region are marking the 2017 Christmas season by volunteering for others and giving Santa their gift lists.

On Monday, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train continued its journey through the Northeast, stopping in Fort Edward.

The train was one of two that left Montreal last weekend, traveling through both the U.S. and Canada to bring holiday cheer to 182 communities along CP's network. CP encouraged visitors to contribute donations of cash or food for local food banks.

The Holiday Train includes a box car stage for musical performances and a corporate contribution to the local food bank.

Also Monday, volunteers from SEFCU, the South Colonie Schools and Dunkin' Donuts gathered at B. Lodge department store in Albany to help fill a school bus with 920 coats for the Marine Corps Reserve Dunkin' Donuts Toys for Tots train.

And groups gathered at Ellms Tree Farm in Ballston Spa to load 150-plus Christmas trees for distribution to troops.

For the past 12 years, the Ellms Family has coordinated the 'Trees for Troops" effort in eastern New York with trees donated by eastern New York Christmas tree farmers.

Since 2005, Trees for Troops has provided more than 176,000 free, farm-grown Christmas trees to troops and military families in the United States and overseas. Thousands of trees are donated by American farm families and the public, and FedEx delivers these trees to more than 65 military bases in the U.S. and overseas.

For information, visit the National Christmas Tree Growers website, www.realchristmastrees.org.

Click through the slideshow above to see photos of Christmas season 2017.
MSD Ballydine will fund two outdoor defibrillators in Kilsheelan village. The defibrillators will be stored in weather-proof cabinets, and the responsibility of the recommended weekly maintenance will be willingly undertaken by the board of KPLAN Community Centre CLG. One unit will be located at the entrance gate to the KPLAN Community Centre with the second unit installed in the centre of Kilsheelan village.

The Board of Kilsheelan Community Centre CLG (KPLAN) identified a need for additional defibrillators given the ever increasing number of participants in activities in the centre itself as well as increased footfall in the local area around the facility due to the very welcome addition of the new riverbank walkway

Edmond Prendergast, Chairperson, Kilsheelan Community C.entre said The Kilsheelan Community Centre now delivers many different classes, hosts activities such as birthday parties, Active Retirement, Foroige, and weekly Bingo and serves the needs of many voluntary groups by accommodating regular meetings. In addition, our all-weather pitch is in use every night of the week and we hope to expand our annual 10Km run. With the recent and very welcome addition of the riverbank pathway even more people are now visiting Kilsheelan village and the Board of the KPLAN community centre therefore felt that new defibrillators will be a huge asset to the local community and the wider population. We were delighted that MSD Ballydine agreed to fund this essential safety equipment and would like to acknowledge their on-going support in this area over the years.

Ger Carmody, Site Lead at MSD Ballydine said: We are very proud to support the two new outdoor defibrillators and feel this equipment will be an asset to the local community and also to all those who engage in leisure activity in the surrounds of the Kilsheelan Community Centre. As a business we are fully committed to putting safety first and this is a core part of all that we do in every aspect of our business. We fully recognise the importance of having life-saving equipment such as defibrillators close to hand and hope that the investment in this equipment means that the leisure facilities offered in Kilsheelan continue to be enjoyed by many more people in the years ahead.

MSD Ireland is one of the countrys leading healthcare companies, having first established here over 50 years ago. MSD Ballydine develops and supplies the active ingredients and final formulated product for a range of innovative medicines at its manufacturing and R&D facilities. The plant, which last year marked 40 years in operation, exports to over 30 countries around the world with primary markets being Europe, USA and Japan. MSD Ballydine has over 600 highly-skilled people working at the site to deliver on the companys vision of inventing for life, to address unmet medical needs and help save and improve lives around the world.
On Sunday afternoon, SEMRA responded to an incident in the Comeragh Mountains where a hill walker had suddenly been taken ill and was being attended to by the members of his group. The hillwalker has been named locally as Michael Fewer.

Mr Fewers son, Stephen, had been celebrating winning a Junior Hurling title for Thurles Sarsfields just a day before the tragedy hit.

The Waterford Coastguard helicopter Rescue 117 also responded, however, given the weather conditions high on the mountain, they were unable to reach the scene of the incident to directly assist or evacuate the patient. They were able to deploy the initial SEMRA party closer to the scene.

Other SEMRA parties were deployed by off-road vehicles. Once on scene, SEMRA Team Doctors & Casualty Carers attended to the patient. Unfortunately, despite the care provided the patient, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

SEMRA escorted the members of the walking group off the mountain to the off-road vehicles & then transported them back down to their cars. The patient's remains were then stretchered from the mountain to the off-road vehicles and transported down to the road head where they were handed over to An Garda Siochana at approximately 10pm .

SEMRA wish to express our sincere condolences to the family & friends of the deceased walker on their sudden loss.

SEMRA also wish to thank the following agencies for their assistance with the incident:

An Garda Siochana, Waterford & Dungarvan

Irish Coast Guard Helicopter, Rescue 117 Waterford.

National Ambulance Service

Kilbrien Hall Committee
[November 27, 2017] Brazil Minerals, Inc. Updates on New Mining Front & Other News

PASADENA, California, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brazil Minerals, Inc. (OTC: BMIX) (the "Company" or "Brazil Minerals") announced today that its majority-owned subsidiary, Jupiter Gold Corporation ("Jupiter Gold"), has launched its own website which is accessible at www.jupitergoldcorp.com. Jupiter Gold owns over 77,000 acres in mineral rights in some of the premier gold districts in Brazil. More details are available by reviewing Jupiter Gold's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which are accessible at www.sec.gov or through the public filings page of Jupiter Gold's website. In other news, on November 24, 2017, Brazil Minerals accepted Ambassador Paul Durand's resignation for health reasons as corporate secretary and director. Ambassador Roger Noriega, a member of the Board of Directors, commented: "Paul is one of the smartest, shrewdest and most respected observers of regional affairs. He will be greatly missed." Marc Fogassa, the Company's chief executive, added: "Paul has a sharp intellect and has always been heartily engaged. He was an exemplary director and will be hard o replace."



In further news, good progress has been made in separating material from a new gravel front for diamond and gold recovery. Samples of such material which were processed last week in the modular recovery plant successfully retrieved both gold and diamonds, and yielded an attractive prospect for mining. The attached photographs taken last week by Peter Goldy, an operations consultant, show one of the Company's mining areas and details of the newly identified gravel. About Brazil Minerals, Inc.

Brazil Minerals, Inc. (OTC: BMIX), through various consolidated subsidiaries, has title to mineral rights for gold, diamonds, manganese and sand, including mining concessions for gold and diamonds, the highest level of right to mine in Brazil. One of BMIX's subsidiaries is Jupiter Gold Corporation. More information can be found at www.brazil-minerals.com. Follow us on Twitter @BMIXstock. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements are based upon the current plans, estimates and projections of Brazil Minerals, Inc.'s management and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from the forward- looking statements. Such statements include, among others, those concerning market and industry segment growth and demand and acceptance of new and existing products; any projections of production, reserves, sales, earnings, revenue, margins or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; uncertainties related to conducting business in Brazil, as well as all assumptions, expectations, predictions, intentions or beliefs about future events. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: business conditions in Brazil, general economic conditions, geopolitical events and regulatory changes, availability of capital, Brazil Minerals, Inc.'s ability to maintain its competitive position and dependence on key management. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Marc Fogassa

CEO

Brazil Minerals, Inc.

+1(213)590-2500

[email protected]

www.brazil-minerals.com Twitter: @BMIXstock View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brazil-minerals-inc-updates-on-new-mining-front--other-news-300561728.html SOURCE Brazil Minerals, Inc.

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[November 26, 2017] Samsung Unveils New Innovative Mobile CT OmniTom at RSNA 2017

Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics, a leader in medical imaging technology, will debut its OmniTom mobile 16-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2017 Annual Meeting at McCormick Place in Chicago. OmniTom received 510(k) FDA clearance for the U.S. market on August 18 of this year, and attendees will get to see it for the first time at RSNA booth #2543 (South Building, Hall A). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171126005057/en/ Samsung Unveils New Innovative Mobile CT OmniTom at RSNA 2017 (Photo: Business Wire) The release of OmniTom is the latest demonstration of Samsung's leadership in CT imaging. OmniTom features an array of improvements from Samsung's award-winning CereTom CT scanner, including: Improved workflow: OmniTom is the world's first mobile imaging device with omni-directional wheels, maximizing mobility and allowing easier and quieter movement in small spaces.

OmniTom is the world's first mobile imaging device with omni-directional wheels, maximizing mobility and allowing easier and quieter movement in small spaces. Superior image quality: 16-slice (0.625 mm per slice) advanced data acquisition system with effective dose optimization.

16-slice (0.625 mm per slice) advanced data acquisition system with effective dose optimization. Expanded use: Maintains a small footprint ideal for mobile use while increasing the gantry opening to 40 cm for improved coverage of adult head and neck, and full body pediatric scanning.

Maintains a small footprint ideal for mobile use while increasing the gantry opening to 40 cm for improved coverage of adult head and neck, and full body pediatric scanning. Enhanced safety system: OmniTom features an internal drive system, making portability less strenuous, while also offering smart-sensing collision avoidance software to maximize control and patient safety. OmniTom is ideal for cranial procedures and is designed to deliver the highest quality non-contrast CT, CT angiography and CT perfusion scans. The combination of its rapid scan time, ultra-small footprint and immediate image viewing makes OmniTom an indispensable tool for collecting real-time data on critically ill patients. The latest product also demonstrates Samsung's "AccE" (Access, Accuracy and Efficiency) strategy that aims to change the industry by incorporating innovations in physical access to provide care wherever it is needed. It also aims to improve accuracy in diagnosis with advanced algorithms and efficiency with advanced display, UX and information management technology developed by Samsung Electronics. "OmniTom embodies Samsung's commitment to providing leading technologies to healthcare providers by combining our key values of Access, Accracy and Efficiency," said Dongsoo Jun, President of Health & Medical Equipment Business at Samsung Electronics and CEO of Samsung Medison. "We've made a CT product that's lighter, more mobile, more accurate and faster, and we hope the many doctors and technicians here at RSNA will be able to use it to benefit their patients."



"At Samsung, we work tirelessly to make sure that our full range of products provide patients and physicians with the best possible options for care" added Philip Sullivan, President and CEO Samsung NeuroLogica. "We do this through designing products that deliver broad access, superior accuracy and quality, and make care teams more efficient by maximizing throughput and minimizing waste." In addition to OmniTom, Samsung will be showcasing its spectral CT with Photon Counting Detector (PCD), the next generation of CT technology. Samsung's team will also be demonstrating a range of healthcare solutions in mobile CT, Digital Radiography and Ultrasound that are all designed to bridge the care-delivery gap and maximize efficiency to enhance the patient experience. Such solutions include:

Ultrasound Segment: Samsung will feature their comprehensive general imaging ultrasound portfolio, including the new HS60 and HS40 ultrasound systems which were introduced earlier this year. The RS80A with Prestige, Samsung's premium general imaging ultrasound system, will be displayed in three daily educational demonstrations featuring live scanning. The RS80A includes innovative technologies for the busy radiology department that help boost clinical confidence. Based on its achievements in ultrasonic diagnosis devices for obstetrics and gynecology, the company is strengthening its premium ultrasonic diagnosis device business for radiology, which has the biggest market potential.

Samsung will feature their comprehensive general imaging ultrasound portfolio, including the new HS60 and HS40 ultrasound systems which were introduced earlier this year. The RS80A with Prestige, Samsung's premium general imaging ultrasound system, will be displayed in three daily educational demonstrations featuring live scanning. The RS80A includes innovative technologies for the busy radiology department that help boost clinical confidence. Based on its achievements in ultrasonic diagnosis devices for obstetrics and gynecology, the company is strengthening its premium ultrasonic diagnosis device business for radiology, which has the biggest market potential. Digital Radiography Segment: Samsung will display a wide range of its portfolio including two ceiling-mounted systems, GC85 and GC70, as well as highlight its premium portable GM85 X-ray. The GM85's enhanced mobility and streamlined workflow will enable users to experience a new level of efficiency along with exceptional image quality. Samsung has also differentiated itself from its competitors by adopting low dose technology for enhanced patient safety.

Samsung will display a wide range of its portfolio including two ceiling-mounted systems, GC85 and GC70, as well as highlight its premium portable GM85 X-ray. The GM85's enhanced mobility and streamlined workflow will enable users to experience a new level of efficiency along with exceptional image quality. Samsung has also differentiated itself from its competitors by adopting low dose technology for enhanced patient safety. Magnetic Resonance Imaging Segment: Samsung will be showcasing a prototype of Specialty MRI, an MRI imaging device for arms and/or legs. The prototype is expected to be a game changer in the industry: It is designed to maximize not only cost and space but also patient convenience, as it eliminates the need for the whole body to be in the MRI device. Learn more by visiting Samsung at booth #2543 (South Building, Hall A) at the RSNA 2017 Annual Meeting, as well as following Samsung NeuroLogica on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. About Samsung NeuroLogica Samsung NeuroLogica, the healthcare subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., develops, manufactures and markets innovative imaging technologies, and is committed to delivering fast, easy and accurate diagnostic solutions to healthcare providers. Samsung NeuroLogica, the global corporate headquarters and manufacturer of Samsung computed tomography, is also the US headquarters for sales, marketing and distribution of all Samsung digital radiography and ultrasound systems. Samsung NeuroLogica's growing portfolio of advanced medical technologies are used worldwide in leading healthcare institutions helping providers enhance patient care, improve patient satisfaction, and increase workflow efficiency. Samsung is committed to being leaders in the field of healthcare imaging. For more information, please visit www.SamsungNeuroLogica.com. About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171126005057/en/

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[November 26, 2017] Horyou Revolutionizes Philanthropy at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

GENEVA, November 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spotlight, the first digital currency for economic inclusion, will be launched in the event co-organized by the United States Government and the Republic of India Horyou, the social network for social good, will announce the launching of Spotlight, the first digital currency for economic inclusion during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad, India, on 28-30 November. After one year of beta testing, Spotlight will be showcased during the event to a strong group of entrepreneurs, government officials and impact investors attending the summit. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/610038/Horyou_Logo.jpg )

This year, the GES focuses on the theme Women First, Prosperity for All, and on supporting women entrepreneurs to foster economic growth globally. In resonance, Horyou will be joining forces with this inspirng initiative. Yonathan Parienti, founder and CEO of Horyou, has been invited by the US Government and the Republic of India to speak for the network on "Go For It: Tapping Alternative Financing Solutions ".



With Spotlight, Horyou supports the implementation of the 2030 United Nations Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, aiming at providing philanthropic support to millions of social entrepreneurs, women, youth and social good doers by 2020. "It's an honor to share with this broad audience the disruptive innovations we have been working on over the last few years in order to support social good and set up harmonious conditions for economic inclusion," says Parienti. More to come

Horyou's participation in the GES is set to strengthen the social network's presence in Asia, upon its inauguration in Japan in 2018. "We are proud to announce our growing engagement in Asia through the upcoming launch of Horyou in Japan, spearheading our development in the ASEAN countries. Spotlight aims to start a new chapter for philanthropy and social innovation in the region," adds Parienti. In 2018, Asia will also host the Social Innovation and Global Ethics Forum (SIGEF), now a milestone global summit on social entrepreneurship and social innovation ecosystem. Following two editions in Geneva, one in Marrakesh, parallel to COP22 and one in Astana, during EXPO 2017, SIGEF 2018 will thus come about in Singapore, during the chairmanship of ASEAN summit in September. Smart Cities, FinTech, MedTech, Impact Investing, Future Energies and the Sustainable Development Goals will be the main areas explored in this fifth edition of SIGEF, in Singapore, one of the leading innovative Cities and States worldwid," concludes Parienti. http://www.horyou.com

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[November 26, 2017] Nuctech Participates in the 6th WCO Technology & Innovation Forum - They Will Hope to Leverage SMART Technologies to Build an Efficient Customs Inspections Management

TOKYO, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The 6th WCO Technology & Innovation Forum was held in Tokyo, Japan, from October, 31st to November 2, 2017. The forum is a high-level industrial meeting co-held biennially by WCO (World Customs Organization) and local customs. Representatives from customs, law enforcement agencies, governments and business communities would come to discuss innovative solutions supporting global supply chain security and trade facilitation, exchange ideas on customs law enforcement, evolving challenges, innovative applications on detection and surveillance technology, and explore utilization potentiality of opening resources. On behalf of Nuctech, Mr. Wang Yonggang delivered a keynote speech entitled as Leveraging SMART technologies to build efficient Customs inspection management, introducing Nuctech's innovations in terms of security technology, processing construction, and capacity building on supervision strategies changing customs in th current legal environment, security situations, and new challenges. The speech gave a special promotion to the newly developed wise security solution WiScan based on big data and machine learning technologies, and suggested to use CT parcel/baggage inspection systems to cope with the customs' new challenge brought by e-business.



Dr. Wang Weizhen also made a technical report entitled as One Small Step in Artificial Intelligence, introducing the framework of a wise assistance inspection system based on AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology, the experience on using this system in customs, and a complete security solution for the customs clearance based on big data. Both speeches received positive responses, attracted customs representatives and industrial professionals, and earned extensive praise in the community. During the Forum, Nuctech welcomed the custom representatives from Japan, UAE, Uganda, Tunisia, Kenya, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries. In the future, Nuctech hopes to provide comprehensive security solutions to help our global customers not only in security capability, security inspection efficiency and passenger experience enhancement, but also in anti-terrorism, smuggling combating, trade facilitating, and border security protecting.

About Nuctech: Nuctech is an advanced security & inspection solution and service supplier in the world, and provides the most advanced technology, superb products and integrated solutions to our customers for more than 150 countries and areas in the globe. Following the latest international technical development frontier, Nuctech integrates cloud computing and big data with security technology and products on the platform of internet and information & communication technology. SOURCE Nuctech Company Limited

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[November 27, 2017] Sectra Offers Radiology an Easy Way to Improve Gadolinium Tracking

LINKOPING, Sweden, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra (STO: SECT B) is globally introducing gadolinium tracking in its dose monitoring solution, Sectra DoseTrack. Gadolinium is a contrast agent commonly used to enhance images during MRI exams. By systematically registering gadolinium information, healthcare providers can reduce the risk of patients experiencing negative side effects of excessively high accumulated levels of gadolinium. Sectra is showcasing Sectra DoseTrack, including this functionality, during the RSNA global radiology show in Chicago. "The use of contrast agents such as gadolinium is a very common way to enhance details of different organs during an MRI exam. However, for the sake of patient safety, it is crucial that radiology can easily track each gadolinium injection. By entering this information in Sectra DoseTrack, healthcare providers can ensure relevant information is available throughout the organization either from the EMR, from the dose monitoring solution or in Sectra PACS," says Ian Judd, Product Manager for Sectra DoseTrack. About Sectra DoseTrack Sectra DoseTrack allows healthcare providers to monitor patient radiation exposure and ensure that the radiation doses are kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) for increased patient safety. The cloud-based solution automatically collects, stores and monitors data from all connected modalities, saving valuable time and facilitating robust analysis for dose optimization. It can be configured using local and national dose reference levels (DLR) to allow healthcare organizations to ensure it is performing within expected thresholds. Experience the solutions at RSNA 2017 Sectra's solutions for radiology imaging, including Sectra DoseTrack, will be showcased at RSNA in booth #6113. Read more and book a meeting with Sectra at RSNA. For further information, please contact: Dr. Torbjorn Kronander

CEO and President Sectra AB

+46(0)705-23-52-27 Marie Ekstrom Tragardh

Executive Vice President Sectra AB and President Sectra Imaging IT Solutions

46(0)708-23-56-10 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/sectra/r/sectra-offers-radiology-an-easy-way-to-improve-gadolinium-tracking,c2399752 The following files are available for download:







http://news.cision.com/sectra/i/sectra-dosetrack,c2288932 Sectra DoseTrack



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[November 27, 2017] Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Future Mobility Event, Transportation-as-a-Service Comes to Coventry, UK

COVENTRY, England, November 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - The 2 day conference and exhibition will look at all the key topics surrounding connected and autonomous vehicle technology and how this fits into a new future for mobility. - The event is being organised by Angel Business Communications in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts. Angel Business Communications, a B2B publisher and event organiser, has announced the Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology conference and exhibition focused on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and the future of mobility. The conference will take place 9-10 July 2018 at The Slate, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. www.taas.technology The autonomous vehicle era is here. According to industry estimates, the autonomous vehicle market will be worth US$87 billion by 2020, and by 2040, it is predicted that up to 40 percent of new vehicles will be autonomous. The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages CAV and TaaS technologies. The conference is supported by and organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick. All 3 partners are heavily involved in the research and development of CAVs and are part of a number of leading projects which are helping to shape the future of mobility. Coventry is an ideal location for the conference given its rich history in automotive manufacturing. The community and its universities are positioning themselves to be at the forefront of CAV research and development including future mobility technologies for international markets. Industry insiders including major international auto makers believe autonomous vehicles will open new opportunities and create an impetus for innovation within organisations across the existing automotive, digital and transportation supply chains. Alongside this, new entrants are leveraging advanced technologies and manufacturing processes to create new opportunities in TaaS and with CAVs. Aimed at the international CAV, TaaS and future mobility community, the conference will cover 11 key topics: Sensors : How the evolution of sensor technology must advance to enable CAV/TaaS

: How the evolution of sensor technology must advance to enable CAV/TaaS Connectivity : Creating harmony between services and mapping for CAVs / TaaS

: Creating harmony between services and mapping for CAVs / TaaS Data : How to process and manage additional terabytes of data in a new mobility ecosystem?

: How to process and manage additional terabytes of data in a new mobility ecosystem? Software: The last obstacle to fully autonomous vehicles?

The last obstacle to fully autonomous vehicles? Logistics : How will CAVs and TaaS impact the logistics industry?

: How will CAVs and TaaS impact the logistics industry? Safety : Ensuring security, safety and reliability for CAVs

: Ensuring security, safety and reliability for CAVs Legislation : How can we ensure public safety while maintaining individual responsibility?

: How can we ensure public safety while maintaining individual responsibility? HMI : How will usability and the human machine interface (HMI) impact CAV design?

: How will usability and the human machine interface (HMI) impact CAV design? Manufacturing : How might auto makers/suppliers fare in a CAV / TaaS future?

: How might auto makers/suppliers fare in a CAV / TaaS future? Planning : How will CAVs /TaaS affect comprehensive planning for cities/towns?

: How will CAVs /TaaS affect comprehensive planning for cities/towns? Evolution: How might TaaS / CAVs meet mobility and transport options in 3-10 years?



John McCarthy , ARUP , Intelligent Mobility - citizen centric considerations for CAV, EV and TaaS

, , David Williams , AXA insurance , Driverless cars - The future of road transport and the implications for insurance

, , Sai Yagnyamurthy, Ford Motor Company

Gavin Kenny , IBM , Blockchain and security for connected & autonomous vehicles

, , Akhilesh Kona , IHS Markit , LIDARs and sensor fusion: advancing ADAS sensor architectures towards autonomous cars

, , Nigel Clarke , Jaguar Land R over

, Jacob Bangsgaard, MaaS Alliance , MaaS - from hype to delivery

, Luca Cassani , Microsoft , Intelligent mobility: a pillar for a smarter city. The vision from Microsoft

, , Marc Jadoul , Nokia , The future of connected cars: beyond autonomous horses

, , Mark Thomas , Ridecell , The future of mobility as a service and how to prepare for autonomous mobility as a service

, Stefan Koch , SAP , Analog parking in a digital world - B2B marketplace for connected cars

, , Marius Macku , Uber, The future of urban mobility "The future of mobility and CAVs are a hot topic right now. Transportation as we know it is ripe for disruption. With traditional car manufacturers, OEMs, software companies, component providers and new transportation companies investing billions of pounds into the research and development of CAVs and future mobility systems, we feel the time is right to launch the TaaS Technology conference to connect, inform and inspire the CAV and TaaS Industry," said Sukhi Bhadal, Event Director, TaaS Technology Conference.

"The two-day conference and exhibition will be a unique event allowing for education, influence and networking between the major international players who are driving forward the new mobility revolution, a revolution which has the potential to save lives and bring new mobility solutions to millions of people." added Bhadal. Cllr Jim O'Boyle, cabinet member for jobs and regeneration in Coventry said, "I'm really pleased that Angel Business Communications has decided to hold their Technology Conference here in Coventry. We have a rich tradition in the automotive sector and we are shaping up to have an equally fine future too. "In the near future, this sector which includes battery development and autonomous and connected vehicles alongside other solutions like very light rail is set to generate thousands of new jobs and I believe Coventry will be a the very centre of things. "Hosting an event here which will bring together leaders in this rapidly developing field is very good news indeed." added O'Boyle. Professor Andrew Parkes, executive director of Coventry University's Centre for Transport and Mobility, said: "We're thrilled to be part of an event which is positioning Coventry as a city that's front and centre when it comes to research and development in the field of transport and future mobility, which is where it belongs. "For our part, we look forward to engaging with colleagues and collaborators in the industry to offer insight and expertise to help shape future activities around areas such as autonomous vehicle technology, transport design and optimisation of low carbon powertrains." "We fully support bringing people together from the relevant industries to collaborate on complex CAV issues. It will involve a multitude of emerging technologies, human factors and legislation to consider and this conference will be an ideal platform to connect, inform and inspire the CAV and future mobility industry." said Paul Jennings, Professor, WMG, University of Warwick . "The three hot topics in ITS and mobility are Connected Automated Vehicles and Driving, Mobility as a Service and the sharing economy and air quality. If we get the implementation of CAV and TaaS right we will also address the air quality issues. Integration is key and this timely conference will provide an ideal opportunity for experts to discuss these issues and to inform decision makers" commented Richard Harris, Director at HMI Technologies and a member of the conference program board. "One of the key reasons for my involvement is that I believe that Mobility / Transportation as a Service will become the next great platform that will drive new business ideas, just as the internet and the smartphone have done in the recent past. The TaaS Technology conference promises to be an exciting event as it will give participants an early window into the future, and a substantial leg up to seek out new opportunities. The speakers are industry leading experts and there will be a wealth of knowledge and information available for attendees." added James Carter, Principal Consultant at Vision Mobility and a member of the conference program board TaaS Technology Conference will take place on the 9th and 10th July 2018 at The Slate Conference Centre, Warwick University, Coventry, UK. Alongside the conference, Angel Business Communication will also launch a quarterly digital magazine and website, dedicated to covering all the important news and features within the CAV and TaaS industry. The magazine will feature will in-depth articles, exploring CAV, TaaS and future mobility. The publication will bring together the entire value chain of the companies involved in shaping future mobility, providing a forum for the community to share opinions on the challenges ahead, roadmap progress and open new markets. Issue 1 will be published December 2017. www.taas.news For further information on speaking, sponsorship and exhibition opportunities please contact: Sukhi Bhadal

Event Director

T: +44-(0)-2476-718970

E: [email protected]

TaaS Technology Conference - www.taas.technology SOURCE Angel Business Communications

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[November 27, 2017] Community Brands Selects Hubb as Content Management Platform for Inaugural Community Brands Conference

VANCOUVER, Wash., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Event technology startup Hubb today announced that its software platform has been selected by Community Brands, a technology-driven company that delivers purpose-built solutions to leading associations and nonprofits, for its inaugural conference. Hubb's event content management solution will give Community Brands organizers a single location to collect, manage and market the abstracts, speakers and sponsors for its conference, saving two-thirds of the time normally spent on those types of tasks, and allowing the event to get to market 29 percent faster. The Community Brands tech user conference  2018 Xperience  will be held May 6-9, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. "Community Brands was born from the most respected and helpful technology companies for those working in the association, nonprofit and public sector," said Allie Magyar, CEO of Hubb. "Their first technology conference is a can't-miss event, and we couldn't be more excited they chose Hubb to be their event content management platform. We look forward to supporting them with what will be an incredible event." "Hubb offers us a platform for the execution and enhancement of our new Community Brands tech user conference strategy," said Melea Guilbault, Vice President of Channels & Partners at Community Brands. "We expect to create a better experience for our users and partners that can only be achieved through delivering content at a faster rate with an easy-to-use CMS." Recognized as one of the leading providers of event content management technology, Hubb creates a "single source of truth" for event organizers to store and edit event content, such as speaking session information and sponsorship details. From this central point, event managers can make updates to event content that are automatcally published across every source of event information, such as a website, mobile app or digital signage. Hubb also automates reminders to speakers to submit their information and session graders to evaluate submissions, and allows event managers to control who on their team can access session data at any time. With less time needed to manually manage content, organizers can focus on thinking strategically about their events and create a better event experience for their attendees. Hubb works with customers, such as Microsoft, Tableau, Atlassian and Intel, to help their in-house event teams oversee the programs for their major conferences and meetings.



Community Brands was formed in April 2017 when market-leading technology companies Abila, Aptify, NimbleUser and YourMembership joined forces. The four companies, with a connected ecosystem of software and services, offer a portfolio of solutions designed for cause-orientated organizations, including associations, nonprofits and government entities. Their inaugural conference for association and nonprofit professionals and partners -- to be held at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort -- will provide users and attendees access to enhanced quality education, resources and networking opportunities. About Hubb

Hubb brings order to the chaos of content management for meetings and conferences. Our flagship cloud-based software platform uses simple, automated workflows to streamline collecting, managing and marketing of all event content from speakers to sessions to sponsors. Hubb is a platform that allows you to administer calls for papers, abstract grading, session and speaker management, and content marketing. The software scales to the needs of events of all sizes, and it integrates easily with other event technologies to ensure all content is consistent and up-to-date. Founded by veteran event management professionals, Hubb makes its headquarters in Vancouver, WA.

For more information, visit www.hubb.me. About Community Brands Community Brands is a technology-driven company that delivers purpose-built solutions to more than 13,000 of the world's leading associations, nonprofits and government entities to help them thrive and succeed in today's fast-paced, evolving world. The company's focus on accelerating innovation and bringing to market modern technology solutions helps power social impact, effect positive change and create opportunity. With Community Brands software and services, organizations better engage their members, donors and volunteers; raise more money; effectively manage revenue; and provide professional development and insights to power their mission. For more information, visit CommunityBrands.com. Media Contact

Raime Merriman

[email protected]

360-949-7843 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/community-brands-selects-hubb-as-content-management-platform-for-inaugural-community-brands-conference-300561345.html SOURCE Hubb, Inc

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[November 27, 2017] Work Truck Solutions Measures Growth Impact

CHICO, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Work Truck Solutions is expanding and they're bringing in the right talent to help commercial truck dealerships, OEMs, and body manufacturers through their industry-leading software and data solutions. Work Truck Solutions, founded in 2011, is dedicated to helping dealerships connect their customers to the trucks they need, while managing their commercial inventory on one page. As part of their growth commitment, Work Truck Solutions is proud to have recently added two key Senior Leadership Team members: Shawn Horswill, VP Customer Success, and Joe Schneider, VP Marketing and Sales Operations. With over 10 years of experience providing IT solutions, and over 12 years in customer service management, Shawn will lead the customer service department as it scales to keep up with the increasing number of dealers using Work Truck Solutions as their inventory management systemover 750 in November. Shawn and his team help their dealers make the most of the tools available to them to increase leads, manage teams, and improve profits. All while giving professional, friendly support. Joe Schneider, previously manager of internal operations at Facebook, and advisor to the special assistant to the President at the White House, will serve as the VP of Marketing and Sales Operations. In this role, Joe oversees outreach, advertising, and a wide array of communications withthe dealerships, OEMs, body manufacturers and distributors across the country. Joe and his team collaborate with others in the industry to communicate best practices in commercial sales, as well as the value Work Truck Solutions brings to each and every one of them.



Data-driven and dedicated to the commercial truck industry, Shawn and Joe have already uncovered important metrics on how Work Truck Solutions is helping dealerships today. This includes significantly higher conversion rates (visitors who call or message a dealership after visiting a vehicle page) than average. According to the 2017 Digital Dealer Conference and Expo, the automotive industry's average conversion rate on vehicle detail page views is 1.8%. Work Truck Solutions dealerships see an average conversion rate of 4.1%, more than double the calls and emails from their commercial inventory site. This focus that Shawn and Joe bring on measuring the tangible impact of their industry-leading solution will help dealerships take advantage of the opportunity that Work Truck Solutions offers them. The effects of that leadership are already showing results, reducing the attrition rate of dealers by 18.2% over the last two months.

"The increasing dealership management demand for the transparency into the commercial business that our service provides, and the data and metrics we can now deliver to everyone has led to aggressive growth," says Kathryn Schifferle, CEO and founder of Work Truck Solutions. "I am both proud and pleased that we have found in Shawn Horswill and Joe Schneider the caliber of leaders we need to continue our delivery of extraordinary services and innovative partnerships." Although scaling quickly, Work Truck Solutions maintains their clear mission to improve the business of commercial dealerships, OEMs, body manufacturers and distributors. Along with providing industry-specific search tools for work truck buyers, Work Truck Solutions believes managers of all levels can become more successful leaders when given the right data. Work Truck Solutions' tools clearly visualize information about inventory, web traffic, marketing results, sales activity, market share and more so every stakeholder in the industry can make better business decisions. Media Contact: Claudia Sanchez [email protected] 855-987-4544 x128 www.worktrucksolutions.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/work-truck-solutions-measures-growth-impact-300561346.html SOURCE Work Truck Solutions

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[November 27, 2017] Auction.com Adds Amit Aggarwal As Senior Vice President, Product & Technology

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Auction.com, the nation's largest real estate transaction marketplace for distressed asset disposition, today announced the addition of Amit Aggarwal as its new Senior Vice President, Product & Technology. In his new role, Aggarwal is responsible for overseeing and implementing technology systems to further enhance Auction.com's online platform which provides the most optimal real estate experience for buyers and sellers. Aggarwal will be based out of Auction.com's Irvine, Calif. headquarter office. Aggarwal has more than 16 years of proven experience leading, innovating, designing, and executing large-scale enterprise web based solutions, most recently as Chief Technology Officer of CarFinance.com (A Flagship Credit Company). There, he was responsible for defining the strategy and vision for CarFinance.com's technology and implementation of its product ecosystem. Prior to his tenure at CarFinance.com, Aggarwal served as Director of Software Development for Equator, an Altisource business unit, where he played a vital role in building and transforming their flagship platform. Aggarwal holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science & Engineering from Maharishi Dayanand University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from University of Southern California. "In keeping with our commitment to provide the best experience for our buyers and selers, we rely on a team of the industry's brightest and most experienced minds," said Jason Allnutt, General Manager for Auction.com. "Amit's proven experience and applied expertise in the real estate industry make him a great fit for Auction.com. We are excited to have him join our team and look forward to working closely with him to develop industry-leading solutions that go 'Beyond the Bid' in serving our clients and customers."



About Auction.com Auction.com is the nation's largest online real estate transaction marketplace focused exclusively on the sale of bank-owned and foreclosure properties. The company brings a breadth of quality assets to the market, attracting prospective buyers through world-class marketing and leveraging a scalable technology platform to conduct transactions in a transparent, efficient manner.

Auction.com and its parent company, Ten-X, a Thomas H. Lee Partners company, are headquartered in Irvine and Silicon Valley, Calif., with offices in key markets nationwide. Investors include CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) and Stone Point Capital. About Ten-X Ten-X is the nation's leading online real estate transaction marketplace and the parent to Ten-X Commercial, Auction.com, and Ten-X Homes. To date, the company has sold 300,000+ residential and commercial properties totaling over $50 billion. Leveraging desktop and mobile technology, Ten-X allows people to safely and easily complete real estate transactions online. Ten-X is headquartered in Irvine and Silicon Valley, Calif., and has offices in key markets nationwide. For more information, visit Ten-X.com. About Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. ("THL") is a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies, headquartered in North America, exclusively in four industry sectors: Business & Financial Services, Consumer & Retail, Healthcare, and Media, Information Services & Technology. Using the firm's deep domain expertise and the internal operating capabilities of its Strategic Resource Group, THL seeks to create deal sourcing advantages, and to accelerate growth and improve operations in its portfolio companies in partnership with management teams. Since its founding in 1974, THL has raised over $22 billion of equity capital, acquired over 140 portfolio companies and completed over 360 add-on acquisitions which collectively represent a combined enterprise value at the time of acquisition of over $200 billion. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/auctioncom-adds-amit-aggarwal-as-senior-vice-president-product--technology-300561108.html SOURCE Auction.com

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[November 27, 2017] Aidoc Receives CE Mark for First Commercial Deep Learning Solution Streamlining Head and Neck Imaging for Radiologists

TEL AVIV, Israel, November 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aidoc, a leading AI startup utilizing deep learning to augment radiologists' workflow and highlight anomalous cases, which are often highly urgent, today announced that it received CE (Conformite Europeenne) marking for the world's first commercial head and neck deep learning medical imaging solution. CE marking allows for widespread commercialization of Aidoc's solution in Europe. Aidoc's solution augments radiologists' workflow through its unique ability to comprehensively detect abnormalities in imaging of both the head and neck, an anatomical area responsible for a major portion of medical images. Providing significant value for day-to-day diagnosis, time saved by Aidoc's solution could be extremely impactful in trauma cases, where time can be the difference between the patient's life and death. Aidoc's deep learning technology highlights a vast array of medical findings to help radiologists prioritize readings, aimed at facilitating interpretation and reducing time to decision when it matters most. Radiologists can now perform smart optimization of their worklist by prioritizing cases based on AI medical image analysis in conjunction with other clinically available data. Aidoc's solution is agnostic to radiologists' incumbent software, integrating seamlessly and providing immediate results.



Elad Walach . "Our technology can have a monumental impact augmenting the radiology workflow, aimed at more cost-effective treatment for medical centers and practices, and the healthcare system as a whole. With the CE mark, we have a unique opportunity to update outdated technology for the benefit of hundreds of millions of Europeans." The CE marking was based on data collected in clinical trials validating Aidoc's precision, which compared the solution's results to unassisted radiologists' review of those cases. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles also assessed Aidoc's solution earlier this year and that study resulted in impressive accuracy in scan analysis.

"In our clinical trial, Aidoc's technology has demonstrated its ability to enhance our radiologists' workflow, as abnormal scans can be prioritized and more carefully reviewed," said Dr. Barry D. Pressman, MD, Chairman of Imaging at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "Our firsthand experience has led me to believe in the technology's potential to achieve a significant increase in our radiologists' productivity and accuracy. It's a win both for our physicians and our patients. Aidoc's AI powered solution will help our radiologists be their best, and streamline their workflow." About Aidoc Aidoc is a smart radiology company utilizing the most advanced innovations in deep learning and artificial intelligence to augment radiology, with the goal of cutting healthcare costs without sacrificing quality results. Using patent pending technology, Aidoc's state-of-the-art solution analyzes all relevant imaging and clinical data, providing radiologists with highly accurate detection, streamlining workflow and breaking through bottlenecks by allowing them to focus on what they do best, diagnosis. With a team of leading technology experts and industry thought-leaders, Aidoc's vision is to help millions get quicker, highly accurate imaging results. Aidoc is based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. For further information, visit https://aidoc.com/ Contact :

Joel Strauss

Headline Media

[email protected]

+1-917-595-2309

SOURCE Aidoc

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[November 27, 2017] Canada's call to action for Canadian clean technology: a $1 trillion opportunity - EDC alone committing $7 billion for Canadian companies by 2020

OTTAWA, Nov. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Export Development Canada's (EDC) Cleantech Export Week launches today, bringing together Canada's clean technology experts to discuss how Canadian companies can play a bigger role in this fast-growing sector. The worldwide movement to tackle climate change is ramping up and there is growing demand for clean technology and services. Cleantech Export Week will launch a national conversation about how Canadian companies can more easily bring their solutions to the international market  a market estimated to be worth US$1 trillion and expected to surpass US $2.5 trillion by 2020. "Canada has the potential to be one of the world's go-to sources for cleantech solutions, and so EDC is stepping up to be Canada's source for financing cleantech companies by increasing our financial support to meet the market needs," says Benoit Daignault, EDC President and CEO. "We planned Cleantech Export Week to salute the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of companies across the country, and as a call to action to challenge Canada's innovators to expand their horizons beyond our borders by tapping into the support provided by EDC and our partners." EDC is the largest provider of financial solutions for cleantech companies looking to export internationally, EDC provided more than $1 billion i the sector in 2016 and expects business volumes to exceed $7 billion between now and 2020.



Cleantech has been a priority for EDC since 2012. Since then we have helped over 170 Canadian cleantech companies export to 114 countries and have conducted almost $3.5 billion in business. EDC helps these companies by providing financial solutions, market knowledge and the benefit of matchmaking introductions to some of the biggest projects and companies in the world.

Cleantech Export Week Schedule of events: Monday Nov. 27

7:30  9:30 a.m. EST

Breakfast event in partnership with the Economic Club of Canada.

Chateau Laurier  Drawing Room

Panel discussion followed by a conversation with the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada's Minister of International Trade and Benoit Daignault, President and CEO, EDC. This event is open to media, please confirm attendance. Tuesday Nov. 28

8:00 a.m. EST

Announcement of EDC's Exporting Cleantech Stars.

EDC has selected three Canadian cleantech companies who have bridged the gap between domestic and international success in the cleantech industry. For interviews with these companies, contact the EDC spokesperson below. Wednesday Nov. 29

1:00  2:00 p.m. EST

Cleantech Export Week Webcast

An online panel of trade and cleantech experts will come together for a 60-minute, live webcast on the growing global demand for clean technology and why exporting should be a key part of any cleantech company's growth strategy. Monday Nov. 27  Friday Dec. 1

Visit edc.ca/trade for infographics and blog posts that highlight key areas of cleantech, what support exists for Canadian companies and how to move from domestic to international success in this sector. About EDC EDC helps Canadian companies go, grow, and succeed in their international business. As a financial Crown corporation, EDC provides financing, insurance, bonding, trade knowledge, and matchmaking connections to help Canadian companies sell and invest abroad. EDC can also provide financial solutions to foreign buyers to facilitate and grow purchases from Canadian companies. For more information about how we can help your company, call us at 1-888-434-8508 or visit www.edc.ca. SOURCE Export Development Canada

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[November 27, 2017] Gifts That Give Hope

MISSION, Kan., Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Family Features) Hope is a gift on every child's wish list, especially those in parts of the world ravaged by natural disasters and poverty. Giving hope lets these children know that the world hasn't forgotten them.

Photo Courtesy of UNICEF



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7380debc-914f-4dd4-a261-8bd5ea244b0d From UNICEF Market products to items available from partners, UNICEF USA is making it possible to give gifts that make a difference and deliver the greatest gift of all: hope. Goods from around the globe

From jewelry to accessories to home decor, each item purchased through the UNICEF Market benefits programs that provide children with basic necessities such as nutrition, medicine, education, clean water and more. The UNICEF Market, market.unicefusa.org, is a partnership between UNICEF USA and Novica that offers unique items such as multicolored snowman ornaments made in India and an artisan leather tray handmade in Peru.



Inspired giving

Another option is UNICEF Inspired Gifts, which are lifesaving items that can be purchased in honor of a loved one and go directly to help children in need around the world. Examples include hygiene kits, mosquito nets and winter survival packs. Find more options at inspiredgifts.org. Kid-friendly inspiration

Motivate kids, inspire philanthropy and help save the lives of malnourished children around the world with the Star Wars: Force for Change UNICEF Kid Power Band. Every movement made while wearing the activity band adds up to points that unlock lifesaving nutrition, which is sent to malnourished children around the world. Bands are available at Target or unicefkidpower.org.

Accessories with purpose

This holiday season, ALEX AND ANI is spreading a message of world peace with a jewelry collection that features the iconic peace symbol and benefits UNICEF's work for children. The World Peace collection includes an online-exclusive sterling silver necklace with Swarovski crystals, a charm bracelet and a trend necklace. In addition, bracelets with a festive-themed snowman, daisy and a mother and child charm also support the cause. Until Aug. 31, 2018, ALEX AND ANI will donate 20 percent of the purchase price of all items sold through its retail stores, authorized retailers and on alexandani.com. Comfort that keeps on giving

To help children around the world, LOccitane will donate $4 from each Shea Butter Collection and Shea Butter Deluxe Collection Gift Sets to UNICEF, up to $120,000. The gift sets are available for purchase at boutiques throughout the United States and Canada, and online at usa.loccitane.com. Giving a gift that inspires hope this holiday season can impact not only the person receiving the gift but also vulnerable children around the world. 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.

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[November 27, 2017] Philips extends partnership with Banner Health to transform and optimize radiology departments leveraging Philips PerformanceBridge Practice

AMSTERDAM and PHOENIX, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a leading health technology company, and Arizona-based Banner Health, today announced they have extended their multi-year partnership to include adoption of Philips' PerformanceBridge Practice, helping Banner to accelerate its clinical transformation in radiology and further deliver on its goal of improving care for patients. PerformanceBridge Practice is a part of the Philips PerformanceBridge portfolio, a suite of operational performance improvement software and services that assist radiology departments to deliver on the Quadruple Aim of enhancing productivity, improving the patient and staff experience, while delivering better value-based care. Philips and Banner will work collaboratively to pinpoint improvement opportunities, and a dedicated Philips Solution Advisor will help Banner to develop solutions that address areas for improvement. Banner will roll out PerformanceBridge Practice in all 28 of its radiology departments in a two-phased approach, starting with their 16 Arizona and academic sites, then expanding to its 12 radiology departments in five other states. Introduced last year, Philips' PerformanceBridge Practice is a vendor-agnostic connected solution that aggregates data from across different imaging modalities and information systems, to provide healthcare professionals access to customizable data on departmental performance. For Banner, this will include a customized user-interface to provide radiology teams with access to actionable information that can help administrators prioritize operational improvements in asset management, equipment uptime and utilization, peer-to-peer collaboration, accreditation compliance and practice management. "The pressure to reduce costs while increasing operational efficiency in the current healthcare environment is intense, which requires us to look at performance improvement in imaging very differently," said Becky Kuhn, Chief Operating Officer for Banner Health. "Investing in the right tools and technologies helps us to provide better service to our customers. Connecting our radiology assets, and getting a better view into the performance of our radiology departments, will help us to become more efficient, elevate patient safety, and save on capital investments. Ultimately this allows us to reinvest in what matters most  our patients." Because health systems typically need additional technology support in understanding, adopting and deploying new solutions, Philips offers support with its PerformanceBridge offerings via a diverse Solution Delivery team: Solution Architects, Solution Advisors, and IT Engineers with deep knowledge of radiology operations, clinica workflow, radiology IT, big data analytics, medical imaging technology and financial modeling. This will give organizations like Banner the dedicated support they need from experts at Philips who can help their administrators understand how to leverage PerformanceBridge Practice, while implementing improvement strategies based on meaningful insights provided by the practice management tool.



The agreement builds upon the 15-year, long-term strategic partnership signed by Banner and Philips, which has allowed both organizations to identify solution delivery projects and innovative technologies that can help improve the patient experience and outcomes. Banner and Philips are committed to driving innovation in health management and are collaborating on how the healthcare network can take a more connected approach around health spaces such as cardiology by incorporating advanced imaging and interventional technologies, genomics, digital pathology, and data analytics. Banner and Philips have collaborated on several successful pilot programs to transform care delivery. The adoption of Philips' PerformanceBridge Practice across Banner's network will help optimize its radiology departments to help Banner deliver on its commitment to make healthcare easier for its patients and its customers. "Imaging plays a critical role in providing insight to physicians to reach a definitive diagnosis and determine the most efficient treatment pathway for patients," said Brent Shafer CEO of Philips North America. "Not only is it important to ensure that radiologists have the tools they need to get a diagnosis right the first time and delivery on the Quadruple Aim, it's essential that radiology departments can identify opportunities for operational improvements. By adopting Philips PerformanceBridge Practice, Banner continues to pioneer transformative healthcare by driving operational efficiency, including improving the patient and staff experience."

For more information on Philips PerformanceBridge Practice, please visit here and for more information on Philips' full portfolio of integrated imaging systems, devices, informatics and services at #RSNA17, and for live updates from the event, follow @PhilipsLiveFrom or visit www.philips.com/rsna. Silvie Casanova

Philips North America

Tel: +1-978-659-7467

E-mail: [email protected] Kathy O'Reilly

Philips Group Press Office

Tel: +1 978-221-8919

E-mail: [email protected]

Twitter: @kathyoreilly Jennifer Ruble

Banner Health Network

Tel: +1 602-747-3583

Email: [email protected] About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2016 sales of EUR 17.4 billion and employs approximately 73,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter. About Banner Health Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system operates 28 acute-care hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner  University Medicine, academic and employed physician groups, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services; including Banner Urgent Care, family clinics, home care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/philips-extends-partnership-with-banner-health-to-transform-and-optimize-radiology-departments-leveraging-philips-performancebridge-practice-300561910.html SOURCE Royal Philips

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[November 27, 2017] GuardiCore Advances Centra Platform To Simplify Micro-Segmentation

SAN FRANCISCO and TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GuardiCore, a leader in cloud and data center security, today announced the next innovations in its Centra Security Platform to simplify micro-segmentation deployments. GuardiCore Centra is enabling customers to move from zero micro-segmentation to native policy enforcement in three easy steps. "Micro-segmentation is gaining traction to create software-defined security zones in clouds and data centers to isolate assets from one another and reduce risk. However, the path to meaningful micro-segmentation can be full of challenges, due to incomplete visibility into east-west traffic flows, inflexible policy engines and lack of multi-cloud support," said Pavel Gurvich, CEO and co-founder of GuardiCore. "GuardiCore has tackled these micro-segmentation challenges head on, and offers an approach and set of capabilities that simplify implementation and ensures success for our customers." The GuardiCore approach to micro-segmentation is based on these three steps, Reveal, Build and Enforce, providing customers with the fastest way to implement micro-segmentation policy to secure their critical assets. Reveal - GuardiCore Centra features best-in-class visibility that automatically disovers and visualizes all applications and workloads, down to the process level. This visualization, coupled with advanced filtering and grouping capabilities, allows administrators to quickly discover applications and define assets that can share policies.

- GuardiCore Centra features best-in-class visibility that automatically disovers and visualizes all applications and workloads, down to the process level. This visualization, coupled with advanced filtering and grouping capabilities, allows administrators to quickly discover applications and define assets that can share policies. Build - GuardiCore simplifies micro-segmentation policy management with a Flexible Policy Engine that allows customers to simultaneously design best practice and compliance rules for large segments and establish more granular rules for micro-segments. This includes the ability to set global, high-level macro-segmentation rules, as well as explicit micro-segmentation rules within a specific application segment.

- GuardiCore simplifies micro-segmentation policy management with a Flexible Policy Engine that allows customers to simultaneously design best practice and compliance rules for large segments and establish more granular rules for micro-segments. This includes the ability to set global, high-level macro-segmentation rules, as well as explicit micro-segmentation rules within a specific application segment. Enforce - GuardiCore adds native enforcement for micro-segmentation policy by breaking it down and distributing to the workloads while enforcing on them. GuardiCore Centra's native enforcement includes the application layer (L7) which means that traffic is allowed or blocked not only by its source and destination servers or ports but also by its source and destination processes on Windows and Linux.



GuardiCore Centra Security Platform

The GuardiCore Centra Security Platform is the only security product on the market that provides a single, scalable platform that covers five critical capabilities for effective security in clouds and data centers: flow visualization, micro-segmentation, breach detection, automated analysis and response. Distributed per hypervisor or server, GuardiCore Centra secures internal data center traffic and scales to very large network sizes and traffic rates, with low impact on hypervisor/server performance. About GuardiCore

GuardiCore is an innovator in data center security focused on delivering more accurate and effective ways to stop advanced threats through visibility, micro-segmentation, real-time breach detection and response. Developed by the top cyber security experts in their field, GuardiCore is changing the way organizations are fighting cyber attacks in their data centers. For more information, visit www.guardicore.com.

CONTACT:

Cinthia Portugal

Guyer Group

[email protected]

206.619.8183 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/guardicore-advances-centra-platform-to-simplify-micro-segmentation-300561822.html SOURCE GuardiCore

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[November 27, 2017] Exelon Employees Volunteer 14,000 Hours for 375 Community Organizations in Support of #GivingTuesday

Employee volunteers from Exelon kicked off the holiday season by contributing 14,000 volunteer hours and participating in more than 150 service projects in support of #GivingTuesday, the national day of giving. More than 1,500 Exelon volunteers in 39 cities are participating and have expanded their efforts this year by taking part in charitable activities throughout the month of November. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171127005964/en/ Exelon's #GivingTuesday contribution summary for 2017. Employees volunteered more than 14,000 hours to nonprofits for #GivingTuesday this year. (Graphic: Business Wire) #GivingTuesday, which falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, encourages acts of kindness and generosity from individuals, civic organizations and businesses to help foster lasting change in communities. Throughout the year, Exelon matches employee charitable donations of $25 or more dollar-for-dollar. On #GivingTuesday, Exelon will not only match employee contributions dollar-for-dollar, but will also contribute an additional $100 on employee donations of $100 or more to their charity of choice. So far in 2017, employees have pledged more than $8.2 million through Exelon's Employee Giving Campaign, exceeding the company's goal and breaking previous records. "We are proud to be part of the #GivingTuesday campaign and support its mission to bring people together through community service," said Maggie FitzPatrick, senior vice president of CorporateAffairs, Philanthropy and Customer Engagement at Exelon. "Exelon employees across the country are passionate about giving back to the communities where we live and work - dedicating more than 176,000 hours to community service so far this year. It's one of the many ways we are living our values during the holidays and throughout the year."



Exelon's community programs engage employees in volunteer and charitable giving opportunities that enrich them personally and professionally, while positively impacting the community year-round. In the month of November alone, Exelon volunteer activities included: Tutoring low-income children to improve their reading comprehension skills through the Working in the Schools Initiative (WITS) in Chicago and Philadelphia READS

Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless with Catholic Charities at Pepco's Edison Place Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Planting organic crops to support access to sustainable nutrition at Urban Harvest's Agape Community Garden in Houston

Restoring a no-kill shelter at the Animal Welfare League of Queen Anne's County in Maryland

Sewing fleece blankets and writing cards to pediatric patients at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Helping maintain the nation's oldest memorial grove for Medal of Honor recipients in Valley Forge, Pa. Volunteers for #GivingTuesday service projects include employees from all of Exelon's businesses, including Atlantic City Electric in New Jersey; Delmarva Power and Light headquartered in Delaware; BGE and Constellation headquartered in Maryland; ComEd in northern Illinois; PECO (News - Alert) in southeastern Pennsylvania; Pepco in Washington, D.C.; and Exelon Generation and the Exelon Business Services Company in Illinois and across the mid-Atlantic region.

Employee donations to Exelon Foundation's Matching Gifts Program, in part, supported relief efforts following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and two earthquakes in Mexico. Exelon was also named among the country's 50 most community-minded companies by Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. To learn more about Exelon's initiatives to support communities, visit exeloncorp.com/community and follow the hashtag #ExelonVolunteers. About Exelon Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) is a Fortune 100 energy company with the largest number of utility customers in the U.S. Exelon does business in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Canada and had 2016 revenue of $31.4 billion. Exelon's six utilities deliver electricity and natural gas to approximately 10 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania through its Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco subsidiaries. Exelon is one of the largest competitive U.S. power generators, with more than 35,500 megawatts of nuclear, gas, wind, solar and hydroelectric generating capacity comprising one of the nation's cleanest and lowest-cost power generation fleets. The company's Constellation business unit provides energy products and services to approximately 2.2 million residential, public sector and business customers, including more than two-thirds of the Fortune 100. Follow Exelon on Twitter (News - Alert) @Exelon. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171127005964/en/

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[November 27, 2017] TRAVLR secures $5m Series A funding to launch revolutionary travel platform

MELBOURNE, Australia and BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TRAVLR is a revolutionary travel platform set to disrupt the $1.29 trillion travel industry. Having raised $5m SERIES A funding, TRAVLR is set to redefine the way we travel. From the founders of popular The Bali Bible, TRAVLR curates huge volumes of recommendations, personalises these to specific interests and allows seamless planning, booking and sharing - all in one simple platform. In 2011, Australian co-founders Simon & Lani te Hennepe created The Bali Bible as a way to share recommendations with friends. "When it first started it was us sharing ourexperience with friends, but we quickly realised there was a much bigger audience out there," says CEO & co-founder Simon te Hennepe.



Leveraging the early popularity of social media platforms, The Bali Bible gained a tribe-like following by connecting travellers to share their experiences and inspire each other. "We were pretty surprised with how it took off, but could see something special happening. It makes so much sense that people want to connect over their travel experiences," comments co-founder Lani te Hennepe.

Since then, The Bali Bible has grown to become the authority on Bali travel with well over 2 million monthly visits and 290,000 pages of user generated recommendations. The co-founders realised they were onto something special and quickly identified an opportunity. "There was no single, seamless travel platform that offered an end-to-end experience," says CEO & co-founder Simon te Hennepe. So they embarked on a journey to develop an evolved solution that would serve traveller needs at every stage. TRAVLR evolves current travel technology to meet modern traveller expectations and intends to disrupt the incumbent market. The TRAVLR team have bold plans to integrate blockchain functionality, artificial intelligence and augmented reality into the travel experience. TRAVLR operates in Bali and Fiji with plans to launch into New Zealand, Seychelles, Indonesia and Ibiza. TRAVLR secured its first round of funding from a syndicate of New Zealand investors via Suubee a platform connecting investors, traders, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. 'We know from The Bali Bible that we can meaningfully improve the travel experience. We can't wait to launch TRAVLR across these new destinations where we can impact the lives of millions," says CEO Simon te Hennepe. www.travlr.com Media Contact Mitch Lawson

[email protected]

+61-4-0606-4438 Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171128/2000896-1 SOURCE TRAVLR Pty Ltd

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The 850 only has a three-year warranty, so it's downstream from the 850 EVO, but that doesn't mean it's a replacement for the 650 or 750 EVO. The 850's performance is very high for the 128GB-class, but that's standard issue for Samsung SSDs.

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware 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 .

Samsung's 64-Layer 3D V-NAND Comes To The Desktop

We found Samsung's unannounced new 850 SSD and couldn't resist the chance to take it for a spin. We've seen Samsung's new 64-layer 3D V-NAND in the T5 portable SSD, but the 850 marks its retail debut in a drive designed specifically for the desktop PC. Samsung claims its 64-layer TLC V-NAND is faster and more reliable than previous generations, so the company is overhauling its entire product stack as it brings its latest flash to market.

Samsung's new 64-layer V-NAND stores three bits per cell in a vertical structure, which is commonly referred to as 3D TLC NAND. Each 256Gbit die features roughly 85.3 billion cells. The new die has the same 256Gbit capacity as Samsung's previous-generation 48-layer NAND but features a smaller die, meaning it packs more data into a smaller footprint. That leads to reduced cost.

Samsung also made a few performance tweaks under the hood. The new die features a 1Gb/s data transfer rate, which is a 25% increase over its predecessor. The company also reduced the page program time, which is the amount of time it takes to program NAND cells, to 500 microseconds. Samsung claims that is 1.5X faster than its 48-layer V-NAND. The company also claims a 20% increase in reliability.

The new 120GB 850 is not a replacement for the 850 Pro or 850 EVO lines, though. Less than 24 hours after we found photos of Samsung's new 850 (non-EVO/non-Pro) SSD, Samsung released the drive in China (opens in new tab).

The 850 could be the replacement for Samsung's 750 EVO, which is a product designed for the system integrator and OEM markets. The 750 EVO offers similar performance to the new 850, but it uses older planar (2D) NAND. It's still widely available (opens in new tab) but often costs as much, if not more, than the popular 850 EVO. Like the 850, Samsung's 750 EVO also debuted as a 120GB model in China. Samsung later added 250GB and 500GB 750 EVO's and released them worldwide. The 850 might see higher capacities if Samsung extends it to the global market.

The Samsung 850 could also replace the true entry-level 650 SSD that most of us have never heard of. The Samsung 650 (opens in new tab) with 32-layer V-NAND (3D) has been out of stock at Newegg for several months. Samsung's Australian site also lists it as "end of life" status (opens in new tab).

The company has already released several new versions of its OEM models, such as the PM871b, with 64-layer V-NAND. These drives often sell in basic systems from Dell, Lenovo, and other OEM brands. Customers often do not select the components in those systems, so the OEM models fly under the radar.

Samsung isn't saying much for now, but it should answer our questions in early 2018. That's when we expect it to roll out new retail SSDs.

Specifications

Samsung's website only lists the 120GB model, and our reseller only had access to this capacity. According to the specifications on Samsung's Chinese site, the new 850 uses the MGX controller from the 850 EVO series, though we suspect there may have been firmware enhancements. The 850 and the 850 EVO have the same 540/520 MB/s sequential read/write specifications. The 850 has slightly lower random read performance of 70,000 IOPS compared to the EVO's 94,000 IOPS. Both models boast the same "up to" 88,000 random write IOPS rating.

We abandoned testing 128GB-class SSDs two years ago. We expected 512GB to be the lowest capacity with SSDs featuring new high-density 64-layer 3D NAND, but the flash shortage stifled progress and led to inflated pricing. That wasn't the only reason we abandoned this capacity class, though. Performance has also been very low in the products we've tested. Meanwhile, the size of applications has also grown. A significant number of modern PC games consume up to 100GB, so we had to draw the line at a reasonable amount of usable storage capacity.

Features

When we examine downstream models, it's often better to start with the features that are not available, rather than those that are. According to the website, the 850 does not feature TCG Opal or Microsoft's eDrive encryption. The drive has a PSID, which is the twenty-digit code you'll need to perform a cryptographic erase. The cryptographic erase feature was available on the 750 EVO, 850 EVO, and Pro, but it was not available with the older 650 series.

The marketing material does list 3bit MLC (TLC) V-NAND, but it doesn't specifically list it as 64-layer. Our sources have confirmed the 850 uses 64-layer V-NAND. The drive also supports Samsung's Magician management software and the Rapid Mode RAM caching feature.

Pricing, Warranty, And Endurance

The Samsung 850 currently only comes in 120GB with the MZ-7LN120 model number. Samsung has only released the drive in Asia, so we don't have any pricing information.

The drive comes with a three-year warranty, but the endurance for this model could be either 75 TBW (Terabytes Written) or 100 TBW. We found 75 TBW in the specifications and 100TB in the product text. Companies often copy product pages from previous releases and simply replace the data for the new model. That could be why the pages list different endurance ratings.

This the first drive in the 850 series to ship with a three-year warranty instead of a five- or ten-year warranty.

Accessories And Software

Samsung stopped selling "kit" drives, which come with an accessory package, a few product generations ago. The new products ship as a bare drive with a bit of paperwork. Samsung provides access to the Magician management software for every channel SSD. Samsung's product page also says the 850 supports Rapid Mode via the Magician software. Rapid Mode uses your PCs system memory (RAM) to cache storage traffic. This increases performance for cached data requests and reduces wear on the NAND.

Packaging

Image 1 of 3

Samsung doesn't list many product details on the retail package. The company doesnt even list the drive model on the front of the box. On the back, we found the V-NAND SSD 850 and 3-year limited warranty standing out from the rest of the text. Performance and endurance information are both missing.

Inside we found our 850 SSD in a form fitting plastic shell along with a generic Samsung Solid State Drive manual.

A Closer Look

Image 1 of 4

On the surface, the 850 looks exactly like the 850 EVO. We also see the PSID number on the rear of the drive.

Internals

Image 1 of 5

Samsung managed to fit all three major components on one side of the PCB. Samsung's website lists the controller as the MGX, the same as the 850 EVO. The drive does not use PoP (Package on Package) technology like the 750 EVO. That technology fuses the controller and DRAM together in the same package, but it adds some extra cost to the design.



MORE: Best SSDs



MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs



MORE: All SSD Content
Our blog community directs us to a weed advocate dude who shares a first name with the aforementioned Mr. Mertensmeyer and a few Kansas City social media connections which inspired this blog post on the topic of changing perceptions . . .





Also, a new gig in the growth industry of legal pot is really quite cool . . . It sure beats being hit on Ward Parkway and getting your leg chopped off while dying a slow and agonizing death.

Fact is, people forget.

On this mild November evening, let's talk about the value, or lack thereof, of local history.Moreover, let's keep this legal but fun and sloppy . . .Not so long ago a rich kid was involved in a horrific accident wherein a pedestrian was hit so badly that his leg was severed.The suspect allegedly fled the scene and confronted DUI and manslaughter charges . . .Here's is the definitive Kansas City blog post on the topic . . .Recently, some of the denizens of ourdid a bit of fact checking on this story along with the flimsy concept of "justice" and how it doesn't really exist.First . . .. . . With the condition of an ignition lock and some other inconvenient tech that's still better than being run down on a Kansas City street and hit so hard that one of your legs popped off.And then . . .Quick jump back . . .Anyhoo . . .Curtis Stafford has a great many friends and supporters in the Kansas City area who also endorse the biz potential of weed legalization.We remember back when this tragedy and the 120 day jail sentence injustice happened -- So many Internets denizens promised to always remember . . . There's also the myth that everything on the Internet lives forever . . .And so we throw this jumbled mess to our blog community in order to offer a Sunday night contemplation on the topics of forgiveness, new standards for recreational drugs, local history and a reminder about the clear & present danger that rich youngsters and fast cars pose to po'folk . . . Along with a bit of "hope" about new endeavors.You decide . . .As always, thanks for reading this week and we hope to have more for the morning update . . .
There was a cop in there shopping so he wasnt in uniform. When he found out what was going on he pulled out his gun and his badge and held it up to let everyone know he was a cop . . .".





Shortly after, people who had evacuated the store heard gunshots coming from inside."

SO THE "GOOD GUY" WAS A VERY WELL-TRAINED POLICE OFFICER NOT SOME YOKEL CCW DWEEB WITH A BAD ATTITUDE AND WORSE AIM!!!

"If anything, this is another sign that community outreach by law enforcement works. I see a lot of so-called Conservatives talking trash about police just as bad as 'Black Lives Matter' when it comes active shooter situations. But the facts show us that having law enforcement build trust with the community is the best way to fight nearly every form of crime. I don't have a problem with people defending themselves but let's be realistic - This case in Lenexa shows us that the police are part of our communities and they work to protect people both on and off-duty. This isn't a knock against CCW, it's just a the truth that police are putting in more gun training every week than a hobbyist. It's our job."









Social media rhetoric shot from the hip and missed yesterday afternoon in their efforts back up the stupid NRA talking point that gunfights in the streets make us all safer.The headline:Now, to be fair, the officer who put his life on the line to protect people in the store is, in fact, a very good guy.A description of heroism:Okay . . .Last year, a good Samaritan in Shawnee saved a woman from attackers with his weapon . . .And so . . .Let's get over the myth that keyboard warriors are going to rescue innocent people . . . Thathappens. Instead it just ends up costing those old fools money like in the case ofWe put in a message to one of our po-po friends who offered just a bit more insight on the Internets rhetoric surrounding this off-duty police shooting.Again, don't get it twisted. But the fantasy that armed d-bags in MAGA hats are going to help anybody but themselves to a 3rd or 4th sandwich needs to be shut down for the safety of us all.Link Update:You decide . . .
Ancient texts from St Catherines Monastery in Sinai, Egypt, that were kept secret for centuries under other texts until they were revealed through the use of state-of-the-art technology will go on display for four days starting on Monday at the Greek Foreign Ministry.

The texts will be showcased as part of an international conference titled The Other Voice of the Desert: The palimpsest manuscripts of the Sinai Monastery, new technologies for reading, discovery of unknown texts, prospects for research, at the ministrys Yiannos Kranidiotis Auditorium.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Amanatidis, this will be second time the texts are being presented after they were first exhibited in Egypt a few months ago. He noted that work was conducted over a five-year period on 74 palimpsest manuscripts containing hidden texts dating to between the 5th and 12th centuries.

The hidden texts, he noted, comprise about 6,800 pages and are in 10 different languages.

Saint Catherine's Monastery, officially "Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai" lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, in the city of Saint Catherine, Egypt in the South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, part of the wider Eastern Orthodox Church, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Built between 548 and 565, the monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. The site contains the world's oldest continually operating library, possessing many unique books including the Syriac Sinaiticus and, until 1859, the Codex Sinaiticus. A small town with hotels and swimming pools, called Saint Katherine City, has grown around the monastery.

Christian traditions

According to tradition, Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr sentenced to death on the breaking wheel. When this failed to kill her, she was beheaded. According to tradition, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. Around the year 800, monks from the Sinai Monastery found her remains.

Although it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the monastery's full official name is the Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai. The patronal feast of the monastery is the Feast of the Transfiguration. The monastery has become a favorite site of pilgrimage.

History

The oldest record of monastic life at Sinai comes from the travel journal written in Latin by a woman named Egeria about 381384. She visited many places around the Holy Land and Mount Sinai, where, according to the Old Testament, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush (also known as "Saint Helen's Chapel") ordered to be built by Empress Consort Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush. The living bush on the grounds is purportedly the one seen by Moses. Structurally the monastery's king post truss is the oldest known surviving roof truss in the world. The site is sacred to Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

A mosque was created by converting an existing chapel during the Fatimid Caliphate (9091171), which was in regular use until the era of the Mamluk Sultanate in the 13th century and is still in use today on special occasions. During the Ottoman Empire, the mosque was in desolate condition; it was restored in the early 20th century.

During the seventh century, the isolated Christian anchorites of the Sinai were eliminated: only the fortified monastery remained. The monastery is still surrounded by the massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the twentieth century, access was through a door high in the outer walls. From the time of the First Crusade, the presence of Crusaders in the Sinai until 1270 spurred the interest of European Christians and increased the number of intrepid pilgrims who visited the monastery. The monastery was supported by its dependencies in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Crete, Cyprus and Constantinople.

The monastery, along with several dependencies in the area, constitute the entire Church of Sinai, which is headed by an archbishop, who is also the abbot of the monastery. The exact administrative status of the church within the Eastern Orthodox Church is ambiguous: by some, including the church itself, it is considered autocephalous, by others an autonomous church under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; in recent centuries he has usually resided in Cairo. During the period of the Crusades which was marked by bitterness between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the monastery was patronized by both the Byzantine emperors and the rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and their respective courts.

On April 18, 2017, an attack by the Islamic State group at a checkpoint near the Monastery killed one policeman and injured three police officers.

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: Berthold Werner License: CC-BY-SA
Debt settlement in Greece's stricken economy is critical for further promotion of its booming tourist industry

An unnamed company became the first entity in Greece to settle its debts to the state and restructure through an extra-judicial mechanism, ministry of Finance sources disclosed on Friday.

The case regarded a bilateral negotiation for debts to the national health insurance fund (EFKA) that had been turned over to the relevant state agency for collection (KEAO). The company owed less than 50,000 euros to EFKA. Through negotiation, it reduced the fines and penalties by 85%, with the balance to be paid in 120 installments.

In the first 15 weeks the mechanism platform has been available, 12,748 interested parties have signed up throughout Greece. Of these, 8,729 have begun the extra-judicial debt settlement process, while 299 have completed the process.

According to ministry sources, the cases break down roughly into the following:

- 75% are individuals (households and freelance workers), 20% are representatives of very small enterprises, and 5% are representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises.

- Of those signing up, 60% have debts to banks only, 35% owe both banks and the state (taxes and insurance payments), and 5% have outstanding debts to the state only.

The platform also provides answers to questions over debts, explains to individuals options they may not have known existed, and assists low-income individuals free of charge.

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

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Europa credito urgente License: CC-BY-SA

Source: ANA-MPA
Recovery of Greece's crisis stricken market is critical for further promotion of its booming tourist industry

"Black Friday" appears to have been a resounding commercial success in Greece for a second year in a row, as long queues outside retail stores and telecom providers' outlets were followed by reports of significantly higher turnover during the day.

In spite initial grumbling from unions representing workers in the retail sector and chambers comprised of SMEs, the now almost global marketing scheme - held the day after the Thanksgiving holiday is observed in the United States - was judged as extremely successful in Greece. Nevertheless, the "lion's share" of skyrocketing sales was again taken by multinationals and domestic chains active in the electronic retail sector.

Based on "Naftemporiki" estimates, local retailer Public - the company touted as first "importing" the one-day promotional scheme to Greece - saw its daily turnover increase almost five-fold on Friday.

Plaisio, another high-flying Greece-based electronics retailer, reportedly posted a whopping 70-percent rise over last year's "Black Friday" day.

German multinational Media Markt's stores in Greece were assessed to have recorded a 40-percent hike in turnover on Friday, compared to the same day last year. Similarly, Kotsovolos, a subsidiary of Dixons Carphone in Greece, tripled turnover compared to 2016's "Black Friday".

In general terms, high-end brand-name products - such as smart phones, tablets etc. - again piqued buyers' interest. However, other retailers in the still economically recovering country also took advantage of the promotion, with clothing stores and sporting goods outlets also reporting between a 50- to 30-percent increase in average daily turnover.

According to a flurry of broadcast and Internet ads on Friday, most retailers announced that they will prolong discounts on electronics for a second day on Saturday, in a bid to keep up the commercial momentum and to sell-off stocks on the shelves ahead of the looming Christmas and New Year's season.

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

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Guruharsha License: CC-BY-SA

Source: naftemporiki.gr
Cyprus is one of the main Mediterranean competitors of the Greek tourism industry but the two countries share historic national bonds and cooperate in many sectors

AP reports that the top executive of ENI said Friday that the Italian oil and gas company will drill two exploratory wells off Cyprus over the next two months, expressing confidence that significant reserves can be found for possible export to Europe.

ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi described Cyprus as a natural bridge linking existing and potential gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean Sea with Europe, which is looking to diversify its energy sources amid increasing gas consumption.

We believe in Cyprus, Descalzi noted after talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. Cyprus is a natural bridge to Europe and Europe is importing more than 70 percent of its gas and gas consumption is growing.

Gas consumption grew 5 percent in Europe last year and it will increase annually by 100 million cubic meters (3.5 billion cubic feet) each of the next two years, said Descalzi.

The first exploratory well will be drilled in partnership with Frances Total next month in an area off the islands southwest. ENI and South Koreas Kogas will commence drilling for the second well in January in the islands southeast.

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: HG32 License: CC-BY-SA

Source: thenationalherald.com
Diyar Al Muharraq, one of the leading urban developers in Bahrain, has announced that the mock-up villas within the third phase of its Al Bareh development will be ready for viewing in March 2018.



Situated in a prime location in the west side of Diyar Al Muharraq, Al Bareh is a seafront development that wholly embraces the elements of nature in a seamless blend.



In order to comprehensively imbue into Al Bareh a sense of serenity and harmony, myriad parklands and adequate greenery will be incorporated and spread throughout the project, said the developer in a statement.



Keeping in mind the functional needs of the community that will reside in Al Bareh such as the consistent provision of basic necessities, land areas have been allocated for community retail purposes, it added.



With the construction on track for completion in February 2018, Diyar Al Muharraq will be showcasing four types of show villas including two waterfront plots and two inner plots.



The waterfront plots are a 855 sq m, with a total built-up area of 570 square meters per villa, while the inner plots are circa 500 sq m with a total built-up area of 415 sq m per villa.



The show villas are designed to exhibit some of the different designs incorporated within the project. All the villas in the Third Phase of Al Bareh will be offered for sale in April 2018.



Al Bareh comprises three main products which include sea front residential plots dedicated to encompassing high-end villas with fabulous waterfront views overlooking the main canal and that are easily accessible by road, inner residential plots, within walking distance to waterfront parks, appropriately positioned in the heart of Al Bareh, and residential investment plots, with access to parks and community facilities, designated for the construction of low-rise multi-storey buildings.



The Al Bareh plots are being offered for sale on a freehold basis to all nationalities.



Speaking on the occasion, Diyar Al Muharraq CEO Dr Maher Al Shaer said: "In line with our hallmark consistency and accomplished efforts to expedite the completion of our project in its entirety, it brings me immense pleasure to announce that the mock-up villas of the Third Phase of Al Bareh are nearing completion.



Potential homeowners will be given the opportunity to view and subsequently, decide on the purchase of houses within the development according to their preferred design, remarked Al Shaer.



"We are immensely proud of this project due to its capacity to offer a surreally opulent lifestyle and look forward to the foreseeable future wherein our first residents within Al Bareh start settling in," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Ooredoo, a top telecom provider in Oman, has signed an agreement with international engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) giant, Punj Lloyd to provide its operations with a full range of Business-to-Business (B2B) solutions.



Under the agreement, the group will acquire access to state-of-the-art leased line, fixed line, and mobile solutions.



Punj Lloyd Group is one of Indias largest companies, with headquarters in New Delhi and operations in over 17 countries in South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Regarded as a major player in Asias burgeoning infrastructure sector, the group has undertaken a number of milestone projects since its inception including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline, the world-class Medanta-MediCity in Gurugram, and Malaysias landmark refinery RAPID project, to name but a few.



Sultan Al Wahaibi, chief business & wholesale officer at Ooredoo, said: Our agreement with Punj Lloyd Group is reflective of our efforts to continue offering B2B customers tailored solutions to meet their current and future needs. This dedication to service excellence in the B2B sector has added yet another high-profile name to our client portfolio. We aim to provide them with the transformative voice and data services which have continued to exceed expectations throughout the Sultanate.  TradeArabia News Service
Hilal Computers - Microsoft Licensing, Cloud Solutions Provider hosted an educational workshop for students and staff of University of Bahrain.



The first workshop which was fully focused on students was successfully delivered by Bassel Ajlani of Microsoft yesterday (November 26) at the university auditorium.



The workshop is a successful joint venture of University of Bahrain and Hilal Computers, and was hosted by Hilal Computers as their trusted Microsoft Partner.



Ajlani is a specialised Microsoft Solutions Consultant for UAE, Oman and Bahrain on Microsoft Cloud solutions for education.



Addressing the gathering, Sohaib Mohamed Alabdi, the head of Information Networks Division (IT Center) at University of Bahrain, highlighted the importance of adopting smarter technologies for better productivity and efficiency.



Two valuable laptops, sponsored by Hilal Computers, were given away as part of an entrance raffle draw for selected participants.



The second workshop will be held on November 29 exclusively for the staff of University of Bahrain.-TradeArabia News Service
HotelsCombined, a global hotel price comparison website, said that international hotel bookings are up by 35 per cent compared to domestic bookings for UAE National Day Weekend, according to recent data analysis.



The most popular international destinations for the holiday weekend for UAE residents include Muscat, Makkah, London, Madinah and Istanbul. As well as being the most sought-after destination Muscat is also the most expensive, with a hotel room costing travellers an average of $303 (Dh1,100) per night.



Makkah and Madinah offer more affordable accommodation, with rates sitting at $198 (Dh693) and $162 (Dh594) per night respectively, while London and Istanbul have the cheapest rates on offer at $142 (Dh521) and $48 (Dh176) per night.



Amer Alhalabi, regional manager Mena, HotelsCombined said: "The UAE local or expat population love to take advantage of long weekends or holiday breaks. Their target destinations are always planned on the basis of offers or air fare.



Be it a domestic or regional holiday arrangement, planning and booking of these trips are usually done in advance to secure availability and good prices. Depending on demand, hotels normally increase their rates especially during peak seasons. Therefore, there's always a variation in prices that makes the decision process longer thus inducing guests to book from their desktop rather than mobile."



HotelsCombined also analysed the top international hotels for the UAE National Day Weekend, looking at bookings from November 30 to December 3. Al Areen Hotel Apartment in Oman is the most popular, while Golden Tulip Resort Dibba and Hormuz Grand Muscat ranked 2nd and 3rd. Other in-demand hotels by UAE travellers include Le Metropole Hotel Alexandria, Al Marwa Rayhaan by Rotana-Makkah and Shaza Al Madinah.



Travellers staying within UAE for the holiday weekend are heading in droves to Dubai, followed by Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah. Hotels are charging visitors the most in Ras Al Khaimah with rates sitting at $257 (Dh943) on average per night - nearly double the price of hotels in Dubai where it will cost travellers $134 (Dh492) on average for a hotel room.



Popular UAE hotels next weekend include Jannah Resort & Villas Ras Al Khaimah at the top of the list, followed by Golden Tulip Khatt Springs Resort & Spa and Jood Palace Hotel Dubai.  TradeArabia News Service


Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : SWISS-BELRESIDENCES JUFFAIR IN BAHRAIN APPOINTS HOTEL MANAGER Industry: Appointments

Swiss-Belhotel International (SBI) has announced the appointment of Bartlomiej Mart as the Hotel Manager



(TRAVPR.COM) UAE - November 27th, 2017 - Swiss-Belhotel International (SBI) has announced the appointment of Bartlomiej Mart as the Hotel Manager for Swiss-Belresidences Juffair in Bahrain. Owned by Hassan Lari Property Development & Management, Swiss-Belresidences Juffair is expected to open its doors by 1st April, 2018.



Bartlomiej brings over 14 years of outstanding experience in the hospitality industry working with some of the most successful hotels in Europe, USA and the Middle East. His most recent posting was as Director of Operations at Marriott Executive Apartments & Residence Inn in Bahrain where he spent almost six years.



Laurent A. Voivenel, Senior Vice President, Operations and Development for the Middle East, Africa and India, Swiss-Belhotel International, said, We have just setup the pre-opening office for Swiss-Belresidences Juffair under the supervision of our Area General Manager Herve Peyre and delighted to welcome Bartlomiej to our team. We are confident his diverse and multi-property management experience with superb pre-opening expertise will prove to be extremely useful in delivering exceptional guest service at Swiss-Belresidences Juffair.



A Polish national, Bartlomiej holds a Masters Degree in European Financial Law. He began his career in the hospitality industry as an F&B Shift Leader at Harrisburg  Hershey Marriott in USA in 2003 before moving to Old Course Hotel & Spa in the UK as HSKP Supervisor in 2005. Bartlomiej continued his progress gaining valuable experience in all aspects of the business. He joined back the Marriott group as Sr. HSKP Supervisor at Marriott Executive Apartments in Dubai in 2006 before taking up the role of House-Keeping Manager at JW Marriott Dubai in 2007. Over the years, Bartlomiej won many prestigious awards including 2014 Edge Award (Marriott Global Award for Excellence in Delivering Guest Experiences. Bartlomiej was one of the only 12 winners from Rooms & Spa disciplines from the groups around 4,000 hotels then).



Swiss-Belresidences Juffair an upper midscale hotel apartment complex featuring 129 well-appointed two and three bedroom serviced units each equipped with fabulous facilities including a full-fledged kitchen. Enjoying a prime location in the city, in close proximity to popular shopping and dining attractions, the hotel also boasts outstanding recreation and dining facilities such as a swimming pool, a large spa connected with the health club, a mini theatre, a kids club, an all-day-dining restaurant and a deli corner in the lobby.



For further information visit http://www.swiss-belhotel.com



For media contact:



Hina Bakht

Vice President

MPJ (Marketing Pro-Junction)

Mob: +971 50 697 5146

Email: h.bakht@mpj-pr.com

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Phnom Penh was elected on 27 November 2017 by the General Assembly of European Council on Tourism and Trade as the WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM.

(TRAVPR.COM) BELGIUM - November 27th, 2017 - On November 27, 2017 in the presence of the diplomatic corps, tourism experts, cultural and heritage experts and European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT) Board, Professor Dr. Anton Caragea ECTT President has signed the decree confering to PHNOM PENH the quality of a registered city for WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM.

The initial decision was taken on Jul 29, 2017 during the General Assembly of European Council on Tourism and Trade -ECTT.

The General Assembly of European Council on Tourism and Trade -ECTT has gathered in an all-encompassing manifestation the leaders of world tourism, parliamentarians members of Parliamentary Assembly for Sustainable Development Goals, representatives of OSCE Bucharest Conference, Eurasia Conference and diplomatic corps accredited to European Council on Tourism and Trade.



President of world institution of European Council on Tourism and Trade, Professor Dr. Anton Caragea presented to his guests the achievements of ECTT at the helm of global tourism: creating and launching the tourism and sustainable development goals program, starting the global recognition program for GLOBAL AMBASSADORS FOR TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS, supporting growth and employment across the world with more than 100.000 jobs created by ECTT exertions and supporting humanitarian activity and investments in vulnerable corners of the world by tourism related programs.



ECTT has fulfilled for another year his mandate to offer KNOWLEDGE TO LEAD THE WORLD for a better future concluded President Dr. Anton Caragea in his welcoming message to the delegates.



The main items of the ECTT Agenda for 2017 where focused around boosting the regional cooperation, layout plans for visa facilitation and the better promotion of European and world tourism.



The General Assembly of the European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT), has taken under consideration the list of candidates for WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM and WORLD BEST TOURIST DESTINATION for 2017.



The member states decided to entrust to Professor Dr. Anton Caragea and the team of ECTT President Office the mandate to select for 2017 and 2018 the WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM winners in accordance with the world tourism institute ECTT status and bylaws.



The full power in selecting the world most important cultural designation for the above mentioned period was delegated to the authority of the ECTT President Professor Dr. Anton Caragea.



After receiving the results of vote from Presidential adviser Mr. Gabriel Rasvan , H.E. President Professor Dr. Anton Caragea announced his decision to bestow the highest cultural nomination to the city of PHNOM PENH, the capital of Kingdom of Cambodia.



The WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM status for Phnom Penh will bring the inscription of the city as a cultural and patrimony hub of global significance and will also entice the city role as a part of the AGENDA FOR HUMANITY UN program and as a center for the implementation of sustainable development goals in the country and in the region.



President Dr. Anton Caragea lauded the Kingdom of Cambodia role in global fostering of tourism development, growth and economic development and in becoming a world model of SDG implementation.



Phnom Penh is practically littered with religious monuments, with incredible cultural artifacts with a beaming historical patrimony spanning for over 600 years and encompassing from Angkor type architectures and temples to colonial typical quarters all enveloped in a recent magnificent development.



The proposal of ECTT leader was approved by acclamation`s by all present on the venue and the office of the President of European Council on Tourism and Trade being empowered to make the necessary actions to bring to fruition the decision to inscribe PHNOM PENH as a WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM awardee.



On December 9th, 2017 the Kingdom of Cambodia will officially receive the WORLD CAPITAL OF CULTURE AND TOURISM status, concluded the proceedings the President of European Council on Tourism and Trade, Professor Dr. Anton Caragea.

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Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, November 24

Three members of a fake travel agents family of Bhaini Mattuan village, 20 km from here, have been booked under Sections 420 and 120-B, IPC, by the Chabal police.

The police said the accused include Gurjant Singh, his father Devinder Singh and mother Naridner Kaur. The case has been registered on the complaint of Jaswant Singh of Panjwar Khurd village. He said the accused lured his son Harpreet Singh about four years back saying that they would send him abroad and get him a job there and took an amount of Rs 6 lakh from him. Jaswant Singh said about two years back, the accused Gurjant Singh called his son, Harpreet Singh, to Cyprus where he lost his sons passport and other documents. He handed over his son to the police there. Harpreet Singh was sent to jail by the police in Cyprus, as a result he lost his mental balance due to the rough treatment meted out to him. The accused, Gurjant Singh, after handing over Harpreet Singh to the police in Cyprus came back to India.

Jaswant Singh has been requesting the local police here to lodge a complaint against the accused for the past one and a half years. The case was registered late last evening.
Melbourne: Indian energy giant Adanis controversy-hit Carmichael coal mine project in Australia may not receive a 900 million dollar loan after the Labour party-led Queensland government said it will exercise its veto to not support the financial assistance. The 16.5 billion dollar Carmichael coal mine project will start construction after being given the green light by the federal and Queensland state governments. The Adani Group had applied for Northern Australia Infrastructure facility loan (NAIF) worth 900 million dollars for building a train line to connect its mine to the coast. Earlier this month before the election day, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that her Labor party would veto the NAIF loan if it retains the power in the state. However, after reports of conflict of interest emerged, Palaszczuk said her government will exercise its veto to not support the NAIF loan to remove doubt about any perception of conflict. PTI
London, November 27

Bitcoin, the virtual currency on Monday hit record high as it rocketed above $9,000 for the first time and was trading above $9,500 in Asia.

Stock markets around the world have been on a tear this year, but their gains are paltry compared with bitcoin's, reports CNN.

The digital currency, which only rose above $8,000 about a week ago, has surged to an incredible 860% since the start of the year.

Even a small portion of the cash managed by major funds "would make a dramatic impact on the bitcoin market", said Thomas Glucksmann, head of marketing at Hong Kong bitcoin exchange Gatecoin.

The backing of a major exchange is encouraging institutional investors "to dip their toes into the bitcoin market", CNN quoted Glucksmann as saying.

He expects more professional investors to put money into it if it breaches $10,000.

Shane Chanel from the Australia-based investment firm ASR Wealth Advisers, predicted that bitcoin will hit $12,000 within the next six months.

The cryptocurrency had plunged as much as 20 per cent after the Chinese government cracked down on offerings in the digital currency, prompting bitcoin exchanges to close their doors.

Earlier this month, it plummeted by up to 30 per cent within the space of a few days, before quickly bouncing back, after it appeared traders were switching to rival cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are virtual "coins" that are "mined" by computers completing complex algorithms. Bitcoin is the most famous and widely used one. IANS
Washington, November 27

Ivanka Trump, the adviser and daughter of US President Donald Trump, has said the Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by India and America is a testament to their growing economic and security partnership.

Ivanka will be leading a delegation of senior Trump administration officials and entrepreneurs at the three-day Summit in Hyderabad beginning tomorrow.

To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 1,200 young entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are women, from 127 countries would attend the summit.

In addition some 300 investors and ecosystem supporters are also attending the mega event.

The worlds largest gathering of young entrepreneurs is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

It is a testament to the strong friendship between our two people and the growing economic and security partnership between our two nations, Ivanka Trump told reporters during a preview of her India visit.

Ivanka, 36, has travelled to India before, but this is her maiden trip to the country as a senior presidential advisor.

Accompanied by several top administrations official, a large number of Indian Americans are part of her delegation, which numbers 350 from 38 states.

Prime Minister Modi had personally invited Ivanka to participate in the GES, which is being held in India for the first time, when he travelled to the US in June.

This years summit theme, Women First, Prosperity for All, demonstrates the Trump administrations commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, she told reporters last week.

Five per cent of entrepreneurs at GES are 30 years or younger. The youngest entrepreneur is 13 and the oldest entrepreneur is 84.

Ivanka said she aims for this summit to serve as an open and collaborative environment for the exchange of ideas, to broaden networks, and to empower entrepreneurs to take their ideas and passion to the next level.

The US and India will continue to work together to increase economic opportunities and inclusive growth. I very much look forward to my visit and to seeing Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Swaraj once again, she said.

The summit would also be the first major engagement of the new American Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

Amazing first week in India! Thanks so much for the warm welcome. Looking forward to exploring this fascinating country. Excited to begin my journey in Hyderabad at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit! he tweeted last week. PTI
Vivek Katju

Vivek Katju

Former secretary, Ministry of External Affairs

No observer could have anticipated that the triennial United Nations election for five judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would conclude in such dramatic fashion, striking a historic blow to the privilege system devised by the Permanent 5 (P5) members of the UN Security Council (SC) for themselves and unmistakably signalling the will of an assertive India. How did this happen?

The stage is set

The ICJ judges are elected through a complex voting system in both the General Assembly (GA) and the SC; a successful candidate must secure a majority in both. For the 2017 election this meant 97 in the former and eight in the latter. The ICJ statute requires that the Court should be representative of different civilisations and legal systems. However, by convention, it has reflected the geographical distribution of the SC. Thus, the P5 effectively arrogated five seats for themselves though they embedded them in informal regional quotas and the remaining 10 were divided thus: two to Asia, Latin America and Western Europe and others group, three to Africa and one to Eastern Europe.

This year five retiring judges  from France, Britain (Christopher Greenwood), Brazil, Senegal and India (Justice Dalveer Bhandari)  were re-nominated for election and, in addition, Lebanon put forward its Permanent Representative to the UN, Nawaf Salam, as a candidate. Given the convention, it was widely expected that the real contest would be between Bhandari and Salam, the other four were expected to easily sail through.

There is no indication that India thought otherwise or lobbied ab initio against the convention. Bhandari's candidature was announced only in June and its timing indicates that it was linked to the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. As Salam is a popular in UN circles and was working on his election for a long time, it could only have been the importance given to the Jadhav matter that would have persuaded the Modi government to undertake to contest what was obviously a very difficult election. Besides, Bhandari had made injudicious media comments after the ICJ decision putting a virtual stay on the proceedings against Jadhav by Pakistan. The diplomatic lobbying effort was intense, if quiet. It was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the political leadership and involved all Indian Missions and naturally, at its centre, was the team at the UN in New York led by the able Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin. The election process is lucidly described by Prof Dapo Akande in the European Journal of International Law's blog thus: It is only when the judges that have obtained absolute majority in an organ is equal to the number of vacancies that the President of that organ notifies the result to the other organ. Taking the five vacancies on this occasion, Akande explains further, If more than five obtain an absolute majority (and this is easily possible) then further rounds of voting are required.

The voting process began on November 9. In the first round of voting India was comfortably placed in both organs indicating successful initial lobbying. However, the Senegal judge obtained the required number of 97 in the GA but, unexpectedly, came last. With this to get their candidates elected regional groups embarked on tactical voting including not using all their five votes. Consequently, India lost a majority in the SC in the fourth round of voting and Britain in the GA in the fifth leading to the other four going through. This was obviously a reverse for India.

The play

Both organs now voted for the fifth seat. India secured 115 to Britain's 76 in the GA while Britain got nine to India's six in the SC. The next round of voting was set for November 13. It is at this time that the election turned from being one for a ICJ seat into a matter relating to P5 privileges sustained by conventions, the power balance between the GA and the SC, and India's and Britain's positions in the world.

The P5's status and role, including the possession of the veto, is sustained by statute. However, there is no such backing to the conventions which confer on them a permanent presence or great influence in some UN institutions such as the ICJ. But the P5 do not want their privileges to be curtailed and unite to defend them. With their power they also succeed in arm twisting member-states to let the conventions continue. Thus, Indian diplomats and UN experts were acutely aware that they were in a very difficult struggle as matters stood on the eve of the India-Britain challenge set for November 13; notwithstanding Britain's diminished international standing, other P5 would stand by them.

For India, the key lay with retaining majority support in the GA. Very intense lobbying was, therefore, undertaken relying on the principle that in case of an impasse between the SC and the GA, the will of the latter which reflected the democratic choice of the world would prevail over the convention. This struck a chord in the GA which has for long smarted, though mostly helplessly, at having to bow to the pressures of the SC and India was able to increase its tally to 121 in the GA in the voting rounds on November 13. It failed to make any headway in the SC, though where it slipped from six to five votes indicating that the P5 were not giving up on Britain and thus the privilege system.

After the 13th, Indian strategy was to further increase its number in the GA where a two-thirds majority, 128 at the present stage, assumes critical significance; the P5 wish to avoid an open defiance of the democratic will expressed so decisively. Realising that the GA was standing steadfastly behind India, Britain decided to play, prior to the next round of voting on November 20, on the ICJ statute which provides that in the event of a difference of opinion between the two organs a committee of three members from each will be formed to take a decision by majority and if an impasse continues still then the judges of the ICJ would elect.

However, this procedure has never been used in the UN in previous elections. When the two organs differed, the SC gave way to the GA's preference. For the P5 to now allow Britain to invoke the statute would have been simply too blatant. Besides, a rift between the elected and the P5 may have arisen in the SC complicating the situation. Sensing that India was moving strongly ahead,except China, the others abandoned Britain and clearly informed it so. The fact that for the SC to go for the joint meeting required open voting also played a part for few were willing in the SC to openly go against India. Seeing the writing on the wall Britain withdrew Greenwood's candidature prior to the vote on the 20th.

The impact

There is little doubt that only India could have shown the nerve to take on the P5 and build enough support to prevail. Modi's outreach to African and other developing countries, which has built upon the work of previous governments paid dividends. This victory will greatly add to India's general diplomatic heft and prestige. It would be unrealistic, though, to expect an immediate effect on specific Indian concerns, including UNSC reform where the P5 will not hesitate to use the veto.

It is also unlikely to make a direct difference in the Jadhav case though it is good to have a permanent judge instead of an ad hoc one hearing the matter.

What is historic is that the GA will now be emboldened to take on P5 privileges sustained hitherto by convention. That India struck the first blow for a part of the democratisation of the international system is contributing to making history.

The composition of the ICJ

The ICJ judges are elected by voting system in both the General Assembly (GA) and the Security Council (SC); a successful candidate must secure a majority in both.

The ICJ statute requires that the Court be representative of different civilisations and legal systems. By convention, it has reflected the geographical distribution of the SC.

Thus, the P5 effectively arrogated five seats for themselves and of the remaining 10, two went to Asia, Latin America and Western Europe and others group, three to Africa and one to Eastern Europe.
Sushma Ramachandran

Sushma Ramachandran

THE forthcoming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Buenos Aires is being held in the backdrop of a vastly different global scenario to that when the institution was first set up in 1995. The WTO has ceased to become the most important player on the global trade trade scene. Regional trade pacts have become the order of the day. It is easier and less time consuming to enter into such arrangements as the large multilateral organisation gets literally tied up in knots over every issue. The developed world and emerging economies have been battling over the years over a range of issues, some of which manage to get resolved, but many of which are not able to reach any finality. As a result, attention is now being focused on other trade agreements like the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Though now the TPP is being decried by its prime mover, the US, it is one among the numerous new trade pacts being hammered out all over the world. It is the glacial pace of decision making at the WTO that has forced most countries to look for trade arrangements that will give quicker national advantages.

As far as India is concerned, the WTO remains a crucial entity even as it continues to negotiate free trade pacts with other countries and groupings. It remains significant as it continues to be the premier dispute settlement organisation for trade-related issues. Besides, it is the only one where agreements become valid on a global basis, mainly owing to the large number of countries that are members. The ministerial meeting in Argentina assumes importance since there are a large number of ongoing issues that have yet to be resolved which are of critical concern to this country. The most important of these is on food security. This was resolved to Indias satisfaction at the Bali ministerial meeting, but it was only a partial conclusion. The peace clause as it was termed ensures that no action will be taken against India or other developing countries in case the subsidies on their food procurement programmes breach the ceiling of 10 per cent of the value of food production. This is an interim arrangement till a final solution is found, but India has been insisting on a permanent formula. Media reports now indicate that it may no longer do so, but that would be a mistake as already developing countries are trying to insert tougher conditions into the peace clause. These include curbs on export of foodgrains.

At the same time, these countries are retaining the right to continue providing huge subsidies on their own food and dairy products. It has to be said that as far as the WTO is concerned, there has been consistency in the way in which both the NDA and the UPA governments have tackled the delicate multilateral issues that could impact the 400 million farmers in this country. Commerce ministers from Murasoli Maran to Arun Jaitley to Kamal Nath and lately Nirmala Sitharaman have sought to defend the interests of farmers and ensure their livelihood is protected at this forum. The challenge is now before Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu to follow in their footsteps to ensure that the US and the European Union, along with their allies, do not succeed in ensuring that Indias food procurement stocks are curtailed and the countrys food security is put in peril.

The other major concern is the drive to include new items on the work programme. These include electronic commerce, investment facilitation, and even creating new disciplines for small and medium enterprises. On the issue of e-commerce, India is wary owing to its experience in the area of electronic hardware where reduced tariffs have affected domestic industry. On investment facilitation, there are fears that it will end up allowing a multilateral agency to take decisions on foreign investment norms that need to be decided by the sovereign government of the day. India has rightly pointed out in respect of most of these new items that topics already on the table should be concluded rather than moving on to new items.

One of the areas that Mr Prabhu will have to persist in highlighting is services, especially the movement of skilled personnel from country to country. This is one of Indias strengths so no wonder the developed world is lukewarm to any movement in negotiations. It is one of the existing items on the Doha round of WTO negotiations  the Doha Development Agenda  that was launched in 2001. It is on this agenda that the battle lines have been drawn between emerging economies and the developed world, with the latter seeking to include new areas without reaching a conclusion on earlier ones.

While all these issues have to be dealt with, it would be a good idea for Mr Prabhu to take a more long-term perspective on the WTO. India should ideally become a leader of a ginger group to reform the organisation so that it can become more vibrant and more in tune with members genuine interests. Owing to the need for consensus in all major decisions, it has become difficult for the institution to move forward to take viable decisions related to world trade. Instead, it has become a halting one-step forward, two steps backward kind of dance for the world body. Ideally it should reflect the interests of the majority who are the emerging and developing economies, but the developed world has ensured that this is not the case. In fact, it is the stalemate that has taken place between the two sides that makes negotiations here extremely long-winded and inconclusive.

Mr Prabhu thus has a tough job ahead. The short-term task is to ensure that the Buenos Aires ministerial meeting does not harm Indias interests in key areas of trade and economy. The long-term job, however, is to try and mobilise support to ensure that the WTO becomes a more equitable and fair institution where the interests of the poor are given primacy rather than providing support only to the rich all over the world.
FOR two successive days the Chief Justice of India and various union ministers expressed themselves to have different ideas about the judiciarys role in our constitutional scheme of things. There is an air of disagreeableness to these differences. The union ministers, rather rambunctiously, gave the impression of speaking down to the judiciary. Arguably, this bluff and bluster is the very signature tune of the Modi government, meted out to all and sundry and this weekend it just happened to be the judiciarys turn to be at the receiving end. This is not the first time the NDA regime has articulated its views in this vein. Indeed, any government that enjoys a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha chafes at any institutional restraint.

The executives aggressive tone can be traced to the unfortunate erosion the judiciary has suffered in its image in recent months. There have been far too many occasions when the higher judiciary did not add to its institutional reputation. The Supreme Court had taken a bold and firm stand on the National Judicial Appointment Commission, thereby reviving the Collegium. Unstated in that assertion was a claim that the judiciary had the talent, competence, rectitude and temperament to produce a slate of unblemished nominees for High Courts and the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the judiciary is yet to reclaim the high moral ground vis-a-vis the other two constitutional organs.

Nonetheless, the Union Law Ministers contention that the judiciary must trust the Prime Minister in the appointment of judges is a flawed argument. Elections are conducted in a democratic arrangement to choose a political party to exercise the executive power of the State; in the process, someone gets to become the prime minister who, in turn, is deemed to be the leader of the country, enjoying the trust and confidence of the citizens. Yet the very essence of the constitutional democracy is that the executive power must remain subject to limits prescribed in the Constitution, and it is for the judiciary to define and determine, from time to time, those limits. Judicial review, even judicial activism, remains central to the larger architecture of constraints and restraints.
Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 27

The khula darbar of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar drew a large number of complainants at the Irrigation Rest House here today.

A total of 450 persons got themselves registered on the spot to meet the CM in person for redressing their complaints.

Around 125 complaints were heard by the CM and the remaining complainants were instructed to hand over their complaints to the CM, who took around 20 minutes for this.

Scores were left unattended and disappointed. They said all complaints should be heard by the CM as his khula darbar was being held in Karnal after a long time.

All complainants should have been heard by the CM as we came here to narrate our ordeal to him. I was here with four grievances, but it was very difficult to explain these in a few seconds, said Prof Ajit Singh Kahlon, national spokesperson of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (A).

The khula darbar started around 11 am and went on till 1:45 pm. Hopeful of redress, people started reaching the venue as early as 7:30 am to get their complaints registered.

Of the 450 complaints, 72 were against the police, 65 against the Panchayat and Development Department, 42 against the Karnal MC and 37 against the UHBVN.

Khattar assured Deepak Kumar on stoppage of Volvo buses at Oasis Tourist Complex. He said it was an official stop, but several Volvo buses did not stop, causing revenue loss to the Tourism Department.

Residents of Narsi village, a residential colony developed by a private company and taken over by the MC, raised the issue of electricity. The CM assured them of a solution by December 31.

On behalf of the 1,259 sacked JBT teachers, Sushil Kumar and others met the CM and requested reinstatement. The CM assured them they were waiting for a court order thereto.

Reacting to the demand of residents of Basant Vihar for development, he said illegal colonies in Gurugram and Faridabad had already been regularised. He asked them to deposit development charges for regularisation.

Khattar was accompanied by Gharaunda MLA and Hafed chairman Harvinder Kalyan, Assandh MLA Bakshish Singh Virk, Sugarfed chairman Chander Parkash Kathuria, state BJP general secretary Vedpal and district BJP president Jagmohan Anand.
Chandigarh, November 27

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged lynching of 17-year-old Junaid Khan, who was stabbed to death on a train in June.

A single Bench of Justice Rajan Gupta passed the order.

The judge dismissed the plea on the ground that the police investigation in the case was proper, said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, the counsel for Junaids father Jalaluddin.

During the course of the hearing, the complainant has not been able to show that there are serious flaws in the investigation, which would lead to the conclusion that the same is shoddy or tainted.

Besides, there is nothing to show that the incident has any national or international ramifications. It is, thus, not a fit case to exercise extraordinary power to hand over the investigation to the CBI, the judge wrote in the order.

On November 17, the high court had reserved its order on the petition after the conclusion of arguments.

Jalaluddin, through his counsel, had filed the petition on October 26, seeking a probe by an independent agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Junaid lynching case.

The petitioner had also demanded a stay on the trial in a Faridabad court in connection with the killing of Junaid.

The high court had issued notices to the CBI and Haryana Government on the plea of Junaids father.

Junaid, who had boarded a Mathura-bound train from Delhi, was allegedly stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers and cousins, was returning home to Khandawali village after shopping for Eid in Delhi in June.

His body was dumped near Asaoti village in Faridabad district.  PTI
Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 27

Nagrota Bagwan Congress candidate and Transport Minister GS Bali today accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of giving a free run to the liquor mafia in his segment and other parts of the state to influence the voters. Bali also raised his concern over the news of possible bid to hack EVMs in the state.

Addressing a press conference here today, Bali alleged that the liquor shops should be closed 15 days before the polling so that liquor was not used for influencing voters. But the efforts were made to use liquor in Nagrota to influence voters during the election as the ECI lacked enough staff to check this malpractice, he charged.

Referring to the recent arrest of an alleged hacker, who had offered to hack EVMs in state, Bali alleged that the ECI should have a foolproof system of voting. The news of hacking of the EVMs from other states is also coming. The ECI should think over it, considering that the developed nations like the USA and Germany do not use EVMs, he said.

He charged that there were no lighting arrangements at many polling stations where the voters were standing in queues to cast their votes in darkness during the late evening hours. This is the failure of the system and the ECI should ponder over this to make polls free and fair for all, he demanded.

Bali said the public was suffering due to the ECI code of conduct, which has been in force for a long time in the state. The ECI should relax code of conduct as the public was not getting the bus service in many areas which were supposed to be operated earlier, he added.

Bali claimed that the women voters came out in large numbers to vote and they had voted for the Congress because they were angry due to the price rise of LPG gas and other commodities.
Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 27

The tardy implementation of GST, which was considered as a step towards bringing transparency, has turned out to be a bane, forcing even the honest consumers to indulge in tax evasion practices.

Bill rehne do, bill chahiye to 18 per cent ya 28 per cent extra lagega (dont ask for a bill, if you want it, you will have to pay 18 or 28 per cent more) is what buyers get to hear.

Since the GST implementation, the consumers have been refraining from taking a bill as they feel they will have to pay extra money on the price of the merchandise. Even if we wish to give them the bill, they either refuse to take it or leave the shop without making any purchase, said Sahil, a shawl and accessory seller on The Mall Road.

In the past two months, I have not got any bill even from showrooms selling branded merchandise. I purchased a jacket and jeans but was denied the bill on the pretext that the bill book was being printed. The seller was ready to give me a signed kutcha bill, said Gaurav Sharma, a resident.

The question is that when everything is so transparent, what stops shopkeepers from selling products without bill and how these goods are being transported. The practice of kutcha maal and kutcha bill and under-billing is still in on, said an old trader.

The markets in Delhi and Ludhiana are still selling goods on kutcha bill, which implies that retailers pay Rs 1 lakh in white and Rs 2 lakh in black for goods worth Rs 3 lakh with under-billing of Rs 1 lakh and there is an unwritten understanding between transporters, who charge higher freight rates based on the value of goods. The GST has encouraged black-marketing, said another trader.

President, Beopar Mandal, Shimla, Inderjeet Singh said the businessmen were unable to meet their expenses. There has been a sharp decline of more than 50 per cent in the sales. Even during Diwali, the sales did not pick up this year, he said.

Unless the GST rates are lowered to a reasonable level with reduced tax slabs and the Excise and Taxation Department tightens the noose around traders by sending decoy customers, the tax revenue of the government will dip, he said.
Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 27

The institution of the Dalai Lama ruled Tibet for about 500 years. The god kings, 14 Dalai Lamas, including the present Dalai Lama, who adorned the chair, ruled Tibet in the spiritual autocracy. In exile, the present Dalai Lama devolved his temporal authority over the Tibetan government in exile and handed over his kingdom to the democratically elected leaders.

Democratically elected leaders have been heading the Tibetan government in exile for the past six years now. Lobsang Sangay has been elected to the office Sikyong (leader of Tibetans-in-exile) twice.

However, the complete democracy has also brought in politics into institutions of Tibetans in exile. The Tibetans earlier held complete reverence to the institute of the Dalai Lama and hardly anyone questioned the authority of reincarnated leader.

However, regular features of democracy as protests and allegations against leaders have started featuring in the Tibetan institutions in exile. In the last election to the office of Sikyong also, there were allegations and counter allegations among contesting candidates that peeved the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama had barred the contesting candidates from welcoming him when he came from tours, following which both the candidates sought pardon from him.

Today about a hundred protesters sat in the administrative complex of the Tibetan government in exile with placards in their hands and mouths gagged as a symbol of protest. The protests were against the recent move of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to oust the representative of Dalai Lama in North America, Penpa Tsering. The ouster of the representative of the Dalai Lama has triggered a controversy among the Tibetan community in exile. A section of the Tibetan community in exile was viewing the removal as an insult to the Dalai Lama. The fact was reflected in posters carried by protesters today in which they demanded that the legacy of the Dalai Lama should not be destroyed.

Penpa Tsering was former Speaker of Tibetan Parliament and was acting as Dalai Lamas representative in North America. Interestingly, Penpa Tsering had unsuccessfully contested the election for Sikyong (leader of Tibetan people in exile) against the current Sikyong, Lobsang Sangay. Thereafter, he was appointed as representative of the Dalai Lama for North America.

The reports of his dismissal from the posts came out earlier this month. The Kashag (Tibetan cabinet) has expressed its dissatisfaction with the way the current representative, Penpa Tsering has conducted his responsibility since assumption of office. In July this year, the Kashag had sent the last advisory mentioning the need for improvements in the ways and manners of his service and performance, Ven Karma Gelek Yuthok, officiating president of the CTA had said.

He had said that till date the Kashag has sent three advisories. The first two advisories were sent through the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) under which all the offices of Tibet operate.

The Office of Tibet based in Washington DC is one of the most important offices of the Central Tibetan Administration and consequently, the representative heading that office must adhere to the rules of the right conduct and meet our expectations and trust, the representative of the CTA had said.

The Tibetan administration had called a press conference regarding this issue last week. During the conference a few journalists had hot exchanges with the Gelek Yuthok. Lobsang Wangyal, a prominent Tibetan journalist had left the conference. I was not allowed to ask my questions. Due to unsatisfactory replies I had left the conference in between, Wangyal had said.

In a report written by Wangyal he had raised some other issues which had triggered rift between Penpa Tsering and others which had allegedly resulted in his dismissal.
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 27

With many militants managing to sneak into the Valley from across the Line of Control (LoC), the Army is taking massive measures to plug the loopholes and gaps in the fence.

Despite a robust counter-infiltration grid, officials said over 80 militants, mostly from the Lashkar-e-Toiba, have managed to sneak into the Valley this year. At least 67 militants have also been killed along the LoC while trying to infiltrate.

While the Army admitted that some infiltration had taken place largely because of the state of the LoC, they were taking major steps to plug the loopholes and gaps.

The state of the border, the LoC, is very difficult. It is a very difficult terrain and due to bad weather, the visibility drops phenomenally. So, some infiltration does occur and the terrorists do manage to come through. So, this is one of the situation which we do face, General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen JS Sandhu said. But, I will like to assure you that we are taking very major steps to plug the loopholes and gaps along the LoC. There is a better technology being brought in for counter-infiltration. Smart components are being brought in. So, we will be able to achieve better success rate in counter-infiltration also.

Over the years, the Army has been using high-power cameras, thermal sensing cameras, surveillance radars and the state-of-the-art long-range reconnaissance and observatory system (LORROS) to detect movement along the LoC in J&K. These gadgets give technical data to the soldiers on ground to carry out targeted operations against infiltrators. The Army has also been using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor the frequent infiltration routes of militants.

Defence sources said the quality of surveillance was being upgraded along the LoC.

It is always our constant endeavour to improve the surveillance technology. However, no fresh induction is being done in the counter-infiltration grid, the sources said.

With winter intensifying fast, the Army believes that Pakistan may push more militants before the heavy snowfall cuts off the infiltration routes for the next four or five months.

Going hi-tech along LoC

Over the years, the Army has been using high-power cameras, thermal sensing cameras, surveillance radars and the state-of-the-art long-range reconnaissance and observatory system to detect movement along the LoC in J&K. These gadgets give technical data to the soldiers on ground to carry out targeted operations against infiltrators.
New Delhi, November 27

A Delhi court today extended the judicial custody of Syed Shahid Yousuf, son of globally wanted terrorist Syed Salahuddin, in a 2011 terror funding case till December 22.

District Judge Poonam A Bamba also decided to hear the bail application moved by Yousuf, arrested and currently in judicial custody, on December 16.

In his bail application, the accused said he was not required for the purpose of investigation and no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody. The NIA had earlier alleged that the accused had links with proscribed terrorist organisation like Hizbul Mujahideen.

It had said the case was registered on the basis of information regarding funds from Pakistan being sent to J&K through hawala channels to fund terrorism.

The NIA had in 2011 arrested several persons, including Ghulam Mohammad Bhat with Rs 21.2 lakh, alleging that Yousuf was one of the several Indian contacts of Bhat who had been in telephonic contact with him for receiving money transfer codes.

It had alleged that Yousufs involvement was found in collecting funds from a terrorist outfit in Saudi Arabia as well as from another accused on directions of his father Mohammad Yousuf Shah, alias Syed Salahuddin, the self-styled supreme commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Salahuddin was declared a global terrorist by the US Department of State in June this year.

The NIA has claimed that so far Yousuf has received nearly Rs 4.5 lakh through eight international wire transfers. The agency has filed two charge sheets against six persons, including Bhat, a close aide of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammed Siddiq Ganai, Ghulam Jeelani Liloo and Farooq Ahmed Dagga.  PTI

Keeping me in custody serves no purpose
Jammu, November 27

Following the abduction and killing of a Territorial Army jawan by militants, NC chief Farooq Abdullah has expressed concerns over the worsening security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said the Centre has to frame its response vis-a-vis Pakistan for bringing peace in the region.

A 23-year-old Territorial Army jawan was abducted and killed by militants in Shopian district of south Kashmir while he was on leave. His bullet-riddled body was recovered from an orchard in Watmullah Keegam area of the district.

Abdullah also termed the meetings of the Centres special envoy on Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, with people as a formality and said peace would be achieved only when sincere and serious efforts were made.

Claims of peace (in Jammu and Kashmir) are falling flat in the face of increased killings. Yet another jawan has been abducted and killed, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Kathua district.

The NC president attributed the grim security scenario to infiltration by militants from across the border and said the Centre would have to frame its response vis-a-vis Pakistan for the larger interest of peace in the region.

All problems are originating from across the border and the life of those living along the border has become pitiable due to intermittent shelling, he said.

The nation should be taken into confidence as to how the Centre is sorting out issues with the neighbouring country, Abdullah said.

Unfazed by the criticism of his remarks that the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belonged to Pakistan and this wont change no matter how many wars India and Pakistan fight, he reiterated his stand saying this was the only realistic solution to herald a new era of peace and trust in the region.

Conversion of the Line of Control (LoC) into a line of peace will improve the living conditions of people on both sides and promote interaction and goodwill, Abdullah said.

On the appointment of the Centres special representative for Kashmir, he said, Meetings of the interlocutor with the people are just a formality and peace will emerge only when sincere and serious efforts are made.

Border skirmishes and violence in the state has pushed the people backwards, Abdullah said, adding, The border dwellers are suffering due to fear psychosis and uncertainty. About the proposed withdrawal of cases and release of stone-pelters, the NC president said, The coalition is itself uncertain about all this...At times they say the stone-pelters would be released and at times they talk about sending juveniles to rehabilitation centres.

The former chief minister alleged that the present dispensation has failed on the deliverance front.

The scale of rations has been reduced and food-grains are scarce in ration depots. Prices are sky-high and essentials like LPG are going beyond the reach of the poor.

Salaries of various categories of employees are being delayed, he said.

Claiming that the state is faced with a development inertia, Abdullah sought answers regarding utilisation of the claimed funding from the Centre.

He also alleged that elected representatives and ministers belonging to the BJP, which is a partner of the PDP in the coalition government, were being ignored by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

The coalition partners have failed the people, who are realising the futility of their mandate, the NC chief said.

On the upcoming panchayat elections, Abdullah blamed the coalition government for trampling democracy by introducing indirect election of Sarpanchs and said it is against the spirit of democracy at grass roots level. PTI
Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 27

After facing neglect for 27 years, non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit youth living in the Valley will get jobs under the Psrime Minister Employment Package. Following the Central government approval, the PDP-BJP government has constituted a committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) to select candidates among Pandits who did not migrate in 1989-90 after the eruption of armed insurgency.

The committee will hold its first meeting in the first week of December to do groundwork for the selection process. As per the government order issued on November 13, nearly 500 posts have been earmarked under the one job, one family criteria to enable non-migrant Hindus to earn their livelihood.

There are 808 Hindu families, comprising 3,500 persons, who didnt migrate like the 3.50 lakh members of the minority community who left the Valley when militancy erupted in the state. Despite facing economic deprivation and massacres during the last two decades, they continued to live in their homeland.

A majority of them live in Srinagar and south Kashmir districts of Pulwama and Anantnag, the epicentre of the current phase of turmoil which has seen some deadly terror attacks on security forces.

The committee members include Deputy Commissioner (Srinagar), Relief Commissioner (Migrants), a member of J&K Service Selection Board to be nominated by the Chairman, J&K SSB, and a representative of the Department of Disaster Management, Relief Rehabilitation and Reconstruction.

While preference will be given to Hindu families still residing in Kashmir, the candidates are required to furnish details that their family did not leave the Valley during militancy.

Relief Commissioner ML Raina said, The committee after holding its first meeting will chalk out a strategy to implement the order. It is specifically targeted towards the youth who lived in Kashmir during militancy years. The recruitment process will start in coming months.

Non-migrant Pandits have for long complained about discrimination against them. While displaced Hindu families living in camps of Jammu get relief benefits, families who live in the Valley were kept out of the Centres major employment package.

We hope that the process will start soon as hundreds of youth are without employment. These youth have suffered immensely because of turmoil and the discriminatory attitude of the successive governments. The PMs package will allow these families to live in their villages and towns, said Sanjay Tikku, president, Kashmiri Pandit Sangrash Samiti (KPSS).

The KPSS had filed a petition in 2013 before the High Court, seeking issuance of the necessary directions to the Central and state governments for the extension of the package to the Pandits who did not leave the Valley at the onset of militancy in 1990. In 2016, the court had asked the government to address the issue.

808 families to benefit
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 27

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has taken the custody of the alleged Pakistani Lashkar-e-Toiba militant, Aamir, from the J&K Police.

Aamir, 18, a resident of Baldia town, Karachi, was arrested on Friday at Magam, Handwara, in frontier Kupwara district, by a joint team of the Army and the police, along with one AK-47 and two AK magazines.

The NIA has taken over the custody of the militant, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, North Kashmir, Vidhi Kumar Birdi.

After Aamir was arrested, he was jointly questioned by the police, Army and intelligence sleuths to know about the route from where he infiltrated to Kashmir and the local contacts who helped him reach Magam. He reportedly told the interrogators that he was part of a small Lashkar group that had infiltrated through Kupwara recently.

Three members of the group were killed in a gunfight in the area on November 21, he reportedly told the interrogators. Many combing operations were launched in Handwara following his arrest.

The NIA will shift Aamir to Delhi and they will try to know the plans of the militant group.

It is not the first time that the NIA has taken the custody of a captured Pakistani militant from Kashmir. Last year, out of the four arrested Pakistani militants, the NIA had taken custody of Bahadur Ali, who was held at Mawar in the Nowgam sector on July 25. In 2015, the NIA had taken the custody of Pakistani militant Naveed, who was arrested after carrying out an attack on a BSF convoy in Udhampur.

Other militants already in NIA custody
Las Vegas, November 27

India's Shraddha Shashidhar lost out on the Miss Universe 2017 title, failing to make it even to the top 16. South Africa's Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters walked away with the crown, ending a nearly four-decade long jinx for her country in one of the world's biggest pageants.

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After Manushi Chhillar's victory at the Miss World 2017, India had pinned high hopes on Shraddha, 21, a media graduate, to end India's 16-year drought as Lara Dutta had last brought back the crown in 2000.

As many as 92 women from around the world were competing for the Miss Universe 2017 title at the pageant, hosted by Steve Harvey.

Iris Mittenaere from France crowned her successor Demi-Leigh.

The winner has a degree in Business Management and she is passionate about a programme she helped develop to train women in self-defence in various situations.

Demi-Leigh plans to share these workshops and help as many women as she can, according to the official Miss Universe website.

Colombia Laura Gonzalez and Jamaicas Davina Bennett were announced as first runners-up and second runners-up, respectively.

In the competitions Q&A section, Nel-Peters was asked, What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe? She responded by saying, As Miss Universe you have to be confident in who you are as an individual. And Miss Universe is a woman that has overcome many fears and by that she is able to help other women to overcome their fears.

She is a woman that nothing is ever too much to ask for and I think that is exactly who I am.

Miss Venezuela and Miss Thailand were the other contestants who made it to top five at the pageant.

The event, which was held in Las Vegas, was hosted by comedian Steve Harvey. A total of 92 contestants participated in the pageant.

Harvey is known for his infamous gaffe during the Miss Universe 2015 pageant when he mistakenly named the first runner-up as the winner.

Harvey referred to his blunder and said he was grateful to the Oscars.

Ill tell you what Im grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend. Im grateful for the Oscars. Cause it let me off the hook. So, you can sit here and act like you didnt see what Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway did, but it got me off the hook, Harvey was quoted as saying by E Online.

He was referring to the Oscar awards ceremony earlier this year when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as the best picture. It was only after the entire cast and crew were on the stage that the mistake was realisedthe award had actually gone to Moonlight. Agencies
Ranbir Parmar

Ranbir Parmar

OUR octogenarian neighbour Panditji was a reservoir of yarn from his career as a cop. He had an intimate style of storytelling and most tales ended with a moral. He is no more now, but we continue to share his anecdotes among us. One such story relates to the beginning of his police career in the early 1950s.

Panditji was quite young then, newly married and recently promoted as SHO. The promotion entailed his transfer to a police post, 26 miles from his house in Nahan. A narrow mule-track connected the secluded police post with the district headquarters at Nahan. The other alternative route was a serpentine pagdandi, passing through a dense forest.

The place of his posting was desolate enough and there was no facility for keeping the family along. So, he was always on the lookout for opportunities to visit his hometown. One such opportunity came his way in the second month of his posting. Three undertrials were to be shifted to the Nahan Jail. There was threat of impending rain, but he decided to take the risk of starting the trek after mid-day, using the pagdandi shortcut.

The undertrials were handcuffed with three constables and the SHO led the group on the narrow track, hoping to reach their destination well before nightfall. They must have walked for two hours, when suddenly the sky became overcast. A shadowy darkness descended and soon it began to drizzle. The path was slippery and too narrow to be negotiated with three handcuffed men. Visibility was becoming worse and it began to pour.

One of the constables suggested that they might be able to walk faster if the prisoners were released from their handcuffs. The Head Constable, who was more experienced, opined that two of the prisoners could be untied safely for the time being as they were quite docile, but setting the third one free would be risky. This prisoner was Dilia, who had allegedly hacked two persons to death. He was a mean-looking fellow with a squint. Panditji pondered over the situation and took an impulsive decision. The handcuffs of all three were removed. Two armed constables led the group, followed by the three prisoners. The SHO and the senior constable walked behind, holding battery-operated torches.

For the next three hours they ran like seven ghostly figures. At last, they reached the wider road from where the lights of Nahan town could be seen. The rain had stopped. The SHO relaxed his pace a bit when Dilia turned and came to him with a strange request, Sir, please handcuff me. I cannot take it anymore!

Everybody was surprised. With folded hands, he was entreating, Sahebji, it had been quite difficult for me to control my sinful mind during the past three hours! The thought of fleeing tempted me throughout this run. I could have easily disappeared in the darkness of the forest. But how could I betray your trust? How could I put your service in trouble?

Dilia was a hardcore criminal, but there was a flicker of saintliness in him. Man is a curious mixture of good and evil, Panditji observed, ending his tale.
Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 27



Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane suffered yet another setback on Monday after the BJP announced the candidature of its state vice-president Prasad Lad for the by-election to the state legislative council to be held on December 7.

The by-election was necessitated after Rane resigned his seat after quitting the Congress party. Rane was to have been inducted in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet but the move was strongly opposed by the Shiv Sena, the BJPs ally in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also warned that his party would vote against Rane if he was supported by the BJP.

Rane, who was not inducted into the BJP, as expected has floated his own Swabhimani Suraksha Paksh.



According to sources here, the Shiv Sena may support the candidature of Prasad Lad who joined the BJP from the Nationalist Congress Party just 18 months ago.

Lad is expected to sail through with the support of the Shiv Sena since several independent candidates have also announced their backing for him.

BJP sources say Rane has been told to wait till the end of the winter session of the state assembly.

The next election to the upper house of the Maharashtra state legislature is due only in June.

Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded former legislator from Solapur Dilip Mane.

The Nationalist Congress Party has extended support its candidate.

While 145 votes from sitting MLAs are required to win the seat, the BJP has 122 legislators of its own in addition to 16 independents and those from smaller parties.

The Shiv Sena has 63 MLAs while the Congress and NCP have 42 and 41 MLAs respectively in the lower house.




Patna/New Delhi, November 27

The Centre has withdrawn RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadavs Z+ VIP security cover of NSG commandos, drawing an angry reaction from his son, who accused the NDA government of hatching a murder conspiracy.

The former Bihar Chief Minister will now be given Z category security and be guarded by an armed commando squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, in accordance with the protocol of the scaled down cover, official sources said.

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Yadav will not have National Security Guard black cat commandos guarding him anymore. The NSG only provides Z+ security cover.

The decision was taken after the Union Home Ministry recently reviewed the threat levels of various VIP protectees, the sources said.

Lalu Prasad accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to frighten him so he gave up his "relentless fight for preserving communal harmony and social justice".

The RJD chief, addressing a press conference here, said: "Lalu is not someone who can be frightened into submission. The public of Bihar will protect me. But if anything happens to me, Nitish Kumars government in the state and Modi government at the Centre will be jointly responsible".

His son Tej Pratap Yadav, a former minister and an MLA, hit out at the move.

They are hatching a murder conspiracy against him (Lalu), an angry Tej Pratap told reporters outside the state Assembly.

If my father is killed who will take responsibility for this? he asked.

If there is any physical attack on Lalu Prasad, the blame shall lie with Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Tej Pratap said.

Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy chief minister and the younger son of the RJD supremo, also attacked the Centre for downgrading Lalu Prasads security.

By downgrading his security, the Centre is trying to frighten Lalu, who is working towards Opposition unity. This is very mean-minded politics on the part of the BJP-led NDA government, Tejashwi Yadav told reporters.

He also expressed apprehension that with a less strong security cover, the RJD chief had become vulnerable and now the Centre shall be held solely responsible if anything happens to Lalu.

Tej Prataps remarks against the prime minister come days after he made objectionable comments against Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, threatening to disrupt the marriage ceremony of his son on December 3.

Citing security reasons, Sushil Modi changed the venue of his sons wedding to Veterinary College ground from Shakha field in Rajendra Nagar in the state capital.

Sushil Modi scoffed at protests over the scaling down of Lalu Prasads security, saying, Lalu se log darte hain...Lalu ko kisse dar lagta hai (People are scared of Lalu. Who does he fear).

Besides, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Centre also decided to withdraw Z+ CRPF VIP security cover of former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Hindustani Awam Morcha president Manjhi told reporters, I do not know on the basis of whose report the Centre has taken such a decision. I still face threat to my life.

Manjhis Hindustani Awam Morcha is a part of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar.

The winter session of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature began today.  PTI
Ahmedabad, November 27

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani announced he was going to fight the Gujarat polls independently from the reserved seat of Vadagam in Banaskantha district.

Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have both agreed to back his candidacy.

His announcement comes as sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela said the state party unit had asked him not to fight for the seat as "as a part of an agreement" with the Dalit activist.

"The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the poll as an Independent, he will have the Congress support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela said.

Vadagam is an assembly segment reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.

Mevani, a vocal critic of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party, became known for leading huge protests after some cow vigilantes beat seven Dalit men for hours for having skinned a dead cow last year.

AAP also said it would not field a candidate from the assembly segment.

"The AAP has decided not to field any candidate from Vadgam from where Dalit protest leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as an Independent candidate. Looking at the appeal made by him, the party believes that the contest should be between the BJP and Jignesh Mevani," the party said in a statement.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAPs national convener, extended wished the 34-year-old Mevani through Twitter after the latter used the site to announce his candidacy.

"Friends, I'm contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win."

"All political parties opposed to the BJP are saying that Jignesh Mevani is a symbol of struggle against the ruling BJP, and they believe the contest should be between these two people only. We have appealed to all political parties to support me," Mevani told reporters.

In a message posted on social media, Mevani claimed that he decided to jump into the poll fray after being "persuaded" by youths and numerous agitators.

He also requested other opposition parties as well as aspiring independents not to file their papers.

"As the ruling BJP is our key enemy, I request the aspiring candidates of other parties and independents not to file papers so that we can have a direct battle with the BJP.

This is people's battle against dictatorship and we will continue our fight after winning this election," he said.

The AAP has already announced candidates for over 30 seats in Gujarat so far. The party has declared that its battle would be against the ruling BJP.

Mevani will be in a direct contest with BJP's Vijay Chakravarthi. He met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat earlier this month.

After the meeting, Mevani said that the party had assured him that more than 90 per cent of his demands would be incorporated in its manifesto. Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat the BJP in the Gujarat polls, but stopped short of declaring open support to the Congress after the meeting,

The Dalit leader maintained that he had no plans to join any political party.

Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases  on December 9 and 14. Votes will be counted on December 18. PTI
New Delhi, November 27

After the US, France has also conveyed its anguish to Pakistan over the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN-proscribed outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD).

French diplomatic sources said here that Paris has conveyed its deep concern to Pakistan over the release of Saeed whose outfit was listed as a terror group by the Sanctions Committee of the UN.

They said France and India will continue their "relentless" efforts to combat terrorism, and enhancing cooperation to deal with the menace will be an important aspect of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit here in early 2018.

In a strong reaction, India on Friday expressed outrage over Saeed's release, calling it an attempt by Pakistan to mainstream proscribed terrorists and a reflection of its continuing support to non-state actors.

On Saturday, the US also demanded immediate re-arrest and prosecution of Saeed, warning Islamabad that there would be "repercussions" for bilateral ties if it fails to take "decisive action" against the notorious terrorist.

The banned JuD head, who carries a $10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free on Friday after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

He was under house arrest since January this year.  PTI
New Delhi, November 27

After the US, France has also conveyed its anguish to Pakistan over the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN- proscribed outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD).

French diplomatic sources said here that Paris has conveyed its deep concern to Pakistan over the release of Saeed whose outfit was listed as a terror group by the Sanctions Committee of the UN.

They said France and India will continue their "relentless" efforts to combat terrorism, and enhancing cooperation to deal with the menace will be an important aspect of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit here in early 2018.

In a strong reaction, India on Friday expressed outrage over Saeed's release, calling it an attempt by Pakistan to mainstream proscribed terrorists and a reflection of its continuing support to non-state actors.

On Saturday, the US also demanded immediate re-arrest and prosecution of Saeed, warning Islamabad that there would be "repercussions" for bilateral ties if it fails to take "decisive action" against the notorious terrorist.

The banned JuD head, who carries a $10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free on Friday after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

He was under house arrest since January this year. PTI
Jasdan/Bhuj (Gujarat), November 27

Pushing the BJPs campaign in Gujarat into high gear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he is ready to sell tea but will never sell the country as he asked Rahul Gandhi why he had applauded the release of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.

Modi, who started his high voltage campaign with rallies in Bhuj in Kutch district, Jasdan in Rajkot, Chalala in Amreli and Kadodara near Surat, took on the opposition Congress on issues related to China, Lashkar-e-Taibas Hafiz Saeed, the surgical strike as well as corruption.

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He accused the Congress vice-president of applauding the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and asked why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

You are happy to hug the Chinese ambassador, you are clapping at the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Armys surgical strike... But why did you speak about it? You could have just remained silent, he said in Bhuj, not specifying how and where Gandhi had hailed Saeeds release.

Gandhi had recently tweeted: Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed.

The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Saeed by a Pakistan court.

Hitting out at the Congress over a recent meme targeting his chaiwala past, the prime minister said in Jasdan that he is being targeted by the main opposition party because of his humble background and for being born to a poor mother.

They are feeling uneasy because a chaiwala became the PM. We used to read in books how the downtrodden get harassed by those in higher strata. But I never imagined they would stoop so low, Modi said in his speech in Gujarati at Jasdan ahead of the first round of polling on December 9.

He said he gets messages from people threatening him that they would once again turn him into a tea-seller.

I want to tell them that I am Modi, who is ready to sell tea but will never commit the sin of selling the entire country, he said, in an apparent reference to scams during the Congress-led UPA rule.

Why are you mocking poverty? Why are you insulting a poor mother? he asked.

In an apparent bid to woo the influential Patidars, who seem to be drifting towards the opposition party, Modi said the Congress harassed four former chief ministers of the community because of a grudge against Gujarat.

Babubhai Jashbhai Patel, Chimanbhai Patel, Keshubhai Patel and Anandiben Patel belonged to the Patidar community.

Without directly accusing the Congress of fanning the protests, Modi said the opposition had done everything to disturb the BJPs Anandiben Patel-led government.

They fanned violence to disturb her. This Congress party harassed four Patidar CMs just because the people of Gujarat never accepted the party.

At the Bhuj rally, Modi pitched the election as a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.

He asked the people of Gujarat not to forgive Congress leaders as they had levelled baseless allegations on the son of Gujarat who has a stainless public life.

During his campaign in the state in the last few days, Gandhi had trained his guns at the Modi-led government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

He also alleged during his campaign that Modi is not a chowkidar (watchman) but a bhagidar (partner) in corrupt practices in BJP president Amit Shahs son Jay Shahs company.

Modi said he had written a poem, saying that Gujarat is his atma (soul), while Bharat is his parmatma (God), that Gujarat is his mother and he her son.

I have grown up on this soil, you Gujaratis know my plus and minus points, what was good in me has evolved due to this mitti (soil) due to my mother (Gujarat), he said, seeking to emotionally connect with voters.

The prime minister said Gujaratis will not forgive those attacking its child.

Recalling Sardar Patel, he said the Congress should understand that Gujarat tolerated insults when atrocities were committed against him but the times had changed and they would not do so again.

Modi said many people have come here for election campaigning and sprayed muck.

Farmers prepare their land before the start of the monsoon season. In the same way, much muck has been sprayed here. It is good as it will help the lotus (BJPs election symbol) bloom.

Modi referred to the 26/11 terror strike and the attack in Uri and asked what the difference was between one government and another, one leader and another.

They killed our soldiers in Uri, our soldiers went inside their territory, conducted a surgical strike and came back. The next day a newspaper said they (in Pakistan) carried bodies in trucks, he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress raised questions on the surgical strike in September 2016.

They could not respect Indian Army, they asked questions like none of our soldiers was injured? None of them died? Have you any photo or video evidence? Had they gone to shoot a movie in Pakistan? he said.

Modi will address a series of campaign meetings in Saurashtra and south Gujarat, which go to the polls on December 9.

The second phase of elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 14. The votes will be counted on December 18.  PTI
Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 27

The Supreme Court on Monday sent Akhila alias Hadiya  who has been at the centre of a storm over love jihad in Kerala  to Shivraj Homoeopathic Medical College in Salem, Tamil Nadu, to resume her internship/house surgeonship.

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A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Justice Dipak Misra passed the order after a two-and-a-half-hour hearing during which it interacted with her through senior advocate V Giri who acted as an interpreter.

"I want freedom... release....I have been under mental stress for 11 months," she told the bench.

During the 20-minute interaction in a jam-packed court no. 1 of the top court, the bench  which also included Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud -- asked questions about her school education, hobbies, friends and career.

Despite there being no question regarding any religion, she repeatedly said she wanted to follow her faith (Islam) and join her husband.

I want to meet my husband. I want to complete my studies and want to live my life according to my faith and as a good citizen, she told the bench.

CJI Misra termed the case as the most complex he saw as a judge. We (the bench) as judges must have handled 200 to 300 habeas corpus cases. But it is not a simple caseit is the most complex case I have seen in my life.

Interestingly, the bench did not say anything about her marriage (with Shafin Jahan) which was annulled by the Kerala High Court on May 25, 2017.

A Division Bench of the High Court had termed her marriage with Jahan a sham and placed her in the protective custody of her parents.

The bench, however, kept open all the issues raised by Jahan, NIA, Akhila's father Ashokan and the Kerala government and posted the matter for further hearing in the third week of January 2018.

It asked the Kerala government to arrange for her travel to Salem during which she will be accompanied by a policewoman in plain clothes. It also asked the Dean of the College to inform it about any problems regarding her studies and stay in hostel.

The hearing dragged on for more than two-and-a-half-hours as the womans father demanded in-camera hearing citing, communally charged atmosphere, security and NIA report that alluded to a well-oiled machinery behind organised Islamic radicalisation and conversion in Kerala.

Senior counsel Shyam Divan told the bench on behalf of her father that the court has to take all these issues into account before interacting with her.

Divan also submitted transcript of a voice clip of alleged ISIS recruiter Abdul Rasheed to show his association with the Popular Front of India, an Islamic fundamentalist organisation Jahan was allegedly connected to.

On behalf of the NIA, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh supported Divans arguments, saying the agency had filed a more than 100-page report and requested the bench to read at least six pages which he described as crucial. It would completely demolish the foundation of the marriage (between Hadiya and Jahan) dated December 19, 2016, the ASG said.

Senior counsel V Giri, who represented the Kerala government, said the state grappled with such issues on a daily basis and it would be prudent for the court to first see the NIA report before interacting with Akhila alias Hadiya.

But all these arguments were contested by senior counsel Kapil Sibal on behalf of Jahan, saying the autonomy of the adult lady (Akhila) was the most important thing. She has been called here for an interaction with the bench. Your Lordship should ask her whether she wanted to live with her parents or go with any man she liked.

I am saddened that in place of letting the autonomous adult, Hadiya, voice her opinion on the entire issue, the court is attaching more significance to the investigation report on her psychological brainwashing and the syndicate responsible for such conversions, Sibal said, requesting the bench to interact with her first.

As the bench asked him to address it on the threshold point where courts can put even an adult person under some sort of parental or court custody if she was under the influence of indoctrination influencing her independent judgments, Sibal said, I cannot assist the court on this point.

You can afford to walk off the court and say I cannot assist the courtBut the Constitution does not give us this liberty. As judges we are bound to decide the case, Justice Chandrachud told Sibal.

The bench  which had on October 30 directed her parents to produce her before it on November 27 to ascertain her views  repeatedly said it regarded personal liberty as the highest constitutional value and that was why it wanted to be sure about the course of action to be adopted in the case.

After more than two hours of arguments and counter arguments, the bench interacted with the woman and decided to send her back to the medical college to complete her studies.
New Delhi, November 27

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition of a woman who claimed to be the daughter of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

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A Bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also refused to allow the plea of the woman to conduct a DNA test for the purpose of proving her parentage.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the woman, had also sought cremation of Jayalalithaa as per Hindu rites since she was an Iyengar Brahmin.

The court, however, said the petitioner is at liberty to approach the high court. PTI
New Delhi, November 27

A new party led by former Union Minister Sharad Yadav will be formally floated after the December Gujarat assembly elections and its name and symbol announced within a week, a Janata Dal (United) leader owing allegiance to Yadav said on Monday.

"The JD (U) faction led by Yadav will contest seven of the 182 seats in Gujarat in alliance with the Congress and under the banner of a newly formed regional outfit called Rashtriya Tribal Party," party General Secretary Arun Kumar Srivastava told reporters here.

"All seven candidates will contest on 'auto-rickshaw' poll symbol," Srivastava said after a National Executive meeting, attended by Sharad Yadav and party Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar.

He said Sharad Yadav, a former President of the JD (U), would campaign for these seven candidates from December 4 in Gujarat, which goes to the polls on December 9 and 14.

The announcement marks a formal parting of ways between Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Sharad Yadav and his supporters broke away from the Nitish Kumar faction after the latter joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in July.

Taking a dig at Nitish Kumar  currently JD (U) president  Srivastava said: "He has become a 'B' team of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He said the Sharad Yadav faction called a National Executive meeting in view of the Election Commission recognising the faction led by Nitish Kumar as the real JD (U) on November 17 and allotting the poll symbol of "arrow" to it.

"After the Election Commission order, Gujarat's Chagadia MLA Chhotubhai A. Vasava resigned from the party's primary membership. The Sharad Yadav faction has since appointed Tamil Nadu leader K Rajasekhran as party acting president and MP Nagagauda as vice-president," he said.

Earlier, addressing his supporters at the meeting, Sharad Yadav asked them to carry on with politics through the proposed party even as the faction will contest the EC decision in a court of law.

He accused Nitish Kumar of betraying the faith of over 11 crore people in Bihar who had voted for the Grand Alliance, formed in 2015 and comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal, JD (U) and the Congress.  IANS
Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 26

After four years of rallies and online petitions by victims and social organisations, Australias Victoria province is all set to bring in a law against dowry, making it a criminal offence. The draft Bill is ready and will be tabled in the legislature soon.

Marie Segrave, Associate Professor in Criminology, Monash University, Melbourne, played a key role, blaming dowry for the 300 domestic violence cases that she studied.

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When an Indian woman complained she was being harassed by her husband for dowry, the police and judiciary had no idea how to deal with the issue. It took us four years to make the government aware about the social evil, explains Dr Manjula OConnor, a psychiatrist residing in Victoria and one of those who spearheaded the campaign. She claims she receives at least 50 dowry cases every year.

Figures with the National Crime Record Bureau (2015) reveal a dowry case is registered in India every hour.

The Australians dont understand the custom of dowry, insisting a gift is a gift. Hence, they are unable to empathise with a woman seeking their help to get back gifts and jewellery (streedan) from her husband who has deserted her, says Dr Manjula.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

Lok Insaaf Party MLAs Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains on Monday released an audio recording claiming it to be a conversation about payment of Rs 35 lakh to a Punjab and Haryana High Court judge for action against AAP leader Sukhpal Khaira in a drug smuggling case.

The purported audio conversation is allegedly between former PCS officer TK Goyal and former additional advocate general (AAG) Amit Chaudhary about paying the money to the judge.

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Goyal was recently dismissed on corruption charges. Chaudhary was AAG during the Akali rule.

Addressing a press conference, the Bains brothers claimed that the payment was made in connection with Khairas petition in the high court against his recent summoning by a Fazilka court in the drug smuggling case.

The Bains brothers and AAP MLAs will meet Governor VP Singh Badnore at 6 pm on Monday to demand a CBI inquiry into the matter.

Later, addressing the media, Khaira said the facts that the Bains brothers had brought to light were sad. We have faith in judiciary, but they too have failed us, he said.

Khaira said, We bow to the judiciary. But a tout of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (referring to the lawyer) is claiming that he ensured that Khaira did not get relief (dismissal of revision petition).

We consider judges like god. But its sad if justice is being compromised. We still do not know who is behind the controversy, though the name of Capt Amarinder Singh is there in the clip.

I am a victim of a larger controversy. Though I cant believe what is happening. We suspect that Sukhbir Singh Badal, Bikram Singh Majithia and Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh are involved. I have the suspicion that the order of the Fazilka court was also procured.

I have been a whistleblower and thats why I am being framed. Its a dhakka and dhokha with me. I request the CJI to order a CBI probe in the case. I am meeting the Governor in the evening to apprise him of the matter and demand an FIR in the case, he added.

Meanwhile, while talking to reporters outside the Assembly, CM Capt Amarinder Singh said the government would not intervene in the allegations against a judge levelled by the Bains brothers. He said the case was in court that would decide on it.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

The Punjab Cabinet today decided to hike the State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane by Rs 10 per quintal for the crushing season 2017-18.

Rejecting the hike as meagre, Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said it was a joke with the farmers. If other states can give Rs 330 and Rs 325 per quintal as SAP, why not Punjab, he said.

However, the government said despite the poor fiscal condition of the state, it had been decided to give the hike in interest of the cane growers. Todays decision to hike the SAP followed detailed parleys between the Cabinet sub-committee, headed by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, and the representatives of various sugarcane grower unions and associations from across the state, who met here this morning at Kisan Bhawan.

Earlier, the cane growers of the state had announced to gherao the state Assembly on the opening day of the winter session. The farmers have been lamenting that the spiralling price of sugar had failed to give any benefit to cane growers in the state.

For the fourth year in a row, cane growers are getting Rs 285 to Rs 300 per quintal. The Council of Ministers decided to hike the SAP from Rs 300 to Rs 310 for the early variety, Rs 290 to Rs 300 for the mid variety and Rs 285 to Rs 295 per quintal for the late variety.

The government said the hike was in line with the increase given by Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and put an additional burden of Rs 20 crore on the state exchequer.

Bills to be introduced
Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

The ruling Congress is yet to firm up its floor strategy to counter the onslaught of the Opposition AAP and SAD-BJP. Till evening, the MLAs were still waiting for a meeting of the legislature party to be called by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

The meeting enables the top leaders to finalise the floor strategy and identify the possible speakers to speak on issues to be brought before the Assembly. The leadership doesnt want firebrand MLAs to speak on issues such as seeking action against Sukhpal Khaira and Bikram Majithia in the alleged drug cases. Rather, docile legislators will be told to speak on issues of timely procurement of paddy, naming Adampur airport as Guru Ravi Dass Airport and curbing the drug menace, said a senior leader.

The ruling party was in for criticism from the Opposition after Tuesdays proposed double sitting was reduced to a single sitting  citing little business.

Khaira, who is a member of the Vidhan Sabha Business Advisory Committee, today walked out of the meeting while objecting to the short duration of the session. He said he had demanded debate on farm suicides, discussion on the expose against him, payment for river waters from neighbouring states and action taken on the Justice Narang commission report. But the Speaker claimed that there was not much business to be discussed. I protested and walked out, Khaira said

PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar said he had sought debates on achievements of the party in the last eight months. Be it farmers suicides, wheat and paddy procurement and cracking of targeted killings, the Opposition must allow the treasury benches to speak so the issues could be debated upon, he said.
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, November 27

A large number of farmers of Husnar village today gheraoed the Gidderbaha police station for nearly five hours, demanding the arrest of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), his brother and nephew, who have been booked for allegedly attempting to kill some farmers of their village over a water dispute arisen on November 21.

Three farmers  Harchand Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Resham Singh  had sustained bullet injuries and admitted to the Civil Hospital in Bathinda. Acting on their complaint, the Gidderbaha police had booked Amrik Singh, who is posted in the CIA wing at Muktsar, his brother Angrej Singh and nephew Kuldeep Singh. However, they are still escaping arrest.

Avtar Singh, son of injured Harchand Singh, said, The accused is a policeman, thus the cops are protecting him. He belongs to our neighbouring Babanian village. He attempted to get water supply illegally from a water channel, but when we raised objection he along with others opened fire, which injured three persons.

Dharampal Sharma, SHO of the Gidderbaha police station, said, We are conducting raids to arrest the accused.

The protesters said if the police failed to arrest them in coming days, they would block the national highway.
The ugly spat between a Patiala mining officer, sand mafia and the police on Nov 19 shockingly revealed the govts failure to curb illegal mining. The Tribune team last week spread out to make a random check on the extent of the loot of the states natural resource. What stood out was the ease with which it is done

Patiala

With political backing, no fear

Despite the Vigilance Bureau (VB) highlighting illegal mining near the Ghaggar riverbed, business is thriving as officers in the district have turned mute spectators in the face of a strong politically backed lobby. Despite police raids, rarely is anyone arrested. And if someone does get arrested, no inquiry follows.

Mining that goes on with suspected collusion of the local police and irrigation officials has led to environmental degradation, leading to floods in the monsoon. The mafia is allegedly backed by an MLA, who also doubles as a contractor, or asks his aides to take construction contracts in the area.

Henchmen then plunder the Ghaggar and deliver to construction sites without paying tax, one person involved in mining told The Tribune.

In a letter written on November 9, the VB had specifically asked the Patiala police and the departments of Irrigation and Mining to check illegal mining in the Ghaggar.

While the police did not do anything, a mining officer was harassed and allegedly assaulted by the cops, who ideally should have acted against illegal mining.

A typical example of the police letting such operators go was witnessed earlier this year when the Ghagga police got a tip-off pertaining to mining and caught one suspect along with a JCB machine at Darouli village. The person arrested was Nirvair Singh, a resident of Darouli. The police registered an FIR under Section 379 of the IPC and the Mines and Minerals Act against Nirvair Singh and two others, Sarabjit Singh and Harjinder Singh, at Ghagga police station, while the JCB was impounded. Nine months later, the suspects are free, as they submitted an application seeking an inquiry by a senior officer despite the fact that one inquiry had found them guilty, said Ghagga SHO Parmeet Singh.

According to locals, even under the present government, SHOs wait for orders from their political bosses before taking action. We cannot do much as local leaders are usually behind it, and senior officials are aware of the goings-on, an SHO who has earlier been posted in one such police station told The Tribune. Aman Sood

JALANDHAR

No mining official, sand is gold

With not even a single mining official posted in Jalandhar for the past several years, sand mafia here has been able to turn sand into gold.

A Tribune visit to villages across the 85-km stretch from Panj Dhera village in Phillaur to Mehatpur, Shahkot, Malsian, and to Gidderpindi village in Kapurthala, revealed a majority of the villages to be hotbeds of illegal mining.

A farmer in Mallu Machhi village of Sultanpur Lodhi, where Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Ferozepur districts meet, said sand operators had purchased land close to auctioned quarries, and were carrying on illegal mining in over 200 acres there.

Local villagers, too, have become part of the well-oiled network by providing cheap labour and transportation, the farmer, who did not want to be identified, said.

He said an authorised quarry contractor sells an original gate pass for anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 to illegal operators, which provides the latter impunity from any check on the way.

These operators pay another Rs 500 to Rs 1,200 per vehicle to landowners and make multiple rounds for lifting sand on a single receipt, without crossing the weighbridge. The sand is ultimately sold for Rs 9,000 to Rs 13,000.

Mukesh Khanna, General Manager (Industries-cum-Mining Officer), Jalandhar, said illegal activity was not rampant in the area. But The Tribune team saw mining being done openly in Qaimwala and Khurlapur villages in Nakodar and in the Beas near Shahkot.

A government contractor at Pipli village was found to be in possession of the GMs official stamp, which he was using to produce genuine receipts. When contacted, the GM said, I am not aware how my stamp has reached Pipli, especially when there is no need for a stamp on the computer-generated receipt. Rachna Khaira

Amritsar

Illegal trucks ruin village peace

With only six quarries having been allotted out of 14 in the district, sand mining is continuing illegally in full swing. Ajnala subdivision, with nine quarries, is known for its fine sand from the Ravi riverbed. Baba Bakala subdivisions Beas area has five quarries.

A resident of Balarwal village in Ajnala, who is involved in the trade, said with the change in government, only those operating at the top had changed, while the operations on the ground continued as earlier. A quarry in Ajnalas Sarngdev village is yet to be allotted, but The Tribune saw mining going on there unhindered. Locals say the operation starts late in the evening and continues till the morning to escape attention.

Sarngdev is a village bustling with 50 shops. It has pucca link roads, but residents are angry over trucks carrying illegally mined sand ruining their peace. The trucks are a safety hazard; they also damage the roads.

Farmers are permitted to excavate their fields not more than 10-ft deep, but they are also involved in mining the minor mineral beyond permitted levels.

Ajnala SDM Rajat Oberoi said a team of officials from various departments, including Irrigation, Drainage, Forest and Mining, had been formed. They took action whenever illegal mining was detected. Cases were also registered under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act against farmers exceeding the digging limit.

District Mining Officer Bhola Singh Brar said over 100 FIRs had been lodged in connection with illegal mining this year. Neeraj Bagga

Ferozepur

As sun sets, its time to get busy

Illegal sand mining continues unabated in the border district of Ferozepur. As the sun sets, dozens of tippers and tractor-trailers loaded with sand move out in various directions from mines being operated clandestinely. Most of the activity takes place along the Sutlej belt, especially in Zira, Guruharsahai and Mamdot areas.

The entire business, though illegal, is carried out in an organised manner, with shares of all stakeholders, including operators and contractors, fixed. More than 500 cases under various sections of the IPC and the Mining and Minerals Development Act, 1957, have been registered to date this year. Besides, more than Rs 10 crore has been slapped as penalty by the district administration. Over two dozen JCBs, Poclain machines and other equipment worth crores have also been confiscated.

There are 35 approved sites for mining in Ferozepur district, of which 33 are operational. However, the number of illegal sites is much more.

Faridkot district has only three authorised sites for sand mining  in Arianawala, Jand Sahib and Doad villages. While there was no report of illegal mining there, contractors are digging much below the approved level. In Muktsar district, occasional illegal mining from canals and minors has been reported. Anirudh Gupta, Balwant Garg and Archit Watts

Jagraon

Mining without approval

Though the government has not auctioned any site for mining in Sutlej in the Sidhwan Bet area, it goes on unchecked in some villages, particularly Gorsian Khan Mohammad and Bhundri.

According to sources, the mafia has been excavating around 100 tippers (trucks) of sand every day from the riverbed near the two villages. A truck carries around 1,000 cubic ft of sand with a market value of around Rs 30,000.

Residents of Gorsian Khan Mohammad village say the practice has been going on for a long time, and most of the work is done at night. A visit to the spot revealed heavy machines, including excavators and JCBs, mining and loading sand on to trucks.

Sources said the operators had hired musclemen who threatened villagers if they objected to the mining. Link roads of the area have also been damaged by the trucks. Amarjit Bhatia, GM, Mining Department, Ludhiana, claimed he was not aware of illegal mining in the Sidhwan Bet area.

Regarding mining near Gorsian Khan Mohammad village, he claimed it was being done at the authorised Kaimbad site, and the contractor was only supplying sand to Ludhiana through the village. Jaswant Shetra

Ropar

Cutting into riverbank

The mining mafia in the district plunders with impunity, with neither the change of government nor action by the administration able to slow them down.

Two weeks ago, DC Gurneet Tej recommended the cancellation of lease of the Baihara quarry after an inquiry panel found digging of the riverbed to a depth of 18 ft against the limit of 10 ft.

Yet, last week, machines could be seen busy at work in the Swarah quarry in the Soan river. While giving environmental clearance for the quarry in an area of 62.69 hectares, the permitted working depth was fixed at 10 ft. To maintain safety and stability of the river bank, 3 metre, or 10 per cent of the width of the river, whichever is more, was declared a no-mining zone. However, material has been dug up to the banks, even baring roots of trees.

AAP leader and local MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa alleged that the mining mafia were active all over the district, including in Chandpur, Agampur, and Purkhali. He had met officials concerned several times, but to no effect, he alleged.

Chiman Lal Garg, Mining General Manager, denying laxity, claimed that officials were sent immediately to the spot on every complaint. He said department officials had to work hard as they had less than 50 per cent of the required staff. Arun Sharma
Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 26

The seven-day search operation for survivors underneath the debris of the local polybags factory Amarson Polymers, that collapsed on November 20 after a blaze, has been officially declared over and the three missing firemen presumed dead.

The operation by the NDRF, SDRF and local officials lasted 140 hours during which 13 bodies were found. But firemen Sukhdev Singh, Manpreet Singh and Manohar Lal remained untraced.

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Officials believe intermittent fire in a portion of the collapsed factory may have destroyed their bodies.

Deputy Commissioner Pardeep Agrawal, Police Commissioner RN Dhoke, MC Commissioner Jaskiran Singh (who was transferred today) and Congress MLA Surinder Dawar today visited the site. Agrawal said: Technically, we have closed the operation. Nevertheless, a team of 100-150 personnel will manually comb the debris.

Expressing regret, he told the families of the missing firemen: We tried hard to find them. The families have now asked the police to declare their kin dead so that they may get compensation.

Jaskiran said factory owner Inderjit Singh Gola had admitted to storing hazardous chemicals inside the factory. As per our records, the building was illegal. Any official, serving or retired, who allowed the building to come up will have to face the music.

We will be launching a survey of unsafe and illegal buildings, which will be completed in 15 days, he said, adding that he would write to the DC to recover the expenses incurred on the rescue operation from the factory owner. MLA Dawar said he would seek a job for the kin of every fireman who died.

The deceased have been identified as sub-fire officers Rajinder Sharma (52), Shamaun Gill (53) and Raj Kumar (52), firemen Vishal (35), Rajan (45) and Pooran Singh (50), sanitary officer Laxman Dravid (53), computer designers Sandeep Kumar (32), Ghanaiya (39), and Amarjot (25), taxi union president Inderpal Singh (55), factory manager Baldev Raj (55) and worker Dhan Bahadur (50).

The two injured are Rohit Kumar and Sunil Kumar.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

The session of the Punjab Assembly began here on Monday with obituary references by paying tributes to 20 people.

All Congress MLAs gathered around Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh before the session began and were seen discussing their issues with the CM.

Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal attended the session, though SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal was conspicuous by his absence. AAP leader HS Phoolka was also absent.

The House paid tributes paid to 20 people besides the victims of the Ludhiana factory fire.

Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Khaira demanded that the House pay tributes to the over 200 farmers who had committed suicide. He also demanded that obituary reference be made to eight children who had been killed in smog-related accidents.

He said 289 farmers and farm labourers had committed suicide since the last session.

The Speaker agreed to Khairas suggestions.

Later, Khaira walked out of the Business Advisory Council meeting. He demanded a debate on farm suicides, discussion on the expose against him, arrears on the river waters given to non-riparian states; and action taken on the Justice Narang Commission report.

The Speaker said there was not much business to be discussed. So I protested and walked out, he said.
GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 27

The sacked SGPC employees today decided against renouncing Sikhism, but asserted that they would continue fighting for justice.

The services of 15 employees of Gurdwara Gurusar Madoke Brar, Ajnala, were terminated on November 22 after their recruitment was found to be in alleged violation of norms.

Subsequently, they had threatened to renounce religion and surrender their religious symbols at Akal Takht on November 27 if they were not reinstated. They decided otherwise following support from several quarters.

Dhadis (balladeers) come out in their support today. Earlier, former SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur had shown solidarity with their cause. They claimed to have support of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and former SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar.

Dalbir Singh, a sacked employee, said, Theres not a word in writing about our dismissal.

On August 10, the SGPC took control of the Ajnala gudrwara from the local committee. Since then, we had not been paid salaries. During the Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh controversy, we were not even allowed to go home. We worked round the clock then, he said.

Other sacked employees Lakhwinder Singh and Malkiat Singh said it was being wrongly projected that they were employed in violation of norms.

We were recruited with the consent of a five-member gurdwara committee, which had later endorsed our recruitment with a resolution. We have certificates issued by Akal Takht to prove our claim, they said.

Baldev Singh MA, president, Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Shiromani Dhadi Jatha, said members of the jatha unanimously decided to support the sacked employees. If need be, we will move court against the SGPC. The local committee of Gurdwara Gurusar disbursed salaries till August 9. If the SGPC cannot afford salaries, the management of the gurdwara should be handed back to the local committee, he said.

Sukhbir to meet members

Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal has called a meeting of SGPC members owing allegiance to the party on Tuesday, a day ahead of the elections to the Sikh body's executive. Sources said Sukhbir would preside over the meeting at Teja Singh Samundri Hall, the SGPC headquarters from 4 pm onwards.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today questioned the Shiromani Akali Dals double standards on seeking action against AAP leader Sukhpal Khaira in a drug case.

Addressing a press conference here, Jakhar asked, If the Akalis are demanding action against Khaira, why not against Bikram Singh Majithia, adding that the Congress wanted a uniform approach on the matter.

During their rule, they did not react to the Khaira case, knowing well that they themselves could be in trouble, said Sidhu.

When asked about the possibility of action against Majithia, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had said last month that the state government could not override the investigation being conducted by Central agencies into the Jagdish Bhola drug racket.

Sidhu, however, claimed today that there was enough evidence of Majithias involvement with drug lords in the Bhola case.

However, both evaded a direct reply when asked why Capt Amarinder had not yet acted against Majithia if there was enough proof. Jakhar said the government would act on the basis of the evidence.

Homage to farm suicide victims
Dhaka, November 27

Bangladesh High Court upheld the death sentence of 139 and the life imprisonment of 146 convicted soldiers involved in a 2009 mutiny and their role in the massacre of 74 people, including 57 Army officers, on Monday in the country's biggest criminal case.

The court began delivering its verdict on Sunday.

The soldiers formerly belonged to the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).

"It appears from discussions and reviews before and after the BDR mutiny that it was a conspiracy by a quarter with vested interest to hamper the stability of the state and socio-economic safety," said the bench in its observation part of the judgement.

The bench observed that it was "an attempt to destroy a trained and skilled professional force through conspiracy".

"One thirty nine will have to walk to gallows and 146 will be imprisoned for life," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told a media briefing, quoting the over 1,000-page judgement delivered by a three-judge High Court Bench. "The rebels staged the mutiny so no military officer could serve in BDR. They killed innocent (army) officers systematically. This is unprecedented," Alam said.

A key lawyer on the defence side Aminul Islam, however, called the judgement "unexpected" and in "defiance of justice", because it upheld the lower courts verdict  which he claimed had been arrived at in most cases without any evidence  almost completely.

"I will advice my cleanest (convicts) to file appeals before the (apex) Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to get justice," he said.

The judgement comes four years after a lower court in Dhaka handed down capital punishment to 152 and life term to 158 soldiers of the BDR.

A Dhaka court had awarded death penalty to 152 jawans and non-commissioned officers of the BDR, which was renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), in November 2013. The court had sentenced 158 to life imprisonment, 251 to imprisonments up to 10 years for the February 25-26, 2009 carnage, when 74 people, including 57 military officers serving in the BDR, were killed.

The BDR jawans had been accused of masterminding the mutiny plots, torturing and killing their officers, looting their belongings or keeping their family members captive during the rebellion.

They had also killed eight civilians, eight fellow BDR soldiers who apparently were opposed to the revolt and an army soldier apart from the 57 military officers.

Some 850 soldiers had been tried in all.

The Bench heard the death sentences and appeals for over a year during which BDR's former deputy assistant director Touhid Ahmed, a soldier-turned-officer, appeared as the key leader of the mutineers. He was also given the capital punishment.

Two civilians, who were awarded the life term, included former lawmaker of main opposition BNP Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and Awami League leader and ex-BDR soldier Torab Ali as they were found guilty of collaborating with the mutineers.

Pintu died few years ago.

Bangladesh had renamed the mutiny-stained force as BGB in 2012 under a massive revamp.

The rebel BDR soldiers had staged the mutiny, alleging "deprivation", at the force's Pilkhana headquarters here. It soon spread at the frontier force's sector headquarters and regional units across the country. The soldiers turned their guns on their commanders, shot them from close range or hacked and tortured them to death.

They hid their bodies in sewers and hurriedly dug graves, and also held captive their frightened family members and humiliated them in barracks.

They had set the date for staging the revolt coinciding with the annual 'Darbar' or meeting of ordinary soldiers with the top brasses. The then BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed was their first victim.

The rebellion spree lasted 33-hour. Soldiers also murdered then Dhaka sector chief Colonel Mojibul Haque and other army officers.

The mutiny was a challenge for the newly elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh concluded another phase of trial of the rebellion with 11 paramilitary courts sentencing 6,011 rebel soldiers of 57 units to jail terms up to seven years under the relatively lenient BDR Act in 2012. PTI
BAGHDAD, November 27

Iraq is preparing to divert most future output from Kirkuk oilfield to local refineries as a conflict with Kurdish regional authorities over the use of an export pipeline to Turkey continues, an Iraqi official said on Monday.

Kirkuk's production stopped in mid-October after Iraqi forces dislodged Kurdish fighters from Kirkuk and took over the northern region's oilfields.

Diverting Kirkuk's crude to Dora, a refinery near Baghdad, and to another one in Baiji, north of the capital, would help free up more oil for exports from the southern region, the official told Reuters.

Some Kirkuk crude would also be shipped "in the near future" by trucks to Iran's Kermanshah refinery, at a rate of 30,000 barrels per day, the official said, declining to be identified.

The takeover of Kirkuk, a mixed area that had been under Kurdish control since 2014, was part of retaliatory measures taken by the Iraqi government against a referendum for Kurdish independence held in September in northern Iraq.

Kirkuk lies just outside the official boundaries of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Its fields used to supply about half the crude carried by a pipeline across the KRG territory to Ceyhan, a Turkish export terminal on the Mediterranean. The other half is supplied by fields located inside the KRG territory.

Oil flows through the pipeline were reported last week at around 270,000 bpd. Before the crisis flows usually stood at about 600,000 bpd, roughly 17 per cent of Iraq's total exports.

OPEC's second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, Iraq exports most of its crude from the southern region.

The Kurds have refused to hand over to the Iraqi authorities Khurmala, a reservoir that is part of the geological structure of the Kirkuk oil basin but geographically inside the KRG territory, the Iraqi oil official said.

The official said the government wanted Khurmala to be under control of state-run North Oil Company, like the rest of the Kirkuk reservoirs. Reuters
Karachi, November 27

A newly-wed Pakistani couple who married without the consent of their elders has been killed allegedly on the orders of a jirga, police said on Monday, in the latest honour killing incident in the country.

Abdul Hadi and Hussaini Bibi, who hailed from Kohistan in Sindh province, married without permission from their elders about a month and a half ago, Dawn news quoted Mominabad police as saying.

They had rented a house within the jurisdiction of the Mominabad police station earlier this month.

The murders took place some three days back, but the incident did not come to light earlier as family members of the couple kept the incident a secret.

On November 24, some residents of the area spotted blood around the house that had been rented by the couple and reported it to the police.

The victims bodies were recovered by police from the Qaimkhani graveyard in Ittehad Town and sent to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Senior Superintendent of Police Orangi Abid Baloch said nine people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder and subsequent burial of a newly-wed couple in Karachi on the directives of a jirga, an informal council of elders.

Baloch said the two families as well as the girls fiancee were involved in the murder, the Express Tribune reported.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah expressed anger over the couples murder.

This is Karachi, not a tribal area. How was a jirga held here? he asked.

Shah directed Inspector General (IG) of Police A D Khawaja to conduct a thorough investigation and present a detailed report of the incident as soon as possible.

He also ordered the IGP to find out how a jirga was able to operate in the city, the report said.

In September, police had exhumed bodies of a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, who had reportedly been electrocuted by their families on the orders of a jirga in Karachi.

Activists say around a thousand Pakistani women fall victims to so-called honour killings every year in which the victims, mostly a woman, are usually killed by a relative for bringing dishonour to the family.  PTI
Islamabad, November 27

Pakistans hardline religious groups on Monday called off their crippling sit-in in Islamabad and several other cities after Law Minister Zahid Hamid resigned, meeting one of their key demands to lift the siege.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Hamids resignation comes in the aftermath of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters during the weekend that claimed the lives of six people and injured over 100 others.

The sit-in had paralysed the National Capital for three weeks.

An official of the Prime Minister House confirmed that the Law Minister on Sunday night sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who accepted it.

Hamids resignation cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the Capital by protesters who demanded his removal for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017.

Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) religious groups started protests three weeks ago.

Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.

Following the agreement and the subsequent resignation of Hamid, TLY chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home.

We have decided to end the protest after assurance by the army chief and an agreement with government, he said at Faizabad interchange, where he was camping with over 2,000 supporters for last three weeks.

He said that Law Minister resigned and government agreed to take action against those who were responsible for making changes in the oath about finality of Prophethood.

The right wing cleric, who parlayed life in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi, said his party was not in favour of violence. He said all of his supporters arrested during crackdown would be released by the government.

He also expressed anger at the media for not showing his announcement live and threatened that media persons would not be allowed to leave the venue until his announcement was shown on channels. But he later allowed reporters to go.

Meanwhile, the government opened the Islamabad Expressway linking the Capital with its only airport and thickly populated suburban areas along the highway. The Murree Road has also been cleared but its link with the Club Road is still not operational.

Local channels showed sanitary workers sweeping the roads and cleaning the area of garbage dumped by the protesters.

Radio Pakistan said that Hamid, the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, voluntarily presented his resignation to Abbasi to bring the country out of a state of crisis.

The protesters were demanding Hamids ouster over his alleged role for changes in the oath about finality of Prophethood in the recently passed elections laws.

They had linked the action to blasphemya highly contentious issue in the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Hamid said in resignation that the Election Act was formulated by a Parliamentary Committee comprising members belonging to all political parties.

According to the agreement, government would take back all cases against protesters and make public the probe regarding the changes in the oath and also punish those who were responsible for crackdown on protesters.

The agreement lauded efforts of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for playing key role in peacefully ending the stand-off, which became possible after an important meeting between Bajwa and Abassi on Sunday.

Citing military sources, Dawn reported that the Army Chief had opposed use of force against its own people since the populations trust in the institution of the Army cant be compromised for little gains. PTI
Dear friends around the world,

I am delighted to present you with this precious text compiled by one of the great Buddhist masters of our time. It is the long Dorje Shugden kangsol (fulfilment ritual) compiled by Lama Thubten Phurbu of Kham, Tibet for the sogtae ceremony (life-entrustment initiation) conducted by Ngawang Lobsang Thubten Pelzangpo.

Lama Thubten Phurbu is a well-known and learned Gelug lama and an outspoken Dorje Shugden practitioner who has many beneficial projects in Tibet and China. He travels occasionally to the West, India and Nepal to give teachings on Lama Tsongkhapas precious lineage as well as Dorje Shugdens practice.

Lama Thubten Phurbu is also associated with the North America Gelug Buddhist Association (NAGBA) and has worked with them to preserve and disseminate the Gelug tradition in America and around the world.

The Dorje Shugden prayers that Lama Thubten Phurbu has compiled are complete and include the following sections:

Long Kangsol Invocation and Request for Activities to Trakze (Wrathful) Dedication by Lama Thubten Phurbu Medium Kangsol Sang Offering to Dorje Shugden and Retinue Tsog Offering to Dorje Shugden and Retinue Request to Gyenze and Retinue (Increasing) Prayers and Offerings to Kache Marpo Condensed Prayer for Confession, Fulfilment Offering and Tsog Offering to Dorje Shugden and Retinue Tea Offering Prayer Sending Off Torma Prayer Short Sang Offering Prayer Complete Dedication

I wanted very much to share this magnificent text with all of you and to introduce you to this pure lama. You can print out the text, keep it on your altar, or even present it as an auspicious offering to your spiritual teacher, family or friends.

May all beings come under the care, protection and blessings of Dorje Shugden in this life and future lives. May you all be blessed by this monumental work propitiating the World Peace Protector Dorje Shugden.

Tsem Rinpoche

Venerable Lama Thubten Phurbu

Lama Thubten Phurbu, also known as Tsangyang Leshe Gyatso (), was born in 1973 in the village of Geju () which lies in Shanglaxiuxiang () in Yushu (), Qinghai Province () of the Peoples Republic of China. In Tibetan, Qinghai is also known as Amdo.

Born into a nomadic family, the young child showed extraordinary intelligence. He studied various subjects at school including Chinese and Tibetan, and the elders in his community noticed that he was different from the other children.

From a young age, Tsangyang Leshe Gyatso had a marked lack of interest in mundane activities, and viewed them as a waste of time. His siblings left home one after another to pursue their respective careers, leaving him to care for the rest of the family and his ageing parents. However, the young Tsangyang Leshe Gyatso showed no fear and was able to focus on his studies by leading a very simple life.

He received his novice ordination vows from His Eminence Nianzhi Rinpoche and was given the ordination name Thubten Phurbu. He went on to become a member of Pancavidya Lianxi College at Longxi Monastery, where he studied the Five Buddhist Sciences (language, logic, medicine, arts and crafts, and the mind). He became adept in the Tibetan language, mastered the script, and acquired the skill of composition in both verse and prose. It was not only the Tibetan language that he mastered; he excelled in all subjects that he put his mind to.

Lama Thubten Phurbu then advanced to the monasterys Tantric College and continued his studies in Tantra and Tantric practices, rituals and ritual instruments, vajra dances, the making of tormas, the drawing of sand mandalas and so forth. He also received various Tantric empowerments from Nianzhi Rinpoche such as those of Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja and Heruka Chakrasamvara, as well as various oral transmissions of the Gaden tradition.

Through his hard work and consistency, Lama Thubten Phurbu was later appointed to be the chant master (umze) of the Tantric College and the monasterys caretaker (kunyer). He was also one of the Vajra Masters who could grant empowerments. Both Lama Thubten Phurbu and Nianzhi Rinpoche transmitted various empowerments to the public during the four years he spent there.

Lama Thubten Phurbu then embarked on a pilgrimage to U-Tsang for the first time with the help of his friends and relatives. He visited the three great Gelug monasteries  Gaden, Sera and Drepung  and also made offerings and prayers at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.

Later, Lama Thubten Phurbu received his full ordination or bhikshu vows from Lirang Ren Rinpoche Ngawang Phuntsok () and was given the name Ngawang Wangso (). He entered the Lamrim College where he studied texts such as the Lamrim Chenmo, the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Yamantaka Nispannakrama (Completion Stage), and the long Dorje Shugden kangsol (fulfilment ritual). As before, he also received oral transmissions for many other teachings.

In 1995, Lama Thubten Phurbu enrolled in the Debate College and continued his study of the Great Treaties with various masters including Lobsang Sidrub (), Sonam Bajo () and Ngawang Dondrub (). During this period, he made a trip to Kirti Monastery in Sichuan, Aba Province, also known as the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. It was here that he studied Pramana (Valid Cognition) and other subjects under Lobsang Dondrub () and Ngagek Lungrik ().

The study schedule at Kirti Monastery was punishing. Early each morning, as soon as he had freshened up and completed his prostrations, he would read and memorise the texts. On a daily basis, he would also recite out loud the texts which he had committed to memory to his teacher at dawn. He would then proceed to the main prayer hall for morning service without having breakfast.

Thereafter, Lama Thubten Phurbu would continue his day by debating with his classmates on the pavement or by the road just outside the monastery. As he lacked sponsorship and resources, he used a study table made from carton boxes and slept on a bed of stuffed old gunnysacks.

For four years, he studied intensely with very little sleep and would often skip meals and rest periods, prioritising his studies over his comfort. By the time he returned to Longxi Monastery, Lama Thubten Phurbu had become one of the best debaters among his peers, especially on the topic of Abhisamayalamkara (Ornament of Clear Realisation).

Since his ordination, Lama Thubten Phurbu has studied under 14 great masters and is skilled in both the Sutras and Tantras. He has received a series of teachings and oral transmissions from His Holiness Kangurwa Shangba Thubten Gelek Leshe Gyatso Chokyi Rinpoche () including the Collected Works of Lama Tsongkhapa and His Two Spiritual Sons, the Collected Works of His Holiness Pabongka Rinpoche and the empowerments of Yamantaka, Cakrasamvara, and Vajrayogini.

He has also received various teachings, oral transmissions, initiations and empowerments from Khenpo Denma Lodro (), Namkha Gyachen Rinpoche (), Sakya Riten Khenpo () and Sonam Gyatso.

Lama Thubten Phurbu has also founded various Buddhist associations in different provinces. In 2003, he established the Manjushri Whispered Lineage Books Distribution Society (), which aims to preserve the many Sutras and commentaries that are no longer in print. In 2006, he also built the Liberation Bodhi Stupa ().

These days, Lama Thubten Phurbu returns to his village every summer where he makes thousands of tsa tsas in the image of Lama Tsongkhapa, the Three Long Life Deities (Amitayus, White Tara, and Ushnishavijaya), Vajrasattva, and so on. These tsa tsas are made from clay that has been infused with traditional Tibetan medicines. When completed, they are then placed inside the local village shrine to bless the area and its residents.

During the winter months, he engages in various retreats such as those concentrating on the Vajrasattva practice, as well as fire pujas.

Although Lama Thubten Phurbu leads a simple life, he gathered his family and friends to fundraise for a 20-foot-tall thangka of His Eminence Nianzhi Rinpoche. After it was painted, the thangka was then blessed and offered to his guru.

In 2015, at the request of his students, Lama Thubten Phurbu began visiting various provinces in China and Tibet to spread Lama Tsongkhapas teachings, to teach the Lam Rim as well as the Mind Transformation teachings, and to promote the lineage of Dorje Shugden. Some of the places where he spreads Dorje Shugdens practice is at Xia Feng Temple in the Yu Zhu District of Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, and in ChongQing City (), China.

Lama Thubten Phurbu spends most of his time and funds on building stupas, making statues, printing Dharma books, supporting the poor and needy, as well as other virtuous and beneficial works. As China begins to allow the propagation of Buddhist teachings, especially the tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden, Lama Thubten Phurbu has increasingly greater opportunities to continue disseminating these authentic and holy practices in China and Tibet, backed by growing interest and support from the government.

The Outspoken Lama

Lama Thubten Phurbu is highly respected and well-known for bringing Dorje Shugdens practice to many people and for being outspoken about the benefits of this practice. He has spoken against the Central Tibetan Administrations (CTA) ban on Dorje Shugden in Tibet and the harm instigated against Dorje Shugden practitioners.

Lama Thubten Phurbu has opposed the CTAs claim that there is no religious freedom in Tibet, and has given many examples to the contrary, such as how one has full freedom to become ordained, to study Buddhism and to make donations to temples and monasteries without interference from the Chinese authorities.

He also explains how the Chinese government protects all five major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism without bias, and that in recent years, they have provided healthcare services to tens of thousands of monks who gathered for the Gaden Monlam Chenmo Festival. The same also happens at the Nyingma Monlam, Kagyu Monlam and Bonpo Monlam festivals as well. In addition, the government supports the monks with monthly stipends and retirement plans so that they can concentrate on their studies.

Lama Thubten Phurbu has also been invited to consecrate Dorje Shugden tenkhangs (Protector chapels), perform Dorje Shugden pujas, and give talks about Dorje Shugden in monasteries throughout Tibet. All this, along with his other beneficial works to preserve and spread the Dharma so that people can see a real transformation in their lives and progress on their spiritual paths, has pleased Dorje Shugden very much.

Dorje Shugdens pleasure was demonstrated through an oracle, who spontaneously took trance during one of Lama Thubten Phurbus Dharma talks. He was one of three Dorje Shugden oracles currently living in Lhasa. Such occurrences are accepted throughout the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as a sign of the Dharma Protector being pleased with the works of the lineage holders and masters.

Travelling to the West

An influential Gelug Lama, Lama Thubten Phurbu is also invited to give teachings all over the world. He has been invited to teach in Italy, Switzerland and Nepal as more and more western Dharma practitioners recognise and support the growth of pure Dharma.

While he was in Italy, a group of devotees had the rare opportunity to offer a long life puja (tenshug) to both His Eminence Gangchen Rinpoche and Lama Thubten Phurbu, in order to request them to live long and continue their beneficial activities of spreading the Dharma. A wild boar greeted Gangchen Rinpoche immediately after the puja and this is believed to be an auspicious omen from the female Buddha Marici, also known as Oserchenma in Tibet.

Lama Thubten Phurbu has also given a series of Lam Rim teachings at Rabten Choeling in Switzerland. During this time, the members of the centre also had the opportunity to offer a long life puja to Lama Thubten Phurbu.

Visiting Monasteries in India

Lama Thubten Phurbu has also visited Shar Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, India. This monastery was established in 2008 as a result of the ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden. It is one of two monasteries in South India that are beacons of hope for Dorje Shugden practitioners amidst the segregation and suffering created by the ban.

The visit to Shar Gaden was an opportunity for Lama Thubten Phurbu to collaborate with fellow Shugden practitioners to improve the general welfare of the Tibetan refugee community and enhance their spiritual practice. The visit also highlights the strong connections that have been forged between Dorje Shugden practitioners all over the world.

Due to the perceived security risks arising from the unresolved Sino-Tibetan conflict, strict travel restrictions are usually imposed on Tibetans travelling from the Tibet Autonomous Region to India, and vice versa. However, Lama Thubten Phurbu has been able to travel freely without restrictions, which is a clear indication of the Chinese governments confidence in him and his good standing with them.

While others have left for the exile community in Dharamsala for a supposedly better life, Lama Thubten Phurbu has proven his loyalty to Tibet by remaining in the region despite strenuous conditions. He continues to work hard for the benefit of the locals and has really achieved a lot for both the Dharma and the Tibetan people.

Unfortunately, with measures such as the Dorje Shugden ban still in effect, the Tibetans-in-exile cannot benefit from this ready bridge to overcome the Sino-Tibetan stand-off, even though individuals such as Lama Thubten Phurbu have been cultivating relationships with the Chinese government for decades.

In truth, while the CTA continues to segregate the Tibetans and does nothing to open meaningful dialogue with the Chinese authorities, Lama Thubten Phurbu and other Dorje Shugden lamas work to repair the damage. In fact, it is people like Lama Thubten Phurbu who strive to foster harmony amongst the Tibetans in the hope of spreading and preserving the sacred teachings of the Buddha, Lama Tsongkhapa, and the holy lineage of Dorje Shugden to benefit others.

Long (rgyas pa) Kangsol (sger bskang)

Compiled by Lama Thubten Phurbu

Table of Contents

Page 1-75: Long Kangsol

Page 76-82: Invocation and Request for Activities to Trakze (Wrathful)

Page 83-84: Dedication by Lama Thubten Phurbu

Page 85-113: Medium Kangsol

Page 114-126: Sang Offering to Dorje Shugden and Retinue

Page 127-138: Tsog Offering to Dorje Shugden and Retinue

Page 139-141: Request to Gyenze and Retinue (Increasing)

Page 142-148: Prayer and Offering to Kache Marpo

Page 149-150: Condensed Prayer for Confession, Fulfilment Offering and Tsog Offering to Dorje Shugden and Retinue

Page 151-152: Tea Offering Prayer

Page 153-157: Sending Off torma Prayer

Page 158-160: Short Sang Offering Prayer

Page 161-163: Complete Dedication

Page 164: Prayers Compiled by Lama Thubten Phurbu for the Sogtae Ceremony by Ngawang Lobsang Thubten Pelzangpo

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State officials announced Monday the promotion of an Oklahoma Highway Patrol major to chief of patrol after the current chief announced his retirement.

Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety said in a news release that, effective Friday, Maj. Michael S. Harrell will be the chief of patrol, replacing Ricky Adams.

I am equally humbled and excited by the opportunity bestowed upon me by the commissioner, Harrell said in a prepared statement. I look forward to promoting his vision for the Department of Public Safety and continuing our long history of serving the citizens of the great state of Oklahoma.

Adams has served as chief since October 2013.

Harrell joined the OHP in 1995 and has been assigned to troops based in Pawnee, Tulsa, Enid, Muskogee and the Muskogee Turnpike unit. He was promoted to major in 2013.

Adams, who has been with the OHP for about 33 years, said serving the organization has been an honor and great privilege.

As a team we have made remarkable progress, overcome tremendous obstacles, bled together, and stood together through triumph and tragedy, all while providing quality service to the citizens of Oklahoma, Adams said in a prepared statement.

Harrell will be the 27th chief of the OHP.
As the Church Lady might say, Well, hasnt this been special?

With the passing of one desultory extraordinary session of the 56th Oklahoma Legislature and the prospect of another looming, the citizenry is becoming more familiar than it would probably like with the peculiar legislative procedure commonly known as the special session.

There have been 86 legislative days in 2017, more than usual for recent years, but nowhere near the 160-day first regular session of the First Legislature, which after all had to write an entire set of laws for the new state.

If Gov. Mary Fallin does summon the Legislature back to the Capitol before the end of this year, it will be the first time two special sessions have been called in one year since 1994.

But one of those special sessions never actually met.

On the other hand, a special session called by Gov. Frank Keating in 1999 actually met several times  for 12 days before the regular session, for several days during the regular session, and for three days after it. And, it dealt with two completely different subjects  the gross production tax on oil and prison sentencing.

That special session, by the way, was recessed but never adjourned sine die, so it technically encompassed the entire 47th Legislature, or nearly two entire years (1999-2000).

Special sessions, as the name implies, are special because they operate outside the normal bounds imposed on regular sessions. In Oklahoma, regular sessions are currently limited to the period between the first Monday of February and the last Friday of May.

House Bill 1017

Special sessions can occur at the same time as regular sessions, as was the case in 1989-90 when an intermittent special session resulted in the passage of House Bill 1017, the landmark school funding and reform bill. That session met a total of 53 days between Aug. 14, 1989, and May 5, 1990.

In 1994, the Legislature took the unusual step of calling itself into special session as the regular sessions constitutional sine die deadline neared in case Gov. David Walters pocket vetoed several bills he did not like.

Walters signed the bills and the session was not necessary.

The subject matter covered in special sessions is limited to specific issues outlined in the executive order or legislative petition calling the special session. But the calls can be written broadly, as they sometimes are, and they can be amended. Fallins executive order summoning the just-completed special session was amended to include funding for the Department of Health after a $30 million discrepancy in its books was discovered.

Special sessions usually signal intense disagreements between a governor and one or more legislative chambers. In 1987, Gov. Henry Bellmon summoned the Democrat-led Legislature on consecutive days with the demand they pass tax commission reform. On both days, the Legislature adjourned sine die without taking up any business.

Gov. William H. Murray, perhaps the most tight-fisted governor in state history, called the Legislature back for 40 days in 1933 after it failed during an 83-day regular session to pass a tax reform package sufficient to keep the state from sinking into bankruptcy during the depths of the Great Depression.

Moving the capital

The first special session, though, was something quite different. Called by Gov. Charles Haskell in the fall of 1910, its sole purpose was to find a way around a state Supreme Court ruling that a statewide vote to move the capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City was invalid.

Meeting for the first time in Oklahoma City, an agreeable Legislature convened at the Huckins Hotel and a nearby school and did just that.

The number of total days the Legislature meets has varied widely over the years. From statehood until 1966, it was in regular session only during odd-numbered years. Initially, it started in early January and ran through April or May, but over time the sessions extended into June or even July.

In 1966, voters approved a measure calling for annual legislative sessions limited to 90 days each. But legislative days in Oklahoma are only ones on which one or both chambers actually meet, so those 90 days could easily be spread over six or seven months.

Oklahoma governors can dictate the terms of special sessions, but they generally dislike regular sessions because they cant control them. Bellmon, after losing several legislative battles, convinced voters in 1989 to limit regular sessions to the current time frame, arguing it would require lawmakers to work more efficiently.

Whether it has is a matter of some dispute, but lawmakers struggled to meet the new deadline for a decade after it went into effect, leading to several special sessions.

Until this year, though, only one special session had been called since 2000, a five-day meeting in September 2013 to fix flaws in a lawsuit reform bill.

If Fallin does summon lawmakers for another special session, they will return grumbling like school kids kept after class to clean erasers  or whatever the present equivalent is.

Legislators do not, as some believe, receive additional pay for special sessions, although they are eligible for mileage and, for those living outside the Oklahoma City metro area, a per diem. Not all accept, and many actually lose money spending more days at the Capitol.

Special sessions also cost taxpayers money, although exactly how much is unclear. Many expenses are entwined with the overall operations of state government. On the other hand, special sessions tend to distract administrators and staff from their primary responsibilities because they are expected to supply lawmakers with ready facts and figures.

Now, with a second special session looming, weary lawmakers are trying to gather themselves for the regular session beginning in a little more than two months.

The deadline to request a bill for that session is less than two weeks away, on Dec. 8.
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What health services should a public health district provide? How should community colleges balance GED and other remedial classes with sophisticated workforce training?

Policymakers and business leaders depend on accurate, up-to-date information to plan for the future. A new report from the Hobby School of Public Affairs offers a wide-ranging look at Texas residents, from births to teen mothers to education levels, poverty and the ability of people to move upward over their lifetimes, as well as inter-generational mobility, or the likelihood that a person will have more education and a higher income than their parents.

The report, Intergenerational Mobility Project: A Snapshot of Social Mobility in Texas, is the first in an ongoing initiative at the Hobby School, designed to create an evolving picture of Texas residents.

John Antel, an economics professor who led the project, said it offers information crucial for both government officials and the private sector, from forecasts of future tax revenues to workforce training needs.

Social mobility shows us whether, and where, people are rising up the escalator, Antel said. Some regions of the state are doing far better than others.

Pablo Pinto, associate professor and director of the Center for Public Policy at the Hobby School, noted that the study uncovered stark differences in social mobility, educational attainment and economic achievement.

In the next stage, we will expand our analysis to conditions explaining why access to education and the formation of human capital vary across Texas, he said. That will be used to inform debate on the design and implementation of effective public policies.

The report was produced as a capstone project by students in the Master of Public Policy program, using data from the Texas Department of Health Services, the Texas Education Agency, and the U.S. Census to derive indicators of opportunity and mobility, which can predict future local personal incomes that can be used to direct remedial policies and gauge policy progress for various geographic areas.

Among the findings:

The Rio Grande Valley has the highest number of negative factors for social mobility, from births to teen mothers to low education levels and high poverty.

Metropolitan regions, especially the region including Austin, have fewer negative indicators. The Austin region reported the highest standardized test scores for students in elementary and middle school, as well as the highest scores on college admissions tests.

The lowest rates of prenatal care are in the Rio Grande Valley and east Texas. Teen mothers are most common in the Rio Grande Valley and west Texas. While all regions report some people living in poverty, it is most prevalent in south Texas.

Gini coefficients in all areas of the state  a measure of inequality  top the average for members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Jim Granato, executive director of the Hobby School, said measures of social mobility are important because they have implications for the opportunity and long-term social prosperity of a region and the state. Local policy initiatives are often the most effective way to promote opportunity and social mobility, he said.

The new report is part of on-going initiative for the Hobby School, which focuses on work that can help guide state and local policymakers in Texas. Renee Cross, associate director of the Hobby School, said future versions of the social mobility study will allow the school to further refine policy recommendations in a number of areas such as education, health care and home ownership.

Policymakers need access to reliable data, especially data that illustrates how a particular policy intervention affects people over time, she said.

The school announced earlier this month that it has launched a survey to follow as many as 2,000 people in Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Brazoria counties over five years to gauge how both individuals and neighborhoods are recovering from Hurricane Harvey, as well as support for public policies aimed at mitigating future disasters.

Cover photo: Getty Images
"Still I don't have freedom. You just walk with fear. You don't know where you are heading to." Having fled persecution in West Africa, this man has been stateless in the UK for almost 15 years.  UNHCR/Greg Constantine

For stateless people  of whom there are an estimated 10 million globally  daily existence can mean fear, discrimination or exclusion.

Nationality is a universal human right. But it is one that stateless people have been deprived of as a result of circumstances which are most frequently beyond their control, for example when and where they were born, or their gender.

To highlight the plight of those caught in limbo by statelessness in the UK, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is sponsoring an exhibition of photographs by the documentary photographer Greg Constantine. This first-of-its-kind show, Nowhere People UK, will run at Londons Saatchi Gallery from 27 November to 3 December.

Constantine has dedicated much of his career to documenting stateless people around the world, from the Rohingya in Myanmar to the Bidoon in Kuwait. In his latest project, Constantine has turned his lens on the UK, capturing the lives of individuals from abroad whose lack of nationality has trapped some in a cycle of depression and destitution, leaving them on the fringes of society.

You're like in a river and have been left to float about. There is literally nowhere. You are going nowhere.

In the UK, as in many other countries, statelessness lives in the shadows. It is not clear how many fall into this category. While some stateless may have had their status regularized through the asylum process, only 64 have been recognised as stateless through the Home Offices dedicated statelessness procedure, which started in 2013. This low number suggests that more needs to be done to identify and protect the stateless in the UK.

The UK is signatory to the two key international conventions addressing statelessness and is one of the few countries to introduce a procedure to identify stateless people. But with so few being recognised as stateless stateless peoples lives remain on hold; they are unable to work or gain an education, and live in fear of being detained or deported.

Constantines photographs offer a rare glimpse into the lives of these hidden people. The black and white pictures starkly reveal their precarious lives, hidden in the shadows.

"There is literally nowhere. You are going nowhere." This man fled political unrest in Zimbabwe ten years ago. The Zimbabwean embassy refuse to recognise him, and all his asylum claims have been rejected. He is stranded in the UK.  UNHCR/Greg Constantine

One of the subjects is Peter, who fled political unrest in Zimbabwe 10 years ago. In the UK, Peters asylum claims were rejected and he spent almost 20 months in immigration detention, unable to be returned because the Embassy of Zimbabwe refused to recognise him as a citizen.

For those who have no citizenship, they are in a limbo, because no one wants to believe them, he said. The authorities dont want to believe them because they say, How can you say you are somebody who doesnt have proof where he comes from?

You just dont know where to turn to, he added. You're like in a river and have been left to float about. There is literally nowhere. You are going nowhere.

Being stateless is not a choice

Nowhere People UK launches as the plight of stateless minorities has recently caught the worlds attention.

Progress in addressing statelessness globally is mixed. The resolve needed to tackle large, protracted statelessness situations has been lacking and increased forced displacement is bringing new risks of statelessness. Since late August for example, the Rohingya minority have fled violence and persecution in Myanmar: over 600,000 are now living in Bangladesh.

Over 75% of the worlds stateless belong to minority groups like the Rohingya, the Roma in Europe and the Pemba in Kenya. A recent report from UNHCR showed how discrimination, lack of documentation, poverty and fear defined the lives of stateless minorities around the world.

This 27-year-old woman is Kurdish and was born in Syria. When her family arrived in the UK, their asylum claims were rejected. They were detained and threatened with deportation. After a public campaign was launched, her family were finally granted permission to stay in the UK.  UNHCR/Greg Constantine

At the same time, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi recently acknowledged that some progress is happening towards addressing statelessness worldwide. More than 60,000 people acquired a nationality or had it confirmed in 2016, Grandi said, Policy reforms have been approved in Brazil, Ecuador, Kenya, Madagascar, Thailand."

UNHCR has been campaigning to improve the plight of stateless people everywhere through its iBelong campaign, which aims to end statelessness by 2024 and encourages governments to resolve existing major situations of statelessness and ensure that no child is born stateless.

UNHCRs Representative to the UK, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said: The UK was one of the first countries to establish a procedure to identify stateless persons. This is an important achievement. However, it is clear that more needs to be done in the UK and abroad to ensure that stateless people are given the protection they desperately need.

















Another of Constantines subjects in the exhibition is Maya, 27, who was among tens of thousands of Kurdish children in Syria but whose birth was unregistered by authorities. Her family was detained in the UK after their asylum claim was rejected, but Maya has since been granted British nationality.

Being stateless is not a choice, Maya said. You are born that way... It is something that someone bigger, a government or an authority, has deprived you ofI definitely felt invisible.
Miriam Velasquez and her husband Ricardo Angel may have fled violence in their native Colombia, but they reached safety in Costa Rica with their entrepreneurial spirit intact.

With hard work, determination and a helping hand from Costa Rican authorities and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, they have built a successful bakery.

We came with the desire, and still have the determination, to strive do something, to work and to keep moving ahead, says Miriam.

Serving up gluten-free versions of traditional Colombian treats  such as almojabanas, a dumpling shaped cheese bread  they have carved out a niche for themselves in the capital, San Jose.

Costa Rica has developed standout systems of protection allowing refugees to flourish. It allows refugees two asylum appeals and grants them the right to work and attend schools while their petitions are processed.

See also: Costa Rica gives refugees opportunities to succeed

Through a programme developed by the Costa Rican Migration Agency in collaboration with UNHCR, refugees and asylum seekers also receive employment skills training, access to job fairs, and support to set up their own businesses.

Seed money from UNHCR has helped Ricardo invest in training and equipment, and the couple are now lobbying to extend financial credit to other refugee entrepreneurs.

Maybe what weve done can serve as an example for many others still arriving, Miriam says.
US Senate advances same-sex marriage bill 17 Nov 2022 | 10:50 AM Washington, Nov 17 (UNI) The US Senate voted on Wednesday to proceed to debate on legislation that would codify same-sex marriage protections in the country. see more..

Chile announces first monkeypox death 17 Nov 2022 | 10:46 AM Santiago, Nov 17 (UNI) Chile recorded its first monkeypox death of an elderly man with underlying pathologies, who was diagnosed on September 29, the Ministry of Health announced. see more..

Tycoon launches $25bn fund for Ukraine reboot 17 Nov 2022 | 10:42 AM Canberra, Nov 17 (UNI) Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched a fund that is expected to raise $25 billion initially to help rebuild war-torn Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the move. see more..

North fired SRBM into East Sea: SKorea 17 Nov 2022 | 10:33 AM Seoul, Nov 17 (UNI) North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the East Sea on Thursday, its first missile provocation in a little over a week, according to the South Korean military. see more..
Kathmandu, Nov 27 (UNI) Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Monday said that the Communist parties in Nepal were trying to impose authoritarian rule in the country and claimed democracy would be at risk if they came to power.

Speaking at Nepali Congress election assembly in Myanglung, Terhathum district, Deuba blamed the Leftist Alliance of threatening democracy. He also claimed people will be denied from their freedom of speech and movement if communists ruled the country.

Deuba said unity among the democratic forces for the safeguard of constitution and its implementation were the major challenges ahead.
Hariri says Hezbollah must remain neutral to ensure Lebanon moves forward

PARIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Monday that Iran-backed Hezbollah must stop interfering overseas and accept a "neutral" policy to bring an end to Lebanon's political crisis.

"I don't want a political party in my government that interferes in Arab countries against other Arab countries," he said in an interview recorded on Monday evening with French broadcaster CNews.

"I am waiting for the neutrality which we agreed on in the government," he said. "We can't say one thing and do something else."
Honduran president claims win, slow vote results anger rivals

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 27 (Reuters) Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, a center-right U.S. ally, declared victory in the Central American nation's election on Sunday, but a lack of official results hours after the vote ended irked his key rival who also claimed to be winning.

A poll released by network Televicentro, generally considered a reliable indicator of results, gave President Juan Orlando Hernandez 43.93 percent of the vote, with Salvador Nasralla, who leads a broad left-right coalition called the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, at 34.70 percent.

"The count is more than clear and resounding that we won this election," Hernandez told supporters earlier in the evening at a Tegucigalpa hotel. "That is what the polls say and that is what the results we are seeing from the count are saying."
Indonesia warns cold lava flows to increase from Bali's Mt Agung

JAKARTA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Cold lava flows, also known as lahar, are expected to increase amid an eruption of Mount Agung on Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali, a disaster agency said on Monday, after sounding its highest-level warning over the volanco's activity.

"Watch out for lahar floods (cold lava) around Mt Agung," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on social network Twitter.

"Lahar floods have already occurred in several places on the slopes," he added, referring to expectations of increased rain in the current wet season. He urged people to avoid nearby river areas.
Lebanon's Aoun holds talks on Hariri government

BEIRUT, Nov 27 (Reuters) Lebanese President Michel Aoun convened talks on Monday with political leaders over the future of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's government after he postponed his shock resignation.

A senior Lebanese official said the consultations at the presidential palace in Baabda aimed to help Hariri's government "get back on its feet", after weeks of political instability triggered by Hariri's Nov. 4 resignation, announced in Riyadh.

Lebanese officials say Saudi Arabia forced Hariri to resign and held him against his will, triggering an intervention by France which led to his return to Beirut last week.
Malaysia's Supermax shares slide after founder convicted of insider trading

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 (Reuters) Shares in Malaysia's Supermax Corp Bhd, the world's No. 2 maker of rubber gloves, tumbled sharply on Monday after its founder was convicted of insider trading concerning another company he used to head, and sentenced to five years in jail.

Group managing director Stanley Thai, accused of communicating non-public information about APL Industries Bhd in 2007 when he was chief executive of the firm, has appealed both the decision and sentence, Supermax said.

In addition to the jail sentence, which has been suspended while Thai appeals, he was also fined 5 million ringgit (
Men will not reach full potential unless women reach theirs: UN

United Nations, Nov 27 (UNI) Unless the international community tackles violence against women, the world will not eradicate poverty or reach any of the other Sustainable Development Goals, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his message for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

It is time to further our collective action to end violence against women and girls for good, the Secretary-General said marking the Day, which on 25 November, highlights that around the world, more than 1 in 3 women in their lives have experienced physical violence, sexual violence, or both, said UN New on Sunday.

The Day also spotlights the work of women's rights activists, who are being targeted at alarming levels, and violence against women politicians, which hamper women's rights.
Russia seeks two-day ceasefire in Damascus suburb; dozens killed by air strikes

BEIRUT, Nov 27 (Reuters) Russia proposed a two-day ceasefire on Monday in the last major rebel stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus, where warplanes killed at least 41 people in two days of air strikes as Russian-backed government forces tried to capture the area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring body, said 18 people were killed by bombing on Monday and 23 on Sunday.

At least 147 have been killed by air strikes and shelling since the Syrian army, with Russian air power, began the offensive to take the besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta nearly two weeks ago.
Colombo, Nov 27 (UNI) Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena leaves for South Korea on Monday on a three-day state visit from 28 to 30 November 2017 at the invitation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The ColomboPage reported on Monday that the President's visit aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and the Republic of South Korea.

The visit coincides with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Bhuj, Nov 27 (UNI) Continuing his all-out tirade against the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was surprised when the Congress was celebrating the release of a Pakistani terrorist by a Pakistani court.

Addressing a public rally here, Mr Modi said, A Pakistani court released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating. I was surprised why?

Last week, a Pakistani court had released global terrorist and mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attack Hafiz Saeed after the Pakistani government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

Bringing up the Doklam face-off with China which lasted for 73 days, the Prime Minister said even during the tension, the Congress went and shook hands with the Chinese Ambassador to India.

Mr Modi said the Congress had refused to believe Indian soldiers when they conducted surgical strike against the terrorists launch pad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) last year.

Invoking the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai and the attack on the base camp in Uri last year, he said the way India responded showed the difference between the Congress and BJP governments.

On demonetisation, the Prime Minister said, Congress is unhappy about demonetisation. They keep attacking me but I want to tell them that I have grown up in the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted.

Hitting out at the Congress for not ensuring Narmada waters for people, Mr Modi remarked, What if the Narmada waters had come to Kutch 30 years earlier? It would have made such a big difference in the lives of people here.

Further, attacking the Congress for spreading lies and creating an atmosphere of pessimism, he said, Gujarat is my Atma, Bharat is my Parmatma. This land of Gujarat has cared for me; Gujarat has given me strength... They are coming to Gujarat and spreading lies about a son of Gujarat. Earlier they did that with Sardar Patel also. Gujarat will never accept this. No Gujarati will accept lies that they are spreading.

Congress only talked about one family and they were not concerned about welfare of people and the country, he added.



Does any Congress leader talk about Kamraj, Acharya Kripalani, Subhas Babu, UN Dhebar (who belonged to Gujarat)...no because they only talk about one family... Mr Modi said.

He also shed light on various development works which have been carried out by the BJP-led government. The development work in Kutch after the 2001 quake is for all to see. Agriculture sector is flourishing. People from the nation are coming here to enjoy the Rann Utsav. The ports of Kutch are handling tremendous traffic. They have become the getaways to India. Due to ports in Kutch commerce is getting a boost, he added.



UNI ASH SW 1333
Published: November 27, 2017

Chipouras Award Fund Makes Possible Students Learning Journeys

I wouldnt have been able to present at the conference without the award, said Keith Gandy 17, one of the recipients of the Evan Chipouras Biology Student Award.



He and Michael Carastro 94, associate professor of biochemistry, attended the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting in Chicago, where he presented research on the epigenetic mapping of cancer suppressors.



Evan inspired students to pursue travel and be involved with the scientific community to enrich their learning, said Lori McRae, associate professor of biology, of Chipouras, an associate professor of biology at UT from 19992014.



When he passed away in 2014, friends and colleagues created the fund in his name to provide funding for students to attend and present at academic and professional conferences.



The conference gave me an advantage, said Gandy, whose goal is to attend veterinary school. The ability to present and interact with professionals at that level shows competitive graduate programs that Im ready for the next step in my academic journey.



Make award fund donations at www.ut.edu/giving. Indicate for Chipouras Award Fund.



This feature appeared in the Fall 2017 UT Journal. Read the full magazine.




(Nov. 27, 2017) -- More than 30 student teams from The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) College of Engineering will present their projects and ideas for a chance to win cash prizes at the Fall 2017 Tech Symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28 in the H-E-B University Center Ballroom (HUC 1.104) on the UTSA Main Campus. The competition, a snapshot of the universitys discovery ecosystem, will showcase projects and research that students have been working on throughout their senior year.

Were excited to show our project at the Tech Symposium so everyone attending can see the work weve put together, said Stephen Kapp, UTSA engineering senior and team leader for the Highlander Technology team. We want the satisfaction of answering people when they ask, Are you sure its going to work? and being able to say Yes, well prove it right here.

The senior design teams will display their technologies and talk about their designs from 9 a.m. to noon while judges assess their work. They will compete for cash prizes of $4,000, $3,000 and $2,000.

In another category of the competition, students will present their research on posters featuring early stage electrical, computer and mechanical engineering senior design projects. The top three students will earn $1,000 each. The awards presentation begins at 2:15 p.m.

In conjunction with the Tech Symposium, the UTSA Center for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CITE) will be holding its Whats your Big Rowdy Idea? Business Model Competition. This competition, open to all UTSA students, faculty and staff, prepares them to launch scalable ventures while simultaneously pursuing their degree program at UTSA. CITE will offer a first place prize of $5,000 cash and $5,000 investment, second place prize of $1,500, and a third place prize of $1,000. Additionally, all winners will be offered in-kind services to help start their scalable new ventures.

These biannual showcases provide a public venue giving students a chance to present their innovative projects and research to the university community, family members, representatives from industry and government, and the general public. The opportunity to network with professionals from the San Antonio engineering community, which could lead to job opportunities, provides students with an added benefit.

At last years spring 2017 Tech Symposium, the first place winner, Team Halberd, developed a device to detect and prevent the formation of pressure ulcers in immobilized patients. The winner of the CITE competition, Team Chiron, developed ColdClot, a hemostatic wound bandage that combines hemostatic gauze, super absorbent polymers, and an endothermic reaction to reduce overall rate of bleeding across a large wound surface area.

My favorite thing about the Tech Symposium is being able to talk to our senior design students about the engineering innovations that they have been working on throughout the semester, said JoAnn Browning, dean of the UTSA College of Engineering. Our students work countless hours on their designs, and it is so gratifying to see them demonstrating their projects to not only friends and families, but to leaders in the industry and members of the local business community."


Last night (Nov. 25, 2017), TV personality Ross Matthews was spotted attending the hit show ABSINTHE at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In town to serve as a judge for Sundays Miss Universe pageant at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Matthews was seen taking in ABSINTHEs outlandish acts and hilarious antics during the 8 p.m. performance (Photo Courtesy of Joseph Sanders/Spiegelworld).

After the show, Matthews went backstage for a photo with The Gazillionaire and took to Twitter to share his enjoyment of the performance, Just saw @AbsintheVegas and OMG IT IS SO GOOD! You must come see it when youre in town. Raunchy. FUNNY! And unbelievable!


Jersey Shore star JWoww spent Saturday afternoon at LAVO Party Brunch in The Palazzo with husband Roger Matthews and friends. The group partied the day away as they indulged in two Ultimate Bloody Marys as well as the almond crusted French toast, lemon ricotta waffles and roasted beet salad (Pictured: JWoww at LAVO  Photo credit: Brandon Pearson/Tony Tran Photography).

Photo credit: Brandon Pearson/Tony Tran Photography

Actor Lucas Grabeel celebrated his birthday at Beauty & Essex in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas Wednesday night with his girlfriend and High School Musical co-star Emily Morris. The couple enjoyed the avocado toast, Thai-style deep fried shrimp and tuna poke wonton tacos. Upon leaving, the couple stopped in the pawn shop inspired retail store where Grabeel purchased a yellow gold clear stone ring as well as pieces of emerald jewelry.

Friday night, Grabeel and Morris continued the celebratory weekend with dinner at LAVO Italian Restaurant in The Palazzo before heading to Marquee Nightclub in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Joined by friends, the group partied the night away at a VIP table as DJ Vice manned the decks and even gave a shout out to the birthday boy.

Saturday night, television host Ross Matthews dined at Beauty & Essex in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas with his mother. They enjoyed the tomato tartare, yellowtail sashimi, sweet chili glazed scallops and more.
Broadway & 55th Street, 1970

Houston Street, 1973

Elizabeth & Houston Streets, 1975

Bowery, 1973

Bowery & Bleecker Street, 1981

D Train, 1980

Midtown, 1970

Bleecker & Elizabeth Streets, 1980

Midtown, 1970

Downtown, 1973

Delancey Street, 1976

6th Street & Bowery, 1973

Bowery, 1976

Chrystie Street, 1975

Bowery, 1970

Renowned photographer Edward Grazda began his career in that version of NYC. The black and white photos in Mean Streets offer a look at that desolate era captured with the deliberate and elegant eye that propelled Grazda to further success. It's a version of New York that has been all but scrubbed clean in the financially solvent years that have followed, but the character of the city has been indelibly marked by the scars of those years.In the late 1970s and early 80s, the institutions of power in New York had failed. A bankrupt city government had sold its power over to the banks, and the financiers' severe austerity programs gutted the city's support systems.Most of the city's traditional industries had already left, and those power brokers in charge of the new system retreated to their high rises and left the streets to the hustlers, preachers, and bums; the workers struggling to get by; and a new generation of artists who were squatting in the empty industrial buildings downtown and bearing witness to the urban decay and institutional abandonment all around them.For the tough and determined, the quick and the gifted, the prescient and the prolific, a cheap living could be scratched out in the mean streets.(Images  Edward Grazda
The floor of a nighclub that collapsed in Adeje on Spain's holiday island of Tenerife. (Handout/BOMBEROS DE TENERIFE/AFP)

Rescuers rushed to the Butterfly Disco Club in Adeje at about 2.30am (10.30am Singapore time) after a roughly four square metres of its floor gave way.

The injured included two French men aged 38 and 40, two British men aged 57 and 59, a 45-year-old Romanian man, and a 23-year-old Belgian woman, the regional government of Spain's Canary Islands said in a statement.

"After the floor collapsed, the people who were inside fell to the basement from the height of approximately one floor," it said.

Video posted by the local fire department on Twitter showed firefighters picking through rubble with their hands in the basement of the nightclub located in a shopping mall.

Firefighters remained at the scene until 6:00 am to search the basement in case anyone was trapped inside.

Authorities said the basement was not in use and so was empty at the time of the collapse.

The club is in Playa de las Americas, an area popular with tourists on the Spanish island.

Britain's foreign office said it was in contact with "a number of British nationals" who had been injured in the incident.

Videos posted on social media showed emergency services workers attending to people on the ground or on benches outside of the nightclub.

CHECKING OTHER BUILDINGS

Emergency services took 21 people to hospital and treated another person at the scene who was released, the regional government said.

Another 18 people went to hospital by their own means to be treated, the mayor of Tenerife said. The injuries included broken legs, ankle sprains and bruises. Two of the injuries were deemed serious.

The Butterfly, a popular gay nightclub in Tenerife, features drag shows and Go-Go dancers on Saturday nights, according to its Facebook page.

Video posted by Tenerife firefighters showed a gaping hole right in front of the club's stage.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

The club had its licence in order and did not appear to be overcrowded when the floor caved in, Tenerife mayor Jose Miguel Rodriguez Fraga told a news conference.

All establishments in the shopping centre where the nightclub is located have been ordered shut as a precaution, he added.

"We are evaluating the three adjacent shopping centres to see if they were affected even though they are structurally independent," said Fraga.

Located off the west coast of Africa, the Canary Islands welcomed 13.3 million foreign tourists last year, making it Spain's second most visited region after Catalonia. Over half of the foreigners who visited the archipelago came from Britain and Germany.
The delegation will survey Vietnamese well-known tourist destinations including Hoi An Ancient Town

According to the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT), it in conjunction with Vietjet Air and Singapore Airlines are receiving the fam-trip delegation from Perth, Sydney and Melbourne of Australia to survey Vietnamese well-known tourist destinations of Can Gio, My Son, Hoi An, Hue, Ha Noi and Ha Long.

At a meeting with the delegation, Ngo Hoai Chung, VNATs Deputy General Director, said that Australia is one of the key markets of Vietnams tourist industry, ranking seventh among the 10 leading tourist markets of Vietnam.

In 2016, Vietnam welcomed 320,688 Australian tourists, an increase of 5.6 percent compared to 2015. In the first 10 months of 2017, the number of Australian visitors to Vietnam was 308,560, up 14.2 percent year-on-year.

Chung expected that the visit of the Australian delegation to Vietnam will further promote cooperation between the two countries and there will be more Australians to choose Vietnam as an attractive tourist destination.

Previously, in August, the VNAT also organized a roadshow to introduce Vietnam tourism in three Australian cities of Perth, Sydney and Melbourne as part of the 2017 National Tourism Promotion Program. The event attracted many Australian travel companies to come to exchange and connect with Vietnamese partners, opening up new opportunities for cooperation between the two sides.

Under Viet Nams tourism promotion strategy, the VNAT named Australia among the key markets as visitors from the country often spend much and stay long. Australia is expected to be a strongly growing market in 2017 and the following years as Vietnamese cultural, gastronomic, and ecological tourism is attracting Australian visitors.

According to Chung, Vietnams tourism has developed strongly in recent years with the policy of making it a spearhead sector. In the first 10 months of 2017, international visitors to Vietnam reached over 10.47 million, up 28.1 percent over the same period last year.

October was the seventh month since the beginning of this year in which Vietnam has welcomed more than 1 million foreign visitors.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has made significant efforts to boost tourism since the beginning of this year, with a focus on tourism promotion campaigns in Vietnams key markets. The tourism industry also participated in international tourism fairs, while hosting international delegations from potential markets in order to survey Vietnams tourism market.
Frederick Fu (right), president of Avnet Asia Pacific, presenting the cash prize to the EPiC Champion

Frederick Fu, Avnets Asia Pacific president, had the privilege to be one of the judges to evaluate innovative pitches by 100 startups in a 60-second elevator ride up the International Commerce Centre, hosted by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP).

At the Angel x Angel Conference, Frederick was joined by a venture capitalist and financial investor to share insights and advice on the necessary support and the critical fundaments for early stage tech companies to overcome their challenges and grow into successful businesses.

Frederick Fu said, The startup community is not afraid to reinvent the wheel to bring in a new wave of innovation and trends. But they are often challenged by a lack of resources and financial support in getting their products to market. At Avnet, we have invested resources for makers to develop a connected ecosystem to help startups become the next unicorn. Avnet has a large customer base of startups, which we have guided and supported at every stage of their product lifecycle to turn their designs into products.

The government of Hong Kong and organisations, such as HKSTP, actively promote the development of startups. With Avnets expertise and capabilities, together with partners like HKSTP, we nurture entrepreneurs and technopreneurs. Avnet is committed and will support Hong Kong in becoming one of the worlds top startup cities, he added.

According to Albert Wong, CEO of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, the challenges faced by technology startups have become more complex over time. Apart from technological innovation, they need to develop a viable business model to support their sustainable growth.

As a leading institution that takes innovation and technology advancement to heart, HKSTP will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders like Avnet to create a favourite and vibrant ecosystem for startups to turn their ideas into reality. EPiC, supported by Avnet, is a great testimonial of the joint determination to help startups thrive and grow.

From providing a community platform to the know-how, Avnets design and supply capabilities, coupled with its global line card presence, bring prototypes to volume production. The addition of Premier Farnell (including its element 14 community) and Hackster.io last year expanded Avnets reach to an active community of more than 750,000 entrepreneurs, makers, and engineers worldwide, and broadened its portfolio of design tools and technical solutions as well as 24/7 e-commerce expertise.

Through its Dragon Innovation business, it is simplifying the manufacturing processhelping customers understand manufacturing costs and schedules, find factories, and manage production as they scale their businesses, particularly in projects advancing the IoT. These initiatives are all underpinned by Avnets electronic components and design and supply chain capabilities encompassing the entire cycle from idea to finished product.

More recently, Avnet and Dragon Innovation partnered up with Kickstarter to launch Hardware Studio, which helps hardware creators plan ahead for manufacturing before they launch on Kickstarter.

From idea to design and from prototype to production, Avnet supports customers at each stage of a products lifecycle. A comprehensive portfolio of design and supply chain services makes Avnet the go-to guide for innovators who set the pace for technological change. For nearly a century, Avnet has helped its customers and suppliers around the world realise the transformative possibilities of technology.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin, pictured here in November 2017, signed into law new rules on international media organisations present in Russia being termed "foreign agents" AFP/Mikhail KLIMENTYEV

President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law the new rules which allow any international media outlet to be classified under the controversial "foreign agent" label by the Ministry of Justice.

"The 'foreign agent' legislation goes against Russia's human rights obligations and commitments, and the extension of its scope to foreign media ... (and) is a further threat to free and independent media and to access to information," the EU's diplomatic arm said in a statement.

It added the measures were "yet another attempt to shrink the space for independent voices in Russia".

The "foreign agents" law is in retaliation to the United States registering Moscow-controlled RT Television by the same term.

In a move condemned by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, US and other foreign media will have to present themselves as foreign agents on all paperwork and submit to intensive scrutiny of staffing and financing.

The 2012 law, which had applied only to non-governmental organisations, has now been formally extended.

The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, funded by the US Congress, are the first foreign media to have been warned by Moscow they may need to register under the new classification.
The My Dinh Urban Area in Me Tri Commune, Nam Tu Liem District, Ha Noi - a real estate project developed by the Song Da Corporation. - VNS Photo Doan Tung

The IPO will be held on December 25 at the Ha Noi Stock Exchange. The shares will be sold at the starting price of VND11,000 (49 US cents) per share.

The shares offered at the IPO equal 49 per cent of its charter capital, which is VND4.5 trillion ($200 million), or 450 million shares, the company said.

The company expects to raise more than VND2.4 trillion from the IPO. It also plans to sell 822,000 shares to its employees at preferential prices.

After the IPO, the Government will hold 51 per cent of the companys capital, but reduce it to below 50 per cent by the end of 2019.

Song Da secured the Prime Minister approval in June to sell 135 million shares (30 per cent of the charter capital) to its strategic investor and offer 84.77 million shares (18.82 per cent of capital) at its IPO.

The total amount of shares sold to the strategic investor and at the IPO in the previous plan would be equal to the amount of shares that Song Da plans to sell at its coming IPO.

Therefore, under the latest arrangement, the company would have no strategic investor.

According to the companys audited 2016 financial report, it had total assets of VND31.9 trillion by the end of last year. Its owner equity was VND7.83 trillion and total debts amounted to nearly VND24.1 trillion, with short and long term loans amounting to VND17.7 trillion.

The infrastructure company posted consolidated revenues of VND9.97 trillion in 2016 and net profit of the parent company was VND359 billion in 2016, down 37 per cent from the previous year.

In the first half of 2017, Song Da Corp recorded VND9.9 trillion in combined revenue, a decline of 42 per cent year on year. However, its six-month post-tax profits rose 30 per cent year on year to VND586 billion.

Song Da Corporation is the main contractor for most hydropower projects in Viet Nam. It is also involved in some major infrastructure projects including tunnels, highways and factories.

The company also plans to divest from several hydroelectricity companies this year, including the Ho Bon Hydropower Joint Stock Company, Nam Muc Hydropower JSC and Southern Power Investment & Development JSC.
Merkel, who has baulked at the idea of a repeat election, on said she wanted to form a government "very soon". AFP/Bernd Wustneck

BERLIN: A renewed coalition between Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats is "the best option for Germany", CSU head Horst Seehofer said Sunday, raising hopes for an end to the political impasse.

Merkel has been scrambling to avert snap elections after talks to form a new government with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the left-leaning Greens broke down a week ago.

The Social Democrats had vowed to go into opposition after a disappointing showing in the September general election, but in a U-turn on Friday SPD chief Martin Schulz said he was ready for talks with Merkel's bloc.

"An alliance between the conservatives and the SPD is the best option for Germany, better in any case than 'Jamaica', new elections or a minority government," Seehofer, the leader of Merkel's Bavarian sister party, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

The failed three-way tie-up between the CDU/CSU, the Greens and the FDP had been dubbed "Jamaica" because the parties' colours match those of the Caribbean country's flag.

Merkel, who has baulked at the idea of a repeat election, on Saturday said she wanted to form a government "very soon".

Talks with the SPD should be based on "mutual respect" and "compromise", she added.

The veteran chancellor, who is eyeing a fourth term, will meet with top brass from her CDU party on Sunday evening to discuss the way forward.

A breakthrough could come on Thursday, when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosts talks between Merkel, Seehofer and Schulz.

- 'A thousand pieces' -

Schulz had categorically ruled out another stint as junior coalition partner after four years of governing in Merkel's shadow led the SPD to its worst result in decades in the September 24 poll.

But with Europe's top economy facing prolonged political uncertainty after the collapse of the Jamaica talks, and with fears that snap polls would mainly benefit the far-right AfD, Schulz bowed to pressure to soften his stance.

An Emnid survey for the Bild newspaper on Sunday showed that 52 percent of Germans were in favour of a repeat left-right "grand coalition".

Seehofer warned the SPD however not to come to the negotiating table trying to dictate terms.

"I can only advise the SPD not to enter into talks with the conservatives with exaggerated demands, but to stay realistic," he told the Bild daily.

"There shouldn't be a grand coalition at any price."

FDP leader Christian Lindner, who triggered Germany's crisis when he unilaterally pulled out the Jamaica talks last Sunday, also said he expected to see the SPD agree to another stint in government.

"The hurdles are lower for them than for us," Lindner told Bild am Sonntag.

He said a "Jamaica" coalition would have "shattered into a thousand pieces within months", given the parties' differing views on everything from migration to climate protection to eurozone reforms.
In the year to date, developers have shown a hunger for large, mixed-used spaces in urban areas Photo: Le Toan

In mid-November, Singapore-based CapitaLand announced that it paid $38 million to acquire a new residential project located in Ho Chi Minh Citys District 4. This acquisition is CapitaLands 11th project in Vietnam so far.

According to Chen Lian Pang, CEO of CapitaLand Vietnam, 2017 has so far been a record year in terms of growth for CapitaLand in Vietnam, with home sales in the years first nine months surpassing those of fiscal year 2016 by close to 50 per cent.

Beyond the residential market, we have made strategic inroads and expanded our footprint in the country with prime assets in gateway cities, Chen said.

In September, VinaLand Limited  the real estate investment arm of Vietnam-based asset manager VinaCapital  transferred its stake in VinaSquare, a mixed-use 3.1-hectare development site in Ho Chi Min Citys District 5, to Tri Duc Real Estate for $41.2 million.

In addition, its 182ha My Gia, one of the largest township projects in the central city of Nha Trang, was also unloaded by VinaLand for over $11 million.

In August, Anpha Holdings, a Vietnamese real estate development firm, acquired nearly 100 per cent of Nova Galaxy, a subsidiary of the listed developer Novaland.

In Hanoi, Growing Sun Investment acquired the 4.2ha Diamond Rice Flower complex project from the listed company Kinh Bac City Group.

In a similar move, FLC Group won a bid for the land-use rights of the 6.4ha DM1 land plot, located in South Tu Liem district, for nearly $38 million. They plan to build townhouses, villas, and apartments on the parcel.

According to a recent report released by Savills Vietnam, the Vietnamese property market is trending upward, across all sectors, with a particularly positive outlook for the office-space sector.

With strengthening demand on the back of healthy foreign direct investment and robust GDP growth, Savills Vietnam expects to see extremely low vacancy rates across all office grades, with average rental growth exceeding 8 per cent per annum in the next three years.

Vikram Kohli, executive director of Business Operations and Strategy at CBRE Southeast Asia, said that the real estate market in Vietnam will remain a destination for foreign investment  especially from APEC members  in the coming time.

For developed countries like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, the profits from real estate projects are not as attractive as they are in emerging countries. Therefore, investors in more developed countries are willing to diversify their portfolios in emerging markets like Vietnam, Kohli said, adding that the Vietnamese government has recently enacted a policy to encourage foreign investors to join the local market through mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

However, in order to make the M&A market in real estate more attractive to foreigners, there needs to be more product diversity to provide foreign investors with more choice. Furthermore, increased transparency and legal protection for contracts are also needed to properly develop the M&A real estate market, which has seen increased participation from foreign developers in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. These buyers are interested in large-scale mixed-use developments comprised of apartments, serviced apartments, retail, and office space in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
According to the agreement, Anabuki Housing Service, Nam Long Group, and Okamura will contribute at 65, 31, and 4 per cent to set up a joint venture to deliver the first Japanese-quality real estate management services package in Vietnam, targeting residential and commercial properties.

The partnership with Anabuki Housing Service has extended the porfolio of foreign partners and shareholders, a strength of Nam Long Group in its 25 years of establishment Photo: Le Toan



Nam Longs partners are strong Japanese corporations with hundreds years of experience in total in real estate development and management. These partners have been together with Nam Long offering purchasers new management services for apartments, commercial buildings, equipment repair and installation, 24-hour call centre, apartment rental, and other services to support homebuyers during their residency at Nam Longs properties.

According to Shingu Akihiro, the representative of Anabuki Housing Service, in Ho Chi Minh City, the management and legal services have not yet been sufficient regardless of the 40,000 apartment units supplied to the market each year.

This situation also occurred in Japan. There used to be problems arising from the insufficiency in property management, such as the growing slums, hazards, and accidents as well as the fast degradation of apartment buildings. Based on the lesson, Anabuki Housing Service wants to contribute to improve the living environment of Vietnamese residents. In the course of looking for a partner, we found Nam Long a trusted company specialising in affordable housing, a potential market segment having the same concerns about property management. We believe that our partnership with Nam Long will contribute to improving the quality of property management services in Vietnam, Akihiro said.

Steven ChuCEO of Nam Longbelieves that the partnership with Anabuki Housing Services will help Nam Long strengthen Nam Longs property system of 15 member companies who undertake each stage of property development, from land development, construction, project management to sales and after sale services. Nam Long continuously innovates each stage of its services for sustainable growth.

Established in 1992 as Nam Long Construction Co., Ltd. with an initial capital sum of VND700 million, Nam Long is one of the early brand names that has survived and flowered through the ups and downs of the Vietnamese real estate industry.

Nam Longs total assets have reached VND7,800 billion ($346 million). The group owns a land fund of more than 500 hectares and a desirable portfolio of shareholders and partners, such as IFC (Worldbank), Mekong Capital, ASPL, Nam Viet Ltd. (Goldman Sachs), and many others.

Nam Long currently curries great support from strategic foreign shareholders, such as Ibeworth (Keppel Land Group) and PYN (European Investment Fund).

Nam Long also has strong project partnerships with leading companies such as Hankyu Realty and Nishi Nippon Railroad (Japan).

Nam Long has completed eight residential projects, delivering more than 15,000 products of villas, townhouses, and offices for lease and launched three strategic product lines under the brand name of Ehome, Flora, and Valora.

In addition to the popular affordable housing products that account for 15 per cent of the housing market in Ho Chi Minh City, Nam Long also offers high-end projects, such as Nam Phu Villas, Thao Nguyen Saigon Villas, Nam Thong Shophouses, Valora Fuji villas, and Valora Kikyo.

The company is developing and completing large residential areas, such as Hoang Nam (8.5 hectares), Mizuki Park (26ha), Phu Huong (17.5ha), Phuoc Long B (15.9ha), and Waterpoint Long An (355ha). These projects received contributions from international organisations and are expected to be remarkable additions to the global real estate market.

In the next three years, Nam Long expects to launch 17,000 products of EHome, Flora, Valora, and three large-scale residential areas.
The most striking revelation was that 13 foreign business entities, 25 individuals, and 20 corporate addresses emerged in the papers, all of which were closely related to Vietnam.

Paradise Papers was one of the most scandalous tax evasion leaks in history

Specifically, the financial expose leaked prominent names from Vietnam, such as Don Di Lam (CEO of VinaCapital Group Limited), Dominic Scriven (CEO of Dragon Capital), Louis T. Nguyen (Nguyen The Luchair and CEO of Saigon Asset Management Corporation).

Addressing the financial data breach, VinaCapitals representatives persisted that their CEO being reported in the papers was completely irrelevant of the firms business performance. They also reiterated that the investment firm employed legal consultation by several law firms in the same way other investment management firms would, stressing that the firm remains committed to complying with the international legal system.

Likewise, Dragon Capital was adamant that they consistently abide by international, regional, and local laws as well as fulfill their tax filing duties in a timely manner. The alleged tax dodger refused to further comment on the Paradise Papers incident.

Shockingly, the tax haven arrangements camouflaged tax fraud committed by dominant public figures, such as tech innovator Apple, the Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II, Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, syndics of US President Donald Trumps close circles like Wilbur Ross (Trumps commerce secretary), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trudeaus chief fundraiser and senior adviser Stephen Bronfman, Prince Charles (the Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne), according to newswire The Daily Telegraph.

The Paradise Papers divulged over 13 million secret corporate documents related to offshore investment accounts, according to newswire The Sun.

Previously in 2015, another financial dirt expose, the Panama Papers, was anonymously sent to Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper. The papers comprised of files, including banking statements, private electronic mails and loan agreements, which were later shared with International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to superintend the investigation.

Paradise Papers are regarded as one of the worlds most scandalous tax evasion leaks in history. The papers detailed how tax dodgers pulled off financial scams, such as tax avoidance, tax evasion, money laundering, and keeping secret financial spreadsheets.

The data disclosures of the investigation backing up Paradise Papers were conducted by over 380 journalists over a year to rake up a 70-year-long financial database, according to The Guardian.
Leaders of SBH and CBAM signing the co-operation deal

Do Thi Kim Lien, director of CBAM, said that this programme aims to solve the issue of "teachers redundancy and the lack of workers" in Vietnam. CBAM recruits high school graduates, who will register with its schools to study in CBAM. After evaluating and selecting the appropriate person, CBAM will sign a German Level B2.1 training contract in Vietnam.

"Students who come to Germany will be offered a B2.2 intensive course, followed by a three-year apprenticeship, with a specialty in hospitality, such as chefs, catering, and housekeeping. The future can extend to other industries, such as mechanics, construction, and medicine," she added.

Trainees at SBH, while studying in the restaurant business, will receive free tuition. In particular, the minimum salary is EUR550-700 per month. After graduating, they will receive assistance in finding jobs at restaurants, international hotels, and luxury resorts in Germany, starting from EUR1,600-2,500 per month.

At the end of the course, students will be assessed by the German Industry Department in accordance with national standards. After three years of apprenticeship, trainees will continue to complete a graduation report.

According to the General Department of Vocational Training under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the country's vocational training strategies to 2020 are aimed to meet the labour demand in terms of quantity, industry structure, and training level. In particular, it will focus on providing training for the key occupations of ASEAN countries and the world, improving income, reducing poverty, ensuring social security, and increasing the rate of job creation through training to 63 per cent by 2020.

However, according to statistics, Vietnamese labourers who received vocational training at college and or partook in a under-three-month vocational trainings were only 38.5 per cent.
The move aims to lift the cooperation between HUST and Siemens to the next level

As part of this MoU, the university (HUST) will consider Siemens as a technology partner and mobilise Siemens knowledge and experience in the development of its Digital Factory Lab, while Siemens is committed to providing HUST with state-of-the-art technology so as to enable this leading technical university to sustain its world class quality in education and training, as well as to empower the next generation of digital talent for Vietnam.

The collaboration between HUST and Siemens dates back to 1996, which is only three years after the establishment of Siemens official operations in Vietnam.

In that year, Siemens helped HUST to establish an Automation Training Centre, and since then has donated HUST a range of automation equipment and different kinds of software products.

Siemens has also been supporting HUST in training kits, curriculum development, technical workshops for teachers and students, career talks, and many more areas.

As the Industry 4.0 is around the corner, both parties have decided to ink a Memorandum of Understanding to lift the co-operation to the next level.

As mutually agreed, Siemens and HUST will strengthen co-operation in the establishment of HUSTs Digital Factory Lab.

In detail, Siemens will consult HUST about training equipment and software to be established in the Lab, and also provide support in practical training at the facility.

Siemens will offer HUST the automation and drive equipment and software package, the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) license, and associated items of Industry 4.0 education and training programme at a special discount rate.

Besides, Siemens will organise workshops with HUST to provide the latest updates on Industry 4.0 technology and relevant training courses.

In particular, Siemens will grant 200 Solid Edge 3D CAD licenses to HUST with the commercial value of about $30,000 each. Solid Edge software is an intuitive product development platform for accelerating all aspects of product creation, including 3D design, simulation, visualiation, manufacturing, and design management.

Last but not least, Siemens will support HUST in the development of its curricula and of a tailor-made Train-the-Trainer course to help HUST sustain its world-class quality in education and training in the digital age.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology is pleased to partner with a global corporation that is on the leading edge of digital technology. This partnership will enable us to meet the utmost needs of enhancing our education and training system, especially in the era of Industry 4.0, said Hoang Minh Son, HUST president.

Education is the key to sustainable development. Siemens has been a strong supporter of young generation education and training worldwide. And today, through our partnership with HUST, we are very proud that we can help to empower the next generation of digital talent in Vietnam, said Thai Lai Pham, president and CEO of Siemens Vietnam.
A man looks at his tablet whose screen saver is an image of Cubas late leader Fidel Castro, during a vigil to commemorate the first anniversary of Castros death, at the University of Havana on Saturday.
After a 60 year gestation period, Roberta Pinotti, the Defense Minister announces that PESCO is on the verge of being born in December. PESCO is a EU Permanent Structured Cooperation in the military sector. To start with, 23 of the 27 EU member states are participating in it.

Jens Stoltenberg, Natos Secretary General, explains what this cooperation might entail. Participating in the EUs Council for Foreign Affairs, he emphasizes, the importance, evidenced by so many European leaders, of European Defense needing to be developed so that it does not compete with Nato, but rather complements it.

The first way of achieving this is for each European member state to increase its individual military expenditure. PESCO establishes that one of the joint ambitious and rather onerous undertakings is the periodic increase in real terms of the defense balance sheets in order to reach the agreed objectives. 21 of the 27 EU member states are Nato members. Natos continuously increasing budget now has the additional expenditure of the European Defense Fund through which the EU will earmark 1.5 billion euro per year to finance research projects in military technology and to buy shared arms systems.

This will be the base line figure, destined to increase over the years. On top of PESCO, are additional costs for developing new capabilities and preparing to participate together in military operations. Capabilities complementing Nato requirements: on 8 November 2017, Natos North Atlantic Council resolved to adapt the command structure so that, the capacity to strengthen the Allies quickly and effectively in Europe would be increased.

For this purpose, two new commands are established. A Command for the Atlantic, with the mandate of maintaining free and secure maritime lines of communication between Europe and the United States, vital for our Transatlantic Alliance. A Command for Mobilization, tasked with improving Nato military forces capability to move through Europe.

To enable forces and arms to be moved rapidly on European territory, the Nato Secretary General explains that European countries must remove many bureaucratic obstacles. Much has been done since 2014, but there is still a lot of work that needs doing so that national laws that facilitate military forces passing across borders are fully applied. Moreover Stoltenberg adds that Nato needs to have available in Europe, sufficient capability to transport soldiers and arms, largely provided by the private sector.

It is even more important for Europes civil infrastructure  such as roads, bridges, railways, airports and ports to be improved so that they are adapted to Natos military requirements. In other words, European countries must carry out, at their own expense, works to make the civil infrastructure fit for their military use: for example a bridge that is fit for the traffic of trams and lorries will have to be strengthened to allow tanks to pass.

This is the strategy that PESCO forms part. This strategy is the expression of dominant European interests that, while colliding with US interests, then realign themselves in harmony with them, within a Nato under US Command. This occurs whenever the fundamental interests of the West endangered by a world that is changing, are at stake. So when the Russian Threat kicks off, it will be confronted by a United Europe, which, while slashing its welfare expenditure and blocking off its internal borders to migrants, balloons its military expenditure and dismantles its internal borders when it comes to soldiers and tanks, so that they can roam about freely within.
The Ministry for Heritage has announced that three new interpretation panels have been placed within our Old Town in order to provide information on our Medieval History, namely our Islamic and Spanish Periods.
Ministry of Equality Announces Talk by Auschwitz Survivor

The Ministry for Equality have announced that it has organised an evening talk open to the public by Mr Arek Hersh, a Holocaust and Auschwitz survivor and Mr Mike Levy, a Holocaust Education advisor on the 7th December 2017 at 6.30pm at the Kings Bastion Leisure Cinema.

Arek Hersh was born in Poland and during the Second World War, when just 11 years old, he was taken away from his family by the Nazis. Throughout the war, he managed to survive the three camps he was sent to, including Auschwitz. Only 40 people from his home town survived the war. Mr Hersh did not speak about his experiences until 1995, when he wrote a book, A Detail of History. He now talks about his experiences of the Holocaust at schools, universities and other organisations.

Mike Levy has considerable experience in educating about the Holocaust. This includes training teachers on how to present the terrible facts of the Holocaust, as well as the important message of learning from the lessons of the past, to schoolchildren of different age groups. Mr Levy also holds a fellowship in Holocaust Education with the Imperial War Museum.

The idea for the visit stemmed from Minister Sacramentos visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau in July this year. She was invited by the Learning From Auschwitz charity and she along with a group of local secondary school children visited a number of sites, including the Auschwitz concentration camp, where it is estimated that at least 1.1 million people died during World War 2. It was here where they heard Mr Hersh talk about his experiences in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and how he had managed to survive the holocaust and took the group to the concentration camp and relayed his personal experience, that Minister Sacramento decided to ask Mr Hersh to give a talk in Gibraltar.

While in Gibraltar, Mr Hersh and Mr Levy have also been engaged to speak to school children and their teachers and teach them about the Holocaust and Holocaust learning.

Minister Sacramento said This will be a great opportunity for the people of Gibraltar to directly hear the testimony from someone who actually lived through this atrocity. What happened in Auschwitz and in other concentration camps during the Second World War shows the lengths evil people will go to when they have opposing and conflicting views of others who are different to them and when there is no one there to stop them. As Edmund Burke famously said The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Antisemitism and racism is something that unfortunately still happens very often and needs to be prevented from developing in the first place, if not, as can still be seen nowadays in other parts of the world, this results in genocides. We must remind ourselves of what happened and what is happening and learn from this in order to prevent it happening in the future, the message that we want to give is not only about the prevention of antisemitism and racism, but also of acceptance of those who are different to us in one way or another.

Tickets will be priced at 5 and can be purchased online at www.buytickets.gi and at the John Mackintosh Hall ticket office. All proceeds will go to the Learning From Auschwitz charity.
The contenders.

Its been a strange year for Hollywood (to say the least), full of resistance and revelations. Still, the industry is determined to celebrate  and this week we look at a few of the performances, directors, achievements, and, in one case, prosthetic jowls most likely to be honored.

For the people who run Academy Awards campaigns  those months-long public-relations pushes that ideally end in an Oscar  a crucial element has always been the creation of a narrative. In a normal year, any number of narratives, from Its her turn to Everybody loves a comeback to Its the consensus choice, might find a route to victory. But for reasons that range from Donald Trump to Harvey Weinstein (if that counts as a range), 2017 is not a normal Oscar year. Questions hang heavily over the ceremony itself: How will Jimmy Kimmel navigate the treacherous shoals of  well, forget Weinstein and just consider all the news thats likely to break between now and March. What balance of self-celebration and self-awareness can any Oscar show hope to strike? As for the campaigns themselves: In what promises to be an attempt at the First Woke Oscars, there is one narrative that threatens to overwhelm all others  the Movie That Speaks to Our Present Crisis. And at least half a dozen movies are working to claim that title.

The first contender to plant its flag on this turf, back in February, was Jordan Peeles Get Out  a film so alive to the complicated fractures among African-Americans, white liberals, and the racist right that there has not been a moment since it opened when its wholly original mix of horror, comedy, and politics has not felt immediate and relevant. Next came Kumail Nanjianis The Big Sick, a movie that seemed tailored for a summer in which American health care became the subject of a new late-night-news cliffhanger every third week. And now the floodgates are opening. Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri  in which Frances McDormand plays a woman whose righteous fury at male injustice and indifference threatens to consume her  felt like a potential awards player when it debuted on the festival circuit two months back; post-Weinstein, it seems to be bigger, more prescient, and, as one producer unconnected with the movie put it to me, the film that most mirrors the mood among women in Hollywood right now. Call Me by Your Name is a powerfully specific gay coming-of-age story that is complexified by the fact that the main character is 17 years old. Sean Bakers The Florida Project is that rarity, a movie about class and economic marginalization, perfectly poised to appeal to the Bernie wing of the Academy in the first moment when a Bernie wing of the Academy might be said to exist. And, coming soon, Steven Spielbergs The Post promises to make a ringing case for the essentialness of adversarial journalism  a movie about 1971 and 2017.

The offscreen narratives behind many of these movies only reinforce their allure for those Academy members eager to turn the page on some of Oscars worst historical failures. Peele would be only the fifth African-American directing nominee. After only four female Best Directing nominees in 89 Oscar years, there is not just a woman but women, plural, from which to choose, led by Greta Gerwig, the writer-director of Lady Bird, and Dee Rees, director of Mudbound  who would, if nominated, be the first black woman ever recognized in the category. None of this is to say that Christopher Nolans Dunkirk or Paul Thomas Andersons Phantom Thread or Guillermo del Toros The Shape of Water is going to be sidelined. But it speaks to the degree to which contemporary resonance matters this year that even an ultraretro, Kings Speechy entry like Darkest Hour is being discussed as an implicit rebuke to present-day politicians: We shall fight on the beaches versus Grab em by the pussy.

This is the point at which, traditionally, calmer or more cynical souls might weigh in on what an Academy movie is and whats too edgy, dark, young, or marginal for the townas if all these decisions were still adjudicated by the ghosts of Darryl F. Zanuck and Ernest Borgnine. And the older, white, male, putatively reactionary Academy voter remains part of a powerful demographic. But its no longer the gravitational center of the Academy  or, to shift metaphors, the star by which to steer ones predictions.

That shouldnt be news to anyone who watched last years ceremony, in which Moonlights 11th-and-a-half-hour win  it is the first underdog movie to literally take the prize from a favorite  practically amounted to the announcement of a new world order. But if you need more evidence, consider this: Some 2,000 Academy voters  well over 25 percent of the total voting pool  have become members since 2014. They are, as a group, dramatically less white and less male than the rest of the Academy, and they are capable of reshaping the Oscars. The power to redefine what constitutes an Academy movie is, for the first time, in their hands. And this year may provide our first real glimpse of what they intend to do with it.

*This article appears in the November 27, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.
At a young age, Tabitha Ferguson felt like something was wrong with her. For years, she suffered a barrage of sexual, emotional and physical abuse from family members that at the time seemed like her fault.

Clearly what happened to me was dehumanizing. What happened to me deregulated my emotions and it kept me in a bondage that could have been intervened with at an early age, Ferguson said. I think if someone would have responded to my first cry, I may have not gone down the road that took me so long to pull myself off.

Ferguson is now a 34-year-old mother and a Waco Independent School District reading and literacy aide. She said she has spent years struggling with the lasting effects of her abuse. Her work with young children has made it clear that her mission in her life needs to be helping kids who face trials similar to what she faced.

We need mentors, we need community to help some of these children so they dont fall through the cracks like I did, Ferguson said. I also wonder, was CPS supported or did I really just fall through the cracks because there were so many cases?

But at the same time, if there is knowledge of my case, we need to understand the damaging effects that these issues cause.

Ferguson said abuse against her started when she was as young as 2.

I also lived with an abusive, mentally ill mother who physiologically, verbally and emotionally abused me, Ferguson said. I was deeply hurt, deeply hurt. I really needed to grieve this loss.

Over a span of 11 years, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services filed reports that document her telling officials about her abuse.

Her reports went unadressed, leading to violent episodes that landed her in the juvenile judicial system for years, she said.

I had just given up. It felt like if no one else believed in me. I had no reason to believe in myself, Ferguson said.

Between the ages of 10 and 21, Ferguson was cited for assault, truancy, runaway and violation of probation while she and her mother were repeatedly evicted from their homes, the CPS reports state. She was placed in a temporary foster home when her mother was hospitalized.

The reports state Ferguson was placed in two residential treatment centers between the ages of 14 and 17. She dropped out of school on the first day of her senior year at Waco High School and later got her GED.

At the age of 18, Ferguson became pregnant with twin boys, prompting her to commit to a sober lifestyle while living with family and friends. She said she had setbacks during her recovery, including relapses with alcohol and drug abuse, but she had motivation to keep going.

My children were like my wake-up call, she said. I was still struggling with disruptive behavior, but thankfully I had my grandfather who helped me care for my boys. I just knew that I had to be a better parent, because I didnt have a good example of how to be a parent.

As her life became more stable, she started working to get doctors records in hopes of understanding more about her childhood.

I feel like I was lost in the system. The abuse and the emotional trauma that I was going through is clearly documented in all these reports, Ferguson said. Where were the resources to help? I hope my story will inspire our community, schools and legislators to come together and help children who are in need.

In McLennan County, CPS took in 3,329 children for screening and assessment during fiscal year 2016, according DFPS data. In 2008, CPS took in 2,788 children.

Given our crucial mission, CPS is and has been in a near-perpetual state of review for many years, DFPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. Most recently, Governor (Greg) Abbott signed a package of CPS reform bills earlier this year. The Governor has been keenly interested in CPS since he took office and this past legislative session he made CPS an emergency item.

In September, the DFPS commissioner was advised to report directly to Abbott rather than to the Health and Human Services executive commissioner.

In an effort to push forward with reform, Ferguson said he said she has also reached out to state legislators, including state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, whose district includes the Waco area. While Birdwells chief of staff, Ben Stratmann, declined to comment on Fergusons case specifically, he said Birdwell is also advocating for CPS resources.

As a member of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee, Senator Birdwell helped put forward emergency funding increases for CPS, primarily to fill large caseworker gaps and shorten agency response times, Stratmann said. These collective efforts initiated much-needed increases in accountability throughout the system, particularly in terms of prompt, proper care for children under the stewardship of the state of Texas.

Ferguson said by sharing her story with local and state leaders she will continue to advocate for CPS reform. She said she is planning on writing a book about her journey, in an effort to inspire change.

I have completely accepted my story and I know there is nothing I can do to change that, but if my story can change another persons life, then that is what counts, she said. It is possible for us to step out of poverty and move into our calling. We have to break the cycle.
Last week: World War II veteran R.D. Cotten returns from the European Theater and ships to Camp Deven, Massachusetts, for his first real, hot meal and a bed with a mattress  something he hadnt slept on in 14 months.

Robinson resident R.D. Joe Cotten had just returned home after World War II and had a decision to make: Stay in the military or go. Recruiters were pitching hot and heavy for soldiers to re-enlist, and he finally decided to sign up for another stint.

After Cottens 90-day leave, he returned to the Army and in 1946 made his first trip to Korea at Inchon on the western coast. Although things were simmering, war had not yet begun. He was there for under a year, serving with the Port Authority by directing ships in and out of tidal basins.

Returning stateside, Cotten attended school at Fort Knox, Kentucky, followed by a three-year assignment in Bowling Green, where he was an adviser to the civilian components of the Organized Reserve Duty Units, such as the Reserve Officers Training Corps and the National Guard. While there, Cotten became a warrant officer.

Cotten returned to Korea for a second trip at the beginning of 1951. This time, it would be an entirely different experience, one that is safe to say he would rather forget. He served with the 24th Infantry Division in Pusan, Korea, but within a short time after his arrival, he discovered there was no need for warrant officers. Instead, he got a direct combat commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the infantry.

Cotten served as platoon leader and carried a carbine rifle he fired regularly, he said. Anytime there was a target to shoot at. Anytime that anything moved in front of me, he said. When a flare went off, we hit the ground.

One evening, Cotten went out on night patrol with his 12 men, where they captured two enemy prisoners, a lieutenant and a corporal; they took the prisoners to the 24th command post, where they were interrogated.

The two men were discovered in a type of mud hut when the platoon spotted a small light. The men of the 24th slipped around the hut and burst in the open door, disarming the men inside. They didnt fire their gun, and we didnt fire, either, Cotten said.

The entire event was harrowing, he recalled. One man was hit with shrapnel (or maybe bullets) and couldnt walk. The man was temporarily left behind, but they came back for him.

There was more, but it was just too painful for him to talk about it. There was constant artillery firing  us and them. he said.

Another aspect hed prefer not to discuss is the Silver Star he earned because of his actions during the mission (but was outvoted by his wife). Cotten stayed with the division all the way to the Chosin Reservoir, but returned to the states at the end of 1951.

Cotten once again went back to school at Fort Knox and returned to Korea in late 1952 for his third and final trip. Once again, he was assigned to the 24th Division. By now, things were winding down in Korea. It was quiet, so Cotten was transferred to Japan in April 1953 to the 24ths 6th Tank Battalion at Camp Fuji, before going to Central Command in Tokyo. By this time, he was a captain.

Japan and Germany

He returned from Tokyo in 1956 for his next assignment at CONARC, or the Continental Army Command Headquarters, in Fort Monroe, Virginia. It was during this nearly three-year assignment that he married Mary Ann Bewley, whom he had met after more schooling at Fort Knox. They were joined on March 11, 1959.

Cottens final assignment was during the Cuban/Berlin crisis in Stuttgart, Germany, during which time he became a major. He retired from the military on Jan. 31, 1963, with many awards, citations and other medals.

Cotten went to work for the Texas Department of Transportation in the Waco area for 23-plus years, during which time he and his wife completed raising their children. The couple has been married for 58 years and have one son and two daughters.

During his retirement years, he and his wife traveled throughout the U.S., visiting every state in the country. In addition, he is a long-standing member of the VFW 2148 in Waco. The couple are geology hobbyists and have collected years worth of amazing rocks and sometimes dabbling in lapidary, polishing their rocks into beautiful creations.

Today, despite his reluctance to revisit the painful past, hes a happy man.
Rome's Joel Nafuma Refugee Center holds Christmas appeal until 18 December.

The Joel Nafuma Refugee Center (JNRC) at the American Episcopal Church of Rome, St Pauls Within the Walls, is holding its annual Christmas Gift Bag Appeal between now and 18 December.

The JNRC is appealing for practical Christmas gifts for the refugees in its care, and says the initiative does not cost much, is fun to do, and can involve families, schools and workplaces. The appeal is for basic necessities for those who are less fortunate.

Donors are asked not to buy large or expensive items but to stick to this list:

First aid supplies (plasters, cough sweets), hats, gloves and scarves, shaving cream and body lotion, notebooks, pens, razors, soap and/or body wash (travel size preferable), deodorant, thick wool socks (new), tissues (small packets) toothbrush and toothpaste, underwearsizes small, medium (new), candy and chocolate bars, playing cards and travel games.

The JNRC says that a large number of small items can help many more people than a few large costly purchases. All items should be new, and not wrapped or decorated. Donations should be taken to St Pauls Within the Walls on Via Napoli 58, by Monday 18 December.

The presents will be divided evenly among the refugees and handed out at the centres special Christmas lunch of rice, meat, curry, bread and fruit for all JNRC guests on 22 December.

Located in the crypt of St Pauls, the JNRC was founded in 1995 and welcomes more than 200 guests each weekday, from 08.30 to 14.00. For more details see JNRC website.
Association offers support in Rome to seriously ill children and their families.

Rome's Casa Andrea Tudisco, which provides support for seriously ill children and their families, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a party on 24 November.

The charity's founder Fiorella Tudisco was joined by guests including motorcycle race champion Max Biaggi and entertainer Max Giusti, the president of the Lazio Region Nicola Zingaretti, the president of Bambin Gesu children's hospital Mariella Enoc, and numerous other volunteers and clown-doctors.

The event featured film footage and testimonies from some of the many children and parents to have benefited from two decades of activity at Casa Andrea Tudisco, which offers accommodation and support to families who come to Rome for specialist medical treatment.

Each year the charity hosts 120 family members for up to six months at its four reception facilities: the Casa di Andrea, the Piccolo Nido, the Casa Lontano da Casa and La Tana Libera Tutti.

The Associazione Andrea Tudisco Onlus has 42 beds available 365 days a year, oversees more than 1,200 hospital transfers, provides clown therapy at 12 pediatric and specialist clinics, and is present at the Ospedale Bambino Gesu, the Policlinico Gemelli and the Ospedale S. Andrea. For full details see website.
The choir of S. Lucia, one of Swedens best-loved traditions, comes to Rome thanks to the Swedish embassy in Italy.

This years choir of young students from Stockholm will perform Swedish traditional Christmas songs, carols and hymns at the Basilica di S. Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, in Piazza della Repubblica, at 10.30 on Sunday 10 December.

The choir's main public concert is held later that day, at 18.00, at Piazza di Pietra in the historic centre. Guests will be provided with Swedish Christmas treats such as glogg (hot spiced wine), pepparkakor (ginger bread biscuits), and julmust (non-alcoholic soft drink).

The S. Lucia choir at Piazza di Pietra.

On Monday 11 December the choir will perform at the IKEA store at Porta di Roma at 11.00.

S. Lucia, the Italian martyr from Syracuse, has over the years lent her name to a festival of light in Scandinavia.

Now one of Sweden's most important annual events, the festival features youngsters dressed in white robes and red sashes, carrying candles in procession as traditional songs are sung.
A volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali sent plumes of smoke and steam thousands of meters into the air Sunday for the third day in a week, triggering flight disruptions and leaving thousands of tourists stranded.

Indonesian and regional authorities heightened flight warnings around Bali's Mount Agung on Sunday as the volcano's eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam more than 6,000 meters into the skies.

The airport on the neighboring Lombok island was closed but Ngurah Rai, Bali's main airport, remained open. Flight cancellations stranded roughly 7,000 domestic and international passengers, according to the airport's latest report.

Senior volcanologist Gede Suantika asked residents in the local community to stay calm. About 25,000 people have already been evacuated from the slopes of Mount Agung to shelters. "We will continue to see eruptions like this on similar scales, but we cannot predict when Mount Agung will really erupt," Suantika told AFP.
David Murray, the former Commonwealth Bank chief executive and head of the financial system inquiry, said any compensation tribunal or banking inquiry without safeguards would be "dangerous territory".

Mr Murray's comments came as it appears likely the Turnbull government will announce the creation of a bank complaints tribunal with compensation limit of $5 million, perhaps as early as this week.

If there is to be a tribunal, 'it's important that the proper rules of evidence apply', says David Murray. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Treasurer Scott Morrison and Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer have been working on a "last resort" compensation scheme for some time.

It the tribunal gets-up, it's unclear where that leaves the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Alison Todd, co-founder and chief scientist at SpeeDx. "Elisa and I started our working relationship as a PhD student and a supervisor, but 17 years later, we have a true partnership," she says. Two years ago, SpeeDx appointed Colin Denver as its chief executive. "Together, we endeavour to mentor both the women and the men within our organisation," Dr Todd says, adding that flexible work is key to helping women stay in the industry. "We employed a woman when she was seven months pregnant in a marketing role," she says.

Based at Cicada Innovations in Sydney's Eveleigh, SpeeDx has grown from a small team of four to more than 40, who work to develop, manufacture and sell medical tests throughout the world that are used to stop superbugs. SpeeDx recently closed off Series A capital-raising, getting $5 million via Australian investors to help with FDA clearances for new tests. Its main game is dealing with a drug-resistant sexually transmitted infection that is common but little known to most people. It is called Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) and it is behaving like a superbug. Researchers estimate as many as 400,000 Australians may be carrying the STI which has many of the same health risks as chlamydia.

The reported incidence of MG is 2.5 times greater than the better-known STI: Neisseria gonorrhoeae. "It [MG] is strongly associated with non-gonococcal urethritis in both men and women and with cervicitis and pelvic inflammatory disease in women," says Dr Todd. MG was discovered in the early 1980s but is still listed as "recently identified" in the Australian STI management guidelines for use in primary care, and is considered an "emerging issue" by the US Centres for Disease Control. "It is also under investigation for a possible role in pre-term births and infertility," Dr Todd says. Australia's one of the first countries to approve commercial tests. SpeeDx got approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration in January.

Dr Todd hopes it will be included in routine sexual health screening in the future. "It has been recognised worldwide as a serious global public health threat requiring aggressive action to identify infections and limit both the spread of transmission and the emergence of resistance," she says. The incidence of STIs is growing steadily. "Within the last 10 years in Australia the number of cases reported has more than doubled for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and tripled for syphilis," she says. "Increasing resistance to antibiotics used to treat STIs ... has the potential to result in these becoming incurable superbugs." Early results are proving positive: "One study by an early adopter, which used SpeeDx's ResistancePlus MG test to guide the implementation of a new treatment regime, saw increased cure rates of more than 30 per cent," she says.

In response to growing rates of syphilis infection seen across the globe, SpeeDx has just launched a new test which combines detection for syphilis with other common causes of lesions  herpes and chicken pox (shingles). "SDx-branded tests [are] throughout Australia, NZ and Europe," Dr Todd says. "Next year we aim to enter the US market. "Our pipeline of tests soon to be released include a large-scale multiplex for respiratory viruses, as well as detection." SpeeDx also has a Belgian licensee, Biocartis, which now sells a menu of seven "companion diagnostics" using SpeeDx technology. The technology allows clinicians to tailor therapy for which drugs are most appropriate for individual patients with melanoma, lung and colorectal cancer.
A senior PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor has handed in his ticket after being accused by the corporate watchdog of botching his audit of collapsed listed vocational education outfit Vocation.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said on Monday that Steve Bourke had cancelled his registration as a company auditor after deciding to retire.

Thousands of students at Vocation-owned colleges were affected by the collapse of the company.

His decision to retire comes after Business Day revealed Mr Bourke and PwC had been joined as defendants to a class action claim being brought against Vocation and its advisers over statements it made to the market about its financial wherewithal ahead of its collapse.

Vocation once sported a $400 million-plus market capitalisation until its regulatory issues became apparent.
Eric Abetz is not a poet. But there was poetry in the senator's prose on Monday as he completed his transformation from conservative standard-bearer to counter-cultural revolutionary.

"As someone told me the other day, it's only dead fish that go with the flow," he mused. "It's only the live fish that have the capacity to swim against the current."

Of course, salmon and other fish that swim upstream do so for reproductive reasons. Which, as luck would have it, is the sole purpose of marriage according to Eric Abetz.

And so it is Senator Abetz finds himself waving the (non-rainbow) flag for minority rights, beating back against the tyranny of the moral majority. He does so in the name of the "substantial" 38.4 per cent of Australians who voted "no", whose views cannot be "obliterated from the public discourse". He does so for the army of disgruntled "yes" voters who feel betrayed by the imminent assault on religious freedom. And he does so for the 20 per cent of Australians who would now "arouse from their slumber" and go to the barricades for God and country.
The deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned Europe that if it threatened Tehran, the Guards would increase the range of missiles to above 2,000 kilometers, the Fars news agency reported Saturday.

France has called for an "uncompromising" dialogue with Iran about its ballistic missile program and a possible negotiation over the issue separate from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran has repeatedly said its missile program is defensive and not negotiable. "If we have kept the range of our missiles to 2,000 km, it's not due to lack of technology. We are following a strategic doctrine," Brigadier General Hossein Salami said, according to Fars.

"So far we have felt that Europe is not a threat, so we did not increase the range of our missiles. But if Europe wants to turn into a threat, we will increase the range of our missiles," he added.

The United States accused Iran this month of supplying Yemen's Houthi rebels with a missile that was fired into Saudi Arabia in July and called for the United Nations to hold Tehran accountable for violating two UN Security Council resolutions. Iran has denied supplying Houthis with missiles and weapons.


North Korea has tightened security since a soldier fled to the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area through a hail of bullets on Nov. 13.

The North set up a lockable gate at the so-called 72-Hour Bridge over which the defector drove his jeep to reach the border area. And guards have dug a 1 m-deep ditch between the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission's building and a North Korean guard post in the JSA.

The ditch is to the immediate north of the military demarcation line, where the defector abandoned his jeep that had been stuck in a ditch and started running toward the south. "The North seems retracing the escape route to plug up loopholes," a military spokesman here said.
World Customs Organization (WCO) participated in the 8th Regional Joint Coordinating Committee (RJCC) meeting of The Project on Capacity Development for International Trade Facilitation in the Eastern African region (hereinafter referred to as Trade Facilitation Project) in East Africa held in Kampala, Uganda on 23 November 2017. The meeting was hosted by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and attended by the Commissioners General, Commissioners Customs and other senior officials from five EAC (East African Community) Partner States, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda as well as EAC Secretariat to confirm the latest progress and achievement made under their Trade Facilitation Project which is jointly supported by the WCO and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).

As the ongoing Trade Facilitation Project in East Africa is about to complete In December 2017, the Commissioners were informed of the latest progress and achievements of the Trade Facilitation Project made through the collaborative work done by the respective Working Group members of the Revenue Authorities with the assistance of experts from the WCO, JICA, Japan Customs and EAC Secretariat. In the meeting, Commissioners recognized the significant achievements made by the members of the Master Trainer Program (MTP) who presented the products of their intensive work, i.e. Case Study Books on Customs Valuation and HS Classification as well as the Training Material on Post Seizure Analysis (PSA). A representative of the member of MTP also reported the great outcome of the WCO accreditation workshop for Expert Trainers on Customs Valuation and HS Classification organized for the Master Trainers in Brussels in October. Commissioners acknowledged those significant achievements made by the members of the MTP and reaffirmed their commitment to fully utilize those pool of experts and useful materials available in East Africa for the benefit of Customs officials and Customs clearing agents through more sustainable and self-contained training delivery.

Five Revenue Authorities are now preparing to launch the next Project in East Africa which is expected to tackle not only trade facilitation but also enhancing border control in East Africa with the support also to be extended jointly by the WCO and JICA, in which the WCO is going to implement Program Global Shield (PGS) as part of the Project. The next Project is expected to commence in December 2017 immediately following the completion of the current Trade Facilitation Project. The WCO is committed to continue working together with JICA and five Revenue Authorities in East Africa to effectively achieve the objectives of this new Project.
North Korea will probably conduct another nuclear test before it completes its nuclear weapons program, a Chinese source has told Radio Free Asia.

RFA on Saturday quoted the source who said that he heard the news from a senior North Korean Army officer he is friendly with. The source added that the next nuclear test will be most powerful of all the North's nuclear tests so far.

The source said the timing of the next test is up to leader Kim Jong-un.

Meanwhile, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank, on Sunday said that there is an increasing possibility of the regime engaging in "weapons of mass destruction activities" in the next few weeks.
Christmas comes to the Homeplace 1850s Saturday after Thanksgiving
An armed robber was caught Saturday in the home of the estranged daughter of Choi Soon-sil, who is at the center of the massive corruption scandal that brought down President Park Geun-hye.

The robber got into a physical altercation with a man identified as the groom of the daughter's horses and was arrested when police arrived at the scene.

Police said the 44-year-old man, who was identified by his surname Lee, entered Chung's apartment building in Sinsa-dong, Seoul on Saturday afternoon disguised as a parcel delivery man. He threatened the guard with a fake pistol, but the guard called his bluff and he drew a knife instead.

Lee took the guard hostage and entered the elevator to the sixth floor, where Chung Yoo-ra (21) lives. Her child and nanny were also there at the time.

When the nanny opened the door, Lee forced his way into the home and bound the guard's hands with zip ties. Lee then shouted, "Chung Yoo-ra, come out!" But instead the groom showed up and began to scuffle with Lee.


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The Lyric Hammersmith panto has a reputation as the wokest, coolest Christmas show in town: a voguish playwright with creative freedom, an ethnically diverse cast, and a panto peppered with contemporary references and live music. This year's offering  Jack and the Beanstalk  is no different. Joel Horwood's adaptation, co-directed by Jude Christian and Lyric Hammersmith artistic director Sean Holmes, is a lurid, messy, technicolour splurge of a show, laden with political metaphor and sprinkled with industry in-jokes.

On one level, it's a family-friendly, fairytale caper. Hard-up farmer Jack  regendered here as a girl  exchanges Daisy the Cow for three magic beans, then ventures up the resultant stalk to do battle with the booming, man-eating giant and his angry, golden goose. On another level entirely, though, it's a pointed social satire on London's spiralling housing crisis.

The main villain is local landlord Squire Fleshcreep  Squire Boris Nigel Theresa Donald Fleshcreep Rees-Mogg to be exact. His mirthless money-grabbing has Jack and her mum  Dame Lotte Trottalot  and the rest of Ye Olde Hammersmith (Ye Olde Flyover, Ye Olde King's Mall, Ye Old Broadway Centre) scrabbling to scrape together the rent every month. Jack's cash-seeking trip up the beanstalk isn't to get rich, it's to stave off her family's impending homelessness.

There's lots for the little ones to love in Christian and Holmes' production. Jean Chan's design is an eye-popping tapestry of primary colours and flashy costumes - giant vegetables, talking cows, etc. The classic routines are all here too and, mercifully, they're not done to death either.

And, political allegories aside, there's plenty for adults to enjoy, too. Corin Buckeridge's musical accompaniment, played live from the pit, is an appealing mix of re-worked chart toppers. There's Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" ('I'm in love with your money!', sings Squire Fleshcreep). There's Clean Bandit's "Symphony" ('I just want to clamber up your beanstalk tree!'). There's even Outkast's "Hey Ya" ('Paaaa-a-a-ntoooo, pa-a-ntoooo!'). Hipster theatre fans can anticipate a few self-satisfied chuckles, as well: there are a few sideways nods towards Daniel Kramer's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe, towards Julius Caesar, and  brilliantly  towards Caryl Churchill's Escaped Alone.

But this ain't a perfect panto, by a long shot. Horwood's text is decidedly ropey  most of the jokes are awful, and not good awful  and he strains to stretch a barebones fairytale plot over two-and-a-half hours. Christian and Holmes' direction is energetic, but not particularly imaginative, and the audience participation is really half-baked. The performances are decidedly varied, too, ranging from whole-heartedly exuberant  Vikki Stone's Fleshcreep is a delight, as is Kayla Meikle's Daisy  to mood-killingly lacklustre  Kraig Thornber phones in Dame Lotte throughout. It's a good panto, but far from a great one.

Jack and the Beanstalk runs at the Lyric Hammersmith until 6 January.
PAT CORN AND "BLACK FEATHER" FEATURED SATURDAY AT CONNEMARA

CHRISTMAS AT CONNEMARA...WAS A BIG HIT SATURDAY

The event featured music, crafts and storytelling throughout the day.

Black Feather started the day telling Cherokee Indian stories of heritage and holidays. Black Feather, whose English name is Virginia Thompson, told the crowd the Christmas event at the Sandburg house was one of her favorite parts of the year.

This is a holiday tradition with me and something I look forward to, she said.

A day after shoppers engaged in Black Friday, Black Feather noted some of the greatest gifts can be found in Mother Nature.

Later in the day, Pat Corn played guitar and performed traditional holiday music. Corn actually met Sandburg and got one of his first guitars from him.

In addition to these activities, craft-making sessions were held upstairs, while Steve and Jean Smith performed holiday songs on a hammered dulcimer, something that was a change of pace at the Sandburg home.

According to Donovan, the term Connemara is a Gaelic phrase that came from the homes previous owners, who were Irish. The Sandburgs loved the name ant kept it for the home.

The house will be fillede with poinsettias and a traditionally decorated Christmas tree throughout December until Jan. 6.
The British Foreign Office has completely halted overseas development aid to North Korea, the Voice of America reported.

The British Foreign Office told VOA in an e-mail last Thursday that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson ordered the complete cessation of all aid to North Korea.

Johnson said the North cannot be allowed to continue its human rights violations and attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

ODA is given to developing countries to help them build up their economies and improve welfare. While criticizing the Norths human rights violations and nuclear ambitions, the U.K. had continued to provide ODA to North Korea.

It was involved in five aid projects in North Korea worth 240,000 pounds sterling from April of last year to March of this year.

The British Foreign Office also told staff to avoid flying Air Koryo, North Korea's official carrier.


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Closure of a bridge across the Yalu River on the ChinaNorth Korea border, ostensibly for maintenance, has been postponed until next month.

The real reason for the closure of the Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge seems to be that China is miffed after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un snubbed a special envoy from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But the closure date has apparently been postponed from last Friday to after Dec. 10.

The bridge connects the Chinese city of Dandong with Sinuiju in North Korea and handles some 70 percent of trade between the two allies. It contains a 940 m stretch of both railway and highway, and the northern end leads directly to Chinese customs.


Crucifixion Elementary School Principal Doug Harpenau was apprehensive of the cold and wobbly ladder that led to the rooftop of the school last Thursday morning, but he knew he would be appreciative of the scene at the top.

Through participation in the Minnesota Department of Commerces Made in Minnesota solar incentive program and an agreement with Aquilla Solar of Wabasha, Crucifixion has become the first school in town with a solar power system on its roof.

The 152 solar panels recently installed above the schools gymnasium can produce 40 kilowatts of electricity, enough to provide around 80 percent of the schools electricity.

I was extremely happy, Harpenau said about the news the school had been accepted into the program. Last year we applied and didnt get it, and this year I said lets roll the dice again because it cant hurt.

The panels can be individually monitored and adjusted, and connect to an inverter behind the school. The inverter converts the power from the panels to an alternating current that transmits it to the electrical grid.

Crucifixion will receive a 10 percent discount on its electricity bill for the next 10 years as a result of the project, Harpenau said. After six years, the school will have the ability to purchase the panels for 10 percent of the purchase price of $13,000 from Aquilla. After 10 years, Crucifixion can purchase the solar array for $1.

Because Xcel allows schools to have up to 120 percent of their annual power offset by solar, Harpenau said Crucifixion could install a separate 30kW system in the future. The Made in Minnesota program caps installations at 40kW per system.

The installation of solar panels on a flat roof like Crucifixions starts by placing each panel onto steel mounts that are supported by cinder blocks. The entire framework relies entirely on balance, and no part of the system is physically attached to the roof.

I was expecting like three of four semis to roll in, said Harpenau, who was surprised by how simple the installation process was.

Aquilla project manager Jeff Shockoconger said that in Minnesota, a licensed electrician is required for the hookup of the panels, so the four-person crew that unloaded everything and structured the panels into place Thursday morning didnt actually plug anything in until the electric crew arrived later in the day, and both crews work together through each connection.

Its all plug and play though, really, said Shockoconger, who oversaw the installation on Thursday and will oversee the setup of the monitoring system as well.

If something goes wrong with the system, an Aquilla representative will notify the school, and if necessary, have them perform a system reset. Aquilla will also come to inspect the any potentially serious issue. Harpenau said he was inclined to work with Aquilla because they were local, and support for the panels would be close if any issue arose.

I wanted to go local, and we were lucky to find someone right around here, said Harpenau. So therefore if there is an issue, I know where they are, because they have a stake in the area.

Including Crucifixion students in the schools movement towards green energy is important, said Harpenau, and solar energy is included in the science curriculum.

Theyre learning that solar isnt just something you can put on your roof, said Harpenau. And that you dont need electricity for everything, and that solar can be used in all kinds of different units. So theyre being educated on how it all works now, and how there are much easier ways of doing it.

State incentives are fueling growth in solar power across Minnesota and Shockoconger noted that in the summer, the state generates more power from the sun than any other. However, in the winter, snow has to melt away before the sun can reach the panels, which can reduce production.
Chey Min-jung, the daughter of SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, will be dismissed from naval service this Thursday.

She is an officer in the 2nd Fleet responsible for defending the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, in the West Sea.

What she is going to do after naval service is not known, but it is unlikely she will return to a position in the family conglomerate.

Chey Min-jung co-founded an online shopping mall selling goods to China but sold her shares when she joined the Navy in 2014.

She was commissioned as an ensign and served six months in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia in 2015.


There was a time when there was wide consensus that records compiled by the government are the property of the people.

The premise of the American democratic experiment, after all, is that government belongs not to the politicians, but to the people who elect them and send them to office to represent their interests  a government of, by and for the people, if you will.

The Founding Fathers placed a huge burden on American citizens. It would work, Thomas Jefferson frequently pointed out, if the people kept themselves informed so they could make wise decisions at election times and whenever else their voices needed to be heard.

That philosophy was the basis of the First Amendments free press protections. A free press that could shine light on what the peoples government was up to was essential to the public being informed.

But the people cant stay informed if the politicians who represent them cloak themselves in secrecy. Thats why in the years since the nations founding, open records and meetings laws have been adopted in every state. Those openness laws largely have been upheld by the courts, which often have cited the First Amendments free press guarantees to turn back government attempts to keep records secret.

Recently, however, theres been an alarming trend to make it more difficult for people to get access to their own government. More and more of our elected officials are acting as though what they do and say is no ones business but their own. And even government records, already compiled and paid for with the peoples money, are being kept from citizens curious about the workings of their government.

Some officials have become creative. They dont deny a citizens or a journalists request for copies of records, they simply put a price tag for reproducing or finding them so high the requester cant afford the price. The practice has been called out and the state attorney general has issued opinions slamming the practice, but nevertheless it persists.

Others have been more overt. The most egregious recent attack on openness, which would virtually have exempted the Legislature from the laws, was sneaked into the state budget two years ago. Only after a huge outcry from thousands in the state did Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and his cohort pull back their clumsy attempt at denying the people access to their government.

The technology revolution has opened doors to even more creative ways to deny the people access to their governments. Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council President Bill Lueders, for instance, caught Republican Vos office deleting emails that would have explained Vos role in crafting a highly controversial bill to limit free speech on university campuses.

Other politicians have taken a more direct route, proposing legislation that would make it more difficult to access information compiled by new technology. Just last week the state Assembly passed a bill, now pending in the Senate, that would exempt video from police body cameras from the open records law. Use of body cams is intended to shed light on police interactions with the public, helping people understand how their law enforcement works  or doesnt work.

The public, of course, pays for the information gathered by the cameras, yet in only a few instances will they be able to gain access to it, and then only if police can get permission from people in the video, a formidable impediment. Worse, much of the video can be destroyed after 120 days.

Interestingly, Vos, who often is in the middle of openness controversies, and state Rep. Jesse Kremer, the author of the body cam bill, along with state Rep. John Nygren, co-chair of the Legislatures Joint Finance Committee, are being sued by the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now for refusing the group access to their Twitter feeds.

Its the GOP politicians way of limiting access to what otherwise is their public communications. They dont like One Wisconsin Nows habit of arguing with their views, so thanks to social media technology they can just refuse to give the group access.

Everyone, regardless of their political ideology, should be able to respond to public officials on social media sites just as they would if they were attending a town hall meeting, argues Scot Ross, the executive director of OWN.

That would be in the spirit of giving the people access to their governments. Instead, the public servants who work for us are cleverly finding new ways to keep the people in the dark.
Chet Linck, 75, Beaver Dam, beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle and cousin, passed away at his home Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, after a long illness.

A funeral service will be held at Harvest Evangelical Free Church in Beaver Dam, Friday, Dec. 1, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Jason Wood officiating. Inurnment will be at Oakwood Cemetery. There will be a time to greet the family at Old Hickory Country Club on Friday following the service.

Chet was born Dec. 16, 1941, in Beaver Dam, to Clarence and Emilie (Schepp) Linck. He graduated from Beaver Dam High School, attended Iowa State University, and graduated from UW-Whitewater. Chet followed in his fathers footsteps with a career in road construction. He was the owner and operator of C.C. Linck, Inc. for more than 40 years. He retired in 2002. Chet also sat on the board of directors of the American National Bank and the board of directors of Ambanc Financial Services, Inc. for 29 years. He retired from the board Dec. 8, 2016.

Chet enjoyed working in his barn on all his cars and working with his tools. He always had a project going. He loved to drive and took several trips to Florida for relaxation. He had many happy times at their vacation home in Door County and was able to travel there this past summer for a last vacation.

Chet is survived by his wife of 53 years, Karen (Veling) Linck; son and daughter-in-law, Christopher and Lori Linck of Antioch, Illinois; daughter, Erin Keen of Washington state; grandchildren, MacKenzie Keen, Jake and Josh Linck; sister and brother-in-law, Patty and Fred Veling; extended family members and close friends. Chet is also survived by his sisters, Phyllis (Nagler) and Virginia (Derber Bogard).

He was preceded in death by his parents, Clarence C. Linck and Emilie Linck.

The Linck family thanks their sister-in-law, Patty Veling, for her unfailing and devoted care during Chets illness, and Chets niece, Debbie Oien, for the love and care she provided. They also thank all the nurses and staff of Beaver Dam Hillside Hospice for their devoted care and guidance.

Koepsell-Murray Funeral Home in Beaver Dam is caring for the family. To leave online condolences, or for directions and other information, please visit our website at www.KoepsellFH.com.
Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham said they believe the Senate can reach a consensus on immigration policy, possibly as part of the year-end government funding bill.

Durbin, D-Illinois, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that he believes Graham could be a part of a bipartisan coalition to pass legislation that would increase border security and legalize the immigration status of individuals who came into the United States illegally as children.

"I can tell you, when it comes to border security, we have signed up for that," Durbin said. "Sen. (Chuck) Schumer said that months ago. We believe that there are aspects of border security that Democrats and Republicans can agree on."

And Graham, R-South Carolina, suggested an agreement on border security and so-called "DREAMers" could be tacked onto the government spending bill.

"We need border security, so there's a deal to be done," Graham said. "Dick's right about this. For the DREAM Act, I think you could get strong border security and a break in chain migration. If you could put those three things together, put it on the end-of-the-year spending bill, that would be a heck of an accomplishment for 2017."

But Graham prefaced his remarks by outlining where he will and will not make concessions.

"Well, the way I look at the end-of-the-year bill is a chance to do some good for the country as a whole, starting by funding the Defense Department more adequately," Graham said. "I'm not going to vote for a bill that doesn't increase defense spending dramatically. And I'm willing to increase non-defense spending of the NIH, the Corps of Engineers, the FBI, the CIA."

Durbin and Graham remained flexible as to whether the immigration deal would decide their votes. If Congress is unable to pass a spending bill by midnight on December 8, the government will shut down.

When he was asked if a government shutdown is possible over immigration, Graham said: "In Congress, anything is possible."
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Handicraft expo held in Shanghai

By:Wu Qiong | From:english.eastday.com | 2017-11-27 09:18

The annual Shanghai International Handicraft Expo has entered a new level, as more than 200 exhibitors from Spain, Japan, Uruguay and Africa attended this years event at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center.



From November 24 to 26, people who are interested in handicraft making were attracted to the 3rd Shanghai International Handicraft Expo, which took up an exhibition area of 12,000 square meters in total.

As one of the highlights during this years event, around 300 DIY classes offered by exhibitors and graduate students from Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts were opened to the public, according to the organizer of the event. Skilled craftsmen, calligraphers and wood engravers were also invited to promote traditional arts and crafts. Inheritors of intangible cultural heritage also displayed their skills while interacting with the visitors. Besides, up to 50 lectures were held during the three-day exposition.



For those who could not make it to the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, the organizer told the reporter that an online expo platform had been built to engage handicraft lovers with the colorful activities.




Mugabe's downfall: Lessons for Jacob Zuma

Robert Mugabes endgame in Zimbabwe holds various lessons for his South Africa's Jacob Zuma as he too considers his prospects towards the end of his presidency.

The first, obviously, is that while, from the pinnacle of power, a countrys president may feel the monarch of all he can survey, it is always possible that the blade of the guillotine is just around the corner.

Accordingly, it is always prudent to keep at least two bags packed for a hasty exit: one full of suit, shirts, underwear and socks, another full of foreign currency (preferably dollars or Euros). You just never know how things might pan out, so it is best to be prepared.

Following the almost-coup, Mugabe has been in a stronger position than many African dictators before him because the African Union has in recent years become a lover of democracy and a hater of coups. It therefore now demands that changes of leadership must have at least a veneer of constitutionality.

This has always been the Zimbabwean militarys weak point during this past week of flirting with political power. Hence its insistence that, despite its take-over of the airwaves, State House and parliament, alongside its house-arrest of the president and his family, its actions are not a coup.

In turn, this has provided Mugabe with a considerable degree of wriggle room, which he has sought to exploit to the full. Indeed, it has remained his key bargaining chip, not least because the African Union does not want to be seen as party to the overthrow of a hero of African liberation.

Explicit political actor

Zuma will feel confident that whereas in Zimbabwe the army has long been deeply involved in the ruling partys internal affairs and the wider political arena, the South African National Defence Force is not an explicit political actor. He stands in no fear of a military coup (or even a Zimbabwe-style non-coup). Yet he does have to worry about what happens within his political party, the African National Congress (ANC).

Even if his favoured candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, were to win the party leadership at the ANCs December congress, Zumas continuing as South African President might be seen as a political embarrassment. If strong contender Cyril Ramaphosa wins, even more urgent calls will be made from within the ANC for the him to be recalled because he will be viewed as an electoral liability.

It is a fair bet that, whoever wins, an excuse will be made for a delegation from the party leadership to visit the president and to ask him to stand down. Just ask former President Thabo Mbeki who was fired by his own ANC. If Zuma refuses to cooperate, then the ANC might turn to parliament, where enough ANC MPs might feel emboldened to vote with the opposition to dethrone him.

Fighting for survival

Like Mugabe, Zuma will be battling for a dignified exit. Even more urgently, he will be fighting for survival. In previous years, Mugabe may have feared the prospect of retribution for his sins, and would have been determined to secure immunity from prosecution.

Now, at 93, he is confident that once out of office he will be left in peace. He may or may not appreciate the irony that, unlike his countrys last white ruler Ian Smith, he will not be able to stay in Zimbabwe after he has been forced to stand down, but he will know that he has to leave.

Neither the army nor Zanu-PF will want him hanging around, fearing his ability to continue pulling strings. So off he must go, to South Africa, Dubai or Singapore (anywhere with a few decent shops for his shopaholic wife Grace). His major immediate concern then, we may presume, is safe passage and immunity for his family. We may further presume, that there is lots of money stashed away in foreign bank accounts to keep the crocodile from the door.

Zumas tricky position

Zuma is differently placed. If he loses the Presidency he stands in all sorts of dangers, not least of which is prosecution for past financial crimes and the prospect of his ending his days in prison. In other words, he has much more to bargain for, and he will be doing so from a considerably weaker position. Not least of his problems is that he is a lot younger than Mugabe, so could spend quite a few years in jail.

Zumas major strength is that, whoever wins the party leadership, the ANC will probably want to grant him immunity and get him out of the way, as otherwise they face the prospect of their former leader facing a corruption trial during the lead up to elections in 2019.

But for a start, there is no provision for presidential immunity in the constitution, and its grant would face a strong challenge in the courts. Furthermore, if the Gupta or other Zuma allies in the project of state capture were to be prosecuted, Zuma could face being dragged into court as a witness.

In short, Zuma will realise that it will make sense to hot-foot it out of the country, preferably to a comfortably authoritarian country which will turn down requests for extradition.

The fickle people

What Mugabe is learning now, and it is something of which Zuma should take good note, is that the people are an ungrateful lot, and are likely to turn against you just when you most need their support. Up till a week ago, it was presumed that Mugabe retained the backing of all who mattered in Zanu-PF and that he would again be its candidate for president at the next election. But now, like many a dictator, he is having to learn fast that the people no longer love him.

Past allies, like the war veterans, had already turned against him, repudiating his apparent bid for his wayward wife, Grace, to replace him. Zanu-PF Youth leader, Kudzai Chipanga, initially declared his willingness to die for Mugabe and labelled Major-General Constantino Chiwenga, the leader of the non-coup, a traitor when the army first intervened. After being locked up, he shamefacedly read out an abject apology, begging forgiveness, and pleading the inexperience of youth.

This has been followed by all 10 provincial organisations of Zanu-PF calling for Mugabe to go, and even encouraging ordinary people to join the marches being organised by opposition parties and civil society demanding his dismissal.

Zuma is too wily a politician not to know that once he loses the party presidency, his support base will drain away, and that he will become known as yesterdays man. Yet like Mugabe, he will take comfort from the regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), for there is nothing his fellow presidents dread more than the prospect of any one of their number facing impeachment.

He will also know that, unlike Mbeki, whose stature in Africa remains high, he has no viable future as a roving ex-president. Zuma will know that if he wants to enjoy his retirement in peace, he has to leave South Africa before he gets tangled up in court proceedings.

His best option will be to grab those two suitcases, make a hasty exit and move in next door to Bob and Grace in Dubai.

Roger Southall, Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
COLL 300 visitor discusses book on sexual violence in Native America

Visiting scholar Sarah Deer, an activist, scholar and author, signs her book for a student after discussing it as part of her COLL 300 visit. Photo by Jennifer L. Williams Photo - of - Hide Caption

COLL 300 visitor Sarah Deer recently talked with William & Mary students about her book on sexual violence in Native America.

Deer, a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation in Oklahoma, is a professor, activist and expert in tribal law and federal Indian policy who was a 2014 MacArthur fellow. She has worked for more than 20 years to end violence against women, with a specific focus on Native women and communities. After working as a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, she recently returned to her alma mater, the University of Kansas, as a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies.

Deers scholarship focuses on the intersection of federal Indian law and victims rights. Developing support systems and healing practices that are grounded in tribal customs and lifeways, she is committed to forms of healing for all members of Native communities, including victims, survivors and perpetrators.

Students in W&M's gender, sexuality and womens studies program read her latest book The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America, and Deer discussed it with them Nov. 17 at Morton Hall as part of her weeklong visit to the university. She gave the third and final COLL 300 lecture of the fall semester on Nov. 15. COLL 300 is a globalization, thought-broadening curriculum that is required in a students junior year at W&M.

Deer argues in her book that rape was uncommon in Native communities before European/Euroamerican colonization, and draws the metaphorical conclusion that the two are analogous. Students asked about drawing the comparison between rape and colonization.

Deer, who previously worked with sexual assault victims, said she had always been taught not to use the term rape to describe other things. But as she listened to Native American women comparing the tactics used by colonizers and sexual predators, her viewpoint changed.

In her book, she explains how modern-day tribal systems can be used effectively to protect women and mete out justice for all crimes.

I think that punishing people or labeling people for common challenges that folks have in their lives is not particularly helpful, and the zero-sum game that the Western legal system offers is not a productive outcome in many, many cases, Deer said.

And so I am a big fan of the concept of restorative justice, the utility of it and the effectiveness and as sort of a method of decolonizing the law.

Answering a faculty members question about revenge, she said that rather than emphasizing that victims process their anger through acts like revenge, she focuses on accountability  though she feels that in cases of sexual violence, anger has a place at the table.

I definitely think that victims have the right to express their anger in whatever system of adjudication or restoration is on the table, Deer said. But I think I would tend to agree that revenge is not a useful outcome.

Taking the stance that mass incarceration is not helpful, Deer admits that perpetrators have to be separated from the community in order for victims and survivors to feel safe, but she doesnt have a solution. She suggested that tribal banishment, in theory, may be an alternative in egregious cases.

The problem with federal Indian law has been that it treats all tribes the same, Deer said. One of the ways to counter that is to say that we dont all have to be on the same page here.

Asked about the potential conflict between being an activist and a scholar, Deer pointed out that previously she had no academic background and continued on the same path after becoming a law professor. Fortunately, the legal academy requires pro bono work, and she fit into that role.

I just feel really fortunate that Ive landed in spaces where I havent necessarily had to curtail my activism to satisfy my departments, she said.
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DCYF Director Trisa Piccola, left, and Child Advocate Jennifer Griffith discuss the subject of child mistreatment, and the fact that Woonsocket has the states poorest ranking.
Fukui governor approves restart of Ohi units

27 November 2017

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The governor of Japan's Fukui Prefecture has today approved the restart of units 3 and 4 of Kansai Electric Power Company's Ohi nuclear power plant. The utility reportedly plans to restart both units by mid-March.

Ohi units 3 and 4 (Image: Kansai)

Governor Issei Nishikawa gave his approval for the restart of the two reactors in a telephone conversation with economy, trade and industry minister Hiroshige Seko, the Kyodo news agency reported. At a press conference, Nishikawa said he gave his consent after "comprehensively considering opinions of our town and prefectural assemblies as well as responses to the government and the plant operator to an idea of setting up an interim used fuel storage facility outside our prefecture."

Following the shut down of all of Japan's reactors after the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Ohi 3 and 4 were given permission to resume operation in August 2012. However, the two 1180 MWe pressurized water reactors were taken offline again for Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) inspections in September 2013.

Under Japan's reactor restart process, plant operators are required to apply to the NRA for: permission to make changes to the reactor installation; approval of its construction plan to strengthen the plant; and, final safety inspections to ensure the unit meets new safety requirements. Operators are required to add certain safety-enhancing equipment within five years of receiving the NRA's approval of a reactor engineering work programme.

Kansai submitted its construction plan application for Ohi 3 and 4 in July 2013. The NRA approved the plan for strengthening the units in August this year.

Kansai now plans to apply for pre-operation inspections of the units. These inspections are to confirm that the safety countermeasure equipment complies with the approved construction plan at the plant.

While utilities must seek consent from prefectural governments for restarting reactors, the final decision remains with national government. The town assembly of Ohi and the prefectural government have already approved the units' restart. According to Kyodo, Kansai plans to restart Ohi unit 3 in mid-January and unit 4 in mid-March.

In a statement, Kansai president Shigeki Iwane said: "In addition to the governor of Fukui Prefecture and the Fukui prefectural people, we would like to thank you once again for your continued understanding and support for nuclear power projects and for your continued efforts to ensure a stable supply of electricity."

Of Japan's 42 operable reactors, five have so far cleared inspections confirming they meet the new regulatory safety standards and have resumed operation. These are: Kyushu's Sendai units 1 and 2; Shikoku's Ikata unit 3; and Kansai's Takahama units 3 and 4. Another 19 reactors have applied to restart.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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A woman who was angry about a child support court order mailed bombs to several government officials including former President Barack Obama, according to police in Texas.

Sealy police said that they have arrested 46-year-old Julia Poff after being accused of mailing explosive devices to government officials whom she blamed for child support policies she did not like.

Poff was also charged with food stamp fraud and false bankruptcy declaration.

The most serious charge filed against her is mailing injurious articles and transporting explosives with the intent to kill and injure.

She was booked into a Houston federal detention center after being denied bail.

A judge determined that Poff was a flight risk.

According to the police investigation, Poff had her former husband arrested and she demanded child support from him.

Poff became upset because she did not like the outcome of her child support case.

She then sent bombs to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former President Barack Obama.

Poff also sent an explosive device to the Social Security Administration near Baltimore, Maryland, because she was denied benefits.

The court was told that Abbott opened the package but it did not explode.

Had it exploded, it would have caused death.

The package to the White House was intercepted by the FBI.

Investigators managed to link the packages back to Poff after finding cat hair that was linked to one of her pets.

Poff was once accused of stuffing potatoes down the toilets of her rented apartment because she got an eviction notice for not paying rent.

She also poured cement into the drains.

In another incident, she poured cereal on the carpet of a rented home to infest it with bugs.

Poff denied all the allegations, saying she was being framed by the police who took garbage from her home to make it appear that she was behind the letter bombs.
A bright boy from Victoria, Canada, recently discovered that the English language is lacking something  a word to describe words that spell something different when written backwards.

And little Levi Budd even has a fix for it!

According to a now-viral video his family shared on YouTube, it all started when the 6-year-old spotted a stop sign during a ride with his mother.

"Mom, I see that 'stop' spells 'pots' backwards," he noted. "That's not a palindrome. What do we call a word like that ... where a word spells another word backwards?"

While he and his family could find plenty of examples of what he meant  flow/wolf, loop/pool, rats/stars, etc.  there wasn't an official word in the dictionary to describe it.

So they decided the best word for it would be one that salutes the clever kid who found the need for it. That's why, with their video and a social media campaign, they're promoting the use of "levidrome."

And it's catching on!

Schools and libraries have supported the boy's term, and actor William Shatner even reached out to the people behind the Oxford English Dictionary, via email and Twitter, to recommend it for inclusion.

And according to the Oxford University Press, Levi might just see his word make the books  eventually.

"Lots of people know your word and know what it means, which means 'levidrome' is well on its way into our dictionary," the organization explained in a response to Levi.

The word even showed up on this week's Oxford Word Watch list.

But there's still a bit of work left before it can reach the pages of any of the Oxford Dictionaries, because levidrome must "demonstrate widespread and sustained use over time."

It's only been seven weeks since Levi and his family told the world about his neologism, so keep using it!
The Sri Lankan government stepped up its assault on democratic rights early this month by banning access to the London-based Lanka e-News (LeN). Although the government made no official announcement, the Colombo Telegraph reported on November 9 that the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) had issued a directive to all Sri Lankan Internet service providers to block the site.

TRC member Hemantha Warnakulasuriya strongly defended the ban, telling the English-language Island newspaper that the government had the responsibility  to counter propaganda campaigns undertaken by a section of the media.

Questioned by journalists during the weekly cabinet press briefing on November 16, government spokesman Dayasiri Jayasekera was unable to explain who was responsible for the censorship of the web site. He justified it, however, accusing LeN of attacking President Maithripala Sirisena.

LeN is a right-wing, pro-big business publication with close connections to the current coalition governments majority partner, the United National Party (UNP). It was a vociferous supporter of the US-sponsored regime change operation that ousted President Mahinda Rajapakse and brought Maithripala Sirisena to power through the January 2015 presidential election. The US, which opposed Rajapakses orientation towards China, helped facilitate a behind-the-scenes operation, encouraging Sirisena to challenge Rajapakse in the election.

The ban on LeN reflects deepening factional tensions within the national unity government: namely between Sirisenas Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes UNP. The current government was formed as a coalition of UNP and SLFP following the 2015 election. After the presidential election, Sirisena replaced Rajapakse as SLFP leader with the latter now heading the so-called Joint Opposition (JO), a minority faction of the partys parliamentary group.

During 2015 elections, Sirisena was promoted by sections of the ruling elite, upper middle class layers and pseudo-left groups, such as the Nawa Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) and the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), as the democratic alternative to Rajapakse. The LeN ban exposes these claims.

The LeN censorship came a few days after Sirisena declared that some UNP members of the government were using Facebook, website campaigns and multipage articles in weekend newspapers to undermine him. Some in the government itself [are paying] certain media outfits based outside Sri Lanka to attack me, he told a public meeting.

Sirisena claimed that the criticism was in response to his moves against corruption, a reference to the ongoing investigation into fraud allegations against Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in 2015. Several officials appointed by the Prime Minister Wickremesinghe were involved. The chief suspect is Wickremesinghes confidant and former CBSL Governor Arjun Mahendran. Senior UNP minister Ravi Karunanayake has also been implicated and forced to resign his portfolio.

LeN had been recently publishing allegations against senior SLFP government members, including Sirisena. According to the Island, a few days before the web site was banned, LeN published an article questioning the early retirement of former Sri Lankan Navy Commander Travis Sinnaih. It made references to disagreements over a deal he made with the defence ministry, which is headed by Sirisena, to buy a Russian warship. Another recent LeN article raised questions about vehicle purchases made by the presidents office.

Prior to the web sites ban, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne told a cabinet media briefing that journalists who publish false and obscene news about the government should be arrested. He added: If a few of them are punished, ethical media conduct can be established in the country.

Several national and international organisations have denounced the censorship of LeN and demanded it be lifted immediately. This includes the International Federation of Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists-Asia, the Free Media Movement, the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association and the Young Journalists Association.

Although the blocking of LeN has emerged over factional differences within the unstable Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, it is a direct attack on freedom of the press and a warning to all sections of the media that the Sri Lankan ruling elite will not tolerate any criticism and is preparing dictatorial measures.

Colombo is reeling under a $US65 billion debt burden and has begun imposing International Monetary Fund (IMF) orders to make savage attacks on the living and social conditions of the masses. This is provoking bitter struggles by workers, students and farmers across the country.

In the past 12 months alone, workers in the ports, railways, postal service, electricity, water supply and petroleum sectors have taken strike action over wages, jobs and working conditions. Students have waged a struggle for almost a year against the privatisation of education.

Although the unions have repeatedly derailed these struggles, the government has mobilised the police and the military to brutally assault and arrest workers and students, as well as journalists for covering these events. The banning of LeN is an extension of this repression into cyberspace.

Factional rivalry within the government has been seized upon by Rajapakses JO faction, which is whipping up Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism to divert popular anger against the government in a reactionary direction. A number of SLFP parliamentarians who supported Sirisena have crossed over to the Joint Opposition and are supporting Rajapakse.

While in power, Rajapakse ruthlessly censored the media during the communal war against separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Web sites such as TamilNet were completely banned in Sri Lanka for allegedly having ties to LTTE and murderous attacks were carried out against dissident journalists. LeN was also blocked in 2011 and its Colombo offices subjected to an arson attack, compelling its editor, Sandaruwan Senadheera, to flee the country.

When Sirisenas so-called good-governance regime came to power in 2015, it lifted media bans on various publications, including LeN, and claimed it had opened a new chapter in Sri Lankan political history. The latest ban on LeN and threats to arrest journalists for criticising the government, exposes the good governance posturing as a political fraud.

Colombos attack on press freedom is part and parcel of escalating censorship by capitalist governments around the world. Journalists and media outlets are being targeted for propagating so-called fake news, for personal defamation or over McCarthyite allegations they are working for Russia.

Googles censorship of left-wing, progressive and anti-war web sites and in particular the World Socialist Web Site since April, shows that the multinational corporations are playing a key role in blocking press freedom and access to honest and accurate information. Workers and youth of Sri Lanka must oppose the government blocking of LeN. It is an attack on democratic rights, an attempt to suppress political opposition and another step towards dictatorial forms of rule.
In early November, online retail corporation Amazon announced it would open a fourth fulfillment center in the Baltimore area by 2019. The estimated $225 million project will see an 855,000 square foot sorting facility built at Sparrows Point, the site that formerly housed the Bethlehem steel mill and shipyard that operated there throughout the majority of the twentieth century.

The decision to open an Amazon distribution facility, synonymous with underpaid and heavily exploited labor, at the site of the Bethlehem Steel mill, is demonstrative of the decline of American capitalism. Opened in 1917, the Sparrows Point steel mill was the largest steel mill in the United States during the early and mid-twentieth century, employing upwards of 30,000 workers in the 1950s. The mill produced steel girders used in the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, cables used in the George Washington Bridge, and other components symbolizing the USs manufacturing prowess during the early twentieth century.

During that time, the steel industry became one of the staples of the eastern Maryland economy while its workers were some of the highest-paid in the US. The steel mill was shuttered for good in 2012, employing at the time only 2,100 workers. In 2014 the property was acquired by Tradepoint Atlantic, which began remaking the steel mill into an industrial park. Another Amazon facility in the city is built on a site used by General Motors that operated for over 70 years until being shuttered in 2005.

State and county officials are touting Amazons decision as a win for the local job market. Governor Larry Hogan (R) has stated that getting the 1,500 added jobs from the new facility was a top priority of our administration and another example of how Maryland is and will continue to be open for business. Kevin Kamenetz (D), Baltimore County Executive, boasted, This is what job creation looks like: a world class company investing in the region. Kamenetz has announced his intention to run for Maryland governor in 2018.

In securing the deal with the web retail giant, the state Department of Commerce ponied up a $2.2 million conditional loan to Amazon as an incentive to build the center. Conditional loans are typically converted to grants when certain requirements are met.

In this case, Amazon is to employ 1,500 employees at the center by 2020, spend at least $125 million on building and outfitting the facility as well as maintain 4,800 jobs across the state.

The facility will sort, pack and ship books, electronics and various housewares. It will be located seven miles from two other sorting facilities in Baltimore City. Amazon employs roughly 5,000 full-time workers across the state, according to reports. Amazon expects to hire 3,000 seasonal part-time workers of whom only a select few will be able to retain their jobs after the holiday season ends.

The claim being made by the media and local officials that adding more Amazon jobs is a win for the jobs market is at odds with the reality faced by Amazon workers throughout the companys 75 distribution centers nationwide. A review on Indeed.com from a sorting associate at one of the Baltimore City facilities titled Stressful and Demanding gives a grim picture of life as an Amazon worker: Working at Amazon is the most stressful and mind boggling experience thus far. Working here has made me appreciate all of my other previous employers. The work is very easy, but you are required to do it at an extreme fast pace, on your feet, non stop until your assigned break. Working here limits your freedom tremendously. Managers keep tabs on you at all times and if you are not doing work for more than five minutes you can be held accountable for it, no matter what the reason is for you not working.

Your body aches from head to toe from the physical labor and managers still expect the best results from you no matter what. The hours working here is another complete con. Overtime is given to Associates often and is mandatory. So, instead of working 10 hour days for four days, you are expected to work 11 hour days for five days straight! It takes a lot from you physically and also mentally. While working in my department, I am alone all day with no music or anything for 10 long hours. It makes work less enjoyable. Working here is definitely not worth the pay. The only pro I can think about are the benefits, but most people dont stay working here long enough to enjoy them.

Many of the jobs Amazon will add to the states jobs market will be part-time, seasonal positions that pay $12.50 an hour. Amazons job description for their sorting associates makes it clear that they expect workers to be docile and willing to be worked to the bone: Flexibility is key, associates should be open to extra hours, time off, and a rapid pace.

Although the $12.50 is higher than the states paltry $8.50 an hour minimum wage, it is far below what is needed for an acceptable standard of living. According to MyApartmentMap, the average rent for a studio apartment in Maryland is $1,187 per month. The National Low Income Housing Coalition, in its 2015 report Out of Reach, noted: A worker in Maryland State needs to make $24.64 per hour in order to afford the fair market rent and utilities of a two-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30% of his or her income.

Happening simultaneously, yet unrelated to the announcement of the new sorting facility, is an attempt by Maryland state, county and city officials to convince Amazon to open its HQ2 in the state. The new headquarters is estimated to bring 50,000 new jobs and over $2 billion in investment. Although Maryland is considered a long shot, Amazons recent $53 billion contract with the Pentagon may make Maryland a natural location for a major headquarters, bringing it further into the military-intelligence apparatus.
Last week, the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit in order to block a merger between the two giant telecommunication companies Time Warner and AT&T. According to the Financial Times, the Trump administration is blocking the merger to pressure the sale of CNN.

One person told the Times, Its all about CNN. Should Time Warner sell off CNN, Trump would reportedly allow the deal to go through.

The Time Warner-AT&T merger has been in the works for over a year. The deal would see AT&T, whose total assets exceed $400 billion, buy Time Warner for $85.4 billion. This would result in the largest vertically integrated content and distribution company in the world.

The proposed merger would follow several years of record-breaking mergers and acquisitions, with 2015 being the largest year on record for such deals. These huge combinations of giant corporations reflect the strained character of the real economy. While the stock market has soared, actual economic growth outside of the tech disrupters, such as Amazon and Google, is negligible. Unable to achieve substantive growth, companies scale into enormous conglomerations to weather low profits.

The merger would exacerbate the concentration of power within the telecommunications and media industry. Currently, both Time Warner and AT&T are pushing to overrule net neutrality regulations, a move which would pave the way for widespread government and corporate censorship of oppositional news and analysis.

The Trump administrations opposition to the merger, however, is not based on these concerns. While Trump has previously stated he would reject the proposed merger, because of the large monopoly it would create, the article from the Financial Times exposes his real reason: Trump seeks to retaliate against CNN.

Since his inauguration, Trumps presidency has been marked by unprecedented threats against the media and specific journalists. On Saturday, Trump tweeted his most recent jab at CNN: @FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!

Trump, who bullies the mainstream press from the right, is not opposed to the concentration of power in the media. Rather, he wants it to be his media, attempting to use the power of the executive branch to intimidate and pressure the media into being more responsive to his administrations agenda. By forcing AT&T to sell CNN as part of the deal, Trump could downgrade and isolate the company by cutting it off from capital and severing it from this giant monopoly.

The administrations legal challenge to the merger is its first anti-trust suit. Makan Delrahim, the new head of the Department of Justices Antitrust division, and the assistant attorney general, has worked as a lobbyist and lawyer for the telecommunications industry previously. He announced his support for Trump in March 2016. In October 2016, he stated that he saw no problem with the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner.

However, in the Department of Justices announcement of the lawsuit, Delrahim said, This merger would greatly harm American consumers. It would mean higher monthly television bills and fewer of the new, emerging innovative options that consumers are beginning to enjoy. Indeed, AT&T could use its control over programs from Time Warner, such as CNN and HBO, to cut out its rival cable and broadband services.

But, this is not the real reason Trump is fighting the lawsuit. In the same breath that the Trump administration opposes this deal, it pushes to overturn net neutrality, a move that would allow companies to charge extra for certain internet services or block some sites altogether.

AT&T says it will fight the lawsuit, and, if it goes to court, will use legal discovery to acquire correspondence between the White House and the Justice Department about the merger.

The companys CEO, Rendall Stephenson, said that no presidential administration had worked to directly block a merger like this in 40 years. Referring to the elephant in the room, Trumps attitude towards CNN, he said nobody should be surprised that the question keeps coming up, because weve witnessed such an abrupt change in the application of antitrust law here.
Indian supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) will hold a public meeting in Sriperumbudur, a global auto and electronic hub about 40 km from Chennai on December 10, as part of the ICFIs campaign to free the Maruti Suzuki workers. In April, ICFI supporters organised a demonstration at the Sriperumbudur bus terminal against the Maruti Suzuki frame-up.

Thirteen workers from Japanese-owned Maruti Suzuki car assembly plant at Manesar, near Gurgaon, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, have been sentenced to life imprisonment on bogus murder charges. Eighteen other workers from the plant have been jailed for between three to five years on lesser charges.

Imprisonment of the 31 workers is the outcome of a frame-up jointly carried out by the company and Indian police and judicial authorities, with the full collaboration of Indias ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress Party. The Manesar workers were targeted because of their involvement in a series of militant struggles, including strikes, plant occupations and demonstrations, opposing the slave labour conditions at the plant.

Maruti Suzuki and the police seized on a management-provoked altercation on July 18, 2012, which resulted in a fire and the death of human resources manager Awanish Kumar Dev, to launch their witch-hunt. Following that incident, 148 workers were arrested and tried on various bogus charges. These included murder, arson, assault of company officials and damage to the plant. Thirty-one workers were convicted and sentenced last March.

The ruling elite is attempting to use the frame-up and jailing of the Maruti Suzuki workers to intimidate workers and send a clear signal to local and foreign investors about its commitment to maintain cheap labour conditions throughout India.

The ICFIs campaign in defence of the Maruti Suzuki workers is aimed at mobilising the independent political strength of the international working class and to secure the release of all the framed-up autoworkers. The ICFI calls on workers in India, and throughout South Asia and internationally, to join the struggle to defeat the frame-up and demand the immediate release of all the jailed Maruti Suzuki workers.

Sriperumbudur meeting will discuss the significance of this campaign and the political program and perspective on which it is based. We invite workers, youths, intellectuals and WSWS readers to attend the public meeting in Sriperumbudur.

Meeting speeches will be given in Tamil and English and streamed live via Facebook. A summary of the speeches will also be available in Hindi.

Date and time: Sunday, December 10, at 10 a.m.

Venue: Kalyana Mandapam, Thandonti Amman Temple

Near the Sriperumbudur Bus Terminal
Voters at polling booths in Inala, a working-class electorate in the Queensland state capital of Brisbane, expressed their hostility toward the existing economic and political order in speaking to Socialist Equality Party supporters last Saturday. The SEP campaigned at the voting stations for the partys public meeting in Brisbane on December 3 on the contemporary relevance of the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Inala is an ethnically diverse area with many recently-arrived immigrants and public-housing tenants. Alongside long-standing residents, about 55 percent of its population was born overseas, representing more than 20 different nationalities. It has suffered decades of poor services and high levels of poverty. Even on deliberately under-stated official figures, unemployment has remained at around 20 percent for years.

Since 2006, the electorate has been held by the Labor Partys Annastacia Palaszczuk, currently the state premier. She took over the seat from her father, Henry, a former state Labor government minister who sat in parliament for 22 years. Throughout that period, the conditions of its residents have only worsened.

Katie, who is employed as a domestic care provider, said life for the working class was getting harder and harder, with employers trying to pay workers less all the time. They want to pay just $20 an hour, so you are just struggling. You are working every day and just struggling to live.

I dont believe in the Labor Party anymore. Labor is supposed to be for the workers but nothing is made better for the workers We need a revolution, we just need to get everyone on board.

I read your leaflet [advertising the Russian Revolution centenary meeting] and it struck me straight away. Wow, whats that, the Russian Revolution? So I said, Im going to read that. I started reading it and said: Yeah! The working class rose up and took political power. They obviously got together and stuck together and got a good leader.

Thats what we need. Everyone getting together and not just talking about it but doing something about it. Thats what needs to happen. If it happened in Russia, it can happen anywhere. And if it happened then, it can happen now.

Katie explained what was occurring in her industry, the privatised domestic care industry, in which companies tender for government contracts to provide services. The companies are putting new immigrants into these jobs with little training. They are just passing them in their courses, giving them the answers.

The training companies are making a lot of money from everyone they put through that courselike $3,000 or $4,000 a person. Its not fair even on the workers themselves. They are being put into work without knowing anything.

I nearly fell into blaming the foreigners, like Pauline Hanson promotes. Its easy to blame the foreigners but you have to think again. Its not the workers faultthey just want to strive and get something better too. No one ever thinks about the bigger picture. The rich are sitting up on top and watching us squabble and just getting richer.

Margaret, a disability and aged care worker, said she was happy to go to the Russian Revolution centenary meeting because workers need unity. She explained that she arrived in Australia 16 years ago as a refugee from South Sudan, but conditions had deteriorated for working people since then.

We need a voice. The rich people forget us, they dont help us. We need help to get jobs, because many people cant find work now. The Labor Party is not about the workers. We come here to work hard.

I dont know who to vote for now! Its confusing. Things are just getting worse. When I came here, it was good at first but now it is worse and I am not happy with that. And we have politicians, like Pauline Hanson, blaming the refugees.

The living conditions are not good now, not like before. My brother, who had a stroke, cannot get proper care and Im so upset by that. Disability services are getting worse and a lot of people cannot get proper treatment in the hospitals. We talk, but nobody listens. Its very hard.

Luke, an unemployed worker, said the election gave the working class no choice at all. No one represented the interests of working people and the mass media created a reactionary atmosphere.

Its a system playing upon peoples prejudices. Ive seen the media teach people how to hate Muslims and Ive seen the media tell people to loathe gay people. Look at the governments marriage equality survey. It was a good result but it should not have even been a question put to a vote. That was bullying in itself.

Capitalism does need to be overthrown, and thats why people are pulling out of society. I dont know enough about the Russian Revolution. We were not told anything about this at school. The authorities still use the word communism like the n word, if I can put it that way.

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[27 November 2017]
After a Black Friday surge in Amazons stock value, CEO Jeff Bezos wealth surpassed the $100 billion mark, making him over $10 billion dollars richer than the worlds second wealthiest man, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.

The rise of the $100 billion man is a further milestone in the unprecedented growth of social inequality worldwide. Bezos wealth would make the robber barons of the 19th century green with envy.

In November, the Institute for Policy Studies found the three wealthiest billionaires owned as much as the poorest half of the United States. Thanks to Bezos, this study is already out of date, because the billionaire increased his wealth by roughly $20 billion since its publication. Worldwide, the five richest billionaires own as much wealth as half the worlds population, some 3.5 billion people.

Bezos acquired his wealth through the exploitation of his 300,000-strong international workforce. Amazon workers make as little as $233 per month in India, to an average of just $12.40 an hour in the United States. Workers toil for long hours with minimal safety protections, very limited benefits, and often in temporary or flex positions. In September, when 59-year-old Phillip Terry was crushed by a forklift at an Amazon facility near Indianapolis, the Department of Labor said the company might be forced to pay $28,000 in fines. Bezos makes this much each minute, more than his US employees make in a full year.

The company demands tribute from governments worldwide, requiring billions in tax breaks and free handouts in exchange for building its warehouses. Amazon is bringing back the company town of the late 19th century. It has forced over 200 American cities into a bidding war to lure the companys second headquarters with massive handouts. Chicago, for example, offered Amazon a $2.25 billion incentive package, while Stonecrest, Georgias city council voted to change its name to Amazon and appoint Bezos as mayor for life if the company grants them the second headquarters.

Bezos has transformed his corporation into a semi-official organ of the US military-intelligence apparatus. Just this month, Amazon and the CIA announced the launching of a new Secret Region cloud system where the company will host data for the CIA, NSA, Defense Department, and other military-intelligence agencies.

A CIA spokesmen recently called the 2013 $600 million deal between Amazon and the government the best decision we ever made. Earlier in November, the Senate approved a $700 billion defense spending bill that included an e-commerce portal amendment guaranteeing that Amazon will supply the military-intelligence apparatus with computers, chairs and other office supplies.

The $100 billion man has wielded his wealth to curry tremendous influence in the halls of power. Amazon has spent over $9.6 million lobbying the federal government this year. Bezos has used the pages of the Washington Post, which he bought in 2013, to advance the Democratic Partys agenda. The Post, under Bezos direction, has been a foremost advocate of the campaign against Russia, publishing in November 2016 the PropOrNot list, a false compilation of alleged Russian propaganda news agencies that included left-wing news web sites.

While Bezos accumulates a personal fortune by colluding with the military-intelligence agencies, the material needs of growing numbers of people are going unmet.

The UN estimates that it would cost $30 billion to solve world hunger by providing 862 million people with food for a year. The World Health Organization claims just $11 billion is needed to halve the number of people without access to clean water. Another UN study found that $26 billion would provide education to every child that does not receive one .

The Guttmacher Institute estimates that with $13 billion, free maternal and prenatal care could be provided for every mother in the developing world. It would cost $11 billion to house each of the 150,000 people who are homeless on a given night in the US. The cost of preventing 4 million malaria deaths would be $6 billion each year.

The total cost for these essential changes would be roughly $97 billion.

The accumulation of such immense wealth is proof that the conditions for the socialist transformation of the world are pregnant in the present situation.

In 1880, Friedrich Engels wrote in Socialism: Utopian and Scientific that for socialists, the abolition of classes is not a utopian dream. Rather, it presupposes, therefore, the development of production carried out to a degree at which appropriation of the means of production and of the products, and, with this, of political dominationby a particular class of society, has become not only superfluous but economically, politically, intellectually, a hindrance to development.

Engels continued: The socialized appropriation of the means of production does away, not only with the present artificial restrictions upon production, but also with the positive waste and devastation of productive forces and products that are at the present time the inevitable concomitants of production, and that reach their height in the crises. Further, it sets free for the community at large a mass of means of production and of products, by doing away with the senseless extravagance of the ruling classes of today, and their political representatives. The possibility of securing for every member of society, by means of socialized production, an existence not only fully sufficient materially, and becoming day-by-day more full, but an existence guaranteeing to all the free development and exercise of their physical and mental facultiesthis possibility is now, for the first time, here, but it is here.

Even more so today. The technological advances of the past quarter century and the international integration of the world economy have become weapons in the hands of massive corporations that control the world and its governments. On the one hand, the private ownership of these corporations facilitates the concentration of wealth. On the other hand, the contradiction between the global character of the world economy and the nation-state system is everywhere erupting in the form of war, dictatorship, and the expulsion of tens of millions of refugees from their homes.

The Socialist Equality Party demands that the major corporations be placed under international social control to be organized democratically by the workers themselves to meet the needs of society.

The vast wealth of the financial oligarchy, expressed in their ownership of massive corporations, must be seized and expropriated, while the complex technologies, supply chains, and advanced transportation systems must be integrated in an organized, planned manner to harness the anarchic force of the world economy and eliminate material scarcity.

Amazon is a prime example. Its supply lines and delivery systems could distribute goods across the world, bringing water, food, and medicine from each producer according to his or her ability, to each consumer according to his or her need.

The massively sophisticated computational power used by the technology companies to censor and blacklist political opposition could instead be used for logistical analysis to conduct rescue and rebuilding missions in disaster zones like Houston and Puerto Rico. Drones used in the battlefield could be scrapped and rebuilt to distribute supplies for building schools, museums, libraries, and theaters, and for making Internet service available at no cost for the entire world.

The ruling class and all of the institutions of the political establishment stand inexorably in the way of efforts to expropriate their wealth. What is required is to mobilize the working class in a political struggle against the state and the socio-economic system on which it is based, through the fight for socialism.
More than a thousand employees of the insolvent airline Air Berlin protested last Wednesday in front of Berlin Central Station to oppose mass layoffs. The workers were accompanied with family members and supporters from all over Germany

Insolvency proceedings were officially opened on 1 November, after Lufthansa agreed to take over 81 Air Berlin aircraft, plus Air Berlins landing rights at various airports. The British airline EasyJet secured another 20 aircraft. Other bidders that offered to take over the Air Berlin workforce were not taken into account by the insolvency administrator and the German government.

Demonstrators were angry and fiercely criticised the way the deal had been reached behind their backs by the German government, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr and Air Berlin CEO Thomas Winkelmann.

Both Lufthansa and EasyJet refused to take on the staff of Air Berlin. Instead employees are being told to reapply for jobs at Eurowings-Europe, a Lufthansa subsidiary based in Vienna, on terms well below their previous salaries.

The demonstration was organised by a group headed by a stewardess from Dusseldorf, Chantal Meyer, who has worked for the company since 2004. She spoke to the World Socialist Web Site at the rally held in front of the Chancellery in Berlin.

"We are currently in revocable release from work, which means we have nothing to do, a lot of time on our hands, and no income, unfortunately, because there are no funds left following bankruptcy proceedings." Affected are thousands of Air Berlin workers. Only around 1,700 employees of the Air Berlin subsidiary Niki, headquartered in Vienna, have retained their jobs.

Meyer organised the protest to demonstrate "that we will not be blackmailed into reapplying for our own jobs." Air Berlin workers applying for position as the rival cheap fare Eurowings company will face estimated wage cuts of 40 percent, and up to 50 to 60 percent for pilots, depending on professional experience.

Meyer and her supporters organised a petition to pressure Lufthansa and the UAE Etihad air company to take the Air Berlin workers and the companys aircraft. The petition had been signed by 46,123 persons prior to the rally.

The hopes of the protesters are based on paragraph 613a of the German Civil Code (BGB), which protects workforces in company takeovers--at least for a limited time. So far, Lufthansa has justified its refusal to abide by the code by arguing that the law only concerned the takeover of entire concerns, but not the transfer of parts of a company, such as the 81 Air Berlin aircraft.

During the rally, the petition was handed to Gregor Gysi, a leader of the Left Party in the German parliament, who was to hand it to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Responding to the WSWS's question as to why she placed her hopes in Gysi, a politician who had supported the privatisation of airport ground operations in Berlin ten years ago, which resulted in drastic cuts to pay and working conditions, Chantal Meyer naively responded, "The Gysi of today is not the Gysi of that time."

Gysi read his letter to Chancellor Merkel during the rally. It consisted of a worthless plea that she take seriously the indignation and despair of Air Berlin workers. Any hope among workers that such appeals will change the mind of the German chancellor is completely unfounded. Just this summer Merkel flew to Abu Dhabi, along with Lufthansa chief Spohr and Air Berlin CEO Winkelmann, to discuss a takeover of Lufthansa by the UAE airline Etihad, a move that would result in further attacks on airline workers.

In discussions with WSWS reporters, several protesters explained why many Air Berlin workers were not registering as unemployed with the Federal Labor Office, a fact that the news media has greeted with amazed disbelief.

Sabine who has worked as a flight attendant at Air Berlin for 17 years described the paradoxical situation. "We are revocable, which means theoretically we can be called back to work, although we have already been instructed to destroy our uniforms." In the event of an irrevocable release from work, she could apply for a job elsewhere or register as unemployed but she did not want to simply quit because "Then I would give up any rights I have to entitlements from Air Berlin", she explained. In addition, other airlines were not offering part-time employment. She has two small children and cannot accept full-time work.

"We have not seen much of the union since the bankruptcy", she replied when asked about the role of the Verdi public sector worker union in the labor dispute. "They should have been active much earlier, but Christine Behle [board member of Verdi] also sits on the supervisory board of Lufthansa," she said, before adding. "It all seems rather corrupt.

Sabine went on, Mr. Winkelmann was also with Lufthansa for a long time, before he became our CEO and was able to guarantee his salary with a bank guarantee of 4.5 million euros. He is also a good buddy of Carsten Spohr, the head of Lufthansa."

Daniela, a flight attendant for 15 years, said, "We have done all we can to save the airline for the past three months, since August. We knew it was faring badly, but we always thought that somebody would take care of us and we would obtain secure employment from the new purchasers of the planes. Now we know better. After three months came the so-called revocable release from work and now we are all out of a job", she concluded.

Along with Gregor Gysi, the deputy regional director of Verdi Berlin-Brandenburg, Roland Tremper, also addressed the rally. Tremper began by declaring, Our social system is defined by providing people with a perspective and giving workers and their families an opportunity to live a socially secure and peaceful life, he said, in remarks that bore little relation to reality.

After a number of accusations against the policy of the Federal Government and the irresponsibility of the company chiefs, Spohr and Winkelmann, Tremper admitted he was also chair of a management committee at the employment agency in Berlin. A week ago, he said, he received an application for mass layoffs of ground staff.

Tremper reported that he rejected any request to approve layoffs that came in the form of a written letter or a teleconference. Instead he demanded a face-to-face meeting so he could look others in the eye and see who was really willing to agree to the dismissal of hundreds of workers. In a few weeks, he would do the same when the application for the mass sacking of cabin crew staff arrived.

"I do not know if it helps. But whether it helps or not, we will not just do via the phone or at the warm desk, definitely not", he impotently declared.

Whether on the telephone, at the desk or via direct eye contact the decision remains the same, with devastating results for Air Berlin employees.
THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - Thomasville Police are investigating a weekend shooting involving two juvenile boys.

Police say it happened in a home in the 300 block of East Monroe Street just after 8 p.m. Saturday.

Police say the victim is 12-year-old boy who was shot in the head by a 15-year-old family member.

The 12-year-old boy was taken to Archbold Memorial Hospital then transported to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and is critical condition.

"It's still being investigated as an assault type of incident. As I said earlier we're still in the infant stages of the investigation. We're trying to outline the details of exactly what happened," said Maurice Holmes, Captain, Thomasville Police Department at a Sunday afternoon press conference.

Jamahni Williams says the 15-year-old charged, and the victim are his brothers.

Now, he simply hopes the victim will survive.

"You just got to pray to God and have faith," said Williams.

The 15-year-old boy is being held at the Regional Youth Detention Center.

He is facing three charges including, theft by receiving stolen property, firearm by a minor, and reckless conduct.

"It's heartbreaking any time you have a child going through something like this when you're exposed to it," explained Holmes, "Because, you know, you're talking about a 12-year-old. And I've done a lot of living since I was 12 and to think of the possibility of this child not being able to have that opportunity is disheartening."

The Thomasville Police Department is working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations on this case.

This is a developing story, WALB will bring you the latest updates as they come in.

Copyright 2017 WALB. All rights reserved.
LIVE OAK, Fla. (WTXL) -- A year ago Saturday, a Suwannee County man went missing in North Carolina. Since then, family and friends of Christopher "Cole" Thomas haven't stopped looking for him.

"We're searching. We're not giving up. We're praying," said aunt Darla Gatewood in a January 2017 interview with WTXL.

What happened to Cole Thomas? It's a question his family has been asking -- for an entire year.

"We search any road that we can possibly think that he could possibly be," said cousin Teresa Cruce in a March 2017 interview with WTXL.

Thomas was last seen in the city of Benson, North Carolina -- 500 miles away from his family in Live Oak, Suwannee County.

"My heart tells me that he's out there somewhere and we want him home," said grandmother Gwyn Herrington in a March 2017 interview with WTXL.

Answers have been hard to come by. Benson police say it's still an active invesitgation, but four men have been arrested -- each facing a felony concealment of a death charge.

"One of them guys know, and they need to tell," said father Chris Thomas in an interview with ABC affiliate WTVD. "They need to talk, and if this is the pressure they need, somebody needs to talk -- and they know."

The family enlisted the help of private investigator David Marshburn to help them find Thomas. Marshburn drove the same route of the car Thomas was riding in to get a better idea of where he might be.

"It's getting better, a whole lot better," Marshburn said in a phone interview with WTXL. "We're getting closer to the result of find where Cole is or what happened to him. So, I would say we are really, really close."

Marshburn says he's confident what happened to Thomas was "foul play," and the reality is the search is a recovery, not a rescue.

"If he was alive, he would've done anything and everything to try to contact his family," he said.

In October, police used ATVs and K9s to search a wooded area in Benson. While law enforcement continues to look for Thomas, so are his friends and family.

"We've searched inside of Benson, outside of Benson -- and we're still searching," Cruce said in March.

Thomas' friends and family released balloons Saturday afternoon in Benson. They conducted another search for Thomas over the weekend.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a challenge to a Florida law that bars people from openly carrying firearms in public, ending a case that started nearly six years ago when a man was arrested in St. Lucie County.

The U.S. Supreme Court, as is common, did not explain its reasons for declining to hear the case. But the move effectively let stand a Florida Supreme Court ruling in March that said the open-carry ban did not violate the constitutional right to bear arms.

The plaintiff in the case, Dale Norman, was arrested in February 2012 as he openly carried a gun in a holster. Norman, who had a concealed-weapons license, was found guilty of a second-degree misdemeanor, with a judge imposing a $300 fine and court costs, according to court documents.

Backed by the Second Amendment group Florida Carry, Norman challenged the constitutionality of the state's longstanding ban on openly carrying weapons. But the state's 4th District Court of Appeal and the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Norman, leading him to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, Norman's attorneys pointed to major rulings in Second Amendment cases from Chicago and Washington, D.C. and argued that the right to openly bear arms exists outside homes.

The Second Amendment provides in part that `the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.' This guarantees not only the right to `keep' arms, such as in one's house, but also to `bear arms,' which simply means to carry arms without reference to a specific place. When the Framers intended that a provision of the Bill of Rights related to a house, they said so, said the petition, filed in July and posted on the Florida Carry website.

But attorneys for the state wrote in a brief that the ban does not violate Second Amendment rights, as people can carry concealed weapons if they have licenses.

This (U.S. Supreme) Court has never held that the Second Amendment protects a right to openly carry firearms in public, and the reasoning set forth in pertinent caselaw supports the proposition that states fully accommodate the right to bear arms when they make available to responsible, law-abiding citizens some meaningful form of public carry, the state's brief said. That is precisely what Florida has done here. Thus, Florida's law is valid under any arguably applicable analytical framework.

State lawmakers have proposed measures that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms, but the proposals have not passed. Senate Judiciary Chairman Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican and prominent gun-rights supporter, said this month he did not plan to file such a measure for the 2018 legislative session, which starts in January.

 2017 The News Service of Florida. All rights reserved. Posting or forwarding this material without permission is prohibited. You can view the Terms of Use on our website.
There are a total of 21 accused in the cases registered in connection with the exploitation of the girl, who is aged 17.
You are the owner of this article.
Of the hundreds of millions of items for sale online, one of the least expensive and most unusual is the Madagascar hissing cockroach. You can get one for $5.95  plus shipping and handling. Best to order a few.
St George Banks latest Christmas Family Finances report examines the financial frustrations of Australian households over the holiday season.

Peak season school holiday rates were voted the countrys biggest pet peeve, followed by the money required for Christmas presents and the heftier grocery bill at the checkout.

The report  which was conducted by Pure Profile in October and polled 1,027 respondents aged 18 and over  said 31% of Australians wait until the last two to three months before Christmas to prepare their holiday budget. Moreover, 23% of respondents followed a yearly dedicated plan, 16.8% used credit cards to fund their expenses, and 12.5% split their expenses between credit cards and savings.

This Xmas season, dig deep into your pockets

When it comes to enjoying the holiday season, some households will go all out, with 18% of households budgeting over $2,000 for the entire season. Thirty-percent of households budget $2,000, and 21% of households budget up to $1,000 for the entire season.

Ross Miller, general manager of retail banking at St George Bank, encourages all Australians to follow the lead of the 23% of households who had a year-long savings plan in place to reduce any unnecessary stress during the holiday season.

More than a third of families are leaving it to the last minute to start saving, which is perhaps why they are feeling the pinch, he said.

For the 16% of households who will fund their expenses via credit cards, Miller said such spenders should know how much theyll need to set aside each week to pay off that amount in the New Year.

Our research found $543 was the average on Christmas gifts alone, but more than a third said they would spend up to $2000 over the entire season. So placing even $10-$20 away in a separate account each week, for example, may provide immense relief come November.

Single-parent families were less likely than co-parent families to fund their holiday expenses with credit cards, despite their childcare and household expenses being almost double over the holiday season. Instead, they were twice as likely to book holidays in groups and parent swap to save money on school holiday care.

Two in five Aussies said they would take a holiday this season, but only 10% of Aussies surveyed said they book their holidays more than six months in advance.

Last minute holiday planning goes hand-in-hand with paying the highest of peak season rates that are frustrating the nation. Often booking well ahead is much cheaper and can help relieve such holiday concerns, Miller said.

Top tips for making your dollar stretch

A third of respondents said the holiday season is stressful but manageable. To help others cope, they shared their top tips to help save over the silly season.

One in five households sell their belongings to help fund Christmas spending, and will use a Secret Santa system to save money on Christmas presents. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they start shopping for presents in July.

Grandparents are called by 50% of families to reduce childcare expenses, while the other 50% will use all of their annual leaves or tag team with their partner.

The research indicates families with kids at home have a lot more stress, showing they are twice as likely to be working extra hours or a second job to fund this time of year, Miller said. We would encourage such families to be realistic about their holiday expenses and talk to their financial institution about setting up a dedicated savings plan a year in advance.

Related Stories:

Christmas Can Leave Landlords Thousands Of Dollars Out Of Pocket

Despite Challenges, Investors Remain Bullish
News

Atlanta, Georgia - Gregory McLeod, 44, of Atlanta, Georgia, a former correctional officer with the rank of lieutenant at the U. S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, pleaded guilty today to abusing an inmate by punching him in his face without any justification. McLeod also admitted that he intentionally obstructed a federal investigation into the matter by writing a false incident report.

A correctional officer should never resort to violence or violate an inmates constitutional right to protection from unreasonable force, no matter the circumstance, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. The Department of Justice will not tolerate any abuse of an individuals civil rights under the law, or any effort to obstruct justice.

Working in a correctional facility is stressful and often dangerous work, said U.S. Attorney Byung J. BJay Pak. However, McLeod made an unnecessary and unconstitutional assault on an inmate, and then filed a false report to cover it up. An abuse of the power by any law enforcement officer is unacceptable."

No correctional officer is above the law, said James F. Boyersmith, Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector Generals (OIG) Miami Field Office. The DOJ OIG takes allegations of civil rights violations and false statements very seriously. We appreciate the diligent efforts of our fellow law enforcement partners that assisted us in investigating this matter.

This guilty plea of former U.S. Bureau of Prisons Lieutenant McLeod was triggered by key and credible allegations of inmate abuse by prison staff, said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office. While the FBI would like to remind the public that the vast majority of those working within our nations correctional facilities consistently conduct themselves admirably under often harsh conditions, the FBI does have a duty to investigate and present for prosecution those corrections officers or staff members who abuse their authority and positions.

According to the charging and court documents, McLeod, who worked as a supervisor at the prison, strip-searched an inmate in the lieutenants office in front of three other correctional officers. McLeod admitted that after the inmate complained that the strip-search was taking too long, he punched the inmate in his face without justification. McLeod also admitted that after the assault, he wrote an incident report and a separate memorandum about the encounter in which McLeod falsely claimed that the inmate swung a closed fist at him and attempted to assault other officers before the inmate was restrained.

Sentencing for McLeod will be on February 20, 2018, before U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones.

This case was investigated by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and Atlanta Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brent Alan Gray and Trial Attorney Mary J. Hahn of the Civil Rights Division.
New Delhi: PV Sindhu's Chennai Smashers will take on Saina Nehwal's Awadhe Warriors in the opening match of the third edition of Vodafone Premier Badminton League on December 23.

The first leg will take place in new entrants North Eastern Warriors' hometown, Guwahati, who enter the arena on the very second day to face the might of Carolina Marin's Hyderabad Hunters.

The 23-day long league has carefully been laid out, with only tie lined up each day at prime time to give the players and teams enough time to recover for their next encounter.

"This is going to be an exciting edition of the PBL, the world's biggest badminton league," Atul Pandey, Managing Director, Sportzlive said.

"It's a longer tournament, with eight teams in fray. Virtually all the best players have signed up too, which makes it the one and only true world league in the country," he added.

A bevy of top players, including men's No. 1 Victor Axelson (Bengaluru Blasters) and women's No.1 Tai Tzu-Ying (Ahmadabad Smash Masters), will be seen in action during this badminton extravaganza.

After four days of intense battles in Guwahati the bandwagon shifts to Delhi.

Delhi will see five ties, with the Delhi Dashers enjoying the benefit of playing two matches at home. They will hope to pick up maximum points against Bengaluru Blasters and Hyderabad Hunters to make it at least to the semifinals this year.

The next stop will be the 'City of Nawabs' Lucknow. Victor Axelson's Bengaluru Blasters will clash with San Wan- Ho's Mumbai Rockets to ring in the New Year. Four ties have been slotted here, giving North Eastern Warriors and Hyderabad Hunters a solid four-day break.

The PBL will move to the warmer climes of Chennai on January 5 for the penultimate leg. The battles are expected to reach fever-pitch by then, with every team scrambling for points and a place in the knockout stage.

After an intense five-day stint, the players will shift to Hyderabad on January 10. Only two ties have been lined up here, with the Dashers meeting the Warriors and the Hunters the Blasters.

The semifinals will take place on January 12 and 13 followed by the final, which will be held the very next day, on January 14.
PATNA: The security cover of former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has been downgraded by the Centre. Yadav, who had been assigned Z Plus-category security with commandos from the NSG (National Security Guard) h as now been given Z -category security.



All NSG personnel in Lalu Prasad Yadavs detail will be withdrawn and the CRPF will be responsible for providing the security cover now. This is also an aberration as Z-category protectees are usually covered by the state police personnel.



Lalu Prasad Yadavs son and former Bihar minister, Tej Pratap reacted angrily to the development.

#WATCH: Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap responds to question on his father's security downgrade, says, 'Narendra Modi Ji ka khaal udhedva lenge' pic.twitter.com/FER7rIBjoK  ANI (@ANI) 27 November 2017

The junior Yadav said: God forbid, should any harm befall Lalu Prasad Yadav, Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar would be to blame for it.



Tej Pratap has threatened to have the Prime Minister flayed and said it was a conspiracy to murder his father.

          ,    ,     



       @laluprasadrjd               ..  Tej Pratap Yadav (@TejYadav14) 27 November 2017

The Union Home Ministry has also withdrawn the security cover provided to former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. Manjhi was in the Z-Plus category and had CRPF cover. Hell depend on the Bihar Police for his security. The state government has assigned personnel of the Special Security Group (SSG) which will continue as a part of Jitan Ram Manjhis detail.

Tej Pratap Yadavs Little Threat to Sushil Modi

Tej Pratap Yadav, who had allegedly threatened to disrupt the wedding of Sushil Modi's son, on Sunday said he was "not a criminal or terrorist" and the Bihar Deputy chief minister should continue with the function "without any worry or fear".

His remarks came a day after the Deputy CM's office announced that the venue of the December 3 wedding had been changed to Veterinary College ground (near Patna airport) from Shakha Maidan in Rajendra Nagar due to "security reasons".



In the video that surfaced last week, Yadav was seen delivering a speech in Aurangabad and saying: "I have been invited by Sushil Modi to attend the wedding of his son. If I go there I will expose him in public."

On Sunday, RJD chief Lalu Yadav said Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modis apprehensions were unfounded. What kind of deputy CM is Sushil Modi? He is afraid of a little threat from Tej. My son doesnt have such bad values that he will cause problems at someones wedding,  he quipped.

(With PTI inputs)
Bettiah: Local administration in Bihar is in the midst of a controversy. As per reports, just ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's visit a school, which was set up Kasturba Gandhi in Bettiah district, was spruced up.

The occasion was the completion of hundred years of the school. Among other things, new desks for students were hired on rent. The Bihar CM inspected the school and met the students on November 20, 2017. He even planted tree saplings there.

However, later on, the desks were taken away. This lead to protests by students who are demanding better facilities.

They had the good fortune of having a desk for some seven odd days. Now, like before, the students are forced to sit on the floor and study.

As per Zee Media, even the teachers are clueless as to why the desks were taken away.



Before Nitish's arrival, the school is said to have received Rs 22 lakh as funds.


Kolkata: Various organisations associated with the Bengali film industry will observe a "blackout" on Monday in solidarity with the makers of Bollywood film "Padmavati" and to protest against the attempts by certain groups to stall its release.

There will be a total halt in work in the Bengali film industry from 12 noon to 12.15 pm on Tuesday in every studio and across all the shooting locations in West Bengal as a mark of protest, filmmaker Goutam Ghosh and Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee said at a press meet today.

The protest is being called a "blackout", said industry organisations, including the Eastern India Motion Picture Directors Association, the Artist Forum and the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers, who were present at the press meet.

Ghosh described the protests against the Bollywood film, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, as "extremely unfortunate".

"Let there be a debate after the film is released to judge what is real history and what is fiction," he said.

"There have been so many interpretations of Rajasthan's history in works of art. Can you muzzle art? Judging the contents of a film is within the purview of the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification), not certain groups," the director of critically acclaimed Bengali film "Moner Manush" said.

Criticising the alleged statement of a Haryana BJP leader about causing physical harm to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for coming out in support of Bhansali and the producer of "Padmavati", Viacom 18, Ghosh said, "At certain moments, we feel that we are moving back to the medieval times."

Chatterjee said, with the call for a blackout, the Bengali film industry wanted to convey the message that the entire film fraternity stood for creative freedom.

"Do these protests (against "Padmavati") indicate that the directors will not enjoy a creative freedom while making films? Certain states are banning "Padmavati" without even knowing what its contents are. Will the directors be required to get their scripts endorsed by certain individuals from now on, even before sending the film to the CBFC for a preview?" the superstar wondered.

Yesterday, the Indian Films and TV Directors Association (IFTDA), along with 19 other bodies of the film and television industry from across the country, had stopped shooting for 15 minutes and participated in a similar protest called "Main Azaad Hoon? (Am I free?)" at the Film City in Mumbai.

Many Rajput groups have been up in arms against Bhansali's film, alleging that it distorts history by featuring a romantic dream sequence between Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji, a claim repeatedly denied by Bhansali.

The makers of the film, which features Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in the lead roles, have already deferred its release from December 1 till further notice.

Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (all ruled by the BJP) have expressed reservations about the film and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has said his government will not allow the release of "Padmavati" in the state as it hurts the sentiments of the Rajput community.
Mumbai: Global streaming video service Netflix has teamed up with Bollywood producer Ronnie Screwvala to release "Love Per Square Foot", which features Vicky Kaushal and Angira Dhar.



The film is being touted as the first mainstream production from India to be made available on the streaming site, read a statement.



"Love Per Square Foot" is a quirky romantic comedy that chronicles a guy and girl who enter a marriage of convenience to buy a flat in Mumbai. Critically acclaimed actors Ratna Pathak, Supriya Pathak and Raghuvir Yadav also feature in prominent roles in the film.



"Love Per Square Foot" is the feature directorial debut of film and stage personality Anand Tiwari. It is Screwvala's first solo production venture after departing from UTV Motion Pictures. Screwvala is co-producing the film under his banner RSVP, along with Still and Still Moving Pictures.



"How, where and when great stories are watched is changing every day. Our younger audiences chose their mediums. We love to disrupt and innovate in this space and this is a first of its kind for South Asia," Screwvala said.



"We are thrilled to come together with Netflix and break new ground by reaching film-lovers around the world directly with Netflix," he added.



Reed Hastings, founder and CEO, Netflix, said: "We're always looking for stories that bring joy to Netflix members, and 'Love Per Square Foot' is a gem that we're proud to have on the service. RSVP is a visionary partner, and we want to continue working with them and the best of Bollywood to deliver compelling stories to consumers around the world."



"Love Per Square Foot" will be available on Netflix early 2018 globally.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a petition of a woman who claimed to be the daughter of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also refused to allow the plea of the woman to conduct DNA test for the purpose of proving her parentage.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the woman, had also sought cremation of Jayalalithaa as per Hindu rites since she was an Iyengar Brahmin.

The court, however, said the petitioner is at liberty to approach the high court.
Raipur: A court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district on Monday extended till December 11 the judicial custody of senior journalist Vinod Verma, arrested in connection with a case of alleged blackmailing and extortion.

The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhavesh Kumar Watti extended the judicial remand of Verma till December 11. This is for the second time that his judicial remand has been extended, the journalist's lawyer Faisal Rizvi told reporters.

Verma was produced in the court after his judicial remand ended today, he said.

Following the journalist's arrest on October 27 from his Ghaziabad residence by the Chhattisgarh Police, he was sent to judicial custody on October 31 for 14 days. Later, his judicial remand was extended up to November 27.

After his arrest, Verma had said that he had a sex tape of a Chhattisgarh minister.

According to the Raipur police, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station based on a complaint by a BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who said he "was being harassed over the phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his 'aka' (master)".

After investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was held from Ghaziabad in this connection, the police had said and also claimed to have recovered 500 "porn" CDs, a pen drive and a laptop from him.

The Chhattisgarh government had recommended a CBI probe.
NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today launched a broadside against the BJP, accusing it of "polarising" the country, and said the saffron party has realised the goal of Pakistan of dividing the nation in just three years of its rule.

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Kejriwal said the AAP is "not like a Napolean" whose intention is to win every state election, but its real purpose is to change the system.

"The country is going through a difficult time. The BJP is trying to divide the country by pitting Hindus against Muslims and Muslims against Hindus. What could be the biggest dream of Pakistan other than seeing India divided?" Kejriwal said.

He said the BJP is trying to weaken the country by polarisation.

"What Pakistan and ISI could not do in 70 years, the BJP has done in three years," he said, adding that those who were trying to create this divide were "ISI agents and traitors disguising as nationalists".

Kejriwal was addressing Aam Aadmi Party volunteers at the party's national convention on the occasion of its fifth anniversary at the Ram Lila Maidan here.

Scores of AAP volunteers and party leaders from several parts of the country were present for the national convention. Kumar Vishwas, who has had an uneasy relationship with the party leadership, also addressed the crowd.

The chief minister also raised questions about the death of CBI court judge B H Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case in which Amit Shah was prime accused, and said even judges were not safe under the BJP rule.

"The circumstances in which Loya was found dead have raised various questions," he said.

Urging people in the poll-bound Gujarat to "uproot" the BJP, Kejriwal said the entire nation was looking at Gujarat and praying for the BJP's defeat. The AAP is contesting in a few seats in the western state.

"Voters should vote for a candidate or party that is winning and capable of defeating the BJP. Our aim is to uproot the BJP. Make sure that the BJP loses," he told the gathering.

Kejriwal claimed that the BJP is the "father" of the UPA in corruption.

"We gathered five years back in the same place and protested against the UPA for its corruption. Nothing has changed. The BJP has become the father of UPA in terms of corruption," Kejriwal said citing the Panama Papers revelations and the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh.
Kolkata: For West Bengal to be on the industrial growth path again, the state would have to change its image in the first place and make it sustainable in the minds of the investors, former Infosys director T V Mohan Das Pai said.

He said that although the present Trinamool government is trying to change the image, there was a need also to change the mindset of the perception of the investors.

"West Bengal has to first change its image first. The change of image is happening now, but it needs to be seen whether this change is sustainable or not", Pai told PTI on the sidelines of Horasis Asia meeting here today.

Pai said West Bengal has to grow for the benefit of the eastern region.

"If West Bengal does not grow, the entire eastern region will suffer", he said.

Saying that Singur was a big setback when Tata Motors abandoned the Nano small car project, Pai said former Left Front chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya started the drive towards industrialisation which was very encouraging.

"But what happened in Singur was a big setback for the state", Pai said, adding that "I am personally impressed with what is happening at the moment".

"Had the Tatas had come in the state, West Bengal could have become an automobile centre", he said.

Pai maintained that there was a need for big companies to come and become anchor investors.

Comparing the approach towards industrialisation of the Left Front and present Trinamool Congress governments, Pai said the former dispensation had opposed industrialisation ideologically and the state lost its place as one of the top industrial base.

"On the other hand, the present government is trying to revive that lost glory", he said, adding that industry in West Bengal must have faith in the government by interacting with them and incentivising them to invest more.

Pai, president of AIMA, said that the main focus of the state government would on areas like tourism, innovation and start-ups, future technology like 3D printing, robotics, machine learning, big data, stem cell research and setting up of labs in good universities.
New Delhi: A Chinese man has proposed a bizarre plan to tackle the rising smog situation in Beijing.

He is thinking about involving 1.5 million people with hand-held fans to tackle the capital city's smog, a media report said.



The man, Du filed an application with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) in March this year in the hopes of turning his 'fan-away smog plan' into reality, the Global Times report said.



According to Du's calculations, the plan could move more than 1 trillion cubic meters of air over the distance of a metre, enough to disperse Beijing of its smog.



All it would take would be 1.5 million residents fanning at the same time in one direction for an hour.



Du touted the method as a low-cost, effective solution to China's smog problem, the Global Times reported.



However, it seems unlikely Du will have his day.



An SIPO official said that the application was in the initial stages and not under "essential review," which could take up to 18 months.



Most applications do not make it past this stage, the official said.

"If the applicant does not submit a review request within three years, the application will be withdrawn."

(With IANS inputs)
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi continues to take jibe on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections. A day when PM Modi addressed four rallies in the state, the Gandhi scion took to Twitter saying Chehre par shikan, maathe par paseena, dare dare se saheb nazar aate hain (stress on the face, sweat on the forehead, the saheb seems afraid).

The Congress leader further made reference to the allegations against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shahs son Jay Shah and Rafale deal, questioning the silence of Prime Minister Modi.

This came just two days after the Gandhi scion said that the Prime Minister did not want the truth on Jay Shah and Rafale deal to be out before the Gujarat assembly elections. He had said that Modi must answer the questions before the country.

Earlier on Monday, PM Modi had said at a rally in Gujarat that the battle in the state was between vikas and vanshvaad. The BJP leader also hit back at the Congress vice president over the latters hugplomacy remark.

He also attacked the Gandhi scion over the latters recent tweet on the release of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Hafiz Saeed, accusing him of clapping when a terrorist was set free.

This was in response to Gandhis tweet saying, Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed.

"A Pakistani court released a Pakistani terrorist and the Congress is celebrating and calling it our failure. I don't know why they are celebrating this," he said.

The prime minister further lashed out at the Congress vice-president and said that at a time when Doklam standoff was going on between India and China "they were hugging the Chinese ambassador," alluding to Rahul Gandhi.

Questioning the leadership of the Congress regime, the prime minister compared the steps taken by his government during the Uri attack and previous dispensation post 26/11 Mumbai attack.

"India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri. You can see how India responded in the wake of both attacks. We conducted surgical strikes after Uri attack but did Congress do anything after Mumbai in 2008? This is the difference in leadership of their Government and ours," he added.
AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday kick-started his election campaign in the poll-bound Gujarat, where he addresses back-to-back four rallies.

While addressing the rallies in Bhuj in Kutch district, Jasdan in Rajkot, Chalala in Amreli and Kadodara near Surat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) star campaigner hit out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and took on the opposition Congress on issues related to China, Lashkar-e-Toiba's Hafiz Saeed, the surgical strike as well as corruption.

Following are the key quotes from PM Modi's rallies:

On the 'chaiwala' meme posted by the Youth Congress and his humble origins, PM said, "Yes, I sold tea but not the nation".

"The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become Prime Minister. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not commit the sin of selling the nation," PM Modi said.

Attacking the Congress, the Prime Minister said: "You (opposition) dare to come to Gujarat and say things against the son of Gujarat? Will any Gujarati forgive people who make charges against the son of Gujarat? No Gujarati will endure this insult. This is my mother and I am its son."

Modi hit back at the Congress over the 'hugplomacy' jibe by Rahul Gandhi, saying, "When the Indian Army was standing eye-to-eye with Chinese at Doklam for 70 days, you were hugging the Ambassador of China. When the Indian soldier stood for the country, you were hugging the Chinese Ambassador. For whom? I am asking you a question," he said.

He accused the Congress vice president of applauding the release of a terrorist in Pakistan and asked why he hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Dokalam standoff.

"You are happy to hug the Chinese ambassador, you are clapping at the release of Hafiz Saeed, you cannot respect Indian Army's surgical strike... But why did you speak about it? You could have just remained silent," he said in Bhuj, not specifying how and where Gandhi had hailed Saeed's release.

Gandhi had recently tweeted: "Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed."

The tweet had come after the release of LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Saeed by a Pakistan court.

The BJP leader also took pot shots at Arvind Kejriwal saying, Some years back, a new party (AAP) came to power in Delhi. At that time, people thought that good days will come. Now, that person has a habit of running away after throwing a stone on someone, hiding away after abusing someone and going away after spitting on someone."
The upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections is being considered the semi final of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, with the focus of the whole country on the poll-bound state. The election has gained more significance as it is the first election after 15 years when Narendra Modi is not the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Till now, Gujarat has evaluated Modi as the Chief Minister of the state, but this is the first time that the home state of the leader will take a decision on his functioning as the Prime Minister of the country.

In recent past, PM Modi has taken two major economic decisions  demonetisation and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Gujarat is the land of traders and the country is waiting to see the impact of these economic decisions in the voting pattern in the state.

With the opposition terming the GST as Gabbar Singh Tax and calling demonetisation a failure, the results of the Gujarat elections is highly anticipated.

But what is the decision of more than 4 crore voters in Gujarat? What is the BJPs strategy to keep the votes intact? And what is the masterplan of the Congress party to woo the voters? What is the political strategy of the Patidar community? Is it a GST test for Modi or is it another examination for Rahul Gandhi before his elevation as Congress president? Or has reservation become the biggest poll issue?

Indias largest news network Zee News is bringing the biggest show and the most detailed discussion on the Gujarat elections 20 days before the results.

More than 50 political giants will participate in the Game of Gujarat. Big names from across party lines  BJP president Amit Shah, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala, Partidar leader Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakore and Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goel  will participate in the show.

The platform is certain to explain the mood of the voters and also give a hint about who would form the next government in Gujarat.
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Congress spokesperson Rekhaben Chaudhary on Sunday quit her primary membership of the party, giving up all party posts.

Chaudhary's move comes just weeks ahead of the first phase of polling in the Gujarat Assembly election.

The reason behind Chaudhary's resignation is not clear. Media reports suggest she is unhappy with ticket distribution.

The Congress is not the only party suffering from last minute resignations of notable leaders. The BJP has suffered too. Last week, BJP leader and former MP Kanjibhai Patel resigned from the party along with his son, Sunil Patel.

Miffed over the ticket distribution, the father-son duo took the unexpected step on the last day of nomination for the first phase of elections.

Both parties continue to announce their list of candidates. The Congress has announced its nominees for 166 of the 182 seats. The BJP, on the other hand, has announced nominees for 148 seats.



The Congress is locked in a bitter battle with the BJP. The Grand Old Party will be looking to improve on past performances and increase its share of both votes and seats ahead of Rahul Gandhis ascension as party president. For the BJP, the election seems to be turning into a prestige battle, with the retention of the party base the prime concern.

Polling in Gujarat will take place in two phases  for 89 seats on December 9, and 93 seats on December 14. Counting of votes will be held on December 18, along with the process for Himachal Pradesh, which voted on November 9.
Ahmedabad: The AAP on Monday said it will not field any candidate against Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who is contesting election from the Vadgam Assembly constituency in Gujarat as an Independent with the Congress's support.

The Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district is reserved for scheduled castes.

"The AAP has decided not to field any candidate from Vadgam from where Dalit protest leader Jignesh Mevani is contesting as an Independent candidate.

"Looking at the appeal made by him, the party believes that the contest should be between the BJP and Jignesh Mevani," the party said in a statement.

The Congress has supported Mevani's candidature and asked its sitting MLA Manibhai Vaghela not to contest from the seat as part of an agreement reached with the Dalit leader.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal extended best wishes to the 34-year-old Dalit activist. "Best wishes, Jignesh," Kejriwal today wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Mevani had also taken to Twitter to announce his candidature. He wrote, "Friends, I'm contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win."

"All political parties opposed to the BJP are saying that Jignesh Mevani is a symbol of struggle against the ruling BJP, and they believe the contest should be between these two people only.

"We have appealed to all political parties to support me," Mevani told reporters.

The AAP has so far announced candidates for over 30 assembly seats in Gujarat. The Delhi-headquartered party has maintained its contest is with the ruling BJP.
AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released the sixth list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections.

So far, the party has announced nominees 182 seats. Today has been scheduled as the last date for filing nomination for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly polls.

On November 24, the party announced its fifth list of candidates that included prominent patidaar leaders and a few fresh faces.

The party's candidates' list also includes incumbent Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

BJP had declared its first list of candidates with 70 names, the second list with 36 names and the third list with 28 names.

The fourth list released on November 21 contained only one name. Piyushbhai Desai has been named as the party's candidate from Navsari.

Both the BJP and the Congress are locked in a bitter contest.

Polling in Gujarat will take place in two phases  for 89 seats on December 9, and 93 seats on December 14. Counting of votes will be held on December 18, along with the process for Himachal Pradesh, which voted on November 9.
AHMEDABAD: Addressing a large gathering in poll-bound Gujarat's Bhuj, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he is grateful for all the mudslinging as lotus blooms in the mud.

"Overwhelmed me with affection shown by the people of Kutch," said the PM.

"Interacting with people gives me unparalleled joy. Every moment of my life is devoted to the welfare of India and 125 crore Indians," tweeted PM Modi ahead of his rally.

Later in the day, he will address three more rallies which will be held in Jasdan, Dhari and Kamrej.

The Prime Minister requested the crowd to bless BJP candidates and vote for them.

Here are the highlights of the Prime Minister's speech:

- We are not here for power, we are here for 125 crore Indians. We want to take India to new heights of glory: PM Modi

- Congress is unhappy about demonetisation. They keep attacking me but I want to tell them... I have grown up on the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted: PM

- India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri. You can see how India responded in wake of both attacks. This explains the difference between their Government and ours. Indian Express reported that on that side, dead bodies were taken in trucks so at least you (Congress) don't lie: PM Modi

Pakistan ne apne ek kaedi ko chor diya toh woh humari failure ki tarah dekha ja raha hai. Humne #Doklam mein jo kiya, par unhone ne ja kar Chinese ambassador ko gale lagaya: PM Modi in #Gujarat's Kutch pic.twitter.com/HTna2Igvn9  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

- I was asked why don't you name Nehru in your speeches, So I asked Congress leaders to give me in writing the names of their own party Presidents, but they don't remember the ones like Bose and Kamraj, when they don't remember names of their own how'll they understand Gujarat: PM

- When earthquake struck Kutch region in 2001, Atal Bihar Vajpayee sent me to the region to work with its people and that taught me a lot: PM Modi

- When big earthquakes take place people say see this building has fallen but in Kutch people say this school, this hospital, these buildings were made after the earthquake. All this was done on war footing by the army of Kutch which consists of its people: PM

#Kutch ek aisi jagah hai jahan ek taraf registaan hai aur doosri taraf Pakistan hai. Kisi ne socha nahi tha ki yahan kheti bhi ho sakti hai par yahan dariya tak le aaye: PM Modi in Gujarat pic.twitter.com/GAKpXBswwn  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

- Congress had insulted Sardar Patel, people of Gujarat still forgave them but they will no longer tolerate any attack on their prestige: PM Modi

- Officers did not want to get posted to Kutch region as the water here was black in colour. Congress did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch region. What if the Narmada waters had come to Kutch 30 years earlier? It would have made such a big different: PM

- Gujarat is my soul and mother, my relationship with you is that of equality since you call me brother: PM

- I am grateful for all the 'kichad' being thrown at me, after all, a lotus blooms only in 'kichad' so, I don't mind if more is thrown at me: PM Narendra Modi
AHMEDABAD: Addressing a rally in Rajkot's Jasdan in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said their style is to abuse and run away.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had addressed a public gathering in Bhuj. He will address two more rallies which will be held in Dhari and Kamrej.

Ahead of the rallies, PM Modi took to Twitter and said, "Interacting with people gives me unparalleled joy. Every moment of my life is devoted to the welfare of India and 125 crore Indians."

Here are the highlights of the Prime Minister's speech:

- The solution to all problems is development. Development has to be continuous. We want to work even more for the people of Gujarat: PM

- I request the Congress not to mock the poor and my poor origins: PM

'Ye maati meri maa hai zindagi laga doonga iska karz chukane mein': PM Modi #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/soHIzQoyhQ  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

- The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation: PM

- When Keshubhai Patel, a son of Saurashtra became the CM the Congress tried everything to dislodge him. They repeated the same disruptive tactic with Anandiben Patel, a daughter of the Patel Community. Congress has defamed Gujarat always: PM Modi

- It was with the support of the Jan Sangh that a person from the Patel Community, Babubhai Patel became CM. Congress did not like this and ensured that Babubhai Jashbhai's government did not last: PM

- There was a person who led a life of discipline on Mahatma Gandhi's ideals, a disciplined and hard-working son of the soil just like Sardar Patel but he had the same 'flaw' of being a Gujarati, so he was not allowed to stay in national politics by them (Congress): PM Modi

- A new party came up in Delhi, whose style is to keep abusing and running away. I thought Congress, being an older party would not indulge in such politics but they have also taken this shortcut in the past two months and only hurled abuses and lies: PM Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday went on an offensive against his rivals in poll-bound Gujarat as he addressed rallies in several regions, including Bhuj and Rajkot. While he asked the Congress party to not mock his poor origin, the Prime Minister took a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party saying it was there style to abuse and run away.

Targeting the Congress party at his rally in Rajkots Jasdan, the Prime Minister said that he is disliked by the opposition party because of his poor origins. Launching a scathing attack, the Prime Minister hit back at the Congress over chai wala jibe, saying, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation.

"The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation," said the Prime Minister.

PM Modi also attacked the Congress over the issue of demonetisation, claiming he would ensure that the poor get their dues.

"Congress is unhappy about demonetisation. They keep attacking me but I want to tell them... I have grown up on the same land as Sardar Patel. I will ensure that the poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted," he said.

He also accused the Congress of disrespecting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, adding that the people of Gujarat still forgave them, but they will no longer tolerate any attack on their prestige.

Pitching the battle of Gujarat as one between vikas and vanshvaad, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader hit back at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi over his hugplomacy remark, asking who hugged the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam standoff.

He also attacked the Gandhi scion over the latters recent tweet on the release of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Hafiz Saeed, accusing him of clapping when a terrorist was set free.

This was in response to Gandhis tweet saying, Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani. Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LeT. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed.

Modi further asserted that the BJP was contesting the assembly elections in Gujarat on the issue of development. He said, The solution to all problems is development. Development has to be continuous. We want to work even more for the people of Gujarat.
NEW DELHI: Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has expressed hope of a judicially acceptable way for the Jat community to get the reservation it has been demanding. The statement came even as two massive rallies of Jat organisation took place to press the reservation demand.



The ongoing Jat quota stir had in 2016 brought life to a standstill in Haryana. This had a ripple effect on connectivity and water supply in the national capital. The BJP government at the Centre and in Haryana have been grappling with the issue since.



"There is a chance that we will get reservation, and also get through the judicial scrutiny. When Gujjars and Yadavs can get reservation then why can't we," Chaudhary Birender Singh said to news agency ANI.



However, the statement seemed to do little to dampen the force of the protests. "If the Haryana government does not agree to our demands, then we will hold a protest and many will come to Delhi on tractors and trolleys for the protest," Yashpal Malik was quoted as saying on Monday morning.



On Friday, the Haryana government had suspended mobile internet services in 13 out of the 22 districts of the state. The internet ban lapsed at midnight on Sunday.



This move was aimed at maintaining law and order ahead of the two public rallies of Jat leader Yashpal Malik and BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini in Rohtak and Jind respectively.



Section 144 of the CrPC was also imposed that limit the assembly of more than four people at a public place in Sonepat and Charkhi Dadri districts.
Los Angeles: "Blade Runner 2049" director Denis Villeneuve defended his film against criticism of sexism and said the world is not kind to women.



Villeneuve said the Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford-starrer is simply a reflection of the modern world, reports dailymail.co.uk.



"Cinema is a mirror of society. Blade Runner' is not about tomorrow; it's about today. And I'm sorry, but the world is not kind on women," Villeneuve told Vanity Fair magazine.



"Blade Runner 2049" explores the complex relationships between humans and machines, but some critics are saying it doesn't do enough to give its female characters a rich inner life.



"I am very sensitive to how I portray women in movies. This is my ninth feature film and six of them have women in the lead role," Villeneuve said.
HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metro, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate on Tuesday, has come a long way since the idea was hatched. It has had to cross many hurdles, from default by the first promoter to issues with land acquisition.

The project, touted to be the world's largest public-private partnership, also suffered from uncertainty over the alignment of the lines.

Here is a timeline of how the troubled project has now become reality:

May 2007 : Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited formed.

September 2008: Agreement signed between government of undivided Andhra Pradesh and Maytas Metro Ltd (MML).

July 2009: Agreement with MML terminated as fallout of Satyam scam.

July 2010: Bidding for the project open again.

September 2010: L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited (LTMRHL) signs agreement with state government.

January 2011: 104 acres of land at Uppal allotted for project.

March 2012: Government hands over 104 acres of land for Miyapur Depot.

April 2012: LTMRHL begins ground works.

November 2012: Formal inauguration of Metro Rail works by then Andhra Pradesh CM Kiran Reddy.

May 2013: Final approval of Rs 1,458 crore funding by Centre.

September 2014: Alignment of three corridors of Hyderabad Metro notified under Central Metro Acts by Centre.

January 2015: Railway Board approves signalling and telecom system for the project.

April 2016: Nagole-Mettuguda section, with distance of 8.05 km, authorised to be open for public use by Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS).

August 2016: CMRS clears Miyapur-SR Nagar section for passenger use.

July 2017: Timeline for project completion revised; new target set for November 30, 2018.

November 20, 2017: Mettuguda-Ameerpet section receives safety nod from CMRS.

November 28, 2017: Hyderabad Metro scheduled for inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(With inputs from PTI)
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been slapped with a notice of Rs 30.67 crores by the Income Tax Department. The taxman wants AAP to explain alleged discrepancies in donations by December 7.

The notice for tax assessment for financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16 has pegged the AAP's taxable income at Rs 68.44 crore. According to the notice, the political party has not disclosed donations worth Rs 13 crore.

The part, led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, celebrated its fifth anniversary in Delhi on Sunday. The party was founded on an anti-graft platform and has its roots in India Against Corruption, the mass movement for a Lokpal Bill led by Anna Hazare.

At the party's five-year celebration rally, party chief and Delhi CM Kejriwal had the BJP in his cross-hairs as he referred to AAP's anti-corruption agenda. "On corruption, the BJP is as bad as the Congress. Even judges are not safe it seems. Just as you had uprooted the Congress, the time for BJP too is coming," he said.

"In 2011, we had gathered here to fight corruption, but that fight is still on. We will not sit down till corruption is tackled. Today, it has been five years since the AAP was formed. On this occasion, I want to congratulate those who worked to make this possible," he added.

Last year the Income Tax Department had issued a notice to the Aam Aadmi Party, citing discrepancies in the donors' list submitted to tax officials and what had been put up on the party website.
Days after sparking a controversy with his statement that the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir belonged to the neighbouring country, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday triggered a fresh row by commenting on hoisting of tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.

The National Conference veteran leader has now dared the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk before talking about hoisting one in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

They (Centre and BJP) are talking about raising flag in PoK. I ask them first you go and raise the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. They cant even do that here and they are talking about PoK," he said.

Asked whether he was not hurting the Indian sentiment by making such comments, he retorted, asking "What is Indian sentiment? You think I am not an Indian?"

"Whose sentiments are you talking about? Those crooks who dont see our miseries. Who dont see the miseries of our border people? How they suffer when shelling starts?" he added.

Abdullah made these remarks while speaking to reporters after paying floral tributes to Congress leader and MP the late G L Dogra on his 30th death anniversary.

When asked to comment on the recent killing of an armyman on leave, he said the Centre should be asked the question as it claimed peace had returned to Kashmir after demonetisation.

Abdullah's comments on PoK and the national flag prompted criticism from Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

"Farooq Abdullah is strengthening separatists and militants with his controversial remarks because he is frustrated. He has forgotten that tricolour is being unfurled in all parts of the state including Lal Chowk", he said.

This came days after the veteran leader had said that the PoK belongs to Pakistan and that wont change no matter how many wars India and the neighbouring nation fight.

He had also attacked the Centre, accusing them of formulating policies that created communal tension. You have made one Pakistan, how many Pakistans will you make, how many pieces will you cut India into? he had asked at a rally.
NEW DELHI: Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani has announced that he will contest the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections as an independent candidate from the Vadgam constituency.

The 36-year-old lawyer-activist is the head of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch and shot to prominence after the flogging incident in Una in July 2016. Four dalit men had been flogged on suspicion of having killed a cow.

Mevani made the announcement in a tweet on Monday morning.

Friends, I m contesting from Vadgam-11 seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat as an independent candidate. We shall fight, we shall win.  Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) November 27, 2017

In a Facebook post, Mevani requested all political parties and independents not to field candidates in Vadgam. This way, he said, it would be him against the BJP candidate. "We need to expose the 22-year-old misrule of the BJP and hence should be a direct fight between me and the BJP," he said in his post.

The Gujarat Congress has responded by asking its sitting MLA, Manibhai Vaghela, to not contest from Vadgam "as a part of an agreement" with Mevani. "The party has asked me not to contest from the Vadgam seat this time. Though Mevani will contest the polls as an independent, he will have Congress's support. Thus, there won't be any Congress candidate on this seat," Vaghela told PTI.

The BJP on Friday had named Vijaybhai Chakravarti as its candidate from Vadgam.



Amongst his early supporters, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was quick to wish Mevani on Twitter.

Earlier this month, Jignesh Mevani had a meeting with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi during the latter's visit to south Gujarat. After the meeting, Mevani had said that the opposition party gave him an assurance that more than 90 per cent of his demands will be incorporated in its manifesto.



Stopping short of declaring an open support to the Congress after the meeting, Mevani had said that he would ask his community members to defeat BJP in the Gujarat polls.



Jignesh Mevani, who has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state and shot to fame after the Una dalit flogging incident last year, had discussed 17 demands of his community in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi.



Of the three young caste leaders, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor has already joined the Congress, while Patidar community leader Hardik Patel recently announced his decision to back the opposition party after accepting its proposed reservation formula.



The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18
Moscow: India and Russia on Monday agreed to help each other in combating terrorism as the two strategic partners signed a key agreement.

They also asserted that there are no good or bad terrorists.

The agreement between the two countries for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

H.E Mr. Rajnath Singh signs agreement on cooperation between Ministry of Home

Affairs, Govt. of India and Ministry for Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, with H. E Mr.Vladimir Kolokolstsev @PankajSaran11 @rajnathsingh @HMOIndia @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/MQffDPq8rE  India in Russia (@IndEmbMoscow) November 27, 2017

The ministers underlined that cooperation in the field of security is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship further strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and radicalism, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said, PTI reported.

"The new agreement between India's MHA and Russia's interior ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security," Singh tweeted after signing the pact.

The new agreement between Indias MHA and Russias Interior Ministry will replace the October 1993 agreement between both the countries. This agreement will help in expanding and deepening cooperation on issues related to internal security. November 27, 2017

The Indian embassy statement said the two leaders agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhance the exchange of information, cooperate in building a database and in training of police and investigative agencies.

This pact provides a comprehensive approach for help in security-related issues, including information technology crimes, counterfeiting currency, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in human beings, economic crimes, crimes related to intellectual property, cultural property amongst others, the statement said.

During the meeting, the ministers emphasised the strength of the relationship between India and Russia that has been consolidated in the past 70 years in all areas.

(With PTI inputs)
NEW DELHI: Kerala woman Hadiya, the alleged love jihad victim, was freed from the custody of her parents and sent her to college to pursue her studies by the Supreme Court on Monday.

The Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, told the Supreme Court that she wants "freedom and release". The SC directed that she be allowed to complete her studies at a Salem homeopathy college in Tamil Nadu.

After a prolonged proceedings in the open courtroom, the top court did not accede to Hadiya's plea that she should be allowed to go with her husband. She also told the court she wanted "freedom" to live and profess Islamic faith.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, which interacted with Hadiya for nearly half-an-hour in the courtroom against the wishes of her father who had sought an in-camera interaction, directed the Kerala police to provide her security and ensure that she travelled at the earliest to Salem in Tamil Nadu to pursue homeopathy studies at Sivaraj Medical College there.

She expressed her desire to complete her house surgeon internship and pursue her career as a homeopathic doctor.

"Freedom, release", Hadiya said in response to a question from Justice Chandrachud "What is your dream for the future?"

She was in the custody of her parents for last eight months.

Hadiya was in the custody of her parents for almost six months, after the Kerala High Court had on May 29 anulled her 'nikah' with Shafin Jahan. Hadiya, a Hindu by birth, had converted to Islam several months before her marriage.

The court fixed the plea of Jahan, challenging Kerala High Court's order annulling his marriage with Hadiya, for hearing in the third week of January next year.

The court appointed dean of Salem-based homoeopathic college as Hadiya's guardian and granted her the liberty to approach him in case of any problem.

The SC further directed the college and the university concerned to re-admit Hadiya and grant her hostel facility.

The top court also acceded to the request of Hadiya that she be first allowed to visit her friend's home as she has been mentally harrassed for past 11 months and allowed her to visit her friend before going to Salem to attend college.

Hadiya, when asked by the bench to name any nearest relative or acquaintance at Salem to be named as the local guardian, said she only needed her husband in that role.

She said her husband can take care of her expenses of studies and she does not need state's expenses to pursue her professional course.

The bench posed questions in English, while Hadiya replied in Malyalam, which was translated by senior advocate V Giri who appeared for Kerala government.

During the hearing, which continued for almost two-and- half hours till 5.30 PM, Hadiya's parents, her in-laws and her husband were present in the packed courtroom.

The bench asked questions about her ambitions, life, studies and hobbies, which she replied comfortably and said she wanted to do internship of house surgeonship, a course of 11 months and wanted to stand on her own in life.

On the other hand, National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is investigating the larger conspiracy behind what is being described as "Love Jihad" by a "well-oiled" Islamic organisation, told the court that it should first look at the "compelling material" that it has collected before interacting with Hadiya.

While in one breadth Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told the bench that it (NIA) was not concerned with the Hadiya case and was looking into the larger conspiracy, at the same time he insisted the court should first look at the six pages of 100 page status report carrying "compelling material" on the existence of a well-oiled organisation engaged in indoctrinating vulnerable minds.

At the outset, senior advocate Shyam Diwan, appearing for Hadiya's father Asokan K M, said his daughter should be questioned in-camera as this was a case of indoctrination backed by huge organisational support.

He claimed there was a highly communally charged atmosphere which could have wider ramifications and insisted on his plea for in-camera proceedings.

Diwan also placed an alleged transcript of conversation between one alleged offshore ISIS handler and Hadiya's husband, saying it showed that Jahan had links with an organisation called Popular Front of India and a larger conspiracy of indoctrination was happening on the ground.

He said in social networking sites, there was a conversation between one Abdul Rashid and Jahan in which he has been found asking how much money he can get to make a person join the ranks of militant outfit ISIS.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jahan, said this audio recording was nothing new and was being in circulation for past one year.

"What indoctrination? She has been with her parents for past 11 months. National Commission of Women, NIA all interrogated her but state commission for women was not allowed. She is entitled to speak her mind and has her own individual autonomy and the court should hear her," Sibal said.

Kerala HC had described the case as love 'jihad'

Earlier, a bench of former CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud had ordered the premier probe agency to launch a probe into the conversion and marriage of the Kerala Hindu girl, who was known as Akhila but allegedly converted to Islam and changed her name to Hadiya, to a Muslim man, Shafin Jahan. The marriage had taken place in 2016.

Shafin on September 16 filed a plea requesting the top court to call off the NIA probe, alleging that the investigation agency "is not being fair".

Justice RV Ravindran, a retired judge of the apex court, is supervising the investigation.

The Kerala HC on May 25 had declared as "null and void" the marriage of 24-year-old Hadiya. It had described the case as an instance of 'love jihad' and ordered the state police to conduct probe into such cases.

Shafin Jahan, meanwhile, filed another plea in SC challenging the HC order saying it was an "an insult to the independence of woman in India".

Jahan has claimed Hadiya, a homeopathy student in Kerala, converted to Islam of her own volition two years prior to their marriage and sought direction to Hadiya's father to present her in court.

However, Hadiya's father maintained that his daughter was a "helpless victim" trapped by a "well-oiled racket" which used "psychological measures" to indoctrinate people and convert them to Islam.

Hadiya's father plea says Hahan is a criminal and his daughter was trapped by a network with connections to Popular Front of India and even the Islamic State.

It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State's mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge.

Hadiya was a homeopathy student in Kerala when she converted to Islam and changed her name. Jahan had met her with his family in August 2016 in response to her posting on a marriage website and they got married in December 2016.

But in August 2016 itself, her father had approached high court with a habeas corpus petition, alleging his daughter had been radicalised by some organisations and they had also influenced her to marry a Muslim man so that she is out of the parents' custody forever.

He had also apprehended that there could be a plan to send her to Syria to work with extremist organisations such as IS since the man she married had been working in the Gulf.
PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday disapproved of his son Tej Pratap Yadav's 'will skin Prime Minister Narendra Modi' comment.

Addressing the media, the RJD chief said, If a son comes to know that his father is being conspired against, his security is being revoked, he will react. However, I don't approve of this. I have spoken to him to not speak anything like that again.

Lalu Prasad accused the Narendra Modi government of hatching a "conspiracy" to frighten him so that he gives up his "relentless fight for preserving communal harmony and social justice".

"Lalu is not someone who can be frightened into submission. The public of Bihar will protect me. But if anything happens to me then the Nitish Kumar government in the state and the Modi government at the Centre shall be jointly responsible," he said.

Lalu was reacting to Tej's controversial remarks against PM Modi in the wake of the Centre`s decision to scale down the Z-plus security of the RJD supremo and withdrawal of National Security Guards protecting him.

"This is a conspiracy to get him (Lalu) murdered, but we will give a befitting reply to them (the Centre). We will get Narendra Modi skinned (Hum Narendra Modi ki khaal udedhva denge), go and tell him," Tej Pratap said.

Lalu's comments came after it was reported that the Centre has withdrawn RJD chief's 'Z+' VIP security cover of NSG commandos after a recent review of the threat to various protectees.

In July, CBI had registered a case against former railway minister Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, Tejashwi, Sarla Gupta, wife of Prem Chand Gupta, Vijay Kochar and Vinay Kochar, both directors of Messer's Sujata Hotel Private Limited, Messer's Delight Marketing Private Limited, PK Goel, the then Managing Directors, IRCTC and unknown others under Section 120 B read with Section 420 of IPC and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)d prevention of corruption act 1988 in connection with the case.

The FIR lodged by the CBI against RJD chief stated that there were irregularities in awarding the tender for development, maintenance and operation of BNR Hotels in Ranchi and Puri during Lalu Prasad Yadav's term as Railway Minister of India, that is, from 2004 to 2009.

The CBI alleged that the tender process was rigged, manipulated and the conditions were tweaked by the then Railway Minister to help a private hotel company.

The RJD, however, brushed aside the allegation and counter-blamed that the agencies were acting as alliance partners of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
New Delhi: Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday said that she will write to all chief ministers to make it mandatory for a village chief or sarpanch to have certain minimum educational qualification.

In 2015, Rajasthan and Haryana governments amended their Panchayati Raj laws and laid down minimum educational qualifications required to contest panchayat elections.

"All state governments must implement what Rajasthan government has done," Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said in response to a suggestion from a woman sarpanch at an event held today.

She said that her ministry will write to all state governments on the issue.

"Rajasthan had done a really good thing. There was a lot of protest against it initially, but I think it is a very good decision. I think it should be adopted all over. It will give women some incentive to study," the minister said.

Rajasthan's state legislative assembly passed its Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill in 2015 requiring candidates contesting Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls to have studied Class 10 and those for the post of a sarpanch to have studied Class 8.

Later, Haryana too brought similar changes to its law.

The Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2015, fixed Class 10 as essential qualification for candidates contesting panchayati elections, while the qualification for women and scheduled caste candidates was Class 8.

Both Rajasthan and Haryana also required candidates to compulsorily construct a toilet in their homes.

Activists had objected to the move and amendments made by Haryana were contested before the Supreme Court but were upheld.

Activists say that the move will debar the poor and the most marginalised from contesting elections.

Maneka Gandhi, however, dismissed these concerns. In response to a question about how the decision could exclude many from contesting, she said, "That's good, if you are going to raise the benchmark then someone is going to be left behind. So, this is a good idea."

The minister was addressing elected women representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions as well as their master trainers from across the country.
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday continue his Gujarat campaign with a rally in Bhuj. This will be followed by several public meetings in Kutch, Jasdan, Dhari and Kamrej.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to attend at least 20 public meetings and rallies in the next 15 days ahead of the assembly polls to be held on December 9 and 14.

In his tweet, Prime Minister Modi mentioned that the main `matra` of the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls will be `Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas`.

"Tomorrow I begin my rallies across Gujarat. My first rally will be in Bhuj, Kutch. This district is close to my heart. Its spirit of resilience after the 2001 quake was seen by the world. Since then, Kutch has seen record progress, which has benefitted all sections of society. Tomorrow I would address rallies in Jasdan, Dhari and Kamrej. Guided by the Mantra of `Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas` we are committed to taking Gujarat to even new heights of growth and building on the good work done in the last two decades in the state," read a series of tweets the prime minister posted yesterday.

Gujarat has a total number of 182 assembly seats and the polling will be held in two phases.

Voting in 89 constituencies of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region will be held in the first phase while the remaining 93 constituencies in central and northern regions will be held in the second phase.

The polling for the first phase will be held on December 9 and the second phase will be held on December 14. The votes will be counted on December 18
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved order on a plea filed by a non-government organisation seeking SIT probe headed by a former Chief Justice of India to probe matters in the alleged bribery case in the name of judges.

A bench headed by Justice R K Agrawal heard the arguments advanced by the Attorney General KK Venugopal and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the organisation Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), and said it will pronounce the judgement on December 1.

"Heard Prashant Bhushan, counsel appearing for the petitioner, and Attorney General KK Venugopal, at considerable length. Hearing concluded. Orders reserved. List for pronouncement of orders on December 1," the bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra and A M Khanwilkar, said.

During the hearing, Bhushan said the CBI, which is probing the matter, should hand over the material in the case to the SIT headed by a former CJI.

Attorney General told the court that this petition is the verbatim copy of an earlier petition which was dismissed by a different bench.

He called the PIL as misconceived and arguments submitted by Bhushan, that he wanted to protect the independence of the judiciary, disingenuous.

Bhushan said all the aspects were not dealt by the apex court in its earlier verdict and he has filed this petition to save the "dignity, independence and integrity of the judiciary."

The bench questioned Bhushan,"How come CJAR files a petition, being an unregistered body? Even, the affidavit also nowhere mentions the name of the person through whom this petition is filed."

Bhushan said the petition was filed through the Secretary of CJAR and he will furnish all the required details.

On November 14, the apex court had dismissed a plea seeking an SIT probe into an alleged case of bribery in the name of judges, saying it was "wholly scandalous".

It had also deprecated the conduct of advocates in filing petitions aimed at bringing disrepute to the institution without rhyme or reason.

The petition had claimed that allegations of bribery were levelled for securing settlement of cases relating to medical colleges in which retired Orissa High Court judge, Ishrat Masroor Quddusi, is also an accused.
New Delhi: A wife is not a chattel and the husband cannot be her guardian, the Supreme Court said on Monday after interacting with a Kerala woman, alleged victim of love jihad.

Her head covered in a red scarf, Hadiya, a 24-year-old Hindu woman from Kerala who converted to Islam, told the Supreme Court that she wants "freedom and release".

The top court set her free from the custody of her parents and directed that she be allowed to complete her studies at a Salem homeopathy college.



Allowing Hadiya to walk free, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra directed the Salem college to allow her to complete her house surgeon internship.



She studies in Salem`s Sivaraj Homoeopathic Medical Colleges and Research Institute.



In arguments that were spread over nearly two hours, the clincher came as senior counsel Kapil Sibal told the court that he was not arguing on Hadiya`s marriage with Shafin Jahan or on her conversion to Islam or anything else but how she could be kept in the custody of her father.



Sibal, who appeared for Shafin Jahan, cited Article 21 of the Constitution saying that no person could be deprived of his life and liberty without due process of law.



The court directed that she be allowed to meet people as per the medical college hostel rules.



The court order came after the bench, also comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, interacted with her for about 25 minutes during which she expressed her desire to complete her house surgeon internship and pursue her career as a homeopathic doctor.

(With IANS inputs)
Lucknow, Nov 27 (IANS) A man was killed and his wife and two children critically injured when their car fell from a bridge in Uttar Pradesh`s Jaunpur, police said on Monday.





The incident took place on the Dhaniamau bridge around midnight on Sunday. A container coming from behind also fell from the bridge on the car below, smashing it completely.



Two JCB`s were pressed into service to remove the container from over the car after which only the rescue operation could be undertaken.



The car owner Sharad, 39, died on the spot, while his wife Pragati, 35, and children Sauda, 7, and Shamli, 4, were critically injured.



It was a tough time pulling the injured from the mangled car. The deceased was from Varanasi.
Lucknow: The condition of 90-year-old Buddhist monk Pragyanand, who gave "diksha" to Bhim Rao Ambedkar continues to be critical, doctors at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) said here on Monday.



He was admitted to the medical college after he complained of breathlessness and chest pain.



Doctors said he had been shifted from the trauma centre to the Gandhi Ward where he was under 24x7 observation by experts.



Pragyanand was born in Sri Lanka and has been staying in India since 1942. He was one of the seven Buddhist monks who gave the "diksha" to Ambedkar on April 14, 1956 at Nagpur.



His close aide Bhante Suman told IANS that while the monk had been suffering from many old age-related diseases for the past two years, his condition became critical in the last two days following severe chest congestion and difficulty in breathing.



Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of KGMU Dr SN Shankhwar told the media that Guru Pragyanand was critical and that efforts were underway to "ease out the congestion" and improve his serious physical condition.


MUMBAI: A 15-year-old girl in Maharashtra, who alleged of being raped by an Army personnel, on Monday said that her school has suspended her.

This is reportedly because the girl had earlier alleged of being raped by an Army personnel on a pretext of marriage. The incident took place four months ago in Maharashtra's Latur.

Latur, Maharashtra: 15-year-old who alleges being raped by an Army personnel on pretext of marriage 4 months ago, says, 'my school has suspended my admission saying their reputation can be tarnished if I continue to study here.' pic.twitter.com/gvbRmC25c8  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

According to the school's administration, if the victim continues to study there, it will harm the reputation of the school.

"My school has suspended my admission saying their reputation can be tarnished if I continue to study here," the girl said to news agency ANI.
Mumbai: Contrary to expectations, former Maharashtra chief minister and Maharashtra Swabhiman Party president Narayan Rane on Monday preferred to keep away from the upcoming by-elections for a lone seat to the state legislative council.



The decision was necessitated by political arithmetic, though the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said he stayed out of the contest on its directions.



Ruling ally Shiv Sena, which was bitterly opposed to Rane`s candidature, promptly expressed support to the BJP`s official nominee, Mumbai BJP vice president Prasad Lad, who is believed to be close to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.



Rane, on his part, commented that he was "a former Chief Minister, so he was not worried about contesting for a legislative seat" for the December 7 elections.



He had quit the Congress in September, floated the MSP and joined the National Democratic Alliance after an assurance that he would be inducted into the state cabinet.



Anticipating a stormy winter session of the Maharashtra Legislature slated in Nagpur next month, the BJP also decided to keep the Sena in good humour by fielding Lad, a former NCP leader who defected to BJP last year.



There was some speculation that the BJP bypassed a senior leader and spokesperson Madhav Bhandari, but he denied claiming he was "never in the race".



The opposition combine led by the Congress has nominated its ex-Solapur MLA Dilip Mane, though the numbers game appears to favour the ruling coalition.



On the developments, state Congress President Ashok Chavan built up suspense by claiming that its nominee Mane would bag the seat courtesy "an invisible arrow", hinting at Sena`s whose official symbol is a bow & arrow.



"The Shiv Sena is unhappy over various issues including the recent farm loans waiver, and has repeatedly threatened to quit the government. Given the current political scenario, `an invisible arrow` will help us win the by-poll," he claimed.



Mane has secured the support of major opposition parties including Nationalist Congress Party, Peasants and Workers` Party, Samajwadi Party and Peoples` Republican Party among others, in the 288-member assembly.



The BJP has 122 seats, Shiv Sena 63, Congress 42, NCP 41, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and Peasanta & Workers Party are three each, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen two, the CPI-M, Bharipa Bahujan Sangh, Samajwadi Party one each, and independents and local parties seven. The winning figure is 145.
New Delhi: Aiming to take on OnePlus 5T, Huawei`s sub-brand Honor is to bring its bezel-less V10 smartphone with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled chipset -- the first from Honor -- to India in January.

Industry sources told IANS that V10 is likely to be launched in the China market early this week and Honor will announce the global launch of V10 at an event in London on December 5.

The 6GB V10 (with 128GB internal memory) will feature a dual rear-facing camera system (16 MP+20 MP) with a wide aperture range from F/0.95-F/16 and a 13MP front shooter.

The bezel-less, 5.99-inch device with 2160p x 1080p FHD+ display houses 3,750mAh battery and will have new EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo.

The device, for which the price is yet to be announced, will run the Kirin 970 chipset -- the Honor`s First System on Chip (SoC) with Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that promises an affordable AI ecosystem.

V10 will be available on either Amazon or Flipkart, the sources said.

The December 5 event will also see the launch of Honor 7X, the successor to the immensely successful Honor 6X.

The 4GB RAM Honor 7X will feature 16MP high-definition dual-rear cameras and 8MP front camera. It will use the Kirin 659 octa-core processor.

The 5.9-inch device with FHD+ FullView Display houses 3,340mAh battery and will be available in three variants, with 32, 64 and 128GB internal memory.
Mumbai: Mahira Khan was apparently affected by the controversy over her photographs with Ranbir Kapoor outside a hotel in New York City a few months back. Soon after images of the two taking a smoke break had surfaced online trolls started flooding Twitter with hate tweets.

Mahira was slut-shamed for smoking and wearing a backless short dress in public. Moreover, she was slammed for being seen with Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor, who is one of the most eligible bachelors in the Tinsel Town.

The actress, who made her Bollywood debut with Rahul Dholakias Raees co-starring Shah Rukh Khan in January this year, remained tight-lipped for a while and chose not to speak about the issue.

In the meanwhile, a number of actors from Bollywood as well as the Pakistani film industry came out to support and express solidarity with her. Even Ranbir Kapoor opened up about the issue and stood by her side by defending her.

It was only after the dust had settled, Mahira broke her silence. And now, during an interview with City Times, Mahira said, I was quiet initially, but I was definitely not laughing over the controversy.

Explaining why she decided to respond to trolls, Mahira said, It is personal for sure. The reason I responded to the trolls is because something very personal to me became public. So, I felt, 'Okay, let's just put it out there.' For anybody being harassed and the issue becoming a national debate, it's not a nice thing. I don't know what made me do this, but I thought that I am going to take this on the chin and I am going to move forward.

"It takes strength, but when you are hit with something and when you are in the storm, you fight it out. It is not that you are stronger than him or her. It is just that you walk out of the storm and you are going to do your best to swim out of it. And once you come out, you are stronger and more evolved. I think that nobody should define you - if anything then you should define yourself. I learned during that period who I was, and I will not let anybody define me. Not to say that I don't take criticism and all of that," she added.

Mahira was in Dubai to promote her Pakistani film Verna which was slated to hit the silverscreen in UAE.
SHIMLA: A 56-year-old Army colonel who was arrested on November 22 for allegedly raping the daughter of a lieutenant colonel posted at the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) here, was on Monday sent to judicial custody till December 8.

The young woman, aged 21 and an adopted daughter of a Lt Colonel, filed a police complaint on November 20 against the 56-year-old accused posted at the (ARTRAC here. The Lt Colonel is also posted at the ARTRAC.

Police filed an FIR under relevant sections of the IPC was registered after the statement of the victim was recorded and medical examination conducted.

In her complaint, the woman said she was called by the Colonel to his residence with a promise to introduce her to people associated with the modelling industry.

She accused the Colonel of forcing her to drink alcohol and raping her. He even allegedly threatened to 'ruin' her father's career if she revealed the crime to anyone.
Mumbai: Bigg Boss 11 contestant Akash Dadlani, who has irked superstar host Salman Khan by his behaviour, has upset Gauahar Khan.

The pretty actress, who is also a former Bigg Boss winner took to Twitter to express her disappointment over Akashs conduct in front of Salman.

She tweeted:

For the first time I'm sooooo disappointed with Akash!!! Soooo disrespectful to someone of such a big stature who is explaining something to u for ur own good!! @BeingSalmanKhan kudos to u for ur patience.. #sad (sic).

For the first time I'm sooooo disappointed with Akash!!! Soooo disrespectful to someone of such a big stature who is explaining something to u for ur own good!! @BeingSalmanKhan kudos to u for ur patience.. #sad  Gauahar Khan (@GAUAHAR_KHAN) 25 November 2017

Gauahar had also tweeted:  I'm so glad @BeingSalmanKhan showed akash the true pic (sic).

I'm so glad @BeingSalmanKhan showed akash the true pic  Gauahar Khan (@GAUAHAR_KHAN) 18 November 2017

On Saturday during the weekend ka vaar episode, Salman was mighty peeved with Akashs behaviour. The latter refused to keep quiet and listen to Salmans advice.

In the Sultani Akada segment when Salman called in friends-turned-foes Puneesh and Akash to battle the differences between them, Akash refused to participate. Puneesh made several attempts to reconcile with Akash, but the latter didnt pay heed. He even refused to take part in any of the segments of the Sultani fight. This irked Salman, who tried to make him understand the nuances of human relationships.

But Akash chose to ignore Salmans words of wisdom and remained indifferent.

The words fly over Akashs ears and he continues with his indifferent attitude. This added fuel to the fire and compelled Salman Khan to walk out of the Akhada midway.

The other contestants, who were equally disappointed with Akash for his behaviour, were feeling sorry for Salman.

The Bollywood heavyweight has made several attempts to make Akash realise where he is going wrong, but the young man isnt apparently in a mood to understand it.
New Delhi: A Trinamool Congress delegation on Monday met the Election Commission demanding holding of simultaneous by-elections in one Lok Sabha and two assembly constituencies in West Bengal in "greater public interest".

The vacancies were caused due to the resignation of Manas Bhunia, MLA from Sabong, on July 24 this year and the death of Noapara MLA Madhusudan Ghosh on August 18. Sultan Ahmed, who represented Uluberia Lok Sabha seat, died on September 4 this year.

The Commission has already announced the schedule for by-election to a few seats in legislative assemblies of different states including Sabong in West Bengal.

Trinamool MPs Derek O'Brien and Kalyan Banerjee today met the Election Commission and submitted a memorandum asking it to hold simultaneous by-elections in the two assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency.

"All these three vacancies were caused within July 24 to September 4, 2017, which is less than one and half months.

"In the fitness of the situation, all these three casual vacancies are required to be filled in simultaneously to allow the electorate of those constituencies elect their representatives and the sooner it is done it would not only be better for them, but also conform to the practised conventions," the memorandum says.

To press for their demand, the TMC has referred to the vacancy caused by the demise of E Ahmed, member of parliament of Malappuram parliamentary constituency on February 1 2017, which was filled within 70 days through a by-election on April 20.
Havana Province: Armando Hart Davalos, a key figure of the Cuban revolution and close friend of Fidel Castro, died Sunday in Havana at the age of 87.

Cuban state media reported that the elderly revolutionary -- who spearheaded the country`s huge literacy drive -- passed away in the afternoon of respiratory failure.

Hart, who suffered from health problems and was wheelchair-bound in his later years, was a lawyer by training but soon became caught up in the political fervour that swept through Cuba in the 1950s.

He joined Castro in 1953 following the late communist leader`s botched raid on the Moncada military barracks, which planted the seed of the revolution that eventually triumphed in 1959.

Hart was imprisoned and tortured under dictator Fulgencio Batista. But after Castro came to power he was soon appointed Cuba`s education minister.

He also married fellow revolutionary Haydee Santamaria, who took part in the Moncada barracks raid and became one of communist Cuba`s most senior female figures.

In 1961 Hart launched a literacy campaign across the island nation, aimed at equipping all Cubans with reading and writing skills. He took over the newly created Ministry of Culture in 1976, a position he would hold until 1997.

In his later years he dedicated himself to promoting the extensive works of Jose Marti a nineteenth century poet who came to symbolize Cuba`s push for independence from Spain.
Moscow: In an endeavour to deepen and further India`s strategic and security partnership with Russia, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit.

He was received by State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Zubov at Vnukovo International Airport.During the visit, India and Russia will sign two key pacts for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism and jointly fighting smuggling of narcotics.

The Home Minister will hold discussions with Vladimir Kolokoltsev, minister for internal affairs of the Russian Federation and other senior Russian leadership.The discussions would cover the entire gamut of bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest.Singh will also pay a visit to the National Crisis Management Centre (EMERCOM) under the Ministry of Situations.

This year India and Russia are celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with each other.
Baghdad: Iraqi forces said on Monday they face a tough battle against the Islamic State group in deep gorges and other natural hideouts in the western desert along the Syrian border, their last bastion in Iraq.

"Our units have cleared 50 percent of the total area of the desert of around 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq miles). The first phase is over," General Yahya Rassoul, spokesman of the Joint Operations Command, told AFP.

"Now our units will proceed to clearing the rest of the desert zones, including Wadi (valley) Hauran," he said.

"The valley is deep and reaches Syrian territory. The mission is to destroy all the hideouts in the desert and valleys to secure western Iraq`s border with Syria" before soldiers are posted along the frontier, he said.

Wadi Hauran, with 200-metre-deep (650-foot-deep) gorges, is the longest valley in Iraq, stretching 350 kilometres (210 miles) from the Saudi border to the Euphrates River, also reaching the frontier with Jordan.

The Islamic State jihadist group has controlled most of the valley in Anbar province since 2014, setting up arms depots and resupply posts.

Troops and paramilitaries launched the desert offensive on Thursday aiming to inflict a final defeat on IS.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he will not proclaim victory until the jihadists have been cleared from the western desert bordering Syria.
Naypyidaw: Pope Francis met Myanmar`s powerful army chief on Monday at the start of a highly sensitive trip, with the military man saying he told the pontiff there was "no religious discrimination" in his country despite allegations of ethnic cleansing.

The 80-year-old pope, the first to travel to Myanmar, received Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for a 15-minute meeting at the archbishop`s residence in Yangon, where the pontiff is staying during his visit.

At least 620,000 Rohingya have fled western Rakhine state to Bangladesh, describing rape, murder and arson at the hands of Min Aung Hlaing`s army and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs.

The UN and US have accused the military of "ethnic cleansing" in a campaign sparked by attacks by a militant Rohingya group on police border posts in late August.

The army chief told the pope that "Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all. Likewise our military too... performs for the peace and stability of the country", according to a Facebook post published by the general`s office a few hours after the meeting.

There is also "no discrimination between ethnic groups in Myanmar", he added.

The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship, are not recognised as one of the Buddhist-majority country`s formal ethnic groups.

After the meeting a Vatican spokesman said the religious leader and the army chief had discussed the "great responsiblilty of the country`s authorities in this moment of transition".

Myanmar was ruled by a junta for five decades until a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi came to power last year. The army retains sweeping powers over security and political heft through a parliamentary bloc of seats.

The army crackdown on the widely reviled Rohingya looms large over the pope`s four-day trip to a country with a tiny Catholic minority.

Francis has called the Rohingya his "brothers and sisters" in repeated entreaties to ease their plight as the latest round of a festering crisis has unfolded.

Earlier on Monday he was welcomed at Yangon`s airport in a colourful ceremony led by children from different minority groups in bright bejewelled clothes, who gave him flowers and received a papal embrace in return.

Nuns in white habits were among devotees waving flags as his motorcade swept past the golden Shwedagon Pagoda.

"I saw the pope... I was so pleased, I cried!" Christina Aye Aye Sein, 48, told AFP after the pope`s convoy received a warm but modest welcome.

"His face looked very lovely and sweet... He is coming here for peace."

Myanmar`s estimated 700,000 Catholics make up just over one percent of the country`s 51 million people.

But around 200,000 Catholics are pouring into Myanmar`s commercial capital Yangon before a huge open-air mass on Wednesday.

"People came from all corners of the country, even if we could only see him for a few seconds," Sister Genevieve Mu, an ethnic Karen nun, told AFP.The pope`s speeches in Mynamar will be scrutinised by Buddhist hardliners for any mention of the word "Rohingya", an incendiary term in a country where the Muslim group are labelled "Bengalis" -- alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

On Tuesday Francis will meet Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose lustre has faded because of her failure to speak up publicly for the Rohingya.

He will hold two masses in Yangon.

Speaking shortly before he left Rome, the pontiff said: "I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope."

The army insists its Rakhine operation has been a proportionate response to Rohingya "terrorists" who raided police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen officers.

But rights groups have accused the military of using its operation as cover to drive out a minority it has oppressed for decades and forced out in great numbers in previous "clearance operations".

Days before the papal visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh inked a deal vowing to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of returning without guarantees of basic rights.

Francis will travel on to Bangladesh on Thursday, where he will meet a group of Rohingya Muslims in the capital Dhaka.

In Kutupalong, the largest fresh encampment of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, 25-year-old Aziz Khan implored the pope to help his people.

"If he can help us, then I want to tell him that we want our country and our rights back," he told AFP.
BEIRUT: At least 53 civilians, including 21 children, perished early Sunday morning when Russian air strikes hit "residential buildings" in a village held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit the village of Al-Shafah in Deir Ezzor province, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

The monitor had initially given a death toll of 34 civilians but the number spiked after more bodies were recovered.

"The toll increased after removing the debris in a long day of rescue operation," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, adding the strikes hit "residential buildings".

At least 18 people were also wounded in the air raids, he added.

Russia is a close ally of Syria`s President Bashar al-Assad, and in September 2015 began a military intervention in support of his government that has gradually helped Damascus regain territory.

Syria`s Deir Ezzor is one of the last places IS jihadists hold territory in the country, after being driven from their major strongholds including their one-time de facto Syrian capital Raqa city.

The oil-rich eastern province that borders Iraq was once almost completely under IS control, but the jihadists now hold just nine percent of Deir Ezzor, according to the Observatory.

They have faced two separate offensives there, one led by the regime with Russian backing and the other by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.The latest strikes come as the United Nations tries to revitalise its flagging efforts to end a six-year civil war that has left Syria devastated and huge swathes of its population refugees.

On Tuesday, the eighth round of UN-brokered talks will kick off.

They have achieved little so far, but may be bolstered by the opposition`s decision to bring a unified delegation to Geneva for the first time.

For progress to happen rival sides will need to overcome the hurdle that has derailed past discussions: the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He retains Moscow`s support but is loathed by much of Syria`s rebel opposition who want him gone.

Backed by Russia`s decisive military support, Assad`s government has regained control of 55 percent of the country, including major cities Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, and around two-thirds of the population lives in regime-held areas.

The rest is carved up between rebel factions, jihadists and Kurdish forces.

Some experts believe that Russia has clearly put itself in the driver`s seat in recent months, especially as US President Donald Trump`s administration has pulled back from Syrian diplomatic front.

Russia, fellow regime ally Iran and rebel-backer Turkey have hosted negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones" which produced a drop in violence, though deadly air strikes and battles continue in some areas.

And this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a "congress" of Syrian regime and opposition figures, a move backed by Ankara and Tehran.
United Nations: The Syrian government has not yet confirmed that it will attend talks aimed at ending the war and will not head to Geneva on Monday, the UN envoy said.

"Last night, we received a message that the government would not travel to Geneva today," Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council.
DENPASAR: Indonesia raised its warning for Bali`s Mount Agung volcano to the top level four alert on Monday, closed the holiday island`s airport and told residents around the mountain to immediately evacuate, warning of an "imminent" risk of a larger eruption.

Bali`s airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, due to the eruption and the presence of volcanic ash from Agung, but local officials said the closure could be extended.

Video footage shared by the disaster agency showed cold lava flows (lahar) at a number of locations on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path.

"Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak," the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement after raising the alert level from three to four.

"The potential for a larger eruption is imminent," it said, referring to the visible glow of magma at Agung`s peak overnight.

Residents were warned to "immediately evacuate" a danger zone that circles Agung in a radius of 8-10 km (5-6 miles).

Sutopo, a BNPB spokesman, said there had been no casualties so far and 40,000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move and warned authorities would move them by force if necessary.

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). Eastern Bali is relatively undeveloped, with traditional rice paddies doting the landscape and the occasional budget resort, unlike the heavily populated southern tourist hub of Kuta-Seminyak-Nusa Dua.

Agung`s last eruption in 1963 left more than 1,000 people dead and razed several villages.

Analysis suggested the threat should not be as great this time because "energy at Mount Agung`s magma chamber is not as big" and with the ash column only around a quarter as high so far as the 20 km (12 miles) reached in 1963, said Sutopo.

"I`m not worried (but) my friends in Russia are a little bit," said a Russian tourist, who only wanted to be identified as Dmitry, at an observation post in Rendang in Bali`s east.

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, and its international airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesia`s eastern archipelago.

Tourism business has slumped in Bali since September when Agung`s volcanic tremors began to increase.



TRAVELLERS STRANDED

According to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in nearby Darwin, Australia, there is "ash confirmed on the ground at Denpasar Airport" as well as ash at FL300 (which refers to flight level at 30,000 feet) in the vicinity of the volcano.

Bali`s I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport, which is about 60 km (40 miles) from the volcano, will be closed for 24 hours, according to its operator. A total of 445 flights - 196 international and 249 domestic - and 59,000 passengers had been affected.

Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighbouring provinces.

The airport operator said it was providing buses to take travellers to ferry ports for alternative travel arrangements.

Bali airport`s official website showed flights operated by Singapore Airlines, Sriwijaya, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and Jetstar had been cancelled.

Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.

"We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been cancelled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins have been closed indefinitely," said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles.

AIRLINE RISK FROM ASH

Cover-More, Australia`s biggest travel insurer, said on its website customers would only be covered if they had bought policies before the volcano alert was first issue on Sept. 18.

Indonesia`s hotel and restaurant association said stranded tourists at member hotels would get one night`s free stay.

A transport ministry spokesman said the main airport on the neighbouring island of Lombok had reopened after "no volcanic ash was detected".

Airlines avoid flying when volcanic ash is present because it can cause significant damage to aircraft engines, leading to possible engine failure, and can clog fuel and cooling systems and hamper pilot visibility.

In June 1982, a British Airways 747 suffered severe damage and had all four engines flame out after encountering ash from Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. It descended to 12,000 feet before being able to restart some engines and make an emergency landing in Jakarta.

The alert level on Agung had been raised to the maximum in September, but was lowered in October when seismic activity calmed. However, volcanologists now say the volcano has entered a new phase with magma now visible at Agung`s peak, meaning a greater risk of a larger eruption.
ANKARA (Reuters) - A telephone call on Friday between U.S. and Turkish leaders marked a turning point in strained relations between the two countries, but Washington must honour a pledge to end weapons provisions to Syrian Kurdish fighters, Turkey said on Monday.

In an interview with Turkish broadcaster Kanal 24, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the United States would be deceiving the world if it did not halt the weapons supplies to the Kurdish YPG militia.

The White House said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had informed Turkey`s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Washington was adjusting military support to partners on the ground in Syria.
ISTANBUL: Turkish counter-terror police detained 10 people including academic Fikret Baskaya early on Monday in an operation targeting members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Baris Yarkadas, a lawmaker from the main opposition CHP, wrote on Twitter that Baskaya, 77, had been detained at his home in the capital Ankara at 6.30 am (0330 GMT) and that police had seized some of his personal possessions.

Anadolu said arrest warrants had been issued for a total of 17 people on allegations of aiding the PKK and spreading the group`s propaganda on social media.

Baskaya is a university lecturer and author.

The PKK launched a separatist insurgency in southeast Turkey in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and European Union.
LONDON: Britain will decide on the Irish border issue only once talks about its post-Brexit arrangements with the European Union are underway, trade minister Liam Fox reiterated today.

The British government's insistence on the stance is increasingly at odds with Irish demands for guarantees, ahead of a mid-December summit when EU leaders will decide if Brexit talks can move on to trade.

The impasse threatens to scupper hopes in London that "sufficient progress" has been made on the border, as well as citizens' rights and its divorce bill to leave the bloc, to move the negotiations into the next phase.

"We don't want there to be a hard border but the UK is going to be leaving the customs union and the single market," Fox, a leading Brexiteer in the Cabinet, said on television.

"But we can't get a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state -- and until we get into discussions with the EU on the end state that will be very difficult."

He added: "So the quicker we can do that the better."

Fox's comments came as Phil Hogan, the Irish Republic's EU agriculture commissioner, restated his country's threat to block Brexit talks progress unless it receives firm assurances of no hard border on the island.

Ireland has urged Britain -- or just Northern Ireland -- to remain within the single market or customs union, which Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly ruled out.

Hogan told a British Sunday newspaper that May's ministers had "blind faith" in reaching a comprehensive free trade deal, and warned Dublin would "continue to play tough to the end" over the border.

Arlene Foster, the leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party -- which props up May's minority Conservative government in Westminster -- also weighed in, saying her party opposed any internal trade barrier within the UK. She also accused the Irish government of intransigence.

Meanwhile, John McDonnell, Britain's shadow chancellor, said he was "worried" by Fox's comments and remaining in the customs union or single market should remain an option.
Bahia Blanca (Argentina): Eleven days after Argentina's missing San Juan submarine went silent following an explosion, a 14-nation search has failed to find the vessel at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

But not for want of trying.

For more than a week, aircraft from Argentina, Britain and the United States have crisscrossed the South Atlantic.

A Russian Antonov transport plane has arrived with an underwater robot that can scour the ocean at a depth of 1,000 meters, adding to the arsenal of sophisticated international recovery tools.

Russia also sent an oceanographic research ship to the search zone, and the US Navy provided an underwater rescue capsule.

Even though Argentina's navy has yet to declare the 44 crewmembers of the ARA San Juan dead, many relatives of the crew have lost hope.

On Thursday, the navy revealed there had been an explosion aboard the submarine, which experts said was likely catastrophic and linked to a battery problem.

"There is no precedent in history for a deployment of this extent," naval engineer Horacio Tettamanti said of the recovery effort.

"The United States and Russia are the most developed in this field, a legacy of the Cold War," added Tettamanti, one of Argentina's leading experts in the field.

Confirmation of the explosion has led to a more localized search area around a zone 400 kilometers off the Argentinian coast, after searchers initially scoured a 500,000 square kilometer area nearly the size of France.

But in this region north of the Falkland Islands -- known in Argentina as the Malvinas -- depths at the edge of the Argentine shelf can plummet.

From Argentina's military base at Bahia Blanca two US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft are using their radars and scanners in the sub hunt.
Award-winning documentary filmmaker and fine-art photographer Miguel Gandert shows his work highlighting his mestizaje heritage, and the fusion and tension of the relationship between Spanish Colonial and Native Cultures of the Americas. Runs through 12/29.

Querer means to want, to desire, to be in a place, with its people. In folk terminology, querencia is such a place, the center space of desire, the root of belonging and yearning to belong, that vicinity where you first beheld the light. Querencia, in collective terms, is homeland. ~Enrique Lamadrid, Nuevo Mexico Profundo

Miguel Gandert tells stories. He tells stories of his homeland, New Mexico (and beyond), its people and the cultural practices that distinguish communities from each other while simultaneously revealing their kinship. You will have to form your own words, however. Ganderts stories are told through penetrating, black and white photos. A primary focus of his work is his own mestizaje heritage and the fusion and tension of the relationship between Spanish Colonial and Native Cultures of the Americas.

Miguel Gandert, a native of Espanola, NM, is an award-winning documentary and fine-art photographer and filmmaker. His photographs have been shown in galleries and museums throughout the world and are in numerous public collections including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the National Museum of American History and Art at the Smithsonian.

Querencia: Rituals of the Rio Arriba opens Friday, October 6 at the New Mexico Humanities Council, 4115 Silver Ave SE, Albuquerque. An artists reception will be 6:00 pm  8:00 pm with an artist's discussion at 7:00 pm. The exhibit closes December 29, 2017.
The two nations have agreed upon mutually-beneficial maritime developments in safety, navigation, port costs and registration, according to a report from industry news outlet Seatrade Maritime.



Panama, home of the Panama Canal, inked a maritime agreement with China.

Panama and the Peoples Republic of China have signed an agreement on maritime transport after having established diplomatic relations last June, according to a report from maritime news outlet Seatrade Maritime.

The agreement will help in promoting maritime and port development of Panama and China, strengthen [our] Ship Registry and support the Chinese Maritime Authority in the maritime safety issues of Panama-flagged vessels sailing in its waters, said Panamas Minister of Maritime Affairs Jorge Barakat, who is also administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority and head of the Panama Ship Registry.

The agreement also gives Panama-flagged vessels lower port costs and transfer of knowledge and technical control of ships documentation and crews on board of Panamanian vessels, said Seatrade Maritime. Panama will be able to register shipping companies and Chinese-owned vessels in China as it is now qualified to establish technical offices in maritime safety and navigation. It is the commencement of a fruitful cooperation for China and Panama maritime sectors that will benefit from this accord as it opens a new era for our Ship Registry that is granted the Most Favored Nation treatment with regard to access to [Chinese] ports, said Barakat.


The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will prescribe a set of tariff rate quotas it believes will help stem the rising tide of large residential washers being imported into the United States at quantities that currently harm domestic manufacturers.



The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will prescribe a set of tariff rate quotas which it believes will help stem the rising tide of large residential washers being imported into the United States at quantities that currently harm domestic manufacturers of these products, the commission said in a statement.

The ITC will forward its recommendations in a report to President Trump on Dec. 4. It will be up to the president to make the final decision whether to provide relief to the U.S. washer industry, in this case, and what type of relief, including with respect to imports from countries in U.S. free trade agreements, should be applied.

The four ITC commissioners unanimously recommend that the president impose a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on imports of large residential washers for a duration of three years.

For U.S. imports of large residential washers that exceed 1.2 million units, the commissioners recommend a tariff rate of 50 percent ad valorem, in addition to the current rate of duty. They also recommend that the in-quota volume remain constant throughout and that the above-quota tariff rate decrease by five percentage points during each year of the remedy period.

ITC Chairman Rhonda Schmidtlein and Commissioner Irving Williamson additionally recommend an in-quota tariff rate of 20 percent ad valorem, which would decrease to 18 percent in the second year of the remedy period and 15 percent in the third year of the period, in addition to the current rate of duty. Vice Chairman David Johanson and Commissioner Meredith Broadbent do not recommend an in-quota tariff rate for large residential washers.

The commissioners also unanimously recommend that the president impose a separate TRQ on imports of covered parts of large residential washers for a duration of three years. For U.S. imports of covered parts that exceed 50,000 units, they recommend a tariff rate of 50 percent ad valorem, in addition to the current rate of duty. They also recommend that the in-quota volume increase by 20,000 units in each year of the remedy period, and that the above-quota tariff rate decrease by five percentage points each year.

The TRQs take aim at South Koreas washing machine exporters, namely LG and Samsung, who in recent years have gained an increasingly larger percentage of the U.S. market.

The ITCs determination was part of a rarely used investigative mechanism, known as section 201.Authorized under the 1974 Trade Act, section 201 allows the commission to determine if a domestic industry is harmed by imports and then make recommendations for a remedy to the president.

The commission took up this section 201 investigation as part of a petition filed by Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool Corp. on June 5. On Oct. 5, the ITC agreed to continue with the remedy phase of the investigation.

Section 201 investigations are complex undertakings, since they require the ITC to review all known sources commercial washer imports under free trade agreements with the United States. Those countries included Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Singapore, and South Korea, or to imports from the beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. With the exception of South Korea, the rest of the countries were excluded from the remedy phase of the ITC investigation due to their negligible impact on the U.S. commercial washer market, the ITC said.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Vatican released special postage stamps dedicated to Pope Francis 2016 visits, reports Armenpress.

Among the postage stamps there is one dedicated to Popes historical visit to Armenia.

Pope Francis is depicted on the stamp, and behind him is the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial.

The author of the postage stamp is Daniela Longo who depicted Popes prayer in Tsitsernakaberd.

Pope Francis visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial on June 25, 2016 to pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims.

Pope left a note in the Honorary guest book of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: Here I pray with pain in my heart, so that never more will there be tragedies like this, so that humanity does not forget and knows how to overcome the evil with good. May God grant the beloved Armenian people and the entire world peace and consolation. May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should not be diluted or forgotten. Memory is source of peace and the future.

Pope Francis visited Armenia on June 24-26 under the title Visit to the first Christian nation.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov departed for St. Petersburg on November 27 on a working visit, press service of the Parliament told Armenpress.

During the visit the Vice Speaker will meet Sergey Antufiev, acting Secretary General of the CIS IPA Council, as well as will participate in the session of CIS IPA defense and security standing committee, and the ceremony dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War.
ST. PETERSBURG, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia serves exclusively its state and national interests while conducting a foreign policy, Vice Speaker of the Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov said at Armenias representation in the CIS IPA, in response to the question of Armenpress correspondent in St. Petersburg over Armenias membership to the CSTO and EAEU and signing of the agreement with the EU.

Armenia carries out a foreign policy taking into account its state and national interests and exclusively serves these interests. The agreement with the European Union will enable to continue the democratic reforms. At the moment parliamentary hearings on withdrawal from the EAEU are being held in Yerevan. I want to state that this agenda is artificial. I think we do not need to suspend, but to intensify and deepen our participation in the EAEU. Armenia will continue deepening its participation in the CSTO and EAEU, Sharmazanov said.

The agreement on Armenias joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) was signed on October 10, 2014 and came into force on January 2, 2015.

Armenia and the European Union signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership agreement on November 24 in Brussels.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The signing of EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will bring new qualitative changes in Armenia in fight against corruption, Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, said during a conference titled Corruption prevention and human rights protection on November 27, reports Armenpress.

Over the past months Armenia has taken a number of key steps in fight against corruption, legislative field, as well as respective measures aimed at improving the judiciary. All these are the best examples of initiatives and new steps taken by Armenia. The European Union welcomes Armenias such steps, Piotr Switalski said.

According to the EU Ambassador, Armenia enters a new era where all legislative and judicial reforms will be checked and tested in practice. We are going to feel the qualitative changes in Armenia in these spheres. The EU sees a great assistance in the signing of the EU-Armenia agreement. All concerned individuals, the Armenian government, the public will be able to witness the new qualitative changes in the fight against corruption, he said.

The European Union and the Council of Europe assist Armenia in the anti-corruption fight, and quite an extensive program has been implemented on reforms in the justice ministry and the judiciary.

In addition, judges from the EU member states and other legal specialists participated in the respective projects, e-justice sphere, strengthening the justice and other directions. We are committed to continue the cooperation and, at the moment already considering the newly signed agreement as a base, we, of course, hope that we will maintain the close cooperation with all our partners, such as the justice ministry, the human rights defender and other structures, the EU Ambassador said.

Armenia and EU signed the CEPA on November 24 in Brussels in the presence of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and President of the European Council Donald Tusk. The document was signed by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The membership to the Eurasian Economic Union stems from Armenias interests and foreign policy agenda, HHK lawmaker, chairman of the parliamentary foreign relations committee Armen Ashotyan said during hearings on the oppositions initiative on withdrawing from the union.

Any accession to any supranational structure brings commitments, you can call it limitation of sovereignty, substitution or whatever you like. EU member states have reserved greater sovereign rights to Brussels, than in the Eurasian Economic Union, and it is normal, that any state, by accessing to any supranational structure, assumes certain obligations, he said.

Armen Ashotyan said that those who want Armenia to withdraw from the EEU justify their stance by three factors  economic, political and military-technical. The mention that not always do EEU member states have pro-Armenian stances. Indeed, not always, for example Belarus, Kazakhstan, but lets remember that the EEU has been created at the initiative of Russia, around the Russian economy, and remember, that one of the actors in the NK conflict settlement is Russia, as a Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the constructive conduct of this country doesnt cause doubts to anyone. I will only remind the latest visit of Russias foreign minister to both Baku and Yerevan. Russia plays and will play an important key role in this matter, he said.

He reminded that any association process requires institutional establishment  the EU is still in the process of establishing its institutions.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The first factor in being at any economic, political or military union are the states, the nations common interests, RPA faction MP Samvel Nikoyan said during the parliamentary hearings on Armenias withdrawal from the EAEU initiated by Yelk faction, reports Armenpress.

For our state the national security issues are the most important. Here everyone touched upon this issue and the main negative approach was that our strategic ally sells weapons to our adversary. Yes, you are right, I agree with you. I have repeatedly announced publicly that this is unacceptable. But in line with this I have stated clearly that all agreements that we have signed with Russian are effectively working which enable to purchase modern military equipment from Russia with their domestic prices: this is a fact. We ensure our security by acquiring modern arms from Russia at affordable prices. Therefore, our cooperation within the CSTO is beneficial since we managed to solve the most important issue faced by us, Nikoyan said.

The lawmaker stated that Armenias membership to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an opportunity which should be used. According to him, each union has its own interests, but it also provides opportunities which should be used and served to your own interests. MP Samvel Nikoyan said Armenia managed to use its EAEU membership the evidence of which are the current economic figures.

Commenting on the new agreement signed between Armenia and the European Union, the lawmaker stated that it is the victory of Armenias foreign policy. This shows that our both, and policy gave its results. We have perfect relations with the US, China, Russia, our neighbors Georgia and Iran. I am confident that we run a foreign policy which will bring success to us since we are not constructing our foreign policy based on contradictions of interests of superpowers, he said.

The MP considers normal the discussions over Armenias membership to the EAEU, stating that this allows to state that Armenia is a democratic country where every issue can be discussed. Its normal that the political mind can propose discussions on this or that topic. Such discussions are nothing new in the Armenian political thought. Of course, for a long time we havent had a state, parliament to hold such discussions, but we have always held such discussions. Thus, I consider normal these discussions, MP Nikoyan said.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The human rights defender plays a role in preventing corruption, Armenias Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said during the Corruption prevention and human rights protection conference in Yerevan on November 27, reports Armenpress.

The human rights defender here has a certain role on taking preventive actions, and this has been also stated by the new legislative changes. In addition, the anti-corruption commission will launch next year and the human rights defender has his contribution in the formation of that commission, Tatoyan said.

According to him, the Ombudsman always takes steps to solve the anti-corruption issues.

All these are being done by the joint efforts with our partners since its difficult to expect results in this field without a joint work, Arman Tatoyan said.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. German Member of Parliament Albert Weiler has welcomed the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the European Union.

I welcome the successful completion of negotiations between Armenia and the EU, the signing of the cooperation agreement is a big success for Armenia. I am sure that this country will continue reforms in various fields, in accordance with the agreement. In addition, this agreement is a powerful tool for enhancing relations with the EU, intensifying relations between peoples and opening new economic prospects, the MP said in a statement.

He mentioned that the Eastern Partnership isnt directed against anyone. Armenias example proves that enhancing relations with the EU doesnt rule out cooperation with Russia: Armenia is also a member of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Our goal is to strengthen the countries of the region and move forward cooperation among them. I am happy that we were able to achieve another success with Armenia in Eastern Partnership, he said
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement defines the EUs readiness to continue cooperation with Armenia in the energy field, EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Switalski told a press conference today.

The European Union seeks to enhance our assistance to Armenia to develop the green energy field, liberalize the energy market, and also to make the prices of energy resources more affordable for ordinary citizens, he said.

Switalski said he supports the statements of Armenian officials who said that the agreement doesnt contain a single element which would impose something upon Armenia.

According to him, the EU is assisting Armenia for a long time in ensuring the safe operation of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant and they are ready to seek solutions to design the next step regarding the operation of the plant.

True, every reactor has the moment of expiry, certainly, you can extend it, do anything, which will technically ensure its safe operation, but in any case it would be necessary to look ahead and plan the next step. The EU is saying we are ready to cooperate to find a proper, effective and affordable solution, he said.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Parliament Vice Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov held a meeting with acting Secretary General of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Sergey Antufyev on the sidelines of his visit to St. Petersburg.

Armenias permanent representative to the CIS IPA Hayk Chilingaryan was also present at the meeting.

Sharmazanov highlighted the role of the CIS and its parliamentary component and added that the Armenian parliamentarians are active in both the works of the assembly and the committees.

Mentioning that this year marked the 25th anniversary of the CIS IPA establishment, Sharmazanov mentioned that the assembly played a great role in the peaceful settlement of regional conflicts also.

Mentioning that next year will mark the 70th anniversary of adoption of the UN General Assemblys Convention on Preventing and Punishing the Crime of Genocide, Sharmazanov highlighted the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, and overall the occurrence of genocide, by CIS IPA parliamentarians.

Only through condemnation can we prevent new crimes against humanity. Here, it is appropriate to remember a quote of Hitler, Who, after all, today remembers the annihilation of Armenians. I am sure that we must condemn both Turkish denialism and attempts of glorifying fascism, he said.
YEREVAN, 27 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 27 November, USD exchange rate is up by 0.18 drams to 484.17 drams. EUR exchange rate is up by 3.21 drams to 577.61 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is up by 0.04 drams to 8.32 drams. GBP exchange rate is up by 1.41 drams to 646.42 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price is up by 9.80 drams to 20088.47 drams. Silver price is down by 0.60 drams to 265.41 drams. Platinum price is up by 36.53 drams to 14554.61 drams.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between Armenia and the EU takes into account all the commitments and obligations Armenia has assumed as member of other cooperation formats, ARMENPRESS reports head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski announced, adding that this agreement is ambitious and future oriented. This agreement was signed taking into account the existence of another integration system. Though we have cooperation and partnership agreements with other EAEU member states, for example PCA + (Partnership and Cooperation Agreement) with Kazakhstan, but the agreement with Armenia is more ambitious and substantiated, Switalski emphasized. According to the official, the European Union takes into account Armenias obligations in front of other institutions, but the synchronization of the new agreement with other agreements is within the jurisdiction of Armenia.

Answering the question about the benefits of the EU from signing such an agreement with Armenia, Switalski noted, Its not a secret that its part of our strategy to establish a stable and friendly neighborhood, helping societies to develop properly and sufficiently. Therefore, this agreement is part of a broader and more inclusive strategy. It pursues a goal of establishing safe and friendly environment.

According to the EU official, though this is not an Association, or Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, but it takes into account the aspirations of the partners. Switalski also added that the EU does not wish to draw dividing lines, but to establish bridges. As for Armenia, the understanding of a bridge is very logical and Armenia has many advantages and assets to realize that, the head of the EU delegation to Armenia said, referring to the question if Armenia can become a bridge between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Piotr Switalski did not wish to talk about failures, noting that he is optimistic in terms of successful implementation of the upcoming processes. I do not think it is the right thing to talk now about sanctions or failures, I am optimistic that this agreement will give new quality to our relations, he said.

Armenia and EU signed the CEPA on November 24 in Brussels in the presence of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and President of the European Council Donald Tusk. The document was signed by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The EU will increase the development assistance to Armenia by 25%, providing also technical assistance for the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU, ARMENPRESS reports Head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski told the reporters. 170 million Euro assistance will be provided until 2020. But this does not limit the opportunities that can emerge as a result of the signing of this agreement, the EU official said.

Referring to the expected economic benefits stemming from the implementation of the agreement Piotr Switalski noted that this agreement includes new elements that are fully in combinable with the WTO regime, and at the same time can serve as guarantees for European enterprises and companies to expand trade volumes and investments in Armenia.

We hope that those elements will serve as guarantees documenting the modern, Western standards of doing business in Armenia. We think the agreement will be encouraging for companies, Piotr Switalski added.

Armenia and the EU signed the CEPA on November 24 in Brussels in the presence of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and President of the European Council Donald Tusk. The document was signed by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
ATLANTALuvu Brands Inc.manufacturer of Liberator productsannounced an exclusive wholesale distribution agreement for Liberator Bedroom Adventure Gear with South Korean marketer MSJL Co. Ltd.

The demand for quality sex products is growing in Asia and were excited to be part of this transition, said Brett Richardson, Luvu Brands international sales manager. This exclusive distribution agreement will definitely raise the profile of Liberator branded products within the region.

MSJL is an internationally known manufacturer and distributor of intimate pleasure products. The company was established in 2003 and now operates a wide network of wholesale distribution channels as well as retail businesses in South Korea.

We value our relationship with Luvu Brands, said a representative for MSJL. Our company is one of the leaders in marketing intimate adult pleasure products in South Korea. We look forward to developing a community of loyal and enthusiastic customers who will appreciate the Liberator products.

MSLJ will serve as the Luvu Brands primary wholesale representative with plans to distribute and market a number of core Liberator sexual positioning products and erotic bedroom accessories in South Korea which includes the best-selling Wedge/Ramp Combo, tantric sex chairs and loungers, and the brands popular series of sex toy mounts.

It is a pleasure working alongside our South Korean distributor MSLJ, and we are looking forward to a very successful venture, said Richardson. The company also states MSLJ will be providing additional marketing support for Liberator.

Liberator Bedroom Adventure Gear is now selling their products internationally throughout Canada, Europe, China, Australia and has plans on expanding the brand into other countries including Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia.

For more, visit Liberator.com.
Gov. Roy Cooper's legal team is counting on the N.C. Supreme Court to overturn a recent trial-court ruling in a dispute over state elections management. If the case pits the high court's four Democrats against its three Republicans, it will produce a rare result Just two of 51 state Supreme Court opinions handed down this year have produced 4-3 partisan splits. In contrast, 42 cases (82 percent) have produced unanimous results among the seven justices.The latest opinions issued Friday fit with the pattern of a court that strives to reach agreement. All nine newly decided cases yielded 7-0 results.Each justice has agreed with the majority at least 90 percent of the time this year. Even the most disagreeable pair of justices agreed on four out of every five cases.A closer look at the numbers shows that the outcome of state Supreme Court cases depends on shifting coalitions that defy a strict partisan interpretation.Democrat Robin Hudson leads the court with the most appearances, 49 (96 percent), among the majority. But there's not much gap between Hudson and the court's most frequent dissenter, Republican Paul Newby. Newby has voted with the majority 46 times (90 percent). He has dissented just five times.Just as important, Newby ranks second among the justices this year in written majority opinions. If his analysis of the court's constitutional questions proved objectionable to a majority of his colleagues, Newby would not have had the chance to write six majority opinions. Only Democrat Sam Ervin IV's nine majority opinions top Newby's tally.Ervin's pen has been especially busy. Not only has he written most often for the Supreme Court's majority. He's also written the most dissents: three. Ervin's grand total of 12 opinions represents more than twice as many opinions as four of his colleagues. The only exceptions are Newby (nine) and Republican Chief Justice Mark Martin (eight), counting all majority opinions, dissents, and concurring opinions.It's hard to identify consistent voting blocs. But evidence exists that party labels might reflect at least some degree of divergence in judicial philosophies.Republicans Martin and Newby have agreed on the results in 50 of 51 cases this year. It's important to specify "on the results," since there's one September case, Catawba County ex rel. Rackley v. Loggins, in which Martin and Ervin agreed with colleagues only in the case's outcome. Martin's concurring opinion in Catawba County explained why he and Ervin took a different legal path to reach the same result as the other five justices.If one treats that concurrence more like a dissent, then Martin and Newby have agreed in 49 of 51 cases. Newby and Republican Barbara Jackson also have agreed in 49 of 51 cases. Among the Democrats, the most closely aligned pair, Hudson and Cheri Beasley, also have agreed 49 of 51 times.The Democrat Beasley and the Republican Newby have disagreed most often among the seven justices. In fact, other than the Catawba case, every other instance of a split court has featured Beasley on one side of the issue and Newby on the other. Beasley's sided with the majority five times in these split cases, while Newby has been with the majority four times.It's important to remember that these two justices still agreed in 42 of 51 cases. That's 82 percent agreement among the justices who disagreed most often. Newby signed on to four of Beasley's five written majority opinions. Beasley backed five of Newby's six majority opinions.The Republican Newby and the Democrat Ervin serve as colleagues now, five years after they waged a closely contested, high-profile 2012 election contest. Though officially nonpartisan, that election attracted significant interest from both major parties. The incumbent Newby beat the challenger Ervin by a 52-48 margin.Regardless of their history, these two former electoral combatants have agreed on the results in 45 of 51 cases (88 percent) this year. Newby has backed six of Ervin's nine majority opinions, while Ervin has signed on to five of Newby's six majority opinions.The newest justice, Democrat Mike Morgan, flipped the Supreme Court's partisan majority from 4-3 Republican to 4-3 Democrat when he unseated Republican incumbent Bob Edmunds last fall. That doesn't mean Morgan has offered a consistent fourth vote for Democratic colleagues.This year's first 4-3 Supreme Court split, in March, involved a case in which Morgan joined the three Republicans to support a majority opinion written by Newby. And while Morgan has aligned most frequently with Democrats Beasley and Hudson (46 of 49 cases), he's also sided with Republicans Jackson (45 cases) and Newby (44) more often than fellow Democrat Ervin (43).None of this background information precludes a clear partisan split in the Supreme Court's pending decision in. That's the case pitting the Democratic governor against the Republican-led General Assembly in a battle over a law merging the state's elections and ethics boards.But this year's record suggests that the high court's seven justices work together in ways that defy simplistic partisan analysis.Observers will have another chance to gauge the court's cohesion when it issues its next batch of opinions on Dec. 8.
Shortly after I moved to North Carolina in 2015, I learned about a dual-enrollment program for students to attend high school and Wake Technical Community College simultaneously. At the time, I was a homeschooled rising junior deciding among my options for the future, and I was eager to jump on board if it meant I could get college credit early-and tuition-free.The dual-enrollment program, called Career and College Promise (CCP), is designed to enable eligible North Carolina high school students to earn transferrable college credit that will count toward their future degree. There is no cap on credits a student can take, so a CCP student can earn as many as he is able to, up to an entire associate degree (while keeping up with his high school classes). CCP statistics show that I was not alone in utilizing this program: in the 2013-2014 fiscal year , there were 11,389 students enrolled in the program across the state.A CCP advisor helped me choose the courses I would need to transfer to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for my planned degree, a double major in economics and political science. Overall, the advising experience was helpful because I was provided with everything I needed to know to transfer the credits I earned through CCP at Wake Tech to a four-year university.Additionally, the UNC system makes it easy for students to know which classes will transfer and which will not. The Comprehensive Articulation Agreement between the UNC and North Carolina Community College System guarantees that earning a community college associate degree allows students to transfer to a UNC school as a junior. If you don't have an associate degree, much of the credit you accumulate is also guaranteed to transfer, assuring me that the classes I was taking at Wake Tech would be able to transfer.It was not until I actually started the classes at Wake Tech, however, that I found my college classes lacked the academic rigor I had in my high school courses. Wake Tech's classes were simply not as challenging as I expected-or hoped-them to be.One example of a less-than-rigorous course was an online criminal justice class with an instructor whose spelling was so poor that I often lost points on quizzes and tests because I could not understand what he was trying to say. I also had to take a class in which I was taught how to get around the 138-acre campus, how to find other college's websites, how to study, how to take a test, and other rudimentary skills. The class, College Transfer Success, is a requirement for students earning an associate degree-think freshman orientation, except for an entire semester.Even worse, some classes were highly politicized, especially my first English class, "Writing and Inquiry." Much of the time in that class was devoted to discussing current political issues. Very little time was spent on writing; instead, the majority of the time we spent reading and discussing partisan drivel. Readings included Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, which promoted the idea that extensive government regulation is necessary to "help the poor" and an essay glorifying the morality of theft from the rich by the poor. No alternate views to these governmental expansionist and moral relativist perspectives were presented as I had hoped. On top of the readings, five class meetings were dedicated to lectures on why I should be a feminist-not exactly the intellectual stimulation that I had hoped for in a college course.Nor was that English class unique in its political bent. I also had an American literature class that was at best subjective, and at worst fallacious. At times, it seemed as if the teacher's main intention was to criticize capitalism. For example, the teacher suggested that capitalism, specifically industrialization and the reprehensible behavior of robber barons, was to blame for a dramatic decline in the standard of living for Americans in the early 1900s. His claim was clearly false; the early 1900s-and almost the entire time the United States has been in existence-featured dramatic rises in the standard of living that are at least in part attributable to capitalism. The only time incomes fell for a considerable period in the 20th century was in the 1930s, which was long after the Industrial Revolution and Robber Baron eras of the late 19th century.Had these classes simply matched-not even exceeded-the rigor of classes I took in the high school home school program, I would have been much better off. I also would have been better served by dedicating more time and focus on my high school classes, but earning college credit was higher on my list of priorities. I wonder how much other students are challenged at Wake Tech. If the quality is not kept high, then it becomes a credential mill rather than an educational program.Still, despite its quality drawbacks, CCP sped up my degree completion and saved me money. I earned 39 credits over the course of six semesters and over half of the cost of an associate degree. Had I paid for those classes, it would have cost me over $4,000.Of course, CCP is no "free lunch." The cost to the state is quite expensive: over $85 million was allotted to the community college system to cover dual-enrollment students for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. For the last available numbers in 2013-2014, just barely above $5,000 was allocated to community colleges for each CCP student.When looking at other states, the data shows that dual-enrollment programs tend to vary widely. High school districts shoulder the financial burden in Florida. School districts pay the tab in Ohio as well, but its dual-enrollment program runs from grades 7-12 instead of just for high school. A combination of parents and school districts pay for dual-enrollment tuition in Pennsylvania. The state covers the cost of tuition for students in Oregon.Aside from the financial and credentialing advantages, CCP also filled a gap in my homeschooling experiences. I was not alone in this regard; at times, it appeared as though homeschooled students like myself were a majority of those enrolled in CCP courses. In our homeschooling classes, we learned on our own. Taking classes online at home deprived us of the opportunity to have actual discussions with classmates or to learn the material hands-on. The ability to have a teacher to talk to, have classmates to study with, or to be involved in classroom activities should not be discounted.My Wake Tech experience also broadened my education beyond academics by giving me the opportunity to serve as president of the campus Young Americans for Liberty chapter. I could not have acquired the same public speaking experience without participating in YAL, nor could I have had the same interactions with the faculty.For me, CCP at Wake Tech was a much-needed introduction to the "college life." If the analogy that students going from high school to college feel like they are jumping into the deep end of a pool rings true, then for a homeschooled student, it can seem like jumping into Lake Michigan.Even with all its flaws, Wake Tech's CCP program served me well. I got what I wanted: a head start on a degree while lessening the debt load I would carry in the future, along with a broadening social experience. I hope that its flaws can be fixed; college courses should challenge students, rather than giving them easy academic credit.
In South Africa, private operators hold about 6,000 captive African lions in approximately 200 facilities where canned lion hunts sell for up to $20,000 each. Photo by Adam Peyman/HSI

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Our federal government illegally allowed U.S. trophy hunters to import at least 280 lion trophies from South Africas cruel captive lion breeding and killing facilities. It allowed body parts to come into the country in spite of a policy implemented at the beginning of last year that shooting and then importing these lions in fenced-in enclosures does not contribute to the conservation of the species and is therefore illegal under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The HSUS made this alarming discovery about the massive influx of lion trophies from canned hunts after reviewing international trade data, raising concerns about how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is enforcing the ESA listing for lions, and also calling into question the agencys entire approach to allowing trophy imports of species threatened with extinction.

Last week, President Trump announced he was putting on hold actions by the USFWS to clear the way for elephant and lion trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia. The president said that trophy hunting of elephants and other animals was, in his words, a horror show and hed be hard pressed to change his mind on the issue. In short, he was emphatic that he was prepared to reject the agencys decision to encourage more trophy hunting of the animals by allowing Americans to import elephant tusks and lion heads.

While the president is at it, he should look at the USFWS actions that are giving comfort to American hunters killing captive African lions in South Africa. While any trophy hunting of threatened and endangered species is outrageous on its face, its even more appalling that the animals are bred for shooting and are killed at point-blank range in enclosures from which they cannot run or escape. These same lions are also used for cub selfies, cub petting, and lion walks, and once their heads and manes are big enough to attract the interest of trophy hunters, they are offered up for shooting in a penned area.

According to the government of South Africa, private operators hold about 6,000 captive African lions in approximately 200 facilities where canned lion hunts sell for up to $20,000 each. Of the 1,052 trophies from captive lions traded internationally in 2015, Americans killed 686, and imported their body parts into the United States  about 65 percent of the total. Since American trophy hunters are the main clients of the canned lion trophy hunting businesses, we rejoiced when our petition to list the African lion under the ESA resulted in a moratorium on the import of trophies from captive lions effective January 22, 2016.

Based on the USFWS redesignating lions as threatened with extinction, there should have been no imports of captive lion hunting trophies from South Africa to the United States since January 22, 2016 (when the new legal protections were imposed). Instead, The HSUS has discovered, while reviewing data from the database of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) for 2016, that there were at least 280 such imports.

Specifically, this data suggests that the USFWS is allowing hunters who killed captive lions prior to 2016 to abuse an exception to the import prohibition for so-called pre-Act wildlife. However, by statute this exception only applies to animals who were held in captivity before the date of ESA listing if such animals were not held in the course of a commercial activity. According to the government of South Africa, captive lions are bred exclusively to generate money; and the USFWS has issued a formal finding in agreement, stating that the lions are bred for financial gain. Indeed, in addition to captive hunting and cub petting (much like the nefarious cub petting industry were combating in the United States), South Africa recently approved the export of lion bones from these captive breeding facilities in order to meet the Asian demand for increasingly rare trafficked tiger parts. All are clear examples of commercial activities.

Again, there should have been zero captive-bred lion trophies allowed to be imported into the United States beginning January 22, 2016. Allowing them to come into the country contravenes the agencys own findings and the agency should never have allowed these lions to come into the country. It was illegal. On a go-forward basis, it is imperative that the USFWS take steps to ensure that it is not unlawfully applying the narrow pre-Act exception in the ESA.

Even many trophy hunters, including the Operators and Professional Hunting Associations of Africa, disagree with the practice of trophy hunters shooting captive lions, mainly as a matter of fair chase and because of an absence of conservation benefits.

South Africa has also previously struggled to comply with CITES requirements to ensure that it is properly labeling captive- versus wild-sourced specimens. While USFWS has claimed that less than a dozen wild and wild-managed lions from South Africa are allowed to be killed by trophy hunters each year, it is alarming to think that hundreds more wild lions could have been killed and imported under the guise of being captive-bred.

President Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke should shut the door on all of this nonsense. Newspapers throughout the United States have lauded the president for taking a stand against the trophy hunting of elephants. Its time to end all imports of sport-hunted trophies of threatened and endangered species in Africa coveted by American trophy hunters. Elephant, lion, and leopard populations are all spiraling downward despite decades of active trophy hunting to conserve them. The last thing we need are rich Americans killing them, with the biggest body count amassed at canned hunting facilities.

A horror show indeed.
In discussing allegations on CNN that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore assaulted a minor teenage girl Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak pointed out that Ringo Starr was "thirtysomething" when he covered "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine."

From Washington Examiner:

"You know, in 1973, Ringo Starr hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts with the song 'You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're Mine,'" Pollak said on CNN. "And it was a remake of an earlier song. He was 30-something at the time, singing about a 16-year-old. You want to take away Ringo Starr's achievement?"

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo frowned and replied, "You can't be serious."

"You think that Ringo Starr's song is supposed to be a nod towards allowing 30-year-old men to prey on teenagers?" Cuomo continued. "You don't believe that, Joel. You're a parent. You don't believe that."

Pollak shot back at Cuomo, saying, "You're also a parent, and you know that when you raise sons, the risk that our sons face today is that they're going to be exposed to accusations that may or may not be true."
Remember the story about the two NYPD narcotics detectives  Eddie Martins and Richard Hall  who said a teen girl they handcuffed and put into an unmarked van "consented" to have sex with them? Her lawyer said that when she went to the hospital, nine NYPD officers went into her room and tried to intimidate her into not pressing rape charges against the officers.

From Huffington Post:

"Nine cops came initially from the 60th Precinct and then another four or five from another precinct," [lawyer Micheal] David said. "They were basically trying to intimidate [victim Anna Chambers (a pseudonym)] and her mother  to get them to say it wasn't cops." David said he only learned of the alleged intimidation attempt earlier this month during a meeting with Chambers' mother. She mentioned that cops had "bullied" them at the hospital on the night of the assault, he said. According to David, the group of officers interrogated Chambers and her mother after the hospital had filed a report about the rape allegation with the police. One cop spoke to Chambers' mother in Russian, her native language, and allegedly told her that Chambers often filed complaints against police. But David said his client had "never" filed a complaint  until that day.

When the victim and her mother refused to back down, Detective Martins and Detective Hall decided to slut shame and victim blame the girl. From the Kansas City Star:

Martins and Hall allegedly tried to attack the woman's credibility by pointing out her raunchy social media posts and a $50 million claim against the city. The letter, obtained by The NY Post, also mentioned that the accuser had "rebranded herself as a wannabe rapper named 'Fi5ty Milli,' an obvious reference to her lawsuit."

Martins and Hall have pleaded not guilty of rape. It's not illegal for NYPD police officers to have sex with people in their custody.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a rare gem in the US financial regulatory apparatus, a regulator that actually tackles fraud and criminality by monied, powerful financial institutions, exacts meaningful penalties from them, and forces them to stop. They're one of the only things standing between you and highway robbery.

Alas, the CFPB is about to lose its leader  inaugural director Richard Cordray is planning a run for the Ohio governorship  and Trump and his regime are plotting to gut the agency by appointing Mick Mulvaney to serve in his place, despite the fact that Mulvaney is on record as wanting to shut down the agency and also only plans to serve in a part-time capacity; and despite the fact that the law clearly states that deputy director Leandra English should get the job (English is suing Trump).

Enter Steven A. Engel, a lawyer who represented the notorious loan-sharks NDG Financial Corp when the CFPB started to regulate its illegal conduct (which included fraudulently taking sums out of Americans' savings accounts). Engel was appointed to serve as an assistant Attorney General by Trump, then confirmed by a Senate voice-vote.

Engel is the author of a controversial memo that argues that despite its plain language and long jurisprudence, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act allows Trump to bypass the agency's deputy director and appoint its sworn enemy in her stead.

The memo has been roundly criticized by legal scholars, who say that Engel started with the conclusion that he wanted to shut down the agency and then worked backward to find a legal justification for his position.

In the OLC memo, Engel argued that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act allows President Donald Trump to name Mulvaney as acting director of CFPB, instead of the current deputy director, Leandra English. In response, English has sued the president and Mulvaney, seeking an injunction to prevent the appointment. The situation has caused chaos within the agency, which has the mission of safeguarding consumers against unscrupulous financial products. The CFPB's general counsel, Mary McLeod, issued a three-page memo over the weekend agreeing with OLC's take and saying that personnel should "act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB." McLeod leaned heavily on the OLC memo in her analysis, which was bitterly contested by several legal scholars.

WHITE HOUSE MEMO JUSTIFYING CFPB TAKEOVER WAS WRITTEN BY PAYDAY LENDER ATTORNEY [David Dayen/The Intercept]





(Image: Gareth Rasberry, CC-BY-SA; Trump's Hair)
Australia is one of the world leaders in internet adoption and usage, and it's also been one of the worst offenders in bad internet policy, with a track record to rival even America's reckless indifference to the internet's overall importance.

Australia's one of the pioneers of crappy internet rules, having enacted a content-based national firewall in 1993, and today insisting that the laws of the Australian legislature trump the laws of mathematics, while taking on a role as the global leader in exporting mass surveillance.

Australian governments have a history of cowardice and pandering to the most reactionary, fearful elements in the electorate, from discriminating against gay people to banning free speech for civil servants to running offshore concentration camps where private contractors get to rape (including rape of children) and abuse the inmates.

But Australia's reliance on the internet and its official indifference to the gravitas of internet regulation are on a collision course with one another. As a Digital Rights Australia/University of Sydney report shows, the Australian populace are smarter than their leaders when it comes to the internet, with excellent intuition about the risks of government, workplace and commercial surveillance; the importance of protecting free speech and privacy online; and checking the power of ISPs to warp net neutrality into network discrimination.

What's more, there's only one direction this phenomenon can go: up. Every day from now on, more Australians will have direct experience of the bad outcomes from bad internet policy. That means that every day, from now on, more Australians will want sensible and principled internet rules, not pandering to bigots and frightened people.



Policy Recommendations

1.Most Australians are concerned about their privacy

online and are concerned about privacy violations

by corporations. Nearly half of our respondents are

concerned about government invading their privacy.

Australian governments and companies need to

address these concerns if they want to improve trust in

the online environment, and in programs to promote

expanded data use. 2.Australian governments should consider taking up

recommendations from recent Australian Law Reform

Commission and Australian Productivity Commission

inquiries, giving Australians more control over their

data and more enforceable legal rights in the area of

privacy. 3.Australians are concerned about use of data, and

think that some use of data analytics and targeting

by advertisers are beyond the pale  especially in the

electoral sphere. Digital platforms must work harder to

address these concerns effectively. 4.Australians are prepared to make some trade-offs

between privacy and other interests. But current policy

moves to collect and centralise more data  through

My Health Record or a Digital ID program  look like

pushing beyond what Australians are comfortable with. 5.Digital rights to privacy while at work are a major

concern for Australians. Employment relations policies

need to protect workers from prospective or current

employers accessing their private social media data. 6. The gig economy has led to new forms of work,

driven by online platforms. Australians expect to see

this precarious work better regulated via targeted

employment policies.

Digital

Rights in

Australia [Gerard Goggin,

Ariadne Vromen,

Kimberlee Weatherall,

Fiona Martin,

Adele Webb,

Lucy Sunman and

Francesco Bailo/University of Sydney]

(via 4 Short Links)
A United Airlines flight traveling from Munich, Germany to Newark, NJ had to make an emergency landing at London Heathrow Airport after several passengers complained of feeling light-headed and nauseous after food was served. Paramedics came on board and took one passenger off the plane.

According to American Council on Science and Health:

One individual was taken off the plane by EMS and the rest were formally assessed, ultimately booked into hotels and rerouted to their final destinations. Other accounts on social media describe riders as wearing oxygen masks, though the photos published so far on such sites don't demonstrate this to be the case.

Passenger Pete Teoh, who felt fine, tweeted about it:

EMT on board checking those who feel unwell. pic.twitter.com/8xfFUDP6nO  Pete Teoh (@pteoh) November 26, 2017

Deplaning now. Passengers will be accommodated in hotel around Heathrow and rebooked on other flights. pic.twitter.com/5odNjhcezA  Pete Teoh (@pteoh) November 26, 2017

The cause of the illnesses is still unknown (although it seems like it was some sort of food poisoning) and is being investigated.

Image: Pete Teoh/Twitter
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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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Our lives are full of moments where we must interact with each other and make compromises for the sake of coexisting. We face complicated social involvements that require some give and take to get things done and to benefit everyone. A life full of selfish decisions and actions would make everything harder for all involved. But occasionally, this compromise is difficult and emotions and pride get the better of us all. Tact an diplomacy gives way to anger and resentment and the sparks fly. This is what happened here in a simple and easily solved dilemma. As cars made their way through the parking lot, two met bumper to bumper and reached an impass. Onlookers could hear horns honking and impatient voices. It seemed that either could have backed up a little to make way, but the moment became tense and both dug in their heals. Cameras came out as people watched the exchange. Two grownups should have been able to resolve the matter without a spectacle. The man in the car with the trailer has difficulty in backing up. And in fairness, he has not blocked anything but his own lane. He wants to go forward and around the corner. The lady coming around the curve has entered into the middle of the lane and she could either adjust to her right, or back up out of the way. But she has her sights on a parking spot that is being blocked by the car and trailer. She may be afraid to back up, but she has the option to veer out and to her right. The car and trailer could pull forward and completely resolve the matter. What she does not like is the escalation in his voice as she hesitated and tried to decide what to do. Her initial reaction was to stop and do nothing. The man honked. She stared at him. He gestured and told her to move her car. And this is where it seemed to become unfriendly. Her passenger got out of the car, stood in the lane and began smoking a cigarette. She said she could not move as she was waiting for him to get back in. This was clearly a move of defiance. The camera recorded the moments that followed that initial meeting and up to that point. The man's impatience is now at a peak as the minutes have dragged on. Traffic has built up behind both vehicles. Backing up now is tricky for the woman, and impossible for the man. Other horns honked. The man began to swear and the passenger of the woman's car makes a deliberate show of taking his time getting back into the car. Spectators began to talk about intervening with advice or a reprimand. The cars behind both vehicles backed up and out of the way, leaving just the two in the predicament. The man finally got into the vehicle and the woman made a very slow move forward and out of his way. For Canada, this is an unusual display of impatience that left people shaking their heads. What had gone on for nearly 5 minutes was a seemingly needless showdown. Who is more to blame in this scenario? Is it the man with his rude demands, or the woman with her reluctance to move her car over to the right?
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women brought together groups of women from the Muslim community as well as agencies like the YWCA to talk about domestic abuse in Calgary on Saturday.

Jawaria Shoaib is with Islamic Circle of North America Sisters, the group hosting this event. Although it's still a sensitive topic in her culture, she says necessary conversations are happening more often.

"There is a lot of fear within the Muslim community, which is acting as a barrier from them to come out and meet with other people as well. But ... we are taking our own baby steps and just to support them to come up and speak up," she said.

Shoaib said one of the challenges is the amount of propaganda that ties violence to Islam.

"If you really want to help women who are suffering violence, please do not link this with their religion, because religion is important to them," she said.

'Dire' situation

The Calgary YWCA's Patricia Irvine was at the event. She says her organization helped 1,100 women and more than 600 children last year.

She called the lack of shelter space in the city "dire," and says domestic violence is an issue that can touch anyone.

"Women need to use this day to really understand and believe that domestic violence doesn't discriminate, it goes all across the board, different cultures and different homes," she said.

Irvine says with so much media coverage about sexual assault in Hollywood and the #MeToo movement, it's important for everyone to keep the conversation going.

"We're talking about it with women and women, the men and women are talking about it we're talking about it to our children, we're talking about it to our husbands, to the men in our community. So we're talking about it and awareness is big," she said.

The international day for the elimination of violence against women has been held for 36 years.

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A Newfoundland artist has landed on the world stage, thanks to some photographs in the archives of the Smithsonian Institute in New York City.

Jordan Bennett is Mi'kmaq, originally from Stephenville Crossing on Newfoundland's west coast, and is multi-disciplinary visual artist.

Bennett was asked to be part of an exhibition at the Smithsonian and the National Museum of the American Indian, and for part of his research delved into the archives.

"By chance, when I looked at their archives online I searched in Mi'kmaq, and I also searched the word Newfoundland, and up came these photographs."

Those photographs, taken in 1930 by anthropologist Frederick Johnson, were of a man from Conne River in central Newfoundland.

Art honours the family and a way of life

Bennett researched the man in the photo and found his last name was Jeddore, and he turned out to be the great-great-uncle of his friend, John Nick Jeddore.

"I seen these photographs and I got really excited because I was like, I know this last name," said Bennett.

"I asked John Nick if it was OK if we worked with these photographs and revisit them in a different kind of way, from an anthropological perspective and turning it into a way of honouring the family and honouring the way of life."

Together, Bennett and Jeddore consulted Jeddore's family and revisited places shown in the old photographs.

They recorded the natural sounds of those areas, sounds like traffic in the community of Conne River and hiking through the woods to get the sound of the flowing salmon river.

Jeddore, a member of the Miawpukek First Nation, said working on the project gave him a new connection to the photos.

"I treated the photos as just static images in time, like things that have come and gone," said Jeddore.

"Then when I finally got down to New York and was able to stand there with the sound bringing these photos back to life, it added a totally new dimension to what these photos were and what they meant to me."

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The end result of the collaboration was an exhibition employing both audio and visual elements.

Bennett constructed a series of speakers to project the sounds in the exhibit.

"I created these speakers from scratch," he said. "Instead of using a speaker grille, a fabric one, what I did was actually weave split ash baskets using black ash."

He said he spent two weeks in Cape Breton learning the process.

Bennett said he feels the sounds of home are now coming through the trees of home.

Bennett acknowledged that it's big deal to have his name attached to this project.

"There are 10 artists in the show and it's definitely a huge honour and great to, you know, bring a piece of home there. That was the most important part for me, was to bring 'home' to New York and to do this piece for John and his family."

Jeddore said the project is quite a turnaround for indigenous people in this province.

"When you think about the Indigenous population of Newfoundland and Labrador being forgotten in a lot of history books and, you know, being written out of the terms of union when we joined Confederation," he said.

"For a lot of people outside of my community, feeling ostracized and guilty of being Indigenous  now the script has turned to those same people having their stories and the sounds from those communities being broadcast in the financial district of New York City. It's incredible."

The exhibit, entitled Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound, continues at the American Indian Museum's George Gustav Heye Center in New York City until January 2019.
The purchase of a new home for the Regina Police Service was approved at the City Council meeting Monday night.

Earlier this month, the city announced its plans to spend $37 million on the project, which would move the police from its current headquarters to the former Saskatchewan Transportation Company building, right across the street.

It made a successful bid for the building and was given 45 days to put down a non-refundable deposit.

The city clerk is now authorized to execute the purchase of the building, after review and approval from the city solicitor.

The provincial government has already given its approval to sell the building and land to the city for $16.25 million. Another $21 million will be spent to upgrade the building. At the announcement, a police spokesperson called the arrangement cost-effective, saying it would be significantly cheaper than building a new headquarters.

The money will be drawn from city reserve funds.

RPS will be able to house most of its personnel within the building. Right now, the 575 sworn and civilian personnel who work for the Regina Police Service are at several locations, which are leased.

The leases are set to expire within three years. Switching from leasing space to owning a permanent space for RPS is expected to save the city $100,000 annually.

According to the executive committee, the purchase will save the city about $100 million compared to purchasing land and building a brand new facility.

"This is a good day for the city," Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said.

Not everyone is in favour of the project. A representative from Colonialism No More addressed council, stating the group's wish that more money be spent on crime prevention and its opposition to the closure of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company.

Police will have to wait to until 2019 to move into their new location.

Glockenspiel restoration

City council has agreed to consider spending up to $350,000 of the 2018 capital budget on restoring a glockenspiel that once sat in Victoria Park.

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The recommendation was moved forward on Monday night and will be discussed during budget talks.

"We have an obligation to restore this. We made a mistake by removing it and not putting it back in the first place," Fougere said.

The glockenspiel was removed from the park in 2010 during the construction of City Plaza and has been out of service since.

The new monument would also feature a three-sided clock as well as the purchase of a new controller and clappers.

Restoration was originally pegged at $450,000, but that number was reduced when a report recommended replacing the instrument's granite base with architectural concrete.

Administration has also suggested volunteers could step forward and polish the bells, eliminating the need to have them serviced as a cost-saving measure.

Hunter Gatherer adds alcohol

Vegetarian restaurant Hunter Gatherer will soon be able to add liquor to its menu.

Council agreed to change the zoning bylaw in its lotin the heritage neighbourhoodso the diner could serve alcohol and expand outdoors with a patio.

Owner Neil McDonald said the restaurant on 15th avenue now seats 46. With the addition of an outdoor space, he said he hopes to serve about a dozen more.

Counsellor Mike O'Donnell pushed forward a report from the city's Planning Commission, advising that the restaurant's application be approved.

He said he's gotten comments from residents about an increased feeling of safety in the area with the addition of Hunter Gatherer and surrounding businesses.

"We talked about this at the Planning Commission with smiles on our face," he said. "We just saw this as being a wonderful edition."
Marlene Bird has died in hospital in Prince Albert, Sask., her family confirms.

Bird's name became known nationally in June 2014 after a vicious assault in a Prince Albert mall parking lot. She had been badly beaten and set on fire. She was partially blinded, and both her legs had to be amputated as a result of her injuries.

Leslie Black, 31, was sentenced in September to 16 years in prison for the attack. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder in April.

A member of Montreal Lake Cree Nation and a residential school survivor, Bird was described as a good-natured and caring person by her family.

She had struggled with alcohol abuse and had been living a transient lifestyle when the attack took place. She was treated in the burn unit of the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton before moving to a Saskatoon hospital.

In court documents, Bird said she lived in constant pain and discomfort. She struggled to find a home, and said she turned to alcohol to cope with the severe trauma she'd experienced.

After being released from the hospital in Saskatoon, she was moved to Prince Albert. She spent time at the YWCA homeless shelter there, then later moved to a seniors home, which could accommodate her wheelchair but charged extremely high monthly rent.

Early in 2015, several advocates teamed up to get Bird into the wheelchair accessible house in Timber Bay, 124 kilometres north of Prince Albert. There she lived with her partner of 15 years, Patrick Lavallee, until she was hospitalized earlier last week.

In conversation with CBC reporter Duncan McCue, Bird said she liked to do sudoku and watch murder mysteries on TV. She read the Bible, and she enjoyed riding on her electric scooter with Lavallee and their dog, Schooner.

Bird, 50, was the mother of two adult children.

'She wanted her story told'

Donna Brooks, chief executive of Prince Albert's YWCA, knew of Marlene before the brutal attack she suffered, and got to know her afterward. The media weren't paying attention to what happened to Marlene in the way Brooks felt they should have.

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"I remember saying, "If this was a Caucasian woman in Toronto, it would be national news.'"

A half hour later, the national news media came calling. Brooks' phone began to ring non-stop.

She later met Marlene at the hospital. It struck Brooks that "she wanted her story told," and pushed to have a publication ban on her name dropped, so people would know what happened.

"She came here [to the YWCA] after, so I got to know her personally, and I got to know Patrick personally as well," said Brooks.

"She was grateful, she was humble, she was thankful, and she was actually quite a bit of fun to be around"  so long as she kept her "demons," as Brook called them, at bay.

Bird struggled with alcohol addiction after her attack, too. She was open about her struggle, and even counseled a friend to try to quit drinking from her hospital bed in her final days, according to her partner, Patrick Lavallee.

Brooks saw Lavallee dote on Marlene, especially after she was attacked. It was a common sight in Prince Albert to see Patrick and Marlene headed to Walmart to panhandle. Sometimes Patrick rode on the back of her motorized scooter, donated after the accident.

He plans to donate the scooter and other items Marlene was gifted after her attack. He says that's what she would have wanted.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and Prince Albert Grand Council's (PAGC) Women's Commission offered their condolences Monday morning.

"Marlene is a true symbol of resiliency, and showed such bravery throughout the years of fighting for her recovery," said FSIN Vice-Chief Kim Jonathan in a news release.

Lived life on her own terms

After her recovery, in recent years, Bird forgave her attacker. She also returned to her old life, splitting her time between the house in Timber Bay and the streets of Prince Albert.

Not everyone understood or agreed with her decisions, but they didn't have to  Bird's life was her own.

"When the community rallied to help Marlene when she came home, we had this big expectation that Marlene is going to get help and sober up, and Marlene's going to live this big, beautiful life, and be a mentor and tell her story," said Brooks.

"And then reality set in."

Patrick Lavallee was almost always with Marlene in the final years of her life.

"All through the night, 24 hours a day  and it's pretty hard," he said, looking down.

"I depend on her, mostly. I like her arguments." Then he laughed.

Lavallee has poor eyesight, and said she helped guide him around Prince Albert. He feels a bit lost, now.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I hope it turns out good."

Bird's community in Prince Albert will also feel the loss, from the friends she sometimes stayed with when visiting the city, to the service providers she got to know at the YWCA.

She changed perspectives, in her own way.

"She taught me to allow people to have their dignity and be who they are. It's not our place to judge," said Brooks. "I will always thank her for that."
In a decision delivered after just a few minutes of deliberations, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the first-degree murder convictions of Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon, a Calgary couple who spent a weekend beating Jordan's six-year-old daughter, Meika Jordan, to death in 2011.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said the words "appeals dismissed," and then Meika's mother and stepfather, who fundraised to travel to Ottawa for Monday's hearing, wept in the courtroom.

"One of the best things I've ever heard in my life," said Kyla Woodhouse.

"Those two little words have just made everything for us."

More than two dozen members of the Ottawa and Montreal chapters of Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) also showed up in support of the Woodhouses, and erupted in cheers as the Woodhouses  who are members of the Calgary chapter  walked out of the courtroom.

"Vindicated," said Brian Woodhouse when asked how he and his wife were feeling after the decision. "It's finally over."

Jordan and Magoon, who was Meika's stepmother, were originally convicted of second-degree murder, but their convictions were elevated to first-degree murder by the Alberta Court of Appeal in December 2016.

The couple's lawyers had argued their first-degree murder convictions should be overturned because the Alberta Court of Appeal erred in elevating the verdicts.

For Meika Jordan, the weekend of Nov. 11, 2011, began with her stepmother, Magoon, holding a lighter under the child's palm.

To hide the burn from Meika's mother, Jordan and Magoon did not return the child as per their custody arrangement. Instead, over the next few days, the violence intensified; she was punched and tripped, and had her head slammed off a tile floor.

Meika was also dragged up and down the stairs by her hair and forced to run the stairs as a punishment.

The Alberta Court of Appeal found the child was forcibly confined, which elevated the convictions to first-degree murder.

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Running the stairs was the "hallmark of this confinement," says appellate prosecutor Christine Rideout in her submissions.

Rideout successfully argued that the trial judge used too narrow a definition of confinement in the case of children and improperly applied the legal test for forcible confinement.

Early Crown victory

In his arguments, Miller asked if a first-degree murder conviction would be the result every time a child was fatally assaulted by a parent based on the nature of that relationship.

"Maybe, I don't see what's wrong with that, actually," replied Justice Russell Brown.

The full panel of Supreme Court judges heard the case.

The prosecution had an early victory at Canada's top court; after brief submissions from all parties, the judges granted the Crown's motion to strike much of what can be argued.

The only issue Magoon's and Jordan's lawyers were then permitted to address was whether the Alberta Court of Appeal improperly substituted a verdict of first-degree murder following a conviction of second-degree murder at trial.

Defence lawyers had wanted to argue for a manslaughter conviction, a new trial or outright acquittal (for Magoon).

Operation Safe and Sound in Heaven

On Nov. 13, 2011, Jordan called 911 to report Meika had fallen down the stairs. Paramedics arrived and found her unconscious and in respiratory arrest. She died in hospital the next day.

Meika died from blunt force trauma to her head and internal injuries to her pancreas and liver.

The police investigation was dubbed Operation SASH (Safe and Sound in Heaven) and involved 158 police officers.

More than a year after the child's death, Magoon and Jordan were charged with first-degree murder.

A judge found the couple guilty of second-degree murder.

But in December 2016, the Alberta Court of Appeal elevated the conviction to first-degree murder.

Mr. Big operation

During a Mr. Big sting, police pose as criminals, creating elaborate scenarios which aim to draw the suspects into a criminal life.

In the case of Magoon and Jordan, the couple was living in a van when police began the Mr. Big operation in February 2012. From February to October, when the operation ended, officers ran 106 scenarios designed to convince Magoon and Jordan they were part of a criminal organization.

Police also intercepted 17,534 private communications between the couple.

Undercover officers set the couple up in a rental property at a massive discount. The detached garage on the property was occupied by undercover officers pretending to run a criminal business involving credit card skimming, fraud and drug trafficking.

Magoon and Jordan both developed friendships with the officers and Jordan was paid $15,000 with the promise of more as his work with the group continued.

When the couple was told Jordan's arrest was imminent, they turned to their new criminal friends for help. That's when they began to admit what they'd done to Meika.

'Unimaginable cruelty'

Prosecutors Christine Rideout and Andrew Barg argued the Alberta Court of Appeal properly applied the test for unlawful confinement in finding the couple guilty of first-degree murder.

"In an act of unimaginable cruelty, [Magoon] physically restrained six-year-old Meika Jordan and held her hand over an open flame while Meika screamed, kicked and eventually urinated," the documents say.

"This burn signaled the start of Meika's confinement by her 'caregivers.' In the days that followed, Meika was kept from her mother and subjected to repetitive acts of domination enforced by violence. These acts culminated in her murder."

Defence lawyers Bates and Nicole Rodych represented Magoon, while Brendan Miller and Jeinis Patel appeared for Jordan.

The panel will release its reasons in the coming months.

A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

CBC News reporter Meghan Grant tweeted from the courtroom:
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..26 November '17..Saturday was the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women."The Palestinian Authority noted the day, in its usual way: by using it as a platform to blame Israel.While one in four married Palestinian women report physical abuse, this is not mentioned in the official PA commemorations of the day. They brush aside any hint of those problems and only admit gender discrimination as a result of Arab heritage.Instead, they say that all of the problems of Palestinian women are a result of the "occupation."
Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote to an Ulan Muqir troupe (Red Bud Troupe) that travels around northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote to an Ulan Muqir troupe (Red Bud Troupe) that travels around northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tuesday, calling on them to promote literary and artistic innovation and continue producing excellent works.

"In the new era, I hope you can carry forward the fine tradition of Ulan Muqir, put down roots, and serve the herdsmen," Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said in the letter.

"I am pleased to see your growth and progress, and I understand your love for the cause, and your deep feelings for the Party and the people," Xi said.

There are 75 Ulan Muqir troupes that bring 7,000 performances to the prairies of Inner Mongolia each year.

Sixteen performers of the Sunite Right Banner Ulan Muqir troupe wrote to Xi recently, saying they were committed to the development of socialist literature and art.

Ulan Muqir is the Mongolian name for a traveling troupe that goes from one grazing site to another, performing for the herdsmen in some of China's most remote areas. Since it was formed in 1957, generations of performers have played for the herdsmen, putting down roots in the prairie.
Job Skills

U.S. Universities Earn Global Top Spots for Employability of Grads

Four United States universities topped this year's Times Higher Education rankings for graduates who are the "most employable." California Institute of Technology came in first, just as it did last year. Caltech, located in Pasadena, maintains incredibly high standards for admission, and every student accepted excels in STEM. The school is also one of the smallest, with just about 1,000 undergraduates and 1,200 post-graduates. Caltech was followed in the rankings by Harvard University, Columbia and MIT, in that order.

Although the rankings were published by UK-based Times Higher Ed, they were commissioned by Emerging, a human resources firm that works specifically with companies on finding "young talent." The list was developed through an online survey of 2,500 recruitment managers across the globe and further developed by responses from a second group of 3,500 international managers. Survey participants were asked to define what they looked for in graduates and to cast a maximum of 10 votes for the schools producing the most employable graduates.

The U.S. dominated the rankings once again  with 35 institutions among the top 150  but American colleges also slipped in their positions on the list overall, which one observer suggested was tied to the current political situation in the country.

The top 10 U.S. institutions to appear in the ranking were these:

UC Berkeley is the only public university on the list; the others are all private, not-for-profits.

According to Laurent Dupasquier, managing partner at Emerging, schools all over the world that have put an emphasis on developing students' soft skills and their employability through partnerships with companies have seen a "gradual rise" in their rankings.

"The U.S. again dominates the top 10, but you don't have to look much further to see that the reputation of its universities among global recruiters could be waning relative to others," he noted in a prepared statement. "Several well-known institutions have dropped a few places and although the performance of some universities lower down the ranking is encouraging, questions will be raised about whether the country's global image is being affected in some way by the political turmoil in Washington.

However, he added, compared to other nations, the United States still has the largest number of universities "that trip off the tongue of global employers looking for the best graduates."

The complete list is available on the Times Higher Education website.
Its been a 16-month journey, but Crux Cigar Companys Epicure is finally heading to retailers this week.

The Crux Epicure is the companys first Connecticut Shade cigar. The cigar was first announced in July 2016 just before the IPCPR Trade Show. The cigar had a limited release and then was showcased this past July at the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show.

The cigar features what Crux refers to as a Lujo (which translates to luxury in Spanish) Shade wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler. It is available in four sizes. The Epicure is packaged in ten-count boxes and will be a regular production offering. The cigar is produced at the Plasencia Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Yes, Its been a long time in development, but we couldnt be more excited with the release of the Crux Epicure, said Crux Cigars President Jeff Haugen, We are looking forward to the response from premium cigar smokers.

The Crux Epicure is now a regular production release. We assessed the Crux Epicure back on November 15.

Blend Profile

Wrapper: Connecticut

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (Plasencia SA)

Vitolas Available

Corona Gorda: 5 3/4 x 46 ($9.25 per cigar)

Robusto: 5 x 50 (SRP $10.00 per cigar)

Toro: 6 1/4 x 52 (SRP $10.75 per box)

Robusto Extra: 5 3/4 x 54 (SRP $11.50 per box)

Photo Credits: Crux Cigar Company
Less than a month after departing Quesada Cigars, Terence Reilly has found a new home. Today weve been told that Reilly will become the new Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Casa Fernandez.

Casa Fernandez has somewhat quietly become a major force in the cigar industry. The company is well-known for its Aganorsa farms in Nicaragua that grow some of the best tobacco in the world. The company has ownership in two factories in Nicaragua (Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A, Sabor Agnorsa S.A.) as well as the Casa Fernandez Miami factory located in Miami, Florida. Over the years, the company has built a reputation for growing tobacco and producing its own branded cigars as well as cigars for other brand owners. The conglomeration is owned by Eduardo Fernandez and his son Max. Paul Palmer serves as President for the Casa Fernandez brand.

We are very excited to have Terence join our team. We believe that Terence will play a major role in bringing our company to the next level. His excellent experience with Quesada Cigars as a sales and marketing executive, and nationwide reputation as a creative leader and energetic, passionate aficionado of the cigar industry, will be a tremendous addition to our team. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have him join us, and to help grow our company, commented Eduardo Fernandez.

One can argue Casa Fernandezs own brands have garnered less notoriety than the brands it makes for others. At the same time, the Casa Fernandez branded cigars have been critically praised, including four consecutive appearances on the Cigar Coop Countdown from 2013 to 2016. This is where the move with Reilly coming in makes a lot of sense. With Reilly, Casa Fernandez brings in one of the most experienced professionals in sales and marketing in the cigar industry. In his 8 years at Quesada Cigars, he has been praised throughout the industry for the work he has done there.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to join the CASA FERNANDEZ team, commented Reilly. The AGANORSA/CASA FERNANDEZ conglomerate has often been described as a sleeping giant, and I look forward to helping the company reach its full potential. Stay tuned!

Reilly will start in his new role effective December 1st, 2017.

Photo Credit: Terence Reilly social media
A good Nightwatch - Start out with a promo of a local show happening at Pressed, dec. 8th with the Fays, the Bloody Murders and King Kimbit, then a brand-new release from Danish jam-psych-sters Causa Sui. We finish with the final installment of the Merrie Mack (the tribute to CKCU volunteer Mary MacKinnon, who is no longer with us)... save for ONE more track, to be featured sometime in the next few months.

Old Timer

Fays - MAU! - MAU! Song #11

Fays - War Tower - War Tower The Drop

Causa Sui - Vibraciones Doradas - Vibraciones Doradas El Fuego

Causa Sui - Vibraciones Doradas - Vibraciones Doradas Seven Hills

Causa Sui - Vibraciones Doradas - Vibraciones Doradas You are a Comet, you are on Fire

USA out of Viet Nam - Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes - Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes A Marriage

Residual Echoes - The Middle Path Transparent Radiation

The Red Crayola - The Parable of Arable Land No Vacancy

Nathan Mahl - Parallel Eccentricities - Parallel Eccentricities Killer

Van Der Graaf Generator - H to He Who Am the Only One T-Tigers and Toasters

Mahogany Frog - Do5 - Do5 Buzzsaw- The Myth of a Free Press

Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers 03 Freedom Summer- Voter Registration, Acts of Compassion and Empowerment

Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers Electric Mainline, Pt. 1

Spiritualized - Complete Works Electric Mainline, Pt. 2

Spiritualized - Complete Works Ei Kai Miehen Tarvi Aina Olla Macho

Royhka ja Ratto ja Lehtisalo - Hiekkarantaa Kaupungin Kaunein Tytto

Royhka ja Ratto ja Lehtisalo - Hiekkarantaa Nymphea (w/ Kronos Quartet)

Esa-Pekka Salonen - Kaija Saariaho
       :   MLA ,        41 
It all started in 2002 when representatives of political parties from more than 15 countries decided to examine new chances for Christian politics in Europe, at the conference "For a Christian Europe" in Lakitelek, Hungary.

The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is the only European political party that aims to reflect and work on Christian-democratic politics in Europe from an explicitly Christian-social point of view.

Click here for an overview of our Members of European Parliament.

Read More

These are our current board members.

Read More

Advisory Council

This is our current council of advisors.

Read more

This is our staff in the Netherlands and Brussels.

Read More
From 2010 on, the activities of the ECPM are financially supported by the European Parliament. The liability for any communication or publication by the ECPM, in any form and any medium, rests with the ECPM. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
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Three Chinese companies have joined hands with a Nepalese company to develop at least 1,000 MW hydropower projects in Nepal in the next five years.

Three Chinese companies have joined hands with a Nepalese company to develop at least 1,000 MW hydropower projects in Nepal in the next five years.

The joint venture between the Chinese companies and Butwal Power Company (BPC) was launched in Nepal's capital Katmandu Wednesday evening.

Liu Guoqiang (3rd L), chairman of China's Sichuan Provincial Investment Group Co. Ltd (SPIG) board, Nepal's Butwal Power Company (BPC) Chairman Padma Jyoti (1st R) and other delegates launch a joint venture between Chinese companies and Butwal Power Company (BPC) in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, on Nov. 22, 2017. Three Chinese companies have joined hands with the Nepalese company Butwal Power Company (BPC) to develop at least 1,000 MW hydropower projects in Nepal in the next five years. [Photo/Xinhua]

Sichuan Provincial Investment Group Co. Ltd (SPIG), Chengdu Xingcheng Investment Group Co. Ltd (CXIG) and Qing Yuan Engineering Consulting Co. Ltd (QYEC) and BPC will first develop the 100MW Lower Manang Marshyangdi Hydroelectric Project, located at high Himalayan area of Gandaki zone in western Nepal.

"It will be followed by a number of other ventures," the Nepali company said in a press release.

BPC Chairman Padma Jyoti termed the cooperation a first step towards a long-term partnership as hydropower is long-term business.

Dr. Liu Guoqiang, chairman of SPIG board, said that the joint venture has opened a new platform for cooperation in energy sector under China's Belt and Road Initiative.

"We are also eager to cooperate in the areas of water management and health care sectors," he added.
2017 has been a bad year for ISIS. Over the past 10 months, the terrorist group has lost its hold on all strongholds in Iraq and nearly all the territory it once held there. In Syria, its territory has shrunk to little more than the central Euphrates river valley. And with the loss of its two capitals, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, its false, self-proclaimed Caliphate is no more.

Nonetheless, that does not mean that the threat is gone and we can stop fighting. On the contrary, we must double down, remove ISIS grip on the last of its footholds, even as we continue to rebuild the towns and cities damaged by ISIS and the long, bloody fight to dislodge it.

In Syria, the global coalition continues supporting the Syrian Democratic Force through surveillance, combat advice, and continued precision strikes targeting the terrorists. We will continue to deprive ISIS remnants of their resources and safe havens, and continue our defeat-ISIS missions so long as they pose a threat, said Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve during a recent briefing.

The coalition also supports stabilization efforts, to help Syrian cities like Raqqa and Tabqa to recover, and its people to return home. Many of these stabilization efforts in Syria are coordinated through the U.S. State Department's Syrian Transition Assistance and Response Team, or START, which supports the locally led civil councils, said Colonel Dillon.

Across the border in Iraq, the stabilization effort is well on the way. Here again, the U.S. offers support, with USAID-lead projects like, for example, rehabilitation of the water network, electricity substation and schools in Shirqat.

At the same time, Iraqi Security Forces continue to clear Western Anbar province of the final remaining ISIS holdouts there.

Despite recent and significant military successes against [ISIS], the threat of its hateful ideology persists, said Colonel Dillon. We must and will pursue them and we will remain committed to partner support that enables the enduring defeat of these criminals. We are proud to stand by our Iraqi and Syrian partners as they continue to strive toward a better life for future generations.
Cloud of pollution over Madrid, seen from Torrelodones. ULY MARTIN (EL PAIS)

Pollution is choking Spains main cities, a situation that is being exacerbated by atmospheric stability and a lack of rain. In the last two weeks alone, 18 cities exceeded European Union limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and particulate matter (PM10), according to the green group Ecologists in Action.

Madrid is by far the worst offender when it comes to exceeding limits for carbon dioxide (set at 200 g/m3) and tiny polluting particles.

The limits are being breached in many cities and no one is doing anything Juan Barcena, Ecologists in Action

The limits are being breached in many cities and no one is doing anything about it, warns Juan Barcena, who is in charge of air quality issues at Ecologists in Action.

Madrid

The capital has had pollution issues for years. An almost permanent halo of smog hovers over the city. Once again, Madrid City Hall is taking steps to try to alleviate the situation, one of just two cities in Spain to do so. On November 18, officials activated the level 2 scenario of its anti-pollution protocol, banning non-residents from parking in regulated parking zones (SER), as well as adjusting the speed limit on the M-30 beltway and other access roads to 70 km per hour.

Madrid is taking measures to try to alleviate the situation, one of just two cities in Spain to do so

Madrid spews more nitrogen dioxide into the air on an hourly basis than any other Spanish city, reaching a maximum of 341 g /m3 at one monitoring station between November 15 and 19. This is 141 g /m3 over the limit. In the same period, it also exceeded the EU limit on PM10 particles. On Tuesday last week, 11 monitoring stations were over the daily nitrogen dioxide limit on 32 occasions, according to official city statistics.

Barcelona

The Catalan capital exceeded the nitrogen dioxide limit at the Gracia monitoring station on November 17. Since then, the main problem has been the density of PM10 particles, according to local authorities. The worst levels were registered on November 20 and 21, when the Eixample monitoring station shot up to 55 g /m3 of PM10. Over the last week, Barcelona has not placed any restrictions on traffic, despite the pollution being visible on November 17 and 22. However, the city has plans to restrict vehicle numbers from December 1 in the event of excess air pollution.

Cities where contamination limits were breached

Zaragoza

The capital of Aragon has exceeded both NO 2 and PM10 limits. Though it has traditionally been recognized for its air quality, it has also suffered from a lack of rain in the last few months. Over the last week, the situation has grown worse and City Hall has announced it will adopt a course of action to deal with such episodes in the future as part of their plan for sustainable mobility.

Seville

The Andalusian city registered the worst levels of air quality between November 17 and 19 at three monitoring stations. Like Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza, its problems were with NO 2 and PM10. The city has not taken any measures to counter the pollution, though Seville does have the biggest network of bicycle paths in Spain.

Ecologists in Action has criticized authorities in Valencia for not acting in time

Valencia

Although Valencia has managed to keep down its hourly nitrogen dioxide levels over the last week, it did register the second biggest concentration of PM10 in Spain at one monitoring station between November 15 and 19. On November 22, the city adopted measures that merely inform and advise residents on issues such as such as avoiding intense exercise outdoors. Ecologists in Action has criticized the authorities in Valencia for not activating the protocol earlier.

Valladolid

Like Valencia, Valladolid has maintained hourly NO 2 levels below the permitted threshold while its PM10 levels breached the daily limit. On November 22, city officials warned that the daily PM10 quota had been exceeded at two monitoring stations, prompting them to activate the protocol for a level 2 scenario, restricting speed on access roads and within the city while preparing to increase public transportation services.

English version by Heather Galloway.
Vicent Sanchis, director of TV3.

Catalonias public broadcaster has failed to live up to its duties of impartiality and public service. TV-3 and Catalunya Radio have been used as propaganda tools for separatist theories, and their programming has contributed to creating a biased vision of reality. A complete lack of plurality has resulted in a disproportionate amount of pro-secession representatives in TV and radio debates, systematically leaving detractors in a minority position. And topic selection has prioritized the interests of the pro-independence agenda, while ignoring other matters that might have been of interest to citizens. Much of this bias has been expressed by blaming Spain for any negative aspect of reality.

When Article 155 was applied, there was an option to take over Catalonias public broadcaster

We have said in the past, in connection with Spanish broadcaster RTVE, that public radio and television should not function as an extension of government, or as a delivery tool for the party in power. Catalan public media outlets have endured periods of extreme partisanship, and it is no coincidence that one of the first measures undertaken by the government of Artur Mas upon its return to power was to revert the reforms that had been introduced by the previous three-party coalition to avoid government control over public media. It is similar to [Spanish Prime Minister] Mariano Rajoys moves against the reforms approved by his Socialist predecessor, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Right now, control over Catalan public media is in the hands of the parliamentary majority, and the result of that became evident with the appointment of TV-3s current chief, a self-professed supporter of independence who got the job not so much for professional reasons as for ideological ones.

We expect an exquisitely neutral coverage of the election campaign

TV-3 is not just a partisan television station: it is a TV station at the service of a cause. It is not just the news that is permeated by all things related to the secessionist drive. Indeed, all programming is determined by the dialectics of us-versus-them, where everything to do with us is positive and everything to do with them is typically negative.

This attitude permeates everything from childrens programs to comedy shows, where secessionists are made fun of in a gentle way while unionists are treated with contempt. This spirit has been taken to great lengths: the satirical program Polonia was suspended over a judges decision to hold several Catalan government members in pre-trial detention; the shows producers alleged that they did not feel like laughing that day.

The programming at TV-3 seeks to establish parameters for interpreting reality that will be favorable to the independence cause; this explains a resolution by the Election Board to stop describing Carles Puigdemont as a president in exile, ignoring the fact that he was ousted and has fled Spain to avoid the justice system.

When Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution was applied, there was an option to take over Catalonias public broadcaster. This was ultimately not done because there was no consensus, but also to avoid accusations of undermining freedom of expression in the region. Catalonia is now facing a crucial election, for itself and for Spanish democracy as a whole. It is extremely important for public news organizations to respect the plurality of Catalan society. We expect an exquisitely neutral coverage of the election campaign from them  for the sake of society and for their own sake as well, as their future depends on it.

English version by Susana Urra.
A woman protests outside the Pamplona court where the La Manada trial is taking place. Victor J Blanco (GTRESONLINE)

The trial of five men in their 20s accused of raping an 18-year-old woman at the July 2016 Running of the Bulls festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona is nearing its end.

Prosecution and defense teams will make their final arguments today and tomorrow, with prosecutors to argue the woman was sexually assaulted by the group and the defense to maintain she consented to relations with the men. Here are the key points in a case that has attracted widespread attention across Spain.

Analysis of the videos

The seven fragments of cellphone video footage taken by two of the accused  a soldier and a Civil Guard  during the alleged rape total 96 seconds. During investigations one of the accused, Alfonso Cabezuelo, admitted having deleted the longest section of video: this was later recovered by regional police who carried out an extensive analysis of each frame of that footage. Their report stated the woman adopted a passive and neutral role during the sexual act and that her movements were directed and/or controlled by the defendants. There was no dialogue between her and the men and her eyes remained closed.

Conflicting evidence

The main piece of conflicting evidence in the trial emerged on the last day. It relates to the initial statement that police took from the woman on July 7, 2016. Answering questions from defense lawyers, the police officer who took that first statement told the court that the girl had told her she knew that she had been filmed. However, the police officer did not take note of this in the statement or inform the examining magistrate of this assertion. Defense lawyers argue this is key information because, according to them, it points to the possibility that the woman lodged a complaint to police about a consensual act because she feared the videos would come to light. Prosecutors firmly reject this argument and believe the police officer made a mistake in court because she could not recall the events of 2016.

Detectives reports

One of the most controversial aspects of the trial was the admission of private detective reports ordered by one of the defense teams that examined the online activity of the young woman on social media in the weeks following the alleged rape. Those reports aimed to discredit the existence of psychological damage on the part of the woman, for which prosecution lawyers have called for a compensation payment of 250,000. The admission of those reports was widely criticized by civic and feminist groups who argued it was an attempt to judge the life of the woman after the alleged attack.

On the last day of the trial, this report was withdrawn from evidence because it could create problems in terms of the right to privacy, according to lawyers for the prosecutors. The only image that was allowed to remain in evidence was an Instagram photo shared by the victim in 2017.

Prior criminal records

The case has become known as La Manada (The Pack) because this was the name of the WhatsApp group used by the defendants, and in which one of them, Jose Angel Prenda, wrote on the morning of the events: Five of us having sex with one [woman], and announcing theres video.

A private detectives report into the online behavior of the young woman after the alleged assault was withdrawn

After analyzing video and content found on the phone of the accused, regional police in Navarre found evidence the men could have drugged and sexually assaulted another woman in the southern province of Cordoba two months before the alleged rape in Pamplona. Details from the investigation of that earlier incident have been transferred to a court in that province but no date has been set for a hearing on that matter.

The prosecutors office and prosecution lawyers requested that messages relating to this incident be included as evidence in the Pamplona case to demonstrate prior behavior on the part of the accused, however the court ruled this out.

Three of the defendants  Jose Angel Prenda, Alfonso Cabezuelo and Angel Boza  have criminal records although none of those prior incidents are related to sexual assault. In the first case, the offense was robbery with force, the second is assault and the other is a drink-driving offense. Cabezuelo had enlisted in the army while Antonio Manuel Guerrero had recently joined the Civil Guard. The fifth defendant is Jesus Escudero.

Session behind closed doors

The trial took place behind closed doors to protect the privacy of the young woman and to stop the dissemination of images of the defendants. Special protective measures were also in place for the womans appearance in court on November 14, with defendants watching via video conference from an adjoining room. All details of the case released to the press came from lawyers for the prosecution and the defense.

The court

The presiding judges in the case, Jose Francisco Cobo, Ricardo Gonzalez and Raquel Fernandino, were responsible for the decision to allow the five accused men to declare at the end of the trial and not at the beginning so that they could defend arguments made against them. This practice, common in many countries, is unusual in Spain. One veteran lawyer in the city said it was the first time he could remember this taking place in Pamplona.

English version by George Mills.
From left to right: Antonio Cano, Manuela Carmena and the journalist Juan Cruz. Hector Guerrero

Some 44 years ago in Mexico Citys Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest) park, a statue was unveiled honoring Spanish poet Leon Felipe, who died in exile in Mexico. Now, four decades on, the poet has been honored again with an act of homage outside the Madrid pavilion at the huge Guadalajara International Book Fair  the most important gathering of publishers in the Spanish-speaking world.

There is no better transmitter of knowledge than reading EL PAIS editor-in-chief Antonio Cano

It was a fitting tribute to the poet, a staunch opponent of Francisco Franco, who became the cultural attache of the Spanish government in exile in Mexico during the dark years of the Spanish dictatorship. It was also another success for what has been a luminous week for Madrid, city of honor at this years event.

The most important [thing about Madrid] is its people, said current city mayor Manuela Carmena during a panel discussion about the Spanish capital on Sunday, at which she shared the stage with EL PAIS editor-in-chief Antonio Cano.

Speaking at the event, Carmena drew a parallel between the current status of Spains largest city as a place of welcome and the Mexico that served as a refuge for the many Spaniards in exile during the Franco dictatorship. But she noted the weight of the past.

During the [Franco] dictatorship, Madrid was, for many people, the regime, and this generated a very negative image, which changed with a process that continues to be viewed as exceptional: the Transition, said the mayor, referring to the period in which Spain, in the years after the death of Franco, underwent a massive transformation from a dictatorship into the modern democracy it is now.

Dawn over Madrid from the upper terrace of the Circulo de Bellas Artes. Samuel Sanchez

Carmena also cited the example of Madrids first post-dictatorship mayor, the writer and lawyer Enrique Tierno Galvan, as a shining example of this new Madrid, and as one of her role models in terms of her position. Madrid gained personality with the arrival of democracy, she said.

The dictatorship cast a long shadow over all of Spain but Madrid was a focus of ant-fascist resistance, said Antonio Cano during the encounter with Carmena  one in which he also recalled his time as a correspondent in Mexico in the 1980s, saying: It was very easy to be keep being a Madrileno en Mexico.

This universal quality of the Spanish capital should lend it strength, Cano argued. Madrid has a global dimension that it is already using but which it could make more of. Being global is about conceiving our surroundings as part of this universality, he said, citing the example of the newspaper he edits.

Madrid gained personality with the arrival of democracy Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena

The city where the most paper copies of EL PAIS are sold is Madrid but the city where we have the most readers, via our digital edition, is Mexico City, he said.

During the talk, moderated by the Spanish journalist and writer Juan Cruz, there was time to celebrate literature as well. A city that reads is a city is in a good position to judge the reality before it, said Carmena.

There is no better transmitter of knowledge than reading, added Cano.

English version by George Mills.
There are seven definitive legal verdicts issued against former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who is charged with financial violation worth around $3 billion, asserts a former member of the Iranian Parliament.

In a note for Khabaronline, a news website close to the speaker of the parliament Ali Larijani, Fazel Mousavi said he received the report from well-informed sources.

Ahmadinejad and the Larijani brothers have been fighting an intensifying war of words recently.

The amount in question relates to government funds during Ahmadinejads presidency.

However, he did not say whether the verdicts were reached at a court of law or when a trial was held. Nor did he elaborate how, after these verdicts, Ahmadinejad -- recently appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as a member of the influential Expediency Discerning Council -- remains free and engaged in a bitter war with the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani.

Mousavis claims seem to be part of the tug of war between Ahmadinejad and his opponents. To what extent the Supreme Leader will protect the former president, is unclear.

Ahmadinejad would be better to contemplate what he owes [the system] rather than calling for justice, Mousavi wrote.

Mousavi went on to accuse Ahmadinejad and his associates of rejecting Irans judicial system. The judiciary has legally summoned Ahmadinejad and his companions, and they should be accountable to the judicial system, he wrote.

Criticizing the system for not stopping Ahmadinejad from allegedly committing billions of dollars worth of crime at the time, Mousavi noted, Alas, now that Ahmadinejad is broke, he will not be able to return the money to the treasury.

Last month, the Iranian Parliaments Audit Court announced that Ahmadinejad, in the last 18 months of his presidency, spent 4.6 trillion tomans or approximately $1.3 billion of Irans oil income illegally.

The court ordered the former president to repay the money, according to the parliaments website. The ruling said that during his tenure, Ahmadinejad spent oil revenues without proper transfer from the Oil Ministry to the treasury.

Although the court found Ahmadinejad directly responsible, it has issued no other measures against him.

The Audit Court has limited powers of punishment. It can reduce an officials pay or at most fire officials from government jobs but is not empowered to issue harsher verdic
Tehrans prosecutor-general at the time of the protests against Mahmud Ahmadinejads controversial re-election in 2009 has been sentenced to two years in prison, according to a lawyer representing the family of one of the victims.

A number of protestors arrested during the widespread post-election demonstrations died while in custody. Mortazavi was blamed for their deaths and taken to court.

Citing Mir Majeed Taheri, Tasnim News Agency quoting a close relative of one of the victims reported on November 26 that the court of appeals verdict on Saeed Mortazavis charges has been issued and texted to him as an SMS.

Mortazavi, the hard-line former chief prosecutor for Tehran, was acquitted of being an accomplice to murder in the primary court.Mohsen Rouholamini was one of the victims and his family protested the verdict and appealed.

Rouhalami, a graduate student in computer engineering at the University of Tehran, was one of the many students who protested Ahmadinejads re-election and were detained and taken to different prisons, including Kahrizak detention Center, near Tehran.

At least three young men, Amir Jvadi Far, Mohammad Kamrani, and Ramin Aghazadeh, who were detained in Kahrizak died in custody.

Amir Javadifar died on July 14, 2009 as he was being transferred from Kahrizak to Tehrans notorious prison, Evin. On July 15, Rouholamini died in the hospital. Kamrani also died on July 16 in the hospital. All three died as a result of the torture they endured at Kahrizak, according to officials, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reported.

The primary court found the notorious chief prosecutor guilty of illegally detaining people and sending them to Kahrizak and barred him for life from serving in the Justice Department and for five years from serving in public positions.

Now, three years later, the court of appeals overruled the verdict, sentencing Mortazavi to two years in prison as an accomplice to murder.

There has been no official confirmation or a second source reporting about Mortazavi's verdict.

The former judge, renowned as the butcher of the press for ordering scores of reformist papers banned, had previously apologized to the family of Kahrizak victims.

However, Mortazavi insisted in his letter of apology that the victims were not killed deliberately.

However, the family of the victims immediately rejected Mortazavis apology.

Mehdi Karroubi, the former speaker of the Iranian Parliament who is now under house arrest, was the first to blow the whistle on Kahrizak.

Nevertheless, had it not been for Rouholaminis father, a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the tragedy of Kahrizak might never have been legally pursued.

In early 2010, the parliament released a report identifying Mortazavi as "the main culprit in the scandal" surrounding Kahrizak.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa declaring that women are forbidden to ride bicycles in public, Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on November 26.

In response to a religious inquiry, Khamenei also said it is prohibited for women to ride bicycles in the presence of strangers and those who are not their immediate family.

The daily Vaqaye Itiffaqqiye, citing a member of Khameneis so-called fatwa office, had reported back in August 2016 that from the ayatollahs point of view, women are only permitted to ride motorbikes or bicycles so long as it does not attract strangers or lead to corrupt behavior. Therefore, women should contemplate where and in what situation they will ride a bicycle. If they respect the said points, then riding bicycles for them would be permissible.

However, websites close to ultra-conservatives published comments Khamenei made 21 years ago at a meeting with the staff of the Physical Education Organization, in which he maintained, It is improper for girls to ride bicycles on the streets of Tehran. And ostentation and attracting strangers is also forbidden for women in sports.

President Hassan Rouhanis deputy for women affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi, asserted shortly after, According to the supreme leaders office, riding bicycles by women is permissible, provided they respect the principles of sharia law.

Less than two weeks later, security and police forces halted a prescheduled plan for what they dubbed family-riding bicycles, supporting a campaign labeled as Tuesdays Without Vehicles.

The campaign was initiated by environmental activists in the province of Arak and was supported by the Department of Environment.

The head of the department went even further, declaring it would be prepared to provide loans for those interested in buying bicycles.

But the whole campaign was aborted when Sunni Friday Prayer leader in the mainly Kurdish-populated city of Marivan stepped in and bitterly attacked the initiative. Consequently, many Marivani women were detained while riding bicycles in support of the Tuesdays Without Vehicles campaign.

A group of women in Tehran, carrying banners, citing Khamenei as saying, Women riding bicycles is legal as well as religiously legitimate, unsuccessfully tried to revive the campaign.

Thats when Khamenei stepped in again, and in September 2016 announced, By riding bicycles, women often attract the attention of male strangers and expose society to debauchery, and thus contravene women's chastity, and it must be abandoned.

Iran is not the only country facing the question of women riding bicycles and motorbikes. In many third-world countries, women riding bicycles are described as infamous, outcasts, and untouchable.

Based on a myth in Tajikistan, girls are told they could lose their virginity if they fall off while riding a bicycle and then finding a husband would be much more difficult.

Meanwhile, more than half of the cyclists in Denmark (55 percent) and Netherland (56 percent) are women. German women and men are almost equal when it comes to riding bicycles.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Iranian state television aired videos Sunday targeting a Briton and an American serving time on espionage charges, likely trying to pressure the U.S. and Britain as London considers making a $530 million payment to Tehran.

The case of Iranian-British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gained momentum in recent weeks as British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson faces tremendous criticism at home over his handling of it.

Meanwhile, state television aired footage of an emotional Chinese-American national Xiyue Wang as U.S. President Donald Trump continues his hard line against Tehran and its nuclear deal with world powers.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, already serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government while traveling there with her toddler daughter, faces new charges that could add 16 years to her prison term.

On Thursday, Iranian state television aired a seven-minute special report on Zaghari-Ratcliffe. It included close-ups of an April 2010 pay stub from her previous employer, the BBC World Service Trust.

It also included an email from June 2010 in which she wrote about the "ZigZag Academy," a BBC World Service Trust project in which the trust trained "young aspiring journalists from Iran and Afghanistan through a secure online platform."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe left the BBC in 2011 and then joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency.

Both her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and Thomson Reuters repeatedly have stressed she was not training journalists or involved in any work regarding Iran while there.

The state television report comes as the British foreign minister faces criticism after he told a parliamentary committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was "teaching people journalism" when she was arrested last year.

Though Johnson later corrected himself, the Iranian television report made a point to highlight them.

Speaking to The Associated Press on Sunday, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said the report and other Iranian comments about his wife seemed timed to exert as much pressure as possible on the British government.

He said the material appeared to be from his wife's email, which investigators from the hard-line Revolutionary Guard immediately got access to after her arrest.

"It's trying to justify the new charges," Ratcliffe said. The report comes as Britain and Iran discuss the release of some 400 million pounds held by London, a payment Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered.

Authorities in London and Tehran deny that the payment has any link to Zaghari-Ratcliffe. However, a prisoner exchange in January 2016 that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans also saw the United States make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran the same day.

That money too involved undelivered military equipment from the shah's era, though some U.S. politicians have criticized the delivery as a ransom payment.

Late Sunday, Iranian state TV aired a feature focused on Wang, a Chinese-born American graduate student at Princeton who is accused of passing confidential information about Iran to the U.S. State Department.

He was arrested while conducting research on the Qajar dynasty that once ruled Iran for his doctorate in late 19th and early 20th century Eurasian history, according to Princeton officials, who confirmed to the AP that he was in Iran to learn Farsi and conduct research for his dissertation.

Authorities have alleged he scanned some 4,500 pages of digital documents, paid thousands of dollars to access archives he needed and sought access to confidential areas of Tehran libraries.

State TV aired footage of him in what appeared to be an Iranian courtroom, those around him blurred out, as well as footage of him emotional and later talking to a camera, as well as an image of his Iranian visa and a school ID.

"About Iran in that regard, the more knowledge the United States possesses about Iran, the better for its policy toward Iran," he said in the footage. "There is no doubt about it. It is quite obvious."

Wang was arrested on Aug. 8, 2016. Princeton, his wife and others had been quietly working toward his release when Iran publicly announced his prison sentence in July.

Analysts and family members of dual nationals and others detained in Iran have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic's security agencies use the prisoners as bargaining chips for money or influence.
"Today we start the pursuit of terrorism and we see its defeat in many facets around the world, especially in Muslim countries, he said. We will continue to fight it until we see its defeat."

The crown princes words came as the Islamic State group, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria. However, the alliance doesn't include Iran, Iraq or Syria  and member nation Qatar did not send anyone to attend the one-day gathering amid a diplomatic standoff between Doha and four Arab nations led by the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia announced the alliance in December 2015, when the crown prince was still only the kingdom's defense minister. Since then, his father King Salman has elevated the 32-year-old prince to be next in line for the throne.

Prince Mohammed said the 40 countries in the alliance were sending a "clear signal" that they would "work together to support the military, financial, intelligence and political efforts of every member state".

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday arrived in Hungary for an official visit to the country and the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) in Budapest.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday arrived in Hungary for an official visit to the country and the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) in Budapest.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is welcomed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other senior officials upon his arrival in Budapest, Hungary, Nov. 26, 2017, for an official visit to the country and the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). [Photo/Xinhua]

Leaders of the 17 countries are expected to draw a new blueprint for the 16+1 cooperation five years after the mechanism was launched. And Li's visit is also set to bring bilateral ties between China and Hungary to a higher level.

At the airport, Li was welcomed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other senior officials.

After the meeting and visit scheduled for Nov. 26-29, Li is going to attend the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Russian city of Sochi from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1.

Five years on, leaders to draw new blueprint for 16+1 cooperation

Noting that this year marks the fifth anniversary of the launching of China-CEEC 16+1 cooperation, Li said upon his arrival that the 16+1 cooperation has been growing in the past five years, benefitting people from the two sides with substantial projects and cooperation results.

Being part of China-Europe cooperation, the 16+1 cooperation has not only boosted the development of the CEEC themselves, but also promoted a balanced development for the wider Europe, which is good for Europe's integration, Li said.

"China is willing to work with all sides to review what we have achieved in the past five years and draw a blueprint for the future to achieve greater progress," Li said.

During the meeting, Li is expected to join hands with CEEC leaders to set out an outline for future cooperation, witness the signing of a series of cooperation documents, meet the press, attend the seventh China-CEEC economic and trade cooperation forum, celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the 16+1 cooperation, and hold bilateral meetings with CEEC leaders.

Ahead of the visit, Li vowed to bring China-CEEC cooperation and China-Hungary ties to a new high.

In an article published in the newspaper The Hungarian Times, the premier said the 16+1 cooperation has been growing and the mechanism improving over the past five years, bringing about remarkable progress to cooperation in all fields.

Political mutual trust between China and the CEEC has been deepened, with the two sides having established cooperation mechanisms in about 20 areas, he said.

Economic cooperation has seen a steady growth, with bilateral trade increasing to 58.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 from 43.9 billion dollars in 2010 and the completion of a number of landmark infrastructure projects, said the premier in the article.

Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong told a recent think tank conference that the current ties between China and the CEEC are "at their best in history."

After a great start, the 16+1 cooperation demands a new direction and new momentum, the premier said.

Visit for stronger China-Hungary ties

On China-Hungary ties, Li said on his arrival that the two countries enjoy profound traditional friendship. He also spoke highly of the development of bilateral relations since the two sides established diplomatic relations more than 60 years ago.

"I'm looking forward to discussing with the Hungarian side about cooperation and jointly fleshing out the content of the China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership," Li said.

In May, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Orban announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in Beijing.

During the visit, Li will hold talks with Orban, witness the signing of documents concerning political, economic, financial and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, and meet the press.

The premier will also meet with Hungarian President Janos Ader and Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover.

In the article on the Hungarian newspaper, Li said both countries are beneficiaries and supporters of economic globalization, and it is in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries to stick to trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

The premier hailed the strategic alignment of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Hungary's Eastern Opening policy, adding that the Initiative and 16+1 cooperation have put the two countries' economic and trade cooperation on a fast lane, with progress made in areas of investment, finance, agriculture, scientific and technological innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises.

China and Hungary have also made strides in people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in the areas of culture, education, sports, tourism and traditional Chinese medicine, he said.

Both sides hold that China-Hungary ties have entered the best period in history, Li said.
Details added (first version posted on 11:52)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Afghanistan will sign five documents, said Afghan Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Taqi Khalili at a press conference in Baku Nov. 27.

The documents will be signed during the visit of Afghanistans President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to Baku.

The envoy noted that the documents will cover the spheres of security, education, air space and mutual investments.

Khalili added that November is a very important month for bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.

The ambassador reminded that Afghanistans economy minister recently visited Azerbaijan and held discussions with the countrys officials on important issues of mutual interest.

We express our gratitude to Azerbaijan for its partnership and support, added Khalili.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

The OSCE is expected to monitor the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia near Azerbaijans Qazakh district on Nov. 28, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Nov. 27.

The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, said the ministry.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by Simon Tiller and Mikhail Olaru, who are field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative.

On the Armenian side, the monitoring will be held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Ghenadie Petrica, Ognjen Jovic and Martin Schuster.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

Astana, with the organizational support of the International Turkic Academy, is hosting a presentation of the book, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Biography, published in the Azerbaijani language.

The event is being attended by Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, Head of the Chancellery of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan and Deputy Director of the Library of the First President of Kazakhstan Mahmud Kasymbekov, President of the International Turkic Academy Darkhan Kydyrali and others.

Ali Hasanov, who wrote the foreword to the book, addressed the event.

He spoke about friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the merits of the presented book.

The Azerbaijani top official touched upon the indisputable role of leaders in the lives of both peoples living the same fate.

Hasanov said that as a result of Nursultan Nazarbayevs wise policy, today there is peace, stability between nations and nations in Kazakhstan, and a society has been formed that has multicultural values.

Representatives of more than 130 peoples, including Azerbaijanis, live and work in the country in conditions of civil peace and national solidarity.

President of the International Turkic Academy Darkhan Kydyrali called a significant event the translation into Azerbaijani of a book telling about the life of the Turkic worlds aksakal (refers to the male elders, the old and wise of the community in parts of Central Asia and Caucasus), Nursultan Nazarbayev.

He expressed gratitude to Ali Hasanov for the foreword he had written for the book.

Vice-President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Science and Education Isa Habibbayli, for his part, noted that the publication of this book is an obvious indicator of the Azerbaijani peoples love for the Kazakh people.

He emphasized that the transition of Kazakhstan to the Latin alphabet will contribute to the further rapprochement of the peoples, and noted the importance of publishing the presented book in the Latin alphabet.

Afterwards, member of the Azerbaijani parliament Elman Nasirov spoke about the merits of Azerbaijans national leader Heydar Aliyev and President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in the development of relations between the two countries.

Following the books presentation, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov was interviewed by Kazakhstans state TV channel Khabar.

Hasanov said that Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the Heydar Aliyev Order, which is the highest award of Azerbaijan.

During the awarding ceremony President Ilham Aliyev noted that Nursultan Nazarbayev is a big friend of great leader Heydar Aliyev and the Azerbaijani people, added the Azerbaijani top official.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili.

I was deeply saddened by the news of casualties and injuries as a fire broke out at a hotel in Batumi, President Aliyev told the Georgian counterpart in his letter.

Over this tragedy, on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, and on my own behalf I extend deep condolences to you, families and the loved ones of those who died, and all the people of Georgia, and wish the injured swiftest possible recovery, added the head of state.
Details added (first version posted on 13:04)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Afghanistan expresses its gratitude to Azerbaijan for the decision to increase the military contingent as part of the peacekeeping mission in the country, said Afghan Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Taqi Khalili at a press conference in Baku Nov. 27.

Azerbaijan will increase the number of servicemen in Afghanistan, he noted. We thank Azerbaijan for this decision.

This decision shows that Azerbaijan is interested in establishing peace not only in Afghanistan, but throughout the world, added the envoy.

Azerbaijan has been participating in NATOs Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.

Ninety four Azerbaijani servicemen serve shoulder to shoulder with NATO servicemen, in order to provide security and peace to Afghanistan, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev at a joint press point with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO Headquarters Nov. 23.

Azerbaijan also provides multimodal transit and flight clearances for the coalition forces, said the president. Azerbaijan contributed to the Afghan armys National Trust Fund.

We will continue our partnership in order to provide peace, security and stability in the region, added President Aliyev.
Details added (first version posted on 12:35)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

Astana, with the organizational support of the International Turkic Academy, is hosting a presentation of the book, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Biography, published in the Azerbaijani language.

The event is being attended by Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, Head of the Chancellery of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan and Deputy Director of the Library of the First President of Kazakhstan Mahmud Kasymbekov, President of the International Turkic Academy Darkhan Kydyrali and others.

Ali Hasanov, who wrote the foreword to the book, addressed the event.

He spoke about friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the merits of the presented book.

The Azerbaijani top official touched upon the indisputable role of leaders in the lives of both peoples living the same fate.

Hasanov said that as a result of Nursultan Nazarbayevs wise policy, today there is peace, stability between nations and nations in Kazakhstan, and a society has been formed that has multicultural values.

Representatives of more than 130 peoples, including Azerbaijanis, live and work in the country in conditions of civil peace and national solidarity.

President of the International Turkic Academy Darkhan Kydyrali called a significant event the translation into Azerbaijani of a book telling about the life of the Turkic worlds aksakal (refers to the male elders, the old and wise of the community in parts of Central Asia and Caucasus), Nursultan Nazarbayev.

He expressed gratitude to Ali Hasanov for the foreword he had written for the book.

Vice-President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Science and Education Isa Habibbayli, for his part, noted that the publication of this book is an obvious indicator of the Azerbaijani peoples love for the Kazakh people.

He emphasized that the transition of Kazakhstan to the Latin alphabet will contribute to the further rapprochement of the peoples, and noted the importance of publishing the presented book in the Latin alphabet.

Afterwards, member of the Azerbaijani parliament Elman Nasirov spoke about the merits of Azerbaijans national leader Heydar Aliyev and President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in the development of relations between the two countries.

Following the books presentation, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov was interviewed by Kazakhstans state TV channel Khabar.

Hasanov said that Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the Heydar Aliyev Order, which is the highest award of Azerbaijan.

During the awarding ceremony President Ilham Aliyev noted that Nursultan Nazarbayev is a big friend of great leader Heydar Aliyev and the Azerbaijani people, added the Azerbaijani top official.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Vladimir Dorokhin, the countrys Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Azerbaijan.

The relevant decree was published on the official Internet portal of legal information Nov. 27.

According to the information posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Dorokhin was appointed as Russian envoy to Azerbaijan under a presidential decree, dated Feb. 24, 2009.
Opening ceremony of Training Centre set up by ABB company at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) was held at the Higher Schools campus, which was inaugurated on May 1, 2017, with participation of President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev.

The event gathered representatives of ABB, SOCAR, Embassy of the United Kingdom in Azerbaijan, ALE Heavylift, Aggreko, Avanteq Limited, Eigen, Expro International Group, Glacier Energy Services Ltd., Fluor, International Oilfield Supply Company, Shawcor UK Ltd., WorleyParsons, DIT London and other companies.

Opening the ceremony, ABB Country Manager Rustam Gasimov welcomed the participants and told about the company activities in Azerbaijan and ABB cooperation with BHOS. Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Azerbaijan Carole Crofts emphasized that relations between two countries dynamically developing in many fields are vividly exemplified by successful cooperation of the Higher School and Heriot-Watt University in preparing engineers for the oil and gas sector.

In the words of SOCAR Vice President for Geology and Geophysics Bahram Huseynov, BHOS is one of the most successful steps in transforming the oil capital into human capital. We are justifiably proud that the Higher School belongs to the SOCAR family, h said. Dean of the BHOS Engineering department Zafar Gurbanov made a brief report about the Higher School activities. On behalf of the BHOS management, he expressed sincere gratitude to ABB Country Manager in Azerbaijan Rustam Gasimov for effective cooperation and constant assistance as well as for support provided for further development of education in the country.

At the end of the official part, Rustam Gasimov and the Ambassador Carole Crofts presented 15 BHOS students with certificates on successful completion of on-the-job training at ABB. Then the ceremony participants visited the Training Centre set up by the company and saw conditions created for BHOS students and teachers. It has all modern equipment and simulation tools necessary to conduct training courses and carry out research work with usage of advanced technologies.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Suicide-encouraging flu antiviral drugs of Japanese origin are not sold in Azerbaijan, the Center for Analytical Expertise of the countrys Healthcare Ministry told Trend Nov. 27.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan disseminated information on 54 recorded attempts of children and teens to fall to their death from windows after using such drugs as Tamiflu, Laninamivir and Relenza in the country. In particular, these drugs cause abnormal behavior among children and teens, and it has not been recommended for them to take Tamiflu in Japan for already several years.

Commenting on this information, the Center for Analytical Expertise of Azerbaijans Healthcare Ministry said in a message that Tamiflu of only German, French, Italian and the US origin is imported and sold in the country.

No complaints regarding these drugs have been received, the message said. The ministry constantly monitors the quality of all medicines that have passed state registration.

As for the other two drugs - Laninamivir and Relenza, they are not included in Azerbaijans state register of medicines at all, and, therefore, not sold in the country, the message noted.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijani citizens are not recommended to go on vacation to Egypt after the terrorist attack that occurred on November 24, Muzaffar Agakarimov, adviser to the chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association, told Trend Nov. 27.

"We also advise not to go to the Bali island because of the volcano eruption threat," he said, adding that Indonesia is not very popular among Azerbaijani tourists.

Earlier, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev said that the ministry is checking the presence of Azerbaijani tourists on the Bali island of Indonesia, which is currently facing the volcano eruption threat.
China and Djibouti on Thursday agreed to establish strategic partnership to strengthen all-round cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds a welcome ceremony for visiting Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 23, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

The announcement came as Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Guelleh is the first head of state of an African country to visit China since the conclusion of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October.

Stressing that China attaches great importance to relations with Djibouti, Xi said the two countries have always treated each other with equality and showed mutual respect and support since the establishment of diplomatic ties 38 years ago.

China is willing to work with Djibouti to speed up the implementation of the results of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), jointly forge ahead with Belt and Road construction, and fully strengthen bilateral cooperation in all fields, said Xi.

China welcomes Djibouti to participate in the Belt and Road construction, and is ready to advance cooperation on infrastructure projects including railways, ports, water supply, liquefied natural gas pipeline, as well as building of a free trade area and cooperation in agriculture, Xi said.

Guelleh, who is on a state visit to China from Wednesday to Friday, said he was very pleased to be the first head of state of an African country to visit China since the 19th CPC National Congress and congratulated Xi on his re-election as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

Calling Djibouti"a good friend of China," Guelleh said his country views China as a top-priority and indispensable partner.

He expressed satisfaction with the development of bilateral ties over the past three decades and more, and thanked China for its assistance and support to Djibouti.

Djibouti would like to take an active part in the Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation with China on infrastructure and areas important to people's livelihood, he said.

Guelleh said his country appreciates China's active engagement in UN peacekeeping and international anti-piracy efforts, thanking China for its role in maintaining world peace and prosperity.

China had made long-standing contribution to security and development in Africa even in the days when China itself was poor, said Guelleh, reiterating Djibouti adheres to the one-China policy and saying he is delighted to see China regain its due status in the world and will work closely with China in multilateral affairs.

"Whatever changes may take in China's development and the international landscape, China will stand by the developing countries including African countries and be their sincere friend and reliable partner," Xi said.

Xi called on both sides to maintain high-level exchanges and expand cooperation between the two governments, legislative institutions, political parties and local governments. He suggested both sides share experience in governance and development and support each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns.

China will continue to assist Djibouti in improving its healthcare and deepen cooperation in human resources development as well as people-to-people exchanges, said Xi.

"China supports Djibouti's role in international and regional affairs and will work with it in communicating on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and peace and security in Africa."

Xi hoped the two countries would work together to protect their own and other developing countries' interests and play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability of the Horn of Africa.

The two countries signed deals on economic, technological and agricultural cooperation after the talks.
Bitcoin is showing no signs of slowing down, blowing past $9,000 less than a week after topping $8,000 and now quickly closing in on five big figures, Bloomberg reported.

The price of the largest cryptocurrency by market value is soaring as it gains greater mainstream attention despite warnings of a bubble in what not everyone agrees is an asset. From Wall Street executives to venture capitalists, observers have been weighing in, with some more skeptical than others. Bitcoin has risen more than 40 percent over the past two weeks. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index has a total return of about 18 percent for 2017.

"The weekends bitcoin price hike is just the continuation of a long-term bull run on the cryptocurrency, fueled by the tsunami of speculative trading on Japanese exchanges and the entrance of institutional investors across the world," said Thomas Glucksmann, Hong Kong-based head of marketing at cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin Ltd. It is more likely that the $10,000 psychological stratosphere will push more institutional investors into the mix.

The surge has swept along individual investors. The number of accounts at Coinbase, one of the largest platforms for trading bitcoin and rival ethereum, has almost tripled to 13 million in the past year, according to Bespoke Investment Group LLC.

Bitcoin climbed as high as a record $9,735.51 Monday, and was recently up about 17 percent compared with trading late on Friday.

The rapid appreciation has made it difficult for bullish analysts and investors to keep their predictions up to date. Hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz, who is starting a $500 million fund to invest in cryptocurrencies, said last week that bitcoin would end the year at $10,000. A day later, Fundstrat head of research Thomas Lee doubled his price target to $11,500 by the middle of 2018.

The Forks and Fights Behind Bitcoins Turbulence: QuickTake Q&A

In a move toward mainstream investing, CME Group Inc. has said it plans to start offering futures contracts for bitcoin, which could begin trading in December. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank, was weighing last week whether to help clients bet on bitcoin via the proposed futures contracts, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Bitcoins surge in value is forcing Wall Street banks to balance clients interest in speculating on the cryptocurrency with executives skepticism about its future. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has been one of bitcoins most prominent detractors, calling it a fraud and deriding buyers as stupid, while his finance chief, Marianne Lake, has struck a more measured tone. The firm is open minded to the potential uses for digital currencies so long as they are properly regulated, she said last month.

The total market cap of digital currencies now sits north of $300 billion, according to Coinmarketcap.coms website.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

Azerbaijan and Afghanistan will create a joint working group on economic cooperation, Mohammad Taqi Khalili, ambassador of Afghanistan to Azerbaijan, said at a press conference in Baku Nov. 27.

The ambassador said that the first meeting of the working group will be held early next year.

The ambassador noted that a document on the creation of a railway transport corridor has been recently signed between Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

Namely through this project, Afghanistan will be able to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway with the help of the Turkmenbashi and the Batumi ports, and at the same time the Baku International Sea Trade Port, Khalili added.
Oil prices dipped on Monday, with U.S. crude easing from two-year highs on the prospect of increased output, although global markets were slightly better supported by expectations an OPEC-led supply cut would be extended, Reuters reports.

Weak Chinese stock market data also weighed on oil futures markets, traders said.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.47 a barrel at 0750 GMT, down 48 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $63.68 a barrel, down 21 cents, or 0.3 percent.

U.S. crude production C-OUT-T-EIA has risen by 15 percent since mid-2016 to 9.66 million barrels per day (bpd), not far from top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, and increasing drilling activity for new production means output is expected to grow further, traders said.

U.S. energy companies last week added oil rigs, with the monthly rig count rising for the first time since July, to 747 active rigs, as producers are attracted by climbing crude prices.

WTI touched a 2015-high on Friday at $59.05 a barrel, partly driven higher by the closure of the 590,000 bpd Keystone pipeline connecting Canadas oil sand fields with the United States following a spill, which reduced stocks.

In global markets, Brent was stronger than WTI due to an effort by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a group of other producers, including Russia, to withhold 1.8 million bpd of output since January.

The deal to cut output expires in March 2018, but OPEC will meet on Nov. 30 to discuss its policy, with most analysts expecting some form of agreement to extend the cuts.

Brent crude is undoubtedly pricing in good news (of extended cuts) and probably a little geopolitical risk premium, said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at futures brokerage FXTM.

We expect a six- or nine-month extension of the OPEC deal to be agreed to on November 30, but the extension length is less important than the quota level ... Member countries are unlikely to provide clarity on production levels in 2018, Barclays bank said.

Significant swing potential revolves around the flexible four: Saudi Arabia, Russia, UAE, and Kuwait. Other participants are unlikely to veer from their current output trajectories, in our view, Barclays added.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday he would discuss details of an extension on Nov. 30, but made no mention of how long this should last.

There is plenty of room for disappointment ... Should the outcome of the next OPEC meeting fall short of expectations, the large net-long speculative position on oil futures can unwind, sending prices lower and volatility higher, warned French bank BNP Paribas.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The European Union will allocate 1.1 million euros to support mandatory health insurance in Azerbaijan, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Support to Implementation of the mandatory health insurance system in Azerbaijan twinning project on Nov. 27.

Jankauskas noted that France and Lithuania will act as Azerbaijans partners as part of this twinning project.

The project will last for two years and will be completed in August 2019.

The projects purpose is to strengthen the institutional capacity at the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance to plan, execute and monitor healthcare spending in three elements: collection, accumulation of funds and purchasing of healthcare services.

A pilot project on mandatory medical insurance is being implemented in Azerbaijan since late 2016. Currently, the pilot project covers the Mingachevir city and Yevlakh district of the country.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

The service center of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, opened under the brand "LA - n Lazmi Anda" ("Excellent - at the right time") resumed its activities at a new address with new opportunities.

The center will provide services to its clients at 67, Nizami street (the head office of the Bank). Being equipped with modern equipment, the "LA" center gives customers the opportunity to carry out needed banking operation through video communication. One of the innovations of the center was an automated system of deposit boxes.

The following banking operations can be performed in the LA center:

- Within a few minutes you can get a LA debit card and define a password for the card;

- Get a loan by sending an SMS to a short number 8937;

- Without the participation of bank employees, it is possible to safely and without loss of information store precious items in deposit cells for storage or to withdraw in the reverse order.

In the near future, the Bank plans to increase the number of LA service centers.

Information about products and services of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the modern state bank of the country, can be found on the official website www.ibar.az in all 36 branches and 40 bank branches, by calling the Information Center at the short number 937, as well as on the official website Bank in the social network Facebook.
Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 10:50)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The European Union will allocate 1.1 million euros to support mandatory health insurance in Azerbaijan, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Support to Implementation of the mandatory health insurance system in Azerbaijan twinning project on Nov. 27.

Jankauskas noted that France and Lithuania will act as Azerbaijans partners as part of this twinning project.

The project will last for two years and will be completed in August 2019.

The projects purpose is to strengthen the institutional capacity at the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance to plan, execute and monitor healthcare spending in three elements: collection, accumulation of funds and purchasing of healthcare services.

A pilot project on mandatory medical insurance is being implemented in Azerbaijan since late 2016. Currently, the pilot project covers the Mingachevir city and Yevlakh district of the country.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The last flight will be operated from Istanbul Ataturk Airport on October 28, 2018, the Turkish media cited the countrys civil aviation sources as saying Nov. 27.

Reportedly, the last flight from the airport will be commercial. Presently, work is also underway to transport equipment from the Ataturk Airport to the new airport in Istanbul.

The first phase of the airport will be commissioned on Oct. 29, 2018. After commissioning, the number of flight destinations in Turkey will increase from 282 to 350. The new airport will annually serve about 200 million passengers.

After the launch of the new airport, the Istanbul Ataturk Airport will no longer function as an airport.

Meanswhile, the construction of the first runway of the new airport continues. According to the airports construction project, the second runway will be 4.1 kilometers long and 60 meters wide.

Currently, construction and assembling work is underway to build 28 bridges and a hydrometeorological tower at the airport. More than 31,000 employees are involved in construction. About 300 passenger and service elevators will be installed at Istanbuls third airport.

"AIRPORT CITY", which will include a network of shops, logistics and exhibition centers, will be also built at the new airport. Limak-Kolin-Cengiz-MaPa-Kalyon consortium of companies won the tender for construction of the airport.

Earlier, a source in the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications told Trend that the construction of the airport will cost 10 billion Turkish liras.

Turkey's Ziraat Bankasi allocated 1.54 billion euros for the airport's construction, while Halkbank and Vakifbank - 1 billion euros, Denizbank - 500 million euros, Garanti and Finansbank - 300 million euros.

The third airport is being built near the Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul. The first airport in Turkey was built in 1912 and was used for military purposes.

For the first time the Istanbul airport was opened for international flights in 1953 and in 1985 it was renamed in honor of founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Pavlodar region has five main advantages for the attraction of investments, said Bulat Bakauov the head of the region at the meeting with extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors of a number of countries, including Japan, Iran, Austria and Belarus in Astana.

"These advantages are unique location of the region, access to natural resources, low cost of electricity, high level of human resources and the possibility of industrial cooperation with large companies, said Bakauov, Kazakh media reported.

Pavlodar businessmen, representing such companies as "Pakhar" LLP, "Rubikom" LLP, "KazEnergoKabel" LLP, participating in the meeting, have also expressed their readiness to cooperate with foreign entrepreneurs.

It was also noted at the meeting that the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant (PPP) already cooperates with the French Air Liquide company, implementing a joint project to provide outsourcing services for the production of technical gases at the PPP.

There is also a factory for the production of briquetted coal from coal dust, built by the Korean entrepreneurs in the region. This year the plant intends to invest 200 million tenge in the expansion of production.

(Exchange rate for 27.11.2017: $1  330,39 tenge)
An American multinational conglomerate providing commercial and consumer goods, engineering services, and aerospace systems commended multinational transportation company AsstrA Associated Traffic AG for handling an unusual challenge promptly and efficiently.

AsstrAs client wished to transport cargo in 35 trucks from Reggio Calabria in Italy to Samarkand in Uzbekistan. After analyzing the route, AsstrA agreed to complete the delivery and began work. After working hours the next day, the client made an urgent call to request accelerated loading and completion of delivery within 1 week, due to financial concerns involving a bill of credit.

After receiving this special request, it took us 1.5 days to source all 35 trucks required to deliver the load from Southern Italy to Uzbekistan. Usually, there are no available trucks in the 89th zone, so it is necessary to bring in trucks from Northern or Central Italy, even it involves traveling over 1200 km. Also, import permissions for Uzbekistan have usually been exhausted towards the end of the year, and finding trucks headed there can be difficult. We received the challenging request late at night, but the next morning were still able to confirm the loading of all the trucks brought in from other regions of Italy, relates Natasha Shemyakina, Italy Country Manager at AsstrA Associated Traffic AG.

Out of several logistics providers considered for this project, AsstrA was chosen for several key reasons:

Competitive delivery price;

Fast turnaround time to source all 35 trucks destined for Uzbekistan from Italy;

Superb reputation evidenced by other client references.

Traveling 1200 kilometers before the cargo is even loaded obviously adds to the time required for the project, so we got started immediately. Just a few hours after agreeing to check the feasibility of the transportation order, we provided a concrete plan for loading all 35 trucks, continues Ms. Shemyakina.

The client highly praised AsstrA specialist Yulia Sorokina, operational coordinator for the contract, for her work resulting in:

All trucks being supplied and loaded on time,;

Professional execution of all documentation procedures for the clients bill of credit, with correct disposition delivered every day;

Prompt resolution of all unexpected transit issues, with all shipments delivered to Samarkand before the deadline.

This successfully executed contract involved an impressive amount of trucks on a highly demanding route from Italy to Uzbekistan within a tight timeframe. We were able to succeed thanks to excellent internal communication and quick thinking. Everything is possible when your team works together effectively, concludes Ms. Shemyakina.

AsstrA-Associated Traffic AG is an international transport and logistics holding company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It has been operating in the sphere of logistics for more than 20 years. The company is represented in 16 countries of Europe, Asia and the CIS. It offers a whole entire range of services through a single logistics operator.



In particular, the company ensures international transportation by various types of transport, import and export support of any type of cargo, as well as cargo insurance "against all risks" in the most reputable insurance companies in Germany and Switzerland. The package also includes project logistics, trading, warehousing and customs services.

Thanks to the wide geographic range and cooperation with professionals, AsstrA offers advantageous logistics solutions at reasonable prices and takes into account the needs of each customer and partner.

Contact us:

Email: [email protected],

.: +994 55 813 59 74

WhatsApp & Viber: +48 576147796

Website: http://www.asstra.com

Fb: https://www.facebook.com/AsstrAsia/?ref=bookmarks
The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of IDB Group, and BSIC Niger have entered into an agreement to finance SMEs in NIGER.

Mr. Khaled Al-Aboodi CEO of ICD and Mr. ABAKAR Adoum, Managing Director of BSIC, signed the Line of financing agreement for the amount of 9 million euro under the Wakala structure or agency contract.

The collaboration will focus on developing private sector especially SMEs, supporting economy, strengthening the balance sheet of the Bank, improving the living standard of the population by creating jobs, generating tax revenues for the government and promoting Islamic Banking in the country.

Mr. Khalid Al-Aboodi, CEO of ICD stated, ICD has been engaging with local banks in Niger to strengthen SMEs. This agreement will enable us to establish an all-encompassing financial network to support local SMEs willing to develop their business in the country. In addition, BSIC is an institution ICD is familiar with, having extended a line of finance to other subsidiaries of the Group.

Mr. ABAKAR Adoum said, The signing of the agreement between our bank and the ICD, marks the beginning of a partnership that we hope will be lasting and fruitful for both institutions. Through our status as WAKEL, BSIC Niger clients (SME) will enjoy a mentoring that meets their needs at relatively acceptable costs. The 9 million Euros line of financing will enable us to finance both the investment and operating needs of our SME clients; especially that it is a 5-year line. As a result, the impact on the activity of these SMEs is incommensurate in view of the difficulties they face in raising resources to support their growth. We are very pleased to see our approach to the ICD lead to the signing of this agreement and we dare to believe that other forms of partnership, including the opening of an Islamic window, will develop in the near future.

BSIC Niger is a commercial bank operating in Niger since 2004 with purpose of financing the private sector of the country.BSIC Niger is an affiliate of BSIC (Banque Sahelo - Saharienne pour lInvestissement et le Commerce), a regional financial institution in the Community of Sahel-Saharan States with a share capital of 750 million euros. The group is present in 14 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Chad and Togo).
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Kazakhstan and Iran expand agriculture cooperation working on mutually beneficial bilateral agreements and increasing the export/import potential of the agricultural sector of both countries.

The cooperation in agriculture was discussed during an official visit of Kazakh Minister of Agriculture Askar Myrzakhmetov to Iran, where he met with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Hojjati, the Kazakh Agriculture Ministry said in a message Nov. 27.

The parties discussed lifting the restrictions on import of Kazakh wheat, attraction of investments in Kazakhstans agriculture sector, as well as the import of frozen and chilled beef from Kazakhstan by the Iranian side.

The officials agreed to launch joint investment projects in rice production and oilseed processing with further export through the ports of the Caspian Sea to Iran. The Iranian side expressed its readiness to provide seeds of rice varieties that are in demand in the Iranian market.

The Islamic Republic has also suggested processing Kazakh wheat at the flour milling plants of Iran in order to sell the processed products to other countries through the transit potential of Iran.

Myrzakhmetov also met with the Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade of Iran Mohammad Shariatmadari. The ministers discussed lifting the restrictions on import of Kazakh wheat by the Iranian government.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree approving the "State Program for Development of Silkworm Breeding and Sericulture in Azerbaijan in 2018-2025".

According to the decree, the state program is approved to develop silkworm breeding and sericulture, increase export potential in this sphere, and ensure employment of rural population.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 27

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistan is ready to use the East-West internal gas pipeline to supply its energy resources to international markets through the Caspian region, the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state news agency reported.

After the commissioning of the East-West gas pipeline in December 2015, great prospects were opened for further expansion of multilateral mutually beneficial partnership in the energy sector, says the report.

Construction of various infrastructure facilities along the East-West gas pipeline, which connects all gas mains of the country to a single system, will be continued.

Negotiations on delivering the Turkmen gas to Europe have been held since 2011. The Southern Gas Corridor, including the Trans-Caspian project, remains as a priority for the European Union.

The project of laying a 300-kilometer gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan, as previously noted by the interested parties, is an optimal way for the delivery of Turkmen resources to the European market. From Azerbaijan, Turkmen gas can reach Turkey, which borders European countries.

Turkmenistan is one of key players in the Caspian energy market and ranks fourth in the world in terms of its gas reserves. Currently, the country delivers gas to China and Iran.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR plans to build a center for the liquidation of oil spills in the Caspian Sea, Head of SOCAR Environmental Department Azer Aliyev said.

He was speaking Nov. 27 at the 5th practical conference Oil Spill Control Caspian: Oil Spills at Sea and on Land in Baku.

He said that the center will consist of three stations.

The location of these three stations has already been determined, the process of allocating land has been completed, he noted. The design work is underway. One station will be located in Garadagh district, on the territory of Oil and Gas Production Department (OGPD) named after N. Narimanov, and will occupy an area of 1.5 hectares. The second station, which will occupy two hectares, will be located on the Chilov island on the 28 May OGPDs territory, and a third station with an area of 0.76 hectares is planned to be built on the territory of the Dubendi Oil Terminal.

He added that in 2018, SOCAR plans to start the active phase of the projects implementation.

These stations will mainly deal with prevention of possible oil spills and their liquidation, he said. The international experience will be used when building the center. It is also planned to attract an international consultant to the projects implementation and closely cooperate with the ministries of emergency situations, ecology and natural resources of Azerbaijan, Azercosmos OJSC and Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Kazakhstan intends to participate in the meeting of OPEC + s, where the member-states will discuss the extension of the deal on reduction oil production until the end of 2018.

I want to participate in the meeting. Kazakhstan will discuss the extension of the agreement, said the Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Bozumbayev, during a press conference in Service of central communications of Kazakhstan, Kazakh media outlets reported.

The agreement between the oil-exporting countries on reduction of oil output formally operates until the end of March 2018.

According to the agreement, OPEC countries should reduce oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day, and countries outside OPEC pledged to reduce production by 558,000 barrels. The Kazakh authorities, in turn, pledged to reduce oil production by 20,000 barrels per day.

Kazakhstan, has agreed to lower down the oil output of its two biggest oil fields Tengiz and Karachaganak, each of which has oil reserves of more than one billion tons. This step was taken to maintain the overall balance of oil output against the backdrop of increasing production at Kashagan field.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.27

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

The European Commission has sent a letter to the European Investment Bank (EIB) calling on allocating a loan to two sections of Azerbaijani gas pipeline project, Trend learned from the European Commission.

A letter from the European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic and climate and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete to EIB president Werner Hoyer made clear the importance of the project to the EU.

Reportedly, the bank is considering loans in excess of 2 billion euros to two sections of the pipeline, from Azerbaijan to western Turkey and from Greece to southern Italy (TANAP and TAP).

The letter, dated 13 July 2017, said the project was vital and irreplaceable for the diversification of EU gas sources and security of supply.

Europes commitment must therefore not wane, Sefcovic and Canete wrote, adding they hoped the EIB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) would give financial backing to the pipeline thereby to exemplify that European Union patronage over the Southern Gas Corridor continues.

The EBRD Board of Directors approved $500 million worth loan for TANAP on Oct. 18, 2017. The loan was issued for a period of 18 years.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe.

TAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries. The pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south. TAPs shareholders are BP (20 percent), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
The mobile application of Children Hotline, the project aimed to take care of children and their well-being, operating with the support of Azercell Telecom and organizational support of Reliable Future Public Union, has been launched.

The presentation ceremony took place on November 24 at Hyatt Regency hotel with the participation of Aynur Sofiyeva, deputy chairman of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs of Azerbaijan, Vahid Mursaliyev, CEO of Azercell Telecom LLC, Nabil Seyidov, director of Reliable Future Public Union and representatives of NGOs and media outlets participated at the event.

Azercell CEO Vahid Mursaliyev stated at the ceremony that as the development and usage of websites and mobile applications are of special importance to ensure that new information technologies support childrens health, protection, security and education, Azercell found a demand to introduce such an application. Last year we introduced a mobile application for Android devices, which serves the Children Hotline service established in 2010 with our companys support. We observed that it provided an opportunity to become more aware of difficulties and psychological state of the children. Now mobile application of Children Hotline is available for both Android and IOS devices. We think it is necessary for Children Hotline service to be available all over the world through mobile application in the period of time when technologies have become an integral part of our lives. We are proud of supporting the development and introduction of this application. Under its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, Azercell will continue to attach special importance to its traditional activities to ensure that children live a happy life, Company CEO noted.

Nabil Seyidov, director of Reliable Future Public Union, explained the basic rules of how the mobile application should be used. He added that such sections of the application as notebook of my feelings, get rid of stress, online chat, consultant and other enable to learn about the difficulties of children in early stages. With the navigation tool of the application, children may have immediate support more easily. The application is not aimed only for children who faced physical or emotional abuse or challenges. It also allows the parents to track the development of their children and direct them accordingly.

Following the speeches, the participants watched a video highlighting the activities of Children Hotline service. At the end of the ceremony, musical performances with the participation of children with physical disabilities and who benefited from Children Hotline service were presented.

Children Hotline is primarily aimed to provide children with preliminary psychological assistance, emotional support, advise on problem resolution and link them to the relevant rehabilitation centers or other institutions when needed.

Azerbaijan Children Hotline Service has been a legal member of International Children Hotline Company global network since 2010. This network includes 178 children hotline services from 143 countries. According to the report of International Children Hotline Company, the number of calls received by Hotline services worldwide is annually increasing on average by 5 percent.

The leader of the mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan and the biggest investor in the non-oil sector Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of Azerbaijans mobile market Azercells network covers 80% of the territory and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, 24/7 Customer Care, online customer services, GPRS/EDGE, M2M, MobilBank, one-stop- shop service offices Azercell Express, mobile e-service ASAN signature, etc. Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality surveys of Global Wireless Solutions company and international systems specialized in wireless coverage mapping such as Opensignal and Testmy.net, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Nigar Guliyeva  Trend:

Uzbekistan Airways, the flag carries of Uzbekistan, and Inha Technical College in South Korea will train aviation specialists in Tashkent.

As part of the state visit of Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Republic of Korea, the delegation of the national air company held a meeting with President of the Inha Technical College In-Joo Chin.

The sides discussed the prospects of cooperation for the development of education in the field of civil aviation at the Tashkent Polytechnic College.

Following the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed for the application of the training program of the Inha Technical College at the Tashkent Polytechnic College to train specialists in the maintenance of aircraft and service on board the aircraft.

Earlier in November, a memorandum on multilateral cooperation in the field of aviation training was signed between Uzbekistan Airways and the Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent.

Furthermore, the work is underway on the organization of the flight school on the basis of the Training Center of the National Air Company. To date, the Training Center of the airline has already received a Certificate of the State Inspection of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Safety Supervision for training pilots.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev will visit Turkey in spring 2018, said the Deputy Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Ahmet Aydin during the international parliamentary conference dedicated to the Day of the First President of Kazakhstan.

We are proud to see how strong are the ties between our countries, as well as our cooperation within the Council of Turkic Speaking Countries. At the same time, the forthcoming visit of Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev to our country in spring next year within the meeting of the Cooperation Council will undoubtedly contribute to further strengthening of relations between our countries, said Aydin, Kazakh media outlets reported.

He added that that Turkey values relations with Kazakhstan, adding that the countries developed and advanced the level of cooperation to a strategic partnership.

Regular dialogue on bilateral and global issues, close and friendly relations between the presidents of our countries, and reciprocal high-level visits are an indicator of developing cooperation in all spheres, he said.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 27

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The international exhibition for the production of import-substituting products will be held in Ashgabat on December 2-4, 2017, the events organizer, the Turkmen Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a message.

Equipment for various spheres  oil and gas, chemical, agricultural and food industry, healthcare  will be showcased during the event.

This will provide an opportunity to become acquainted with the best practices in the field of laser and electronic technologies, to advertise products, manufacturing of which is conducted in Turkmenistan for import substitution purposes and to establish partner contacts, according to the message.

The event is aimed at expanding trade and economic relations, preparing and launching projects to increase the competitiveness of the national economy and its production potential.

Previously, it was reported that relevant state programs were adopted in Turkmenistan.

Under the program to increase the volume of exports of Turkmen products, 33 projects are planned to be implemented in the country.

Meanwhile, under the program for the production of import-substituting products, the implementation of 81 projects is envisaged in Turkmenistan.

The program was adopted with the aim of forming import-substituting industries, strengthening the positive balance of foreign trade turnover, creating new jobs and increasing the incomes of the population, and gradually increasing the share of the private sector of the economy.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 27

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

A resolution was adopted on ratification of the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Turkmenistan and Russia during the next meeting of Turkmenistans parliament, the Turkmen government said in a message Nov. 27.

About 190 companies with Russian capital operate in Turkmenistan.

Under a production sharing agreement (PSA), the Areti International Group has been conducting work in the Turkmen section of the Caspian Sea since 2009.

Meanwhile, Russias Gazprom PJSC, a traditional trade partner, completely stopped the purchase of Turkmen gas in 2016.

The agreement on strategic partnership between Turkmenistan and Russia was signed following the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ashgabat in early October.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 27

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Ashgabat has hosted round table discussions on the Turkmen-Saudi relations, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message Nov. 27.

The event was held at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

The Saudi delegation was represented by Rector of the Institute of Diplomatic Studies under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdullah Al Salman.

During the meeting, three sessions were held under the titles Turkmen-Saudi bilateral relations, Economic cooperation (energy, trade and investment) and Cooperation in science and culture.

The visit was organized within a program of cooperation between the two institutes, signed during the official visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Saudi Arabia in May 2016.

Saudi oil companies, such as Saudi Aramco are showing interest in investing in Turkmenistan, Nebit-Gaz, an online newspaper, reported earlier citing Khalid A. Al-Falih, minister of energy, industry and mineral resources of Saudi Arabia and chairman of Saudi Aramco.

In particular, Saudi Aramco is considering possibility of investing in oil and gas production in countries that have access to the Caspian Sea, and in particular in Turkmenistan, which has the largest mineral resources, according to the report.

The Saudi energy minister added that Saudi Arabia supports construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. He said the Saudi companies are ready to supply the materials necessary for the project.

Construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI began in December 2015.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 22

By Fatih Karimov Trend:

The growth of mutual trade between Iran and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has became negative, after the business between the two sides experienced a significant improvement after removal of international sanctions against Tehran in 2016.

The CIS countires trade with Iran declined by 70 percent to $1,795 million during the first seven months of the current fiscal year(started March 20, 2017), compared to 2,561 million in the same period of the preceding year.

The CIS countries exported over 1.346 million tons of goods, worth $708 million, to Iran during the first seven months of the current Iranian fiscal year (started March 20, 2017), according to the latest statistics released by Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI).

The Islamic Republics imports from the CIS registered a fall by 50 percent in terms of value and 22 percent in terms of volume compared to the preceding year.

Irans imports from various economic regions, based on the TPOI report:

Economic organization March 20-Oct. 22, 2017 (million USD) March 20-Oct. 22, 2016 (million USD) Change OIC 7026 5871 20% EU 5655 4186 35% GCC 4463 3677 21% ECO 2300 1823 26% ASEAN 1137 810 40% CIS 708 1425 -50%

Meanwhile during the 7-month period, Irans non-oil exports to the CIS reached 1.931 million tons, worth $1,088 million.

The CIS non-oil imports from Iran witnessed a fall by 32 percent in terms of volume and 4 percent in terms of value, respectively.

Irans non-oil exports to various economic regions, based on the TPOI report:
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance of Iran has denied recent media reports on the dire situation regarding the allocation of budget to development projects in the country.

The ministry has announced that the amount of budget paid to development projects over the current fiscal year (starting March 20) has increased by 60 percent.

Despite all restrictions, the amount of made payments for development projects has exceeded 330 trillion rials (about $10 billon according to official rate), the statement reads.

Keyhan newspaper, an outstanding critic of President Hassan Rouhanis government, earlier claimed that the government over the current year demonstrated its worst performance concerning the allocation of budget to development projects since 1979.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 23

By Umid Niayesh  Trend:

"UN sanctions resolutions against Iran are a piece of torn paper." - This is one of the famous quotes from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Irans former president, who imposed heavy expenses to the Islamic Republics economy by his controversial statements.

It did not take long for Iranian politicians to understand that the UN resolutions are not actually torn papers. The countrys oil export dramatically decreased from 2.5 mb/d before 2012, when the economic sanctions intensified, to roughly over 1 mb/d. Under the sanctions, the Islamic Republic lost the EU as its main foreign trade partner and forced to switch its trade towards countries such as China and India and mediator countries such as the UAE and Turkey, which acted as re-exporting intermediary to Iran, of course at a higher price.

The sanctions also hit the trade ties of Iran with the neighboring countries, however the Iranian officials believe that the impact was less, compared to the ties with other countries.

This article investigates the Islamic Republic trade ties with Azerbaijan, one of the Islamic Republic's most important neighbors, before and under sanctions, as well as during the period after removal of sanctions in 2016, based on the Islamic Republics official data to clarify how the sanctions, actually shaped the mentioned ties.

Iran-Azerbaijan mutual trade

Linking Asia to Europe, Azerbaijan stands at a strategic point between East and West. The shared cultural and historical traits between Iran and Azerbaijan, and the fact that Iran is a home to the world's biggest Azerbaijani population, presents a strong foundation for close economic cooperation between the two countries.

In recent years, the level of trade turnover between the two countries was changing, going up and down, but it has rarely experienced a level beyond $600 million.

The bilateral trade turnover between Iran and Azerbaijan reached $672 million in 2007, the highest in recent decade. The figure reached its lowest, $265 million in 2015 under the international sanctions, before it revived to $404.7 million during the fiscal year to March 2017, thanks to removal of international sanctions in January 2016. Trade balance during these years was always in favor of Iran.

The following table, extracted from the data of Irans state-run Trade Promotion Organization(TPOI), shows Irans trade values with Azerbaijan in recent years.

Year (Iranian fiscal) Export(million USD) Import(million USD) Trade balance(million USD) Trade volume(million USD) 84(March 2005-2006) 331 164 167 495 85(2006-2007) 323 282 41 605 86(2007-2008) 350 322 28 672 87(2008-2009) 369 240 129 609 88(2009-2010) 373 172 201 545 89(2010-2011) 375 111 264 486 90(2011-2012) 465 37 428 502 91(2012-2013) 493 45 448 538 92(2013-2014) 465 31 434 496 93(2014-2015) 420 22 398 442 94(2015-2016) 233 32 201 265 95(2016-2017) 358 46.7 311.3 404.7

Irans imports from Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan exports to Iran were in decline in recent years after experiencing the record high figure of $322 million in Iranian fiscal year, which falls to 2007-2008.

The value reached the lowest level under the sanctions in 2014 to 2016, experiencing $15 million, but then sharply revived to $46.8 million after removal of the sanctions in 2016, registering a growth by some 200 percent.

Irans imports from Azerbaijan (based on data from Tehran Chamber of commerce)

Year (Iranian fiscal) Import value (million USD) Import volume (1000 tons) Price ($1/kg) value growth (%) volume growth (%) Price growth (%) 95 (March 2016-2017) 46.8 151 0.31 199.9 297.2 -24.5 94 (2015-2016) 15.6 38 0.41 1.7 -1.8 3.6 93(2014-2015) 15.3 39 0.40 -51.2 -43.7 -13.3 92 (2013-2014) 31.4 69 0.46 -30.2 -24.9 -7 91 (2012-2013) 45.0 91 0.49 20.0 -13.1 38 90 (2011-2012) 37.5 105 0.36 -59.5 -63.5 11 89 (2010-2011) 92.6 288 0.32 -46,2

Irans exports to Azerbaijan

Irans exports to Azerbaijan reached to highest level in the fiscal year to March 2013, when accounted to $493 million. But it sharply decreased in the two years of the sanctions against Tehran and reached the lowest level in the fiscal year to March 2016, standing at $231.8 million.

The figure revived by 55 percent (to $358 million) next year, when the Iranian economy was free of international sanctions.

According to the TOPI, Irans exports to Azerbaijan has gradually shifted from high price manufactured products such as Shoes and dresses to raw materials such as cement, bitumen or potato in recent years.

That is the reason behind fall of Irans exported goods price to Azerbaijan from $0.8 per kilogram in 2008 to $0.3 in 2016.

Irans exports to Azerbaijan (based on data from Tehran Chamber of commerce)

Year (Iranian fiscal) export value (million USD) export volume (1000 tons) Price ($/kg) value growth (%) volume growth (%) Price growth (%) 95 (March 2016-2017) 358.57 1,049 0.34 54.7 100 -22.7 94 (2015-2016) 231.79 0,524 0.44 -46.2 -71.5 88.5 93 (2014-2015) 430.86 1,838 0.23 -7.4 -28.1 28.7 92 (2013-2014) 465.19 2,555 0.18 -5.7 24.1 -24 91 (2012-2013) 493.18 2,059 0.24 6.2 11.2 -4.5 90 (2011-2012) 464.28 1,851 0.25 23.8 27.5 -2.9 89 (2010-2011) 375.1 1,452 0.26 0.8
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian transportation ministry needs to invest about $28 billion to develop the countrys rail system over the next five years.

Iranian Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi said this amount of budget should be spent on railway infrastructure for carrying freight and passengers, ISNA news agency reported Nov. 27.

The minister said the plans for developing the countrys railway system cover infrastructure, new technologies and fleet.

While the countrys road transportation currently consumes about 450 million tons of fuel per year, the figure for transportation through the railways is 40 million tons.
Tehran, Iran, November 25

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

A minister of export is needed in Iran, considering the fact that there is no logical order in the export affairs of the country, an economic activist believes.

"Appointing a minister for exports would be the most effective solution to fix the problems that exist," Hassan Mortaja told Trend November 25.

He said that the creation of export consortiums to prevent individual moves by businessmen will be offer great help to the betterment of Irans exports status.

He said Iran needs to follow successful governments in order to improve its exports citing China and Turkey as two examples. "The Chinese government grants 4,000 euros to each businessman in the country to stage booths at international exhibitions in Iran. It also gives them 2,000 euros to for refinement of their booths. But Iranian businessmen always face hardships in staging exhibition booths."

Mortaja also noted that Iranian businessmen also need to help improve Irans status in the international market. "They need to offer the best and highest quality of their products, put marketing and customer satisfaction high on agenda, and even care about how they appear as the representatives of Iran."

"It is also expected that Iranian trade attaches in other countries appear active in assessing markets and the economic situation of their country of mission and to have a critical view of the market, things in which we witness some weakness."

Mortaja expressed pity over the fact that successful Iranian tradesmen are not in any special way connected to Iranian embassies. "These people believe the embassy cannot have a role in their success. However, the creation of an economic department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which can later result in a more robust economic aspect to our embassies, can be of great importance."

Mortaja, who was an exhibitor in Baku Expo 2017 and is going to arrange Ashgabat Expo 2018, said according to Asian Development Bank, as the oil prices have fallen, statistics show that Turkmenistans industrial imports are on the rise, which constitutes a great part of the countrys imports value, $5 billion, providing a good market for Iran.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Fuad Aslanov  Trend:

It is a well known fact that the Armenian Army and Armenian military units located in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan are in a deplorable situation and hazing and lack of discipline reign there for many years. The Armenian army officers often abuse their soldiers, as well as steal and sell their clothes and food. There are also many deaths of Armenian soldiers in mysterious circumstances.

The Armenian newspaper Hraparak has recently published an interview with a serviceman of one of Armenian military units deployed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The soldier spoke about poor-quality hygiene products given in the army and, consequently, constant requests to parents to send socks, soap, toothpaste and so on. The serviceman also said that to receive the parcels sent by the families, soldiers are required to give 1,000 drams ($2.5).

This interview caused serious anxiety in the military circles of Armenia and the separatist regime. The publication immediately received a call from Karabakh and was required to tell the respondents name. The employee of the so-called prosecutors office from Khankendi added that journalists are obliged to disclose the source, otherwise they will be criminally liable for a false denunciation.

Moreover, the military unit was checked. They even summoned a regiment in Martakert (Aghdara), talked with servicemen, demanding to name the person who gave the interview, says the newspaper. Obviously, in this way, the Armenian military leadership wants to block sources of leakage and root out the desire of servicemen to give interviews.

This is not the first time that Armenian media have received threats from the government structures. In 2014, the Special Investigation Service of Armenia demanded from Hraparak and ilur.am to inform where they got information about the fact that the head of the Shirak police department Vardan Nadaryan had beaten a wrestler, three-time European champion Artur Aleksanyan. The media refused to name the source and appealed to the Constitutional Court, noting that it is enough for a journalist to disclose the source once, and he will lose confidence of the sources, and the society will lose the right to information.

However, the pressure on Armenian media that disclose criminal facts about the army and the government continues to this day. This once again proves the mendacity of the Armenian authorities who are ranting that they have complete freedom of speech in the country.

Meanwhile, thousands of Armenian soldiers in the country's military units and units located in the occupied Karabakh are counting the days until the term of their military service ends. The lack of discipline is the number-one problem that has not been eliminated there for many years, and it, consequently, causes physical and mental issues of servicemen and even their deaths.

For instance, this June, a sergeant of Armenian army killed his fellow soldiers as revenge for bullying. In July, Junior Sergeant Vardan Melkonyan was found hanged in a military unit. Later, his fellow soldier was arrested on suspicion of committing violent acts against the late sergeant.

In late August, three soldiers serving in the Armenia-occupied Aghdara, the same region where the soldier who gave interview is serving, were brutally beaten by senior ranks and insulted in front of the whole military personnel. The officers beat the hungry and thirsty soldiers because they refused to dig the ground under the sun.

These are a very few of dangerous incidents taking place in the Armenian army almost every day. All this is accompanied by terrible conditions of military service. Due to the wide-spread corruption in the military units, many Armenian soldiers cannot receive even the minimum of the necessary daily provision. The servicemen are fed with poor-quality food, while unsanitary conditions prevail in military units. Contagious diseases, especially the infectious ones are wide-spread there.

All of the above, reasonably, makes Armenian parents try to find any opportunity to keep their sons far from the horror of Armenian army. However, mainly sons of Armenian officials are granted such a privilege. Young men from ordinary Armenian families have to waste two years of their lives in suffering. Their parents, in turn, have to live all this time in a constant limbo, as they cannot be sure their sons will come back home safe and sound, not being killed or crippled by some fellow soldier or officer.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has been warned that Ireland will "play tough to the end" over its threat to delay Brexit talks should no solution be found to the Northern Ireland border issue, CNN reports.

Throughout the negotiations, the European Union has been adamant that "sufficient progress" is required over the border issue before any talks on a future relationship between the UK and EU can take place.

May has been given a deadline of December 4 by the EU to introduce further proposals on the three main areas of contention -- the Irish border, Britain's divorce bill and the rights of EU citizens.

Britain has said it will leave both the single market and customs union when it exits the European Union in March 2019 -- a move which critics say could lead to a hard border in Ireland.

Phil Hogan, Ireland's EU commissioner, has urged May to change course and instead ensure that Northern Ireland and Ireland avoid such a scenario.

"If the UK or Northern Ireland remained in the EU customs union, or better still the single market, there would be no border issue," Ireland's EU Commissioner Phil Hogan told the Observer.

"That's a very simple fact. I continue to be amazed at the blind faith that some in London place in theoretical future free trade agreements."
Pope Francis landed in Yangon on Monday, the start of a delicate visit for the worlds most prominent Christian to majority-Buddhist Myanmar, which the United States has accused of ethnic cleansing its Muslim Rohingya people, Reuters reports.

The pope will also visit Bangladesh, to where more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled from what Amnesty International has dubbed crimes against humanity by Myanmar security forces, including murder, rape, torture and forcible displacement.

The Myanmar army denies the accusations.

Only about 700,000 of Myanmars 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have traveled by train and bus to Yangon, the countrys main city, to catch a glimpse of the pope.
Russias deputy foreign minister said North Koreas current pause in provocations -- the longest since last winter -- indicates a step toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, Bloomberg reports.

I think North Koreas restraint for the past two months is within the simultaneous freeze road map suggested by China and Russia, Igor Morgulov told reporters in Seoul on Monday.

Russian and Chinese foreign ministers proposed in July a double freezing initiative, under which North Korea refrains from missile and nuclear tests, and the U.S. and South Korea halt large-scale military exercises.

The U.S. has rejected this proposal, arguing that its drills are defensive in nature. Earlier this month, it carried out its first exercise in a decade using three aircraft carriers in the region, and plans to conduct drills with South Koreas air force in early December.

North Koreas last provocation was on Sept. 15, when it fired its second missile over Japan in as many months. The 73-day pause is the longest since a 116-day break between October 2016 and February.
Three people were injured in a bomb blast near a market at Jisr Diyala area in Baghdad, a source told Baghdad Press.

An explosive device planted near a market at Jisr Diyala neighborhood, southeast of Baghdad, went off, leaving three people injured, the source said on Monday.

Security forces cordoned off the blast site and prevented civilians from approaching, he said, adding that ambulances carried the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment.

On Sunday, seven people were killed and injured in a bomb blast south of Baghdad.

Speaking to AlSumaria News, a source said, A bomb, placed near a market in al-Nahrawan region, south of Baghdad, exploded in the morning, leaving a person killed and six others wounded.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

About 114 Iraqi civilians were killed, while 244 others were wounded as a result of terrorism, violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly release by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The Iraqi capital has seen almost daily bombings and armed attacks against security members, paramilitary troops and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake Islamic State-occupied areas in 2016.
At least 17 people were killed and 28 others injured in a suicide bombing in Baghdad, on Monday, the National Iraqi News Agency reported citing a security source, Sputnik reported.

Iraqi security forces gather in the Rawa area during an operation to retake the Euphrates Valley town from the Islamic State group on November 11, 2017



The Iraqi Interior Ministry earlier reported that two suicide bombers on Monday carried out an attack in the Al-Nahrawan area located in the southeast of the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi government is still trying to eliminate terrorist threat in the country and to normalize the situation. On July 10, the Iraqi government announced that the Daesh terror group was defeated in Mosul, one of Iraq's largest cities that terrorists claimed in 2014. The Iraqi forces began operation to liberate it in the fall of 2016.
Nigerias military has repelled an attempt by suspected Boko Haram militants to seize the northeastern town of Magumeri, a spokesman said on Sunday, a day after the attack, Reuters reported.

The assault was the latest in a series of attacks in northeast Nigeria, where the conflict with the Islamist insurgency has dragged into a ninth year with little sign of an end.

Three soldiers were killed and six others wounded while fighting the militants in Magumeri, which lies 50 km (30 miles) from Borno state capital Maiduguri, which has been the center of the conflict, the military spokesman said.

A member of a vigilante group formed to fight Boko Haram put the death toll at six soldiers and three vigilantes, while a resident of Magumeri told Reuters by telephone that at least three civilians were also killed.

A suicide bomber killed at least 58 people on Tuesday at a mosque in neighboring Adamawa state, one of the deadliest attacks since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 pledging to end the Boko Haram insurgency.
A shooting reportedly took place at the Galleria at Crystal Run mall, located in the Wallkill town, at 15:15 local time [20:15 GMT], Sputnik reported.

The police of New York State have confirmed that two people were injured following a shooting at the mall in New York's Hudson Valley region, while some people were evacuated, local media reported on Monday.

One of the stores in the Mall has been evacuated, no arrests have been made and the police believe there is no active-shooter at the scene, the Hudson Valley News 12 media outlet reported, citing authorities.

Earlier, Dems in the US Senate introduced legislation to ban the sale of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, according to Senator Dianne Feinstein's office. Feinstein acknowledged that the bill will not stop every mass shooting in the United States and the process to reduce the number of assault weapons in the country will be a long one.

The Dems decision comes after the latest deadly mass shooting when gunman Devin Kelley opened fire at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, killing 26 people and wounding 20, including a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy and a seven-year-old child.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

A cellar was revealed in Istanbul, where 200 migrants from Pakistan were tortured, Turkish media reported referring to the city police report on Nov.27.

Reportedly, one of the migrants who managed to escape, informed the police about the cellar.

The search revealed about 200 migrants from Pakistan, as well as 15 bodies of migrants who died from hemorrhage.

It is reported that the Pakistani migrants were promised to be sent illegally to Greece and Italy.

Currently, an investigation is underway.
KYODO NEWS - Nov 27, 2017 - 19:59 | World, All

The Japanese and Chinese governments are planning to hold the next round of high-level talks on maritime issues in Shanghai early next month, amid a thaw in their ties, bilateral diplomatic sources said Monday.

Officials are expected to discuss establishing a communication mechanism to prevent accidental bilateral clashes in the East China Sea or the airspace above it.

In talks on the margins of regional meetings in Southeast Asia earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to improve bilateral relations, which have long been strained by historical issues and the status of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

The uninhabited islands are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them the Diaoyu Islands and Tiaoyutai Islands, respectively.

In his meeting with Xi in Vietnam, Abe said Japan-China relations cannot genuinely improve without stability in the East China Sea, in an apparent reference to China Coast Guard ships repeatedly sailing through Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus.

Abe and Xi affirmed that they will speed up the process of dialogue to get the maritime and aerial communication mechanism up and running soon, according to the Japanese government.

During the meeting in Vietnam, Abe also invited Xi to visit Japan.

Next month's meeting will be the eighth round of talks that began in 2012.

Both countries will be represented by working-level foreign affairs, defense and coast guard officials, the sources said.

The last round of talks was held in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, in June.
KYODO NEWS - Nov 27, 2017 - 07:03 | All, Feature

The government will encourage medical schools to introduce surgical training for practicing doctors and dentists using donated bodies in a bid to reduce malpractice, health ministry sources said Sunday.

The ministry has requested 500 million yen ($4.5 million) in the state budget for fiscal 2018 to subsidize universities introducing the training program, more than 10 times the amount allotted in the budget for the current fiscal year, the sources said.

While endoscopic surgery has been increasingly chosen in recent years to lessen the burden on patients, it requires higher surgical skills and there have been cases of fatal malpractice in Japan.

Training with bodies is a good way to enhance doctors' skills, but only 15 universities have applied for state subsidies to introduce the program, according to the sources.

Some universities are reluctant to launch the program due to the high initial costs of purchasing operating tables and other equipment, while some doctors have traveled overseas on their own to receive such training, medical school professors said.

According to a group that encourages people to donate their bodies after death for medical purposes, the number of people registering for donation has been rising steadily, reaching 90,000 in 2016.

While students have been permitted by law to use bodies donated to medical schools for anatomy practice, their use for training practicing doctors was made possible after the Japan Surgical Society and the Japanese Association of Anatomists released guidelines in 2012.
Description

THE MUSIC LOVERS CLUB is hosting a FREE concert, (to be determined), 2 p.m. - followed by light snacks and refreshments at the United Methodist Church, 350 Main Street, Islip, NY. We are a non-profit organization & benefit Senior High School musicians in the townships of Islip & Babylon who are selected to compete the beginning of 2018.

First; Second; Third prize winners are given a scholarship accordingly to what the organization raises during the year. It's a fun event to be announced at a later date.

New members are always welcomed!

Contact 631-581-9297 or come join us at our meeting at 1 p.m. that day.
Description

REVISED to add the artist

Music Lovers Club is celebrating its 92nd year. All are welcomed to attend our meeting at 1 p.m., we are always looking for new members, or just come and enjoy a free concert at 2 p.m. featuring pianist Maxim Anikushin - NOT TO BE MISSED!

After the concert meet the artist and enjoy a snack and light refreshments.
Stocks are up every month this year supported by the broadest economic growth in a decade. This is great news. But, have stocks already priced in all that good news? Is it too late to buy?

Too expensive to buy?

History says no. While valuation is important to long-term returns, there has been no consistent relationship between the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio (the price per share divided by the last 12 months of earnings per share) and stock market return over the next year, as you can see in the random scatter of dots for stocks around the world in the MSCI World Index in the chart below.

Nothing to see here: PEs and returns over the next year

Source: Charles Schwab, MSCI World Index data from Factset as of 10/31/2017.

The current MSCI World Index PE ratio is 21.3. Since the inception of the MSCI World Index in 1969, a PE in the range of +/- 0.5 around 21.3 (20.8 to 21.8) has been followed by a total return of -5% to +45%, with an average return of +17.5%. Though valuations are above averagereflecting the better than average economic and earnings environment, there is no reason to believe stocks couldnt go higher over the next year and even produce double-digit gains based on nearly 50 years of history, although of course history is no guarantee of future performance.

Are some markets expensive?

The global stock market may not be too expensive to rise, but what about the markets of different countries or regionsare some too expensive relative to others?



The U.S. has one of the highest PE ratios among countries or regions right now. Compared with the MSCI Euro Index, which tracks stocks in the 19 Eurozone countries, with a PE of 18, the U.S. looks pricey. Japan, at a PE of 15, looks like a real bargain. You can see the performance over the past decade and current PEs in the chart below.

Different performance, different valuations

Indexes measure cumulative total return in U.S. dollars since start of 2006.

Source: Charles Schwab, MSCI data as of 10/31/2017.

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Should investors favor Japan over the U.S. and Europe because it has a lower PE? We believe the answer is no, as all three of these markets are fairly valued relative to how they perform. We can see this when looking at the sectors that drive the performance of these markets.

The U.S. tends to behave like the global tech sector, as you can see in the chart below. So it isnt surprising that the MSCI USA Index is valued like the MSCI World Information Technology Index, with a similar PE of 25. Strictly speaking, the U.S. stock market is composed of only about 20% tech stocks. So, in theory, the incredibly tight correlation of 0.99 between those two blue lines shouldnt exist. But, in reality, it does. A bottom up weighting of the PEs of the stocks that make up the U.S. index misses the point of how the U.S. stock market actually behaves, and therefore, is valued.

Major stock markets are valued similarly to the sectors that drive their performance

Indexes measure cumulative total return in U.S. dollars since start of 2006.

Source: Charles Schwab, MSCI data as of 10/31/2017.

The Eurozone is composed of 19 European countries and tends to perform likeand is valued just likea combination of three different world sectors: financials, telecommunications and materials. The MSCI Euro Index behaves like a mixture of .41x MSCI World Financials Index; .34x MSCI World Materials Index and .33x MSCI World Telecommunications Index. The weighted PE of those global sectors is 18, the same as the Euro index.



Lets now look at Japan. The consumer discretionary sector is the largest sector of Japans stock market, which includes globally-recognized companies like Toyota and Sony. But the influence of financial conditions on all types of Japanese companies is evident in their performance which tracks the financial sector closely. Japans stock market is valued similarly to the MSCI World Financial Index at a PE of 15.



The takeaway from this comparison of countries and sectors is that the valuation differences between countries reflect how they perform and gives a very different investment conclusion from a simple comparison of the country PEs. Currently, these countries or regions do not appear materially over or undervalued relative to the sectors that they track. The sector PEs are all above average, but they are similarly valued relative to their 15 year histories. Each sector PE falls between 65% and 78% of that sectors 15 year high.

All this suggests relative valuations do not currently favor one country or regions stock market over another when seeking value. We favor asset allocations across borders in line with their strategic weightings in U.S. and international stock markets which mirror the weights in the broad indexes.

Diversification offers best value in 20 years

With stock markets valued fairly relative to how they perform there is little reason not to be globally diversified. From a diversification perspective, there hasnt been a better time in 20 years to be globally diversified. The trend in correlation among countries has fallen to the lowest levels since the mid-1990s, as you can see in the chart below. Many investors have never seen this low correlation before in their investing lifetimes.

Global stock market correlation lowest in 20 years

*Daily one-year rolling correlation of one month percent change in MSCI indexes for countries in G20 and Spain. Source: Charles Schwab, Factset data as of 11/20/2017.

Its not too late to buy. Valuations support a globally diversified portfolio offering the best diversification benefits in 20 years.

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MI

The price of bitcoin, the scorching-hot cryptocurrency, soared above $9,000 a coin for the first time early Sunday morning.

Bitcoin was trading at an all-time high of $9,481 a coin Sunday afternoon, according to data from Markets Insider.

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban told Business Insider the price of bitcoin will continue to rise as long as it continues to act more as a collectible than a currency.



Bitcoin's impressive march into record territory continued Sunday afternoon.

The digital currency, which has been on a tear since the US Thanksgiving holiday, soared past $9,000 a coin early Sunday morning.

By Sunday afternoon in New York the digital currency was trading at an all-time high of $9,481 a coin, a more than $1,000 increase from its price mid-day on Thursday. It gave up some of those gains and by 5:56 p.m. ET bitcoin was trading at $9,343 a coin.

Bitcoin's rapid appreciation appears to have coincided with a spike in the userbase of the largest platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies in the US.

Coinbase, the San Francisco firm, grew its user count by 100,000 to 13.1 million from Wednesday to Friday, according to analysis by Alistair Milne, cofounder of Altana Digital Currency Fund. The analysis was first reported by CNBC on Saturday. At the time of print, Coinbase reported more than 13.3 million users.

As for how high the cryptocurrency will go, one of Wall Street's biggest bitcoin bulls recently doubled his price target for the coin to $11,500. Tom Lee, the managing partner and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, expects bitcoin to hit $11,500 by mid-2018, up from the estimate of $6,000 he made in August.

Lee is optimistic about the coming launch of bitcoin futures by Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which many think will increase the cryptocurrency's legitimacy, thereby expanding its potential user base. Folks also believe futures will help dampen bitcoin's spine-tingling volatility.

Story continues

Mark Cuban expects the price to keep rising

mark cuban

Mike Blake/Reuters

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who recently described investing in bitcoin as a Hail Mary, told Business Insider the price will continue to rise so long as bitcoin continues to function more as a collectible than an actual currency.

"The number of people opening up new accounts and buying bitcoin, even fractionally, is skyrocketing," he said. "Yet the people who have it as a true store of value have no reason to sell it as long as demand continues."

Since the list of merchants that accept bitcoin is still relatively small, holders don't have many places where they can spend their coins, either.

"They can't spend it, so they keep it," Cuban said.

As such, Cuban expects the price to continue to rise until "there is some systemic reason for the collectors to sell."

The markets might be waiting a while for investors to sell.

A survey by LendEDU found the average bitcoin investor doesn't plan to give up their bitcoin until the cryptocurrency reaches $196,165, or 21 times its current value.

This post has been updated from its original form.

NOW WATCH: The stock market is flashing warning signs

See Also:

SEE ALSO: One of Wall Street's biggest bears just doubled his bitcoin forecast to $11,500

DON'T MISS: Mark Cuban is backing a new cryptocurrency fund months after calling bitcoin a 'bubble'
Several campaigns have emerged calling for a re-run of the 2016 EU membership referendum and putting pressure on MPs to oppose a Brexit agreement (AFP Photo/Tolga AKMEN) (AFP/File)

London (AFP) - The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said Sunday it would not be "the end of the world" if Britain failed to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, but there would be costs.

Roberto Azevedo told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that although Britain would be better off with an agreement, the impact of falling back on WTO rules would be "manageable".

"About half of the UK's trade is already on WTO terms -- with the US, China and several large emerging nations where the EU doesn't have trade agreements," he said.

"So it's not the end of the world if the UK trades under WTO rules with the EU."

Britain intends to leave the EU's single market and customs union when it withdraws from the bloc in March 2019, but hopes to reach a free trade agreement (FTA) with Brussels before then.

However, trade talks have yet to formally start, and without a deal, bilateral trade would likely be subject to higher WTO tariffs as well as other barriers such as increased red tape.

"If you don't have a fully functioning FTA with the EU, there could be rigidities and costs -- but it's not like trade between the UK and EU is going to stop," Azevedo said.

"There will be an impact, but I suppose it is perfectly manageable."

Ahead of Britain's EU referendum in June 2016, Azevedo warned that exporters risked billions of pounds (dollars, euros) in extra customs duties each year after Brexit.

In a speech in London, he noted that Britain's EU membership gave it preferential trading terms not only with the other 27 member states, but also the 58 countries with which the bloc had FTAs.

Britain is currently seeking to replicate the EU's trade deals with third countries, although it cannot sign any agreements until after Brexit.

EU leaders are meeting next month to discuss whether to start trade talks with Britain, but are demanding commitments on a financial settlement and the Irish border issue.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told Sky News on Sunday: "Of course we would rather get a deal with the European Union but we're not afraid not to get a deal."
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is committed to avoiding any physical infrastructure at the border with EU member Ireland after Brexit, but a solution can only be found in the context of a future relationship, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday.

"We remain firmly committed to avoiding any physical infrastructure and we have had clear discussions about that with the EU," he told reporters, repeating that the United Kingdom will be leaving the EU's single market and customs union.

"But the secretary of state (Brexit minister David Davis) was also clear that we will only be able to conclude them finally in the context of the future relationship."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper. Editing by Andrew MacAskill)
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau building in Washington, D.C. June 4, 2013. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [/caption] A top Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official on Sunday night sued the Trump administration to block the appointment of Mick Mulvaney as the temporary director of the independent agency. The lawsuit forces a judge to confront a clash over who should rightfully lead the agency as the White House looks to nominate a permanent replacement for Richard Cordray.

Leandra English. Credit: Credit Union National Association.

Leandra English, named deputy director of the consumer bureau last week, asked a federal judge to declare that Mulvaney, director of Office of Management and Budget, is not the agencys acting director and order the Trump administration to refrain from appointing any individual to the position of Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The lawsuit comes just days after Cordray elevated English, his chief of staff, to the deputy rolea promotion that was meant to put her in line to almost immediately become acting director. Hours after Cordray announced his resignation, Trump appointed Mulvaney to lead the CFPB, setting the stage for a battle over the leadership of an agency Republicans and financial services advocates have assailed and supporters have applauded as a champion for consumers. The conflicting appointments have thrown the first significant transition of power at the CFPB into a state of confusion, prompting questions about the agency will operate with two people claiming to be its rightful leader. English, who filed her lawsuit with personal lawyers rather than CFPB attorneys, argued the Trump administration lacks the authority to name an acting director. Her lawsuit centered on a section of the Dodd-Frank Act, the 2010 financial reform law that birthed the CFPB, which states that the agencys deputy director will serve as acting director in the absence or unavailability of the director. Cordray had referenced that section of Dodd-Frank in an email to CFPB staff on Friday, writing that English will become the acting Director pursuant to section 1011(b)(5) of the Dodd-Frank Act. Effective at midnight on November 24, 2017, the bureaus first director, Richard Cordray, resigned his post. At that point, plaintiff Leandra English, the bureaus deputy director, became the agencys acting director by operation of law. The Dodd-Frank Act is clear on this point: It mandates that the Deputy Director shall . . . serve as the acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director, wrote Englishs lawyer, former CFPB attorney Deepak Gupta. By statute, she serves in that capacity until such time as the President appoints and the Senate confirms a new Director. The White House asserted authority to designate an acting CFPB director under the Federal Vacancies Act, which allows the president to appoint any Senate-confirmed official to fill certain vacancies. The Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion Saturday supporting the White Houses interpretation of the Federal Vacancies Act. In court papers filed Sunday, English argued that the succession language in Dodd-Frank expressly dictates the deputy director step in to lead the CFPB in the event of the directors departure. By attempting to install Mulvaney as the acting director, she argued, Trump is attempting to unlawfully undercut the independence of the CFPB. Mulvaney serves in his Senate-confirmed role at the pleasure of the president. The CFPB director serves a five-year term and can only be removed for cause, meaning the president cannot readily fire the agencys leader. Disregarding this statutory language, President Trump issued a press release on the evening of November 24 indicating his desire to install defendant Mulvaney, the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as the Bureaus Acting Director. Under this scenario, Mr. Mulvaney would seek to serve indefinitely as the interim head of a statutorily independent agency while simultaneously occupying his current White House post, Gupta wrote. The lawsuit Leandra English filed is posted below: [falcon-embed src="embed_1"] Read more: U.S. Justice Dept., Under Jeff Sessions, Opens New Front Against the CFPB Who's Leading the CFPB? Trump Tees Up Clash Over Acting Director What Lawyers Are Saying About Richard Cordray's CFPB Departure Plans Who's Hiring from the CFPB? These Law Firms Showed Interest. The CFPB Is Losing a Trial Court Ally in the US Justice Department
Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE:BOH) is trading with a trailing P/E of 18.3x, which is higher than the industry average of 17.8x. While BOH might seem like a stock to avoid or sell if you own it, it is important to understand the assumptions behind the P/E ratio before you make any investment decisions. In this article, I will break down what the P/E ratio is, how to interpret it and what to watch out for. Check out our latest analysis for Bank of Hawaii

Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio

NYSE:BOH PE PEG Gauge Nov 28th 17

P/E is a popular ratio used for relative valuation. It compares a stocks price per share to the stocks earnings per share. A more intuitive way of understanding the P/E ratio is to think of it as how much investors are paying for each dollar of the companys earnings.

P/E Calculation for BOH

Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share  Earnings per share

BOH Price-Earnings Ratio = $79.9  $4.374 = 18.3x

The P/E ratio itself doesnt tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful when you compare it with other similar companies. Our goal is to compare the stocks P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar attributes to BOH, such as company lifetime and products sold. One way of gathering a peer group is to use firms in the same industry, which is what Ill do. Since BOHs P/E of 18.3x is higher than its industry peers (17.8x), it means that investors are paying more than they should for each dollar of BOHs earnings. As such, our analysis shows that BOH represents an over-priced stock.

A few caveats

While our conclusion might prompt you to sell your BOH shares immediately, there are two important assumptions you should be aware of. Firstly, our peer group contains companies that are similar to BOH. If this isnt the case, the difference in P/E could be due to other factors. For example, if you compared lower risk firms with BOH, then investors would naturally value it at a lower price since it is a riskier investment. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing BOH to are fairly valued by the market. If this does not hold true, BOHs lower P/E ratio may be because firms in our peer group are overvalued by the market.

Story continues

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? Since you may have already conducted your due diligence on BOH, the overvaluation of the stock may mean it is a good time to reduce your current holdings. But at the end of the day, keep in mind that relative valuation relies heavily on critical assumptions Ive outlined above.

Are you a potential investor? If you are considering investing in BOH, basing your decision on the PE metric at one point in time is certainly not sufficient. I recommend you do additional analysis by looking at its intrinsic valuation and using other relative valuation ratios like PEG or EV/EBITDA.

PE is one aspect of your portfolio construction to consider when holding or entering into a stock. But it is certainly not the only factor. Take a look at our most recent infographic report on Bank of Hawaii for a more in-depth analysis of the stock to help you make a well-informed investment decision. Since we know a limitation of PE is it doesnt properly account for growth, you can use our free platform to see my list of stocks with a high growth potential and see if their PE is still reasonable.



To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
General Electric Company GE recently collaborated with visual computing firm NVIDIA Corporation NVDA to incorporate state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) in its healthcare imaging devices. The strategic deal will provide the industrial goods manufacturer an edge over its peers and augment its position in the market.



AI is the simulation of human intelligence in machines. With an increasingly competitive market, manufacturers aim to develop sophisticated products by integrating AI in machines to improve the efficiency and accuracy levels. The advent of data analytics has further enhanced the scope of using AI in machines and has improved the interoperability of products.



GE intends to leverage NVIDIAs AI computing platform to develop Revolution Frontier CT  an advanced CT scan instrument  that is two times faster than the existing products available in the market. Cleared by the FDA, it is likely to offer superior clinical outcomes in liver lesion detection and kidney lesion. This would ultimately benefit patients with compromised renal function by eliminating unnecessary follow-ups and doctor visits.



It has been reportedly found that less than 3% of more than 50 petabytes of data generated on an average by hospitals is tagged or analyzed. GE Healthcare aims to harness this data for improved patient outcome by combining AI into its medical devices. This is likely to augment its revenues with ease of use and higher clinical efficiency.



Shares of GE have underperformed the industry year to date, with an average loss of 42.5% compared with a decline of 5.7% for the latter. In order to boost the companys sagging shares, CEO John Flannery has decided to focus on just three core segments  power, aviation and health-care equipment  and gradually exit all other businesses. GE further intends to sell assets worth $20 billion to improve its liquidity. The collaboration with NVIDA is a step in this regard.

Story continues





GE currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Better-ranked stocks in the industry include Danaher Corporation DHR and Leucadia National Corporation LUK, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Danaher has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 10.6%. It has surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters with an average positive surprise of 2.6%.



Leucadia has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 18%. It has exceeded estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 21.2%.



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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AirBnb, Reddit, Shutterstock, Inc, Tumblr, Etsy , Twitter and a long list of small internet companies urged the Federal Communications Commission on Monday to scrap a plan to roll back net neutrality rules. In a letter dated on Monday, the companies urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to reverse course and vote against changing the rules. Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump in January, unveiled plans last week to scrap landmark 2015 rules intended to ensure a free and open internet, moving to give broadband service providers sweeping power over what content consumers can access. The FCC is set to vote on Dec. 14. The move was seen as a victory for big internet service providers such as AT&T Inc , Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc , which favored a repeal. The companies, which sent the letter on Cyber Monday to coincide with the biggest online shopping day of the year, argued that slowing access to content, called "throttling," or blocking it altogether, would hurt the U.S. economy. "This would put small and medium-sized businesses at a disadvantage and prevent innovative new ones from even getting off the ground," the companies said in the letter. Pai defended the change as a way to remove heavy-handed internet regulations. "The internet and companies like Twitter, which signed the letter, thrived under the pre-2015 light-touch regulatory framework that governed Internet access. Chairman Pai wants to return to that framework so that we can increase investment in broadband networks and connect more Americans to the services that these companies offer online," FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield said in a statement. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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U.S. Supreme Court. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi [/caption] In a term packed with politically charged issues, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday had no appetite for two more: firearms and Confederate symbols.The justices, denying review in two gun-related challenges, left intact lower court decisions upholding Marylands ban on so-called assault weapons and Floridas prohibition on open carry of weapons and firearms.The justices action came just shy of the two-month anniversary of the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and injured hundreds, and less than a month after the Nov. 5 Texas church shooting that left 26 dead.Amid the recent national controversy over the removal of Confederate statues and symbols, the Supreme Court in the case Moore v. Bryant turned away an African-American trial lawyers challenge to Mississippis state flag bearing the Confederate battle emblem.The justices have refused multiple times to wade back into the contours of the Second Amendment since its 2008 landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. That 5-4 ruling held that the amendment guaranteed an individual right to possess a firearm in the home for self-defense. The justices followed up that decision in 2010 by applying the decision to the states in the case McDonald v. City of Chicago.The high court denied review without comment in the Maryland case (Kolbe v. Hogan) and the Florida challenge (Norman v. Florida). Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito Jr., Neil Gorsuch and the late Antonin Scalia earlier had urged the court to hear similar challenges. In dissents from those earlier denials, they claimed that the lower courts were hollowing out the Second Amendment right.In the Maryland case, John Parker Sweeney of Washingtons Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, counsel to Stephen Kolbe, had argued that the state banned arms that are in common use for self-defense, including popular semi-automatic rifles and detachable ammunition magazines that exceed 10 rounds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in a 10-4 decision, disagreed, describing the arms as weapons of war and most useful in military service.Twenty-one states had urged the justices to grant review to resolve confusion in the lower courts about the scope of their Heller decision.In the Florida case, veteran gun rights litigator Stephen Halbrook of Fairfax, Virginia, lead counsel to Dale Norman, argued the Florida Supreme Court's ruling that the Second Amendment right does not include the open-carry of a firearm conflicts with the justices decisions in Heller and McDonald. But the state high court, applying intermediate scrutiny, held that the states ban reasonably fits the states important government interests of public safety and reducing gun-related violence.In the Mississippi flag case, Reed Smiths Michael Scott represented Carlos Moore of the Tucker Moore Group in his high court petition. Scott argued that the state flag, with the Confederate war emblem displayed in the top left corner, violates the Fourteenth Amendments equal protection clause.Scott said legal scholars had argued for decades that governmental displays of the Confederate flag constitute a form of government speech that endorses white supremacy and violates the equal protection rights of African-Americans. The Fifth Circuit affirmed a district courts dismissal of Moores lawsuit on standing grounds.Read more:Justices Are Urged to Reject Confederate Emblem on Mississippi's FlagJustices, Shying From Second Amendment, Won't Touch California's Gun RestrictionsAnother Major Shooting Unfolds as Justices Weigh Latest Firearms Case
Per the latest investor presentation, Kinder Morgan Inc. KMI proposes to lower spending on Canadian subsidiary in 2017.



In 2017, the company is likely to spend $446.5 million on growth capital for its Canadian subsidiary, down 38% from the earlier projection of $721 million as stated in another presentation in September.



Of the total spending, $365.18 million has been apportioned to pipelines and $81.18 million to terminals, down from $629.70 million and $91.33 million, respectively.



This change has been confirmed by a spokesman of the company, who stated that the change was primarily due to operational delay on the Trans Mountain expansion project. The 590,000 barrel per day pipeline has been deferred since the company did not receive permits for the use of Crown land in Canada, promptly.



As expected, the pipeline might come online by the end of 2019, if the company is able to offset the deferral on construction. However, the spending has been pushed to 2018 and beyond.



Currently, Kinder Morgan is one of the three companies trying to construct a pipeline to meet demand for crude takeaway capacity in western Canada.



About Kinder Morgan



Kinder Morgan, headquartered in Houston, TX, has the largest network of natural gas pipeline in North America that spreads over almost 70,000 miles. Most importantly, the companys midstream properties are linked to all the prospective plays in the United States which are rich in natural gas. These extensive pipeline networks, for which almost $32 billion has been invested to date, have been providing Kinder Morgan with stable fee-based revenues.



However, we are concerned about Kinder Morgans weak balance sheet. As of third-quarter 2017, total debt  both short and long term  is pegged at $37.1 billion. The debt capital is higher than the total equity capital of $36.5 billion which depicts the companys significant exposure to debt.



Price Performance



Shares of the company have lost 3.7% compared with the industrys decline of 9.6% in the last three months.

Story continues









Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Kinder Morgan currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked players in the energy sector include BP plc BP, ConocoPhillips COP and Northern Oil and Gas Inc NOG. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



A major exploration and production company, BP, delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 26.80% in the last four quarters.



ConocoPhillips, based in Houston, TX, is a major global exploration and production (E&P) company. It delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 152.34% in the last four quarters.



Northern Oil and Gas, based in Minnetonka, MN, is an independent energy company. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 175.00% in the last four quarters.



Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.



With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.



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Balderton Capital has raised a new $375m fund -  Jeffrey Blackler / Alamy

One of Londons best-known venture capital firms has raised a new $375m (281m) fund as it goes on the hunt for Europes answer to Google, Amazon or Facebook.

Balderton Capital, which has backed the likes of LoveFilm, Citymapper and Wonga, said the Continents technology sector had reached a pivotal moment that could produce a company with the scale to rival the Silicon Valley giants.

Suranga Chandratillake, a partner at Balderton, told The Daily Telegraph that, while it was hard to predict what area of tech the next giant would come from, artificial intelligence looks like a pretty good bet.

He said: Many of the best research departments are based on this Continent. Many of the best students, wherever theyre from in the world, come through that system, and many of those people want to stay here.

Balderton, the venture capital firm which backed various online businesses including Wonga, is on the search for Europe's next big tech giant

Mr Chandratillake said Baldertons sixth fund, its first since 2014, had attracted new backers from the US and the firms first investor from Asia, as global institutions clamoured for a slice of Europes burgeoning tech scene.

Thats partly a reflection of how the Continents start-up ecosystem has improved, said Mr Chandratillake, but is also because VC firms can pay less for higher equity stakes than they would in the US.

The sector has benefited from improved regulations and government support, he said, but the biggest boost has come from a decline in the popularity of finance and civil service jobs since the financial crisis.

Banking is a lot less attractive to a generation of millennials who question exactly how the banks do what they do, he said.

At the same time, there was this ascendancy of technology entrepreneurship and this idea that, actually, this is something where you can be successful, you can make money, but you can also feel that youre actually doing something for good.

Balderton, which typically makes investments of 3m to 7m, has $2.6m under management and has backed 10 companies since March.
On Monday morning, Mick Mulvaney, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director, and Leandra English, the newly appointed deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), claimed to start their first day as head of the agency. Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray stepped down from the top post Nov. 24.

While both Mulvaney and English sent emails to the staff signed acting director, it appears that Mulvaney, who arrived at the bureau with doughnuts in tow, has the upper hand and is being treated as acting director.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney leaves the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) building after a meeting in downtown Washington D.C., U.S. November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

In a clear sign, a CFPB spokesperson directed a Yahoo Finance email inquiry to an OMB spokesperson. The spokesperson, John Czwartacki, told Yahoo Finance, Mick is acting director. Ive seen nobody treat him otherwise inside the building.

Though its remotely possible Mulvaney may simply have control over the communications channels alone  a common tactic in military coups, which often storm the television news  the Trump appointee was seen sitting in the directors office on Twitter and was reported to lead meetings on Sunday and Monday.

In Mulvaneys corner is also the word of the CFPB general counsel, Mary McLeod, who said she agreed with the Trump administration.

However, English, who claims to have the law on her side, sued Mulvaney and President Donald Trump to block the former from taking over the consumer protection agency.

According to Bloomberg, CFPB workers are relying on the general counsels opinion, but the tone is of confusion.

Fox in the henhouse

Consumer advocates are concerned about Mulvaney taking over an agency he once worked to eliminate as a member of Congress, and that he would gut the CFPB and put the interests of financial institutions above those of ordinary consumers. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) referred to him as a fox in the henhouse if he were to lead the CFPB.

Should the legal challenge tie up the agency in a quagmire, Mulvaney and the Trump administration could count that as a win, as a confused and crippled CFPB may effectively do nothing, an outcome that could be tantamount to the CFPBs dissolution.

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In the end, the way out of this tangle will be a fresh director, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, a process that could take months. However, some financial services trade groups still want the CFPB to abandon its one-director structure in favor of a five-person commission, similar to the Federal Communications Commission and other government agencies.

The CFPBs current governing structure is a dictatorship, period, said the Consumer Bankers Association CEO and President Richard Hunt in a statement. It is well past time for the administration and Congress to provide a balanced, responsible and transparent approach to consumer protection and establish a Senate-confirmed, bipartisan commission at the CFPB.

Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Confidential tip line: FinanceTips[at]oath[.com].

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LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru's attorney general's office said it was investigating former President Alejandro Toledo for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes from the Brazilian company Camargo Correa in exchange for a highway construction contract.

Toledo, who governed from 2001 to 2006, is already wanted in Peru for allegedly taking $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht, another Brazilian construction company at the center of a continent-wide corruption scandal.

In the new case, investigators have detected a payment of at least $3.9 million that Camargo Correa made to Toledo through an offshore account scheme with the money ending up in the account of a friend of the former president, prosecutors said in a statement.

Attempts to reach Camargo Correa and Toledo for comment weren't immediately successful, but in the past the Toledo has denied taking bribes.

Peru is seeking Toledo's extradition from the U.S. for the Odebrecht case. In February, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski asked President Donald Trump to deport the ex-Peruvian president.

Toledo is a former pro-democracy activist who led street protests that brought down former strongman Alberto Fujimori in 2000.

Authorities across Latin America have been moving fast to charge officials accused of taking some $800 million in bribes from Odebrecht. The company acknowledged the bribes when it signed a plea agreement in December with the U.S. Justice Department.

Used to win business in 12 countries, the bribes include some $29 million paid in Peru for projects built during the administrations of Toledo and two of his successors. So far, three officials have been arrested.
FILE PHOTO: Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

By Reem Shamseddine

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - State oil giant Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] and petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) signed a preliminary deal on Sunday to build a $20 billion complex to convert crude oil to chemicals.

The project, which the partners said would be the largest crude-to-chemicals facility in the world and the first in the kingdom, are part of the Saudi government's effort to diversify the economy beyond exporting crude.

Private investment has slowed in the kingdom in the last few years due to low oil prices and government austerity, so Riyadh wants to develop manufacturing industries, including chemicals.

After signing the memorandum of understanding, Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser told reporters a final decision on whether to go ahead with the project would be made by the end of 2019.

Investment costs for the complex, which could start production in 2025, would be shared equally.

"The two companies can pool their expertise and, given the large size of the capex, partnering hedges their risk," said Michael Arne, head of emerging technologies research at IHS Markit.

Aramco, the world's largest oil company, has been developing its downstream business as the government prepares to sell up to 5 percent of its shares next year in an initial public offering (IPO).

The CEOs of both firms said they were considering locating the complex at the Red Sea port city and industrial centre of Yanbu. But Nasser said there were also other options, with factors such as proximity to markets guiding a decision.

Yousef al-Benyan, SABIC's CEO said the two companies would examine the best technology to use, after they had been working on different technologies to convert crude to chemicals before deciding to team up.

Benyan said the project could involve two or three crackers, which are used to break heavy hydrocarbons into petrochemicals. The use of so-called flexi-crackers would enable the firms to break down a range of feeds - oil, gas or naphtha.

Story continues

The complex would process crude at international prices to make polyethylene, polypropylene, xylene, benzene and other products, Nasser said.

The Saudi project would process about 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Arabian light crude oil to make about 9 million tonnes of chemicals and base oils a year, plus 200,000 bpd of diesel for domestic use.

The new complex would create an estimated 30,000 jobs directly and indirectly, adding 1.5 percent to Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product by 2030, the companies said.

The venture would help SABIC expand operations in the kingdom and give it more feedstock options, Benyan said.

SABIC has been diversifying its feed base. In China, it plans to make chemicals from coal. In the United States, it wants to build a plant with Exxon Mobil that uses shale gas.

(Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Keith Weir)
TEVA logo

Today, shareholders of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) woke up to a nice 4% pop in the value of their shares. The reason? The drug maker just announced a series of changes to its organization and leadership structure, as it aims to achieve better commercial focus and drive value creation.

Explaining the need for these changes, Kare Schultz, Tevas President and CEO, said, "Teva is taking decisive and immediate action to address external pressures and internal inefficiencies. Our new company structure will enable stronger alignment and integration between R&D, operations and the commercial regions, allowing us to become a more agile, lean and profitable company."

Schultz continued, "We will focus on driving sustainable value creation. The new management team will position Teva for turnaround in the short to medium term. We are already working on a detailed restructuring plan for Teva and will share it in mid-December. It remains our absolute priority to stabilize the companys operating profit and cash flow in order to improve our financial situation, while being focused on short-term revenue and cash generation, and at the same time, ensure we deliver on our commitment to supply high-quality medicines to patients around the world."

New structure

The commercial business will no longer have two separate global groups for generics and specialty medicines, and will be integrated into one commercial organization, operating through three regions  North America, Europe and Growth Markets. Each of the regions will manage the entire portfolio  including generics, specialty and OTC - with full end-to-end P&L accountability. Some of the former global units will be integrated into the new structure, while others will be made redundant.

The former Generic R&D and Specialty R&D organizations will be combined into one global group with overall responsibility for all R&D activities  generic, specialty and biologics  maximizing ROI through better focus and efficiency.

A newly formed Marketing & Portfolio function will be responsible for overseeing the interface between regions, R&D and operations throughout all product lifecycle stages and optimizing generic and specialty portfolios across the therapeutic areas.

The new structure will enhance alignment and seamless integration between Teva's Global Operations, the commercial regions, R&D and the Portfolio function, will increase productivity and simplify the organization.

The commercial structure will rely on one leaner supporting organizational infrastructure that includes Finance, Legal, HR, and Global Brand & Communications.

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As a result of these changes, Dr. Michael Hayden, Dr. Rob Koremans and Dipankar Bhattacharjee will retire from Teva, effective December 31, 2017.

New executive management team

Michael (Mike) McClellan is appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and will oversee the Finance Group, Business Development, Investor Relations and Information Technology.Previously, he served as Interim CFO and as SVP & CFO Global Specialty Medicines. Prior to joining Teva, Mike was the U.S. CFO at Sanofi.

Dr. Hafrun Fridriksdottir is appointed Executive Vice President, Global R&D. Previously, she served as President of Global Generics R&D. Prior to joining Teva, Hafrun served as Senior Vice President and President of Global Generics R&D in Allergan plc.

Brendan O'Grady is appointed Executive Vice President, North America Commercial. Brendan has previously served as Chief Commercial Officer, Global Specialty Medicine, as interim head of Tevas European specialty business and as President and CEO for Tevas North America generics business and as VP US Market Access and Reimbursement.

Richard Daniell is appointed Executive Vice President, European Commercial, after having served as President and CEO, Teva Generics Europe.

Gianfranco Nazzi is appointed Executive Vice President, Growth Markets Commercial. Gianfranco has previously served as President and CEO of Growth Markets at the Global Generic Medicines group, and prior to that he was he has served as Senior Vice President, Specialty Medicines Europe.

Sven Dethlefs is appointed Executive Vice President, Global Marketing & Portfolio. He previously served as Global Head of Respiratory Medicines and as Chief Operating Officer, Teva GlobalOperations.

All appointments are effective immediately, while the retiring executives will stay with Teva to support the transition until the end of the year.

Kare Schultz concluded, "I would like to thank Dr. Michael Hayden, Dr. Rob Koremans and Dipankar Bhattacharjee for their profound contributions to Teva over the past decade and for their tireless dedication to the many patients we serve."

Bios of new appointments

Michael (Mike) McClellan has been serving as Teva Interim Group CFO since July 2017. Prior to this role, he had served as SVP & CFO Global Specialty Medicines since July 2015. Prior to joining Teva, Mike was the U.S. CFO at Sanofi, where his career spanned nearly 20 years in roles of increased responsibility in global finance and healthcare. Mr. McClellan received his BSBA, Accounting & Economics from the University of Missouri Trulaske College of Business.

Dr. Hafrun Fridriksdottir has been serving as Executive Vice President, President of Global Generics R&D since February 2017, after serving as Senior Vice President and President of Global Generics R&D from 2016. Prior to joining Teva, from 2015 to 2016, Ms. Fridriksdottir served as Senior Vice President and President of Global Generics R&D in Allergan plc. From 2002 to 2015, she held positions of increasing responsibility within the Actavis Group, including Senior Vice President, R&D. From 1997 to 2002, Ms. Fridriksdottir served as Divisional Manager of Development at Omega Pharma, until its merger with Actavis. Ms. Fridriksdottir started her career as a scientist for 2 years at a research and development company owned by Pharmacia in Sweden, after receiving an MS degree in pharmacy and a Ph.D. in physical pharmacy from the University of Iceland.

Brendan OGrady has been serving as Chief Commercial Officer, Global Specialty Medicine division since Aug 2016. In addition, he currently serves as the interim head of Tevas European Specialty business. Prior to these roles, Mr. OGrady held the position of President and CEO for Tevas North America generic business in 2015 and held various senior roles since he joined Teva in 2011 as Regional Account Manager. Prior to joining Teva, Mr. OGrady spent 10 years with Sanofi predecessor companies in a variety of commercial and medical affairs roles that began in field sales. He received his B.S. from Geneseo State University, NY in Management Science/Marketing and holds an M.B.A. from Baker University in Baldwinsville, Kansas.

Gianfranco Nazzi has been serving as President & CEO of Growth Markets, Global Generic Medicines Group since March 2017. Mr. Nazzi joined Teva as Senior Vice President Specialty Medicines Europe in 2014. Prior to joining Teva, he served 7 years at AstraZeneca in various senior roles, including Sales and Marketing Vice President Europe, Global Vice President Respiratory, General Manager of the Balkans and Vice President Primary Care in Italy. At GlaxoSmithKline he served for two years as BU Director Metabolic & Cardiovascular and at Eli Lilly and Company he served for 5 years in various sales and marketing roles in both Italy and the US. He began his career at Danieli. Mr. Nazzi received his BA degree in economics from the University of Udine, and his Masters degree in Management Studies from SDA Bocconi.

Richard Daniell has been serving as President and Chief Executive Officer, Teva Generics Europe since Dec 2016. Prior to that, he had served as Chief Integration Officer Leading Actavis-Teva Integration since Sep 2015 after holding various senior roles, including Chief Operating Officer, Growth Markets and Regional General Manager for Teva in the UK and Ireland from 2012 through 2014. Mr. Daniell joined Teva as Senior Director Teva UK Limited in 2006, following the acquisition of IVAX Pharmaceuticals UK. Prior to joining Teva, he served three years at IVAX Pharmaceuticals UK as Director of Generics. Mr. Daniell received his BSc in chemistry from the University of Auckland.

Sven Dethlefs has been serving as Global Head of Respiratory Medicines, Global Specialty Medicines since January 2016. Prior to that, he had served as Chief Operating Officer, Teva Global Operations, since October 2013. Mr. Dethlefs joined Teva as General Manager, Teva Germany in 2008. Prior to joining Teva, he served for over 11 years as a partner at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Dethlefs received his PhD in biochemistry from the FU Berlin/Pasteur Institute Paris.

On the ratings front, Teva stock has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. In a report issued on November 24, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris maintained a Hold rating on TEVA. Separately, on November 17, Mizuho's Irina Rivkind Koffler reiterated a Hold rating on the stock and has a price target of $12.

According to TipRanks.com, which ranks over 7,500 financial analysts and bloggers to gauge the performance of their past recommendations, David Maris and Irina Rivkind Koffler have a yearly average loss of -1.1% and a return of 14.9% respectively. Maris has a success rate of 42% and is ranked #3713 out of 4730 analysts, while Koffler has a success rate of 48% and is ranked #285.

Sentiment on the street is mostly neutral on TEVA stock. Out of 19 analysts who cover the stock, 12 suggest a Hold rating , 4 suggest a Sell and 3 recommend to Buy the stock. The 12-month average price target assigned to the stock is $14.93, which represents a potential upside of 9% from where the stock is currently trading.

Teva Pharmaceutical is a global pharmaceutical company, which provides patient-centric healthcare solutions. It operates through two segments: Generic Medicines and Specialty Medicines. The Generic Medicines segment includes chemical and therapeutic equivalents of originator medicines in a variety of dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, ointments and creams. The Specialty Medicine segment engages in the provision of core therapeutic areas of central nervous system medicines.

More recent articles about TEVA:
One of the best paying dividend stock on our list is Ternium S.A. Dividend stocks are a great way to hedge your portfolio as they provide both steady income and cushion against market risks A sizeable part of portfolio returns can be produced by dividend stocks due to their contribution to compounding returns in the long run. Here are other similar dividend stocks that could be valuable additions to your current holdings.

Ternium S.A. manufactures and processes various steel products in Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, the United States, Central America, and internationally. Started in 1961, and currently run by Daniel Novegil, the company currently employs 16,725 people and has a market cap of USD $5.58B, putting it in the mid-cap group.

TX has a good-sized dividend yield of 3.52% and their payout ratio stands at 23.81% , with analysts expecting the payout ratio in three years to be 34.25%. While the yield has dropped at times in the last 10 years, dividends per share during this time have increased overall from $0.5 to $1. Ternium S.As performance over the last 12 months beat the US Metals and Mining industry, with the company reporting % EPS growth compared to its industrys figure of 0.20142%.

NYSE:TX Historical Dividend Yield Nov 28th 17

Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI)

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. Established in 1887, and headed by CEO Aldo Zucaro, the company provides employment to 8,500 people and has a market cap of USD $5.40B, putting it in the mid-cap category.

ORI has a good dividend yield of 3.64% and distributes 50.31% of its earnings to shareholders as dividends . Over the past 10 years, ORI has increased its dividends from $0.64 to $0.76. It should comfort existing and potential future shareholders to know that ORI hasnt missed a payment during this time. When we compare Old Republic Internationals PE ratio with its industry, the company appears favorable. The US Insurance industrys average ratio of 17.8 is above that of Old Republic Internationals (13.9).

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NYSE:ORI Historical Dividend Yield Nov 28th 17

H&R Block, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides assisted income tax return preparation, digital do-it-yourself (DIY) tax solutions, and other services and products related to income tax return preparation to the general public primarily in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Established in 1946, and now run by Jeffrey Jones, the company now has 2,300 employees and with the companys market capitalisation at USD $5.36B, we can put it in the mid-cap category.

HRB has a decent dividend yield of 3.74% and is distributing 45.68% of earnings as dividends , with analysts expecting this ratio to be 48.89% in the next three years. HRBs dividends have increased in the last 10 years, with DPS increasing from $0.57 to $0.96. They have been consistent too, not missing a payment during this 10 year period.

NYSE:HRB Historical Dividend Yield Nov 28th 17

For more solid dividend payers to add to your portfolio, you can use our free platform to explore our interactive list of top dividend payers.

To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
By Sam Nussey and Tim Kelly

TOKYO (Reuters) - Uber executives are traveling the globe to reassure regulators that the company is changing the way it does business, after a massive data breach revealed last week became the latest controversy to hurt the ride-service firm's reputation.

Uber Technologies Inc is also continuing talks with Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) for an investment, Brooks Entwistle, Uber's recently appointed chief business officer for Asia Pacific, told Reuters on Monday.

His comments come on the heels of Uber's disclosure last week that it covered up an October 2016 data breach involving 57 million customers and about 600,000 drivers. Uber said it paid two hackers $100,000 to destroy the stolen data and keep the matter a secret.

The revelation, made by Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a blog post, prompted governments in countries including Britain, the United States, Australia and the Philippines to launch probes into the breach and Uber's handling of the matter.

The global backlash will test Uber's new collaborative approach to regulators, a stark change from the rule-breaking culture created by former CEO Travis Kalanick.

"We have changed tacks in so many ways in dealing with regulators, dealing with governments," Entwistle said in an interview in Tokyo, where he is meeting Japanese officials and potential business partners.

Nevertheless, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Kimberly Foxx, the public prosecutor for Cook County, Illinois, said on Monday they filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Uber for its failure to protect the data of its customers and drivers, alleging the company violated local laws by failing to promptly disclose the breach. Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Also on Monday, fresh questions came from U.S. lawmakers demanding an explanation for the company's handling of the breach. Republican senators John Thune, Orrin Hatch, Jerry Moran and Bill Cassidy sent a letter on Monday to Khosrowshahi seeking answers about the data theft and cover-up, which they called "a serious incident that merits further scrutiny." The senators requested a response from Uber by Dec. 11.

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Hatch chairs the Senate Committee on Finance and Thune chairs the Commerce Science and Transportation Committee.

In a separate letter sent Monday, Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and advocate of the technology industry including the on-demand sector that includes Uber, sent a letter to Khosrowshahi with detailed questions about Uber's security systems and rationale for covering up the breach.

SOFTBANK DEAL

The disclosure of the 2016 data breach at a time when Uber is trying to bring in SoftBank as an investor has spurred speculation about the price of the deal.

SoftBank and Dragoneer Investment Group agreed on Nov. 12 to lead a group that would invest as much as $10 billion in Uber, people familiar with the deal previously told Reuters. The group plans to directly invest $1 billion to $1.25 billion at Ubers current $69 billion valuation, and also buy at a lower valuation shares held by existing investors and employees. The goal is to take a 14 percent to 17 percent stake.

Uber has plans to disclose the pricing of the SoftBank deal in formal tender offers to existing investors early this week, sources told Reuters. It will likely take a few weeks for investors to decide whether to take the offer.

"The transaction is still underway and it's an extraordinary validation that an investor like SoftBank would look at Uber," Entwistle said.

Uber said on Friday it had informed SoftBank about the data breach prior to informing the public. However, "our information at the time was preliminary and incomplete," a spokesman said. "We also made clear that our forensic investigation was ongoing."

A person familiar with the matter said SoftBank had already factored any negative impact from the breach into its negotiations with Uber and did not expect the hack to have a significant impact on price.

However, a separate source familiar with the matter said SoftBank could still use Uber's situation as leverage to secure better terms for the investment. The person said SoftBank has not yet made a final decision on whether to renegotiate.

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment.

REGIONAL PLANS

SoftBank has become a prolific investor in ride-hailing firms across Asia, including Southeast Asia's Grab, China's DiDi Chuxing and India's Ola, leading to expectations it could drive consolidation in the region.

While Uber sold its business in China to DiDi last year, it remains committed to operating in the broader region for years to come, said Entwistle, who joined the company in August.

The firm has not given up on the Japanese market, which has barred non-professional drivers from offering taxi services, and is working on partnering with traditional taxi firms, he said.

Uber hopes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could provide a venue to demonstrate the value of ride-sharing firms in a potentially lucrative market, he said.

"We are innovating and in some markets that will take longer and we realize that," Entwistle said.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey and Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Heather Somerville in San Francisco.; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Bill Rigby)
After Emerson Electric Co.s EMR third takeover bid for automation products manufacturer  Rockwell Automation Inc. ROK  was spurned by the latter last week, we believe it might be prudent for Emerson to completely abandon its suit. In fact, Emersons shares had risen 2.5% in the aftermath of the rejection, as investors concerns about an expensive deal that would overstretch Emersons finances eased.

Lets discuss the reasons why a deal between the two would, more likely than not, be a debacle, after we touch upon the relatively few arguments in favor of the same.

For the Deal

Emerson is seeking to bolster its offerings by adding the leading supplier of software and controls for assembly-line operations. Doubtlessly, the deal would have added heft after Emersons CEO slashed almost a third of the companys sales during its two-year restructuring process. To that end, it has been making smaller, bolt-on acquisitions, including a $3.15-billion acquisition of Pentairs valves and controls business in April.

Similar to the rationale for buying Pentairs valves and controls unit, Emerson believes acquiring Rockwell Automation would help equip it better to bid for larger-scale automation projects. Emersons process automation prowess, and Rockwell Automations leadership in discrete automation would, no doubt, result in a truly hybrid, global player, and also a leader in the $200-billion global automation market.

Emerson also believes the deal will create $6 billion in capitalized synergies, of which about a third would come from sales synergies, with the rest coming in the form of cost synergies.

Rockwell Automations stock price has raced much ahead of Emerson in the past year. While Emerson has risen 13.2%, Rockwell Automations shares have soared a whopping 46.7% during the same time frame.

Emerson has also underperformed the industry during the same time frame, with the industry gaining 15.9% over the past year.

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Rockwells Reality Check for Emerson

Automation firmly believes Emerson's sweetened bid of $29 billion doesnt outweigh the risks involved in integrating the two industrial automation giants. It maintained that the unsolicited proposal undervalued the company, and also expressed concerns about the large amount of Emersons stock in the deal.

Emerson's poor track record of integrating acquisitions was another nail in the coffin for its ambitions to create an industrial automation giant. Also, Moody's Investors Service estimates that the proposed deal implies leverage of five times the combined company's EBITDA  which is more than twice the median for major North American industrial companies (according to Bloomberg reports).

Rockwell Automation said that the proposed merger would stunt its growth and hurt its competitiveness in the evolving market. The company noted that unlike Emerson, Rockwell Automation does not see this proposed deal as essential for its growth and expansion in the industrial automation and information market. Clearly, the company has great confidence in its strategic direction and ability to continue delivering superior levels of growth and value creation. It has witnessed bullish momentum this year, and its profit levels and margins are impressive.

The company maintained that it is better off alone, riding on the success of the companys Logix product which offers customers a single software platform to build on instead of learning multiple ones. Integrating it with Emerson's multiple offerings could be costly and could create grave customer disruptions.

Summing Up

While both companies have impressive long-term track records, Emerson has arguably been lagging in shareholder and operational returns over the past decade. Its shares have been largely inert, while shares of Rockwell Automation have virtually tripled over the time period.

Rockwell Automation boasts superior margins and revenue growth, while Emerson is beset by repercussions of poor M&A decisions of the past. Emerson might have strategic rationale behind the deal, however a large multiple, high leverage, lack of earnings accretion, and a questionable track record, all hint toward abandoning the deal being a better choice.

Both Emerson and Rockwell Automation currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the broader space include Terex Corporation TEX and Caterpillar, Inc. CAT, both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Terex generated four outstanding beats over the trailing four quarters, for an outstanding average positive surprise of 135.9%.

Caterpillar has a striking earnings surprise history for the same time frame, having beaten estimates all through for an average beat of 53.1%.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.

With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

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Patang Qureshi is proud to do his part to defend his homeland.

As a member of the 17,000-strong Afghan special forces, the young battle-hardened soldier sees himself on the front lines of rescuing Afghanistan from predatory neighbors and malicious insurgents.

For more than a century now, outsiders have not allowed us to live peacefully in our homeland, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. My only wish is to see this homeland peaceful so we can rebuild it.

Before leaving on dangerous missions that often involve night raids, firefights, and ambushes against well-armed Taliban and Islamic State (IS) fighters, Qureshi sends his son, the eldest of his four children, out to buy candy from a nearby grocery store. I dont want to leave them crying or knowing their fathers life is on the line.

Speaking to Radio Free Afghanistan from the Special Operations Corps in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Qureshi said he has been on a demanding duty tour for 40 days.

"Commando training never ends because they are always in operations. We are required to quickly adapt and learn new tactics every day," he said.

Its an uphill fight. Following the drawdown of most NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the insurgents overran large swaths of Afghan territory by inflicting heavy casualties on overstretched, under-resourced, and poorly trained Afghan forces.

The U.S. governments main watchdog organization in Afghanistan, SIGAR, reported late last month that the Afghan government control over its territory is decreasing. With insurgents and government forces contesting 30 percent of the territory, Kabul now holds less than 57 percent of the country while insurgents completely controlled or influenced more than 13 percent of it.

The picture is likely to remain the same for some time. Afghanistans regular forces are officially reported to number some 322,000 soldiers and supporting personnel. But uncertainty surrounds the actual number. SIGAR reported in February last year that its work showed that neither the United States nor its Afghan allies truly know how many Afghan soldiers and police are available for duty, or, by extension, the true nature of their operational capabilities.

The special forces are the bright spot in this mixed picture of Afghanistans military forces. A NATO resolute support mission spokesman, Kone Faulkner, told Radio Free Afghanistan They have never lost against the Taliban.

The commandos are game changers on the battlefield, he added. The commandos can be described as the best in the region, their training and how they perform on the battlefield.

Encouraged by the success of the elite forces, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced in August plans to double their number to 34,000 by 2019.

However, doing so may be challenging. Recruitment in recent months has focused on replacing special forces troops lost during last years fighting, meaning the drive to substantially increase numbers would take longer, NATO coalition spokesman Captain Bill Salvin told Reuters. Other NATO officials confirm that the special forces today are heavily overburdened. Outgoing U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, said that by the end of the year they were stretched. An awful lot was asked of them.

According to a recent report by the Afghan Analyst Network think tank the expansion of the Afghan special forces spurred by their battlefield success, risks turning them into shock troops at the expense of making sustainable gains against the insurgents.

Such a focus on shock troops concentrates efforts on capturing territory from the insurgency, rather than addressing the more pressing problem  which is holding cleared areas, the report noted.

The report added that increasingly pinning hopes on the special forces also risks turning them into Afghan armys primary maneuver force while masking some of the difficulties faced by the Afghan National Army (ANA).

[This] simply circumvents the actual problem that conventional ANA forces are apparently not up to their main task, which would be bearing the brunt of the fight, in both, offensive operations to wrestle territory back from the insurgency and defensive operations to hold captured areas, the report concluded.

NATO, however, is still putting its focus on the special forces. In early November, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the alliance would increase the number of NATO forces in Afghanistan from 13,000 to around 16,000.

He said the foreign forces, about half from the United States, will train, assist, and advise, and in particular, we are focusing on training the Afghan special operations forces, which have proven so key in the fight against insurgents, the terrorists, the Taliban, and we are going to help them with developing their air force.

During his nine years on the job, Qureshi has served in operations against the Taliban and IS militants. Two years ago, his unit led the Afghan forces effort to recapture the northern city of Kunduz that the Taliban briefly captured in September 2015.

More recently, his unit led the fight against IS militants in Achin. IS fighters overran this mountainous district in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar nearly three years ago to set up their regional headquarters. Most of Achin is back under Afghan government control with insurgents and security forces still engaging in sporadic clashes in remote regions.

Mohammad Radmanesh, deputy spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, confirmed that the planned expansion of the special forces will reinforce their leading role in the fight.

"We have developed a four-year Afghan Army development plan that will achieve our goal by 2020. One of these goals is to strengthen and equip the commando forces, and we are currently establishing the commando corps or the special operations corps, he said.

The expansion will be funded by the estimated $5 billion in aid that Kabul receives from Washington and its allies to fund its security forces. Afghan officials have said one pressing need is better equipment. Our commando forces have to be strengthened and have to be better equipped, Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said recently.

Faulkner notes that the Afghan special forces are becoming increasingly operationally independent of NATO forces in the country. About four out of every five operations are now conducted independent of [NATO] coalition support, he said. [This is] proof that using U.S. and NATO counterterrorism personnel to help train, advise, and assist their Afghan partners is an effective strategy.

In October, the commander of the U.S. and NATO forces, John Nicholson, said in Kandahar that the doubling of the Afghan special forces would be the beginning of the defeat of the Taliban.

However, the Taliban and IS militants show no signs of abandoning the fight. Over recent months, they have increased their attacks throughout Afghanistan, including its beleaguered capital.

In October, the Taliban said in a statement on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the U.S. attack on their regime that they have not been defeated and thousands of their young people are willing to fight.

Despite repeated claims by Afghan and U.S. officials that IS leadership has been crushed in Afghanistan, the ultra-radical group is far from defeated. This month, IS militants claimed responsibility for an attack on the Shamshad private television station in Kabul.

Qureshi, however, is adamant Afghanistan will overcome these challenges.

"There will be a day when our homeland will be peaceful and stable, he vowed. God willing, this day will come, and we commandos will ensure it happens soon.

Editors note: Reporting is added to this story to better reflect some of the challenges and criticism faced by the Afghan security forces including the elite special forces.
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pennine Petroleum Corporation (TSX-V:PNN) (Pennine or the Corporation) is pleased to announce the receipt of final approval of a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for research, development and production of hydrocarbons in Albanias Velca Block.



This final approval from Albanias newly formed Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania means Pennine now has the rights to:

withdraw available geotechnical data from Albanias Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy (MIE) for the Velca Block;

engage geophysical consultants to re-process that data; and

integrate the data with previously collected geological information.

Pennine has already shortlisted potential geophysical firms for these activities, and will select the preferred firm in short order. After re-processing and integration is complete, Pennine will select a drill target in the Velca Block.

Were excited that weve cleared this final hurdle with the Albanian government, and were eager to get moving on the Velca Block, says Pennine CEO N. Desmond Smith. We believe Albania holds great promise for hydrocarbon exploration and production, and we believe this venture will bring prosperity to our shareholders, as well as the Albanian people.

In May 2017, Pennine released the results of an independent resource estimate that offered a best-case recoverable scenario of 26.4 million barrels of light crude for the Velca Block, and a net risked prospective resource for Pennine of 11.2 million barrels of oil, after payout and joint venture interests.

The report compares the potential of the Velca Blocks Ramica Anticline structure to established fields along the so-called String of Pearls faultline. It also cites existing seismic data provided by the Albanian National Agency for Natural Resources (AKBN), which shows an undrilled 7.75-square-kilometer closed structure at the top of the Ramica Anticline.

Authors of the independent report also said the structure appears to have two separate highs (Ramica and Amantia), which may be connected if a hydrocarbon column similar to the other fields on trend is encountered.

In February 2017, Pennine finalized terms of a Velca Block PSA with the Albanian government and Albpetrol Sh. A, the countrys state-owned energy firm, acquiring a 90% working interest. The PSA covers a six-year term, with potential conversion to a 25-year production lease upon discovery of one or more commercial oil or natural gas accumulations.

About Pennine Petroleum Corporation: Pennine Petroleum Corporation is an emerging oil and gas exploration and development company (www.penninecorp.com) currently active in Albania, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

For further information, contact:

Pennine Petroleum Corporation

N. Desmond Smith

T: 403.277.4421

F: 403.277.4439

E: des.smith@penninecorp.com

Dean Stuart

T: 403.617.7609

E: dean@boardmarker.net

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.
English Finnish



St1 NORDIC OY, COMPANY RELEASE, 27 NOVEMBER 2017 AT 2PM EET

St1 buys marine business in Norway

Alimentation Couche-Tard has decided to sell 100% of the shares in Statoil Fuel & Retail Marine AS to St1 Norge AS. The parties signed the agreement on 27 November, and the deal is now pending approval from the relevant competition authorities.
OTTAWA, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orezone Gold Corporation (Orezone or the Company) (TSX-V:ORE) is pleased to report recent and final Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling results from the last two of four specifically identified target areas (See Press Releases of June 22nd 2017 and September 12th 2017) that have been prioritized within the Bombore deposit to better define the extent and the geometry of discrete zones of high-grade gold mineralization within the oxidized portion of the known gold resources.



The drilling at both P11 and CFU has been successful in intercepting high-grade mineralization in the targeted areas, which should improve grade domaining and resource modeling. More drilling will be required in certain areas to confirm the geometry and continuity of discrete higher-grade zones.

Highlights from P11 and CFU (true width approximately 85% of the drill length):

BBC4580: from 30 to 35 m: 5 m @ 3.24 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.7 gpt;

BBC4608: from 23 to 31 m: 8 m @ 3.54 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 8.7 gpt;

BBC4615: from 20 to 22 m: 2 m @ 6.43 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.4 gpt, and from 39 to 42 m: 3 m @ 3.44 gpt;

BBC4620: from 30 to 33 m: 3 m @ 4.19 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 11.9 gpt;

BBC4637: from 52 to 58 m: 6 m @ 3.51 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 7.7 gpt;

BBC4644: from 31 to 44 m: 13 m @ 1.43 gpt;

BBC4647: from 3 to 6 m: 3 m @ 5.41 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 12.7 gpt;

BBC4664: from 10 to 15 m: 5 m @ 4.80 gpt, incl. 4 m @ 5.8 gpt;

BBC4666: from 28 to 33 m: 5 m @ 3.34 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 6.5 gpt;

BBC4670: from 23 to 35 m: 12 m @ 1.72 gpt;

BBC4673: from 10 to 21 m: 11 m @ 2.22 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 5.6 gpt;

BBC4675: from 34 to 38 m: 4 m @ 3.71 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 9.2 gpt;

BBC4678: from 48 to 56 m: 8 m @ 2.23 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.2 gpt;

BBC4679: from 24 to 30 m: 6 m @ 2.62 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 12.2 gpt;

BBC4692: from 27 to 33 m: 6 m @ 2.60 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 6 gpt;

BBC4693: from 60 to 67 m: 7 m @ 2.7 gpt; incl. 2 m @ 8.1 gpt;

BBC4695: from 2 to 7 m: 5 m @ 7.83 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 36.4 gpt;

BBC4696: from 19 to 23 m: 4 m @ 3.55 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 12.4 gpt;

BBC4716: from 3 to 8 m: 5 m @ 10.27 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 45.8 gpt.

Other Significant highlights (true width approximately 85% of the drill length):

BBC4612: from 56 to 67 m: 8 m @ 1.47 gpt;

BBC4623: from 8 to 17 m: 9 m @ 1.26 gpt;

BBC4648: from 40 to 45 m: 5 m @ 2.37 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 7.9 gpt, and from 49 to 58 m: 9 m @ 1.29 gpt;

BBC4669: from 25 to 30 m: 5 m @ 2.91 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 8.0 gpt;

BBC4674: from 0 to 8 m: 8 m @ 1.75 gpt;

BBC4686: from 4 to 11 m: 7 m @ 1.73 gpt;

BBC4693: from 93 to 98 m: 5 m @ 2.67 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 5.5 gpt;

BBC4709: from 11 to 22 m: 11 m @ 1.36 gpt, and from 38 to 45 m: 7 m @ 1.76 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 6.0 gpt;

BBC4712: from 49 to 51 m: 2 m @ 5.30 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.1 gpt.

Patrick Downey President and CEO stated We set out earlier this year to test four target areas within the existing pit shells that we believed would yield high grade intercepts based on historic results and our new interpretation of the controls for higher grade mineralization. This work has been very successful and we will now proceed to model these zones based on this better quality information. We are confident that once completed this will have a positive impact on the grade of the shallow oxides in these areas and therefore a positive impact on overall grade and project economics within the shallow oxide zone. We also plan to continue to target higher grade zones to determine if these extend on strike and at depth within the sulphide mineralization.

The RC drilling programme commenced on July 8, 2017 and was designed as essentially infill holes to tighten up the drill spacing from 50 m by 25 m to 25 m by 25 m in the four specific target areas. Some 249 drill holes totalling 13,900 m have been completed on the Siga South, Siga East, P11 and CFU targets by October 18, 2017 when the program was suspended. Similar infill drilling targeting discrete high-grade oxide mineralization is planned in 2018 where more drilling should better confirm the geometry of the high-grade zones. All drill holes in the Siga South and Siga East areas were oriented at the collar N2501 with a plunge of -50 degrees. All drill holes in the P11 area were oriented at the collar N270 with a plunge of -50 degrees. All drill holes in the CFU area were oriented at the collar N312 with a plunge of -50 degrees.

1 WGS84 UTM31N projection.

The mineralized intervals are based on a lower cut-off grade of 0.45 g/t, a minimal width of 2 m and up to a maximum of 1.5 m of dilution being included. The true width of the mineralization is approximately 90% of the drill length at Siga South and Siga East, and 85% of the drill length at P11 and CFU. The RC drilling samples were divided by Orezone employees using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 2-kg split was prepared by SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. at the Bombore sample preparation facility and then split by Orezone to 1 kg using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 1-kg aliquot was analyzed for leachable gold at BIGS Global Burkina s.a.r.l in Ouagadougou, by bottle-roll cyanidation using a LeachWellTM catalyst. The leach residues from all samples with a leach grade in excess of 0.2 g/t were prepared by BIGS Global Burkina s.a.r.l. and then split by Orezone to 50 g using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 50-g aliquot was analyzed by fire assay at SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l is independent of Orezone. The composite width and grade include the final leach residue assay results for most of the drill intercepts reported; some leach residue assays are pending for 5 RC holes. Orezone employs a rigorous Quality Control Program (QCP) including a minimum of 10% standards, blanks and duplicates.

A complete list of assay results from the current RC drilling programme can be found on the Companys website at the following link (Drill Results).

Qualified Person(s)

Tim Miller, Orezones Chief Operating Officer, Pascal Marquis, Orezones Senior Vice-President, Exporation and Patrick Downey, Orezones Chief Executive Officer, are each a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and none are independent of Orezone. Each of Messrs. Miller, Marquis and Downey have review and approved the information in this release. Each has also verified the underlying data disclosed.

Readers should refer to the annual information form of Orezone for the year ended December 31, 2016 and other continuous disclosure documents filed by Orezone since January 1, 2017 available at www.sedar.com, for further detailed information, which is subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein. As well, Orezones current technical report on the Bombore Project titled TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE UPDATED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE BOMBORE GOLD PROJECT, BURKINA FASO, WEST AFRICA and filed on SEDAR on February 27, 2017 contains further details on Orezones QCP and assurance programs and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information disclosed in this press release.

About Orezone Gold Corporation

Orezone is a Canadian company with a successful gold discovery track record and recent mine development experience in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The Company owns a 90% interest in Bombore, a fully permitted, undeveloped oxide gold deposit in West Africa, which is situated 85 km east of the capital city, adjacent to an international highway.

For further information please contact Orezone at +1 (613) 241-3699 or visit the Companys website at www.orezone.com.

Orezone Gold Corporation

Patrick Downey,

President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 1 613 241 3699 / Toll Free: 1 888 673 0663

info@orezone.com /www.orezone.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate, potential, possible and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may, will, could, or should occur. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding, among others; the drill results from both P11 and CFU should improve grade domaining, resource modeling and project economics within the shallow oxide zone and to complete additional drilling to target higher grade zones during 2018.

All such forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believe are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, the failure of exploration programs, including drilling programs, to deliver anticipated results and the failure of ongoing and contemplated studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued studies, development or operations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release.

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.
Hello,I'm currently Pursuing my B.E. Computer engineering (will begin my fourth semester in January) from Mumbai university, and recently discovered about deferred admission programs by universities like HBS, Yale, Stanford. I am very keen on being a very strong candidate for the aforementioned programs and would like to know where I currently stand in the candidate pool and how can I increase my chances as a candidate who got admitted.My CGPA by the 8th semester will be in the 8-8.5 bracket out of a range of 10.I'll be appearing for the GMAT in the second half of 2018, I'm confident I'll secure a score of 740 and above.

Extra Curricular Activities :-

I am the founding chairman of a student chapter of a UK based engineering Community, and managing 50+ students who are currently enrolled in the chapter, more to join in the coming months.I'm currently an active volunteer of a virtual anti extremism campaign, organized by Facebook, essentially into content creation, and my team's content is viewed by thousands of people on Facebook.I am in the core anchoring committee of my college and have addressed a crowd of more than 2.5 thousand people on campus, in many events in the span of two years.I have won 4 national level Robo wars and Robo Sumo (including a competition in IIT Bombay), and have in total 6 certificates of first prize in National level Paper Presentation competitions and Project presentation competitions.I will be interning at JP Morgan from January for a while.I am also a member of the college's Core Badminton team, and we participate in many national events.I am a guitarist (in my college band) and a Brown Belt in Karate and also a Semi professional meditation practitioner. (Don't know if this is relevant or not)
Fake news website texas-express.com published a story (archived here) titled "Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago to enjoy visa-free travel to the United States" which opened:

WASHINGTON DC -- Nationals from three countries; Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, have been selected among some Asian countries to enjoy visa-free travels to the United States in the Phase 2 of Trump's immigration policy.

When it comes into force, nationals from the selected countries would not require visas to the U.S for a stay up to 180 days for tourism and business purposes only.

In a statement released to the press, the three countries would be used to pilot an intended visa-free program for selected countries worldwide for a period of 12 months starting January 2018.

(our emphasis)

We have been unable to locate such a statement made to the press, you can check for yourself here. If you are interested in traveling to the United States of America, check the visa requirements that apply for your country here.

This isn't the first fake news story about Trump supposedly granting visa-free travel to specific countries or regions. The same site launched one involving President Duterte and the Philippines just a week ago. Over the past year we've documented fake visa-free travel stories for Asia, the entire Caribbean, "Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya", "Uganda, Ghana and Malawi", Nigeria and South-Africa (although that last one didn't involve Trump). The modus operandi is always the same, with the news story being launched on a site that is designed to look like a normal regional news website with stolen news articles on the main page and fake news stories hidden deeper in the site, only accessible via a direct link.

The texas-express.com site shares a Facebook App ID with florida-times.com and city-herald.com, they are part of a network that perpetrated a death hoax involving Charles Manson just before he actually died. Previously city-herald.com used to be known as parliaments.eu, a site linked to numerous other fake news websites. The new name was registered in May 2017). Another fake site in the network which shares an MGID advertising account with florida-times.com is houstonchronicle-tv.com which was involved in publishing several other fake news stories earlier this year (and which has nothing to do with the legitimate news website houstonchronicle.com to be clear). Several of the other sites in the network participated in the earlier visa-free travel hoaxes.

So whenever you read something online about visa-free travel, always check official sources like the U.S. Embassy website in your country first. Don't get fooled by fake news.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
New York, Nov 27(Just Earth News): Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council have strongly condemned Sunday's attack allegedly perpetrated by the anti-Balaka group against a convoy of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, in which one peacekeeper from Egypt was killed and three others were injured.

The Secretary-General offers his deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the victim and to the Government of Egypt. He wishes a swift recovery to the wounded, said a statement issued by his Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq following the attack, which took place on the Bangassou-Kongbo axis in the country's southeast.

With this latest attack, hostile acts have claimed the lives of 13 peacekeepers in the Central African Republic since January 2017.

The statement said that the Secretary-General firmly recalls that attacks against UN peacekeepers may constitute a war crime and calls on the country's authorities to investigate the attack to swiftly bring those responsible to justice.

The Secretary-General reaffirms the determination of the UN to advance the implementation of the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), recently renewed by the Security Council, in particular to protect civilians and to help advance the political process in the country, the statement added.

In a statement issued to the press on Monday, the Security Council condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

Reiterating that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and reminded all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law, the 15-member body called on the Government to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Source: www.justearthnews.com




"Yesterdays success cannot be a one-off, Geert Cappalaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa said Sunday at a press briefing in Amman, Jordan, welcoming the reopening of Sanaa airport, which enabled the agencys first humanitarian delivery in three weeks.



Vaccines are urgently needed for a planned campaign to vaccinate 600,000 children across Yemen against diphtheria, meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia and tuberculosis.



On Monday, it is fair to say that Yemen is one of the worst places on earth to be a child, he said. The reason behind this is very straightforward: decades of conflict, decades also of chronic underdevelopment.



On Monday it is estimated that every 10 minutes a child in Yemen is dying from preventable diseases, he added, noting that the outbreak of acute watery diarrhea and cholera this year is not a surprise, because the water and sanitation system throughout the country is almost entirely devastated and the health system is on its knees.



The war in Yemen is sadly a war on children, he said, calling on all parties to the conflict to stop fighting.



Nearly 5,000 children have been killed or seriously injured over the last two and a half years alone, thousands of schools and health facilities have been damaged or completely destroyed, and two million children suffer acute malnutrition.



Unfortunately, the vaccines stocks, despite the 1.9 million that UNICEF delivered on Sunday, are running out, Cappalaere said, calling for more vaccines to be delivered.



He also stressed the urgent need for affordable fuel, as pumping water requires using generators in the absence of a national power grid.



Meanwhile, on Saturday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that following the announcement on 22 November by the Saudi-led coalition that Sanaa airport and Al Hudaydah seaport will be reopened for humanitarian and relief efforts, the UN submitted notification of humanitarian movements and static locations to the coalition to resume the transport of aid personnel and humanitarian cargo to northern parts of Yemen.



Almost three weeks after the blockade was imposed, essential commodities like food, fuel, safe water and medical supplies have started running low in the country or have seen their prices skyrocket.



There continues to be a grave risk of further death, disease and starvation. On 20 November, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet) warned that should the blockade continue, many areas of Yemen are likely to experience famine within three to four months, said OCHA.



UNICEF/UN0147212/Madhok



Source: www.justearthnews.com










The voices of Irans people have long been missing from Western policy discussions on Irans ruling theocracy, writes Soona Samsami, the representative in the United States for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

However, US President Trump has confronted the regime on its human rights policies in several of his speeches. He placed emphasis on the plight of the Iranian people, and described them as the primary victims of the regime.

In fact, the Tehran regime is the worlds leading per capita executioner. This, and other issues, make the nuclear deal not the only topic deserving of international attention.

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster asserts that the administrations position differentiates the Iranian regime from its people. A strategic Iran policy is one that confronts Tehran on its domestic vulnerability.

The Iranian people have an organized opposition in place, that can play a role in helping the worlds democratic powers. The Iranian people, particularly the younger generation, are dissatisfied with the regime, and this reflected in the increasing number of protests across Iranian cities this year.

An important step toward freeing the Iranian people was the terrorist designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who allegedly control vast segments of the Iranian economy, and aid the suppression of domestic dissent. Poverty and unemployment mark Irans economy, and give rise to many of the demonstrations against the government that plague the country. The IRGC is also accused of contributing to regional instability, sectarian conflict and the proliferation of ballistic missiles.

The sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department on the IRGC can be expected to go a long way toward countering these trends, but they will be much more effective if they are backed up by supporting Irans organized opposition movement. This movement aims to overthrow the theocratic regime and establish true democratic governance.

In his U.N. speech in September, Trump pointed out, Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever and the day will come when the people face a choice.

General McMaster has asked, What could be better than an Iranian regime that is no longer fundamentally hostile?

There are voices calling for a democratic, non-nuclear, secular republic in Iran and they should be heeded.
ABCNews.com(WASHINGTON) -- President Trump has privately questioned the authenticity of the now infamous "Access Hollywood" recording in which he was caught in a vulgar exchange in 2005 with Billy Bush, bragging about his ability to grope women because he's "a star," sources confirm to ABC News.



The president has repeated the claim to advisers in recent weeks and even a Republican senator earlier this year, sources say. The news of the president's comments was first reported by the New York Times.



After the recording was released, then-candidate Trump acknowledged he made the comments and apologized in a televised address from Trump Tower.



This comes as the president faces growing criticism from his GOP colleagues of his defense of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior with women and girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s. Moore has denied the allegations.



Sources say the president was also not happy with his daughter Ivanka Trump's quick reaction to the allegations against Moore.



Before Trump broke his silence defending Moore, his daughter forcefully weighed in, telling The Associated Press in an interview: "There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I've yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts."



The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Chief among these figures is the hardline Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the so called pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, who spearheaded the nuclear negotiations on the Iranian side. While the United States and some of its allies have been stepping up their efforts to impose limits on Iranian missile activities, Khamenei and Rouhani have repeatedly reiterated that they will accept no imposition on matters of the military or national defense. Various affiliates of both men have done the same, and this pattern continued on Thursday in response to recent remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Irans Fars News Agency called attention to the fact that Macron had embraced the idea of opening new negotiations with Iran over this matter, a move that many critics of the nuclear agreement would surely regard as filling in conspicuous gaps in that agreement. Although the Security Council resolution mentions Irans missile activities in the context of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the text of the JCPOA itself imposes no restriction on such activities. This allows for Iran to defy the somewhat vaguely worded resolution without being at any risk of a material breach of the nuclear deal.

Generally speaking, European leaders remain committed to the preservation of the JCPOA. But this has not stopped them from expressing nervousness about Irans other activities, including its belligerence toward Western interests in the Persian Gulf and its intervention in regional conflicts, including the provision of more advanced missile technology to groups like the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Early in November, an apparently Iranian-made rocket was launched from Yemen and penetrated deep into Saudi Arabian territory before being shot down over King Khaled International Airport.

Such incidents provide further incentive for Western allies of the Saudi government to push for restrictions on the Iranian missile program. But Thursdays Fars News report quoted Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards as saying that Westerners would soon become aware of the fruitlessness of their attempts. Jafari specifically referenced the French president in his remarks and said that his call for relevant restrictions could be attributed to Macrons youth and naivety.

But Mirage News implied that Macrons comments might be part of a developing strategy for confrontation of the Islamic Republic. In addition to explicitly affirming that new sanctions might be necessary to compel Tehran to limit its missile activities, he also followed up his comments later the same day with a surprise trip to Saudi Arabia. Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been escalating for months, and the Yemeni missile launch provided still further incentive for Gulf Arab states to continue a strategy aimed at curtailing Tehrans influence in the broader Middle East. With US President Donald Trump developing a distinctly assertive Iran policy that may now be influencing some European leaders, the Saudis and their regional allies may have a growing number of partnerships to lean on in pushing back against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran and its Arab adversaries have been similarly inconsistent in their rhetoric regarding the current tensions. At times, each side has provoked the other, and at times, each has accused the other of being uniquely unwilling to negotiate or compromise. The same inconsistency is increasingly on display in Irans dealings with Europe, and Mirage News called attention to this phenomenon in its report on Friday.

In the first place, it quoted Rouhani as encouraging the French government to be unbiased about Middle Eastern affairs so as to play a productive role in them. It then went on to say that Iranian messages to France hadnt been so kind just days earlier. For instance, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi explicitly declared France to be biased toward ongoing crises and humanitarian catastrophes and thus to be fueling regional conflicts. Subsequently, Qasemi also echoed Jafaris remarks about the missile program, saying, France is fully aware of our countrys firm position that Irans defense affairs are not negotiable.

Defense appears as a key word in a variety of public statements on this topic. It was accordingly used by Ali Shamkhani, the head of Irans Supreme National Security Council whom Fars quoted as saying, The Islamic Republic of Irans conventional defense capabilities and capacities are not negotiable at all and they will continue [development] based on the national plans by a deterrence approach against threats.

Tehran has long maintained that its missile activities are purely defensive in nature, but these claims are undermined by a steady outpouring of anti-Western and anti-Israeli rhetoric, which has included painting the message Israeli must be wiped out on the sides of at least two of the missiles that were tested after the conclusion of nuclear negotiations. Such rhetoric may raise questions about what sort of activity the Islamic Republic considers to be defensive in nature.

At a religious conference on Thursday, Supreme Leader Khamenei called for Muslim unity across the Middle East and declared that the Islamic Republic would be prepared to help counter the activity of Western powers in any place where Iranian assistance might be desired. Such commentary underscores the danger of Iranian weapons being delivered into the hands of other anti-Western entities, including both state and non-state actors. It also calls attention to the perceived danger of a multilateral anti-Western alliance coalescing around Iran.

The latter concern is exacerbated by Irans apparent expansion of relations with Russia, which has been strongly at odds with both the US and Europe in recent years. On Thursday, Tasnim News Agency, which is closely linked to Irans Revolutionary Guards, published a report on calls by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani for expanded security cooperation with the Russian Federation. Speaking at a meeting with a Russian legislator on the sidelines of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, Larijani also expanded his commentary to declare, In Iran, all sectors are interested in cooperation with Russia.

Certainly, there has been growth in economic cooperation between the two countries, even prior to the lifting of economic sanctions under the nuclear agreement. But Iran would likely not be able to rely only on Russia and other anti-Western partners, and this complicates the situation in a way that is reflected in the inconsistency of public commentary by Iranian officials.

Although much of that commentary asserts that Iran needs expanded defensive capabilities to meet a persistent Western threat, at least one member of the Iranian parliament recently attempted to defend his countrys missile program by saying that it could actually be used to expand cooperation between Iran and Europe.

Iranian officials must talk with their counterparts such as Macron and present to them the issue of our strategic defense, because Irans missiles with a range of less than 2,000 km can also serve the security of the [European Union], said Hashmatollah Falahat-Pishe, according to World Net Daily. If we move ahead with such a strategy, he added, Europe will defend Irans missile capability like it defends the JCPOA.

This invitation to security cooperation is reflective of the trade situation, insofar as Iran has been alternately seeking European investment and repeating rhetoric about a domestic resistance economy and the lack of any need for such investment. Some public commentary has even gone so far as to threaten would-be European investors in an effort to compel them to make financial commitments about which they are presently wary.

This trend was on display recently in remarks by Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, which were once again aimed at France. Specifically, in this case, the Iranian official was addressing the French oil and gas giant Total SA, which was the first such European company to sign agreements with the Islamic Republic after the conclusion of nuclear negotiations. Although Totals pending investment in represents a significant first step in Irans pursuit of hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment, Zanganeh seemed to threaten the companys relationship with Iran on Tuesday, saying that it would lose the entirety of its investment if it pulled out of the deal to develop the South Pars gas field.

E & P Magazine reported upon these remarks on Wednesday and gave no indication that they had been prompted by any sort of threat to the investment from Totals leadership. The Iranian oil minister was evidently responding to the general threat to Western investment that is being created by the ongoing escalation of tensions between Iran and its traditional adversaries. Although Europe as a whole continues to stand behind the JCPOA and the resulting investment atmosphere, there are growing signs that European officials such as Macron are being affected by either the threat of possible US sanctions or the ongoing American efforts to expose Iranian malfeasance, or both.

As noted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Germanys Financial Supervisory Authority imposed a credit ban on Irans Bank Sepah earlier this month after having previously sanctioned the same bank for ties to the Iranian missile program. Implausibly, Iranian media denied reports of the new measures, arguably highlighting the difficulty that the Islamic Republic is having in managing its relationship with Western entities in the era of the JCPOA.
Last week, Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to facilitate a full-scale political process in Syria, as well as sponsor a conference in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to end the war. Some consider this a victory for Iran, but Putins hosting of talks on Syria gives the appearance that Moscow is making the decisions. Tehran waged a six-year long campaign to keep Assad in power, but now the regime will need to display political flexibility.

After allocating billions of dollars on its Levant campaign, Tehran may see a decreasing role in the region.

According to Heshmat Alavi, journalist and political and rights activist, in his Al Arabiya article, Many would argue a pact between Washington and Moscow will define the blueprint of finalizing Syrias crisis. Did the Sochi talks place Tehran and Ankara in line with Moscow and Washington? Doubts remain in this regard and Iran understands clearly how a post-ISIS Syria will come at a heavy price.

Russia is scaling down its military presence in Syria, and China is considering a role in reconstructing post-war Syria. With more players having a stake in the future of Syria, Irans role grows smaller. Still, Irans Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are eyeing a share in Syrias reconstruction.

However, the Trump / Putin phone call is a sign of coordination between their two countries in Syria. In fact, Bloomberg reported that US Defense Secretary James Mattis said recently, US troops in Syria to fight Islamic State, wont be packing their bags now the jihadist group is essentially beaten. Theyre staying on. According to Reuters, the Pentagon is also likely to announce the presence of around 2,000 US troops in Syria. Alavi writes, Iran understands fully that US presence in Syria is a source of dilemma for any future plans in the region.

Russia has close relations with Saudi Arabia, so it is believed that Moscow will strive to obtain Riyadhs consent for any decisions on Syria. When United Nations special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, he emphasized the way his government worked with Saudi Arabia to unify the Syrian opposition, indicating UNs approval, as well.

Assad remaining in power is not of great concern to Russia. Moscow will likely seek Riyadhs cooperation to have the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council and regional states to join together bring a final end to the Syria crisis, which means a more significant role for Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis continue to challenge Iran. In a recent New York Times interview, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman described Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei the new Hitler of the Middle East.

Iranian state media described the Sochi talks, that seek to establish peace and stability in Syria, and are based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, as an American and Zionist conspiracy.

On Thursday in Riyadh, the Syrian opposition meeting agreed to dispatch a single bloc for next weeks UN-backed peace talks. Nasr Hariri, a known Syrian opposition figure, was selected as the new chief negotiator. He will be in Geneva when the talks begin. The opposition is ready to discuss everything on the negotiating table, according to Hariri.

It is hoped that the Geneva talks will provide the opportunity to end Syrias fighting. Iran, however, thrives on increasing violence across the region. Any decrease in such tensions is against Tehrans interests as it allows the international community to place its crosshairs on Irans belligerence, including a controversial nuclear program, developing ballistic missiles, as senior Revolutionary Guards commanders recently threatened, spreading its influence across the Middle East through supporting terrorism and proxy groups across the board, and human rights violations, writes Alavi.

The Saudi Crown Prince also said in his interview that the world has learned from Europe that appeasement doesnt work. The international community must keep this in mind as they work together to bring an end to the war in Syria.
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Development projects in the Philippines may increase competition between South Korea and China.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking partners to develop his country, which is in need of improved roads, ports and railways to attract investment.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in appealed to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this month at its meeting in Manila. He told members, including The Philippines, that his country was the best partner to share the experience of economic growth.

South Korea is offering to help with technology projects, railways, clean energy development and water management.

The Philippines wants to attract development assistance. Since Duterte took office last year, the country has increasingly turned to China.

China promised $24 billion in aid in October of 2016. Earlier this month, China and the Philippines signed 14 economic cooperation agreements including one on railways.

In October, Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced $8.8 billion in economic support.

South Korea does not want to lose ground in the Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people.

Herman Kraft is with the University of the Philippines Diliman. He says that the United States, Japan and South Korea traditionally have worked together in the region.

I think one of the things that Korea might actually be concerned about right now is of course, in a similar groove with Japan, theyd like to make sure that the Philippines doesnt just turn around in terms of its relationship with the United States.

Duterte improved relations with China last year. He eased tensions with China after about four years of disputes related to territory in the South China Sea.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its territory. The Philippines claims many land formations and islands in the eastern part of the sea.

At the same time, Duterte appeared to seek less American support of his countrys armed forces.

Korea extends aid to The Philippines

This month, local media reported that South Korea offered $1.7 billion in credit and financial aid to help the Philippines. The money, the report said, was aimed at developing transportation and energy projects.

Duterte is seeking $167 billion to build public infrastructure, such as roads, rail lines, ports and power centers. But The Philippines needs foreign investment.

Manilas seaport, for example, is crowded. Electricity costs in the country are high for the region.

Also, the Philippines has few railways to link cities on its larger islands.

The Philippine National Economic and Development Authority keeps records of development aid in the country. The agency says that South Korea provided more than $600 million dollars in aid to the Philippines in 2013.

Song Seng Wun is an economist specializing in Southeast Asia with the internet banking group CIMB in Singapore. He said South Korea wants its aid efforts to lift its national brand.

Chinese brands could become competitors in the Philippine market where South Korean electronic household machines and other products are popular.

Consumer spending is an increasingly important part of the Philippine economy which grew 6.9 percent in 2016.

The total value of trade between South Korea and the Philippines increased from $10 billion in 2011 to $13.4 billion in 2014.

South Korean leaders hope to increase ties with Southeast Asian countries to avoid investing too much in China. Problems with over-investing in China became clear earlier this year. South Korean companies faced boycotts and other problems in China and the number of Chinese travelers dropped sharply.

The trade difficulties took place as South Korea permitted the U.S. to deploy the missile defense system known as THAAD. South Korea and the U.S. have said the system is to guard against missile attacks from North Korea. But China, strongly opposes deployment of the system on the Korean Peninsula.

Jonathan Ravelas is a market expert with Banco de Oro UniBank in Manila. He says The Philippines probably welcomes the help from South Korea as a way to diversify economic support without angering anyone.

Im Mario Ritter.

Ralph Jennings reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

region n. a large, separate area of the world or a country

groove n. a ways of doing things or a way of thought

brand n. something, like a product, that is easily recognizable and causes people to seek it out

diversify v. to make something more diverse, to increase the number of possibilities available

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Projects encroaching on the sea damage environment

VietNamNet Bridge - More and more projects that encroach on the river and seas have been developed in every region of he country. To have more land for infrastructure, locals have been willing to compromise nature, though the long-term effects will ultimately hurt the economy.

















More and more projects that encroach on the river and seas have been developed in every region of he country. To have more land for infrastructure, locals have been willing to compromise nature, though the long-term effects will ultimately hurt the economy.



A fruit park project in Cai Be district of Tien Giang province, for example, is facing strong opposition from the public. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection has asked local authorities to tell the investor to delay the project execution.The ministry has also ordered an assessment of the environmental impact, especially the possible impact on flood drainage, water current, sediment, and potential for landslides.Chair of Cai Be district, Nguyen Quoc Thanh, met with the press recently to talk about the project. He said the predecessor of the fruit park project was a residential quarter, trade and service infrastructure project.Reporters discovered that the two projects had the same report on the impact on the environment. The investor used the old report for the new project.Under the old project, five hectares of Tien River surface would be encroached on, while 6.8 hectares of Tien River surface would be used for the new project.Le Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Institute for Climate Change Studies under the Can Tho University, said all river encroaching projects will have an impact on the environment, economy and peoples livelihood.The projects violate the regulations on river management. The current regulations prohibit encroachment on currents and the narrowing of water flow.However, it is necessary to determine how serious the violations are, because the environmental impact reports made by investors as stipulated by law are not made public.Its necessary to publicize reports and the names of officials approving the reports. They must take responsibility for approval, Tuan said.Meanwhile, Tran Huu Hiep, a river expert, pointed out that when building airports, seaports or using water resources of large rivers, investors and local authorities must be sure that the projects do not affect neighboring localities.He said it is necessary to learn the lesson from encroachment on Dong Nai River in Dong Nai province, which has influenced areas on the lower course, including HCMC.Dao Trong Tu from the Vietnam River Network said rivers and seas are the most important natural resources for life and prosperity.He said at the seventh World Water Forum held in Daegu, South Korea in 2015, several countries affirmed the no crude interference principle in treating rivers.Give the space back to rivers, so they can do what nature assigns them, Tu said.





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Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies. The company operates through two segments, Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group. The Sally Beauty Supply segment offers beauty products, including hair color and care products, skin and nail care products, styling tools, and other beauty products for retail customers, salons, and salon professionals. This segment also provides products under third-party brands, such as Wella, Clairol, OPI, Conair, and L'Oreal, as well as exclusive-label brand merchandise. The Beauty Systems Group segment offers professional beauty products, such as hair color and care products, skin and nail care products, styling tools, and other beauty items directly to salons and salon professionals through its professional-only stores, e-commerce platforms, and sales force, as well as through franchised stores under the Armstrong McCall store name. This segment also sells products under third-party brands, such as Paul Mitchell, Wella, Matrix, Schwarzkopf, Kenra, Goldwell, Joico, and Olaplex. As of September 30, 2021, the company operated 4,777 stores, including 134 franchised units in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. It also distributes its products through full-service/exclusive distributors, open-line distributors, direct sales, and mega-salon stores. Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Denton, Texas.
Autohome Inc. operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in the People's Republic of China. The company delivers interactive content and tools to automobile consumers through its three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn on PCs, mobile devices, mobile applications, and mini apps. It provides media services, including automaker advertising services and regional marketing campaigns; and leads generation services comprising dealer subscription services, advertising services for individual dealers, and used automobile listing and other platform-based services. The company also offers Autohome Mall, an online transaction platform for users to review automotive-related information, purchase coupons offered by automakers for discounts, and make purchases to complete the transaction; data products; and online bidding platform for used automobiles, as well as collects commissions for facilitating transactions of auto-financing and insurance products on its platform. The company was formerly known as Sequel Limited and changed its name to Autohome Inc. in October 2011. Autohome Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.
BWX Technologies, Inc. manufactures and sells nuclear components in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Nuclear Operations Group, Nuclear Power Group, and Nuclear Services Group. The Nuclear Operations Group segment provides precision naval and critical nuclear components, reactors, nuclear fuel, and assemblies for the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration's Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and other uses; missile launch tubes for United States Navy submarines; close-tolerance and equipment for nuclear applications; and converts Cold War-era government stockpiles of high-enriched uranium, as well as receives, stores, characterizes, dissolves, recovers, and purifies uranium-bearing materials; supplies research reactor fuel elements for colleges, universities, and national laboratories; and components for defense applications. The Nuclear Power Group segment offers commercial nuclear steam generators, nuclear fuel, fuel handling systems, pressure vessels, reactor components, heat exchangers, tooling delivery systems, and containers; engineering and in-plant services for nuclear power plants; designs, manufactures, commissions, and services nuclear power generation equipment; in-plant inspection, maintenance, and modification services, as well as non-destructive examination and tooling/repair solutions; and supplies medical radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic uses. The company was formerly known as The Babcock & Wilcox Company and changed its name to BWX Technologies, Inc. in June 2015. BWX Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 13125882 Canada Inc., 211 E. Russell Road LLC, 4458664 Canada Inc., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES ASIA PTE. LTD., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES BORROWER S.C.A., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES LLC, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES MIDDLE EAST FZE, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES SERVICES LIMITED, ASTRUM IT GmbH, Accudyne Industries Acquisition S.A r.l, Accudyne Industries Canada Inc., Accudyne Industries S.A r.l., Air Dimensions, Air Dimensions Inc., Albin Pump SAS, BOC Edwards Global Low pressure Air business, CISA S.p.A., Cameron-Centrifugal Compression, Comercial Ingersoll-Rand (Chile) Limitada, Comingersoll-Comercio E Industria De Equipamentos S.A., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Dosatron International SAS, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Proprietary Limited, FlexEnergy Holdings LLC, Frigoblock Grosskopf Gmbh, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First (UK) Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings II Inc., GD Global Holdings Inc., GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., GPS Industries, Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp (Canada), Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Limited, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica SL, Gardner Denver Inc., Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver International Inc., Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Investments Inc., Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan Ltd., Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte. Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia s.r.o., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH (f/k/a ILMVAC GmbH), Gardner Denver Thomas Inc., Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Ghh-Rand Schraubenkompressoren Gmbh, HASKEL EUROPE LTD., HASKEL HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, HASKEL INTERNATIONAL LLC, Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, Haskel France SAS, Haskel Sistemas de Fluidos Espana S.R.L., Hibon Inc., Highspeed Newco LLC, Hingerose Limited, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, INGERSOLL RAND ITS JAPAN LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHANG ZHOU) TOOLS CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHINA) INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND CHINA LLC, INGERSOLL-RAND COMERCIO E SERVICOS DE MAQUINAS E EQUIPAMENTOS INDUSTRIAIS LTDA., INGERSOLL-RAND DE PUERTO RICO INC., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY B.V., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL SP. Z O.O., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL U.S. INC., INGERSOLL-RAND PHILIPPINES INC., INGERSOLL-RAND SPAIN S.A., INGERSOLL-RAND U.S. HOLDCO INC., IR HPS Holdco. Inc., ITO Emniyet, Ingersoll Rand Cyprus Investments Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Finance LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Investments LLC, Ingersoll Rand Global Ventures LLC, Ingersoll Rand Hong Kong Investments Limited, Ingersoll Rand Inc., Ingersoll Rand Investments (SG) Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll Rand Investments B.V., Ingersoll Rand Schweiz Investments Gmbh, Ingersoll Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (Australia) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand (China) Investment Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Guilin) Tools Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (Hong Kong) Holding Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand (India) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Ab, Ingersoll-Rand Air Solutions Hibon Sarl, Ingersoll-Rand Beteiligungs Und Grundstucksverwaltungs Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Colombia S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited (Uk), Ingersoll-Rand Company South Africa (Pty) Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Cz S.R.O., Ingersoll-Rand De Mexico S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Equipements De Production S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Industrial Ireland Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International (India) Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Italia S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Italiana Manufacturing S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Korea Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Korea Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments II S.A R.I., Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Luxembourg Industrial Company S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Machinery (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Malaysia Co. Sdn. Bhd., Ingersoll-Rand S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Services And Trading Limited Liability Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Singapore Enterprises Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand South East Asia (Pte.) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Superay Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technical And Services S.A.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Technologies And Services Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Tool Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Trading Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Vietnam Company Limited, Instrum Rand JSC, Interflex Datensysteme, Ir Canada Holdings Ulc, Ir Canada Sales & Service Ulc, Ir France Sas, Kryptonite corp, Lawrence Factor Inc., LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MILTON ROY (HONG KONG) LIMITED, MILTON ROY (UK) LIMITED, MILTON ROY EUROPA B.V., MILTON ROY EUROPE SAS, MILTON ROY INDUSTRIAL (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., MILTON ROY LLC, MILTON ROY US PURCHASER INC., MP Pumps Inc., Maximum AG Technologies Inc., Maximus Solutions, Mb Air Systems Limited, Nash Elmo, Officina Meccaniche Industriali Srl, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Plurifilter D.O.O., Pt Ingersoll-Rand Indonesia, Robuschi, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, SEEPEX, Seepex (M) SDN, Seepex Australia Pty Ltd, Seepex Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung, Seepex France S.a.r.l., Seepex GmbH, Seepex Inc., Seepex India Private Ltd., Seepex Italia SRL, Seepex Japan Co. Ltd., Seepex Nordic A/S, Seepex OOO, Seepex Pumps (Shanghia) Co. Ltd., Seepex UK Ltd., Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Shanghai Ingersoll-Rand Compressor Limited, Shenzhen Bocom System Engineering Co., Superay, Syltone, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Tamrotor Marine Comp AS Norway, Tecno Matic Europe s.r.o., Thomas Industries Inc., Trane Technologies, Tri-Continent Scientific Inc., Vacuum and Blower Systems division, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zaxe Technologies Inc., Zeks Compressed Air Solutions Llc, Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, Zinsser NA Inc., and crayon interface.

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The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation.

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The following companies are subsidiares of PPG Industries: AIPCF V Texstars Blocker Inc., AkzoNobel, Alpha Coating Technologies LLC, Alpha Coatings Inc., Broad Range Development Limited, CG Holdings Manufacturing Co., Centro de Investigacion en Polimeros S.A. de C.V., Chemfil Canada Limited, Chorlton Trade Paints Limited, Comercial Mexicana de Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Comex, Comex Industrial Coatings S.A. de C.V., Consorcio Comex S.A. de C.V., Cristacol S.A., Cuming Microwave Corporation, Deutek SA, Dexmet Corporation, Dexmet Holding Corporation, Distribuidora Kroma S.A. de C.V., EPIC Insurance Co. Ltd., Eberle Design Inc., Empresa Aga S.A. de C.V., Ennis Canadian Holding Company, Ennis Paint Canada ULC, Ennis Paint Netherlands Holdings LLC, Ennis Paint U.K. Holding Company Limited, Ennis Traffic Safety Solutions Pty Ltd, Ennis-Flint, Ennis-Flint Inc., Foshan Bairun Chemicals Co. Ltd., Fpu Industrial S.A. de C.V., Grupo Comex S.A. de C.V., Hemmelrath Automotive Coatings (Jilin) Co. Ltd., Hemmelrath International Trade (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hodij Coatings B.V., Homax Products, Industria Chimica Reggiana I.C.R. SPA, Johnstones Paints Limited, Kalon Investment Company Limited, Kalon South Africa Proprietary Limited, Karl Woerwag Lack-und Farbenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, Masterwork Paint, MetoKote Corporation, MetoKote Mexico Holdings Inc., MetoKote UK Limited, MetoKote de Mexico S. de RL de CV, Milamar Coatings LLC, OOO Tikkurila, PPG A P Resinas S.A. de C.V., PPG AC - France SA, PPG ALESCO Automotive Finishes Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., PPG Aerospace Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PPG Architectural Coatings (Puerto Rico) Inc., PPG Architectural Coatings Canada Inc./PPG Revetements Architecturaux Canada Inc., PPG Architectural Coatings Ireland Limited, PPG Architectural Coatings Italy S.r.l, PPG Architectural Coatings UK Limited, PPG Architectural Finishes Inc., PPG Asian Paints Private Ltd., PPG Business Services S.A. de C.V., PPG COATINGS SINGAPORE PTE. LTD., PPG Canada Inc., PPG Cetelon Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Cieszyn S.A., PPG Coatings (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, PPG Coatings (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., PPG Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Thailand) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings (Wuhu) Company Ltd., PPG Coatings (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd., PPG Coatings B.V., PPG Coatings Belgium BV, PPG Coatings Danmark A/S, PPG Coatings Deutschland GmbH, PPG Coatings Europe B.V., PPG Coatings Nederland BV, PPG Coatings S.A., PPG Coatings South Africa (Pty) Ltd., PPG DYRUP S.A., PPG Deco Czech a.s., PPG Deco Polska sp. z.o.o., PPG Deco Slovakia s.r.o., PPG Deutschland Business Support GmbH, PPG Deutschland Sales & Services GmbH, PPG Distribution S.A.S., PPG Europe B.V., PPG Finance B.V., PPG Finland Oy, PPG France Business Support S.A.S., PPG France Manufacturing S.A.S., PPG Guadeloupe SAS, PPG Hemmelrath Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Holdco SAS, PPG Holdings (U.K.) Limited, PPG Holdings Argentina USA LLC, PPG Holdings Latin America USA LLC, PPG Iberica S.A., PPG Iberica Sales & Services S.L., PPG Industrial Coatings B.V., PPG Industrial do Brasil - Tintas E. Vernizes - Ltda., PPG Industries (Korea) Ltd., PPG Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PPG Industries (UK) Ltd, PPG Industries Argentina S.R.L., PPG Industries Australia PTY Limited A.C.N. 055 500 939, PPG Industries Colombia Ltda., PPG Industries Delfzijl B.V., PPG Industries Europe Sarl, PPG Industries France S.A.S., PPG Industries International Inc., PPG Industries Italia S.r.l., PPG Industries Kimya a Sanayi VE Ticaret AS, PPG Industries LLC, PPG Industries Lackfabrik GmbH, PPG Industries Lipetsk LLC, PPG Industries Middle East FZE, PPG Industries Netherlands B.V., PPG Industries New Zealand Limited, PPG Industries Ohio Inc., PPG Industries Poland Sp. Z.o.o., PPG Industries Securities LLC, PPG Industries de Mexico S.A. de C.V., PPG Investment (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PPG Italia Business Support S.r.l., PPG Italia Sales & Services S.r.l., PPG Japan Ltd., PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes Canada LP, PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes U.K. LLP, PPG Kansai Automotive Finishes U.S. LLC, PPG Luxembourg Finance S.aR.L., PPG Luxembourg Holdings S.aR.L., PPG Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Packaging Coatings (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PPG Paints Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Performance Coatings (Hong Kong) Limited, PPG Powder Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PPG Refinish Distribution Limited, PPG Romania S.A., PPG Reunion SAS, PPG SSC Co. Ltd., PPG Switzerland GmbH, PPG Trilak Korlatolt FelelosseguTarasasag (PPG Trilak Kft.), PPG Vietnam Co. Ltd., PRC-DeSoto Australia Pty Ltd., PRC-DeSoto International Inc., PT. PPG Coatings Indonesia, Painter's Supply, Paintzen, Peintures de Paris SAS, Plasticos Envolventes S.A. de C.V., Polymeric Systems Inc., ProCoatings B.V., ProCoatings BV, Protec Pty Ltd, Reno A&E LLC, Revocoat France SAS, Revocoat Holding SAS, Revocoat Iberica SLU, Revocoat S.A.S, Road Infrastructure Investment Holdings Inc., SEM Products Inc., Sealants Europe SAS, Sierracin Corporation, Sierracin/Sylmar Corporation, Sigma Marine & Protective Coatings Holding B.V., SigmaKalon (BC) UK Limited, SigmaKalon Group, Sikar (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Spraylat International Ltd, Texstars LLC, The Crown Group Co., The Crown Group Inc, The Homax Group, Tikkurila Group, Tikkurila Oyj, Tikkurila Sverige AB, Traffic Safety Intermediate LLC, Traffic Safety Parent LLC, VF Specialty Products LLC, Vanex Inc., Vernisol S.p.A., VersaFlex Acquisition Corp., VersaFlex Inc., VersaFlex Intermediate Holdings LLC, Versaflex, Viasa S.A. de C.V., Whitford, Whitford B.V., Whitford Corporation, Whitford Jiangmen Ltd., Whitford Ltd. (HK), Whitford Ltd. (UK), Whitford Pte. Ltd., Whitford S.r.l., Whitford Worldwide Company LLC, and Worwag Coatings.

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Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. It also offers investment and wealth advisory services; digital investing services; financial services and solutions; and investment management, and trust and custody services. In addition, the company provides life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, and annuity products; creditor and travel insurance to bank customers; and reinsurance solutions. Further, it offers client's debt and equity capital-raising services, as well as loan origination and syndication, and treasury management; strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations, as well as valuation and fairness opinions; and trade finance, risk mitigation, and other operating services. Additionally, the company provides research and access to markets for institutional, corporate, and retail clients; trading solutions that include debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities; new product development and origination services, as well as risk management advice and services to hedge against fluctuations; and funding and liquidity management services to its clients. It operates through approximately 900 bank branches and 3,300 automated banking machines in Canada and the United States. Bank of Montreal was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong said during the Legislative Assembly (AL) Policy Address on Friday that he wants greater ties with the mainlands Guangdong Province to allow locals to work or live there. To this end, he is promising to open dialogue with mainland officials in 2018.

The comments were made on Friday, the second day of his 2018 Policy Address, during which he faced questions from lawmakers on the state and future of the economy.

One matter raised by lawmakers concerned the role of the Macau SAR in the Greater Bay Area initiative, and how this will require closer ties with neighboring Guangdong Province.

Secretary Leong said that the government will launch a website next year that will record population and investment changes in the cities that will comprise the Greater Bay Area.

But he also wants to open dialogue with Guangdong officials to discuss how Macau locals could live and work in the region, and how local SMEs could expand their business there.

We must look at the big picture here, said Leong as cited by public broadcaster TDM. We must fully understand what our regional partners need and what were good at and could provide.

We have to attract foreign investors not only with tax benefits, but also in medical and education and of course we have to come up ways to allow our Macau residents to start their businesses, work or live in the mainland. This is something we have to work on, he explained.

Other topics raised by lawmakers during Fridays session included the much-delayed trade union law and the collective bargaining law, as well as government initiatives to prioritize the promotion of Macau locals at the six gaming operators.

One of the stated goals in the citys Five-Year Development Plan was to have 85 percent of casino upper and middle management positions staffed by local residents. According to TDM, lawmaker Ella Lei wants to see that proportion increased to 90 percent.

I backed the idea of having [85] percent locals working in the mid-to-high-level positions in casinos, she said, but I truly think you all can take a more active stance to boost this figure up to 90 percent in the future.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Ho Ion Sang called on the government to increase the Social Security Fund, drawing on improved revenues in the gaming sector this year.
Saudi Arabias assertive crown prince yesterday opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led alliance of Muslim nations against terrorism, vowing that extremists will no longer tarnish our beautiful religion. Mohammed bin Salmans words come as the Islamic State group, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria.

Spain: 22 hurt when night club floor collapses

Spanish authorities say that 22 people were hurt on the island of Tenerife when the floor of a night club collapsed and sent the revelers plunging into the basement. Emergency services for the Canary Islands say that the people fell about one story into the basement early Sunday after a hole of approximately four square meters opened in the floor.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe was relieved after quitting, mediator says

Zimbabwes former President Robert Mugabe knew it was the end of the road days before he quit, and appeared relieved when he signed his resignation letter after 37 years in power, a Catholic priest who mediated talks leading to his ouster said yesterday. Fidelis Mukonori, who has known Mugabe for decades, said in an interview with The Associated Press that Mugabe, under immense pressure in his final days as president, wanted a gradual and smooth transition of power to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president he had recently fired and who is now Zimbabwes new leader.
The record price a Leonardo da Vinci canvas fetched at an auction Nov. 15 in New York may have a downside for its seller, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

An unidentified buyer agreed to pay USD450.3 million, including fees, for Da Vincis Salvator Mundi at a Christies auction in New York, obliterating the previous record set by a Pablo Picasso work in 2015. And it far outstripped the $127.5 million Rybolovlev paid Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier for the canvas in 2013.

Yet the cash could complicate Rybolovlevs legal quest to prove he was overcharged by about $1 billion on a collection of 40-plus paintings he bought from Bouvier.

Rybolovlev in 2015 filed a complaint in Monaco, where he lives, accusing Bouvier of fraudulently misrepresenting the prices he paid to secure works by Picasso, Claude Monet and others, and then massively overcharging the Russian over a decade for the paintings. Bouvier, who developed a network of tax-free port storage facilities in Geneva, Luxembourg and Singapore, denies any wrongdoing and says he was merely charging market prices to a good repeat customer determined to build one of the worlds top art collections.

For Bouvier, this is very good news, as he can relax more and claim I advised Rybolovlev well and didnt overcharge him, look at this current result, said Thomas Stauffer, a partner at Zurich-based art advisory firm Gerber Stauffer. And this gives the lawyers for Rybolovlev something of a headache.

This proves the masterpieces sold to the Rybolovlev group were priceless, Ron Soffer, Bouviers Paris-based lawyer, said by telephone.

Yet other sales havent been as successful. Rybolovlev sold five paintings hed bought from Bouvier at a Christies auction in March for a loss of some $150 million, leaving art experts puzzled as to why hed sell so many at once.

The record-breaking sale of Da Vincis Salvator Mundi has helped restore some of the value of the collection, said Sergey Chernitsyn, an adviser to Rybolovlev. This is a welcome development for Rybolovlev family trusts as we undertake legal proceedings to address the shocking alleged fraud committed by Yves Bouvier who deceived the family, all while pretending to be a friend and advisor.

Rybolovlevs case against Bouvier wont be affected by the price the Da Vinci fetched, Chernitsyn said.

We are not arguing the price of the paintings bought with the assistance of Bouvier, Chernitsyn said. We are arguing in the court the methods he has used to get the fraudulent profit hidden from his client.

The final price included a buyers premium, which is a fee paid by the winner to the auction house. Christies wouldnt disclose what the sellers fees were, if any. Chernitsyn declined to comment on that issue.

Complicating Rybolovlevs claim are two separate complaints recently brought against the Russian. Swiss prosecutors are examining a criminal complaint filed by Bouvier against Rybolovlev in September, alleging that he and his lawyer had unusual contacts with Monaco officials before Bouviers arrest in January 2015 that involved a clear breach of official secrecy and active bribery. That complaint is based in part on friendly text messages between his lawyer, Tetiana Bersheda, and Monaco officials, discovered by a Monaco judge.

The judge was investigating a separate complaint by Tania Rappo, a Bulgarian resident of Monaco who had introduced Bouvier to Rybolovlev, that Bersheda had illegally taped Rappos conversations. Rybolovlev was charged as an accomplice in that invasion-of-privacy case.

Chernitsyn referred to an Oct. 19 statement when Rybolovlev said he had done nothing illegal. All my actions in this matter have had only one purpose  to uncover a massive fraud in the art market, Rybolovlev said in that statement.

Bersheda has also denied any wrongdoing and previously said, there has been no crime committed other than possibly the biggest art fraud in history. Hugo Miller, Stephanie Baker, Bloomberg
The French President, Charles de Gaulle, has for a second time said he will veto Britains application to join the Common Market.

He warned Frances five partners in the European Economic Community (EEC) that if they tried to impose British membership on France it would result in the break-up of the community.

All five  Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany  have said they would support negotiations towards British membership. Only France remains opposed.

At a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, attended by more than 1,000 diplomats, civil servants and ministers as well as journalists, General de Gaulle accused Britain of a deep-seated hostility towards European construction.

He said London showed a lack of interest in the Common Market and would require a radical transformation before joining the EEC.

The present Common Market is incompatible with the economy, as it now stands, of Britain, he said.

He went on to list a number of aspects of Britains economy, from working practices to agriculture, which he said made Britain incompatible with Europe.

Hopes that he might offer clear terms for associate membership were also dashed. He said France would back commercial exchanges with Britain  be it called association or by any other name  but that was all.

His remarks were greeted with dismay in Europe, where it is feared an open crisis within the EEC is now inevitable.

General de Gaulles position has hardly changed since he first vetoed Britains application to join in 1963.

He leaves the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, with no realistic hope of taking Britain into Europe in the near future.

All three political parties are committed to joining the EEC, and the news of General de Gaulles continuing intransigence on the issue was met with gloom in Westminster.

The only group which was pleased with the Generals comments were anti-European campaigners. They called on the prime minister to withdraw Britains application immediately.

Only then, they said, could a humiliating inquiry into the UKs economic affairs be avoided when Common Market foreign ministers meet to consider Britains application formally next month.

Mr Wilson himself said he would not countenance what he called peevish reactions which might jeopardize Britains relations with France or the other five EEC countries.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Harold Wilson waited two days before replying to General de Gaulles statement.

He made a 16-point rebuttal of the French leaders statement and ruled out any offers of associate membership.

He also said Britain would press ahead with its application for full membership of the Common Market.

After General de Gaulle fell from power in 1969, Britain applied a third time, and was accepted.

On 1 January 1973 the UK became a fully-fledged member of the EEC.

The European Union, as it is now known, has grown to 27 member states after 10 new states from eastern and southern Europe joined in May 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania joined in January 2007.

The EU is now the worlds largest trading bloc by population, with about 455 million citizens.

Among its achievements, the community has been responsible for establishing the Single Market in 1993 and launching a common currency, the Euro, in 2002.
The founder and president of the Malo Clinic Group, Paulo Malo, says that he has no responsibility over the management of TaivexMalo Day Hospital, which was suspended for six months (between November 23 and May 21, 2018) by the Health Bureau (SSM). The medical facility is being accused of providing unauthorized medically assisted procreation and cancer treatment services.

Interviewed yesterday by the Times, Paulo Malo confirmed that he currently has a share of around 10 percent in the day hospital, which is owned and managed by a pharmaceutical company from Tianjin. As he explained, the suspension also affects the dental clinic Malo owns and operates independently inside the TaivexMalo Day Hospital, located at The Venetian Macao. Malo Clinic provides only the dental services and rents a space [from] TaivexMalo Day Hospital. It is unfair to say that Malo Clinic was shut down because we werent closed, Malo said, acknowledging that the situation causes damage to our [Malo Clinic] image and financial losses.

Although the dental services are autonomous, they operate under the same license as TaivexMalo, which means that the dental clinic is affected. We have a common door and that door is closed, so we cant have access to our facilities. Besides, we work under the same license. We wanted a separate license and requested it, but we dont have it yet. Unfortunately we are using the PHC [Pacific Health Care, the legal entity that was initially behind Malo Clinic] license. Given that the license was suspended for six months, that means we cant work, because the front door cant be opened, we cant access our space and our license is linked to theirs, the dental surgeon explains.

In the beginning, all that [the entire facility] was Malo Clinic. Around three years ago we sold our share in PHC. We were major shareholders of PHC and then there were minority shareholders. The minority shareholders sold to other partners and we sold almost all our shares  I believe we have around 10 percent [of the company]  and obviously passed the management [to the new owner]. It stopped being named Malo Clinic and started being named TaivexMalo, Paulo Malo explained. They have 90 percent of shares and 100 percent of management. We dont take part in the management and we dont know whats happening there, he adds, claiming that the companys management changed and he was not even informed. The number of people currently employed by the TaivexMalo Day Hospital is also unknown to him.

According to the famous dental surgeon and health guru, when the sale to the Tianjin group  which now controls 90 percent of PHC  was completed, Malo Clinic ceased to have any management role in the company. I also wanted the name [Malo] to be removed. But following negotiations [they insisted] the name was kept because it gives credibility. We agreed it would be TaivexMalo during some time, after which we had the intention of dropping it. If we dont have a say in the management, we cant have our name there, otherwise we are taking risks and that is what happened, Paulo Malo said. This is what I feared. When you give your name for another person to use and there is no control over how it is used If the person is honest theres no problem, but if there is a mess up you face the consequences. And that is what happened. The Malo Group president said that his plan was to sell the remaining 10 percent of the company and remove the name. They postponed the sale of the 10 percent because they know our name would be removed and that would make them lose credibility.

Besides the suspension of the operation of the TaivexMalo Day Hospital, the clinic was fined with MOP76,000. In addition, a fine of MOP103,000 was also applied to four doctors and one nurse. The license of one of the doctors was suspended for a period of 90 days.

In a statement issued on Friday, the SSM stated that they received several complaints in 2016 and 2017 that alluded to the illegal practice of cancer treatment services and medically assisted procreation techniques at the TaivexMalo Day Hospital. The complaints also alluded to the trafficking and smuggling of drugs for cancer treatment.

During the site inspections conducted by SSM at the medical facility, evidence such as clinical files and medical prescriptions were found.

It was also found that a site in mainland China advertised the provision of medically assisted procreation services in the TaivexMalo Day Hospital.

In response to questions from journalists regarding the suspension of the medical facility, the director of Health Services, Lei Chin Ion alluded to a previous inspection made to the TaivexMalo facilities, which was reported by the press earlier. He said that, following a complaint in June 2016, at the time, the SSM could not find any concrete evidence of the offense but made some recommendations. However, Lei Chin Ion stated that in the last few months, evidence of the provision of medically assisted procreation techniques and drugs used for cancer treatment was found at the medical facility. During the inspections, the doctors involved, the health professionals and the person in charge of this medical facility were questioned.

The SSM also found that facilities such as the medical labs did not meet safety and hygiene requirements. Paulo Malo reacts to the accusations denying any responsibility in the management: The government says that the company PHC, which owns the hospital TaivexMalo, has done some irregularities. I honestly dont know the details. [] I didnt have any notion [of those irregularities]. I go to China every month and I will go to Beijing to have a meeting with Tianjin pharmaceuticals. Im going to ask them what is happening. [] Im going to be tough with them and tell them that this cant happen. It did happen because they want 100 percent management.

It is completely wrong from the part of Tianjin pharmaceuticals to do those medical procedures. It shows lack of respect to us and it is illegal, we cant collude with that. It is incredible, Malo added.

The dental surgeon told the Times that there are around 20 people working for the Malo dental clinic affected by the suspension. He adds that the company is in the finishing line of the process of opening a new clinic in Macau and obtaining a new license. Paulo Malo intends to talk with the local authorities soon. We want to explain that we have nothing to do [with the day hospital] and work independently. We want to see if the government speeds up the license project that we requested months ago. The new clinic is under construction works and waiting for the new license. PB

Case referred to the MP

According to the SSM, there were no victims resulting from the irregularities found at TaivexMalo. However, the bureau dies not exclude the possibility of a criminal sanction since the case was referred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP).If all the requirements are met, the establishment, the facility can restart its operation. If the existing conditions are not improved within the period indicated above, the license may be canceled, SSM claims. In May, SSM published instructions for medically assisted reproduction treatments to regulate the provision of techniques such as artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and transfer of embryos, gametes or zygotes. According to those instructions, these techniques can only be applied with prior authorization from the bureau. The SSM director, Lei Chin Ion confirmed that the Kiang Wu Hospital recently requested the right to provide medically assisted procreation and the process is currently being assessed.
As the Indian city of Mumbai commemorated the 2008 terror attacks that left 168 people dead, relatives of the victims said Sunday that theyre angry Pakistan has released a militant linked to the massacre.

Swati Ajay Gavande, the widow of a slain police officer, said Hafiz Saeed should never have been released from house arrest. She said his release makes her sad for all the grieving families.

Her husband, Ajay Gavande, was among those shot and killed after 10 gunmen fanned out across Mumbai and attacked hotels, a major train station and a Jewish center on Nov. 26, 2008.

People across Mumbai gathered Sunday to mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks by laying wreaths and lighting candles.

Shyam Bihari, who was working at a railway station stall when the attacks began and was shot in the shoulder, said Saeed was responsible for the deaths.

I feel really sad, but I cant do anything, he said. I prayed they would put him behind bars for his lifetime, so that no more innocent people would die.

Indian and U.S. authorities were also outraged at Fridays release of Saeed. He ran an organization widely believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which India believes was behind the attack.

In a statement Saturday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the U.S. strongly condemns Saeeds release and urged that he be re-arrested and prosecuted.

Saeeds release, after Pakistans failure to prosecute or charge him, sends a deeply troubling message about Pakistans commitment to combatting international terrorism and belies Pakistani claims that it will not provide sanctuary for terrorists on its soil, Sanders said.

She said further inaction by Pakistan would have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistans global reputation.

Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, said the release by Pakistan was adding salt to Indias wounds. He said he would ask Indias government to raise the matter with the United Nations. Manish Mehta, Rafiq Maqbool, AP
A volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali has rumbled to life with eruptions that dusted nearby resorts and villages with ash and forced the closure of the small international airport on neighboring Lombok island as towering gray plumes drifted east.

Mount Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times early yesterday, lighting its cone with an orange glow and sending ash 4,000 meters into the atmosphere. It is still gushing and the ash clouds have forced the closure of Lombok islands airport until at least 6 a.m. today, an official at the airport said.

Most scheduled domestic and international flights were continuing yesterday at Balis busy airport after a rash of cancellations on Saturday evening.

Disaster officials said ash up to half a centimeter thick settled on villages around the volcano and soldiers and police had distributed masks.

Authorities warned anyone still in the exclusion zone around the volcano, which extends 7.5 kilometers from the crater in places, to leave.

Made Sugiri, an employee at Mahagiri Panoramic Resort, located around 10 kilometers from the crater, said a thin layer of volcanic ash reached the area.

We are out of the danger zone, but like other resorts in the region, of course the eruptions cause a decrease in the number of visitors, he said.

I think these latest eruptions are more dangerous, given the thick clouds its releasing, he said. Certainly we worry, but we have to wait and see. Hopefully there is no significant eruption.

Government volcanologist Gede Suantika said a red-yellow light visible in ash above the mountain was the reflection of lava in the crater. Suantika said Agung could spew ash for at least a month but did not expect a major eruption.

Bali is Indonesias top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about 5 million visitors a year. Nearby Lombok is relatively undeveloped as a tourist destination, receiving fewer than 100,000 international visitors a year.

Australian airline Jetstar, which canceled nine flights to and from Bali on Saturday evening, said most of its flights would operate normally Sunday after its senior pilots assessed it was safe to fly. However, it warned that the movement of ash cloud is highly unpredictable and that flights could still be canceled at short notice. Virgin, KLM and AirAsia Malaysia also canceled several flights on Saturday and AirAsia canceled more than 30 flights on Sunday.

Several thousand people were affected by Saturdays flight cancellations.

We werent notified by Jetstar in advance of us getting here [to Balis airport], said Australian tourist George Bennick. So we are very disappointed about that.

Agung also had a minor eruption on Tuesday, but authorities have not raised its alert status from the second-highest level, which would widen the exclusion area and prompt a large evacuation of people.

About 25,000 people have been unable to return to their homes since September, when Agung showed signs of activity for the first time in more than half a century.

The volcanos last major eruption, in 1963, killed about 1,100 people.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has more than 120 active volcanoes.

Mount Agungs alert status was raised to the highest level in September following a dramatic increase in tremors from the volcano, which doubled the exclusion zone around the crater and prompted more than 140,000 people to leave the area. The alert was lowered on Oct. 29 after a decrease in activity. Firdia Lisnawati, Karangasem, AP
UBS Group AG is expanding its workforce in one of the few areas in banking where demand for talent is growing. Were currently recruiting more people for artificial intelligence, Veronica Lange, head of innovation at Switzerlands biggest bank, said in an interview in Moscow. These are data scientists, architects, business analysts.

AI refers to technology capable of performing tasks that normally require human intelligence. Big global banks like UBS are using it to scour vast databases for insight on customers and markets that could help lenders stay competitive as more and more technology firms delve into financial services.

UBS rolled out a robo-adviser last year that uses algorithms to help customers build and manage portfolios with little or no human interaction. Credit Suisse Group AG introduced a similar digital advisory platform in Hong Kong and Singapore in July.

Fraud prevention, optimization and risk management are also areas where the technology could be applied, Lange said. She declined to say how many people the bank wants to hire.

Weve built up a pipeline of projects over the past few years, she said. We believe its really fundamental, because the future is in the cognitive bank.

About nine financial service companies out of 10 are working with AI technologies, according to a survey this year by Deloitte LLP and the industry group EFMA. After questioning about 3,000 executives in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it identified scarcity of technical talent as one of their biggest challenges, especially in the final phase of projects when the need for highly trained specialists often increases.

While most organizations need to make external hires to fill the AI skill gap, the majority are having trouble finding the right talent, EFMA and Deloitte said in a report on the survey.

The demand for AI experts runs counter to the trend where automation and digitalization is allowing lenders to make do with fewer employees. UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti has said the next decade may bring a 30 percent reduction in the banks workforce, partly through attrition.

Artificial intelligence is a nascent technology in banking, and we are yet to grow the number of practitioners in the industry, Lange said, when asked whether UBS was having a hard time finding qualified candidates. She declined to elaborate.Ksenia Galouchko, Bloomberg
Japan expressed strong regret Friday over San Franciscos decision to give city property status to a statue commemorating Asian women who worked in military brothels for Japanese troops during World War II, with Osaka declaring it will terminate its 60-year sister-city ties.

The signing of legislation making the memorial public property destroyed trust, Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said. We will scrap our sister-city relationship with San Francisco. He said Osaka will no longer contribute public money to privately organized cultural exchanges between the two cities.

The statue was erected by Californias Korean, Chinese and Filipino communities.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said San Franciscos decision challenges Japans position and was extremely regrettable. He said similar statues that have been built in various countries interfere with a 2015 agreement between Japan and South Korea to resolve the historical dispute.

Historians say tens of thousands of women around Asia were sent to work in Japanese military brothels, often through coercion and deception. Japan apologized in 1993 but the issue has remained an open rift with its neighbors, particularly South Korea which has strong memories of Japans brutal colonization from 1910 to 1945.

After a gradual pullback from the apology, Japans government now denies that the women, called comfort women in Japanese, were forced into sexual slavery, citing a lack of official documentary proof, and says the statue wrongfully blames Japan.

In the 2015 deal, Japan and South Korea agreed that Tokyo would pay 1 billion yen (USD9 million) to support the surviving South Korean victims, and both sides pledged to avoid actions that would antagonize the other.

Suga also criticized the South Korean parliaments passage on Friday of legislation designating Aug. 14 as a day to commemorate the suffering of the Korean comfort women, saying it violated the spirit of the 2015 agreement and that Japan has lodged a protest. The date is when a victim, the late Kim Hak-soon, became the first to publicly speak out about her ordeal in 1991. She was followed by hundreds of others.

The agreement calls for efforts by both sides to build a future-oriented relationship. Mari Yamaguchi, Tokyo, AP
A study conducted by a Macau-based scientist shows that the number of Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers in Macau who suffer from depression stands at 20 percent and 12 percent respectively.

According to the preliminary results of the study titled Population Research Initiative for Domestic Employees  PRIDE Study, these domestic workers are in a vulnerable position to suffer from mental illness due to their work-related exposures and current living conditions.

Conducted by the University of Macaus Global and Community Mental Health Research Group and led by Brian Hall, a scholar and an associate professor at the University of Macau, the study surveyed 1,349 Filipino and 369 Indonesian domestic workers.

Hall presented the study yesterday at Caritas Macau to migrant workers and representatives from related government departments.

The study also showed that the median salary for Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers are MOP3,700 and MOP4,000 respectively, showing that there are also still workers earning a meager MOP1,500 per month.

Since depression refers to a wide range of mental health problems, Hall explained that his team first did a qualitative study to define the needs in the community.

A large population of domestic workers, about 80 percent [expressed] that mental health conditions and stress are one of their main problems: the key issue that needed to be intervened on here in Macau, Hall told the press.

However, the issue is that the city does not have providers that are able deliver evidence based psychotherapy interventions in Filipino or Indonesian language.

Theres an absence of providers in this context [] we dont really have the treatment available, he said.

Hall revealed that he is partnering with the World Health Organization to bring evidence-based therapy interventions to Macau that could be scaled to the entire population using automated mental health intervention.

Questioned whether such interventions can be conducted soon, Hall hoped, within the next year, we should have a culturally adapted version of the mental health intervention.

Raising awareness on the burden of mental disorder still remains a key issue.

The prevalence of mental disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and issues related to physical health that are not being addressed remains at 40 percent.

Along with the percentage of domestic helpers who are not provided with health insurance, Hall believed that it represents a clear picture that the health of domestic worker population is poor.

The Population Research Initiative for Domestic Employees  PRIDE Study, is the first data of its kind and the scholar hopes that the data could be used to persuade the government to consider a more holistic and comprehensive approach regarding the matter.

Meanwhile the law states employers are bound to transfer the liability to pay compensation under the terms of this Ordinance to insurers authorized to transact employees compensation insurance in the territory of Macau.

The study showed that 38 percent of Indonesian domestic workers are unaware whether they are provided with insurance, while 15 percent do not have any, figures roughly similar with the interviewed Filipino domestic workers.

Only 8 percent are provided with medical insurance.

Yosa Wariyanti, president of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union told the Times that domestic helpers are not demanding their employers to provide them with medical insurance due to fear of termination.

Wariyanti also agreed that migrant workers in Macau suffer from depression and anxiety due to constant fear of termination, household problems, and the difficulty adjusting to the local lifestyle.

What was presented was based on the reality that happens amongst the Filipino and Indonesian migrant workers. The question is what happens after the research, she said.

The migrant group president hoped that the study would become an eye-opener to the government in a bid to also give significance to their health issues.

General Secretary of Caritas Macau, Paul Pun, said that the Welanser Center has now employed more staff to provide direct services.

However, Pun expressed that in addition to running the center that provides activities and a problem solving network to the migrant workers they are also considering expanding its health services to these migrant workers, along with a mutual support program.

With my understanding, people do need some more support because we have a big number of migrant workers. Some of them do need some kind of psychological support, said Pun.

Counseling is a basic [assistance] for them to live and work well in Macau.

Pun to propose inclusion of domestic workers in minimum wage bill

General Secretary of Caritas Macau, Paul Pun, yesterday told the press that the minimum wage bill, which excludes domestic workers and disabled employees, should be reconsidered.

Pun believes that the bill, currently under a 45-day public consultation, should include domestic workers who are taking care of the elderly.

For those taking care of these people, if a domestic worker is not doing this type of job, who is doing so?, Pun questioned.

The elderly will come to our centers and our homes for the aged. That means the government still needs to give additional resources to support them, he suggested.

Pun noted that if the society cannot increase their salaries immediately, a caring fund should be established for families who have senior citizens with long-term sickness.

The fund would provide financial vouchers or financial support from the government that could be used to add to the salary of the domestic employees.

Through this assessment, at least these [workers] will not be excluded. This is a way to do so. [] Shouldnt they receive a minimum wage? They deserve it. They cannot sleep long hours [because they] work and stay with the [elderly], Pun said.

Pun also suggested that domestic workers should be allowed to work for two families, with both families providing a quota for one domestic worker.

The secretary was referring to workers who are employed yet are not obliged to work for eight hours, thus receiving a meager wage.

Pun is set to submit a proposal before the 45-day public consultation ends.
Authorities in China detained a woman suspected of abusing children at a Beijing kindergarten run by a U.S.-listed company in a case that has caused nationwide anger.

Police in Beijings Chaoyang district said in a statement Saturday that an investigation into a kindergarten run by Beijing-based RYB Education has led to the criminal detention of a 22-year-old female teacher on suspicion of abusing children.

The statement, posted on the district police account on the Sina Weibo microblog platform, identified the woman only by her surname, Liu, and did not provide further details.

RYB Education said it was extremely shocked and distressed about the crimes the teacher is suspected of committing.

We express sincere apologies to the children involved in this case, their families and the broader society, the statement posted on the companys website said. Its a serious dereliction of duty in our management work, therefore we must bear the responsibility and carry out thorough investigation as well as make rectifications.

The statement did not provide details of Lius alleged abuses.

RYB said it had fired Liu, removed the head of the Xintiandi kindergarten and is cooperating with further investigations. It said the company is hiring doctors and psychologists to aid and comfort the children who had been affected and inspecting its other branches around the country.

The scandal in Beijing erupted after the influential newsmagazine Caixin and other Chinese media quoted some parents as saying their children were forced to strip as punishment and were found with unexplained apparent needle marks on their bodies. The reported claims could not be independently verified.

Chaoyang police said separately that a 31-year-old Beijing woman has been detained after admitting to allegedly spreading false information about the involvement of a military regiment in sexually abusing the children. The statement said the woman, also surnamed Liu, expressed deep regret for her actions.

RYB and its franchisees operate 1,300 day care centers and nearly 500 kindergartens in 300 Chinese cities, according to its website.

The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September, joining other Chinese providers capitalizing on rising demand from the countrys emerging middle class for educational services.

The allegations, coming just weeks after reports of abuse at a Shanghai day care center, raised concerns about potential lapses in supervision in the booming private preschool industry. The State Council, Chinas Cabinet, on Friday ordered nationwide inspections of kindergartens to review teacher conduct, citing recent incidents in many locations.

Earlier this month, surveillance video emerged of abuse at a Shanghai day care center run by Chinas largest online travel company, Ctrip. The video, uploaded by angry parents on Chinese social media, showed teachers slapping a crying girl, pushing a toddler to the ground and force-feeding students a substance later confirmed to be wasabi.

In April, RYB Education suspended the headmaster and two teachers at another branch in Beijing after a video of a teacher kicking children was widely shared online. Gillian Wong, Beijing, AP
Pope Francis today begins a six-day trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh. While attention will focus on how Francis addresses the Rohingya Muslim crisis, the trip also holds huge significance for the tiny Catholic communities in each country.

Those Catholics face obstacles that include discrimination, an inability to land leadership roles and threats of violence. Many Christians hope the popes visit will highlight the plight of the poor and of minority religious groups, including their own.

MYANMAR CATHOLICS

There are 660,000 Catholics in Myanmar, just over 1 percent of the population of 53 million. In total, Christians make up just over 6 percent of the population. Catholicism was brought to the country more than 500 years ago, and for generations Catholics have played a vital role in developing far-flung rural areas that authorities have found hard to reach. But when the socialist government took power in 1965, most Catholic-based missionary schools, boarding houses and properties were seized by the military at gunpoint. Catholics were later able to slowly rebuild their missions.

BATTLING DISCRIMINATION

Myanmar Catholic leaders say that as members of one of the smallest religious groups in a country dominated by Buddhism, they face discrimination, even if it isnt typically overt threats or torture.

There are always challenges to stand up as Catholic and to have strong faith here, said Rev. Mariano Soe Naing, a spokesman for Myanmars Bishops Conference.

Christianity is viewed by many as a colonial belief after the country was ruled by the British for a century until its independence in 1948. Likewise, the separation of church and state is considered a foreign imposition.

For the past 18 years, Myanmar has been listed by the U.S. as a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act for having engaged in, or tolerated, severe violations of religious freedom.

But unlike Rohingya Muslims, Christians havent faced widespread violence and persecution. Christian leaders say theyre afforded peaceful coexistence and an understanding the government wont interfere.

ROLE IN MYANMAR

The Catholic Church runs about 300 boarding houses across Myanmar, hosting children from villages who cant afford to go to school. Its done without any significant support from the government in a country that remains among the poorest in the world.

But Catholics dont play a broader leadership role in society.

To be honest, if you are a Christian in this country, you will never get promoted, Rev. Mariano said. There are no Catholics in the government administration or in any significant leadership positions.

RAISING AWARNENESS

The profile of Catholics was boosted when Archbishop Charles Maung Bo became Myanmars first Roman Catholic Cardinal in 2015. And they are getting another boost by having a pope visit the country for the first time. Catholic leaders hope the community will benefit in the long run.

Because of the popes visit, Catholics will be more visible to many people and they will be aware of the existence of the Catholic community in Myanmar, Mariano said.

BANGLADESH CATHOLICS

There are just 375,000 Catholics in Bangladesh, a tiny fraction of the population of 158 million. In total, Christians account for less than 1 percent of all people in the Muslim majority country. The Portuguese first brought Christianity during the 16th century and missionary efforts began in the early 1800s.

BACKDROP OF VIOLENCE

The popes visit takes place against a backdrop of religious tensions after radical Muslims attacked or threatened to attack Christian priests and their followers in Bangladesh. Last year before Christmas, many churches said they got phone calls or letters threatening dire consequences because of their attempts to spread Christianity.

A major attack in July 2016 on a restaurant in the diplomatic zone of the capital, Dhaka, left 20 people dead, including 17 foreigners. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack and several others, although the government claims the group doesnt exist in Bangladesh. Authorities say the domestic group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh was behind the Dhaka attack.

The government launched a massive crackdown on suspected militants after the Dhaka attack. More than 60 people, including some suspected radical leaders, were killed in raids. Many others were arrested.

CATHOLICS EXCITED

Francis will be the second pope, after Pope John Paul II, to visit Bangladesh since it gained independence from Pakistan following a war in 1971. The Vatican quickly acknowledged Bangladesh as an independent nation after the war, helping set the tone for cordial relations since.

Living in the Hatileite village north of Dhaka are some 1,500 Catholics. They are part of a tribal community in which many embraced the religion after the first tribesman converted in 1927. Villager Louis Suprobhat Jangcham, 50, said hes enthusiastic about the visit.

I attended a gathering when Pope John Paul came to Dhaka in 1986. It was very exciting, he said. The people from our village will attend this time too. This is a great moment for me.

MESSAGE OF HOPE

Christian leaders in Bangladesh say they hope the popes visit will highlight a range of issues from religious solidarity to a warming planet.

Cardinal Patrick DRozario, the archbishop of Dhaka, said the visit will be an opportunity to emphasize the causes of the poor who need blessing and comfort.

This visit is for spiritual causes, for highlighting peace and harmony. But the Holy Father will also touch upon other very important issues that concern Bangladesh, he said. The Rohingya crisis and climate change will come up prominently.

The pope posted a video message ahead of his visit.

We are living at a time when religious believers and people of goodwill are called to foster mutual understanding and respect, the pope said. And to support each other as members of our one human family. Julhas Alam, Dhaka, AP
Portugals Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, said that the Chinese tourism market is setting its foot into more corners of Portugal.

Last Friday, Godinho paid a visit to the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), where she told the media what we feel right now is that the Chinese market is discovering Portugal [instead of] the traditional areas that they know.

Traditionally, the Chinese market went to Lisbon and Porto, and it is spreading all around the country. [] In Algarve, which was not a destination for the Chinese market, the Chinese market this year is growing 15 percent. [] In Evora, a UNESCO heritage city in Alentejo, the Chinese market this year became the third most important market, said Godinho. This shows the commitment and interest the Chinese market has in regard to Portugal, as well as the commitment and interest that Portugal has, with Macau as this [] traditional and historical bond.

According to Godinho, this year, 14 hotel groups of Portugal participated in a workshop in China promoting themselves.

These hotel groups are already operating in the Chinese market. we do think as the figures of the Chinese market are growing so much in Portugal, it will obviously spread to all the country, the Secretary of State declared.

The Portuguese tourism governor was at the IFT discussing the strengthening of the relationships between Macau and Portugal tourism schools in order to enhance the exchange programs among students and to have more collaborations between tourism schools of Portugal and IFT.

Next year, [there] will be a team from the Tourism of Portugal coming here and there will be a team from IFT going to Portugal. [] I think we will make some changes in our relation for the future, said Godinho.

Regarding the number of students involved in the aforementioned program, Godinho noted that the organizers are still doing some calculations.

This will maybe not only involve IFT, but also other schools and universities. We are identifying the number of students that may go. We want it to be an ambitious project. [] This is a win-win project: it will help Portugal to cope and be prepared to answer to the needs that we have in Macau, to adapt our market to the Chinese market. [] Currently we have an increase of 40 percent of the Chinese market in Portugal. The Chinese are discovering Portugal, but also Macau, which is positioning itself as a platform to make a bridge, a dialogue, between Portugal, between Europe and China.

We are preparing two types of exchange programs. Some [students] go to tourism schools in Portugal; [] Portuguese students come here, and also directly [within] the industry, so they [can] do their practical training in the [hotel] sector, said Godinho.

Eleven students from IFT already went to Portugal, according to Godinho. They were in the School of Lamego studying in a Portuguese Gastronomy and Wine course.

The results were quite good. What we want is to make this short example as a routine program of mutual and permanent relationship and very deep relation between the two schools.

As the Chinese market is growing rapidly in Portugal, tourism schools are also promptly reacting to the increasing number of tourists coming from the far east.

Earlier, tourism schools in Portugal launched a Welcome Chinese program to help the hotel and shopping industries, and restaurants to be prepared to receive the Chinese market.

The Chinese market is also growing a lot in Portugal [] because we have a new direct flight that allows people to go directly to Lisbon []. We have more and more Chinese people coming to Portugal. This is why we need our offers to be prepared and why we created this program exactly to accelerate and capacitate our hotels [] to know how to receive Chinese market [people]. We know the Chinese market feels comfortable in Portugal, precisely because they know that in our country there is someone prepared to receive them [and care] about their special needs, such as language. [] We guarantee an increase over the number of hotels that are prepared [] but we want to make it regular for every hotel and every restaurant, said Godinho.

In July, the first direct flight between China and Portugal was launched.

The results have been quite good, [] overcoming our expectations. [] We think this was just the beginning of this direct flight, because the market is demonstrating that there is a volume that justifies even more flights, said Godinho.

When talking more about direct flights between China and Portugal, Godinho announced that the involved parties are indeed considering not only the increasing of the number of flights per week from Beijing [to Lisbon] but also from other areas from China [to Portugal].

In regard to the cooperation between IFT and Portuguese tourism schools, Godinho disclosed that an exchange program will be in place in 2018.

Macaus role is determinant for us, mainly because it is a gateway for us, where [] there was such a good relationship between the two countries here. It also serves as a way for us to show to the Asian market how Portugal is. If you come to Macau, [you can see that] we are also committed to increasing the cultural events of Portugal here, said Godinho.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco started Sunday a work and friendship visit in Cote dIvoire, where he will attend the Europe-Africa summit to be convened in Abidjan next Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 29-30).

The participation of King Mohammed VI at the European Union-African Union summit in Abidjan was confirmed in a statement released Sunday by the Ministry of the Royal household, Protocol and chancellery, putting an end to speculations about the Moroccan Kings presence at the Summit because of the probable participation of the Polisario Front, which is claiming the independence of the Moroccan Sahara and which is not recognized by a majority of African States.

This will be the Kings first participation in an African Union major event since Morocco reintegrated its African family last January.

The African Union-European Union summit will provide an opportunity to strengthen political and economic ties between Africa and Europe, two continents with which Morocco has privileged relations.

Last May, in preparation for the summit, the European Commission and the High Representative/ Vice-President had set out the EUs political priorities and concrete proposals for a stronger strategic partnership with Africa.

This revitalized framework for joint action, designed to build a stronger strategic partnership between Europe and Africa for more prosperity and stability in the two continents, presents innovative proposals in a number of key areas. These include peace and security, migration, job creation or energy, based on priorities defined by African countries and stepping up the existing fruitful cooperation between the two continents.

The 5th Africa-EU Summit will lay a specific focus on youth.

King Mohammed VI was welcomed upon arrival at the airport by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and the two heads of state, who are bound by excellent relations, are expected to hold a meeting Monday at the presidential palace in Abidjan.
(HealthDay)The compound cinnamaldehyde (CA), found in cinnamon, activates fat cells to start burning energy in both mice and humans, according to a study published in the December issue of Metabolism.

Juan Jiang, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues used a mouse model assessing the cell-autonomous response of primary adipocytes to CA treatment. Additionally, human adipose stem cells were differentiated and treated with CA to assess whether the CA-mediated signaling was present in humans, too.

The researchers found that in murine primary adipocytes, CA significantly activated PKA signaling, increased expression levels of thermogenic genes, and induced phosphorylation of hormone-sensitive lipase and protein perilipin 1. The CA-induced thermogenic response was inhibited with inhibition of PKA or p38 MAPK enzymatic activity. Chronic CA treatment was found to regulate metabolic reprogramming, which was partially diminished in FGF21KO adipocytes. Both acute and chronic effects of CA were seen in human adipose stem cells, which were isolated from donors of different ethnicities, ages, and a variety of body mass indexes.

"Given the wide usage of cinnamon in the food industry, the notion that this popular food additive, instead of a drug, may activate thermogenesis, could ultimately lead to therapeutic strategies against obesity that are much better adhered to by participants," the authors write.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Cancer cells. Credit: Dr. Cecil Fox, National Cancer Institute

A second biological pathway that signals immune cells not to engulf and kill cancer cells has been identified by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

An antibody that blocks the "don't eat me" signal has shown promise as a cancer treatment in animal models and is currently in clinical trials. Combining that antibody, known as anti-CD47, with another that blocks this newly discovered pathway could further enhance the ability of the immune system to eradicate many types of cancers, the researchers believe.

"The development of cancer cells triggers the generation of SOS molecules recognized by the body's scavenger cells, called macrophages," said Irving Weissman, MD, the director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and also of its Ludwig Cancer Center. "However, aggressive cancers express a 'don't eat me' signal in the form of CD47 on their surfaces. Now we've identified a second 'don't eat me' signal and its complementary receptor on macrophages. We've also shown that we can overcome this signal with specific antibodies and restore the ability of macrophages to kill the cancer cells."

A paper describing the findings will be published online Nov. 27 in Nature Immunology. Weissman, a professor of pathology and of developmental biology, shares senior authorship of the study with former postdoctoral scholar Roy Maute, PhD, who is now head of biology at Ab Initio Biotherapeutics Inc. Graduate student Amira Barkal shares lead authorship with former graduate student Kipp Weiskopf, MD, PhD, who is now a resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"Simultaneously blocking both these pathways in mice resulted in the infiltration of the tumor with many types of immune cells and significantly promoted tumor clearance, resulting in smaller tumors overall," Barkal said. "We are excited about the possibility of a double- or perhaps even triple-pronged therapy in humans in which we combine multiple blockades to cancer growth."

Importance of macrophages

Macrophages are large white blood cells found in nearly all the body's tissues. As part of what's known as the innate immune system, they engulf and kill foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses. They also destroy dead and dying cells and, in some cases, cancer cells whose internal development cues have gone haywire.

The "don't eat me" signal was identified in Weissman's laboratory in 2009. His team found that nearly all cancer cells express high levels of a molecule called CD47 on their surfaces. They showed that CD47 binds to a protein called SIRPalpha on the surface of macrophages, inhibiting their ability to kill the cancer cells.

Animal studies showed that treatment with an anti-CD47 antibody vastly improved the ability of macrophages to kill cancer cells and even led to some cures in mouse models of cancer. Phase-1 clinical trials are currently underway at Stanford and in the United Kingdom to test the safety and efficacy of the treatment in humans with a variety of blood and solid tumors.

The newly discovered binding interaction used by cancer cells to evade macrophages capitalizes on a protein structure on the cancer cells' surface called the major histocompatibility complex class 1, or MHC class 1. Human tumors that have high levels of MHC class 1 on their surfaces are more resistant to anti-CD47 treatment than are those with lower levels of the complex, the researchers found.

Component of adaptive immunity

MHC class 1 is an important component of adaptive immunity, the second major arm of the immune system, which relies on immune cells called T cells and B cells to nimbly and specifically respond to foreign invaders and cell damage. Most cells of the body express MHC class 1 on their surfaces as a way to indiscriminately display bits of many proteins found within the cella kind of random sampling of a cell's innards that provides a window into its health and function. If the protein bits, called peptides, displayed by the MHC are abnormal, a T cell destroys the cell. Although the relationship between MHC class 1 and T cells has been well-established, it's been unclear whether and how the complex interacts with macrophages.

Barkal and her colleagues found that a protein called LILRB1 on the surface of macrophages binds to a portion of MHC class 1 on cancer cells that is widely shared across individuals. This binding inhibits the ability of macrophages to engulf and kill the cancer cells, both when growing in a laboratory dish and in mice with human tumors, the researchers found. Inhibiting both the CD47-mediated pathway and the LILRB1 pathway significantly slowed tumor growth in mice.

Understanding the balance between adaptive and innate immunity is important in cancer immunotherapy. For example, it's not uncommon for human cancer cells to reduce the levels of MHC class 1 on their surfaces to escape destruction by T cells. People with these types of tumors may be poor candidates for cancer immunotherapies meant to stimulate T cell activity against the cancer. But these cells may then be particularly vulnerable to anti-CD47 treatment, the researchers believe. Conversely, cancer cells with robust MHC class 1 on their surfaces may be less susceptible to anti-CD47.

"In some cancers, MHC class 1 expression, for a variety of reasons, is not reduced," Weissman said, "and this helps the cancer cells escape from macrophages. These findings help us understand the many ways cancer cells can evade macrophages, and how we might block these escape pathways."

"The fact that there are at least two redundant mechanisms to modulate macrophage activity is a testament to how critically important it is to tightly control our immune responses," Barkal said. "It's possible that future studies will identify even more of these pathways, which will give us additional targets for cancer immunotherapy."

More information: Engagement of MHC class I by the inhibitory receptor LILRB1 suppresses macrophages and is a target of cancer immunotherapy, Nature Immunology (2017). Journal information: Nature Immunology Engagement of MHC class I by the inhibitory receptor LILRB1 suppresses macrophages and is a target of cancer immunotherapy,(2017). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41590-017-0004-z
The nation's opioid epidemic kills 91 people a day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death toll would be even higher, were it not for emergency responders' heavy reliance on naloxone as an antidote that rapidly reverses the effects of overdose.

However, a new systematic review of evidence by clinicians and researchers at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, reveals important gaps in knowledge about the safety and effectiveness of widespread off-label use of naloxone among patients, families, friends and emergency responders. The study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Naloxone is effective, but we really need to know the best way to administer it," said senior author Roger Chou, M.D., director of the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center at OHSU. "This has both cost and clinical implications."

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration in 2015 approved two prescription versions of naloxone - an auto-injector and a nasal spray formulation. However, many first responders have been using the less-concentrated injectable formulations of naloxone to reverse the effects of opioids. In those emergency situations, they administer it through the nose.

Such off-label permutations have been effectively used by law enforcement treating unconscious overdose victims, but it is uncertain how much of the non-approved formulation of naloxone is absorbed and how reliably it is administered. Both of these factors could impact the effectiveness of off-label administration of naloxone compared with the more recent FDA-approved versions.

"The majority of naloxone being administered nasally is probably the non-approved formulation," said co-author Mohamud Daya, M.D., professor of emergency medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine. "The sad thing is, we don't know much about the new formulations. They've not actually been well studied in the way that you'd want them to be in a large population of patients."

One thing clinicians and first responders do know: The new FDA-approved formulations are expensive. The auto-injector, for example, carries a price tag exceeding $4,000.

Researchers reviewed 13 published studies to determine how the route of administration and dosing outside the hospital affects mortality, reversal of overdose symptoms and harm. The evidence appeared to show similar effectiveness between the intramuscular and intranasal delivery for heroin or prescription opioid overdose, but the intranasal naloxone studied was at a concentration different than the FDA-approved nasal formulation. Researchers also noted that little is known about the efficacy and safety of off-label use of naloxone for treating overdoses related to newly emerging illicit uses of more powerful opioids such as fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives.

"The off label may be fine for most overdoses related to standard heroin or prescription opioids, but may not be strong enough for these other drugs," Chou said.

It's important for new research to examine the effect of these off-label uses, he said.

"These jury-rigged intranasal devices have not been tested the same way," Chou said. "The fact that we have no evidence on the off-label uses for these devices is concerning, especially because many first responders feel compelled to use them because of the cost differences."
HIV infecting a human cell. Credit: NIH

In a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Doris Wilflingseder investigates the initial stages of HIV infection, a period when the immune system might still stop the virus.

"HIV has been intensively investigated in research labs all over the world for more than 30 years," says Doris Wilflingseder, and throughout that time it has been resisting effective treatment. "The virus mutates incredibly fast and plays a cat-and-mouse game with our immune system," adds Wilflingseder, a researcher at the Medical University of Innsbruck. The immunologist heads a research group working on describing the interaction of the virus with the immune systembefore the immune deficiency spreads and the body might still defend itself against the virus.

Initial contact as pivotal point

It is known that HIV infiltrates the genetic material of T helper cells, which constitute an essential element of the body's immune responseand that makes the virus so dangerous. Instead of effectively fighting the intruder, these cells are exploited by the virus and thus support the virus attack until the immune system finally breaks.

"Our approach considers the initial contact between immune cells in the mucosa and the pathogens to be the pivotal point," explains the scientist. She places her bet on the complement system, the part of the innate immune system which can immediately destroy pathogens. "This part of our immune defence system is not taken into account by most other research teams, although it is a key element in the acute infection phase and can contribute to a successful fight against the virus," explains Wilflingseder. Basically, the complement system coats the invading HI-virus, thus marking it as such for the immune cells. Dendritic cells are then able to perceive the virus as an intruder and spring into action. These sentinels of the skin and mucosa apprehend anything they perceive as a foreign substance and deliver their prey "free of charge" to T helper and killer T cells.

"Our trials and investigations have illustrated that complement-coated HIV is detected more readily by dendritic cells and, subsequently, more efficiently battled by effector cells than a virus that carries no immunological marker."

On the basis of these results from cell cultures, a therapeutic vaccine might, in principle, be conceivablein principle only, because the devil is in the details. In this case, it is the fact that the window of opportunity is only open for two weeks. "After that time, we see the emergence of HIV-specific antibodies that recognise the virus but do not neutralise it in that time span. In this way, the immune response conveyed by the dendritic cells is changed again, since other receptors get stimulated on the cells," notes Wilflingseder.

"Right now, our research aims at gaining a better understanding of the immune system and these coating processes specifically at the beginning of the infection. We hope this will help us to find ways of strengthening the immune system even during the chronic phase of HIV infection," says Wilflingseder, putting any premature hopes for treatment into perspective.

The potential of new models

The researcher does see definite success and progress in another field. Doris Wilflingseder started and refined her investigations with the help of cell cultures. "Cell cultures are often very simple. They have none of the more complex structures we find in different types of tissue," she summarises. For a long time, scientists skirted this disadvantage by using animal testing. "But now we are establishing really good 3-D cell culture models. Lab-grown 3-D structures and organoids increase our chances even further."

The researcher is convinced that animal testing is not only dubious but also substitutable in many cases. "I collaborate closely with physiologists and bio-informatics experts on developing 3-D cultures." Wilflingseder contributes her expertise and instinctive understanding of 3-D cultures to this process. "Knowing intuitively when to change the media and when to take samples is important." Quite frequently, confirms the scholar, the right time does not follow a regular pattern. In order to suss it out one needs experience and creativity. "It's comparable to cooking. It is striking that people who can cook and bake also have a good instinct for cell cultures." The new models provide a better way, and, even more importantly, a method involving the human immune system, of investigating cancer and infections in a more relevant system.
New research published today in the Journal of Gerontology has developed new ways to characterise older people who take multiple medicines and those who are open to "deprescribing", a process where medicines are reviewed in order to reduce or stop less effective medicines.

Lead researcher from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, Kristie Weir, says; "Polypharmacy (multiple medications) in the older population is increasing and can be harmful. It can be safe to reduce or carefully cease medicines (deprescribing), but a collaborative approach between patient and doctor is required."

"Deprescribing isn't new, but there has been a recent explosion of research in this area showing how it can be done safely and in collaboration with patients. We provide a novel approach to describe these differences between older people who are happy to take multiple medicines, and those who are open to deprescribing.

"Ultimately, considering these variations in attitudes towards medicines and openness to deprescribing could improve communication between clinicians and their patients.

"We categorized three distinct types of people which could help guide the type of advice given by clinicians to older patients when discussing the issues around taking multiple medicines," she says. "Recognising these three types of patients can help clinicians tailor their communication approaches," she says.

Type one:

People who are resistant to deprescribing and are very attached to their medications as they are perceived as highly important to their wellbeing. This group like to be informed but ultimately preferred to leave decisions about medicines to their doctor.

Type two:

These people indicated they were open to deprescribing and preferred an active role in decision making to share responsibility with their doctor. They would consider deprescribing and said they didn't like the idea of completely relying on medications to stay healthy. This group have mixed attitudes towards medicines, valuing their benefit but disliking the side effects and hassle of taking them.

Type three:

People who were less engaged in decision making, most deferred decisions about medicines to their doctor or companion. The people in this group had chronic health conditions and as such were taking a large number of medicines. They often didn't give much thought to medicines and are commonly unaware deprescribing is an option but were open to deprescribing if their doctor recommended it.

"This research shows that doctors should tailor communication to individual older people who are taking multiple medicines in order to provide the best level of care," says Ms Weir.

"For some patients it might be that you need to help them think a bit more about their medicines and educate them more. Whereas for others, who were already aware of what medicines they were taking, identifying preferences and goals would be appropriate.

"We need to develop ways to support clinicians and patients to have these important but challenging conversations," she says.
An international research team headed by Thomas Munch from Tubingen University found the contribution of rod photoreceptors in mouse retinas to be much greater than previously assumed. Rods cannot distinguish between colours and were thought to become useless as light levels increase, while vision in daylight conditions is based on cone photoreceptors. The new study  published in Nature Communications  shows that rod function can even increase in bright light.

The photoreceptors in the retina, at the back of the eyes, are the primary light sensitive cells that allow us to see: they convert light into electrical signals. There are two types, rods and cones, and it has generally been assumed that rods are responsible for seeing in dim light conditions, whereas cones mediate vision in bright light. This division of labour between rods and cones can be found in virtually every biological and medical text book.

A new study challenges this traditional view: A group of researchers from Aalto University, the University of Helsinki and the universities of Tubingen and Manchester shows that rod photoreceptors do, in fact, contribute to daylight vision. Most surprisingly, their contribution even increases when the daylight becomes brighter, up to the brightest light levels that would ever be encountered in natural environs.

Using transgenic mice without functional cones, the investigators first measured rod-driven signals and could reliably detect them both in the retina and in the brain even at high light levels. Now that they had isolated these rod-driven signals, they were able to identify them in mice with fully functional cones as well. Their explanation of the mechanism by which rods function in bright light is based on knowledge of light adaptation in rods and the rod visual cycle, the process helping rods to recycle visual pigment after it has been bleached by light.

"We showed that rods can function at bright light," says Thomas Munch, "but it is true that cones can do this much better and much more reliably. However, these new insights may still open new avenues towards treatments for patients without functional cones, so-called rod monochromats." People in modern times are exposed to artificial bright light for many hours each day. In the old paradigm, this has made reliance on rods for the development of treatments counterintuitive. With these new mechanistic insights into bright rod vision, however, there may be new possibilities for therapies for patients without functional cone vision.

More information: Alexandra Tikidji-Hamburyan et al. Rods progressively escape saturation to drive visual responses in daylight conditions, Nature Communications (2017). Journal information: Nature Communications Alexandra Tikidji-Hamburyan et al. Rods progressively escape saturation to drive visual responses in daylight conditions,(2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01816-6
YEREVAN.  Arianne Bo Caoili, international chess master and wife of famous Armenian chess player Levon Aronian, has been appointed an adviser to the Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. In an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am Arianne Caoili told about her new job and commented on some media reports following her appointment.

What is the reason for change from chess to political career? According to official statement from government's office, you will be engaged in providing recommendations for attracting investments, as well as cooperation with the international agencies dealing with finances and trade. What will be the focus of your work?

From my perspective, it is not a big change, because I quit chess long ago. I played when I was a child, but I quit it when I was about 15-16. I guess the change that we are seeing is more that I am working with the government. My background has always been consulting to the private sector and public sector. Now I am in public sector, but as a volunteer, I will do my best to contribute to Armenia's development. I do not consider my job has to do with the politics, I am not interested in politics. There is a big difference between public policy and politics. The focus I am interested in is strictly the areas of economy that are the drivers of economy: innovation, education and investments. One clear area where I hope to do my best is Armenias commercial relations internationally as well as the relations with the Diaspora. There is a huge potential in Diaspora and we have to use it.

You have an experience of working as a consultant to the state agencies in Australia. Will you work with the companies and agencies in Australia and Asia-Pacific region? Do you think Armenia can attract investments from this region?

Armenia is a bit far away, but my background is not strictly confined to Australia or Asia, it is much more with sovereign wealth funds owned by governments all over the globe. I have a few platforms and institutions that I would like connect with Armenia. The world is getting smaller and we, as Armenians, need to look to the future and to have a global mentality, but of course with localized spirit.

You said, we as Armenians. Do you perceive yourself as an Armenian now?

Ive been asked this question for many years. And, my answer is: yes. When I moved here in 2013, I immediately felt at home. I traveled to 60 countries and lived in Germany, Australia and the Philippines. When I moved to Armenia, it was the first time in my life that I felt at home. Then I got married and I am technically also going to be Armenian. And, I am very proud of that.

Some media reports suggest you have several businesses in Armenia. Is it true? What is the main area of your work?

I am volunteering for this job [in governments office  ed.]. I am very open about what I do in Armenia. Yes, I am doing business. My consulting firm, although it is not strictly for Armenians and it has foreign clients mostly, is very much involved in management consulting, strategy and policy analysis. And, of course, I have Champord (Traveler newspaper) which is not for profit. My passion is economics.

You seem not to play chess at a professional level since 2012. Why did you quit chess after a successful career?

I quit just before the university. All of my family are doctors in the United States. They are all neurosurgeons, heart surgeons. So, my father told me I had to stop chess and study medicine. It was a clear decision from my parents: you have to study now.

Armenia is now pushing an idea that if you start playing chess at an early age, you would help in the future. How do you think chess can help you in your new endeavor?

I am very proud of the fact that Armenia was the first country in the world to make chess compulsory. I do think that if you start chess at a young age, it will really help you in problem solving. It teaches you that mistakes are ok. It is ok to make mistakes and to lose as long as you get up and fight again. It gives people a fighting spirit, and it is very important in life and in business. I think chess is good for character.

Are you surprised at media interest to your appointment? What is your attitude?

I just hope that I can do my best and use the skills that I have to contribute. My measure of success is impact. If I can create a positive impact, no matter how small, I will be happy. I hope that public will view my participation positively. I will be giving an online press conference on Tuesday and everyone can ask questions. I amfreetoanswerthem.
Oil prices go down

Meteorite that fell in Britain contains key information about how oceans and life formed on Earth

Oil prices may reach $120 a barrel and stay at this level for 2 years

Zelenskyy receives 'signals' that Putin wants direct talks

Security Service of Ukraine puts Ramzan Kadyrov on wanted list

Unidentified men open fire at market in Izeh city in southwestern Iran

Karen Donfried tries to explain State Department's decision to exempt Azerbaijan from 907th Amendment

Philip Reeker says U.S. administration representatives have no access to Nagorno-Karabakh

Rimac Nevera sets speed record for production electric cars

Reeker: Pace and depth of current talks between Yerevan and Baku demonstrate potential to resolve conflict

FBI director considers TikTok threat to US National Security

Bob Menendez says Ukraine supplies Azerbaijan with phosphorus bombs it used in Karabakh

Delegation headed by Speaker of Armenian Parliament is in Tbilisi

Austin: U.S. intends to continue supplying weapons and aid to Ukraine during winter

Armenian politician charged with abuse of office, money laundering

Karen Donfried says Armenia and Azerbaijan have historic opportunity to establish lasting peace

Bob Menendez: How can the U.S. justify security assistance to the Baku regime?

Azerbaijan fires at residents of Sarushen village of Artsakh

Head of Portugal's Finance Ministry: EU countries must work faster on energy intervention

Kuwait executes 7 prisoners

Czech Republic plans to train up to 4,000 Ukrainian servicemen next year

Ukraine once again asks US for powerful drones

Belarusian border guards shoot down drone intruding into airspace from Ukraine

Armenian Deputy PM: Regional electricity export opportunities significantly increased

Greek authorities temporarily ban export of firewood from country

Azerbaijan protests to France in connection with Senate resolution

Blinken calls on Aliyev to observe ceasefire and limit provocations

Pashinyan: We're advancing rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan: Armenia invites Azerbaijan to sign framework agreement on peace

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Armenian Prime Minister: Let the opposition loudly reject Russia's proposals

Pashinyan: 2023 budget growth in social protection compared to 2018 is 56%

Inflation in UK up to 41-year high of 11.1% in October

Pashinyan: We don't want to provoke war between CSTO and Azerbaijan

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CNN: CIA director visits Kyiv

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Armen Grigoryan receives Major General Daniel Lasica

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Ivanka Trump says she will not participate in her father's presidential campaign

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Nikol Pashinyan holds telephone conversation with Irakli Garibashvili

Four explosions blow up in sky over Belgorod

NATO Secretary General to hold meeting of alliance on incident in Poland

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LPR announces attack by AFU from Popasna to Kharkiv Oblast

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Russian Defense Ministry: Elements of the Ukrainian S-300 system fell in Poland

Erdogan: Biden administration is determined to sell F-16s to Turkey

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Microsoft to leave Azerbaijan

G7 and NATO leaders say they are ready to support Poland in investigation of bombings

Joe Biden asks Congress for new funding for Ukraine

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Azerbaijani MFA accuses French Senate of undermining relations normalization process between Baku and Yerevan

Armen Grigoryan to pay working visit to India

AP: Missile falls in Poland may have been fired by Ukraine to shoot down Russian missile

Erdogan plans to discuss fertilizer transportation and grain deal with Putin

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Blinken calls on Armenian Prime Minister to maintain momentum of peace talks with Azerbaijan

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Armenian FM to visit Tunisia

Yerevan draft budget 2023 revealed

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French Senate passes resolution calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan

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Secretary of Security Council of Armenia receives delegation of EU special envoys, member states

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YEREVAN.  The European Union is encouraging but never imposing anything, head of EU delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski said during a press conference in Yerevan on Monday.

Speaking about the signing of new EU-Armenia agreement, Switalski said it was a big day, and the deal is important both for the people of Armenia and EU and will unite the societies. The head of EU delegation expressed confidence that he and his partners would do everything to implement the agreement.

Armenia undertook serious obligations under this agreement, namely the fight against corruption, fair judicial system, creating equal opportunities for business, one of the reporters said, asking what mechanisms EU has to monitoring the process, if the commitments are not fulfilled.

Mr. Switalski replied that the agreement is a joint effort, and both sides have committed themselves to intensifying their relations.

The EU encourages but does not impose anything, so we can say about this great cooperation agreement that we are committed to doing more. We are sure that the assignments will be made in good spirit. I do not want to talk about the failures because I'm very optimistic that it will bring a new quality to our relationship. I am also optimistic about the implementation, he added.
Electoral advertising of Honduras President and National Party candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez is seen ahead of the November 26 presidential election in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, November 24, 2017. (Reuters/Edgard Garrido)

Incumbent Strong as Hondurans Go to Polls, Despite Power Grab Claims

TEGUCIGALPAHondurans head to the ballot box on Sunday for a presidential election and many expect the current U.S.-friendly leader to win a divisive second term, eight years after he supported a coup to remove a previous president who flirted with re-election.

Juan Orlando Hernandez, of the center-right National Party, has brought down a sky-high murder rate, raised economic growth and cut the deficit since he took office in 2014, proving himself to be a stable U.S. ally.

But critics warn that Hernandez is tightening his grip on power, using a pliant Supreme Court and electoral tribunal to clear a path for his re-election bid in what is one of the poorest, most violent countries in the Americas.

Polls suggest Hernandez, a savvy political operator who has benefited from a splintered opposition, will easily clinch a second term following a 2015 Supreme Court decision that overturned a constitutional ban on re-election. Voters will also elect 128 lawmakers.

Few in Tegucigalpa, the capital, seemed overly concerned that Hernandez, who in 2009 supported the ouster of former President Manuel Zelaya after he mooted a referendum on re-election, was consolidating power.

Better the devil you know, than the devil you dont, said Ada Solorzano, a 57-year-old nurse. During his time in office, hes fought the gangs and the drug traffickers, and hes improved the employment situation. We know he will continue the war on crime and that he plans to create more work.

Hernandez has promised to continue his militarized assault on the gangs, which have made Honduras one of the worlds deadliest nations.

Hernandez says he will build roads and bridges with public and private money to lure foreign investment, create 600,000 jobs and help lift growth to above 6 percent.

Television host Salvador Nasralla, who helms a broad left-right coalition called the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, has trailed Hernandez. Nasrallas bloc includes the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE), which is controlled by Zelaya, who many see as a force behind the coalition.

Hernandez had a 15-point lead over Nasralla in the last poll allowed under election rules, in September, with 37 percent of voters expected to back him, versus 22 percent for Nasralla.

Pundits give the unrelated Luis Zelaya, of the Liberal Party, little hope of winning. Instead, his candidacy has helped fragment Hernandezs opposition

Would-Be Strongman?

Central America has long struggled with leaders from the right and left who have sidestepped or ignored constitutional constraints on power.

Should Hernandez win, U.S. officials say they want him to quickly revitalize a stalled bill to cap presidential terms.

A would-be strongman? Earl Anthony Wayne, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, wrote on Twitter in reference to Hernandez.

Arguing that Hernandezs presidential bid is illegal, the opposition has refused to discuss term limit legislation. The Alliance and Liberal Party have both said they will not accept the results from an election tribunal they accuse of being co-opted by Hernandez until they conduct their own vote count.

Honduras has traditionally had close ties with the United States, which viewed the country as an ideological and military partner during the leftist guerrilla insurgencies that roiled the region throughout the Cold War era.

Hernandez has won favor with Washington, working closely on U.S.-bound migration with White House chief-of-staff John Kelly when he was head of U.S. Southern Command and the Department of Homeland Security, leading a purge of the police force and making it easier to extradite drug bosses.

But Hernandez makes for an awkward partner, having faced accusations that drug and graft-stained money has entered his campaigns and criticism he has stifled dissent.

Nasralla wants to bring a U.N.-backed investigative body to Honduras to tackle political corruption and organized crime.

Wilfredo Arteaga, a waiter in Tegucigalpa, said he thought not that much had improved under Hernandez.

Im definitely going to vote for the Alliance, because theres still a lot of violence, lots of unemployment and we need a real change, he said.

By Gabriel Stargardter

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#PPP PPP floor leader raps main opposition over budget cuts The floor leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), Rep. Joo Ho-young, on Thursday condemned the main opposition over what he claimed were budget cuts aimed at disrupting the ...

#banks-interest income Banks log record interest income through Sept. on rising rates Banks in South Korea earned record net interest income in the first three quarters of the year, helped by sharp rate hikes by the central bank, data showed Thursday. Their intere...
Nuclear accident cover-up in Russia: Toxic cloud spreads across Europe

After the Russian government initially denied any knowledge there had been a nuclear accident in the country, Moscow is now backtracking with officials saying theyve discovered extremely high concentrations of a radioactive isotope in parts of the country.

The acknowledgment comes amid reports that there had been a nuclear accident in Russia during the month of September, as European nations for weeks have detected traces of the isotope.

The Russian governments admission confirmed findings by a French nuclear safety institute, the IRSN, earlier in November. The institute detected a radioactive cloud wafting over Europe, the UKs Independent reported.

As the paper noted, Russian officials had previously denied they knew anything about a nuclear accident that may be causing the cloud.

Last month Russian state-owned nuclear company Rosatom  most recently known as the firm that successfully obtained 20 percent of all strategic U.S. uranium while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state for Barack Obama  announced at the time the accident likely occurred that radiation around all objects of Russian nuclear infrastructure is within the norm and at the level of background radiation.

But last week Rosgidromet, Russias meteorological agency, said in a statement that probes of radioactive aerosols from monitoring stations Argayash and Novogorny were found to contain radioisotope Ru-106 [Ruthenium-106] sometime between Sept. 25 and Oct. 1.

The isotope does not occur naturally; it is a product that comes from splitting atoms in a reactor, which is why experts were certain that there had been a nuclear accident of some kind in Russia.

Officials said that the Ru-106 was discovered in the enclave of Tatarstan, as well as parts of southern Russia. The isotope cloud managed to reach all European countries starting in Italy and toward the north of Europe beginning Sept. 29, said Rosgidromet. (Related: Legacy of Chernobyl: Boar shot in Sweden found to have 10 TIMES the accepted amount of radiation, 30 years after disaster.)

As the Independent noted further:

The service did not specify where the pollution originated, but a concentration 986 times the natural background level was found at Argayash, a village close to the Russian border with Kazakhstan and around 20 miles from the Mayak nuclear facility.

Russia has a lengthy history of nuclear accidents, including at the Mayak facility. There was an explosion at the facility in 1957, which exposed at least 272,000 people to elevated, dangerous levels of radiation. The site now serves as a facility for reprocessing nuclear fuels.

Frances IRSN said in its report regarding the hovering nuclear cloud that the pollution source most likely was due to an accident somewhere in a region between the Volga River and the Ural mountains.

The report also noted that the pollution levels were so elevated that had the accident occurred in France instead, authorities would have been forced to evacuate the site and a large portion of the surrounding areas.

The organization noted further that the concentrations of Ru-106 that were detected across Europe did not pose a major health threat.

IRSN also said that the leak could not have come from a nuclear reactor because if that had occurred, additional radioactive elements would have been detected as well. Rather, the organization believes that the cloud most likely came from an installation that is tied to the nuclear fuel cycle.

As previously stated, this isnt Russias first go-round with nuclear accidents. The Soviet and Russian navies have lost several nuclear-powered submarines, and one sub that was a diesel-electric model but was carrying nuclear ballistic missiles.

Russia is also home to the worlds worst nuclear disaster: Chernobyl, which is located in the country of Ukraine, which at the time of the accident  1986  was part of the Soviet Union.

Massive amounts of radiation escaped and spread across the western Soviet Union and Europe. As a result of the disaster, approximately 220,000 people had to be relocated from their homes, says a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Follow more news on radiation contamination at Radiation.news.

Sources include:

Independent.co.uk

TheNationalSentinel.com

Submit a correction >>
1. Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation

"Things are getting worse, we have to make them better. It's time to give a damn,

let's work together."



and



"People of the world unite, strength in numbers, we can get it right"

2. Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier

"But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau? Without him Caesar would have stood alone. He's the one who gives his body as a weapon to a war

and without him all this killing can't go on"



and



"He's the universal soldier and he really is to blame. His orders come from far away no more.They come from him, and you, and me and brothers can't you see, this is not the way we put an end to war."

3. Ani DiFranco - Amendment

"And if men can kill and be decorated instead of blamed, then a woman called upon to mother can choose to refrain"



and



"Trust, our differences make us stronger, not less"

4.The Dixie Chicks - I Hope

"'Cause our children are watching us, they put their trust in us, they're gonna be like us, so let's learn from our history and do it differently"

5. Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"



and



"Hey farmer farmer, put away that D.D.T. now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please."

Ask anyone to list a song about peace, cooperation, love, and a better life for all people and no doubt you'll probably get an answer like "Imagine" by John Lennon or "One Love" by Bob Marley. But men have proven throughout the entirety of human history that they just aren't any good and probably shouldn't even be in charge of anything at all. So lets take a look at what life might be like if women ruled the world based on the ideologies put forth in the music of some iconic women musicians:Janet Jackson preaches: working together, protesting against social injustice, having the courage to do what's best for humanity, and using music to break down man-made boundaries that separate us.Key lines:Buffy pulls no punches on "Universal Soldier" in which she outlines the responsibility of man for war. The song wasn't a hit when she released it and only gained popularity after it was covered by a male (because of course), but her words hold true today and highlight the role of every individual in war and how the power really does lie with the people - if we can band together and stop fighting each other for long enough to realize that.Key lines:Advocating for a world of feminism and equality for all, DiFranco has no fucking time for intolerant bullshit from anyone.Key lines:Their career took a major hit because they chose to speak out against a war monger. The Dixie Chicks' music has often been about equality, unity, and love and "I Hope" is a perfect example of that.Key lines:While Trump may not give a fuck about the environment, Joni Mitchell has been warning us for decades about the implications of ignoring the health of our planet. It may not be an anti-war anthem or a song about unity and peace, but Joni addresses one of the most prominent issues currently threatening peace, harmony, and happiness on Earth - climate change and the horrible mistreatment of Mother Nature.Key lines:Sources: 1
I'm just happy it's making people hate Frozen tbh. The first time it was okayish and the second time, I arrived thirty minutes later and it STILL wasn't done when you factored in previews and commercials.



I saw Coco twice - I never care about Pixar movies enough to see them twice. I loved it SO much.

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that 47 minute long frozen sequel before coco is white supremacy





lmaooo

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lmfaoo

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no lies

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I also love that the gif is literally of someone throwing a chancla lmao



Edited at 2017-11-27 04:39 pm (UTC) I heard the reason it was so long was that it was originally supposed to be a made-for-tv special. Just put it on the Disney Channel and call it a day (edit: oop this was actually in the post #ONTDreadingacademy I also love that the gif is literally of someone throwing a chancla lmao

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lol 20 mins? No thank you. I plan on seeing this later this week.

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Just skip it and boycott by sneaking in ur fav food

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Thats true lol

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lmao, they should take a cue from Mexicans and complain until they take it off :)



Also, I'm so, so glad people all over the world are loving the movie as well <333

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Hermosa pelicula, si antes tenia ganas de ir a Mexico ahora se multiplicaron por 100, en serio, tienen una cultura hermosa y me senti identificada en algunas cosas por ser latinoamericana, se la he recomendado a todos los que conozco tambien lolol.

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Ayyy, que bonito!! <333 Eso es lo mas hermoso de todo, aunque la pelicula sea muy mexicana en su contenido la gente de otros lugares se ha podido identificar con muchas cosas y es lindo ver como han conectado con ella. Y pues aqui los visitantes siempre son bienvenidos, ojala puedas venir pronto y experimentar lo bello que es mi pais :D

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Yo fui a verla este fin de semana y tampoco pasaron el corto de Frozen lol. Creo que en varios paises de LA esta siendo igual, lo cual es genial sumado a que esta pelicula es TAN latina! Es increible ver la cantidad de gente que se ha identificado y ha reconocido partecitas de sus culturas en ella.

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The target audience of a Pixar movie will probably enjoy the Frozen short than the adult accompanying them. Dont have much issue with it being there but dear lord its about 15 minutes too long. Shouldn't have to watch an entire episode of tv before getting what you came for. Can't wait to see this when it opens later this week.

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I doubt it, the kids in my theatre (and a few others judging by a comment I made before) were not into it AT ALL and were rowdy and talking and didn't even mention any of the character

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my nephews hated it. lmao. they legitimately were confused.

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I've had a couple people tell me they took their young siblings or cousins and even if they really like Frozen they got over the short not even halfway through lol.

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Hey boo!

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perfect time to go to the bathroom before the movie starts, tbh.

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I just went to the concession stand and got some mozzarella sticks. The line took 5EVA, but I got back right as Frozen ended. Small blessings, I guess

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Im so tired of Frozen. I work at a childrens store and it amazes me how much Elsa, Anna, Olaf crap is STILL around yet I never saw anything for Moana.

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Nope I dont know much about childrens movies but Moana is a Disney film like Frozen and yet theres such an outpouring of Frozen stuff still. Sad thing is people come to the store asking if we carry any Moana, Jasmine, or Tiana stuff and we dont. We carry the white princesses and frozen crap only.

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Although not as much as Frozen (and I can't believe it's still a thing), I bought my daughter a ton of Moana merch: Outfit, necklace, figures, a doll, drawing book, dvd, CD, busy book, book of the film, plush, cake mix, party stuff, holy shit I give Disney so much money)

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I work at the library and let me tell you...there are WAY more books for Frozen than Moana. While we got an influx of Moana books, it's nearing Christmas and now we have more Frozen books again.



The worst thing is that we have Santa come to visit every December and now we have Frozen characters join him so it's 'Santa and Friends'. I think it's bullshit. Focus on Santa!

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This was a lovely thing in Tokyo. I was there for 10 months total in two years and never saw any Frozen merch anywhere. Not even at the Disney store in Omotesando lmao bless

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I own several items of Frozen stuff because I needed a particular item (like a new sandwich container), and the ones with the Frozen characters slapped on it were cheaper than the plain versions because the market is so flooded so much of it is marked down.

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ONTD had a hard-on for this film and it made me so mad because it's so mediocre. People went on and on about the sisterhood aspect, but the thing is, it's not a new concept for Disney. Lilo & Stitch did it first and did it way better. And if we're expanding the notion to sibling relationships in general, I think Big Hero 6 portrayed a really touching relationship between Hiiro and Tadashi.

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The Disney store on Oxford Street in London has a big Moana statue, I wanted to take a selfie but it was right by the tills and my confidence levels weren't high enough that day haha.

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This movie had me fucking crying, especially since my grandpa passed away last year and they started singing Recuerdame and ahfhdfdhfjf all the fucking feels.

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i also loved:



Frida





Pepita





Mama Imelda





and of course Coco



ugh yes! i reminded me of my great-grandma who passed away in 2006. she was just like Cocoi also loved:FridaPepitaMama Imeldaand of course Coco

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Holy overreactions, batman.

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Nah

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a white response.

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I literally come here most of the time just for the ridiculous overreactions to anything.

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No

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That first tweet was me because I read about it here, thank god in my screening there wasn't any Frozen short, that shit is 20 minutes too long, glad it was cut from latam releases !!!!



Also I liked all the songs in spanish, the dub was amazing, the songs in english don't sound the same, idk.





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That's what sort of happened to me lol. I went to see it the other day and they didn't play the Frozen short, so when I read here all the people complaining about it I was like huh?



Latino America knows best, as usual.

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We are the best 



Yo me iba a ir tarde por lo del corto pero mi mama penso que era mejor idea ir temprano por si no conseguiamos boletas, tuvo razon porque estaba lleno y no hubo corto , fue lo mejor.

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Are the songs on Spotify? Were they originally written in Spanish and then translated? I'm curious, because Latin American Disney song translations have been getting close to being literal shit the last decade so I want to believe there's hope.

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lol I don't get the hate that Frozen is getting rn. It's not my favorite Pixar film by any means, but it is still pretty good. I haven't seen Coco yet (although I am dying to), but I don't think the fact that it is a Frozen short would bother me...just that it's SO long. I'm here to see the movie - not the super long short.

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I watched Zootopia stoned and it was so much deeper than I thought itd be. I loved it

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Zootopia is SO good. Is it underrated? I feel like everyone I knew was obsessed with it.

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yesssssssss zootopia deserved all the awards



that shits deep, man

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zootopia was so good. the bit with the sloths had me dying with laughter.

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I think everyone's just really over Frozen, especially because it was massively overhyped. Tangled is superior but that's just my personal bias.

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Frozen isn't even Pixar but straight-out Disney, which makes the fact that this short replaces the traditional Pixar short even more egregious imo

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First of all, Frozen isn't a Pixar movie. It's a Disney movie that recycled the plot of The Lion King.

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Frozen isn't Pixar. Frozen needs to GTFO.

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Disney's just gearing for Frozen 2 which is coming in 2019. Might as well start the hype train now

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It's good, but it's overrated and there are so many other films that get ignored.



Speaking of which, does anyone else really like Tangled?

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I want to see this but I gotta make sure to time things right because I would rather claw my own eyes out than subject myself to 20 minutes of Frozen.

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does the short include elsa & anna or is it just 20mins of olaf being annoying?

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they're both in it but it focuses on Olaf heavily.

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someone pointed out that it kinda has a cultural appropriation theme

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It's like, 2 minutes of Elsa and Anna and 18 minutes of Olaf being annoying lol

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DARPA Sets Advanced Plant Technologies Proposers Day for Dec. 12

The idea is to harness plants' natural mechanisms for sensing and responding to environmental stimuli and extend them to detect the presence of certain chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and even electromagnetic signals.

The Biological Technologies Office of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, will host a Proposers Day on Dec. 12 in Arlington, Va., to acquaint the science and technology community with the vision and goals of DARPA's new Advanced Plant Technologies program. A Nov. 17 post on the DARPA website explained the concept of APT. The post explained that APT program looks to plants as "the next generation of intelligence gatherers," and the program will pursue technologies to engineer robust plant-based sensors that are self-sustaining in their environment and can be remotely monitored using existing hardware.

The event will be webcast for those who want to participate remotely, but advance registration is required for both the physical meeting and the webcast, and the registration deadline is Dec. 6, or when capacity is reached, and Dec. 11 for webinar only registrations, or until webinar capacity is reached.

The idea is to harness plants' natural mechanisms for sensing and responding to environmental stimuli and extend them to detect the presence of certain chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and even electromagnetic signals. "APT aims to modify the genomes of plants in order to program in these specific types of sensing and trigger discreet response mechanisms in the presence of relevant stimuli, and do so in a way that does not compromise the plants ability to thrive. If the program is successful, it will deliver a new sensing platform that is energy independent, robust, stealthy, and easily distributed. Such sensors could find application outside of the military too, making it possible, for instance, for communities to safely identify landmines or unexploded ordinance leftover from past conflicts or testing grounds," the article explained.
PHOTO: IMO

Saudi Arabia Donates $1 Million to IMO

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has contributed $1 million to the International Maritime Organizations technical cooperation activities.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has contributed $1 million to the International Maritime Organizations technical cooperation activities. The check was presented to IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom.

The $1 million in funds is allocated as follows:

 $250,000 to support both the Djibouti Code of Conduct and the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct 2017 that together help signatory States to counter piracy and other illicit activities that threaten safety of navigation in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean area.

 $50,000 to combat piracy in West and Central Africa.

 $250,000 to support the activities of the IMO Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme.

 $50,000 to support and strengthen the role of women working in the maritime sector in the Arab world.

 $300,000 for the Endowment Fund of the World Maritime University (WMU) in Sweden.

 $100,000 to the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) in Malta to support some scholarships.
Texas de Brazil Churrascaria, the new Brazilian-American steakhouse at 2550 N. Mayfair Rd., will introduce its churrasco and rodizio-style dining to guests beginning at 5 p.m. tonight.

The restaurant occupies the Mayfair Mall outlot building that was formerly home to McCormick & Schmick's.

Recognized for its unique blend of Brazilian culture and Texas hospitality, the Wauwatosa churrascaria is the first Wisconsin location for the largest Brazilian-American steakhouse brand in the world.

The restaurant, which seats over 300, offers an expansive salad bar featuring over 50 hot and cold selections including Brazilian specialties like Moqueca (fish stew), smoked salmon and creamy lobster bisque. On the carnivorous side, diners can choose from a variety of freshly grilled skewered meats including lamb chops, filet mignon and Brazilion sausages, all of which are carved tableside by costumed gauchos. Pricing is $42.99 for adults ($24.99 for salad bar only); children ages 6-12 eat for half-off; children ages 3-5 eat for $5 and children under 2 years of age dine for free.

Other features include an open kitchen where meats are grilled over charcoal, a wine cellar featuring private label wines bottled exclusively for Texas de Brazil by Santa Rita Vineyards in Chile, an intimate lounge and both private and semi-private dining areas.

Texas de Brazil is open for dinner Monday through Thursday from 5 to 9:30 p.m., Friday from 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. Happy Hour takes place Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and features a special bar menu and drink specials including $3 domestic beer, $5 house wine and house cocktails, and $7 martinis.
On November 9th, 2017, during an OnMilwaukee editorial meeting, pop culture editor Matt Mueller brought up the craze of Hallmark Christmas movies. It was a decision he would come to immediately regret, as he was quickly forced assigned to watch a new Hallmark movie a week during the holiday season and write about his discoveries and loss of dignity.

These are the chronicles of Matt's Hallmark holiday hell.

"The Sweetest Christmas"

My first excruciating excursion into the world of Hallmark Christmas movies wound up shockingly less excruciating than expected. But if that one managed to win me over, my second serving, "The Sweetest Christmas," looked even more digestible. After all, it's about cookies! And ... my god ... is that who I think it is?! Could it actually be?! LACEY "QUEEN OF HALLMARK" CHABERT HAS ARRIVED; JESUS CHRIST HAS RISEN TODAY!

Mad Libs plot summary

A big-city and/or corporate secretary and wannabe cook arrives in a small town in the hopes of winning the big gingerbread contest. In the process, she stumbles into a handsome old ex-boyfirend and restaurant owner who's fallen out of love with the holidays thanks to being too busy after his divorce, but also has the oven she needs to bake her cookies. Will she win the contest, while also thawing his frozen, Grinch-like heart? And will they find the greatest Christmas gift of all ... love?



Hot chocolate, chirpy relationship commentary from a best friend character and adoring looks from his adorable son ensue.

Who stars?

Before I knew of the cornball movie titles or the cheesy Mad Libs predictable plots, I knew that Lacey Chabert was one of the queens of the Hallmark Channel (her and the cast of "Full House"). And I'll be honest: I was kind of excited! After all, she's not the usual soap opera actress or fifth most famous person from a '90s show. OK, she was both on a soap opera ("All My Children") and was the fifth most famous person from a '90s show ("Party of Five"), but after that, she starred at the iconic Gretchen Wieners in "Mean Girls" and provided the voice for Eliza Thornberry on the Nickelodeon animated show "The Wild Thornberrys." Her star clearly burned much longer  and shined a lot brighter  than most Hallmark actresses. A plethora of cookies AND a genuine actress in the lead?! "The Sweetest Christmas" is going to be so fetch!

Meanwhile, in less important news, Lea Coco plays her romantic lead, Nick. He's had a small career in his own right, appearing in "J. Edgar" and "Sinister 2," but considering his name and that he's starring across Gretchen Wieners, I shall call him Glen Coco from here on out.

Holly jolly or holy hell?

I wasn't expecting to go into a Hallmark movie with expectations  and after "The Sweetest Christmas," I remember why I didn't. Not that it was particularly bad, it was just ... fine.

I'll be honest: I expected more from the patron saint of Hallmark, Lacey Chabert. I knew that she, alongside the "Full House" cast, was one of the channel's favorites  and that she had a more notable acting career  so I sat down on my couch ready for something special, something perfectly saccharine with maybe even a bit of that "Mean Girls" bite. And instead, she was ... fine?

Other than a brief freakout near the end where her motormouth Gretchen Wieners ways briefly burst out, she was merely blandly pleasant and giggly. This is the crown royalty of the Hallmark Crown? I was expecting more Lacey Chabert from "Mean Girls," not Lacey Chabert from "Christian Mingle: The Movie."

To be fair, it's probably not all Chabert's fault; a Hallmark movie relies on a cute and cuddly Christmas romance, and she's not given much to work with here. Glen Coco is nice enough, but toothpaste commercial bland, while Lane Edwards  Mr. Sowerberry from "Riverdale"  is suitably dopey as her always business-minded ex-boyfriend boss ... but almost too much so. Even though you know they won't end up together, you can't help wondering how they ever got together in the first place.

He's a doofus who thinks arranging a "very special" dinner that "has to be perfect," complete with rose pedals, for a job proposal instead of a wedding proposal is a fine strategy. Or that the best way to show you're rooting for her in the gingerbread contest ... is to bring in the world's best gingerbread genius to compete against her. Because of the marketing possibilities! Their first date must've just been talking about spreadsheets.

The best guy in the movie is unfortunately off-the-market: Glen Coco's lead chef and best friend Ralphie, who not only is the most fun of everyone in the movie but also has just the smoothest, silkiest voice thanks to veteran voiceover actor Jonathan Adams. Forget gingerbread cookies; this dude's voice is vocal caramel.

And speaking of forgetting about gingerbread cookies, WHERE IS THE FOOD PORN IN THIS FOOD MOVIE!? At worst, I expected several montages of delicious frosting seductively enrobing freshly baked cookies and batter lovingly poured into pans. I wanted to go through at least five trays of Oreos watching this thing. Instead, all I got was a few shots of dry-ass looking cookies and one decent montage of Kylie cutting out some fresh cookies that maybe forced me to eat one tube of cookie dough at most. I EXPECTING TO GAIN 50 POUNDS WATCHING IT. I even wore my stretchy pants.

This isn't to say that "The Sweetest Christmas" was painful or even bad to watch. Adams is a better than average sidekick character, and there's always the fun of celebrating the channel's classic cliches and treacly pleasantness in action, from the arrival of the old boyfriend to her boss's doltish attempts at romance and Kylie proclaiming, "I have to show him how I feel in the best way I know how: with gingerbread."

It's still that signature Hallmark soft and saccharine holiday sweetness  minus another terrible third act twist, originally just Kylie and Glen Coco splitting because of the stress of the competition (fair) but then contriving him to walk in on her as her boss proposes. And why is that her fault? Why does that deserve his scorn? It's not her fault her doofus boss proposed a week too late.

The result? "The Sweetest Christmas" is the Chips Ahoy of Hallmark holiday movies, sweet enough to technically sate your sweet tooth but not actually particularly good. So it's neither holly jolly nor holy hell. I guess I need a new ranking ...

Verdict: I should've watched "The Great British Baking Show" instead

Drinking game drunken-ness score

Not that I needed any more excuses to drink heavily while watching Hallmark holiday movies, but thanks to Wide Open Eats, I found this Hallmark drinking game created last winter by human saint Brittany Graves and posted on Facebook. So let's go through the checklist and see how crushed we can get off Christmas cliches!

(PHOTO: Brittany Graves Facebook)

Reference to a dead relative? Glen Coco's mom died! DRINK! (uh, I mean, we're so sorry for your loss)

Glen Coco's mom died! DRINK! (uh, I mean, we're so sorry for your loss) Christmas-y main character name? Glen Coco's actual name in the movie? Nick. TAKE ANOTHER DRINK!

Glen Coco's actual name in the movie? Nick. TAKE ANOTHER DRINK! Fake Christmas tree disses? Kylie takes a jab at Glen Coco's gas fireplace, but the Christmas trees are all real and decorated with plentiful paper tinsel. PUT YOUR DRINK DOWN!

Kylie takes a jab at Glen Coco's gas fireplace, but the Christmas trees are all real and decorated with plentiful paper tinsel. PUT YOUR DRINK DOWN! Newcomer in old-timey tradition? Not particularly. There's no real newcomers to the snowy heaven of ... Helen, Georgia?, so everyone's traditions are pretty common. CONTINUE ABSTAINING!

Not particularly. There's no real newcomers to the snowy heaven of ... Helen, Georgia?, so everyone's traditions are pretty common. CONTINUE ABSTAINING! Hot chocolate? Ralphie nicely fetches Kylie and Bobby some hot cocoa after grocery shopping, so WE RETURN YOU TO YOUR PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED DRINKING!

Ralphie nicely fetches Kylie and Bobby some hot cocoa after grocery shopping, so WE RETURN YOU TO YOUR PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED DRINKING! Near-miss kiss? Not one, but two  but don't get two excited; they're pretty weak. One comes after Kylie falls briefly off a ladder putting the angel on the tree and Glen Coco catches her (squee!) but they only match eyes for a second or two before friggin' Bobby calls them away (dammit!). Then they chat again and get, eh, moderately close before Bobby interrupts again. Weak fake kiss game, "The Sweetest Christmas"! I'd normally say two drinks for two near-misses, but these earn just one. REGRETFULLY DRINK ONCE!

Not one, but two  but don't get two excited; they're pretty weak. One comes after Kylie falls briefly off a ladder putting the angel on the tree and Glen Coco catches her (squee!) but they only match eyes for a second or two before friggin' Bobby calls them away (dammit!). Then they chat again and get, eh, moderately close before Bobby interrupts again. Weak fake kiss game, "The Sweetest Christmas"! I'd normally say two drinks for two near-misses, but these earn just one. REGRETFULLY DRINK ONCE! Product placement? So during that grocery shopping scene, the camera lingers a REALLY long time on a bunch of tin vats of classic olive oil that might be product placement, but after hours of mid-Thanksgiving research that my family LOVED, I couldn't find the brand anywhere. So maybe the director just really loved olive oil. Otherwise, unless the product is delicious gingerbread treats, there's nothing. RETURN TO SOBRIETY!

So during that grocery shopping scene, the camera lingers a REALLY long time on a bunch of tin vats of classic olive oil that might be product placement, but after hours of mid-Thanksgiving research that my family LOVED, I couldn't find the brand anywhere. So maybe the director just really loved olive oil. Otherwise, unless the product is delicious gingerbread treats, there's nothing. RETURN TO SOBRIETY! Snowball fight or ice skating? Not just one but TWO snowball fights! TWO DRANKS!

Not just one but TWO snowball fights! TWO DRANKS! Ugly sweater or tie? There's some rough looking melted snowman cupcakes, but no ugly sweaters or ties. STOP DRINKING!

There's some rough looking melted snowman cupcakes, but no ugly sweaters or ties. STOP DRINKING! Big city person in small town? Other than importing gingerbread champion Ina Bruckner into town for the finale, nope. STARE LONGINGLY AT YOUR BEVERAGE BUT DON'T TOUCH!

Other than importing gingerbread champion Ina Bruckner into town for the finale, nope. STARE LONGINGLY AT YOUR BEVERAGE BUT DON'T TOUCH! Caroling, tree farming or cookie baking? Sure, there's some carolers in the background and a scene where Kylie fetches Christmas grump Glen Coco a Christmas tree! But my god, the cookie-baking scenes. It's pretty chaste when it comes to the food porn, but there's plenty of cookies popping in the oven, which means there's a lot of drinks popping down my throat! PUT THE DRINK TO YOUR MOUTH AND JUST LET IT POUR!

Sure, there's some carolers in the background and a scene where Kylie fetches Christmas grump Glen Coco a Christmas tree! But my god, the cookie-baking scenes. It's pretty chaste when it comes to the food porn, but there's plenty of cookies popping in the oven, which means there's a lot of drinks popping down my throat! PUT THE DRINK TO YOUR MOUTH AND JUST LET IT POUR! Mistletoe? Dammit, no mistletoe. STOP DRINKING!

Dammit, no mistletoe. STOP DRINKING! Magic deal with Santa/angel? No magic here, except for the magic of baking. KEEP NOT DRINKING!

No magic here, except for the magic of baking. KEEP NOT DRINKING! Anytime time you hear "Jingle Bells"? Still nothing? DAMMIT, CONTINUE NOT DRINKING!

Still nothing? DAMMIT, CONTINUE NOT DRINKING! Snowed in? Unless you mean snowed in by baking powder and frosting. COME ON, SERIOUSLY, STILL NO DRINKING?!

Unfortunately, there's no finishing your drink for the Christmas cynic (since there's not much of a Christmas cynic in this one) or snowing on Christmas, just a carousel ride instead. Luckily, since "The Sweetest Christmas" is blessed by the appearance of St. Lacey Chabert of Hallmark, you at least get to take a shot. Add in all the drinks for the cookie-baking, and you'll be just tipsy enough to find this lukewarm entry adorable.

Verdict: A Slightly Woozy Winter Wonderland.
As any parent knows, the line between nurturing and (over-)nudging can be a thin one, and its one I try not to overstep (too often). But I have a kid who is a great artist and is really interested in engineering, too, so I admit I probably edge toward the nudge too much when I give him books about architecture and point out interesting buildings.

He didnt seem to mind when we did an architecture-themed weekend in Chicago a few years ago, probably because it included a fun LEGO architecture class.

This autumn, I brought him back to the Windy City for a little round two.

We set up camp at The Langham, 330 N. Wabash Ave. in River North, to my mind one of Chicagos finest hotels, with a great location, comfortable, clean and attractively modern rooms with great views out over the river, as well as stellar family-focused amenities like a pool, a cinema suite and a play suite for kids that includes a nice video game setup.

But because The Langham is located in the IBM Plaza, it also offers a great conversation starter about architecture. Designed by innovative architect Mies van der Rohe  who died before construction began  the 1973 building is on the National Register of Historic Places for its "distinctive characteristics of the Modern Movement," with its sleek lines, and black steel and glass design that would inspire so many buildings that followed.

Its an opportunity to talk not only about Mies buildings and his enduring influence but also about how architects consider things like siting, too. Here, the architect put the building on the north end of its lot to accommodate not only subterranean issues like subway lines, but also to preserve views along the river out toward the lake for others living and working along the Chicago River corridor.

We also visited the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which features the work of more than 140 architects and artists from nearly two dozen countries at events and exhibitions scattered all over the city, including art exhibitions, films, talks and more.

The design festival  which runs through Jan. 7, 2018  is free and open to the public and complete details can be found at the website.

In the interest of maintaining focus  and our feet  we explored the festivals main venue: the gorgeous neoclassical Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., which had long served as the citys central library.

Here we checked out gallery after gallery of architectural- and design-themed art installations and exhibitions that often combined photographs, models and other media not just of buildings but often abstract works from fertile minds looking for new voices and means of expression in architecture.

These works offered a valuable lesson to a young artist on the importance of exploration, of tinkering, of pushing boundaries and of finding meaningful ways to incorporate the lessons learned from this inquisitive approach into designs.

Be sure to check out "Vertical City," which has nearly 20 16-foot-tall building models that re-imagine Chicago's landmark Tribune Tower.

Often I found my child oohing and aahing over the Cultural Center building itself, which is the perfect lead-in to taking a walking or boat tour over at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave.

We also took a ride on the El loop so that we could get an up-close look at the new Calatrava-influenced Washington/Wabash station (designed by exp).

A couple weeks later, I returned to Chicago  adults-only this time  and did a little more nosing around town, thanks to Open House Chicago, that citys equivalent to Doors Open Milwaukee.

Because of  or despite  torrential rain, we managed to hit a handful of sites within a relatively tight area, including the Lyric Opera (pictured above), the City Halls, the eye-catching Carbide & Carbon Building, the Builders Building and the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum, which I highly recommend for its mix of historical photos and information about the river alongside the opportunity to see the massive gears and other inner workings of the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Though this annual event has already passed, mark your calendar for next years event in October, because its a great way to see  for free!  a couple hundred Chicago spaces you cant always explore and get a fresh look at a familiar landscape.

For this trip we stayed at the Ace Hotel  311 N. Morgan St. in the ever-more booming West Loop neighborhood  which opened in July in a former cheese factory. The renovated building offers an interesting look at how new and old can be married in a project like the Ace.



(PHOTO: Anna Cardeuc/Ace Hotels)

Chicagos GREC Architects worked to incorporate Mies van der Rohes Bauhaus modernism  deeply ingrained in the Chicago landscape  into the existing structure without erasing all traces of the cheese factory that operated in what is called the Fulton Market district of the area. The result is a bright, modern structure that feels anchored to its site by the facade of the old factory.

Inside, the rooms have a similar modern-industrial vibe with exposed concrete ceilings and supports, plywood built-ins and polished steel bed frames.

Just across the street, a new cocktail bar opened that was also pitch perfect.

Prairie School, 326 N. Morgan St.  as the name implies  riffs on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright in its decor. Leather coasters and even ice cubes are embossed with Wright-like designs and the menus and business cards are executed in the instantly recognizable Wright style.

Theres a cocktail called "Falling Water," and another called "Tall Boxes," a brandy old fashioned, which the menu describes as a, "much-maligned style of old-fashioned (with muddled orange and cherry)," that "became popular around the time period Frank Lloyd Wright began deriding skyscrapers, calling them tall boxes."

The food menu is small  just bar bites, really  but it does nod at Wrights Wisconsin roots via the inclusion of fried cheese curds and a bratwurst.

The drinks arent cheap  about $15  but they are really well-made and with interesting flavor combinations that make Prairie School worth a visit on your Chicago architecture and design jaunt.
Dhaka's archbishop is confident that Pope Francis will use a rare visit to Bangladesh to underscore the plight of Rohingya refugees and those displaced by climate change. Cardinal Patrick D'Rozario, the highest-ranking member of the Catholic clergy in Bangladesh, said Monday the pontiff would bring "inspiration and love" to a region where millions are afflicted by conflict, poverty and rising sea levels. The papal visit was not just for Bangladesh's tiny Catholic community, he said, but for all those facing hardship in the impoverished Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people. "Everyone has these questions in mind: will the Pope talk about the climate change? Will he talk about the Rohingyas? Will he say something about the workers of Rana plaza disaster?" he said, the latter referring to a 2013 building collapse, which killed more than 1,100 garment workers. "We have high hopes he will talk about all these issues, which is very realistic. We truly hope he will respond." The 80-year-old pope has been vocal about the rights of the poor and climate change, a pressing issue in low-lying riverine Bangladesh where coastal villagers are already being forced from their homes by rising sea levels. But the persecution of the Rohingya -- a Muslim minority from Myanmar's Rakhine State -- has been pitched as the focal point of his visit. More than 620,000 of the group have fled mainly Buddhist Myanmar for Bangladesh since August, amid a campaign of army violence described by US and UN officials as ethnic cleansing. Most now live in squalid camps in Bangladesh where a shortage of aid and critical supplies has created a humanitarian emergency. Francis has championed the rights of refugees around the world and suggested he would raise the persecution of the Rohingya during his highly sensitive South Asia tour. He has called the Rohingya his "brothers and sisters" in repeated entreaties to ease their plight. Arriving in Myanmar Monday -- marking the first ever papal visit to the country -- Francis met with the powerful army chief accused of overseeing the brutal campaign to drive the Rohinyga out. But during the 15-minute meeting in Yangon, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing told the pope that "Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all" according to a Facebook post published by the general's office. Francis will on Tuesday hold talks with Myanmar's de-facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. He will travel to Bangladesh on Thursday, where he will meet a group of Rohingya in Dhaka. D'Rozario said Francis would also conduct a mass-prayer at Suhrawardi Udyan, a colonial-era green park in the capital, with at least 80,000 Catholics expected to join. It marks the first papal tour of Bangladesh since Pope John Paul II visited in 1986. Christians make up less than 0.5 percent of Bangladesh but the minority has played a prominent role in its history. Even today, schools and hospitals run by Catholic missionaries provide a lifeline for poor communities.
Corn that prehistoric people grew in the Southwest 1,000 years ago looked nothing like the sweet corn people eat today. Credit: Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services

Conventional wisdom holds that prehistoric villagers planted corn, and lots of it, to survive the dry and hostile conditions of the American Southwest.

But University of Cincinnati archaeology professor Alan Sullivan is challenging that long-standing idea, arguing instead that people routinely burned the understory of forests to grow wild crops 1,000 years ago.

"There has been this orthodoxy about the importance of corn," said Sullivan, director of graduate studies in UC's Department of Anthropology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. "It's been widely considered that prehistoric peoples of Arizona between A.D. 900 to 1200 were dependent on it.

"But if corn is lurking out there in the Grand Canyon, it's hiding successfully because we've looked all over and haven't found it."

Sullivan has published a dozen papers outlining the scarce evidence of corn agriculture at more than 2,000 sites where they have found pottery sherds and other artifacts of prehistoric human settlement. He summarized his findings in a presentation last month at Boston University.

Sullivan has spent more than two decades leading archaeological field research to Grand Canyon National Park and the region's Upper Basin, home to the 1.6-million-acre Kaibab National Forest.

When you think of the Grand Canyon, you might picture rocky cliffs and desert vistas. But the Upper Basin, where Sullivan and his students work, is home to mature forests of juniper and pinyon trees stretching as far as you can see, he said.

"When you look down into the Grand Canyon, you don't see any forest. But on either rim there are deep, dense forests," he said.

On these high-elevation plateaus, Sullivan and his students have unearthed ceramic jugs adorned with corrugated patterns and other evidence of prehistoric life. Sullivan is particularly interested in the cultural and social practices of growing, sharing and eating food, also called a foodway.

"What would constitute evidence of a corn-based foodway?" he asked. "And if experts agree it should look like this but we don't find evidence of it, that would seem to be a problem for that model."

UC professor Alan Sullivan's research is challenging the assumption that prehistoric people subsisted on corn in America's Southwest. Instead, he said evidence suggests they used fire to cultivate wild foods. Credit: Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services

Like a detective, Sullivan has pieced together clues firsthand and from scientific analysis to make a persuasive argument that people used fire to promote the growth of edible leaves, seeds and nuts of plants such as amaranth and chenopodium, wild relatives of quinoa. These plants are called "ruderals," which are the first to grow in a forest disturbed by fire or clear-cutting.

"It's definitely a paradigm-threatening opinion," Sullivan said. "It's not based on wild speculation. It's evidence-based theorizing. It has taken us about 30 years to get to the point where we can confidently conclude this."

Lab analysis identified ancient pollen from dirt inside clay pots that were used 1,000 years ago before Sullivan and his students found them.

"They've identified 6,000 or 7,000 pollen grains and only six [grains] were corn. Everything else is dominated by these ruderals," Sullivan said.

The corn itself looked nothing like the hearty ears of sweet corn people enjoy at barbecues today. The ears were puny, about one-third the size of a typical cob, with tiny, hard kernels, Sullivan said.

So if prehistoric people were not growing corn, what were they eating? Sullivan found clues around his excavation sites that people set fires big enough to burn away the understory of grasses and weeds but small enough not to harm the pinyon and juniper trees, important sources of calorie-rich nuts and berries.

Evidence for this theory was found in ancient trees. Raging wildfires leave burn scars in growth rings of surviving trees. In the absence of frequent small fires, forests would accumulate vast amounts of underbrush and fallen timber to create conditions ripe for an inferno sparked by a lightning strike. But examinations of ancient juniper and ponderosa pine trees found no burn scars, suggesting big fires are a relatively new phenomenon in Arizona.

"To me that confirms there weren't massive fires back then," Sullivan said.

Sullivan also studied the geologic layers at these sites. Like a time capsule, the stratigraphicanalysis captured the periods before and after people lived there. He found higher concentrations of wild edible plants in the period when people lived there. And when people abandoned the sites, the area they left behind saw fewer of these plants.

But it was only this year that Sullivan found contemporary evidence supporting his theory that prehistoric people generated a spring bounty by setting fires. Sullivan returned to the Grand Canyon last spring to examine forest destroyed by a massive 2016 fire. Touched off by a lightning strike, the blaze called the Scott Fire laid waste to 2,660 acres of pines, junipers and sagebrush.

University of Cincinnati archaeology students study a prehistoric site near Grand Canyon National Park. Credit: Alan Sullivan/UC

Despite the intensity of the forest fire, Sullivan found edible plants growing thick everywhere underfoot just months later.

"This burned area was covered in ruderals. Just covered," he said. "That to us was confirmation of our theory. Our argument is there's this dormant seed bed that is activated by any kind of fire."

Archaeologists with the National Park Service have found evidence that corn grew below the rim of the Grand Canyon, said Ellen Brennan, cultural resource program manager for the national park.

"It does appear that the ancient people of the Grand Canyon never pursued corn agriculture to the extent that other ancestral Puebloan peoples did in other parts of the Southwest," Brennan said. "In the Grand Canyon, it appears that there continued to be persistent use of native plants as a primary food source rather than corn."

The National Park Service has not examined whether prehistoric people used fire to improve growing conditions for native plants. But given what is known about cultures at the time, it is likely they did, Brennan said.

The first assumptions about what daily life was like in the Southwest 1,000 years ago came from more recent observations of Native Americans such as the Hopi, said Neil Weintraub, archaeologist for Kaibab National Forest. He worked alongside Sullivan at some of the sites in the Upper Basin.

"Corn is still a big part of the Hopi culture. A lot of dances they do are about water and the fertility of corn," he said. "The Hopi are seen as the descending groups of Puebloan."

While native peoples elsewhere in the Southwest no doubt relied on corn, Weintraub said, Sullivan's work has convinced him that residents of the Upper Basin relied on wild foodand used fire to cultivate it.

"It's a fascinating idea because we really see that these people were highly mobile. On the margins where it's very dry we think they were taking advantage of different parts of the landscape at different times of the year," Weintraub said.

"It's been well documented that Native Americans burned the forest in other parts of the country. I see no reason why they wouldn't have been doing the same thing 1,000 years ago," he said.

UC professor Alan Sullivan holds a pottery sherd recovered from an archaeological site in Arizona. Credit: University of Cincinnati

The area around the Grand Canyon is especially dry, going many weeks without rain. Still, life persists. Weintraub said the forest generates a surprising bounty of food if you know where to look. Some years, the pinyon trees produce a bumper crop of tasty, nutritious nuts.

"In a good year, we didn't need to bring lunch in the field when we were out at our archaeological surveys. We'd be cracking pinyons all day," Weintraub said.

Weintraub recently studied the forest burned in last year's big Scott Fire. The exposed ground was thick with new undergrowth, particularly a wild relative of quinoa called goosefoot, he said.

"Goosefoot has a minty smell to it, especially in the fall. We actually started chewing on it. It was pretty pleasant," Weintraub said. "It's a high-nutrient food. I'd be curious to know more about how native peoples processed it for food."

UC's Sullivan said this prehistoric land management can teach us lessons today, especially when it comes to preventing devastating fires.

"Foresters call it 'the wicked problem.' All of our forests are anthropogenic [man-made] because of fire suppression and fire exclusion," Sullivan said.

"These forests are unnatural. They're alien to the planet. They have not had any major fires in them in decades," he said. "The fuel loads have built up to the point where you get a little ignition source and the fire is catastrophic in ways that they rarely were in the past."

The National Park Service often lets fires burn in natural areas when they do not threaten people or property. But increasingly people are building homes and businesses adjacent to or within forests. Forest managers are reluctant to conduct controlled burning so close to population, Sullivan said.

Eventually so much dry wood builds up that a dropped cigarette or unattended campfire can lead to devastating fires such as the 2016 blaze that killed 14 people and destroyed 11,000 acres in the Great Smoky Mountains or the fires in California this year that killed 40 people and caused an estimated $1 billion in property damage.

"It's a chronic problem. How do you fix it?" he asked. "The U.S. Forest Service has experimented with different methods: prescribed burning, which creates a lot of irritating smoke, or thinning the forest, which creates a disposal problem."

Species of corn found in the American Southwest. Credit: University of Cincinnati

Fire also seems to increase the diversity of forest species. Sullivan said vegetation surveys find less biodiversity in forests today than he found in his archeological samples.

"That is one measure of how devastating our management of fire has been to these forests," he said. "These fire-responsive plants have basically disappeared from the landscape. Species diversity in some cases has collapsed."

Today, federal land managers conduct controlled burns when practical to address this problem, even in national parks such as the Grand Canyon.

"The fire management program for Grand Canyon National Park seeks to reintroduce fire as a natural agent of the environment," the park's Brennan said. "That is to reduce ground fuels through prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and wildland fire."

Scientists also are studying how to adjust forest management techniques in the face of climate change, she said.

"Program managers are working to understand how climate change affects forest management and how to restore forests to the point where fire can follow a more natural return interval given a particular forest type," she said.

Climate change is expected to make wildfires more frequent and severe with rising temperatures and lower humidity. Meanwhile, public lands are under increasing pressure from private interests such as tourism and mining, putting more people at potential risk from fire, Sullivan said.

"Rather than create more uranium mines or establish more tourist cities in our forests, it's better to spend our money on addressing 'the wicked problem,'" Sullivan said. "Unless we solve that, all of these other ventures will only add to the severity of the risks."
Barley flavors beer. Credit: The Sainsbury Laboratory

What makes a perfectly flavoured pint? It's been the obsession of brewers big and small for centuries.

For some it's the hops, others say it's the water, or yeast. But the science of beer has just added a flavour to the mash...barley.

The discovery follows a five-year study involving researchers at The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, alongside colleagues in the USA.

Until now it was a widely-held brewing trade opinion that it was the malting process not the barley that contributed to the flavour and aroma of beer.

Additional flavour enhancements were provided the choice of hops, water and yeast. Or sometimes fruit, coffee, and spices.

Varieties of barley were chiefly selected for their suitability for the malting process and the efficiency with how barley is turned into sugary malt.

But many brewers insisted that certain barley varieties did contribute to flavour above and beyond the malting process. In addition to genetics, they believed, environment and location - what the wine industry calls terroir - also played a part.

And it turns out they are right, according to Dr Matthew Moscou, one of the authors of the study from The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich.

"The malting process directly impacts the wider profiles of flavour - how you get a pale ale, lager, or a porter - but what this study shows is that subtle flavour profile of the barley variety selected carries through that process," he said.

"This provides the motivation to look into our seed base and start looking at those cultivars that were grown in the past and asking what kind of flavour profiles we can bring into modern breeding."

The research project, which appears in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, set out to test the theory that barley cultivar and the place it is grown can affect beer flavour.

First, researchers selected two barley cultivars Full Pint and Golden Promise, which have entirely different flavour profiles when used to brew beer.

The cultivars were crossed and modern breeding techniques used to create a population of 200 lines of barley to observe useful field traits.

To test the hypothesis that "terroir" applied to barley flavour, they grew populations across three sites in Oregon, USA.

The barley was harvested micro-malted and micro-brewed using a customised scientific approach that ensured consistency between batches.

Around 150 beers were prepared for sensory testing using a trained panel - people with sensitive palates employed by the brewing industry who know how to differentiate between a flavour wheel of 10 descriptors.

The descriptors were: cereal, colour, floral, fruit, grass, honey, malt, sweet, toasted and toffee.

These qualitative tests on the beers and control beers were used to understand how genes, location, and the malting process influenced flavour.

DNA analysis showed genes in varieties associated with flavour and genes associated with malting suitability were in separate parts of the barley genome. The study found that the genetic effect was larger than the environment.

"Major targets in barley breeding is yield and malting quality, said Dr Moscou. "But this study has shown that the flavour profile has little to do with the malting characteristics. That's important because it says you can breed barley for malting...but you won't necessarily be breeding for flavour."

The study findings concluded that: "Barley varieties make different contributions to beer flavour, growing environment can have an effect, variety flavour contributions have a genetic basis and variety contributions to beer flavour develop during malting."

A striking characteristic of the work was that the majority of funding for the project came from brewers, including the The Flavour- 7 Pack (Bells, Deschutes, Firestone-Walker, New Glarus, Russian River, Sierra Nevada, and Summit) and the Brewers Association. Additional support came from maltsters and growers at Rahr Malting, Mecca Grade Estate Malting, and OreGro Seed. Work at The Sainsbury Laboratory was funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

More information: Effects of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Variety and Growing Environment on Beer Flavor, Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, dx.doi.org/10.1094/ASBCJ-2017-4860-01 , www.asbcnet.org/publications/j  CJ-2017-4860-01.aspx
An analysis of tornado signatures from the past 16 years -- including data from the Ontario-Quebec VHF Windprofiler Radar Network -- could mean faster, more accurate tornado prediction. Pictured here with antenna elements at a nearby radar array: researchers Anna Hocking, a Western University alumna and Ph.D., and Professor Wayne Hocking, who leads the Atmospheric Dynamics Group based at Western's Department of Physics and Astronomy. Credit: Western University, London, Canada

When mere seconds of storm warning could mean the difference between harm or safety, two researchers with ties to Western University in London, Canada, have developed a tornado-prediction method they say could buy as much as 20 minutes additional warning time.

These radar-based calculations can forecast a tornado, with 90 per cent accuracy within a 100-kilometre radius, say Anna Hocking, PhD and a Western alumna, and Prof. Wayne Hocking, who leads the Atmospheric Dynamics Group based at Western's Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science.

They have authored a paper entitled "Tornado Identification and Forewarning with VHF Windprofiler Radars," published today in Atmospheric Science Letters, a journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

"Typically, meteorologists look for specific signatures that include wind speeds plus an overshoot, a dome-like knob that forms atop a thundercloud," said Anna Hocking. "What we've been able to do, for the first time, is add in and quantify a third factor: turbulence."

The pair use a unique Ontario-Quebec network of purpose-built radars that measure wind and turbulence through the upper atmosphere, troposphere and lower stratosphere. The O-QNet of 10 radar arrays (including one just north of London) was built in part with funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, as well as NSERC and Environment and Climate Change Canada. The network also involves collaboration with researchers at York University and McGill University.

"Because this network is so large and is designed to measure turbulence as well as winds, we've been able to see patterns, predictors, that haven't been evident before," said Wayne Hocking, who is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

The Hockings collected and analyzed 16 years of tornado data, including reports to Environment Canada from citizen observers, and correlated that with real-time and archived data from these radar arrays.

Of the 31 documented tornadoes, specific profiles of cloud overshoot into the stratosphere, wind velocity and turbulence were uniquely present 90 per cent of the timewith all three signature features evident 10 to 20 minutes before the tornado formed. There was less than a 15% likelihood of false detection, Wayne Hocking said.

That's a significant improvement over existing predictions, with warnings that often cover huge regions and can produce false alarms.

Accurate, timely and geographically precise tornado warnings have long been a holy grail among meteorologists. Sometimes, proprietary technologies and differing methodologies among forecasters have proven a barrier to deciphering weather patterns.

"There's still a lot to be done and we're not going to say this is going to solve the whole forecasting problembut this is a large step in the right direction," Wayne Hocking said. "The data suggests we now have a more reliable tool for forecasting than has been possible before this."

More information: Anna Hocking et al, Tornado identification and forewarning with VHF windprofiler radars, Atmospheric Science Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/asl.795 Journal information: Atmospheric Science Letters
Hackathons that aim to come up with high-tech solutions to the challenges facing refugees are an example of social innovation in action. Credit: Techfugees

What do the UK-based editor of a leading technology magazine and a self-taught coder from a low-income neighbourhood in Brussels, Belgium, have in common? They're both teaching tech skills to people from marginalised communities in order to broaden their opportunities and help them make a better life for themselves.

It's part of an approach known as social innovation  grassroots projects that propose new responses to solve particular societal problems in order to increase people's wellbeing.

Like countless people around the world, Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch Europe (a technology website) was moved by the desperate plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping warzones into Europe in 2015.

Butcher decided to put out a call to tech companies to help improve the situation of refugees. It started a viral Facebook campaign that resulted in the launch of Techfugees, a social enterprise that aims to empower displaced people with technology.

'I joined Mike on the very first day of this online call,' said Josephine Goube, CEO of Techfugees. 'And it ended up basically in an event where 300 people  NGOs, refugees and technologists  came together to discuss what we can do. It was completely organic.

'Tech has been disruptive in education, employment and health, so why not apply it to refugees? Refugees have smartphones whose technology is more powerful than the technology that put a man on the moon,' she said. 'We have the tools to get people education and health, we just don't do it.'

Headquarted in London, UK, Techfugees is an international social enterprise that organises hackathons (intensive problem-solving sessions) that bring together the international tech community  including refugees and non-refugees  to work out how tech can be used to solve problems facing displaced people.

Techfugees offers design classes, teaches about privacy and security of data and creates innovation spaces. They also provide a place for NGOs working with refugees to explain the challenges they face, and use the problem-solving mentality of tech experts to come up with new prototypes of solutions.

Diverse

As a team, they are a diverse group, an aspect where other tech-based enterprises frequently fall short. Goube said, 'Half of my team are refugees. We recently had a summit and people came to congratulate us because there was not one panel that didn't have a woman and didn't have diversity in it. A lot of moderators at the panels were refugees. It was never intentional. It was natural.'

Goube says that of the 900 refugees that have so far taken part, 75 % have found a job or internship within three months of the event they attended. The project also has a high retention rate, with 70 % of the teams that win the hackathons still going one year later.

While they are doing well, Techfugees acknowledge that they need a better funding support structure in the future if they are to achieve the goals they have laid out. Currently they operate from private donations and even donations from refugees, which Goube argues should not be the case.

How to fund social enterprises is a big challenge and it's one of the issues on the menu for a two-day conference on the future of social innovation in Lisbon, Portugal on 27 and 28 November. Organised partly by the EU, the event will also try to identify trends and opportunities for social innovation and how to incorporate it into public policies in the future.

Access

In Brussels, Belgium, sits another social enterprise  this one founded by a local entrepreneur to improve access to technology and skills development in his own community.

Ibrahim Ouassari set up the MolenGeek coding school in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean area of Brussels, which has one of the lowest average household incomes in Belgium. It started with a weekend event and grew from there.

'This tech world is very accessible but it's not accessible in an area like Molenbeek, so what we wanted to do is create one start-up weekend event to make this world of entrepreneurship, innovation and technology accessible in this area,' he said.

MolenGeek is a co-working space and coding school that is designed to help people to pursue a career in the tech industry or set up their own business. It has a mix of students, entrepreneurs and people who just want to learn the technical skills for their own use. They may have their own project or just wish to get the useful skills to succeed in an increasingly tech-oriented business world.

Ouassari says that in our current climate, it is important to train more coders as many companies require tech skills. Coding also allows people to attain more independence and perhaps set up their own company if they have an innovative and creative idea.

'We teach some coding language, like HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript and all this world of tech but we also teach people how to learn by themselves. (We also teach them) how they can collaborate with other people, how to talk with customers and clients and how to make an offer,' added Ouassari.

Even though they only launched in March 2017  with the first code training ending in October  their success has already been recognised. Recently, MolenGeek was invited to South Korea by Samsung and awarded a prize with the view of expanding their ecosystem further, hopefully all around the world.

'What I hope is, that we make this technology accessible and create talent and (give) young people more access (to) this world,' said Ouassari.
An international team made up of scientists from Brazil, Australia, the U.S., Ecuador, Germany and Sweden has published the results of an extensive database of snakes of the American tropics. This database is made up of museum collections from the past 150 years and demonstrates that some Neotropical regions, such as the Cerrado in the central Brazil, contain a disproportionately high diversity. Furthermore, some other diverse regions are disproportionately under-sampled, such as the Amazon. For the first time, distribution patterns, collection records and frequency of occurrence are recorded from a total of 147,515 contributions to 886 snake species. Thus, the database covers 74 percent of all snake species from 27 countries. The database will serve as a solid basis for conservation concepts, and biodiversity and evolution models in the future. The study was recently published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

About 10,500 species of reptiles (animals such as lizards and snakes) are found around the world and about 150 to 200 new species are also discovered every year. Snakes make up about 34 percent of this group of animals. "We assume that there are still many snake species that we still do not know. However, the identification of areas poorly-sampled, where probably new species can be found, must come from data and mapping of the known species," explains leading author Dr. Thais Guedes from the University of Gothenburg.

The international group of scientists have collected data about snake collections of the NeotropicsSouth and Central America, the West Indies and the southern part of Mexico and Floridato record the diversity of snake species, their distribution, as well as their threats. The result is a unique database with 147,515 entries for 886 snake species from 12 families. Senior author of the study Alexandre Antonelli from the University of Gothenburg says, "We have published one of the largest and most detailed surveys on the distribution of snakesone of the most species-rich reptile groups in the world. What an achievement."

The huge dataset is the result of a merger of a public database and the collection data of various international taxonomists. Another of the study's authors, Dr. Martin Jansen from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, says, "The review by taxonomic experts has greatly enhanced the data. One could say that the data bank now has a kind of quality mark, something like 'taxonomically verified." This is very important, as biodiversity models often lack this in-depth taxonomic expertise."

The results from this most comprehensive and novel database also highlight the necessity to better sample, explore, and protect areas of high diversity, as well as rare species. "Our database provides the ideal basis, and it can now be used by other scientists (without taxonomic expertise) as a solid basis for subsequent models, for example, on evolutionary patterns or climate change effects," explains Guedes.

More information: Thais B. Guedes et al. Patterns, biases and prospects in the distribution and diversity of Neotropical snakes, Global Ecology and Biogeography (2017). DOI: 10.1111/geb.12679 Journal information: Global Ecology and Biogeography
Earlier this month the European Commission failed to gain the majority needed to renew glyphosate's licence for five years.

The European Union will on Monday attempt to determine the future of glyphosate, a controversial weedkiller hugely relied on by farmers but which critics say causes cancer and whose use has been thrown into doubt.

Since its introduction in the United States in 1974 by pesticides and seed maker Monsanto as Roundup, the use of glyphosate has soared across the globe.

It is sprayed on food crops but also used widely outside of agriculture, such as on public lawns and in forestry.

The EU's 28 countries, in an appeal committee, will vote on whether to renew the herbicide's licence for five years. But a member state could also table an amendment to reduce the renewal period.

Without support from EU heavyweights, a way out of the stalemate could prove difficult.

Divisions over the weedkiller within the EU have dragged on since June 2016, when its previous 15-year licence expired and an 18-month extension was granted.

The European Commission had originally recommended approving the herbicide's use for another decade.

However, faced with an uproar over the alleged dangers of glyphosate use, experts balked last month at a renewal and the commission then proposed reducing the timeframe from 10 years to five years.

But earlier this month the European Commission failed to gain the majority needed to extend the licence until 2022.

It said 14 states voted in favour, including Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands but nine were against, including Belgium, France and Italy, and five abstained, including Bulgaria, Poland and Portugal.

'Probably carcinogenic'

The commission then passed the decision to the appeal committee.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace and other critics are calling for an outright ban of glyphosate in Europe.

"They (the commission) complain there is too much responsibility on their shoulders and that European governments are hiding behind them," Franziska Achterberg, from Greenpeace Europe, told AFP.

"They can't have their cake and eat it. They don't want to be blamed for decisions that are unpopular. But at the same time they're not ready to listen to people's concerns."

If no agreement is reached, the decision will be passed back to the commission which will have to make a ruling before the current licence expires on December 15.

The European Parliament, the EU's only elected body, last month said glyphosate should be renewed only until 2022 and banned thereafter.

Activists point to a 2015 study by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer that concluded it was "probably carcinogenic".

But the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency both say glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer in humans, in line with a 2016 review carried out by WHO experts and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Monsanto insists glyphosate meets the standards required to renew its European licence.

 2017 AFP
Activists acting as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (R) and Monsanto-characters with their faces painted with a skull enact a tug-of-war against EU citizens during an action calling for the EU Comission to vote against renewing glyphosate's licence

EU countries broke months of deadlock on Monday when they voted to renew the licence for the controversial weedkiller glyphosate for five years after heavyweight Germany surprisingly voted in favour despite health concerns.

With the bloc's largest population, Germany's change of heart was instrumental in ending the stalemate within the 28-nation union over the fate of the pesticide, which some critics fear causes cancer.

But its U-turn appeared also to reveal extraordinary tensions in Chancellor Angela Merkel's efforts to form a new governing coalition, after a minister in Berlin said German officials in Brussels had disobeyed direct orders to abstain on the vote.

Glyphosate was introduced in 1974 by US agro-giant Monsanto under the brand-name Roundup. A WHO study found it was "probably carcinogenic" but later studies have disagreed.

Eighteen of the 28 EU states voted in favour of the European Commission's proposal for a five-year renewal, with nine including France voting against, and one abstaining.

"Today's vote shows that when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision making," EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said in a statement.

Europeans 'betrayed'

Divisions over the weedkiller within the EU have dragged on since June 2016, when its previous 15-year licence expired and an 18-month extension was granted.

Environmental campaigners condemned Monday's decision.

"Today's approval, even if only for five years, is a missed opportunity to get rid of this risky weedkiller and start to get farmers off the chemical treadmill," said Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe.

Greenpeace's Franziska Achterberg said: "The people who are supposed to protect us from dangerous pesticides have failed to do their jobs and betrayed the trust Europeans place in them."

Monsanto's rival, the German chemical giant Bayer, also said it regretted the decision, voicing support for a 15-year extension of the licence for glyphosate.

"Regulators and scientific bodies across the world, including in Europe... have carefully evaluated the component and decided that glyphosate is safe," it said in a statement.

Two weeks ago the European Commission, the EU executive, fell short of the majority needed to renew the licence when it expires on December 15, as only half of the 28 member states voted for its proposal.

Germany abstained from the last vote, but on Monday Berlin changed its mind after receiving assurances on animal welfare and private use of the weedkiller, a European source said.

EU states on Monday renewed the licence for the controversial weedkiller glyphosate for five years, in a surprise decision to break a long stalemate over a substance that critics say causes cancer

However, German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, of the Social Democrats who had initially refused to consider renewing their coalition with Merkel, said Agricultural Minister Christian Schmidt of the Merkel-allied CSU party had gone against her orders.

"Exactly two hours before the beginning of the meeting... I declared clearly to colleague (Christian) Schmidt that I do not agree with an extension of the renewal of glyphosate," she said.

But she said he had voted to renew the licence instead of abstaining as planned.

The previous abstention was a compromise between opposition to glyphosate in the environmental ministry and support for it in the agriculture ministry.

Merkel said Monday her party was ready to hold serious talks with the Social Democrats to form a government, warning that time is pressing as Europe faces a slew of challenges.

But Social Democrat Bundestag representative Andrea Nahles said Monday's vote in Brussels represented "an obvious violation of trust on the part of the CSU".

The decision marks a disappointment for the French government, which pushed unsuccessfully for only a three-year licence following widespread concern in the country over the chemical's health impact.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that he has asked the French government to look for alternative pesticides and ban glyphosate in France within three years.

Paris will also lobby for the EU to change the way it determines the safety of chemical products, the prime minister's office told AFP.

Three million sign petition

Environmental campaigners like Greenpeace have been calling for an outright ban in Europe for glyphosate. Last month they handed the EU a petition signed by more than 1.3 million people backing such a move.

Activists point to a 2015 study by the World Health Organisation's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer that concluded it was "probably carcinogenic".

But the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency both say glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer in humans, in line with a 2016 review carried out by WHO experts and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Monsanto insists glyphosate meets the standards required to renew its European licence.

 2017 AFP
A screen shot from Banff's Temple overpass shows a female grizzly escorting her cubs across the Trans-Canada Highway. Credit: UBC Okanagan

Researchers have determined how female grizzly bears keep their cubs safe while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.

Adam Ford, Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology at UBC's Okanagan campus, along with Montana State University's Tony Clevenger, studied the travel patterns of grizzlies in Banff National Park between 1997 and 2014. In most cases, a mother bear travelling with cubs opted to use a wildlife overpass instead of a tunnel to cross the highway.

"We used data from Canada's longest and most detailed study of road-wildlife interactions," explains Ford, an assistant professor of biology. "We found that grizzly bear females and cubs preferred to use overpasses to cross the highway."

During the 17-year study period, bears not travelling in these family groups used both underpasses and overpasses."You can't just build a tunnel under a highway and expect to conserve bears," says Ford. "Our work shows that the design of structures used to get bears across the road matters for reconnecting grizzly bear populations."

The study looked at five different wildlife crossing structure designs distributed across 44 sites along a 100-km stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. The structures are purpose-built bridges or tunnels to facilitate the safe movement of animals across roads. Tracking and motion-triggered cameras were used to monitor grizzly bear movement and Ford says all grizzly bears selected larger and more open structures like overpasses and open-span bridges, compared to tunnels and box culverts.

"Since adult females and cubs drive population growth, this research tells us that overpasses are needed to protect bears in roaded areas," says Ford.

The study also documents the most cost-effective means to design highway mitigation. A common concern in conservation is how to allocate funding to bring the most effective gains for biodiversity. The researchers estimated the cost-effectiveness of structure designs and were surprised by the result.

"When we look at the population as a whole, there were a lot of passages made by males in box culverts, which is the cheapest type of structure to build," explains Clevenger, stressing that a diversity of wildlife crossing structure designs along a highway is essential.

"It's important to reduce the chances of adult males encountering cubs since the males will kill young bears," Clevenger adds. "Creating both 'bachelor' and 'family'-friendly designs will further help bear populations grow."

This peer-reviewed study was published online this week in the Wildlife Society Bulletin.
Information technology outsourcing firm Infosys is opening a design and innovation hub in Rhode Island and plans to add 500 jobs in the state in the next five years, company and state officials announced on Monday.

Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo and Infosys President Ravi Kumar celebrated with a news conference in Providence, where the hub is planned. It's the third of at least four planned Infosys hubs in the U.S. as part of a commitment the Bangalore, India-based company made earlier this year to hire 10,000 American workers.

State officials said Infosys is eligible for an estimated $10 million in various state incentives and the average annual salary of the jobs in the state would be $79,000.

"Five hundred good-paying jobs, well above the average salaries in Rhode Island," Raimondo said. "Good-paying, family-supporting jobs. I have a feeling there's much more in store. They're starting with 500, but it's on us to make sure they fall in love with Rhode Island."

Raimondo said jobs would be at every level, with and without a college degree.

Kumar said the company chose Rhode Island because of factors including its academic ecosystem and design focus, location near many of its clients in the northeast and economic incentives.

One of the world's most prestigious design schools, the Rhode Island School of Design, is located in Providence, but Kumar also cited the state's community college network and the University of Rhode Island and Brown University.

"Digital design is one of the most high-demand skills in the market," Kumar said.

He added that those skills are lacking in the United States and said Infosys plans to train workers to develop them through "a finishing school." Among the steps the company will take is to hire design students who are oriented to physical objects and train them with digital skills, Kumar said.

"We create talent pools which don't exist today," he said.

President Donald Trump has blasted an American visa program that tech companies have heavily relied upon to temporarily bring in workers from other countries at lower wages. Asked about that criticism and changes in federal immigration policy under the Republican president, Kumar said the program to train Americans and put workers closer to clients has been in the works for the last two years.

"You have to be closer to clients," he said. "When you design a digital experience, you cannot design in isolation. You have to design and co-create along with your clients."

The company already has 300 to 400 employees in Rhode Island, many of whom work with Citizens Bank, but Kumar said the 500 workers would be in addition to those and focused on design.

Infosys previously announced its first two hubs, focused on technology and innovation, will be located in Indiana and North Carolina. Kumar on Monday said the company is continuing to evaluate locations for the next hub but could eventually establish five.

Infosys said it employs more than 198,000 people worldwide.

 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Hoverfly pollinators visited buttercups in Thangu Valley, North Sikkim, one of the trans-continental sites chosen. Credit: Shannon Olsson

Although at least 75% of our crop species depend on the activities of wild pollinators, little is known about their flower preferences. As global populations of domestic bee pollinators decline, it is of utmost importance for us to understand what factors attract wild pollinators such as hoverflies to flowers, and how these preferences differ in the face of environmental change. Now, a team of scientists from Uppsala and Flinders University and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) have discovered that hoverflies, a group of generalist pollinators, use a combination of cues such as color, shape and scent to identify flowers.

You and I live in a sensory worldsight, sound, touch and taste blend to give us a sense of our surroundings. However, imagine perceiving the world as a fly, with a brain the size of a pinhead. Yet many insects with miniscule brains manage to do exactly what we doidentify objects like a flower, or a plant.

Karin Nordstrom's group from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and Flinders University, Australia, and Shannon Olsson's team from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, India, have long been interested in how insects, with their "teeny-tiny" brains can recognize objects such as flowers. Now, through their collaborative work on hoverflies, the two teams have found an answer. These insects use a multimodal sensory mechanismin other words, hoverflies require a combination of clues including shape, size, color and scentto recognize flowers in different environments across the world.

The teams' results are especially important with respect to our scarce knowledge of what attracts wild insect pollinators to flowers. Although at least 75% of our crop species depend on the activities of wild pollinators, little is known about their flower preferences. As global populations of domestic bee pollinators decline, it is of utmost importance for us to understand the factors that attract wild pollinators such as hoverflies to flowers, and how these preferences differ in the face of environmental change.

When Olsson from NCBS contacted her long-time friend and collaborator Karin Nordstrom at the University of Uppsala and Flinders University for help in identifying a hoverfly species, little did they know that this would be the beginning of a major project.

"I was just amazed," says Nordstrom. "This hoverfly specimen collected at an altitude of 4000 meters in the Himalayas, is the same species of hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, that is also found in Sweden, Germany, USA, and Australia," she adds.

"Most studies on pollination are climate or area-specific, so it is hard to predict if pollinator preferences for flowers in, say North America, are relevant for Europe or Asia," say Olsson and Nordstrom. "Since we didn't just examine different environments, but actually different continents, our study directly tests this assumption," they add.

The researchers' work began with collecting observations on hoverfly behavior in three of these insects' natural habitatstropical Bangalore, alpine Sikkim, and hemi-arboreal Uppsala. This helped them gather data on the characteristics of flowers that hoverflies found attractive and those that they found unattractive. From a "statistical soup" of all their findings, the team then extracted information about the features that hoverflies seemed to find most attractive and less attractive. Using the results of their statistical analyses, the researchers then modelled a set of hypothetical flowers, whose attractiveness to hoverflies were then tested in Bangalore, Sikkim and Uppsala.

The experiments with the artificial models indicate that hoverflies prefer certain combinations of flower characteristics in specific environments. For example, flower models of small blue models with a specific scent were highly attractive to hoverflies in Bangalore, but not so in Sikkim or in Uppsala.

"This is really important," says V. S. Pragadeesh, a student from Olsson's lab who was involved in the study. "It means that pollinators have specific preferences in flowers in specific places. Without these cues, hoverflies may not recognize flowers as flowers," he says.

"Our models were not flower mimics or luresthey just used combinations of cues determined from our analysis. Some of our artificial flowers were attractive in all environments, despite having no reward or even resembling a real flower," says Nordstrom.

Robert Raguso, a behavioral ecologist from Cornell University, uninvolved in this study, is excited about the unique and creative approach taken by the authors in "interviewing" hoverflies. "I respect the multimodal approach taken in this paper and would like to see it generate similar studies, either with different focal pollinators or with multiple pollinator classes sharing the same floral market place," he adds.

Olsson and Nordstrom hope to continue their studies on how hoverflies and other generalist pollinators perceive flowers, and the factors affecting these pollinators' preferences.

"We would really like to investigate how network interactions can affect floral attraction. For example, if there are many other flowers in the vicinity, or many other pollinators, does this affect the attractive cues?" asks Nordstrom. "How does the brain code for flower objects? Are there 'flower neurons' in the brain? How do hoverflies make sense of this multimodal input? These are some of the questions we'd really like to work on," she adds.

Olsson adds that their findings can have important implications for establishing planting strategies resilient to environmental change. "We really must begin understanding pollination as a global ecological service. Many insects can be found across the globe, and understanding them across continents is essential not just for our own food security, but, I believe, for the future of this planet" she says.

The work described in this article will be published in a paper titled "In situ modeling of multimodal floral cues attracting wild pollinators across environments", in the journal PNAS.

More information: Karin Nordstrom el al., "In situ modeling of multimodal floral cues attracting wild pollinators across environments," PNAS (2017). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1714414114 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by National Centre for Biological Sciences
The Mars Spring Tire being tested at NASA GRS' Slope lab. Credit: NASA/JPL

The Curiosity rover has made some incredible discoveries during the five years it has been operating on the surface of Mars. And in the course of conducting its research, the rover has also accrued some serious mileage. However, it certainly came as a surprise when during a routine examinations in 2013, members of the Curiosity science team noted that its wheels had suffered rips in their treads (followed by breaks reported in 2017).

Looking to the future, researchers at NASA's Glenn Research Center hope to equip next-generation rovers with a new wheel. It is based on the "Spring Tire", which NASA developed with Goodyear back in the mid-2000s. However, rather than using coiled steel wires woven into a mesh pattern (which was part of the original design) a team of NASA scientists has created a more durable and flexible version which could revolutionize space exploration.

When it comes right down to it, the moon, Mars, and other bodies in the Solar System have harsh, punishing terrain. In the case of the moon, the main issue is the regolith (aka. moon dust) which covers the majority of its surface. This fine dust is essentially jagged bits of lunar rock which play havoc with engines and machine components. On Mars, the situation is slightly different, with regolith and sharp rocks covering most of the terrain.

In 2013, after just a year on the surface, the Curiosity rover's wheels began to show signs of wear and tear due it traversing unexpectedly harsh terrain. This led many to worry that the rover might not be able to complete its mission. It also led many at NASA's Glenn Research Center to reconsider a design they had been working on almost a decade prior, which was intended for renewed missions to the moon.

For NASA Glenn, tire development has been a focus of research for about a decade now. In this respect, they are returning to a time-honored tradition of NASA engineers and scientists, which began back in the Apollo era. At the time, both the American and Russian space programs were evaluating multiple tires designs for use on the lunar surface. Overall, three major designs were proposed.

First, you had the wheels specially designed for Lunokhod rover, a Russian vehicle whose name literally translates to "moon Walker". The wheel design for this rover consisted of eight rigid-rim, wire-mesh tires that were connected to their axles by bicycle-type spokes. Metal cleats were also mounted on the outside of the tire to ensure better traction in the lunar dust.

Then there was NASA's concept for a Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET), which was developed with the support of Goodyear. This unpowered cart came with two nitrogen-filled, smooth rubber tires to make it easier to pull the cart through lunar soil and over rocks. And then there was the design for the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), which was the last NASA vehicle to visit the moon.

This crewed vehicle, which Apollo astronauts used to drive around on the challenging lunar surface, relied on four large, flexible wire-mesh wheels with stiff inner frames. During the mid-2000s, when NASA began planning on mounting new missions to the moon (and future missions to Mars), they began reevaluating the LRV tire and incorporating new materials and technologies into the design.

The fruit of this renewed research was the Spring Tire, which was the work of mechanical research engineer Vivake Asnani, who worked closely with Goodyear to develop it. The design called for an airless, compliant tire made up of hundreds of coiled steel wires, which were then woven into a flexible mesh. This not only ensured light weight, but also gave the tires the ability to support high loads while conforming to the terrain.

To see how the Spring Tire would fare on Mars, engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center began testing them in the Slope lab, where they ran them through an obstacle course that simulated the Martian environment. While the tires performed generally well in simulated sand, they experienced problems when the wire mesh deformed after passing over jagged rocks.

To address this, Colin Creager and Santo Padua (a NASA engineer and materials scientist, respectively) discussed possible alternatives. In time, they agreed the steel wires should be replaced with nickel titanium, a shape memory alloy that is capable of retaining its shape under tough conditions. As Padua explained in a NASA Glenn video segment, the inspiration to use this alloy was very serendipitous:

"I just happened to be over in the building here, where the Slope lab is. And I was over here for a different meeting for the work that I do in shape memory alloys, and I happen to run into Colin in the hall. And I was like 'what are you doing back and why aren't you over in the impact lab?'  because I knew him as a student. He said, 'well, I've graduated, and I've been working out here full-time for awhile I work in Slope."

Despite working at JPL for 10 years, Padua had not seen the Slope lab before and accepted an invitation to see what they were working on. After entering the lab and looking at the Spring Tires they were testing, Padua asked if they were experiencing problems with deformation. When Creager admitted that they were, Padua proposed a solution which just happened to be his field of expertise.

"I had never even heard of the term shape memory alloys before, but I knew [Padua] was a materials science engineer," said Creager. "And so, since then we've been collaborating on these tires using his materials expertise, especially in shape memory alloys, to come up with this new tire that we think is really going to revolutionize planetary rover tires and potentially even tires for Earth too."

The key to shape memory alloys is their atomic structure, which is assembled in such a way that the material "remember" its original shape and is able to return to it after being subjected to deformation and strain. After building the shape memory alloy tire, the Glenn engineers sent it to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where it was tested in the Mars Life Test Facility.

Overall, the tires not only performed well in simulated Martian sand, but were able to withstand going over punishing rocky outcroppings without difficulty. Even after the tires were deformed all the way down to their axles, they were able to retain their original shape. They also managed to do this while carrying a significant payload, which is another prerequisite when developing tires for exploration vehicles and rovers.

The priorities for the Mars Spring Tire (MST) are to offer greater durability, better traction in soft sand, and lighter weight. As NASA indicates on the MST website (part of the Glenn Research Center's website), there are three major benefits to developing high performing compliant tires like the Spring Wheel:

"First, they would allow rovers to explore greater regions of the surface than currently possible. Secondly, because they conform to the terrain and do not sink as much as rigid wheels, they can carry heavier payloads for the same given mass and volume. Lastly, because the compliant tires can absorb energy from impacts at moderate to high speeds, they can be used on crewed exploration vehicles which are expected to move at speeds significantly higher than the current Mars rovers."

The first available opportunity to test these tires out is just a few years away, when NASA's Mars 2020 Rover will be sent to the surface of the Red Planet. Once there, the rover will pick up where Curiosity and other rovers have left off, searching for signs of life in Mars' harsh environment. The rover is also tasked with preparing samples that will eventually be returned to Earth by a crewed mission, which is expected to take place sometime in the 2030s.

Provided by Universe Today
Technology companies are increasingly trying to grow their revenue by creating value to customers through services. In practice, however, customer and company have differing views on value and its creation. This is shown in a doctoral dissertation by Tiina Leposky considering the service transition of a Finnish multinational enterprise.

"The challenge in large, multinational companies is that knowledge about customer needs is with local salespeople, but decisions are made centrally in the headquarters. People communicate with many different parties but in the flood of information, the central message of what the customer needs may be lost," says Ms. Leponsky who will defend her doctoral dissertation at the University of Vaasa, Finland.

From product sales to partnerships

The dissertation focuses on the company's capacity to acquire knowledge from customers and then use it to offer services that fulfill customer needs. The key account managers have a central role in this process because they understand what the customer is going through as well as how the company can contribute to it.

"A transition to services changes the key account manager's role. It becomes about working in a partnership, so the key account manager has to learn to operate as a solutions provider. Or at least learn enough to know when to call in a solutions expert," Leposky says.

A change in job roles requires commitment, willingness and ability, which do not come automatically. Headquarters must help the local staff to understand why the company is transitioning to services and what it means in daily work.

Shared commitment to service goals

In her dissertation, Ms. Leposky has interviewed the customers and local staff members of a multinational company in five different countries of the company's operative regions in Europe, South America and North America. She has also carried out interviews with the strategic and operative personnel in the company's headquarters in Finland.

"The dissertation does not provide a roadmap to how a company can or how it should become more service-oriented," Leposky says. The research highlights influencing factors in the transition process, and the views and interpretations of the actors involved in it.

"Where one salesperson sees service as the company's philosophical statement, another interprets it purely as an attempt to grow profits through chargeable services. Interpretations of service transition vary also in the headquarters from whether it is just lip service or a fundamental change in operations," Leposky says.

The dissertation shows that when an international organisation transitions to services, the process is influenced both by customer relationships and by company internal relationships. Leposky recommends that traditional technology companies using services to create value to customers should emphasise the commitment of sales and support staff to service business and ensure alignment between support structures and goals.
A wild turkey peers through rain in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 6 Nov 2017. Credit: Lisa Hupp/USFWS

As American families sit down for the traditional turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, some will be giving thanks for a wild bird that is truly free range. Meleagris gallopavo, the wild turkey, has steadily gained in popularity with hunters since successful restoration efforts put it back on the table in the around the new millenium, bucking the trend of declining participation in hunting throughout the United States. The distinguished native bird is now second in popularity only to white tailed deer.

The recovery of the wild turkey is a great restoration success story. But concerns have been rising over the specter of declines in some areas. Lack of reliable tools to estimate abundance of turkeys has increased uncertainty for managers. So wildlife researchers at Michigan State University investigated how to harvest wild turkeys sustainably when information is imperfect.

"We are now learning what we didn't understand about turkey population dynamics. There is some concern among managers, because we are starting to see patterns of declining productivity and recruitment in some areas. That's complicated by the fact that most areas haven't had good, scientifically defensible methods of monitoring abundance of turkeys, and so have very uncertain knowledge of current population status," said Bryan Stevens, who led the study as part of his dissertation work at Michigan State.

Stevens and colleagues describe a formal evaluation process for managing wild game when rigorous abundance estimates not available, in a study published this fall in the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecological Applications.

They discuss a case study on the management of wild turkey harvests specifically, but present a structured decision making process that can be applied more generally, including in situations in which hunting provides an essential source of food for local people.

"As we dug into the turkey data, we realized this was a worldwide problem. How do we decide how to set management policies for sustainable harvests of wildlife when we don't have knowledge about abundance?" said Stevens, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Idaho. Stevens led the study as part of his dissertation work at Michigan State.

Harvest benchmarks are typically based on studies of regional, defined populations of turkeys in specific locations. But ecologists know that localized environmental conditions affect critical population parameters, like how many chicks females produce that survive to adulthood. Turkey populations do not behave identically, everywhere.

To get around the information deficit, Stevens and his coauthors reviewed the available field studies, examining the differences in chick-rearing productivity and the rate of survival to adulthood of young birds. They looked at the relative vulnerability of males and females to hunters in different locations. Based on this observed heterogeneity, they incorporated ranges into their models rather than specific values. They assessed how sustainable turkey harvests responded to changes in productivity and vulnerability, to determine which attributes were most sensitive to uncertainty. By taking uncertainty about population and harvest parameters into account, the authors say, managers can apply principles of structured decision making to set harvest targets when they do not have the infrastructure to rigorously track changes in their turkey populations from year to year.

In some cases, this approach may mean more conservative limits than would be recommended if more information were available to tailor target reference points for the particular locality.

Stevens and his coauthors also talked with wildlife advocacy groups and hunters about their values and priorities in order to set performance objectives. Though he heard minor concerns from the farming sector, most people enjoy large populations of turkeys. Turkeys do far less damage to crops than deer or raccoons and do not inspire the kind of controversy that smolders in discussions of sustaining large predators.

"Lots of people like seeing turkeys in parks and reserves, and even in their backyards. The turkey is fairly non-controversial," said Stevens.

Hunters in Michigan were most interested in sustaining their traditional opportunities to hunt during the spring.

Michigan, like much of the U.S., has two turkey-hunting seasons. The spring season allows only males to be taken. In the fall, after the year's chicks have reached adult size, both sexes may be hunted. Because turkeys are polygamous, their populations are more sentive to the loss of hens during the fall hunt than the loss of males during spring. The researchers incorporated the hunters' preferences for the male-only spring hunt into their calculation of harvest targets.

They recommended that, when managers have no information about the new additions to the turkey population and the relative vulnerability of hens to hunters, fall harvest rates be no higher than 4, 2, or 1 percent of fall turkey populations when the corresponding male-only harvest in the spring had been low, medium, or high.

Wild turkeys came under intensive management in the 1940s when state and federal agencies were first organizing in response to vanishing wildlife.

At the time of the legendary first Thanksgiving, wild turkeys roamed the future United States from southern Maine to Florida, west to Texas and parts of the Southwest and Rocky Mountains. Henry David Thoreau was already lamenting the disappearance of wild turkey and other wildlife from Massachusetts in his journal in 1856. By the 1930s, unregulated hunting and loss of woodland habitat had extirpated the turkey from much of its native range. Conservationists worried that the iconic bird might become extinct.

But the turkey bounced back surprisingly well with the end of commercial markets and unregulated hunting for wild game, and large-scale restoration and reintroduction efforts. It has returned to its historic range and beyond.

Habitat protections and changes in land use that led to the return of eastern forests gave the birds space to roam. Hunting groups played a large role in restoration, Stevens says, helping agencies to translocate birds from remnant populations in places like the Ozarks, and are still involved in planting wildlife-friendly vegetation and other habitat management. The birds also adapted better to agricultural landscapes and human presence than expected.

Early wildlife managers underestimated the resilience of the turkey, in part because at the time restoration began, biologists believed the birds required large tracts of mature forest. Turkeys actually do just fine on the edges of human occupied spaces, as long as they have food and trees for roosting. The males' distinctive gobble can even be heard in green spaces in the heart of industrial Lansing, Michigan.

"Adaptable is a good word to describe turkeys. They are really good at surviving on the fringes of developed country as long as there is food. They eat a lot of different things: bugs, grains, nuts, forbes. In agriculture-dominated landscapes they eat the residual grains, corn, and soybeans left after harvest."

"Restoration of wild turkeys was really successful. The populations appeared to go up, up, and up. Now restoration is essentially finished, and the task is to determine how we can best manage the birds sustainably into the future, given existing uncertainties and the changes in demongraphy we are starting to observe," said Stevens.

More information: Bryan S. Stevens et al, Identifying target reference points for harvesting assessment-limited wildlife populations: a case study, Ecological Applications (2017). DOI: 10.1002/eap.1577 Journal information: Ecological Applications
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

If you're an old fart like me, you'll remember the days when the internet had magical powerswhen it had the potential to save humanity and solve all the world's problems.

All the way back in ye olden days of the mid 1990s, Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow penned his A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.

In it, he declared that, through the internet, "We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity."

Business as usual?

Now the internet is pretty ho hum. It's great for looking at Trump's latest depressing tweets or sharing photos of your lunch, but has it drastically improved society in the way Barlow imagined? Maybe not so much.

Or has it?

New research suggests that the internet is indeed changing the very nature of society by making marriages stronger and more diverse.

The specific vehicle for this change? Would you have guessed it was online dating apps like Tinder? With one-third of straight marriages and up to 70% of same sex marriages now beginning online, this perhaps shouldn't be all that surprising.

In September, Josue Ortega and Philipp Hergovich published a paper in Physics and Society that provides the first evidence of these changes.

Transcending differences

Over the past 20 years (which incidentally is about how long ago John Perry Barlow published his cyberspace manifesto), there's been a sharp uptick in interracial marriages in the United States. Josue and Philipp theorised that this change is because of online dating. And their model seems to suggest that this is indeed the case.

Before the internet, Josue and Philipp argue, "We used to marry people to which we were somehow connected: friends of friends, schoolmates, neighbours. Since we were more connected to people similar to us, we were likely to marry someone from our own race."

Now, thanks to online dating, we are able to easily make connections with individuals who would otherwise be complete strangersor what researchers describe as "absent ties".

Josue and Philipp's model also suggests that the nature of relationships is being changed by online dating. Relationships started online, they suggest, are much stronger than those created offline.

And Josue told me that research hot off the press is suggesting that online dating is also accelerating marriage. "A recent article also suggests that relationships that start online progress to marriage at a much faster speed that those who met offline."

A personal connection

I asked Josue, a lecturer in economics at the University of Essex in the UK, what the inspiration was for the research.

"My students told me about Tinder," he told me. "I could not believe how popular it was. I downloaded it and found it was true. I met a girl who I briefly met before and now is my girlfriend and we have been dating for 7 months."

Maybe John Perry Barlow was rightperhaps the internet will help to create a more equal world, enabled by not just technology but by love.

Provided by Particle

This article first appeared on Particle, a science news website based at Scitech, Perth, Australia. Read the original article.
Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, where researchers tested an independant messaging system. Credit: UNHCR/Photo Unit

The number of connected devices may be on the rise, but large swaths of the global population still live in areas without telecom infrastructure or a reliable internet connection. A group of EPFL researchers, working with the Pennsylvania State University and Medecins Sans Frontieres, have developed a number of solutions to connect these areas.

In the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, which is home to nearly 80,000 people, internet access is spotty at best, which further isolates the refugees living there. But EPFL's Coordination & Interaction Systems Group (React), along with two researchers from the Pennsylvania State University, has tested an instant messaging system at the camp, one that operates independently of telephone and internet service providers. Their system runs on battery power and allows users to communicate with each other in unconnected areas while maintaining data security.

An inexpensive solution

The system is built around on a tiny computer already available on the market  the Raspberry Pi  and which costs just 30 dollars. The researchers programmed the computer to work like a local server, allowing anyone within a range of around 100 meters to access a web-based messaging service via Wi-Fi. This communication platform enables users to send and receive messages by simply opening their browser. The project team also took care to ensure that all data exchanged via the system is protected. "Our messaging system is fully anonymous," says Denis Gillet, the head of React. "The data is stored locally, rather than in the cloud, so that it can't be accessed from the outside or used inappropriately."

This kind of "co-located" social media platform can be used to allow people within a defined area  like a camp, music festival or building  to communicate with each other. While less versatile than conventional social media, it has the advantage of working in places without internet access. Initial results have shown that refugees who used the messaging system had a greater sense of engagement and belonging to a community. "Such messaging systems can also help call attention to the situation and living conditions in such confined areas," says Adrian Holzer, a researcher on the React team.

Connecting aid workers

The React researchers have also teamed up with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to develop a system to improve information sharing between the NGO's headquarters and field operations. Aid workers in challenging humanitarian situations need to have rapid access to essential and constantly updated information, like data sheets and medical files. Here the researchers again used a Raspberry Pi, programming it to enable field workers to access MSF's shared files located in the cloud. Documents are synchronized between the Raspberry Pi and the cloud when an internet connection is available. When the internet is down, these files can still be accessed directly on the Raspberry Pi. "One of our biggest challenges was developing a single system that could be used anywhere," says Gillet. "Given MSF's working environment, our system had to operate without an internet connection or external power supply, and it had to be fast, portable and compatible with any kind of mobile device the aid workers might have."

Leveraging ICT to support humanitarian efforts

Unreliable internet access is not the only information-related challenge facing the humanitarian sector. "Technology has completely transformed our work, as we first saw with the 2010 earthquake in Haiti," explains Holzer. "Everyone  from the local population to volunteers on the other side of the world  was able to share information in order to map out the situation and identify the areas that were hardest hit." Although this collective effort brings in large amounts of data, it comes with its fair share of caveats. What sort of guarantee is there that the data collected will be used for the right purposes? That a given emergency is real? And that the aid is reaching those who need it most? The React team worked with researcher Isabelle Voneche Cardia, who is the Deputy Director of EPFL's College of Humanities, to make sure their solutions met the four core principles of humanitarian work: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. And since we now live in a world where Tweets and photos are shared faster than they can be verified, the researchers also created a template for assessing both the risks and benefits of using the latest ICT for humanitarian purposes. "We want these technologies to be used in a targeted and well-thought-out manner so that they don't put people at risk," says Holzer.

More information: For more information, see react.epfl.ch/
As a growing number of people around the world learn simplified Chinese instead of the more complicated traditional characters, young creatives in Taiwan are fighting to promote what they fear will become a dying art

As a growing number of people around the world learn simplified Chinese instead of the more complicated traditional characters, young creatives in Taiwan are fighting to promote what they fear will become a dying art.

Introduced by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1950s to boost literacy, the simplified version of the script uses fewer strokes and is now the predominant writing system in the mainland.

Foreigners learning Chinese also tend to be taught the simplified characters, used in official documents by international organisations including the United Nations.

Even in Taiwan, where most people still use traditional characters, there is a growing tendency to opt for the more convenient simplified script.

And with an increasing number of the island's young people pursuing higher education and careers on the mainland, the influence of the simplified system is expanding.

Creators of a new Taiwanese app game called "Zihun" hope to help stem the tide.

Players assume the identities of literary figures from ancient China and compete on speed and accuracy in writing traditional characters.

From filling in the blanks to "word solitaire"using the last word of a phrase to create a new oneor matching simplified characters with their traditional version, players write the answers on their smartphone screens with their fingers or touch pens.

In Taiwan, where most people still use traditional Chinese characters, there is a growing tendency to opt for the more convenient simplified script

"We see Taiwan as the sole place to pass on traditional Chinese characters," says Kevin Ruan, chief executive of tech firm Whale Party, which developed the app with Soochow University.

"We hope the app reflects the cultural implications of the script."

Predictive and voice activated messaging on smartphones is one of the reasons traditional characters are under threat, he adds, but says the initial reaction to the app has been encouraging over 5,000 people have downloaded a trial version ahead of the official launch in December.

Ancient meaning

Traditional Chinese script is a mixture of pictograph characters that represent objects, and ideographs that depict ideas or concepts.

Different or the same characters can form a compound wordthe word "forest" consists of three "wood" characters, for example.

There are rules to the formation of most characters but learning to write them depends heavily on memorisation.

Critics say the simplified characters lose some of the meaning of the traditional versions.

Steve Tsai, a designer of Zihun, an app that hopes to encourage more people to use traditional Chinese characters instead of the more modern, popular simplified version

One commonly cited example is the character "love", which contains the word "heart" in the traditional form but not in the simplified version.

"Traditional characters have allusions and meanings behind them and they reflect the imagination of ancient people. It's a big loss that such elements are taken out," said Jung Jeng-dau, head of the Chinese-language department at Soochow University in Taipei.

The use of simplified or traditional Chinese has also become politically loaded in recent years.

In semi-autonomous Hong Kong, where traditional characters still dominate, some see the promotion of the simplified version as symbolic of an assertive China as it tightens its grip on the city.

There are similar sentiments in Taiwan, which China still sees as part of its territory to be brought back into the fold.

Easy learning

But for many, the bottom line is pragmatism.

Young Taiwanese design duo Wang Man-lin and Wang Chieh-ying hope their latest invention will make traditional characters easier to learn and fun to use.

The use of simplified or traditional Chinese has also become politically loaded in recent yearssome see the promotion of the simplified version as symbolic of an assertive China as it tightens its grip on Taiwan

Their craft business "lai zi na li," which translates as "where is the origin of words?" promotes the complex script and a new set of six stamps, embossed with lines and strokes, can together create all traditional Chinese words.

Many customers are Chinese-language teachers or handicraft fans who like using the stamps to write greeting cards or postcards, Wang Man-lin explained.

"Traditional Chinese is considered the most beautiful writing system in the world," she told AFP.

"We want to offer another way to learn it because writing traditional characters by hand is really difficult for non-native people."

The stamp set has been available for online pre-ordering since September and sales are more than 10 times their original estimate, at over Tw$2 million ($66,500), said Wang, including orders from China, Malaysia and Canada.

Lin Chen-ling, 40, was among the crowd trying out the stamps at an educational fair in Taipei last month and said the set would make the process of learning traditional characters "more interesting and interactive" for her four-year-old son.

Some young Taiwanese at the fair also pledged to persevere with traditional script.

"I never write simplified characters because traditional characters look prettier and more cultured," said 17-year-old student Chang Yao-shui.

"I hope they won't vanish in future."

 2017 AFP
Copper alloy horn-cap ULAS. Credit: University of Leicester

A unique collection of Iron Age metal artefacts which sheds new light on feasting rituals among prehistoric communities has been discovered by archaeologists from the University of Leicester during an excavation at Glenfield Park, Leicestershire.

The team, from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), has located a trove of ancient treasures at the site, including eleven complete, or near complete, Iron Age cauldrons, fine ring-headed dress pins, an involuted brooch and a cast copper alloy object known as a 'horn-cap', which may have been part of a ceremonial staff, emphasising the unusual nature of the metalwork assemblage.

The collection is unprecedented in terms of the overall mix of findings, with the cauldrons highlighting the role of the settlement as a potential host site for feasting, with associated traditions of ritual deposition of important objects.

The project took place over the winter of 2013/14 and was commissioned in advance of Glenfield Park, a large-scale warehouse and distribution development by Wilson Bowden Developments Ltd. close to the M1, and between the villages of Glenfield and Kirby Muxloe, both situated on the urban fringes of Leicester.

The excavation has revealed evidence for long-term landscape inhabitation throughout most of the Iron Age and Roman periods, across an area of c. 12ha, with the main focus being a dense c. 4ha spread of settlement remains comprising many roundhouses, enclosures, 4-post structures and pits that occupied the southern slopes of a low spur of slightly higher ground at the northern end of the development area.

Iron involuted brooch ULAS. Credit: University of Leicester

The cauldrons and other finds at Glenfield Park are the result of a series of events that took place over a considerable length of time and have resulted in multiple episodes of deposition across the settlement.

These repeated acts mark the site out as a potential ritual and ceremonial centre that also hosted large feasts.

John Thomas, director of the excavation and Project Officer from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, said: "Glenfield Park is an exceptional archaeological site, with a fantastic array of finds that highlight this as one of the more important discoveries of recent years. Early occupation of the site during the earlier middle Iron Age (5th - 4th centuries BC) was relatively modest, consisting of a small open settlement that occupied the south-facing, lower slopes of the spur. Slightly later in the middle Iron Age, indicated to be in the 4th or 3rd centuries BC by radiocarbon dating, the settlement underwent striking changes in character. Individual roundhouses were now enclosed, there was far more evidence for material culture, and rituals associated with the settlement involved apparently deliberate burial of a striking assemblage of metalwork.

"It is the metalwork assemblage that really sets this settlement apart. The quantity and quality of the finds far outshines most of the other contemporary assemblages from the area, and its composition is almost unparalleled. The cauldron assemblage in particular makes this a nationally important discovery.

"They represent the most northerly discovery of such objects on mainland Britain and the only find of this type of cauldron in the East Midlands."

Copper alloy ring-headed dress pin ULAS. Credit: University of Leicester

Most of the cauldrons appear to have been deliberately laid in a large circular enclosure ditch that surrounded a building. They had been placed in either upright or inverted positions, before the ditch was filled in, suggesting that they were buried to mark the cessation of activities associated with this part of the site. Other cauldrons were found buried across the site, suggesting that significant events were being marked over a long period of time as the settlement developed.

The cauldrons are made from several separate parts, comprising iron rims and upper bands, hemispherical copper alloy bowls and two iron ring handles attached to the upper band.

They appear to have been a variety of sizes, with rims ranging between 360mm and 560mm in diameter, with the total capacity of all cauldrons being approximately 550 litres, which illustrates their potential to provide for large groups of people that may have gathered at the settlement from the wider Iron Age community of the area.

John said: "Due to their large capacity it is thought that Iron Age cauldrons were reserved for special occasions and would have been important social objects, forming the centrepiece of major feasts, perhaps in association with large gatherings and events.

"The importance of cauldrons as symbolic objects is reflected in their frequent appearance in early medieval Irish and Welsh literature, which has been drawn upon in studies of Iron Age society. They are rarely found in large numbers and, with the exception of a discovery in Chiseldon, where 17 cauldrons were found in a pit, there have been few excavated examples in recent years."

Video of Iron Age cauldrons discovered at feasting site. Credit: University of Leicester

The cauldrons are extremely fragile and were lifted from site in soil blocks for later analysis.

They were initially investigated at Paul Strickland Scanner Centre in Middlesex, a leading medical imaging centre specialising in cancer which had CT-scanning equipment large enough to accommodate the soil blocks.

Dr Andrew Gogbashian, Consultant Radiologist at Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, said: "We have the latest CT scanning technology and using our medical imaging skills and experience to contribute to such a significant archaeological discovery is a real privilege."

The scans provided useful information in terms of the cauldron orientation, approximate dimensions and profiles, as well as tantalising glimpses of manufacturing methods. Most excitingly the scans also revealed exceptionally rare evidence for decoration from the period, further highlighting the significance of the site.

One example is on a complete cauldron, which has raised stem and leaf motifs on the vessels iron band, close to the handle locations, which are similar to the so-called 'Vegetal Style' of Celtic art, generally dated to the 4th century BC. Another example of decoration has been identified on a small copper alloy bowl fragment, which has a domed rivet or raised boss decoration, suggesting that some of the bowls carried decoration too.

Video of CT scans of Iron Age cauldrons. Credit: University of Leicester

Further detail from the cauldrons will only be possible from excavation and conservation, which is being undertaken by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Liz Barham, Senior Conservator at MOLA said: "Already we have been able to uncover glimpses of the detailed histories of these cauldrons through CT scanning, including evidence of their manufacture and repair, and have identified sooty residues still clinging to the base of one of the cauldrons from the last time it was suspended over a fire. During the upcoming conservation we hope to discover much more about the entire assemblage. If we're lucky, we may even find food residues from the last time they were used - over 2000 years ago."

John added: "The settlement itself adds considerable information on the establishment, growth and development of long-lived Iron Age settlements in the East Midlands, and offers new insights into the role of these well-established communities."
The Hells Bells in the El Zapote cave near Puerto Morelos on the Yucatan Peninsula. Credit: E.A.N./IPA/INAH/MUDE/UNAM/HEIDELBERG

In recent years, researchers have identified a small group of stalactites that appear to have calcified underwater instead of in a dry cave. The "Hells Bells" in the El Zapote cave near Puerto Morelos on the Yucatan Peninsula are just such formations. A German-Mexican research team led by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Stinnesbeck from the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University recently investigated how these bell-shaped, metre-long formations developed, assisted by bacteria and algae. The results of their research have been published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Hanging speleothems, also called stalactites, develop through physicochemical processes in which calcium carbonate-rich water dries up. Normally, they rejuvenate and form a tip at the lower end from which drops of water fall to the cave floor. The formations in the El Zapote cave, which are up to two metres long, expand conically downward and are hollow, with round, elliptical or horseshoe-shaped cross-sections. Not only are they unique in shape and size, but also their mode of growth, according to Prof. Stinnesbeck. They grow in a lightless environment near the base of a 30 m freshwater unit immediately above a zone of oxygen-depleted and sulfide-rich toxic saltwater. "The local diving community dubbed them Hells Bells, which we think is especially appropriate," says Wolfgang Stinnesbeck. Uranium-thorium dating of the calcium carbonate verifies that these formations must have actually grown underwater, proving that the Hells Bells must have formed in ancient times. Even then, the deep regions of the cave had already been submerged for thousands of years.

According to the Heidelberg geoscientist, this underwater world on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico represents an enigmatic ecosystem providing the conditions for the formation of the biggest underwater speleothems worldwide. Previously discovered speleothems of this type are much smaller and less conspicuous than the Hells Bells, adds Prof. Stinnesbeck. The researchers suspect that the growth of these hollow structures is tied to the specific physical and biochemical conditions near the halocline, the layer that separates the freshwater from the underlying saltwater. "Microbes involved in the nitrogen cycle, which are still active today, could have played a major role in calcite precipitation because of their ability to increase the pH," explains Dr Stinnesbeck.

The Hells Bells in the El Zapote cave near Puerto Morelos on the Yucatan Peninsula. Credit: E.A.N./IPA/INAH/MUDE/UNAM/HEIDELBERG

The Hells Bells in the El Zapote cave near Puerto Morelos on the Yucatan Peninsula. Credit: E.A.N./IPA/INAH/MUDE/UNAM/HEIDELBERG

More information: Hells Bells  unique speleothems from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, generated under highly specific subaquatic conditions. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.10.01 Journal information: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Milano Diamond Gallery Selects Retail and Point of Sale (POS) Solution from Cegid

Retail jewelry chain chooses Yourcegid Retail connected commerce solution to achieve real-time visibility into daily operations across 40+ stores in over a dozen countries.

NEW YORK, NY, USA (November, 2017)  Cegid, a leading player in retail technology for luxury, fashion apparel, beauty and jewelry brands, announced today that jewelry retailer Milano Diamond Gallery has selected the Yourcegid Retail Y2 solution to support its international Retail Operations.

Milano Diamond Gallery, which also operates the e-commerce site www.diamonduniverse.com, has 43 stores in 13 countries, located in popular tourist destinations from the Caribbean to Alaska.

We value Cegids retail expertise and strong track record of experience with jewelry retailing, said Rahul Kheskwani, Vice President, Milano Diamond Gallery. Our business looks forward to leveraging Yourcegid Retail Y2 for store operations, customer engagement and reporting. The solution will play an important role in supporting our global expansion. It also will enhance our ability to provide customers with a unique shopping experience and excellent service.

Milano Diamond Gallery will equip all stores with Yourcegid Retails front-office and back-office software, including, customer relationship management (CRM), inventory management and store management. Yourcegid Retail is deployed in 75 countries, localized for 61 countries and available in 25 languages, enabling you to manage your business and processes on a global scale while accounting for local specificities. This capability will give Milano Diamond Gallery plenty of room to grow while running its operations from a single database. Head office staff at their New York City headquarters will have a real-time view of all store-level operations and transactions.

Cegid is excited to support Milano Diamond Gallery as it delivers a connected commerce experience to its valued customers, said Sylvain Jauze, director of international operations, Cegid. Whether Milano is engaging with customers at a store in the Bahamas or with online shoppers anywhere in the world, the retailer will have a holistic view of all products, customer preferences and key performance indicators. Like other innovative retailers, Milano is committed to mobilizing its brand and creating tailored interactions with every encounter.

Heading to the NRFs BIG Show?

Cegid will launch a groundbreaking new POS solution Jan. 14-16, 2018, at the annual convention and expo of the National Retail Federation (NRF). Cegid will show this newest software innovation along with its full retail technology suite at Retails Big Show. Visit us in booth #3775 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. To learn more, schedule your live demo today.

About Milano Diamond Gallery

With over 20 years of experience in the jewelry industry, Milano Diamond Gallery provides exclusive, classically designed gemstone jewelry with a modern flair. A well-respected retail jewelry chain with stores in the Caribbean and Alaska, and head offices in the heart of New York City, Milano brings both in-store and online consumers the savings of duty free with the high-end quality and service the brand is known for. All of Milanos wide range of jewelry items are hand-picked by its design experts and offered with a unique shopping experience and customer service to match. The business aims to offer transparency to the consumer throughout the entire education, purchasing and servicing process. Visit www.shopmilano.com for more information.

About Cegid

Cegid is a leading player in the digital transformation of companies and public entities, improving the performance of its customers with its cloud services and enterprise software. Cegid offers solutions in the fields of finance, tax management and human resources, as well as vertical business solutions for the retail, manufacturing, trade and services sectors, the accounting profession and the public sector. Leveraging an ambitious innovation strategy, Cegids solutions integrate the new ways people use technology, from mobility, cloud-based services and paperless documents to data analysis and collaborative industry platforms. Cegid is an international group with more than 2,200 employees located throughout France and in 15 other countries. Cegid is an international group with more than 2,250 employees located throughout France and in 15 other countries. Serving more than 120,000 clients, Cegids revenue in 2016 was 307.6 million (USD356.8 million). For more information, visit www.cegid.com/us.

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While making one of his movies, Bart Sibrel and a cameraman ambushed Armstrong at a 2001 EDO Corporation (now ITT) aerospace event in New York City. James Smith, then the president of EDO, recalls that Sibrel held up a Bible and demanded that Armstrong place a hand on it and swear that he'd really gone to the moon. The conspiracy theorist was swiftly ejected.

This wasn't the only time Sibrel filmed himself accosting an Apollo veteran. He issued the same spontaneous Bible challenge to many other space travelers, including Apollo 14's Edgar Mitchell. And as Michael Collins told Air and Space Magazine in 2016, the conspiracy peddler once tried to corner him in a supermarket. For the record, Collins says that he finds lunar hoax theories laughable.

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Buzz Aldrin, on the other hand, sure wasn't amused when Sibrel and a cameraman ran up to him outside a Beverly Hills hotel in 2002. Sibrel had lured Aldrin under the false pretenses of an interview. Once Aldrin arrived (with his stepdaughter in tow), Sibrel started poking him with a Bible and unleashed a torrent of insults. Finally, the 72-year-old had enough. With a swift left hook, Aldrin punched Sibrel in the jaw. Sibrel, who quickly fled the scene, tried to sue Aldrin for assault, but the charges were dropped. To his credit, the filmmaker has since apologized for his behavior.

In 2012, Armstrong gave what was to be his last interview before his death at age 82. During a taped exchange with Australian CEO Alex Malley, the first man on the moon talked about everything from his Ohio childhood to NASA's future. Perhaps inevitably, Armstrong was asked  point blank  if the moon landing had been a hoax. "People love conspiracy theories," he replied. "I mean, they are very attractive. But it was never a concern to me because I know one day, somebody is going to fly back up there and pick up that camera I left."

Now That's Interesting Apollo 11 wasn't the first NASA flight to attract conspiracy theorists. In 1968, the Apollo 8 mission sent three men into lunar orbit, an unprecedented feat. One member of the crew was astronaut William "Bill" Anders, who remembers hearing reports that some Americans were dismissing the mission as a hoax before the astronauts had even taken off.
Mount Agung volcano erupts as seen from Besakih Temple in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia on November 26, 2017. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo

By Nyimas Laula

DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a grumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be "imminent".

The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancellations could be extended.

"Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak," the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement after raising the alert from three to its highest level of four.

"The potential for a larger eruption is imminent," it said, referring to a visible glow of magma at Mount Agung's peak overnight, and warning residents to evacuate a danger zone at a radius of 8-10 km (5-6 miles).

Sutopo, a BNPB spokesman, said there had been no casualties so far and 40,000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move.

Video footage shared by the agency showed volcanic mud flows (lahar) on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path.

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, and its airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesia's eastern archipelago.

But tourism has slumped in parts of Bali since September when Agung's volcanic tremors began to increase and the alert level was raised to maximum before being lowered in October when seismic activity calmed."I'm really worried. Maybe I'll go somewhere south that I think will be safe to avoid being trapped by the ashfall," said Maria Becker, a German tourist staying in Amed, around 15 km (9 miles) from the volcano.

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Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). Northeastern Bali is relatively undeveloped compared to the more heavily populated southern tourist hub of Kuta-Seminyak-Nusa Dua.

Indonesia's Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG), which is using drones, satellite imagery and other equipment, said predictions were difficult in the absence of instrumental recordings from the last eruption 54 years ago.

In 1963, an eruption of Agung killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages by hurling out pyroclastic material, hot ash, lava and lahar.

Recordings now show the northeast area of Agung's peak has swollen in recent weeks "indicating there is fairly strong pressure toward the surface", PVMBG said.

It warned that if a similar eruption occurred, it could send rocks bigger than fist-size up to 8 km (5 miles) from the summit and volcanic gas to a distance of 10 km (6 miles) within three minutes.

Some analysis, however, suggests the threat should not be as great this time because "energy at Mount Agung's magma chamber is not as big" and the ash column only around a quarter as high so far as the 20 km (12 miles) reached in 1963, Sutopo said.

"CHECK-INS CLOSED"

Bali airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from the volcano, will be closed for 24 hours, its operator said.

Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighbouring provinces. Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said it was cancelling flights on Tuesday, while Jetstar was offering to exchange Bali bound tickets for other destinations.

Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.

"We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been cancelled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins, have been closed indefinitely," said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles.

Cover-More, Australia's biggest travel insurer, said on its website customers would only be covered if they had bought policies before the volcano alert was first issued on Sept. 18.

Indonesia's hotel and restaurant association said stranded tourists at member hotels would get one night's free stay.

The main airport on Lombok, next to Bali, was closed after being open for much of the day, a spokesman said.

Airlines avoid flying when volcanic ash is present because it can damage engines and can clog fuel and cooling systems and hamper visibility.

(Additonal reporting by Reuters Bali stringer in DENPASAR, Angie Teo, Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina Munthe in JAKARTA and Jamie Freed in SINGAPORE; Writing by Ed Davies and Fergus Jensen; Editing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie)
LUMINE (Photo: LUMINE Singapore)

Popular fashion mall LUMINE opened its first store outside Japan on Saturday (25 November) at The Central mall in Clarke Quay.

During the opening party on Friday (24 November) evening at the store, the theme was set to I AM WHO I AM, which is derived from LUMINEs aim to inspire variability in fashion from Japan for Singaporean women.

Lovers of anything and everything about Japan can now enjoy a new shopping and cafe experience. Shoppers can also look forward to additional services such as free alteration, with minimum spending. Heres what to look out for at the store:

Some of the items available at LUMINE. (Photo: Gabriel Choo / Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Large retail space

Set in a 10,000 square feet space with clean, simple and modern design, the retail space will feature over 20 different Japanese fashion brands, including popular iconic labels such as TOMORROWLAND, FRAY I.D. and snidel.

The store will also offer items from shoes and accessories brands such Le Talon and roomsSHOP as well as exclusive items from eyewear brand Zoff. This also marks the debut of some of these brands in Singapore, with many being established overseas such as in New York, China and Hong Kong. All items are priced from $29 to $850.

The first ever LUMINE cafe opened at Clarke Quay Central on 25 November (Photo: LUMINE Singapore)

First ever LUMINE Cafe

LUMINE Singapore will also feature the debut of the LUMINE Cafe, the first of its kind. The in-house cafe is a collaboration between LUMINE and Create Restaurants Asia.

The menu includes their signature fruit smoothie parfaits that come in flavours such as Berry Blush, Tropical Blast and Mangoes Crazy. Each smoothie is priced at $12.50. Coffee and tea beverages priced from $3.90 are also available.

LUMINE Lab. (Photo: Gabriel Choo / Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

LUMINE Lab concept space

Up-and-coming Japanese brands will be featured in a new concept space called the LUMINE Lab. The first collection of brands to be featured in LUMINE Lab are influencer-based ones such as EMODA, MURUA, MERCURYDUO, rienda and And Couture.

Naokazu Kozakai, managing director of LUMINE Singapore, said the space was a testbed for Japanese brands, and aims to share and explore the diversity in Japanese fashion and craftsmanship to Singapore with a vision to create a new fashion culture in Singapore.

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The LUMINE Singapore store is located at Clarke Quay Central. (Photo: Gabriel Choo / Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

The store is expected to replicate the shopping experience found in Lumines 15 branches in Japanese districts such as Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Yurakucho, but on a smaller scale.

The LUMINE Singapore store is located at Clarke Quay Central #02-20, and opens daily from 11am to 10pm.

Heres what went down at the opening party:

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FILE PHOTO: Uzbekistani Som banknotes are seen in this picture illustration taken May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters)

(Corrects Almaty to financial centre from capital, paragraph 14)

By Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov and Mariya Gordeyeva

TASHKENT/ALMATY (Reuters) - Sensing change in his native Uzbekistan, Hikmat Abdurahmonov plans to build a 10-storey office block and open a consultancy firm oriented towards foreign trade. In neighbouring Kazakhstan, banker Umut Shayakhmetova is considering an Uzbek subsidiary.

"There is hope in the air," she says.

Their plans, commonplace in many countries, are striking because Uzbekistan, as Shayakhmetova puts it, is "starting from zero".

Until the death last year of former president Islam Karimov, it was one of the world's most isolated states. Karimov, who came to power in communist times, kept an iron grip on the economy and politics and mistrusted both Russia and the West.

Since then, foreign delegations have been beating a path to the capital Tashkent, drawn by the potential of the Central Asian country's oil and gas and vast cotton crop as well as areas such as car and food production, machinery and chemicals.

They also have political concerns: Uzbeks from a long-oppressed Muslim population have been arrested for attacks on civilians in New York, Istanbul, Stockholm and St Petersburg this year that killed at least 65 people and wounded many more.

Karimov's successor, his longtime prime minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has maintained the top-down political system while starting tentative reforms to an economy that had failed to create jobs, fuelling discontent.

In August, the country said it would abolish, in 2019, the exit visa system that prevented Uzbeks leaving without official permission, easing the path of millions of migrant workers whose remittances, mostly from Russia, are a vital source of income.

A month later it stopped sending students, teachers and medical workers to harvest cotton after a global boycott campaign, and scrapped most of the capital controls that had bolstered state reserves but stifled trade and investment.

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For Abdurahmonov, 36, who has run property, trade, finance and other businesses and lived in the United States, Britain, China and Singapore, the currency reform means he can focus on making money instead of tracking it down in an opaque system.

"I think you can feel it in the air how the atmosphere is really changing," he said in an interview at his three-storey, loft-style office building on the eastern outskirts of Tashkent.

"People are planning new businesses, you can see a lot of start-ups coming (to us)."

'SERIOUS'

While Abdurahmonov's company leases out office space, arranges foreign trade deals and provides other services for local entrepreneurs, Shayakhmetova is chief executive of Halyk Bank, Kazakhstans biggest lender by assets.

"I have had meetings with high-level officials and I have the impression they are serious (about reforms)," she said in Almaty, Kazakhstan's financial centre. "We are studying the market and talking to the regulator to see what their plans are."

Shayakhmetova said the bank, which has assets of $26 billion and units in Russia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, could set up a subsidiary in Tashkent in a year and a half.

The World Bank named Uzbekistan one of its top 10 improvers this year for ease of doing business, citing reforms in starting a business, construction permits, protection for minority investors, tax payments and electricity supplies.

Ranked 74 out of 190 countries, it was slightly ahead of China and Ukraine but well below Russia, which is 35th.

"Our next target is quite ambitious  we want to be in the top 20 by 2025," Azim Akhmedkhodjaev, head of the state investments committee, said, citing a draft "Investment Code" to replace more than a hundred separate laws and regulations.

The country has not tackled the more complex and potentially painful restructuring of large state enterprises, however, or joined the World Trade Organisation, and is among states perceived as most corrupt, according to watchdog Transparency International, which ranks it 156 of 176.

Ordinary Uzbeks have yet to feel the full benefits of the foreign exchange liberalisation, still unable to buy foreign currency in cash except on the illegal black market.

GLOBAL OUTREACH, RUSSIAN FOCUS

So far this decade, Russia, China and South Korea accounted for around two-thirds of investment, with most, last year, going into oil and gas, followed by chemicals and logistics.

Akhmedkhodjaev said the country had attracted $4.2 billion so far this year, including $3.7 billion in direct investment or FDI, compared with $1.9 billion in FDI in the whole of 2016.

According to World Bank data issued before Akhmedkhodjaev spoke to reporters this month, FDI inflows fell to $67 million in 2016. He did not comment on the discrepancy. http://reut.rs/2A4bDjy

The drop followed high-profile disputes with investors such as Britain's Oxus Gold and Russian mobile phone operator MTS and a drop off in Chinese investment once a gas pipeline was built.

This year, France's Peugeot announced a joint venture and Turkish firm Gentes Yapi ve Endustry Tesisleri Ltd Sti signed a deal to build a large logistics facility.

That marked an easing of ties strained by Turkey granting asylum to a leading Uzbek opposition figure, although he and others have yet to return because, while some critics have been freed from jail, others have been detained.

Akhmedkhodjaev listed United States, Germany and Japan among investors this year, a reflection of the president's global outreach, while the main inflow, almost a billion dollars, was expected to come from Russian energy giant LUKOIL.

Mirziyoyev has described Russia as a strategic partner, and Russian central bank data shows $2.7 billion in money transfers from Russia to Uzbekistan last year.

(Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
A Vietnamese court on Monday jailed a blogger for seven years for disseminating anti-state "propaganda" including articles which supported protests against a Taiwanese firm responsible for a toxic leak. Space for free expression is shrinking in the Communist country, with at least 15 activists and dissidents having been arrested and several others jailed so far this year. Nguyen Van Hoa, 22, an environmental activist, was accused of instigating protests against authorities via his Facebook account, mainly following the 2016 toxic leak at a steel factory operated by Taiwan's Formosa. Formosa was fined $500 million after being blamed for dumping waste along Vietnam's central coast, which poisoned fish and decimated the incomes of fishing communities. The plant became the focal point for anger at environmental damage wrought by big business. Protests against the Taiwanese company were met with crackdowns by authorities. Hoa was also accused of taking part in the protest, according to a state media report quoting the indictment, which said he had "posted articles, videos and images with negative content on his Facebook (page)" while spreading "spreading reactionary propaganda against the party and state's policies". Some of the posts in question date back to 2013. He was convicted after a speedy trial in Ha Tinh province, a clerk told AFP without giving details. The conviction comes more than one month after authorities detained Tran Thi Xuan, another Vietnamese activist demonstrating against Formosa. She was charged under a separate part of the criminal code that carries a possible death sentence for attempting to overthrow the government. Vietnam routinely imprisons activists, bloggers and lawyers, but its poor rights record worsened further after a new conservative leadership assumed power last year. Authorities have come under fire for a spate of arrests this year and in the lead-up to US President Donald Trump's visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang earlier in the month. During the trip artist Mai Khoi was locked inside her house after holding up a sign that said "Piss on you Trump" as the president's motorcade passed through town in Hanoi. Observers say Trump's hands-off approach to human rights has freed authoritarian leaders across Southeast Asia and beyond to launch crackdowns without fear of censure. In Vietnam's most infamous recent case, 37-year-old Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, better known by her pen name "Mother Mushroom", was sentenced to 10 years in June under the same charge as Hoa. US First Lady Melania Trump bestowed a "Woman of Courage Award" on Quynh in March.
Eventually everyone will be required to monitor and use government e-mailboxes

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In recent years, The Slovak Government has made some well publicized attempts at digitalising the operation of state and local authorities, its latest push being the activation of official e-mailboxes, forcing all entities registered in the Slovak Business Registry (Commercial Registry) to use these E-mailboxes from July 1st, 2017 onwards.

Mgr. Jakub Maly, Partner at DETVAI LUDIK MALY UDVAROS | attorneys at law

DOES THE REQUIREMENT TO USE THE E-MAILBOX APPLY TO ME?

The creation of Government E-mailboxes for all citizens of the Slovak Republic over 18 years of age and corporations listed in the Slovak Business Registry is automatic and requires no action on the part of the E-mailbox holder. In fact, most citizens have had their own E-mailbox since 2014 without knowing about it. On the other hand, foreign nationals and other corporate entities are required to lodge an application with the Office of the Government to have an E-mailbox established.

An important distinction must be made between the Active and Passive state of the E-mailboxes.

As long as a mailbox remains in the Passive state, delivery of decisions, opinions and other correspondence from the authorities via the E-mailbox does not produce the legal effects of official service of such documents. Once an E-mailbox is activated, however, the burden of monitoring its contents falls on the holder, as the conditions of official service will usually be met and the legal effects of delivery achieved regardless of the holders knowledge (or ignorance) of the actual delivery.

Regardless of a few exceptions (such as notaries), currently, there is no obligation to check and use the E-mailbox for natural persons, associations or NGOs, unless the activation has been specifically requested.

However, any corporate entities listed in the Slovak Business Registry need to be aware of the fact that the official E-mailboxes for these entities were activated on July 1st, 2017 at the latest, unless an activation by logging in had occurred earlier.

The Government is also planning global activation for corporate entities not registered in the Slovak Business Registry as of May 1st, 2018, but this date may (and likely will) be postponed. For natural persons, including entrepreneurs, activation will continue to be voluntary.

DELIVERY WITH LEGALLY BINDING EFFECTS

Holders of activated E-mailboxes can benefit from relatively quick delivery of official correspondence, without the need to sign delivery notices or personally retrieve official messages from the post office. Another trade-off is the impossibility of effectively postponing the delivery. As a practical example, traditionally, some types of court correspondence in Slovakia are considered to be delivered on the day of their actual delivery, confirmed by the addressees signature on the notice of delivery, or in a case where the postal service fails to effect a delivery, upon return of the relevant parcel to the court. This may have given the addressee more time to plan for the legally binding effects of delivery: in the case of service to an official E-mailbox, the correspondence will usually be considered as delivered on the fifteenth day following the day of delivery to the addressees E-mailbox, unless the addressee confirms earlier delivery by means of a simple digital notice that precedes the principal message.

Bottom line  it is essential to monitor an activated E-mailbox on a regular basis.

HOW TO LOG IN AND MONITOR THE E-MAILBOX

Thus far the only way to access an official E-mailbox is using a chip-enabled ID card issued by the relevant Slovak authorities: a valid citizens ID for Slovak nationals, or a chip-enabled residence certificate (ID Card) for non-nationals. In specific cases, special chip-enabled ID cards are issued to non-resident non-nationals serving as statutory representatives (such as directors) of corporations.

The chip embedded in such an ID card holds a digital key to the owners official E-mailbox, encrypted so as to only be accessible by means of a six-digit Personal Security Code (BOK). Recently, the security of the encryption mechanism has been compromised and in an effort to remedy this the Government temporarily disabled the verification through ID cards until a new encryption key is uploaded onto them, which basically means the holder of such a chip-enabled ID card has to visit an office of the police department responsible for issuing ID cards, a list of which (including office hours) can be found at the website of the Ministry of the Interior under www.minv.sk/?strankove-dni-a-hodiny-na-pracoviskach. Unfortunately, this information is only available on a Slovak version of the website.

In practice, each time a user wishes to log in, they will need a compatible web browser, a SmartCard reader, their ID card, specialised software freely available on Government servers, and the BOK. Once logged in, the user is greeted with a simple interface similar to a webmail client, providing a list of received and sent messages. One of the crucial features provided with the e-mailbox software is the option to set up message forwarding or e-mail notifications of delivery. The option to digitally authorise other e-mailbox holders to access ones e-mailbox, during extended holidays or permanently, is no less important. Although it may seem a convenient solution, the user experience of the web-based interface is severely lagging behind the standards of the commercially available solutions of today.

PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE OF E-GOVERNMENT

The establishment and involuntary or forced activation of Government E-mailboxes for delivery of documents to selected entities is only the first step of the coming digitalisation effort.

At the moment, the general public in Slovakia remains largely unaffected by mandatory use of official electronic correspondence, which seems unavoidable in the not-too-distant future, however companies domiciled in The Slovak Republic with foreign nationals not residing in Slovakia holding the office of directors will encounter a practical issue, as such persons have to either apply for special chip-enabled ID cards or authorize a holder of a chip-enabled ID card (Slovak national and/or resident foreign national) i.e. an employee or an attorney, to monitor their E-mailboxes.

Jakub Maly is the managing partner at DLMU | attorneys at law.

This article serves general information purposes only.

For more information please visit www.dlmu.sk or contact us at office@dlmulegal.com or at +421 2 5292 3628.
Despite the positive results of the feasibility study, its necessity remains questionable.

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The discussion about the new Silk Road project has drawn attention to the use of the broad-gauge railway from Asia, which currently ends in eastern Slovakia. Some politicians even renewed plans to extend the existing rail line to Vienna to enable the smoother transport of goods from China via Russia and Ukraine, which has been on the table in Slovakia for several years.

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There is the question of whether the extension of the line would make any sense, says Richard Turcsanyi and Kristina Kironska from the Institute of Asian Studies. All in all, the goods will have to be reloaded, either in eastern or western Slovakia or in Austria.

Read also:

Read also: Slovakia may benefit from Chinese transport corridors Read more

It seems that it is better to use current capacities in eastern Slovakia, instead of efforts to build a big and expensive infrastructural project whose added value is questionable, they told The Slovak Spectator.

Linking Asia with Europe

Existing broad-gauge rail lines cross the Slovak-Ukrainian border at two places: Cierna nad TisouChop and MatovceUzhgorod, with terminals where goods can be re-loaded onto standard-gauge trains. A broad-gauge line extends from Matovce as far as Haniska, near Kosice, and is used to transport iron ore to the U.S. Steel Kosice steelworks.

Under the planned project the broad-gauge railway line would be extended from Kosice to the Twin City region of Vienna and Bratislava. Constructing the track would result in a rail system linking eastern European and Asian markets directly with the wider European market.
After working a night shift, the prime minister expects opposition concerning night shift bonuses.

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Prime Minister Robert Fico worked a full night shift of eight hours in one of the firms that supply the Slovak automotive industry, IAC Group, on November 25. He wanted to share with representatives of entrepreneurs how fantastic it is to work like this at night, as reported by the Sme daily.

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Fico had already experienced night work prior to this experience. He was also the only opposition MP who sat all night in parliament on the night of long knives in 1994, which marked the ascension to power by HZDS and Vladimir Meciar.

The prime minister was also invited to complete night work in a bakery, at filling station, and at a production line in the Nexis Fibers plant, the Novy Cas tabloid daily wrote.

During his shift, Fico produced almost 500 welds, he told the TASR newswire. He added at a briefing on November 26 that the proposed increase in extra payments for the night work will face a massive resistance from entrepreneurs in Slovakia.

Businessmen will hate it

Im keeping my fingers crossed for all people, because I know the aversion of some entrepreneurs in Slovakia to night work bonuses will be enormous, PM said, as quoted by TASR. However, I believe the proposal will eventually be passed in parliament.

Fico took the night shift as a display of solidarity.

The PM did an excellent job because beginners produce on average 300-350 welds, and Fico made 497 welds, which is a decent performance given the fact that he did the job for the first time in his life, the company's director Peter Zatkulak commented for TASR, adding that an experienced worker produces approximately 650 welds of this type per shift.

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The IAC Group has not calculated yet how much the increased extra payments will impact the expenses, according to Zatkulak.

Higher bonuses for night, weekend and holiday work are part of the measures introduced by the coalition in the so-called social package. In an amendment to the Labour Code, MPs of the governing Smer party have proposed increasing bonuses for night work from 20 percent to 50 percent of the minimum wage as of May 2018. Bonuses for holiday work should go up from 50 percent of an employee's average salary to 100 percent. Bonuses for weekend work should be introduced as well, amounting to at least 100 percent of the minimum wage.

Opposition slams the cheap populism

The opposing parties Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO), Freedom and solidarity (SaS) and the extra-parliamentary Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) condemn Fico's gesture of solidarity, calling it instead cheap theatre, a farce and an effort to slow down the fall in support for Smer.

OLaNO head Igor Matovic said that Slovakia experienced unprecedented theatre over the previous night on the part of the prime minister, who has been the most powerful man in the country for ten years but until now has not once thought of higher bonuses for night, weekend and holiday work, as cited by TASR. Moreover, the governing Smer party did not support an OLaNO-sponsored proposal to increase the bonuses some six months ago.

SaS leader, Richard Sulik, views the prime ministers night shift as a farce and called on Fico to stay at the factory longer than one night.

He should stay in that factory and work manually because when he works by his own head, he only causes problems and economic damage to the country, Sulik said, as quoted by TASR. The SaS head went on to say that going to a factory for one night is a thrilling experience rather than a serious job.
Culture and labour minister are the most probable to resign or swap functions.

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After the recent failure in regional elections, the rumours of personnel changes in the ruling Smer party have been spreading. Culture Minister Marek Madaric, who is also deputy chair and responsible for campaigns, is alleged to leave his party position but he has not confirmed it officially yet, the Pravda daily wrote on November 25.

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Labour Minister and party's general manager Jan Richter is deciding between these two functions, inclined to keep just one of them, the daily wrote.

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Madaric leaving his positions would be a serious loss for Smer, and it is questionable whether he is the first and the right one who should leave, political analyst Michal Horsky commented for Pravda. It is not clear who could replace him, either. Horsky notes that Smer has not had a woman in the leadership since 2006 (when Monika Benova left the top party structures) and it should change this.

Richter could be replaced in his ministerial position by Richard Rasi, the incumbent Kosice mayor, the Plus Jeden Den and Novy Cas dailies suggested at the weekend.

Smer keeps silent

Much like the past, we will comment on changes in the party as soon as they become reality, the press department of Smer wrote, as quoted by the Sme daily.

Madaric did not confirm the rumours, refusing to answer the Sme questions. However, he offered his party position a week ago. He is also not supposed to re-run for this position at the December congress, the SITA newswire wrote, citing anonymous source.

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Everything needs a certain evolution, Madaric, who is even considered the Smer candidate for president, said in mid-November when commenting on the election results and their implications. It is quite possible that I will give up my position of party vice-chair but in that case, I will not re-run for this post.

He may have made controversial statements but he cannot always harmonise his opinions with those of other people  but that is quite normal, he summed up.
The D1 highway will be broadened into eight lines, causing more traffic jams.

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The traffic jams by the entrance to Bratislava on the D1 highway may now end for a while but in the upcoming months, they will only get worse.

Even after the Blatne junction, which currently causes the traffic jams, is completed, drivers face other traffic limitations on their highway drive, the Sme daily wrote on November 27. The National Highway Company (NDS) plans to start several huge projects between Bratislava and the Triblavina junction; one of them includes a connection between the D1 highway and the highway ring-road of the capital  the D4 highway.

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The state plans to launch the construction of these projects in the next months and finish by the end of 2020 when the D4 highway from Jarovce to Raca is slated to be finalised.

Drivers will only experience trouble when the D1 is expanded into eight lines at the entrance to Bratislava, the INEKO institute analyst Jan Kovalcik told Sme.

The projects coincide

When the highway is broadened into eight lines between Bratislava and Senec, the Triblavina junction will also be built. The third huge project planned is the construction of a junction connecting the D1 highway with the D4 highway. This will probably be the most demanding construction of the whole section. Apart from building the junction, the builders will also lift the highway so that the ring-road can pass underneath.

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In an effort to prevent total highway closure, builders will first construct the bypassing routes on the site of the future junction so that the highway can be lifted and the bridges built. Only then, the junction will be made. After it is finished, the remaining sections of the highway will be constructed.

The traffic limitations will be considerable as the construction will take place on the busiest highway section in Slovakia, CEO of Amberg Engineering Martin Bakos, whose company designed the highway broadening for NDS, told Sme.

There will be massive tailbacks and jams during the morning and afternoon rush hours but there is no other realistic way to solve this situation, Bakos added.

Who will build

The NDS has tried to calm the mood but the traffic limitations have not been specified yet. The coordination of three huge projects in this area is not clear, either, and the worst-case scenario is that each of them will be conducted by a different company.

If there is no coordination, we can expect traffic collapse for Bratislava in the upcoming years, head of the Institute for Transport and Economy Ondrej Matej said, as quoted by Sme. He added that the critical situation will appear when the British carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, launches full operation in his plant near Nitra in 2020.

So far only Blatne

So far, only Blatne will see traffic jam relief. The NDS started gradually re-opening this junction on November 22 and it will be fully passable for vehicles this week. Its construction started in April 2015 under the Doprastav company for 23.3 million. After the junction is opened, drivers from Blatne, Senec and Svaty Martin will be able to use the highway.

The state plans to build two more elevated crossings near the capital: Triblavina and the Ivanka  North junction that will connect D1 with D4.
An original, secret reserve command centre and underground bunker has been made into a unique museum.

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More information about travelling in Slovakia

Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide

In the small village of Aleksince (Nitra Region), a unique museum of communism is hidden seven metres under the surface. An underground bunker protecting against weapons of mass destruction was built in the village between 1964 and 1965, originally serving as a secret reserve command centre for the Warsaw Pact armies, the central division.

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After 1990, the construction came under the administration of the Civil Defence.

In 2012, it was transferred to the municipality as a redundant property of the Slovak Defence Ministry, Aleksince Mayor Radoslav Tapusik told the TASR newswire. The municipal office rented it to a civic association which arranged a museum here that was functioning until recently. Last year, the rental contract of the civic association ended, and the museum was taken over by the village administration. We are considering what to do with it.

What does the Museum of Communism look like

The underground bunker consists of a massive ferro-concrete frame with a labyrinth of passages, tunnels and rooms with still-functioning technical equipment.

The first part of the exposition, opened in 2013, presents the underground bunker, its equipment and the activities that occurred there during the Cold War, Tapusik told TASR. There is also a radio and training centre there, telephone exchange, room for radio operators, filtering, a decontamination and anti-noise unit, gear and arsenal.

The second part of the exposition is comprised of exhibits, information panels and audio-visual recordings of the atmosphere and character of the Cold War.

The whole tour lasts for about 40 minutes and we see the biggest interest in the museum in summer months, Aleksince mayor summed up for TASR.
The National Association of Employers (RUZ) proposes its own social package increasing the net income of workers

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The social package of the governing Smer party, which includes higher surcharges for night, weekend and holiday work, will cost employers in Slovakia around 1 billion. The National Association of Employers (RUZ) expects that the package will have a negative effect on the already established motivation schemes of individual companies, as the current bonuses will be absorbed by the social package and the cost uncertainty that it brings to the employers. RUZ vice-president Lubos Sirota informed about employers concerns on November 27.

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Employers require that the state should also share the favourable macroeconomic situation with employees. They propose their own measures, especially cutting the tax burden of employees and thus reducing tax revenues for the state.

Employers do not question the fact that employees in Slovakia should earn higher net salaries, said Sirota as cited by the TASR newswire. However, its absurd and unacceptable if this happens behind the back of those who should pay it.

Sirota pointed out that social packages accompany the falling popularity of governing parties.

Employers cannot pay them every year, said Sirota. The situation now is even more complicated because we have three parties in the government. This is more about politics than about the exact issues we would like to address. The basic problem is that we cannot endlessly leave it up to employers to pay it.

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RUZ expects that the proposed higher payments for night and weekend work will have negative consequences particularly in economically weaker regions and industries that depend on night and weekend work, such as bakeries and retailers.

RUZ demonstrated the impacts of the social package on a model family with a baker working night shifts and a shop assistant working during weekends with one seven-year old child. In this case the familys monthly net income would increase by 135.

The association proposes its own four measures, which would increase the income of the model family by 263. It proposes an increase in the monthly non-taxable part of the tax base to 480 from next years 319.17, an increase in the deductible item for paid health insurance premiums from the current 380 to the level of the current minimum wage, i.e. 480, with the deduction being applied to a monthly salary of 720. Employers also propose to introduce a 10 percent reduced value-added tax rate on all food products, not just on selected ones, as is currently the case. The fourth proposal is to exempt the proposed higher allowance for night and weekend work from taxes and levies.

RUZ will submit its measures at a special tripartite meeting, i.e. a meeting of the representatives of employers, trade unions and the government, that will be convened on Saturday, December 2.
They did not survive a night in the mountains

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Polish tourists found the bodies of two Czech Alpine skiers on a ridge of the Low Tatras on Sunday, November 26, at noon. They immediately contacted the Mountain Rescue Service (HZS). At that time both the Czechs, a 47-year old woman and 60-year old man, were already dead, the HZS informs on its website.

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After receiving the message, members of the rescue team set out to transport the bodies to the HZS station in Bystra near Brezno. Here the police and a doctor took over the bodies.

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The HZS is assuming that the Czech couple went for a hike on Saturday, November 25. The probable cause of their deaths was exhaustion and hypothermia during bad weather.

The exact cause of death will be ascertained by a forensic surgeon.

The HZS repeatedly warns tourists and hikers not to overestimate their abilities or underrate the weather and other conditions in the mountains.

The Slovak mountains annually take a heavy death toll. In 2015, the number was 19. The same number of people died in the Slovak mountains in 2014.
Prospects for cooperation lie in transport, trade, energy and robotisation

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Sino-Slovak relations are getting back to normal after a cool off lasting for a year, Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico (Smer) said on Monday, November 27, following the sixth summit of governments of the 16 central and eastern European countries and China, in Budapest.

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Slovakia has started to cooperate with China in railway-cargo transport and in customs. Furthermore, Bratislava has asked for an acceleration in the issuing of certificates for high-quality Slovak foodstuffs designated for export, with cooperation in the energy sector field being revived, too.

Fico ascribes the cooling of political and economic relations with China to a private meeting between Slovak President Andrej Kiska and Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. He believes that after a year in the cold with China, things are getting back to normal.

We feel Chinas strengthening interest in Slovakia and I welcome it, as we cannot gamble with a strategic partner like this in the future, said Fico as cited by the TASR newswire.

The Slovak prime minister said he will also hold a short bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang on November 27, which he views as a confirmation of this new trend and the relationship returning to normal.

I personally care about it very much, as China is a promising partner for us, underlined Fico.

Slovak-Chinese trade has been constantly growing and it currently amounts to almost $7 billion (5.86 billion). The fact that the first railway cargo deliveries have started to appear from China to central Europe on a route via Slovakia is important.

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We all took note of the first cargo train from China in early November 2017 that ended at the Dobra terminal [Kosice Region], said Fico. A wide-gauge rail is used on the route leading from China via Russia to the Ukraine and then the cargo is transhipped to Slovak [narrow-gauge] rails at the Dobra terminal, thus significantly increasing the volume of Slovak cargo. I believe we have the capacity for the several hundreds of cargo trains coming from China until the end of 2018, and if it goes on like this, Slovakia has a great geographical position that is extraordinarily important particularly for rail-cargo transport from the eastern part of the world, i.e. from China, to Europe, said Fico.

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Slovakia is successfully cooperating with Chinese authorities in the field of customs, too.

We signed a memorandum on customs cooperation in Riga that was later joined by Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine, said Fico. We need to have a smooth information flow on goods that go from China to Europe and vice versa.

Fico in his speech at the Budapest summit asked the Chinese side to speed up the process of issuing certificates for high-quality foodstuffs, which would enable Slovakia to export food in this market. He stated that it is absolutely evident that high-quality food from our region is in high demand in China.

The prime minister also talked about reviving relations in the energy sector field with the Chinese side showing interest in cooperating with companies like the Nuclear Energy Research Institute (VUJE) and the Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS).

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He was also pleased to hear that 30 top robotic companies are expected to arrive in eastern Slovakia to communicate with the leader in this segment of the market in the country, the Slovak company Spinea.
Razsochy hospital was planned during the previous communist regime to be a state-of-the-art medical facility

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The state is to pull down the skeleton of Razsochy, a hospital that was to be built on the outskirts of Bratislava. A public tender for demolition works will be promulgated soon. There are plans for a new university hospital to be built here in the future, however, it is not yet known when construction will start. Health Minister Tomas Drucker hopes that the work will begin during this election term.

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The important thing is that the decisions are made and that we carry them through, said Drucker as cited by the TASR newswire, adding that the ministry is working on the hospital project.

The Capital is in a need of a new health facility adjoined to the University Hospital Bratislava. Currently University Hospital Bratislava, which is the biggest as well as most indebted hospital in Slovakia, has five facilities across the city: in Kramare, in the Old Town, in Ruzinov, in Petrzalka and in Podunajske Biskupice. The plan is to build a brand-new hospital in Razsochy and renew or extend the facility in Ruzinov.

The Health Ministry has chosen to run the facility under the so-called model of integrated management, whose basis is state supervision. Thus, the state will continue to supervise the new university hospital. It will also finance the project.

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The operation will be secured by a manager of health care provision. Drucker is scheduled to submit detailed material on the construction and budget of the new hospital by the end of 2018.

What was Razsochy

The Hospital in Razsochy is a failed construction project which was launched during the communist regime in the 1980s and was supposed to result in a state-of-the-art medical facility for Bratislava.

The idea to build Razsochy was born more than 30 years ago but what started out as an ambitious project to serve patients from across Slovakia and to house medical students, resulted in a huge but unfinished complex which was later left to rot and has been ravaged by scavengers seeking scrap metal and other materials.

The construction of Razsochy began in 1987, two years before the fall of the communist regime in Slovakia. The complex was supposed to have been completed in 1993 but construction was halted in 1990. The second Mikulas Dzurinda government halted the project completely in 2003. Today only the skeleton of the huge facility remains.
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Question No. 1: I am restaurant owner and also have supply of some other services worth Rs. 1 lakh. Am I eligible for Composition scheme ?

Answer: No. Please refer to Section 10 of CGST Act.

Question No. 2: Challan for Job work in farm ITC-04 needs to be filed by 25th of next quarter. Is there any provision of relaxation in it?

Answer: Yes. Please refer to the Notification No. 51/2017-Central Tax

Question No. 3: What is taxable value in case of export under LUT or bond as shipping bill show taxable value not applicable in filing GSTR 1. Which value whether FOB value or CFR /CIF or invoice value consider as taxable value?

Answer: Valuation needs to be done on basis of Section 15 of CGST Act & Chapter IV of CGST Rules. The same would be mentioned on tax invoice raised in accordance with rule 46 of CGST Rules.

Question No. 4: Hi, I have a software solutions firm & I also supply service to few clients situated out side of India & they pay me via services like @paypal @trasferwise. Do I have to apply GST on the invoices & if yes, how many? Is there any bond I have to supply? PLEASE HELP!!]

Answer: Export of services can be done, with or without payment of iGST, as per section 16 of the IGST Act.

Question No. 5: Are the government agencies and government bodies exempted from GST?? Is there a notification to this effect?

Answer: No.

Question No. 6: From which date, I will make export transaction with pay 0.1% IGST. This facility for all exporter?

Answer: Kindly refer to Notification No. 41/2017integrated Tax (Rate)

Question No. 7: We are a private ltd co registered in India. Our Parent company is in Europe. We supply ITES services to our parent co in Europe. Query: Whether the services provided by us to our parent co will be treated as Export Services as per GST Act..? Please clarify?

Answer: No as they will be treated as distinct entity

Question No. 8: I am a transporter and does not need to get registered in GST. But, I do business with registered persons. Do I have to maintain any details?

Answer: Yes. Please refer to Chapter VII  Accounts & Records of CGST Act.

Question No. 9: I need advance ruling on my business (supply)? Online process is not working. Need guidance.

Answer: Manual application can be given. Please refer to Notification no. 55/2017-Central Tax. A new rule 107A has been added for the same.

Question No. 10: I am supplying services to Nepal/Bhutan and receiving consideration in INR. Will I have to pay IGST on such supplies?

Answer: Supply of services to Nepal/Bhutan for which consideration is received in INR have been notified as exempt. Therefore No tax is required to be paid.

Question No. 11: Will I have to reverse ITC on supply of services to Nepal/Bhutan on which consideration is received in INR?

Answer: No. Supply of services to Nepal/Bhutan for which consideration is received in INR are exempt supplies but need not be added to the turnover of exempt supplies for the purpose of calculation of amount of ITC to be reversed.

Question No. 12: I am a real estate developer registered in Delhi. I have received a contract for developing a project in Haryana. Do I need to register in Haryana?

Answer: No. As per section 7(3) of the IGST Act, such supplies are ISGT supplies.You need not take any registration in Haryana but you need to charge IGST on your works contract services.

Question No. 13: I am a real estate developer registered in Delhi. I have a sales office in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Do I need to take registration in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal?

Answer: yes as the sales office will be treated as distinct entity providing service to the registered office in Delhi

Question No. 14: My supplier has also provided transportation of my goods. How much tax do I need to pay on the transportation charges?

Answer: Depends upon terms of contract. Normally, it will be part of supply of goods and will be subject to same tax rate as goods.

Question No. 15: Can Banks issue a consolidated invoice?

Answer: Banks/Financial Institutions have the option of issuing a consolidated invoice for supplies made during the month at the end of the month.Alternatively, banks have to issue their invoices within 45 days of the provisions of supplies.

Question No. 16: What will be the treatment of supplies received by individuals but later reimbursed by the employer?

Answer: Such supplies would be treated as consumed by the supplier. The transaction would be treated as a supply to consumer and no credit will be available to the employer on these transactions.

Question No. 17: Some States are asking for e-way bills. Has the e-way bills been notified?

Answer: The e-way bill rules have been notified but will be implemented in a staggered manner from 2018. However, in the intervening period, States are free to continue with their existing e-way bill structure.

Question No. 18: If the ECU is in the same state, will the supplier to ECU levy CGST/SGST or IGST?

Answer: Supply to EOU are treated as deemed exports but levy would depend upon nature of transaction

Question No. 19: Will refund of IGST on exports be allowed for deemed exports?

Answer: Notification No. 49-CGST may be referred. Refund willbe available to the supplier.

Question No. 20: if our tour operator only book hotel for his customers how GST is to be charged? Can he opt for 5% rate of tour operate?

Answer: if the tour operator acts as a pure agent then he may charge 5% on his own commission whereas the hotel will charge the applicable rate on its own services.

Question No. 21: GST paid wrongly in interest head instead of correct tax head. No option is available in GST Act to off set tax liability except paid further to get credit in cash ledger. What to do?

Answer: In such cases refund of cash ledger may be sought.

Question No. 22: Is FTWZ under GST?

Answer: Yes, FTWZ is under GST and all taxes leviable in SEZ under GST are also applicable on FTWZ.

Question No. 23: I am located in Delhi. My recipient is in Gujarat but asks me to get goods delivered in Delhi. Should I charge IGST/CGST/SGST?

Answer: You need to charge CGST/SGST as per provisions of section 10(a) of the IGST Act, 2017

Question No. 24 :Will I get credit if I distribute a part of my output as free supplies?

Answer: Free supplies are not supplies as per GST law and hence no ITC is required. You need to reverse credit for the same.

Question No. No. 25: If services rendered & bill is raised befor 01/07/2017 but payment received now with Service tax (following receipt basis). Whether to pay Service Tax or GST. Please Guide.

Answer: If service tax has been charged on a supply, then GST will not be Leviable under Section 142(11)(b) of the CGST Act, 2017.

Question No. No. 26: Sir, if someone is not providing proper bill and charging GST on blank/rough page, as a consumer what can we do?

Answer: You can approach the jurisdictional authority to give a complaint.

Question No. 27: GSTR-3B amendment in only after submitted return but not after filing return?

Answer: No GSTR-3B can not be amended after filing of return

Question No. 28: How can I know my GST jurisdictional officer to submit my refund application as per Notification No. 17/17/2017 dated 15.11.2017?

Answer: Please refer to 02/2017 Central Tax dated 19/06/2017

Question No. 29: late fees for GSTR-3B for first three months had been waived and and fees already paid was going to be reflected in cash balance, but no such cash balance under any head is being reflected?

Answer: This will be available shortly

Question No. 30: Are we supposed to file GSTR-2 for July?

Answer: Details about filing of GSTR-2 will be notified on a future date.

Question No. 31: How to receive refund from previous regime of CBEC at Cenvat Credit of my pre-deposit?

Answer: Refund under existing laws, will be provided under provisions of the existing Acts only. You may contact your jurisdictional authorities for this.

Question No. 32: Our company gave late payment to supplier who has raised a debit note to us for interest along with GST @ 18% against delayed payment. Is IGST applicable on such payment?

Answer: Yes. GST is leviable on interest or late fee or penalty for delayed payment of any consideration. Please see section 15 of CGST Act, 2017

Question No. 33: If we have to sell vehicle to employee and the amount of vehicle had already recovered from their salary as EMI then what will be invoice value for GST?

Answer: Since this transaction is not in furtherance of business then such transaction would not be considered as supply.

Question No. 34: if GST paid under wrong head can not be refunded at the moment at least they should allow to swap with other head?

Answer: Such cases may be handled through amendment of GSTR-3B return and subsequently claim cash ledger refund.

Question No. 35: Can I take Input Tax Credit of tax paid on reverse charge?

Answer: Yes

Question No. 36: Can tax liability arising out of reverse charge be discharged from available ITC?

Answer: No tax liability arising out of reverse charge can only be paid from the cash ledger.

Question No. 37: CMP-03 form is compulsory for migrated dealer or for new dealer who opt composition scheme or for both?

Answer: Yes, CMP-03 Form has to be filed by everyone whom files an intimation under sub-rule (1) of Rule 3.

Question No. 38: When the facility for filing GSTR-1 for Aug-2017 to Oct-2017 will be available on GST portal? Due date is 31st Dec. as per recent notification for below /above 1.5 crore kindly guide?

Answer: The facility to file quarterly GSTR-1for taxpayers will turnover less than Rs. 1.5 Crore will be available soon.

Question No. 39: Is IGST payable under RCM on consultancy fee paid to a lawyer located outside India for services rendered abroad?

Answer: In case, the service provider is outside India and the recipient of such service is in India, then RCM will be applicable.

Question No. 40: Is registration compulsory on inter state movem.ent of goods?

Answer: Yes, the facility of exemption from registration on inter state supply is available only for service provider and certain goods like handicrafts. All other suppliers of goods need to be compulsory register if they are making inter-state supplies

Question No. 41: I have set up a stall at Trade Fair. I have not brought any goods for sale. I am just booking orders on advance the delivery of which will happen directly from my place of business to the customers. Is there any GST liability/registration required at the time of booking orders at Trade Fair?

Answer: No GST liability arises at the time of booking orders/receiving advances. Liability to pay GST will arise at the time of issuing invoice for delivery of goods from place of business.

Question No. 42: I have used 100 units of inputs in manufacturing process during which 20 units of inputs go to waste. Do I need to reverse credit on the 20 units of wasted input?

Answer: No, there is no need for reversal of inputs which are used in the manufacturing process and end up getting wasted/destroyed.

Question No. 43: Is there any liability to pay GST on advance received by a works contractor?

Answer: Yes, works contractor have been defined as services in GST Act. Therefore, GST is payable at the time of receipt of advance.

Question No. 44: I am located in New Delhi. I procure goods on behalf of my custome located at Bombay from a supplier in Kanpur who raises bills in my name but delivers goods directly to Bombay. What will be GST Treatment?

Answer: IGST will be payable by the supplier in the Kanpur on invoice raised to you in Delhi. You will take ITC of the IGST so paid and take credit. You will issue invoice to buyer in Bombay and charge IGST.

Question No. 45: Do I need to take registration if my turnover is Rs. 10 lakhs. What to do about migration from service tax?

Answer: No. registration is not required for service providers if aggregate turnover is less than Rs. 20 lakhs. If migrated from service tax, then please use Form REG-29 to cancel your registration.

Question No. 46: if my turnover goes from below Rs. 20 lakhs to above Rs. 20 lakhs in FY 2017-18, when am I required to take registration?

Answer: You must apply for registration as soon as turnover crosses Rs. 20 lakhs. You will be liable to pay tax on all taxable supplies made from the effective date of registration.

Question No. 47: During transition, can I take CGST credit of VAT paid earlier?

Answer: No CGST credit can not be taken of VAT paid earlier. Only SGST credit is available for the same.

Question No. 48: During transition, can I take SGST credit of Central excise/Service Tax paid earlier?

Answer: No, SGST credit can not be taken of Central Excise/Service Tax paid earlier. Only CGST credit is available for the same.

Question No. 49: Do I need to declare all items of trade/manufacture/provision of service while registration?

Answer: No. Only the top five items need to be declared while registration.

Question No. 50: Is there any extension of GSTR-3B return for the month of October?

Answer: No, it has to be filed by 20th November, 2017. Late fee will be applicable otherwise.

Question No. 51: What is penalty for late filing of GSTR-3B return?

Answer: There is no late fee for late filing of GSTR-3B for July, August and Sep 2017. From Oct onwards, the late fee for GSTR-3B will be Rs. 50 per day (Rs. 20 per day for NIL Filers)

Question No. 52: How to claim refund of amount deposited in wrong head?

Answer: A Circular for manual filing of such refund applications is under process.

Question No. 53: is it necessary to file return through CA, GST Practitioner?

Answer: No, taxpayer can file their return himself on the common portal www.gst.gov.in

Question No. 54: Is there a simple procedure for filing NIL returns?

Answer: Currently there is no such facility. It is envisioned that a simple facility for NIL filers shall be introduced in the system in the future.

Question No. 55: I was migrated as an assessee from the service tax law but under GST I have no liability since my business turnover is less than Rs. 20 lakhs. Am I still liable to file returns?

Answer: yes, every registered person is liable to file returns. You can cancel your migrated registration by filing Form GST REG-29.

Question No. 56: Please clarify process for applying of refunds?

Answer: For exports with payment of IGST, the shipping bill is considered to be the application for refund and refund will be disbursed directly by Custom authorities. For refund of accumulated credit. Please refer Circular No. 17/17/2017 dated 15.11.2017.

Question No. 57: My turnover is less than Rs. 20 lacs for both exempt, taxable, inter state and intra-State services. Do I need to register?

Answer: No, you do not need to register, since your turnover is less than Rs. 20 lacs.

Question No. 58: Will my PLA balance gets transitioned through my TRAN-1 Form?

Answer: No, PLA balance will not be transitioned through the TRAN-1 Form.

Question No. 59: Is there any requirement for a signed invoice from a registered supplier for every supply?

Answer: yes, It is required in terms of Rule 46(q).

Question No. 60: I am in jewellery business opted composition from 01/07/17 do i need to pay on stock from URD ?as URD purchase for jewellers was not taxable under RCM.

Answer: Pl see press release dated 13/07/17 available at http://www.cbec.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/press-release/Press-Release-Reverse-Charge.pdf

Question No. 61: wrongly deposit the late fee amount Rs.6800/_ for sept month in to penalty column. How to get it back. Pl. Advice

Answer: U may claim refund. Circular on manual filing of refund application is being issued shortly.

Question No. 62: how can we claim refund of IGST pmt for service exported with the pmt of IGST?

Answer: Pl. see circular no 17/17/2017 dated 15/11/2017.

Question No. 63: where to show Debit notes in GSTR3B

Answer: It is to be shown in Table 3.1 of GSTR-3B.

Question No. 64: sir I have wrongly filed GSTR-3B for the month of October now what can I do now?

Answer: Detailed circular is being issued shortly.

Question No. 65: Dear Sir is it possible to claim Refund of IGST payment with manual filing

Answer: Refund of IGST paid on export of goods cannot be claimed manually. Shipping bill itself is treated as refund application.

Question No. 66: how we can edit invoice number wrongly submit in gstr1, which shown in table 6A of gstr1 while claiming refund on export

Answer: It can be shown in Table 9A of GSTR-1 of next month.

Question No. 67: plz tell me whether gst is applicable for sale of license by an Indian exporter to a Malaysian company (audio &video) content payment received in foreign currency. they will use those contents on YouTube GB etc

Answer: Facts not clear but this appears to be export of services.

Question No. 68: made payment by mistake is there any chance for getting refund, if yes please suggest thank you

Answer: Circular for claiming refund of balance in cash ledger is being issued shortly.

Question No. 69: dear sir one of client had paid wrongly in cess amount what can we do to reverse or can adjust any other tax

Answer: Refund can be claimed. Circular for manual filing of refund application is being issued shortly.

Question No. 70: I missed October filing deadline. From what i can calculate the fine is already more than 2k. How do I file? My returnd be nil

Answer: Late fee for NIL return has already been reduced to Rs. 20/- per day. Pl. see Not No. 64/2017- Central tax dated 15/11/17.

Question No. 71: Pls advise on the following : I was a compound dealer in VAT thereafter i migrated to GST & opt composition within time, my question is do i have to pay tax to fill CMP-03.

Answer: Tax is required to be paid. Pl. see Rule 5(1)(c) of CGST Rules.

Question No. 72: Company purchased commercial vehicle for his own transportation, is ITC available for same?

Answer: It would be available. Pl. see section 17(5)(a)(ii) of CGST Act.

Question No. 73: Monthly or Quarterly for dealer under 1.5 crdo we need file GSTR3B or pay only challan

Answer: GSTR-3B is to be filed by all taxpayers. Pl. see Not. No. 35/17 dtd 15/09/17 & 56/17 dtd 15/11/17

Question No. 74: (Composition Dealers) Stock declared 30thjune in CMP-3 will it liable for any tax on closing stock inspite of exhausted ITC or no c/f ITC.

Answer: Tax is payable. Pl. see Rule 5(1)(c) of CGST Rules.
Full Text of the CESTAT Order is as follows:-

These Appeals have been filed by the Revenue against the Order-in-Appeal No. MUM SVTAX-002-APP- 120 to 123-16-17 date 11.05.2016 whereby the Commissioner (Appeals) has allowed/ upheld the Respondent claim of refund of cenvat credit of input services used in export services.2. The facts in all the appeals are that the Respondent M/s Gupshup Technology India Pvt. Ltd (previously known as Webaroo Technology Pvt. Ltd.) are engaged in providing services under the category of Business Support Service (BSS). They provide the SMS Aggregator services to M/s Facebook under an agreement for which the bills were raised to M/s Facebook, Ireland and the amount was received in convertible foreign currency. They filed four refund applications towards refund of unutilized cenvat credit of input services used for export of services in terms of Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules,2004 read with Notification No. 27/2012 CE (NT) DATE 18.06.2012. The Respondent claimed that the services were exported to their client M/s Facebook Ireland Limited during the period January, 2014 to December, 2014. The claim for the period January to March 2014 and April to June 14 were partly sanctioned whereas the two claims pertaining to period i.e July to Sep14 and Oct to Dec14 were rejected on the ground that the services of BSS provided by the Respondent to M/s Facebook does not qualify as export of service. The Respondent filed appeals against the rejection of the claim whereas the revenue filed appeals against sanctioning of claims. The Appellate Commissioner allowed the appeals filed by the Respondent whereas the appeals of the revenue were rejected.

3. Hence all the present appeals by Revenue.

4. The Revenue has filed appeal on following grounds :

4.1 The Respondent provide SMS Aggregator services to Facebook within India. The SMS Messages are sent to subscribers of facebook as directed by Facebook. The assessee provided the services in India on behalf of Facebook. Service is provided and consumed in India. Both the actual service provider and recipients of services are located in India. Facebook hired the assessee to provide services in India to the subscribers in India.

4.2 It is a case of both the service provider and service recipient are located in India and accordingly as per Rule 3 of Place of Provision of services Rules(POP), the place of provision of service is the location of service recipient of service. Proviso to Rule 3 of POP categorically states that where the location of the service recipient is not available in the ordinary course of business, the place of provision of service shall be the location of the recipient of the service. The contract is only to enable the assessee to provide services in India on behalf of Facebook. As per Rule 8 of POP, place of provision of service is the location of the recipient of the service where the service provider and service recipient are located in the same taxable territory. Therefore the transaction under consideration cannot be treated as export of services. Hence the impugned order, which sanctioned the refund treating the said BSS Service as export of service are not legal and proper.

4.3 The reliance placed upon the judgment in case of M/s Paul Merchants Ltd. Vs. CCE, Chandigarh 2013 (29) STR 257 (TRI) and M/s Vodafone Essar Cellular Ltd. 2014 TIOL  328 CESTAT DEL by the Commissioner (Appeals) is not correct as the appeal against said order are pending before Punjab & Haryana High Court and Mumbai High Court respectively.

4.4 The transaction under consideration cannot be treated as export of service and the Appellate Authority has erred in allowing the appeal of the assessee and rejecting appeal of revenue.

4.5 The Ld. AR also submitted that the legal effect of majority view in case of Paul Merchant is as good as that of Single member Bench. That the said case has been decided against the very basic of service tax i.e consumption based tax, rather focus has been made on persons who pays for the service. The same was followed in Vodafone case. He also filed written submissions.

5. Shri B.K. Sinha, Ld. Consultant appearing for the Respondent submits that they provided Business Support Service which is in the nature of aggregator of SMS to the Indian subscribers of M/s Facebook Ireland Ltd. for which they entered into agreement with M/s Facebook. They are engaged in activity of sending or receiving SMS to/ from the Indian subscribers of Facebook by using a direct internet connection between the Respondent and Facebook. They collect all the SMS message from Facebooks application collection point specified by the Facebooks and each telecom operators SMS C and Facebooks point of entry as applicable. They transmit MT or SMS message originated by Facebook to a subscriber via the Webaroo network and an operators SMS C to subscriber and also transmit MO or SMS messge originated by a subscriber to Facebook via and operators SMS C and the Webaroo network. All deliverables are property of facebook. All users, usage and other data generated or collected in the course of providing the service shall be owned by Facebook. They perform service on behalf of facebook in the capacity of independent contractor. They are raising monthly bill to Facebook based on delivery report without indicating the service tax and the payment is received in Foreign convertible currency from Facebook towards these services. They are working as an aggregator/ facilitator of all SMSs either originating from Facebook or subscribers of facebook to transmit between them as per specific discretions of facebook. They cannot charge any fee to the subscriber or send any message to any subscriber other than the SMS message as directed by Facebook. Thus they are simply acting as an aggregator providing SMS Aggregator services to Facebook i.e Application Programming Interface (API) connected with Facebook server which are located in USA & Ireland. The Facebook initiates the transmission of SMS from their server located outside India through assessees API connectivity and the assessee provides the services to Facebook by sending or receiving SMS to subscriber of Facebook as located in India on instruction of Facebook. As per the agreement, Facebook is liable to pay fees for the services provided by them to the subscribers of Facebook i.e API Connectivity. They are not allowed to deal with subscribers of Facebook as an independent service provider pertaining to the service provided.

5.1 They are carrying out the activities solely and principally and as per the express directions of Facebook for which they are paid entirely by Facebook. As per express clause they are in no way to deal with the persons to whom they send SMSs and their role is limited. He relies upon the para 5.3.3 of the Education guide date 26.06.2012 issued by CBEC to contend that the person who is obliged to make payment to the service provider is service recipient. The subscribers of Facebook are not under obligation to make any payment for any services to Respondent or even to Facebook instead Facebook is obliged to make payment for the services provided by the Respondent. He takes us through the agreement between Respondent and M/s Facebook to show that the services are rendered to M/s Facebook. He cites Para 3 of the agreement wherein it is agreed that Webaroo will not charge any fee to, make any offer to, or otherwise communicate with any subscriber in connection with the service of this agreement. The number of recipients of SMSs generated by Facebook changing and is not constant. They do not have any control on SMS. In such a situation there cannot be any reason to hold the Facebook subscribers are service receiver of the respondent, when the subscriber would not be even aware about the identity of the respondent at all. He also placed reliance on Trade Notice No. 20/13- 14 ST-I date 10/02/2014 issued by the Commissioner of Service Tax Mumbai in case of service tax on bank charges paid by foreign banks, clarified that, for a person to be treated as recipient of service, it is necessary that he should know who the service provider is and there should be an agreement to provide service which may be oral or written. That for a service to be treated as a service commercially there is need for consideration which in no case is received by the Respondent from receivers of SMSs. The subscribers of Facebook are not concerned with the activity of Respondent.

5.3 He submitted that the proviso to rule 3 of Place of Provision of Service Rules, 2012 does not apply to present case as it categorically states that where the location of the service recipient is not available in the ordinary course of business, the place of provision shall be the location of the recipient of service. In terms of definition of location of the service receiver provided in rule 2 (i) of POP Rules wherein it is stated that location of service provider is premises for which service tax registration has not been taken then the location of his business establishment. The business location of M/s Facebook is Ireland which is available, hence the ground of appeal is not correct. The ground of the Revenue is that the subscribers of Facebook are recipient of service and both the service provider and service recipient are located in taxable territory and hence provisions of Rule 8 of POP is applicable and therefore the services cannot be termed as export of services is also incorrect. The Service provider i.e the Respondent is located in India which is taxable territory and the service recipient i.e M/s Facebook is located in Ireland which is a non taxable territory and therefore the provisions of Rule 8 would not apply. He submits that the services clearly fall under the term of Export of Service under Rule 6A of Service Tax Rules and the revenues ground is baseless. He also submits that in case of Muthoot Finance Ltd Vs. UOI 2015 (40) STR 26 (KER), the Honble Kerala High Court while dwelling upon the issue as to whether the adjudicating authority is bound to follow the decision of the Tribunal as adjudicated in case of M/s Paul Merchants supra held that when a Respondent cites a decision of the Appellate Tribunal, the adjudicating authority has to follow the same. In such view the Paul Merchants decision of Tribunal has to be followed and it cannot be said that the same is not applicable for the reason that the revenue has filed appeal before the High Court. He also submits that the Tribunal decision in case of Paul merchants supra has been followed by the Tribunal in following cases:

(i) SIMPRA AGENCIES Vs. CCE, DELHI 2014 (36) STR 430 (TRI DEL)

(ii) COMM. OF SERVICE TAX, MUMBAI Vs. VODAFONE INDIA LTD. 2015 (37) STR 286 (TRI)

(iii) GAP INTERNATIONAL SOUR. (I) PVT. LTD Vs. COMM. OF ST, DELHI 2015 (37) STR 757 (TRI DEL)

(iv) INTERNATIONAL OVERSEAS SERVICES & COMMR. OF ST, MUMBAI I 2016 (41) STR 230 (TRI)

6. We have carefully considered the submissions made by both the sides and perused the appeal records and written submissions.

7. The issue involved in all the appeals is as to whether the Respondent are eligible to refund of accumulated cenvat of input services in terms of Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules. We find that the facts of services are not in dispute. The Respondent are providing Business Support Services and are registered for the same under Service Tax laws. Under the terms of Services with M/s Facebook Ireland they have to provide the service to M/s Facebook which is in the nature of aggregator of SMS to the Indian subscribers of M/s Facebook Ireland. The Respondent is liable to provide the SMS Aggregator service to M/s Facebook i.e Application programming Interface (API) connected with Facebook Server. The Respondent is working on directions and Instructions of Facebook. The facebook initiates the transmission of SMS from their server located outside India through Respondents API connectivity and respondent provides the services to M/s Facebook by sending or receiving SMS to subscribers of Facebook located in India. The Respondent is thus working as aggregator/ facilitator of all SMSs either originating from Facebook or subscribers of Facebook to transmit between them as direction and discretion of facebook. The Facebook pays service charges to the Respondent for such services. In this whole process the Respondent neither interacts with the subscribers of the Facebook nor has any connection/ relation/ concern with the said subscribers. They are barred from any relation with the subscribers of Facebook. Under the terms of agreement we find that the Respondent is getting paid by the facebook based upon the number of SMS messages successfully transmitted through Respondents network. It also provides the fees based upon the Billable Message Length, Unicode Message, Undelivered Message which would not be chargeable, Long Codes fees etc. It provides the fee structure based upon nature of message. In sum and substance the Respondent is rendering services to M/s Facebook and getting fees for services provided in each month.

7.1 We find that the revenue has viewed the services as being provided in India on the ground that since the actual service recipient i.e the subscribers whose SMSs are being sent or received are located in India and the Respondent is also located in India, hence it is not an Export of Service and not liable for refund of cenvat on Input Services. We are not in agreement with the said reasoning of the revenue for the reason that firstly the services are not provided to any Indian Subscriber by the Respondent. The Respondent has no connection/ interaction or relation with the Indian subscribers of Facebook. The services are provided under the terms and conditions of the agreement made between M/s Facebook Ireland and the Respondent. The Respondent is not charging any service charges or part thereof from the Indian subscribers. The CBEC itself in its education guide Para 5.3.3 has clarified that the person who is obliged to make payment to the Service provider is Service Recipient. In the present case it is not only the payment for services but even going further it is service agreement between the Respondent and M/s Facebook Ireland which specifically provides for terms and conditions of services to be rendered under the instructions of M/s Facebook. There is no contractual agreement between the subscribers of Facebook and Respondent. The fee is charged to Facebook. The Respondent has no control over the SMSs to be sent or received. The subscriber of Facebook are not even aware the existence of Respondent and the type of services rendered by the Respondent. It is expressly stated in Para 3 of the agreement that Webaroo will not charge any fee to, make any offer to otherwise communicate with any subscriber in connection with the service or this agreement. It is absolutely clear from the nature of services and agreement therefor that the respondent cannot be treated as service provider to subscribers of Facebook. Even the Trade Notice No. 20/13 14-st-1 date 10.02.2014 issued by Commissioner, Service Tax Mumbai with reference to services provided by Foreign Bank relied upon by the Respondent clearly states that in case of services provided by the Foreign bank cannot be labeled as having been provided to importer or exporter as for a person to be treated as recipient of service, it is necessary that he should know who the service provider is and there should be an agreement to provide service, which may be oral or written. The importer and exporter does not even know who the service provider is, as they are not aware of the identity of the foreign banks which would be providing services. Exporter or importer in India does not have any formal or informal agreement with the foreign bank. Importer or exporter in India does not even know the quantum of charges which the foreign bank would be recovering. Therefore, in view of the above mentioned factual position and also in view of the various articles of URC 522/UCP 600, it is clear that services provided by the foreign bank to the bank in India.Going by the same analogy we find that the above facts are also applicable to the present transactions as the subscribers are not even aware of the existence of the Respondent and their role in services provided by Facebook. The Respondent and the subscribers are not into contractual agreement. There is no consideration flowing to the Respondent from such subscribers. The Respondent is working under the directions/instructions and discretion of Facebook. The subscribers are dependent upon facebook for receipt/ delivery of their SMSs. The Tribunal in the case of M/s Paul Merchants Ltd. 2013 (29) STR (Tri) held as under :

Export of services  Tests of  Foreign destination and crossing of international border  It is necessary in respect of export of goods in terms of Section 2(18) of Customs Act, 1962, but not in respect of export of services  Services are different from goods  Goods are tangible and their export or import in traditional sense would involve crossing of international border  Services are intangible, and can be provided by several modes viz. service from India to consumer of some other country in India and meant for use abroad, or supplied from India through physical presence in territory of any other country, like software development for client in USA by sending employees to USA  In such cases, criteria of crossing international border is impossible to apply  In that view, principle of equivalence between taxation of goods and service was inapplicable  Also, due to their intangible nature and different modes of consumption by recipient, determining place of consumption of service is a complex task, and for that purpose uniform criteria for different categories viz. services in relation to immovable property, business, transport, performance based, etc. cannot be adopted  However, what constitutes export of service cannot be left to deduction of individual taxpayers/collectors, as that will cause chaos  For this reason, Export of Services Rules, 2005 and Taxation of Services (Provided from Outside India and Received in India) Rules, 2006 have been framed, following general principle that taxable service provided by a person in India will be subject to tax only when it has been consumed in India, and Service Tax must be levied in that taxable area where service has been consumed; this is in conformity with Apex Court judgments in All India Federation of Tax Practitioner [2007 (7) S.T.R. 625 (S.C.)] and Association of Leasing & Financial Service Companies [2010 (20) S.T.R. 417 (S.C.)].

7.2 The aforesaid decision was relied upon by the Tribunal Divisional Bench in case of M/s Vodaphone Essar cellular Ltd. 2013 (31) STR 738 (TRI) holding as under:

Rebate Export of services Telecom service provided in India to International in-bound roamers registered with foreign telecom network operator Payment received from impugned foreign telecom operators in convertible foreign exchange HELD : No contract/agreement between assessee and subscriber of foreign telecom operator Therefore foreign telecom service provider paying for services as recipient of service Telecom services falling under category III Export of Services Rules, 2005 Transaction constituting export since services rendered to foreign services provider located abroad Board Circular clarifying benefit accruing to foreign service provider as subscriber billed for services rendered Ratio of Tribunals decision in Paul Merchants [2013 (29) S.T.R. 257 (Tribunal)] squarely applicable Subscriber of foreign telecom service provider not recipient of service Rule 3(1)(iii) of Export of Service Rules, 2005.

7.3 The various benches of Tribunal has adopted the same view in case of SIMPRA AGENCIES Vs. CCE, DELHI 2014 (36) STR 430 (TRI DEL); GAP INTENRANTIONAL SOURCING (INDIA) PVT. LTD Vs. COMM. OF ST, DELHI 2015 (37) STR 757 (TRI DEL) and INTERNATIONAL OVERSEAS SERVCIES & COMMR. OF ST, MUMBAI I 2016 (41) STR 230 (TRI).

7.4 Coming to the Rule 3 of the Place of Provision of Service Rules, 2012 and its application to the instant case, we find that the proviso to said Rule states that in case location of the service provider is not available in the ordinary course of business, the place of the provision shall be the location of the provider of Service. Further as per Rule 2 (i) of the said Rules the Location of Service Provider is the location of his business establishment. In the case in hand there is no dispute about the facts that the service recipient is Facebook which is located outside India and thus its location is available. Hence the Indian subscribers of Facebook cannot be termed as Service Recipient. In such case even the Rule 8 of POP would not apply as the service recipient i.e Facebook is situated in Ireland which is located outside India a non taxable territory.

7.4 We also find that if the revenue considered the services of Respondent as having not been rendered to outside taxable territory, it should have issued demand notice to the Respondent for service tax on bills raised by them to M/s Facebook. Having chosen not to do so, the revenue accepts that the services has been rendered to party situated outside India being falling under the category of Export of Service and is not taxable. Hence in such case the rejection of claim under consideration is not correct. There is no dispute about the fact that the consideration of service was received from M/s Facebook in convertible Foreign Exchange therefore there is no doubt in our mind that the services of the respondent is clearly exported to Facebook, Ireland, hence the refund claim under Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 is admissible to the respondent.

7.5 In sum and substance of the above, we do not find any merit in the appeals filed by the revenue. The impugned orders are upheld. The revenues appeals are dismissed.

(Pronounced in court on 06/11/2017)
We all heard stories of alien spacecraft, but still, no one is sure that it exists or not? A MYSTERIOUS white UFO has been located in NASA footage  and now alien hunters believe it is a real extraterrestrial spacecraft. The occurrence of extraterrestrial life has been a topic of heated debate for years. While many UFO hunters are confident about alien presence, there are also those who refuse it. 2017 has been surely an eventful year when it comes to events of UFO spotting. While there has been no substantial information for many of them, at least one puzzle has been resolved.

Rumors of a UFO spotted in Google Maps, and Earth photographs had been doing the rounds. A strange shape in the middle of a field had raised issues. A large triangle with bright lights placed continuously around it had been seen in Australia at coordinates 303038.44S 1152256.03E. The triangle was first identified in 2007 and had stimulated the interest of many UFO enthusiasts.

Many were quick to claim it was a triangle UFO which had been captured hovering above Earth. Though, on closer investigation, it was revealed that it doesnt have anything to do with aliens at all. The UFO is the Alvernia Studios, used for films, as well as features for video games and music projects.

While a 2011 archive footage of NASAs shuttle launch has resurfaced later, a strange white object was detected. UFO hunters across the internet have gone into a rage by the find, claiming it is a sign of an alien craft. The shimmery white spectacle can be seen in the clouds beside the fuel tank dropped from the space shuttle Endeavour after it exploded off for its final mission in May 2011.

The old footage, originally posted on NASAs official YouTube channel, has been dug up and re-examined by UFO enthusiasts. The eerie image was re-uploaded to the Channel UFO Today  which is dedicated to the UFO phenomena. The channel has described the object as the White Knight Satellite, a rumored extraterrestrial craft that has been secretly revolving the Earth for thousands of years. Some alien hunters claim the satellite formerly called the Black Knight has been orbiting the Earth for thousands of years after being sent from a different planet. But UFO fans developed the name after the latest apparent sighting to reflect the colour of what they believe could be an alien ship.

It can be seen in the clip when the fuel tank is discarded from the NASA craft minutes after take-off. While NASA has been pretty candid about their doubts on alien existence, Tony del Genio, co-lead of NASAs next project at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York has said that the discovery of extraterrestrial life may only be a couple of decades away. Del Genio acknowledges that alien life may well exist in forms and places so strange that it might be substantially different from Earth.

Still, it is not proven that this is whether an alien spaceship or just usual clouds were there in the sky. As this issue came into the light again and grabbed the attention of many scientists and researchers that whether its a mystery or just a vague news by the UFO hunters. But there is something going on around us it has been proved. This year has been the most eventful year for space lovers as we heard a lot of strange things about the aliens and the strange sounds, which also can be scary but what is the reason behind these is still a mystery. Hope Nasa will debunk all this mystery soon, and if they prove that the aliens exist, this is going to be the most significant news in the space history and will also steady the belief of many researchers.
The DEA agents who inspired Netflix hit Narcos will return to Ireland in May 2018 for NARCOS: Capturing Pablo and the Cali Cartel - In Conversation with Steve Murphy & Javier Pena .

Their efforts to capture Pablo Escobar and bring down the infamous Medellin and Cali drug cartels are depicted in Narcos but now is your chance to hear their own accounts of the missions and to ask questions about the their time in Colombia. They previously came to Ireland in December 2016 for a successful run of events.

They'll be in the Cork Opera House on May 15th and the Olympia Theatre, Dublin on May 17th. Tickets are 39.05 and will go on sale on Thursday 30th November from ticketmaster.ie
Equality Issues

California Schools Tackle Achievement Gaps of Largest Demographic in State: Latino Students

Latino students make up a third of California's higher education student population  a million students in total. Another 3.3 million Latino students attend the state's K-12 public schools, exceeding the total student populations for every other state except Texas. Almost all Latino youth under the age of 18  95 percent  were born in the United States.

While the educational outcomes for these students have improved in recent decades, according to a new report from the Education Trust - West, there's still plenty of room for progress. For example, among all ethnic groups, "Latino adults are least likely to have a college degree." While that share was 10 percent in 2005, it had only inched up to 11 percent by 2015.

The non-profit works on issues of "educational justice and high academic achievement," especially for students of color and living in poverty.

"The Majority Report: Supporting the Educational Success of Latino Students in California" examined how Latino students are doing in K-12 and higher ed while highlighting "bright spots" where "promising practices" are helping those individuals advance academically in school.

The challenges begin early. As the report explained, Latino three- and four-year-olds are less likely than Whites, Asians or African-Americans to attend preschool because of a lack of affordable preschool options and a dearth of early childhood workers who can speak other languages than English.

County-by-county outcomes of student achievement in ELA and math. Source: The Education Trust - West.

Once these kids have gone into K-12, they may be placed in a setting where they're more likely to be taught by less effective teachers, such as is the case for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which teaches one in seven of the state's Latino students. (The same imbalance is true for black students in that school system.) As high schoolers, they're less likely to have access in their high schools to A-G-required classes or Advanced Placement courses than other demographic groups.

As a result, Latino students are less like to arrive prepared for college, the report stated. Along with black students, they're more likely to be directed into remedial courses because they lack the prerequisites or perform poorly on placement tests. In community colleges, for instance, nearly nine in 10 Latino students are taking at least one remedial class.

Fortunately, the report noted, some aspects of the education landscape is being revised in ways that could benefit Latino students. As one example, San Diego Unified School District has implemented a policy where all of its students must finish the A-G course sequence in order to graduate from high school. For the class of 2016, almost half of which were Latino students, a record high of 88 percent earned their diplomas, "far exceeding the state average."

As another example, Val Verde Unified hosts a family resource center in all of its traditional high schools. It also has a bilingual family engagement center to provide help on college-related applications and to deliver courses on computer literacy, parenting and English as a second language, among other topics. Last year, more than 7,000 parents participated in activities at the center.

In the realm of higher ed, the California State University system has dropped math and English language arts placement tests and will use other mechanisms to determine college readiness for their candidates. And this year the state created the California Community Promise program, which grants one year of free tuition to all first-time, full-time community college students.

The report ended with numerous recommendations. Ultimately, success will require "transformative change" to support Latino students, the report insisted. "It goes beyond replicating programs that work well," the conclusion stated. "Most of all, it will take state, county, district and community leaders refusing to be content with an incremental chipping away at these disparities."

The full 28-page report, as well as data tools for doing county-by-county comparisons of assessment outcomes are openly available on the Education Trust - West website.
Standardized Testing

Motivation a Major Factor in U.S. Student Test Performance

A new report finds that bribery substantially boosts U.S. student performance on standardized tests, leading researchers to conclude that lack of motivation, not just lack of ability, has contributed to the United States' middling standings in international rankings based on standardized test scores.

A new study has suggested that American students do much better on tests when they've been bribed to try harder, while students in other countries may not respond in the same way. An international team of researchers shared their findings in a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which stated, "Offering incentives to U.S. students, who generally perform poorly on assessments, improved performance substantially."

The researchers noted that results from international testing, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), tend to have major ramifications within countries. For example, when Germany underperformed in the 2000 PISA, the government "convened a conference of ministers" to propose "urgent changes"; likewise, when Finland "performed unexpectedly well" on the same assessment, it started a movement setting up its school practices as "a model for the world."

Average test scores by country and control group vs. "treatment" or incentivized group. Source: NBER's "Measuring Success in Education: The Role of Effort on the Test Itself."

In the United States, the report pointed out, relatively poor performance compared to other countries has long been blamed on socioeconomic factors, school systems and culture. The researchers proposed another possible reason: Students have no real reason to do well.

To test their theory, the team set up an experiment in the United States and China, which have traditionally shared a large gap in the results of standardized testing. The experiment took place in three high schools in Shanghai, which was ranked first in math on the 2012 PISA test, and in two U.S. high schools, where the country was ranked 36th on the same test. Students took a 25-minute, 25-question math test constructed from questions used on previous PISA exams; 13 questions were multiple choice, and 12 were fill-in-the-blank.

The researchers offered a random set of students a "surprise financial incentive" to do their best on the test, then compared those results against the performance of students not offered the incentive. To prevent extra study, the test-takers only learned about the incentive just before they took the test. The "bribe" offered to some of the U.S. students was an envelope containing $25 in one-dollar bills; they were told that the money was theirs, except that the testers would take away one dollar for each question answered incorrectly or left unanswered. In Shanghai the same offer was made, except there, students were paid in Renminbi.

In response to incentives, nothing about the performance of the Shanghai students changed; however, the scores of the U.S. students rose dramatically. With the incentives, the American students tackled more questions (especially near the end of the test) and were more likely to answer those questions correctly. The resulting effects on test scores were concentrated among students whose baseline performance was near the U.S. average; for those far below the U.S. average, the incentive had "little impact on performance," probably because they simply didn't understand the material, and incentives couldn't change that fact.

The researchers also simulated the impact on U.S. performance for the PISA assessments to understand how those scores might have been affected. The results were remarkable. "We estimate that increasing student effort on the test itself would improve U.S. mathematics performance by 22-24 points, equivalent to moving the U.S. from 36th to 19th in the 2012 international mathematics rankings," the researchers asserted.

The conclusion drawn from the experiment: Tests considered "low-stakes" (because they don't really affect the student) shouldn't be looked at in isolation. Therefore, education leaders and policy makers shouldn't over-react when the results aren't what they'd want them to be. As the researchers wrote, "Our findings suggest that in the absence of extrinsic incentives, ranking countries based on low-stakes assessments is problematic because test scores reflect differences in intrinsic motivation to perform well on the test itself, and not just differences in ability."

The working paper is available on the NBER website in digital format for $5.
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Van Tan Hoang Vy has been running the Van Houston school in Houston, Texas, in the United States, since January 2016, with the aim of strengthening bonds in the Vietnamese community.

A lot of Vietnamese parents here do not speak English and cannot explain the U.S. education system to their children, Vy said.

Van Houston helps solve that problem while narrowing language and cultural differences between the generations.

In addition to classes, the school also hosts conferences to give advice to Vietnamese parents.

Vy said that the focus of the school was not just to help students get high grades in the shortest amount of time.

We want our students to love learning and use education as a tool to help them follow their passions and nurture their talents.

We aim to inspire our students through courses weve designed ourselves. Instead of the traditional way of learning, weve designed games and extracurricular activities to accompany every lesson.

There have been times when weve written music for math lessons, for example, to make the subject more interesting. We also regularly assign group projects so that students can put their knowledge into practice.

According to Vy, Van Houston has about 20 teachers and 300 students, and offers classes outside of normal school hours.

We teach students from first grade right up to twelfth grade. Our main subjects include math, reading and writing, SAT revision, natural and social sciences, and all of them are taught in English, he said.

Vy majored in mathematics in high school, but ultimately attained a master of education.

I was once a teaching assistant for a professor in England. Seeing the development of students motivated me to become a teacher, Vy said.

I applied to the masters program at Stanford University in 2012. Two years at Stanford taught me a lot about educational philosophy, lesson preparation and how to inspire children, he explained.

I had the opportunity to learn from many educationists in the U.S.

After graduating from Stanford, I began working at a private school established by another Stanford graduate, where I learned how to open and organize a school, and how to recruit and train teachers.

When asked whether he had any plans for a similar project in Vietnam, Vy admitted that had been his dream for a long time.

However, Van Houston is still new and there are many things to be taken care of. Once everything is stable, I will roll out a similar project in Vietnam, he said.

Vy expressed his hope to begin in his hometown of Nha Trang, a coastal resort city in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa, and said that he would focus on areas where children faced difficulty.

He earned a full scholarship in England while he was in grade ten at Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted in Khanh Hoa.

He then graduated as one of the top three students from the mathematics department of Imperial College London, before pursuing his teaching career in Houston.

Not only was he voted teacher of the year at Sam Houston High School, Vy also became the youngest head of the mathematics department and was profiled in a reputable education magazine in Houston.

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Close cooperation between the state, educational institutions and businesses is the backbone of Binh Duongs master plan to turn the province into a smart city.

On Monday, the Binh Duong administration and the Dutch Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City launched the Binh Duong Smart City Summit 2017, which is expected to attract more than 1,000 representatives from both domestic and international enterprises, as well as universities and research institutes.

The summit will brief delegates on the latest Binh Duong Smart City developments which began in 2016, and open discussions on action plans and next steps in its implementation.

The event will also feature a business forum and an exhibition of technology and innovation, aimed at attracting investment and smart city development solutions.

Binh Duong authorities said the key to its successful development was to mobilize resources from both the state and private sector, via a model built around three main arms; government, educational institutions and private firms.

Searching for breakthroughs

On the sidelines of the Binh Duong Smart City Summit, an app development contest is being held at the Eastern International University, seeking breakthrough community applications.

Hundreds of high school and college students have participated in the contest, with winners granted investment to establish startups in the area.

A startup incubator has been inaugurated at the Eastern International University campus, offering a 2,000-square-meter work space to encourage innovation.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, a specialist at the incubator, said the facility does more than just offering a work space for young people who dare to dream and dare to do. What is more important is to create an environment that connects innovative ideas and encourages young people.

In close proximity to the startup incubator is a lighting lab, funded by the Netherlands.

Phan Van Vinh, a university lecturer and a staff member at the lab, said most streets are less frequented by commuters after midnight, so a smart lighting system that can automatically turn on and off or adjust its own level can reduce energy costs by 40-50 percent.

Mai Hung Dung, standing deputy chairman of the Binh Duong administration, said educational institutions, including universities and research institutes, are one of three key factors, besides the state and private enterprises, in finding solutions and unearthing breakthrough ideas in smart city development.

Binh Duong is only 20 years into its development but the province is already considered an active location, with foreign investment worth billions of dollars every year, according to Dung.

The province is now home to some 3,000 foreign enterprises, with a total registered capital of more than US$30 billion.

However, turning these huge investments into an overall improvement in locals' standard of living is important, Dung said, adding that the solution rests with the implementation of a smart city scheme.

Students are seen at the lighting lab at the Eastern International University in Binh Duong, southern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Mobilizing social resources

According to the Binh Duong administration, the concept of a smart city is all about smart solutions that serve local citizens.

The administration will therefore create programs and mechanisms that allow universities and research institutes to achieve specific targets and cooperate with the state, rather than wait for investment from local budgets.

Peter Portheine, program director for the Netherlands-based technology firm Brainport, a partner of the Binh Duong Smart City Scheme, said the Dutch city of Eindhoven had harnessed cooperation between the state, educational institutions and private enterprises in its own smart city a few years ago.

Strong cooperation between the three parties allowed Eindhoven to form a robust business community capable of employing various technologies to improve productivity. Consequently, Eindhovens GRDP regularly outstrips that of other Dutch cities.

Nguyen Van Hung, general director of Becamex IDC, run by the Binh Duong administration, said that while Binh Duong and the southeastern region are Vietnams most active economic zones, there are unresolved issues including several delayed development projects and poor traffic infrastructure.

Citing one example, Hung said that 60-70 percent of goods manufactured in Binh Duong are being transported to both Ho Chi Minh City and deepwater seaports in Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Dong Nai Provinces, however the roads are overloaded and regularly marred by congestion.

In addition, Binh Duong remains connected to these provinces via the Dong Nai and Saigon Rivers, but it is not easy to utilize sea transport, given the rocky reefs surrounding the former waterway, and low bridge clearances.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau is currently home to the Cai Mep-Thi Vai seaport, and the new Long Thanh International Airport will be developed in Dong Nai.

How to transport goods smoothly from Binh Duong to these two provinces, and vice versa, is a problem the Binh Duong administration must solve in its bid to create a smart city, Hung said.
Ho Chi Minh City is set to pilot the rental of state-owned cars in a bid to offset their overall cost to the state budget.

The southern metropolis is expected to begin the pilot program in January 2018 following a proposal by the Ministry of Finance.

Once the plan is rolled out nationwide, it is expected to reduce the number of state-owned cars by 10,000, saving the state some VND3.4 trillion (US$149.6 million).

According to Le Minh Khoa, head of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Volunteer Force, the unit in charge of the project, the rental of state-owned automobiles has not been done before, but the potential results are encouraging.

Each state entity currently manages five cars, with the state spending VND15 million ($660.8) per vehicle per month on drivers salaries and vehicle maintenance, Khoa said.

If the program is rolled out, each agency will only be responsible for two cars, with monthly expenditure of around VND20 million ($880.5) per vehicle, saving about VND35 million ($1,540) each month.

Additional demand for state-owned cars can be met via rentals from the Youth Volunteer Force.

The automobiles for lease will be equipped with GPS tracking systems to prevent them from being driven for personal use, an issue that previously sparked public outrage.

During the pilot stage, the existing fleet of 700 stated-owned cars, currently not being used to capacity, will be reduced to about 300, Khoa elaborated.

Initially, the plan will be put into action at five state agencies in Ho Chi Minh City.

State-owned cars parked along a street in Hanoi. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In order to maintain the income of drivers, they may also be used for transporting local citizens when they are not in official use.

The Youth Volunteer Force has been developing the necessary software and technical solutions, as well as learning how to manage a fleet of vehicles from local transport companies.

According to the proposition of the finance ministry, only the state president, prime minister, general secretary, and chair of the National Assembly should be allowed to regularly use state-owned vehicles, even upon retirement.

Other posts including their deputies, members of the Politburo, and members of the Central Party Committees Secretariat, should be allowed to operate the vehicles during their time in office.

Members of the Central Party Committee, secretaries of provincial Party Committees, and ministers will be able to use state-owned cars of a maximum allowable value of VND1.1 billion ($48,428).

For other officials, a fixed budget is expected to be set for their use of state-owned cars in doing their jobs.

This amount will be either VND6.5 million ($286) per person per month or VND16,000 ($0.7) per kilometer.

Some VND320 million ($14,088) from the state coffers is spent each year on the operation and maintenance of each state-owned car.

It is hoped that the new policy will help lower this cost.

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A broad daylight murder occurred on a Ho Chi Minh City street on Sunday, when a man diagnosed with schizophrenia slit the throat of a six-year-old boy in cold-blood.

Police in Ho Chi Minh Citys Tan Phu District have arrested Hoang Nhat Giang, 34, for the murder of six-year old N.H.V.Kh.

Kh., who lived with his mother at a house on Trinh Dinh Trong Street in Tan Phu District, was on his way to a nearby grocer's at around 1:00 pm on Sunday when he was spotted by Giang  a neighborhood guard, whose job is to maintain safety and security in the area.

According to eyewitnesses, Giang suddenly approached Kh. with a straight razor in his hand, held the boy down and slit his throat with the weapon.

Managing only to run a few steps, Kh. then collapsed on the pavement and died from the fatal wound.

After committing the brazen and unprovoked murder, Giang returned to his station across the street and locked himself inside.

Kh.s uncle and other locals, who had witnessed the shocking incident, immediately surrounded him, forced him to come out and took the razor from his hand.

Tan Phu police officers arrived at the crime scene shortly after and immediately arrested the suspect.

According to Giangs medical records, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia many years ago.

Bystanders look on as police investigate the crime scene. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Nine has distanced itself from allegations surrounding former Burkes Backyard presenter Don Burke.

The joint Fairfax / ABC investigation, which spoke to more than 50 people, published explosive allegations surrounding harassment and bullying.

Burke has denied all the claims, which he attributes to disgruntled employees, and lawyered up. Whilst industry chatter has often referred to him as a tough boss (a point he acknowledges), todays allegations go much further.

Burkes Backyard was produced in-house for 4 years at Nine before Burkes-own CTC Productions took over from 1991  2004. Backyard Blitz, also produced by CTC, made TV stars of Jamie Durie and Scott Cam.

Despite the suggestion some of the allegations took place during the in-house years, Nine told Fairfax / ABC, Burkes Backyard was a production of CTC Productions and they employed and managed all staff.

The story also includes on the record quotes from legendary ex-Nine execs Sam Chisholm, David Leckie and Peter Meakin.

This morning Today Extra told viewers, A statement from the Nine Network says the network cant comment on how matters were dealt with in the past and says these allegations are serious and would not be tolerated at the network today.

Two weeks ago at the Screen Forever conference Nine CEO Hugh Marks was asked about harassment within the network.

The culture is one of creativity, openness, supportiveness. Can I say categorically that there were no issues that happened within the business? You never know. Things that were hidden can be hidden, he conceded.

But I think I can say with some confidence that the environment of the business and culture of the place is very supportive of a culture that I would endorse, and a culture we should have in our industry.

Im sure there were problems 20 years ago, Im sure there are things that will come out in the public that will talk to those problems. But from where I sit right now, I feel like weve got an excellent culture that supports diversity, equality and all those things that are important.
Sunday Night has declared a win as Australias number one public affairs programme for 2017.

It claims an average of 845,000 metro viewers and 1.3 million viewers nationally (incl. regional) every week.

While the shows key rival is Nines 60 Minutes, the shows dont always compete head to head. Last night Sunday Night aired at 7pm, while 60 Minutes as scheduled at 8:30pm. Nine has also screened some episodes as late as 10pm (following The Voice) which it codes as 60 Minutes Late. Seven comparative info includes those, regardless.

Executive Producer, Hamish Thomson, said: Sunday Night is committed to delivering landmark investigations and the exclusive stories and interviews that matter most to Australians. This ratings result for the programme is fitting recognition for outstanding journalism and the teams passion for storytelling. We look forward to telling more powerful stories in 2018.

Sunday Night returns in 2018 for its 10th season, with Melissa Doyle, Steve Pennells, Denham Hitchcock, Alex Cullen, Angela Cox and Matt Doran.

Sunday Night increased its audience on the 2016 survey year by seven per cent for combined viewers, and nine per cent in metro markets. The programme also tracked growth in 2017 across women (seven per cent) and men (six per cent).

Some of those landmark investigations this year have included the exclusive, first interview with Anu Singh two decades after she orchestrated one of the most bizarre killings in Australian criminal history; an enquiry into the charity fundraising activities of marketing company Appco, following which several charity organisations terminated their contracts with the company; and an eight-month undercover investigation that exposed the monstrous child sex slavery operation in Haiti, resulting in the direct rescue of 30 children. This investigation earned reporter Matt Doran a nomination in the upcoming Walkley Awards.

Sunday Night was also recognised with the 2017 United Nations Association of Australia Media Award for Promotion of Gender Equality: Empowerment of Women and Girls for its multi-platform investigation The Hunting Grounds, which exposed the prevalence and handling of sexual assaults at Australian universities.

Then theres the remarkable Australians who sat down exclusively with Sunday Night to share their stories, including Brenda Lin, the sole survivor of the horrific Lin family massacre, and Candice Hedge, who survived the London terror attacks.

Sunday Nights special documentary to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of the Princess of Wales, Diana, Our Mother; Her Life and Legacy, was the most-watched news and public affairs programme of 2017 with two million viewers nationally.

The biggest names in the world of showbusiness also chose to tell their stories first on Sunday Night, including Rebel Wilson, Ed Sheeran, Melissa George, Paul Hogan, Goldie Hawn, Carol King and Jimmy Barnes.

Source: OzTAM (Metro), RegionalTAM (Regional). Total Individuals. Combined: Metro + Regional. Date: Survey YTD 2017 (Wks 7-48, excl Easter). *60 Minutes incl. 60 Minutes  Late/Sun. Men/Women growth based on combined average audience. Data: Consolidated (Live + As Live + TSV7) prior to 2017 Wk 43 2017, Consolidated (Live + As Live + TSV7) for Wks 43-46, Overnight (Live + As Live) for Wk 47-48.
Positivity, usually a word that exudes from my spirit as though it were limitless. I have been through trauma before, through times that are more d...

8 years ago
By Zandi Shabalala

LONDON (Reuters) - A possible breach of its banking agreements does not pose a big risk to Petra Diamonds because its finances will improve following the end of a labour dispute in South Africa and the lifting of an export ban in Tanzania, its chief executive said.

"We don't regard it as a high risk to the business," said Johan Dippenaar of the possible breach of loan terms, adding the mining firm was in talks with its banks on a monthly basis.

"Should we not make it, we know we will have a sensible discussion with the bankers," he said. "As we turn cash flow positive between January and June then that pressure comes off."

London-listed Petra flagged a possible breach of two of its debt covenants in October due to a three-week strike at its South African operations and a confiscated consignment of diamonds in Tanzania.

"It's a measure that only takes place at the end of March, based on the December numbers," Dippenaar said, adding that getting the diamonds released for sale was vital to the company meeting its covenants.

Petra's net debt increased 11 percent to $614 million in the three months ending in September versus the prior three months, mainly due to a lack of sales from its Williamson mine in Tanzania.

As part of a wider crackdown in its mining industry, Tanzania blocked the export consignment after accusing the company of under-declaring the value of the stones by about half. Petra denied this.

Tanzania hopes to boost government revenues and stamp out alleged corruption through sweeping new laws introduced in July.

"You can't blame governments for making sure that the country gets its fair share and that values are properly recorded within the country and so forth," Dippenaar said, adding he hoped "cooler heads" would prevail.

Tanzania has since lifted a wider ban on diamond exports and Petra is currently preparing its second consignment of diamonds for export since the ban was withdrawn, Dippenaar said.

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In South Africa, members of the National Union of Mineworkers downed tools for about three weeks demanding higher wages. Although the dispute was resolved, analysts warned at the time that the strike could lead to a covenant breach in December.

In a presentation to shareholders on Friday, Petra said it had reached peak capital expenditure this year and reiterated it expected to return to generating cash in the first half of next year.

Petra shares are down nearly 60 percent this year compared with a near 18 percent increase in the wider sector in London.

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Mark Potter)
More than a decade ago I wrote a play called Breakfast with Mugabe which was directed by Antony Sher and produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company in 2005. The play suggests why the former Zimbabwean leader spiralled into paranoia  and then remarkably recovered in the build-up to the 2001 presidential elections in Zimbabwe.

The character of Grace Mugabe features strongly in the play, conniving for survival and power during Zanu PFs last major wobble  to comic, as well as tragic effect.

At the plays first premiere in Stratford, two suited gentleman showed up  identified by a Zimbabwean member of the company as security police (CIO). They sat in the Swan Theatre, making careful notes. When the play transferred to the Duchess Theatre in the West End, we were visited by a woman claiming to be Graces niece and, on another night, by a man who claimed he was a former security guard at State House. Both confirmed details related by the play  including the portrayal of Graces bullying temperament.

Author provided

When the play opened at the Signature Theatre, New York in 2013, a representative from the consulate attended the show after our fearless producer Ezra Barnes spotted that Robert Mugabe was visiting the UN, and extended an invitation. The official maintained an impressive poker face throughout the performance, but his lieutenant for the night could barely keep his shoulders from shaking  giggling helplessly, Im afraid, at the plays portrayal of Grace. Afterwards, we were politely, but firmly, informed the president would not be attending.

Our mutual friend

The second time Grace and I came close, was through my friend, the Zimbabwean journalist and author Heidi Holland, who died in 2012. Ive been thinking about Heidi a lot as events unfolded this week. Heidi was based in the Johannesburg suburb of Melville where, in addition to her writing work, she kept a guesthouse. I stayed with her in the mid 2000s, on two separate research trips.

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Penguin SA

Her house was a home-from-home for journalists. At sundowner time, the place would miraculously fill with writers from the Johannesburg press pack, plus overseas visitors  many of them passing through on the way up to or down from Zimbabwe. They were often travelling under assumed identities after Mugabe banned foreign journalists from entering the country.

I remember sitting on the end of a bed one night, watching film rushes of the market clearances in Harare. I saw Bobs bulldozers pushing though flimsy shacks, destroying livelihoods with not the slightest care for the life or limb of his own citizens. The policy was called Operation Murambatsvina  Restore Order (or, more literally, Discarding the Rubbish.

Heidi was a redoubtable journalist. Hearing that I was planning a follow-up play, to focus on Nelson and Winnie Mandela, she immediately unleashed a barrage of phone calls, trying to get me face time with Winnie. When that drew a blank, she insisted on us climbing into her cherry red 4x4 and screeching around Soweto  first trying to doorstep Ma Winnie (we passed a copy of Breakfast with Mugabe to the security guards at her house  probably not a productive move) and then staking out a supermarket where, Heidi remembered, Winnie liked to shop. I learned more that day than I really wanted to know about the danger, exhilaration, tenacity and sheer tedium that make up an investigative journalists working life.

Heidis own project at that time was the book she would publish in 2008, the coincidentally-titled Dinner with Mugabe. It tells the story of how, as a young mother with a less-than-liberal husband, she would let the ANC use her house to conduct clandestine meeting with liberation leaders from around Africa  whenever her husband was away on business. Heidis role was to make dinner.

Amazon

One night, the man on the doorstep with his collar turned up and his hat pulled low, turned out to be Robert Mugabe. What follows is a remarkable tale, and confirmed in Heidi the unshakeable conviction that monsters are made, not born  a conviction we shared. Her book also makes clear she was not over-impressed with my analysis of Mugabes descent from liberation hero to tyrant.

In the play, Mugabe has been damaged by his imprisonment by white Rhodesia, and driven to the brink by his guilt over the death of Josiah Tongogara, a one-time comrade in the armed struggle and rival for power in the new Zimbabwe.

For Heidi, my portrayal smacked too much of the psychotic-black-African-leader trope  very much a Western way of looking at him. Her own take was subtly different  Mugabe felt deeply slighted on a personal level, and let down politically by the British establishment he so admired. After that, he began to see British imperial strings attached to every opponent, and soon reclassified them all as enemies  to be destroyed, before they could destroy him.

Despite our differences, we joked that once her book was published in the UK, Heidi and I would embark on a joint book tour together, called Out to Lunch with Mugabe. Sadly, that never happened, but the book was a great success.

Tragic loss

In 2012, when Heidis body was found in her house in Melville, her family confirmed she had taken her own life. It was a great shock to me, as to many. She had her demons, like everyone else, but still  I guess I didnt know her that well. We were more associates  fellow travellers rather than confidantes, after all.

And then Grace crossed our path again, cropping up in news reports, claiming that Grace had cursed Heidi to kill herself. That Grace had waved Heidis book at God and asked him to judge if the terrible things in it were true. And now this white woman was dead. QED.

If only Grace had known how much she would one day need a journalist like Heidi Holland. Who else in Zimbabwe today is interested in her perspective?

If, during the dark, frightening hours of the coup-that-wasnt-a-coup Grace had been able to put in a call to the house in Melville, she would have met with absolute professionalism. I can quite imagine Heidi, phone clamped between shoulder and chin, while her hands made a blaze with pen and pad.

Make no mistake, Heidi would have rejoiced in the last few days  she despised everything the Mugabes stood for: the bullying abuses of power, the unabashed kleptomania. But she would have been under no illusions about the incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa either  and she would have recognised the deep undercurrent of misogyny among those manoeuvring around Robert, blaming everything on the upstart woman. When troops invaded her home and told Grace to stay in the kitchen and not involve herself in anything that was taking place, its hard not to see a greater significance to those words.

More than that, Heidi would have seen in Grace a fellow Zimbabwean, in deep, possibly irreversible trouble. That is more compassion than Grace has ever showed her compatriots  more, frankly, than she deserves. But Heidi knew what it was like to be in a position of utter defeat, and had a special compassion for the fallen.

I offer the final words of my play in memory of her: Fambai Zvakanaka. Youll travel well, I hope.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Fraser Grace 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 their academic appointment.
FILE PHOTO: Orthodox priest Ioan Kukov of Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox church recites mass at the Church of St. George in Sofia, during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (unseen), January 15, 2015. The church was built by the Romans in the 4th century. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

SOFIA (Reuters) - The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has taken a step towards possible eventual recognition of Macedonia's Orthodox Church, a rapprochement that echoes a warming of relations between the governments of the two Balkan neighbours.

However, the move is unlikely to be welcomed by other Orthodox Churches such as those of Serbia and Greece, in a region where religious identity is often closely tied up with nationalist passions and politics.

The Macedonian Orthodox Church was formed when the country was part of communist Yugoslavia but has never been recognised by other Orthodox churches due to a long-standing dispute over its independence from the Serbian Orthodox Church, with which it was previously formally united.

This month, however, the Macedonian Church sent an official request to Bulgaria's 1,100-year-old Orthodox Church asking it to become its symbolic "mother" church. Bulgaria has close linguistic, cultural and historic ties with Macedonia.

In a statement on Monday the Bulgarian Orthodox Church said that "aware of its sacred duty... (it was) taking all necessary steps to establish the canonical status of the Macedonian Church".

"We must accept the outstretched hand of Macedonia," Bulgaria's Orthodox Patriarch Neofit said. "This is the least (we can do) because they are our brothers."

The move comes three months after the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia signed a friendship treaty in a move designed to end years of diplomatic wrangling and boost Macedonia's European integration.

CONSULTATIONS

The Bulgarian Church's Holy Synod, its top executive body, will consult with other Eastern Orthodox churches, including those of Russia and Greece and Serbia, before announcing its final decision, it said.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian denomination worldwide with more than 250 million members, but unlike the Roman Catholic Church it has no supreme leader comparable to the Pope but instead is composed mainly of de facto national churches, each led by a patriarch.

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There was no immediate response on Monday from the Orthodox Church in Serbia, Greece or elsewhere to the Bulgarian move, but they are unlikely to be positive.

Greece is locked in a long-running dispute with Macedonia over the country's name, which is also the name of a northern Greek province, and Athens has blocked the Skopje government's attempts to join the European Union and NATO.

Russia's Orthodox Church, by far the biggest worldwide, is unlikely to do anything that might compromise Moscow's strong ties with Serbia. Moscow is also opposed to Macedonia's plans to join NATO and the EU.

But Bulgaria's Orthodox Church could unilaterally recognise Macedonia's Church, a move sure to cheer Bulgarian nationalists.

"The Bulgarian Church must recognise the Macedonian (Church)," Bulgarian Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov, co-leader of the United Patriots party, a junior partner in the centre-right coalition government in Sofia, said on Monday.

"The two brotherly churches speak without a translator and use the same church books," he added, alluding to the close linguistic links.

Bulgarian nationalists regard the Macedonian language as a dialect of Bulgarian.

(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Gareth Jones)
SWNS

<p>Feeling under the weather? Try the rom-com remedy  three in five Americans say its their go-to movie genre when down for the count.</p><p>Thats according to a new poll of 2,000 millennial parents of kids ages 4-12, where theyre also watching action and adventure movies (37%) and series like Harry Potter or the Hunger Games (36%).</p><p>When sickness strikes, more than four in five (82%) spend most of their time in their bedroom, with 42% staying put on the couch in their living room.</p><p>This may contribute to the fact that the average parent watches five hours of TV or movies each sick day.</p><p>Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of <a href="https://delsym.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="1">Delsym</a>, results showed how respondents are optimizing comfort with their favorite things.</p><p>Results revealed that respondents get sick about three times per year.</p><p>Respondents were more likely to prefer old favorites than to wrap their heads around new content when feeling ill. (23% vs 15%).</p><p>When parents are sick with their children, the most popular movies to watch are the Harry Potter series (32%) and the Toy Story series (32%).</p><p>They also watch movies like Frozen (30%), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (28%) and Moana (25%).</p><p>More than half (56%) of respondents have a go-to or favorite feel-better comfort movie, with the average person saying they can watch it four times in a row without getting sick of it</p><p>In fact, 45% of those admit they can watch it more than four times and one in 10 of those (11%) even say they can watch it an infinite amount of times.</p><p>In total, respondents have watched their feel-better movie about 34 different times.</p><p>This movie has been respondents favorite for about six years, perhaps because it reminds them of good times (61%) and makes them laugh (53%).</p><p>Parents report feeling relaxed (54%), happy (48%) and calm (40%) after watching their favorite movie.</p><p>Almost two-thirds (63%) of parents agree that theyve passed their love of their favorite movie along to their child.</p><p>Nothing brings a family together quite like movie night, and nothing makes movie night better than a feel-good flick that fills you with warm, fuzzy feelings  especially when youre sick. We understand that feeling better means more than just relieving your cough symptoms  its about cozying up on the couch as you and your family work to feel better together, said Albert So, Marketing Director, Upper Respiratory Brands at Reckitt, including Delsym.</p><p>The survey also delved into how respondents are remedying their ailments by caring for their five senses. </p><p>In order to alleviate their symptoms, parents tend to want to taste soup (42%) and hot beverages like tea or coffee (26%).</p><p>They also want to touch things like their favorite blanket (40%), their significant other (19%) and their pet (14%).</p><p>When it comes to smell, respondents like to breathe in something clean like fresh linens (42%), medicine (36%) and something cooking in the kitchen (26%).</p><p>And while trying to feel better, respondents like to listen to music (58%) and their friends and family talking (29%).</p><p>When a family member is under the weather, the entire household is caught in the storm and that daily routine can be thrown off course, bringing with it discomfort and chaos. Families not only need fast-acting relief, but they need comforting remedies to help them navigate that storm, said So. Whether its moms chicken soup, your go-to feel better movie or cozying up with your kids, whatever it is that makes you feel better can go a long way.<br><br></p><p><em>Survey methodology:</em></p><p><em>This random double-opt-in survey of <strong>2,000 millennial parents of kids aged 4-12</strong> was commissioned by <strong>Delsym</strong> between <strong>October 6</strong> and <strong>October 10, 2022</strong>. It was conducted by market research company <a href="https://www.onepoll.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="2">OnePoll</a>, whose team members are members of the <a href="https://www.mrs.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="3">Market Research Society</a> and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (<a href="https://www.aapor.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="4">AAPOR</a>) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (<a href="https://www.esomar.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="5">ESOMAR</a>).</em></p>
By Lidia Kelly

WARSAW (Reuters) - The president of the European Parliament said on Monday he would ask Poland's prime minister to ensure the security of Polish members of the assembly after a far-right protest staged a symbolic hanging of the politicians.

On Saturday a few dozen people in the southern Polish city of Katowice hanged the portraits of politicians who backed a European Parliament resolution calling on the Polish government to condemn "the xenophobic and fascist march" held on Poland's Independence Day on Nov. 11.

"I will write to PM Beata Szydlo to ensure the security of elected members of the European Parliament to express their opinions independently, without threat, and oppose those who spread hatred by exhibiting outrageous pictures of hanged politicians," Antonio Tajani said on Twitter.

Poland's socially conservative, eurosceptic government came under fire from the EU and human rights group for allowing far-right marchers - who were among some 60,000 people at the Nov. 11 rally - to brandish banners with racist slogans such as "pure blood, clear mind" or "Europe will be white or uninhabited".

Leading members of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) joined other politicians in denouncing the use of hate speech at the rally, but critics said their response was too slow.

The PiS government has been increasingly at loggerheads with Brussels since sweeping to power two years ago over what the EU sees as its flouting of democratic rules.

"One has to condemn what happened in Katowice," Szydlo said.

However, she added that if she received Tajani's letter she would also ask him to "keep an eye on those MPs who insult and slander Poland in the European Parliament".

Organisers of the Saturday protest told the local katowice24.info news portal that they were expressing their opposition to the "slanderous voices" against Poles "expressing their pride during the Independence Day March".

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The pictures showed six members of the European parliament (MEPs) who belong to the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party. The economically liberal, pro-EU PO party governed Poland for eight years until its defeat by PiS in the 2015 national election.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said prosecutors would look into the Katowice protest. He said he "doesn't like" what happened, but he also blamed the opposition, saying that in their protests they also displayed "aggression".

"An action triggers a reaction," Ziobro told the public Trojka radio station.

(Writing by Lidia Kelly; Additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Agnieska Barteczko; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Italy police seize 'Ndrangheta mafia cocaine in Mediterranean

Guardia di Finanza di Reggio Calabria

MILAN (AP)  Italys new national anti-mafia prosecutor said Thursday that Italian organized crime gangs are increasingly cooperating to control international drug trafficking.

Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho told an anti-mafia conference in Milan that the Italian mafias "are not isolated. By now, they move together. The ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Camorra, also the groups from Puglia" work together, coordinating, for example, ports they use for heroin and cocaine shipments.

"They are able to change the commander on a ship in Panama, and insert their own commander, so the ship can handle a big transport of drugs," Cafiero De Raho said, illustrating their reach.

While in southern Italy organized crime "occupies the entire territory," in the north the mafia is making inroads by entering the real economy by preying on business people in difficulty who accept financial help to keep their business alive, until eventually they are forced out.

Cafiero De Raho urged Italian law enforcement and magistrates to cooperate on exchanging data and other information, saying it was "the first step in the strategy" to defeat organized crime.

Outgoing national anti-mafia prosecutor Franco Roberti said while everyone wants to know who the new "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian Mafia could be now that Salvatore "Toto" Riina has died after nearly a quarter-century in jail, the real question is why the mafia persists and gains strength.

"How is it possible, after all the work to fight the mafia the last 25 years that the mafia is still strong? They have spread to areas beyond their origins," he said. "Why has the mafia not been defeated?"

' We are seeing an intolerable growth'

FILE PHOTO: Mafia boss Toto Riina is escorted by Italian Carabinieri officers as he arrives at the court house in Palermo, Italy December 1, 1993. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo

Thomson Reuters

While strides have been made in drafting more effective legislation, Roberti said the justice and law enforcement systems must work together to bring down the mafia, and that one key is to focus on hard drugs, cocaine and heroin, and not be distracted by soft drugs.

Story continues

A common theme of the panel discussion was that the mafia has proven very adaptable to new scenarios, preying on weakness and looking for economic crises as sources of opportunities.

Italys justice minister, Andrea Orlando, said the mafia "is a blemish on our competitiveness," and impacts the nations ratings.

"The mafia hasnt won, but nor has it lost," Orlando said. "There cannot be only celebrations. We are seeing an intolerable growth in a gray area in the inattention of public opinion."

Italys Finance Minister, Pier Carlo Padoan told the gathering that Italian organized crime finds new opportunities for wealth in new instruments created by the financial industry to evade regulation.

"In these operations, the mafia finds space to profit, Padoan said. "The velocity with which institutions responds is always insufficient."

He warned that Brexit could provide new opportunities for the mafia, as financial investments move from London to other European capitals.

"The evolution of the financial geography can attract the criminal world," he said.

NOW WATCH: EX-DEA AGENT: How I got Mexican drug cartels to trust me

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BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's government said it has delayed regional elections from December to April amid security concerns caused by the spreading reach of Islamist militants.

Mali has struggled to deal with insurgents and sectarian infighting this year despite international military interventions and a 2015 peace deal, and much of the country's north remains beyond government control.

Four United Nations peacekeepers and a Malian soldier were killed and 21 people wounded in two separate attacks in the centre of the arid West African country on Friday.

The government said in a statement that it wants to delay the regional elections, which were originally scheduled for Dec. 17, "in order to organise inclusive elections in a peaceful atmosphere".

It was not clear if the delay would affect the timing of presidential elections scheduled for July. Opposition politicians expressed concern that the security situation is unlikely to improve by April.

"The government would not even set the date of the (regional) elections because it does not control the security situation," said Abouacar Sidick Fomba, chairman of the ADEPM party. "There is no evidence that the situation will improve by that date."

Militants seized Mali's desert north in 2012 before being forced back by French military intervention in 2013. But over the last two years they have reemerged as a major threat to security in Mali and across its vast, porous desert borders in Niger, Burkina Faso and beyond.

(Reporting By Adama Diarra; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Aaron Ross/Mark Heinrich)
North Korean fishing vessels often wash up on the Japanese coast, sometimes with corpses on board (AP Images)

Ten decomposed corpses have washed up on the coast of Japan across from North Korea along with the remains of two boats.

The bodies washed up in two separate spots on Sado Island, 750km away from North Korea, the same area that eight fisherman living under Kim Jong-uns regime drifted ashore a few days before.

A senior local police official said that the bodies had nothing to identify them, but boxes of North Korean tobacco were found nearby as well as life jackets with Korean script.

Another boat with squid fishing equipment was found wrecked close by.

A wooden boat is moored at a nearby marina, in Yurihonjo, Akita prefecture, northern Japan (AP Images)

Further North in the Akita prefecture another boat containing eight bodies was seen around the same time by authorities, who were prevented from investigating by high waves.

Last week eight men claiming to be fishermen from the secretive nation were discovered at Yurihonjo citys marina.

They said that they had encountered difficulties with their ship and entered Japanese waters unintentionally.

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The Japanese government said it believed that the men were sailors, rather than spies or defectors. Some media outlets reported that the men wished to be returned to North Korea.

Dozens of fishing vessels, often basic wooden structures, wash up on the coast of Japan every year after drifting across from North Korea.

Sometimes bodies are found on board, suggesting vessels have been adrift for a long time. These are referred to as ghost ships.

It is unlikely the people on board these ships are trying to defect, given the distance from Japan and the cultural and linguistic differences.

Dr John Nilsson-Wright, head of the Asia Programme at think-tank Chatham House told the BBC: It wouldnt make sense if you were a defector to go to Japan. South Korea is much closer by boat.
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)  President Donald Trump is again coming to the side of embattled Republican Roy Moore by bashing the Democratic nominee in the hotly contested Alabama Senate race.

Trump tweets "the last thing we need" in Alabama and the Senate is a "puppet" of the Democratic congressional leadership. Trump contends Democrat Doug Jones  a former prosecutor  is "WEAK" on crime and border security, and "BAD" for the military, veterans, gun rights. Trump claims Jones is itching to raise taxes "TO THE SKY" and would be "a disaster."

As the Dec. 12 election nears, two women have accused Moore of sexually assaulting or molesting them decades ago, when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers.

At least five others have said he pursued romantic relationships when they were teenagers and he was a prosecutor. He's denied the allegations.

See Also:
 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced their engagement

 The couple will get married in spring 2018

 Meghan, 36, and Harry, 33, have been dating for over a year

 Couple give first interview following engagement

 Harry reveals how he proposed and that they met on a blind date

 Meghan says early press focus on her mixed-race background was disheartening

Prince Harry has opened up about his relationship to Meghan Markle for the first time, revealing he met the American actress on a blind date and proposed over roast chicken.

Following months of speculation, the couple confirmed they were engaged on Monday morning, saying they plan to marry in spring 2018.

In the couples first joint interview, Harry described the proposal as just a standard typical night for us; trying to roast a chicken.

Meghan said it was an instant yes from her.

The couple also spoke at length about their relationship  details of which had been closely guarded for many months.

She said they had had five, six months of privacy and never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other.

She also said she was disheartened at the press reaction to her mixed race background.

The pair said they were introduced by a mutual female friend in July 2016 via a blind date, but declined to reveal her name.

Harry told how they camped out under the stars in Botswana a few weeks after they met when Harry persuaded Ms Markle to join him on holiday.

Then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana. And we, we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent, she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.

Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle [Photo: AP]

The actress also revealed she had met the Queen a couple of times, describing her as an incredible woman while Harry said the monarchs pet corgis took to [Meghan] straight away.

When asked whether children were on the cards, Meghan replied: Not right now. Prince Harry adding: In the near future.

Story continues

Meghans engagement ring was designed by Harry himself and features three diamonds: one from Botswana and two from the personal collection of his late mother, Princess Diana. Harry added that he chose diamonds from Dianas jewellery box so that she could be with us on this crazy journey together.

Harry said that Diana and Meghan would have been thick as thieves and that his mother would be over the moon, jumping up and down at the news.

Earlier the couple had appeared for official photos outside Kensington Palace at 2pm on Monday afternoon. The royal said he was thrilled to be engaged while Meghan said she was very happy.

When asked whether his proposal was romantic, Harry replied of course it was, saying that he knew Meghan was the one from the very first time we met.

Its believed the pair will have a church wedding after the Archbishop of Canterbury said Harry and Meghan had chosen to make their vows to God.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh said they were delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge commented: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

The couple will marry in spring 2018 [Photo: Getty]

Harry first met the 36-year-old divorcee in May 2016 in her hometown of Toronto while promoting the 2017 Invictus Games. They officially began dating in the summer of last year but did not publicly confirm their relationship until November.

Kensington Palace was forced to issue a statement after Meghan and her family were hounded by the press. In it, she was described as Prince Harrys girlfriend of a few months.

The 33-year-old royal believed a line had been crossed and reminded everyone that this is not a game  it is her life and his.

The actress has appeared in US legal drama Suits since 2011 [Photo: PA]

Although Meghan is primarily known for her role on US legal drama Suits, she has used her public profile to raise awareness of a number of humanitarian causes along with issues such as gender and racial equality.

According to People, Meghan was quickly introduced to Harrys father, Prince Charles. She met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on her next visit to London in late November.

Kate was said to be thrilled with Harrys romantic choice and vowed to do all she could to support Meghan as she entered a rather unique relationship.

While the headlines surrounding the couple grew, Meghan was far from private. She penned an essay for ELLE on finding the right balance between fame and philanthropy and how she will always strive for gender equality.

With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility  to advocate and share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings. And, if Im lucky enough, to inspire, she wrote.

Things started heating up for the pair around Christmas when they were spotted together in public for the first time. Meghan and Harry were seen buying a Christmas tree in Battersea Park, leading people to believe that things were becoming serious.

In February, the first official paparazzi photos of the couple emerged. They enjoyed a date night at Londons Soho House and were pictured holding hands after an intimate dinner.

The star is set to leave her acting career behind with Prince Harry expected to take on more royal duties [Photo: PA/Rex]

Meghan began wearing jewellery with the letter H branded on it. Whether it was a deliberate attempt to show off her new boyfriend or simple gifts from the Prince, the actress wasnt afraid of brandishing the ring and necklace for all to see.

According to insiders, the pair were inseparable with Meghan spending all of her free time away from filming with the royal.

Wedding fever then began after Meghan and Harry were photographed in Jamaica at the nuptials of Harrys close friend, Tom Inskip.

Media crews flooded Kensington Palace on Monday morning [Photo: PA]

At the end of March, rumours began flying around that the couple were planning to move in together. A source told the Daily Mail that Harry was renovating a brand new apartment in Kensington Palace for Meghan to move into, leaving his two-bedroom bachelor pad behind.

The stars inspirational lifestyle blog, The Tig, was shut down in April. Speculation that Meghan was forced to quit her blog to become fully integrated into the public family was rife.

Shortly after, Meghans half-sister threatened the actress with a tell-all book, saying that the truth about Princess Pushy would kill her relationship with Prince Harry. Samantha Grant was criticised for cashing in on her relations newfound fame.

Click below to see Meghan Markles top red carpet looks:

As news of Pippa Middletons wedding emerged, the world was left wondering whether Harry would bring Meghan as his plus one. Pippas no ring, no bring policy that meant only couples who were married could attend brought an end to that rumour.

However, Meghan was invited to the wedding reception held at the Middleton family home in Berkshire. Annoyingly for us, there were no photos of her at the reception  although a source said she was there wearing a backless maroon dress.

In September, Meghan spoke out about her relationship with Harry for the first time in a mega Vanity Fair interview, telling all about how the pair met and saying: Were a couple. Were in love. Im sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us.

The couples first public appearance together came at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto where Harry performed a whole lot of PDA on the actress. Then came news that Meghan had told her TV bosses that she would not be returning to work on the eighth series of Suits next year, prompting many to believe that the American was planning a permanent move to London.

Now, there are talks of when and where the couple will get married [Photo: Getty]

Now, all the rumours have been proven true. Last week, removal vans were reportedly spotted outside Meghans Toronto home with the actress spotted doing a bit of Christmas shopping on Londons Kings Road.

The couple will be living in Nottingham Cottage, Harrys two-bedroom apartment in Kensington Palace.

Meghan is expected to join the royal family for Christmas at Sandringham. It would go against royal protocol as the Duchess of Cambridge wasnt invited to the three-day celebrations in 2010 despite getting engaged to Prince William a month before.

We already speculated as to what Meghan will give up if she marries into the royal family. Now that she has accepted Prince Harrys proposal, its only a matter of time before the acting and social media comes to a complete halt.

Her dress sense is also likely to require a revamp. The Duchess of Cambridge rarely shows off any skin with knee length dresses being her shortest style. Meghan, however, has been seen in teeny tiny shorts and ripped jeans since dating Prince Harry.

Whatever she wears, we cant wait for the next royal wedding.

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

00:00:15

Int: Your Royal Highness, Meghan Markle, congratulations to you both.

00:00:19

Meghan Markle: Thank you.

Int: Can we start with the proposal and the actual moment of your engagement. When did it happen? How did it happen?

00:00:25

Prince Harry: It happened a few weeks ago, earlier this month, here at our cottage; just a standard typical night for us.

00:00:34

Meghan Markle: Just a cosy night, it was  what we were doing just roasting chicken and having 

00:00:38

Prince Harry: Roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken.

Meghan Markle: Trying to roast a chicken and it just  just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.

00:00:50

Prince Harry: Of course.

Int: Was it an instant yes from you?

00:00:52

Meghan Markle: Yes, as a matter of fact I could barely let you finish proposing, I said  can I say yes now?

00:00:56

Prince Harry: She didnt even let me finish, she said can I say yes, can I say yes and then were was hugs and I had the ring in my finger and I was like can I  can I give you the ring? She goes  oh yes the ring.

00:01:04 So no it was  it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think managed to catch  catch her by surprise as well.

Meghan Markle: Yeah.

Int: And this is how long after you first met?

00:01:14

Meghan Markle: Oh it would be a year and a half, a little bit more than that?

00:01:17

Prince Harry: No just about  it would be about a year and a half yeah.

Meghan Markle: Just about that?

Int: Which for most people would be quite a whirlwind, is that how its felt to you?

00:01:24

Meghan Markle: I dont think that I would call it a whirlwind in terms of our relationship, obviously there have been layers attached to how public it has become after we had a good five, six months almost with just privacy, which was amazing.

00:01:40 But no, I think we were able to really have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other, even though we were obviously doing a long distance relationship. So its  we made it work.

Int: How did you first meet?

00:01:56

Prince Harry: Ah yes, we first met  we were introduced actually by a mutual friend, who  we will 

00:02:02

Meghan Markle: We should protect her privacy and not reveal too much of that.

00:02:03

Prince Harry: Well protect her privacy yeah. And  but it was  it was literally  it was through her and then we met once and then twice back to back two dates in London, last July.

Meghan Markle: Yes.

00:02:17

Prince Harry: The beginning of July. And then it was I think about three, maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana. And we  we camped out with each other under the stars, we spent  she came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.

00:02:34

Meghan Markle: Just to take the  take the time to be able to go on long country walks and just talk.

00:02:41

Prince Harry: Weve been  weve been all over the place.

Int: Have you met the Queen?

00:02:44

Meghan Markle: I have, yes.

Prince Harry: A couple of times.

Meghan Markle: Yes, true, a couple of times.

Int: What was that like?

00:02:48

Meghan Markle: Its incredible, I think, you know, a) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And weve had a really  shes  shes an incredible woman.

00:03:17

Prince Harry: And the corgis took to you straight away.

Meghan Markle: Thats true.

00:03:19

Prince Harry: Ive spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing 

00:03:23

Meghan Markle: Just laying on my feet during tea, it was very sweet.

Prince Harry:  just wagging tails and I was just like argh.

Int: That has to be a good sign. Speaking of dogs, have you brought yours to the UK?

00:03:32

Meghan Markle: Well I have two dogs that Ive had for quite a long time, both my rescue pups. And one is now staying with very close friends and my other little guy is  yes hes in the UK, hes been here for a while.

Int: Okay, lets hope he adjusts well.

00:03:45

Meghan Markle: I think hes doing just fine.

Int: What was it like introducing Meghan to your father and your brother?

00:03:56

Prince Harry: What was it like? It was exciting I mean Ive  you know Id been seeing her for a period of time when I  literally didnt tell anybody at all. And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know being our neighbours we managed to get that in a couple of  well quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely 

00:04:16

Meghan Markle: Shes been wonderful.

Prince Harry:  amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support. And then my  my father as well, we had a couple of  no more than that 

Meghan Markle: Weve had 

00:04:24

Prince Harry:  A handful of teas and meetings and all sorts of gatherings over at his place as well. So no the family together have been absolutely, you know, a solid support and my grandparents as well have been  have been wonderful throughout this whole process and theyve known for quite some time. So how they  how they havent told anybody is  is again a miracle in itself. But now the whole family have come together and have been a huge amount of support.

Meghan Markle: Theyve been amazing.

Int: And Meghan your parents, do you think  you know while very happy for you obviously 

Meghan Markle: Yes.

Int:  Do you think they have worried at all about the scale of what youre getting into?

00:05:00

Meghan Markle: Well Im sure the onset, both my parents and my close friends were concerned, because we got very quickly swept up in a media storm that, as I shared, was not part of my life before that, but they also had never seen me so happy. And I think also once my friends  excuse me, were able to  to really meet Harry, and my mom, who weve spent a lot of time with, who is so much fun.

Prince Harry: Her mums amazing.

00:05:29

Meghan Markle: It was just  you know it was just obvious that no matter what we were being put through that it was just temporary and that we were going to be able to get through that. So everybody was really happy. And hes talked to my dad a few times, hasnt been able to meet him just yet, but its all been  its all been worth every effort.

00:05:49

Prince Harry: Yeah, yeah its been great.

Int: Your ring.

Meghan Markle: Oh yes.

Int: Tell us about your ring.

00:05:57

Prince Harry: The ring is  is obviously yellow gold because thats what  her favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the  the little diamonds either side are from my mothers jewellery collection to make sure that shes with us on this  on this crazy journey together. And 

00:06:16

Meghan Markle: Its beautiful, and he designed it, its incredible.

Prince Harry: Yeah, make sure it stays on that finger.

Meghan Markle: Of course.

Int: What does it mean to you Meghan to have those stones on your finger that once belonged to Princess Diana?

00:06:32

Meghan Markle: I think everything about Harrys thoughtfulness is  and the inclusion of that and obviously not being able to meet his mom its so important to me to  to know that shes a part of this with us. And I think in being able to meet his aunts and  and also like Julia and just different people who were so important to his mom, Im able to, in some way, know a part of her through them and of course through him. And its  its incredibly special. And you know to be able to have this which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us and its  its perfect.

Int: What do you think your mother would have thought of Meghan, or said about Meghan?

00:07:18

Prince Harry: Oh theyd be thick as thieves, without question, I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me, but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends  best friends with Meghan.

00:07:31 So no its  you know it is days like  days like today when  when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news. But you know with the ring and with everything else thats going on Im sure shes 

Meghan Markle: Shes with us.

00:07:43

Prince Harry: Im sure shes with us yeah, you know, jumping up and down somewhere else.

END

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Britain must clarify its position on the terms of its departure from the European Union as soon as possible, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday.

In a speech to the European Parliament, Juncker said a prompt statement of the type of deal Britain wanted was necessary to end uncertainty.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who resigned on Friday after Britain voted 52% - 48% to leave the EU, was in Brussels on Tuesday for a meeting with other leaders of the bloc's member states to discuss the political ramifications of the decision.

"We need to clarify the situation as quickly as possible. But I'm still sad because I'm not a robot, a grey bureaucrat or technocrat," Juncker said.

"I'm a European and I have a right to say I regret the result of the British vote," he said during a special sitting of the parliament to discuss the political consequences of the British decision.

Juncker reasserted the EU's position, supported by France and Germany, that there would be no informal talks with the UK before it invoked Article 50 of the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon that starts formally the exit process.

"I want the UK to clarify its position. Not today, not tomorrow at 9am, but soon. We cannot allow ourselves to remain in a prolonged period of uncertainty. There can be no secret negotiations. No notification, no negotiation," he said.

Cameron delayed Article 50 to give the Conservative Party time to elect a new leader. It also means his successor would have to fire the starting gun on Britain's exit.

There has been a deafening silence from Cameron's heir apparent Boris Johnson and his ally Michael Gove about what a post-Brexit Britain would look like, largely because the Leave campaign failed to draw up a plan. Instead, there have been accusations from some within the camp that contingencies should have been drawn up by the government.

Holger Schmieding of broker Berenberg said the UK's delay in starting "divorce negotiations" due to "political confusion" was "further weakening its economy and its bargaining position".

"Unsurprisingly, the victorious Brexiteers have not come up with a coherent idea of what comes next. Instead, and also as expected, they may soon have to explain to the UK public that the promises on which they won the vote, including those of saving money and avoiding any economic damage, could be impossible to keep," he said in a note.

"The UK debate often overlooks that the Brexit vote and the refusal of the UK to start the divorce proceedings soon are eliciting a counter-reaction in some EU-27 members. Contemplating additional concessions to a UK that is seen more and more as somewhat unpredictable and unreliable would not come easy for many EU-27 members."
US drug giant Pfizer has been criticised by the UK competition regulator for breaching UK and EU competition law by ramping up the cost of an epilepsy drug, resulting in a big bill for the NHS.

The Competition and Markets Authority said Pfizer, which manufactures the Epanutin epilepsy drug used by more than 50,000 British patients, and Flynn Pharma, which distributes the drug, abused their dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices.

Pfizer sold the drug to Flynn at prices that the CMA said were "significantly higher than those at which it had previously sold Epanutin in the UK", between eight and 17 times its historic prices, before Flynn then sold the drug on to customers at prices which were between 25 and 27 times higher than those historically charged by Pfizer.

Prior to September 2012, the NHS spent approximately 2.3 million on phenytoin sodium capsules annually.

NHS payments to Flynn and other suppliers of phenytoin sodium capsules then rose to just over 50m in 2013, a rise of more than 2,000%, and over 40m in 2014.

The CMA pointed out that its findings are provisional and it will listen to explanations from Pfizer and Flynn before deciding whether the law has been infringed.

The watchdog's senior director of antitrust enforcement, Ann Pope, said: "While businesses are generally free to set prices as they see fit, those that hold a dominant position have a special responsibility to ensure that their conduct does not impair genuine competition and that their prices are not excessive and unfair.

"The prices that the CMA is concerned about in this case are very high compared to those prices previously charged and have led to a big increase in the total NHS drug bill for what is a very important drug for tens of thousands of patients."

Pfizer said it was cooperating fully with the CMA.
In its latest global equity strategy note, Credit Suisse said there was a 30% chance of a Brexit lite and no change in governing party until 2020.

We have a 30% chance of a second referendum which would take place if Boris Johnson is able to negotiate better terms (i.e. a brake on EU immigration), the bank said.

It pointed out that Johnson suggested back in February that the point of the first referendum was to get better negotiating terms for a second referendum.

However, a very protracted divorce is the more likely scenario, CS said, where the UK does not trigger Article 50 for a long time.

Legally, it seems hard for Europe to force the UK out of the EU if the UK does not invoke Article 50, said the bank, adding that German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to favour a slower exit than many of her European peers.

In addition, CS pointed out that predictors of UK GDP growth such as vacancy growth and service sector PMI are already consistent with a mild recession. The bank said it remains gloomy on the outlook for UK growth, pointing to the high likelihood that corporates will postpone investment decisions.

However, the bank was a little more upbeat on Europe, where it reckons the direct impact of a UK recession should take around 0.5% off pan-European growth at worst.

As far as sterling is concerned, it continues to target $1.20 into a full Brexit, and $1.30 into Brexit lite. CS argued that the UK has the worst twin deficit in the OECD, which foreign direct investment is critical to fund.

With its negative view on sterling, the bank recommended investors buy UK dollar-earners such as Shire, Wolseley, Senior, Experian, UBM, Carnival and Smiths Group.

Credit Suisse said EURUSD was a lot more resilient that GBPEUR and would look to buy the European earnings in the UK, such as Shanks Group, Man Group, Vodafone and Bodycote, among others.

The simplest way to address UK-related concerns is to be overweight FTSE 100 versus small cap. Small caps tend to underperform as PMIs fall or sterling falls: they have triple the domestic exposure of large and greater cyclical exposure.

As far as sectors are concerned, it recommended pharmas, saying they were the cheapest defensive, dollar-earners and top of its macro scorecard. We can see pharma is a play on sterling, the best performing sector when UK PMIs falls, and it trades on a big yield premium. Pharma stocks are defensive also because they have low leverage and strong self-help stories.
A new industrial strategy proposed by the government on Monday hopes to solve the UK's productivity puzzle and generate private investment via "sector deals" to boost business in the medium and long term.

The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, Greg Clark, said in a white paper that the strategy was built on five "key foundations" to transform the economy and fix problem areas: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places.

As part of the proposed strategy, a new independent watchdog -- the 'Industrial Strategy Council' -- will be created to monitor progress made in boosting innovation, upgrading infrastructure, increasing the level of workplace skills, and making recommendations to government where it sees fit.

He said these areas of focus would set out how Britain build on existing strengths and capitalises on new opportunities, but also address weaknesses, noting that there are "businesses, people and places whose level of productivity is well below what can be achieved".

Alongside last week's Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility revealed its new estimates for UK gross domestic product growth for the coming years had been sharply downgraded due to lower productivity forecasts, with growth expected to fall to 1.4% in 2018 and down to just 1.3% for two years from 2019.

Clark said: "By improving productivity while keeping employment high, we can earn more  raising living standards, providing funds to support our public services and improving the quality of life for all our citizens. So this Industrial Strategy deliberately strengthens the five foundations of productivity: innovation, people, infrastructure, places and the business environment.

Across his five pillars, the focus on the 'business environment' will see the launch and roll-out of "sector deals", which are partnerships between government and industry aiming to increase sector productivity, beginning in the life sciences, construction, artificial intelligence and the automotive sectors.

Clark and Prime Minister Theresa May expect this to drive more than 20bn of investment in innovative and high potential businesses, including through establishing a new 2.5bn Investment Fund, incubated in the British Business Bank.

A review is also to be launched into the "actions that could be most effective in improving the productivity and growth of small and medium-sized businesses", including how to address what has been called the long tail of lower productivity firms.

In the area of 'ideas', the Industrial Strategy white paper proposes a new target for UK research and development investment of 2.4% of GDP by 2027, aided by a plans to increase the rate of R&D tax credit by one percentage point to 12% and a 725m investment in new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programmes focused on innovation.

Proposals in the area of 'people' included establish a strong technical education system, with an additional 406m invested in maths, digital and technical education, and the creation of a new National Retraining Scheme that supports people to re-skill, beginning with a 64m investment for digital and construction training.

In infrastructure, the National Productivity Investment Fund would be expanded to 31bn, to support more investment in transport, housing and digital infrastructure, with 400m invested in charging infrastructure and an extra 100m to extend the plug-in car grant, plus more than 1bn of public investment in digital infrastructure, including 176m for 5G mobile and 200m for local areas to encourage roll out of full-fibre networks.

The fifth tenet of 'places' aims to drive the agreement of local industrial strategies "that build on local strengths and deliver on economic opportunities", with the paper also proposing a new Transforming Cities fund to provide 1.7bn for intracity transport, plus 42m to pilot a teacher development premium testing the impact of a 1000 budget for "high-quality professional development" for teachers working in areas that have fallen behind.

Clark's proposals are being unveiled five years after Vince Cable launched a long-term industrial strategy under David Cameron's coalition government, which apart from the creation of the Business Bank, has many similarities with Monday's announcement, including creation of a "strategic partnership with key sectors", "innovative technologies" and proposals to develop "world class skills".

INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY - REACTION

Businesses will welcome the "sense of mission" from the government, said Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, as well as the assessment of the "challenges and opportunities that the UK faces, particularly as both businesses and government look to forge a new path beyond the European Union".

He added regional business communities "will cheer the focus on places to boost productivity in local economies" and stressed that the government will need to listen to a "full range" of business voices when developing local and sector-based deals in the coming consultation of the proposals.

Businesses will now want to see clear evidence that this Industrial Strategy can be implemented over the long term - and will be dismayed if it falls victim to short-term Westminster politicking. Only a consistent and coherent approach over time will help set the foundations for business communities across the UK to grow and thrive.

But the government hasn't gone far enough with R&D tax relief, said Mark Tighe, boss of R&D tax specialist Catax.

The industry was looking for a rise of 4% in R&D tax relief to 15%," he said. "Instead, its stuck with a raise of 1%. This might look good on paper as its actually a 9% rise in the rate of relief overall, but this isnt change on a scale that will supercharge the potential in our economy as many would wish."

Tighe said while it was a positive message from the government, the strategy was not just about cutting-edge firms and the majority of companies that could benefit from the strategy belong to more traditional industries.

Not enough businesses know its not all about space travel and driverless cars, but a new pint of beer or menu for a restaurant too," Tighe said. " Lots of companies dont realise they are entitled to this kind of relief and its often the smaller firms with tighter balance sheets that would benefit the most so this rhetoric has to change.

Terry Scuoler of the EEF manufacturers' organisation, hailed the idea of an independent industrial strategy council.

By introducing independent scrutiny of the progress of these plans, the government is signalling that there will be a strong focus on measuring delivery which boardrooms will recognise and welcome," he said.
Ultra Electronics has won a brace of contracts, one in the UK and one with Sweden's Saab, two weeks after the defence and security supplier issued a profit warning due to a slowdown in UK defence spending.

The FTSE 250 group's West London-based Communication & Integrated Systems arm has been awarded a 16.6m UK contract to help set up a surveillance system and provide ongoing support services until 2019.

Ultra's Gloucestershire-based Precision Control Systems business has been won a 9m contract from Saab, the Swedish defence and security manufacturer, to supply its HiPPAG airborne compressor system for the new Gripen E/F fighter aircraft.

"Saab has been awarded contracts by the Swedish and Brazilian air forces and is well positioned to win further export contracts," Ultra said, adding that it could not provide further information due to commercial and security considerations.

Douglas Caster, the former Ultra CEO who has taken the role of executive chairman while a new permanent boss is found, said: "We are pleased to have received these significant contracts which demonstrate our wide portfolio of capabilities and our world-leading technology.

"These contracts underpin the long-term success of the group and highlight Ultra's ability to work closely with both government and industry."

A fortnight ago, Ultra said it expected a tougher second half amid mounting pressures in the funding of UK defence programmes and said this has resulted in the UK Ministry of Defence pausing, cancelling or delaying a number of programmes. Chief executive Rakesh Sharma stepped down with immediate effect.

The Cater said at the time that he expected full year total revenue to be around 770m, down from 785m last year, and for organic revenue to drop by around 4%.
Londons FTSE 100 index was up 0.2% to 6,373.43 in afternoon trading, back in the black after a shaky start as investors continued to mull the implications of Brexit.

Private equity firm 3i was the standout gainer after saying it had no plans to dispose of its investment in Dutch discount retailer Action despite a number of approaches.

3i is actively engaged in the further development of Action and is not intending to sell its investment or organise a flotation of Action in the near future, the company said.

Heavily-weighted miners also racked up healthy gains as metals prices advanced, with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Randgold Resources and Glencore all sharply higher.

Shire was on the front foot. Although a drug being tested by the company failed to a treat a form of infant blindness as hope, it instead demonstrated positive effects on severe complications related to lung and brain damage.

The drug, currently called SHP607, helped reduce the occurrence of severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and severe intraventricular haemorrhage.

Banks and housebuilders were under the cosh again amid worries about Brexit.

Builders merchant Travis Perkins was also in the red after Berenberg downgraded the stock to hold from buy and slashed the price target to 1,540p from 2,300p pointing to effect of Brexit uncertainty on the housing market.

While we still believe that Travis has a sound long-term strategy, we are unable to maintain our Buy rating in light of the risks to UK construction activity resulting from the Brexit vote, the bank said.

It does not expect to see a scenario similar to 2008-2009 but reckoned a moderate contraction in activity was likely, meaning the group will be unable to achieve its mid-term growth ambitions.

We believe that the recovery in residential construction output that started in late 2009 is likely to be at an end after the vote by the UK to leave the E, said Berenberg, pointing out that the market was already slowing ahead of the referendum.

Risers

3i Group (III) 536.00p 6.24%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 469.20p 5.91%

Anglo American (AAL) 724.70p 3.99%

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 8,330.00p 3.29%

Glencore (GLEN) 151.35p 3.17%

SSE (SSE) 1,518.00p 3.12%

Schroders (SDR) 2,313.00p 2.62%

Informa (INF) 709.00p 2.46%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 367.90p 2.39%

Shire Plc (SHP) 4,576.00p 2.33%

Fallers

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 171.80p -4.66%

Royal Mail (RMG) 488.30p -3.69%

Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,442.00p -3.67%

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 128.40p -3.39%

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 53.69p -3.30%

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 395.80p -3.16%

Persimmon (PSN) 1,402.00p -2.91%

Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,476.00p -2.90%

Dixons Carphone (DC.) 325.90p -2.83%

Provident Financial (PFG) 2,249.00p -2.64%
Michael and Gerri Fritze have been avid home winemakers for seven years. Taking what they considered as the next step in their winemaking adventure, the couple bought a farm in Waterford, Virginia, last December and established Quartz Creek Vineyards LLC.

The Fritzes credit Geovine, a vineyard site assessment and management tool developed by Virginia Techs Center for Geospatial Information Technology, with helping them find an appropriate property for their vineyard.

From Geovine we learned that our soils were well draining and appropriate for planting vines, Michael Fritze said.

The Virginia Wine Board funded Geovine as part of the Virginia Vineyards Portal project. Some of the information provided is based upon research supported by the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Institute of Food and Agriculture under Agreement No. 2010-51181-21599 (2010-2015).

Geovine includes a map editor that can create boundaries, a dedicated reports page, a way for users to organize multiple sites, and tutorials. By completing the online survey, the user receives a site evaluation report that includes soil, climate, elevation, slope, and aspect data; an indication of rocks in the physical area; topographic moisture potential; and additional information on grapevine climate/maturity, land cover, and land surface forms.

Since purchasing Quartz Creek Vineyards, the Fritzes sought subsequent testing at the Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab affiliated with Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences in Virginia Techs College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The results showed the pH levels were in an excellent range for planting vines, Michael Fritze said. This was important because it meant that we would not have to make any serious changes or ameliorate our fields with lime as some other vineyards have had to do before planting can begin.

The Fritzes will be planting three acres of vines next spring  one acre each of cabernet franc, merlot, and petit verdot.

Francis Lazarus from Spring House Vineyard in Loudoun County also used Geovine to be sure that grapes would grow on land he was planning to buy.

The evaluation was positive and helped me make the decision to purchase the property, Lazarus said. I was most interested in the slopes of the property and the water available in the soil. The property has no well, and irrigation could be an issue. I was surprised that I got such a full evaluation from remote sensing and very happy to learn so much about the property so quickly.

Virginia Tech welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the Virginia Wine Board in its goal to promote the interests of vineyards and wineries in the commonwealth through research and education, said Peter Sforza, director for the Center for Geospatial Information Technology, which is affiliated with the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

Launched as a beta site, the Center for Geospatial Information Technology continues to update Geovine with expanded geospatial analysis and capabilities as they become available, Sforza added.

The Fritzes and Lazarus learned about Geovine from Beth Sastre, a commercial horticulturist with the Loudoun County office of Virginia Cooperative Extension.

I had no connection with Virginia Tech before my association with the Extension folks, Lazarus said. They are terrific assets for beginners like myself, and both Beth Sastre and Tremain Hatch have become good friends and very trusted colleagues. I can always count on their help, and their advice has been invaluable.

Hatch is a research associate with Viticulture Research and Extension at the Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural and Research Extension Center in Winchester.

Geovine is just one of the ways Virginia Tech is helping to grow the industry, said Tony Wolf, professor of viticulture and director of the Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural and Research Extension Center. Our center is dedicated to educating commercial grape growers. We provide them with information through workshops, short courses, field meetings, and a variety of written media, and train in-service and Extension faculty agents who can help them with grape-related problems.
The Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the Pamplin College of Business has established the Feiertag Hospitality Academy-to-Industry Research Collection in University Libraries VTechWorks.

The collection focuses on converting academic research in the area of hospitality sales to quick, easy-to-read summaries for busy industry professionals, said department head Nancy Gard McGehee.

The collection is named for Howard Feiertag, a longtime instructor in the department, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 6 worldwide.

There is high demand for this kind of information, but no one has ever put it together in this way, McGehee said. Once again, Howard got tired of talking about it and took matters into his own hands, underwriting the assistantship that supports the student who populates the collection.

McGehee said Farida Mohamed, a student in the departments masters program, located on the Falls Church campus, has worked hard over the past six months to build the collection.

Gail McMillan and Ellen Krupar, of University Libraries, were instrumental in helping to create the collection, McGehee said.

We met with Howard to learn more about his desire to establish an open source of research and information on hotel management for industry leaders and practitioners as well as academic faculty and students, McMillan said.

The collection already reflects Howards goal to bridge the gap between industry and academia, with nearly 150 articles, an audio file, and blog posts, McMillan said. It will eventually provide videos, advertisements, curricula, and more in a variety of accessible formats. University Libraries will maintain the collection and keep it publicly accessible, she said.

The collection was announced at a recent gala in metro Washington, D.C., celebrating Feiertags lifetime contributions to hospitality education and practice.

At the gala, attended by more than 200 alumni, faculty members, administrators, and industry executives, Feiertag received an honorary lifetime membership in the Virginia Tech Alumni Association from Charlie Phlegar, vice president for advancement.

Matt Winston, senior associate vice president for alumni relations, said the association wanted to make Feiertag an honorary Hokie in recognition for all that he has done for and meant to our institution.

Feiertag has made a lasting impact on the hotel and tourism industry worldwide, Winston said.

For the past 30 years, he has touched the lives of hundreds of Virginia Tech students  now alumni  who were taught and mentored by him and who have left the university to practice their craft. He has represented the universitys motto, Ut Prosim, famously and has served as an ambassador for the entire Hokie Nation.

The evening culminated with a video created by Pamplins student-run ad agency PRISM that included well-wishes from Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta and Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson.

To make a contribution to the Feiertag Excellence Fund, which supports various initiatives of Virginia Techs hospitality and tourism management program, simply call the Virginia Tech Foundation at 540-231-2828. Mention that you would like your contribution to go to fund #877112 (Howard Feiertag Gala).
Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Canada, the United States, and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Manufacturing, U.S. Manufacturing, and Retail segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen and heavy oil in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. This segments Foster Creek, Christina Lake, Sunrise, and Tucker oil sands projects, as well as Lloydminster thermal and conventional heavy oil assets The Conventional segment holds assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, Clearwater, and Rainbow Lake operating in Alberta and British Columbia, as well as interests in various natural gas processing facilities. The offshore segment engages in the exploration and development activities. The Canadian Manufacturing segment includes the owned and operated Lloydminster upgrading and asphalt refining complex, which upgrades heavy oil and bitumen into synthetic crude oil, diesel fuel, asphalt, and other ancillary products, as well as owns and operates the Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal and two ethanol plants. The U.S. Manufacturing segment comprises the refining of crude oil to produce diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, asphalt, and other products. The Retail segment consists of marketing of its own and third-party refined petroleum products through retail, commercial, and bulk petroleum outlets, as well as wholesale channels. Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
First Republic Bank was founded by Jim Herbert with the intention of providing exceptional levels of customer service. It was his belief that customer service would set the bank apart and create a profitable investment for its shareholders. After 35 years, his vision has proven true with a 25% CAGR that continues to this day. The initial enterprise value has grown from only $8.8 million in that time, to over $19 billion making it the 14th largest bank in the US. First Republic Bank was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

First Republic Bank with its subsidiaries operates in two segments and provides personal banking, business banking, and wealth management services to individuals, families, organizations, and small businesses in the United States. The companys services are available in-person at one of the more than 80 offices or via ATM, online, mobile, and debit cards.

The company offers deposit products including checking and saving accounts, money market, and CDs as well as a range of lending products. The full range of lending products includes but is not limited to residential mortgages, home equity lines of credit, commercial real estate and construction loans, and personal and business loans.

The companys wealth management services include advisory services, online investment management, trusts, estate planning, and alternative investments as well as insurance and foreign exchange. The online brokerage service is available to all clients and can be accessed at any time via a web browser or mobile device.

First Republic Bank operates a network of more than 80 deposit-taking branches and 12 wealth management offices. The network is located primarily in California with additional branches in major metropolitan areas and two destination locations that include Portland, Boston, Palm Beach, Greenwich, New York, and Jackson, Wyoming.

First Republic Bank has proven its worth over the year by maintaining a consistently strong capital level, asset quality, and liquidity position. Its prudent management has allowed it to weather market ups and downs while commanding investment grade ratings for its bonds and preferred stock.
Do you know how most men in Kyrgyztan seduce their women?

Akay asks us And do you know how most men in Kyrgyzstan seduce their women? Forget flowers and dinners  Kyrgyztan girls are very shy. So its our tradition to just ride up (horse or car), and kidnap the girl back to our home. Back home she can agree or refuse upon marriage. The way he puts it makes it sound like a rather light-hearted, consenting ritual, but a later read reveals a lot of these kidnappings are rather violent and more often than not without the approval of the women. Comparatively, Tinder isnt all that bad.

A modern response to a traditional Kyrgyzstani proposal

We organized this trip with Ryce Travel. As well as the epic riding, theres heaps of extracurricular activities: today is snowmobiling. The low cost and spirit of adventure make this all very different to a typical holiday in the Alps. Afterwards, in the mountain village of Karakol, the local evening scene calls to us. Tasty shasliks and yak stew with a bottle of red  the waiter steps behind a set of turntables and the party starts. The Kyrgyz are entertaining dance buddies, and its definitely false to say the the local girls are too shy. Blending in nicely, we get out our best moves out to keep up with their energetic styles, taking turns in the middle of the dance circle.

Next day, with legs tired from dancing and riding, we relax on the slowest chairlift I have ever been on. With no powder around, theres no need to hurry, just beautiful surroundings to take in. We throw twenty Euros in for a paragliding adventure. Theres a near miss with the lines and a chairlift, and we see another girl land on top of a tree, but by the end somehow everyone is fine and smiling. Theres a no rules, no safety mentality here, but it only adds to the sense of freedom were experiencing.
Soundbars add depth, not just volume

Soundbars are horizontal speakers that sit just above or below the television. They are a popular option to amplify audio. After all, televisions are getting so thin these days, how good can you expect pancake-shaped speakers to sound?

The separate device houses multiple speakers, and some models even simulate a surround-sound-like movie theater experience. On the whole, their sound is similar to what you would get if you combined an audio-video receiver with multiple speakers throughout a room  but for less money, less space and with less technical know-how required.

Whats more, many soundbars come with a wireless subwoofer to place elsewhere in the room. It delivers low-end bass  like feeling the rumble of a helicopter or roar of a dinosaur. Nearly all new models have integrated Bluetooth technology, allowing you to stream music to the soundbar from your smartphone, tablet or computer.

The Zvox family of soundbars, from $99, has a patent-pending technology called AccuVoice that lifts voices out of soundtracks to make them clearer and more understandable, according to the company. Zvox says this works much like hearing aid technology, using a more advanced processor thats capable of subtle manipulation of sound.

The Klipsch Cinema 800 is a more expensive option at $969, but it comes with several internal speakers, Dolby Atmos 3.1 support, voice-enabled smart assistants  Google and Alexa  plus a wireless subwoofer. It is also ideal for those who may struggle to clearly hear content. This soundbar has a neutral, balanced sound profile well-suited to many different types of audio content from bass-heavy music genres to dialogue-centric TV shows, according to Canadian review site Rtings.com, which buys its products for testing.
Events this week include an opera at NSU, Winterfest and Miss Aberdeen

Looking for something to do this week, check out an opera at NSU, Winterfest or the Miss Aberdeen coronation.
Titan Development, one of the companies behind the mixed-use project called The Highlands, has closed on the first round of funding on a $200 million real estate fund to fuel its pipeline of more than 20 projects, including a good number earmarked for New Mexico.

Thanks to the companys track record of returns to investors in the past decade, $80 million was raised in just under six months for the Titan Development Real Estate Fund I, according to the companys top executive. Seventy-five percent of that amount came from investors we already had relationships with, said Drew Dolan, Titans president. Most of those previous investments occurred on a deal-to-deal basis. Now, they (our backers) get the diversity of investing in several asset types in many different markets, Dolan said.

While based in Albuquerque, Titan has a wide reach.

With $120 million more to go to hit the private equity fund target, Titan said it makes sense to market to private and institutional investors in the states where these future high-quality projects will come out of the ground: New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Arizona and South Carolina.

Titans pipeline consists of projects in the multifamily, senior living, self-storage and industrial segments. Dolan said about 30 percent of the projects on the drawing boards will be deployed in New Mexico, primarily Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Titan touts its expertise on the development and construction sides, but once the projects are finished, the company turns over day-to-day operations to professional management.

Securing financing to get the projects rolling is ambitious and the final tab is well beyond the $200 million private equity raise. But the fund really helps put these projects into play much sooner, said Dolan.

Kurt Browning, Titans chief development officer, said the money in the equity fund is typically 35 percent of the overall total development projection, since debt will cover the other 65 percent.

So if we raise the $200 million in private equity, this will equate to approximately $570 million in overall total development costs associated with the future projects, he said.

Some of that money will make its way to funding The Highlands, a development north of Central Avenue near Presbyterian Hospital, with an estimated price tag of $95 million. Browning said the once-blighted area will be transformed into a transit-oriented village, with apartments fetching some of the citys highest rents, a Marriott Springhill Suites Hotel, multiple retail establishments and a food hall on par with those in larger cities.

The whole idea is to create a (future) neighborhood on the order of Nob Hill and EDo, east of Downtown, said Browning, adding that Maestas Development Group and Presbyterian are partners in the enterprise.

Browning estimated 1,150 construction jobs and 425 permanent jobs for the five-block development, not to mention a tax base to benefit the city coffers.

Mutual benefit

More than a year after breaking ground, the employees of New Mexico Mutual and Integrion Group are planning a Dec. 11 move to their new home office, a three-story facility located next to Balloon Fiesta Park.

The $17.2 million facility is designed to meet the needs of the workers compensation insurers workforce and its wholly owned third-party claims administration subsidiary for years to come.

Both companies have been operating out of leased offices near the Century Rio 24 movie complex. The new 58,000-square-foot facility will consolidate the physical location of New Mexico Mutuals operations and Integrion Group.

This is a historic moment for our company, said Norm Becker, the company CEO. Our new building is an important investment in our employees and the community. We look forward to continue serving all our customers out of our new headquarters.

New Mexico Mutuals partners for the project include Architectural Research Consultants, RMKM Architecture, Bradbury Stamm Construction and professional adviser John Pate, an architect with Molzen Corbin.

Working with 400 independent agents throughout New Mexico, the company writes more than 30 percent of the voluntary workers compensation insurance market in the state. Premium payers are 7,000 businesses, covering approximately 150,000 workers.

The new facility will not only emphasize contemporary trends, but also will elevate the work environment for the companys 150-person workforce, which is expected to grow in time.

Steve Sinovic is the Journals real estate reporter. He can be reached at ssinovic@abqjournal.com.
For a few days in early October, just as the weather was beginning to gild the cottonwood leaves, 170 Chinese business professionals came to the United States with the hopes of making it big in New Mexico.

The U.S.-China Business Matchmaking Summit had all the trappings of a standard international business conference: speeches by politicians; industry-specific panels; and tours meant to acquaint participants with a city they would likely not have otherwise visited. But the focus of the Albuquerque event was partnering Chinese nationals interested in investing abroad with businesses hailing from one of the poorest states in America.

This was, by design, very much about giving New Mexico companies access to opportunities that most other states already have, said Deborah Burns, CEO of InvestUS LLC, co-organizer of the event with Jian Zhu of the International Chinese Entrepreneurs Association.

Data from the research firm Rhodium Group shows that New Mexico has the lowest Chinese investment of any state in the western U.S. But that could change soon as businesses here increasingly look abroad for access to capital and other opportunities.

For Doug Christian, owner of Vertical Limit Aviation training school, business is already moving in that direction. At the matchmaking summit, Christian signed a memorandum of understanding with the China-based TTFly, kick-starting discussions about training budding Chinese commercial pilots here in New Mexico.

Its really exciting, he said. Its not a done deal, but it could be huge for the state.

Growing interest

In recent years, currency fluctuations and a long economic slowdown have led to an outpouring of Chinese investment abroad, though thats decreased in recent months as the government has tamped down on the outflow. According to the Rhodium Group, mergers and acquisitions of American companies by Chinese entities fell by 20 percent in the first six months of 2017 compared to the year prior. Now, Chinese businesses are looking at smaller deals that are less likely to catch the eye of Beijing regulators.

So far, New Mexico has been a recipient of only a handful of significant Chinese-backed transactions. There are three Red Lion hotels in New Mexico; the Chinese conglomerate HNA group acquired a 15 percent stake in that company in 2015. A medicinal greenhouse in the Acoma Pueblo is being built with money from Chinese investors through the immigration program known as EB-5. The Rhodium group estimates that Chinese investment has totaled less than $10 million since 2000 and accounts for fewer than 100 jobs in the state.

And yet, New Mexico has long counted China as an important trade partner. In 2016, China was New Mexicos third-largest export destination behind Mexico at $497 million.

Lt. Gov. John Sanchez cited that discrepancy as one of the reasons behind his June trade mission to the country, which was sponsored by the China-United States Exchange Foundation. Several members of the New Mexican real estate and tech communities have also traveled to China in recent months to look for business opportunities there.

When it comes to doing business in China, its all about trusted relationships, Burns said. New Mexico hasnt really been able to offer that until now.

The kindness of strangers

Not everyone thinks foreign investment is a good idea. In 2010, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter made an EB-5 program and Chinese immigrant investment the cornerstone of his plan to increase the size of Idahos economy. But he faced such backlash from his constituents, who accused him of selling out the state to a foreign power, that he was forced to back off.

Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation, a research group that advocates limited government, said its possible that significant foreign investment could create volatility in the event of a trade war.

But the investments here are so minimal, its hard to imagine that happening any time in the near future, he said. Chinese investment really seems like a bright spot for a place like New Mexico, with all our economic challenges.

Still, there are questions about the role of foreign investment at a crucial juncture for the state. For most of its modern history, the health of New Mexicos economy has depended on factors largely outside of its control: what one journalist termed the kindness of strangers. Nearly one-third of the states gross domestic product comes from the government and the volatile mining sector, which includes oil and gas development.

Economic diversification has been popular political platform in recent years, but progress has been slow, in part because businesses find it difficult to grow here. At a recent conference hosted by the University of New Mexicos Bureau of Business & Economic Research (BBER), Jeffrey Mitchell, BBERs director, pointed out that New Mexico lags behind neighboring states, not in terms of business openings or closings, but business expansions. The number of New Mexican business contractions exceeds those of its neighbors.

Today, the state is facing an inflection point, according to Mitchell. The oil and gas industry has stabilized and the health care industry has largely absorbed the boost it received due to Medicaid expansion.

The question now is, Where does the state go on its own?' said Mitchell. In the past, the answer has to that has been sideways. If we want to change that, it really comes down to addressing our principal economic challenges: education and stabilizing public finances.

Investment from China is unlikely to facilitate that type of change. But it could address another issue at the heart of business expansion: access to capital. Charles Wollmann, a spokesman for the State Investment Council, called capital access one of the biggest problems facing New Mexico. He said foreign investment could be an important part of creating opportunities for New Mexican businesses in the coming years.

If nothing else, foreign investment means more eyeballs on the state, which could lead other investors to learn more about what we have to offer here, he said.

An innovative solution?

On the last day of the business matchmaking summit, the organizers declared it a success. A total of 15 memorandums of understanding had been signed: the aviation partnership; a joint venture to export beef to China; and several other agreements in the solar, manufacturing and education industries. Five more were signed over the following week.

Both Zhu and Burns said they plan to make the event annual. In his closing remarks to attendees, Zhu described the challenges that lay ahead for marketing the concept further in China.

Albuquerque has had about the same number of Chinese-Americans for decades, and that means the Chinese dont know New Mexico, said Zhu. They think it is part of Mexico. They dont want to travel somewhere they dont know.

Zhu said the conference was a step toward correcting that.

In a nearby exhibit hall, tables were laden with tray after tray of egg rolls. Jim Wang, an Albuquerque resident who volunteered to translate for the event, examined one gingerly before taking a bite.

Interesting, they dont taste like regular egg rolls, Wang said. He quickly added: But they are very innovative.

He had expected that the fried wrapper would contain the shredded cabbage and other vegetables. Instead, it had been stuffed with carne adovada, the New Mexican pork-and-chile dish.
The number of foreign students at New Mexico universities fell 4.6 percent last year, but the amount of money they spent here still increased slightly, according to a new national report.

There were 3,595 foreign students at the states higher education institutions during the 2016-17 academic year, according to the Open Doors report released earlier this month. Thats down from 3,767 the previous year.

New Mexico ranked 43rd overall among states for international enrollment, according to the data from the Institute of International Education and the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. California topped the list with 156,879 foreign students.

China has the strongest representation in New Mexico, making up 13.1 percent of international students. India, Kuwait, Mexico and Nepal round out the top five.

In New Mexico, according to the reports estimates, foreign students spent about $93 million  about $26,863 apiece. Thats up from $91.2 million the previous year.

University of New Mexico, the states largest school, hosted the most foreign students. It and New Mexico State University combined to account for 78 percent of the states foreign students. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology had about 5 percent.

UNMs numbers remained relatively steady at 1,577 students, according to the data. But the university remains vulnerable to the same forces affecting international enrollment nationwide, according to Pablo Torres, associate director for international admissions and recruitment with UNMs Global Education Office.

After swelling 85 percent nationwide in the last decade, international enrollment at U.S. higher education institutions has begun leveling. The total number climbed 3 percent last year, but the report noted a 3 percent dip in the number of new international students coming to the U.S. for the first time.

Economic conditions and increased educational opportunities in students home countries have contributed to slower growth, IIE said in a news release. The organization also cited cuts to government-backed scholarships in Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

Torres said UNM saw declines in students from those countries and is looking to other regions to offset those losses. In addition, Torres said in an email that UNM is seeing greater competition for international students coming from universities in other English-speaking countries, in particular Canada and Australia.

Nationally, U.S. schools saw a record 1.08 million foreign students. The highest numbers came from China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

Private institutions in major U.S. cities led the way: New York University had more international students than any other school. The University of Southern California ranked second.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

WASHINGTON  Republicans in the House and Senate are racing to overhaul the U.S. tax code by Christmas, but congressional Democrats from New Mexico are trying to pump the brakes, warning that the GOP plans would hurt the state.

The New Mexico delegations only Republican, Rep. Steve Pearce, disagrees, contending that middle-class income tax cuts and small-business breaks in the House and Senate bills would spur investment and create jobs.

Meanwhile, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told the Journal that President Donald Trump is eager to see a tax reform bill on his desk by years end  before political opponents can derail the effort.

I do worry about the role that special interests play, Mulvaney said in an interview with a small group of reporters at the White House this month. There is a great power to inertia in Washington, D.C. There (are) a lot of people with a lot of money sort of vested in keeping things the exact same way as they are.

Pearce voted for tax reform legislation that passed the House on Nov. 14, while Democratic Reps. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Ben Ray Lujan voted against it.

The Senate plans to take up its own version of the legislation this week. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico  both Democrats  have said they will vote against the Senate bill in its current form.

The House and Senate bills contain significant differences, but both aim to restructure the tax code for businesses and individuals.

Both the House-passed plan and the pending Senate bill, which cleared the Senate Finance Committee this month on a party-line vote, would cut the 35 percent corporate tax rate to 20 percent while reducing personal rates for many taxpayers. Both plans would nearly double the standard tax deduction for most taxpayers while erasing or shrinking many deductions.

The Senates proposed income tax cuts for individuals would expire at the end of 2025, while those in the House plan would be permanent.

Projected federal deficits would grow by about $1.5 trillion over 10 years under the plans.

David Abbey, director of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, said the additional debt is an important consideration for states such as New Mexico, which rely heavily on federal spending.

It leaves less money for other priorities, Abbey said.

Richard Anklam, executive director of the New Mexico Tax Research Institute, said at least half of all New Mexicans wouldnt be directly affected by the tax bracket changes because they dont make enough to pay federal income taxes.

Anything you do with income taxes is not going to impact at least 50 percent of our population, because you cant cut taxes for someone thats not paying taxes, Anklam said. Benefits (from the tax bills) tend to increase  like tax liability  with income. The more you make, the more you pay, and the more you benefit in absolute terms financially.

Representatives of New Mexicos small businesses, the oil and gas industry and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce said tax breaks for business would stimulate the states sluggish economy, which could eventually help boost incomes.

The only answer to our nations challenges is in economic growth and not in making draconian cuts to entitlements or to the military, said Terri Cole, president of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. So, a growth strategy is the only answer and that is why the corporate tax and simplification pieces in the Senate bill are so important.

Tax deductions or tax hikes?

Both chambers tax packages would nearly double the standard income tax deduction to around $12,000 for individuals and about $24,000 for married couples, as well as raise the current $1,000-per-child tax credit.

New Mexicos median family income in 2016 was $48,451  the fifth-lowest in the nation, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Estimates by the bipartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation say the Senate plan would mean higher taxes beginning in 2021 for many families earning under $30,000 a year. By 2027, families making less than $75,000 would see tax hikes, while those making more would pay less in taxes.

Heinrich and Udall said that while they support some elements of the Senate plan, such as simplifying the tax code and increasing the child tax credit, they oppose the overall bill. The lawmakers said the legislation is disproportionately weighted toward helping wealthy Americans and Wall Street while saddling the middle class with $1.5 trillion in debt.

The Republican bills keep the earned-income tax credit, popular with the working class, but do not expand it.

Im not opposed to a more competitive corporate tax system, but not one financed on the backs of middle-class families, Heinrich, the ranking member of the congressional Joint Economic Committee, told the Journal.

The GOP plan takes away family tax deductions and exemptions and uses that money to cut corporate rates. I think they ought to find savings within the corporate tax code in order to finance corporate rate reduction, instead of their current plan that raises taxes on working families to do it.

Among the deductions the House Republican plan would eliminate is a $250 tax credit for teachers who pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. In New Mexico, 23,390 educators claimed the deduction last year. Proponents of the plan, including Pearce, say the doubling of the standard deduction would more than offset the itemized deductions for most filers.

Meanwhile, the House bill is also sparking concerns among higher education advocates, because it would count as taxable income certain tuition benefits that are currently exempt. That includes the tuition waivers graduate students earn for working as researchers or teaching assistants at colleges and universities; nearly 145,000 students nationwide get that kind of benefit, according to the American Council on Education.

It would also tax the tuition waivers that universities offer as benefits to their employees or family members. The Senate bill would keep those exemptions.

Approximately 5,000 students at the University of New Mexico are on tuition waivers, according to officials. That includes about 1,260 employees and family members who qualify for tuition remission.

The benefit for UNM is improving the educational attainment of our staff and supporting dependent pursuit of higher education, which is a recruitment tool for attracting faculty and staff, Terry Babbitt, UNMs vice provost for enrollment and analytics, said in an email. If taxing the educational benefit deters anyone from pursuing additional education, then it is a shortsighted remedy that will hurt UNM and the entire state in the long run.

Big money or small businesses?

Udall said hes not surprised that Wall Street and many wealthier Americans back the bills, but he said those interests have a scarce presence in New Mexico.

If youre a high net-worth individual, a multinational corporation, or a private equity or hedge fund, you love this bill, Udall said of the Senate legislation. Overall, the analyses Ive seen predict that New Mexico will see very little of the overall benefits because our state is home to very few high net-worth individuals, multinational corporations, or private equity or hedge funds.

But New Mexico is home to a lot of small businesses. Minda McGonagle, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said tax relief provided to businesses in both the House and Senate bills is very, very important.

The Senate proposal contains a 17.4 percent deduction for so-called pass-through businesses for married taxpayers with taxable income up to $500,000 and $250,000 for individuals.

That is going to help a lot of small businesses, McGonagle said. In New Mexico, given our small-business dominance, we need to be provided tax relief  as corporations are  so we can get about the business of job creation and expansion.

In New Mexico, you hear policymakers repeatedly talk about how small business is our states economic engine. Well, retaining income is our fuel. Thats what we use to invest in our businesses.

Robert McEntyre, spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, a critical contributor to the states economy, said the tax plans, especially the House bill, would be a boon for the industry.

Pro-growth elements in the House version, like corporate tax rate reform and cost recovery, will only help New Mexico continue to build on the $13 billion in new oil and gas investments weve seen over the last year, ultimately driving more critical funding to our schools and state budget, he said.

Democrats vs. Republicans

Still, Rep. Lujan Grisham contends that House Republicans werent interested in Democratic input and that the bill would mean a net loss for the state.

The congresswoman firmly believes that the American people deserve a bipartisan tax reform effort that incorporates the best ideas from both parties, and stands ready to work with Republicans on some of her own bills, including streamlining tax benefits for home businesses, said her spokesman, Gilbert Gallegos.

So far, House Republicans drafted their bill behind closed doors and passed it through the House in a partisan manner without any opportunity for amendment or improvement in order to truly focus tax reform on middle-class families and job-creating small businesses.

Rep. Lujan said the House bill dismantles the state and local tax deduction  a change that will hit every middle-class family  especially those living paycheck to paycheck.

Pearce  the delegations lone Republican and a former small-business man  argues that the overall structure of the House bill would help the states struggling economy. He cited a provision allowing for a 100 percent write-off on new equipment costs for businesses.

In all business, the real difficulty is paying your taxes and buying new equipment, Pearce said. Its hard to do the two together. This is going to give a shot in the arm to all manufacturers, and small businesses will be able to become a little more stable and weather the storm. Small businesses are just trying to stay afloat in New Mexico, so that is going to be very impactful.

Journal staff writer Jessica Dyer contributed to this report.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Scott Frank wanted to do a Western.

He was already well regarded for his screenwriting work in such blockbusters as Minority Report and The Wolverine, but fulfilling his desire to write and direct a Western took more than a decade  with many false starts.

Yet, he kept at it.

Eventually, Franks project, Godless, found a home on Net-flix  and all over New Mexico.

I just always wanted to write a Western, he said. I had been thinking about doing one. Its a genre I never worked in before.

Godless, which is now available on the streaming service, follows Frank Griffin, an outlaw played by Jeff Daniels, as he hunts down former gang member Roy Goode, played by Jack OConnell.

Hoping for a more peaceful life, Goode had deserted his brotherhood and sought refuge with a widow named Alice Fletcher, played by Michelle Dockery.

An outcast herself, she lives in the isolated (and fictional) town of La Belle, N.M., which is run by women after most of the men were killed in a mining accident.

It was always New Mexico, Frank said of his ideal production site. Whats so funny is back in 2004, it wasnt economically feasible to film in New Mexico. We looked at Calgary and the like. As you know, a lot of people began filming in New Mexico and it became the option for us to get this made.

Production for Godless began in September 2016 and was housed at Santa Fe Studios, though most of the film was shot on location throughout northern New Mexico. It is executive produced by Casey Silver and Steven Soderbergh.

Godless features the largest Western film set ever built in New Mexico.

La Belle was built on the San Cristobal Ranch, an 81,000 acre working ranch south of Lamy.

The set is comprised of 28 buildings, including a hotel, livery, saloon, dry goods store, jail, several shanties and a mine. And it was built in 12 weeks by a construction crew of 130.

The only brick structure in La Belle, the hotel is where the women take shelter and defend themselves from the future attack, said Carlos Barbosa, production designer.

Though Alice Fletchers ranch is located on the outskirts of La Belle, it was also built on the San Cristobal Ranch, a few miles down the road. A crew of 12 completed that project in five weeks.

In addition to the San Cristobal Ranch, fashion designer and director Tom Fords ranch in Galisteo, served as the site for the fictional town of Creed, which is laid to waste by Griffin and his gang.

Other scene locations included the fictional town of Olagrande at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe; a Paiute Indian camp near the Chama River in Abiquiu; and the gangs camp and hideout in Jemez Pueblo.

More filming took place at Diablo Canyon, El Rancho de las Golondrinas and Cherry Meadow north of Pecos.

And several creek and river scenes were filmed at Santa Clara Pueblo.

Frank remained in New Mexico during the entire three months of pre-production and five months of filming.

Getting the miniseries on Netflix gave Frank the time to tell a complete story because it is broken up into seven episodes. The original plan was to make a two-hour feature film.

Because its multiple episodes, I was able to tell a much deeper story, he says. Ive worked on a lot of films before and this production schedule was intense.

Frank and his crew also focused on making each frame of the film spectacular.

We knew exactly what we were going to shoot for each scene, he said. Wed scout the location and decide what time of day was best to film there. Was the light going to be right? That was a question on all of our minds. When we got out to film, it went quickly because we had already planned out each shot.

Frank often found himself traveling for hours with his crew in order to scout locations in northern New Mexico.

These areas havent been in too many films, he said. That was one of the pluses in being in New Mexico. Not only is the area gorgeous, it upped the possibilities of what we wanted to do.

According to the New Mexico Film Office, Godless employed approximately 280 New Mexico crew members, 30 New Mexico principal actors and 2,350 New Mexico background talent.

After spending five months filming, Frank said, the editing process was a big task.

We had so much footage, he said. We werent shooting it like a normal series. The editing was pretty tricky because it had to fall in line with the overall vision.

The series is available for people to watch now, and Frank is excited to start receiving feedback.

The story of these women is powerful, he said. Casting became interesting because we found amazing actors for each role.

He added, Its amazing Im at this moment. For the longest time, I wanted to give up on the project. Im glad I didnt.
Clovis officials say three people were found dead in a burning building Sunday afternoon, a fourth person managed to escape and was treated at a local hospital.

Firefighters were dispatched around 3 p.m. Sunday to a home in the 200 block of Calhoun Street in Clovis where they found a small outbuilding on fire, according to the Clovis Police Department Facebook page.

Firefighters were told people were still inside, and when they were able to enter the building, they found three people dead. Their names have not been released.
The Public Regulation Commission should be recognized for sticking with the targets established in the Renewable Energy Act, which requires New Mexico to get 20 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources by the year 2020. Its a major milestone, and its a major advancement for renewable energy in our state.

The PRC recently approved PNMs Renewable Energy Act Plan. In my prior occupation as vice president of governmental affairs at PNM, I was very involved in the discussions that led to the increase in the Renewal Energy Act to provide 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. It was difficult to make that increase in renewable energy based on concerns to PNMs customers and investors. Nonetheless, PNM agreed to make the bold move in supporting that legislation.

A key moment has come in the transition to a more diverse portfolio that includes more renewable energy in New Mexico. With the Renewable Energy Act Plan, that goal is now reachable for PNM, our largest utility. The plan lays the groundwork for new renewable energy projects in the state, to be completed by 2020. When realized, it will mean that most of the state will be powered by 20 percent renewable energy within two years. If the Renewable Energy Act Plan hadnt passed, our goals would not have been met.

Do you want proof of why this is a good plan? Its simple; the most knowledgeable environmental groups support the plan, including Western Resource Advocates, the Coalition of Clean and Affordable Energy and the Nature Conservancy, as well as prominent business groups such as the Hispano Chamber of Commerce, ACI, Economic Forum, NAIOP, the Westside Chamber and the Renewable Energy Industry Association, among others.

In addition, this plan is a major advancement for economic development in New Mexico in the renewable energy sector. These projects, and hundreds of projects to come, represent a huge opportunity for our state.

PNMs renewable portfolio is made up of three categories: wind, solar, and other. There are more than 20 renewable energy sites across the state now producing renewable energy, and this plan calls for the continuation of several projects and the construction of several new ones. With this plan, there will be a good mix of sun-powered, wind-powered and hot-water-powered energy sources in our state, and that will be something of which we can all be proud.

What is equally important to the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce is the economic development value of these projects. The plan calls for the construction of five new solar energy sites in central New Mexico, as well as a new $50 million geothermal plant south of Lordsburg. It also calls for an upgrade on an existing wind farm in southern New Mexico.

Its not too dramatic to say that this month may have been a turning point on reaching our renewable energy goals. The plan passed by the PRC is a good one, as it ensures that PNM is in compliance with the law and sends PNM down the road of doing something great for our states renewable energy future.

Our states appreciation goes out to the PRC for passing the Renewable Energy Act Plan and putting us on the path to 20 percent renewable power by 2020.

Plan criticized

New Energy Economy, an environmental group, has petitioned the PRC to reconsider its approval of PNMs Renewable Energy Act plan and says it will appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court if those efforts fail.
Seven years ago this month, the shocking news ricocheted across the city. Mary Han, a legal powerhouse known for her sharp litigation skills, stiletto heels and salty language, was dead.

At age 53, she had been at the top of her game, taking on formidable foes like the Albuquerque Police Department and preparing to enter a new phase in her career by breaking up her longtime partnership with fellow attorney Paul Kennedy. She was excited to see her daughter for Thanksgiving. She was, friends say, happy.

And, then, she was dead, her body found Nov. 18, 2010, awkwardly positioned in the front seat of her BMW in her garage, her blood highly saturated with a toxic level of carbon monoxide.

Her death was declared a suicide.

To many, that remains unbelievable.

But a decision expected in January out of the 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe could change that ruling.

Or not. For most of these past seven years, Hans family members and their attorneys have sought answers about how she died and how the investigation into her death went so wrong. They have sought an apology for the way her death was treated by dozens of top-ranking officials from APD and City Hall who they say inexplicably descended on Hans North Valley townhome that afternoon, potentially contaminating evidence, failing to follow protocols and turning what should have been a somber scene into a circus.

Claims were filed in courts from the 2nd Judicial District in Albuquerque to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. A scathing report by the office of then-Attorney General Gary King condemned the APD investigation as terribly mishandled and urged the state Office of the Medical Investigator to reconsider its determination of Hans death as a suicide.

One by one, nearly all of those claims have come to fruitless ends.

But one of the last best hopes is a petition filed in 2015 seeking an order  called a writ of mandamus  that would compel the OMI to change the manner of Hans death from suicide to undetermined.

During a bench trial last January on that petition, state District Judge David Thomson of Santa Fe heard sometimes shocking testimony about the mishandling of the case as described by several key witnesses who before then had not spoken publicly.

In April, attorneys for both sides filed additional briefs in the case.

Then, nothing.

But last week Thomson, through a spokesman for the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said he expects to issue a ruling in January  a year since the trial was held.

That, an attorney for the Han family said, is hopeful news, not just for the family but for everybody who still believes that the investigation was too botched to conclusively determine the manner in which she died.

We are humbled that people still want to know what really happened to Ms. Han and grateful to Judge Thomson for making the time to allow the court process to work, said attorney Rosario Vega Lynn, who presented the case last January with attorney Diane Garrity.

Lynn and Garrity argue that, besides allowing the scene to become contaminated, the OMI failed to conduct further testing of vital organs to explain how Hans carbon monoxide intoxication level reach an extremely high saturation level of 84.8 percent. They argue that investigators should have tested a clear liquid in a cup found in Hans car, examined her cellphone and laptop found in the car, interviewed witnesses, examined the mechanisms in the car, its windows, the garage windows and the townhomes heating system.

But attorneys for OMI argue that the Han family is seeking to control the discretion of OMI and substitute its own opinion for that of OMIs highly qualified and experienced forensic pathologists.

Dr. Ross Zumwalt, then the chief medical officer at OMI, testified in January that he had reviewed Hans case three times and remained 95 percent certain that she had died by suicide. No other injury or disease was found to explain Hans incapacitation, he said. Unless he was shown proof that she was held there at gunpoint or was tied up and put in that position in the car, there would be little to change his opinion, he said.

Now its the opinion of the judge that matters.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
Any other Republican president but Donald Trump might expect to get at least some credit for the mostly positive direction in which the country is headed. Unfortunately, the Trump-haters prefer to focus on his, shall I say, unusual personality, rather than results. So lets put personality aside and consider what has happened in his first 10 months in office.

The liberal Los Angeles Times reported on a focus group conducted by Democratic pollster Peter Hart. Of those polled, Trump supporters and those who voted for Hillary Clinton expressed disappointment about the presidents behavior, but gave him positive marks on the economy. If its the economy stupid, as Bill Clinton strategist James Carville once said, and the economy is roaring, whats the problem?

As the president has repeatedly said, the stock market continues to soar to new heights, which must delight retirees in Florida who see their IRA and 401K dividends rising most months. Unemployment figures are the lowest theyve been in 17 years. Even unemployment among Blacks is down, as are the numbers of people on food assistance.

ISIS has been ousted from its last stronghold in Syria. True, President Obama deserves the credit for beginning the process with heavy bombing of ISIS targets, but it is President Trump who lifted many of the rules of engagement that kept the U.S. military fighting a losing battle.

North Korea is back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism where it belongs.

The president has pushed tax reform, which hasnt been successfully addressed since 1986, to a point where it is on the verge of Senate approval, assuming a few recalcitrant Republicans can be persuaded to put taxpayers first, instead of the grievances they hold against the president  Im speaking of John McCain, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake.

Goldman Sachs strategists are predicting not only a continued American economic recovery, but a concurrent worldwide lifting of many boats. One reason is the cash that has been sitting on the sidelines during the last recession is now making a beeline for stocks and mutual funds, causing the Standard and Poors Index to rise by a spectacular 20 percent so far this year. Thats more than triple its average annual increase over the last 20 years. Despite higher stock prices, Goldman Sachs analysts are recommending their clients buy now. Tech stocks are performing particularly well as companies re-invest profits to expand their firms.

When the left gives grudging credit to a president it hates, you know he must be doing something right. Heres what Atlantic magazine said in its August 2 issue: With the Trump administrations chaos sucking up all the attention, its been able to move forward on a range of its priorities, which tend to be more focused on regulatory matters anyway. It is remaking the justice system, rewriting environmental rules, overhauling public-lands administration, and green lighting major infrastructure projects. It is appointing figures who will guarantee the triumph of its ideological vision for decades to come.

That may be faint praise, but its praise.

President Trump is appointing conservative judges to federal courts and has released a list of names to choose from should another vacancy occur on the Supreme Court. All appear to be conservative constitutionalists.

Yes, his form could be better, but the substance is very good. Imagine what he could do if congressional Republicans got behind him  as Democrats do with a president of their party  and started backing him on legislation they promised to enact during their campaigns.

So, even if you are not particularly enamored by the presidents style  and many continue to be  give him some credit, especially if you are traveling this Thanksgiving holiday, which is a sure sign that the economy and consumer optimism heading into the busy shopping season are on the increase.

For that, all of us  even Democrats  should be thankful.
WASHINGTON  Powerful men with long histories of alleged sexual harassment or assault are finally being held accountable  except one. That would be President Trump.

From movie mogul Harvey Weinstein to television host Charlie Rose to Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to veteran Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., prominent men are accused of using their status to take advantage of women in unconscionable ways. To my knowledge, however, only one of the alleged assailants has been caught on tape bragging about his misdeeds.

Ive got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her, Trump said on the Access Hollywood tape, referring to a woman he had just spotted. You know, Im automatically attracted to beautiful  I just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.  Grab em by the (vagina). You can do anything.

Thirteen women have gone on the record to say that is how Trump operated, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Eight of them  who say that Trump kissed them, groped them or both, without invitation or permission  have corroboration, meaning they told other people about the incidents before going public. Similar stories told by the other five accusers are not corroborated.

Trump won election despite the allegations, but his victory did not erase his history. Now, virtually overnight, the paradigm for thinking about and dealing with sexual harassment has changed. A kind of Judgment Day has arrived for men who thought they had gotten away with their misdeeds. Last week, Rose was one of the most lauded and respected figures in journalism. Today he is disgraced and out of a job.

Instances of sexual harassment are all deplorable but not all identical, and societys punishment should fit the crime. One of the major factors that should be taken into account is whether the perpetrator has shown a pattern of such behavior. Dozens of women who worked closely with Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., have attested that they never knew him to behave like a pig. By contrast, dozens of women have accused Weinstein of vile assaults, and New York police have reportedly launched a criminal investigation.

In Trumps case, there is a pattern. He described it himself on the tape, and the accusers corroborate his confession.

Trump is trying to tread this altered landscape lightly, at least by his own somewhat oafish standards. He did post a couple of mocking tweets last week about Franken, whom he called Al Frankenstein, but for the most part he remained uncharacteristically silent about what looks like a major cultural shift. Trump even went so far as to change the subject, fake-sparring on Twitter with bombastic entrepreneur LaVar Ball in the rhetorical equivalent of professional wrestling.

But ultimately the impending special election in Alabama for a crucial Senate seat forced Trumps hand. Moore, the Republican candidate, is credibly accused of molesting a 14-year-old and prowling the local mall for teenaged girls when he was in his 30s; he denies the molestation and creepily says he never dated a girl without her mothers permission.

Trump backed Moores GOP opponent in the primary. He steered clear of the contest between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones until Tuesday, when he jumped in by parroting the line that Moores supporters in Alabama have used to try to discredit the accusers: Why did they wait so long to make these charges? I do have to say, 40 years is a long time, Trump told reporters.

No, its not, given what we know about sexual harassment. Women often fear, quite rationally, that they will not be believed  and that, in the end, they may well have their lives ruined while the powerful men who abused them go merrily on their way.

Trump did mention that most of Moores accusers are Trump voters, which sounded like a slight hedge. Surely he realizes that by siding with Moore  clearly the net effect of his remarks  he invites a re-examination of his own alleged transgressions.

That re-examination must now begin.

If Congress is going to probe the conduct of members such as Conyers and Franken, it must also investigate the multiple, believable allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump. If they are true, the president must be censured.

The GOP leadership would be wise to realize that attitudes have changed. On this issue, to quote Bob Dylan, you dont need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Robinsons columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion  look for the syndicated columnist link. E-mail: eugenerobinson@washpost.com; copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.
Some conspiracy-minded educators who sit on the state Legislatures Education Study Committee seem to think its their job to rewrite the U.S. History exam administered to New Mexico students at the end of the school year.

Matt Montano, the state Public Education Departments deputy secretary for teaching and learning, was grilled by committee members earlier this month about whats not on this years standardized U.S. History exam, which assesses students proficiency in the subject. He explained a number of test questions had been omitted  by history teachers themselves  to address a common teachers complaint  they have to spend too much time testing.

Questions omitted in order to shorten the test include those on Rosa Parks, whose refusal to ride in the back of a bus because she was black became a rallying point for desegregation; the Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion; and the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan to end World War II.

Montano noted that all of those topics are still in the curriculum teachers are supposed to be teaching, but that wasnt enough for some committee members.

Sen. William P. Soules, D-Las Cruces, a teacher and opponent of standardized testing, called the PEDs omissions a subtle way of changing what will be taught. He also made the disturbing comment that, if something isnt on the test, its not going to be taught.

Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, an Albuquerque Democrat and occupational education coordinator for Albuquerque Public Schools, took exception to the Rosa Parks omission, saying Parks is the reason I can sit here as a black woman and question you about what has been redacted.

Simply stated, any question the PED includes, or excludes, from standardized tests is going to bother someone, and the alternative is to require tests so long they would quite literally take a school year to administer  the complete opposite of what teachers and teacher unions have sought for years.

Montano duly noted the committee members concerns, and PED should give them due consideration. All three questions involve important social issues that need to be covered. Education Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski  a former history teacher who has demonstrated a willingness to listen to and work with teachers and school districts, most recently on science standards  then should decide which are the best questions to cut. Its a decision that should be based not on politics, but on whats best for N.M.s students.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
BUMPING OVER THE N.M. 502 BRIDGE: Jim Gray asks via email, Could you please find out for us commuters to Los Alamos on N.M. 502 why the highway department decided to not pave for about 30 feet on each side of the bridge over the Rio Grande?

They paved right to the bridge over the (Pojoaque) River. Stopping short at the Rio Grande left the same terrible bump and jar to your vehicle going in both directions, either from Los Alamos or to Los Alamos. What was their thinking?

That the bridge work is coming.

Rosanne Rodriguez, New Mexico Department of Transportations District Five quality manager/public information officer, says, NMDOT has a bridge construction project at this location that includes tying in the approaches with new asphalt 200 feet both sides of the bridge. The bridge project will start summer of 2018.

THOSE STRIPES ON I-40 NEED HELP: Michael Emerson emails: The lane markings on I-40 on 9 Mile Hill were recently repainted. There are several places where cars apparently drove over wet paint and spread the markings into the adjacent lanes. The worst part I saw is on the on ramp to eastbound I-40 at Atrisco Vista. Question: Shouldnt the state or contractor be required to come back and fix these mistakes?

Yes.

Kimberly Gallegos with NMDOTs District Three says, The contractor did return and address and correct the lane markings.

CAN SOMEBODY STOP THE ROAD RACING? Jonathan Stein asks in an email, Can something be done about the frequent night time road racing/speeding on long stretches of Coors north of St. Joseph? It seems numerous cars, trucks and motorcycles fly along Coors, especially weekend nights. It is very noisy and often dangerous to drive on Coors after dark, with reckless drivers zipping by in and out of traffic. I rarely see these speeders stopped by police.

I understand that APD has a lot on its plate, but an occasional nightly sweep of Coors (and) ticketing the speeders might improve this dangerous driving scene.

Albuquerque Police Department officer Tanner Tixier says this is the type of issue residents should report to their area command. In this case, reach out to the Northwest substation across from Cibola High School.

FYI, the six area command numbers are:

 Foothills Area Command, 332-5240

 Northeast Area Command, 823-4455

 Southeast Area Command, 256-2050

 Valley Area Command, 761-8800

 Southwest Area Command, 831-4705

 Northwest Area Command, 768-4850

AND ABOUT THOSE TRASH BINS IN THE ROAD: After last weeks column explained city ordinance says residents can put their bins at the curb no more than 12 hours before pickup and must pull them back no more than 24 hours after, Ruben Mirabal emailed a concern.

The only part of city ordinance governing trash bins that the homeowner has any control over is returning the bins to his/her yard after pickup. Given that trash pick-up in my community can occur any time between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., most people in my community put their garbage bins out the eve before pick-up day so that they wont miss an early pick-up. However, when trash pick-up occurs around 4 p.m., the bins put out the night before likely have been on the curb more than 20-plus hours.

It seems more practical, and logical, that city ordinance ought to be reversed, i.e. bins are put at the curb no more than 24 hours before pick-up, and returned to the owners property within 12 hours of pick-up. The net result would be the same in terms of time but would allow a greater degree of homeowner compliance due to the inconsistency of the pick-up schedule.

Editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103.
YANGON, Myanmar  Pope Francis opened a diplomatically fraught trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday by immediately diving into the crisis over Myanmars crackdown on Rohingya Muslims: He met with the countrys military chief, even before beginning the official program of his trip.

The Vatican didnt provide details of the contents of Francis 15-minute courtesy visit with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations. It took place in the residence of the archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo, who has resisted international condemnation of the militarys operations against Rohingya as ethnic cleansing.

The general is in charge of security in Rakhine state, where the militarys clearance operations against the Muslim minority have sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Refugees there have told of entire villages being burned and women and girls being raped.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said only that They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaings office said in a statement on Facebook that he is willing to have interfaith peace, unity and justice. The general added that there was no religious or ethnic persecution or discrimination in Myanmar, and that the government allowed different faith groups to have freedom of worship.

Rohingya Muslims have faced state-supported discrimination in predominantly Buddhist country for decades. Though members of the ethnic minority first arrived generations ago, Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, denying them almost all rights and rendering them stateless. They cannot travel freely, practice their religion, or work as teachers or doctors, and they have little access to medical care, food or education.

Originally, the meeting was planned for Wednesday, after Francis was to have met with the countrys civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital. The Vatican didnt say why it was moved up.

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of textbook ethnic cleansing by the military in Rakhine. But Myanmars Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term Rohingya, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

Francis has already prayed for our Rohingya brothers and sisters, and much of the debate in the run-up to the trip focused on whether he would do so again in expressing solidarity with the Rohingyas plight. Any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmars military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

Burke didnt say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when a group of Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that resulted in Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

In the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, Senu Ara, 35, welcomed Francis arrival for what he might be able to do for the refugees.

He might help us get the peace that we are desperately searching for, she said. Even if we stay here he will make our situation better. If he decides to send us back, he will do so in a peaceful way.

But in Myanmar, the sentiment was different. The government and most of the Buddhist majority consider the Rohingya Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have been here for generations.

Being a religious leader  Catholic leader  means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, OK, he just came to meddle,' said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations.

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term Rohingya carries so much political weight for all of Myanmars people.

But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people arent going to like the pope anymore, he said.

Upon his arrival in Yangon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Myanmars Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children greeted him as he drove in a simple blue sedan, chanting Viva il papa! (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Myanmar and Holy See flags. Posters wishing Francis a heartiest of welcome lined the route into town.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologized for the expected heat, which was 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) upon his arrival and is expected to rise during his stay.

On Tuesday, Francis begins the main protocol portion of his weeklong trip, meeting with Suu Kyi and other officials. He is to deliver a speech to her and other Myanmar authorities and diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, in what will likely be the most closely watched speech of the trip.

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Associated Press journalists Min Kyi Thein in Yangon and Rishabh R. Jain in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Playing all sides in the Alabama Senate race, President Donald Trump made it known Monday he wont set foot in the state on behalf of embattled Republican Roy Moore, even as he intensified his insistence that voters must never elect Moores Democratic foe.

In search of safe political ground, Trump is embracing a tried-and-true tactic before the Dec. 12 special election. Weighing political needs, loyalty to his base supporters and his own struggles against allegations of sexual impropriety, the president is staking out a position that should bring him the least political exposure.

Trump has repeatedly assailed Democratic candidate Doug Jones, has publicly defended Moore against allegations of child molestation and has broken with other GOP leaders calling on Moore to get out of the race. On the other hand, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday the president has no plans for an in-person appearance on Moores behalf and in fact is too busy to do anything between now and Election Day for the candidate.

In addition, the president previously signed off on a decision by the Republican National Committee to cut off support for Moores campaign.

Still, Trump had held the door open to personal campaigning for Moore last week, when he all but endorsed the pugnacious conservatives candidacy while criticizing Jones. But hes carefully stopping short of that actual endorsement.

For weeks the center state in the Alabama race has been held by accusations that Moore, now 70, sexually molested or initiated sexual contact with two teens, ages 14 and 16  and tried to date several others  while he was in his 30s. Moore has denied the allegations of misconduct and has said he never dated underage women.

This is simply dirty politics and its a sign of the immorality of our time, Moore said Monday night during a campaign event in the rural town of Henagar in northeast Alabama. Lashing out at national Republicans who want him to step aside, Moore said: They are aware of my past. They are aware I am difficult to manage.

Trump has been burned in this race before. He traveled to Alabama months ago to back Moores Republican primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange, who was then defeated in a September rout.

Moore had the backing of the GOPs conservative and populist wings, including Trumps former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, but Trump acceded to requests from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to try to boost Strange. Trump later seethed to White House aides that the episode left him looking politically weak.

Also, appearing with Moore now could expose Trump to a politically unpalatable image as allegations of sexual misconduct in politics, entertainment, business and the media fill the news. As he looks toward his own re-election in 2020, he doesnt want new attention focused on his own accusations of sexual impropriety in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election.

The White House clarified Monday that Trump isnt contesting the authenticity of the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about sexually assaulting women, and for which he issued a rare apology. The president hasnt changed his position, Sanders said.

In the meantime, the president is determined not to alienate his core supporters  many of whom continue to defend Moore  at a time when his presidential popularity is lagging and his agenda faces headwinds in Congress. The outcome in Alabama could be crucial in the ongoing GOP fight for a tax overhaul, since a victory by Democrat Jones would narrow the Republicans Senate majority to a mere two seats.

Trump bashed Jones repeatedly on Twitter over the weekend. The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY, Trump wrote from Florida, referring to Democrats congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

Moores campaign quickly highlighted Trumps comments on social media and in a fundraising email.

President Trump calls them like he sees them. And, hes got my opponents in D.C. scrambling, Moore wrote

Jones, speaking to reporters in Birmingham, shrugged off Trumps criticisms, saying his vote in the Senate would not be a partisan one. He said Alabama residents are focused on issues such as the economy, education and health care.

My record speaks for itself, Jones said. I think I am very strong on the issues that the people of Alabama care for.

Earlier in the month, the Republican National Committee pulled roughly a dozen paid staffers out of Alabama as the allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore piled up. Republicans involved in that decision said Monday they would be angry if Trump ordered the committee to re-engage, although there was no such discussion underway as of Monday afternoon.

Opposition to Moore hadnt softened at the National Republican Senatorial Committee either. The Senate GOP campaign arm turned its back on Moore earlier in the month, and its chairman, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, said his Republican colleagues should expel Moore from the Senate if hes ultimately elected.

Alabamas other senator, Republican Richard Shelby, said Monday he did not vote for Moore. I voted absentee. I didnt vote for him. I voted for a distinguished Republican write-in, Shelby told reporters, according to The Hill newspaper.

Some Washington-based Republicans on Monday suggested they actually would welcome an opportunity to expel Moore if it comes to that. Such an action could mark a public cleansing for the party as it struggles with low approval ratings ahead of the 2018 midterms, said one Republican official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the Alabama race and commented only on condition of anonymity.

There was still pressure for Trump to step in in person.

Said former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg: Its his choice. Does he want to be the first president in two decades not to have two Republican senators from Alabama?

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Associated Press writers Kimberly Chandler in Henagar, Alabama; Steve Peoples in New York; and Thomas Beaumont in Iowa contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlins crosshairs, The Associated Press has found.

Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up. Even senior policymakers discovered they were targets only when the AP told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.

Its utterly confounding, said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. Youve got to tell your people. Youve got to protect your people.

The FBI declined to discuss its investigation into Fancy Bears spying campaign, but did provide a statement that said in part: The FBI routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information.

Three people familiar with the matter  including a current and a former government official  said the FBI has known for more than a year the details of Fancy Bears attempts to break into Gmail inboxes. A senior FBI official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on when it received the target list, but said the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks.

Its a matter of triaging to the best of our ability the volume of the targets who are out there, he said.

The AP did its own triage, dedicating two months and a small team of reporters to go through a hit list of Fancy Bear targets provided by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks.

Previous AP investigations based on the list have shown how Fancy Bear worked in close alignment with the Kremlins interests to steal tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party . The hacking campaign disrupted the 2016 U.S. election and cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump, whom U.S. intelligence agencies say the hackers were trying to help . The Russian government has denied interfering in the American election.

The Secureworks list comprises 19,000 lines of targeting data . Going through it, the AP identified more than 500 U.S.-based people or groups and reached out to more than 190 of them, interviewing nearly 80 about their experiences.

Many were long-retired, but about one-quarter were still in government or held security clearances at the time they were targeted. Only two told the AP they learned of the hacking attempts on their personal Gmail accounts from the FBI. A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last years electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.

Charles Sowell, who previously worked as a senior administrator in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and was targeted by Fancy Bear two years ago, said there was no reason the FBI couldnt do the same work the AP did.

Its absolutely not OK for them to use an excuse that theres too much data, Sowell said. Would that hold water if there were a serial killer investigation, and people were calling in tips left and right, and they were holding up their hands and saying, Its too much? Thats ridiculous.

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ITS CURIOUS

The AP found few traces of the bureaus inquiry as it launched its own investigation two months ago.

In October, two AP journalists visited THCServers.com , a brightly lit, family-run internet company on the former grounds of a communist-era chicken farm outside the Romanian city of Craiova. Thats where someone registered DCLeaks.com, the first of three websites to publish caches of emails belonging to Democrats and other U.S. officials in mid-2016.

DCLeaks was clearly linked to Fancy Bear. Previous AP reporting found that all but one of the sites victims had been targeted by the hacking group before their emails were dumped online.

Yet THC founder Catalin Florica said he was never approached by law enforcement.

Its curious, Florica said. You are the first ones that contact us.

THC merely registered the site, a simple process that typically takes only a few minutes. But the reaction was similar at the Kuala Lumpur offices of the Malaysian web company Shinjiru Technology , which hosted DCLeaks stolen files for the duration of the electoral campaign.

The companys chief executive, Terence Choong, said he had never heard of DCLeaks until the AP contacted him.

What is the issue with it? he asked.

Questions over the FBIs handling of Fancy Bears broad hacking sweep date to March 2016, when agents arrived unannounced at Hillary Clintons headquarters in Brooklyn to warn her campaign about a surge of rogue, password-stealing emails.

The agents offered little more than generic security tips the campaign had already put into practice and refused to say who they thought was behind the attempted intrusions, according to a person who was there and spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was meant to be confidential.

Questions emerged again after it was revealed that the FBI never took custody of the Democratic National Committees computer server after it was penetrated by Fancy Bear in April 2016. Former FBI Director James Comey testified this year that the FBI worked off a copy of the server, which he described as an appropriate substitute.

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MAKES ME SAD

Retired Maj. James Phillips was one of the first people to have the contents of his inbox published by DCLeaks when the website made its June 2016 debut.

But the Army veteran said he didnt realize his personal emails were flapping in the breeze until a journalist phoned him two months later.

The fact that a reporter told me about DCLeaks kind of makes me sad, he said. I wish it had been a government source.

Phillips story would be repeated again and again as the AP spoke to officials from the National Defense University in Washington to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado.

Among them: a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes; a former head of Air Force Intelligence, retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula; a former defense undersecretary, Eric Edelman; and a former director of cybersecurity for the Air Force, retired Lt. Gen. Mark Schissler.

Retired Maj. Gen. Brian Keller, a former director of military support at the Geospatial Intelligence Agency, was not informed, even after DCLeaks posted his emails to the internet. In a telephone call with AP, Keller said he still wasnt clear on what had happened, who had hacked him or whether his data was still at risk.

Should I be worried or alarmed or anything? asked Keller, who left the spy satellite agency in 2010 and now works in private industry.

Not all the interviewees felt the FBI had a responsibility to alert them.

Perhaps optimistically, I have to conclude that a risk analysis was done and I was not considered a high enough risk to justify making contact, said a former Air Force chief of staff, retired Gen. Norton Schwartz, who was targeted by Fancy Bear in 2015.

Others argued that the FBI may have wanted to avoid tipping the hackers off or that there were too many people to notify.

The expectation that the government is going to protect everyone and go back to everyone is false, said Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior technical officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency who teaches homeland security at Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg and was himself among the targets.

But the government is supposed to try, said Michael Daniel, who served as President Barack Obamas White House cybersecurity coordinator.

Daniel wouldnt comment directly on why so many Fancy Bear targets werent warned in this case, but he said the issue of how and when to notify people frankly still needs more work.

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CLOAK-AND-DAGGER

In the absence of any official warning, some of those contacted by AP brushed off the idea that they were taken in by a foreign powers intelligence service.

I dont open anything I dont recognize, said Joseph Barnard, who headed the personnel recovery branch of the Air Forces Air Combat Command.

That may well be true of Barnard; Secureworks data suggests he never clicked the malicious link sent to him in June 2015. But it isnt true of everyone.

An AP analysis of the data suggests that out of 312 U.S. military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them. That could mean that as many as 2 in 5 came perilously close to handing over their passwords.

Its not clear how many gave up their credentials in the end or what the hackers may have acquired.

Some of those accounts hold emails that go back years, when even many of the retired officials still occupied sensitive posts.

Overwhelmingly, interviewees told AP they kept classified material out of their Gmail inboxes, but intelligence experts said Russian spies could use personal correspondence as a springboard for further hacking, recruitment or even blackmail.

You start to have information you might be able to leverage against that person, said Sina Beaghley, a researcher at the RAND Corp. who served on the NSC until 2014.

In the few cases where the FBI did warn targets, they were sometimes left little wiser about what was going on or what to do.

Rob Butch Bracknell, a 20-year military veteran who works as a NATO lawyer in Norfolk, Virginia, said an FBI agent visited him about a year ago to examine his emails and warn him that a foreign actor was trying to break into his account.

He was real cloak-and-dagger about it, Bracknell said. He came here to my work, wrote in his little notebook and away he went.

Left to fend for themselves, some targets have been improvising their cybersecurity.

Retired Gen. Roger A. Brady, who was responsible for American nuclear weapons in Europe as part of his past role as commander of the U.S. Air Force there, turned to Apple support this year when he noticed something suspicious on his computer. Hughes, a former DIA head, said he had his hard drive replaced by the Geek Squad at a Best Buy in Florida after his machine began behaving strangely. Keller, the former senior spy satellite official, said it was his son who told him his emails had been posted to the web after getting a Google alert in June 2016.

A former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who like many others was repeatedly targeted by Fancy Bear but has yet to receive any warning from the FBI, said the lackluster response risked something worse than last years parade of leaks.

Our government needs to be taking greater responsibility to defend its citizens in both the physical and cyber worlds, now, before a cyberattack produces an even more catastrophic outcome than we have already experienced, McFaul said.

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Donn reported from Plymouth, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Vadim Ghirda in Carcea, Romania, Chad Day in Washington, Frank Bajak in Houston, Justin Myers in Chicago and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.

___

Satter, Donn and Butler can be reached at:

http://raphaelsatter.com , https://twitter.com/jadonn7 and https://twitter.com/desmondbutler

___

EDITORS NOTE  Raphael Satters father, David Satter, is an author and Russia specialist who has been critical of the Kremlin. His emails were published last year by hackers and his account is on Secureworks list of Fancy Bear targets. He was not notified by the FBI.

EDITORS NOTE  One in a series of stories on the findings of an Associated Press investigation of the Russian hackers who disrupted the U.S. presidential election in 2016
LAS CRUCES  A Las Cruces-based nonprofit that helps immigrants become citizens has seen a spike this year in the number of people seeking to start the process.

Staff with Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico, which offers legal assistance to immigrants, said the organization helped 14 immigrants seek naturalization in the first half of 2017. And the organization assisted 29 immigrants so far through the second half.

Its consistent with the national trend, said Teresa Studor, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer who works with the nonprofit.

Amid hardline immigration rhetoric that gained steam with the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and directives that followed in 2017, interest in U.S. citizenship has grown among immigrants who already were able to live in the United States legally, the New York Times reported recently. Applications this year are expected to outpace last last year, which was the busiest in a decade.

Lingering fear

Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico does outreach in a 10-county area in southern New Mexico. And the group has been hosting more informational fairs about citizenship than it previously did, said Imelda Maynard, attorney for the organization. But she doesnt think thats whats behind the spike in people seeking help with applications for citizenship.

Increasingly, immigrants with authorization to be in the United States are worried about losing their legal status and being deported, said Maynard said.

Theres still that lingering fear, she said.

At the same time, theres a growing realization that the safest you can be in this country is a U.S. citizen, Maynard said.

To become a U.S. citizen, most people have to have lived in the United States at least five years with legal permanent residency, often referred to as green card status. But there are exceptions, according to Maynard. An immigrant whos married to a U.S. citizen must wait only three years before applying for citizenship, she said, and an immigrant in the U.S. military has a one-year requirement. A person must also be able to read, write and speak English and be a person of good moral character, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Theres also more than $700 in fees to pay as part of the application.

More applications filed

The El Paso office of the USCIS, which processes citizenship applications for southern New Mexico residents, received 1,328 naturalization applications between April and June in 2015, according to federal reports. That spiked to 2,220 in the same three months of 2016  an increase of about 67 percent. Another 2,245 applications were submitted during the same time window in 2017.

Theres a growing number of pending cases, as well. In mid-2015, there were nearly 2,600 pending applications in the El Paso office, federal reports state. By mid-2017, there were more than 6,200.

A green card grants a person legal standing to live and work in the United States, but it is possible to lose that status and be deported. For instance, if someone leaves the United States for too long of a period or commits certain crimes, the individual could face deportation, Maynard said.

About 22,000 southern New Mexico residents were eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship in 2015, according to the Center for Migration Studies.

Some legal permanent residents have misconceptions about applying for U.S. citizenship, according to Maynard. For instance, they sometimes wrongly believe that theyll be deported if they fail a citizenship test thats part of the process. With some exceptions, they are required to pass the test to become a citizen. But they wont be deported if they fail it, she said.

Other people believe they cant apply because they have a conviction in their background from their country of origin. But Maynard said, depending on the circumstances, thats not an automatic disqualifier.

Thats why its important to talk to a legal services provider, she said.

Fairs upcoming

In addition to Maynard, Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico employs two representatives who are able to help with immigration legal proceedings. In addition assisting legal permanent residents navigate naturalization processes, the group helps immigrants whove been detained. It mainly serves low-income clients. While most clients are from Mexico, the organization assists immigrants from other countries, too.

The organization gets some financial support from the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, staff said. But private donations and grants account for most of its revenue.

CCSN has two citizenship information fairs planned for upcoming weeks:

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Immaculate Conception Church, 705 Delaware St., Alamogordo

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Finley Hall, 1240 S. Espina St., Las Cruces

Maynard noted that legal permanent residents arent able to vote or serve on a jury rights they gain once they are citizens. She encouraged anyone interested in applying for naturalization to visit a fair, where they can get information and be screened for eligibility.

They can contact our office or they can go to one of our fairs, she said.

To reach CCSN, contact 575-527-0500.

Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.



2017 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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SANTA FE, N.M.  As New Mexico lawmakers debate possible changes to the states tax structure, one concern is whether purchases made by national laboratories in the state will continue to result in gross receipts of tax revenue.

Data presented to lawmakers shows the for-profit consortium that currently manages Los Alamos National Laboratory has paid between $48 million and $100 million a year in gross receipts taxes.

Some of that money went to the state to pay for education and other government services. Another portion was distributed to local governments in and around the lab.

In 2015, the most recent year for data, $76 million was collected and $22 million of that stayed with state government. The rest was distributed to local governments, including the city and county of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba County and tribal governments. Los Alamos County gained the largest share, some $20 million a year, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported .

The Regional Coalition of Los Alamos National Laboratory Communities, a consortium of nine governments in Northern New Mexico that rely on Los Alamos National Laboratory services, is asking the Legislature to protect a revenue stream that helps fund police, fire, public transportation, housing and economic development programs.

If the Legislature does not adopt this, there will be a massive loss of GRT, not just to Los Alamos but to the people of the region, Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales told lawmakers.

Andrea Romero, director of the coalition, said the federal government would honor mandatory tax payments as it does today, and remit the gross receipts tax outside of any program costs as a pass-through expense. Taxing a new nonprofit contractor would not take away from laboratory programs, cleanup work or its employees, she said.

The contract for Sandia National Laboratories recently was awarded to a subsidiary of Honeywell, and that firm will continue to pay some $65 million a year in gross receipts taxes to state and local governments.

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Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com
A Los Alamos-based startup will add 20 jobs as it expands its headquarters and manufacturing plant in the northern New Mexico city, state Economic Development Secretary Matt Geisel announced today.

Ubiquitous Quantum Dots, or UbiQD, is investing $1 million into the expansion, Geisel said in a written statement.

The company last month announced it had received a $350,000 investment from Breakout Labs, a San Francisco-based fund set up by the Thiel Foundation to provide early-stage financing to companies taking new, science-based technologies to market.

The three-year-old startup is using a proprietary process to manufacture quantum dots with technology licensed from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The additional jobs at UbiQD follows last weeks news that Descartes Labs Inc. of Santa Fe hopes to expand by between 70 and 90 jobs within five years. Descartes, which moved its headquarters from Los Alamos to Santa Fe earlier year, will receive $500,000 in state funding and is seeking $100,000 in local economic development funding.

According to city documents, Descartes Labs is expected to contribute $4.2 million over five years  $2 million for building improvements and $2.2 million in lease payments.

Descartes Labs, founded in 2014 by a team that included some former Los Alamos National Laboratory employees, utilizes artificial intelligence software licensed by LANL to aggregate publicly accessible satellite images to analyze trends in such areas as urban sprawl, renewable energy infrastructure, the environment and agriculture.

Last month, the company announced that it had signed a 10-year lease for 18,000 square feet of space at the Firestone Building at the northwest corner of the intersection of West Alameda and Guadalupe streets with the intention of converting it to its world headquarters.

Descartes Labs also has offices in New York City, San Francisco and is maintaining an office in Los Alamos.

The state will provide $125,000 to UbiQD, and Los Alamos County will provide $325,000 to the company, he said.
HOUSTON  The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the conviction and death sentence of a Houston man for the slaying of a 79-year-old woman during a 2012 shooting rampage outside the courthouse in downtown Beaumont.

The high court, without comment, ruled Monday in the case of 47-year-old Bartholomew Granger. He does not have an execution date and his lawyers are in the early stages of other appeals in federal district court.

Granger testified at his 2013 trial moved to Galveston that he wanted the death penalty. He acknowledged opening fire on his daughter outside the Jefferson County Courthouse after she testified against him in a sexual assault case but said he didnt intend to kill a bystander, Minnie Ray Sebolt.

Grangers daughter and her mother were among three people wounded.
BRUSSELS  The European Union on Monday approved a five-year extension to the use of the weed killer glyphosate, in a move that failed to satisfy either environmentalists or farmers and pitted Germany against France.

After a drawn-out process, the EU backed the extension with a qualified majority and was able to beat a mid-December deadline when the current license expires  18 member states voted in favor, 9 against while one abstained.

Germany put its weight behind the extension, a move that divided the caretaker government in Berlin and could have repercussions on Chancellor Angela Merkels negotiations to form a grand coalition between her conservative bloc and the center-left Socialist Democrats.

France remained opposed and there was anger with the outcome.

This is Black Monday for health, French European Parliament deputy Yannick Jadot told BFM TV.

But President Emmanuel Macron said he tasked the government to take the necessary measures so that the use of glyphosate is forbidden in France as soon as alternatives are found, and at the latest in three years.

Environmentalists had hoped on an immediate ban since they claim that the weed killer, used in chemical giant Monsantos popular Roundup herbicide, is linked to cancer. The World Health Organizations cancer agency said in 2015 that the weed killer is probably carcinogenic to humans.

The decision taken today by a narrow qualified majority of member states has locked the EU into another five years of toxic agriculture, said Green member of the European Parliament Bart Staes. This is a dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment.

Many farmers, who say the substance is safe, had wanted a 15-year extension. EU nations long failed to find a compromise amid conflicting health reports.

Despite welcoming the limited extension, the president of the EUs Copa-Cogeca farmer association, Pekka Pesonen, insisted glyphosate should have been re-authorized for 15 years after it was given a positive assessment by both the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency.

Banning glyphosate outright would have shaken Europes agriculture sector, since it is so widely used.

Germany voted for the extension over the objection of Social Democrat Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, who said she had told Christian Democrat Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt on the phone Monday that she was against it.

Schmidt, whose Christian Social Union is the sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union, told the Rheinische Post that Germany had voted for the agreement because of conditions that will strengthen the role of biodiversity and animal protection.

Hendricks suggested the vote could make the possibility of building a new coalition government in Germany between her party and Merkels conservative bloc more difficult.

Anyone who is interested in developing trust between two parties cannot behave that way, she said.

The approval also came after the Greens moved out of the picture as a possible coalition partner.

____

David Rising contributed from Berlin. Elaine Ganley contributed from Paris.
DACONO, Colo.  Racers, friends and family members paid tribute to one of their own at the Colorado National Speedway in Dacono.

The Daily Camera reports the group gathered Sunday afternoon for a memorial service for 20-year-old Makayla Grote who died earlier this month from stab wounds allegedly suffered at the hands of a 15-year-old suspect.

Boulder County prosecutors say the suspect traveled to Longmont looking for Grotes younger sister, who topped a death list the boy is accused of compiling. He has been charged with first-degree murder.

Grote started driving go-karts at age 8 and went on to race a late-model stock car numbered 97 at the speedway.

Her father, Troy Grote, gave the door of her car to the track, where it will be displayed with other memorabilia.

___

Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/
The familiar melody of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing wafted through the warm November afternoon at Albuquerques Bataan Memorial Park on Monday, but the lyrics of this song made it clear that the roughly 150 people gathered werent there to sing carols.

Hark now hear the people plead / A progressive tax is what we need / Tax the rich and feed the poor / Do the job youre elected for, they sang, joining activists from around the country in a National Day of Action. Protesters blasted the proposed overhaul of the U.S. tax code, which Republicans in the House and Senate are trying to pass by Christmas.

The local event was spearheaded by Albuquerque-based Indivisible 505 in conjunction with other progressive groups.

This isnt tax reform, said Charna Lefton, one of the coordinators of the event. Its tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of our communities.

The House passed its tax reform bill on Nov. 14, and the Senate plans to take up its own version this week.

While the two bills contain significant differences, both would cut the corporate tax rate significantly while reducing personal rates for many taxpayers. Both plans would nearly double the standard tax deduction for most taxpayers while erasing or shrinking many deductions.

In the Senate version, the proposed income tax cuts for individuals would expire at the end of 2025, while those in the House version would be permanent. Under the plans, the federal deficit is projected to grow by about $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

Rep. Steve Pearce, the only Republican member of New Mexicos congressional delegation, has said the overall structure of the House bill would help the states struggling economy. The rest of the states congressional delegation, all Democrats, oppose the legislation as its currently written.

Those at the rally likened the tax reform efforts  which are backed by President Donald Trump  to a scam.

Our Republican colleagues wanted to stick it to the middle class while trying to promise them that theyre going to put them first, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan told the crowd.

John Easter, who held up a sign that read, Trump Robs Poor, said its not fair that the tax breaks for the large corporations would be permanent while the tax breaks for the middle class would expire after a few years. And he said he is also opposed to the proposal to repeal the estate tax because it would only benefit a few very wealthy families, like Trumps.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

During a surprise hearing in federal court Monday, Paul Donisthorpe, former CEO of Desert State Life Management, pleaded guilty to bilking dozens of New Mexicos most vulnerable residents out of more than $4 million.

This was a heartbreaking case. An individual was trusted by the elderly, disabled and other New Mexicans with special needs to make sure their rent, medical bills and living expenses were covered, Terry Wade, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Albuquerque, told a news conference Monday afternoon announcing the guilty plea. Instead, he stole a great deal of money from all of them so he could support a lavish lifestyle, like a lodge in Angel Fire.

The federal charges against him and the agreement, in which he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, were not made public until hours after Donisthorpe, 62, left the courthouse. The U.S. Attorneys Office then held what it called a law enforcement announcement and refused to take any questions.

Donisthorpe said in his plea agreement that he used his ill-gotten gains to pay mortgages on his home in Albuquerque and vacation home in Angel Fire. He will be sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison, according to the recommendation in his plea agreement.

He also must pay $4,812,857 in restitution to the victims of his crimes.

Donisthorpe ran a decadelong scheme in which he stole more than $4.8 million from many of the 70 of his nonprofit trust companys clients, acting U.S. Attorney James Tierney said Monday.

At the end of 2016, the company should have had more than $5 million in client assets, excluding real estate and insurance policies. But it had only $926,000, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed on Monday.

Donisthorpe, who currently lives in Bloomfield, was released on standard conditions of release after his court appearance before Magistrate Judge Laura Fashing. His sentencing hearing hasnt been scheduled.

Ahmad Assed, Donisthorpes attorney, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Federal charges

Earlier this year, state financial regulators accused Donisthorpe of siphoning client money, the FBI filed for forfeiture of some of his property and the state put his nonprofit company into receivership. About 40 of his clients had been notified by the state that their trust money was missing.

But federal charges  in the form of a criminal information  were not filed until Monday, at the same time as the plea agreement.

The criminal information revealed more details about the case. It said that from 2006 through 2016, Donisthorpe on numerous occasions liquidated his clients investments and then had their money transferred to accounts that he controlled, which he used for his own personal expenses. He then concealed the theft by causing his accounting staff to falsely record the clients balances in Desert State accounting records, according to the criminal information.

He presented those false records to his companys board of directors, the Financial Institutions Division and his clients, according to the information.

96-year-old lost $32,000

Donna Burk, of Texas, still hasnt told her 96-year-old mother her $32,000 savings held at Desert State was stolen.

Burk said Monday that she hopes enough money will be recovered to help compensate victims for their losses.

Its one step out of the way. Its tremendous. Its great. But Im still just going to pray.

Under the plea deal, Donisthorpe agreed to the forfeiture of the companys headquarters in Albuquerque, an Angel Fire vacation home and his interest in a Texas cattle ranch, in addition to the restitution.

There was no prior notice of Mondays plea by Donisthorpe, who hasnt been seen for months since state regulators filed their case alleging the theft. Burk said she hopes to appear at Donisthorpes sentencing.

Id love for him to be able to see faces of victims, said Burk, who has been in contact with other victims, some of whom are being hounded by creditors. She has already had to adjust her work schedule starting in January because shes had to reduce the hours she can pay an in-home sitter for her mother.

Search warrants

The two search warrants unsealed Monday show that in January 2017, the state Financial Institutions Division contacted Desert State and Donisthorpe to schedule an examination of the company the next month.

As the date of that examination approached, the state agency was unable to reach Donisthorpe or receive records it had requested from him.

Financial Institutions Division employees went to Desert State multiple times in late February and early March, and no one was working there, according to the warrants.

Liane Kerr, Donisthorpes now ex-wife, contacted the division in early March and said her husband had a stroke and was hospitalized. She said several Desert State employees and board members had recently quit or were out of the country. She said the people working there at the time would be unable to assist with the examination, according to the warrants.

In late March, Helen Bennet, an attorney and Desert State board member, told the Financial Institutions Division that Donisthorpe had recently tried to commit suicide by overdosing on prescription medication. She said he told her that he couldnt remember whether he embezzled money but that if money was missing he must have done it, according to the search warrants.

Corrales Mayor Scott Kominiak was appointed acting CEO of Desert State in mid-March, and he took possession of a computer that Donisthorpe used while operating the company. FBI agents obtained a search warrant for that computer in early June.
The concern for their childs health make mothers overprotective and sthey often put restrictions on their kids without realizing the impact it has on their childrens personality. It is necessary that instead of saying No to kids always, their immunity is strengthened to keep them healthy. Therefore, Cipla, leading global pharmaceutical company in India, developed ActivKids Immuno Boosters, immunity supplement for children, to address the growing concern of low immunity by providing up to 100% RDA of key immunity nutrients.

Himava Nath, Head of Marketing for Cipla Health Limited states, Cipla Health set off on its mission of ensuring strong immunity for kids with the launch of its brand ActivKids Immuno Boosters a year ago. #YesMom was launched as a social movement aimed at changing the stereotype around parenting especially motherhood. The movement seeks to empower moms with the confidence to say Yes to their kids. And the brand ActivKids Immuno Boosters with its immunity benefits and unique format aids the mothers and gives them the confidence to say Yes. The movement has been very successful and thousands of mothers have been inspired to be #YesMom. 

Talking about her experience as a mother, Mandira said, At one point of time, I too was a worried mother, always conscious about Virs every activity, but the video came as a revelation to me. I never realized what impact my frequent Nos have on my childs developing mind. I took the #YesChallenge and I have made efforts to become a #YesMom by trying to avoid saying No unnecessarily. I think its important that all mothers out there realize how being a #YesMom can bring a difference to your childs physical and mental health. I realized that no matter how much I try to protect him from germs and infections, it will not make much of a difference till the time his immunity is strong. Now, I focus on strengthening his immunity to make him healthy.

The campaign was rolled out with a social experiment on the online page of Cipla highlighting the psychological impacts of No on a child followed by a call out to mothers to take the Yes Challenge.

Details for Social Experiment:

Agency: L&K | Saatchi & Saatchi

Chief Creative Officer: Charles Victor (National Creative Director)

Creative team: Chetan Kapoor (Sr. Creative Director), Rachel Pilaka (Copy Supervisor), Krishna Hemnani (Associate Creative Director- Art)

Account management: Rashi Shah (Brand Services Director), Pooja Sejpal (Sr. Account Executive), and Yash Gandhi (Management Trainee)

Account Planning: Sandhya Srinivasan (Managing Partner & Chief Strategy Officer), Srinivas Madala (Strategic Planning Director)

Films Head: Vijay Vigamal

Production house: DISCo Media

Director (film): Barnali Kalita

Producer: Shivi Arora (Executive Producer), Manju Moses (Producer)

Director of photography: Barnali Kalita
Keralas most favourite fortnightly women-centric magazine Grihalakshmi launches AARTHAVA YAANAM literally meaning a menstrual journey. The mass awareness menstrual program which will be conducted across 14 districts of Kerala for girl students of age group 12  19 years. Apart from students, the genuine social objective will include the participation of teachers, parents and the general public.

The program will be jointly conducted by Sustainable Mensuration Kerala Collective (SMKC) and volunteer- based organisation Red Cycle. The initiative is designed to include over 50 sessions from talks, discussions, and debates based on educating students irrespective of the gender of the biological process, the importance of menstrual hygiene, alternate menstrual hygiene practices and related social  political and environment issues.

The expected outcome of the program will include breaking the silence surrounding mensuration, proper awareness and sensitization, regardless of gender, correcting the misconceptions spread about period mechanism, and to know which kind of products the women, in general, would prefer to use in Kerala, if they knew about all the options available and why etc.

Commenting about the initiative M V Shreyams Kumar, Jt Managing Director  The Mathrubhumi Group said  The unique initiative is undertaken as a one step further of our earlier announcement of introducing one day paid extra leave for Mathrubhumi news women reporting staff of their first day of periods. We feel that it is very important to educate the youth of today on menstrual hygiene, people should be more educated and aware about the countless taboos and superstitious beliefs surrounding mensuration, we hope in establishing Kerala state an example for other states to undertake similar programs for their citizens.
Shaw Industries recently donated $2,600 to the Aiken Technical College Foundation. Pictured (from left) are: Mary Commons, director of the Aiken Technical College Foundation; Dr. Forest E. Mahan, president of Aiken Technical College; Eric Boetsch, plant manager of Shaw Industries; Chantel Thompson, Human Resources manager with Shaw Industries; and Chet Ballentine, plant engineer with Shaw Industries. The donation will help create four scholarships for industrial maintenance students.
29.01.64, an oil painting by Zao Wou-ki [Photo provided to China Daily]

The oil painting 29.01.64, created by Chinese-French painter Zao Wou-ki incorporating the kuangcao (wild cursive) style of Chinese calligraphy, fetched HK$ 202.6 million ($26 million) at a Christie's auction Saturday night.

It set a record for Zao's works at auction. What now ranks second is 29.09.64, which sold HK$ 152.9 million in May, also at a Christie's auction.

Zao was born in Beijing and moved to Paris in the late 1940s, where he rose to become an internationally acclaimed artist.

He started to blend Chinese calligraphy into his oil paintings in 1957. He set aside focusing on the meanings of characters, instead exploring the variations of calligraphic forms and how to merge them into his world of abstract art.

His change that year came after a yearlong trip he made to New York, a rising world art center, as well as Hong Kong in China and Japan. He had in-depth communications with artists he met along the way, especially abstract expressionists in the United States. They provided him with novel perspectives to push forward his endeavors to paint in an abstract style.
November 21, 2017

CAIRO  The Egyptian Veterinarians Syndicate announced in a press statement Oct. 30 that it is in the process of drafting provisions for what it hopes will become Egypt's first animal welfare law. Many Egyptians wonder whether parliament will even entertain the idea of such legislation or dismiss it outright as one of the luxuries that Egypt can do without, despite there being some economic repercussions.

In 2015, news reports and video footage emerged of a restrained dog being killed by a group of butchers, who attacked the dog with knives. The incident came to be known as Dog al-Ahram. Due to pressure by social media users and animals rights groups, the offenders were tried and sentenced to three years, sparking wide controversy. The incident also shed light on the absence of a law regulating animal rights in Egypt.

According to Tarek Misk, a syndicate board member and chairman of the organization's Animal Rights Committee, several provisions governing behaviors that for years were considered controversial have been agreed on for inclusion in the bill. He told Al-Monitor that the syndicate started working on the draft three months ago and is expected to submit it to parliament by July 2018.

The law includes articles prohibiting murdering stray animals, except in life-threatening cases [and then only] on the condition that the animal is not shot or poisoned, Misk said. There are also conditions for transporting animals humanely and provisions regulating animals' exploitation in accordance with their health situation. The draft also regulates the use of animals for research and puts conditions on euthanasia at slaughterhouses.

In fact, the proposal includes all animals, and the bill would allow the slaughter for food under certain conditions and circumstances. However, it bans the killing of other animals unless in the case of legitimate self-defense. The law also puts conditions on the treatment of lab animals.

Misk added, The draft law is not a luxury as some may claim. Egypts reputation for animal abuse has caused severe economic losses. Countries have suspended the export of livestock to Egypt due to cruel and brutal handling. Australia took this decision in May 2013.

The draft law, Misk said, designates the General Organization for Veterinary Services (GOVS) as the only authority responsible for animals in Egypt, despite allegations that it uses internationally banned poisons to kill stray dogs.

He confirmed that the syndicate is currently reaching out to parliamentarians who sit on the Committee on Agriculture, Irrigation, Food Security and Livestock with the hope that one of them will adopt its provisions and sponsor them as draft legislation.

Tawheed Tamer, a member of the committee, told Al-Monitor that such a draft is a waste of time. Egypt has many problems compared to which the problem of animal rights seems trivial, he said. There is a fabricated fuss over animal rights in Egypt.

As Tamer sees it, animal rights groups are creating a fuss in an attempt to receive funding from international animal rights associations. Tamer called on the GOVS to explore ways to separate veterinary services from the Ministry of Agriculture. The syndicate is calling for the separation of the GOVS from the ministry, so that it can become an autonomous body enjoying more privileges in the area of livestock, rather than drafting useless draft laws.

The only time animals are mentioned in Egypts constitution is in Article 45, which notes that the state commits to "the protection of plants, livestock and fisheries; the protection of endangered species; and the prevention of cruelty to animals.

Moreover, only three articles of the Egyptian Penal Code penalize animal abuse. Article 355 reads as follows: Shall be punished with penal servitude: First: Whoever deliberately and unjustifiably kills a beast of the riding, drawing or carrying animals, or any kind of cattle or causes enormous harm to it. Second: Whoever poisons a beast of the animals mentioned in the previous clause, or fish that exists in a river, canal, puddle, swamp or basin. Felons may be placed on parole by police for a period of at least one year and at most two years. Any attempts of the foregoing crimes shall be punished with detention with penal servitude for a period not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding 200 pounds [$11].

Article 356 of the Penal Code calls for hard labor as a penalty if such crimes are committed at night, while Article 357 states, A penalty of detention for a period not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding 200 pounds shall be imposed on whoever willfully and unjustifiably kills or poisons one of the tame animals other than those mentioned in Article 355, or causes a grievous harm to it.

These articles do not, however, include punishment for animal abuse targeting stray animals, for whom the definition of a "tame" animal does not apply.

Amina Abaza, the director of the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt (SPARE), the first Egyptian group founded to defend animal rights in the country, told Al-Monitor that the draft law is a step long overdue, as Egypt suffers from the absence of a culture of animal rights.

Having the first draft law on animal rights issued by the Veterinarians Syndicate is a source of pride, especially given that the faculties of veterinary medicine [at Cairo University and Zagazig University] are among the places accused of abusing animals in Egypt, Abaza said. SPARE and all animal rights activists in Egypt are ready to stand by the Veterinarians Syndicate whether in drafting the law or pressuring the parliament to discuss the proposal.

The final version of the syndicate's proposals is expected to contain provisions that animal rights activists have long demanded. Whether parliament will act to protect animals is another matter.
November 27, 2017

CAIRO  As Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Nov. 21, he stressed the importance of preserving Lebanon's unity and the need to disassociate the country from the conflicts raging in the Middle East. Egypt and Lebanon are bound by a strong relationship that dates back to the 1940s.

A presidential statement issued on Nov. 21 stated that Sisi met with Hariri to discuss the latest developments in Beirut in the wake of Hariris abrupt resignation. During his meeting with Hariri, Sisi emphasized the need for the Lebanese parties to uphold the supreme national interest of the Lebanese people and reject any foreign interference in their internal affairs.

The meeting between Sisi and Hariri came hours before the Lebanese prime minister returned to Beirut on Nov. 22 and announced that he postponed his widely controversial resignation, which he had declared from Riyadh on Nov. 4.

Following his meeting with Hariri, Sisi received a phone call from Lebanese President Michel Aoun, during which the two counterparts discussed the political situation in Lebanon.

According to analysts contacted by Al-Monitor, Egypt has played an active role in calming the situation in Lebanon since the announcement of Hariri's resignation, stressing the need to spare the region new battlegrounds. In a press statement issued Nov. 9 on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum, Sisi stressed Egypts rejection of any Iranian interference in the Gulf region.

Hariri attributed his resignation to Iran's intervention in his countrys domestic affairs and said he feared being assassinated. He remained in Saudi Arabia after his resignation before he embarked on a tour Nov. 18 that included France, Egypt and Cyprus to discuss his resignation crisis.

Tarek Fahmi, a political science professor at the American University of Cairo, told Al-Monitor that Hariri had visited Egypt before returning to Beirut, as he wanted to derive strength from central Arab parties in the face of Iran. Hariri, he added, had announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia and visited the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which are Arab countries confronting Tehran and whose roles go in line with the Egyptian role in Lebanon.

The day after Hariri announced his resignation, Sisi met with Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri in Sharm el-Sheikh. Berri had arrived in Egypt Nov. 4 to attend the inauguration of the World Youth Forum. During the meeting, Sisi stressed Egypts interest in preserving Lebanons security and stability. He also told Berri that only the Lebanese should work on finding the political formula that they see fit and that caters to their interests, adding that such interests must be prioritized.

What Cairo has done aims to serve the Arab national security," Fahmi said. "Egypt is a committed Arab country whenever a crisis erupts, and [Hariris] visit conveys an important message whereby the major Arab parties are widely present in the Lebanese arena.

Fahmi's comments go in line with statements made by the Egyptian president on Nov. 8 concerning his opposition to military strikes against Iran or the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah because the region cannot afford further unrest.

Hussein Haridi, former assistant to the foreign minister, told Al-Monitor, Egypt does not want to increase the hotbeds and flashpoints in the region, and it is doing its best to contain any negative repercussions that may arise from Hariri's resignation.

He said that Cairo's position stems from a conviction that no foreign countries should interfere in Lebanons domestic affairs. It also wants to give the internal forces the chance to choose the policies that best fit their country.

In a bid to contain the Lebanese crisis, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry started a six-nation tour on Nov. 12 that included Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement Nov. 11 that the visit came based on Egypt's desire to contain any crises that could cause tensions and instability in the region.

Ahmed Youssef Ahmed, the former director of the Institute of Arab Research and Studies of the Arab League, told Al-Monitor that Egypt wants to achieve some kind of Lebanese consensus so that the Iranian-Saudi polarization will not be at the expense of Lebanon and the security of the region. He explained that Sisi made it clear from the very beginning that Egypt was against any escalation in Lebanon and was not planning any military actions against Hezbollah.

Tension has been growing between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the region ever since Hariri's sudden resignation, as Saudi Arabia accused Hezbollah of being behind the rocket launched into Riyadh from Yemen in early November.

Egypt is clearly working on protecting Arab national states against any threats, Youssef said, pointing out that attempts to blow up the situation in Lebanon will be costly for the entire region because Hezbollah is part of Lebanon.

He added, We do not accept that Hezbollah be allowed to enjoy military force at a time when other political movements are not allowed to, but we must recognize that it is a political force in Lebanon and that there are political methods that must be followed in dealing with it. In parallel, Egypt works firmly to ward off any risk that could threaten the Gulf security.

Sisi asserted Nov. 8 that the security of the Gulf is a red line, and added that others [Iran] should not interfere in our affairs. Just like we say we do not want wars on them, they need to make sure that things do not by any means reach the point of collision because that would not be in anyones interest.
November 27, 2017

Saeed Mortazavi, a former judge and prosecutor in Iran, has been sentenced to two years in prison for the deaths at a notorious detention facility during the 2009 postelection protests. An appellate court in Tehran upheld the sentence for Mortazavi for accessory to murder in the death of Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a conservative politician who was on the campaign staff for 2009 conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei. Protesters said the balloting, which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected to a second term, was rigged.

Mortazavi, called the butcher of Tehran for the large number of newspapers he shut down as Tehran prosecutor, became notorious for sending the 2009 election protesters to Kahrizak prison, where a number of them were beaten and killed. When the story broke that some of those who had protested in support of Green Movement presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi had been taken to Kahrizak and had died under mysterious circumstances, it caused a major crisis within the Islamic Republic and led to official investigations.

After the Kahrizak scandal, Ahmadinejad appointed Mortazavi to head Irans social welfare organization. But Mortazavis legal battles persisted. He was disbarred and banned from holding government positions for five years. He was also sentenced to 135 lashes for corruption that occurred during his stint heading the social welfare organization, though it is doubtful that sentence was ever carried out.

Many on Iranian social media criticized the light sentence for the deaths of the protesters, comparing it with the much harsher sentences journalists and activists received for supporting the protests. One of the most startling comparisons is that of Zia Navabi, who was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison and later had his sentence reduced to 10 years, under the charges of disturbing public order.

Iranian journalist Hossein Dehbashi tweeted, Abdulreza Davari [Ahmadinejads former adviser] was sentenced for a comment someone wrote on his Facebook post to the same amount of time as Saeed Mortazavi was for accessory to murder. Zahra Mousavi Khamne, whose father is still under house arrest for the 2009 election protests, tweeted that the person who tortured and killed blogger Sattar Beheshti served his sentence and is now free and that Mortazavi will only serve a short time for accessory to murder while the people who were killed will never return and their families will forever be heartbroken.

Some also found it ironic that given his role in the election aftermath, which sent hundreds of activists and journalists to jail with long-term sentences, Ahmadinejad is now today one of the biggest critics of Irans judiciary. With his former advisers now facing criminal charges of corruption, on Nov. 17 Ahmadinejad released a video conversation made to look like an interview in which he lashed out against the judiciary, calling its methods dictatorial, arbitrary and even suggesting it has more power than Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri answered back Nov. 26 that Ahmadinejad in his first term had a series of evasions of the law. Montazeri also made accusations against Ahmadinejads handling of the countrys budget and government line of credit, suggesting funds were moved inappropriately.

BBC Persian journalist Hossein Bastani found the predicament of both Ahmadinejad and Mortazavi ironic, tweeting, Because of the former, they used to send young people to prison and the latter would issue the sentences. Now the former has been labeled evader of laws and the latter has been sentenced. And the ones under house arrest [Mousavi and Karroubi]  just like 8 years ago  have stood by their words.
November 27, 2017

One of the most recognized photos from the Six-Day War documented paratroopers looking with awe at the Western Wall, as it was just liberated on June 7, 1967. Yet it seems that if it were up to Knesset member Omer Bar-Lev of the Zionist Camp, a former senior officer in the Israel Defense Forces and the son of the late Chief of Staff Haim Bar-Lev, this photo would not have become one of the symbols of the most glorious military victory in the history of the State of Israel. On Oct. 31, in a demonstration in Ramat HaSharon, Bar-Lev criticized a visit by the battalion of the Golani Brigade to the Western Wall. As he saw it, this is religious radicalization, namely religious coercion, enacted with the taxpayers money.

This example illustrates why Avi Gabbay, the chairman of the Zionist Camp, was right when he said on Nov. 13 that the left  or at least parts of it  chooses to forget that its Jewish and is sometimes ashamed of it.

In a lecture to university students in Beersheba, Gabbay referred to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus famous statement to Rabbi Kadouri in 1997, according to which he said, The left has forgotten what it is to be Jewish. In response to a student who raised the issue, Gabbay said, ''Netanyahu told Rabbi Kadouri, he whispered it in his ear and the TV caught it, he told him, 'The left has forgotten what it means to be Jewish.' You know what the left did in response? It forgot what it means to be Jewish. It's as if they are saying it about us, 'Now we are only liberals.' It's not true. We are Jews and we need to talk about our Jewish values. He added, Were Jews, we live in a Jewish state. I think one of the problems of the Labor Party is that it has distanced itself from this.

Like Netanyahus original statement, Gabbays endorsement of it drew sharp criticism from the left. But the harsh attacks on Gabbay from his party colleagues and from left-wing Meretz attest that he actually did touch on a relevant point.

Opposition chairman Isaac Herzog said in a conversation with Al-Monitor that Gabbays choice of words was perhaps erroneous, but his intention was right: The left should stop feeling embarrassed of its Jewishness. From Berl Katznelson to David Ben-Gurion, the heads of the Labor movement respected the Bible, the [Jewish traditional] vision and the faith. We are both Jews and liberals, Herzog said. According to Herzog, Gabbay said what he did to draw the traditional, religious public closer to him. I dont understand how I, the grandson of the first chief rabbi of the State of Israel, Yitzhak Herzog, am considered less close to Judaism than Netanyahu, Herzog said with irritation.

Netanyahu, the master of election campaigns, has long understood the problematic connection between the left-wing camp and the term Judaism, and he has used it often to his advantage. Journalist Alon Idan of Haaretz wrote in January that Netanyahu adviser Arthur Finkelstein is the one who helped Netanyahu reap such public benefit from this: Finkelstein from America revealed the secret to Netanyahu: Jew, not Israeli. He told him: In Israel, theres only one question  What are you more, Israeli or Jewish?  and then he continued: If the answer is Israeli, the person before you is leftist; if the answer is Jewish, this is a rightist. Thats the whole story.

For several years, the Labor Party and the Israeli left have played into Netanyahus hands, at least until Gabbay came along. Thus, the new chairman of the party had actually good political reason to say what he said. To win the next election, the Labor Party must expand its electoral base by recruiting support from the traditionalist population, which does not see schoolchildrens visits to a synagogue or soldiers visits to the Western Wall as religious radicalization. This is a public that would mostly oppose religious coercion, but would also be offended at expressions that belittle Judaism, which some representatives of the left use when they wish to fight this coercion.

The left recalls the election rally at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv before the 2015 election as one of the events that helped Netanyahu win. Artist Yair Garboz, in an unfortunate remark, disparaged the kissers of amulets, idol worshipers, and those who prostate themselves on the graves of the saints  a statement that was understood as ridiculing the traditionalist population that supports the right. And if that wasnt enough, playwright Joshua Sobol added kissers of mezuzot (a parchment with a prayer affixed to a doorway) to the list of groups the left condescends to in a radio interview the next day.

Netanyahu rejoiced at these statements. At an election convention he said, Yesterday I heard someone talking about kissers of mezuzot with scorn. Since when is it a crime to kiss a mezuzah? We know where we came from, we know what land we returned to, what we protect, and we know our tradition and our heritage  that they are also our future.

Zionist Camp Knesset member and former Labor head Shelly Yachimovich tried at the time to control the damage when she strongly criticized Garbozs remarks. After the election, she said that it was one of the reasons for the lefts defeat.

After a rally like that where Garboz spoke, a traditional person  even one who identifies with the positions of the left  would find it very difficult to choose the Zionist Camp or Meretz at the ballot box. This is also the reason for the complete transformation of Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid in his relationship with Judaism. After the loss he suffered at the 2015 election, Lapid made sure to distribute photos of himself wrapped in a tallit (praying shawl) at the Western Wall  the same Wall that Bar-Lev saw as a sign of religious radicalization.

But beyond the electoral aspect of the relationship to Judaism, there is also a values perspective that is no less important. Judaism is the cradle of Zionism, and one cant sever the link between the two  even if the Zionist national movement was founded on the basis of secular, and even sometimes anti-religious, values. The connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is a religious-national connection, based on the belief in a covenant between God and the patriarch Abraham, as related in the Bible.

As Herzog emphasized, the leaders of the Labor movement, Katznelson and Ben-Gurion, also put Judaism at the top of their values and wished to teach it. Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, founded the Bible study circle at the prime ministers residence. When Netanyahu reinstated this practice, he was criticized for it by the left.

A quote attributed to the late Yaakov Hazan, the leader of the Mapam Party, We wanted to raise a generation of skeptics, and we raised a generation of simpletons, is especially important today. Thus, Gabbay is right in his fundamental criticism, and if the left truly wants to lead the country again, it should listen to his advice.
November 27, 2017

The ongoing and escalating crisis in relations between Israel and American Jewry since the cancellation of the Western Wall compromise in June had not managed to penetrate public and media discourse in Israel until the uproar raised by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely on Nov. 22 following one damaging and ignorant interview. Hotovelys words in the interview can be likened to another terrorist attack on relations between Israel and American Jewry  and thanks to them, the great drama experienced by diaspora Jewry has finally reached the top of the media and political agenda in Israel.

Hotovely was interviewed in English by the I24 NEWS network and said, among other things, that most American Jews dont understand Israel since they never send their children to fight for their country  most of the Jews dont have children who serve as soldiers, going to the Marines, going to Afghanistan or to Iraq. She added, Most of them are having quite convenient lives. They dont feel how it feels to be attacked by rockets, and I think part of it is to actually experience what Israel is dealing with on a daily basis.

The deputy foreign ministers insults of American Jews were quoted everywhere, like wildfire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately understood the potential for damage and issued a special announcement where he renounced and denounced her statements. Netanyahu, who also serves as foreign minister, clarified that diaspora Jews are dear to us and are an inseparable part of our people. Theres no room for such attacks, and these comments do not represent Israel's position.

Later, in order to amplify the effect of his statement, Netanyahus circle spread the word that he is considering firing her. Hotovely hasnt been fired, but Netanyahu has used her imbroglio to appease American Jewry. Since Netanyahu gave in to the ultra-Orthodox by canceling the Western Wall compromise of creating a separate space at the wall for progressive Judaism streams to pray, many within American Jewry see him as responsible for causing immense damage to the ties between Israel and diaspora Jewry.

Anyone who has visited Jewish communities in the United States in recent months has been exposed to the extent of the crisis. While most of the Israeli public, certainly the secular public, received the cancellation of the Western Wall compromise with apathy and indifference, for American Jews this was a real shock that shook the foundations on which relations with them are based.

Many American Jews, including those who didnt serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and whose children and grandchildren dont serve in the army, hold a Zionist worldview and admire the IDF. Thus, they feel frustrated that the extent of the pain they experience is not recognized in Israel. That is, until Nov. 22, when Hotovely disparaged them, was condescending to them and also displayed her ignorance.

The Hotovely controversy also provided a tailwind to an Israeli organization. A group of veteran soldiers, which includes veterans who liberated Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, has been waging recently a public battle against the cancellation of the Western Wall agreement. For a month now, the group has been working to draw the public to their cause, without great success. Israelis, as mentioned above, have not connected to the sense of disaster felt by American Jews at the cancellation of the Western Wall compromise.

On Nov. 22, even before the Hotovely uproar broke out, the group distributed a petition on social networks. We are soldiers and officers who fought in Jerusalem and the area of the Western Wall in the Six-Day War. We have decided to join the fight to restore the Western Wall to all men and women of the Jewish people in Israel and the world, they wrote. We are angry and frustrated that the management of the national Jewish site of all the Jewish people has been given solely to the ultra-Orthodox.  The Western Wall is a site of prayer and national Jewish communion that belongs to all of the people of Israel and the Jewish people in the diaspora. We believe every Jewish man and woman must have the right to pray and commune at the Western Wall in his or her own way.  The governments treatment of millions of Jews from the diaspora hurts them, their sense of partnership with the State of Israel and our national resilience.

Hotovelys interview brought home the group's message to the Israeli public and reminded Israelis that the Western Wall is not the property of the ultra-Orthodox but the symbol of the Jewish people in Israel and the diaspora.

On Nov. 23, the crisis with American Jewry and its reasons and implications were a hot topic on all the news broadcasts in Israel and led the conversation on social media as well. The main media outlets interviewed one leader of the American Jewish community after another. American Jews suddenly have been given a stage and have become sought-after interviewees.

These included, for instance, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Reform Movement in the United States, who was interviewed on Channel 10 and IDF radio. He called on the prime minister to fire the deputy foreign minister and said he was surprised at the ignorance expressed by Hotovely, who didnt seem aware of the extent to which American Jews serve in the American military. Jacobs stung the religious deputy minister and said that in Israel half of the population doesnt serve in the army, including the ultra-Orthodox.

On Nov. 18, a few days before the Hotovely controversy, Gidi Grinstein  the director of the Reut Group, which tackles challenges faced by Israel and the Jewish people  met in New York with a delegation of Israeli journalists and mayors who came to a series of meetings with the heads of the American Jewish community. Grinstein sounded emotional and afraid in light of what he defined as a crisis that hurts the national security of the State of Israel, and he meant in particular the events surrounding the Western Wall compromise. To some of those present he seemed to be exaggerating in his description of the crisis at times, but on Nov. 22, as the deputy foreign ministers hurtful words were disseminated everywhere, it became clear that diaspora Jewry indeed has reason to worry.
November 27, 2017

The shock waves that followed the Islamic State's (IS) horrific massacre of worshippers in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Nov. 24 were not limited to Egypt and Sinai. The attack became the talk of the day in Israel as well, particularly among the country's defense establishment. It has been using every resource at its disposal to keep tabs on events in Egypt as they unfold and is, according to foreign news sources, involved up to its neck in the fighting in the "Sinai District" with IS in the peninsula, which has left Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi teetering.

The Israeli leadership is very concerned about the deteriorating situation in Egypt, which could have direct implications on the stability of Israel's entire southern front. According to foreign sources, Israel's ability to collect intelligence has already helped Egyptian troops that are fighting in the terrorist bastions in Sinai to prevent other major attacks. Last Friday, however, it appears as if Israel and the Egyptian army and intelligence all came up short.

Another issue in which Israel is involved over its head is the recently announced historic reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions. Despite earlier assessments, it is proceeding according to plan, even though it is still far from being declared a success. Outwardly, Israel responded with skeptical hostility to the news of this reconciliation between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. It immediately announced that it would not conduct any negotiations with any Palestinian government "that relies on Hamas." In effect, it was creating a diplomatic alibi that it could use to block any efforts to renew diplomatic negotiations between it and the Palestinians.

At the same time, however, behind the scenes, Israel informed Egypt and the Americans that it would assess the reconciliation initiative on the basis of its performance and developments on the ground. The interpretation of this statement is fairly straightforward: Israel has been following what happened with great interest and will make decisions based on how the situation on the ground unfolds. No possibility is excluded, including reconciliation. While Israel openly snubbed this possibility and has given it the cold shoulder, at the same time, it also opened a watchful eye and developed its own back channel to these negotiations.

Over the past few weeks, Al-Monitor has learned that the official, public Israeli policy opposing the reconciliation is way different from what has been taking place in the back channels. In fact, Israel is deeply involved in these channels, in the most intense way possible. More so. Although it did not initiate this reconciliation, Israel has been working to ensure the reconciliation success almost from the moment the efforts began. Israel started becoming involved after intense pressure mainly from Washington and Cairo  the friendliest capitals to the State of Israel in general and Netanyahu in particular over the past year.

Netanyahu is trying to establish an intimate line of trust and strategic collaboration with US President Donald Trump. Given that he is dealing with Trump, this is no easy task. Trump is still an enigma to Israel. In fact, there is not a single intelligence agency in the world that can predict the US president's calculations and actions. However, once Netanyahu realized how invested and intimately involved the Americans are in Palestinian reconciliation on a strategic level, he concluded that Israel could not come out against it and then acted accordingly.

Netanyahu also has a warm, if not intimate, relationship with Sisi. Sources involved in contacts between them say that the relationship between the Egyptian president and the Israeli prime minister is unprecedented in the history of relations between the two countries since the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty almost 40 years ago (1979). Here, too, Netanyahu realized that he could not undermine Sisi's most important target: launching a strategic move that would ensure relative quiet along the Sinai border. Cutting Hamas off from IS' Sinai district should allow Sisi to regain control of the Sinai Peninsula in relative peace and quiet, without worrying about whatever is happening in Gaza.

Since the announcement of the reconciliation several weeks ago, Israel has been deeply involved in the various stages of its progress on the ground, playing a covert role in the contacts between Hamas and Fatah, as mediated by Egypt and various other countries. According to Western diplomats active in the Egyptian-Israeli arena, the most senior representatives of the Mossad, the Shin Bet, Aman (Military Intelligence), the Israel Defense Forces, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the Political-Security Department of the Ministry of Defense have been visiting Egypt with unprecedented regularity over the past few weeks. They have even been traveling by private jets on an almost daily basis, to cut down the already short distance between Tel Aviv and Cairo. These contacts are taking place with Egypt's minister of intelligence and the heads of the country's various intelligence agencies, with the knowledge and under the supervision of Sisi himself. Israel was involved in the transfer of the border crossings from Hamas to Abbas' people and is now heavily involved with Fatah seniors dealing with that issue, as well with all matters pertaining to the administration of the border crossings, security arrangements, the lists of various people who can cross the border, etc.

Israel has yet to decide whether Palestinian reconciliation is a positive or negative development for its long-term strategic interests. Discussions about this continue to take place regularly in the Israeli Cabinet, the National Security Council and the various intelligence agencies. Not everyone in the defense establishment believes that Palestinian reconciliation is necessarily bad for Israel. On the contrary, over the past few weeks, more and more officers believe that the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip and the transfer of control of the border crossings to it constitute a strategic asset. They contend that this would stabilize the system and reduce the chances of any rapid deterioration to military conflict, as happened in 2014.

All of this is taking place at the same time as ongoing American efforts to complete the diplomatic process and revive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. As far as anyone knows, there is still no formula that would allow Israel to engage in contacts with the Palestinians despite Fatah's involvement in governing Gaza. Even the "ultimate deal," which Trump has been talking about since the days he was elected, is not supposed to be some historic peace treaty and permanent arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians. It is more of a highly publicized reinvigoration of the process by establishing principles to relaunch and conduct renewed negotiations between the parties.

Netanyahu is heavily invested in this as well. A previous Al-Monitor article explains that he has no plans to turn down the Americans, if and when he gets an offer that he can't refuse. This may also be one of the reasons that Netanyahu is playing a positive role in the reconciliation, which is so important to his two major allies in the region. Netanyahu took out all that he could from the Israeli far-right camp, where he has positioned himself for the past 2 years. All signs show that if the criminal investigations into his affairs start to show signs of taking a serious turn against him, he plans to break to the center by becoming a "peacemaker" rather than a warmonger, hoping to boost his efforts to survive politically.
November 27, 2017

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Palestinian artist Yasmeen Mjalli will talk Nov. 29 with students at Al-Quds University in the West Bank city of Abu Dis about their experiences with sexual harassment, as part of a project called I am not your sweetheart, which aims to encourage women to speak out against harassment and abuse.

The meeting is the second phase of Mjallis project. Earlier this month, she placed a wooden table on the sidewalk of Yasser Arafat Square in Ramallah and asked women to come forward with their stories of sexual harassment. The stories she collected will be made into a book, published in English and Arabic, which will be launched in conjunction with an art exhibition.

Mjalli, born in the United States and a graduate of art history from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, moved to Ramallah a year ago. Her own experience in the West Bank city inspired her to create an art project addressing sexual harassment in the Palestinian territories. She told Al-Monitor, I was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment by men on the street, so I started thinking about a way to counter this issue. I have come to realize that I cannot stop sexual harassment incidents from taking place, but I can help women who have been subjected to sexual harassment raise their voices.

The book and artwork will tell the stories of Palestinian women who have suffered sexual harassment in the streets, the workplace or public places. The book will include 200 stories and will be launched in Ramallah at a date yet to be determined. At the same time, an exhibition in Ramallah will open displaying paintings that portray the issues of harassment and abuse women in Palestine face.

The first phase of the project took place Oct. 16, when Mjalli, equipped with a typewriter, set up a table in front of a banner that read Do not stay silent on harassment. Many of the women who passed by offered to share their stories and tell the artist about the sexual harassment they have experienced.

One of the women who talked to Mjalli told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. I took part in this project to narrate the harassment I have been subjected to. Refraining from speaking up about harassment is no longer acceptable, particularly since [such incidents] occur everywhere every day, she said. I had thought that what happened to me does not happen often. Yet when I took part in the project, I learnt and heard of many stories.

She recounted her own experience, saying, I took a cab in Ramallah city; the driver remained silent and did not utter a word throughout the entire ride. When we arrived at my destination, he started verbally harassing me and using inappropriate terms with a sexual connotation. I rushed out of the cab.

Through this project Mjalli seeks to give a voice to Palestinian women who face harassment. She noted, Women are subject to many harassment incidents, which are left unspoken, as these women fear their parents and the community. This is because such incidents are associated with 'honor.' I am convinced that the best way to change the reality is boosting self-confidence among women, speaking up about these incidents and having these women learn that they are not the only ones subjected to sexual harassment.

She added, More than 250 women stopped by the table in Ramallah city center to learn about the campaign and its goal. But only 50 dared to talk and document sexual harassment incidents they were subjected to."

The book and exhibition will address the negative impact of sexual harassment on women and engage the audience in a discussion on how to handle harassment and abuse.

Various youth and community campaigns have focused on the same topic in the last few years. One of the most famous campaigns was Do not stay silent  He does not have the right, a youth campaign that was launched in October 2016 by the Womens Health Center in the Gaza Strip. On June 16, 2015, the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy organized a campaign, called Do not stay silent, against verbal and physical sexual harassment in the Palestinian territories.

Despite these campaigns, the issue of sexual harassment continues to be ignored in the Palestinian territories, due to conservative traditions  and because the connection is made with the familys honor. Because of this mentality, along with the tendency not to report harassment, accurate statistics on harassment and abuse are not available. In addition, there are no penalties in the Palestinian Penal Code to deter the harassers, which also prevents women from reporting such incidents to the police. This is why the youth campaigns are designed to encourage women to raise their voices against sexual harassment.

Louay Arziqat, a spokesman for the Palestinian police, told Al-Monitor, Cases of sexual harassment are rarely reported to the police. All of the necessary legal procedures are however taken when a complaint is filed.

He added, We call on all women to file complaints of sexual harassment, and such cases will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

Ilham Sami, the director of the Complaint Unit at the Ministry of Womens Affairs, told Al-Monitor, The Penal Code  which dates to 1960  does not recognize sexual harassment as a crime. Hence, resorting to the judiciary and asking to be granted a protection order will not be worthwhile for a woman, girl or a man who suffered sexual harassment.

She added that the Penal Code has become obsolete and needs to be changed. However, decision-makers refuse to do so. The community must pressure decision-makers to amend the law, she added.

A team of legal and human rights institutions led by the Ministry of Justice prepared a draft Penal Code in 2010 that recognizes sexual harassment as a crime. The draft law was submitted to the Cabinet in 2011, which approved it and referred it to President Mahmoud Abbas for ratification  but Abbas refrained to do so. On May 13, 2014, the government entrusted Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diak to submit to the Cabinet an amended draft Penal Code for approval before referring it to Abbas for ratification. To this day, Abbas has not ratified it.
November 27, 2017

US President Donald Trump appeared to bow to Turkish demands when he reportedly told his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the Pentagon would stop arming Syrian Kurds, Washingtons closest ally in the fight against the Islamic State, but observers said the move could undermine efforts to stabilize the war-torn country.

The United States cooperation with the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) since at least 2014 has roiled ties with NATO partner Turkey, which says the militant group is controlled by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization for its three-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state.

Trumps surprise pledge came as the US-led coalition continues to battle IS in pockets of Syria and raised concerns about the post-conflict period, when the Kurds are expected to play a central role in rebuilding shattered cities, promoting civilian governance and preventing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from retaking control of areas they now run. It will also further erode Washingtons clout in a region it appears to be ceding to rivals Iran and Russia, analysts said.

Trump tweeted Nov. 24 that he would speak with Erdogan about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East. After the men spoke, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was present for the call, told reporters Trump said the United States would no longer supply arms to the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces, six months after it announced it was sending them heavy weapons. He clearly said that this nonsense should have been ended sooner, Cavusoglu stated.

The White Houses readout of the call was more ambiguous. Trump informed Erdogan of pending adjustments to military support consistent with US policy after IS was driven from Raqqa last month, it said.

Arming the Kurds has been a major source of friction in US-Turkish relations, but the two sides are at odds over a host of issues. The United States has refused to turn over a Muslim preacher living in Pennsylvania that Erdogan blames for a bungled military coup last year. Turkey has detained local staff working at US missions in the coup investigation, as well as American citizens.

The trial of a Turkish businessman and a state bank manager on charges they helped Iran circumvent sanctions begins this week in New York in what Erdogan has called a politically motivated case.

Amid the diplomatic sparring, Turkey has gone so far as to say it could review its membership in NATO and has aligned more closely with Iran and Russia to hammer out a resolution for the Syria crisis.

After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Irans Hassan Rouhani last week, Erdogan signaled he might even be willing to negotiate with their ally Assad, reversing years of hostility toward the Syrian leader that has included support for groups trying to overthrow him.

For its part, the United States has already largely marginalized itself in Syria, but Trumps unilateral announcement will unnerve its last partner in the country. Syrian Kurds are already wary about the US commitment to Kurds elsewhere in the region, said David Phillips, the director of the Program on Peace-Building and Rights at Columbia Universitys Institute for the Study of Human Rights.

Syria is far from resolved. You need a political solution and a constitutional arrangement, and while that is being negotiated, the local actors have to take responsibility for local security, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. Without the Kurds, who is going to do that? Phillips said in an interview with Al-Monitor. Why would they do anything after Trump has withdrawn security assistance?

This danger seems especially real after the United States joined Iran, Turkey and the Iraqi central government to oppose an independence referendum in September by Iraqs Kurds, longtime US allies. In the wake of the plebiscite, Iranian-backed Iraqi forces seized tracts of territory from the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The Iraqi Kurds sacrificed thousands of fighters at our behest, and when it was crunch time, we just walked away, said Phillips, adding that Iraqi Kurdish officials have described to him a sense of betrayal. Who is going to fight and die for us in the future?

Washington has already turned a blind eye on the Kurds of Iraq and Turkeys Kurds, said Garo Paylan, a member of the Turkish parliament from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, referring to US silence when a peace process between Ankara and the PKK collapsed in 2015, sparking bloody clashes that killed more than 400 civilians and destroyed swaths of cities across Turkeys predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Now its the Syrian Kurds turn  as Turkey prepares for an operation against Afrin, Paylan told Al-Monitor. Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to enter the Syrian province of Afrin to thwart the Kurdish political party tied to the YPG. The status quo is powerful and [Western] powers have no vision for the Muslim world by supporting democracy.

However, some argue that the United States will not be so quick to abandon Syrias Kurds, who continue to lead the charge to recapture IS' last strongholds in Deir ez-Zor near the Iraqi border. Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish affairs analyst based in Washington who is in regular contact with Syrian Kurdish officials, said activists reported a new convoy of military aid reached Kurdish-controlled territory as recently as Nov. 26.

Civiroglu told Al-Monitor, "[US Defense Secretary James] Mattis recently emphasized the importance of preventing areas freed from the Islamic State from returning to the militants' control. This statement signals that the United States will not exit areas controlled by the SDF anytime soon, and Kurdish authorities have the same view.
November 26, 2017

For decades, Turkish tourism has leaned on the appeal of sea, sand and sun to attract Western tourists in search of cheap, all-inclusive holidays on beautiful beaches.

With Western tourism at a low point for the last three years due to terrorist attacks, the 2016 coup attempt and political crises with Western countries, leaders in the tourism industry and the government are exploring what can be done to reverse the sharp decline in Turkeys tourism revenues.

The Tourism Council, made up of tourism executives, academics and government officials, met in Ankara Nov. 1-3, with the aim of drawing a road map for the future of tourism. The two-day meeting itself is newsworthy, as the council comes together for the third time after a lapse of 15 years. In a move to mark the importance of the event, the opening speech was made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself, who drew attention to the need to diversify the tourism sector and to the role of gastronomy.

For the first time, the Tourism Council included a separate commission for gastronomy. One solid outcome was to create an umbrella gastronomy organization under the roof of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to coordinate the various related studies, events, organizations, festivals and other activities.

Turkeys hope that various Turkish cities known for their culinary culture might put Turkey back on the map got a boost when a Turkish city was recognized by UNESCO as a creative city of gastronomy for the second time in two years. Hatay, a southern province with a cuisine that combines a multi-ethnic gastronomic heritage, has been put on the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for gastronomy in November, following Gaziantep, its culinary twin, which was selected as a creative city of gastronomy in 2015.

The announcement was received with excitement in the Tourism Councils gastronomy commission, as UNESCO recognition can bring food products and local produce to the attention of the world culinary scene and increases export potential. As both the cities recognized in Turkey are located in the same region, there has been talk of creating a culinary tourist route in southeastern Turkey. Both cities have borders with Syria and have hosted many refugees. Though national tourism is still lively, international tourism is ailing despite both cities rich heritage and impressive museums.

Turkey will host two more such conferences before the end of the year. On Dec. 2, the third International Gastromasa Gastronomy Conference will open in Istanbul, featuring 18 world-famous chefs from around the globe as speakers. The organizer, Gokmen Sozen of Sozen Productions, told Al-Monitor, We aspire to bring Turkish products to the world culinary agenda. The worlds most famous chefs use Turkish ingredients, and this is why we chose Gaziantep as a featured city to display its amazing food products. The conference's programming will also include field trips to Cappadocia and to several Istanbul restaurants and markets, where chefs will have a chance to taste, experience and learn about Turkish cuisine.

Meanwhile, the Aegean city of Izmir, with its herbs, liberal use of olive oil and recipes from Levantine and Sephardic cuisine, is another food destination. A member of the Delice network (a global network of gourmet cities) since 2015, the city will host the third International Gastronomic Tourism Congress Dec. 7-9.

Delice sees gastronomy as a key asset for the development of cities and strives to foster relationships between cities for the exchange of expertise and best practices. Sirma Guven, an instructor in the Culinary Arts and Management Department of Izmir University of Economics, told Al-Monitor, "The international contacts are very important for us. Many of our students have a chance to do an internship in Lyon, France, a culinary haven for young people to train in the hospitality sector. Guven was among the team that founded the artichoke festival in Urla three years ago, a culinary fest that has now become a tradition that draws masses of people to taste the many dishes made with artichokes.

The true potential of gastronomy in Turkey is apparent among the young chefs who make names for themselves with international awards. Recently, young Mutlu Sevket Yilmaz of the small restaurant Seasons in Alanya, a major tourism destination on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, won the national competition for the worlds most prestigious culinary trophy, Bocuse dOr, for the second time. Dutch chef Rudolf van Nunen, the president of Bocuse dOr Turkey and who has long resided in Turkey, told Al-Monitor, Bocuse dOr has very strict rules, and Mutlu is dedicated to following these rules. The competition also creates an opportunity to bring Turkish agricultural products to an international platform. When the pictures of the Turkish competition were put on the Instagram page of Bocuse dOr, it was an immediate hit with 10,000 followers, way more than any other country. This is a great opportunity to have Turkey on the worlds culinary agenda.
The third China Traditional Village Qiandongnan Summit opened in Guizhou province Saturday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The third China Traditional Village Qiandongnan Summit was held in Yingshang village, Xijiang town, Leishan county, Guizhou province from Nov 25 to 26.

The summit, themed on "protection, inheritance, development  the sustainability of traditional village resources", and following the five principles of "innovation, harmony, inheritance, openness and sharing", sets out to motivate development in the vitality of traditional villages in China and help poverty-stricken villagers live a well-off life.

Feng Jicai, vice president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and manager of the Chinese Traditional Village Protection and Development Expert Committee, said he believes protecting cultural inheritance in traditional villages is conducive to the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture. Also, it is of far-reaching historical significance to the upgrading of China's national cultural soft power and international competitiveness. He hoped organizers will continue to promote the summit in an open and pragmatic manner by pooling the wisdom and strength of all parties and making new contributions to promote the sustainable development of traditional villages through the tackling of difficult issues.
The alleged Samsung Galaxy A5 (2018) has appeared online in a series of 3D renders supposedly created by a third-party case manufacturer in anticipation of the smartphones release. This isnt the first time the Galaxy A5 (2018) has been exposed in this manner, but unlike last week when a handful of protective cases created by Olixar for the aforementioned device have become available for pre-order in the UK, these latest renders originate from unknown sources and their prices or whereabouts remain unknown.

The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2018) as depicted in these latest renders does seem to share the same overall design with the device spotted in Olixars renders last week, including an Infinity Display with rounded corners and an elongated aspect ratio, a single front-facing camera, and a power button fitted on the opposite edge of the volume rocker and dedicated Bixby key. The back panel also accommodates a single camera sensor coupled with an LED flash, though the flash module seems a bit smaller in these renders compared to Olixars, and the fingerprint sensor resides right below the main camera module. Granted, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2018) appears to be blockier in these new renders but that may be simply because the protective case itself seems to adopt a more angular, industrial design compared to Olixars solution.

All the upcoming Galaxy A (2018) models are expected to make use of an Infinity Display with an aspect ratio of 18:5:9, not unlike the companys 2017 flagships including the ones bearing the Galaxy S8 moniker. As for the internal hardware, the Galaxy A5 (2018) is rumored to make use of an upcoming Exynos 7885 chipset housing a total of eight CPU cores, and the processor will reportedly be paired with 4GB of RAM. Users should have at least 32GB of on-board memory at their disposal, and unsurprisingly they should be able to extend the storage by up to an additional 256GB via microSD. Samsung has yet to confirm the release of the upcoming Galaxy A (2018) series but industry watchers expect the new lineup to be officially introduced within the next couple of months, either before the end of the year or in January of 2018.
The Razer Phone is a high-end gaming smartphone from Singaporean company Razer and its a powerful device by all means, but people have been wondering why it doesnt have a headphone jack. Apple started this whole trend last year, when it ditched the headphone jack in its iPhone 7 line. The move sparked a great deal of controversy, but it also inspired other device makers to follow suit and release handsets without a 3.5mm headphone jack. The new Razer Phone is one of them, and the companys CEO, Min-Liang Tan, has now taken to Facebook to explain why his company made this decision.

Razer is renowned worldwide for its gaming hardware, but so far it has stayed away from the smartphone space. The Razer Phone is its very first smartphone and it stirred plenty of interest, but the lack of a headphone jack or water-resistance also sparked some mixed reactions. Tans Facebook post comes in response to the feedback Razer has received for the gaming smartphone. First, its said that by ditching the headphone jack from the Razer Phone, the company managed to considerably increase the devices battery size. The Razer Phone ships with a massive 4,000mAh battery and Min-Liang Tan estimates that if the Razer Phone had a headphone jack, its battery would have been roughly 500mAh smaller.

At the same time, by removing the headphone jack the company also managed to significantly improve the devices thermals, which in turn translates to a better performance. The Razer Phone has a IGZO IPS LCD display with a QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) and a 120Gz refresh rate, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, and 8GB of RAM, all of which require some serious resources. The Razer CEO reckons that ditching the headphone jack was a trade-off, but it allowed for better audio quality with built-in 24-bit DAC, a higher battery capacity, and better performance overall. It may not have been an easy decision, but it was worth it, according to the CEO. Moreover, Tan also highlights that each Razer Phone came with an adapter included in the box and people can use wireless or USB headphones for audio.
A pilot whose certificate was suspended when his L-39 sliced through power lines crossing a canyon in Colorado in 2015 is now saying the utility company is to blame for damage and injuries that resulted from the incident. Stars and Stripes is reporting that former Marine pilot Brian Evans claims in response to a lawsuit that Xcel Energy should have marked the seven transmission lines his jet trainer sliced through on May 28, 2015, while he was flying at low level through De Beque Canyon, about 25 miles east of his departure point of Grand Junction. The power lines fell on a freeway going through the canyon and the suit was launched by Steve Centofanti, who said he lost feeling in his hands and was terrified by the mishap. He also said his hearing was damaged by the noise of the aircraft when Evans powered out of the canyon.

The passenger in the Albatros, Raymond Mez Davoudi, has also blamed the energy company. Centofantis vehicle and other vehicles on the freeway were damaged by the falling cables. In suspending Evanss certificate, the FAA reportedly determined he was flying less than 500 feet above the floor of the canyon. The aircraft suffered some minor damage but Evans was able to get it back to Grand Junction for a safe landing. Evans lost his ticket for six months over the mishap.
Mingbike, a Chinese bike-share company, appears to have shut down. Some laid-off employees have complained via social media that they haven't been paid in months, while users have been unable to receive deposit refunds.

Why it matters: Because this is the third Chinese dockless bike-share startup to go bust in recent months, following Bluegogo and Coolqi.
Roy Moore's campaign released a new TV ad today touting his "40 years of honorable service" with "not a hint of scandal" before suggesting that the allegations of sexual misconduct against him are the work of the "liberal elite" and "Republican establishment." Check it out:

Worth noting: Moore has twice left his position as the Chief Justice of Alabama's Supreme Court  once by removal and once by resignation following a suspension  for his refusal to adhere to federal law.

Go deeper: Roy Moore's history of controversial statements.
The GOP tax bill will not produce enough economic growth to pay for itself, which will add to the federal deficit, according to a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The report analyzes a series of estimates by both right- and left-leaning groups.

Why this matters: The future of the tax bill likely hinges on whether Senate deficit hawks can get onboard with increasing the debt in the next decade. The report suggests that the choice for members like Sens. Bob Corker or Jeff Flake is to either hope for an unrealistic growth scenario, decide tanking the bill isn't worth it, or vote against the cuts.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's decision to shake up Saudi Arabia's longstanding patronage system and root out "corruption" introduces further uncertainties after a decade of black swan events in global oil. Just when companies were adjusting to the idea that oil prices might be lower for longer, the prospect of Saudi Arabia behaving in less than predictable ways is unnerving pundits and oil market participants alike.

Saudi Arabia has generally played the role of conservative power across the Middle East, with longstanding alliances and consistent geopolitical responses. When the kingdom declared  in the midst of U.S. efforts to negotiate a deal on nuclear weapons with Iran  that it would now pursue its own interests more vigorously, few would have foreseen the kingdom taking on a two-front war and replenishing its treasury with the restitution to the state of billions of dollars in assets amassed by Saudi princes and executives whose business-as-usual practices were highly unpopular with average Saudis.

What's next: Odds are that oil prices will now wind up higher than otherwise expected. Riyadh can ill afford an oil price collapse, forcing it to endorse policies inside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and beyond that keep the price of oil lofty. Another contingency is the prospect of expanded conflict in the Mideast from a more muscular Saudi stance, which could move oil markets back onto a pins-and-needles footing.
David Karp, who founded blogging site Tumblr more than a decade ago, plans to step down as CEO by year's end. Tumblr President and COO Jeff D'Onofrio will handle responsibilities for running the Verizon-owned blogging site

In a farewell note, Karp said the move comes "after months of reflection" on his personal ambitions. His planned departure was reported earlier Monday by the New York Times.

Why it matters: Retaining key talent will be a key challenge for Oath, the Verizon unit in charge of the former AOL and Yahoo properties.
Over the course of two weeks, a woman named Jaime Phillips met for several interviews with the Washington Post during which she falsely alleged that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore had a sexual relationship with her in 1992 and that she had an abortion at 15, the Post reports. The story was fake, and, while she told it, Phillips repeatedly asked Post reporters how her claims would impact Moore's bid for the Senate if made public.

The fallout: When the Post confronted Phillips about inconsistencies in her story, she "insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists." But Post reporters saw her walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas  a group that goes after mainstream media by feeding reporters fake stories to expose, as the organization calls it, media bias.

The Post confronted Phillips. Here's how it happened:

She said "she met Moore in 1992, the year he became a county judge. She said she was 15. She said they started a "secret" sexual relationship."

"she met Moore in 1992, the year he became a county judge. She said she was 15. She said they started a "secret" sexual relationship." "She said that she got pregnant, that Moore talked her into an abortion, and that he drove her to Mississippi to get it."

that she got pregnant, that Moore talked her into an abortion, and that he drove her to Mississippi to get it." "Phillips also repeatedly asked the reporter to guarantee her that Moore would lose the election if she came forward."

the reporter to guarantee her that Moore would lose the election if she came forward." "Alice Crites, a Post researcher who was looking into Phillips's background, found the document that strongly reinforced the reporters' suspicions ... It was on the website GoFundMe.com under the name Jaime Phillips. 'I'm moving to New York!' the May 29 appeal said. 'I've accepted a job to work in the conservative media movement to combat the lies and deceipt of the liberal MSM...'"

who was looking into Phillips's background, found the document that strongly reinforced the reporters' suspicions ... It was on the website GoFundMe.com under the name Jaime Phillips. 'I'm moving to New York!' the May 29 appeal said. 'I've accepted a job to work in the conservative media movement to combat the lies and deceipt of the liberal MSM...'" "'Um, yeah, I was looking to take a job last summer in New York, but it fell through,' Phillips said. 'Yeah, it was going to be with the Daily Caller, but it ended up falling through, so I wasn't able to do it.'"

I was looking to take a job last summer in New York, but it fell through,' Phillips said. 'Yeah, it was going to be with the Daily Caller, but it ended up falling through, so I wasn't able to do it.'" Paul Conner, executive editor of the Daily Caller, told the Post: "None of us has interviewed a woman by the name Jaime Phillips."

Worth noting: Earlier in November, an Alabama pastor received a voicemail from someone posing as a Washington Post reporter and offering money in exchange for damaging information about Roy Moore.

Go deeper: The full story from the Washington Post (with video)
Armenian lawmakers will start formally discussing this week a controversial government bill aimed at combatting domestic violence, deputy parliament speaker Arpine Hovannisian said on Monday.

The bill drafted by Armenias Justice Ministry would introduce criminal and administrative liability for specific cases defined as violence within families. It would also obligate the state to protect female victims against their violent spouses, including by providing them with special shelters.

The initial version of the proposed legislation was backed by womens rights groups campaigning for tougher government action against the practice. But it met earlier this fall with fierce resistance from some conservative groups and nationalist public figures.

Senior members of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) added their voiced to the criticism. The HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, demanded on November 1 that the Justice Ministry revise provisions of the bill that contradict traditional Armenian family values. The ministry was quick to amend the draft law.

According to Hovannisian, a standing committee of the Armenian parliament committee will start discussing on Thursday the amended version that has already been formally approved by Prime Minister Karen Karapetians cabinet. The changes made in the bill address the HHK concerns, said the vice-speaker affiliated with the ruling party.

In particular, the title of the proposed legislation has been expanded to indicate that it is also aimed at restoring solidarity within families. Womens groups have criticized this phrase, saying that solidarity is not a legal term and could be open to different interpretations by relevant authorities.

Hovannisian insisted that this wording does not reduce in any way our commitment to combatting violence. The Armenian authorities, she said, are simply keen to not only hold accountable those responsible for domestic violence but also minimize family breakups through psychological counselling.

Hovannisian spoke to reporters after attending a panel discussion on domestic violence with the state human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, and the ambassadors of the United States, the European Union, France and Germany to Armenia. Western governments have long encouraged the authorities in Yerevan to tackle the problem in earnest.

Garik Hayrapetian, an Armenian expert with the United Nations Population Fund, said after the discussion that the amended bill puts a weaker emphasis on the rights of violence victims. Its now weaker with regard to the purpose it is supposed to serve, he told RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

The Armenian police recorded 3,571 cases of domestic violence from 2012-2016. According to the Yerevan-based Womens Resource Center, more than 50 Armenian women have been beaten to death and murdered otherwise by their husbands or other relatives in the last five years.

A senior representative of the police called for the passage of the bill when she spoke at parliamentary hearings last month.
A pro-Western opposition alliance renewed its calls for Armenia to leave the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) during parliamentary hearings in Yerevan on Monday.

The Yelk alliance drafted in September a parliamentary declaration saying that membership in the EEU, effective from January 2015, has hurt the countrys economy and security. The document was rejected by the ruling Republican Party (HHK) and the two other parties represented in the Armenian parliament. The three groups similarly blocked last month a parliamentary inquiry into consequences of the EEU membership which was demanded by Yelk.

The opposition bloc responded by initiating the special hearings on its September motion demanding that the Armenian authorities embark on a process of invalidating their accession treaty with the EEU.

Our position hasnt changed, one of its leaders, Edmon Marukian, said during the discussion. In order for Armenia to move forward, it is necessary to develop Armenias economy and political system  To that end, Armenia must leave the EEU.

Marukian described the EEU as a Russian initiative that has remained on paper. There are serious problems with free movement of goods, services and laborand there is practically no free movement of capital [within the trade bloc,] he claimed.

Armen Ashotian, the HHK-affiliated chairman of the parliament committee on foreign affairs, dismissed those arguments, saying that any regional integration takes time. If the European Union, which has a 60-year-old history, is still building its institutions after such a long path, it is only natural that the Eurasian Economic Union has been overcoming such difficulties for the past two or two and a half years, he said.

Ashotian also said that the EEU membership has not prevented Armenia from forging closer ties with the EU. He pointed to the signing on Friday of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Armenia and the EU.

Marukian insisted, however, that Armenian foreign policy would have been truly complementary only if Yerevan had signed a more far-reaching Association Agreement with the EU, which would have led to the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area. President Serzh Sarkisians controversial decision in 2013 to make Armenias part of the Russian-led bloc precluded such an agreement.

There is no country that is [simultaneously] part of two free-trade areas, countered Ashotian. He also said that Armenia has managed to steer clear of confrontational rhetoric and processes and to base its foreign policy on the convergence of interests of major foreign powers.

President Sarkisian and members of his government have repeatedly said that Armenias economy has benefited from the EEU membership. In particular, they have cited double-digit increases in Armenian exports to Russia recorded in 2016 and so far this year.

Yelk holds 9 seats in the 105-member National Assembly.
Cocktail bars put fiery liquor to the test as demand grows for drinks with difference

Drinks columnist Douglas Blyde began his affinity with baijiu when he was presented an intriguing looking bottle with a red ribbon around its neck in a shopping mall in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Since then, he has become a fan of the fiery Chinese spirit that is the most widely consumed alcohol in the world, despite being little known beyond the borders of China, where it is the national drink.

A bartender makes baijiu-based cocktail in Central London. Kevin Wang / China Daily

Baijiu, usually distilled from sorghum and rice, contains between 40 to 60 percent alcohol by volume. With over 5,000 years of heritage, it is a mainstay at festive occasions in China, from New Year dinners to wedding receptions to business banquets.

Around 5.5 billion liters of baijiu were consumed last year, according to London-based consultancy Euromonitor International.

"I tend to enjoy baijiu neat, as it often has an indefatigable, flamboyant, exotic essence which brings excitement to the table," says Blyde, who writes a column for the London Evening Standard. He also advises sipping, not shooting, quality baijiu.

Baijiu is far from taking over the bar, but in recent years baijiu cocktails have been appearing on menus across London, from the Yauatcha in Soho, to the Arbitrager in the City, to the Mei Ume bar in the Four Seasons Hotel.

"When we first started selling baijiu cocktails around 2010/11, we were pretty unique," says Paul Mathew, owner of the Arbitrager and the Hide, two cocktail bars in London. "Things are definitely moving on."

Bars across London have been celebrating China's world-leading spirit with special drinks and menus for Baijiu Cocktail Week for the past few years.

Sarah Lewis, one of the founders of Baijiu Cocktail Week, says the spirit has grown in popularity as drinkers look for something new and different. "They love the history, the unusual taste and the design of the bottles," she says.

As different categories of baijiu present different challenges, bartenders must think carefully about what flavors work well and what characteristics they want to draw out or hide.

For example, baijiu with a strong aroma is harder to complement. "I like using these with things like pomelo, strong teas, pear or smoky flavors," says Mathew, who recently took part in a baijiu seminar panel at the world's biggest International cocktail festival in New Orleans.

Eder de Oliveira Fonseca Neto, Hakkasan Group's head of bar, has been creating baijiu cocktails since 2015. His bar sells around 15 to 20 baijiu cocktails a day, priced at 12.50 ($16.50; 14.06 euros) each.

"Baijiu cocktails tend to be fruity and earthy, while the majority of traditional cocktails would be one or the other," he says.

Neto says the distinctive character of baijiu adds a complexity to drinks when mixed well.

"Bartenders are constantly searching for new products to take their drinks to the next level, and baijiu certainly does the job," he says.

The growing popularity of baijiu cocktails is not limited to London.

New York venues, including the Mission Chinese Food, Red Farm, the Peninsula Hotel and the Park Hyatt Hotel, now regularly serve them.

Sam Anderson, beverage director at Mission Chinese Food on East Broadway, says the key to making a good baijiu cocktail is to mix it with equally strong flavors.

"If you do a baijiu cocktail with St-Germain," Anderson says, referring to a liqueur flavored with elder-flowers, "the St-Germain will get blown out of the water."

The growth of baijiu abroad is in line with the increasing appreciation and understanding of China globally, says Mathew.

"Bartenders are becoming more ... adventurous," he says. "They are increasingly looking to Asia for flavors and ingredients. We had bartenders from all over the world at a cocktail festival asking about mixing baijiu, production techniques and which brands to buy for the cocktails."

However, the association with Chinese culture in drinking is not necessarily a blessing.

"Many (foreigners) find baijiu off-putting," says Bill Isler, co-founder of Beijing's Capital Spirits, the world's first baijiu-themed bar. "But it's not about the liquor itself."

Isler says the drink's fearsome reputation originates from visitors being coerced into excessive drinking by friends or co-workers in China, where persuading people to drink is a gesture of generosity and being a good host.

In China, baijiu drinking is a hugely important part of the ritual of dining and cementing relationships. Sharing a bottle around the meal table is as much symbolic as it is for the consumption of alcohol.

But Mathew says there's a competitive element of baijiu drinking in China.

"I've experienced it being the Westerner around a dining table and everybody wants to toast you," he says. "It is a bit of a knife fight - there's an interesting dynamic as to who toasts whom and how it goes around the table."

Despite its growing popularity outside of China, there is still a long way to go.

Michal Maziarz, head bartender at Mei Ume restaurant at London's Four Seasons Hotel, says there is little knowledge about baijiu - how to recognize the different varieties or understand how the flavors have been created.

Maziarz suggests promoting baijiu in Western markets by standardizing the flavor. One way would be to invite Western spirits experts or sommeliers to create a panel where they could discuss the flavor and categorize baijiu, he says.

Baijiu-producing companies are eager to enter Western markets.

The State-owned Kweichow Moutai Co launched its iconic Moutai brand in Hamburg, Germany, to bring the fiery spirit to mainstream Europe.

Sichuan Swellfun, a baijiu maker in Chengdu, Sichuan province, sold a stake to London-based beverage multinational Diageo in 2013.

"It would be great to see brands partnering with spirit distributors who specialize in bars," says Mathew, who adds that sourcing baijiu easily at a good price can be difficult.

"A lot of baijiu marketing in China surrounds the aura of the brand without giving too much detail," he says. "But here, bartenders and an increasingly educated spirits consumer want to know about the raw materials, fermentation process, stills and aging."

Zhang Yangfei contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com
A senior representative of Russias ruling party reportedly voiced support late on Monday for Armenias efforts to forge closer links with the European Union while maintaining its political and military alliance with Russia.

Sergey Zheleznyak and three other lawmakers representing President Vladimir Putins United Russia party met with President Serzh Sarkisian in Yerevan three days after Armenia signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU.

Sarkisians press office quoted Zheleznyak, who is the deputy secretary of United Russias governing board, as praising wise and balanced policies pursued by the Armenian government.

He stressed that Russias ruling party stands for the principle of both/and, rather than either/or, of developing relations and cooperation, the office said in a statement. Armenia builds its relations with the Russian Federation and the EU in that context. Therefore, according to Sergey Zheleznyak, all those views that differ from the above-mentioned position do not reflect the official approaches of Russia and its ruling party.

Moscows stance on the issue was a subject of intense media speculation in Armenia throughout two-year negotiations that preceded the signing of the CEPA in Brussels on Friday. Some pro-Western pundits in Yerevan claimed that the Kremlin could force Yerevan to pull out of the deal. Armenian officials ruled out such a possibility.

Russian pressure was widely attributed to President Sarkisians unexpected decision in 2013 to seek Armenias accession to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The move precluded the signing of a more far-reaching Association Agreement between Armenia and the EU.

While some pro-government Russian commentators expressed concern over the CEPA in recent weeks, Moscow gave no indications that it disapproves of the deal.

Armenia is a sovereign country and it has the right to enter into any agreements or blocs that do not contradict obligations assumed by it earlier, the Russian ambassador in Yerevan, Ivan Volynkin, told the Arminfo news agency on Thursday.

The CEPA provisions, he said, do not run counter to Armenias EEU membership commitments. Volynkin expressed hope that Armenia will become a bridge of cooperation between the EU and the EEU.

The Russian envoy stressed at the same time that the EU is unable to replace Russia in providing security guarantees to Armenia. The EU itself is dependent on NATO in that sense, he said.

Armenian leaders have repeatedly stated that the alliance with Russia remains the cornerstone of Armenian foreign and security policy. Sarkisian visited Moscow and met with Putin nine days before attending the CEPA signing ceremony in Brussels.
27 November 2017 10:07 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 118 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on November 27.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
27 November 2017 13:50 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Italian Roma hosted a conference of NATO Parliamentary Assembly on 23-24 November, where the delegation of Azerbaijans Parliament took part along other participants.

Member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, MP Malahat Ibrahimgizi told APA on November 25 that in her speech, she stated that Azerbaijan has been suffering from the occupation and terror by the neighboring state, Armenia, for many years.

As a result of the investigation of these terrorist acts, it always turns out that they have been supported by the Armenian intelligence. Despite the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, which is reflected in the documents of international organizations, Armenia still supports terrorist acts, she noted at the event.

Ibrahimgizi regretted that everyone turns a blind eye to the fact that Azerbaijan suffer from terror, while the country is one of the first states that joined international anti-terrorism activities, and condemns all forms of terrorism.

The MP further protested against the fact that when talking about the threats of terror, nobody remembers ASALA, whose terrorist activities were proven by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) terrorist group operated actively in 1973-1985. Forty-two Turkish diplomats were killed as a result of ASALA attacks, while the terrorist organization committed about 110 terror acts in total. Since the late 1980s, Armenian terrorist organizations and intelligence agencies, including ASALA, have committed more than 32 terrorist attacks in the transport system and other public facilities of Azerbaijan.

After the speech of the Azerbaijani side, several participants of the conference noted the importance of conducting investigations on the activities of such organizations, exchange of information, and underlined the importance of avoiding a unilateral approach towards the terrorist threat. Concerned about this, the MP from the Armenian delegation Koryun Nahapetyan tried to express reaction to the speech of the Azerbaijani delegation, but he was not given the floor. However, in the next session, he accused the Azerbaijani MPs of evading the topic. The moderator warned the Armenian MP.

In her next speech, Ibrahimgizi, responding to the provocation of the Armenian MP, once again showed the CIA documents and reminded that the question was raised on the basis of official statistics.

You can reject the report of the CIA, but this is an official document. You still do not know that the country you represent has occupied the neighboring countrys lands, violating several international documents, she stressed.

The MP added that the whole world recognizes Armenia as an aggressor and occupier, and it once again proved this at the conference.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia still continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
27 November 2017 17:19 (UTC+04:00)

By Fuad Aslanov

A one-day anti-corruption conference on Armenias implementation of the latest recommendations by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), which is the Council of Europes anti-corruption monitoring body, is held in Yerevan today.

The conference considers the anti-corruption policy of the Armenian authorities, protection of human rights in the country, areas that have more corruption risks, priority tasks and proposals in the fight against corruption.

Last month, the Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan held a working meeting, which discussed the issues of international cooperation in the fight against corruption and implementation of Armenia-undertaken commitments.

Thus, Europe is vigilantly monitoring the situation in Armenia and demands from the Armenian authorities to deploy uncompromising struggle against corruption in the country. Armenian experts note that this is right, because this scourge has deep roots in the country, and there is still no tangible progress in the anti-corruption fight in Armenia.

The eradication of corruption in this poor South Caucasus country still seems impossible primarily because its leadership is itself mired in this criminal activity. This is largely the reason for monopolies existing in many spheres of the Armenian economy. They, in turn, lead to the lack of competitiveness and to consequent rise in prices.

Thus, the Armenian authorities together with businessmen close to the government literally rob the countrys population, in the meantime pretending to carry out an anti-corruption fight. Therefore, the Armenians are still skeptical about the authorities that for many years throw dust in the peoples eyes. No one believes that the fight against the problem will yield any results.

The fact of destructive corruption in Armenia was repeatedly pointed out by foreign representatives in the country. Some months ago, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills noted that if Armenia does not manage to solve the problem, it will affect the relations between the two countries in some areas.

However, corruption is still deeply rooted in the Armenian state structures and it would be foolish to assume that the problem can be addressed unless a new, respectable team comes to power in the country.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
27 November 2017 11:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Ulvi Mansurov has left the post of director general of Azerbaijans postal communications operator, Azerpost LLC, the company told Trend on November 27.

Mansurov presented the letter of resignation a month ago, according to the company.

He was appointed as the director general of Azerpost LLC in March 2017.

Prior to this appointment, Mansurov worked as deputy chairman of the Management Board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, chairman of the Management Board of Texnikabank and on other positions.

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27 November 2017 12:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijan plans to open its Trade House, aiming to support the promotion of national goods in Riga till late 2017.

The organizer of the ceremony of opening of Azerbaijans Trade House in Latvia intends to open Latvias Trade House in Baku, Latvian ambassador to Azerbaijan Juris Maklakovs told Trend.

We have already discussed this issue with Azerbaijani minister of economy. I think next year Latvia's products will be presented in Azerbaijan in the Trade House and the countrys various trade networks, he noted.

He went on to say that the trade turnover will increase, further adding that a number of Latvian companies are currently working on opening representative offices in Azerbaijan.

In July 2017, President Ilham Aliyev paid an official visit to Latvia, where he and President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis signed a Joint Declaration on Establishing a Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

The visit also resulted with a memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed between the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Transport of Latvia on international combined cargo transportation, an agreement between the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan and the Latvian Ministry of Economy on cooperation in state supervision of safety of construction, and an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in education.

President Aliyev signed a relevant decree on January 26, and endorsed the economy minister to appoint trade representatives to the countrys diplomatic missions abroad and open trade houses.

Trade houses in foreign countries will facilitate the export process, promote an export of competitive Azerbaijani production and enable the countries to expand trade operations.

Azerbaijans first ever Trade House was opened in the Belarusian capital Minsk, on May 26 to facilitate the export process, promote an export of competitive Azerbaijani production and enable the countries to expand trade operations. Today, alcoholic products, natural juices, jams, cosmetics and other products of Azerbaijan are displayed in the Trade House.

Azerbaijan plans to open its second Trade House in Arkhangelsk region, Russia.

Latvia recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1992 and two years later, the sides started diplomatic relations. The embassy of Azerbaijan, which is also the first Azerbaijani embassy in the Baltic countries, was opened in Latvia in 2005, while a year later Latvian embassy started its activities in Baku.

Latvia considers Azerbaijan an important partner in the field of transit and logistics in the South Caucasus region.

Priority areas of cooperation between the two countries include joint investment projects, effective use of international transportation corridors, education, agriculture, construction, tourism and health.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Latvia in January-October 2017 amounted to $8.32 million, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, $1.65 million of which fell on export from Azerbaijan.

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27 November 2017 11:34 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The OSCE is expected to monitor the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia near Azerbaijans Qazakh district on November 28, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on November 27.

The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, said the ministry.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by Simon Tiller and Mikhail Olaru, who are field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative.

On the Armenian side, the monitoring will be held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Ghenadie Petrica, Ognjen Jovic and Martin Schuster.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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27 November 2017 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Aygul Salmanova

Baku hosted a press conference with participation of Mohammad Taqi Khalili, ambassador of Afghanistan to Azerbaijan on November 10.

Khalili made remarks about a joint working group on economic cooperation that is expected to be created between two countries. The ambassador said that the first meeting of the working group will be held early next year.

He noted that a document on the creation of a railway transport corridor has been recently signed between Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

Namely through this project, Afghanistan will be able to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway with the help of the Turkmenbashi and the Batumi ports, and at the same time the Baku International Sea Trade Port, Khalili added.

The ambassador went on saying that Azerbaijan and Afghanistan will sign five documents.

The documents will be signed during the visit of Afghanistans President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to Baku.

The envoy noted that the documents will cover the spheres of security, education, air space and mutual investments.

Khalili added that November is a very important month for bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan reminding that Afghanistans economy minister recently visited Azerbaijan and held discussions with the countrys officials on important issues of mutual interest.

We express our gratitude to Azerbaijan for its partnership and support, he added.

Khalili continued his speech by stressing on the fact that the Islamic world will continue supporting Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Since the first days of the conflict, Afghanistan has shared a common stance with Azerbaijan within the framework of various international organizations, he said.

The diplomat added that Afghanistan acts against international terrorism and condemns any kind of terror.

Khalili mentioned that Afghanistan expresses its gratitude to Azerbaijan for the decision to increase the military contingent as part of the peacekeeping mission in the country.

Azerbaijan will increase the number of servicemen in Afghanistan, he noted. We thank Azerbaijan for this decision. This decision shows that Azerbaijan is interested in establishing peace not only in Afghanistan, but throughout the world.

Earlier at a joint press point with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO Headquarters Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the assistance that the country provides Afghanistan with.

Ninety four Azerbaijani servicemen serve shoulder to shoulder with NATO servicemen, in order to provide security and peace to Afghanistan, said the president. Azerbaijan also provides multimodal transit and flight clearances for the coalition forces. The country contributed to the Afghan armys National Trust Fund.

We will continue our partnership in order to provide peace, security and stability in the region, added President Aliyev.

Afghanistan recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991 and the diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1994.

Azerbaijan supports the Afghan way of reforms by its assistance in the areas of education, infrastructure and transport development, investments and enhancing the role of women in the society.

The country has several times made substantial donations to the Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund.

The peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving in Afghanistan since November 20, 2002. Azerbaijan, as a reliable partner of NATO and friend of brotherly Afghanistan, is committed to continue its significant contribution to the Resolute Support Mission by providing troops, multi-modal transit, training and financial assistance.

Furthermore, Azerbaijan allowed the NATO planes carrying non-combat loads for a mission in Afghanistan to fly through Azerbaijan's airspace and to use the country's airports. About 40 percent of all cargo destined for the NATO mission in Afghanistan pass through Baku.

Data of the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee shows that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan amounted to $17.96 million in January-September 2017. Moreover, the entire amount accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to Afghanistan.

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27 November 2017 12:34 (UTC+04:00)

By Aygul Salmanova

Azerbaijani scientists together with their European counterparts in Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory began to carry out spectral observations of a new star exploded three months ago.

Khidir Mikayilov, the Deputy Director on Scientific Research of Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) told Trend about this interesting fact.

Due to the old equipment of the observatory it was not possible to join the research on an international scale. Now, however, existing modern equipment creates conditions for this, Mikayilov said.

There is a special group in the world engaged in monitoring the celestial sphere. Based on the analysis of the photos they took, it became clear that a new star had been found. This star called Nova was very weak. Recently, it has increased its brightness more than 100 times, added Mikayilov.

We will continue our research until the star returns to its previous state. This star exploded two times during the month. From this point of view, this object is of particular interest. Therefore, we will intensively continue its spectral observations.

Since August 7, 2017, spectral observations of the Nova SCT 2017 star with high resolution have been carried out at a two-meter telescope of the Shamakhy Astrophysical Observatory. The spectra were obtained using Fiber Optic Echelle Spectrograph in the Cassegrain focus with a 4k  4k pixel CCD camera, a in the framework of an international project.

With the development of space technologies, the interest in space industry is increasing. The development of the space industry is very important for Azerbaijan and the special attention is given to the Science Development Foundation to local personnel training in the field of space research.

Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory, the largest astrophysical observatory in Azerbaijan and the whole Caucasus is also located in Pirkuli, Shamakhi, on the south-eastern foothills of the Great Caucasus Mountain ridge, on the basis of Astrophysics sector of Physics Institution of the ANAS.

The observatory named after famous Azerbaijani architect, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher Nasreddin Tusi is equipped with modern facilities and one of the largest in the CIS telescope with a mirror diameter of 2 meters.

The observatory has made a significant contribution to extensive Soviet and post-Soviet scientific programms in astrophysics and fundamental astronomy. The observatory works on three main scientific trends: the physics of stars, investigation of solar system bodies and solar physics and solar-terrestrial relations.

Current investigations also include the effects of space weather, the history of astronomy, theoretical astrophysics, radio-astronomy, practical astronomy, celestial mechanics, galaxies and the dynamics of artificial satellites.

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27 November 2017 13:04 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan is checking the presence of Azerbaijani tourists on the Bali island of Indonesia, which is currently facing the volcano eruption threat, the ministrys Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend on November 27.

Indonesia raised its warning for Balis Mount Agung volcano to the top level four alert on Monday, closed the holiday islands airport and told residents near the summit to immediately evacuate, warning of the imminent risk of a larger eruption, Reuters reported.

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Indonesia's Mount Agung volcano erupts as seen from Amed, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia November 26, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

JAKARTA - Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said on Monday it had raised the alert to the highest level four on Bali's Mount Agung volcano and warned residents in a 8-10 km (5-6 miles) radius around the volcano to evacuate immediately.

"Grey ash and occasional weak blasts can be heard 12 km (seven miles) from the peak. Flames were visible at night which indicates a potential eruption could happen anytime," Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.

"In anticipation of the possibility and imminent risk of disaster, PVMBG (the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre) raised Mount Agung alert level from three to four starting from 6 a.m. local time," it said in a statement.
27 November 2017 16:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Vladimir Dorokhin, the countrys Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Azerbaijan.

The relevant decree was published on the official Internet portal of legal information on November 27.

According to the information posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Dorokhin was appointed as Russian envoy to Azerbaijan under a presidential decree, dated February 2009.

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27 November 2017 17:27 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

The topic of the compulsory health insurance has once again stolen the spotlight of the governmental attention during the opening ceremony of the Support to Implementation of the mandatory health insurance system in Azerbaijan twinning project held on November 27.

Zaur Aliyev, director of the State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance under the Cabinet of Ministers addressing the event said that the Agency that he heads considers it necessary to improve the basic package of compulsory health insurance.

In the framework of the pilot project, we did not include medicines in the basic package of mandatory health insurance, which creates certain problems for the treatment process, and therefore we assess the possibility of partial drug provision included in the basic package, he said.

The head of the State Agency also noted that in the future the system of collection of insurance premiums, which was not conducted within the framework of the pilot project, will be tested.

Further, Aliyev noted that foreign citizens who come to Azerbaijan for a long-term stay will be able to use mandatory health insurance system just like Azerbaijani citizens.

If foreign citizens come to Azerbaijan for a short-term stay, they will be able to use travel insurance, just like Azerbaijani citizens do when traveling to other countries, Aliyev said.

In turn, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas stressed that the European Union will allocate 1.1 million euros to support mandatory health insurance in Azerbaijan.

Jankauskas noted that France and Lithuania will act as Azerbaijans partners as part of this twinning project, further adding that the project will last for two years and will be completed in August 2019.

MP Musa Guliyev told reporters that introduction of mandatory health insurance throughout Azerbaijan may start in 2019, adding that experience of foreign countries shows that it usually takes several years to fully introduce mandatory health insurance.

I believe the first year of introduction of mandatory health insurance in Azerbaijan was successful, Guliyev said. The results of the pilot project in the city of Mingachevir and Yevlakh regions of Azerbaijan satisfy us. Next year, the scope of the pilot project will expand, MP explained.

It is planned to make additions and changes to the Law on Mandatory Health Insurance, he added. They will allow introducing mandatory health insurance throughout Azerbaijan. In addition, there are a number of issues that depend on the mandatory health insurance, for example, the creation of legislative basis for protecting patient rights.

Implementation of mandatory medical insurance in Azerbaijan is planned within the health care reform framework.

The mandatory insurance program ensures citizens to receive free, high-quality medical care and eliminates unofficial payments from the health system.

Including some 1,800 medical services, the compulsory medical insurance is a new and innovative direction in the social policy of the Azerbaijan. Among the services covered by the insurance, are inspection, treatment, diagnostic procedures, surgical procedures, and other services.

The mandatory insurance is an integral part of health care reform, which will increase the financial capacity of the health system. The State Agency for Compulsory Health Care Insurance, established in February 2016, aims to ensure access to health services for all citizens.

The projects purpose is to strengthen the institutional capacity at the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance to plan, execute and monitor healthcare spending in three elements: collection, accumulation of funds and purchasing of healthcare services.

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27 November 2017 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR hasnt been fined for environmental violations since the beginning of 2017, Head of SOCAR Environment Department Azer Aliyev said.

He was speaking Nov. 27 at the 5th practical conference Oil Spill Control Caspian: Oil Spills at Sea and on Land in Baku.

He said SOCAR conducts permanent environmental monitoring.

Analysis of monitoring results of the past years is underway, dynamics are being studied, when needed, necessary measures are taken, Aliyev said.

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27 November 2017 10:37 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Sunday said Turkey expects the US to stop providing weapons to the PKK/PYD terrorist group, Anadolu reported.

In a news conference held ahead of his two-day official visit to the U.K., Yildirim commented on US President Donald Trump's pledge to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on ending the supply of arms to the terrorist PKK/PYD and PKK/YPG in Syria.

"Since the very beginning, we have said that it is wrong for the US to partner with PKK's cousin PYD/YPG in the fight against Daesh terrorist group," Yildirim said.

He added: "Our friend and ally [referring to the US] told us every time that it was not an option rather an obligation. Since Daesh is now eliminated then this obligation has disappeared."

Yildirim urged the US to "immediately" end the partnership with PKK/PYD and return to its "real allies".

The PYD and its military wing YPG are Syrian branches of the PKK terrorist network, which has waged war against Turkey for more than 30 years.

While recognizing the PKK as a terrorist group, the US has treated the PKK/PYD/YPG as an ally in its anti-Daesh efforts.

Yildirim is expected to discuss regional matters concerning Syria and Iraq with U.K. Premier Theresa May.

"We will discuss the outcome of Sochi meeting," Yildirim said.

He will also meet business people in the U.K. and media representatives.

He said trade volume between Turkey and the U.K. will be discussed ahead of Brexit.

British voters opted to leave the EU in a referendum over a year ago and Brexit negotiations are supposed to be finalized in March 2019.

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27 November 2017 12:48 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

A protocol on cooperation in the gas industry for 2018 between Kazakhstan and Russia was agreed upon and signed following the negotiations in Almaty held with the participation of KazMunaiGas oil and gas company, Gazprom PJSC, Gazprom Export and KazTransGas JSC, the company's press service reported.

The agreements reached envisage partnerships and cooperation in the areas of processing, supply to the domestic market, export and transit of gas. In addition, the protocol provides for an increase in exports to Russia compared to the previous years, the message said.

The document was signed by Kairat Sharipbayev, executive vice president for gas transportation and marketing at KazMunaiGas JSC, and Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom PJSC.

Russias Gazprom and Kazakhstans KazTransGas have been fruitfully cooperating for many years in the gas sector.

To date, KazTransGas JSC, which is the national operator in the gas and gas supply sector, fully meets domestic requirements for the commodity gas, annually increases its export potential and expands the transit through the territory of the country.

KazTransGas is the main gas-energy and gas transportation company of Kazakhstan, representing the interests of the state both on the domestic and foreign gas market.

The company manages a centralized infrastructure for the transport of marketable gas through gas trunklines and gas distribution networks, provides international transit and sells gas on the domestic and foreign markets, develops, finances, builds and operates pipelines and gas storage facilities.

Kazakhstan holds 0.8 percent of the worlds natural gas proven reserves, and produces 0.6 percent of the worlds total gas output, according to the BPs statistics 2015.

A majority of Kazakhstans proved natural gas reserves and natural gas production is possible thanks to the Karachaganak field. The Karachaganak field's gas reserves are estimated at 1.35 trillion cubic meters while oil and liquid condensates around 1.2 billion tons.

About 49 percent of Kazakhstan's gas production and 18 percent of its produced oil are extracted from this field.

The country serves as a major transit country for gas exports from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan that are destined to Russia and China.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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27 November 2017 15:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The strategic plan for the development of Kazakhstan until 2025 should help to make a qualitative change in the country's economy.

This opinion was expressed by Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov during the expert discussion of the document.

Presenting the document, the minister noted that the Strategic Development Plan until 2025 replaces the Development Plan until 2020, as its main tasks were achieved.

The main goal of the new document is to achieve a qualitative and sustainable growth of the economy leading to an improvement in the living standards of people comparable with the OECD countries.

Whole work on writing the draft plan was conducted during 2017 with the participation of the expert community. Now we are at the final stage of preparation of this document. The state places various priorities on this or that time period of our development. This priority was set in the Nation Plan and, obviously, Strategic Plan-2025 is one of the tools for implementing the Nation Plan and Strategy-2050. To achieve a new model of economic growth, we decided to focus on seven key reforms and continue implementing the 7 system policies, Suleimenov said.

The document envisages implementation of seven reforms aimed at developing human capital, increasing the productivity of existing sectors of the economy, reducing the role of the state in the economy and barriers to doing business, creating a favorable investment and business climate, increasing the country's GDP through economic growth of regions, establishing a united nation of strong and responsible people, as well as increasing the role of central state and local executive bodies as initiators and agents of changes in the country.

The minister noted that, in general, the implementation of the Strategic Plan should contribute to a qualitative change in the country's economy.

We must focus on a new quality of the economy, not only on expansion of the extraction of natural resources or the production of certain goods, but also on quality, because exports are one of the key drivers of the new model, Suleimenov said.

Kazakhstan is the 51st largest export economy in the world and the 48th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI).

The country has an export-oriented economy which is highly dependent on shipments of oil and related products (73 percent of total exports). Other exports include ferrous metals, copper, aluminum, zinc and uranium.

Main imports are electronics, machinery and mechanical appliances (25 percent of total imports), mineral products (15 percent), transport equipment (12 percent) and base metals and related products (10 percent).

In 2016, Kazakhstan exported $36.8 billion and imported $25.1 billion, resulting in a positive trade balance of $11.6 billion.

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27 November 2017 16:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Ashgabat has hosted round table discussions on the Turkmen-Saudi relations, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message on November 27.

The event was held at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

The Saudi delegation was represented by Rector of the Institute of Diplomatic Studies under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdullah Al Salman.

During the meeting, three sessions were held under the titles Turkmen-Saudi bilateral relations, Economic cooperation (energy, trade and investment) and Cooperation in science and culture.

The visit was organized within a program of cooperation between the two institutes, signed during the official visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Saudi Arabia in May 2016.

Saudi oil companies, such as Saudi Aramco are showing interest in investing in Turkmenistan, Nebit-Gaz, an online newspaper, reported earlier citing Khalid A. Al-Falih, minister of energy, industry and mineral resources of Saudi Arabia and chairman of Saudi Aramco.

In particular, Saudi Aramco is considering possibility of investing in oil and gas production in countries that have access to the Caspian Sea, and in particular in Turkmenistan, which has the largest mineral resources, according to the report.

The Saudi energy minister added that Saudi Arabia supports construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. He said the Saudi companies are ready to supply the materials necessary for the project.

Construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI began in December 2015.

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27 November 2017 16:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Kazakhstan exported 23.4 million tons of coal in January-October 2017, Kazinform reported.

This was stated by the Kazakh Energy Minister, Kanat Bozumbayev, during a press conference at the Central Communications Service.

First of all, Kazakhstans coal is exported to Russia, Central Asia and several European countries. This year, a good amount of coal - more than 2.4 million tons - was exported to Finland. The export of coal to Japan was launched, he said.

As for the coal supply situation in Kazakhstan, according to the minister, 61.8 million tons of coal was delivered to the domestic market within ten months.

Of the total volume, 74.4 percent, that is 45.9 million tons of coal, was shipped to power plants. As many as 9.6 million tons of coal were supplied to households and the population showing a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The price of coal for domestic needs is formed from the price of shipment of the cut - from 2,000 to 5,000 tenge, railway tariffs for transportation -- 1,000-1,500 tenge, the exchange value of coal, as well as the margins of intermediary organizations and individuals. The coal is shipped under direct contracts between electric stations and coal companies, he added.

He noted that a headquarters was established for the case of extraordinary situations of coal shipment for domestic needs and the population.

Kazakhstan produced 98 million tons of coal in 2016. As much as 71.8 million tons of this volume was supplied to domestic market, 26.2 million tons sent to export. In 2017 Kazakhstan plans to produce 100 million tons.

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27 November 2017 18:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Tajikistan and Germany signed agreements on financial cooperation for the period 2016-2017 and on technical cooperation for the period 2016-2017.

The agreement was signed by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Nematullo Hikmatullozoda and German Ambassador to Tajikistan Neithart Hofer-Wissing, Tajik media outlets reported.

These documents were signed in accordance with the agreements reached during the Intergovernmental Tajik-German negotiations held in Berlin in 2016.

The government of Germany will provide Tajikistan with new funds in the amount of 33.5 million euros within the framework of bilateral technical and financial cooperation for 2016-2017, according to the press service of the ministry.

These funds will be used to implement following social projects: Agricultural value chains in Tajikistan, Combating tuberculosis. 4-th phase, Funds of municipal services to promote primary education and restoration of communal infrastructure. 4-th phase, Promoting independently certain family planning and maternal and child health in Tajikistan, Improving food security for mothers and babies in rural areas of Tajikistan, Promoting the development of the local economy in selected high-mountain areas.

Additional funds will be directed to the project of Rehabilitation of the Ak-Su HPP in the Murghab district.

For 25 years Germany remains Tajikistan's key partner in the field of sustainable development. Tajikistan and Germany cooperate in the fields of economy, science and education, the fight against terrorism and extremism, as well as in the banking sector, etc.

To date, in the framework of technical and financial cooperation between the two countries, more than $100 million has been allocated for development projects in Tajikistan, which indicates the great role of Germany in this field.

The volume of trade between the two countries in 2016 amounted to only $40 million, more than 95 percent of which is the import of German goods to Tajikistan.

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27 November 2017 15:16 (UTC+04:00)

By Aygul Salmanova

Although Sheki and Colmar are thousands of miles apart, their charming landscapes, ancient architecture, village setting, downtown with unique shops, galleries and restaurants connect them.

Azerbaijans ancient city of Sheki and the charming French city of Colmar have become sister cities following the signing of a friendship and cooperation charter in France in November 2015.

Within the framework of this charter, the delegation led by head of Sheki City Executive Power Elkhan Usubov attended the opening ceremony of the Christmas market in Colmar.

The main purpose of the visit was to revise the action plan to ensure the representation of Azerbaijan in the Christmas market of Colmar and further expand the relations between the two cities.

Mayor of Colmar city Jilber Meyer made a speech at the opening of the Christmas market and emphasized the participation of the Sheki delegation at the event and noted that it plays a great role in the development of bilateral relations.

After the event, the participants visited the stands. Additionally, guests were informed about Azerbaijan stands and products. Visitors to the Azerbaijani stands were presented with publications about national history, culture and cuisine.

This year, the Christmas market of Colmar features Sheki's sweets, silk carpets, craftsmanship, various paintings, paintings on the stone, as well as products from Tovuz-Baltiya company - fruit juices, wines.

During the meeting of the Azerbaijani delegation with Meyer, bilateral relations and action plan for 2018 were discussed. The parties also exchanged views on further strengthening relations in education, prospects of cooperation between Sheki and Colmar schools.

The sides also discussed French experience in the development of wine production in Sheki, establishment of joint ventures in this direction, cooperation in silk and textile industry, promotion of export potential of the country in France, exploration of lavender and export of rose oil in France.

At the same time, the sides exchanged views on studying the experience of France in introducing Azerbaijan as a new destination in tourism.

The first secretary of Azerbaijani embassy in France Tural Rasulov also attended the meeting.

Being one of the most ancient and historical cities of Azerbaijan, with its population of 181,000 people, Sheki excels in agriculture, especially in the silk industry.

The city is one of the country's main tourist destinations, hosting more than 100,000 tourists every year.

Being a famous silk center and an important stop on the Great Silk Route, Sheki has been famous for its silk, which has been used in the Middle East, Europe and India since the ancient times.

The city is a real natural wonder with its beautiful landscapes, mineral water springs, forests and rivers and with some 84 historical and cultural monuments. Archaeological findings suggest that the city might be one of the oldest settlements in the Caucasus. Pieces dating 2,500 years were unearthed here.

Modern Sheki was actually rebuilt in 1772 after the city was destroyed by mud streams - River Kish. Annually, Sheki becomes a place for international and local festivals which attract many people.

Colmar is a sizeable town in the Haut-Rhin department - south of the Alsace region.

Although the city has been modernized a lot over the past few years, it still retains its history. The old city most of all attracts tourists with its narrow streets and half-timbered, half-painted houses so particular to the Alsace region.

Wandering about Colmar, discovering its old streets is the best way to explore the city where a variety of shops of different sorts exist. Many people choose to discover the city through boat trips on the canal from Little Venice.

The city is a bit of France, Germany, and even Italy all at once. Most people would say it feels mostly like Germany, with the half-timber houses, the cuisine, and the fine brusque wines.

Every year more than 3.5 million tourists visit the city, which annually hosts nearly 3 to 4 international festivals.

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27 November 2017 19:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Another Russian air carrier has received permission for operating flights to Azerbaijan. The airline NordStar was granted the permission to Samara-Baku regular passenger flights with a frequency of once a week.

This is indicated in the protocol of the interdepartmental commission on the admission of air carriers to perform international transportation of Russias Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya).

NordStar is a Russian airline that takes its place among the 15 largest airlines of Russia. The air carrier, having headquarters in the city of Norilsk, operated its first flight in June 2009. The airlines fleet consists of nine Boeing 737800 jets, which are equipped with business and economy classes, as well as four ATR 42-500s for regional services.

Currently, Russian airlines such as Aeroflot, NordStar, Ural Airlines, UTair, IrAero and S7 Airlines are implementing flight to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan offers numerous must-see spots, one of which is the Shahdag Winter-Summer Tourism Complex. It was recently claimed to enter the Top 3 popular resort for mountain hiking among Russia and CIS countries, according to the tourist portal TurStat.

Over the past year, Azerbaijan received over 2 million tourists, 685,000 of whom were guests from Russia. Taking into account all mentioned above, this figure is expected to rise by the end of 2016.

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Cottage Health System, a Santa Barbara-based healthcare organization, agreed to pay the state $2 million to settle allegations it failed to establish reasonable safeguards to protect patient medical information, which led to the exposure of nearly 50,000 medical records.

The settlement, announced by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra Nov. 22, follows two separate data breaches from 2013 and 2015, in which a total of more than 50,000 Cottage patients' medical information was made publicly available online. One of Cottage's servers had allegedly been connected to the internet without encryption, password protection, firewalls or permissions that would have prevented unauthorized access.

According to the settlement, Cottage and its affiliated hospitals failed to implement basic, reasonable safeguards to protect patient medical information, a violation of state and federal privacy laws. Under the agreement, Cottage is required to maintain security practices and procedures that will protect patients' health information from unauthorized access. The health system must pay a $2 million penalty and update its data security practices, which includes appointing a chief privacy officer and completing periodic risk assessments.

"When patients go to a hospital to seek medical care, the last thing they should have to worry about is having their personal medical information exposed. The law requires healthcare providers to protect patients' privacy. On both of these counts, Cottage Health failed," Mr. Becerra said.

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The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services mailed letters to nearly 6,000 people who underwent routine drug screening for employment, intern and volunteer opportunities at its agency, notifying them of a recent incident in which a spreadsheet containing their personal information was sent in error to a vendor via an unencrypted email.

Upon learning of the breach Sept. 27, DHHS launched an investigation and coordinated efforts with the vendor to secure and delete the information  which included names, social security numbers and test results of applicants for particular positions within DHHS  in the spreadsheet. An individual's inclusion in the spreadsheet only indicates that they sought an employment, intern or volunteer opportunity at DHHS within the affected time period, which the agency did not disclose in its news release.

Although DHHS cannot determine whether or not the email had been intercepted during transmission, the agency believes risk of misuse of the personal information is low.

DHHS advises affected individuals put an alert on their credit files and monitor bank statements and credit card bills for unusual activity.

Editor's Note: Becker's Hospital Review has reached out to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for comment. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Richard P. Shannon, MD, executive vice president for health affairs at the University of Virginia, argued in a letter to the editor that a Washington Post report inaccurately cited the University of Virginia Health System as a reason for extensive premium increases in Charlottesville, Va.

The original Washington Post report stated Charlottesville is seeing a sharper rise in monthly healthcare insurance premiums than other cities in part because the primary provider is the University of Virginia Health System, which charges higher rates than a community hospital.

The report also said the system is covered by Optima Health, a smaller Virginia-based health insurer that offers fewer coverage options than Aetna and Anthem. As a result, coverage tends to cost more in communities like Charlottesville due to a small patient pool.

In response, Dr. Shannon pointed out Optima is free to increase premiums, as it is the only Charlottesville-area insurer participating in the federal insurance exchange. Residents will have to pay these higher premiums regardless of whether they choose to receive care at University of Virginia Health System or a Charlottesville community hospital. "Optima accounts for less than 1 percent of the commercially insured patients cared for at U-Va.," Dr. Shannon added.

Dr. Shannon also cited data that reveals Charlottesville is not a high-cost area for medical care. A 2015 New York Times article showed Charlottesville as the 40th lowest in medical spending per Medicare beneficiary and the 85th lowest in medical spending per commercial insurance beneficiary out of 306 hospital referral areas nationwide.

Additionally, CMS data shows the average cost per beneficiary in Charlottesville is $9,271, compared with the national average of $9,582.

"There is a problem here, but it's not Charlottesville or the U-Va. Health System," Dr. Shannon wrote.
Jeff Patterson, CEO of Nacogdoches (Texas) Medical Center, is stepping down from his role to take on a new position, effective Dec. 29, according to a ABC 9 KTRE report.

Here are four notes:

1. Mr. Patterson is leaving to take on a new position within Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, Nacogdoches Medical Center's parent.

2. In his new role, he will oversee two Tenet facilities  Abrazo Arrowhead Campus in Glendale, Ariz., and Abrazo Arizona Heart Hospital in Phoenix.

3. He has served as Nacogdoches Medical Center CEO since December 2015, prior to which he was COO of Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif.

4. After Mr. Patterson departs, hospital COO Phillip Koovakada will take over as interim CEO.
As you return to work from your Thanksgiving holiday, start your week off right by taking a look at some of Becker's Hospital Review's top stories.

1. Ex-WellCare general counsel gets prison time for role in $35M fraud scheme

The former general counsel of WellCare, Thaddeus M.S. Bereday, has been sentenced to six months in prison for his role in a $35 million healthcare fraud scheme, according to the Department of Justice.

2. Is a Medicare option for all the only practical means to solve the healthcare insurance crisis?

From a healthcare consumer perspective, it increasingly strikes one that the healthcare insurance market is a story of haves and have-nots.

3. Nothing has changed, yet we're walking on eggshells: 6 questions with former COO of the Massachusetts Health Connector

Established in 2006, the Massachusetts Health Connecter was the nation's first health exchange. It was created as the cornerstone of the state's 2006 healthcare reform law, which helped reduce Massachusetts' uninsured rates to the lowest in the U.S. and later became the model for the ACA.

4. 8 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements

From a California health system destroying evidence in an antitrust case to a Georgia hospital settling False Claims Act allegations, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines.

5. 11 latest hospital, health system CEO moves

Becker's Hospital Review reported the following hospital and health system CEO moves in the last week.

6. Should opioid addiction be considered a hospital-acquired infection?

Some medical experts and healthcare administrators are making the case that if an individual's addiction to opioids is directly rooted in hospital-based care, the hospital should be penalized, according to a recent report from NPR.

7. 200 Outcome Health employees accept buyouts; Stanford, Google team up to streamline EHR documentation & more  7 health IT key notes

Here are seven recent news updates on health IT companies.
Police reportedly discovered the body of a 40-year-old medical researcher at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City Sunday, the New York Daily News reports.

Police said they found Miguel Crespo, PhD, unconscious in a bathroom on the eighth floor of the hospital around 2:50 p.m. Sunday. Investigators also reportedly found vomit near Dr. Crespo's body, according to the report.

It is unclear how Dr. Crespo died.

Dr. Crespo had worked as a medical researcher at a stem cell laboratory at New York CIty-based Weill Cornell Medical College since 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"Weill Cornell Medicine is saddened by the death of our colleague Miguel Crespo, PhD. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends," a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center told Becker's Hospital Review via email Monday.
Boston-based Tufts Medical Center and the union representing roughly 1,200 of its nurses have seen several conflicts over the past year.

Below is a timeline of events between Tufts and the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

April 2016: The two parties begin contract negotiations.

June 2017: Tufts nurses reportedly reject a "final" contract offer from the hospital.

July 2017: Tufts nurses begin to strike after the union and Tufts fail to reach a last-minute agreement. The 24-hour strike ended around 7 a.m. July 13. However, Tufts barred striking nurses from their return to work until July 17 because the medical center needed to hire temporary replacement workers for a minimum of five days.

August 2017: Tufts and the MNA resume negotiations to try to reach a labor deal.

September 2017: Both sides agree to reschedule their next negotiating session so the union can further evaluate the hospital's latest contract offer.

October 2017: Tufts and the MNA continue negotiations.

November 2017: Tufts nurses hold their first picket since they went on strike in July.

November 2017: Rumors surface about a possible nurse strike on Christmas Day, although a strike authorization vote has not taken place. The next negotiating session is scheduled for Dec. 12.


A recently unsealed lawsuit filed by attorneys under the qui tam, or whistle-blower, provision of the False Claims Act accuses Indiana hospitals of overcharging patients for their electronic medical records.

Here are eight things to know about the lawsuit.

1. After experiencing difficulty obtaining medical records from four Indiana hospitals in their work on personal injury and medical malpractice cases, attorneys from Anderson, Agostino & Keller sued the hospitals in September 2016. They alleged the hospitals falsely certified they were meaningful users of EHR technology.

2. Under meaningful use stage 1, hospitals could show compliance and receive incentive payments by filing attestation documents reporting compliance with core criteria requirements. The lawsuit against the Indiana hospitals focuses on core measure No. 11, which aimed to provide patients with electronic medical records within three business days of receiving a request from the patient or their agent.

3. To receive the incentive payments, hospitals had to show the number of medical record requests they received annually and if the records were supplied to those requesting them within three business days. Hospitals that failed to meet at least 50 percent of their requests within the time frame would not be eligible to receive incentive payments.

4. Based on their experience requesting records from the hospitals and after examining public disclosures, the lawyers alleged the hospital defendants falsely certified compliance with core measure No. 11.

5. The lawyers also claim the hospitals allowed CIOX Health, a company that provided medical records for the hospitals, to illegally profit from the release of the electronic medical records.

"CIOX routinely and repeatedly engaged in a practice, policy, and/or scheme to illegally and fraudulently over-bill patients for the provision of medical records," the complaint states.

6. The lawyers added organizations operating an additional 65 hospitals to the lawsuit after examining disclosures and identifying a statistical trend that they argue indicates the same type of fraudulent reporting of core measure No. 11.

7. "In sum, these hospitals have been paid $324,386,169.32 in public funding from the citizens of the United States in return for the promise that patients would be provided with fast, cheap, easy access to their electronic health records, and these hospitals have failed to keep that promise," the complaint states.

"A failure to properly track and report core measure 11 means that the defendant hospitals did not achieve 'meaningful use' as defined by the legislation and its ensuing rules. This means that they were not eligible to receive any funding under this program, and have sought and received the grant funding at issue in a fraudulent manner that constitute false claims for public funding."

8. The Department of Justice declined to intervene in the lawsuit.

More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits:

Ex-WellCare general counsel gets prison time for role in $35M fraud scheme

8 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements

Georgia hospital, affiliates to pay $12.9M to settle billing fraud allegations
Federal Aviation Administration investigators are working to uncover the cause behind the crash landing of a medical transport plane Wednesday in Presque Isle, Maine, according to a Bangor Daily News report.

An engine caught fire while the plane took off from Northern Maine Regional Airport, and the aircraft crashed short of the runway when the pilot attempted to land, according to The Aroostook Medical Center.

All four passengers  the pilot, a patient, paramedic and nurse  were injured and evaluated at The Aroostook Medical Center, TAMC Communications Manager Karen Gonya said Wednesday.

FAA investigators arrived at the airport just after noon Friday, according to Adam Rider, deputy fire chief with the Presque Isle Fire Department.
The landmark Harrods department store is set for a three-year 200 million pound facelift. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese shoppers are ringing the cash tills more vigorously than ever at Harrods high-end department store in London, where they have become the nationality that spends the most.

Visitors from China have been spending more than British customers since February.

Michael Ward, Harrods' managing director, told the Financial Times that Chinese customers spent more than 200 million pounds ($267 million) in the store last year, mainly on high-end fashion items and accessories. Their spending accounted for more than 10 percent of the 2 billion pounds of annual revenues that the company reported last month in accounts that recorded a pre-tax profit of 233 million pounds.

The interest in the store from Chinese customers fits in well with the company's general shift toward doing more business in Asia.

The continued growth in spending at Harrods is being partly attributed to the declining value of the pound following the UK's decision to leave the European Union, something that means tourists' money goes further.

"London is a much more inexpensive place to go to," Ward said.

He has also called on the UK government to do more to attract more tourists from the world's second-largest economy and has suggested the issuance of more multiple-entry visas and long-term visas for parents with children studying in the UK.

With China becoming an even more lucrative market, the upscale department store is planning a major revamp as part of a 200 million pound investment aimed at catering to its global customers and holding on to its position as the world's leading luxury retailer.

Ward told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that the three-year project is the most ambitious to be undertaken since Harrods opened in 1834.

The company claims that one in every five pounds spent by Chinese visitors to Britain is spent in Harrods.

According to Ward, the revamp will not include changes to the exterior of the luxury shoppers paradise, but the interior of the store, which has 330 different sections, will be entirely redeveloped.

The investment also includes rolling out Tencents WeChat Pay service next year following the launch of Alibaba's Alipay digital payments system last year.

The company will also continue to invest in its Chinese social media accounts on WeChat and Weibo, two of the most popular platforms on the Chinese mainland.

Harrods is owned by Qatar Holdings, which bought it in 2010 for 1.5 billion pounds.
Although Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare and Anthem resolved their dispute, Connecticut lawmakers are seeking information on how the impasse affected residents, according to the Hartford Courant.

Hartford HealthCare and Anthem signed a three-year contract last week, restoring in-network coverage for tens of thousands of Anthem members treated at Hartford HealthCare facilities. The contract is retroactive to Oct. 1, when the previous agreement expired.

Despite the resolution, the Connecticut General Assembly's insurance and real estate committee planned a public hearing for Nov. 28 to probe the dispute.

"While I'm glad that the two sides were finally able to reach a deal, their inability to reach one for seven weeks negatively impacted thousands of Connecticut families and I think we owe it to the citizens of this state to find out what happened and how we can avoid prolonged disputes like this in the future," said state Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, according to the report.



Mr. Scanlon's announcement is not the only step Connecticut lawmakers pursued since Hartford HealthCare and Anthem began their feud, which at one point boiled into a lawsuit. Connecticut's lead Democrat, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, mulled reintroducing a bill aimed at governing payer-provider negotiations.
DUP MEP Diane Dodds last night attacked the call by the Republic of Ireland's European Commissioner for the UK or Northern Ireland to stay within the customs union or the single market post-Brexit.

Writing in the Observer, Phil Hogan said that such an arrangement would mean that there was no border issue.

And he said he was amazed at the "blind faith" some in London had in "theoretical future trade agreements".

But responding, Mrs Dodds said: "It is extraordinary that a European Commissioner should choose to comment on the internal affairs of a current member state in this particular way.

"This weekend at our party conference it was made quite clear from our leader that 'Northern Ireland's Brexit solution will be the United Kingdom's Brexit solution'.

"We will not allow a situation where Northern Ireland's interests are damaged by the need for customs controls with Great Britain at the behest of the EU or the Republic of Ireland.

"This would be constitutionally unacceptable and economically catastrophic for the local economy."

Earlier, DUP leader Arlene Foster accused Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney of "aggressive" behaviour on Northern Ireland.

Addressing the Oireachtas committee on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement last Thursday, Mr Coveney told members: "I am a constitutional nationalist, I would like to see a united Ireland in my lifetime. If possible, in my political lifetime."

In an interview with RTE, Mrs Foster reiterated her "regret" at the Irish government's position.

But she directed specific criticism at Mr Coveney when challenged about whether the administration's stance on Brexit was motivated by a desire for Irish unity.

"Why then did Simon use this moment in time to talk about his aspiration for a united Ireland in his political lifetime?" she asked. "I think that's quite aggressive."

Mrs Foster accused Fine Gael's relatively new leaders of megaphone diplomacy.

"Some of the rhetoric coming from Dublin recently has been of a nature that actually could bring about self-harm to the Republic," she said.

"What we should be doing is actually working together to find a way forward, but since this administration came into office, since Leo took over, and Simon became the foreign minister, there hasn't been that same engagement that we had with (ex-Taoiseach) Enda (Kenny) and (former Foreign Minister) Charlie (Flanagan). And I regret that because I think we should be working together because we are on this island."
A Brexit-backing Northern Ireland-born MP has been compared to Donald Trump after saying Ireland will have to pay if it wants to erect a physical border with Northern Ireland if Britain leaves the European Union with no deal.

Labour's Kate Hoey claimed "we won't be putting up the border" to govern EU-UK business through Northern Ireland, even if Britain leaves without agreeing new trade rules with Brussels.

And her remark that "they'll have to pay for it" drew immediate comparisons with the United States president, who has pledged to build a wall on the border with Mexico, which he claims will also pay for it to be built.

Ms Hoey told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We're not the ones who are going to be putting up the physical border.

"If it ends up with a no deal, we won't be putting up the border - they'll have to pay for it, because it doesn't need to happen."

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Reacting to the MP's comments, Cambridge University classicist Mary Beard tweeted: "When Kate Hoey on @BBCr4today talks about the Irish having to pay for putting up the border between N and S Ireland if there is to be one, she sounds to me dangerously like Mr Trump and Mexico."

The row over how to maintain a "soft" Irish border has become a key sticking point in Brexit negotiations because the Government has committed to leaving the single market and customs union, which allow for frictionless trade among members.

Prime Minister Theresa May has just a week to meet a European deadline to make progress on the issue, along with the divorce bill and citizens' rights, if she wants EU leaders to agree at the European Council summit on December 14-15 to move on to trade talks.

Ms Hoey said both sides should look to Switzerland and Norway, which are outside the EU but have close trade relationships with it, for solutions to the Irish border issue.

She said: "A lot of the technology, at the Swiss border and in Norway, is done actually away from the border - and of course the Prime Minister has said that she doesn't want cameras at the border.

"There are ways of doing this... why don't the Irish government actually become more positive about this and start looking at solutions with their closest neighbour and closest partner? After all, we are a friend of the Republic of Ireland, the relations have never been as good.

"And yet on this issue it seems like they are more concerned to keep the rest of the EU satisfied than actually looking at concrete positive proposals."

Ms Hoey also claimed Ireland would look to quit the EU once it saw Britain making a success of Brexit.

"We joined the EU together, you joined when we joined, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we leave and when we're very successful that you don't start looking as well," she said.
A Northern Ireland health trust has blasted young people for putting their own lives and the wellbeing of its patients at risk by 'free-running' on the rooftops of a hospital.

Police have received reports of youths, once again, climbing the roof of the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children above a ward which cares for terminally ill children and their parents.

"Wise up," said police.

"Not only is this extremely dangerous and ridiculously stupid, it also shows a blatant disregard for staff and patients within the hospital."

"The trust are spending money they don't have to try and stop people being able to gain access to the roof; money that could be better spent elsewhere. Your images are on CCTV and we will be following this up - you can explain your actions to a Judge."

Read More

The Belfast Trust has in the past released the CCTV images of the youths on the rooftops. Children thought to be as young as nine were involved in a similar incident in April. Security staff feared it was only a matter of time before someone was seriously injured as it was taking place at a time when the roofs were icy.

The Belfast Trust said the incidents were distressing patients.

A spokeswoman said: "So called free running has taken place on the rooftops of some of the buildings on the Royal campus in recent times, and we continue to work closely with the PSNI and community representatives to deal with it.

"Our primary concern is the comfort and wellbeing of our patients. This sort of activity adds to their distress, as well as being very unsettling for the staff who care for them.

"This is also very dangerous for those involved, and we would appeal to them to think about the impact their activities have on our patients."
Alison Bell from Newtownabbey and her six year old son Ollie, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) last year, are calling on local people to give whatever then can to support children whose lives have been devastated by cancer. To find out more visit cancerfundforchildren.com

A mum whose six-year-old son who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia is encouraging others to support the charity that was there for her family when their world was turned upside down.

Alison Bell, from Newtownabbey, is sharing her son Ollie's story as part of Cancer Fund for Children's Christmas appeal, to encourage local people to do whatever they can to support children whose lives have been devastated by cancer.

Alison said the day she was told Ollie had cancer was just the beginning of the nightmare.

"Just over a year ago, on October 18 2016, I went to wake my five-year-old son Ollie to get ready for school, just like any other day. But Ollie complained that he couldn't put his foot on the floor to get up.

"He was obviously in a lot of pain and crying so I took him to Antrim Hospital to get an X-ray. As I made the journey I was becoming increasingly worried as he had been at the doctors with a rash the week before and had been losing a lot of weight recently and looking pale."

The doctors then asked to speak to Alison alone, this is when she knew something was wrong.

"I can remember the words so clearly. 'It's not good news - your son has leukaemia.' I had to compose myself before they brought Ollie into the room with me. From there we were transferred to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children where we stayed for the next five weeks for intensive treatments.

"It's the stuff of nightmares but throughout his treatment Ollie just got on with it and fought. He celebrated his sixth on the ward and we managed to have a little party for him which we fitted in and around his chemotherapy on the day."

The next stages of Ollie's treatment were a mixture of inpatient and outpatient treatments which were really challenging for him.

Although Ollie and his family had the freedom of not being in hospital, the isolation proved very difficult on the six-year-old.

He wasn't allowed to leave his home because of the risk of infection. He missed his school and friends.

It was whilst Ollie was in hospital that he was referred to Cancer Fund for Children for support. The charity have a team of Community Specialists who provide support to children with cancer and their families either at home, in hospital or in their own community.

Cancer Fund for Children provide practical, financial and therapeutic support to children, teenagers and young adults living with cancer, and their families.

Alison commented: "Our Cancer Fund for Children Specialist Gemma was absolutely amazing and a godsend to both Ollie and to me.

"Gemma built up such a caring relationship with both of us to help us through what has been a very difficult time. Through the dark days of intensive treatment when we were restricted to the house, her visits would be the highlight of our day.

"She would use talking through play with Ollie to work through any worries he had and always knew at what point to suggest a therapeutic short break for us at Cancer Fund for Childrens short break centre, Daisy Lodge, if things were getting too much.

She also helped arrange for us to receive the charitys financial grants.

Ollie now has a year of treatment over him and has started a phase of less intensive treatment. He recently returned to school for the first time since his diagnosis.

Alison, who is currently preparing to trek the Grand Canyon in 2018 to give back to the charity that was there for her and her son, added:

I honestly dont know where I would be today with the support of Cancer Fund for Children. That is one of the reasons why Im taking part in a trek  to raise funds for a charity that has helped us on our journey and has a special place in my heart!
Arlene Foster has accused Sinn Fein's "heavy brigade" of opposing a pragmatic approach to the Stormont talks and has called on republicans to "get serious".

Addressing the DUP annual conference in Belfast on Saturday, Mrs Foster claimed that while Sinn Fein blamed everybody else for the ongoing political stalemate, it was republicans who were holding up progress.

But she maintained that the DUP remained committed to devolution and she repeated her offer to support Irish language legislation if devolution was restored.

"While we have more influence than ever before at Westminster, we also want to see our local institutions functioning and delivering for the people of Northern Ireland," she said.

"We would have re-established the Executive eight months ago without any preconditions. We would have got the government going again while dealing with issues of language and culture in parallel, but such a pragmatic approach was rejected by the heavy brigade in Sinn Fein."

The DUP leader claimed Sinn Fein was being irresponsible.

"They walked away from office earlier this year knowing what that would mean for public services and the hurt and harm it would cause hard working people," she said.

"They protest against health cuts yet held that very portfolio in the last Executive, where they would have been able to do more good than complaining at public meetings.

"They moan about what they call Tory austerity yet their Finance Minister failed to bring in a budget, leaving it to a Conservative Secretary of State.

"They complain about Brexit while refusing to form an Executive or take their seats in Parliament.

"They go to their conference and glory in the murder of the IRA. Yet when you listen to Sinn Fein they blame everyone else. It's time Sinn Fein got serious."

In negotiating its 'confidence and supply' agreement with the Tories, Mrs Foster stressed the DUP's interests were "not narrow and not sectional".

She added: "We have ensured that pensioners in every part of our kingdom will have the security of knowing that the triple lock on pensions is safe and that the winter fuel payment will remain universal.

"Our unionism doesn't end at the Irish Sea.

"We will always fight hard for the best deal for Northern Ireland, but we care about vulnerable people in Bristol and Birmingham every bit as much as those in Belfast."

She insisted that while she wanted a "sensible Brexit" with no hard border, she remained opposed to EU special status for Northern Ireland.

Responding to the speech, Sinn Fein's Northern leader Michelle O'Neill criticised Mrs Foster's support for Brexit and for Theresa May.

"Tory austerity measures have had disastrous consequences for communities across the North of Ireland," she said.

"This will be further exacerbated by the threat which Brexit will bring. The DUP support for these policies is against the interests and wishes of the majority of people in the North."

Mrs O'Neill insisted that her party was determined to restore power-sharing. "Locally elected ministers are best placed to run local public services and fight back against the austerity imposed by the British Government," she said.

But she added: "A majority of citizens in the North expect and are entitled to the same rights enjoyed by citizens across these islands - language and marriage equality rights, and due process in all aspects of the legal and judicial system, including inquests."

TUV leader Jim Allister said Mrs Foster had no mandate to concede Irish language legislation "given the basis of her last Assembly election campaign".

He accused her of "offering to concede the principle of unnecessary Irish language legislation".

He said: "With or without the fig-leaf of supposed Ulster-Scots promotion, there can be no justification for ensconcing in law language rights which will be exploited to further hollow out our Britishness and turn the public service into a cold house for non-Irish speakers.

"This is a price no unionist should pay, even for the perceived kudos of being joint First Minister."

Mr Allister said the DUP leader should recognise that mandatory coalition was "a busted flush" and use her party's influence at Westminster to insist on workable institutions at Stormont.

"Policy built on beseeching Sinn Fein to come back is visionless, made worse by offering to feed their insatiable Irish language demands," he added.
Cyclone Promotions has begun legal proceedings against Belfast former world champion boxer Carl Frampton.

The Tigers Bay-born fighter - known as 'The Jackal' to his adoring fans - broke with Cyclone Promotions earlier this year.

The dispute centres on contractual matters.

Legal representatives for Frampton say they will "defend the action rigorously" and will counter-claim on a number of grounds.

Legal proceedings were lodged against the boxer by Cyclone Promotions and Blain McGuigan, the son of former world champion boxer Barry McGuigan, at the High Court in London.

However, Barry McGuigan is not party to the legal action against Carl Frampton. He was formerly a director of Cyclone Promotions, but resigned in 2015.

It is understood the action relates to the split between the boxer and the promoter earlier this year. Frampton is now managed by MTK Global.

In a statement released last night, Frampton's legal representatives at Finucane Toner said: "Mr Frampton is deeply disappointed that Cyclone Promotions have decided to initiate legal action against him.

"However, he will not only defend this action rigorously, but can confirm he will be counter-claiming on a number of grounds.

"Mr Frampton is confident that this process will vindicate his position and reputation, and looks forward to engaging fully in this process to present all aspects of this claim before the court. Therefore it would be inappropriate to issue any further comment at this time."

Cyclone Promotions last night set out some of the background to the legal action.

"For some weeks now, Cyclone Promotions has been attempting to mediate a settlement with Carl Frampton and his representatives," it said.

"This mediation was ended by Carl Frampton's solicitors when a settlement could not be reached.

"The company therefore lodged a claim at the High Court against Carl Frampton relating to his breach of the promotional contract entered into with Cyclone Promotions.

"Cyclone Promotions is merely seeking a fair and equitable resolution to this contract dispute with Carl Frampton."

The Cyclone Promotions statement added: "The courts will now decide on the matter and since our claim marks the start of that process, it will therefore not be appropriate to make any further statement at this time."

It's just over a week since Frampton won his first fight under promoter Frank Warren, with a narrow points victory over Mexican opponent Horacio Garcia in front of a home crowd in Belfast's SSE Arena.

When he decided to end his relationship from Cyclone Promotions in August this year, Frampton said: "Having taken time to consider my future and discussed it with those closest to me, I am confident that now is the right time to move forward and take my career into my own hands."
Arlene Foster joked that the gaffe might have cost her an invite to the royal wedding

Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster has apologised to Prince Harry and the Duke of Cambridge after her Twitter account sent engagement congratulations to the wrong royal.

The former Stormont first minister blamed a "genuine typo" by a staff member tweeting on her behalf.

She joked that the gaffe might have cost her an invite to the royal wedding.

After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement was announced on Monday morning, Mrs Foster's account tweeted congratulations to HRH Prince William.

The message also mis-spelt Ms Markle's forename.

The message was soon deleted and replaced with one sending good tidings to the correct prince.

Hours later, another message was posted on Mrs Foster's account, this time apparently penned by the politician herself.

"Apologies to TRHs Princes William & Harry for tweet error on my account earlier," it read.

"I stopped tweeting personally a long time ago. Genuine typo by a member of staff. Guilty of tweeting too fast. There goes any chance of an invite!! :-) AF"
Police have launched an investigation after a primary school in Fermanagh was burgled at the weekend.

Police have launched an investigation after a primary school was burgled in Fermanagh on Sunday

Police were alerted to suspicious activity at the school in Lisnaskea at around 10pm on Sunday.

Officers attended and found that the property had been entered and ransacked, with approximately 50 iPads taken.

Detective Inspector Trevor Stevenson said: "A full investigation is now underway and I would ask anyone who noticed any suspicious activity in the area or who has any information to contact detectives in Enniskillen on 101 quoting reference number 1356 26/11/17.

"Information can also be given anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A scene from Armagh's Georgian Festival at the weekend

Tens of thousands of people converged on Armagh over the weekend to celebrate the city's Georgian heritage.

The 14th Georgian Festival, Northern Ireland's largest festive outdoor event, included mock trials and tours at the court house, Shades Of The Past evening walking tours on the Mall, a children's market at the Shambles Yard, and the Great Georgian Banquet at the Archbishop's Palace.

Georgian Day, the centrepiece of the area's cultural calendar, welcomed more than 100 market stallholders, choristers, living history characters and a plethora of activities and attractions for the thousands that helped to throng the streets.

Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council Gareth Wilson described the event as "an unrivalled success for the city".

He said it showcased the "glorious heritage of the Georgian era".
Firefighters attend the scene of the blaze in Lurgan yesterday

Plans to restore a landmark 18th century Georgian home have been put in jeopardy after the building was gutted in a deliberate blaze which 'could have cost lives'.

The derelict property on High Street, which previously belonged to the Cuppage family of Lurgan, was set alight shortly before 4.30am yesterday morning.

It was reported that a bin or rubbish was set on fire and quickly spread to the roof, which was completely destroyed in the arson attack.

Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Group Commander Max Joyce said the flames spread quickly through the complex layout of the old building.

"The people who set the fire put firefighters' lives, and the lives of the public, at extreme risk," he said.

Appliances from Dromore, Banbridge and a support unit from Lisburn were dispatched in a major operation which required 33 firefighters to stop the flames spreading to neighbouring buildings.

Aerial platforms from Belfast and Portadown also assisted in tackling the "devastating" blaze which has dealt a major blow to council plans to restore the building to its former glory.

DUP MLA Carla Lockhart praised fire crews for helping to prevent lives being put at risk.

"As well as being a commercial area there are people living in flats above some of these shops and if the fire had spread it could have been a risk to life," she said.

"Many business owners have suffered stress as a result of this and I appeal for anyone with information to contact police."

The Upper Bann representative also said the destruction of the historic home beside the old Orchard County Hotel - formerly known as Silverwood House - will disappoint many residents.

"It's a very historic building which has been derelict for many years," she said. "It belonged to the Cuppages who were very involved with the Army. The council was in the process of trying to secure funding from the lottery's heritage fund to repair the building and regenerate the area."

The house, which was built by former bank owner Adam Cuppage, was known as Bengal Place due to family's strong links to India, with several members of the family serving in the Indian Army.

A former resident of the adjoining Silverwood House in Lurgan, Cuppage once saved a besieged garrison from starvation by creeping through the enemy lines under the cover of darkness to bring back provisions.

A decorative urn made from all the silver given up by his grateful fellow officers was brought back to Lurgan and kept in Silverwood House until it passed out of the possession of the Cuppage family.

Alexander Cuppage, who had previously emigrated to the 'New World', inherited the property shortly after the end of the First World War and returned from Canada to live there.

Mrs Lockhart and other representatives will meet today to discuss the future of the lottery funding application and attempts to salvage the property.
The grieving husband of a woman killed in a Belfast city centre lorry crash last week has thanked friends for their support.

Lorraine Burrows (48) died in hospital hours after she was struck by a lorry in Wellwood Street during Tuesday morning's rush hour.

A recruitment consultant for Keenan Health Care on Adelaide Street, tributes poured in through the week from heartbroken family, friends and colleagues.

Her funeral was held in Belfast's Roselawn Crematorium on Saturday morning, with friends gathering later to share fond memories afterwards at the Ormeau Road's Pavilion Bar.

A family notice described her as the "loving wife to Jonny, beloved daughter to the late Ruby and Desi, and sister to Alice".

Speaking ahead of the service, her husband expressed his gratitude for the hundreds who passed on their condolences on social media.

"Thank you so much for all the messages of support. I now know that things like that really do make a difference," he said.

"Lorraine would have been so happy to see all of the nice comments."

Family friend Denise Stewart added: "My best friend taken far too soon, I will treasure the memories we shared. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Love you forever."

Cranium Hair salon closed its doors on Saturday to allow staff to attend the service.

"Lorraine was much loved by us all and will be sorely missed, it is truly a sad day for us," the staff said in a statement.

Another friend from the salon added: "You were one of the kindest and friendliest women in the world and we will all miss you so, so much Lorraine. Rest in Peace."

Mrs Burrows was known for her fondness for cats and mourners were asked for any donations to be given to the Cats Protection charity.

Her colleagues at Keenan Healthcare added they were "numb with shock," prompting their office to close for the day.

A statement read: "Our thoughts and prayers go to Lorraine's husband Jonny, who was her absolute world, and to all of her family and friends.

"She will be sorely missed at Keenan."

The PSNI have appealed for any witnesses on Wellwood Street at 8am on November 21 to come forward, including those who may have a dashcam on their car which recorded the crash. They can call police on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 198 for November 21.
a 47-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after a male suffered head injuries in an incident in east Belfast yesterday.

The 39-year-old victim was rushed to hospital with lacerations to his head sustained during the attack, at around 8.30am.

It is understood he had been drinking at a house in Lendrick Street during the night.

The victim sustained cuts to his hands during the assault. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to the PSNI.

The accused was also charged with possession of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.

He is due before a court in Belfast today.

East Belfast Alliance councillor David Armitage said that the community had been left upset by this incident, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.

He added: "It is the first time I have heard of something like this in the area. I am shocked by this incident and I know many in the local community will be as well.

"I am thankful the victim did not appear to suffer life-threatening injuries and hope he makes a full recovery.

"I would like to pass on my best wishes to the victim and his family."

DUP MLA Joanne Bunting added: "I condemn in the strongest possible terms any violent attack in east Belfast or elsewhere."

The PSNI said: "Officers forced entry to a property and detained a 47-year-old man who was then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

"We would urge anyone who was in this part of the Newtownards Road between 8am and 8.30am this morning and saw any suspicious activity to get in contact with detectives at Musgrave on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 446 of 26/11/17."
The mosque in Sinai after the gun and bomb attack on Friday

Presbyterian Moderator Dr Noble McNeely - who recently returned from a church visit to Cairo - has condemned the Islamic State attack in Egypt which left more than 300 people dead.

The victims were killed on Friday by militants during a gun and bomb attack while they were at prayer at a Sufi Mosque in North Sinai.

Dr McNeely said: "I condemn violence from every quarter, and these people were human beings like the rest of us. My sympathies go out to their families.

"On the previous Friday I attended a large gathering of Coptic Christians and representatives from many of the reformed churches in Europe and parts of the Middle East and I was aware of how vulnerable large groups of worshippers are."

Dr McNeely said that despite murderous attacks by Islamist extremists on Coptic Christians, he had felt safe during his visit.

"The main sign of security for us was when an armed policeman accompanied us to church on Sunday morning.

"The church members in Cairo feel relatively safe because of government security, but it is those in the rural areas who feel most vulnerable."

Dr McNeely was the only representative of the reformed church in the Britain to visit Egypt to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

While there, he met the Coptic Church Patriarch and members of the Egyptian government. He was among 60 delegates from Christian churches in Europe, Palestine and Lebanon.

The visit was hosted by the Protestant churches of Egypt. Dr McNeely said that he had received a message from the President of the Protestant churches, following the attack.

During a sermon at Whitehouse Presbyterian Church to mark its 150th anniversary, the Moderator stressed the importance of people acting as disciples of Christ in a secular society.

Speaking later, he called for politicians north and south to work together to maintain stability.

"I would call on politicians in the Irish Republic to try to avoid a snap election at this time when stability is needed, especially when major decisions have to be made about Brexit.

"I would also call on politicians in Northern Ireland to work together and to make the Assembly work. People on all sides are frustrated by the lack of political progress."
The aftermath of the mortar attack on an Army barracks in Osnabrueck, Germany, in 1996

Jim Corry was kept in a German jail for just four days after receiving a four-year sentence

The niece of a young woman murdered by the IRA in Germany has expressed her disbelief after a man convicted of another attack in the country served just four days in jail.

Melanie Anan is the niece of Heidi Hazell (26), who was gunned down as she sat in her car in the town of Unna Massen, near Dortmund, in 1989.

She was married to a soldier who had been stationed in the area at the time.

Ms Anan has been campaigning for her aunt's killer to be brought to justice, and got the police investigation into the murder reopened in 2015.

But the release of an IRA bomber after just four days in a German jail has been a bitter blow.

Sunday Life revealed yesterday that Jim Corry from north Belfast - who was jailed on October 25 after being sentenced to four years for the 1996 attack at a British Army base in Osnabrueck - was freed on October 29. He flew into Dublin the following day and was treated to a welcome home party that evening.

Ms Anan told the Belfast Telegraph that she was sickened to learn that Corry's return home was celebrated by republicans including Sinn Fein TD and former IRA leader Martin Ferris.

Ms Anan previously said she had hoped Germany would be tougher on IRA terrorists than the UK had been after it emerged that republican fugitives had been given 'letters of comfort' telling them they were no longer wanted by police.

But last night those hopes were dashed, and she asked her own country's government the simple question: "What is wrong with you?"

There has been no indication of why Corry was released by the German authorities after just four days. A post on the Irish Republican Prisoner News Facebook page said one year of Corry's four-year sentence was waived because of an "unlawful delay".

The Belfast Telegraph contacted the German Embassy in the UK in London yesterday, but did not receive a response.

Ms Anan said she was very angry about the situation.

The German said she was determined to open the eyes of her country to the IRA by making a film.

"Dear State, you put people in jail because they can't pay their bills and terrorists are allowed to mingle with society again," she said. "We are planning on making a German short film to wake people here up.

"In this film I will reveal all my research and my findings, and that based on those the Federal Prosecutor decided to reopen the case. We will also showcase how the terrorists were let go home free... even here in Germany! And that without words they still honoured the GFA (Good Friday Agreement), because all he spent in jail was 24 months, the most any terrorist should spend in jail, according to the GFA!"

DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson also questioned the release of Corry.

"There will be understandable anger that he only served four days in prison after his conviction and four-year sentence," he told Sunday Life.

During his trial in July, Corry admitted being part of an IRA unit that attempted to fire three explosive shells at the base. The court was also told that Corry no longer had any involvement with the IRA.

Corry (48), who was extradited to Germany last December, had only been expected to serve a nominal two years in prison because the bombing he was convicted of took place before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Although the peace accord does not apply in Germany, the authorities there were expected to honour its terms.

Sir Jeffrey added: "I cannot see how early release would apply in this case as Germany does not fall under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.

"We need an explanation from the German authorities, and they should also reveal whether they were lobbied by Sinn Fein to release Corry."

Actor Corry once had a role as a British squaddie in a Channel 4 production called High Boot Benny.

He also played an RUC officer opposite Amanda Burton and Kevin McNally in The Precious Blood, a BBC drama about a political killing in Northern Ireland.
The UK's highest court is to hear the final appeal in the Ashers Bakery case at the end of April next year when it sits in Belfast for the first time.

The Supreme Court will sit in the Inns of Court Library at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast - only the second time in its history that it has been held outside London.

Supreme Court President Lady Hale will be joined by Deputy President Lord Mance, Lord Kerr - who is a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland - Lord Hodge and Lady Black for up to four days of hearings.

One of the cases being heard in Belfast will be the high-profile legal argument over a cake with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage.

The judges will hear arguments on whether a bakery directly discriminated against a customer on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Ashers said it could not fulfil an order for a cake with "Support Gay Marriage" written on it because of religious beliefs.

The bakery's Christian owners are challenging a ruling that they breached equality laws by refusing to make a pro-gay marriage cake for an activist, Gareth Lee.

The Supreme Court is a relatively recent innovation, beginning in 2009.

Established as part of the measures included in the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, it has taken over the judicial functions previously held by Law Lords in the House of Lords.

Lord Chief Justice Kerr is originally from Co Armagh and studied at Queen's University before being called to the Bar in 1970. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as Northern Ireland's final Law Lord.

In its first venture away from its London base last month, the court held a sitting in the Scottish capital.

The Court will also hear a case on whether a policy on allowances for widowed parents breaches human rights laws.

Lady Hale said she was delighted the court will sit in Belfast, adding: "Whilst in Belfast we shall hear two significant appeals from the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

"This will be a fantastic opportunity for local people to see the Court in action on their doorstep. The Supreme Court is committed to being one of the most open and accessible in the world and, like all our hearings, our Belfast cases will be live streamed via our website for everyone who cannot get to see us in person."

Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Sir Declan Morgan said: "I believe it is important for people in this jurisdiction to have the opportunity to see the work of the Court at first hand, which can only help to enhance public confidence in the administration of justice."
Theresa May with Secretary of State Damian Green, DUP leader Arlene Foster, DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds, as MP Jeffrey Donaldson shakes hands with Chief Whip, Gavin Williamson, inside 10 Downing Street in central London on June 26, 2017.

The DUP has said no arrangement exists between it and the Conservative party over the funding of a adviser position for the Northern Ireland party.

The Times on Monday revealed that the cabinet minister offered to channel money to the party in a secret side deal.

In the wake of June's snap General Election which saw Tories' majority wiped out, the two parties brokered a confidence and supply to allow the DUP to prop up Theresa May's government.

In Monday's Times it said the DUP suggested it wanted the creation of a DUP adviser post paid for from government funds as part of the deal.

However, this was rejected by the government's head of propriety and ethics, the paper claimed as it was a parliamentary deal rather than a government deal.

The Times claimed First Secretary of State Mr Green and Arlene Foster discussed the role with it being agreed the Conservatives would fund the position.

Downing Street, the report states, did not say to it if the prime minister was aware of the offer. It did say that that the proposal had never resulted in any payments going ahead. Mr Greens office told the paper it did not comment on private conversations.

Downing Street told the Belfast Telegraph it would not comment on the matter and referred us to the Conservative Party.

A DUP spokesman said: "If The Times had contacted the DUP before printing this story, we could have pointed out that no such arrangement exists.

"The Parties Coordination Committee continues to meet to ensure stable Government in the United Kingdom.

When asked if a deal ever existed, or the party asked for the funding, the DUP did not respond.

The Conservative Party has been asked for a comment.
A man charged with raping two women in Belfast allegedly roamed the streets at night seeking vulnerable people for sex, a court heard today.

Turkish national Orhan Kibar is accused of attacking the pair and imprisoning one of them at the weekend.

The 41-year-old, of Claremont Street in the city, was refused bail amid claims that relatives plan to help him flee to his native country or Denmark.

Kibar appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with three counts of rape and false imprisonment.

He allegedly committed the offences after meeting the two women early on Saturday morning and taking them back to his apartment.

Standing head bowed in the dock, he spoke through an interpreter only to confirm that he understood the charges.

Opposing his release, a detective constable expressed fears that he could re-offend.

She said: "A woman known to the defendant provided a statement outlining her concerns about her knowledge of him walking the streets in the early hours of the morning, looking for vulnerable women, approaching them and requesting they have sex with him."

Agreeing with her assertions, the detective added: "That's how he came into contact with these injured parties."

The court heard the two women sustained bruising - one to her legs and arm and the other to the back of her head.

According to police relatives of Kibar are aware of the case and have been making arrangements to get him to either Denmark or Turkey if he is released from custody.

In cross-examination, defence counsel Sean O'Hare put it to the detective that Kibar still doesn't know the full allegations against him because interviews with the complainants have yet to be completed.

She replied that both are co-operating with police, but one was too traumatised to go through a special evidence process at the weekend.

Mr O'Hare stressed the issue of consent surrounding the alleged offences.

"There's CCTV footage from the defendant's own apartment block that apparently shows the defendant and the injured parties going back to his apartment together," he said.

But the detective countered: "The injured parties would state they did go back to the apartment, but they certainly did not consent (to what happened)."

Despite being told Kibar has lived "quietly" in Northern Ireland for several years, District Judge Fiona Bagnall denied bail.

She said: "On the basis of what I have been told I think there's a likelihood of re-offending, and I think there's likely to be a risk to the public as well."

Kibar was remanded in custody to appear again by video-link on December 20. ends
The two main parties in the Republic remain locked in a stand-off over a police whistleblower controversy that threatens to bring down the country's government - just as the UK's Brexit talks with the European Union enter a crucial phase.

If the Fine Gael-led minority administration fails to resolve the bitter row with main opposition party Fianna Fail by tomorrow, a snap pre-Christmas election looks the only option.

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin held talks over the weekend in a bid to avert a government meltdown at a time when ministers are preparing for December's crunch EU summit, when the fate of the Irish border post-Brexit could effectively be determined.

The wrangle surrounds the future of Tanaiste (deputy premier) Frances Fitzgerald who is under intense pressure to resign over her handling of a 2015 email that revealed attempts to discredit a Garda whistleblower, Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

Mr Martin, whose party is keeping Mr Varadkar's coalition government alive through an 18-month-old confidence and supply agreement, has refused to back down on a motion of no confidence in Mrs Fitzgerald.

It is scheduled for tomorrow night and, if Fianna Fail follows through with it, the confidence and supply pact would be broken and the government would fall.

One way out of the impasse could be for Mrs Fitzgerald to fall on her sword.

However, Mr Varadkar has made clear he does not want her to walk away.

If the Dail is dissolved, Mr Varadkar would be reduced to the role of caretaker Taoiseach when he travels to Brussels for the summit.

On Sunday, Employment and Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty tried to assure the Irish public that the government would still be able to represent Ireland's best interests in Brussels.

"Regardless of what happens on Tuesday you will still have a government and you will still have a department and team of people who will go to Europe in December, despite of what the political establishment is going to force us into, and make sure we get the best deal that we can," she said.

On Saturday, Mr Varadkar provided Mr Martin with an update on an emergency trawl of documents within the Department of Justice in an attempt to locate additional information regarding the whistleblower furore.

Ms Doherty told RTE's The Week in Politics that the Taoiseach was trying to provide "confidence and comfort" to Fianna Fail's "misgivings".

Fianna Fail TD Dara Calleary said his party was trying to hold the government to account.

"We are trying to get answers, that's what our job is," he said.

Mr Calleary added: "Confidence and supply is dependent on us having confidence in the government.

"The government must realise that in order to earn confidence we must trust them."
Jean-Claude Juncker has been urged to intervene to allow a British city to be named the European Capital of Culture despite Brexit.

British entrants for the 2023 honour have been deemed ineligible because the UK will not be part of the European Union or European Economic Area by then.

But in a letter to European Commission president Mr Juncker, MPs representing the five areas which have submitted bids for culture capital status urged him to allow the process to continue.

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They told him: We find it inexplicable that the European Union waited until after the bids from the United Kingdom had been submitted before ruling them all ineligible, when it has been aware of the United Kingdoms decision since June 2016.

Politics should not interfere with what is in many ways an event intended to bridge cultural and political divides.

Five different UK bids were competing to host the 2023 European Capital of Culture, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on their entries.

Nottingham, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Dundee and a joint Belfast-Londonderry-Strabane bid were all in the running for the accolade, which has the potential to provide a significant economic boost.

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In the letter organised by Leeds West Labour MP Rachel Reeves, representatives from all five areas told Mr Juncker: Parliament has always been clear that it wishes to remain close to the European Union and the exclusion of the United Kingdom from the bidding process is saddening.

Having a capital of culture would be an excellent way of fostering this relationship and continuing cooperation after Brexit.

The MPs pointed out that cities in Norway, Iceland, Turkey and Serbia have held or will hold capital of culture status, although they acknowledged that all were either within the European Economic Area or candidate countries to join the EU, the grounds for eligibility set for the competition.

We politely remind you that the United Kingdom is still a member of the European Union and that no decision has yet been made as to what a future relationship will look like, the MPs told Mr Juncker.

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The group have also written to Culture Secretary Karen Bradley to ask what can be done to resolve the situation.

The European Commission said the position was one of the many concrete consequences of Brexit and the result of the approach to Brexit set out by Theresa May which would see the UK leave the single market.

The commission said that EU law decided in 2014 by all member states, including the UK, ruled you have to be in the EU, the EEA or a candidate to join in order to take part in the competition.

The UKs letter declaring Article 50 in turn makes clear that UK will be a member of neither the EU nor the EEA from March 30 2019, the commission said.

This leads to the inescapable conclusion that the UK cannot host a Capital of Culture in 2023.
The Government has unveiled plans aimed at making the UK the worlds most innovative nation by 2030 by investing 725 million to transform industries.

The money includes 170 million towards building houses that are more affordable and use less energy, and 210 million to improve early diagnosis of illnesses and development of precision medicine for patients.

The measures are part of the Industrial Strategy, which sets out the Governments long-term vision on how to tackle the UKs poor productivity, embrace technological change and boost wages.

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The 725 million will go into a fund over the next three years, on top of previously announced 1 billion towards projects  although ministers said around 80 billion could be invested in advanced technology in the next decade.

To mark the launch of a White Paper on industrial strategy, leading life sciences company MSD said it will open a state-of-the-art hub in the UK to drive research into future treatments for patients.

Around 150 research roles will be created, and it is envisaged that the new site will accommodate hundreds of staff for the UK domestic market and other European clinical functions currently based in MSDs Hoddesdon offices in Hertfordshire.

The Government said it will press ahead with a series of so-called sector deals covering life sciences, construction, artificial intelligence and automotive.

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Ministers said they represented a new strategic and long-term partnership with Government, backed by private sector co-investment.

The move aims to build on an announcement by the Prime Minister last week that the Governments ambition is to deliver a step change in the level of investment in research and development (R&D), rising from 1.7% to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

Theresa May said: Our modern Industrial Strategy will shape a stronger and fairer economy for decades to come. It will help create the conditions where successful businesses can emerge and grow, and support these businesses in seizing the big opportunities of our time, such as artificial intelligence and big data, whilst also making sure our young people have the skills to take on the high-paid, high-skilled jobs this creates.

As we leave the European Union and forge a new path for ourselves, we need to focus on building a better future for our country and all the people who live in it. With the Budget last week, and our Industrial Strategy in the years ahead, we will build a Britain fit for the future.

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Business Secretary Greg Clark said: Any serious strategy should address the weaknesses that stop us achieving our potential, as well as our strengths, and this Industrial Strategy does that.

Britains productivity performance has not been good enough, and is holding back our earning power as a country.

So this Industrial Strategy deliberately strengthens the five foundations of productivity: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places.

Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF  the manufacturers organisation, commented: The White Paper acts as a good foundation for a new partnership with industry where Government and business can ensure consistency in policy thinking and implementation to ensure the UK is a world leader in these new technologies.
Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace in London, Monday Nov. 27, 2017. It was announced Monday that Prince Harry, fifth in line for the British throne, will marry American actress Meghan Markle in the spring, confirming months of rumors. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday November 27, 2017. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. See PA story ROYAL Wedding. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday November 27, 2017. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. See PA story ROYAL Wedding. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 27: Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 27: Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 27: Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday November 27, 2017. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. See PA story ROYAL Wedding. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle react as they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday November 27, 2017. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. See PA story ROYAL Wedding. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday November 27, 2017. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. See PA story ROYAL Wedding. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle arrive to pose for photographs in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry stands with his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle as she shows off her engagement ring whilst they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday November 27, 2017. The much-anticipated news was confirmed by the Prince of Wales in a brief statement issued by Clarence House. See PA story ROYAL Wedding. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry stands with his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle as she shows off her engagement ring whilst they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Britain's Prince Harry stands with his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle as she shows off her engagement ring whilst they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement. Britain's Prince Harry will marry his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle early next year after the couple became engaged earlier this month, Clarence House announced on Monday. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVASDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 27: Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

If there is one thing likely to make sure Meghan Markle settles in well with the royal family, it will be her love of dogs.

The actress has two rescue dogs, a beagle named Guy and a Labrador-shepherd mix called Bogart.

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Ms Markle said the pair mean the absolute world to her and she refers to them as my loves and my boys.

Guy and Bogart have regularly featured on her Instagram account, with Guy even appearing in a patriotic knitted union flag jumper.

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It was American comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres who convinced Ms Markle to adopt Bogart  her first pet  after she bumped into her in a shelter.

She turns around and comes and taps on the window glass and she yells Take the dog! And so I brought him home. Because Ellen told me to, Ms Markle said.

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Speculation that a royal engagement was imminent intensified when it was reported Ms Markle was putting arrangements in place to move the animals from her home in Toronto to London.

Prince Harrys grandmother the Queen is the royal best known for her love of dogs.

She has owned more than 30 corgis, many of them direct descendants of Susan, who was so loved she accompanied the then Princess Elizabeth on her honeymoon.

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Now she has only one corgi left, Willow, and two dorgis, Candy and Vulcan.

She introduced the new breed of dog known as the dorgi when her corgi Tiny mated with a dachshund sausage dog called Pipkin which belonged to Princess Margaret.

Bogart might turn out to be a favourite with the Queen.

Labradors are bred and kept at Sandringham and the Queen has a close bond with the animals, which are working gundogs more than pets.

Ms Markle is a keen advocate of adopting dogs, often using the #adoptdontshop hashtag in her posts, which will go down well with Harrys stepmother the Duchess of Cornwall.

Camilla is patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and adopted her two adored Jack Russells, Beth and Bluebell, from the shelter.

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also have a cocker spaniel called Lupo, a wedding present from Kates brother James Middleton.

Harry grew up surrounded by dogs. His father the Prince of Wales had a Jack Russell called Tigga, who featured on some of the Princes Christmas cards along with William and Harry.

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But not all royals dogs are well behaved.

In 2003, as the family was gathering for Christmas at Sandringham in Norfolk, Pharos, one of the Queens oldest corgis, was savaged by Florence, the Princess Royals English bull terrier, and had to be put down.

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The year before, Anne was fined 500 and ordered to pay 500 compensation when another of her bull terriers, Dottie, attacked two children in Windsor Great Park.
The village is near the town of Boukamal, which Syrian troops and their allies captured this month

An air strike on a Syrian village held by the Islamic State group has killed at least 25 people, all of them civilians, according to activists.

The Deir Ezzor 24 activist group blamed Russian warplanes for the strike on Sunday on the village of Shaafa in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

The village is near the town of Boukamal, which Syrian troops and their allies captured this month.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a higher death toll, saying 53 people were killed, including 21 children.

The Russian defence ministry said six Tu-22M3 long-range bombers scrambled from Russia and carried out an air strike on "terrorists' objects" in Deir el-Zour.

Syria's violence has not abated ahead of the resumption of UN peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday.

The peace talks will begin as scheduled even though the government delegation might not arrive on time, a diplomat has said.

The opposition had announced last week it was prepared to enter direct talks with the government without preconditions, although some opposition figures have demanded President Bashar Assad relinquish power once the country enters a transitional period.

The government has not named its delegation to the talks and the pro-government Al-Watan daily said the state's team is not expected to head to Geneva on Monday as scheduled, claiming the opposition demands for Assad to leave are "hidden conditions".

In Geneva, a diplomatic official close to the negotiations said that despite indications the government delegation had delayed its arrival, there was nothing to suggest the talks would not start on Tuesday as scheduled.

The UN's deputy envoy to Syria, Ramzy Ramzy, said after meeting Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad on Saturday in Damascus that the talks would cover four main topics, a new constitution, governance, elections and combating terrorism.

AP
Pakistani Islamists are celebrating after the country's law minister resigned, caving in to fundamentalist protesters who have been demanding his removal in a three-week rally.

After Zahid Hamid's resignation, the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party, which was behind the sit-in in Islamabad and protests in other cities and towns across Pakistan, said they were dispersing peacefully under an agreement with the government.

The development underscored how a small Islamist party was able to pressure the Pakistani government and force it to accept its demands through a protracted stand-off.

The Islamists had demanded Mr Hamid's resignation over an omitted reference to Islam's Prophet Mohammed in a parliamentary bill.

He apologised for the omission in the bill, saying it was a clerical error that was later corrected, b ut the Islamists persisted, taking to the streets and setting up a sit-in at the Faizabad intersection on the edge of the Pakistani capital.

The Islamists effectively blocked the country's key highway, the Grand Trunk Road motorway, linking Islamabad with the eastern Punjab province and the north west, disrupting life and forcing commuters to look for alternate routes.

Clashes erupted on Saturday when riot police tried to disperse the Islamabad sit-in and descended on the protesters with tear gas and batons, leaving six dead and dozens injured.

The violent crackdown also triggered solidarity protests by Islamists in other cities and towns, leading to what could have been a major political crisis that could have paralysed many urban areas.

Mr Hamid submitted his resignation to prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi late on Sunday after security forces held back from another attempt to disperse the protesters, three security officials said.

Interior minister Ahsan Iqbal told the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court, Shaukat Sadiqui, on Monday that the government signed an agreement with the rally organisers to avoid a "civil-war like situation".

Islamabad-based analyst Imtiaz Gul described the outcome as a "retreat" by the state. He said Saturday's crackdown was "miserably planned and poorly executed".

At the Faizabad intersection, jubilant Islamists kissed the hand of their leader and party chief, firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, handed out sweets and chanted, "God is Great" and "Prophet, we are here for you".

In announcing the deal with the government, Mr Rizvi told supporters they "are immediately ending" the rally. He also thanked the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, for facilitating the agreement under which Mr Hamid would resign and all detained party activists would be freed.

Mr Rizvi asked his followers to pack up but await the return of their detained activists so they could all go back together to the city of Lahore, the party's base.

After he spoke, security forces began removing shipping containers surrounding the sit-in that had meant to prevent the protest from spreading deeper into the city.

Under the deal, the Islamists also agreed not to issue a fatwa, a Muslim edict that could endanger Mr Hamid. The minister's home in eastern Punjab province was twice attacked by Islamists though he was not there at the time.

AP
Pope Francis is greeted by young children in traditional clothes upon his arrival at Yangon's airport, Myanmar.

Pope Francis has arrived on a visit to Burma and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's poorest people, but the big question was whether he would utter the word "Rohingya".

Francis immediately dived into the Rohingya Muslim crisis by meeting Burma's powerful military leader, General Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations.

The general is in charge of the security operation in Rakhine state, where a military crackdown against the Muslim minority has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke did not provide details of the private 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence, other than to say: "They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the UN says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in Rakhine.

Burma's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohingya" because it is shunned by many locally as the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country.

However, Francis has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters", and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Burma's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalised.

Mr Burke did not say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

Upon arrival in Rangoon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Burma's Catholics, who lined the roads wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children in traditional dress greeted him as he drove in a simple blue car, chanting "Viva il papa!" (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Burmese and Holy See flags.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologised for the expected heat, which was 32C on his arrival and is expected to rise.

On Tuesday, he will begin the main protocol portion of his week-long trip, meeting the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and delivering a speech to other Burmese authorities and diplomats.

He will greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Burmese security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

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The bereaved and survivors of the Troubles must wonder if their pain and trauma counts for anything in the wider scheme of things. They have been promised many things - including even a modicum of justice - but somehow all that seems to be delivered to the vast majority of them is heartache and hurt.

Take the case of Jim Corry reported in this newspaper today. He was convicted of an IRA mortar bomb attack on a British Army base in Germany in 1996 and jailed in October - for a mere four days.

That is a sentence which beggars belief. While no one was injured in the attack, one of the three 180lbs mortars fired exploded inside the base, home to 150 soldiers. It was good fortune that death or injury did not occur.

At the time the IRA had broken its own ceasefire to put pressure on the UK Government to seal a deal under the peace process.

What makes this sentence so astonishing is that another member of the bomb team spent 27 months in jail for his part in the attack.

Under a deal hammered out as part of the Good Friday Agreement, those convicted of historic terrorist offences cannot serve more than two years in jail. That was a bitter blow for bereaved families and survivors to swallow, but they did so for the greater good in the hope that the horror of the past could be consigned to history and that pledges to give them some justice and/or closure would be honoured.

But that hope seems more and more misplaced as the political impasse continues at Stormont, amid suggestions that an amnesty of sorts could be introduced, effectively drawing a line under the past.

The Corry case demonstrates the lack of transparency that surrounds so much of the effort to deal with the toxic legacy of the past.

His quick release from prison appears to have caught most people on the hop and there is no immediate indication on why he was treated so leniently.

It barely seems worth the trouble and expense of prosecuting him for such a derisory sentence. Rather than looking like justice, the case just insults and further disheartens those seeking legal redress.

The very least that needs to be done now is for the German authorities to explain fully why they took the decision to release Corry with such indecent haste.

That would enable people to make a more informed judgment and, perhaps, restore some faith in the legal system.
Last year's DUP conference was held in October. Donald Trump hadn't even been elected US President yet. It was another world.

Addressing the party faithful for the first time as leader that month, Arlene Foster was in ebullient form: "Conference, what a year it has been!"

She had every reason to boast. The DUP had emerged strongly from Assembly elections just a few months earlier. A new power sharing Executive had been launched with a fanfare. The first female First Minister was fresh from attending a joint ministerial meeting at Downing Street alongside her Sinn Fein deputy, Martin McGuinness, in a show of unity, to press for Northern Ireland's "unique circumstances" to be recognised post-Brexit.

It was, as she told delegates at La Mon House Hotel, looking back at the preceding deadlock, "a very different scenario from where we were a year ago".

The DUP leader could have borrowed those exact same words to open the keynote speech to her second party conference as leader this weekend, too. Unfortunately, the words would have held an entirely opposite meaning. The positives from last year have mutated into negatives; promise has collapsed into discontent; local politics is back to being a byword for dysfunction and stagnation.

Arlene Foster did not shy away from that reality at the weekend, telling delegates: "If the last year has proved anything, it is that we live in an uncertain world." Clearly the woman has a genius for understatement.

In truth, it didn't take long after last year's conference for everything to start falling apart. Those three little words "ash for cash" were about to enter the political vocabulary.

The row over Arlene's role in pushing the Renewable Heating Initiative had been brewing behind the scenes for months, but as estimates of valuable revenue lost to the scheme kept rising, there were soon calls by everyone from Stormont's newly formed Opposition to wee Jamie Bryson for the First Minister to stand aside pending an inquiry.

Sinn Fein had little inclination to defend devolution, having been in a state of giddiness ever since the Brexit poll earlier that summer seemingly opened the door to unpicking Northern Ireland's place in the UK. The Assembly's fate was sealed.

Mrs Foster could, arguably, have saved the day by stepping aside temporarily, but she didn't want her enemies to have that scalp.

She came out fighting with a bravura performance at Stormont which only annoyed her critics by being so powerful. Whether or not she did the right thing will be debated for years, but it was consistent with the DUP leader's toughness, the very quality which endears her to her supporters.

The Assembly election that followed proved much trickier than the first one she'd fought as leader the previous year. In the febrile atmosphere of a campaign, Foster's dismissal of demands for a standalone Irish Language Act with the words "if you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back and looking for more" were easily spun as an insulting attack on Irish identity itself.

Sinn Fein adeptly exploited the controversy, and the results saw them come within a whisker of becoming the largest party in Northern Ireland for the first time ever. Five months on from 2016's triumphant DUP party conference, it would have been easy to paint an unflattering picture of Arlene Foster after February's result as a stubborn dogmatist who'd thrown away a golden opportunity.

The next few months, however, showed that she did have the capacity to learn. She expressed what felt like genuine regret for the crocodile remark by reaching out to Irish language speakers, whilst attending IRA leader Martin McGuinness's funeral mass in the Bogside demonstrated a capacity for making symbolic gestures.

When the surprise general election was called, she got her reward as a hung parliament left the DUP in a position to extract concessions from the minority Tory government in return for their support.

The political pendulum in Northern Ireland was now swinging back and forth with dramatic regularity.

Suddenly it was SF which was on the back foot. Hanging tough during negotiations at Westminster to win the best deal for Northern Ireland also paid dividends. Arlene Foster's team looked again like serious operators, but it didn't change the fundamentals. There was still no agreement in Belfast, and talks dragged on. And on.

As she rose to speak at the La Mon House this weekend, everyone knew that the chances of restoring devolved government in the near future were remote. This was the context in which she had to make her pitch, not only to DUP true believers, but beyond the room as well.

The mark of a good politician is how well he or she adapts to new circumstances. Arlene Foster does not give the impression of being a woman who gets her kicks from rolling crises or interminable talks about talks. She just wants to get on with the job, so this year has not suited her at all. Her frustration is palpable, whereas SF appears quite relaxed about being out of office. Opposition fits the party temperamentally.

One way of judging her speech to the conference this weekend would be on how well it cut that ground from under SF's complacency and opened the door back towards power sharing. Judged in that light, there was nothing in Saturday's speech that changed the current dynamic. Her words were designed to reassure the broader unionist family.

At the same time, her speech was interesting for recognising that public arguments are now increasingly conducted through a cultural, not merely a narrow political, lens. In saying that a respect for Irish culture does not threaten the Union, she rightly married that to a call for republicans to also respect British identity.

"What we oppose," she said, "is using the cloak of rights as a Trojan horse designed to break unionists."

The reference to Gerry Adams' infamously nasty remark about equality being a ruse to "break these b*******" was pointed and effective. This gets to the heart of the contradiction in Sinn Fein. Republicans respond with high dudgeon when Irishness is maligned, but treat Britishness with scornful derision, almost as if were a bad joke.

How effective Arlene Foster proves at articulating that message may determine the shape of her leader's speech to next year's party conference, though only a mug would dare to make predictions these days. As the Fermanagh woman has discovered all too well over the last twelve months, there are no guarantees in politics.

The world is changing too quickly. The future belongs to those versatile enough to change with it.
While the event happens deep in rural parts of Berkeley County, it is no less important. It started over two decades ago by a woman once paralyzed from a tumor on her spine. She later beat back the disability enough to walk and get back to work and life. Read moreAnnual Kids Day is back on in Berkeley County
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First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

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The upcoming pharmaceutical plant will comply with the Word Health Organisations Good Manufacturing Practices.

India-based pharmaceutical company, VTSIX Group, will soon be setting up a factory in Cambodia in early 2018 after signing a land lease agreement with Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ).

The upcoming pharmaceutical plant will comply with the Word Health Organisations Good Manufacturing Practices (WHO GMP), adding that the entry of the Indian company into the local market will help diversify the countrys industrial output.

VTSIX Group produces a wide range of oral pharmaceuticals, including tablets, capsules and syrups. The company brings a significant amount of investment into the kingdom, aiming to produce up to 500 million units per year in the form of capsules, tablets or syrups, a solid output that will require the employment of at least 25 well-trained and qualified workers.

According to a report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, bilateral trade between India and Cambodia reached $160 million during the years 2014 and 2015 combined, an increase of about 4 percent from the period 2013-2014, when trade amounted to $154 million.
Is AMR Modern-day FRANKENSTEINS MONSTER?

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) continues to pose a significant public health problem in terms of mortality and economic loss. The rising AMR is a matter of huge concern that needs to be tactfully handled and health authorities of several countries, including India, have formulated action plans for its containment. Significant efforts by the government, an active involvement of startups and diagnostic players is a good start. The question remains, whether this will be enough.

For Feedback, please email us at: communications@mmactiv.com
Mount Agung emits volcanic smoke and ash from its crater as seen from Tulamben, Bali. Credit:AP Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighbouring provinces. A separate notice showed Lombok airport had been reopened, after an earlier closure overnight due to the eruption. There are 22 villages within 10 kilometres of Mount Agung's crater, which are home to about 100,000 people, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said. Tourists in Bali stop to view Mount Agung, totally swallowed by the grey ash plumes and clouds. Credit:Amilia Rosa More than 40,000 people have already fled their homes because of the volcano, according to the agency.

Plumes of smoke were billowing out of the mountain top and explosions could be heard up to 12 kilometres from the peak. "Rays of fire are increasingly visible from night to the following day. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent," the agency said. Agung's last eruption in 1963 killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages by hurling out pyroclastic material, hot ash and lava. Yet on Tuesday, life continued largely as normal in villages surrounding Agung, with residents setting up traditional markets and offering prayers as the volcano continued to spew tall columns of ash and smoke from its crater. Many residents who evacuated in September when the alert was last raised to the highest level have returned to their homes and farms due to worries over their livelihood and livestock.

Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG), which is using drones, satellite imagery and other equipment, said predictions were difficult in the absence of instrumental recordings from the last eruption 54 years ago. It warned that if a similar eruption occurred, it could send rocks bigger than fist-size up to 8 km from the summit and volcanic gas a distance of 10 km within three minutes. The smoke has caused chaos for travellers hoping to leave the country - Denpasar airport said in a statement that 445 flights and 59,000 passengers had been affected on Monday alone. Two Australian travellers returning to Melbourne, Hena and Joshkun, were among hundreds who amassed at the airport on Monday, after being unable to change their Jetstar flight online. "We tried contacting the airline, that didn't work either," Hena said.

"I am a dancer - I have shows, so I am missing rehearsals." The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association said guests of affiliated hotels who were stranded by the airport's closure would be accommodated on Monday night free of charge. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in nearby Darwin, there is "ash confirmed on the ground at Denpasar Airport" as well as ash at "FL300" - which refers to flight level at 30,000 feet - in the vicinity of the volcano. Airport spokesman Arie Ahsan said the airport closure was based on information from VAAC and the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics.

"The ash is very light in the airport buildings but what effects flights would be the thickness in the air," he said.



Buses were being used to get a mixture of Indonesian and foreigner passengers to Padang Bai port and other destinations. "The authorities will meet every six hours to evaluate the conditions. We can't predict the outcome," he said. Airlines have set up customer service desks at the international terminal. A Jetstar staff member said that not many passengers had arrived because most already knew that the airport was closed and that there were no flights out. Those who had come had booked through travel agents and didn't know. Volcanic ash poses a potentially deadly threat to aircraft and passengers.
In case you didn't notice, the self-proclaimed Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort is back on the hustle promoting his latest book: Way of the Wolf. You won't be surprised to know it is a one-stop shop on how to be a cracking salesperson.

But he's got more on offer than sales tips.

Belfort has actually been offering warnings and lessons for the modern investor - besides not fraudulently selling penny dreadful stocks to gullible investors while on drugs, or you'll go to prison.

Maybe he's had cause for some reflection after the US government took ownership of the TV rights to his story. It was part of a deal to recoup money stolen from the Malaysian government, which helped finance the Hollywood movie of his life, starring Leonardo Dicaprio.
A man who allegedly jumped into a womans car, assaulted her and drove her off to a dirt track north-west of Brisbane will front court on Monday.

The 43-year-old is further accused of restraining and torturing the woman, then driving off after a passing motorist stopped to check whether the pair was OK.

The alleged ordeal took place about 5pm on Friday at Wamuran, west of Caboolture, after the Upper Caboolture man forced the woman into the passenger seat and drove down a dirt track on the side of the DAguilar Highway.

When a passing motorist stopped, the accused allegedly threatened the driver before getting back into the woman's car and driving away.

Police were alerted and arrested the man, who knew the woman.
It is happy to split the conservative vote, and wreck anything in its path to turn contemporary politics upside-down.

One Nation is a babble of angry and disillusioned voters with no discipline.

Tim Nicholls will lose the leadership of the LNP because the party's vote dropped so substantially. Credit:Tracey Nearmy

But that's second to the problem of how the conservative side of politics deals with fringe right-wing parties like One Nation.

This isn't a new problem. In fact, the LNP has had two decades to sort this out - and the fact it has failed to has cost it government and Mr Nicholls the leadership.

Disenchantment with the main parties means minor parties - such as One Nation and the Greens - will be a permanent part of our political landscape.

But just consider how One Nation and the LNP deal with each other on the right of politics, compared with Labor and the Greens, on the left.

One Nation preferenced sitting MPs - including the LNP - at the bottom, or close to the bottom, of each ticket. It attacked the party's candidates at every opportunity on the ground.

And in several cases, particularly in Brisbane, it knocked the LNP candidate - sometimes the sitting MP - out of contention.
The mother of Queensland toddler Mason Lee has been dragged from the dock after accusing her former partner of killing her son, whose body was riddled with injuries when he died.

Flanked by four corrective services officers, Anne Maree Lee screamed and lunged at William Andrew O'Sullivan after hearing how her lifeless child was handed over a fence to a paramedic in the early hours of June 11, 2016.

The mother of Mason Jet Lee has accused the stepfather of killing the boy.

"Child killer, you're a child killer! I hate you! He killed my son," Lee said.

It was the second outburst by Lee on Monday in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, which is hearing evidence to determine if she, O'Sullivan and teenager Ryan Robert Barry Hodson should stand trial for manslaughter.
On Tuesday morning, Ali's father spoke briefly to media from the front yard of his brick veneer home. The 20-year-old Werribee man is taken into custody. Credit:Victoria Police He denied his son would have harmed anyone, and then quickly went back inside, where police are still searching. "He's very innocent," the man's father said. Police at the accused man's family home in Werribee on Tuesday. Credit:Jason South

Sheikh Isse Musse from Werribee Mosque said he knew Ali's father well, seeing him at the mosque several times a week. He saw his children less often. His father had worked exceptionally hard as a taxi driver to provide for his children, and his wife took care of the home. The suspect was allegedly planning to shoot and kill as many people as he could in Federation Square. Credit:Victoria Police "He's a very hardworking man, always on the road," Sheikh Musse said. Police seized several bags of evidence from the family's home, including a large framed picture.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Shane Patton (left) and AFP assistant commissioner Ian McCartney. Credit:Justin McManus The couple had moved to the home because they did not feel safe in the government housing they had been provided after arriving from Somalia more than a decade ago. They were worried about drugs in the area, particularly. Fireworks over Melbourne CBD on New Years Eve. Credit:Melbourne City Council "They wanted the children away from that area," Sheikh Musse said.

The couple had toiled to ensure their children could go to the private Al-Taqwa College, an Islamic school in Truganina The college declined to comment on Tuesday. A neighbour said the "beautiful family" had lived in the house for at least a decade. "They're just lovely, everyday, people," she said. The man's father had apologised to her on Tuesday morning for the hassle regarding the arrest.

"I believe he didn't know anything," the neighbour said. "I just felt like he was more heartbroken." The neighbour arrived home on Monday afternoon after picking up her daughter from school to find eight to 10 police cars lining the street. "It was quite frightening." The 20-year-old man was arrested on the corner of Synnot and Bridge streets in Werribee, which is a shopping area one street behind the suburb's main retail strip, just after 3pm on Monday. 'A very, very quiet boy'

Warsame Hassan, the owner of Wix Computers in Footscray where the accused man worked, said 10 to 12 police officers stormed the store on Monday and took a computer, a hard drive and CCTV footage from the shop. Mr Hassan described the man as a quiet boy who did work experience at the store for about two to three hours at a time, sometimes one or twice a week, sometimes less. "He was a very, very quiet boy. He never spoke much. It was a shock," Mr Hassan said. He said he had met the young man's father at the Virgin Mary mosque in Werribee. His father wanted him to do work experience so he could go to university next year and eventually get a job in the computer industry.

Al-Qaeda guidebook and other extremists The young man was in possession of an al-Qaeda guidebook on how to carry out terrorist attacks and is an Islamic State sympathiser, police allege. "He has accessed documents produced by al-Qaeda Arabian Peninsula ... a guidebook in respect to how to commit a terrorist act and also how to use firearms, guns and handguns and rifles," Mr Patton said. "He is associated with other persons in the Victorian extremists community ... it is a very small community of extremists. "This is a person who would become particularly energised when overseas events occurred. He expressed a great amount of interest in committing an attack himself."

Mr Patton reassured the community the man was acting alone and no threats were ongoing. "We are not looking for any other suspects," he said. Authorities are still investigating how the young Werribee man became radicalised, Mr Patton said. Police do not believe he is linked to any mosques in Melbourne. They would not reveal if his family or friends knew of his intentions.

This is his first time in custody. He is expected to be charged later on Tuesday with engaging in acts in preparation for a terrorist offence and collecting documents to facilitate a terrorist act. Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police and ASIO were involved in the investigation that resulted in the young man's arrest. No ongoing risk Police Minister Lisa Neville said police were continuing their investigation, but had foiled another threat.

"Absolutely police were aware of this very early and had been monitoring," she said. "There was never any point in which there was a significant risk. I can absolutely assure Victorians that this has eliminated the risk." Ms Neville said Victorians should be confident to make plans for New Year's Eve. "There is no ongoing risk to the Victorian community." An estimated 450,000 people flock to Melbourne's CBD to ring in the new year in the city.

Security has been ramped up in recent years, particularly last year after police foiled a Christmas Day terror plot. Hundreds of uniformed police swarmed the city last New Year's Eve, particularly near St Paul's Cathedral and Flinders Street Station which were both targets of the Christmas terror plot. Specialised squads including water police, mounted branch, operations response unit and air wing were deployed across the state.
Parliament's dual citizenship drama threatens to widen further after the Turnbull government made it clear its disclosure regime will include marriage.

The original version of the disclosure regime - agreed to by the government and opposition earlier this month - focused on citizenship by birth and descent. It would have required MPs to disclose details relating to their birthplace, parents and grandparents, but not necessarily spouses.

But the government has now confirmed MPs will be required to disclose relevant details relating to marriage.

Dozens of nations grant citizenship by marriage - or have done so in the recent past - and in a number of them the conferral is automatic.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, a centre-right US ally, cited multiple exit polls on Sunday to declare himself victorious in a bid for a second term in the Central American nation, despite the opposition saying it was winning.

A poll released by network Televicentro, generally considered a reliable indicator of results, gave President Juan Orlando Hernandez 43.93 per cent of the vote, with Salvador Nasralla, who leads a broad left-right coalition called the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, at 34.70 per cent.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is a close ally with the United States. Credit:AP

"The count is more than clear and resounding that we won this election, that is what the polls say and that is what the results we are seeing from the count are saying," Hernandez told supporters at a Tegucigalpa hotel.

Blue-clad Hernandez supporters danced and blew horns, while his wife, Ana Garcia de Hernandez, led a prayer.
Rome: Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement wants international observers to monitor next year's national election campaign to help ward off "fake news", party leader Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday.

His comments came after the ruling Democratic Party (PD) accused 5-Star supporters of using interlinked internet accounts to spread misinformation and smear the centre-left government.

Luigi Di Maio, vice-president of Italy's lower house of Parliament, and leader of the 5-Star movement. Credit:Twitter/Luigi Di Maio

Di Maio, who was elected 5-Star leader in September, said his party was often misrepresented by the traditional media and said the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should oversee the forthcoming election.

"The problem of fake news exists and we think it is necessary to have the OSCE monitor news and political debate during the election campaign," Di Maio said on Facebook.
This week, the new group of Quantum technology Enterprise Centre (QTEC) Fellows began their 2017/18 programme of MBA level training alongside other local sci-tech start-ups at Bristol Science Incubator, Unit DX.

QTEC is a one-year, cohort-based pathway offering training in business, entrepreneurship and systems engineering and design. The programme, which was previously based at the University of Bristol, was developed in collaboration with Cranfield University, and assists graduates from a range of backgrounds across the physical sciences with the skills to create, develop and market their quantum-enabled technologies.

Jane Garrett, Enterprise Lead at QTEC, said: "Having hosted a number of events at Unit DX during our inaugural year, we are delighted to be in a position to locate our new cohort at the facility full time. Working alongside scientific start-ups and enterprises provides an excellent environment for teaching entrepreneurial skills to the QTEC Fellows."

Quantum technology encompasses a wide range of applications, including revolutionising the computing industry by providing massive increases in processing power. One start-up that emerged from last years QTEC cohort, KETS Quantum Security, is developing quantum encryption techniques based on quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum random number generation (QRNG). These techniques will provide quantum-secured communications to address the increased venerability of traditional encryption systems, caused by rapidly rising classical computing power and the advent of quantum computing.

Fellows from last years QTEC cohort have already made use of the facilities at Unit DX, having hosted many of their workshops and meetings at the location. One recent graduate of the programme, Xiao Ai, founder of QLM Technology, has also taken up laboratory and office space at Unit DX. Xiaos technology has the potential to help reduce methane leaks from oil and gas pipelines, a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. The facilities at Unit DX allow Xiao to work on his prototype and meet with investors and potential clients, all in the same location.

The QTEC programme is funded by the EPSRC and connects its fellows to the UK National Quantum Technology (UKNQT) programme, which aims to make the UK a go-to place for the development and commercialisation of quantum technologies.
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Were nutty for Nutcracker!

As Christmas approaches, that old chestnut The Nutcracker will play at five different venues all over Brooklyn, in addition to Brooklyn Ballets modernized Brooklyn Nutcracker at Irondale Center. So you have plenty of chances to catch the dance of the sugar plum fairies, the Nutcracker Prince, and the battle against the Mouse King this holiday season!

Russian to the stage

There is more to ballet than The Nutcracker! The Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet in Dumbo will offer Nutcracker Sweets this season, featuring Act Two of the classic dance, along with excerpts from Sleeping Beauty, also composed by Tchaikovsky; and the best bits from fellow Russian ballets Le Corsaire and Flames of Paris.

Nutcracker Sweets at GK Arts Center [29 Jay St. between Plymouth and John streets in Dumbo, (212) 6000047, www.gkart scent er.org ]. Dec. 78 at 7:30 pm. Dec. 910 at 2 pm. $25 (kids $10).

Master piece

The Master Theater in Brighton Beach, which mostly presents Russian-language shows, will host a performance of The Nutcracker from the talented youngsters of the New York Childrens Dance Theater, choreographed by Anna Fateeva-Kazantseva, a graduate of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

The Nutcracker at Master Theater (1029 Brighton Beach Ave. at Brighton 11th Street in Brighton Beach, www.maste rthea ter.com ). Dec. 9 at 2 pm. $25$55.

Hip, hop, and jete

The Kings Theatre will host The Hip Hop Nutcracker, a modernized take that re-mixes the Tchaikovsky score, moves the action to modern-day New York City, and pits Maria-Clara and the Nutcracker Prince against a mouse street gang. Legendary rapper Kurtis Blow will open the show with a brief set, and then will narrate the first act.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker at Kings Theatre [1027 Flatbush Ave. between Tilden Avenue and Beverly Road in Flatbush]. Dec. 16 at 8 pm. $29$79.

Short stuff

The kids of the Cobble Hill Ballet troupe will performed a shortened, just-the-good-bits version of The Nutcracker for six shows at the Kumble Theater on Dec. 1617. This family-friendly take on the ballet is a perfect way to introduce kids to the classic.

Excerpts from the Nutcracker at Kumble Theater at Long Island University [1 University Plaza at Flatbush Avenue Downtown, (718) 4881624, www.kumbl ethea ter.org ]. Dec. 1617 at noon, 3 pm, and 5 pm. $22 (kids $10).

From Russia with love

The State Ballet Theatre of Russia comes to Brooklyn to present an authentic and traditional Nutcracker, straight from Tchaikovskys home country. The show brings 40 of the finest Russian ballet performers, along with elaborate painted sets to tell the beloved holiday story.

The Nutcracker at Kingsborough Community College [2001 Oriental Blvd. between Quentin Street and Decatur Avenue in Manhattan Beach, (718) 3685596, www.onsta geatk ingsb oroug h.org ]. Dec. 17 at 3 pm. $32$37.

Reach reporter Alexandra Simon at (718) 2608310 or e-mail her at asimo n@cng local.com .
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It was a Columbus kerfuffle!

The city must tear down all statues of Christopher Columbus because the Italian explorer is not an American hero but a brutal colonizer who showed little regard for native life, some residents demanded at a Nov. 21 public hearing on city monuments at Borough Hall, where one outdoor effigy of the voyager stands nearby in a park bearing his name.

The Columbus discovery narrative is an objective lie. If you come up here defending the lie, you either did not do your homework or you truly do not care  and I hope to God for the love of all black and brown people its the first one, said Glenn Cantave, the head honcho of Movers and Shakers NYC, a group advocating for the removal of all of the explorers likenesses from the city. Italians, you have every right to celebrate your heritage, but not at the expense of black and brown lives.

Around 100 people packed into a meeting room for the hearing held by officials from the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, which Mayor DeBlasio created after the fatal August riots in Charlottesville, Va. over the removal a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a local park.

The agency is charged with proposing guidelines for how to deal with sculptures on municipal property not consistent with the citys values, according to the Department of Cultural Affairss head Tom Finkelpearl, who oversees it.

There are four Columbus statues across the city in addition to the one in Borough Hall plaza, including two on the distant isle of Manhattan and one in each of the outer boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, according to the Department of Parks and Recreations monument catalogue.

And they all should go, said another opponent, who likened the explorer to a murderer.

He would kill indigenous people in the dozens, said Williamsburg resident Javier Enriquez. We keep saying he is not perfect  he is extremely far from perfect.

Other attendees preached a more measured approach to dealing with the statues, however, acknowledging that Columbus had his problems but that he also achieved great things, some of which deserve to be commemorated.

The pain that has surfaced in this area has to be addressed, but it doesnt have to be addressed by removing statues, said native Brooklynite Dianne Stillman. He was a skilled navigator who started sailing at ten on commercial vessels.

And some supporters of the adventurer rebuked the accusations that he is a stain on Italian culture, arguing that many locals with roots in the European country still revere its native son.

Christopher Columbus was of Italian descent, and as such there is a significant cultural element of importance to New York City, as well as its Italian-American citizens, said Steven Bamundo, a member of the Italian-heritage legal organization, Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Officials on Hizzoners statues commission, who are holding similar hearings in each borough, will conclude their review of city monuments on Dec. 7, according to a rep from the mayors office, who said the surveys findings will be revealed later that month.

Any structures that agency officials deem worthy of more debate will then be discussed by local community boards and the citys Public Design Commission, which has the final say on whether they should be changed or replaced, according to Finkelpearl.

Memorials of Columbus arent the boroughs only controversial monuments. In August, leaders at a Bay Ridge church removed a plaque commemorating a tree that General Lee planted there when he was stationed at nearby Fort Hamilton army base  the site of streets also named for the Confederate leader and his contemporary General Stonewall Jackson, which a Brooklyn congresswoman unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Army to change earlier this year.

But whatever is decided, tearing down statues will not rewrite history, according to a hearing attendee, who argued that all memorials should remain because they serve as powerful reminders of the past  whether good or bad.

Regardless of what has happened, we cant change it, said South Dakota native and member of the Native American Sioux Nation Cheryl Dupris while fighting back tears.
The European Central Bank does not have the mandate for its plan to ask euro area banks to set aside more cash to cover bad loans, the European Union Council said in a legal opinion, in a further blow to the ECB proposal.

To prevent a pile-up of new bad debt on top of an existing stock of sour loans worth nearly 850 billion euros, the ECB wants to introduce new guidelines including a two-year deadline for lenders to raise provisions from January for any newly classified non-performing unsecured debt.

The draft plan is out for public consultation until next week and has run into opposition from various quarters including the European parliament and now the EU Council, the bloc's other legislative body which represents its members' governments.

The council's non-binding document, seen by Reuters and dated Nov. 23, said the law governing the ECB's supervisory powers over euro zone banks "prevents the ECB from adopting instruments of soft law, such as the draft addendum to the ECB guidance to banks on non-performing loans."

The ECB cannot adopt measures "intended to ensure compliance by banks of criteria for minimum provisioning which are not, or not yet, the object of harmonization by the EU legislator," it said.

This echoes the stance of the European Parliament's legal services that the ECB would be overstepping its authority with its proposed guidelines.

EU rules say supervisors can impose binding capital measures on specific banks but not on the entire banking system.

The chair of the ECB supervisory body, Daniele Nouy, said guidelines do not equate with laws. She has defended her plan but hinted at the possibility of postponing its entry into force.

The document will be discussed by EU states' economic envoys on Tuesday when they meet to prepare the monthly gathering of EU finance ministers, EU officials said.

"EU states usually follow legal opinions, although final decisions are political," one official told Reuters.

After a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Nov. 6, the chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem said there was "a general agreement" in favor of the ECB approach on bad loans.

Italy's Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan later disagreed and called for more time for banks to adapt to stricter requirements.

Italian lenders are among the most affected by bad loans' woes and fear too quick and high provisioning targets could hit their balance sheets.

EU states agreed in July on a plan to tackle the build-up of NPLs and gave the EU executive commission a mandate to present legislative measures which could require banks to provide for NPLs with more cash for newly issued loans. The commission will make its proposal next year.

Warring EU institutions who fail to resolve conflicts through other means can take such matters before the European Court of Justice. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The Financial Times has today reported that EU authorities have approved Irelands plans to pay off the last of its crisis-era bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund early, in a move the government claims will save it around 150m in debt servicing costs.



According to the report, Ireland will repay the remaining 4.5bn IMF rescue cash given to the country during its 2011-2013 banking bailout and another 1bn in bilateral loans from Sweden and Denmark. Ireland has already paid back 18bn of its IMF debt.

The European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF)  the eurozones crisis-era bailout fund  approved the latest plan to pay off the creditors on Monday. Under the terms of the countrys 67.5bn international bailout, eurozone member states need to sign off on early payment plans and waive their right to be paid back early.



Speaking today, Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism, Klaus Regling said, "These early repayments will lower Irelands debt service costs, improve its debt sustainability outlook and therefore send a positive signal to the markets."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
It was announced today that that UK speciality pharmaceutical services company, Wasdell Group, is to establish a pharmaceutical packaging, testing and distribution facility in Dundalk. The investment will create 300 jobs over five years.

The privately owned British companys capability includes clinical trials packing, primary and secondary packaging and distribution of biopharmaceutical products. The company also offers contract manufacturing services with FDA and MHRA approved analytical and microbiology laboratories.

The new Dundalk facility will be the companys EU hub for qualified persons in (QP) release, analytical testing, primary and secondary pharmaceutical packaging and distribution. Wasdell is to build a 70,000 sq. ft. greenfield facility on a c.2.88 hectare site at IDAs site in Mullagharlin, Dundalk, representing an investment of 30m.

Speaking at todays announcement, Minister of State for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen said, "Wasdells decision to locate this new operation in Dundalk bringing 300 new jobs to the town is a great vote of confidence in what Ireland has to offer, especially in a regional location. The Government has been driving job creation in locations which are away from the bigger cities, and this new operation in Dundalk is a great vindication of that policy."

He added, "It will provide additional facilities and services for our thriving pharmaceutical sector. This project builds on the tremendous success we have had, in bringing new foreign project to Dundalk which has helped transform the economic standing of the town over a relatively short period."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Aer Lingus owner IAG has won a race to secure valuable take-off and landing slots at London's Gatwick airport, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday, beating off competition from other airlines.

The source said that IAG had secured the majority of the Monarch's slots at Gatwick Airport, which is Britain's second busiest airport.

The deal, first reported by Press Association, comes after Monarch won an appeal last Wednesday to have the right to sell airport slots for next year, a court ruling which was criticised by industry bodies such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Monarch abruptly ceased operations in early October, leading to the repatriation of a hundred thousand customers by the British government.

EasyJet, Wizz and Norwegian had also expressed their interest in acquiring the slots at the London airports, while sources said that travel firm Thomas Cook had also bid for the Gatwick slots.

Monarch estimates its slots could be worth around 60 million pounds although that is disputed by airlines such as easyJet.

Monarch's administrators KPMG and IAG declined to comment. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Bank of Ireland has today released it's latest economic pulse survey which is conducted by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of Bank of Ireland with 1,000 households and over 2,000 businesses on a range of topics including the economy, their financial situation, spending plans, house price expectations and business activity.

The results show that Irish households were less upbeat about economic prospects this month, while the business picture was little changed. With the festive season approaching, one in five indicated that they plan on spending more on Christmas presents this year compared with last year, while 57% intend to spend about the same. Similarly, 28% of retailers expect their Christmas turnover to be up on last year, with around half expecting it to be much the same.

While the Retail Pulse lost some ground, this comes on the back of a strong performance last month and broadly positive expectations for the Christmas trading period. The November data also show that two in five businesses expect to spend more on investment in 2018 compared with this year.

A range of factors were mentioned as having an impact on firms plans, with demand from customers, financial and technical conditions generally seen as supportive. The wait and see approach to investment decisions that many Irish firms adopted this year in response to Brexit-related uncertainty seems set to continue into 2018 though, with around half of those affected by the UKs decision to leave the EU putting their plans on hold.

The results also show that the majority of survey respondents expect house prices and rents to increase over the coming 12 months, with Dublin ahead on both fronts. The Housing Pulse stood at 117.4 in November, down 2.5 on last month but up 9.2 on a year ago, with over one third (35%) worried about rising house prices and cost of renting a concern for 42%.

Commenting on the Economic Pulse, Group Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland, Dr. Loretta OSullivan said, "The protectionist nature of Trumps policy agenda is a concern for Ireland because of the open, export-orientation of our economy and the importance of foreign direct investment by US multinationals. Reflecting this, Economic Pulse research conducted earlier in the year with Irish firms for whom prospective US policy changes are a live issue found that roughly one in four in the industry and services sectors had pressed the pause button on their investment plans for this year."

She added, "This month further research was conducted looking ahead to next year. The results suggest that firms are starting to factor in Trumps bark being worse than his bite, with just 16% reporting that they are putting their plans for next year on hold. This will be a space worth watching though as the current US tax reform proposals work their way through Congress."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Pictures and videos of migrant families traveling around the city, desperately trying to find a place to stay in the middle of winter, have sparked an outpouring of support online, with individuals and NGOs offering temporary shelter and information on rental homes. Photo: Caixin

In a rare move, two major state-run news outlets have expressed veiled disapproval of a recent Beijing government crackdown on unlicensed buildings, which has forced thousands to leave their homes within two or three days of receiving notice.

The capitals swift campaign comes after a fatal fire on Nov. 18 killed 19 at a residential-industrial compound in the south Beijing suburb of Daxing. Most tenants affected by the campaign are low-income migrant workers.

In a commentary it published on social media platform WeChat Sunday, China Central TelevisionCCTVsaid that while such a campaign should be implemented with force, officials should also demonstrate a degree of warmth or compassion towards the affected communities.

Its true that safety risks could be lowered dramatically by pushing tenants to move out of their fire-prone homes swiftly, it said. But how can migrants quickly find another shelter thats safe and where would they go to keep from the freezing cold in winter?

China Daily, a state-run English language newspaper, also voiced concerns about the harshness of the measure, saying rural migrants deserve respect during the safety campaign.

The paper said the move is necessary to ensure public safety as it can ensure apartments in unlicensed buildings cant be rented out.

But we have to see the harsh truth that low-income, non-local residents who have migrated to find work from rural areas, seldom get the respect they deserve for making our cities better places to live, it said. Instead, they are more often viewed as a dispensable, even unwelcome group by many.

Li Rungou, 42, poses with his wife Lu Fang and 1-year-old daughter Li Xinyu in front of Beijing Railway Station on Thursday before leaving the city for good. The family were not allowed to return to their apartment in southern Beijing after a fire killed 19 people in a neighboring building and the authorities started to shut down businesses and buildings in suburban areas. Photo: Xiao Hui/ Caixin

The large wave of evictions are part of a 40-day campaign order by the Beijing municipal government to clampdown on buildings turned into residential homes without a license or those that violate the city fire code.

Photos and video clips of displaced migrant families left homeless and going from one neighborhood to another scrambling to find a new place to live are being circulated on social media. It has triggered an outpouring of support from individuals and NGOs offering temporary shelter and information on rental homes.

Zhang Hongxia, a rural migrant who lived in an apartment in the building next to the one damaged by the deadly fire, said she had to pay 200 yuan ($30) per night to stay in a hotel with her family after they were forced out of their home following the incident.

Unable to afford the hotel bill, the family took shelter in Zhangs small fast-food shop. We were sleeping on the floor until authorities ordered the closure of the shop in the city-wide curb on unsafe buildings,she told Caixin. It was so cold that I huddled with my daughter-in-law under the same quilt to keep myself warm, she said.

Authorities cut the water and electricity supply to the shop on Friday night, Zhang said. This is a common tactic used by officials to evict people.

The family are now living in a friends home and looking for a new place to rent, Zhang said.

Xiao Xie, who works in Beijing as a full-time host of a livestreaming program about video games, said he had to spend one night in a friends minivan after being evicted. Xiao, who lived in the same building as Zhang, said his building was immediately sealed after the fire and that he was only allowed in later to pick up belongings.

Xiao says he has found a small five-square-meter room in a shared apartment and despite the problems he doesnt want to return to his hometown in the eastern province of Shandong.

Beijing is more inclusive, he told Caixin.

In the commentary, the state broadcaster CCTV urged the municipal government to abide by its motto of patriotism, innovation, inclusiveness and moral righteousness.

The rare challenge from the two national media outlets has put them on a collision course with local news organizations backed by the municipal authority such as the Beijing Daily, which have cheered the city government for having done a good job.

The government has done a good job this time because many residents have been felt like theyve been living next a volcano, Beijing Daily said in a report Saturday citing a local who lives in a southern suburb where dozens of unlicensed buildings were sealed.

However, the newspaper failed to ask about who should be held to account over such unsafe buildings and their use as rental homes for many years before the fire and whether city authorities should help migrant workers with their relocation.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com)
The entrance of mainland mobile payment apps will break the region's iconic Octopus card's long-held monopoly over wireless payment on the Hong Kong MTR. Photo: Visual China

Chinese mobile payment services Alipay and WeChat Pay will soon be accepted by Hong Kongs MTR subway system, the latest frontier in the two giants competition for users outside of the Chinese mainland.

WeChat was the first of the two platforms to announce an agreement with MTR Corp. Ltd., saying in a social media post Thursday that users will be able to pay for tickets with both the mainland and Hong Kong versions of the app.

This development will break the MTR wireless-payment monopoly long held by the Special Administrative Regions iconic Octopus card  a rechargeable smart-card accepted within the citys public transportation network and at numerous retail outlets.

Though WeChat has been accepted at some stores since 2016, this marks the first time Hong Kongs MTR will accept such payment.

Mainland users will no longer have to use HKD cash or a HKD bank card to buy tickets, while Hong Kong locals will no longer have to worrying about forgetting their Octopus cards, WeChat said its announcement.

WeChat did not specify when MTR will start accepting its payment service, but an MTR representative told Caixin that the company would begin testing WeChat payment in mid-December.

On Friday  the day after WeChats announcement  Alipay confirmed a similar MTR agreement in a post on its official Weibo account.

Hong Kongs MTR will start supporting Alipay in December, an employee of Ant Financial, which runs the Alipay platform, told Caixin.

WeChat and Alipay have gradually been expanding their presence in Hong Kong and abroad.

In August, over 900 7-Eleven convenience stores in Hong Kong began accepting WeChat Pay, which can also be used at retailers popular with mainland customers, such as beauty and health care chain Sasa.

In September, Alipay announced a payments joint venture with Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shings CK Hutchison Holdings. CK Hutchison owns over 600 retail outlets selling a range of products to over 6.6 million customers in Hong Kong, according to a joint statement.

Earlier in November, both WeChat and Alipay announced that Hong Kong taxis would start accepting their payment methods.

Contact reporter Teng Jing Xuan (jingxuanteng@caixin.com)
Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd.'s earlier attempt to buy a piece of Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd. was brought to a swift end when Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen described the investment as a "huge threat" to the islands important semiconductor industry. Photo: Visual China

A company controlled by Tsinghua University has agreed to buy a 30% stake of a Taiwan-owned semiconductor unit.

Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd. will pay 1.03 billion yuan ($155 million) for a stake in Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd.s Suzhou subsidiary, the Taiwan firm said in a statement on Friday.

The deal comes after Unigroups 2016 attempt to buy into the Taiwan parent company failed to pass regulatory scrutiny, under the then-incoming Tsai Ing-wen administration.

The new sale will supply fresh capital to Siliconware, and will help it expand into the fast-growing Chinese mainland market, it said.

Siliconware has struggled in recent years, with its operating profit declining over the past two years. In late 2015, it signed an agreement to sell a quarter stake to Unigroup, but the deal was frozen in April last year until the incoming Taipei government clarified its policy on investment from the mainland, Reuters reported.

Taiwans leader, Tsai Ing-wen, who took office in May 2016, threw cold water on Unigroups plans when she called investments from the mainland a huge threat to the islands important semiconductor industry.

Unigroups two other deals to buy Taiwan chipmakers Powertech Technology Inc. and ChipMOS Technologies Inc. have also collapsed.

Siliconware tried an alternative to fight the financial setback  agreeing to merge with a larger peer, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. That deal has completed all anti-trust reviews, including on the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and in the U.S., Siliconware said Friday.

Shares of Taiwan-listed Siliconware rose 5.29% on Monday, while Unigroups Shenzhen-listed affiliate Unisplendour Corp. Ltd. saw its shares drop 2.1%.

Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)
Azim Premji University has begun the admission process for the undergraduate programmes for the next academic year. The university has invited he applications for Bachelors of Science with majors in Physics or Biology and Bachelors of Arts in Humanities or Economics.

Interested candidates can apply for the subjects they are interested in on the official website for the varsity. APU offers numerous offers when it comes to minors subjects for the UG courses.

The duration of the Undergraduate degree programme is three years and it will be full-time residential, in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka. The varsity will be offering financial help for students who are commendable through part-time and full-time scholarships. The scholarship will be covering the expenses for tuition fees, food charges, and the accommodation.

Important Dates for Azim Premji University UG Admissions 2018

The early admission process will end on December 05, 2017

An entrance test for the candidates who appeared for the early admission process will be conducted on December 17, 2017.

The interview process and the admission offers will be provided in the month of January 2018.

The regular application process will conclude by April 2018.

The entrance exams and the interview procedure will be conducted in May 2018.

"The educational philosophy of the three-year liberal undergraduate programme focuses on preparing students as critical thinkers, good communicators, and responsible citizens. The curriculum, high faculty-student ratio and significant student support are designed to build deep disciplinary knowledge while allowing students the space to explore and pursue their interests." Venu Narayan, Director of School of Liberal Studies, Azim Premji University said.

How to Apply for Azim Premji University UG Admissions 2018?

Visit the official website - azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in

Read through the course details, admission procedure, and other details before you apply.

Click on the link on the homepage for UG applications or under the 'Admission's tab click on Apply for UG courses.

A new window will open

Register yourself by entering all the details.

Enter all the required details and click on 'Register Me'

Follow the instruction on the website and carefully choose your desired course

After the application process, download a copy and take a print out for future use

Also Read: IIM Kozhikode Fellow Programme 2018: Apply Now!
Chubb signed a 10-year strategic cooperation deal with a Chinese insurer that lets it take a deeper dive into Chinas market.

The agreement is with PICC Property & Casualty Company of China., and Chubb plans to use its global capacity to help support PICC customers and other Chinese-affiliated companies around the world.

Elements of the deal include plans for Chubb and PICC to launch dedicated underwriting and service centers known as China Desks for Chinese-affiliated businesses in Chubb offices around the world. As envisioned, Chubb and PICC will work jointly to insure and service China-affiliated companies overseas, but theyll also jointly explore other business opportunities. As well, Chubb will help to educate and train PICC employees assigned to the China desks.

Chubb will make its global insurance capabilities available to PICC and its customers. Chinese companies with multinational insurance programs can have their overseas insurance needs serviced through Chubbs operations in 54 countries and partners in nearly 150 other countries.

This isnt Chubbs first China partnership deal by any means. In April 2016, Chubb sealed an agreement with China retailer Suning, giving it access to an online customer base of as much as 240 million people. The companies, in part, are partnering to develop and market personal and commercial general insurance through Sunings various online platforms.

In September, Chubb inked a multiyear distribution agreement with DBS bank, a financial giant that will give it a deeper market penetration in Asia.

Source: Chubb
Photo: The Canadian Press

Zimbabweans must set aside "poisoned" politics and work together to rebuild the nation and re-engage the world, new President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Friday, delivering an inclusive message to an exultant crowd that packed a stadium for his inauguration.

Mnangagwa, blamed for a number of the crackdowns and damaging policies of his mentor and predecessor, the ousted Robert Mugabe, also promised that "democratic" elections will be held on schedule in 2018 and that foreign investment will be safe in Zimbabwe, a message aimed at laying the groundwork for economic revival.

"We dare not squander the moment," Mnangagwa said in a speech whose sense of promise matched the joyful mood of a nation hungry for change after Mugabe's 37-year rule. The former leader resigned Tuesday after pressure from the military, former allies in the ruling party and massive street protests.

Helicopters and planes flew in formation, an artillery unit fired a 21-gun salute, honour guards with fixed bayonets high-stepped and Zimbabwean pop star Jah Prayzah had people dancing on a day celebrating a new stage in the nation's history. Such an occasion had seemed almost impossible to contemplate for many Zimbabweans as the years dragged on under the 93-year-old Mugabe, who took power after the end of white minority rule in 1980.

Mnangagwa, 75, was fired as vice-president by Mugabe on Nov. 6 in a dispute over the growing presidential ambitions of Mugabe's unpopular wife, Grace. The former justice and defence minister, however, had been one of Mugabe's closest confidants, raising questions about just how much change and reconciliation there will be on his watch.

The new president praised Mugabe, who will remain in the country but did not attend the inauguration, for his "immense contribution" to Zimbabwe's emergence as a nation after a guerrilla war by black nationalists. However, he sought to reinforce the idea of a "new Zimbabwe," a refrain commonly heard in the streets of the capital, Harare.

"We must work together. You, me, all of us who make up this nation," Mnangagwa said, urging the millions of Zimbabweans who have left the southern African country to contribute to their homeland's reconstruction.
Concern over latest Philippine export rule

27 November 2017

Ernesto Ordonez, director for quality enforcement at the Philippine Safety and Quality Foundation, has said the group holds concerns over the latest administrative order released by the Department of Trade and Industry.



The order allows pre-shipment testing of cement imports. Therefore, the inspection of the product can be completed at the point of origin, followed up by a verification process once the product arrives in the Philippines.



Ordonez fears that the new rule could lead to a conflict of interest, with testing being completed in laboratories which may be owned by the cement manufacturers themselves, reports the Business Inquirer. Another concern being that suppliers could submit samples for testing which are not representative of the product they are exporting.

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Paraguay's INC notes 9% rise in sales in October

ICR Newsroom By 27 November 2017

Paraguays Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has sold 10,876,593 bags of cement in the first 10 months of 2017, a drop of 17.6 per cent YoY, according to the companys sales department.



In October, sales improved by nine per cent YoY from 982,868 bags in October 2016 to 1,075,196 bags in October 2017.



Output is estimated to have increased by around 45 per cent and sufficient to cover 75 per cent of the domestic market, according to Jorge Mendez, the companys president.



The hike in production has been attributed to the new cement mill and pozzolana dryer at the Villeta plant. The companys fuel conversion project is expected to be completed at the end of this year.



The INC expects to close this year with an operating profit of around PYG6000m (US$1.06m).

Published under
Fear of Islamist attacks was again cited as the cause of stopping worship in Egypt this month, even though parishioners said local Muslims supported the opening of the shuttered church outside Cairo, sources said.



Anba Morcos, Coptic Orthodox bishop of Shobra El-Kheima, decided to close the Pope Kerlis VI and Archdeacon Habib Gerges church before Nov. 17 services after consulting with the governor of Qalyubia, who had warned of possible Islamist attacks, according to Egyptian newspaper Almasry Alyoum.



After Friday mosque attendance on Nov. 17, Muslim families gathered outside the closed Coptic Orthodox church building in Shobra El-Kheima, about 30 miles outside of Cairo, to show their support for it, an area Christian told Morning Star News.



We were not used to praying in this church regularly, but after we submitted all the legal papers and notified the authorities, we started opening the church and holding daily masses on Nov. 3, Amir Aiad, a 42-year-old pharmacist, told Morning Star News. There were no objections, nothing happened. On the contrary, local Muslims stood on our side, supporting our right to build a church. I cant find a justification for what happened.



The church building had been rarely used since construction was completed in 2015 as it took two years to meet all legal obligations for opening, Aiad said. When it opened this month, it served around 1,000 Coptic Christian families who again have no place for worship now, residents of Badr City, near Shobra El-Kheima, told Morning Star News.



On Nov. 16 three workers from the national electricity company reportedly tried to cut the church buildings power. Coptic priests and youths stopped them before they cut the main power cable, and later that night Bishop Morcos reportedly told the churchs priest to cancel the next mornings Mass due to local officials security concerns.



Christians refused to leave the church building and spent the night inside it, according to local press reports.



Anti-Christian Hostilities

The church closing followed a flurry of anti-Christian hostilities. Coptic Orthodox Bishop of Minya Anba Makarios said on Oct. 28 that it has been years since Egypt has seen the church closures and assaults on Christians and their properties without deterrent in October.



In what he termed a preliminary statement, Makarios said four churches were closed over two weeks. Islamic extremists attacked three churches in Minya Governorate.



On Oct. 15, local police closed the Virgin Mary church in El-Sheik Alaa village, Minya, due to tensions with Islamists following a Christians attempt to open the church for worship. The church had been closed following Muslim extremists attacks in 2015, and since then it has never re-opened, according to Bishop Makarios statement.



When Copts tried to reopen the church and hold a Mass on Oct. 15, police decided to close it, even prohibiting Christians to gather in the area around the church building. Only the churchs priest was allowed access to the church, but no worship was allowed.



A week later, local police in Minya closed two more churches. On Oct. 22, Anba Mousa El-Aswad church in Keshery village, Abu Qurqas, south Minya Governorate, was closed after local extremists stoned the building and attacked Christians.



The bishop stated that four Christians were injured in the assault, and that none of the attackers were arrested. By the end of October, Christians were forced to submit to unfair conditions of customary reconciliations, wherein churches have to remain closed until Christians obtain legal permits to worship, according to Coptic activists. Thus no one is held accountable for the attacks.



The same day the customary reconciliation session took place, area Muslims in Ezbit Zakaria, Minya city, stoned St. George church. A Coptic woman was injured, and police later brought control.



On the same Sunday (Oct. 22) in El-Karm village, Abu Qurqas city, local police shut down Abu Sefeen church. On that occasion there was reportedly no sign of religious tensions or potential attacks.



The same village last year witnessed one of the most severe Islamist attacks against Christians. Local extremists attacked and looted seven houses owned by Christians, and they assaulted an elderly Coptic woman, Soad Thabet, and stripped her clothes off in the streets.



The violence broke out following rumors about an alleged love affair between Thabets son, Ashraf Abdo, and a village Muslim woman identified as Nagwa. According to an official statement by the Minya Archdiocese in May 2016, Thabets family had filed a report at Abu Qurqas police station a day before the assault warning of possible attacks after they received threats from local Muslim extremists.



The bishops statement mentioned that about 300 people began attacking Christians at 8 p.m. in the assault last year, and security forces did not arrive until about 10 p.m. Only a few of the attackers were arrested; they were later released. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi condemned the incident, promising accountability for those who assaulted Thabet.



Law will be applied, and anyone who did something wrong will be held accountable, El-Sisi said in a May 2016 speech.



In mid-January, south Minyas attorney general, counselor Abdel Rehim Abdel Malek, had closed the case of the assault on Thabet due to lack of evidence. At the same time, a Minya misdemeanors court sentenced Thabets son, Abdo, to two years in jail related to an adultery conviction.



Hany Ramsis, Abdo's lawyer, told Morning Star News that the case against his client started with a report from Nagwas husband accusing Abdo of having an affair with his wife. Ramsis said there was no evidence of adultery and that the case was built on the testimony of Nagwas 11-year-old daughter, though her age should have made her ineligible to testify in a court of law.



Police investigations failed to provide any evidence against Ashraf [Abdo] and Nagwa, Ramsis said.

Egypt is ranked 21st on Christian support organization Open Doors 2017 World Watch List of the countries where is it is most difficult to be a Christian.





If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews.o rg/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.



If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider ollaborating at http://morningstarnews.org/don ate/ ?
A terrorist attack in Egypt on Friday killed at least 235 people and wounded 109, reports AP News.

The attack occurred during the sermon portion of Friday prayers at al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abd, 25 miles from El-Arish, the provincial capital, and 30 miles from the Gaza Strip border.

Militants believed to be associated with the local Islamic State group drove up to the mosque in four off-road vehicles, bombing the mosque and spraying the worshippers with gunfire.

Although terrorist activity and conflicts have plagued the North Sinai region for the past six years, the high death toll marks this attack as the largest, says NPR.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi responded in a televised statement Friday evening, saying the attack will not go unpunished, and that the attack only fuels Egypts determination to defeat terrorism.

He also declared a state of national mourning for the next three days and ordered 200,000 Egyptian pounds be given to the victims families, according to the Middle East News Agency.

Responses from other world leaders have been pouring in.

Israeli education minister Naftali Bennett said [this is] a time for international unity in the war on terror wherever it presents itself: Russia, Europe, the US, Israel and the Arab World  we have all been hurt by terror and must unite in our battle against it.

French President Emmanuel Macron gave his condolences through Twitter, and the Paris mayor said the Eiffel Tower will go black at midnight to demonstrate their support to Egypt and respect to the victims.

President Donald Trump also went to Twitter to condemn the attack as a horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenseless worshippers.

The world cannot tolerate terrorism, he went on. We must defeat them militarily and discredit the extremist ideology that forms the basis of their existence!

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Publication date: November 27, 2017
Marijuana smokers everywhere rejoiced when the legalization of marijuana took center stage in Colorado. The scent of those legal green leaves now drifts out of local neighborhoods, but the decline in society has anything but a calming effect.

The Gazette reports, Five years later, we remain an embarrassing cautionary tale. The disappointing statistics range from increased drug use in K-12 schools, area homelessness topping the most growth in the country, and fatal, drug-related automobile accidents skyrocketing in number.

The number of drivers who tested positive for marijuana use jumped 145 percent," reports the Denver Post. Expect a heightened awareness on the effects of drugging and driving to follow the drastic increase in traffic incidents caused by drivers under marijuanas influence. The 2013-16 period saw a 40 percent increase in the number of all drivers involved in fatal crashes in Colorado, from 627 to 880, according to the NHTSA data."

Teen drug use in Colorado is the highest in the nation, leading authorities to wonder what the overall effect will be on a nation already struggling with an addiction epidemic. According to Colorado's Marijuana Accountability Coalition, "It's one thing to decriminalize marijuana, it's an entirely different thing to legalize an industry that has commercialized a drug that is devastating our kids and devastating whole communities.

The Marijuana Accountability Coalition aims to create a momentous drive towards an effect on policy by uniting one common purpose: to fearlessly investigate, expose, challenge, and hold the marijuana industry accountable. The Are you better off that you were 5 years ago campaign will likely be followed by one addressing the dangers of drugged driving.

Five years later, the negative effects of legalizing marijuana in Colorado could statistically change the way the we consider legalization in other parts of the country.

Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ on her blog, http://sunnyand80.org. Mom is the most important calling on her life, next to encouraging others to seek Him first  authentically. A writer, dance mom, substitute teacher, youth worship leader/teacher and Bible Study leader, she can often be found having some kind of an adventure in the small little lake town where she resides with her husband of ten years, two daughters, and their Golden-doodle.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstock/BruceStanfield

Publication date: November 27, 2017
Delaware Considers Letting Students Decide Race, Gender Without Parents' Permission In one of the more incredible headlines of the year, local officials in the state's Department of Education are actually debating a regulation that would let students choose their race and their gender.

"White boys could soon self-identify as black girls in Delaware." So begins one of the latest columns of Fox News' Todd Starnes, reporting on what parents probably wish was fake news. Unfortunately for the families in The First State, reality may soon be optional for kids in Delaware public schools.

In one of the more incredible headlines of the year, local officials in the state's Department of Education are actually debating a regulation that would let students choose their race and their gender.

If it sounds unbelievable, that's because it is. For the last few years, families have been shocked that they'd have to defend traditional biology in places as sacred as restrooms, showers, locker and changing rooms. Now, the proponents of this government-sponsored make-believe are trying to make everything self-subjective.

It's the campaign for these "protected characteristics," local liberals argue, that would give children the ability to redefine their most defining traits. And without ever calling home. Under "Regulation 225 Prohibition of Discrimination," students can make these determinations without letting their parents know.

Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. But this can't be done alone.

"Prior to requesting permission from a parent or legal guardian, the school should consult and work closely with the student to access the degree to which, if any, the parent or legal guardian is aware of the Protected Characteristic and is supportive of the student, and the school shall take into consideration the safety, health, and well-being of the student in deciding whether to request permission from the parent or legal guardian," the proposal states.

"Literally," Delaware Family Policy Council President Nicole Theis told Starnes, "if a parent affirms their child's biological sex, and now race, they are [considered] discriminatory through policies like Regulation 225. These policies are setting parents up as ... unsupportive, even abusive, if they affirm their child's biological realities ... "

Of course, the irony is that someone's being abusive, according to the American College of Pediatriciansand it isn't parents. This is exactly the kind of agenda they classify as "child abuse." Theis is calling on people across the state to get involved in stopping state officials from putting kids in dangerous situationsand keeping parents in the dark about it.

By law, the people of Delaware have 30 days to "comment" about the regulation, but the agency is under no obligation to change it. Hopefully, parents can apply enough pressure to force the governor to back away from the idea. Join Theis and other concerned citizens by pushing back on this madness. If you're from Delaware, click here to speak up.

This was originally published in Tony Perkins' Washington Update, which is written with the aid of Family Research Council senior writers.

Tony Perkins is president of the Family Research Council.
'Alaskan Bush People' news: Fans asking for official update on Ami Brown's condition

While waiting for the return of "Alaskan Bush People" season 8, fans of the reality series stalk the social media accounts of the Brown family in hopes of getting an update about Ami Brown. It was already confirmed that the Brown matriarch is fighting lung cancer after being diagnosed with the illness last year.

Last month, Rain Brown posted on her Instagram account that her mother is getting her second round of chemotherapy. The said post has an image of a mug and some plant therapy oils. Rain said that she is making peach tea and essential oils with her mother during that time. It appears that Ami is also trying natural therapy. To make the oil, Ami combined frankincense, eucalyptus, pink grapefruit, and spearmint.



Since Rain did not disclose her mother's condition, the fans were worried. It was previously reported that Ami's doctors conveyed to her that she only has three percent chance of survival. Despite the negative news, Ami remains positive and hopeful that she will still get well. Ami's faith in God is one of the factors that made her strong.



In the posts of visitors in the "Alaskan Bush People" page, fans requested an official update regarding Ami's condition, but Discovery remains mum over the matter. Even the Brown family has not released any official statement regarding Ami's health and her rounds of chemo.

After the announcement of the "Alaskan Bush People" Christmas special, no clear statement has been issued by the showrunners of the series. Even Ami's presence in the series remains unsettled as well.

For fans who are looking forward to seeing the Brown family, the upcoming special episode is set to air on Friday, Dec. 15, at 10 p.m. EST on Discovery. TV Insider reveals that this episode will feature the Brown family in Colorado. The Christmas special is titled " A Browntown Christmas" which was filmed around the week of Halloween 2016.
'Days of Our Lives' spoilers for Nov. 27Dec.1: Will to have a meltdown; Rafe, Hope to split

"Days of Our Lives" is getting more exciting each week. For this week, Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, there will be explosive scandals which will surprise the fans and followers. For one, Will (Chandler Massey) will return to Salem and he will have a total meltdown this week. Meanwhile, Hope (Kristian Alfonso) and Rafe (Galen Gering) will face a problem in their relationship.

Sami (Alison Sweeney) will find a way to restore Will's memory which will stir up some controversy. She previously planned for Ben (Robert Scott Wilson) to play out the murder scene of Will. In line with that, Ben will welcome Will in his old apartment and the move will eventually freak the latter out.

After learning that Sami is behind all the charade, Will's fear will turn into anger. As for Will, adjusting will be hard for him because he got used to Susan (Eileen Davidson) who is soft-spoken while Sami is loud-mouthed. However, once Will recovers his childhood memories, he might soften toward Sami and come to understand the things that Sami had done in the past.

Aside from that, Hope and Rafe will have a major conflict. Hope will refuse to follow Abe's (James Reynolds) orders to fire JJ (Casey Moss). The decision will bring Rafe on board in order to resolve the situation. However, things will turn for the worse since Rafe will take over Hope's job as Salem's police commissioner.

Additionally, the pair will have some conflict regarding their delayed marriage. Rafe will tell Hope that her late husband Bo (Peter Reckell) is the reason why she is delaying their wedding. Hope will get mad, emphasizing that no one will ever take the place of Bo. Because of their argument, Hope will return her engagement ring to Rafe.

Since Rafe is brokenhearted, he will run into Sami. The two will seek comfort in one another but this will lead to something that Hope will not like. Meanwhile, Abigail (Marci Miller) asks Chad (Billy Flynn) to send Andre (Thaao Penghlis) out of the mansion.

"Days of Our Lives" airs Mondays to Fridays at 12 p.m. EST on NBC.
Hillary Clinton expresses anxiety over advancement in artificial intelligence

Former U.S. presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, has expressed her concerns about the rise in technology of artificial intelligence (AI). She stated that it could inevitably pose as a serious threat to humanity from a societal and economic aspect. Clinton's opinions tie together with how she perceives the technology industry and the rapid advances that it has been able to achieve in recent years.

In a report by The Verge, Clinton has stated that the U.S. is unprepared for possible ramifications that could be caused by some oversights when it comes to the advancement of AI in the country. There seems to be a "race" going on among powerful world nations as to which country achieves the pinnacle of AI, which could potentially change the world as everyone knows it today in all aspects of life.

Clinton further expressed that some of the iconic tech geniuses such as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates have been freely giving out their professional opinions about AI. She added that the general public has not been taking their advice to heart.

Clinton stated that these tech icons are saying that "artificial intelligence is not our friend," and this technology can affect personal privacy. Such technology will be able to keep track of all the things that will be said and done once AI reaches the pinnacle of what it can achieve.

According to Business Insider, Clinton is not fully opposed to the technology, but is simply saying that much has to be grasped by engineers and scientists to minimize the dangers that AI could possibly bring. An example of a major societal change that the tech could affect is that of public transportation, wherein millions of people could lose their jobs due to automated driving  something that the public has not even began to adjust to.

However, other super power nations, such as China, are making significant strides with their research on AI. It could also potentially be dangerous for the U.S. if China will be able to establish these advancements, with the U.S. lagging behind in their own research. In this regard, it does not help that U.S. President, Donald Trump has cut the government's budget for scientific research.
Is Donald Trump the Christian President?

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is puzzled. Like many Christians on this side of the Atlantic he doesn't understand why Christians in the US seem to have supported Donald Trump in such numbers. Or perhaps to put it another way  he doesn't understand why evangelicals seem to have overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump. I have militant atheist friends who delight in pointing me to President Trump's latest aberration before they gleefully point out he is 'my' President  ie the Christian President. But is he?

The hostile atheists and secularists take great delight in tweeting about a 'far right, misogynistic, racist, sexual hypocrite, Christian' (forgetting both his past as a New York, liberal Democrat and the sexual exploits of their hero JFK). He is the ideal candidate for them to use to justify their hatred for Christians.

On the other hand there are Christians who think that Donald Trump is 'our' candidate, the one chosen and anointed by God. The one who though he is flawed (the 'we are all sinners' card usually gets played at this point) is still far better than the alternative. He is the Christian President.

Except it's not as simple as that. There are professing Christians who are strongly opposed to Donald Trump. John Macarthur made clear his opposition to the 'vulgar Trump', as did Russell Moore of the Southern Baptists and many others.

Ah  but didn't 80 per cent of evangelicals vote for Trump? Didn't they do this partially because Trump appointed the clearly evangelical former Catholic Mike Pence as Vice President? Isn't he beholden to Christians, and don't most Christians support him?

So what can we say? What is the answer to the question?

1. Donald Trump is not a Christian  so he cannot be the 'Christian' president. I wonder why people consider Donald Trump to be a Christian when he shows no evidence of knowing Christ or of following him? He has given no evidence of having a real faith in Christ or shown any of the fruits (and as Christ said 'you shall know them by their fruits'). As a Christian that is not a big issue for me regarding his role as President, although as a human being I do pray for his salvation. I understand and rejoice in the fact that Mike Pence is a professing Christian with a real faith and understanding of the Scriptures. That doesn't necessarily make him a good politician, but I would hope he would be a Christian witness and moderating influence on the President. Those Christians who voted against Bill Clinton because of his moral character and yet voted for Trump despite his moral character were hardly being consistent.

2. The majority of evangelicals did not vote for President Trump. The 80 per cent figure includes only those who voted, only whites (forgetting that many African-Americans and Hispanics and Asians are evangelicals) and includes as evangelicals many people who don't even go to church. However it is the case that the majority of white evangelicals in this broad sense who did vote, probably did vote for Trump.

3. Many Christians from different backgrounds did vote for President Trump  but they will have done so for a variety of reasons. Some cultural, some personal, some political. Many did not like the alternative and they were not really given much choice. They were also concerned about issues like the Supreme Court Justices, abortion and the fact that Hilary Clinton would have almost certainly limited religious freedom. That however still does not make Donald Trump the Christian President. The fact that his policies were perceived to be less bad than the alternative is not exactly a ringing endorsement.

4. The 'Christianity' that supports Trump is often not Christian. I don't mean by this that real Christians don't vote for Trump  many did, and for the reasons said above. But many who profess to be Christian are either very loose in their Christianity or embrace heresies like the Prosperity Gospel. It may be that the Prosperity Gospel fits better with the gold of Trump towers than it does with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. God did not ordain Donald Trump as President, but he did ordain that Donald Trump should be President. Spot the difference. It's not as though God said about Trump, 'He's my man. I choose him.' But neither is it the case that the American electorate took God by surprise and now he's on to plan B. Often God ordains that we get the consequences of our own actions and wishes. Because God can overrule any evil for good, does not mean that he approves of, or endorses the evil (please note I am not saying that Donald Trump is evil  at least no more than any other human being! If we had been talking about President Clinton the same would have applied.) We don't know yet but it could be that God has ordained Trump for judgement  or mercy!

6. You cannot have a Christian President, but you can have a President who is a Christian. Christianity is not an ethnic, political or social force. We don't vote for people just because they share our faith any more than we choose a plumber because they share our faith. I know its a little more complex than that, because of course in politics there are more values issues, but even so it is the case that you could be a good Christian and a bad politician, and a bad Christian and a good politician (Winston Churchill springs to mind!). There are also many policies which Christians will have different views on  is there a Christian view on Brexit? Or on how much tax we should pay? Or on Canada? Our Christian values will influence all of these, but the Bible is not a political manual. That's why you can have Christians who are right-wing, left-wing and all the feathers in between.

There is much more that could be said but the above makes it clear  Donald Trump is not the Christian President. To those atheists and secularists who want to pin Trump on Christianity  please don't. It isn't true.

To those evangelicals who have signed up as Trump supporters and endorsers  please stop it! If you think Trump is the next David or Moses, or God forbid, Christ, then you are in for a big let down. Support him in terms of praying for him, respecting him, praising him when he does what is right and challenging him when he does what is wrong. But please don't tie Christianity in with Donald Trump. Our faith is in Christ, not in Trump, nor in any of our leaders.

And please let us not identify our politics with Christ lest Christ becomes identified with our politics. The American Church needs to grasp how much of an embarrassment it is to the rest of the Church in the world that it is identified (rightly or wrongly) with a President whose behaviour and speech is far removed from that of a Christian. That is not because of our politics (Christians have all sorts of different politics) but because of our love for Christ and his world. Maybe it's time for a refocus on what our real priorities are  or should be?

David Robertson is Associate Director of Solas CPC in Dundee and minister at St Peter's Free Church. Follow him on Twitter @TheWeeFlea.
Meghan Markle on final days on 'Suits': 'She was extra pleasant'

Actress Meghan Markle, who plays Rachel Zane, reportedly spent her last days on the set of USA's legal drama series "Suits" being extra interactive and engaging with her costars and crew.

Sources reveal that the set was nostalgic, as the 36-year-old was expected to leave the show after season 7. "Meghan was extra pleasant on set and more personable, really engaged with the cast and crew," an insider said.

She was also seen spending some time with the crew in her final days of production of "Suits," which catapulted her into popularity since its fruition in 2011. Markle is reportedly leaving her Toronto apartment after the production for the seventh season is finalized. The source also claims that Markle was sad about leaving Toronto and the series, but at the same time, the actress was excited about the new chapter that will unfold for her with her next step.

Nicky Bursic, Markle's stand-in for the show, took to social media to express her thought on Markle, seemingly confirming her departure. "It's been an absolute pleasure and honour being your 'STAND-IN' for the last 2 seasons @meghanmarkle," she captioned the post. She had since made her account private.

Reports say that Markle would be moving to London, where her royal boyfriend, Prince Harry, hails. The pair, who have made their relationship public in October 2016, is also engaged, as per sources. Although no official announcements have been made, many fans are expecting a summer wedding.

News broke out that Markle was leaving the show along with Patrick J. Adams, who plays Mike Ross, when the two were seen shooting a wedding scene in the Toronto set for "Suits." It could easily be a storyline for their exit. Adams was reportedly focusing on exploring other career paths while Markle was departing the series to focus on being a philanthropist.
'RHOA' news: Kim Zolciak denounces daughter's statements, clarifies she is not pregnant

"The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Kim Zolciak shot down her daughter's claims that she was pregnant.

The 39-year-old wife of Kroy Biermann denounced her daughter Brielle Biermann's revelation that her mother was pregnant with her seventh child. Zolciak took it to Snapchat and said, "She's lying," referring to the statements of her 20-year-old daughter.

Brielle made the prank on Twitter revealing that her mother was expected to give birth in Spring. She also teased the pregnancy on Instagram, saying, "OMG!!! i can't wait to meet the little nugget. it's been so hard keeping this a secret!!! woo!! #lucky7." Brielle's statements were quickly deleted after Zolciak denied the rumors.

This was after Zolciak seemingly confirmed Khloe Kardashian's pregnancy, which was far from being announced by the "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star. The controversial statements of Zolciak and Brielle on Snapchat were supposed to be "private," as claimed by the former, but was accidentally uploaded for everyone to see.

Zolciak also clarified that it was a different person they were talking about, a certain Chloe, and not of the namesake of the Kardashian clan. She denounced people who had been twisting her words and changing the meaning of her statements.

Zolciak has six children. Aside from Brielle, 16-year-old Ariana, KJ, 6, Kash, 5, and Kaia and Kane, 3, are keeping the family complete. However, it could also be remembered that Zolciak and Kroy still have plans to add kids to their family.

In an interview with the US Weekly, Zolciak revealed that she wanted another baby boy and that she was "obsessed" with them. But, she admitted that while she wanted to conceive again, she should act fast as her age was catching up with her. She also echoed the same sentiments during an October guesting in "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen," when she revealed that she had the "baby fever."
Sinai mosque attack: Egypt's Anglican bishop appeals for world to do more to tackle terrorism

Responding to the terrorist attack on the Sinai mosque which left at least 235 people dead, the Anglican Bishop of Egypt has called on the international community to step up the war on terrorists who, he said, enjoy freedoms to raise funds in Europe.

Bishop Mouneer Anis said in a statement following Friday's attack: 'Many world leaders condemned the attack and expressed their support to Egypt in its war against terrorism. We, Egyptians, are determined to fight terrorism and support President Abdel Fatah El Sisi who is leading the war against terrorism in the region.

'Terrorism is a great threat to the whole world. This fact puts the responsibility on the international community to stop all groups and organisations which financially support these terrorist groups. These organizations take advantage of the freedom in the European countries to raise funds to support terrorists to carry out their bloody attacks on human beings.

'Please pray for the families who lost their loved and the injured.'

Bells rang out in Coptic Orthodox churches across Egypt at 12 noon local time on Saturday in solidarity with the victims of the attack.

Militants targeted worshippers in a coordinated gun and bomb attack on al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of Arish city in the Sinai region.

A bomb exploded and sent worshippers fleeing for safety, only to be fired on by the terrorists as they ran. Ambulances heading to the mosque to treat the wounded were also fired on. It has emerged that the gunmen carried Islamic State flags during the attack.

The attack on the Sufi congregation  regarded as heretical by hard-line Sunnis  echoed attacks on Christian churches that have left many dead and others fearing for their lives.

Bishop Anis added: 'It is said that most of the people killed are Sufis. It is known that militant Salafi and Jihadist groups consider Sufis as heretics. They used to target policemen, soldiers and Christians but now Muslims are also targeted. No group is exempt. This massive bloody attack is the largest during the last few years.'

Announcing the ringing of bells, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain, Bishop Angaelos, tweeted that the mosque attack represented 'Different individuals, different communities, different faith...same senseless destruction and pain.'

Egypt's military said at the weekend that it had carried out air strikes and raids against militants held responsible.
Why people-pleasing is so bad for your faith and your emotional health

Many Christians today fall prey to the wrong belief of people-pleasing This belief teaches that it's wrong for Christians to upset anybody. Thus, those who believe in it end up living exhausting lives chasing after people's happiness.

Many you or someone you know has been under the influence of this mindset for a time. In this article, I hope to unravel what it is, how it works, and how to break free from it.

The fear of man

To be honest, people-pleasing comes from the "fear of man." Those who are under the influence of such a fear would always want to be OK with people, and so they try to do all that it takes never to upset anybody.

Some who are burdened with such a wrong belief don't know it, but they are already doing what displeases God. They think they are serving men, but in fact they are fearful that if they don't, they will suffer from one of these things:

They will be rejected and unaccepted They will be hated and labeled "bad" They will have a bad reputation  "a Christian who doesn't love"

People who have these kinds of fear easily fall prey to controlling and manipulative people. We need to be on guard so we won't fall into their trap.

Friends, remember that man is not perfect and always good. The Bible tells us that "no one is righteous," and so if we look to man for our confidence and acceptance, we might not receive it. Worse, we might end up more broken than ever. This is why Proverbs 29:25 tells us,

"The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe."

Also, we are warned against treating men as a master alongside God. Matthew 6:24 tells us we can never and should never do that:

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other."

So is it OK to ignore certain people?

That said, is it OK for a Christian to ignore certain people? Can a Christian choose not to acknowledge certain people's presence?

Believe it or not, yes.

The Bible gives us the best role model for this: the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We read in the Gospels just how focused He is on one single thing: doing His Father's will. He didn't compromise His obedience to God by pleasing people.

Here's one profound example:

In Mark 6:21 and onwards we read of the account where a synagogue ruler named Jairus pleaded with Jesus to come to his home and heal his daughter. Jesus obliged (v. 24), but as He was going there "some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"" (see v. 35).

In verse 36, we read that Jesus overheard the people telling Jairus about the matter, but instead of calling it quits, He ignored the message and instead encouraged the ruler to believe.

In verse 37 to 40, we read how Jesus did not permit anybody except Peter, James, and John to follow Him. He also drove everyone outside the ruler's house before He restored the young girl back to life.

Based on this story, we find that Jesus did ignore people. But He did not ignore everybody  He only ignored those who will not put their faith in Him, or those who won't follow God.

Another example of this would be His conversation with Pilate, in which He either didn't answer everything the Roman leader asked Him, or He felt no need to further explain Himself when it was clear Pilate hadn't understood.

'But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.' (Mark 15:5)

Knowing this, it's also OK to ignore people when all they do to you is take you away from God or distract you from focusing on the Lord. It's not a sin to let go of people who hinder your relationship with God. In fact, we should always seek God first, more than anything (see Matthew 6:33).
Why does it actually matter that Jesus is King?

If you're a fan of historical dramas, you're probably familiar with the sort of power that was once wielded by kings and queens. In Britain, we have a strange fascination with Henry VIII, who had such great power and influence that he was able to split the ancient Church in two, just so he could marry his lover (and then four more women after that).

We're also dazzled by the awesome strength of Queen Elizabeth I, who controlled armies, commissioned great explorers and commanded the fear and respect of the rest of the world. In the past, these rulers had absolute control and  sometimes  the utter deference and love of their subjects.

The words 'king' and 'queen' have a very different association in 2017. The monarchs that remain, certainly in the West, are more figureheads than rulers, and many live under the threat of redundancy. The real 'kings' today are our presidents, prime ministers and chancellors  the men and women who run our nations day to day. In some cases, they actually behave much like those medieval kings and queens, spouting warmongering rhetoric and demonstrating a certain self-obsession. While we've certainly had some great presidents in recent years  Nelson Mandela for instance  the current crop of global leaders, fronted by men like Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un and until recently, Robert Mugabe, have given rise to the notion that we're now in the midst of a global leadership crisis.

As Christians though, we serve another, even more powerful and much more significant king, and one who behaves very differently. When we choose to follow Jesus, we join a movement  a kingdom even  which is led by someone a lot greater even than Donald Trump (although you can imagine him disputing that on Twitter). In a time of leadership crisis, we can look up to an unfailing, brilliant leader who showed us how to live not just with words but by example. Jesus is our friend, yes, but he is also our king. We are his subjects.

And I wonder whether sometimes, we don't fully realise that. Or we take it for granted. Maybe it doesn't mean an awful lot to us when we're sitting at our desks on Monday morning. Maybe when we're running the kids around, or sitting down with a friend for coffee, or going in to school for six hours of lessons  it doesn't mean an awful lot to us that Jesus is our King.

In Ephesians 1: 20-23, Paul writes that God (having raised Jesus from the dead), 'seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.' Jesus is the King, over all other kings and rulers, over the present and the future, and over the church. But still, isn't that just a bit of a theoretical statement? A doctrine to assent to; a phrase to make sure we throw into our worship songs?

I think the final verse there suggests that if we recognise Jesus as our king, then there's actually a very practical response  a responsibility even. Because Jesus' subjects aren't just passive worshippers, but a body of moving parts, of which he is the head. The Church, Jesus' royal order, is somehow 'the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." We're not the king, but we are his agents in the world; we figuratively speaking bear the royal colours, just not the crown.

Again, I think we've sometimes reduced Christ's kingship to a worship song lyric. In fact, I think it requires a much more active response from us. So what is that exactly?

If we look at one of the most famous Christ-the-King passages, in Matthew 25, we read about the risen and enthroned King Jesus, dividing people into metaphorical 'sheep' and 'goats' on Judgment Day. What's interesting is that he makes the distinction between those who get to claim an inheritance, and those who don't, on the basis of how they treated those in need. He's apparently not interested in  or certainly doesn't mention here  their acts of personal devotion, or how many great worship songs they sang about him. What the King seems to value is whether they fed the hungry (verse 35), looked after the sick and clothed the poor (verse 36). He cares about whether they truly practised forgiveness and reconciliation by visiting the prisoner, and perhaps most controversially in 2017, whether they not only welcomed the stranger but invited him in (verse 35).

This, it seems to me, is what it means to recognise Jesus as our King. Not simply to bow and worship, but to take up our place as his hands and feet in the world. King Jesus isn't just someone we sing about, but someone we join forces with.

A good friend of mine is currently creating holy chaos in Australia with a non-violent campaign to liberate refugees from the inhumane conditions of the offshore detention centre on Manus. Plenty of Christians in his country are perplexed  or even angry  at how he can see compromising his country's borders as a worthwhile pursuit for a pastor. But as I read Jesus words in Matthew 25, it seems to me that my friend is simply carrying out royal orders. Caring, speaking up and acting for the poor and the marginalised isn't just a nice thing that Christian believers do; these things are our natural response to the realisation that Jesus is our King.

Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.
The CCNI is the regulator for charities in Northern Ireland

A court has ruled that the staff of the Charity Commission in Northern Ireland did not have the delegated authority to make orders  casting doubt on hundreds of decisions.

Damien McMahon, president of the Charity Tribunal for Northern Ireland, ruled that the CCNI was limited by a statute which says that decisions must be taken by the board, or by a committee containing at least one member of the board.

Any CCNI decisions which have been taken by the staff, without a board member, are potentially therefore not valid.

McMahon was ruling on an appeal in the case of Sean Caughey, of Newry and Mourne Carers, a small charity which the CCNI investigated last year.

However the position has been complicated because another judgment, issued by the same tribunal, made a ruling with the opposite effect.

That judgment was handed down by Ian Huddleston, in the case of Robert Crawford, who was removed as a trustee of the Disabled Police Officers Association of Northern Ireland.

In both cases the Attorney General for Northern Ireland had intervened in the case to bring the position that the CCNI had acted without authority.

The judgments will affect hundreds of decisions taken by staff. The CCNI has made 141 orders, 78 directions, and 543 casework decisions. It is not clear how many of these would be invalidated.

A Commission spokesman said: We are aware of a number of Charity Tribunal decisions and ongoing cases, which are based on a point of law regarding the validity of the Commissions decisions.

The Commission stands over all our decision making processes, which are based on robust legal advice. The Commission has sought permission to appeal the Caughey Tribunal decision to the High Court.

The Department for Communities, the parent department of the CCNI, has sought to participate in a separate appeal on the matters at issue.
YolanDa Brown is the new chair of Youth Music

Our weekly summary of the latest movers in the charity sector.

Chief executive

Scottish social enterprise the Wise Group has announced the appointment of Sean Duffy as its new chief executive.

Duffy will join the organisation in the New Year, replacing currently Laurie Russell who is retiring after 11 years in the post.

He is currently commercial director of Newsquest Scotland and has previous senior leadership experience at FirstGroup, National Express and STV Group.

Fundraising and communications

Rachel Wagstaff has been appointed as the new director of fundraising at Thames Valley Air Ambulance.

Wagstaff is currently the supporter fundraising manager at Crohns and Colitis UK. She has previously worked for Christian Concern and Trinity Fellowship.

She is also a trustee of KRF, a small Christian charity providing relief and development in rural Kenya.

Non executive

Youth Music has announced the appointment of bandleader and composer YolanDa Brown as chair of the charitys trustee board.

Brown replaces current chair Andy Parfitt who will stand down in December, having completed his five year tenure in the role.

Brown is an award-winning saxophonist, band leader, music composer and broadcaster and will take up her new role with the charity in January.

Deaf health charity SignHealth have appointed Jackie Driver as its new chair, along with four new trustees to its board.

Driver, who is deaf, was recently ranked as the sixth most influential disabled person in the UK in this years Power 100 List 2017.

She has served on a number of different charity trustee boards including as chair of Breakthrough UK, and on the board of DEAF Inc and Result CIC.
Acevo spoke to Danny Sriskandarajah, secretary general of Civicus, as part of its 30th birthday celebrations to get him to expand on his article for Civil Society Futures, where he asks if it is the beginning of the end for the charity sector.

Danny, youve said that you think that this is the beginning of the end of the charitable sector as we know it, and that we need to find new ways of nurturing and supporting the next generation of social leaders. What do you think that might look like? What are those ways?

Well, I think the first thing to realise is that the assumptions we made about what each sector looks like, and therefore what good leadership in each sector of government, business and civil society looks like, will have to change.

In one way I think its going to relatively easy, which is we need effective leaders that can transcend these boundaries of sectors who can run an effective organisation using excellent business principles, but be clear about the social change or social good that they seek, be open and accountable.

So in some ways we want to be build that cross-sectoral or trans-sectoral leadership, but I think that theres a peculiar set of challenges for those of us who lead organisations within civil society, non-profits, charities if you will, and thats how do we make sure we can adapt our own organisation to this coming reality that the trust, the funding flows, the operating environment, the conditionalities facing charities in particular, are changing to an extent that if we dont adapt, my fear is many a well-respected institution in civil society will go under.

Youve talked about new models of democracy, that democracy will change, that democracy will look different. What do you think that will look like?

My understanding of whats going on in terms of the rise of populism, the Brexit vote in the UK, is in a large part driven by the frustration that many people feel about a lack of voice in what is otherwise a well-functioning democracy. My hypothesis is thats because weve relied on a set of political institutions  elections, political parties, parliament  to conduct democratic life for us, and thats no longer good enough. Voting every few years isnt enough of an act of democratic participation; political parties that are supposed to channel our view and wishes are no longer trusted in the same way that they might once have been. And so we need to find new ways of channeling citizen voice.

And I think theres a leadership opportunity here for civil society, because we should be at the vanguard of amplifying and channeling citizen voice, of canvassing, campaigning, of engaging people in more meaningful ways as well in conversations about the society around them, about how theyd like to shape their own communities and their own future.

We need, I think, to pilot, or experiment with new ways of democratic life, everyday democracy, what Neil Lawson calls liquid democracy. I think thats the future and the quicker we get to it, the better I think for all of us.

And what do you think existing leaders need to do now to make sure that we can get there?

The most important thing for me for civil society leaders is about living up to much more serious commitments around accountability and engagement. An Indian friend of mine says that charities are good at accounts ability, but not accountability, that were good at filling out our accounts so that donors and regulators are happy, but horrible when it comes to actually having meaningful relationships with the people we claim to be serving: they dont appear on our boards, they dont really have a say on what management does, and we only rarely  and often tokenistically  consult them in the way that we operate. And that all needs to change.

So if you think about new forms of democracy, or new forms of accountability, dynamic accountability, then I think its critical that to be seen as legitimate and effective actors in society, charities themselves need to adapt to these new ways of operating.

Is there an element therefore in what youre saying that existing leaders are focusing too much on survival, on survival of their own organisations, survival of the sector as it exists at the moment?

I think theres a huge risk that the bigger charities, the ones that have sophisticated operations, large operations, that have become sort of corporate-like in their behaviours, end up being almost no different from businesses.

'Slave to the brand'

Sometimes when I do meet the leaders of big NGOs I fear that theyve become slave to the brand, that they have lost sight of their ultimate purpose, that theyre stuck on a hiding to nothing when it comes to accepting money from government contracts or subcontracts through corporate consultancies.

Weve backed ourselves into a corner where weve become second-class citizens in the political economy around us, and that needs to change, because if we start to resemble corporate entities, always looking for growth and protecting our brand and market share, then well competed out by those guys.

When it comes to government contracting, already were seeing in this country, for example, that procurement is status blind: procurers are looking just for value for money or bottom-line, not really interested in the status of the organisation that wins the bid. And so, I think there is a real danger, at least in some parts of the sector, that this corporatism is killing the spirit of civic life.

Youve said as well that you think there will be a hybridisation of the existing charity sector and other forms of power; other forms of private sector power. Youve said that maybe that isnt such a bad thing. Are there risks in that as well though?

Yes of course theres huge risks.

A lot of the social enterprise washing, if you will, businesses pretending that theyre now all about the triple bottom line or social good. Theres a huge risk of that.

But the point that I make, which I know is contentious, but I do it deliberately, to remind ourselves of the fact that the current order, the current sectoral split, the current idea that there is this thing called a registered charity, is only relatively recent.

It may have been in a concept in the UK for a while but its certainly not a long-standing concept in many other parts of the world. And we need to always keep asking the question: Is this the way that we should set up society with businesses seeking profit, governments delivering public services and charities picking up the pieces and providing community services?

It need not be that way. If, for example, we say that its no longer socially acceptable for any entity in society to simply be pursuing profit. Thats what has got us to where we are with with climate change with extreme inequality with growing insecurity. And in fact no formation in society can be driven by profit alone. And in fact all formations in society start to resemble social enterprises or B-Corps and have to have elements of social good written into their functioning, into their business model and in their accountability to both the regulators and members of the public.

And so it may sound a bit like wishful thinking but increasingly I hear arguments from very different angles that come to similar conclusions. People talking about the singularity principle in all social formations; the rise of social enterprises; the fact that many bigger NGOs, or some bigger NGOs, are asking themselves the question Do we still need to be a registered charity? It comes with a lot of hassle but not not a lot of gain And so there are there are several arguments that take us to challenging the assumptions that underlie the current sectoral split that weve come to live with.

'Seen the peak of the sector in the operating environment'

And you talk about young dreamers, young people who are thinking about their future and thinking about how they want to affect the world. Youve said that you think its unlikely that any of those are dreaming of becoming charity chief executives. How can we change things so that those people do want to be involved in whatever civil society looks like in the future?

For me this has been one of the most challenging realisations, because when I was young my dream was to work in civil society. I dont think Ive ever really worked in anything but civil society and its because I assumed that there were these things called NGOs that would have large professionalised workforces, that I could make a living doing good in whatever form, within these organisations and of course thats likely to continue for some time. But my argument is weve probably seen the peak of the sector in the operating environment.

But more importantly when I meet young people very few of them want to go and get a salaried job in an NGO as part of their aspirations, especially in the global south where the sort of entrepreneurial young folk hold many NGOs in contempt and instead think that the answer lies in some form of social enterprise, of doing good and doing well. And so their sort of inclination (and its a huge generalisation I recognise) but I think there is a growing inclination that truly sustainable modes of social action are unlikely to be driven by the NGO model that weve built in recent decades.

The promising thing is I dont think theres any shortage of interest in the sorts of things that I care about and most people in organised civil society care about. So I think that we have to take that and work with it to create opportunities and avenues for young people who do care about these things to deliver on that potential and that interest.

Now that may not be applying for and getting a salaried job in a registered charity, it might be about saying well, here are some new formations that might help you pursue what you want to do. It might be voluntary. Many people are saying that the future of work is going to change so dramatically with automation that the provision of universal basic income and similar programs will actually mean less work for many people but more time. In which case civil society leaders need to be thinking about how do we use that time that people may well have on their hands for social good, for strengthening communities, for pursuing common good.

So I think that the channels by which people will manifest their active citizenship need to change or will change and we need to anticipate those changes and we can no longer assume that somehow the professionalised, salaried bits of civil society have the monopoly on social good or are at the vanguard of driving social good.

Were important parts, were important institutions, we need to be sustainable, accountable institutions, but our responsibility is to facilitate and stimulate wider social action that may go well beyond our own staff, our boardrooms and our own objectives.

And is there an implication of that for organisations like Civicus, and I guess organisations like Acevo as well, for what that sustainability therefore looks like in the future?

I think theres a huge implication in the sense that Civicus has members in 180 countries, in very few of those are there well functioning support mechanisms for civil society. The networks, the platforms, the infrastructure bodies that are so essential to give collective voice but also to support each other to think through some of these issues, are weak or nonexistent. And I think its really important that we invest in that infrastructure that can then drive innovation, effective leadership, new forms of accountability for the sector as a whole.

And so I think thats a responsibility that all of us have, especially the better resourced bits of civil society.

So that again comes back to this idea that no longer can an effective charity leader, I think, simply be responsible for pursuing their own organisation interests at almost all costs and its got to be about acting for the wider interests. Which also I suppose goes to the boards of these organisations, to the trustees of these organisations who have to push their leaders to not just think about organisational interests but the broader interests.

'Huge risks to new technologies and tools'

So to wrap up, this future that you talk about, are you optimistic about it? A civil society that isnt anything very much like existing civil society, thats hybridised, thats more social, thats more networked Do you feel positive about that change?

I feel worried about a bunch of things including the sustainability of some of those organisations that have been so important in civil society in recent years. I worry about the dangers of getting it wrong when it comes to these new forms of engagement That growing frustration of people will lead to a further regression in political momentum around the world. There are huge risks around the new technologies and tools that we have to hand around privacy and liberty.

But on balance I am hugely optimistic. If you believe that civic action, active citizenship, is what were about in civil society and that were here to nurture social and civic life and support it for the common good, then weve got tools that are so amazing when it comes to the ability that we have to organise, mobilise, take action, pool resources, hold institutions and power to account, that its never been easier to do the sorts of things that were interested in. And I have a sense that there is this thirst for participation. In general the sort of people I meet, especially younger people, want to be more active and engaged citizens. Theyre just frustrated about the avenues and mechanisms they have in place.

So I think it all comes down to whether we can build the mechanisms and institutions that can channel citizen voice in positive, constructive ways. And if we can do that then Im really optimistic about this century. In fact I often say that whats at stake is whether we can make the 21st century the century of the citizen. In many ways the 20th century was the century of the consumer. And before that for most of human histories we were simply subjects so the great emancipation if you will is this move from subject to consumer, ultimately to citizen.

And I really hope that civil society institutions and organisations can help facilitate that, can drive that change. That may need very new forms of organising, very new forms of leadership. But I think its in our hands to to make that process real and to drive that process. And maybe Im now being far too optimistic and idealistic but I think thats whats at stake here.

Danny Sriskandarajah is secretary general of Civicus and a member of the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society. He took part in the interview above as a follow-up to his article for Civil Society Futures.

To celebrate its 30th birthday, Acevo asked 30 people in and around civil society for their thought-provoking insights. This article first appeared on Acevo's website here, where you can listen online or download the podcast. Join the conversation at #acevo30.
Venture-capital funding can be a double-edged sword for startups. On the one hand, the access to money allows young companies to grow quickly without having to worry about profitability, but in many cases it also encourages them to take irrational risks in an attempt to produce the kind of returns VCs rely upon. The dilemma this creates for media companies in particular was thrown into sharp relief last week when bad news broke on a trifecta of high-profile digital-media ventures:

BuzzFeed will reportedly miss its revenue targets for this year by as much as 20 percent. The company had been talking about a public share offering next year, but analysts say an IPO is likely on hold due to its lackluster financial performance. After its most recent financing round in 2016an investment of $200 million from NBCUniversal that doubled the Comcast subsidiarys holdings in the companyBuzzFeed had a valuation of $1.7 billion. As analysts noted at the time, this number wasnt much larger than what the company was theoretically worth in 2015, which suggested it isnt growing quickly enough to justify a higher value.

Mashable has agreed to sell itself to Ziff Davis for about $50 million. Thats less than one quarter of what the company was worth as recently as last year, when it closed a $15 million round of funding from Time Warners Turner unit. Not long afterward, Mashable laid off about 30 employees, including its entire political reporting team*, and pivoted to focus on video, a change driven in part by Facebooks insatiable demand for video content.

Vice is also likely to miss revenue targets for 2017. It had a theoretical market value of $5.7 billion earlier this year, after private equity firm TPG invested $450 million in the company. Disney also has a significant stake, having invested $400 million in 2015 (a funding round that gave Vice a market value of about $4 billion at the time), in addition to a $250 million investment made in 2014 through A&E Networks, a partnership between Disney and Hearst. Vice has talked about possibly floating an initial public share offering, but it has also named Disney as a potential acquirer.

ICYMI: NYTimes editor apologizes after article sparks outrage

Obviously, BuzzFeed and Vice arent failures by any normal definition. They have hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and are theoretically worth billions. Skeptics, however, will note that those billions are private-market valuationsnotional values that can disappear in an instant, as in Mashables caseand that neither appears close to turning a profit.

So is any of this venture capitals fault? Although CUNY journalism professor Jeff Jarvis celebrated Axios taking venture funding, others were not so quick to herald VC as always good for media startups.

I'm not sure VC money is good news. Why are you?  Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) November 17, 2017

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Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall argues that much of the investment in media companies was driven by false expectations, but now investors are realizing that scale cannot replicate the kind of business model lock-in, price premiums, and revenue stability people thought it would. The bottom line, Marshall writes, is that the future that VCs and other investors were investing hundreds of millions of dollars in probably doesnt exist.

ICYMI: Explosive BuzzFeed scoop raises eyebrows

BuzzFeed, for example, built a business dedicated at least in part to producing content, including video, that would work well on Facebook. But the returns on that content appear to be much lower than expected. Is that because the expectations of BuzzFeed and its investors were too high, or did Facebook make changes that undermined those expectations? Or did the landscape change in other ways?

One of the bets VCs made was that digital-media companies like BuzzFeed could grow at rates similar to tech startups, and could therefore justify the same kinds of valuations, but that doesnt appear to be the case.

At one point, the company was said to be projecting revenues of as much as $500 million for last year, but it was forced to scale back those forecasts, and it likely pulled in about half that amount. For this year, BuzzFeed executives were reportedly looking for growth of 35 percent, but the company appears to have achieved dramatically less than that.

BuzzFeed missing revenue targets by 20% doesn't make it a bad business. It's just not a big business. Hard for me to see/believe in path for huge $$$. I wouldn't invest at its valuation. I still like the company and it'll be successful  just a more moderate $$$ success.  Ted Williams (@ted_williams) November 17, 2017

If the reports are correct, BuzzFeed increased its revenue by less than 10 percent, to about $280 million. Thats not a great performance for a company thats seen as a fast-growing digital superstar, and it makes its alleged $1.7 billion value look awfully rich. One of the bets VCs made was that digital-media companies like BuzzFeed could grow at rates similar to tech startups, and could therefore justify the same kinds of valuations, but that doesnt appear to be the case.

As for Vice, co-founder and CEO Shane Smith has said multiple times over the past year that the company had a $1 billion run rate, meaning it was on track to generate that much in annual revenue. But it is expected to bring in only $800 million this year.

As a number of observers noted after the BuzzFeed and Mashable news broke, the reality could be that these businesses are not failures at all, but simply arent worth as much as either their founders or investors hoped. The blame might lie with Facebook, or the dominance that the social media giant and Google exert over the advertising industry. But part of the blame could also belong to over-inflated expectations of a pot of gold at the end of the digital-media rainbow.

*An earlier version of this article said Mashable laid off its entire news team. In fact, the site laid off about 30 members of its staff, including its entire political news team.

ICYMI: How an incident in a small town evolved into a national fake news story

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Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg.
Polite, low key, with Midwestern manners that would please anyones mother,and also, a Nazi. The New York Timess profile of 29-year-old Ohio resident Tony Hovater sparked outrage from the moment it was published over the weekend. Critics charged that it was a soft-focus puff piece of a man with despicable, dangerous views, while some defended it for exposing the banality of evil in American life.

Recognizing the backlash, the pieces author, Richard Fausset, published a first-person account of his struggle to wrestle answers from his interviews with Hovater. Admitting that he was unable to satisfactorily discover what made Hovater embrace such noxious beliefs, Fausset writes, I beat myself up about all of this for a while, until I decided that the unfilled hole would have to serve as both feature and defect. What I had were quotidian details, though to be honest, Im not even sure what these add up to.

ICYMI: Explosive BuzzFeed scoop raises eyebrows

Those detailsfrom Hovaters sauteing of minced garlic with chili flakes to his Seinfeld fandomhumanize a man who marched with white supremacists in Charlottesville and believes that America would be better off as an ethno-nationalist state. The piece is heavy on banality, but fails to capture the evil that Hovater doesnt even try to conceal.

The Timess national editor, Marc Lacey, apologized for the degree to which the piece offended so many readers, but defended the decision to pursue the story. What we think is indisputable, he writes in an editors note now linked at the top of the piece, is the need to shed more light, not less, on the most extreme corners of American life and the people who inhabit them.

ICYMI: The story the NYTimes, BuzzFeed didnt want to publish

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That impulseto expose the degree to which repulsive ideologies exist among our neighborsis a fine one. As Mother Joness Shane Bauer tweeted in defense of the piece, Regular white people become Nazis and we need to understand how. They are a product of our deeply racist society, of which we are all a part. Monsters are not a product of anything. We can distance ourselves from monsters. As Fausett himself admits, however, the piece never manages to explain how Hovater came to hold the beliefs he now espouses.

Judging a piece by the reaction of its subject isnt always the best barometer of the storys success, but when an avowed Nazi sympathizer and his ideological brethren are celebrating, as BuzzFeeds Charlie Warzel reports Hovater and others were after the Times article posted, its a sign youve missed the mark. Sometimes, if youre left with a hole at the heart of a story, better not to run it at all.

ICYMI: Were the dominant publication in the most populous, wealthiest state in the country

Below, more on the reaction to the Timess piece.

Other notable stories

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Pete Vernon is a former CJR staff writer. Follow him on Twitter @ByPeteVernon.
Uber is coming clean about its cover-up of a year-old hacking attack that stole personal information about more than 57 million of the beleaguered ride-hailing services customers and drivers.

So far, theres no evidence that the data taken has been misused, according to a Tuesday blog post by Ubers recently hired CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. Part of the reason nothing malicious has happened is because Uber acknowledges paying the hackers $100,000 to destroy the stolen information.

The revelation marks the latest stain on Ubers reputation.

The San Francisco company ousted Travis Kalanick as CEO in June after an internal investigation concluded he had built a culture that allowed female workers to be sexually harassed and encouraged employees to push legal limits.

Its also the latest major breach involving a prominent company that didnt notify the people that could be potentially harmed for months or even years after the break-in occurred.

Yahoo didnt make its first disclosure about hacks that hit 3 billion user accounts during 2013 and 2014 until September 2016. Credit reporting service Equifax waited several months before revealing this past September that hackers had carted off the Social Security numbers of 145 million Americans.

Khosrowshahi criticized Ubers handling of its data theft in his blog post.

While I cant erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes, Khosrowshahi wrote. We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers.

That pledge shouldnt excuse Ubers previous regime for its egregious behavior, said Sam Curry, chief security officer for the computer security firm Cybereason.

The truly scary thing here is that Uber paid a bribe, essentially a ransom to make this breach go away, and they acted as if they were above the law, Curry said.Those people responsible for the integrity and confidentiality of the data in-fact covered it up.

The heist took the names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of 57 million riders around the world. The thieves also nabbed the drivers license numbers of 600,000 Uber drivers in the U.S.

Uber waited until Tuesday to begin notifying the drivers with compromised drivers licenses, which can be particularly useful for perpetrating identify theft. For that reason, Uber will now pay for free credit-report monitoring and identity theft protection services for the affected drivers.

Kalanick, who still sits on Ubers board of directors, declined to comment on the data breach that took place in October 2016. Uber says the response to the hack was handled by its chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor whom Kalanick lured away from Facebook in 2015.

As part of his effort to set things right, Khosrowshahi extracted Sullivans resignation from Uber and also jettisoned Craig Clark, a lawyer who reported to Sullivan.

Clark didnt immediately respond to a request for comment sent through his LinkedIn profile. Efforts to reach Sullivan were unsuccessful.

Ubers silence about its breach came while it was negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission about its handling of its riders information.

Earlier in 2016, the company reached a settlement with the New York attorney general requiring it to take steps to be more vigilant about protecting the information that its app stores about its riders. As part of that settlement, Uber also paid a $20,000 fine for waiting to notify five months about another data breach that it discovered in September 2014.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a press conference at the end of EU Eastern Partnership summit at the European Council in Brussels on Nov. 24, 2017.

Political uncertainty looks set to remain a recurrent theme in the markets going forward.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union caught a break when the Social Democratic Party (SPD) stepped up to the plate after coalition talks with the Free Democratic Party and Greens fell through. SPD leader Martin Schulz said his party would begin talks with Merkel, although he asserted that a final decision would depend on party members.

Elsewhere, Ireland faced its own crisis after a motion of no confidence in Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald  part of the minority Fine Gael government  over a whistle blowing controversy.

Meanwhile, Brexit continues to remain in focus in the U.K. Most recently, Ireland's EU commissioner warned that Dublin could potentially veto Brexit trade talks if a decision is not made on the Northern Irish border. Dublin is looking for assurance that there will not be a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.

Also of note are Saudi Arabia, which is currently involved in an ongoing tussle for influence with Iran in the Middle East, and the U.S., where the Trump administration is struggling to cement any landmark legislation despite a GOP majority in both houses of Congress.
Mr. Grundfest said warnings that some I.C.O.s may violate federal securities rules do not go far enough. "We're waiting to see a whole bunch of enforcement actions in this space,and we wonder why they haven't happened yet," he said.

Coin offerings generally happen without the involvement of financial institutions or regulators because investors pay for the coins using Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, which can be sent outside the traditional financial system.

Start-ups have raised more than $3 billion this year from investors through coin offerings. Most start-ups say the coins they are selling will be useful as a method of payment in the online services they are building.

A spokeswoman for the S.E.C. did not respond to a request for comment.

"It's more than the extent of the violation," he said. "It's the almost comedic quality of the violation."

"I.C.O.s represent the most pervasive, open and notorious violation of federal securities laws since the Code of Hammurabi," Mr. Grundfest said in an interview.

Joseph Grundfest, who was a commissioner at the S.E.C. in the 1980s and is now a law and business professor at Stanford, said he had been contacting current commission officials and staff to urge them to bring cases, and fast.

Initial coin offerings are a relatively new method that entrepreneurs have used to raise money for start-ups, by selling custom-built virtual currencies. The practice has taken off this year, despite the warnings of regulators and the uncertainty of the rules concerning the fund-raising method.

Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission's staff have been hearing recently from a former colleague with an urgent question: Why aren't you cracking down on these initial coin offerings?

Regulators in China and South Korea have recently banned such offerings outright.

In the United States, the S.E.C. has brought one case against a small fraudulent coin offering. The agency has also warned that at least some coins being sold could be considered securities, and would be in violation of securities law if not registered with the authorities  and few are.

But Mr. Grundfest, who is also a co-director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance, said the continuing flow of new coin offerings showed that the warnings were not nearly enough.

"We're waiting to see a whole bunch of enforcement actions in this space, and we wonder why they haven't happened yet," he said. "I hope what they are doing is planning on a sweep of 50 I.C.O.s."

Mr. Grundfest is far from the only voice who has criticized the frenzy around coin offerings. Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist who has expressed enthusiasm about Bitcoin, has said he thinks that "99 percent of I.C.O.s are a scam," a sentiment that other leading venture capitalists have echoed.

"99 percent of I.C.O.s are a scam," says Chamath Palihapitiya.

But Mr. Grundfest's words could carry more weight, both because he is close to the technology world near Stanford and because he knows what it takes to bring federal securities cases.

He said the most obvious way for regulators to go after initial coin offerings would be to label them as securities and punish them for not registering with the authorities.

The chairman of the S.E.C., Jay Clayton, said in a talk this month that the agency was planning to crack down on offerings that violated securities law, including virtual coins that should be categorized as securities but have not been registered with the authorities.

"Where we see fraud, and where we see people engaging in offerings that are not registered, we are going to pursue them because these types of things have a destabilizing effect on the market," Mr. Clayton said in a meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

More from the New York Times:

S.E.C. Warns Celebrities Endorsing Virtual Money

Despite S.E.C. Warning, Wave of Initial Coin Offerings Grows

Call for Reform on Misconduct Claims Echoes Across Congress

Mr. Grundfest said that he would welcome this, but that he did not think it should have taken this long.

"These are not hard cases," he said. "You don't need teams of accountants poring over complex financing documents."

Many companies offering coins have argued that they are not securities because they will have utility on the networks the companies are building.

But Mr. Grundfest said it was clear that almost everyone buying tokens at this point was buying them with the hope that their value would go up, not because the buyer wanted to use them on some future computer network.

Mr. Grundfest said he thought that the concept of a coin offering could be a useful innovation for certain types of fund-raising. It could, he said, make sense for a company building a decentralized cloud storage network, which could then use the coin as a means of payment and record keeping on the network.

But he said almost none of the projects currently raising money through coin offerings had a need for the novel structure.

"Is this amazing technology? Yes," he said. "But most of the stuff we see today is total crap."

Mr. Grundfest said several teams looking at doing offerings had approached him to ask how to do it right.

"I say, 'Look, you are at very high risk for violating the securities law,' and explain why," he said. "Then they go find another lawyer."
Uncertainty and instability have always existed in the Middle East, and won't disrupt Abu Dhabi's growth, the CEO of the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, told CNBC.

"Ever since the establishment of the [United Arab Emirates], this region has always been surrounded by instability and challenges," said Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who heads the large sovereign fund. His country, he said, will remain a "beacon of stability" despite the volatility in the region, and the ongoing tensions with neighbor Qatar for the UAE and its three Arab allies.

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven emirates, is the UAE's federal capital, and home to two million residents. It's estimated to hold 9 and 5 percent of the world's oil and gas reserves, respectively.

Weaker oil prices have contributed to the slowing of Abu Dhabi's economy in recent years, but investors have sought out opportunities in the government's ambitious diversification program, Vision 2030, which was launched in 2007.
The index pullback is a signal of a major interruption to the uptrend in the key market measure in China. This behavior shows the failure of three important support features. This suggests the uptrend had lost momentum. At best, this could develop into a period of consolidation prior to the development of a uptrend continuation. At worst, this could signal the collapse of the uptrend and a test of support between 3,260 and 3,290.

VCG | Getty Images

The uptrend was defined with a straight edge trend line. This trend line has provided a significant support feature and a potential rally rebound point. This is the first time since 2017 May that the index has closed below the trend line. This is a significant trend break signal. The second support failure is the close below the lower edge of the long-term Guppy Multiple Moving Average indicator. This is an early warning sign of trend weakness. Further falls in the index will develop rapid compression in the long-term GMMA, which shows investors quickly turning into sellers.

The pullback broke completely through the GMMA. This is a close well below the lower edge of the long-term GMMA. The close is significant because it shows there is strong selling pressure. Closes at, or near, the low of the day are very bearish. The close well below the lower edge of the long-term GMMA is particularly bearish. It is usually associated with a change in the trend. The third support failure is the close below the long-term support and resistance level near 3,360. This has been a significant long-term support level for the Shanghai index. The substantial close below this level is very bearish. This is different to the activity in September where the index moved below this level for six days. In September the index moved down to test the upper level of the long-term GMMA as a support feature.

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The stock market opens the last week of November at yet another record. Wall Street will be watching the changing of the guard at the Federal Reserve and a few key economic data points to set the tone for the week. Plus: How far will bitcoin mania go?

A new Fed chief

Tuesday is the Senate confirmation hearing for Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the U.S. central bank. We'll get to hear Powell's ideas on monetary policy, banking regulation and his general approach to run one of the most important institutions in the world. Confirmation hearings are often unpredictable. While Powell could face some scrutiny, particularly from Republicans who don't care for the central bank to begin with, and Democrats who want a tighter rein on Wall Street, Powell's confirmation is all but assured.

Jerome Powell, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve and President Donald Trump's nominee as chairman of the Federal Reserve, arrives to a nomination announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. Olivier Douliery | Bloomberg | Getty Images

However, the market will be watching closely for clues on how Powell, currently a Fed governor, will approach the position. A day later, current Chair Janet Yellen will talk to Congress as part of her semiannual testimony, with the focus being an update on how the economy is doing. Expect Yellen to discuss where the Fed stands in its quest to normalize monetary policy  and to deliver something of a valedictory on her nearly four years in charge. There are a bunch of other Fed speeches scheduled: Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and New York's William Dudley on Monday, Dudley and Philadelphia President Patrick Harker on Tuesday, Dudley yet again on Wednesday, Fed Governor and newest central bank official Randal Quarles, along with Dallas President Robert Kaplan, on Thursday, and St. Louis Fred President James Bullard, Kaplan and Harker on Friday.

Key economic data points

There's only a smattering of data points this week, and contrary to what you might expect, there will be no jobs report. The Labor Department usually releases its nonfarm payrolls count on the first Friday of the month, except when it falls on the first of the month. So, no jobs Friday this week, but there will be some other economic news investors should be watching. Housing will be the focus. Tuesday's number is the most closely watched, as that is when the Case/Shiller home price index is released. In addition, Monday will see new home sales while Wednesday is pending home sales. Also, Wednesday will feature the revised count for second-quarter GDP growth, with the number likely more than 3 percent. In other data, Friday will see the key ISM manufacturing index and construction spending, consumer confidence is on Monday, and Thursday features the usual weekly jobless claims.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

The last word
College students are perpetually strapped for cash. Over the past 20 years, the cost of tuition has increased by 157 percent for private universities, 194 percent for out-of-state public universities and a whopping 237 percent for in-state public universities. To cut costs, students should keep their eyes peeled for opportunities to save money on their everyday purchases. Even billionaire Mark Cuban says that buying things you need while they're on sale is one of the best ways to save money and get a positive return on investment. Here are five Cyber Monday deals students can't afford to overlook:

Hero Images | Getty Images

Textbooks

If you want to buy your textbooks at a discount, Cyber Monday might be your most affordable opportunity. Bookstores trying to compete with e-commerce giant Amazon are offering serious Cyber Monday deals. Barnes & Noble, for instance, is giving shoppers 15 percent off with the code "SHOPALLDAY." If renting is more your style, textbook rental services like Chegg offer year-round savings.

College gear

College pride doesn't have to break the bank. Bed Bath & Beyond is selling a wide variety of discounted college-branded gear this Cyber Monday. Be sure to check out marked-down college blankets, cornhole sets, bedding and more.

Coffee

Coffee is a universal college necessity, and Cyber Monday is a great way to get your caffeine fix on a budget. Keurig is offering 25 percent off on all of their products with the code "CYBERMONDAY25" and retailers like Target, Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond all have a wide selection of affordable French presses.

Dorm kitchen hacks

The Instant Pot has been flying off of Amazon's virtual shelves this season  and for good reason. The seemingly magical multi-cooker is versatile, energy-efficient and fast. On Cyber Monday, you can save 38 percent on the Instant Pot. If you aren't interested in making such a big investment in your dorm room kitchen, check out holiday deals on smaller products, like a microwave egg cooker or a microwave cleaner.

External hard drives
Several big-name advertisers have stopped advertising on YouTube after their ads appeared next to videos showing children in their underwear. Companies including Mars, Adidas , Hewlett-Packard and Deutsche Bank have suspended their YouTube ads over the past week after their brand names appeared next to videos of scantily-clad children with lewd comments posted underneath. The scandal came to light after an investigation by U.K. newspaper The Times. A Mars spokesperson said in an emailed statement that it had stopped all of its online advertising on YouTube and parent company Google globally while it works with the tech giant and its agencies "to understand what went wrong." Adidas, meanwhile, said it had suspended advertising in various countries last week and had re-started advertising following reassurances from YouTube.

Jaap Arriens | NurPhoto | Getty Images

HP has also suspended its advertising globally on YouTube. "We are deeply troubled to learn that one of our advertisements was placed in a terrible and inappropriate context," a spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CNBC. "HP has strict brand safety protocols in place across all online advertising, including YouTube and this appears to be the result of a content misclassification by Google." Lidl in the U.K. said it had suspended all YouTube advertising with immediate effect. "It is completely unacceptable that this content is available to view, and it is, therefore, clear that the strict policies which Google has assured us were in place to tackle offensive content are ineffective," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Deutsche Bank said it was looking into how its adverts appeared next to such content. "As always, our digital marketing agency applied filters to prevent our advertising appearing alongside inappropriate content and we are investigating how the situation arose," a spokesperson said in an email to CNBC. Drinks company Diageo, owner of brands including Smirnoff, Baileys and Guinness, said it was stopping all YouTube advertising immediately. "We are committed to the highest standards of marketing and have zero tolerance for any circumstances that fall below our strict marketing codes," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Adidas, which has previously said it will focus on digital advertising over TV, said it takes the issue very seriously. A spokesperson added in an email: "We recognize that this situation is clearly unacceptable and have taken immediate action, working closely with Google on all necessary steps to avoid any re-occurrences of this situation." A YouTube spokesperson called such content "abhorrent and unacceptable," in an emailed statement and last week it blocked "inappropriate" comments on videos featuring minors, it said in a blog post.

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The rise of Amazon , eBay and other online shopping services like Ocado is creating the need for large warehouses and storage units. Alongside growing customer demand to receive purchased items as quickly as possible, this is requiring an increasing number of storage spaces  both big boxes in the countryside and smaller units closer to biggest cities, mainly London.

Industrials and logistics are offering the highest returns "due to the shift from physical stores to online shopping, as retailers are looking for more space," James Carswell, analyst at the stock broker Peel Hunt, told CNBC on the phone Monday. "There are more people buying online and there's a growing need for quicker delivery times."

Traditional office spaces are losing their attractiveness to investors, but the appetite for industrials and logistics spaces is on the rise.

Miles Gibson, head of U.K. research at commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE, told CNBC last week that industrials and logistics are performing "very strongly and investors are seeing double-digit returns."

The other side of commercial property, offices, aren't proving as interesting for investors.

"Offices, for example, are affected by the fact the we have full employment, nearly full employment, in the U.K. so employment growth is slowing, which means demand for offices is slowing, so we are expecting rent growth in office sector for example to slow as well," Gibson told CNBC.

Another issue for office spaces is Brexit and the uncertainty as to how trade between the U.K. and European companies will work after 2019.

"Most of the office space is concentrated in London. Because of Brexit and the uncertainty surrounding it, we expect companies to delay big decisions and thus are generally less likely to sign a new 20-year lease," Carswell said.

He added that relatively high rents and low yields in the office space mean that there is not much room to make returns in investments in this part of the sector. However, he noted that there are a few exceptions, including regional offices, which "offer more upside with higher yields and rents which still look affordable."
Square's foray into bitcoin trading merely extends an "overdone" stock rally and puts off an impending correction, according to one analyst.

The company recently created a buzz with a trial that enables some users of the Square Cash app to buy and sell bitcoin, but this may be too risky for investors to stomach, said BTIG analyst Mark Palmer, who downgraded Square shares to sell on Monday.

The shares dropped more than 16 percent Monday, on pace for their worst day since May 2016, after the call.

"We believe Square's valuation already reflects emphatic and unimpeded growth while failing to factor in competitive, credit-related and macro risks that did not go away when some investors suddenly viewed its shares as a play on a trendy cryptocurrency," wrote Palmer on Monday. "We believe Bitcoin could provide a marginal contribution to Square's revenues if the trial succeeds, it becomes a permanent feature for all Square Cash users, and the company starts to charge a fee for trades."

He added, "It is not optimal from a risk standpoint for Square to have its fortunes tied to those of a cryptocurrency that has frequently displayed extreme volatility."

The analyst also cut his price target to $30, which is 39 percent lower than Friday's closing price.

Investors are already skittish when it comes to Square's stock.

With the company's shares up nearly 220 percent since January (as of Monday morning), anything less than perfect performance from Jack Dorsey's second major company tends to send the stock tumbling. Square handily beat Wall Street expectations in its latest quarterly earnings report, but its stock fell roughly 1.3 percent anyway.

After the company told investors about its plans to launch the bitcoin trading function on its Square Cash application, shares soared 11 percent as fascination with the cryptocurrency intensifies.

"It's dangerous for a stock to become tethered to a cryptocurrency," Palmer said on CNBC's "Closing Bell" later on Monday. "The other thing that happens when you see a craze along these lines is that investors forget about the risks  the other risks associated with the story. In this case, what we see with Square is they're getting increasingly involved in credit."

"At a time when PayPal is selling its credit portfolio to Synchrony Financial, Square is running into the fire."

Bitcoin surged over the Thanksgiving holiday, according to CoinDesk, and continued its relentless climb on Monday, last seen trading above $9,600.
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BALI, Indonesia  Following massive plumes of smoke and volcanic eruptions over the weekend, Indonesian authorities raised their alert for the Mount Agung volcano here to the highest level possible on Monday. Indonesia's National Board for Disaster Management said that the "potential for a larger eruption is imminent." Authorities closed Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport, projecting it will reopen Tuesday at 7 a.m. local time, as the volcano spewed ash into the sky. Thousands of passengers were stranded as flights by Jetstar, Qantas , Virgin , KLM and Singapore Airlines were among those grounded.

A sign in Bali warns of lava and danger. CNBC's Uptin Saiidi

Sandra Santana, a client relationship manager who lives in Singapore, was planning to depart Sunday night from Bali to Singapore after a holiday get a way. She found out her KLM flight was canceled due to volcano activity upon arriving to the airport Sunday night. "I didn't know about the volcano. If I knew I wouldn't have come to Bali and I will try to postpone my trip," she told CNBC. KLM arranged for passengers to be put in a beach hotel near the airport. Santana spent the night there and was told she would be rebooked on another flight on Monday. Upon waking up on Monday morning, though, Santana found out that all flights in and out of Bali were canceled. "I am not stressed yet, but I will be if the airport is shut down tomorrow again," she said. She is now considering riding a ferry over to the island of Java and taking an 11-hour drive to the city of Surabaya with hopes of catching a flight from the airport there.

A man and son in Bali look out for the volcano covered by smoke and fog at Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources CNBC's Uptin Saiidi
"I favor further moves in to ease the way for the local banksspecifically, flexibility in the thick set of laws aimed at terrorism financing, drug smuggling, and sanctions evasion. But it is no timeand may never beto relax the fight against racial unfairness."

There is one legislative issue on which I am strongly supportive of a change that will benefit Signature: raising the $50 billion asset level at which a bank becomes subject to the extra supervision of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Fortunately for my conflict-minimization effort, I publicly supported this in 2013 - years before I had ever heard of Signature - when I expressed my agreement with a speech by then Federal Reserve Governor Dan Tarullo advocating both the increase in the $50 billion figure and the formal exemption from the Volcker Rule for banks under $10 billion in assets. I have since then been an equally strong advocate of Congressional action to make both changes.

I believe that the Financial Stability Oversight Council will function better if it can focus its efforts on the larger banks. I also agree with the view that the best way to promote competition with the mega-banks is to allow some organic growth in the regionals up to $100 billion.

The case for relief for the smaller institutionsnot just on the Volcker rule but in letting them make a wider range of mortgages if they keep them in their portfolios-is also pro-competitive. And both measures respond to legitimate complaints that the community institutions are being burdened by remedies for wrongs they did not commit. It is even more important as a way to defuse opposition to the basic regulatory framework we enacted in 2010 without diminishing its force in any serious way.

This leads me to my two serious objections to the proposed amendments. Raising the asset floor for automatic Financial Stability Oversight Council inclusion to $250 billion is a major mistake. While there is an arbitrary element to any specific number, going from 50 to 250 billion is much closer to a qualitative change than a quantitative one. Since prudent planning must take into account the failure of more than one financial institution in a crisis situation, it is relevant to note that the collapse of three $250 billion banks puts us at the asset level of the triggering event of the 2008 crisisLehman Brothers. Three failures at $100 or $125 each billion poses a much smaller threat.

As to community banks, since many of the statutory prohibitions against irresponsible loans will stay in place under the proposed bille.g. no negative amortizationsallowing then to make some currently restricted loans if they keep them in portfolio is socially responsible. But the logic of this change offers no rationale for the 1,000 percent increase in the exemption the bill gives to banks from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act -allowing 500 mortgages a year per institution instead of 5 before this important has tool in fighting racial discrimination must be deployed. We should be strengthening our efforts against racial unfairness, not weakening them.

I favor further moves in to ease the way for the local banksspecifically, flexibility in the thick set of laws aimed at terrorism financing, drug smuggling, and sanctions evasion. But it is no timeand may never beto relax the fight against racial unfairness.

There are many other provisions of the bill which I support, a few with which I disagree, and some on which I am seeking information. I look forward to the debate on these ahead, but the last point I want to make here deals not with the substance of that discussion but its tone.

Much of what Congress has been considering this year has been about the fundamentals of public policywhether or not we should as a society be fighting climate change or providing health care to each other oras in the bill which passed the House-return to the days of a dangerously unregulated financial system. And the debate has been angryappropriately so in many cases on the part of those of us who are defending fundamental moral values. The question to be answered in the debate on the legislation I am discussing here is whether we can differ about the specifics of how to achieve agreed upon goals without impugning each other's motives or grossly exaggerating differences.

There are two very important aspects of the Senate Banking Committee amendments: what they include, and even more importantly, what they don't. If that bill became law tomorrow, well over 90% of the Wall Street Reform bill would be unchanged. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; the strict regulation of derivative trading; the orderly liquidation authority; the risk retention requirements on securitizations and most other provisions would remain in full force. There would be no change at all in the law as it applies to J.P.Morgan Chase; Bank of America; Wells Fargo; Morgan Stanley; Citicorp; or Goldman Sachs. Limitations on allowable mortgages would relax only for the smallest banks. While Trump appointees will unfortunately fail to use many of the powers the law provides, they will remain undiminished on the books, for the use of a future administration.

In other words while I disagree with the Democratic Senators who drafted this bill on the two points I cited above, it would be wholly inaccurate to accuse them of undermining the basic regulatory regime adopted in 2010. In fact, all of the Democratic sponsors of these amendments who were in Congress at that time voted for it and they understand that passing a bill which responds to the major concerns of the community and regional banks will have the important effect of defusing their support for more fundamental changes. And I believe they are prepared to make clear to their Republican colleagues that insistence on rolling back other sections of the law would mean no action at all.

Amendments fixing the two issues I cited above would make this an easy yes for me. Any dilution of other parts of the law would make it an easy no.

Commentary by Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial-Services Committee from 2007 to 2011, during which time Congress enacted the TARP program and the financial-reform bill known as Dodd-Frank. Follow him on Twitter@BarneyFrank.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Former Fortress hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz said Monday that bitcoin can multiply more than four times in roughly the next 13 months.

"Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could," Michael Novogratz said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "Ethereum , which I think just touched $500 or is getting close, could be triple where it is as well."

Bitcoin was trading near $9,656 late Monday afternoon, after hitting a record high above $9,700 earlier in the day, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum hit a record high of $493.40 Monday, according to CoinMarketCap, and last traded near $482.

The total market capitalization of all digital coins on CoinMarketCap hit $304 billion Monday. Novogratz said he expects that could increase by about six times to $2 trillion at the end of next year.

Market capitalization of all digital coins (year to date change)

Source: CoinMarketCap

"There's a big wave of money coming, not just here but all around the world," said Novogratz, formerly a macro hedge fund manager at Fortress Investment Group. He is planning to launch a $500 million digital assets fund through his new firm, Galaxy Investment Partners.
Closely followed economist Jim O'Neill thinks Brent crude oil might surge to $80 a barrel in the next year before falling back to roughly $60 by next November.

That would mark a 26 percent run-up from today's price of about $63.50 a barrel. International benchmark prices have already rallied about $20 a barrel, or more than 40 percent, from the year's lows in June. Brent hit a nearly 2-year high of $64.65 a barrel earlier this month.

Conventional wisdom holds that prices won't budge much over the next year, says O'Neill, but the former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and creator of the "BRIC" acronym is not running with the herd.

"While oil prices could be about $60 per barrel in November 2018, my guess is that they will have risen to about $80 per barrel in the meantime," O'Neill wrote in Barron's this weekend.

O'Neill, now an economics professor at the University of Manchester, says the market is finally waking up to the fact that global economic growth is gaining momentum and likely expanding at 4 percent or higher. That means there will be more demand for oil.
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Britain's Prince Harry and U.S. actress Meghan Markle announced on Monday they were engaged and would get married in the spring of next year. Harry, 33, Queen Elizabeth's grandson and fifth-in-line to the British throne, and Markle, 36, best known for her role in the U.S. TV legal drama "Suits", got engaged earlier this month in London. "Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents," a statement issued by Prince Charles said. The queen, who had to give her assent for the union, and her husband Prince Philip are delighted, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. Harry and Markle, who is a divorcee, met in July 2016 after they were introduced through friends. The prince, the youngest son of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his first wife Princess Diana, publicly confirmed their relationship months later in a rebuke to the media over its alleged intrusion into Markle's private life. But it was not until September that they made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto, a sports event for wounded veterans. "We're in love," Markle told Vanity Fair magazine that month. "I'm sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. The couple are due to appear together for the media later on Monday and a broadcast interview will also be aired. "This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future," British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Twitter.

Royal Wedding

The wedding is likely to attract huge attention across the world, as did the marriage of Harry's elder brother William to Kate Middleton in 2011. "We are very excited for Harry and Meghan," William and Kate said in a statement. "It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together." In his office's warning to the media, Harry referred to the sexism and racism directed at Markle, whose father is white and her mother African-American. "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person," Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said in a statement. "To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together." Harry's previous girlfriends included Zimbabwe-born Chelsy Davy, who he dated on and off for about five years, and actress Cressida Bonas.

In the public eye

Educated at the exclusive Eton College, Harry's teenage years were overshadowed by negative press headlines, fostering an intense dislike which he and his brother harboured because of the way papers hounded their mother. She died in a Paris car crash in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi. Harry was portrayed as a royal wild child and playboy prince, and in 2002 he admitted smoking cannabis and getting drunk when underage in a pub near the royal family's country estate amid suggestions he had fallen in with a bad crowd. He later scuffled with paparazzi outside a London nightclub and drew outrage by dressing as a Nazi officer at a costume party. But he turned around his image after joining the army, where he spent 10 years and included two tours of duty in Afghanistan. He said it was a role where he felt he could be himself without media scrutiny or any other trappings of his gilded upbringing. Even when he was photographed partying naked and playing billiards in a private room in Las Vegas in 2012, the response was less critical and more understanding. "It was probably a classic example of me being too much army, and not enough prince," he said of the Vegas incident. He left the army in 2015 to focus on royal duties and charity work, particularly the welfare of military veterans, and continuing his mother's work helping those with Aids, and mental health issues. His easy-going manner with the public has made him one of the most popular members of the Windsors. That has put him at the forefront of a rebranding of the monarchy as modern and relevant, a far cry from the perception of a hopelessly out-of-touch institution following the 1997 death of Diana. To coincide with the 20th anniversary of her death this year, Harry opened up about his own trauma at losing his mother at a young age, and was even quoted as saying he wanted out of the royal family altogether. "I didn't want to be in the position I was in, but I eventually pulled my head out of the sand, started listening to people and decided to use my role for good," he said. "I am now fired up and energized and love charity stuff, meeting people and making them laugh."
Semiconductors have crushed the market so far this year, but one Wall Street firm believes the sector has topped out.

Morgan Stanley lowered its ratings on several chip stocks, citing lower flash memory prices and meager earnings growth next year.

"We think now is the time to reduce exposure to NAND [flash memory] and Asian semiconductor names as the industry has benefitted from sizeable demand tailwinds and unprecedented pricing power, which we see reversing soon," analyst Shawn Kim wrote in a note to clients Sunday entitled "Time For a Pause." "Given our view of the cycle, we cannot recommend the sector until the market recognizes mounting pressure on NAND prices and slowing logic chip growth momentum in the near term.  This reflects our negative view of prospects for the global memory industry, which is currently at a peak."

As a result, the firm lowered its ratings for Western Digital , Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor shares to equal weight from overweight.

Western Digital, Taiwan Semiconductor ADR and iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF closed down 6.7 percent, 4.5 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

Kim said the firm's analysis of previous memory cycles revealed investors should sell chip stocks three to six months before memory prices peak. He noted that flash memory prices are already falling and his quantitative model predicts DRAM memory prices will top out in mid-2018.

"We would reduce weightings in the memory sector across regions and verticals as getting the industry call right is a lot more important than picking stocks in the memory and logic sector, as these stocks move in a pack," he wrote. "We believe a further positive re-rating of memory shares over the next 12 months will be difficult to achieve considering our view that the industry will not grow earnings materially in 2018."

The iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF is up 48 percent year to date through Friday compared with the S&P 500's 16 percent return.

If chip stocks do fall, the analyst said, he would recommend shares of Micron as he's more bullish on DRAM's supply-demand fundamentals compared with the flash memory business. The firm maintained its overweight rating for Micron shares.

Western Digital, Samsung Electronics and TSMC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.
Most of us are well aware that sexual harassment was a problem in America well before the Harvey Weinstein scandal erupted this summer. But there is no denying the Weinstein story has taken the wraps off of a massive number of alleged and confirmed cases of this kind of misconduct in Hollywood.

Now, the same thing could happen on Capitol Hill as the John Conyers case threatens to blow a longstanding congressional tradition of unethical secrecy and subterfuge sky high.

Just to recap, it first came to light earlier this month that Rep. Conyers signed off on a $27,000 payout to a former staffer who says she was fired for resisting the congressman's sexual advances. Conyers acknowledged the 2015 payout after details of it leaked online. But he has denied he sexually harassed the employee. Conyers has been resisting calls to resign, but Sunday he did step down as the ranking member of House Judiciary Committee.

But wait, there's more. So much more. First off, Conyers has publicly made himself out to be a victim. In a tweet over the Thanksgiving weekend, he focused his anger on the fact that this story became public and blamed it on a "alt-right blogger":

Instead of apologizing for using his congressional office funds to secretly settle a harassment case, Conyers is angry the public has found out. Even if the public is the source of the cash used to pay off his accuser.

But here's the real reason this could blow up: Because of this story, we now know that the same Congressional office where this complaint was filed against Conyers has settled a total of 264 complaints to the tune of $17.2 million of taxpayer money over 20 years. To be specific, that would be the U.S. Congress Office of Compliance. And so far, we don't know the identity of any of the others named in the complaints.

That cover could soon be blown for two reasons. First we could see a scenario unfold where, like the sexual harassment incidents in Hollywood, people who settled cases with the Office of Compliance will now feel emboldened to speak out.

Second, Conyers could start taking down his colleagues if he begins to feel even more threatened. That's what it sounded like when his attorney Arnold Reed issued a statement explaining why Conyers would not resign. Included in Reed's statement was a sentence that sounded like a threat:

"If people were required to resign over allegations, a lot of people would be out of work in this country including, many members of the House, Senate and even the president."

On the surface, that quote could simply be a rhetorical point about how so many other politicians in the past and present have faced similar allegations and managed to get elected and/or stay in office. That list would include President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and, (for now), Senator Al Franken.

But the other not-so-hidden message is that Conyers and his attorneys have information on many other members of Congress from both parties who have had similar allegations made against them and settled with taxpayer money through that secretive Office of Compliance.

That would be a threat to whomever was the subject of those 264 total settlements, but more like a tantalizing promise for the rest of the country.

To be clear, as a citizen, Conyers was certainly deserving of due process to defend himself against allegations of any kind and affix a burden of proof on his accusers. And contrary to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's protestations on "Meet the Press" Sunday, this case proves he has most assuredly been given that.

The problem is that Conyers and his colleagues are not ethically entitled to the use of taxpayer funds and congressional facilities to keep matters quiet and out of court.

If this story rightfully results in the continuing demand to unseal the details of those other 264 complaints, then you have something that could ensnare a lot of sitting members of Congress. Even if those 264 complaints hit just 20 to 30 current senators and representatives, that could make a huge impact on Congress for a number of reasons.

First off, it could speed up a change in the partisan balance of power. Remember, the Senate Republican majority is just held up by a paper thin 52-48 margin. The Republican majority in the House is 45 seats. But that's not an insurmountable number going into the 2018 midterm elections based on the latest polls. Of course, only the folks at the Office of Compliance know which party and which siting members have been targeted with the most of those complaints. This is the kind of scandal that could set off mass resignations that give the Democrats majority power. Or it could also help the GOP gain a bigger majority in order to more easily pass struggling bills like tax reform and the on-again, off-again Obamacare repeal.

This kind of scandal has helped defuse congressional powerhouses before. When Oregon Republican Senator Bob Packwood was forced to resign over sexual assault allegations in 1995, his seat in that blue state went to Democrat Ron Wyden who still holds it today. What many people forget was that Packwood had been a strong debater in the Senate and was credited with being a key player in dismantling the Clinton administration's efforts at a universal health insurance bill. In other words, sexual harassment allegations can bring down some big and powerful people. In an interesting twist, the most powerful pressure on Packwood that ultimately forced his resignation came from his fellow Republican senator and now Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Secondly, this could lead both parties to get more serious about supporting women candidates in congressional elections. It's a simple fact that almost no women are ever accused in these kinds of sexual harassment and backing more of them in this environment seems like a better political bet. That could lead to the biggest changes of all, considering the fact that women still make up only about 20 percent of the House and Senate combined.

It sure seems like that kind of upheaval is frightening even some supposedly outraged folks in Congress. Yes, Rep. Jackie Speier and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have co-authored a bill to get the Office of Compliance to change its practices and name every member of Congress accused in filed sexual harassment claims. That would be a good thing. But even their bill is not calling for past complaint and settlement records to be unsealed. And that speaks volumes about how closely these secrets are held and how valuable they are to the public and those journalists endeavoring to uncover them.

Only the leadership of both parties in Congress is likely to know the breakdown of just which side would suffer the most if all that information became public. Perhaps that's why Pelosi defended Conyers so vigorously. That's even though a Republican in Congressman Joe Barton, is facing heavy scrutiny now after nude pictures of him surfaced online. And of course, Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore is under extreme pressure from members of both parties to drop out of the race to succeed Jeff Sessions in Alabama. I've heard both Democrat and Republican pundits confidently guess their side will come out on top in this scandal-laden numbers game.

But you don't need to be a political genius or odds maker to see how this could upset the balance of power and/or supercharge a women's movement in Congress. And it all really hinges on the unsealing or leaking of those Office of Compliance records.

Until that happens, all we know is that the Conyers scandal could turn Capitol Hill completely upside down. But if the way his case was handled is any indication, it's hard to argue that Capitol Hill doesn't completely deserve it.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
GOP holdouts appear to inch closer to voting 'yes' on tax bill 7:10 AM ET Wed, 29 Nov 2017 | 01:39

After months of negotiations, House and Senate Republicans have produced separate versions of a sweeping tax package with dozens of provisions that would cut some $1.7 trillion in taxes on businesses and individuals.

With a Senate vote tentatively set for Thursday, a few GOP holdouts are looking to make last-minute deals.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has been struggling to whittle down the list of holdouts in his caucus to win approval for the measure. With details of the final bill still in flux Thursday, it was unclear if he had the required 50 votes nailed down.



Here are the latest positions of nine Senators who have expressed concerns about the bill in the run-up to Thursday's floor debate of the bill.
Indonesia's Mount Agung volcano erupts as seen from Amed, Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia November 26, 2017.

On Monday, Indonesia ordered 100,000 residents living near a volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately.

"The potential for a larger eruption is imminent," the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said.

Sutopo, a spokesman for the agency, said there had been no casualties so far and 40,000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move.

Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people.

Reuters and CNBC's Uptin Saiidi contributed to this report.
Dublin, Ireland. 2c Image | Getty Images

Few European countries have experienced the economic rollercoaster that Ireland has in such a short period of time. Considered the poor man of Western Europe for nearly all of the 20th century, Ireland in the 1990s turbocharged itself to become a hub for transatlantic business and multinational investment, garnering the moniker "Celtic Tiger." The country of 4.6 million is now home to every household name in tech you can think of, from Apple and Facebook to LinkedIn and Airbnb. U.S. multinationals alone number more than 700. Ireland's government has leveraged its investment attractiveness  a friendly low-tax environment, robust tech expertise and an English-speaking EU member state  to chase further growth, though memories still linger of the tanking economic fortunes of just a decade ago.

A rollercoaster decade

The financial crisis of 2008 brought Ireland crashing down to earth with a severity far worse than its peers, thanks to a massive property bubble and slew of banking scandals that preceded it. A controversial international bailout and strict austerity measures rescued Ireland and allowed it recover at remarkable rate  by 2014, its GDP growth rate had rebounded to 4.8 percent from a dire contraction between 2008-09. While emigration out of Ireland remains an emotive topic for historical reasons, Derek Kehoe, head of BNP Paribas' Dublin office, said: "The ability of large sections of the labor force to move abroad in search of work was a massive safety valve for the government" during this time. "In addition, a pretty savage austerity program combining expenditure cuts with tax raises helped Ireland to rapidly regain competitiveness."

Firecrest Picture | Robert Harding World Imagery | Getty Images

Since the Great Famine of 1845  when potato blight caused mass hunger and exodus from the island, leading its population to drop by 25 percent  emigration has shaped not only Ireland but the world, particularly the U.S. and U.K. The number of people claiming Irish ancestry worldwide numbers more than 80 million. Ireland formally declared itself a republic in 1949 and joined the European Economic Community  the predecessor to the European Union  in 1973. It was this entry into the international marketplace that would transform the country's economic trajectory.

EU for life

"The establishment of the European single market and globalization played a huge part in Ireland's economic turnaround in the 1990s," Robert O'Daly, Ireland expert at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC. At the start of the decade, staggering unemployment plagued the country. The Guardian reported that in 1991, there were "fewer people at work than in 1926," according to census figures.

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"Access to the single market drove a surge in FDI (foreign direct investment) into Ireland, particularly by U.S. firms in the high value-added pharmachem and technology sectors," O'Daly said. Formerly an agricultural-based economy, Ireland's biggest growth sectors are now pharmaceuticals, tech, financial services and agri-tech. Still, O'Daly notes: "Ireland was ahead of most other European countries in creating a policy environment that was attractive to such multinationals seeking access to the European single market. This included the development of a well-educated, flexible workforce and a highly favorable tax regime, including a low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent." In recent years, however, Ireland's tax regime for multinationals has come under intense scrutiny after it was accused of enabling tax avoidance. Apple in 2016 was ordered to pay the country a record-breaking 13 billion euros ($15.5 billion) after a ruling by the European Commission found that a "sweetheart" tax deal between Apple and Ireland's tax authorities broke EU laws. Apple CEO Tim Cook shot back that this would harm future investment into Europe. "The level of economic growth in recent years and the recovery has been impressive," O'Daly said. "Risks to the recovery, however, loom large, notably from Brexit and international pressure on Ireland to tighten up its tax regime for multinationals."

Brexit looms ahead

The populist, anti-EU overtones sweeping much of European politics haven't gained much traction in Ireland. A 2016 Eurobarometer poll revealed the Irish had the most positive view of the EU among all 28 member states at 77 percent, compared to an EU average of 50 percent. Optimism is high for Ireland's Brexit opportunities, where many see opportunity for increased financial services and tech sector investment as some companies choose to move away from the U.K. Ireland has been successfully marketing its position as an English-speaking EU member state from which companies can access the 500 million-strong European single market.

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Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told CNBC Monday that the country's mandate on the issue of the border with Northern Ireland has not changed, despite growing political uncertainty within the government following a no-confidence motion on Friday against Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

His government's position, which he says all Irish political parties agree on, is that no hard border should be established and that a customs union be maintained between the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Irish province, with whom it has crucial trade ties.

"We're putting this position forward because we believe it is in the national interest of Ireland and it offers the best prospect for continued economic progress and stability on our island," Donohoe said.

"The reason why we believe it is very very important that we have a customs policy moving forward, that is as close as possible to what we have at the moment, including maybe membership of the customs union or a customs policy equivalent to it, is that it offers the best possible prospects to the continued maintenance of trade on our island," he continued.

The customs union, a cornerstone of the EU, exempts all EU member states and select outside territories from paying customs duties on all goods traveling within the union. This has saved huge costs for businesses over time and enabled quicker movement of goods.
Is there such a thing as being too rich? After covering wealth for more 14 years, the question has often come to mind. But it took on special meaning when I took my first bite of the world's most expensive cheesecake  at $5,000 per cake. After sinking my teeth into the sweet, creamy filling loaded with rare cognac, white truffles, fresh vanilla and crunchy Italian biscotti, I had my answer. With cheesecake  if not with life  richer is better. Much better. The $5,000 cheesecake is officially the most expensive in the world and is the creation of Chef Raffaele Ronca, owner of the Rafele Ristorante in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Ronca gave "Secret Lives of the Super Rich" an exclusive look and taste of his creation recently as he made one for a client and whipped up a little extra for us to sample. First, I will state the obvious: $5,000 is an obscene price for a cheesecake. That's more than the cost of my first car and more than most Manhattanites spend on rent each month. What makes Ronca's cheesecake so expensive, and so addictive, is the ingredients. This isn't one of those price-gimmick desserts where an ice cream shop sells a $10,000 sundae by putting a diamond on top or including a first-class trip to Iceland. Ronca's cheesecake is expensive because of the cost and quality of what goes inside. It starts with the cheese. Forget your grandmother's silver packets of Philadelphia cream cheese. Ronca starts his masterpiece with a fresh formaggio from water buffalo in southern Italy. It's flown in fresh the previous day. "These water buffalo are very happy, they have good lives," he tells me. "And you can taste it in their milk and cheese." Next, he adds the most shocking ingredient: 200-year-old cognac that costs $2,500 a bottle. Cognac snobs, and even nonsnobs, will no doubt curse the insanity of using some of the most expensive cognac in the world to pour into a cheesecake. And the chef agrees. "I know, people will call me a criminal for this," he says, as he poured in three shots, worth around $300, of Hennessy Paradis.

But the toasty aroma, with hints of rose, pepper and honey, quickly infuse the cheese. Next up, he squeezes in some fresh vanilla from beans imported from Madagascar. And then he adds the real jaw-dropper: white truffles from Alba, a town in Italy's Piedmont region.

Truffles are typically more at home on pasta than cheesecakes. And Alba truffles, sniffed out of the Italian countryside by specially trained dogs, are the diamonds of the truffle world. They typically sell for more than $4,000 a pound, but because of bad weather they're especially expensive this year. A trio of Albas weighing less than 2 pounds sold for $85,000 this month to a Hong Kong buyer.



As he slices into the Alba truffle, I ask the chef if he realizes people will think he's crazy.



"Of course, white truffle in a cheesecake? I think I'm crazy," he said.



Ronca then adds a few more flavorings, like citrus, and of course a sprinkling of gold flakes, and sets it aside. The crust forgoes the usual graham crackers in favor of a layer made from homemade Italian biscotti. The chef uses his grandmother's biscotti recipe to create a much better crust for such a complex filling. He then spreads on a layer of freshly ground hazelnuts and rich melted chocolate, making a kind of millionaire's Nutella.



On top of the biscotti and hazelnut-chocolate mixture, Ronca pours the cheese mixture. He then bakes it for an hour. After it cools down, he adds a block of fresh honeycomb on the top that serves as a platform for a giant chocolate "RR" logo (for Rafele Ristorante) covered in gold leaf that Ronca adds the top. For the finale, he tops it with lighted sparklers.



The cake officially made the Guinness Book of World Records for the most expensive cheesecake ever made. It takes five days to prepare, since the ingredients need to be flown in fresh from Europe and Africa.



Rafele Ristorante is already famous for its regular cheesecake, which sells for $9 per slice. But the chef decided to take it to another level after sitting down with one of his clients who wanted to do something super special for his mother. Hence, the world's most expensive cheesecake was born.



"It's the most expensive, and the best," he said.



Of course, what matters is taste right?



After lopping off a piece, I took my first forkful of a cake that cost $450 per slice, or around $90 per bite.



I wish I could say it was a waste of money. I wish I could say that all that truffle and cognac and vanilla and gold made for a level of epicurean opulence impossible to actually stomach.

I wish I could say I'd take a $6 slice of Junior's Classic Cheesecake any day of the week over Ronca's. But I can't. Because the world's most expensive cheesecake is also the best. Or at least the best I've had.
Swiss private bank Julius Baer said on Monday that Chief Executive Boris Collardi was resigning with immediate effect to take a post at Pictet Group in Geneva. Zurich-based Baer appointed current Chief Risk Officer Bernhard Hodler as CEO, adding it would engage in an evaluation process to address the long-term leadership of the group. Collardi, whose role as a Pictet partner will include helping oversee its global wealth management business, is leaving Baer just after the biggest-listed Swiss private bank posted record assets under management of 393 million Swiss francs ($401.10 million) earlier this month.

"Julius Baer is in excellent shape," Chairman Daniel Sauter said in a statement.



Hodler's "appointment ensures continuity in our successful strategy and the delivery of our growth targets," Sauter added.



Hodler, who was named Collardi's deputy in September 2017, has been a member of Julius Baer's senior executive team since 1998 and has held positions including chief operating officer.



Hodler said he did not expect major changes in the bank's strategy. "I stand for continuity," he said on a call with reporters.
The Lucid Air Alpha test car, displayed at the New York Auto Show, reached a software-limited 217 miles per hour on a text track in Ohio.

Electric-car start-up Lucid Motors is doubling the size of its offices and is moving into Tesla 's neighborhood.

The company, which is not yet selling any cars, is moving from its current headquarters in Menlo Park, California, to a new facility in the nearby city of Newark.

Lucid Motors announced the move on its blog on Monday.

The new offices will be located near Lucid's prototype design shop, Lucid said.

Newark borders Fremont, where Tesla builds its cars.
Billionaire entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban has not been shy about discussing his thoughts on artificial intelligence. At SXSW in Austin earlier this year, Cuban predicted that the next filthy rich business person will be an AI entrepreneur. "I am telling you, the world's first trillionaires are going to come from somebody who masters AI and all its derivatives and applies it in ways we never thought of," said Cuban.

In a recent interview with Men's Fitness, the self-made billionaire discusses how his fascination with AI has shaped his reading list, of late. When asked about the best book he's read recently, Cuban responded by saying "The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake the World," by Pedro Domingos. "It's a very readable guide to how all the different forms of artificial intelligence work and how they can impact each of us and our environment now and long term," says Cuban. Unlike Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who warns of gloomy future driven by artificial intelligence, Cuban is on the more optimistic side about its impact.
The Boston Police Pipes and Drums band marches during the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Boston on Mar. 19, 2017. Keith Bedford | The Boston Globe via Getty Images

If you've ever been in the U.S. on St. Patrick's Day, you know just how much Americans of Irish descent love their heritage. Even if many have never been to the Emerald Isle, they'll enthusiastically tell you about their Irish ancestors who crossed the Atlantic in the wave of emigration that followed Ireland's great potato famine of 1845. But do any ever return to the country of their forefathers to live? The answer is yes. And although not in huge numbers, new economic opportunities, cultural curiosity and family ties have meant these Irish-Americans are getting to discover their ancestral home is not so different from the one where they grew up. "Coming from the Midwest, there's so much in Chicago that is Irish that I never realized was Irish," said Brian Norton, who grew up in Chicago and in 2014 co-founded Future Finance, a Dublin-based fintech startup. "The friendliness, the beer, the pubs on every corner  it all makes sense now!" One of Norton's ancestors emigrated to the U.S. in 1849 from County Roscommon, an epicenter of the Great Famine, making his way to New York like so many others who came in via Ellis Island.

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 55.3 million Americans  that's 19.5 percent of the population  report having Irish ancestry. Compare that to Ireland's actual population of 4.6 million. Now, with the growing number of U.S. multinationals establishing a presence on the island to access its well-educated workforce, low taxes and EU market access, some Americans are moving to the country to join its bustling tech scene.

Expat entrepreneurs

"I wanted to serve the European market, and Dublin turned out to be the best place to do that," said Norton, whose startup provides private lending to university students in the U.K. where public tuition support is often insufficient. "There's really a strong sense that workings of the corporate world are here for you. Even when you have nothing, senior partners are happy to help," he said, noting that this might be harder to find in a city like London. In 2017, Future Finance ranked 37th on KPMG's global Fintech 100 list. "The more recent generation of the workforce, many of them have already worked for big U.S. and international multinationals in Ireland. So when they come to us, they're already well-trained," Norton added. More than 700 American companies are running operations in Ireland. Caroline Conway grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, before moving to Dublin in the past year to found the Europe office of analytics and technology firm Control Enter, which also operates in India and the U.S. "As a second generation Irish-American, I'd wanted to try living in Ireland for a long time," she told CNBC in an email. "What spurred me to move was the mix of multinationals, high-tech orientation, access to international markets, and a strong homegrown entrepreneurial ecosystem that's developed in recent years.

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"The environment here is exciting  a lot of new companies doing innovative work alongside continuous buzz about the larger companies opening strategic offices here. I believe Ireland is in the process of making its mark as a global center for innovation and entrepreneurship, and I'm excited to be part of it."

Diaspora capital

Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) recorded that 4,700 Americans moved to Ireland in 2016, up from 3,300 in 2011, though it's unclear how many have Irish heritage. The same year, the Irish consulate in New York reported issuing a record 7,205 Irish passports, closely followed by the consulates in Sydney, San Francisco and Canberra, in terms of demand.

An illuminated raised walkway connects buildings of the Google Inc. European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty

"We're a bit of a wandering tribe, the Irish," Kingsley Aikens, CEO of Dublin-based consultancy Diaspora Matters, told CNBC in a phone call. "Ireland is an island off an island off of Europe  we want to see the world." Aikens, who is Irish-born and spent 25 years living in Boston and Sydney, Australia, before returning home nine years ago, doesn't see the American diaspora returning in big numbers. But he said that for those who do, it's a combination of family connections, new opportunities and lifestyle choice. "Obviously, the economy is having an effect because it's sucking people back," he said. In 2015, after recovering from a prolonged recession, the government launched 'Global Irish,' a program aimed at bringing back some of the estimated 240,000 Irish who left during the 2008 financial crisis. By 2014, the country had rebounded to become one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe. Other efforts included the International Entrepreneur Fund, launched by Ireland's American Chamber of Commerce, which last year provided 30 million ($35.8 million) in startup funding for returning expats.

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"Countries are realizing they have value in these diasporas," Kingsley said. "Diaspora capital is made of three flows: money, people and knowledge. "They are not lost actors anymore. Thanks to improved interconnectedness, travel and communication, they can now be national actors." These national actors include Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, a fourth-generation Irish-American who in July confirmed that Dublin would be the banking giant's EU hub.

'A huge mindset change'

Many more Irish beyond those in the U.S. have returned home in recent years. Between April 2016 and April 2017, the CSO reported that 27,000 Irish nationals returned home from around the world. Still, more Irish nationals are leaving the country than returning. In that same period, 30,800 moved away. But there has been an 85 percent decrease in the net outward migration of Irish nationals since 2012, when 49,700 left and only 20,100 returned. The enduring challenge, government officials say, is to keep creating the types of jobs and opportunities that attract young people. Kieran Furlong, who grew up in Ireland, spent nearly his entire professional life in the U.S. before returning this year to launch the European office of Finistere Ventures, a U.S.-headquartered agri-tech venture capital firm. "When I left Ireland in 1998, Grand Canal Dock, which is our 'silicon dock,' had one new building," he said. "Now Google, Facebook, Airbnb are all there  there's a well-established path from Silicon Valley.

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Stocks should peak in the first half of next year but then turn volatile as the market begins to sniff out a recession, according to Morgan Stanley strategists.

But first, they expect more strong gains after 2017's "absurdly good" returns.

Morgan Stanley chief equity strategist Mike Wilson has expected the S&P 500 to reach 2,700 before selling off in a sharp correction, but now he expects the S&P to go higher to peak at 2,750. The S&P 500 was trading just around 2,600 Monday, a gain of 16.2 percent for 2017.

While they do not expect a recession next year, the Morgan Stanley strategists expect the stock market to begin discounting one that could come in 2019.

"On that note, credit markets may be topping now which tends to be a good 6-12 month leading indicator for stocks," the strategists wrote. Stock traders have recently been watching high yield debt, or junk bonds, which sold off earlier this month, sending a warning for other risk assets. But the market has since steadied.

They are not calling for the end of the cyclical bull market yet, but the odds of that happening are higher next year.

"We expect volatility to finally pick up in a more sustained manner as growth decelerates and financial conditions tighten," the strategists wrote. "We would be very surprised if we don't return to a more normal environment and witness at least one if not several 10 percent plus drawdowns next year." In 2017, they noted, there was just one 3 percent drawdown, tied with the smallest sell-offs in the past 38 years.

The Morgan Stanley strategists said the stock market has yet to see the "full-blown euphoria" they called for in the beginning of the year, and the final missing ingredient to bring the bull market to an end could be new flows from retail investors.

"We suspect that could happen in early 2018 with the signing of a tax bill," said the strategists. Separately, other analysts have said they see anecdotal signs of individual investors gaining confidence in stocks and making more investments.

"Our new year end 2018 base case price target for the S&P is 2,750 and we would not be surprised if we reach that target during 1H2018 and it marks the high for the year," they wrote.

The analysts said they believe the economy and stock market are in a late-cycle environment.

"Late cycle is not bearish for equities but it does eventually turn into a recession," they noted, adding when the stock market begins to expect one there would be narrower breadth and bigger sell-offs.

Morgan Stanley credit strategists, meanwhile, said they expect the yield curve to flatten all the way by the third quarter. Currently, the spread between the 2-year note yield and 10-year note yield is 58 basis points.

A flat curve is viewed as a precursor to an inverted curve, meaning the 2-year yield would rise above the 10-year yield. An inverted curve historically can foreshadow recession.

Morgan Stanley strategists point out that over the last 40 years, the yield curve between the 2-year notes and 10-year notes has fallen below 5 basis points six times. In five of those episodes, a recession followed 10 to 24 months later.

For now, Wilson and the stock strategists recommend overweighting pro-cyclical late-cycle sectors such as energy, technology, industrials and financials. They are underweight defensive names in staples, telecom and REITs, as well as consumer discretionary. They recommend exposure to both value and growth and prefer small- and mid-caps to large-cap stocks.
OPEC President, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, and OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo talk to journalists before the beginning of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, May 25, 2017. Leonhard Foeger | Reuters

OPEC ministers head to Vienna on Thursday to decide whether to extend output cuts beyond March next year. The prospect, however, of an alliance breakdown between the world's two largest oil producers threatens to scupper the cartel's plans. OPEC is expected to extend its deal with Russia and other oil producers to keep 1.8 million barrels a day off the market, but what's not clear is for how long. Analysts believe the market is positioning for a nine-month extension from the deal's current expiration in March. "OPEC has been left with little room for error," Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Denmark's Saxo Bank, said in a research note. Since the cartel's last meeting in May, crude prices have surged nearly 20 percent while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices are up approximately 10 percent. The recent uptick in oil prices appears to have emboldened the case for an extension to supply cuts next year  a move industry analysts believe is necessary in order to clear a global supply overhang.



Oil investors could "easily turn from sweet to sour" if OPEC was to fail to deliver a strong message of support for an extension to production cuts, Hansen said. However, he suggested much of the meeting would likely hinge upon the world's largest non-OPEC producer. A deal without the full support of Russia "would struggle to maintain the impact achieved so far," he said.

Why is Russia the main talking point?

RBC Capital Markets' Helima Croft told CNBC on Friday that investors should be prepared for another OPEC meeting that falls short of expectations. She said there's a chance Moscow could refuse to agree to rollover the 1.8 million a barrel a day production cut throughout 2018  a plan that until recently had been widely expected.

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"If Russia is not willing to sign up again to extend the cut, people fear that we're going to get something shorter than anticipated," the firm's Global Head of Commodity Strategy said recently on CNBC's "Trading Nation." Unlike OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, Russia is less reliant on higher oil prices and has typically been keen not to concede too much market share to its rivals. And with new oil fields set to come online next year, a number of Russian firms have expressed their displeasure over a possible extension of the deal. Ahead of Thursday's meeting, Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro-Advisory, said that if oil prices remained in the $60 to $65 range, Moscow's support for a deal extension beyond March next year would be "very unlikely." Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak  a key architect of the output cut deal that was extended last May  said in October that Moscow would be in favor of extending the OPEC-led production deal into late 2018. However, Weafer said Novak's comments had since lost relevance because they were made at a time when the oil price was drifting in the $50 to $55 range.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. Leonhard Foeger | Reuters

Despite the concerns raised regarding Moscow's commitment to the deal, Bloomberg reported Friday that Russia and OPEC had agreed to an outline of a deal that would prolong production cuts through 2019.

What about Saudi Arabia and Iran?

The escalating tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran is also a lingering concern for investors. Last week, Saudi's powerful Crown Prince called the Supreme Leader of Iran "the new Hitler of the Middle East" in an interview with The New York Times. However, analysts do not expect an ongoing war of words between the two regional rivals to spill over into OPEC's negotiating room on Thursday. In mid-November, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister for Energy Suhail al-Mazroui said he expected all OPEC and allied non-OPEC countries to extend global supply cuts beyond March next year.



Al-Mazroui added while he had not heard any OPEC members discussing the possibility of not extending the deal, the time and duration of an extension was still to be decided.

How did we get here?

The price of oil collapsed from near $120 a barrel in June 2014 due to weak demand, a strong dollar and booming U.S. shale production. OPEC's reluctance to cut output was also seen as a key reason behind the fall. But, the oil cartel soon moved to curb production  along with other oil-producing nations  in late 2016. The exporters reached the current deal last November and have already extended the agreement once through March 2018. Brent crude traded at around $63.85 a barrel Monday morning, down 0.02 percent, while U.S. crude was around $58.69 a barrel, down 0.44 percent.

JOE KLAMAR | AFP | Getty Images
The lowest-income American households would take a hit while higher-earning taxpayers would see their burden reduced under the Senate Republican tax plan, according to the latest analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The Senate proposal permanently chops the corporate tax rate and temporarily reduces individual income taxes, while changing numerous deductions. GOP senators hope to pass that plan this week and approve a final bill agreed upon with the House before the end of the year.

The CBO report, released Sunday, estimates that lower-income groups would foot a bigger bill from tax cuts than previously expected.

In 2019, all income groups under $30,000 would have a bigger burden under the bill, the CBO projected. In 2027, that would extend to all income groups under $75,000, as individual tax reductions expire.
A proposal buried in the Senate tax bill could cost some foreign carriers, including the Gulf airlines their large U.S. rivals have alleged receive billions of dollars worth of unfair government subsidies.

The provision would force certain airlines based outside the country to pay U.S. corporate taxes on money earned in the country if U.S. airlines do not have at least two weekly departures to or arrivals from the foreign carrier's home country, and if there is no reciprocal tax treaty between the U.S. and the carrier's country.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who is based in Delta Air Lines ' home state, introduced the proposal. In a press release earlier this month, he said it would "protect Georgia airline employees by ending a tax exemption for airlines based in countries that deny fair market access for U.S.-based airlines."

Delta, United Continental Holdings and American Airlines Group complained to the Trump administration earlier this year that the government-backed Gulf airlines have received $50 billion in subsidies from their governments.

In a letter in February to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the chief executives of the three carriers wrote that "the subsidies allow the Gulf carriers to operate without concern for turning a profit" and violate Open Skies agreements, which provide foreign airlines access to international routes.

Reuters earlier reported that the measure could hurt Middle East carriers such as Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, Dubai-based Emirates Airlines and Doha-based Qatar Airways because their home nations lack reciprocal tax agreements with the U.S.

"Etihad Airways is aware of the language in the Senate tax reform bill, which is widely agreed to be inappropriate under US law and contrary to several international agreements," an Etihad spokesperson told CNBC in an email. "We are working with a broad coalition of industry representatives to inform lawmakers on this issue, which appears to be the result of continued anticompetitive efforts by one or more of the Big 3 US legacy carriers."

For its part, the International Air Transport Association, a trade group representing many of the world's airlines, said the Senate tax provision would "upend decades of precedent" on foreign aviation taxation.

"Foreign governments  even those not directly affected by the proposed language  could be tempted to follow the U.S. example and impose reciprocal taxes," said IATA spokesman Perry Flint.

While U.S. carriers have alleged the airlines receive unfair government support, some U.S. airports have welcomed these airlines and in at least one case offered incentives.

Qatar Airways recently started flying cargo flights into Pittsburgh International Airport. The airline will receive $15,500 per flight, or about $728,500 for the first six months of its contract, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported earlier this month. An airport spokeswoman confirmed the amount.

Gulf carriers are expanding elsewhere in the U.S. as well. Etihad launched a weekly cargo route to Miami International Airport earlier this month, joining Qatar Airways. A spokesman for the airport said the airlines did not apply for any subsidies or incentives.
After several years of growth, Small Business Saturday saw a dip in both foot traffic and overall dollars spent in 2017.

The American Express-sponsored shopping holiday, now in its eighth year, saw 108 million shoppers spend $12.9 billion on Nov. 25 at independently owned businesses. That is down from 112 million shoppers spending more than $15 billion in 2016. American Express and the National Federation of Independent Business released the 2017 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey Monday, reporting that four in 10, or 43 percent of American adults either shopped or dined small on the day.

The data show that 70 percent of U.S. consumers are aware of Small Business Saturday, and 58 percent said they shopped or dined at more than one independently owned business this weekend. What's more, support for small businesses went beyond brick-and-mortar with 35 percent saying they shopped online.

There were also more than 7,200 "neighborhood champions," which include associations, chambers of commerce and community organizers across the country engaging more than 2 million small businesses nationwide. The most popular reason for shopping small was to support local community, according to 64 percent of respondents.

A state-by-state breakout shows the most popular small businesses visited on the day were restaurants, bars and pubs (41 percent), followed by clothing and accessories stores (24 percent), food stores (23 percent) and coffee shops (22 percent).

Stores visited also varied greatly by location on Small Business Saturday, compared to the national average. In California, the most-visited small businesses were plant stores and nurseries, in Texas shoppers went to spas and hair and nail salons, and in New York, small bakeries were the most popular for shoppers.

Don't miss: Etsy sellers join Small Business Saturday hoping for a Black Friday-like boost
Gap  The apparel company's stock headed higher after positive early Black Friday results, leading a group of retailers that includes Best Buy and Target . The industry is also preparing for the Cyber Monday surge, as shoppers are expected to spend more than ever on the e-commerce discount day.

Meredith Corp.  The media group reached an agreement to acquire Time in an all-cash deal valued at $2.8 billion. The acquisition is a coup for Meredith, Reuters reported, as the company held unsuccessful talks to buy Time earlier this year, as well as in 2013.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals  The biotechnology company suffered a setback when nevascumab, a drug under development, failed to improve vision in clinical trials when paired with the company's flagship drug Eylea, STAT News reported.

Buffalo Wild Wings  The company's stock was downgraded to neutral from buy by analysts at UBS. In a note, the analysts say the neutral rating reflects a more "balanced risk/reward" scenario as reports of potential bidders have recently surfaced. The analysts did, however, raise their price target on Buffalo Wild Wings shares to $148 a share from $140.

Western Digital  Western Digital shares were downgraded to equal weight from overweight by analysts at Morgan Stanley. The analysts cited Western Digital's exposure to declining prices in NAND flash memory. "Given our view of the cycle, we cannot recommend the sector until the market recognizes mounting pressure on NAND prices and slowing logic chip growth momentum in the near term," they said.

Square  Analysts at BTIG poured water over the recent rally of the mobile payment company's stock, downgrading it to sell from neutral. In a note, they said the stock's jump this month  which has been driven in part by excitement that the company is letting some users buy and sell bitcoin on its Cash app  is overdone.

Apple  UBS lowered its iPhone sales forecast, noting a survey it conducted showed "more muted" demand for the popular smartphone.
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When Tribal Chief Eric Thompson first heard about a new venture to get the Saint Regis Mohawks into the business of intellectual property, he was hesitant. "I had never heard of an IPR," Thompson recalled, referring to a system of challenging patents called inter partes review. Most people haven't  IPR resides among the intricacies of patent law that generally don't surface outside legal circles  but the system has been steadily increasing in popularity since it was introduced in 2011, championed by giants of the technology industry, such as Apple , Google and Facebook . They see it as a more efficient way of dismantling bad patents, often held by so-called patent trolls. It's come to be despised by many big pharmaceutical companies. It's also now the subject of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, where oral arguments took place Monday morning. The outcome, experts say, is worth billions  in one estimate, even trillions  of dollars, and holds implications for the scope of power of federal agencies. For the Saint Regis Mohawks, a tribe of about 16,000 people along the St. Lawrence River in northern New York, it represents a potential new source of much-needed revenue. But only if the Court rules IPR doesn't violate the Constitution.

Oil States vs. Greene's Energy

Enter the Saint Regis Mohawks

It was Shore who brought the Saint Regis Mohawks into the IPR story, through a realization that state universities held special protections against patent challenges through inter partes review because of their sovereign status. Those protections, he said, conferred a much higher value to patents held by sovereign entities. "Your chances of winning, statistically, are about three times better than if you had to go through the IPR process," Shore said from the Dallas offices of his law firm, Shore Chan DePumpo.

Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Chief Eric Thompson next to the Saint Lawrence River in upstate New York. The tribe aims to diversify its economy through patent partnerships. Harriet Taylor | CNBC

Others, such as law professor Gregory Dolin at the University of Baltimore, who wrote a brief in favor of overturning IPR along with the Cato Institute, put the rate of patent invalidation at twice as high through IPR versus the federal courts. "When we realized there was such a huge disparity in value, we started trying to figure out ways to help our non-sovereign clients get the protection of sovereign immunity," Shore said. There are a few entities that possess sovereign status: foreign governments, states (and therefore state universities) and Native American tribes. Enter the Saint Regis Mohawks. Shore first proposed his idea to a few tribes who turned him down, he said. Then he was introduced to Dale White, general counsel for the Saint Regis Mohawks, who brought the idea to the tribal leaders. "We vetted this idea for better than six months before we decided to do it," Thompson, the tribal chief, said in an interview recently at Akwesasne, the tribe's territory in northern New York. "We decided to pursue it because of the unmet needs in our community and for the benefit of our people." The tribe's first moves in the space, though, have thrust it into a national debate about drug prices, the patent system and the very sovereign status of Native American tribes. In September, drugmaker Allergan announced it had transferred the patents for its blockbuster eye drug, Restasis, to the tribe, which then licensed the rights back exclusively to Allergan. The tribe then moved to dismiss the IPR challenges filed by generic-drug makers, including Mylan, which was also challenging the patents in federal court. In return, Allergan paid the tribe $13.75 million, with the potential for $15 million more in annual royalties. For the Saint Regis Mohawks, the deal represented a new way to diversify its revenue. The tribe's economy depends heavily on its casino, the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, and in recent years, the tribe's leaders said, gaming revenue has leveled off.

Gaming revenue at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino has leveled off in recent years. Harriet Taylor | CNBC

It's also contending with significant health problems associated with pollution from factories along the borders of the tribe's territory, according to Tsiorasa Barreiro, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe's executive director. They're now Environmental Protection Agency-designated Superfund sites. The factories "have leaked PCBs and other heavy metals into our environment, into the river, and into our soil," Barreiro said. "We are experiencing high rates of cancer, autoimmune diseases, thyroid issues, and other chronic health conditions due to the toxic legacy of the industry along the St. Lawrence River." The funds from IPR deals like the one with Allergan, Thompson said, could potentially be used to address the pollution and health problems from those sites, as well as for infrastructure and support to address opioid addiction, which has touched the tribe much as it has the rest of the country.

Criticism of the deal

But the response to the Allergan partnership was electric. "We were shocked," said Michael Shore. "I don't know if it's the fact that it was Native Americans, I don't know if it was the fact that it was pharmaceutical, or both, but it sure seemed to create a much bigger hubbub than we ever thought it should or deserved." "I'm getting an education on the lightning-rod status of the pharmaceutical industry," Shore said, "and the interest in tribal affairs." Thompson bristles at accusations the partnership contributes to higher drug prices, pointing out the tribe is concerned about health costs itself. "It's not our intention at all to deal with or to negatively advance a position that would be counter to our own interests with regards to drugs that would be utilized in Indian country as a whole, and in our community," he said. He pointed to Allergan's "social contract," pledging, among other things, to limit price increases on medicines to less than 10 percent a year. But Congress criticized the deal, with one senator, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, introducing legislation that would strip tribes of their sovereign immunity to IPR challenges. "Any thinking person would look at what this company did and say, 'that should be illegal,'" McCaskill said in a statement at the time. "Well, I agree." Thompson called her bill a double standard, noting state university systems also benefit from sovereign status.

Brent Saunders, CEO, Allergan Scott Mlyn | CNBC

"It's colonialistic thought," he said. "It's almost like an economic apartheid, where we're not allowed to do certain things unless otherwise given permission." Allergan's stock suffered as its partnership with the tribe was criticized. And then, in October, a federal judge invalidated the patents in question. Allergan's protection against IPR challenges hadn't mattered. Allergan has responded to the criticisms by pointing out flaws in the IPR system, calling it a "double jeopardy" for patent holders. "While Allergan was well aware that its agreement with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe would draw scrutiny, much of this scrutiny has focused on emotional arguments and has failed to acknowledge the fundamental issues with IPR," the company said in a statement.

Constitutional questions
Tech companies that do pay domestic taxes on the high end could also be poised to win from tax reform, Sacconaghi said, pointing to companies like Visa , ADP and Texas Instruments .

The tax reform proposals currently under consideration reduce corporate tax rates domestically and free up offshore cash. While technology companies don't have the highest tax rates domestically, many do business globally: 24 major technology companies represent foreign cash of about $550 billion, Sacconaghi said.

That means tax reform proposals in the House and Senate could benefit companies like Apple , Cisco , Microsoft and Oracle , Sacconaghi wrote in a Monday note.

If you add up all the offshore cash held by companies, about 60 percent of it would be in technology companies, according to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi.

U.S. President Donald Trump (C) greets Apple CEO Tim Cook (L) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella before a meeting of the American Technology Council in the State Dining Room of the White House

But a separate research note from S&P Global Ratings earlier this month said that while large technology and healthcare companies tend to have lower tax rates, retail and transportation companies have higher tax rates.

"If you look at the tax rate for tech today as a sector, its tax rate is about 19.5 percent. The rest of the market is at 24.6 percent. So if you end up having a lower tax rate, something that's 20 [percent]  or, on a global basis, going to be less than 20  then tech's simply not going to benefit as much because it's starting from an existing lower tax rate," Sacconaghi told CNBC's "Fast Money: Halftime Report."

On the other hand, companies like IBM , HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise don't stand to gain much on either their domestic or overseas earnings, Sacconaghi said.

"The companies that are going to benefit less are companies that have existing low tax rates and have little to no trapped offshore cash," Sacconaghi said. "Their tax rate may not go down, it may actually go up."

HP told CNBC that it was critical that tax reform encourage a level playing field.

There are also some risks to technology companies in the new proposals, according to Sacconaghi. In particular, one House proposal would put a 20 percent tax on payments made to foreign affiliates, and a Senate proposal takes a softer, but similar, approach, according to Sacconaghi.

Still, the "winning" companies have told CNBC they support tax reform on the whole. Cisco said the House Ways and Means proposal would "unleash a new wave of innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship" in the U.S. Oracle declined to comment on Sacconaghi's analysis, and other companies were not immediately available to comment.

"If you sell globally, you earn money globally. If you earn money globally you can't bring it back into the United States unless you pay 35 percent plus your state tax," Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC's "Mad Money" in May. "And you look at this and you go, 'this is kind of bizarre.' You want people to use this money in the United States to invest more."

 CNBC's Michael Bloom and Patti Domm contributed to this report.

Disclaimer
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As politicians battle over who is now in charge at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, some people might wonder what the agency is, what it does and why it's at the center of debate in Washington. The consumer watchdog and its former Director Richard Cordray have been for years. Generally speaking, Democrats support the agency and its goal of protecting consumers, while Republicans say its structure, funding and lack of oversight have resulted in government overreach. This latest disagreement centers on who has the legal authority to lead the CFPB. On Friday, Cordray announced he was stepping down that day, and appointed a deputy director to act as interim head: Leandra English, previously his chief of staff. But shortly after Cordray's statement, President Donald Trump announced that his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, will serve in the acting CFPB director role.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray. Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

Over the weekend, English filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking to stop Mulvaney from taking over. Despite that legal challenge, Mulvaney showed up at the agency Monday morning to start his new job. The brouhaha could threaten the CFPB's operations, said Alan Kaplinsky, a partner at national law firm Ballard Spahr. "It will be chaotic at [the agency] until the court decides who is rightfully entitled to be the acting director," Kaplinsky said. "I think things will largely grind to a halt, particularly with respect to their rule-making and enforcement initiatives." As the legal battle unfolds, here's a little bit about the embattled CFPB.

What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

The agency was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, a Wall Street reform bill passed in the wake of the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession. Unlike many other federal agencies, the bureau was granted broad authority and independence. Its mission includes protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive or abusive practices and taking action against companies that break the law.

What is its structure and source of funding?

The Dodd-Frank bill authorizes the president to name a director, who serves a five-year term and cannot be fired at will. (Cordray, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, stepped down eight months ahead of the end of his term.) The agency is funded through the Federal Reserve, which means Congress doesn't get to weigh in on its budget.

What has the agency accomplished?

Since 2011, the CFPB has received more than 1.2 million consumer complaints about their dealings with financial firms. It has returned nearly $12 billion to 29 million people wronged by financial institutions, including credit card companies and banks. Most of the complaints received by the agency relate to debt collection (27 percent) and mortgages (23 percent).

What recourse does Congress have?
"I don't think the Irish will veto trade talks and I think the U.K. will table a serious offer for more money (for the "divorce bill") in an attempt to isolate the Irish. But, at the same time, there will be pressure on the Irish to not block progress as I think there is a desire among the 27 EU nations to see talks progress on to trade soon," Rahman said.

"The solution to this is really unclear. 2018 will be a very challenging year and Ireland is key to that," he said. Rahman did not believe that the Irish would veto trade talks, however, as he believed the other EU nations would exert pressure on the country to allow progress to be made at the EU summit next month.

Mujtaba Rahman, the head of Eurasia Group's Europe practice, told CNBC on Monday that the border issue presented a "massive challenge" to Brexit negotiations and the U.K. government.

British Prime Minister Teresa May and her minority government, which is supported on a vote-by-vote basis by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, has ruled out remaining in either the EU's single market or customs union, leaving a conundrum over the future of the freedom of movement, trade and goods between the Irish and Northern Irish territories.

The issue of a "hard border" is controversial, but could be required if the U.K. quits both the EU's single market (which allows the free movement of goods, people, capital and services between EU nations) and customs union (which would see the U.K. placing tariffs on goods entering the country from outside the EU).

But Liam Fox, the U.K.'s international trade secretary, has said that the border issue could not be settled until a trade deal was agreed  putting Ireland and the U.K. at odds over whether the border or trade comes first.

The EU has said also that sufficient progress must be made on the Irish border issue before it will give the green light to trade talks at a summit in mid-December.

The country's EU commissioner Phil Hogan said on Sunday that Ireland could veto the talks between the U.K. and the European Union (EU) if it is not given assurances that there will be no "hard border" between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Ireland has threatened to veto Brexit trade talks with the U.K. unless complex issues surrounding its border with Northern Ireland are resolved.

A porous border between Northern Ireland and Ireland is likely to be unacceptable to the EU, as it could undermine the bloc's single market and rules over the quality and control of goods entering the 27-country union.

Meanwhile, a "hard border" is politically toxic on an island where enormous efforts have been made over the years to overcome sectarianism between Irish nationalists and Northern Irish unionists. What's more, free trade is crucial for the Northern Irish (and U.K.) and Irish economies.

In 2015, Ireland exported 112.4 billion euros worth of goods. Some 15.6 billion euros  or 13.9 percent  of these goods went to the U.K. In the same year, goods imported into Ireland amounted to 70.1 billion euros, with 18 billion  or 25.7 percent  of these arriving from the U.K., according to 2016 data from Ireland's Central Statistics Office.

Red lines

There are several other "red line" issues within the Brexit negotiations  not least of all the so-called "divorce bill" of what the U.K. owes the EU and the thorny issue of citizens' rights post-Brexit. But the subject of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland carries historical, political, cultural and economic weight.

Northern Ireland's modern history has been dominated by sectarianism and a territorial conflict between, mainly Catholic, Irish nationalists wanting the north of the country to be reunited with the republic and, mainly Protestant, unionists wanting Northern Ireland to stay a part of the U.K.

Those divisions have remained largely the same in politics, with the region's biggest parties, the pro-U.K. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland having just one seat more than the leftwing republican party Sinn Fein.

After decades of violence between nationalists and unionists in an era known as "the Troubles," a peace deal known as the Good Friday Agreement was reached in 1998. It created a power-sharing assembly for both nationalists and unionists to have equal say. In practice, however, joint leadership between the rival DUP and Sinn Fein parties has not been easy and in January this year, the power-sharing government collapsed and is yet to be reinstated.

Eurasia Group's Rahman noted that there was a danger that Article 50, the process of leaving the EU, was "getting mixed up in the peace process" and that the volatile political situation was not helping matters.

Solutions

In an interview with The Observer newspaper Sunday, Ireland's EU Commissioner Hogan said that the U.K. or at least Northern Ireland, which is a part of the kingdom, would be better off staying in the single market or customs union to resolve the border issue. But that solution is unacceptable to the DUP as it does not want to see Northern Ireland with rules that separate it from the U.K.

This means that another, more bespoke arrangement will have to be agreed, with the possibility of a separate customs union partnership or free trade arrangement being mooted as a possibility by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. In October, however, he told parliament that that position was "not our negotiating position or preference by any means," Reuters reported.

JPMorgan Economist Malcolm Barr said the idea of Northern Ireland remaining a part of the single market, as it currently stands, was "not going to work" and that some kind of agreement could be reached on a sector-by-sector basis.

"The idea (of remaining in the single market) is just politically untenable, so I think we'll see both sides move towards a sector-by-sector solution in which there is a discussion about how much regulatory alignment is needed and what mechanisms would be the best to ensure that," he said.

He emphasized that creativity, tolerance, compromise and flexibility were needed to create a bespoke, technical agreement that could allow as "invisible a border as possible."

"The only solution is a hybrid of approaches which require everyone to be flexible," he told CNBC. "But it will be a bearable solution rather than an acceptable one, however."

Rahman agreed that an agreement needed to be carefully managed and that "there will have to be some form of checks at the border  there will need to be some kind of controls."

"This is the gateway to the Europeans' market so they need to ensure that their borders are secure, through controls and checks," he said.

"There could be a use of technology to try to make the border as invisible and porous as possible, but this implies a high degree of regulatory convergence, which implies minimal checks. But then again, if Northern Ireland moves away from the U.K. (in terms of rules over the movement of goods), the DUP won't allow that," he said, adding: "It's not clear what the solution is, frankly."
President Donald Trump has "every right" to name the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but he is going about it the wrong way by naming Mick Mulvaney as the acting director, the attorney for Leandra English told CNBC on Monday.

Deepak Gupta has filed a lawsuit on behalf of English, seeking to block Mulvaney from taking over. English, the deputy director at the consumer watchdog group, insists she is the rightful acting director after outgoing director Richard Cordray named her for the role last week.

Gupta told "Power Lunch" it is very clear that Congress put in a succession plan when it created the agency in the Dodd-Frank reform bill  the deputy director becomes the acting director until the Senate confirms a new director.

"What President Trump has done is an attempt at an end run," he said.

"He's attempted to install a White House staffer, his OMB director, into the position without getting Senate confirmation and have that person, Mick Mulvaney, simultaneously serve as a White House official and as a head of an independent agency that's required by statute to be independent."



The Trump administration believes it will prevail, in large part because the CFPB's own general counsel issued a ruling that supports the White House move. Further, English filed the lawsuit on her own behalf, without the agency's backing.
Amid a controversy over who will run the top consumer watchdog, Mick Mulvaney showed up Monday morning at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and took charge of the office's operations, according to a senior White House official.

President Donald Trump tapped Mulvaney, who doubles as head of the Office of Management and Budget, to run the financial industry oversight office, but there is a dispute over whether he has that authority.

However, Mulvaney was greeted by CFPB staff to start the week and he received his transition binders. He also was given access to the director's office and is said to be getting "full cooperation" from the holdover staff, according to the White House official.

@MickMulvaneyOMB sitting in director's office. Already hard at work as acting director at cfpb.

In an apparent effort to start the day off right, Mulvaney was seen carrying a bag from Dunkin' Donuts.

Richard Cordray formerly ran the office but announced nearly two weeks ago that he would be leaving before the end of November. On his way out the door, Cordray promoted his former chief of staff, Leandra English, to succeed him as acting director if the White House had not intervened.

Mulvaney sent a memo to staff on Monday instructing them to disregard "any instructions" they receive from English, according to Reuters.

Shortly after Cordray's resignation became official Friday, the White House formally announced Mulvaney as its choice to lead the agency on an interim basis until a full-time director is named. The dueling appointments set off a legal back-and-forth over the weekend resulting in disputing claims over who should take the job. The White House's Office of Legal Counsel pointed to a 2016 court decision prioritizing the executive branch's authority.

Though Trump already had indicated he wanted Mulvaney to run the office on an interim basis until a full-time director is named, Cordray named English as his successor.

Insisting that she is the rightful director, English filed a lawsuit in a District of Columbia federal court to block Mulvaney from taking over. The lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order from installing Mulvaney as the interim director.

The Trump administration believes it will prevail, in large part because the CFPB's own general counsel issued a ruling that supports the White House move. Further, English filed the lawsuit on her own behalf, without the agency's backing.

The bureau was set up after the financial crisis as part of the Dodd-Frank banking reforms. It has become a central bone of contention between Democrats who believe Wall Street needs tougher reforms and Republicans who hold the office up as an example of government overreach.

Trump and White House officials have declined opportunities to fire Cordray, citing a fear the outgoing director would use the move as fuel for his second political act, as CNBC has reported.

Critics of the CFPB say the agency's authority is ill-defined. That point has flared up again, with English insisting that Dodd-Frank gives the CFPB director the right to name his successor, while the administration maintains that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act supersedes and gives the president the authority to name agency heads.

The full English lawsuit:
President Donald Trump again called Sen. Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" on Monday during an event honoring Native American veterans.

Trump, while remarking on the age and achievements of some of the veterans, known as code talkers, took the chance to mock the Massachusetts Democrat.

"You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said at the White House. "Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas."

The remark was met with silence. Trump lobbed the name at Warren with three Native American veterans sitting and standing next to him. He stood directly in front of a portrait of President Andrew Jackson, whose administration is widely criticized for its treatment of Native Americans.
A group of U.S. senators sent a letter to Uber's CEO on Monday saying the company's recently revealed data breach "merits further scrutiny."

Hackers stole data from 57 million Uber drivers and users, Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi revealed on Nov. 21. Uber paid hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach under wraps, and the company did not report the incident for more than a year.

Khosrowshahi, who was not employed at Uber when the breach occurred in 2016, has offered affected drivers free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. The company also fired Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan.

Lawmakers said Monday that they need more information on the timeline of the incident and the employees involved.
China is South Korea's most important trade partner and a destination for 25 percent of its exports (the U.S. is a distant second, taking 13 percent of Seoul's export sales). In the first 10 months of this year, South Korea's sales to China, and its trade surplus with China, are running at annual rates that are virtually identical to those observed in 2016.

High-level contacts are also under way, following China-South Korea summit meetings on the sidelines of the APEC conference in Vietnam earlier this month, to stabilize the Sino-Korean ties "in accordance with the size of the bilateral trade."

Another encouraging development is a strong revival of the Japanese-South Korean business relations. Japan's exports to Korean markets soared at an annual rate of 21 percent in the first nine months of this year, after a 5.7 percent decline for all of 2016. Over the same period, South Korean exports to Japan increased 17 percent  a remarkable recovery from a 16 percent decline during last year.

All that is wonderful news, even though this surging trade in Northeast Asia cannot be explained by purely economic factors. There is no evidence, for example, of strong and sudden increases in domestic demand (which drives external trade flows) in any of those three countries, or in an unexpected discovery of their economic complementarities.

Take the case of Japan. The growth of its domestic demand in the first three quarters of this year increased at an annual rate of only 0.8 percent. And, from Tokyo's perspective, the economies of South Korea and China are also increasingly seen as credible competitors in many product and service lines.

Therefore, the reasons for the booming trilateral business have to be sought in improving political ties. These often estranged neighbors have been unsuccessfully talking for years about liberalizing their mutual trade relations  only to be sidetracked by a constant resurgence of bitter war memories, colonial humiliations, unsettled maritime borders and absurd rivalries.

Threats of a more difficult access to European and American markets could be another reason why these Asian neighbors may have decided to internalize larger segments of their trade flows.

Most people will now spring for Trump's tough trade talk as the main factor driving the countries to closer economic and political relations. That would be a wrong conclusion, but that seems to be the mood of the times. So far, Trump is largely innocent on that count; he has not done much, if anything, to stop lopsided trade rules and practices that cost hundreds of billions of dollars to the American economy every year. Chinese, Japanese and South Korean products are widely available in the U.S. at very competitive prices  often cheaper than in their markets of origin.

But, as any simple traveler and comparison shopper can discover, that is not the case of American or European products in Asian markets. Most of those products are either unavailable, or, when they are, they are subject to exorbitant customs duties that double and triple the prices charged in their home markets in Europe and America.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open Monday, as investors looked ahead to a key vote on tax reform.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose just 3 points, while S&P 500 were unchanged and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 4.75 points.

The Senate is expected to vote on a bill aimed at reforming the U.S. tax code on Thursday. Investors have been eagerly awaiting tax reform since last year's election, but doubts about whether the Republican-led Congress would be able to achieve this before year-end have lingered.

President Donald Trump stated last week that his administration was going to "give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas," according to the Associated Press.

On the data front, new home sales figures are expected to be released at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the Dallas Fed's Texas manufacturing outlook survey at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Victoria Beckham has received a 30 million (US$40 million) investment from a private equity firm to fund growth at her eponymous fashion brand.

Neo Investment Partners will take an undisclosed stake in the business in exchange for the investment. Beckham said the funds would allow the business "to enhance our digital and physical retail presence and drive growth in our core categories while expanding into new categories to realize the brand's full potential."

Beckham has expanded the brand from a ready-to-wear mainline into accessories, footwear and eyewear, as well as launching high-profile collaborations with U.S. retailer Target and makeup brand Estee Lauder .

A critical success since its founding almost a decade ago, revenues at Victoria Beckham have hovered around 36 million (US$48 million) for the past two years, although the company said revenues for the first half of the 2017 financial year "indicate double-digit growth on the year."

In 2015  the last year for which accounts have been filed  it posted a pretax loss of 4.3 million (US$5.7 million). London-based Neo, also founded in 2008, specializes in investments in the European luxury sector and has stakes in Parisian menswear brand AMI Paris and British houseware brand Tom Dixon.

"I started the Victoria Beckham brand from a small room in Simon Fuller's office with him and David believing in me and supporting my vision," Beckham said. "I now have an additional partner who is showing that same belief."

More from the Financial Times:

The upmarket dating apps springing up in Tinder's wake

Facebook counts the cost of post-truth politics

The magical thinking that misleads managers
As the Senate debates tax cuts this week, wavering Republicans face three fundamental realities about President Donald Trump's top legislative priority.



It would only modestly boost economic growth.



It would significantly increase the national debt.



It would give the most money to the richest Americans.



A flurry of published analyses in recent days has obscured their agreement on these core conclusions about the House and Senate tax bills. Economists from different points on the political spectrum disagree only about the magnitude of those changes.



Start with economic growth, the linchpin of arguments by the White House and Republican leaders.



The most generous estimate comes from the conservative Tax Foundation, which uses an aggressive form of "dynamic scoring" to measure the effect of tax changes on economic activity. Compared with other analyses, it assumes a stronger business response to lower taxes and a weaker drag on growth from higher debt.



Even so, the foundation's forecasts fall far below White House claims of 3 percent or more annual growth. Under the House bill, it projects the economy won't reach 3 percent growth in even a single year by 2027; under the Senate bill, only in 2018.



Overall, the foundation projects the economy in 2027 would be larger by 3 percent under the House bill and 3.7 percent under the Senate bill. Other forecasters envision much smaller boosts.



The Penn-Wharton model, directed by a former Bush administration economist, says the economy would be less than 1 percentage point larger by 2027 under either bill. The Tax Policy Center, whose staff includes some veterans of Democratic administrations, says the House bill would boost the economy by just one-third of a percentage point.



That matches the tempered expectations of Wall Street forecasters. In a survey of top economists by the University of Chicago's business school, only 2 percent agreed that the GOP tax cuts would substantially boost the economy by 2027; 51 percent disagreed.

The White House insists tax cuts will generate so much growth and tax revenue that deficits won't rise at all. But the consensus from others that they will rise makes the administration's claim sound like a late-night infomercial.



Penn-Wharton's dynamic analysis pegs higher 10-year deficits under the House bill of at least $1.5 trillion; the Tax Policy Center estimates $1.2 trillion. The Tax Foundation's dynamic analysis says the House and Senate bills will hike debt by $1 trillion and $516 billion, respectively.



Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, the official bipartisan scorekeeper that did not employ dynamic analysis, says each would increase deficits by $1.4 trillion. In the University of Chicago survey, 88 percent of economists agreed that federal debt would be substantially higher as a share of the economy by 2027.



Such broad agreement poses a particular problem in the Senate. One potential swing vote, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, has vowed to oppose tax cuts if he believes they increase debt after accounting for growth.



Nor do analysts disagree on who benefits most. The White House and GOP leaders insist they designed a middle-class tax cut, but economists agree the richest would benefit most.



Under the Senate bill, the Tax Policy Center finds the top-earning 1 percent of Americans would receive 61.8 percent of reduced taxes by 2027. Two-thirds of middle-income Americans, and half of taxpayers overall, would face a tax hike.



Under the House bill, Penn-Wharton projects the top 1 percent would reap 53 percent of all tax cuts by then. The Joint Tax Committee says $1 million earners would see their effective tax rates fall the most under both bills.



The Tax Foundation's "static" analysis yields similar findings. It uses a conventional assumption that 75 percent of corporate tax cuts go to business owners, while 25 percent go to workers.



The foundation's "dynamic" estimates flip those proportions, stipulating that workers get 70 percent and owners just 30 percent. Using that assumption, the Tax Foundation finds that under both bills after-tax incomes for the richest 1 percent would rise by a slightly smaller percentage than for Americans overall by 2027.



Yet even under that estimate, the most affluent make out best. Under both bills, the foundation says, the richest 1 percent would receive 15 percent of all reduced taxes by 2027; the most affluent 20 percent would get more than the bottom 80 percent combined.



Pitted against these realities, and polls showing public resistance, are warnings from GOP leaders and donors that failure on tax cuts guarantees calamity in 2018 elections. On the Senate floor, a half-dozen undecided Republicans have to decide which forces matter most.
watch now

Closer ties between two of the world's most acute political powder kegs  North Korea and Syria  are fanning fears of deeper cooperation on missile technology and chemical weapons. The longstanding bilateral relationship, which stretches back to the late 1960s, has prospered this year even as both countries face international sanctions. Syrian minister of social affairs and labor Rima al-Qadiri met with North Korean ambassador Jang Myong Ho last week to discuss enhancing bilateral links, Syrian state media reported, with Jang saying his country wanted to help President Bashar al-Assad's regime with reconstruction efforts.

August 31, 2015: A ceremony to name a park in Damascus after Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founding father in the Syrian city's Kafar Susseh neighborhood AFP/Stringer/Getty Images

Increased North Korean involvement in a nation hit by violent civil war, which includes Islamic State brutality, doesn't bode well for a U.S. government already concerned about the ongoing military alliance. President Donald Trump's administration is increasingly worried "that [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un is not only profiting from Syria's six-year war, but also learning from it," Jay Solomon, a visiting fellow at American think tank The Washington Institute, wrote in a recent note. North Korean exports of military equipment to the Arab nation, including propellants for Syria's Scud ballistic missiles, protective chemical suits and respirators, are believed to have occurred for years. And with state revenue increasingly strained under fresh sanctions, Pyongyang is widely expected to continue such sales. "Syria continues to rely on North Korean and Iranian assistance for its missile programs, according to official U.S. accounts," said a 2016 report by the Congressional Research Service, a research arm of the U.S. Congress. Allegations have also surfaced that North Korean military advisers are inside Syria  a charge that both countries have denied. The secretive Asian state is also widely believed to have helped develop a Syrian nuclear facility, which was destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike. At least two North Korean shipments to a Syrian government agency responsible for the nation's chemical weapons program were intercepted this year, Reuters reported in August, citing a confidential United Nations report. "Previous shipments from North Korea are not known to have contained chemicals or chemical weapons production equipment," Rod Barton, former director of strategic technology at Australia's Defense Intelligence Organisation, wrote in an August note published by the Lowy Institute.

watch now
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks with reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House November 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.

"I don't believe that it is appropriate for [the president] to make a racial slur, or anybody else," Sanders said, but "I don't think that it is [a racial slur] and I certainly don't think that was the president's intent."

Asked why Trump would choose to use a phrase that many people find offensive, Sanders said that "what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career." She added that seeing Trump's use of "Pocahontas" as a racial slur was a "ridiculous response," because it was not.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday denied that President Donald Trump was using a racial slur in referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren , D-Mass., as "Pocahontas."

Warren is one of Trump's most outspoken critics in the Senate, and for years, Trump has relished referring to her as "Pocahontas," a reference to Warren's claim that her family has Native American heritage.

At the White House on Monday, Trump told the veterans, who were "code talkers" in World War II, "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who, they say, was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas." As soon as Trump said it, the room fell silent.

Sanders, however, claimed that Trump's respect for the veterans was reflected more in his actions than necessarily in his words.

"The president certainly finds an extreme amount of value and respect for these individuals. He's constantly showing ways to honor those individuals," she said.

Warren, however, was less forgiving. Responding to Trump's remarks on MSNBC, the Massachusetts Democrat said it is "deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur."

Later Monday, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said the remark was unfortunate.

"In this day and age, all tribal nations still battle insensitive references to our people. The prejudice that Native American people face is an unfortunate historical legacy," Begaye said in a statement.

While the Navajo Nation appreciated the honor and recognition bestowed upon its "code talkers," Begaye said, it does not want to be a part of this "ongoing feud" between the senator and the president.
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I never thought Id write this, but I miss OLTEP. In the run-up to 2015, ministers uttered the words our long-term economic plan even more regularly than Emma Dent Coad issues non-apologies for dodgy things she has said online.

If we were bored of the soundbite, imagine how much more bored those charged with saying it were. But on they went, confident that it worked and assured that only be repetition would it reach sufficient voters to change public opinion. Then it went away, and we all felt a bit relieved.

Until now. OLTEP was a bit clunky, but it was a work of linguistic art compared to the new official slogan: building a Britain fit for the future. I get what its authors mean by it. Were going to give the nation an energetic work-out, shed its flab and sculpt its muscles. Bend to touch your toes, now 25 star jumps  nope, not enthusiastic enough, do it again.

The problem is that its simply awkward to say. Or indeed to write, as Damian Green discovered last week when he described the Budget as offering an economic fit for the future, which sounded medically troubling.

In that awkwardness, it brings to mind two previous, related slogans. The first is the title of the 2010 Labour manifesto  A future fair for all  which read like Yoda was promising bumper cars and a merry-go-round in every town. The second is the book by Jeremy Browne, the former Lib Dem MP, titled Race Plan  innocently intended to be a metaphorical exercise guide to help Britain in the global economic race, it ended up sounding like a memo from Himmler.

Like it or not, however, it appears were stuck with this slightly exhausting pledge of future national fitness. Having been launched with the Budget, its now the subtitle of todays Industrial Strategy White Paper.

The document is Greg Clarks much-anticipated flesh for the bones of the Prime Ministers modern industrial strategy. As I wrote almost exactly a year ago, those words sparked conflicting emotions in many Conservatives. Was this going to be another attempt to pick winners, with government pouring taxpayers money into enterprises that private investors felt were too dubious to merit putting their own cash behind? Or was it going to be about education and skills and regulation, creating an environment in which Britain would be best equipped to adapt to the inherently unknowable challenges and opportunities that the future would bring?

The early insights seemed to lean more towards the latter, happily, though there were still some signs that the Government intended to get directly involved in backing particular technologies or companies.

Thats broadly still the case in the White Paper, though there have been a few changes. The rising public and media attention paid to productivity means that resolving the productivity gap has become the central stated purpose of the strategy  productivity gets an impressive 426 mentions in the document.

There are welcome measures in there which will help to make the nation more competitive, from the expansion of maths, digital and technical education to measures to encourage greater Research and Development spending by firms. At their best, things like Sector Deals and Challenge Funds will use Governments powers and resources to spur new thinking from the private sector, including frank and honest discussions about how state bodies can get out of the way where they are unnecessarily obstructive. But that will take careful management and strong discipline to deliver  I still worry that, if neglected, these initiatives could easily slip into a game of special pleading and backing todays companies against tomorrows potential disruptors.

Some of those risks can be seen in the flip side of the industrial strategy. Its easy for May to say, as she did last year, that: A fatal flaw of old-style industrial strategies was that they mainly addressed existing industries and companies. But when Ministers announce hundreds of millions of pounds for electric car charging points, or financial support for specific robotics technologies, or new spending for hard-wired internet connections (at the same time as backing 5G mobile internet), isnt that repeating exactly the same flaw?

There is great potential in many of the ideas contained in Clarks White Paper. A better system to ensure British universities and companies capitalise on the many scientific discoveries made in this country, for example, would be worth billions, and avoid the repetition of some unforced past errors. As I say, the management of the Sector Deals could yet yield excellent improvements in a variety of sectors, too.

At its best, this Industrial Strategy will change the way the British economy works in such a way that it will allow as yet unimagined innovations and success stories to flourish. At worst, it could end up being captured by existing vested interests. Ministers must work ceaselessly to make sure it is the former which happens, not the latter.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The holiday season can be an especially challenging time of year for anyone who has ever lost someone close to their heart. To support those people, the Bereaved Families of Ontario held their Memorial Tree lighting service at the Cornwall Square mall, continuing a 21 year old tradition, on Sunday afternoon.

This is the memory tree lighting ceremony for bereaved families, our tree has been at the Cornwall Square for the last 21 years. Its a symbolic gesture to memorialize those weve lost, said Gisele Roy, from the Bereaved Families of Ontarios local office.

Some people return year after year to put their memory tag in the tree, and its a source of comfort.

Attendees listened to advice and how to cope with grief over the holidays, and were invited to tap into the Bereaved Families wealth of resources designed for people facing these tough challenges. The Centennial Choir was also in attendence, performing for crowds shortly before the tree lighting.

Some people were here for the first time this year, of course all are welcome, said Roy. Following the tree lighting attendees were invited to place memories on the Christmas tree, which will later be digitized and kept by the Bereaved Families of Ontario.

We have our candlelight service coming up at Knox St. Pauls United Church on December 13th at 7pm, said Roy, inviting all those unable to attend todays event.
CORNWALL, Ontario  William McDonald, 23, of Cornwall was arrested on Nov. 24, 2017 and charged with possession of property obtained by crime and breach of probation for failing to keep the peace.

It is alleged on Nov. 24, 2017 the man was found to be in possession of stolen bicycle in the area of Marlborough Street. He was taken into custody, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on Dec. 28, 2017.

RESIST ARREST, BREACH

CORNWALL, Ontario  A 17-year-old Cornwall youth was arrested on Nov. 24, 2017 and charged with breach of recognizance for failing to follow house rules, breach of probation for failing to keep the peace and resist arrest. It is alleged on Nov. 24, 2017 while investigating a family dispute, police found the youth to be in breach of his conditions. He was taken into custody after a brief struggle, charged accordingly and released to appear in court at a later date. His name was not released as per conditions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

POSSESSION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

CORNWALL, Ontario  Diane Hebert, 61, of Cornwall was arrested on Nov. 25, 2017 and charged with possession of methamphetamine. It is alleged during a traffic stop for an unrelated matter on Nov. 25, 2017 the woman was found to be in possession of a quantity of methamphetamine. She was taken into custody, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on Dec. 28, 2017.

IMPAIRED OPERATION OF A MOTOR VEHICLE, OVER 80

CORNWALL, Ontario  John Ostapczuk, 65, of Cornwall was arrested on Nov. 26, 2017 and charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle and over 80. It is alleged on Nov. 26, 2017 the man was operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol while in the area of Glengarry Boulevard. He was taken into custody during a traffic stop, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on Dec. 5, 2017.

MISCHIEF

CORNWALL, Ontario  A 24-year-old Cornwall man was arrested on Nov. 26, 2017 and charged with mischief. It is alleged during an argument with his common-law wife on Nov. 26, 2017 the man damaged her vehicle and police were contacted to investigate. During the investigation the man was taken into custody, charged accordingly and held for a bail hearing. His name was not released as it would identify the victim in the matter.

There were 123 calls for service in the City of Cornwall in over the weekend (8am Friday to 8am Monday morning). To see whats happening in your neighbourhood visit our Crime Plot Map @ http://www.cornwallpolice.ca/ . CCPS reserves the right to not post all calls for service in order to protect the identity of the victims.
BAINSVILLE, Ontario  Two individuals charged for being in possession of a large quantity of unstamped tobacco.

On the evening of Nov. 20, officers with the Cornwall Regional Task Force (CRTF) were patrolling the South Glengarry area when they observed suspicious activities taking place along the shore line.

Police observed what appeared to be an exchange of bags from a boat to individuals ashore. As the boat departed the area, the bags were observed being loaded into a Ford Econoline van. As the CRTF converged on the area, the two individuals attempted to flee on foot, however, were quickly apprehended. Mario Arial-Marleau (aged 31) and Leo Cloutier (aged 38) both from Valleyfield, Quebec were arrested in the Bainsville area, for being in possession of 65 bags weighing approximately 1,153kgs of fine cut tobacco. In addition to the contraband, the van was seized. Arial-Marleau and Cloutier were subsequently charged with possession of unstamped tobacco under the Excise Act. Both males are also facing charges under the Tobacco Tax Act. They were released to appear in court at the Alexandria Provincial Courthouse on Jan. 10, 2018.

If you have any information regarding criminal activity in your area, you can contact the CRTF at 1-613-937-2800 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

The CRTF is a joint forces partnership that includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Ministry of Finance.
Pullmantur will be back in Dubai, sailing a seasonal "Legends of Arabia" program for the winter 2018-2019 cruise season, the company announced.

The Horizon will sail on a week-long itinerary from Dubai, featuring an overnight to start the cruise. Calls include Abu Dhabi, Khasab, Fujairah and Muscat

Pricing starts at 589 euro per person, according to deployment published on the Pullmantur website.

With the Horizon in the Middle East, the company is expected to sail the Zenith in the Canaries, Monarch in the Caribbean and Sovereign in South America.
Nicko Cruises announced deployment for its inaugural ocean program for summer 2019, sailing the new 200-guest World Explorer. The company is expanding, going into the ocean cruise game after a successful build up on Europe's rivers.

The inaugural cruise sold exclusively under the Nicko banner will be a week-long sailing from Porto to Palma on May 2, 2019, although two repositioning cruises to and from South America are offered prior to that, and will be sold in multiple markets. The vessel is scheduled to sail the 2018-2019 winter in Antarctica for Quark Expeditions.

May 2019 will see the ship offer four itineraries in the Western Mediterranean, before moving to Northern Europe for the Norwegian fjords, with two 13-day cruises offered.

In July there are two 12-day roundtrip sailings from Kiel to the Baltic capitals, which is followed by a eight-day cruise from Kiel to Iceland, and two 14-day Iceland and Greenland sailings.

On August 31, the vessel returns to Hamburg from Iceland, and then offers a week-long roundtrip Hamburg departure in mid September. The month concludes with a five-day Hamburg roundtrip sailing, and a 13-day cruise heading south from Hamburg, to Porto.

Finally, a repositioning cruise is also on sale, departing Oct. 4 aboard the World Explorer and sailing from Lisbon to Rio.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Behzad Mesri, aka Skote Vahshat, on charges of hacking into HBO and stealing Game of Thrones episodes. Following the theft of the unaired episodes, Mesri allegedly attempted to extort HBO for $6 million in Bitcoin.

Mesri, whose face now graces an FBI Wanted Poster, is not in custody. Apparently, he is well known to the FBI, which stated, Mesri had previously hacked computer systems for the Iranian military.

More specifically, Mesri is known to have successfully conduct computer network attacks that targeted military systems, nuclear software system, and Israeli infrastructure. The DOJ also says Mesri, using his alias Skote Vahshat, has been a member of the Iranian hacking group, Turk Black Hat security team, which conducted hundreds of website defacements.

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'We must defend our technology from Iran'

While the theft of HBOs intellectual property may not rise to the level of a national security issue, Check Point chairman Marius Nacht warned at a recent Ernst & Young Journey Conference that Iran (and North Korea) are a threat and must be addressed at the national level, and "we must defend our technology from Iran." Specifically, Nacht noted that if important national assets are not protected, they will be exploited by these countries and used to compete against the U.S. and Israel.

While Nacht was speaking in broad terms, he is correct, as we have seen Irans espionage capabilities have a powerful bite, with hackers from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Force (IRGC) having successfully targeted the U.S. financial systems and the SCADA network of a New York dam.

Irans been busy bypassing technology embargos

Iran has successfully used a circuitous methodology to bypass the current technology embargos by creating or employing companies to act as middle men in their acquisition chain.

The Minnesota Star Tribune tells us of a Minnesota firm that was tricked into illegal shipments of dual use technology, which can be used in civilian products or in weapons guidance systems that would fall under the international export controls. The Minnesota firm sent the technology to a Malaysian company, Green Wave Telecommunication, which was acting as a procurement agent for the Iranian government.

We have also seen, via the research provided by Secureworks Counter Threat Unit, the existence of the fake persona Mia Ash. Mia Ash created fake profiles on various social networks, including Facebook, DeviantArt and LinkedIn, for the express purpose of socially engineering information of interest from targets and delivering to the targets systems a remote access trojan (RAT).

Secureworks noted that Mia Ash's connections within LinkedIn matched many of Mia Ashs friends on Facebook. She successfully used her photography persona to engender trust and credibility while targeting individuals in the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia, among others. These individuals worked in the oil/gas, healthcare, and aerospace industries. Secureworks attributes the creation of Mia Ash to COBALT GYPSY aka OilRig, an Iranian hacker group.

And finally, U.K. parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Theresa May, have been subjected to brute force attacks that successfully compromised 90 email accounts, according to the U.K.s Telegraph. The Iranian hackers, believed to be members of Irans IRGC, attacked the email system, affecting a total of 9,000 accounts. The attackers repeatedly probed weak passwords of the parliamentarians and their staff, and when successful, locked the user out of their own email accounts.

Iran a formidable adversary

Be it Game of Thrones or embargoed technology, there is no doubt that Nacht has it right: The Iranian threat is real. They have demonstratively shown their ability to penetrate and steal intellectual property from enterprises. Their hand in the financial world evidences their ability to move money as necessary. And finally, they have proven themselves adroit in the art of social engineering and the use of social networks to compromise and/or exploit individuals. Iran is after technology they cant obtain legitimately due to sanctions, and your entity may be next.
Imgur was hacked and the attacker made off with 1.7 million email addresses and passwords. But the hacker sat on the stolen data for years; it allegedly wasnt until security researcher Troy Hunt received the data that Imgur even knew it was hacked back in 2014.

While it isnt impressive that the company was hacked, Imgurs response was exemplary, according to Hunt. Unlike Uber, which knew it was hacked in 2016 and payed hush money to the hackers to try and keep the hack a secret, Imgur confirmed that users data was stolen and disclosed the breach in a little more than one day. And the day the company was notified happened to be Thanksgiving, a day when most U.S. businesses are closed for the holiday.

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The stolen Imgur data was sent to Hunt, who runs the data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned. Hunt notified Imgur on Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, and the company began validating that the data belonged to Imgur users. By the morning of Black Friday, Nov. 24, Imgur confirmed that approximately 1.7 million Imgur user accounts were compromised in 2014. Imgur tweeted about the breach on Friday, and its notice of the data breach was disclosed on the same day.

Imgur used the hashing algorithm SHA-256 at the time of the attack

Imgur noted that the breach included email addresses and passwords for about 1.7 million users. At the time of the breach, Imgur said it used the hashing algorithm SHA-256, which may have been cracked with brute force. Last year, Imgur moved to the bcrypt algorithm. Even though the hack occurred years ago, Imgur is actively investigating the intrusion.

The company said the stolen account information did not include users personally identifying information (PII), since Imgur has never asked for real names, addresses, phone numbers, or other personally identifying information.

Imgur contacted the 1.7 million users impacted in this breach via their registered email; those users are required to update their passwords.

Hunt said 60 percent of the 1.7 million records with email addresses and cracked passwords from the Imgur hack were already listed in Have I Been Pwned.

Imgur Chief Operating Officer (COO) Roy Sehgal thanked Hunt for alerting the company to the breach.

Hunt praised Imgur for its quick action, saying he notified the company about the data breach on the Thanksgiving holiday, and 25 hours and 10 minutes later, Imgur notified the public about the breach.

I want to recognise @imgur's exemplary handling of this: that's 25 hours and 10 mins from my initial email to a press address to them mobilising people over Thanksgiving, assessing the data, beginning password resets and making a public disclosure. Kudos! https://t.co/jV8MDscXLT  Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) November 25, 2017

Hunt added:

This is really where we're at now: people recognise that data breaches are the new normal and they're judging organisations not on the fact that they've had one, but on how they've handled it when its happened https://t.co/zV5YLa8hKQ  Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) November 25, 2017

Any Imgur users who were reusing passwords back in 2014 should change the passwords for other sites, as that email address and password combo is out in the wild. Hopefully, those users have switched to using a password manager or now at least create strong, unique passwords for each site.

Imgur, which claims to have 150 million monthly users, said, We take protection of your information very seriously and will be conducting an internal security review of our system and processes. We apologize that this breach occurred and the inconvenience it has caused you.

Sehgal told ZDNet that the company, based in California, plans to disclose the data breach to the state's attorney general, law enforcement, and other relevant government agencies.

Related video:
The FBI was aware that the Kremlin-linked hacking group Fancy Bear was trying to breach the email accounts of hundreds of U.S. officials and former military personnel, but it reportedly failed to notify them of the threat.

The Associated Press (AP) took a Secureworks list with 19,000 lines of targeting data and identified more than 500-U.S.-based people on that list. Then the AP contacted 190 of them and interviewed nearly 80. According to the AP's investigation, the FBI notified only two of them that the Russians were trying to break into their email. In fact, in some cases, the first time the victims heard about being targets was when the AP told them.

AP reporter Raphael Satter told PBS that the news agency talked to all kinds of people  former Navy SEALs, people who are in NATO, ex-generals, former ambassadors, former policymakers. Its a lot of people who retired from the military or who retired from the State Department. But weve also spoken to some active duty soldiers and some of the people who havent spoken to us include people who are still active in government work to this day.

After analyzing the data, the AP said that out of 312 U.S. military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them. That could mean that as many as 2 in 5 came perilously close to handing over their passwords.

Its not known how many accidentally handed their credentials to the Russian hackers, but the inboxes of some of the victims ended up being published by DCLeaks.

FBI going dark?

The FBI likes to say it is "going dark"  that the intelligence agency cant do its job, cant ascertain threats due to the use of encryption or other privacy-enhancing technologies. But in this case, the FBI knew these people had been targeted by the Russian Fancy Bear team; the bureau reportedly had evidence of the officials being targets for over a year.

The FBI didnt want to talk with the AP about its own investigation into Fancy Bears spying campaign, but it did say that the bureau routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information.

The FBI declined to say how long it had the target list, but three current and former government sources told the AP that the FBI was aware that Russian hackers were trying to break into the targets Gmail accounts for more than a year.

An unnamed senior FBI official said the bureau was overwhelmed by the number of attempted hacks. He said, Its a matter of triaging to the best of our ability the volume of the targets who are out there.

As for explaining why the bureau did not alert people targeted by the hackers, Satter told PBS: We didnt get very much on the record. The FBI gave us a statement which said that they make every effort to contact people who are affected. And that didnt really match up with what weve seen on the ground where we saw that the overwhelming majority of the people just hadnt heard from the FBI.

FBI could have done more

Charles Sowell, a former senior administrator in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, was previously targeted by Fancy Bear. He believes the FBI could have done at least as much work as the AP did.

Its absolutely not OK for them to use an excuse that theres too much data, Sowell said. Would that hold water if there were a serial killer investigation, and people were calling in tips left and right, and they were holding up their hands and saying, Its too much? Thats ridiculous.
Cyber Defense Is All About Political Decisions

One of the things democracies are least prepared to handle about a cyberattack is how quickly the response to it turns in to a a political controversey.

Defense officials responding to an attack quickly encounter bureaucratic roadblocks and geopolitical concerns they may be unprepared to navigate.



That was one of the main takeaways from a first-of-its-kind tabletop cyber exercise Estonia hosted in October.

CYBRID 2017 put European Union defense ministers in the hot seat as a fictional scenario moved from a minor cyber incident up to a real blockade of communications systems that stopped a naval operation on the Mediterranean, Estonian Defense Minister Juri Luik said.

At first, you were not able to recognise whether it was a cyberattack against just the personal computers of the people working there, or was it, for instancea ransomware attack. And then it became more and more confusing, Luik told reporters in Washington this week.

There were more hacks, systems were down, computers stopped working, communications stopped working.

In the end, we ran into a situation where the whole military communications system was down, and the EU headquarters was not able to contact the ships on the Mediterranean, and there was no clear information about what had even happened to these ships. And from point to point to point, the ministers had to make a decision about how to respond, he said.

The world hasnt seen a 9/11-level cyber incident yet, said Luik, whose country was on the receiving end of one of the most serious to date: A Russian attack in 2007 that shut down the countrys banks, media outlets and government websites. The events played out in CYBRID 2017 didnt rise to that level either, but one of the things the exercise exposed was just how difficult it is to evaluate how bad things are.

The biggest issue is that we have no baselines for such attacks, Luik said. Our capability to judge what has happened is very complicated, because we even dont know what these terms mean  is it high-risk, is it low-risk? How do you assess the risk?

That complicates a nations response. Something that can appear small, a seemingly random computer malfunction in an EU military office, can quickly transpire into a strategic political issue, said Kristjan Prikk, Estonias undersecretary for defense policy.



And when that happens, defense ministers have to be willing to look into that, not on a technical level, but to understand whats at stake andtackle those at a strategic political level.

The exercise revealed various roadblocks to effective response, including the reluctance to share information across political boundaries. Luik said theres a natural hesitation to disclose vulnerabilities and talk openly about an attack, even among allies.

The exercise showed us how demanding it is to communicate in order to pass the right information to the public in case of severe cyberattacks, especially on critical infrastructure, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said after the exercise. It highlighted how important the coordination of reactions on cyberattacks is. Coordination not only among EU member states but also amongst EU Institutions and also NATO.

Once the decision has been made to involve other parties, whether thats calling in treaty commitments for collective crisis management and security, or just informing critical infrastructure providers to be on alert, theres still the question of how, exactly, to go about doing so.

So during CYBRID, Luik said, the ministers had to answer the question, starting from, there is a drone above the EU international installation. Who has the right to shoot it down? Is it the host country or is it the international body? And ending with, the situation is so complicated we have to ask NATO for assistance: How would we do it?

Lets say you get attacked, a government facility gets attacked, Luik said. The immediate assumption would be that we should inform all the power stations, factories, etc., that this kind of attack took place.

But  everything is classified. How do you share that information? And with whom? Whom do you call? The owners? The heads of the cyber defense units of those organisations?

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European currencies outperformed on Friday, with the Euro leading the way higher. This followed news that Germanys center-left SPD party is mulling a grand coalition with its center-right rivalsin Chancellor Merkels CSU/CDU bloc. That would restore political stability in the Eurozones largest economy.

The Yen was the weakest among the major currencies as risk appetite improved across most global financial markets, weighing on the perennially anti-risk Japanese unit. The MSCI World Stock index  a proxy for broad-based sentiment trends  added 0.29 percent.

A rebound in front-end US Treasury bond yields weighed on the Australian and New Zealand Dollars. Those currencies yield appeal has been increasingly challenged by the greenback, which is now the third highest-yielding alternative in the G10 FX space.

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IG Client Sentiment Index Chart of the Day: GBP/JPY

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Retail trader data shows 49.0% of traders are net-long GBP/JPY, with the ratio of traders short to long at 1.04 to 1. In fact, traders have remained net-short since Nov 07 when GBP/JPY traded near 149.806; price has moved 0.6% lower since then. The number of traders net-long is 0.4% lower than yesterday and 17.1% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 9.2% lower than yesterday and 25.9% lower from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-short suggests GBP/JPY prices may continue to rise. Yet traders are less net-short than yesterday and compared with last week. Recent changes in sentiment warn that the current GBP/JPY price trend may soon reverse lower despite the fact traders remain net-short.

Five Things Traders are Reading

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What has happened is shameful. A Meerut youth, Som, offered a bounty of Rs 5 crore to eliminate Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the filmmaker of Padmavati, and Deepika Padukone, who plays the role of Rajput queen Padmini. Suraj Pal Amu, a BJP leader from Haryana, congratulates Som and offers Rs 10 crore to behead them.

The BJP distances itself without condemnation. A little known Karni Sena justified manhandling Bhansali. Lokendra Singh Kalvi, the Sena founder, who has not seen but trashed the film, claims to be the 37th descendant from Padmavatis line, and calls Deepika a "naachwali". Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat joins the attack.

Chorus grows

Smriti Irani could hardly be left out. The I&B minister obstructs release. The chorus increases: with vandalising in the streets, media, cinema halls and malls. Karni Senas Mahipal Singh Makrana declares: Rajputs never raise their hands on women, but we will do to Deepika what Lakshman did to Surpanakha. That is, cut off her nose. The powers that be are silent.

Is this India shining? Are conspiracies to behead two people in lieu of money and to cut off Deepikas nose permissible criminal offences? Do we hear condemnation from the PM, Arun Jaitley, and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad? Should they not insist that FIRs be lodged and CBI inquiries made into these ghastly threats?

Can people threaten to behead others go scot free? PM Modi travels a lot. If foreign leaders ask him Is it true that film makers in India are thrashed and crores offered to behead film producers and actors? what would he say? Will he lie, No. These things dont happen in India.

Or would he say, We are looking into it and then report a month later: Nothing happened. It was a storm in a tea cup.

What has India become? Are Indian discourses on films, books and paintings made to destroy them, and the makers to be threatened with murder and mutilation, ransacking of property and disruption of exhibitions? India claims it is a peaceful democracy governed by the rule of law. Why has no action been taken against Som who offered Rs 5 crore to kill a film maker? What action has been taken against Suraj Pal Amu who increased the prize money to Rs 10 crore? Or to Mahipal Singh who threatened to cut off a nose?

My point is not about the rule of law as an abstract entity. We know that the rule of law fails when dealing with politicians supported by gangsters. I am on the pathology of those who rule us. Why is the PM quiet? Why is Jaitley, the great champion of free speech, silent? Why arent chief ministers in whose states the ruckus is happening speaking up?

SC disappoints

The truth is none in power takes a stance. And when the "liberals" protest, they are maligned as over-educated intellectuals alien to true India. The inevitable conclusion is that India as we know it is hostile to freedom of expression and democracy itself. Is there any point to an India whose response to democratic speech is stick and stones, with political and legal immunity to those who smash, trash, destroy and kill. The Padmavati incident shows Indian democracy has failed.

When the matter went to the Supreme Court, it applauded free speech in another matter. But for Padmavati, there was a loophole: In our considered opinion, at such a stage, this court should not exercise their jurisdiction under the constitution as the Censor Board has to take its decision in an independent manner.

Is this all the Supreme Court had to say about the criminal mayhem that has taken place. The Allahabad HC was no better. The further message should have been to admonish the mayhem and demand apologies for criminal threats.

Censorship

Three top journalists who saw the film praised it. Do you know how Saada Haq was released? A group of lawyers in the Supreme Court (including me) saw it and recommended its release with an A(dult) certification. Certification should be about audience protection and not censorship.

When it comes to films, India is the land of censorship. When I argued Black Friday before the Bombay HC, I offered that at every juncture, the film would say that it is a work of fiction. Eventually, the Supreme Court released the film, but it was too late. It would take an entire newspaper to list the censored films in our contemporary times. In Padmavatis case, the Censor Board should insist that the film declares it is a work of fiction and not intended to hurt to defame anyone.

The most disturbing fact is that Padmavati is a work of fiction written in Awadhi by Muhammad Jayasi in 1540, centuries after Alauddins reign which ended around 1320. It went through many versions. Ramya Sreenivasan with The Many Lives of a Rajput Queen and others traced its many versions in India, including Bengal.

Nor does there appear anything that endangers the myth of the great Rajput Queen  if indeed she existed. At least see the movie, then criticise it peacefully. Have we gone mad? Or has our democracy failed? Or are elections all that matters to this nation?
The months of November and December are close to festival time but the celebrations centre not on the religious but the intellectual, as literary festivals pretend to be Kumbh Melas of the urban landscape. This month saw an interesting one at the Tata literature festival in Mumbai, where the conversations were rewarding, especially on politics and philosophy. I must confess I find most Indian writers in English boring, but the gossip, the real interest, is centred around politics.

Ideas

As ideas floated happily and as quarrels spread over coffee, one theme haunted many conversations. The literary metaphor of the year as character, obscenity, even obsession, was the American president Donald Trump. He is a delight, an irritation, an anxiety, and many American intellectuals travelling to South Asia are almost ritually apologetic about him.

They treat him as an aberration, a stigma, even a joke, and then thinking seriously, they begin asking about the epidemic of Trumps all over and wondering what is going on. The first item of almost immediate comparison is with Indias Narendra Modi. Indian NRIs add fuel to the fire by insisting that Modi is the original elected authoritarian and that Trump is an imitation.

They insist that Modi exudes gravitas while Trump exudes a playboy image. As the debate goes beyond the eccentricity of detail, one sees a sense of worry. The sociology around each of these characters is similar. Each autocrat is a highly popular figure. Each exudes a charisma which is fascinating.

Modi is a creation of an aspirational middle class that pined for homemade Hindutva. Photo: AP

One senses a quiet twinning of charisma and dictatorship. Yet what is troubling is that people want such dictators. They see them as decisive, problem-solving, representative of the deeper problems of the unconscious or the unsaid that were never articulated in politics.

One senses that these new noisy dictatorships were the creations or projections of these silent majorities tired of the indifference of seasoned politicians. In fact, it is in this context that the novelist and historian Mukul Kesavan coined the term, a serendipitous one. He talked of ventriloquist dictatorship, the voice of crucial majorities or critical interests.

They looked dominant but sociologically they were creations of these forces. Modi, for instance, was a creation of an aspirational middle class that pined for a homemade Hindutva. In that sense, Modi as a script, like Trump, is fine tuned to the hard hats in each culture.

What fascinated the discussants was the need for such tyranny. It is as if India is tired of the slowness of democracy and suffers from China or Pakistan envy where dictators take quick decisions. Democracy sounds autistic next to these decisions which evoke speed and masculinity. Both Trump and Modi project a machismo in their decision making.

Imagine

As one spectator to the seminar noted imagine, imagine Shastri trumping his chest or making 56-inch pretensions. Indians, especially, among the middle class and elite, suffer from this China syndrome as we feel handicapped by a not-too-impressive democracy. China demands respect. When it sneezes the world holds a handkerchief, while India is dismissed with a smile. A nation desperate for attention seeks a dictator with a democratic facade.

Dictators have become suddenly appealing to democracies. As people survey the phenomena globally, one senses a botanical, a collector's interest, in list-making, as one reels off the names of Chavez, Abe, Zuma, Trump and Modi till one wonders why there is such an epidemic of elected dictatorships.

Is it because democracies now lack an institutional chutzpah, a sensitivity to institution building that they had earlier? Is it that we now see words like secularism, parliamentarianism as terms of delay, wanting speed in anything global? There is a worldwide impatience with slowness, whether of economics, institutions, as delivery systems which a Trump, a Modi or a Chavez recognise and hope to solve.

Even if they do not offer content, their constituencies are content with a style, that at least hints at some attention to the problem.

Symptom

There is a third symptom one notes among elected dictators, and here, Russias Putin is a classic example. They do not shun violence, they like being seen as bullies, they present themselves as there to stay. Each dictator begins as a Rorschach of these oppressed majorities and then acquires a life of his own.

He begins by bowing to the will of the majority, till the majority makes his will their own. Suddenly we seem possessive about our elected tyrants, as if we have patented our own desi Draculas and want to see them grow. The crowds feel dictators understand power while elected MLA are hypocritical about it. The crowds feel dictators talk to each of them directly.

Today, each Indian feels he has a direct line to Modi and God, while the Congress politician was an elusive creature. What is also fascinating is that each of these specimens is a glocal creature. Modi, Abe, Trump and Putin all illustrate the global impatience with democracy, and yet each story is a vernacular act of storytelling where each man seems desi in his own way.

The awe and the interest each summons are impressive. Yet behind this attitude, one senses a note of worry, a worry about a new generation which has few memories of democracy, no sense of democratic vintage and sees in these specimens the answer to their idea of a brave new world.
"I dream of a day, while retaining our respective national identities, one can have breakfast in Amritsar, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul. That is how my forefathers lived. That is how I want our grandchildren to live."

- Manmohan Singh, former prime minister, FICCI address, 2007

Over the past decade, India has sought to improve trade and connectivity with Afghanistan and Central Asia via Pakistan.

In recent years, there have been glimmers of hope, where it seemed, that not only would bilateral trade ties between India and Pakistan improve, but the latter would also emerge as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Deteriorating political ties and the obduracy of the Pakistan Army in opposing any sort of thaw have meant that not much progress has been made either in bilateral trade, or providing access via land.

In spite of Afghanistans repeated arguments in favour of making India part of the APTTA (Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement), signed first in 2010, Islamabad has turned it down on some pretext or the other.

In 2016, Afghanistan had even gone to the extent of threatening Pakistan, that it would block the latter's access to Central Asia, if Islamabad did not permit Afghanistan to trade with India via Wagah. More recently, the Afghan president in a speech in New Delhi, had yet again spoken about including India in the APTTA.

In the latest interaction, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry with local businessmen - involved in export and import - in the border town of Amritsar in Punjab, Afghanistan's ambassador to India, Shaida Mohammad Abdali, stated:

"We plan to resume the freight and passenger link between Amritsar and Kabul by December 31. This will make Amritsar a major gateway for import and export between the two nations."

The ambassador, during a meeting with Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, apart from proposing the revival of the Amritsar-Kabul flight, also discussed the possibility of a pilot project for 1,500 tonnes of Cargo trade. His idea was welcomed by the Punjab chief minister.

Air connectivity and Chabahar Port

Realising the fact that Pakistan was not interested at least in the short-run in emerging as a gateway, India has thus begun to look at alternatives. Funding of the Chabahar Port in Iran, signing of an agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan for a trade and transit corridor during PM Modi's Iran visit in June 2016, are clear steps in this direction. Apart from this, India has also started an air freight corridor.

In June 2017, a New Delhi-Kabul flight carried 100 tonnes of cargo.

The aim of this corridor is to give a fillip to bilateral trade, which is way below potential and estimated at $700 million. This level of trade is low, given the fact that in other areas, especially in assistance for capacity building, India is one of the front runners.

Since 2001, India has assisted Afghanistan with $2 billion and is the fifth-largest donor.

During Ashraf Ghanis visit to India, the Indian government provided $1 billion. Two clear instances of Indias frontline role in institution building and development are the Salma Dam (Afghan-India Friendship Dam), inaugurated by PM Modi along with the Afghanistan president in June 2016, and the Afghan Parliament (constructed at a cost of $90 million), which was inaugurated by the Indian PM during his visit in December 2015.

What is also significant about the Afghan ambassadors proposal is that for long the landlocked state of Punjab has sought to benefit from bilateral trade with Pakistan, and greater connectivity. In the short-term, such possibilities seem minimal. Greater air connectivity will give the much-needed boost to businesses not just from India, but from within Punjab.

The Afghan ambassador during his meeting with the Punjab chief minister suggested that a trade corridor can be opened through a cargo trade pilot project, consisting of pharmaceutical goods, engineering products, woollens, dairy items, fresh and dry fruits, meat.

He also suggested that Punjab should import meat products from Afghanistan. It would be pertinent to point out, that in pre-partition days, Punjab and Afghanistan shared close trade ties, enhanced air connectivity could create an opportunity to rekindle such ties.

Apart from the economic benefits for both Punjab and Afghanistan, air connectivity will also make it easier for Afghan students, wanting to pursue studies in Punjab, as well as patients seeking treatment in the Indian state.

Points to ponder

First, air connectivity should be enhanced between Kabul and cities other than Delhi. This will help enhance not just business links, but also people-to-people and trade ties. These should be targeted at cities, where Afghan students go for higher studies as well as places where there are prospects for strengthening business linkages.

Second, irrespective of the ties between Washington and Tehran, India is giving Chabahar high priority in the context of connectivity goals with Afghanistan and Central Asia.

A clear indicator of this is the wheat consignment, which was recently sent to Afghanistan through Chabahar. Given the trilateral agreement, it is not only India, but even Afghanistan which has high stakes in the Chabahar project.

Third, if China wants to strengthen economic ties with India, and wants the latter to consider participation in the CPEC project, it has to address not just India's concerns with regard to the project passing through the disputed territory, but also needs to get Pakistan to change its approach towards Indian participation in regional connectivity.

If Pakistan does not grant India MFN status, and keeps New Delhi out of the APTTA, there is absolutely no way India can think of exploring synergies with China.
Two recent incidents of violence in India and Pakistan have a similarity in how they were handled (read mishandled).

While Haryana's Panchkula saw supporters of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh enter the city and camp for days before his sentencing, in Islamabad too protesters seeking reversal of amendments to the Elections Act had been on a sit-in since the beginning of November.

In both cases violence was expected to break out if an attempt was made to evict the protesters. Yet in both instances, the governments oscillated and delayed action, hence allowing the agitators to hold the city to ransom while they contemplated action. Both the Haryana government and Pakistan's central government chose to turn a blind eye to the looming crises.

Both governments seemed primarily concerned with their own survival. The Haryana government had used Ram Rahim's massive following to garner votes, it was therefore fearful of inviting a political backlash in evicting the godman's followers from Panchkula. On the other hand, the Pakistan government was worried about the forthcoming elections and the court, which was threatening to place Nawaz Sharif behind bars.

Haryana's Panchkula saw supporters of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh enter the city and camp for days before his sentencing.

It was finally the court which compelled the governments to act upon realising that the protests could turn ugly.

In both cases, as a precautionary measure, the governments had requisitioned immense police and paramilitary forces. In Panchkula, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) began arriving on the morning of the sentencing, whereas in Islamabad armed forces were in the city, but away from the scene of protests.

The initial assault on the protesters was launched by police and paramilitary, but failed. Analysing the causes would again bring in similarities.

The major cause of failure was that the assault was ill-conceived and uncoordinated. Had it been done at night or early morning, in both cases, there would have been a reasonable chance of success.

As videos and news reports indicated, the police ran away from the scene adding to the growing confidence of protesters. This happened because the governments had underestimated the strength and determination of the agitators, who were passionate about their cause.

The only difference between how the two nations moved to control the situation was in the use of their armies. While in Haryana, the Indian Army moved in immediately after the CAPF and police failed, in Pakistan, the army came into the picture a day later.

Pakistan army chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa, was aware of the gravity of the situation but refused to involve the army in the operations in a bid to save the government from any embarrassment.

Director general, Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations, major general Asif Ghafoor, tweeted on Saturday that the army chief had telephonically informed Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, to handle the sit-in peacefully avoiding violence from "both sides".

COAS telephoned PM.Suggested to handle Isb Dharna peacefully avoiding violence from both sides as it is not in national interest & cohesion.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) November 25, 2017

He said the move was made in national interest. Interestingly, he placed the state security personnel and protesters on the same pedestal as far as violence was concerned. His tweet implied that the army would not get involved, unless initial attempts failed, and the government was embarrassed.

In Haryana, on the other hand, the army was on standby and deployed almost immediately as eviction attempts by the police and CAPF failed.

There were no comments by the army on not employing its troops. After all, India is a true democracy and the army is duty-bound to respond when called in. Thus, peace was restored quickly, with comparatively lesser loss to life and property. Casualties in Pakistan's case are much higher, as army's deployment was further delayed.

Protesters seeking reversal of amendments to the Elections Act had been on a sit-in in Islamabad since the beginning of November.

Deaths in both cases were needless and a result of police firing, which could have been avoided had timely action been taken to evict unlawful protesters. The blame for the failure in both cases was put on the politicians who sat thinking while the protesters gathered strength and amassed weapons.

Neither government admitted that they were aware that the protesters had come planned to agitate and cause violence.

As per reports in the Panchkula case, the situation went out of control because of the way in which the police handled the situation and piecemeal deployment of security forces. When the dust settles, it would become clear that the same thing happened in Islamabad.

The similarity in the way in which the two protests were handled appears more tragic when one analyses the fact that there was enough time to plan and implement a plan to avoid violence. Pakistan police did not realise that the wind direction didn't support the use of tear gas till the time they actually fired it.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on November 26 compared the BJP to Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, saying that by dividing Hindus and Muslims, the party had managed to do in three years what the ISI could not in 70.

"What Pakistan and ISI could not do in 70 years, the BJP has done in three years," Kejriwal said, adding that those who were trying to create this divide were "ISI agents and traitors disguising as nationalists".

The Delhi chief minister even appealed to Gujarat voters at AAP's national conference in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan to vote for any party other than the BJP; the AAP is expected to contest a few constituencies in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly elections.

Kejriwal said the BJP was fulfilling Pakistan's dream by dividing India. Photo: India Today

This is another example of parties trying to outdo the BJP in taking potshots, and falling flat. Just the week before, the BJP managed to create a storm in a teacup over a Modi-is-a-chaiwala themed tasteless meme by the youth wing of Congress.

On Monday, at one of his rallies in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made due use of it, saying the Congress dislikes him because he is poor.

The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation: PM Modi #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/QWQU4mLA4x  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

Kejriwal was, undoubtedly, trying to make a valid point. The BJP is openly, unapologetically, polarising the country, making sure Hindu votes rally behind it. It is also true that this polarisation is going beyond elections and spilling over into public life, creating harmful social divisions and too often erupting into violence.

But Opposition parties cannot beat the BJP by aping its IT cell's "jumla baazi". Remarks like Kejriwal's, or the Congress' chaiwala jibe, boomerang, contributing to the BJP's narrative of being a lone warrior surrounded by a hostile establishment.

"If somewhere the AAP is winning, then give your vote for AAP. If any other party is winning, give the vote to them. But defeat the BJP," Kejriwal said. "I request the people of Gujarat to give your vote to that candidate or party who can defeat the BJP," the AAP chief said.

Unselfish of Kejriwal as this is, such statements hardly inspire voters' confidence. People vote for a party that claims its aim is to uplift their lives. Not one which says its only aim is to ensure the opponent's defeat.

Polarisation and Pakistan

Kejriwal sought to make the point that those who are trying to divide the country are not really working for its welfare. For this, he borrowed the BJP's vocabulary of equating all those "against" India to be like Pakistan.

"The country is going through a difficult time. The BJP is trying to divide the country by pitting Hindus against Muslims and Muslims against Hindus. What could be the biggest dream of Pakistan other than seeing India divided?" Kejriwal said.

The problem with this is that those who are most impressed by the anti-Pakistan and anti-ISI rhetoric have already been wooed by the BJP, which has assiduously and creatively used the neighbour as a rallying point for many years.

The saffron party has also sought to establish itself as an incorruptible crusader for the rights of the aam Bharatvasi  the average Hindu ignored by the corrupt, elite, minority-loving, powerful classes.

Those who have been polarised are either okay with it, or have bought into the Hindu-under-threat-due-to-minority-appeasement propaganda. Comparing the BJP to the arch-enemy Pakistan, and calling its efforts to give Hindus their "just" place as dividing the country, will be found offensive by this aam Bharatvasi, who will likely gravitate closer to the BJP.

Such statements also give fodder to the BJP's claims that other parties hate it because it alone speaks for the welfare of the Hindus, and hence gang up against it.

Lately, the BJP has been routinely called out for some of its leaders making tasteless, crass remarks. Statements such as the one by Kejriwal allow the saffron party to point the lowering-the-discourse stick at someone else.

Indeed, as Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, on November 26, said: "The last five years of the Aam Aadmi Party have been disappointing. The party which came up as a symbol of alternative politics lowered the standard of political discourse."

Opposing BJP can't be manifesto

The prime minister and the BJP enjoy unprecedented levels of popularity among most Indians at present. People do believe that Narendra Modi is the man of action who will lead us to a brighter future.

One of the major reasons for this is the utter absence of inspiring Opposition. At such a time, anyone who seeks to wean voters away from the BJP needs to provide better leadership than the party, outline a more attractive future.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation provides a secondary market for various loans made to borrowers in the United States. It operates through four segments: Farm & Ranch, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Guarantees, Rural Utilities, and Institutional Credit. The Farm & Ranch segment purchases and retains eligible mortgage loans that are secured by first liens on agricultural real estate; securitizes eligible mortgage loans, and guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on securities representing interests in or obligations secured by pools of mortgage loans; and issues long-term standby purchase commitments (LTSPC) on designated eligible mortgage loans. The USDA Guarantees segment purchases portions of certain agricultural and rural development loans guaranteed by the USDA. The Rural Utilities segment purchases and guarantees securities that are backed by loans for electric or telecommunications facilities by lenders organized as cooperatives to borrowers; and purchases eligible rural utilities loans and guarantees of securities backed by those loans, as well as LTSPCs for pools of eligible rural utilities loans. The Institutional Credit segment guarantees and purchases general obligations of lenders and other financial institutions that are secured by pools of loans eligible under the Farmer Mac's Farm & Ranch, USDA Guarantees, or Rural Utilities lines of business. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand. The company also provides home decor products under the West Elm brand; kids accessories under the Pottery Barn Kids brand; and an organic bedding to multi-purpose furniture under the Pottery Barn Teen brand. In addition, it offers made-to-order lighting, hardware, furniture, and home decors inspired by history under the Rejuvenation brand; and women's and men's accessories, travel, entertaining and bar, home decor, and seasonal items under the Mark and Graham brand, as well as operates a 3-D imaging and augmented reality platform for the home furnishings and decor industry. The company markets its products through e-commerce websites, direct-mail catalogs, and retail stores. It operates 544 stores comprising 502 stores in 41states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 20 stores in Canada; 19 stores in Australia; 3 stores in the United Kingdom; and 139 franchised stores, as well as e-commerce websites in various countries in the Middle East, the Philippines, Mexico, South Korea, and India. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
The following companies are subsidiares of NRG Energy: 3279405 Nova Scotia Company, 3283764 Nova Scotia Company, 7549709 Canada Inc., 7644868 Canada Inc., 7711565 Canada Inc., AC Solar Holdings LLC, Ace Energy Inc., Agua Caliente Borrower 1 LLC, Agua Caliente Solar Holdings LLC, Agua Caliente Solar LLC, Allied Home Warranty GP LLC, Allied Warranty LLC, Arthur Kill Gas Turbines LLC, Arthur Kill Power LLC, Astoria Gas Turbine Power LLC, Bayou Cove Peaking Power LLC, Beheer-en Beleggingsmaatschappij Plogema B.V., Berrians I Gas Turbine Power LLC, BidURenergy Inc., Big Cajun I Peaking Power LLC, Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC, Bluewater Wind Maryland LLC, Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy LLC, Boquillas Wind LLC, Cabrillo Power I LLC, Cabrillo Power II LLC, Camino Energy LLC, Carbon Management Solutions LLC, Carlsbad Energy Center LLC, Carlsbad Energy Holdings LLC, Chester Energy LLC, Chickahominy River Energy Corp., Cirro Energy Services Inc., Cirro Group Inc., Citizens Power Holdings One LLC, Commonwealth Atlantic Power LLC, Connecticut Jet Power LLC, Cottonwood Development LLC, Cottonwood Energy Company LP, Cottonwood Generating Partners I LLC, Cottonwood Generating Partners II LLC, Cottonwood Generating Partners III LLC, Cottonwood Technology Partners LP, Delaware Power Development LLC, Devon Power LLC, Doga Enerji Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Doga Isi Satis Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Doga Isletme ve Bakim Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Dunkirk Gas Corporation, Dunkirk Power LLC, EHI Development Fund LLC, EME Eastern Holdings LLC, EVgo Services LLC, Eastern Sierra Energy Company LLC, Ecokap Power LLC, El Segundo Energy Center II LLC, El Segundo Power II LLC, El Segundo Power LLC, Elkhorn Ridge Wind II LLC, Energy Alternatives Wholesale LLC, Energy Choice Solutions LLC, Energy Curtailment Specialists, Energy Plus Holdings LLC, Energy Plus Natural Gas LLC, Energy Protection Insurance Company, Everything Energy LLC, Forward Home Security LLC, GCP Funding Company LLC, GenOn Energy, Geostellar Inc., Gladstone Power Station Joint Venture, Goal Zero, Goal Zero Europe GmbH, Goal Zero LLC, Granite II Holding LLC, Granite Power Partners II L.P., Green Mountain Energy, Green Mountain Energy Company, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, Gregory Partners LLC, Gregory Power Partners LLC, Hanover Energy Company, Huntley IGCC LLC, Huntley Power LLC, Independence Energy Alliance LLC, Independence Energy Group LLC, Independence Energy Natural Gas LLC, Indian River Operations Inc., Indian River Power LLC, Intellastar LLC, Ivanpah Master Holdings LLC, Ivanpah Project I Holdings LLC, Ivanpah Project II Holdings LLC, Ivanpah Project III Holdings LLC, James River Power LLC, Kaufman Cogen LP, LSP-Nelson Energy LLC, Long Beach Generation LLC, Long Beach Peakers LLC, Long Beach Power LLC, Louisiana Generating LLC, MEC Esenyurt B.V., MEC San Pascual B.V., Maplekey UK Finance Limited, Maplekey UK Limited, Meriden Gas Turbines LLC, Middletown Power LLC, Midway-Sunset Cogeneration Company, Midwest Finance Company LLC, Midwest Generation EME LLC, Midwest Generation Holdings I LLC, Midwest Generation Holdings II LLC, Midwest Generation LLC, Midwest Generation Procurement Services LLC, Midwest Peaker Holdings LLC, Mission Bingham Lake Wind LLC, Mission Del Cielo LLC, Mission Energy Construction Services LLC, Mission Energy Holdings International LLC, Mission Energy Wales LLC, Mission Funding Zeta LLC, Mission Midway-Sunset Holdings LLC, Mission Midwest Coal LLC, Mission Minnesota Wind LLC, Mission Watson Holdings LLC, Mission Wind Boquillas LLC, Mission Wind New Mexico II LLC, Mission Wind Owaissa LLC, Mission Wind Pinnacle LLC, Mission del Sol LLC, Montville IGCC LLC, Montville Power LLC, NEO Chester-Gen LLC, NEO Corporation, NRG Acquisition Holdings Inc., NRG Advisory Services LLC, NRG Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Alexandria LLC, NRG Arroyo Nogales LLC, NRG Arthur Kill Operations Inc., NRG Asia-Pacific Ltd., NRG Astoria Gas Turbine Operations Inc., NRG Astoria Power LLC, NRG Audrain Generating LLC, NRG Audrain Holding LLC, NRG Bayou Cove LLC, NRG Berrians East Development LLC, NRG Bluewater Holdings LLC, NRG Bluewater Wind Massachusetts LLC, NRG Bourbonnais Equipment LLC, NRG Bourbonnais LLC, NRG Brazoria Energy LLC, NRG Business Services LLC, NRG CTA Holdings LLC, NRG Cabrillo Power Operations Inc., NRG Cadillac Inc., NRG Cadillac Operations Inc., NRG California Peaker Operations LLC, NRG Capital II LLC, NRG Carbon 360 LLC, NRG Cedar Bayou Development Company LLC, NRG Chalk Point CT LLC, NRG CleanTech Investments LLC, NRG Coal Development Company LLC, NRG ComLease LLC, NRG Common Stock Finance I LLC, NRG Common Stock Finance II LLC, NRG Connected Home LLC, NRG Connecticut Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Connecticut Peaking Development LLC, NRG Construction LLC, NRG Cottonwood Tenant LLC, NRG Curtailment Solutions Canada Inc., NRG Curtailment Solutions Inc., NRG DG Development LLC, NRG Development Company Inc., NRG Devon Operations Inc., NRG Dispatch Services LLC, NRG Distributed Energy Resources Holdings LLC, NRG Distributed Generation PR LLC, NRG Dunkirk Operations Inc., NRG ECOKAP Holdings LLC, NRG ESA Joint Development LLC, NRG El Segundo Operations Inc., NRG Energy Center Eagles LLC, NRG Energy Center Oxnard LLC, NRG Energy Fuel LLC, NRG Energy Fuel Services LLC, NRG Energy Gas & Wind Holdings Inc., NRG Energy Holdings II Inc., NRG Energy Holdings Inc., NRG Energy Inc., NRG Energy Labor Services LLC, NRG Energy Petroleum LLC, NRG Energy Services Group LLC, NRG Energy Services International Inc., NRG Energy Services LLC, NRG Equipment Company LLC, NRG Fuel Cell CA1 LLC, NRG Fuel Resources LLC, NRG Fuel Transportation LLC, NRG GTL Holdings LLC, NRG Gas Development Company LLC, NRG Generation Holdings Inc., NRG Gladstone Operating Services Pty Ltd, NRG Granite Acquisition LLC, NRG Greenco LLC, NRG HQ DG LLC, NRG Holding Leasing Vehicle 7 LLC, NRG Home & Business Solutions LLC, NRG Home Services LLC, NRG Home Solutions LLC, NRG Home Solutions Product LLC, NRG Homer City Services LLC, NRG Huntley Operations Inc., NRG Identity Protect LLC, NRG Ilion LP LLC, NRG Ilion Limited Partnership, NRG Independence Solar LLC, NRG International LLC, NRG Kaufman LLC, NRG Latin America Inc., NRG Lease Co LLC, NRG Lease Development LLC, NRG Limestone 3 LLC, NRG Maintenance Services LLC, NRG Mesquite LLC, NRG Mextrans Inc., NRG MidAtlantic Affiliate Services Inc., NRG MidCon Development LLC, NRG Middletown Operations Inc., NRG Middletown Repowering LLC, NRG Midwest Holdings LLC, NRG Midwest II LLC, NRG Montville Operations Inc., NRG NE Development LLC, NRG Nelson Turbines LLC, NRG New Roads Holdings LLC, NRG NewGen LLC, NRG North Central Operations Inc., NRG Northeast Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Norwalk Harbor Operations Inc., NRG Ohio Pipeline Company LLC, NRG Operating Services Inc., NRG Oswego Harbor Power Operations Inc., NRG Oxbow Holdings LLC, NRG PacGen Inc., NRG Peaker Finance Company LLC, NRG Portable Power LLC, NRG Potrero Development LLC, NRG Power Marketing LLC, NRG Procurement Company LLC, NRG Project Company LLC, NRG Reliability Solutions LLC, NRG Renter's Protection LLC, NRG Repowering Holdings LLC, NRG Residential Solar Solutions LLC, NRG Residential Solar Solutions Leasing II LLC, NRG Retail LLC, NRG Retail Northeast LLC, NRG Rockford Acquisition LLC, NRG Rockford Equipment II LLC, NRG Rockford Equipment LLC, NRG Saguaro Operations Inc., NRG Security LLC, NRG Services Corporation, NRG Sherbino LLC, NRG SimplySmart Solutions LLC, NRG Solar Arrowhead LLC, NRG Solar CVSR Holdings 2 LLC, NRG Solar Dandan LLC, NRG Solar Guam LLC, NRG Solar Ivanpah LLC, NRG Solar Ring LLC, NRG Solar SC Stadium LLC, NRG Solar Sunrise LLC, NRG South Central Affiliate Services Inc., NRG South Central Generating LLC, NRG South Central Operations Inc., NRG South Texas LP, NRG Sterlington Power LLC, NRG Storage Fabrication & Delivery LLC, NRG Storage on Demand NY LLC, NRG SunCap Leasing I LLC, NRG Telogia Power LLC, NRG Texas C&I Supply LLC, NRG Texas Gregory LLC, NRG Texas Holding Inc., NRG Texas LLC, NRG Texas Power LLC, NRG Texas Retail LLC, NRG Trading Advisors LLC, NRG Transmission Holdings LLC, NRG ULC Parent Inc., NRG Victoria I Pty Ltd, NRG Warranty Services LLC, NRG West Coast LLC, NRG Western Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Wind Development Company LLC, NRG Wind Force LLC, NRG Wind LLC, NRG dGen Advisory Services LLC, NRGenerating German Holdings GmbH, NRGenerating International B.V., NRGenerating Luxembourg (No. 1) S.a.r.l., NRGenerating Luxembourg (No. 2) S.a.r.l., New Genco GP LLC, New Jersey Power Development LLC, Norwalk Power LLC, O'Brien Cogeneration Inc. II, ONSITE Energy Inc., One Block Off The Grid Inc., Oswego Harbor Power LLC, Pacific Generation Company, Petra Nova CCS I LLC, Petra Nova Holdings LLC, Petra Nova LLC, Petra Nova Parish Holdings LLC, Petra Nova Power I LLC, Pure Energies Group, Pure Energies Group ULC, Pure Energies Installation Inc., Pure Energies Solar Services Inc., Pure Group Inc., RDI Consulting LLC, RERH Holdings LLC, Reliant Charitable Foundation, Reliant Energy, Reliant Energy Northeast LLC, Reliant Energy Power Supply LLC, Reliant Energy Retail Holdings LLC, Reliant Energy Retail Services LLC, Restoration Design LLC, Roof Diagnostics Solar Holdings LLC, Roof Diagnostics Solar and Electric LLC, Roof Diagnostics Solar and Electric of NY LLC, Saguaro Power Company a Limited Partnership, Saguaro Power LLC, San Gabriel Energy LLC, San Joaquin Energy LLC, San Juan Energy LLC, San Pascual Cogeneration Company International B.V., Sherbino I Wind Farm LLC, Solar Partners I LLC, Solar Partners II LLC, Solar Partners VIII LLC, Solar Power Partners, Solar Pure Energies ULC, Somerset Operations Inc., Somerset Power LLC, South Texas Wind LLC, Station A LLC, Sunrise Power Company LLC, Sunshine State Power (No. 2) B.V., Sunshine State Power B.V., TCV Pipeline LLC, Tacoma Energy Recovery Company, Taloga Wind II LLC, Texas Coastal Ventures LLC, Texas Genco GP LLC, Texas Genco Holdings, Texas Genco Holdings Inc., Texas Genco LP LLC, Texas Genco Services LP, US Retailers LLC, Valle Del Sol Energy LLC, Vienna Operations Inc., Vienna Power LLC, WCP (Generation) Holdings LLC, Watson Cogeneration Company, West Coast Power LLC, XOOM Alberta Holdings LLC, XOOM British Columbia Holdings LLC, XOOM Energy BC ULC, XOOM Energy California LLC, XOOM Energy Canada ULC, XOOM Energy Connecticut LLC, XOOM Energy Delaware LLC, XOOM Energy Georgia LLC, XOOM Energy Global Holdings LLC, XOOM Energy Illinois LLC, XOOM Energy Indiana LLC, XOOM Energy Kentucky LLC, XOOM Energy LLC, XOOM Energy Maine LLC, XOOM Energy Maryland LLC, XOOM Energy Massachusetts LLC, XOOM Energy Michigan LLC, XOOM Energy New Hampshire LLC, XOOM Energy New Jersey LLC, XOOM Energy New York LLC, XOOM Energy ONT ULC, XOOM Energy Ohio LLC, XOOM Energy Pennsylvania LLC, XOOM Energy Rhode Island LLC, XOOM Energy Texas LLC, XOOM Energy Virginia LLC, XOOM Energy Washington D.C. LLC, XOOM Ontario Holdings LLC, XOOM Solar LLC, and eV2g LLC.

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Credit Suisse Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The company offers wealth management solutions, including investment advice and discretionary asset management services; risk management solutions, such as managed investment products; and wealth planning, succession planning, and trust services. It also provides financing and lending solutions, including consumer credit and real estate mortgage lending, real asset lending relating to ship, and aviation financing for UHNWI; standard and structured hedging, and lombard lending solutions, as well as collateral trading services; and investment banking solutions, such as global securities sales, trading and execution, capital raising, and advisory services. In addition, the company offers banking solutions, such as payments, accounts, debit and credit cards, and product bundles; asset management products; equity and debt underwriting, and advisory services; cash equities, equity derivatives, and convertibles, as well as prime services; and fixed income products, such as credit, securitized, macro, emerging markets, financing, structured credit, and other products. Further, it provides HOLT, a framework for assessing the performance of approximately 20,000 companies; and equity and fixed income research services. The company serves private and institutional clients; ultra-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth individuals, and affluent and retail clients; corporate clients, small and medium-sized enterprises, external asset managers, financial institutions, and commodity traders; and pension funds, hedge funds, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations, entrepreneurs, private individuals, financial sponsors, and sovereign clients. As of December 31, 2021, it operated through a network of 311 offices and branches. The company was founded in 1856 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 218,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,481.5 megawatts of generation capacity and 8,892 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. The Gas Utilities segment distributes natural gas to approximately 1,094,000 natural gas utility customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming; owns and operates 4,732 miles of intrastate gas transmission pipelines; 41,644 miles of gas distribution mains and service lines; six natural gas storage sites; and approximately 50,000 horsepower of compression and 515 miles of gathering lines. The company also constructs and maintains gas infrastructure facilities for gas transportation customers; and provides appliance repair services to residential utility customers, as well as electrical system construction services to large industrial customers. In addition, it produces electric power through wind, natural gas, and coal-fired generating plants; and coal at its coal mine located near Gillette, Wyoming. The company was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc..

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DS Smith Plc provides packaging solutions, paper products, and recycling services worldwide. The company offers transit and transport, consumer, retail and shelf ready, online and e-retail, industrial, hazardous, multi-material, cushioning, and electrostatic discharge packaging products, as well as wrap arounds, trays, and bag-in-boxes; displays and promotional packaging products; corrugated pallets; Sheetfeeding products; packaging machine systems; and Sizzlepak, a stuffing material made of paper, folded in a zigzag shape, and cut into narrow strips, as well as provides outdoor advertising services. It also provides various recycling and waste management services, including total waste management, paper and cardboard recycling, confidential shredding, and coffee cups and plastics recycling, as well as equipment for the retail, manufacturing, print and publishing, paper mills, automotive, and public sectors. In addition, the company offers recycled corrugated case materials, specialty papers, and kraft liners, as well as related technical and supply chain services. It provides its packaging solutions for the food and drink, consumer goods, industrial, e-commerce and e-retail, and converter industries. The company was formerly known as David S. Smith (Holdings) PLC and changed its name to DS Smith Plc in 2001. DS Smith Plc was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. provides digital payment solutions for businesses to control purchases and make payments. It offers corporate payments solutions, such as accounts payable automation; Virtual Card, which provides a single-use card number for a specific amount usable within a defined timeframe; Cross-Border that is used by its customers to pay international vendors, foreign office and personnel expenses, capital expenditures, and profit repatriation and dividends; and purchasing cards and travel and entertainment cards for its customers to analyze and manage their corporate spending. The company also provides employee expense management solutions, including fuel solutions to businesses and government entities that operate vehicle fleets, as well as to oil and leasing companies, and fuel marketers; lodging solutions to businesses that have employees who travel overnight for work purposes, as well as to airlines and cruise lines to accommodate traveling crews and stranded passengers; and electronic toll payments solutions to businesses and consumers in the form of radio frequency identification tags affixed to vehicles' windshields. In addition, it offers gift card program management and processing services in plastic and digital forms that include card design, production and packaging, delivery and fulfillment, card and account management, transaction processing, promotion development and management, website design and hosting, program analytics, and card distribution channel management. Further, it provides other products consisting of payroll cards, vehicle maintenance service solution, long-haul transportation solution, prepaid food vouchers or cards, and prepaid transportation cards and vouchers. The company serves business, merchant, consumer, and payment network customers in North America, Brazil, and Internationally. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
The following companies are subsidiares of Colfax: AS ESAB, Agridzaar Limited, Airgare Limited, Arc Machines GmbH, CAST Limited, CAST Resources Limited, CLFX Sweden CV, Canadian Cylinder Company Ltd., Cefar-Compex Medical AB, Central Mining Finance Limited, Charter Central Finance Limited, Charter Central Services Limited, Charter Consolidated Holdings Limited, Charter Consolidated Limited, Charter Finance S.a.r.l., Charter International Jersey Funding Limited, Charter International Limited, Charter Limited, Charter Overseas Holdings Limited, Charter Pension Trustee Limited, Chattanooga Europe B.V., Cigweld Pty Ltd., Colfax (Wuxi) Pump Company Limited, Colfax Fluid Handling Finance Limited, Colfax Group GmbH, Colfax Group Holdings GmbH, Colfax Jersey Finance Limited, Colfax UK Finance Limited, Colfax UK Holdings Limited, Comercializadora Thermadyne S. de R.L. de C.V., Conarco Alambres y Soldaduras SA, Condor Equipamentos Industriais Ltda, DJ Orthopedics Services SA de CV, DJ Orthopedics de Mexico S.A. de C.V., DJO Asia-Pacific Ltd., DJO BRASIL LTDA., DJO Benelux B.V., DJO Canada Inc., DJO Consumer LLC, DJO FINANCE LLC, DJO France S.A.S., DJO Global, DJO Global Inc., DJO Global India Healthcare Private Limited, DJO Global Pty. Ltd., DJO Global Switzerland SARL, DJO Iberica Productos Ortopedicos S.L., DJO Italia SRL, DJO LLC, DJO Medical Device Trading (Shanghai) Ltd., DJO Motion Ireland Limited, DJO Nordic Aktiebolag, DJO Orthopaedic South Africa (Pty) Ltd, DJO Tunisie SARL, DJO UK Ltd., EMSA Holdings Inc., ESAB AB, ESAB ApS, ESAB Argentina SA, ESAB Asia/Pacific Pte.Ltd., ESAB Bulgaria EAD, ESAB CZ s.r.o. clen koncernu, ESAB CentroAmerica SA, ESAB Comercio e Industria de Soldadura Lda, ESAB Corporation, ESAB Europe GmbH, ESAB France SAS, ESAB GCE Holdings AB, ESAB Gesellschaft m.b.H., ESAB Group (Ireland) Limited, ESAB Group (UK) Limited, ESAB Group Canada Inc., ESAB Group Russia Limited, ESAB Holdings Limited, ESAB Iberica S.A.U., ESAB Industria e Comercio Ltda, ESAB International Holdings LLC, ESAB Kazakhstan LLC, ESAB Kft., ESAB Limited (Thailand), ESAB Limited Liability Company, ESAB Mexico SA de CV, ESAB Mexico Services SA de CV, ESAB Middle East FZE, ESAB Nederland B.V., ESAB Pensions Limited, ESAB Polska Sp. z.o.o., ESAB Romania Trading SRL, ESAB Saldatura SpA, ESAB SeAH Corporation, ESAB SeAH Welding Products (Yantai) Co. Limited, ESAB Service GmbH, ESAB Slovakia sro, ESAB Sp. z.o.o., ESAB Sweden Holdings AB, ESAB Ukraine LLC, ESAB VAMBERK s.r.o. clen koncernu, ESAB Welding & Cutting GmbH, ESAB Welding & Cutting Products (Shanghai) Management Company Limited, ESAB Welding Products (Jiangsu) Co Limited, ESAB-Mor Welding Kft, EWAC Alloys Limited, Elastic Therapy LLC, Empi Inc., Encore Medical GP LLC, Encore Medical L.P., Encore Medical Partners LLC, Evrador Trading Limited, Exelvia (Bermuda) Limited, Exelvia Company, Exelvia Cyprus Limited, Exelvia Group India BV, Exelvia Holding Limitada, Exelvia Holdings BV, Exelvia International Holdings BV, Exelvia Investments Limited, Exelvia Netherlands BV, Exelvia Properties Limited, GCE Gas Control Equipment Co. Ltd., GCE Gas Control Equipment Inc., GCE Gas Control Equipment S.A. de C.V., GCE GmbH, GCE Group AB, GCE Hungaria Kft., GCE India Private Ltd., GCE Krass LLC, GCE Latin America Ltd., GCE Mujelli S.p.A., GCE Norden AB, GCE Portugal Unipessoal LDA, GCE Romania s.r.l., GCE S.A.S., GCE Sp. z.o.o., GCE Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., GCE s.r.o., Gas Control Equipment Iberica S.L., Gas Control Equipment Limited, Gas-Arc Group Limited, H UK Engineering Limited, HE Deutschland Holdings GmbH, HKS-Prozesstechnik GmbH, HTP Beteiligungs AG, Hobart Place Investments Limited, Howden North America Inc., Imo Holdings Inc., Imo Industries Inc., Jinan Red Hawk International Trading Co. Ltd., LT Optoelectronics Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Labindia Liteforce Private Limited, LiteCure LLC, Litecure Asia Limited, Litecure Optoelectronics Technology (Shanghai) Co. Limited, MEDSHAPE INC., MT Central Finance SARL, MT FOREIGN HOLDINGS INC., Margarita SA, Mathys (Schweiz) GmbH, Mathys AG Bettlach, Mathys Immobilien GmbH, Mathys KK, Mathys Ltd., Mathys Medical Device Trading Co. Ltd., Mathys Orthopadie GmbH, Mathys Orthopaedics BV, Mathys Orthopaedics Belux, Mathys Orthopaedics Ltd, Mathys Orthopaedics Pty. Ltd., Mathys Orthopedie SAS, Mathys Ortopedia Srl, Medireha GmbH Produkte fur die medizinische Rehabilitation, Motion Parent Inc., NANOSPECTRA BIOSCIENCES INC., NV E.S.A.B., OZAS-ESAB Sp. z o.o., Ormed GmbH, Ortho Pros Express Inc., Orthomed Medizintechnik GmbH, Oxiprof LLC, Oy ESAB, PT Karya Yasantara Cakti, PT Victor Teknologi Indonesia, Quantum Ops Inc., Rikco International LLC, SIAM ESAB Welding & Cutting Limited, Shawebone Holdings Inc., Soldaduras West Arco S.A.S., Soldex Holdings I LLC, Soldex S.A., Speetec Implantate AG, Speetec Implantate GmbH, Surgi-Care Inc., TBI Industries GmbH, TBI Industries s.r.o., TBI Shandong Industries Co. Ltd., The British South Africa Company, The Central Mining & Investment Corporation Limited, The ESAB Group Inc., Thermadyne Brazil Holdings Ltd., Thermadyne South America Holdings Ltd., Thermadyne Victor Ltda., Thermadyne de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Thermal Dynamics Europe Srl, Trilliant Surgical LLC, Victor Equipment Company, Victor Equipment de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Victor Technologies (UK) Limited, Victor Technologies Asia SDN BHD, Victor Technologies Australia Pty Ltd., Victor Technologies Canada Ltd., Victor Technologies Group Inc., Victor Technologies Holdings Inc., Victor Technologies International Inc., Victor Technologies Partnership LLP, Warren Pumps LLC, Welding & Cutting Products LLC, and Weldnote LDA.

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Ford Motor Company is the second largest US auto manufacturer by market cap and market share and ranks 4th globally. The company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford following a series of cars that led to the introduction of the Model T. The Model T revolutionized the automobile industry not only because it made vehicles affordable for the budding middle class but it changed the way manufacturing was done. The Ford factory features the worlds first moving assembly line, an introduction that not only improved the pace of production but lowered the cost of its vehicles.

Other prominent innovations made by Mr. Ford include the strict standardization of parts that allowed for easy construction and repair and the standardized workweek. Henry Fords switch to a $5 workday and 8-hour shifts allowed him to run 3 shifts per day and improve productivity while providing his employees with the power to buy their own products.

Today, Ford Motor Company makes and markets a large lineup of cars, trucks, SUVs, EVs, and Lincoln luxury vehicles globally. The companys iconic F-series of trucks is the worlds best-selling pickup truck for decades running and the new all-electric Lightning is on track to dominate the top spot in the EV market. Other iconic brands in the Ford lineup include the Thunderbird introduced in 1954, the Mustang in 1964, and the Transit work van in 1965. The Mustang, notably, was created for the Worlds Fair and expected to sell 100,000 in its first year but shocked the industry with 22,000 units sold on the first day.

The company operates through four segments including Ford Blue (ICE vehicles), Model e (EVs) Mobility, and Ford Credit. The Ford Blue and Model e segments sell Ford and Lincoln vehicles, parts, and accessories while the Mobility segment designs and builds advanced technologies including but not limited to self-driving autonomous car systems.

The Ford Credit segment primarily offers commercial and retail loans to auto dealers and car buyers. This segment not only provides financing for new purchases and dealer inventory but makes loans for new dealerships and expansions of old ones.

Ford has fully embraced the switch to EV and is planning for an all-EV future. To that end, the company pledged to spend up to $50 billion on EV infrastructure by 2026. The plans include the build-out of an entirely new campus dedicated to EV manufacture from batteries to motor platforms, manufacturing capacity, and new vehicles. In regard to total capacity, the company is targeting 2 million in total annual EV sales by that same year.
GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom.
Sea Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the digital entertainment, e-commerce, and digital financial service businesses in Southeast Asia, Latin America, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers Garena digital entertainment platform for users to access mobile and PC online games, as well as eSports operations; and access to other entertainment content, including livestreaming of gameplay and social features, such as user chat and online forums. The company also operates Shopee e-commerce platform, a mobile-centric marketplace that provides integrated payment and logistics infrastructure and seller services. In addition, it offers SeaMoney digital financial services to individuals and businesses, including offline and online mobile wallet, and payment processing services, as well as other offerings across credit, insurtech, and digital bank services under the ShopeePay, SPayLater, SeaBank, and other digital financial services brands; and payment processing services for Shopee. The company was formerly known as Garena Interactive Holding Limited and changed its name to Sea Limited in April 2017. Sea Limited was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Singapore.
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. operates bookstores for college and university campuses, and K-12 institutions in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Digital Student Solutions. The company sells and rents new and used print textbooks, digital textbooks, and publisher hosted digital courseware through physical and virtual bookstores, as well as directly to students through Textbooks.com. It also offers First Day and First Day Complete access programs; BNC OER+, a turnkey solution for colleges and universities, that offers digital content, such as videos, activities, and auto-graded practice assessments; and general merchandise, including collegiate and athletic apparel, school spirit products, lifestyle products, technology products, supplies, graduation products, and convenience items. In addition, the company sources, sells, and distributes new and used textbooks; and sells hardware and a software suite of applications that provides inventory management and point-of-sale solutions to approximately 350 college bookstores. Further, it offers direct-to-student subscription-based writing services; and bartleby, a direct-to-student subscription-based offering that includes textbook solutions, expert questions and answers, and writing and tutoring services. The company operates 805 physical college and university bookstores; 622 virtual bookstores; 8 True Spirit e-commerce websites; pop-up retail locations; 73 customized cafes and 11 stand-alone convenience stores; and a media channel for brands targeting the college demographic. Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
The following companies are subsidiares of Lithia Motors: 797 Valley Street LLC, Albany CJD Fiat, Baierl Auto Group, Baierl Auto Parts LLC, Baierl Automotive Corporation, Baierl Chevrolet Inc., Baierl Holding LLC, Broadway Ford, Buhler Ford Inc, Cadillac of Portland Lloyd Center LLC, Camp Automotive Inc., Carbone Auto Body LLC, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Fiat of Morgantown, Cranberry Automotive Inc., Crater Lake Ford Lincoln, Crater Lake Mazda, DCH (Oxnard) Inc., DCH Auto Group, DCH Bloomfield LLC, DCH CA LLC, DCH Calabasas-A LLC, DCH California Investments LLC, DCH California Motors Inc., DCH DMS NJ LLC, DCH Del Norte Inc., DCH Essex Inc., DCH Financial NJ LLC, DCH Freehold - V LLC, DCH Freehold LLC, DCH Holdings LLC, DCH Investments Inc. (New Jersey), DCH Investments Inc. (New York), DCH Korean Imports LLC, DCH Mamaroneck LLC, DCH Mission Valley LLC, DCH Monmouth LLC, DCH Montclair LLC, DCH Motors LLC, DCH NY Motors LLC, DCH Nanuet LLC, DCH North America Inc., DCH Oxnard 1521 Imports Inc., DCH Riverside-S Inc., DCH Simi Valley Inc., DCH Support Services LLC, DCH TL Holdings LLC, DCH TL NY Holdings LLC, DCH Temecula Imports LLC, DCH Temecula Motors LLC, DCH Thousand Oaks-F Inc., DCH Torrance Imports Inc., Dah Chong Hong CA Trading LLC, Dah Chong Hong Trading Corporation, Daron Motors LLC, Day Auto Group, Downtown LA, Driveway Motors LLC, Elizabeth Collision LLC, Florida SS LLC, Ford Lincoln of Morgantown, Freehold Nissan LLC, Fuse Auto Sales LLC, Hamilton Honda, Hazleton Honda, Hutchins Eugene Nissan Inc., Hutchins Imported Motors Inc., Jaguar Landrover Mission Viejo, LA Motors Holding LLC, LAD Advertising Inc., LAD Carson-N LLC, LAD Mission Viejo-JLR Inc., LAD Mobu Inc., LAD-AU LLC, LAD-MB LLC, LAD-N LLC, LAD-P LLC, LAD-T LLC, LAD-V LLC, LBMP LLC, LFKF LLC, LGPAC Inc., LLL Sales Co LLC, LMBB LLC, LMBP LLC, LMOP LLC, LSTAR LLC, Lithia AcDM Inc., Lithia Aircraft Inc., Lithia Anchorage-C LLC, Lithia Anchorage-H LLC, Lithia Armory Garage LLC, Lithia Auction & Recon LLC, Lithia Auto Services Inc., Lithia Automotive Inc., Lithia BA Holding Inc., Lithia BNM Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Baierl-S LLC, Lithia Bryan Texas Inc., Lithia Buffalo-A LLC, Lithia CCTF Inc., Lithia CDH Inc., Lithia CIMR Inc., Lithia CJDO Inc., Lithia CJDSA Inc., Lithia CJDSF Inc., Lithia CM Inc., Lithia CO Inc., Lithia CSA Inc., Lithia Community Development Company Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-F Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-M Inc., Lithia DE Inc., Lithia DM Inc., Lithia DMID Inc., Lithia Des Moines-VW LLC, Lithia Dodge of Tri-Cities Inc., Lithia Eatontown-F LLC, Lithia FLCC LLC, Lithia FMF Inc., Lithia Financial Corporation (previously Lithia Leasing Inc. and Lithia Credit Inc.), Lithia Florida Holding Inc., Lithia Ford of Boise Inc., Lithia Fresno Inc., Lithia HDM Inc., Lithia HGF Inc., Lithia HMID Inc., Lithia HPI Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Hamilton-H LLC, Lithia Hazleton-H LLC, Lithia Idaho Falls-F Inc., Lithia Imports of Anchorage Inc., Lithia JEF Inc., Lithia Klamath Inc., Lithia Klamath-T Inc., Lithia LBGGF Inc., Lithia LHGF Inc., Lithia LSGF Inc., Lithia MBDM Inc., Lithia MMF Inc., Lithia MTLM Inc., Lithia McMurray-C LLC, Lithia Medford HON Inc., Lithia Middletown-L LLC, Lithia Monroeville-A LLC, Lithia Monroeville-C LLC, Lithia Monroeville-F LLC, Lithia Monroeville-V LLC, Lithia Moon-S LLC, Lithia Moon-V LLC, Lithia Morgantown-CJD LLC, Lithia Morgantown-F LLC, Lithia Morgantown-S LLC, Lithia Motors Support Services Inc., Lithia NA Inc., Lithia NC Inc., Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #1, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #3, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #4, Lithia NDM Inc., Lithia NF Inc., Lithia NSA Inc., Lithia Northeast Real Estate LLC, Lithia Orchard Park-H LLC, Lithia Paramus-M LLC, Lithia Pittsburgh-S LLC, Lithia Ramsey-B LLC, Lithia Ramsey-L LLC, Lithia Ramsey-M LLC, Lithia Ramsey-T LLC, Lithia Real Estate Inc., Lithia Reno Sub-HYUN Inc., Lithia Reno-CJ LLC, Lithia Reno-VW LLC, Lithia Rose-FT Inc., Lithia SOC Inc., Lithia SSP LLC, Lithia Salmir Inc., Lithia Sea P Inc., Lithia Seaside Inc., Lithia Spokane-B LLC, Lithia Spokane-S LLC, Lithia TA Inc., Lithia TO Inc., Lithia TR Inc., Lithia Uniontown-C LLC, Lithia VAuDM Inc., Lithia VF Inc., Lithia Wexford-H LLC, Lithia of Abilene Inc., Lithia of Anchorage Inc., Lithia of Bend #1 LLC, Lithia of Bend #2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 1 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 3 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 4 LLC, Lithia of Billings II LLC, Lithia of Billings Inc., Lithia of Casper LLC, Lithia of Clear Lake LLC, Lithia of Concord I Inc., Lithia of Concord II Inc., Lithia of Corpus Christi Inc., Lithia of Des Moines Inc., Lithia of Eureka Inc., Lithia of Fairbanks Inc., Lithia of Great Falls Inc., Lithia of Helena Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-A Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-BGMCC LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-F LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-V LLC, Lithia of Killeen LLC, Lithia of Lodi Inc., Lithia of Maui-H LLC, Lithia of Missoula II LLC, Lithia of Missoula III Inc., Lithia of Missoula Inc., Lithia of Pocatello Inc., Lithia of Portland I LLC, Lithia of Portland LLC, Lithia of Robstown LLC, Lithia of Roseburg Inc., Lithia of Santa Rosa Inc., Lithia of Seattle Inc., Lithia of South Central AK Inc., Lithia of Spokane II Inc., Lithia of Spokane Inc., Lithia of Stockton Inc., Lithia of Stockton-V Inc., Lithia of TF Inc., Lithia of Troy LLC, Lithia of Utica - 1 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 2 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 3 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 4 LLC, Lithia of Walnut Creek Inc., Lithia of Wasilla LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 1 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 2 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 3 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 4 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 5 LLC, Medford Insurance LLC, Milford DCH Inc., Northland Ford Inc., PA Real Estate LLC, PA Support Services LLC, Paramus Collision LLC, Paramus World Motors LLC, Personalized Marketing LLC, Prestige Auto Group, RFA Holdings LLC, Ray Laks Acura, Ray Laks Honda, Sacramento-L Inc., Salem-B LLC, Salem-H LLC, Salem-V LLC, Sharlene Realty LLC, Shift Portland LLC, Southern Cascades Finance Corporation, Subaru of Morgantown, Tampa-H LLC, Tustin Motors Inc., Wesley Chapel-H LLC, Wesley Chapel-T LLC, Zelienople Real Estate I L.P., and Zelienople Real Estate L.L.C..

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Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 17 million members in medical benefit plans, as well as approximately 5 million members in specialty products. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
The following companies are subsidiares of Novo Nordisk A/S: Aldaph SpA, Beijing Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Science & Technology Co. Ltd., CS Solar Fund XIV LLC, Calibrium, Corvidia, Corvidia Therapeutics Inc., Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc., Emisphere Technologies, Emisphere Technologies Inc., MB2 LLC, NNE A/S, Neotope Neuroscience Limited, Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Novo Nordisk (Pty) Limited, Novo Nordisk (Shanghai) Pharma Trading Co. Ltd., Novo Nordisk B.V., Novo Nordisk Canada Inc., Novo Nordisk Colombia SAS, Novo Nordisk Comercio Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Novo Nordisk Denmark A/S, Novo Nordisk Egypt LLC, Novo Nordisk Farma OY, Novo Nordisk Farma S.R.L., Novo Nordisk Farma dooel, Novo Nordisk Farmaceutica Limitada, Novo Nordisk Farmaceutica do Brasil Ltda., Novo Nordisk Finance (Netherlands) B.V., Novo Nordisk Health Care AG, Novo Nordisk Hellas Epe., Novo Nordisk Holding Limited, Novo Nordisk Hong Kong Limited, Novo Nordisk Hrvatska d.o.o., Novo Nordisk Hungaria Kft., Novo Nordisk Inc., Novo Nordisk India Holding Pte Ltd., Novo Nordisk India Private Limited, Novo Nordisk Kazakhstan LLP, Novo Nordisk Kenya Ltd., Novo Nordisk Lanka (PVT) Ltd, Novo Nordisk Limited, Novo Nordisk Limited Liability Company, Novo Nordisk Ltd, Novo Nordisk Mexico S.A. de C.V., Novo Nordisk North America Operations A/S, Novo Nordisk Norway AS, Novo Nordisk Panama S.A., Novo Nordisk Pars, Novo Nordisk Peru S.A.C., Novo Nordisk Pharma (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Novo Nordisk Pharma (Private) Limited, Novo Nordisk Pharma (Singapore) Pte Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharma (Taiwan) Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharma (Thailand) Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharma AG, Novo Nordisk Pharma Argentina S.A., Novo Nordisk Pharma EAD, Novo Nordisk Pharma GmbH, Novo Nordisk Pharma Gulf FZE, Novo Nordisk Pharma Inc., Novo Nordisk Pharma Korea Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharma Limited, Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharma Operations (Business Area) Sdn Bhd, Novo Nordisk Pharma Operations A/S, Novo Nordisk Pharma S.A., Novo Nordisk Pharma SARL, Novo Nordisk Pharma SAS, Novo Nordisk Pharma Sp.z.o.o., Novo Nordisk Pharma d.o.o., Novo Nordisk Pharma d.o.o. Belgrade (Serbia), Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Industries LP, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Services Sp. z o.o., Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals (Philippines) Inc., Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals A/S, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Pty. Ltd., Novo Nordisk Pharmatech A/S, Novo Nordisk Pharmatech US Inc., Novo Nordisk Production SAS, Novo Nordisk Production Support LLC, Novo Nordisk Producao Farmaceutica do Brasil Ltda., Novo Nordisk Region AAMEO and LATAM A/S, Novo Nordisk Region China A/S, Novo Nordisk Region Europe A/S, Novo Nordisk Region Japan & Korea A/S, Novo Nordisk Research Center Indianapolis Inc., Novo Nordisk Research Center Seattle Inc., Novo Nordisk S.P.A., Novo Nordisk Saglik Urunleri Tic. Ltd. Sti., Novo Nordisk Saudi for Trading, Novo Nordisk Scandinavia AB, Novo Nordisk Service Centre (India) Pvt. Ltd., Novo Nordisk Slovakia s.r.o., Novo Nordisk Tunisie SARL, Novo Nordisk US Bio Production Inc., Novo Nordisk US Commercial Holdings Inc., Novo Nordisk US Holdings Inc., Novo Nordisk Ukraine LLC, Novo Nordisk Venezuela Casa de Representacion C.A., Novo Nordisk d.o.o., Novo Nordisk s.r.o., PT. Novo Nordisk Indonesia, S.A. Novo Nordisk Pharma N.V., UAB Novo Nordisk Pharma, Xellia Pharmaceuticals, Ziylo, and Ziylo Limited.

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Over 10,000 police personnel have been deployed for the two big events  Metro Rail inauguration and Global Entrepreneurship Summit  to be held in the city this week. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Undercover cops disguised as labourers, drivers or sales executives will be guarding the routes travelled by delegates, and the important places in the city they visit, during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017.

These spotter teams will provide information about the movements of suspicious persons; local police units can then approach the subjects and verify their antecedents.

Spotters are trained police officers drawn from various intelligence units in the state. They wear civilian dress and move among the public.

A sizeable number of officers are being deployed as spotters. They will be positioned in crowded places and keep a watch on the movement of unsocial elements, abandoned bags, vehicles and attempts to create unrest, confirmed Director-General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy.

Spotters are generally deployed during terror alerts issued by central agencies, or on communally sensitive occasions.

They are apart from the general mufti police officers (police officers in civilian dress) who move around in the area but detain or frisk persons moving under suspicious circumstances, a police official said.

About 10,400 personnel, drawn from the city and state police units, will be deployed for the Metro Rail inauguration and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 that is being held in the city this week.

Mr Mahendar Reddy promised there would be minimum inconvenience to the public. Traffic police will work round the clock to ensure no inconvenience is caused to the public.

Police teams will work in three shifts. Round the clock surveillance will be maintained at all the venues, hotels, and routes taken by the delegates. Right from arrival to departure of the VVIPs and delegates we will be monitoring the entire activity from a special command and control centre being set up at the DGP office. This apart, the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police will be monitoring from their command and control centres, he said.

Access control, anti sabotage checks, surveillance cameras and security vetting of staff and workers will be done at the venues and hotels where delegates will stay. Quick response teams will deal with emergencies. He said there were no specific terror alerts to the events.
Electronic payment solutions firm Toka has selected XIUS to launch Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services through the brand Tokamovil in Mexico.

Toka will operate its MVNO on Telefonica Movistars network.

Lilian Somohano, Director of Commercial Relations at Toka, said: Tokas emphasis has always been on creating a personalised experience for all our customers. XIUS is renowned to have enabled MVNOs globally with independent control to design and create customised plans. We are confident that XIUS expertise will benefit us in quicker go-to-market, qualitative operational excellence and substantial revenue growth throughout our MVNO journey.

New technologies hold the potential for MVNOs to expand their product offerings and compete with value added services to attract and retain subscribers in highly competitive markets. Leveraging Movistars network will allow Tokamovil to have low capital investments. This strategy would further enable them to provide their customers lucrative products with appealing tariffs and offers while also facilitating subscribers with impeccable service.

G V Kumar, Managing Director & CEO of XIUS said, Our past MVNO experience positions us well to help Toka acquire new customers by rolling out differentiated products & services, provide incremental value to customers and generate new revenue potential.

Increasing smartphone penetration, mobile data usage and concerted efforts by the regulator to establish MVNO specific framework have been key in giving a boost to Mexicos MVNO market.
If you happen to be an auto enthusiast, you must have come across news surrounding offbeat startups and sometimes even established giants making headlines with literally lofty ambitions. It has been a while already since we first started talking about flying cars, and ever since the first seemingly bizarre concepts came along, the enthusiasm surrounding this rather science fiction mobility medium has refused to die down.

Our enthusiasm has often been fueled by videos of individual (brilliant) experiments taking off on garage-made contraptions that were basically motorbikes with four death fans in four corners. But, while these individual stunts were quite brilliant, for the longest time they remained what they were meant to be  crackpot experiments, until the big guns sat up and took notice.

Why even bother?

Word about flying cars rose out of two factors  science fiction movies (blame Blade Runner) that predicted how traveling on roads would just be too boring after a point, and the rise in discussions surrounding smart cities and increasing congestion in urban metropolitans. While the first factor provided impetus for laboratories to evaluate whether this was actually even possible, the second pushed for the basis that flying cars would soon be much more than a spare project built with a research labs excess budget.

Fast forward to the present times, and we have actually progressed beyond merely shrugging off the odd experimental flying car project. We now have a flying car that you can actually buy, even more that are being conceptualised as you read this, and big companies and investors testing the waters with initial interests.

The Uber-NASA partnership

The latest of such interest has come from Uber, the popular and controversial ride hailing service. It is of no surprise that Uber is experimenting with ways to change how people go about their everyday commute, but whats notable with their latest advancement in this field is NASAs partnership.

It is safe to assume that the space authority of the United States of America knows a thing or two about flying. Adding to that is Ubers expertise in commercialising a mode of commute (theyve even introduced helicopter taxis in Dubai), and the two now have a Space Act Agreement. This agreement is meant to be a collaboration in terms of technology, strategy, legal terms and every other aspect that will come into consideration to facilitate UberAir  on-demand flying taxis that Uber aims to introduce in Los Angeles by 2020.

Jeff Holden, Ubers Chief Product Officer, recently demonstrated an early concept for UberAir, and it looks mighty close to a standard (albeit more futuristic) helicopter. The idea is to make flying less of a hassle, and streamline it to make it safer, easier, more viable in terms of costs, noise levels and pollution, and more accessible on overall terms.

This is certainly not the final blueprint, and the Uber-NASA partnership will certainly evaluate more models of flying cars. Such models may include gyrocopter-like lifts, autonomous flying abilities and augmented reality screens to go in tandem with all the advancements in the field of mobility.

Nevertheless, as Uber and NASA stage their agreement of collaboration, a number of companies seem to have pulled ahead, at least in designing and executing the car itself.

Other players

PAL-V Liberty

Built by a Dutch company, the PAL-V Liberty technically became the first flying car that is presently on sale. More of a gyrocopter with foldable rotors, road-driving abilities and a highly unusual (and not very appealing) design, the PAL-V Liberty has technically already made flying cars a reality. That is, if you are willing to accept one that still looks like a laboratory experiment left alone before designers could make it more suited for public.

To talk numbers, the PAL-V Liberty is not clean energy-powered, and instead has separate combustion engines powering it. The ground engine is a 99bhp power mill that takes the vehicle to 100kph in 9.0 seconds and all the way to ground speed of 160kph. Ground-only driving range is 1315kms, but in the air, the 197bhp flying engine takes over to travel 500kms at 180kph peak speed, at flying height of 3500m.

The company also includes a flying course and a flying licence, for anyone interested in buying this. If this doesnt sound like a practical flying car, nothing else comes close.

Airbus Vahana

If theres anything that really closely resembles Uber and NASAs vision of flying taxis, it is Airbus very own flying car  the Vahana. What makes it so relevant for the future are the technologies that it implements  fully electric, tilt rotors, dense batteries and autonomous flight. Just like modern flagship drones, the Vahana is being built to autonomously avoid obstacles in its flying trajectory. Alongside, Airbus is aiming the Vahana at being a single- or double-passenger hauler with short journey electric mileage coupled with fast charging abilities, all of which makes it the perfect contender for ride sharing, autonomous and flying car models of future mobility.

Neva AirQuadOne

The Neva AirQuadOne is a product of a consortium of five European companies. The result may or may not seem viable to you, but practicality is not its main target. What the Neva AirQuadOne has set out to achieve is showing how single-person flying car pods may work in future. The AirQuadOne has a very short flying range of just 40kms, and the 80kph top speed seems thoroughly miserable. But, throw in vertical takeoff and easy fast charging along with assistive flying abilities and a safe, lightweight chassis, and the AirQuadOne does not seem as absolutely ridiculous any longer.

Lilium Jet

The Lilium Jet is mighty close to the Airbus Vahana in theory, but has one fundamental element that makes it differ from everything else  it is built to carry heavier loads and multiple passengers. While most flying car concepts are built keeping single and double passengers in mind, the Lilium Jet aims to make the most of streamlined technologies to provide what could well be the first mass-transport flying car.

The Lilium Jet can also execute vertical takeoff and landing, all the while focusing on low noise of operation, simple setup and flying, high speed and emission free traveling, and the key factor for commercial flying cars  low cost of running. All of these make the Lilium Jet one of the most practical flying car concepts around.

Oh, and it looks its part too.

What lies ahead

With all of these concepts and companies involved (and even NASA in the fray), the onus is on airspace regulators, law and policy makers to draft potential use cases, licensing, acceptable airspace usage and safety checks for flying cars to become real.

This is, of course, one of the key aspects of Uber and NASAs partnership  proceeding the legal talks. After all, we are actually very close to seeing flying cars for real. 2019 was what Blade Runner had predicted as a future filled with flying cars.

Turns out, it almost got it right.
Hoid said: Is there any point in not putting you on ignore? Click to expand...

No point what so ever! Yur LIE-berals are SUNK! Here is the future they have planned for us- following the European example:Back in mid- October/2015 I predicted that if elected-Justin Trudope would perform a magic trick and make all our jobs and money disappear and lo and behold-I was correct! We have here a nice report from Fraser Institute explaining how well Our Brainless Boy is doing with his trick. And I have added some comments of my own in brackets):What middle class tax cut? In reality, people will be paying more under the federal Liberals tax changes.(Yes-PAYING MORE-without taking the series of THIRTY BILLION DOLLAR DEFICITS OUR Boy is planning to run-that WILL have to be paid for eventually!)By Charles Lammam, Ben Eisen and Milagros PalaciosFirst posted: Saturday, July 09, 2016 07:16 PM EDT. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Postmedia Network files)On the campaign trail, the Liberals promised to cut taxes for middle-class Canadians to ensure that middle-class Canadians have money in their pockets to save, invest and grow the economy.Once elected, the Liberals did reduce the income tax rate on the second-lowest federal tax bracket from 22% to 20.5%. On its own, this tax relief would be welcome, especially since the average Canadian family currently pays more than 40% of its annual income in taxes.However, since assuming power, the Liberals have also implemented or announced a host of tax hikes that will more than wipe out the benefits of the income tax cut. Far from leaving more money in their pockets, the federal government will actually reduce the take-home pay of middle-income Canadians.(Apparently LIE-berals think that ALL their supporters are on the Sunshine List and thus earning well ABOVE middle class pay? Or maybe LIE-berals are CORRECT and ALL their supporters are above middle class pay rates thanks to their endless ENTITLEMENTS?)The latest tax increase announced is the payroll tax hike that will be used to finance the expansion of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).Once fully implemented in 2025, the total CPP contribution rate (which is split notionally in half between employees and employers) will increase from the current rate of 9.9% to 11.9% of eligible earnings up to a maximum of $72,500.In addition, earnings between $72,500 and $82,700 will also be subject to the CPP tax, albeit at a lower total rate of 8%.(Yeah-the more money you make, the more likely you are to be a Hog and a LIE-beral friend and LIE-berals go easier on their ENTITLED friends!)These changes represent a substantial tax increase that will more than wipe out the benefits of the recent income tax rate reduction for middle-income Canadians.Consider, for example, someone with taxable income of $54,900 the current maximum earnings threshold for CPP contributions. The income tax rate reduction will reduce this persons income tax by $144.However, if we assume the CPP changes are fully implemented this year, that person will pay an additional $514 in CPP taxes. And this doesnt account for the additional CPP taxes paid by the employer on his or her behalf (another $514).(I point out that the more money taken out of the pockets of your boss, the harder it will be to get any sort of RAISE in pay in future! And what of all those people who live on commissions-sales people at all manner of retail outlets will be hurt as less people come through their doors! Ours is a service economy and the less money people have, the less services they buy and the economy slows-it seems obvious to any body but a LIE-beral that endless taxes and the gravy train are killing our economy!)Yes, the federal government has said that additional contributions to the CPP will be tax-deductible for income tax purposes, so this worker would get some of their increased CPP contributions back by claiming a tax deduction.But its clear that the net effect of these tax changes is a tax hike not a reduction.(And of course, that which govt gives-it can also TAKE AWAY-how long before the tax deduction fades and then disappears? And we should regard the offer of a tax reduction as simply a stupid sop to lull us that things wont get too bad! Until LIE-berals decide to really gouge us!)Things look even worse for a Canadian with taxable income of $45,282  the lowest income level of the tax bracket where the Liberal tax cut applies.This person will receive no benefit from the income tax reduction but will have to pay $418 in additional CPP contributions ($836 including employer contributions).Even for Canadians earning more, the outlook for tax relief doesnt look good.An individual with taxable income of $90,563  the income level at which he or she receives the maximum amount of personal income tax relief from the Liberal income tax rate cut will save $679 in income taxes.But this person will pay an extra $821 in employee contributions to the CPP.(Of course IF LIE-berals were really concerned with justice and balanced books they would IMMEDIATELY END that cosy deal that lets ALL civil service Hogs off the hook for paying the health `levy`. One employed Cdn in three works for govt and NONE of them pay that health levy! Its a great deal for them and goes a long way towards explaining why govt is having a hard time PAYING the health care bills!)Tax deductibility on new CPP contributions will provide this individual with some savings.But once you factor in the $821 in employer contributions (the cost of which will be passed on to the employee through slower wage growth and/or a reduction in other benefits), even this higher-income Canadian wont receive a tax cut on balance.Finally, the CPP tax increase is just one of many tax increases imposed by the new federal government on middle-income Canadians.The elimination of income splitting for couples with children, the cancellation of several widely used tax credits, and the reduction in annual TFSA contribution limits will potentially increase the tax burden for middle-income Canadians.With all these tax hikes in mind, the net effect of recent tax changes is less money in the pockets of Canadians.The campaigning Liberals promised to reduce the tax burden on Canadas middle class. In office, they have failed to deliver.(Isnt it SAD? Those stupid civil service Hogs put LIE-berals in power in exchange for promises of more gravy-but apparently sometimes LESS IS MORE! Its just the cost of doing business with LIE-berals! Just how greedy does a person have to be to drink the LIE-beral cool aid and BELIEVE? After all the FAILED promises?)Lammam, Eisen and Palacios are analysts with the Fraser Institute www. fraser institute (dot) org
The startup winning the Startup C-Cube challenge will be awarded resources for a local or global launch depending upon the scalability of the idea. The startup winning the event will be supported by the three companies through the entire concept-to-custo

Amazon India has announced its partnership with HAX and Kickstarter and has declared a multi-level challenge for Indian start-ups called the Startup C-Cube. The challenge will be flagged off by Amazon Launchpad, HAX and Kickstarter jointly at an event in Bangalore on December 5th, on the occasion of Amazon Launchpads first anniversary in India. The startup winning the event will be supported by the three companies through the entire concept-to-customer journey and the startup will be provided with resources for launch both in India and in Europe/US, depending on the scalability of the idea.

Read the complete press release below

On the occasion of Amazon Launchpads first anniversary in India, Amazon.in announces its collaboration with the worlds biggest hardware accelerator, HAX and the largest crowdfunding community, Kickstarter to help create a conducive environment for early-stage product startups in the country. The three major enablers have come together in a global-first partnership to announce Startup C-Cube, a multi-level challenge for Indian start-ups that flags off in Bangalore on December 5th 2017.

The Startup C-Cube challenge will be officially flagged off by Amazon Launchpad, HAX and Kickstarter jointly at an event in Bangalore on December 5th, on the occasion of Amazon Launchpads first anniversary in India. The winning start-up will be supported by the trio through the entire concept-to-customer journey and the joint program will also provide resources to the winner for launch - both in India and in Europe/US, depending on the scalability of the idea.

The global first partnership with three of the biggest enablers -hardware accelerator (HAX), Funder (Kickstarter) and Indias largest ecommerce marketplace (Amazon.in) is expected to fuel thoughtful and innovative entrepreneurship in India. The partnership will help Indian startup communities connect with like minds, showcase their ideas and grow them into real business opportunities. The three companies are coming together to work towards building the product startup ecosystem of the country while additionally supporting the Governments Start-up India initiative.

In the past one year, we have been overwhelmed by the response that Amazon Launchpad has received from the start-up ecosystem in India. We have been excited to witness not only the launch of several new and innovative products on Amazon Launchpad but also the growing customer demand for these products from across the country. Business growth of some of the start-ups on Amazon Launchpad has elicited interest in these start-ups from VCs as well as other funding agencies in the last one year. We are very happy to bring Kickstarter and HAX to India to give Indian start-ups an opportunity to get their ideas noticed at the global stage and arm them with resources to convert these into real business opportunities, says Manish Tiwary , VP Category Management, Amazon India

Started with the aim of facilitating the launch for Indian start-ups in various markets, and distribute their products to millions of Amazon customers across India and around the world, Amazon Launchpad today has over 17000 innovative products across various categories. In the past year wireless, electronics, grocery and beauty were noted to be among the major categories featured. While several start-ups in metro cities have benefitted from the platform, there have been a number of success stories from tier 2 & 3 towns like Zizira (Shillong), Vita cups (Indore), HySav (Pune). Techtex Online (Surat), Aarshaveda Wellness Pvt. Ltd. (Aluva), to name a few.

Start-ups interested in joining Amazon Launchpad may come from any part of the country. They need to have a promising, unique and ready-to-ship product compliant with Amazon policies in order to get listed on the store. Launchpad products and Start-up Application Form that can be accessed on www.amazon.in/launchpad.
No other brand is perhaps more hallowed among smartphone enthusiasts than Nokia. The Finnish company has nurtured and pioneered the mobile phone leaving an iconic legacy.

Nokia was a brand GenX identified with the most. In fact, Nokia was the first phone they ever owned. But owing to a few wrong choices, Nokia failed to keep up with changing times and soon found itself outdated. Thats when HMD Global was formed to revive the Nokia of the yore, this time, with pure Android.

Nokia arrived early in 2017 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It soon found itself in uncharted territory as Chinese incumbents like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and the likes were aggressively pushing down prices and ramping up hardware, which obviously worked in favour of the smartphone buyer.

So we asked our readers their thoughts on Nokias resurgence and its comeback smartphone line-up. The answers we received proved that a historic legacy is far more valuable than aggressive marketing.

Of the 500 Digit readers who responded, 79 per cent said they were happy with Nokias line-up of Android devices while 21 per cent werent so satisfied.

The response was overwhelmingly in favour of Nokia with readers hailing the line-ups build quality and design. However, once we went through the comments on the poll, a different story started to surface.

While readers appreciated Nokias decision to adopt pure, vanilla Android promising timely updates and security, they werent so happy with the hardware specs and the premium price Nokia is currently charging customers in comparison to Xiaomi, Motorola, and others.

Jaipal Singh, Senior Market Analyst for IDC, threw some light as to why this is the case.

The market has totally changed from the golden days when Nokia used to rule the mobile phone space. We are now in the era of Chinese smartphone makers. They are very aggressive when it comes to pricing and hardware. Take Xiaomi for example. If you compare their pricing and specifications, it is very difficult to match up to that level. It is going to be a bit tough for Nokia this time, he said.

Nokia also has some supply chain constraints resulting in low shipment volumes, according to Singh, which is keeping the brand from competing head to head with other players.

We have noted complaints from retailers and distributors about supply issues. Nokia is a big brand with a presence in over 100 countries globally. Maintaining demand across all the market is a difficult task and it will take some good three to four quarters to smoothen the supply issues, Singh said, indicating its still early to give the verdict on Nokias resurgence.

Moreover, Nokias lineup of phones is currently skewed more towards the online exclusive market. Among the entire lineup of phones, only the Nokia 3 and the Nokia 5 are available offline with the new Nokia 2 launched in the offline segment. In the online space, price and hardware specs are the main factors customers take in when buying a phone, which is where devices like the Nokia 6 (review) perform poorly.

Additionally, the online exclusive market is mostly restricted to tier 1 cities where phone makers like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo and Samsung have a good hold over brand consciousness, and customers are used to devices with high-end specs and low prices.

Nokia is popular no doubt, says Singh, but it will take some time for the resurging giant to build back its presence. In tier 1 cities where most of the online exclusive Chinese players have good presence, it will be very difficult for Nokia to make a strong comeback, Singh elaborated.

The story completely changes when you look at the feature phone market though, which still comprises more than 50 percent of the smartphone market in India.

According to Singh, Nokia was a leader in the feature phone market for a very long time and they made a comeback on a similar note in the feature phone market. Nokia launched the Nokia 105 and Nokia 130 in the previous three quarters. Its really working well for them. We have seen their shipment volumes growing quarter by quarter, referring to IDCs analysis of the feature phone market.

Yet, despite having a majorly positive image, whether Nokia has indeed made a comeback or not will take some more time to decide.

When it comes to feature phones, Nokia has a strong presence offline, but in the smartphone segment, we are yet to see anything significant in both offline and online segments. They have not made a real comeback as of now, so we need to wait for some more quarters, Singh said.

Whether Nokia is selling phones or not, it is clear that Nokias image in the public mind remains untainted, and in a market as competitive as the smartphone market in India, that could be Nokias biggest asset.
Commodities were mostly higher outside of copper and the agricultural space.

As of 1040 GMT, Bloomberg's commodity index was slipping 0.11% to 86.90 as the US dollar spot index gained 0.13% o 92.90, having hit a low at 92.496 earlier in the session.

Commentary from multiple analysts at the start of the week highlighting the risks to China's property sector and corporate debt markets weighed on industrial metals.

More specifically, three-month LME copper retreated from $7,007 a metric tonne at the start of trading on Monday to finish $6,942, although analysts at Sucden Financial noted buying at around the $6,900 area, on the back of ongoing labour unrest in Peru.

In what was largely a risk-off session, at least outside the US, February gold on COMEX flirted with the pyschological $3,000/oz. mark, tacking on 0.55% to $1,298.90/oz..

Bitcoin was also approaching a psychological barrier, $10,000; although in the event it failed to breach that barrier, rising 2.3% to $9,541.05/oz..

Over in the energy patch, a 4.05% bounce in NYMEX natural gas futures for December delivery was offsetting a 1.39% drop in January West Texas Intermediate on the heels of the latest weekly US oil rig tally.

According to Baker Hughes, US drillers added nine oil rigs over the week to 22 November to reach 747, which was well up on the year earlier level of 474.

That was despite reports in the previous session that OPEC and Russia were set to announce an extension of their oil supply curbs at the cartel's 30 November ministerial meeting.

Soft commodities on the other hand were awahs in red, outside of the CME February live cattle contract, which was up by 1.18% to $1.2605 a pound.

March 2018 ICE-traded cocoa was weakest, losing 1.90% to $2,067 a pound.
Keep buying the dips, this bull market still has legs, strategists at Citi told clients, albeit with two caveats.

They pointed to their Bear Market Checklist to back-up their case, explaining that for global markets only three of the 18 factors included on it were 'flashing red'.

In the case of the US, the tally was 5.5 out of a total of 18, although Citi believed the current US BMC results were not yet "especially worrying".

Citi's checklist is divided into six broad groups of indicators: global equity valuations, the US Treasury yield curve, sentiment, corporate behaviour, corporate profitability and balance sheets/credit markets.

Within those categories, indicators flashing a red 'sell' signal when compared to their levels in 2000 and 2007 - the two previous market peaks - score 1.0 and those which are close to it and flashing an amber signal score 0.5.

At the global level, four indicators were 'amber', Citi said, including trailing price-to-earnings multiples, forwards P/Es, the slope of the US yield curve, Citi's US Panic Euphoria model and companies' (excluding US financials) net debt-to-EBITDA ratios.

In the US on the other hand, three indicators were flasing red and five were in amber.

On a common note for both the global and US BMCs, Citi said its indicators for the US yield curve and US equity market sentiment had turned amber in the latest edition of its checklist.

"A flat curve indicates that Fed policy is tight and likely to drive a slowdown in the economy. Therefore, we watch the recent flattening of the US curve with concern, and turn it to amber.

"Tobias Levkovichs US Panic/Euphoria model comprises of nine factors correlated with future stock price performance. It has recently risen to levels that have implied a greater than 50% probability of a down market in the next 12 months."

However, according to Citi there was a caveat, two even, to its relatively upbeat prognosis.

"The end of QE and high Chinese corporate debt give cause for concern. Neither is in our BMC."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the Social Democratic Party (SDP) back to the negotiating table on Monday as she looked to them for help in securing a stable government.

Speaking in Berlin, Merkel called on the somewhat reluctant SDP to renew their alliance with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party as part of an effort to form a majority within the Bundestag that would be able to tackle challenges facing Europe's biggest economy.

She highlighted the likes of Brexit, European integration proposals from French President Emmanuel Macron, and strained relations with both Russia and the US.

"People expect their problems to be solved, and we believe that the best way to achieve that is by forming a stable government," Merkel said.

"That's why we are ready to begin talks with the SPD. We, of course, know that such talks require compromise," she added.

Merkel had previously made it clear that any coalition partner would have to support a balanced budget and pro-business policies, whereas the SDP had demanded higher pensions and income tax cuts for low-earners be on the government's agenda to get them on board.

Merkel and SDP leader Martin Schulz had been scheduled to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday.

"We are entering into talks, and we dont know where they'll lead," Schulz told reporters in Berlin.

"No option is off the table," he added.

As the likelihood of another grand coalition increased, some CDU leaders had warned the SPD of asking for too much, but Merkel said she was ready to listen.

"An offer for talks is on the table, and we mean it seriously," she said.
For the most part, stocks on the Continent erased early gains amid talk of a 'wobble' in Chinese equities to end at their lows of the session.

By the closing bell, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had dipped 0.46% or 1.76 points to 384.87, alongside a similarly-sized fall for the German Dax to 13,000.20. Euro/dollar also reversed course in late trading to trade down by 0.24% to 1.1904.

"Risk appetite remains healthy in the US but subdued in the UK and Europe, and once again it is strength in the home currencies arising from dollar weakness that is helping to stifle what looked like a strong session earlier in the day. The other big worry, particularly for the FTSE 100's mining contingent, is a notable tightening of financial conditions in China; while rising bond yields might not seem like a reason to worry, a hit to corporate profits could feed through to the broader economy and thus raise questions about demand for raw," said IG's Chris Beauchamp.

Overnight, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's composite index gave back 0.94% to trade at 3,322.23 points.

On a related note, Zhang Qinghua, the head of fixed-income investing at E Fund Management, the manager of the best performing fund in that space in China, told Bloomberg News there was a high probability that credit spreads might widen in the Asian giant in 2018.

That sentiment was reflected in comments from strategists at Citi, who recommended clients 'buy the dips' in global stocks, telling them the current bull market still had room to run after checking-off of the list of fifteen stock market indicators that make up its Bear Market Checklist.

However, they threw in a couple of caveats.

"The end of QE and high Chinese corporate debt give cause for concern. Neither is in our BMC."

On a cheerier note, on Monday strategists at competitor Morgan Stanley told clients: "Europe's time to shine: After lagging in 2017, we think that Europe is poised to be supported by solid EU growth and a rotation back towards value. Globally, we are OW energy due to improving FCF and late-cycle outperformance. We reduce exposure to Japan."

As as aside, according to the results of a poll undertaken by Metroscopia for Spanish daily El Pais, only 24% of Catalans wished to continue pushing ahead with the drive for independence which began in 2012.

Perhaps on the back of that news, the Spanish Ibex 35 was the only one of the Continent's main indices that managed to eke out a gain, adding 0.10% or 9.60 points to trade at 10,063.10. It neverthless ended well down from the day's best levels at 10,131.30.

On the economic front, ISTAT's gauge of Italian consumer confidence slipped from 116.0 for October to 114.3 in November (consensus: 116.5).

Meanwhile, on the corporate front, stock in fund manager Julius Baer dived after announcing that chief Boris Collardi was jumping ship to rival Pictet Group.

In another sector, BMW disclosed plans to stay ahead of its competitors. Speaking to Handelsblatt, the automaker's finance director said it would boost its spending on R&D this year to between 6.5% and 7.0% of sales, above a target for 5.5%.

Elsewhere, Thyssenkrupp's managers and labour leaders were reportedly trying to mend fences as they pursued a resolution of their dispute over planned layoffs linked to its merger with Tata Steel.

Airbus was also in the spotlight, with Bloomberg reporting at the weekend that Rolls Royce may announce as soon as Tuesday that it was joining forces with the aircraft manufacturer and Siemens to develop hybrid jet engines.

In parallel, another report indicated Airbus had tapped Eric Schulz, the boss of Rolls Royce's civil engines division, to lead its commercial jetlines sales.

Fiat Chrysler may pursue a public listing for 50% of its Magneti Marelli unit on the Milan stock exchange in 2018, Il Sole 24 Ore said on Saturday.
AstraZeneca announced the submission of a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) to Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency for the use of Tagrisso (osimertinib), a third-generation, irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) with clinical activity against central nervous system (CNS) metastases, on Monday.

The FTSE 100 firm said the application was for the first line treatment of patients with inoperable or recurrent EGFR mutation-positive (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

It said the Japan sNDA was based on data from the Phase III FLAURA trial, in which Tagrisso significantly improved progression-free survival compared to current first-line EGFR-TKIs, erlotinib or gefitinib, in previously-untreated patients with locally-advanced or metastatic EGFRm NSCLC.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women, accounting for about one-quarter of all cancer deaths, more than breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined, AstraZenecas board explained in its statement.

Approximately 10-15% of patients in the US and Europe, and 30-40% of patients in Asia have EGFRm NSCLC.

These patients are particularly sensitive to treatment with currently-available EGFR-TKIs, which block the cell-signalling pathways that drive the growth of tumour cells.

However, tumours almost always developed resistance to EGFR-TKI treatment, AstraZeneca explained, leading to disease progression, with approximately half of patients developing resistance to approved EGFR-TKIs such as gefitinib and erlotinib due to the resistance mutation, EGFR T790M.

Tagrisso also targets this secondary mutation that leads to disease progression.

There is also a need for medicines with improved CNS efficacy, since approximately 25% of patients with EGFR-mutated NSCLC have brain metastases at diagnosis, increasing to approximately 40% within two years of diagnosis.

AstraZeneca described Tagrisso as a third-generation, irreversible EGFR-TKI designed to inhibit both EGFR-sensitising and EGFR T790M-resistance mutations, with clinical activity against CNS metastases.

Tagrisso 40mg and 80mg once-daily oral tablets had been approved in more than 60 countries, including the US, EU, Japan and China, for patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive advanced NSCLC.

It was also being investigated in the adjuvant setting and in combination with other treatments.

The FLAURA trial assessed the efficacy and safety of Tagrisso 80mg once daily vs standard-of-care EGFR-TKIs in previously-untreated patients with locally-advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutated NSCLC.

The trial was a double-blinded, randomised trial, with 556 patients across 29 countries.
LondonMetric Property has exchanged on the sale of an Odeon Cinema in Derby and a retail asset in Guisborough for 18.6m, it announced on Monday, reflecting a blended net initial yield of 4.8%.

The FTSE 250 firm said that at Derby, the 10 screen, 37,000 square foot cinema formed part of a portfolio of 10 Odeon Cinemas acquired in 2013 at an overall yield of 7.3%.

It continued to own five Odeon cinemas with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 21 years, and rents that rose annually in line with RPI between 1% and 5%.

At Guisborough, the 26,000 square foot scheme was let to Aldi and Iceland for a further 12 years, and was acquired in 2014 at a net initial yield of 5.8%.

LondonMetrics board said the sales reflected a 15% premium to the March valuation and materially above the latest valuation.

These assets have generated strong returns from both income and significant yield compression, as investors increasingly look for reliable and predictable income streams, said chief executive Andrew Jones.

The uplift in valuation over book value demonstrates the strength of the current market for long income with guaranteed growth in liquid lot sizes. Furthermore, it provides strong support for our portfolio valuations.
Ocado was the standout gainer as Credit Suisse reiterated its 'outperform' rating on the stock, saying recent weakness was overdone. Having fallen almost 20% in the past four weeks and with short interest climbing, Ocado's shares have under-performed their food retail peers and look good value, the bank said.

This underperformance has been sparked by market data from Kantar Worldpanel showing weaker online grocery adoption and slower Ocado growth, as well as by the ongoing roll-out from client Morrisons outside Ocado's catchment area, and reports that Amazon is discontinuing AmazonFresh in certain US zip codes.

Builders merchant Grafton was on the front foot as Barclays initiated coverage of the stock at 'overweight'.

"With a pull-back in the shares post the recent Q3 update, we believe there is an attractive entry point for a group which has traditionally traded at a premium to peers given its diversification and the potential for growth through expansion in the Netherlands," it said.

LondonMetric rose as it exchanged on the sale of an Odeon cinema in Derby and a retail asset in Guisborough for 18.6m.

Marshalls went the other way, however, after an initiation at 'underweight' by Barclays, which said the valuation at over 20x PE fails to fully reflect the potential market risk given that the company is one of the most weighted towards the UK consumer and one of the most operationally leveraged in the group.

Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 254.80p 6.74%

Sophos Group (SOPH) 642.00p 3.30%

Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 86.75p 3.03%

Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,480.00p 2.61%

Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 747.00p 2.47%

Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 119.30p 2.32%

FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 960.00p 1.59%

McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 161.70p 1.44%

LondonMetric Property (LMP) 182.60p 1.39%

Evraz (EVR) 300.10p 1.35%

Fallers

Tullow Oil (TLW) 169.90p -3.74%

Vedanta Resources (VED) 765.00p -3.53%

Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 814.00p -2.75%

Provident Financial (PFG) 865.00p -2.59%

Drax Group (DRX) 263.40p -2.55%

Acacia Mining (ACA) 189.30p -2.42%

PayPoint (PAY) 932.50p -2.41%

Mitie Group (MTO) 197.86p -2.29%

Card Factory (CARD) 265.60p -2.14%

Marshalls (MSLH) 450.30p -2.13%
PLATTSMOUTH  A Bellevue man who tried to flee from local police after threatening a Plattsmouth victim pled guilty to a pair of charges Monday morning.

Austin A. Courcier, 26, accepted a plea deal during an appearance in Cass County District Court. He pled guilty to Class I misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and attempted possession of a controlled substance-tetrahydrocannabinols.

Prosecutors had originally charged Courcier with one Class IIIA felony count of terroristic threats, one Class IV felony count of possession of controlled substance-THC and one Class I misdemeanor count of obstruction of a peace officer. They agreed to reduce the first two charges and dismiss the third count in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Deputy County Attorney Richard Fedde told the court Plattsmouth police responded to a report of a disturbance at a Plattsmouth residence Feb. 26. A male victim told police Courcier had been talking with a female at the house regarding a child custody case. The male victim said Courcier displayed what appeared to be a silver-colored gun and then left the house.

Courcier then returned to the residence after a short time and began yelling obscenities at the man. The male told police he felt threatened because he believed Courcier had a gun. Fedde said police later discovered Courcier had been carrying a large lighter instead of a loaded weapon.

Courcier then left the scene and pulled into the driveway of a residence on Webster Boulevard. Police located Courcier and began to move toward the house to speak with him. Courcier then fled the scene on foot and ran into a nearby wooded area. He led local police and Nebraska State Patrol troopers on a chase that ended near the Nebraska Masonic Home on Avenue D.

Fedde said police inspected Courciers car and found a small bag of drugs in the passenger-side door. State crime lab workers later identified the substance inside the bag as tetrahydrocannabinols.

The court set a sentencing date of Jan. 8 in the Cass County case. Courcier is currently incarcerated in Sarpy County Jail on three pending charges. Bellevue police stopped him near Chandler Road on June 10 and arrested him after a search. Courcier is facing a Class IV felony charge of possession of controlled substance-cocaine and infractions of possession of marijuana one ounce or less and possession of drug paraphernalia in Sarpy County.
An ex-convict who now lives in Oklahoma is the latest to sue Nebraska over a 2015 riot at the Tecumseh prison that left two inmates dead.

Timothy Schrader's attorney, Joy Shiffermiller, says he risked his own safety saving a third inmate from being beaten to death May 10, 2015, at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.

She said Schrader, a 44-year-old who was released in July, and other protective-custody inmates were left to fend for themselves when other inmates set off on a violent, destructive riot.

Two and a half years later, no charges have been filed in the deaths of Shon Collins and Donald Peacock, who were found beaten to death when prison staff regained control the next morning.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Lancaster County District Court, Shiffermiller said Schrader stopped three inmates from killing a third inmate, "who was almost beaten to death."

She said the inmate, who was in the same pod as Schrader, had his eyeball forcibly popped out and was bleeding from gouges on his cheeks. Schrader picked him up and carried him outside the housing unit, then got shirts and other fabric to stop the bleeding, and ice from a cooler in an attempt to save his life.

Shiffermiller said other inmates threatened Schrader for tending to the other man's injuries, and he feared he would be beaten or killed. When night fell, Schrader carried the injured man to his cell and shut the door.

"As a result of the negligence of the state, plaintiff suffered physical and severe mental distress that no person ought to have to endure," the attorney said.

Following the riot, she said, Schrader had to stay in protective custody because of threats to his life for what he did.

Shiffermiller said Schrader's mental health deteriorated significantly because of the strain of protective custody and the continued threats.

She said he also suffered smoke inhalation from the fires started by other inmates. A medical exam showed he had a spot on his lung, but he received no treatment for it.

He was transferred to the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln on Feb. 21, 2017.

Shiffermiller alleges, among other things, that the state was negligent for failing to use reasonable care to protect Schrader from general-population inmates, to properly staff the prison and to maintain security over the inmates.

She said as a result, Schrader suffered physical, mental and emotional distress.

Schrader was in prison on a 14-21-year prison sentence for false imprisonment, terroristic threats, use of a weapon and attempted second-degree sexual assault in Lancaster County.

His lawsuit is far from the first filed over the riot. Many have failed, though in federal court in May, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf allowed Brian Guerry's pro se lawsuit to go forward on claims alleging the state failed to protect him from gangs and fires during the riot and that he was exposed to burning plastic and blood in water in his cell for days after the riot.

The state doesn't comment on pending lawsuits. But in April 2016, a Johnson County grand jury found no wrongdoing on the part of the state.
Did you know the town of Arlington wasnt always known by that name?

Or that the small community of Fontanelle once was home to a college?

Or what led to the demise of a town called DeSoto?

Arlington area resident Kathy Buhrman learned all these things and more when writing and compiling photos for an Images of America series book called Washington County.

The 128-page book provides a pictorial history of the countys early days. Photos include one taken in 1915 of a car dealership in Arlington, the rubble after a tornado tore through the town of Herman in 1899 and a tall schoolhouse in Kennard.

Buhrmans own interests led to her writing the book.

Ive always enjoyed writing and history and I love family history and so it was just a natural progression. When Arcadia approached me to write the book I thought, why not? she said.

Buhrman had to research the areas history and find photographs that would tell the story. She wanted to show the pioneer spirit.

I tried to represent all of the old communities  at least mention them, she said. I hope I did everybody justice.

Buhrman, who works for the Rustler Sentinel newspaper, spent more than a year the book project, working on it part time.

She said Arcadia has a format for the books and captures towns and their histories through them.

The Washington County book is meant to be an overview  like a snapshot of the community, she said.

Through the book, readers learn that explorers, trappers and fur traders came to this area.

So did settlers whose ancestors were German, Danish and other nationalities. Folks arrived here by steamboat, wagon teams or even on foot. They built sod houses and log homes.

I really enjoyed showcasing Washington County as a whole, Buhrman said. I enjoy that when you open each chapter you get a little bit of their history, and thats important to preserve.

She learned more about the towns and how the county grew.

For instance, Arlington was known as Bell Creek. Thats because a man named James Bell fell into a creek.

It became Arlington, because Bell Creek was too close to the name of Battle Creek and so they had to change its name, she said.

Fontanelle had the first college called Nebraska University. The first college building was completed in 1858. In 1865, it burned down. It was rebuilt, but burned again and a decision not to rebuild was made.

The school was disbanded in 1870 and began a new life as Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, the book states.

In her book, Buhrman said four towns owe their existence to the railroad: Blair, Arlington, Herman and Kennard.

DeSoto was a town situated about six miles north of Fort Calhoun. Buhrman said it didnt grow, because of a change with the railroad.

The Arcadia Publishing book is available online at Amazon or at www.arcadiapublishing.com website or the Washington County Historical Association, 402-468-5740.

This is Buhrmans first book and she plans to write more.

In the meantime, Buhrman hopes readers enjoy the Washington County book.

I hope they find it interesting and want to learn more about history, Buhrman said.
Producing three times more semen whilst boosting fertility and orgasm levels might sound like a stretch, but one sex pill being sold online is promising to do just that. And today Australian health experts are warning men to stay well away from them.

Semenax was brought to the attention of the local drug regulator after it was found to contain an undeclared substance that is banned from entering Australia.

The substance named Yohimbine can only be obtained via prescription and is often used on dogs to reverse the effects of sedatives. Previously, the chemical had been linked to erectile dysfunction treatments but none of which have been approved in Australia.

According to the Australian Semenax website where the pills can be bought, the drug increases ejaculation during sexual intercourse by creating more semen.

Each orgasm will be SUPER INTENSE! and Youll perform like a PORN STAR! reads the site. The site even includes a testimonial from a Stephen who claims his semen volume tripled in just five weeks of taking the pills.

According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), unregistered drugs like Semenax can pose a deadly risk to a persons health. Theyve also urged anyone who have bought the pills online to exercise extreme caution, see a doctor and to dispose of them at their local pharmacy immediately.

The TGA is working with the Australian Border Force to help stop future shipments of Semenax capsules from entering Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in a statement. If these capsules are found at the borderthey will be seized and destroyed.

Well keep you posted on any coming news.
Amazon on Wednesday announced a new service that will allow Prime members to receive in-home delivery of packages with the help of high-tech smart locks that allow drivers to open their front doors.

Amazon Key will launch officially on Nov. 8 in 37 U.S. cities and surrounding communities, with additional locations to be added over time. The service will be available at no extra cost to Prime members, and it will work with standard, two-day, overnight and same-day deliveries.

Amazon Key gives customers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely delivered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors, said Peter Larsen, vice president of delivery technology at Amazon.

To use the service, Prime members must order an Amazon Key in-home kit, which includes the Amazon Cloud Cam and one of several compatible smart locks offered by Kwickset or Yale. The Amazon Key In-Home Kit starts at US$249.99. The locks can be installed professionally at no extra cost or self-installed by customers, according to Amazon.

Beyond Deliveries

When a driver requests access to the customers home, the Cloud Cam confirms the driver is at the right address through an encrypted authentication process. After the request is authenticated, the Cloud Cam starts recording the delivery and the door is unlocked.

Customers can track the delivery using the Amazon Key app on their mobile phones. They get real-time notifications and can watch deliveries live or view recordings later. The entire delivery process is backed up by the Amazon Happiness Guarantee, the company said.

The agreement is a big step for Yale. Its parent firm, Assa Abloy, also on Wednesday announced that it is testing an in-home delivery service with 100 customers in Sweden, in collaboration with delivery firm PostNord and e-commerce retailers Jollyroom, Apotea and Komplett. Yale Doorman digital locks are being used in the tests.

Its significant in that were working with Amazon, obviously a powerhouse in online retailing, and working with them on one of the most innovative programs in e-commerce and home delivery, the firm said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Terry Shea.

The Amazon Key program will provide features beyond home delivery of packages, the company said. Customers will be able to grant keyless entry for family and friends, and theyll be able to set frequency and length of time for access to the home.

Amazon plans to roll out a new program that will allow thousands of companies to access homes using the smart lock technology, including companies like housekeeping service Merry Maids and dog walking and pet sitting service Rover.

Rover is changing the way pet owners discover, book and manage personalized care for their pets, said spokesperson Brandie Gonzales.

This new integration with Amazon Key is the latest example of how we are leading the pet care revolution, she told the E-Commerce Times.

Growth Outweighs Risk

Amazon is gambling that the benefit of having secure home delivery of packages will outweigh the potential downside of the perception that its seeking an invasive level of access to the customer.

While many customers might see this capability as overly intrusive, Amazon  and Walmart  has identified an intersection of customer needs and new technologies, noted Matt Sargent, senior vice president of retail at Magid.

This capability [is] not only possible, but incredibly interesting to a subset of cutting-edge customers, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The need already exists, according to Sargent. People have been looking for a way to provide secure access to prevent package theft, and to allow entry of housecleaners and other service providers. The advent of remote security cameras and smart locks has made fulfillment of this need a reality.

The in-home delivery service is another example of Amazon inventing new ways to reach into consumer wallets without an obvious business case, said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner of RSR Research.

I think its too intrusive and too risky, she told the E-Commerce Times.

Amazon Prime has about 90 million members in the U.S., according to a report Consumer Intelligence Research Partners released last week.

About 63 percent of all U.S.-based Amazon customers belong to Prime, the firm noted. Amazon considers Prime members critical to its growth, because on average they spend $1,300 a year on purchases  nearly twice as much as non-Prime members.

From a security standpoint, smart lock technologies pose more of a physical challenge than a technology challenge, suggested William Malik, vice president for infrastructure strategies at Trend Micro.

The technology may grant access only to authorized Amazon employees, but it would be helpful to understand Amazons process for vetting delivery people, revoking their access, auditing conformance to Amazons standards, and providing warranty to misuse of that access, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Augusts Experience

August for years has been running August Access, a home delivery service that provides retailers and services of all stripes  including Sears Home Delivery and dog-walking service Wag  with the ability to get secure access to customers homes.

Years ago, when his former housekeeper had to return home to Brazil, she still had the keys to his house, recalled August CEO Jason Johnson.

What are people to do in situations such as that one, he wondered, change the locks? Although Johnson didnt feel he needed to do that, it seemed many people would value the ability to provide controlled access to their homes for certain activities,.

The desire to find a solution to that problem led Johnson and a cofounder to launch August.

From the beginning, we thought about how could we provide conditional access to the home, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The August smart locks use secure Bluetooth technology, with a layer of encryption on top, plus a third level of security that has been subjected to a white hat security audit to guard the systems against potential intrusion.

Just last month, Walmart began working with August and Deliv to test in-fridge delivery of food. The companies have been testing the service in the Silicon Valley area with a select number of customers who have August smart locks. They are provided a one-time passcode for secure access to allow deliveries to be placed inside the home.

Were interested in providing additional solutions and options for customers to make it easy for them, Walmart spokesperson Ravi Jariwala told E-Commerce Times.

Walmart earlier this month announced the acquisition of Parcel, a startup that delivers meal kits, groceries and e-commerce purchases to homes in New York City. Walmart plans to use Parcel for last-mile deliveries of groceries and packages from Walmart and Jet.
Siftery on Thursday announced the launch of its new Product Alternatives search tool, which is designed to help companies find alternative B2B software products when replacements are needed.

The Product Alternatives tool allows users to search a database of more than 40,000 software options, Siftery said. Its artificial intelligence technology not only helps find suitable alternative products, but also ranks the various options. Recommendations take into account the products companies currently are using, as well as products that are in greater demand, based on trend data.

Click Image to Enlarge

While were building a best-in-class dataset of B2B software products and the companies that use them, whats even more interesting is building the tools and intelligence like this that can help more businesses find the software for their unique needs, said Ayan Barua, chief technology officer at Siftery.

Getting It Right

Companies, on average, use 20 different types of software at a time, noted Gerry Colyer, head of growth at Siftery.

Large enterprises sometimes use hundreds of different types of software, he told the E-Commerce Times, which can lead to added expense, redundant spending and other inefficiencies that need to be analyzed.

Sifterys engine uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to recommend the right software for a company, using specific algorithms based on a variety of inputs including size, industry, geography, whether its a startup or a more mature company, and other relevant factors.

The company analyzes data from nearly 1,000 substitute applications, including programs like Mandrill, Amazon EC2, Inspectlet, Intercom, WordPress, Lever, Zendesk and iCIMS. The data includes some interesting findings: Google Cloud Compute is the leading substitute for AWS EC2; Greenhouse and Lever are the top two competitors in the recruiting/ATS space; companies that want to replace iCIMS most often turn tp Oracle Taleo.

Track Meet

Siftery also has developed a premium product that is currently in beta, Siftery Track, that automatically tracks the software and cloud services companies are paying for. The program is designed to help users track real-time spending, identify duplicate payments, and discover apps they pay be paying for but no longer use.

Siftery Track allows companies to synchronize accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero, as well as credit card and bank account information, with the software spending platform.

Siftery aims to give companies a window into some of their most important business decisions  notably, where they are spending or leaking money  and to help users discover ways to become more productive.

Reducing Complexity

At its core, Siftery is aiming to reduce the complexities of an increasingly complicated B2B software market, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

With some 40,000 B2B software applications currently available, if a company decides to adopt a new program or migrate away from an existing platform, what to choose next can be difficult to the extreme, he told the E-Commerce Times.

However demand for Sifterys product will be limited, suggested Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Siftery looks like it will be helpful when an organization first deploys a new class of application, or when an organization is no longer satisfied with an app it is already using, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Companies may turn to it when they find that a certain application is too expensive, outdated or useful, Teich said, but those are infrequent transitions for any organization. After the first choice, it may be years before any organization reconsiders its choice, and then only under duress.
TransCanadas existing Keystone pipeline has already leaked a significant amount of oil three times in less than seven years. Thats a much higher rate than the company predicted in its risk assessments provided to regulators, Reuters reported.

Since the 2,147-mile

pipeline began operating in 2010, it has gushed 5,000-barrels just this month in Marshall County, South Dakota, and about 400 barrels each in Hutchinson County, South Dakota in 2016 and in Sargent County, North Dakota in 2011.

However, TransCanadas spill risk assessment estimated that the chance of a leak of more than 50 barrels to be not more than once every seven to 11 years over the entire length of the pipeline in the United States,

And in South Dakota, where the line has leaked twice, the estimate was for a spill no more than once every 41 years.

The spill risk analysis was conducted by international risk management company DNV GL, which did not respond to Reuters request for comment.

TransCanada could lose its permit to operate the Keystone in South Dakota if an investigation into this months massive leak determines that the pipeline operator violated its license. Conditions include construction standards and environmental requirements.

They testified that this is going to be a state-of-the-art pipeline, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission member Gary Hanson told Reuters. We want to know the pipeline is going to operate in a fashion that is safe and reliable. So far its not going well.

Nebraska regulators approved an alternative route for the Keystones controversial sister project, the

Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline, just days after the spill in South Dakota.

President Donald Trump pushed the KXL forward in March through an executive order, overturning President Obamas rejection of the project.

As it happens, TransCanadas spill risk estimate for the KXL is also very low2.2 leaks per decade with half of those at volumes of 3 barrels or less. Spills more than 1,000 barrels would occur at a rate of once per century, it estimated.

Meanwhile, cleanup efforts for the Nov. 16 spill are underway. TransCanada

announced Friday that it has recovered more than 44,000 gallons of oil so far.

Air quality monitoring continues regularly without concern and there have been no water issues or suspected risks to water wells. As a safety precaution, TransCanada sampled one residential water well yesterday at a location about 1.5 miles from the site to alleviate any concernsall test results were normal, the company said.

But in a setback for the pipeline operator, a federal judge on Wednesday allowed a key lawsuit against the KXLs permit to move forward,

The Hill reported. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris rejected a request from the Trump administration and KXL developers to throw out the lawsuit.
Mexico has created North Americas largest marine parkthe size of Illinoisin the Pacific Ocean to protect hundreds of species including rays, whales and sea turtles, an area referred as the Galapagos Islands of North America.

The announcement on Friday by Mexicos president Enrique Pena Nieto fulfilled an October promise to transform a 57,000-square mile swath of ocean holding four islands into a protected area. Mexicos National Commission of Protected Natural Areas took the largely uninhabited, volcanic islands 240 miles southwest of Baja California, and expanded a small reserve that extended six miles off their shores. The expansion came one year after the vast rectangular territory was declared a UNESCO world heritage site.

Previously, the six-mile strip of protection didnt offer sanctuary to a variety of species in the path of fishers, leaving sharks, rays and whales as either commercial fishing bycatch or targets of illegal fishing. Fridays announcement means all fishing activities will be banned within the protected expanse.

Con el Decreto del Parque Nacional Revillagigedo, el @gobmx reafirma su compromiso con la conservacion del patrimonio de @Mexico y el mundo. pic.twitter.com/RNfTruK6XM  Enrique Pena Nieto (@EPN) November 25, 2017

On shore, the Mexican presidents decree will ban the extraction of natural resources and construction of hotel infrastructure on all four islands. The Mexican Navy will maintain a small presence on the islands.

The Environment Ministry and Navy will carry out surveillance, equipment and training activities that will include remote monitoring in real time, environmental education directed at fishermen and sanctions against offenders, said President Pena Nieto in his announcement.

The move was described as an important precedent by Maria Jose Villanueva, the director of conservation of WWF in Mexico, according to local media.

With the goal of guaranteeing maximum protection of this World Heritage Site, our national legislations strongest conservation category will be used, and all forms of fishing will be prohibited, Alejandro Del Mazo Maza, a representative of Mexicos National Commission of Protected Natural Areas, said in an October statement.

Commercial fishing interests met the statement with criticism given that the expansion will affect seven percent of the Mexico tuna fleets Pacific range.

But there is a flip side for commercial fishing. Since the waters lie on the convergence of two ocean currents, the islands waters are a gathering point for migratory species. It is hoped that the newly afforded status will help populations recover from commercial and illegal fishings damage. This will mean an increase in fish stocks. The growing fish populations will likely spill over into commercial watersin effect mimicking what happened in Galapagos when the Ecuadorian government enacted a similar ban on fishing in 1998, turning adversaries into supporters.

The protection status is also expected to boost the dive industry, already worth an annual $15 million.
People's age, race, politics and religion influence opinions about the death penalty in this country. But it may not have the effect you expect.

It's complicated how those factors work, both over time and with outside influences, to shape views, according to a study published this month by two University of Nebraska professors  a criminologist and a sociologist.

Age matters, but it's not as simple as the older you get the more you support capital punishment. People in middle age are the most likely to support a death sentence, but that support generally peaks at age 50 or 55, then begins to trend downward.

Criminologist Amy Anderson and sociologist Philip Schwadel found being in a particular generation doesn't matter, but age and the time period matter a lot. Add to that the effects of political ideology, religious affiliation, gender and race.

The two professors, along with University of Arkansas criminal justice professor Robert Lytle, used data from four decades of the General Social Survey to find what's driving support and opposition to the death penalty.

Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a ban on executions, approval of people throughout the country has remained greater than 55 percent. But it has dropped from a high of 80 percent in 1995 to 55 percent in 2017.

Last year, after a high-profile campaign, 61 percent of Nebraskans voted to reject the Legislature's repeal of the death penalty. Only in Lancaster County did a greater number of people vote to retain the Legislature's decision.

The 75 percent of voters that supported the death penalty in Madison County, where three bank robbers killed five people in 2002, was one of the strongest areas of rejection of the Legislature's vote to repeal.

One of the more interesting findings of their recent study, Anderson said in an interview, was the effect on opinion of the violent crime rate. It's one of the largest predictors of why death penalty support changes over time.

Generally, the murder rate and the victimization rate don't affect support, but more the uniform crime reports compiled from law enforcement data, in which numbers can be driven by enforcement of crime or media coverage.

The actual crime rate may not change much, but it seems like it is from those enforcement numbers or heightened coverage, Anderson said.

In Nebraska, reported crime rose 2 percent from 2015 to 2016, but decreased by 3.4 percent in Lincoln, according to the Nebraska Crime Commission.

Murder and manslaughter decreased 21.5 percent, and robbery went down 5.7 percent. But reported cases of forcible rape increased throughout Nebraska.

After 2001, the U.S. crime rate started tracking downward, and then death penalty opinions for specific groups such as women, nonwhites, Democrats and independents begin trending down, Anderson said. But for groups of whites, Republicans and evangelical Protestants, it remained high.

For those groups for which support remained high, it could have been a kind of Sept. 11, 2001, effect, Anderson said. She would like to see further study on whether people's sources of news  such as those that hype crime  affect their opinion on the death penalty.

"You have groups that maybe don't understand the crime rate has actually gone down because from their news coverage it doesn't seem like it," she said.

Anderson said there's also a hypothesis that as you get older you become more conservative. But the study suggests that peaks toward the end of middle age, then trends back down.

She and the others speculated that support of the death penalty through middle age could result from having a family to protect, but as people age and begin facing their mortality, they may think of death and capital punishment differently.

Other influences they found on how people determine support or opposition to the death penalty were religion, race and political ideology.

Catholics are less likely and Christian fundamentalists more likely to support capital punishment. Support is higher among males, whites, Republicans and people who identify as conservative.

Public opinion about the death penalty is important to understand, the authors said, because it influences lawmakers when making policy, and even judges, when they interpret existing policy.

The U.S. Supreme Court used public opinion, justices said, to assess evolving standards of decency when it abolished the death penalty for people who were 18 or younger at the time of their crimes.

Public opinion is related to legality of capital punishment within states and influences counties in charges, prosecutions and convictions in murder and manslaughter cases, the study said.

Anderson undertook the study because she has an interest in public perceptions of criminal justice policies, she said.

"Crime's important. We put people in jail. It affects people's lives," she said. "So people's views of how they think policies work is important."
Nearly half the breeding population of endangered yellow-eyed

penguins on the island sanctuary of

Whenua Hou (Codfish Island) in New Zealand have vanished, according to a recent survey.

The

animalsalso known as hoiho in Maoriare known as the worlds rarest penguins and are only found in New Zealand.

Only 14 nests were found on the island compared to 24 last year, the

survey from the Department of Conservation revealed. Since the island is predator-free with limited human access, terrestrial influences are unlikely to be the cause, the department pointed out.

Forest & Bird, a Wellington-based conservation nonprofit, is blaming the commercial fishing industry for the loss, suggesting that the animals were most likely caught and drowned in the nets of fishing trawlers.

Unlike previous years where disease and high temperatures caused deaths on land, this year birds have disappeared at sea, said Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague in a statement. There is an active set net fishery within the penguins Whenua Hou foraging ground, and the indications are that nearly half the Whenua Hou hoiho population has been drowned in one or more of these nets.

Only three percent of the commercial trawlers had official observers onboard to report penguin deaths. Incidentally, Forest & Bird noted that all the recorded deaths came from the small percentage of boats that did have observers.

Its simply unbelievable that almost every penguin killed in the set net fishery was killed on a boat that had an official observer onboard, Hague said. As a first step, [the Ministry of Primary Industries, which oversees the fishing industry] needs to get more of their observers onto set net vessels and prioritize putting cameras on set netting boats.

Responsible set netters need to ask the question of their fellow fisherswhy is it that the only recorded by-kill of penguins appears to be on monitored fishing vessels? he asked.

The environmental group is urging government action and for the fishing industry to agree an immediate set of actions to eliminate the risks from set netting in the penguins feeding areas.

We are asking [the Department of Conservation] and [the Ministry of Primary Industries] what they intend to do to save our hoiho from extinction, because at current rates of decline we are on track to lose hoiho completely from mainland New Zealand. We have also written to the Minister of Conservation, expressing our concern, Hague said.

This bird is so special that it appears on New Zealands five dollar note, Hague said. The critical information about the Whenua Hou catastrophe should not have been held back from the public. Instead we need honest conversation with New Zealanders spelling out the actions that will be taken to prevent it happening again.

The yellow-eyed penguin is not faring any better elsewhere in the country. According to the Guardian, there are just 1,600 to 1,800 of these penguins left in the wild, down from nearly 7,000 in 2000. They face wide-ranging threats from climate change to disease.

While nest numbers are similar to last year from Dunedin northwards, there are declines further south, said Department of Conservation Threatened Species ambassador Nicola Toki. The estimate for the total southern east coast based on current counts is around 250 nests, down from 261 a year ago. This number is of concern given historically there were between 400-600 breeding pairs and the current number is the lowest for 27 years.
By Jan Haverkamp and Andrey Allakhverdov

A week ago, the Russian meteorological service, Roshydromet, reacted to a month-long standing request for information from Greenpeace. It triggered extraordinary interest among journalists world-wide in a rather unknown bit of nuclear physics: the radioactive substance ruthenium-106.

For weeks, two Russian state-run bodies, Rosatom and Roshydromet, made statements negating or misinterpreting each others information and the data coming from French and German sources. The International Atomic Energy Agencythe UN body in which all nuclear states are supposed to cooperatedid not give any clarity, and only a Russian energy propaganda site leaked what looks like the IAEAs measurement data. The Russian disinformation services were working overtime over social and even official media, making denial statements and sometimes pointing the finger to France and the Ukraine. In other words, there is no reliable information on where the cloud of this rare man-made radioactive substance came from.

The only thing that is clear, is that at its source there must have been a lot of itsufficient, according to the French nuclear research institute IRSN, to activate precautionary measures for some kilometers around. The scary thing is that we still dont know what caused it. Speculation abounds: medical waste burned in an incinerator? Or an incident in the recently started new vitrification plant in the nuclear reprocessing facility, Mayak, or like in 2001 in a similar installation in France? We know it was no satellite and no nuclear power plant.

The Russian nuclear giant Rosatom has a legacy of denying accidents at nuclear facilities and radiation pollution: The explosion at Mayak (also known as the Kyshtym disaster) in 1957 and continuous contamination of the area in the South Urals; the Chernobyl catastrophe that was denied in the first days, and the effects of which last until today; the 1993 explosion at the Siberian Chemical Combine where, among other isotopes, the same ruthenium-106 was released into the atmosphere and about 2,000 people were contaminated. The emergency situation in 2007 at Mayak resulted in the radioactive contamination of water; and many other incidents. In these cases, the event was immediately denied, then later reluctantly admitted after denial had become impossible.

Earlier this year, we saw similar denial and disinformation when particulate Iodine-131 was measured all over Europe and IRSN could only conclude the source was likely situated in Eastern Europe.

Rosatom is building, or is planning to build, nuclear power plants in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. It boasts a portfolio worth some $133 billion. We need a high level of safety culture: full transparency, immediate cooperation with regulatory authorities, the IAEA, international partners and competitors, whistleblower protection, and attention and care for the potential victims.

Rosatom has done nothing to demonstrate it is a responsible actor. No early and constructive publication of measurement data, no constructive analysis of what the source could be. Only denial, diversion of attention and shooting at the messenger. In order to get more clarity, Greenpeace saw no other possibility than to request an investigation from the public prosecutor. The fact that the source of this ruthenium-106 emission remains a mystery is a reason for concern in itself. But the fact that Rosatom, one of the largest nuclear operators in the world, reacts as it did makes it really scary.
Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke wants to reshape and repurpose 10 national monuments for drilling, logging and other commercial activities, but you wont see the same recommendations for existing monuments in MontanaZinkes home state.

Notably, if the former Congressmans plans take shape, Montanans might even find themselves with a new, 130,000-acre national monument in their state.

Tucked in the second-to-last page of the interior secretarys review of national monuments over the summer was the suggestion of creating three new monuments, including the Badger-Two Medicine area next to the Blackfeet Nation reservation by Glacier National Park in Montana.

National Parks Conservation Association spokesman Michael Jamison said it was confusing that Zinke is recommending protection for the Badger-Two Medicine while proposing to shrink other national monuments.

Everyone is grateful to see Secretary Zinke paying attention to permanent protection of the Badger-Two Medicine, Jamison told the Missoulian in September. But its not acceptable to propose monument protection of the Badger while at same time proposing to strip protections from Bears Ears and other sacred places for Native Americans. If monuments arent permanent, we dont want monument status. If its so transitory and impermanent it can be undone by the stroke of a pen in some future administration, its not permanent protection.

The Badger-Two Medicine area of Montanas Rocky Mountain Front has been threatened by oil and gas development for decades, according to the Wilderness Society. National monument status would give it protection from new development.

As the Huffington Post pointed out, in Zinkes review of national monuments, he noted that the Badger-Two Medicine site is considered sacred to the Blackfeet Nation. By the same token, the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah is also a sacred site to Navajo people and other tribes.

Montana residents are also scratching their heads over Zinkes new monument suggestion, NPR reported.

Land Tawney, head of the Montana-based Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, told the national radio station that Zinke wants to create a new monument due to political aspirations.

I think the secretary has talked about wanting to come back to Montana after hes done being secretary and potentially run for governor, Tawney said.

Zinke has also called for mining bans near Yellowstone National Park.

I think the people of Montana hold our special places very near and dear, he added. If you do not protect those places I think its a political nightmare for you in this state.

David Parker, a political scientist at Montana State University, also told NPR that Zinke might even run for president.

Whatever his ambitions are, Montana is important to that moving forward, Parker said. You cant say youre going to be on a national stage and be a serious candidate if you dont have strong support in your home state.

In his review, Zinke also suggested monument status for Camp Nelson in Kentucky where African-American soldiers received training during the Civil War and the home of assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss.

President Trump is expected to announce his decision about monuments in December.
Bolstered by new research and federal incentives, experts decided about a decade ago that better teacher evaluation was the path to better student achievement. A flood of states started toughening their teacher-evaluation systems, and many of them did it by incorporating student-test scores into educators ratings.

And while those policies are still in place in a majority of states, there are signs the tide is turning: Over the past two years, a handful of states have begun reversing mandates on using student-growth measuresand standardized-test scores, in particularto gauge teacher quality.

Six statesAlaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Oklahomahave now dropped requirements that evaluations include student-growth measures and begun letting districts decide what elements to include in assessing teachers, according to analyses from the Education Commission of the States and the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Connecticut, Nevada, and Utah passed policies that require some evidence of student learning but prohibit using state standardized-test scores for that purpose. Florida kept student-growth measures but now lets districts choose how theyre calculated.

Those are all signals [states] are backing away from the inclusion of student-growth or value-added measures, said Stephanie Aragon, a policy analyst for ECS.

The changes are due, at least partly, to the increased flexibility that states have under the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Some analysts, though, say its still unclear whether states will follow any sort of trend on teacher evaluation.

It is playing out and will play out differently across the 50 states, said Patrick McGuinn, an associate professor of political science and education at Drew University in New Jersey. The forces at play here are pushing in a couple different directions around teacher evaluation.

See Also: Whats Next for This States Tough Teacher Evaluation System?

Took the Hook Too Quickly

Teachers unions have generally fought the use of test scores in teacher evaluations, particularly when those evaluations lead to decisions about teachers tenure, pay, and dismissal.

The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association filed more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide between 2011 and 2015 related to teacher-evaluation systems. The AFT briefly championed the slogan VAM is a sham, referring to value-added measures, which use complicated algorithms to determine how much a teacher contributed to students academic growth over a year.

Arguments against using student-growth measures, as well as hang-ups encountered in implementing such systems, have been persuasive in some states.

Even for those who ultimately believe in the value of measuring outcomes and even accountability systems somehow linked to outcomes, the eagerness to jump really quickly on value-added measures and test-based accountability was premature, said Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Among some state leaders there is a recognition  that we took the hook too quickly and too eagerly here.

At the same time, legislatures and state school boards that pushed for the inclusion of test scores may be reluctant to turn their backs on those policies too soon. In some places, the evaluation systems were just getting going when ESSA was passed in December 2015.

I dont think anyone [is] overly enthusiastic to undo something theyd worked four to five years to roll out, said Michelle Exstrom, a program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In weighing whether to change these evaluation systems, state leaders are likely considering the time, energy, and resources theyve put into developing them. Theres a lot of sunk costs there, said McGuinn. And that dynamic works to sustain these systems for a bit.

Annual teacher evaluations were traditionally based on information from a single source: observations from principals.

Starting in 2009, a confluence of factors led to more than two dozen states stiffening their teacher-evaluation requirements. That year, TNTP (formerly the New Teacher Project) published a seminal report called The Widget Effect, which found that 99 percent of all teachers were being rated as satisfactory. Policymakers and education leaders began questioning the validity of evaluation systems that failed to distinguish among teachers.

The Obama administration began its Race to the Top program toward the end of that year. The competitive-grant program offered states financial incentives to include student-test data in their evaluation systems.

At about the same time, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began pouring millions of dollars into studying teacher quality. (Education Week currently receives financial support from the Gates Foundation for coverage of continuous improvement strategies in education.) The foundations high-profile Measures of Effective Teaching study was among the largest randomized experiments of its kind, collecting data on 3,000 teachers across six large districts in order to compare different methods for gauging teacher performance.

And then there were the waivers. Starting in 2011, the U.S. Department of Education began offering states relief from some of the stringent requirements in what was then the main federal education law, the No Child Left Behind Act. (Among other provisions, the law mandated that all students perform at grade level in reading and math by 2014.) To get that flexibilitywhich most states ultimately didstates had to commit to linking student-achievement outcomes to their teacher-evaluation systems.

With all those incentives in place, the number of states using student-growth data in their evaluations skyrocketed, going from just 15 states in 2009 to 43 at the end of 2015, according to NCTQ.

Despite making those commitments, states actually implemented the policies at different speeds. Tennessee, for instance, was an early implementer of this kind of evaluation systemand hit roadblocks right away. Nevada, on the other hand, passed a law in 2011 requiring the use of student-test scores but had yet to start incorporating the data five years later.

ESSA Offers Reprieve

But with the 2015 passage of ESSA, states almost immediately got a reprieve.

The bipartisan law put teacher evaluation back in states handsin essence renouncing the Obama administrations push for strict test-based accountability.

While six states dropped requirements around using student-growth in evaluations, they did so in different ways.

Some, like Arkansas and Kentucky, did so through state legislation. In fact, the National Conference of State Legislators has tracked bills in 10 states that proposed such changes.

We are just now starting to see the effects of ESSA on state legislation, and we dont anticipate seeing the majority of it till next legislative session, said Exstrom of NCSL.

A few other states, including Alaska, Connecticut, and North Carolina, passed policies backing away from student-growth requirements in teacher evaluations through their state boards of education.

Before ESSA, Kentucky required that student growth be a significant factor in teacher evaluationsand didnt allow teachers to receive a high final rating without a high rating on student scores. In 2017, it passed a bill that allowed districts to decide whether to include student achievement measures at all.

So far, though, a lot of districts have chosen not to make huge changes to their systems, said Robin Hebert, the director of the division of next-generation professionals at the Kentucky education department. Thats likely because theyre waiting for the specific state regulations to be released, which should happen in the spring.

The Kentucky Education Association, the state NEA affiliate, for its part, is pleased with the change.

KEA has always felt that student growth should not be one of the multiple measures included in the teacher-evaluation system, the groups president Stephanie Winkler wrote in an email.

However, Elizabeth Ross, the managing director for state policy at NCTQ, which advocates for measuring teacher effectiveness through objective data like test scores, called the Kentucky change a huge step backward for them.

In Arizona, Maine, and New Mexico, the legislatures approved bills to undo or reduce the weight of the student-achievement requirementonly to have them vetoed by their governors.

New Mexico, well known to have the toughest evaluation system in the country, has been at the center of the debate. The state education chief recently reduced the student-growth measure from 50 percent of a teachers evaluation to 35 percent.

Several other states, including Indiana and Louisiana, have convened task forces to look at the issue.

Changes Ahead?

Theres another way to view the state policy changes so far, some analysts say: There could have been more.

Some folks thought after ESSA, states would rush to undo this, said Exstrom.

In another sense, the swing toward including student achievement in teacher evaluations really didnt change much on the ground.

Just as before, nearly all teachers continued to get positive ratings, even in states that overhauled their evaluation systems, a recent study showed. (New Mexico, where nearly 1 in 4 teachers were rated ineffective, is an outlier.) Thats largely because principal observations still make up the bulk of the evaluations nationwideand principals almost never give bad reviews.

There was some thought that if you [toughen evaluation systems], a whole bunch of teachers out there will be able to demonstrate they arent able to do their job, said Exstrom. I think that just hasnt come to light. ... It hasnt caused the big traumatic effects some thought would happen. In fact, many states are more concerned with teacher shortages than they are with evaluation policies, she said.

Even so, the fate of teacher evaluations in many states may be dependent on the 2018 election results.

Probably the more Democratic victories you see in state legislatures and governorships, the more likely you are to see teacher-evaluation reforms rolled back to one extent or another, said McGuinn. What the electoral results are in states and at the national level in 2018certainly, it matters.
Santa Fe, N.M.

New Mexicos teachers, like their colleagues around the country, have had to adjust to a lot of change over the past half dozen yearsnew standards, tests, and evaluations. And many feel like they didnt have a say in any of it.

New Mexicos Public Education Departmentthe PEDis trying to change that. Hanna Skandera, the former state schools chief, put in place a spate of initiatives aimed at giving teachers a voice in policymaking. Her successor, Christopher Ruszkowski, has continued them.

The initiatives are about two years old. Its tough to say yet whether they will transform the tense relationship between the education agency and many teachers in the state. Some teachers feel empowered by the new forums, while others see them as little more than a public relations push.

See Also: Whats Next for This States Tough Teacher Evaluation System?

Skandera, who stepped down as the state education chief in June, wishes she had gotten teachers to the policymaking table earlier in her tenure. Instead, she delivered her message to superintendents and expected them to pass it on to principals, who would then relay it to teachers.

It was the worst game of telephone ever, Skandera said. Teachers wound up with misinformation. Some thought, for instance, that Skandera planned to fire every educator who got an ineffective rating in the states tough teacher-evaluation system. The education agency, she decided, would have to create its own tangible pathways for conversation.

Those pathways include an advisory council, made up of 26 teachers who meet quarterly in person and once a month by phone. There are also 50 teacher leader ambassadors, who have biweekly, virtual meetings to talk about different professional topics. They also receive leadership training. A 36-member literacy dream team helped develop curriculum materials, and a similar group is in the works for social studies.

The PED is also hoping to place a liaison in every one of the states nearly 850 schools, to improve teacher communication. So far, more than 600 teachers have applied for the posts. And two full-time teacher liaisons work at the department, both of them fresh from the classroom.

New Mexico isnt the only state thats been working to elevate teacher voice, said Olympia Meola, a spokeswoman for the Council of Chief State School Officers. But the Land of Enchantment is exemplary for its goal of having a state liaison in every school, she added.

Huge Lack of Trust

Some teachers involved in the education departments programs say they feel heard by policymakers for the first time.

I feel like there was a huge disconnect between the PED and the classroom prior to this starting, said Dawn Bilbrey, a 17-year veteran who teaches 8th grade language arts at Texico Middle School in Texico, near the states Texas border. I feel so empowered.

But others say the department has a long way to go if it really wants to earn teacher support.

Theres a huge lack of trust, and there has been a big lack of transparency, said Aiofe Runyan, a teacher at Kearny Elementary in Sante Fe, who is both her schools union representative and a member of the secretarys advisory council. I know they are trying to make things more transparent, she said, but many teachers in her school hadnt heard of the advisory council or PED liaisons. There is definitely some work to be done, she said.

Thats not for lack of trying, said Alicia Duran, one of the teacher liaisons working on the initiative. Shes sent emails to all New Mexico teachers, letting them know about these programs, professional development opportunities, and more.

Another initiative participant, Alanna Purdy, who teaches at Six Directions Indigenous School near Gallup, said it doesnt feel like all of the communication is a two-way street, at least not yet.

Its a nice idea, but I dont see it as being super effective at this stage of its development, Purdy said.

Purdy said she saw more give-and-take as a New Mexico fellow for Teach Plus, a national advocacy group aimed at elevating teacher voice. Teach Plus helped revamp the states educator-evaluation system and develop the states plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Over the summer, the education department also held its second annual teacher summit in Albuquerque, offering professional development and a chance to network with PED staff.

See Also: Are States Changing Course on Teacher Evaluation?

That was a beautiful opportunity, said Shelbi Simeone, an 8th grade special education teacher at Vista Middle School in Las Cruces, and a Teach Plus fellow. She was impressed that Ruszkowski let teachers air their concerns. He wanted to hear from us, he didnt get up there with the PowerPoint, she said.

Strong Voice

But Betty Patterson, the president of the National Education Association affiliate in New Mexico, saw the summit, held at a resort near Albuquerque, as a commercial for the department.

She sees the PEDs teacher initiatives as an attempt to circumvent unions. The NEA and the American Federation of Teachers represent about half the states districts, including the biggest population centers.

Im annoyed theyre going around us, she said.

Stephanie Ly, the president of the New Mexico branch of the AFT, said the department is handpicking teachers to participate in these initiatives.

I think its PEDs way to build a team around what their talking points are, she said.

But the departments two teacher liaisonsDuran and Isaac Rivas-Savellsaid they dont consider whether a teacher is part of a union when they look at applications for the various initiatives.

Everyone can say whatever they want, Duran said. Teachers are a strong voice. I know I came in pushing back against everything.

But Rivas-Savell did agree with the unions on one point: The teacher-voice initiatives are, in some ways, an effort to get around the state NEA and AFT, in part because interactions with the unions have been strained. Both unions have filed separate lawsuits against the teacher-evaluation system.

Because the relationship isnt there with the unions, we have had to create a different voice for teachers, Rivas-Savell said. And hes hoping the initiatives survive pending political changes when a new governor is elected, including Ruszkowskis possible departure. Were trying to establish roots that are so solid in every school that this work remains even after the new administration comes in.
BANGKOK, Thailand--Human facial expressions, big and small, have the ability to convey what a person is feeling. Imagine being able to bring out a wide range of human emotions in any still photo, and to do so, automatically.

Computer scientists at Tel-Aviv University collaborated with researchers at Facebook to develop a new computational technique that makes it possible for users to animate still images in a highly realistic way. The method enables subjects in a still photo to come to life and express various emotions. For instance, when a user "likes" a photo on Facebook or tweets a thumbs-up, the facial expression of his or her profile photo could automatically react with a smile or express an emotion of approval or happiness. The researchers demonstrate their technique on varying facial images, including selfies, old portraits and facial avatars. Their results were able to show portraits brought to life, depicting a person in the photo as though they were actually breathing, for example, or smiling or frowning.

"Facial expressions in humans convey not just major emotions, but through subtle variations, a rather nuanced view into the emotional state of a person," said Hadar Averbuch-Elor, computer science PhD at Tel-Aviv University and a lead author of the study. "This expressiveness is what we attempt to capture and animate in our work."

Coauthors of the research, "Bringing Portraits to Life," include Daniel Cohen-Or, professor of computer science at Tel-Aviv University, and Facebook research scientists Michael F. Cohen and Johannes Kopf. The team will present their innovative work at SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 in Bangkok, 27 November to 30 November. This annual conference and exhibition showcases the world's leading professionals, academics and creative minds at the forefront of computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Given a single image, the researchers' method automatically generates photo-realistic video clips that express various emotions. Previous facial animation techniques typically assume the availability of a video of the target face, which exhibits variation in pose and expression. In this work, the researchers use as input only a single image of a target face to animate it.

"This makes our method more widely applicable, to the near endless supply of portraits or selfies on the Internet," explained Cohen. "We animate the single target face image from a driving video, allowing the target image--the still photo--to come alive and mimic the expressiveness of the subject in the driving video."

To this end, the target image in the still photo is animated by a series of geometric warps that imitate the facial transformations in the driving video. Previous work has so far been restricted to animating only the face region but, within limits, this new method can animate the full head and upper body. The researchers manipulate the face by lightweight 2D warps and are able to create moderate head movement that is depicted very realistically without having to convert or project the image to 3D. Technically, the main challenge, according to the researchers, was to preserve the identity of the person's face in the still photo while manipulating it with warps and features taken and transferred from frames of a driving video.

The new method also includes continuous transfer of fine-scale details, such as facial wrinkles and creases while avoiding so-called "outlier" wrinkles that are caused by cast shadows or misalignment between the warped video frames. When needed, their computational technique can also automatically fill in "hidden" facial details. For instance, the interior of the mouth can be depicted even if the person in the target photo has his/her mouth closed.

In a user study, participants were presented with 24 randomly selected videos, eight of which were real. They were asked to rate them as real or not real based on how the animation appeared meaning 50 percent would be a perfect score. The researchers' animated videos were identified as real 46 percent of the time. The "happy" animations were perceived as the most real (identified as real 58 percent of the time), and the "surprise" ones perceived as less real (identified as real 37 percent of the time).

In the future, the team intends to build on this work by combining their technique with 3D methods or coupling it with artificial intelligence to create an interactive avatar starting from a single photograph.

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About SIGGRAPH Asia 2017

The 10th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia will take place in Bangkok, Thailand at the at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) from 27 - 30 November 2017. The annual event held in Asia attracts the most respected technical and creative people from all over the world who are excited by research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education and emerging technologies. The four-day SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 conference includes a diverse range of juried programs, such as the Art Gallery, Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Emerging Technologies, Posters, Symposium on Education, Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications, Symposium on Visualization, Technical Briefs, Technical Papers, VR Showcase and Workshops. A three-day exhibition held from 28 - 30 November 2017 will offer a business platform for industry players to market their innovative products and services to the computer graphics and interactive techniques professionals and enthusiasts from Asia and beyond.

About ACM SIGGRAPH

The Association of Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (ACM SIGGRAPH) sponsors SIGGRAPH Asia 2017. Founded in 1947, ACM is an educational and scientific society uniting the world's computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. The ACM SIGGRAPH deals with all aspects of graphical user/computer communication and manipulation: hardware, languages, data structure, methodology, and applications
BINGHAMTON, NY- Some men tend to confuse sexual interest with consent, regardless of the situation, according to a new paper co-written by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Sexual victimization of women by men is a growing societal concern that is present in all environments of day-to-day life, according to the researchers. More specifically, instances of sexual violence are higher than any other crimes amongst college students. In response to this growing epidemic, faculty at Binghamton University and Rush University in Chicago, Ill., sought to identify a host of situational and dispositional factors that may predict college men's likelihood to engage in sexual misconduct.

The study was comprised of 145 heterosexual male students attending a large university in the southeastern region of the United States. The participants were exposed to a series of hypothetical sexual scenarios. Researchers found that most men tended to confuse sexual interest with consent to sex, but that perceptions of consent varied more as a function of situational factors as opposed to personal characteristics of the men.

"We found that the way in which the woman communicated her sexual intentions, that is verbal refusal versus passive responding, had the largest effect of men's perceptions," said Binghamton University Associate Professor of Psychology Richard Mattson. "However, there was also evidence of a precedence effect."

The precedence effect occurs when men equate the occurrence of some past sexual behavior with future consent to high levels of intimacy, in some cases even in the face of direct refusal by the woman.

Similarly, the acceptance of rape myths (e.g., "When a woman says no, she really means yes") and adherence to hypermasculine beliefs only became stronger when the woman's sexual intentions were ambiguously communicated.

"However, our findings also suggest that some men were earnestly attempting to determine whether consent was given, but were nevertheless relying on questionable sexual scripts to disambiguate the situation," said Mattson.

Aspects of the college experience undeniably influence students, said Mattson. A sudden decrease in parental supervision and the consumption of alcohol, as examples, underscores an increased risk of involvement in sexually coercive situations among the collegiate setting. Yet, a collegiate setting can provide a sphere of influence to educate young men and women at a time when patterns of sexual behavior are developing. The study's findings highlight the utility of risk reduction programs that empower women to assertively communicate their sexual desires, educate men on the inferential limits of perceived sexual desire, and reinforce unambiguous affirmative behavior as the standard for consent, he said.

Graduate student Allison McKinnon and undergraduate research assistant Gonzalo Quinones are currently developing an extension of this project that expands the range of variables that might be influencing perceptions of sexual desire and consent.

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The paper, "Situational and Dispositional Determinants of College Men's Perception of Women's Sexual Desire and Consent to Sex: A Factorial Vignette Analysis," was published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
BERKELEY, CA / ARGONNE, IL - A team of Department of Energy (DOE) scientists at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) has discovered the fastest magnesium-ion solid-state conductor, a major step towards making solid-state magnesium-ion batteries that are both energy dense and safe.

The electrolyte, which carries charge back and forth between the battery's cathode and anode, is a liquid in all commercial batteries, which makes them potentially flammable, especially in lithium-ion batteries. A solid-state conductor, which has the potential to become an electrolyte, would be far more fire-resistant.

Researchers at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Argonne National Laboratory were working on a magnesium battery, which offers higher energy density than lithium, but were stymied by the dearth of good options for a liquid electrolyte, most of which tend to be corrosive against other parts of the battery. "Magnesium is such a new technology, it doesn't have any good liquid electrolytes," said Gerbrand Ceder, a Berkeley Lab Senior Faculty Scientist. "We thought, why not leapfrog and make a solid-state electrolyte?"

The material they came up with, magnesium scandium selenide spinel, has magnesium mobility comparable to solid-state electrolytes for lithium batteries. Their findings were reported in Nature Communications in a paper titled, "High magnesium mobility in ternary spinel chalcogenides." JCESR, a DOE Innovation Hub, sponsored the study, and the lead authors are Pieremanuele Canepa and Shou-Hang Bo, postdoctoral fellows at Berkeley Lab.

"With the help of a concerted effort bringing together computational materials science methodologies, synthesis, and a variety of characterization techniques, we have identified a new class of solid conductors that can transport magnesium ions at unprecedented speed," Canepa said.

Collaboration with MIT and Argonne

The research team also included scientists at MIT, who provided computational resources, and Argonne, who provided key experimental confirmation of the magnesium scandium selenide spinel material to document its structure and function.

Co-author Baris Key, a research chemist at Argonne, conducted nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy experiments. These tests were among the first steps to experimentally prove that magnesium ions could move through the material as rapidly as the theoretical studies had predicted.

"It was crucial to confirm the fast magnesium hopping experimentally. It is not often that the theory and the experiment agree closely with each other," Key said. "The solid state NMR experiments for this chemistry were very challenging and would not be possible without dedicated resources and a funding source such as JCESR. As we've shown in this study, an in-depth understanding of short- and long-range structure and ion dynamics will be the key for magnesium ion battery research."

NMR is akin to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is routinely used in medical settings, where it shows hydrogen atoms of water in human muscles, nerves, fatty tissue, and other biological substances. But researchers can also tune NMR frequency to detect other elements, including the lithium or magnesium ions that are found in battery materials.

The NMR data from the magnesium scandium selenide material, however, involved material of unknown structure with complex properties, making them challenging to interpret.

Canepa noted the challenges of testing materials that are so new. "Protocols are basically non-existent," he said. "These findings were only possible by combining a multi-technique approach (solid-state NMR and synchrotron measurements at Argonne) in addition to conventional electrochemical characterization."

Doing the impossible

The team plans to do further work to use the conductor in a battery. "This probably has a long way to go before you can make a battery out of it, but it's the first demonstration you can make solid-state materials with really good magnesium mobility through it," Ceder said. "Magnesium is thought to move slowly in most solids, so nobody thought this would be possible."

Additionally, the research identified two related fundamental phenomena that could significantly affect the development of magnesium solid electrolytes in the near future, namely, the role of anti-site defects and the interplay of electronic and magnesium conductivity, both published recently in Chemistry of Materials.

Bo, now an assistant professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said the discovery could have a dramatic effect on the energy landscape. "This work brought together a great team of scientists from various scientific disciplines, and took the first stab at the formidable challenge of building a solid-state magnesium battery," he said. "Although currently in its infancy, this emerging technology may have a transformative impact on energy storage in the near future."

Gopalakrishnan Sai Gautam, another co-author who was an affiliate at Berkeley Lab and is now at Princeton, said the team approach made possible by a DOE hub such as JCESR was critical. "The work shows the importance of using a variety of theoretical and experimental techniques in a highly collaborative environment to make important fundamental discoveries," he said.

Ceder was excited at the prospects for the finding but cautioned that work remains to be done. "There are enormous efforts in industry to make a solid-state battery. It's the holy grail because you would have the ultimate safe battery. But we still have work to do. This material shows a small amount of electron leakage, which has to be removed before it can be used in a battery."

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Funding for the project was provided by the DOE Office of Science through the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, a Department of Energy Innovation Hub. The Advanced Photon Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Argonne, added vital data to the study regarding the structure of the solid conductor. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Berkeley Lab, provided computing resources. Other co-authors on the paper are Juchaun Li of Berkeley Lab, William Richards and Yan Wang of MIT, and Tan Shi and Yaosen Tian of UC Berkeley.

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.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state, and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership, and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, is a major partnership that integrates researchers from many disciplines to overcome critical scientific and technical barriers and create new breakthrough energy storage technology. Led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, partners include national leaders in science and engineering from academia, the private sector, and national laboratories. Their combined expertise spans the full range of the technology-development pipeline from basic research to prototype development to product engineering to market delivery.
Amsterdam, November 27, 2017 - The income gap between the rich and poor in the United States has reached its highest levels since the Great Depression. Given past evidence that a wider rich-poor gap can be harmful to a population's health, tax policies that widen or narrow this gap may influence the overall health of a society. In a new study published in Preventive Medicine, Daniel Kim, MD, DrPH, examined actual and recently proposed tax policies and projected how these policies could affect the total number of deaths in the United States. He determined that only policies that considerably raise top federal income tax rates and that redistribute tax revenue to lower-income households are likely to bring large reductions in the total number of Americans that die annually.

"Just over a month ago, the White House and Republicans unveiled a broad outline of a plan for fundamental changes in the US federal income tax code," commented Professor Kim, of the Department of Health Sciences, Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA, and the EHESP School of Public Health, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France. "House and Senate Republicans are now drafting specific tax proposals that are slated to then get signed as a bill into law by President Trump by the end of this year. If enacted, this would represent the first major federal tax reform in more than 30 years. During this process, it is critical that policymakers consider the potential public health implications of these tax reforms."

Professor Kim analyzed changes in tax policy based on detailed proposals by Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders during the 2016 US Presidential campaign. These two contrasting proposals capture the kinds of changes in federal tax law that originate from both sides of the political spectrum. In addition, Professor Kim extended the Sanders proposal with both higher top bracket tax rates and the redistribution of tax revenue from taxpayers in the three highest tax brackets (with incomes $500,000 or more) to lower-income households.

Based on this analysis, Professor Kim projected that 29,689 more deaths per year from all causes would result from the Trump plan and that 31,302 fewer deaths per year would occur from the Sanders plan. Under the modified Sanders plan including higher top rates, he estimated that there would be 68,919 fewer deaths per year, while under the modified Sanders plan with redistribution, a staggering 333,504 fewer deaths per year would be expected.

The public-use tax file that Professor Kim obtained from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service contains 139,651 tax records that are representative of the 142.6 million tax returns filed by Americans. Using TAXCALC, a microsimulation software package, Professor Kim calculated tax liabilities and after-tax income for those tax returns according to the tax law changes for each proposal. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income distribution among a population's residents, was then calculated. By simulating changes in tax rates (including for ordinary income and long-term capital gains and dividend income), exemptions and deductions, changes in after-tax income and average changes in the state-level, Gini coefficient for all 50 U.S. states were estimated. Finally, these changes in income inequality and income levels through redistribution were used to project changes in mortality according to past estimates of these associations.

Overall, the results of Professor Kim's study support an inverse relationship between federal marginal income tax rates and income inequality. Historically, since 1918, this seems to also be the case: as the top federal tax rate rises, the national share of income of the top 1% falls, and vice versa. Notably, the 75% top income tax bracket rates that Professor Kim showed were linked to large reductions in mortality have precedence, with similarly high tax rates in the 1970s up until 1981. In addition, public support for income redistribution through higher taxes on the wealthy has now reached historic peak levels: according to Gallup polls in 2013 and 2014, a majority (52%) of Americans agree that the government should redistribute wealth through heavier taxes on the rich.

"The take-home message from this study is that policies that both substantially raise federal income tax rates and redistribute tax revenue appear needed if we want to see big reductions in the total numbers of Americans that die each year. Current tax proposals through the House and Senate fall well short of these top rates and do not include redistribution. At this critical time of tax reform, widening gaps between the rich and poor and growing public support for higher taxes and redistribution to combat inequality, policymakers should consider joint federal tax and redistributive policies to reduce the burden of mortality among Americans," said Professor Kim.

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Notes for editors

The article is "Projected impacts of federal tax policy proposals on mortality burden in the United States: A microsimulation analysis," by Daniel Kim, MD, DrPH (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.10.021). It will appear in Preventive Medicine published by Elsevier. It is openly available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009174351730378X.

Full text of this article is available to credentialed journalists upon request. Please contact the Elsevier Life Sciences Marketing Department at +31 20 4852129 or prevmed-media@elsevier.com. For further information or to schedule an author interview, journalists should contact Professor Daniel Kim, MD, DrPH, at d.kim@northeastern.edu.

For questions about Preventive Medicine, please contact Editor-in-Chief Eduardo L. Franco at +1 514-398-6032 or prev.med@mcgill.ca.

About Preventive Medicine

Founded in 1972 by Ernst Wynder, Preventive Medicine is an international scholarly journal that provides prompt publication of original articles on the science and practice of disease prevention, health promotion, and public health policymaking. Preventive Medicine rewards innovation, publishing insightful observational studies, thoughtful explorations of health data, unsuspected new angles for existing hypotheses, robust randomized controlled trials, and impartial systematic reviews. Preventive Medicine's ultimate goal is to publish research that will have an impact on the work of practitioners of disease prevention and health promotion, as well as of related disciplines. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/preventive-medicine

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, Scival, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contact

Elsevier Life Sciences Marketing

+31 20 4852129

prevmed-media@elsevier.com
A team of astronomers used data from both the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA's Gaia satellite to directly measure the 3D motions of individual stars in a nearby galaxy. The achieved accuracy is better than anything previously measured for a galaxy beyond the Milky Way. The motions provide a field test of the currently-accepted cosmological model and also measure the trajectory of the galaxy through space. The results are published in Nature Astronomy.

Astronomers from the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and Leiden Observatory, both in the Netherlands, used data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA's Gaia space observatory to measure the motions of stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy. The Sculptor Dwarf is a satellite galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, 300 000 light-years away from Earth.

Only by combining the datasets from these two successful ESA missions -- produced more than 12 years apart -- could the scientists directly measure the exact 3D motions of stars within the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy [1]. The is the first time this has been achieved with such accuracy for a galaxy other than the Milky Way [2].

Davide Massari, lead author of the study, describes the precision of the research: "With the precision achieved we can measure the yearly motion of a star on the sky which corresponds to less than the size of a pinhead on the Moon as seen from Earth." This kind of precision was only possible due to the extraordinary resolution and accuracy of both instruments. Also the study would not have been possible without the large interval of time between the two datasets which makes it easier to determine the movement of the stars.

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, which are among the most dark matter dominated objects in the Universe. This makes them ideal targets for investigating the properties of dark matter. In particular, understanding how dark matter is distributed in these dwarf galaxies allows astronomers to test the validity of the currently-accepted cosmological model. However, dark matter cannot be studied directly.

"One of the best ways to infer the presence of dark matter is to examine how objects move within it," explains Amina Helmi, co-author of the paper. "In the case of dwarf spheroidals, these objects are stars."

The information gathered about the 3D motion of stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy can be translated directly into knowledge of how its total mass -- including dark matter -- is distributed. The new results show that stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy move preferentially on elongated radial orbits. This indicates that the density of dark matter increases towards the centre instead of flattening out. These findings are in agreement with the established cosmological model and our current understanding of dark matter, taking into account the complexity of Sculptor's stellar populations.

As a side effect of the study, the team also presented a more accurate trajectory of the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy as a whole as it orbits the Milky Way. Their results show that it is moving around the Milky Way in a high-inclination elongated orbit that takes it much further away than previously thought. Currently, it is nearly at its closest point to the Milky Way, but its orbit can take it as far as 725 000 light-years away.

"With these pioneering measurements, we enter an era where measuring 3D motions of stars in other galaxies will become routine and will be possible for larger star samples. This will mostly be thanks to ESA's Gaia mission," concludes Massari.

###

Notes

[1] The team measured the proper motions of roughly a hundred stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy. For a smaller subset of ten stars, chosen among those with the smallest errors, the astronomers could also retrieve from the literature an estimate of the radial velocity, which quantifies the stellar motion along the line of sight. Using the proper motion and radial velocity measurements, they were able to reconstruct how these stars move in three dimensions.

[2] The data used contain images taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002. Newer positions of individual stars were taken from the Gaia, which was observed between 2014 and 2015.

More information

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Gaia is an ESA mission to survey one billion stars in our Galaxy and local galactic neighbourhood in order to build the most precise 3D map of the Milky Way and answer questions about its structure, origin and evolution. A large pan-European team of expert scientists and software developers, the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC), located in and funded by many ESA member states, is responsible for the processing and validation of Gaia's data, with the final objective of producing the Gaia Catalogue.

The international team of astronomers in this study consists of D. Massari (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), M. A. Breddels (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), A. Helmi (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), L. Posti (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), A. G. A. Brown (Leiden University, The Netherlands) and E. Tolstoy (University of Groningen, The Netherlands).

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESA/ATG medialab, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Links

Images of Hubble - http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/

Gaia webpage - http://sci.esa.int/gaia/

ESA Gaia release - http://sci.esa.int/gaia/59806

Science paper - http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/releases/science_papers/heic1719/heic1719a.pdf

Contacts

Davide Massari

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute

Groningen, The Netherlands

Tel: +31 50363 4094

Email: massari@astro.rug.nl

Amina Helmi

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute

Groningen, The Netherlands

Tel: +31 50363 4045

Email: ahelmi@astro.rug.nl

Mathias Jager

ESA/Hubble, Public Information Officer

Garching bei Munchen, Germany

Cell: +49 176 62397500

Email: mjaeger@partner.eso.org
The Carpathians are one of the last bastions of biodiversity left in Europe, but poaching and uncontrolled logging endanger its survival. There are several international agreements for environmental protection laws that have been ratified by Carpathian countries, but implementing these laws and fighting crimes against wildlife has not been easy. For this reason, UNEP and the WWF commissioned regional development experts from Eurac Research to study the situation; to identify the areas of greatest concern; and to make recommendations to local governments and international authorities. Today (22 November) in Brussels, researchers are reporting to Daniel Calleja Crespo (the Director of the Directorate-General for Environment of the European Commission), to European Parliament members, as well as to representatives of international organisations.

In the international ranking of the most profitable illegal activities, environmental crimes occupy fourth place after drug trafficking, trafficking of human beings and corruption. In the Carpathians, this phenomenon is aggravated by the difficulty of implementing and enforcing international protocols at a national level. Based on questionnaires and meetings with environmentalists, researchers, public authorities and local stakeholders, Eurac Research experts identified the most pressing environmental threats in the Carpathians and suggested some solutions. Within the identified problem areas, researchers focused their attention on the poaching of birds and large carnivores; the illegal fishing of sturgeons; and illegal logging. Southeast Europe is a popular area for the illegal capture of birds, due to its biodiversity, its many species native birds, and its location on the migratory route between Europe and Africa. Wild birds caught in Serbia, for example, are often illegally sold to European restaurants.

Interviews with local stakeholders helped researchers to get a clearer picture of the context: "Environmental inspectors who monitor compliance with the law are not allowed to arrest offenders, or even to investigate possible offenses," explains Isidoro De Bortoli, one of the authors of the study. "Moreover, there is no clear distinction between administrative sanctions and penalties; it is up to the public prosecutor to decide how to deal with each single case. A high level of corruption is still the biggest plague." This confusing legal framework is coupled with a lack of environmental awareness and the conviction that humans must impose their supremacy over nature. "Bears, wolves and lynxes are exhibited as trophies. Furthermore, in economically difficult situations, poaching is a low risk way to increase income," adds Filippo Favilli, another author of the report.

To increase the public awareness and to ensure that environmental laws are respected and offenders punished, researchers have drafted recommendations, including reinforcing the training of judges and police and encouraging their collaboration; creating anti-poaching teams and providing them with the necessary equipment to control the territories, in particular cross-border areas; increasing sanctions; using geo-referencing systems to identify the areas where poachers operate; and to promote the enhancement of national natural heritage and environmental tourism.

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As American families sit down for the traditional turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, some will be giving thanks for a wild bird that is truly free range. Meleagris gallopavo, the wild turkey, has steadily gained in popularity with hunters since successful restoration efforts put it back on the table in the around the new millenium, bucking the trend of declining participation in hunting throughout the United States. The distinguished native bird is now second in popularity only to white tailed deer.

The recovery of the wild turkey is a great restoration success story. But concerns have been rising over the specter of declines in some areas. Lack of reliable tools to estimate abundance of turkeys has increased uncertainty for managers. So wildlife researchers at Michigan State University investigated how to harvest wild turkeys sustainably when information is imperfect.

"We are now learning what we didn't understand about turkey population dynamics. There is some concern among managers, because we are starting to see patterns of declining productivity and recruitment in some areas. That's complicated by the fact that most areas haven't had good, scientifically defensible methods of monitoring abundance of turkeys, and so have very uncertain knowledge of current population status," said Bryan Stevens, who led the study as part of his dissertation work at Michigan State.

Stevens and colleagues describe a formal evaluation process for managing wild game when rigorous abundance estimates not available, in a study published this fall in the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecological Applications.

They discuss a case study on the management of wild turkey harvests specifically, but present a structured decision making process that can be applied more generally, including in situations in which hunting provides an essential source of food for local people.

"As we dug into the turkey data, we realized this was a worldwide problem. How do we decide how to set management policies for sustainable harvests of wildlife when we don't have knowledge about abundance?" said Stevens, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Idaho. Stevens led the study as part of his dissertation work at Michigan State.

Harvest benchmarks are typically based on studies of regional, defined populations of turkeys in specific locations. But ecologists know that localized environmental conditions affect critical population parameters, like how many chicks females produce that survive to adulthood. Turkey populations do not behave identically, everywhere.

To get around the information deficit, Stevens and his coauthors reviewed the available field studies, examining the differences in chick-rearing productivity and the rate of survival to adulthood of young birds. They looked at the relative vulnerability of males and females to hunters in different locations. Based on this observed heterogeneity, they incorporated ranges into their models rather than specific values. They assessed how sustainable turkey harvests responded to changes in productivity and vulnerability, to determine which attributes were most sensitive to uncertainty. By taking uncertainty about population and harvest parameters into account, the authors say, managers can apply principles of structured decision making to set harvest targets when they do not have the infrastructure to rigorously track changes in their turkey populations from year to year.

In some cases, this approach may mean more conservative limits than would be recommended if more information were available to tailor target reference points for the particular locality.

Stevens and his coauthors also talked with wildlife advocacy groups and hunters about their values and priorities in order to set performance objectives. Though he heard minor concerns from the farming sector, most people enjoy large populations of turkeys. Turkeys do far less damage to crops than deer or raccoons and do not inspire the kind of controversy that smolders in discussions of sustaining large predators.

"Lots of people like seeing turkeys in parks and reserves, and even in their backyards. The turkey is fairly non-controversial," said Stevens.

Hunters in Michigan were most interested in sustaining their traditional opportunities to hunt during the spring.

Michigan, like much of the U.S., has two turkey-hunting seasons. The spring season allows only males to be taken. In the fall, after the year's chicks have reached adult size, both sexes may be hunted. Because turkeys are polygamous, their populations are more sentive to the loss of hens during the fall hunt than the loss of males during spring. The researchers incorporated the hunters' preferences for the male-only spring hunt into their calculation of harvest targets.

They recommended that, when managers have no information about the new additions to the turkey population and the relative vulnerability of hens to hunters, fall harvest rates be no higher than 4, 2, or 1 percent of fall turkey populations when the corresponding male-only harvest in the spring had been low, medium, or high.

Wild turkeys came under intensive management in the 1940s when state and federal agencies were first organizing in response to vanishing wildlife.

At the time of the legendary first Thanksgiving, wild turkeys roamed the future United States from southern Maine to Florida, west to Texas and parts of the Southwest and Rocky Mountains. Henry David Thoreau was already lamenting the disappearance of wild turkey and other wildlife from Massachusetts in his journal in 1856. By the 1930s, unregulated hunting and loss of woodland habitat had extirpated the turkey from much of its native range. Conservationists worried that the iconic bird might become extinct.

But the turkey bounced back surprisingly well with the end of commercial markets and unregulated hunting for wild game, and large-scale restoration and reintroduction efforts. It has returned to its historic range and beyond.

Habitat protections and changes in land use that led to the return of eastern forests gave the birds space to roam. Hunting groups played a large role in restoration, Stevens says, helping agencies to translocate birds from remnant populations in places like the Ozarks, and are still involved in planting wildlife-friendly vegetation and other habitat management. The birds also adapted better to agricultural landscapes and human presence than expected.

Early wildlife managers underestimated the resilience of the turkey, in part because at the time restoration began, biologists believed the birds required large tracts of mature forest. Turkeys actually do just fine on the edges of human occupied spaces, as long as they have food and trees for roosting. The males' distinctive gobble can even be heard in green spaces in the heart of industrial Lansing, Michigan.

"Adaptable is a good word to describe turkeys. They are really good at surviving on the fringes of developed country as long as there is food. They eat a lot of different things: bugs, grains, nuts, forbes. In agriculture-dominated landscapes they eat the residual grains, corn, and soybeans left after harvest."

"Restoration of wild turkeys was really successful. The populations appeared to go up, up, and up. Now restoration is essentially finished, and the task is to determine how we can best manage the birds sustainably into the future, given existing uncertainties and the changes in demongraphy we are starting to observe," said Stevens.

###

Journal Article:

Identifying target reference points for harvesting assessment-limited wildlife populations: a case study. (2017) Stevens, B. S., Bence, J. R., Porter, W. F. and Jones, M. L. Ecological Applications 27: 1916-1931. doi:10.1002/eap.1577

Authors:

Bryan S. Stevens: Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA

James R. Bence, William F. Porter, Michael L. Jones: Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world's largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 9,000 member Society publishes five journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society's Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at http://www.esa.org.
Study shows British citizens who fear immigrants were more likely to have voted to leave the EU, and identifies collective narcissism as a new voting variable

As concerns increase about Russian influence on the UK's Brexit referendum, new research provides evidence that British citizens who agreed that immigrants threaten their values and way of life were more likely to have voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. The study, published today in open access journal Frontiers in Psychology, shows that this xenophobia, or a fear of other groups, was a strong predictor of a Brexit vote regardless of people's age, gender or education.

In June 2016, almost 52% of British citizens who participated in a referendum on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, commonly known as Brexit, voted to leave. Following this largely unexpected result, some explanations pointed to the role of a voter's age, gender or education in their voting behavior while others wondered whether the "Leave campaign" might have mobilized xenophobic attitudes by emphasizing a fear of foreigners.

To investigate these questions further, researchers from the UK, Poland and Portugal measured the effect of xenophobia -- or the belief that immigrants to the UK threaten the country - on voting behavior. They found that this belief was strongly related to the tendency to vote in favor of Brexit and to be happy with the referendum's outcome, regardless of age, gender or education.

Led by Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, at the Goldsmiths, University of London, the researchers then tried to establish what kind of people believe that immigrants threaten the UK. They found three distinct groups: authoritarians, who fear other groups will threaten the traditional status quo in their country; people high in social dominance orientation, who compete for their group's dominance over immigrants; and collective narcissists, who believe the UK is so great it is entitled to privileged treatment but complain this 'true importance and value' is not recognized by other countries. Importantly, the research also found that people who just thought it was great to be British or just valued their British identity were not more likely to reject immigrants or vote for Brexit.

Although other studies have implicated right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in voting for radical right-wing parties because of the perceived threat of immigrants, collective narcissism has almost never been examined in the context of political behaviors such as voting.

Dr Golec de Zavala says this research introduces collective narcissism as a new variable to consider when making predictions for political behavior. "From Brexit, Trump and support for Vladimir Putin in Russia to the nationalist, ultra- conservative government in Poland, studies from our and other labs show that collective narcissism systematically predicts prejudice, aggression and a tendency to interpret innocent behaviors as provocation to the national group," she says.

The researchers caution that as the study was conducted after the Brexit referendum, it may be that the 'yes' vote increased people's xenophobia. It is clear from the research that the vote was associated with prejudice, but this relationship might have been strengthened by the outcome of the referendum because people felt more empowered to express xenophobic attitudes.

Nevertheless, Dr Golec de Zavala sees important value in the research for our political leaders. "Collective narcissism is not a good attitude to have," she says. "We should study how this becomes a group norm and find ways of preventing it from happening and spreading. We should vet our leaders more carefully in this respect because leaders have the power to make such attitudes normative in their groups."

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NEW YORK, NY--November 27, 2017--The number of laboratory services associated with diagnoses of anaphylactic food reaction increased 871 percent from 2007 to 2016, and the amount of billed charges for those services increased even more--5,390 percent--in the same period, according to research from FAIR Health, a national, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information. In a new white paper, Food Allergy in the United States: Recent Trends and Costs--An Analysis of Private Claims Data, FAIR Health analyzed data from its database of more than 24 billion privately billed healthcare claims to study many aspects of food allergy, including geography; anaphylactic food reactions (severe, life-threatening reactions to certain foods); age; gender; places of service; most common treatments and services; and costs and number of services per patient. This white paper has been made possible in part with the generous funding of Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE).

Other findings reported in the white paper include:

Geographic Patterns

In many states, claim lines with food allergy diagnoses represented an increasing share of all medical claim lines from 2009 to 2016. The association between states and food allergy fluctuated over time. In 2009, the five states with the highest percentage of claim lines with food allergy diagnoses compared to all medical claim lines were (in order from highest) New York, Georgia, Colorado, North Dakota and Ohio. The top five states in 2016 were (in order from highest) North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Connecticut. Only North Dakota remained in the top five in both years.

Anaphylactic Food Reactions

From 2007 to 2016, claim lines with diagnoses of anaphylactic food reactions rose 377 percent.

Age

Different allergies were associated with different age groups. In the period 2007-2016, the age group 6-10 years accounted for 28 percent of all claim lines with peanut allergy diagnoses--but only 9 percent of all claim lines with food additive allergy diagnoses. Conversely, the age group 51-60 years accounted for 1 percent of claim lines with peanut allergy diagnoses, but 17 percent of claim lines with food additive allergy diagnoses.

Gender

In the period 2007-2016, claim lines with food allergy diagnoses were associated with boys more than girls from birth through age 18. However, for individuals older than 18 years the reverse was true: Food allergy claim lines were associated with women more than men.

Treatments and Services: Procedure Code Categories

Office or outpatient services to an established patient, immunology services and allergy testing were, respectively, the first, second and third most common procedure code categories of treatments and services associated with food allergy diagnoses in the period 2007-2016.

Costs and Number of Services per Patient

Milk product allergy was the food allergy with the highest average costs and services per patient in 2016. Among patients diagnosed with anaphylactic food reactions in 2016, the highest average costs (both charges and allowed amounts) per patient were for anaphylactic reaction to fish.

"Food allergy is an issue of growing national health concern," stated FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd. "It is our hope that FAIR Health data can help inform public policy and spur further research into this issue."

"This white paper uncovers critical facts about food allergy in a manner that we haven't previously seen," commented James R. Baker, Jr., MD, CEO and chief medical officer of FARE. "The FAIR Health data collection presents an unparalleled window into the costs, demographic factors and geographic patterns of this public health issue. In our role representing millions of Americans affected by food allergy, these findings are critically important as we continue our efforts to improve the quality of life of all those living with food allergies. We at FARE remain concerned that this issue is underappreciated by the public and policy makers."

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For the full white paper, click here. See also the infographic below.

Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health is a national, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 24 billion claim records contributed by payors and administrators who insure or process claims for private insurance plans covering more than 150 million individuals. FAIR Health also oversees separate data representing the experience of more than 55 million individuals enrolled in Medicare. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a Qualified Entity, FAIR Health receives all of Medicare Parts A, B and D claims data for use in nationwide transparency efforts. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products--including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics, episodes of care analytics and market indices--to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. FAIR Health has earned HITRUST CSF and Service Organization Controls (SOC 2) certifications by meeting the rigorous data security standards of those organizations. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Elisabeth Rosenthal's book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

About FARE

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) works on behalf of the 15 million Americans with food allergies, including all those at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis. This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in every 13 children in the United States--or roughly two in every classroom. FARE's mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies, and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments. Our work is organized around three core tenets: LIFE--support the ability of individuals with food allergies to live safe, productive lives with the respect of others through our education and advocacy initiatives; HEALTH--enhance the healthcare access of individuals with food allergies to state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment; and HOPE--encourage and fund research in both industry and academia that promises new therapies to improve the allergic condition. For more information, please visit http://www.foodallergy.org and find us on Twitter@FoodAllergy, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.

Contact:

Dean Sicoli

Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations

FAIR Health

646-664-1645

dsicoli@fairhealth.org
Semiconductor devices are omnipresent - not just in microchips, but also in solar cells that convert light into electrical energy, and in many other applications that are part of daily life. Organic semiconductor materials have also been the subject of increasing research and development over the past few years. Their electrical properties can also be changed by the intentional incorporation of a tiny number of foreign atoms or molecules that enable their conductivity to be precisely set.

However, for modern applications one also needs so-called p-doped semiconductor layers as well as n-doped layers, which are then combined in a device. N-doping of organic semiconductors is extremely difficult, though. The class of organic dopants employed for n-doping react readily with oxygen and water, as present in normal environmental conditions.

Two steps for n-doping

A German-American team has recently published a paper in Nature Materials in which they demonstrate a new approach for doping organic semiconductors with n-type donor molecules. Groups from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, and from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin joined forces in this work.

The new approach consists of two primary steps. In the first step, organometallic molecules, the n-dopants, were connected into what is referred to as a dimer. This molecular couple is far more stable compared to the individual dopant molecules, and can be easily incorporated into the organic semiconductor; however, the dimer itself is not suitable as an n-dopant and does not release any negative charges.

The revolutionary second step consists of illuminating the mixture. The incident photons break the dimers, in a multi-stage chemical process, into the individual organometallic molecules again, which then effectively n-dope the organic semiconductor.

Increased conductivity and lifetime

"By activating the dopants with light, we were able to increase the conductivity of organic semiconductors by five orders of magnitude. This could considerably increase the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes and solar cells", says Prof. Antoine Kahn from Princeton University, who coordinated the project.

"Our approach enables far simpler manufacturing of n-doped organic semiconductor materials used in diverse applications. The critical step in the process - that of breaking the dimers with light to activate doping - can be done after encapsulation so that the active dopant molecules are never exposed to air. This will also increase the operating lifetime of devices that rely on n-doped layers", explains Prof. Norbert Koch, who heads the joint Molecular Systems research group of HU Berlin and the HZB.

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Europe is about to become more attractive for the exploration of raw materials. Partners drawn from research and industry plan to develop innovative, non-invasive technologies and test them under realistic conditions. For this purpose, three European reference areas are to be established in Germany (Geyer), Finland (Sakatti) and Spain (Minas de Riotinto, Gerena). To this end, the EU is investing around 5.6 million euros over the next three years in INFACT, a new research project in which 17 partners from seven countries have joined forces. The project is being coordinated by the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf.

Because the ore deposits of tomorrow are located in remote regions and deep underground, detecting these metal and mineral resources poses an ever-greater challenge in terms of technology. At the same time, the success of new exploration projects increasingly depends on the extent to which as many interest groups as possible from civil society can be brought on board. INFACT (Innovative, Non-Invasive and Fully Acceptable Exploration Technologies) brings partners from science and research, industry, government agencies and non-profit organizations into contact with local populations directly affected by exploration. Working in collaboration, these stakeholders aim to develop, exchange and disseminate environmentally-friendly technologies.

Three pillars: Dialogue, Innovation and Reform

Innovative technology can make Europe attractive as a location for active exploration of raw materials, thereby contributing to a secure supply within the EU for the long term. Although the continent is one of the world's largest consumers of metallic and mineral resources and has a long history of mining, the exploration of new deposits is complicated by social, political and technical obstacles. The project participants aim to overcome these challenges.

The strategy of the INFACT project rests on three pillars: Dialogue, Innovation and Reform. The purpose of the Dialogue pillar is to raise public awareness and social acceptance for modern exploration. The project will develop a common understanding of good social and environmental practices and methodology that subsequently are to become standard across the entire EU.

A new generation of methods

The Innovation pillar is all about the next generation of exploration methods and processes that will facilitate the search for ore deposits in Europe. The technologies are less invasive than traditional methods, which means that they reduce impact on the environment and at the same time push into new dimensions. For example, the scientists expect to achieve more accurate measurement sensitivity as well as the ability to determine new physical properties below the surface. This will enable deeper and smaller deposits to be detected.

The researchers plan to make further advances in aerial exploration: for example, they are working on multisensor drones that combine different measuring sensors, allowing more mineralogical information to be obtained simultaneously than was the case before. The project partners will also use superconducting sensors (so-called SQUIDs) which are considered to be the most sensitive magnetic detectors in the field of geoscience. Real-time transmission of geophysical data is yet another important consideration within the project, aimed at facilitating the exploration of raw materials.

Reference areas: North, Central and South

Up to now, there have been no EU-wide opportunities for testing new technologies under realistic conditions or for evaluating their performance in comparison to traditional methods. Three European reference areas are to be set up in intensive dialogue with the local communities and public decision makers as well as in cooperation with regional authorities and mining companies. The various technologies will be deployed by means of helicopters, aeroplanes and drones. At the end of the project, the reference areas are to remain accessible to the global industry for the long term so that the new exploration technologies can be certified. A procedure for this is to be set up within the framework of INFACT.

The three areas selected are characterized by a current or historic record of mining activity:

North Region: Sakatti is an extensively mapped but as yet unexploited area with deposits of the copper-nickel-platinum group of elements close to Sodankyla in northern Finland, approximately 150 kilometers above the Arctic Circle (operator: Anglo American).

Central Region: In the centre of this area lies the small town of Geyer in the Ore Mountains [Erzgebirge]. It is located approximately 110 kilometers south of Leipzig in eastern Germany and has a long mining tradition. There are known deposits of tin, zinc, tungsten, molybdenum, copper, iron, silver and indium.

South Region: This reference area in Spain comprises two deposits. Cobre Las Cruces is an opencast copper mine (operator: First Quantum Minerals) approximately 20 kilometers northwest of Seville. Minas de Riotinto is an ancient, well-known opencast polymetallic mine (operator: Atalaya Mining) located in Huelva province, approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Seville.

Building on dialogue with the local populations and exploring new technologies, the Reform pillar seeks to develop a roadmap for modern exploration, including action guidelines for politicians aimed at making Europe attractive to mining and investors.

The INFACT partners

Agencia de Innovation y Desarrollo (IDEA), Anglo American Sakatti Oy, Arhus Geo, Atalaya Mining, ATClave, Cobre las Cruces, Dialogik, European Federation of Geologists (EFG), Fraunhofer IAO, GALSA (Geotech), Geognosia, Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (coordinator), Oulu Mining School, SRK Exploration Services, Supracon, SYKE, University of Eastern Finland.

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http://www.hzdr.de/infact

For more information:

Dr. Richard Gloaguen | Head Exploration Division

Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology at HZDR

Tel. +49 351 260-4424 | E-Mail: r.gloaguen@hzdr.de

Media contact:

Anja Weigl | Press officer

Tel. +49 351 260-4427 | E-Mail: a.weigl@hzdr.de

Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology | Chemnitzer Strasse 40 | 09599 Freiberg | Germany | http://www.hzdr.de/hif

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) conducts research in the sectors energy, health, and matter. HZDR provides a unique infrastructure that attracts visiting researchers from all over the world: Ion Beam Center, Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory and ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources. The HZDR with its five locations (Dresden, Freiberg, Grenoble, Leipzig, and Schenefeld near Hamburg) is a member of the Helmholtz Association and employs about 1,100 people - approximately 500 of whom are scientists, including 150 doctoral candidates.

The Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) pursues the objective of developing innovative technologies for the economy so that mineral and metalliferous raw materials can be made available and used more efficiently and recycled in an environmentally friendly manner. The HIF was founded in 2011, belongs to Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and is cooperating closely with TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
Monday, 27th of November, 2017, Baltimore, MD - Insilico Medicine, a Baltimore-based next-generation artificial intelligence company specializing in the application of deep learning for drug discovery, biomarker development and aging research presented its recent work in converging the blockchain and next-generation AI technologies to accelerate biomedical research at the TaiwanChain, the Blockchain Summit in Taipei, 23-24 of November, 2017. Insilico Medicine deep learning scientists in collaboration with the specialists in blockchain technology from the Bitfury Group, the world's leading full-service blockchain technology company have recently published a research paper titled "Converging blockchain and next-generation artificial intelligence technologies to decentralize and accelerate biomedical research and healthcare" in the peer-reviewed journal Oncotarget. Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD presented the extension of this research to the scientists in Taiwan.

"There are many companies engaged in the marketplaces of human life data with billions of dollars in turnover. However, the advances in AI and blockchain allow returning the control of this data back to the individual and make this data useful in the many new ways. There is so much we do not know about our life data and we would like to set up a research institute to study data economics in the context of these new emerging abilities", said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc.

In the recent research paper scientists from Insilico and BitFury introduced the new concepts for appraising, evaluating and exchanging the human life data and the novel theories in health data economics including combination-, time- and relationship-value of the data. The general concept of a blockchain-based life data interchange was recently presented at the Singularity University's Exponential Medicine event in San Diego. And the partnership between BitFury and Insilico Medicine was presented at the Global Leaders Forum 2017 in Korea. Finally, the extension of these concepts and the roadmap for a blockchain-based decentralized personal health data ecosystem to enable novel approaches for drug discovery, biomarker development, and preventative healthcare was presented at the TaiwanChain in Taiwan. A secure and transparent distributed personal data marketplace utilizing blockchain and deep learning technologies may be able to resolve the challenges faced by the regulators and return the control of personal data including medical records back to the individuals.

"Recent advances in machine intelligence turned almost every data into health data. The many data types can now be combined in the new ways, one data type can be inferred from another data type and systems learning to optimize the lifestyle for the desired health trajectory can now be developed using the very basic and abundant data. Pollen, weather and other data about the environment can now be combined with the human biomarkers to uncover and minimize the allergic response among the myriad of examples. People should be able to take control over this data", said Polina Mamoshina, sr. research scientist at Insilico Medicine and the first author on the paper.

TaiwanChain Blockchain Summit in Taipei is one of the first and largest blockchain conferences in Asia featuring eight tracks including the Notary, Fintech, Healthcare, Wallet, Platform, Token Accountability and Environments with each track featuring the key academic and industry thought leaders in their respective areas.

"Blockchain and AI have the potential to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, reduce human biases and democratize the health economy. I am very happy to see our research presented in TaiwanChain, but we also have a plan to present our technologies in the many developing countries, such as in African countries and uncover the potential of the data- and health-driven ecosystems, that can help people dramatically transform their lives for the better. Learning these new technologies is a key to reducing the global suffering and maximizing happiness", said Lucy Ojomoko, PhD, a senior scientist at Insilico Medicine and the second author on the paper.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact:

Contact: Qingsong Zhu, PhD

zhu@pharma.ai

Website: http://www.Insilico.com

Official Conference Website: taiwanchain.info

Conference description: http://blockcast.it/2017/11/17/taiwan-blockchain-summit-2017/

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine, Inc. is an artificial intelligence company headquartered at the Emerging Technology Centers at the Johns Hopkins University Eastern campus in Baltimore, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions.

The company utilizes advances in genomics, big data analysis, and deep learning for in silico drug discovery and drug repurposing for aging and age-related diseases. Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for generation of novel molecular structures for the diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to working collaborations with the large pharmaceutical companies, the company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI and Aging.AI and operates Chemistry.AI intended to capture the tacit knowledge of medicinal chemists.

Through a partnership with the BitFury Group, the company is working on a range of AI solutions for blockchain to help return the power over life data back to the individual. The company raised venture capital and partnered with Juvenescence Limited, a holding company focused on longevity biotechnology. The company aspires to become the "Bell Labs" for artificial intelligence and associated technologies for healthcare and longevity biotechnology and commercialize its research by forming subsidiaries around the specific technologies and licensing the intellectual property, molecules and data to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8
The magnetic moment of an individual proton is inconceivably small, but can still be quantified. The basis for undertaking this measurement was laid over ten years ago, and physicists of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, GSI Darmstadt, and the RIKEN research institute in Japan are still performing experiments to measure this force with a single particle to the greatest possible precision. Over the past few years they have refined their experiment even more. By determining the magnetic moment of the proton to ten decimal places, which is the most precise measurement currently available, they set yet another record. The measurements undertaken by Mainz-based physicists as part of the BASE collaboration confirm the Standard Model of particle physics, which describes the smallest particles in our cosmos. The new results for the proton measurement have been published in the journal Science.

Protons are positively-charged particles in atomic nuclei. In addition to an electric charge they also have an intrinsic angular momentum, the spin, giving them a magnetic moment. Magnetic resonance imaging, a technique used in medicine, for example, takes advantage of this property. Although this fundamental property of the proton has no direct implication for current technology, it is instead of far greater significance for understanding atomic structures and for precisely testing fundamental symmetries in the universe, in particular the imbalance of matter and antimatter. Beginning in around 2005, Professor Jochen Walz's group at Mainz University has performed experiments using a Penning trap to confine and measure the properties of individual protons to the highest possible accuracy.

Confirmation of the CPT symmetry

The results published in Science have an accuracy of 0.3 parts in a billion, making these new measurements eleven times more precise than the previous measurement made by BASE researchers back in 2014. The g-factor, which characterizes the magnetic moment, was found to be equal to 2.79284734462(82). When this was compared with the value of the g-factor of the antiproton published five weeks ago by the BASE collaboration, no difference between particles and antiparticles was found.

"Knowing the properties of the proton such as its mass, lifetime, charge, radius, and its magnetic moment as precisely as possible is extremely important for physics," explained Dr. Andreas Mooser from the RIKEN research institute. "High-precision measurements of all these properties can provide us with the foundations to be able to more precisely investigate fundamental symmetries such as charge, parity, and time reversal symmetry." The so-called CPT symmetry is a fundamental law of physics that predicts that the universe should contain equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which is clearly not the case. "Comparing the current data for protons and antiprotons clearly confirms CPT symmetry," said Mooser.

Measurement comparable with extremely precise magnetic resonance imaging

The Mainz-based physicists achieved the greater precision by making improvements to their technical setup. One innovation was an increase of the homogeneity of the magnetic field even further in the Penning trap, in which the high-precision measurements were carried out. Another was the introduction of a self-shielded coil to reduce external fluctuations. Both measures helped increase the stability of the particle in the trap, allowing the frequencies to be measured with far greater accuracy. "In order to measure the magnetic moment of the proton, we developed one of the most sensitive Penning trap apparatuses ever created," explained Georg Schneider of the Institute of Physics of Mainz University, the first author of the Science publication. "The proton represents a unique challenge as it has such a small magnetic moment. Thus we needed our analysis trap to have an almost inconceivable degree of sensitivity. Basically, you could say that what we have undertaken is extremely precise MRI of an individual proton."

Another improvement was the shortening of the time period until a data point, i.e., a single measurement, was possible. This time per data point was halved from three hours to 90 minutes. "Being able to achieve this level of precision is fantastic, but we are still nowhere near the end of the road," noted Schneider, thus hinting at further advances. In the future, the researchers plan to employ sympathetic laser cooling to reduce the energy of the proton in order to generate greater sensitivity and thus further increase the data collection rates. "The data rate is currently the limiting factor."

The physicists at Mainz University continue to work closely with their colleagues from the BASE collaboration at the CERN research center near Geneva in Switzerland. Positive developments made in Mainz will be shared with CERN and vice versa. The scientists hope to determine the magnetic force of protons and antiprotons even more precisely and either confirm the current model of particle physics or discover a difference, which would open the gate for completely new concepts in physics.

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An ancient image of a two-humped camel has been discovered in Kapova cave (Southern Urals); the age of the image is preliminarily estimated in the interval from 14,500 to 37,700 years

An ancient image of a two-humped camel has been discovered in the Kapova cave (Southern Urals). The age of the painting is preliminarily estimated to be between 14,500 and 37,700 years, a time when there were no camels in the Southern Urals. This discovery confirms researchers' belief that artists in the Upper Paleolithic could migrate over long distances.

The image of a camel's shape is painted in red ochre and partially outlined with charcoal. This unique discovery was made by Eudald Guillamet, a well-known restorative specialist from Andorra, who was invited by the State Office of Protection of Cultural Heritage of Bashkiria to clean the cave of graffiti.

"This painting, cleared on the polychrome panel "Horses and Signs," which has been well-known since the late 1970s, has no analogues in the art complexes of the caves of France and Spain, but does have some resemblance to the camel painting from the Ignatievskaya cave. Now it will probably become a significant image in the Upper Paleolithic cave bestiary of the Southern Urals," comments V.S. Zhitenev, head of Moscow State University's South Ural archeological expedition and leading researcher for the Kapova and Ignatievskaya caves.

"The age of the drawings in this panel cannot be accurately established yet, but the results of uranium-thorium dating of the calcite deposits on which the image is painted, and which cover it, unambiguously show that the time period during which the drawing was made was during the Upper Paleolithic age, which is no earlier than 37,700 years ago and no later than 14,500 years ago. In the course of excavating the Kapova cave, only the upper layer of deposits with traces of activity of Paleolithic artists, about 17,000 - 19,000 years ago, has been dated so far," concluded the scientist.

The artistic features and arrangement of the images, as well as the traces of human activity in the cave, show that the traditions of organization of underground sanctuaries in the Upper Paleolithic originated in the Franco-Cantabrian region. However, at such a distance from the main European cluster of cave sites with wall paintings, local specifics in the development of graphic traditions inevitably arose.

The long evolution of the traditions of cave art in the region is revealed by the fact that people living in the Southern Urals during the Ice Age painted not only the images of horses, bisons, mammoths, and woolly rhinoceroses that were widespread in European caves, but representations of the local fauna as well. Analysis of stone tools confirms the assumption.

"It is very significant that this camel vividly confirms the theory of the Volga-Caspian direction of the connections among the people who created the sanctuary in the Kapova cave. This direction was earlier grounded in the use of ornaments from fossil shells brought from the Caspian region. Moreover, this direction is very interesting in terms of a possible way that the traditions of creating cave sanctuaries with wall paintings could have been spread, if we consider the Carpathian caves with Ice Age wall paintings," explains Vladislav Zhitenev. "Equally important, along with the discovery of the camel painting, is the fact that fragments of the shape of another animal, apparently a mammoth, were cleaned off. This is the first well-preserved painting of a woolly giant from the Ice Age on the middle level of the cave. Cleaning calcite off from the newly-discovered figures confirmed the theory of a significant similarity in the general structure of the visual panels, with leading images of horses, and large geometric shapes, in which one may see representations of animals. The similarity in the arrangement of vertical and horizontal figures (or rather, explicit compositions) on panels located on two different floors indicates a profound connection between the ideas expressed by the Paleolithic artists. The upper and middle levels are connected by a thirteen meter high vertical well."

In December, archeologists from Moscow State University will continue researching Paleolithic art in the Kapova and Ignatievskaya caves. In winter, the walls of the underground halls and galleries are much drier than in the summer, which makes it easier to reveal the smallest details of the paintings. Monitoring of the state of the wall paintings will also continue, with the aim of studying the impact of dynamic factors of the underground environment on geochemical processes related to the destruction of wall paintings. It is carried out in a joint project with specialists from Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve.

Kapova cave

The Kapova cave is located in Bashkiria, 400 km away from Ufa, on the territory of Shulgan-Tash nature reserve. The cave is one of the most famous sites containing Paleolithic parietal art in Europe. Among the images depicted, one can come across such vivid representatives of mammoth fauna as wooly rhino, bison, horse, and, of course, the wooly mammoth itself. The wall paintings were created about 17 000 - 19 000 years ago. Figures of fish and a zooanthropomorhic figure (a mixomorph combining human and animal traits), rarely seen in European sites, are of special interest.

The principal array of images in the Kapova cave are unidentifiable spots of red pigment, which are partially blurred shapes, partly the remains of erased drawings, and partially traces of Paleolithic artistic activities of unknown origin. Some of the found traces of artistic activity are finger-painted lines, fingerprints and, possibly, prints of the lower part of the palm. The microstratigraphic position of the remains of intentionally erased images, above which the Paleolithic artist painted new animal shape and signs, has been revealed in some panels.

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New Rochelle, NY, November 27, 2017--Academic medical centers (AMCs) in the U.S. are navigating an increasing shift in research funding from historic public funding (e.g., NIH) to private sources such as pharma and biotech companies, foundations, and charities, raising a host of new issues related to collaborative research models, intellectual property rights, and scientific and ethical oversight. The potential risks of the new Innovation Network model, supported by private funds and led by an innovation benefactor who also orchestrates the network, are presented in an article published in the peer-reviewed open access journal Healthcare Transformation, from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available open access on the Healthcare Transformation website.

The article entitled "The New Age of Private Research Funding: Be Careful Out There!" is coauthored by Gino Inverso, University of Pennsylvania (UPENN) Health System, Nada Boualam, Wharton School, UPENN, and Kevin B. Mahoney, Perelman School of Medicine, UPENN and the Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

The authors discuss the factors essential for the success and strength of an Innovation Network, in which a limited number of AMCs collaborate on a shared research agenda that is supported by a private benefactor, such as a foundation seeking a cure for a specific disease. They warn researchers, physicians, and AMCs of the three main conflicts that exist - financial, scientific, and ethical - when the benefactor of the Innovation Network also manages the network, and recommend the appointment of an independent oversight board.

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About the Journal

Healthcare Transformation, a breakthrough peer-reviewed open access journal spearheaded by Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, President, Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) and CEO Jefferson Health (Philadelphia, PA), delivers the foremost research in re-imagining healthcare delivery, education, technology, innovation, and discovery. The publication serves as a forum to present visions of the future, debate current models, and provide an invaluable source of optimism for everyone involved in healthcare and the transformation of healthcare. Presented through notable research articles, perspectives, commentaries, Letters to the Editor, interviews, and point/counterpoint debates, the Journal pushes the boundaries of existing thinking to transform the future of healthcare frameworks, networks, and officialdoms. Complete content is available on the Healthcare Transformation website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Population Health Management; Telemedicine and eHealth; Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking; Big Data; and Games for Health Journal. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's more than 80 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (Nov. 27, 2017) - Patients diagnosed with the most common form of leukemia who also have high levels of an enzyme known to suppress the immune system are most likely to die early, researchers say.

High levels of this enzyme, indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase, or IDO, at diagnosis also identify those who might benefit most by taking an IDO inhibitor along with their standard therapy, they report in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

"We want to help people who are not responding to treatment and are dying very soon after their diagnosis," said Dr. Ravindra Kolhe, breast and molecular pathologist and director of the Georgia Esoteric & Molecular Labs LLC in the Department of Pathology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

A review of 40 patients with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, found increased IDO expression in the bone marrow biopsy, performed to diagnose their disease, correlated with lower overall survival rates and early mortality.

It also indicates that IDO expression should routinely be measured when the diagnostic bone marrow biopsy is performed, Kolhe says.

An early phase clinical study already is underway to begin to explore the IDO inhibitor's clinical potential in these patients. Sites include the Georgia Cancer Center at MCG as well as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Schools of Medicine, both in Baltimore. NewLinks Genetics Corp., a biopharmaceutical company based in Ames, Iowa that produces the inhibitor Indoximod, is funding the study.

"We wanted to look at what makes this leukemia so aggressive that initial induction chemotherapy is not working," Kolhe says. "Early relapse tends to predict early mortality in these patients and one of the things we looked at was IDO," says the study's corresponding author.

While everyone has the IDO gene, it's the cancer cells in this scenario that activate the disabler of the immune response that is also used by the fetus and solid tumors, he says.

Stem cells in the bone marrow are supposed to mature into a variety of cells that enable our blood and immune system function. Instead in AML, stem cells get stuck in an in-between, undifferentiated state called blasts.

"It's very normal to go to the blast step, providing it matures from there," Kolhe says. "In leukemia, stem cells get limboed in the blast state so you don't get any maturation. That means there are low platelets so you get clotting problems, you have low neutrophils so you have infections, you have less red blood cells so you get anemic," he says.

In fact, bleeding is a major cause of death for patients and often, significant gum bleeding is the first indicator.

The MCG researcher found one thing the blasts are producing is IDO.

"The patients who died at six months had a high expression of IDO while the blasts produced relatively little IDO in the patients who lived five years or more," Kolhe says.

"Most of the time, we don't know why patients are not responding to chemotherapy," he says. But when the researchers adjusted for other risk factors for AML, like increased age and severe anemia, IDO levels were a standout.

"Right now we know it's high in patients who die at six months and we show that it's an independent indicator if you adjust for other known variables," Kolhe says.

Next questions include whether high IDO directly affects resistance to chemotherapy, which occurs in patients who do not survive.

An MCG research team led by Dr. David Munn, pediatric hematologist/oncologist, and Dr. Andrew Mellor, immunologist, reported in 1998 in the journal Science that during pregnancy, cells in the placenta trigger an isolated suppression of the mother's immune system so it won't reject the genetically foreign fetus. They showed that IDO locally disables the mother's immune system by degrading tryptophan, an amino acid essential to survival of T cells, orchestrators of the immune system's response.

Later work would show that tumors - and leukemia - also use IDO to hide from the immune response. Conversely, some organ transplant patients who inexplicably express higher levels of IDO, have lower rejection rates of their new organ.

Kolhe, who completed his pathology residency at MCG and AU Health in 2012, got interested in IDO as at least one explanation for very different patient outcomes from the same treatments for the same disease.

Most patients with AML are at least age 45 at the time of diagnosis and it's slightly more common in men than women, according to the American Cancer Society. Induction therapy is given to get the patient into remission, and is typically followed by more chemotherapy to help ensure it stays dormant. Some patients may also receive a stem cell transplant.

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The published research was funded by a grant to Kolhe from the MCG Foundation. He is currently pursuing National Institutes of Health funding for further studies.

Clinical trials of an IDO inhibitor already are underway in other cancers, including a study in children with brain tumors, led by Dr. Theodore Johnson, pediatric hematologist/oncologist and 2004 MD/PhD graduate of MCG, at the Georgia Cancer Center and Children's Hospital of Georgia.
An international team of researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Forschungszentrum Julich, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, the Institut de Biologie Structurale, and the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics has determined the 3-D structure of channelrhodopsin 2, a membrane protein widely used in optogenetics to control nerve cells with light.

Optogenetics is a relatively new technique that involves the use of light to manipulate nerve and muscle cells in a living organism. Similar approaches are used to partially reverse the loss of hearing and eyesight and control muscle contractions.

In addition, the methods of optogenetics are used to study the properties of natural neuron networks, which are responsible for emotion, decision-making, and other complex processes in living organisms. Optogenetics was Nature's "Method of the Year 2010," as well as being named among Science's "Breakthroughs of 2010 and Insights of the Decade."

Channelrhodopsin 2, or ChR2, is a major optogenetic tool. It is a light-sensitive protein, which was originally extracted in 2003 from a green alga called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Scientists can insert ChR2 into the membrane of a living cell to control it. When illuminated, this protein allows positively charged ions to pass into the cell through the cell membrane. In a nerve cell, this depolarizes the membrane, mimicking the effect of a nerve impulse and causing this particular neuron to fire.

Because ChR2 works fast and is relatively harmless to cells, it is the current go-to solution for nerve cell activation. A range of artificially induced mutations are available for altering the protein's properties. For example, it is possible to increase the current it generates or alter the wavelength of light it responds to. Such modifications enable experimenters to work with proteins tailored to their needs. Researchers can even combine several protein variants for a distinct response at various wavelengths of light.

Most of the mutations used to modify the properties of ChR2 have so far been introduced more or less at random -- either via directed evolution or based on the data on known protein structures. The closest we've ever gotten to a realistic ChR2 structure is an odd combination called C1C2, 70 percent of which is based ChR1, a related protein, with the rest based on the actual ChR2. This mixed structure cannot account for all properties of the protein. As a result, the mutations predicted by this model are not quite realistic and therefore are of limited interest to optogenetics.

To reveal the structure of ChR2, the authors of the study reported in this story used an analytical technique called X-ray diffraction, which only works with samples in the form of a crystal. These were obtained by the researchers via in meso crystallization. That is to say, the protein crystals were grown in the so-called cubic lipid mesophase -- a medium that allows proteins to move freely, without leaving the membrane. To determine protein structures, their crystals were irradiated with X-rays at a wavelength of about 1 angstrom, which is slightly less than the length of the bonds between the atoms in the protein. In X-ray crystallography, structures are derived by analyzing how radiation is scattered by a sample.

"Attempts to solve the structure of ChR2 go right back to the time of its discovery in 2003. But despite the efforts of numerous research groups from across the world, the structure of the protein in its natural state has remained unknown," says Valentin Borshchevskiy, one of the authors of the paper and deputy head of the Laboratory for Advanced Studies of Membrane Proteins at MIPT. "Now that we have the structure, meaningful mutations can be introduced into the protein to adjust its properties to the requirements of a specific experiment. Not knowing the structure, we had to tediously work out the useful mutations by trial and error or make do with the data on related proteins."

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The work reported here was supported by the common program of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany) (ANR-15-CE11-0029-02), the CEA(IBS)-HGF(FZJ) STC 5.1 specific agreement, the Russian Science Foundation (16-15-00242), and ERA.Net RUS Plus (ID 323).
Although at least 75% of our crop species depend on the activities of wild pollinators, little is known about their flower preferences. As global populations of domestic bee pollinators decline, it is of utmost importance for us to understand what factors attract wild pollinators such as hoverflies to flowers, and how these preferences differ in the face of environmental change. Now, a team of scientists from Uppsala and Flinders University and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) have discovered that hoverflies, a group of generalist pollinators, use a combination of cues such as color, shape and scent to identify flowers.

You and I live in a sensory world--sight, sound, touch and taste blend to give us a sense of our surroundings. However, imagine perceiving the world as a fly, with a brain the size of a pinhead. Yet many insects with miniscule brains manage to do exactly what we do--identify objects like a flower, or a plant.

Karin Nordstrom's group from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and Flinders University, Australia, and Shannon Olsson's team from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, India, have long been interested in how insects, with their "teeny-tiny" brains can recognize objects such as flowers. Now, through their collaborative work on hoverflies, the two teams have found an answer. These insects use a multimodal sensory mechanism--in other words, hoverflies require a combination of clues including shape, size, color and scent--to recognize flowers in different environments across the world.

The teams' results are especially important with respect to our scarce knowledge of what attracts wild insect pollinators to flowers. Although at least 75% of our crop species depend on the activities of wild pollinators, little is known about their flower preferences. As global populations of domestic bee pollinators decline, it is of utmost importance for us to understand the factors that attract wild pollinators such as hoverflies to flowers, and how these preferences differ in the face of environmental change.

When Olsson from NCBS contacted her long-time friend and collaborator Karin Nordstrom at the University of Uppsala and Flinders University for help in identifying a hoverfly species, little did they know that this would be the beginning of a major project.

"I was just amazed," says Nordstrom. "This hoverfly specimen collected at an altitude of 4000 meters in the Himalayas, is the same species of hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, that is also found in Sweden, Germany, USA, and Australia," she adds.

"Most studies on pollination are climate or area-specific, so it is hard to predict if pollinator preferences for flowers in, say North America, are relevant for Europe or Asia," say Olsson and Nordstrom. "Since we didn't just examine different environments, but actually different continents, our study directly tests this assumption," they add.

The researchers' work began with collecting observations on hoverfly behavior in three of these insects' natural habitats--tropical Bangalore, alpine Sikkim, and hemi-arboreal Uppsala. This helped them gather data on the characteristics of flowers that hoverflies found attractive and those that they found unattractive. From a "statistical soup" of all their findings, the team then extracted information about the features that hoverflies seemed to find most attractive and less attractive. Using the results of their statistical analyses, the researchers then modelled a set of hypothetical flowers, whose attractiveness to hoverflies were then tested in Bangalore, Sikkim and Uppsala.

The experiments with the artificial models indicate that hoverflies prefer certain combinations of flower characteristics in specific environments. For example, flower models of small blue models with a specific scent were highly attractive to hoverflies in Bangalore, but not so in Sikkim or in Uppsala.

"This is really important," says V. S. Pragadeesh, a student from Olsson's lab who was involved in the study. "It means that pollinators have specific preferences in flowers in specific places. Without these cues, hoverflies may not recognize flowers as flowers," he says.

"Our models were not flower mimics or lures--they just used combinations of cues determined from our analysis. Some of our artificial flowers were attractive in all environments, despite having no reward or even resembling a real flower," says Nordstrom.

Robert Raguso, a behavioral ecologist from Cornell University, uninvolved in this study, is excited about the unique and creative approach taken by the authors in "interviewing" hoverflies. "I respect the multimodal approach taken in this paper and would like to see it generate similar studies, either with different focal pollinators or with multiple pollinator classes sharing the same floral market place," he adds.

Olsson and Nordstrom hope to continue their studies on how hoverflies and other generalist pollinators perceive flowers, and the factors affecting these pollinators' preferences.

"We would really like to investigate how network interactions can affect floral attraction. For example, if there are many other flowers in the vicinity, or many other pollinators, does this affect the attractive cues?" asks Nordstrom. "How does the brain code for flower objects? Are there 'flower neurons' in the brain? How do hoverflies make sense of this multimodal input? These are some of the questions we'd really like to work on," she adds.

Olsson adds that their findings can have important implications for establishing planting strategies resilient to environmental change. "We really must begin understanding pollination as a global ecological service. Many insects can be found across the globe, and understanding them across continents is essential not just for our own food security, but, I believe, for the future of this planet" she says.

The work described in this article will be published in a paper titled "In situ modeling of multimodal floral cues attracting wild pollinators across environments", in the journal PNAS.

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This research was funded by the Olle Engkvist Foundation (Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmastare).

About the authors:

V.S. Pragadheesh, Amadeus Olsson, and Shannon Olsson are affiliated to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India.

Karin Nordstrom is affiliated to Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden and Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.

Josefin Dahlbom and Olga Dyakova are affiliated to Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Suhrid Ghosh was affiliated to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India at the time this work was done, and is currently affiliated to Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.

Shravanti Krishna Suresh was affiliated to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India at the time this work was done, and is currently affiliated to Iowa State University, Ames, USA.

Contact information:

Shannon Olsson: info@nice.ncbs.res.in

Karin Nordstrom: karin.nordstrom@flinders.edu.au
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Barley has always played second fiddle to hops and yeast when it comes to flavoring beer. Now the grain is ready for its solo.

In two studies published this week in the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, a research team led by Oregon State University found notable differences in the taste of beers malted from barley varieties reputed to have flavor qualities.

Consumers aren't going to see a barley-flavored brew anytime soon in their local pub or supermarket, but the findings are an important first step toward a potential new market for beer connoisseurs, said OSU barley breeder Pat Hayes.

"We started this project with a question: Are there are novel flavors in barley that carry through malting and brewing and into beer? This is a revolutionary idea in the brewing world. We found that the answer is yes," Hayes said. "These positive beer flavor attributes provide new opportunities for brewers and expanded horizons for consumers."

In its malted form, barley is the principal source of fermentable sugars for most beers. But barley's flavor contributions to beer are usually ascribed to the malting process rather than the grain itself.

Barley World, Hayes's research group at OSU, with financial support from the beer industry, began with two barley varieties reputed to have positive flavor attributes in beer: Golden Promise, developed and released in Great Britain and OSU's own barley variety, Full Pint. They then crossbred the two varieties.

That cross-breeding resulted in several hundred breeding lines of genetic seed stock, Hayes said. They grew the offspring in test plots in the western Oregon cities of Corvallis and Lebanon and the central Oregon city of Madras.

But there was a logistical challenge in preparing that barley for brewing and sensory testing, Hayes said. OSU's progeny of Golden Promise and Full Pint each yielded only about 200 grams of malt - not enough for a reasonable sample to produce large quantities of beer for a standard sensory panel.

That's when OSU teamed with Rahr Malting Co. in Minnesota, and New Glarus Brewing in Wisconsin. The companies had developed a "nano" brewing system that could produce a single bottle of beer from each unique malt. Dustin Herb, a graduate student in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences, spent almost a year at Rahr Malting participating in the micro-malting, nano-brewing, and sensory processes.

Out of that initial partnership, about 150 beers were prepared for sensory testing. Each panelist tasted each of the beers once and then rated it on a scale in its amount of difference compared to an industry standard control beer.

The panelists found that beer brewed with Golden Promise scored significantly higher in fruity, floral and grassy flavors. Beer with Full Pint was significantly higher in malty, toffee and toasted flavors.

"The progeny are showing all possible combinations of those traits," Hayes said. "And, since we had been doing DNA fingerprinting on these progeny, we can assign certain regions of the barley genome as being responsible for these flavors. We also found that there were some differences based on where the barley was grown, but the genetic effect was larger than the environment."

Based on the results of more Golden Promise-Full Pint progeny, finer structure genetic mapping of barley flavor genes is underway with Rahr Malting Co. The researchers are also working with Deschutes Brewery in Bend to brew more representative beers from three of the selected progeny. OSU is producing 100 pounds of malt of each of three selections, and of a control variety called Copeland, in its on-campus malt house.

"All three have unique flavor attributes and are relatively easy to grow," Hayes said. "They have outstanding malt profiles. Deschutes will brew the same beer twice for each of those three and compare that to the control. Those beers will be sent to other brewers who will conduct their own sensory panels."

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In addition to Herb, OSU Barley Project members Tanya Filichkin, Scott Fisk and Laura Helgerson contributed to the research. Collaborators included scientists in England, Canada, Scotland, Spain and the United States.

The project received funding from the following breweries: Bells, Deschutes, Firestone-Walker, New Glarus, Russian River, Sierra Nevada and Summit. The Brewers Association, an organization of small and independent craft brewers, also contributed financially. Mecca Grade Estate Malting and OreGro Seed hosted the field trials.
What looked like a population of a common butterfly species turned out to be a whole new organism, and, moreover - one with a very peculiar genome organisation.

Discovered by Vladimir Lukhtanov, entomologist and evolutionary biologist at the Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Alexander Dantchenko, entomologist and chemist at the Moscow State University, the startling discovery was named South-Russian blue (Polyommatus australorossicus). It was found flying over the northern slopes of the Caucasus mountains in southern Russia. The study is published in the open access journal Comparative Cytogenetics.

"This publication is the long-awaited completion of a twenty-year history," says Vladimir Lukhtanov.

In the mid-nineties, Vladimir Lukhtanov, together with his students and collaborators, started an exhaustive study of Russian butterflies using an array of modern and traditional research techniques. In 1997, Alexander Dantchenko who was mostly focused on butterfly ecology, sampled a few blue butterfly specimens from northern slopes of the Caucasus mountains. These blues looked typical at first glance and were identified as Azerbaijani blue (Polyommatus aserbeidschanus).

However, when the scientists looked at them under a microscope, it became clear that they had 46 chromosomes - a very unusual number for this group of the blue butterflies and exactly the same count as in humans.

Having spent twenty years studying the chromosomes of more than a hundred blue butterfly species and sequencing DNA from all closely related species, the researchers were ready to ascertain the uniqueness of the discovered butterfly and its chromosome set.

Throughout the years of investigation, it has become clear that caterpillars of genetically related species in the studied butterfly group feed on different, but similar plants. This discovery enables entomologists to not only discover new butterfly species with the help of botanic information, but also protect them.

"We are proud of our research," says Vladimir Lukhtanov. "It contributes greatly to both the study of biodiversity and understanding the mechanisms of biological evolution."

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Original source:

Lukhtanov VA, Dantchenko AV (2017) A new butterfly species from south Russia revealed through chromosomal and molecular analysis of the Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damonides complex (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Comparative Cytogenetics 11(4): 769-795. https://doi.org/10.3897/CompCytogen.v11i4.20072
CHICAGO - Radiologic signs of injury could help identify victims of intimate partner violence, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"Radiologists must be aware that intimate partner abuse is a common public health problem," said study author Elizabeth George, M.D., a radiology resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "It affects one in four women in the United States. So many of the patients we encounter may have this unfortunate story."

Medical images sometimes offer early clues that abuse is taking place. In fact, the case that inspired the study's principal investigator, Bharti Khurana, M.D., emergency radiology fellowship program director at Brigham and Women's Hospital., involved a young woman who arrived at the Emergency Department with an acute nasal bone fracture superimposed on an old, healed fracture. While going through prior medical images of the patient on the hospital's picture archiving and communication system, or PACS, Dr. Khurana identified a recent wrist fracture. This pattern of recurrent injury made her voice her suspicion of intimate partner violence, a finding the referring physician initially had not suspected.

"This also led us to connect with some of our Emergency Department staff physicians and colleagues who were already working on the clinical and social aspects of this issue," Dr. Khurana said. "We went on to design this research study to objectively assess the clinical and radiologic findings in this population."

The study, which reviewed electronic medical records from patients referred to domestic abuse and sexual assault programs from January to October 2016, found characteristic injuries among the patients.

"On the radiologic front, we identified common patterns of injury such as soft tissue injuries and extremity fractures, which often involved the distal upper extremities, suggesting injury from defensive attempts," Dr. George said. "Other commonly seen injuries were facial fractures, which represent an easily accessible area for inflicting trauma. These injury patterns could alert the radiologists to potential intimate partner violence."

A majority of the 87 intimate partner violence victims were female (95 percent) and African-American (40 percent), with a mean age of 34.7 years. A total of 665 radiology exams were performed in this population over five years. The most commonly performed exam was chest X-ray, followed by obstetric ultrasound and musculoskeletal X-rays.

The 35 sexual assault victims were younger (mean age 27.3 years), majority female (91 percent), and African-American (46 percent). A total of 109 radiology exams were performed in this population over five years. The most commonly performed exam was chest X-ray, followed by head CT, pelvic ultrasound and musculoskeletal X-rays. There were fewer traumatic injuries in this population.

The intimate partner violence victims were more likely to be homeless, while the sexual assault victims were more likely to suffer from illicit drug abuse.

"Our findings point toward the complex nature of these social situations and the need for a targeted intervention program not only to identify but also intervene in the various aspects of care of these patients," Dr. Khurana said.

Along with providing information on presenting injuries, radiologists have access to a wealth of information through PACS that can show prior fractures linked to abuse. Old, healed fractures look distinct from acute fractures, Dr. Khurana said, and may be evident in the form of bone remodeling, deformity or focal bone thickening.

"In the emergency room setting, the priority is to identify acute pathologies," she said. "As a result, old fractures or fracture-related deformities may not be given sufficient importance. But the presence of old and acute fractures may be pivotal in making the diagnosis of intimate partner violence."

Findings suggestive of abuse should trigger a conversation between the radiologist and the referring physician, the researchers noted. Additional communications with the patient would involve a multidisciplinary team with the experience and resources to address the issue.

"At our institution, we are fortunate to work in a system that has strongly implemented screening for intimate partner violence, and there exists a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurse practitioners and social workers facilitating comprehensive care," Dr. George said. "We are hopeful that the results of our study will increase awareness and pave the way for more research, as well as resources with multidisciplinary teams devoted to the care of this vulnerable population."

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Co-authors are Catherine Phillips, M.D., Nandish Shah, M.D., Annie Lewis-O'Connor, Ph.D., M.P.H, and Hanni M. Stoklosa, M.D., M.P.H.

Note: Copies of RSNA 2017 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press17 beginning Monday, Nov. 27.

RSNA is an association of over 54,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists, promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

For patient-friendly information on emergency radiology, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
Under the environmental concerns such as pollution and greenhouse effect, environment-friendly energy storage applications such as fuel cells, ammonia production and lithium-air batteries are proposed to replace fossil resources. However, the high overpotential is one of the most urgent issues for the practical applications and electrocatalysts are applied to lower overpotential. There are some challenges to design high-activity catalysts for electrochemical conversions. Scientists from State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China and Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China reviewed some representative activity descriptors to screen high-activity catalysts in future high-throughput calculations and experiments. This work, entitled "Adsorption-Energy-Based Activity Descriptors for Electrocatalysts in Energy Storage Applications", was published in National Science Review, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwx119.

These scientists outline a simple strategy to improve catalytic activity to reduce activation barriers of electrochemical reactions by tuning interfacial electronic coupling between the adsorbate and catalyst surface.

"The electrocatalytic processes usually involve the adsorption of reactants on the surfaces of catalysts, break some reactant bonds to form new chemical bonds between the catalyst and reactants, and result in activated intermediates. Because the catalytic activity is attributed to the interfacial electronic coupling, adsorption energy is a good descriptor to identify catalytic activity for surface reactions."

Based on the free energy change of electrochemical reaction, the authors divided the whole electrochemical reaction into an intrinsic reaction part and a catalytic effect part. "The catalytic effect is directly reflected in the adsorption energy differences of reactants and products", they stated. Adsorption energy as a catalytic descriptor in those typical reactions is detailedly discussed in on-electron pair reactions, evolution reactions and reduction reactions to present the effect of electronic coupling between catalysts and charged species on catalytic activity.

"The relationship between adsorption energy and catalytic activity is helpful for the initial selection of catalysts and the key of mapping the relationship is to establish the quantitative relationship between the intrinsic electronic properties of materials and catalytic descriptors." they highlighted. Structural and elementary descriptors such as d-band center, tolerance factor and eg electron number are explained in d-band framework to related to adsorption energy. "Furthermore, because structural and elementary descriptors are experimentally quantified compared with adsorption energy, structural and elementary descriptors are useful to discover new catalyst materials and ensure a leap forward in electrochemical performance."

"Charge transfer is also an important part in electrochemical reactions and improve the catalytic activity. The principle of charge transfer is to remove charge from stable bonds in reactants and lower the activation barrier of the rate-limiting step", they added.

"Fundamental understanding of structure-activity relationships between catalytic activity and physical properties of catalyst materials is helpful to choose effective descriptors and to develop efficient multiscale computational models for an accurate description of catalyst materials. High-throughput calculations and experiments can be employed to speed up the screening of catalyst materials and shorten the development cycle in the future studies", the scientists forecast. "However, even solving the intrinsic problem of activity, catalysts still face the vital requirements of stability and safety before practical applications", they underline, "Those stability and safety issues also should be considered before one catalyst, which is screened to perform high catalytic activity, is put into application."

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See the article:

Youwei Wang, Wujie Qiu, Erhong Song, Feng Gu, Zhihui Zheng, Xiaolin Zhao, Yingqin Zhao, Jianjun Liu and Wenqing Zhang

Adsorption-Energy-Based Activity Descriptors for Electrocatalysts in Energy Storage Applications

Natl Sci Rev (September 2017)

The National Science Review is the first comprehensive scholarly journal released in English in China that is aimed at linking the country's rapidly advancing community of scientists with the global frontiers of science and technology. The journal also aims to shine a worldwide spotlight on scientific research advances across China.
New Canadian guidelines recommend the use of new medications by HIV-negative people from high-risk populations both before and after exposure to the virus to prevent HIV infection

TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2017--New Canadian guidelines recommend the use of new medications by HIV-negative people from high-risk populations both before and after exposure to the virus to prevent HIV infection.

The guidelines, published online today in CMAJ, recommend both pre-exposure prohylaxis, or PrEP, the regular use of antiretroviral medications beginning before an exposure occurs, and non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis, and nPEP, a course of antiretroviral medications after a sexual or drug use-related exposure to HIV, as highly effective strategies prevent new HIV infections.

These biomedical interventions should be used as part of a combination prevention strategy that also includes behavioural interventions, such as condoms and risk reduction counseling, according to the guidelines.

"There are new biomedical HIV prevention strategies that have been widely endorsed worldwide by organizations including the WHO, U.S. CDC and others," said Dr. Darrell Tan, an infectious disease physician and scientist at St. Michael's Hospital and lead author of the guidelines. "In particular, PrEP is a highly effective and safe Health Canada-approved method that involves taking a daily pill, which, if taken properly, can offer almost 100 per cent protection against new HIV infection."

The guidelines are particularly important in populations where HIV incidence in Canada remains disproportionately high, according to the authors.

Men who have sex with men are 131 times more likely to acquire HIV than other Canadian men, with fifty four per cent of all new HIV infections in Canada occurring in this population. Injection drug users are 59 times more likely than non-users to acquire HIV. People from countries with endemic HIV, as well as Indigenous people, are also both more likely than the general population to acquire HIV (6.4 times and 2.7 times more likely, respectively).

Economic analyses have shown that PrEP and nPEP, when used in high-risk populations, are also cost-effective HIV prevention strategies, according to the authors.

"To date, the cost of these medications has restricted the feasibility and acceptability of these strategies," said Dr. Tan. "However, the recent introduction of generic versions of antiretroviral medications, as well as increasing availability of public drug coverage for PrEP in Canada may have a substantial effect on their uptake."

The guidelines are generally consistent with international guidelines from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, according to the authors.

"Previous studies in these countries have shown that widespread use of PrEP led to dramatic reduction in new HIV diagnoses," said Dr. Tan. "We hope that these guidelines can provide clinicians with the resources they need to incorporate biomedical interventions into their care plans, and ultimately help Canada work towards eliminating new HIV infections."

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This study received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with support from the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network.

About St. Michael's Hospital

St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 29 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

About the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network

The CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN) is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and sponsored by the University of British Columbia and St. Paul's Hospital (Providence Health Care). The CTN is a partnership of clinical investigators, physicians, nurses, people living with HIV, pharmaceutical manufacturers and others committed to developing treatments, vaccines and a cure for HIV and related conditions through the conduct of scientifically sound and ethical clinical trials. The CTN is committed to the pursuits of scientific excellence and ethical integrity in all undertakings. We are also dedicated to working in partnership with the international and national pharmaceutical industry, people living with HIV, researchers and physicians. http://www.hivnet.ubc.ca

Media contacts

For more information, or to arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact:

Kelly O'Brien

Communications Adviser - Media

416-864-5047

obrienkel@smh.ca
(New York, NY - November 27, 2017) - Mount Sinai researchers have identified novel therapeutic targets for metastatic melanoma, according to a study published in Molecular Cell.

The study focused on a gene called AMIGO2 and its partner, called PTK7. Scientists' understanding of AMIGO2's role in cancer has been limited until now, but the researchers discovered that AMIGO2 and PTK7 is required for melanoma cells to grow and survive.

This research also identified a path forward to develop small molecule inhibitors or antibodies against AMIGO2 and PTK7, which are both found on the melanoma cell's membrane. Targeted therapies against PTK7 have already been successfully tested in phase 1 clinical trials for solid tumors, so the groundwork has already been laid in developing similar drugs for melanoma.

"Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, affecting more and more patients," according to the study's senior author, Emily Bernstein, PhD, Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences and Dermatology at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "While immunotherapy and targeted therapies have significantly improved the outcome for some metastatic melanoma patients, they have had success in a small subset of patients and can cause significant toxic side effects. Thus, their limitations underscore the need for new therapies, highlighting the importance of this research's discovery of novel targets."

The researchers made their discoveries by studying BET proteins, which regulate gene expression in cancer, and their regulation of AMIGO2. When melanoma is growing, the amount of AMIGO2 increases; silencing its function significantly impairs melanoma's growth. In addition, AMIGO2 regulates PTK7 function and PTK7 is also required for melanoma cell survival, so targeting AMIGO2 and PTK7 would also disrupt melanoma's growth.

This study also discovered the potential to identify additional tumor-promoting genes and other therapeutic targets in melanoma by studying other BET target genes.

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Mount Sinai researchers collaborated with researchers from New York University Langone Medical Center in this study and received funding from Dermatology Foundation, Hirschl/Weill-Caulier Research Award, Melanoma Research Alliance, Harry J. Lloyd Charitable Trust, and NIH/NCI R01CA154683, R01CA155234 and R01CA163891.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to provide the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 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 ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in four other specialties in the 2017-2018 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked in six out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 12th nationally for Ophthalmology and 50th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
TPU scientist Raul Rodrigez and his colleagues from Lithuania and Germany were the first in the world to suggest how with the help of graphene oxide, in fact ordinary graphene as in pencils, but oxidized to make the surface of any material suitable for immobilization of living cells. Devices with such coatings will make it possible to detect and study individual living cells, including dangerous microorganisms, cancer cells and dangerous substances in the human body. In future, this technology will allow creating flexible diagnostic devices implanted under the skin. The study outcomes were published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.

The study was conducted by the researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University, the University of Vilnius, the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (Lithuania) and the Chemnitz University of Technology (Germany).

'Medical scientists are still trying to find an answer to the question related to metastatic spread. Studying communication of cells in the process of their formation is a possible answer to this question. For this purpose it is necessary to be able to distinguish the behavior of bulk cell samples from the behavior of single cells,' - tells Professor Raul Rodrigez from the Department of Lasers and Lighting Engineering.

The technology developed by Tomsk scientists and their colleagues allows monitoring cell colonies and separate the cells of interest from all the others. Moreover, it will be more affordable than existing counterparts.

He adds that the study of communication and interaction of cells is currently important for many areas in medicine. The same technology can help in the development of biosensors.

'When creating biosensors there is the same problem as when creating implants which are implanted into the human body. In implants the interaction of cells with their surface is determined by wettability. Wettable surfaces enhance the attachment of living cells to bioimplants, as well as their proliferation and so on. The surface of biosensors should also be well wetted so that we can ensure the attachment of cells or bacteria to the sensors,' says Professor Rodrigez.

The scientist explains that water can help understand what a wettable or hydrophilic surface means. When water droplets fall on the surface of a material and spread over it, it means that the interaction between the droplets and the surface is high and the material is hydrophilic. If water droplets gather in balls, the interaction between water molecules with each other is more than with the surface, it means the material is hydrophobic.

'The simple technology using graphene oxide allows us to make any material hydrophilic and therefore suitable for creating inexpensive biosensors,' - says TPU professor.

In their work the scientists demonstrated this effect by the example of ordinary yeast cells deposited on several arbitrary substrates of glass, silicon and other materials coated with graphene oxide. The study results showed that cells are well attached to modified substrates. Such improved surfaces led to the appearance of areas where single cells could be observed. Figuratively speaking, cells fell into 'traps' and could not come together, as it usually does on surface. Using this property, it would be possible to study how cells behave in the isolated state and compare their behavior in the colony.

For manufacturing biosensors it is supposed to create electrical contacts on the same coating.

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In the era of fake news, less scrupulous businesses are using deceptive tactics to smear their rivals. But companies that spread fake news against their competitors ultimately experience the brunt of negative publicity and reputational damage.

That's a key finding of new research co-authored by the UBC Sauder School of Business. The researchers examined a real-life case from 2012 in South Korea, when a customer reportedly found a dead rat in a loaf of bread made by one of the country's most popular bakery brands. The company's business plummeted, until a reporter discovered that a rival bakery had whipped up the fake story. Suddenly, the offending franchise found itself in the hot seat, in the media and online.

"People doubted the credibility of this firm and its management practices," said study co-author Gene Moo Lee, assistant professor of information systems at UBC Sauder. "What's more, the offender was a franchisee, which ultimately tarnished the reputation of the larger company. This study showed that deceptive marketing just doesn't pay."

The researchers examined three years' worth of blog posts, news articles and social media exchanges, and counted how many positive and negative words were used in reference to each company.

They found that, while the fake story damaged the victim company at first, it caused far more significant and lasting damage to the firm that originally concocted the story. In fact, damage to the victim company lasted one year, while the effects for the offender lingered for more than two years.

For businesses that practice these smear tactics, the researchers caution that fake news detection technology is becoming increasingly more precise.

"Social media services like Facebook, Google and Twitter are building very sophisticated fake news detection algorithms now, which means it's increasingly easy to be caught," said study co-author Sungha Jang, assistant professor of marketing at Kansas State University. "Practically speaking and also ethically speaking, you don't want to do that. Ultimately the truth prevails."

According to study co-author Ho Kim, assistant professor of digital and social media marketing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the findings serve as a warning to companies to avoid using smear tactics.

"It's a lesson we all learned in kindergarten: don't tell a lie," said Kim. "It's not surprising, but a lot of people spread fake news. When it's uncovered as fake news, it brings lasting reputational damage for the offender."

The study, "Does Deceptive Marketing Pay? The Evolution of Consumer Sentiment Surrounding a Pseudo-Product-Harm Crisis," was recently published online in the Journal of Business Ethics. Reo Song at California State University also co-authored the paper.

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Three new species of microbe found in the guts of termites have been named after members of the Canadian prog-rock band Rush, owing to the microbes' long hair and rhythmic wriggling under the microscope.

"A Spanish postdoc, Javier del Campo, asked me to recommend some good Canadian music, and I suggested he listen to Rush," says Patrick Keeling, a University of British Columbia microbiologist and senior author on the paper describing the new species. "He came back to me and said 'Those microbes we're finding have long hair like the guys on the album 2112!'"

The microbes in question are covered with flagella, which are long threads that cells use to move around. Many cells have a few flagella, but these little rockers have more than ten thousand very long flagella, giving them flowing hair that even Farrah Fawcett might envy.

And while Rush may not be famous for their dance moves, the tiny creatures also have rhythm. They bob their heads and sway their bodies in microscopic dances, prompting the researchers to baptize the new Pseudotrichonympha species P. leei, P. lifesoni, and P. pearti after musicians Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart.

The prototypical Canadian power trio is known for songs such as "Natural Science," "Tom Sawyer" and "Closer to the Heart," and lyrics drawing on themes from science and literature, such as the seminal 1976 album 2112.

The microbe named after drummer and lyricist Peart contains a rotating intracellular structure never seen before. The researchers dubbed this the "rotatosome," and even though they tested several theories, they still can't figure out what it does.

"We have looked at a lot of crazy cells in my lab, and none of us has ever seen anything like this," Keeling says.

While taxonomy can be a dry topic, some biologists inject a bit of fun with species names. Previously, Keeling's team found another termite microbe which they named Cthulhu, after the terrifying tentacled entity in H.P. Lovecraft's stories. Pseudotrichonympha leei, lifesoni, and pearti may come from the same place as Cthulhu (a termite's hindgut), but these dancing, long-haired creatures seem much friendlier.

The researchers outlined their findings in Scientific Reports.

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See photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ubcscience/albums/72157689537063604/with/38585930401/
Researchers have determined how female grizzly bears keep their cubs safe while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.

Adam Ford, Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology at UBC's Okanagan campus, along with Montana State University's Tony Clevenger, studied the travel patterns of grizzlies in Banff National Park between 1997 and 2014. In most cases, a mother bear travelling with cubs opted to use a wildlife overpass instead of a tunnel to cross the highway.

"We used data from Canada's longest and most detailed study of road-wildlife interactions," explains Ford, an assistant professor of biology. "We found that grizzly bear females and cubs preferred to use overpasses to cross the highway."

During the 17-year study period, bears not travelling in these family groups used both underpasses and overpasses. "You can't just build a tunnel under a highway and expect to conserve bears," says Ford. "Our work shows that the design of structures used to get bears across the road matters for reconnecting grizzly bear populations."

The study looked at five different wildlife crossing structure designs distributed across 44 sites along a 100-km stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. The structures are purpose-built bridges or tunnels to facilitate the safe movement of animals across roads. Tracking and motion-triggered cameras were used to monitor grizzly bear movement and Ford says all grizzly bears selected larger and more open structures like overpasses and open-span bridges, compared to tunnels and box culverts.

"Since adult females and cubs drive population growth, this research tells us that overpasses are needed to protect bears in roaded areas," says Ford.

The study also documents the most cost-effective means to design highway mitigation. A common concern in conservation is how to allocate funding to bring the most effective gains for biodiversity. The researchers estimated the cost-effectiveness of structure designs and were surprised by the result.

"When we look at the population as a whole, there were a lot of passages made by males in box culverts, which is the cheapest type of structure to build," explains Clevenger, stressing that a diversity of wildlife crossing structure designs along a highway is essential.

"It's important to reduce the chances of adult males encountering cubs since the males will kill young bears," Clevenger adds. "Creating both 'bachelor' and 'family'-friendly designs will further help bear populations grow."

This peer-reviewed study was published online this week in the Wildlife Society Bulletin.

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Media Contact:

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Assistant Communications Coordinator | University Relations

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Phone: 250-807-8463 | Cell: 250-317-0293

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ABOUT UBC's OKANAGAN CAMPUS

UBC's Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia's stunning Okanagan Valley.

Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is a globally recognized research-intensive institution whose Okanagan campus was established in 2005.

The Okanagan campus emphasizes smaller class sizes, experiential learning, and research activity for students, combining a world-class UBC degree with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community.

As part of North America's most international university, the campus is home to 9,000 students representing 98 countries.
Conventional wisdom holds that prehistoric villagers planted corn, and lots of it, to survive the dry and hostile conditions of the American Southwest.

But University of Cincinnati archaeology professor Alan Sullivan is challenging that long-standing idea, arguing instead that people routinely burned the understory of forests to grow wild crops 1,000 years ago.

"There has been this orthodoxy about the importance of corn," said Sullivan, director of graduate studies in UC's Department of Anthropology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. "It's been widely considered that prehistoric peoples of Arizona between A.D. 900 to 1200 were dependent on it.

"But if corn is lurking out there in the Grand Canyon, it's hiding successfully because we've looked all over and haven't found it."

Sullivan has published a dozen papers outlining the scarce evidence of corn agriculture at more than 2,000 sites where they have found pottery sherds and other artifacts of prehistoric human settlement. He summarized his findings in a presentation last month at Boston University.

Sullivan has spent more than two decades leading archaeological field research to Grand Canyon National Park and the region's Upper Basin, home to the 1.6-million-acre Kaibab National Forest.

When you think of the Grand Canyon, you might picture rocky cliffs and desert vistas. But the Upper Basin, where Sullivan and his students work, is home to mature forests of juniper and pinyon trees stretching as far as you can see, he said.

"When you look down into the Grand Canyon, you don't see any forest. But on either rim there are deep, dense forests," he said.

On these high-elevation plateaus, Sullivan and his students have unearthed ceramic jugs adorned with corrugated patterns and other evidence of prehistoric life. Sullivan is particularly interested in the cultural and social practices of growing, sharing and eating food, also called a foodway.

"What would constitute evidence of a corn-based foodway?" he asked. "And if experts agree it should look like this but we don't find evidence of it, that would seem to be a problem for that model."

Like a detective, Sullivan has pieced together clues firsthand and from scientific analysis to make a persuasive argument that people used fire to promote the growth of edible leaves, seeds and nuts of plants such as amaranth and chenopodium, wild relatives of quinoa. These plants are called "ruderals," which are the first to grow in a forest disturbed by fire or clear-cutting.

"It's definitely a paradigm-threatening opinion," Sullivan said. "It's not based on wild speculation. It's evidence-based theorizing. It has taken us about 30 years to get to the point where we can confidently conclude this."

Lab analysis identified ancient pollen from dirt inside clay pots that were used 1,000 years ago before Sullivan and his students found them.

"They've identified 6,000 or 7,000 pollen grains and only six [grains] were corn. Everything else is dominated by these ruderals," Sullivan said.

The corn itself looked nothing like the hearty ears of sweet corn people enjoy at barbecues today. The ears were puny, about one-third the size of a typical cob, with tiny, hard kernels, Sullivan said.

So if prehistoric people were not growing corn, what were they eating? Sullivan found clues around his excavation sites that people set fires big enough to burn away the understory of grasses and weeds but small enough not to harm the pinyon and juniper trees, important sources of calorie-rich nuts and berries.

Evidence for this theory was found in ancient trees. Raging wildfires leave burn scars in growth rings of surviving trees. In the absence of frequent small fires, forests would accumulate vast amounts of underbrush and fallen timber to create conditions ripe for an inferno sparked by a lightning strike. But examinations of ancient juniper and ponderosa pine trees found no burn scars, suggesting big fires are a relatively new phenomenon in Arizona.

"To me that confirms there weren't massive fires back then," Sullivan said.

Sullivan also studied the geologic layers at these sites. Like a time capsule, the stratigraphic analysis captured the periods before and after people lived there. He found higher concentrations of wild edible plants in the period when people lived there. And when people abandoned the sites, the area they left behind saw fewer of these plants.

But it was only this year that Sullivan found contemporary evidence supporting his theory that prehistoric people generated a spring bounty by setting fires. Sullivan returned to the Grand Canyon last spring to examine forest destroyed by a massive 2016 fire. Touched off by a lightning strike, the blaze called the Scott Fire laid waste to 2,660 acres of pines, junipers and sagebrush.

Despite the intensity of the forest fire, Sullivan found edible plants growing thick everywhere underfoot just months later.

"This burned area was covered in ruderals. Just covered," he said. "That to us was confirmation of our theory. Our argument is there's this dormant seed bed that is activated by any kind of fire."

Archaeologists with the National Park Service have found evidence that corn grew below the rim of the Grand Canyon, said Ellen Brennan, cultural resource program manager for the national park.

"It does appear that the ancient people of the Grand Canyon never pursued corn agriculture to the extent that other ancestral Puebloan peoples did in other parts of the Southwest," Brennan said. "In the Grand Canyon, it appears that there continued to be persistent use of native plants as a primary food source rather than corn."

The National Park Service has not examined whether prehistoric people used fire to improve growing conditions for native plants. But given what is known about cultures at the time, it is likely they did, Brennan said.

The first assumptions about what daily life was like in the Southwest 1,000 years ago came from more recent observations of Native Americans such as the Hopi, said Neil Weintraub, archaeologist for Kaibab National Forest. He worked alongside Sullivan at some of the sites in the Upper Basin.

"Corn is still a big part of the Hopi culture. A lot of dances they do are about water and the fertility of corn," he said. "The Hopi are seen as the descending groups of Puebloan."

While native peoples elsewhere in the Southwest no doubt relied on corn, Weintraub said, Sullivan's work has convinced him that residents of the Upper Basin relied on wild food -- and used fire to cultivate it.

"It's a fascinating idea because we really see that these people were highly mobile. On the margins where it's very dry we think they were taking advantage of different parts of the landscape at different times of the year," Weintraub said.

"It's been well documented that Native Americans burned the forest in other parts of the country. I see no reason why they wouldn't have been doing the same thing 1,000 years ago," he said.

The area around the Grand Canyon is especially dry, going many weeks without rain. Still, life persists. Weintraub said the forest generates a surprising bounty of food if you know where to look. Some years, the pinyon trees produce a bumper crop of tasty, nutritious nuts.

"In a good year, we didn't need to bring lunch in the field when we were out at our archaeological surveys. We'd be cracking pinyons all day," Weintraub said.

Weintraub recently studied the forest burned in last year's big Scott Fire. The exposed ground was thick with new undergrowth, particularly a wild relative of quinoa called goosefoot, he said.

"Goosefoot has a minty smell to it, especially in the fall. We actually started chewing on it. It was pretty pleasant," Weintraub said. "It's a high-nutrient food. I'd be curious to know more about how native peoples processed it for food."

UC's Sullivan said this prehistoric land management can teach us lessons today, especially when it comes to preventing devastating fires.

"Foresters call it 'the wicked problem.' All of our forests are anthropogenic [man-made] because of fire suppression and fire exclusion," Sullivan said.

"These forests are unnatural. They're alien to the planet. They have not had any major fires in them in decades," he said. "The fuel loads have built up to the point where you get a little ignition source and the fire is catastrophic in ways that they rarely were in the past."

The National Park Service often lets fires burn in natural areas when they do not threaten people or property. But increasingly people are building homes and businesses adjacent to or within forests. Forest managers are reluctant to conduct controlled burning so close to population, Sullivan said.

Eventually so much dry wood builds up that a dropped cigarette or unattended campfire can lead to devastating fires such as the 2016 blaze that killed 14 people and destroyed 11,000 acres in the Great Smoky Mountains or the fires in California this year that killed 40 people and caused an estimated $1 billion in property damage.

"It's a chronic problem. How do you fix it?" he asked. "The U.S. Forest Service has experimented with different methods: prescribed burning, which creates a lot of irritating smoke, or thinning the forest, which creates a disposal problem."

Fire also seems to increase the diversity of forest species. Sullivan said vegetation surveys find less biodiversity in forests today than he found in his archeological samples.

"That is one measure of how devastating our management of fire has been to these forests," he said. "These fire-responsive plants have basically disappeared from the landscape. Species diversity in some cases has collapsed."

Today, federal land managers conduct controlled burns when practical to address this problem, even in national parks such as the Grand Canyon.

"The fire management program for Grand Canyon National Park seeks to reintroduce fire as a natural agent of the environment," the park's Brennan said. "That is to reduce ground fuels through prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and wildland fire."

Scientists also are studying how to adjust forest management techniques in the face of climate change, she said.

"Program managers are working to understand how climate change affects forest management and how to restore forests to the point where fire can follow a more natural return interval given a particular forest type," she said.

Climate change is expected to make wildfires more frequent and severe with rising temperatures and lower humidity. Meanwhile, public lands are under increasing pressure from private interests such as tourism and mining, putting more people at potential risk from fire, Sullivan said.

"Rather than create more uranium mines or establish more tourist cities in our forests, it's better to spend our money on addressing 'the wicked problem,'" Sullivan said. "Unless we solve that, all of these other ventures will only add to the severity of the risks."

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Shrinking glacier cover could lead to increased volcanic activity in Iceland, warn scientists.

A new study, led by the University of Leeds, has found that there was less volcanic activity in Iceland when glacier cover was more extensive and as the glaciers melted volcanic eruptions increased due to subsequent changes in surface pressure.

Dr Graeme Swindles, from the School of Geography at Leeds, said: "Climate change caused by humans is creating rapid ice melt in volcanically active regions. In Iceland, this has put us on a path to more frequent volcanic eruptions."

The study examined Icelandic volcanic ash preserved in peat deposits and lake sediments and identified a period of significantly reduced volcanic activity between 5,500 and 4,500 years ago. This period came after a major decrease in global temperature, which caused glacier growth in Iceland.

The findings, published today in the journal Geology, found there was a time lag of roughly 600 years between the climate event and a noticeable decrease in the number of volcanic eruptions. The study suggests that perhaps a similar time lag can be expected following the more recent shift to warmer temperatures.

Iceland's volcanic system is in process of recovering from the 'Little Ice Age' -- a recorded period of colder climate roughly between the years 1500 to 1850. Since the end of the Little Ice Age, a combination of natural and human caused climate warming is causing Icelandic glaciers to melt again.

Dr Swindles said: "The human effect on global warming makes it difficult to predict how long the time lag will be but the trends of the past show us more eruptions in Iceland can be expected in the future.

"These long term consequences of human effect on the climate is why summits like COP are so important. It is vital to understand how actions today can impact future generations in ways that have not been fully realised, such as more ash clouds over Europe, more particles in the atmosphere and problems for aviation. "

Icelandic volcanism is controlled by complex interactions between rifts in continental plate boundaries, underground gas and magma build-up and pressure on the volcano's surface from glaciers and ice. Changes in surface pressure can alter the stress on shallow chambers where magma builds up.

Study co-author, Dr Ivan Savov, from the School of Earth & Environment at Leeds, explains: "When glaciers retreat there is less pressure on the Earth's surface. This can increase the amount of mantle melt as well as affect magma flow and how much magma the crust can hold.

"Even small changes in surface pressure can alter the likelihood of eruptions at ice-covered volcanos."

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Further information

The research paper, Climatic control on Icelandic volcanic activity during the mid-Holocene, was published in Geology 16 November 2017. https://doi.org/10.1130/G39633.1

For additional information and to request interviews please contact Anna Harrison, Press Officer at the University of Leeds, on +44 (0)113 34 34196 or a.harrison@leeds.ac.uk

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A unique collection of Iron Age metal artefacts which sheds new light on feasting rituals among prehistoric communities has been discovered by archaeologists from the University of Leicester during an excavation at Glenfield Park, Leicestershire.

The team, from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), has located a trove of ancient treasures at the site, including eleven complete, or near complete, Iron Age cauldrons, fine ring-headed dress pins, an involuted brooch and a cast copper alloy object known as a 'horn-cap', which may have been part of a ceremonial staff, emphasising the unusual nature of the metalwork assemblage.

The collection is unprecedented in terms of the overall mix of findings, with the cauldrons highlighting the role of the settlement as a potential host site for feasting, with associated traditions of ritual deposition of important objects.

The project took place over the winter of 2013/14 and was commissioned in advance of Glenfield Park, a large-scale warehouse and distribution development by Wilson Bowden Developments Ltd. close to the M1, and between the villages of Glenfield and Kirby Muxloe, both situated on the urban fringes of Leicester.

The excavation has revealed evidence for long-term landscape inhabitation throughout most of the Iron Age and Roman periods, across an area of c. 12ha, with the main focus being a dense c. 4ha spread of settlement remains comprising many roundhouses, enclosures, 4-post structures and pits that occupied the southern slopes of a low spur of slightly higher ground at the northern end of the development area.

The cauldrons and other finds at Glenfield Park are the result of a series of events that took place over a considerable length of time and have resulted in multiple episodes of deposition across the settlement.

These repeated acts mark the site out as a potential ritual and ceremonial centre that also hosted large feasts.

John Thomas, director of the excavation and Project Officer from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, said: "Glenfield Park is an exceptional archaeological site, with a fantastic array of finds that highlight this as one of the more important discoveries of recent years. Early occupation of the site during the earlier middle Iron Age (5th - 4th centuries BC) was relatively modest, consisting of a small open settlement that occupied the south-facing, lower slopes of the spur. Slightly later in the middle Iron Age, indicated to be in the 4th or 3rd centuries BC by radiocarbon dating, the settlement underwent striking changes in character. Individual roundhouses were now enclosed, there was far more evidence for material culture, and rituals associated with the settlement involved apparently deliberate burial of a striking assemblage of metalwork.

"It is the metalwork assemblage that really sets this settlement apart. The quantity and quality of the finds far outshines most of the other contemporary assemblages from the area, and its composition is almost unparalleled. The cauldron assemblage in particular makes this a nationally important discovery.

"They represent the most northerly discovery of such objects on mainland Britain and the only find of this type of cauldron in the East Midlands."

Most of the cauldrons appear to have been deliberately laid in a large circular enclosure ditch that surrounded a building. They had been placed in either upright or inverted positions, before the ditch was filled in, suggesting that they were buried to mark the cessation of activities associated with this part of the site. Other cauldrons were found buried across the site, suggesting that significant events were being marked over a long period of time as the settlement developed.

The cauldrons are made from several separate parts, comprising iron rims and upper bands, hemispherical copper alloy bowls and two iron ring handles attached to the upper band.

They appear to have been a variety of sizes, with rims ranging between 360mm and 560mm in diameter, with the total capacity of all cauldrons being approximately 550 litres, which illustrates their potential to provide for large groups of people that may have gathered at the settlement from the wider Iron Age community of the area.

John said: "Due to their large capacity it is thought that Iron Age cauldrons were reserved for special occasions and would have been important social objects, forming the centrepiece of major feasts, perhaps in association with large gatherings and events.

"The importance of cauldrons as symbolic objects is reflected in their frequent appearance in early medieval Irish and Welsh literature, which has been drawn upon in studies of Iron Age society. They are rarely found in large numbers and, with the exception of a discovery in Chiseldon, where 17 cauldrons were found in a pit, there have been few excavated examples in recent years."

The cauldrons are extremely fragile and were lifted from site in soil blocks for later analysis.

They were initially investigated at Paul Strickland Scanner Centre in Middlesex, a leading medical imaging centre specialising in cancer which had CT-scanning equipment large enough to accommodate the soil blocks.

Dr Andrew Gogbashian, Consultant Radiologist at Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, said: "We have the latest CT scanning technology and using our medical imaging skills and experience to contribute to such a significant archaeological discovery is a real privilege."

The scans provided useful information in terms of the cauldron orientation, approximate dimensions and profiles, as well as tantalising glimpses of manufacturing methods. Most excitingly the scans also revealed exceptionally rare evidence for decoration from the period, further highlighting the significance of the site.

One example is on a complete cauldron, which has raised stem and leaf motifs on the vessels iron band, close to the handle locations, which are similar to the so-called 'Vegetal Style' of Celtic art, generally dated to the 4th century BC. Another example of decoration has been identified on a small copper alloy bowl fragment, which has a domed rivet or raised boss decoration, suggesting that some of the bowls carried decoration too.

Further detail from the cauldrons will only be possible from excavation and conservation, which is being undertaken by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Liz Barham, Senior Conservator at MOLA said: "Already we have been able to uncover glimpses of the detailed histories of these cauldrons through CT scanning, including evidence of their manufacture and repair, and have identified sooty residues still clinging to the base of one of the cauldrons from the last time it was suspended over a fire. During the upcoming conservation we hope to discover much more about the entire assemblage. If we're lucky, we may even find food residues from the last time they were used - over 2000 years ago."

John added: "The settlement itself adds considerable information on the establishment, growth and development of long-lived Iron Age settlements in the East Midlands, and offers new insights into the role of these well-established communities."

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The results of the project to date are published in the current issue of British Archaeology magazine, which will be available from 6 December.

Images of the site and the artefacts available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2sozimv68x7dysk/AABrqDu1OIPOTmj9zVyjgRIba?dl=0

Video of Iron Age cauldrons discovered at feasting site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpewpRUjz8g&feature=youtu.be

Video of CT scans of Iron Age cauldrons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m4T-ueLGb4&feature=youtu.be
The media has been telling us about feminised male fish for decades, but now researchers at SDU announce that this feminisation has completely disappeared in certain parts of Denmark.

Male fish that live in the proximity of discharges from wastewater treatment plants have proved to be feminised in many countries.

This is mostly due to the presence of female sex hormones in the wastewater - e.g. natural oestrogens and synthetic oestrogens from contraceptive pills, which are only removed from wastewater if advanced purification is carried out at the wastewater treatment plant.

The feminisation can be seen as i.a. elevated concentrations of egg yolk proteins in the blood of the males. In contrast to male trout, females produce their own oestrogens. This means that the egg yolk proteins are usually only found in females, where the proteins are integrated into the eggs.

It is all about wastewater treatment

The majority of municipal wastewater treatment plants in Denmark are highly advanced and so effective in removing natural oestrogens and synthetic contraceptive pill oestrogens from the wastewater that concentrations in the purified wastewater are too low to feminise male fish.

- Despite this, we found that there was widespread feminisation among some male brown trout in certain Danish streams during the period of 2000-2004, but in the period of 2010-2016 we found this feminisation had completely disappeared, says biologist Jane Ebsen Morthorst from Department of Biology.

She has just had this study published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, together with colleagues Poul Bjerregaard, Henrik Holbech and Knud L Pedersen from the Department of Biology at SDU.

- We examined all possible sources of oestrogen activity in the streams, and studied whether any changes occurred between 2004 and 2010. We were able to rule out changes in i.a. precipitation/water flow and agricultural practices.

The only significant change left was that the discharge of poorly purified wastewater from scattered settlements into the streams had been minimised during this period.

There has been a widespread and significant improvement in wastewater treatment for households without sewerage in scattered settlements since around 2003, due to the demands for advanced treatment by the authorities.

Greatly reduced discharges

The wastewater from many households in scattered settlements often passed only through a settling tank in the form of a septic tank or similar, which only removes larger particles and not oestrogens. A previous project proved that discharges from settling tanks contain a sufficient amount of oestrogenic activity to feminise male fish.

- In collaboration with the environmental departments of the municipalities concerned, we discovered that many properties in scattered settlements had carried out improved wastewater treatment on their own land register or had been connected to a municipal wastewater treatment plant in the period from 2004 to 2010. The discharge of poorly purified wastewater from the scattered settlements had therefore been greatly reduced.

Requirements for the installation of additional purification plants after settling tanks have more than likely resulted in an improvement in the environmental status of Danish streams.

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The work was financed by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency via Centre on Endocrine Disrupters.

Ecotoxicology:

Today 119 million unique chemicals have been registered in the worldwide chemical substance database (CAS) and every five seconds a new chemical is added. How each of those chemicals, alone or in combination, affects humans and wildlife is largely unknown.

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The study shows that clinical interventions should take place at lower viral loads than those proposed by the current World Health Organization guidelines

A large cohort study in South Africa has revealed that that low-level viraemia (LLV) in HIV-positive patients who are receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) is an important risk factor for treatment failure. Viraemia is a medical condition where viruses enter the bloodstream and thus have access to the rest of the body.

The findings indicate that the current World Health Organization (WHO)-defined threshold for virological failure does not identify a large subset of patients who are at increased risk of poor outcomes of ART. Thus, clinical intervention should take place at lower viral loads than those proposed by the current WHO guidelines. Viral load refers to the amount of HIV virus in the blood.

A team of scientists including Dr Sergio Carmona from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the National Health Laboratory Service; the Ndlovu Research Consortium in Limpopo Province; the University of California San Diego, USA; and the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, published the study in Lancet Infectious Diseases on November 18, 2017.

Carmona, in the division of Molecular Medicine and Haematology, School of Pathology at Wits University and Head of the Viral Load Unit at the National Health Laboratory Service, says: "This study provides clear evidence that clinical interventions should take place at lower viral loads than those proposed by the current WHO guidelines. We need to support the scale-up of viral load testing in low and middle-income countries as well as encourage adherence to ARVs and close follow-up of viral load results."

The monumental response to the global HIV epidemic has led to an unprecedented number of patients on ART. The goal of ART in HIV positive patients is to suppress the viral load. From the start of the ART roll-out, South Africa has invested in laboratory capacity to enable routine viral load monitoring of all patients on ART. The implementation of viral load monitoring was done largely in accordance with WHO ART guidelines, which advises annual routine monitoring, and a threshold of 1000 copies/mL to define virological failure.

In clinical guidelines for high-income settings, cut-offs for therapy failure are lower, and clinical intervention is already required above 50 copies/mL. Suppression below 50 copies prevents disease progression towards AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - the result of untreated HIV infection), prevents selection of resistance, and lowers the risk of transmission of the virus to others.

The South African large-scale viral load monitoring programme yields unique insights into crucial aspects of WHO ART guidelines, such as the WHO's current definition of virological failure.

The study of over 70 000 patients attending 57 HIV treatment facilities has shown that patients presenting with detectable viral loads below the lenient 1000 copies/mL threshold are at an increased risk to develop virological failure - i.e. less than 1000 copies/mL.

A quarter of the patients in this cohort, who were on first-line ART, experienced one or more episodes of LLV. Compared to patients with virological suppression, that is with less than 50 copies/ml, patients with LLV were threefold more prone to develop failure of ART. In patients with LLV of the highest range (400-999 copies/mL) this risk increased to nearly fivefold. The risk to change to second-line therapy was even more pronounced to 13 times.

Important conclusions can be drawn from this study. The findings indicate that the current WHO-defined threshold for virological failure fails to identify a large subset of patients who are at an increased risk of poor outcomes of ART.

A more active approach to low-level viremia is essential to prevent virological failure and subsequent selection of resistance. Such an approach should be implemented prior the introduction of integrase inhibitors which are the cornerstone of ART globally to preserve this powerful treatment for the coming decades.

"Sustainable virological suppression is an important part of the 90-90-90 targets defined by UNAIDS. This study shows that patients with low-level viraemia are at risk for therapy failure. A strong message from WHO regarding the risk of virological failure after LLV could motivate clinicians to act when LLV is encountered," says Professor Francois Venter, deputy executive director, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI).

90-90-90 refers to 90% of all people living with HIV knowing their status by 2020, 90% of those diagnosed be receiving ART bu 2020, and 90% of those on ART will have viral suppression by 2020.

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Cambridge, MA. (Nov. 27) - A research team led by Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research has harnessed metabolomic technologies to unravel the molecular activities of a key protein that can enable plants to withstand a common herbicide. Their findings reveal how the protein -- a kind of catalyst or enzyme, first isolated in bacteria and introduced into plants, including crops such as corn and soybeans, in the 1990's-- can sometimes act imprecisely, and how it can be successfully re-engineered to be more precise. The new study, which appears online in the journal Nature Plants, raises the standards for bioengineering in the 21st century.

"Our work underscores a critical aspect of bioengineering that we are now becoming technically able to address," says senior author Jing-Ke Weng, a Member of the Whitehead Institute and an assistant professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We know that enzymes can behave indiscriminately. Now, we have the scientific capabilities to detect their molecular side effects, and we can leverage those insights to design smarter enzymes with enhanced specificity."

Plants provide an extraordinary model for scientists to study how metabolism changes over time. Because they cannot escape from predators or search for new food sources when supplies run low, plants must often grapple with an array of environmental insults using what is readily available -- their own internal biochemistry.

"Although they appear to be stationary, plants have rapidly evolving metabolic systems," Weng explains. "Now, we can gain an unprecedented view of these changes because of cutting-edge techniques like metabolomics, allowing us to analyze metabolites and other biochemicals on a broad scale."

Key players in this evolutionary process -- and a major focus of research in Weng's laboratory -- are enzymes. Traditionally, these naturally occurring catalysts have been viewed as mini-machines, taking the proper starting material (or substrate) and flawlessly converting it to the correct product. But Weng and other scientists now recognize that they make mistakes -- often by latching on to an unintended substrate. "This concept, known as enzyme promiscuity, has a variety of implications, both in enzyme evolution and more broadly, in human disease," Weng says.

It also has implications for bioengineering, as Bastien Christ, a postdoctoral fellow in Weng's laboratory, and his colleagues recently discovered.

Christ, then a graduate student in Stefan Hortensteiner's lab at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, was studying a particular strain of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana as part of a separate project, and he made a puzzling observation: two biochemical compounds were found at unusually high levels in their leaves.

Strangely, these compounds (called acetyl-aminoadipate and acetyl-tryptophan) weren't present in any of the normal, so-called "wildtype" plants. As he and his colleagues searched for an explanation, they narrowed in on the source: an enzyme, called BAR, that was engineered into the plants as a kind of chemical beacon, enabling scientists to more readily study them.

But BAR is more than just a tool for scientists. It is also one of the most commonly deployed traits in genetically modified crops, such as soybeans, corn, and cotton, enabling them to withstand a widely-used herbicide (known as phosphinothricin or glufosinate).

For decades, scientists have known that BAR, originally isolated from bacteria, can render the herbicide inactive by tacking on a short string of chemicals, made of two carbons and one oxygen (also called an acetyl group). As the researchers describe in their Nature Plants paper, is has a promiscuous side, and can work on other substrates, too, such as the amino acids tryptophan and aminoadipate (a lysine derivative).

That explains why they can detect the unintended products (acetyl-tryptophan and acetyl-aminoadipate) in crops genetically engineered to carry BAR, such as soybeans and canola.

Their research included detailed studies of the BAR protein, including crystal structures of the protein bound to its substrates. This provided them with a blueprint for how to strategically modify BAR to make it less promiscuous, and favor only the herbicide as a substrate and not the amino acids. Christ and his colleagues created several versions that lack the non-specific activity of the original BAR protein.

"These are natural catalysts, so when we borrow them from an organism and put them into another, they may not necessarily be perfect for our purposes," Christ says. "Gathering this kind of fundamental knowledge about how enzymes work and how their structure influences function can teach us how to select the best tools for bioengineering."

There are other important lessons, too. When the BAR trait was first evaluated by the U.S. FDA -- in 1995, for use in canola, and in subsequent years for other crops -- metabolomics was largely non-existent as a technology for biomedical research. Therefore, it could not be applied toward the characterization of genetically engineered plants and foods, as part of their regulatory review. Nevertheless, acetyl-aminoadipate and acetyl-tryptophan, which are normally present in humans, have been reviewed by the FDA and are safe for human and animal consumption.

Weng and his colleagues believe their study makes a strong case for considering metabolomics analyses as part of the review process for future genetically engineered crops. "This is a cautionary tale," Weng says.

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This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A_149389 and P2ZHP3_155258), the EU-funded Plant Fellows program, the Pew Scholar Program in the Biomedical Sciences, and the Searle Scholars Program.

Jing-Ke Weng's primary affiliation is with Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where his laboratory is located and all his research is conducted. He is also an assistant professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Full citation: "Non-specific activities of the major herbicide-resistance gene BAR" Nature Plants, online November 27, 2017. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-017-0061-1

Bastien Christ (1), Ramon Hochstrasser (2,4), Luzia Guyer (2), Rita Francisco (2), Sylvain Aubry (2), Stefan Hortensteiner (2), and Jing-Ke Weng (1,3).

1. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA

2. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich,8008 Zurich, Switzerland

3. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Autism typically involves the inability to read social cues. We most often associate this with visual difficulty in interpreting facial expression, but new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science suggests that the sense of smell may also play a central role in autism. As reported today in Nature Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers show that people on the autism spectrum have different - and even opposite - reactions to odors produced by the human body. These odors are ones that we are unaware of smelling, but which are, nonetheless, a part of the nonverbal communication that takes place between people, and which have been shown to affect our moods and behavior. Their findings may provide a unique window on autism, including, possibly, on the underlying developmental malfunctions in the disorder.

Researchers in the lab of Prof. Noam Sobel in the Institute's Neurobiology Department investigate, among other things, the smells that announce such emotions as happiness, fear or aggression to others. Although this sense is not our primary sense, as it is in many other mammals, we still subliminally read and react to certain odors. For example "smelling fear," even if we cannot consciously detect its odor, is something we may do without thinking. Since this is a form of social communication, Sobel and members of his lab wondered whether it might be disrupted in a social disorder like autism.

To conduct their experiments, Sobel and lab members Yaara Endevelt-Shapira and Ofer Perl, together with other members of his lab, devised a series of experiments with a group of participants on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum who volunteered for the study. To begin with, the researchers tested the ability of both autistic and control volunteers to identify smells that can be consciously detected, including human smells like sweat. There was no significant difference between the groups at this stage, meaning the sense of smell in the autistic participants was not significantly different from that of controls.

Two groups were then exposed to either to the "smell of fear" or to a control odor. The smell of fear was sweat collected from people taking skydiving classes, and control odor was sweat from the same people, only this time it had been collected when they were just exercising -- without feeling fear.

This is where differences emerged: Although neither group reported detecting dissimilarities between the two smells, their bodies reacted to each in a different way. In the control group, smelling the fear-induced sweat produced measurable increases in the fear response, for example in skin conductivity, while the everyday sweat did not. In the autistic men, fear-induced sweat lowered their fear responses, while the odor of "calm sweat" did the opposite: It raised their measurable anxiety levels.

Next, the group created talking robotic mannequins that emitted different odors through their nostrils. These mannequins gave the volunteers, who were unaware of the olfactory aspect of the experiment, different tasks to conduct. Using mannequins enabled the researchers to have complete control over the social cues - odor-based or other - that the subjects received. The tasks were designed to evaluate the level of trust that the volunteers placed in the mannequins - and here, too, the behavior of autistic volunteers was the opposite of the control group: They displayed more trust in the mannequin that emitted the fear-induced odor and less in the one that smelled "calmer."

In continuing experiments, the researchers asked whether other subliminal "social odors" have a different impact in autism than in control groups. In one, the volunteers were exposed to sudden loud noises during their sessions while at the same time they were also exposed to a potentially calming component of body-odor named hexadecanal. Another automatic fear response - blinking - was recorded using electrodes above the muscles of the eye. Indeed, the blink response in the control group was weaker when they were exposed to hexadecanal, while for those in the autistic group this response was stronger with hexadecanal.

In other words, the autistic volunteers in the experiment did not display an inability to read the olfactory social cues in smell, but rather they misread them. Sobel and his group think that this unconscious difference may point to a deeper connection between our sense of smell and early development. Research in recent years has turned up smell receptors like those in our nasal passages in all sorts of other places in our bodies - from our brains to our uteri. It has been suggested that these play a role in development, among other things. In other words, it is possible that the sensing of subtle chemical signals may go awry at crucial stages in the brain's development in autism. "We are still speculating, at this point," says Sobel, "but we are hoping that further research in our lab and others will clarify both the function of these unconscious olfactory social cues and their roots in such social disorders as autism."

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Prof. Noam Sobel's research is supported by the Azrieli National Institute for Human Brain Imaging and Research, which he heads; the Carl and Micaela Einhorn-Dominic Institute for Brain Research, which he heads; the Nadia Jaglom Laboratory for the Research in the Neurobiology of Olfaction; the Adelis Foundation; the late H. Thomas Beck; the Rob and Cheryl McEwen Fund for Brain Research; the Mike Rosenbloom Foundation; European Research Council. Prof. Sobel is the incumbent of the Sara and Michael Sela Professorial Chair of Neurobiology.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.
A study has found an unexpected new drug target for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) that could open new avenues to develop effective treatments against this potentially lethal disease. Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Gurdon Institute and their collaborators show that inhibiting the METTL3 gene destroys human and mouse AML cells without harming non-leukaemic blood cells.

Reported in the journal Nature today (27 November), the study goes on to reveal why METTL3 is required for AML cell survival, by deciphering the new mechanism it uses to regulate several other leukaemia genes.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an aggressive blood cancer that affects people of all ages, often requiring months of intensive chemotherapy and prolonged hospital admissions. It develops in cells in the bone marrow crowding out the healthy cells, in turn leading to life-threatening infections and bleeding. Mainstream AML treatments have remained unchanged for decades and fewer than one in three people survive the cancer.

To identify potential new ways to treat AML, the researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to screen cancer cells for vulnerable points. They created mouse leukaemia cells with mutations in the genes that may be targeted in human AML cells and systematically tested each gene, finding which were essential for AML survival.

The researchers ended up with 46 likely candidate genes, many of which produce proteins that could modify RNA. Amongst these, METTL3 was one of the genes with the strongest effect. They found that whilst it was essential for the survival of AML cells, it was not required for healthy blood cells, making it a good potential drug target.

Professor Tony Kouzarides, joint project leader from the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, said: "New treatments for AML are desperately needed and we have been looking for genes that would be good drug targets. We identified the methyl transferase enzyme METTL3 as a highly viable target against AML. Our study will inspire pharmaceutical efforts to find drugs that specifically inhibit METTL3 to treat AML."

For proteins to be produced in a cell, the DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA, which is then translated into the proteins that the cell needs. However, modifications to the RNA can control if a protein is produced. This is a recently-discovered type of gene regulation called RNA editing.

Having found a potential target in METTL3, the researchers investigated how it worked. They discovered that the protein produced by METTL3 bound to the beginning of 126 different genes, including several required for AML cell survival. Then, as RNAs were produced, the METTL3 protein added methyl groups to their middle section, something which had not been previously observed.

The researchers found that these middle methyl groups increased the ability of the RNAs to be translated into proteins. They then showed that when METTL3 was inhibited, no methyl groups were added to the RNA. This prevented the production of their essential proteins so the AML cells started dying.

Dr Konstantinos Tzelepis, one of the first authors on the study from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: "This study uncovered an entirely new mechanism of gene regulation in AML that operates through modifications of RNA. We discovered that inhibiting the methyl transferase activity of METTL3 would stop the translation of a whole set of proteins that the leukaemia needs. This mechanism shows that a drug to inhibit methylation could be effective against AML without affecting normal cells."

Dr George Vassiliou, joint project leader from the Sanger Institute and Consultant Haematologist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: AML is a feared disease that affects people all around the world, our treatments have changed little for decades and outcomes remain poor for the majority of patients. We believed that we had to think differently and look in new places for ways to treat the disease and in METTL3 we have found an exciting new target for drugs. We hope that this discovery will lead to more effective treatments that will improve the survival and the quality of life of patients with AML."

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Contact:

Dr Samantha Wynne,

Press Office,

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK

Tel +44 (0)1223 492368

Email press.office@sanger.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

Selected websites:

Wellcome Trust/ Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute

Named after its co-founder, Nobel Laureate Sir John Gurdon, the Gurdon Institute is a world-leading centre for research into the fundamental processes of biology and development, and how these go wrong in diseases such as cancer. More than 240 scientists work in the Institute's purpose-built laboratories on projects ranging from breast cancer and brain development to liver regeneration and leukaemia. Many have made pioneering contributions to the fields of basic cell biology, cellular reprogramming, epigenetics and DNA repair.

Institute scientists use a range of model systems such as yeast, nematode worms, fruit flies, frogs, mammalian cells and organoids to study development and disease at the level of molecules, cells and tissues. Research conducted at the Institute has so far led to 11 spin-out companies (including Abcam, CellCentric, MISSION Therapeutics and Gen2 Neuroscience) and several candidate therapeutics have entered clinical trials. One of these, olaparib (Lynparza), has been approved in the UK, Europe and the USA for use against ovarian cancers. http://www.gurdon.cam.ac.uk

Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK is the world's largest independent cancer research charity it conducts research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Research activities are carried out in institutes, universities and hospitals across the UK, both by the charity's own employees and by its grant-funded researchers. It also provides information about cancer and runs campaigns aimed at raising awareness of the disease and influencing public policy. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease. To celebrate its 25th year in 2018, the Institute is sequencing 25 new genomes of species in the UK. Find out more at http://www.sanger.ac.uk or follow @sangerinstitute

Wellcome

Wellcome exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. We're a global charitable foundation, both politically and financially independent. We support scientists and researchers, take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
TORONTO, Monday, November 27, 2017 - Do children show implicit racial preferences from an early age? According to new research from York University's Faculty of Health, they do. In three separate studies with over 350 five to twelve-year-old White children, York University researchers found that children show an implicit pro-White bias when exposed to images of both White and Black children. But the type of bias depended on what children were asked to do.

The research was conducted by Professor Jennifer Steele in the Faculty of Health and her former PhD student, Amanda Williams now at the School of Education, University of Bristol. Steele says the goal of the research was to gain a better understanding of children's automatic racial attitudes.

In the research published in the journal Child Development, a total of 359 White 5- to 12-year-olds completed child-friendly category-based (Implicit Association Test) and exemplar (Affective Priming Task; Affect Misattribution Procedure) implicit measures of racial attitudes.

When children were asked to sort faces by race on the category-based Implicit Association Test, both younger (5- to 8-year-olds) and older (9- to 12-year-olds) showed greater automatic positivity toward White as opposed to Black children.

"When we ask children to categorize by race, both younger and older White children show a pro-White bias. They are faster to match pictures of children who are White with positive images and pictures of children who are Black with negative images, relative to the reverse pairing" said Steele.

However, when they were not categorizing these faces by race, a different pattern of implicit preferences was found. On these exemplar measures, children were asked across many trials to quickly decide whether neutral images were pleasant or unpleasant. Just before seeing each neutral image, children briefly saw a picture of a Black or White child. On these implicit measures, children showed no evidence of automatic negativity toward images of Black children, despite demonstrating consistent pro-White versus Black bias on the category-based measure.

"On these measures, only younger White children show racial preferences. This was specifically a positive attitude towards other White children, and not a negative attitude towards Black children."

The researchers also found that older children, aged 9 to 12, weren't automatically positive toward other White children, which Steele says is consistent with other findings suggesting that individual characteristics, such as shared interests, become more important as children get older. Together, the results suggest that positive and negative racial attitudes can follow distinct developmental trajectories.

The findings can have important implications for programs designed to prevent or decrease prejudice in childhood. Specifically, Steele believes that interventions designed to decrease negativity towards other races might not be the best approach for younger children. Instead, interventions should encourage children to see members of other groups positively as well, although she believes that more research examining interventions is needed.

"In early childhood what we know is that children tend to be egocentric and socio-centric. They think that they're great and that other people who are like them are great too. That's why we recommend using interventions that don't challenge these beliefs, but instead promote the fact that people from different backgrounds or who look different than them often have a lot in common and they can be great too.

She adds that this can be very important in the classroom.

"It is important that classroom teachers promote the benefits of diversity and expose children to positive role models from all different backgrounds. We live in an increasingly multicultural society and exposure to this diversity - even through books or media - can make children more comfortable with this diversity. Children have some awareness of race from an early age, so research suggests that taking a colour-blind approach - or pretending that race doesn't exist - is not the best approach."

Steele adds that classroom teachers should both create and seize opportunities to celebrate diversity and promote multiculturalism for their students.

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York University is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. York students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world's most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. York U is an internationally recognized research university - our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, York is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. York U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact: Anjum Nayyar, York University Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 44543 anayyar@yorku.ca
Clandestine methamphetamine labs, once the scourge of the Iowa countryside, may no longer be Breaking Bad as much as theyre breaking up.

Iowa has gone from leading the nation in the number of meth labs being seized and manufacturing equipment being discovered in mid-2004 to just 33 lab responses so far this year  the lowest since 1996.

According to the 2018 Iowa Drug Control Strategy report released this month by the Governors Office of Drug Control Policy, this years seizures compare with about 1,500 responses to meth labs by state and local authorities in 2004.

Steven Lukan, who was director of the Governors Office of Drug Control Policy until being appointed last week as director of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, said the gradual demise of Iowans engaged in home-cooking of meth was a testament to good public policy, citizens willing to adapt to law changes targeting meth-making ingredients and a coordinated law enforcement effort.

I think its a good success story, really, when good policy is put into place and the public adopts it, as well, he said. I think by and large Iowans really just wanted these things rooted out of their communities. They still happen, but the fact that weve made such progress is just a testament to policymakers and local communities working together. I think some good things have been accomplished there.

But probably an even bigger factor in eradicating clandestine meth labs has been basic supply-and-demand economics, said Dan Stepleton, special agent in charge with the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. An influx of high-purity ice meth from the West Coast and Mexico has helped drive small cookers from the marketplace, he said.

The purity levels are completely off the charts compared to what the manufacturing process for the mom-and-pop labs around here are, Stepleton said. He said imported ice being sold in Iowa is considered more than 97 percent pure, versus 50 percent pure for the locally-produced drugs.

I think thats probably what has caused a lot of the labs to dwindle down, he added. I dont think the problem has gone away. The manufacturing problem has really curtailed a lot, and that hopefully will take care of a lot of contamination with vehicles and structures within the state of Iowa.

But definitely the other end of that spectrum is just the prolific amounts of methamphetamine that were getting and the unusually high purity, he added. Thats just absolutely phenomenal as far as whats coming into the state of Iowa and whats getting sold on the streets.

Purity rises, prices fall

The latest statewide report indicates meth remains a top drug of choice for Iowa users.

Stepleton said ice meth remains a top seller because the price has gone down as the purity has gone up. He said controlled buys by undercover officers used to be for $1,800 to $2,000 an ounce, but now are for about $800 an ounce.

Everythings dropped pretty significantly as far as the bulk prices just because of how prevalent it is in the state of Iowa right now, he said. And I think youre going to continue to see the court cases are going to go up, sentencing cases are going to go up, just because of the sheer amount of ice methamphetamine that were working.

Stepleton said Iowans who were cooking meth before have found that its no longer worth the risk and instead are opting to buy meth from drug trafficking organizations and super-labs.

State laws  such as controls on the sale of pseudoephedrine in 2005  successfully have curbed most of the large labs by making it difficult to get ingredients needed to cook meth.

State legislation to implement a real-time, electronic, pseudoephedrine tracking system was implemented in 2010. The system connects all pharmacies to identify those who attempt to illegally purchase more than their daily or monthly limit to make meth.

Meth is one of the few drugs of abuse that can be easily synthesized using common items, Lukan noted.

Small one-pot or shake n bake labs still pose a serious threat to Iowans because the methods generally use less pseudoephedrine and produce meth in smaller quantities  but are no less dangerous.

They involve putting toxic chemicals in a plastic bottle, causing an extremely high amount of pressure to build up that can lead to fires and injuries.

Stepleton said occasionally a law officer was injured but none have died taking down a clandestine lab.

Most of the time it was usually the cookers themselves that would end up with all the burn marks, he said. There was a lot of burn defendants that ended up at the (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics) or some of our major hospitals. Were just not seeing that anymore.

We kind of progressed from the anhydrous ammonia cooks to the one-pot cooks, and then the one-pot cooks kind of phased out a couple years ago, but they ran pretty good for about four or five years, he added.

Trafficking groups

The smuggled meth is being moved throughout the country by drug trafficking organizations such as Mexican cartels, Stepleton said. Suppliers sell it to midlevel dealers, who in turn sell it to small-level dealers.

Meth flowing into the state is pretty prevalent right now, Stepleton said. Were looking at some of the bigger cases that weve ever worked  as far as multiple pounds and huge drug trafficking organizations.

Of the 46,429 substance use disorder treatment admissions during fiscal 2017, those citing meth as their primary substance reached an all-time high of nearly 1 in 5, Lukan noted.

As law enforcement officers reported seizing relatively large and pure shipments of smuggled meth, meth-related prison admissions last year reached a level not seen since the height of meth lab activity 12 years ago (586 in fiscal 2017 versus 702 in 2005), fueling an overall increase in drug-related prison admissions for a third straight year (902 in 2016 compared with 942 in 2014), according to the latest statewide report.

It seems like its very generational, Lukan noted. If you talk to law enforcement, you hear that a lot, too  that families have been affected by it for three generations now. Once its in the household, its hard to get out.
Over 91 percent of Welsh farmers Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2017 claims will be paid on Friday (1st December), the Welsh government has announced.

Over 201m will be paid into the bank accounts of 14,111 Welsh farm businesses on the first day on which payments may be made under European rules.

The announcement has been made on the opening day of the Royal Welsh Winter Fair (27 November). Wales' Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths has called on the agriculture industry to focus on turning the challenges of Brexit into opportunities.

We will work with our farmers to help them meet the challenges of Brexit, Lesley Griffiths said.

On the record payment of Basic Payment Scheme claims, Ms Griffiths added: This is yet another example of the success of our uniquely Welsh approach and our exemplary record on payments. It is a tribute to the way Welsh farmers have embraced new technology, RPW Online and made the new system such a success.

Stephen James, NFU Cymru President said: Todays announcement that over 91% of claims will be paid on the first day of the payment window, together with an improved exchange rate, up 4.98% on the 2016 rate, is good news and will be a boost not just to farm businesses but also to the thousands of rural businesses that rely heavily on farmers for much of their income.

The positive impact of this support has been quantified within the Contributions of UK Agriculture report that was launched at the NFU Conference in February this year, which shows that for every 1 invested in farm support in the UK, farming delivers around 7.40 back to the economy.

'Versatility of land'

In a keynote speech at the Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotional Board) breakfast, the Cabinet Secretary also talked about a number of initiatives the Welsh Government has in place to provide support to farmers as the UK leaves the EU.

A new land capability mapping system for Wales will be launched by the Cabinet Secretary at this years Winter Fair  the first major update since the original maps were produced in the early 1970s.

The Predictive Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) Map allows land users, planners and Government to make choices about how agricultural land is used in Wales.

Ms Griffiths explained: It identifies the potential versatility of land to support a range of cropping choices and allows land users, planners and Government to make informed choices on how land is used.

'Significant and lasting'

On Brexit, Ms Griffiths said leaving the EU will bring "significant and lasting" change. She said a no deal scenario presents acute risks for those sectors particularly reliant on exports to the EU including lamb.

Leaving the Common Agricultural Policy and new, yet to be established, trading arrangements mean that maintaining the status quo is simply not an option. Turning challenges into opportunities is where the industry and individual farm businesses need to be focusing their attention, she said.

Brexit will provide a once in a generation opportunity to redesign our policy framework in a way that is uniquely Welsh, that reflects Welsh needs and strengths.

We all have a role to play shaping how the industry will look after Brexit and we need farmers to be bold, imaginative; open to new ideas and practices.

My priority is to ensure our agricultural industry is in the best possible position to deal with the change ahead. As a government we are committed to providing solutions which work for Wales and we will continue to work with the industry, our partners and others to make the most of every opportunity.
Early concerns that Dolly the cloned sheep suffered from arthritis were unfounded, a study suggests.

The research by the University of Nottingham and Glasgow suggests cloning is far safer than previously thought.

Dolly, born at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh in 1996, made history by being the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.

There have been claims the process led her to age prematurely and left her vulnerable to diseases linked to ageing. Dolly died on February 14 2003, aged six.

But scientists have now published a radiographic assessment of the skeletons of Dolly herself, Bonnie, her naturally conceived daughter, and Megan and Morag, the first two animals to be cloned from differentiated cells.

Their findings have been published in the online journal Scientific Reports. They show that the skeletons, stored in the collections of National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh, bear radiographic OA similar to that observed in naturally conceived sheep and Nottinghams healthy aged clones.

In fact, wear-and-tear in her joints was similar to that of other sheep of her age, regardless of how they were conceived, say researchers.

'Set the record straight'

Kevin Sinclair, Professor of Developmental Biology said the research felt it necessary to "set the record straight".

Our findings of last year appeared to be at odds with original concerns surrounding the nature and extent of osteoarthritis in Dolly  who was perceived to have aged prematurely. Yet no formal, comprehensive assessment of osteoarthritis in Dolly was ever undertaken, he said.

Sandra Corr, professor of small animal orthopaedic surgery at Glasgow University, said: We found that the prevalence and distribution of radiographic osteoarthritis was similar to that observed in naturally conceived sheep, and our healthy aged cloned sheep.

As a result we conclude that the original concerns that cloning had caused early-onset osteoarthritis in Dolly were unfounded.

Dolly was created using the technique of somatic cell nuclear transfer, where the cell nucleus from an adult cell is transferred into an unfertilised oocyte, adeveloping egg cell, that has had its cell nucleus removed. This means that Dolly had exactly the same DNA as the donor sheep.

Cloning livestock has gathered much debate around its advantages and disadvantages. Princess Anne, a famous advocate for the practice, has previously said gene technology has got "real benefits" to offer.

On the subject of GM livestock, the Princess Royal said: I have rare breed livestock so genetic modification would be a bonus if I could just find a way of making them a little more robust in terms of survivability. In a way that's long-term investment.
A new 20m poultry processing plant that received substantial investment from the government has opened in Wrexham and will create around 150 jobs.

The facility will become fully operational later this year following investment by Maelor Foods and the government.

The project received 3.15m in funding through the Food Business Investment Scheme through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

The plant has been developed on the 42-acre site of the former First Milk site following an extensive refurbishment and building programme.

Around 70 jobs have already been created with Maelor Foods ultimately expecting to employ more than 150 people.

It is also supporting employment in the local supply chain as it takes on local farmers as supplier, which in turn supports employment in associated industries such as feed mills.

It expects to process around 122 tonnes of poultry per day.

'Ambitious'

The plant was officially opened during a visit by Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs; Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Economy & Transport; and the Mayor of Wrexham, Councillor John Pritchard, on November 23.

Lesley Griffiths said: Maelor Foods is an ambitious business that is set to play a leading role in the poultry industry. I am very pleased to see this new and innovative investment to redevelop the site of the old First Milk Creamery, which will see the creation of 150 new jobs and is supported through our Food Business Investment Scheme.

Our Food and Drink Action Plan has a target to grow the Welsh food and drink sector to a value of 7billion by the year 2020 and I am confident the sector is now in a position to attain this.

This has been achieved by putting business at the heart of all our plans in Wales. Inward investment by businesses such as Maelor Foods is a key factor in realising this ambitious target.

Maelor Foods is associated with Midlands-based Salisbury Poultry, one of the leaders in the UK's poultry processing sector.

Managing Director Raj Mehta said: With our pedigree and experience in the sector, we have been able to develop a facility that will operate with the same ethos and high standard of service that we have built our reputation on. We have exciting plans for future growth that will bring more economical benefits to Wrexham and the Welsh economy.
British agritech start-up Small Robot Company has been launched and seeks to harness the power and precision of robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the way that food is produced and minimise chemical usage.

The company will make farms more profitable, and increase yield and efficiency, through using small robots instead of tractors. This is also kinder to the soil, kinder to the environment, protects biodiversity, and enables permaculture at scale.

Designed by farmers for farmers, the robots will be offered through a Farming as a Service (FaaS) model, which uses robotics and AI to digitise the field and deliver precision farming. Robust per-plant data creates a profit map that shows which areas of field to use, which to leave fallow, and what to plant where and when.

Using robots has the potential to reduce chemical usage in arable farming by as much as 95%, and reduce cultivation energy and associated CO2 emissions by 90%. It can increase arable farming revenues by up to 40%, and reduce production costs by up to 60%.

We are commercialising a deceptively simple idea: small robots not big tractors. Because unfortunately big tractors are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly. What we have done is to take this idea, work with farmers to understand how it can answer their needs, and make this into reality, says Ben Scott-Robinson, co-founder and experienced entrepreneur.

We are building robots that will seed and care for each individual plant in your crop. They will only feed and spray the plants that need it, giving them the perfect levels nutrients and support, with no waste, says Sam Watson-Jones, co-founder and fourth generation farmer. Its the best of all worlds. An increased yield, as well as minimal chemical usage.

Farms are getting less profitable. Revenues and yields for combinable crops have remained steadily flat for a quarter of a century. Margins are static at 1-4% per annum. But production costs keep going up - and so do prices for big, expensive, machinery. Its time for a radical change.

"We are building robots that will seed and care for each individual plant in your crop"

Why robots?

The technology is built on 15 years of research by Professor Simon Blackmore. The worlds leading expert on precision farming at Harper Adams university, Professor Blackmore is mentoring the company.

His vision is that many of the jobs currently done by tractors in fields can be done at a lower cost, more accurately and with less waste by small robots.

Robots are smaller, lighter and more precise than the current farming systems using tractors. Using small robots instead of tractors will deliver greater yield from less inputs.

"Technology has changed almost every industry - but farming is still stuck on analogue"

Robots can also work in smaller and more unusually-shaped fields, making the most of headlands (the corners of the fields, which are usually underused) while protecting hedgerows, biodiversity and the British landscape. Longer term, it radically improves farming methods and food potential.

Currently, 90% of cultivation energy is used ploughing which is only necessary because of heavy machinery crushing the soil, says Professor Simon Blackmore, Head of Agricultural Robotics, Harper Adams University.

And if you treat the whole field the same, overuse of chemicals is inevitable. We know that 95% of herbicides can be saved using a smart sprayer and small robots can help to make this technology work at scale.

Digitising the field with Artificial Intelligence

Small Robot Companys AI-driven technology allows a level of autonomy, accuracy and detail that now makes it possible for smaller farms to be profitable, and for 10x better decision making.

Eventually, each process - from knowing when to plant, to all aspects of crop care, to knowing when to harvest - will be automated.

Technology has changed almost every industry - but farming is still stuck on analogue. We want to digitise the field. The potential for efficiency here is phenomenal. You can look at the data as it comes in from the field to make decisions which will take into account agronomy, soil science and market conditions.

What to plant where and when to maximise yield. Simply put, this means the ability to apply permaculture techniques at scale, continues Sam.

Gleadell Agriculture, an independent major trader of grain, seed and fertiliser, is partnering with the Small Robot Company in its trials work, finding suitable trial sites and supplying seed in small bags for the trial growers.

Robot technology is potentially the most exciting agricultural development over the next few years, and it could take precision farming to a completely new level, said Stuart Shand, Sales Director, at Gleadell Agriculture Ltd.

Given the pressures that UK farmers are under, they need to maximise efficiencies and reduce costs. Robot technology could help deliver on both counts and we look forward to working with the Small Robot Company to help achieve those goals,  Stuart concludes.

Farming as a Service

Small Robot Company offers its robots through a Farming as a Service (FaaS) model, which is both a hardware and a software service for farmers. Farmers pay a per hectare subscription fee for a robotic hardware service which digitises the farm, and delivers crop care at per-plant precision.

The service comprises: Tom, crop and soil monitoring robot; Dick, precision spraying and laser weeding robot; Harry, precision drilling and planting robot; Wilma, the operating system and the AI-driven neural network.

The robots take care of all the feeding, seeding, and weeding. When one of these robots is needed, it turns up and does its job.

When it is finished, it is taken away. This makes it very low risk for farmers to trial and adopt. It also means that farmers no longer have to worry about buying, storing or maintenance of most crop care machinery and equipment.

Progress and achievements

Small Robot Company has been developing its hardware, software and service offering throughout 2017.

Its first prototype robot has been built and is successfully working. Field trials are currently in progress in farms in Shropshire. The company is currently building the worlds most detailed living data model for its Neural Network to exploit.

The first crop it is going to focus its service on is wheat. Its first customers are signed up to use its services from October 2018.
Welsh agricultural labour has fallen to its lowest level since 1998, according to official government figures.

The figures, which show a 20-year low for farm labour, were released as part of the Welsh government's Agricultural and Horticultural Survey, which has been carried out since 1867 to provide estimates of agricultural activity in Wales on an annual basis.

These annual results provide estimates for Wales as a whole for agricultural land use, livestock on farms and the number of people working on agricultural holdings. The recent report shows figures as at 1 June 2017.

The figures show that 51,943 people were employed on Welsh farms in 2017. In 1998, this figure was 61,952.

Regular and casual workers total 11,962 of the 2017 figure, while the rest is comprised of all principal farmers, directors, business partners and their spouses full-time and part-time.

However, those working for specialist contractors were not included in the figures.

'Increased mechanisation'

A Welsh Government official said the total number of farm workers in Wales has decreased over the last twenty years, reflecting the position across the UK as a whole.

However, the spokesperson said production and productivity has increased over that same period.

"The agriculture supply chain is similar to most other industries in the sense that innovation and technological advancement has led to increased mechanisation and more efficient ways of working."

Indeed, the advent of new technologies is seen as a potential remedy to replace migrant labour which could be lost in the UK after it leaves the European Union.

The spokesperson continued: "We will continue to work closely with the agriculture supply chain, including through the Agriculture Advisory Panel and via important programmes such as Farming Connect, to help realise a prosperous and resilient industry as we transition from the EU.

"The Agricultural Advisory Panel for Wales (the Panel) was established in 2016 and is an independent advisory body whose remit is to promote careers in agriculture for those working in the industry as well as new entrants. The Panel also proposes agricultural wages rates for approval by the Welsh Ministers."

British workers

The figures follow a warning by a leading industry figurehead that British workers should prepare to take up the food and farming jobs currently carried out by migrant workers if European labour is lost to British businesses following Brexit.

According to an egg industry expert, EU migrants currently accounted for up to 60 per cent of people employed in UK egg packing centres and as many as 40 per cent of those employed on farms.

In November, Cornwall county council has asked the government for special permission to implement area-specific migration laws because of a drain on labour.

New research by the council shows that Cornish farms are already unable to fully harvest crops this year due to a sharp fall in migrant farm labour.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) explained that that fruit and vegetables were being left to rot because of a shortage of seasonal workers, suggesting that more labour were needed for unskilled roles.
Solar must go on rooftops instead of farmland, charity says
How many times have you claimed that Chinese is your favourite cuisine or how many times have you ordered for your favourite noodles and chilli chicken without even looking at the menu? No matter how many zillion of times, you have sworn allegiance to the cuisine from our neighbouring country, the fact remains that there are many aspects of Chinese food that we are unaware of. In fact, the food that we eat is an Indianised version and is very different from the authentic fare. Here are some interesting nuggets of information.
Love this @manishmalhotra05 dress,perfect for the season ..... #muaAAAAAAAAA @divyachablani #hair AAAAAAaAAAAAAiAAA @alpakhimani #stylistAAAAAAAAA @manekaharisinghani #indiasnexttopmodelseason3 A post shared by Malaika Arora Khan (@malaikaarorakhanofficial) on Nov 18, 2017 at 9:41pm PST

Not as easy as it looks. Thanks @jacquelinef143 and @lanaroxy. Really helps build up core fitness and flexibility. You gotta keep mixing it up A post shared by Varun Dhawan (@varundvn) on Nov 21, 2017 at 1:18am PST

Yogini with @lanaroxy aAAAiAAA A post shared by Jacqueline Fernandez (@jacquelinef143) on Nov 19, 2017 at 3:56am PST

Burning the midnight oil with my @lanaroxy (spot miumiu) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A post shared by Jacqueline Fernandez (@jacquelinef143) on Jul 12, 2017 at 8:55am PDT

A pole is just for the dance floor, and a prop for some sensual moves, right? Wrong. Did you know that you could also use the pole for a variety of exercises and stay in great shape? The way Jacqueline Fernandez, Varun Dhawan and Malaika Arora Khan effortlessly work it into their fitness routines? But it's not as easy as it looks and Dhawan admits it too in his Instagram post: "Not as easy as it looks. Thanks @jacqueline143 and @lanaroxy. Really helps build up core fitness and flexibility. You gotta keep mixing it up."Pole fitness goes a step ahead of pole dancing and uses the pole to its maximum potential as fitness equipment. Here's why you should get some #FitSpo from your favourite Bollywood stars and grab onto the pole too:
No matter from what background you come from or the depth and range of talent you boast of, unless you are a stickler to ethics, principles and discipline, it's hard to survive in the industry!

One such sensation of Kollywood, who is full of substance and talent is witnessing his career taking a nosedive deep down for various reasons. Fondly called as the Little Superstar, Silambarasan a.k.a STR is often accused of being irregular and unpunctual to sets.

An actor who lives his professional life on his own terms, is now indirectly responsible for putting the professional lives of fellow workers and producer's money at jeopardy.

At a certain event, popular film producer, KE Gnanavel Raja had strongly criticized and condemned a popular actor for the same reason. Though he was anonymous in his speech, Raja's speech made it pretty clear that he was referring to Simbu when he exclaimed that the actor had shot only for about 30% for a film, in which he was present just for 29 days of the shoot and asked the makers to release the movie as it is.

He also added that the actor was often found arriving late to the shooting spot. Raja also iterated that a stern action would be taken against the said actor, though there has been no official statement given to the press yet.

The producer of AAA (Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan) had earlier lodged an informal complaint on Simbu at the producer's council with the same regard.

Sources confirm that the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council has issued a Red Card to the young actor and that he would not be allowed to act in any Tamil movie until the issue is solved.

It is also learnt that the official members of the council have had a telephonic conversation with the ace director, Mani Ratnam, requesting him to forgo STR from his upcoming movie. The outcome of the phone conversation is yet to be disclosed.

Santhanam-starrer Sakka Podu Podu Raja, is all set to release on 22nd of December where STR will be seen debuting himself as a music director. One will have to wait and watch whether the producer's council will come up with a shocking move affecting the movie.

Yesterday, director Ameer vouched his support in favour of STR and lambasted actor Vishal, who is also the head of Tamil Nadu Actors' Council.

Ameer claimed that STR has been made the scapegoat as Vishal is reaping advantage of the situation in order to seek revenge on STR who was a competitor during the Nadigar Sangam elections.

Let's wait for an official confirmation and hope that all issues are sorted out amicably.
(ASX:LI3)

Hi Im Jessica Amir for the Finance News Network. Joining us now from Lithium Consolidated Mineral Exploration Limited, also known as LCME is its CEO, Shanthar Pathmanathan. Hi Shanthar, welcome back.Thank you Jessica, pleasure to be here.First up Shanthar, you just wrapped up your AGM. What are your key messages to shareholders?The key messages for shareholders are firstly, weve got a truly world-class team. Our Board has an excellent track record and our technical team have got an excellent track record as well. Dr Douglas Haynes was previously the chief geologist at BHP Billiton Limited, looks after our work in hard rock lithium.The great discoveries of lithium are still to be made, its about a $30 billion market, which is tiny. We think the great discoveries are ahead of us, its going to be through the drill bit. In Western Australia, we expect to make a world-class discovery, what potentially are one or two world-class discoveries in Western Australia. And secondly, were also very focused on new opportunities in the form of acquisitions.Can you give us an update on your WA assets?The WA assets are the brainchild of Dr Douglas Haynes. Douglas is focused on concealed targets instead of outcropping pegmatites. So what weve done is to follow the lithium fertile belt, which host lithium mines or outcropping pegmatites, weve followed them under cover. And we expect to make a discovery of a world-class resource, under very shallow cover of 20 to 30 metres.What about Botswana, tell us whats taking place there?The Botswana assets cover a very large area, over 4,000 square kilometres in the Sua and Nwetwe Pans in Botswana. These pans are the lowest point of elevation in the Kalahari Basin in Botswana. The water from the entire Kalahari eventually has to drain into these pans. The very lithium rich geology in the north has been deeply weathered, weathered to the point that the hard rock lithium in the north, is almost useless. And the lithium mineralisation has been transported into our pans, over millions of years and through a process of evapotranspiration, a brine has formed.So what weve done in Botswana is to have these licences. We encountered a silcrete layer at about 1.5 metres below surface, next will be a drill program. We announced that that was going to start in November. I can say that were on track for that, and the objective there is to drill through to 60 metres below surface. And we expect it to reach basement in the Basin, so basement rock and to be able to test the full Basin formation in Botswana.Can you give us an update on Nevada?Shortly after listing, we commenced a technical revue of our Nevada and other projects. We involved Mr Jerry Aitken and SRK, which is a world-leading technical consulting group for this. The outcome of the review was that the Nevada project was assessed to be higher risk, and have higher phase one exploration costs. As a result of this, we decided to relinquish a large part of our Nevada project. So weve relinquished 1,587 claims, weve kept 439 claims in Nevada.This core position in Nevada is next to the Silver Peak mine, which is operated by Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB), the largest lithium company in the world. And its the only lithium brine mine in North America. So weve got the entire sub Basin next to the Silver Peak mine. It is the premier lithium brine exploration property in North America. Weve held onto it, its a highly sought after property. Our plan in Nevada is to explore first in WA, then come back to Nevada.Whats your cash position and what are your funding requirements?Weve got over about $3 million, as of the last quarterly statement in the bank. Were well funded for what we need to do over the next 12 months. That will be phase one exploration drilling in WA and elsewhere. In terms of the next funding, we wont need to do that until we are looking at resource definition drilling at one of our projects.Last question now Shanthar before we let you go. What does the next 12 months look like for the business?Well be drilling in Western Australia and Botswana. Results will be coming through very soon and all the way through. We expect to be considering resource definition drilling in 12 months from now. And in terms of new opportunities, were very active with respect to this and we like what we can see around the corner, for our company. Theres going to be a lot of growth for our company, both through the drill bit and in terms of new opportunities.Shanthar Pathmanathan, thanks so much for the update.Thank you Jessica for having me.
Natural skincare company Trilogyhas reported its first half FY2018 revenue has increased 4 per cent to $49.7 million, however EBITDA declined by nearly $1 million to $6.3 million.CEO Angela Buglass said the company delivered modest growth in the first half despite retail market pressure in its home markets of Australia and New Zealand, and delivered in its strategy to grow international markets, which grew 235 per cent over last year.The companys natural products segment delivered $18.7 million in revenue, an increase of 4.8 per cent, however its home fragrance and bodycare segment declined 7.3 per cent to $8.3 million.The company said cost impacts and short-term quality issues impacted the groups profitability, however added it has started implementing initiatives to accelerate growth in the second half to keep on track with its guidance.The company said the groups complementary skincare brand Lanocorp is progressing as expected, with its three month contribution delivering $3.1 million.Shares in Trilogyclosed 2.13 per cent lower to $2.30.
MASON CITY | The Mason City Council selected G8 Development of San Diego to develop a downtown hotel as part of the River City Renaissance project.

The final vote -- 5-0 with Councilman John Lee abstaining -- came late Monday night after an earlier vote in which the council voted 4-2 against the G8 plan.

When it appeared the council was headed for3-3 vote on the Gatehouse Mason City LLC plan, Councilman Bill Schickel, who voted against the G8 proposal, asked that it be brought back to the table.

He said he still favored the Gatehouse plan but said it was more important to move the project forward. So he changed his vote to yes on G8.

Lee said he too favored the Gatehouse plan and could not bring himself to vote for G8. So, to keep the vote unanimous, he abstained.

G8's proposal to build a downtown hotel contained many savings to the city compared to Gatehouse's proposal.

Both parties took part in a "bid-off" Monday morning in which G8 representatives made specific changes in proposed costs. Gatehouse made no changes in its latest proposal but questioned whether G8 was a responsible bidder.

The bid-off was required because G8 submitted its proposal moments before the deadline last week and City Council considered it a competitive bid.

Major points in the two proposals:

 G8 is proposing a loan from the city of up to $3.7 million, instead of $4.2 million in the Gatehouse proposal. The loan would be paid off in intervals rather than at the end of 20 years.

 Gatehouse is asking for $750,000 in non-refundable pre-construction costs. G8 is asking $500,000 and guarantees repayment if the project does not go through.

 Gatehouse has not identified a lender. G8 has a commitment from an out-of-state lender as well as a letter of support from First Citizens Bank in Mason City.

 Gatehouse has received interest from Hyatt. G8 has a franchise agreement with Marriott.

In an email to city officials, attorney Rick Kopf, representing Gatehouse, pointed out G8 was previously under contract with the city on another project, and despite three extensions, did not meet deadlines and was terminated. G8 President Philip Chodur then sued the city, Kopf said.

G8 has agreed to drop the suit if Chodur's latest proposal is accepted.

Kopf said Gatehouse has a memorandum of understanding with the Mason City Foundation which operates The Music Man Square. G8 does not.

Kopf claims Hyatt's commitment to Gatehouse is the same as Marriott's is to G8 and that the financial commitments are essentially the same.

Also, Kopf said G8 does not have the resources to get the hotel project done on time and on budget.
Farmers in the UK will have access to glyphosate for at least another five years after members states finally agreed to relicense the weedkiller.

The European Commission Appeals Committee met on Monday (27 November) to discuss the renewal of this vital agrochemical.

Following an exchange of views and a vote by member states representatives on the commissions proposal to renew glyphosates licence for a further five years, a qualified majority of member states voted in favour of the proposal.

See also: Video  farmers explain why glyphosate is vital

Eighteen member states, including the UK and Germany, voted in favour of a renewal, nine including France, Italy and Belgium voted against and only one country, Portugal, abstained.

EU health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said: Todays vote shows that when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision-making.

The commission will now adopt the decision before the current licence expires on 15 December.

NFU: Great news for farmers

The NFU said the decision was great news and testament to the hard work of British farmers in lobbying MEPs over its safety and benefits.

NFU vice-president Guy Smith said: Todays decision will be of some comfort to farmers such as myself who have watched with growing concern as what should have been a straightforward decision became a political football.

While it is good news farmers and growers will be able to continue using glyphosate for another five years, the fact remains there is absolutely no regulatory reason why it should not have been renewed for 15 years as originally proposed.

The NFU has stressed that EU regulatory decisions on plant protection products, such as glyphosate, must be based on science and evidence and not politics.

Delighted common sense and science has prevailed and #glyphosate has been reapproved for 5 years. Am looking forward to being able to continue growing safe food alongside promoting a healthy environment #glyphosateisvital  charles anyan (@CharlesAnyan) November 27, 2017

I welcome the positive vote on #glyphosate today https://t.co/0mBYJRusk7  Phil Hogan (@PhilHoganEU) November 27, 2017

Sarah Mukherjee, chief executive of the UK Crop Protection Agency (CPA), said: Whilst we are pleased that the science has eventually prevailed, the politicisation of what should have been a standard re-approval process sets a worrying precedent for the future of crop protection and sustainable farming in Europe.

The loss of glyphosate would have caused significant damage to the economy, the environment and the agricultural sector.

British farmers will be relieved that this vital tool will continue to be available to them, and they will be able to continue to do what they do best, providing us with safe, healthy, affordable food.

Glyphosate is safe

The EUs own food safety watchdog, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa), concluded glyphosate is safe and rejected the findings of a 2015 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which concluded that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans.

With Brexit negotiations ongoing, Mr Smith said it seemed the future use of glyphosate in the UK will lie in the UK.

The NFU will focus its efforts on emphasising the safety of glyphosate and its importance to UK farming and the environment to UK politicians, added Mr Smith.

However, the decision has disappointed green groups across Europe, who have staged a long-running campaign against glyphosate  the key active ingredient in Monsantos Roundup herbicide.

. Green MEP Molly Scott Cato, a member of the European Parliaments Agriculture Committee, labelled the renewal of glyphosate as a toxic decision.

She added: The commission are ignoring huge opposition from civil society; the almost one-and-a-half-million EU citizens who have signed a petition against glyphosate and the European Parliament who recently voted for a five-year phase out.

But Anthea McIntyre, Conservative MEP for the West Midlands, said: The scaremongering and indecision over this product had left farmers and growers fearing they were staring over a cliff edge, so this will be greeted with enormous relief.
Food and farming is a key focus in the governments new industrial strategy, with a clear commitment to invest heavily in sustainable agriculture.

The 255-page report, published on Monday (27 November) makes a number of references to agriculture and the food and drink industry.

As the country prepares for Brexit, the report highlights the need to replace the current EU subsidy scheme  the CAP  with one that supports sustainable agriculture.

See also: Many arable farmers still missing out on precision farming benefits

The report reveals details of a new programme called Transforming food production: from farm to fork, which will put the UK at the forefront of advanced sustainable agriculture.

This is part of a global shift towards high-efficiency agriculture, rising global demand for food and water and the need for agriculture that produces more from less.

Over the coming years, as we replace the common agricultural policy, we will increase the incentives for investment in sustainable agriculture, helping to grow the markets for innovative technologies and techniques, the report says.

With powers set to return from the EU, the UK government is in discussions with the devolved administrations over future arrangements. Our work will develop in line with the outcome of those discussions.

More food needed

The report says the world will need 60% more food by 2050 to feed nine billion people, while demand for water is expected to increase by 20% in the agriculture sector alone.

For this to be possible, the way we produce our food needs to be significantly more efficient and sustainable, says the report.

By using precision technologies we can make that a reality: transform food production whilst reducing emissions, pollution, waste and soil erosion.

By putting the UK at the forefront of this global revolution in farming, we will deliver benefits to farmers, the environment and consumers whilst driving growth, jobs and exports.

Data and drones

The report outlines a plan to grow the markets for innovative farming technologies and techniques, using data acquisition, automation and drones and invest in R&D.

As part of the strategy, there will be a big focus on strengthening partnerships in the UKs thriving food and drink industry, our largest manufacturing sector, which adds 112bn/year to our economy and accounts for one in eight jobs.

The report says leaving the EU will present opportunities and challenges for the sector, but the opportunities will be significant.

To address this, UK government will form a new Food and Drink Sector Council, which will lead the work to secure the UKs position as a global leader in sustainable, affordable, safe and high-quality food and drink.

Broadband and mobile connectivity

In a further move which will please farmers, the strategy promises to ensure regulation is as simple as possible for businesses as well as a commitment to invest in the rollout of broadband and mobile connectivity.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) welcomed the specific attention given towards agriculture in the industrial strategy, but said it was disappointing not to see more action pledged on planning reform.

CLA president Tim Breitmeyer said: The strategy rightly identifies that technology coupled with better use of data will be the key to making farming more efficient and productive, whilst reducing potentially harmful impacts on the environment.

This commitment to investment and policy support in these areas, has to be matched by a commitment to securing the possible Brexit trade deal and establishing a successor to the common agricultural policy that is fit for the next generation.
All Chromebooks can now download Microsoft Office from Google Play Store News oi -Chandrika Microsoft apps are quite popular as they get many downloads from the Google Play Store.

Microsoft has been trying its best to make its apps and services available across all platforms and devices. However, if we talk about the Microsoft Office, while some Chromebooks were compatible with it, not all Chromebooks were allowed to download the Office productivity suite.

If you recall, Google announced last year that Android app support would be released for ChromeOS. In simple words, all Chromebooks regardless of the manufacturer were to get access to the countless number of apps present in the Google Play Store. Following suit, Microsoft decided to optimize its apps for Chromebooks including the Office suite.

As we have mentioned earlier, until recently, only a few Chromebooks were compatible with Microsoft Office. Now, Microsoft has made the Office productivity suite available for download for all Chromebooks. As reported by Android Central, all Chromebooks can download the Microsoft Office from the Google Play Store, no matter who manufactured the device.

However, there is a small requirement for Chromebooks that feature screens larger than 10.1-inch. These devices have to be configured with an Office 365 subscription. Without the subscription, users won't be able to edit documents, making the Office suite just a suite of document viewers. Microsoft has implemented this requirement on all platforms.

Microsoft Office receives updates on a monthly basis on all supported platforms courtesy of an insider program. This helps users to try out new features even before they are released to the production ring. Microsoft is also open to getting feedback so that they can work on fixing bugs early.

Microsoft apps are quite popular as they get many downloads from the Google Play Store. The Word app, for example, has been downloaded between 100 million and 500 million times.

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YouTube 12.45 for iOS brings fix for the battery issues on iPhone News oi -Chandrika Apart from bringing the fix for an issue with battery usage, the latest update doesn't include anything else.

Google has pushed out a new update to the iOS version of the YouTube app. Carrying the build number 12.45, the update brings the fix for the frustrating battery issues that iPhone users have been experiencing lately.

It is quite interesting to see that apart from bringing the fix "for an issue with battery usage", the latest update doesn't include anything else. This means Google has released this update after noticing the complaints from the affected users on Apple Community. For those who are not aware, many iPhone users have complained of battery drainage issues caused by YouTube surfing.

Instead of watching videos on YouTube, they started looking for alternatives. However, the options for iOS users are pretty limited after a number of third-party YouTube clients for the iPhone were removed from the App Store recently. So iOS users had no choice but to opt for the browser version of YouTube.

The browser version doesn't offer all the features the YouTube app does. The most important one being lack of HD support for videos.

Well, the decision of Google to the update the iOS version of YouTube app is surely a welcoming one. That being said, the search engine giant has a long way to go before all of its apps are perfectly optimized for iOS.

Not just YouTube, the widely popular email app Gmail, doesn't come with full support for iPhone X. It shows a Black bar at the top and bottom, rather than adapting to the new UI used on the 10th anniversary model of iPhones. So we are waiting for Google to fix this issue with an update soon.

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Honor V10 visits Geekbench confirming its specs News oi -Chandrika The smartphone has earlier been spotted on TENAA.

Honor is all set to launch the Honor V10 tomorrow in China. The company is also hosting an event for the smartphone in London on December 5. Today morning, we also got the confirmation that it will come to India in January 2018.

The smartphone has been spotted on Geekbench carrying the model number "HUAWEI BKL-AL20". The benchmark listing has confirmed some specs of the smartphone. Keeping in line with the rumors, the Geekbench database reveals that the Honor V10 will arrive with 6GB RAM in tow. As for the processor, the smartphone appears to make use of a quad-core chipset chipset with the maximum clock frequency of 1.84GHz.

While the name of the chipset is not specified, this particular configuration clearly points to Huawei's in-house Hi-Silicon Kirin 970 SoC. The Kirin 970 made its debut in October in Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. So V10 will be the first Honor smartphone with this processor.

The Geekbench listing further shows the smartphone running on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system, which should be topped with EMUI 6.0. Unfortunately, no other specs are listed on the benchmarking site. Looking at the scores, the Honor V10 has obtained 1915 points in the single-core test, whereas the smartphone has managed to bag 6558 points in the multi-core test.

As far as the rest of the specs are concerned, the Honor V10 is expected to launch in two native storage variants. The basic one will feature 64GB storage, and the higher model will come with 128GB storage space. The smartphone is also speculated to be equipped with a dual rear camera setup and a large 4,000mAh battery.

Via

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MASON CITY | A special council meeting to go over details of the bid-off for the hotel proposal in the River City Renaissance Project has been moved to the Mason City Room of the Mason City Public Library.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

The bid-off began behind closed doors at 9 a.m. Monday. Interim City Administrator Kevin Jacobson did not allow the press to attend.

He said he expected the bid-off to last three hours, the maximum time allowed.

David Rachie of Gatehouse Mason City LLC and Phillip Chodur of G8 Development are the two developers bidding for the project.

-John Skipper
Honor V10 will come to India in January 2018: Expected features and specs News oi -Samden Sherpa Honor will announce the global launch of Honor V10 at an event in London on December 5.

Aiming to take on OnePlus 5T, Huawei's sub-brand Honor is gearing up to unveil its bezel-less smartphone Honor V10 in the market soon. The smartphone will come with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled chipset which will be the first from Honor.

While leaks and rumors are popping up every now and then about this smartphone, industry sources have now told IANS that the V10 is likely to be launched in the Chinese market early this week. Further, the sources have stated that Honor will announce the global launch of V10 at an event in London on December 5. Honor is expected to bring the device to India in January.

Talking about some of the features and specs of the device, Honor V10 will come with 6GB of RAM along with 128GB internal memory. The handset will feature a dual rear-facing camera system comprising of a 16 MP+20 MP sensor with a wide aperture range from F/0.95-F/16. UP front the device will sport a 13MP front shooter.

The smartphone will come with a bezel-less, 5.99-inch FHD+ display with a resolution of 2160p x 1080p. The device will be backed by a 3750mAh battery and will have new EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo. As per reports Honor, V10 will be powered by Kirin 970 chipset -- the Honor's First System on Chip (SoC) with Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that promises an affordable AI ecosystem.

According to the sources, Honor V10 will be available on either Amazon or Flipkart. In any case, we are expecting more announcements on December 5 event where will see the launch of Honor 7X, the successor to the Honor 6X.

As for 7X, the 4GB RAM Honor 7X will feature 16MP high-definition dual-rear cameras and 8MP front camera. It will use the Kirin 659 octa-core processor. The 5.9-inch device with FHD+ FullView Display houses 3340mAh battery and will be available in three variants, with 32, 64 and 128GB internal memory.

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Nokia 2 is up for pre-order in the US at $99 News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu

The entry-level Nokia 2 smartphone that was unveiled in late October in India is the cheapest one to be launched by HMD so far. The device has already been up for pre-order in select markets such as Russia and South Africa. Now, it looks like the U.S. is the next market that will receive this smartphone.

The Nokia 2 has been listed for pre-order in the U.S. at online retailers Amazon, Best Buy and B&H. Wherever you intend to buy this smartphone from, it will be priced at $0.99. The Nokia 2 will be an unlocked unit and it will be compatible only with the GSM-based carriers in the country such as T-Mobile and AT&T and a few other MVNOs that use their networks. This means that the Verizon and Sprint consumers can't use the Nokia 2, claims a PocketNow report.

While we talk about the availability of the smartphone in the U.S., we have not clue on when the Nokia 2 will be released in India. The company announced that the smartphone's pricing in India will be announced in the coming days. Also, it was revealed that HMD will make the Nokia 2 available across 1,00,000 offline stores all over the country.

Like the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5, those were initially released offline and later made available online, we believe that the Nokia 2 will also be released as an offline-only model at first and then moved online in the country.

To refresh on its specifications, the Nokia 2 bestows a 5-inch HD 720p LTPS display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection and 1:1300 contrast ratio. Under its hood, this smartphone makes use of a quad-core Snapdragon 212 SoC paired with 1GB RAM and 8GB default storage that can be expanded up to 128GB using a microSD card.

The Nokia 2 boasts of an 8MP main camera with LED flash and autofocus and a 5MP selfie camera with fixed focus. Running Android 7.1.1 Nougat, this smartphone uses a 4100mAh battery touted to last up to two days. The Nokia 2 is preloaded with Google Assistant making it the first entry-level smartphone to have the digital assistant. The other goodies of the Nokia 2 include 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and a 3.5mm audio jack. The device has been launched in three color variants and has the IP52 rating as well.

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OnePlus 5 gets Android Oreo beta build: Heres how to update News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu

Soon after the launch of the OnePlus 5T, the company had announced that the OnePlus 5 will receive the Android Oreo beta update by the end of this month. Now, the update has been rolled out to the device.

Well, OnePlus has rolled out the OxygenOS Open Beta 1 update to the OnePlus 5 and this update brings the Oreo-based OOS build. Though it is in beta stage, the update has brought in some major changes to the interface such as the updation of Android framework. The rollout of the new update has been announced officially by OnePlus in a blog post on the official OnePlus forum.

The Oreo beta update brings many new features that we have seen on other smartphones running this iteration of Android such as Picture-in-Picture mode, smart text selection, auto-fill, notification dots, new app folder design and more to the OnePlus 5. the company has also rolled out the ability to upload photos to 'Shot on OnePlus'. Also, the October Android security patch has been added to the device.

Besides revealing that the OnePlus 5 has started getting the OxygenOS Open Beta 1 update, the company has also given the instructions of how one can install the same. The OnePlus 5 users interested in getting this update can visit the company forum to do so. OnePlus warns that the update is still in the beta phase so it might not be stable as the official OTA update that will be rolled out later.

In order to download the beta update, users of the OnePlus 5 need to download the ROM file from the company website. Then, the full ROM zip file to the internal storage of the device. After this, users need to follow the given instructions.

Turn off the OnePlus 5 and turn it on while holding the volume up and power keys simultaneously to boot the smartphone into the recovery mode. Tap on 'Install from internal storage' or 'Install from local'. Then, select the zip file that was downloaded and hit Install. After the installation is over, the smartphone will reboot with the updated OxygenOS beta.

The warning that the users need to know is that after this, they will receive Open Beta OTA updates. To get the stable ones, it is important to wipe the data and cache from the smartphone.

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Broadcom reportedly planning to offer a better bid to Qualcomm News oi -Chandrika Reportedly, Broadcom will offer more of its stock to Qualcomm to please their stockholders.

We all know how Broadcom offered $130 billion to buy fellow chipset maker Qualcomm. However, Qualcomm turned down the offer as it was not happy with the deal.

Well, the rumor mill is now churning out new details regarding the unsuccessful deal between Broadcom and Qualcomm. While the Snapdragon chipset maker has rejected Broadcom's first bid, the latter is said to be planning on an improved bid. Reportedly, Broadcom will offer more of its stock to Qualcomm to please their stockholders.

Currently, we have no idea when exactly Broadcom will present the revised bid. However, given how persistent the company is to acquire Qualcomm, they are unlikely to give in until they get what they want. Also, we have come across new reports claiming that a significant amount of shareholders and headmen at Qualcomm are interested in the deal if Broadcom offers them a better deal.

It is worth noting that the shares of Qualcomm saw a rise of 2% after the news of Broadcom offering a better deal started to circulate. Well, it hardly comes as a surprise as if the deal works out eventually, it will be the biggest in the in the chipset making as well as the tech industry. We can't also deny the fact that majority of smartphones and tablets come equipped with Qualcomm's chipsets.

Having said all these, we should keep in mind that for the deal to happen, just a nod from Qualcomm is not enough. There are still many factors that would have played a part in this. Regulatory authorities would have to approve it as well as the stockholders of both firms.

Via

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Exclusive: BSNL to sign MOU with Ericsson for 5G and IOT News oi -Priyanka Ericsson said that it has already signed 36 such MOU with global telecom operators.

After signing an agreement with Nokia, ZTE and Coriant to chart a path for 5G and IoT in India, State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is all set to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson next month.

"Keeping the roadmap for 5G and IOT, MOU was signed with Nokia, ZTE, Coriant and now we'll be doing the same with Ericsson as well," BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava told Gizbot in a exclusive interaction.

He added, "Talks are already over and we'll be announcing the same within fortnight or so."

"If you talk about 5G it is as early as one year and as late as three years," he replied when asked about when 5G will come.

Meanwhile, Ericsson has also recently confirmed that it is in talks with Indian telecom on the 5G front. The company said that it has already signed 36 such MOU with global telecom operators.

On tying up with other device makers for the bundled 4G feature phone, Shrivastava said, " We are talking to Lava for the same and i think there is one MOU with them as well."

He said, "Now the ball is in their court we have already purpose to Lava but now it appears that their hands are full at this point of time maybe they have hit the capacity already."

4G feature phone from Micromax which is branded as "BHARAT-1", is available at Rs. 22,00/- and has all facilities which are required for the 4G user. BSNL has bundled a voucher worth Rs 97/- per month which provides unlimited voice and unlimited data to the consumer. This combination of BSNL and Micromax is perhaps one of the most reasonable cost-effective mobile bundling available in the market at present.

The product has already hit the market and it is picking up quite well, Shrivastava said when asked about the response.

BSNL has more than 100 million mobile customers, 10 million broadband customers, and 16 million landline customers. The telco is also providing various enterprise services like lease line, VSAT and various managed services. Recently BSNL has also taken advance steps to play the major role in Smart City and Virtual Network Operation (VNOs) of Government.

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NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

PERTH, Australia, Nov. 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West African gold producer Perseus Mining Limited (ASX:PRU) (TSX:PRU) (Perseus) advises that the eight resolutions put to the annual general meeting of shareholders held in Perth on Friday, November 24, 2017, were passed on a show of hands.

In accordance with section 251AA of the Australian Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the Company advises that proxy votes were received as follows:

FOR AGAINST ABSTAIN PROXY

DISCRETION TOTAL Resolution 1

Rem Report 443,571,465 29,887,689 525,712 631,442 471,412,961 Resolution 2

Re-election Harvey 389,264,007 86,530,264 427,111 712,442 474,090,596 Resolution 3

Re-election Bohm 447,465,136 28,673,935 452,711 702,042 474,090,596 Resolution 4

Re-election Layman 475,032,451 1,123,620 431,611 706,142 474,090,596 Resolution 5

Renewal of PR plan 470,404,972 3,094,282 507,063 495,982 471,412,961 Resolution 6

PRs Quartermaine 470,727,826 2,975,382 498,443 1,413,242 472,411,546 Resolution 7

PRs Carson 470,557,731 2,965,487 467,363 1,624,312 472,411,546 Resolution 8

Appointment of auditor 478,178,901 2,263,949 1,014,974 656,742 474,090,596

No other resolutions were put to the meeting.

There was no formal presentation at the meeting.

For enquiries please contact:

Chairman: Sean Harvey at telephone +61 8 6144 1700

Company Secretary: Martijn Bosboom at telephone +61 8 6144 1700




Hondurans votes in disputed presidential elections

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 06:00PM

People in Honduras have gone to polls to elect a new president, members of the Congress, lawmakers and mayors as President Juan Orlando Hernandez seeks a re-election that many insist is illegal under the Central American country's 1982 constitution.

David Matamoros, head of Honduras' Supreme Electoral Tribunal, declared polls open earlier on Sunday as reports suggested some six million people were eligible to vote.

"We hope this will be a civic celebration," Matamoros said, clearly making a reference to the controversy surrounding Hernandez's bid for re-election.

The opposition in Honduras has alleged that Hernandez is defying a one-term constitutional limit although the ruling National Party rejects the claims and says a 2015 Supreme Court ruling allows a re-election.

National Party deputies accompanied Hernandez as he cast his vote in hometown of Gracias, in mountainous western Honduras, to the chant and cheering of supporters.

Honduras has one of the world's most awful crime records. Hernandez boasts of his achievements in reducing the country's murder rate, which was once the top in the world. The conservative figure also enjoys massive support from the US government and repeatedly quotes US officials who have hailed his records in fighting crimes.

Hernandez is seen as a front-runner to win the elections. His main rivals are Salvador Nasralla, a former TV anchor who represents the leftwing Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship coalition and Luis Zelaya, a candidate of the right-leaning Liberal Party.

The elections have also been marred by allegations that Hernandez and allies are seeking to rig the votes to ensure a smooth victory. Electoral authorities have rejected the claims, urging the voters to stay "vigilant" in the face of "false information."

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Bahrain to try Sheikh Salman on espionage charges: Report

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 04:41PM

Bahrain is set to try prominent Shia cleric and opposition figure Sheikh Ali Salman this week on a charge of "spying" for Qatar, a media report says.

Salman, the secretary-general of the country's now-dissolved al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, would be tried alongside two of his colleagues on November 27, Bahrain's Lulu TV channel reported on Sunday.

The trio in early November was charged with "spying on behalf of a foreign country ... with the aim of carrying out subversive acts against Bahrain and harming its national interests."

The 52-year-old Shia clergyman was also charged with "revealing defense secrets to a foreign country and disseminating information that would harm Bahrain's status and reputation."

The opposition chief has been in jail on a nine-year prison sentence since late 2014 for what the Manama regime has called "insulting" government officials, "inciting" unrest through his speeches targeting the authorities during the 2011 uprising, attempting to overthrow the regime and collaborating with foreign powers.

Sheikh Salman denies all the charges, saying he has merely been seeking reforms in the country through peaceful means.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have already censured his arrest and called for his release.

On March 5, Bahrain's parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to the imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide. Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3.

Amnesty recently denounced the recent prison sentence handed down to prominent human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner Nabeel Rajab as "shameful and unfair."

Al-Wefaq was the largest group in Bahrain's parliament before its legislators resigned en masse to voice their strong dissent against the pervasive crushing of demonstrations in 2011 that called for an elected government.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.

They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime's crackdown.

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Boko Haram pushed out of town in northern Nigeria

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 02:51PM

Militants of the Takfiri terrorist group Boko Haram captured a town in northern Nigeria for several hours before being repelled by a massive army deployment.

A Nigerian military source said Sunday that Boko Haram militants had launched a "huge invasion" on the town of Magumeri, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, on Saturday evening before being pushed out by reinforcements that were deployed to the region.

"Reinforcements were later deployed and they engaged the terrorists, pushing them out of the town, which is now under the full control of the Nigerian military," said the source on condition of anonymity.

He said the attack was allegedly a work of a faction of Boko Haram which is based in the Lake Chad region and led by Abu Mus'ab al-Barnawi, a figure supported by Daesh Takfiri group.

A vigilante force in Magumeri said residents who had fled the town to nearby bushes returned to their homes after troops took control.

"This is a classic Boko Haram attack: to loot supplies and assert their presence," said the vigilante fighter from Nigeria's Civilian Joint Task Force, adding, "Even if troops hadn't deployed they would have withdrawn after looting and destruction."

3 soldiers killed, six wounded

The military said in a Sunday statement that three soldiers were killed and another six others were wounded in the clashes in Magumeri.

Colonel Timothy Antigha, a spokesman for 8 Task Force Division Nigerian Army, said the casualties came during an initial confrontation between soldiers and militants in a forward operating base in Magumeri.

"The troops fought gallantly. Unfortunately, three soldiers lost their lives while six others sustained injuries," Antigha said.

Boko Haram has yet to claim the attack, the latest in a string of smash-and-grab raids by the group which experts say are meant to obtain food and supplies.

More than 20,000 have been killed and over 2.5 million have been displaced in almost eight years of insurgency by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria and neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Nigerian authorities claim the group has "technically" been defeated as a result of a massive operation that began in early 2015. However, civilians and security forces in northern Nigeria are still targeted in sporadic attacks. At least 50 people were killed this week in the town of Mubi in Adamawa state when a teenage recruit of Boko Haram detonated his explosives inside a mosque crowded by the Muslims.

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Lebanon's Hariri takes tough line on Hezbollah, cites Arab ties

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:12AM

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who recently walked back his surprise resignation in Saudi Arabia, says he will not accept the Hezbollah resistance movement's stance should it endanger Beirut's Arab allies.

"We will not accept the positions of Hezbollah that affect our Arab brothers or target the security and stability of their countries," Hariri's media office quoted him as saying during a meeting with members of the Supreme Islamic Sharia Council in Beirut on Saturday.

Hariri stunned Lebanon on November 4 by announcing his resignation in a live television broadcast from Saudi Arabia. He accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world, an allegation rejected by both sides.

Senior sources close to Hariri and top Lebanese officials said Riyadh had coerced the Lebanese premier into stepping down and put him under house arrest.

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun refused to accept Hariri's resignation, stressing that he was being detained in Saudi Arabia against his will.

After brief visits to France, Egypt and Cyprus, Hariri returned to Lebanon on November 22 and put his resignation on hold.

The Hezbollah parliamentary group, the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, welcomed Hariri's return to Lebanon and voiced its "great satisfaction" with recent political developments in the country. It said Hariri's latest "positive statements" signaled a possible return to normalcy in Lebanon.

Referring to the suspension of his resignation, Hariri said on Saturday that the decision was in line with Lebanon's "disassociation" policy.

"The steps we have taken at the request of President Michel Aoun give us an opportunity to discuss and ensure that Lebanon is neutralized and kept away from the conflicts in the region," he said.

Lebanon, he noted, had been targeted by some disruptive elements, but it could overcome the problems through coordination and unity.

Hariri further expressed hope that his country would follow the path of stability in the future.

"What we have heard in the past couple of days has assured us that we are on the right path, the path of stability and prosperity," he said.

Hariri's family in Paris

Separately on Saturday, Hariri's office announced that French President Emmanuel Macron had received the Lebanese prime minister's wife, Lara, and youngest children Loulwa and Abdelaziz in Paris.

The Hariri family arrived in France on Thursday "for a holiday" and will stay there for a few days, according to the office.

Loulwa and Abdelaziz Hariri had not accompanied their father in his November 18 visit to Paris. A source close to Hariri said that the two children had stayed behind in the Saudi capital "for their school exams."

However, Hariri's elder son, Houssam, had joined his father in Paris from London.

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UK secretly training Saudi troops for Yemen war: Report

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 04:53AM

The British Army is secretly training Saudi Arabian soldiers to fight in Yemen, where more than 12,000 people have been killed since the onset of the Saudi war in March 2015, according to a report.

The training, codenamed Operation Crossways, was disclosed after the UK Army mistakenly released photos and a mission summary on 2 Scots' Facebook page earlier this month, The Mail on Sunday reported.

As part of the training, about 50 British military personnel from 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 Scots) have been teaching battlefield skills to officers from the Royal Saudi Land Forces Infantry Institute.

The skills are known as the "Irregular Warfare" which is a collective name for specific tactics used by conventional armies to fight terrorists.

In one of the images released, a British instructor can be seen standing in front of a map showing Yemen and the surrounding area as he explains a possible attacking strategy.

The training mission is part of the UK's "shameful complicity" in the suffering of the Yemenis, said Tory MP and former Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

Mitchell demanded Friday that the government provide answers in the Commons about its role in Saudi military aggression.

"The UK has been shamefully complicit in Saudi's role in Yemen, which has clearly included breaches of the Geneva Conventions," he said.

"I have no doubt Parliament will require an explanation of this training mission in view of the high level of concern about the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Yemen," he added.

Also, former head of the Royal Navy, Lord West, called for transparency over Britain's role in training Saudi soldiers.

"Given the sensitivities surrounding Saudi Arabia and Yemen at the moment it would be better to be open about what we are doing. Our training will hopefully save lives," West said Friday.

Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen in an attempt to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstate former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime.

Thousands of civilians have died in bombing raids and around one million children are facing starvation and serious illness as a result of the conflict.

Britain's sales of military equipment to Saudi Arabia hit 1.1 billion in the first six months of this year, according to the latest government data.

The UK sold 836 million worth of arms and military hardware to the Saudi kingdom between April and June, up from 280 million between January and March, according to statistics by the Department for International Trade (DIT).

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Zimbabwean Retirement Benefits: Ousted Mugabe to Receive $10Mln Payoff - Reports

Sputnik News

07:57 26.11.2017(updated 11:08 26.11.2017)

Former Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe and his family have been notorious for their lavish spending and luxurious lifestyle amid the extreme poverty that most of Zimbabwe's citizens face.

Last week, 93-year-old Mugabe, who had been serving both as president and prime minister for over 30 years, and his guards were confined to his house by soldiers. The country's ruling party, Zimbabwean African National Union  Patriotic Front (ZANUPF), dismissed Mugabe from his post as party leader and called on him to resign from the presidency. On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean parliament approved Mugabe's impeachment, after which the leader stepped down.

Meantime, The Guardian newspaper reported, citing one senior ruling party official privy to the matter, that Zimbabwe's ex-President may receive some $10 million as part of the alleged deal on his resignation from the country's government.

According to the newspaper's source, the former leader will receive an immediate "cash payment of $5 million", while the remaining sums would be transferred over the coming months.

Moreover, Mugabe will continue to receive an annual salary of $150,000 until his death, while his wife Grace, aged 52, will inherit half of that salary for the rest of her life after her husband passes away, the newspaper reported.

Zimbabwe's government will also cover Mugabe's medical care, security and foreign travel costs. The couple will continue to reside in the so-called Blue Roof mansion.

In addition, the former president and his family, which is reported to have a lot of business interests and property in the African country, will be immune from prosecution.

Opposition lawmakers have strongly condemned the alleged agreement with the former leader, deeming it "unconstitutional."

"We are not privy to any deal reached with Mugabe, and if there is any deal on money or anything else it is unconstitutional In terms of the constitution Mugabe is a retired president and does not have immunity from criminal or civil wrongdoing committed while in office," Douglas Mwonzora, secretary general of the leading opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said, as quoted by The Guardian.

 Sputnik

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Nepal Votes in Key Election - Hoping for Stability

By Anjana Pasricha November 26, 2017

Tens of thousands of Nepalese in mountain villages and towns cast votes Sunday in a landmark election hoping to usher in political stability that has eluded the country since it began its rocky transition to democracy a decade ago.

It is the first election after the tiny Himalayan country adopted a new federal republic constitution following the abolition of the monarchy in 2008. Besides picking lawmakers for a national parliament, voters will choose provincial assemblies for the first time.

Polling was brisk  more than three million people were eligible to vote in the first phase of the two-stage polls. Security was stepped up after a series of small blasts blamed on a Maoist splinter group targeted political candidates in the final days of the campaign.

There are two main alliances in the fray  a leftist coalition between the Maoist Party and the communist CNP-UML, and a centrist one led by the Nepali Congress.

After a decade beset with instability in which the government changed hands through nine prime ministers, and fractious political parties bickered over the constitution, most Nepalese hope that the elections deliver a clear verdict.

"What we are still hoping for after all this hopelessness is that one strong party will come who will be the ruling party for the next five years," says Anand Joshi, a businessman in the capital Kathmandu.

He is among the tens of thousands who are deeply disappointed that the advent of democracy brought little benefit to the country since a violent civil war ended in 2006 and pro democracy protests led to the abolition of monarchy.

Instead, political infighting put development on the backburner as short-lived governments failed to deliver what people in one of the world's poorest countries want  jobs, roads, schools and hospitals.

"I am not going to vote. I have no confidence in this whole roundabout of all these politicians," says Joshi.

Many are hoping that the provincial assemblies being created for the first time will usher in change by giving local governments a greater voice in development. Seven states, that have still to be named, have been carved out. But this is uncharted territory points out Nischal Nath Pandey, Director at Kathmandu's Center for South Asian Studies.

"We've never experimented on federalism before, we were always a centralized country. How this is to be managed by the political elite that has not yet known how to transfer power to local bodies has yet to be seen," according to Pandey.

Nepalese citizens are not the only ones waiting for the election outcome. The election is also being closely watched by India and China, neighbors that are vying for influence in the strategic Himalayan country that lies sandwiched between them. While the Nepali Congress is closer to New Delhi, which has traditionally held sway in Nepal, the leaders of the left parties are keen to build closer ties with Beijing, which has gained in influence in recent years.

The next round of voting will be on December 7th. The counting could take several days.

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Botswana Leader Tells VOA Mugabe Departure 'Long Overdue'

By Peter Clottey November 26, 2017

Botswana's President Seretse Khama Ian Khama was the first African head of state to call on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to step down during the recent crisis in that country. Prior to Mugabe's resignation, the Botswana leader said Zimbabweans have been subjected to untold suffering for a long time, due to what he says is poor governance under Mugabe's leadership.

Khama spoke to VOA's Peter Clottey about the recent developments in Zimbabwe. The transcript of the interview has been edited for length and clarity.

On Mugabe's decision to step aside

KHAMA: "My reaction to that is that is long overdue because for too long has he presided over a poor government in that country, which has led it to the state it has found itself today. And with millions of his people having to seek opportunities in other countries. And also the deficit, the huge deficit in democracy that country has, so it's just been, unfortunately, from the days of independence 37 years ago, all those years have been lost when Zimbabwe could by now have been far ahead and economically politically, and in many senses, even the lives of Zimbabweans could have been much higher  enjoying a much higher standard of living than the situation today."

Q: "Well, Mr. President you have been at the forefront calling for democracy in Africa. You've called on President Mugabe, when he was leading, that it was about time he left. When you meet your colleague heads of state who wants to stay there in perpetuity, what do you tell them, Mr. President?"

KHAMA: "I'm not going to mention names but you'd be surprised to know that on occasion when I have met some of them and I'm not saying this applies to all, but when I have met some of them, on one on one, they actually agree with what I'm saying. But unfortunately don't go on to express those same views in public."

Q: "So Mr. President, why do you think African leaders try to stay in power for a long time, despite the fact that citizens in the country get tired of them. They voice it out, yet they come up with arguments to say the people want them to stay. They change the constitution. Why aren't they following examples of Botswana, Ghana, and Benin and a few other countries, who are charting the course of democracy on the continent?"

KHAMA: "First of all, I would say it's not only African leaders, there are, I think, many other examples in other parts of the world where leaders try to stay in power beyond the time that they should. But then in many cases you find that they have used their positions as leaders for self-benefits, for self-interest, and then they lose sight of why they were put in those positions. And I think it's the issue of power, and I said to someone else recently that, you know, it was [former British PM] Tony Blair, I think who said that the best way to deal with power is to relinquish it. So, when you're in office, the trappings that come with it, the benefits that come with it, and everything like that, to then see yourself one day just as an ordinary citizen once again, for some it's probably just too much of culture shock, and therefore they just want to hang on and go on forever.

Q: "What are your hopes for Zimbabwe?

KHAMA: "Well, I think, I think my hope for Zimbabwe is to be able to really reach its full potential for the benefit of its citizens. We would, like as I said earlier on, you know, they have been long suffering, and I know, being a neighbor, that country has immense potential. And I'm pretty sure that if (new leader Emmerson) Mnangagwa really sets his sights on encouraging investments through providing a window of opportunity, embracing democracy, you're going to find domestic and foreign investors coming back into that country in a big way. And I think very soon, they'll be back on their feet again. So, they just need to be able to get over this political intolerance that they have had for so many years, where the opposition is seen as enemies

Q: "What is your message to the people of Zimbabwe as they head in to unchartered waters at the moment?"

KHAMA: "I think they have tasted, even if it's just been for a week, they've tasted what democracy can bring them. They've been able to go onto the streets without being beaten up. They've been able to voice their opinions about President Mugabe when he was still in office without any crack down.

The papers have been able to write whatever they want, so they've experienced it and I would say to them, they should hang on for their lives to this. What they have already tasted they should build on and not allow politicians to ruin their lives that. I'm sure many people who have been outside the country also want to come back into their country and make a living there.

I don't think it was by choice necessarily that they left their country, so I'm sure they all want to come back and now when you saw the celebration on the streets in various centers in Zimbabwe that should have been an indication to anybody how much they want change. It will be a very brave person who tries to take them back to where they were before, during Mugabe's era."

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BEIJING, Nov. 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As part of a commitment to investing in and supporting sustainable growth in Chinese businesses, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Hillhouse Capital Group, and Caixin Global hosted a roundtable discussion on the topic of long-term capital allocation across different stakeholders in the Chinese markets. Market participants, including corporate leaders, investors, and regulators, met to share research insights and best practices related to long-termism, the idea that long-term horizons allow for significant value creation.



In anticipation of the Roundtable, a study was commissioned to understand attitudes toward long-termism by Chinese companies and how this translated into corporate behaviors. Caixin Global and Caixin Insight Group surveyed more than 180 listed Chinese companies in 28 industries, comprising a total market capitalization of US$2.41 trillion.

The findings of this survey show that corporations in China have long-term aspirations, though this mindset can be impacted by various performance pressures. For instance we found that while Chinese businesses were reasonably good at thinking long term, the capital markets generally are not, leading to a disconnect, said Mark Machin, CEO of CPPIB, Nurturing long-term corporate behavior therefore requires concerted and coordinated action among all market participants. CPPIB is a long-term investor in China, and we are well positioned to contribute to fostering a long-term oriented market environment that supports our partners, portfolio companies and ultimately benefits the CPP Fund. This survey is the first step to encouraging investors and companies to work together to promote long-term value creation and strategic planning in China which will help to create more global champions.

I am a firm believer in investing for the long-term. It is Hillhouses goal to build businesses that produce sustainable growth across multiple decades, said Lei Zhang, Founder and CEO of Hillhouse Capital Group, As an investor, this means partnering with and helping the best management teams to invest in R&D, talent, and innovation. Creating an ecosystem of like-minded, forward-thinking entrepreneurs, investors and allocators will further support the development of globally competitive businesses in China for generations to come.

The findings suggest that the majority of Chinese companies have a long-term focus. Moreover, a majority of respondents agree on the importance of stable leadership and incentives aligned with long-term results. The survey findings indicate a joint effort is required among all market participants to foster long-term thinking in China.

The findings of our survey sparked more thinking to study corporate behaviors as the major market players, said Shuli Hu, Founder of Caixin Global and Caixin Insight Group, By collectively addressing the questions raised, we hope to see Chinese corporates really thrive and truly become global champions.

About Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is a professional investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to pay current benefits on behalf of 20 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build a diversified portfolio of CPP assets, CPPIB invests in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income instruments. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, Sao Paulo and Sydney, CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At September 30, 2017, the CPP Fund totalled C$328.2 billion. For more information about CPPIB, please visit www.cppib.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

About Hillhouse Capital

Founded in 2005, Hillhouse Capital is a firm of investment professionals and operating executives who are focused on building and investing in high-quality business franchises that achieve sustainable growth. Independent proprietary research and industry expertise, in conjunction with world-class operating and management capabilities, are key to Hillhouse Capitals investment approach. Hillhouse Capital partners with exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams to create value. Hillhouse Capital invests in the consumer, technology, media and telecommunications, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, financials and business services sectors in companies across all equity stages. Hillhouse Capital and its group members manage more than US$30 billion in assets on behalf of institutional clients such as university endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices.

About Caixin Global & Caixin Insight Group

Caixin Global is one of the most respected sources of macroeconomics, finance and business intelligence about China. Tailored for industry professionals, China watchers, business leaders, policymakers and international institutions, Caixin Global's intelligence arm offers policy analysis, industry monitoring, and in-depth research with indispensable insights about Chinese economic policy and its financial markets. Caixin Insight Group (CIG) is a sister company of Caixin Global, a financial information service platform tailored for institutional and professional clients, providing independent investment research, financial databases, index products, and securitization services.

www.caixinglobal.com, www.caixininsight.com

For More Information:
Egypt court upholds death sentences for 7 Daesh suspects

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 03:07PM

An Egyptian court has upheld death sentences for seven suspected members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group over the beheading in Libya of 21 Coptic Christians in 2015.

A judicial official said Sunday that the court also sentenced 10 people to life in prison and three others to 15 years in jail. The ruling can still be appealed.

Three people were condemned in absentia, and an unspecified number of those sentenced were accused of having taken part in the beheading.

The court had initially condemned the seven to death in September.

Prosecutors accused the suspects of belonging to a Daesh cell in the northwestern resort town of Marsa Matruh. They are also blamed for planning attacks after having received military training at militant camps in Libya and Syria.

In February 2015, Libya posted a video on the internet of the beheading on a Libyan beach. The killings sparked international condemnation. The Egyptian air force also struck alleged militant targets in Libya.

In May, Daesh claimed the massacre of Coptic Christians on their way to a monastery south of Cairo. Egypt again struck alleged militant targets in Libya.

Saturday's court ruling came a day after an attack on a mosque in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that killed over 300 people. According to the state prosecution, 27 children were among 305 people killed in Friday's assault on the mosque in North Sinai. The Velayat Sinai militant group, which is an affiliate of Daesh, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Egypt's modern history.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently said the defeat of Daesh in Iraq and Syria was likely to have forced militants to seek a safe haven in neighboring Libya and the Sinai Peninsula of eastern Egypt.

Libya has been rife with chaos since a 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Rival militias, many led by extremists, control large parts of territory, while three rival administrations struggle to exercise authority.

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With Local Polls, Cuba Starts Process to End Castro Era

By VOA News November 26, 2017

Cuba is holding municipal elections, the first step toward the end of the Castro era.

The Communist Party-supervised process comes a day after the first anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's death.

Though no opposition candidates were competing in Sunday's elections for more than 12,500 council seats, voters could still choose among 30,000 candidates named by acclamation in neighborhood assemblies.

The municipal vote, Cuba's only direct election, is the beginning of a strictly controlled process to eventually choose leaders in higher government positions. A February election for provincial and national assembly deputies is expected to decide who will succeed Raul Castro as president.

Campaigning in Cuba is prohibited. Candidates for ward post are chosen based on merits; not on policy agendas. They are nominated at neighborhood meetings.

February's election will be the first change in leadership since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel.

Current first Vice President Migel Diaz-Canel is expected to replace 86-year-old Raul who succeeded the ailing Fidel as president in 2008. But Sunday Diaz-Canel would not contemplate the future.

"I think today is not the day to talk about that. Today, we are feeling much more sublime things. There will always be presidents in Cuba, defending the revolution, and they will be comrades who come from the people. The people will elect them. And they will have to go through this process," he said. "Today is the day to talk about what we are doing here. Today is the day to talk about Fidel," he added after casting his ballot.

Voter Marisela Quesada said, "I'm telling you from my heart. I am a revolutionary until the end but I would like my president Raul [Castro] to continue. I would like him to continue, yes," she said.

"In my life, I wouldn't want any other because things are still being done like when there was his brother [referring to Fidel Castro]. Everything is still the same. Everything is good. I feel good," she said.

A voter, who requested anonymity due to her government position, told Reuters there is an ongoing discussion on reforming the electoral process.

"I am happy to vote, but I must say, like most young people I do not think it makes any difference," she said.

Castro is expected to remain the leader of the all-powerful Communist Party. He would be 90 when his current term ends in 2021.

Results from today's election are expected Monday. Ballots are secret and more than eight million people were eligible to vote.

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Top North Korean Official Says Nuke Program Targets Only US - Reports

Sputnik News

17:08 26.11.2017(updated 17:28 26.11.2017)

Tensions around North Korea are far from being over with Donald Trump's decision last week to designate Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The North Korean nuclear program targets no other country than the US, Deputy of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly and director of the National Reunification Institute Ri Jong-hyok was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency on Sunday.

"Our nuclear deterrence is a sword of justice aimed at fighting [the US] nuke and Asia and any country in the world need not worry about our threats as long as they do not join an invasion and provocations toward us," the official noted.

According to Ri, Pyongyang will step up its fight against what it called the US scheme of nuclear war and sanctions campaign.

"It is the Korean people's resolute decision that [North Korea] should face off the U.S. only with nuclear [weapons] to achieve the balance of power," Ri was quoted as saying by the North Korean Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

The top DPRK official delivered his speech at the Asian Parliamentary Assembly that was held in Turkey earlier this week.

Tensions between North Korea and the US have further escalated recently, following a series of nuclear and missile tests conducted by Pyongyang as well as harsh rhetoric by Donald Trump targeting the country's leadership.

Last month, North Korea responded to the US president's bellicose "letters" on Twitter with resumed threats to deliver a missile strike on the US territory of Guam, adding that Trump's statements on social media as well as US military activities in the region are pushing Pyongyang's "hand closer to the trigger."

Following Donald Trump's visit to South Korea earlier this month, North Korea promised to continue developing its nuclear program "as long as imperialism, the root of evil and injustice, is left on Earth."

Most recently, Trump has decided to brand North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in a move called by the DPRK state-run newspaper "an extra-large provocation, tantamount to another declaration of war against the DPRK."

 Sputnik

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Iran's flotilla docks in Bangladesh

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Nov 26, IRNA -- Iran's 49th Navy flotilla, comprising of Sabalan destroyer and Bandar Abbas logistic warship arrived in Bangladesh on Sunday morning to take part in a joint rescue and relief maneuver, attended by Indian Ocean littoral countries.

'The rescue and relief maneuver is headed by Bangladesh's Navy in Bay of Bengal will be performed in the next two days,' Iran's Navy Commander Read Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said.

'The arrogant powers are pursuing their colonialist influence in other countries when they give relief services, but Iran's approach in helping other countries are humanitarian and based on religious teachings,' the admiral said.

An Iranian high-level delegation, headed by Second Flotilla Admiral Bahram Askarian is in Bangladesh. The delegation will represent Iran at Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), and will present agenda for IONS 2018 that will be hosted by Iran.

9156**1771

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Iran's diplomacy based on dialogue, negotiation: Larijani

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 05:06PM

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says the Islamic Republic's diplomacy is based on solving conflicts through dialogue and negotiation, criticizing US attempts to hinder the implementation of the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement.

Larijani made the remarks in a Sunday meeting in Tehran with Janusz Lewandowski, a member of the European Parliament and chairman of the delegation for relations with Iran, in reference to the landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

"Iran is committed to the JCPOA and baseless accusations leveled by the US and some of its allies in the region should not be allowed to prevent the implementation of the agreement," he said.

The European Parliament can benefit from the JCPOA implementation and help increase economic cooperation with Iran by removing the existing obstacles, the Iranian parliament speaker noted.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China  plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

Larijani added that US President Donald Trump was making comments against Iran on a daily basis with the purpose of convincing other countries not to boost their relations with Tehran; while at the same time, he rewarded state sponsors of terrorism.

Trump delivered an anti-Iran speech on October 13, in which he said that he would not continue to certify Iran's compliance with the terms of the JCPOA, reached under his predecessor, Barack Obama, and warned that he might ultimately terminate the agreement.

The US Congress was then given 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the nuclear accord.

The top Iranian parliamentarian urged international determination to eliminate terrorism and said, "Unfortunately, some countries are supporting terrorists and providing them with weapons while issuing statements that they oppose terrorism."

Larijani emphasized that those who had created the Taliban formed the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group as well.

European Union committed to JCPOA

Lewandowski, for his part, said he carried good messages from the European Union for Iran, adding that the bloc would remain committed to the nuclear accord regardless of the US president's decisions.

He also stressed the importance of establishing stability in the region, saying that Iran played a leading role in this regard, because it had made great efforts in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.

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Iran Navy repels pirate attack in Gulf of Aden

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 01:39PM

Iranian naval forces have thwarted a pirate attack on one of the country's merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden.

Iran's 48th naval fleet, comprised of Alvand destroyer and Lavan logistic warship, rescued the Iranian ship from an attack by pirates in south of Ras Sharbitat region in Oman on Sunday morning.

Gulf of Aden pirates attacked the Iranian merchant ship, named Caspian Harmony, in a bid to hijack it, but they were forced to flee after a heavy exchange of fire by the Iranian fleet.

Iran's 48th naval fleet set off for high seas on September 2 on a mission to maintain the Islamic Republic's power in international waters and safeguard maritime routes.

In recent years, Iran's Navy has increased its presence in international waters to protect naval routes and provide security for merchant vessels and tankers.

In line with international efforts against piracy, the Iranian Navy has been conducting patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, safeguarding merchant containers and oil tankers owned or leased by Iran or other countries.

Iran's Navy has managed to foil several attacks on both Iranian and foreign tankers during its missions in international waters.

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Iran Threatens Increased Missile Range, Alleges Daesh 'US, Israeli Creation'

Sputnik News

17:17 26.11.2017

Speaking during a televised program, a senior commander from the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that Daesh was created with help from foreign powers and threatened to increase the range of Iran's missiles if Tehran sees a threat from Europe.

"Intelligence services of the US, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and certain other countries, the naming of which is not in our interest for now, created Daesh to overthrow the Syrian administration," Brigadier General Hossein Salami said on Saturday, according to PressTV.

The commander said that Tehran has "information" that in 2013-2014, "hundreds" of American cargo flights transported ammunition for militant Islamic groups in neighboring countries.

He added that Riyadh was "the link between Americans and the Takfiri groups" in the efforts to topple the Syrian government and divide Iraq.

"The threat of Daesh was very serious and if the domino effect of the fall of cities had continued, a big disaster would have threatened the Muslim world and even other countries," Salami said, adding that Iranian forces had managed to counter the terrorist group before it was too late.

Salami also commented on the range of Iran's missiles to over 2,000 kilometers, saying it could be increased if Tehran feels a threat coming from Europe.

The commander stressed that the range of the missiles depends on the scale of threats but Tehran will never negotiate over its missile capability because it is purely defensive.

France has demanded that the Iranian missile program must be the subject of an "uncompromising" dialogue, calling for discussion on issues not covered by the 2015 final agreement on Tehran's nuclear program.

"So far we have felt that Europe is not a threat; therefore, we did not increase the range of our missiles. But if Europe wants to turn into a threat, we will increase the range of our missiles," Salami said.

 Sputnik

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6 killed as Pakistani protesters clash with police for second day

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 09:38AM

Clashes have erupted between police and protesters for a second day on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, with media reports saying at least six people have been killed.

Pakistani activists and religious advocates have blocked the main route into the capital for two weeks. On Saturday, police moved in to remove them.

Clashes erupted then, with the protesters burning vehicles and pelting stones at security forces.

Since November 6, as many as 2,000 protesters from the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan Party have camped out at the main intersection outside Islamabad and blocked the main highway used by thousands of commuters, causing hours-long traffic snarls.

The group is demanding the dismissal and apprehension of federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid over an amendment to the oath election candidates must take. The demonstrators say the amendment amounts to blasphemy.

The government has put the issue down to an error.

A Pakistani court had granted the government three days to find a way to clear the sit-in protest by the religious party. That deadline terminated on November 23.

Police were forced to fire teargas canisters to disperse the stick-wielding crowd.

During the Saturday protest, at least six people lost their lives and around 230 sustained injuries. It was not clear if police used live ammunition.

Hospitals sources announced that most of the wounded had been discharged, with only around 20 still needing treatment.

The violent clashes also triggered similar protests in major cities and towns across Pakistan.

Some 200 protesters blockaded a major road in the southern port city of Karachi and clashed with police on Saturday, leaving at least 27 people injured, including 22 people with gunshot wounds.

In Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province and the country's second largest city, police had closed off a main road because of similar protests.

The violence comes at a time when Islamabad is trying to tackle growing militancy, political instability, and extremism.

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Pakistan warned of 'repercussions' over release of Hafiz Saeed

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 03:38AM

The United States has taken issue with Pakistan's release of Hafiz Saeed, who is wanted by Washington over allegedly masterminding a terrorist attack in India in 2008.

Washington said Saturday that it "strongly condemns" the move.

Saeed, who was under house arrest with a $10 million US bounty on his head, was released on Friday after less than a year in detention.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders questioned Islamabad's motives in regard to battling terrorism.

"Saeed's release, after Pakistan's failure to prosecute or charge him, sends a deeply troubling message about Pakistan's commitment to combating international terrorism and belies Pakistani claims that it will not provide sanctuary for terrorists on its soil," she said. "If Pakistan does not take action to lawfully detain Saeed and charge him for his crimes, its inaction will have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistan's global reputation."

Designated a terrorist by the US Justice Department, Saeed has been accused of being behind the massacre in Mumbai, which left 166 people dead.

His detention came to an end in Lahore after a three-judge panel's verdict, which his spokesman described as a "victory of truth."

"Hafiz Saeed was under house arrest on baseless allegations and jail officials came to his home last night and told him that he is now free," he said after Saeed's release.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly exerting more pressure on Islamabad to take on terrorism and extremism.

In a visit to Washington in October, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Islamabad is willing to work with Trump in this regard.

Saeed, who has denied allegations of involvement in Mumbai attacks in 2008, was put on house arrest in January.

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Russia's Putin signs media 'foreign agents' law

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 07:00AM

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that will require certain foreign media outlets operating in Russia to register as "foreign agents."

Under the new law, signed by President Putin on Saturday, any media outlet operating in Russia and funded by a foreign state may be designated a foreign agent by the Russian Ministry of Justice, in what is seen as a retaliatory move against the registration of Russia's state broadcaster RT with the US Justice Department as a foreign agent following pressure from Washington.

The Russian bill had been earlier introduced and approved at both chambers of the Russian parliament  the State Duma and the lower house.

Any foreign media entity "regardless of its organizational and legal form, might be considered as functioning as a foreign agent if it receives funds and/or any other assets from foreign states, foreign governmental organizations, international and foreign organizations, foreign citizens, persons without citizenship," the legislation stipulates.

The law also covers foreign media outlets operating through authorized persons or Russian legal entities that are financed through foreign sources.

The law will oblige foreign media to file regular reports on their funding and activities or face legal action.

Washington's move to register RT's US-based affiliate company as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) came after US intelligence officials accused the Kremlin of having used Russian media organizations to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election in favor of the then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Moscow has adamantly dismissed the meddling allegation.

Last week, Moscow restricted US-funded media outlets operating in the country, such as Radio Free Europe, the television network Current Time, and Voice of America, and warned that they could be registered as "foreign agents" under the new law.

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ALAMEDA, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncoCyte Corporation (NYSE American:OCX), a developer of novel, non-invasive blood based tests for the early detection of cancer, announced today that William Annett, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mitch Levine, Chief Financial Officer, will participate in the Benchmark Company, LLC Micro Cap Discovery One-on-One Conference. The conference will take place on Thursday, December 14, 2017, at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Annett and Mr. Levine will provide investors with a corporate overview, including discussion about DetermaVu, the Companys liquid biopsy lung cancer diagnostic test.



About OncoCyte Corporation

OncoCyte is focused on the development and commercialization of novel, non-invasive blood and urine (liquid biopsy) diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer to improve health outcomes through earlier diagnoses, to reduce the cost of care through the avoidance of more costly diagnostic procedures, including invasive biopsy and cystoscopic procedures, and to improve the quality of life for cancer patients. While current biopsy tests use invasive surgical procedures to provide tissue samples in order to determine if a tumor is benign or malignant, OncoCyte is developing a next generation of diagnostic tests that will be based on liquid biopsies using blood or urine samples. OncoCytes pipeline products are intended to be confirmatory diagnostics for detecting lung, breast and bladder cancer. OncoCytes diagnostic tests are being developed using proprietary sets of genetic and protein markers that differentially express in specific types of cancer.

DetermaVu is a trademark of OncoCyte Corporation.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates and similar expressions) are forward-looking statements. These statements include those pertaining to the implementation and results of research, development, clinical trials and studies, commercialization plans, future financial and/or operating results, and future opportunities for OncoCyte, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential diagnostic tests or products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, the capacity of our third-party supplied blood sample analytic system to provide consistent and precise analytic results on a commercial scale, the need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of intellectual property rights, and the need to obtain third party reimbursement for patients use of any diagnostic tests we commercialize. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and accordingly as such statements should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of OncoCyte, particularly those mentioned in the Risk Factors and other cautionary statements found in OncoCytes Securities and Exchange Commission filings. OncoCyte disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Investor Contact:

EVC Group, Inc.

Matt Haines / Michael Polyviou

917-733-9297 / 212-850-5600

mhaines@evcgroup.com / mpolyviou@evcgroup.com

Financial Media Contact:

GIBSON Communications, LLC

Tom Gibson

201-476-0322

tom@tomgibsoncommunications.com
Chechnya's Kadyrov Says Time Has Come For Him To Step Aside

RFE/RL November 26, 2017

The leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that it is time for him to step aside.

"There was a time when people like me were needed to fight, to establish order," Kadyrov said in an interview with public broadcaster Rossiya 1 thta was aired on November 26. "Now we have order."

Kadyrov, 41, said his successor would be the prerogative of the Kremlin, adding that there were "several people who can do this job perfectly."

Kadyrov did not state that he was resigning, and there was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.

Kadyrov has said before that it was time for him to be replaced as leader of Chechnya.

In February 2007, once Kadyrov had reached the minimum age of 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin nominated him as president of Chechnya. He won a new five-year term in September 2016.

Rights groups and critics have long accused blamed Kadyrov and his paramilitary forces for serious rights abuses, including the widespread use of kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial murders. He recently faced international condemnation over reports of a crackdown on homosexuals.

The Chechen leader denies the charges.

Kadyrov also said in the interview that he was "more than certain" of the innocence of five men from Chechnya convicted in the 2015 murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

"According to my information, these guys are totally innocent," he said, adding that "someone needed to close the case, someone needed to state that the perpetrators were found."

He did not elaborate.

Nemtsov, a reformist former first deputy prime minister who was a vocal critic of Putin and Kadyrov, was shot from behind on a bridge just outside the Kremlin in February 2015.

In July, a Moscow court sentenced the convicted triggerman, Zaur Dadayev, and four accomplices to prison terms ranging from 11 to 20 years.

Nemtsov's relatives and associates believe that his killing was ordered at a higher level.

With reporting by Bloomberg, Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-chechnya-kadyrov-step- aside-rossiya-interview/28877974.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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Saudi Arabia Launches Islamic Counterterrorism Summit

November 26, 2017

Saudi Arabia's crown prince has opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led alliance of Muslim nations against terrorism, pledging that extremists will no longer "tarnish our beautiful religion."

Addressing the defense ministers and other high-ranking officials in Riyadh on November 26, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman said "the biggest danger of this terrorism and extremism is the tarnishing of the reputation of our beloved religion...We will not allow this to happen."

"Today we start the pursuit of terrorism and we see its defeat in many facets around the world, especially in Muslim countries," he said. "We will continue to fight it until we see its defeat."

The crown prince's words came as the extremist Islamic State group, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria.

However, the alliance doesn't include Iran, Iraq or Syria -- and member nation Qatar did not send anyone to attend the one-day gathering amid a diplomatic standoff between Doha and four Arab nations led by the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia announced the alliance in December 2015, when the crown prince was still only the kingdom's defense minister. Since then, his father King Salman has elevated the 32-year-old prince to be next in line for the throne.

Prince Mohammed said the 40 countries in the alliance were sending a "clear signal" that they would "work together to support the military, financial, intelligence and political efforts of every member state".

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/saudi-counterterrorism- summit-prince-salman/28877718.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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Saudi Crown Prince Vows to 'Wipe Terrorists Out From the Face of Earth'

Sputnik News

16:31 26.11.2017(updated 19:03 26.11.2017)

The summit follows the Saudi crown prince's statement in favor of the country returning to "moderate Islam," which came amid a number of steps aimed at expanding women's rights.

Saudi Arabia has gathered defense ministers and senior officials from 40 Muslim states at the first meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, in a move described as a "clear signal" to extremism by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who vowed to "pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth."

Addressing the summit, the Saudi crown prince said, as quoted by Reuters, "In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries," adding that "this ends today, with this alliance."

According to the prince, the states are set to "work together to support the military, financial, intelligence and political efforts of every member state."

The Saudi-led coalition, which consists mostly of Sunni-majority states and excludes Iran, as well as Syria and Iraq, was created back in 2015 under the auspices of Saudi Prince Mohammed, who has recently been officially named as the heir to the kingdom's throne.

While Qatar is also a member of the Islamic anti-terror coalition, there are no Doha officials at the summit amid a diplomatic crisis between the Arab state with some of its neighbors, primarily Saudi Arabia, which broke off ties with the country this June, accusing it of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs.

Return to 'Moderate Islam'

The summit takes place in the wake of an announcement made by the Saudi crown prince in October: "We will return to the former state or affairs, to moderate Islam, which is open to the world, and all other religions. We will not wait for 30 years, we will swiftly deal a blow to extremist ideologies."

While Saudi Arabia's legal system is based on Sharia law, outlining, particularly, harsh restrictions for representatives of other religions, the situation has been changing lately after Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced Riyadh's Vision 2030 in 2016, with the document including 80 projects, aimed at developing public service sectors, among others, and a number of women's rights initiatives.

Earlier this year, in a benchmark decision, Saudi King Salman signed a royal decree allowing women to drive for the first time in the history of the kingdom, in a move that was later followed by a number of similar measures. In particular, Saudi Arabia has been boosting women's rights by allowing them to visit stadiums, as well as introducing a draft law criminalizing sexual harassment.

 Sputnik

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Mistakenly Posted Photos Allegedly Expose UK Training Saudi Forces in Yemen War

Sputnik News

13:43 26.11.2017(updated 13:52 26.11.2017)

According to The Daily Mail, the secret training program is allegedly aimed at teaching so-called "irregular warfare" combat skills to Saudi forces and involves some 50 UK military personnel.

The British military is training Saudi forces to fight in Yemen, where a conflict between the Riyadh-backed government and rebels has claimed over 12,000 lives, The Daily Mail reported Sunday.

The program, codenamed Operation Crossways, involves nearly 50 British military personnel from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, according to the report. They are teaching "irregular warfare" techniques to officers from the Royal Saudi Land Forces Infantry Institute.

The newspaper specifies that "irregular warfare" is a collective name for a set of tactics used by conventional military forces to fight terrorists.

In one of the photographs released in the media report, an alleged British Army trainer is seen standing next to a map of Yemen and explaining tactics to Saudi military personnel.

According to the report, the alleged program has been secret and came to light only after the army released photos and information by mistake on the battalion's Facebook page earlier this month.

The British military involvement is a "shameful complicity" in the suffering Yemenis are facing in the ongoing conflict, Tory lawmaker and former Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell told the newspaper.

"The UK has been shamefully complicit in Saudi's role in Yemen," Mitchell said.

He has also demanded that the British government provide answers in the Commons about its reported role in the Yemeni conflict.

"I have no doubt Parliament will require an explanation of this training mission in view of the high level of concern about the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Yemen," Mitchel said.

Yemen has been for years engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Shiite Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, and backed by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request.

The United Nations is investigating the situation in Yemen, referring to it as "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," with 17 million people in dire need of food, seven million of whom fully rely on imported food.

Earlier in November, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres described the conflict as "stupid" and called Saudi Arabia to lift its blockade of Yemen. On Friday, Riyadh said it would allow UN humanitarian flights to Yemen starting Saturday. Finally, on Saturday, three aircraft from the UN and one plane from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), carrying humanitarian cargo, landed at Sanaa International Airport in Yemen.

 Sputnik

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Saudis Launch Counterterror Coalition

By Ayaz Gul November 26, 2017

A Saudi-led Muslim military coalition, commanded by a former Pakistan army chief, was officially launched Sunday in Riyadh where defense ministers of the participating nations met for the inaugural meeting.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia, opened the meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition or IMCTC.

An official statement explained the "pan-Islamic coalition" of 41 predominantly Sunni Muslim countries will coordinate and multiply their individual efforts in the global fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

"The meeting [in the Saudi capital] marks the official launch of the IMCTC and strengthens the cooperation and integration of member countries in the coalition," it reads.

The coalition's formation specifically has been the focus of debate in Pakistan after former Pakistani military chief Raheel Sharif was appointed as IMCTC's first commander.

Addressing Sunday's meeting, Sharif explained the IMCTC will act as a platform to assist member countries in their counter terrorism operations through intelligence sharing and capacity building.

"A number of our member countries are under tremendous pressure while fighting well established terrorist organizations due to capacity shortages of their armed forces and law enforcement agencies," the Pakistan general noted.

While supporters dubbed the Saudi-led coalition the "Muslim NATO," skeptics, including those in Pakistan, continue to question its objectives and see it as a sectarian-based grouping against rivals - Shi'ite Iran, Syria and Iraq.

Saudi officials announced formation of the coalition in 2015, headquartered in Riyadh, with a mission to fight terrorism, particularly to counter the threat of Islamic State.

Tehran has opposed the move from the outset and has been lobbying against it, believing it is aimed at increasing Saudi influence in the region.

Critics warn Islamabad's participation could upset the country's minority Shi'ite community and undermine bilateral relations with Iran, which shares a nearly 1,000-kilometer border with Pakistan.

The Pakistani Senate, the upper house of parliament, witnessed another heated debate on the issue last week when opposition members urged the government not to give any undertakings in Sunday's meeting in Riyadh without taking the parliament into confidence.

Senator Farhatullah Babar, in his speech, noted the coalition encompasses four key areas, including ideology, communications, counter-terrorism financing and military. Those areas, particularly ideology, present potential pitfalls and challenges with possible consequences for Pakistan, local media quoted Babar as saying.

On Monday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the head of the country's main spy agency, ISI, among others, are scheduled to visit Riyadh at the invitation of the Saudi leadership for important consultations, although it is not known exactly what the issues are.

"If the IMCTC turns out to be a Saudi platform to bash geopolitical enemies and advance sectarian narratives, then this country [Pakistan] would best stay away from such a misadventure," warned the leading English language newspaper, DAWN, in an editorial Saturday.

The newspaper noted with concern the Saudi crown prince's statement issued Friday in which he dubbed Iran's supreme leader "the Hitler of the Middle East."

In its announcement before Sunday's meeting, the IMCTC quoted General Sharif as saying that terrorism is the biggest challenge confronting the Muslim world.

The general retired in November 2016 and is credited with effectively countering terrorist groups operating in Pakistan during his three-year tenure as the chief of the powerful military.

But Shi'ite community leaders and independent critics in Pakistan have criticized the government, as well as Sharif, for accepting the assignment, fearing it would fuel domestic sectarian rivalries.

Pakistan has always walked a tightrope while trying to maintain a balance between its immediate neighbor, Iran, and also Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Kingdom hosts hundreds of thousands of Pakistani expatriates, and is a key source of oil supplies to Islamabad on deferred payments and cash grants to help Pakistan's traditionally struggling economy.

The Pakistan government, under extreme domestic pressure, had refused to join Saudi-led military operations against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2015.

The parliament barred then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif from joining the operation, saying Pakistan's involvement in a foreign conflict would exacerbate sectarian tensions at home and upset its friends in the Muslim world.

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Russian bombers pound Daesh positions in Syria's Dayr al-Zawr again

Iran Press TV

Sun Nov 26, 2017 05:19PM

The Russian military says six of its Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers have once again successfully launched airstrikes against positions of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Syria's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr as government forces, supported by allied fighters from popular defense groups, are fighting to totally retake the region from the terrorists.

According to a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, the large bombers, which flew from an airfield in Russia, hit "terrorist strongholds" in the valley of the Euphrates River in the volatile province.

The airstrikes came a day after a similar attack the Russian bombers carried out in the same province against Daesh's fortified areas, manpower and armored vehicles near Abbas town, which lies northwest of the recently-liberated Bukamal town and near the border with Iraq.

On November 17, six Tupolev-22M3 bombers left an air base in Russia, crossed over the Iranian and Iraqi airspace and carried out a massive airstrike against the Daesh positions near Bukamal.

For the past few weeks, Russian long-range bombers have been continually pounding the terror outfit's positions in Dayr al-Zawr, paving the way for Syrian ground troops to advance more swiftly towards the last militant-held areas in the region.

On September 22, a Russian submarine launched a barrage of Kalibr cruise missiles at the positions of the foreign-sponsored and Takfiri terrorists of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, previously known as the Nusra Front, in Syria's Idlib and destroyed them only a few days after the extremists attacked a unit of the Russian Military Police in the crisis-hit Arab country.

Since September 2015, Russia has been conducting aerial attacks against terrorist positions in Syria at a request from the Damascus government.

Backed by Russian air power, Syrian ground forces have managed to make numerous gains against terrorists on various fronts.

On the contrary, the US and its allies back militants fighting to topple the Syrian government. American warplanes have been bombing Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate, which has seriously damaged the country's infrastructure.

The airstrikes have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

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Rohani Tells Assad 'National Congress' A Step Toward Stability

RFE/RL November 26, 2017

Iranian President Hassan Rohani has told Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in a phone call that a proposed "national congress" involving opposing forces could help bring stability and security to the war-ravaged country.

Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Rohani on November 25 as telling Assad that a meeting of government and opposition forces could be "a step toward stability and security of Syria."

The proposal for a congress came during a trilateral summit between the leaders of Iran, Turkey, and Russia on November 22 at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

After that gathering, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the three powers had agreed to organize a congress involving Syrian government and opposition forces in an effort to end the Middle East country's six-year civil war.

Iran and Russia support Assad, while Turkey and the United States back differing rebel group's fighting the Syrian government in the bloody civil war, which has killed more than 310,000 people, created 6.1 million refugees, and internally displaced some 5 million Syrians since 2011.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has sent weapons and soldiers to Syria to aid Assad's government.

No date has been set for the national congress, and it is not clear how it would differ from other efforts being taken to the conflict in Syria.

The United Nations sponsors peace talks in Geneva in search of a political solution, while Russia, Iran, and Turkey cosponsor negotiations in the Kazakh capital, Astana, that focus on battlefield issues and involve some rebel forces and the government.

IRNA also quoted Rohani as saying Iran was ready to play a role in the rebuilding of the Middle East country.

"Tehran is ready to have an active role in reconstruction of Syria," Rohani said.

With reporting by Reuters and IRNA

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/rohani-iran-russia-putin- turkey-syria-assad-erdogan/28877254.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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Official Thanks Iran-Trained Afghan 'Warriors' for Syrian 'Victory'

By Ayaz Gul November 26, 2017

A top official in Afghanistan has come under fire for seeming to confirm for the first time that neighboring Iran has recruited thousands of Shi'ite Afghans and "warriors" from other regional countries to fight in Syria.

Deputy Afghan Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqiq made the controversial statement during a trip last week to Tehran. His remarks were recorded on video and aired and reported by Afghan media, prompting critics to take to social media to denounce him and call for his removal from office.

While addressing an international summit of scholars from Iran and other Muslim nations, the Afghan deputy chief executive is shown praising Major General Qasem Soleimani, who commands foreign operations of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The gathering was convened to discuss ways to fight "the dark ideology" of IS terrorists from a unified Islamic front, according to Iranian media.

The Iranian general is said to be one of the founders of the Fatemiyoun Division, made up of mostly Afghan fighters and deployed to the Syrian conflict zone.

"I thank all the warriors who cooperated in these wars from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world who attended the wars. In fact, it was the war of Islam against infidelity and against the conspiracies of the world arrogance," Mohaqiq said.

The Afghan official did not elaborate and went on to commend "the prominent role" of General Soleimani in the victory in Syria.

IS moved into Afghanistan

Mohaqiq claimed that more than 10,000 Islamic State members who escaped the conflict, including those from Central Asian states, have now moved to Afghanistan and are threatening stability of northern and western border provinces.

"The northern part of Afghanistan, once a secure area, has now been destabilized after the incursion of Daesh," Mohaqiq said using local acronym for IS. The instability, he warned, will threaten neighboring Central Asian nations.

The Afghan government has not yet commented on Mohaqiq's remarks, but the foreign ministry has maintained that reports of Afghans being sent to conflict zones in the Middle East are under investigation and that the issue has also been raised with Iranian authorities.

Allegations from rights groups

Rights defenders have repeatedly drawn international attention to what they say is Tehran's training and deployment of Afghan refugees in Iran.

Human Rights Watch in a detailed report published last month also accused Iran of committing war crimes by recruiting and sending Afghan immigrant children "as young as 14" to fight in Syria alongside government forces.

The report charged the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps with recruiting and providing combat training to mainly Shi'ite Hazara Afghans who have settled in Iran after fleeing decades of hostilities in their native country.

Recruits for Fatemiyoun Division are said to come mostly from about 2.5 million Afghan refugees, many of them without residency papers. Pro-government Iranian media describes the division as a volunteer Afghan force fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Rights groups have documented cases of Afghans, mostly Shi'ite Hazaras, in Iran who "volunteered" to take part in the Syrian conflict in the hopes of gaining legal status and a monthly income of around $600 for their impoverished refugee families.

Iranian authorities reportedly tell Afghan recruits they are being trained to fight to protect major Shi'ite shrines in Damascus, Aleppo and Raqqa.

Iran is reported to have poured billions into Syria in addition to raising Shi'ite militias from countries with significant Shi'ite population, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, which also hosts millions of Afghan refugees.

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SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zuora, Inc., the leading SaaS provider of subscription order-to-cash solutions, was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Subscription Relationship Management 2017 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US43172417, November 2017). Among the nine vendors evaluated, Zuora was described as having leading SRM capabilities.



The Subscription Economy is here. In recent years, several reports have documented glimpses of a global subscription movement. In 2013, The Economist found that 80 percent of customers are demanding new consumption models and moving away from traditional ownership. In 2015, Credit Suisse reported that people in the U.S. spent $420 billion on subscriptions, up from $215 billion in 2000. And those companies that use subscription business models are seeing up to eight times the revenue growth compared to traditional product-focused companies.

The IDC MarketScape report states, 60% of providers of digital products and services are developing subscription business models to give customers more ways to buy, according to IDCs Digital Business Models Survey. However, only 20% have the right systems in place to support this.

This technology is essential for companies that are monetizing digital products and services. For many companies, the shift from physical products to digital services is make or break, states the IDC MarketScape. The heavily customized, hard-coded solutions of yesteryear do not meet the needs of today's fast-moving digital enterprises.

The Zuora Central subscription order-to-cash platform is the system enabling success for more than 900 companies in the Subscription Economy. According to the report, Customers interviewed for this IDC MarketScape cited the breadth of functionality as a key feature of Zuora. In addition, customers were happy with the strong pace of innovation and the clear communication of the road map and quarterly release cycles.

Zuora Central integrates six essential engines that power the real-time updates across Zuoras expansive product portfolio (Zuora Billing, Zuora RevPro, Zuora Collect, Zuora CPQ, and Zuora Insights), third party applications, and the more than 100 apps in the Zuora Connect Marketplace.

Zuora is highlighted as having a transparent SaaS solution. The IDC MarketScape states, All settings and configuration options are exposed to the customer. Zuora's configurability of products, billing rules, revenue rules, invoice templates, and so forth are designed to lend to ease of administration and fast time to go live.

The IDC MarketScape also notes that Leeyo has become Zuora RevPro, bringing capabilities such as unbilled revenue accounting, backlog forecasts, Standalone Selling Price (SSP) analysis, automated recasting of historical contracts, and parallel viewing of contracts under both old and new guidelines, all of which are key capabilities that will help companies make the transition to ASC 606/IFRS 15.

Companies large and small across all industries have shifted their business models from shipping products to delivering subscriber services and experiences, said Tom Krackeler, SVP of Product at Zuora. We believe that, in the future, growth will only come from subscriptions and we will continue to invest and innovate to ensure our customers flourish in the future of the Subscription Economy.

Download an excerpt of the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Subscription Relationship Management 2017 Vendor Assessment report, here. Read Zuoras blog post, here.

Customer Quotes

CLEAR Co-Founder & President, Ken Cornick: At CLEAR we are obsessed with the customer experience at every touchpoint and the on-boarding and renewal elements of our customers' journey, which are powered by Zuora, are crucial. The Zuora platform capabilities and support have helped take our billing and subscription management to the next level, setting us up for success as we go through significant growth ourselves.

At CLEAR we are obsessed with the customer experience at every touchpoint and the on-boarding and renewal elements of our customers' journey, which are powered by Zuora, are crucial. The Zuora platform capabilities and support have helped take our billing and subscription management to the next level, setting us up for success as we go through significant growth ourselves. Procore Senior Director of Financial Systems Kevin Spinelli: We selected Zuora to support our aggressive growth initiatives, and within three months weve seen clear improvements to the efficiency of our software orders and financial close processes. Zuora functions as our system of record for measuring the metrics that truly matter for a subscription business  bookings, churn and retention.

We selected Zuora to support our aggressive growth initiatives, and within three months weve seen clear improvements to the efficiency of our software orders and financial close processes. Zuora functions as our system of record for measuring the metrics that truly matter for a subscription business  bookings, churn and retention. Inspirato SVP of Technology Sebastian Gnagnarella: "From the very beginning, we knew we needed a cloud-based solution that had a robust API we could integrate with. We were also looking for a disruptor in the market because we pride ourself on being disruptors in what we do. And Zuora checked all the boxes.

Additional Resources

The Subscription Economy: A Business Transformation by Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora

SlideShare: Drivers of Success in the Subscription Economy

MGI Research Forecast on Agile Monetization Platforms 2016-2020

Follow us online:

Facebook.com/zuora

@Zuora

#SubscriptionEconomy

About Zuora, Inc.

Zuora, the leading Subscription Economy evangelist, provides the only SaaS platform that automates all subscription order-to-cash operations in real-time for any business. Companies in any industry can launch new businesses, shift products to subscription, implement new pay-as-you-go pricing and packaging models, gain new insights into subscriber behavior, and disrupt market segments to gain competitive advantage. Zuora serves over 900 companies around the world in a wide range of industries, including Box, Komatsu, Rogers, Schneider Electric, Toshiba, Xplornet and Zendesk. The Subscription Economy Index (SEI) demonstrates that SEI companies are growing revenues approximately nine times faster than the S&P 500. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Zuora also operates offices in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Frisco (Texas), New York, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, London, Paris, Beijing, Sydney, Chennai, Tokyo, and Munich.

About IDC MarketScape

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendors position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.

Media Contact:

Jayne Scuncio

jscuncio@zuora.com

408-348-1087

 2017 Zuora, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Zuora and Subscription Economy are trademarks of Zuora, Inc. Third party trademarks mentioned above are owned by their respective companies. Nothing in this press release should be construed to the contrary, or as an approval, endorsement or sponsorship by any third parties of Zuora, Inc. or any aspect of this press release. To learn more about the Zuora platform, please visit www.zuora.com.
COSTA MESA, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Profit Recovery Partners, LLC (PRP) announced today that it has met its goal to raise thousands of dollars in donations for disaster relief in Texas and Puerto Rico. The funds were raised from a disaster relief cocktail benefit hour on November 14 organized by the firms Corporate Social Responsibility Committee.



PRPs CSR Committee reports that the November 14 event was the Committees most well-attended charity event since its inception in 2016. Donations were collected through drink voucher and raffle ticket purchases, as well as contributions from PRPs executive team. All proceeds from the benefit hour were donated to All Hands Volunteers, a nonprofit organization that provides immediate and long-term assistance to communities stricken by natural disasters.

PRP President Jeremy Linehan said on the achievement: Our Corporate Social Responsibility Committee has always sought out ways to make a positive impact on the communities that surround us. This year alone, we have increased our donations to charitable organizations by 200%. We are honored to help give back to those afflicted by the hurricanes in Texas and Puerto Rico, to help get those who lost their homes and livelihoods get back on their feet again.

About Profit Recovery Partners, LLC

Profit Recovery Partners, LLC (PRP) develops, implements, and manages cost reduction solutions for Fortune 1000 companies, law firms, private equity firms, and private companies throughout North America. Its industry experience and more than $2.4 billion in annual managed spend, as well as its program for ongoing support and verification, drive PRPs continued commitment to award-winning service. PRPs spend management, supplier management, and procurement strategies have resulted in more than $3 billion in client savings. To learn more, visit www.prpllc.com or call 877-484-7776.




After being spotted in benchmark listings, the Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime (2017) has appeared on the website of the US FCC, which usually suggests launch is nearing, if not imminent.

Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime

The GFXBench listing of the handset revealed the following specs: Exynos 7570 chipset, 4.8-inch HD display, 3GB/32GB memory configuration, 12MP/8MP camera combo, and Android Nougat.

No information on exactly when the phone will be made official, and what price it will carry.

Source | Via




Haiti - FLASH TPS : Reactions multiply against the decision of the Trump administration





Following the announcement last Monday of the US Homeland Security, to end on July 22, 2019 the designation of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Haiti, a suspension of 18 months to allow some 58,000 Haitians https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22759-haiti-flash-tps-more-than-50-000-haitians-will-have-to-leave-the-usa.html concerned to try to regulate or to prepare to leave the American territory, the reactions of protests multiply.



Congresswoman Mia Love

Congresswoman Mia Love issued the following statement "I disagree with the Trump administration's decision to terminate TPS protections for Haiti in July 2019. I saw the conditions in that country myself, and witnessed the struggle for the people who are still living in desperate situations. I have spoken with the country's leaders, and it's clear to me that the nation will not be prepared to support this population in the coming months."



"I look forward to continuing the work with my colleagues across the aisle to protect these people through a fair and orderly process. I recently cosponsored the ASPIRE Act (H.R. 4384) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22769-haiti-tps-haiti-is-not-prepared-to-take-back-nearly-60-000-tps-recipients.html to do just that. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation or other proposals that offer appropriate protections."



U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)

"The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) denounces the decision by the Trump Administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. We urge Congress to take immediate action to protect Haitian and other TPS beneficiaries who have worked, paid taxes, opened businesses and acted as contributing members of our communities for years.



[...]



USCRI recommends immediate action by Congress to resolve the question of TPS holders and enable them to transition to permanent status and a clear pathway to safety and citizenship. Individuals holding Temporary Protected Status are thoroughly vetted at least every 18 months, work and pay taxes and pay fees for every TPS renewal.



The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti

The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), an advocacy group that supports equal treatment of Haitians in the United States, criticized the November 20 decision of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. The decision was based on a finding that the temporary conditions caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist. Unconscionably, DHS refused to consider massive blows that struck Haiti after the earthquake that make it unsafe for Haitians to return home. The failure to consider more recent crises is a departure from decades of precedent, including the May 24, 2017 DHS justification for extending Haitis TPS designation for six months.



[...]



"The Administration made a political decision earlier this year to remove Haitians from the U.S.," said Brian Concannon Jr., IJDHs Executive Director. "Ever since, it has been trying to contort the facts and law to fit that political decision. A leaked April 27, 2017 DHS email instructed field offices to squeeze more data of crime and public benefits use in the broader Haitian-American community, in order to make a public case against TPS. But these factors are not legally relevant, because TPS holders are ineligible for public benefits and criminal activity disqualifies one from TPS."



"[...] this decision was a dispiriting decision for TPS holders and everyone who cares about them or the rule of law," said Concannon. "But it is not the last word, we will keep fighting for a more just outcome."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22772-haiti-flash-tps-reaction-of-the-conference-of-catholic-bishops-of-the-united-states.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22769-haiti-tps-haiti-is-not-prepared-to-take-back-nearly-60-000-tps-recipients.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22759-haiti-flash-tps-more-than-50-000-haitians-will-have-to-leave-the-usa.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22692-haiti-flash-towards-a-permanent-residence-for-immigrants-benefiting-from-the-tps.html



HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre


















An associate of cartel boss Daniel Kinahan has been arrested in relation to a huge cocaine seizure worth almost 100m.

The man, aged in his mid 30s, was detained after Spanish police uncovered a staggering 1,200kg of the drug buried in an underground hideout earlier this month.

He is originally from Dublin's south-inner city, but has spent most of his time in Spain and the UK over the last decade.

This man has links to the cartel through his association with gang boss Daniel Kinahan (40).

Three British nationals and two Spaniards were initially arrested on November 10 at locations in Granada and Guipuzcoa.

Cargo

It later emerged that one of the men travelling on a UK passport was in fact the Kinahan associate. This individual has a number of previous convictions for road traffic offences and minor drugs possession, but has not been convicted of serious criminal offences.

A source last night said the man was considered "a low- level operator" who had been based mainly in the Midlands of the UK. A spokesman for the Policia Nacional, who coordinated the operation, said that it targeted an international drug trafficking gang which is one of the most active in Europe.

The lengthy operation has been going on for over a year, and led to what is one of the largest seizures of cocaine in Spain.

The seized drugs have an estimated street value of around 96m in Ireland.

At the beginning of this month, police placed a British truck driver under surveillance as he made his way from France through to the south of Spain.

His articulated lorry was then tracked travelling east from the Costa del Sol to the cities of Murcia and Valencia, where it picked up cargo and headed north.

On November 3, police decided to swoop as the haul was unloaded in Almunecar. They arrested the HGV driver and two other men, all carrying British identity documents. One of these trio was later found to be the Irishman.

The cargo turned out to be more than 531kg of cocaine, which tested as up to 80pc pure.

Wet mud found on the packaging led investigators back to the Basque Country, where another massive 678kg haul of coke was buried 'Colombian- style' in an underground cache at Zarautz. Images of the bust released by authorities show police using diggers to unearth a number of plastic containers in which the cocaine was stashed.

"The network being investigated was one of the most active in Europe and used professional truck drivers who transported the hidden drug among legal goods, taking advantage of the ordinary road transport routes that they used for legitimate activity," a Policia Nacional spokesman said.

Just two weeks ago, the Kinahan cartel's international money-laundering and drug-dealing business was dealt a massive blow by gardai and Dutch police in an operation which resulted in 10m worth of drugs being seized.

Detectives discovered a "Bitcoin farm", encrypted phones, computers and 10m worth of drugs across Ireland and Holland. In total, 10 people were arrested - eight men in Holland, including one of Christy Kinahan Snr's most trusted lieutenants and two Limerick criminals.
Las Vegas, Nevada, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LAS VEGAS  While generally associated with happiness and joy, the holidays can be a stressful time for many, filled with anxiety and depression. Nevada mental health agency Divine Touch, Inc. has initiated a healthy holiday campaign to raise awareness about the importance of mental health.

Its unrealistic to expect everyone to be happy during the holidays, company owner Shineka Foy-Olivas said. We have to raise awareness in our community about achieving and maintaining a healthy mind this holiday. Society depicts Thanksgiving as a time for reconnection to family, but being around family and friends can also cause anxiousness, nervousness and tension.

In a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 64 percent of respondents said they were affected by the holiday blues and 24 percent they were affected a lot. Finding help can be challenging in Nevada  the state has a severe shortage of mental health professionals, according to the University of Nevada, Reno Health Workforce Supply in Nevada report.

To deal with holiday blues  and mental health overall  Foy-Olivas suggests the ABC approach: Acknowledge your honest emotions with someone trustworthy; Become active by doing a good deed for a friend or community service; and Celebrate the positives, (what you have, how far youve come). She also recommends seeking professional help when necessary.

People arent always born with mental illnesses, she said. Often, it begins as something very manageable; but because its untreated, it spirals out of control.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults aged 1844. If you or someone you know needs immediate help, call SAMHSA at (800) 662-HELP. For more information about keeping your mind healthy, log on to divinetouchinc.com or samhsa.gov.

Divine Touch Incorporated

Based in North Las Vegas, Divine Touch Inc., is a therapeutic counseling center that offers life skills services along with day treatment programs for youth and adults. Shineka Foy-Olivas holds a bachelors (emphasis on criminal justice, public administration) and a masters (emphasis on special education) from University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a masters degree in social work with a concentration in military clinical social work from the University of Southern California.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e3915270-99a8-49cd-a84c-2108ac0981d7

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/001d26d4-916a-4083-a119-e13730c1082a

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8d7e3d82-f443-47a2-985e-75030ea3b092
The daughter of a 65-year-old man who was hospitalised after a "traumatic" accident has told of her father's ordeal when he spent almost 10 hours in an Emergency Department waiting room.

Gerard McKenna then slept on a trolley overnight and was given just two painkillers over 24 hours.

On November 9, Mr McKenna, from Tallaght, Dublin, had an accident in the yard of the garage where he works. He fell from his truck and broke his arm in two places, causing significant damage to his shoulder.

His daughter, Katherine, said that the nurses who cared for Mr McKenna in Tallaght Hospital are "angels" but she believes they are under too much pressure and the system is at breaking point.

Swollen

"We went in at 10pm on the Thursday night and he didn't get seen for an X-ray until 8.30am on Friday morning. By that stage his arm was so swollen and painful," Katherine told the Herald.

"He had been left in the A&E department overnight and it's so uncomfortable, there's no food and he was in pain.

"The most concerning thing was when we got the X-ray done they only checked one part of his arm and they thought it was just a crack in the arm.

"Initially they were going to manipulate the arm and they had the oxygen and gas ready to go but one of the nurses stopped it and suggested that they get another X-ray done.

"They found there were a couple of broken parts and there was no way they could have manipulated the bone back into place - it needed an operation, there was a lot more work that needed to be done than they initially realised."

Mr McKenna had to wait another 24 hours for surgery as there was no bed available, so he was kept overnight on a trolley in the ED corridor.

When he finally was taken for his procedure on the Saturday afternoon, Katherine said another issue was flagged.

"When he eventually got to surgery, they realised an ECG was never done to check his heart, which should have been carried out at an early stage," she added.

Katherine also said she feels her father's ordeal was made worse by a lack of pain relief.

"He was initially given two Nurofen when he first went in on Thursday but he wasn't given any more pain relief until he got on to the ward 24 hours later," she said. "It just seems like every step of the way there were problems.

Taxes

"My dad is a man who has worked all of his life. He's paid his fair share of taxes in this country, he has very rarely ever needed help from the health system in this country, so for him to be left like that is so frustrating. The accident was a traumatic enough experience for him."

Both Gerard and Katherine have stressed that the frontline staff they met were "lovely" but they feel they were put under too much pressure.

"He really wants to thank the nurses. They were really, really lovely but they just don't have enough staff or beds or resources," Katherine said.

"It's really disheartening and you really do feel for them."

Mr McKenna returned home on the day after his operation and Katherine said that the experience opened her eyes to the ongoing crisis within the health system.

A spokesman for Tallaght Hospital said it "cannot comment on individual patient cases, however we apologise to any patient who has had a negative experience during treatment at the hospital".

"We would also urge them to engage with the hospital's patient advocacy co-ordinator about their experience as feedback is very important in helping to improve our services."
The sister of missing Trevor Deely has told how the recent developments in the case, including specialist gardai digging for his body, were "like torture" for his family.

Despite disappointments in the 17-year search for the truth about her brother's disappearance, Michelle Deely said the family will never give up.

In September, a six-week search of a derelict site in Chapelizod was brought to an end with no trace of Trevor.

"The theories about what happened to him were horrific. To go through that whole six weeks you're waiting by the phone every second," said Michelle.

Footage

"I never thought I would say this, but it was worse than standing by the canal on week one after Trevor went missing."

This, as well as other developments, including the release of enhanced CCTV footage of the night bank worker Trevor disappeared in December 2000, has taken its toll on the family, especially Trevor's parents.

Michelle said it has been "a terrible year" for them.

"If one of us was missing, Trevor would never give up on us. We're trying to put an end to this misery for Trevor and especially for our parents," she said.

"We've been left fractured, and this year has really had an impact on our parents since the appeal, the reward, the CCTV images released in April and also the August search.

"We aren't looking for anything other than to find Trevor, we're not on a justice trail, it's just to find my brother.

"As awful as August and September were for our family, that was somebody doing exactly what we've been asking for.

"We had the search and now we're still nowhere. Something happened to him because he doesn't just vanish - somebody knows something.

"We're still relying on that person or persons coming forward. All our hopes are pinned on someone who has yet to tell anyone what they know.

"It's never too late. We're simply trying to put an end to this misery for our mum and dad."

Trevor, a Bank of Ireland worker, was last seen in the early hours of December 8, 2000, in the Haddington Road area of Dublin.

The last known images of him were captured by a CCTV camera on Haddington Road at 4.14am.

Appeal

A man dressed in black, who gardai believe also spoke to Trevor outside his place of work, can be seen following him.

As the anniversary of Trevor's disappearance approaches, Michelle has issued an appeal for anyone with information about what happened to him to contact Pearse Street Garda Station, the Garda Confidential Line or Crimestoppers.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar remains determined that Fianna Fail must shoulder the bulk of the blame if a snap election is triggered in the coming days.

After a weekend of talks and contacts aimed at averting the threatened collapse of the minority Fine Gael-led coalition, which is underpinned by Fianna Fail, much now hinges on a meeting between both party leaders in Cork today.

If the last-ditch efforts fail, an election could be called as early as tomorrow or Wednesday. With a 21-day campaign, that would mean polling day on December 20 or 21.

Professional

Both parties have said that the atmosphere around the crisis talks has been "professional."

However, both leaders are sticking to their positions, with Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin insisting that Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald must resign or be voted out of office, taking the Government with her.

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Mr Varadkar has strongly defended the Tanaiste, insisting that she has done nothing wrong and must not resign.

The Taoiseach also contacted Ms Fitzgerald on Saturday night and said he was not sending "subtle messages" that she should quit.

Mr Varadkar also added a dramatic warning that any person purporting to be an emissary from him seeking her resignation should be rebuffed by Ms Fitzgerald.

The Tanaiste yesterday contacted several Fine Gael TDs to explain her case and seek their continued support.

Politicians of all parties and groups spent the weekend preparing for an election.

However, it became clear that the Taoiseach has ruled out any early move to call that election by going to meet Aras an Uachtarain before a Dail no-confidence debate scheduled for tomorrow.

Mr Varadkar is keen to push his party's view that the election is being forced by Fianna Fail, which has been goaded into this action by Sinn Fein.

The crisis erupted over alleged inaction by the Tanaiste, and then justice minister, Ms Fitzgerald in May 2015, when Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe was being challenged by lawyers for the then Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan at a judicial inquiry, which was led by Judge Kevin O'Higgins.

It emerged last Monday that Ms Fitzgerald was aware of this challenge a full year before the time she had earlier stated.

However, both the Taoiseach and Tanaiste have insisted that she could not have acted on the matter, as her advice was that she could not intervene in the judicial inquiry proceedings or reveal the content of its private hearings.

For this reason they both insist Ms Fitzgerald has done nothing wrong regarding the incident.

Fianna Fail and the other opposition parties argue that Ms Fitzgerald could have spoken to the Garda Commissioner about the matter.

Trawl

They argue that she "stood idly by" and her private action contrasted with her public utterances of support for Sgt McCabe.

Matters took a turn last week when the text of a May 2015 email was released by the Justice Department.

As part of ongoing efforts to defuse the crisis, Mr Varadkar has also ordered a "trawl" of all further department documents on the issue.

Meanwhile, in a separate move, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, who is heading a full tribunal of inquiry into the Sgt McCabe case, has said he will examine the controversy in early January.
Killer Gerard Graham has been working in the chefs kitchen

A man who is serving a life sentence for battering his teenage girlfriend with a wok and then choking her to death, is working in celebrity chef Neven Maguire's restaurant.

Gerard Graham arrived for work in the kitchen at MacNean Restaurant and Guesthouse in Blacklion, Co Cavan, early last Thursday, before leaving at 5pm to return to prison.

In 2002, Graham pleaded guilty to the murder of Clondalkin woman Charlene McAuliffe at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Graham was allocated the work detail by the Irish Prison Service (IPS), which works with a variety of bodies to aid the successful reintegration of prisoners into society after release from prison.

He is nearing the end of his life sentence, having already served 18 years behind bars for the murder which happened in October 1999, according to the Sunday World. He served the majority of his sentence in Wheatfield Prison.

However, in recent years he has been moved to Loughan House Open Centre, which is a low security prison.

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In a statement to the Sunday World, Mr Maguire revealed he had been completely unaware of Graham's past.

"Loughan House is part of the community that I grew up in, live in and work in," the chef explained. "Since childhood I remember both of my parents working with Loughan House's rehabilitation programme. I have been proud to continue this tradition.

Backgrounds

"I am not aware of the backgrounds of people who are placed with us and will never comment on any individual.

"We act totally on the advice and recommendations of Loughan House and will continue to do so," the big-hearted chef said.

Meanwhile, it is understood that Graham does not have any front-of-house duties in the restaurant or guesthouse.

"The idea is to give him enough work experience in a kitchen that he will be able to secure full-time employment when he qualifies for permanent release from prison," a source stated.

An inquest into the death of the victim heard that the 19-year-old was first struck with a heavy wok by the Dingle fisherman and afterwards choked by him because she knew too much about his involvement in drugs.

In his statement, Graham said that on the afternoon of October 2, 1999, in a house in Cork, he and his victim had resumed an argument they had the previous night.

He claimed she smirked at him, and he flipped and grabbed the wok.

Graham explained how he took his daughter to the annual blessing of the boats in Dingle the next day, but had still not decided how to dispose of the body.

Reintegration

Meanwhile, in a statement the IPS said: "There are many factors that aid the successful reintegration of prisoners into society post release from prison, including the securing of employment.

"The IPS works with statutory and voluntary agencies to help prisoners to make the transition from prison to the community.

"In addition, the IPS has developed important partnerships with businesses with a view to providing employment placements as part of the reintegration process.

"By working together, we decrease the likelihood of the prisoner reoffending, thus making our society safer," the statement added

Graham would be expected to qualify for full release on licence in the near future.

A friend of the deceased woman detailed in a statement to the inquest how Graham told her that Charlene "knew too much" about his drug involvement.
How good are these two guys, Penn State fans? It may surprise you ...

football
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) announced that it has taken two liability management actions to further strengthen its balance sheet using its improved cash and liquidity position.



On November 22, 2017, U. S. Steel announced that on December 22, 2017 (the Redemption Date) it will redeem for cash $200 million aggregate principal amount (the Debt Redemption) of its outstanding 8.375% Senior Secured Notes due in 2021 (the Notes) at the redemption price of 100% of the principal amount thereof, plus a make-whole premium to be calculated as set forth in the applicable notice of redemption, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but not including, the Redemption Date.

In addition, on November 20, 2017, U. S. Steel made a voluntary cash contribution (the Pension Contribution) of $75 million to the U. S. Steel Retirement Plan Trust, which is the funding vehicle for the United States Steel Corporation Plan for Employee Pension Benefits.

This press release is for informational purposes only and shall not constitute a notice of redemption of the Notes or an offer to purchase, or a solicitation of an offer to sell, any Notes or other securities.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains information that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We intend the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in those sections. Generally, we have identified such forward-looking statements by using the words believe, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, project, target, forecast, aim, should, will and similar expressions or by using future dates in connection with any discussion of, among other things, operating performance, trends, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, statements relating to volume growth, share of sales and earnings per share growth, and statements expressing general views about future operating results. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Companys beliefs regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Companys control. It is possible that the Companys actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the time made. However, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. Our Company 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. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our Company's historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the risks and uncertainties described in Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and those described from time to time in our future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. References to "we," "us," "our," the "Company," and "U. S. Steel," refer to United States Steel Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries.

-oOo-

CONTACTS:

Meghan Cox

Manager

Corporate Communications

T  (412) 433-6777

E  mmcox@uss.com

Dan Lesnak

General Manager

Investor Relations

T  (412) 433-1184

E  dtlesnak@uss.com
A s any new couple knows, one of the most important - and often fraught - considerations can be where to settle down.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement notice, tweeted by Clarence House this morning, revealed the couple will live in Prince Harry's current home of Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

So that's decided. But where will Meghan's family stay when they come to town?

Nottingham Cottage is one of the smallest properties on the Kensington Palace estate, with just two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom.

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge live in the far grander Apartment 1A on the estate but, with the couple expecting their third child, chances are they'll be far too busy to host guests anytime soon.

Doria Raglan, Meghan's mother, currently lives in Los Angeles, but perhaps she might be in the market for a city pied-a-terre near the happy couple.

And with the dollar performing well against the pound at the moment, now's a great time for American buyers to invest in London property.

Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Raglan during the Invictus Games closing ceremony in Toronto (PA Wire) / PA

House prices in Kensington and Chelsea, London's most expensive borough, now average 1.2 million, with studio flats near the palace for sale from around 800,000.

Houses in the W8 postcode tend to cost between 5million and 10million, although Kensington Palace Gardens, which borders Kensington Palace is the most expensive street in the capital with an average house price of 35.7million.

However, tax changes, political uncertainty and expectations of future interest rate rises have pushed house prices in prime central London 15.2 per cent lower than their 2014 peak.

Even the mansions on Kensington Palace Gardens have seen more than 2.5million knocked off their prices.

For high end buyers with the budget to spare though, now is a great time to swoop in and snap up a luxury pad near the happy couple.

Savills predicts that prime prices will rise by as much as 20.3 per cent over the next five years so the in-laws should act now to take advantage of discounts on homes.

Take a tour of homes currently for sale near Harry and Meghan's home in our gallery above.
NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against RYB Education, Inc. (RYB or the Company) (NYSE:RYB) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 17-cv-09261, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired RYBs American Depositary Receipts (ADRs): (1) pursuant and/or traceable to RYBs false and misleading Registration Statement and Prospectus, issued in connection with the Companys initial public offering on or about September 27, 2017 (the IPO or the Offering); and/or (2) on the open market between September 27, 2017 and November 22, 2017, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by defendants violations of the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act).



If you are a shareholder who purchased RYB securities between September 27, 2017, and November 22, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until January 26, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and amount of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

RYB Education, Inc. offers educational services. The Company operates kindergarten and pre-schools. RYB Education provides training in a variety of subjects and languages, teacher recruitment, guidance, innovative learning, development of children, rating systems, parents consulting, and other services.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) RYB failed to establish safety policies to prevent sexual abuse from occurring at its schools; (ii) RYBs failure to remedy problems within its system exposed children to harm and unreasonable risk of harm while in the Companys care; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, RYB securities traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, and class members suffered significant losses and damages.

On November 24, 2017, various news outlets reported that police have opened an investigation into RYB after numerous parents accused a RYB nursery of drugging and molesting their children. Beijings education authority confirmed the police investigation in a statement. According to Chinas leading newspaper Xinhua News Agency, RYB has suspended multiple teachers at RYB Education New World after kindergarten students were reportedly sexually molested, pierced by needles, given unidentified pills, and forced to undress and locked in a dark room. Parents reported that at least eight children have been abused at the school and that the children had given similar accounts with respect to their abuse.

On this news, RYBs ADR price fell $10.28 per share, or over 38% from its previous closing price, to close at $16.45 per share on November 24, 2017.

On the following day, several news outlets reported that Chinese police had detained teachers in connection with its RYBs child abuse inquiry. According to police reports, one of the teachers was arrested after needle wounds were found on at least eight children aged 2 to 6 years at the kindergarten. In a statement issued later that day, RYB announced it had fired the detained teachers, as well as the head of one of its kindergartens.

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

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
Swiss-Belhotel International (SBI) has announced the appointment of Bartlomiej Mart as the Hotel Manager for Swiss-Belresidences Juffair in Bahrain. Owned by Hassan Lari Property Development & Management, Swiss-Belresidences Juffair is expected to open its doors by 1st April, 2018. Bartlomiej brings over 14 years of outstanding experience in the hospitality industry working with some of the most successful hotels in Europe, USA and the Middle East. His most recent posting was as Director of Operations at Marriott Executive Apartments & Residence Inn in Bahrain where he spent almost six years. A Polish national, Bartlomiej holds a Masters Degree in European Financial Law. He began his career in the hospitality industry as an F&B Shift Leader at Harrisburg  Hershey Marriott in USA in 2003 before moving to Old Course Hotel & Spa in the UK as HSKP Supervisor in 2005. Bartlomiej continued his progress gaining valuable experience in all aspects of the business. He joined back the Marriott group as Sr. HSKP Supervisor at Marriott Executive Apartments in Dubai in 2006 before taking up the role of House-Keeping Manager at JW Marriott Dubai in 2007. Over the years, Bartlomiej won many prestigious awards including 2014 Edge Award (Marriott Global Award for Excellence in Delivering Guest Experiences. Bartlomiej was one of the only 12 winners from Rooms & Spa disciplines from the groups around 4,000 hotels then).
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SAI) ("Sunshine Agri-Tech" or the "Company") announces the resignation of Ms. Jin Kuang as Chief Financial Officer. The Board and Management would like to thank Ms. Kuang for her service to the Company over the past 7 years.

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Ying Xu as Chief Financial officer. Ms. Xu is a Chartered Professional Accountant with extensive international experience in both Canada and China. She is experienced with private and public companies in a wide range of industries, including agriculture, food and beverage, manufacturing, energy, airlines, mining and technology. Ms. Xu previously held senior positions with MNP LLP, Smythe LLP and Ernst & Young LLP.

About Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc.:

Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SAI) is a public company listed on the TSX Venture exchange. The Company is engaged in the research, development, production and sales of bio-feed, microbial feed additives and related products that aim to improve the health and performance of animals. The Company's line of products include: (a) bio-feed; and, (b) microbial feed additives. The Company currently sells its products throughout China and Japan, and is beginning expansion into Southeast Asia. The Company is based in the city of Dalian in the Peoples Republic of China.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

SUNSHINE AGRI-TECH INC.

Baojun Zhang, PhD, CEO and President

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.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Sunshine Agri-Tech Inc.

Ying Xu

Chief Financial Officer

778-891-6286
SAHIC, the premier organizer of hotel investment conferences in Latin America just concluded the presentation of the first Costa Rica Sustainable Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference, which was hosted by the Ministry of Tourism of Costa Rica (ICT). For the first time in this region's history, key investors and decision makers convened in one location to identify significant challenges and sustainable hospitality development opportunities for the country. The Conference took place November 13-14, 2017 at the Intercontinental in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Luis Guillermo Solis, president of Costa Rica, welcomed the visitors to the country declaring that the conference "represents a precedent for the country, paving the way for development, sustainability and investment." Costa Rica Minister of Tourism Mauricio Ventura Aragon stressed that the conference was a great demonstration of the support and commitment of the Costa Rican Government. Ventura officially opened the conference remarking that Costa Rica is being positioned on the world map of tourism investment due to three key factors: The strength and longevity of the airline industry, the ever-increasing number of visitors with disposable income, and the successful development of infrastructure in the region.

Two powerful keynote presentations emotionally impacted the hospitality developer attendees. Author, speaker, social entrepreneur and grandson of the famed Jacques Cousteau, Phillipe Cousteau delivered a meaningful message about the impacts of climate change on the tourism industry. Additionally, Carlos Paez Vilaro, a survivor of the Andes plane crash in 1972, shared his thoughts on changing business paradigms in ever-evolving and challenging times.

Costa Rica Sustainable Conference speakers and sessions were impressive. The notable presenters included:

Paul Adan, VP, Hotel Development Latin America & Caribbean, Marriott International

Louis Alicea, C.H.A., Senior Director, Development Latin America & Caribbean, Wyndham Hotel Group

Rogerio Basso, Principal Investment Officer  Head of Tourism, IDB Invest

Rene Bernard Beil, Managing Director, Beaufort Global Partners LLC

Patricia Boo, Area Director Central and South America, STR

Ricardo Bravo, VP Operations, AM Resorts

Andrew Cohan, MAI, Horwath HTL Miami

Luca Franco, CEO and Founder, Luxury Frontiers

Liora Haymann, Managing Director, OBMI

Fredrick Jonsson, Managing Partner, MEREHA and Director of Beaufort Global Partners

Jose Koechlin Von Stein, CEO & Founder, Inkaterra

Salo Smaletz, Vice President Development Latin America IHG.

ABOUT SAHIC and SAHIC Cuba

SAHIC, the premier Latin America hotel and tourism investment conference organizer promotes business and related real-estate projects in the region. The inaugural SAHIC Cuba, which was held May 15-16, 2017 was the must-attend event, designed to promote the hotel, tourism and related real estate businesses in Cuba. The Conference was destined to be "the" place to meet and network with the leading industry players in the island nation: hotel chains and groups, investors, banks, mutual funds, developers, architects, and interior designers, regional government representatives and other decision makers of the industry. For more information, visit www.sahiccuba.com

Leora Lanz

LHL Communications

SAHIC - Latin American Hotel & Tourism Investment Conferences
Cologne & Madrid -- Arranging an event requires high doses of organisation and patience. Corporations tend to leave the larger conferences to the professionals, but for the smaller meetings and events, employees often have to double as event planners.

To help make organising a meeting easier, Amadeus and HRS Global Hotel Solutions (HRS) announce the integration of HRS' meetago small meeting solution with Amadeuscytric Travel & Expense. This agreement is an extension of a longstanding partnership to distribute the HRS hotel content already available in the Amadeus distribution channel.

The integration of HRS' meetago service with Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense offers a solution to a decades-old challenge: corralling and managing small meeting spend and streamlining the process used to bid for and book rooms for these gatherings.

Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense users can now channel small meetings and the associated travel through one tool, helping consolidate meeting and travel programmes. The automation helps deliver greater insight, savings and transparency on all elements of a hotel programme.

Employees can also now organise a small meeting at one of HRS' hotels directly through Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense. At the click of a button, the organiser can prepare one Request for Proposal (RFP) detailing the number of attendees, accommodation requirements, and the necessary meeting room and add-ons such as flip-charts, food and beverages, sending it to multiple hotels.

From a hotel perspective, hoteliers will be able to automate the RFP responses due to the future integration of Amadeus Group & Event Distribution solution, also known as MeetingBroker, with HRS' meetago. RFPs are then responded to in a timely manner and the hotel has all the event and guest details in the one system.

Some key benefits include:

Fully automated booking and expensing of small events. The event planner, attendees travelling, and the hotelier all benefit from using integrated technology, minimising paperwork, phone calls, and manual reporting.

The event planner, attendees travelling, and the hotelier all benefit from using integrated technology, minimising paperwork, phone calls, and manual reporting. Access to extensive hotel content. Amadeus' extensive travel content, including HRS' portfolio of 350,000 hotels, is available in Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense, offering an abundant choice to the planner and travellers. Corporations also benefit from negotiated and discounted rates, such as HRS' exclusive M&G Club.

Amadeus' extensive travel content, including HRS' portfolio of 350,000 hotels, is available in Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense, offering an abundant choice to the planner and travellers. Corporations also benefit from negotiated and discounted rates, such as HRS' exclusive M&G Club. Deeper insight to drive cost savings and compliance. All event and travel details are rolled up into one consolidated itinerary, resulting in greater control over the total cost of the event. With an integrated expense management tool, and digital payment solutions, an automated approval and accounting process improves compliance.

All event and travel details are rolled up into one consolidated itinerary, resulting in greater control over the total cost of the event. With an integrated expense management tool, and digital payment solutions, an automated approval and accounting process improves compliance. Power smarter business travel while on the move. Now with small event bookings on the platform, travellers can see the event details on the go through cytric Mobile Companion app. The mobile app also means there is a direct line of communication with meeting attendees to provide support in real time and during potential disruptions.

"Today's corporate travel manager seeks to leverage their buying power across all lodging scenarios, said Jason Long, Vice President Global Partnerships at HRS. "This integration, along with meetago's simplified process for engaging hotels on small meetings, brings one more crucial element into a company's view as they optimise their programme."

Arlene Coyle, CCO Corporate Solution Sales and Marketing of Business Travel at Amadeus said: "We all share the need to get out of the office, meet face-to-face, and get inspired on how to grow our businesses together. By partnering with HRS, we can now help organisations and travellers around the world organise small meetings within the same platform, making the process simple, stress-free and efficient."

About Amadeus

Amadeus powers more personalized and authentic travel experiences. Our solutions are designed to enrich every stage of the traveller journey and help hospitality providers acquire, service, and retain guests by profitably driving demand and converting them into loyal fans.

Backed by over 30 years of experience, we design open, cutting-edge software to provide the most efficient, trusted, and reliable systems for our customers. With experts in 175+ countries, we have a deep understanding of the hospitality industry and a desire to enable our hotel partners to create memorable guest experiences.

To find out more about Amadeus, visit www.amadeus-hospitality.com.

Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Sarah Mulder

Fire on the Hill

+44 7720401466
Profit levels at hotels in the US hit a 2017 high of $135.08 per available room this month, fueled by year-on-year growth across all revenue departments, according to the latest worldwide poll of full-service hotels from HotStats.

Year-on-year growth in both room occupancy (+2.2-percentage points), to 81.3-percent, and achieved average room rate (+1.7-percent), to $216.70, contributed to a 4.6-percent increase in RevPAR, enabling hotels in the USA to record a 2017 peak of $176.28.

In addition to the growth in RevPAR, hotels in the US recorded increases in non-rooms revenues, including Food and Beverage (+11.2-percent) and Conference and Banqueting (+15.0-percent) on a per available room basis. As a result, year-on-year growth in TrevPAR increased by 6.7-percent, to $282.76.

The TrevPAR recorded this month was almost $30 above the year-to-date level, at $252.97 and also represented a peak for 2017.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators  US (in USD)

October 2017 v October 2016

RevPAR: +4.6% to $176.28

TrevPAR: +6.7% to $282.76

Payroll: + 1.2 pts to 31.5%

GOPPAR: +9.1% to $120.89

Despite cost increases, which included a 1.2-percentage point increase in Labor to 31.5-percent of total revenue, profit per room at hotels in the US increased by 9.1-percent year-on-year to $120.89, equivalent to a profit conversion of 42.8-percent.

"The bumper profit performance in October provided hotels in the US with some respite from the recent challenging period of operation, with data for the month suggesting that the strong performance was led by an increase in volume and price from the commercial segment.

The profit levels recorded this month were more than 25-percent above the performance so far in 2017, and have pushed the year-on-year GOPPAR figure into more positive territory, which will buoy hotel owners and operators in the region

," said Pablo Alonso, CEO of HotStats.

Hotels in Washington, DC, were amongst the best performing in the US in October, recording a 16.5-percent year-on-year increase in profit per room to $192.60, equivalent to a staggering 49.3-percent profit conversion, and a 2017 high for hotels in the capital.

In line with the overall USA market, the growth was due to an uplift in activity in the commercial segment, which included a 7.1 per cent increase in the achieved rate in the residential conference segment, to $355.97, as well as a 6.7-percent increase in volume in the corporate segment, to 33.4% of all roomnights sold this month.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators  Washington, DC (in USD)

October 2017 v October 2016

RevPAR: +10.6% to $269.01

TrevPAR: +9.7% to $390.75

Payroll: +0.1 pts to 30.0%

GOPPAR: +16.5% to $192.60

The strong demand from the commercial segment this month enabled RevPAR levels at hotels in Washington, DC, to reach a 2017 high at $269.01, with increases recorded in both room occupancy (+4.4-percentage points), to 90.6-percent, and achieved average room rate (+5.2-percent), to $296.82.

"Amongst the business activity in Washington, DC, in October was the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Back Group and the International Monetary Fund. This year, the high-profile meeting was attended by 4,000 member-country delegates, 650 observer organization representatives, 900 members of the press and 550 accredited civil society members. Little wonder that hotels in the capital were able to record such premium performance levels this month

," added Pablo.

Over on the west coast, hotels in Portland were also among those to achieve strong profit growth this month, recording a 15.1-percent year-on-year increase in GOPPAR to $147.29.

While hotels in Portland recorded a 4.2-percent increase in RevPAR, to $188.54, the growth this month was primarily through room occupancy, which increased by 4.4-percentage points, to 90.3 percent and offset the 0.9-percent decline in achieved average room rate to $208.71.

The uplift in volume fueled the utilization of ancillary facilities, enabling an increase in non-rooms revenues, including Food & Beverage (+50.5-percent) and Conference & Banqueting (+71.1-percent). This contributed to a year-on-year increase in non-rooms revenues of $36.26 per available room, which far outpaced the growth in pure rooms revenue, at just $7.62.

The significant contribution from all revenue departments meant that hotels in Portland recorded a 16.9-percent year-on-year increase in TrevPAR to $303.67.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators  Portland (in USD)

October 2017 v October 2016

RevPAR: +4.2% to $188.54

TrevPAR: +16.9% to $303.67

Payroll: +1.1 pts to 28.0%

GOPPAR: +15.1% to $147.29

The significant year-on-year increase in total revenue was not sufficient to offset the growth in Payroll levels at hotels in Portland, which increased by 1.1-percentage points, to 28.0-percent of total revenue.

Despite this increase, profit performance at hotels in Portland increased by 15.1-percent year-on-year to $147.29. However, the positive profit performance this month was not sufficient to offset the year-to-date decline and, at $111.78, GOPPAR at hotels in Portland remains 2.2-percent behind the same period last year for the 10 months to October 2017.

About HotStats

HotStats provides monthly P&L benchmarking and market insight for the global hotel industry, collecting monthly detailed financial data from more than 8,500 hotels worldwide and over 100 different brands and independent hotels. HotStats provides more than 550 different KPIs covering all operating revenues, payroll, expenses, cost of sales and departmental and total hotel profitability.

Annekathrin Kuehner

HotStats Limited
Europe's hotel industry reported occupancy rose 1.7% to 76% in October, while ADR increased 4% to 112.75 ($132.60) and RevPAR rose 5.8% to 85.68 ($100.77).

Europes hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during October 2017, according to data from STR.

Euro constant currency, October 2017 vs. October 2016

Europe

Occupancy: +1.7% to 76.0%

Average daily rate (ADR): +4.0% to EUR112.75

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +5.8% to EUR85.68

Local currency, October 2017 vs. October 2016

Czech Republic

 Occupancy: +3.6% to 84.3%

 ADR: +4.1% to CZK2,334.36

 RevPAR: +7.8% to CZK1,968.95

The absolute occupancy level was the highest for any October on record in the country. Levels were lifted by performance in Prague, which also set an October occupancy record (89.9%). The market hosted the World Sleep Congress from 7-11 October, and occupancy was above 90% on both 9 and 10 October.

Netherlands

 Occupancy: +1.6% to 78.5%

 ADR: +5.9% to EUR124.60

 RevPAR: +7.6% to EUR97.80

STR analysts note that the country has shown consistent occupancy growth throughout 2017. At the market level, Amsterdam (EUR134.17), Utrecht (EUR85.81) and The Hague (EUR83.26) recorded the highest actual RevPAR levels.

Turkey

 Occupancy: +22.9% to 64.2%

 ADR: +15.9% to TRY272.08

 RevPAR: +42.5% to TRY174.55

The country continues to recover from the 2016 coup d'etat attempt, which contributed to a 52.2% October occupancy level last year. That level was the lowest for an October in Turkey since 2001. This October was the fourth consecutive month with double-digit occupancy growth in the country.

Download the Global Performance Review

STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com.
Bad Bookings Impact 55 Million Travelers

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) today announced a new partnership with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to educate and protect consumers against online hotel booking scams, which have increasingly become more prevalent and are affecting millions of consumers who book hotels online. Last year alone, 55 million bookings were made through websites travelers thought were the actual hotels website only to find out later they were a rogue third-party operator, resulting in nearly $4 billion in misleading bookings.

The partnership will include a dedicated tips page on the BBB website, social media campaigns, a podcast, infographic materials and blog posts all aimed to help consumers search smarter when booking travel online. Further, AHLA provides consumers with extensive information on the types of scams consumers can avoid on its website at ahla.com/searchsmarter.

We are very excited to partner with the Better Business Bureau to provide travelers with the information and tools they need to avoid falling prey to these harmful practices, said Katherine Lugar, President and CEO, AHLA. As the ease of online booking facilitates more travel, consumers need to know how to spot rogue sites and make informed decisions to avoid bad bookings. Its always safest to book directly with the hotel to ensure consumers get what they want and need out of their vacation or business travel experience.

The BBB has launched a tips page in conjunction with AHLA to educate consumers on how to avoid these costly and painful scams when booking their hotel online and encouraging consumers to Search Smarter as they make their travel arrangements online. Other elements of the partnership will be rolled out later in 2017 and the beginning of 2018. The tips page on the BBB website can be viewed here.

CBBB welcomes AHLA to our National Partner program and particularly as a partner in fighting scams, said Beverly Baskin, president and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Our recent BBB Scam Risk Report found that travel scams are one of the riskiest scams for older consumers ages 55 and up, and for military consumers. Travel and vacation scam victims lose an average of $847, compared to $274 overall, so its a costly and concerning issue. We are pleased to partner with AHLA and its members to help educate consumers on the best ways to avoid travel scams.
Onyx CenterSource, the global leader in hotel commission payment, reconciliation and recovery services, today unveiled GroupPay, a comprehensive automated system to bring transparency, faster payments and easy billing reconciliation to the group, meetings and events market.

GroupPay, developed with active engagement from leading global industry partners, was designed to eliminate payment and commission disputes among meeting planners, hotels and group clients that result from inefficient, antiquated and often fragmented tracking systems.

One of the biggest gaps in the hospitality ecosystem is the lack of a simple technological solution that connects meeting planners with hotels throughout the planning, booking and payment process, said Onyx CenterSource CEO Mark Dubrow.

Thanks to a visionary working group made up of leading hotel executives and meeting planners, we were able to identify the pain points in the tracking and payments process for groups and develop a system that meets the needs of everyone involved, he said.

Onyx CenterSource launched a pilot of GroupPay this fall with one of the worlds leading hotel chains. The chain used the new tool to process contract, reservations and room occupancy data on thousands of bookings, enabling it to accurately calculate and process payments due to a leading meeting procurement supplier.

Onyx CenterSource plans to fully implement GroupPay with a leading hotelier in the Americas in early 2018.

While many companies are focused on improving the booking experience, Onyx is the only company dedicated to improving the real-time reservations fulfillment and payment experience, said Bill Nicholson, Onyx CenterSource chief product officer. GroupPay provides real-time data to resolve and avoid payment disputes, which we believe will result in increased room fulfillment and enhanced trust between meeting planners and hotels.

To learn more about how GroupPay can streamline meetings and events transactions, visit onyxcentersource.com.

About Onyx CenterSource

Onyx CenterSource is the worlds leading provider of commission payment processing, reconciliation and recovery services for hotels and travel distributors. The company strives to build long-lasting relationships with its partners and is passionate about providing quality customer service, consultative insight and cost-effective solutions. With a legacy dating to 1992, the company facilitates in excess of $1.2 billion in payments annually, partnering with more than 60,000 hotel properties and 200,000 travel booking providers in 160 countries. In addition to its headquarters in Dallas, Onyx CenterSource has regional hubs in Seville, Spain; Tnsberg, Norway; and Manila, Philippines.

GroupPay is a trademark of Onyx CenterSource.

CONTACT



Jeri Clausing

RDR PR LLC

jeri@rdrpr.com

505-221-3108
Sometimes its hard being Cardi B.

Raps current First Lady is walking back a perceived blow-up that a full venues worth of fans was witness to, where she freaked out at one of her security guards. In video footage that has been circulating online from the show, it looks like the man in question was on skirt duty, trying to keep it from riding up too much. However, at one point, Cardi turns angrily towards him and looks to be telling him off, a reaction that most fans took to me he had been getting a little handsy with the world-famous emcee. You can check out a clip from the incident below.

Later on that evening, Cardi set the record straight for her supporters, especially those who had been at the show where the incident took place. Instead of getting angry or starting any more drama, the rapper simply let fans know that the security guard was doing his job. My security was just trying to look out, she admitted. My skirt kept rising up. I got upset is because he put so much force pulling it down I thought I would fall. She followed that up by reassuring all those reading that she has zero beef with any member of her entourage. I love the team of people I work with, she stated.

The concert in question went down in France, as part of Cardi Bs current set of dates in Europe. From the looks of it, not only did enthusiastic supporters turn up in droves, but the former reality TV star brought her A game and let everybody know that she isnt going to some one-hit wonder. Check out some clips from her performance below.

While in the Netherlands over the weekend, Cardi also decided to give fans yet another taste of her upcoming music that will begin to the see the light of day in December. For now, short teasers is all that were getting but, by the sound of things, the Bodak Yellow empress has some strong material on deck that will make a strong follow-up to her smash hit single.

Cardi B
It was just under two weeks ago that news broke of the untimely passing of rapper Lil Peep while on a tour bus in Tucson, Arizona.

At the time, the Tucson Police Department revealed that his death was the result of a suspected overdose. This paired with video footage of Lil Peep consuming several Xanax pills prior to his death sparked a conversation on the topic of drug abuse in the music industry, specifically Hip-Hop.

While speculation first arose on social media shortly after the rappers death, TMZ now reports that Tucson Police are officially looking into the possibility of the Xanax pills that the 21-year old Peep consumed being laced with the substance fentanyl.

In a recent rise in the focus of the opioid epidemic, fentanyl has been identified as a substance so dangerous that just a miniscule portion could prove fatal for a perfectly healthy adult.

We heard there was some sort of substance he did not expect to be involved in the substance he was taking, Lil Peeps brother, Oskar, previously expressed in an interview. He thought he could take what he did, but he had been given something and he didnt realize what it was.

It was an accident, it really was an accident. He was super happy with where he was in life, Oskar went on to add of his younger brother, born Gustav Ahr.

In the same interview the older Ahr went on to add that his brothers publicized drug use was the result of Peep keeping up with a public imagean image that he hopes brings light to the subject of drug use without the burden of tainting his brothers legacy.

I can guarantee [drugs are] not something that wouldve been a part of his life if he was not a part of that specific culture, he noted. Not only was he a part of it, hell be remembered for making waves in it.

I hope there is some focus on drugs like Xanax and pills, in general, and the potential for them being laced, but I hope it isnt too much associated with how people remember him.

Lil Peep
Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.

You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.

No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca.

Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt.

Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
Atlanta rapper Trouble seems to be preparing to turn himself in to police, according to a report from XXL. As it stands, there isnt much information to go off, but Trouble posted a lengthy IG caption in an attempt to shed some light on the situation. In the video, he can be seen rapping along to Boosie BadAzz and Z-Ros Go Away, which deals with the process of heading to jail. For a transciption of Troubles statement, check out the paragraph below:

This Been like the Best year of my life #OnLord ainnn lyin!, So i guess its only right it ends with a lil chaos!. I foreva have and will Be responsiBle for anythang i commit myself to! You gotta take these Losses the same way you do when you Win!!.. SpeedBallin, i lost my freedom again, But never my faith.. For those who dont know But do care, ill Be turning myself in in the morning to finish this chapter off Back Behind the G-Wall, unfortunately!! To my fans friends and family i love yall. ErBody move smooth out dis Bitch dawg! Ill see yall next year!

While its not clear what Trouble is being locked up for, his 2017 run seemed entirely legit. The rapper dropped a mixtape called 16, and worked with artists like Young Dolph, Lil Yachty, and more. He was even tapped to star in an upcoming film called Birds Of A Feather 2, which centers around Zaytovens fight to stay on top. You can check out the trailer for that upcoming flick below. As for Trouble, the story surrounding his arrest is still developing. In 2016, he was arrested and charged with firearm possession, drug trafficking and possession of steroids.

Trouble
Despite being implicated in several claims of domestic abuse, including an upcoming trial in which hes facing official charges for abuse, XXXTentacion is still making strides to show his stance on the subject, most recently revealing his plans to host an anti-rape event at the 2017 iteration of Art Basel in Miami.

It was via a video posted on social media, per his modus operandi, that X announced the new move, At Art Basel this month, I will be hosting an anti-rape event where basically rape victims can come to this event and tell their stories and help others, and support others who have been through a similar instance, he said. I ask that if you come to the event you come bearing no type of negative energy and you make sure you come with the full support in your heart to those that have experienced any sort of post-traumatic experience or event, he went on to say while offering no other details. I ask that you be understanding.

It was just a month ago that the South-Florida-bred rapper revealed plans to donate $100,000 to domestic violence prevention programs. I want to apologize to every single woman that Ive ever disrespected or made feel violated, by me, saying I am insensitive, he penned in an Instagram story. I would never intentionally try to make a woman feel uncomfortable or in danger by my own conscious will so in order to show progress in my life and show remorse for my remark to the people that support me I want to let you know, that I will be donating over 100 thousand dollars, to domestic violence prevention programs!

While there are no details on when Xs event will take place, Art Basel will be between the dates of December 7th-10th. A day later on the 11th, his trial will begin. He is currently faced with charges of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness tampering.

XXXTentacion
You might think your band were having a few problems when you couldnt get your one from Sweeneys to return your phone calls but it could have been worse, you could be a musician from Mali. Ive written previously about Tinariwen, and Songhoy Blues have had a similar troubled path. The militant Islamic group, Ansar Dine (defenders of the faith), took control of the northern region of the country around 2012. Under this group, alcohol, cigarettes, and music  anything fun in general, it would seem  were all banned. Aliou Toure (vocals), Garba Toure (guitar), and Oumar Toure (bass) (not related) were all involved in music before the imposition of Sharia law in Goa and Timbuktu (about 200 miles apart). Along with many others, they moved south to the Malian capital, Bamako, where they met up with drummer Nathanael Dembele, forming Songhoy Blues, named for the Songhai ethnic group from which they came. Their aim was to allow, refugees relive those northern songs.

As their popularity grew in Bamako, Marc-Antoine Moreau, head of Africa Express, a company set up with the aim of promoting African music and culture in the west, perhaps best known through the patronage of Damon Albarn, saw them play and found a spot for them on 2013s Maison De Jeunes compilation. This in turn led to working with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Nick Zinner on their debut album, the appropriately titled Music In Exile (2015). Critical acclaim was instant, and they havent looked back since, touring constantly, including Body & Soul appearances here. Earlier this year saw the release of their second album, Resistance, which built on the infectious combination of desert blues and lethal groove that made the first record such a delight. It features highly in most end of year best of lists, including Hot Press Folk Albums of the year recommendations.

All of which brings us to a packed Button Factory on a bloody freezing night in Dublin. All grumblings about the inclement conditions are instantly dispelled once the sparkling opening bars of Alhakou hit the air. The lolloping groove has an instant effect on those present; try as you might, remaining stationary is not an option. The audience  not as many hipsters as you might have expected, although theres still more moustaches than a musketeer movie  get down and stay there for the duration. One bloke in front of me dances like hes in the greeting party for a Queen Elizabeth colonial visit, and never lets up for the evening, fair play to him. Aitchere Belle begins with a guitar line thats pure Ali Farka Toure before the hypnotic groove kicks in, prompting Aliou Toure to break into some freaky dancing that makes Bez look like someone recuperating from a serious illness. Toure then invites us all to visit Mali before launching into Sahara. On record, this features the slightly incongruous presence on of one Iggy Pop, but, if anything, its more effective here, without him. One Colour is introduced by way of an explanation of how difficult international travel has become if you happen to be African, but the joyful way the songs message of togetherness is delivered proves the effort made is worth it. It sways with an almost Jamaican lilt.
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
UK House Up for Sale For Rs 1.6 Crore Has Shower Cubicle in the Middle of The Bedroom
A row over the future of Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald could lead to a snap election

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was doing everything he could

Crisis talks between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to avert a general election broke up on Monday night without resolution.

Discussions are due to resume on Tuesday morning before a crucial vote of no confidence in Ireland's deputy premier Frances Fitzgerald is scheduled to take place, potentially causing the Irish Government to fall.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said there was "serious engagement on both sides" during Monday night's talks.

He added: "All remain keen to avoid an election in the interest of the country."

Earlier Mr Varadkar again stressed his support for Ms Fitzgerald, who is under renewed pressure to resign over her handling of a police whistleblower scandal.

It emerged on Monday that she was emailed in 2015 about an alleged "aggressive stance" towards Sergeant Maurice McCabe while she was justice minister - deepening the political crisis.

It was one of three emails she was sent about the legal strategy of the Garda force against the whistleblower.

She received lines to take in public on the officer, who was taking part in a judicial investigation into policing in the Irish midlands.

The new emails emerged as the future of Ms Fitzgerald's ministerial career hung in the balance.

She has said she cannot recall the contents of that message.

However, a department of justice civil servant wrote that the minister had "noted" the email.

Despite ongoing calls for her resignation over her handling of the original 2015 email that revealed attempts to discredit the Garda whistleblower, a spokesman for Mr Varadkar insisted on Monday night that the Taoiseach continues to stand by her.

The confirmation of the Taoiseach's ongoing support came as Mr Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin met for crisis talks in a bid to prevent a snap election having to be called.

Ms Fitzgerald also showed no indication of stepping down when she took to Twitter on Monday night to defend herself.

She tweeted: "As Justice Minister I could not interfere with the O'Higgins Commission. This is confirmed twice in today's docs & has been confirmed by the AG (Attorney General).

"The Tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January."

Sinn Fein parliamentary representative Donnchadh O Laoghaire said: "The case for the defence for Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has been unravelling for days. It has now collapsed."

Ms Fitzgerald was contacted on May 15, 2015 and July 4, 2015 by officials in the Department outlining the strategy of the former Garda Commissioner, or top officer, Noirin O'Sullivan.

One of the messages from Ms Fitzgerald's officials said the Commissioner phoned to let him know they had received media queries about Sgt McCabe.

"They were asked was it the case that Sgt McCabe was looking to be taken out of the traffic unit in Mullingar and was it the Garda Commissioner who had instructed counsel to adopt an aggressive stance towards Sgt McCabe at the O'Higgins Commission."

According to emails released by the justice department on Monday night, an official emailed Ms Fitzgerald on lines to take if Sgt Maurice McCabe was raised with her.

He said Ms Fitzgerald should stress her belief "that Sgt McCabe is a valued member of the force".

Fianna Fail, which has been supporting the minority Fine Gael-led government, has demanded the resignation of Ms Fitzgerald over the affair.

Last-ditch negotiations, which could see a radical overhaul of justice affairs, are said to have been constructive.

"We are trying to find a middle way that allows the Government to continue and continue with the important work we are doing, particularly with Brexit and ensuring that we have necessary legislation through," the Taoiseach said.

"We are doing everything we can."

If no compromise is reached then it will lead to the collapse of the delicate confidence and supply arrangement that was supposed to see Mr Martin's party support the minority Fine Gael Government until the passage of the Budget in late 2018, and abstain in any no-confidence motions against ministers.

The Taoiseach said only Sinn Fein wanted an election.

Mr Martin has refused to back down on a motion of no confidence in Tanaiste Mrs Fitzgerald.

It is scheduled for Tuesday night and, if Fianna Fail follows through with it, the confidence and supply pact would be broken and the Government would fall.

If the Dail is dissolved, Mr Varadkar would be reduced to the role of caretaker Taoiseach when he travels to Brussels for the summit.

The crisis has erupted at a time when Ireland's stance on Brexit, in particular its call for Northern Ireland to adhere to an EU customs framework, is threatening to thwart the UK Government's desire to progress negotiations with Europe on to a future trade deal.
Michel Barnier said Britain must honour its commitments for the EU budget between 2014 and 2020

The "moment of truth" in Brexit negotiations is approaching and the European Union hopes for agreement on so-called withdrawal issues "in the next few days", Brussels' chief negotiator has said.

Michel Barnier called for "real, sufficient progress" on the Brexit "divorce bill", citizens' rights and the Irish border, so that EU leaders can green-light talks on trade and a transition period before Christmas.

He spoke as Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney stressed that all EU27 leaders agree that trade talks cannot start unless Britain offers further assurances there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister Theresa May has been given until December 4 to come up with further proposals on the withdrawal issues so Mr Barnier can recommend to leaders at the December 14-15 European Council summit that enough progress has been made for trade talks to begin.

At an EU summit in Tallinn, Estonia, Mr Barnier said: "I do hope in the next few days we will come up with an agreement on principles, and a real agreement.

"We need to have real, sufficient progress in the three key areas where the UK's decision has created a lot of uncertainty and fear even."

He added: "The moment of truth is approaching, we have a council under the Estonian presidency on December 14 and 15, and I really hope that will be the point where we will see real, sufficient progress on the conditions of our separation.

"And that will allow me to recommend the opening up of the next two phases of negotiations, first of all on the transition period and then on the future relationship."

Amid fears there could be a return to a hard border in Ireland given the UK Government's commitment to leaving the European single market and customs union, which allow for frictionless trade, the Frenchman said: "We don't want to be putting up barriers again and we need furthermore to maintain the integrity of the single market."

On the divorce bill, he said Britain must honour its commitments for the EU budget between 2014 and 2020, which Mrs May has already signalled she will do.

"We have a programme from 2014 to 2020 and I have said we are not willing to pay, the 27 are not willing to pay what has been decided by the 28 and so we are asking for the UK to play its part, to honour its commitments for that period," Mr Barnier said.

And on the rights of EU nationals in the UK and British expats in Europe, he said: "We have done a lot, but we need to ensure that we clearly secure their rights reciprocally and that's why we need a role for the European Court of Justice."

Mr Coveney said Ireland will not need to use its veto to prevent progress in talks because EU negotiators will block it themselves if the UK does not offer a workable solution on the Irish border.

He said he had received personal assurances from senior EU figures Mr Barnier, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday that Brussels would hold firm on this demand.

"They have repeated the message that Ireland's problems are the EU's problem, so Ireland is not going to be isolated and forced to use a veto," said Mr Coveney.

EU leaders insist a hardening of the border is inevitable if the UK leaves the single market and customs union, as checks will be required to monitor movement between jurisdictions operating under two different regulatory systems.

One solution offered by Europe is the suggestion Northern Ireland would continue to comply with EU regulations post-Brexit but this has been rejected by the UK Government.

Any arrangement which appeared to give Northern Ireland a separate status would also be strongly resisted by the Democratic Unionists (DUP), whose 10 MPs are effectively keeping Mrs May in Downing Street after she lost her majority in the general election.

Asked about the prospect of movement on the border issue, the PM's official spokesman said Britain is "firmly committed" to avoiding a physical frontier.

He added: "In order to be able to see what the solution is going to finally look like, we need to understand what the future trading relationship is going to be, because the two things are obviously related. We want to get on to talking about trade as soon as possible."

The PM's spokesman gave short shrift to suggestions that the problem could be resolved by allowing Northern Ireland to continue to observe the rules of the customs union, saying: "This has been raised numerous times and we've been clear that the United Kingdom as a whole is leaving the single market and is leaving the customs union."

He added: "We have reached agreement on continuing free movement of people over the border and we are focusing on finding a solution in relation to goods."

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has suggested the only solution is to introduce technology to manage multinational trade while turning a blind eye to lower-level cross-frontier movement in areas such as agriculture.
Giuseppe Ciccia/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, today to cheers from groups of children waving Vatican flags and singing "Viva Papa!" It was a happy, warm welcome for the first ever papal visit to Myanmar.

But Pope Francis's trip will be dominated by how to address the countrys ongoing crackdown on its Muslim Rohingya minority, which has included mass shootings, systemic rape and the burning of villages by the armed forces. The military's actions amount to ethnic cleansing, according to the United States and United Nations.

The 80-year-old pontiff met Monday afternoon with Myanmar's General Min Aung Hlaing, the man accused by rights groups of crimes against humanity. It was a quick meeting that included an exchange of gifts and only a short statement confirming that the two men had discussed the great responsibility of the authorities to the country in this moment of transition.

But Francis very presence in Myanmar could further complicate a very delicate situation, and so he will likely steer clear of any direct mention of the Rohingya, preferring instead to highlight the plight of all minorities in the country. Choosing to meet the generals first, which was a last-minute change to the schedule, was possibly an attempt to further calm the Burmese authorities.

On Tuesday, the pope is scheduled to meet with Myanmars president, some of the countrys religious leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's de facto leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. She has been roundly condemned for not speaking out against the horrors faced by the Rohingya. Later in the afternoon, he will give his first speech, the first chance the world will get to see how outspoken the normally plain-speaking Francis will be about the crisis.

A mass will be held on Wednesday before the pope heads to Bangladesh to meet some of the 620,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution. He will also meet with Bangladeshs prime minister and president, as well as visit a center set up by Mother Theresa to help vulnerable people there. He will also be ordaining Bangladeshi priests, an unusual act for a pope abroad.

With only around 500,000 and 300,000 Catholics in Myanmar and Bangladesh respectively, this trip follows a pattern set by this pope of visiting countries with very few church members. Going to the "peripheries" of his community, as he often calls it, is a duty Pope Francis has said he must undertake.

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Helena College will delay the search for a permanent dean until 2019 according to an announcement released Monday.

Instead, Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian selected Kirk Lacy to serve as interim dean through June of 2019. Lacy is the director of Industry Driven Workforce Development Partnerships, a program that creates workforce initiatives and apprenticeship programs in Montana.

Helena College put on a nationwide search for a new dean and settled on two finalists. On Nov. 14, the school announced one candidate withdrew and the search committee decided not to hire the remaining candidate. The statement said Helena College would start a search from scratch led by Christian.

But the statement released Monday said Lacy will start his interim duties on Jan. 16 if approved by the Board of Regents.

Christian said the appointment will provide stable leadership and opportunity for the Board of Regents to assess college leadership needs after Lacys interim role is completed.

Dr. Lacy has a strong record of accomplishments in higher education, campus leadership and workforce development that meets the needs of students and employers in a very meaningful way, Christian said in the statement.

Lacy was a faculty member and associate dean at City College in Billings and an associate and interim dean at Montana State University Billings College of Professional Studies and Lifelong Learning. He was previously an administrator at Chadron State College in Nebraska.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has said that the aviation industry is worried about the consequences Brexit will have on global travel.

Speaking on RTE's Sean O'Rourke show, the Irish-born chief said that he hoped that there is a "good compromise" and that exit negotiations are "managed carefully".

"We all know it could be a shock for the Irish and the UK economies but [also] for the world economy," he said.

Mr Joyce (51) said that Qantas , who have been flying for over 70 years, has historical rights that go back before the European Union.

However, he said the difficulty for the airline will be changes to travel arrangements for people from the UK going back into Europe.

"We have a big base in London and a lot of our employees are in Continental Europe who fly to the UK.

"So will their work permits and work ability still apply? There's huge implications for businesses like ours that are on the other side of the world."

The Dubliner also said that he is heartened that Ireland's economy seems to be on an upward trajectory.

"Having come back to Ireland occasionally every year for the last 20 years that I've been away, what's great is that the country is back on a high a bit, the economy seems to be doing fairly well," he said.

"When you talk to the taxi drivers, it's always a good indicator; they're optimistic and you get that optimistic feel."

Mr Joyce was appointed chief executive Qantas in 2008, having been the boss of Jetstar from 2003.
Ireland's former ambassador to the United States, Anne Anderson, has spoken of her "concerns" for the country in the wake of Brexit and a "widening" gap in the relationship between Europe and the US.

Anderson, widely tipped as a future Presidential candidate, told an audience including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and corporate leaders from US multinationals, that "no one has more grounds for concern" when tension, brittleness, misunderstanding or neglect enter the relationship between Europe and America. "We thrive when that partnership thrives," the recently retired diplomat said last Thursday on receipt of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Chamber of Commerce.

"I do believe there are some grounds for concern today," she said. "Of deeper significance, we see the isolationist trends taking hold in America and hear the drumbeat of sovereignty that is becoming more insistent. Europe, like the rest of the world, is reading these signals and beginning to plan accordingly."

The diplomatic warning comes as investment and trade between Ireland and America reaches record levels amid the European Commission's ongoing Apple tax dispute and scrutiny of Ireland's corporate tax regime by US President Donald Trump.

Writing in today's Sunday Independent to mark America's Thanksgiving celebrations, US Embassy Charge d'affaires Reece Smyth said that the relationship between Ireland and America is "like no other" but cautioned that the unique relationship is one that "cannot be taken for granted".
Arlene Foster at the DUPs conference in Belfast at the weekend. Photo: PA

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has accused Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney of "aggressive" behaviour on the North.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has accused Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney of "aggressive" behaviour on the North.

Ms Foster's remarks about Mr Coveney, and specifically his recent comments voicing support for a united Ireland, came as she again heavily criticised the Irish Government for its stance on Brexit.

Relations between the DUP and the Government have deteriorated markedly since Leo Varadkar became Taoiseach in the summer.

One of the main bones of contention for the DUP is Dublin's insistence that Northern Ireland should continue to comply with an EU customs framework when the rest of the UK exits the single market and customs union.

Ms Foster insists that Northern Ireland must be treated the same as the rest of the UK, a message that she made clear in her party conference speech in Belfast on Saturday. In an interview with RTE, Ms Foster directed specific criticism at Mr Coveney when challenged about whether the administration's stance on Brexit was motivated by a desire for Irish unity.

Expand Close Simon Coveney has voiced support for a united Ireland. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook

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Mr Coveney told a Dail committee last week that he would like to see a united Ireland in "my political lifetime".

"Why then did Simon use this moment in time to talk about his aspiration for a united Ireland in his political lifetime?" Ms Foster asked.

"That's quite aggressive."

She also referred to his explicit support for a stand-alone Irish language Act, which is the key sticking point between the DUP and Sinn Fein in talks to restore powersharing.

Ms Foster accused Mr Coveney and Mr Varadkar of engaging in megaphone diplomacy, adding in relation to Brexit negotiations: "Some of the rhetoric from Dublin recently has been of a nature that actually could bring about self-harm to the Republic."
Irish farmers and businesses involved in the meat trade will be hit more severely by a hard Brexit than the infamous trade war between the European Union and Russia, a new report reveals.

The report, obtained by the Irish Independent, details how at least 32,000 jobs will be lost in the European meat trade if the UK exits the negotiations without a deal.

The paper warns that Ireland is the largest supplier of beef to the UK and the exposure for farmers and small and medium businesses would be much greater than for other EU states.

Tariffs of between 50pc and more than 100pc and additional veterinary and health checks, particularly along the Border, would face businesses in the event of a hard Brexit.

In a stark forecast, the report compares a hard Brexit to the trade war with Russia.

Read more: Phil Hogan tells Theresa May to remain in customs union to avert Ireland border crisis over Brexit

"The magnitude of the shock of a hard Brexit would be significantly greater than that caused by the Russian food import ban in 2014, and it would be more difficult to find alternative markets for diverted products," the report stated.

"The negative impacts will have ramifications for the beef, pigmeat and sheepmeat sectors throughout the EU."

The report was carried out on behalf of the European Livestock and Meat Trades Union, the representative body for the meat industry in Europe.

"In the event of a hard Brexit, and in the absence of finding new ways to facilitate 'frictionless trade' when the UK leaves the customs union and single market, it seems inevitable that full customs controls and veterinary checks will be imposed between the EU and the UK and, as a consequence, between Ireland and Northern Ireland," the report said.

"This will not alone be a major setback to the interconnected and meat and livestock business on the island of Ireland, but it will undermine existing supply chains and lead to massive disruption to trade while imposing considerable additional transaction costs on top of the burden of trade tariffs."

There are some 15,000 jobs in Ireland directly involved in meat processing and a further 15,000 associated jobs.

Cormac Healy, senior director at Meat Industry Ireland, which is part of Ibec, said a hard Border will have major knock on effects for the EU 27 bloc.
South American trade bloc Mercosur will offer the European Union (EU) a faster cut in import tariffs than currently included in a trade deal proposal, but will ask for the EU to accept more of its beef imports in exchange, the Argentine negotiator said.

Mercosur, whose full members include Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, is prepared to gradually reduce tariffs on imports of European goods over a period of 10 years on a majority of products, down from 15 years or more in the current proposal, chief negotiator Horacio Reyser told Reuters in an interview.
Waterways Ireland and the OPW are progressing a project for the removal of 18 pinchpoints between Athlone and Meelick on the Shannon to improve conveyance capacity on the river.

The announcement was madeon the Shannon at the Irish National Flood Forum 2nd Annual Conference in Athlone by Kevin Boxer Moran Minister for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief.

He said this is a major step forward for farming, for tourism and for habitats, particularly in relation to the nesting birds and the curlew.

For the first time in many years, targeted maintenance works were undertaken earlier this year at Maddens Island and, at Portavolla, I recently turned the sod on a minor works scheme costing 120,000 which will be completed early in 2018.

Further maintenance works will be carried out on the Shannon pinch points in 2018 when the next environmental window for the works will allow.

The initial estimate for this targeted maintenance work is some 6m over a five-year period and is subject to approval through the planning process.

Expand Close Homes may have to be abandoned and swathes of agricultural land given over to water storage to help prevent catastrophic flood damage. Photo: PA / Facebook

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The Minister also provided an update on some of the work being carried out across the whole Government sector to address flooding problems and, in particular, the progress being made in advancing flood relief works across the country.

The Minister referred to the Cork Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme, welcoming the progress being made on this hugely important 140m Scheme, the largest ever undertaken in Ireland and providing protection to over 2,100 properties.

It is expected that the first phase of the Scheme will be submitted for planning by Cork City Council shortly as part of an integrated Public Realm project for the Morrisons Island area of the City. This will provide protection for the City against tidal flooding and it is hoped construction works will commence in 2018.

The Minister also indicated that a contract for the Clonakilty Flood Relief Scheme is expected to be placed shortly which will provide protection to some 300 properties.

In relation to projects in Donegal, the Minister welcomed the progress being made in Raphoe where the OPW, working in conjunction with Donegal County Council, is progressing a scheme to provide protection to over 200 properties. In Burnfoot, work is ongoing to review potential flood relief measures, taking into account the August floods.

The Minister welcomed the conclusion of a review of options for a 10m flood defence scheme for Crossmolina, and said that the preferred option will go to public consultation in early 2018 with a view to commencing work in 2019.

Under the OPWs Minor Works and Coastal Protection Scheme, 4.5 million has been approved for 139 projects from 2016 to October, 2017. OPW in conjunction with Offaly County Council has provided flood protection works to protect some 35 homes in Portavolla and works are expected to be completed in Spring 2018. Progress is also being made at Hanlys Turlough where the OPW and Longford County Council are developing an embankment project under the Minor Works Scheme

The Minister went on to say, I also recently turned the sod on the first stage of the 6 million Athlone Flood Alleviation Scheme which will bring much needed protection to some 250 homes. In Limerick, the recently completed 2.8 million Foynes Tidal Flood Relief Scheme is protecting 188 properties, and progress is being made on the 1st phase of the Limerick City Flood Relief Scheme at Kings Island. Advance works have already been completed at Verdant Place, at a cost of over 2 million and when the overall work at Kings Island is complete, protection will be provided to over 470 properties.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and senior Cabinet ministers are set to briefly put aside Ireland's political crisis today to pay tribute to veteran former Fine Gael TD and minister, Donal Creed (93), the father of Agriculture Minister Michael Creed.

Senior Government figures are expected to attend the Requiem Mass of Mr Creed who was famed within Fine Gael for never having lost a major election between the 1960s and 1980s.

Senior Fianna Fail TDs will also be in attendance to honour the fact that Mr Creed had been very friendly with some of the party's highest profile Cork members including the late former Taoiseach Jack Lynch.

Mr Creed died last Friday and his Requiem Mass will be celebrated today (Monday) in St Colman's Church in his native Macroom, Co Cork.

He served as a councillor, TD, minister, MEP and as chairman of the Fine Gael Party with his funeral likely to prove a who's who of the Irish political world.

Mr Creed was removed to St Colman's Church on Saturday with several thousand mourners in attendance.

Amongst those who attended to pay their respects was Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

Mr Varadkar is set to lead a strong Government contingent to the funeral today.

President Michael D Higgins is expected to be represented by his aide-de-camp.

Mr Creed is survived by his wife, Madeleine, and children Marcella, Michelle, Michael, Madeleine, Suzanne and Louise.

He is also survived by his sister, Eileen, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Over his career, the politician built up one of the most efficient party organisations nationwide which he operated from his base in Macroom, Co Cork from the 1960s until the 1980s.

Despite Fine Gael regularly being out-polled by Fianna Fail in the three seat Cork North West constituency, efficient vote management would regularly see Fine Gael clinch two of the three seats on offer.

The local Fine Gael tally teams were also regarded as amongst the best in the country.

Mr Creed was first elected to the Dail for the old Cork Mid West constituency in 1965.

He held a seat there until 1981 when boundary changes saw the constituency redrawn as Cork North West.

Mr Creed served as Junior Minister at the Department of the Environment from November 1981 to March 1982.

He also served as a Junior Minister in the Department of Education and Department of Health between 1981 and 1986.

Mr Creed also served in the European Parliament on Ireland's accession to the then-European Community from 1973-1977.

He went on to become chairman of the Fine Gael Party in 1987.

Mr Creed was renowned for his attention to constituency duties and his son, Michael, was comfortably elected to his old seat when he retired at the 1989 General Election.

Friends said one of his proudest moments was when his son Michael was elevated to full Cabinet level when he was appointed to the Department of Agriculture last year by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Mr Creed was also a staunch ally of the late Tanaiste Peter Barry who, like himself, had also entered national politics in the 1960s.
The Central Bank of Ireland has hit the life assurance arm of Italys largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, with a 1m fine after discovering "significant failures" in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls.

Intesa Sanpaolo Life, which does not sell life assurance products in Ireland, has admitted the breaches.

This latest fine follows a string of similar cases this year as the regulator continues to crack down on institutions with weak anti-money laundering regimes, amid a global push to strengthen compliance in this area.

In April AIB was slapped with a 2.3m penalty for six breaches of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing controls. A month later it was Bank of Irelands turn, with the lender wearing a 3.15m fine for compliance failures in its anti money laundering controls.

In March Drimnagh Credit Union was penalised to the tune of 125,000 for widespread shortcomings in its anti-money laundering procedures.

In a statement the Central Bank said it identified four breaches of Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act, 2010 at Intesa Sanpaolo Life, which at the time of the failings sold life assurance products into Italian and Slovakian markets.

The breaches occurred in July 2010 and continued on for a further three years and eleven months, the regulator said.

Brenda ONeill, head of enforcement investigations, said "the Central Bank has responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the compliance of life insurers based in Ireland with the CJA 2010. This includes insurers such as Intesa that 'passport' in order to operate in other EU member states on a freedom of services basis without establishing branches in those other member states."

She stressed "this case, and the level of fine imposed, reinforces the requirement that firms in all sectors must adopt robust and effective policies and procedures to prevent and detect money laundering and terrorist financing. Furthermore, firms must ensure such policies and procedures are updated in a timely manner in response to changing legal and regulatory requirements, emerging risks and evolving business models."
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Sometimes, the Democratic Party amazes me. And not in a good way.

Here is a party fresh off a series of big election triumphs all over the country. The nation faces an unprecedented challenge brought on by President Trump's breathtaking irresponsibility. Republicans are pushing through the most reactionary tax bill since the 1920s.

And what do leading Washington Democrats want to do? They would have us engage in the "move left" vs. "move to the center" squabbles that have obsessed the party for at least three decades. Old arguments feel comfortable but they're inadequate for the moment. And new research is finding that this bickering does not match the mood of local anti-Trump activists.

Ever since Trump's surprise victory, the distinguished Harvard University scholar Theda Skocpol has been spending a lot of time in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio with her colleagues Mary Waters and Kathy Swartz. They are talking to leaders and rank-and-file citizens in two counties in each state to track changes in our politics wrought by the 2016 outcome.

All the counties they are studying voted for Trump, yet in every one of them, new anti-Trump organizations have risen up. The researchers have found 10 such groups so far. (By the way, all these groups are led or co-led by women, many of whom are also deeply involved in their local churches.)

What's struck Skocpol is how irrelevant the Democrats' tired quarrels are to these freshly engaged citizens. "At the grass roots, people are dealing with the crisis Trump's presidency presents to America, and they're not refighting the election of 2016," she said in an interview. "They're not talking about whether the Democratic Party should be more progressive or more centrist."

In fact, she finds that "both Bernie [Sanders] and Hillary [Clinton] supporters are involved," which shows how "you can have energetic citizen action that doesn't have to sort out national labels."

This activism, as Skocpol sees it, is motivated by a simple but powerful civic sense that Trump is violating basic norms and principles of American life. The troops on the ground don't need programs or litmus tests imposed from on high, she adds. They need practical support and the freedom to act as they see fit in their own areas.

This was also the lesson of this month's elections, which saw victories by Democrats across the party's spectrum of opinion. In Virginia, Gov.-elect Ralph Northam ran a moderate statewide campaign, while down-ticket winners in legislative races included a member of Democratic Socialists of America as well as the first openly transgender person elected to a statehouse. Voters in Virginia (and New Jersey and elsewhere) said to Washington Democrats: Stop it with your stupid fights. We have work to do.

Of course, Democrats will have serious debates as time goes on over issues from health care and economics to trade and education. Such discussions are both healthy and necessary, as long as they don't involve promiscuously applied ideological purity tests.

And, yes, the party is more progressive on certain questions than it used to be. It is rightly more committed, for example, to LGBTQ rights -- but so is the country as a whole. There has been a strong response from Democrats of all races to police shootings of young, unarmed black men. But this is less a move to the "left" than an expression of simple decency. A lot of this left/center business is about abstractions imposed on reality rather than a reflection of it.

The combatants in the intra-party arguments might usefully start by acknowledging the merits of some of the insights their opponents offer. Jared Leopold, the communications director of the Democratic Governors Association, said that Northam's approach resonated with Virginia voters who "were looking for a calm and strong leader in the midst of chaos in Washington." Moderates have a point when they say that voters nationally are similarly seeking steady and reliable leadership.

But progressives, in turn, are right to argue for clear, compelling and comprehensible policies to deal with the economic inequalities that are hurting many in the ranks of Clinton and Trump voters alike. Bold, not bland, is the way to go.

For now, the imperative is to check Trump's abuses and to stop the truly radical agenda that Republicans are advancing, including their continuing efforts to wreck Obamacare and an unpopular, budget-busting corporate tax cut that redistributes large sums of money to society's wealthiest.

The grass-roots activists know how important these battles are. The ideological infighters should learn from them.

E.J. Dionne Jr. is a columnist for The Washington Post.
Irish software firm Datalex has said that it expects to achieve earnings growth of between 15pc and 20pc for the full year.

The company - whose software helps airlines to boost revenue from their booking platforms  said that it is continuing to make progress on its deployment at the Lufthansa Group and is on track to begin generating platform revenue in 2018.

In a statement released today, Datalex said that its pipeline continues to strengthen in all geographies and it expects a number of new signings "in the coming months".

During the period from 1 July to today, the company also agreed an extension of its contract with JetBlue Airways to the end of 2022, which Datalex said reflected the success of the partnership and the value delivered.

Elsewhere the company will complete the development of its online travel agent platform by end of this year, with the first go-live of this solution expected early in 2018. This new to market offering will open up a new market opportunity for the company.

The groups relationships with partners like Neusoft and IBM, which efficiently scale up Datalexs market reach, continue to see investment.

Other clients of the group, which has offices in Europe, the US, and China, include Aer Lingus, Air China, Air Malta, HP Enterprise Services, and Virgin Australia.

Last year Datalex generated adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $12.2m, which was 18pc ahead of the 2015 figure.
If Anne Anderson, Ireland's recently retired Irish Ambassador to the US, takes an aim at Phoenix Park and runs for the Presidency, I'd be tempted to quit the day job and offer my services as her campaign manager. Man, I'd probably even settle for the tea caddie such is my admiration for this trailblazer for Irish feminism.

The first married woman (post marriage ban) to be posted abroad for the department of foreign affairs, Anderson was the first female Irish ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ireland's first female ambassador to France and the first female ambassador to the European Union - itself historic as she was the first woman from any EU country to serve as permanent representative to Brussels. As the Financial Times noted in 2004 when Anderson chaired Ireland's presidency of the EU, she made history by simply "sitting down" among hordes of her fellow male ambassadors.

Anderson's diplomatic career ended on another spectacular high when the now 65-year-old became Ireland's first female Ambassador to the US, the Irish foreign service's most coveted post in Washington DC now occupied by Dan Mulhall.

And although this formidable First Lady of Irish diplomacy was dutifully reticent, as ambassador, about the potential impact on Irish-US relations by the election of US President Donald Trump, the woman singled out for high praise by his predecessor Barack Obama offered a much more sobering and realistic view of that very special relationship last Thursday.

That was when Anderson was honoured by the American Chamber of Commerce with a Lifetime Achievement Award (the first woman to be so recognised) at the chamber's annual Thanksgiving lunch. Noting Ireland's "defining" and "dual-facing" relationship with both Europe and the US, Anderson observed that of all European countries, Ireland has perhaps the deepest stake in the relationship between Europe and the US.

"We thrive when that partnership thrives and no one has more grounds for concern when tension or brittleness or misunderstanding or neglect enter that relationship," Anderson told an 850-strong audience that included Taoiseach (for now) Leo Varadkar, acting US Ambassador Reece Smyth, outgoing Chamber President James O'Connor, MD of Microsoft's International Operations, and the predominantly (but not exclusively) male captains of US industry in Ireland.

"And, yes, I do believe there are some grounds for concern today," warned Anderson, tactfully if forcefully.

"All relationships, of course, have their daily share of irritants. But of deeper significance, we see the isolationist trends taking hold in America and hear the drumbeat of sovereignty that is becoming more insistent.

"Europe, like the rest of the world, is reading these signals and beginning to plan accordingly," said Anderson, who earlier told the gathering that Europe is more than ever Ireland's home, adding a "widening Atlantic" is not something to which we should resign ourselves.

What was refreshing about Anderson's address was her willingness to cut through the saccharine, paddy-whackery that often accompanies conversations around the Irish-US relationship and her firing of a warning shot, of sorts, on how we navigate that friendship in the future.

And it is a special relationship.

Leaving aside the strong personal and cultural ties over centuries, the modern commercial relationship between the two countries has transformed in recent decades from the begging bowl (Ireland), to a benevolent benefactor (the US), to one of tangible reciprocity.

US investment, at almost 300bn, is currently at record levels. More than 700 US firms have a presence here, employing some 10pc of our workforce - and that's before the critical multiplier effect.

Irish companies, including behemoths such as CRH, Glanbia, Kerry and a host of tech wunderkinds, have also invested some $85bn in America, employing more than 80,000 across 50 US states.

And yet for all of the glowing rhetoric and metrics - Ireland was again named the best country in the world for attracting high-value FDI by IBM's recent Global Locations Trends Report - what Anderson describes as Ireland's "dual-facing" perspective is placing certain strains on the special relationship.

Having firmly nailed its colours to the European mast, Ireland now finds itself in the crosshairs of a series of controversial pan-European rows over the tax treatment of US multinationals.

The Apple tax ruling against Ireland was the biggest bite yet inflicted by European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager - the woman who will decide whether Ireland can access special treatment under state aid rules to shore up Irish companies most at risk of collapse after Brexit.

By defending its tax treatment of Apple and providing sophisticated tax offerings to a range of foreign investors, Ireland is perceived in many quarters - rightly or wrongly - as a proxy for Uncle Sam, or its multinational arm at least.

Not that that perception has stopped Ireland falling out of Twitter favour with President Trump. Speaking at the American Chamber lunch, Varadkar said that the overall trade flows between Ireland and the US are "remarkably balanced".

This assertion is at odds with data from the United States Census Bureau last April which showed that Ireland - which had a trade surplus with the US of $36bn last year - was responsible for over a fifth of the EU's trade surplus with the US.

That data, along with other countries who enjoy a trade surplus with the US, prompted a "country by country, product by product" study of trade deficits by the US administration. It also prompted a not entirely unpredictable war of words from President Trump's Twitter account.

The ante was upped last October when Trump told reporters in the White House: "I hear that Ireland is going to be reducing their corporate rates down to 8pc from 12pc." That prompted a testy rebuke from Varadkar who told the Dail: "I can confirm that President Trump's claim that we are proposing to reduce our corporation profit tax to 8pc is indeed fake news" - a retort ostensibly not too well received in Washington DC.

So, what next for the US-Ireland relationship when the latter is convulsed with Brexit and when Europe is battling to shape its own future?

A confident and robust transatlantic partnership remains as vital in this century as the last and Ireland is best equipped to interpret Europe to America and vice versa, according to Anderson.

A unique relationship? Certainly. Unconditional? Less so. One thing's for sure in this post-Brexit, Trump unreality: we can't take any of our relationships for granted. And like all candid friendships, we may have to have some very difficult conversations.
Embattled Swiss-Irish baked goods firm Aryzta has seen its revenue fall by 5.5pc year-on-year to 909.7m in the three months to 31 October.

In Europe, despite the expected reduction from Swiss in-sourcing, the company, who's brands include Cuisine de France, experienced organic growth of 0.6pc, which was then offset by negative currency headwinds of 0.9pc, according to the groups revenue update.

The growth in Europe was driven by an improved price mix.

However in North America, Aryzta saw its organic revenue decline by 7pc in the three month period, driven entirely by its Cloverhill business, which Aryzta acquired in 2014.

Problems at the Cloverhill facility include volume losses arising from the misstep into the business to consumer centre aisle, high labour turnover, and recruitment costs.

Currency had a further 4.5pc negative impact on revenues in the North American market.

There was some good news, with the company experiencing organic growth of 7.8pc in the rest of the world market, however this was offset by a negative currency impact of 5.3pc.

Excluding Cloverhill, group revenues grew by 1.3pc overall on an organic basis.

Commenting on the results, Aryzta CEO Kevin Toland said that the business challenges remained unchanged from those outlined in September, with Europe continuing to perform to expectation. However he said that progress at Cloverhill was proving "difficult".

"Managements priority is to continue to identify issues and opportunities to address operating performance and to maximise available free cash flow," Mr Toland said.

Earlier this month the Irish Independent revealed that Aryzta, which has its roots in Irish agri group IAWS, has been slapped with a major lawsuit in the US that exposes the impact its manufacturing difficulties in America have had on customers.

Tennessee firm McKee Foods - which owns the high-profile Little Debbie brand in the US and has annual sales of about $1.5bn (1.27bn) - claims that it will lose millions of dollars in profits because Aryzta couldn't fulfil its orders properly.

Meanwhile in October, the Sunday Independent revealed that Aryzta is facing continuing losses at its US Cloverhill facilities following an immigration crackdown which forced out 800 workers.

More than a third of its staff had to leave the US operation after a federal audit of a third party staffing agency found that hundreds of workers did not have the correct paperwork.
I usually hate seeing graffiti in our lovely city, so I was surprised when it seemed to be put up by one of my favourite organisations.

"It's fake graffiti," the Dogs Trust said of the giant paw prints appearing on paving stones in Dublin. That's a relief, but it makes their #PawsForThought campaign stand out.

"A dog is for life, not just for Christmas" was coined by its founder Clarissa Baldwin 40-odd years ago. "We still use it today," says Ciara Byrne, the charity's communications manager, "and it's just as relevant."

Last year, 12,549 dogs entered city pounds and 1,522 were destroyed.

At Christmas there was a 58pc spike in abandoned or "surrendered" dogs, bought with the best of intentions, perhaps to give a surprise to children on Christmas morning (though it's well known that Santa Claus never brings pets), only for them to discover that they were taking on a great deal more than they'd thought.

EXPENSIVE

This week, I'm looking at what's actually involved in owning a dog (a cat too, though they're at least more self-sufficient and a little quieter). It's expensive, time-consuming and a whole lot of hard work.

Yes, a dog brings great joy to a family, but only one that's prepared for it and has considered everything that's needed to make it a family member.

"It costs around 10,000 to own a dog over its lifetime," says Ciara. "Christmas is the worst time to get one - it's noisy, there's a lot of commotion and puppies hate all that."

The main reasons dogs are abandoned or returned in the early months of the year are threefold: people realise very quickly they don't have enough time to look after it, it has grown too big or it isn't behaving well and it's too expensive.

Adopting or fostering a dog can be a great half-way step to seeing if making yours a permanent home is the right idea.

Researching the right breed is vital too. Small 'toy' dogs such as Shih tzu or Pomeranians are very sweet, but any pure breed will cost you more in upkeep, vet bills and other things than a rescue mongrel.

"Breed is vital," says Ciara. "If you're someone who likes to watch television curled up on the sofa then a big, energetic dog isn't for you, but a breed like a greyhound is just a big couch potato too, which many people don't realise. Your vet can give good advice on what breeds work for your lifestyle."

Here are some tips on how to find the dog that's right for you and what responsibilities you have towards it. Local authorities are clamping down on things like licences and barking and employ dog wardens to check. The table shows the typical costs of dog ownership in the first year and for life.

It's the equivalent of buying a new car, and you wouldn't do that on a whim on Christmas Eve.

What to consider

* Research the breed. What size will it grow to if it's a puppy now?

* What dogs best match your lifestyle? Are you fit and able for long walks with a big dog that needs them, or is a small terrier-type a better choice?

* Do you travel, or are you at work all day? Who will mind the dog? Will it be lonely? How will it get in and out of the house?

* When buying from a breeder, get your vet's recommendation first. Sadly, there are still many illegal puppy farms out there, and many are taken away from their mothers before they're ready.

* Watch the puppy/dog interacting with other dogs and people. Is it happy and well-adjusted? If it's cowering or growling, it may have too many behavioural problems.

* Who will your vet be? What will it cost for annual vaccinations, medication and check-ups?

Responsibilities

* Dog owners are required by law to have a dog licence and get their pet microchipped and registered with a state database such as Fido.ie. Many people go to the expense of chipping but don't enter details on the database. If the dog's lost, there's no back-up data to return it to its owner.

* Chipping should be done before the dog is sold, but otherwise costs 20 to 50, depending on breed. The certificate is 4.50 to 15.

* A dog licence costs 20 a year from An Post (a lifetime licence is 140). You must be able to produce this on demand to a dog warden.

* Dogs should be neutered or spayed, according to the DSPCA.

* Dogs must be vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and kennel cough. Failure to do so means you won't get insurance or be able to use a kennelling service.
Central to Wirecard's business model are transactions-based fees for the use of services in electronic payment processes. Stock image

The world's historians, who worked hard this year to mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, probably found themselves spending more time explaining the critical importance of the newly developed printing press in the 16th century than they did on Martin Luther's revolutionary theses.

The German monk's ideas may have been 'hot' stuff in the 1520s, but it was the technology used to spread his message that played the major part in that extraordinary moment in history. Half a millennium later, technology remains the big story - only now the stakes are so much higher and its pace of change defies any known comparison.

The company we are examining today underscores this point in an acute way.

It is a high-tech company that has taken on and disrupted that most solid of businesses, the banks.

It is a concern called Wirecard AG - a German internet bank. Central to Wirecard's business model are transactions-based fees for the use of services in electronic payment processes. The young German group is a global driver of innovation in the digitalisation of payments using the internet. It supports companies in accepting electronic payments from online, mobile or point of sale.

Its global platform offers a range of international payments and acceptances including solutions in preventing fraud. The company offers everything for the cashless payment system, including banking. Its unique selling point is its innovative technology and it possesses a full German banking licence, a UK e-money licence, and issuing licences for Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club and Amex. It is also positioned to develop solutions for customers in retail services, transport, and banking and has a customer portfolio of 33,000 large and medium-size companies and 170,000 small ones.

Formed in 1999 in Aschheim near Munich, its early years were difficult, but by 2004 it had recovered sufficiently to be listed on the German TecDax exchange. Over the past few years the company has pushed forward with its entry into North America, India, Brazil, Mexico, and the Asia- Pacific region where it has a presence in 11 countries. Today, Wirecard has a market value of 11bn, and 4,200 employees - 40pc in Europe (Germany 30pc) and more than 50pc in Asia Pacific.

Wirecard has three segments, all interconnected. These are payment processing, acquiring and issuing and call centres.

Its largest business is payment processing, with 70pc of total revenues.

Last year, revenues were up a quarter on the previous year and profits rose by a third. The acquiring and issuing division helps retailers settle credit card sales online or at terminals. The company issues various card products such as credit, debit and prepaid cards.

It can issue these in the form of a physical card or a virtual card for e-commerce. This business had sales of 300m last year and its profits are buoyant. Wirecard can also help data-driven commerce. Its platform makes it possible to collect usable data from checkouts, transactions and customer loyalty programmes and evaluate them for its customers. Last year was the group's most successful year. Revenues in the last five years have tripled and today are 1bn. Earnings rose by a third to 307m and the company is forecasting 400m for year end.

Europe generates more than half of revenues and profits, with Asia-Pacific contributing two-fifths.

Investors have found its share performance is erratic, hitting a yearly low of 38, but has bounced back, trading at an all time high of 89.

Interestingly, the group has attracted the support of a number of institutional heavyweights like Jupiter (UK) and the American specialists T Rowe Price and Citigroup.

The digital payments sector is not what you would call a lonely place. There is a lot of international competition and strong suspicions that consolidation may be overdue. The future could pose interesting challenges for Wirecard and its shareholders.

Nothing in this section should be taken as a recommendation, either explicit or implicit to buy any of the shares mentioned.
A segment on shapewear from Today with Maura & Daithi ended up on the last episode of Gogglebox last week making a social media star of Patrick McNulty on his modelling debut.

The 26-year-old Mayo man caused a stir when he modelled a men's vest from Irish shapewear brand Atir on the daytime RTE One programme.

The segment then made it on to TV3's Gogglebox, where the viewers were a bit bemused by the product and the fact that Patrick looked 'terrified'.

"I was, but to be fair it was my very first [modelling job]," he says. "But the crowd at RTE and on the Maura and Daithi show were very nice and very relaxed and they were trying to make me feel more comfortable."

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Patrick is a personal trainer and leisure centre supervisor at Breaffy House Hotel in Mayo, and met Atir founder Rita Mylett in the course of his work. She asked him to try out the product several months ago so when it came to the segment on the Today show she asked him to be her model.

"I started laughing straight away," he says. "I'd never done modelling before but after talking to a few people I said, 'Sure why not? It's a new experience."

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However, the segment was picked up by TV3's Gogglebox and Patrick was suddenly reaching a much bigger audience than he expected.

"When I first heard it was going on Gogglebox I was like, 'Oh dear God!' but at the same time I was like, 'sure why not? It's only a bit of TV. It'll blow over if it goes bad, or goes good.

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"It was surreal, though, because everyone watches it. Everyone is home when Gogglebox is on and it's unreal the amount of messages I've got from friends and family going, 'how did you get on TV?' and 'how did you end up on Gogglebox?' and the next question was, 'when did you start modelling?' and then 'why did you start modelling?'"

Patrick says he laughed at the show, adding, "I thought it was going to be cringe but it was actually quite good. There are a few memes and stuff on Twitter but that's fine. It was my first time modelling so I was standing there going, 'Oh my God, what am I doing?' But it was good."

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He adds, "The way I see it is ride with it. Why put up a fight against it? If I go with it it'll blow over and something else will happen on Maura & Daithi and it'll be the talk this week."

He laughs, "I'll probably never do it again. But at the same time, if the opportunity came, sure why not?"

Video of the Day

As for male shapewear, he says, "Once you get your initial reaction of 'Oh my God what is it?' over I think people are like, 'This is not a bad thing' which is the beauty about it."
Actress and food writer Biddy White Lennon has been described "an amazing inspiration" after her death at the weekend.

The much-loved Dubliner was best known for her starring role as Maggie Riordan in the ground-breaking RTE TV drama 'The Riordans' more than 30 years ago. More recently, she hosted the 'Great Irish Bake-Off' on TV3.

Ms Lennon was highly regarded in the culinary world and was chairwoman of the Irish Food Writers' Guild.

News broke of her death after a battle with illness on Saturday morning and tributes have continued to pour in since.

RTE and Newstalk broadcaster Norah Casey led the tributes online, posting: "I'm devastated to hear that the beautiful and passionate Biddy White Lennon has left us.

"She was an amazing inspiration."

Expand Close Biddy White Lennon with Tom Hickey as Maggie and Benji in The Riordans / Facebook

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Whatsapp Biddy White Lennon with Tom Hickey as Maggie and Benji in The Riordans

Chef Neven Maguire paid his respects to Ms Lennon on Twitter, describing her as a "true lady" and an "ambassador" for food producers.

"So sad to hear of the passing of Biddy White Lennon. Always gave me so much good advice," he wrote.

RTE also released a statement in the wake of her death, in which the broadcaster extended condolences to her family and friends.

"RTE is saddened to hear about the death of our former colleague Biddy White Lennon.

Expand Close Biddy White Lennon in her role as host of Great Irish Bake Off. Photo: Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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"Biddy, who worked on both television and radio in RTE, will always be fondly remembered for her role as Maggie in 'The Riordans'.

"Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time. May she rest in peace."

Video of the Day

'Food & Wine Magazine' sent its condolences to her family and friends via Twitter, while fans of 'The Riordans' shared their "fond memories of long ago".

Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne also credited Biddy White Lennon with nurturing his talents and helping him learn how to perform on camera when he took a role in the seminal Irish soap.

The pair worked together on 'The Riordans' during his early forays in the industry, with Byrne playing a man with whom Maggie Riordan had an affair.

The drama was a household staple in living rooms across the country between 1965 and 1979.
The money will be spent on rural lanes, boreens and access roads and brings the total grants to 17.4m in 2017. Stock Image

Rural and Community Development Minister Michael Ring will today announce an extra 7.4m for councils to improve "non-public rural roads".

The money will be spent on rural lanes, boreens and access roads and brings the total grants to 17.4m in 2017.

Mr Ring said these roads provided vital access to homes and farms as well as amenities such as lakes, rivers or the ocean.

The Government will provide up to 90pc funding to local councils, with the remaining cost coming from local residents, or the local authorities in the case of roads leading to public amenities.

"This Local Improvement Scheme is about improving small roads and laneways in rural Ireland which are not maintained by the local authorities. I cannot overstate how important these roads are to people in rural areas. They enable them to access their homes and farms but many have fallen into disrepair," Mr Ring said.

The minister said the roads gave access to homes, farmyards, agricultural land and business premises, and were often heavily used. But because they fell outside of direct local authority control, many needed upgrading.

"It's only right and fair that some of the motor tax, excise duty on fuel and local property tax paid by people in rural areas is invested in the repair of shared laneways that connect their homes, farms and businesses to the public road network," Mr Ring said.

The funds will be provided to 19 local authorities based on the amounts they have requested and their stated capacity to complete the work before the end of the year.

Donegal County Council has been allocated 2.5m, having indicated that it has a particularly high demand for improvements to non-public roads as a result of the damage caused by local flooding in August.
With the exception of Alaska, no other state boasts more veterans per capita than Montana. But as I have personally experienced and many veterans in the state will tell you, when it comes to providing Montanans with quality health care, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has room for improvement. While many of the system's doctors do their jobs well, bureaucratic hurdles remain.

More than 10 percent of appointments in the Montana VA Health Care System take more than 30 days to schedule. The Billings, Lewistown and Plentywood clinics each have average wait times hovering near 30 days, while the average wait time at the Great Falls VA Clinic is closer to 40 days.

Worse yet, the rate of serious post-surgery blood clots in Montana exceeds the national average, as does the rate of wounds splitting open following abdomen and pelvis surgeries. This is completely unacceptable anywhere, but particularly in a state so many veterans call home.

The nation first learned of grave problems at the VA after the Phoenix VA scandal in 2014. That same year, an inspector general report revealed gross malfeasance and negligence throughout the Veterans Health Administration, and Congress created the Veterans Choice Program.

Veterans Choice was intended to serve only as a stop-gap measure that allowed veterans to receive timely care at doctors and facilities outside the VA system before substantive reforms could be made. However, the well-intentioned program fell short of its stated goals. The Choice [Program] did not reduce wait times to receive necessary medical care for many veterans, the VA assistant inspector general for audits and evaluations wrote in a March report.

Thats because the VA bureaucracy continues to act as a gatekeeper between veterans and their health care, using inefficient and confusing methods to refer veterans to private care providers.

Take, for example, the 40-mile 30-day rule that requires veterans to live more than 40 miles from the nearest VA facility or to confront a wait time exceeding 30 days before they can use the Veterans Choice program. If a veteran lives within 40 miles of any VA clinic, even if that facility does not offer the treatment the veteran needs, he or she would not be able to use the program.

Even worse, the VA inspector generals March report revealed VA officials were still manipulating wait-time data  preventing as many as 13,800 eligible veterans from accessing the Choice Program. Montana veterans at recent town halls have raised these concerns directly to our congressional delegation and VA Secretary David Shulkin.

Clearly, the program must be reformed if it is to function as intended. Few people are better positioned to make sure this happens than Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the ranking member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

From his powerful perch, Tester can insist that veterans  not the vast VA bureaucracy  are the central focus as Congress goes about reforming the program.

In a national poll taken earlier this year, 98 percent of veterans and 95 percent of registered voters overwhelmingly favored allowing veterans to use their benefits to receive care outside of the VA.

For the sake of Montana veterans and all veterans around the country, Tester must advance bold reforms to expand health care choice and improve the way the VA delivers health care. That way, he can ensure that the VA is there for those who need it and, if the system cant provide adequate care, veterans can easily get treatment elsewhere.

The tradition of military service runs deep in Montana. Tester can honor this legacy by making sure all veterans receive the care they have earned.

Sam Redfern is the western Montana field director for Concerned Veterans for America. Redfern is the founder of the nonprofit United States of Hope, lives in Missoula, is an alumnus of the University of Montana and is an Iraq War combat veteran.
A Brazilian has been sentenced to eight years in prison for killing a man who assaulted and racially abused him.

Juraci Da Silva (36), with an address at Park Lane Apartments in Waterford, was found not guilty of murder, guilty of the manslaughter of James 'Jay' Banville by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last month.

Mr Banville died from a single stab wound to the heart inflicted at New Street in Waterford in the early hours of October 8, 2016.

Da Silva was also found not guilty of assault causing harm to Conor Hogan and guilty of producing a knife during an altercation.

Today Justice Michael White sentenced the Brazilian, who came to Ireland to work in a meat factory one month before the fatal incident, to eight years for the manslaughter charge and five years for producing a knife. The sentences will run concurrently and were backdated to October 8, 2016 when he went into custody.

Justice White said the unlawful killing fell into the "lower range of the highest category" of manslaughter and that the maximum sentence he might impose would be 14 years.

Taking into account that Da Silva was twice assaulted by the deceased and Conor Hogan and that as a Brazilian with no English he will have a harder time in prison, he said eight years would be a"proportionate" term.

He described the killing as a "tragedy of epic proportions" and said he had heard eloquent statements from the deceased's family about the impact his death had on his parents, partner, children and siblings. He noted that in manslaughter cases sentencing ranges from substantial terms in prison to suspended sentences.

Looking at the facts of the case he said Da Silva was subjected to two "very serious assaults" by the deceased and Mr Hogan. The first assault was accompanied by racial comments and the second by sexual comments "of a very damaging nature".

Following the second assault Da Silva was no longer under threat, the two men having moved to the top of the street and turned down another street. He had earlier armed himself with a knife and now decided to go after these two men. During the third and fatal confrontation Da Silva did not try to run away.

Taking into account all these factors Justice White said he had to take the view that this is a "very serious offence".

He noted that through his profession, Da Silva had a knowledge of the dangers of knives, armed himself with a knife, was prepared to use it and did use it in a lethal manner. He said there was no need for Mr Banville to die, leaving a grieving family behind.

Justice White further noted that Da Silva was a hard working man with no previous convictions and had been out that night having a good time and did not show any aggression during the earlier assaults.

Mr Da Silva did not react when the sentence was revealed. The legal teams have 28 days to to lodge an appeal against the sentence.
BUSINESSMAN Dermot Desmond says a mistaken view taken by the Moriarty Tribunal based on misleading information provided to it by its own solicitor became the basis on which Mr Desmond was investigated by the tribunal.

Mr Desmond has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a High Court finding that previous court decisions were not made by reason of fraud based on the misleading information.

The three-judge court on Monday reserved its decision.

In 2012, the High Court rejected Mr Desmond's application for declarations that the High Court, in 2003 and the Supreme Court in a 2004 appeal, had been misled as a result of a fraud by the tribunal, its servants or agents.

The tribunal was set up to to inquire into, among other things, the awarding of the second GSM mobile phone licence to the ESAT consortium.

Mr Desmond's company, International Investment and Underwriting Ltd (IIU), replaced four financial institutions as ESAT backers after the application process began.

Out of this competition process, ESAT was chosen to have the exclusive right to negotiate the terms for the licence in October 1995 with the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications. In May of the following year (1996), the licence was awarded to ESAT.

After the Moriarty Tribunal was set up, as part of its inquiries, it asked about the legal advice the Department received about the replacement of IIU for the financial institutions in the competition.

That advice, provided by senior counsel, Richard Nesbitt, was that the replacement should not affect the decision to grant the licence to ESAT unless the change in ownership would in some way compromise the service to be provided by that consortium.

The tribunal took the view that the senior counsel's opinion the Department got had only addressed the question of changes in the consortium after the licence had been granted - not the period between when Esat got exclusive negotiating rights and when it got the licence, which was when IIU came on board.

As a result, the tribunal began investigating Mr Desmond and in particular heard evidence concerning the 1993 Glackin Report into the ownership of the Johnston Mooney and O'Brien site in Ballsbridge, Dublin, which was critical of Mr Desmond.

Mr Desmond then brought judicial review proceedings claiming the tribunal had not afforded him fair procedures because the contents of the Glackin report were not relevant. He was given inadequate notice about the likelihood of witnesses being examined about the Glackin report and this meant his ability to defend himself was compromised, it was also argued

The High and Supreme Courts both dismissed those proceedings.

Five years later, in 2009, a copy of Mr Nesbitt's legal opinion was provided to Mr Desmond.

A year later, Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, chairman of the tribunal, acknowledged "two not insignificant errors" had been made in its inquiries in 2002/3.

The first was that the tribunal had been "mistaken in asserting that the Attorney General had in 2002 expressed the view that the Nesbitt opinion did not deal with the pre-award changes in the composition of the ESAT consortium".

The second was that the tribunal had erred in not making available to the parties its note of its (tribunal's) meeting with Richard Nesbitt and two relevant officials from the office of the AG.

Mr Desmond then brought new High Court proceedings seeking a declaration that John Davis, solicitor for the tribunal, had sworn an affidavit in 2003 which was misleading, untrue and inaccurate. He claimed therefore the High and Supreme Court judgments, in Mr Desmond's previous "Glackin report" proceedings, should be set aside by reason of fraud on the part of the tribunal.

In 2012, then-High Court judge Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne found against Mr Desmond. She said there was "simply nothing" in Mr

Desmond's latest case which alleges fraud in the true sense or which satisfied the requirement for setting aside the judgments of those two courts.

In Monday's appeal over that decision, Michael Collins SC said it was necessary for there to be an oral hearing into what actually happened that led up to the findings of those courts.

The "hook" which the tribunal used to examine Mr Desmond's affairs was the misleading information that was provided to the tribunal, he said.

Brian Murray SC, for the tribunal, opposed the appeal. The tribunal had succeeded in the High Court in having the case dismissed because the Desmond statement of claim disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
A former army officer who groomed and sexually abused two teenage boys during the 1990s has been jailed for 11 years.

Timothy O'Sullivan (66) subjected the two boys to repeated sexual assault, oral and anal rape and threatened them they would be shot or buried in the mountains.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt commended the bravery of the two victims in coming forward and noted their courageous victim impact statements.

The men outlined the devastating effect of the abuse on their lives in the statements prepared for the sentencing hearing and both said they would never forgive O'Sullivan.

I will carry this with me for the rest of my life and will never forgive him, wrote one of the men.

O'Sullivan, of Marlborough Road, Dublin pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexual assault, oral and anal rape of the two boys on dates between 1991 and 1996 at locations in Dublin.

O'Sullivan was in his forties at the time while the boys were aged between 13 and 16 years old.

The court heard that a pattern developed of O'Sullivan buying the boys alcohol. The sexual abuse occurred at various locations including O'Sullivan's home, a commercial bathhouse, car parks, pubs and hotel rooms.

Mr Justice Hunt said the aggravating features of the case included the fact that the victims had been effectively groomed and O'Sullivan had taken advantage of certain personal vulnerabilities in the boys. He noted the horrifying and disgusting nature of the abuse.

He said there was no doubt that the boys had been targeted by O'Sullivan with a view to abusing them. He also took into account the young age of the victims and the abuse of trust involved.

The judge noted the inherent degradation of the abuse and the fact the boys had been given alcohol which sometimes made them very sick.

Mr Justice Hunt noted the mitigating factors in the case including the guilty pleas which he said signalled to the victims that their account was accepted as being true and valid. He imposed sentences totalling 11 years.

Sean Gillane SC, defending, said O'Sullivan had grown up in West Cork and joined the army as cadet where he was a officer for twenty years. He said O'Sullivan had served with distinction and had been on one of the first tours of Lebanon.

He said on leaving the army O'Sullivan had built up some business interests including a guest house, restaurant and licensed premises but much of this was lost during the recession.

He said O'Sullivan's admissions of guilt and acknowledgement of these events had sundered his relationships. He said his client had a chronic problem with alcohol over several decades.

Counsel said O'Sullivan was very ashamed for what he had done and the hurt he had caused.

The court heard both victims had undergone counselling which they paid for themselves. One man said this had been a huge expense and the second man described how he had to stop counselling as he could no longer afford it.

Detective Garda Gerard Hickey told Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, the investigation began when one of the victims made a complaint to gardai in 2011. This lead to a second victim coming forward and making very similar complaints in 2013.

The first victim described how the accused man had taken a special interest in him and a pattern developed of drinking with O'Sullivan. He said he was abused on a weekly basis over an eight month period until his mother confronted O'Sullivan.

This victim told gardai that he had been warned that the Wicklow mountains are a big place and that people go missing. He said he understood he was being told to keep his mouth shut.

The second boy was abused by O'Sullivan over a period of three years and outlined a similar pattern of being given alcohol. He described the abuse as occurring on an almost daily basis in the final two years and said he had not gone more than two or three weeks at a time without an incident.

The first victim outlined in his victim impact statement that the abuse had a devastating effect on his life. He said he had gone from being a quiet 14 year old to a person bordering on alcoholism.

He described the effect the abuse had on his health, family life, relationships and education. He said it had turned him into "a drunk and a liar" affecting his relationship with everyone he knew.

He said O'Sullivan had continually threatened him, leaving him terrified. He said O'Sullivan had told him he would "bury me in the Dublin mountains"

The man wrote: ""I will never forgive that man for what he did to me"

The second victim said he had carried the burden of the abuse in secret for years. He said O'Sullivan had exposed him to things no teenager should experience or witness.

He outlined the effects on his life and said his ability to trust had been ruined. He said he had trusted O'Sullivan and that had been used against him. He said O'Sullivan had wrecked his life and that of his family.

I felt responsible at the time but now see the only person responsible is Timothy O'Sullivan, he said. I will carry this with me for the rest of my life and will never forgive him.
The trial of a son of late billionaire hotel boss Jim Mansfield on an ammunition charge has been delayed again.

Jim Mansfield Jr (49) was due to be tried at Dublin District Court today but his defence said it had brought up certain matters with the prosecution that would need to be responded to before the case can proceed.

The trial had already been adjourned on a planned hearing date earlier this year but was put back to today.

Judge Kathryn Hutton said the court did have a difficulty with the latest request but agreed to grant the further adjournment.

The accused is a son of Jim Mansfield Snr, who died in January 2014.

Mr Mansfield Snr was the businessman behind the Citywest Hotel, Weston Airport and a number of other high-profile ventures. Several of these other businesses collapsed in the recession.

Jim Mansfield Jr is charged with having 180 rounds of .22 Walther ammunition without a firearms licence at his home at Tassaggart House in Saggart, south west Dublin. He has pleaded not guilty.

The hearing before a judge sitting alone in the district court is expected to take a day and a half and will include CCTV evidence.

Today Defence barrister Tony McGillicuddy said he had conveyed certain matters to the prosecution last Friday and in the circumstances he was asking for the case not to go ahead today.

He had conveyed it to the prosecution that he would be making this application.

It was appropriate that correspondence will issue between the parties, he said, and the prosecution would need to consider that correspondence.

It would not be appropriate for the case to go on today, he said.

A barrister for the DPP said a new hearing date could be fixed for March, with a mention date in January to see what progress can be made in that period.

Judge Hutton said there was a district court practice directive that three weeks notice should be given to vacate a hearing date.

The barrister for the State said Mr Mansfields lawyers had put the prosecution on notice on Friday. Certain matters arose and he had no difficulty with the application, he said.

Judge Hutton said the court had a difficulty with it, as there had been a day and a half set aside for the hearing.

Mr McGillicuddy said he was aware of the practice directive.

The defence had not been in a position to outline these matters to the prosecution in advance of last Friday, he said.

There were certain enquiries that had to be made, he added.

Judge Hutton agreed to fix new hearing dates for March 20 and 21, with a mention date on January 15.

Mr Mansfield, wearing a long black coat over a dark suit, did not address the court during the brief hearing.
A major drive is under way to increase the number of girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects for the Leaving Cert.

It is one of the key focuses in a 10-year plan being launched today to boost uptake in Stem and ensure that school-leavers and graduates are equipped with essential skills for the rapidly changing workplace.

"We are undergoing a technological revolution globally. If Ireland is to be at the forefront of this transformation, we must be a leader in nurturing, developing and deploying Stem talent," Education Minister Richard Bruton said.

Key to his ambition to create the best education system in Europe by 2026, would be its ability to adapt to a transformed economy and society.

"Our children must be equipped with the necessary analytical, creativity and critical thinking skills to thrive in such an environment," he said.

About one in four graduates in Ireland has a Stem qualification but that is not enough to meet the current and future skills needs of the "knowledge" economy.

As well as graduates, there is also a need for more apprenticeships that develop Stem skills.

Mr Bruton said his plan contained "challenging proposals, which require commitment across the education system to achieve the stated ambitions".

Among the issues to be addressed was a "significant gender gap" in the uptake of Stem subjects, such as less than 20pc of Leaving Cert female candidates taking physics or chemistry in 2017. By comparison, about 60pc took biology.

It will involve targeted measures to increase female uptake in Stem subjects by 40pc, and, overall, seeks to drive a 20pc boost in the number of pupils taking chemistry, physics, technology and engineering.

Through that, the aim is to lay the foundations for more school-leavers to pursue Stem-related third-level courses and careers.

The plan will start the process of piquing children's interest in Stem in pre-schools and, at the other end of the education system, business and industry will offer practical career-related supports to teachers and students, at both second and third level.

Elements of the programme already announced include the roll-out of computer science as a Leaving Cert subject in 2018 and the introduction of the foundations of computer coding in primary schools.

Other measures in the pipeline for second-level students include an awards scheme to recognise pupil participation in informal and extra-curricular Stem activities and events, such as the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

As well as curricular reforms, schools would be expected to put Stem at the heart of their whole-school planning activities.

Mr Bruton acknowledged that "achieving our goals will require a significant step-up in support to teachers and school leaders and encouragement of innovation in teaching methods".

Implicit in the plan is that Stem education not only involves the teaching of Stem subjects in isolation but a cross-disciplinary approach and an acceptance that all Stem learning activities are underpinned by maths.

It also recognises the strong linkage between Stem and arts education, and ways to link the two will also be explored through partnerships to promote creativity, universal design and design thinking skills.

The programme will be rolled out in three phases and annual targets have been set for the first such phase, which runs until the end of 2019.

Maths-style bonus points in Leaving Cert science, technology and engineering subjects could also be on the cards, although not for a few years.

In this case, the bonus would only kick in if the students applied for higher education courses in Stem areas.

The idea will be explored, between now and the end of 2019, by the third-level colleges and a Department of Education-led task force that inspired the changes to the Leaving Cert grading and CAO points system this year.
Primary schools cannot arrange essential works, such as roof repairs and improved insulation, because they don't know if, and when, the State funding to cover it will arrive.

Irish National Teachers' Organisation (Into) general secretary Sheila Nunan said repeated requests to the Department of Education for details of a payment date had met with no response.

The schools share about 30m a year through the Minor Works Grant scheme.

The money may be used for a range of purposes, including improvements to school buildings and grounds, improvement or replacement of mechanical and electrical services, the purchase of furniture and PE and IT-related equipment, and floor coverings and window blinds.

Under the grant scheme, primary schools are awarded a fixed sum and have discretion about how they use it.

Last year the grant was worth 6,425 for a 50-pupil school and more than 11,000 for a 300-pupil school.

Ms Nunan called on Education Minister Richard Bruton to clarify without delay that the money would be paid to schools this year.

"Many schools are in a very precarious financial position and needed the funding to ensure that vital repairs and upgrades could go ahead," she said.

Ms Nunan said any failure to fund on-going repairs and maintenance of schools would be a significant error and ultimately a waste of taxpayers' money.

She said a quarter of the school year was gone and the least principals were entitled to was the courtesy of a definitive statement.

Ms Nunan referred to a recent statement made by Mr Bruton to the effect that the matter was "being considered" and said "vague commitments are no use to principals with school accounts dropping into the red".

The Into is getting anxious because last year the payment of the grant was announced on November 17.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: "Normal practice is for the Minor Works Grant to be announced towards the end of the year if funding permits. Over the next number of weeks the issue of the Minor Works Grant 2017/2018 will be considered in the context of the department's overall capital position."
Fire crews are being praised for coming to the rescue of a Dublin mum who went into labour in her living room on Sunday evening.

Dublin Fire Brigade dispatched their Balbriggan crew to the scene when they received an emergency call and realised Baby Adam's arrival was "imminent".

A spokesperson said; "The call taker stayed on the line providing reassurance and instructions until the arrival of the fire engine D231."

The fire crews arrived at the scene just minutes before Adam arrived.

Congratulations to mum Alexandra and baby Adam whom made a speedy entrance this evening. Mum was aided by the crew of Balbriggan Fire Station prior to arrival of our Swords ambulance. Mum and baby fit and well. #DFBBaby #fireEMS pic.twitter.com/VhM2viv9yQ  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) November 26, 2017

An ambulance from Swords arrived to the house shortly afterwards to transport a healthy mum and baby to the hospital.

"Congratulations to mum Alexandra and baby Adam whom made a speedy arrival this evening," Dublin Fire Brigade wrote online.

"We're glad to say that mum and baby are doing well, and so are the fire crew."

The crews were praised under the social media post, with one person writing; "Bless you guys, absolutely amazing work."

Another wrote; "Well done to the mummy and the DFB, I too had the 'pleasure of their company' on my daughters speedy arrival at home 3 years ago. Amazing people."
The daughter of a man hospitalised after a traumatic accident has claimed the health "system is breaking down" after he spent almost 10 hours in A&E, slept on a trolley overnight, and was given just two painkillers over 24 hours.

Gerard McKenna (65), from Tallaght, Dublin, fell from his truck in the yard of the garage where he works on November 9. He broke his arm in two places and caused significant damage to his shoulder.

Daughter Katherine said the nurses who cared for Mr McKenna in Tallaght Hospital were "angels", but she said they were under too much pressure and the system was at breaking point.

"We went in at 10pm on the Thursday and he didn't get seen for an X-ray until 8.30am on Friday, by that stage his arm was so swollen and painful," she said. "He had been left in the A&E department overnight and it's so uncomfortable, there's no food and he was in pain."

Initially medics thought they would be able to manipulate the arm, but another X-ray showed he needed surgery and he had to wait another 24 hours as there was no bed available.

He spent the night on a trolley in the A&E corridor.

Ms McKenna said her father's ordeal was made worse by a lack of pain relief.

"My dad is a man who has worked all of his life...he's paid his fair share of taxes in this country, he has very rarely ever needed help from the health system in this country, so for him to be left like that is so frustrating," she said.

Ms McKenna said the health system was "breaking down".

"There just doesn't seem to be enough people on the ground and it's causing a huge amount of stress for the staff who are there and are doing their best," she said.

A spokesman for Tallaght Hospital said it could not comment on individual cases, but apologised "to any patient who has had a negative experience during treatment at the hospital".
PHILADELPHIA  With tuitions ever rising and student debt exploding to $1.45 trillion, there has been increased pressure on schools to demonstrate their value based on their success in placing graduates in good-paying jobs.

A for-profit computer-coding boot camp in Philadelphia, the local branch of the New York Code and Design Academy, has taken the bull by the horns. In October, it began offering students a you-can't-lose financing promise called an income share agreement.

"An ISA puts the burden back on the school to do its job, to turn out skilled graduates who can apply what they've learned to actually make a living," said school founder and CEO Jeremy Snepar. "When, and only when, you start to make a minimum salary of $40,000, you start to pay us back -- with 8 percent taken out of your salary."

The payback clock continues to run for 48 months maximum, or until the student has returned just what was borrowed with no interest, whichever comes first. "We're saying, if you don't get a fair return on your investment, then we haven't done our job and you shouldn't owe us anything," Snepar said.

Clearly, the odds are running in Snepar's favor and those of his backing group, Strayer Education, which acquired all six outposts (New York, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Washington, Salt Lake City, and Amsterdam) of New York Code and Design Academy in January 2016 and hosts the Philly branch at 1601 Cherry St.

The ISA is being offered to students enrolled in the Philadelphia and Salt Lake City branches of NYCDA's web development intensive program -- a 12-week, early morning-to-late night deep dive into coding languages, "Full Stack" website construction, and UI (User Interface) design that carries a $15,000 price tag.

All 25 students currently in the Philadelphia program went for the can't-lose financing deal.

It "works out to $1,250 a week, $31.25 an hour," Pramod Abicandani, an electronics and computer-technology professor until recently based at Drexel University, said when asked to assess the program. "If they do all the things mentioned on their website -- the weekly programmatic breakdown -- then this is a good deal on all counts."

A onetime investment analyst for Lehman Bros., Snepar said he first saw the need for specialty schools "when I was helping start-ups raise capital, largely so they could hire more developers."

And with the average starting salary for a coder in the $60,000 to $65,000 range, "there's a lot of incentive to take this crash course, which taught me a lot more about coding than I did studying electrical engineering in college and grad school, and then graphic design in an associate degree program," said boot camp grad Chuong Nguyen of South Philadelphia. Now a front-end web designer for New Hope's Vantage Lab, the Vietnam-born, Paris-raised Nguyen said he was hired "two weeks after finishing the NYCDA course."

On the other hand, Erin Mahon didn't connect with a job (at digital-marketing agency Brolik) for more than a year after first matriculating in the program. "Honestly, I didn't feel all that satisfied about my abilities after the course sessions. So I shared that with the school administrators, and they were wonderful, said I could retake the whole course, plus separate, specialized evening classes, for no additional charges."

Creative coding is largely a mind-set and self-confidence game, said former NYCDA instructor Jonathan Wexler, now a senior software engineer for Bloomberg Law. "The school puts a lot of emphasis on team building, feedback, and collaboration, the community aspects of development, which are often missing when you take coding courses online at a Cousera, Udacity or Team Treehouse."

The ISA program functions as a great equalizer for potential attendees, said Snepar: An applicant's past achievements, native talent, and potential (judged in pre-entry screenings) rule objectively; credit history is not a factor at all. ISA also functions as a serious marketing differentiator for NYCDA.

Launch Academy set up shop in February, and Trilogy Education Services now runs a 24-week Coding Boot Camp under the auspices of Penn Arts and Sciences. Likewise on the scene are Coded by U and branches of Apprentice.io, American Graphics Institute and Horizons Academy.

Industry consolidation is being felt. Dev Bootcamp (backed by test-prep company Kaplan Inc.) and the Iron Yard (backed by the University of Phoenix's parent) are shutting down this year. New York's Flatiron School was recently bought by WeWorks.

Deploying an ISA-style solution for responsible education funding has earned attention at Purdue University and MissionU, a San Francisco-based one-year feeder program for tech industries that takes 15 percent of a grad's salary for three years as long as she makes more than $50,000 annually.

Earlier this year, Indiana Rep. Todd Young and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio proposed (for naught) the "Investing in Student Success Act of 2017" that would have designated an ISA as a "qualified education loan," with payments tax-deductible, like student-loan payments. The latter are now on the chopping block in the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" passed last week by the House.
GREENHOUSE gas emissions continue to rise despite Government pledges to take action on climate change.

New figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that emissions rose 3.5pc, or by just over two million tonnes, last year, with significant increases across energy, transport and agriculture.

And the EPA warned that the trends are rising, making Irelands efforts to decarbonise the economy ever more difficult.

Achieving Irelands long-term decarbonisation objective can only take place with a transformation of our energy, agriculture and transport systems, director of environmental sustainability at the EPA, Dr Eimear Cotter, said.

We need to adopt a much greater sense of urgency about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels while radically improving energy efficiency. In relation to agriculture, Ireland must optimise agricultural production to ensure long term environmental integrity and sustainability.

"The growth in this sector, particularly for dairy and other cattle, points to very significant risks in relation to meeting our decarbonisation objectives.

The figures show that greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly in 2016, following a substantial increase in 2015.

National emissions now total 61.19 million tonnes, 3.5pc above 2015 levels and they are now at 2009 levels.

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In agriculture, emissions rose by 2.7pc.

The most significant drivers are higher dairy cow numbers ( up 6.2pc) which reflects national plans to expand milk production, the EPA said. Dairy cow numbers have increased by 22pc in the last four years while greenhouse gas emissions increased by 8pc over that time.

This shows that agricultural production has gained some efficiency over this period but that we have some way to go before full decoupling.

Transport emissions are up 3.7pc. or 13pc over the last four years, and show no sign of abatement in the short term.

Energy emissions are up 6.1pc, driven by an increase in demand for electricity.

Read More

Expand Close Dr.Cara Augustenborg of Friends of the Earth Ireland Picture: Tom Burke / Facebook

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Friends of the Earth said the rising levels confirm the complete lack of political leadership on climate change.

Head of Science and Communications, Dr Cara Augustenborg said: Of the handful of EU countries who are going to miss their 2020 climate targets, Ireland is the only member state whose emissions are still rising. These figures confirm the complete lack of political leadership on climate change from this Government.

The Citizens' Assembly recently recommended a series of practical and positive measures we could take to cut pollution and improve our quality of life. Leo Varadkar and Denis Naughten should now commit to rewriting the Government's climate action plan based on the Citizens' Assembly recommendations."
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has told an international broadcaster that "all is being done that can be done" to avoid a snap election as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin are meeting again today.

Today's crunch talks are the fourth attempt by the party leaders to avoid the collapse of the government after Fianna Fail said it has lost confidence in Tanaiste France Fitzgerald.

The party's motion comes amid mounting criticism from the Opposition about Ms Fitzgerald's handling of an email relating to whistleblower Maurice McCabe which she received in 2015 and a legal strategy aimed at discrediting him.

Fianna Fail have placed her resignation as a red-line issue to avoid a pre-Christmas election but Fine Gael have underlined their support of the Tanaiste. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he is not seeking her resignation and to do so would be to "throw a good woman under the bus" for the sake of "expediency".

There was a clear cooling of attitudes in both the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail camps today about the prospect of an election.

Fianna Fail election organisers have been told this morning by party headquarters to ease off on election planning, Independent.ie understands.

Meanwhile, speaking today on Brexit and the issue of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Mr Donohoe appeared to downplay the escalating political tension in Ireland as he addressed an international audience.

"All is being done that can be done to avoid an election taking place here in Ireland," Mr Donohoe told CNBC Monday.

The core issue at the centre of the gulf between the two parties has acquired a "momentum of its own" he said.

"I know her to be an absolutely competent and reforming minister. She and her predecessors though are dealing with a very, very complex issue in relation to the administration of justice in our country," he said.

"As I said I think the really important thing now is that all steps are taken to avoid an election happening .

"There is so much taking place at the moment that our country has to deal with from Brexit to other challenges abroad.

"Frances has done a fine job as Minister, she has my full support," he added.

He said work will be continuing over the coming day or so to avert an election.

He was speaking following three rounds of talks between Mr Varadkar and Mr Martin where "some progress" was made but no deal was reached.

Mr Donohoe's cabinet colleague, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, said it is now the time for "cool heads".

He told Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio One that Ms Fitzgerald has not had an opportunity to go to the Disclosures Tribunal to answer questions.

He said the tribunal will start hearing on these issues on 8 January, and added that now is the time for "cool heads".

He said the truth must be established through a proper process.

Pressure

The crisis comes at a time when ministers are preparing for December's crunch EU summit on December 14 and 15, when the fate of the Irish border post-Brexit could effectively be determined.

In the event of an election Mr Varadkar would be attending the summit as a caretaker Taoiseach which Fine Gael argue would leave Ireland in a weakened position at a crucial juncture.

The email at the centre of the controversy has raised questions over Mrs Fitzgerald's denials, a year later, that she knew nothing of the contentious legal strategy deployed by the Garda to question the motives of Mr McCabe during a 2015 tribunal that examined his claims of police malpractice.

The controversy took another twist on Sunday when it emerged the then Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan had discussed the strategy in a phone call with a senior Department of Justice official while the tribunal was still ongoing.

The revelation raised further questions about the extent of contact about the matter between the Garda and the Department of Justice at the time.

Mr Martin, whose party is keeping Mr Varadkar's coalition government alive through an 18-month-old confidence and supply agreement, has refused to back down on a motion of no confidence in Tanaiste Mrs Fitzgerald.

It is scheduled for Tuesday night and, if Fianna Fail follow through with it, the confidence and supply pact would be broken and the Government would fall.

Optimistic

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast morning Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said it is clear nobody wants an election except Sinn Fein and said the onus now falls on Fianna Fail to avoid one.

Minister Regina Doherty said she is still optimistic that an election can be avoided.

"What we have all discovered at the weekend is the level of dysfunction in the Department of Justice - I was going to say shocked us all - but it hasn't," she said.

Ms Doherty said it is "clear to me is that the country wouldn't be in any different position than we are today", except for a weakened position in relation to Brexit and Northen Ireland.

She continued her defence of Ms Fitzgerald and dismissed claims by her constituency colleague Thomas Byrne (FF) who said the fact that the minister did not know of the call from the Garda Commissioner was enough to warrant her stepping aside.

Ms Doherty said it is clear nobody wants an election except Sinn Fein and said the onus now falls on Fianna Fail to avoid one.

When you have people sitting around an table telling you they don't want an election well then it becomes their responsibility to make sure we don't have one," she said.

"I'm always optimistic... there is nothing that can't be solved in the next 24 hours so we don't need an election," she said.

Meanwhile, on RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Sinn Fein's Justice Spokesperson Donnchadh O'Laoghaire said the only solution to the crisis is for Frances Fitzgerald to resign.

Sinn Fein Justice Spokesperson Donnchadh O'Laoghaire said he does not think it is a sufficient solution for Frances Fitzgerald to step aside temporarily.

"The Dail has lost confidence in her, I would say. If it came to a vote, I think it would be clear.

"The Fianna Fail deputies last week had no confidence in her.

"It could be a situation where she perhaps stands aside, but continues to hold a prominent role in proxy, because she does not have the confidence of the Dail."

He continued: "Frances Fitzgerald is a likeable woman, but this doesn't mean this issue can be set aside.

"She did wrong. She failed to do anything to support Maurice McCabe."

He also said he did not think an apology or a reworking of the Department of Justice was sufficient.

"While there are issues in the Department of Justice, this is an issue of political accountability.

"It is very clear the Dail does not have confidence in Frances Fitzgerald.

"It is very clear that the case for defence is unravelling.

"The claim that there was no prior knowledge has been dismissed.

"That she couldn't do anything about it has been disproven.

"The point that it was so insignificant she couldn't remember or didn't know about it has been dispelled.

"The case for the defence has collapsed.

"The only resolution to this is Frances Fitzgerald to resign."

Crisis

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan told Today with Sean O'Rourke that his party are not in "heads on the plates territory".

"Our country is at crisis point but we would say no to an election before Christmas.

"We have Brexit talks in December and that has priority.

"For that reason, we said we're not looking for heads on plates.

"Frances Fitzgerald and Charlie Flanagan have showed a lack of competence, and further revelations at the weekend have just copper-fastened that.

"It's not as if we're saying Frances Fitzgerald has done a great job.

"We think in the bigger scheme of things, we have Brexit talks in December, we have an Eighth Amendment committee that is ongoing.

"Christmas is a period that we do downtime.

"The whole country says we meet friends, we clean houses, we have people over.

"It won't serve the political system by having an election in the middle of it."
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail were this weekend coming under intense pressure from voters to pull back from the brink of a general election in the days before Christmas.

Deputies from both parties embroiled in a political standoff over a motion of no confidence in Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald have been faced with an angry backlash from constituents.

But neither Leo Varadkar nor Micheal Martin were showing any sign of retiring from entrenched positions.

At a meeting yesterday, the two party leaders discussed the role the Charleton Tribunal would have examining the Tanaiste's knowledge of the legal strategy.

And the Taoiseach handed over a series of documents from the Department of Justice in an attempt to establish the extent of knowledge the Tanaiste and her officials had of the Garda strategy to discredit Sgt Maurice McCabe.

A major overhaul of the Department of Justice is now also on the table.

However, it remains unclear whether Fianna Fail would be prepared to back down if Ms Fitzgerald is found to have acted appropriately after a trawl of departmental files and the Charleton Tribunal completes its work. After the meeting, Mr Varadkar phoned the Tanaiste to reassure her Fine Gael was still fully behind her.

The party has ramped up election preparations by issuing a directive to have 20 selection conventions held by Tuesday and the rest completed by the end of the week. The most likely dates for an election are Tuesday, December 19, or the following Thursday.

However, voters have called constituency offices and approached TDs publicly to tell them they do not want an election during one of the busiest times of the year for families and businesses.

Fianna Fail TDs have faced the most severe criticism, with some constituents telling them they would not vote for the party if an election is called.

As a result, there is growing disquiet in the party over Mr Martin's handling of the situation.

"It's bad judgment for a leader to go off on his own bat and do this without consulting the parliamentary party on an issue that was going to cause a general election," said one Fianna Fail TD who would not normally be critical of Mr Martin.

On the Fine Gael side, one minister said people "don't want to talk about the issues, they just say make it stop".

However, the prospect of a snap general election is intensifying, with Ms Fitzgerald telling the Sunday Independent she will "not bow to summary justice".

"I believe in due process, and as the Taoiseach said due process was important for Maurice McCabe and it is important for me," the Tanaiste said.

Mr Varadkar also continued to back his deputy and said it was not in the interest of the country to hold an election.

"Most people feel that the Government is functioning, that we're in a strong position on Brexit in particular at a very precarious time and the Government should be allowed to continue its work," he said.

Mr Martin continued to stand over his demand that the Tanaiste should step aside.

"The Taoiseach and I continue to have different positions on this issue but we are agreed that we do not want a general election," Mr Martin told the Sunday Independent.

Read More:

As things stand, the election campaign would take place against the backdrop of the most important EU Brexit summit since the negotiations began.

The summit is hugely important as Mr Varadkar may use Ireland's veto to prevent talks going to the next stage if issues around the Northern Ireland border are not resolved.

Labour Party TD Alan Kelly said Sinn Fein's attempt to bring down the Government was political opportunism and insisted an election was not needed.

"They have jumped on the bandwagon and seen an opportunity to split this (confidence and supply) arrangement," he said.

Sinn Fein tabled a motion of no confidence in Ms Fitzgerald after it emerged she received an email alerting her to the aggressive approach being taken by Garda at the O'Higgins Commission towards Sgt McCabe in May 2015. Mr Martin then tabled a separate motion which is a breach of the confidence and supply arrangement between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

The Fianna Fail leader's decision to bring the country to a brink of an election has incensed backbench TDs who were not consulted before the diktat was issued to the Taoiseach.

Another TD said Mr Martin's decision was "beyond logic" because no one gave a "flying f**k about that email".

Independent Alliance TD Sean Canney said the public was furious that politicians were talking about an election when they should be focused on Brexit, housing and health.

"These are people who vote and they can't understand why politicians who are supposed to know what is important are in Dublin using the circumstances around an email to call an election," Mr Canney said.

He suggested the parties could draft a new confidence and supply agreement for the next two years so the Government could see out the Brexit negotiations.

In Fine Gael, ministers rallied around Ms Fitzgerald and insisted she should not be forced to resign over the latest Department of Justice scandal. However, one minister suggested that if she did hand in her resignation the party would accept it. "If she does, we won't be happy but we will live with it," the minister said.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Varadkar described Ms Fitzgerald as "someone who helped me to believe that I could be a leader, that I should be judged by my ability and my politics and not on my sexuality or the colour of my skin."

Sources close to the Tanaiste were adamant she would not be stepping down.

"She's not before the tribunal; there are no charges against her so why would she step aside? It's not a runner," the sources said.

It emerged last week that the email sent to Ms Fitzgerald was also forwarded to her senior Department of Justice officials and her political adviser.

Senior government sources this weekend said there was no follow-up meeting to discuss the strategy being used against Sgt McCabe by the Garda legal team.

Questions remain over why Ms Fitzgerald did not take any action on foot of the email. The Government has claimed she was legally prevented from intervening in the tribunal but Fianna Fail has argued this is not the case.

Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan is also under pressure over the role he played in the controversy and his failure to alert the Taoiseach to the existence of the email when he became aware of its existence.
Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald noted the email at the centre of the controversy threatening to bring down the Government when she received it in 2015.

New documents released by the Department of Justice tonight also reveal that Ms Fitzgerald was alerted to a press query about the Garda legal strategy at the OHiggins Commission.

Officials in the department have been conducting a search for emails that may be relevant to the Charleton Tribunal which is investigating allegations of a smear campaign against Sgt McCabe.

Despite the new revelations, sources say Ms Fitzgerald remains defiant and will not be tendering her resignation.

She tweeted tonight: "As Justice Minister I could not interfere with the O'Higgins Commission.

"This is confirmed twice in today's documents & has been confirmed by the AG (Attorney General).

"The Tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January."

1/2 As Justice Minister I could not interfere with the O'Higgjns Commission. This is confirmed twice in today's docs & has been confirmed by the AG.  Frances Fitzgerald (@FitzgeraldFrncs) November 27, 2017

2/2 The Tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January.  Frances Fitzgerald (@FitzgeraldFrncs) November 27, 2017

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin are due to meet tonight in a bid to find a compromise that will save the country from a general election in the days before Christmas.

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar confirmed to Independent.ie that he still has confidence in the Tanaiste.

Two email threads were publicly released by the Department of Justice tonight.

The first is an unredacted version of the email in which Ms Fitzgerald is alerted to a dispute between lawyers for ex-Commissioner Noirin OSullivan and Sgt McCabe at the OHiggins Commission in May 2015.

Ms Fitzgerald has said that while she probably read the email she cannot remember it.

However, the documents released tonight the Ministers private secretary tells another senior justice officials: The Minister has noted the below.

A separate email from July 4, 2015 now also shows that Ms Fitzgerald was made aware of press queries from RTE which suggested Sgt McCabe was looking to be taken out of the traffic unit in Mullingar.

It also questions whether the Garda Commissioner had instructed her counsel to adopt an aggressive stance towards Sgt McCabe at the OHiggins Commission.

A briefing note by the Deputy Secretary General in Justice for Ms Fitzgerald states: I understand that some weeks ago Sgt McCabe indicated to his authorities in Mullingar that he no longer wanted to stay in his post in the Traffic Unit.

Apparently he blamed the Commissioner for this though he said he could not be more specific as he was bound by confidentiality.

This coincided with hearings at the OHiggins Commission (these hearings are being held in private and there is a prohibition on disclosing evidence given at them).

Sgt McCabe remains in his post at the traffic unit, though, in practice, his time recently has been taken up giving evidence to the Commission.

The official advises Ms Fitzgerald that it is a matter of public record that at various times Sgt McCabe has raised various concerns regarding his position in the Force.

The justice official suggests a reply that the Minister could make in which she would say that she must conscious that Sgt McCabe no more and no less than any service member of the Force, is entitled to confidentiality in his dealings with the Garda authorities.

So it would not be appropriate for me to comment publicly in any way on those dealings.

The proposed response continues: In particular, I think it would be very unfair to Sgt McCabe for me to do so.

In another email the minister is briefed on the response of Garda Commission Noirin OSullivan to the same query.

On that occasion the Deputy Secretary advised Ms Fitzgerald it would be completely inappropriate for you to comment in any way on the workings of the Commission.

There is no evidence of Ms Fitzgerald having replied to any of the emails directly.
With just hours to go to avoid a snap election, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin are meeting in Cork.

If Fine Gael Taoiseach Leo Varadkar fails to end the stand-off with main opposition party Fianna Fail by Tuesday, a snap pre-Christmas election looms.

Mr Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin held talks over the weekend to try to avert a government meltdown at a time when ministers are preparing for December's crunch EU summit, when the fate of the Irish border post-Brexit could effectively be determined.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin met in Dublin on Sunday night and sources close to the pair said "some progress was made". Today, the duo will meet in Cork.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast morning Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said it is clear nobody wants an election except Sinn Fein and said the onus now falls on Fianna Fail to avoid one.

Minister Regina Doherty said she is still optimistic that an election can be avoided.

"What we have all discovered at the weekend is the level of dysfunction in the Department of Justice - I was going to say shocked us all - but it hasn't," she said.

Ms Doherty said it is "clear to me is that the country wouldn't be in any different position than we are today", except for a weakened position in relation to Brexit and Northen Ireland.

She continued her defence of Ms Fitzgerald and dismissed claims by her constituency colleague Thomas Byrne (FF) who said the fact that the minister did not know of the call from the Garda Commissioner was enough to warrant her stepping aside.

Ms Doherty said it is clear nobody wants an election except Sinn Fein and said the onus now falls on Fianna Fail to avoid one.

"When you have people sitting around an table telling you they don't want an election well then it becomes their responsibility to make sure we don't have one," she said.

"I'm always optimistic... there is nothing that can't be solved in the next 24 hours so we don't need an election," she said.

Meanwhile, on RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Sinn Fein's Justice Spokesperson Donnchadh O'Laoghaire said the only solution to the crisis is for Frances Fitzgerald to resign.

Sinn Fein Justice Spokesperson Donnchadh O'Laoghaire said he does not think it is a sufficient solution for Frances Fitzgerald to step aside temporarily.

"The Dail has lost confidence in her, I would say. If it came to a vote, I think it would be clear.

"The Fianna Fail deputies last week had no confidence in her.

"It could be a situation where she perhaps stands aside, but continues to hold a prominent role in proxy, because she does not have the confidence of the Dail."

He continued; "Frances Fitzgerald is a likeable woman, but this doesn't mean this issue can be set aside.

"She did wrong. She failed to do anything to support Maurice McCabe."

He also said he did not think an apology or a reworking of the Department of Justice was sufficient.

"While there are issues in the Department of Justice, this is an issue of political accountability.

"It is very clear the Dail does not have confidence in Frances Fitzgerald.

"It is very clear that the case for defence is unravelling.

"The claim that there was no prior knowledge has been dismissed.

"That she couldn't do anything about it has been disproven.

"The point that it was so insignificant she couldn't remember or didn't know about it has been dispelled.

"The case for the defence has collapsed.

"The only resolution to this is Frances Fitzgerald to resign."

Pressure

Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald remains under intense pressure to resign over her handling of a 2015 email that revealed attempts to discredit a Garda whistleblower, Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

The email has raised questions over Mrs Fitzgerald's denials, a year later, that she knew nothing of the contentious legal strategy deployed by the Garda to question the motives of Mr McCabe during a 2015 tribunal that examined his claims of police malpractice.

The controversy took another twist on Sunday when it emerged the then Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan had discussed the strategy in a phone call with a senior Department of Justice official while the tribunal was still ongoing.

Read More

The revelation raised further questions about the extent of contact about the matter between the Garda and the Department of Justice at the time.

Mr Martin, whose party is keeping Mr Varadkar's coalition government alive through an 18-month-old confidence and supply agreement, has refused to back down on a motion of no confidence in Tanaiste Mrs Fitzgerald.

It is scheduled for Tuesday night and, if Fianna Fail follow through with it, the confidence and supply pact would be broken and the Government would fall.

One way out of the impasse could be for Mrs Fitzgerald to fall on her sword but Mr Varadkar has made clear he does not want her to walk away.

If the Dail is dissolved, Mr Varadkar would be reduced to the role of caretaker Taoiseach when he travels to Brussels for the summit.

The crisis has erupted at a time when Ireland's stance on Brexit - in particular its call for Northern Ireland to adhere to an EU customs framework - is threatening to thwart the UK government's desire to progress negotiations with Europe on to a future trade deal.

Read More

On Saturday, Mr Varadkar provided Mr Martin with an update on an emergency trawl of documents within the Department of Justice to locate any additional information on the whistleblower furore.

That trawl unearthed details of Ms O'Sullivan's phone call to the Department of Justice official.

Mrs Fitzgerald has defended her handling of the email issue amid allegations she was aware of the campaign by lawyers for the Garda Commissioner and took no action.

On Sunday, she faced fresh questions as to whether she discussed the email with Ms O'Sullivan when she attended a memorial event with her the day after she received it.

Additional reporting: PA
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has reiterated his intention for Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to reach a resolution and avoid a general election before Christmas.

The Taoiseach today bluntly accused Sinn Fein of being the only Irish political party that wanted a pre-Christmas election for their own party ends.

Mr Varadkar was speaking as attended the Requiem Mass of former Fine Gael TD, MEP and Minister Donal Creed (93) in Cork.

Mr Creed is the father of Agriculture Minister Michael Creed TD.

As he left St Colman's Church in Macroom, Mr Varadkar said everything possible was being done to avoid a second election in Ireland in less than two years.

"We don't have resolution at this stage," he said.

Expand Close Minister Frances Fitzgerald and Leo Varadkar. Photo:Tom Burke / Facebook

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"But I will be meeting with Micheal Martin later this afternoon or this evening.

"I think it is fair to say that neither Fianna Fail nor Fine Gael want an election.

"It seems Sinn Fein are the only party that wants that.

"We are trying to find a middle way that allows the Government to continue - to continue with the important work that we are doing particularly in relation to Brexit...Ensuring that we have necessary legislation."

The Fine Gael leader's comments come amid a clear cooling of attitudes in both camps today about the prospect of an election.

Fianna Fail election organisers have been told this morning by party headquarters to ease off on election planning, Independent.ie understands.

However, Mr Varadkar refused to say whether he was confident or hopeful an election could be avoided.

"We are doing everything we can," he said.

"As I always said, and as I said in the Dail last week, I have nothing to hide, Fine Gael has nothing to hide nor does the Government.

"We are not trying to protect anyone.

"We just want to make sure that there is due process and that people are treated fairly.

"Certainly I don't want there to be an election. I don't think it would change anything or achieve anything, particularly at such an important time for the country.

"So we will meet with Micheal Martin this evening and I will do everything I can to come to a resolution.

"But obviously that must involve due process."

Mr Varadkar also stressed that nothing had changed in terms of Fine Gael's staunch support for embattled Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

When me asked if he supported her, he replied: "Yes, absolutely."

Earlier Ministers Simon Coveney and Paschal Donohoe both reiterated their support of Ms Fitzgerald in separate broadcast interviews and again repeated their desire for Ireland to avoid a snap election ahead of crucial Brexit negotiations next month.

Junior Housing Minister Damien English said he is ptimistic Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will work out a compromise to avoid a Christmas election.

He said: "I think there's an opportunity today, both the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and leader of Fianna Fail Micheal Martin, have been working hard over the weekend.

"They've had a couple of meetings each day, for the past couple of days," he told Independent.ie.

"Genuinely both of them want to avoid an election, because it's very clear from talking to anybody in any sector, no matter who or what they support, don't want an election."

However, members of the Opposition including Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald and Labour's Brendan Howlin, also took to the airwaves today to underline their position that Ms Fitzgerald should step aside.

Meanwhile, a Fianna Fail TD said the partys position remains clear and that Ms Fitzgerald must step aside.

Galway East deputy Anne Rabbitte told Independent.ie that while she is not seeking a head on a plate, her party will not tolerate her remaining in her post.

I hope common sense will prevail and Fine Gael puts country first and not the party, Ms Rabbitte said.

At the same time, I'm not looking for any head on a plate. I'm looking for her to stand aside until that part is addressed in detail, she added,
An election would not be the worst thing for the country right now, according to a leading politics professor.

Professor of Politics at Dublin City University, Gary Murphy, said the current confidence and supply agreement is "done and dusted".

Speaking to RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Professor Murphy said another election could mean a better set-up in government with a new confidence and supply agreement, if necessary.

"I'm not saying we should have an election in December," Professor Murphy said.

"But I think the confidence and supply agreement is done and dusted.

"It might be no harm to have an election.

"Bringing it into January brings more confusion, more delay and more uncertainty.

"And I'm not sure the country can afford it."

The professor said he is confident that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar could participate in Brexit talks with an ongoing election in Ireland.

"I think the Taoiseach can still go to Brexit talks with the full confidence of his office.

"He's relatively young, with plenty of energy.

"I don't think it would make a difference if he was in the middle of an election or not.

"I'm not sure it would [mean he was politically undermined].

"I don't see any reason for that to be the case.

"Leo Varadkar is leader of our country...

"He has full constitutional authority, I think that's what counts."

The political scientist said if the results were similar to the election in 2016, he would see this as an opportunity to get the confidence and supply agreement "right" this time.

"I think what we really need - if the results are much the same as last year as they could well be on the poll numbers - another confidence and supply agreement and get it right this time.

"To those who thought the parliament would assert itself in relation to Article 28.4 of the constitution, that the government shall be responsible to Dail Eireann, that's never really worked in Irish politics," he said.

"The government have always dominated parliament and I think it's the same here.

"That's the reality of the situation for Fianna Fail, can Fianna Fail live with a scenario that they can't take Fine Gael running roughshod over them on this issue again."

Professor Gary Murphy said the advantage for having an election in the New Year means the Taoiseach could choose when to go to the country himself.

"This could be Micheal Martin's third election as a leader of Fianna Fail and I'm not sure they'll give him a fourth chance.

"The Taoiseach is in a different position, he is a lot younger and does not want to be the short-serving Taoiseach in history."

He also said he believed a government could be set up a lot quicker than the 2016 General Election's 70 days.

"Hopefully the first bash of it will have sharpened minds," he added.
The boss is coming on to you. You do want to be promoted, don't you?

Your co-worker won't take no for an answer when it comes to drinks after work. And why is it that your supervisor can't seem to pass you in the corridor without brushing against your breasts?

Every day is a fresh headline. Sen. Al Franken. Comedian Louis C.K. Republican U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore. Those are the high-profile cases, but what should you do if the harassment is happening to you?

Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality and senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center in Washington, has this advice:

As soon as you have an inkling that what you are experiencing may be harassment, start documenting incidents. Write a memo to yourself, with dates, times, and descriptions of what happened. Were there any witnesses? Make a note of them. Save hard copies of emails, texts and tweets. Transcribe voice mails and date them.

Don't go it alone. "So many people are suffering in silence, and that's a lot to carry around," Raghu said. Before you decide to take any action, talk the incidents over with trusted friends, family members, and, if possible, trusted co-workers. Gain their perspective and their emotional support. You also might uncover helpful information about a serial harasser at work.

Sometimes, stopping the harassment may be as simple as telling the person to knock it off. But that, too, has its risks. Rehearse your actions, consider the possible consequences, and most important, make sure you physically safe _ a key consideration in workplaces such as factories and warehouses, or when people work shifts when there are fewer co-workers in the vicinity.

Before you complain, do research. Does your company have a policy? What is the reporting procedure? What are the potential outcomes? Does it say anything about retribution?

As you prepare to complain, "think of what outcome you'd like," Raghu said. "Most people simply want the harassment to stop and to get on with their jobs." This is another time to talk over strategies with friends, family and trusted co-workers.

Longtime Philadelphia employment lawyer Alice Ballard said in an interview that the human resources department "is not your friend," because it is charged with protecting the interests of the company. Friend or not, Raghu said, HR is the place to start. Because of the way the law has developed, it's important to show that the proper procedures were followed, even before contacting agencies such as the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

If you are considering litigation, mentally and financially prepare yourself for a long haul with no guarantee of success. You may be counting on a settlement, but there's no guarantee of that either.
Among the popular festive reads this year is the Sherlock Holmes adventure 'Unquiet Spirits'

Some of our bestselling authors have put the 'C' word in their book titles. It's hard to avoid 'Nollaig' with fairy lights festooned across shopping malls eight weeks in advance, while Messrs Douglas Fir, Norway Spruce and Scots Pine stand erect, draped in glittery baubles.

If you'd rather not defer your fictional pleasure until party time is over, there are some great winter thrillers just published.

Hollywood producer Bonnie MacBird's second Sherlock Holmes adventure, Unquiet Spirits (Harper Collins 18) is out. It is December 1889 and Sherlock is the target of a deadly vendetta in London.

His brother Mycroft dispatches him on an urgent assignment to the Riviera, where Holmes and Watson encounter treachery and the typical, terrible discovery. The duo escapes to the snowy Scottish Highlands, where, in a haunted castle, they and their beautiful client continuously face mortal danger.

In a classic moment of Holmesian enlightenment, he realises that three deadly cases are one fatal conundrum. MacBird has done Sherlock fans another good favour.

Not since Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol have there been so many haunting stories set in the last week of December. In Ghosts of Christmas Past, edited by Tim Martin (John Murray 11) are seasonal chillers that poke beneath the festive cheer, uncovering the dark spirit of Christmas, mixing contemporary horror with spooky tales by masters of the macabre including medieval historian MR James, Edith Nesbit, author of The Railway Children, and Jerome K Jerome who wrote Three Men in a Boat.

A supernatural story by Louis de Bernieres is an oddity, more melancholy than horror, while Muriel Spark retains her austere approach in The Leaf Keeper.

For a bit of British wit,in Seven Days of Us (Little, Brown 15) by Francesca Hornak, the Birch family is in claustrophobic confinement, due to the eldest child being in quarantine, having battled an epidemic in Liberia.

For seven days, no one can leave the Norfolk ancestral home and no one can enter. Can you imagine? Family conflict is dredged from the past to the present; characters are full of intrigue, in a very filmic style, making it a great debut.

The tragic impact of World War I is well known, but Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, co-authors of Last Christmas in Paris (Harper Collins 18) narrate a searingly romantic crisis of the Great War and its destruction of family and lovers.

When Evie's brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas, depart for the front, Evie believes - as everyone does - that it will be over by Christmas, when they plan to celebrate the holiday in the chic cafes of Paris.

The tale runs to Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris - a cherished packet of letters in hand - determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him. Hold your breath.....

Video of the Day

If you'd like to indulge in 'oh what fun it is to ride' before the bells jingle, then there's The Mistletoe Matchmaker by Felicity Hayes McCoy (Hachette 16) set in the wild west of Ireland.

Cassie Fitzgerald, just landed from Toronto, encounters a huge cast of characters in a place cloaked in mystery. But one man, the handsome, humorous Shay, is intent on making her visit an exciting one. This book is one for the female diaspora, unveiling the thrill of coming home.

Deirdre Purcell's The Christmas Voyage (Hachette 16) is the alternative to a grey Christmas in Ireland with the glamour of a cruise liner setting off under the blue skies of Barcelona.

On board is New York ex-model Kitty Golden and her millionaire husband, the picture of cool, and classically deceptive. A boisterous Irish family of eight - how odd! - has also taken to sea.

A young writer, Roxy, is intent on finding inspiration for her second novel by observing them all, only to end up embroiled in the action.

Sheila O'Flanagan's Christmas With You (Hachette 10) is set in the Sugar Loaf Lodge. With snow-covered mountains outside and fires roaring inside, the lodge is an ideal venue to celebrate a winter break, but what about heartbreak? Or a lying husband, and a secret past that haunts you.

Each character's story is interlinked full of twists and the odd bit of love.

For the youth brigade, for whom Christmas is full of promise, particularly when the boyfriend pops the question, Falling Softly (Hachette 10) by Maria Duffy, brings a touch of reality to the small world we live in.

Holly and David are just engaged, and have new neighbours, parents-to-be, Josh and Stephanie.

Holly and Josh have history. Gosh, fiction is full of lies, some people are too, and Falling Softly reveals that shallow sort.

Happy holiday reading.
Though she would squirm at the mere suggestion of it, Lorraine Keane has to be the personification of what it means to be an ideal woman.

This accomplished broadcast and print journalist, presenter and panellist is emotionally generous and perceptive. She glows with good health, while being blessed with two talented daughters, and a "rock-solid" rock-star husband. She also comes from a family of six girls and one boy. Apparently, there was much love, laughter and music in their Rathfarnham home; and this continues to this day.

And while Lorraine is immensely grateful for all the wonderful gifts in her life, she also understands that she has a responsibility to help improve the lot of those who face seemingly impossible odds.

That is why she allocates a month every year to altruistic endeavours. This means she has to pack her bags, say goodbye to Emelia (14) and Romy (11), as well as her musician husband Peter Devlin, before heading off to places devastated by natural disasters or torn apart by political conflict. "I don't look forward to these trips," she says. "We go to places that are rife with poverty, disease and hardship. It is so heartbreaking."

Nonetheless, Lorraine will then do what she does best; she will don her journalism hat and swing into action. She will coax stories from the broken people who have endured them first-hand. She will listen carefully, she will empathise, and she will make sure those harrowing stories are recorded for posterity.

She will hold hands with wounded women and men; she will smile while playing with damaged children.

She will then come home and do charity events and media interviews, trying to persuade us to reach deep into our pockets so we may make the lives of those suffering people better.

"It can be absolutely harrowing," she says. "When I went to the Philippines, after the tsunami, I met people who had lost absolutely everything. I mean everything - their families, homes and businesses. It was so tragic. Fortunately, they came together as a community and started rebuilding their lives with the help of the wider world.

"But when I went to Haiti, 11 months after their devastating earthquake, it looked like it had only happened the day before. Only a small amount of the money raised internationally got through to the people who needed it. Corruption was a big problem there. That is why NGOs [non-governmental organisations] are so important on the ground after a disaster strikes. These people are really making a difference in Haiti."

Currently, Lorraine is focused on empowering women in disadvantaged countries. As she prepares for a trip to Tanzania for LIFE magazine, she is looking forward to meeting some very poor women who spied a business opportunity and took action.

"Their village was close to a major road, with no places for refreshment," explains Lorraine. "The women asked World Vision for coffee beans so they could grow their own crop. Once they had harvested it, they began selling their brew to parched travellers. They plan to expand the business by opening a beauty parlour and hairdressing salon. I can't wait to meet the members of this enterprising women's collective."

Lorraine says this is part of the Women Mean Business initiative, which encourages women in developed countries to support women in disadvantaged ones.

So, given that Lorraine leads a busy life, staying healthy is essential. And while that might have been her ideal, it wasn't always a reality for her. "Some years back, I started to suffer from sleeplessness," she explains, "and I began to feel fatigued and irritable. I thought it was because I was trying to juggle too many things.

"So, I wasn't too surprised when I experienced reduced libido - you'll hardly feel romantic when you're stressed-out and tired."

When Lorraine was asked to try a particular product aimed at mature women's hormonal issues, she balked at the idea. "I'm not in my 50s, so why would I pretend to need a product like that?" she asked. She was then called upon to consider the symptoms of a typical perimenopausal woman. And having heard the list, she realised she very definitely fell into that category.

After further research, she agreed to start taking Cleanmarine MenoMin. According to the Wicklow-based manufacturers, this product regulates hormonal activity, maintains mucous membranes and helps alleviate the symptoms of perimenopause - the stage in a woman's life just before menopause hits - and full menopause.

Lorraine is convinced Cleanmarine MenoMin does what it says on the packet. "It definitely improved my sleep patterns, my irritability and my libido," she volunteers. "It has everything in it that women whose fertility is dropping should be having - like krill oil, omega 3, and essential B vitamins. I now believe I have been perimenopausal since my 30s.

"An important factor in my life is that I don't 'do' suffering or illness. I will usually look for a remedy, and then get on with things. The fact that I didn't do anything about these hormonal symptoms until now annoys me."

So Lorraine is now an active member of the Let's Talk Menopause campaign. "Even in this day and age, women feel that menopause is some dirty little secret. Why is that the case?" she asks. "Perhaps it's because we're living much longer. In the past, when menopause struck, it heralded the final stage of life. But that is so not the case any more.

"Menopause can begin when a woman is in her early 40s, which, these days, is not even halfway through life. When you come out the other side, you should celebrate," she says. "You don't have PMT, period pains, irritability, and none of the inconveniences that all those things bring any more. So, you should be embracing menopause, not dreading it, and you certainly shouldn't be hiding from it."

With that she dons a beautiful, soft, apricot-coloured coat she bought in a sale recently. "It was reduced by a third," she says with unbridled glee.

And she heads off to yet another appointment in her action-packed, fulfilling and generous life.

Following her return from Tanzania, Lorraine (and Liam Cunningham) will host a Women Mean Business fundraising afternoon tea at the InterContinental Hotel, Simmonscourt Rd, D4, on Thursday, November 30. Tickets, 50. See worldvision.ie
Antonio Delgado says Isaac Macias's eyes are what he loves most about him physically, and he enjoys gazing into them. "I fall in love with him a thousand times a day," he says. "But when I first met him, I felt he was too handsome for me and I didn't like him at all. I thought he was very annoying as he's very spontaneous and talks to everyone."

Antonio (35) and Isaac (36) first met in 2001 at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Isaac was studying social work there, and Antonio was checking the place out with a view to enrolling. They met regularly through a mutual friend over the next six months, and Antonio's view of Isaac changed. "He was able to make me laugh," he says. "I wanted that because I had always seen my mum and dad laughing together. I wasn't sure about my sexuality then because I'm not the kind of person who feels attracted to someone physically. I'm more attracted to their personality."

Isaac thought Antonio was a lovely, very handsome guy, and felt there was an innocence about him. "I wasn't that innocent myself," he laughs. "Antonio is really emotional and sensitive, and he's sensible and intelligent too. I love him so much because he is such a sweetheart and he keeps me grounded."

There was a festival on in Gran Canaria the night Isaac asked Antonio out. As he did so, fireworks began launching in the sky, which was very romantic. Spain achieved marriage equality in 2005, but this was before that. Slightly nervous, Antonio waited a year before telling his mum Baca, dad Antonio and three sisters about the relationship. "They were fantastic about it," he says. "My father said that the only thing that they were disappointed with was that I hadn't trusted them. The day I told them was the best day of my life, because I felt I finally knew my place in the world."

Isaac was also supported by his dad Manolo, mum Lole and younger brother and sister in Las Palmas. Over the next few years, he and Antonio studied and worked in various social work and hospitality positions. They first came to Ireland in 2003 to work at Mount Juliet, encouraged by their teacher friend Janet Blanchfield, from Kilkenny. They absolutely loved it here, and went back and forth between Ireland and Gran Canaria between 2003 an 2008, partly because Antonio's dad had cancer - he sadly passed away in 2008.

They returned to Ireland in 2012 when they received an invitation to work at the Conrad hotel, Isaac in room service and Antonio as a waiter. After two years, Antonio moved to the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge, now known as the InterContinental Dublin. Isaac followed shortly afterwards and they love working at the five-star hotel. Antonio is a waiter who would love to progress to management, while Isaac progressed from room service to being a doorman, or guest assistant. He's perfect for the role, with his great charm and lovely mannerly demeanour. Antonio is also an absolute dote, and together they're a warm, welcoming duo, perfectly suited to the hospitality industry.

The standards are very high at the hotel, and the guys say they enjoy going the extra mile for guests. They also like that the hotel encourages staff to be themselves and they can be funny and friendly on duty. "We are such an international team here at the hotel, and everyone is so open," says Isaac. "There is no problem with having different religions and backgrounds or sexualities. When we proposed to one another, we felt so much love from the hotel and our colleagues and we feel valued as workers here. The hotel has a five-star philosophy of really supporting its staff."

While Antonio and Isaac originally felt they wouldn't get married, they both had a change of heart last year after 15 years together. They were walking home after being out for drinks on their anniversary when Antonio proposed to Isaac. "He started to laugh at first and I thought, 'Kill me right now'," says Antonio. "Then he said yes, but when we reached home, it turned out that he had everything set up to propose to me that same night."

Isaac says that he was nervous on the way home as he had made a video asking Antonio to marry him, and couldn't believe that his boyfriend pipped him at the post. They decided to tie the knot in Dublin as it was easier to arrange than back home, and were married four months ago with seven friends present at the Civil Registration Service in Lower Grand Canal Street. They went to the Trinity Hotel for food and drinks afterwards and had a wonderful day. They plan to have a second celebration with their families in Gran Canaria next year.

The newlyweds live in the Docklands area of Dublin and love going off travelling. The advantage of working in the hospitality industry is that they have friends they can stay with all over the world. Isaac is "crazy" in a good way, says Antonio, and life is never dull around him. "I can be completely myself with him and he's my best friend," says Antonio. "If it wasn't for Isaac, I don't think I'd be here right now. You have moments in life where you feel you don't want to keep going, but Isaac has always supported me. He brings out the best in me and pushes me to be the best person I can be. He's just amazing."

www.intercontinentaldublin.ie
What struck me about cashmere designer Elaine Madigan when I met with her was that she hadn't a bit of self-pity. So many of us (of course, I am talking about myself here) can wallow in what we have been through, not necessarily focusing on what we are succeeding in doing. Elaine is not one of those people - she is all optimism, all can-do, and it suffuses her work.

Though she opened a fashion boutique, Couture, in Naas, just as the economic downturn began, Elaine got on with things. She picked up her knitting needles to deal with her stress; something her grandmother and mother had taught her.

People started buying her pieces, so she made more. Then Liz Spillane of Limerick College of Art & Design suggested Elaine do their two-year knitwear design course to expand her skills. Today, Elaine has a thriving business here, online and in export. Last year, she opened her first Madigan store in the Westbury Mall. Her design ethos is to offer both cosy weekend looks - which tend towards softer, looser shapes and colours - as well as sophisticated sweaters and tailored cardigans, to better serve urban environs.

"I love colour," Elaine tells me. "I am absolutely loving what I am doing. My personality is very much in it. I am able to give a lot more of myself because of that, and people buy into people. We all want to feel good, with each other, with ourselves."

Madigan is a cashmere brand based on service. Serving people's needs in terms of styling, quality and colour, and also individual needs, such as shorter arms than regular sizing, or a bigger fit, or petite. Elaine will do it all.

"Well, within reason," Elaine laughs. "But I do want to be able to take care of people. I am about service. I am a front person. I am on the store floor and I learn from people, from what they try on, what people need and want.

Cashmere is ideal for work environs, as well as health-induced body temperature extremes due to, say, thyroid issues, menopause or cancer, because you can layer densities and not look bulky, and then peel on and off pieces according to need.

As we discuss Christmas gift ideas - Madigan's multi-adaptable collar-scarves for women (with helpful instructions); luxurious, masculine scarves for men - Elaine beams as she shows me her work, explaining yarns and colour mixes.

That is the cashmere effect, too, we both agree. It's a magical yarn; it makes everyone feel really, really happy and loved.

Photography by Anita Sadowska

Styling by Carmel Daly

Fashion edited by Constance Harris
WORDS OF PASSION: Patrick Kavanagh lived around Dublins Baggot Street area when he first came to Dublin

Next Thursday, November 30, is the 50th anniversary of the death of Patrick Kavanagh, the Monaghan poet. I thought I would share this memory. It is a sort of a sideways view of Kavanagh but nonetheless interesting.

Many, many years ago I was a student in UCD when it was then on Earlsfort Terrace. It is where I first came across Patrick Kavanagh. A crowd of us would go to a pub at the bottom of Leeson Street for a pint or a coffee.

Kavanagh was sometimes there with a friend or often by himself, and our cheery "hello" would be greeted with a grunt - but a "hello" nonetheless.

I had always loved Kavanagh's poetry, both personally and when I was teaching at secondary level, so I was delighted to see the man himself.

His poetry has accompanied me throughout my life and I look back on my student days - seeing this tall, gangly country man with a hat, sitting at the corner of the pub, - with great fondness.

If I was asked to sum up what I like most about his work, it is that he made the ordinary extraordinary: a dreeping hedge in a lane, bicycles going by in "twos and threes" - "There's a dance in Billy Brennan's barn tonight", a dance from which he, the poet, was excluded.

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All of these ordinary things he translated into beautiful words and beautiful lines of poetry, and he addressed emotions with such great simplicity.

When I was teaching, I always said to the students when we were doing poetry: "Say it out loud; don't just be picking up a sanitised critique of the poem or the poet. Just continue to say the poetry out loud."

The reason for this is because I think the more you say a poem out loud, the more sense it begins to make to you.

I used to say: "Don't worry if you can't understand the poem, if it seems esoteric or mystical or difficult to comprehend. Don't think about that. You don't have to make complete sense of it to understand every word. If you find that you like the poem only one thing is required. That is to read it."

As is well known, Patrick Kavanagh lived on Baggot Street when he first came up to Dublin from Monaghan, and quite often he'd walk up Raglan Road where a beautiful young medical student by the name of Hilda Moriarty lived. Kavanagh fell for her, really loved her, and that love is immortalised in the lines from the poem On Raglan Road:

On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew

That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue

The story goes that Hilda Moriarty invited Kavanagh to her family home in Dingle, Co Kerry, for Christmas, but he didn't fit in with them at all.

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It would seem that Hilda's father, Dr Moriarty, decided that this man was not suitable for his lovely, academic daughter.

He advised her to break up with him, and, like the good daughter she was, she broke off the romance.

Kavanagh poured out all of his feelings into the lines of the poem and I am always so moved when I hear it on the radio because it evokes another memory of a time in my own life, which I'll get to in a moment.

Hilda Moriarty married Donagh O'Malley, who would go on to be Minister for Education. His greatest achievement would be to make secondary education free in Ireland. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of his death.

I met Hilda O'Malley once, when she accompanied Donagh to Athlone to open a new primary school. She was waiting in the car for him and I stopped to chat to her. I have never seen a more beautiful couple together.

They were like two film stars, dark and attractive and mysterious looking - Ireland didn't have such glamorous people in those days, so you can imagine they both made their mark.

Perhaps Hilda Moriarty's father was right to think that Patrick Kavanagh was not a good match for his daughter, and I suppose that if Kavanagh had never met her, we wouldn't have this beautiful poem today.

But there is another twist to this story. Hilda O'Malley died in 1991, and on that day, Charlie Haughey, who was Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail, came into the weekly parliamentary party meeting. We were flush with TDs and senators then. He stood behind the table and said: "Yesterday, Hilda O'Malley died," and then went on to recite On Raglan Road in its entirety. He then told us the story that I've just told you, and as he did, it dawned on me that he may also have been ensnared by her dark hair.

It wouldn't surprise me. She was a beautiful and gifted woman.

When Charlie had finished the poem, you could have heard a pin drop. I think we were all a bit surprised at this sudden show of emotion.

Later on that day, I found myself in the lift with Charlie and I plucked up the courage to say: "That was a lovely poem."

Now, Charlie was very much 'the boss', but I think he respected me because he knew I had been a teacher. "Thank you Mary," he smiled, "I'm glad you enjoyed it.

"It went over the heads of three-quarters of them," he added drily, referring to the members of the parliamentary party.

I have always read anything I can get my hands on about Patrick Kavanagh, and whenever I'm in need of a lift, I open my edition of Soundings and read the lines about the "stony grey soil of Monaghan" or the lines of Inniskeen Road: July Evening.

A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king

Of banks and stones and every blooming thing

But it is to On Raglan Road that I always return, to the memory of my youth and my early days in college and to the casual encounters with Patrick Kavanagh in the pub on Leeson Street, to the memory of that day in Dail Eireann, but mostly to the beauty of the lines and the expression of unrequited love within them:

I gave her gifts of the mind, I gave her the secret sign that's known

To the artists who have known the true gods of sounds and stone

And word and tint. I did not stint for I gave her poems to say

With her own name there and her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May.

To my mind, On Raglan Road is one of the great love poems of any generation -love unrequited and then retold with such passion and emotion.

Patrick Kavanagh, 50 years dead next Thursday, November 30. Each year that goes by, his fame and the bright light of his poetry is renewed and renewed, again and again.

Much of the narrative in the above piece is taken from Mary O'Rourke's recent book Letters of my Life, available in all good bookshops.
You might hate Monday, but you'll love our top 5 Cyber Monday travel deals!

40pc off flights to Iceland

WOW air is offering 40pc off flights from Dublin to Reykjavik for 24 hours only (i.e. until midnight tonight, November 27). Cyber Monday travel deals are valid on select flights between January 10 and May 15, using the promo code WOWCYBERMONDAY. Basic one-way fares are currently advertised on its website from 49.99. wowair.ie.

Up to 50pc off Irish hotel breaks

Lots of Irish hotels are offering Cyber Monday deals, including O'Callaghan Hotels (ocallaghanhotels.com; up to 50pc off); Radisson Blu (radissonblu.com; 30pc off) Limerick Strand (15pc off; strandhotellimerick.ie) and Great National Hotels (greatnationalhotels.com; 20pc off). Select dates and T&Cs apply.

418pp: 5-star Lanzarote

ITAA member King Travel has a seven-night package to Lanzarote's 5-star Hesperia in Puerto Calero from 418pp departing next May. The deal includes Ryanair flights from Dublin or Cork. 01 845-3600; sunsearchholidays.ie; itaa.ie/offers.

449pp: A taster cruise

Fancy seeing what all the fuss is about with cruise holidays? ClickAndGo.com has flights to Barcelona plus a three-night cruise on MSC Orchestra from 449pp. The Black Friday weekend deal expires at midnight. The cruise departs in September 2018. 01 906-9452; ClickAndGo.com.

Save 800pp on a New York cruise

Sunway has flights from Dublin to New York, a three-night stay in the Big Apple, and a seven night transatlantic cruise back to Southampton on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 from 1,467pp. The cruise is full-board, and flights back to Dublin are also included. The package departs on December 5. 01 231-1888; sunway.ie.

NB: All travel deals subject to availability/change.
The eats in East London are better than ever, says Aoife McElwain, who takes a foodie trip to The (Really) Big Smoke.

"Are you going to Lyle's?"

That's the question my food-loving friends asked before I set off for The (Really) Big Smoke. The aim was to eat my way around East London, home to some of the capital's coolest neighbourhoods and the focal point of Rosie Birkett and Helen Cathcart's new book: East London Food: The People, The Places, The Recipes.

The book highlights the creative food community in places like Hackney, Shoreditch and the Old Spitalfields Market, featuring a mouthwatering collection of chefs, butchers, foragers, urban beekeepers and their produce. The white-tiled, on-trend Lyle's (lyleslondon.com) is one of its centrepieces.

And yes, I was definitely going.

With head chef and co-owner James Lowe at the helm, Lyle's does tasting plates for lunch and a tasting menu for dinner in The Tea Buildings, a corner warehouse in Shoreditch. Over lunch, the London sunlight streams through tall windows in an industrial space, creating spectacular shadows on a bowl of Jersey Royal new potatoes served with herring soft roes and sorrel (8.30/9.90).

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There's a plate of juicy snails with crispy-fried nettle, toasted barley and pheasant's egg (8.30/9.90) that sums up the elements of a summer stroll in the English countryside. Razor clams with fennel pollen (9.90/11.80), monkfish livers with blood oranges, and guinea fowl skewers with yoghurt and lemon thyme (both 6.90/8.20) are also devoured. Every dish shines a spotlight on the simplistic beauty of seasonal ingredients, and it all lives up to the hype.

James Lowe ran the kitchen at St John Bread and Wine (stjohngroup.uk.com), just a seven-minute walk from Lyle's, before going out on his own. The influence and pared-back ethos of legendary chef, Fergus Henderson, shines through.

How could it not?

Henderson and his wife Margot opened St John's Restaurant in 1994, a driving force behind the Nose To Tail approach to cooking. St John Bread and Wine followed, as an even less formal platform for British cooking, on the edge of Old Spitalfields Market in 2003. It's unfussy and simple, and you can pop in to pick up one of their famous Eccles cakes, doughnuts or sourdough loaves from the take-away bakery.

You can also wander through Old Spitalfields Market and down Artillery Lane to one of Yotam Ottolenghi's cafes (ottolenghi.co.uk). This Israeli chef and his Palestinian business partner Sami Tamimi have done for rose water and za'atar what Jamie Oliver did for extra virgin olive oil. There are salads and sweets to take away, or to sit in, but its decor is starting to feel a little dated. Honey & Co (honeyandco.co.uk) on nearby Warren Street, technically in the west of the city, is today's forerunner in adapting Middle Eastern flavours for the London palate.

Back in the direction of Lyle's, Dishoom's (dishoom.com) coveted bacon naan roll (5.50/6.50) is served up daily from their Shoreditch location. It's one of four Dishooms in Central London celebrating the Irani cafes of Bombay.

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Borough Market (boroughmarket.org.uk), near the Southbank of The Thames, is on the tourist trail but it's a quick and authentic taste of what's happening in The City. It can be intensely busy on weekends, but it's worth the squish to stuff your face with one of Bread Ahead's salted honeycomb donuts.

I grab a bundle of British asparagus to cook in my Airbnb, and pick up tubs of beetroot powder and Aleppo chilli flakes from Spice Mountain to take home. Cheesemongers Neal's Yard have a branch in the market, too, piled high with British and international cheeses, including our own Coolea and Durrus.

Also tucked away in Borough Market is Padella (padella.co). It proves to be pasta heaven, serving up freshly-made pasta in classic combos such as silky ricotta and broad beans, or spicy 'nduja with tomato sauce. It's simple, the stuff you dream of when thinking of holidays in Italy.

Padella is owned by the trusted team behind Trullo (trullorestaurant.com) on St Paul's Road in Islington. Around the corner in this North East borough is Black Axe Mangal (blackaxemangal.com), a no-reservation spot serving up Turkish food with a side of heavy metal. It's packed when we walk past on the way to Hackney, for dinner in Pidgin (pidginlondon.com).

A four-course set menu here (37/44) changes every week, without fail. Our highlights include the buttermilk birthday cake dessert, a vanilla sponge splashed dramatically with tangy fruit powders and milk ice-cream.

What makes the UK capital so special is its breadth of choice. Even within East London, one weekend is not enough. The rippling consequences of June's Brexit vote could take years to settle, and who knows what the impact on tourism will be in the future, but for now a plummeting pound has made our eating adventures easier on the euro. It seems a little like economic schadenfreude to be too gleeful about that, however, especially as the overwhelming majority of London's 8.5 million inhabitants voted to stay in the EU.

Then again, London has always marched to its own drum, and East London has a rhythm of its own. Lyle's is just the start of a brilliant foodie adventure.

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Getting there

Heathrow is convenient for East London, thanks to its Tube connection, though Stansted is very handy too (take the overground train to Hackney Central). If you're not stuck for time, take the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and the train to London from there. Head to visitlondon.com for more tips.

Where to stay

Live it up like a local with an Airbnb in East London. Look for pads in Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Hackney and Bethnal Green, checking that you're within walking distance of the Tube. Rooms start from around 40 per night on airbnb.ie as we publish. The Hoxton (thehoxton.com) is a funky hotel base in Shoreditch, too.

Getting around

The first thing you should do in London is get an Oyster Card (tfl.gov.uk). You can pick one up in any train or Tube station, and top-up easily as you go. The cards are valid on the Underground, buses and overground trains (handy for East London). Children under 11 go free with a fee-paying adult.

3 must-dos...

On the Tourist Trail

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Several of London's heavy-hitters are on the East side, including St Paul's Cathedral (stpauls.co.uk), the future-retro beauty of The Barbican Centre (barbican.org.uk) and The Tower of London (hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london), not to mention Shakespeare's Globe (shakespearesglobe.com).

Off the beaten track

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The Geffrye Museum (geffrye-museum.co.uk) is a wonderful little museum of interior design through the ages in Hackney. If St Paul's is too crowded, try the quiet solace of the Church of St Martin-within-Ludgate (stmartin-within-ludgate.org.uk), a small and modest church in the shadow of the Cathedral.

For the kids

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If you've already seen The Tower of London (London Bridge is nearby too), take in a bit of inner-city greenery at Hackney Farm (hackneycityfarm.co.uk). This petting zoo is home to geese, ducks, donkeys, and ponies and their environmental education programme includes green skills training.

Read more:
Fiction can provide deeper and more personal perspectives on travel than any guidebook, says Pol O Conghaile.

Talk about books and travel, and traditional guides spring to mind.

But travelling with a novel, scouting out the haunts of an author, or finding real-life locations where fictitious events took place can also be a thrilling inspiration for a trip... and a deeply personal one at that.

Think of Joyces Dublin, Lorcas Grenada or Garcia Marquezs Cartegena. Our travel pages feature several literary destinations this week, but really, any book or author with a powerful sense of place will do.

Ive felt that tingle in touristy places like Wordsworths Lake District, Hemmingways Madrid and New Yorks Chelsea Hotel, but Ive also felt it at smaller sites like Orhan Pamuks Museum of Innocence in Istanbul (pictured below, en.masumiyetmuzesi.org), or Swenys Chemist in Dublin (also below, sweny.ie).

Swenys featured in Ulysses, and remains a terrific time capsule  thanks to a team of volunteers who read from Joyce at lunchtimes.

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Of course, cultural tourism can also be crass. We all know the literary mugs and tea towels, the boozy bias towards dead (and mostly male) writers, the stereotypes that reduce rather than expand our knowledge.

But when literary landscapes are tastefully interpreted, rather than turned into theme parks, the effect can be amazing.

A good work of fiction offers perspectives youll never find in a guidebook; it ties the richly individual act of reading to actual places in surprisingly emotional ways.

Ireland is a world-class example. Think of Yeats Country, Patrick Kavanaghs Monaghan, or the new Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, Co. Derry.

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The only tool required for your next trip is imagination.

Literary travel websites

Literary tourism can sound like an elitist niche, but once you open the lid, all sorts of possibilities spill out. Take a look at literarytraveler.com, for instance  run by a couple who met while studying English in Boston. Recent articles range from Harry Potter in Universal Studios to Virginia Woolf in Sussex.

Closer to home, travel writer Muriel Bolger has a guide to Irelands literary landscapes on Irelands Blue Book website (irelands-blue-book.ie), while you can read more from author Michelle Jackson on her books and travels at michellejackson.ie.

Read more literary tourism:
BLUE MOUND  A Blue Mound man died Sunday afternoon when his car drove off Illinois Route 48 and overturned multiple times, ejecting him from the vehicle, according to the Macon County Sheriff's Office.

The 80-year-old driver was taken to Decatur Memorial Hospital where efforts to save the mans life were unsuccessful, said Lt. Jamie Belcher in a statement. The driver was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m. His name was not released Sunday, pending family notification.

Belcher said the accident had happened just before 2:30 p.m. as the man was southbound on Illinois Route 48 just north of Damery Road and about halfway between Blue Mound and Boody.

Belcher said witnesses reported seeing his vehicle begin to drift into the northbound lane and run off the road. Once off the road, the vehicle struck a field entrance which caused it to start to spin sideways and then overturn several times, Belcher said. While the vehicle was rolling over, the driver was ejected from the car. There were no passengers inside the car at the time of the crash.

Belcher said the accident was under investigation by the sheriffs Accident Reconstruction Team and the Macon County Coroners Office to figure out what caused the crash. Belcher said a toxicology screen is pending but said that alcohol impairment was not believed to be a factor.

Illinois Route 48 was reduced to one lane for about one and half hours while police dealt with the accident and carried out investigative work. South Macon Fire Protection District, Blue Mound Fire Department and the Decatur Ambulance all assisted, Belcher said.
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Colm McCarthy Opinion Free money is not the way to head off a crisis

Managing the macro economy involves three perspectives. These are the short-term  the next six months or a year; the medium-term  the next four or five years; and the long-term  the issues that demand to be addressed decades in advance. From the perspective of Irish governments in recent times, only the short-term merits attention, with the medium-term left to the civil service and the long-term to sporadic commissions and academic worrywarts.
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Radio review: The thing about the Wolfe Tones is not that their music is Irish, but that its bad

We have established that nationalism in general is eejitry taken to such extremes it becomes a form of evil. And in the case of our version of nationalism, perhaps the ultimate eejitry is that many of us would broadly agree in theory with a United Ireland if it wasnt for the nationalists themselves  they have contrived somehow to be the main obstacle to their own ambitions.
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Eoghan Harris Opinion Misery media fails to give due credit to the Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheal Martin must drive his advisers mad. Unlike Leo Varadkar or Donald Trump, he never bigs up success stories such as the effect of Level 3 Plus on Covid or his visionary Shared Island project. Last Friday, Tony Holohan and RTE cheerleaders seemed to imply Level 5 was responsible for the improved Covid situation. Not so.
Not for nothing was Barbara Bush known as 'The Enforcer'

Barbara Bush, tougher than her husband and known to her family as 'The Enforcer', is probably the most popular of all ex-US first ladies of recent times. Jackie Kennedy is remembered across the globe for elegance and tragedy, but she was not loved. Rosalynn Carter worked hard and was a noted campaigner on issues of mental health, but she has suffered in retrospect because of her bitterness at his defeat by Ronald Reagan, who is widely perceived to have been as great a success as Carter was a failure. The brittle Nancy Reagan was an essential support to her husband, but was thought to care little for anyone else. Hillary Clinton was loathed by those who thought her a careerist. The likeable Laura Bush did a lot of useful work but lacked her mother-in-law's commanding personality. And although Michelle Obama had rock-star status, that has diminished as she and her husband embrace luxury and celebrity. Betty Ford is probably the closest rival, having been far more effective and formidable than her husband Gerald, the 38th president, and still having a posthumous reputation for her prowess as a campaigner on addiction, not least because so many of the famous troop to the Betty Ford Clinic.
Colm McCarthy is aiming at the wrong target when he blames wind power for the high price of Irish electricity. The cost of generating power only accounts for a small percentage of what we see in our bills. The main reason our prices are out of line is because of our uniquely dispersed housing pattern. We are paying for all those wires and not just the power they carry.

Professor John Fitzgerald got it right at the recent Citizens Assembly on climate change when he said: "Renewable electricity meant the people of Ireland were actually paying less for electricity."

Because the fuel for the turbines comes for free, the wholesale price of electricity comes down every time the wind blows.

The European Commission found something similar when they did an extensive study of support schemes for renewables across Europe. They came to the conclusion that our support system was the most cost effective of all the countries they looked at.

Those findings backed up another study by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland in 2011, which made the economic case for wind power.

We are spending over 6bn a year on imported fossil fuels, which we are still relying on for some 90pc of our energy needs. We need to cut that bill and keep our money at home.

The case for change is environmental as well as economic. We've committed under the Paris Climate Accord to play our part in keeping the rise in global temperatures below dangerous tipping points.

That requires us to develop a carbon-free energy system by 2050 at the latest. What we build today will be still working by that date. We cannot afford to build a single new fossil fuel power plant and must shut down the most polluting stations right away.

Nuclear is not going to provide an alternative. It is too expensive and no young engineers are going into the area. They are all migrating over to renewables where they can see a real future.

This revolution is starting all over the world, so why would we, with some of the richest renewable resources, turn away from the opportunity? Why would Ireland which missed out so badly on the first industrial revolution, decide to skip the new, clean industrial revolution that is under way?

Renewables accounted for 90pc of all new power generation in Europe last year. The Chinese are going even further, outspending everyone, and are starting to reap the advantage of being technology leaders. Donald Trump is like King Canute trying to hold back the tide of change, but he will not stop California, Massachusetts or even Texas from similarly turning to wind and solar.

Renewable power is doubling every five years because the price continues to fall. We no longer need the old subsidy regime to support new investments and the Government here is about to switch to a new auction process where people bid competitively for the floor price they will need to get their projects financed.

Other countries have already done this and are seeing it further push down prices.

Colm McCarthy argues there are hidden costs from having to back up variable wind power. It is true we have a fine balancing act to do in matching variable power supplies with variable demand, but at every turn the doubters have been proved wrong on our ability to do that task.

Eirgrid, the public company which manages our main network of wires, has learned from experience how to be really good at this.

A side benefit is that it promotes greater energy efficiency, which has to be the first priority in any energy plan. It is the one area where we have shown real leadership and gained valuable expertise.

The challenge now is to use those same skills to transform our heating and transport sectors, as well as the power system. To meet our climate targets we need to replace two million cars with electric vehicles and replace a million oil-fired central heating systems with electric heat pumps.

Both technologies can provide an energy storage system for our renewable power. Eirgrid has set out what this future might look like in a 'low carbon living' scenario. By 2030, it thinks we could be using 75pc renewable electricity.

There is a clear path for us to get there. We need first to get our policy, legal and planning frameworks into line. The public must have confidence that these big societal and infrastructural changes will be carried out in a fair way, with clear benefits for individuals and communities.

We can then start turning to solar power, prioritising the installation of photovoltaic panels on every domestic roof, factory, farmyard barn and public building which faces south to the sun.

Using those roofs would bring a new ownership model where everyone has a stake in the transition.

We can further localise the benefits by supporting new community co-operatives which help people generate and sell their own power and adjust their own demand so we get lower bills and balance the whole network.

The next big step is to start developing wind power at sea. The cost of this technology has come down dramatically, in part thanks to the new auction systems.

We can start in the Irish Sea and as floating wind farms develop, we can start tapping into the Atlantic. For those workers in Moneypoint who are concerned about their future, the potential is now clear. We can use the grid connections to that plant and to the Tarbert station across the Shannon estuary as new centres where ocean energy comes ashore.

Other people want liquefied natural gas terminals at the same location, but they are not getting the bigger picture.

The fossil fuel era is over. We will not need all those dirty fuels because the local renewable alternative is better, cleaner and more competitive. It is time for us to start playing catch-up. Going for renewables gives us a future we can believe in and a more secure and fairer economy where everyone gets to gain.

Eamon Ryan is the leader of the Green Party and TD for Dublin Bay South
House Of Cards hopes to return to production soon on its final season, staff have been told, after it was forced into a hiatus by claims of sexual assault and harassment against its star Kevin Spacey.

It is believed they are trying to write the Oscar-winning actor, 58, out of the sixth season after Netflix said it would no longer work with him.

Scotland Yard is investigating Spacey, who was artistic director at Londons Old Vic theatre, over two allegations of sexual assault while he also faces claims of on-set sexual misconduct by members of the House Of Cards production crew.

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Pauline Micelli, a senior vice president at the shows production studio, Media Rights Capital, wrote to staff to say the production had been suspended for an extra two weeks.

But she said that writers would be continuing to work and were dealing with Netflix with the hope of resuming production soon.

These last two months have tested and tried all of us in ways none of us could have foreseen, she added.

The one thing we have learned throughout this process is that this production is bigger than just one person and we could not be more proud to be associated with one of the most loyal and talented production cast and crews in this business.

Netflix previously announced it will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey after initial allegations were made about him by Anthony Rapp.

The actor said he was 14 when Spacey allegedly harassed him by climbing on top of him on a bed following a party in 1986.

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The Old Vic has said that an internal investigation found 20 people claimed they had been the victims of inappropriate behaviour by Spacey, who was at the theatre between 2004 and 2015.

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Spacey was taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment after allegations surfaced, according to a representative.

The allegations came as Hollywood faces increased scrutiny over the behaviour of powerful men in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Clarence House has officially announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Harry and girlfriend Meghan Markle.

The actor officially said 'yes' to her royal beau after months of speculation that the couple were to marry.

The announcement comes after reports that Suits actor Markle met Britain's Queen Elizabeth for tea as engagement rumours swirled.

The couple have been dating for a year and a half with some reports even claiming that they were secretly engaged for weeks running up to their official announcement.

Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry and his girlfriend actress Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch / Facebook

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Whatsapp Britain's Prince Harry and his girlfriend actress Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

They will marry in spring 2018.

Meghan Markle's parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland have said they are "incredibly happy" with the couple's engagement, adding: "We wish them a lifetime of happiness.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh "are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness", a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: "We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together."

Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch / Facebook

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Visiting Poundbury in Dorset the Prince of Wales said he was "thrilled" and "very happy indeed" for the couple.

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Meghan recently filmed her last scenes for legal drama Suits, receiving an emotional send off from colleagues who wished her "all the happiness in the world".

She has also started to move her life over to the UK, with the relocation of her dogs Bogart and Guy to England being a clear hint that she will soon be setting up shop with her husband-to-be Harry.

She will move into the Prince's two bedroom Nottingham Cottage.

Rumours are that the couple have in fact been engaged for a number of months, but no formal announcement has been made due to several important royal dates already filling the calendar.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Meghan was guarded about her relationship, dodging any formal questions of whether the couple had indeed taken the next step.

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Im sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time, she said.

Older brother Prince William gave now wife Kate Middleton his mother's iconic 18 carat blue Sapphire when he proposed in 2010, ushering in a new trend in engagement rings for gemstones in place of diamonds.

Harry, 33, has designed a ring for his Suits actor girlfriend using diamonds from a brooch that once belonged to his mother, Princess Diana, according to US Weekly.

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However it is thought Harry wanted to create something unique for Meghan, and while it was believed he would use one of his mother's emeralds as the main stone in the ring, jewellers have advised against it as due to it being a softer stone than a diamond or sapphire, it is more prone to chipping.

Dianas jewellery collection was left in trust for the boys and Meghan apparently loves emeralds. For Harry, like Wills before him, using his mothers gems means the two loves of his life will forever be linked, a source told The Daily Star.
Meghan Markle watches Prince Harry speak during the opening ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at Air Canada Centre on September 23, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images )

Meghan Markle, girlfriend of Britain's Prince Harry, arrives to attend the opening ceremony for the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada, September 23, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Meghan Markle, said to be Prince Harry's girlfriend, watches the opening ceremonies of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, September 23, 2017

Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday September 23, 2017. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

There's a new royal(ish) style icon in the making.

Prince Harry's girlfriend, actress Meghan Markle, made her first appearance at an official engagement with her boyfriend of 18 months, cheering him on (from a few seats away) at his Invictus Games in Toronto on Saturday night. The couple carefully avoided being photographed together, while Markle (36) attending with her close friend Markus Anderson, who introduced the couple back in 2016 at the same event.

Expand Close Meghan Markle (center R, wearing maroon), girlfriend of Britain's Prince Harry, watches the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 23, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch / Facebook

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Whatsapp Meghan Markle (center R, wearing maroon), girlfriend of Britain's Prince Harry, watches the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 23, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

And much like Kate Middleton, Markle's would-be sister-in-law, she is proving her fashion kudos early on with the ability to shift designer clothes at an alarming rate we now know as 'the Kate effect'. For Saturday's event, she wore the Beaune Dress by Wilfred for Canadian brand Aritzia: both a nod to her adopted home of Toronto and affinity for high street fashion.

The chiffon midi dress with sunburst pleats dress cost 119, but good luck getting your hands on one - it sold out in all four shades soon after she was pictured in it and it won't be restocked until February 2018. In keeping with Kate's high/low mantra, she finished off her California-cool look with a burgundy leather jacket by Mackage, but this one will cost you.

The "supple leather moto jacket" comes in at 584 and is also sold out. She opted for a pair of 475 Jimmy Choo's classic Anouk pumps in nude, a style preferred by her onscreen alter ego Rachel Zane in legal drama Suits, which has unsurprisingly also sold out.

It was revealed on Sunday that the 32-year-old prince had a "super low key" visit with his other half on set and more might be on the cards as he will be in town until September 30. Which means there's time for plenty more style stalking.

Expand Close Meghan Markle, said to be Prince Harry's girlfriend, watches the opening ceremonies of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, September 23, 2017 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Meghan Markle, said to be Prince Harry's girlfriend, watches the opening ceremonies of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, September 23, 2017
Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England

Prince William and Kate Middleton pose for photographs in the State Apartments of St James Palace on November 16, 2010.

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle arrive to pose for photographs in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle react as they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle arrive to pose for photographs in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

US actress Meghan Markle shows off her engagement ring she poses with her fiancee Britain's Prince Harry in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

US actress Meghan Markle shows reacts as she poses with her fiancee Britain's Prince Harry in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry stands with his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle as she shows off her engagement ring whilst they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England

Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle arrive to pose for photographs in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Britain's Prince Harry stands with his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle as she shows off her engagement ring whilst they pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England

Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Behind the scenes, Meghan Markle has been slowly adjusting to royal life, but we finally got a glimpse of what to expect from her in her first introduction as a princess-to-be.

The American actress (36) appeared alongside her new fiance Prince Harry (32) for their engagement photocall this afternoon, in a white dress coat by Canadian brand The Line, a signal that she is still treading the waters with her new royal role.

Expand Close Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018. (Photo by Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

"I think its safe and probably a new departure for her with clean lines and wearing white to get the wedding excitement going," one of Ireland's top stylists Corina Gaffey tells Independent.ie Style.

"She has been edgier in the past but she looks really elegant and it was appropriate for the announcement. Its obvious she was keeping it about the engagement rather than wearing something too flashy.

"They look like a very modern prince and princess. He looked great in his suit, it was nicely tailored, not old fashioned and they looked really happy, which is most important."

The bride-to-be gave a glimpse of her engagement ring, designed by Harry, which features a diamond from Botswana and two diamonds previously belonging to his late mother Princess Diana. The set-up was in stark contrast to Kate Middleton and Prince William's engagement announcement in 2010, held in the State Apartments of St. James Palace.

Expand Close Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement / Facebook

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Whatsapp Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in west London on November 27, 2017, following the announcement of their engagement

"Kate's engagement photos to Prince Williams were so set and staged and big budget, this seems more low-key and more them," Corina added. "Its outside, her hair is blowing, it isnt perfect its showing the direction the royals are going in with Meghan.

"She isnt a princess, shes a regular girl."

Expand Close Prince William and Kate Middleton pose for photographs in the State Apartments of St James Palace on November 16, 2010. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince William and Kate Middleton pose for photographs in the State Apartments of St James Palace on November 16, 2010.

And we already have a few predictions about the wedding dress! "It will be the same with her wedding dress, shell look for something timeless because it will be brought across the world."

"Everyone wants a piece of these photos of these photos so it will definitely be in keeping with the royals or people will look back and think, what was she wearing?"

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Victoria Beckham's fashion empire has been valued at 100m (112m) following a major cash injection from the man behind the UK success of French bakery chain Paul.

Neo Investment Partners, based in the West End of London and led by David Belhassen, a former Goldman Sachs banker who ran Paul until 2010, has invested 30m (33.5m) in Victoria Beckham Ltd in exchange for a minority stake.

The company is controlled by Beckham Brand Holdings, which is jointly owned by Victoria and David Beckham along with the former Spice Girls Svengali Simon Fuller. Senior management are also minor shareholders.

The fashion designer has been steadily building her brand over years and is now considered a high-street favourite.

Victoria jetted into Dublin in October for a whirlwind visit where she promoted her second collection with Estee Lauder. She said that she had a special affinity with Dublin after she and David got married in the city in 1999.

"I love Dublin, Harper took her first steps here five years ago and I got married in Dublin," she said.

It is understood that the cash injection in her fashion empire will be used to fund an international e-commerce expansion for the fashion label, which makes clothes, shoes, glasses and accessories.

The label has two own-brand stores, in London and Hong Kong, and among others is stocked by Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in the UK and Bloomingdale's in the US.

Victoria Beckham dresses typically retail for more than 1,100, but the label has recently sought out shoppers on tighter budgets. This year it launched its first collection at Target, a US supermarket chain, with most items priced below 55.

The deal with Neo is due to be finalised soon and comes as Victoria Beckham Ltd prepares to move into new 15,000sqft offices in Hammersmith. The company was founded in 2008 and has grown from three to 180 staff.

According to investment sources, the deal will value Victoria Beckham Ltd at roughly twice last year's sales. It is understood the company remains loss-making as it funds expansion. In 2015, the most recent year for which accounts are available, it reported a pre-tax loss of 4.7m on sales of 40.7m. The cash injection could help Victoria Beckham Ltd reduce its debt pile, which at the end of 2015 stood at 12m. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

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BLUE MOUND  David C. Waite of Blue Mound was identified Monday by the Macon County Coroner's Office as the man who died in the rollover accident Sunday on Illinois 48 southwest of Decatur.

Coroner Michael E. Day said in a news release that Waite, 80, died from multiple general trauma to the head and torso after he was ejected from his vehicle. Waite died at 4:14 p.m. in the Decatur Memorial Hospital emergency room, he said, after multiple attempts by paramedics and hospital staff to revive him.

Day said the Macon County Sheriff's Office is investigating the crash and an inquest is pending.

On Sunday, a statement from sheriff's Lt. Jamie Belcher said the accident happened just before 2:30 p.m. as Waite drove south on Illinois 48 just north of Damery Road, about halfway between Blue Mound and Boody.

Belcher said witnesses saw Waite's vehicle begin to drift into the northbound lane and run off the road. The vehicle struck a field entrance, which caused it to spin sideways and overturn multiple times, he said. Waite was ejected from the car as it rolled over.

The car did not have other passengers, Belcher said. Illinois 48 was reduced to one lane for about an hour and a half as the sheriff's office Accident Reconstruction Team investigated the crash scene.
Al Franken faces a Senate ethics investigation although it is unclear when it will begin (AP)

Under-fire US senator Al Franken has said he does not remember whether he touched women inappropriately while having his picture taken with them at campaign events.

The Minnesota Democrat's comments are the latest indication that he has no plans to step down amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

One woman claims he forcibly kissed her on a visit to entertain US troops in Afghanistan and took a sexually suggestive photo while she was sleeping.

Three others allege he grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photos during separate campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

"I take thousands and thousands of pictures, sometimes in chaotic and crowded situations," Mr Franken said in an interview aired by CBS. "I can't say I haven't done that. I'm very sorry if these women experienced that."

He added that he has to be "a lot more sensitive, and a lot more careful" when he poses for pictures and when he meets someone: "I'm going to make sure that this does not happen again."

His interviews with Minnesota media outlets over the weekend were his first since he was swept into a nationwide tide of sexual misconduct allegations.

Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is accused of initiating sexual conduct with teenagers during the 1970s, and Michigan Representative John Conyers is giving up his leadership position as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee amid a congressional probe into claims of sexual harassment. Both men deny the allegations.

Mr Franken told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he does not remember the specific photos, but said such groping is "not something I would intentionally do".

Asked whether he expected other women to step forward with similar allegations, he said: "If you had asked me two weeks ago, 'Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect?', I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise. ... I certainly hope not."

The first woman to come forward was Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden. She released a photo earlier this month showing the then-comedian grinning while reaching out towards her chest, as if to grope her, as she slept on a military aircraft in 2006.

Mr Franken told Minnesota Public Radio on Sunday the photo was "inexcusable".

"What my intention was doesn't matter. What matters is that I am chained to that photo," he said.

"She ... didn't have any ability to consent. She had every right to feel violated by that photo. I have apologised to her, and I was very grateful that she accepted my apology."

Ms Tweeden said he also forcibly kissed her while rehearsing for a show, but Franken has said he has a different recollection of the rehearsal.

He faces a Senate ethics investigation - which he welcomed in the wake of Ms Tweeden's allegation - athough it is unclear when that may begin.

Mr Franken, who has not faced widespread calls to resign, said he will fully co-operate.

He missed Senate votes after the first accusations were made public. He said he spent the holiday break with his wife and the rest of his family, and when he goes back to work he will ask tough questions about proposed tax legislation that "would affect Minnesota and the rest of the country in a terrible way".

AP
Prince Harrys engagement to Meghan Markle has captured the attention of the global public, but in the UK theres one aspect which got some people particularly excited  the potential chance of a bank holiday.

In fact, people were pretty forceful in their views on it.

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Unfortunately for the day-off addicted public, Downing Street said there are no plans for an extra bank holiday to mark the occasion.

There were holidays announced for the weddings of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011, and for the Prince of Waless marriage to Diana Spencer in 1981.

Theresa Mays official spokesman said there isnt a precedent in this area, pointing out there was no bank holiday to mark the weddings of Prince Andrew in 1986 or Prince Edward in 1999.

However, a bank holiday was held for the wedding of Princess Anne in 1973, suggesting that the move has not always been restricted only to those who are in the direct line of succession to the throne.

Whatever their reasoning, some people are not best pleased.

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Even people who arent from the UK were outraged.

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In fact, some even suggested the only option was to forge a bank holiday of their own.

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Well, at least they can rely on TV personality Richard Osman.

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Cheers Richard. Very considerate.
Mount Agung volcano spews smoke and ash in Bali yesterday, forcing scores of flights to be cancelled. Photo: Emilio Kuzma-Floyd/Reuters

Indonesia ordered an evacuation around Bali's Mount Agung yesterday as the volcano's eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam 6km into the skies above the popular holiday island.

Ash covered roads, cars and buildings near the volcano, while scores of flights were cancelled as authorities warned airlines of the danger of flying near the area.
Dictionary.com chooses its word of the year by scouring look-ups by day, month and year and how they correspond to noteworthy events

Russian election influence, the sexual harassment scandal, mass shootings and the opioid epidemic have helped elevate "complicit" as Dictionary.com's word of the year.

Look-ups of the word increased nearly 300% over last year as "complicit" hit just about every hot button topic from politics to natural disasters, lexicographer Jane Solomon said.

"This year a conversation that keeps on surfacing is what exactly it means to be complicit," she said. "Complicit has sprung up in conversations about those who speak out against powerful figures in institutions, and those who stay silent."

The first of three major spikes for the word struck on March 12, the day after Saturday Night Live aired a sketch starring Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump in a glittery gold dress selling a fragrance called Complicit because: "She's beautiful, she's powerful, she's complicit."

The bump was followed by another on April 5, also related to Ms Trump, the day after she appeared on CBS This Morning and told Gayle King, among other things: "I don't know what it means to be complicit."

It was unclear whether she was deflecting or whether the graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business - with a degree in economics - really did not know.

Another major spike occurred on October 24, the day Arizona Republican Jeff Flake announced from the Senate floor that he would not seek re-election, harshly criticising President Donald Trump and urging other members of the party not to stand silently with the president.

"I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr President, I will not be complicit," Mr Flake said.

Ms Solomon said several other major events contributed to interest in the word. They include the rise of the opioid epidemic and how it came to pass, along with the spread of sexual harassment and assault allegations against an ever-growing list of powerful men, including film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The scandal that started in Hollywood and quickly spread across industries has led to a mountain of questions over who knew what, who might have contributed and what it means to stay silent.

Dictionary.com chooses its word of the year by scouring look-ups by day, month and year to date and how they correspond to noteworthy events, Ms Solomon said.

This year, a lot of high-volume trends corresponded to politics, but other lower-volume trends included:

:: INTERSEX: It trended on Dictionary.com in January thanks to model Hanne Gaby Odiele speaking up about being intersex to break taboos. As a noun it means "an individual having reproductive organs or external sexual characteristics of both male and female". Dictionary.com traces its origins back to 1915, as the back formation of "intersexual".

:: SHRINKAGE: While the word has been around since 1790, a specific definition tied to a famous 1994 episode of Seinfeld led to a word look-up revival in February, when a house in The Hamptons, where the episode was filmed, went on the market. For the record, the Jason Alexander character George Costanza emerges with "shrinkage" from a pool and said "shrinkage" is noted by Jerry's girlfriend.

:: TARNATION: It had a good ride on Dictionary.com in the first few months of the year due to a round of social media fun with the "What in tarnation" meme that had animals and various objects wearing cowboy hats.

:: HOROLOGIST: As in master clockmaker, like the one featured in the podcast S-Town, the highly anticipated This American Life follow-up to the popular Serial podcast. All seven episodes of intrigue were released at once in March. Horologist, used in the radio story, trended around that time.

:: TOTALITY: There were look-up spikes in August, thanks to the solar eclipse and its narrow band of totality, meaning the strip of land where the sun was completely obscured by the moon.

AP
Demonstrators in front of the EU headquarters in Brussels (AP)

The European Union has approved a five-year extension of the use of the weedkiller glyphosate in a move that failed to satisfy environmentalists or farmers.

After a drawn-out process, the EU backed the extension with a qualified majority and beat a mid-December deadline when the current licence expires.

Environmentalists had hoped for an immediate ban as they claim the weedkiller, used in chemical giant Monsanto's popular Roundup herbicide, is linked to cancer.

Farmers, who say the substance is safe, had wanted a 15-year extension. EU nations long failed to find a compromise.

EU health and food safety commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said: "When we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision-making."

The European Commission had initially proposed a licence extension of 10 years.

One official said 18 member states voted in favour, nine against and one abstained.

"The decision taken today by a narrow qualified majority of member states has locked the EU into another five years of toxic agriculture," said Green member of the European Parliament Bart Staes.

"This is a dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment."

Environmentalists had been seeking to ban glyphosate, which the World Health Organisation's cancer agency said in 2015 is "probably carcinogenic to humans".

Banning glyphosate outright would have shaken Europe's agriculture sector as it is so widely used.

Despite welcoming the limited extension, the president of the EU's Copa-Cogeca farmer association, Pekka Pesonen, insisted glyphosate "should have been re-authorised for 15 years after it was given a positive assessment by both the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency".

AP
This handout picture released on November 26, 2017 by the Bomberos de Tenerife (Tenerife firemen) shows the floor of a nighclub that collapsed early on November 26, 2017 in Adeje on Spain's holiday island of Tenerife. Photo: AFP/Getty

At least 40 people have been injured on the island of Tenerife when the dancefloor in a nightclub popular with tourists suddenly collapsed, plunging revellers seven metres into a basement.

Two of the victims - aged 20 to 59 - were said to be seriously hurt, with injuries including broken legs, fractures and cuts.

The Butterfly Disco Pub in Adeje in the island's south-west was said to have been full of tourists when the floor gave way at 2.30am yesterday.

Those injured are said to be from a number of different countries, including Spain, France, the UK, Belgium and Romania.

Videos on social media showed club-goers fleeing from the venue clutching their faces as they struggled to breathe, apparently because of dust thrown up by rubble.

Emergency services rushed to the scene and attended to the injured while several were transported to hospital.

The two victims reported to be seriously hurt had suffered broken legs. Others ended up with broken bones and other injuries, while 14 were said to have had minor injuries.

Footage showed firefighters later combing through the wreckage, with a massive hole in the floor of the club where a drop could be seen below.

One blogger who filmed himself near the disaster after the floor collapsed told how the situation was "grave".

Bolorino said: "I was in a club near the Butterfly called the Papagayo when I took a call from a friend there saying 'Please come and help me'.

"The disco collapsed and there was a lot of people injured. A lot of people taken to hospital. A lot of police. It collapsed when people were dancing. And a day of fiesta like today, a Saturday. It's grave."

Police and firefighters cordoned off the nightclub and were combing through the debris looking for clues to the accident.
France is to ban gender-based insults and wolf whistling in the street in a crackdown against sexism, the countrys president has said.

In a speech Emmanuel Macron said it was unacceptable for France to be one of those countries where women live in fear of verbal violence against women.

Gender-based insults will be punishable by law. Offenders will face a deterrent fine, Mr Macron said.

Many women have said that the first sexist violence they meet is in the street, the French President said in the address to mark International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women.

He added: And many harassers practice wolf whistling and other types of verbal stigmatisation - and for a long time people reacted with indifference.

This is unacceptable. Women must feel comfortable in public spaces. Women in the republic must not be afraid to use public spaces. This must be one of the priorities of the police.

During the speech Mr Macron, whose popularity with voters has struggled since his election in May this year, observed a minute's silence for the 123 women killed by their partners or ex-partners in 2016.

He unveiled a package of measures, one of which will make create an offence which will give the police the right to issue a fine if there is a verbal attack on a woman".

The president also said he would create on-demand bus stops in the evening to help women to get home safely, and set up a 24-hour national online service for victims of sexual discrimination and harassment.

Mr Macron has also called for an awareness campaign against online pornography and the extension of the powers of the French television regulator, the Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel, to internet videos.

Last month in the UK the Green Party called for attacks against women to be recorded by police as hate crime. Under current rules the Crown Prosecution Service recognises religious, racist, anti-disability, homophobic, biophobic and transphobic hate crimes.
When Ratko Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Hague last week, the news was met with scenes of jubilation in Bosnia. CNN showed pictures of old women in headscarves dancing in the street.

The Serbian general - the so-called Butcher of Bosnia - will never leave prison now and his conviction closes another violent chapter for Europe. The UN called it "a triumph for justice", and Ireland could claim unusual credit; the Department of Foreign Affairs, along with the Dutch themselves, were the primary diplomatic drivers behind the prosecution. Serbia was notably slow in handing over its war criminals but, according to activists here, our Foreign Affairs Committee made cooperation with the Hague a condition of approving the country's ongoing accession to the EU.

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While the verdict was welcomed by the Bosnian community in Ireland, there was little real rejoicing. For Mirza Catibuic (50), who has lived here with his Irish wife, Bronagh, and their children for more than two decades now, the news was bittersweet.

"Of course, it is a great thing that Mladic faced justice but he will live the rest of his life, even if it is in prison. When I heard the verdict I thought of what he and people like him did to my country, my family, me. My brother Zlatan was killed in the war. The fact is that the conviction of Mladic won't bring him back. The physical and psychological consequences of the war are still going on for Bosnian people - I am just one of many."

Mirza had been a pharmacist in Sarajevo before the war began. "In May 1992, the Serbian army tried to enter Sarajevo and were prevented, meaning they attacked and we were trapped inside. The whole place was blockaded. By June, all connections were lost. That was when we realised that there was no way out. The city is situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains all around. You could say it's the perfect place to have a siege."

Mirza worked in a hospital and he saw the casualties being brought in after shelling. "Kids would hear it going silent and want to go out and play and they would be targeted by paramilitaries. They would bomb market places. In February 1994, there was a terrible attack in a market place. Imagine an area like Henry Street - imagine someone throwing a grenade into the middle of that."

Mirza's face and upper body were injured in another attack on the hospital. He waited months to be evacuated and eventually got a notification to say "in one hour be in the main hospital, you are being evacuated but just you".

"I was thinking 'yes I am finally getting out'", he explains. "But my mother was left in the house. I had such mixed feelings. The moment they took me away from the hospital and I saw the faces of my family I had regrets. But you have to understand that at that point we didn't care if we were killed just to end this terrible suffering. We had lost all hope."

Mirza was brought to a refugee camp in Germany and arrived here in Ireland in February 1994. Soon afterwards, he had surgery on his eye, although doctors were ultimately not able to save his sight in one eye. Ireland would change the course of his life, however. During his first few months here he met a young activist, Bronagh Finnegan, who was studying English at Trinity College. She had grown up in what she calls the ''borderland'' of South Armagh and her experience of The Troubles made her sensitive to the horrors of Bosnia.

Twenty-three years ago this month, Bronagh attended a candlelight vigil in Dublin City Centre to raise awareness of the humanitarian plight of the war victims. "Well, I thought we were raising awareness," Bronagh adds dryly. "But some people were just checking out the talent. Call it patriotic duty." They met again at a party organised by supporters of the solidarity movement, and Bronagh, who already had a good command of Bosnian (she is now fluent) heard Mirza slagging off Irish food. "I went very red and was trying to fix what I said," he recalls. "She said she wanted to learn a few more words of the language. We met later in town that week, there was an exchange of dictionaries. We said we'd meet in the New Year." Early the following year Mirza's brother Zlatan was killed by sniper fire and Bronagh didn't know if she should reach out in condolence. On the advice of a friend she did so, and Mirza, eager for a distraction from his grief, was thrilled to hear from her. St Patrick's Day 1995 was their first public outing as a couple.

The Dayton Peace Agreement was signed in late 1995 and that year Bronagh and Mirza were on the first charter flight from Dublin to Split. "There was so much destruction, it was getting bright as we came into Sarajevo", Bronagh recalls. "And I'll never forget seeing the press building - which was where the news came out of during the war. It was like a shell. The apartment buildings were dreadfully damaged."

The reunion with Mirza's family was also an introduction for Bronagh. "It was grief and happiness, everything together", Mirza recalls. "The life had stopped for us on January 6, 1995 when my brother was killed. When we came there was some brightness for my parents. There were so many unspoken things. I could not even mention my brother. My sister-in-law told me on the day they told my mother about my brother's death she forever lost her smile, but when we came she smiled, just for a moment."

Though Mirza is Muslim and Bronagh is Catholic, neither of them converted to the other's religion - and they were married in 1998. They went on to have three girls together, Ayumi (17), Selma (14) and Leyla (10). The children have been raised with both faiths and speaking both languages - English and Bosnian. Mirza would continue his career as a pharmacist here, while Bronagh became a lecturer and academic, specialising in linguistics. The shadows cast by the war were long, however. "You can see the physical wounds of war", Bronagh explains. "But when refugees come here, the psychological wounds they carry are often catastrophic.."

The couple share a black sense of humour about the horror that brought them together. "I used to say to him that it only took a war and Bill Clinton to persuade him to move out of his mother's house", Bronagh says, smiling. "Even through the most terrible times, through war, humanity prevails and persists and that is the victory. They wanted to exterminate a population but they didn't succeed. They wanted us to teach our children to hate, but we didn't. And that's what I really felt when I saw the verdict this week: we are the living riposte to Mladic."
Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017.

ITS a bit surreal, says Joe Canning, with admirable understatement, as the rat-tat-tat of nearby gunfire again causes him to pause the interview.

The current hurler of the year is sitting on the roof of what remains of a school in Maysaloun in east Aleppo, close to the old city. A few kilometres down the road, war continues on the front line of a conflict that has lasted more than six-and-a-half years, killing more than 500,000 Syrians and injuring or displacing a staggering 12m people.

But in the space immediately behind the Galway star, schoolkids run from their new prefabricated classrooms to play during their morning break.

Welcome to the reality of life in east Aleppo, less than one year after the infamous siege was lifted.

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Even though there are gunshots going off in the distance, I dont feel in any way unsafe, Canning tells Independent.ie

"Maybe its because the kids are behind us here playing or whatever but I dont feel under threat. Im here to do a job, to tell a story here and to tell it when I get home.

But its hard to get your head around - that kids are going to school here this morning and three kilometres away maybe people are dying in a war.

This time last year, in his role as a Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador, Canning visited Gazantiep in Turkey and heard stories from families who had been able to flee the fighting in Syria.

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Around the same time, government forces restored full control over Aleppo, Syrias most populous city before the war, bringing to an end a lengthy siege that had seen the population of the east part of the city plummet from 1m to just 40,000.

No one knows how many people died.

Canning was deeply affected by the often harrowing stories he heard of those who managed to escape. And now he wants to hear from those who were unable to.

I kinda agreed to travel straight away when asked because I had that experience last year and I wanted to carry on and complete the circle if you like, to learn about those who stayed in Aleppo, the 29-year-old explains.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning at Yadan Bi Yad centre for children with disability in West Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Joe Canning pictued in Syria. Photo: Mark Condren Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning at Yadan Bi Yad centre for children with disability in West Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning at Yadan Bi Yad centre for children with disability in West Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning at Yadan Bi Yad centre for children with disability in West Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning at Yadan Bi Yad centre for children with disability in West Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning at Yadan Bi Yad centre for children with disability in West Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. Hurling star and Unicef Ireland goodwill ambassador Joe Canning in the largely-destroyed Maysaloun area of east Aleppo. Pic:Mark Condren 26.11.2017. / Facebook

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In December of last year, the Syrian army announced that Aleppo had been fully recaptured from rebel fighters, the governments biggest victory in the civil war. But the war is not won, and fighting continues in Aleppo and many other regions in Syria  ensuring Cannings family wasnt as enthusiastic about his plans.

For sure  theyre all still talking about it and wondering if Im okay. Obviously going with Unicef you have that reassurance about safety and so on, but still, I understand (the concerns).

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But I feel like I need to do this.

For Unicef to build a school with 10 prefabs behind me  thats 380 kids getting an education, and having dreams in the middle of all this destruction. Its hard to comprehend, but you have to understand the kids have a future in mind for themselves, which is not always something youd realise at home.

The opening of the school has brought a sense of normality to young children who may have been out of education for up to five years.

Canning, who was instrumental in Galways first All Ireland success in 29 years last September, brought a few of his own hurleys and sliothars with him, and some of kids got a game on Sunday.

Pucking around with them was great, just seeing their smiles, he says.

Of course they hadnt a clue what they were playing, but the point is they are kids and its sport and they should be playing. But these are the kids that were left behind for so long, and playing just wasnt a consideration.

Because simply staying alive was for so long the priority. And, despite some semblance of normality beginning to return to East Aleppo, it continues to be the priority.

Itll get to minus -4c, -5c in December here and wet too, Canning says.

Kids will be most affected, and if we can help, in any small way, to get them through it with extra clothes or whatever it is, itll be worth doing. Irish people are very generous and although the crisis in Syria has been going for a while, Im sure theyll be generous again.
Israel's health minister, who heads a powerful ultra-orthodox political party in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, resigned yesterday after the country's railways had carried out maintenance work on the Sabbath, when all labour is strictly prohibited by Jewish law.

Ultra-orthodox parties have provided Mr Netanyahu with support for his coalition, while the government gives large budgets to the minority community.

They have traditionally acted as kingmakers in Israel's fractious coalition-building and have in the past threatened to topple coalition governments by robbing them of their majority.

Yaakov Litzman's resignation doesn't immediately threaten Mr Netanyahu's coalition, but it may set off a chain reaction that would.

The issue of desecration of the Sabbath has triggered crisis in the past and highlights the cultural chasm between Israel's ultra-orthodox minority and its secular majority.

Much of Israel, including public transport, comes to a halt at sundown on Friday for the Sabbath, but few Israelis strictly observe the day of rest.

Many restaurants, cinemas, sporting events and national parks operate and in secular bastions, such as Tel Aviv, even some corner stores and shopping centres are open.

Mr Littman said the work conducted publicly on the railway prompted him to resign. He said that "as a minister in Israel, I can't maintain the ministerial responsibility" of Sabbath "desecration" that contradicts the "holy values of the Jewish people".

While Mr Litzman said the weekend maintenance work on the railway was not warranted, Israel's railways authority says it must carry out work on Saturday so that it does not disrupt essential transportation for thousands of Israelis during the work week. Railway and some other public works have occurred for years on the Sabbath.

Mr Litzman's resignation could pressure the other two ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to squeeze concessions from Mr Netanyahu to prove to their constituents that they respect the Sabbath as much as the former health minister.

Mr Netanyahu may be hesitant to offer anything perceived as being too generous for fear of alienating secular voters at a time when opposition party Yesh Atid has been gaining traction in polls.

Mr Netanyahu said the Sabbath was important to all Israelis - but so was the need for "safe and continuous" transportation.
There is a tree painted on the wall of a care centre for separated children in Aleppo, and each branch carries a picture of every child brought in.

We take pictures as soon as possible in case a parent comes back a long time later and doesnt recognise the child, Mohammed Makki, the general manager, explains. If a child is reunited with family, their picture comes down.

A younger Nour remains on one of the branches. We dont know her surname. She is three-and-a-half now, at a guess. Last December she was picked up by a soldier in east Aleppo. Amid the chaos, the bombings and the destruction as the drawn-out besiegement drew to an end, Nour was found alone, covered in debris, with a broken leg, on the side of a street.

She was old enough to cry Mama and Dada but wouldnt say more than that - not even her name. Nobody came for her and she ended up with us, Mr Makki recalls, as another 15 or so children under the age of five play nearby in the rented facility in the Chahba neighbourhood.

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She was in terrible condition, physically and mentally. She isolated herself in the centre, wouldnt speak or play or go outdoors or talk. We tried and failed to get her out of psychological trauma.

Still no one came for her.

What happened to her parents? Did they, like many others, die in the final, powerful push by government forces to retake the rebel-held section of the city? Did they somehow get separated from her as thousands were evacuated to Idlib province when President Bashar al Assad secured a crucial victory in the (then) six-year conflict?

Fortunately for Nour, there was someone else.

We had a caregiver who was responsible for her, Mr Makki explains. Over time Bayan Lejeen was able to bring Nour out of shell.

Although adoption is against the law in Syria, Ms Lejeen was determined and committed enough to pass strict criteria allowing her access to Nour at the weekends. The change in the little girl with the sad brown eyes has been remarkable.

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She has a family now, grandparents and aunts and cousins. It has turned her life around completely. She has started to mingle with the other kids here, and is going to kindergarten. She is even speaking. Bayans name is shortened to Bet and Nour calls herself Nour Bet now. Shes thriving.

The resilience of young children is often remarked upon. But the stories about young girls from east Aleppo are nonetheless remarkable.

Unicef was doing a polio vaccination here when a 13-year-old girl holding a baby walked up. The health team asked her for a parents card so they could administer the medicine.

Im the mother, the young teen replied.

Aya got married at 12, when her family was among those besieged in east Aleppo. Her father told her, In war, I need someone to take care of the girls, and gave her no choice.

Today her husband is missing, and her father is dead.

The healthcare team asked her a few questions. Aya didnt recommend marriage as a child.

Not at all, I would never let my daughter get married  she would lose her childhood, she said.

Marrying at a very young age was an option  rather than a demand  put to Fatima Rajab, but she rejected it. Shes a proud 16-year-old, and a little stubborn. But that appears to be a family trait.

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When rebel fighters started to take control of parts of east Aleppo in the summer of 2012, the population of that area, which includes the ancient old city, was estimated at 1m.

By the time the government regained control last December, just 40,000 remained. Fatima remained in the once-thriving Sukkari neighbourhood, now a dusty hive of shelled out buildings, with rubble and debris littering the streets, intermittent electricity and almost total poverty.

Her mother and father remained. Her six older sisters married and left. One of her older brothers, Mohammed, was killed in a bomb attack. The other, Abdo, has been missing for many months.

There was no food, but we just had to survive. I was terrified all the time. I thought at any time that I might die, she says, speaking quietly at first but growing in confidence as she tells her remarkable story.

My father spent all the money he had saved to build this house and he would not go even when we wanted to. He said, You go and leave me alone but we stayed with him.

Night after night, week after week, month after month, the Rajab family lived in fear  a fear of bombs, of mortars, of snipers, of hunger, of dehydration, of illness. Their nightmare began when Fatima was nine. The siege was lifted when she was 15. She missed the intervening six years of school.

But now she is back in education, and wants to be an IT engineer.

Ive an exam in May and it will be difficult. I cried when I came back because it was so difficult to catch up but gradually it got better, she says

Ill hopefully pass, but I need high marks to get into the IT school so I need to work.

That she will is guaranteed.

One of the most-inspiring aspects of our mission here in Aleppo is the sheer resilience of the women we have encountered, Peter Power, executive director of Unicef Ireland, says.

They must be commended not only for surviving the awful conflict during the past six years and more, but also for resolutely planning to secure their own futures and those of their families. Its remarkable.

And the importance of education to bedrock those plans repeatedly stands out.

Elham Shekhou (25) was going to work when she and her husband Firass were struck by a mortar.

She was six months pregnant.

I was very afraid for my baby, she says. I had to undergo many surgeries and X-rays, and had a lot of warnings that things wouldnt turn out well and I was expecting they wouldnt.

Fortunately, Miriam is now a thriving one-year-old.

Its a miracle, her mother says.

While her husband was soon able to return to work, Elham has extensive injuries, including severe damage to her left leg, meaning standing is very difficult.

We meet her as she stands in front of a classroom in Deir Hafer in rural Aleppo, where she is now working as a teacher.

I hope she has a very good life, goes to university, and that is why Im standing here with some difficulty doing my work, she says.

Our house was destroyed in the crisis so Im also working to help support my husband.

But my little girl needs someone to take care of her when Im at work, and my husbands family is here so I moved and he works in the city.

I am surprised by my own strength, she admits with a shy smile. We will all be together under one roof in time. Patience is the solution.

Ghouson Mukaddam (42) has also shown remarkable patience.

She was made principal of Ammar bin Yasser school in Maysaloun in 2010. It is a densely populated area near the old city, and was controlled by the rebels until last December.

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Ghouson lived directly across the road from her school. Both her home and her school were destroyed within a short period in 2014. Fortunately, she and her family had already left. Indeed, almost all the buildings in the streets around the school were hit.

It became very dangerous and I simply couldnt stay there, she says.

I cant even start to describe what it felt like to leave, it was very difficult. But I was determined to start again for the children, but I had to wait.

Plans for the new school finally began in February of this year, and she was a major contributor from the start. It was a huge undertaking. It included clearing part of the former site, installing 10 new prefabricated classrooms, amalgamating with other schools in the area which had also been destroyed, and sourcing new teachers because so many men are still fighting, injured or dead.

We were waiting for the opening by the second. It was a great happiness when it opened. This land means a lot to us because of what we had before and what we have gone through, she says.

The minute you see the children in the classroom there is a huge happiness. I, too, am happy here, and looking forward.

Old men start wars, the saying goes, and young men fight them.

But it is the women of east Aleppo who are picking up the pieces and shaping a future for them, their families, and maybe even their beleaguered country.
Relatives of a newlywed couple stand behind bars at a police station in Karachi (AP)

Police in Pakistan have arrested 10 people for the killings of a newlywed couple who entered into a free-will marriage in the southern port city of Karachi.

Abdul Hadi, 24, and Hasina Bibi, 19, were killed by relatives last week for marrying without permission from their elders earlier this month, according to police spokesman Qasim Hameed.

He said Mr Hadi's father and nine other relatives were arrested after the couple's bodies were found in a local graveyard on Sunday. He added that Ms Bibi's father has absconded.

He said the men had confessed to murdering the couple with knives on the orders of a "Jirga", or tribal council, for dishonouring their Pashtun culture.

Nearly 1,000 Pakistani women are killed by close relatives each year in so-called honour killings.
Charles Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others Photo: AP

The sheer incomprehensibility of the acts of Charles Manson - mutilation and ritual stabbings of seven victims, among them Hollywood starlet Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant by her movie director husband, Roman Polanski - left the world aghast and police investigators stumped for months.

Last Sunday, Manson, the cult master whose lemming-like followers staged a two-night murder rampage in Los Angeles in 1969, died in hospital in Kern County, California, aged 83. Manson, who was serving a life sentence at California State Prison in Corcoran, had had health problems in recent years and was hospitalised in January for gastrointestinal bleeding.

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For many, Manson and his ragtag entourage of runaways, two-bit criminals and blindly loyal worshippers symbolised the dark excesses of the drug-driven, free-love 1960s.

Manson and his so-called 'family' members wandered the Californian countryside, scavenging, stealing and preparing for an apocalyptic race war prophesied by their leader and dubbed 'Helter Skelter' after the Beatles song.

A prelude to the conflagration was the slaughter of the seven victims in two affluent Los Angeles neighbourhoods. Orchestrated by Manson on two successive nights in August 1969, the seemingly random killings were calculated to hasten the race war by making them appear committed by black militants. That in turn, he told his followers, would stir white sentiment against blacks, triggering widespread violence by blacks.

The scheme bore surface plausibility with the rash of urban explosions throughout the 1960s, culminating in the assassination of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr in 1968 and nationwide rioting.

Investigators, however, said the attacks also appeared motivated, at least in part, by Manson's uncontrolled rage in the weeks leading up to the murders, when Hollywood agents rejected his self-proclaimed musical talents.

The killings - known collectively as the Tate-LaBianca murders - led to the arrest and conviction of Manson and four of his followers in 1971.

All were sentenced to death in the California gas chamber, but the sentences were reduced to life in 1972 when the state Supreme Court abolished the death penalty.

Manson transfixed the nation with his roving, luminous eyes and courtroom theatrics during the months-long trial in which he and three female followers - Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten - were convicted. A fourth family member, Charles 'Tex' Watson, was convicted in a separate trial.

Manson and the women, as well as family supporters outside the courtroom, repeatedly disrupted the proceedings with antics, shouting often unintelligible slogans and chanting protests in unison. Once, Manson was restrained by bailiffs when he lunged at the judge.

"Look at yourselves," he shouted another time, glaring at the spectators. "You're going to destruction."

Manson was a study in stark contrasts. Small and scrawny, he was also charismatic and held an almost hypnotic power over his followers, especially women. Some believed he was divine.

Investigators, academic researchers and journalists found him alternately erratic and focused, a proficient guitarist, a lover of animals and a racist with a left-leaning hatred of the 'establishment' and corporate America.

He was not crazy, but he could fake it and had an insatiable need to control others, prompting him to recruit naive and malleable acolytes.

"Basically, Manson was a coward," Eric Hickey, dean of the California School of Forensic Studies, told Maclean's magazine in 2012. "He was the kind of guy who had other people do his bidding."

Charles Milles Manson was born on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, the son of an unmarried 16-year-old girl who supported herself on petty crime.

He never knew his father, and with his mother periodically jailed, he was shunted among various relatives in small-town West Virginia and Kentucky. He began engaging in petty theft himself and ended up in a series of foster homes and reformatories.

His education stopped at the seventh grade. While only sketchily literate, he scored a high-normal IQ of 121 while in prison.

He married twice, first to a teenage waitress, Rosalie Willis, in 1955, divorcing in 1958. Then in 1959 he married a woman with a prostitution record named Leona 'Candy' Stevens. That union also ended in divorce.

A son from his first marriage, Charles Manson Jr, who renamed himself Jay White, committed suicide in 1993. He had a son from his second marriage, Charles Luther Manson. He may have other children.

Manson drifted to California in the mid-1960s, drawn to the hippie scene in San Francisco and later Los Angeles. He began gathering a loose following of devotees, many of them disillusioned and confused youngsters.

He attempted to ingratiate himself with the Hollywood glitterati, using his guitar and songwriting as a wedge, and was briefly befriended by Beach Boys member Dennis Wilson, record producer Terry Melcher, son of actress Doris Day, and others. He managed to get one song on the Beach Boys' album 20/20 in 1968. It was titled Cease to Exist but revised and retitled Never Learn Not to Love by Wilson.

Meanwhile, his followers, ranging loosely from a handful to a few dozen, encamped at various sites, abiding by his strict rules of communal living, including mandatory group sex and drug use. "We took hundreds of [LSD] trips together," Krenwinkel said in a 1994 prison interview.

Women were entirely subordinate to men. They turned over their money to Manson. "The women did the cooking... The men ate first and the women got what was left," wrote Jeff Guinn, author of Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson.

It was during this time in the late 1960s that his vision of racial Armageddon gelled as well, guided, he asserted, by biblical prophecy and coded language in the Beatles' White Album in such songs as Helter Skelter, Blackbird and Piggies.

During the war, he preached, his followers would go underground with him in Death Valley, then rise again to take over leadership from the victorious blacks.

On the night of August 9, 1969, the first of two family teams entered a home formerly rented by Melcher. Manson assumed it would be tenanted by people similarly wealthy, influential and deserving of death.

The team forced its way in, repeatedly beating, stabbing and shooting Tate and three friends - coffee heiress Abigail Folger, her boyfriend Wojciech Frykowski and celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring.

A fourth victim, Steve Parent, an acquaintance of the property's caretaker, was shot in his car outside the house. Polanski was abroad at the time.

Late the next night, another family team drove to a second upmarket neighbourhood where Manson picked a house next to one where he and friends had partied earlier that year. The group broke in and with ritual savagery killed Leno LaBianca, a grocery store chain operator, and his wife, Rosemary.

At both houses, the intruders smeared bloody slogans on walls and furnishings - 'Death to pigs' and 'Rise' - as well as a telltale Black Panther paw print to mislead police.

Investigators were stymied for months. They got their break when Atkins, jailed in connection with an unrelated murder, confided to cellmates about the Tate-LaBianca killings.

Fingerprint and ballistics evidence at the scene confirmed Atkins's assertions. Manson, also in custody on unrelated charges, was quickly indicted.

Prosecutors depicted Manson as the mastermind of the murders, and while family members acknowledged his planning role, they said he did not participate in the killings. The jury nevertheless found him equally culpable.

Manson spent his years behind bars answering mountains of mail, weaving scorpions and spiders from string and granting occasional TV interviews.

As he aged, his eyes dulled, his scraggly hair and beard whitened and the swastika carved on his forehead began to fade.

Charlie Rose, in an Emmy Award-winning interview on the CBS Nightwatch show in 1987, asked Manson for his reaction to the public perception of him as a "monster".

His answer: "What you see is what you get."

 The Washington Post
Actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant when she was murdered by Manson's gang.

Sharon Tate begged for more time before she was murdered. She was due to give birth to a son a fortnight later and pleaded: "Please don't kill me. I just want to have my baby."

One of Charles Manson's followers then stabbed the actress 16 times, and with a towel dipped in her blood, wrote "PIG" on her front door. Fifteen years after her daughter's death, Doris Tate recalled that plea in front of a Manson Family member convicted of killing Tate and four others at the star's home.

"What mercy, sir, did you show my daughter when she was begging for her life?" Doris Tate asked Charles 'Tex' Watson during his 1984 parole hearing.

"When will I come up for parole? Can you tell me that? Will the seven victims and possibly more walk out of their graves if you get parole?"

The moment was powerful not only because of the words Tate chose, but because of what they represented: the first victim impact statement in California, which eventually became a worldwide phenomenon and arrived in Ireland in 1993 with the Criminal Justice Act.

Manson will be remembered for many things: his ability to manipulate, his failed musical aspirations and his capacity for evil.

But his legacy will also include an unintended, positive consequence that has benefited countless people in the decades since Tate's death. Because of the work her mother began and her sisters continued, victims' voices carry a weight in many nations' legal systems and none of Manson's minions, including Watson, have seen freedom.

Doris Tate helped get the Victim's Rights Bill, which allowed for victim impact statements, passed in California in 1982.

All 50 American states now allow victims to speak either written or orally at certain phases of the legal process, according to the US National Centre for Victims of Crime.

"Victim impact statements are often the victims' only opportunity to participate in the criminal justice process or to confront the offenders who have harmed them," the National Centre's website reads. "Many victims report that making such statements improves their satisfaction with the criminal justice process and helps them recover from the crime."

Doris Tate wasn't a natural activist. She spent more than a decade after her oldest daughter's brutal death devastated by her grief.

She came forward publicly only after she learned that one of Mason's devotees, Leslie Van Houten, had gathered 900 signatures in support of her obtaining parole.

Tate helped to gather 350,000 signatures against Houten's parole.

Tate later founded the Coalition on Victims' Equal Rights and worked the rests of her life toward victims' rights.

In 1992, before her death that year at 68, President George HW Bush honoured her as one of his 'thousand points of light', an initiative recognising clubs and volunteer organisations

"You can't make sense out of the innocent slaughter of Sharon and the other victims," Tate once said.

"The most that I, or any person touched by violence, can hope for is acceptance of the pain.

"You never forget it, not even with the passage of time. But, if, in my work, I can help transform Sharon's legacy from murder victim to a symbol for victims' rights, I will have accomplished what I set out to do."

Sharon Tate was the oldest daughter of Doris and Paul Tate. She was only six months old when her beauty first gained her recognition. She was named a Miss Tiny Tot of Texas.

Later, when she was a teenager, as the daughter of an Army colonel, she appeared in a bathing suit on the cover of the military publication Stars and Stripes.

As an actress, even when she appeared in poorly reviewed films, critics noted how striking she looked. Hollywood embraced her and she counted among her close friends Mia Farrow and Tony Curtis.

She met director Roman Polanski while filing The Fearless Vampire Killers and she wore a white mini dress when she married him on January 20, 1968.

Later that year, she became pregnant and the two started looking for a larger home. They found one in 10050 Cielo Drive.

Manson knew the address. He had been there before. Record producer Terry Melcher had lived there, and Manson had hoped Melcher, who had auditioned him, was going to sign him to a record deal. But he didn't.

"Manson was mad about that," Michael McGann, a detective involved in the investigation, recalled. "It's no accident he sent his group to Cielo."

Vincent Bugliosi, who led the prosecution of Manson and his followers and later wrote a best-selling account of the case, also said Manson deliberately targeted the house.

Bugliosi said Manson told a group of his followers the afternoon before the murders, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter", referring to the race wars he hoped to provoke after the killings. "Go to the former home of Terry Melcher and kill everyone on the premises."

Bugliosi said Watson then gathered Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian to help with the task.

Killed alongside Tate were Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger and Steve Parent. Polanksi was out of town at the time. The next night, Manson followers killed two more people - Leno and Rosemary LaBianca - and wrote "Healter Skelter" in blood on a refrigerator.

The murders left Hollywood shaken. Stars reportedly moved, and in two days, a Beverly Hills sporting goods store sold 200 firearms, according to media reports. Manson and the others were convicted and sentenced to death in 1971.

Because the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972, their sentences were changed to life in prison.

After her mother's death, Tate's sister, Patti Tate, continued to fight for victims and to keep the Manson family in prison. When Patti died of breast cancer in 2000, her sister, Debra Tate, took on that role. She wrote an article in the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that ran under the headline 'Why members of the Manson family still don't deserve parole after murdering my sister'.

Tate wrote the piece after attending the 14th parole hearing of Krenwinkel, for which she had gathered 98,000 signatures in 13 days opposing the release. More than 10,000 people also wrote letters. "Look up the word 'sociopath'," Tate wrote. "You will see there is no cure for this affliction. There is no medication, no programming that can relieve it... Krenwinkel - and all the members of the Manson family - should never be granted parole."

 The Washington Post
Pope Francis is greeted by young children in traditional clothes on his arrival at Yangon airport (AP)

Pope Francis has arrived on a visit to Burma and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's poorest people, but the big question was whether he would utter the word "Rohingya".

Francis immediately dived into the Rohingya Muslim crisis by meeting Burma's powerful military leader, General Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations.

The general is in charge of the security operation in Rakhine state, where a military crackdown against the Muslim minority has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke did not provide details of the private 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence, other than to say: "They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the UN says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in Rakhine.

Burma's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohingya" because it is shunned by many locally as the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country.

However, Francis has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters", and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Burma's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalised.

Mr Burke did not say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

Upon arrival in Rangoon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Burma's Catholics, who lined the roads wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children in traditional dress greeted him as he drove in a simple blue car, chanting "Viva il papa!" (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Burmese and Holy See flags.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologised for the expected heat, which was 32C on his arrival and is expected to rise.

On Tuesday, he will begin the main protocol portion of his week-long trip, meeting the country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and delivering a speech to other Burmese authorities and diplomats.

He will greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Burmese security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that forced more than 620,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

AP
Villagers carry their belongings during an evacuation following the eruption of Mount Agung (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Indonesian authorities have ordered 100,000 people to flee from an erupting volcano on Bali that forced the holiday island's international airport to close, stranding large numbers of travellers.

Mount Agung has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 10,000ft into the atmosphere since the weekend and lava is welling up in the crater, sometimes reflected as a reddish-yellow glow in the ash plumes.

Its explosions can be heard seven to eight miles away.

Videos released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcano's slopes.

It said lahars could increase because it is rainy season and warned people to stay away from rivers.

The agency raised the volcano's alert to the highest level early on Monday and expanded the danger zone to six miles in places. It said a larger eruption is possible.

The volcano's last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

He said about 40,000 people have left the area but others feel safe or do not want to abandon their livestock.

"Authorities will comb the area to persuade them," he said. "If needed we will forcibly evacuate them."

About 25,000 people were already living in evacuation centres after an increase in tremors from the mountain in September sparked an evacuation.

Lava rising in the crater "will certainly spill over to the slopes", Mr Sutopo said.

Bali's airport was closed early on Monday after ash, which can pose a threat to aircraft, reached its air space.

Flight information boards showed rows of cancellations as tourists arrived at the busy airport expecting to catch flights home.

Airport spokesman Air Ahsanurrohim said 445 flights had been cancelled, stranding about 59,000 travellers. The closure was in effect until Tuesday morning, although officials said the situation would be reviewed every six hours.

It had a ripple effect across Indonesia, causing delays at other airports because Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport is a national hub with many connecting flights.

Bali is Indonesia's top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about five million visitors a year.

Indonesia's Directorate General of Land Transportation said 100 buses were being deployed to Bali's international airport and to ferry terminals to help stranded travellers.

The agency said major ferry crossing points have been advised to prepare for a surge in passengers and vehicles. Stranded tourists could leave Bali by taking a ferry to Java and then travelling by land to the nearest airports.

Ash has settled on villages and resorts around the volcano and disrupted daily life outside the immediate danger zone.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has more than 120 active volcanoes.

AP
Mount Agung volcano spews smoke and ash in Bali yesterday, forcing scores of flights to be cancelled. Photo: Emilio Kuzma-Floyd/Reuters

Tens of thousands of travellers have been stranded in Bali after the threat from a volcano closed the tourist island's international airport.

Indonesian authorities raised the alert for Mount Agung to the highest level on Monday, and said the airport would be closed for 24 hours.

The volcano has been hurling clouds of white and dark grey ash about 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) into the atmosphere since the weekend.

Video released by the national disaster agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcano's slopes.

Tests indicated ash had reached the island's airspace, leaving tourists facing flight information boards showing rows of cancellations as they arrived at the busy airport expecting to catch flights home.

Airport spokesman Air Ahsanurrohim said 445 flights were cancelled, affecting about 59,000 travellers. The closure is in effect until Tuesday morning, but officials said the situation would be reviewed every six hours.

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Bali is Indonesia's top tourist destination, with its gentle Hindu culture, surf beaches and lush green interior attracting about five million visitors a year.

Geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised because the volcano had shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions.

"We don't expect a big eruption but we have to stay alert and anticipate," he said on Indonesian TV.

The exclusion zone around the crater was widened to six miles, from a previous three to five miles.

Ash up to half a centimetre (less than half an inch) thick settled on villages around the volcano over the weekend, and soldiers and police distributed masks.

The volcano's last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

Indonesia sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" and has more than 120 active volcanoes.

Mount Agung's alert status was raised to the highest level in September following a dramatic increase in tremors from the volcano, which doubled the exclusion zone around the crater and prompted more than 140,000 people to leave the area. The alert was lowered on October 29 after a decrease in activity, but about 25,000 people remained in evacuation centres.

Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says as many as 100,000 villagers need to leave the expanded danger zone, but that less than half that number have left.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone affected 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

Nugroho said about 40,000 people had evacuated but others had not left because they felt safe or did not want to abandon their livestock.
Tlik, a Yezidi village in Armenias Aragatsotn Province, lies a few hundred meters from the Akhouryan River. Turkey is on the other side.

The village has a mere 18 households. There is no kindergarten. Residents must buy water for drinking, and they have no natural gas for cooking or heating.

School teachers we spoke to arent optimistic about the villages future. They say that more residents will leave unless the authorities pay more attention to Tlik and other border communities.
Donald Trump will travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to personally lobby Republican senators (AP)

Donald Trump has hinted that he could accept changes to his key tax bill as he looks to win over holdout Republican senators in an effort to pass the package by the end of the year.

In a morning tweet, the president said: "With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings."

He suggested openness to making unspecified changes to the way millions of "pass-through" businesses are taxed, a sticking point for some legislators.

Mr Trump and Republicans have set as a vital political goal the passage of tax overhaul legislation by the end of the year.

The House of Representatives recently passed a 1.5 trillion dollar (1.1 trillion) bill, and Senate Republican leaders hope to muscle the bill through this week.

The package blends a sharp reduction in top corporate and business tax rates with more modest relief for individuals.

Mr Trump is meeting five members of the Senate Finance Committee who are on board with the Republican plan, and will travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to personally lobby Republican senators.

In a boost for Republican efforts, senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would back the measure.

"I'm not getting everything I want - far from it. But I've been immersed in this process. I've fought for and received major changes for the better - and I plan to vote for this bill as it stands right now," Mr Paul said.

Republicans have no votes to spare in the Senate, where they hold a razor-thin 52-48 edge.

Holdouts include Susan Collins of Maine, who has objected to a provision in the Senate bill repealing the requirement under the Obamacare programme that everyone should have health insurance.

Ms Collins has said that issue should be dealt with separately from the effort to overhaul the tax code.

Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has already declared his opposition to the bill, saying it does not cut business taxes enough for partnerships and corporations.

Bob Corker of Tennessee, and John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona also have concerns about the bill and its impact on the nation's deficit.

Last week, Mr Trump promised to "give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas".

AP
Kolkata, Nov 27 (IBNS): Emirates, a global connector of people, places and economies, was recently honoured with the Best Airline - International Award at the sixth edition the Travel + Leisure Indias Best Awards 2017.

Presented by the magazines India & South Asia division, the Travel + Leisure Indias Awards honour the best in the travel and tourism industry, in India and across the world.

The awards are basis a poll conducted through their website over a period of two months where discerning readers of Travel + Leisure voted robustly for 97 awards across 57 categories.

Commenting on the award, Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice President  India & Nepal, Emirates,said: We at Emirates are honoured with this recognition. We endeavour to bring the best experience to our passengers across destinations. We are pleased to be voted as the Best Airline in the International category by Travel + Leisure. This will bring immense motivation to our staff and crew to continue our relentless efforts in delivering excellent services and products.

Emirates has always been persistent in bringing the best of services and products across its network around the world with high focus on quality. This celebrated award is a testimony to the diligent efforts of Emirates talented workforce in creating world-class experiences for its passengers.

During the year, Emirates continued to invest in the most advanced wide-body aircraft to improve overall efficiency and provide better customer experience.Emirates also received 10 wide-body aircraft  4 Airbus A380s, and 6 Boeing 777s, with 9 more new aircraft scheduled to be delivered before the end of the financial year. Emirates launched two new passenger services in the first six months of its financial year to Zagreb (Croatia) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia).

From unveiling game-changing,fully enclosed private suites in First Class inspired by Mercedes-Benz, placing order for 40 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, to partnering with Thales for next generation broadband connectivity, Emirates is all set to make a large presence in the future.
Ashok Jain, I.A.S., Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan inaugurated the five-day symposium organized by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) in partnership with The World Bank, and Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE).



INSPIRE 2017 intends to create a platform for deliberations and sharing of best practices around energy efficiency policy solutions, high-impact research, innovative financing and implementation that are driving large scale market transformations in India and across the globe. The event has brought together over 350 participants from 13 countries across North America, Asia, Europe and Middle East.



During the event, Ashok Jain, I.A.S., Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan said, Focused initiatives and commitments in green energy is evident in our times. Energy efficiency will be the key in mitigation of climate challenge. Indias unified action plan for climate change outlines many steps which simultaneously advance India's development and climate change-related objectives.

Rajasthan has large industries in cement and textile sectors. Under the PAT scheme, the designated industrial consumers were given targets, of which 58, in the first cycle, overachieved these targets. This demonstrates the due significance the state of Rajasthan gives to energy efficiency.



Abhay Bakre, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said, INSPIRE is very crucial at this juncture. This 5-day conference will cover all the questions in the field of energy efficiency, ideate and discuss on the topic for solutions. I must compliment Govt of Rajasthan for having conducted this event in the city and taking this purpose forward on international level in partnering with EESL.

The highlight of the symposium is the high-level deliberations driven by policy makers and experts from Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), The World Bank Group, The Energy Institute (TERI), International Energy Agency (IEA), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), USA and representatives of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) - a high-level global forum to promote policies and programs that advance clean energy technology. Several global organizations like the Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, International Finance Corporation, The World Bank, International Energy Agency, International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation, Clean Energy Ministerial, Copenhagen Center on Energy Efficiency, GIZ, will also share their perspectives at INSPIRE.





Dr. John Roome, Senior Director, The World Bank Group while expressing concern on mitigating climate change said, India is the third largest energy consumer in the world. In India, the World Bank is proud to be partnering with EESL on a major $300 million programme, which is a long term low cost loan. This builds on our ongoing engagements with EESL and other agencies. The next five years will be critical for if we want a world that we would like our children to live in. And bold action on Energy Efficiency will be a key part of that action.

Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said, For us energy efficiency has proved to be an important activity for providing world class standard of living to citizens. With this the company has also grown in the last few years. We would like to thank the World Bank Group, Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and all other participants. INSPIRE 2017 intends to create a platform for deliberations and sharing of best practices around energy efficiency policy solutions, high-impact research, innovative financing and implementation that are driving large scale market transformations in India and across the globe.
Kolkata, Nov 27 (IBNS) Filmmaker Gautam Ghose and former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar released two travel- oriented books "Notes from A Spanish Diary" by Ranjita Biswas and "From Zanskar to Ziro" by Sohini Sen at the Rotary Sadan here on Saturday.

Based on the authors solo travel experiences, "Notes from A Spanish Diary" (Niyogi Books published both the books) has five chapters on the countrys varied landscapes, from Barcelona and Madrid to Andalusia in the south, from central Castille to the Basque region in the north.

Guest of Honour, Sanjukta Dasgupta, former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Calcutta University commented that the book, is a travel book written like fiction. She also dwelt on the women writing in the travel genre and praised the efforts of both the writers for stepping out of home to explore unfamiliar terrains.

From Zanskar to Ziro is a 10,000 km journey of two women that begins in the remote Zanskar Valley in Ladakh and ends in Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh covering the Himalayan foothills of India, Nepal and Bhutan.

In an interactive session later, Biswas and Sen talked about their experiences, the challenges they faced travelling on their own and what moved them to take off on their individual journeys.

Travelling in Spain alone with a limited knowledge of the Spanish language was a bit daunting at first. But one can always manage with some ingenuity. Besides, the people were very friendly and went out of their way to help me, said Biswas, a senior journalist and editor of Trans World Features.

Spain has had a chequered history with many invasions, including by the Moors from Morocco who reigned in the Iberian peninsula for almost 800 years. The influences of different people living in the land side by side have percolated into the countrys socio-cultural ethos, food habits, etc. Contemporary historians recognise it in their writings.. Thats interesting, observed Biswas.

Asked about the essentials for preparing a trip to a foreign country on ones own, Biswas said that a bit of homework before departing, budgeting but with little extra for any eventuality, and above all, an open mind while exploring the land, food included, are important.

Chief guest Jawhar Sircar, former CEO, Prasar Bharati, spoke at length about the genre of travel writing where women writers are fewer in number and lauded the authors for their work.

Goutam Ghose, well-known filmmaker and travel writer, commended the efforst of both the writers.
Guwahati, Nov 27 (IBNS) : At least eight people, including four women and two journalists, were injured during clash between protesters and security personnel in Guwahati.

The incident occurred while Assam forest department on Monday resumed their eviction drives against 1400 families that have been encroaching upon the Amchang wildlife sanctuary, outskirts of Guwahati.

Facing massive protests, the state forest department on Monday resumed their eviction drives at Batahghuli, Nabajyoti Nagar, Kankan Nagar, Kailash Nagar and Yousuf Nagar inside the wildlife sanctuary.



By deploying around 1500 security and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) led by 20 magistrates, 15 elephants, 7 excavators, the state forest department started the eviction drives against the encroaches from two sides in the wildlife sanctuary.

When, the government forces reached the areas, local people protested against the eviction drive and attempted to halt it.

The situation turned more violent when some protesters pelted stone targeting to security personnel and to control the situation security personnel resorted baton charge and fired tear gas shells.

During the clash, eight persons including five protesters, a photographer of state forest department and two journalists were injured, a top police official said.

The injured persons were identified as Malati Das, Alima Khatun, Rashida Ahmed, Reena Doley, Gautam Baishya, Utpal Patgiri (photographer of state forest department) and they were rushed to different hospitals.





Meanwhile, a top official of Kamrup (Metro) district said that, the eviction drive was conducted at five places inside the wildlife sanctuary and evicted around 408 houses, educational institutions, religious infrastructures.

The eviction drive will continue in next two days to evict all 1400 families, who were illegally encroached land inside the wildlife sanctuary, the official said.

Earlier, the state forest department had conducted eviction drive in the wildlife sanctuary following court directive in August last.

The Gauhati High Court on August 2 last had directed the state government to clear the encroachers after the court took up a PIL in 2003 over the encroachment inside the 78.64 km radius sanctuary.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Moscow, Nov 27 (IBNS): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who arrived at Moscow in Russia on a three day, was received by Igor Zubov, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation at Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow.

Rajnath Singh met Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister for Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, on Monday during which the Ministers emphasized the strength of the relationship between India and Russia that has been consolidated in the past 70 years in all areas.

The Ministers underlined that cooperation in the field of security is an important aspect of this bilateral relationship further strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and radicalism.

They agreed that terrorism must be fought unitedly and there were no good or bad terrorists.

They also agreed to cooperate in combating new challenges, enhance exchange of information, cooperate in building a data base, and in training of police and investigative agencies.

Both sides agreed to hold the next Joint Working Group to counter terrorism between India and Russia in 2018.

An updated and more comprehensive agreement on Cooperation on Security between Ministry of Home Affairs of India and the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation was signed by the two Ministers.

This agreement provides a comprehensive approach for cooperation in security related issues, including Information Technology Crimes, Counterfeiting currency, Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, Trafficking in Human Beings, Economic Crimes, Crimes related to Intellectual Property, Cultural Property amongst others.

A Joint Action Plan between the Narcotics Control Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs of India and the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation for the period 2018-20 was also signed by Pankaj Saran, Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation and Igor Zubov, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation on this occasion.

During his visit, Rajnath Singh will also hold meetings with Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary, Security Council of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Puchkov, Minister of Civil Defence, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief of the Russian Federation and Alexander Bortnikov, Director, Federal Security Service of Russia.

He will also pay a visit to the National Crisis Management Centre (EMERCOM) under Russias Ministry of Situations.
Guwahati, Nov 27 (IBNS) : Assam Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi on Monday presented the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar- 2016 to 32 young artistes of the country who have made a mark as young talents in their respective fields of performing arts at a special award presentation ceremony at Srimanta Sankardeva International Auditorium in Guwahati.

Speaking on the occasion, the Assam Governor expressed his pleasure to be a part of the prestigious and special ceremony and said it is the universal spirit of the artist in all of us that have gathered us here to celebrate. Our award-winners represent the whole of India.

He also said that youth is a wondrous time when dreams are lofty and spirits are high, therefore efforts exerted in the right direction at this age will yield proper fruit, that is, success and recognition and all round development.

Citing examples from the Mahabharata , the Assam Governor said that from the age of 16 years to 24 years are the most crucial years, the most important years in an individuals life where he or she crystallizes his or her plans for the future.

If one knows ones goal well during these nine years, one can prepare a blueprint for ones success in the future.

Our country India, since time immemorial has been a home to creativity and the arts. We worship Saraswati  the goddess of learning and the Arts. Her sons are the four Vedas Rig, Sam, Yajur and Atharva  all a treasure trove of wisdom. So, for us, arts- be it dance, music, theatre, folk, tribal - all are spiritual pursuits. It is something noble and is even seen as a doorway to liberation or moksha, the Assam Governor said.

Almost 56% of Indias population is below the age of 35 and human resource is our greatest asset. It is the youth of India who represent her hopes, dreams and aspirations, the Assam Governor said.

He also lauded the Great shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan Saheb, as an extraordinaire who single handedly brought the Shehnai on the world stage. Even after receiving the Bharat Ratna, Indias highest civilian honour and achieving international fame he would reside in the city of Banaras for he believed in think global, act local.

Prof Mukhi urged on the youth to look upto the great maestro and work accordingly.

The Assam Governor congratulated the Sangeet Natak Akademi for its tireless efforts in promoting the arts across the country. The mission, vision and efforts to carry out projects and programmes at such a scale deserve our appreciation.

He also congratulated the awardees, their parents, Gurus and families.

He also requested the awardees to repay the debt to the Gurus by imparting the art to a new set of disciples to carry forward the tradition of arts of our great country.

It is to be mentioned that Sangeet Natak Academy is the national academy of music, dance and drama and the first national academy of the arts set up by the Republic of India after Independence.

In the field of music, eight recipients of Yuva Puraskar included Yashaswi Sirpotdar and Koushik Aithal in Hindustani Vocal Music; Yashwant Vaishnav in Hindustani Instrumental Music  Tabla; Abir Hossain in Hindustani Instrumental Music  Sarod; Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan (Trichur Brothers) (Joint award) in Carnatic Vocal Music; K Sai Giridhar in Carnatic Instrumental Music  Mridangam; Ashwin Anand in Carnatic Instrumental Music  Veena and B Shree Sunderkumar in Carnatic Instrumental Music  Kanjira.

In the field of dance, eight recipients of Yuva Puraskar are Jyotsna Jagannathan in Bharatnatyam; Sanjukta Sinha in Kathak; Sanjenbam Karuna Devi in Manipuri; Pasumarthi Mruthyumjaya in Kuchipudi; Shaswati Garai Ghosh in Odissi; Usharani Baishya in Sattriya; Kalamandalam Rachitha Ravi in Mohiniattam and Kalamandalam Krishnendu in Other Major Traditions of Dance & Dance Theatre (Kutiyattam).

In the field of theatre, eight recipients are Manish Joshi in Playwriting; Kedar Thakur and Mohit Takalkar in Direction; Neeraj Gupta and Vikrant Sharma in Acting; Soma Das in Mime; Gagan Mishra in Allied Theatre Arts  Lighting, and Jayachandra Varma Rekandar in Other Major Traditions of Surabhi Theatre.

In the field of Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre & Puppetry, eight recipients are Sonia Shirsat in Traditional Music, Goa; Chainis Gill in Folk Music, Punjab; Gurumayum Biseshwor Sharma in Thang-ta (Manipur); Ch Ravi Kumar in Traditional Theatre  Oggukatha, Telangana; P Thilagavathi in Traditional Theatre, Kattaikooththu, Tamil Nadu; Dushyant Kumar Dwivedi in Pandavani, Chhattisgarh; S Gopi and Rajeev Pulavar in Puppetry.

Chairman of Sangeet Natak Academy Shekhar Sen, commissioner of the state cultural affairs department Pritam Saikia, renowned actor Pranjal Saikia along with a host of other dignitaries were also present at the award presentation ceremony.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati, Nov 27(IBNS): Arunachal Pradesh governor Brig. (Dr.) B.D. Mishra (Retd.) met the Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM at New Delhi on Monday.

They discussed about the national security issues and the requirement of enhanced number of army recruitment rallies in the State of Arunachal Pradesh.

For providing opportunity to more and more youth of Arunachal Pradesh to enable them to join the Indian Armed forces, the Arunachal Pradesh governor emphasized on 6 times more armed forces recruitment rallies in the State.

He also asked for seven pre-recruitment training centers for the aspiring and able bodied youth namely at Bomdila, Itanagar, Ziro, Aalo, Tezu, Likabali and Jairampur, so as to provide open opportunity to them to compete for the recruitment.

As an initiative to raise the employment rate in the state, Mishra called for collaborative effort of the Armed Forces and the State Government in facilitating the youth to join the forces.

He pointed out that the youth of the State have the aspirations but due to the remoteness of their living areas and lack of pre recruitment training many aspirants have missed the recruitment opportunity in the past.

The Arunachal Pradesh governor also suggested for lowering the height consideration for our youth in the border areas so that the natural handicap of the short height of our young men does not hamper their chances of joining the Indian Army.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Guwahati, Nov 27 (IBNS): As a prelude to the first ever Global Investors Summit slated to be held in the month of February next year, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday launched a road show at a city hotel in Kolkata to elicit participation from the industrialists and prospective investors.

Business delegates from as many as 60 countries across the world participated in the event which was organised to present the inherent potential, prosperity and possibilities of Assam.

A power point presentation was given to make the foreign industrialists aware of Assam and the business opportunities and geo-strategic location that the State enjoys to become the gateway to the 10 South East Asian countries.

As a part of the global investors summit, Sonowal held one to one discussion with industrialists and investors to woo investments in the State.

The business to business discussion was held in a congenial atmosphere where Sonowal apprised the industrialists of the States turn around to a growing economy with a promise to expedite economic growth potential to social empowerment.

The Assam CM drew the attention of the investors to Assams pro-business and investment friendly climate like ease of doing business and creation of land bank for development of industries etc.

Infusing confidence in the investors, Sonowal informed them that ever since the new dispensation in the state came to power the Assam accumulated investment to the tune of Rs. 6500 crore.

The discussion specifically focussed on sectoral developments with special emphasis on tea, food processing, handloom and textile, tourism and hospitality, health, agriculture and allied industries, bamboo, jute, plastic industries etc.

He also said that the law and order situation of the State has improved considerably which is conducive to investment.

He said that he had requested the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to extend ambit of the UDAN scheme so that flight connectivity between Assam with other ASEAN countries increases so that Centres Act East Policy reached its logical conclusion.

Closer engagement with the ASEAN countries would augur well to spearhead a new paradigm of development and revive business and investment cycle, Sonowal said.

Business groups like Laxmi Group, Haldiram Bhujiawala Limited, Glaze Infrastructure, Indian Plastic Federation, Century Ply, Techno Group, Larica, ITC, Indian Jute Mill Association, Global Health Care Systems, Merchants Chamber of Commerce and many others discussed their business plan and expressed their inclination to investment in Assam.

Later talking to foreign business delegates and investors at a programme titled Horasis Asia Meeting the Assam CM gave a broad overview of State Governments initiatives to bolster complete transformation of the State to become an epicentre of countrys economy.

He also said that to leverage the true potential of Assam, the State Government is organising Global Investors Summit: Advantaged Assam and he invited all the business delegates to be present at the summit and explore the business and investors friendly potential of Assam and be a part of State Governments growth agenda.

It may be noted that countries like USA, Japan, Australia, Brazil expressed their desire to bring in their business delegation in big numbers to participate in investors summit and investment in Assam.

Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, Additional Chief Secretary Industry and Commerce Ravi Capoor, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sanjay Lohiya along with a host of dignitaries were present on the occasion.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath, Image; Chief Minister Assam Twitter page)
Guwahati, Nov 27 (IBNS): Security forces have apprehended an arms dealer in Nagalands Kohima area, officials said on Monday.

Based on specific intelligence regarding movement of illegal arms dealer 9 Assam Rifles, under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North), along with police representatives, established a vehicle check post in general area High School Junction and Teenpati Junction, Kohima.

During the search, the troops apprehended one arms peddler along with a point 22 Pistol and one magazine.

The apprehended arms dealer was identified as Seyie Khrielie alias Alo Zao.

The arms dealer, along with recovered items, was handed over to Kohima (North) Police Station for further investigation.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
On November 26, in Paris, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian assumed the Presidency of the Ministerial Conference of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, which unites 84 member, associate and observer states and governments.

During the solemn ceremony that took place at the end of the Conference, the Foreign Minister of Madagascar Henry Rabary Njaka passed the Presidency of the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie to the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

In his speech during the transfer of the Presidency, Minister Nalbandian said:

Dear Mme Secretary General,

Dear Colleagues,

At this moment, when Armenia is assuming the Presidency of the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie, I feel proud for this honour bestowed upon Armenia.

Once again, I would like to express deep gratitude to the heads of states and governments of La Francophonie for trusting our country to hold the XVII Summit of La Francophonie.

Dear Mme Secretary General,

Dear Colleagues,

We are aware of the immense work that awaits us. First of all, it is necessary to ensure the success of the Summit, in organisational terms. In this regard, we look forward to working closely with the Madagascar Presidency, with you, Mme Secretary General, as well as with member states and governments of La Francophonie.

I would like to warmly thank my colleague from Madagascar. From now on, Armenia and Madagascar are connected by both historical and symbolic ties.

Dear Colleague,

You assumed the Presidency of the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie in Armenia and now you are transferring that Presidency to Armenia, not to mention that it was in Antananarivo that a decision was made to hold the next Summit of La Francophonie in Yerevan.

We also intend work in a joint and constant manner with Tunisia, to which Armenia will pass the honour and privilege of organizing the next Summit of our Organization.

Dear Mme. Secretary General,

Dear Colleagues,

This is how we perceive the cooperation within our francophone family. We intend to work jointly with you and everyone to ensure the success of the Summit in Yerevan, as the success of this Summit is the collective success of all of us, the overall success of our francophone family.

Thank you.

Thus, I declare the 34th Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie closed.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, President of the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie Edward Nalbandian, Secretary General of La Francophonie Michaelle Jean, Foreign Minister of Madagascar Henry Rabary Njaka and Secretary of State for European and Francophone Affairs of France Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne held a joint press conference on the outcomes of the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie.
The press conference related to the Canadian movie Meditation Park was attended by the Counsel General of Canada Jordan Reeves, and the cast and crew of the movie including producer Stephen Hegyes, director Mina Shum, and actors Cheng Pei Pei, Tzi Ma and Don McKellar. Besides talking about Meditation Park, the panel members spoke about the India - Canada collaboration and dealing with a movie budget model in countries as well as the stereotypes Asians often face.



Jordan says, One of the things that really impressed the Canadians was the encouragement, the warm welcome and the hospitality. Some of the discussions we've had this week have been very exciting. Canada had a couple of things that we wanted accomplished here. First was to provide a platform for Canadian films, artists and filmmakers and the other was to increase collaboration between our two main industries.

Director Mina Shum adds, The inspiration for the film, the character in many ways comes from the idea that we live in world where citizens feel completely powerless. We can't do anything about the environment or the corporation. So I wanted to create a character that was powerless within a family structure.
Damascus, Nov 27 (IBNS): At least 53 civilians have been killed in airstrikes conducted by Russia in Syria, observers said.

The incident took place in Al-Shafah village of Syria.

UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 21 of those reportedly killed were children.

The village falls under Deir al-Zour, eastern Syria's largest city and one of the few places still under the grip of Islamic State.

Russia too confirmed the drill, however, said that only militants were targeted.

According to the monitoring group, so far 120 people have been killed in Syria, ever since the government mounted an offensive against militants, two weeks ago.
The beauty of South-South cooperation  first and foremost  is that this modality of international relations relies on solidarity expressed in concrete and demonstrable sharing of technical know-how, experience and resources among developing countries, said Jorge Chediek, the Secretary-Generals Envoy on South-South Cooperation and Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), at the opening ceremony.



Hundreds of participants from over 120 countries, including government ministers, development agency directors, and international and civil society stakeholders, have gathered for the world's preeminent forum for showcasing, sharing, and scaling up innovative local solutions to global problems.



The event, hosted by the Government of Turkey and coordinated by UNOSSC, will focus on solutions for the South, by the South throughout the week. The theme South-South Cooperation in the Era of Economic, Social and Environmental Transformation: The Road to the 40th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40), aims to engage stakeholders to scale up concrete solutions from the South to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.



South-South cooperation has gained a new centrality with respect to the 2030 Agenda, and despite the challenges before us South-South approaches provide a window of opportunity for us to share hard-won lessons, Chediek said.



Your presence here is proof that you are ready to take up the challenge; that you are ready to build bridges and partnerships; that you believe that solutions to todays critical development challenges exist in the Global South; and that every country, large or small, emerging economy or LDC, has something to offer to the world.



Since its inception in 2008, the Expo has featured documented best practices from hundreds of partner countries, UN agencies, private-sector enterprises and civil society organizations.



Turkey began providing development assistance to countries in the region in the 1920s, said Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister of Turkey.



Today the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) operates in over 120 countries, he explained, adding that Turkey ranks second in the world for humanitarian aid as per percentage of its gross national income.



Earlier this year, Turkey signed an agreement with the UN to establish a Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries to strengthen the science, technology and innovation capacity in the worlds poorest countries toward achieving the 2030 Agenda. Knowledge-sharing is a priority for Turkey, the Minister said.



One of the highlights of the week is the Exhibition, which was inaugurated following the opening ceremony and boasts 58 booths and 3 photo exhibits showcasing tested development solutions from the South.



The Expo takes place in the lead up to the 40th anniversary of the historic adoption of the 1978 Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA).



The Plan of Action set the agenda for the innovative concept of South-South cooperation and provided a foundation to build the institutional mechanisms and structures that have contributed to shaping the international development agenda and changing the landscape of the global South as it is seen today. Argentina will host Second High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation, marking the 40th anniversary of the BAPA, in March 2019.



This weeks gathering will focus on a number of issues, including climate change partnerships; peacebuilding; private sector engagement; science, technology and innovation; public service innovation; big data; youth employment and skills development; and womens empowerment.



DPI/Maoqi Li



Source: www.justearthnews.com














Islamabad, Nov 27 (IBNS): Islamabad slowly crawled back to normalcy as protesters finally decided to lift the sit-in following the resignation of Pakistani Law Minister Zahid Hamid, reports said.

However, an official declaration about the status of the demonstrations will be made by the leaders later today.

The protest, which went for nearly 19 days, witnessed at least half a dozen deaths and more than hundred injuries.

The agitators, who demanded the resignation of Hamid, camped at the Faizabad Interchange, the main gateway between Rawalpindi and Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

Local media quoted the lawmaker as saying, "I made the decision to resign in a personal capacity."

The agitators mainly belonged to Islamist parties, namely Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST), Dawn News reported.

The demonstrations were initiated over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath that election candidates must swear.

Agitators had linked it to blasphemy.
Islamabad, Nov 27 (IBNS): At least eight people were killed in a road mishap involving a passenger van and a truck in Nooriabad area of Pakistan on Monday, media reports said.

According to the Nooriabad SHO, the van was en route to Hyderabad from Karachi when it crashed into the trailer, Geo News reported.

The injured people were rushed to Civil Hospital for treatment.

ASP Rai Mazhar Iqbal told Geo News that the heavily loaded truck lost control while overtaking and fell on the van, which was on its way to Punjab from Karachi.
Toronto/Beijing, Nov 27 (IBNS): To bolster the job sector, Kathleen Wynne, the Premier of Ontario, announced over $600 million in new agreements which would create 583 new jobs in Ontario, during a programme in Beijing, China, media reports said.

Two-way trade in science and technology between Ontario and China in 2016 was 42 percent of the regions bilateral trade and amounted reportedly to about $18 billion.

During the present Ontario-China meeting, 25 agreements were signed by both Ontario and Chinese businesses and institutions.

Ontario's OTT Financial Group and China's Tencent Cloud are working together to build a Business Accelerator Centre in Toronto, to foster entrepreneurship as well as introduce applications of internet technologies, and provide funding, technology and administrative support to start-up businesses.

Development of Tencent Cloud markets in Canada are also being planned.

Wynne was quoted by the media as saying, "China and Ontario have a long history of collaboration, especially in the science and technology sector. Countless Ontario businesses have already forged strong relationships in China, and the agreements signed today signal that our relationship continues to grow. By connecting more of our businesses, scientists, engineers and experts around the globe, we can fuel innovation, create good jobs and ensure Ontarios businesses remain competitive in a fast-paced global economy."

Together, the projects are valued at $15 million.

Queen Financial Group signed a cooperation agreement with China's Taihe Group and Funding Investment Management, valued at $500 million, to co-sponsor the establishment of the Haichuang Fund, a high-tech talent innovation venture equity investment fund.

Western University signed an agreement with the China Automotive Battery Research Institute (CABRI), valued at $3.35 million, to establish a joint laboratory to develop next-generation all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. An announcement was also made that CABRI had registered a new Canadian-based R&D company.

Wynne also discussed business with Diane Wang, CEO of DH Gate, a leading business-to-business e-commerce provider that offers a platform for small and medium enterprises and Em Roblin, founder and managing director of Circles2, on her way to promote women's participation in entrepreneurship and women's economic empowerment.

Later she met Wan Gang, China's Minister of Science and Technology, where she re-signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was originally signed in 2008.

This further strengthened Ontario and China's joint commitment to research and innovation collaboration and facilitated a revenue of over $30 million in joint funding for collaborative industry and academic research projects.

More than $14 billion is spent each year reportedly on Research & Develpment (R&D) on globally recognized technology and R&D companies in Ontario like Apple, Google, IBM and Amazon.

Ontario is also planing to boost the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by 25 percent.

Wynne is likely to discuss plans with Feihe International to build their first infant milk formula production facility outside the mainland, which would cost over $225 million.

If an agreement is reached, it will reportedly create around 277 jobs in Kingston.

The Premier said that Ontario would support the project with a $24.1 million investment through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, which facilitates businesses, business associations and entrepreneurs to get funding for projects to enhance productivity and help them compete in the global marketplace.

Michael Chan, Ontario's Minister of International Trade, was quoted by the media as saying, "Through Ontarios Global Trade Strategy, the province has committed to help businesses diversify their exports and make valuable connections by expanding their global footprint. Todays signings in Beijing signal a strong start to the China mission and are a testament to the strength and diversity of Ontarios economy."



(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Image: Facebook
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On November 26, preparations for the Summit of La Francophonie, to be held in Yerevan in 2018, were presented at the 34th Ministerial Conference in Paris.

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian presented for the approval of the participants of the Conference the dates of the sessions of the Organisations statutory bodies, the symbol of the Summit, the slogan and the main topics for discussions.

Upon Armenias proposal, it was decided to hold the Summit of La Francophonie in Yerevan on October 11-12, 2018, and the sessions of the IOF statutory bodies in accordance with the following schedule: Permanent Council of La Francophonie on October 7, Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie on October 8-9.

Living Together was confirmed by the Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie as the main theme of the Yerevan Summit. In this regard, Edward Nalbandian informed that this theme will be laid at the basis of the Yerevan Pact, a new fundamental document to be proposed to the International Organization of La Francophonie. According to the Minister, the Pact will reflect the universal values of La Francophonie, the protection of human and peoples rights, democracy, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, as well as fighting against such phenomena as xenophobia, intolerance, discrimination and hatred.

The participants of the Ministerial Conference watched the film about Armenia, presenting the conditions, in which the Summit will be held, the venue of the sessions, infrastructure and other organizational issues.

The Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie unanimously approved all the proposals of Armenia with regards to holding the Summit in Yerevan.
To extend support to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati, members of film and television industry stopped shooting for a while at Film City in Mumbai on Sunday. This act was focused on showing solidarity with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and to counter the protests against film Padmavati's release.

The protests again for Deepika Padukone starrer went from bad to worse and the team has been facing the heat of various Rajput groups and political leaders, for allegedly "distorting historical facts".

Agencies

While Bhansali turned down all the allegations against him on tampering with historical facts in the movie, the protests pressurized the team to delay the release.

(Also read:'Padmavati' Row Takes A Chilling Turn! Dead Body Found Hanging At Jaipur Fort Along With Note)

To condemn the hooliganism and support the film, along with 19 other bodies of the film and television industry, the Indian Films and TV Directors' Association (IFTDA) stopped several ongoing shooting for 15 minutes.

Agencies

Film and television actor Pavan Malhotra spoke to media and said,

"This thing is not limited to one film only. It happens every time. Things are becoming worse day by day. Some sections of people are trying to dictate us what to wear, eat, talk. The administration has to come forward and take some necessary steps."

Agencies

Starring Deepika Padukone in the title role as Rani Padmavati, alongside Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji, the film was slated to release on December 1, 2017.

However, the release was put off as Bhansali's film still hasn't got its approval from the Central Board of Film Certification.
Padmavati is one of the first commercial Bollywood film to have witnessed such a low time during its release. The Deepika Padukone- Ranveer Singh starrer has been facing the heat ever since the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali started shooting.

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The historical movie has been vandalised over and over again, the director slapped, rangoli ruined. If that was not all, there were threats by the Rajput Karni Sena to chop Deepika's nose and behead SLB.

we can't thank youll enough for the love!!! 50 million + views for #PadmavatiTrailer @FilmPadmavati #SanjayLeelaBhansali @ranveersingh @shahidkapoor A post shared by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) on Oct 31, 2017 at 1:41am PDT

Deepika came forward and called the country regressive which led to more threats and furore across the nation. Rajputs from across the country have been protesting since then and calling for a ban on the film, which is reportedly based on a poem.

Security was beefed up for the entire cast for a week but looks like Deepika decided to give it a break. She was spotted with her co-star and alleged boyfriend Ranveer Singh for a dinner date.

The movie, which stands cancelled for a December 1 release, due to Censor Board objections, might see a February launch but that hasn't stopped the love birds from coming together and meeting up.

The duo were spotted at Taj Colaba giving couple goals.
After taking the world by storm and making India proud at the Miss World pageant, Manushi Chhillar returned to India. All her social media posts suggest that Manushi was missing her country and people.

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Her excitement was pretty evident as all her posts and her smile at the airport just summed it all up.

#Repost @missindiaorg (@get_repost)  And she is on her way home! @manushi_chhillar @missworld #IndiaWelcomesMissWorld A post shared by Manushi Chhillar (@manushi_chhillar) on Nov 25, 2017 at 9:15am PST

Queen was back in India and looks like her schedule has been pretty packed up since then. From a warm welcome at the airport to visiting Siddhi Vinayak, her day has been quiet eventful.

1. When Manushi Chhillar returned back to her country, she got a warm welcome.

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Glad to be back home to such a warm welcome. @missindiaorg @missworld #IndiaWelcomesMissWorld A post shared by Manushi Chhillar (@manushi_chhillar) on Nov 25, 2017 at 5:31pm PST

2. Manushi also visited Siddhivinayak temple along with her family. It was a sight to behold.

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3. For next part of the day, Manushi headed for a press conference. This was her first media interaction with the Indian press.

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Here is everything that Manushi spoke during her press meet.

1. I did take a one year break when I was prepping for Miss World. Now I will continue with my studies

2. To be honest, I do not remember any challenging moments, everyone was very supportive. We actually face our challenges head-on. We will face a lot of limitations. Sometimes we do feel that it's a women society. But we have to make ourselves confident and move on.

3. Yeh sirf bahari sundarta ki baat nahi. It's not the beautiful face that wins, it's that one heart who represents the beautiful faces.

4. Never give up on your dreams. I am fortunate to have parents like mine.

5. Bollywood is not on my mind now.. but I would like to work in Aamir Khan feel movie because he gives challenging roles. Also, his films have a strong messages and my favorite actress is Priyanka Chopra

6. I am not taking any pressure and enjoying it. It was overwhelming to return to India. I was counting every minute of my landing in India. I couldn't sleep before landing. It was midnight when we landed and still, there was a huge crowd to welcome. I felt loved.

7. During the pageant, they all thought that I am a Bollywood actress. Jokes apart. There is no preconceived notion, we all were curious to know each other. Being an Indian and having an Indian mother I got a lot of Indian food and they all used to come and have the food. So we all gelled a lot.

8. I don't want any profession to lesser their salary. Everyone deserves an equal salary.

9. When I won in Haryana, there were lots of girls who came to me to know about Miss India.

10. I absolutely agree that sanitary pad is not a luxury and necessity. I want that the pads should be available at low cost.

11. It was a mixture of all feelings. There was a lot of anticipation on what should I do next.

12. My father has really respected that my mother is my best friend. My father calls me his dragon. He is one immense support to me.

13. My first call was to me my Miss India organization. They believed and encouraged me from the first day.

14: Talking about receiving negative flak on Twitter, she said, "It's ok to have an opinion. 100 logon mein se agar 2 log mujhe support nahi karte hai toh koi baat nahi. I will focus on the positive side."
I know Aussies are not known for leaving the party at the right time but (after) 17 years, its time to leave the party, Hugh Jackman quipped as he discussed his last time playing X-Men superhero Wolverine in this years gritty action hit Logan.

The Australian actor made his breakthrough as the gruff, clawed mutant Wolverine in 2000s X-Men film and has since played the character eight times on screen. But with this years Logan, Jackman said he and the filmmakers took the biggest risk for his final performance as the mutant hero.

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This was not a given moneymaker, Jackman said in an interview.

He added, People considered this to be the biggest risk, the most foolish risk ever taken, and I think people assume youre just doing a sequel because its a moneymaker, but my experience from being within it is that its always felt like a risk and I think thats to be embraced.

Logan was the first time Jackman, 49, played his character in an R-rated film, where he was allowed to embrace the darker, more tormented side of Wolverine. In the film, an older, wearier Logan struggles with alcoholism as he rescues a young mutant girl and unwillingly aids her in her journey to get to safety, the two forging an unlikely friendship despite both their explosive tempers.

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This is a man whose life is centred on violence, Jackman said. It seemed very difficult thematically, not just in terms of graphic violence but the consequences of violence, it seemed impossible to make that as a PG-13 movie and really get into the thematic of that and on a serious level.

The film received strong praise from critics when it was released in March, grossing more than $600 million worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Film studio 20th Century Fox is hoping Jackmans new take on the character will give Logan a competitive edge in the upcoming awards season, which does not usually favour big-budget comic book films.

Its a great time for us as actors or creators of stories, Jackman said. Im thrilled that the Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, voters of the Oscars) is seeing that there are less boundaries in a way of what makes a really good film, and the genre shouldnt dictate that.
Lately, Gurugram has been in the news for all the wrong reasons - whether it's polluted air or the chilling murder of Pradhyumn. But a Xth class student from the same place is making sure, that despite all the evil in the world, people do not give up on humanity. Tushar Mehrotra is a student of class 10. While most of the students at this stage in their lives are busy worrying about their boards, this extraordinary kid has adopted a government school.

A student of Pathways School, Tushar's journey to bring this change started when he was assigned a school project related to social responsibility. He started off by donating books and setting up a library in the government school. "Initially, it was supposed to be for my school project. I just wanted to donate books, set up a library and leave. But once I entered the school and saw the condition, I was compelled to do more," he told Times Of India.

Times Of India

Tushar started crowdfunding to raise money and reached out to his family abroad. He was the first one to donate to this initiative. The first step was to install working fans in the classrooms. Tushar has not only contributed to the school financially, but he also spends his weekends teaching kids at the school and talking to them about current relevant topics.

While the school staff is proud of him, the school kids love him for his contributions. Balvinder Singh, the school in-charge, told Times Of India, "What Tushar is doing is commendable. It's not just about money or the things he is bringing, but also the attention he gives the kids. Since he started coming here, the kids' interest in studies - and particularly English - has grown. They want to learn more. I wish more people followed Tushar's example."

People like Tushar are trying to bring the change we desperately need in our country and honestly, this just proves this world isn't that bad after all. More power to you, Tushar!
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters from South Africa was crowned the Miss Universe 2017, this morning. People cheered for her as she enjoyed her moment of glory with the prettiest of crowns resting on her head. But there's more to this wonderful woman than meets the eye.

Beauty pageants are often perceived to be all about swim-suits, evening gowns and flawless makeup; and anyone who participates in these events is often assumed to be a touch-me-not, delicate darling. We couldn't be more wrong. Crown or no crown, all of these young women are more than just pretty faces. For instance, we all know Nel-Peters for the title she has won but what we don't know about her is that she is a business management graduate from North-West University.

BCCL

Our Miss Universe 2017 does much more than just win coveted pageants. She 's a woman of substance who helps train other women in self-defence. Earlier in 2017, Nel-Peters survived a car-hijack by punching her attacker right in the face. That's when she decided to launch the 'Unbreakable' campaign.

"It was an awful experience but I knew how to handle the situation in the best possible way because I had done WIP and MasterDrive workshops for women that focused on everything from hijacking and robberies and how to handle these situations, to how to get out of toxic and abusive relationships. I am a firm believer that knowledge is power and the information I learnt on these courses certainly helped me. So now together we will set up similar workshops," she told Wheels24.

BCCL

That just reaffirms the fact that she indeed, deserves the title she has been awarded. We are so proud of you, Nel-Peters. You've set an example for women all around the world and the phrase "beauty with brains" is perfectly suited for you.
They are the most popular members within any family. And if they are part of a famous family, chances are they have a huge fan following of their own. Meet the famous pets of our time. Some even have their own fan clubs and social media profiles that offer a unique perspective of their owners lives. Here are 11 pets that call the shots and keep even world leaders on their toes.

1. Bo and Sunny

Barack Obamas dogs are quite world famous. The former first dogs are cute as buttons  a fact that made headlines numerous times during Obamas presidency. The Portuguese water dogs had a strict schedule, just like the ex-President, as everybody wanted to take pictures with them. Michelle Obama literally had to approve their public appearances!

pete souza

2. Verni, Yume and Buffy

Vladmir Putins reputation as a dog lover precedes him. He currently has three dogs  an Alabai named Verni, an Akita named Yume, and a Bulgarian shepherd named Buffy. His pets live with him at his residence in Moscow. These dogs were gifts to Putin who is committed to the cause of protecting endangered Russian species. And they have hogged the limelight alongside their master who publicly shows his love for them.

afp/getty

3. Pidi



Pidi was introduced to the world by Rahul Gandhi on Twitter. The Congress Vice President credited his energetic terrier dog for being the inspiration behind his witty tweets  for which he is often trolled. Just like his master, Pidi too trended on Twitter after Gandhi shared a video of his pet doing several tricks.

Ppl been asking who tweets for this guy..I'm coming clean..it's me..Pidi..I'm way  than him. Look what I can do with a tweet..oops..treat! pic.twitter.com/fkQwye94a5  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 29, 2017

4. Kenzie

Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Turdeau introduced Kenzie to the world. Justin Trudeau and his family had adopted the pet in April 2016. Trudeaus family of five had no pets before they welcomed Kenzie home. The Portuguese water dog, however, has not been in the public eye like Obamas pets. Maybe Kenzie is private and prefers to mull over issues of national importance.

cbc.ca

5. Candy, Vulcan, Willow, Holly

The Queen of England is a fan of corgis. She has owned over 30 dogs in her six-decade-long reign as the Queen. Currently she pets two corgis named Willow and Holly and two dorgis named Candy and Vulcan. Needless to say, the dogs live luxurious lives at the Palace. The Queen herself serves them meals and personally handles their housetraining.

afp/getty images

6. Nemo

French President Emmanuel Macrons family adopted Nemo, a black Labrador-Griffon cross, from an animal rescue centre. Nemo is always on his toes when duty calls. He was there by the French Presidents side when he greeted Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou. Most recently, Nemo also expressed his displeasure when he peed over the fireplace in the President office.

reuters

7. Rusty, Dusty and JoJo

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull runs a dog blog where he talks about his dogs. He has written posts in the voice of three different dogs - Roxy, JoJo, and Dusty the Kelpie. There isnt a world leader more dedicated to dogs than Turnbull. His blog is a testament to that as the voices are honest and thought-provoking in equal measure.

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8. Stanley

Canadas former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper named his cat Stanley after an online poll was held to choose a name for the feline. Harper is a well-known cat lover who has often compared his career to the mythology of cats, saying that those who prefer cats serve better. Stanley was often seen sharing space with Canadas former premier in his office.

Bernard Bujold/Flickr

9. Lupo

The worlds most famous couple Prince William and Kate Middleton adopted Lupo, a Cocker Spaniel who is a global star. He lives a lavish life with Prince William and Kate Middleton. He is showered with expensive gifts and luxury dog biscuits. He became the most talked about puppy when he was photographed with Prince George. The public simply loves the Royal Dog.

10. Lennu

Finlands President, Sauli Niinistos dog Lennu shot to fame for his ridiculously happy face. The First Dog is perhaps more famous than his human. The five-year-old Boston terrier often accompanies his master at official events. Lennu may not be camera trained as he loves running around, distracting almost everyone present around him.

excuse me but are you aware of Lennu, the Finnish president's dog pic.twitter.com/sBVSOiExw6  Kelly Weill (@KELLYWEILL) February 22, 2017

11. Leo, Tiki, Tiger and Simba

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has four cats - Leo, Kiki, Tiger and Simba. The cats are well pampered and often grace social media courtesy the minister. And the felines are quite responsible too. Last year, while travelling to China, Razak said that his cats will happily look after his home while he was away.

getty images
Taapsee Pannu is one actress we absolutely love. She won our hearts in the film Pink and now, she did something beyond amazing and we are so proud of her.

We all achieve so much in life and become successful, but we also forget how we started our journey. But clearly, Taapsee remembers her roots. She wrote a beautiful letter to her school principal and it's just so heartwarming. More importantly, the intent behind her letter was to encourage self-defence in her school. She even wrote a similar letter to her college to introduce the practice of self-defence for young girls and women. The actress completed her schooling from Mata Jai Kaur Public School in Delhi and her graduate degree from Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology.

Here's the letter:

DNA After Hrs & Aditya Yadav

"Our educational system should indulge students in a compulsory practice of self-defence. Behind books and projects, it is an individual who is prepping for whats to come in life. With the changing times and how fast we are supposed to grow up to meet the outside world, to stay cautious, it is necessary for learning proper knacks of self-defence right from the beginning", she said in her letter and we couldn't agree more.

Praveen Tyagarajan

Being a celebrity, who influences so many young Indians, Taapsee has yet again proved that not only is she a great actress, but also someone who wants to bring about a change in the society. If all schools implement self-defence as a regular practice, every woman in this country will soon know how to fight her own battles.

More power to you, Taapsee. A big thank you from girls all over the world.
ap

The alert for a volcano belching huge plumes of smoke on Indonesia's resort island of Bali has been raised to the highest level. The volcano is spewing dark ash and is on the brink of eruption. Read more

Here are more top news of the day:

1) Pope Lands In Myanmar To Help Rohingyas, Shows World Needs To Rise Above Religion During Crisis

AP

Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar for a six-day visit in possibly the most delicate overseas trip yet. His visit comes against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis. The Pope will also visit Bangladesh. Read more

2) MP Leads Way For Women Safety As Cabinet Clears Death Penalty For Rape Of Girls Below 12 Years

Reuters

The Madhya Pradesh cabinet has cleared a proposal to enact a law awarding death sentence to those who are found guilty of raping girls aged 12 or below in the state. The move has been taken in the wake of the surge in rape, molestation incidents that violates the safety of women. Read more

3) 12 YO Cleans His Village In Manali By Placing Dustbins Everywhere, Now Called 'Dustbin Boy'

TripAdvisor

Rohan, a 12-year-old boy from Bran village of Manali sub-division in Kullu district, whose efforts helped the panchayat win first prize for cleanliness in the region, is on a mission to make his village cleanest in the country. Read more

4) Beating Cold, Siberian Children Continue To Go To School Even As Temperature Falls To -50C

gettyimages

Interestingly, the schools in town call off the classes only when the temperature falls to -52 degrees. On November 23, the mercury level in the city was two degrees short of the required limit to kick off the emergency measures, reported BBC.com. Read more

5) Humanity Above All: Injured Imam Who Survived Egypt Mosque Massacre Vows To Go Back & Finish Sermon

AFP

The young Egyptian imam who survived the Sinai mosque massacre that killed at least 305 people has vowed from his hospital bed to go back and resume the sermon he never finished. Read more
A Hyderabadi woman from Yakutpura who was not allowed to meet her family for the past 21 years is expected to reunite with them within a week.

The Indian government came to know about the incident when Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan wrote about her plight to Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Amjed wrote a letter along with a video of her parents and later tweeted it to her.

Twitter

The Indian High commissioner requested the Pakistani government to renew her passport and issue a visa. "The visa has been issued and we are waiting for the tickets, maybe she will be back within a week, " said Amjed Ullah Khan.

Mohammadi Begum got married to Mohd Younus in 1996, and the nikah was conducted over the phone, after which she went to stay with her husband in Oman. Later she learnt that Younus is a resident of Pakistan and his sister was married to an Omani resident and Younus was faking his identity.

Twitter

Later Begum's husband took her to Pakistan, where she was not allowed to contact her parents or even make a phone call. She was kept in a remote village in Pakistan even after her passport was expired. Amjed Ullah Khan tweeted to Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Jan 10. Reacting to this, she forwarded the file to Indian High Commission and they in turn through diplomatic efforts rescued Mohammadi Begum.
Piotr Switalski, Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, told reporters today that the EU would do its best to see that the recently signed Comprehensive and Enhanced Cooperation Agreement with Armenia is implemented and that it wasnt time to rest on our laurels.

The Agreement, signed in Brussels on November 24, seeks to deepen ties between Armenia and the EU despite Armenias membership in the Eurasian Economic Union.

When asked if Armenian would be penalized if it fails to meet its obligations as specified in the Agreement, Switalski responded that it wouldnt be appropriate to talk about such possible measures.

I am an optimist. I was so inclined before the signing of the Agreement. We will succeed, said Switalski.

Switalski skirted around answering a question as to whether Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was correct when, during an interview with a Radio Liberty in Brussels, he said that it wasnt Armenia who refused to sign an Association Agreement with the EU in 2013, but the EU itself.

Is this important today? Friends, lets look towards the future. Its not the time to look towards the past and relive those emotions we experienced in 2013, said Switalski.

The EU official said that while the new agreement lacked many facets of the 2013 arrangement, it is, nevertheless, promising.

Switalski said the Agreement wasnt a magic wand and that citizens in Armenia wouldnt see improvements in the life overnight, but that it could be used as a tool to better defend their rights.

Hetq reporter reminded Switalski that he previously had said that Armenia should not look forward to visa-free travel to EU countries, given that a few legislative initiatives hadnt been passed in Armenia, specifically, the Prevention of Domestic Violence Law.

The reporter asked Switalski if he was familiar with the bill before the Armenian parliament and if it met with EU standards.

The EUs position is clear. There are several conditions that must be met. Afterwards, there will be a decision on visa liberalization. You know me from my past statements. You know that Im an optimist.

Switalski said that visa liberalization is a privilege, not a right, and those countries that wish to be called European must believe in Europe.

This is that pivotal speech that must come from you. They must hear your voice in Europe; that you want to freely travel to Europe. I believe that free travel will also extend to Armenia. Thus, I advise patience and a European mentality, said Switalski.

The EU official didnt wish to comment on the domestic violence bill, but expressed hope that the hearings could be successfully concluded on the basis of a national consensus.
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet has cleared a proposal to enact a law awarding death sentence to those who are found guilty of raping girls aged 12 or below in the state. The move has been taken in the wake of the surge in rape, molestation incidents that violates the safety of women.

Reuters

"The Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved the recommendation and agreed to hand down capital punishment for rape of girls aged 12 years or below," MP Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya told PTI.

"We are going to present a bill to this effect in the winter session of the assembly beginning tomorrow," he said.

The bill will be put up for discussion in the winter session of the assembly and if it gets passed, it will be sent to the centre which subsequently has to send it to the president for approval.

Madhya Pradesh has been facing flak for the poor record in women safety which leads to crimes like rapes and molestation. The state finds itself at the top when it comes to crime against women. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2015, released in August last year, showed that Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of rape cases (4,391) in the country. According to the NCRB data for 2014, the state reported 5,076 rape cases, which was 14 percent of the total rape incidents reported in the country.

In 2013, 4,335 rape cases were reported in the state as against 3,425 in 2012.
Mumbai terror attack on 26 November 2008, had left India in shock and those who actually witnessed the attack and saw terrorists unleashing hell in Mumbai that night are yet to find peace of mind.

Yes, nine years have passed, but peace of mind still eludes eyewitnesses who saw that carnage unleashed by those demons. As many as 10 Pakistani terrorists, belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, had killed at least 166 people.

AFP

Recalling the unfortunate day, Devika, a survivor and an eye-witness, termed the incident as traumatising and said she has still not got over it. The entire incident still plays in front of my eyes; it was terrifying. I can recall each and every moment, Devika told ANI.

Devika survived a bullet injury on her leg and was one of the eye-witnesses to identify the lone-captured terrorist of the attacks - Ajmal Kasab.

Having battled for almost two months of her life and after all the praise she got for her bravery to speak against Kasab, Devika felt that justice has still not been served to people who lost their lives as mastermind Hafiz Saeed still roams scot-free in Pakistan.

When I saw Kasab in the courtroom I was livid. I wished I had a gun in my hand; I would have shot him there. Anyway, Kasab was a mosquito. Hope someday the big terrorists and the mastermind are brought to book, she said.

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Her journey since 2008 has not been easy, she said, adding she faced isolation from people for speaking against Kasab, as they feared the terrorist would come after her and they would also face the consequences.

Devika's father, who was also one of the deponents in the case, echoed a similar sentiment and made a heartfelt appeal to the government to bring justice to people killed in the attack by curbing terrorism harboured in the neighbouring country.

My daughter was just nine years old when she got shot. It was traumatic. Yes, we are happy that Kasab was hanged, but we will not be satisfied till the real mastermind sitting in Pakistan is punished, he said.

bccl

Another eye-witness, Mohd Taufeeq, who sells tea at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, said the day has left a lasting effect on him.

I still get disturbed whenever I think of that moment. I rescued many injured people. The situation was devastating. It has been nine years, but I am just waiting for the day the real mastermind sitting in Pakistan is caught, he told ANI.

Another survivour, Rahim Ansari, lost six of his relatives in the barbaric attack and went into depression after the incident. My relatives had no chance to escape. I am happy that the perpetrators were either killed or punished. But the mastermind Hafiz Saeed is in Pakistan; it would be ideal if Indian Government gets him here and punishes him, Ansari said.

Humans of Bombay

Meanwhile, in view of this, security has been strengthened across Mumbai. Various events will be held in the city to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attack. Also, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao paid tribute to the victims at a memorial on early Sunday morning.
Humanity seems to have disappeared with the number of crimes- especially the ones relating to money. In Patna, Bihar, a 31-year-old woman was illegally confined at a private hospital. Since she could not get out, her seven-year-old son was forced to beg for money to pay the bills hours after she delivered a stillborn baby.

Lalitha Devi, was reportedly rescued after the intervention of MP Pappu Yadav, who accused the state government of allowing nursing homes to operate without a licence.

Image: CNN-News18

Lalitha was admitted to the Maa Sheetla Nursing Home in Patna on November 14 after doctors in her native district if Madhepura found complications in her pregnancy. The admission was facilitated by an agent who asked her husband Nirdhan Ram to deposit Rs 25,000 for treatment, CNN-News 18 reported.

Doctors at the nursing home could not save Lalithas baby which was stillborn. The hospital authorities then allegedly asked the couple to deposit additional Rs 30,000 for the treatment and when they were unable to pay, the officials refused to discharge Lalitha.

representational image

The agent had asked me to deposit Rs 25,000 and assured us that it was enough for the entire treatment. I did as told. Despite that, the doctors could not save my child. Then they demanded Rs, 30,000 more from us, Nirdhan told News18.

In order to free Lalithaa, her seven-year-old son Kundan and her husband began collecting the additional amount. Kundan set out to their native village where the child begged for help from locals. A few locals informed MP Pappu Yadav of the familys plight and the lawmaker then accompanied Kundan back to Patna where they finally got Lalitha discharged with help from the police. Civil Surgeon Pramod Jha assured the MP that an investigation would be conducted and action will be taken against the hospital if found guilty.
Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar for a six-day visit in possibly the most delicate overseas trip yet. His visit comes against the backdrop of the unfolding Rohingya refugee crisis. The Pope will also visit Bangladesh.

The focus will likely be on whether he uses the term "Rohingya" to describe the country's Muslim minority. Myanmar officials strongly reject the term, raising concerns it could spark some potential violence if he does.

The 80-year-old pontiff's plane left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar's main city, shortly after 2100 GMT.

AP

He will touch down around 0700 GMT on Monday hoping to encourage efforts to contain a crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar, forced from their homes and left languishing in squalid refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.

"I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope," Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter's Square, shortly before packing his bags for the diplomatically fraught trip.

Some 620,000 Rohingya, more than half their total number, have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.

AFP

Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week's tentative agreement between the two countries to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.

- 1.3 billion Catholics -

His message will be spelt out at a Yangon mass expected to be attended by up to a third of the country's 660,000-strong Catholic community, who will be welcoming a pope to their homeland for the first time.

AP

Francis is also due to meet the country's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Local church leaders have advised not to even pronounce the word "Rohingya" for fear of inflaming local sensitivities in a country where a virulent brand of anti-Muslim Buddhist nationalism is strong.

AFP

Francis has indicated he will heed that advice but he is scheduled to hold a hugely symbolic meeting with a small group of the refugees during his time in Bangladesh, where he flies Thursday.

Local Church officials hope some 100,000 Catholics will attend an open-air mass in the capital Dhaka that will be subject to tight security in a country where extremist attacks are on the increase.

In Bangladesh, Francis will be treading in the footsteps of predecessors, John Paul II, who visited Bangladesh in 1986, and Paul VI, who visited what was then East Pakistan in 1970, a year before the country gained independence.

The visit reflects one of the priorities Francis has established for his time as the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics: reaching out to marginalised believers in peripheral regions where they often form part of tiny minorities.

AFP

He also attaches great importance to the development of the Church in Asia, where the number of Catholics is growing (up nine percent between 2010-2015).

He has already visited South Korea, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and Bangladesh will be the 31st country he has travelled to since his election in 2014.
The young Egyptian imam who survived the Sinai mosque massacre that killed at least 305 people has vowed from his hospital bed to go back and resume the sermon he never finished.

Mohammed Abdel Fattah, 26, was delivering the Friday sermon at the North Sinai Rawda mosque when blasts erupted. The Imam recounted the moment gunmen stormed the building, saying they were "shooting anyone who was breathing".

AFP

"I was only two minutes into my sermon when I heard two explosions outside the mosque, and then I saw worshippers running in horror," he said. "Then people entered the mosque and began firing at everyone who was still standing," the preacher said from his hospital bed in the Nile Delta town of Al-Husayniya.

Abdel Fattah -- who has been imam for two years at the Rawda mosque frequented by Sufis -- said his sermon on that tragic day was about "Mohammed, the prophet of humanity".

The imam fell from the raised minbar, or pulpit when the attack broke out and was trampled by worshippers who tried to flee the carnage.

And when he hit the ground, people stepped over him, before the bodies of those shot by the attackers piled on top of him, pinning him down and preventing him from lifting his head to see what was going on.

AFP

"As soon as the shooting started I fell. I didn't see or feel anything except for the two or three bloodied bodies that fell on top of me," he said. Among the first casualties was 62-year-old Fathy Ismail, the mosque's muezzin who called the faithful to prayer.

Authorities said up to 30 terrorists in camouflage clothing and flying the black banner of ISIS surrounded the mosque and opened fire on the faithful during the main weekly prayers. Abdel Fattah suffered bruising, but his health appears to be improving and he hopes to be back on his feet to continue the sermon that was brutally interrupted.

"If my health allows it, I will return next Friday week (to Rawda mosque) and finish my sermon," he said.

- 'Blessed miracle' -

A frame bearing Koranic verses hangs above his hospital bed.

The imam said it was a gift he received from a visiting delegation of Coptic Christians the day after Friday's attack.

AP

The attack is thought to have been carried out by the ISIS terror group because the mosque is associated with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam.

ISIS has branded Sufis heretics for seeking the intercession of saints.

"About a year ago, we heard rumours concerning threats against people who organise celebrations for the birth of Prophet Mohammed," Abdel Fattah said on Sunday.

The imam declined to say whether he, himself, belonged to the Sufi community.

"I am a servant of God and his Prophet," he said when asked about his faith.

Five members of his family were by his bedside, including his 65-year-old father Abdel Fattah Mahmoud, a retired sheikh from Cairo's Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest institution of Sunni Islam.

AP

Mahmoud said he had tried to persuade his son from going to work in North Sinai, a restive region, but then he recalled a Koranic verse that says no one will die unless it is God's will.

Egypt's North Sinai-based ISIS branch has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians accused of working with the authorities, since the July 2013 ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.

"Not only is Sufism under threat, but all of Islam, and the whole of the Arab region is under threat," said Mahmoud.

His son's survival "is a blessed miracle", he added.
In the city of Vasteras in Sweden, fashion isnt just setting trends for people to follow, its quite literally what powers peoples lives on a daily basis.

Thats because the local power plant doesnt burn coal anymore, it burns H&M clothing.

Images courtesy: Reuters

According to Bloomberg, the vasteras plant is attempting to become completely oil and coal-free. To do this, its turned to burning recycled wood and garbage. That garbage has included approximately 15 tons of discarded clothing from the popular brand store in just this year.

The company had previously come under fire in 2010, after reports emerged it was regularly destroying and discarding unsold clothing from its stores, instead of donating them to charities. However, H&M says this case is a little different. It says it doesnt burn any clothing that can be used, just what cant be put on the racks. It is our legal obligation to make sure that clothes that contain mold or do not comply with our strict restriction on chemicals are destroyed.

The Vasteras plant has burned approximately 400,000 tons of garbage this year, imported from even as far away as the UK. In the process, it powers around 150,000 households in Stockholm and its surrounding areas.
GBPAUD Consolidation Around Weekly Chart Downchannel Resistance Near Complete Tradable Patterns - 59 minutes ago The (GBPAUD) appears to be in the advanced stages of consolidating near downchannel resistance (on the weekly chart). Any break above triangle resistance (on the 4hr chart) today will dramatically increase... ^GBPAUD : 1.77123 (+0.25%)

Poland, NATO say missile strike wasn't a Russian attack AP - Wed Nov 16, 5:05PM CST NATO's chief and the president of Poland say there are no indications that a missile that fell on Polish farmland and killed two people was a deliberate attack $SPX : 3,958.79 (-0.83%) $DOWI : 33,553.83 (-0.12%) $IUXX : 11,699.09 (-1.45%)

Hogs Close Higher Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Afternoon strength moved the hog futures market back into plus territory as the front months went home mixed but mostly higher on gains of as much as 27 cents. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price... HEZ22 : 85.575s (+0.29%) HEJ23 : 95.625s (+0.13%) KMZ22 : 95.900s (unch)

Red Close in Cotton Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Cotton futures faded their midday gains to close the midweek session in the red for Dec and March. December ended the day a net 30 points weaker, but off the intraday high by 141 points. The deferred contracts... CTZ22 : 88.23 (-0.24%) CTH23 : 86.40 (-0.41%) CTK23 : 85.50 (-0.43%)

Cattle Close with Midweek Gains Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Front month live cattle futures went hoe $0.40 to $1.20 higher on Wednesday. The weekly FCE auction saw no sales for the 887 head listed. Bids were $149.50-$150.50, but asks were $151-152. USDA reported... LEZ22 : 151.800s (+0.35%) LEG23 : 154.250s (+0.78%) LEJ23 : 157.725s (+0.64%) GFX22 : 175.700s (+0.01%) GFF23 : 177.475s (+0.25%)

Wheat Futures Fall on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Nov 16, 5:03PM CST Front month wheat futures dropped on the midweek session, taking back the premium built in yesterday regarding the uncertainty of the Poland missile. At the close, SRW futures were 10 3/4 to 11 1/2 cents... ZWZ22 : 813-2 (-0.52%) ZWH23 : 833-0 (-0.51%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.5182 (-1.39%) KEZ22 : 954-6 (unch) KEPAWS.CM : 9.1382 (-0.81%) MWZ22 : 966-0 (unch)
The Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts (SJC) has answered a question regarding the priority of coverage for two automobile insurance policies covering a single motor vehicle accident.

In its ruling, the SJC decided both excess policies cover the accident equally to the extent of their respective policy limits after exhaustion of the underlying primary policy.

The question came from the District Court in Massachusetts concerning a dispute that centered on whether the primary policy issued, which contains an other insurance clause, must be exhausted before the true excess policy is triggered, or whether both policies apply equally for the loss in excess of the primary insurance policy limits, the SJC court document stated.

This decision comes after an employee for a refuse company that was driving a garbage truck owned by another company struck and killed a bicyclist.

Background

On April 3, 2014, an employee of EZ Disposal Service Inc. (EZ), was driving a garbage truck leased by Capitol Waste Services Inc. (Capitol) and owned by Atlantic Refuse Leasing Equipment LLC (Atlantic), when he struck and killed a bicyclist. The bicyclists wife and brother brought a wrongful death action in the Superior Court against EZ, Capitol and Atlantic.

The loss was covered by three insurance policies. The first policy was issued by Commerce Insurance Company (Commerce) and provided Capitol with primary insurance up to a limit of $1 million.

The second policy, issued by Lexington Insurance Company (Lexington), provided Capitol with excess insurance and contained a limit of $10 million.

The third policy, issued by Great Divide Insurance Company (Great Divide), provided EZ with primary insurance for a number of different risks including accidents involving automobiles owned by EZ, up to a limit of $1 million.

Great Divides policy also contained an other insurance clause, which stated that for any covered auto not owned by the insured, the insurance provided is excess over any other collectible insurance, according to the SJC court document.

In October 2015, Great Divide filed a complaint against Lexington in the Superior Court, seeking a declaration that its policy and Lexingtons policy were both excess policies covering the same level of loss.

Lexington removed the case to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on diversity grounds. The Federal District Court judge then certified the question to the SJC.

The insurance policies were issued respectively by the plaintiff and defendant insurers to the employer of the driver and the company that owned the truck. A portion of the loss was covered by a primary policy from Commerce, who was not a party to the lawsuit. The two remaining policies were triggered after the primary policy was exhausted.

Although the language of the policies is different, each policy says that it provides excess coverage and also contains an other insurance clause. One of the two policies is a hybrid policy that provides primary coverage for an incident in which its insured is driving a vehicle owned by the insured and excess coverage for an accident in which its insured is the driver, but the vehicle is owned by someone else. The other policy is an umbrella policy that only provides excess coverage where other coverage has been exhausted, the SJC court document stated.

Dispute

Both parties agreed the policy issued by Capitols primary insurer, Commerce, provides the primary coverage for the first layer of the loss. They also agreed that both the Lexington policy and the Great Divide policy covered the loss beyond the Commerce limits as excess policies, the SJC court document stated.

However, Great Divide argued that while it provides primary coverage for automobiles owned by EZ, its policy covers the same level of risk for EZ drivers operating automobiles that EZ doesnt own, just like Lexingtons umbrella policy. This is because the language of the other insurance clause states that for automobiles not owned by EZ, the policy is excess over any other collectible insurance, the SJC court document said.

On the other hand, Lexington argued that the other insurance language in the Great Divide policy does not change the primary nature of that policy, which does not cover the same level of risk as Lexingtons excess policy. This means that Great Divides policy must be exhausted before Lexingtons policy is triggered, the SJC court document stated.

In its argument, Lexington pointed out that in nearly every other instance, the Great Divide policy functions as primary insurance for EZ. It argued that the Great Divide policy is a primary policy by nature because it covers mostly primary risk, it has high premiums and a low coverage limit, and it is not clearly labeled as an excess policy, while Lexingtons policy is labeled a Commercial Umbrella Liability Policy.

Court Decision

The SJC stated in its decision that the majority of courts in other states have held that a primary policy with an other insurance clause is essentially a primary policy, and therefore must be exhausted before a true excess policy is triggered.

In Massachusetts, however, one part of an insurance contract cannot be given emphasis over another, the SJC stated.

While we must read the language of an insurance policy as a whole, that does not mean giving effect to some policy provisions at the expense of another provision, the document said. Here, that means giving full effect to the other insurance clause with respect to vehicles not owned by EZ.

The SJC stated that the risk a policy covers does not depend on how the insurer chose to label the policy. To determine whether two policies insure the same level of risk, the difference between the names of the policies will not settle the issue, it added, stating that it is important to look at the terms of the policy instead.

While, in cases of ambiguity, the name of a policy may be informative, it is by no means determinative, the SJC stated. Here, despite the fact that the Lexington policy is labeled an umbrella policy and the Great Divide policy is not, the terms of the Great Divide policy clearly state that it covers the same level of excess risk for non-owned vehicles as does the excess provision in the Lexington policy.

With this in mind, the court concluded that both policies cover the loss as excess insurers, and neither has priority over the other.

The case is Great Divide Insurance Company vs. Lexington Insurance Company. Adam R. Doherty, with Thomas M. Elcock also present, represented the plaintiff. Kimberly A. Hartman represented the defendant.

Topics Carriers Auto Excess Surplus Massachusetts
Global insurance brokerage Hub International Limited (Hub) has acquired the assets of Summit Financial Corporation and Summit Financial Insurance Agency Inc. (Summit). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Burlington, Mass., Summit provides plan design, consulting, actuarial, administration and investment-related services for both qualified and non-qualified employer-sponsored retirement plans, as well as similar services for employee benefit plans.

Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Hub International Limited is a global insurance brokerage that provides property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services from offices located throughout North America.

Summit was founded by President Joe Bonasera and Vice President and CEO Brian Babcock in 1993. Hubs acquisition of Summit strategically aligns both companies for the benefit of their clients, according to a press release issued by Hub. This is because joining Hub allows Summit to leverage the resources of one of the largest insurance brokers without compromising its boutique firm roots, Bonasera said in the release.

Summits leadership team and staff, including Bonasera, will join Hub and continue to operate out of Summits existing offices. They will report to Charles Brophy, president, CEO and regional president of Hub International U.S. East.

This transaction creates a synergy that will benefit all of Hubs clients, Brophy said in the release. He added that Hub continues to expand organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions, and continued investments in operational efficiencies in distribution and client service will ensure its ability to deliver customized solutions to customers.

Source: Hub International Limited

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Massachusetts
Zurich Insurance Group AG plans to more than double its allocation to impact investments, earmarking $5 billion for a broader range of assets after devoting $2 billion to green bonds in recent years.

While it didnt specify a period, Zurich plans to buy bonds that finance social projects and the sustainable use of resources, as well as investments in private equity geared to these goals, Switzerlands biggest insurer said in a statement on Thursday. The allocation represents about 2.6 percent of Zurichs $190 billion portfolio, mainly consisting of debt securities.

Demand for impact investments is surging, making them one of the fastest-growing asset classes. Variously labeled as sustainable, responsible or ethical investing, the field encompasses 26 percent of assets under management globally, almost $23 trillion, according to a 2016 report by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. Europe and Australia lead markets with about half of managed assets considering sustainability criteria, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Earlier this year, Swiss Re announced that it was moving its entire investment portfolio of $130 billion to ethically based benchmark indexes from traditional ones. UBS Group AG recently raised $325 million from clients for The Rise Fund, whose investments include $120 million for EverFi Inc., a provider of digital educational material, and $50 million for Dodla Dairy Ltd., which helps small farmers in southern India.

Zurich will invest in different types of impact investments in various asset classes and around the globe, the insurer said in the statement. In addition, it will establish a measurement framework to track the impact of these investments.

With assistance from Daniel Shurey.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsayn today met with a visiting delegation of the United Russia, the ruling political party of the Russian Federation.

The delegation is led by Sergey Zheleznyak, a former Duma deputy speaker who, according to an official government press release, praised the wise and balanced policies being implemented in Armenia that will allow for the greatest use of the developmental potential that exists in Armenia.

Zheleznyak added that the ruling party in Russia supports developing relations and cooperation with others on an open basis and that, in this context, Armenia is furthering its ties with both Russia and the European Union.
Indonesia closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali on Monday and ordered 100,000 residents living near a grumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be imminent.

The airport was closed for 24 hours from Monday morning, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancellations could be extended.

Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak, the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement after raising the alert from three to its highest level of four.

The potential for a larger eruption is imminent, it said, referring to a visible glow of magma at Mount Agungs peak overnight, and warning residents to evacuate a danger zone at a radius of 8-10 km (5-6 miles).

Sutopo, a BNPB spokesman, said there had been no casualties so far and 40,000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move.

Video footage shared by the agency showed volcanic mud flows (lahar) on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path.

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year, and its airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesias eastern archipelago.

But tourism has slumped in parts of Bali since September when Agungs volcanic tremors began to increase and the alert level was raised to maximum before being lowered in October when seismic activity calmed.

Im really worried. Maybe Ill go somewhere south that I think will be safe to avoid being trapped by the ashfall, said Maria Becker, a German tourist staying in Amed, around 15 km (9 miles) from the volcano.

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). Northeastern Bali is relatively undeveloped compared to the more heavily populated southern tourist hub of Kuta-Seminyak-Nusa Dua.

Indonesias Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG), which is using drones, satellite imagery and other equipment, said predictions were difficult in the absence of instrumental recordings from the last eruption 54 years ago.

In 1963, an eruption of Agung killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages by hurling out pyroclastic material, hot ash, lava and lahar.

Recordings now show the northeast area of Agungs peak has swollen in recent weeks indicating there is fairly strong pressure toward the surface, PVMBG said.

It warned that if a similar eruption occurred, it could send rocks bigger than fist-size up to 8 km (5 miles) from the summit and volcanic gas to a distance of 10 km (6 miles) within three minutes.

Some analysis, however, suggests the threat should not be as great this time because energy at Mount Agungs magma chamber is not as big and the ash column only around a quarter as high so far as the 20 km (12 miles) reached in 1963, Sutopo said.

Check-Ins Closed

Bali airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from the volcano, will be closed for 24 hours, its operator said.

Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighboring provinces. Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said it was canceling flights on Tuesday, while Jetstar was offering to exchange Bali bound tickets for other destinations.

Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.

We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been canceled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins, have been closed indefinitely, said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles.

Cover-More, Australias biggest travel insurer, said on its website customers would only be covered if they had bought policies before the volcano alert was first issued on Sept. 18.

Indonesias hotel and restaurant association said stranded tourists at member hotels would get one nights free stay.

The main airport on Lombok, next to Bali, was closed after being open for much of the day, a spokesman said.

Airlines avoid flying when volcanic ash is present because it can damage engines and can clog fuel and cooling systems and hamper visibility.

(Additonal reporting by Reuters Bali stringer in Depasar, Angie Teo, Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta and Jamie Freed in Singapore; writing by Ed Davies and Fergus Jensen; editing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie)

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Aviation
Neon has announced the appointment of Richard Heppell as chief financial officer, effective Nov. 20.

Most recently CFO at MS Amlin, Heppell oversaw the complex integration of the Amlin and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Lloyds syndicates, having previously been finance director at Mitsui Sumitomo. Prior to this, he held a range of senior corporate finance roles at QBE.

With nearly 30 years spent in finance within the insurance sector, Heppell arrives at Neon with extensive experience of supporting the growth and development of Lloyds businesses, said Neon in a statement.

Heppells appointment comes at a time of ongoing expansion for Neon, with the opening of its Bermuda office in 2016, the acquisition of Sapphire Underwriters, the launch of Neon Italy, and the joint venture MGAs of Tarian and Chord Re in partnership with Beat Capital in 2017.

Heppells experience of multifaceted integrations and business transformation will contribute directly to us achieving our strategic aspirations, commented Martin Reith, Neon group chief executive.

His track-record shows continued delivery in the management of high performing finance functions for Lloyds businesses, Reith added.

Source: Neon

Topics Mississippi
Though the number of physician dispensed prescriptions has declined considerably from just a few years ago, the workers compensation industry continues to battle a market seeking to maintain high prices by changing drug strength and formulations.

The impact of physician dispensed pharmaceuticals and drug compounding on workers compensation systems nationwide was highlighted recently during a session hosted by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) Workers Compensation Insurance Committee at its annual meeting in Phoenix.

According to Kathy Fisher, assistant director of external engagement at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), a 2017 study examining physician dispensing across 26 states revealed that both prescribing frequency and pricing decreased in all states with reforms and even some without reforms.

The study examined 2011-2014 data, an important timeframe during which reforms were instituted in several states. Twenty-two states currently have reforms in place. The reforms have been of two types: price-focused reforms to control high prices and repackaged drugs with caps instituted at the wholesale price; and what Fisher termed limiting reforms that limit a certain type of drug or restrict use for a certain time period.

According to Fisher, WCRIs study examined prices, frequency of prescribing and cost share, relative to all prescription drug costs to uncover trends. It compared data between reform and non-reform states, as well. Some findings:

In Florida, the number of prescriptions of Ibuprofen/Naproxen increased due to the introduction of a new product.

Prices were static or increased in non or pre-reform states.

In all post-reform states  there was a reduction in physician dispensing. For example, in South Carolina, there was a 63 percent reduction. In Tennessee and Indiana, physician dispensing went down by 23 percent.

Fisher said there was a significant decrease in cost share of physician dispensed drugs to all prescription drugs in many reform states.

The states with the most physician dispensed drugs  California, Florida and Illinois  saw a significant increase in new drug strengths and formulations of certain existing drugs, said Fisher. This offset any other decreases. In these states, 54-64 percent of all total prescription payments were to physician dispensers. While many of the reforms were aimed at high-priced, repackaged drugs, its likely that costs didnt go down in these states, said Fisher, because manufacturers came up with new formulations and drug strengths.

Some examples of new drug strengths or formulations:

5 mg cyclobenzaprine HCL (Flexeril)

150 mg extended release Tramadol HCL (Ultram)

5-325 mg Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen (Vicodin) (2.5 -Lowest dose, highest cost)

Lidocaine-menthol (new formulation of a pain patch).

The changes in drug strength and formulations reveal just how adaptable the supply chain is, said Joseph Paduda, principal of Health Strategy Associates, a consulting firm for workers compensation managed care. The only solution, he said is to cut off repackaging. The manufacturers can set whatever price they want, he added, noting the only reason they do that is to make money.

Among states with limiting reforms, Fisher said there was a 12 percent decrease in opioid physician dispensed drugs in Kentucky, with similar decreases noted in Indiana and Tennessee.

Because opioid prescriptions dropped dramatically after the reforms, Paduda said the narcotics should have never been considered.

What that said to me is they should have never been prescribed in the first place, said Paduda, a firm supporter of allowing employers the ability to direct injured workers to a specific network of pharmacies to combat physician dispensing and drug compounding issues.

Tom Oliverson, a member of the Texas House and an anesthesiologist, commented that the problem is systematic and widespread, and much bigger than a bunch of greedy physicians. He said that because quality of care is measured based on lowering pain, work needs to be done to change that philosophy within the entire healthcare system.

Bad policy is what started all of this, said Oliverson.

Paduda turned the focus of the session to drug compounding. He noted that while physician dispensing and compounding are different issues, they are both driven by the same financial motivation.

Drug compounding is the preparation, mixing, assembling, packaging or labeling of a drug. Paduda said there are valid reasons for using compounding drugs, including to help patients who may be allergic to a binder in standard medication, patients with swallowing issues and children who may require a smaller dose. According to Paduda, compounded drugs account for less than one percent of prescriptions in the country.

Though valid reasons may exist for their use, there is currently little testing or oversight of compounded drugs.

Workers compensation systems are seeing a rise in dermal absorption compounded drugs, something Paduda said is potentially dangerous and likely ineffective. He has seen prices range between $300-$21,000 for compounded medication. Many states have no control over price or the number of scripts, he added. To get around bans and restrictions, compounding kits are being created for physicians to mix and dispense topical medication to patients.

Some possible solutions, according to Paduda, include placing reimbursement limits per script or per ingredient, capping the number of ingredients or the total cost per script. Other ideas include allowing employers a retrospective review with the option to deny coverage for a medication, allowing pre-authorization subject to certain requirements and allowing employers the ability to direct injured workers to a network of specified pharmacies.

Topics Workers' Compensation Talent Drugs
The Trump administration is pushing to add legal protections in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that would limit the liability of internet giants such as Google and Facebook, marking the latest in a tug-of-war as policy makers balance policing the web with protecting free speech.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer included the proposal in an updated U.S. wishlist for NAFTA published during the fifth round of negotiations, which ended last Tuesday. It comes as U.S. senators are advancing a bill, backed by President Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump and Facebook Inc.s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, that eliminates liability protections for websites that knowingly facilitate online sex trafficking. Some other tech companies and advocates have argued such legislation threatens to undermine their industry.

The U.S. is pressuring Canada and Mexico  the countrys top two export markets  to agree to limit civil liability of online platforms for third party content, according to the list of U.S. negotiating priorities published Nov. 17. A major U.S. technology group, the Internet Association, had urged it to push for such language.

Canada and Mexico have rejected the U.S. proposal, according to four officials familiar with negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity. Canada doesnt believe that type of provision belongs in a trade agreement, and also generally opposes reducing liability for internet companies, two of the officials said.

The administrations move is in some ways a form of protectionism  the U.S. is in effect trying to enshrine protections for Silicon Valley in a trade agreement, essentially pushing policy beyond Americas borders.

Stifle Expression

In the U.S., a 1996 law largely protects websites from liability for what their users post. Many in the tech industry say that has allowed the internet to flourish.

Because web pages involved in the sex trade cite the provisions on third-party content in their defense, a bipartisan group of more than 40 senators, led by Republican Rob Portman, have sought this year to create exemptions to the law to punish those who knowingly abet trafficking or child pornography. There is also legislation in the House.

The lawmakers argue their proposal is narrow and wouldnt harm the larger web, while tech advocates including the Internet Association  which includes Facebook, Alphabet Inc.s Google, Twitter Inc. and others  argued in the past it could stifle free expression and curtail good-faith efforts to self-police.

The fight over liability protections has been one of several tech headaches in Washington. Facebook and Google have received stepped-up scrutiny over Russian election interference through web platforms and questions about the size and power of their businesses, even as they quietly hope to reap the benefits of the broadly pro-business atmosphere of the Republican administration and Congress.

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, pledged this month to delay the bill because it would hurt startups and stifle innovation.

While several tech groups continue to worry, the Internet Association in October reversed course on the Senate bill, lauding its compromises.

Detailed Consultations

The NAFTA proposal is for cases not related to intellectual property rights, and comes with a caveat  it would be subject to NAFTA countries rights to adopt non-discriminatory measures for legitimate public policy objectives. Its unclear what measures countries could adopt to impose liability in certain cases.

Lighthizer defended the U.S. proposal, saying its based on exhaustive consultations with lawmakers.

The U.S. digital trade proposal has been informed by detailed consultations with Congress and would not prejudice the right of the United States and our Nafta partners to address important public welfare issues, Emily Davis, a spokeswoman for Lighthizer, said.

The NAFTA dispute over so-called safe harbor provisions for internet companies is one of the issues holding up an agreement on NAFTA s digital trade chapter, as officials from the three countries push to strike whatever deal they can as other divisive U.S. proposals loom large. The fifth round of talks ended without finalizing any new agreements, and negotiations are scheduled through March.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Legislation InsurTech Tech Canada Google
Note: This story originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.

As the state undertakes what could be the biggest housing recovery in American history after Hurricane Harvey, potentially thousands of Texas renters and homeowners trying to rebuild their lives are in danger of falling through the seams of a patchwork of agencies.

But no one knows how many Texans could get lost in the shuffle  or how much personal wealth they stand to lose.

Thats because U.S. disaster recovery efforts are split between a number of government entities, so no single agency is tracking the full extent of destruction the storm wrought on Texas homes. That leaves the Texas General Land Office, which is charged with overseeing the states housing recovery efforts, vying for limited long-term relief funds without an exact price tag for damage to private property.

Housing advocates say the lack of quantitative data could set countless residents up for financial ruin once federal funds, which officials also want to use on a wish list of public works projects, start trickling down through several layers of government.

This is a limited amount of money that is made available to the state, and then the state has to pick winners and losers, said John Henneberger, co-director of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service.

But as thousands remain in temporary housing heading into the holidays, government officials point out that federal disaster funds Congress sends to storm-battered regions arent meant to replace everything that was washed away. And even if there was enough money for everyone, officials say they cant tally the complete housing destruction for a number of reasons: they arent required to, they are blocked by federal privacy laws or its difficult to get information from private insurance companies.

Instead, agencies use data cobbled together from a number of sources to determine an estimate of what Texas homeowners and renters will need. And not all agencies use the same figures or formulas to reach their projection.

There is an effort right now to see if we can come up with an estimate that everybody agrees is probably the closest, said Federal Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Jackie Chandler.

That entity is charged with providing funds for immediate needs, like debris clean-up and temporary housing. And several other agencies use the number of aid applications FEMA processes as the base figure upon which their own damage estimates are determined.

Before FEMA will give any short-term money to Texans, the agency requires aid applicants to state how much damage their insurance provider will cover. It also requires Texans to apply for low-interest housing recovery loans through the Small Business Administration.

So far, FEMA inspectors have conducted inspections on more than 570,000 homes damaged by Harvey. More than 5,000 are left to be inspected. But that agency only handles short-term needs and caps aid at $33,300. It doesnt attach a price tag to damage that goes beyond that threshold.

So while more than 4,200 Texas families have hit that cap, its not known how much more money they would need to fully renovate or rebuild. Such needs generally fall to Housing and Urban Development, which distributes long-term disaster relief funds. One of that agencys chief responsibilities is to make sure limited federal dollars go to those who need it most, like low-income residents or people without flood insurance who dont qualify for low-interest government loans.

Texas Gets Some Data, but not All

Of the $51 billion Congress has appropriated to multiple disasters this year, HUD has already earmarked at least $5 billion for long-term recovery efforts in Texas. But the agency hasnt yet detailed how much has to go to housing compared to infrastructure and how much must benefit low- and moderate-income Texans.

Once HUD releases those parameters, the General Land Office will put together a plan for spending the money. And while Gov. Greg Abbott has charged the land office with handling housing recovery, GLO officials also dont know the cost required to help all Texans get back to where they were before the storm.

The GLO has an agreement to get some  but not all  data that FEMA collects. GLO officials say that they do not have access to data on Small Business Administration loans, federally funded flood insurance payouts or private insurance coverage. That leaves the state agency in charge of housing recovery without the full picture of housing needs.

We kind of take that step back and come up with the overall damage, said Heather Lagrone, a deputy director of the Texas General Land Office. I wont say were not advocating for the housing need. That is definitely part of the consideration.

One of the GLOs primary roles is to ensure disaster relief money is spent within HUDs guidelines once the funds filter down to local governments.

Its not really our job to prioritize the use of funds, exactly, Lagrone said. Its our job to make sure theyre using the funds on eligible activities that tie back to the event.

Local Leaders also in the Dark

Meanwhile, the GLO and other state officials have asked HUD not to put a minimum requirement on how much must be spent on housing. Instead, the GLO wants local officials to determine how to split money between housing and public works projects.

And many local officials  including mayors in hard-hit cities along the coast  say they dont know how bad the housing damage is in their communities because federal privacy laws prevent FEMA from telling them.

Lagrone said local officials can use changes in property values assessed by appraisal districts to determine the extent of Harveys damage on homes. But she also said such data mainly provides leaders with an idea of how much tax revenue they will lose due to falling property values  not the market cost to repair homes.

That would help the locals prioritize the use of their funds and help them decide should they spend the funds available on infrastructure improvements or on housing improvements, she said.

Such an approach worries housing advocates.

Sometimes local governments are not the in best position to determine the rebuilding needs of Texas households and they undervalue them, said Henneberger, the housing advocate.

HUD is expected to release the parameters for the initial $5 billion in long-term recovery funds next month. While state officials asked that the public only be given seven days to comment on plans for the money, Lagrone said her office expects residents will have 14 days to weigh in.

But housing advocates say thats not enough time to get feedback from residents who, like government officials, dont have a clear idea on the extent of housing needs.

Thats the only opportunity where they have to weigh in on how those resources should be used, said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Giulia Afiune contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/11/22/texas-may-never-know-extent-damage-harvey-did-peoples-homes/.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Topics Texas Homeowners
An insurer says it shouldnt have to pay for the collapse of a building in a southwest Mississippi city.

Hudson Specialty Insurance has sued in federal court in Natchez to nullify its policy, saying the policy was voided after the building owner took money from a previous claim but didnt complete needed repairs, The Enterprise-Journal reported.

The City of McComb sued earlier, seeking $370,000 spent on cleaning up debris after the buildings July 23 collapse.

Both the city and Hudson say Terrance Alexander, who bought the building in 2014 and operated Jubilee Performing Arts Center there, had been warned that roof drains were clogged and the roof was about to fall in. Alexander, who denies those claims, transferred ownership to Talex LLC in 2016. Thats who Hudson was insuring.

The collapse of downtown McCombs largest building sent bricks toppling onto city streets, and the city cordoned off the surrounding area as contractors tore down the top two floors of the building, which officials feared could fall at any time and cause more damage or injury.

Downtown streets and some businesses in the area were closed for nearly three weeks.

As part of its lawsuit, Hudson said it shouldnt have to pay for lost income or damages of more than a dozen businesses and individuals. That includes Alexanders brother Samuel Alexander, who operated a church on the top floor of the building before the collapse.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Carriers Mississippi
Police in a North Carolina town says one person is dead after a plant explosion.

Authorities in Nash County told local media outlets that a fire tank exploded at Pennco, Inc., on U.S. Highway 264 in Middlesex at around 9:30 a.m. on Friday. The fire marshal said two people were on duty at the time of the explosion. Neither person was identified.

Middlesex is 33 miles (53 kilometers) east of Raleigh.

Pennco manufactures wastewater treatment chemicals. The cause of the explosion wasnt immediately known.

WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported the explosion could be heard and felt in nearby communities.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics North Carolina
A Florida insurance agent has been arrested after allegedly submitting a fraudulent insurance policy to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., according to a statement from Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis and the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS).

Richard Joseph Girard, a licensed insurance agent and owner of A-Rated Insurance Group, allegedly submitted a policy application for property insurance for a Key Largo client but provided fictitious supporting documentation that falsified the age of the roof of the property.

As a result, Citizens accepted the application, initiated a policy and Girard received commission on the successful insurance sale.

Following the acceptance of the insurance application, DFS said Citizens suspected the application submitted by Girard may have been fraudulent and referred the matter to investigators with DFS Bureau of Insurance Fraud.

As a result of the investigation, DFS investigators confirmed Girard submitted an inspection report and policy application for a property located in Key Largo, Fla October 2016. However, in order for the policy to be accepted and to receive his commission, Girard used older photos and an older inspection report from a previous property on the new application form. By doing so, Girard concealed the actual condition of the propertys roof and structure, allowing him to obtain the insurance policy and receive a commission of $1,528.

Girard was arrested and booked into Plantation Key Detention Center without incident on Nov. 13, 2017, and has been charged with insurance fraud, uttering forged instruments, forgery and grand theft.

This case will be prosecuted by the Monroe County State Attorneys Office and if convicted, Girard could face up to 20 years in prison.

Once formal charges have been brought forth, DFS Division of Insurance Agents and Agency Services will suspend Girards insurance license.

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services

Topics Florida Agencies Fraud Property
Ahmadinejad attacked the judiciary and its leader, Sadegh Larijani, in a video interview published on Thursday, for prosecuting his allies. He said that due to the poor performance of the judiciary and its neglect of justice, the whole country is in danger. Several allies of the former president are either convicted or facing pending trials.

One of his deputies, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, is currently serving a 5-year prison sentence due to conviction over corruption.

Last week the head of presidents office under Ahmadinejad, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, was officially charged over insulting the supreme leader, propaganda against the regime, illegal usage of government assets, insulting high ranking state officials and spreading lies.

His other deputy, Hamid Baghaei, is currently facing several legal problems. Ahmadinejad called the charges against Baghaei fabricated. He accused the judiciary of corruption, tyranny and dictatorship.

Baghaeis defense strategy appears to be to also attack the judiciary. I do not have 63 accounts, my daughter is not a spy, and I have not violated any laws in this country, Baghaei said in a speech outside the courthouse after the second session of his trial last month.

This was a reference accusations against Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary. Baghaeis statements resulted in his being charged with defamation of high-ranking officials.

Larijani is reported to have transferred millions of dollars of his institutions income into his private accounts. Unconfirmed reports also allege that his daughter has been charged with espionage for British embassy in Tehran. However, the government and judiciary denied both allegations.

Critical of the fact that prosecutors and prisons in Iran are under the control of the judiciary, Ahmadinejad also said that the judiciary has gave supervision of some prison wards to the intelligence service and the revolutionary guards  which is a clear violation of the law. He referred to the death of the blogger, Sattar Beheshti, 35, in Evin prison in 2012. He called it a result of having security and intelligence organs run the prisons. He insisted that this was wrong and that the judiciary was responsible for it.

Beheshti had criticized the Iranian regime and its leader Ayatollah Khamenei for human rights violations and supporting the Lebanons Hezbollah in his weblog. Beheshti died in custody a few days after his arrest.

Ahmadinejad said, God may help the 17 million others who have a legal case in the judiciary.
Update 11.26pm: The meeting between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin has come to an end with no new developments tonight.

The meeting came to an end after over an hour of talks following the release of new documents by the Department of Justice which showed that Frances Fitzgerald was advised a number of times in mid-2015 through emails, queries and advice by her department about a strategy to discredit Sgt Maurice McCabe.

The Taoiseach and the Fianna Fail leader are to meet in the morning again to try to avoid a General Election.

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar told the Irish Examiner: "The meeting between the Taoiseach and Deputy Martin has concluded. Discussions will resume again tomorrow. There was serious engagement on both sides, and all remain keen to avoid an election in the interest of the country."

@campaignforleo and @MicheaIMartinTD to meet again in the morning #iestaff  Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) November 27, 2017

Update 10.06pm: Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has tonight defended her position amid calls for her to resign over failing to act over a garda plan to smear whistleblower, writes Juno McEnroe Political Correspondent.

New documents show she was advised a number of times in mid-2015 through emails, queries and advice by her department about a strategy to discredit Sgt Maurice McCabe.

The files were released by the Department of Justice but have prompted fresh calls for her to go.

She tonight tweeted:

As justice minister I could not interfere with the O'Higgins Commission. This is confirmed twice in today's docs and has been confirmed by the AG. The tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the tribunal early in January.

1/2 As Justice Minister I could not interfere with the O'Higgjns Commission. This is confirmed twice in today's docs & has been confirmed by the AG.  Frances Fitzgerald MEP (@FitzgeraldFrncs) November 27, 2017

2/2 The Tribunal will objectively judge the appropriateness of my conduct. I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January.  Frances Fitzgerald MEP (@FitzgeraldFrncs) November 27, 2017

Update 8.45pm: Frances Fitzgerald has no defence and must now resign - Sinn Fein; FG and FF leaders set to meet

Sinn Fein have said new department of justice documents reveal that embattled Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has no defence on why she failed to act to protect a whistleblower and must resign, writes Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe

New documents released by the department tonight show she was made aware a second time in July 2015 of a potential garda strategy to undermine Sgt Maurice McCabe.

This was several weeks after a first email in May 2015 notifying her of the garda plan at an inquiry.

A senior department official for Frances Fitzgerald though later passed on details of a media query to her which concerned questions about the aggresive approach by garda management to discredit Sgt McCabe.

This advice, flagging the matter, also told the minister how she could publicly praise Sgt McCabe.

It also confirms the Department of Justice liaised with the former garda commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan and the garda press office on these matters. Gardai had received a similar media query.

The correspondence reveals that assistant secretary Ken O'Leary advised the Tanaiste of these issues.

Mr O'Leary also told Ms Fitzgerald to stress her belief that Sgt McCabe is a valued member of the force.

Sinn Fein justice spokesperson Donnchadh O Laoghaire TD has responded to the release of additional documentation regarding Maurice McCabe and the OHiggins Commission from the Department of Justice tonight, saying that that these documents dispelled any lingering doubts on the Tanaistes knowledge of the Legal Strategy.

Donnchadh O Laoghaire

The Cork South-Central TD said: These documents are further evidence of the Tanaistes failings in addressing very serious issue, and her failure to protect Maurice McCabe from an appalling smear.

The case for the defence for Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has been unravelling for days. It has now collapsed.

At first, the attempt to say she discovered after the fact. This was disproven.

Then, to try and say that it was an email of such little significance that she could not recall and no action was required anyway. This was discredited.

She has tried to say there was nothing she could do anyway; this has been comprehensively rebutted.

Now, in tonights dramatic extraordinary revelations, it emerged that she received three emails, including questions from the Press and advice on how to respond to them. It was never credible to say she was unaware of the email or couldnt recall  but it is utterly incredible now."

How significant are the new documents released by the Dept of Justice? @JohnBurkeRTE reports pic.twitter.com/jlqqc9qpbJ  RTE News (@rtenews) November 27, 2017

The Social Democrats have said the Tanaistes position is untenable in the light of further documents released tonight about Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

The partys co-leader Roisin Shortall TD said: The sheer extent of the Tanaistes dereliction of her duty as Minister for Justice is laid bare in the chain of emails released tonight. The correspondence shows that a senior official in the Ministers department liaised with the then Garda Commissioner about media queries about the Garda Commissioners role in the aggressive legal stance towards Sgt McCabe at the OHiggins Commission.

Roisin Shortall

Whatever about a Minister not recalling an issue being raised once in an email, this departmental trawl shows that both the Minister and her officials were informed in another two further emails, and in considerable detail, about media inquiries about the legal strategy adopted by the Garda Commissioner.

How can the Tanaiste continue to credibly maintain that she wasnt aware of the legal strategy, despite her officials and her special advisers being included in the email chain released tonight?"

Update 8.30pm: Documents show Francis Fitzgerald 'noted' email on McCabe legal strategy; FF and FG meeting continues

Frances Fitzgerald was made aware of a garda strategy to take an aggressive stance towards Maurice McCabe a second time in the summer of 2015, by way of a media query.

The then Justice Minister was advised that if asked about this, she could say that Sergeant McCabe was a valued member of the force.

The new revelations are contained in a second stream of emails regarding Maurice McCabe which have been released by the Department of Justice this evening .

They come as the Taoiseach and the Fianna Fail leader continue to discuss options to avoid the Dail being dissolved due to a no confidence motion in the Tanaiste.

confirmation that Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald knew of and "noted" email regarding legal strategy to undermine Sgt McCabe #iestaff pic.twitter.com/EqtIBIMmV7  Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) November 27, 2017

Frances Fitzgerald has said, and her party has accepted, that she does not recall an email sent in May 2015 outlining the Garda Commissioners legal strategy to attack the motivation of Maurice McCabe at the OHiggins Inquiry at that time.

But in a trawl of records at the Department of Justice, ordered by the Taoiseach last week  its now emerged that the Minister had noted that email.

It has also been confirmed that the former Justice Minister was made aware of a media query which referred to the aggressive stance that Commissioner Noirin OSullivan ordered her legal Counsel to take.

The email also advises Frances Fitzgerald that if shes questioned about this, she could say that Sgt McCabe is a valued member of the force.

Key new email shows Dept official advising Minister to say 'both the Garda Commissioner and myself have always made it clear that Sgt McCabe is a valued member of the force' in context of query re Commissioner's 'aggressive stance' towards McCabe at O'Higgins Commision in Jul '15  Katie Hannon (@KatieGHannon) November 27, 2017

While the email says the matters are before a Commission of Investigation, it will be seen as the second time Minister Fitzgerald was made aware of the plan to smear Maurice McCabe  despite her saying she did not become aware of the matter until a year later.

This new evidence raises the stakes of talks between the Taoiseach and Micheal Martin this evening - less than 24 hours before the motion of no confidence in the Dail is due to be debated.

The material published by the department can be seen in full below:

1. An interim report of a search and retrieval of records (this report is dated 24 November 2017)

2. The final report of the search and retrieval of records (this report is dated 27 November 2017)

3. Two email threads which were discovered in the course of the search and retrieval of records (these have now been sent to the Disclosures Tribunal)

4. A letter from the Disclosures Tribunal to the Department of Justice and Equality (dated 22 November 2017)

5. A report setting out progress on the implementation of the Toland Report

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein says Leo Varadkar is failing his first big test in Government.

The Taoiseach has said he is standing by Frances Fitzgerald and is committed to finding a middle way to allow his minority administration to continue its work.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the stand-off which threatens to force fresh elections was about accountability.

"Where something as awful as this was allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged somebody has to be answerable for it.

"I regard this as perhaps the first big really substantial test of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach and so far he is failing.

"The only way he moves from a fail to a pass is to do his job and hold the now Tanaiste and former minister for justice to account and that means her standing down."

Sinn Fein wants Frances Fitzgerald to step down over her handling of the Garda Maurice McCabe whistleblowing saga.

An email advising Ms Fitzgerald of the legal strategy being enforced against Garda McCabe is at the centre of calls for her to go.

Ms Fitzgerald has said she cannot recall whether she read the email at the time but was reminded of its contents recently.

The issues are still under investigation by a disclosures tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Peter Charleton

Ms McDonald alleged: "Perhaps the most powerful agencies of the state took a very deliberate decision to target an individual in an attempt to smear that person, take their reputation, their professional standing and essentially ruin their life and this has been a long-running saga.

"Maurice McCabe was and is a member of An Garda Siochana so if that can happen to somebody who wears the uniform of a garda then it can happen to any citizen arguably and that is an intolerable proposition in any open democratic state.

Maurice McCabe

"The basis of the rule of law and democracy is that people's rights are protected."

Ms McDonald said she had not planned for an election at Christmas time.

"I have a young family.

"No more than anybody else I understand the kind of pressures families are under and the business of the time.

"Fianna Fail and Fine Gael want this to become a discussion around whether or not we should have an election; that is totally wrong-headed that is not what this is about.

"Our motion is not calling for a general election, although we have no confidence in this government.

"Our motion very clearly is setting out the need for accountability that is the issue."

5. A report setting out progress on the implementation of the Toland Report

Update 5.50pm: It is not the right time for the country to go to the polls, says Regina Doherty Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin will meet again this evening in an effort to prevent a Christmas election.

Fianna Fail wants the Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald to resign over the Maurice McCabe controversy and a motion of no confidence is due to take place tomorrow.

If a compromise is not reached between the two parties then the country will take to the polls.

Fine Gael have stood firmly behind Frances Fitzgerald and speaking this evening the Social Protection Minister, Regina Doherty, believes an election can still be avoided.

Regina Doherty

"This particular time in the juncture of negotiations in Europe for Ireland, it is not the right time for the country to go to the polls," said Ms Doherty.

"I think the two leaders who are sitting around trying to find a resolution here will find a political resolution here and allow due process to happen in the Charleton Tribunal and for us all to get back to work and do what we're being paid to do."

The Taoiseach said earlier today he is doing everything he can to avoid a snap Christmas election amid a political row over the treatment of a whistleblower.

Update 3.33pm: Election would delay work to tackle homelessness crisis, minister warns

Efforts to tackle one of Ireland's worst homelessness crises could be delayed if an election is called.

That's the view of Damien English, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, who said an election would be a distraction from other more vital work.

Mr English made his comments as it emerged Leo Varadkar is to hold a new round of talks with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin this evening as he attempts to save his minority Government.

Reflecting on those talks Mr English expressed optimism a pre-Christmas poll could be avoided.

"Nobody will thank us, the people are very clear on this, no matter who you talk to, no matter what party or independents they support.

"Nobody wants an election because we all understand that when you have an election it does delay the work of Government.

Damien English

"It does delay the action we are trying to implement across all the different departments, certainly priority number one is housing and tackling homelessness, and any delay to that is not good for anyone."

A housing charity said it received an "unprecedented" level of calls last year.

A record number of people have been found sleeping rough in Dublin.

A total of 184 were discovered in parks, streets, doorways and shopfronts on November 7.

Some 1,138 families with 2,416 children were in emergency accommodation in or around the capital in September.

Threshold, a housing charity, has urged the Government to strengthen investment in homelessness prevention measures.

It took more than 71,000 calls for help last year - compared with 32,000 in 2015. 14% related to substandard accommodation and another 14% to tenancy terminations.

Mr English said tackling the problem enjoyed cross-party support and a major financial commitment from taxpayers.

He added public representatives were responding and he hoped to build on that following this week's "difficult" time.

"A general election can only be a distraction to that work."

He added: "I am always optimistic but I am a realist too.

"It is a difficult situation for everybody and we have to try to find a solution here but I think it is possible."

He said it was politicians' jobs to find a resolution.

"Tomorrow is deadline day but I have no doubt that Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin will work very hard to make it happen.

"I am quite confident, but you never know."

He reiterated calls for a focus on the challenges of Brexit and next month's crucial EU summit.

Threshold chairman Dr Aideen Hayden urged the Government to invest in meaningful measures to address private renting challenges.

"Renting continues to be a precarious venture in this country and there is much more the Government should be doing to protect tenants."

Meanwhile, RTE Radio 1 have released a poll which has found 71% do not believe there should be a general election.

Joe Duffy asked Liveline listeners if there should be a general election and if the Tanaiste should resign.

Almost 4,828 people voted in the text poll about the general election while 5,200 people voted in the question about the Tanaiste.

The results were:

Should there be a general election?

Results: Yes: 29% No: 71%

Should the Tanaiste resign?

Results: Yes: 60% No: 40%

Update 2.57pm: Leo Varadkar 'doing everything' to avoid snap election

The Taoiseach has said he is doing everything he can to avoid a snap Christmas election amid a political row over the treatment of a whistleblower.

Leo Varadkar is to hold the latest round of talks with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin this evening as he attempts to save his minority Government.

The negotiations, which could see a radical overhaul of justice affairs, are said to have been constructive.

"We are trying to find a middle way that allows the Government to continue and continue with the important work we are doing, particularly with Brexit and ensuring that we have necessary legislation through," the Taoiseach said.

"We are doing everything we can."

Fianna Fail have demanded the resignation of Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald over her handling of a 2015 email that revealed attempts to discredit Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe at a private Government-ordered inquiry.

If no compromise is reached then it will lead to the collapse of the delicate confidence and supply arrangement that was supposed to see Mr Martin's party support the minority Fine Gael Government until the passage of the Budget in late 2018 and abstain in any no confidence motions against ministers.

The Taoiseach said only Sinn Fein wants an election.

Education Minister Richard Bruton said: "I certainly hope that we can find a solution. I'm long enough in politics to see how bad political decision-making screwed up opportunities."

If Fine Gael and Fianna Fail fail to end the stand-off by Tuesday, a snap pre-Christmas election looms - at a time when ministers are preparing for December's crunch EU summit, when the fate of the Irish border post-Brexit could effectively be determined.

Update 1pm: Latest: Varadkar: 'I have nothing to hide, Fine Gael has nothing to hide'

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has stressed that neither Fianna Fail nor Fine Gael want an election.

He said he is working with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to come to a resolution.

"I think it's fair to say neither Fianna Fail nor Fine Gael want an election. It seems Sinn Fein is the only party that wants that," he said.

"We're trying to find a middle way that allows the Government to continue, and continue with the important work that we're doing, particularly in relation to Brexit and ensuring the important work that we have the necessary legislation.

"We're doing everything we can."

Mr Varadkar said he and his party have nothing to hide.

"As I always said, and said in the Dail last week, I have nothing to hide, Fine Gael has nothing to hide, nor does the Government and we're not trying to protect anyone. We just want to make sure that there is due process and people are treated fairly," he said.

"Certainly I don't want there to be an election, I don't think it would change anything or achieve anything, particularly at such an important time for the country.

"We'll meet with Micheal Martin this evening and I'll do everything I can to come to a resolution but obviously that must involve due process."

The Taoiseach was speaking after the funeral of former Minister for State, Donal Creed in Macroom, Co Cork.

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pictured arriving at the funeral mass of former TD Donal Creed at St. Colmans Church, Macroom, Co. Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

by Elaine Loughlin

Update 12pm: Negotiations between the Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin are likely to intensify before tomorrow's no confidence vote, the Finance Minister has said.

Speaking at a housing development in Dublin this morning Paschal Donohoe said Leo Varadkar will also be looking at any options that are open to him to avoid an election that nobody wans."

He said the Taoiseach is taking negotiations "very seriously" and will "do all that is possible to avoid an election taking place".

I dont think any of us can understate how sensitive and how important the negotiations are that are currently under way. They are moving into their fourth day."

Mr Varadkar is due to meet Mr Martin in Cork today for another round of talks to avert a General Election before Christmas.

Mr Donohoe warned that a number of pieces of important legislation including restoration of public sector pay and increases to social welfare payments announced in the Budget still need to be passed by the Dail.

"The Public Pension and Pay Bill is a very good example of the kind of legislation that it's in the best interests of all to have passed before Christmas but Fianna Fail need to understand and I think do, that there are pieces of legislation such as that, such as the Social Welfare Bill such as passing the Finance Bill through the Seanad and then other matters in relation to estimates that need to be passed in the coming weeks.

"This is an election that if it happens will not be in the best interest of ensuring those pieces of legislation are passed."

He added: It is even more apparent now that the country is facing so many challenges and indeed so many opportunities that will need to be dealt with across the month of December and into Janaury.

For all of those reasons, it is imperative that we do all we can we ensure an election doesnt happen but Fianna Fail need to do their bit to.

Mr Donohoe said he "stood fully" by Frances Fitzgerald "at all times she has been a reforming minister who has been absolutely focused on protecting those who need protection and support."

Earlier: Minister Simon Coveney has said there is no attempt to protect Frances Fitzgerald from "the exposure of truth".

He described what he believed was a "fundamental unfairness" by casting judgment on the Tanaiste before the upcoming Tribunal in January.

Mr Coveney described the ongoing controversy as a "difficult political situation to manage".

"There is no attempt here to hide anything or protect Frances Fitzgerald from the exposure of truth," he told RTE Radio One's Today with Sean O'Rourke.

"We believe that Frances is being very unfairly treated and we believe she should not be asked to resign," he said.

"What we have now is a debate around an email. This is a time for cool heads and due process that needs to be allowed to take its course," he added.

He said the role of Minister Fitzgerald and the Department of Justice will be under review in the Tribunal.

"In six weeks' time, we have a tribunal of inquiry investigating the very things that are under discussion from politicians. We believe that any political judgment should be made after that tribunal reports, rather than pre-empting it.

He accepted there was poor management in the Department of Justice but said Frances Fitzgerald was "happy" to appear before the Tribunal and to be politically accountable for the outcomes of the Tribunal.

His comments come as Fianna Fail calls for her resignation amid the ongoing Maurice McCabe email scandal.

The email sent in May 2015 outlined a garda strategy to smear Maurice McCabe at the OHiggins Inquiry.

It also emerged that ex-Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan telephoned a senior official in the department in May 2015 to inform them of her intended legal strategy at the OHiggins Commission in relation to whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

The call is said to have occurred at the time a similar email was received and read by Ms Fitzgerald.

A spokeswoman for the Tanaiste told the Irish Examiner she was not aware of the call at the time.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said talks between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin had not yet reached an agreement.

A radical break-up of the Department of Justice into two has formed the basis of Varadkar's offering to Fianna Fail in a bid to avoid a general election.

Sources have confirmed that three proposals were tabled, including the radical plans to overhaul the Department of Justice during discussions throughout the weekend.

"There will be ongoing discussions today. The Taoiseach and Fine Fail leader have met a number of times and I think it is true to say that neither party wants an election," he said.

"An election doesn't make sense for the country. We have some huge challenges to overcome, not least in the face of Brexit," he added.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said he believed Fianna Fail had "genuine concerns".

"They want political accountability as well as a process that establishes the truth, and we have to try to figure out a way with them that we can do that," he said.

"We have to work with them so Maurice McCabe can get the justice he deserves," he added.

He said the ongoing discussions between Micheal Martin and Leo Varadkar have been "constructive" but had yet failed to finalise "a package of proposals that can avoid" an election.
In Person Localization is Very Important: Viber

Anubhav Nayyar, Vibers head of business development for Southeast and South Asia. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Viber, a leading messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application, has reached 900 million users since it was founded in 2010. Since Myanmar opened its telecommunications market, Viber has become the countrys market leader.

The Irrawaddys Burmese editor, Yeni, sat down with Anubhav Nayyar, Vibers head of business development for Southeast and South Asia, last week in Yangon to talk about the companys strategies and plans locally and globally.

How has Viber become one of the leading messaging and VoIP applications globally?

Viber has reached some 900 million users in seven years. What makes us special is that we have strong markets across the world including Southeast and South Asia along with Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe. People love using Viber across markets.

Myanmar is an important market. They appreciate the service and we are happy to invest time and resources in the country.

Can you explain your advantage globally and regionally in reference to competitors like LINE, Facebook and WeChat?

A number of things differentiate us. We offer features that are relevant and appealing at the local level, and they differ regionally.

We ensure that not only are we constantly innovating but innovating in a relevant manner  that is number one.

The second point is that localization is very important, so we have the term glocalization, ensuring that while you are global you are also locally relevant. We offer a lot of local content and local partnerships, varying from country to country.

To give you a Myanmar example, we have partnered with various organizations and various business groups inside Myanmar, ranging from partnerships with telcos, media, brands, etc.

We also work with some of the local influencers such as Sai Sai and Phway Phway.

Localized, relatable and relevant content [such a localized stickers] helps, while also taking user feedback to heart.

We know that in 2014 Viber controlled 79 percent of the market in Myanmar. What percent of the market do you hold today?

Unfortunately there are no official reports on the market, not only here but globally. Messaging is also very personal, so its sometimes very difficult for anybody to track because there are people who are using multiple apps.

The challenge for us as the market leader is to get more and more people to use Viber, which basically means that we look at it from two perspectives.

There are existing users; we need to keep offering new and more relevant features to them.

And then there are smartphones, which are really growing in Myanmar right now. What that means is that every day there are thousands of people across the country who are using a smartphone for the first time, who are probably using the internet for the first time. So its important that we offer services that are very, very relevant to them. Our ambition is that practically anyone and everyone here in Myanmar uses our services.

Is Myanmar still small compared to other regional markets? Can you explain how Viber can monetize its services here?

Myanmar is not a small market. From a regional perspective, Myanmar is very important to us. I try to make a trip at least every month, which is not a lot. But at least, I ensure that I am meeting our consumers.

Smartphone market penetration is exploding. Internet is now starting to be available in every corner of the country. This is a good area for us to focus on going forward.

There are currently three areas that we monetize. First is Viber Out. You can use your Viber application and call any number in the world that does not have Internet or does not have Viber.

The second is stickers. We have paid stickers and stickers that are completely free. In Europe, the United States and other parts of Asia people pay for stickers, but here not so much.

The third is partnering with businesses looking for native advertisements within the app.

How does Viber ensure safety and security for its customers?

Viber has end-to-end encryption, which means that conversations between two individuals or in a group setting are completely private and everything that is spoken or shared between those people stays that way. The conversation cannot be accessed by anybody, including Viber.

There is concern that Viber and other social media platforms can be used for hate speech, illegal activity and exploitation by banned organizations. How can you stop that?

It is very difficult for us to state an opinion about conversations between two individuals that are encrypted end-to-end  what is right and what is wrong  as we are a communication platform.

We also have public accounts, where companies can talk brands, promote content, etc. In some countries such as Sri Lanka or the Philippines, we even have governments partnering with us and having their own public accounts.

If its a conversation happening between two people, we do not have access to that data, so its very difficult to have any opinion on that. But in a public chat or public account, there is already a way for people to flag content as offensive. We have a content moderation team for our public accounts that is always accessible, and such content is flagged off.

There is a new generation of IT innovators growing here in Myanmar. How do you view them, and does Viber have any plans to work with them?

The growth that Myanmar has shown over the last two to four years is deeper and steeper that before. I think it is because of this particularly young force. It is a fairly young market.

When I say young market I mean a lot of working-class, young people out there who have their entire careers ahead of them. We have been working with a lot of companies and we have a lot of partners over here, and its just been a great experience working with people over here. We are very open to working with different companies, different brands, different organizations, and in some cases freelancers.

I have also got some idea of the talent over here, and the talent is very good. In the case of some specific projects or assignments we connect with locals over here purely because only from Myanmar would you understand Myanmar and the smaller things very well.
Burma Govt Frets UN Will Invoke Genocide Doctrine to Intervene in Rakhine

Rohingya refugees walk on the shore as they arrive on a makeshift boat after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Nov. 9, 2017. / Reuters

The government is worried that the United Nations will invoke the Responsibility to Protect, or R2P, to interfere in the Rakhine State crisis, according to national security advisor U Thaung Tun.

U Thaung Tun made his comments during a roundtable talk on state-owned MRTV on Sunday, saying that Myanmar and Bangladesh would do their best to solve the Rohingya problem as the Myanmar government was worried the UN would intervene, citing R2P.

The UN has listed Myanmar as a code red country, meaning it is experiencing a crisis. They have listed us as a red color country. It is very dangerous for our country, U Thaung Tun said.

Under the R2P framework, there are three levels. The first is yellow, which indicates that conditions are present to cause worry, the next is orange, which is triggered by the first signs of genocide in the country, followed by red, which indicates a crisis.

The UN used R2P to take action in other regions including Yugoslavia, Libya, Rwanda and Darfur.

For us, we cannot leave this problem. We need to solve it the best way. We need to repatriate them back to our country. When we do the reparation, we need to bring them back based on their wishes, not force them, U Thaung Tun said.

China and Russia would stand by Myanmar, he said, although it was because they have their own national interests for doing so as they have repeatedly sided with Myanmar in the past.

Myanmar came under intense international pressure in 1988 following the violent suppression of a popular uprising by the military that resulted in the death of many rights activists and students. Again in 1990, the government was placed under a lot of pressure by the international community after the military refused to respect the result of a general election.

The international pressure did not hurt our sovereignty at that time. But, it could this time, as well as the stability of the country, U Thaung Tun said.

David Mathieson, an Independent analyst working on conflict and peace issues in Myanmar, said the military is driving the efforts at international justice because of their culture of denial of any wrongdoing.

If they actually took steps to address the reports of widespread human rights violations and conducted credible investigations and punished alleged perpetrators then these calls would not be as loud and instant as they are, he said.

And the governments utter disdain for anyone making allegations of human rights abuses that have driven so many people into Bangladesh is actively supporting the military, not committing to a credible process that permits real investigations.

At the same time, Mathieson said that Myanmar needed to understand the limitations of international efforts at seeking accountability and the limited reach of R2P. Those cases were not always successful, and especially in the case of Darfur, not always based on an accurate assessment of the conflict.

But Myanmar should also understand that using China and Russia as shields to deflect international accountability had consequences that could deeply damage the countrys transition to democracy. It is important not just to view how R2P could intrude on Myanmar, but how closer links with China, which believes it is owed concessions for the diplomatic cover it has provided Myanmar, could impact the country in the long term.

What U Thaung Tun should be assessing, said Mathieson, is the potential range of international investigations that could be conducted, not just R2P, but the UN fact-finding mission and what the U.S. has signaled will be its own investigation. This is the closest that Myanmar has come to a major international human rights investigation since the ILO commission of inquiry in the 1990s, he noted.

There are 57 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries that are members of the UN, and a further 28 from the European Union. The OIC proposed a resolution at the UN General Assembly meeting that action be taken against Myanmar since the violence broke out in the middle of August. Many Western countries support the OIC resolution.

The UN chief has even said the situation in Myanmar had reached a crisis point. The UN has demanded that Myanmar take four steps including halting its military activities in the area, offering humanitarian aide to refugees who remain on the ground, repatriating refugees who have fled the state, and fulfilling the recommendations of the Advisory Commission chaired by Kofi Annan.

The UN Security Council issued a statement on Nov. 6, condemning rights abuses by the Myanmar Army, but the government has called the accusations baseless. The UN has even said it would take action against Myanmar in the event it needed to.
Burma Parliament Approves Proposal to Ensure Transparency in Extractive Industries

Bawdwin Mine in Namtu Township, northern Shan State in 2015. / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYITAW Myanmar Lower House of Parliament on Thursday approved a proposal to ensure transparency in the countrys extractive industries and transfer back the gross revenues of the enterprises under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation into the Union budget.

Seven lawmakers discussed in favor of the motion proposed by Daw Thet Thet Khaing of Dagon Township and the Lower House approved the proposal despite the objection by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation and the Ministry of National Planning and Finance.

Lawmakers have questioned the transparency of revenues from the countrys extractive industries, pointing out that the natural resources ministry has more than 10 trillion kyats (US$7.3 billion) in its accountsan amount far more than combined budgets for health and education in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

According to lawmakers, only about half of the ministrys revenues go to the Union budget while the other half is kept by the ministry without transparency.

Enterprises of the resources ministry such as Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise, and Myanma Petroleum Products Enterprise currently have more than 10 trillion kyats held in their other accounts, according to the Ministry of National Planning and Finance.

MOGE alone has more than 4.6 trillion kyats in its account, far exceeding the budgets of education and health, which only received a combined 13 percent of the total 20.59 trillion kyats budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

If we use that amount for building roads in rural areas, we will be able to build over 30,000 miles. If we use it for building schools, we will be able to build over 100,000 school buildings, and if we use it for rural electrification, we will be able to electrify over 75,000 villages, said lawmaker U Naing Htoo Aung of Natogyi Township.

Ministry officials defended that the money held by the ministry currently belongs to the Union budget, but U Naing Htoo Aung claimed that lawmakers are unable to monitor those accounts.

While operation costs, overhead, staff salaries and debts of those enterprises are paid from the Union budget, they have accumulated money in their accounts over time, U Lwin Ko Latt of Thanlyin Township pointed out.

According to a report after Myanmar was accepted as a candidate country to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Mexico in January 2014, the Ministry of Energy non-publicly awarded licenses for 16 natural gas fields in October 2013 and 14 gas fields in March 2014, said U Lwin Ko Latt.

The most important thing is transparency. Without it, people will think the old practices are still alive no matter what changes we introduce, he added.

Lawmaker Dr. Khin Sithu of Loikaw Township, citing the 2017 Resource Governance Index, said that Myanmar is among 13 countries that receive the least benefits from natural resource mining.

Those state-owned enterprises are running a large surplus and I cant understand why those surpluses go to their other accounts [and not into the Union budget] while they have no specific economic responsibilities. Those accounts should be audited with external audits, said the lawmaker, who also called for equal distribution of benefits from resources to ethnic states.

Ministry officials told Parliament that the ministry has been taking steps to transfer the money back into Union budget, and that a national level committee has also been formed to ensure transparency in extractive industries.

According to the Ministry of National Planning and Finance, there are 19 state-owned enterprises that are allowed to open other accounts for their operation. These include the News and Periodicals Enterprise under the Information Ministry, Myanma Railways and Road Transport Administration under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Myanma Timber Enterprise, mining enterprises under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, heavy industries under the Ministry of Industry, the Electricity Supply Enterprise of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy and more.
Burma Pope Arrives in Yangon, Begins Diplomatically Fraught Visit

Pope Francis waves to Catholic followers before leaving the Yangon International Airport upon his arrival to Myanmar on Monday afternoon. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  Pope Francis has arrived in Yangon on Monday afternoon, becoming the first Pope to visit Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where only one percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Hundreds of faithful Catholics lined the road outside Yangon International Airport to welcome him, holding the flags of Myanmar and the Vatican.

The Papal visit coincides with international pressure on the Southeast Asian country regarding human rights abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh after army security clearance operations in late August and allegations of killings, rape and arson.

Pope Francis was warned, including by Myanmars Cardinal Charles Bo, to avoid using the term Rohingya during his visit, so as not to upset the host country or trigger a backlash, as the government, military and majority of the people reject the term and instead refer to the Rohingya as Bengali, inferring they are immigrants from Bangladesh.

Vatican officials said the Popes six-day visit was meant to send a message of reconciliation, forgiveness and peace. During the trip, the 80-year-old pope will have meetings with Myanmars President U Htin Kyaw and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw.

He will hold a mass in Yangon on Wednesday and meet with the countrys military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing the following day before flying to Bangladesh, where he is expected to meet with Rohingya refugees.

Diplomatic relations between Myanmar and the Vatican were established in May during the State Counselors trip there. The papal visit was marked at the time as well.

Myanmar has about 700,000 people who profess to be Catholic and for many of them it is the first time they have had a chance to see the pope in person.

On Friday, about 7,000 Catholics from Kachin State in northern Myanmar took a two-night train ride down to Yangon to welcome the pope.

Members of other ethnic groups such as the Karen, Kayah and Chin are also expected to travel to Yangon to witness the visit.
Burma Top General to Take Active Role in Govt Reconciliation Efforts

Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win at the 6th JICM on the NCA. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYITAW  Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win has pledged to take an active part in efforts by the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government to bring about national reconciliation in Myanmar.

In shaping a new political culture of solving political problems at the table instead of by military means, all of members of JICM [Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting] and UPDJC [Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee] are to play an active part in bringing those groups to the negotiation table, said the deputy army chief at the 6th Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting on the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in Naypyitaw on Monday.

However, Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win insisted that efforts to build a federal, democratic union should be based on our three main national causes, namely non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and the perpetuation of sovereignty, further confirming that the Myanmar Army would not let any ethnic area secede from the country.

It is important that we should take necessary actions without losing track of building a Union based on democracy and federalism with permanent peace, he said.

Mondays meeting focused on terms of reference and standard operating procedures designed by the UPDJC, national-level political dialogues, and the progress of NCA implementation.

Our Three Main National Causes and the desire for a multi-party democracy must take precedence over self-interests in peace talks, stressed the deputy army chief.

To build harmony among key stakeholders in the country, it is important that the foundation of democratic federal principles that are acceptable to all is laid down, said Gen Saw Mutu Say Poe, chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU).

The KNU chairman suggested taking time to reach a clear consensus rather than signing peace agreements hastily, calling for negotiations based on national reconciliation.

It is physical courage that armed groups need on battlefields to fight enemies, but at the negotiation table for peace they need mental courage to face themselves, said State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

We all must have the courage to find correct answers for peace. And we must be able to assess correctly if we can get those answers, she said at the meeting.

The deputy army chief also urged Tatmadaw troops at different levels to avoid activities that could create misunderstanding or intervening in the administrative functions of the government during the peace process.

The 6th JICM, held at the National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Naypyitaw, was attended by leaders of the government and Tatmadaw and NCA signatories.
Burma Two Foreign Journalists Charged With Immigration Violation

TRT World cameraman Lau Hon Meng waves to his supporters as he walks out from a police van for a court hearing on Monday in Naypyitaw. / Moe Moe / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYITAW  The court in Naypyitaws Zabuthiri Township charged two foreign journalists, who were also facing lawsuits for attempting to fly a drone near Parliament in Naypyitaw, with the additional charge of violating the Immigration Act on Monday.

The judge, U Zaw Win Htoo, said during the court session on Monday that the immigration officer of Zabuthiri Township had filed a lawsuit against the two foreign journalists under section 13(1) of the 1947 Myanmar Immigration Act.

Section 13(1) of the Immigration Act states: Whoever enters or attempts to enter the Union of Burma or whoever after legal entry remains or attempts to remain in the Union of Burma in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under or any of the conditions set out in any permit or visa shall be punished with imprisonment for a term.

The penalty is a minimum of six months to a maximum of five years, a minimum fine of 1,500 kyats, or both.

According to the defendants lawyers, the visas of producer Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia and freelance camera operator Lau Hon Meng from Singapore, who were working for Turkish state broadcaster TRT World, expired on Nov. 17, while the two were detained.

U Khin Maung Zaw, the lawyer for the two Myanmar nationals, told The Irrawaddy that they were being charged for overstaying, which occurred because of their detention. He added that their respective embassies had been notified.

The journalists were arrested on Oct. 28 in Naypyitaw with their interpreter Ko Aung Naing Soe and driver U Hla Tin, while they were trying to fly a drone near Parliament.

They were charged under section 10 of the 1934 Aviation Act and received two months imprisonment on Nov. 10 for attempting to fly the drone without permission.

The journalists are still facing a lawsuit under the 2012 export and import law for illegally bring the drone into the country.

The next court hearing for the journalists will be on December 4.
Monday, Nov 27th, 2017 (11:23 am) - Score 1,072

The incumbent phone and broadband provider for Hull in East Yorkshire, KCOM, as told the UK Governments Digital Minister, Matt Hancock, that they will hit their target of 150,000 properties on their fibre optic network (FTTP/C) by the end of 2017 and will then extend this to everyone in our network.

The news will not come as much of a surprise to our readers, after all KCOM has so far done a good job of keeping to their deployment targets. On top of that the operators response to Ofcoms earlier consultation on a new 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) has already revealed that by the end of 2020 they expect that every residential and business customer (both in the Hull area and where our network is available in East Yorkshire) would be able to connect to our NGA fibre network (here).

Gary Young, KCOMs Executive Vice President, said: I am delighted that we will reach 150,000 properties by the end of 2017, as promised. This is a major milestone for KCOM and will bring real benefits for businesses and households in Hull and East Yorkshire. Providing ultrafast connectivity to Hull has already established it as the digital capital of the UK and shows our commitment is as strong as ever to create a city that is fit for the 21st Century. It also paves the way for the final phase of our Lightstream deployment that will bring ultrafast broadband to everyone in our network.

Matt Hancock, UK Digital Minister, said: KCOM has done a tremendous job in rolling out full fibre broadband for the homes and businesses in Hull. Full fibre is fundamental for fashioning a Britain fit for the future, and we are investing more than 1bn in taking fibre to new heights, by stimulating further and faster roll-out of full fibre networks across the UK.

Back in September 2017 we revealed that KCOM had so far extended their 60 million Lightstream fibre network to cover 132,500 premises (here) and the most recent rollout update (here) put them on target to hit the 150,000 premises mark by the end of 2017 (i.e. 75% of their overall network). The new network currently has 50,000 residential and 5,000 business customers.

The company now predicts that within the next month the number of its customers with fibre broadband will surpass the number with old fashioned copper internet connections. At present residential consumers are offered a maximum line speed of up to 250Mbps (30Mbps upload) on FTTP (soon to be 350Mbps), although we should add that around 7-8% of their new network uses a slower up to 75Mbps FTTC (VDSL2) service.

No doubt it wont be long now before the rollout plan for the final phase of their deployment to reach the remaining c.50,000 premises (25% of their overall network) is published. On this point it will be interesting to see whether or not KCOM make more use of FTTC than we have soon so far, not least because serving some of their smaller outlying communities with FTTP could be very expensive.

However its worth highlighting that Gary Youngs comment specifically references an aim to extend ultrafast broadband to everyone in their network, which typically means speeds of 100Mbps+ and that would appear to rule-out VDSL2 based FTTC. So either theyll upgrade their FTTC approach somehow (G.fast?) or replace everything with FTTP, even existing FTTC.

The operator has previously expressed an expectation of being the first operator in the UK to switch-off their old legacy copper network, which suggests that FTTC may be replaced.

UPDATE 28th Nov 2017

Well that didnt take long (the 100% coverage plan).
Despite the hype around AI, few workers seem worried that their jobs will be threatened by artificial intelligence. However a study "reveals deep concerns on how to prepare the next-generation workforce".

Contrary to recent headlines about AI apocalypse, very few workers fear AI will take away their jobs, according to a new study from global professional services and digital transformation firm Genpact.

The survey of more than 5000 people from across the US, the UK and Australia also shows "a striking gap in views about AIs impact on their current roles versus the expected impact on the future workforce".

Only 10% of people surveyed "strongly agree that AI threatens their jobs today; however, nearly everyone (90% of respondents) believes younger generations need new skills to succeed as AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace. The research underscores how businesses need to prepare their employees for AI  yet very few are doing so".

Sanjay Srivastava, chief digital officer, Genpact, said: "Artificial intelligence brings a seismic shift in the future of work  making some roles obsolete and enhancing others, while at the same time, creating new jobs, and even spawning new professions.

Our research shows that employees want and need additional skills to embrace these opportunities  and companies must respond. Businesses that will succeed in this new world will be those that ramp up fast to invest in the right AI tools and upskill their workforce.

Genpact states its global study represents "a broad range of education and income groups. A little more than half of respondents (54%) are classified as workers, being employed at least part-time, while the remainder are students, retired, or currently unemployed".

"This workforce survey is the second in a three-part Genpact research series, designed to create a comprehensive view on AI adoption, readiness, and impact across three critical and disparate communities  the C-suite, the workforce, and consumers. Combined, these results give businesses valuable insights on how to succeed with artificial intelligence. The first study, published in September 2017, explores the C-suite perspective," with Genpact stating it will "release its consumer findings later this year."

What, me worry?

The study findings continue: "While only 28% of all respondents worry about artificial intelligences threat on their current jobs, most (58%) fear AIs impact on their childrens and future generations career opportunities.

"A third of workers surveyed worry that they will not have the money or time for necessary retraining to help them work with AI. These fears may be valid, considering that Genpacts study of senior management, the first in the series, reveals that nearly one in five businesses have no plans at all to reskill their employees.

"Only a quarter of companies currently help their employees take advantage of AI, and just a little more than a third provide reskilling to address technology disruption."

And what of "the training gap?"

Genpact states: "When considering new skills people think they will need, and where they will get them, few survey respondents look to advanced degrees. They view relevant primary and secondary education in subjects that will prepare younger generations for a future AI-focused workplace as more important than higher education. In addition, almost half (45%) of those surveyed believe future generations will need more on-the-job training via human-machine interactions.

"Half of all respondents also cite the ability to adapt to change as the top quality necessary to succeed in an environment with an increasing AI presence. Moreover, most people value critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity over technical skills like coding, statistics, and math."

So is it time to "bring on the bots?"

Genpact explains that "40% of all workers surveyed indicate they would be comfortable working with robots within the next three years."

In contrast, Genpacts senior management study "indicates that nearly 80% of global companies that are AI leaders believe their employees will work comfortably with robots in the same time frame. This gap points to potential challenges for businesses to realise AIs benefits. Still, most employees see positive impacts from AI in the workplace. They cite time savings and reduction in human errors as among top benefits, and younger generations acknowledge these advantages even more prominently."

Srivastava said: The big question is how to effectively encourage and adopt human-machine collaboration, said Srivastava. And the key is in a top-down culture that embraces AI, learning, and training at all levels, within a comprehensive change management framework.

For more details the study, check out "The workforce: Staying ahead of artificial intelligence," while "views from the C-suite" can be read in the first report in the series, "Is your business AI-ready?".
All 24 US-based men who are accused of taking part in a phone scam operated with the help of call centres in India have been taken into custody and have entered guilty pleas, with the last man offering a guilty plea on 13 November.

Miteshkumar Patel, 42, who is based in Illinois, pleaded guilty to money-laundering conspiracy, joining six others who have entered similar pleas.

The 24 men, along with 32 others who are in India, are accused of defrauding US residents of hundreds of millions of dollars.

As iTWire reported last year, the call centres named in the indictment are HGlobal, Call Mantra (aka Robust Inc, Raytheon International), Worldwide Solution, Zoriion Communications and Sharma BPO Services, all of which are located in Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat.

According to the original indictment, in some cases, people from these call centres pretended to be officers of the US Internal Revenue Service and defrauded Americans by claiming they owed money to the IRS and saying they would be arrested and fined if they did not pay their back-taxes right away.

In other cases, they impersonated officers from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and misled US residents into believing they would be deported unless they paid fines for alleged irregularities with their residence papers.

US residents were also misled into believing that they were eligible for so-called payday loans and that they needed to pay a small fee upfront to indicate that they had enough funds to repay the loan.

And in a fourth set of cases, the call centres misled Americans into believing they were eligible for fictitious government grants and asked them to pay an upfront fee towards an IRS tax or a processing fee.

The scams began in 2013, according to admissions made by Miteshkumar who is to be sentenced on 7 March next year.

The other 17 US-based defendants are: Bharatkumar Patel, Ashvinbhai Chaudhari, Harsh Patel, Nilam Parikh, Hardik Patel, Rajubhai Patel, Viraj Patel, Dilipkumar A. Patel, Fahad Ali, Bhavesh Patel, Asmitaben Patel, Montu Barot, Nilesh Pandya, Dipakkumar Patel, Nisarg Patel, Rajesh Kumar, and Dilipkumar Ramanlal Patel who previously pleaded guilty on various dates between April and September 2017.

The break-up of people charged and their affiliations  HGlobal: 18 each in India and the US; Call Mantra: three each in India and the US; Worldwide Solution: two in India, three in the US; Zoriion Communications: seven in India; and Sharma BPO Services: two in India. This makes for a total of 32 people in India and 24 in the US.
The NSW Telco Authority board has conducted a site visit to one of the new telecommunications towers that has boosted shared Government Radio Network (GRN) coverage in the North-West region of NSW.

The site, north of Dubbo, is part of the Pilot Project for the Critical Communications Enhancement Program that is consolidating and enhancing GRN coverage across NSW.

Beth Jackson, chairperson of the board, said it was great for the board to see the work of the programme first hand.

These impressive towers are the lifeline of first responders in emergency service organisations.

"The increased coverage within the North-West region supports first responders to more easily share information and coordinate responses to critical incidents with better outcomes for the public and the frontline.

The pilot has increased shared radio coverage from under 60 percent to over 90 percent, equating to more than 20,000km of in-vehicle coverage in the region.

Kate Foy, managing director, NSW Telco Authority, said the pilot had been a tremendous success and established a blueprint for the expansion of the CCEP across the state.

Weve gained a lot of valuable insight and learnings from the pilot. Weve laid a solid foundation and were looking at ways to integrate our learnings into the wider state rollout of the CCEP.
In IT, the bigger the hype, the greater the misconceptions, and data analytics is no exception. Analytics, one of the hottest facets of information technology today, can result in significant business gains, but misperceptions can get in the way of a smooth and timely delivery of analytical capabilities that might benefit business users and ultimately customers.

As organizations create or expand their analytics strategies, here are a dozen myths they might want to keep in mind.

Myth 1: Data analytics requires a major investment

These days it seems as if every technology endeavor must pass through a filter of financial soundness. How much will it cost? is one of the first questions IT and business managers get when they propose launching a project or deploying a new tool.

Some assume that data analytics is by nature a costly undertaking and therefore limited to organizations with big budgets or lots of internal resources. But not all data analytics efforts require a major investment, says Deep Varma, vice president of engineering at Trulia, a provider of mobile and online real estate services.

Nowadays there are so many open source as well as other tools available in the marketplace that can help you start to show the value of data analytics, Varma says. You need to have a good understanding of your internal data storage and what problem youre trying to solve. Cloud is also making it easy to try analytics to solve a business problem.

Modern analytics are based on cloud systems and big data architecture, which by definition are quite less expensive than traditional data warehouse systems, adds Beatriz Sanz Saiz, global leader of analytics at advisory firm EY.

Also, data and analytics are typically applied to achieve three outcomes: improve process efficiency, revenue growth, and proactive risk management, Saiz says. So overall, the application of data and analytics drive significant [cost] benefits to any company.

Myth 2: You need big data to perform analytics

For many, the concepts of big data and analytics go hand in hand. The thinking is that organizations need to gather enormous volumes of data before performing analytics in order to generate business insights, improve decision making, etc.

Certainly the benefits of big data analytics have been well established, and companies with the resources can indeed gain significant competitive advantage by leveraging their data stores as part of analytics efforts. But the idea that big data is a must for analytics is not true.

Oftentimes people try to capture as much data as they can get; they hear big data and get excited, says Tim Johnson, executive director of business intelligence at staffing company Allegis Global Solutions. The misconception is that the more data the better, and that machines will sort it all out.

However, instead of more data, analysts need specific data. Ninety-five percent of users are looking for information thats relevant to their jobs and supports decision making and improved performance, Johnson says. Instead of focusing on more data, organizations must consider the business users to determine not just what data they need to access, but how its presented.

Providing access to every bit of information and in multiple formats can be overwhelming and actually stifle adoption, Johnson says. Instead, find out whats important to them and how you can present that information to them in the simplest possible format.

Myth 3: Analytics removes human bias

The way automated systems perform is not supposed to be biased. But technology is built by humans, so eliminating all bias is nearly impossible. Some think analytics and machine learning remove human bias.

Unfortunately, this is not true at all, says Mike Mason, head of technology at ThoughtWorks, a global technology consultancy. Algorithms and analytics are tuned using training data and will reproduce whatever characteristics that training data has.

In some cases, this will introduce a benign bias into analytics results; in other cases, a more severe bias, Mason says. Just because the algorithm said so doesnt mean the answer is fair or useful, he says.

Myth 4: The best algorithm always wins

It actually turns out that with enough data, sometimes the algorithm doesnt matter, Mason says. In an IEEE article he cites, The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data, Google engineers argue that simple statistical models, coupled with extremely large amounts of data, achieve better results than an intellectually superior model containing lots of features and summarizations.

In some cases, just crunching a bigger pile of data will achieve the best results, Mason says.

Myth 5: Algorithms are fail safe

People inherent trust statistical models and algorithms to a high degree, and as organizations build their analytics programs they increasingly rely on sophisticated models to support decision making, Johnson says.

Because people dont understand the models, algorithms, and other advanced data science practices, they place their trust in them, Johnson says. Users dont feel like they have the knowledge to challenge the models, so instead they must trust the smart people who built them, he says.

For the last 50 to 60 years weve heard AI will take over in 20 years, and well continue to hear people say that, Johnson says. There is still a lot of ground to cover before we can blatantly trust machine learning and the results. Until then, we need to challenge the people who build algorithms and models to explain how answers are reached. Its not that we cant depend on the results; its that we need transparency so that we can trust and verify analytics.

Myth 6: Data science is a mysterious black art

The discipline of data science has received lots of attention in recent years and sometimes generates confusion as to exactly what it is. Basically, it involves the use of algorithms to find patterns in data.

Data science seems mysterious because these algorithms are capable of analyzing more variables and larger data sets than the human mind can comprehend, says Trevor Schulze, CIO at data storage company Micron.

As computing power and memory have scaled in recent years, we are now able to quickly solve problems that would have been impractical to solve with any technique just 10 years ago, Schulze says. Data science is the natural evolution of statistical inference techniques that have been well understood for decades. There is no mystery to data science, once you understand the math.

Myth 7: To do more data science, you need more data scientists

Data scientists are among the most in-demand of all technology professionals these days. Perhaps organizations can get by with fewer of these professionals if they redirect what theyre working on.

A lot of data scientist time is spent on non-value-add activities like finding data sets, getting the data to a place where it can be worked on, and transforming and cleaning it, Mason says. Given how hard it is to hire data scientists, those low-value tasks arent what you want them working on.

Ubers Michelangelo platform allows data scientists to focus on feature engineering, extraction, and analysis, rather than schlepping data around, and so allows them to be massively more productive, Mason says.

Myth 8: Analytics takes too long

These days getting things done quickly  whether its rushing a product or service to market or responding to a customer inquiry in near real time  is a big competitive consideration for companies. Analytics sounds like something that takes a long time to perform, running counter to the goal of achieving speed and agility.

The myth still exists that these types of projects take too long and are quite complex, Saiz says. At the end of the day its all about talent. With the right mix of skills and the application of agile methodologies, big questions can be answered in days or weeks, not months.

Myth 9: Technology is the hard part

With the ever-increasing number of technologies available today, selecting the right combination of tools to deploy and integrate to get the desired results from the analytics team is no walk in the park, says James Burke, director of IT sourcing and digital advisory services at consulting firm ISG.

The real hard part, however, is putting together the organizational structure and operating model to put all of what is required from a people, process, technology perspective together, Burke says. Also, how you do this inside of or next to your existing organization is what seems to be most difficult for organizations.

Its also important to not assume that analytics tools will do all the work. Technology alone never solves any business problem, says Greg Layok, senior director of consulting firm West Monroes technology practice. In the rush to create data lakes, organizations are instead ending up with swamps, or a morass of information that is too difficult for anyone to figure out.

Technology doesnt solve analytics problems, Layok says. First, identify a business problem, then ask, What data do I need to solve this? he says. This will help you identify the gaps of data within your organization.

Myth 10: Data analytics should be a separate department

In some organizations data analytics operates as a department on its own, and in others it is deeply embedded into a cross-functional team, says Steven Mast, president and chief innovation officer at Delvinia, a consulting and data collection company.

However, with the explosion of data across all areas of business and the speed at which change is occurring, the department model does not work, Mast says. As organizations become more customer-centric, data-driven analytics specialists should be at the core of a business unit, not operating as a department that you call for support.

Many of the complex problems organizations face today are within the business units, and many solutions to these problems are hidden in data, Mast says. Data scientists and specialists, working closely with these business units, and using large data sets and artificial intelligence, will be key to incubating the next generation of products, services, and customer experiences.

Myth 11: Analytics is just for PhDs

Its great to have lots of well-educated people on the analytics team, but its not a requirement for success.

Companies tend to think that without PhDs on board they wont be able to perform best-in-class analytics, Saiz says. Modern analytics demand a blend of skills  those who are savvy in emerging technologies and open source software. Building pods with different skills [including] big data architects, data engineers, data scientists, experts in data visualization, and more, is what makes the difference.

Myth 12: AI will destroy jobs and wreck the economy

The introduction of new technology historically has disrupted many jobs and industries, and there are fears that artificial intellgience will eliminate the need for people to perform certain tasks.

Artificial intelligence solutions are much better than people at solving certain kinds of problems, Schulze says. AI can read faster, remember more, and calculate complex mathematical relationships better than any person. However, AI is not capable of dealing with truly novel situations, which is where humans excel.

To be sure, Schulze says, certain jobs have already been lost or diminished by the growth of AI, and others will follow. Still, our human capacity to understand and work around completely unforeseen circumstances will not be replaced by any currently understood AI technology, he says. For the foreseeable future, the most effective approach to AI will be to augment human abilities with AI systems that perform some of the heavy lifting where algorithms outperform people. Though many jobs will change as a result of AI, people will continue to be a critical part of this business ecosystem.

Related data analytics articles:
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By Linda Kiernan | (The Conversation) |  

The power of laughter is something of a theme in Donald Trumps presidency. Trumps humourless response to Barack Obamas jibes at the White House correspondents dinner in 2011 allegedly steeled his reserve to run for president in the first place; the New York Times recently asked why Trump himself seemingly never laughs at all.

And in October, it was reported that a US woman would stand a second trial for simply laughing at Trumps attorney general, Jeff Sessions, at a congressional hearing. Desiree Fairooz had already been tried for this contempt  or as Stephen Colbert termed it, first-degree chuckling with intent to titter.

The prosecuting attorney stated that Fairooz wasnt just merely responding, she was voicing an opinion. The argument that laughter alone was enough to convict was thrown out by the first judge; Ms Fairoozs brief reflexive burst of noise has just been dismissed by the Department of Justice.

In the USs rough political climate, laughter is having a hard time, too. Many questions on its worth have been posed: is laughter muffling potentially more effective forms of criticism? Is satire defusing political commentary by humanising its targets? Alec Baldwin has expressed concern that his impression of Trump on Saturday Night Live has disarmed real incisive commentary, reducing the presidency and its incumbent to a crass approximation of the more troublesome reality.

Weapons of the weak

What these qualms reflect is that as a political gesture, laughter has a considerable range. It can be used to defuse a situation, or to inflame. It can serve as a conciliatory gesture, and equally as a means of defiance. It can single out a target while also uniting a crowd. Laughter is used by many politicians; when they laugh along they can diffuse tension, and relax the public gaze. They become relatable, approachable, and at least acknowledge that they are meant to be the their audiences equal, not their better.

But laughter can also carry a potentially revolutionary force. Its a way for a group to recognise their common view of a figure, an issue, or a political standpoint. To quote George Orwell: Every joke is a tiny revolution.

Laughter was for much of history considered the mark of a fool, an uncontrolled reaction of the body and mind that betrayed an absence of reason. Many, including Plato and Hobbes, viewed laughter as a base expression, an animalistic response, devoid of reason. But in the 20th century, many scholars, including Henri Bergson and Mikhail Bakhtin, came up with more nuanced analyses of laughter and its political clout.

It was true that in what Bakhtin called carnivalesque culture, laughter became synonymous with the grotesque and the obscene, but it still serves an important social purpose: a means for those who had no other recourse to protest to register their views of the status quo.

Rumour, gossip, and laughter have been termed weapons of the weak, opportunities to defy authority in unofficial and often indefinable ways. Traditionally, this has made them harder for oppressive regimes to clearly identify and possibly prosecute. To this day, laughter remains a means of political expression for those who are otherwise disenfranchised: it subjects the powerful to both ridicule and scrutiny.

Get it?

In the early modern period, laughter played a significant role as a political language. The celebrations of the Feast of Fools and the Feast of the Ass allowed people of all levels of society to both display their places in the social order and to ridicule them. It was at once an assertion of authority and a challenge to it.

During the 18th century, political satire gained much ground. Enlightenment authors across Europe took aim at institutions of authority, often in underhand and opaque ways to circumvent censorship. Oftentimes getting the joke affirmed ones membership of a political creed or club. Indeed, when political upheaval took hold in France, the need to laugh appropriately emerged as a measure of ones loyalty to the revolution. The rire sardonique, the aristocratic snigger, was replaced with the good-natured belly-laugh of the sansculotte  the honest, genuine expression of mirth of the ordinary man, rather than the contrived, artificial ridicule of the polished courtier.

This idea of laughing the right laugh, of laughter as an indication of identity and mentality, is echoed in Sergei Eisensteins 1935 essay, Bolsheviks Do Laugh. The laughter of the Bolshevik, Eisenstein wrote, was loaded with the weight of revolution, of striving for the proletarian order. Unlike the laughter of others, Bolshevik laughter was not idle, nor frivolous. It was invested with the irony of Chekhov, the bitterness of Gogol; it was not for mere amusement, it had a higher purpose. For Eisenstein, laughter represented ways of seeing and understanding the world.

Politicians and those in positions of authority who actively resist or deny the right of those who have elected them to deride, ridicule, and laugh at them are also denying the idea that they are their citizens equal, that they are subject to scrutiny and indeed that they are accountable. While standards of comedy and perceptions of laughter have changed over time, one thing has remained immutable: laughter has always provided a means of dialogue between those in power and those they rule.

When that dialogue is suspended  or rather, when the powerful lose their sense of humour  its time to worry.

Linda Kiernan, Lecturer in French History, Trinity College Dublin

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Paul Manaforts House Cold Open  SNL
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

As the death toll in this weekends horrific terrorist attack on a Sufi mosque near El Arish in Egypts Sinai Peninsula rose to at least 305, the patriarch of the Coptic Church, Tawadros II, affirmed the solidarity of Egypts some 8 million Christians with the Muslim victims and their families. He called those killed by extremists martyrs. He added, This terrorism that strikes boldly and cruelly is devoid of all human values and principles, for the purpose of which God created human beings. It is devoid of all those principles by which Egypt has all along lived in love and harmony. He said that Egypt will prevail by virtue of its unity and confidence in God and joint action.

So thats what a wise Christian had to say about the horrific murder of hundreds.

Over here, our Mr. Trump used the incident cynically to promote his own warped agenda:

Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life. We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2017

Trump did not talk like this when a white guy shot dead 58 people and wounded 546 in Las Vegas.

When the memes terrorism and Muslim coincide, Trumps mind goes to the Wall and to his meretricious visa ban on Muslim entrants into the United States.

US Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX) reacted to Trumps tweet: What an idiot!

But the perpetrators of this attack are likely Egyptian nationals of Bedouin background in the Sinai Peninsula who have come under the influence of an extreme form of Saudi Wahhabism.

Trumps visa ban did not extend to Egyptians, and therefore in principle those who planned the attack on the Haririya Ahmadiya mosque in Rawda near El Arish could land by plane in the US at any moment. That isnt an argument for expanding the visa ban, but for its impracticality as a tool of counter-terrorism. For instance, no Syrian refugee has been convicted of terrorism on US soil.

So a wall on the Mexican border is about the most irrelevant thing you could think of to this mosque attack. And Trumps visa ban on the poor Chadians is the next most irrelevant thing.

But beyond the incoherence of the comment lies a heart of stone. Trumps response to Egypt is that we should keep people of Muslim heritage out of the US? That is supposed to make Egyptians feel better (they are about 90% Muslim)? His response is to put the bombing in the frame of an immigrant tragedy.

Contrast Trumps pettiness with the graciousness and love evident in the Coptic patriarchs remarks. Contrast Trumps divisiveness with the patriarchs affirmation of unity and solidarity. Egyptians still know what Christianity is. Trump and his acolytes dont have a clue.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Al Jazeera English: The world reacts to mosque bombing in Egypt
LONDON, ENGLAND and NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR, CANADA / ACCESSWIRE / November 27, 2017 / Rambler Metals and Mining plc (TSXV: RAB, AIM: RMM) ("Rambler" or "the Company"), a copper and gold producer, explorer, and developer is pleased to announce that the second hole in its surface exploration program has intersected significant Lower Footwall Zone mineralization 200 meters deeper than the previous drill hole.

EXPLORATION UPDATE:

The diamond drill hole was drilled from surface to a depth of 1686 meters, intersecting continuous Lower Footwall Zone mineralization grading 1.65% Copper ('Cu') over 102 meters.

Highlights from drill hole RM17-25b include:

Lower Footwall Zone ('LFZ')

102.0 meters of 1.65% Cu (From 1481.0m to 1583.0m)

Including 35.8 meters of 2.59% Cu (From 1481.0m to 1516.0m) and

Including 27.0 meters of 1.98 % Cu (From 1556.0m to 1583.0m)

The mineralized intersections in RM17-25b lie approximately 200 meters down dip from the 40 meters of 1.42% Cu intersected in the previous hole, RM17-25a (see press release of September 14, 2017 and figure 1).

The abundance of cross cutting, barren mafic dykes in the deeper LFZ intercepts of RM17-25b has declined relative to their abundance in the previous surface hole and in the current LFZ mining areas further up-dip. This decline in abundance of internal waste leads to the longer, continuous intercept at depth.

Norman Williams, President and CEO, commented:

"This latest Lower Footwall Zone intersection from the surface diamond drilling program is the thickest continuous LFZ mineralization discovered on the property to date. In the past similar grades have been seen over narrower intervals, ranging from 40 to 70 meters, bounded by barren mafic dykes. In this latest drill hole these barren mafic dykes occupy less than 10% of the drill core, allowing for a much thicker mineralized area.

"With holes RM17-25a and 25b we have now extended the LFZ an additional 550 meters down-dip beyond any previous drilling. We believe we have clearly demonstrated that the LFZ mineralization does indeed continue beyond our defined mineral reserves and increases in grade and thickness with depth. We look forward to continuing this surface drill program further in the New Year following an evaluation of the information collected to date."
OTTAWA, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orezone Gold Corporation (Orezone or the Company) (TSX-V:ORE) is pleased to report recent and final Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling results from the last two of four specifically identified target areas (See Press Releases of June 22nd 2017 and September 12th 2017) that have been prioritized within the Bombore deposit to better define the extent and the geometry of discrete zones of high-grade gold mineralization within the oxidized portion of the known gold resources.

The drilling at both P11 and CFU has been successful in intercepting high-grade mineralization in the targeted areas, which should improve grade domaining and resource modeling. More drilling will be required in certain areas to confirm the geometry and continuity of discrete higher-grade zones.

Highlights from P11 and CFU (true width approximately 85% of the drill length):

BBC4580: from 30 to 35 m: 5 m @ 3.24 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.7 gpt;

BBC4608: from 23 to 31 m: 8 m @ 3.54 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 8.7 gpt;

BBC4615: from 20 to 22 m: 2 m @ 6.43 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.4 gpt, and from 39 to 42 m: 3 m @ 3.44 gpt;

BBC4620: from 30 to 33 m: 3 m @ 4.19 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 11.9 gpt;

BBC4637: from 52 to 58 m: 6 m @ 3.51 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 7.7 gpt;

BBC4644: from 31 to 44 m: 13 m @ 1.43 gpt;

BBC4647: from 3 to 6 m: 3 m @ 5.41 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 12.7 gpt;

BBC4664: from 10 to 15 m: 5 m @ 4.80 gpt, incl. 4 m @ 5.8 gpt;

BBC4666: from 28 to 33 m: 5 m @ 3.34 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 6.5 gpt;

BBC4670: from 23 to 35 m: 12 m @ 1.72 gpt;

BBC4673: from 10 to 21 m: 11 m @ 2.22 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 5.6 gpt;

BBC4675: from 34 to 38 m: 4 m @ 3.71 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 9.2 gpt;

BBC4678: from 48 to 56 m: 8 m @ 2.23 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.2 gpt;

BBC4679: from 24 to 30 m: 6 m @ 2.62 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 12.2 gpt;

BBC4692: from 27 to 33 m: 6 m @ 2.60 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 6 gpt;

BBC4693: from 60 to 67 m: 7 m @ 2.7 gpt; incl. 2 m @ 8.1 gpt;

BBC4695: from 2 to 7 m: 5 m @ 7.83 gpt; incl. 1 m @ 36.4 gpt;

BBC4696: from 19 to 23 m: 4 m @ 3.55 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 12.4 gpt;

BBC4716: from 3 to 8 m: 5 m @ 10.27 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 45.8 gpt.

Other Significant highlights (true width approximately 85% of the drill length):

BBC4612: from 56 to 67 m: 8 m @ 1.47 gpt;

BBC4623: from 8 to 17 m: 9 m @ 1.26 gpt;

BBC4648: from 40 to 45 m: 5 m @ 2.37 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 7.9 gpt, and from 49 to 58 m: 9 m @ 1.29 gpt;

BBC4669: from 25 to 30 m: 5 m @ 2.91 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 8.0 gpt;

BBC4674: from 0 to 8 m: 8 m @ 1.75 gpt;

BBC4686: from 4 to 11 m: 7 m @ 1.73 gpt;

BBC4693: from 93 to 98 m: 5 m @ 2.67 gpt, incl. 2 m @ 5.5 gpt;

BBC4709: from 11 to 22 m: 11 m @ 1.36 gpt, and from 38 to 45 m: 7 m @ 1.76 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 6.0 gpt;

BBC4712: from 49 to 51 m: 2 m @ 5.30 gpt, incl. 1 m @ 10.1 gpt.

Patrick Downey President and CEO stated We set out earlier this year to test four target areas within the existing pit shells that we believed would yield high grade intercepts based on historic results and our new interpretation of the controls for higher grade mineralization. This work has been very successful and we will now proceed to model these zones based on this better quality information. We are confident that once completed this will have a positive impact on the grade of the shallow oxides in these areas and therefore a positive impact on overall grade and project economics within the shallow oxide zone. We also plan to continue to target higher grade zones to determine if these extend on strike and at depth within the sulphide mineralization.

The RC drilling programme commenced on July 8, 2017 and was designed as essentially infill holes to tighten up the drill spacing from 50 m by 25 m to 25 m by 25 m in the four specific target areas. Some 249 drill holes totalling 13,900 m have been completed on the Siga South, Siga East, P11 and CFU targets by October 18, 2017 when the program was suspended. Similar infill drilling targeting discrete high-grade oxide mineralization is planned in 2018 where more drilling should better confirm the geometry of the high-grade zones. All drill holes in the Siga South and Siga East areas were oriented at the collar N2501 with a plunge of -50 degrees. All drill holes in the P11 area were oriented at the collar N270 with a plunge of -50 degrees. All drill holes in the CFU area were oriented at the collar N312 with a plunge of -50 degrees.

1 WGS84 UTM31N projection.

The mineralized intervals are based on a lower cut-off grade of 0.45 g/t, a minimal width of 2 m and up to a maximum of 1.5 m of dilution being included. The true width of the mineralization is approximately 90% of the drill length at Siga South and Siga East, and 85% of the drill length at P11 and CFU. The RC drilling samples were divided by Orezone employees using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 2-kg split was prepared by SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. at the Bombore sample preparation facility and then split by Orezone to 1 kg using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 1-kg aliquot was analyzed for leachable gold at BIGS Global Burkina s.a.r.l in Ouagadougou, by bottle-roll cyanidation using a LeachWellTM catalyst. The leach residues from all samples with a leach grade in excess of 0.2 g/t were prepared by BIGS Global Burkina s.a.r.l. and then split by Orezone to 50 g using Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs). A 50-g aliquot was analyzed by fire assay at SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l. SGS Burkina Faso s.a.r.l is independent of Orezone. The composite width and grade include the final leach residue assay results for most of the drill intercepts reported; some leach residue assays are pending for 5 RC holes. Orezone employs a rigorous Quality Control Program (QCP) including a minimum of 10% standards, blanks and duplicates.

A complete list of assay results from the current RC drilling programme can be found on the Companys website at the following link (Drill Results).

Qualified Person(s)

Tim Miller, Orezones Chief Operating Officer, Pascal Marquis, Orezones Senior Vice-President, Exporation and Patrick Downey, Orezones Chief Executive Officer, are each a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and none are independent of Orezone. Each of Messrs. Miller, Marquis and Downey have review and approved the information in this release. Each has also verified the underlying data disclosed.

Readers should refer to the annual information form of Orezone for the year ended December 31, 2016 and other continuous disclosure documents filed by Orezone since January 1, 2017 available at www.sedar.com, for further detailed information, which is subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein. As well, Orezones current technical report on the Bombore Project titled TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE UPDATED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE BOMBORE GOLD PROJECT, BURKINA FASO, WEST AFRICA and filed on SEDAR on February 27, 2017 contains further details on Orezones QCP and assurance programs and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information disclosed in this press release.

About Orezone Gold Corporation

Orezone is a Canadian company with a successful gold discovery track record and recent mine development experience in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The Company owns a 90% interest in Bombore, a fully permitted, undeveloped oxide gold deposit in West Africa, which is situated 85 km east of the capital city, adjacent to an international highway.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New Pacific Metals Corp. (New Pacific or the Company) (TSXV:NUAG) announces the closing of its non-brokered strategic private placement (the Private Placement) of units (the Units) with Pan American Silver Corp. (Pan American) for 16,000,000 Units and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (Silvercorp) for 3,000,000 Units, at a price of $1.42 per Unit to raise gross proceeds of approximately $27,000,000. Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Company (a Common Share) and one half of one Common Share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant is exercisable into one Common Share for a period of 18 months at an exercise price of $2.10 per Common Share. The proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to further the Companys exploration and/or development program on its Silver Sand Project located in the Potosi Department of Bolivia and for general working capital purposes.

Pan American subscribed for $22,720,000, and Silvercorp, currently a 32% shareholder in the Company subscribed for $4,260,000, of the Private Placement respectively. As a result of the Private Placement, Pan American is entitled to appoint one director to the board of directors of the Company and currently owns 12.1% of the outstanding common shares of the Company.

Pan American is one of the worlds largest primary silver producers and owns and operates six mines including the San Vicente mine located in the Potosi Department of Bolivia. Dr. Rui Feng, CEO of New Pacific said that he is pleased to welcome Pan American as a strategic investor in New Pacific Metals Corp. To have a company with the stature and experience in Bolivia as Pan American will be invaluable as we develop our Silver Sand property near Potosi.

All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

The securities described herein have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless registered under the Act or unless an exemption from registration is available.

Salman Capital Inc. acted as advisor to New Pacific on this transaction.

Early Warning Report Information

Pan American

Prior to the completion of the Private Placement, Pan American did not own any securities of New Pacific. Pursuant to the Private Placement, Pan American acquired ownership of and control over 16,000,000 Common Shares and 8,000,000 Common Share purchase warrants representing 12.1% of the total number of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis, and approximately 16.44% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a fully-diluted basis assuming the exercise of the Common Share purchase warrants held by Pan American.

Pan Americans acquisition of the Units was made for investment purposes. Pan American may, in the future, acquire ownership and control over additional securities of New Pacific for investment purposes.

The foregoing disclosure regarding Pan Americans holdings is being disseminated pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of Pan Americans early warning report will be filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Review under New Pacific's profile at www.sedar.com and may be obtained by contacting Ms. Siren Fisekci, VP, Investor Relations for Pan American, at 604-684-1175.

SIlvercorp

Prior to the completion of the Private Placement, Silvercorp, with an address of Suite 1378 - 200 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 1S4, beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, or had control or direction over 36,280,900 Common Shares representing 32.2% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares (approximately 30.8% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a fully diluted basis). Pursuant to the Private Placement, Silvercorp acquired, directly or indirectly, beneficial ownership of and control or direction over 3,000,000 Common Shares and 1,500,000 Common Share purchase warrants. Upon completion of the Private Placement, Silvercorp, beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, or has control or direction over 39,280,900 Common Shares and 1,500,000 Common Share purchase warrants representing 29.9% of the total number of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis, and approximately 27.92% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a fully-diluted basis assuming the exercise of the Common Share purchase warrants held by Silvercorp.

Silvercorps acquisition of the Units was made for investment purposes. Silvercorp may, in the future, acquire ownership and control over additional securities of New Pacific for investment purposes.

The foregoing disclosure regarding Silvercorps holdings is being disseminated pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of Silvercorps early warning report will be filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Review under New Pacific's profile at www.sedar.com and may be obtained by contacting Silvercorp at 604-669-9397.

About New Pacific

New Pacific is a Canadian exploration and development company which owns the Silver Sand Project in the Potosi Department of Bolivia, the Tagish Lake gold project in Yukon, Canada and the RZY Project in Qinghai Province, China. Silvercorp Metals Inc. (TSX:SVM), the largest primary silver producer in China, is a major shareholder.
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According to Hesiods version of an ancient Greek legend, because Pandora has opened a jar stuffed full of evil by the Olympian gods, countless plagues, wander amongst men  earth is full of evils  Diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently. Curiously that jar was closed before hope was also allowed to escape.

Is the legend an expression of how bleak the human condition is  hopeless? If we could somehow reopen the jar, at least we would have some hope. Or is the idea instead that hope is also an evil like disease and accessing it will bring us even further torment? The philosopher Nietzsche took the latter interpretation, a view that seems curiously close to a kind of Stoicism. Better to focus on the here and now, that which we might control than to project into the future, which is far beyond our control.

It does seem that there can be a danger in hoping. For example, we might fixate on alternatives to conventional medicine and in doing so forego the more reliable path to a cure, to a longer life or to palliative relief. When we do that, it seems as if hope is not our friend. In those instances, hope becomes a servant of disease.

Even the greatest philosopher of hope, Ernst Bloch, claimed that there is no hope without anxiety. As a Stoic might claim, when we project ourselves into the future, we open ourselves up to anxiety just as much as to hope. If we are concerned to prevent anxiety, maybe it would be better to redirect our attention to the present, staving off both anxiety and hope. Nietzsches counsel is not one of despair. On the contrary, he believes that we can fully affirm the present only by foregoing hope.

Could anyone ever really do that? Could a patient so fully live in the present as to have neither anxiety nor hope? Bloch, at least, was doubtful. He asserted that looking forward is fundamental to the kind of minds we have. Like a lighthouse, we are constantly seeking to illuminate our future, indeed only because of that is progress is possible.

Try to imagine a world without hope. All criticism of the present would be left without a strategy, and it could easily fall victim to cynicism. Imagine if the abolitionists had had no hope. Martin Luther King, Jr was fond of quoting the abolitionist, Rev. Theodore Parker who, during the height of the transatlantic slave trade, dared to say: I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see, I am sure it bends towards justice. Could Martin Luther King Jr. have been the strategic leader of the Civil Rights Movement without hope?

At two different points, while I was in the hospital, hope kept me eating. The production of saliva in my mouth and the mucus throughout my digestive track stopped as a side-effect of the chemotherapy that I had for a stem cell transplant. My mouth was as dry as the Mojave Desert. Eating became a chore. When I took a bite the roll given to me at breakfast, I felt like I was sucking on sand. I was miserable and had nothing but aversion to food. The only thing keeping me going was the hope of getting stronger. Insufficient intake of calories would make me weak, delaying my recovery. So, I ate.

Later, I contracted a gastrointestinal infection and was plagued by severe diarrhea. I was losing weight. My appetite was also on the wane because the chemotherapy had inflicted heavy damage on my taste buds. Most foods did not taste good (many still dont), and some were positively revolting. The nurses would occasionally warn that if I were to lose much more weight, I would have to be put on nutritional IV at night. I had to eat much more at each meal than felt comfortable. It was unpleasant both because it was so much food and because none of it tasted very good. Even today when I imagine the possibility of having to return to the hospital, what I find most repellent is the food. But at the time the hope of renewed strength kept me eating.

Another thing that the political struggles I cite demonstrate is that we dont typically hope alone. A community of hope supports every person hoping. The leaders are buoyed by the inspiring sacrifices of the members, and the members are carried along by the fierce commitment and rhetorical elegance of the leaders. And my efforts of personal hope were supported by the love of family and friends, many of whom offered inspiring comments to this blog.

Hope is a virtue for tough times. It can sustain us in our efforts to transform our circumstances. And from illness in our bodies to the injustices in our institutions, there is no shortage of reasons for hope. But in motivating us to change our condition, hope can also change us. Hope not only helps us to achieve our ends. Hope can transform us by increasing our capacity to act. In so doing hope gives expression to our own dignity.

I am not claiming that I left the hospital a more dignified person. The kind of dignity I am talking about is not measured on a scale like weight or wealth. It is possessed equally by everyone. And although hope allowed me to express a certain determination to be healthy again, it was my own survival at stake, not the protection of the dignity of others. Im no hero. Hope in the hospital is different in that way from hope in streets. Nonetheless, in both cases, it gives expression to something that we admire in people. And our lives would be far poorer if we were to have to live without it.

Darrel Moellendorf blogs at On Being (a) Patient: Philosophical Confessions of a Stem Cell Transplant Recipient.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Graeme Edgeler writes:

So, what questions have National MPs been asking?  8560 (2017). Hon Mark Mitchell to the Defence (Minister  Ron Mark) (16 Nov 2017): What meetings, if any, has the Minister attended between 26 October 2017 and 15 November 2017, including subject, attendees, and agenda items? Its the type of thing any beat reporter probably does once a month via the OIA: ask the Minister of Health, or Education, or Defence who they have met with in the last month (or in this case, the first 3 weeks or so since being a Minister), or what reports theyve received in the last month, and then 20 working days later once you received the reply, put in further requests about reports or meetings of particular interest. It is an entirely reasonable question for the opposition defence spokesperson to ask

So a simple request for a list of meetings and topics. But the Government refused to answer:

Hon Ron Mark (Defence (Minister  Ron Mark)) replied: I meet regularly, formally and informally, with officials and various stakeholders. A range of issues are discussed. If the Member would like to be more specific I will endeavour to answer the question.

So National then asked about a smaller time period  just four days. Got the same response. And note the Ministerial replies explicitly say to be more specific, so this is why they then asked about each individual day.

But even then, Ministers have refused to answer:

8393 (2017). Chris Bishop to the Police (Minister  Stuart Nash) (16 Nov 2017): Did the Minister have any meetings in his capacity as Minister of Police on October 27, if so, what people and organisations did he meet with on that day, where were the meetings held and what were the main items of business?

Hon Stuart Nash (Police (Minister  Stuart Nash)) replied: I meet regularly, formally and informally, with officials and various stakeholders. A range of issues are discussed. If the Member would like to be more specific I will endeavour to answer the question.

So having refused to answer about their meetings over a month, a week or even a day, now Bishop has been forced to ask about specific hours within a day.

11778 (2017). Chris Bishop to the Minister of Police (22 Nov 2017): Did the Minister have any meetings in his capacity as Minister of Police on October 27 between 8 and 9am, if so, what people and organisations did he meet with at that time; where were the meetings held and what were the main items of business?

This is what Ministers have said National should do. They refuse the more general requests and say be more specific.

So far, Bishops hour-by-hour requests only cover the first two days the Minister of Police was in office, although the essentially rejected day-by-day requests covered several weeks. The Minister should consider himself lucky. Far from being aghast that National MPs have asked a whopping 6254 written questions, I am instead surprised by their forbearance. They are being denied information they ought to have. By rights, they should have asked more.

Again rare to have such an arrogance in a Government within a month of being sworn in.

Ministers have only themselves to blame that National MPs have had to ask questions about what theyve been doing each week, each day and each hour. Its because they havent told them (and us) already. Information about who a Minister has met, or what reports they have received are matters of public interest. While the explicit content of some meetings, or some briefings may be properly withheld, the existence of the meetings themselves will not, just like the existence of arrests and shootings in Baltimore. Clare Curran has recently been appointed Minister for Open Government. She should take the opportunity to propose to Cabinet the automatic release of ministerial schedules.

Curran campaigned vigorously for OIA reform in opposition. She now has a chance to walk the walk rather than talk the talk.

While there is no limit on the number of written questions that the opposition can ask, the opposition should not ask 6254 written questions in a month. But the reason this is so is that they shouldnt have to. The asking of a large number of very specific questions is an entirely proportional response to the refusal of Ministers to seriously answer reasonable questions. Hopefully this reprisal again has its intended effect, and Ministers should realise that they were wrong to have refused to seriously answer the more general questions National MPs had asked.

You wonder if they are hiding something?

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By Oh Young-jin





The United States has talked about many types of strikes to deal with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.



A preventive strike is aimed at blocking the North from acquiring capabilities to develop nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles (ICBMs). A pre-emptive strike is to hit the North first before it fires its missiles or shows other signs of imminent attack.



A surgical strike is to take out a military target by inflicting minimum collateral damage such as civilian casualties.



Say, the United States tries to take out an intercontinental ballistic missile sitting on a launch pad in Sunan Airport in Pyongyang.



In this case, the U.S. strike would be a preventive strike because its aim would be to block the North from clearing the final hurdles to perfecting an ICBM such as miniaturization of payload, or reentry technology acquisition. But if the functioning ICBM targets San Francisco or Los Angeles, it would be a preemptive strike, for its purpose is to beat the North for a first hit.



Then, if the strike, either preventive or pre-emptive, sets its sights on the missile and the airport, it would qualify as a surgical strike.



Now, a new lexicon is entering the U.S. chocolate box of options  very limited strike.



First, the new idea differs from a pre-emptive strike because it doesn't necessarily have as a goal beating the other side to the fire button. Rather, it is close to being a preventive strike because of its purpose of keeping the other side from gaining a certain attack capability. In many aspects, it is identified with a surgical strike because of the limited scale of damage it seeks to inflict.



As far as the U.S. is concerned, the need for it has been compelling.



U.S. President Donald Trump has been engaged in a war of words with the North's leader Kim Jong-un. Their tit-for-tat has gone up so much that there is little rhetorical room for any stronger threats. Trump already vowed to destroy the North totally or threatened to rain "fire and fury" on the comparatively small Kim dynasty "that the world has never seen before" or dubbed the U.S. restraint from using military options as "the calm before the storm."



The theory goes: If Trump doesn't take action, he would show what he really is  an emperor without any clothes. So the U.S. needs something to cover up Trump's nakedness.



Here is how this very limited strike could take place.



The USS Pueblo has been moored along the Potong River in Pyongyang as a "victory" museum since 2013. The North commandeered the U.S. spy ship in 1968 near North Korean waters with one sailor killed and the remaining 82 released later.



The U.S. would fire a standoff missile outside the North's territory or use a stealth bomber to destroy the moored boat. The attack would be conducted in the dead of night so there would be few casualties. If everything goes as planned, it would send the North a strong warning that can scare it to suspend or halt its ICBM and nuclear development programs. It also would help Trump save face.



The reason why this option may look more attractive than others is that it can minimize the chance of the North counterattacking and thereby reducing the possibility of total war. Taking out missile sites or nuclear test areas would be an act of war, making the North react and leading to war. But bombing or hitting sparsely populated areas would not be taken as seriously and could dissuade Kim Jong-un from striking back in the internecine clash.



The U.S. Navy regards the Pueblo as one of its commissioned vessels and U.S. property that was taken by the North. So from a legal point of view, blowing it up could be no violation of international law. Or so it may think.



But if a missile or a plane is used, it would violate the North's airspace. Also it can't be ruled out that people would get killed.



Perhaps more significant is the reaction of Kim Jong-un.



Kim terrorizes his nation  killing or purging anybody, high or low, for the slightest hint of disrespect. To Kim, ICBMs and nukes are as much a tool for going head-to-head with the United States, as they are for keeping his people on their toes. So if he lets any such provocation go without being answered in kind, it would raise questions about his reign of terror and invite a rebellion or assassination.



The U.S. could think that the North's retaliation could be prevented through an overwhelming show of force, having the strike followed by the amassing of strategic assets near the Korean Peninsula  for example, three aircraft carriers, a couple of nuclear-powered submarines and a fleet of B1B and B2 bombers ready to go.



Now, the ball could be in the U.S. court. What if the North proceeded to mount a limited strike of its own in some remote areas such as the Yeongpyeong or Maegnyeong islands in the West Sea near the North Korean border? Would the U.S. stand down its massive forces?



The chances are that the U.S. has raised this idea of very limited strike with Seoul. No wonder if the Moon Jae-in government vehemently rejected it. Perhaps, President Moon openly said "over my dead body" a couple of months ago because the U.S. pushed for it.





Oh Young-jin ( foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com ) is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer.


They may have happened within days of one another, but the devastating earthquakes in Japan had nothing to do with the strong temblor that struck Ecuador over the weekend, experts say.

Both Japan and Ecuador are located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which spans the coasts lining the Pacific Ocean. The regions along the Ring of Fire are prone to earthquakes, but it's extremely rare for an earthquake on one side of the world to trigger earthquakes on the other, said Ross Stein, CEO and co-founder of Temblor.net, a free website and smartphone application that helps people understand locations' seismic risk.

For one thing, the earthquakes that hit Japan are a completely different type of quake than the one that struck Ecuador, Stein said. On April 14, a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit southern Japan, and a day later, on April 15, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck the same region, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). [The 10 Biggest Earthquakes in History]

Both of these earthquakes were strike-slip earthquakes, Stein said, which occur when two parts of the Earth's crust slide against each other. The best way to imagine this is to place your hands together, with your fingers pointing away from your body, and slide your left hand forward and your right hand backward.

The two earthquakes in Japan were strike-slip earthquakes, whereas the earthquake in Ecuador was a thrust earthquake. (Image credit: USGS)

Both of these strike-slip earthquakes were shallow  about 6 to 8 miles (10 to 12 kilometers) deep  and both were destructive, killing more than 40 people in total, according to news sources. But the second quake was about 20 times stronger than the first, and released about 400,000 times more energy than the amount unleashed by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, Stein and Volkan Sevilgen, the other Temblor.net co-founder, wrote in a blog post.

These two earthquakes in Japan were likely related, Stein said. However, it's unclear whether the magnitude-6.2 earthquake was a foreshock of the magnitude-7.0 earthquake or the magnitude-7.0 earthquake was an aftershock of the magnitude-6.2 earthquake, Stein said.

"So far, the evidence suggests that both are true," the experts wrote in the blog post. Though it's rare for an aftershock to be larger than the main shock, it does happen, Stein told Live Science.

Regardless, the first earthquake made the faults near it more likely to rupture, which likely helped to trigger the second, larger earthquake, Stein said.

Ecuador earthquake

On Saturday (April 16), merely a day after the second Japanese earthquake, a massive magnitude-7.8 earthquake rocked Muisne, Ecuador, the USGS reported. [Image Gallery: This Millennium's Destructive Earthquakes]

Unlike the strike-slip earthquakes in Japan, this one was a so-called megathrust quake, which occurs when one tectonic plate jams under another. In this case, the Nazca Plate is moving under the South American continent at a rate of about 2.2 to 2.4 inches (55 to 61 millimeters) a year, Stein and Sevilgen wrote in another blog post.

Almost 350 deaths have been reported from the Ecuador quake so far, CNN reported.

This isn't Muisne's first large earthquake. Another magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit almost the exact location in 1942, Stein said. In fact, given that the subduction rate is about 2.3 inches (60 mm) a year, and nearly 75 years have elapsed since the last large earthquake, it makes sense that this is a "repeat earthquake," Stein said.

But there's more to the story, he said. In 1906, Muisne experienced a magnitude-8.3 earthquake, so there may be other forces at work beyond a simple "repeat" event, he said.

"Considering that this site was part of the 10-times-larger event in 1906, it is particularly baffling," the experts wrote in the blog.

Even though the earthquake in Ecuador is unrelated to the two earthquakes in Japan, there is evidence that a gigantic earthquake can trigger others around the world. For instance, the magnitude-8.6 earthquake that struck the east Indian Ocean in 2012 is the largest strike-slip event on record, according to a 2012 study in the journal Nature, written by Stein and his colleagues.

After that massive earthquake, there was a nearly fivefold increase in earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.5 or greater for six days after the event, the researchers found.

"Those aftershocks tended to be strike-slip as well," Stein said. "It was mama calling to her kids."

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
About 515 million years ago, a tiny sea critter that was "strange beyond measure" wasn't taking any chances with its safety: Armor covered its back and sides, a helmet-like shell protected its head, and pointy spikes stuck out from its sides, researchers have found.

"The creature is like a mythical beast," said study researcher Martin Smith, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Durham University in England.

The newfound beast may change scientists' understanding of the behavior of some of these early Cambrian period animals, the researchers said. [Cambrian Creatures Gallery: Photos of Primitive Sea Life]

New discovery

The researchers discovered two specimens of the creature in the Cambrian Chengjiang biota, a famous fossil site in southwest China. Study lead researcher Fangchen Zhao, a paleobiologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found one specimen in 2015, and an amateur fossil collector unearthed another, giving it to Zhao in 2016.

One of the only two known fossils on record of Orthrozanclus elongata (Image credit: Zhao, F. et al. Scientific Reports. 2017.)

It's incredible that the teeny, slug-like critter was discovered at all. It's only about 0.7 inches (20 millimeters) long and 0.1 inches (3 millimeters) wide, Smith said. Given that the two specimens are similar in size, they're both likely full-grown adults, he noted.

"These fossils are incredibly rare," Smith told Live Science. "Only two specimens have been found, amidst the tens of thousands of other creatures known from the same deposits."

The scientists named the newfound species Orthrozanclus elongata. The species name alludes to the creature's elongated body, the researchers wrote in the study.

Armor and spikes

An examination of O. elongata showed that it's covered with a coat of armor. Rows of scales, much like roof tiles, cover its back, and overlapping, leaf-like plates protect its sides, Smith said.

"But most prominent are the cocktail-stick-like spines that emerge from its sides like the rays of a sunburst," Smith said. The spines are longer than the animal is wide and give it the appearance of a cuddly cactus, Smith joked. [See images of another bizarre Cambrian creature]

"Odder still, its head is covered by a small shell, almost as if it's wearing a bike helmet," Smith said. "We don't know much about the animal underneath these mineralized plates  whether it had legs or a slug-like foot, [and] whether it had teeth or tentacles."

The other known fossil of the slug-like creature from the Cambrian period (Image credit: Zhao, F. et al. Scientific Reports. 2017.)

The "beautifully preserved armor" of O. elongata may provide clues about the anatomy of the tommotiids, relatives of the brachiopods (also called lampshells). Most tommotiid fossils don't show the whole animal, just isolated scales and plates. However, it appears that O. elongata is a close match to the shapes and proportions of certain tommotiid species, Smith said.

If the tommotiids  and by extension brachiopods  were similar to O. elongata during the Cambrian, then it's possible that they had extensive armor at that time, as well as the ability to actively move around the sea, searching for food, Smith said.

Nowadays, brachiopods are sedentary creatures that stick to the seafloor, hide in their shells and filter bits of food out of seawater. Some people think of the creatures as "living fossils," but "if our interpretations are right, they would turn this idea on its head," Smith said. "Whereas many lineages show evolutionary trends towards greater activity and complexity, brachiopods seem to have settled down to a sedentary existence, like a retiree settling down in a favorite armchair." [Photos: Ancient Marine Critter Had 50 Legs, 2 Large Claws]

Family-tree checkup

The study shows that Orthrozanclus, a genus previously known only from Canada's Burgess Shale, also lived in what is now China, said Derek Briggs, a professor of paleontology at Yale University, who was not involved in the study.

This argument that brachiopods were once active and then settled down later in their evolution would be stronger if the researchers had done a phylogenetic (family tree) analysis, said Briggs and Javier Ortega-Hernandez, a research fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, who was not involved with the study.

"Then again, the authors are tackling a notoriously difficult region of the tree of life that even cutting-edge molecular studies have not been able to fully resolve," Ortega-Hernandez said. "So, it is probably best for now that they put the data out there and make it available so that future studies can build upon their findings."

The study was published online today in the journal Scientific Reports (opens in new tab).

Original article on Live Science.
Scientists have known that The Really big One, a monstrous 9.0-magnitude earthquake, may hit the Pacific Northwest within the next several decades. New geological research just determined that the quake is likely to strike northern Oregon or Washington State.

The Pacific Northwest sits atop the Cascadia subduction zone, which is a region where two tectonic plates collide; one plate is being pushed deep into the Earth's mantle, beneath the other slab. The two plates get locked together, and when one gives way, an earthquake will occur. The Cascadia subduction zone caused a massive quake (likely a magnitude 9) on Jan. 26, 1700, and it's possible that another might occur within decades.

That quake is likely to happen farther north than the one in 1700, according to a new analysis of the sediment found where the two plates meet. The research, which was published Nov. 20 in the journal Nature Geoscience (opens in new tab), found that more compact sediment found farther north along the coast of Oregon and Washington is more likely to give rise to an earthquake (opens in new tab) than the less densely packed sediment in central Oregon that helps the tectonic plates slide along without incident. [Image Gallery: This Millennium's Destructive Earthquakes]

"With more porous sediments, the plate interface is more fluid-rich," said Shuoshuo Han, a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin who worked on the study. "You could consider that with more fluid, the plate interface is more lubricated and could slip more easily. Therefore, it is more difficult for stress to build up. In contrast, with well-compacted, less porous sediments, the plate interface is fluid-poor and could not slip easily," Han told Live Science.

There are no other significant differences in the sediment between the two regions, Han said. Both are made of the same minerals, but one is more tightly packed than the other, creating a less slippery interaction between tectonic plates. To collect the data, Han and her team aimed massive air guns down toward the bottom of the sea and recorded the sound waves that bounced back. Those signals helped the researchers determine just how porous or dense the seafloor sediment was.

"What we are doing is similar in principle to ultrasound imaging used in medicine," Han said. But her team used particularly large equipment to collect the signals, including a 5-mile-long (8 kilometers) streamer cable that gave them a high-resolution image of the seafloor.

Han hopes the team's research will help scientists understand how massive earthquakes are generated and help people around the world prepare for disasters. She intends to expand her research to study the sediment of other areas of the Pacific Northwest to get a more complete idea of how an earthquake might arise and to study other subduction zones.

Currently, Han is traveling to the Hikurangi subduction zone off the coast of New Zealand to learn about the sediment compaction there, too. "Through comparison of different subduction zones," Han said, "we will have a better understanding of how the earthquakes and tsunamis are generated, and this will help the hazard assessment along the coast in these regions."

Original article on Live Science .
A federally protected ocean area recently announced by the Mexican government will shelter marine wildlife such as humpback whales (<i>Megaptera novaeangliae</i>). This mature female and young male were photographed in Roca Partida, Revillagigedo, in Mexico.

Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto designated an ocean region near the southwestern coast of Mexico as a protected area. Uniquely rich in marine biodiversity, the area is North America's largest marine reserve, at nearly 58,000 square miles (150,000 square kilometers).

On Friday (Nov. 24), President Nieto signed a decree to create the Revillagigedo Archipelago National Park in a region of the Pacific Ocean that surrounds four volcanic islands: Clarion, Roca Partida, Socorro and San Benedicto. The islands, which are uninhabited by people, are located about 240 miles (390 km) to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas, on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.

Remarkably diverse communities of ocean life call these waters home. These organisms include four species of sea turtles, more than 37 species of sharks and rays, and at least 366 species of fish, dozens of which are found nowhere else on Earth, representatives of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project (PBOLP) said in a statement. The PBOLP nonprofit collaborated with Mexican conservation organizations and federal officials to establish the reserve. [In Photos: Mexico's New Ocean Reserve Protects Stunning Biodiversity]

The Revillagigedo Archipelago also serves as an important route for migratory marine animals, such as seabirds, dolphins, whales, sea turtles, tunas and sharks, with humpback whales lingering in the area throughout the winter months, according to the statement.

Outstanding natural beauty

In July 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the archipelago as a World Heritage site in recognition of the area's outstanding natural beauty and importance as a habitat for threatened species, UNESCO officials announced that year in a statement. President Nieto's declaration prohibits gas and oil extraction, commercial fishing, and development for tourism in the area, ensuring that human activity will not disrupt the ecosystems, PBOLP Director Matt Rand told Live Science.

"This decree will create a gold standard for marine conservation, a sanctuary for ocean life," Rand said.

A manta ray swims in Revillagigedo Islands waters, off the coast of Mexico. (Image credit: Pelagic Life)

Around the archipelago, two ocean currents converge over seamounts, underwater mountain ranges on the seafloor. Volcanic peaks from these mountains emerge above sea level, forming the islands of the archipelago. Together, the seamounts, the movement of the currents and nutrients in the waters give rise to ecosystems where diverse species large and small can collect and thrive, Rand explained.

Actions that protect Earth's ocean environments are critically important right now, he said. In recent years, much of the world's oceans have undergone worrying drops in top predatory fish populations, such as sharks, because of overfishing, which upsets the balance in marine food webs, Rand said.

"And then, on top of that, we're starting to see significant decline [in fish populations] because of climate change. Waters are warming, becoming more acidic and, in some instances, deoxygenated," he said.

Large-scale marine reserves are not only more resilient to the impacts of climate change; they are also more likely to keep their own ecosystems intact and can even help to replenish ocean environments that have been depleted, Rand said. This is particularly true of coral reef ecosystems, which have been especially hard-hit by climate change, he said.

"It's called the spillover effect," he explained. "If we have healthy ecosystems that are fully populated, we have corals spawning. The polyps travel and can regenerate coral reefs in areas at significant distances, hundreds or thousands of miles."

A sailfish approaches a bait ball near the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico. (Image credit: Pelagic Life)

To maintain healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems, scientists and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have recommended that at least 30 percent of the world's oceans be designated as protected areas, according to the PBOLP. And we have a long way to go to get there, Rand told Live Science. Currently, less than 10 percent of the ocean is protected at all, and under 2 percent is fully protected from all types of natural-resource extraction and development, he said. [Marine Marvels: Spectacular Photos of Sea Creatures]

Conservation progress

However, there have been promising steps toward this objective. In early 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama expanded the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii to cover more than 582,000 square miles (1.5 million square km) in the Pacific Ocean. And then, in October 2016, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) voted to create the world's biggest marine protected area in waters near Antarctica, designating a reserve in which 598,000 square miles (1.55 million square km) in the Southern Ocean would be off-limits to commercial fishing, Live Science previously reported.

Also underway are proposals to create the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary in New Zealand, home to the second-deepest trench on the ocean floor; the Coral Sea Marine Reserve in Australia; New Caledonia's Natural Park of the Coral Sea; and the South Sandwich Islands, where half of the world's penguins live, Rand told Live Science.

"We're excited because we've seen a significant increase in the last decade for large-scale marine reserves globally," Rand said.

"But with the impacts of increasing commercial extraction and climate change, the science is clear  30 percent of the ocean needs to be protected. We need to continue to push the needle on marine reserves. We need a serious uptick globally to reach that goal," he said.

Original article on Live Science.
Australian politician Bob Katter wants to launch a war  against crocodiles.

Katter, known for his controversial opinions on multiple topics including same-sex marriage, claimed on Nov. 15 that there are too many crocodiles in Australia. They have no natural enemies, and in the Australian region of North Queensland alone, they eat up to four people each year, he said.

Katter made the anti-croc statement on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's program "Insiders."[What's the Difference Between Alligators and Crocodiles?]

But crocodile experts assert that the ancient reptiles are, in fact, good for Australia.

The animals have a positive effect on the ecosystem, as well as the local economy, said Adam Britton, a leading crocodile expert and zoologist at Charles Darwin University in Australia. Though Britton conceded that crocodiles in the rivers of northern Australia can threaten people's lives, these dangers can be easily managed, he said.

"There are probably between 150 [thousand] and 180 thousand crocodiles in the Northern Territory [of Australia] and some 40 [thousand] to 50 thousand in Queensland," Britton told Live Science. "They are certainly not endangered. But over the last 30 to 40 years, we were able to deal with the risks [posed by crocodiles] via a management program."

For local people, that program means no swimming in coastal waters or in rivers within a certain distance from the coast.

Britton, who runs the website CrocBITE, which monitors attacks by all sorts of crocodile species around the world, noted that North Queensland has experienced an unusual streak of crocodile attacks over the past year. However, he said that he doesn't think there are too many crocodiles in Queensland's rivers. Rather, the croc population is still recovering from overhunting that occurred in the first half of the 20th century, he said.

"This year has been a little bit unusual for Queensland," Britton said. "They had four attacks in total. Two of them were fatal. It has been the worst year they've had for a long time."

But in the long term, the statistics look less sinister, Britton said. "Over the last 10 years, there have been 14 crocodile attacks in North Queensland, six of them fatal," he said. "That would be about one person killed by crocodiles every 20 months."

Most of the victims had ignored a slew of warning signs, Britton said. The crocodile habitats are known and marked by warning signs, yet some people decide to risk their lives nonetheless.

In one of the recent cases, for example, a guy "was attacked by a crocodile when he was showing off to a girl," Britton said. "He jumped into the water, where he knew there were crocodiles, and sure enough, one of them bit him. It's like putting on a blindfold and walking into a highway. You may be lucky or you may not."

Britton added that even though crocodiles place limitations on people living in the areas, northern Australia benefits from the animals' presence. The reptiles attract adventure-seeking tourists, and the wild-crocodile egg-harvesting program is an important source of income for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, he said. Harvesters can sell the eggs to crocodile farms that breed the animals for skins, which are popular in the fashion industry.

Moreover, artificially reducing the crocodile population could disrupt the balance of the wider ecosystem, Britton said.

"There are examples from other parts of the world," Britton said. "For example, in Brazil, when they removed black caimans [a large crocodile species], the economically valuable fish that were captured by local people disappeared."

After the reintroduction of the caimans, the fish population recovered. Researchers eventually found that the juvenile caimans feed on crabs, which eat fish eggs. The lack of juvenile caimans had meant too many crabs in the water, which resulted in a reduced fish population and economic problems for local fishers.

Katter said he is concerned that crocodiles don't have natural enemies and that the only way to keep the population within limits is to kill off the animals. But Britton said the population will stabilize naturally once it reaches healthy levels.

"As the crocodile population recovers, the mortality rate of juveniles increases through competition," said Britton. "Crocodiles actually self-control their own population growth, eventually slowing down and reaching a stable level like any wild animal population with limited resources."

Originally published on Live Science.
Doctors in India were shocked to find that a patient with stomach pain had swallowed hundreds of coins and nails, according to news reports.

The 35-year-old patient was recently admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain, and doctors initially thought he had food poisoning, according to the Independent.

But an endoscopy exam  which uses a flexible tube to view the digestive tract  revealed numerous metal objects. The doctors performed surgery, and eventually removed 263 coins, 100 nails, dozens of shaving blades and shards of glass, and a 6-inch piece of rusted iron shackle, the Independent said. In total, the collection of foreign objects removed from the patient weighed about 15 pounds (7 kilograms). [7 Weird Things People Have Swallowed]

Coins and nails that were found inside a man's stomach. (Image credit: SWNS)

"We were shocked to discover that [there were] coins, nails and nut-bolts in his stomach," Dr. Priyank Sharma, of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Madhya Pradesh, India, who treated the patient, was quoted as saying. This is the first time the doctors had seen such a case in their careers, Sharma said.

The patient, Maksud Khan, is thought to have mental health problems, and didn't tell his friends or family about his strange eating behavior.

The new case is similar to one reported last month, in which a man in France was found to have more than 100 pieces of metal in his stomach, including coins and nails. In that case, the patient was diagnosed with psychosis, which means a person experiences a loss of touch with reality.

Another similar case occurred in 2016, when a 42-year-old man in India swallowed 40 knives. That patient said he felt "addicted" to the behavior, and he may have had pica, an eating disorder in which people eat nonfood materials such as metal for at least one month.

Original article on Live Science.
Wisconsin has seen three straight months of all-time high numbers of private-sector jobs. But more accurate quarterly reports, recently showed a more muted picture of growth.
Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally.

People's personalities may be shaped by the temperatures of the places in which they grew up, a new study suggests. This could mean that as climate change influences temperatures around the globe, shifts in personality may follow.

The idea that someone's personality may be affected by where that person lives is not new: Previous research has suggested that many aspects of human personality vary from one geographical region to another, according to the new study. But the causes of these personality differences have remained unclear.

One potential explanation is temperature, according to senior author Lei Wang, a social and cultural psychologist at Peking University in Beijing, and his colleagues. Because temperatures vary markedly across the world, the study authors reasoned that this factor might shape personality by influencing people's habits. For instance, temperature might have an impact on whether people like exploring their surroundings, interacting with others, trying new activities or engaging in collective outdoor work such as farming. [7 Thoughts That Are Bad for You]

But instead of simply looking at whether people grew up in hot or cold climates, the researchers took a more nuanced approach, looking at whether people grew up in milder climates, where temperatures are closer to about 71 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius), or if they lived in places with more extreme temperatures.

In the new paper, the researchers conducted two separate studies within two large, yet culturally distinct countries  China and the United States. By looking at data from these two countries, the researchers hoped to eliminate confounding effects from other factors  such as cultural or economic differences that might also have influenced the subjects' personality.

The scientists analyzed data from more than 5,500 people from 59 Chinese cities and data from about 1.66 million people from about 12,500 ZIP codes in the United States. They examined data from personality questionnaires as well as the average temperatures of places where those people grew up.

The scientists discovered that the people who grew up in climates with milder temperatures were generally more agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, extroverted and open to new experiences. These findings held true for people in both countries, despite gender, age and average income.

It's possible that mild temperatures can influence personality by encouraging social interactions and supporting a wider range of activities, the researchers said.

These new findings do not suggest that climate was the sole factor that shaped a person's destiny, said Evert Van de Vliert, a cross-cultural psychologist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the new study.

"I would caution  against thinking that our ancestors, and we ourselves of course, are passive products of where we live," Van de Vliert told Live Science. "By intelligently and actively using property and money, humans can and do create their own identity and destiny in harsher climates."

Indeed, the study found that despite living in climates that are similarly harsh, people in certain Chinese regions differ, personality-wise, from people living in northern states in the U.S., suggesting that other factors aside from temperature play a role, Van de Vliert said. [5 Ways Climate Change Will Affect Your Health]

For example, in China, where people are relatively poor compared with those living in the United States, those "who live in the harsher climates of Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and Shandong have a more collectivist personality than their compatriots living in the more temperate climates of Sichuan, Guangdong and Fujian," Van de Vliert said.

In contrast, in the United States, those "who live in the harsher climates of North and South Dakota, Montana and Minnesota have a more individualist personality than their compatriots in the more temperate climates of Hawaii, Louisiana, California and Florida," he said.

Van de Vliert noted that questions about potential links between personality and geographical regions have often led to controversy. For example, by suggesting that climate essentially controls a person's destiny, some researchers "have put forward self-serving claims about the intellectual superiority of some races and the inferiority of others," he said. Such claims have led others to avoid "research into climatic influences on people," he said.

The authors of the study said that more research is still needed to understand the potential effects of temperature on personality. However, the researchers noted that "as climate change continues across the world, we may also observe [associated] changes in human personality. Of course, questions about the size and extent of these changes await future investigation."

The scientists detailed their findings online Nov. 27 in the journal Nature Human Behavior (opens in new tab).

Originally published on Live Science.
Frustration must be on every anglers mind at this stage. We are all asking the question, When will the weather finally give us a break? Nevertheless, many a hardy fisher has braved going out and reaped the benefits by landing some handsome catches. From reports, it appears that the average size of snapper caught is bigger than last year. This is largely due to the increase in the legal minimum size for snapper, which has gone up from 270mm to 300mm in our waters. I am impressed at how many anglers only take fish between 350mm to 500mm, letting go of specimens either side of those measurements.

During November, snapper have been coming together in large schools to spawn in deeper waters. This will soon change as they move back to the reefs and estuaries during summer, making them a little more difficult to catch. But right now catches are still very good in the deeper waters, say 40 metres deep, as the spawning process is not fully over.

Female snapper are currently full of eggs. During spawning, females and males release their eggs and sperm together. This happens nearer the water surface and at night. The whole school does this together at the same time.

Meanwhile, summer holidays are just around the corner, and I strongly suggest that skippers go through their safety gear. Sadly, we often only think about safety when we are in trouble and then its too late. Here is a short checklist for your perusal. You can never be over cautious.

 Lifejackets. See that inflatable ones have a fully-charged CO2 cartridge. If in doubt, bring it to Tackle & Outdoors for a free check.

 Flare kit. Flares have a limited life of about three years. Check the dates and replace them if needed.

 Medical kit. Do you have an adequate medical emergency kit on board your boat? Check and replace anything missing.

 EPIRB. Do you have an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon? If so, check the battery expiry date as these have a limited life in sealed units.

 Anchor. Do you have a spare anchor and rope? Check shackles and splicing for rust and wear.

 Toolkit. Keep a basic set of tools on board. You never know what you might need to fix in an emergency.

 Water. Take extra water for each person on board. You need at least 5 litres of emergency water per person.

 Miscellaneous. Make sure you are carrying the following: Hand-held mirror, compass, GPS, whistle, sunscreen and hat.

Tight Lines!

Anthony Roberts, Tackle & Outdoors

tecnisportnz@gmail.com
The Waitoki and Wainui area has recorded some of the highest average valuation increases in Auckland.

The three-yearly valuations for the 549,000 properties from Franklin to Rodney were released last month. The average rise across the whole of Auckland was 45 per cent, but in Waitoki and Wainui it averaged 102 per cent.

On the Hibiscus Coast the average was 42 per cent and in the whole of Rodney it was 47 per cent.

Auckland Council says the largest movements in the outer suburbs appear to be a result of higher demand in areas where property is less expensive.

Head of rates Debbie Acott says that generally speaking, the values in Aucklands outer suburbs appear to be catching up with the 2014 revaluation.

Areas that increased the most in the last revaluation  by and large central Auckland  are now moving roughly along the average, she says. Those that didnt last time  mainly outer Auckland  are the ones with the highest increases this time.

Commercial and industrial properties rose 43 per cent and 47 per cent respectively, while lifestyle properties increased by 57 per cent and rural by 35 per cent.

Ms Acott says that Aucklanders should remember that a high increase in property value doesnt necessarily mean there will be a corresponding increase in rates.

Property valuations are used to help us work out everyones share of rates  they dont mean that we collect any more money. However, we wont know the impact of this revaluation on rates until we agree our budget next year, so I encourage Aucklanders to view these valuations with that in mind.

Not unexpected

Registered valuer Vicki Phillips, of Property Indepth specialising in Rodney and Hibiscus Coast, says the 42 per cent average Capital Value (CV) increase for the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board area is not unexpected, considering the volume of new dwellings being built in the area, which tend to be of a higher value.

These are averages, and they are of little value when it comes to valuing your property, other than for interests sake, she says. There will be many properties in the region which will have seen a greater increase in their CV, especially those with development potential under the Unitary Plan. Also, the increase is only relative to the last round of CVs, and who is to say they were accurate.

I can recall similar concerns from homeowners about this during the last round of CVs released in 2014. The increase for this area is close to the Auckland average, and its not surprising to see areas of cheaper housing see greater increases in values due to the demand for these lower value properties.

Ms Phillips says the feedback from many in the Property Indepth team across Auckland is mixed with regards to the CVs being fair.

One homeowner our team has spoken to was already confused  he owned an attached townhouse in the North Shore, the exact mirror image of his neighbour, yet their CVs differed by $30,000!

Ms Phillips says the effect on rates depends somewhat on two factors  the planned increase to the

Council budget and how much a propertys CV has changed compared to the Auckland average of 45 per cent.

If you are well below this average, the likelihood is that your rates could decrease. If you are above, then the likelihood is that your rates will probably increase.

This is rather a simplistic view as Councils budget is apportioned across all rateable properties in Auckland, both commercial and residential.

Objection process

Anyone can object to a propertys valuation, not just the property owner.

The objection period for the 2017 revaluation closes on January 16, at 5pm.

Info: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/property-rates-valuations/our-valuation-of-your-property/Pages/default
The Kauri and Native Bushman Association is calling for donations to help implement measures to stop kauri dieback at Parry Kauri Park.

There are three entrances to the parks bushwalk and the group hopes to place shoe cleaning trays at each of them, with a shelter over each.

Kauri and Native Bushman Association member Ray Jensen says the park is in great condition, so its important to keep it that way.

Auckland Council has already donated one tray, but unless we can place them at all three entrances its pointless, Ray says.

We have busloads of people coming in from all over the place so a lot of them could have fungus on their shoes.

The remaining money required to complete the project is $6000 and donations can be made at the Parry Kauri Park donation box.

Info: Ray 422 0598
The Northern Action Group (NAG) is pinning its hopes for a Rodney Unitary Authority on a commitment from New Zealand First for a binding referendum on the future of the combined Auckland Supercity.

NAG chair Bill Townson brought up the issue of the referendum after the Local Government

Commission (LGC) declined to consider a new feasibility report prepared by APR Consultants on a separate unitary authority for Rodney.

The APR report, which cost $20,000 and was commissioned by NAG, contradicts an earlier report by consultants Morrison Low that predicted that rates in an independent Rodney unitary authority would need to increase by 48 per cent, to cover an estimated first year deficit of $13.5 million.

It also predicted that the deficit would continue to rise over the ensuing 10 years.

By contrast, the APR report predicts anything from a $5 million surplus to a $5.5 million deficit in the first year, depending on the financial models used to make the predictions.

It concludes that a Rodney unitary authority is a reasonably practical option subject to the authority being committed to financially sustainable business practices.

Mr Townson says the APRs approach to modelling is far more credible and reliable than the narrow approach Morrison Low used with their report, which was based largely on the highly inefficient and wasteful Auckland Council.

The ML approach is akin to preparing a business plan for a new shop in Warkworth using the cost structure of Harrods of London, he says.

NAG submitted the APR report to the LGC for consideration on November 15 but a day later received an email from its chief executive, Dr Suzanne Doig, saying that the report had missed the deadline for submissions and would not be considered.

She added that if the process were to be reopened, fairness and due process would require that all parties interested in the reorganisation application be given the opportunity to provide further evidence, and this was not something the LGC was prepared to do.

Mr Townson is hopes NZ First will honour its commitment to a referendum to keep the idea of a Rodney unitary authority alive.

Back in August, NZ First leader Winston Peters said the people of Rodney should be able to decide whether they want their district to remain part of the Supercity and if he was in the next government, he would make sure they got the chance by holding a binding referendum

Mahurangi Matters was unable to confirm with NZ First whether a referendum was still planned.

Meanwhile, the LGC will release its decision on the preferred option for local government reorganisation in Rodney at a meeting at the Masonic Hall in Warkworth on November 30.

The meeting will be led by commission chair Sir Wira Gardiner and lead commissioner for Auckland Geoff Dangerfield. Also attending will be Suzanne Doig.

The Morrison Low report, released in July, identified either the status quo or two Rodney local boards, under the existing Council, as the preferred options for Rodney.

The report dismissed the idea of a separate unitary authority.

NAG, as the original applicant, has been invited to attend the meeting in Warkworth, along with the other 38 groups and individuals who submitted alternative proposals.

If the commissioners opt for the status quo, the process will come to a halt. If they decide on a change option, then a draft proposal will be produced which will involve community consultation.
Local News, Crime

By Long Island News & PR Published: November 27 2017

Liselotte Herzog, 82, was last seen in Selden on Sunday, November 26.

Selden, NY - November 27, 2017 - The Missing Persons Squad is investigating a Missing Vulnerable Adult that occurred on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 3:30 pm in The Missing Persons Squad is investigating a Missing Vulnerable Adult that occurred on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 3:30 pm in Selden, New York

According to detectives, Liselotte Herzog, 82, was last seen in Selden. She was returning to her Bayville residence, but never made it home. She is described as being a white female, 50 tall, 130 lbs., white hair, blue eyes, light complexion and has bandages on her hands. She was last seen wearing, a tan jacket, green sweater and maroon pants.

Liselotte Herzog was last seen operating a 2010 Grey Nissan Sentre, N.Y. Registration EXR4980.
Local News, Crime

By Long Island News & PR Published: November 27 2017

Ronald OLeary, 59, displayed a steak knife and demanded money from a man dispatched to deliver Chinese food, officials report.

NCPD reports the arrest of Ronald OLeary of East Meadow, 59, for Robbery that occurred on Sunday, November 26.

East Meadow, NY - November 27, 2017 - The First Squad reports the details of an arrest for Robbery that occurred on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 8:00 pm in The First Squad reports the details of an arrest for Robbery that occurred on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 8:00 pm in East Meadow

According to detectives, a 59 year old male victim was dispatched to deliver Chinese food to a residence on Dale Avenue. When the victim arrived at the location, a male exited the residence, displayed a steak knife and demanded money. The victim complied and the subject fled on foot in an unknown direction. After an investigation, detectives obtained a consent search of the residence and placed defendant Ronald OLeary, 59, under arrest. The knife and proceeds were recovered inside the home.

Defendant OLeary is being charged with Robbery 1st Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon 3rd Degree. He will be arraigned on Monday, November 27, 2017 at First District Court, 99 Main Street, Hempstead
Reuters, Sunday, November 26, 2017 10:09 PM

cited

, as saying. Notes Reuters: The Russian government funds Sputnik and Russia Today, or RT.

The Russian government is reportedly threatening to retaliate if Google lowers the search rankings of websites like Sputnik and Russia Today. It is obvious that we will defend our media, the Interfax news serviceAlexander Zharov, Russias chief media regulator

Read the whole story at Reuters 
by Larissa Faw , November 27, 2017

After Old Navy's high-profile announcement this summer that the retailer was forgoing celebrity ambassadors in favor of highlighting its fashion, it is now acknowledging the decision has some exceptions.

The company and AOR Chandelier Creative are teaming up with comedian and actress Jenny Slate to introduce several digital-only video spots for Black Friday to promote the retailer's Cozy Socks collection.

In July, CMO Jamie Gersch was quoted as saying Old Navy has "no plans in sight for a celebrity" since "we've done a good job of finding scenarios that are engaging and hitting on what's going on in the world and how to make people smile without having to use a celebrity." Previously, Old Navy relied on a rotating cast of well-known brand ambassadors including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Elizabeth Banks and Amy Schumer.

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The new four One Dolla Holla clips play off Slate's Marcel the Snail character by having her voice several foot-wearing socks as they discuss this Black Friday holiday promotion.

Old Navy will sell Cozy Socks for $1 a pair and for each sock purchased, $1 will be donated to Boys and Girls Club, up to $1 million.

This execution is joined by the "It's Electric" 30-second holiday TV spot that shows a group of kids sneaking out of their houses for a dance party wearing Old Navys cozy socks. The ad ends with a group of adults joining them to show that everyone can feel like a kid around the holidays.

This creative is part of the retailer's broader Hi, Fashion campaign which launched earlier in the year to promote relatable fashion.
Marguerite Meade of Decorah, Iowa, drives her horse along the railroad tracks and in front of the former hotel on the Villa Louis property in 2016.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, November 27, 2017

Siding with Yelp, a federal appellate court has refused to revive a lawsuit accusing the company of duping investors by misleading them about whether reviews on the site are authentic.

In a decision issued last week, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the investors' complaint did not spell out how Yelp allegedly caused investors to lose money. "Loss causation cannot be adequately made out merely by resting on a number of customer complaints and asserting that where there is smoke, there must be fire," the appellate judges wrote.

The suit dates to April of 2014, shortly after the Federal Trade Commission said it had received more than 2,000 complaints about Yelp. Some of those complaints accused Yelp of attempting to extort ad buys from small businesses by manipulating customer reviews.

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Yelp's stock dropped from around $80 a share at the beginning of April 2014 to around $66 a share on April 4 -- shortly after the FTC's public statements. As of Monday, the stock was trading at around $47 a share.

The FTC closed its investigation without bringing a complaint. Yelp has always denied allegations that it manipulates reviews.

In 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar in the Northern District of California dismissed the lawsuit. He ruled that the investors could not proceed because they didn't adequately allege that Yelp made "materially false" statements about the authenticity of reviews on the site.

The shareholders then appealed the dismissal to the 9th Circuit. Among other arguments, the investors contended that the number of complaints shows that Yelp's reviews weren't authentic.

"The volume of such complaints and their consistency across multiple sources revealed the falsity of defendants representations that reviews were firsthand, authentic and that there was no relationship -- zero relationship -- between advertising and reviews," the investors argued in their appeal. "The sheer number of different sales representatives identified in these complaints making similar sales pitches strongly suggests that the use of manipulation to compel businesses to buy advertising was a widespread business practice."

Yelp countered that the investors should not be able to proceed with a securities fraud suit based on "unverified and unadjudicated" complaints submitted to the FTC by consumers.
by Aaron Baar , November 27, 2017

New parents are constantly looking for tips and hints when it comes to caring for their new wards, and in the Information Age, answers abound from a variety of places. Among the most-visited is BabyCenter.

Looking to launch a new diaper rash line of creams and salves, Aquaphor turned to BabyCenter's fledgling content studio to create a 360-degree campaign that included videos, pre-roll, blogged editorial and social media. Through the campaign, the brand saw an advantage in leveraging BabyCenters 20 years of consumer insights to connect new parents with a new product.

BabyCenter is one of the top sites that new parents visit for advice and information, providing parents trusted expert information and advice from peers, Erynn Keefe, marketing director for Aquaphor, tells Marketing Daily. It reaches and helps guide parents on the journey from pregnancy to toddlerhood, so Aquaphor Baby is able to engage at many stages from registry to the moment parents are looking for diaper rash solutions.

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The content looked to take a branded reality approach to get moms speaking about real life. Among the elements were videos that showcased the developmental milestones most likely to produce diaper rash (such as introducing solid foods) and testimonials from parents about their experiences with diaper rash. Elsewhere, the studio produced a series outlining the diaper bag essentials for new moms and blog posts with topics such as diaper rash tips from a veteran mom and 7 tips for comforting the most severe diaper rash.

We were able to bring the Aquaphor Baby brand to life with the expert advice from a brand that has over 90 years of science and skin care experience, to an environment that moms and dads look to as a trusted source for advice and information, Keefe says of the approach.

The results of the campaign spoke for themselves. The branded social videos outperformed BabyCenters video view goal by 55% (with 770,000 views a month). The pre-roll videos (which were cutdown of the Milestones and Testimonials videos) had completion rates up between 80-90%.
A bronchospasm occurs when the muscles that line the airways of the lungs constrict or tighten, reducing airflow by 15 percent or more. People with asthma, allergies, and lung conditions are more likely to develop bronchospasms than those without these conditions, as are young children and people over 65 years of age. Bronchospasms, in themselves, are not considered contagious, but some of the viruses and bacteria that cause bronchospasms can be transmitted to other people.

What causes bronchospasms? Share on Pinterest Bronchospasms may be caused by respiratory conditions, such as asthma or bronchitis, as well as medication or irritants. Some medical conditions, allergens, and medications can cause bronchospasms. Common causes of bronchospasms include: asthma

chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD)

emphysema

chronic bronchitis

viral, bacteria, and fungal lung infections

smoking

air pollution or smoke

environmental allergens, such as pet dander, pollen, mold, and dust

some food additives and chemicals

fumes from chemicals used in cleaning products and manufacturing

cold weather

general anesthesia, mostly causing airway irritation

exercise

blood-thinning medications, such as blood pressure medications and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs)

antibiotics Scientists are still not sure why but, in some people, exercise appears to induce bronchospasms. Traditionally, bronchospasms brought on by exercise were considered a symptom of asthma, but new studies have revealed this may not be true. A 2014 study surveying almost 8,000 French schoolchildren concluded that exercise-induced bronchospasms seem to be a separate, independent condition from asthma. The same study found that bronchospasms were associated with several types of atopic rhinitis, a chronic condition causing dry crusts to form in the nasal cavities and the gradual loss of the mucosal lining. Researchers are also still trying to determine whether newer smoking alternatives, such as electronic cigarettes, cause bronchospasms. Nicotine has been shown to stimulate the primary nerve of the lungs, triggering muscle constriction and bronchospasms. A 2017 study found that a single puff from an e-cigarette containing 12 mg/ml of nicotine was enough to cause bronchospasms in anesthetized guinea pigs. Some chemicals found in medications used to open the airways (bronchodilators) have also been shown to cause bronchospasms, though this is rare.

Symptoms Share on Pinterest Potential symptoms of bronchospasm include coughing, breathing difficulty, and pain in the chest. The signs of bronchospasm are fairly apparent while the severity of symptoms is directly related to how much the airways have narrowed, or how much airflow has been restricted. Common symptoms of bronchospasm include: pain, tightness, and a feeling of constriction in the chest and back

difficulty getting enough air or breathing

a wheezing or whistling sound when inhaling

coughing

feeling tired or exhausted for no apparent reason

feeling light-headed or dizzy

Diagnosis A doctor will need to diagnose and prescribe treatment for bronchospasms. For complicated or severe cases, a pulmonologist or doctor who specializes in the lungs may help confirm the diagnosis. Typically, a doctor will ask questions about a persons history of lung conditions and allergies, before listening to the lungs with a stethoscope. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, and if bronchospasms are suspected, the doctor may perform a series of tests to assess how constricted or reduced the persons airflow and breathing are. Common tests used to help diagnosis bronchospasms include: Spirometry, lung diffusion, and lung volume tests : The individual breathes in and out several times with moderate and maximum force through a tube connected to a computer.

: The individual breathes in and out several times with moderate and maximum force through a tube connected to a computer. Pulse oximetry tests : A device that measures the amount of oxygen in the blood is attached to the finger or ear.

: A device that measures the amount of oxygen in the blood is attached to the finger or ear. Arterial blood gas tests : A blood test is done to determine the levels of oxygen and carbon present.

: A blood test is done to determine the levels of oxygen and carbon present. Chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) scans: Images of the chest and lungs can be taken to rule out infection or lung conditions. To determine whether bronchospasm is caused by exercise, a doctor may recommend a eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation test. During this test, an individual inhales a mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide to see how it changes their lung function.

When should people see a doctor? A person should seek immediate medical attention whenever they experience severe, ongoing, or distressing bronchospasms. If airflow is extremely compromised, they should call 911 or go to the emergency department. Additional reasons to speak with a doctor include: very painful bronchospasms

spasms that interfere with everyday activities

spasms that cause dizziness or light-headedness

spasms that occur after inhaling an allergen

spasms that occur for no apparent reason

spasms that get worse or only occur during exercise

coughing up mucus, especially if dark or discolored

fever and a temperature of more than 100 F

significant difficulty getting enough air or breathing

What are the most effective treatments? Share on Pinterest Bronchodilators are available in different forms, though they may provide the most relief when inhaled. In most cases of bronchospasm, a doctor will prescribe bronchodilators. These drugs cause the airways to widen, increasing airflow. The three most common types of bronchodilators are beta-agonists, anticholinergics, and theophylline. Though the medications used to treat bronchospasms come in tablet, injectable, and liquid forms, many are considered to be most effective when inhaled. The best treatment plan depends on individual factors, such as the severity of the spasms, how often they occur, and their cause. For severe or chronic cases, doctors may recommend steroids to reduce inflammation in the airways and increase airflow. When bronchospasms are caused by bacterial infections, doctors may also prescribe antibiotic medications. Common medications used to treat bronchospasms include: Short-acting bronchodilators This type of bronchodilator starts working within minutes, and its effects last for several hours. Doctors prescribe short-acting bronchodilators for quick relief from sudden, severe spasms and for treating exercise-induced spasms. Typically, an individual should only take these drugs once or twice a week. People can take short-acting bronchodilators in rescue inhalers or in a liquid form that becomes an inhalable mist after being passed through a device called a nebulizer. Common short-acting bronchodilators include: AccuNeb, Proair, Ventolin

Metaproterenol

Xopenex

Maxair Long-acting bronchodilators in combination with steroids For chronic cases of bronchospasm, long-acting medications may be prescribed in combination with inhaled steroids to help prevent spasms. In most cases, people take long-acting bronchodilators two or three times per day and at scheduled times. These drugs are not helpful for quick relief of spasm symptoms. Common long-acting bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroid medications include: Advair

Symbicort

Serevent

Foradil

Flovent

Prednisolone

Pulmicort
Researchers have always suspected that houseflies carry diseases and bacteria; a new study meticulously investigates the bacterial composition of the individual body parts of over a hundred flies living across three continents. The findings shed light on the extent of the flies disease-carrying potential.

Share on Pinterest Houseflies may carry more pathogens than previously believed, suggests new research.

The first author of the new research is Ana Carolina Junqueira, professor of genetics and genomics at the Federal University of Rio De Janeiro in Brazil. Prof. Junquiera is also one of the two corresponding authors of the new paper.

Prof. Junqueira and her international team of researchers examined the microbiomes of 116 houseflies and blowflies living in urban, rural, and natural environments in Brazil, the United States, and Singapore.

Some of the urban habitats they collected the flies from were a food market, a public hospital, a public park, and a landfill for household waste. They also collected flies from a protected area in the Amazonian rainforest, and from various animal farms.

The researchers extracted and sequenced DNA from the head, thorax, abdomen, legs, and wings of blowflies  scientifically known as Chrysomya megacephala  and houseflies, known as Musca domestica.

The scientists analyzed the bacteria, and their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

This is the first study that depicts the entire microbial DNA content of insect vectors using unbiased methods, Prof. Junqueira says. Blowflies and houseflies are considered major mechanical vectors worldwide, but their full potential for microbial transmission was never analyzed comprehensively using modern molecular techniques and deep DNA sequencing.
Royal weddings always manage to grab our attention and now another royal love story is set to go down in the history, as Prince Harry is all set to marry his lady love Meghan Markle. Fifth in line to the throne, Harry secretly got engaged to his long time girlfriend and finally they have officially made an announcement about their wedding.

The Prince of Wales has announced the engagement of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/rtlAnFCWTf  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2017

"His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle," the Independent quoted a spokesperson as saying.

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/zdaHR4mcY6  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 27, 2017

In a statement issued by Kensington Palace, Markle's parents said, "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person."

Ms. Markle's parents, Mr. Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland have wished the couple 'a lifetime of happiness.' pic.twitter.com/H4kpTgpkYE  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2017

The couple is all set to marry next spring and will live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London after they tie the knot.

Prince Harry, 33, and Markle, 36, started dating 15 months ago and since then the duo has been in news for some or the other reason. The couple was introduced to each other by a mutual friend and it was the beginning of a beautiful adventure.

Some researchers have even uncovered that the couple are distant cousins going back to the late 15th century. As per a media report, Ralph Bowes, an English Sheriff was Meghan's ancestor who happened to be Harry's relative through the Queen Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Pretty interesting fact we must say!

However, this is the second time, after Kate Middleton and Prince William, that the Royal family will once again be welcoming a commoner into their family. Well, it wouldn't be wrong to say that when two people are in love nothing else really matters and this story is one such beautiful story.

Markle who is popularly known for her role as Rachel Zane in 'Suits', spoke for the first time about their relationship in a interview with Vanity Fair where she said, We're a couple. We're in love. I'm sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said of the engagement:

'We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to

know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.'  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2017

Well, the duo looks so much in love together and this piece of news will surely make their fan squeal with happiness.

The official announcement from Clarence House reads, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. The wedding will take place in spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course. His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

If reports are to be believed, Markle will leave 'Suits' when season seven ends. While fans will totally miss Rachel, we can't help but be happy for the new beginning of Harry and Meghan.
Meyer Burger lanciert ein freiwilliges Incentive Offer, um Anleiheglaubiger zur Wandlung der CHF 100 Mio. 5.5% Wandelanleihe 2020 bis am 5. Dezember 2017 16.00 Uhr MEZ einzuladen

Meyer Burger Technology AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: MBTN) hat heute bekanntgegeben, dass sie ein freiwilliges Incentive Offer (das ?Incentive Offer?) an die Glaubiger der CHF 100 Mio. 5.5% Wandelanleihe der Gesellschaft, fallig in 2020, (die ?Wandelanleihe?) lanciert. Die Wandelanleihe mit der ISIN Nummer CH0253445131 und dem Ticker-Symbol MBT14 wurde am 17. September 2014 emittiert und am 25. November 2016 mit Mehrheitsbeschluss der Glaubigerversammlung angepasst. Eine Annahme des Incentive Offer wurde es Meyer Burger ermoglichen, zukunftige Zinszahlungen zu sparen und die entsprechende Verbindlichkeit fruhzeitig in Eigenkapital umzuwandeln, ohne dass sich eine zusatzliche Verwasserung gegenuber einer Wandlung nach der nachsten Zinszahlung ergibt, die voraussichtlich basierend auf dem aktuellen Borsenkurs der Wandelanleihe und der Aktien von Meyer Burger eintreten wurde.

Wie im offiziellen Angebotsdokument (?Offer Document?) vom 27. November 2017 ausgefuhrt, bietet die Gesellschaft einen Incentive Betrag von CHF 250 in bar je CHF 5?000 Nominalwert der Wandelanleihe an alle diejenigen Anleiheglaubiger, die ihr Wandelrecht ausuben und ihre Anteile an der Wandelanleihe in Meyer Burger Namenaktien (?Aktien?) zu dem nach Massgabe der Anleihebedingungen der Wandelanleihe (?Anleihebedingungen?) aktuell gultigen Wandelpreis wandeln. Die Annahmefrist des Incentive Offer lauft ab heute bis am 5. Dezember 2017, um 16:00 Uhr MEZ.

Meyer Burger hat Credit Suisse als Transaktionsmanager des Incentive Offer mandatiert.

Bedingungen des Incentive Offer

Wandlung der Wandelanleihe: Die Anteile der Wandelanleihe, fur welche Anleiheglaubiger das Incentive Offer annehmen, werden zum Wandelpreis von CHF 0.98 bzw. dem Wandelverhaltnis von 5?102.04082 Aktien je CHF 5?000 Nominalwert der Wandelanleihe in Aktien gewandelt, wie in den Anleihebedingungen angegeben. Daraus resultiert eine maximale Anzahl von 102?040?816 neue Aktien, die ausgegeben werden.

Aufgelaufene Zinsen: Diejenigen Anleiheglaubiger, die das Incentive Offer annehmen, erhalten keine aufgelaufenen Zinszahlungen.

Incentive Betrag in bar: Diejenigen Anleiheglaubiger, die das Incentive Offer annehmen, erhalten eine Barzahlung von CHF 250 je CHF 5?000 Nominalwert der Wandelanleihe.

Annahmefrist: Die Annahmefrist beginnt heute mit dieser offentlichen Ankundigung und lauft bis zum 5. Dezember 2017 um 16:00 Uhr MEZ. Meyer Burger geht davon aus, das Ergebnis des Incentive Offer am 6. Dezember 2017 bis 07:30 Uhr MEZ bekannt geben zu konnen.

Settlement: Das Settlement des Incentive Offer, d.h. die Lieferung der Aktien und die Auszahlung des Barbetrags an diejenigen Anleiheglaubiger, die das Incentive Offer angenommen haben, ist fur den 11. Dezember 2017 vorgesehen.

Das Incentive Offer hat keinen Einfluss auf die Anleihebedingungen. Allerdings hat der Emittent gemass Bedingung 5(b)(i) der Anleihebedingungen das Recht, sofern weniger als funfzehn (15) Prozent des gesamten Nominalwertes der Anleihen noch ausstehend sind, alle restlichen Anteile der Wandelanleihe zuruckzubezahlen.

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT BEING ISSUED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND SHOULD NOT BE DISTRIBUTED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TO U.S. PERSONS OR PUBLICATIONS WITH A GENERAL CIRCULATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE FOR, EXCHANGE OR PURCHASE ANY SECURITIES. IN ADDITION, THE SECURITIES OF MEYER BURGER TECHNOLOGY LTD HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE ?SECURITIES ACT?), OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD OR DELIVERED WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS ABSENT REGISTRATION UNDER OR AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SECURITIES LAWS.

This press release may contain specific forward-looking statements, e.g. statements including terms like believe, assume, expect, forecast, project, may, could, might, will or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may result in a substantial divergence between the actual results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and those explicitly or implicitly presumed in these statements. Against the background of these uncertainties, readers should not rely on forward-looking statements. Meyer Burger Technology Ltd assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements or to adapt them to future events or developments.

This press release serves informational purposes and constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy any securities. This press release does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of Article 652a of the Swiss Code of Obligations nor a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of SIX Swiss Exchange.

The information contained in this press release is for information purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy or completeness. This press release does not contain or constitute or form part of, and should not be construed as, an offer or invitation to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, any securities.

The distribution of this press release and the offer referred to herein may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions as further set out in the Offer Document (?Distribution Restrictions?) and persons reading this press release should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This press release is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan or in any jurisdiction in which offers or sales of the securities referred to herein would be prohibited by applicable laws. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act, or the laws of any state within the United States of America or under the applicable securities laws of Australia, Canada or Japan, and may not be offered or sold in the United States of America, unless registered under the Securities Act or offered and sold in a transaction exempt from, or not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTIONS

This press release does not constitute an offer to buy or a solicitation of an offer to sell any Bonds or Shares in any jurisdiction or circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful.

The distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this press release comes are required by the Issuer, the Dealer Manager, the Paying and Conversion Agent or the Depository Bank to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions.

United States

The Incentive Offer is not being made, and will not be made, directly or indirectly in or into, or by use of the mail of, or by any means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce of or of any facilities of a national securities exchange of, the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons as defined in Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the ?Securities Act?) (each, a ?U.S. person?). This includes, but is not limited to, facsimile transmission, electronic mail, telex, telephone, the internet and other forms of electronic communication. The Incentive Offer may not be conducted by any such use, means, instrumentality or facility from or within the United States or by persons located or resident in the United States as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act or to U.S. persons. Accordingly, copies of the Offer Document and any other documents or materials relating to the Incentive Offer are not being, and must not be, directly or indirectly mailed or otherwise transmitted, distributed or forwarded (including, without limitation, by custodians, nominees or trustees) in or into the United States or to persons located or resident in the United States or to any U.S. persons. Any Incentive Offer resulting, directly or indirectly, from a violation of these restrictions will be invalid and any purported Incentive Offer made by a U.S. person, a person located or resident in the United States or from within the United States or from any agent, fiduciary or other intermediary acting on a non discretionary basis for a principal giving instructions from within the United States or for a U.S. person will be invalid and will not be accepted.

Each Bondholder participating in the Incentive Offer will represent that it is not located in the United States and is not a U.S. person and is not participating in the Incentive Offer from the United States or it is acting on a non discretionary basis for a principal located outside the United States that is not giving an order to participate in the Incentive Offer from within the United States or on behalf of a U.S. person. For the purposes of this and the above paragraph, ?United States? means United States of America, its territories and possessions, any state of the United States of America and the District of Columbia.

United Kingdom

The communication of the Offer Document and any other documents or materials relating to the Incentive Offer is not being made, and such documents and/or materials have not been approved, by an authorised person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended (?FSMA?). Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents and/or materials is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is only directed at and may be communicated to (i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments, being investment professionals (as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the ?Order?)); (ii) persons who fall within Article 43(2) of the Order; or (iii) any other persons to whom these documents and/or materials may lawfully be sent under the Order. Any investment or investment activity to which the Offer Document relates is available only to such persons or will be engaged only with such persons and other persons should not rely on it.

Republic of Italy

Neither the Incentive Offer, the Offer Document nor any other documents or material relating to the Incentive Offer have been or will be submitted to the clearance procedure of the Commissione Nazionale per le Societa e la Borsa (?CONSOB?), pursuant to applicable Italian laws and regulations.

In Italy, the Incentive Offer on each series of Bonds is being carried out as an exempted offer pursuant to article 101 bis, paragraph 3 bis, of Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February 1998, as amended and article 35 bis, paragraph 3 of CONSOB regulation No. 11971 of 14 May 1999, as amended.

Bondholders can acccept the Incentive Offer through authorised persons (such as investment firms, banks or financial intermediaries permitted to conduct such activities in the Republic of Italy in accordance with the Financial Services Act, CONSOB regulation No. 16190 of 29 October 2007, as amended from time to time, and Legislative Decree No. 385 of September 1, 1993, as amended) and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or with requirements imposed by CONSOB or any other Italian authority.

Each intermediary must comply with the applicable laws and regulations concerning information duties vis a vis its clients in connection with the Bonds or the Offer Document.

Kingdom of Belgium

Neither the Offer Document nor any other documents or materials relating to the Incentive Offer have been submitted to or will be submitted for approval or recognition to the Financial Services Market Authority (Autoriteit voor Financiele Diensten en Markten / Autorite des services et marches financiers) and, accordingly, the Incentive Offer may not be made in Belgium by way of a public offering, as defined in Article 3 of the Belgian Law of 1 April 2007 on public takeover bids or as defined in Article 3 of the Belgian Law of 16 June 2006 on the public offer of placement instruments and the admission to trading of placement instruments on regulated markets (each as amended). Accordingly, the Incentive Offer may not be advertised and will not be extended, and neither the Offer Document nor any other documents or materials relating to the Incentive Offer (including any memorandum, information circular, brochure or any similar documents) has been or shall be distributed or made available, directly or indirectly, to any person in Belgium other than ?qualified investors? in the sense of Article 10 of the Belgian Law of 16 June 2006 on the public offer of placement instruments and the admission to trading of placement instruments on regulated markets (as amended), acting on their own account. Insofar as Belgium is concerned, the Offer Document has been issued only for the personal use of the above qualified investors and exclusively for the purpose of the Incentive Offer. Accordingly, the information contained in the Offer Document may not be used for any other purpose or disclosed to any other person in Belgium.

Republic of France

Neither the Offer Document nor any other document, material or information relating to the Incentive Offer has been or will be submitted for clearance to the French Autorite des Marches Financiers.

Consequently, the Incentive Offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, to the public in the Republic of France. Neither the Offer Document nor any other document, material or information relating to the Incentive Offer has been or shall be released, issued or distributed, or caused to be released, issued or distributed to the public in the Republic of France and only (i) providers of investment services relating to portfolio management for the account of third parties (personnes fournissant le service d?investissement de gestion de portefeuille pour compte de tiers) and/or (ii) qualified investors (investisseurs qualifies) other than individuals, in each case acting for their own account and all as defined in, and in accordance with, Articles L.411 1, L.411 2 and D.411 1 of the French Code monetaire et financier, are eligible to participate in the Incentive Offer.

Meyer Burger ist ein fuhrendes und weltweit aktives Technologieunternehmen fur innovative Systeme und Prozesse auf Basis von Halbleitertechnologien. Ihr Fokus liegt auf der Photovoltaik (Solarindustrie). Gleichzeitig setzt das Unternehmen seine Kompetenzen und Technologien auch in Bereichen der Halbleiter- und Optoelektronik-Industrie sowie in ausgewahlten anderen Highend-Markten fur Halbleitermaterialien ein. Mit Prazisionsprodukten und innovativen Technologien hat sich das Unternehmen in den letzten zehn Jahren einen Spitzenplatz in der Photovoltaik erarbeitet und sich als internationale Premium-Marke etabliert.

Das Spektrum an Systemen, Produktionsanlagen und Dienstleistungen entlang der Wertschopfungskette in der Photovoltaik umfasst die Prozesse Wafering, Solarzellen, Solarmodule und Solarsysteme. Durch den Fokus auf Kerntechnologien in der Wertschopfungskette schafft das Unternehmen einen klaren Mehrwert beim Kunden und differenziert sich gegenuber den Konkurrenten.

Das umfassende Angebot wird durch ein weltweites Servicenetzwerk mit Ersatz- und Verschleissteilen, Verbrauchsmaterial, Prozesswissen, Wartungs- und Kundendienst, Schulungen und weiteren Dienstleistungen erganzt. Meyer Burger ist in Europa, Asien und Nordamerika in den jeweiligen Schlusselmarkten vertreten und verfugt uber Tochtergesellschaften und eigene Servicecenter in China, Deutschland, Indien, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Niederlande, Schweiz, Singapur, Taiwan und den USA. Gleichzeitig bearbeitet das Unternehmen auch intensiv die neuen PV Markte in Sudamerika, Afrika sowie im arabischen Raum. Die Namenaktien der Meyer Burger Technology AG sind an der SIX Swiss Exchange gelistet (Ticker: MBTN).
26.11.2017 LISTEN

Accra based menswear brand ATTO TETTEH has launched its latest collection Son of Gold Coast in a tribute to Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Otumfuo Opoku Ware II both very important figures in Ghanaian history.

The collection Son of Gold Coast eulogizes these great men poetically in:

We looked back in time.

We went back to our roots.

Gold Coast; the land of Gold and Hopes.

From there we sought to be inspired

And Eureka we found

An heir to the throne.

An illustrious son, so prominent and astute;

He had a unique style that gave him an identity;

This style we brewed in our African pot;

To create a collection so rich with culture yet very modern;

We told the Gold Coast story with

Color, warmth and sartorial elegance.

A tribute to Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Otumfuo Opoku Ware II

Designer : Atto Tetteh

Model : Facestory

Photography : Elliot Grandberry
House Of Cards is returning to production following the sexual harassment and assault allegations made against its star, Kevin Spacey.

The hit Netflix show was forced to take a break following the claims and Spacey was subsequently dropped from the show.

Pauline Micelli, senior vice president at the show's studio, Media Rights Capital, recently wrote to staff to say its hiatus was being extended.

But production is expected to begin again on 8 December. 'Loyal and talented'

"These last two months have tested and tried all of us in ways none of us could have foreseen," wrote Micelli.

"The one thing we have learned throughout this process is that this production is bigger than just one person and we could not be more proud to be associated with one of the most loyal and talented production cast and crews in this business."

In the letter, published in the Hollywood Reporter , she added: "Our hope is that the entire crew will be able to reconvene when production resumes, but we want you to know that we will certainly understand if crew members need to find other work in the interim, which will prevent them from re-joining us. We sincerely appreciate all you have done".

She said that the writers are continuing their work during the hiatus - presumably working on how to write Spacey out. 'Deeply inappropriate'

Spacey, who was artistic director at London's Old Vic theatre, is currently being investigated by Scotland Yard over two allegations of sexual assault.

He also faces claims of "on-set sexual misconduct" by members of the House Of Cards production crew.

Netflix previously announced it "will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey" after initial allegations were made about him by Anthony Rapp.

The actor said he was 14 when Spacey allegedly harassed him following a party in 1986.

Spacey claimed to have no memory of the alleged incident while offering an apology to Rapp "for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour".

The Old Vic has said that an internal investigation found 20 people claimed they had been the victims of inappropriate behaviour by Spacey , who was at the theatre between 2004 and 2015.

A spokesperson for Spacey said the Oscar award-winning actor is "taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment" since the allegations surfaced.
Sadio Mane looked visibly upset with Jurgen Klopp in the immediate aftermath of Liverpools draw with Chelsea on Saturday.

The Senegal international was surprisingly benched for the match at Anfield and was only brought on with one minute remaining.

Mohamed Salah had put Liverpool ahead with a well-taken goal in the second half but Willians effort, which appeared to be a cross, rescued a point for the Premier League champions.

Shortly after the final whistle, Mane was seen arguing with Klopp on the pitch and the Liverpool manager attempted to diffuse the situation by putting his arm around the forward.

Earlier this month, Mane returned early from international duty with Senegal after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

The 25-year-old was able to play 74 minutes in the 3-0 win over Southampton last weekend and followed that up with a full game in the 3-3 draw against Sevilla on Tuesday evening.

Before Liverpools draw with Chelsea at Anfield, Klopp admitted that he was concerned over Manes fatigue levels and said that was the reason why he decided to bench the forward.

Klopp also decided to rest Roberto Firmino against Antonio Contes side, and the Brazilian was left on the bench for the entire game.

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27.11.2017 LISTEN

Recognising the negative effects of the high number of unresolved chieftaincy disputes across the country, Government has expressed its intention to train and sensitise chiefs and queenmothers on the provisions of the Chieftaincy Act 2008, Act 759.

This is to enable them to appreciate those provisions and refrain from acts and utterances that fuel chieftaincy disputes and conflicts and their attendant negative effects on peace and national development.

Mr Paul Essien, the Deputy Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, disclosed this when he joined the people of Asebu in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese District of the Central Region to commemorate its 12th Apayamkese Festival at the weekend. The Festival, which was on the theme; 'Mobilising for Sustainable Development,' offered an opportunity for the Traditional Council to take account of its activities, identify the problems encountered and strategise to forge ahead in development.

Additionally, Mr Essien said the codification of lines of successions to stools and skins, among other initiatives being pursued, would help bring sanity and establish rightful successions and ultimately reduce the numerous chieftaincy disputes across the country.

In this regard, he implored chiefs and queen mothers to bring their inputs and contributions on board to make the project a success.

He noted that the demarcation of paramouncies was critical to national development and appealed to traditional authorities to make available data and information to help implement the programme to propel national development.

The Deputy Minister said the Government recognised the important role of the chieftaincy institution to the development of the country and, hence, would ensure that the institution was free from disputes.

Mr Essien noted that the 'One District, One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs' and many laudable government initiatives were aimed at human resource development, employment generation and improvement in the livelihood of the people.

He, therefore, called on the chiefs and people of Asebu to lend their support to those programmes to achieve the desirable impact on the society and the country as a whole.

Okatakyi Amenfi VII, the Omanhen of Asebu Traditional Area, complained about the deplorable state of roads linking the communities in the districts and appealed to the Government to fix them.

He also appealed for the upgrading of the only health facility in Moree to the status of a poly-clinic for it to serve the people better.

'There is the need to equip the CHPS compounds at Asebu to better serve the health needs of the people considering the central location of Asebu' he added.

Okatakyi Amenfi appealed to the Government to consider including Asebuman Senior High School on the list of Community Senior High Schools as it was in dire need of infrastructure as the number of students kept increasing.

Mr Kwamena Duncan, the Central Regional Minister, assured the people of the Government's commitment to addressing their concerns.

He presented bottles of schnapps and other alcoholic drinks and cash of GH10,000.00 to the Traditional Council as Government's support towards the celebration of the Festival.

GNA

By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
27.11.2017 LISTEN

Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, has expressed worry over the poor performance of municipal and district assemblies in the Region on the District League Table for the past two years.

He said their continuous placement at the bottom of the table was negatively affecting efforts of stakeholders.

Dr Archibald Letsa said this in an interaction with the media following his working tour of districts in the Region.

He said he was unhappy that an assembly from the Region came last again in the latest (2016) League Table and instructed them to factor indicators used in the ranking into their medium term development plans.

Dr Letsa asked assembly members and staff to place importance on the resources allocated to them and ensure that corruption and other forms of funds mismanagement were stopped.

He asked the assemblies to engage all stakeholders and turn their poor performances around for the good of the people.

The District League Table is an independent tool for promoting social accountability. It is produced on an annual basis by UNICEF Ghana and the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The Krachi East Assembly came last (216th) in the latest ranking with Tema Metropolitan Assembly topping the Table.

GNA

By Rosina Oyivor, GNA
27.11.2017 LISTEN

Takoradi, Nov. 26, GNA - Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Education, has reminded all technical universities of the need to resolve all the outstanding transitional issues to make the conversion process complete.

Most polytechnics in the country were converted into technical universities through the promulgation of the Technical Universities Act, 2016, ACT 922, to better align the mission of higher education institutions to industry needs and requirements.

It is also to provide a clear pathway for academic and professional progression for students opting for skills-based technical and vocational education and training.

Dr Prempeh, at the Second Congregation of the Takoradi Technical University (TTU), lauded the progress made so far by the University and encouraged the completion and submission of harmonised statutes and scheme of service to facilitate governance.

He said outstanding issues of concern included the appointment of substantive officers using prescribed processes, comprehensive staff audit, development of programmes in the core mandated areas, and the identification of niche areas or flagship programmes that would define the TTU as an institution.

He said the Government was committed to making Ghana a world class centre of skills development and a leading country in technical and vocational training in Africa, adding; 'A TVET strategic policy document leading to TVET Bill and the creation of a TVET service has been developed and submitted to cabinet for approval.'

Dr Prempeh said the Government had plans to equip and position technical universities to play meaningful roles in developing the needed manpower to facilitate socio-economic development of the country.

'The Ministry will, therefore, work through COTVET and GETFUND to ensure that funding is provided for the construction of lecture halls, laboratories and workshops among others,' he said.

Reverend Professor John Frank Eshun, the Vice Chancellor of the TTU, said congregations offered universities the opportunity to take stock whiles conferring degrees, diplomas and certificates on deserving students.

In all, 1,913 students, comprising 168 Bachelor of Technology, 1,657 Higher National Diplomas and 88 Civil Engineering received competency based training certificates from the National Board for Professional and Technician Examinations.

Rev. Professor Eshun expressed deep appreciation to the interim University Council for the good foundation laid in terms of strategic direction during the transitional period.

'I will further like to report that the University is doing well with respect to teaching, learning, research and consultancy,' he said.

He said from the 2017/2018 enrolment statistics, 37 per cent were in business and social science related programmes with 63 per cent in Engineering and Applied Science and Technology related programmes, which were clearly in line with the National Council on Technical Education norms.

The Vice Chancellor said the involvement of industry in the training of students had been strengthened with the introduction of the Faculty Advisory Board systems adding; 'This is where industry practitioners are involved in decision making at the faculty level.''

The University, he said, would be launching the research innovation and development fund to promote quality applied research that would spur the socio-economic development of the country and also contribute to the advancement of knowledge.

Reverend Prof. Eshun noted that plans were underway to offer scholarships to needy but brilliant students from less-privileged communities in the school's catchment area and in the Region as a whole.

Dr Mrs Henrietta Abane, the Chairperson of the University Council, said the Governing Council would collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure the transformation of the institutional set-up and governance systems to reflect the attributes envisaged for technical universities.

She appealed to the Government to release counterparts funding for the completion of projects and procurement of equipment to enhance teaching and learning.

Dr Abane said one major challenge facing the school was the constant harassment from the Electricity Company of Ghana over unpaid bills and urged the Government to honour its promise to pay such bills on time.

Mrs Eugenia Gifty Kusi, the Deputy Western Regional Minister, said science, technology and engineering continued to be the basic requirement for socio-economic growth and, hence, the need to pay more attention to technical and vocational training.

'I understand that most of the courses at the University are run on competency-based training. I strongly believe these hands-on-skills training is the best way to impart the knowledge capable of transforming and making life meaningful to make an impact on society'.

GNA
27.11.2017 LISTEN

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has extended its unity walk to Tarkwa as part of plans to re-organise the grassroots support to position the party positively for the 2020 General Election.

Similar walks had been organised in Accra, Tamale and Cape Coast aimed at uniting the party.

Hundreds of NDC sympathizers in the Western Region, dressed in party colours, turned out in their numbers to participate in the programme, led by former President John Dramani Mahama.

The party members converged at Tamso Junction, walked through the Tarkwa Main Lorry Station, passed by the Apinto Government Hospital and ended at Tarkwa Market Circle amidst drumming, singing and dancing.

Some leading figures that took part in the walk were; Mr Ato Ahwoi, former Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, former Ambassador to India, Ambassador Sam Pee Yalley, former Minister for Energy and his deputy, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah and Mr. John Abdulai Jinapor, Mr Sampson Ahi, former Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Members of Parliament and regional executives.

Addressing party faithful after the peaceful procession, former President Mahama urged members to bury their differences that contributed to the party's defeat in 2016 and focus on preparing for their branch, constituency, regional, national and presidential elections.

He urged party members across the 26 constituencies in the Western Region to remain united and work together to help NDC wrest power from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), which, he said, had disappointed Ghanaians.

Touching on the Free Senior High School programme that was rolled out in September this year, he said one major problem that would hinder its success was funding.

He, therefore, urged the President to call a national stakeholders' conference to enable them to deliberate on how effectively the programme could be financed to achieve the purpose for which it was established.

On the fight against illegal mining, Former President Mahama said the Government must accompany it with alternative livelihood programmes, adding that those affected could not continue to be dependent on their families.

GNA

By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA
27.11.2017 LISTEN

Mr. Kenneth Nangai, a Ugandan Physiotherapist, has advocated that parents of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) must lead in the management of the disorder.

He said the therapy was no longer straight jacketed and should be fused into the daily routine of the child to ensure maximum results.

'The practice where parents took their children with cerebral palsy to the hospital for therapy to be done for them no longer works, it does not take into consideration the parents well-being, we should look at new ways of rehabilitating these children apart from taking them to the hospital,' he said.

Mr Nangai is in Ghana as part of a programme dubbed; 'Support Tools Enabling Parents,' that aims at improving the functionality and quality of life of children with CP through improved assessments and goal setting.

The project is funded by Liliane Foundation, a Dutch organisation that supports children and youngsters with disabilities who live in poverty, to help them develop and use their talents and contribute to giving them quality lives.

Mr Nangai, who is being hosted by the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on CP, has interacted with more than 40 parents and caregivers of children with cerebral palsy while advising them on what is practically possible to do with their children.

At a meeting with the parents of the Special Mothers Group, he said usually families raising children with CP bore the biggest challenge of addressing the day to day needs of the child such as feeding, toilet training and general functional abilities.

Parents must, therefore, be empowered to work effectively to rehabilitate their children with CP, he said.

'We should stop referring to children with cerebral palsy as being sick or patients, they are not sick, they are only limited in their functional abilities because of their condition and parents must be supported to play their role of improving their functionalities,' Mr Nangai said.

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, the Executive Director of the Special Mothers Project, said the programme served as a platform to link families raising children with CP to limited services.

'We try to help families through our advocacy programmes and we have facilitated the training of some mothers in various enterprises to enhance their lives,' she said.

GNA
27.11.2017 LISTEN

The Queen of Denmark, Margarethe II, on Saturday paid a courtesy call on the chiefs and people of Akwamu at Akuamufie in the Eastern Region as part of her three-day state visit to the country.

The visit to Akwamufie was the climax of the Queen's visitation to various cultural and historic sites that formed the itinerary of her first time trip to Ghana.

Prior to the visit to the Akwamu Palace, Queen Margarethe had visited the Odumase/Agomanya Market, which is well known for the sale of beads, to interact with the producers and dealers and have a feel of a true Ghanaian marketplace.

The Queen also visited the Cedi Bead Factory, a popular bead manufacturing centre at Agomanya, where Mr Nomoda Ebenezer Djaba, the Chief Executive Officer of the Factory, briefed her on the process of beads making.

At Akwamufie, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, the Paramount Chief of Akwamu, on behalf of the people, welcomed Queen Margarethe and her entourage amidst drumming and singing of traditional songs.

An elder at the Palace recounted the history of the Danes who shared the dark story of the Slave Trade, and the interesting story related to shifting alliances and conflicts between the Danes and the Akwamu people.

The Christiansburg Castle, now called Osu Castle, originally built by the Danes in the 17th Century, has changed ownership several times.

He said in 1693 the Akwamu people took over the Castle disguised as tradesmen adding that a Prince of Akwamu, by name Assameni, who went to the Castle to study Dutch that same year, hatched a plan to overtake the Danes and later took the keys to the Castle to Akwamufie.

Later, when the then King Assameni sold the Castle back to the Danes for 12 kilograms of gold, he kept the keys and it had since been kept by the Akwamus as a trophy and a proud symbol of the resistance by the Akwamus from the Danes.

Odeneho Akoto recounted the long-standing historic relationship between the Danes and the Akwamus, and Ghana as a whole.

He said the memories were both bitter and sweet but presently, the relationship had continued to be a healthy one with the Akwamus having good interactions with the Danish Embassy.

The Embassy officials had been assisting the Akwamu Community with so many infrastructure projects including schools, Odeneho Akoto said.

'Today you are going to have the opportunity to look at some of the beautiful things that exist between the two nations, that is; Ghana and Danmark, and for that matter Akwamu, representing Ghana now with those artefacts,' he said.

Queen Margarethe, on her part, said she was happy to be there 'to listen to some of the fascinating stories about the connection between Denmark and this part of Ghana a long time ago.'

'But I'm touched to know that you still cherish the memory of those times and that you keep up the story. And that is something I should take back with me to Denmark, in particular, the memory of this part of Ghana,' she said.

The Queen was later taken to a room where the keys were being kept to have a look.

Ms Catherine Afeku, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Arts, Mr Eric Kwakye Darfour, the Eastern Regional Minister, and Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko, Member of Parliament for Asuagyaman, were at the Palace to welcome the Queen.

GNA

By Lydia Kukua Asamoah, GNA
French President Emmanuel Macron will tour Africa this week to try to boost France's flagging influence on the continent and convince young people eyeing Europe's shores they have a future at home.

Macron's first African tour, which begins Tuesday, takes him to Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, two former French colonies that deposed strongmen leaders in recent years, as well as to Ghana.

It comes as Europe tries to find ways to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean without leaving them to the mercy of traffickers in transit countries like Libya, where they face torture, rape, and -- as a CNN report showed recently -- being sold into slavery.

Macron will also be seeking international backing for a new, five-nation African counter-terrorism force, which France hopes to see eventually take over the fight against jihadist groups in the Sahel region.

Above all, his advisors say, he will stress that he wants a partnership of equals with Africa, based on education and entrepreneurship.

France's youngest ever president at 39 has been taking counsel from a group of young French business people of African origin about how to buff his country's image on a continent where for decades it propped up ageing francophile autocrats.

'Civilisational' gaffe

He is also on a mission to make amends for his controversial remarks this summer about Africa.

Since becoming president in May, Macron has paid two visits to Mali, home to a 4,000-strong French regional counter-terrorism force.

In a July speech diagnosing demographic, democratic and security challenges in Africa Macron said the continent had "civilisational" problems and listed women having "seven or eight children" as a challenge.

Burkina Faso's new president Roch Marc Christian Kabore has called for a reset in relations, based on "equality, mutual interest and respect".

Alain Antil, an Africa specialist at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris, said France appeared out-of-touch with the aspirations of ordinary Africans.

"In francophone West Africa the feeling is that France is in tune with the leaders but not with youth or civil society"," he told AFP.

Since becoming president in May, Macron has paid two visits to Mali, home to a 4,000-strong French regional counter-terrorism force.

The first leg of his tour takes him to Burkina Faso, a country with a proud tradition of independence which ousted its president in a 2014 revolt after he tried to extend his 27-year hold on power.

Several Burkinabe organisations have called for protests during Macron's visit over what they call the "looting" of resources by French companies and the continuing use by 14 West African countries of the CFA franc currency.

France is also viewed with some suspicion for having helped ousted leader Blaise Compaore avoid justice by fleeing to Ivory Coast and faces growing pressure to extradite his brother Francois, who was arrested last month in Paris.

Macron, who has a knack for disarming critics during face-to-face encounters, will deliver a speech Tuesday on his Africa policy to some 800 students in the capital Ouagadougou and take questions.

"The president aims to change the perception of France through young people," his advisors said, acknowledging that Burkina Faso's youth "do not necessarily have a good image of France".

From there he will continue onto Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan for an African Union-European Union summit.

Investment vs aid

Macron will call for greater efforts to combat the trafficking of migrants up through Africa to Libya, where they pile into rickety boats that often sink en route to Europe.

Macron will call for greater efforts to combat the trafficking of migrants up through Africa to Libya, where they pile into rickety boats that often sink en route to Europe.

He is expected to stress the importance of education and entrepreneurship in helping young Africans find jobs at home.

In an interview with AFP ahead of the summit, the head of the African Union Alpha Conde, who is also Guinea's president, said African countries wanted "more investment than aid".

"What we want is the ability to transform our wealth to develop Africa," he said.

France's pro-business president will also lay the cornerstone of Abidjan's metro system -- a huge project for which Paris has provided a 1.4-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) loan.

His tour will end in the former British colony of Ghana, a beacon of stability in the region that falls outside France's traditional sphere of influence.

Macron's advisors say his Ghana visit demonstrates his two-pronged approach to Africa -- improving ties with former colonies while boosting trade with anglophone countries.

The former investment banker, who speaks fluent English, will be able to draw on his own experience, having interned for six months at France's embassy in Nigeria as a student.

Comparing Macron's Africa credentials with his predecessors, Frederic Lejeal, editor of La Lettre du Continent newsletter on West Africa, said: "The difference is he knows Africa....(he) has a multipolar vision and sees the continent as a tremendous wellspring of economic opportunity."
27.11.2017 LISTEN

Concerned Voters Movement (CVM), has backed President Akufo-Addo on his recent comment on whether homosexuality should be legalized or not in Ghana.

Background

President Akufo-Addo in an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera noted that if activism in favour of the legalization of homosexuality heightens, that could trigger a changed in Ghana's laws.

I dont believe that in Ghana, so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say: Change it [the law], lets then have a new paradigm in Ghana".

I grew up in England; I went to school as a young boy in England and I grew up at a time in England when homosexuality was banned there, it was illegal and I lived in the period when British politicians thought it was anathema to think about changing the law and suddenly the activities of individuals, of groups, a certain awareness, a certain development grew and grew and grew stronger and it forced a change in law. I believe those are the same processes that will bring about changes in our situation".

While some argue that Akufo-Addos response is not only president-like but pragmatic and well-informed, others have vehemently scolded him for failing to take a firm stance as done by the late President John Atta Mills who in 2011 rubbished the UKs threat to cut aid if he refused to consider legalizing homosexuality in Ghana.

In a statement issued on Monday November 27, 2017 and signed by Concerned Voters Movement's (CVM's) Founder and President, Mr. Razak Kojo Opoku, indicating that Ghana is a Secular State predominantly made up of Christians, Muslims and African Traditional Region hence these Religions do not support homosexuality in Ghana. "Ghana is equally blessed with a strong solid Culture and Chieftaincy Institution that is totally against homosexuality".

Mr. Kojo Opoku revealed that President Akufo-Addo is against of homosexuality in Ghana since was sworn in by 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, "that I President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; and I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Ghana and to do right to all manner of persons".

He further explained that unless the good people of Ghana accepted to push for the legalization of homosexuality in the country hence no President, Parliament or the Judiciary can force homosexuality on Ghanaians. " This was exactly the message that President Akufo-Addo communicated to the World the Al Jazeera platform".

According to him, "President Akufo-Addo's answer was very thoughtful bearing in mind that he will not remain the President of Ghana forever or live forever on Planet Earth. President Akufo-Addo is against the legalization of homosexuality but what will be the position of those who will succeed him in the future?"

Below is the full statement

*President Akufo-Addo's Answer to the Homosexuality Question on Aljazeera was very Mature full of Deepest Wisdom and Knowledge----CVM*

President Akufo-Addo has once again demonstrated his unflinching faithfulness and truthfulness to the 1992 Constitution, Presidential Oath of Office & Oath of Allegiance and the Holy Bible he was sworn-in with as the 5th President of the 4th Republic.

Taking the Presidential Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance on the 7th January 2017, Nana Akufo-Addo said: "I Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, having been elected to the high office of President of the Republic of Ghana do(in the name of the Almighty God swear)(solemnly affirm) that I will be faithful and true to the Republic of Ghana; that I will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; and that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Ghana and to do right to all manner of persons."

"I further(solemnly swear)(solemnly affirm) that should I at any time break this Oath of Office I shall submit myself to the laws of the Republic of Ghana and suffer the penalty for it. (So help me God)"

President Akufo-Addo's answer to the homosexuality question posed to him by the Aljazeera Journalist was clearly in an agreement with *Article 1 of the 1992 Constitution* which states that: *" The Sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in this Constitution"*

Ghana is a Secular State predominately made up of Christians Majority, Minority Muslims, and Traditional African Religion. None of these Religions support homosexuality in the Country. Ghana is equally blessed with a strong solid Culture and Chieftaincy Institution that is totally against homosexuality.

Unless the people of Ghana made up of Christians, Muslims, Traditional African Religion as well as our culture and Chieftaincy Institution accepts to push for the legalization of homosexuality in the Country no President, Parliament or the Judiciary can force homosexuality on Ghanaians. This was exactly the message that President Akufo-Addo communicated to the World through the Al Jazeera platform.

As indicated by President Akufo-Addo, legalization of homosexuality in Ghana is *NOT* one of the current demands, wants or needs of the people of Ghana and as such he is totally not interested as a President to raise the debate and acceptance of homosexuality in Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo's answer was very thoughtful bearing in mind that he will not remain the President of Ghana forever or live forever on Planet Earth. President Akufo-Addo is against the legalization of homosexuality but what will be the position of those who will succeed him in the future?

Prof. Mills was against homosexuality but he is now resting in the grave. John Mahama was wining, dining and being sponsored by Andrew Solomon a Gay Activist but he is now resting in perpetual Opposition.

It is important to note that none of the Former Presidents of Ghana before President Akufo-Addo even made an attempt to further strengthen and tighten the laws on homosexuality.

President Akufo-Addo has demonstrated that Societal Values are not static but dynamic. The current generation of Ghana led by President Akufo-Addo is totally against legalization of homosexuality but what will be the position of the future generation of Ghana on homosexuality legalisation?

This demand the concerted and collaborative efforts from Christians, Muslims, Traditional African Religion and Chieftaincy Institution to continuously and consistently train, mentor and educate the younger generation about our strong Culture against homosexuality.

At least Ghanaians are forever grateful to God for having Akufo-Addo as the President of Ghana who doesn't have a gay friend unlike John Mahama who was wining and dining with homosexual friends such as Mr. Andrew Solomon, a gay lobbyist.

...Signed....

Razak Kojo Opoku

(CVM Founder & President)

Source: Daniel Kaku
Here are some ways to talk to your partner about money, eight clever ways to use aloe vera, and more videos to improve your life.
President Nana Akufo- Addo

27.11.2017 LISTEN

What is this issue flying on all our social media platforms? That the President hints of his government's readiness to legalise same sex marriage in Ghana? I watch the video with shock, the responses of the president. Is this what Ghanaians bargained for?

Now, read what former President John Dramani Mahama said on the same subject at the Scottish Parliament and juxtapose it with what President Akufo Addo said in an interview with Aljazeera.

"My country is a secular one made up of Christians, Muslims and traditional believers. None of these sects accept gayism and lesbianism. As a leader once the people I rule abhor these things, I cannot accept these cultures on the grounds of human rights. Despite our challenges, our nation stands paramount against any other foreign aim,"

H.E John D. Mahama, Scotland 2016.

"I think it is something that is bound to happen.... Elsewhere in the world, the activities of individuals and groups ..... certain awareness, certain developments grew and grew and grew stronger and it forced a change in law. I believe at those are the same processes that will bring the changes in our situation". H.E Nana Akufo Addo, in an interview with Aljazeera

Clearly, one can deduce that the first response comes from a gem and an impeccable genius. A strong leader with character and readiness to protect and defend the sanctity of his country.

If H.E President Akufo Addo does not have the balls to make such a strong case, he should have been smart enough to talk of Free SHS, one district one factory, GhanaPostGPS etc, because this has been his government's mantra all this while.

He went on a trip in which he touted so loud, his agenda of "Ghana beyond aid". One would have thought that it would have emboldened him and give him the urge to make a strong case and affirm the position of his predecessor.

But come to think of it, his responses coupled with commentary from his close confidants, like Garby Asare-Otchere Darko gives one a good reason to believe that this administration has a well planned agenda to legalise homosexuality. God forbid...!

The President by his response also gives directions to homosexuals what to do to serve as a bait to lure Ghanaians into believing that his government is succumbing to pressure from within and without. What he forgot was that Ghanaians are too smart to be fooled. Can someone tell him that he got it all wrong?

The three major religious bodies in this country, and our values and cultures frown on this act, and our laws in principle are also against it. So why do we even talk about it let alone think of legalising it. Is this the promise of "One Bible, One Qur'an"?

Ghanaians must rise up to resist this with all our might. It is time yet again, to see our Civil Society groups, Pastors, Imams, etc, to tune high their microphones to speak against this wicked agenda of the Akufo-Addo government, just as they did some few year back when the discussion raised it head.

The loud silence of these groups and bodies on issues of national interest in recent times is worrying. It begs to understand as to whether the current government is sacred and even when they commit sins it is considered divine. On this subject matter, we expect them disappoint doubtful minds who believe that it will be business as usual.

May the good Lord bless and protect our country from the hands of wicked and tyrants and make our nation grow greater and stronger.

Moh Awal Maswan

Kumasi
27.11.2017 LISTEN

Intellectuals have a very complex attribute of complexifying every issue. It is as if one of the taboos of intellectualism is simplicity. To be simple in analysis is to betray the rhythm of intellectualism. The language the intellectual uses in their discourse analysis is so technical and nuanced that the non-intellectual is unable to unravel and unpack for clarity.

It is very easy for the 'illiterate' to say Africa is underdeveloped than the so-called intellectuals. Intellectuals have the logic of perspectivism and particularism. Universalism is hardly accepted, except when it is in the interest of the intellectual. The 'illiterate', who has no access to potable water, electricity, medication, lives in squalid and poor sanitation conditions, has nothing in terms of money to support the education of his/her children, hardly has enough to eat etcetera, has a clearer and better sense of Africa's underdevelopment compared to the intellectual, whose brains are so foggy that he squirms at the wisdom of the illiterate.

Obviously, the intellectual in Africa is likely to be bourgeois, petty bourgeois, belonging to the middle or upper class of society; and has good drinking water, lives in a gated house, eats more than three times a day; has doctors to attend to him/her; sends his children abroad for education; freely access internet; able to support his physically and mentally challenged children; and able to influence the superstructure and infrastructure of society to his advantage. Because of the privileged position of the intellectual, he has the time to debate and even use all the arsenals of postmodernism to critique and shut down the 'illiterate' when the illiterate cries that Africa is underdeveloped!

By dint of acquiring education (perhaps schooling) and remaining at the apex of the Ivory Tower, the intellectual aspires to be like his counterpart in the developed (sorry, relatively developed) world. He desires to speak impeccable foreign language, speaks like the intellectual in the metropolitan country, occasionally quaffs some good imported rum to cool off, after hours of thinking to critique a theory, eats imported foods, patronises consumables goods at the malls (which are dispossessing the illiterate peasant of space to trade tomato, pepper, and prekese).

The intellectual, therefore, sees the world not from the point of view of the peasant or proletariat, who trades his labour, and yet remains poor and the scum of the earth. Throughout the illiterates life, because he is conventionally unable to break loose from the 'eternity' of the Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' theory, he is likely to pass on the 'gene' of poverty to generations yet unborn. Here, I have in mind, 'Kofi Awoonor's 'Dzogbese Lisa'. Who will listen to the 'illiterate' when he tells the intellectual that Ghana is underdeveloped? Who will listen to the 'illiterate' when he says that Africa is trailing behind? Who will listen to the 'illiterate' when he says that the intellectual has a foreign taste? Who will listen to the 'illiterate' when he tells the intellectual that the intellectual is the reason for Africa's underdevelopment? Who will listen to the illiterate when he tells the world that the African intellectual has a blurred sense of analysing the African dilemma and paradox?

There comes the intellectual: 'you illiterate, keep quiet. Have you been to Oxbridge? What do you know about development? Do you know about colonialism? Have you read Walter Rodneys How Europe Underdeveloped Africa? Have you read Nkrumahs Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism? Can you conceptualise how colonialism undermined our development? What do you know about poverty? Don't you know poverty is relative? Who told you Ghana is underdeveloped? Don't you know we are more morally sophisticated than the West? Have you travelled beyond Ghana? Dont you know we are developed morally than countries that have both decriminalised and legalised homosexuality? Please keep quiet; keep quiet!'

I once felt like slapping a new PhD holder, of course an intellectual, who decided to challenge me that Ghana is not underdeveloped, because development in his postmodernist thought, which is parochial and, as usual unsophisticated, is relative! Considering the fact that I have travelled to very poor communities in Central and Northern Region (proper) and Upper East Regions of Ghana, I felt I should slap the nonsense out of the bookish head of this recent PhD holder, who sighs after he has taken whisky and Red wine!

The intellectual can hardly combine the 'gown and town' logic of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and so he writes his books in the gothic language of the Queen, and yet deludes himself that politicians are the reasons for the challenges of the poor. Who will speak for the 'illiterate'? Why won't religion be the best of option for the 'illiterate'? If the intellectual sighs after consuming his opium, red wine and sometimes wee, which was actually the toast of intellectuals in France, what will the poor sigh on, if not Christ, who made the poor His friends?

I look forward to that day, when the 'illiterate' will turn the wheels against the intellectuals. Of course, Ayi Kwei Armah was right, when he said that: all too soon, those who once called themselves veranda boys are now living in mansions (paraphrasing)! I long to see that day when the 'illiterate' will teach wisdom to the intellectual whose mimesis lifestyle is the direct antithesis of the 'illiterate'!

Satyagraha!!!

Charles Prempeh ([email protected]), African University College of Communications, Accra
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has implored beneficiaries of the Kufuor Scholars Programme to constantly offer humanitarian support to the less privileged.

The Kufuor Scholars Programme was instituted by the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation to cultivate the next crop of transformational leaders and guide young scholars to become agents of social change for sustainable development.

Ex-President Kufuor urged the youth to lend a helping hand through charity works in a bid to bridge the social and economic inequality gap.

Mr Kufuor was advising the Scholars when they paid him a courtesy call at his residence in Kumasi.

He urged the students to serve humanity with humility to ensure socio-economic development

We need leadership in every facet of our lives. Ghana has always since independence been a leader-nation; be ambitious for humanity, but be ambitious with humility being nurtured for leadership doesnt mean you are superior people, you are good when you extend the talent God has given us freely to the service of others to better the lot," the former President said.

A beneficiary of the Scholars Program, Aaron Atimpe, assured the former President of effective social interventions in humility to promote development.

With the exposure and privilege given us, we are poised to supporting the less privileged to enhance their lives and ensure national development with humility," he said.

He pledged on behalf of his colleagues not to deviate from what the JAK Foundation stands for.
China on Monday congratulated Zimbabwe's new President Emmerson Mnangagwa but denied it played any part in his takeover or in the ousting of strongman Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe's army chief General Constantine Chiwenga visited Beijing shortly before the political crisis erupted in Harare, leading to questions about whether Beijing had any role in the power transition.

China had long been one of Mugabe's most powerful allies and a major trade partner, as the West shunned him over his government's human rights violations.

Calling the army chief's visit a pre-arranged and "normal interaction", foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang denied any involvement in Zimbabwean politics.

"It was planned long before and it was also approved by the former President Mugabe," Geng said.

"China always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and this remains unchanged."

Beijing pointedly did not take sides after the army put Mugabe under house arrest earlier this month. Last week the Chinese foreign ministry declared that it respected his decision to resign but praised him as a "good friend" of China.

Relations between the two countries date back to the liberation struggle of the 1960s, when Beijing provided arms and trained some of the top guerrilla leaders.

During those years, Mnangagwa received training in China.

Nicknamed "the Crocodile" for his ruthlessness, Mnangagwa was Zimbabwe's vice president until his sacking earlier this month, which ultimately led to Mugabe's downfall.

"We congratulate President Mnangagwa on his inauguration," Geng said.

"We firmly support Zimbabwe following a path that supports its own national conditions and we believe under the leadership of Mr Mnangagwa Zimbabwe's national development will make further progress."
Prince Harry is to marry his American actress girlfriend Meghan Markle. Harry, fifth in line to the throne, will marry Ms Markle next spring and will live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London.

The couple, who have been dating since the summer of 2016, secretly got engaged earlier this month.

In a statement, Prince Charles said he was delighted to announce his son's news and that Harry had received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents.

Only the Queen and other close members of his family initially knew of the engagement, which took place in London.

The announcement, issued by Clarence House, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall's official residence, said details about the wedding day would be announced in due course.

The engaged couple will appear for photographs outside Kensington Palace on Monday afternoon, and will take part in a broadcast interview in the evening.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh said they were delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, said they were very excited for Harry and Meghan, adding: It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

Prime Minister Theresa May offered her very warmest congratulations and wished the couple great happiness for the future.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: I wish them well, I hope they have a great life together.

He joked: Having met Harry a couple of times I'm sure they're going to have a great deal of fun together.

Ms. Markles parents, Mr. Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland have wished the couple a lifetime of happiness. pic.twitter.com/H4kpTgpkYE

 Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2017

Ms Markle's parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said they were incredibly happy, adding: To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

Harry, 33 and Ms Markle, 36, made their first public appearance as a couple in September.

They were seen together at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games, an international sporting event set up by the prince for injured soldiers.

Their 16-month relationship began in July 2016 when they met through mutual friends in London.

Harry first confirmed his relationship with Ms Markle in November 2016, in a statement from Kensington Palace attacking the media for subjecting her to a wave of abuse and harassment.

That statement said the couple were a few months into a relationship and it was not right that Ms Markle should receive such treatment.

It described nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers, attempts by reporters and photographers to get into her home and the bombardment of nearly every friend and loved one in her life. 'This is our time'

Ms Markle spoke about her love for Harry for the first time in September  telling Vanity Fair magazine: We're two people who are really happy and in love.

She said the pair were enjoying a special time together, adding: I'm sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time.

Ms Markle, 36, may not have been a familiar name in Britain until recently, but in the US she is better known for her role as Rachel Zane in TV legal drama Suits.

She attended a private primary school before studying at a girls' Roman Catholic college and later graduating from Northwestern University School of Communication in 2003, just as her acting career was beginning.

Until recently, a union with Ms Markle would have ruled Harry out of succeeding to the throne  due to her being a Roman Catholic.

But new rules on royal succession came into force in 2015, allowing members of the Royal Family to marry a Roman Catholic and become king or queen.

The instant Prince Harry and Ms Markle are pronounced man and wife she will automatically become Her Royal Highness, Princess Henry of Wales.

However, she does not automatically become Princess Meghan  because she is not of royal blood.

The Queen's late sister Margaret was entitled to call herself Princess Margaret. The Queen's daughter is Princess Anne and her granddaughters are Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

The Queen's great granddaughter, Prince William's daughter, is Princess Charlotte. All of these are, or were, of royal blood and so are princesses in their own right.

But Princess Charlotte's mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, is not known as Princess Catherine. Just as Sarah Ferguson was never Princess Sarah and Sophie Rhys-Jones (wife of Prince Edward) is not Princess Sophie.

Lady Diana Spencer was never officially Princess Diana. She was the Princess of Wales and, after her divorce from Prince Charles, she was Diana, Princess of Wales.

-BBC
History was made on Saturday 25th November 2017 when the Queen of Denmark, Her Majesty Margrethe II paid a momentous visit to Akwamu as part of her State visit to Ghana.

The Queen also wanted to connect with history by viewing the original Christianborg Castle keys which were retained as a trophy by the Akwamuhene in 1694 when he returned the castle to the Danes.

She was welcomed with an official ceremony held at the picturesque Royal Senchi Resort, with State Officials, Palace Elders, Ambassadors and other dignitaries in attendance.

The Akwamuhene, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, flanked by his elders, later welcomed Queen Margrethe to the Bogyawe Palace where they exchanged pleasantries and discussed matters of common interest.

He later presented The Queen with a symbolic Wo Foro Dua Paa Na Ye Piawo royal staff and a framed plaque of the famous Nana Asomani. It was a colourful occasion marked by a spectacular display of tradition.

In her address, Queen Margrethe expressed her pleasure at the opportunity to connect with history and to forge closer ties between the two cultures.

She noted that while it was necessary to acknowledge the not-so-pleasant elements of their shared history, it was important not to allow the past to overshadow the present.

The Akwamuhene thanked The Queen and called for Denmark to be at the forefront of his communitys development agenda through trade, investments, and philanthropy.

He took the opportunity to pay tribute to two Danish friends of Akwamu, Karl Peter Samuelson and Kurt Frandsen who have been volunteering in the region for many years with education, equipment and training.

The Royal visit, which will no doubt place Akwamu firmly on the map of important world heritage locations, signals the importance both monarchs attach to the historic relationship between the Denmark and Akwamu.

There is an ongoing Exhibition at the Bogyawe Palace, Akwamufie.

The over 300 years old Osu Christianborg Castle keys, King Frederick's sword that was awarded to Akwamuhene for his bravery during the Katamanso war, 400-year-old loincloth, and more will be on exhibition for the public from 26th Nov to Dec 3rd 2017 for the first time.

aa

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Jerry Tsatro Mordy | Email: [email protected], Twitter: @jerrymordy
The Ghana Federation of the Disability Organisations (GFD) is poised to launch the Disability Endowment Fund, come 5th December 2017, at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, to sustain its numerous projects and programmes.

The Fund would support GFD in its advocacy work for the rights of Persons with Disability (PWD), and build the capacity and strengthen the organisations of Persons with Disabilities in all 200 districts across the country.

According to Mrs. Beatrice Akua Mahmood, Project Coordinator of GFD, the Endowment Fund will support persons with disabilities discover their potentials and live their dreams, as well as help them contribute to national development.

Stating that Disability is not inability, She appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians, Cooperate Ghana, philanthropists, and well-wishers to support the fund either in kind or cash, to enable the Federation reach out to more persons with disabilities in the country.

She noted that contribution to the fund, among other areas, will help promote access to inclusive education, by identifying those with special needs, enrolling and maintaining children with disabilities in school.

In addition, part of the fund would support the Federations advocacy for inclusive education and healthcare delivery systems so that PWDs could access education and healthcare services without challenges.

Why the Fund?

The Project Coordinator explained that the Fund is being introduced at a time donor support was dwindling, and the increasing need to sustain the implementation of GFD programmes and projects as well as replicate them across the 200 Districts in the country.

She also observed that the Fund would assist all eight (8) member organisations of the GFD in their programmes, support, train and equip PWDs with employable skills as well as facilitate their employment into the public and private sectors through advocacy.

The beneficiaries of the Fund include all Persons with Disabilities in Ghana, and those drawn from the eight member organisations of GFD, comprising the Ghana Blind Union, Ghana National Association of the Deaf, Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, Ghana Association of Persons with Albinism, and the Mental Health Society of Ghana,

Others are Inclusion Ghana  a group of people with intellectual disability, Share Care Ghana  a group of people with auto-immune and neurological disorders, and Burns Survivors Association.

The Federation also works with persons with deaf-blindness and leprosy, and handles general disability issues whilst its member organisations focus on their specific disability needs.

With a vision of ensuring an inclusive society for all persons with disabilities in Ghana, GFD declares it commitment to advocate the rights of Persons with Disability by influencing policies, programmes and activities at the national and local levels and to strengthen the organisations of Persons with Disabilities.

The Federation which marks its 30th Anniversary in this year, has succeeded in influencing the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in Ghanas Elections, through the introduction of tactile ballot system by Electoral Commission of Ghana. This has enhanced blind persons to cast their vote independently in the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 national elections.

Again the registration and voting of persons with psychosocial disabilities in psychiatric hospitals the 2012 and 2016 general elections, was made possible through GFDs efforts.

Similarly, through its advocacy GFD has led to the enactment of the Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) and Mental Health Act, Act 846, 2012 as well as Ghanas ratification of the UN convention on the rights of Persons with Disability.

The allocation of 3% of the District Assembly Common Fund to PWDs, with guidelines for the management, disbursement, utilization, and accountability for the fund was the result of GFDs effort.

To support the Fund, please call: 0302240530 and 0240867200
The Northern Regional Youth Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Mohammed Aminu Adam (Abio) has said that Ghanaians voting the New Patriotic Party (NPP) into power was one of the heinous crimes to have been committed.

He observed that Ghana is currently surviving as a result of the unprecedented investments put in place by former President John Dramani Mahama in the energy sector and other areas.

The NPP has truncated the development of Ghana and has gone ahead to insult Ghanaians and our moral respect, Nana Addo endorsed homosexuality which makes him the worst thing that ever happened to Ghana, Abio said.

Alhaji Abio who was addressing students of the Kpembe Nursing and Midwifery College chapter of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) on Sunday during their handing over ceremony, admonished the membership to play a pivotal role in the new voters registration exercise which is set to commence soon at all branches across the country and to engage their colleagues in debates on the development of Ghana under NDC and NPP.

He said many of their colleagues are home and cannot gain admissions into health training Institutions because of the quota system which the NPP introduced which is a denial of their rights to education.

The NPP is now directing your allowance to the Student Loan Trust. Is it not laughable that that was the same thing former president Mahama started which they opposed vehemently? That should tell you the NPP is not interested in the forward march of Ghana he added.

Mr. Abio also appealed to them to hold the principles of NDC and see the party as superior to anybody.
27.11.2017 LISTEN

Introduction

In this article, we consider the meaning of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) waiver, the factors the CO may consider in recommending NIV waiver, the procedure for requesting a waiver, processing times for deciding a waiver, etc.

What is NIV waiver?

A waiver is a pardon. You may be ineligible to be admitted to the U.S. because of a previous immigration violation. Despite your ineligibility, you may be admitted to the U.S. on the basis of a waiver even though the waiver does not remove the ineligibility caused by the violation.

What factors does the CO consider in a waiver request?

For the CO to recommend a waiver, you must qualify for the NIV you are seeking. If you do not qualify, there will be no basis to request a waiver. If the CO determines that you qualify for the NIV, but they cannot issue a visa because of your ineligibility, they may proceed to consider your waiver request taking account of these factors:

The recency and seriousness of the immigration violation: Generally, eligibility for a waiver is not conditioned on the passage of a specific amount of time since the commission of the violation. However, a waiver request made immediately after a violation may have little chance of success. In general, the passage of time since the violation may be advisable for certain misconduct.

The nature of the reasons for the visit: In requesting a waiver, you do not need to show that your reasons for the visit are compelling. The CO may recommend waivers for any legitimate purpose such as family visits, medical treatment, business conferences, tourism, etc.

The positive or negative effect of the planned travel on U.S. public interests : If the CO determines that your proposed travel may harm U.S. interests, a waiver may not be recommended. Conversely, if the proposed visit may impact U.S. public interests, this may be a positive consideration.

: If the CO determines that your proposed travel may harm U.S. interests, a waiver may not be recommended. Conversely, if the proposed visit may impact U.S. public interests, this may be a positive consideration. Whether the violation is a single, isolated incident or a pattern of misconduct: It is for you to show that you have not committed other violations since the misconduct that incurred the ineligibility. If the CO determines that you have committed other violations, they may conclude that its a repetitive conduct.

Evidence of reformation or rehabilitation: The CO will identify any factors that may lead them to conclude that you have been rehabilitated and unlikely to repeat actions that led to the ineligibility.It is for you to provide evidence in this regard.

How should I request NIV waiver?

There is no specific form on which you must request NIV waiver. NIV waiver is free. You must state your basis for the waiver of evidence. Depending on the ineligibility, this may be declarations from third parties, court or police records, medical reports, etc.Any document in a foreign language must be accompanied by an English translation.

Where should I request the NIV waiver?

You must request the waiver at a U.S. Embassy or consulate. There are two ways to do this. You may attend your NIV interview without your waiver request. If the CO determines that you are eligible for a waiver, they will refuse you under 221(g) or other applicable provision of law and request that you return with your waiver request at a later date.

The alternative, (which is highly recommended) is to prepare your waiver request on hand at the time of your NIV interview. You can then hand it to the CO if they inform you that you are eligible to seek a waiver. This will save you a lot of time.

What happens if the CO accepts my waiver request?

By law, the CO cannot approve a waiver request. If the CO determines that you are eligible to seek a waiver they may send a recommendation to the Admissibility Review Office (ARO) for a determination.

How long does it take for a waiver request to be determined?

The average processing time for a waiver request is 120 days. There are expedited requests, but these are reserved for cases with an urgent humanitarian need for travel, such as medical treatment or a death in the applicant's family and cases where there is clear and significant U.S. government interest.

What is the validity period for a waiver request?

If your waiver request is approved, you may be granted multiple applications for admission for a maximum period of 5 years. This does not imply that you will be entitled to a visa for the5 years. The validity period of the waiver granted is in no way related to the validity of visa granted.

For example, if you are granted a 5-year waiver and issued a B visa valid for 1 year, this does not mean that you will be entitled to receive a visa for the remaining 4 years.

Conclusion

Facing a temporary or permanent inadmissibility may not prevent you entirely from being admitted to the U.S. You may be eligible to request a waiver if you are able to satisfy the criteria.

By Emmanuel Opoku Acheampong

Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on US immigration law. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information. The writer is an immigration law advisor and a practicing law attorney in Ghana. He advises on Ghana, US, UK, and Schengen immigration law. He is a Managing Partner of Acheampong & Associates Ltd, an immigration law firm in Accra. He may be contacted on [email protected] or www.acheampongassociates.com
The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has told the International Community that the emergence of political vigilantism in Ghana poses a serious threat to the peace and security of the country.

This development has the tendency not only to disturb the peace of the country but adversely affect the countrys credentials as the oasis of peace in Africa.

The NDC general secretary was addressing a meeting of the council of the Socialist International (SI) held in Barcelona, Spain over the weekend.

Political parties from Seventy- three (73) countries who are members of Socialist International attended the two-day meeting. The Socialist International is a worldwide association of political parties, most of which seek to establish democratic socialism. Is a union of democratic socialist, social-democratic and labour political parties and other organisations.

Mr. Asiedu drew the attention of the international community and the Barcelona meeting to the activities of the pro-New Patriotic Party, (NPP) vigilante groups, citing recent activities of Invincible Forces, which he described as having effects on the development of the country. According to him, research indicates that most wars and conflicts in Africa could be attributed to failure by governments to halt the activities of vigilantes.

He, therefore, urged the international community to do whatever it takes to impress on the government of Ghana to act by stopping the activities of vigilantism in the country or declare itself incapable of ruling the country.

This is because we handed over the country peacefully to the current government and nothing should be done to disturb the peace, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah stated.

He was also not happy with fines on over a hundred radio stations in Ghana as that would affect democracy and free speech.

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah told the meeting that many parts of the world today are threatened by wars involving superpowers pursuing agendas of global power dominance and intra state conflicts fanned by the struggle for power and greed on the part of politicians and their accomplices.

He pointed out that most of these wars and conflicts have resulted in malnutrition and displacement of large population and, undermines the stability and cause human misery. This has led to growing impoverishment of population and undermines the stability of global peace, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah stated.

The NDC secretary is expected to address the media on resolutions taken at the meeting on his arrival at the Airport in Ghana on Wednesday.
The government says it will begin disbursing the remaining 80 percent funds to the other 56 Senior High Schools (SHSs) under the Free SHS programme.

Deputy Minister for Education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum explained that the monies delayed because the schools involved did not send their returns on time.

He told Joy News Gifty Andoh Appiah Monday, that the amount will be disbursed in the coming days.

The Nana Akufo-Addo government released 20 percent of the budgeted GH400 million needed in September for the start of the initiative at the beginning of the 2017/18 academic year.

The Minority in Parliament last week predicted a collapse of the countrys secondary education in five years if the challenges plaguing the sector under the Free SHS policy are not fixed.

They said the challenges bedevilling SHS education under Akufo-Addo's flagship Free SHS policy are overwhelming and will cripple the schools soon.

Former Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Former Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on the floor of Parliament, said the provision made for the policy in the 2018 budget is inadequate.

In 2018, we are talking about four terms, and yet you have provided for only 1.13 billion for free SHS; which is woefully inadequate," he said.

"Mr Speaker, what is more even troubling is that the whole of Ghana was expecting that the Budget under education would come with a Marshal Plan; a rescue package for the disaster, which this country is grappling with," he added.

But Dr Adutwum dismissed the Minority's concerns insisting the policy is working just fine.

He said government is poised to better the lives of Ghanaians and is working hard to ensure that is achieved.

The Deputy Education Minister said he does not know how much the country is making from the Voluntary Education Fund.

I dont know because it is not going to replace any money we are getting from Free SHSwe dont want to think as if it that is what is going to be used for Free SHSit will be an additional funding that will support education, he explained further.
A Law lecturer at the Ghana School of Law, Moses Foh-Amoaning has cautioned against giving prominence to the debate over whether or not Ghana should amend its laws and legalise homosexuality.

According to him, the practice of homosexuality is purely a psychiatric problem and persons suffering from such a condition must be helped instead of being granted a right to engage in.

The difficulty is the elevation of what is clearly a psychiatric problem, Mr. Foh-Amoanging, told Kojo Yankson on the Joy FM Super Morning Show, Monday, November 27, 2017, "to a human rights issue."

The debate over the country giving recognition to same-sex marriage was stoked after the president, Nana Akufo-Addo, in an interview with international news network Aljazeera, said the country's culture and tradition, for now, do not allow the legalisation of homosexuality but was quick to add that if public opinion changes, the law may just be amended.

This is a social, cultural issue, I dont believe that in Ghana so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say change it, lets now have a new paradigm in Ghana.

At the moment, I dont feel, I dont see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something we need to deal with. It is not so far a matter that is on the agenda, he added.

Under Ghanaian criminal law, same-sex sexual activity is illegal. It describes the act as unnatural carnal knowledge" under Chapter six of the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 2003.

But Foh-Amoaning, who belongs to National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, believes some gay rights advocates are heavily crafting an agenda to refuel the debate.

We have information about the gay community pumping money to journalists to do the propaganda. So there is a lot of money; there is a lot of strategies they have put behind this and thats why they are putting pressure on our presidents and our leaders," he claimed.

Mr. Foh-Amoaning challenged President Akufo-Addo to stand by his moral values as well as his election campaign mantra the battle is the Lords  and resist every attempt to coerce him to yield to the pressure from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

He argued: if we the people who gave him the power tell him that 'Mr. President, we believe in you [and] we trust you; the battle is the Lords, go and wage this battle for Africans. Stand up and say you [West] say you like same-sex, keep it to your side, you say you dont like polygamy [and] youve criminalised it fine with us. And if you speak like that Ghanaians will support you and God will bless this country.

Christian Council

General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong has also demanded that government states in clear terms the country's stance on homosexuality is.

He said like the late president John Evans Attah Mills, the president must be clear on his stance because as far as he is concerned the country will not accept homosexuality.

He [late Mills] was very exact and that is what we want to hear from our leaders today or tomorrow.

Maybe I didnt hear him well, so somebody should come and explain to us exactly what the policy direction of this government is as far as same-sex marriage is concerned, it will help us, he told Joy News on Sunday.

Policy viewpoint

Policy Analyst, Kofi Bentil says debating the issue is a waste of time and scarce resources which the government cannot readily afford.

In the opinion of Mr. Bentil, the nation would be better off not spending time over the matter although he found the position of the law on same-sex marriage is discriminatory.

Today the law says that it is illegal, even though that law is discriminatory. Those of us who are even against it [same-sex] do not think that we should do anything concerning the present law on homosexuality. We should just leave it at that and go on and discuss other things.

Kofi Bentil, who is also the Vice President at IMANI Africa, said: This is not the proper use of government time or resources. Let us leave this matter alone because it is nobodys business trying to control what other people do.
Mr. Ishmael Godwin Archton-Tettey, the Head of Department of Languages at Akatsi College of Education, has urged teachers to teach pupils how to pronounce words correctly for improved reading skills.

Speaking, as a resource person, at the third spelling bee and reading festival of Compassion International for some 300 children from 14 communities within the Tongu area, Mr. Archton-Tettey said, A wrong pronunciation and spelling of words negatively affects the childs ability to read well. There is, therefore, the need for all of us, especially teachers, to help the child to learn to pronounce and to spell words correctly. 

Mr. Anthony Kwaku Amoah, a Public Relations Officer of Ghana Education Service (GES), who chaired the function, thanked teachers for their hard work and urged parents and other stakeholders to intensify their support services to children in education.

Speaking on the theme, Shaping the future today through reading, Madam Rosemond Nutifafa Adanuti, who is a teacher and counsellor, told parents to pay more attention to the education of their children for better life.

Mr. Richard Baku, the Partnership Facilitator of the Tongu Cluster of Projects of Compassion International, said his outfit had supported about 4,000 underprivileged children in education since 2012 and that it needs the support of stakeholders to reach out to other needy children.

Kpoviadzi won both the 3-5 year and 6-11 year groups for spelling, and again won the reading contest for the 3-5 year group as Mafi-Anfoega won it for the 12 years plus category. Asiekpe and Dove won the reading for the 6-11 year and 12 years plus categories respectively.

Compassion International, a non-profit-making Christian-based organisation, has been operating in seven out of the ten regions of Ghana, including Volta Region, to take children out of poverty and to use education to support them to be useful adults in the future.

School bags, reading books and certificates were given to all the contestants as the winner communities took trophies.

A Cross-section Of Participants At The Function
27.11.2017 LISTEN

I call upon all NPP delegates to join "David Kankam Boadu Footsoldiers Movement for Real Change" so that, together we will rescue the party from the hands of the few who always use our footsoldiers (grassroots) and dump them!

No more " Out of Coverage Area Money therefore, No more Crying and Complaining " but, real sense of urgency to rescue NPP and get the party to work for You.

The Presidency must take care of state matters and NPP will take care of her children (Footsoldiers)

Like me or not, I am for you and for real change, NPP footsoldiers(grassroots) are fed up with the lip service culture.

Under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo Ghana is working again.

Under David Kankam Boadu's Chairmanship, NPP will work, and work for your benefit. The party will not continue to be a "dormant" political party for our grassroots anymore, but a party that will take care of you financially giving meaning to why you are a member and not just a preserve for the very few. Therefore you are not going to be "just" a member as it appears to be now.

No one is a special party member than the other all members are important irrespective of educational background, status in society or their economic strength.

There should never be discrimination as I've heard members complained from 2007 across the country till now, so together, we must bring this cankerworm to an end.

Forget about personalities and out of coverage area money but rather, ideas and programs that will make NPP successful for the benefit of one and all.

My name is David Kankam Boadu, the voice of the ordinary NPP member.

David Kankam Boadu is an Aspiring NPP National Chairman
I am happy when I see young guys trooping to various theological seminaries to know more about the mandate and also to reduce their ignorance. Its amazing because they turned to learn a lot of interesting stuffs like hermeneutics, homiletics, systematic theology, numerology and interpretation and a lot of rich stuff. Its good because bible says 'to your knowledge add', so we have to study. On the flip side, I feel sad because I know very well that ' Most theologians themselves don't know God'. So the question becomes assuming, the theologians themselves dont know God, what will be my reference factor before I get into this seminary? In other words, what have you been doing all these while before you had admission?

I have witnessed fire evangelists who gathered saints and sinners in the stadium and won millions to Christ with their basic bible knowledge, immediately they entered bible school and came back one went into journalism and wrote a book entitled 'farewell to God', meaning God 'bye, bye'. And the other left the ministry to go and sell cars. Question: what new did they go to learn in the bible school that flawed their ideology about their personal relationship with God? I have heard from a prominent man of God in a particular country who was almost killed by a Bishop of another church. The bishop had Doctorate in Theology. Question: what did he learn when he was pursuing his doctorate in the things of God? (Sometimes I wonder whether we understand this job we are venturing into?). We heard about men of God sending assassins to go and murder another man of God, why? Bishops dont care to pay bribe to occupy a position anymore. Pastors dont care to poison each other to overthrow them. Why? Because bible school only teaches you theory, the practicality of your walk with God is a personal development exercise, it has no brick and mortar connection.

If you have not disciplined yourself enough to listen to the Holy Spirit before venturing into this theological seminaries there is a likelihood to replace the spirit of the lord with the voice of an angry lecturer who doesn't take care of his wife at home. They impact you with every negative in them. Many people lecturing us about God are mostly rejected by God themselves, they are only lecturing to stay relevant. They are only left with the titles but the mantle has been taken by the master, so they have grades without grace. They have a result for their labor but without favor. They are in position but no unction.

Apostle Johnson Sulleyman has read the entire bible 36 times before he went to the bible school, Dr. Myles Munroe was an addicted bible reader and researcher before he stepped into the bible school, Bishop David Oyedepo was a word- addict, Papa Adeboye have still not been to the bible school yet (I don't know when he will go?), Papa Billy Graham has never stepped foot there but with sincerity of heart and motive, they are making sporadic and colossal impact today. Should you still go to the bible school? Yes, Go if you have the chance, but just make sure you know the God who called you already so no agent will paint another anthropomorphic picture of God to you to influence your spirituality. Let me end by saying if you don't know God at home, you can't know him at school'. Master the art yourself.

All these casualties in the body of Christ is caused largely by carnal men who haven't mastered the art of the spirit before venturing into the ministry with some diploma from another frustrated minister who couldn't identify the voice of God from the voice of men. The truth is if you are not prayerful before you venture, the diploma in theology won't increase your prayer life. You dont wait for the confirmation of man through clerical before you carry out your assignment- Build a solid relationship with God, thats your way out. R. Duafah
Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma unlawfully dismissed his vice president after he was expelled from the ruling party, a West African regional court said on Monday.

Samuel Sam-Sumana was kicked out of the All People's Congress (APC) in March 2015 on suspicion of fomenting violence, deceit, fraud and threatening party officials.

He went into hiding and applied for asylum in the United States, then appealed the expulsion to the country's Supreme Court, where he lost in September 2015.

But judge Chijioke Nwoke and two others at the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said due process had not been followed.

The APC constitution includes a 30-day appeals period. The party expelled Sam-Sumana on March 6, 2015 and he filed his appeal 20 days later.

"On this ground alone, it is sufficient to void the applicant's removal from office," Nwoke said in a written judgment read to the court in Abuja on Monday.

"In all circumstances, it is always required that the law should be allowed to run its course.

"The exercise of power... should be circumscribed with the requirements of due process and this has not been satisfied in this particular case."

The judges said as such, his right to participate in government and right to a fair hearing under the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights had been breached.

The court ordered Sierra Leone to back-date Sam-Sumana's salary and benefits from the day of his removal and pay court costs.

He had applied for costs of some $10 million (8.4 million euros) but his lawyer, Raymond Atuguba, said it was not immediately clear how much would be paid.

"This case was not just about cost," he told reporters outside court.

"It's about the integrity of the Sierra Leonian state and the rule of law, which says that a president cannot just get up one fine morning and just dismiss his vice-president."

Sam-Sumana hailed the ruling as "a message to our Sierra Leone and Africa as a whole" to use the courts, rather than violence, to resolve disputes.

Sierra Leone holds elections next year and Sam-Sumana said the ruling paved the way for him to run for president.

"I'm sure by March 7, you will be talking to the next president of Sierra Leone," he told reporters.

The court's rulings are binding on all member states, final and not subject to appeal.
I have been enjoying the discourse of the President's interview about homosexuality on various radio stations and social media platforms but one thing is clear; Ghanaians are very unpredictable!

If you ask my opinion, below is it......

First of all I may step on many toes with my opinion but that's actually the outpouring of my clear conscience and moral values.

I vehemently DO NOT and WILL NEVER embrace the idea of homosexuality because not only do I think it's barbaric, but also a big reproach to the human race.

Just as you won't see animals of the same sex mating....

Just as you wouldn't ideally eat food through your ears...

Just as God brought Adam Eve and not Steve when he needed a helpmate....

So do I think it's first class insanity for a man to have any sexual affair with his fellow man and also woman with another woman.

Also we all know the constitution of Ghana frowns at homosexuality.

Our culture and traditions frown at homosexuality.

And most importantly, God almighty frowns at homosexuality.

So there's absolutely no way I'll join the coward minority to endorse it.

It's sad that some people make the assertion that disapproving homosexuality is an abuse of human rights but fail to acknowledge the fact that homosexuality itself is an abuse on the human race.

I don't mince words when I dare say that this act is insane, abnormal, absurd and beyond stupidity.

I know there are groups and individuals here who can't openly declare their stance as gays or lesbians simply because they know it's illegal and their conscience is judging them.

God blessed everyone with conscience to know what's good or bad, what's right or wrong, what's normal or abnormal. Apart from the laws of the land being a stumbling block, some homosexuals definitely have guilty conscience and can't voice out their "crazy desire," knowing how insane they'll sound to people.

It is a known fact that the agenda behind some Christian countries who aforetime frowned at homosexuality but now accept it is MONEY.

In fact the love of money completely blinded the leaders of their moral values and they sadly legalized homosexuality.

I may not know about the western world but here's my advocacy to African leaders;

Let's stand up for what's morally right!

Our culture, tradition and even religion doesn't encourage the craze of Mary marrying Mariam and John marrying Jonathan.

Let's protect our moral values and live with purity as God expects of us.

Let's not be controlled by money to the extent of throwing away our conscience.

We as Africans are far more valuable than money!

Let's not bow to the pressure of the western world who may only offer help by accepting any demonic act as normality.

Let's not allow that to happen!

And now to Mr President of Ghana, your excellency Nana Akuffo Addo, I have watched and listened to your interview severally today, and when I compare it to that of the late President Atta Mills concerning homosexuality, yours has a lot of potholes waiting to be filled. I mean your inability to emphatically declare your stance on this matter has caused a big big fear and worry in the majority of Ghanaians who absolutely dislike the legalization of homosexuality in Ghana.

I believe you being a stunt Christian, with your able vice who is also stunt Muslim, wouldn't in away way throw away your religious values and you'll rather sing the song of the majority of Ghanaians who still approve of the marriage of John & Mary and not John and Jonathan.

Thank You!
The Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu, has blamed the low level of harmonization of the regulatory practice for medical products on the absence of adequate technical capacity among African countries.

He indicated that the subject of medical products regulation harmonisation has been on the drawing board for quite sometime and the initial assessments pointed out that it takes as long as 4 years or more to get access to global health medicinal products in certain African countries.

The sector minister noted that other factors have been resource constraints, different technical and administration requirements between countries and failure to leverage regulatory review activities already performed by trusted and better resourced regulatory authorities.

Speaking at the ceremony of the 3rd Biennial Scientific Conference for medical Products in Africa under the theme, Sustaining the Momentum for Regulatory Harmonization in Africa, he added that The idea of harmonisation was birthed out of a need to address these obstacles to access of medicines in the region.

Mr. Manu said it was also to ensure quality and safety of medical products in the African region while preventing duplication of efforts by member states.

In light of this, according to him, brought about the creation of the African Medicine Regulatory Harmonisation (AMRH) initiative with a vision to reduce the overall timelines for regulatory processes throughout the life cycle of a product without compromising product safety, efficacy, good performance and quality.

The sector minister indicated that the strategy that this initiative sought to adopt is to use the Economic Communities within the African continent to achieve the vision.

Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu in view of the challenges, encouraged countries to open up a little bit more to this agenda and consolidate their efforts at leveraging on all fronts including language differences and differences in organisational structures and guidelines.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Ghana, Dr. Owen Laws Kaluwa emphasised that regulatory action is a merticulous and day-to-day work that enables the proper functioning of the entire health system.

It is for this reason, he indicated, that the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.8 highlights access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.

This is one of the core SDG targets on the par with the Universal Health Coverage. Leave No Child Behind- neither poor nor elderly, neither child nor mother, nor any human being, who needs medical attention, clinical intervnetion or health advice. This is the spirit and the quintessence of Universal Health Coverage, a visonary principle that paves the way for good health and well-being for all, at any time and at any age, Dr. Owen stated.

He posited that the commitment to assure quality of medical products should not remain a regulators bsuiness only as community engagement is another key to make substantial progress in this area.
Influential bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday urged President Joseph Kabila to pledge he will not seek a third term in office, aiming to ease fears of unrest.

Roman Catholic bishops last year helped broker a deal under which elections for a new president would be held in 2017.

However, the ballot has been delayed, with the country's electoral commission blaming logistical problems.

Under international pressure, the mineral-rich but chronically poor and politically unstable country has now scheduled the vote for December 23, 2018.

The bishops, after holding an extraordinary meeting on DRC's crisis, called on Kabila "to reassure public opinion" that he will not be a candidate "to his own succession," they said in a statement.

In power since 2001, his prolonged rule has already led to street protests and a bloody crackdown. He was to have stepped down in December after a constitutional maximum of two terms in office.

However, he is allowed to remain in office until a successor is elected, according to a court ruling.

The electoral commission declared that organising a vote in the vast central African country was not possible before March 2019, before the DR Congo's foreign partners upped the pressure and a timetable was issued.

'Opening of Democratic debate'

"It is essential, on the grounds of (demonstrating) sincere political will, to reassure the Congolese people and international partners by providing guarantees that elections will effectively be held," they warned.

The bishops also called on the government to publish a funding plan for the poll and to ease constraints concerning political prisoners and exiles.

The authorities made arrests ahead of an opposition march on November 15, sparking concern from the United States, Switzerland and Canada about limits on the freedom of expression.

Despite these worries, the government banned rallies due this week in Kinshasa over Kabila's extended rule. It prompted DR Congo's former colonial power Belgium to urge a more open dialogue.

"The measures on the demonstrations don't really do much to ease tensions," said Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, in Kinshasa to inaugurate a new Belgian and Dutch embassy.

"We would like to see in the coming months a real opening of the public space and democratic debate."

Two decades ago DR Congo collapsed into the deadliest conflict in modern African history.

Its two wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s dragged in at least six African armies and left more than three million dead. The east of the country remains a battleground for rival ethnic militias.

Kabila took office after his father Laurent-Desire Kabila was assassinated in 2001 at the height of the Second Congo War.

He was confirmed as leader in 2006 during the first free elections since independence, and re-elected for a second term in 2011 in a vote marred by accusations of fraud.
The UN Security Council must take stronger measures, possibly including sanctions, to put a stop to slave auctions in Libya, the French ambassador said Monday.

France has requested an urgent meeting of the council for Tuesday, a week after the top UN body held a debate on human trafficking that touched on the abuse of migrants in Libya.

"We must go much further, much further in terms of saying 'no' to an unacceptable situation," French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters.

Asked whether sanctions were possible, Delattre said: "We are working on every conceivable measure to fight against this scourge. We don't exclude anything."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week he was horrified by footage aired by CNN showing an apparent live auction of African migrants to be used as farmhands.

The men were sold for as little as $400.

'Egregious abuses'

Guterres said the slave auctions were "among the most egregious abuses of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity."

African leaders have expressed outrage over the images and called for an inquiry; Libyan officials say they have opened an investigation.

The reported slave auctions have raised questions about whether European Union migration agreements meant to curb Mediterranean crossings are instead turning human traffickers into slave traders as increasing numbers of migrants find themselves stuck in Libya, penniless, desperate and vulnerable.

Libya became an enormous transit hub for sub-Saharan Africans setting sail for Europe after the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 tipped the country into chaos.

The European Union has been desperate to stem the migrant influx, as more than 1.5 million migrants have reached Europe since 2015.

Migration will dominate an EU summit with the African Union in Ivory Coast this week. Guterres will be in attendance.
We are pleased to participate in this exhibition. It links us, nostalgically, with our past. As you put this past on show today, it is our prayer that the people and government of Austria will show humaneness and magnanimity and return to us some of these objects which found their way to your country.

World Museum, Vienna, formerly Ethnology Museum, opened on 25 October 2017 with a lot of fanfare, musical performances and dances amongst a large public. The whole museum had closed since 2013 but its African section where the Benin Bronzes were kept, was closed to the public in 2000 and opened in 2007 briefly for the exhibition entitled Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria. Thus effectively, visitors who came to visit the African section were unable to see the famous African pieces in the Ethnology Museum for 17 years.

The museum re-opened in renovated premises which should please the public which is used to modern museum architecture in other places. I was particularly pleased that the main majestic iron entrance was kept, renovated in impressive green. Innovations include also a spacious coffee bar and a larger book/gift shop. What we saw in the interior added to the feeling that there had been a strong determination on the part of the authorities to present a thoroughly modernized museum. The architects have undoubtedly realized a museum that should meet world standards in a museum that calls itself World Museum. (1)

The 14 exhibition halls - are very spacious and do require some time if one intends to see them all:

Benin and Ethiopia, Culture war, Mosaic of Brazil, Colonialism, View on China,

Japan comes to Europe, Collecting Craze, South Seas, Indonesia, World in Motion, Into a New World, Orient, Mesoamerica, A Village in the Mountains

I was bothered a little by some halls that were dimly lighted as ethnology museums were wont to do, perhaps in order to focus on the objects displayed and create a certain amount of exoticism and mystery. We personally, believe dim lights that almost amount to darkness, should be avoided especially as most of the objects came from non-Western countries where such objects are displayed in light. It appeared to me that in some places there were far too many objects displayed in a way that reminded one of the old cramped ethnology museums even though here there is plenty of space.

Court Dwarfs, Benin, Nigeria, now in World Museum, Vienna, Austria.

Overall, the new premises of the World Museum, Vienna, and the disposition of the halls, as well as the displays, may be considered as successful.

One must also congratulate the museum for inviting individuals from countries where the artefacts came from to express their views on them.

This is a partial admission that African history and culture are best articulated by the Africans themselves. How would our Austrian friends feel if most of the icons of Austrian art and culture had been looted/stolen and kept in Nigeria and other African countries for a century and then called to assist in the presentation of the artefacts? Would they not feel that Austrian culture is best presented by Austrians? Unsurprisingly, many speakers from Africa are critical of the looting and transfer of African artefacts from the Continent to Europe; some are grateful that their artefacts are being displayed in Western museums.

The museum itself has adopted a somewhat critical attitude towards the colonial heritage:

Most of the worlds population was dominated by foreign powers in the years between 1500 and 1920. This foreign rule was defined by conflicts and exploitation. Against this backdrop, ethnographic museums flourished in the 19th and 20th century and shaped stereotypical beliefs of lost or colonialized Cultures.

Today we face our colonial past not only to raise awareness but also to learn from it. After all, how we deal with our collections and the people related to them in the present will shape the image of ethnographic collections in the future. (2)

The sentence Most of the worlds population was dominated by foreign powers in the years between 1500 and 1920 does not reflect the fact that it was the non-European peoples that were dominated by Europe. True appreciation of the world situation is not helped by such a vague and misleading description.

Before the decades closure of the World Museum, the most discussed issue was the question of restitution of looted/stolen objects from non-European sources. The burning issue after the opening of the museum is still the question of restitution. This question is not likely to go away until Western museums finally begin to return a considerable number of artefacts to Africa, Asia and the Americas.

As we have consistently stated in our articles, the renovation of museum premises or the construction of entirely new museum buildings does not have any effect on the legal status of the artefacts nor on the legitimacy of their possession by Western museums. (3) The Musee du quai Branly, Paris, an entirely new museum that opened in 2006 inherited looted/stolen artefacts from Musee de lHomme and Musee des arts africains et oceaniens that have been described in Afrique Fantome by Michel Leiris. Nobody has suggested that the transfer of artefacts to the new museum in any way affected their legal status or removes in any way their status as colonial plunder. Similarly, the transfer of looted/stolen artefacts from the Ethnology Museum, Berlin, Germany to the new Humboldt Forum has in no way removed the stigmata of looted object. On the contrary, the new institution is faced with more vehement criticisms as the city palace in Berlin, nears completion. (4)

Commemorative Heads, Benin, Nigeria, now in World Museum, Vienna.

World Museum, Vienna, has in the past acted in concert with other Western museums to deny in principle restitution to request from African countries. These museums were all parties to the discredited Declaration on the Value and Importance of the Universal Museums (2000). A good example of the World Museums policy is illustrated by the museums attitude and actions regarding the restitution of the looted Benin artefacts of which there are 167 in the Vienna museum. At an international symposium organized within the framework of the Benin exhibition, Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, 2007, the Benin delegation stated that if each of the Western museums holding Benin artefacts returned one artefact, the Benin Monarch would be satisfied. To this very modest request, Christian Feest, then Director of the Volkerkundemuseum promptly denied that any artefact could be returned. This writer told the Director that the reasons he had advanced were not valid. Earlier on, the Benin Monarch had made a similar plea in the catalogue of the exhibition. (5)

In 2013, at a meeting in Nigeria, the World Museum and other Western museums adopted a so-called Benin Plan of Action for Restitution, which inter alia, indicated that they might in future return some of the looted artefacts for exhibition. (6)

Recently in 2017, there have been announcements in newspapers about a proposal to organize an exhibition in Benin City, Nigeria, with some of the looted artefacts now held in Western museums but with ownership remaining with western museums that are illegally holding onto the looted artefacts. We have expressed our views on this insulting project. (7) The following institutions attended the meeting of the so-called dialogue group in March 2017 at the University of Cambridge:

British Museum, London,

Horniman Museum, London,

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge,

Pitt-Rivers Museum, University of Oxford,

Humboldt Forum, Berlin,

Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlung Sachsen, Leipzig and Dresden,

Worldmuseum, Vienna,

Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden,

Varldskultumuseerna, Stockholm.

What the recent proposals make clear is that the World Museum, Vienna, and the other Western museums are not prepared to return any of the looted items to the Oba of Benin and his people who have for a century been seeking the return of the artefacts looted by the British in 1897 and sold to other Western museums.

We have made various suggestions regarding the restitution of the Benin Bronzes in Western museums. Our main position has been that some of the 3500 artefacts that were looted with violence by the British Army in the invasion of Benin City in 1897 must be returned. We have also suggested that there could also be symbolic restitution in some cases. There are political, social and psychological reasons for restitution of artefacts that have been wrenched from the Kingdom of Benin. From all that Western museums have proposed so far, we can only conclude that they do not want to understand what the invasion, the violent looting of artefacts and the burning of Benin City in 1897 mean for the Edo people, Nigerians and Africans. The resentments of the African peoples towards colonialism and continued Western domination are imperceptible to Western museum establishments. One cannot otherwise explain the unwillingness of Western museums to return some objects to Benin, especially as they complain regularly that they do not have enough space to display most of the objects under their control.

World Museum, Vienna, has given itself a critical and anti-colonial position in its hall on colonialism. But how useful is this new attitude? After some 57 years of Independence of the African countries, one may well be anti-colonialist as the formal colonial system as such does not exist anymore. Besides, the criticism of the colonial system has been effectively made by Africans and Asians and their leaders who led the fight against colonial domination. What is now required is not a prolongation of these discussions but efforts to repair what can be repaired. One may well be sceptical about those who criticise the colonial regime but are not willing to return even one of the artefacts brought to the West through the colonial system.

Imagine, if on the day of the re-opening of the museum, its Director or other official could have made the following statement:

During the decade closure of the African section of the museum, we have been in close contact and negotiations with the Oba of Benin and the Nigerian authorities and have reached the following conclusions: Considering the circumstances and conditions of the acquisition of the Benin artefacts, the World Museum returns to the Oba of Benin and his people today,100 of the 167 that are here in the museum. The parties will continue to discuss the future status of the remaining Benin artefacts.

Instead we get in the museum book, welt museum wien, the following statement Moreover, there are ongoing discussions surrounding claims and questions with regard to the restitution of objects to the royal family. (8) No information is provided about what claims are being made, who the parties are, and their arguments.

We also note that Montezumas Crown is still in the World Museum, Vienna.

Montezumas Crown, Mexico, now in World Museum, Vienna, Austria.

The last time we dealt with this issue in 2011, we were optimistic that Austria was seriously considering returning the Montezumas Crown. After all, the ruling party, SPO, President Klestil, the Green Party and lot of leading cultural personalities were in favour of returning the disputed artefact which means a lot to the Mexicans and their culture but does not have any importance for Austrian culture. (9)

From the renovated World Museum, one has the impression that we are far away from any idea of return. The Feather Crown is the centre piece of the current exhibition and the first object described in the museum guide. The new publication on this issue, Quetzal Feather Headdress by Gerard van Bussel, published under the imprint of the KHM-Museumsverband, that controls the World Museum, in time for the re-opening of the museum, seems more intent in convincing us that what has been called, Montezumas Crown, now titled, Quetzal Feather Headdress may never have been worn by the famous Aztec king: The current evidence is not sufficient for a clarification of this question, and every attempt at discovering the ultimate meaning remains speculative. (10) Even assuming that Moctezuma was not the wearer of this impressive headdress, since Mexicans consider this an essential object of their culture, and no one denies it is Mexican, and the object has no importance for Austrian culture should Austria not be willing to return the artefact to the only country in the world that seemed to care about Austrias existence as an independent State and protested when Nazi Germany annexed Austria on 12 March 1938?

Presenting a more critical approach to colonialism and Western domination, conditions that made possible the amassing of an extraordinary amount of materials in the World Museum as in other Western museums, that the museum cannot possibly display, one would be entitled to expect a more sympathetic approach to demands for restitution of the Benin artefacts and the Moctezumas crown.

One aspect of the re-opening that pleased me was to see that finally the World Museum has produced not only a museum book, simply called, welt museum wien but also a small guide entitled, In a Nutshell. (11) If the publication of the two books fills a loophole, I was not particularly happy with what I read there. We read in the museum book the following about the Benin artefacts:

Against the backdrop of the so-called punitive expedition of 1897, the British brought the royal treasure of Oba Ovonramwen to London, from where it was distributed across the world, thus compensating for the costs of the expedition Nevertheless, we still do not know precisely how, for what purpose, and in which context certain objects were used. Moreover, there are ongoing discussions surrounding claims and questions with regard to the restitution of objects to the royal family. (12)

This description is extraordinary. How is the average museum visitor or reader to know that punitive expedition is a full-scale military invasion intended to punish a population and a king that resist British imperialist hegemony? How does the reader know that innocent women and children were killed, artefacts were looted from the Obas palace, Benin City was burnt, Benin nobles and chiefs were executed, and the Oba sent into exile?

Where does one get this idea that the looted treasures were distributed across the world? The looted Benin treasures were not distributed. Many were kept by the British and the rest sold at auction by the notorious auctioneer, W.D. Webster, in London to other Europeans from Austria, Germany and Netherlands. Benin artefacts are not all over the world but mainly in Western museums such as World Museum, Vienna, British Museum, London and Ethnology Museum, Berlin. (13) The statement about not knowing for what the purposes the Benin artefacts were made is strange. It creates the impression that Benin people are an obscure group about which little is known and perhaps, may even have disappeared. A few paragraphs before this statement, the same author writes: As with other objects, the relief plaques from the Benin Kingdom can be understood as historical stories; they aid in remembering certain events or individuals. Do we know, or do we not know the purposes of the Benin objects? One of the leading experts on Benin, Barbara Plankensteiner, was until a few months ago, Deputy-Director at the World Museum, Vienna. She has produced inter alia, two books on Benin: Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, (2007), Benin , (2010). Maybe it would be useful to consult such books. (14) The Benin Royals have been telling the world over decades that these artefacts are records of their history and culture. (15)

Equally disappointing is the chapter found in In a Nutshell where the authors write about Benin and Ethiopia - Art, Power, Resilience:

Both collections came to Europe in consequence of the opposition to colonial threats in the late nineteenth century. Collections came to Europe? Artefacts secured through violence are presented as if the objects on their own free will travelled. The violent element completely disappears in such descriptions. Again, writing about a shirt bearing the image of Oba Ovonramven, made for the centenary commemoration of the 1897 invasion of Benin City by the British army, we read: The cloth was produced for the occasion of the centenary commemoration of the events in 1897. Great Britain sent troops in retaliation of the raid of a British mission, which in turn set out to convince the Benin king to comply with a treaty signed in 1892. This ultimately led to the end of the Benin Kingdom. (16)

Missing from this description is the fact that the so-called trade mission, consisting of 9 British officers and some 250 soldiers disguised as carriers, with ammunition in the boxes they carried, had requested to visit Oba Ovomramven but the king responded that they should postpone their visit; during the period of the intended visit, the king would be involved in a festival during which period no foreigners may contact the monarch. Despite the kings refusal to receive them at the requested time and despite advice from several sources to postpone the visit, the British Pre-Emptive army went ahead and all but two were killed. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the aim of the Pre-Emptive army was to overthrow Oba Ovonramwen and put in his place a more pliable Oba but were surprised themselves. Since when does one visit a monarch who suggests that the visit should be postponed to a later date? (17)

We must also mention that much of what is written under Preliminary Remarks - On this book in particular and Ethnographic Museums in general, cannot be accepted without comment. Christian Schicklgruber declares: If things carry an impression of the world from which they originate within themselves, they become mute when they are removed from their environment and transported to a museum depot. In such a case, they withdraw back to their thingness for the time being  objects are only formed material after all. They remain silent until a voice is lent to them. They first begin to speak again, and at least to shed a light on their original world, in an exhibition or in a book (18)

Thus, spoke a European museum director. But who put these artefacts in the museum depot in the first place? It was done by directors of museums such as the World Museum, who, on their own account, confess they cannot exhibit more than 1.5 per cent of the 200,00 artefacts they have, including 167 looted Benin artefacts. To continue in the line of the museum director, we agree that artefacts such as the Benin Bronzes, will not speak, will withdraw into themselves, after they have been brutally wrenched from the Palace of the Oba of Benin by the British Army in 1897, sold to Europeans and kept in museum depots for more than 100 years. And why should they want to open their hearts to their European captors? Can European museum curators lend these African artefacts their voices? What voices, African or European? Will Europeans hear their voices after they have failed or refused for hundred years to hear the voices of Africans who are not in their depots, urging them to return these artefacts to their ancestral homes? Hundreds of thousands of things are waiting in the depot of the Museum to be put on display or described in a book, so they can tell their story.How many more hundreds of years must these artefacts wait to be released?

These artefacts in depots are given voice by the curators: Rather unusually for a museum book, they appear personally as individuals in the chapter Curators Choice. Here they talk about their favourite objects, to which they have a special, often very personally coloured relationship. Yet also the identification by name, for each of the short stories as well as for the unique object descriptions, in all chapters points to their subjective approach to the world when it comes to lending a (or their) voice to the objects. (19)

Did anybody ever doubt that the choice of objects or texts was subjective and personal to the curator? The identification of European curators with non-European artefacts after years of their detention could appear as another misappropriation of the artefacts by Europeans. Some may even see in this, profanation or trivialization or lack of sensitivity and respect. We read the following texts from the curators themselves:

Mask of the Piaroa

The mask of the Piaroa is such an object. It is a sacred artefact in which spiritual beings manifest in an identity-establishing and life-sustaining ritual of a community. It is not used except in the ritual and those uninitiated are otherwise not allowed to lay eyes on it. It must be kept secret. Nevertheless, the mask is also part of the souvenir market and offered for sale in handicraft shops (20)

Antelope Mask Noumtiri

Noumitri was danced at a variety of different occasions: to honour ancestors or the protective antelope before the first rainfalls, yet also to accompany the bodies of the dead and to supervise at burials. (21)

Lion Figure with Wings.

As a protective spirit it guards sacred places. (22)

Sculptures to Repel Danger

The literal translation of the Tibetan term for such apotropaic sculptures isHeavens Gate Earths Gate. This name also explains the function, namely, to avert damaging influences from heaven and earth. In Tibetan cultural regions they are set up above the entrance to temples and houses. (23)

These citations clearly reveal that the objects involved were of religious nature or related to serious beliefs of a group of people and one could argue that not much respect is shown here towards the beliefs of others when non-believers present them the way they are done here. It would have been better to leave the identity and photos of the curators out. They may incur the displeasures of others.

The reasons advanced for abandoning traditional categorization such as region, religion or culture in ethnological museums, is that they do not work anymore, we are told: These time-honoured orientations or categorisations, which for a long time appeared secure, can no longer be offered. Rather, short stories are narrated and scenes created with objects in the sense of metaphors, and in these stories the Other emerges. They are then fitted into the broader framework of a common humanity and beyond the boundaries to the Other. We cannot do more than open such windows; only one detail framed by this window can appear. A sequence of such details leads to a picture of the diversity of cultural expressions. (24)

There may well be good reasons to criticise the presentation of objects according to region, religion or culture. But we are not sure that the reasons offered above are sufficient. Having been to museums where the traditional categories are still in honour, we require further evidence of their insufficiency and the proof of the advantages of the new presentation. Moreover, the presentation in the World Museum does not quite abandon geographical division. For instance, Benin artefacts and Ethiopian artefacts are found in the same hall where the fate of the Benin Oba Owonramwen and the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik are compared under the theme of Art, Power, Resilience. Both monarchs were in Africa. Could they have been compared to monarchs in Asia or Europe that were also threatened by colonialism and imperialism? The bibliography in the publication, welt museum, wien follows a geographical division, where bibliography relating to the African continent is subsumed under Sub-Saharan Africa which includes countries far away from the Sahara such as the Congo. North African countries such as Tunisia and Egypt come under the category North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Siberia. A Hegelian excision of North Africa from Africa is implicitly adopted here. Though there is mention of sub-Saharan Africa, there is no mention of supra-Saharan Africa.

Incidentally, the comparison between Benin and Ethiopia is found in the smaller publication, In a Nutshell, but not in the museum book. Whereas the smaller publication follows the themes in the exhibition, the larger publication has different divisions.

We find it also difficult to accept the following:

We have not only distanced ourselves from the encyclopaedic presentability of regions, religions, cultures or exoticising imagery but also from the unambiguity of the attribution of meaning to an object. If the question of meaning is raised, it quickly becomes evident that there is not only one single possibility for description in a museum context

The meaning of an object in the original culture is diverse, and first emerges in active dealings with it. (25)

Is the fact that an object may have different or several meanings in a culture a good reason for not giving the object the meaning that is generally accepted by the authoritative practitioners of that culture? Does it mean that everybodys interpretation of an object is as good as anybodys? The interpretation of an object by the Benin Oba or other high Benin official must surely be given more weight than that of the average visitor to the museum. Why do we have specialists if their interpretation of the meaning of an object does not have any particular value?

Equally contestable is the following statement:

Therefore an individually considered thing bears just as little unambiguous meaning as an individually encountered word. A specific meaning in a text first discloses itself based on the relationships to other words in the sentence. Thus each thing first begins to tell one of many possible stories in dialogue with others, thus unfolding a specific meaning. (26)

Taken seriously, such views would mean that we cannot understand the functions or meanings of objects in an exhibition unless and until they are brought into relationships with other objects that the curator has chosen. Surely a musical instrument, such as a bell or drum, is played in most societies to produce music or make announcements. The curator can tell us on which occasions such an instrument is played. Must the instrument be put in relationship with other instrument before we can tell its basic function?

If we free artefacts from their geographic or regional affiliations and from their primary functions, one can use them to produce any story one likes. The museum would have a lot of artefacts that it can use to support any theme. If Benin artefacts are used to illustrate colonialism and domination, the artefacts should not lose their primary function of recording Benin history and culture. We must note that these artefacts were made some centuries before European and British colonialism. However important the theme of colonialism and domination may be, the primary function of the artefacts should not be forgotten or subordinated to other themes. Nor should their importance in their societies be subordinated to the interest or need of outsiders to learn about Benin culture and society.

We find it difficult to accept this statement: The contact between the Benin Kingdom in todays Nigeria and Europe dates back to the late fifteenth century. These three objects serve as testimony of the period before the British colonial administration in West Africa; their presence in Europe also turns them into testimonies of European history. (27)

While refusing to return the objects to Benin, we are now told that these objects are also testimonies of European history. With this logic, one could practically keep thousands of African artefacts that are lying idle in the depots of European museums as we have read from the curators.

Feather bust of a god, Kiihulu manu, Hawaii.

I was amazed to see on page 144 of the museum book a familiar and much beloved face of a Benin commemorative head of an Oba presented in a truncated form, albeit digitally, showing only one half of the head. My immediate reaction was a feeling of deep offence and shock. Irreverence, mutilation, decapitation, destruction, desecration, humiliation and vandalism were the words that sprang to my mind. Did the authorities of the World Museum, Vienna, really approve of this presentation? Have they not learnt about the respect and reverence that are paid to the Oba, whose person was supposed to be sacred and that any attack on his person is an unpardonable sacrilege? It may be well be true that Westerners are in an age of fun where nothing sacred is holy but most of us, Africans are not in that age and our gods and their representatives or their representation are not objects of fun or amusement. True too that many western museums feel they must entertain their visitors and what objects are more appropriate for this purpose than African objects. The text accompanying this halved head of an Oba reads as follows:

According to oral tradition commemorative heads were established under Oba Oguola in the thirteenth century. The Oba was the highest political and religious authority in combination with complex functions and ceremonies. Based on the preserved commemorative heads, researchers were able to develop a stylistic chronology of Benin art, which made it possible to attribute this head to an early and rare group of seven heads of similar style that might have been made by the same artist. The group is special because its heads feature two rosettes on each side of the beaded cap. (28)

What is the pedagogy underlying this display of a non-existent halved head of a Benin oba ? The reader is referred to two rosettes on each side of the head but only one side is shown? Would the museum have permitted such a mutilation if the object were a European work such as Mono Lisa? The insensitivity shown here is amazing. We expect the museum authorities to remove this non-existent head and replace it with a Benin commemorative head as produced by the Benin artist. How can one so lightly handle the integrity of an iconic object?

On leaving the World Museum in the Neuer Burg, we cross fifty metres of the Ringstrasse, on the opposite side, and we are at the Kunsthistorische Museum, where are displayed works of European masters, and we are rudely reminded that the illusion of having been in a world museum cannot last long. Here are the European art works of centuries of many European countries. World museum without European works? What kind of world is that? It is true though that we are now in a world where words do not seem to mean what they appear to signify. There are also in the Kunsthistorische Museum, the ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian works. Is Egypt no longer part of Africa? Are we back to Hegel?

A few more steps away from the Kunsthistorische Museum, some fifty meters

away, is the Museums Quartier where Leopold Museum der Moderne Kunst, Kunsthalle and Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien are located. Many works of modern art are to be found here. There are also in Vienna other venerable art museums such as Albertina and Belvedere. Do they not form part of world culture?

The World Museum, Vienna, is administratively and financially under the authority of the Kunsthistorische Museum and cannot act without the approval of the later. The least that could be expected of a world museum, is that it is not subordinate to another nearby museum with different objectives. Every self- respecting museum must have its own independent budget that it can dispose of without having to consult another museum that has different objectives.

It is perhaps significant that publications of the World Museum, Vienna are under the imprint of the Kunsthistorische Museum. Forewords are signed by the Director General of the Kuntshistorische followed by the name of the Director of the World Museum. The relation between superior and subordinate could not be more clearly demonstrated. One gets the impression that the World Museum is short of financial resources and hence the absence of a facility such as audio guide which most museums now have.

One is forced to conclude that the name world museum does not cover the world but only partly those parts of the world, non-European parts, that Europe colonized and dominated until recently. Those brought up in both African and European cultures will find it extremely difficult to think of a world culture without Europe.

There has never been within, living memory, a world without Europe and attempts to present cultural objects that have been looted/stolen under specific historical circumstances, without mentioning who was dominated and who was dominating, distorts the true relations between Europe and the rest of the non-European world. True enlightenment and mutual understanding are best achieved by laying bare the known historical facts, however unpleasant. Any system, structure or theory that sets out to explain the world, even partially that leaves out the continent that has been most responsible in shaping the modern world, for better or for worse, Europe, cannot give a complete picture however sincere and efficient its exponents may be.

The World Museum, Vienna, has all the potential to become one of the great museums in the world, as it was under its former name of Volkerkundemuseum. But the museum management must sincerely try to resolve the basic contradictions arising from the fact of assuming a critical and anti-colonialist posture while at the same time refusing to return any of the looted artefacts of the colonial period. Some have expressed the hope that the World Museum will become the Bezirksmuseum of Vienna. We hope that it does not take the District Museum as a model but looks at other museums that try to appeal to progressive elements and tendencies in the world. Selfishness and greed cannot be the aim of a world museum in the true sense of the world. One would also hope that in its appeals for financial support from the public, the museum would avoid images that may offend other sensitivities. (29)

Should the States of our world ever decide to establish a truly World Museum, the most vehement opponents would be the States that have already established their own world museums. If they are at present not willing to return even one looted artefact to a deprived people, they will surely not be willing to surrender any artefact to a truly World Museum where all cultures would make their cultural contribution. The artefacts of many peoples are at present hi-jacked by powerful States.

The restitution of those cultural objects which our museums and collections, directly or indirectly, possess thanks to the colonial system and are now being demanded, must also not be postponed with cheap arguments and tricks.

Gert v. Paczensky and Herbert Ganslmayr. (30)

Kwame Tua Opoku.

NOTES

1. K. Opoku  Ethnology Museum, Vienna Changes Name ...

https://www.toncremers.nl/kwame-opoku-ethnology-museum-vienna-changes-name-t...

Ethnology Museum, Vienna Changes Name to World Museum ...

https://www.modernghana.com/news/.../ethnology-museum-vien .

2. Claudia Augustat and Reinhard Blumauer (eds.), In a Nutshell, KHM-Museumsverband, 2017

3. K. Opoku, From Benin to Quai Branly - Afrikanet.info

www.afrikanet.info/archiv1/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id..

4. K. Opoku, Pressure On Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and Humboldt ... https://news.culturecrime.org/entry/Opoku2017Pressur.html

5. Barbara Plankensteiner, Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, Snoeck, 2007. p.13.

6. K. Opoku, Benin plan of action for restitution: will this ensure the return of Benin ...

obs-traffic.museum/benin-plan-action-restitution-will-ensure-return-benin-artefacts

7. K. Opoku, European Museums to 'loan' looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria ... https://www.pambazuka.org/.../european-museums-loan-looted-benin-bronzes-niger.

8. Christian Schicklgruber (ed.), Welt Museum Wien, KHM-Museumsverband, 2017, p. 144.

9. K. Opoku, Now is the Time for Austria to act on the Restitution ...

www.africavenir.org/.../kwame-opoku-now-is-the-time-for-austria.../print.htm

10. Gerard van Bussel, p. 33

11. C. Schicklgruber (ed.) Welt Museum Wien, Claudia Augustat and Reinhard Blumauer (eds.) In a Nutshell.

12. Schickl gruber, op. cit.p.143.

13. Charlotta Dohlvik (May 2006). Museums and Their Voices: A Contemporary Study of the Benin Bronzes (PDF). International Museum Studies.

14. B. Plankensteiner, Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, Snoeck, 2007. Benin , 5 Continents, 2010.

15. Appendix 21 - United Kingdom Parliament

https://publications.parliament.uk  ...  Culture, Media and Spor

WHAT THE WORKS MEAN TO THE PEOPLE OF BENIN

The works have been referred to as primitive art, or simply, artifacts of African origin. But Benin did not produce their works only for aesthetics or for galleries and museums. At the time Europeans were keeping their records in long-hand and in hieroglyphics, the people of Benin cast theirs in bronze, carved on ivory or wood. The Obas commissioned them when an important event took place which they wished to record. Some of them of course, were ornamental to adorn altars and places of worship. But many of them were actually reference points, the library or the archive. To illustrate this, one may cite an event which took place during the coronation of Oba Erediauwa in 1979. There was an argument as to where to place an item of the coronation paraphernalia. Fortunately, a bronze-cast of a past Oba wearing the same regalia had escaped the eyes of the soldiers and so it is still with us. Reference was made to it and the matter was resolved. Taking away those items is taking away our records, or our Soul.

16. Augustat and Blaumauer, op. cit. 27.

17. Ekpo Eyo, BENIN: THE SACK THAT WAS - DAWODU NET

www.dawodu.net/eyo.htm

See also the British Museum publication



Under the heading British Punitive Expedition 1897, we read as follows:

This episode has to be seen in the context of the spread of British control over

the whole of what is now Nigeria at the start of the colonial period the kingdom

of Benin was just one of the targets. The initial problem arose out of the decision

by a British consul Phillips to visit the Oba with a small armed group, against the

advice of the British Governor, other Nigerian chiefs, and repeated

warnings, threats and pleas by the Oba himself. Phillips persisted and he and his

group were killed. A punitive expedition was then sent, which arrested and

deposed the Oba and put an end to five centuries of the kingdom's, with the

British Army looting and destroying the capital city'-p.5

The Wealth of Africa-The kingdom of Benin p. Copyright Trustees of the British Museum 08/2010

Kingdom Of Benin_TeachersNotes

https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/KingdomofBenin_TeachersNotes.pdf

18. Schicklgruber, op.cit . p.13.

19. Schicklgruber, op.cit. p.14.

20.Schicklgruber, op. cit. p. 261

21. Schicklgruber, op. cit. p. 262

22. Schicklgruber, op. cit. p. 265

23. Schicklgruber, op. cit. p. 266

24. Schicklgruber, op. cit. p.13.

25 Schicklgruber, ibid.

26. Schicklgruber, ibid.

27.Schicklgruber, op.cit.143.

28.Schicklgruber, ibid.

29. One would also expect the museum to take a modern approach to the issue of human remains and refrain from using any part of human remains or semblance of human remains in its collection, such as the skull found in the museums collection. In this connection, we suggest to the World Museum, Vienna, to examine all its exhibits and remove any object that may contain parts of human remains such as skulls or hairs or any matter close to these. It would, of course, be desirable if all the major museums along the Ringstrasse Vienna, would make a joint effort to ensure that these great cultural temples do not contain any such human remains that would not be in accordance with the requirements of present day standards that are to be found in the International Council on Museums (ICOM) Code of Ethics.

We read in a publication of the Natural History Museum, entitled, Natural History Museum Vienna-a Guide to the Collections: The curators, therefore, have been asked to analyse the present value, the exact origin and the contemporary and future handling of these human remains. In particular cases (illegal export, grave robbery or ethical-religious issues) restitution/repatriation may be indicated.. Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel, Natural History Museum Vienna-a Guide to the Collections, 2012 p. 129.

Human Head Trophy

See the link below for the image of head trophy used to recruit patrons for the museum https://www.weltmuseum+wien.at/object/460435/?offset=184&lv=list

30. Die Ruckgabe jener Kulturschatze, die unsere Museen und Sammlungen direkt oder indirekt dem Kolonialsystem verdanken und die jetzt zuruckverlangt werden, sollte ebenfalls nicht mit billigen Argumenten und Tricks hinausgezogert werden.

Gert v. Paczensky and Herbert Ganslmayr, Nofretete will nach Hause, 1984, Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich, p.185.
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa three days after his inauguration has dissolved the cabinet of his predecessor Robert Mugabe, who resigned after the military took control of the country, a senior government official said Monday.

Mnangagwa "is in the process of putting together a new team of cabinet ministers,' Misheck Sibanda, the chief secretary to the president and cabinet said in a statement.

Sibanda added that Mnangagwa has appointed Patrick Chinamasa as acting finance minister and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as acting top diplomat 'to allow uninterrupted services in critical ministries of government.'

The statement did not indicate when Mnangagwa will announce his new cabinet.

Mnangagwa, 75, was sworn in on Friday following dramatic events in the southern African country after the military took over saying they wanted to arrest criminals in government around 93-year-old Mugabe.

His tenure withstood repeated claims of hanging on to power through brutal repression of dissent, election rigging and corruption, until concerted pressure from the military finally forced to quit.

Parliament had begun proceedings to impeach Mugabe for allowing his wife and a coterie of followers to "capture" the ruling party.

Now the new president has vowed sweeping changes in government and new policies to attract investment and revive the ailing economy.

At the same time, Zimbabwe has bestowed a new honour on Mugabe, who had ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980, by declaring his birthday, February 21, a public holiday, a state newspaper reported Monday.
A graduate of Anambra state University (Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Oukwu University)

Queen Okoli Sochima Goodness who recently emerged Beauty Of the World Africa 2017 at a well attended event in Lagos has released her first official photos after the contest.

The talented soft spoken ex- Miss Coal City Ambassador who impacted so much during her previous reign is set to launch her project haven emerged winner of the celebrated pageant contest.

Queen Okoli who currently resides in Lagos is a graduate of Pure and Industrial chemistry with a 2nd class upper division. Known for her independent and hardworking nature, the Anambra state born Beauty queen doubles as an Entrepreneur and CEO of Soness Signatures N Concept.

The photo shoots introduces her into her new platform with a fresh challenge aimed at empowering youths across Africa. Also with her in the shoot is the director of the pageant Mr Chris Ikoku a veteran pageant producer and event manager in the south east Nigeria
Review of CI.133 will aid in ...
Gunshots were heard on the North Side Saturday night and an abandoned vehicle was found, but no injuries or damage were reported, the Madison Police Department said.

Officers went to the 1800 block of Vahlen Street around 10:10 p.m. after several shots were reported. A sedan in the area appeared to have been abandoned and may have been related to the shooting, police said.

Madison and Maple Bluff officers set up a perimeter to find those involved in the shooting. A 21-year-old man was briefly detained and released, police said.

No damage or injuries have been reported, and the investigation continues.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said in his daily blog that the incident caused police officers to respond only to priority calls for about two hours.
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She now spends much of her time in Asia and is currently working on a book about textile artisans.

Indias leading financial newspaper, The Economic Times, featured a piece today, You cant make citizens safer by making them more vulnerable. Aadhaar does exactly that that spotlighted flaws in Indias Aadhaar universal identification number scheme including its undue reliance on biometrics.

As I discussed at greater length in an October post, Biometric ID Fairy: A Misguided Response to the Equifax Mess that Will Only Enrich Cybersecurity Grifters and Strengthen the Surveillance State, the Aadhaar system is being held up as a model by those who would like to capitalize on the Equifax data breach by replacing US Social Security numbers with a biometric identification system.

Given that the Aadhaar scheme is being touted as a model for the US to consider, I thought it would be worth spelling out some of its flaws, many of which are well known in India but with which the core of Naked Capitalisms readership is not familiar.

Linkage of Accounts to Aadhaar

The Government of India and its various bureaucracies, aided and abetted by Indian courts, are mandating widespread use and linkage of accounts to the twelve-digit Aadhaar number. Thus, Indians must now supply an Aadhaar number when they apply for a bank account, as well as link any existing accounts to that number (otherwise, the bank account is frozen). SIM cards are tightly controlled in India, and Indians must now link their Aadhaar number to their mobile phone accounts (including mobile wifi systems).

The use of Aadhaar doesnt stop there and is in fact accelerating, according todays Economic Times piece:

Next year, there is a plan to roll out Aadhaar-linked programmes like a Public Credit Registry with transaction data, and the National Health Information Network electronic health records. The risk of personal information leaks increases with more services getting linked to Aadhaar due to security vulnerabilities, or sheer incompetence of the government or third parties.

A couple of problems flow from this centralizing approach. First, the more basic services and accounts are linked to Aadhaar, the greater the consequences that follow from potential hacks. For not only will financial information be compromised by such a hack, but also mobile phone service, and all and any other services linked to the Aadhaar number.

Second, as todays Economic Times piece makes clear,the terrorism boogeyman is being trotted out to justify a steady surrender of privacy even though wider Aadhaar verification may actually supply a false sense of security. Once a person produces an Aadhaar number, its assumed that it was legitimately obtained when that may indeed not be the case:

In October 2016, Delhi Police busted an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy ring and found that Mehmood Akhtar had an Aadhaar card naming him as Mehboob Rajput. In May this year, the Central Crime Branch found that three Pakistanis had obtained Aadhaar cards in Bengaluru through a middleman for Rs 100 each. More recently, Zeebo Asalina, an Uzbek national arrested in Orissa, had an Aadhaar card naming her as Duniya Khan. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman and former CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) R S Sharma suggested  that security agencies may have a better chance of nabbing potential terrorists if all mobile connections are verified using Aadhaar. There is a major flaw in this assertion. . What is common in the aforementioned cases is that these Aadhaar cards were based on forged documents. Since UIDAI does not conduct verification by itself, it retains the flaws of these documents and is not fraud-resistant. In fact, once they have Aadhaar, things may get easier for potential terrorists, given the incorrect perception that it is foolproof (my emphasis.)

Touchingly Naive Faith in Biometric Fairy

I want to highlight another problem: the misplaced overreliance on biometrics. The single most serious problem with such reliance  which I discussed in my October piece cited aboveis that unlike a number, once compromised, your biometrics fingerprints, eyeballs, DNA cannot be changed. Another October Economic Times piece, Watch out, Aadhaar biometrics are an easy target for hackers expands on the security vulnerabilities of relying on such systems for authenticating identity:

Biometric data, unlike passwords, can never be changed, so if hackers successfully impersonate a fingerprint then they can cause serious havoc, and there is not much the victim will be able to do about it. With the recent government policies making biometrics the central identity verifier via Aadhaar information, a billion consumers could be walking a thin line between security and convenience. Though it becomes extremely convenient to make transactions via a single touch on your smartphone, it also means that all a malicious hacker needs to get is your fingerprint. Once he gets that, theres no stopping. Identity theft and fraudulent transactions may just be the beginning.

Now, the government of India had averred that the biometric information collected under the Aadhaar system is secure. [Jerri-Lynn here: They would, wouldnt they?] But as the article continues, that is not, actually the case:

The government claimed that Aadhaar is completely secure, and the data of the consumers was absolutely safe from any malicious party until a severe flaw was detected in the system. The bug allowed a malicious operator to save a users biometrics and simply use it to carry out transactions on the victims behalf via replaying the saved biometrics.

What I found particularly worrying is the ease with which fingerprints can be stolen:

Hackers can easily clone your fingerprints to gain access to your life. Whats scarier is that its neither too costly nor too difficult. Fingerprints can be picked up from daily objects easily or mass attacks are possible if the servers of UIDAI are hacked. Hackers can also skim fingerprints via malicious biometric devices just as with infected credit card machines. The problem here though is that you can block your credit card but not your fingerprint.

The possibilities expand when 3-D printing technology is brought into play:

This can be done via digitally replaying the print to authenticate applications and transactions. Another possibility is to use 3D-model printers to simply make a physical copy of the print. It is even possible to make physical fingerprint replicas using simple dental moulds and some playing dough. According to a research at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University in the US, fingerprints can be replicated in less than $500 with conductive ink fed through a normal inkjet printer, in a procedure that takes less than 15 minutes. According to researchers at CITER, the disturbing thing about fingerprints is they can be hacked just by using everyday items like some dental mould to take a cast, some playing dough to fill it. All they need is an impression of a persons fingerprint. Using the cloned fingerprint, the hacker can enter every mobile application or devices that use the fingerprint as a security measure.

Yikes.

The same October Economic Times piece discusses simple ways to hack other types of biometric identification: including facial recognition, retinal scans, and voice recognition.

So, it appears that the biometric ID fairy is actually not going to save the day here.

In fact, the opposite is actually the case, with the rush to widen Aadhaar creating a serious risk of potential catastrophe.

Regular readers are well aware of the misery and economic chaos that followed from Prime Minister Modis botched demonetisation plan which I discussed on several occasions, most recently in Remember, Remember the Eighth of November: Indias War on Cash Assessed One Year Later. (See also other coverage here, here, here, here, here, and here.) One reason demonetisation was such a debacle is that India remains a largely cash-based economy, and simply lacks the digital infrastructure that might have allowed its residents to cope with the nearly instantaneous cancellation of most of its currency in November 2016 and the failure to supply replacement currency quickly, and in sufficient amounts, to allow for normal economic activity to continue.

But dont just take my word for the poor state of Indias digital infrastructure, particularly in rural areas. See this piece from yesterdays The Wire, Alongside Modis Digital India, a Mounting Pile of Unanswered Network Quality Complaints, discussing how Indias deficient digital infrastructure is thwarting the drive to shift Indians away from cash and toward more digital transactions:

A year after demonetisation, an examination of complaints received by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) shows that thousands of people across the country are struggling to make online transactions due to the lack of a mobile signal or because they receive their OTP (one-time password) messages three or four hours after they initiate a transaction. These complaints arent restricted to a particular provider but instead point to a systematic quality of service issue. The quality of service problems associated with Indias telecom network has been well documented. While the total data payload in the countrys network grew over 60% last year, India ranked 89 among 100 countries in terms of average mobile internet connection speeds. Various reports over the last two years have shown how frequent call and packet drops, network outages and congested networks result in poor coverage and increased download times.

Hacking Aadhaar and Digital Infrastructure

As the October Economic Times piece discusses, the potential for hacking Aadhaar also poses another threat to this digital infrastructure, if and when it ever gets up and running:

The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for Indian citizens to avail of many government services. Aadhaar is being used almost everywhere now. If the data gets leaked, unlike changing your passwords or creating a new account, people wont be able to change their fingerprints or their facial structure. The digital infrastructure that the government is trying to push all across the country can come crumbling down if proper security measures are not at place. The glorious dream of Digital India could simply be a disaster if a billion countrymen finally get digitalised and a single hack gives malicious hackers a lifetime access to their digital assets and identity.

Second Thoughts?

India is marching full speed ahead on Aadhaar plans, at a time when other countries Estonia, Spain are having second thoughts about such arrangements and in spite of the considerable burdensmainly time and hassle it imposes. I happen to be visiting India at the moment, and just a couple of weeks ago, I accompanied a friend as he purchased a new SIM card and wifi hotspot device. As I mentioned above, India tightly controls issuance of SIM cards. And the process my friend had to undergo to purchase a new wifi connection was anything but simple, requiring him to supply name, address, his mobile number; produce his Aadhar card; and be fingerprinted. Had to be seen to be believed!

This same friend mentioned that hed just received notification from his mobile phone company, requiring him to verify a new account hed opened in July even though hed supplied his Aadhaar number when he created that account. I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but imagine the costs Aadhaar is imposing, with everyone having to make time, in person, to produce an Aadhaar card and verify telecoms accounts (not to mention bank accounts, etc.) And thats just the start of it.

This is in contrast to the situation in London, where last time I visited, SIM cards were available in vending machines. Many other Asian countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand make it similarly easy to purchase a burner SIM for use in a phone, dongle, or other digital device. Same in Australia, New Zealand, the US.

Todays Economic Times article mentions in passing what I think is the crux of the matter:

The [Indian governments] cavalier attitude towards privacy  that privacy cannot be at the cost of innovation  which Union information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad put forth at the prestigious Global Conference on Cyberspace (GCCS) in New Delhi on November 23, indicates the willingness to put citizens personal safety at risk: that your privacy is a price that GoI is willing to pay for making it easier for businesses to be built around your data.

Or, to make a slightly different point: creating Aadhaar and and other similar technological solutions from scratch provide spectacular opportunities for grift and that is perhaps the primary reason that so many are cheering on such efforts so loudly despite their myriad deficiciencies.

Bottom Line

This is not a model that the US should seek to follow, as it considers what policy should be adopted in the wake of the Equifax hack. The current Social Security number system is not without its flaws, but biometrics are no panacea, either.
Lieutenant General Jan Broeks, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff (DGIMS), visited Finland on 22-24 November. During his visit, DGIMS met with General Jarmo Lindberg, Chief of Defence of Finland and other high-level military officials of all services of the Finish Armed Forces, and visited the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.

The discussions between General Broeks and General Jarmo Lindberg, Chief of Defence of Finland, focused on NATO-Finnish military cooperation and interoperability. General Broeks commended General Lindberg for "Finland's active partnership with NATO, as evidenced through participation in NATO-led missions and operations, the NATO Response Force, training and exercises, trust funds, cyber defence and other activities that contribute to greater interoperability and security."

During the visit, the Director General also met with the Commander of the Finnish Air Force, Major General Sampo Eskelinen, Commander of the Finnish Army, Major General Petri Hulkko, and the Commander of the Finnish Navy, Vice-Admiral Veijo Taipalus. He received comprehensive briefings and demonstrations showcasing the capabilities of the three branches of the Finnish Armed Forces.

Finnish cooperation with NATO is based on the country's long-standing policy of military non-alignment and firm national political consensus. Cooperation has been reinforced over the years since Finland joined NATOs Partnership for Peace programme in 1994, most recently in 2014 when Finland became one of NATO's Enhanced Opportunity Partners at the Summit in Wales.

NATO and Finland actively cooperate on peace and security operations and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas, including education and training, and the development of military capabilities. This cooperation also enables the Finnish Defence Forces to develop further capabilities and increase interoperability with NATO Nations, other partners as well as international organisations active in multinational peacekeeping operations.

As part of his visit, Lieutenant General Broeks visited the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats which is an initiative of the Finnish government, supported by 11 other nations, as well as NATO and the EU. The Centre will help nations and international organisations like NATO and the EU to better understand modern, complex threats and to strengthen our societies against them.
(Natural News) Whats tiny but can probably kill you and everyone else around it? Toxic algae, thats what.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines toxic algae, also known as harmful algal blooms (HABs), as occurrences when colonies of algae, simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater, grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. In the U.S. alone, harmful algae blooms can be found in waterways from the Great Lakes to Chesapeake Bay, and from reservoirs in Californias Central Valley to even New Yorks Finger Lakes.

Elsewhere, instances of toxic blooms were observed as well. In 2013, Chinas largest blooms on records washed onto beaches and had to be hauled by the ton with bulldozers. Australia experienced a huge algae bloom that extended at least 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) on the Murray River in 2016. In Canada, algae blooms in Lake Winnipeg can be even viewed from space. The Arabian Sea has an algae bloom the size of Mexico twice a year.

Scientists say these massive blooms are caused by fertilizer runoff from agricultural farm lands. While initially meant to provide nourishment to crops, chemicals and manure wash off into bodies of water which provide a steady amount of nutrition for algae. In an article by the Daily Mail, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, has said that it has spent more than $29 billion on voluntary, incentive-based programs since 2009 to make some 500,000 operations more environmentally friendly. However, these have only been acknowledged by six percent of farms are enrolled at any time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists HABs as an illness. Humans and animals can be infected through exposure to contaminated waters, namely through:

Swimming;

Breathing in the air around contaminated waters (as it may contain mist from the water); and

Drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated fish or shellfish.

Effects of HAB-associated illness include skin irritation, breathing difficulties, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, among others. More than 100 people have fallen ill after an incident of toxic algae bloom in Utah Lake last year. In 2014, an algae bloom in Lake Erie affected at least 400,000 people in Ohio and Michigan, leaving them without safe drinking water.

HABs dont just affect humans. Pets and livestock have been reported to have died after drinking contaminated water, including 32 cattle in an Oregon ranch in July. However, its fish and marine wildlife that have it worse. Aside from toxic blooms that can kill fish, other blooms eat up the oxygen in the water when they decompose, creating a dead zone where fish and other life cannot survive. The Gulf of Mexico has been noted by scientists to contain the largest oceanic dead zone, in part, due to massive algae blooms. (Related: Largest oceanic dead zone ever measured is in the Gulf of Mexico; scientists conclude pollution caused by industrial agriculture.)

Its not just humans and animals that feel the effects of toxic algae blooms. Tourism has also taken a hit with the algae blooms. Swimming areas and water-themed festivals have either been closed or delayed following the HABs. A study conducted by the University of Florida estimates that the toxic bloom affecting beaches in south Florida have discouraged at least half of potential tourists from visiting, and could have long-term effects into the future, with figures going up to at least three-fourths of tourists reconsidering going there.

Efforts to combat harmful algae blooms are also proving to be costly. A study on HAB and its economic impact conducted by the European Commission reports harmful algae blooms cost the governments of Norway, Denmark, Portugal, France and Spain at least $113 million each year.

To learn more about toxins and how they impact environmental health, explore Toxins.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NOAA.gov

CDC.gov

FoxNews.com

HuffingtonPost.com

ScienceDaily.com

EC.Europa.eu
(Natural News) On the morning of Nov. 17, 2017, Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero made a shocking announcement at a press conference in Vienna. The professor claimed that the worlds first human head transplant was performed on a corpse in China. Led by Chinese orthopedic surgeon Xiaoping Ren, the team at Harbin Medical University managed to successfully reconnect the spine, nerves, and blood vessels of a severed head onto a dead body.

The first human head transplant, in the human mode, has been realized, said Canavero at the conference. The surgery lasted 18 hours. The paper will be released in a few days. Everyone said it was impossible, but the surgery was successful.

Though no evidence to back his claims was shown at the press conference, Canavero stated that the details of the procedure would be laid out in a scientific paper due to be released in the coming days. Speaking further, he remarked: For too long nature has dictated her rules to us. Were born, we grow, we age, and we die. For millions of years humans have evolved and 100 billion humans have died. Thats genocide on a mass scale.

We have entered an age where we will take our destiny back in our hands. It will change everything. It will change you at every level.

Following the operation on human cadavers, Canavero added that the next step for him and his team is to carry out a complete head swap between brain dead organ donors. This surgical procedure, which he said is imminent, would be for medical purposes. It will be for a medical, neurological condition, not for life-extension, Canavero noted.

Though his bold proclamation has attracted a flurry of excitement from many people, the medical community at large has lobbied the doctor with a barrage of criticism. Many experts have pointed out that spinal cord fusion is an impossibility with the technology of today, calling his plan all but implausible. Others have raised concerns on the morality and legality of the operation.

Speaking to DailyMail.co.uk, Dr. Jan Schupp, professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, commented: I find it inconceivable that ethics committees in any reputable research or clinical institutions would give a green light to living human head transplants in the foreseeable future. Indeed, attempting such a thing given the current state of the art would be nothing short of criminal.

Dr. James Fildes, NHS principal research scientist at the University Hospital of South Manchesters Transplant Centre, chimed in with: Perhaps far more worryingly, this endeavor appears to revolve around immortality, but in each case a body is needed for the transplant, and therefore a human needs to die as part of the process.

Where does Canavero propose to get the donor body from if the goal is to tackle the laws of nature? Has Canavero considered how he will tackle acute rejection of the constituent parts of the head? What will rejection of the skin, muscles, eyes, and brain manifest as? I hope this is not just egotistical pseudoscience. (Related: Organ transplant industry pushes for legal right to buy and sell body parts on the global market.)

For his part, Canavero was described as remaining defiant of his critics by NewsWeek.com. In a statement to the publication, he estimated the success of the up-and-coming operation to be about 90 percent, calling it long and tedious, but absolutely feasible, then closed with: One thing is certain. Spinal cord fusion is a reality and head transplants will happen.

Fast facts on the head transplant

Canaveros first subject for the head transplant was Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old Russian computer scientist with Werdnig-Hoffman disease, also known as spinal muscular atrophy. With the venue being moved to China, Spiridonov has since accepted that he would no longer be able to attain a healthy new body. Instead, he would opt for conventional treatments by way of crowdfunding.

On the cost of the procedure, Canavero has speculated that it would cost $11,922,550 and need 150 doctors and nurses.

For more medical news ranging from the bizarre to the miraculous, visit Medicine.news today.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NewsWeek.com

Alphr.com
(Natural News) In a world where there is so much outrageous behavior, most of us have become numb to a great deal of it. But some things do still surpass our outrage threshold and this is certainly one of those instances.

As reported by Atlanta-based NBC affiliate 11Alive, an undercover video has surfaced showing some of the most callous behavior you are likely to ever see from another human being, especially by people who have pledged to provide lifesaving medical care.

Whats worse, this outrage happened to a U.S. veteran.

The video, with audio, shows a World War II veteran calling for help six times while gasping for air, calling out until he lapses into unconsciousness before dying. While the decorated U.S. Navy veteran, James Dempsey of Woodstock, Ga., was begging for help, nursing home staff assigned to care for him were laughing as he died.

You read that right: Laughing.

The incident occurred at the Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014, however, the video  which was recorded via hidden camera  was released recently as part of a lawsuit that was filed by the family.

Attorneys with the Atlanta nursing home attempted to prevent 11Alive from obtaining it, pressing the court to keep the video sealed. When a lower court ruled that it should be released, the nursing home tried to appeal the decision to the Georgia Supreme Court. After the lower court ruled in favor of the TV station the nursing home eventually dropped their appeal.

Included in the video is nearly six hours of taped court deposition from a nursing home supervisor who tried to explain that she was responding to Dempseys calls for help before she knew that there was a hidden camera recording her.

That hidden video shows a completely different response, 11Alive reported.

In the deposition, former nursing supervisor Wanda Nuckles told the Dempsey family attorney Mike Prieto that she rushed to his room when a nurse told her that he had stopped breathing.

Heres how the conversation went:

Prieto: From the time you came in, you took over doing chest compressionscorrect?

Nuckles : Yes.

Prieto: Until the time paramedics arrive, you were giving CPR continuously?

Nuckles : Yes.

However, the video shows that no one was doing CPR when Nuckles got to the room. Also, she did not immediately begin the life-preserving procedure, which Prieto pointed out.

Sir, that was an honest mistake, Nuckles responded. I was just basing everything on what I normally do.

In the video, Dempsey can be heard calling for assistance six times before he lapses into unconsciousness as he gasps for every breath. According to state records, nursing home staff reported finding Dempsey unresponsive at 5:28 a.m. It took staff nearly an hour before they called 911, at 6:25 a.m.

When a nurse did finally attend to the veteran, she didnt even bother checking any of his vital signs. Nuckles said that she would have reprimanded the nurse for responding the way she did, calling the video sick. (Related: Outrage! Preschoolers used as guinea pigs in psychotropic drug tests.)

The nurses who finally responded are seen having trouble getting Dempseys oxygen machine working. As they fumbled through, Nuckles and others in the room can be heard laughing.

Prieto: Maam, was there something funny that was happening?

Nuckles : I cant even remember all that as you can see.

The local station showed the video to other medical professionals, who were disgusted by what they saw.

In 43 years in nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a healthcare setting, is what I witnessed, said Elaine Harris, a retired nursing professor and expert in adult critical care.

What happened to James Dempsey is more than just outrageous. It should be criminal. Read more accounts of dangerous medicine at DangerousMedicine.com.

Sources include:

11Alive.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
Dozens have accused massage therapists of sexual misconduct at the largest massage franchise in the United States, a BuzzFeed report published Sunday alleged.

Citing lawsuits, police reports and other official documents, the news site said the company, Massage Envy, and its franchisees had mishandled or ignored many of more than 180 cases. NBC News has not confirmed all of the allegations.

In a statement Sunday, Massage Envy  which has more than 1,100 franchises in 49 states, according to the company's website  said the incidents described in the report were "heartbreaking for us and for the franchisees that operate Massage Envy locations."

Adam Horowitz, a lawyer who has worked on two dozen cases against Massage Envy, said the actual number of assaults is likely considerably higher.


Dallas-based Heritage Auctions has a bevy of rare presidential relics available for auction this week, including works of art created by President John F. Kennedy and President Donald Trump.

The Trump work is a sketch of the New York City skyline, made in Sharpie. The President donated the drawing to St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters organization in New York in 2005 for a charity auction.

At the time, the sketch sold for $6,000. It is expected to sell for $15,000 or more at Heritage's Americana and Political auction on Saturday, Dec. 2. Bidding on the doodle was at $8,000 as of Monday morning.

"Nobody could have envisioned back then that Donald Trump would become President," said Don Ackerman, Consignment Director at Heritage Auctions. So now all of a sudden you have something that was worth X number of dollars [in 2005] that is worth a whole lot more now that he became president.

"President Trump generates a whole lot of publicity on a daily basis or an hourly basis, and if someone has something like this and they want to sell it, now is the right time to sell, Ackerman said.

A rare oil on canvas painting completed in 1955 by President John F. Kennedy, when he was a senator of Massachusetts, is also up for auction. The colorful artwork consists of a group of waterfront homes and is believed to be a coastal town in the South of France, according to a Heritage Auctions news release.

Kennedy's niece, Victoria Gifford Kennedy received the artwork from John F. Kennedys brother, Robert Francis Kennedy and his wife Ethel after she married their son Michael.

In a note which accompanied the artwork, Ethel wrote to Victoria: "I'm delighted that 25 years later, youre still enjoying President Kennedys painting which I gave to you and Michael for your wedding."

Bidding on Kennedy's painting reached $42,000 by Monday morning. It is expected to fetch at least $50,000.

Other items that are expected to fetch high sums include one of the earliest photographs ever taken of an American president, the bugle that sounded Taps during the funeral for President Abraham Lincoln and a series of handprints made of President Franklin and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.



The bugle which sounded taps over the body of slain President Abraham Lincoln following his assassination will likely go for more than $50,000, according to Heritage Auctions.

It is a really an evocative item and it is one of a kind and really it evokes images of that day in Washington, D.C. when Lincoln was assassinated, Ackerman said.

A rare daguerreotype image of President John Quincy Adams, the first president to have been photographed, is also expected to sell for more than $50,000, according to Heritage Auctions.

The image, taken in 1846 at the Washington, D.C., studio of one of the most prominent photographers of the time, was discovered in a Paris antiques market after disappearing for decades.

Also included in the Americana and Political auction is a set of handprints made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor.

According to Heritage Auctions, the prints were made in secret inside of the White House by a palm reader.

In addition to the palm prints, the 1937 session also included a full and detailed character sketch of the president, his wife and other members of the first family, according to Heritage Auctions.

The works are expected to fetch $20,000 or more.
Bonnie Liltz, the Schaumburg mother who was convicted of killing her severely disabled daughter in 2015, has been found dead at her home, authorities said Sunday.

Liltz, who was appealing her prison sentence and was scheduled to report to prison on Monday, was found dead after a well-being check by police on Saturday evening.

Results of an autopsy are pending, but authorities believe that her death was a suicide.

Liltz was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she was 18, and she was left with severe intestinal problems. She adopted and raised her daughter despite those obstacles, but when her cancer worsened, she gave her daughter an overdose of pills through her feeding tube, killing her.

She would later say that she did so because she didn't want her daughter to have to be placed in state care in the event of her death.

A judge sentenced Liltz to four years in prison for the crime, but after serving three months of her sentence, she was released due to poor health.

Prosecutors and her attorneys wanted her to remain free, but a Cook County judge disagreed, ruling that she be sent back to prison to fulfill the rest of her sentence.

She appealed the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, who declined to take up the case.
More than 350 firearms have been lost or stolen from local and federal police agencies headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area since 2011, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team.

In many cases, the firearms have not yet been recovered.

A compilation of police records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals a series stolen or lost firearms at large and small police agencies. At least 35 of them were taken or lost from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., since 2011. Twenty-eight others were lost or stolen from Prince Georges County Police. Ten were reported missing or stolen from Alexandria police, while eight were lost or stolen from Virginia State Police during the time period.

In a rising number of cases, the firearms were stolen from police vehicles. Six of the seven firearms taken from Fairfax County Police were listed as taken from cruisers or officers personal vehicles. A firearm stolen from the car of an off-duty Rockville police officer was later seized from a teenager on campus at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, according to police reports.

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The teenager from whom the firearm was seized is facing federal criminal charges.

Firearms experts with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said thieves often steal firearms from vehicles from both private citizens and law enforcement.

Individuals who are known to posses firearms legally become targets, ATF investigator Kevin OKeefe said.

Some high-profile thefts have yet to be solved. FBI agents told the I-Team they have not yet located a pair of agency firearms and other tactical gear stolen from the vehicle of a D.C. field office employee in summer 2016.

Calvert County Sheriffs officials said they have not determined the rightful owner of a cache of stolen police weapons found in the possession of a man they arrested in March.

Rockville Police, from whom two guns were stolen in April, said they have recently stiffened their policies to prevent future thefts. Acting Police Chief Robert Rappoport said officers must now store firearms in a locked case when keeping those guns in a vehicle trunk. It'll add another level of security to the weapons," he said. "If a vehicle's trunk is compromised, there's one extra level to ensure the weapon can't be removed from the trunk."

A review of reports from federal inspectors general shows federal agencies also lost guns by the dozens in recent years. An October 2017 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said federal homeland security agents lost at least 228 firearms since 2014.

Personnel did not follow policy or used poor judgment when safeguarding these assets, the report said.

In a formal response to the report, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would offer additional training to staff to reduce the risk of future gun thefts or losses.

Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper.


The suspect in an attempted homicide and armed robbery in Janesville a week ago was arrested Sunday just over the state line in Illinois.

Latoya Hill, 20, of Beloit, was taken into custody by South Beloit police at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday and taken to the Winnebago County (Ill.) jail, awaiting extradition to the Rock County Jail in Janesville.

Investi- gators learned Hill was at a residence on Hackett Street in Beloit, so surveillance units were set up.

When a vehicle left the address, it was followed by police and stopped.

Hill was a passenger in the vehicle and was taken into custody without incident.

She will be tentatively charged with attempted first-degree homicide and armed robbery for an incident Nov. 21 at Holiday Inn Express in Janesville.

According to the Janesville Gazette, Hill allegedly robbed a man at the hotel after he contacted her through a meet me app.

When she arrived at the room with another person, she allegedly pulled a gun and robbed the victim. The two then got into a fight, with Hill allegedly firing twice at the man, missing both times.

The Gazette said Hill fled the scene after a hotel guest fought her for the gun and took it away from her.
Thirteen Connecticut state troopers left for Puerto Rico this morning to assist in the recovery efforts after hurricane damage.

Of the 13 state troopers, 12 are fluent in Spanish. They will be patrolling and providing security and traffic assistance in conjunction with the local police in Puerto Rico.

Connecticut is home to some of the bravest, brightest, and most selfless state troopers in the nation, Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement. Im incredibly proud of the troopers that volunteered to assist the people of Puerto Rico in their time of need, and wish them a successful tour of duty, and a safe return home. These deployments build upon Connecticuts major hurricane recovery support efforts, including the over 70 recovery missions engaged in by our National Guard.

Connecticut has provided additional assistance to Puerto Rico and to residents who have relocated here. More than 100 National Guardsmen have been tapped for support and have been primarily involved in communications, security forces, maintenance and aerial port operations.

More than 1,700 calls have been placed to the 211 system to connect evacuees and support or sponsors here in Connecticut with available services and donated resources.
Attorney General George Jepsen will not run for reelection in the coming year. His office released a statement this morning.

Following is his full statement:

"I am announcing today that I will not seek a third term as Attorney General, a decision I finalized with my family over the last days. It has been the greatest honor of my professional life to serve as Attorney General for the State of Connecticut. While my love for the work of this office is undiminished, I am ready to pursue different challenges. I do so knowing that the men and women of the Office of the Attorney General will continue to serve and protect our state and its residents with distinction. They are superb public servants in the truest sense, and I am proud of the work we have done together. I do not yet know what my future holds, but look forward to advancing the interests of Connecticut for the remainder of my term and in other capacities."

Jepsen became attorney general in 2011. Before that, he served 16 years in the General Assembly and was the Democratic State Party Chairman.

While Jepsen said he does not know what he will do in the future, he's said he would not run for governor in 2018.
A state-aligned newspaper in the United Arab Emirates says a Plano man who was arrested for taking photographs at the Abu Dhabi International Airport has been fined and will be deported.



The National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, reported on Monday that 59-year-old Joseph Lee must pay a 10,000-dirham ($2,700) fine.



The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said it was aware of reports of Lee's detention. Abu Dhabi's Judicial Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Lee's family told NBC DFW on Nov. 22 that Lee was arrested after being pulled aside by security officials while transiting through Abu Dhabi after a 10-day vacation in Thailand with his son.



His son, Jonathan, said his father began taking photos as security officials were "treating him kind of unfairly in a rude manner."

The Lee family created an online petition to raise awareness to their story. As of publishing Monday, the petition had more than 1,800 signatures.


An Arlington police officer shot a suspected shoplifter who pulled out a BB gun and pointed it at the officer near a crowded mall food court Sunday afternoon.



Arlington police said the shooting happened inside the The Parks Mall, located at Interstate 20 and Cooper Street, at about 4:30 p.m. They said one of their officers was on-duty at the mall when a theft was reported at the Sunglass Hut.

Arlington Police Department spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook said the suspected thief, identified Monday as 21-year-old William Paul Dodd, ran away from the officer toward the upper-level of the food court and pointed what appeared to be a handgun at the officer.



Arlington police said William Dodd is a known offender in Arlington and a convicted felon. Officials prior to Sunday's shooting, Dodd called 911 at 3:11 p.m. and said he was involved in a chase with police on Friday and that he knew Arlington police were looking for him but that he had a weapon and would shoot if they attempted to pull him over.

Cook said the officer fired multiple times, striking Dodd. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he is in critical condition.

"This happened when the mall was extremely busy, there were a lot of bystanders," Cook said. "But luckily no one else was injured in this incident."

Arlington police give an update Monday into the investigation of an officer-involved shooting Sunday afternoon inside the The Parks Mall.

Late Sunday night, Arlington police released surveillance photos from inside the mall showing Dodd pointing the weapon at the officer while standing on the escalator. The department also released a photo of the weapon they said caused the officer to shoot Dodd.

Theft Suspect in Mall Shooting Known to Arlington Police

Arlington police said Dodd is a known offender in Arlington and a convicted felon. Officials prior to Sunday's shooting, Dodd called 911 at 3:11 p.m. and said he was involved in a chase with police on Friday and that he knew Arlington police were looking for him but that he had a weapon and would shoot if they attempted to pull him over.

I know Arlington is looking for me but I got a gun so if you pull me over, Im going to shoot, so just be ready," Dodd said in the 911 call.

Before hanging up Dodd said the he was at Stovall Park in South Arlington; police noted Dodd sounded incoherent in the call.

An Arlington police officer shot a suspected shoplifter who pulled out a BB gun said Arlington police.

Emergency 911 operators called Dodd back after he hung up and he again said that he had a gun and would shoot officers if they approached him. Meanwhile, the dispatcher tried to get Dodd to reveal more details about his location so that officers could take him into custody on an outstanding warrant for making a false report to a police officer; Dodd told police on Sept. 23 he'd been injured in a drive-by shooting.

After searching the park with no luck, officers cleared the call at 4 p.m.

The shooting at the mall took place about a half-hour later.

"The department determined that Dodd is also a suspect that evaded officers in a vehicle on Friday, November 24, 2017 around 2:10 p.m. A uniformed officer attempted to stop Dodd for a traffic violation near Bowen and Sublett but he took off. The vehicle pursuit was terminated and the case remains under investigation," police said in a statement.

Replica imitation firearms/BB guns have no place in society when used in criminal endeavors. There is no training that would allow officers to distinguish between whats real & whats fake in a matter of seconds. We will continue focusing efforts on new legislation. pic.twitter.com/EYgW5wZ0Jb  Will Johnson (@ArlingtonChief) November 27, 2017

According to two sources familiar with the investigation, Dodd may have been angry or despondent after two friends were killed in separate incidents with police recently.

One longtime friend was shot to death by an Arlington SWAT team during a drug raid Halloween night.

About a week later, a second friend died from suicide at the end of a police chase.

Arlington police said fingerprint indentification returned Monday revealed Dodd's true identity and that police are working with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Offcie to file the appropriate charges.


Sini Ann Mathews, the mother of a North Texas toddler who died under suspicious circumstances, successfully argued for a bond reduction in her child endangerment case Monday after spending the holiday weekend in jail.

During Monday's hearing, Dallas County Criminal District Court Judge Stephanie Fargo reduced Sini Mathews' bond from $250,000 to $100,000 while also requiring she be put under house arrest and forced to wear an ankle monitor.

Richardson police argued Mathews was a flight risk and said before she was arrested she asked her pediatrician for shot records so that her 3-year-old biological daughter could "go to India." Fargo also required Mathews surrender her passport.

Sini Ann Mathews, the mother of a North Texas toddler who died under suspicious circumstances, successfully argued for a bond reduction in her child endangerment case Monday after spending the holiday weekend in jail.

Mathews was arrested earlier this month after investigators said she and her husband, Wesley Mathews, left their 3-year-old adopted daughter Sherin Mathews at home, without adult supervision, while they went to dinner with their other daughter on Oct. 6.

Sherin, Wesley said, was being punished for not drinking her milk and was alive when they returned home about 90 minutes later.

As a result of that incident, Sini was arrested, charged with child endangerment and ordered held on $250,000 bond.

Sini Mathews' attorney, Mitchell Nolte, said the normal bond schedule for someone with no priors was just $500 and that his client's bond should be much lower.



5 minute recess called. Both sides have rested their case. Will Sini Mathews' bond be reduced? Is she a flight risk? @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/fZpbdy5Wxg  Maria Guerrero (@Maria_NBC5) November 27, 2017

Wesley Mathews, meanwhile, remains jailed on a felony charge of injury to a child.

On Oct. 7, Wesley Mathews called police and reported Sherin missing. In a story he would later change, Wesley originally told police Sherin disappeared overnight after he ordered her to stand outside at about 3 a.m. for not drinking her milk. When he returned, Wesley said she had disappeared and that her location was unknown.

The girl's body was found in a drainage culvert two weeks after her father reported her missing.

Only then did the girl's father change his story to say that he "physically assisted" his daughter drink the milk and that she choked and died -- after which, he moved her body.

Sini Mathews, who has maintained her innocence in Sherin's death, said she was asleep when the incident happened overnight with Wesley.

Sherin Mathews' Death: The Investigation Continues

The couple's biological 3-year-old daughter was placed into foster care after her sister disappeared. Nov. 20, officials with Child Protective Services confirmed to NBC 5 that she had been turned over to the custody of family members in the Houston area.

Sini and Wesley Mathews next have a custody hearing for their biological daughter scheduled for Nov. 29.

NBC 5's Maria Guerrero contributed to this report.
A 49-year-old San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officer was arrested in Chula Vista last Sunday on felony domestic violence charges, the Chula Vista Police Department confirmed to NBC 7 Saturday.

The suspect, identified as Emmett Gregory, has been an SDPD employee since September 2001, according to records obtained by NBC 7.

Gregory was arrested Sunday at his home in the Otay Ranch area of Chula Vista, a spokesperson for the Chula Vista Police Department said.

SDPD released a statement saying, We are aware of the incident involving Officer Gregory. We take the conduct of all our employees very seriously and hold our personnel to the highest of standards. We have opened an administrative investigation into the situation and will make sure it is investigated fully."

"Domestic violence impacts families in every profession. The San Diego Police Department stands by victims of domestic violence. It is important, no matter who you are, you feel safe in coming forward and reporting domestic violence when it occurs."

Check back on this breaking story for updates.
A California mom who posted a photo that shows her breastfeeding her son while two women look on in disgust at Disneyland has received both major backlash as well as support. The mother said Monday she never expected such a response.

Brittni Medina of Rancho Cucamonga, who attended the Anaheim park earlier in November, said her 10-month-old son became cranky while in line for a holiday photo and she needed to feed him. She said she heard two women making comments behind her, saying she should go somewhere private.

Medina's husband snapped a picture so people could "peep the haters."

"No women should be shamed for feeding their baby uncovered," she said in the Facebook post.

The photo has been shared more than 1,000 times and liked more than 7,600 times.

The breastfeeding mom said the response has been overwhelmingly positive, despite some detractors.

"People are sending me their pictures of publicly breastfeeding," Medina told NBC4. "It's awesome that other moms feel more comfortable doing something so natural as feeding your kid."

Medina also updated her Facebook post to say that family members of the disapproving women had reached out to her, and one said he was ashamed of his aunt's behavior.

Medina said she and her family are Disneyland annual passholders and visit the theme park a couple of times per month. They don't expect that to change.

Disney released a statement to NBC4 in response to the breastfeeding debate: "In accordance with California law, mothers are welcome to breastfeed children at Disneyland Resort, and we have two Baby Care Centers available in our theme parks as well, with additional amenities for parents of infants and toddlers."
Much of tonight's monstrous traffic jam on the westbound San Bernardino (10) Freeway caused mostly by a Christmas shoppers and people returning to Southern California after Thanksgiving has cleared, but not entirely.

A large, disabled mobile home on the shoulder of the westbound 10 that required towing slowed traffic near the crowded Cabazon Mall outlet stores on Seminole Drive, creating a diversion that congested traffic from a truck weigh station about three miles east of the mall to just west of the mall.

A witness told City News Service the 10 west opened wide once traffic passed the scene of the stalled mobile home.

The massive traffic flow from bargain hunters at the mall previously was a major contributor to the earlier slowdown that backed up cars from the Palm Springs area to beyond Cabazon.
One South Florida woman is sharing her story of how she was sexually assaulted at Massage Envy, which faces lawsuits over alleged assaults and misconduct by employed therapists.



The 27-year-old victim told NBC 6 the incident was "mortifying." She said it occurred at a Massage Envy in Coral Springs.

Though she'd been to that Massage Envy before, she said she was not previously treated by the therapist who assaulted her.

"I completely froze," she said. "It was, like, the last 10 minutes of the massage that he then proceeded to, you know, put his hands on my body where it shouldn't be and technically rape me."

The victim called police right away. The therapist who assaulted her was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Victims from other South Florida areas such as Boca Raton and Coral Gables have made similar accusations. BuzzFeed reported on Sunday there have been more than 180 allegations of sexual assault or misconduct linked to Massage Envy.

Adam Horowitz is a lawyer representing victims in more than two dozen sexual misconduct cases against Massage Envy.

Horowitz said there is no typical predator as they range from new therapists to experienced.

"The one common thread is the perpetrators are always male massage therapists in every case," Horowitz said.

In a statement, Massage Envy said: "Even one incident is too many."

"That's why we will never stop reinforcing to our franchisees the importance of a safe environment. It's why we are constantly listening, learning and looking at how we can do more," the company said.

The lawsuits alleged Massage Envy and its franchisees mishandled or ignored many of the cases.
A train hauling molten sulfur derailed in central Florida early Monday, causing the chemical to leak onto to the ground and permeate through the air.

The CSX freight train derailed nine cars, four of which contained the hazardous material used in making rubber, detergent and fertilizers, company spokesman Rob Doolittle said in a statement to NBC.

Polk County officials went door to door asking Lakeland residents who live near the scene of the crash to shut off their air conditioners, close windows and stay indoors. But county spokesman Kevin Watler said in a later news release that residents are now free to leave their homes.

In a Facebook post, Polk County Fire Rescue officials said a crew returning from a medical call early Monday saw that the train had derailed shortly before 2 a.m. just. Firefighters put out a small fire.

The train was traveling from Waycross, Ga., to Winston, Fla., and comprised three locomotives, 120 loaded railcars and 72 empty railcars. The train was carrying a variety of freight, including molten sulphur, cardboard, oats and rock, Doolittle said.



Hazmat crews are working with CSX railroad, the Polk County Sheriff's Office and state officials to investigate the crash. No one was asked to evacuate.

Lakeland is between Tampa and Orlando in central Florida.
After a Mars lander replicate was dropped over a staircase railing at the UW Space Place, Girl Scout Lexi David held an unbroken egg cradled in a paper cup.

The intact egg was testament to her groups successful build of a Mars lander with everyday items like bubble wrap, popsicle sticks and string.

We had a cushion all around it, said Lexi, a seventh-grader at Horicon Junior-Senior High School and a member of Troop 7340.

She was one of about 50 Girl Scouts in grades 6-8 who participated Nov. 19 in a program called EngineerGirl: Mission to Mars. It was put on by the Girl Scouts Badgerland Council and it led to earning a patch.

Claire McLellan, an eighth-grader at Kromrey Middle School in Middleton, and Natalie Boehmer, a sixth-grader at Van Brunt Elementary School in Horicon, both said the day proved to them that girls can do anything.

Claire is a member of Troop 1109 and Natalie belongs to Troop 7340.

EngineerGirl represents one step toward achieving a national pledge and $70 million fundraising initiative just launched by the Girl Scouts to put 2.5 million girls through a STEM pipeline by 2025 to reduce the gender gap in those fields  science, technology, engineering and math.

The announcement followed this summers rolling out of 23 new STEM and Outdoor badges for girls in kindergarten through fifth grade. Next summer, another 23 badges will be released with the same content but for girls in grades 6-12. Over the next two years, the Girl Scouts also will launch 18 cybersecurity badges and a series of space science badges.

In addition to the Mars lander project, EngineerGirl featured a talk by Rebecca Williams of Waunakee. Williams works on NASA-funded projects as a senior scientist for Planetary Science Institute, such as looking at the geology of Mars with the Curiosity rover.

Then they worked with members of the Madison West Rocketry Club. They each built a pneumatic rocket and launched it down the hallway.

Finally they worked with members of the UW-Madison robotics team on a Mars rover robotics activity.

Anastasia Leffel, an eighth-grader at Kromrey Middle School and a member of Troop 1109, said she went to the event to do something with friends and earn a patch.

It ended up being a lot more, she said. It presented to me a lot of opportunities. Ive never tried robotics (and) dropping eggs from the balcony. There are a lot of things that I never would have explored if I hadnt gone.

She said it was a confidence booster to have her idea used by her group for the robotics activity, which was successful.

It showed me I am better at this than I expected, she said. I am now actually more interested in engineering and exploring my options for that in classes at high school.

The Mission to Mars program was part of a three-year EngineerGirl series that Badgerland designed, said Allison Martinson, STEM program manager. The series started with a program focusing on electrical engineering and last spring the Girl Scouts looked at civil engineering.

Badgerland also started its own patch program called STEM Sisterhood in 2015. The goal of the program is to connect girls to women who have STEM jobs by interviewing them and in some cases also job shadowing.
Passengers were stranded on the tarmac of Newark Airport for hours Sunday after some of their plane's tires blew out while landing, officials said.



United Airlines Flight 961 was landing in Newark around 1:30 p.m. from Frankfurt, Germany when the Boeing 777-222 "experienced tire issues," a spokesperson for the airline said.

"I almost went flying out of my seat," passenger Briana Oakland said.

No one was reported injured, but several passengers were shaken up. "I was scared," Oakland said.

Heinz Roth described the landing as "exceptionally nice," but he said it felt like the plane hit two large potholes moments later. "That's when the tires popped," he said.

The passengers were eventually bused from the plane to Terminal B, where family and friends awaited. They weren't seen leaving the airport until after 5:30 p.m.  more than four hours after the plane arrived.
The United States will cut off its supply of arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria, President Donald Trump told the Turkish president on Friday, in a move sure to please Turkey but further alienate Syrian Kurds who bore much of the fight against the Islamic State group.

In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he'd "given clear instructions" that the Kurds will receive no more weapons  "and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago," said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The White House confirmed the move in a cryptic statement about the phone call that said Trump had informed the Turk of "pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria."

The White House called the move "consistent with our previous policy" and noted the recent fall of Raqqa, once the Islamic State group's self-declared capital but recently liberated by a largely Kurdish force. The Trump administration announced in May it would start arming the Kurds in anticipation of the fight to retake Raqqa.

"We are progressing into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return," the White House said, using an acronym for the extremist group.

The move could help ease strained tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, two NATO allies that have been sharply at odds about how best to wage the fight against IS. Turkey considers the Kurdish Syrian fighters, known by the initials YPG, to be terrorists because of their affiliation to outlawed Kurdish rebels that have waged a three decade-long insurgency in Turkey. Yet the U.S. chose to partner with the YPG in Syria anyway, arguing that the battle-hardened Kurds were the most effective fighting force available.

Cavusoglu, who said he was in the room with Erdogan during Trump's call, quoted the U.S. president as saying he had given instructions to U.S. generals and to national security adviser H.R. McMaster that "no weapons would be issued."

"Of course, we were very happy with this," Cavusoglu said.

Yet for the Kurds, it was the latest demoralizing blow to their hopes for greater recognition in the region. Last month, the Kurds in neighboring Iraq saw their recent territorial gains erased by the Iraqi military, which seized the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas from the Kurdish regional government in retaliation for a Kurdish independence referendum that the U.S. ardently opposed.

Trump's decision appeared to catch both the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department off guard. Officials at both agencies, who would normally be informed of changes in U.S. policy toward arming the Syrian Kurds, said they were unaware of any changes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was unclear whether the Trump administration notified the Kurds of the move before telling the Turks. Nor was it how much significance the change would have on the ground, considering the fight against IS is almost over.

The United States has been arming the Kurds in their fight against IS through an umbrella group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which is comprised of Kurdish as well as Arab fighters. But the retreat of IS, which has lost nearly all its territory in Syria, has altered the dynamics in the region and a U.S. defense official said he was unaware of any additional arms scheduled to be transferred to the Kurds, even before the Turkish announcement.

Last week, Col. Ryan Dillon, the chief spokesman for the U.S. coalition that is fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, said there has yet to be any reduction in the number of U.S. advisers working with the SDF. His comments appeared to suggest the possibility that changes in the level and type of U.S. military support for the Syrian Kurds could be coming.

As the fight against IS has waned in recent months, the U.S. has pledged to carefully monitor the weapons it provides the Kurds, notably ensuring that they don't wind up in the hands of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey known as the PKK.

Both Turkey and the U.S. consider the PKK a terrorist group. But the United States has tried to draw a distinction between the PKK and the Syrian Kurds across the border, while Turkey insists they're essentially the same.

In both Syria and Iraq, the U.S. relied on Kurdish fighters to do much of the fighting against IS, but those efforts have yet to lead to a realization of the Kurds' broader aspirations, most notably an independent state.

Washington's support for the Syrian Kurds, in particular, has been a major thorn in U.S.-Turkish relations for several years, given Turkey's concerns about the Kurds' territorial aspirations. In particular, Turkey has feared the establishment of a contiguous, Kurdish-held canton in northern Syria that runs along the Turkish border.

Relations between NATO allies Turkey and the United States have also soured recently over a number of other issues, including Turkey's crackdown on dissent following a failed coup attempt last year. Ankara has also demanded that the U.S. extradite a Pennsylvania-based cleric that it blames for fomenting the coup, but the U.S. says Turkey lacks sufficient proof.

___

Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
Weeks of deals didn't stop people from heading online to shop on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Cyber Monday is likely to be the biggest U.S. online shopping day ever, according to Adobe Analytics, the research arm of software maker Adobe. Nearly $6.6 billion in sales were forecast by the end of the day, up about 17 percent from a year ago, Adobe said. And more people are picking up their phones to shop: Web traffic from mobile devices, including tablets, is expected to top desktop computers for the first time this year, Adobe said.

When Frank Yanover browsed Amazon's Cyber Monday deals through his phone, he wasn't looking for anything in particular. But he spent $300 on a Vitamix blender that he had eyed before, which he said was a $200 discount.

"I never bought it because it was so expensive," said Yanover, who is retired and lives in Hollywood, Florida.

Over the holiday weekend, he bought an iPad from Best Buy through his phone and then picked it up at a store. And using his voice-activated Echo, he bought Amazon's $30 Echo Dot for his bedroom, which was $20 off.

Others seem to be doing the same. The Echo Dot was the top-selling electronic item on Amazon, followed by the Fire TV. Board games, Fingerlings and Legos were best-sellers in Amazon's toy section.

Over at eBay, one $745 Apple MacBook Air was sold every five seconds, the company said. And J.C. Penney said its top-selling items on its website were towels, $25 diamond stud earrings and a Liz Claiborne bag that has a built-in phone charger.

Target and Toys R Us offered 15 percent off most items. Walmart.com tripled the amount of items available on its site from last year. But Amazon is expected to be the big winner over the holiday season, with Bain & Co. expecting the online retailer to capture 50 percent of all online sales growth this year.

C. Britt Beemer, the chairman of the consumer-focused America's Research Group, says computers and smaller electronics were the top-sellers this Cyber Monday, followed by clothing. "It's easier to ship," he says about apparel.

The shift to online shopping has been noticeable even before Cyber Monday. At a Toys R Us in Toledo, Ohio, on Friday, the parking lot was about half full. Melissa Wetzel, who said she would also do some shopping online, said her Black Friday in-store shopping had been relaxing since she didn't have to fight the crowds.

"It's been pretty easy," she said. "I guess most are shopping online."

__

Associated Press reporters Shelley Adler in Washington, D.C., and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
A woman who told police a Massage Envy employee sexually assaulted her during an appointment spoke publicly about the alleged attack for the first time on Monday and said she came forward to help protect other women.

Tara Woodley expected a relaxing massage when she went to a Massage Envy location in Washington, D.C. in September. Instead, she says the massage therapist sexually abused her. She said at a news conference Monday afternoon that she came forward in part to prevent her alleged attacker from attacking someone else.

"He was on a trend. Basically, every month, he was targeting somebody," she said, with her husband sitting behind her. "It stops with me."

Woodley previously spoke and filed a lawsuit anonymously, using the name Jane Doe.

A day earlier, Buzzfeed reported that more than 180 women have reported sexual assaults at Massage Envy locations across the country. The billion-dollar company trains franchise owners to conduct internal investigations on reports of misconduct and does not require that they report alleged crimes to police, Buzzfeed reported.

Adam Horowitz, a lawyer who has worked on two dozen cases against Massage Envy, said the actual number of assaults is likely considerably higher.



NBC News has not confirmed all of the allegations.

Woodley said she "found strength" in watching women in Hollywood and in government confront sexual misconduct.

The man accused of attacking Woodley, 24-year-old Habtamu Gebreselassie of Silver Spring, Maryland, has been accused of sexually assaulting at least four massage customers.

A woman told News4 Gebreselassie touched her inappropriately at a Bowie, Maryland, location on June 20. She said management offered her a free spa day and told her he had been transferred to a location in D.C.

A 66-year-old woman told police Gebreselassie assaulted her at the chain's location in D.C.'s Tenleytown neighborhood on Aug. 28.

"I've never done this before. I don't know what got into me," she told police he said.

Management wrote a report, gave Gebreselassie additional training and allowed him to stay on the job, a D.C. detective testified.

Then, Woodley said Gebreselassie attacked her three weeks later.

In a statement Sunday, Massage Envy  which has more than 1,100 franchises in 49 states, according to the company's website  said the incidents described in the report were "heartbreaking for us and for the franchisees that operate Massage Envy locations."

Woodley said on Monday and in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that she was getting a massage at the Massage Envy's Tenleytown location at 4926 Wisconsin Ave. NW on Sept. 17 when the massage therapist removed the sheet that was covering her pelvis. Then, he put his mouth on her genitals, she said.

She immediately pulled the sheet back up to cover herself and ordered him to leave.

"We're done here. We're done here," she repeated, raising her voice.

On his knees, he begged for forgiveness, Woodley said.

She said she went outside and called her husband. He told her to call 911, she did and police arrived quickly.

Gebreselassie has been charged in two claims: for sexual abuse in Woodley's case Sept. 17 and for attempted sexual abuse on Aug. 28 in the same location.

In an alleged attack June 20, a woman told Massage Envy that Gebreselassie sexually abused her during a massage and the company offered her a free spa day when she told them what happened.

That woman, who asked News4 not to identify her, said Gebreselassie touched her inappropriately, bruised her and made her feel uncomfortable at the Massage Envy location in Bowie, Maryland.

She says she reported the attack to management the next day and asked to cancel her membership. She says she was told she could not do so but that she could have a free spa day, as a courtesy. Also, she says management told her Gebreselassie had been transferred to a location in D.C., so she would not see him again at the Bowie location.

The woman contacted News4 to tell her story. News4's Mark Segraves informed prosecutors, who declined to confirm whether they were speaking with her.

During a court appearance Gebreselassie previously had, prosecutors tried to enter the possibility of a third victim into the record. The judge denied the request because Gebreselassie has not been charged in connection to the alleged victim June 20.

In the alleged attack Aug. 28, a 66-year-old woman told police Gebreselassie tried to sexually abuse her.

She was getting a massage from Gebreselassie about 2 p.m. when he touched her inappropriately, court documents say.

She yelled at him, and he fell to his knees, she told police.

"I've never done this before. I don't know what got into me," she told police Gebreselassie said.

The woman told police she told the manager and owner of the Massage Envy location on Sept. 5 what happened.

Management wrote a report, gave Gebreselassie additional training and allowed him to stay on the job, a D.C. detective testified in court Thursday.

Diane Kelley, a co-owner of the Tenleytown franchise, refused to answer News4's questions on Thursday. Asked repeatedly why she allowed Gebreselassie to keep working, she hung up the phone.

A corporate spokesperson for Massage Envy said they could not comment on the franchise's "confidential employment matters."

"We can say that Massage Envy Franchising has a Zero Tolerance Policy on inappropriate conduct and requires its franchisees to conduct fair, thorough and objective investigations with respect to any allegation of inappropriate conduct," a statement said. "We are evaluating any additional information we receive to verify that requirement was met in this instance."

News4 was first to report on Woodley's case. The alleged victim in the Aug. 28 case told police she came forward after seeing News4's Mark Segraves' story.

Gebreselassie declined a plea agreement during a court appearance and was held without bond. If Gebreselassie is convicted, he faces decades in prison.

He was fired.

Massage Envy said the franchise owner conducted a background check on Gebreselassie.

"The therapist briefly trained at another location owned by the same franchise owner before joining the Tenleytown location once it opened," the company said.

At the Potomac Massage Training Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, executive director Tamera Gelman had these three tips for protecting yourself when you get a massage: Ask if your massage therapist is licensed, if he or she underwent a background check and how long he or she has worked for the company.
What to Know Sayfullo Saipov was charged in federal court Wednesday with providing material support to a terrorist organization

The 29-year-old man, a Uzbek national who's been in the U.S. since 2010, drove a truck down a Manhattan bike path, killing 8 and injuring 12

According to court documents, Saipov said he was inspired to carry out the truck attack by ISIS videos he watched on his cell phone

The truck driver suspected of mowing people down on a riverfront bike path near the World Trade Center, killing eight people and injuring a dozen others, was charged in federal court Wednesday evening.



Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, 29, entered federal court in a wheelchair, handcuffed and with feet shackled, to face terrorism charges. He did not enter a plea. He used headphones to listen to a Russian translation of court proceedings, but answered the judge in English, saying, "Thanks."

His attorney David Patton said they were not seeking bail. A judge set his next court date for Nov. 15.

Announcing the charges in a news conference Wednesday, acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said, "Alleged terrorists like Saipov view this city as a prime target for their hate-filled crimes. The thing is, for the alleged terrorists like Saipov, they will find in New York City something else: justice."

"They will find, and have found, that law enforcement and everyday people in this city are not afraid of their evil. They see through their false hateful rhetoric and are committed to bringing them to justice. And that is what we intend to do with Sayfullo Saipov," said Kim.

In terms of casualties, the truck rampage was the worst terror attack in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001, authorities said.



Saipov was set to head to jail after court Wednesday night, not back to the hospital. His public defender, David Patton, said that he was in "significant pain," however, and asked that Saipov be prescribed medication for the gunshot wound he sustained as he ran in traffic with a pellet gun and paintball gun.

"How we treat Mr. Saipov in this judicial process says a lot more about us than him," Patton said after the hearing.

Saipov told the FBI in his interviews that he planned the attack for a year and had decided to carry it out on Halloween; investigators told them he picked the day because he knew the streets would be crowded.

According to the complaint, he intended to drive a rented truck and strike pedestrians in the area of the West Side Highway, then proceed to the Brooklyn Bridge, where he'd continue to hit pedestrians. He allegedly said he wanted to kill as many people as he could.

Saipov also wanted to display ISIS flags in the front and back of the truck during the attack but decided against it because he did not want to draw attention, according to the complaint.

He waived his Miranda rights after he was arrested, and told law enforcement during questioning that he felt good about what he'd done. Officials said he asked for an ISIS flag to be displayed in the hospital room where he was taken after he was shot in the abdomen by a police officer.

Saipov allegedly said he was inspired to carry out the truck attack by ISIS videos he watched on his cellphone. The FBI said they searched his phones and found approximately 90 videos with ISIS propaganda, and 3,800 images that appeared to be ISIS propaganda.

He allegedly told investigators he began planning the attack in the U.S. approximately two months ago.



The complaint also says Saipov rented a truck on Oct. 22 so he could practice making turns with the truck in advance of his attack.

The federal complaint corroborates what NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said at a news briefing earlier Wednesday: that Saipov appeared to have been planning the attack for a number of weeks.

"He appears to have followed almost exactly to a T these instructions that ISIS has put out on its social media channels before with instructions to their followers on how to carry out such an attack," said Miller.

[NATL] In Photos: Aftermath of Deadly Truck Rampage in Manhattan

Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, actively read ISIS propaganda, a review of his online accounts showed. He left a note in the damaged Home Depot truck he had rented that translates to "ISIS endures forever," though at this point, investigators consider the rampage to be a "lone wolf" attack. Multiple knives were also recovered in and around the vehicle, along with a paintball gun and a pellet gun.



Saipov was familiar with the area of the attack, investigators say. A senior official tells News 4 that Saipov made multiple drives to the West Side Highway near the World Trade Center in recent weeks. The travels were "inconsistent with his employment as an Uber driver," suggesting that the trips were efforts of reconnaissance and planning.



Listen as emergency responders react to reports of an out of control box truck in lower Manhattan. For the latest on the deadly incident click here.

Hundreds of detectives have been scouring the West Side Highway since Tuesday, going up and down both sides of the street, "meticulously trying to pick up every piece of video from every security camera, every traffic camera, every bank camera, anything that will help us put together this timeline so we can reconstruct a much as possible," Miller said. The highway will remain shut down south of 14th Street through at least Wednesday evening.

Detectives are also reviewing license plate readers to reconstruct Saipov's movements in the days leading up to the attack. A number of search warrants were already executed overnight, and more witnesses may be interviewed.



Police and the FBI urged members of the public to give them any photos or video that could help by uploading them at fbi.gov/nyctribeca.

The mayhem Tuesday set off panic in the neighborhood and left the pavement strewn with mangled bicycles and bodies that were soon covered with sheets. Eight people were killed and a dozen injured in a Halloween afternoon attack that Mayor de Blasio called "a particularly cowardly act of terror."

While police didn't specifically blame any group for the strike, Trump railed against the Islamic State and declared "enough!" and "NOT IN THE U.S.A.!"



Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks out against the cowardly act of terror that killed at least 8 people in lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators say Saipov came to the United States legally in 2010 through a diversity visa lottery program. He has a Florida driver's license but may have been staying in New Jersey off and on, they said. Law enforcement cordoned off an apartment building in nearby Paterson on Wednesday as well. Officers searched a garage. The building's manager told The Record he lived with his wife and two children in a two-bedroom apartment on Genessee Avenue. An official says his wife is in Paterson with authorities.



Saipov was never the subject of an investigation by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau or by the FBI -- but it appears he's been connected to other people who have been investigated by the NYPD or FBI, according to Miller.

"We're looking for how he has touched the subjects of other investigations, what his connectivity is to those people," said Miller. "We're kind of building out in concentric circles to try and document that."



Another law enforcement official tells NBC News that Saipov was interviewed in 2015 by an agent from Homeland Security Investigations (which is part of ICE, which is part of Department of Homeland Security) because he was listed as a point of contact by two other men that HSI was investigating at the time for overstaying their tourist visas. This was done while the agent was part of a Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, the official told NBC News.

Records show Saipov was a commercial truck driver who formed a pair of businesses in Ohio. An Ohio marriage license shows that a truck driver with one of Saipov's addresses and his name, spelled slightly differently, married a fellow Uzbek in 2013.

Uber said Saipov had passed a background test to drive for the service while he was living in New Jersey, and that he had been banned from accessing the app after Tuesday's attack. The company added that it is reviewing Saipov's history with the service and cooperating with the FBI. Lyft said it is also cooperating with law enforcement.



Saipov pleaded guilty to two traffic offenses in Pennsylvania between 2012 and 2015, according to records from the Keystone State. He was also arrested for failing to appear in court after getting another traffic citation in Missouri in 2015; he later paid a fine and served no jail time. It's not clear if he had any other criminal history beyond the traffic offenses.



A 29-year-old Uzbek national, identified as Sayfullo Saipov, drove a Home Depot rental pickup truck at least 10 blocks down the popular West Side Highway bike path from West Houston to Chambers streets, hitting nearly a dozen pedestrians. Eight people were killed.

Police have said the attacker rented the truck at about 2 p.m. at a New Jersey Home Depot and then went into New York City over the George Washington Bridge, entering the bike path about an hour later and speeding toward the World Trade Center, the site of the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history.

He barreled along the bike path in the truck for the equivalent of about 14 blocks, or around eight-tenths of a mile, before deliberately slamming into a small yellow school bus near Stuyvesant High School and P.S. 89, injuring two staff members and two children.

"A person hopped out of the car with two guns and started yelling and screaming," said a 12-year-old student who had just left a nearby school. "They were yelling 'Allahu Akbar.'"

The student, whose mother asked that his name be withheld, said he ran back into the school, where students cried and huddled in a corner.

Video shot by bystanders showed Saipov walking through traffic wielding what looked like two handguns, but which police later said were a paintball gun and a pellet gun. A police officer shot Saipov when he wouldn't drop the weapons, police said.



Witness video shows the suspect in a Lower Manhattan truck rampage running through traffic with what looks like two weapons. For the latest updates on this story click here.
Pope Francis opened a diplomatically fraught trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday by immediately diving into the crisis over Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims: He met with the country's military chief, even before beginning the official program of his trip.

The Vatican didn't provide details of the contents of Francis' 15-minute "courtesy visit" with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations. It took place in the residence of the archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo, who has resisted international condemnation of the military's operations against Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing."

The general is in charge of security in Rakhine state, where the military's "clearance operations" against the Muslim minority have sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Refugees there have told of entire villages being burned and women and girls being raped.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said only that "They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing's office said in a statement on Facebook that he is willing to have "interfaith peace, unity and justice." The general added that there was no religious or ethnic persecution or discrimination in Myanmar, and that the government allowed different faith groups to have freedom of worship.

Rohingya Muslims have faced state-supported discrimination in predominantly Buddhist country for decades. Though members of the ethnic minority first arrived generations ago, Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, denying them almost all rights and rendering them stateless. They cannot travel freely, practice their religion, or work as teachers or doctors, and they have little access to medical care, food or education.

Originally, the meeting was planned for Wednesday, after Francis was to have met with the country's civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital. The Vatican didn't say why it was moved up.

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in Rakhine. But Myanmar's Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohingya," which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

Francis has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters," and much of the debate in the run-up to the trip focused on whether he would do so again in expressing solidarity with the Rohingya's plight. Any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

Burke didn't say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when a group of Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that resulted in Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

In the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, Senu Ara, 35, welcomed Francis' arrival for what he might be able to do for the refugees.

"He might help us get the peace that we are desperately searching for," she said. "Even if we stay here he will make our situation better. If he decides to send us back, he will do so in a peaceful way."

But in Myanmar, the sentiment was different. The government and most of the Buddhist majority consider the Rohingya Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have been here for generations.

"Being a religious leader  Catholic leader  means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, 'OK, he just came to meddle,'" said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. "So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations."

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term "Rohingya" carries so much political weight for all of Myanmar's people.

"But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people aren't going to like the pope anymore," he said.

Upon his arrival in Yangon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Myanmar's Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children greeted him as he drove in a simple blue sedan, chanting "Viva il papa!" (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Myanmar and Holy See flags. Posters wishing Francis "a heartiest of welcome" lined the route into town.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologized for the expected heat, which was 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) upon his arrival and is expected to rise during his stay.

On Tuesday, Francis begins the main protocol portion of his weeklong trip, meeting with Suu Kyi and other officials. He is to deliver a speech to her and other Myanmar authorities and diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, in what will likely be the most closely watched speech of the trip.

Associated Press journalists Min Kyi Thein and Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.
Police say a Massachusetts man has died hours after being hit by a car near a Delaware home where people flock each year to see its elaborate Christmas lights.

Delaware State Police say 62-year-old Thomas Brock was struck Friday night while crossing Red Lion Road in Bear, near where a homeowner puts of hundreds of thousands of lights and other decorations each winter holiday season.

Brock walked directly into the path of a passing Honda, police said. The driver stopped and remained at the scene.

Medics rushed Brock to Christiana Hospital in critical condition. He died Saturday, police said. Brock's hometown wasn't disclosed.

No charges were filed as of Monday. Authorities say they don't believe the 23-year-old driver, a local resident, was going too fast. Police say neither one was impaired.

State police offered tips for people walking near roadways and drivers during the holiday season.

Tips for pedestrians:

Wear reflective clothing, a blinking light or use your cell phones flashlight.

Use a crosswalk.

Be focused. Be aware of your surroundings and not distracted with your cell phone.

Walk on the sidewalk when available, not the shoulder. If there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic and as far from traffic as possible.

Never assume a driver sees you. Make eye contact with drivers as they approach you to make sure you are seen.

Never walk under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Tips for drivers:
Police and fire officials responded to a fire at an early childhood center in Kingston, Massachusetts on Monday afternoon.

The 2-alarm fire was reported at 251 Bishops Highway, police said.

The center was closed at the time of the fire.

No one had to be rescued, and no one was injured.

The fire was in the basement, and an initial report shows the cause was a mechanical issue of some sort.

The fire is under investigation and an exact cause will be determined.

At the time of the fire, aerial footage from NBC Boston's Sky Ranger helicopter showed about a dozen police and fire vehicles at the scene, with a ladder extended to the roof of the building.

The center will most likely be closed for the remainder of the week.

No further information was immediately available.
Scott Bells family enjoyed a July vacation in Norway, all the way up until the return flight.

We got to the airport well ahead of schedule. We were informed that the trip was canceled, said Bell.

Norwegian Airlines couldnt get them back to TF Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island for a couple of days, so they offered up another option.

We worked out a deal. We said what can we do? She said if you can get home from New York City, JFK, we can get you home tomorrow. That would require us flying to Oslo, Norway, connecting and going to Stockholm, Sweden, explained Bell.

So, the next day, the family flew from Stockholm to New York, rented a car, drove to Providence to pick up their car at the airport there and then drove home to New Hampshire. It was an exhausting trip and a major inconvenience, but the airline promised compensation.

The woman at the counter said dont worry, we can take care of all your expenses, all your food, your hotels, any receipts you have well reimburse you. Youll be entitled to this right of care act that they have, basically meaning if they cancel your flight, youre going to be eligible for some money for your inconvenience, said Bell.

Bell filed a claim online, submitted his receipts and waited. After the 4-6 weeks they said it would take to process the claim had passed, he called the airline several times, but couldnt get an update on his refund.

I went to their Facebook page and said Im having some trouble. They said yep, yep were running behind. Someone will get back with you. Went on Twitter, went on Instagram, different posts, like hey Im still waiting, said Bell.

Frustrated, Bell contacted NBC Boston Responds for help.

Surprisingly enough, after a couple of emails back and forth from NBC, I received an email from Norwegian that they had found my file. It had been misplaced by accident and that they would get me my money within two to three weeks and about two to three weeks later the money finally showed up - $3,036.58, said Bell.

A Norwegian spokeswoman told NBC Boston: Norwegian is committed to delivering a high quality, low-cost experiencehowever, we also recognize that things can go wrong. In those instances, westrive to resolved them at the first point of contact. At times, further escalation is required, as we thoroughly and accurately complete a fair handling process according to EU regulations.

I really believe if I didnt get involved and have you folks speak for me and go to bat for me Id probably still be waiting, said Bell.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has called a mandatory meeting with Assembly staff this week to address ways workers can report sexual harassment.

Its the first action to address sexual harassment taken by state legislative leaders in the wake of an avalanche of allegations against prominent lawmakers, entertainers and journalists. None have involved people in Wisconsin.

The Assembly takes reports of sexual harassment very seriously and we want to make sure all staff are comfortable and familiar with how to make a report and explain the process that occurs if one is made, Vos, R-Rochester, wrote in an email to staff last week.

The meeting comes at a time when Congress and state legislatures are grappling with allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Allegations have been leveled against U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, several state lawmakers and Republican Senate-hopeful Roy Moore of Alabama.

The claims of sexual misconduct and harassment made against lawmakers followed a cascade of similar allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, comedian Louis C.K. and high-profile media figures such as Roger Ailes and Bill OReilly of Fox News and Charlie Rose of CBS and PBS.

Also last week, Department of Administration Secretary Scott Neitzel asked heads of state agencies to review with their staff members the states policies related to sexual harassment.

In the email, Neitzel emphasized that state law allows employees to be fired instead of disciplined for harassing a person while on duty.

While most harassment claims may not be as obvious a violation as some we have recently seen in the media, all allegations need to be taken seriously and appropriately reviewed, he wrote.

Vos wrote in his email to staff that the Legislatures human resources director will be at the Tuesday meeting in the Assembly chamber to discuss the Assemblys procedures on reporting sexual harassment.

Lawmakers are not required to attend the meeting, but Vos said in the email that legislators are encouraged to attend.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the office would discuss whether to hold a similar meeting.

Zero tolerance

According to Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller, the Assemblys policies prohibit discrimination of any kind and ban sexual harassment. According to the official policy manual all staff receive and must sign a document stating the Assembly will not tolerate discrimination or harassment, and is committed to preventing or stopping it whenever it may occur.

Complaints of harassment should be made to the Legislatures human resources office, according to the policy, though the policy does not specifically address sexual harassment.

Staff are also given a pamphlet including the Department of Workforce Developments complaint process for staff who feel they have experienced discrimination, which outlines the best methods for managers to handle allegations of harassment, Fuller said.

The pamphlet also defines sexual harassment  emphasizing sexual harassment can occur when there is a disparity of power, not just when men and women work together and that harassers can be supervisors, co-workers and also people who dont work for the Assembly but communicate and work with Assembly staff.

In the Senate, harassment and discrimination also are prohibited and staff are given policies regarding sexual harassment that specifically outline how to file complaints. According to Senate Chief Clerk Jeff Renk, staff making a complaint can file one through an informal process to resolve the unwanted situation or through a formal complaint that aims to ensure that appropriate action can be taken right away.

It defines sexual harassment as verbal, visual, or physical.

It can be overt, as in the suggestion that a person could get a raise in salary or promotion by submitting to sexual advances, according to the policy. Sexual harassment can also consist of persistent, unwelcome attempts to change a professional relationship to a personal one.

The informal process allows staff to complain verbally or in writing, and provides more confidentiality, while the formal process requires a detailed complaint be filed in writing, according to the Senates policy.

The Senate also prohibits retaliation against employees and establishes timelines within which supervisors and human resources staff must resolve complaints.

Records denied

Fuller and Renk last week denied a request made by the Wisconsin State Journal under the states open records law for complaints of sexual harassment filed with their offices over the last 10 years.

To the extent we have any records, release of any records responsive to your request would have a negative/chilling impact upon employees informing the Legislature of their concerns via the internal complaint process and the ability of the Legislature to be appropriately informed of and to timely respond to and resolve such concerns/complaints, they wrote in each of their letters of denial. The purpose of an employer internal complaint process is to instill employee confidence in his/her employer in resolving such concerns in an appropriate, timely and as confidential as possible manner (without having to file a formal, costly and public lawsuit).

Fuller and Renk said releasing the records related to complaints and investigations compromises the privacy rights of victims, witnesses, and others.

The increased level of embarrassment would have a chilling effect on future witnesses or victims coming forward, contrary to public policy, they wrote.
Senators could vote as soon as this week on the GOP tax reform plan and Maine Senator Susan Collins is still uncommitted. The moderate Republican has voiced concerns about the bill, including a provision to repeal the individual healthcare mandate.

As she decides on her vote, Sen. Collins is getting pressure from home. Protesters gathered outside her Portland office Monday morning, asking Collins to vote against the plan.

"Its a really bad bill," said protester Margaret Wiley.

Hours later, the head of the Small Business Administration visited Portland and held a roundtable with entrepreneurs, touting tax cuts for corporations.

"Every one of the small businesses Ive talked to respond that tax savings would be used to invest back into their businesses," said Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon.

Senator Collins has said in addition to the healthcare provision, she has issues with the GOPs plan to cut taxes for top income earners, and repeal the estate tax. During a tax reform panel alongside Ivanka Trump earlier this month, she said she supported cuts to corporate taxes.

McMahon said one thing small businesses are asking for is certainty.

"They need to know what to expect, so they can plan," she said.


Norfolk priest loses her hair for Mind charity Norfolk priest loses her hair for Mind charity

Norfolk community priest and City Pastor in Norwich, Rev Deb Cousins, has lost all of her hair to raise money for Norwich and Central Norfolk Mind.


Ringing out the church bells in Drayton and Wymondham Ringing out the church bells in Drayton and Wymondham

Last year Raymond Harwood from Hellesdon took up bell ringing as a hobby, and now assists in ringing the church bells for services at St Margarets Drayton and Wymondham Abbey. Raymond writes about his new passion and its appeal.

60-year old Raymond Harwood from Hellesdon in Norwich has been learning bell ringing at St Margarets Church, Drayton for just over a year. He now assists in ringing the bells for the Sunday morning service at the church, as well as the evening service at Wymondham Abbey.

During the past twelve months Raymond has rung the bells at over 20 other towers in the area and left a fid, a wooden tool used to untie knots, at each to commemorate his visit.



Here Raymond writes, in his own words, about why he finds bell ringing so compelling and invites others to take up the traditional British pastime.

The hobby of bell ringing is something in my late age that I have decided to take up, firstly for the exercise, given that you are swinging a bell weighing a few hundred weight above your head (secretly, it is in fact gravity that is doing most of the work), secondly for the simplicity, given that you only have one note or one bell to have to contend with unlike most musical instruments and thirdly for the comradery as you learn, which incidentally is free.



In truth, life is a little more complicated, bell ringing involves coming to grips with the precision timing involved in controlling your bell as part of a band of six or more and memorization of the method or tune being played.



The weekly practise nights at a church bell tower are relatively short given that the evening is divided into time for each ringer to concentrate on their practise needs. So progress is slow and looking back over how I started learning I would say that it takes about a month to gain control of a bell sufficiently well to be able to ring in rounds - rounds being the most basic of ringing sequences.



Not content with my achievement in ringing rounds and call changes (step two in ones learning programme) my tower captain is constantly pressuring me to progress further. This brings me on to why I am writing this article. The tunes or methods have to be learned off by heart and played from memory. Numerous books are available on the subject which are written in such a way as to display methods in a format that aids memorization called the Blue Line.



Since time immemorial this has been the traditional and standard way of displaying methods. One example (pictured right) is a method called Plain Bob Doubles. Without going into too much detail each row represents the sequence of the order the bells are rung. As each row is rung the bells take the opportunity to swap places with the bell beside it, either before it or after it. So slowly a changing sequence takes place row by row until the bells are back in the starting sequence.



In this method bells 2, 3, 4 and 5 follow the same pattern but rather than rewrite the sequence four times with a blue line shown for the appropriate bell it is simpler just to indicate where each bell begins the pattern on the one blue line.



Now the fun begins! What I have discovered recently is that the same method can be displayed on polar graph paper with spectacular results (diagram below).





What is absolutely remarkable is the beauty of the method when it is written out this way is clearly visible.



It also neatly illustrates what is known as the circle of work where bells 2, 3, 4 and 5 have to juggle position each time bell 1 leads. But that is getting a little too technical. What I want to illuminate is the wonderfully attractive butterflies created when drawn on polar graph paper.



Here is an example of a 6 bell method. I'm not sure if following the blue line when displayed this way make it any easier in learning the method but it sure looks pretty (diagram below).



Encouraging new people to take up the hobby of bellringing and continue the tradition of this quintessentially British pastime is ultimately the aim. On polar graph paper you can now see the beauty of the method - now come to a church and hear the magical sound being made! Stay and become addicted to serving your community in this small but enjoyable way as a bell ringer like me!



Photo: 360 degree photgraph by Raymond Harwood of his bellringing group in the Church of St Peter Mancroft tower
A Norwich church has temporarily relocated to a boxing ring where self professed 'hard men' will tell their stories of finding faith. The first Tough Talk event is set for November 20.

A Norwich church has temporarily relocated to a boxing ring where self professed 'hard men' will tell their stories of finding faith. The first Tough Talk event is set for November 20.

How can we help feed those in need? Andrew Frere-Smith reminds us of the importance of meals, and offers us some food for thought as the rising cost of living impacts our communities. Read more

Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more

John leads Norwich churches trip to Holy Land Experienced Holy Land traveller and former CEO of YMCA Norfolk, John Drake, is leading an inter-church tour from Norwich to Israel and Palestine in March 2023, with a few places still available. Read more

Christmas rhyming play by North Norfolk teacher Matthew Pickhaver, who lives in North Norfolk, has just published the third of his series of play scripts on the theme of Christmas, which is now available to buy. Read more

Advent and Christmas events at Norwich Cathedral From an Advent Open Evening to Carols in the Cloister and an array of special services and concerts with Norwich Cathedral Choir, there is lots to look forward to at Norwich Cathedral this festive season. Read more

Norwich church to hold Sunday healing service Witard Road Baptist Church is hosting a healing service on November 27 led by Rev Ray and Ruth Scorey from Norfolk Healing Rooms. Read more

Sheringham youth attend forbidden church The youth group at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham were forced to meet at a secret location earlier this month when the Lighthouse building had, supposedly, been shut down by the authorities. Read more

Christmas pud workshop at Norwich church Not made your Christmas pudding yet? Don't know where to start? Come along to a Christmas pudding workshop at Norwich Central Baptist Church on November 21 with MasterChef contestant Jane Wyndham. Read more

Norwich Foodbank provides over 4,700 food parcels Norwich Foodbank gave out 4,793 emergency food parcels to people across Norwich in the last year  with 1,790 of these going to children. Read more

Poppies cascading in Sheringham church A fall of poppies cascades from the pulpit in St Andrews Methodist Church in Sheringham, and anyone is welcome to come and see them. Read more

Bishop Graham's prayers for COP27 climate conference Bishop Graham is publishing daily prayers on social media for the current COP27 climate conference, and is asking all to join. Read more

Discovering the Orange in your life The vibrant colours of autumn have been inspiring regular contributor Jane Walters to focus on the positive. Read more

YMCA annual celebration set to inspire YMCA Norfolk is set to hold its much anticipated 2022 annual celebration and awards ceremony on November 17, after almost 3 years since the last event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

Hub manager vacancy at community shop Earlham Community Shop Community Interest Company is looking to appoint a manager for this new venture being developed in the heart of NR5 Norwich. Read more

Abbey Days brings Christmas Magic to Wymondham Visitors to Wymondham Abbeys Christmas fair will be able to treat their children to a magic show and fun baking workshop while they browse more than 60 stalls. Read more

Salvation Armys new Christmas Appeal in Norfolk The Salvation Army has launched their new Christmas appeal across Norfolk which, this year, has evolved from the much-loved Toys and Tins appeal. Read more

Are we storing up treasures on earth? Rising prices affect us all, and Anna Heydon urges us to spare a thought for those who will be struggling with the cost of living this winter. Read more
Doctors in Madhya Pradesh India, recently were shocked to find 5 kg of iron objects in a mans stomach while operating on him for a suspected stomach bug.

The 32 year old man called Mohammed Maqsood Khan is from Sohaval in Satna district. He was complaining of abdominal pain for the last three months for which he was taken to the state-run Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and Hospital on 18th of November in adjoining Rewa district Madhya Pradesh.

Maqsood underwent an X ray and the cause behind his abdominal pain was identified as the presence of the surprising amount of metal inside his abdomen said Dr Priyank Sharma, attached to the Sanjay Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (SGMCH) who attended to Maqsood. Other tests were conducted to finally prepare the patient for surgery. He also underwent an abdominal endoscopy to look for the objects inside his stomach before he could be operated upon.

A team of six doctors including surgeons and anaesthetists operated on Maqsood until 5 kg iron objects including 263 coins and shaving blades and a chain were recovered. They also found pieces of glass, four big needles, a dozen shaving blades, stones, a six inch piece of rusted iron shackle that made up the 5 kg mass inside his stomach. Maqsood was undergoing treatment for six months in Satna from where he was referred to SGMCH.

According to the family Maqsood began eating metal items after he developed depression. The family however was unaware of this. He worked as a driver and would often swallow the coins that passengers gave him. For three months he had been complaining of abdominal pain.

According to Dr. Sharma, Maqsood seems to have an underlying psychological problem and at present he is doing well and under observation of a team of experts. The good part is that none of his internal organs are damaged due to this bizarre behaviour. One of the nails could have pierced the wall of the stomach leading to internal bleeding that could have been life threatening said one of the operating surgeons. The surgery thus was performed before any damage could have been done. Maqsood is now being observed closely and his underlying psychological problems are being treated to prevent future such occurrence.
Novartis today announced positive results from the FLASH study examining the safety and efficacy of directly switching chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients from Seretide (salmeterol/fluticasone) 50/500 mcg to Ultibro Breezhaler (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) 110/50 mcg. The study met the primary endpoint demonstrating that switching patients to Ultibro Breezhaler resulted in significantly improved lung function (trough FEV 1 ).

The superiority of once-daily Ultibro Breezhaler over twice-daily salmeterol/fluticasone in improving lung function and reducing the rate of COPD exacerbations has been established in previous studies. The FLASH study is the first randomized controlled trial to confirm the benefits of directly switching patients from this steroid-containing therapy to the dual bronchodilator, therefore avoiding the side effects of the long-term use of inhaled corticosteroids. Importantly, patients were switched without a wash-out period to mimic clinical practice.

"It has already been established that Ultibro Breezhaler improves patients' lung function when directly compared to Seretide in clinical trials," said Shreeram Aradhye, Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Medical Affairs for Novartis Pharmaceuticals. "This new research is important because it shows that this benefit also exists when directly switching patients from Seretide to Ultibro Breezhaler as would happen in everyday clinical practice. The FLASH study provides further evidence that it is possible to reduce the burden of long-term inhaled steroids in many COPD patients, as recommended by global treatment guidelines".

These results further reinforce the latest GOLD recommendations, which support the use of dual bronchodilation for the majority of symptomatic COPD patients and limit the use of steroid-containing therapies to specific patient types.

Importantly, the data released today also indicated that the safety and tolerability profiles of the two treatments were similar.

The FLASH study results were presented at the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) Congress in Sydney, Australia (23-26 November 2017).
A new study, conducted by researchers from the Penn State Eberly College of Science, indicates that the disease-carrying ability of flies could be much greater than previously thought.

Credit: Athul V Aleyas/ Shutterstock.com

During a research carried out on the microbiomes of 116 blowflies and houseflies from three different continents, researchers identified that, in some cases, these flies carried hundreds of various species of bacteria, many of which pose a threat to humans. Researchers have long suspected that these flies played a vital role in carrying and spreading diseases, as they often live nearby humans.

We believe that this may show a mechanism for pathogen transmission that has been overlooked by public health officials, and flies may contribute to the rapid transmission of pathogens in outbreak situations." Donald Bryant, Ernest C. Pollard, Penn State

Stephan Schuster, former professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Penn State, indicated that the researchers were able to examine the microbial content of individual body parts of flies, such as the wings and legs.

Most of the microbial organisms were transferred from one surface to another through the legs of the flies. The wings and legs show the highest microbial diversity in the fly body, indicating that flies are utilized as airborne shuttles by bacteria, Schuster added.

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Carrion fly species such as houseflies and blowflies are frequently exposed to unhygienic matter as they utilize decaying organic matter and feces to nurture their young, where they could acquire bacteria that could function as pathogens to plants, humans, and animals.

Furthermore, the study shows that houseflies and blowflies share approximately 50% of their microbiome, a mixture of microorganisms that are associated with the host and those picked up from the environments they inhabit. One notable finding was that flies collected from stables were found to carry fewer pathogens compared to those collected from urban environments.

Researchers identified 15 occurrences of a pathogen, known as Helicobacter pylori, which often causes ulcers in the human gut, mostly in the samples of blowfly collected from Brazil. Schuster stated that the known route of transmission of Helicobacter has never regarded flies as a probable vector for the pathogen. The disease-carrying ability of the flies may intensify when more people exist.

Ana Carolina Junqueira, professor of genetics and genomics at the Federal University of Rio De Janeiro stated that the new computational and genomic approaches utilized in this study enabled the researchers to have a remarkable look at the microbial community carried by flies.

Junqueira further added that the microbial-transmission capability of the houseflies and blowflies were never analyzed comprehensively using deep DNA sequencing and modern molecular approaches, though they are considered as major mechanical vectors across the world.

Nevertheless, flies may not be all bad. Researchers suggest that they can be utilized as living drones that can function as an early-warning system for diseases.

Source:
Patients diagnosed with the most common form of leukemia who also have high levels of an enzyme known to suppress the immune system are most likely to die early, researchers say.

High levels of this enzyme, indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase, or IDO, at diagnosis also identify those who might benefit most by taking an IDO inhibitor along with their standard therapy, they report in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

"We want to help people who are not responding to treatment and are dying very soon after their diagnosis," said Dr. Ravindra Kolhe, breast and molecular pathologist and director of the Georgia Esoteric & Molecular Labs LLC in the Department of Pathology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

A review of 40 patients with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, found increased IDO expression in the bone marrow biopsy, performed to diagnose their disease, correlated with lower overall survival rates and early mortality.

It also indicates that IDO expression should routinely be measured when the diagnostic bone marrow biopsy is performed, Kolhe says.

An early phase clinical study already is underway to begin to explore the IDO inhibitor's clinical potential in these patients. Sites include the Georgia Cancer Center at MCG as well as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Schools of Medicine, both in Baltimore. NewLinks Genetics Corp., a biopharmaceutical company based in Ames, Iowa that produces the inhibitor Indoximod, is funding the study.

"We wanted to look at what makes this leukemia so aggressive that initial induction chemotherapy is not working," Kolhe says. "Early relapse tends to predict early mortality in these patients and one of the things we looked at was IDO," says the study's corresponding author.

While everyone has the IDO gene, it's the cancer cells in this scenario that activate the disabler of the immune response that is also used by the fetus and solid tumors, he says.

Stem cells in the bone marrow are supposed to mature into a variety of cells that enable our blood and immune system function. Instead in AML, stem cells get stuck in an in-between, undifferentiated state called blasts.

"It's very normal to go to the blast step, providing it matures from there," Kolhe says. "In leukemia, stem cells get limboed in the blast state so you don't get any maturation. That means there are low platelets so you get clotting problems, you have low neutrophils so you have infections, you have less red blood cells so you get anemic," he says.

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In fact, bleeding is a major cause of death for patients and often, significant gum bleeding is the first indicator.

The MCG researcher found one thing the blasts are producing is IDO.

"The patients who died at six months had a high expression of IDO while the blasts produced relatively little IDO in the patients who lived five years or more," Kolhe says.

"Most of the time, we don't know why patients are not responding to chemotherapy," he says. But when the researchers adjusted for other risk factors for AML, like increased age and severe anemia, IDO levels were a standout.

"Right now we know it's high in patients who die at six months and we show that it's an independent indicator if you adjust for other known variables," Kolhe says.

Next questions include whether high IDO directly affects resistance to chemotherapy, which occurs in patients who do not survive.

An MCG research team led by Dr. David Munn, pediatric hematologist/oncologist, and Dr. Andrew Mellor, immunologist, reported in 1998 in the journal Science that during pregnancy, cells in the placenta trigger an isolated suppression of the mother's immune system so it won't reject the genetically foreign fetus. They showed that IDO locally disables the mother's immune system by degrading tryptophan, an amino acid essential to survival of T cells, orchestrators of the immune system's response.

Later work would show that tumors - and leukemia - also use IDO to hide from the immune response. Conversely, some organ transplant patients who inexplicably express higher levels of IDO, have lower rejection rates of their new organ.

Kolhe, who completed his pathology residency at MCG and AU Health in 2012, got interested in IDO as at least one explanation for very different patient outcomes from the same treatments for the same disease.

Most patients with AML are at least age 45 at the time of diagnosis and it's slightly more common in men than women, according to the American Cancer Society. Induction therapy is given to get the patient into remission, and is typically followed by more chemotherapy to help ensure it stays dormant. Some patients may also receive a stem cell transplant.
A new Canadian guideline outlines how new biomedical strategies to prevent HIV infection can best be used in high-risk populations both before and after exposure to the virus. The guideline, published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www. cmaj. ca/ lookup/ doi/ 10. 1503/ cmaj. 170494, applies to adults at risk of HIV infection through sexual activity or injection drug use.

"The large financial cost of HIV infection and the young age of those newly diagnosed (most new cases occur in those aged 30 to 39 years) underscore the economic and social importance of preventing new infections," writes Dr. Darrell Tan, an infectious diseases physician and researcher at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors.

Key strategies, in line with international guidelines, include pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which refers to the regular use of anti-HIV medications beginning before an exposure occurs, and nonoccupational postexposure prophylaxis (nPEP), which involves taking a course of antiretroviral medications after a sexual or drug use-related exposure to HIV.

The guideline, with easy-reference boxes outlining practical advice for prevention, is aimed at clinicians in primary care, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, nursing, pharmacy and other disciplines. Policy-makers may also find it useful in setting health care policy. The Biomedical HIV Prevention Working Group of the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network developed the guideline with a panel of 24 experts from diverse disciplines.

More than half (54%) of all new infections in Canada occur in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, a group with an estimated risk of infection 131 times higher than other men. Injection drug users are estimated to be 59 times more likely than nonusers to acquire HIV. People from countries with endemic HIV are 6.4 times more likely to become infected, and Indigenous people are also at higher risk (2.7 times), compared with the general population in Canada.

The authors note that the medications used as PrEP and nPEP are generally very safe and effective, although these regimens may not be right for all people at increased HIV risk, because of personal preferences or risk of rare drug toxicities.

Health economic analyses indicate that targeting PrEP to high-risk populations is cost-effective in terms of health care spending.

"To date, medication costs have also restricted the feasibility and acceptability of these strategies," write the authors. "However, the recent introduction of generic TDF/FTC [the anti-HIV medication approved for use as PrEP in Canada and a major component of all nPEP regimens] and the increasing availability of public drug coverage for PrEP in Canada may have substantial effects on their uptake."

This Canadian guideline is generally consistent with international guidelines from the United Kingdom, United States and Australia.

"We hope that this guideline will contribute to reducing HIV incidence in Canada by improving the quality of care, increasing access to care, reducing inappropriate variation in practice and promoting the rigorous evaluation of biomedical prevention strategies nationwide," the authors conclude.

Source: http://www.cmaj.ca/
Congress is wisely reversing President Donald Trumps rash and irresponsible attempt to cut $300 million in annual funding for Great Lakes restoration.

A key Senate committee last week included the money in a spending bill for 2018. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, helped lead the bipartisan effort to restore the funding as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Well done.

The House of Representatives previously voted to bring back all of the money the president tried to eliminate last spring. So now the full Senate, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, should finalize the $300 million as part of any spending plan Congress sends to the president.

Trump doesnt have the power to issue line-item vetoes, so the money should be safe if its included in a larger proposal.

The Great Lakes are facing dire threats that cant be ignored, including a possible invasion by giant Asian carp that threaten to destroy sport fishing in Lake Michigan and, by extension, inland Wisconsin rivers and lakes.

The Great Lakes also need help against toxic pollution, farm and urban runoff, and declining wildlife habitat.

As Baldwin noted last week, its not just the natural environment thats at stake. Its Wisconsins economy, which relies on water, tourism and outdoor recreation for business and jobs.

President Trump, a New Yorker, doesnt seem to understand that importance of the Great Lakes. But here in the heartland, our Great Lakes  and the thousands of Wisconsin waterways that flow into them  are central to who we are. They provide millions of people with fresh water to drink. They help attract millions of visitors. They are a beautiful and invaluable natural resource for the entire Midwest.

So they definitely deserve federal attention to help ensure their health and sustainability.

The recent discovery in the Wisconsin River of five Asian carp  which can grow as large as 100 pounds and crowd out native sport fish  is a stark reminder of how important and fragile our waterways are. A dam by Prairie du Sac, about 40 miles northwest of Madison, prevents the invasive species from moving farther up the Wisconsin River, thank goodness.

But fear is growing that the voracious fish will get into Lake Michigan via man-made Chicago canals. And from there it could spread upstream.

In some stretches of rivers south of Wisconsin, Asian carp, which escaped from Southern fish farms decades ago, have virtually eliminated native species such as walleye and bass.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has for years provided some hope for preserving our rich supply of fresh water in and around Wisconsin. The federal dollars leverage far more money from local governments and Canada for lake projects.

This cooperation has helped reduce algae blooms that foul shorelines and deprive fish of oxygen. It also has helped clean up toxic waste from industrial sites, city sewers and farms.

Great Lakes restoration must remain a high priority in Washington, D.C., regardless of who sits in the White House.
A study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) suggests that neurofeedback training has the potential to lessen the severity of tinnitus or even eliminate it.

Credit: Andrii Vodolazhskyi/ Shutterstock.com

Tinnitusthe perception of noise in the ear, usually ringingis a very common condition affecting around one in five people. The sufferers become more anxious and frustrated as the more they focus on the noise, making it seem worse. The area of the brain where auditory input is processed, the primary auditory cortex, has been associated with distress related to tinnitus.

In the study, a new potential method for treating tinnitus was introduced wherein the researchers asked participants utilize neurofeedback training, allowing them to divert their focus from the noise in their ears.. Neurofeedback is a method by which the brain can be trained to permit a person to view some kind of external indicator of brain activity and attempt to exert control over it.

For determining the potential efficiency of this method, 18 healthy volunteers who had normal hearing abilities were recruited by the researchers and were asked to undergo five functional MRI (fMRI)-neurofeedback training sessions. The participants were provided with earplugs which subjected them to white noise for periods of time as well as to block the scanner noise.

Single-shot echoplanar imagingan MRI technique sensitive to blood oxygen levelswas used to obtain fMRI results. It provided an indirect measure of brain activity.

We started with alternating periods of sound and no sound in order to create a map of the brain and find areas that produced the highest activity during the sound phase. Then we selected the voxels that were heavily activated when sound was being played." Matthew S. Sherwood, Ph.D., Wright State University, Ohio

The participants attended the fMRI-neurofeedback training sessions while inside the MRI scanner. White noise was received via the earplugs and they viewed the activity in their primary auditory cortex as a bar on a screen.

Each session had eight blocks consisting of a 30-second "relax" period succeeded by a 30-second "lower" period. During the relax period, the participants were asked to watch the bar while during the lower phase, they were instructed to actively attempt lowering it by reducing the activity of primary auditory cortex.

They were provided with techniques to help them do this, like trying to distract their focus away from sound to other sensations such as sight and touch.

According to Dr. Sherwood, most of the participants focused on breathing, as it provided them a sense of control. Diverting the attention away from sound reduced the auditory cortex activity of the participants and the signal being measured by the team also went down.

A mock neurofeedback was given to a control group which consisted of nine participants, who performed the same tasks. However, the feedback came from a random participant and not from one among them.

The study is the first-of-its-kind to use fMRI-neurofeedback training to demonstrate the connection between control of the primary auditory cortex and attentional processes, and is thought to possess therapeutic importance as tinnitus neural mechanisms are not known, but are expected to be linked to attention.

Dr. Sherwood added that the findings signify a promising opportunity for research that may lead to developments in other areas of health such as pain management.

"Ultimately, we'd like take what we learned from MRI and develop a neurofeedback program that doesn't require MRI to use, such as an app or home-based therapy that could apply to tinnitus and other conditions" said Dr. Matthew S. Sherwood.

Source:
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First look - Han Solo's first "wife" Sana Starros in her first solo series

The Marvel Comics' original character Sana Starros gets her own series
The U.S. has almost 26,000 troops deployed total in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, according to a new DOD report, far exceeding the Pentagons previously acknowledged troop levels overseas.

The U.S. has 8,892 forces in Iraq, 15,298 troops in Afghanistan and 1,720 in Syria, for a total of 25,910 troops serving in the three war zones as of Sept. 30, according to DOD.

A March 2011 Congressional Research Service report noted, following the Afghanistan surge announcement in 2009, Defense Department spending on Afghanistan increased by 50%, going from $4.4 billion to $6.7 billion a month. During that time, troop strength increased from 44,000 to 84,000, and was expected to be at 102,000 for fiscal year 2011. The total cost from inception to the fiscal year 2011 was expected to be $468 billion. The estimate for the cost of deploying one U.S. soldier in Afghanistan is over U.S.$1 million a year.

During the nearly 17 years since the United States went to war in Afghanistan, the number of American troops went up to 100,000 (in 2011), then dropped slightly below 10,000. President Barack Obama had planned to drop the number to 5,500 by the end of 2016. They were at declared level of 8,400 through the end of his presidency.

There are about 26000-30000 contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
Over a three-year period, Misk Grand Challenges plans to launch new challenges every six months. They will be offering 100 young innovators across the world a grant of $100,000 to develop their ingenious ideas into a concrete proof of concept. Ideas must be submitted around two themes: education and global citizenship.

On Tuesday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a partnership with the MiSK Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization established by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Bill Gates gave $10 million for the Grand Challenges.

The charity is looking for innovative solutions to challenges facing education systems. And its also looking at ideas to help deliver on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development such as reducing poverty and making sure everyone has access to clean water.

We face a global challenge: half the worlds population is under 30, and almost 90% of them live in emerging and developing economies. Two thirds of children starting school today will enter professions that dont exist yet. Knowledge is the currency of the future, so we must evolve our old thinking and approaches to meet the needs and aspirations of the next generation.

Global Citizenship

They are looking for innovative ideas on how young people can help deliver the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Our Global Citizenship challenges seek to create a generation of young people committed to achieving these Global Goals, which include eradicating poverty, promoting health and wellbeing, delivering on gender equality and ensuring responsible consumption and production.

This challenge is about testing and implementing concepts and strategies to engage young people in efforts that will reduce inequality related to the first six Global Goals:

Goal 1: No poverty

Goal 2: Zero hunger

Goal 3: Good health and well-being

Goal 4: Quality education

Goal 5: Gender equality

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

What they will consider funding:

Proposals that:

* Address the Challenge by showing how they will lead to actions taken by young people that will positively impact one or more of the first six Global Goals.

* Outline concepts that have the potential to be scaled up.

* Focus on learning and gathering data and evidence about how to do positively engage youth by doing that effectively, rather than trying to go for scale or solely developing research.

* Have the potential for scale and depth at reasonable costs.

* Focus on a specific geography or community, but should link to efforts beyond that locality.< * There are no geographic constraints as to where in the world proposals should be focused. * Are entirely online and technology-based, or blended technology and face-to-face, or predominantly offline, with limited use of technology. * Explain how the activities proposed will lead to the results expected, based wherever possible on experience and data * Show how the proposed concept or program could in the future achieve the scale and depth of engagement with a clear set of measurements at the pilot stage. * Describe the innovative approach captured by the concept. The initial pilot project must test the concept at some minimal scale that produces data upon which decisions for future funding could be made Education

They are looking for innovative solutions to the challenges our education systems face in providing high quality teaching to all students. Each challenge will focus on a different aspect of the education system, and will seek to identify the critical barriers to success. They want your bright ideas to help remove these barriers.

They are looking for new innovative ideas that transform teaching or school leadership to better prepare children with the 21st century skills they need to succeed in the future. Modern 21st century skills, such as problem solving, leadership, creativity, and adaptability, require a new active, student-centred system for learning. We seek ideas that better prepare teachers and school leaders to drive this new active 21st century system for learning.
. To do so, first type the original number into the text box. Then click on the "Scientific Notation" option located at the top of the floating window. Finally, click on the "Standard" button found beneath the text box to display your result. This program is useful for scientists and engineers working with decimal-based numbers. It provides easy access to those who need to convert those numbers into more compact forms without having to do heavy math calculations first.

Scientific notation is a way to express very large or very small numbers. It is used in physics, chemistry and other fields where large numbers are common. Those numbers are written as a power of 10 followed by a number with an exponent. For example, 1,000,000 (one million) is written as 1  103. The exponent shows how many zeros are after the first digit. For example, 1,000,001 is written as 1  102. Scientific notation is a useful tool for making calculations easier. You can use it to write down very big or very small numbers in one step instead of writing out both the large and small numbers separately. You can also use it to express large or small numbers in terms of other units like centimeters or millimeters.

Scientific notation solver is an online tool that can be used to convert any number into scientific notation. Simply enter any number to the left of the decimal point and it will automatically convert it into a scientific notation equivalent. This web tool can be very helpful when you need to convert a large number into scientific notation. However, please note that this online tool can only convert numbers that are in scientific format. For example, it cannot convert a non-scientific number like "1,085" into a scientific notation equivalent. It is also important to keep in mind that this web tool only works when converting numbers from one particular format to another. For example, if you want to change a non-scientific number like "1,085" into standard format, then you will have to use another online tool like NumberFormatting.com.
Aadhaar linking: Centre willing to extend deadline to March 31

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it was willing to extend the deadline for Aadhaar linking to March 31 2018. The submission was made before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra who said that a Constitution Bench would decide on whether Aadhaar linking should be stayed or not. The court said that the Constitution Bench would be set up next week.

A mention was made before a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India for an early hearing into the matter. The Bench was reminded that the matter was to be taken up before the end of this month. The CJI, Dipak Misra said that a Constitution Bench would be set up next week itself.

When the Bench was asked to stay the linking of Aadhaar with various services, the court said that the Constitution Bench would take a call on that. The Bench to be set up next week would decide on whether an interim order to stay the linking of Aadhaar with various services should be passed or not, the CJI said.

OneIndia News
Infants set to get Aadhaar: Here is why

In Jharkhand, over 1 cr people have linked Aadhar and Voter IDs

Tips to prevent your Aadhaar details from being misused

Aadhaar mobile linking: Vodafone, Idea roll out door step facility

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The government says that it does not plan to change its decision on linking Aadhaar with mobile. All unlinked phones will be deactivated after February 2018.

Vodafone has announced that they are rolling out doorstep facility for Aadhaar linking and SIM upgrade. For this purpose, Vodafone has positioned two mobile vans to travel to the rural areas of Rajasthan, enabling doorstep SIM upgrades and Aadhar verification.

Introduced in January 2017, these Vodafone Mobile Vans have covered over 450 villages.

Idea Cellular has organised special teams to visit the homes of senior citizens and physically disabled users to verify their numbers using biometrics.

OneIndia News
AP: Students of Fathima College climb cell tower demanding re-location

India

oi-Madhuri

Students of Vijayawada's Fathima College on Sunday climbed a mobile reception tower on the 27th day of their agitation demanding that the government allot seats for them in a medical college.

The Fathima College students and parents started their protest at Vijayawada Dharna Chowk for over three weeks. But since there was no response from the state government, they decided to climb the mobile cell tower.

They stayed in the tower making several demands for about eight hours. When the police tried to bring them down by force, the students threatened to jump down.

It is learned that around 100 students lost their seat in Fatima Medical College after it failed to comply with Medical Council of India (MCI) norms in 2015-16 academic year.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who intervened in the matter, directed Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas to talk to the Centre and do justice for them.

OneIndia News
Collision between truck and auto-rickshaw claims 4 lives in Maharashtra's Raigad

Anti-bomb squad fishes out gelatin sticks from river in Maharashtra

Maharashtra: Man shoots neighbours dog for barking at him

BJP fields Lad for Council bypoll, Rane awaits turn

India

pti-PTI

The BJP on Sunday announced its Maharashtra unit vice-president Prasad Lad as its candidate for the Legislative Council bypoll slated for December 7.

Soon after his candidature was announced this morning, Lad, who joined BJP last year, filed his nomination papers at Vidhan Bhawan.

There was speculation till recently that BJP may field former chief minister Narayan Rane but mounting pressure from Shiv Sena to the proposal forced the party leadership to drop the plan.

The bypoll is being held for the seat vacated by Rane who quit the Congress party in September. On October1 Rane had formed a new political party called Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, saying he would support the BJP-led NDA.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday held a meeting with senior party leaders, including state unit chief Raosaheb Danve, at his official residence Varsha in south Mumbai.

Fadnavis was in Gujarat today addressing BJP campaign rallies.

Congress has fielded former legislator from Solapur Dilip Mane, who filed his nomination today, to take on Lad, who was with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) earlier.

The winner will need votes of at least 145 MLAs in the 288-member Lower House.

In the Assembly, the BJP has 122 members, followed by Shiv Sena (63), Congress (42), and NCP (41).

Though the Congress-NCP alliance is behind the ruling combine in the Assembly in terms of number of members, MPCC chief Ashok Chavan told reporters here today that Mane will emerge victorious due to an 'invisible arrow'. The bow and arrow is the symbol of Shiv Sena.

"Sena is unhappy over issues like farmers loan waiver.

It recently repeated its threat to pull out of the government.

Going by the political situation, the 'invisible arrow' will help Congress win the poll," Chavan said.

On November 23, senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, ahead of the Council bypoll.

The candidature of Lad, said to be close to Fadnavis, has come as a disappointment for some in the BJP who felt the party's state unit chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari deserved the Council bypoll nomination.

Fadnavis had recently said Rane would be made a cabinet minister from the BJP quota. The cabinet expansion now looks unlikely before the winter session of state legislature, beginning in Nagpur on December 11.
Bure din for Congress: Party workers vandalised office over ticket distribution in Gujarat

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Gandhinagar, Nov 27: Sunday was no 'funday' for the Congress in Gujarat. Two important developments in the poll-bound Gujarat left the Congress party leaders at their wit's end.

First, the news of the resignation of Gujarat Congress spokesperson Rekhaben Chaudhary shocked the party. Then Congress witnessed violent protests by its workers over ticket distribution.

Several Congress workers vandalised property at the party office in Gandhinagar over ticket distribution issue on Sunday, reported ANI.

Congress workers vandalised property at party office over ticket distribution issue in Gandhinagar yesterday #GujaratElections2017 pic.twitter.com/bDRNJP1Jlr  ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

On Sunday night, the Congress released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat polls--the filing of nominations for which ends on Monday. The party has earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases. The Congress, however, could not finalise the names of its candidates in 20 more seats.

The Assembly polls in Gujarat are scheduled on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will take place on December 18, as stated by the Election Commission (EC) earlier.

Chaudhary tendered her resignation as a primary member of the party, spokesperson and all other posts. The resignation comes a few days before the Assembly elections.

Political pundits say the resignation is a sign of tension within the Congress which is trying to give a tough fight to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming elections.

"The Congress is in disarray in Gujarat. The violent protest staged by party workers over ticket distribution is another sign that all is not well with the Congress in Gujarat ahead of the polls.

"If the Congress wants to give a fight to the BJP then the party has to remain united. Otherwise, its chances of winning are very bleak," stated a political analyst.

OneIndia
Demonetisation was supposed to bring peace, 'Where is it', asks Farooq Abdullah

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Hitting out at the Union Government over the killing of an Army officer in Shopian, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday asked "where is the peace" in the valley which was supposed to have returned after demonetisation.

Taking a dig at the government's claim that note ban has hit the terrorist activities in the valley, Abdullah asked, "If there was peace would that soldier have died?"

"Ask GoI who every day announce that peace has returned to Kashmir because we demonetised currency. Where is that peace? If there was peace would that soldier die? What was his fault?" news agency ANI quoted Abdullah as saying.

A 23-year-old Army officer, who had gone missing, was killed by suspected terrorists in the Shopian area of South Kashmir. The body of Irfan Ahmad Dar was found with bullet marks last week.

['India could not take PoK in 70 years': Farooq Abdullah stirs row again]

Dar was posted at an army unit in Bandipora, North Kashmir and was visiting home on leave for 10 days. Police are investigating the incident and suspect it to be an act of militants. Irfan Dar was visiting his home in South Kashmir's Shopian district and was last seen by family members on Friday evening.

In November, police found the body of a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker with his throat slit in south Kashmir's Shopian. In a similar incident, Mohammad Ramzan Parray of the Border Security Force was shot dead by terrorists when he and his family resisted attempts to kidnap him in November.

OneIndia News
Sonia tells Lalu, Nitish to meet her again after Cong gets new president

'Even children of Bihar will protect me': Lalu on downgrading of security

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Former Bihar chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday said that he is "not scared" by the downgrading of his security cover, adding that "even the children of Bihar would protect him."

Lalu Prasad Yadav's security cover has been downgraded from 'Z+' category to 'Z'. The official sources said that the decision on Lalu's security cover of NSG commandos was taken after a recent review of the threat to various protectees.

"If Narendra Modi thinks I will be scared, I won't. All the people, even the children of Bihar will protect me," news agency ANI quoted Lalu Yadav as saying.

Reacting to the downgrading of security, Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap Yadav threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Narendra Modi Ji ka khaal udhedva lenge (We'll skin Narendra Modi). Go and tell him," he told reporters.

Lalu said that he does not approve his son's reaction, adding that he has spoken to Tej Pratap regarding this.

[Tej Pratap Yadav threatens to 'skin PM Narendra Modi']

"If a son comes to know that his father is being conspired against, his security is being revoked, he will react. I don't approve of this. I have spoken to him to not speak anything like that again," the RJD chief said.

The former Bihar chief minister will now be given 'Z' category security and be guarded by an armed commando squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, in accordance with the protocol of the scaled down cover.

Yadav will not have National Security Guard black cat commandos guarding him anymore. The NSG only provides 'Z+' security cover.

OneIndia News
Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth?

Gujarat: Archbishop gets EC notice for urging prayers against nationalist forces

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The archbishop who urged Christians to pray against the nationalist forces ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections has been slapped with a notice from the Election Commission of India.

Issuing a letter addressed to Christians, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Gandhinagar, Thomas Macwan, had last week urged the members of the community to save the country from "nationalist forces" as its "democratic fabric" was at stake, amidst a growing "sense of insecurity" among minorities.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to polls in two phases - on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.

In Gujarat's political circles, the appeal was seen as an indirect call to vote against the ruling BJP.

Gandhinagar Collector and District Election Officer Satish Patel said the Election Commission issued the notice after taking cognizance of media reports and asked the archbishop to clarify his intention behind issuing such a letter.

"We have issued a notice to the archbishop, seeking clarity over his intention behind the letter, which was widely publicised in the media. We have given him a few days' time to respond. We will decide on the future course of action on the basis of his reply," Patel said on Sunday.

He said that the letter seemed to be aimed at "confusing" the voters of the minority communities and misguiding them when the poll code was in force in the state. "Such a language should not be used," Patel said.

Call for prayers

In an official communique dated November 21, Macwan had appealed to Christians to organise prayer services at parishes and convents, "so that we may have such people elected to the Gujarat Assembly, who would remain faithful to the Indian Constitution and respect every human being without any sort of discrimination".

"The democratic fabric of the country is at stake amidst a growing sense of insecurity among the minorities, other backward classes (OBCs), backward classes, poor etc.," he had said.

"The results of this election are significant and will have repercussions and reverberations throughout our beloved nation. It will influence the future course of our country.

"We are aware that the secular and democratic fabric of our country is at stake. Human rights are being violated. Not a single day goes without an attack on our churches, church personnel, faithful or institutions," he said.

"The recitation of the Holy Rosary at individual, community, family and parish levels will be of great help. Encourage your faithful to pray the Rosary," he said.

OneIndia News
Gujarat Congress spokesperson resigns: Party in trouble ahead of Assembly elections?

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

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Gandhinagar, Nov 27: The opposition Congress seems to be facing the heat of the Gujarat Assembly elections as one of the party's important leaders resigned on Sunday.

"Gujarat Congress spokesperson Rekhaben Chaudhary resigned from the party," reported ANI.

Chaudhary tendered her resignation as primary member of the party, spokesperson and all other posts. The resignation comes a few days before the Assembly elections.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Rekhaben Chaudhary resigned from the party (File pic) pic.twitter.com/fB2uNhr9RY  ANI (@ANI) November 26, 2017

It is still not clear why Chaudhary has resigned from the Congress. Sources say she was unhappy over ticket distribution and the way the local leaders are being relegated to the background by the Congress high command ahead of the polls.

Political pundits say the resignation is a sign of tension within the Congress which is trying to give a tough fight to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming elections.

The Assembly polls in Gujarat are scheduled on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will take place on December 18, as stated by the Election Commission (EC) earlier.

In fact, just a few days ago, on November 22, senior BJP leader and former MP Kanjibhai Patel resigned from the party along with his son, Sunil Patel.

There were reports that the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Bharatsinh Solanki also resigned from his party a few days ago. However, Solanki clarified that his resignation letter doing the rounds on social media is a fake one.

On Sunday night, the Congress released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat polls--the filing of nominations for which ends on Monday.

The party has earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases. The Congress, however, could not finalise the names of its candidates in 20 more seats.

The Congress, which is trying its best to dislodge the BJP government in Gujarat, has to prove its mettle in 182 seats, the polling for which will take place in two phases. The BJP is in power in the state for the last 22 years.

Many experts and exit poll reports say the Congress is unlikely to win the elections in Gujarat, the home turf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

OneIndia
Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth?

My meet with Rahul would have prevented BJP's Gujarat win: Hardik Patel

Gujarat elections: BJP releases sixth list of 34 candidates

India

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By Chennabasaveshwar

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its sixth and last list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections 2017 which would be held in two phases on December 9 and 14.

With this list, the BJP has so far announced the names of 182 candidates who would be contesting the Gujarat polls.

BJP's fifth list was announced on November 24, had 13 names.

The BJP has so far announced the first list of 70 candidates, the second list of 36 candidates and 28 candidates in the third list.

OneIndia News
Fact Check: This image of huge crowds in Gujarat is not from the AAP roadshow

Gujarat elections: Jignesh Mevani to contest polls as Independent candidate

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani decided to contest Gujarat assembly elections as an Independent candidate from Banaskantha's Vadgam constituency.

'Rashtriya dalit Adhikar Manch' leader Mevani has been leading the Dalit agitation in Gujarat following the Una Dalit flogging incident in 2016. With this decision all rumors around political moves of Mewani have come to an end.

It is well known that Mevani has been critical of the ruling BJP in the state. Also, he had no plans to join the Congress or any other party.

Ahead of the Gujarat polls, Rahul Gandhi met Mevani, who stopped short of pledging support to the Congress but declared he would ask his followers not to vote for BJP.

The State goes to polls next month in two phases -December 9 and 14.

OneIndia News
Infants set to get Aadhaar: Here is why

How to link Aadhaar with mobile: Your complete guide for all operators

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

There are long lines at telecom stores as the deadline to link Aadhaar with mobile is nearing. The government says that unlinked phones would be disconnected if not linked with Aadhaar by February 2018.

Many telecom companies have asked their customers to link Aadhaar with the mobile connection (SIM).

Telecom companies have cited a government directive making it mandatory to link Aadhaar with the mobile number by February 6, 2018. They had earlier instructed their customers to start the process of linking their Aadhaar card numbers with phone numbers.

How to link Aadhaar with mobile:

If you have opted for 'eKYC' - Aadhaar-based activation - by providing the biometrics while applying for the mobile connection, you do not need to go through the Aadhaar-SIM linking process again, Idea Cellular said. Other subscribers need to visit their nearest Idea outlets and follow simple steps to complete the mandated E-KYC process, the telecom company said.

Airtel:

"As per the government directive, linking Aadhaar to your mobile number is mandatory for all existing customers," Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telecom operator, said on its website.

Bharti Airtel also prescribed its prepaid and postpaid subscribers ways to achieve Aadhaar-SIM linking. To complete biometric verification, Airtel said customers having its postpaid connections are required to visit the nearest Airtel Store, while prepaid customers can do so by visiting their nearest retailer.

We recommend you complete this process as soon as possible. The last date for the same is 6th Feb 2018," Bharti Airtel further said on its website - airtel.in.

All you need is your Aadhaar card/number and your Mobile. You will be required to complete biometric verification. You will also receive the verification code (OTP) on your Mobile that would be required to complete the process."

Vodafone:

Vodafone India said: "Aadhaar based re-verification is to be done only once on a number. As per the instructions received from DoT (Department of Telecommunications), it is mandatory that the E-KYC (Aadhaar-based) re-verification needs to be completed before 6th Feb 2018 by all Telecom operators."

IDEA:

Visit our nearest Idea centre and provide your mobile number and Aadhaar number.

The Idea store executive will provide a four-digit verification code on your mobile from the re-verification application.

The subscriber will then provide the verification code to the Idea store executive and provide his or her biometrics.

After 24 hours, you will receive a confirmation SMS, reply 'Y' to complete the EKYC process.

OneIndia News
Indrani using media, misleading court: Peter Mukherjea

India

pti-PTI

Former Media Baron Peter Mukerjea, an accused in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case on Monday told the court that his wife and Key accused, Indrani Mukherjea, was trying to mislead the court and creating adverse publicity.

Shivde told the court that the application did not connect with the prayer of Indrani who had sought call data records (CDR) of Peter. "She is using the media and misleading the court", Shivde told the court, adding that she was creating media publicity for creating a "wrong perception" by portraying herself as a victim. Shivde argued that if Indrani had a strong reason to believe it (that Peter has any role in Sheena's disappearance), she should have said it to the police during investigation.

Peter's lawyer argued that there was no basis for these allegations other than getting media publicity. He added that there was a systematic attempt to create prejudice.

"Indrani is creating an atmosphere which will prejudice the trial by making allegations against witness (Indrani's former driver Shyam Rai who turned approver) and accused (Peter). It is contradictory to the prosecution's case, we will prove that during the trial," Shivde said. "She is drawing a further strategy to distort the trial," he said and added that the application moved by Indrani was exculpatory i.e. evidence favourable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt.

Shivde argued that the court may reject Indrani's application and ask her lawyers to file a proper application by providing the ground. Special CBi judge J C Jagdale will hear the arguments of Indrani and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) tomorrow. On November 15, Indrani had filed a plea in the court, saying her husband Peter Mukherjea might have caused her daughter's disappearance out of "greed and ill-will".

Though she did not expressly accuse Peter of killing Sheena, Indrani said he and their former driver Shyamwar Rai could be behind her daughter's abduction, making her

untraceable and destroying evidence. She had said that she believed Peter and others might have "manipulated the circumstances to frame her, and influence witnesses, situations and information that led to her arrest for the heinous crime that they may have committed, aided and abetted".

She had prayed for the CDR of Peter for the period between January, 2012 and December, 2012, and from January, 2015 to December, 2015. While Peter had told the court that the application filed by Indrani was with an "ulterior motive", the CBI also admitted that she filed the application with malafide intention. The alleged murder of Sheena Bora came to light in August, 2015 after Rai, arrested in another case, spilled the beans. Mumbai Police arrested Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai in the case.

Later, Peter was also arrested. The victim was Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship. Sheena was in a relationship with Peter's son.

PTI
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Is a 'meek' Modi sign of BJP's dwindling hold over Gujarat?

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Gandhinagar, Nov 27: In politics, they say a day is enough to change everything. It has been more than three-and-a-half-years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left his home turf Gujarat to be a part of Lutyens' Delhi as he took over the reins of the country.

Politically, things have dramatically changed for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its own bastion, Gujarat. First and foremost, maverick Modi bhai is not Gujarat's chief minister anymore. He is the PM of India, who has gone far away to the national capital and busy taking care of the entire country.

Second, the discontentment among a wide section of the population, especially the Dalits, OBCs, farmers, small time traders, and Patils, to name a few groups, is pretty visible.

The opposition Congress is not wrong when it claims that in Gujarat "nobody is happy". Just days ahead of the state Assembly elections, scheduled on December 9 and 14, an air of hopelessness hangs over Gujarat, like the thick haze hanging over Delhi choking residents to death, literally.

Amid the gloomy signs, Modi hit the campaign trail in poll-bound Gujarat on Monday. It is sure going to be a hectic and most difficult campaign season for Modi since he became the PM of the country.

As the entire BJP machinery is heavily dependent on "Modi magic" to win votes across the country, the next few days will definitely test Modi as a "vote-winning machine" for the saffron party.

Can Modi once again help BJP give an empathetic victory in Gujarat? Or the worrying signs of times have already taken a toll on the BJP and the PM?

The saffron party too can see the unrest among the Gujaratis over social, political and economic issues. Keeping its ear to the ground, the BJP is taking things "slow and steady" instead of going "ballistic".

So, this time the posters of Modi are also taking a sombre line. Instead of the usual PM, whose arms are stretched out making promises galore and tearing apart the opposition with his criticism, a new poster of Modi is seen with folded hands in a namaskara gesture appealing to his Gujarati brothers and sisters to once again repose their trust in the BJP.

"When our homes are renovated don't we face inconvenience? Now, the entire nation is being renovated, so please bear with this and support BJP," reads the new poster of Modi, done by the BJP especially for the Gujarat polls.

Writing for The Economic Times, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, journalist, and author, stated that the new poster of Modi is a "subdued" one which his detractors "may wish to read as a rare meekness" in the PM.

The author-journalist wrote, "The unprecedented last-ditch effort by Modi is necessary because of the slippages post-2014. It is also a result of BJP's inability to challenge social stratification in Hindu society in the years it was working for the omnipresence of the Hindutva template.

"Consequently, caste fissures have resurfaced and in the absence of Muslims as the visible 'other', all-encompassing Hindu unity - which played a significant role in BJP victories since 1995 - is not visible. This will add to Modi's workload when he enters the battlefield."

Does Modi really look like a battle-weary commandant? Or, he still very much possesses the famous charisma of his to win over the crowd with his high-voltage speeches?

On Monday, when he attended a public gathering in Bhuj, the PM just a few minutes before addressing the crowd looked exhausted with numerous wrinkles clearly visible on his forehead--a sign of election-inducted tension.

However, once he stood up in front of the microphone, Modi spoke with his trademark energy to target his detractors, especially the Congress.

"I am grateful for all the kichad (muck) being thrown at me, after all, a lotus blooms only in muck, so, I don't mind if more is thrown at me," he stated, indicating that the Opposition's attempts to tarnish his image over the demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are futile.

Then the PM added that "Gujarat is my soul and mother. My relationship with you is that of equality since you call me brother", highlighting the cardinal truth that Modi is the "son of the soil" and he understands the pulse of his voters well.

If what we had just witnessed in Bhuj is what Modi is going to do across Gujarat, then expect "fireworks" once again from the PM.

Be it the demonetisation, the GST or the angst of Dalits and OBCs, Modi is going to directly confront the Congress in his "soul" Gujarat.

OneIndia News
Kerala Love Jihad: SC sends Hadiya to college, posts matter to January

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

I want my freedom and nothing else, Hadiya told the Supreme Court which hearing a case known as the Kerala Love Jihad case. The testimony was held in the court of the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra.

Hadiya testified in Malayalam and the same was translated by senior advocate V V Giri.

The court directed that Hadiya be taken to a college for her studies and that the college should allow facility of hostel to her. The court will hear the matter next in the third week of January.

The court began by asking her about her educational qualifications. Hadiya told the court that she wants freedom and nothing else.

The court asked her if she wanted to continue studying at the expense of the state. She replied that she would like to continue studying, but not at the expense of the state. My husband can take care of that expense, she said. Hearing in the case will resume tomorrow.

Earlier counsel Shyam Diwan urged the court to hear the matter in-camera. He said that it would be in the interest of the girl that the matter is not heard in open court as it is a security issue. He also said that the matter is a very communally charged one.

There are many big organisations behind this. She has already given her statement in the media and it would now be better if the matter is heard in-camera, Diwan also argued.

Hadiya's father too urged that the court hear the proceedings in-camera. The father, Ashokan cited security reasons and also handed over a transcript of a PFI leader's conversation.

The Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told the Bench that the findings given by the National Investigation Agency is very crucial in nature. Whenever the court has the time, I am ready to read out those relevant portions, he also said.

Kapil Sibal during the course of arguments said that the court must hear the statement given by Hadiya and not the one given by the NIA. It is more important that her statement be heard, Sibal also told the court.

The CJI said that the Bar must assist the court in deciding the case. We have not said that we will not talk to the girl. All we are saying is that we are yet to decide at what stage, we must speak with her, Justice Dipak Misra said.

Advocate, V Giri appearing for the state of Kerala said that the court must look into the evidences that catch the eye. The court said that it is concerned with other issues. But the girl should not be kept in custody because she has made some decision. She should be free to go where ever she wants once she walks out of this court, the SC also observed.

Sibal went on to state that this was not even preventive detention. This is unlawful custody of Hadiya.

OneIndia News
Kerala Love Jihad: Hadiya is mentally unstable say parents

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The parents of Hadiya suspect that their daughter is mentally unstable and is incapable of making decisions on her own. The Supreme Court which has summoned Hadiya will hear the case also known as the Kerala Love Jihad case today.

This is a crucial disclosure as Hadiya would narrate her version of the story before the SC today. Before leaving for Delhi, she told media persons that she married a Muslim man of her own will and was also not forcibly converted.

The counsel for the parents, C Rajendran told the media in New Delhi that the High Court had annulled the marriage after it was convinced about her mental status. She behaves cruelly towards her parents and also abuses them. This itself shows that her behaviour is not normal, Rajendran also said.

He said that he would produce medical evidence to prove that she is not in the right frame of mind. The Kerala High Court had annulled her marriage after her father filed a petition alleging that it was a case of forcible conversion and Love Jihad. She has been living with her parents at T V Puram in Kottayam, Kerala since the court passed the order.

OneIndia News
Manushi at Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple

Born to doctor parents Mitra Basu and Neelam Chhillar, modelling happened to the Haryana girl by chance.The 20-year-old from Haryana, who is a medical student, edged out top five contestants from England, France, Kenya and Mexico at the event, which saw participation from 118 countries.

(Image courtesy - ANI/Twitter)

Manushi got a rousing welcome

When Manushi arrived at the Mumbai airport, she was greeted with numerous fans holding her posters.One of the posters read: "India loves you" while the other read: "Welcome the most beautiful woman in the world."

In a statement to news agency PTI, Manushi said: "I thank each and everyone who came to welcome me. It was overwhelming and I am grateful for your support. Thank you for showering me with all your love."

(Image courtesy - ANI/Twitter)

Manushi with her family

According to Manushi's profile on the Miss World website, she aims to be a cardiac surgeon and wants to open a chain of non-profitable hospitals based in rural areas. Her father, Dr. Mitra Basu Chhillar, is a scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, while her mother, Dr. Neelam Chhillar, is an associate professor and department head of neurochemistry at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences.

(Image courtesy - ANI/Twitter)

Her reaction after winning the coveted crown

Manushi competed against 108 contestants from various countries at a glittering event held at Sanya City Arena in China.She made it to the top five spots in the pageant along with contestants from England, France, Kenya and Mexico.
Padmavati controversy: Movie release only after CBFC clearance, say producers

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, November 27: Only after the censor board's go-ahead, the producers of the controversy-ridden film "Padmavati" will take a call on its release, a source said on Monday.

The film starring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji was earlier scheduled to release on December 1.

On Sunday, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind "Padmavati", announced in a statement that they were voluntarily deferring the release of the film out of "respect and regard for the law of the land" including the Central Board of Film Certification". They said a new release date will be announced once the "requisite clearances" are in place.

But media reports have claimed that the film is now pushed for next year and the promotions have been put on hold. The source from the production house, however, told PTI that no concrete decision has been reached yet.

"We will decide the release date of the film after getting the certificate from the CBFC. We will wait for the censor board to give us clearance and then decide which is the best date for the release," the source said.

CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi on Sunday said that the board should be given adequate time to come up with a balanced decision about the movie.

A source in the CBFC today echoed Joshi's views. "In CBFC, 68 days is the maximum time (to certify a film), it can be less also. We normally do it in a month or over a month's time (certification). With a film like this, you need to be careful, take opinions, so it takes a little bit of time. It does not mean that nothing will happen before 68 days.

If they (makers) want a certificate on time, it is advisable that they take this much time in consideration," the source said. The CBFC had initially returned the application to the makers of "Padmavati", saying it was incomplete. The makers have re-applied.

The source said: "We have followed the normal process. Once the application comes to us, we scrutinise it. In this case, it was incomplete so we returned it. There was no disclaimer (that it is a work of fiction)... which is required for a film like this."

"If the application is proper, we give them a date for the screening. We have an examining committee which will see the film. We will also have historical experts (for the screening of the film)... We are just following the procedure," the source added.

When asked if the new application has been scrutinised, the source at the CBFC said, "No, it takes time as we have other films (to certify) as well and 'Padmavati' is just one of them. We have a limited staff, we can't just dump everything aside and concentrate on this. It will take the normal time."

PTI
Poison food and water at Sabarimala temple, new threat from ISIS states

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

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ISIS plans to poison food and water at Sabarimala temple says report | Oneindia News

A high alert has been issued following an Islamic State threat to the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The threat states that Jihadi groups in Kerala could poison the water in the temple.

The Government Railway Police has issued an alert to this effect. It has also handed over a letter to the authorities urging strict monitoring of the situation.

The threat perception is high and it states that the ISIS members could either poison the water or food at the pilgrimage site. An attack on the pilgrims also forms part of the threat perception.

It may be recalled an audio clip was recently released by the boss of the ISIS Kerala module. The clip running into 10 minutes was recorded by Rashid Abdullah, the head of the Kasargod module of the ISIS also suggests various ways to carry out attacks. Rashid is heard telling the recruits that they must poison food at the Thrissur Pooram and Kumbh Mela.

In the clip, apart from calling for attacks, it also advises Muslims to migrate from Darul Kufr to Darul Islam. Further, it says that if it not possible to do that, then people must offer financial assistance to Daulatul Islam and the Islamic State.

Further, the clip gives advise on how to carry out the attacks at Thrissur pooram and Kumbh Mela. First, go and poison the food, then use trucks to drive them over. Do it like the way, the ISIS fighters across the world are doing it, the clip also advises.

One of the supporters killed many at a music concert. Here at least one of us must try to derail a train or use a knife in an attack, the clip also says. Even if they try to end us, they will not succeed. We may suffer losses, but Daulat Islam will always ben active and we will fight to our deaths, the clip further states.

OneIndia News
Mamata Banerjee on 3-day visit to Darjeeling to attend swearing-in ceremony of GTA members

SC gives nod to withdraw 4 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling

India

oi-Amitava

By Amitava

The Supreme Court on Monday gave consent to the Union Government for the withdrawal of 4 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) out of the 8 companies deployed in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills in West Bengal.

The bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud passed this order on Monday.

Incidentally on October 27 the Supreme Court had given a go ahead for the withdrawal of 7 companies of CAPF out of the 15 companies then deployed in the Hills of North Bengal.

The Apex Court Bench comprising of Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice D Y Chandrachud and headed by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra on October 27 had stayed the pending proceedings before the Calcutta High Court saying it will deal with the case "in a holistic manner".

The Central Government had earlier ordered the withdrawal of 10 companies of CAPF out of the 15 deployed in the Hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of North Bengal.

On October 17 the Calcutta High Court had stayed this asking both the Centre and the West Bengal Government to file affidavits.

The State Government had written to the Centre to extend the deployment of troops till December 25, which however the Union Government had denied.

On October 25 the Union Government had moved the Apex Court against the Calcutta High Court order.

OneIndia News
Ready, get set, go: Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo speeds up in Telangana

Stalin lauds KCR for quota initiative

India

pti-PTI

Hyderabad, Nov 27: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday thanked Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president MK Stalin for appreciating the Telangana government's decision to increase reservations for certain backward sections of society.

Rao spoke to Stalin this morning over phone, a release from the Chief Minister's office said.

"Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao thanked DMK Working President and (Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly) TNLA Opposition Leader MK Stalin who welcomed the efforts to uphold social justice by Telangana CM and for fighting for more powers to states," the release stated.

Stalin had yesterday praised CM Rao for the latter's decision to increase the reservation for oppressed sections of society.

"DMK welcomes the decision of Thiru Chandrasekhara Rao to embrace the principles of social justice in his decision- making and his efforts to uphold the state's rights to determine reservation policies," Stalin had said in a statement yesterday.

Rao had earlier appealed to the Centre to increase quotas for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and backward sections among Muslims and sought delegation of powers on the issue to the states. Rao had also said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) would raise the issue in Parliament and could also approach the Supreme Court on it.

PTI
Bali volcano: All you need to know about Mount Agung

International

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By Chennabasaveshwar

Mount Agung or Gunung Agung is a volcano in Bali, Indonesia, Mount Agung volcano is the highest point on Bali. It dominates the surrounding area, influencing the climate, especially rainfall patterns.

Mount Agung last erupted on 26 November 2017. The alert for a volcano belching huge plumes of smoke on Indonesia's resort island of Bali has been raised to the highest level, officials said, with fears a significant eruption could be imminent, reports PTI.

Its 1963-1964 eruption was one of the largest and most devastating in Indonesia's history. At least 1600 people were killed.

Balinese believe that Mt Agung is a replica of Mt Meru, the central axis of the universe. One legend holds that the mountain is a fragment of Meru brought to Bali by the first Hindus. The most important temple on Bali, Pura Besakih, is located high on the slopes of Gunung Agung.

From the peak of the mountain, it is possible to see the peak of Mt Rinjani on the nearby island of Lombok, to the east, although both mountains are frequently covered in clouds.

Mount Agung volcano is seen from Kubu village Mount Agung volcano is seen from Kubu village which is few kilometers from the crater of Mount Agung volcano in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017. Indonesian authorities are urging people not to climb the active Mount Agung volcano on Bali after a video of a foreigner standing on the edge of its smoking crater circulated online. The Disaster Mitigation Agency says the volcano is "very dangerous" and could explode anytime. AP/PTI Schoolchildren walk with Mount Agung volcano Schoolchildren walk with Mount Agung volcano in the background in Karangasem, Bali island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017. It has been a month since authorities raised the volcano's alert status to the highest level after a sudden increase in tremors. It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people. AP/PTI Photo Villagers sit on a truck during evacuation Villagers sit on a truck during an evacuation following the eruption of Mount Agung, seen in the background, in Karangasem, Indonesia, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017. The volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali has rumbled into life with a series of eruptions that temporarily disrupted some international flights to the popular tourist destination and dusted nearby resorts and villages with a thin layer of ash. AP/PTI photo NASA Disasters Program The NASA Disasters Program is currently monitoring the Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian Island of Bali. Numerous earthquakes in the region have prompted evacuations of over 50,000 people from the area surrounding the volcano. The volcano has been shaking since August, and is threatening eruption for the first time in over 50 years. Courtesy: disasters.nasa.gov

OneIndia News
British censor board clears Padmavati: Will violent protests by Hindu groups spill over into UK?

International

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By Oneindia

London, Nov 27: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), popularly known as the Censor Board, in India is allegedly dilly-dallying in clearing the controversial Bollywood film, Padmavati, after the board sent back the film to the makers over "technical discrepancies".

However, its British counterpart, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the United Kingdom (UK), recently cleared Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus, Padmavati, without any cuts. The BBFC has classified the film for its UK release with a 12A rating.

Thus the film is likely to release in the UK on December 1. In fact, the controversial film on 14th-century Rajput queen Padmavati, facing the ire of Rajput and Hindu groups for allegedly "distorting history", was supposed to release in India on December 1.

The release of the film in India is in limbo after the makers of Padmavati decided to postpone its release in the country as protests and threats over the movie continue.

The decision of the BBFC has been opposed by Shri Rajput Karni Sena, the fringe group at the forefront in conducting violent protests across India over Padmavati. The group has issued threats to indulge in violence and burn film theatres if the movie is screened in the UK.

In a clarification, the makers of the film stated that the film won't be released in Britain. But that has not pacified the Hindu groups.

A Shri Rajput Karni Sena leader on Republic TV said: "We will go to an international court and call for the film to be banned. I call on my Rajput brothers and Hindus in the UK to protest against screening the film there ... I would have even gone myself to the UK but let me tell you, whichever cinema screens the film will be burned."

The threats by Shri Rajput Karni Sena leader are pretty frightening and it has disappointed several British officials and film fans that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India did nothing against those who are issuing an open warning against a country that is friendly to India because of a controversial film.

"It's shocking that a country we have such close ties with tolerates statements inciting violence against UK cinemas and UK citizens, and that our government hasn't reacted. I've written to the Home Office, the British high commission in India and several MPs demanding that Shri Rajput Karni Sena members be banned from entering the UK," wrote Sunny Malik, a freelance journalist and social media manager based in London, focusing on Bollywood films and Indian film stars, for The Guardian.

"Additionally, the government must clearly communicate to the Indian government that threats of this nature will not be tolerated. Neither will our freedom of choosing a film to watch be compromised due to local politics in India. The ball is now in the UK government's court," he added.

However, many say that the threats by Hindu groups of staging violent protests in the UK are mere words.

"It is unlikely, however, that Shri Rajput Karni Sena, a fringe group in India, has members in the UK and Rajput Samaj of UK was keen to stress it did not back calls for violence," stated a report by The Guardian.

A London-based Hindu charity, Rajput Samaj of UK, declared its opposition to the BBFC's decision to certify the film for release and said it would hold a peaceful protest over what it sees as a historically inaccurate account of Padmini, stated The Guardian.

It told The Guardian that it did not want the film to be released but emphasised that it was opposed to any violence and was not basing its protest on the speculation that the film depicts an intimate scene involving the queen, which the producers say is false.

The film by Bhansali, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Shahid Kapoor, is based on a 1540 poem by the Sufi writer Malik Muhammad Jaysi. Historians, however, are yet to confirm the existence of queen Padmavati from Chittor, Rajasthan, who self-immolated herself after Sultan of Delhi Alauddin Khilji tried to kidnap her.

The film is facing the ire of right-wing groups over alleged love scenes between queen Padmavati and Khilji as a part of a dream sequence, which Bhansali has repeatedly denied.

The movie, in spite of not being certified by the CBFC, has been banned in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, all three BJP-ruled states.

OneIndia
What will happen to armed forces as homosexuality a punishable offense under their laws?

Bipin Rawat suggests SC order on decriminalising gay sex may not be implemented in Army

Indians looking for extramarital affairs are happy with Supreme Court: survey

Egypt court sentences 14 homosexuals to three years in jail

International

oi-PTI

Cairo, November 27: Fourteen men convicted of being homosexuals sentenced to three years in jail each for "abnormal" sexual relations by an Egyptian court on Monday, a defence lawyer said.

Ishaq Wadie said the men were released on bail of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (USD 283, 230 euros) each until an appeals trial.

The trial of three other suspects was delayed over procedural reasons, the lawyer said. Homosexuality is not expressly outlawed in Egypt, but gays have previously been charged with debauchery in the deeply conservative Muslim society.

In recent months, authorities have cracked down on people who practice so-called "abnormal" sexual relations, which in Egypt means homosexuality, or for inciting debauchery.

The stepped-up measures follow an outdoor concert in Cairo on September 22 by Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila, when the flag representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community was raised.

Thirty-one people have been arrested since the show, 10 directly linked with the event, according to judicial and security officials.

London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International said the number was more than 70 people, some of whom had been subjected to anal examinations. On November 9, Amnesty condemned a draft bill in the Egyptian parliament that would criminalise homosexuality.

The bill lays jail terms of between one and three years for first-time offenders, whether the act takes place in public or a private place. Repeat offenders would receive five years.

Najia Bounaim, North Africa campaigns director at Amnesty, said: "This deeply discriminatory bill would be a huge setback for human rights and another nail in the coffin for sexual rights in Egypt."

PTI
Miss Universe 2019: Who is Zozibini Tunzi? Third South African to wear the crown

Miss South Africa Demi-LeighNel-Peters crowned Miss Universe 2017

International

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By Chennabasaveshwar

Miss South Africa Demi-LeighNel-Peters was crowned Miss Universe for 2017 at a glittery event held at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Iris Mittenaere from France crowned her successor Demi-LeighNel-Peters at the conclusion of the three-hour event. Nearly 100 women from across the globe travelled to compete for the opportunity of becoming the next Miss Universe.

Five-time Emmy Award winner Steve Harvey hosted the Miss Universe, marking the third time that the multi-talented personality will host the international competition.

Steve Harvey asked the last question: What quality in yourself are you proud of, and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe?

Demi-LeighNel-Peters, said, " As Miss Universe, you have to be confident in who you are as an individual and Miss Universe is a woman who has overcome many fears and by that, she is able to help other women overcome their fears. She is the woman nothing ever too much to ask for and that is exactly who I am."

Demi-LeighNel-Peters thanked South Africans for support and love throughout her Miss Universe journey. "I may be the new Miss Universe but I will always be your Miss South Africa - we did it!" she tweeted.

She is Business Management student Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters recently earned her degree in Business Management at North West University after making history at her high school for holding two leadership positions. Courtesy:@DemiLeighNP Demi-Leigh's motivation Demi-Leigh's biggest motivation comes from her half-sister who has a disability, that lives in Potchefstroom with her stepmother and father.@DemiLeighNP She trains women in self-defense In her spare time, Demi-Leigh is passionate about a program she helped develop to train women in self-defense in various situations. She plans to share these workshops and help as many women as she can. Courtesy:@MissUniverse She thanks South Africans for their support Demi-LeighNel-Peters thanked South Africans for support and love throughout her Miss Universe journey. Courtesy:@DemiLeighNP

OneIndia News
With the number of anonymous rogues from Pak rising, here's how BSF is beating down the drones

Pakistans nuclear programme can escalate conventional war in region: US

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The tactical nuclear weapons programme of Pakistan is the surest route to escalating the conventional war to the nuclear level in the region, an American think-tank has said.

In its report 'Asia in the Second Nuclear Age', the Atlantic Council, however, said Pakistan does not appear to have operationalised its tactical nuclear-warfare plans yet.

"Pakistan's tactical nuclear-weapons programme is dangerous for safety and security reasons, and also because it is the surest route to escalating the conventional war to the nuclear level. However, Pakistan does not appear to have operationalised its tactical nuclear-warfare plans yet," said the report released in November.

The greatest threat in the region comes not from the development of large, sophisticated, and diversified nuclear arsenals, but from the continued stability of the institutions guarding them. "In this regard, the future stability of Pakistan remains a wild card," said the report.

In the last four decades, the Pakistani deep state's pursuit of low-intensity conflict in Afghanistan and India, via the vehicles of radical jihadi non-state actors, has produced terrible blowback effects on Pakistan itself.

Noting that both the Pakistani state and civil society have become the targets of terror attacks, it said some of the attacks have occurred, with insider help, on sensitive military bases where nuclear weapons are likely stored.

"The possibility that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could be stolen or that schisms in Pakistan's military might cause nuclear command-and-control failures is not as fantastic as it once seemed," said the report.

Authored by Gaurav Kampani and Bharath Gopalaswamy, the report concludes that in the nuclear dynamic in the Indo-Pacific region, India and Pakistan are novice developers of nuclear arsenals; the weapons in their inventory are first-generation fission weapons.

Likewise, their delivery systems are the first in the cycle of acquisitions, the report said, adding that their hardware acquisitions generate outside concern because of the scope of their ambitions.

Observing that both nations plan to deploy a triad capability, the report said nonetheless, this ambitious goal and the selection of technologies underline the central lesson of the nuclear revolution, which is force survival (to enable an assured second-strike capability).

It said force survival through secure second-strike capabilities is also China's goal.

"It is the only nuclear power among the three that is actually modernizing, i.e., replacing aging delivery systems with newer and better designs," the report said.

"Thus far, the evidence suggests that Chinese and Indian explorations of multiple re-entry vehicle technologies are aimed at reinforcing deterrence through the fielding of more robust second-strike capabilities," the report said.

It said that this conclusion is also supported by the fact that neither India nor China has, nor is developing, the ancillary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems necessary to execute splendid first-strike attacks.

OneIndia News
US state department expresses concern over Hafiz Saeed's release

International

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After White House, now the United States state department on Monday expressed its concern over LeT leader Hafiz Saeed's release from house arrest in Pakistan.

Earlier on Saturday, the White House lashed out at Pakistan by saying that there will be "repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistan's global reputation" unless Islamabad took action to detain and charge a freed Islamist militant accused of masterminding a 2008 assault in Mumbai.

Hafiz Saeed, who has been designated a terrorist by the US Justice Department and has a $10 million bounty on his head, was released before dawn after the court this week ended his detention in the eastern city of Lahore.

Saeed ran the Jamaat-ud-Dawa organisation, widely believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which India believes was behind the deadly attack in Mumbai.

OneIndia News
From Truthdig



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On July 11, 1995, I was in the office of Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic in the besieged city of Sarajevo. As Serb artillery shells exploded in the streets around us, we listened to the last radio communication from the U.N. "safe area" of Srebrenica, being overrun by Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic. There was no doubt among any in the room that widespread killing of Muslims was about to begin.

"This is the result of a twisted policy of containment," Silajdzic said to me bitterly. "The U.N. contained thousands of our tanks and artillery pieces and disarmed our population. And when we asked why the arms embargo against us could not be lifted, we were told because it would endanger those Muslims living in the protected enclaves. This argument, after these Serb attacks, is now gone. But it means that the U.N. has become an accomplice to murder."

Thousands of the 42,000 Muslims in the Srebrenica enclave, ostensibly protected by some 400 Dutch troops acting as U.N. peacekeepers, fled the Serbs advancing on the city and congregated in terror at the Dutch base at Potocari, three miles north of Srebrenica. Desperate pleas by the Muslim leadership in Srebrenica to the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for air support were ignored. The Bosnian Serb army, led by Mladic, who last week was sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes, ordered his soldiers to round up thousands of boys and men for execution or hunted them down as they tried to escape to territory under the control of Bosnian Muslims. When the slaughter was complete, more than 7,000 had been slain, the worst war crime in Europe since World War II.

Independence movements in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a country created at the end of World War II, began to form in the 1990s. The states of Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia, with their mix of Orthodox Christian Serbs, Muslim Bosniaks, Catholic Croats and Muslim ethnic Albanians, would all eventually sever ties with Belgrade to create separate nations. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence first, in 1991. When Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence in 1992, the Serbian government in Belgrade intervened militarily on behalf of the Serb minority. Belgrade formed a rival Bosnian government and military, its leadership drawn from the old Yugoslav army, or the JNA. The Bosnian Serb fighters under the command of Mladic had access to the equipment, vehicles, arms and heavy weaponry of the JNA. They mounted a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing to drive Bosniak and Croat civilians out of Bosnia in the hope of forming an ethnically cleansed Serb state.

The war in parts of Croatia and Bosnia was savage. The Serbs carried out numerous mass executions of civilians and razed whole villages, often by dynamiting or burning. The war ended in the fall of 1995 with a NATO bombing campaign that crippled the Serbs militarily and forced them to negotiate a peace agreement. An estimated 100,000 people died and 2 million were displaced in the Bosnian conflict.

Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo, along with five other Muslim-held enclaves, was surrounded by Serb forces. Sarajevo was pounded daily with heavy artillery, mortar rounds, Katyusha rockets and 90 mm tank rounds. Serbian snipers, hidden in buildings in the city's Serb-held suburbs on the front lines, routinely gunned down civilians emerging from basements to find food or water. The Serbs set up concentration camps where Muslims were tortured, starved and sometimes shot. They commandeered old tourist hotels where they imprisoned Muslim and Croat girls and women and carried out daily rapes, often executing the girls and women after a few weeks.

By the time I arrived in Sarajevo in 1995, thousands of people had been killed, including 45 foreign journalists. The city was being hit with up to 2,000 shells a day. Four or five people were killed and at least two dozen were wounded daily. Sarajevo was my most dangerous assignment in the two decades I worked as a war correspondent.

There were frequent attempts by the European Union to mediate an end to the war, but aside from a few brief cease-fires the fighting continued. At the same time, an arms embargo enforced against the Muslims by the international community crippled the ability of the Muslims to defend themselves. The U.N. eventually established six U.N. "safe areas," including Srebrenica and Sarajevo. U.N. peacekeepers stationed in these "safe areas" were supposed to protect the besieged Muslims. The peacekeepers, however, were never numerous enough or armed sufficiently to counter Serb attacks. By the end of the war all of the "safe areas" except Sarajevo had fallen to the Serbs.

Mladic, who in three years of war had overseen numerous massacres in the Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, had announced before the Srebrenica attack that he would make the Bosniak Muslim population of the region "vanish completely." There was little doubt, given what he had done in the past, about his intentions or his willingness to murder on a large scale.

The stocky general was cynically shown on Bosnian television telling crowds, "No panic, please." He was shown handing a child a candy bar. "Don't be afraid," he said to frightened men, women and children. "No one will harm you."

But Mladic was only one actor in the cast. The genocide was enabled by France, Britain, the United States, the United Nations and Muslim leaders in Sarajevo. The Western alliance and the United Nations -- as in Rwanda a year earlier when it failed to halt the slaughter of 1 million Tutsis by the Hutu majority -- never intended to fulfill the promise to protect the surrounded Muslims in Srebrenica.

The U.N. admitted it needed at least 6,000 troops in Srebrenica, yet provided only a token force of 400 Dutch peacekeepers. The U.N.'s special envoy to the Balkans, the Japanese diplomat Yasushi Akashi, and the head of U.N. forces in the area, Gen. Bernard Janvier, blocked airstrikes that might have halted the Serb attack, relenting only in the final moments to make a symbolic strike that did little more than damage a Serb tank. The Serbs, enraged by the airstrike, took 32 Dutch peacekeepers hostage. Airstrikes ceased after the hostages were taken, dooming Srebrenica.

The Dutch soldiers, who had no stomach to fight Mladic's soldiers without air support, withdrew to their base. They permitted Serb soldiers to enter the base, where thousands of terrified Muslims had sought shelter, and round up men and boys, most of whom were executed, as well as women and girls who were later raped.

At the same time, the paramilitary leader in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, who terrorized Serb villages around the enclave and was later charged with war crimes, had left the city with other commanders before the attack. The Muslim president of Bosnia, Alija Izetbegovic, had been told by U.S. President Bill Clinton that if Mladic carried out a massacre in Srebrenica the U.S. would intervene to end the war. Izetbegovic either saw the Muslims in Srebrenica as part of the human sacrifice required for NATO intervention, which took place a few weeks later, or he naively believed that the U.N. force would protect the enclave, highly doubtful given the U.N.'s history of refusing to confront the Serbs in three years of warfare. The Clinton administration, we know now, was aware six weeks in advance of the attack that Srebrenica was being targeted by the Serbs but did not intervene out of fear that it would damage ongoing peace negotiations.

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From Counterpunch



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NATO's military intervention in Libya in 2011 has justifiably earned its place in history as an indictment of Western foreign policy and a military alliance which, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been deployed as the sword of this foreign policy. The destruction of Libya will forever be an indelible stain on the reputations of those countries and leaders responsible.

But now, with the revelation that people are being sold as slaves in Libya (yes, you read that right. In 2017 the slave trade is alive and kicking Libya), the cataclysmic disaster to befall the country has been compounded to the point where it is hard to conceive of it ever being able to recover -- and certainly not anywhere near its former status as a high development country, as the UN labelled Libya 2010 a year prior to the "revolution."

Back in 2011 it was simply inconceivable that the UK, the US and France would ignore the lessons of Iraq, just nine years previously in 2003. Yet ignore them they did, highlighting their rapacious obsession with maintaining hegemony over a region that sits atop an ocean of oil, despite the human cost and legacy of disaster and chaos which this particular obsession has wrought.

When former UK Prime Minister David Cameron descended on Benghazi in eastern Libya in the summer of 2011, basking in the glory of the country's victorious "revolution" in the company of his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, he did so imbued with the belief he had succeeded in establishing his legacy as a leader on the global stage. Like Blair before him, he'd won his war and now was intent on partaking of its political and geopolitical spoils.

Cameron told the crowd, "Your city was an inspiration to the world, as you threw off a dictator and chose freedom."

Pondering the former UK prime minister's fatuous boast, I am reminded of a conversation I had recently with the driver of a cab taking me home to my apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland. During our exchange he informed me that he was originally from Libya, before going on to reveal that he was forced to flee the country after his family was massacred by Cameron's freedom-loving revolutionaries in 2011. In Libya, prior to the "revolution" and NATO's air campaign, he'd been a petroleum engineer with a PhD. Now he was working 10 hours a day driving a cab in Scotland in the middle of winter.

The destruction of Libya by NATO at the behest of the UK, the US and France was a crime, one dripping in the cant and hypocrisy of Western ideologues for whom the world with all its complexities is reduced to a giant chessboard upon which countries such as Libya have long been mere pieces to be moved around and changed at their pleasure and in their interests -- interests which are inimical to the people of the countries they deem ripe for regime change.

The word extremist is perhaps overused in our lexicon, but it is entirely appropriate when describing the pro-war neocon lobby that exerts inordinate influence on Western foreign policy. We are talking a class of rich, privileged and expensively educated men and women who are bent on purifying the world in the name of democracy. The end result has been a litany of countries destabilized and turned upside down with the lives of their citizens completely upended in the process.

War and regime change without end remains their credo, driving them ever onwards as they lurch from one disaster to the other, intent, per Beckett, on failing once, trying again, and failing better.

In 2011 the Libyan people fell victim to the West's crude attempt to hijack the momentum of the Arab Spring at the very point at which it came to the end of its reach. The speed of its spread and mass support in Tunisia and Egypt, where it succeeded in toppling two pro-Western dictators in the shape of Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, caught Washington and its allies by surprise.

Libya is where they decided to try and place themselves at the head of its momentum. They did so motivated not by the desire to help effect democratic change in the country but to ensure that the extensive and lucrative oil exploration contracts and economic ties forged with the Gaddafi government were protected and upheld after its demise. This was their motivation and the result six years on is failed state in which the slave trade now exists.

Washington and Europe have never been a source of stability in the Middle East or North Africa. On the contrary, their presence and double dealing has only ever brought the people of this part of the world unremitting suffering and despair.

It's just as Gandhi said: "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"


GMO%20CORN (google images: 'gmo food') | WTO Genetically mod. | Flickr354 -- 354 - 72k - jpg

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Protesters in Mexico City: Mexican Judiciary and Agriculture Sanitation officials are listening to the protests and to the farmers who don't want Monsanto, and ruling accordingly!

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With special thanks to Ecowatch and to Reuters for covering this so thoroughly.

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Monsanto, the GMO giant agrochemical megacorporation, said Mexico's agriculture sanitation authority SENASICA had rescinded its permit to commercialize genetically modified soy in seven states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo.

The company sharply criticized the decision as unjustified, most sharply in the St. Louis newspapers, where their journalistic clout might seem paramount.

According to Monsanto, the permit had been withdrawn on unwarranted legal and technical grounds, and threatened that it would take all of the necessary steps to protect its rights and those of farmers using the technology, but did not elaborate.

Mexican newspaper Reforma cited a SENASICA document saying the permit was revoked due to the detection of transgenic Monsanto soya in areas where it was not authorized, but Monsanto rejected the argument, claiming the authorities had not analyzed how the soy on which their decision was based was sown.

As the largest producer of genetically modified seeds, Monsanto has for decades wanted to grow corn in the birthplace of corn/maize Mexico. It seems to this author that this must be to Monsanto's Board of Directors some kind of symbolic badge of accomplishment to bring GMO corn growing to the birthplace of corn, but the Mexican farmers and now the Mexican Judiciary are having none of it!

Several years ago, the company submitted two applications for the commercial planting of GMO corn in Mexico. Both sought 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the country's largest corn-producing area.

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Legal Background and Recent History, summarized from Ecowatch 2015 article:

Monsanto's presence in Mexico has a troubled and disturbing history, especially regarding corn, the country's staple crop. The company has long wanted to grow corn in the country that invented corn over millennia of genetic experimentation by indigenous farmers working long before even the Spanish came.

However, in November 2015, a Mexican court upheld a 2013 ruling that halted all pilot plots of GMO corn over deep concerns about how they could affect the environment, as Reuters reported. (This judicial decision also affects the marketing efforts of DuPont/Pioneer, another GMO seed company.)

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Reprinted from www.truth-out.org



12th Annual Eastern Woodland Native American Celebration

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November 9, 2016, was a typical North Dakota wintry day and the cold wind bit into me. Unlike the group of fellow Veterans for Peace I was with, who had come from northern or eastern locations, I was fresh in from a fishing village in central Mexico. We huddled around a red camper van, listening to a radio station in anticipation of hearing the results of the election. The crowded camp below our hilly perch was strewn with makeshift buildings, campers and tipis, and we were surrounded by rolling hills, grass plains and buttes that bordered the sacred Missouri River we were trying to protect. Hearing the radio transmission clearly was difficult, owing to static and occasional interruptions from TigerSwan, a private military contractor hired by Energy Transfer Partners to disrupt our communications with the outside world. Nonetheless, when we heard that Trump was the new president of the United States, the words resonated all too clearly.

No one spoke at first. Then, showing tearful emotion, one of our younger vets, who had regretfully participated in two tours in Iraq, angrily spoke out: "How stupid are people in this country?" Immediately, one of our female Lakota vets walked up to him and gave him a sincere hug. She was a round-faced woman in her 40s or 50s who wore a derby-type leather brimmed hat, long beaded earrings, a brightly colored vintage Navajo-styled Pendleton blanket coat and a pair of eyeglasses that illuminated eyes that radiated gentle wisdom. "Welcome to our world," she said.

As an Indigenous professor, researcher and author, I knew immediately what she was saying: Trump was only a more blatant manifestation of the kinds of inequity, hierarchy and violence against all of the natural world that American Indigenous have suffered throughout US history. We all knew this related to a small percentage of individuals controlling everyone and everything else. I also understood that such an affair had faced humanity globally for only the past 1 percent of human history. For 99 percent of our time on this planet, prior to our "point-of-departure" around 9,000 years ago, most humans lived as Indigenous peoples who managed to thrive in relative harmony without destroying the planet's life-systems. What the Lakota veteran was conveying was not so much that white people were now getting a taste of their own medicine, but rather that implications of the dominant culture's worldview are currently catching up to everyone.

Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota leader who lived and was assassinated on the Standing Rock Reservation, also understood that the settlers' worldview was not compatible with how life had been lived for most of human history. Not long after he signed the 1868 Treaty that established the Lakota reservation lands that included the Black Hills of South Dakota, he shared his philosophy in a speech to a council of his people. He spoke to the anthropocentrism, hierarchy and greed that continue to lead us into an untimely sixth mass extinction.

The speech, recorded by Charles Eastman (Ohiye S'a), described the Lakota worldview:

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the Earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! Every seed is awakened, and all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even to our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves to inhabit this vast land.

Sitting Bull contrasted this paradigm with the damaging worldview of the European settlers, which persists in the United States government today:

Yet hear me, friends! We have now to deal with another people, small and feeble when our forefathers first met with them, but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not! They have a religion in which the poor worship, but the rich will not! They even take tithes of the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule. They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse. They compel her to produce out of season, and when sterile she is made to take medicine in order to produce again. All this is sacrilege.

Such sentiments are common to many of the great variety of Indigenous cultures around the world, including those eradicated and those surviving. They can be contrasted sharply with the cultures that converge around the dominant worldview. So, how can we draw upon Indigenous worldviews to make sense of the era of Trump, and to move beyond it? Here are some Indigenous worldview precepts one can use to evaluate -- and begin to transform -- one's thinking and beliefs:

1) Love of Life and acceptance of its mysteries is essential for wellness.

2) Every life form is interconnected, equal in significance and deserves respect.

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Baltimore Police

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[Reprinted From Black Agenda Report]

by Glen Ford

"Even when police are in 'hot pursuit' of a criminal suspect, they cannot treat a whole neighborhood like criminals."

The Baltimore police department seems to have learned nothing from the civil disturbances that rocked the city after Freddie Gray died in police custody back in 2015. Six cops got off scot-free for killing Gray -- which seems to have led the police to conclude that they can treat the Black community as a Constitution-Free Zone, where anything the cops do is legal.

Baltimore is 63 percent Black. Its elected officials are mostly Black, and its police force is majority Black and Hispanic. So, what we're seeing in Baltimore is how a plantation operates when the white folks leave the Black overseers in charge. What we find is, the Black Misleadership Class and the Black police are nothing more than servants of white supremacy, and have no respect for the rights of Black citizens.

Last week, a Black police detective was shot to death in the Harlem Park section of west Baltimore. The police declared the entire neighborhood a "crime scene " and locked down every street and sidewalk for blocks around. Residents were patted down, coming and going into the neighborhood, and required to show little pieces of paper from police vouching that they were residents. If you couldn't show you lived in Harlem Park, you couldn't get in, even to visit relatives. Checkpoints were everywhere, and residents were questioned, over and over again, about the identity of the shooter. All this is blatantly unconstitutional -- which means, it's a massive police crime against the people. As the local American Civil Liberties Union said, even when police are in "hot pursuit" of a criminal suspect, they cannot treat a whole neighborhood like criminals. Constitutional protections cannot be suspended for the convenience of police investigators. For that, you need a declaration of martial law. When the cops designated all of Harlem Park a crime scene they were, in effect, declaring the neighborhood to be outside the protection of the U.S. Constitution.

"The Black Misleadership Class and the Black police are nothing more than servants of white supremacy."

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, a city, or a nation that is partially Constitution-free, cannot stand. From the founding of the United States, to the Dred Scott decision, through a century of Jim Crow injustice, U.S. police forces have treated Black communities as outside the reach of Constitutional law. The so-called War on Drugs saw the designation of large sections of U.S. cities as drug zones, within which everyone was considered suspect, simply by virtue of their presence. In some cities, the entire Black community is located within these designated "drug zones." That means, the Constitution does not exist for Black people in those cities.

Many of these urban areas proudly call themselves "sanctuary cities." Sanctuaries for whom? In Baltimore's Harlem Park, for almost a week, there was no sanctuary from the armed and dangerous gunmen in blue. And, if the cops can take your rights away any time they feel like it, then you never really had those rights at all.

The dragnet is said to have ended in Harlem Park, but the Constitution is definitely not in effect.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go the BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com
This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Hague fugitive George W Bush was trending yesterday [10/19/2017] after drawing accolades from amnesiac liberals everywhere for a speech he gave condemning Trumpism and Russia. The DNC has just held a surprise purge of progressives from its ranks, replacing them with reliably corrupt establishment stalwarts like Donna Brazile. Bernie Sanders has bowed out of his scheduled Women's Conference speech following outraged cries of sexism from fake feminists and demands that he be replaced with a drone-bombing, Wall Street-coddling female politician like Hillary Clinton.

Get used to this. This is the new normal.

Two years ago journalist Max Blumenthal predicted that "Trump's true role is expanding political space on the far-right, making the militarists and racists who roundly condemn him seem moderate," and we see today that this is exactly how he's being used. After their failed attempt to use Trump's far-right following to make his fanatically neoconservative opponent look electable in 2016, they simply shifted to using the exact same tactic for 2020. This is less about getting a more presentable face in the White House than it is about herding rank-and-file Americans into supporting the neoliberal neoconservative power structure represented by what is hilariously known as America's political "center".

The amount of success they've been having in paralyzing the left with this tactic means that you will only see more of this going forward. Big scary boogiemen like Trump will be used to frighten mainstream America into the arms of the "centrists", who will magnanimously offer protection from racism, sexism, and an assortment of bigoted-phobias in exchange for allegiance to the US war machine and rapacious plutocratic exploitation. Anyone who refuses to play along with this manipulation will be accused of bigotry and privilege in various ways.

This will happen. It won't be blatant, it won't be sudden, and it won't happen in any uniform way, but it will happen. In various ways, everyone to the left of John McCain will be guilted, manipulated and bullied into supporting the warmongering, CIA-loving, corporate crony McCarthyist establishment faction of the Democratic party.

And, unless something huge changes very soon in the way people look at these things, enough of them will buy it. Even many well-meaning individuals on the far left who are aware they're being manipulated will get snagged on some aspect of the relentless deluge of propaganda eventually; if they're not sucked into supporting the machine they'll be rendered impotent by sectarian infighting against fellow lefties who react differently to the manipulations.

Those of us on the political left are going to have to find a way to deal with the fact that opposing the establishment machine will inevitably result in withering accusations of a litany of -isms and -phobias because of these manipulations, and we're going to have to figure out how to do that without alienating the disadvantaged groups who are hurt by the status quo worse than anyone else.

But that won't be enough. It's all well and good to talk about "rejecting identity politics", but if all we do is reject the worldview that has made accusations of privilege and bigotry such effective tools of establishment manipulation, they'll just figure out how to manipulate whatever worldview we replace that one with. Identity politics is indeed a great way to cajole a large percentage of the population into supporting agendas that the ruling elites care about (economic injustice, war, surveillance, media propaganda, etc.) in exchange for agendas that the ruling elites don't care about (pro-choice, anti-racism, marriage equality, etc.), but ultimately it's just one of many possible collars that the propagandists can attach leashes to.

As we've discussed previously, propaganda as we understand it today has been a developing science for about a hundred years. Think about how much innovation has happened in other fields over the last century, and you get a feel for how much these powerful manipulators have developed their craft during that time. That's how advanced the establishment propagandists are. That's how much of a head start they have as we begin to figure this thing out.

For this reason, it's not enough for us to change what we think; we're going to have to change how we think as well. As long as we can be manipulated, they will find ways of manipulating us. If we're ever to beat the people who wield the immense power of the establishment propaganda machine, we will have to find some way to become more difficult to manipulate.

I am speaking about a total transformation in humanity's relationship with thought. I know that sounds like a far-fetched and idealistic suggestion, but I just don't think we'll be able to survive as a species if it doesn't happen. The best case scenario if this doesn't happen is an Orwellian future dominated by the elites who control AI technology which will make the current propaganda machine look like child's play, and the worst case scenario is extinction via nuclear holocaust or climate chaos. All of these things are pressing concerns right now, and we'll probably have our answer as to what our fate will be within a generation or two. We are at evolve-or-die time.

If we're to evolve, this will necessarily entail an overall shift in our species' relationship with thought and belief. Propaganda works by constructing a pro-establishment narrative that the human mind can be duped into imbuing with the power of belief via sympathy and frequent authoritative repetition. If we're to evolve to a point where propaganda no longer works on us, we'll have to transcend this insidious mental habit of believing thoughts instead of usingthem as tools for our benefit.

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Nov 27, 2017: Injection Molding Compounds Market Forecast 2023 Hexion, Hitachi, BASF, Huntsman, Eastman

Injection Molding Compounds

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A market study  Global Injection Molding Compounds Market  examines the performance of the Injection Molding Compounds market Size 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Injection Molding Compounds market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Injection Molding Compounds market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Get Free Sample Of Report:The Global Injection Molding Compounds Market 2017 report includes Injection Molding Compounds market Size, Revenue, market Share, Injection Molding Compounds industry volume, market Trends, Injection Molding Compounds Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Injection Molding Compounds Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2023.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Injection Molding Compounds Market Forecast 2017:1. Hexion2. Hitachi Chemical3. BASF4. Huntsman International5. Eastman Chemical6. RTP Company7. Premix Inc8. Aurora Plastics9. Purgex10. West-ChemieInjection Molding Compounds Market : By Application Phenolic Epoxy PolyesterInjection Molding Compounds Market : By Type Electricals Aerospace AutomotiveFirstly, the report covers the top Injection Molding Compounds manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Enquiry for More Info@Further, the Injection Molding Compounds report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Injection Molding Compounds industry, Injection Molding Compounds industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Injection Molding Compounds Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.The Injection Molding Compounds 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 Injection Molding Compounds market revenue worldwide.Finally, Injection Molding Compounds 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:Spire Market Research is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as 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.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244United States
Nov 27, 2017: Knock Sensor Market Forecast 2023 Delphi, Bosch, FACET, Tridon

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Nov 27, 2017: Keyboard Accessories Market Forecast 2023 ASUS, Behringer, Modular, Boss, Casio

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Nov 27, 2017: Juvenile Hormone Market Forecast 2023 Cayman, Abcam, PerkinElmer

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Nov 27, 2017: Joint Bearing Market Forecast 2023 Koyo, NSK, NACHI, NTN, TIMKEN, FAG, INA

Joint Bearing

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Nov 27, 2017: Iron Ore Market Forecast 2023 Rio Tinto, Vale, US Steel, CDII, Cliffs

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Global Nanocellulose Market Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 29.54% Over The Forecast Period 2017-2021

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Nanocellulose Market Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 29.54% Over The Forecast Period 2017-2021" to its huge collection of research reports.About NanocelluloseNanocellulose is a renewable material derived from wood fibers. At least one of the dimensions of nanocellulose is less than 100 nanometers. It has special characteristics such as lightweight, high strength, and durability. Compared to other materials based on fossil fuels, nanocellulose is a renewable and biodegradable material. Nanocellulose is of three types: nano-fibrillated cellulose, nano-crystalline cellulose, and bacterial cellulose. Nanocellulose is used in coatings, paper processing, oil and gas, and composites. It is also gaining momentum in the medical sector.Technavios analysts forecast the global nanocellulose market to grow at a CAGR of 29.54% during the period 2017-2021.To Get Sample Copy Of Report Visit @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global nanocellulose market for 2017-2021. The report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:APACEuropeNorth AmericaROWTechnavio's report, Global Nanocellulose 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 vendorsBorregaardCelluForceDaicelNIPPON PAPER INDUSTRIESRISESappiBrowse Detail Report With TOC @Market driverGrowing demand in packaging applicationsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeHigh cost of manufacturingFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendIncreasing use of nanocellulose in pharmaceutical industryFor a full, detailed list, view our reportTable of ContentsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: INTRODUCTIONMarket outlinePART 05: MARKET LANDSCAPEMarket overviewMarket size and forecastFive forces analysisPART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TYPEGlobal nanocellulose market by typeGlobal nano-fibrillated cellulose marketGlobal nano-crystalline cellulose marketGlobal bacterial nanocellulose marketResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
PEEK Dental Implants Market Report by Top Manufacturers: Radiant Insights

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This report studies PEEK Dental Implants in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering SisoMM invibio MKPrecision Evonik Industries AG Phoenix Implants GmbH Dibay Victrex plcThe report Global PEEK Dental Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 is available now atBy types, the market can be split into Dental Crowns Dental Abutment Dental Dentures Dental BridgesBy Application, the market can be split into Hospitals Dental Clinics Ambulatory Surgical CentersRequest a Free Sample Copy of this Report @Table of ContentsGlobal PEEK Dental Implants Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of PEEK Dental Implants1.1 Definition and Specifications of PEEK Dental Implants1.1.1 Definition of PEEK Dental Implants1.1.2 Specifications of PEEK Dental Implants1.2 Classification of PEEK Dental Implants1.2.1 Dental Crowns1.2.2 Dental Abutment1.2.3 Dental Dentures1.2.4 Dental Bridges1.3 Applications of PEEK Dental Implants1.3.1 Hospitals1.3.2 Dental Clinics1.3.3 Ambulatory Surgical Centers?1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 IndiaRead more related reports by Radiant Insights: Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Market Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) Market2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of PEEK Dental Implants2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of PEEK Dental Implants2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of PEEK Dental Implants2.4 Industry Chain Structure of PEEK Dental Implants3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of PEEK Dental Implants3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global PEEK Dental Implants Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global PEEK Dental Implants Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global PEEK Dental Implants Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global PEEK Dental Implants Major Manufacturers in 2016About Radiant Insights, IncRadiant Insights is a market research and consulting company offering syndicated research studies, customized reports, and consulting services. Market research studies are designed to facilitate strategic decision making, on the basis of extensive and in-depth quantitative information, supported by extensive analysis and industry insights. Using a patented and robust research methodology, we publish exhaustive research reports covering a host of industries such as Technology, Chemicals, Materials, and Energy. Radiant Insights has a strong base of analysts, consultants and domain experts, with global experience help for delivering excellence in all research projects.Media Contact:Michelle Thoras201 Spear Street 1100,Suite 3036,San Francisco,CA 94105, United StatesTel: 1-415-349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744Mail: sale@radiantinsights.com
Caffeine Market Size, Growth And Forecast Report Up To 2017 : Radiant Insights,Inc

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Caffeine Report by Material, Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).Access Sample Report of this report @The report firstly introduced the Caffeine basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) Basic information;2.) The Asia Caffeine Market;3.) The North American Caffeine Market;4.) The European Caffeine Market;5.) Market entry and investment feasibility;6.) The report conclusion.Access Full Report With TOC @Table of ContentsPart I Caffeine Industry OverviewChapter One Caffeine Industry Overview1.1 Caffeine Definition1.2 Caffeine Classification Analysis1.2.1 Caffeine Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Caffeine Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Caffeine Application Analysis1.3.1 Caffeine Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Caffeine Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Caffeine Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Caffeine Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Caffeine Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Caffeine Product Market Development Overview1.6 Caffeine Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Caffeine Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Caffeine Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Caffeine Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Caffeine Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Caffeine Global Market Development Trend AnalysisChapter Two Caffeine Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis2.1.1 Down Stream Market Analysis2.2.2 Down Stream Demand Analysis2.2.3 Down Stream Market Trend AnalysisExplore Other Reports By Radiant Insights,Inc at Potassium Nitrate Market Potassium Nitrate Report by Material, Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China). Active Brazing Packaging Market Active Brazing Packaging Market Report by Material, Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).About Radiant InsightRadiant Insights is a market research and consulting company offering syndicated research studies, customized reports, and consulting services. Our market research studies are designed to facilitate strategic decision making, on the basis of extensive and in-depth quantitative information, supported by extensive analysis and industry insights. Using a patented and robust research methodology, we publish exhaustive research reports covering a host of industries such as Technology, Chemicals, Materials, and Energy. Radiant Insights has a strong base of analysts, consultants and domain experts, with global experience helping us deliver excellence in all research projects we undertake.201 Spear Street 1100,Suite 3036, San Francisco,CA 94105, United States
E-Marketer IT Spending 2017 Global Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 12.48% and Forecast to 2021

E-Marketer IT Spending Market

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Global E-Marketer IT Spending MarketDescriptionWiseGuyReports.Com adds Global E-Marketer IT Spending 2015-2019 Research To Its Database.The rapid growth of the Internet has made online platforms a popular choice for conducting business activities. The global Internet footprint has grown from 2.4 billion in 2013 to more than 3.5 billion in 2015. Most developed regions have Internet penetration of more than 80%, while developing regions are also gradually picking up pace. This penetration of the Internet has led to increased investments in e-marketing, as it can enhance reach, flexibility, and accessibility to the target audience. The ability to customize ads as per the requirements of customers is one of the advantages of this media. For instance, Yahoo Search, AdWords, and Google AdSense are seen only on relevant web pages.E-marketing also helps in generating customer data. Thus, e-marketers are aggressively spending on procuring software such as marketing automation tools, analytical tools such as web analytics, social media analytical tools, and mobile analytical tools to measure the ROI of their marketing initiatives and to customize ads to effectively reach the target audience. E-marketers are also investing in procuring consulting services, managed services, and custom application development services.The analysts forecast the global e-marketer IT spending market to grow at a CAGR of 12.48% over the period 2014-2019.Covered in this reportIn this report, The covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global e-marketer IT spending for 2015-2019. To calculate the overall market size, the report considers the sales of hardware, software, and services in e-marketing. Hardware includes storage, servers, PCs, and network equipment Software incudes licensing and subscription of marketing automation software and analytical tools Services include revenue generated through consulting services, custom application development services, and managed servicesGet sample Report @The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the key leading vendors. We discuss the major drivers that influence the growth of the market, and the challenges faced by vendors and the market as a whole, as well as the key trends emerging in the market that will contribute to its growth during the forecast period.The Global E-marketer IT Spending Market 2015-2019, has been preparedbased on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers APAC, the Americas, and EMEA. It covers the landscape of the global e-marketer IT spending market and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion on the key vendors operating in this market.Key regions Americas APAC EMEAKey vendors Hubspot IBM Marketo Microsoft Oracle SalesforceOther prominent vendors Act-on Calliduscloud Optifinow Salesfusion SAPMarket driver Increasing demand for measuring efficacy of marketing initiatives For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Lack of integration For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Emergence of mobile app-install ads For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2018 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Enquiry About Report @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsPART 01: Executive summaryHighlightsPART 02: Scope of the reportMarket overviewTop-vendor offeringsPART 03: Market research methodologyResearch methodologyEconomic indicatorsPART 04: IntroductionKey market highlightsPART 05: Market landscapeMarket overviewMarket size and forecastFive forces analysisPART 06: Market segmentation by productMarket segmentation by productPART 07: Geographical segmentationMarket segmentation by geographyPART 08: Market driversPART 09: Impact of driversPART 10: Market challengesPART 11: Impact of drivers and challengesPART 12: Market trendsPART 13: Vendor landscapeKey vendorsOther prominent vendorsPART 14: Key vendor analysisHubSpotIBMMarketoMicrosoftOracleSalesforce.com..CONTINUEDAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, Industry research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)
Specialty Oxidants Market - Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016  2023

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Market HighlightSpecialty Oxidants such as sodium chlorate and hydrogen peroxide are strong oxidizing agents, and are employed predominantly to oxidize organic and inorganic compounds. Specialty oxidants are used for an array of application across a broad spectrum of industries including textiles, paper & pulp, health care & personal care. Sodium chlorate is also used as an oxidant in chemical synthesis; in the mining industry for the extraction of vanadium and uranium. Additionally, hydrogen peroxide is used as a raw material for the production of propylene oxide and is widely acceptable in hydrogen propylene oxide (HPPO) process.Increasing awareness regarding HPPO process is expected to drive the global specialty oxidant market in the next few years. Rising demand from end use industry such as paper & pulp for specialty oxidant, where hydrogen peroxide find usage in de-inking and bleaching of the paper and pulp, is expected to boost the market growth.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players Akzo Nobel N.V (the Netherlands), Aditya Birla Chemicals (India), Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (India), Evonik (Germany), Arkema Group (France), MITSUBISHI GAS CHEMICAL COMPANY, INC (Japan), Solvay (Belgium) others.SegmentationThe global specialty oxidants market is segmented on the basis of type, application, end use industries, and regions.On the basis of type, the market is segmented into sodium chlorate, hydrogen peroxide, and others. Based on the application, the market is segmented into defoliant, bleaching, propulsion, cleaning & extraction, and others. Bleaching based segment is the largest segment as compared to other applications.On the basis of end use industries, the market is categorized into healthcare & personal care, wastewater & water treatment, food processing, pulp & paper, textile, and others.On the basis of regions, the market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East & Africa.Enquire about this Report @Specialty Oxidants such as sodium chlorate and hydrogen peroxide are strong oxidizing agents, and are employed predominantly to oxidize organic and inorganic compounds. Specialty oxidants are used for an array of application across a broad spectrum of industries including textiles, paper & pulp, health care & personal care. Sodium chlorate is also used as an oxidant in chemical synthesis; in the mining industry for the extraction of vanadium and uranium. Additionally, hydrogen peroxide is used as a raw material for the production of propylene oxide and is widely acceptable in hydrogen propylene oxide (HPPO) process.Increasing awareness regarding HPPO process is expected to drive the global specialty oxidant market in the next few years. Rising demand from end use industry such as paper & pulp for specialty oxidant, where hydrogen peroxide find usage in de-inking and bleaching of the paper and pulp, is expected to boost the market growth. This growth will be supported by increasing demand for paper and paper products across the institutional sector coupled with growing demand of flexible packaging material in the packaging industry. However, growth of electronic media and digitalization of information in the recent years might hinder the paper & pulp market to an extent, which in turn may affect the specialty oxidant market growth.Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes4.1.4 Segment Rivalry4.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain Of Global Specialty Oxidants Market5 Industry Overview Of Global Specialty Oxidants Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact Analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact Analysis6 Market Trends6.1 Introduction6.2 Growth Trends6.3 Impact Analysis7. Global Specialty Oxidants Market By TypeContinueBrowse Full Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Rheumatology Therapeutics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017-2025

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Rheumatology Market is the discipline of internal medicine that involves the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases. Rheumatic diseases are characterized by the inflammation that affects joints, tendons, ligaments, bones and sometimes organs. Rheumatic diseases are also called as musculoskeletal disease causes severe pain, deformity and morbidity and leads to heavy economic burden due to high cost of treatment. There are more than 100 different types of rheumatic diseases with different symptoms and the symptoms of these diseases to all age groups. The global prevalence of rheumatic diseases varies between 0.3-1% worldwide and is women are more likely to develop the symptoms of these diseases than men. the most common types of rheumatic disease includes the rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), gout , psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis.Click here for free Sample Report @Out of the rheumatoid arthritis disease has high prevalence rates than other disease and accounts for the major share in global rheumatology therapeutics market. There are many different drugs and medications have been developed including biologics and biosimilars. Disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, uric acid drugs are some of the most commonly used drugs for the treatment of different types of rheumatic diseases. The NSAIDs are widely and frequently used for the symptomatic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Most of the regulatory authorities recommends the use of DMARDs as the first line of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis after diagnosis of this disease.Global Rheumatology Therapeutics Market: DriversThe global rheumatology therapeutics market is projected to be driven by the increasing geriatric population in developed countries, increase in the number of new drugs approval and growing R&D investments. According to CDC, more than 54 million American are affected with arthritis in 2017 and it projected that by the end of 2025, this number would reach to 78 million. Also according to world arthritis day, more than 120 million people in European Union are affected by some of the forms of arthritis. The growing geriatric population in developed countries is likely to be key driving factor for global rheumatology therapeutics market.The demand for the development of newer and technologically enhanced products such as biologics and biosimilars (generic of biologics) is growing globally. Hence, major players operating in the rheumatology therapeutics market are investing in research and development programs to develop new drugs. In 2015, Takeda Pharmaceuticals invested US$ 3.2 Bn in research and development activities. According to an annual report published by GlaxoSmithKline plc. In 2015, the company partnered with more than 1,500 companies and other academic organizations around the world for development of new drugs.Browse Full Report with TOC @Global Rheumatology Therapeutics Market: SegmentationGlobal rheumatology therapeutics market is broadly segmented into five segment based on drug class, disease indication, by route of administration, by distribution channel and by geography. By drug class, the market is segmented into disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, uric acid drugs and others. DMARDs segment dominated the global rheumatology therapeutics market in 2016 owing to increase in usage of these drugs in early stage of disease and growing adoption of biologics drugs for treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.The DMARDs are further sub-segmented into synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. Corticosteroids segment is projected to witness the highest growth rate during forecast period. By disease indication, market is segmented into rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), gout, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and others. By route of administration market is segmented into oral route, parenteral route and topical. The distribution channel for rheumatology therapeutics market includes the hospital pharmacy, retail pharmacy and online pharmacy.By Geography, the global rheumatology therapeutics market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. These regions have been further segmented by countries, methods, applications and end-users. North America dominated the market and is anticipated to lose its market share to Asia Pacific region by the end of 2025.Global Rheumatology Therapeutics Market: Competitive AnalysisThe competition matrix section included in the report is likely to assist the existing players to increase their market shares and new companies to establish their presence in the global rheumatology therapeutics market. The report also profiles major players in the market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, SWOT analysis, key business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments. Major players operating in the rheumatology therapeutics market include Amgen, Inc., AbbVie, Inc., Pfizer, Inc. , Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson), Novartis AG, Genentech, Inc. (F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Merck & Co., Inc. , Sanofi, and Takeda Pharmaceutical, among others.Global Rheumatology Therapeutics Market is segmented as given below:Global Rheumatology Therapeutics Market, by Drug ClassDisease Modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)Synthetic Disease Modifying Anti-rheumatic DrugsBiologic Disease Modifying Anti-rheumatic DrugsNonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)CorticosteroidsUric Acid DrugsOthersGlobal Rheumatology Therapeutics Market, by Disease IndicationRheumatoid ArthritisOsteoarthritisGoutPsoriatic ArthritisAnkylosing SpondylitisOthersGlobal Rheumatology Therapeutics Market, by Route of AdministrationParenteral RouteOral RouteTopicalGlobal Rheumatology Therapeutics Market, by Distribution ChannelHospital PharmacyRetail PharmacyOnline PharmacyGlobal Rheumatology Therapeutics Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificLatin AmericaMiddle East & AfricaEnquire about this Report @About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Connectivity Constraint Computing Market - Ecosystem and Healthcare Management to Top Demand in Global CCC Market

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The leading names in the global ICT industry have bagged top honors in the global connectivity constraint computing market as well. For 2015, the global connectivity constraint computing market was dominated by the names Microsoft Corporation, Google, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.As per a research report published by Transparency Market Research, the global connectivity constraint computing market holds a higher concentration of players in North America than other regions. Asia Pacific, which was the smaller market in 2015, is expected to show a meteoric growth rate due to its booming IT industry and increasing scope of application for connectivity constraint computing due to high rate of urbanization. The demand for connectivity constraint computing is also expected to be high in regions that are planning for ecosystem management and wildlife corridor planning. The MEA region is likely to gain momentum in infrastructural development, spurring the demand for CCC modeling. The global connectivity constraint computing market is expected to expand at a meteoric CAGR of 58.4% within a forecast period from 2016 to 2024. While its expected evaluation for the end of 2016 is expected to be US$177.8 mn, the phenomenal growth rate is expected to have the market reach US$7.03 bn by the end of 2024.Obtain Report Details @Elimination of Human Bias Attracts Several End Users to CCC ModelingThe use of artificial computing introduces the highly sought after concept of error elimination and bias protection for computing systems. Human operators, regardless of skill, are still prone to a certain minimal level of errors, especially in the massive data sets that are being crunched in modern times. The dynamic nature of data structures calls for the use of connectivity constraint computing and other artificial computing methods, that essentially, minimize or even negate the scope of error, as well as the overall time taken for the processes, through fast and iterative computing. This is becoming a highly crucial need for end users when faced with the staggering data volumes that need to be processed without any bias, which thus forms the key driver for the global connectivity constraint computing market, states a TMR analyst.Other factors promoting the growth of the global connectivity constraint computing market include the growing need for process automation in terms of improvement of quality in data accumulation and maintenance functions, and the growing need for CCC for spatial analysis using data rich and large scale frameworks.Data Accumulation Complications in CCC Need to be Resolved SoonOne of the key restrictions on the global connectivity constraint computing market currently, is the increasing complexity of computing due to the formation of high volume and multiple data sets. The CCC modeling techniques, while useful in solving several issues, itself required the use of multiple data sets. This can lead to the accumulation of data sets that are non-compatible and can seriously hinder the automation process. At the same time, the global connectivity constraint computing market is also hindered by the expensive nature of model implementation, as real time data crunching and CCC modeling is certainly a costly affair at the moment.Request a PDF Sample for this Research Report @While these issues are likely to be resolved over the coming years, players in the global connectivity constraint computing market can also look forward to gaining several opportunities in terms of constraint inclusions. The inclusion of proper constraint programming approaches can help resolve the issues visible in the use of this modeling in connected wildlife corridors. Additionally, the global connectivity constraint computing market is also expected to benefit vastly from the increasing scope of application of CCC in urban planning, adds the analyst.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Newborn Screening Market Forecast 2017-2024: Benefits Associated to Newborn Screening

"Newborn Screening Market" - Global Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024

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Global Newborn Screening Market accounted to USD 650.0 million in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 11.2% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.For Sample of the Report @Market Definition: Global Newborn Screening MarketNewborn Screening also called neonatal screening is a process of detection of some genetic, harmful, developmental or metabolic disorders that can lead to mental retardation or death. Newborn screening consists of a hearing screening, blood test, and screening for critical congenital heart defects they are performed to diagnose disorders such as newborn hearing loss, cystic fibrosis, critical congenital heart disease, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The screening is completed within few days of birth or before leaving the hospital.Request for TOC:Major market drivers and restraints: Global Newborn Screening Market Benefits Associated to Newborn Screening Government Support Technological Innovations Socio-Economic Barriers Lack of Professional InfrastructureBrowse Full Report @By technology the global newborn screening market is segmented into pulse oximetry, enzyme based assays, tandem mass spectrometry, DNA assays, and electrophoresis.On the basis of test type the global newborn screening market is segmented into dry blood spot test, hearing screen test, and critical congenital heart diseases test.On the basis of product type the global newborn screening market is segmented into newborn disorder screening instruments, newborn hearing screening instruments, pulse oximeters, reagents and assay kits.On the basis of disease the global newborn screening market is segmented into blood spot disease, hearing disability, sickle cells disease, critical congenital cardiac disease, thyroid disorder, and maple syrup disease.On the basis of end-users the global newborn screening market is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory care, and nursing homes.On the basis of geography, global newborn screening market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies such as North America & South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Some of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Brazil among others. In 2017, North America is expected to dominate the market.The global newborn screening market is highly fragmented and is based on new product launches and clinical results of products. Hence the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, clinical trials, market initiatives, high expense on research and development, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of newborn screening market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.Some of the major players operating in global newborn screening market are: Danaher GENERAL ELECTRIC Medtronic Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Agilent Technologies Masimo Natus Medical Incorporated WATERS PerkinElmer Inc. Fanem Ltda. Inspiration Healthcare Group plc Mathematics Training and Talent Search Programme National Oilwell Varco PLUSS Advanced Technologies BabyBloom Healthcare FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation ZenTech S.A. Trivitron Healthcare SCIEX Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. Koninklijke Philips N.V. OthersFor an Analyst Call:Related ReportGlobal Prefilled Syringes Market  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Prefilled Syringes Market  By usage (Disposable Prefilled Syringes, Reusable Prefilled Syringes), By Material (Glass, Plastic), Type (Conventional, Safety), Design (Dual chamber Prefilled Syringes, Singlechamber Prefilled Syringes, Customized), Therapeutics (Biologics, Vaccines, Biosimilars, Others), By Application (Anaphylaxis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Others)By Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.com
Global Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Solutions Market 2017 Key Players -Advanced Energy Industries Inc, AJA International Inc, Veeco Instruments, Angstrom Engineering, Applied Materials Inc,..

Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Solutions Market

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Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market 2017 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2022reports to its database.Executive SummaryThis report studies the global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions market, analyzes and researches the Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeAdvanced Energy Industries IncAJA International IncVeeco InstrumentsAngstrom EngineeringApplied Materials IncOerlikon Balzers Hartec GmbHDenton VacuumHauzer Techno CoatingImpact CoatingsJohnsen UltravacKurt J. Lesker CoPlasma QuestPlatit AGRichter PrecisionSulzer MetplasTokyo ElectronRequest Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions can be split intoPVD EquipmentPVD MaterialsPVD ServicesMarket segment by Application, Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions can be split intoMicroelectronicsStorageSolarMedical EquipmentCutting ToolsIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.For further information on this report, visit -Table of ContentsGlobal Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions1.1 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Overview1.1.1 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market by Type1.3.1 PVD Equipment1.3.2 PVD Materials1.3.3 PVD Services1.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Microelectronics1.4.2 Storage1.4.3 Solar1.4.4 Medical Equipment1.4.5 Cutting Tools2 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Advanced Energy Industries Inc3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 AJA International Inc3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Veeco Instruments3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Angstrom Engineering3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Applied Materials Inc3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Oerlikon Balzers Hartec GmbH3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Denton Vacuum3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Hauzer Techno Coating3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Impact Coatings3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Johnsen Ultravac3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Kurt J. Lesker Co3.12 Plasma Quest3.13 Platit AG3.14 Richter Precision3.15 Sulzer Metplas3.16 Tokyo Electron4 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions5 United States Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)7 Japan Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)8 China Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (2012-2017)8.2 China Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)9 India Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (2012-2017)9.2 India Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)10 Southeast Asia Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)11.1 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (Value) by Regions (2017-2022)11.1.1 United States Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.2 EU Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.3 Japan Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.4 China Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.5 India Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.6 Southeast Asia Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.2 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size (Value) by Type (2017-2022)11.3 Global Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Size by Application (2017-2022)12 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Dynamics12.1 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Opportunities12.2 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Physical Vapor Deposition Solutions Market Driving Force12.4.1 Growing Demand from Emerging Markets12.4.2 Potential Application13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs Trend/Customer Preference13.3 External Environmental Change13.3.1 Economic Fluctuations13.3.2 Other Risk Factors14 Research Finding/ConclusionContinuousBuy this Report @Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Global E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market to Register a Robust 24.2% CAGR from 2017 to 2025

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Presence of a copious number of large, medium, and small players makes the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket fragmented in nature. Some of the prominent participants in the market include Alibaba Group, Advance Auto Parts, Amazon.com, Inc., American Tire Distributors Holdings, Inc., U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc., Auto Zone, Inc, Denso Corporation, EBay Inc., Pep Boys, National Automotive Parts Association, and Tire Rack.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @According to a report by Transparency Market Research, the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket market was worth US$32.723 bn in 2016, and rising at a phenomenal CAGR of 24.2% during the period between 2017 and 2025, it is slated to reach a value of US$227.165 bn by the end of the forecast period.Presence of Many E-commerce Players Makes Asia Pacific Key RegionDepending upon the type of products, the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket market can be classified into interior accessories, exterior accessories, performance parts, wheels and tires, tools and garage, auto body parts, oil, and coolants and fluids, among others such as paints and custom modifications. The wheels and tires segment, among them, is slated to hold a dominant share of about 30.5% share in the market in 2017. In terms of growth rate, the oil and coolants and fluids segments are predicted to outpace all others in the next couple of years.Geographically, the key segments of the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket market are North America, South America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific, among them, is a key market on account of the presence of many big e-commerce players in the region, namely Amazon.com, Alibaba Group, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, and E-bay Inc. Further, initiatives such as Digital India and partnerships between e-commerce platform providers and brick and mortar stores is expected to propel the market further in the region. China is the leading market in the region with a substantial share.Do-it-yourself Customers Promote Market GrowthThe global e-commerce automotive aftermarket market is currently bolstered by the growing number of do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers, who assemble purchased parts themselves. Since, DIY customer can buy products without installation services, they mostly choose online platform to buy auto parts. This is serving to boost the e-commerce automotive aftermarket.Browse Market Research Report @Another prominent driver of growth in the e-commerce automotive aftermarket is e-commerce platform providers acting as service aggregators to provide quality and price assurance to the customers. Different requirements and product specifications in automotive aftermarket makes customers opt for big e-commerce platforms having products from multiple brands and multiple places. On account of this, service aggregator e-commerce platforms will continue to boost e-commerce automotive aftermarket, elaborates the lead analyst of the TMR report.Manufacturers Foraying into E-commerce Platforms Boost SalesAnother prominent growth driver in the e-commerce automotive aftermarket market is the foray of aftermarket manufacturers into e-commerce. Such B2C sales channels eliminate all the middlemen and the cost benefits resulting from it are ultimately passed on to customers. This serves to increase sales further.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Manned Security Services Market Overview, Demand, Size, Growth & Forecast 2023- Worldwide Analysis

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Manned Security Services MarketDescription:Reports Monitor Publish a New Market Research Report on  Global and Asia Manned Security Services Market Status and Future Forecast 2013-2023.This report offers an overview of the market trends, drivers, and barriers with respect to the Manned Security Services market. It also provides a detailed overview of the market of different regions across Global, Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia and Others. The report categorizes Manned Security Services market by Integration, By Service, and application.The report focuses on worldwide major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, applications and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out.Check sample report @Key CompaniesG4S, Securitas, Allied Universal, US Security Associates, SIS, TOPSGRUP, Beijing Baoan, OCS Group, ICTS Europe, Transguard, Andrews International, Control Risks, Covenant, China Security & Protection Group, Axis Security, DWSSMarket by TypeService, EquipmentMarket by ApplicationCommercial Buildings, Industrial Buildings, Residential BuildingsBrowse Detailed TOC, Tables, Figures, Charts and Companies Mentioned in Manned Security Services Market Research Report @Table of ContentsPart 1 Market Overview1.1 Market Definition1.2 Market Development1.3 Type1.4 Application1.5 RegionPart 2 Global Market Status and Future Forecast2.1 Global Market by Region2.2 Global Market by Company2.3 Global Market by Type2.4 Global Market by Application2.5 Global Market ForecastPart 3 Asia Market Status and Future Forecast3.1 Asia Market by Region3.2 Asia Market by Company3.3 Asia Market by Type3.4 Asia Market by Application3.5 Asia Market ForecastContinued...Make an Enquiry of report@Some important points from Global Manned Security Services Market Research Report:Part 1:Market Overview, Development, and Segment by Type, Application & RegionPart 2:Global Market by company, Type, Application & RegionPart 3:Asia Market by company, Type, Application & RegionPart 4-10:Key Regions of Asia Market by Type, ApplicationPart 11:Company information, Sales, Cost, Margin etc.Part 12:ConclusionIn a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.About usReports Monitor is a platform to meet the market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights.Contact usJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump Market 2017- Grundfos, Sulzer, Xylem, KSB, Ebara

Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump Market

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Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump Market" from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump industry, and estimates the future trend of Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportGrundfosSulzerXylemThe Weir GroupKSBEbaraWacker NeusonTsurumi PumpZoeller PumpsHonda Power EquipmentMersino DewateringNanfang Pump IndustryZhejiang EO PumpThe market research report explores the Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump Market". The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market globally.Enquire Before Buying @The global Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump production volume, data pertaining to demand and Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Non-Submersible Dewatering Pump across the world.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite -
Multi Cloud Storage Market by Key Players, Size, Status and Forecast 2022

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A new research study from HTF MI with title Global Multi Cloud Storage Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 provides an in-depth assessment of the Multi Cloud Storage including key market trends, upcoming technologies, industry drivers, challenges, regulatory policies, key players company profiles and strategies. The research study provides forecasts for Multi Cloud Storage investments till 2022.This study primarily helps understand which market segments or Region or Country they should focus in coming years to channelize their efforts and investments to maximize growth and profitability. These stakeholders include Multi Cloud Storage manufacturers such as IBM (US), SAP SE (Germany), Microsoft (US), Gosun Technology (China), Google (US), VMware (US) & EMC (US), etc.Primary sources are mainly industry experts from core and related industries, and manufacturers related to all segments of the industry supply chain. The bottom-up approach is being utilized to project the global market size of Multi Cloud Storage based on end-user industry and region, in terms of value. With the help of data triangulation procedure and validation of data through primary interviews and expert calls helps cover primary market, along with individual market share & sizes are determined and confirmed with this study.Get Access to sample pages @Global Multi Cloud Storage (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Public, Private & HybridMarket Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Public xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Private xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Hybrid xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%The research study is segmented by Application as well such as BFSI, Retail, Energy and Utility, Health Care and Life science, Government & Other with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Global Multi Cloud Storage Sales (Thousands Units) by Application (2017-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2017 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2017-2022)BFSI xx xx xx xx% xx%Retail xx xx xx xx% xx%Energy and Utility xx xx xx xx% xx%Health Care and Life science xx xx xx xx% xx%Government xx xx xx xx% xx%Other xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Key questions answered in this report - Global Multi Cloud Storage Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2022?What are the key factors driving the Global Multi Cloud Storage market?Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the Global Multi Cloud Storage market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Multi Cloud Storage market?What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Multi Cloud Storage market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Multi Cloud Storage market?Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions such as United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Global Multi Cloud Storage in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringMarket Segment by Regions 2012 2017 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2017-2022)United States xx xx xx xx% xx%EU xx xx xx xx% xx%Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%China xx xx xx xx% xx%India xx xx xx xx% xx%Southeast Asia xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%The report provides a basic overview of the Multi Cloud Storage industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and capital expenditures.Further it focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the Multi Cloud Storage industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.The study is organized with the help of primary and secondary data collection including valuable information from key vendors and participants in the industry. It includes historical data from 2012 to 2017 and projected forecasts till 2022 which makes the research study a valuable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry related data in readily accessible documents with easy to analyze visuals, graphs and tables. The report answers future development trend of Multi Cloud Storage on the basis of stating current situation of the industry in 2017 to assist manufacturers and investment organization to better analyze the development course of Multi Cloud Storage Market.Buy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Multi Cloud Storage market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Multi Cloud Storage , Applications of Multi Cloud Storage , Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Multi Cloud Storage , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia, Multi Cloud Storage Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Multi Cloud Storage Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Multi Cloud Storage ;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Public, Private & Hybrid], Market Trend by Application [BFSI, Retail, Energy and Utility, Health Care and Life science, Government & Other];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Multi Cloud Storage ;Chapter 12, to describe Multi Cloud Storage Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Multi Cloud Storage sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get customization & check discount for report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.Connect with us atHTF 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, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218
Cold Chain Logistics Market Analysis and 2025 Forecasts by Type, Temperature Type, Process, Technology, Application and Global Regions

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The Insight Partners has announced the addition of the Cold Chain Logistics Market to 2025  Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type (Temperature Controlled Warehouse and Temperature Controlled Vehicle); Temperature Type (Negative Temperature Cold Chain and Positive Temperature Cold Chain); Process (Pre-Cooling Facilities, Clod Storage, Refrigerated Carriers, Packaging, Warehousing and Information Management System); Technology (Dry Ice, Gel Packs, Eutectic Plates, Liquid Nitrogen and Quilts); and Application Food & Beverage, Bio-Pharmaceutical, Agriculture and Others) report to their offering.Cold chain logistics is defined as a process of transporting and storing products under certain temperature controlled conditions. Temperature controlled warehouses are used for the storage of products and for further delivery of products refrigerated vehicles are used. It is basically used for the transportation of fruits, vegetable, drugs and many other products. It helps in preserving the shelf life and quality of product.Request Sample is Available atGrowth in processed food sector and demand from pharmaceutical industry are the major drivers which help in surging the growth of cold chain logistics market whereas high operating cost and lack of infrastructure act as a restraining factor for this market. Increasing need for liquid nitrogen and temperature monitoring devices will add new opportunities for this market in the coming years.The Global Cold Chain Logistics Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the cold chain logistics industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global cold chain logistics market with detailed market segmentation by type, temperature type, process, technology, application and geography. The global cold chain logistics market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Inquire before Buying atThe report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global cold chain logistics market based on type, temperature type, process, technology and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall cold chain logistics market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM). The market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers analysis and forecast of 16 counties globally along with current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.Besides this, the report analyzes factors affecting market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors effecting the market in these regions.Also, key cold chain logistics market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years. Some of the key players influencing the market are Preferred Freezer Services., Americold Logistics, LLC , Burris Logistics., Cloverleaf Cold Storage Co., Inc., Kloosterboer Group B.V., Interstate Cold Storage, Inc., Lineage Logistics Holdings, LLC, Nichirei Logistics Group Inc., Swire Cold Storage Ltd., AGRO Merchants Group. and among others.Complete Report is Available atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market 2017 Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022

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The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Speech and Voice Recognition Technology industry market by types, applications, players and regions. This report also displays the production, Consumption, revenue, Gross margin, Cost, Gross, market share, CAGR, and Market influencing factors of the Speech and Voice Recognition Technology industry in USA, EU, China,India, Japan and other regions, and forecast to 2022, from 2017.Access Complete Report @Market Analysis by PlayersNuance Communications, Inc.Microsoft CorporationAlphabet Inc.Cantab Research LimitedSensory, Inc.ReadSpeaker Holding B.V.Pareteum CorporationIflytek Co., Ltd.VoiceVault Inc.VoiceBox Technologies Corp.LumenVox, LLCAcapela Group SABioTrustMarket Analysis by Regions:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOthersMarket Anaysis by Types:Dependent Speech RecognitionIndependent Speech RecognitionMultiplayer Speech RecognitionMarket Analysis by Applications:AutomotiveBanking, Financial Services, and InsuranceRetailEducationOthersRequest a Sample Report @Table of Content1 Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Overview1.1 Product Overview of Speech and Voice Recognition Technology1.2 Classification and Application of Speech and Voice Recognition Technology1.3 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Regional Analysis1.3.1 USA Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.2 Europe Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.3 Japan Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.4 China Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.5 India Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.6 Southeast Asia Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.7 South America Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.8 South Africa Market Present Situation Analysis1.4 Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Industry Development Factors Analysis1.4.1 Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Industry Development Opportunities Analysis1.4.2 Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Industry Development Challenges Analysis1.5 Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Consumer Behavior Analysis2 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Competition by Players2.1 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Players2.2 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2016-2017)2.3 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2016-2017)2.4 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Gross Margin by Players (2016-2017)3 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Competition by Types3.1 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Types3.2 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Type (2012-2017)3.3 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)3.4 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Gross Margin by Type (2012-2017)3.5 USA Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.6 China Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.7 Europe Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.8 Japan Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.9 India Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.10 Southeast Asia Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.11 South America Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.12 South Africa Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type4 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Competition by Application4.1 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.2 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Price (USD/Unit) by Application (2012-2017)4.4 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Gross Margin by Application (2012-2017)4.5 USA Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.6 China Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.7 Europe Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.8 Japan Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.9 India Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.10 Southeast Asia Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.11 South America Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.12 South Africa Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application5 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Production Market Analysis by Region5.1 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Production (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Region5.1.1 USA Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.2 Europe Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.3 China Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.4 Japan Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.5 India Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.6 Southeast Asia Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.7 South America Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.8 South Africa Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.2 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Production Value (Million USD) and Share by Region (2012-2017)5.3 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Price (USD/Unit) by Region (2012-2017)5.4 Global Speech and Voice Recognition Technology Gross Margin by Region (2012-2017)ContinuedPurchase Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Charter Tax becomes a Xero partner

Charter Tax

www.charter-tax.com

Kent and London accountancy firm becomes a Xero Partner Kent accounting firm is now a Xero partner Chairman proud to offer clients a cutting edge cloud accounting service Benefits include real-time figures and faster transactionsKent based Chartered Account, Charter Tax, has become an official Xero partner this month. The move represents a step forward for the firm in terms of its technological ability, and acknowledges the change in dynamic of the accounting industry.SMEs are increasingly turning to online accounting software in order to keep their books balanced. By becoming a Xero partner, Charter Tax is well placed to help such businesses with their financial matters and advise on real-time situations.Charter Tax chairman, Mark Howard, said, We are proud to have partnered with Xero to provide our clients with cutting edge cloud accounting solutions. The software can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection and keeps them up to date with the financial information they require to run their business.Key benefits of the Xero software include access to real-time cash flow information and faster reconciliation of bank transactions. It enables the experienced accountants at Charter Tax to view the same figures that their clients are seeing in real-time, helping them to provide more accurate advice and a more efficient service.Mr Howard added, The accounting landscape is changing and were excited to be a part of that. As a customer-focused business, were always looking at ways to improve our offering and ensure our clients have access to the best service.Charter Tax was established in 2009 by renowned tax expert, Janet Paterson, and Mike Cordwell, with Mark Howard joining the company in 2015. The firm has rapidly established itself as a niche player in the Tax Advisory and Private Client sectors with its can-do attitude and highly qualified team of professionals.From its offices in Central London and in Kent, Charter Tax offers a full range of accountancy services tailored to your individual needs. Discover more about Charter Tax atCharter Tax, Suite 1 Bedgebury Business Park, Forge Farm, Goudhurst, Kent, TN17 2QZ
Global Organic Soap Market Size, Industry Analysis & Forecast Report 20122022

Bharat Book

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According to Global Organic Soap Market By Product Type, By Bar Soap Type, By Liquid Soap Type, By Sales Channel, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 20122022, the global organic soap market is projected to cross $ 206 million by the end of 2022. Factors like growing disposable income, increasing concerns among people regarding the harmful chemicals such as parabens and sulphates in synthetic soaps, and rising demand for organic soaps in emerging markets such as China and India are expected to drive the global organic soap market through 2022. Pangea Organics, EO Products, Vi-Tae, Sundial Brands LLC, Neal's Yard (Natural Remedies) Limited, Laverana GmbH & Co. KG, Truly's Natural Products, Beach Organics, Nature's Gate, Erbaviva, The Honest Company, Inc., Lavanila Laboratories, Sensible Organics, Khadi Natural, and Forest Essentials are some of the major players in global market.Request a free sample copy of Organic Soap Market Report @Global Organic Soap Market By Product Type, By Bar Soap Type, By Liquid Soap Type, By Sales Channel, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 20122022 discusses the following aspects of organic soap market globally: Global Organic Soap Market Size, Share & Forecast Segmental Analysis  By Type (Organic Bar Soap and Organic Liquid Soap), By sales Channel (Retail Sales Channel and Institutional Sales Channel) and By Geography. Competitive Analysis Changing Market Trends & Emerging OpportunitiesWhy You Should Buy This Report? To gain an in-depth understanding of organic soap market in Egypt To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years To help industry consultants, organic soap manufacturers, distributors and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies To obtain research based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get the research data or trends added in the report as per the buyers specific needsReport MethodologyThe information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research. Primary research included interaction with organic soap manufacturers, distributors and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases.Browse our full report with Table of Contents :About Bharat Book Bureau:Bharat Book Bureau is the leading market research information provider for market research reports, company profiles, industry study, country reports, business reports, newsletters and online databases. Bharat Book Bureau provides over a million reports from more than 400 publishers around the globe. We cover sectors starting from Aeronautics to Zoology.Contact us at:Bharat Book BureauTel: +91 22 27810772 / 27810773Email: poonam@bharatbook.comWebsite:Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus
Vietnam up a staggering 81 places in this years World Bank Paying Taxes survey

This years report, Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs, shows Vietnam up 81 places in the reports Paying Taxes survey, and up 14 places in terms of overall rankings for Ease of Doing Business.Published annually since 2003, the World Bank Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 190 economies worldwide. Russell Bedford International member firms have assisted the World Bank in researching its annual Paying Taxes survey since 2009, contributing data on tax regulation, recent reforms, and the real costs of tax compliance worldwide.This years Paying Taxes survey shows Vietnam to be the reports second-best performer in terms of fiscal reforms (beaten only by El Salvador), with the authors attributing the countrys success (moving from 167th place last year to 86, inside the top 100 for the first time) to the abolition of a 12-month mandatory carry-forward period for VAT credit, and the introduction of an online platform for filing social security contributions.More broadly, this years report shows no change on last years top-performing countries, with New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark again taking the top three slots. The reports Paying Taxes survey this year shows some remarkable improvements in individual countries regulatory regimes and again confirming greatest progress among emerging markets, with El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Angola and India showing exponential improvements, up 105, 60, 54 and 53 places, respectively. Italy shows the best performance of OECD high income economies, moving from 126 to 112, while the United Kingdom, conversely, shows its worst performance in recent years, down 13 places from 10 to 23.Linh Thuy Do, Russell Bedford KTC, Hanoi, commented: The countrys performance in this years Paying Taxes survey is outstanding. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Businesses in Vietnam are spending an average 498 hours a year on their tax compliance: in OECD countries this is only 160. We will continue to work with government agencies and regulators to introduce the further fiscal and other reforms necessary to make Vietnam genuinely competitive in todays global marketplace.Ranked as one of the world's top accounting networks*, Russell Bedford is represented by some 700 partners, 5000 staff and 300 offices in almost 100 countries in Europe, the Americas, Middle East, Africa, Indian Sub-Continent and Asia-Pacific.Russell Bedford International3rd Floor, Paternoster House65 St Paul's ChurchyardLondonEC4M 8ABUnited Kingdom
Tino Geiss: SPUR

Tino Geiss: Stripe #3, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45 cm

GALERIE SUPPER, Baden-Baden is pleased to announce its first solo presentation of works by Tino Geiss (*1978, Jena).An exhibition, set up like a tracking of traces. Two recent groups of works engage in dialogue, completing and contradicting each other. Colorful interiors are reminiscent of painting's emancipation from the authority of illusionistic dipiction. Dynamic tension, abstracted perspektives, and overdrawn or inverted colors refer to multiple art historian ancestors like the Fauves, the Expressionists, and the Cubists. But Tino Geiss goes one step further by not only putting in question formal criteria, but also materiality. He creates his interiors, bouquets, and everyday objects by means of masking tape, which bears traces of paint. Usually constructed as living or working spaces, Geiss' rooms seem enlivened while being devoid of people. The invisble human presence is only indicated by its traces; shifted chairs, tables, piles of paper, a white canvas.On the other hand: a small selection form the series "Stripes". Proudly, they float before white backgrounds. Being a collector, Geiss keeps and archives single strips of his colored masking tape in order to translate a few of them into the medium of painting.In his "Grammatology", the French philosopher Jacques Derrida questions the fact whether a trace is actually produced by an origin, or if the idea of the origin rather comes into mind through the existence of the trace in the first place. The way Tino Geiss confuses materialities, points out how illusion and abstraction constitute each other rather than being competitors. The question of origin and temporailty of the process gives way to an ever circling asthetic of the trace.Tino Geiss (b.1978, Jena) lives and works in Leipzig. He studied painting at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig and at the Royal Academy of Arts in London before he graduated as Meisterschuler of Neo Rauch. His work has been presented in numerous solo and group shows. He was awarded an artist residency at the German Academy Rome at Casa Baldi, Italy in 2012.Showroom:Christian Awe, Candida Hofer, Rayk Goetze, Christian Herzig, Andreas Lau, Mike MacKeldey, Hide Nasu, Thomas Ruff, Monika Thiele, Patricia Thoma, Martin Wuhler.Opening:Saturday, 9 December 2017, 6 - 9 pmDuration:10 December 2017 - 4 March 2018Opening Hours: Wed - Fre noon - 6 pm; Sat - Sun noon - 4 pmThe GALERIE Supper is specialized in contemporary art. Founded in 2002 it opened in Baden-Baden in 2012 with its current profile. The gallery promotes young, emerging artists with an unique signature. It is the intention to correlate them with renowned artists. Their positions should complement and stimulate each other, whereas every artist keeps his own characteristics.GALERIE SUPPERKreuzstrae 376530 Baden-BadenGERMANYPress Contact:Dirk SupperPhone : +49 - 72 21 - 37 30 450Fax: +49 - 72 21 - 37 30 451E-mail: presse@galerie-supper.de
Gabbar Buying launched new concept of buying together

http://www.gabbarbuying.com

People usually do not go to wholesale market for their day to day purchase. Their daily/weekly purchase may be grocery, vegetables, fruits, and other items. Since purchase is in very small quantity 1 Kg/ltr or 2 Kgs/ltrs or one piece or two pieces. They buy it from the neighborhood store. And also wholesale stores are at far away distance.Gabbar Buying has come up with the unique new concept of buying together which is a winwin situation for both buyer and seller. You get the needed products at the wholesale price (quantity does not matter) and cash on delivery basis. You save on travel time, time and energy for searching the wholesale shop, traffic tension etc. Anyone can join Gabbar Buying by filling the application form available online and offline.Gabbar Buying has developed a platform for easy buying. Various categories and branded products are as followsMobiles: (Gionee, Oppo, Vivo, Samsung, Lenovo, Apple, Asus, Micromax etc)Laptops and Cameras: (Desktops like HP and Lenovo. Laptops like HP, Dell, and Lenovo. Cameras like Nikon, Canon)Electronics: (Televisions like Sony, LG, and Samsung. Refrigerators like LG, Whirlpool, Samsung, and Godrej. Washing machine like BOSCH, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool. Air Conditioners like LG, Blue Star, Samsung, and Godrej. Home Appliance like Fans, Irons and Air Coolers)Automobiles: (Two wheelers like Hero, Bajaj, Mahindra, Yamaha, Honda, TVS, Harley Davidson, Suzuki, Royal Enfield. Four Wheeler like Maruti, Mahindra, Hyundai, Honda)Beauty and Health: (Beauty Skincare like face wash, face cream and body lotion, face powder. Oral care like toothpaste, mouthwash, toothbrush, deos and perfumes, tea, coffee, biscuits, noodles. Health monitoring device. Patanjali care, etc.)There are some more categories like home and kitchen appliances, fashion, and property.There are two types of memberships1. Customer and buyer memberIt is free and valid for five years from the date of registration. The member will be eligible to utilize free intermediate portal, free facilities and free services. For buying products and items limited to categories as displayed on home page. Members can save money even if they buy a small quantity. It is a monthly buying system. One can also go for wholesale buying at factory price.2. Business memberBusiness membership is free and valid for ten years from the date of registration. They will have all the advantages of customer and buyer member given above. In addition to it, he will have the facility to do business through Business Members Web store/Shops. They will be allowed daily buying, weekly and monthly buying. In short buy single product at wholesale price.Gabbar Buying is an e-commerce marketplace. Where people sell/buy goods which are of daily need. Gabbar Buying is also an excellent platform for people who wish to buy a small quantity of product at reasonably discounted rates. That is a retail buy at wholesale rates. It also offers unique concept whereby a person can have his own webstore under its business membership that is earning and saving.Gabbar Buying has a dedicated, talented and well-trained staff. This platform is also available to persons who wish to do business with the small amount of capital. Who would like to explore huge market of buyers of their product? Both functions like earnings profits and savings go hand in hand at Gabbar BuyingCompany Name: Gabbar BuyingAddress: Shop No 20, Dixit Pride, Ground Floor, Near Taiyabali Petrol Pump, Jabalpur-482001 MP, IndiaPhone: 0761-2625792Email: gabbarbuying@gmail.comWebsite:
Recent Survey on UK Household Insurance: Distribution and Marketing 2017 | Researchmoz

UK Household Insurance: Distribution and Marketing 2017

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https://www.researchmoz.us/uk-household-insurance-distribution-and-marketing-2017-report.html/toc

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "UK Household Insurance: Distribution and Marketing 2017" to its huge collection of research reports."UK Household Insurance: Distribution and Marketing 2017", report explores consumer purchasing behavior and how consumer preferences are changing over time for contents, buildings, and combined cover. It highlights what is most influential to customers when purchasing a policy and also reveals the most popular providers in the market. New trends and innovations are highlighted, as well as the key factors that will influence the household insurance market over the next few years.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Purchasing direct from the provider remains the most utilized channel, but the continued use of online purchasing methods has enabled the growth of price comparison websites for purchasing. The use of smartphones and tablets as a method to purchase household insurance is increasing, yet as this is still in its infancy there will be opportunities for all providers to exploit and increase their market share. The top 10 providers across all three types of household insurance (contents, buildings, and combined) have been challenged by new entrants, indicating a high degree of competition within the market.Scope- Banks have lost market share across all three household products.- Purchasing household insurance using a PC has become more common.- 41% of customers who visit a price comparison website prior to purchasing follow through and use this as their purchasing method.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Reasons to buy- Understand consumer purchasing decisions and how these will influence the market over the next few years.- Improve customer engagement by recognizing what is most important to them and how to adapt products and services to meet their needs.- Discover which providers lead the way in the household insurance space and how providers are revolutionizing the market through new innovations.- Adapt your distribution strategy to ensure it still meets customer purchasing behaviors.Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
By PTI: charge

By Aditi Khanna

London, Nov 26 (PTI) The two men who had voluntarily handed themselves in at a police station over an "altercation" that triggered a lockdown in the heart of Londons shopping district of Oxford Circus were today released without any charge.

The British Transport Police (BTP) said the men, aged 21 and 40, had been questioned over what was initially feared as a terrorist attack on Friday evening but will face no criminal proceedings.

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"There are no criminal proceedings against them. They have not been arrested or charged," a BTP spokesperson said.

The incident, believed to have involved an altercation between the two men on the platform of Oxford Circus underground train station, caused widespread panic as people rushed out of the station amid rumours of shots being fired.

Sixteen people were injured, including one with serious leg injuries, in the chaos.

Armed officers from the Metropolitan Police along with BTP officers had rushed to the scene after numerous emergency calls to the 999 number from members of the public, many of whom reported hearing gunshots.

People were told to seek refuge in nearby buildings and shoppers were barricaded inside stores on Oxford Street as armed police officers were deployed.

"Given the nature of the information received, the Met responded in line with our existing operation as if the incident was terrorism, including the deployment of armed officers," the Met Police had said.

Following a thorough search of the area, the police reported no casualties, evidence of any shots fired or any suspects. The heightened armed presence was "stood down" within 90 minutes.

Britains terror threat level is set at severe, which means an attack is highly likely and security forces are trained to treat any reports of feared attacks as terrorist incidents.

Officers are still trawling through CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses in an attempt to establish a picture of exactly what happened on Friday, but no further suspects are being sought. PTI AK KIS

--- ENDS ---
Compressor Rental Market research Report showing Compound annual growth rate and forecast till 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=665

Global Compressor Rental Market: SnapshotOn the back of urbanization and industrialization, the market for compressor rentals has been advancing steadily. In the years ahead too, it is slated to hold on to the pace of growth owing to improvement in their designs and technologies that is making them more efficient. Depending upon their design and function, compressors can be broadly segmented into two  centrifugal compressors and positive displacement compressors.Compressors can also be portable and hence can be used in domestic and industrial activities. This unique perceived benefit is also helping their rental market to grow.Air compressors rental market, on the flipside, is hobbled by the steep cost of maintenance and contamination they cause of the surrounding air on account of the oil lubrication. They also cause noise pollution and this has been further crimping their uptake. Helping to overcome the challenge, however, is the emergence of oil-free compressors which are seeing swift uptake due to their positive impact on the environment.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Currently, the construction sector accounts for maximum demand in the market for compressor rentals on account of their requirement in piling, blasting, spraying, and operating pneumatic tools require. Portable air compressors, particularly, are seeing quick adoption for carrying out the tasks.Caterpillar Inc., United Rentals, Inc., Atlas Copco, Ingersoll Rand, and Aggreko plc. are to name a few prominent players in the global market for compressor rentals. Currently these companies are expending money on research and development to come up with cutting-edge products that would consume less energy and be more effective.Global Compressor Rental Market: OverviewCompressors are devices that convert mechanical energy into pneumatic energy by using compressed air and gas. As this compressed air or gas is released, a considerable amount of energy is trapped, so as to utilize it for a variety of purposes, such as air transfer, cleaning, and pneumatic device activation. As the rate of urbanization and industrial activities increases, the market for compressor rentals will advance rapidly.The report provides key information about the market trends, opportunities, growth drivers and challenges, along with aspects such as market size, supply and demand ratio, and detailed market segmentation. The leading market players are analyzed in terms of their market shares, product portfolios, and business strategies.Request TOC of the Report @Global Compressor Rental Market: Drivers and RestraintsWith the development of designs of compressors, more efficiency has been attained so as to meet the demands of various end-users. Some of the compressors being portable, are extensively used in industrial and domestic activities, benefitting the growth of the global compressor rentals market. Technological advancement in the field of compressors is expected to boost the adoption rate of compressors. One example is that of air compressors. Traditional air compressors are run at full speed, and have to be stopped when they reach the right pressure. Then, the compressed air is stored to allow pressure hysteresis. As this is a wasteful practice, technological upgrades in air compressors have been carried out to control speed, thereby saving energy, and contributing toward market growth. Air compressors facilitate transfer of air in several industries such as chemical plants, oil extraction, food and beverage, automobiles, and transport. This is expected to expand the global market for compressor rentals.On the other hand, factors such as high maintenance costs and the contamination of air caused by oil lubrication are expected to limit growth. Also, oil-free compressors can be noisy, and thus can restrict demand for them.Global Compressor Rental Market: Key SegmentsThe market can be segmented based on end user, technology, types, and geography. On the basis of their design and function, compressors can be divided into centrifugal compressors and positive displacement compressors. In terms of end user, the market for compressor rentals was dominated by the construction segment. The construction segment gained prominence because the execution of construction and building activities such as blasting, piling, spraying, and operating pneumatic tools require portable air compressors.Oil-free air compressors have been growing popular recently as they supply non-contaminated air. The portable air compressors, on account of the convenience they offer, are high in demand in off-site operations. The key end-user segments for air compressors can be industrial, commercial, and residential. Industrial air compressors are similar to commercial air compressors; only they are more powerful and bigger in size and volume. Commercial level air compressors are not very portable when compared to residential ones, but they are certainly more powerful. They can run for a long time without a refill. On the residential level, air compressors are used to spray paint, fill air in balloons, balls, and tires. These functions are generally conducted with electric air compressors, which are ideal for domestic purposes. As the demand for air compressors in all these sectors increases, the compressor rental market is slated to present significant opportunities.Get Discount @Global Compressor Rental Market: Regional OutlookAccording to geography, the key segments can be Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America, Europe, and EMEA. The region of Asia Pacific has been exhibiting substantial growth, thanks to the presence of a number of capital-intensive companies that are inclined towards renting compressors instead of buying them. Large- scale construction projects in the countries of Asia Pacific, such as China, Thailand, and India, will further fuel market growth.Global Compressor Rental Market: Vendor LandscapeSome of the key players operating in the global compressor rental market include Caterpillar Inc., Ingersoll Rand, Atlas Copco, Aggreko plc, and United Rentals, Inc. One key development in the competitive landscape is the launch of new GA VSD+ oil-injected, compact, rotary screw compressors by Atlas Copco in 2013. These air compressors are designed to cut energy consumption to half the amount required by traditional compressors of similar type. The leading companies in the global compressor rental market have been emphasizing on better product offerings through increased investments in R&D activities.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Spain Fraud Detection and Prevention and Anti-Money Laundering Market Analysis 2017

Spain Fraud Detection and Prevention and Anti-Money Laundering Market

https://www.progressivemarkets.com/industry-research/spain-fraud-detection-and-prevention-and-anti-money-laundering-market

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Spain Fraud Detection and Prevention and Anti-money Laundering Market is projected to register a CAGR of 16.3% during the forecast period, 2017 to 2025. The report, titled "Spain Fraud Detection and Prevention and Anti-Money Laundering Market- Size, Trend, Share, Opportunity Analysis & Forecast, 20152025", provides deep insights on the market size and share and highlights the drivers, restraints, and opportunities available in the market. The data presented in the report is acquired from extensive research of the market by expert analysts.Visit:The exponential increase in the number of frauds committed that have led to huge monetary and data losses, as well as breach of security, has fueled the need for fraud detection and prevention systems. Fraudulent attempts include credit card frauds, credit card fraud, identity theft, internet sales, check frauds, and others. Another alarming issue is the rise in money laundering observed across the globe, one of the methods used to conceal funds or the source of money or assets that are obtained from illegal activities. Several methods are used to launder criminally obtained funds and property, among which setting up shell companies is one of the most commonly used techniques by organizations.Advancements in technology have led to the development of analytical solutions aimed at minimizing the number of fraudulent attempts. Fraud detection and prevention systems built on data analytics detect frauds at the initial stage itself and take measures to prevent financial losses and damage to the organizations' reputation. Owing to the industrial expansion in the rise in the number of frauds in the region, North America dominated the fraud detection and prevention systems market in 2015.Do Inquiry for Sample report:Drivers & Restraints:Several factors are responsible for Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering industry's overall growth and development. The rapid growth of the market can be attributed to the emergence of big data analytics and the growing demand for cloud-based security solutions. The rapid increase in mobile banking is also expected to drive the market's growth since it is extremely vulnerable to frauds and demands highly-secured networks and connections. However, the high cost associated with the implementation of fraud detection and prevention solutions impedes the growth of the market.Spain Fraud Detection and Prevention and Anti-Money Laundering Market Key Segments:Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market is analyzed based on five market segments- solution type, services, deployment type, end-user, and industry vertical. The types of solutions offered in the market include fraud analytics and authentication whereas the services comprise of professional and managed services. Based on the model of deployment, the market is divided into cloud and on-premises. The applications are deployed in small & medium enterprises (SME), as well as large enterprises. Based on the industry vertical, the sectors analyzed in Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering industry report are retail, real estate, BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, and others. The report includes Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market forecast of each of the aforesaid segments.Key Players:The leading players in Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market include SAS Institute Inc., NCR Limited, Fair Isaac Corporation, ACI Worldwide, ThreatMetrix, SAP SE, BAE Systems, IBM Corporation, Lavastorm, and Oracle Corporation. The report includes the company overview, financials and business segments, and the recent developments made by the key players in Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market.The information presented enables the market players to make informed decisions by gauging the competitive scenario of the market and investing in lucrative market segments across the regions, which in turn leads to the growth of Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market size.Key Benefits of the Report:The report presents a detailed analysis of the key market factors that play a vital role in the progress or failure of Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market. Porter's Five Forces Model analyzes the impact on the dynamics of the market caused by five major market factors such as bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, the threat of new entrants and substitute products, and the intensity of competitive rivalry among the leading players in the market.Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market highlights the current and emerging trends and identify the prevailing opportunities in the industry. The report also offers Spain fraud detection and prevention and anti-money laundering market forecast of each market segment, based on the trends observed in the past.Ask for discount on full report:About ProgressiveThe company makes use of primary corporate research and secondary inputs from trusted sources to build its own reference base. It maintains consistency in quality as it keeps itself updated with changes in market dynamics and gauging its net effect on global business trends.Reach UsMr. Shriram Dighe4th Floor, Unit 12, Marisoft III,West Wing, Marigold IT Park,Kalyani Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411014,India: +91 20 66346040Toll Free: + 1-888-906-9222help@progressivemarkets.com
Food Certification Market - Effective Workflow & Global Analysis 2025

Food Certification Market

https://www.progressivemarkets.com/industry-research/food-certification-market

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https://www.progressivemarkets.com/get-discount/food-certification-market

https://www.progressivemarkets.com

The Global Food Certification Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period, 2017-2025. The report, titled "Global Food Certification Market- Size, Trend, Share, Opportunity Analysis, and Forecast, 2014-2025", presents a comprehensive overview of the top impacting factors and market trends in the global food certification industry. Vital statistics, tables, and figures included in the report add credibility to the information provided.Visit:The rise in the number of food-borne diseases has led to a rise in demand for food certification. The rapid growth in the cases of food contamination observed across the globe have compelled manufacturers to get quality certifications for their food products and ensure that their offerings meet the prescribed standards. Food certification involves third-party verification which certifies that the complete supply chain, including the process, products, and the manufacturing facility, adheres to the food safety standards.Drivers & Restraints:The food certification industry report presents in-depth information about the drivers and restraints of the. The busy and modern lifestyle, owing to the rapid urbanization, has led to a shift in the preferences of consumers towards convenience and packaged food materials. The rise in the consumption of ready-to-eat packaged food products has fueled the need for strict quality checks. Regulatory bodies and the governmental authorities impose stringent regulations on food products to ensure the distribution of products that comply with the safety standards, thus driving the growth of the food certification industry.Do Inquiry for Sample report:Moreover, the growing health concerns among the consumers and a rise in food adulteration practices have fueled the need for food certification. Owing to the growth in awareness regarding the quality standards and certifications, it is mandatory for manufacturers and suppliers to comply with the prescribed standards, thus propelling the growth of the food certification market. However, the lack of resources and necessary infrastructure in the developing countries is anticipated to hinder the growth of the market.Food Certification Market Key Segments:The food certification market is analyzed based on the type, application, and the geography. By type, the market is further bifurcated into International Safe Quality Food (SQF), International Food Standard (IFS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), British Retail Consortium (BRC), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Kosher Certification, International Organization for Standardization (ISO 22000), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Halal Certification, and others including International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), Hygiene Modified Approval Scheme, and American Heart Association (AHA). Based on the application, the sub-segments analyzed include beverages, processed meat, infant food, dairy products, bakery & confectionery, seafood, organic food, and others such as functional and convenience food products. The food certification industry survey analyzes the potential of the food certification market across the regions of Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, and LAMEA. Food certification market share analysis is provided for each of the aforesaid segments.Key Players:The leading players profiled in the report, contributing to the growth of the food certification market size include Lloyd's Register Group Limited, TUV SUD AG, ALS Limited, Asurequality Ltd., Intertek Group plc., Dekra SE, SGS SA, UL LLC., DNV GL, and Bureau Veritas. Mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships between the key players propel the growth of the market. The information included in the report, such as the company overview, financials, and business segments, and the recent developments made by them in the food certification market, enable the new entrants and market players to make informed decisions and capitalize on the most lucrative investment options.Ask for discount on full report:Key Benefits of the Report:Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the food certification market included in the report identifies the prevailing opportunities in terms of growth and profitability and highlights the market trends. The food certification market forecast is based on the analysis of the current market trends and future market potential for the period 2014-2025. Competitive intelligence assists in gauging the competitive scenario of the food certification market across the geographies.The information about the leading organizations and the key winning strategies adopted by them assist the entry-level market players and potential stakeholders in formulating strategic business moves to set a strong foothold in the market. Porter's Five Forces Model analyzes the five major factors that influence the competition within the industry and determines the attractiveness of the market.About ProgressiveThe company makes use of primary corporate research and secondary inputs from trusted sources to build its own reference base. It maintains consistency in quality as it keeps itself updated with changes in market dynamics and gauging its net effect on global business trends.Reach UsMr. Shriram Dighe4th Floor, Unit 12, Marisoft III,West Wing, Marigold IT Park,Kalyani Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411014,India: +91 20 66346040Toll Free: + 1-888-906-9222help@progressivemarkets.com
Acrylic Acid market will cross USD 18,315 Million by 2022

acrylic acid market

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/acrylic-acid-market-2571

Market HighlightsAcrylic acid, a specialty petrochemical which has formula CH2=CHOOH and CAS (Chemical Abstracts Services) Number 79-10-7. It is produced from propylene which is a byproduct of ethylene and gasoline production. Properties of acrylic acid includes colorless liquid, adaptable to low temperature, good weather ability, acidic odor easily miscible with water, alcohols, ethers, and chloroform. Owing to such properties the use is diverse in number of applications, namely surface coatings, sealants & adhesive, agriculture, plastic sheets, diapers and othersWater based adhesives are typically composed of adhesive polymers and acrylic monomers. Monomers commonly used in water based adhesives are butyl acrylates, 2-ethyexyl acrylate, methacrylate acrylic acid and many others. Water-based adhesives are projected to hold a share of around 42% of the countrys adhesives market by the end of 2019. With upcoming infrastructural projects such as railway tracks, metro rails as well as new wind energy farms, the country is set to witness a strong growth in the adhesives industry over the next five years. Also, automotive adhesives are expected to witness growth as the demand for light weighting and composite joining adhesives from automobile manufacturers continuing to increase.Access our Sample Report @Regional AnalysisAs per MRFR analysis Asia Pacific dominated the global acrylic acid market and has accounted for the largest share of the market in 2014. Asia Pacific market is followed by Europe and North America. Moreover, Asia Pacific acrylic acid market will witness growth above average with respect to demand of the same throughout the forecast period driven by strong growth in China and India due to the growing construction and building industry.In terms of volume, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific are expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period. Availability of cheap labor, favorable weather conditions and governmental support are some of the factors driving the emulsion polymers market in these regions. Latin America, Europe and North America are also expected to experience significant growth of emulsion polymer market in near future.Scope of the studyThe scope of the study categorizes the acrylic acid market as type, and application.By TypeMethyl AcrylateEthyl AcrylateButyl Acrylate2-Ethylhexyl AcrylatElastomersSuperabsorbent PolymersWater Treatment PolymersBy ApplicationAdhesivesDiaperPaper coatingPaint industryCement modifiersOthersFor Discount and Inquiry @Key PlayerThe key players of Acrylic acid market report includes, BASF, The Dow Chemical Company, Arkema, NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD., LG chemicals., Shenyang Chemical Co Ltd's., and Mitsubishi Chemical.Table of Content1 REPORT EXCERPTS2 MARKET DEFINITION3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY4 FORECAST INDICATORS5 MARKET ANALYSIS6 U.S.& GLOBAL PAINTS AND COATING, MARKET VALUE & VOLUME FORECAST (2011-2024) (USD $MILLION)7 PAINTS AND COATING, BY PRODUCT MARKET VALUE & VOLUME FORECAST (2011-2024) (USD $MILLION)8 MEDICAL VENTILATOR, BY REGION MARKET VALUE & VOLUME FORECAST (2011-2024) (USD $MILLION)9 COMPANY LANDSCAPE10 COMPANY PROFILE11 MRFR CONSLUSION12 APPENDIXAccess Full Report @MRFR team have the prime objective to provide optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies depending on products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments enables our clients to know more consequently do more, which gives them answer for their each and every important question. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry,Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028 Maharashtra, India
World Tobacco Exhibition 2017 Dubai

www.technotrans.com

Technotrans introduces profitable technology to tobacco industryDo you know how to save up to 5% of your tobacco? A question often raised by technotrans Middle Easts Managing Director Niels Siegel when asked by managers of the tobacco industry for economical and reliable techniques.An optimized climate is a simple but striking way to become economic. Niels SiegelN. Siegel knows what he is talking about. technotrans introduced already successfully the Merlin humidifying solutions to the Middle East.Well-known manufacturers in the region became satisfied customers and pace out their competition. Saving 5% continuously and yielding a ROI after few months already are powerful arguments for a cooperation.The Middle East spin-off of the international experienced German parents company convinced by a strong performance of their micro drop high pressure humidifying solution for instance. With this system technotrans provides a constant humidity level and ensures the perfect moisture level.The technology prevents leaf shrinkage as a result of a dry climate. The results are approx. 5% less tobacco to fill the cigarettes and no loss of flavour.Learn more direct from the experts.At the World Tobacco exhibition at Dubai World Trade Center Hall SS1 & SS2 (Stand No. A48/SS1). 5th and 6th of December 2017.Technotrans Middle East is the leading system supplier worldwide. Technotrans equip the printing presses and tobacco industry of major manufacturers directly at the factory and are a competent partner of printing companies all over the world. For many years technotrans has expanded into new fields of application within its core competence of cooling, temperature control, filtration, as well as measuring and mixing technology. The strategy is a commitment to sustainable development.technotrans Middle East FZ LLCCircular Building - Block DInternational Media Production Zone (IMPZ)Second Floor - Office S08P.O. Box: 485010Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel: + 971 4 448 4225Website:
Global Packaging Labelling Services Market to Surge at a CAGR of 5.3% During Forecast Period

MRRSE

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https://www.mrrse.com/packaging-labeling-services-market

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been serving as an active source to cater intelligent research report to enlighten both readers and investors. This research study titled Packaging and Labeling (Healthcare) Services MarketGet Free Sample Report @This report on packaging and labeling (health care) services market studies the current as well as future prospects of the market globally. The stakeholders of this report include companies and intermediaries engaged in the manufacture, commercialization, providing services of packaging and labeling such as blister packaging of tablets and capsules, etc. as well as new entrants planning to enter this market. This report comprises an elaborate executive summary along with a market snapshot providing overall information of various segments and sub-segments considered in the scope of the study. This section also provides the overall information and data analysis of the global packaging and labeling (health care) services market with respect to the leading market segments based on major packaging products, packaged products and geographies.The global packaging and labeling (health care) services market has been studied based on major packaging product segments, packaged products segments, and their regional as well as national markets. Based on packaging type, the global market has been categorized into two major segments: primary packaging (blisters, bottles, pouches, tubes, others) and secondary packaging (labeling and cartoning). Based on packaged product type, the global market has been categorized into four major segments: solid dosage forms, semi-solid dosage forms, liquid dosage forms and medical devices. The market for these segments has been extensively analyzed based on their utility, effectiveness, sales, and geographic presence. Market revenue in terms of US$ Mn for the period from 2013 to 2023 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2015 to 2023 are provided for all segments, considering 2014 as the base year.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The market overview section of the report explores the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that currently have a strong impact on the packaging and labeling (health care) services market and could influence the market in the near future. Market attractiveness analysis has been provided in the market overview section in order to explain the intensity of competition in the market across different geographies. The competitive scenario among different market players is evaluated through market share analysis in the competitive landscape section of the report. All these factors would help market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their shares in the global market.Geographically, the packaging and labeling (health care) services market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and rest of the world (RoW). Each regional market for packaging and labeling (health care) services has been further categorized into major national markets such as the U.S, Canada, Germany, the U.K., Japan, China, and Brazil. Market revenue in terms of US$ Mn for the period from 2013 to 2023 along with CAGR % from 2015 to 2023 are provided for all the regions and nations considering 2014 as the base year.The recommendations section included in the report would assist existing market players in expanding their market shares, and new companies in establishing their presence in the global market. The report also profiles key players operating in the packaging and labeling (health care) services market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments. Major players profiled in this report include 3M Company, Amcor Limited, Bemis Company, Inc., CCL Industries, Inc., E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Gerresheimer AG, Owens-Illinois, Inc., Schott AG, Sonoco Products Company, and WestRock Company.Send an Enquiry @About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Ear Infection Treatment Market 2017: Key Players  Medtronic American Diagnostic Corporation, Pfizer plc., Heine USA Ltd., Welch Allyn and More

Ear Infection Treatment Market

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/ear-infection-treatment-market-4563

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The Worldwide Ear Infection Treatment Market inquire about report is developing with the quick pace; chiefly due the prospering Healthcare Sector. As per a current report distributed by the Market Research Future, The World Ear Infection Treatment Industry Research report is blasting and anticipated that would pick up unmistakable quality over the conjecture time frame. The Market is anticipated to exhibit a colossal development by 2023, outperforming its past development records as far as esteem and volume. The global Ear Infection Treatment market is expected to reach USD 22.3 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 6.6 % during the forecast period 2017-2023.Market Research Future published new report, titled Ear Infection Treatment Market -Research Report: Global Forecast till 2023.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Some of the Key Players profiled in the report are American Diagnostic Corporation, Pfizer plc., Heine USA Ltd., , Welch Allyn, TorquePharma, Medtronic, Intersect ENT, Inc., Olympus Corporation, Grace Medical, American Diagnostic Corporation and others.Market Highlights:An ear infection is invasion of the ear tissue by bacteria or virus causing pain, inflammation and fluid build-up in the ear. Most ear infections are acute affecting for a short duration but chronic ear infections can cause permanent damage to the middle and inner ear.Infants younger than 6 months have higher chances of infection accompanied by a fever higher than 102F and severe ear pain. According to the healthline, middle ear infections occur in 80 % of children by the time they reach age three. Swimmers ear is a common outer ear infection affecting approximately 0.4 million healthcare visits annually in the United States.The developments in the surgery segment, such as minimal invasive laparoscopy surgery, is driving the global ear infection treatment market. The drug segment is, however, suffering from market fragmentation, which has put pressure on the price margins. The loss of patents and the rise of counterfeited drugs has also restricted the market growth. The other market constrains are high cost of surgery and complications of the surgery. Market development represents the best strategy for the market growth. The market is expected to witness exponential growth over the review period owing to minimal invasive surgical procedures.Product development represents the best strategy for dominating the market as surgery is the definitive treatment for high ear infection treatment market. The advent of minimally invasive treatment and diagnostic techniques such as computed tomography has changed the market landscape to a large extent. Miniaturization of surgical instruments and development of minimal invasive treatment such as robotic laparoscopy is expected to drive the future market in the developed regions of North America and Europe. Cost of the product will be a decisive factor in the developing regions such as Asia Pacific and especially Africa. The growing demand for better and minimally invasive surgical procedures is the greatest unmet need of the market.Market Segments:The global Ear Infection Treatment Market has been segmented on the basis of type, pathogen diagnosis, treatment, and end user.Based on the type, the market has been segmented as outer ear, middle ear, inner ear.Based on the pathogen, the market has been segmented as bacteria, virus and others.Based on the diagnosis, the market has been segmented as hearing test, microbial test, otoscopy and tympanometry, Computerized Tomography (CT), other.Based on the treatment, the market has been segmented as surgery, drugs, and others.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as hospitals & clinics, academic and research, and others.GET FULL REPORT @Regional Analysis:The Americas account for a significant market share owing to extensive volume of surgeries performed and high expenditure on the healthcare. Additionally, the fastest uptake of new products and surgical procedures in the US drives the ear infection treatment market. Furthermore, concentration of the major healthcare and medical device companies in the developed countries of this region coupled with large insurance penetration is adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, huge amount of funds, that are spent annually on the U.S. healthcare which accounts to 16% of the total GDP, is also responsible for increasing the sales of in the global ear infection market..Europe is the second largest market in the world due to high income and strong healthcare penetration. European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. The UK is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period. Germany leads in Europe due to a well-established medical devices industry.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing healthcare sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. South East Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of healthcare insurance in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the ear infection treatment market in this region.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a moderate growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 50 market data tables and figures spread over 80 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content (TOC) & market synopsis on Global Ear Infection Treatment Market Research Report  Forecast till 2023.Major TOC:Chapter 1 Report PrologueChapter 2 Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3 Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4 Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & AssessmentChapter 5 Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers5.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers5.1.3 Threat Of New Entrants5.1.4 Threat Of Substitutes5.1.5 Intensity Of Rivalry5.2 Value Chain Analysis5.3 Investment Feasibility Analysis...CONTINUEDGET DISCOUNT @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.ContactAkash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
The rise of wearable technology for clinical trials: insights from Novartis

www.adaptivedesigns.co.uk/openPR

http://www.smi-online.co.uk

In recent years, there has been a surge surrounding the use of wearable technology for patient monitoring in clinical trials as they have the potential to impact trial costs and efficacy, and also their ability to process and analyze data streams.With more companies using technology in their adaptive designs and clinical trials in this information age, SMi Group is proud to confirm that Alex Sverdlov, Director and Statistical Scientist at Novartis returns to join the expert line-up speaking at the 10th annual Adaptive Designs in Clinical Trials conference, and will be presenting a session entitled "Evaluating Digital Technology in Adaptive Clinical Trials: Promises and Challenges".A timely and significant session, Alex's presentation will be exploring: The use of digital devices (including wearables) in clinical research How to make sense of the data collected from digital devices What experimental designs are appropriate for evaluating digital therapeutics Examples of adaptive trialsAlex will also co-chair the event with James Matcham, Head of Biometrics - Early Clinical Development at AstraZeneca.Speaking more about wearable technology for clinical trials in an interview with SMi Group, Alex said "Digital technologies provide unique opportunities for improving clinical research. For instance, wearable devices allow for seamless collection of large quantities of longitudinal physiological measurement data which can be used to derive digital biomarkers predictive to the clinical outcomes."The full interview can be read in the Download Centre atTaking place on the 9th and 10th April, Adaptive Designs in Clinical Trials 2018 has been curated to provide delegates with the latest innovations, regulatory updates, and strategies on how industry and clinical experts are currently using adaptive designs in their clinical trials for successful drug, medical device and therapy development.The full roster of speakers and their presentations can be accessed on the event website.For those interested to attend, registration is now live on the event website and there is currently an Early Bird Discount of 400 which expires on 15 December 2017.10th Adaptive Designs in Clinical Trials Conference9-10 April 2018Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, UK--- END ---For media enquiries, contact Honey de Gracia at hdegracia@smi-online.co.uk.About SMi Group:Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found at1 Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7XW
emnos ropes in Brian Murphy from Symphony EYC, to lead new global initiatives

Brian Murphy

www.emnos.com

Chicago, 27.11.2017 -. emnos, the retail analytics and shopper insights organization based in Chicago has roped in Brian Murphy to lead its global initiatives to develop new business segments. Previously Murphy was Senior VP of Business Development at Symphony EYC having spent several years at Symphony EYC and dunnhumby.As a retail and shopper insights veteran, Murphy has had a successful record working through similar solutions led business transformations. With him, emnos further strengthens its leadership team in the US while expanding into new business segments. He will report directly into emnos CEO, Florian Baur.Brian Murphy brings with him very deep industry knowledge and expertise in the fields of sales process, execution, and asset utilization. As we shift from a consulting to a solutions-focused organization, we will benefit from his experience and expertise in working through this transformational journey. said Florian Baur.emnos is rolling out new Solutions in the retail shopper insights and category management space. Murphy will be responsible for taking these Solutions in the retail segments that emnos does not currently operate in.About emnosemnos enables retailers to transform shopper data into tangible growth through its retail insights solutions focused on Category Management and Personalized Marketing. Driven by powerful analytics, years of retail insights expertise and intelligent technology, emnos quick-to-deploy SaaS based solutions enable retailers to best engage their customers and drive growth.With offices in five countries, emnos works with some of the leading global retailers spread throughout Europe and the USA. emnos is part of Loyalty Partner GmbH, a subsidiary of American Express.For more details, visitFor inquiries, please contact: press@emnos.comemnos GmbH Theresienhohe 12 | 80339 Munich, Germany
Wireless Tower Market in Europe: MNO Regulatory Requirements and Debt Burdens Create Opportunities for Tower Companies

ReportsWeb

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ReportsWeb.com published Wireless Tower Market from its database. 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."Wireless Tower Market in Europe: MNO Regulatory Requirements and Debt Burdens Create Opportunities for Tower Companies", a new Telecom Insider Report by Publisher offers a thorough study of the wireless tower market in the European region. The first section of this report explains the major sources of wireless capacity and the different radio access nodes used to offer wireless coverage. The report then provides an assessment of the European wireless tower market with a focus on selected markets in the region. The report includes an in-depth examination of the key factors driving and inhibiting wireless tower activity in Europe. We then present case studies that analyze the wireless tower markets in the UK, Italy and Romania. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and a set of recommendations.Mobile network operators (MNOs) have invested heavily in setting up wireless tower infrastructure, resulting in high financial burdens. With declining ARPS and pressure to invest in network quality and LTE roll-outs, MNOs are looking to divest their tower infrastructure in order to reduce capex and debt. This has emerged as an opportunity for third-party tower companies (towercos) in recent years.For more information about this report:Report Scope:- In Europe, a growing LTE subscriber base and the increasing adoption of mobile video traffic driven applications over LTE-enabled smartphones is providing fuel for wireless tower market growth. It is, however, also resulting in substantial pressure being placed on operators to increase the number of wireless tower sites.- Until recently, the majority of wireless tower sites were owned and managed by MNOs, however this scenario is changing due to the increase in divestments of tower infrastructure by these operators. MNOs are either selling their tower infrastructure to independent towercos or creating independent entities to manage the tower infrastructure.- There are a variety of challenges faced by the key players in the European wireless tower market, which include complex permitting processes, site acquisition, environmental regulations and lower ARPU and population density in rural areas.Reasons to buy:- This report examines the wireless tower market in the European region, in order to enable new tower companies to align their product offerings. The report also provides analysis of tower market structure along with drivers and inhibitors influencing the region with a focus on the region's major markets, including France, Italy, Romania, UK, Spain, Germany and Russia among others.- Helps executives build proactive, profitable growth strategies by offering comprehensive and relevant analysis of growing opportunities in the European wireless tower market, regulatory framework, competitive environment and best practices of the existing operators.- The case studies focus on the drivers and inhibitors within three leading tower markets in the region including the Telco strategies being pursued in these markets to drive business, which can be beneficial to local players or prospective market entrants.- By understanding the interests and positions of the main stakeholders in the wireless tower market (including independent tower companies, MNOs, end users and regulators), telecom professionals and operators can develop strategies and increase their participation in the growing tower market.Request Sample Copy atCompanies Mentioned:TelefonicaDeutsche TelekomVodafoneOrangeSFRBouyguesTelecomWindHutchisonBT, 3T-MobileCellnexFPS TowersTDSINWITArqivaWireless Infrastructure GroupTelxiusOmega TowersDeutsche FunkturmTable of Contents:List of exhibits 4Executive summary 7Section 1: Introduction 8Section 2: Wireless towers market in Europe 11Operator-owned vs. towerco-owned towers 12Wireless tower count 13Section 3: Wireless towers in Europe 14Drivers 16Inhibitors 20Outlook 25Section 4: Case studies 27UK 28Italy 30Romania 32Conclusions: Key findings and recommendations 33Appendix: Acronyms and Definitions 36Inquire for Report atAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer Bauxite Mining and our customer support Bauxite Mining is always available to help you on your research queries.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Phone : +91-20-67278686E-Mail : info@reportsweb.com
By PTI: By K J M Varma

Beijing, Nov 27 (PTI) A devastating fire that ripped through an apartment building in a Beijing suburb which left 19 people dead and eight injured 10 days ago, was caused by an electrical fault and Chinese police have arrested 20 people for negligence, the official media reported today.

They also ruled out that the fire was caused during an arson in the house.

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Twenty suspects have taken into custody for negligence causing serious accident, official media reported.

The fire engulfed a three-story apartment building, mostly inhabited by migrant workers, in Xinjian village in Beijings southern Daxing district on November 18.

Following the incident, authorities started evacuating thousands of migrant workers in the name of safety which caused unrest among the people. PTI KJV SMJ SMJ

--- ENDS ---
Global Chitin Derivatives Sales Market Report with Sales, Production, Revenue Status, Trends and Forecast 2022

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The market for Global Chitin Derivatives has been undergoing a transitional phase over the recent past. The continual advancements in technologies and the swift increase in infrastructural development projects have influenced the demand for Global Chitin Derivatives Sales Market Report 2017 substantially over the past few years. The swift rise in urbanization and the significant increase in the disposable income of people are likely to maintain the demand pace of Global Chitin Derivatives sales market report 2017 in the near future. The augmenting interest of investors, government funding, and the rising trend of automation are also projected to reflect positively on this market in the years to come.Request Free Sample Report@Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K MT), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Chitin Derivatives for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Chitin Derivatives market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Chitin Derivatives sales volume, Price (USD/MT), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingAdvanced Biopolymers AS (Norway)FMC Corp. (US)Golden-Shell Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (China)G.T.C. Bio Corporation (China)KYTOSAN(r) USA, LLC (US)Kitozyme (Belgium)Heppe Medical Chitosan GmbH (Germany)Kunpoong Bio Co., Ltd. (South Korea)Meron Biopolymers (India)Primex Ehf (Iceland)Zhejiang Candorly Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (China)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoChitinGlucosamineOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingFood & BeveragesHealth Care/MedicalWater TreatmentBrowse Full Report with TOC@Table of ContentsGlobal Chitin Derivatives Sales Market Report 20171 Chitin Derivatives Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Chitin Derivatives1.2 Classification of Chitin Derivatives by Product Category1.2.1 Global Chitin Derivatives Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Chitin Derivatives Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Chitin1.2.4 Glucosamine1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Chitin Derivatives Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Chitin Derivatives Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Food & Beverages1.3.3 Health Care/Medical1.3.4 Water Treatment1.4 Global Chitin Derivatives Market by Region1.4.1 Global Chitin Derivatives Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Chitin Derivatives Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Chitin Derivatives Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Chitin Derivatives Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Chitin Derivatives Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Chitin Derivatives Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Chitin Derivatives Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Chitin Derivatives (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Chitin Derivatives Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Chitin Derivatives Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Chitin Derivatives Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Chitin Derivatives Market Competition by Players/SuppliersContinued..Enquire About this Report@About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: - 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email:- press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:-Read Industry News at :-
Thermal Power Market Outlook to 2030

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ReportsWeb.com published Thermal Power Market from its database. 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."Thermal Power in Thailand, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2017-Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles", is the latest report from Publisher, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the thermal power market.The report provides in depth analysis on global thermal power market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Thailand(includes thermal, nuclear, large hydro, pumped storage and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details thermal power market outlook in the country and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Thailand thermal power market. A detailed coverage of energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to thermal is provided in the report. The research also provides details of active thermal power plants in the country, upcoming thermal installation details and company snapshots of some of the major market participants.For more information about this report atThe report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by Publisher's team of industry experts.Scope:The report analyses global thermal power market, Thailand power market and Thailand thermal power market. The scope of the research includes--A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.-Historical period is during 2006-2016 (unless specified) and forecast period is for 2017-2030.-Detailed overview on the global thermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends, market forces analysis (drivers, restraints and challenges), installed capacity by fuel type, installed capacity split by region, installed capacity split by major countries and cross country comparison among thermal sources such as coal, oil and gas.-Power market scenario in Thailand and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.-Detailed overview of Thailand thermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity by fuel type, net capacity addition by fuel type, owners share, market size of major equipments such as steam generator and turbine, and information on major active and upcoming projects.-Key policies and regulatory framework supporting thermal power development.-Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Request a sample copy atReasons to buy:The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner. It will allow you to--Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Thailand thermal power market.-Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for thermal power market.-Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industry's growth potential.-Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.-Identify key partners and business development avenues.-Understand and respond to your competitors' business structure, strategy and prospects.Companies Mentioned:Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company LimitedPTT Public Company LimitedKhanom Electricity Generating Company LimitedGlow Energy Public Company LimitedElectricity Generating Public Company LimitedElectricity Generating Authority of ThailandBLCP Power StationInquire for Report atAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer Bauxite Mining and our customer support Bauxite Mining is always available to help you on your research queries.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Phone : +91-20-67278686E-Mail : info@reportsweb.com
Snoring Control Device Market: Magnificent Expansion CAGR of 9.7% Till 2022

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Snoring Control Device Market Information, by Type (Nasal Devices, Oral Appliances, Chin Straps, Position Control Devices, Tongue-Stabilizing Devices, Expiratory Positive Airway Pressure Therapy Devices (EPAP)), by Treatment (Injection Snoreplasty, Laser-Assisted Uvulopalatoplasty, Radiofrequency Ablation, Injection Snoreplasty, Palatal Stiffening) - Forecast till 2022Market Synopsis of Snoring control device Market:Market Scenario:Globally the market of snoring control device is expected to grow at the rate of about 9.7% till 2022, growth at this rate has started since 2016.Snoring is frequently depicted in a comedic action when in reality the scenario is not the same especially when its regular, it gives poor rest to the snorer and to anyone who shares the bed, room, and in extraordinary case to people next door. Snoring is caused by unwinding of the snorer soft palate, throat and tongue. There are different anti-snoring devices are available in the market.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Key Players for Snoring control device Market:Some of the key players in this market are: Sleeping Well, LLC (U.S.), Apnea Sciences Corporation (U.S.), Tomed Dr. Toussaint GmbH (Germany), Sleep Well Enjoy Life, Ltd. (U.K.), and MEDiTAS Ltd. (U.K.), Glaxosmithkline, Plc., SomnoMed Ltd, Sleep Science Partners Inc. and others.Segments:Global snoring control device market has been segmented on the basis of types which comprises nasal devices, oral appliances, chin straps, position control devices, tongue-stabilizing devices, expiratory positive airway pressure therapy devices (EPAP) and others. On the basis of treatments the market is segmented into injection snoreplasty, laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty, radiofrequency ablation, injection snoreplasty, palatal stiffening, CPAP, UPPP, laser turbinectomy, tonsillectomy, septoplasty and others.Regional Analysis of Snoring Control Device Market:North America holds the largest market share of the global snoring control device market and is expected to grow at a stable growth rate. Europe is the second largest market for snoring control device. Asia pacific region is expected to be fastest growing region of this market.Browse Full Report Details @Study objectives of the Market: Providing detail analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 7 years about various segments and sub segments of the snoring control device market. Giving insights about factors affecting the market growth. Analyzing the market based on price analysis, supply chain analysis, Porters Five Force analysis etc. Giving past revenue and estimated future revenue of the global snoring control device markets segments and sub-segments. Giving regional level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future growth prospect. Giving regional level analysis of the market with respect to segments of the same including by types, by treatments as well as their sub-segments. Providing an overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market; comprehensively analyzing their core competencies and drawing a competitive structure of the market. Tracking and analyzing competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments along with research and developments of the global snoring control device market.The report of Snoring Control Device Market by Market Research Future comprises extensive primary research along with the detail analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain a deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of current market scenario which includes past and estimated market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides detail information about and strategies used by top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regions.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Snoring Control Device Market Research Report- Global Forecast To 2022 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Cardiac Pacemaker Market Absolute Analysis & Global Foresight to 2022

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Cardiac pacemaker market information by type (implantable, external), end-users (hospitals, cardiac care centers, ambulatory, and others) - Forecast till 2022Market Synopsis of Cardiac Pacemaker Market:Market Scenario:Cardiac pacemaker is an artificial heart rhythm management device which sends electrical pulses to the heart in order to maintain regularity of the heart rhythm. Implantable pacemakers are having more demand than the external pacemakers. Doctors usually recommend single chamber or dual chamber pacemaker according to the medical condition of the patient. Cardiovascular diseases are among top causes of death in patients all over the world. There has been rise in number of patients with irregular heartbeat and arrhythmia creating a demand for the cardiac pacemakers.Get a Copy of Sample Report @Key Players for Cardiac pacemaker Market:Some of the key players in this market are: Medtronic plc, St. Jude Medical Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Lepu Medical Technology Co ltd., Pacetronix ltd., SORIN Group, Osypka Medical, Inc., Medico S.p.A., OSCOR Inc., and others.SegmentsCardiac pacemaker market has been segmented on the basis of type which includes implanted pacemaker which is sub-segmented into single chamber & double chamber pacemaker, and external pacemaker. On the basis of end user, market is segmented into hospitals, cardiac care centers, ambulatory center, and more.Regional Analysis of Cardiac pacemaker Market:Globally North America is the largest market for cardiac pacemaker, Europe is the second-largest market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for cardiac pacemaker.Browse Full Report Details @Study Objectives of Cardiac Pacemaker Market: Providing detail analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 7 years on various segments and sub-segments of the cardiac pacemaker market Providing insight about factors affecting the market growth Analyzing the market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, Porters Five Force Analysis etc. Providing information about the past and future revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-PacificMiddle East & Africa. Providing country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market by type, end-user and sub segments of these along with size and future market growth. Giving country level analysis of the market for segments which includes type, end-user and their sub-segments. Giving an overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. Tracking and analyzing competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments as well as research and developments in the global cardiac pacemaker market.The report for cardiac pacemaker market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors of the market. The report also provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry as well as gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regionsContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Cardiac Pacemaker Market Research Report- Forecast To 2022 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Pharmaceutical Isolator Market 2017: Key Players  Gelman Singapore, IsoTech Design, Bosch GmbH, NuAire and More

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The Worldwide Pharmaceutical Isolator Market research report is growing with the rapid pace; mainly due the burgeoning Healthcare Sector. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The World Pharmaceutical Isolator Industry Research report is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The Market is forecasted to demonstrate a huge growth by 2023, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value & volume. Considering all these factors The World Pharmaceutical Isolator Market research report is expected to reach USD 39.0 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 8.1% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Market Research Future published new report, titled Pharmaceutical Isolator Market -Research Report: Global Forecast till 2023.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Some of the Key Players profiled in the report are Gelman Singapore, COMECER S.p.A. cf. p.iva, IsoTech Design, LAF Technologies Pty Ltd, Fedegari Autoclavi S.p.A, Hosokawa Micron Ltd., Bosch GmbH, MBRAUN, Chamunda Pharma Machinery Pvt. Ltd., Schematic Engineering Industries, NuAire, Inc. and others.Market Highlights:An isolator is an equipment which is used for selective transfer of materials through defined openings designed to avoid contamination. Open isolators allow transfer of materials, while enabling a level of protection from the external environment. Closed isolators provide complete separation between the internal and external environment except for filtered air. Aseptic isolators use positive pressure to keep contamination out, while containment isolators uses negative pressure to keep contamination out of the work space.The market drivers for global pharmaceutical isolator market are increasing demand due to growing pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry, increasing regulations and non-compliance cost, rising usage of aseptic methods, rising number of bio labs, growing use of toxic and hazardous materials, and advancements in isolator efficiency and technology. A huge cost of setting up clean rooms is a strong driver of the market for isolators. The market restraints are the high cost of isolators, high maintenance of isolators, high cost of operation of isolators, poor regulatory framework in developing regions and lack of inspection, increasing specifications and stringency of quality control checks disease etc.Product development represents the best strategy for the market growth. The market is expected to witness exponential growth over the review period owing to technological advancement in the construction of isolators. The isolators are fraught with high maintenance and operating costs, which has created a need for effective designs and development of contamination resistive materials. There are also issues with efficiency of isolators and there equipments are fraught with repeated breakdowns.Market development is another strategy for as there is a large unmet need in the developing regions such as India and China. Cost of the product is expected to be a decisive factor in the developing regions such as Asia Pacific and, especially, Africa. The growing demand due to development of research and development industry is the greatest unmet need of the market.Market Segments:The global pharmaceutical isolator market has been segmented on the basis of type, system, pressure differential, and end user.Based on the type, the market has been segmented into aseptic isolators, containment isolators, bio isolators, sampling, weighing and distribution isolators, active pharmaceutical ingredient & manufacturing isolators, and other.Based on the system, the market has been segmented into closed systems and open systems.Based on the pressure differential, the market has been segmented into positive pressure and negative pressure.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as hospitals and diagnostics labs, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries, research and academics, and others.GET FULL REPORT @Regional Analysis:The Americas accounts for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care. Additionally, the large research and development base of U.S. is a strong driver of the market. The high concentration of the major healthcare companies, biotech labs, and hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with stringent regulatory and inspection guidelines are adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the US has a high inspection rate and the growing stringency of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections has fueled the market.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to the growing pharmaceutical and industrial base. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period. The strong presence of the pharmaceutical industry in Germany is a strong driver behind the dominance of this country in Europe. The growing research and development expenditures of the developed regions have stimulated the market for isolators in these regions.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing pharmaceutical sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of pharmaceutical and biotech industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future pharmaceutical isolator market in the region. The biotech industry is expected to demand for the largest number of isolators among all industries.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a moderate growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development. The poor research and development in the Middle East and Africa region has restricted the market for pharmaceutical isolators market.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 50 market data tables and figures spread over 80 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content (TOC) & market synopsis on Global Pharmaceutical isolator Market Research Report  Forecast till 2023.Major Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & AssessmentChapter 5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.2 Value Chain Analysis5.3 Investment Feasibility Analysis5.4 Pricing Analysis...CONTINUEDGET DISCOUNT @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Iot Sensor Market 2017 Application and Development Trends 2022

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The Iot Sensor market can be split based on product types, major applications, and important regions.Major Players in Iot Sensor market are:STMicroelectronicsInvensenseBroadcomTe ConnectivityInfineon TechnologiesARM HoldingsNXP SemiconductorsAnalog DevicesRobert BoschTexas InstrumentsBrowse complete report @Major Regions play vital role in Iot Sensor market are:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanMiddle East & AfricaIndiaSouth AmericaOthersMost important types of Iot Sensor products covered in this report are:Temperature Sensor and Humidity SensorPressure SensorImage SensorMost widely used downstream fields of Iot Sensor market covered in this report are:Consumer ElectronicsHealthcareAutomotiveGet sample copy @Table of Content1 Iot Sensor Introduction and Market Overview2 Industry Chain Analysis3 Global Iot Sensor Market, by Type3.1 Analysis of Market Status and Feature by Type3.2 Global Iot Sensor Value ($) and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)3.3 Global Iot Sensor Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)3.4 Global Iot Sensor Value ($) and Growth Rate by Type (2012-2017)3.5 Global Iot Sensor Price Analysis by Type (2012-2017)4 Iot Sensor Market, by Application6 Global Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2012-2017)6.1 Global Iot Sensor Consumption by Regions (2012-2017)6.2 North America Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)6.3 Europe Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)6.4 China Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)6.5 Japan Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)6.6 Middle East & Africa Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)6.7 India Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)6.8 South America Iot Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)Discount @7 Global Iot Sensor Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions8 Competitive Landscape9 Global Iot Sensor Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application10 Iot Sensor Market Analysis and Forecast by Region11 New Project Feasibility Analysis12 Research Finding and Conclusion13 AppendixBuy now @About UsWe provide best in classcustomer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries. Our commitment to customer service is best exemplified by free analyst support that we offer to our clients which sets us apart from any other provider. We also offer enterprise subscriptions which provide significant cost savings to our clients.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.com533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
West, northern Michigan brace for storm that could bring foot of snow
By India Today Web Desk: It has been twenty years, and yet, James Cameron's Titanic continues to live on in people's hearts. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, was a love story, a fictionalised retelling of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, which is considered one of the worst maritime tragedies in history.

Till date, many fans still can't accept the heartbreaking ending of the 1997 film. Jack (Leo) and Rose (Kate) are stranded on a loose board, after the Titanic sinks. Jack makes way for Rose on the board, as there isn't enough space for both. The water is freezing cold, and Jack succumbs to hypothermia, and dies.

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In a recent interview, James Cameron answered questions about this ending and said, "Had he lived, the ending of the film would have been meaningless. The film is about death and separation; he had to die. Obviously, it was an artistic choice, the thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him. I think it's all kind of silly, really, that we're having this discussion 20 years later. But it does show that the film was effective in making Jack so endearing to the audience that it hurts them to see him die. Whether it was that, or whether a smoke stack fell on him, he was going down. It's called art, things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons."

Earlier Kate was asked whether there could've been room for two on the board on a Jimmy Kimmel show. "I agree! I think he could have actually fitted on that bit of door. It's been 20 years, and people still get such a kick out of it. It's really quite endearing. And we do laugh about it. We were giggling about it last night. I was like, my god, can you actually believe that people just get so overwhelmed by the Jack and Rose thing."

The film completes 20 years, this December.

ALSO WATCH: Titanic stars shelled with stardom

--- ENDS ---
Herman Melvilles novel Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, first published in 1851, is a perennial choice whenever people get together to debate which books constitute the best of American literature. And why not? Its got everythingadventure, philosophy, discourses on whalingand is written in a style that can be best described as superabundant. Melvilles big, sprawling novel reflects the complexity of the big, sprawling country from whence it came, and today its both a staple of the English classroom and an icon of popular culture, cited as a key influence by writers as diverse as Ralph Ellison and Bob Dylan.

Given the canonical nature of Moby-Dick, its somewhat surprising that a French translation was not published until 1941, 90 years after the novels first appearance in English. This translation was the work of Jean Giono, a distinguished Provencal author, who worked on it with his French friend Lucien Jacques and the English antiques dealer Joan Smith. After completing the translation, Giono began writing what was meant to be an introduction to the novel, but which became so long it was published as a separate book in 1941. This introduction, Pour saluer Melville (to greet Melville) is now available in English as Melville: A Novel, translated by Paul Eprile and published by NYRB Classics.

Melville, running a compact 105 pages, can justifiably be described as both a short novel and a literary essay (the French edition describes it as un essai, which can be translated as a trial or an experiment). Readers expecting a straight biography of Melville, or a conventional analysis of his work, will come away disappointed, while those who are content to set aside categories for the moment and experience Gionos writing for its own sake will discover something both different and delightful.

The story of Melville begins in 1849, as the main character, an American writer named Melville, journeys to England to meet with his publishers regarding his latest novel. His previous works include Typee, Omoo, Redburn, and Mardi, while the most recent one is named White-Jacket. Once his business is concluded, Gionos Melville decides to journey to the English countryside, where he falls in love with a beautiful woman named Adelina White. Together, they take long walks and enjoy deep conversations, inspiring Melville to produce Moby-Dick two years later. After publication of Moby-Dick, he anxiously waits to hear from Adelina, but no communication is forthcoming, an absence that haunts him until his death.

The real Herman Melville did travel to London in 1849 to discuss publication of White-Jacket, and two years later he did publish his masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Beyond that bare skeleton of fact, Melville is largely a work of fiction, a story in which Giono imagines what might have provided the inspiration that allowed Melville to write Moby-Dick. His fictional Melville includes some of Gionos own traits while generally not reflecting what we know about the real Herman Melville. The real Melville was shy, taciturn, and possibly bisexual, with impaired vision due to a childhood illness, while Gionos Melville is a self-confident, burly man who loves the countryside and prefers to wear sailors clothing rather than a formal suit. We know of no analogue to Adelina White in the real Melvilles life, but Giono did fall in love with a married woman named Blanche Meyer, so Adelina Whites surname may refer to the first name of Gionos object of affection as well as the color of the whale pursued by Captain Ahab.

Giono is not exactly a household name in the United States, but maybe this short and accessible work will bring him to the attention of more readers. Hes well-known in the French speaking world for his novels, and was elected to the Academie Goncourt (a prestigious honor for writers in the French language) in 1954. Gionos best-known works available in English translation include the short story The Man Who Planted Trees, the novels The Horseman on the Roof and Second Harvest, and the fictionalized memoir Blue Boy.

In his forward to Melville, Giono offers great insight into his feelings about Moby-Dick and its author. He refers to Moby-Dick as his foreign companion for several years before he began the translation, and to Ishmael as a patrician hero who accompanied him on long walks in the hills. Deep in the countryside, Giono writes, he needed only to open Moby-Dick to sense the manifold life of the seas swell up below and all around me and to feel the rigging hiss over my head, the earth heave under my feet like the deck of a whaler, and the trunk of the pine groan and sway against my back like a mast heavy with wind-filled sails. After darkness fell and he began the journey home, Giono says could feel himself becoming Melville, clothed in the skin of his imaginary companion as if by a giant overcoat.

Giono shared his enthusiasm for Moby-Dick with Lucien Jacques, and soon the process of translation became their mutual dream, guided by a principle stated by Melville himself: There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method. Thats the best description of the literary style of Moby-Dick that one could ask for, and it also lends insight to this short and interesting literary work inspired by Melvilles novel.

The NYRB edition of Melville also includes an introduction by Edmund White, who analyzes the place of Melville within Gionos career, explores similarities and differences between the lives of Giono and Melville, and suggests some reasons this novel and its author may have held particular appeal for the Provencal novelist.
As indicated by their Facebook biography, Virginias own Native Run began one fateful day when Rachel Beauregard and Bryan Dawley first joined forces at the behest of mutual friends. Within hours of practice, magic started exploding everywhere, and their groovy, soul-bearing country music quickly began to be recognized on a national level by the likes of the Austin City Limits Music Festival and beyond.

Sometimes, though, others arent so lucky. The magic is lost, and theyre left fending for themselves out of the blue while their love suddenly moves on into someone elses arms. That is the utterly relatable story found at the center of their newest single, Sleeping in the Bed I Made, where Beauregard soars over a rising chorus where shes letting the new partner in her exs life know that her man is only as good as his previous relationship made him before her coming into her life.

Its selfish, yearning, angry, and sad and altogether sums up how those of us who end up in these situations might feel following a sudden breakup. Sonically, the duo brings the sensational, pop-sensible arranging that theyve been known for to this track without losing any raw emotion along the way. The accompanying music video candidly expresses the same sentiment

Native Run says, We chose Sleeping in the Bed I Made as the single because were really proud of the story it tells and the countless people it represents. If anyone identifies with this story or even knows someone that does, weve done our job as songwriters!

We worked on the video with our friend and incredible photographer/videographer, Jeremy Ryan. We knew he would capture the mood and story not just of the song itself, but of us as artists. Its simple and poignant, and we love his use of light, shadow, and silhouette.
Let me tell you about a man and a place far away from the cornfields of the Midwest: Jeff Pleadwell and Jeffs Pirates Cove at 111 Route 4, Ip Read moreJeffs Pirates Cove: A place of history
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Argex Titanium Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---MONTREAL, Quebec (FSCWire) - Argex Titanium Inc. (TSX:RGX). has issued a press release with the following headline:Final Validation of Argex Titaniums Ti02 For Commercial Optical Properties TestsTo 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 Argex Titanium 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/Argex Titanium Inc.Source: Argex Titanium Inc. (TSX: RGX, WKN: A1J1GR, ISIN: CA04014T1021)Date: November 27, 2017Time: 7:30 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Argex Titanium 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.)
Flowering Stimulants Market By Type (Solid Flowering Stimulants, Liquid Flowering Stimulants), By Application (Agriculture And Horticulture) And By Region - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecasts (20162021)

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The Global Flowering Stimulants Market was worth USD xx billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of xx%, to reach USD xx billion by 2021.View report: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/flowering-stimulants-market-4159/ Flowering of plants is very essential in both agriculture and horticulture. In horticulture good flower yield is the priority to bear fruits and in agriculture also good flowering gives good yield. So, farmers always try to increase the flower yield by using excessive fertilizers, both organic and chemical. This increases the yield but it has a limit to the growth and use of excessive fertilizers support growth of other vegetation which is not desirable.Flower formation in plants is stimulated by certain hormones namely auxin, cytokinin, gibbrellic acid and Ethylene. Flowering stimulants increases the production of these substances in the plant and also in ratios favorable for flower yield. Currently, Nitrobenzene mixed with some other chemicals is the best and most used stimulant. It is estimated that flowering stimulants increase the flower yield by more than 40%.Download free sample report: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/flowering-stimulants-market-4159/request-sample Increase in the crop yields has become stagnant due to the increase in the use of fertilizers and other chemicals. This increased the demand alternatives which can increase the crop yield resulting in the demand for flowering stimulants. Increasing necessity to improve crop yields due to the decreasing agricultural land, rapidly increasing population and increasing awareness among people regarding the stimulants are expected to drive the flowering stimulants market. However, availability of alternate chemicals and strict approval regulations are restricting the market growth.The Flowering Stimulants market is segmented by type, application and region. Based on the type, the market is segmented into Solid Flowering Stimulants and Liquid Flowering Stimulants. Liquid flowering stimulants hold the largest market share as they are easily absorbed by the plant within a short time. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into Agriculture and Horticulture. Usage of flowering stimulants is very high in horticulture. It is because of the restrictions on the use of many fertilizers in horticulture. Agriculture segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment due to the increasing popularity for flowering stimulants.Inquire before buying: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/flowering-stimulants-market-4159/inquire On the basis of region, the global Flowering Stimulants market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific holds the largest market share. It is because Asia Pacific is the leading cultivator of horticulture where flowering stimulants are widely used. Latin America is expected to be the fastest growing segment due to the increasing awareness among consumers.Some of the major players in Flowering Stimulants market are Greenland Bio-Science, Molecule Agri, Nitesh Agro Industries, Sikko Industries, Redox Industries, Rishabh Intermediates, Bhartiya Fertilizers and Chemicals and Agrichem Life Science.Market SegmentationType Introduction Liquid Flowering Stimulants Solid Flowering Stimulants Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Type Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Type Market Share Analysis, By TypeApplication Introduction Agriculture Horticulture Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Application Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Application Market Share Analysis, By ApplicationThe scope of the report: Global, regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the major countries/regions in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped Segment-level analysis in terms of technology, component, and type along with market size forecasts and estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect the global market; which includes broadly demographic, economics, and political, among other macro-environmental factors presented in an extensive PESTLE Analysis Study the micro environment factors that determine the overall profitability of an Industry, using Porters five forces analysis for analysing the level of competition and business strategy development A comprehensive list of key market players along with their product portfolio, current strategic interests, key financial information, legal issues, SWOT analysis and analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies An executive summary, abridging the entire report in such a way that decision-making personnel can rapidly become acquainted with background information, concise analysis, and main conclusions Expertly devised analyst overview along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the marketAbout Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and skillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions.
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for PPX Mining Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - PPX Mining Corp. (TSX Venture:PPX). has issued a press release with the following headline:RIVI Releases Second Tranche of Financing Early, US$2,500,000 to PPXTo 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 PPX Mining 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/PPX Mining Corp.Source: PPX Mining Corp. (TSX Venture: PPX, WKN: A2APYX, ISIN: CA69354U1003)Date: November 27, 2017Time: 9:59 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of PPX Mining 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.)
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Saville Resources Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, B.C. (FSCWire) - Saville Resources Inc. (TSX Venture:SRE). has issued a press release with the following headline:Saville Resources Inc. Announces Property Acquisition, Private Placement, and Corporate UpdatesTo 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 Saville Resources 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/Saville Resources Inc.Source: Saville Resources Inc. (TSX Venture: SRE, ISIN: CA80517N1078)Date: November 27, 2017Time: 8:30 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Saville Resources 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.)
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The Latin America Prenatal and Neonatal Equipment Care Market was worth $0.45 billion in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 5.80%, to reach $0.60 billion by 2021. Prenatal, fetal and neonatal equipment consist of those equipment and devices that aid in taking care of newly born infants and babies growing inside the mothers womb.Premature and congenitally ill babies are born as a consequence of late maternal age, induced fertility, labour treatments, deprived prenatal care and modification in lifestyle predilections. Roughly. Those neonates who outlive prematurity, experience various forms of disabilities, thus various neonatal equipment have been created to help treat prematurity.Full report at: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-prenatal-and-neonatal-equipment-care-market-740/ The growth of the Latin America Prenatal and Neonatal Equipment Care market is majorly driven by factors such as growing incidences of preterm birth, increasing awareness for prenatal and neonatal care, and government policies to provide better care for prenatal and neonatal children. However, poor availability of proper neonatal care in this region is one of the major factor restricting the growth of the market.The Latin America Prenatal and Neonatal Equipment Care Market is segmented into prenatal and fetal equipment, neonatal equipment and others. The prenatal and fetal equipment is further segmented into Ultrasound and Ultrasonography Devices, Fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Fetal Dopplers, Fetal Monitors, and others. Based on neonatal equipment the market is further segmented into Infant Warmers and Incubators, Neonatal Monitoring Devices, Respiratory Assistance and Monitoring Devices, Phototherapy Equipment, and others. The neonatal care equipment segment accounts for the larger share of the Market, while the fetal care equipment segment is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.Latin America market region includes countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and remaining countries of South America. Brazil accounts for the major part of the Prenatal and Neonatal Equipment Care market in this region followed by Argentina. Other emerging markets in this region are Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Chile, and Bolivia.Request sample: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-prenatal-and-neonatal-equipment-care-market-740/request-sample Some of the major companies dominating this market are CareFusion Corporation, Covidien PLC, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Cooper Surgical, Inc., GE Healthcare, Getinge AB, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited, Natus Medical Incorporated, Philips Healthcare, and Siemens Healthcare.About Market Data Forecast:The publisher of this report is Market Data Forecast whose forte lies in Market research and Business Intelligence. Handling both individual and corporate clients across multiple business domains they offer syndicated/customized research to suit the clients research objective. Their research reports section offers a wide variety of market studies ranging from all-encompassing comprehensive market studies to product specific niche markets covering North America among other regions of the global market as well. For more info kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit MarketDataForecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases
The UN says suspected Christian militias killed an Egyptian UN peacekeeper and wounded three others in an attack in southern Central African Republic, CAR.

The UN said in a statement that the attack, which was carried out by anti-balaka militants, occurred in Gambo, about 100 km (60 miles) from the town of Bangassou where more than 100 civilians and three Moroccan peacekeepers were killed in separate incidents in May and July.

Conflict has killed thousands in CAR since Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a backlash from the Christian anti-balaka militia.

Violence spiked when former colonial power France ended its peacekeeping mission in 2016.

Since then, the UN 13,000-strong CAR mission, has struggled to restore order to a country where government control barely extends beyond the capital Bangui.

In total, 13 UN peacekeepers have been killed in the country this year alone.

The UN said five militants were also killed during Sundays clash.

(Reuters/NAN)
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today said three Pakistani nationals, including a nine-year-old girl, would be given visa for their medical treatment in India.

Responding to a request by Danish Memon for a visa to his nine-year-old daughter Maria for treatment of thalassemia here, she asked the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue the travel document immediately.

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"Maria Danish - I am asking Indian High Commission in Pakistan to issue your visa immediately," she tweeted.

Replying to another request by one Mariam Asim for medical visa for her father, Swaraj said India would issue the visa.

"Pls contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan with your papers. We will issue the visa," she tweeted.

The external affairs minister also assured another Pakistani woman, Fariha Usman, of granting visa after she requested her for it.

Pakistan earlier accused India of "politicising" humanitarian issues.

On Thursday, Pakistan had accused India of selectively issuing medical visa to its citizens and that it was not a gesture of compassion but "cold blooded politicking". PTI MPB SMN

--- ENDS ---
A Ugandan magistrates court on Monday charged eight newspaper journalists and editors with offending President Yoweri Museveni, a Justice Ministry spokesman said.

The journalists at the Red Pepper newspaper were arrested last week.

They willfully and repeatedly disturbed the peace and privacy of the president, his brother and a security minister when they published a story that Mr. Museveni allegedly planned to overthrow the government of neighbouring Rwanda, spokesman Solomon Muita said.

According to the charge sheet, read by Magistrate James Ereemye, the publication of the article also unlawfully disclosed military operations, strategies and troop location.

The charges can carry a prison sentence of up to seven years.

The journalists were denied bail until the next hearing on December 5, their lawyer Dennis Nyombi said.

Journalists regularly experience legal and political pressure, as well as physical attacks and intimidation in the East African nation.

(dpa/NAN)
The Nigeria Prisons Service, NPS, has dismissed eight officials for various offences.

The NPS named the dismissed officials as Thomas Jatau, Mottallem J., Mohammed JIbril, Saleh DanAzare, Umar Gusau, Mohammed JaOji, Saidu Gusau, and Maji Maku.

The officials, according to a statement by the NPS, were dismissed for various offences including trafficking in mobile phones and trafficking in Indian hemp.

Read the full statement from the NPS below.

NPS Dismisses 8 Prisons Officers for Trafficking

The Controller-General of Prisons, Jaafaru Ahmed has approved the recommendation of the Zonal Disciplinary Committee for the dismissal of eight junior officers for various offences against discipline. They were found guilty of trafficking (smuggling) prohibited items such as mobile phones, India hemp and other intoxicating substances into the prison yard for inmates.

The letter signed by the officer in-charge of discipline, O. Agun, on behalf of the Controller-General has IP Thomas Jatau and PA 11 Mottallem J. Yari dismissed for trafficking in mobile phones while AIP Mohammed Isah Jibril, CPA Saleh Mohammed DanAzare, PA 1 Umar Gusau, PA 11 Mohammed Ali JaOji, PA 1 Saidu Ibrahim Gusau and PA 11 Maji Maiku got fired for trafficking in India hemp, intoxicating substances and other prohibited items.

Illegal access to mobile phones and other communication gadgets by prisoners has been of great concern to the management of the Prisons Service as various criminal activities have been perpetrated by inmates including facilitating jailbreaks and escapes. Similarly, apart from the far reaching health implications of exposing inmates to the use of India hemp and other intoxicating substances, the act also compromises discipline and negates inmate reformation thrust of the prison.

The Controller-General wishes to appreciate officers and men of the Service including members of the public for providing useful information that has continue to assist the authority in identifying unfit individuals within the ranks for appropriate action.

The public is once again assured of humane custody of prisoners and sustainable peace and calm in all prison formations across the country as efforts are now being strengthened to guarantee adequate reformation and rehabilitation of offenders to become productive citizens on discharge.
(For six weeks, PREMIUM TIMES Oladeinde Olawoyin travelled to the riverine communities of Ese-ofin, Ojota and Egan-Oromi in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State to monitor the conditions under which pupils of St. Phillips Anglican Nursery/Primary School, Ese-Ofin, are being taught. With no functional toilet, tattered ceilings and an unfenced premise, our reporter documents the challenges of pupils in the school).

There was palpable discomfort written boldly on the faces of the pupils as offensive odour momentarily filtered into the classroom environment. In what appeared as their way of guiding against the putrid smell, some of them had their hands placed around their nostrils. This reporter, who was at the school, St. Phillips Anglican Nursery/Primary School, Ese-Ofin, observed an open space around the classroom windows, which serve as makeshift toilet for pupils in the school. The offensive odour filtered in from the open space, pupils said.

That is what we confront here sometimes, a source at the school, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES under strict condition of anonymity, said.

The open space behind the classroom is what serves as toilet to pupils. They defecate there because there is no functional toilet. Although they try to monitor them so that the place can be kept clean, the offensive smell of faeces still come into the classrooms sometimes but not all the time.

A pupil who introduced himself simply as Alaba confirmed the claim in a chat with PREMIUM TIMES, adding that other pupils prefer to go further into the bush to defecate.

We dont have toilet as the one we had broke down for long. The open space at the back of our windows is where we defecate. Many of us who are older prefer to go to the bush but the small ones do it here because it is safer, 7-year-old Alaba said in Yoruba, pointing at a nearby bush located at a spot not far away from the open space that serves as toilet for the pupils.

PREMIUM TIMES observed that although as the source claimed, the pupils made efforts to keep the makeshift toilet clean, there were still faeces on the floor of the open space, some of them covered with clay and sand.

That act (of covering faeces with sand) is mostly done by the little children, Alaba told our correspondent amidst laughter.

When PREMIUM TIMES raised the dangers of epidemic that could spring up due to the use of the toilet, the source who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES and the pupil dismissed such possibility, adding that the school had been operating the makeshift toilet for a while.

They have been using the toilet like this for a long time. We try to keep it clean and hope that nothing bad happens to them (the pupils), the school source, who declined to be named for fear of victimisation, said.

Earlier in March, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode lamented the state of infrastructure in public schools in Lagos, especially in riverine communities. He also promised that government would intervene in these schools.

This year, a major intervention is also going to take place from our budget to see that at least let the existing schools even compete favourably with the private sector schools. That is the whole idea. I went to a public school and I must give back. Then, some of our riverine areas dont really have schools. If you go to Ilashe and other places, there are no schools there and you see people taking canoes to go to school. So, that intervention is what we are also doing this year to see that there is continuous capital expenditure in public schools, Mr. Ambode said.

But Mr. Ambodes intervention might not have been effectively felt at St. Phillips Anglican Nursery/Primary School and the government may need to do more.

LEARNING UNDER TORN CEILINGS

Built in the middle a riverine community in Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area of Lagos state, St. Phillips Anglican Nursery/Primary School is ensconced in Ese-Ofin village, situated few kilometres up the Etegbin river in Ojo Local Government Area of the state. The school primarily serves Ese-Ofin village, including three other riverine communities in the area: Ojota, Egan-Oromi and some parts of Ishangira. But a few pupils also attend the school from Etegbin, a community located on the bank of the river.

Apart from the absence of functional toilet, which prompted many of the pupils to defecate near their classroom windows and in the thick bush behind the school, PREMIUM TIMES investigation also revealed that the ceilings in some of the classrooms had been eaten up by termites. There were also visible cracks on the wall of some other classrooms.

The school has one block of six classrooms which also serve as administrative building for academic and non-academic staff. The classrooms, PREMIUM TIMES gathered, still contain the pupils now. But there had been an increase in the population of pupils in recent time, raising fears that the classrooms might not contain them in a few years.

John Awesu, a resident of the area who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, said the community dwellers had complained to the government about lack of facilities in the school in the past. Mr. Awesu, who said he has a child in the school, explained that although there had been a few inspections by government officials, they yielded no result.

We wrote them few years ago and they promised to inspect. I think there had been inspection but it has not translated into provision of facilities, he said.

Sources in the community school also corroborated Mr. Awesus claim that there had been inspections. They, however, lamented that the inspections had yielded little or no result as pupils still lack some of the facilities they complained about.

UNFENCED, INSECURE SCHOOL PREMISES

Built on an expansive plot of land away from the river bank, villagers said passers-by and hoodlums have unfettered access to the community school because it is not fenced. Pupils and villagers who spoke to our correspondent explained that after closing hour, hoodlums often besiege their classrooms to smoke hemp and engage in illicit sexual affairs.

We always lock the classroom doors with keys but they would break it open always and use the classes for their nefarious activities, a source at the school explained.

Some married men and women from communities in the mainland often come here to hide and engage in sexual acts with their concubines. We hear all sorts every time and we also see the signs once we come every morning.

Although, the communities in the area are said to be peaceful, residents expressed concern about the porous nature of the school.

The school is open and not secure. Pupils who are lazy sometimes sneak away from school too because there is no fence, a parent, Ezekiel Ojelabi, told our correspondent. Although our town is peaceful and there is no unrest, but this is not good for the security of the pupils, he added.

Another villager who identified himself simply as Gafari explained that the lack of fence exposes the school property to theft and vandalisation.

INADEQUATE LEARNING MATERIAL

Sources at the school also complained of the pupils poor attitude to learning, a situation they said is compounded by inadequate learning materials. Although there are enough chairs and desks, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that many of the pupils do not have the necessary textbooks and notebooks needed for effective learning.

In a particular class surveyed by PREMIUM TIMES, many of the pupils do not have exercise books and no student in the class has any of the recommended textbooks.

Thats one of the big challenges in riverine communities here. They are not ready to learn. In my class, some pupils have just two notebooks out of the basic ten they are expected to have. Nobody in this class has a textbook, a school official who requested anonymity, said.

The government, too, may need to come in in this areasome of the textbooks provided by government do not tally with the curriculum of the pupils.

When interviewed by our correspondent, some of the pupils said their parents could not afford the notebooks and textbooks.

My dad is a fisherman but he is trying his best, a pupil who preferred to be identified as Tola, said.

Similarly, on one of PREMIUM TIMES visits to the community on a Friday, it was observed that the population of pupils in school was scanty as many of them were not in school.

That is a peculiar case here: pupils barely come on Fridays. Even sometimes on a regular day, parents come to school during school hours to take away their wards for some flimsy excuse or the other, Tola added.

Mr. Ojelabi, a parent and community dweller, confirmed the development. He explained that it is a peculiarity of the riverine communities as many of them still do not value education.

Many of them prefer the children to go farming or go fishing on Fridays rather than go to school. They still largely do not value education but with continuous orientation, things are changing and things will change, he added.

He also blamed the situation on the inefficiency of the School Based Management Committee, SBMC, in the riverine communities, adding that it is not as effective as the SBMCs in other parts of the state.

When PREMIUM TIMES met with the Baale of Ese-ofin, Olusegun Alabi, he admitted that he was aware that the pupils defecate in the bush but said he wasnt aware of any effort made to inform the government. He also attributed the lack of adequate learning materials to the economic situation faced by parents.

I know the pupils defecate in the bush and it is dangerous, especially during rainy season when snakes and other reptiles can attack the pupils. But I am not sure the government is aware of this. More so, one can hardly meet our local council representatives for any help now because most of them would likely complain they just got to office, he explained.

While lamenting the danger inherent in the pupils defecating in the bush, the traditional ruler expressed hope that the government would intervene and fix the challenges confronting the school.

INEFFECTIVE LOCAL REGULATORY BODIES

PREMIUM TIMES investigations revealed that the School Based Management Committee, SBMC, is not operational. Efforts to speak with members of the committee were unsuccessful as sources at the school and community dwellers said the committee does not function.

The SBMC in riverine communities are not always functional like other places; some are even non-existent, a source at the school said.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, Segun Raheem, he promised to get back to our correspondent. But nearly a week after the conversation, his number has remained switched off.

Similarly, efforts to speak with the local unit of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, yielded no result. When PREMIUM TIMES visited the Ojo Local Government Secretariat, officials said the NUT at the local government level are concerned about teachers welfare and not state of school facilities.

LAGOS SUBEB REACTS

Efforts to get the reactions of officials at the Local Government Education Authority and the Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area, Ijanikin, on our findings were unsuccessful as they declined to speak on record. Similarly, at the Ojo Local Government Secretariat, our correspondent was directed to the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, as officials declined to speak.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the Lagos SUBEB, Seyi Akintoye, the Public Affairs Officer of the board, said no school in the state was being neglected.

Mr. Akintoye also explained that government was making efforts to address the challenges of infrastructure in the basic primary schools in the state, adding that it is receiving attention; but it is a process.

He said: Recently, the House of Reps committee (on Basic Education) commended Lagos state schools projects. There are not less than 1, 110 schools in Lagos so the government is not neglecting any school. It is a process that must be budgeted for. Every school is receiving attention.

When told of PREMIUM TIMES findings showing the school had written several times and that there had been inspection yet nothing was done, the SUBEB spokesperson admitted that it might be due to administrative bureaucracy and government resolve to prioritise allocation of limited funds.

The mere fact that inspections have been done shows that the government is not neglecting the school. We just released procurement details for construction and rehabilitation of classrooms in some schools recently; it is a process, he explained.

On the unavailability and inadequacy of textbooks for most pupils as observed in the school, he said the situation might have been caused by the rising population of pupils in Lagos in recent years.

He noted that due to the insurgency in some parts of Nigeria, there have been increase in the number of people who settle in the state and the riverine communities are the easiest places for migrants to settle down. This, he suggested, might have resulted in population explosion and, consequently, inadequacy of learning materials. He, however, said the government would take it up and address that concern.

We are doing excellently well and qualitative education in Lagos is compulsorily free, he said.

The headmaster of the school declined to speak on the matter, saying he had received a circular not to grant press interview.

He, however, directed our correspondent to the Local Government Education Authority in Okokomaiko for possible interview with the Education Secretary.

EVASIVE MONITORING AUTHORITIES

When PREMIUM TIMES, again, visited the Local Government Education Authority in Okokomaiko, an official who declined to have her name published because she was not authorised to speak feigned ignorance of the state of infrastructure in the school.

The official also made mention of efforts made by government to renovate secondary schools in the neighbouring riverine communities as proof of governments resolve to fix the schools. She added that the school might not have informed the government of its challenges.

When PREMIUM TIMES probed further for the LGEAs official explanation on the findings, the personal assistant to the Education Secretary, ES, who simply identified himself as Mr. Ajibade told our correspondent that the ES was not available. He, however, rejected request to provide the ES phone number but offered to call our correspondent for interview later that day or the next day, a Tuesday.

The next day, Tuesday, he didnt call. Neither did he send any message.

Again, PREMIUM TIMES visited the council the following day, a Wednesday, and officials said Mr. Ajibade was not available.

Two days after, a Friday, PREMIUM TIMES again visited the council and officials said both Mr. Ajibade and the Education Secretary were not in the office. More than two weeks after the visit, Mr. Ajibade is yet to revert to our reporter.

(This report is facilitated by the Wole Soyinka Centre For Investigative Journalism, WSCIJ, as part of its Regulators Monitoring Programme, REMOP, on education project).
About three weeks before the Nigerian Government ordered expatriates working for Intels Nigeria Limited to leave the country, the embattled logistics company had written the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA apologising and stating its readiness to comply with the governments Treasury Single Account policy.

The move was apparently aimed at resolving the business dispute that climaxed in the termination of the companys lucrative pilotage contract by the government.

However, its decision to seek was not enough to remove Intels from the complex web of problems it faces with the Nigerian authorities, including the NPA, the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, and the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority, OGFZA.

The NIS, had, mid-November, revoked the resident permits of Intels expatriates and asked them to leave Nigeria by November 30 or risk forced ejection.

According to the NIS, that decision followed the withdrawal of operational licenses of Intels by the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, OGFZA for alleged infractions, including operating without valid licence, dodging asset audits and failure to settle certain statutory financial obligations with the agency.

Intels denied the allegations and accused OGFZA of efforts targeted at tarnishing its corporate reputation and destroying its businesses.

Intels faceoff with OGFZA could be seen as an offshoot of the companys dispute with the NPA.

Intels, before the termination of its contract, was a concessionaire with the NPA, to provide management services as a developer under the OGFZA law, including collection of revenues on behalf of government for goods and services shipped into the country through the zone.

However, before the NIS decision to order its expatriates out of Nigeria, as a consequence of withdrawal of its operational licences by the OGFZA, Intels had approached the NPA in readiness to comply with the TSA directive, which is the major cause of the crises.

In the Intels letter of October 25, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, a director, Silvano Bellinato, an Italian, conveyed the apologies of the companys chief executive, Gabrielle Volpi, also an Italian, to the NPAs Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman, and stated readiness to comply with the TSA policy, notwithstanding the initial standoff.

Our Chairman, Mr. Gabrielle Volpi, has apologised for the miscommunication and misunderstanding so far  given the complexity of the matter pertaining to, from one side, the important and continuing role played by the Intels Group through the years in the service of the Nigerian Ports Authority and, on the other hand, the necessity for the NPA to have all the money related to the boat service activity conveyed to into the Treasury Single Account, TSA, wrote Mr. Bellinato.

The letter was dispatched three days after this newspapers exclusive report that the NPA had not been notified of the companys readiness to shift position apparently after realising Mrs. Bala-Usman would not bulge, even despite threat of litigation.

Before that report, Mr. Volpi had personally issued an apology and expressed commitment to the TSA directive  but then NPA told PREMIUM TIMES that the Authority was not aware of the businessmans action.

Since June 2016, NPA and Intels have had disagreement over the TSA, which climaxed in the former finally terminating the latters contract on October 10.

Intels, in various letters seen by PREMIUM TIMES, said it was unable to comply with the TSA policy because it had loan commitments with some commercial banks guaranteed by the deposits that NPA directed should first go to TSA.

Before the dispute and the eventual contract termination, Intels held the concession to collect revenue on behalf of the NPA.

But officials said the new management of NPA under Mrs. Bala-Usman insisted on TSA compliance to ensure transparency so that the Authority knows what actually comes in as revenue before sharing among parties based on the agreed-upon terms.

The authority expressed fears that the company could under-declare revenue collection before effecting payment to NPA, hence, the demand that all revenues first to go into TSA before sharing.

Amid several tension-soaked meetings and exchange of aggressive correspondences, with Intels insisting the TSA directive would be a run of our financing and NPA saying the policy is sacrosanct, the company, in June, instituted litigation against the Federal Government of Nigeria and the NPA over another matter: de-categorisation of ports, a move that in effect meant breaking the monopoly of Intels over the Onne Port.

But the standoff notwithstanding, it is clear Intels is ready to salvage its fortunes, heavily dependent on the contracts with the NPA in its latest letter signed off by Mr. Bellinato.

The letter noted that the company is now ready to abide by the TSA directive.

However, the company sought the cooperation of the NPA to ensure its share of the revenues, first conveyed into the TSA is paid to the company in good time to avoid possibility of crisis with its bankers.

Consequently, continued director Bellinato after the apologies, without prejudice to our signed agreements, Mr. Volpi, on behalf of our board, has directed we pay all proceeds relating to the pilotage services into the TSA held in the Central Bank of Nigeria as you have directed, while the NPA will then pay all the receipts due and payable to our company within seven working days -as you have promised, on the back of an irrevocable payment standing order to be issued by the CBN to give comfort to our bankers who have financed the infrastructure we continue to provide to the NPA.

With the expression of readiness, Intels asked that an agreement be signed between its representatives and the NPAs with the aim to achieve mutual business satisfaction and assurance of getting what is due to the company is paid in a good time, after the TSA with the CBN is credited.

We believe that an irrevocable confirmation of payment of the Central Bank of Nigeria serves the purpose and adequately safeguards the demands of our bankers and auditors, in order to meet mutual interests and requirements, the letter added.

But despite the letter of commitment, it does not appear authorities are still disposed to continue doing business with Intels, co-founded by former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar.

At least, after expression of readiness to comply with the governments directive, its operational licence under the OGFZA law was withdrawn and consequently the NIS asked its expatriate workers to leave.

In any case, it is not certain yet what decision the NPA will take, after Intels expression of commitment.

Officials of the NPA declined comment when contacted on the matter.

PREMIUM TIMES, however, understands NPA has not conveyed any decision to Intels since the former received the latters letter almost one month ago.
Governors from the 36 states have said they will abide by the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to pay all outstanding salary arrears before Christmas.

They, however, gave a condition to be met for them to comply with the directive.

This was revealed by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State while briefing State House correspondents after the governors held a closed-door meeting with Mr. Buhari inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mr. Okorocha, who confirmed the directive from Mr. Buhari, said the payment of the arrears is dependent on the presidents approval of the payment of the 50 per cent Paris Club loan refund.

Yes, with the Paris Club coming, every worker should enjoy his/her Christmas, Mr. Okorocha said.

The Imo governor also said: the president has expressed the need to make ensure that every Nigerian especially the workers have a beautiful Christmas and the issue of outstanding Paris club was discussed and that was taken care of.

He said the governors put pressure on the president to get approval for the balance so that they (governors) can make adequate appropriation arrangements.

We also made a request for Mr. Presidents approval so that the balance should form part of our 2018 budget, because we cant include it, until we are sure that the money is coming. That was also sorted out.

So, as it is now, the issue of workers took the centre stage and Mr. President was concerned about those who depend on their salaries to feed their families and pay their house rent and he had the assurance from the governors that we will meet up those obligations, he said.

What states are getting

The governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who also spoke at the briefing said every state will get its own share of the Paris Club refund based, on what was arrived at after reconciliation irrespective of the quantum of arrears owed.

Every state has a specific amount that was deducted. That amount may be enough to cover the arrears; it may not be, because you cannot get more than what you are entitled to. It varies from state to state.

My state has no salary arrears at all. So, its a mute issue. Kano doesnt have salary arrears. Whatever we are getting, we just continue with our development projects.

Some states have salary arrears that are bigger than the Paris Club refund they are getting. Even when they get it, they will not be able to clear the salary arrears. But it is better to reduce it so that people will have happier Christmas than not, he said.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, ICPC, says it is set to arraign a former Executive Director of Aso Savings and Loans, Maimuna Aliyu.

Mrs. Aliyu was this year nominated by the federal government to serve as member of the ICPC board but was later dropped following outrage over allegations of corruption against her.

She is accused of diverting funds belonging to Aso Savings while she served as head of the financial agency owned by the Nigerian government through the Federal Capital Territory.

A statement signed by ICPCs commissioner of public enlightenment, MM Hussain, said Mrs. Aliyu sold three plots of land in Abuja, without handing over the proceeds from the sales, totaling N57 million to Aso savings and loans.

Although the statement added no further allegation against Mrs. Aliyu, reports by the International Center for Investigative Reporting, indicated that she allegedly embezzled over a billion naira while serving as boss of the company.

The statement from ICPC noted that Mrs. Aliyus case begins on Tuesday.

Mrs. Aliyu is the mother of embattled daughter-in-law of former Peoples Democratic Party chairman Mohammed Haliru whose son was allegedly killed by his wife of two years, Maryam Sanda.

Mrs. Sanda is facing separate charges also at a Federal Capital Territory High Court for alleged homicide.
A student of the University of Ilorin, who alleged he was brutalised and extorted by some officers of the Nigerian Police Force has called on the authorities for redress.

Oluwaseun Awogbenle, a 400-level student of Biochemistry, said he was brutalised and tortured by the police officers on November 18 during the local council elections in Kwara State.

Mr. Awogbenle said on a current affairs programme of Royal FM, a private radio station in Ilorin, Kwara State, that he was at a polling booth around Tanke area to monitor the electoral process as a citizen reporter and policy analyst on radio.

Narrating his ordeals to PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview, he alleged that he was maligned, brutalised and extorted by the officers because he took pictures at the polling centre.

When I got to the polling booth, I approached a police official who gave me permission to cover the event and report.

But just as I was about to take pictures, an APC agent accused me of being sponsored by the opposition and prevailed on the Police Corporal that we could not take pictures of the exercise and the ones I had earlier taken must be deleted, he said.

While the argument ensued, the Inspector who had earlier consented to my request became uncooperative and the APC agents threatened to get me arrested, but I dismissed it as an empty threat. In no time, the Police officers were hoodwinked into contacting their Area Commander.

He explained that the Area Commander, on getting to the scene of the incident, asked why he would take pictures at a polling unit, to which he explained that he was a citizen reporter.

Mr. Awogbenle alleged that in the presence of the police officers, the APC agent slapped him in the face and was later joined by the police officers who rushed at him and forced him on his knees.

On my knees still trying to justify my action, a police man came and slapped me twice, poured water on me, humiliated me and seized my phone.

I sobbed and wept bitterly for my ordeal. I requested that they take me to my house where I could get my ID Card for identification, they denied me that right and insisted I must be a criminal! My plea was to no avail, we were quickly rounded up into their van.

In the van were some boys who they had earlier arrested. After we moved a little distance, they stopped, asked the boys to contribute some money, collected the money from them and they were released, but they insisted we were not going to be released and that we would be taken to their office.

He continued, As we moved further, they thoroughly searched our phones, deleted the pictures we took. As in my usual tradition in a bid to prove my innocence, once again, I requested that they take me to Royal FM office in Ilorin for identification. They vowed not to, rather the same police officer slapped me.

As they drove us through Ilorin, somewhere in town, two of my friends from school identified me, followed the van through on a motorcycle. When we got to Maraba in Ilorin, the place they had been earlier assigned, the man who had dealt with me so ruthlessly asked the guys what they had to free me.

The guys offered them N2000 at first, but they utterly declined, promising to carry us to their station and that we wont get bail till the next Monday. Out of that anxiety, the guys quickly rallied and we could only manage to raise N4000 since none of us had our ATM cards. After so much plea, they collected the N4000 and freed us.

Meanwhile, when PREMIUM TIMES contacted the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Police Command, Ajayi Okasanmi, he said the case had not been brought before him. He advised the alleged victim to report to the command officially.

But in a petition sent to PREMIUM TIMES by Mr. Awogbenles lawyer, Titilope Joseph, the victim is calling on the Kwara Police Command to investigate the matter and bring the alleged culprits to book.

The petition, dated November 21, also demanded a public apology published in a national newspaper from the Kwara State Police Commissioner and the Kwara State Police Command.
President Muhammadu Buhari will attend the fifth European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The president will participate in working sessions on the Summit theme: Investing in the Youth for a Sustainable Development, and on the margins of the Summit, meet with a number of African Heads of State and their European Union counterparts.

A statement by his spokesperson Femi Adesina, on Monday said Mr. Buhari will use the occasion of the Summit to reiterate Nigerias readiness to work with African and European countries to address the challenges affecting both continents, such as peace and security.

The Nigerian leader will also attend the official luncheon to be hosted by the government of Cote dIvoire in honour of visiting Heads of State and Government and other delegations.

According to the organizers, 83 Heads of State representing 55 African countries and 28 European countries are slated to attend this high-level meeting.

Delegations from partner countries, the African Union Commission, the European Union Commission, regional and international organizations, will also participate at the Summit.

The governors of Akwa Ibom and Bauchi States and some ministers are among the top government officials that will accompany President Buhari, the statement said.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has joined hands with two not for profit organisations to promote increased women participation in agribusiness and drive wealth creation in Nigeria.

The ministry organised a two-day dialogue session entitled: Nigerian Women in Agribusiness Stakeholders Dialogue on Friday with the two groups, Technoserve and Synergos Nigeria.

Technoserve is an international organisation offering business solutions, while Synergos Nigeria participates in States Partnerships for Agriculture.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, said women, who constitute half of Nigerias population and 75 per cent of agriculture labour force, must be accorded critical roles in the sector.

The minister was represented at the event by the Director, Extension Services Department of the Ministry, Karima Babangida.

For the present administrations goals of diversifying the economy and creating jobs through agriculture to materialise, there is need for more involvement of women in Agriculture, Mrs. Babangida said.

There is less than 30 per cent access to productive resources such as land, capital, inputs, technology and information for women in Agriculture and this contributes to productivity gap between female and male farmers in the country, she said.

To achieve gender equality, she said there was a need for a National Action Plan on Gender in Agriculture.

TechnoServe Country Director, Larry Umunna, in his remark commended the ministry for supporting women and according recognition to their role in agriculture.

Mr. Umunna stated that TechnoServe has adopted a policy to ensure that 40 per cent of its project beneficiaries are women.

He said the group had been engaged in tackling rural poverty and offering market solutions to challenges facing crop production.

He said 10,000 farmers, 42 per cent of whom are women, had benefited from its cashew livelihood project in Kwara, Kogi and Oyo states in the last four years, a scheme he said has raised farmers income by 200 per cent.

Mr. Umunna said TechnoServe was providing tomato and rice farmers in four states with inputs such as fertilisers and improved seed varieties to increase their output and income.

He added that the project being carried out in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Plateau states was in partnership with Synergos Nigeria and that 3000 farmers were being targeted by the project.

For the Agriculture Sector to achieve the needed growth, Mr. Umunna said there was the need for improved data gathering and analysis.

In his remarks, Country Director, Synergos Nigeria, Adewale Ajadi, said women make up between 70 and 80 per cent of Nigerias labour force, but lamented that the country was not benefiting fully from its huge women population.

He said for Nigeria to reach its full potential in agriculture, women must be recognised and supported.

According to organizers, the groups are partnering in a project with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to project the efforts and challenges of women agricultural practitioners in Nigeria to relevant government agencies, non-governmental organisations and private institution stakeholders, engaging them to proffer workable solutions in order to create a more conducive ecosystem for women farmers to thrive.
A civil society group, Media Rights Agenda, on Monday in Lagos inducted the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) into its Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame.

It cited the violation of various provisions of the FOI Act, 2011 by the Bureau, including its failure to submit any annual report of its implementation of the Act to the Attorney-General of the Federation over the last six years.

John Gbadamosi, MRAs Programme Officer, said in a statement that although the Bureau proactively published on its website a description of the organization and its responsibilities, including details of the programmes and functions of each of its departments, it failed to publish 15 other classes of information that it is required to proactive disclose by section 2(3) (b-f) of the FOI Act.

There is also no indication whatsoever that the Bureau has provided the appropriate training for its officials on the publics right of access to information or records held by the Bureau or trained them to effectively implement the Act, as it is required to do by section 13 of the FOI Act.

Last week, the group published a list of individuals and government agencies, including high court judges, who repeatedly failed to comply with the provisions of the FOI law.

The latest attempt to publicly shame those who violate the law came barely one month after the Attorney General of the Federation published a report blaming Nigerians for making little use of the FOI Act six years after it became law.

The FOI Act, signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan, mandates public institutions to respond to requests for public records, except those relating to national security, within seven days, failure of which attracts a fine of N500,000 payable upon conviction.

Last year, a civil society group, Right to Know, published a report stating that only 44 public institutions submitted FOI annual reports to the Office of the AGF in 2016 (down from 60 in 2015), a tiny fraction of the over 800 public institutions in the country.

While inducting the BPE into the FOI Hall of Shame on Monday, Mr. Gbadamosi said the Bureau has consistently failed to proactively disclose information relating to its receipt or expenditure of public or other funds, as required by section 2 (3) (d) (v) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act of 1999.

Established by Section 12 of the Act, the BPE is charged with the overall responsibility of implementing the policy on privatization and commercialization.

The BPE says its mission is to be the key driver of the Governments economic reform programme; to be the resource centre for capacity building and sustenance of reforms through: promoting a competitive economy and enfranchising Nigerians; enthronement of effective corporate governance and financial discipline in the public and private sectors; as well as institutionalising social accountability and efficient deployment of public resources.

Mr. Gbadamosi noted that BPE also failed to disclose other categories of records under its control in sufficient detail to facilitate the exercise of the right to information under the Act as well as the manuals used by its employees in administering or carrying out any of its programmes or activities in accordance with section 2(3) (b) of the FOI Act.

MRA also cited the failure of the Bureau to publish on its website or any other public platform the title and address of the appropriate officer to whom applications for information under the FOI Act should be made, as required by Section 2(3) (f) of the Act.

One of the functions of the Bureau, as stated by section 13(i) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act, is to ensure the success of the privatisation exercise taking into account the need for balance and meaningful participation by Nigerians and foreigners in accordance with relevant laws of Nigeria, Mr. Gbadamosi said.

Yet, the Bureau has repeatedly disregarded the FOI Act which is one of the laws that enables citizen participation in governance.

He also noted that there is little or no information available on its handling of FOI requests, making it is difficult to determine the extent of the Bureaus responsiveness to requests for information made to it by members of the public under the FOI Act.

Launched by MRA on July 3, 2017, the FOI Hall of Shame highlights public officials and institutions that are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act through their actions, inactions, utterances, and decisions.
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) About 8.77 lakh litres of liquor, Rs 1.60 crore in cash and gold and jewellery worth over Rs 8 crore have been seized by EC-appointed surveillance and expenditure monitoring teams in poll-bound Gujarat.

The Election Commission teams had so far confiscated liquor valued at Rs 19.55 crore from the state where prohibition is in force.

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The teams had also seized suspected illicit cash totalling Rs 1.60 crore and 27.02 kg of gold and other precious metals valued at Rs 8.13 crore, according to official data.

Apart from this, 3,650 British Pounds (about Rs 3.11 lakh) and 30,000 Thai Baht (about Rs 60,000) had also been seized by the EC teams, the data said.

The EC has appointed about 100 election expenditure observers in Gujarat, apart from other central observers, to keep a check on black money and illegal inducements used to bribe voters.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to polls in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18. PTI NES BDS

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The Peoples Democratic Party has urged Atiku Abubakar to be ready to play by the rules once he rejoins the party in the coming days.

Mr. Atiku dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress Friday morning. There are strong indications of his imminent arrival at the major opposition party.

Walid Jibrin, the chairman the PDP Board of Trustees, briefly touched on Mr. Atikus political future during an interview witn PREMIUM TIMES Sunday night.

Mr. Jibrin, a former senator from Nasarawa State, said the PDP field of presidential contenders has expanded in recent weeks, and Mr. Abubakar should expect a rigorous competition for the partys ticket.

He said the PDP is expecting him, but first, the former former vice-president must subject himself to all the constitutional instruments of the party if he really wants to be president by 2019, Mr. Jibrin told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone.

He said most of the presidential hopefuls that have expressed their intention since the party zoned its presidential ticket to the north are political heavyweights.

All our candidates are very strong and the former vice-president is going to meet some interesting challengers, Mr. Jibrin added.

Sule Lamido and Ibrahim Shekarau are amongst those who have commenced 2019 consultations in recent weeks on the platform of the PDP.

Mr. Abubakar is expected to join the party at his ward in his home state of Adamawa in the coming days, a source close to the former vice president told PREMIUM TIMES Sunday night.

His registration would be in time for his participation at the partys national convention scheduled for December 9 in Abuja, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

Members are also expected to elect a substantive chairman for the party at the convention. Mr. Jibrin told PREMIUM TIMES he wont back three of the eight chairmanship candidates who are members of the BOT.

As leaders of the party, were supposed to play down on our personal political ambitions, the PDP chieftain said.

Tunde Adeniran, Bode George and Uche Secondus are members of the PDP Board of Trustees, which has long been dubbed the conscience of the party.
Nigerian governors have expressed concern over the revenue accruing to the states from the federation account.

The revenue, the governors say, do not reflect the increase in prices as well as production capacity of oil in the country.

The governors, under the aegis of South-East/South-South Governors Forum, therefore urged the federal government to ensure improved revenue allocation to the states to reflect the current realities to enable the states meet the yearnings and expectations of their people.

The governors position is contained in a communique they issued after their meeting on Sunday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Seven governors and two deputy governors attended the meeting.

Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State; Rochas Okorocha of Imo State; Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; and Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa were among the governors who attended the meeting.

Others are Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu; and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.

Ivara Esu and Nkem Okeke, both deputy governors, represented the governors of Cross River and Anambra states respectively.

The meeting, which was chaired by the Akwa Ibom Governor, Udom Emmanuel, restated the demand previously made by the governors that the federal government should hands off federal roads in the states for the state government to take up the responsibility of their rehabilitation.

Worried about the abysmal state of road infrastructure in the zones, The forum proposed that the federal government relinquishes all federal roads to states where such roads are located and facilitate legislation that would ease concession of the roads, the governors said in the communique.

In the interim, the forum appeals to the federal government to intervene urgently to improve on the current state of some critical infrastructural facilities located in the zone. Some of these facilities include: The Port Harcourt International Airport; The Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar; The Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Sam Mbakwe International Airport; and several other roads located in the zone.

The forum noted the rather shoddy approach to infrastructural development by some intervention agencies of the federal government operating in the regions and appealed to the federal government to urge these agencies to liaise with the respective state governments in the identification and execution of infrastructural projects.

The forum believes that this approach will ensure that the projects carried out by the intervention agencies are in sync with the developmental agenda of the respective states and will lead to better standards of project execution, the governors added.

The South-East/South-South Governors Forum is aimed at forging an economic and political alliance between Nigerias South-south and South-east regions.
These are some of the major health reports that were published last week.

Bauchi records 507 suspected cases of measles  WHO

The Bauchi state Health Educator, Ribado Jibrin, said the state would conduct the 2017 measles campaign in two phases to capture eligible children from nine to 59 months and also to ensure that the 1.7 million eligible children were effectively captured.

He said the first phase will hold between November 30 and December 5 in Alkaleri, Bauchi, Bogoro, Darazo, Dass and Giade, Jamaare, Kirfi, Tafawa Balewa, Toro and Warji.

He said the second phase which will hold on a date to be given later will take place in Dambam, Gamawa, Ganjuwa, Itas Gadau, Katagum, Misau and Ningi local governments.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, Measles Consultant, Bezu Beshir had earlier said 507 suspected cases of measles were reported from the 20 local government areas of the state between January and October 2017 in which 162 specimen were collected and 56 patients tested positive of the virus.

More life threatening diseases may ravage Nigeria

There may be outbreaks of more deadly diseases in the future if people continue to tamper with the ecosystem and adequate expertise is not applied to wild life conservation and management.

George Ogunjemite, a professor at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA said life threatening diseases like HIV, Ebola and Monkeypox may be mild compared to other diseases outbreak that may occur in future if the ecological community of primates and mammals are not handled by humans with utmost care.

The professor said because of the remarkable genetic and physiological similarities between most mammals and man, most of the infectious agents affecting apes can affect humans and vice versa.

Senate to pass bill establishing Nigeria disease centre

A bill for an Act to establish the National Centre for Disease and Control, NCDC, will be passed by the National Assembly before the end of the year, the chairman, Senate committee on primary healthcare and communicable diseases, Mao Ohuabunwa, has said.

The senator at the launch of the NCDC Strategy and Implementation Plan (2017-2021) said the senate was committed to the development of the health sector especially to achieve success in disease prevention and control in the country.

He added that the lawmakers are ready to support NCDC, National Agency for Control of AIDS, NACA, and primary health care by implementing the basic Universal Health Care, UHC, law which stipulates clearly that one per cent of the consolidated revenue should be dedicated to health.

Fistula patients to get free surgical, laboratory services

The federal government has approved free surgical and laboratory services for all fistula patients in all Federal Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres in the country.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, said that Engender Health/Fistula Care Plus, an NGO, would support all the facilities with consumables and supplies for the free surgeries.

Obstetric fistula commonly known as VVF in Nigeria is a condition were women cannot control leakage of urine and faces and this is usually caused by prolonged labour.

Only one-third of Nigerians in need of HIV treatment are getting it  NACA

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, has urged state governments to invest in HIV/AIDs programme to enable more people with the virus get treatment as only about one in three persons who need treatment for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria are getting the life-saving treatment.

According to the agency, about three million people in the country need the treatment with only over one million people receiving it.

The minister said with three million Nigerians requiring HIV treatment at about N50,000 per patient per year, that translates to about N150 billion which is 60 per cent of the 2017 ministry of health budget.

The health official said it is only in about nine states in the country that more than half of people living with HIV are on treatment.

German doctor found guilty for advertising abortion

A German Gynaecologist, Kristina Haenel, was fined $7,150 by a court in Germany after being found guilty of advertising abortion by providing information about the procedure on her website.

Ms. Haenel, a 61-year-old medical doctor posted information on her website in April 2015 about the legal and medical aspects of the procedure in German, English and Turkish. This, the court found, violated a law that forbids advertising abortion services in a way that is to the persons own economic advantage.

The doctor who has performed abortions for 30 years, said she was only fulfilling her ethical duty by providing information to women considering ending their pregnancies.

IN SOKOTO, 200 INDIGENT WOMEN TO GET FREE SURGERY

The Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, SOGON, will spend N4 million on free treatment and specialised surgery to indigent women in Sokoto rural communities.

Yakubu Ahmad, the Chief Medical Director of Usmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, UDUTH, Sokoto said the free surgeries organised as part of the 51 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference would cover combined specialised surgeries, medication and other chains of treatments.

According to him, 200 women are been targeted for surgeries for cases which include VVF, cancer and others.

Diabetes association demands testing, medication centre

The Diabetic Association of Nigeria, DAN, Jigawa chapter, has appealed to government to establish testing and medication centres for its members.

The chairman of the association, Bashir Ringim, said that the centres could also be used for enlightenment, sensitisation and managing people living with diabetes, and added that diabetes was more dangerous than HIV/AIDS.

He explained that people with diabetes need special care because of the nature of the disease which sometimes leads to amputation of limbs of the victims when they have injuries.
President Muhammadu Buhari seemed to be in high spirit on Monday when he inaugurated a 30-member new minimum wage committee, seizing the moment to mockingly comment on the resignation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the ruling APC.

During the inauguration in Abuja, Mr. Buhari, while making routine greetings before his remarks, turned to the national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, and said accept my sympathy for losing a senior member of your party.

Although, Mr. Buhari did not mention any name, Mr. Abubakar is the latest senior member of the APC to have left the party.

Mr. Abubakar last week announced that he was resigning because of the partys failure to fulfil its promise to Nigerians.

The president joked even more as he read out names of attendees.

My speech has no name of the CBN governor, but I dare not read it out without addressing the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he said.

Also, during a session for group photograph with members of the committee, Mr. Buhari joked with the governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, by wondering how the governor was not properly dressed as opposed to his counterpart from Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu.

Before a shocked Mr. Aregbesola could recover, Mr. Buhari pointed to the Armed Forces Remembrance emblem on the chest of Mr. Bagudu which was missing on Mr. Aregbesola.
Governors of Nigerias 36 states are currently meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari inside the council chamber of the presidential villa.

Although no agenda of the meeting was released to the media, the meeting is expected to discuss the balance of Paris/London loan refunds which the governors have been asking for.

The governors had on October 17 held a similar meeting with Mr. Buhari where they asked him to approve the balance of 50 per cent Paris/London loan refund to them ahead of their 2018 budget.

The chairman of governors forum, and governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari, told State House correspondents that they reminded Mr. Buhari about his directive in 2016 that 50 per cent of the money be paid to states, and the balance paid after reconciliation.

Mr. Yari said they told Mr. Buhari that reconciliation is on since 2016, we are hoping that both the DMO, ( Debt Management Office) Ministry of Finance, AGF and our consultants are concluding this reconciliation by November.
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The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has accused the Nigerian media of mocking the Buhari administrations fight against corruption.

Addressing journalists at the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, BON, on Monday in Abuja, Mr. Mohammed said the media had joined in the campaign of discrimination against the President Muhammadu Buhari led anti-corruption war.

Citing some story headlines he termed biased, Mr. Mohammed said the war against corruption cannot be won without full support from the media.

Without mincing words, let me use this platform to appeal directly to the media in general to join this administration in facing down the problem of corruption, he said.

As we have said times without number, this fight must not be seen as Buharis fight. It must not be seen as the Federal Governments fight. It is our fight. If we fail to win by defeating corruption, it will simply kill us as a nation.

This appeal to the media to join us in the fight against corruption is borne out of the fact that the fourth estate of the realm cannot afford to sit on the fence, as far as this fight is concerned.

We are not saying the media should not criticize us over our strategy for the fight, but they should stop mocking us. In recent times, it is not unusual to read such headlines as Buharis Government Losing Anti-Corruption War, Buharis Anti-Corruption War is Failing, Arewa Youths Knock President Buhari Over Failing Anti-corruption War. This is sheer mockery, not reporting!

And this war is not Buharis war. It is our war. Make no mistake about it: Of all the three broad issues that we campaigned with  revamping the economy, fighting corruption and tackling insecurity, the toughest is the war against corruption. Why?

Because fighting corruption anywhere is like walking a lonely road. While many will join hands with you to tackle insecurity or to revamp the economy, you are on your own when you take on corruption.

Most Nigerians were direct beneficiaries of corruption. Many were subsidised by corruption. Now that the gravy train of corruption is fast derailing, many are finding it difficult to come to terms with it. Thats the origin of the Bring Back Corruption Campaign being carried out by certain elements in our society.

Mr. Mohammed reiterated his stance that the main challenges faced by the current administration were as a result of corruption under the previous administration led by the Peoples Democratic Party.

He also enumerated the achievements of the Buhari administration despite the stated challenges.

For our efforts so far, we have so much to showcase: Because we are tackling corruption, we have succeeded in raising power generation from 2,690MW to an all-time high of 7,001MW.

Because we are tackling corruption, we are saving N25 billion monthly by cutting unnecessary allowances of officials.

Because we are tackling corruption, we have added $500 million to our Sovereign Wealth Fund that stagnated at the $1 billion that was used to set it up. We have raised our foreign reserves from $23 billion to $35 billion.

We stopped the payment of phantom subsidy of between N800 billion and N1.3 trillion annually, yet petroleum products are available at competitive prices.

There are more gains from our fight against corruption. We recovered at least $43 million and 56 houses from just one former government official. We have recovered $2.9 billion from looters so far.

Our Whistle-blower policy has led to the recovery of $151 million and N8 billion in looted funds from just three sources. Thanks to the sincere and full implementation of the Treasury Singles Account, or TSA, N3 trillion, almost half of the estimated revenue in the 2018 budget, has accrued to Government.

With the elimination of thousands of ghost workers, we have saved N120 billion.

We have eliminated the N108 billion in maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA.

We took Nigeria out of recession without retrenching a single worker, even when oil prices were very low. Though we earned 60% less revenue, we were able to give bailouts to states many times so they can pay salaries and pension, while providing N1.3 trillion for capital expenditure, the largest amount for capital in the nations history.

We have achieved all these and more without having all the stakeholders fully on board in the fight against corruption. Imagine how far we would have gone if all hands have been on deck.

That is why we are appealing to the media. We need allies, not antagonists. We need those who will offer constructive criticisms, not those who will mock us, Mr. Mohammed said.
Mobil Producing Nigeria, a subsidiary of the oil giant, ExxonMobil, has advised its personnel in the country to consider online banking for financial transactions and limit physical visits to bank facilities during the Christmas holiday.

The advice is contained in an undated security alert issued as an internal communication to the companys personnel.

There have been notable attacks on bank customers of late in a state like Akwa Ibom where Mobils operation is prominent.

Recent reports reflect criminals targeting individuals departing banking premises, the company said in the alert.

Mobil also advised its personnel to avoid carrying a large amount of money in their pockets or inside their vehicle.

The company, which has facilities also in Lagos, and Abuja, advised its personnel to be alert while in a slow moving traffic.

Criminals have become bolder and now attack vehicle occupants whilst in slow moving traffic, the company said. Keep valuables away from sight, avoid street hawkers whilst in traffic, and do not stop when involved in minor road accidents, you may be attacked.

The company advised its personnel to minimise outdoor gatherings as they continue to be attractive targets for extremists.

As an additional precaution, avoid taking routes through such sites where possible Be alert whilst driving, and watch for vehicles tailing you. Drive straight to a police station or public place should you suspect you are being followed. Avoid late night movement, it said.

A Mobil employee, who didnt want his name mention because he wasnt authorised to speak on the matter, told PREMIUM TIMES, Monday, that there was nothing special about the alert.

Every company does it. Its a routine security thing for us. From time to time, we issue this kind of precaution even through text messages, he said.

PREMIUM TIMES contacted the police in Akwa Ibom to get a reaction on the security alert and its preparedness to secure lives and property.

If we give such advice (Mobils alert), we would be creating an atmosphere of fear and panic. We would be making people feel that our banks are unsafe, the police spokesperson in the state, Bala Elkana, told PREMIUM TIMES.

And of course our banks are very safe, he added.

Mr. Elkana, a deputy superintendent of police, said that cases of robbery attack on bank customers in the state in the past were arranged mostly by the drivers or other persons who were close to the victims.

There is also this syndicate that used to attack bank customers in the state, we got them arrested and paraded recently. So, there is no cause for alarm, Mr. Elkana said, adding that the security alert from Mobil cant be limited to Akwa Ibom.

As far as Akwa Ibom is concerned, our banks are safe. We had few isolated cases in the past and we got the syndicate arrested.

We have also been working closely with the banks. We have been advising the banks and that has also helped them to improve their internal security. We also have a special unit dedicated to patrols around the banks. We have also volunteered free escort services to customers withdrawing bulk sum of money, the police spokesperson said.
An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on Monday sentenced a female lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, to seven years imprisonment for stabbing her husband, Lowo, to death.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the trial judge, Munta Abimbola, said that the accused was convicted of manslaughter and not of murder.

Mr. Abimbola said that while the prosecution proved that the defendant caused the death of the deceased, it failed to proof that it was done intentionally.

He, however, ordered that the seven years imprisonment should commence from Feb.2, 2016 when she was arrested.

The judge said that with the evidence before the court, the convict and her late husband had frequently engaged in domestic violence.

He also adjudged the evidence of the couples landlord and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Akinpelu, as credible.

The landlord and his wife had told the court that they saw the convict holding a knife, while the deceased was in a pool of blood.

Having seen the defendant holding a knife and the defendant had earlier confirmed that she had earlier stabbed her husband with a pair of scissors a day before, I hold that it was the defendant that stabbed the deceased, said the judge.

Mr. Abimbola also said that he took into consideration the autopsy report of Abideen Oluwashola, a consultant from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

According to the autopsy report, the deceased died as a result of shock from a deep wound caused by a sharp object, Mr. Abimbola said.

The court said that the evidence of the convict could not be relied upon, because her statement with the police was different from her statement before the court.

Earlier, Leye Adepoju, the defence counsel, had on the basis that his client was a first time offender, prayed the court to be lenient with the term of the sentence.

He added that imprisonment was not to ruin, but to reform.

If it is too long, it would ruin the life and as well jeopardise the job of the defendant, being a legal practitioner, he said.

The prosecution counsel, Sanya Akinyele, however, said he was leaving the issue of the sentencing to the discretion of the court.

Ms. Oyediran, a staff of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Oyo State Ministry of Justice, stabbed her husband to death on February 2, 2016, at Akobo area of Ibadan.

The convict stood trial on a lone charge of murder contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code of Oyo State 2,000.

She, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

(NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed his key finance officers to sit down with representatives of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, to determine how much of their unpaid debts can be released to them before Christmas.

This is in response to pleas by the governors, who came to the State House on Monday under the leadership of Abdul-Aziz Yari, the Chairman of the Forum asking that the President give a commitment to pay all outstanding debts owed them from London and Paris Club deductions to ease their financial hardships.

Mr. Buhari said he was not averse to the payments so long as the treasury can afford it and the economy will not be destabilised, a statement from his office said Monday.

The governors informed the president that they wanted his commitment on the repayment so that they could factor the money into their 2018 appropriation plans.

In his reaction, the president said that the issues affecting the States were familiar to him.

I will not be saying much because the responsible ministers are here: Finance, Budget and Planning and the Central Bank of Nigeria. I request you to appoint your own team to come and sit down with them.

This should be done, not only for next years budget but for this Christmas. The Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning and the Central Bank should sit down with you in a sub-committee to see how much can be released before Christmas.

For Nigerians without sources other than their salary, I am concerned that workers should be able to pay rent, school fees, buy drugs and take care of their families. I am so much concerned that people should have something to eat for Christmas.

A statement by Mr. Buharis spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said following the presentation by other Governors  Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna; Rauf Aregbosola, Osun; Udom Emmanuel  Akwa Ibom State and Rochas Okorocha, Imo State took turns to commend the President for caring for the States and their workers; for his equal treatment of the States irrespective of political party differences and for approving these refunds to the States going back to 2015 which according to them, previous leaders chose not to give attention to.
Vishwas, a poet-turned-politician who has his way with words, given a platform after months to address a gathering as large as Sunday's, minced no word.

By Sweta dutta: As the Aam Aadmi Party clocked five years of being a political entity on Sunday, its rank and file gathered at Ramlila Maidan - the site for demonstrations during its formative days in 2011-12 - to mark the event.

The dais shared by the party's senior leadership yet again made space for differing voices as AAP Rajasthan in-charge Kumar Vishwas in a bare-all told a massive gathering of party volunteers that despite threats to oust him from the party, he is here to stay.

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Vishwas, a poet-turned-politician who has his way with words, given a platform after months to address a gathering as large as Sunday's, minced no word.

He whipped up nostalgia, threw in allegory and kept his allegations nuanced as he reached out to a cheering crowd of volunteers.

After months of run-ins with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal that has played out on television channels as the harbinger of yet another split in the party, Vishwas, who has found himself isolated by a dominant pro-Kejriwal leadership, refuses to budge or quit.

"It has been over seven to eight months I have not spoken because the platform where free discussions should happen, the political affairs committee meetings, have not been taking place except one called for the presidential polls. During the last national council meet, I was not allowed to speak," Kumar said as he added that he knew how it would be for volunteers who have not been given a hearing for the past five years, drawing much applause from the crowd.

"There are objections that I am not a full-time politician. Yes, I am not. I am a full-time Indian and a part-time politician. If I can earn a living, only then will I be able to practice honest politics... And I would suggest that others should also do so. It is possible for people to pursue their profession and alongside talk about the AAP," he maintained, while slipping in questions around fancy clothes and airfares afforded by some of his party colleagues.

Vishwas, who has repeatedly insisted that the party should make space for dissent and debate, pointed out, "Har Mahabharat mein Yudhishthir zaroor hai (Yudhishthir in necessary in every Mahabharata)," most likely implying that the mythological character's sagacity is needed amid the internal strife of AAP.

"We are a group of individuals who do not see eye to eye... but we have done whatever has emerged as the consensus," he said.

"Hamari ladai kisse hai? Apnon se ya Ramlila Maidan ke sapnon se? (Who are we fighting against? Our own people or for the dreams seen at the Ramlila Maidan?)" he said.

"About 20-22 people ambushed me and threatened that I will be humiliated so much that I will be forced to leave the party and flee. Let me take this opportunity to tell you that I am going nowhere. Main Abhimanyu hoon. Meri hatya mein bhi vijay hai. (I am Abhimanyu. My death will also mean victory.). I belong to the Ramlila Maidan and this is where I will stay," said Vishwas, who has been battling strong opposition from Kejriwal camp.

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Taking a dig on Kejriwal's coterie, he added, "When we were agitating at the Jantar Mantar and later at the Ramlila Maidan, several people from the corporate world and media came to watch... Revolution must have arrived late for them. It was only when we formed government that they joined AAP.

"I have heard some people complain 'Anna wale bade pareshan karte hain' (leaders from the Anna movement trouble a lot.) I tell them that the party was formed by them and not by those who left other parties to join us."

Starting next week, Vishwas said, he will be sitting at the party headquarters once every week, to meet volunteers from across states, who need a hearing or wish to know more about the party's plans in their respective states.

--- ENDS ---

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An advocacy group, Access to Justice, has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, to review the timing of judicial conferences for judges as it delays administration of justice in the country.

The group in a statement on Saturday urged the National Judicial Institute, the organiser of the conferences, to reschedule the programme to hold during court vacations.

We have no objection to conferencing amongst judges or anyone else, Adenike Aiyedun, Deputy Director, Access to Justice, said in the statement.

However, we may observe that there is nothing inevitable about how those meetings are scheduled, and no legal requirement that such conferences take place on court users time.

Once courts open for business, the time available to be applied towards adjudication of disputes technically belongs to court users and the satisfaction of their needs, and not the judges themselves since it is to meet the needs of court users that the Judiciary owes its existence.

The bi-annual Judges Conference held in Abuja last week with the theme Strengthening Judicial Integrity and the Rule of Law.

On the opening ceremony of the event, President Muhammadu Buhari noted that a reform of the Judiciary should begin with eliminating seemingly endless delays particularly at the Appellate courts.

Cases before the judges attending the week-long conference were stalled and subsequently adjourned to later dates, some to the early weeks of 2018.

Ms. Aiyedun said the effect of the conference on litigation is that lawyers and witnesses who had given up important commitments to go to courts would have wasted their time.

She added that if the Judiciary is interested in cutting trial delays, then it must walk the talk by introducing reforms that would remove factors that occasion delays in the trial system.

Any talk about reforming the speed at which justice is administered must include a commitment, indeed a Covenant, not to place any other duty on Judges above the duty to adjudicate over their various dockets.

As a matter of fact, the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers specifically states in a preamble that the  the judicial duties of a Judicial Officer, which include all the duties of his office prescribed by law, take precedence over all his other activities.

To reduce court delays, therefore, the Judiciary must prioritise the rendering of a Judges adjudicative functions above every other activity of its Judges.

The scale of the impact which a Courts closure for even one day has on the life of any single case is significant, and not miniscule or marginal as may be assumed: the fixture of any trial date often involves participatory forensic planning to ensure a date is suitable for every party in the case  that is, the court, the litigants, legal counsel, and witnesses.

Therefore, one adjournment can trigger a series of further adjournments in an effort to get a suitable trial date for all the parties.

Ms. Aiyedun further noted that while the Nigerian Bar Association, the umbrella body of lawyers in the country, schedules its own annual conference during court vacations, judicial conferences in a number of countries are held on weekends or public holidays.

In India for example, judicial conferences have been held on Easter as well as on its Independence Day.

She added that preventing one adjournment in a case could save a significant amount of time available for trial and improve court users experiences with attending courts.

In any event, taking a stand that Judicial Conferences will no longer disrupt courts adjudicative functions will set a worthy example for every stakeholder in the justice system: it will amplify the message that it is no longer business as usual in our courtrooms and that the Judiciary expects Judges to no longer superimpose other responsibilities over their primary adjudicative duties.

If the National Judicial Council fails to do this, the current paradigm of adjudicatory delays will not change and will continue to create unpleasant experiences for court users and an unfavourable perception of courts and justice in Nigeria.
Nigerians must use the hard lessons of the recent economic recession to build a sustainable economy based on diversification away from oil and the oil curse.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, gave this advice on Monday at a business dinner in honour of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, John Sullivan.

The dinner was attended by participants in the just-ended Nigeria-U.S. Bi-National Commission, BNC, meeting in Abuja.

Nigerias economy slipped into recession in the first quarter of 2016, after consecutive contractions following falling global crude oil prices.

To guard against recurrence of the experience, Mr. Enelamah said government launched the medium-term economic recovery and growth plan, ERGP, to pursue purposeful economic growth, invest in the people and build a competitive economy.

He said the government appreciated the strategic importance of agriculture, an area Nigeria has comparative advantage in terms of arable land and a huge population.

Besides, he said, government recognised the need for infrastructure development, through the provision of power, energy, transportation and rail lines, apart from an inclusive industrialization, linked to micro, small and medium enterprises.

We need to create the environment that entrepreneurship and enterprise can thrive. The ERGP includes the social sectors, in terms of education, healthcare, and technology to launch the country into the 21st century, he said.

The ERGP is not an ambitious document. This was deliberate. It is a document forged at a time of a recession and tough economic times. One of the real regrets for me, as a Nigerian, and as a member of this administration, will be if we waste this crisis, particularly the difficult times the country has been through.

In trying to exit recession, we should not be in a hurry, but do so in a way we will learn from the lessons and apply for a long time, to build a sustainable economy that promotes diversification away from oil and the oil curse, he said.

The minister said President Muhammadu Buharis agenda included providing security, fighting corruption and creating the right environment for business, through transparency, good governance, wealth creation and economic prosperity.

He hailed the ERGP as not only clear, but also focused and consistent with the presidents vision for sustainable economic growth, without over-promising and under delivering priorities.

The ERGP priorities, he pointed out, were similar to the Nigeria-U.S. Bi-national commission vision and agenda to pursue government priorities through a commitment to create an enabling environment for doing business.

He commended the United States for consistently encouraging Nigeria to create an enabling business environment for industries to thrive and the economy to grow.

If the huddles to creating the environment to do business are removed, the people will do well. Thats why Nigerians excel when they go abroad. There is something in the environment we need to get right to bring out the best in the people.

Nigeria is the right place to do business. Government wants to attract people who want to do business the right way. Our vision is to make Nigeria one of the most attractive and easiest place to do business in Africa, he said.

He noted the activities of the Presidential Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council established to provide the forum for government and the private sector to work together to implement the ERGP and find solutions to the countrys economic problems.

The council, he said, focuses on critical areas, namely industry, critical infrastructure, financing, policy and regulation, vocational training and skills acquisition, trade and market access.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, Yewande Sadiku, said the US-Nigeria bi-national Commission began in 2016 under the Obama administration to enable the two countries cooperate and collaborate on issues of common development interest.

Mrs. Sadiku said the Commission has provided a platform for government and private sector players to interact and find solutions to problems limiting ease of doing business, to promote investment opportunities.

No government anywhere in the world can build its infrastructural requirements by itself. Government (federal or state) must work with domestic and international investors in the private sector to deliver service to the people.

We will leverage on areas the U.S is strong at, particularly in agriculture, power, construction and real estate, manufacturing, solid minerals, digital economy, service, she said.

The Nigeria-U.S. Bi-national Commission was hosted by the NIPC and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Business Council

Participants included the Assistant Secretary of the State, Department of Commerce, Skip Jones; U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, and the Consular- General, John Bray.

Others were Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; President, American Business Council and Managing Director of General E, Lazarus Angbazo, and CEO, American Business Council in Nigeria, Margaret Olele.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has recently cleared the ICT Security and Systems Infrastructure Upgrade project of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)/Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) through its commitment as the governments clearinghouse for all IT procurement and services in the public sector.

In an effort to strengthen the IT Projects Clearance process, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FBCS, the Director General/CEO, sought for the support of the EFCC in order to sustain its fight against corrupt practices in IT procurements of Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Mr Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC Acting Chairman/CEO, pledged the Commissions support and indicated that they would comply with governments directives on obtaining NITDAs clearance for the Commissions IT procurements and services.

The Commission fulfilled this pledge by subjecting its ICT Security and Systems Infrastructure Upgrade project to rigorous scrutiny by NITDAs IT Projects Clearance Committee. By this singular act, the EFCC has shown that it is not above the law thereby serving as an example to other government establishments.

It may be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has called for strict compliance to the IT Projects Clearance directive by all government establishments. He made this declaration at the opening ceremony of this years e-Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition held from Tuesday 7th to Thursday 9th November, 2017. He also used the event to commend the Agencys efforts at enforcing Federal Governments directive on ensuring that all ICT projects are cleared before they are implemented.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is an Agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications. The Agency was created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and coordinate general IT development and regulation in the country. Specifically, Section 6(a & c) of the Act mandates NITDA to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria; and render advisory services in all information technology matters to the public and private sectors.

Mrs Hadiza Umar MNIPR

Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

Corporate Headquarters, Abuja.
The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, said it had concluded arrangement to take delivery of a Boeing 737 Simulator as part of plans to expand its training capacity.

The Rector of the college, Mohammed Abdulsalam, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Mr. Abdulsalam said the decision to acquire B737 was because it was the commonly used aircraft type by many airlines in Nigeria as well as the presidential fleet.

He said the college had made substantial payment in respect of the purchase of the simulator, adding that work had since commenced on the building that would house the aircraft at Zaria.

The rector disclosed that the simulator had been built and warehoused by the manufacturer in Canada, saying it would be on its way to Nigeria by the middle of 2018.

According to him, NCAT has made substantial payment of about 70 per cent and so, very soon we will have the simulator installed in Zaria to be able to offer B737 type-rating.

The management of NCAT able to identify the most commonly used aircraft in Nigeria which is the Boeing 737 and used that to purchase a 737 simulator that will be installed in Zaria, he said.

This simulator project was also affected by the foreign exchange issue because it was also a dollar denominated project so the cost has doubled.

I am glad to inform you that NCAT has made substantial payment for this project and work has commenced on the building that is going to house the simulator.

The only thing that will delay the project is the release of funds but it is our firm belief that this project will see the light of the day before the end of next year.

Mr. Abdulsalam explained that the decision to go for B737 simulator would help the government and domestic airline operators to save cost in the recurrent training of their pilots.

He said that training of pilots, which occurred every six months, had been a huge drain on the foreign exchange of the airlines and the country.

According to him, commercial pilots usually go for the recurrent training every six months and as such NCAT is hoping to capture that market and start having that training done in Zaria.

He said, When the national carrier does take off eventually, we hope to partner with the national carrier and should they be operating Boeing series of aircraft, we have a ready facility that they can use to train.

We have also made provision in the building for expansion to take additional simulators and the facility is one that can house four simulators.

(NAN)
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) is currently inspecting ongoing federal projects for 2015/2016 fiscal years in some states in the South-East to ensure quality service delivery to the people.

The acting Chairman of FRC, Victor Muruako, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that the commission was simultaneously doing same in other zones in the country.

Projects inspected included construction work at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku/Ozalla; National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu; Federal School Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu; and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi (NUATH).

Others were the ongoing Enugu-Onitsha Federal Road, Oji-Achi-Awgu Federal Road, Adada Dam project, Enugu and Federal Secretariat Complex, Awka.

Mr. Muruako said the inspection was part of the commissions mandate to ensure that the quantum of money released by Federal Budget Office for projects was commensurate with level of work delivered so far.

He added that the commission wanted to ascertain that each kobo of federal government was spent judiciously on what it was meant for, and achieve substantial results in the lives of Nigerians.

We want to ensure that Nigerians, no matter where they reside, get value for each kobo spent by Federal Government on projects meant to uplift their lives, he said.

The verification kicked off nationwide two weeks ago and FRC teams have been

visiting institutions where Federal Budget Office released money for projects to be executed.

Three teams for three zones had completed their verifications for now; that of North-East, South-South and South-East zones are currently ongoing.

According to Mr. Muruako, the teams pick on the projects, run checks on them with the template and ask questions where necessary.

We will also submit reports in booklet form as we did last year, to know the true position of things, he said.

Mr. Muruako noted that the verification would also identify bottlenecks and other hindrances to the quick completion of the projects.

(NAN)
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.




Dave Cox, Middleton Idaho DUI Analyst and Consultant, recently concluded multiple DUI Seminars in Colorado, helping DUI attorneys win more DUI cases.

Contact

Dave Cox

***@yourduipro.com Dave Cox

End

--Your DUI Pro, recently traveled to Colorado to present his well-received "Winning DUI Cases" Seminar. Dave visited Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and Denver; Colorado, to deliver the seminar to some of Colorado's best DUI attorneys. Dave Cox taught these Attorneys how to win DUI cases using NHTSA Manuals and advanced cross-examination techniques.The attorneys who attended Dave Cox's DUI Seminar, "Winning DUI Cases", had great things to say about their experience. Here is a testimonial from one of Colorado's best DUI attorneys:"Best CLE I've ever attended."Erin Hogan - Lakewood, ColoradoDave Cox, DUI Analyst and Consultant, has personally trained thousands of attorneys across the United States. Dave is a former police officer and, during his career, he was recognized as one of the top DUI officers in the country. As an officer, Dave Cox was certified as a Drug Recognition Expert, the highest level of training available to DUI enforcement officers. Dave now specializes in training attorneys how to easily and effectively use the officer, the officer's training, and the officer's NHTSA Manuals to win DUI Cases.In the upcoming weeks, Dave Cox will be presenting his DUI Seminar to attorneys in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and California. Dave will be visiting the following cities:Norman, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City; OklahomaJackson, Memphis, and Nashville; TennesseeRiverside, San Diego, and Los Angeles; CaliforniaOakland, San Francisco, and San Jose; CaliforniaTo register for upcoming seminars, please visit http://www.YourDUIPro.com/ seminars To learn more about Dave Cox and Your DUI Pro, please visit http://www.YourDUIPro.com
Arvind Kejriwal had appealed to voters in Gujarat to elect any candidate who could defeat the BJP in the state

By Ankit Tyagi: The Income Tax Department has sent a notice to Aam Aadmi Party asking the party to pay Rs 30 crore over alleged violations in its donations. IT department has given AAP a deadline of December 7 to explain the irregularities.

Sources in the department told India Today the recovery notice was pertaining to the scrutiny of AAP's donations received in 2014-2015. The department found irregularities in the donations and has deemed it as taxable earnings by the party and not political donations. The party has been asked to to pay a penalty of Rs 30.67 crore.

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AAP sources said this was a vindictive move by the department under the behest of the Modi Government. They said this was the first time in the history of this country that a political party's donations have been treated as taxable earnings.

Department sources said the notice was sent to the party on November 23. The first notice for an explanation was sent by the department on November 17, but the party failed to furnish satisfactory answers.

Top AAP functionaries said they will not be deterred by this and will take legal recourse against the notice. The party also believed the timing of the notice was suspicious as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 26, AAP's fifth foundation day, appealed to the voters of Gujarat to vote for any candidate who could defeat the BJP in the state.

--- ENDS ---
* Investment Operations may include the use of certain portfolio management techniques such as credit default swaps, dollar rolls, negative cash, reverse repurchase agreements and when-issued securities.

The foregoing portfolio characteristics are as of the date indicated and can be expected to change. The Fund is a closed-end U.S.-registered management investment company advised by AllianceBernstein L. P.
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

MEDIA ADVISORY: The Pharma & Device Packaging & Labeling West Coast event is now in its second year and established as one of the industry's must-attend conferences for anyone working in packaging, labeling, supply chain or regulatory affairs. Combined with pharmaceutical and medical devices content, a range of panel discussions and presentations at this conference will cover steps required to ensure product packaging and labeling through internal alignment, open communication and streamlined end-to-end operations.





Topics covered will include: achieving greater cooperation between cross-functional teams to streamline your product launch and change control systems; assessing cryogenic secondary packaging operations; and improving tracking and control systems system to have constant updates about global regulations.



What: Jason Arnsparger, Program Manager, AMPLEXOR Life Sciences, will present, "Lost in Translation: The Case for Centralized Content Management," outlining a more systematic and cost-effective approach for Life Sciences companies moving forward. Join AMPLEXOR Life Sciences at the Pharma & Device Packaging & Labeling West Coast, to discuss these issues and more.



When: 29 November 2017

11:30 a.m.  noon



Where: Hyatt Regency, San Francisco Airport

Burlingame, CA

AMPLEXOR will also exhibit at the Pharma & Device Packaging & Labeling West Coast event 28-29 November at Booth #10. Language Services experts will be available to discuss any challenges your organization may be facing around centralized content management and translation services in life sciences.

To learn more about AMPLEXOR Life Sciences' solutions and language services, visit: www.amplexor.com.

About AMPLEXOR Life Sciences

AMPLEXOR Life Sciences helps pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology organizations launch products and break new markets quickly. Its solutions and services expedite the creation and delivery of consistent, compliant and high-quality global content  both physical and digital  across all target countries. Its services include technology consultancy, implementation and management services, as well as technical writing, medical translation and linguistic validation services.

AMPLEXOR employs 1,700 people in 23 countries across four continents. It boasts a rich 25+ year history of serving pharmaceutical, medical device manufacturers and biotechnology companies. For more information, go to www.amplexor.com.

SOURCE AMPLEXOR Life Sciences

Related Links

http://www.amplexor.com/corporate/en/industries/life-sciences.html


MISGAV, Israel, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AquiNovo Ltd. ("AquiNovo"), a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group ("Trendlines") (SGX: 42T) (OTCQX: TRNLY), announced that it signed an agreement with Neovia for an aggregate investment of US$1.5 million.

Neovia logo

Aquaculture is a fast-growing market with increasing economic opportunities. Increase in the world's population, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and rising standards of living is estimated to result in a 60% increase in world production of animal proteins by 2040. Aquaculture production, which currently represents 4% of world animal protein production (41 million tonnes), is expected to grow by 450% in the next two decades. Due to a high feed conversion rate, aquaculture is a very effective system for protein production, in particular in emerging markets with limited purchasing power.

The aquaculture industry today needs sustainable solutions that provide higher yields, with lower production costs and reduced exposure to risks associated with longer growth periods. Bearing this in mind, Neovia has defined "intensive aquaculture" as one of its five global priority innovation fields and has implemented a holistic approach in innovative solutions for aquaculture.

Similarly, AquiNovo's technology addresses this challenge by developing solutions to improve farmed fish development. The company offers a non-GMO, non-hormonal, easy-to-use solution to be incorporated into the fish feed, providing hatcheries and fish farms with shorter time to market and additional growth cycles within existing infrastructure. Founded in 2015, AquiNovo is based in Misgav, Israel.

AquiNovo's CEO, Dr. Nissim Chen, remarked, "We believe that AquiNovo's technology will make a real difference for fish farmers world-wide. The combination of fish yield enhancement, with reduced exposure to risks associated with longer growth periods, will significantly contribute to risk management and revenues for fish farmers. Neovia's investment affirms their confidence in the Company, its vision and its achievements to date. We're excited to work with Neovia on the development of innovative solutions for the aquaculture market."

Hubert de Roquefeuil, President of Neovia, added, "Intensive aquaculture ranks among our five major innovation fields and we are very interested in collaborating with a recognized partner such as AquiNovo. Our strong position in the international aquaculture market, especially in Tilapia, will deeply benefit from this differentiating and innovative technology."

Contact:

Nissim Chen, CEO

AquiNovo Ltd.

+972-54-24-87-223

[email protected]

www.aquinovo.com

SOURCE AquiNovo Ltd

Related Links

http://www.aquinovo.com


WARREN, Mich., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Art Van Furniture, the Midwest's No. 1 furniture and mattress retailer, today announced that it has acquired two privately-held Pennsylvania furniture companies, Pittsburgh-based Levin Furniture and Altoona-based Wolf Furniture.

"Today's acquisitions of these two well-established furniture retailers  both intricately woven into the fabric of their communities  underscores a transformative new era of thoughtful expansion at Art Van Furniture," said Kim Yost, president and CEO of Art Van Furniture. "From their commitment to their customers to their long-standing histories and corporate cultures, Levin and Wolf are a perfect fit for Art Van's growing family of brands.

Levin Furniture was founded by Sam Levin in 1920, and is currently led by his grandson, Robert Levin, who serves as President. Art Van Furniture's acquisition of the 97-year-old, family-owned and operated business will add 35 stores across Pennsylvania and Ohio to its expansive portfolio of brands and showrooms.

"This exciting new chapter for Levin Furniture comes as we near the 100th anniversary of my grandparents' very first store," said Levin. "Becoming part of the Art Van Furniture family of retailers will allow Levin to cement future growth, continue to be of service to the community and provide a superior shopping experience."

Wolf Furniture was co-founded in 1902 by Charles Wolf and Jon Fox, and is currently led by CEO and fourth-generation family member, Doug Wolf. In 2015, Wolf Furniture acquired Maryland-based Gardiners Furniture, and rebranded the stores Gardiner Wolf Furniture. Wolf Furniture operates 18 showrooms in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, which will be added to Art Van Furniture's growing portfolio.

"The timing was right, and the opportunity presented itself," said Wolf. "The heart and soul of our 115-year-old company will remain the same with this acquisition, and Wolf Furniture will benefit from Art Van's enormous buying power, warehouse and distribution capacity and services."

With the acquisitions of Levin and Wolf, Art Van becomes a top ten national furniture retailer based on sales, with 176 stores which includes 18 Art Van franchise stores in nine states and $1.3 billion in expected annual sales. The acquisitions will also add 1,900 new employees to Art Van's current employee base of 3,600, bringing the total to 5,500 associates. Levin and Wolf Furniture will both maintain their names and all current management teams plus staff will remain in place. All Levin and Wolf customer accounts and product warranties will continue as well.

RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor to Art Van Furniture in connection with the transactions. Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal advice to Art Van Furniture. Financial terms for the transactions were not disclosed.

In March 2017, Art Van completed an equity recapitalization in partnership with Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. ("THL"). THL of Boston is the majority shareholder of Art Van.

For more information, visit artvan.com.

About Art Van Furniture, LLC.

Art Van Furniture, LLC is the Midwest's No. 1 furniture and mattress retailer with 176 stores in 9 states operating under the following brands; Art Van Furniture, Art Van PureSleep, Art Van Flooring, Scott Shuptrine Interiors, Levin Furniture , Wolf Furniture and Gardiner Wolf Furniture. Founded in 1959, the company is headquartered in Warren, Mich. Visit artvan.com for more information.

About Levin Furniture

Founded in 1902, Levin Furniture has 35 furniture and mattress showrooms and clearance centers in Northeastern Ohio and Southwestern Pennsylvania. For more information, visit levinfurniture.com.

About Wolf Furniture

Wolf Furniture was founded in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1902, and purchased Maryland-based Gardiners Furniture in 2015. The company has 18 furniture showrooms in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. For more information, visit wolffurniture.com.

About Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.

Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies, headquartered in North America, exclusively in four industry sectors: Business & Financial Services, Consumer & Retail, Healthcare, and Media, Information Services & Technology. Using the firm's deep domain expertise and the internal operating capabilities of its Strategic Resource Group, THL seeks to create deal sourcing advantages, and to accelerate growth and improve operations in its portfolio companies in partnership with management teams.

Since its founding in 1974, THL has raised over $22 billion of equity capital, acquired over 140 portfolio companies and completed over 360 add-on acquisitions which collectively represent a combined enterprise value at the time of acquisition of over $200 billion.

SOURCE Art Van Furniture

Related Links

http://www.artvan.com


HOUSTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A short time from now, in a galaxy not too far away, the International Space Station will go from ISS to RSS  a Radio Space Station  as NASA astronaut Joe Acaba will host his second show on Third Rock Radio from 252 miles above Earth.

Produced by Houston-based RFC Media, which created Third Rock Radio to support NASA's outreach to young adults in science, technology, engineering, and math, "The Joe Show" will air at 5 p.m. EST Dec. 7 and features Acaba as an out-of-this-world DJ spinning tunes and talking science for a global audience.

"The Joe Show" can be streamed live from www.thirdrockradio.net.

Pat Fant, co-founder of RFC Media, said, "the broadcast is designed to engage a broad, worldwide audience in NASA's mission of exploration and discovery."

"Joe returns to Third Rock after his 2012 debut from the ISS. He will spin some of the best new rock out there  really out there  which provides a disarmingly contemporary context for the stories of those who fly, build, and dream through aerospace," Fant explained. "Listeners will get a peek at some of the remarkable work being done on the ISS and learn how NASA is engaged in adding to their lives through exploration and discovery.

"At RFC Media, our goal is to help our client brands build community and deepen their relationship with audiences. Third Rock does that for NASA, and The Joe Show is another creative example of presenting the message in a fresh new context."

Fant credited Third Rock's success to a seamless blend of spoken word content and largely undiscovered music  something he said is a hallmark of RFC's BrandCasting strategy.

"Third Rock is far from your basic off-the-shelf radio playlist, run by computers, offering canned content," he continued. "It is a live-hosted presentation by nationally known on-air talent who produce fresh and relevant information surrounded by specially curated music. The whole package helps popularize the ways NASA is taking us into the future.

"This kind of audience-specific brand focus is the future of radio. It's what we do. And it demonstrates how on-purpose streaming radio adds to brand marketing.

About Third Rock Radio

Third Rock Radio is produced under a NASA Space Act Agreement with RFC Media. "America's Space Station" features updates on NASA's newest missions and discoveries, as well as some very tasty new rock/indie/alternative. Stream it live from the NASA mobile app, from TuneIn, or directly from www.thirdrockradio.net.

About RFC Media

Houston-based RFC Media is a world leader in creating customized, content-driven, brand-focused radio stations for businesses, organizations, and events. With live programming and strategic messaging that is targeted to specific audiences, RFC Media redefines and revolutionizes traditional Internet radio by helping clients create an interactive, multidimensional experience that builds, sustains, and deepens relationships with their customers. For further information, visit www.rfcmedia.com

SOURCE RFC Media

Related Links

http://www.thirdrockradio.net


BREA, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Beckman Coulter is committed to ensuring customers receive the highest quality assays, on-time, to help healthcare and laboratory professionals provide better patient care. To further these goals, Beckman Coulter plans in the future to sell directly to its customers a natriuretic peptide assay for its Access Family of Immunoassay Systems. Currently, Beckman Coulter customers have access to a BNP assay which, although developed and manufactured by Beckman Coulter, is sold exclusively by Quidel and its designated distributors. Quidel took over this commercial role as a result of its recent transaction with Alere. Today, Beckman Coulter requested that the San Diego courts in California clarify and enforce Beckman Coulter's rights to sell a natriuretic peptide assay directly to its customers. While this legal matter is being resolved, Beckman Coulter's manufacture and supply of the TRIAGE BNP assay to Quidel and Quidel's customer relationships are expected to continue as usual, and customers can therefore rely on continued and ongoing supply of high-quality BNP for use on Beckman Coulter analyzers.

About Beckman Coulter

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics helps healthcare and laboratory professionals provide better patient care by delivering the accurate diagnostic information they need, when they need it. For over 80 years, Beckman Coulter has been the partner of choice for healthcare organizations. Our scalable instruments, comprehensive diagnostic tests and business management services are trusted by hospitals, laboratories and other critical care settings around the world. We share in our customers' mission toward continuous improvement and quality patient care because we believe when efficiency and clinical outcomes are improved, patients benefit and we can move healthcare forward for every person.

 2017 Beckman Coulter, the stylized logo and the Beckman Coulter product and service marks mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Beckman Coulter, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

SOURCE Beckman Coulter Diagnostics
OCEAN CITY, Md., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Officers of the Chinese American Hotel Owners Association recognized Ben Seidel, President and CEO, Real Hospitality Group, with the Outstanding Hotel Award, which honors individuals in that not only excel in the field of hospitality but work towards building better communities.

The accolade was recently presented to Seidel at the America China Hotel Association's premiere annual gala which was held on November 8th at the Terrace on the Park in New York City. In addition, city and state officials recognized and presented Seidel with three certificates including the New York State Assembly's special recognition for dedication and service to the community, the New York State Senate's citation for exemplary service and the City of New York's recognition for outstanding leadership.

"On behalf of the Real Hospitality Group's family of colleagues and associates, I extend a special thank you to the America China Hotel Association for the great privilege in receiving its premier Outstanding Hotel Award. I also offer my gratitude to the officials in the offices of the New York Assembly and State Senate, and the City of New York, for their equally humbling distinctions and honors," said Ben Seidel. "Real Hospitality Group provides owners with innovative business solutions that best fit their local markets. We are proud to have forged meaningful and long-lasting partnerships and relationships within the local markets we serve."

Under Seidel's visionary leadership toward relationships and positive results, Real Hospitality Group has grown to become one of the top 15 U.S. hotel management companies in less than seven years. In addition to his lifetime of passion for the industry and driving successful hotel business operations, Seidel also serves as President of Marriott's Owners Council for the Aloft Hotels brand, is a board member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and is an active member of various hospitality brands and associations. He has taught hospitality marketing and accounting management at the Central Connecticut State University's school of hospitality and is a current participant in the development of the School of Hospitality at the West Virginia University in Morgantown. Seidel is a graduate of West Chester University in Pennsylvania and is CHA/CHSP certified by AHLAEI.

About Real Hospitality Group

Ocean City, Maryland-based Real Hospitality Group (RHG), with offices in New York City and Miami, is a full-service hotel management company. The Real Hospitality Group portfolio includes over 80 hotels open and in development in key markets and resort destinations.

The company is a recognized service provider for leading brands including Marriott International, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group PLC,

Choice Hotels International, Inc., Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and Red Lion Hotels Corporation as well as a growing portfolio of independent luxury boutique hotels including MADE in New York City and Ruschmeyers in Montauk, NY. RHG focuses on comprehensive development management services, revenue performance, guest experience and business development for hotels, resorts and investment ownership groups. For more information about Real Hospitality, please visit realhospitalitygroup.com.

SOURCE Real Hospitality Group

Related Links

http://www.realhospitalitygroup.com


TROY, Mich., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As both Bianchi Public Relations, Inc. and Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), one the largest international networks of independent public relations agencies, mark their 25th anniversaries this year, they also welcome three new member firms hailing from Asia, Central America and South America into the network. The firms were inducted into PRGN at the global PR alliance's recent meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

These additions to the PRGN network  whose membership has grown 20 percent in the past five years to 51 member agencies  extend Bianchi PR's and PRGN's reach across six continents and more than 40 countries.

"We welcome the new member agencies to PRGN, and look forward to working with them to serve our clients wherever in the world they need us," said James A. Bianchi, president of Bianchi PR. "These respected firms bring additional local expertise to the network, and they enhance PRGN's collective power, gained though more than 50 independent, entrepreneurial agencies worldwide, to help clients build their brands and their businesses."

"We see real enthusiasm from PR firms around the world in joining the community of agencies that comprise PRGN," said Christina Rytter, current president of PRGN and managing director / founder of Copenhagen, Denmark-based Scandinavian Communications. "These individuals and their teams are true leaders in their respective markets and countries  smart, forward-looking and highly integrated in how they approach our field today. Their interest, and the continued growth of our network, demonstrates the health and vitality not just of PRGN, but also the independent PR agency market worldwide."

Rytter added that the growth of PRGN also "is a testament to the depth of knowledge sharing, business opportunity and personal relationships cultivated across our network."

Three New Members for a Growing Roster

The three agencies welcomed to PRGN during the Kyoto, Japan network meeting are:

Another Company ( Mexico , Colombia , Panama )  Another Company is the top independent PR and communications agency in Mexico with offices in Colombia and Panama . The company and its people are always evolving and looking to create cutting-edge content strategies that break paradigms and truly connect brands, media and customers. Another Company offers a team of passionate professionals specialized in different business units and services with strong expertise in the Latin American market. Clients include some of the world's top Fortune 500 companies looking to do business in Mexico and beyond. Examples are Waze, Hubspot, Calvin Klein , SAP, Tim Hortons , Adidas Group, Prada, Peninsula Hotels and others.

Perspective Strategies ( Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia )  Perspective Strategies is a full-fledged strategic communications and issue management firm with services in public affairs, brand communications and stakeholder engagement. The firm's expertise is built on years of experience of working in a comprehensive range of industries and businesses. Perspective's team has strong credentials in corporate reputation, investor relations, brand and marketing communications as well as communications capabilities building for clients. Clients include key government agencies, publicly listed companies and multinational brands such as the East Coast Economic Region Development Council, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, PETRONAS and Durex, among others.

SMARTPR (Sao Paolo, Brazil )  Established in 2002, with expertise in communications, advertising, public relations, journalism and design, SMARTPR is an independent PR firm in Brazil with a proven track record of assisting clients by developing long-term relationships with stakeholders such as journalists, influencers, business-to-business communities, employees and consumers. Above all, the people within the firm are business consultants with a special ability to drive results through content and relationships. Clients include Expedia, BuzzFeed, Waze, Amazon Web Services, Logitech, Pinterest and Level 3, among others.

A Deeply Connected Network

PRGN partners meet twice a year in cities around the world to discuss best practices, find new ways to collaborate and develop global business partnerships  as well as forge meaningful personal relationships.

Each member agency is an independent, owner-operated public relations and marketing communications firm that shares expertise and resources, while providing broad-based comprehensive communications strategies to a diverse array of clients. PRGN agencies provide worldwide coverage for businesses looking for either in-market / on the ground expertise or a more cohesive and accountable multi-market / multi-country solution. PRGN agencies also offer decades of industry expertise across nearly all major business and sector verticals.

Companies or organizations interested in the services of the PRGN agency network can visit www.prgn.com for more information.

PRGN was founded in 1992 by a small group of independent public relations agency owners looking to network and partner with other independent firms. The Phoenix Network (PRGN's original name) quickly expanded into new markets throughout the 1990s. As the network celebrated 10 years, the group elected to expand into international markets and updated its name in 2002 to the Public Relations Global Network. PRGN has steadily grown both globally and in the scope of capabilities offered since that time.

Independent agencies interested in joining the network can visit the member recruitment section of the PRGN website for more information or email its membership chair, Layth Dajani, founder of The Content Factory at [email protected].

About Public Relations Global Network (PRGN)

Clients across six continents depend on the combined resources of the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) to deliver targeted public relations campaigns in markets around the world. With revenues of more than $101 million (US), PRGN is one of the world's largest international public relations networks. PRGN harnesses the resources of more than 50 independent public relations firms and 900-plus communications professionals to connect international companies and organizations with individual and culturally diverse markets globally. Visit PRGN online at www.prgn.com, on twitter at @PRGN and on Instagram at @PublicRelationsGlobalNetwork.

About Bianchi PR

With special expertise in PR and social media for automotive suppliers, professional service firms and other business-to-business enterprises, Bianchi PR is now celebrating its 25th year. The firm is ranked the top independent PR agency based in Metro Detroit, according to PRWeek's most recent ranking of public relations firms.

Among Bianchi PR's ongoing automotive, industrial and business-to-business PR clients are Adient, ATA National Title, BASF, Cooper Standard, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies, KIRCO, Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, Schaeffler Group, SRG Global and Yanfeng Automotive Interiors. The firm's experience also includes work with organizations such as SAE International, the Automotive Industry Action Group, the Center for Automotive Research and the Steel Market Development Institute.For more information, visit http://www.bianchipr.com or call 248-269-1122.

SOURCE Bianchi Public Relations

Related Links

http://www.bianchipr.com


BJ's is offering more deals than ever before on BJs.com so members can check off everyone on their holiday list without breaking the bank. Cyber Week deals are available while supplies last.

Cyber Monday Savings - available while supplies last, valid through Nov. 27.

Sony h.ear go Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, $119.99 . Save $60 plus free shipping.

Cyber Week Savings  available while supplies last, valid through Dec. 2.

About BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.

Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, BJ's is the leading operator of membership warehouse clubs in the Eastern United States. The company currently operates 215 clubs and 133 BJ's Gas locations in 16 states.

BJ's provides a one-stop shopping destination filled with top-quality, leading brands, including its exclusive Wellsley Farms and Berkley Jensen brands, along with USDA Choice meats, premium produce and delicious organics, many in supermarket sizes. BJ's is also the only major membership warehouse club to accept all manufacturers' coupons and, for greater convenience, offers the most payment options.

Visit www.BJs.com, and for exclusive content find us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

BJ's is wholly owned by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners, CVC Capital Partners and its management team.

SOURCE BJ's Wholesale Club

Related Links

http://www.bjs.com


To mark the opening, a VIP event and ribbon cutting will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. Local dignitaries, media, employees and community members are invited to attend, take a tour of the store and enjoy refreshments.

"As we expand our store offerings at Legacy Place, we're always aiming to bring in new energy to the property to add to that sense of excitement for our clientele," said Jessica Reed, Marketing Manager at Legacy Place. "The addition of Boston Interiors gives us a direct opportunity to offer one of the most unique home furnishing shopping experiences in the region."

Along with a vast selection of home stylish, finely-crafted furniture and accessories, Boston Interiors provides design assistance from a team of in-house interior design experts. The 16,136-square foot showroom is located near the L.L. Bean entrance and between Brooks Brothers and J. Crew.

"As we continue to grow and expand our brand throughout New England, we look forward to bringing quality home furnishings and design services to the Dedham community," said Boston Interiors CEO Stefanie Lucas. "Legacy Place is a natural fit for our ninth location and we look forward to introducing ourselves to consumers in this beautiful new store."

Boston Interiors recently opened their first New Hampshire location in Bedford, N.H.

About Boston Interiors

Boston Interiors is a privately held furniture retailer, currently with nine stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The stores carry a wide selection of smartly-priced quality furniture, from clean and modern to classic and casual. Boston Interiors current stores are located in Bedford, N.H., Burlington, Dedham, Hanover, Mashpee, Natick, Saugus, Stoughton and Westborough. Boston Interiors is a member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council. Shop online at bostoninteriors.com, or visit Boston Interiors on Facebook (BostonInteriors), on Instagram (@bostoninteriors), and on Twitter (@BostonInteriors).

Contact:

Beth Gibbons for Boston Interiors

781-749-0077 x17

[email protected]

SOURCE Boston Interiors

Related Links

http://bostoninteriors.com


By PTI: recovery

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today informed the Delhi High Court that advertising agencies have initiated recovery proceedings in civil court against it in connection with Rs 97 crore allegedly spent by its government on publicity.

The party sought early hearing of its plea against the Lieutenant Governors order to recover from it the amounts spent by the Delhi government on political advertisements.

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Justice Vibhu Bakhru, however, declined to grant an early hearing.

"We are not inclined to advance the hearing," the court said.

The AAP said that one of the advertising agencies has moved the trial court against it seeking recovery of over Rs 41 lakh.

It said that summons have already been issued to it in the matter in which they have sought time to file their written statement. The next date of hearing before the trial court is December 4.

The court is already hearing the AAPs plea against a Centre-appointed panels report recommending that the ruling party be made to pay over Rs 97 crore that the Delhi government had spent on political advertisements.

It has challenged the September 16, 2016 order of the Committee on Content Regulation of government advertising and its subsequent November 11, 2016 decision constituting the three-member committee.

Earlier, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken opposed the AAPs plea and questioned its maintainability, saying the Supreme Court had said anyone aggrieved with the actions of the committee, may approach the apex court directly.

The Congress leaders counsel, Aman Panwar, also said that the AAP had approached the court with "unclean hands and the petition is liable to be dismissed with exemplary costs".

The party has challenged the report, based on which the LG had ordered the recovery of Rs 42 crore which the Delhi government had paid for the advertisements.

The LG had also said that AAP would pay the outstanding amount of about Rs 55 crore, owed to advertising agencies.

The party has challenged the LGs order, the demand notice and the panels recommendation stating that these decisions had been taken without hearing it.

In its plea, the AAP has sought quashing of the demand notice issued on March 30 by the Delhi governments Department of Information and Publicity on the LGs direction.

The LG had ordered the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government to recover the amount from the AAP within a month.

The committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon, in its report of September 16 last year, had held that the Delhi government had spent the exchequers money on advertisements projecting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party in violation of the apex court guidelines of May 13, 2015. PTI PPS SKV HMP SMN

--- ENDS ---

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brammer Bio ("Brammer"), a best-in-class cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today announced the completion of renovations and launch of its late-stage clinical capacity and commercial-ready cGMP manufacturing site in Cambridge, Massachusetts for gene therapy products.

The 66,000 square-foot Cambridge facility in the heart of Kendall Square was previously licensed by regulatory authorities to manufacture four commercial protein therapeutic products. The facility houses state-of-the-art equipment in cleanroom suites specially designed to accommodate a broad-range of gene therapy manufacturing process technologies.

"Our Cambridge site underwent a remarkable transformation," said Mark Bamforth, president and chief executive officer of Brammer. "We converted the former biologics manufacturing space that once produced some of the first antibody-based therapies into a facility that now produces leading edge gene therapy products using a variety of manufacturing platforms."

In January 2017, Brammer acquired the Cambridge site from Biogen and on-boarded an experienced team of 100 employees that has expanded to a team of 150. Today, the facility includes multiple drug substance suites able to support large-scale adherent and stirred tank production, an automated fill/finish system leveraging isolator technology, quality control laboratories, and process development space. The facility is designed with HVAC system for grade C clean rooms, unidirectional flow, and a centralized vaporized hydrogen peroxide system to ensure suite sanitization.

"Our success is founded on our team's strong scientific and manufacturing expertise," said Christopher Murphy, chief manufacturing officer at Brammer. "That foundation is supported by Brammer's investment of over $50 million in expanding its CDMO services. Today, we offer clients access to capacity at a variety of scales, and with a personalized manufacturing approach that is focused on safety, quality, process robustness, and fulfillment of their product goals."

The site's launch demonstrates Brammer's end-to-end CDMO services from early phase process development through commercial manufacturing. The company also acquired a 49,000 square-foot GMP distribution center in Somerville, Massachusetts, providing high-quality storage and clinical and commercial distribution capabilities. In September of this year, Brammer announced the completion of a doubling of its early phase clinical manufacturing capacity in Alachua, Florida.

The Brammer team consists of over 300 extraordinary employees focused exclusively on serving the cell and gene therapy needs of its clients and their patients.

About Brammer Bio

Brammer Bio provides clinical and commercial supply of vectors for in vivo gene therapy and ex vivo modified-cell based therapy, process and analytical development, and regulatory support, enabling large pharma and biotech clients to accelerate the delivery of novel medicines to improve patient health. Brammer is owned by Ampersand Capital Partners, the only institutional investor in the company, and its founders and all employees. For more information, please visit www.brammerbio.com.

About Ampersand Capital Partners

Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm with a focus on growth equity investments in the healthcare sector. Over the past two decades, Ampersand has managed more than $1 billion in private equity partnerships. Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Visit www.ampersandcapital.com.

Brammer Bio addresses:

13859 Progress Boulevard

Alachua, FL 32615

250 Binney Street

Cambridge, MA 02142

SOURCE Brammer Bio

Related Links

http://www.brammerbio.com


SAO PAULO, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Instituto Maria da Penha (IMP), a non-governmental organization that works to fight violence against women in Brazil, this week will open its platform "Relogios da violencia" (Violence Counters) (clocksofviolence.com) so that any individual or institution worldwide can input statistics of aggressions in their country. The initiative begins with data from the United States and Colombia.

According to NOW (National Organization for Women and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs), every 5.4 hours a woman is murdered by her partner, every 2.3 minutes a woman is the victim of sexual assault, and every 1.1 minutes a woman is the victim of physical violence in the United States. In Colombia, every 10.5 minutes a woman is the victim of intra-family violence, every 34.9 minutes a woman is the victim of sexual assault, and every 12 hours a woman is murdered, according to numbers from the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences.

In order to publish data, the user must register their personal information, the country where they live, and provide a link to a relevant survey on the issue. The site will report the number of victims in real time. In Brazil, the counters have reported more than one dozen types of violence, including assaults, harassment and threats. The group hopes to reproduce this type of data for other countries in accordance with the volume of data uploaded locally. The objective is to teach people about an issue that is not only a problem in Brazil, and that happens more frequently and in more varied ways than one might imagine.

Launched by the IMP in August, the awareness campaign pointed out a reality that makes Brazil the fifth most-violent country in the world for women. The initiative is already considered to be a tool that provides a service that gives the voice of militant feminism a wider reach and that facilitates the engagement of anyone who wishes to stop the "Relogios da violencia." The platform has also come to be seen as a means of information that encourages women to report occurrences.

The information presented by the site in Brazil is based on a study published on March 8, 2017, International Women's Day. The information has been turned into counters accompanied by the hash tag #TaNaHoraDeParar (It'sTimeToStop), and has been shared by television hosts, celebrities and politicians, with national repercussions.

About the Maria da Penha Institute

The Maria da Penha Institute  IMP, is a non-governmental organization that works to strengthen its identity and its objectives, including: promoting and defining educational activities that are preventive, sustainable, in defense of rights, prevention of domestic and family violence through technically usable guidance, provision of services, and support for families that have experienced violence. This has come about as a consequence of planned guidance of efforts to fight domestic crimes, by mobilizing the courts, and defining and presenting documents within the scope of improving the quality of women's lives, which perhaps has been mitigated due to violence of this type, according to the guiding principles of Law 11.340/06 - "Maria da Penha Law."

More information:

5511 3097-1000

[email protected]

SOURCE Instituto Maria da Penha (IMP)

Related Links

http://relogiosdaviolencia.com.br


NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brixmor Property Group Inc. (NYSE: BRX) invites you to listen to a live webcast of its 2017 Investor Day Presentation on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 from 8:30 AM ET to approximately 12:00 PM ET. The webcast information is as follows:

Event: Brixmor Property Group Investor Day 2017

When: 8:30 AM ET, Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Live Webcast: Brixmor Property Group 2017 Investor Day under the Investors tab at www.brixmor.com. For the corresponding presentations and additional information, please visit our Investor Day webpage.

A replay of the webcast will be available on the Brixmor website at www.brixmor.com until midnight ET on Wednesday, December 5, 2018.

Connect With Brixmor

For additional information, please visit www.brixmor.com

Follow Brixmor on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Brixmor

Find Brixmor on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/brixmor

About Brixmor Property Group

Brixmor Property Group (NYSE: BRX), a real estate investment trust (REIT), is a leading owner and operator of high-quality, open-air shopping centers. The Company's approximately 500 retail centers comprise 84 million square feet in established trade areas across the nation and are supported by a diverse mix of highly productive non-discretionary and value-oriented retailers, as well as consumer-oriented service providers. Brixmor is committed to maximizing the value of its portfolio by prioritizing investments, cultivating relationships and capitalizing on embedded growth opportunities through driving rents, increasing occupancy and pursuing value-enhancing reinvestment opportunities. Headquartered in New York City, Brixmor is a partner to more than 5,500 best-in-class national, regional and local tenants and is the largest landlord to The TJX Companies and The Kroger Company.

SOURCE Brixmor Property Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.brixmor.com


BOCA RATON, Fla., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Business broker Edward Sklar (www.southfloridaforme.com) has retained TransMedia Group to publicize his expanding business brokerage focused on lower middle market businesses with revenues of $1 to $3 million.

"We're proud to represent such a capable business broker at Edward Sklar who creates effective business plans to maximize the value of businesses he represents," said Tom Madden, CEO of TransMedia Group (www.transmediagroup.com).

"Our publicity will underscore that Sklar's business owner clients pay nothing until a business Sklar represents is sold. He doesn't get paid until his clients get paid," said Madden.

Sklar is a member of the Business Brokers of Florida (BBF) insuring businesses he represents receive maximum exposure and helps business buyers to find business to buy in Florida, said Madden.

According to TransMedia Group President Adrienne Mazzone, "Our publicity also will show how Sklar has access to an extensive network to assist his business clients with financing, legal, accounting, immigration and relocation to Florida.

"Sklar also can assist his clients after the sale with his expertise in sales and marketing, plus his extensive database of connections, locally, nationally and internationally. He will create a business plan to help clients succeed in their purchase, particularly in his specialty areas in South Florida--Palm Beach and Broward counties," she said.

Personal profile

TransMedia plans to promote Sklar's extensive background including his 30 years of management and business development experience leading successful start-ups and turnaround companies, capitalizing on market opportunities to drive revenues, profits, and growth and build strong general and P&L management. He is a USAF veteran with a Master's Degree in Management and has managed print media and email marketing programs with 500k contacts

He also is a social media expert with 18k+ LinkedIn connections and thousands more on G, Facebook, Twitter, plus his Blogger-Blog viewed across multiple channels reaches hundreds of thousands of viewers. Sklar built a real estate company from concept to $60 million in revenue using Internet, Social Media, email, and technology-based applications to become industry leader. When he was in public relations, he appeared on Phil Donahue, Howard Stern, Joan Rivers, Geraldo, NBC News, and wrote and distributed new releases for print and electronic media. Sklar has developed and sold technology solutions to such leading financial institutions as JP Morgan Chase, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs, and Federal Reserve.

Media contact: Adrienne Mazzone 561-750-9800 x2270; [email protected].

SOURCE TransMedia Group

Related Links

http://www.transmediagroup.com


WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a New York Times profile the Sunday after Thanksgiving, California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the philosophy of the Democratic Party leaders should be, "If you work hard and play by the rules, we've got your back." Becerra doesn't believe the Trump Administration has been following the rules and since becoming Attorney General he's been pushing back against the White House. California has filed two dozen lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration's efforts to make changes that affect immigrant rights, civil rights, environmental standards and consumer protections. Becerra will discuss these legal actions and other issues at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker news conference at 10 a.m., Wed., Dec. 6 in the club's First Amendment Lounge.

The news conference will be moderated by Los Angeles Times reporter Chris Megerian, and is open to credentialed media and National Press Club members free of charge, with advance registration required. Please click here to register.

Prior to being nominated as California's Attorney General by Gov. Jerry Brown late last year, Becerra served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years, 10 of those years he was in the House leadership. He also was the first Latino to serve on the Ways & Means Committee.

The son of immigrants, Becerra attended Stanford University for both his undergraduate and law school education. He worked as a Deputy Attorney for the State of California and was elected to the State Assembly before running for Congress.

The National Press Club is located on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building at 529 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

Contact: Lindsay Underwood, [email protected], (202) 662-7561

SOURCE National Press Club

Related Links

http://www.press.org


The ICRC will look at a company's quality and environmental management, and how it measures up to ICRC specifications;

ISO certification is an important standard; companies that produce large amounts of rubbish and toxic waste, as well as those built near residential areas, will not be considered;

The ICRC also assess the working conditions of the factories, including if the factories are using child labor.

To review the complete procurement process and inventory list, please visit the ICRC's official website at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doing-business-with-icrc

A renowned international charitable organization, the ICRC provides humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed conflicts. The ICRC mostly sources light industrial products such as materials for civil engineering/rehabilitation, electrical cables and accessories, HDPE pipes for water supply, fittings, and more, and has high standards when selecting partners including strict social responsibility duties in addition to criteria of quality and price.

Alan Liu, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair, noted that the requirement for social responsibility is one of the reasons why the ICRC chose the Canton Fair as a partner platform. "The Canton Fair has always considered social responsibility as one of the core requirements when assessing exhibitions. We evaluate the exhibitors strictly in respect to qualification, product quality and integrity," Liu said. "We believe there are more valuable things on the basis of quality."

About Canton Fair

The China Import and Export Fair has been held biannually in Guangzhou since 1957. It is the largest exhibition with the widest array of products, most diverse selection of buyers and highest business turnover in China.

Visit: http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.aspx

SOURCE Canton Fair
RESTON, Va., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and information technology company, was awarded a prime contract by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide logistical support, emergency operations, and program coordination to the Division of Strategic National Stockpiles (DSNS). The follow-on single-award time & materials contract has a one year-base period, four one-year options, and a total contract value of $26 million.

The almost $7 billion Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) inventory of antibiotics, medical supplies, antidotes, antitoxins, antiviral, vaccines and other pharmaceuticals requires vigilant monitoring and management to keep stock supplied, rotated, and stored within U.S. Food and Drug Administration potency shelf-life requirements. DSNS requires support for rapid, agile delivery of stockpile material when a national emergency occursanywhere, anytimewithin the United States or its territories.

Through a 15-year partnership with the CDC on this program, Leidos has developed a well-honed understanding of the DSNS mission to protect the nation's health through responsive key personnel with demonstrated performance, and an ability to adapt and adjust to challenge and priorities. Under the task order, Leidos will continue to augment the DSNS mission by providing trained key personnel with the necessary expertise to provide logistical, technical, operational, and administrative support to assist in operating and maintaining the SNS inventory.

"We look forward to providing the expertise and key personnel necessary to sustain continual improvement to realize goals in logistics, efficiency, and cost reduction strategies that will ultimately allow the DSNS to achieve its mission to be the nation's premier medical materiel preparedness and response organization," said Leidos Group President Jon Scholl.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 30, 2016, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE Leidos

Related Links

http://www.leidos.com


AUBURN, Ala., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick, the nation's only southern inspired, fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today its expanding in Florida with the opening of its second Pinellas County restaurant in Seminole. The new restaurant will open on Tuesday, Dec. 5 and is located inside the new Seminole City Center at 7839A 113th Street North. This location is owned and operated by husband-and-wife franchisee team Paul and Linsay Rohr, and marks the 77th Chicken Salad Chick restaurant nationwide.

During grand opening week, guests will enjoy southern hospitality through giveaways and specials at the new Chicken Salad Chick restaurant:

Tuesday, Dec. 5  Free Chicken Salad for a Year  The first guest will win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week for an entire year; the next 99 guests receive a free large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month.*

 Free Chicken Salad for a Year  The first guest will win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week for an entire year; the next 99 guests receive a free large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month.* Wednesday, Dec. 6  First 50 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a free 30 oz. RTIC Chick Tumbler.

 First 50 guests to purchase a Chick Special will receive a free 30 oz. RTIC Chick Tumbler. Thursday, Dec. 7  The first 50 guests at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. will receive a free scoop of Classic Carol chicken salad.

 The first 50 guests at and will receive a free scoop of Classic Carol chicken salad. Friday, Dec. 8  The first 100 guests to purchase two large Quick Chicks will receive a free large Chick Cooler.

 The first 100 guests to purchase two large Quick Chicks will receive a free large Chick Cooler. Saturday, Dec. 9  First 50 guests to purchase a large Quick Chick will receive a free 30 oz. RTIC Chick Tumbler.

"Our Chicken Salad Chick location in Palm Harbor is very popular and has been an outlet for us to serve others and touch lives in a way we never thought possible," said Linsay Rohr. "My husband and I knew we had to keep the momentum going, and we're excited to expand our partnership with Chicken Salad Chick and continue to serve fresh, homemade chicken salad with impeccable customer service to guests across the Tampa area."

In search for an opportunity to combine their passion for community and serving others, the Rohr's discovered the Chicken Salad Chick concept in 2011 while on vacation in South Carolina. After speaking with founder Stacy Brown, they quickly realized the brand was a special concept they wanted to be a part of. From there, the duo opened their first Chicken Salad Chick location in their community of Palm Harbor, Fla. in 2016.

The Chicken Salad Chick concept, born in Auburn, Ala., was established in 2008 in the kitchen of founder, Stacy Brown. When Stacy discovered that the local county health department would not allow her to continue making and selling her delicious recipes out of her home kitchen, she overcame that obstacle by launching her first restaurant with the business expertise of her future husband and fellow founder, Kevin Brown. Together, they opened a small takeout restaurant, which quickly grew; the company now has more than 75 restaurants across the Southeast.

Chicken Salad Chick in Seminole will be open Monday  Saturday from 11 a.m.  8:30 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.chickensaladchick.com, or call 727-319-2905. Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends.

*Eligible winners must be over 16 years of age, purchase a Chick special and are required to download the Craving Credits app. Redemption will start 12/11.

About Chicken Salad Chick

Founded in Auburn, Alabama in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, southern style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu is a perfect fit for any guest. Today, the brand has 75+ restaurants in 11 states and is continuing its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick was recently named as one of FastCasual.com's top Movers and Shakers and one of Nation's Restaurant News 2017 Next 20 brands. The brand also ranked #37 on the 2016 Inc. list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the U.S. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information.

Contact:

Alexya Williams

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick

Related Links

http://www.chickensaladchick.com


BEIJING, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51Talk", or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education, today announced that it will report its third quarter 2017 unaudited financial results, on Monday, December 4, 2017, before the open of U.S. markets.

The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on December 4, 2017 (9:00 PM Beijing/Hong Kong time on December 4, 2017).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States (toll free): 1-866-264-5888 International: 1-412-317-5226 Hong Kong (toll free): 800-905-945 Hong Kong: 852-3018-4992 China: 400-120-1203

Participants should dial-in at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time and ask to be connected to the call for "China Online Education Group".

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.51talk.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call until December 11, 2017, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States (toll free): 1-877-344-7529 International: 1-412-317-0088 Replay Access Code: 10114653

About China Online Education Group

China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) is a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

For more information, please visit http://ir.51talk.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

China Online Education Group

Investor Relations

+86 (10) 5692-8909

[email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

+86 (10) 5730-6200

+1-212-481-2050

[email protected]

SOURCE China Online Education Group

Related Links

http://ir.51talk.com


ATLANTA, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Every Christmas, Clark Howard and Cox Media Group (CMG) Atlanta's News 95.5 and AM750 WSB (WSB-AM/WSBB-FM) join with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and St. Vincent de Paul Georgia to provide gifts for foster kids across Georgia. Now in its 27th year, Clark's Christmas Kids kicks off Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 in Dunwoody, Ga. with the goal of fulfilling Christmas lists for over 8,500 children in foster care.

To donate or shop for a child this holiday season, please visit one of the following Walmart locations:

Date Time Store(s) Nov. 30 2 pm-7 pm 4725 Ashford Dunwoody Rd, Dunwoody Dec. 1 2 pm-7 pm 970 Mansell Rd, Roswell Dec. 2 8 am-1 pm 12182 Hwy 92, Woodstock and 2717 GA-54, Peachtree City Dec. 8 2 pm-7 pm 5200 Windward Pkwy, Alpharetta and 3250 Sardis Church Rd, Buford Dec. 9 8 am-1 pm 2635 Pleasant Hill Rd, Duluth and 1500 Market Place Blvd, Cumming Dec. 10 9 am-3 pm 210 Cobb Pkwy S, Marietta and 4004 Lawrenceville Hwy, Lilburn

Virginia Pryor, the Interim Director of Georgia DFCS, said, "Again, this holiday season, we're partnering together to bring hope and provide gifts to over 8,500 children in foster care. This would not be possible without the generosity of our fellow Georgians. We are so grateful for all who are the light of our children."

"St. Vincent de Paul Georgia is honored to once again work with Clark Howard, WSB, DFCS, and Walmart in helping over 8,500 foster children in Georgia have a joyous Christmas," said John A. Berry, Chief Executive Officer of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia. "We are proud of our part in helping to make this program a success, and we thank the hundreds of volunteers who work with us in this effort."

Clark Howard added, "I am so excited for our 27th year of us joining as a community to bring some cheer and love to Georgia's foster children. I look forward to Clark's Christmas Kids all year long!"

CMG Atlanta and WSB Radio thank Walmart and St. Vincent de Paul Georgia for their invaluable help in coordinating this year's effort, as well as our sponsors, SCANA Energy and The Goddard School.

About Cox Media Group

Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company. The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, more than 60 radio stations, seven daily newspapers and 11 non-daily publications; and more than 100 digital sites and services, like Rare.us, Clark.com, Dawg Nation, SEC Country, Hookem.com, Mundo Hispanico, Southern Kitchen and All22. Additionally, CMG operates the National Advertising Platform businesses of CoxReps - the country's biggest television rep firm - Gamut, and Videa. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 31 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million newspaper readers, and nearly 15 million radio listeners. For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com.

SOURCE Cox Media Group

Related Links

http://www.coxmediagroup.com


By PTI: By Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Nov 27 (PTI) The Asian Development Bank will provide a USD 150 million loan to Nepal to improve its urban infrastructure, Finance Ministry said today.

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Nepals Ministry of Finance signed the loan agreement in Kathmandu, a ministry statement said.

Shankar Prasad Adhikari, Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, and ADB country director Mukhtor Khamaudkhanov signed the agreement for investment that will cover eight municipalities located in southern Terai and far west of Nepal.

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The ADB is ever ready to collaborate with Nepal in the implementation of Nepal Governments national urban development strategy, Khamudkhanov said.

The ADB has pledged to provide a loan assistance of USD 150 million, around Rs 15.4 billion, to Nepal for the implementation of Regional Urban Development Projects, the statement said.

The Ministry of Urban Development is the executing agency of the project while implementing agencies are the concerned municipalities and the Kailali-based office of Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, the statement said.

The project will be completed within five years and is expected to enhance urban infrastructure in the Terai region, reduce the flooding duration to less than an hour in its eight municipalities.

It includes the construction and rehabilitation of 200-km storm water drains, improvement of 240-km-long roads, construction of at least 40-km-long footpaths, building four sanitary landfills and resource recovery centers, as well as construction of 20-km-long sewers.

Earlier, the ABD said it will provide USD 152 million to Nepal for the implementation and enhancement of its power transmission and distribution.

The bank had approved a USD 80 million loan in 2013 to Nepal to rehabilitate its sewerage network and build treatment plants to deal with over 90 million litres of wastewater a day in the capital Kathmandu. PTI SB MRJ

--- ENDS ---
HONG KONG, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CNOOC Limited (the "Company", SEHK: 00883, NYSE: CEO, TSX: CNU) announced today Libra block in Brazil has already started production.

The Libra block is located approximately 180 kilometers off the Rio de Janeiro coast. The block had its first oil produced with the Pioneiro de Libra FPSO, destined to extended well tests, with the purpose of evaluating the dynamic behavior of the oil reservoir and deepening the knowledge on the characteristics of the deposit. Pioneiro de Libra has a daily operational capacity rate up to 50,000 barrels of crude oil and 4 million cubic meters of associated gas.

The Company holds 10% in the Libra Consortium, with the operator Petrobras (40%), Shell (20%), Total (20%) and CNPC (10%).

Mr. Chen Ming, President of CNOOC International Limited commented, "It is a great pleasure to see the Libra block reaching an important milestone, which is the result of our joint efforts with our partners, and we look forward to better performance in the future."

Mr. Yuan Guangyu, CEO of the Company commented, "This year, the company has made great achievements in Brazil. In addition to the Libra block started production, the Company also has won the bid of ES-M-592 block in Espirito Santo basin and Alto de Cabo Frio Oeste block in Santos basin. These successes will help Company expand overseas business and lay a good foundation for future development."

Notes to Editors:

More information about the Company is available at http://www.cnoocltd.com.

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding expected future events, business prospectus or financial results. The words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors the Company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. However, whether actual results and developments will meet the expectations and predictions of the Company depends on a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition to differ materially from the Company's expectations, including but not limited to those associated with fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas prices, the exploration or development activities, the capital expenditure requirements, the business strategy, whether the transactions entered into by the Group can complete on schedule pursuant to their terms and timetable or at all, the highly competitive nature of the oil and natural gas industries, the foreign operations, environmental liabilities and compliance requirements, and economic and political conditions in the People's Republic of China. For a description of these and other risks and uncertainties, please see the documents the Company files from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 20-F filed in April of the latest fiscal year.

Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company cannot assure that the results or developments anticipated will be realised or, even if substantially realised, that they will have the expected effect on the Company, its business or operations.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Mr. Yan Cao

Deputy General Manager, Investor Relations Department

CNOOC Limited

Tel: +86-10-8452-1417

Fax: +86-10-8452-1441

E-mail: [email protected]

Ms. Iris Wong

Hill+Knowlton Strategies Asia

Tel: +852-2894 6263

Fax: +852-2576 1990

E-mail: [email protected]

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SOURCE CNOOC Limited

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CONROE, Texas, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopping for a quality pre-owned vehicle at Coast to Coast Motors is easier than ever before thanks to the dealership's new responsive website. The auto group launched its redesigned website at the end of October along with a variety of new online research tools.

Coast to Coast Motors is the premier buy here, pay here car shopping destination with 12 locations throughout Texas and Oklahoma specializing in same-day financing. Using the new website prospective customers can get pre-approved for financing, explore the used car dealership's current inventory and find answers to frequently asked questions.

The dealership's frequently updated blog also covers a variety of automotive topics, including information about rebuilding credit after bankruptcy and how to choose the right auto loan.

Car shoppers only need three forms of identification to get the pre-approval process started. The team at Coast to Coast Motors not only simplifies the financing process, but also helps car shoppers rebuild their credit. No matter what sort of credit history a customer has, the team at Coast to Coast Motors will work with them to find the right financing and monthly payment plan.

Each dealership location offers a wide selection of recent-year, low mileage vehicles for every budget, including sedans, crossover SUVs and pickup trucks. For more information about Coast to Coast Motors or its many products and services, visit ctcautogroup.com or contact a specific dealership location by phone.

Media Contact: Nathan White, Coast to Coast Motors, (936) 441-5040, [email protected]

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE Coast to Coast Motors

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VANCOUVER, Wash., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Event technology startup Hubb today announced that its software platform has been selected by Community Brands, a technology-driven company that delivers purpose-built solutions to leading associations and nonprofits, for its inaugural conference. Hubb's event content management solution will give Community Brands organizers a single location to collect, manage and market the abstracts, speakers and sponsors for its conference, saving two-thirds of the time normally spent on those types of tasks, and allowing the event to get to market 29 percent faster. The Community Brands tech user conference  2018 Xperience  will be held May 6-9, 2018 in Orlando, Florida.

"Community Brands was born from the most respected and helpful technology companies for those working in the association, nonprofit and public sector," said Allie Magyar, CEO of Hubb. "Their first technology conference is a can't-miss event, and we couldn't be more excited they chose Hubb to be their event content management platform. We look forward to supporting them with what will be an incredible event."

"Hubb offers us a platform for the execution and enhancement of our new Community Brands tech user conference strategy," said Melea Guilbault, Vice President of Channels & Partners at Community Brands. "We expect to create a better experience for our users and partners that can only be achieved through delivering content at a faster rate with an easy-to-use CMS."

Recognized as one of the leading providers of event content management technology, Hubb creates a "single source of truth" for event organizers to store and edit event content, such as speaking session information and sponsorship details. From this central point, event managers can make updates to event content that are automatically published across every source of event information, such as a website, mobile app or digital signage. Hubb also automates reminders to speakers to submit their information and session graders to evaluate submissions, and allows event managers to control who on their team can access session data at any time. With less time needed to manually manage content, organizers can focus on thinking strategically about their events and create a better event experience for their attendees. Hubb works with customers, such as Microsoft, Tableau, Atlassian and Intel, to help their in-house event teams oversee the programs for their major conferences and meetings.

Community Brands was formed in April 2017 when market-leading technology companies Abila, Aptify, NimbleUser and YourMembership joined forces. The four companies, with a connected ecosystem of software and services, offer a portfolio of solutions designed for cause-orientated organizations, including associations, nonprofits and government entities. Their inaugural conference for association and nonprofit professionals and partners -- to be held at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort -- will provide users and attendees access to enhanced quality education, resources and networking opportunities.

About Hubb

Hubb brings order to the chaos of content management for meetings and conferences. Our flagship cloud-based software platform uses simple, automated workflows to streamline collecting, managing and marketing of all event content from speakers to sessions to sponsors. Hubb is a platform that allows you to administer calls for papers, abstract grading, session and speaker management, and content marketing. The software scales to the needs of events of all sizes, and it integrates easily with other event technologies to ensure all content is consistent and up-to-date. Founded by veteran event management professionals, Hubb makes its headquarters in Vancouver, WA.

For more information, visit www.hubb.me.

About Community Brands

Community Brands is a technology-driven company that delivers purpose-built solutions to more than 13,000 of the world's leading associations, nonprofits and government entities to help them thrive and succeed in today's fast-paced, evolving world. The company's focus on accelerating innovation and bringing to market modern technology solutions helps power social impact, effect positive change and create opportunity. With Community Brands software and services, organizations better engage their members, donors and volunteers; raise more money; effectively manage revenue; and provide professional development and insights to power their mission.

For more information, visit CommunityBrands.com.

Media Contact

Raime Merriman

[email protected]

360-949-7843

SOURCE Hubb, Inc

Related Links

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The report "Cosmetic Pigments Market by Composition (Organic, Inorganic), Type (Special Effect, Surface Treated, Nano), Application (Facial Makeup, Eye Makeup, Lip Products, Nail Products, Hair Color Products), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022" published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is projected to grow from USD 550.3 Million in 2017 to USD 790.0 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the increasing demand for cosmetic pigments in cosmetic and personal care applications, and rising income and improving the lifestyle of people in emerging economies. New product launches and agreements & joint ventures undertaken by the players operating in the market are also fueling the market growth.

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Browse 66 Market Data Tables and 39 Figures spread through 144 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Cosmetic Pigments Market"

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Organic pigments was the largest elemental composition segment of the Cosmetic Pigments Market in 2016.

Organic pigments are made of carbon and other molecules. Organic pigments in cosmetics and personal care applications are cosmetic colors categorized as toners, lakes colors, and true pigments. Organic pigments used in cosmetic products are certified and of high quality. These organic pigment colors are brighter than inorganic pigments and find usage in cosmetic applications such as lip products, facial makeups, and nail polishes. Based on elemental composition, the organic pigments segment is expected to lead the Cosmetic Pigments Market during the forecast period. Increasing demand for cosmetic pigments such as lakes and toners in facial makeup and lip products is expected to propel the growth of organic pigments in cosmetic products.

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Facial makeup application segment is expected to lead the Cosmetic Pigments Market during the forecast period.

Facial makeup is one of the largest applications of cosmetic pigments in the cosmetic & personal care industry. Facial makeup consists of products such as foundation, blushers, face bronzing lotions, creams & powders, loose & pressed powders, and mineral powders, which are used to enhance facial features. The facial makeup segment accounted for a major share of the Cosmetic Pigments Market in 2016. Cosmetic pigments are used in facial makeup applications where titanium dioxide is used to add bright colors in cosmetic products such as foundations, blushers, and powders.

Europe was the largest market for cosmetic pigments in 2016.

Europe is a world leader in the cosmetics industry and a dominant cosmetics exporter. Europe accounted for the largest share of the Cosmetic Pigments Market globally. The cosmetics & personal care industry is making a significant social and economic contribution to national economies across the region. The market for cosmetic pigments in Europe is growing due to the increasing demand for these pigments in various applications, including nail products, lip products, eye makeup, facial makeup, hair color products, special effect & special purpose products, and others. The facial makeup application segment accounted for the largest share of the Europe Cosmetic Pigments Market in 2016. This segment is driven by the demand for basic makeup products such as foundations and face powders. The cosmetic industry is significantly contributing to the growth of Cosmetic Pigments Market.

Major players such as Sun Chemical (US), Sensient Cosmetic Technologies (France), Sudarshan Chemical (India), Merck Performance Materials (US), and BASF (Germany) have adopted various developmental strategies such as expansions, agreements & collaborations, and new product launches to grow in the Cosmetic Pigments Market.

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Color Cosmetics Market by Target Market (Prestige products and Mass products), by Application (Nail products, Lip products, Eye Make-up, Facial Make-up, Hair Color Products, Special Effects Products, and Others ) and Geography - Regional Trends & Forecasts to 2020

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"We are pleased to welcome Kirsten to the Cubic team," said Anshooman Aga, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Cubic Corporation. "Her knowledge and experience brings a unique perspective to our business at an exciting time for our company. I am confident that Kirsten will be an invaluable resource as we continue our effort to drive long-term value for shareholders."

Prior to joining Cubic, Nielsen served as director, investor relations at Arconic (formerly Alcoa), a global engineering and manufacturing firm. Prior to that, Nielsen held financial roles in the areas of investor relations and corporate development at Arconic and mergers and acquisitions at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Nielsen holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and a B.S. from the University of Florida.

About Cubic Corporation

Cubic is a market-leading, technology provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Mission Solutions provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. Cubic Global Defense is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based training solutions, special operations and intelligence for the U.S. and allied forces. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp.

SOURCE Cubic Corporation

Related Links

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SAN DIEGO, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced that its Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) business division received a major transportation industry award in Australia for the contactless payments trial underway on the Manly Ferry service in Sydney. The "Industry Award" was presented to Cubic at the ITS Australia National Awards at The Pavilion, Arts Centre Melbourne on November 23.

Contactless technology allows commuters to use bank-issued credit and debit cards, mobile phones and other electronic devices to pay for travel.

"Cubic is honored to accept the award for which congratulations also go to Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) and to New South Wales (NSW) Transport and Infrastructure Minister Andrew Constance, who arranged for this new technology to be trialed in Australia for the first time," said Tom Walker, senior vice president and managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, CTS. "We are delighted to have been involved in the trial along with specialists from TfNSW, the Commonwealth Bank, Transport for London and Mastercard."

"This contactless technology trial is a significant first not only for Australia, but also for the southern hemisphere. It has the potential to revolutionize public transportation in New South Wales," said Walker. "When Cubic installed the new Opal smart card ticketing system in Sydney, TfNSW stipulated that it must be 'future-proofed' to be able to accept new and emerging technologies like contactless once they were successfully adopted overseas."

The policy is enabling London-style contactless technology to be seamlessly integrated with existing Opal smart card technology.

In October and November Cubic was awarded contracts that will use elements of Transport for London's (TfL) technology for deploying next-generation fare payment systems in New York and Boston respectively.

"Other Australian cities will be watching the Sydney program with great interest as the value of contactless in improving the transportation experience for passengers is now widely recognized," said Walker.

The Manly trial was launched in July this year by Andrew Constance, the New South Wales Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Manly was selected for the trial as 40 percent of passengers arriving by ferry are visitors to Sydney and contactless technology provides a convenient way to pay for travel without an Opal card.

Contactless, or "pay as you go" technology, was pioneered by Cubic and TfL. First trialed on London buses in 2012, it was then rolled out across the city's public transportation system in 2014. More than one billion trips have been taken in London using contactless technology.

About Cubic Corporation

Cubic Corporation designs, integrates and operates systems, products and services focused in the transportation, defense training and secure communications markets. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Global Defense is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based training solutions, special operations and intelligence for the U.S. and allied forces. Cubic Mission Solutions provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp.

SOURCE Cubic Corporation

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CHICAGO, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Florida-based The Hertz Corporation (Hertz), a leading vehicle rental and leasing business, in the divestiture of the Company's Brazil operations to Localiza Rent a Car S.A. (Localiza), the largest car rental network in South America. The acquisition closed in August 2017.

Localiza acquired Hertz's subsidiary in Brazil, and the parties established a global, long-term relationship through brand cooperation and referral agreements. As part of its engagement with Hertz, Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC (US) engaged Deloitte Corporate Finance professionals in Brazil to offer local markets knowledge and to help facilitate the transaction.

"After years of extending the Hertz brand into the Latin American market, Hertz's Brazilian assets will be a tremendous addition to Localiza's car rental network," said Will Frame, managing director, Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC.

Reinaldo Grasson Oliveira, partner, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, Brazil, added, "With the addition of Hertz's rental car fleet, Localiza is well-positioned to further capture market share in Brazil."

About Hertz

Headquartered in Estero, FL and founded in 1918, The Hertz Corporation rents cars, vans, crossovers, and light trucks under the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty brands from company-owned, licensee, and franchisee locations in the United States, Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, The Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and New Zealand. The Hertz Corporation engages in the vehicle rental and leasing business. It operates through three segments: U.S. Rental Car, International Rental Car, and All Other Operations segments. It also offers vehicle leasing and fleet management services, including vehicle financing, acquisition, and remarketing; license, title, and registration; maintenance consultation; fuel management; accident management; toll management; telematics-based location, driver performance, and scorecard reporting; and lease financing services to commercial fleets. The Hertz Corporation is a subsidiary of Rental Car Intermediate Holdings, LLC. For further information please visit ir.hertz.com.

About Localiza

Headquartered in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and founded in 1973, Localiza Rent a Car S.A. engages in car rental and fleet management activities. It is also involved in fleet rental and franchising activities, and sells used cars. Localiza is the largest car rental network in South America, with 579 branches in seven countries and a fleet of more than 137,607 thousand cars. It is a reference in excellent customer service and recognized by numerous awards in its category. Localiza operates in the cities and airports in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The company serves individuals, corporations, and insurance companies. For further information visit www.localiza.com.

About Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC

Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC provides strategic advisory services and M&A advice that help corporate, entrepreneurial, and private equity clients create and act upon opportunities for liquidity, growth and long-term advantage. With an in-depth understanding of the marketplace and access to a global network of investment bankers, we help clients confidently pursue strategic transactions in both domestic and global markets. Deloitte Corporate Finance, together with the Corporate Finance Advisory practices within the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited network of member firms, include in excess of 1,900 professionals, who work collaboratively across 150 international locations. With our significant experience providing investment banking services across key industries, we are able to offer our clients solutions that help them to achieve their strategic objectives. For more information, visit www.investmentbanking.deloitte.com.

Prior engagement performance is no guarantee of future performance and may not be representative of the experience of other clients. This communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of a security.

Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC, an SEC registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC, is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP and affiliate of Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. Investment banking products and services within the United States are offered exclusively through Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC. For more information, visit www.investmentbanking.deloitte.com. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Shelley Pfaendler

Public Relations

Deloitte

+1 212 492 4484

[email protected]

SOURCE Deloitte

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"Next year, we plan to rehabilitate the runway used for more arrivals than any other at DFW, and this grant from the FAA will go a long way toward funding that critical infrastructure need," said Sean Donohue, chief executive officer at DFW Airport. "We thank our partners at the FAA for supporting DFW through needed infrastructure improvement grants, and we also extend our sincerest gratitude to Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Congressman Kenny Marchant for their ongoing support of DFW Airport."

The rehabilitation project for Runway 17C/35C features the installation of an updated pavement sensor system for measuring weather impacts.

"To remain competitive in an increasingly globalized economy, we need to make sure that our major airports such as DFW have the full backing of its federal partners and stakeholder groups," said U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, (D) Texas 30th District. "As the most senior Texan on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will fight to ensure that we continue to make those investments in airports like DFW so that we can stay ahead of the competition and keep America moving."

"DFW Airport should be considered as the nation's premier transportation hub and it will only improve with these projects," said U.S. Congressman Kenny Marchant, (R) Texas 24th District. "I am honored to represent DFW Airport in Congress and look forward to the seeing the impacts these improvements will have on air-travel, trade and job creation in North Texas."

The rehabilitation project is scheduled to take place in mid-2018. The runway will be closed for about four months, but DFW's six additional runways will allow a full schedule of flight operations. Customers should not see significant air traffic delays due to the closure.

The rehabilitation consists of replacement of the center third of the runway, about 6000 feet long, 50 feet wide, reaching a depth of more than three feet. The runway is comprised of 12-inches of lime-treated sub-base, 8-inches of cement-treated base and 18-inches of Portland Cement concrete. Afterward, the entire runway will be resurfaced with a composite section of Portland Cement concrete and polymer-modified high performance asphalt, designed for strength, flexibility and weather resistance.

The FAA's AIP provides grants for the planning and development of public-use airports. For large hub airports such as DFW, the grants could cover up to 75 percent of eligible costs for the specific projects awarded.

As defined in federal regulations, Disadvantaged Business Enterprises will have the opportunity to participate in the performance of contracts and subcontracts financed with the federal funds received. Each year since 2012, the Airport has awarded more than 35 percent of its business contracts to disadvantaged, small, minority and women-owned firms.

About Dallas Fort Worth International Airport:

Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport earned the distinction of the best large airport in North America for customer service in 2016 from Airports Council International. DFW Airport warmly welcomes more than 65 million customers along their journey every year, elevating DFW to a status as one of the most frequently visited superhub airports in the world. DFW Airport customers can choose among 168 domestic and 57 international nonstop destinations worldwide. DFW is elevating the customer experience with modernized facilities and updated amenities, as well as through a $2.7 billion Terminal Renewal and Improvement Program. Centered between its owner cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, DFW Airport also serves as a major economic generator for the North Texas region, producing over $37 billion in economic impact each year by connecting people through business and leisure travel. For more information, visit the DFW web site.

Follow @dfwairport on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest

SOURCE DFW International Airport
NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- E-J Electric Installation Co. (E-J Electric) is proud to accept the 2017 Public Service Award given by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and former Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman & CEO Tom Prendergast. This award highlights the outstanding work performed by the E-J Electrical team on the new, $4.45 billion Second Avenue Subway Expansion Project in Manhattan.

Lighting the Second Avenue Subway

E-J Electric provided services for all tunnel station lighting, communication conduits, power traction conductors, and high & low duct bank conduit systems. The project also included 13,200V substations and two 4,000kVA UPS.

E-J Electric fully coordinated and communicated with 32 subcontractors and 350 construction employees throughout the entirety of the project.

"Our team at E-J Electric is humbled by this recognition," said E-J Electric President and CEO Anthony E. Mann. "With the help of Governor Cuomo and MTA, E-J Electric worked to ensure that the subway was the first public project to ever open on time."

Located underneath Second Avenue, extending from the Q line north, the new Second Avenue subway serves approximately 176,000 passengers every day. Phase one of this subway consisted of three newly constructed stations and two miles of tunnel, signifying the first and only major expansion of the subway system in the last 50 years. The project also received recognition from Engineering News-Record as the "Best Project of 2017."

About E-J Electric Installation Co.

E-J Electric Installation Co., is active in all facets of electric contracting. Projects vary in size to over $200 million. Typical installations include: office buildings, hospitals, power plants, co-generation facilities, roadway and outdoor specialty, airports, industrial plants, universities, sport stadiums, transit facilities and high voltage distribution. At E-J Electric Installation Co., three family generations of practical expertise have created an organization keyed to the most modern technological advances in providing rapid and efficient solutions to today's lighting, power, energy and communication needs. E-J has a 118-year reputation for unparalleled integrity, quality and service in the electrical field. Please visit our website at www.ej1899.com to learn about the company.

SOURCE E-J Electric Installation Co.

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The madrasa has adopted the change for the past 10 years and presents a pleasant view of Hindu and Muslim students sitting under one roof and learning 'Dunyavi Taleem'.

By Hemant Upadhya, Rajat Rai: The general conception about madrasas in India is that they are centres of Islamic teaching and impart Islamic values to Muslims.

However, breaking myths, a madrasa in Agra has been setting an example of social and religious harmony for almost a decade and is imparting social values and education not only to Muslims, but also to kids belonging to Hinduism and other religions.

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The Moinul Islam Madarsa Darautha, besides Urdu, Arabic and Farsi, also has English, Hindi, Mathematics, Science and Computer Science as subjects for the benefit and ease of students of other religions.

The madrasa has adopted the change for the past 10 years and presents a pleasant view of Hindu and Muslim students sitting under one roof and learning 'Dunyavi Taleem'.

Questions were raised on the education system of madrasas after the NCERT syllabus was implemented on them. Established in 1958, there are 450 students in Moinul Islam Madarsa Darautha at present. There was not a single Hindu student in the madrasa about 10 years ago, but now, there are 202 Hindu students along with 248 Muslim kids.

Besides Hindi, non-Muslim students are also gaining knowledge of Urdu and Arabic.

To teach regular subjects, there are 14 maulanas and for other subjects, there are four teachers in the madrasa, which has students from classes 1 to 10.

Priyanka, a student of Class 4, shares her experience. "I have a lot of Muslim friends and one day, I thought that besides Hindi, English and Computer Science, why not I study Urdu and Arabic?"

According to the maulanas, students are not forced to study any specific subject.

Deepti, another Class 4 student, says the madrasa is located near her house and since many of her friends study there, she asked her father to get her admitted there.

"Giving in to Deepti's choice, I got her admitted in the madrasa and now she enjoys studying there. For the past two years, she is also studying Urdu and Arabic besides general subjects," Deepti's father Mahendra Singh said.

"No religion teaches discrimination on the basis of caste and creed. It is a pleasant sight to see students of different religions sitting under one roof and sending a message of unity and prosperity. Indirectly, this is a small effort made by us to send a message to all educational institutions across India," principal Maulana Ujair Alam said.

--- ENDS ---

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SHANGHAI, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- eHi Car Services Limited ("eHi" or the "Company") (NYSE: EHIC), a leading car rental and car services company in China, today announced that its Board of Directors (the "Board") has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter (the "Proposal Letter"), dated November 26, 2017, from Goliath Advisors Limited ("Goliath"), a third party China-based investment fund. According to the Proposal Letter, Goliath has proposed to acquire all outstanding common shares of the Company for US$13.35 in cash per American depositary share of the Company (each representing two Class A common shares) or US$6.675 in cash per common share of the Company.

The Board plans to evaluate the Proposal Letter. The Board cautions the Company's shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that the Board just received the Proposal Letter and no decisions have been made with respect to the Company's response to the Proposal Letter and the transaction contemplated thereby. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated. The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.

About eHi Car Services Limited

eHi Car Services Limited (NYSE: EHIC) is a leading car rental and car services providers in China. The Company's mission is to provide comprehensive mobility solutions as an alternative to car ownership by best utilizing existing resources and sharing economy to create optimal value. eHi distinguishes itself in China's fast-growing car rental and car services market through its complementary business model, customer-centric corporate culture, broad geographic coverage, efficient fleet management, leading brand name, and commitment to technological innovation. eHi is the exclusive strategic partner in China of Enterprise, the largest car rental company in the world, and is the designated and preferred business partner of Ctrip, a leader in the online travel agency industry in China. For more information regarding eHi, please visit http://en.1hai.cn.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included herein are "forward-looking statements" including, among other things, statements about eHi's beliefs and expectations. The expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements involve significant assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks discussed in ehi's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

eHi Car Services Limited

Tel: +86 (21) 6468-7000 ext. 8830

E-Mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Ms. Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE eHi Car Services Limited
CHICAGO, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

1% = $1 billion.

That's the increase in costs for retailers in Canada if tariffs on US-originating retail goods imported into this country rise by 1%, according to a deep-dive analysis by global management consultancy firm A.T. Kearney, in collaboration with the Retail Council of Canada. And the tariff increase could be much greater than 1%.

"Retailers in Canada import over CAD$100 billion of goods from the United States each year. We are heavily engaged on the NAFTA file because it could have a very significant impact on retailers in this countrydomestic and multinationals, large and small," says Karl Littler, VP Public Affairs for the Retail Council of Canada.

Three scenarios are likely should NAFTA negotiations break down to the point where the trade agreement is dissolved:

Return of CanadaUS free trade  Canada and the US return to the bilateral free trade agreement in force before NAFTA End of North American free trade  Tariffs on US imports into Canada change to rates applied on other nations' exports to Canada under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules Protectionism returns  Rising nationalism and protectionism has the US raise tariffs beyond its WTO commitments, prompting Canada to set retaliatory tariffs

"Scenarios 2 and 3 are becoming increasingly possible as we reflect on the recent NAFTA negotiations and the posturing from the Trump administration," says Dean Hillier, lead partner behind the study. "Scenario 2 would see a $4 billion increase in costs for retailers in Canada, primarily in automotive and food segments," according to Hillier, "and if we assume a 20% tariff across the board on key retail import categories under scenario 3, the impact is a devastating $21 billion cost increase for retailers, across automotive, household goods, electronics, food, and appliances. The whole retail sector is hit hard."

But there's more. With NAFTA gone, the macroeconomic impact of rising costs and a slowing Canadian GDP on household spending changes further adds to the pain for retailers in Canada. "Scenario 2 also sees a drop in Canadian household spending on retail items by $170 per household, and a $2.6 billion overall drop in 2019 Canadian retail sales," warns Hillier. "Scenario 3 is much worse: a $1,000 drop in household retail spending and a whopping $17 billion drop in 2019 Canadian retail sales. Retailers get hit on the top and bottom lines."

"We've integrated numerous, credible sources of information and analysis into our study," adds Toronto A.T. Kearney consultant and lead analyst Raj Mukherjee. "By bringing together data from Statistics Canada, the World Bank, Euromonitor, Scotiabank, the USDA, Canada Border Services Agency, and US foreign trade statistics, we tried to establish the most comprehensive view on the impact of NAFTA termination on the retail sector in Canada. We believe we've accomplished that," says Mukherjee.

"The rules of what happens after NAFTA are not very clear," states Johan Gott, principal with A.T. Kearney and a trade specialist. "President Trump can take the US out of NAFTA with the stroke of a pen, but rules of trade are set and governed by Congress in the United States. If NAFTA were dissolved, the White House and Congress would have to agree to new rules, and that has proven a very difficult and long process on other important issues."

"We remain hopeful that cooler heads will prevail and that NAFTA will be successfully renegotiated," adds Littler from the RCC. "That said, the magnitude of trade at risk and the potential impact on merchants' profitability, supply chains, and vendor relationships are matters that all retailers need to take into consideration. For negotiators and policymakers, it needs to be understood that with rising costs and a slowing, more uncertain economy, jobs could be impacted too."

The full study is now available from A.T. Kearney.

About A.T. Kearney

A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries. Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world's foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing advantage on their most mission critical issues. For more information, visit www.atkearney.com.

US Contact Canadian Contact Meir Kahtan Cynthia Innes Meir Kahtan Public Relations, LLC A.T. Kearney Phone:+1 212.575.8188 Phone: +1 416.596.3627 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

SOURCE A.T. Kearney

Related Links

http://www.atkearney.com


DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ensono, a leading hybrid IT services provider, announced the global availability of its proprietary hybrid IT management platform, Ensono M.O. The software-enabled service management platform is a tight integration of people, process and technology. It was previously available in the U.K., and will now also service Ensono's clients throughout North America.

Ensono M.O. facilitates true hybrid IT between different applications and infrastructure platforms, including mainframe, midrange, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Ensono Cloud. The unique combination of technologies exceeds the capabilities of most IT service management platforms by coupling best practices with comprehensive data about clients and their environments to provide a fully integrated interface for operations personnel. Features like auto-discovery of configuration, event correlation of previous tickets against incidents, as well as access control, audit logging and comprehensive knowledge integration enhances the clients' overall support experience and drives high availability.

Working with Ensono M.O., clients can fine tune response scenarios for application infrastructure to meet specific business needs, such as critical processing windows or seasonal events. To meet client audit requirements, Ensono M.O. can easily provide a comprehensive log of system access by name, role and associated support ticket to ensure the overall integrity of the managed environment.

"Hybrid IT is a reality for enterprise companies as they balance the need to maintain business critical legacy systems with new modern applications and architectures to compete in today's rapidly evolving markets," said Tim Beerman, Ensono's chief technology officer. "Ensono's full suite of managed services from mainframe through public cloud, coupled with the power and flexibility of Ensono M.O., allow us to meet clients wherever they are today in their digital transformation journeys. M.O.'s global availability is an important step forward, enabling us to provide exceptional service and adapt to the changing needs of our clients."

Ensono serves a wide range of clients across industries throughout North America and Europe. While providing a global support model is ideal for most clients, it is also necessary to provide localized support when required by client security or regulatory requirements. Ensono M.O. is designed to provide this flexibility while maintaining operational controls required to meet compliance requirements such as the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

"Ensono M.O. is essential for providing our clients with additional support during business-critical periods," said Neil Forster, VP of global platform engineering at Ensono. "Our proactive approach to system resolution allows our clients stay up-and-running so they can focus on other areas of the business while we handle IT management."

Beerman will present on Ensono M.O. as it relates to AWS at AWS re:Invent on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 1:40 p.m. PT in the Kumo Theater at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Attendees can also visit with Ensono executives at AWS re:Invent at booth #2217.

To learn more about Ensono M.O., please visit https://www.ensono.com/ensono-mo.

About Ensono

For business leaders managing lots of complexity or disrupting the status quo, Ensono delivers complete Hybrid IT services and governance, from cloud to mainframe, tailored to each client's journey. Whether you're leveraging the power of the cloud or modernizing legacy technologies, you'll be on track to operate for today and optimize for tomorrow. Named a Top 15 Sourcing Service Provider by ISG, some of the world's most successful companies rely on us to help them be great at what they do. Ensono has over 1,000 associates across North America and Europe and is ranked 21st in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For. Our offices are headquartered in greater Chicago. Visit us at www.ensono.com.

Media Contact:

Bridget Devine

312-561-2492

[email protected]

SOURCE Ensono

Related Links

https://www.ensono.com/


BANGALORE, India, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Geckolyst, a MobME company, is organizing a webinar on "The future of customer feedback systems" on the 30th of November, 2017. Mr. K T Sandeep - product head for Geckolyst will host this webinar. Ms. Maxie Schmidt-Subramanyam, Principal Analyst at Forrester will be a guest speaker at the webinar.

Highlights of the webinar

As Sandeep puts it, "Every organization, big or small, needs to find innovative solutions to connect with their customers to manage their experience better. A good customer experience solution with machine learning, text analytics, NLP, AI and a robust close looping process helps the organization in becoming more nimble-footed. It helps them adapt to the market changes and still be customer obsessed."

In this webinar, our speakers share their insights on the future of feedback forms and the ways in which firms can modernize their surveys. New sources of customer experience feedback collection will be explored. The speakers will discuss how customer experience analytics can be upgraded to derive actionable insights.

A couple of case studies demonstrating the effect of improvised customer surveys will also be taken up in the webinar. These case studies are derived from the decades of experience that MobME solutions has, in managing customer experience for their clients.

About the speakers

Maxie Schmidt-Subramanyam, Principal Analyst at Forrester

Maxie Schmidt has over 20 years of experience in building effective customer experience measurement systems. She leads Forrester's research on customer experience measurement programs. She is a strong advocate for looking beyond surveys and has experimented with a wide variety of feedback tools. Her work also involves measuring the ROI of customer experience improvement projects.

Prior to Forrester, Maxie was a Director at Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global strategy, and marketing consulting company. She helped her clients across a variety of industries in improving products, pricing and in designing governance and processes around pricing. Maxie has also taught and researched services management at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Germany. She is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and leads customer experience workshops at events.

Maxie holds a Ph.D. focused on services management and a master's degree in management from Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. During her academic years, Maxie was awarded an Emerald Literati Best Paper Award for her research on the frustration that customers experience in loyalty programs. Her Ph.D. thesis on optimizing the quality of customer interactions in contact centers was later published as a book.

Sandeep K T, V.P Products, and Consulting of MobME Wireless Solutions

Sandeep manages MobME's customer experience solution - Geckolyst. Before MobME, he worked as the principal consultant for Positive Integers and consulted in the analytical domain for global telecom companies. Prior to Positive Integers, he was the manager CLM and managed the profile for Vodafone Kerala.

Who can attend the webinar?

Customer experience managers, Customer analytics managers. Customer feedback collection experts, CXOs who wish to manage customer experiences better can attend this webinar by registering here.

Contact:

Mr. Sandeep K T

+91 99628 20820

[email protected]

SOURCE Geckolyst
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) plans to report results for its fiscal 2018 second quarter on Wednesday, December 20, 2017. A webcast discussion of those results will be held that day, beginning at 7:30 a.m. CST (8:30 a.m. EST). Interested investors can access this webcast and slides supporting the company's presentation at www.generalmills.com/investors.

About General Mills

General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by making food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2017 consolidated net sales of US $15.6 billion, as well as another US $1.0 billion from its proportionate share of joint-venture net sales.

SOURCE General Mills, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.generalmills.com


LAKEWOOD, Colo., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Moly, Inc. (the "Company" or "General Moly") (NYSE American and TSX: GMO), the only western-exchange listed, pure-play molybdenum mineral development company, will participate at the 10th Annual LD Micro Main Event conference in Los Angeles on December 5, 2017.

General Moly Chief Executive Officer Bruce D. Hansen will present at the conference at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time on December 5, 2017 and will also be available to meet with investors. A webcast of the presentation will be available live on the Company's website and archived for a limited period. A copy of the presentation will be posted on the Company's website. Mr. Hansen will comment on the improving molybdenum market outlook and provide an update on General Moly.

The LD Micro Main Event is the largest independent conference for small/micro-cap companies and will feature 250 names presenting to an audience of over 1,000 attendees. In addition, there will be a variety of speakers/panelists discussing topics of interest to investors and issuers, along with coordinate evening events.

Special Meeting of Stockholders

In other matters, on December 15, 2017, General Moly is holding a Special Meeting of Stockholders in Lakewood, Colorado. Two proposals are before the stockholders to approve (i) the issuance of shares of the Company's common stock to AMER International Group in connection with a transaction in which the total shares issued represent more than 20% of the Company's outstanding common stock, and may be issued at a discount to the greater of book or market value of the Company's common stock; and (ii) approve the ratification of equity awards granted since December 12, 2016. Stockholders may view the Proxy Statement on the Company's website.

About General Moly

General Moly is a U.S.-based, molybdenum mineral development company listed on the NYSE American (NYSE AMER), recently known as the NYSE MKT and former American Stock Exchange, and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GMO. The Company's primary asset, an 80% interest in the Mt. Hope Project located in central Nevada, is considered one of the world's largest and highest grade molybdenum deposits. Combined with the Company's wholly-owned Liberty Project, a molybdenum and copper property also located in central Nevada, General Moly's goal is to become the largest primary molybdenum producer in the world.

Molybdenum is a metallic element used primarily as an alloy agent in steel manufacturing. When added to steel, molybdenum enhances steel strength, resistance to corrosion and extreme temperature performance. In the chemical and petrochemical industries, molybdenum is used in catalysts, especially for cleaner burning fuels by removing sulfur from liquid fuels, and in corrosion inhibitors, high performance lubricants and polymers.

Contact:

Scott Roswell

(303) 928-8591

[email protected]



Website: www.generalmoly.com

SOURCE General Moly, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.generalmoly.com


HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, November 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

GeoSpectrum Technologies (GTI) announces the award of two contracts from the Department of National Defence under the ADSA Science and Technology (S&T) program.

Under the first contract - Long Range Detection and Communications - GTI will build and field-demonstrate a Very Low Frequency (VLF) acoustic source for long distance underwater detection and potentially basin-scale (1000 km) communications, as well as supporting, for example, an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) engaged in under-ice work. This source will be suitable for year-round Arctic deployment, capable of providing persistent surveillance and messaging over very long ranges in environmentally hostile and acoustically challenging waters.

Under the second contract - Low Frequency Towed Array - GTI will develop and field-demonstrate a passive horizontal thin line array suitable for towing from a persistent UUV. The design innovations in the array will make it suitable for year-round underwater and under-ice Arctic operations. It will be capable of very long range detection in these environmentally hostile and acoustically challenging waters, and be suitable to support persistent surveillance for months, with vehicle ranges beyond 1000 km. Both the payload capacity and the energy budget in current and near future UUVs are highly constrained, so the array will generate extremely low drag, use minimal energy, and exhibit stable towing performance at very low speed while remaining robust and commercially viable to produce.

Harjit S. Sajjan, Defence Minister, said: "Innovative solutions to challenging surveillance problems are the key to the future for the men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces tasked with keeping an eye on Canada's coastal areas, particularly in the Arctic. As we work with our U.S. partners to renew the North Warning System and modernize the North American Aerospace Defense Command, we look forward to the possibilities offered by made-in-Canada solutions, such as those put forward by GeoSpectrum under the All Domain Situational Awareness S&T program."

Paul Yeatman, President of GTI, commented: "We're proud and excited to have the opportunity to work with the Department of National Defence to improve Arctic surveillance. It has been well known for decades that very low frequency acoustics can provide long-range detection and communications capability, but until recently the physical size and reliability of the hardware was prohibitive. For the long range detection and communications project, we intend to leverage a family of ruggedized acoustic sound sources (sonar sources) developed in conjunction with marine seismic survey company PGS. The thin line array we are developing for the low frequency towed array project will provide the capability for unmanned marine vehicles to detect these low frequency returns and is seen as a game changer."

About GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc.

GeoSpectrum is a Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada based supplier of marine acoustic hardware and systems. GeoSpectrum is known as a high tech solutions provider in the underwater acoustics field with innovative new products such as the Towed Reelable Active Passive Sonar (TRAPS) and lightweight Portable Acoustic Target System (PATS). The company supplies its products to the defence, oil and gas, surveillance, and environmental sectors.

Geospectrum is a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd.

http://www.geospectrum.ca

Notes to Editors:

The All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) is an S&T program from the Department of National Defence (https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2017/10/le_gouvernement_ducanadaannoncelescontratsattribuesdanslecadredu.html). ADSA's intent is to coordinate and fund research and analysis to support the development of options for enhanced domain awareness of air, maritime surface and sub-surface approaches to Canada , in particular those in the Arctic. This research and analysis will be delivered through collaboration with other government departments (OGDs), academia, industry and allies. Surveillance solutions explored and selected will strengthen the Government of Canada's ability to exercise sovereignty in the North, and will provide a greater whole-of-government awareness of safety and security issues, as well as transportation and commercial activity, in Canada's Arctic.

, in particular those in the Arctic. This research and analysis will be delivered through collaboration with other government departments (OGDs), academia, industry and allies. Surveillance solutions explored and selected will strengthen the Government of ability to exercise sovereignty in the North, and will provide a greater whole-of-government awareness of safety and security issues, as well as transportation and commercial activity, in Arctic. Both above mentioned projects will be executed with the assistance of several local organizations including Hines Ocean Science and Technology, Jasco Applied Sciences, and Dalhousie University . Work on this program will in part be based on equipment GTI has developed with support from Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).

For more information, please contact Sean Kelly: [email protected]

SOURCE GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc
YIWU, China, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Yiwugou.com, the official website of the largest commodity market in the world, reached an agreement on Nov. 23 with the Municipal Government of Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea. Led by Director Kim Gu-yeon of Gumi Economic Development and Trade Relations Administration, the Gumi delegation is the first government-level delegation ready to set a booth in the Yiwugou National Pavilion. This marked a new height of the Pavilion in drawing in businesses and a further stride of the Yiwu market towards the goal of sourcing and selling anything across the world.

According to the project leader, the Yiwugou National Pavilion, since its first debut on the 2017 China Yiwu Imported Commodities Fair in early May, has maintained a fast-growing momentum. To date, altogether 264 booths have been set in the Pavilion, selling and sourcing 2,099 kinds of products to/from about a dozen countries and regions across Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceana. The Pavilion is now seeking partnership with powerful overseas suppliers for more products to access China's market.

As the next step, the Pavilion will be opened on Yiwugou app. The Chinese buyers may then access this special function on mobile devices and indulge themselves in hot sales from beyond borders. It is also understood that promising overseas suppliers are welcomed to set booths here, with no commissions required until the end of this year.

The National Pavilion is a new B2B cross-border e-commerce program launched by Yiwugou.com. It is a gateway for overseas enterprises and commodities to access the Yiwu market and is a top online distribution hub for overseas commodities. Relying on regional partners to expand business, the Pavilion is accessible and available to high-quality overseas suppliers, and offers overseas commodity exhibition and marketing service for buyers. Yiwugou.com will engage an approved third-party comprehensive service provider to solve any problems arising from cross-border business, inducing payment, logistics, customs clearance and declaration. As with all Yiwugou.com transactions, any businesses conducted in the National Pavilion shall be manageable, controllable and traceable and are subject to good-faith business management of Yiwugou.com.

About Yiwugou.com

SOURCE Yiwugou

Related Links

http://www.yiwugou.com/


Representing several centuries of artistically inspired Japanese utilitarian ceramics and other works of art from Asia and America, the Hauge collection was amassed by brothers Osborne and Victor Hauge and their wives, Gratia and Takako, during years of work and travel abroad in consultation with academics and dealers.

"The Hauges were connoisseurs and scholars of Asian art as well as pioneers in collecting objects that illustrated the beauty of everyday life throughout many regions of Asia," says Pamela Cole, Director of Asian Art at The Potomack Company. "There is a lovely aesthetic and elegance even in these Japanese utilitarian vessels, and the varied glazes and textures of the pieces are to be valued as they show the unique hand of the potter."

Victor and Takako published Folk Traditions in Japanese Art in connection with their 1978 traveling exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art; Japan House Gallery, New York; and Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.

Pictured from The Potomack Company's December 6th sale is Lot 3068, a set of nine modern bizen bowls by Fujiwara Ken (Japanese, 1924-1977), including six low asymmetrical bowls with incised signature to each and in signed tomobako, with an auction estimate of $1,000-1,500.

Among the early ceramic vessels featured are Lot 3046, a 6th century Sue (Iwaibe) Pottery Flat Flask with a delicate spot of pale blue glaze to one side, estimated to bring $400-600, and Lot 3057, a 19th century Japanese Mino Hibachi with typical ash glaze, $600-800. The Hauge Collection at Potomack also includes furniture, textiles, lacquer ware and books.

The Potomack Company is a fine art and antiques auction house in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. For additional information, call 703-684-4550 or visit www.potomackcompany.com to view the Hauge collection online.

CONTACT : [email protected] 703-684-4550

SOURCE The Potomack Company

Related Links

http://www.potomackcompany.com


DALLAS, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hitachi Consulting, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd (TSE: 6501), and leading provider of consulting-led solutions and services, will highlight the proactive Hitachi Water Solutions at the American Water Summit November 28-30, 2017 in Austin, Texas. Hitachi delivers a full spectrum of water management solutionsfrom water quality, usage reduction, treatment and distribution to wastewater management, analytics and tools to assist in regulatory compliance. These solutions are helping organizations significantly lower water costs, minimize unplanned disruptions, meet compliance requirements, and reduce ground water depletion and contamination.

As a Silver Sponsor of the American Water Summit 2017, senior executives from Hitachi Consulting will be available to discuss how organizations can move ahead with Hitachi's end-to-end water management solutions. "Hitachi Consulting is actively engaged with both private manufacturing companies and municipalities around the world, supporting them with wastewater management, data analytics and usage reductions, leveraging our experience that incorporates engineering design, proprietary equipment and program management," said David Wechsler, Senior Vice President at Hitachi Consulting.

As businesses and municipalities become proactive in planning and managing water usage, Hitachi Consulting is helping these organizations to cut costs and be more efficient. In addition, Hitachi Consulting applies data analytics to provide actionable insights that improve water quality and process efficiencies. "Organizations today are using sensors on their equipment and looking for big data analysis so they can use that information to generate alerts and take proactive action," said Wechsler.

Hitachi believes social innovation holds the key to tackling the world's largest water challenges and meeting diverse water needs. From assessment through implementation, measurement, and continuous improvement, Hitachi provides solutions that help organizations improve water infrastructures, contribute to safe, reliable water supplies, and use advanced analytics and real-time data to efficiently manage overall water use and treatment cycles.

"Water is an essential natural resource upon which all life depends. As part of its Social Innovation Business, Hitachi strives to help our clients achieve both operational excellence and sustainability goals by using and wasting less of this precious commodity. Whether working with manufacturing plants, utilities or municipalities, our goals are to reduce water consumption, improve water quality and reduce wastewater throughout the entire value chain. Addressing the global water crisis is at the heart of Hitachi's Social Innovation mission, and we are committed to tackling this challenge with our customers," said Ellen Dowd, Senior Vice President of Solutions for Hitachi's Social Innovation Business.

Hitachi Helps Organizations To Become Sustainability Leaders

Hitachi is actively engaged in helping manufacturers and municipalities to move from sustainability theory to practice. Hitachi has completed a number of water reduction, wastewater management and water monitoring projects, using flexible business models and financing options to deliver successful outcomes. The following are representative examples of these accomplishments from around the world.

South West Water: Hitachi and South West Water (SWW) collaborated to co-create a cloud-based IoT analytics and business intelligence platform to help predict operational performance, deploy maintenance solutions more effectively and comply with increasingly stringent industry regulations. "The company's expertise with data will help ensure the project runs quickly and efficiently, helping us to mitigate risk and drive sustainable change within the organization," said Kevin Nankivell , Head of Information Technology at South West Water.





Hitachi and South West Water (SWW) collaborated to co-create a cloud-based IoT analytics and business intelligence platform to help predict operational performance, deploy maintenance solutions more effectively and comply with increasingly stringent industry regulations. "The company's expertise with data will help ensure the project runs quickly and efficiently, helping us to mitigate risk and drive sustainable change within the organization," said , Head of Information Technology at South West Water. Hilton Istanbul: Hitachi enabled the world's leading hospitality company to achieve sustainability goals by treating grey water to irrigate the hotel's 15 acres of gardens, reducing water consumption by 10% over 5 years. "Hilton worldwide has a global sustainability policy and one of my roles in Turkey is to explore how we can reduce well water and surface water consumption and decrease our impact on the environment," said Hamit Yalazer, Chief Engineer, Hilton Istanbul .





Hitachi enabled the world's leading hospitality company to achieve sustainability goals by treating grey water to irrigate the hotel's 15 acres of gardens, reducing water consumption by 10% over 5 years. "Hilton worldwide has a global sustainability policy and one of my roles in is to explore how we can reduce well water and surface water consumption and decrease our impact on the environment," said Hamit Yalazer, Chief Engineer, . Global Beverage Company: Hitachi helped a leading manufacturer design and build water quality and wastewater treatment systems with improvements in overall design specifications, implementation of sensors, SCADA system controls, automation and data analytics. This dramatically simplified operational requirements, helped facilitate compliance and reduced notices of violation.

Building on Hitachi's depth of experience in operational technology (OT), information technology (IT), and the Internet of Things (IoT), Hitachi Water Solutions bring value to municipalities and manufacturers in managing water quality, water shortages and water efficiency. Hitachi is committed to helping organizations meet water management goals by bringing together social innovation with public and private collaboration to the benefit of society.

About Hitachi Consulting Corporation

Hitachi Consulting is the global solutions and professional services organization within Hitachi Ltd., a global innovation leader in industrial and information technology solutions and an early pioneer of the Internet of Things (IoT). Hitachi Consulting is a business integrator for the IoT era and a catalyst for digital transformation. Using our deep domain knowledge, we collaborate with clients to help them innovate faster, maximize operational efficiency and realize measurable, sustainable business and societal value. As a consulting-led solutions company, we can help you use data as a strategic asset to drive competitive differentiation, customer loyalty and growth. For more information on Hitachi Consulting, please visit the company's website at www.hitachiconsulting.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges with our talented team and proven experience in global markets. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2016 (ended March 31, 2017) totaled 10,034 billion yen ($89.3 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes power & infrastructure systems, information & telecommunication systems, construction machinery, high functional materials & components, automotive systems, healthcare and others. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

SOURCE Hitachi Consulting

Related Links

http://www.hitachiconsulting.com


By India Today Web Desk: He might be one of Bollywood's highest-paid actors right now, but that wasn't the case in the early 90s when he was only a struggling model. With no money to get a portfolio shoot done, Akshay Kumar decided to work with photographer Jay Seth. After innumerable auditions and modelling assignments , Akshay finally got his first break in 1991, and since then there has been no looking back for him.

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Akshay Kumar in an interview to Mid-Day spilled the beans on his initial struggle, his first pay cheque and his journey in Bollywood.

On being dropped from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander

Not many know that Akshay had auditioned for Aamir Khan-starrer Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. However, it wasn't for the lead role, but for the anti-hero part. He auditioned for Deepak Tijori's part in the 1992 film, but was rejected. "So, I went there. Apna screen test diya maine, for Deepak Tijori's role. And they didn't like it. And, apparently, I was crap, so they removed me," he told the daily.

On changing his name

It's been more than 25 years since Akshay Kumar has been busy casting his magic in Bollywood. If his action films earned him the title of Khiladi Kumar, his comic timing never failed to tickle the funny bone. While he has played many characters on screen, and took on new names with each film, Khiladi Kumar did that in real life too. Born as Rajeev Bhatia, he decided to change the name before making his entry in Bollywood. And it has an interesting story behind it. Akshay (then, Rajiv Bhatia) had done a cameo in a Mahesh Bhatt film titled Aaj, but his part was snipped from the final cut. "Kumar Gaurav was the hero in that film. He was called Akshay. And, I don't know why, it's not that I thought my name was bad. Rajiv is a very good name. Pata nahi, dimag mein koi chah aa jati hai [(something just interests you in your head). And I just wanted to go, and change my name, and I went to the court in Bandra East and did it," said Khiladi Kumar.

On his first pay cheque

Akshay was all set to take an evening flight to Bangalore for a modelling assignment, but a visit to Natraj studio changed his life forever. Pramod Chakravorty's company's make-up man asked him if he wanted to become a hero. Akshay immediately showed his portfolio, and as they say, the rest is history. That very day, he got his first cheque. "Much to my surprise, he (Pramod Chakravorty) gave me my first cheque, signed me up for three films, immediately. Right away. He gave me a cheque of Rs 5000, for the first film, Rs 50,000, for second film, and the third cheque had Rs 1.5 lakh on it. The exact time he gave me those cheques was 6 o'clock in the evening. It would have been a disaster, if I would have gone to Bangalore. Today, I would be a retired model somewhere. So yes, whatever happens is for the good," added Akshay.

On being the first choice for Phool Aur Kaante

Ajay Devgn's classic entry on two bikes in Phool Aur Kaante is still one of the most memorable stunts in Bollywood. But not many know that Akshay Kumar was the first choice for the film. "Yes, I was in Phool Aur Kaante. I sat in on the (music) sessions with Nadeem-Shravan at Sunny Super Sound (recording studio). Those days, there used to be 30-40 violin guys in every song, a separate orchestra. Ab toh, we finish off everything in an instant. So at night, I was readying my ice box. You had to do it on your own in those days. So I was getting ready for the first day's shoot. And then I get a call, ki bhaiya aap mat aana. Koi aur aa raha hai (You don't need to come for the shoot, someone else is)," said the 50-year-old actor.

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On the work front, Akshay is currently awaiting the release of Padman.

ALSO WATCH: Akshay Kumar is the real 'Khiladi' of Bollywood

--- ENDS ---
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last night, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez celebrated his re-election before a crowd of supporters, citing exit polls from domestic and international independent pollsters that named him the winner. Hernandez is the first president to be re-elected in Honduran history.

President Hernandez issued the following statement:

Republic of Honduras

"I am grateful to the Honduran people for entrusting me to lead our great nation for four more years. This victory reaffirms that we have led Honduras along the right path for the past four years. But our work is not complete. I call upon all political parties, and my fellow citizens, to set aside their differences and work together to secure a prosperous future for our country.

"The election is now over, and I implore the Honduran people to unite as brothers and sisters to build an equitable homeland that offers justice to all.

"We have accomplished many things that seemed impossible just a few years ago. We have made great strides improving domestic security, fighting transnational gangs and organized crime, and improving our nation's credit rating. Domestic and foreign investors now believe in Honduras.

"We will build upon our successes and secure new victories for our people, by creating jobs and growing our economy.

"I want to thank the domestic and international observers of our election, including representatives from the Organization of American States, the European Union, and former heads of state from all over the world. We appreciate their efforts, which have helped ensure that our election has been transparent, trustworthy, and tranquil.

"I also want to thank my party and its many workers and volunteers for their tireless efforts over the past several weeks, which have led us to this great victory. Most importantly, I want to thank the Honduran people, who have given the world a lesson in civics and patriotism.

"Today, I renew my undying commitment to the people of Honduras. I will continue to work tirelessly for this nation and its well-being. Thank you, and God bless you all."

During his victory speech, President Hernandez said that he had received calls from several foreign leaders and is expecting additional calls from presidents in Latin America and other parts of the world.

The president celebrated his victory alongside his wife and children, as well as vice-presidential and congressional candidates.

Media Contact:

Andrew Grafton

[email protected]

(202)-471-4228-ext. 119

www.keybridgecommunications.com

SOURCE Republic of Honduras
Hormel Foods donated over 700 Hormel  Cure 81  hams and Jennie-O Turkey Store donated over 700 turkeys to Convoy of Hope for the event. Convoy of Hope helped prepare the meal and distributed some of the hams and turkeys to other churches in the area to help with their Thanksgiving meals as well.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by the recent natural disasters and those in need this holiday season," said Stephanie Postma, Hormel Cure 81 hams brand manager at Hormel Foods. "We were touched to be able to be part of such a special event."

"When we heard about this Thanksgiving event to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey and others in need we knew we wanted to help," said Brent Koosmann, director of marketing at Jennie-O Turkey Store. "We were honored to provide the turkeys for this event to help others."

"Thank you to Hormel Foods and Jennie-O Turkey Store for your tremendous support," said Hal Donaldson, president of Convoy of Hope. "We are so grateful to be able to serve storm survivors alongside our great partners and give them hope during the holiday season."

Hormel Foods provided several truckloads of products and a monetary donation to help Convoy of Hope with disaster relief efforts this year. For additional information about the company's giving, please visit https://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

For information about Convoy of Hope's efforts, please visit https://www.convoyofhope.org/.

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS - Inspired People. Inspired Food.

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenues across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Skippy, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly Guacamole, Hormel Black Label and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named one of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the ninth year in a row, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. In 2016, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary and announced its new vision for the future - Inspired People. Inspired Food. - focusing on its legacy of innovation. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

Media Contact:

Kelly Braaten

Hormel Foods

507-437-5345

[email protected]

SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation

Related Links

http://www.hormel.com


AUSTIN, Minn., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Columbus Manufacturing, Inc., an authentic, premium deli meat and salami company, from Chicago-based Arbor Investments. The addition of the Columbus brand further strengthens Hormel Foods' position as a total deli solutions provider while enhancing its other strong deli brands such as Hormel, Jennie-O, Applegate, and Di Lusso.

The purchase price is approximately $850 million. Total annual sales are approximately $300 million with an expected growth rate in excess of 5 percent. Hormel Foods expects this acquisition to be modestly accretive to earnings per share in fiscal 2018.

"The acquisition of Columbus is the catalyst for uniting all our deli businesses into one group," said Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer. "We received regulatory approval faster than anticipated and are excited to start building a stronger, more united deli organization."

Subsequent to the closing of the acquisition, Hormel Foods is increasing its fiscal 2018 net sales guidance to $9.7 - $10.1 billion and increasing its earnings per share guidance to $1.62 - $1.72 per share.

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS - Inspired People. Inspired Food.

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenues across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Skippy, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly Guacamole, Hormel Black Label and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named one of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the ninth year in a row, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. In 2016, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary and announced its new vision for the future - Inspired People. Inspired Food. - focusing on its legacy of innovation. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking information based on management's current views and assumptions. Actual events may differ materially. Please refer to the cautionary statement regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors which appear on pages 32 - 39 in the company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 30, 2017, which can be accessed at www.hormelfoods.com under "Investors-SEC Filings."

SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation

Related Links

http://www.hormel.com


GERMANTOWN, Md., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in the engineering and industrialization of biology, today announced key executive promotions:

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas Bostick , Ph.D., has been named Chief Operating Officer of Intrexon replacing Andrew Last , Ph.D.;

, Ph.D., has been named Chief Operating Officer of Intrexon replacing , Ph.D.; Nir Nimrodi has been named Chief Business Officer of Intrexon; and

has been named Chief Business Officer of Intrexon; and Helen Sabzevari , Ph.D., has been named President of Intrexon's wholly-owned subsidiary, Precigen, Inc.

All three will report to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Randal J. Kirk.

"A more streamlined senior management structure is in line with our transition to a group of related and increasingly commercially oriented enterprises," commented Mr. Kirk. "Almost all business units and the enterprise teams running them will report either to General Bostick or to Mr. Nimrodi, depending upon their degree of commercial advancement. Meanwhile, I shall enjoy helping Dr. Sabzevari as she continues to develop Precigen as a leading gene and cell therapy company.

"On behalf of our Board of Directors and of our entire team, I also want to express our appreciation to Dr. Andy Last for his significant contributions to Intrexon. He is a life science manager of great talent and dedication, and we wish him well in his future endeavors," continued Mr. Kirk.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas Bostick, Ph.D.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Bostick joined Intrexon in 2016 bringing tremendous leadership skills, extensive experience in environmental sustainability, and an established track record in engineering solutions for the Nation's toughest challenges. After 38 years of distinguished service to the U.S. Army, he retired as the 53rd U.S. Army Chief of Engineers and the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serving as the senior military officer overseeing and supervising most of the Nation's civil works infrastructure and military construction, hundreds of environmental protection projects, as well as managing 34,000 civilian employees and military personnel in over 110 countries around the world.

Before his command of USACE, Lt. Gen. Bostick served in a variety of command and staff assignments with the U.S. Army both in the U.S. and abroad including the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Personnel, U.S. Army, Commanding General, U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Assistant Division Commander, 1st Cavalry Division, Executive Officer to the Chief of Engineers, Executive Officer to the Army Chief of Staff, and Deputy Director of Operations for the National Military Command Center, J-3, the Joint Staff in the Pentagon. Additionally, he was a special assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs during his time as a White House Fellow. Lt. Gen. Bostick graduated with a Bachelor's of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and later returned to the Academy to serve as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He holds Master's degrees in Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a Doctorate in Systems Engineering from George Washington University. Lt. Gen. Bostick was recently selected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Construction, and the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science Hall of Fame for his many contributions to engineering.

Helen Sabzevari, Ph.D.

Dr. Sabzevari joined Intrexon in 2017 bringing extensive expertise in research and development of immunotherapy-based therapeutics as well as experience translating novel treatments from pre-clinical stage into the clinic. She served as Senior Vice President of Immuno-Oncology as well as Global Head of Immunotherapy, Oncology, Global Research and Early Development at EMD Serono (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany). During her tenure, she led the immuno-oncology discovery and early development translational innovation platform and brought forward numerous pre-clinical and clinical assets including Avelumab, an approved programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) checkpoint inhibitor. Dr. Sabzevari also led the Molecular Immunology Group at the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the US National Cancer Institute (LTIB-NCI), where she was focused on design, development and delivery of novel vaccines and immunotherapies for a range of human cancers. Most recently she co-founded and served as Chief Scientific Officer of Compass Therapeutics LLC, a fully-integrated drug discovery and development company focused on manipulating the immune system to treat human disease.

Dr. Sabzevari's contributions in the field of tumor immunology earned her the National Institutes of Health (NIH) merit award for major contribution to the field of cancer immunotherapy, and she also received the Mass High Tech's Women to Watch Award and the PharmaVOICE 100 Award. Dr. Sabzevari received her doctorate degree in cell and molecular immunology and completed her postdoctoral work at the department of immunology at the Scripps Research Institute working on various immunotherapeutic modalities in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Nir Nimrodi

Mr. Nimrodi has served in multiple roles since joining the Company in 2014, including most recently as Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Development. He has over two decades of diverse international experience in large global businesses in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics industries. While at Life Technologies, Mr. Nimrodi served as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Life Technologies Israel, Head of Protein Technologies, as well as Vice President and General Manager of Food Safety and Animal Health. Mr. Nimrodi played a key part in Life Technologies growth until its acquisition. Additionally, he has held leadership positions at Proneuron Biotechnologies, Inc., Mindsense Biosystems, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.

About Intrexon Corporation

Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON) is Powering the Bioindustrial Revolution with Better DNA to create biologically-based products that improve the quality of life and the health of the planet. Intrexon's integrated technology suite provides its partners across diverse markets with industrial-scale design and development of complex biological systems delivering unprecedented control, quality, function, and performance of living cells. We call our synthetic biology approach Better DNA, and we invite you to discover more at www.dna.com or follow us on Twitter at @Intrexon, on Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Trademarks

Intrexon, Powering the Bioindustrial Revolution with Better DNA, and Better DNA are trademarks of Intrexon and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement

Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and projections about future events and generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for the development of our business. Although management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this press release.

For more information regarding Intrexon Corporation, contact:

Investor Contact: Christopher Basta Vice President, Investor Relations Tel: +1 (561) 410-7052 [email protected] Corporate Contact: Marie Rossi, Ph.D. Director, Technical Communications Tel: +1 (301) 556-9850 [email protected]

SOURCE Intrexon Corporation

Related Links

http://www.dna.com


IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The California superior court judge presiding over developing litigation against Children's Dental Group and several of its dentists has appointed Daniel M. Hodes and James R. Moriarty as co-lead plaintiffs counsel, according to Hodes Milman Liebeck, LLP and the Law Offices of James R. Moriarty.

Mr. Hodes and Mr. Moriarty now lead the plaintiffs team of 21 law firms that represent at least 80 families whose children were allegedly harmed at CDG clinics.

The dental malpractice lawsuits against California-based CDG allege that company policies and procedures exposed child patients to contaminated water leading to an outbreak of severe infections and public harm. CDG also is accused of performing unnecessary procedures, including pulpotomies.

The 15 pending lawsuits include 21 law firms that represent at least 80 families allegedly harmed at CDG clinics. The Hon. Glenda Sanders of the Superior Court of Orange County presides over the litigation.

The Court also appointed Carlos X. Colorado, of Eagan Avenatti LLP, of Newport Beach, Calif., as liaison counsel, and several other members of the plaintiffs' team to eight litigation committees.

Mr. Hodes said, "As our team's investigation of Children's Dental Group continues, the Court's order helps us further coordinate the litigation and effectively move forward. We have an excellent team in place to pursue the investigation and litigation on behalf of the families we represent."

Mr. Moriarty said, "This community health crisis caused at least 73 children to be hospitalized and we believe hundreds more faced debilitating infections. Our investigation and the pending lawsuits raise troubling questions about the policies and practices of Children's Dental Group."

CONTACTS: Daniel M. Hodes, Hodes Milman Liebeck, LLP, Irvine, Calif., 949.640.8222, and James R. Moriarty, Law Offices of James R. Moriarty, Houston, 713.528.0700.

SOURCE Hodes Milman Liebeck, LLP

Related Links

https://verdictvictory.com/


SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm Messner Reeves LLP has opened a new office in San Jose, Calif., the firm's sixth office nationwide and its third in California. The new office highlights the firm's strong growth over the past three years and demonstrates the value of the firm's entrepreneurial spirit and unique culture, as well as its commitment to providing highly skilled lawyers and localized services to clients.

Messner Reeves now operates offices in Denver; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; New York City; Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; and now San Jose. While the Messner Reeves office in San Jose is new, the attorneys that will form the core of new office are all Silicon Valley veterans from the 50-year-old law firm Robinson & Wood who have elected to wind down their current operations and transition their practice to Messner Reeves.

The attorneys joining Messner Reeves have contributed to the evolution of Silicon Valley as the heart of the world's technological and entrepreneurial innovation. The office is led by partners Jesse F. Ruiz and Jon B. Zimmerman, and they are joined by partners Ann A. P. Nguyen and Joseph C. Balestrieri, Of Counsel Bonnie M. Ross, and associates Jonathan L. Lee, and Gregory B. Cohen. The Silicon Valley Office will draw from the breadth of firm-wide knowledge and focus on Appellate, Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Corporate, Labor & Employment, Insurance Law, Intellectual Property, Personal Injury, Premises Liability, Products Liability, Professional Liability, Public Entity, Transportation, and Trusts and Estates.

"Our entire team is excited to join such an accomplished and innovative firm as Messner Reeves," said Ruiz, the former managing partner at Robinson & Wood. "With its national platform and practice depth, the transition to Messner will allow us to further strengthen our services to clients. We have always been committed to providing the most comprehensive representation possible, and joining Messner Reeves will allow us to continue to do this now on a national level."

"We couldn't have asked for a finer, more experienced team to help us grow Messner Reeves in Northern California," said Bryant S. "Corky" Messner, the founding partner and CEO of Messner Reeves. "The driving factor behind our strategic expansion and growth is our commitment to providing clients with the highest quality service possible. The addition of the Silicon Valley office allows us to continue to provide personalized solutions to all of our clients nationwide."

For complete attorney bios and more information about the firm's Silicon Valley office, please visit www.messner.com.

About Messner Reeves LLP

Messner Reeves LLP, a full-service national business law firm with more than 100 attorneys, provides legal services from six offices in Colorado, Nevada, California, and New York. Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to individual entrepreneurs. We have earned a distinguished reputation for offering effective legal counsel, quick response, and the highest level of professional integrity in the following areas of practice: corporate transactions & securities, labor & employment, litigation- including commercial, insurance, constructions and professional liability, real estate, intellectual property, restaurant & hospitality, banking & financial services, art law, health law, trust & estates, transportation logistics, and private client and tax services. For more information, please visit www.messner.com.

SOURCE Messner Reeves LLP

Related Links

http://www.messner.com


LONDON, November 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Odgers Berndtson, a leading global executive search firm, is opening a new base in Dublin, Ireland. The move will significantly enhance the firm's capacity to support global companies looking to establish new centres of operation in Europe in readiness for Brexit.

A market-leading team already established in the executive search market in Ireland has joined Odgers Berndtson with immediate effect. Led by Damian Ringwood, who becomes Managing Partner, Odgers Berndtson Dublin, the team will extend the global firm's reach across 58 offices in 29 countries.

The move comes as increasing numbers of organisations look to invest in Ireland prior to Brexit. They include JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citibank, Standard Life and Barclays in financial services and Google and LinkedIn in the tech sector.

"The growth of our business depends on being able to provide a high level of support to major global clients as they address some very significant challenges posed by Brexit," said Kester Scrope, Chief Executive of Odgers Berndtson. "We are delighted to welcome Damian and his team to our firm, who bring over six decades of experience and specialise in key sectors like financial services, consumer, public sector, professional services, tech and media."

Damian Ringwood, Managing Partner of the new Odgers Berndtson Dublin, said, "The team here are thrilled with the opportunity to join Odgers Berndtson. Working as part of one of the global 'big six' search firms will help us to maximise the opportunity that Brexit offers and provide a wider reach in terms of securing top talent for new and existing clients."

NOTES TO EDITORS

Odgers Berndtson is an international executive search firm operating in over 50 offices across EMEA, North and South America and Asia Pacific. The firm offers a wide range of role and sector expertise to find and develop senior executives and non-executive for quoted and privately held businesses and public organisations.

For more information on Odgers Berndtson, visit: http://www.odgersberndtson.com

http://www.odgersberndtson.ie

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

SOURCE Odgers Berndtson
PHOENIX, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal-Bay, The Pre Settlement Funding Company, announced today an increased focus on IVC Filter case funding, with a spotlight on C.R. Bard and Cook Manufacture products as total cases filed approaches 4,000 nationwide. Legal-Bay is a leading personal injury pre-settlement funding company, and also known as one of the best pre-settlement lawsuit funding companies when it comes to mass tort cases. Legal-Bay works directly with most of the top mass tort firms to provide the best pre-settled rates for mass tort clients, which are closer to rates typically charged on loans.

Legal-Bay has secured ample capital to fund many of the cases consolidated in the Arizona court system, and is also taking applications for brokers who have clients or law firms that need IVC lawsuit funding. IVC law firms file claims alleging that the products are defective and have broken and/or migrated and require surgery to replace, or in some cases when surgery is not an option due to potential life threatening conditions. The products that Legal-Bay is focusing on are:

The Bard Recovery filter

The Bard G2 filter

The Bard G2 Express filter

The Cook Gunther Tulip filter

The Cook Celect filter

Chris Janish, CEO of Legal-Bay commented, "We have been following the IVC Cases very closely and have been one of the funding leaders on this litigation, like on metal on metal hip cases and transvaginal mesh. We think this litigation will last several more years, however, we believe 2018 will be a turn towards seeing positive results for plaintiffs. Plaintiffs that need cash today, now have ability to get an advance from their potential settlement amount."

To apply for lawsuit funding fill out a pre-applications on the company's website at: http://lawsuitssettlementfunding.com.

You must have an attorney to apply for funding on your IVC Case. If you do not have an attorney, feel free to contact Legal-Bay and they can assist you with retaining a top IVC lawyer or IVC law firm that works with clients that need funding.

All of Legal-Bay funding programs are risk free and do not involve any out of pocket expenses upfront; you only pay if your case is successful. This includes any case evaluations which are always free. The non-recourse advance is not a lawsuit loan, lawsuit loans, settlement loan, settlement loans, pre-settlement loan or pre-settlement loans.

For any lawsuit services needed you may apply online at: http://lawsuitssettlementfunding.com and an agent will call you back promptly to answer your questions, or you may call the company's toll free hotline at: 877.571.0405 where agents are standing by.

SOURCE Legal-Bay LLC

Related Links

http://lawsuitssettlementfunding.com


OCALA, Fla., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New Jersey-based rare currency auctioneer Legend Coin Auctions (www.LegendAuctions.com), LLC has launched a new website through HiBid.comthe leader in internet bidding solutions and webcast bidding for live auctions. Legend Coin Auctions consistently hosts successful online-only and live webcast auctions through HiBid, including a recent sale that featured 119 rare collectible coins curated by its knowledgeable staff. The auction company will hold its final sale of the year on December 14th.

As the undisputed leading dealer of rare coins, Legend Coin Auctions offers a number of auction services. In addition to purchasing individual coins and collections outright, the company also offers consignment options for live and online auctions held throughout the year. "We hold five regency auctions and 12 premier session sales each year through HiBid.com," explains Legend Coin Auctions' Serena Myers. Regency auctions are boutique-style live sales that are simulcast through HiBid.com; they primarily feature high-value coins (between $5,000 and $10,000) from sellers that are PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) members. Premier session sales, by contrast, are online-only auctions featuring fewer than 200 hand-selected, unreserved auction items. The ability to quickly and easily upload otherwise hyperlocal auctions to HiBid.com extends them to bidders (including enthusiasts, novice collectors, and professional numismatics) anywhere in the world.

Through Auction Flex (a full-service auction management software), Legend Coin Auctions is able to streamline and simplify the setup and management of every auction. This includes the ability to simulcast its live regency auctions for remote, online participants, and the ability to upload comprehensive auction catalogs to HiBid's online bidding platform for both simulcast and online-only auctions in minutes. Each auction catalog is uploaded to HiBid.com ahead of the sale, providing the sale date and time, bidding information, location (if applicable), and searchable lots (including pictures and item details) for each item for sale. Registering to bid is free and easy; HiBid's platform is also mobile-friendly, so bidders can monitor items of interest and place bids quickly and easily.

Legend Coin's auctions are also posted to its company website, which, along with its email, is hosted through Sandhills Publishing (the company behind Auction Flex, HiBid, and AuctionTime.com). The site displays information about Legend Coin's service offerings, details about its staff of industry experts, a historical reference of prices realized, news and market reports, and catalogs for upcoming auctions. Most importantly, it provides buyers and sellers with a quick access point for information, and a professional online presence for Legend Coin Auctions. "Hosting with a company that understands our auction needs ensures a seamless, mobile-friendly site for our customers," says Serena Myers.

For Legend Coin, Auction Flex and HiBid ensure continual success in a competitive and evolving industry landscape. "Online auctions are the key to competing in today's market," says Serena, adding that they are increasingly becoming the industry standard. "Buyers want the ability to bid on a reliable platform from the comfort of their homes."

Legend Coin Auctions will hold its final sale for 2017a live auction also open to online bidders through HiBid.comin Las Vegas, Nevada on December 14th at 4:30 p.m. (PT). The sale features 392 items, and is already open for prebidding. Register to bid for free at HiBid.com, and find more information in the HiBid catalog for this auction.

About HiBid & Auction Flex

Auction Flex is the market-leader in auction software for live auctions, with capabilities that include cataloging, clerking, cashiering, accounting, mailing list management, inventory management, multi-parcel, and more. Auction Flex also provides a seamless solution that enables auction houses to upload auction catalogs online and accept internet absentee bids, conduct internet-only auctions, or offer webcast live internet bidding through its integrated web service and internet bidding solutionHiBid (both a private-label solution and a portal). Auction Flex and HiBid were built from the ground up to function together seamlessly. HiBid conducted over 21,000 auctions in 2016 and had Gross Auction Proceeds (GAP) of over $559 million.

Contact Auction Flex:

(352) 414-1947

[email protected]

SOURCE HiBid & Auction Flex
KUTA, Indonesia, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Directing a film about people with disabilities who love to dance has been a meaningful experience to Lucia Barata. After finishing a long list of education on architecture and art, she studied at the New York Film Academy. Finally, her film, Dancing Wheels is chosen as the Best Film in the International Student, Woman and Movie Awards (ISENMA) 2017. When interviewed, the Brazilian-born writer and director Lucia Barata said, "This film is the one I'm very proud of. I hope this film would bring good to the Dancing Wheels organization; so, they would find a sponsor to help them grow. Again, there are no boundaries to dance."

Anyone could quickly tell that the film is made with passion and love. There is the soul of the dance itself, and it is transmitted from the action of the people involved. Competing with three other Best Film nominations selected from 350 films, Dancing Wheels hit a home run and took home the winning statue.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BLaA2Dasrxw

ISENMA is a film festival founded in Indonesia in 2015, with missions to acknowledge women and new, passionate filmmakers with astounding ability, and to celebrate the International Day for Tolerance.

Collaborated with Film Festivals Alliance, ISENMA has been going for two years. The Awards Ceremony, held in Bali, is grandiose and packed with kings and queens of Nusantara, notable guests, national and international filmmakers, and artists. The event was opened by His Majesty the King of Cakrabumi, Sri Anglung Prabu Punta Djajanagara, and was attended by many Kings and Queens of Nusantara. The Best Film statue was given to Lucia by His Majesty the King of Bonea Selayar, H. Andi Mahyuddin. The King said that it was an honor to give the Best Film statue to the winner.

International filmmakers and guests attended the screening of Dancing Wheels. When the Overall Winner was announced later that night, nobody was surprised. The documentary is inspiring, but Lucia was stunned. It was the first Best Film title for the film. With teary eyes, Lucia dedicated the award to her fellow team.

Natasha Dematra, the head of the juries, said, "The juries chose Dancing Wheels because the film is exceptional. The fact that the film is a documentary and based on a true story gives the film another point."

Recently, Dancing Wheels was awarded Diamond Award in Short Documentary category and Platinum Award for Editor of the Year for Raphael Alvarez from Directors Awards. Filmmakers of the Year Film Festival awarded Lucia with Platinum Award for Director of the Year and gave the creator of the film, Camila Rodrigues, Medal of the Year. For her accomplishment, Lucia was also awarded the Royal High Achievement Award in Women Filmmaker category from Royal World Records & Prizes.

Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12678589

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE ISENMA
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat today held talks with Kyrgyz armed forces chief General Raimberdi Duishenbiyev on ways to expand security and defence cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides deliberated on the current security scenario in the region and explored ways to deepen existing cooperation, official sources said.

Gen Duishenbiyev, who is the Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan, arrived here yesterday on a six- day India visit.

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Bilateral defence cooperation between India and Kyrgyzstan has been on an upswing with armed forces of the two countries having regular joint exercises. PTI MPB ASK ASK

--- ENDS ---
NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Christoph Lymbersky has joined M2P Consulting as a partner responsible for the Venture and Capital Partners business unit from our offices in Frankfurt, London and Silicon Valley.

Venture Accelerator, Venture Partner, Investment Manager, Fund Manager

He brings many years of experience in founding, managing and successfully exiting start-up companies to M2P. Throughout his career Dr. Lymbersky has been a serial entrepreneur who has founded companies such as an IT consulting & security firm, an Internet provider and a new media publishing company as well as several others. Before joining M2P Consulting, Dr. Christoph Lymbersky was Managing Director of one of Europe's biggest and oldest the Venture Capital funds T-Venture (Deutsche Telekom Strategic Investments) with more than 70 portfolio companies.

He also played a key role in establishing and building Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, one of Europe's biggest Venture Capital and Private Equity funds with nearly 2bn Euro under management.

With this thorough experience, his professional network and his passion for the start-up and venture scene, Christoph Lymbersky is a big asset to M2P and will lead the M2P Venture & Capital Partners unit.

Within the new Venture & Capital Partners business unit, M2P offers a holistic end-to-end approach comprising activities within Venture Acceleration, Venture Partnering, Investment & Asset Management and Venture Capital Fund Management. Acting as a strategic intermediary for clients in search of innovative digital solutions, M2P Consulting examines the market place, evaluates the performance and fit of existing solutions and makes the connection between start-up and investor.

About M2P Consulting

M2P Consulting is an international strategy and transformation consultancy that leads businesses to optimal operational and financial performance. The company operates in four core business areas: Strategy, Organization and M&A; Operational Excellence & Transformation; Data Technology Services and Venture & Capital Partners. 6 global offices in Frankfurt/Germany, London/U.K., Dubai, Hong Kong as well as New York City and the Silicon Valley in the U.S.A. enable M2P to service clients worldwide. A team of 100 consultants work towards excellent results every day and perform in line with the M2P core values: Strive for Performance, Care about People and Deliver & Keep promises.

Media Contact:

Sarah Weisser

M2P Consulting

+49 1737290053

[email protected]

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Dr. Christoph Lymbersky

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Venture & Capital Partners Offerings

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M2P Venture & Capital Partners

Dr. Christoph Lymbersky

SOURCE M2P Consulting
CSE: MDM FSE: 2Mo OTCQB: MRPHF

KELOWNA, BC, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Marapharm Ventures Inc., "Marapharm" has entered into an agreement to buy an operating dispensary for $1.6 million USD located in Desert Hot Springs, California based on the following terms:

One hundred sixty thousand ($160,000.00) cash deposit was paid at removal of contingencies to Marapharm's California attorney which shall be deposited with an escrow company of Buyer's choosing. Once contingencies were removed by Buyer on or about November 15th, 2017, this deposit became non-refundable to Buyer.

One million four hundred forty thousand ($1,440,000.00) in cash is payable by Buyer on closing.

The transaction will close when regulatory matters are concluded, which is to be on or before December 31, 2017.

Green Leaf Wellness has been in business for 3 years and operates from a leased space within a strip mall located on the main drive in Desert Hot Springs. There is 3200 square feet of retail space on the ground level and 3000 square feet of subterranean cultivation space. The retail space is only partially utilized, is managed by 5 employees, and presently nets approximately $35,000.00 USD per month from sales. The cultivation space is not currently being utilized, it is licensed for cultivation and will be used specifically as such.

''This acquisition is very exciting for us. We own cultivation properties located within minutes of Green Leaf Wellness so there is a lot of synergy. The licensed cultivation space will immediately be used to grow cannabis for a taxable transaction which in turn allows the facility to obtain a recreational license. We are also brainstorming several ways to enhance the retail operations.

Green Leaf Wellness provides a staging location in California for the Marapharm Delivery Service (MDS), which is currently under development. MDS will be a full-service division of Marapharm. MDS will integrate a custom designed, proprietary blockchain platform named "Maracar" to provide security, corporate safety and immutability of data sent to and from connected delivery vehicles. The platform provides safety nets around the entire vehicle ecosystem.

In addition to enhancing security and safety, the blockchain architecture allows new applications and monetization of delivery data.

Maracar will expand and augment Marapharm's MDS proof of concept by providing streams of data captured on the blockchain. This enables better tracking of the fleet, management of the supply chain and accuracy for the insurance markets. Maracar compliments existing security applications and services while delivering new solutions that add value.

The dispensary gives us an integrated model for cultivation, production and retailing cannabis products and a foundation for the development of the delivery service. We have medical licenses in California which soon can become recreational ones." Linda Sampson, Marapharm CEO.

ABOUT MARAPHARM VENTURES INC.

www.marapharm.com

Marapharm is a publicly traded company primarily investing in the medical and recreational cannabis space, with corporate operations based in British Columbia, Canada. Since 2016 they have rapidly expanded their footprint to include production locations in the key North American states of Washington, Nevada, and California. They actively seek expansion opportunities worldwide.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Facebook: facebook.com/marapharm

Twitter: twitter.com/marapharm

Web Program: marapharm.tv

STOCK EXCHANGES:

Marapharm trades in Canada, ticker symbol MDM on the CSE, in the United States, ticker symbol MRPHF on the OTCQB, and in Europe, ticker symbol 2Mo on the FSE. Marapharm also trades on other recognized platforms in Europe including Stuttgart, Tradegate, L & S, Quotnx, Dusseldorf, Munich, and Berlin.

Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQB has approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQB accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

MARIJUANA INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT:

Canadian listings (CSE) will remain in good standing as long as they provide the disclosure that is rightly required by regulators and complying with applicable licensing requirements and the regulatory framework enacted by the applicable state in which they operate.

Marapharm owns marijuana licenses in California and Nevada. Marijuana is legal in each state however marijuana remains illegal under US federal law and the approach to enforcement of US federal law against marijuana is subject to change.

Shareholders and investors need to be aware that adverse enforcement actions could affect their investments and that Marapharm's ability to access private and public capital could be affected and or could not be available to support continuing operations. Marapharm's business is conducted in a manner consistent with state law and is in compliance with licensing requirements.

Copies of licenses are posted on Marapharm's website. Marapharm has internal compliance procedures in place and has compliance focused attorneys engaged in jurisdictions to monitor changes in laws for compliance with US federal and state law on an ongoing basis. These law firms inform any necessary changes to our policies and procedures for compliance in Canada and the US.

FORWARD - LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumption but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon.

SOURCE Marapharm Ventures Inc.

Related Links

www.marapharm.com


MIAMI, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Founded by a 29-year hospitality industry veteran, CANRVE is a full-service travel firm dedicated to servicing the needs of the cannabis community. The recent changes in legality across the USA and Canada have created a gap in the travel marketplace for those who are dependent on marijuana as medicine and others who prefer to use cannabis as their recreational respite. While cannabis use has been partially legalized, it is not allowed in public spaces and most traditional hotels still enforce a zero-tolerance policy.

Cannabis-Friendly Travel

Offering private home rentals, a dispensary and marijuana medical doctor location guide, local lifestyle activities, events and private cannabis chef services, CANRVE provides safe travel options to the over 2.5 million registered medical marijuana patients in the U.S. and the global cannabis community at large. "We are passionate about the rights of the traveling cannabis community as well as scientific developments in the medical marijuana sector and are donating two percent of sales proceeds to cannabis research," says CEO and founder Orbin Johnson.

CANRVE is also in negotiations with a few handpicked hotels ready to welcome the cannabis user. Currently offering listings in the nine U.S. states that have legalized both medical and recreational use as well as Canada, CANRVE will be launching options in Jamaica next month.

About CANRVE:

CANRVE's collection of travel product is housed on an intuitive website that guides the user through an easy-to-use booking engine, as well as a comprehensive dispensary guide that details precisely what cannabis products are available at dispensaries near the traveler's destination. Travelers have the option of adding the services of a private cannabis chef to their home rental, booking a local cannabis-friendly activity or searching for nearby events. CANRVE's official startup crowdfunding campaign launches Nov 27 at www.canrve.us/2.

**CANRVE does not sell cannabis, any derivative products of, nor promote illegal sales of cannabis.

Related Files

CANRVE PRESS RELEASE docx.docx

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Cannabis-Friendly Travel

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Cannabis-Friendly Chef

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Cannabis Events and Activities

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Cannabis Travel

Related Links

Homepage

Crowdfunding

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcMIgytshBw

SOURCE CANRVE
YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Myanmar Tourism Marketing invites tourists to celebrate cultural diversity several times a year during the different New Year celebrations from November 2017 until April 2018. Unlike most Western countries that only celebrate the Gregorian calendar New Year, the country with over 130 different tribes celebrates the Shan, Naga, Chinese, Kayin, Chin, Kachin New Years and obviously the Myanmar New Year. There is no other country in the world that celebrates New Year so many times.

Myanmar is a land of diverse ethnicity. The Kayin, one of the major ethnic groups in Myanmar, celebrate their New Year (usually last week of December) through unique cultural identity with dance contests and songs while wearing their traditional costumes. Each January, the Naga ethnic tribe's New Year Festival takes place in the far northern region of Myanmar. This festival brings all Naga tribes together to celebrate their harvest and pray for a good new year. It's the best opportunity to visit the remote Naga region and to experience the authentic traditional culture and custom.

Myanmar's most famous festival, Thingyan, the Burmese New Year Water Festival, takes place in mid-April and lasts for four to five days. This festival is one of the largest and most widely celebrated holidays in Myanmar. During the festival, people splash water on each other and are believed to "wash-away" one's sins of the previous year. You can enjoy the most vibrant and festive atmosphere in the big cities and every neighbourhood can be seen with well-decorated bamboo or wood pavilions and stages. This festival gives a unique experience and is fun and colourful.

The country has been in the media for a while, focusing only on one small part of the country and it is important to ensure the rest of the country will not suffer as well. "Myanmar is a huge, multi-racial country offering colourful festivals, beautiful beaches as well as stunning nature for tourists," says May Myat Mon Win, Myanmar Tourism Marketing chairperson. "Not visiting because of the crisis would be a big loss for those thousands of people working in tourism in Myanmar who have nothing to do with the issue in Northern Rakhine state," she continues.

At the end of November, Pope Francis will visit Myanmar and he will be the first Pope ever to do so. People expect the Pope's visit will put a positive image of this culturally diverse country that not only celebrates the Gregorian calendar New Year but also several other calendars' New Year.

Myanmar Tourism Marketing invites social media influencers to share their experiences under @visit.myanmar or by using the hashtag #MyMyanmar. www.facebook.com/myanmartm is used to share stories and interesting information about tourism in Myanmar and www.instagram.com/visit.myanmar is all about the most beautiful pictures of this photogenic country.

About Myanmar Tourism Marketing

Myanmar Tourism Marketing (MTM) aims to promote Myanmar as a sustainable tourism destination that can be visited the whole year round. It is part of the Myanmar Tourism Federation and is mainly privately funded by key members of the tourism industry in Myanmar. The MTM team is happy to assist press and media to publish more about tourism in Myanmar.

For editors & journalists

Media queries and questions regarding this press release or future media trips or TV and film opportunities in Myanmar can be addressed to:

Htet Htet Lin  PR Officer

Myanmar Tourism Marketing

No. 204, Bo Myat Tun Road (Middle Block) Pazundaung Township

Yangon, Myanmar

Tel: +95 - 9 977204456

Mobile: +95 9 966 961079

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.tourismmyanmar.org

Twitter: www.twitter.com/MyanmarTM

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VisitMyanmar

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MTM logo

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SOURCE Myanmar Tourism Marketing

Related Links

http://www.tourismmyanmar.org


WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will release and discuss the findings of their new affordable drugs report at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker this Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 1:00PM in the club's Fourth Estate.

The new report examines patient access to affordable and effective drug therapies in the U.S. and recommends a number of policy actions aimed at improving the affordability of prescription drugs without discouraging continued innovation in drug development. It looks specifically at areas such as drug pricing, the entry of generics into the market, financial transparency, and insurance benefit designs.

This news conference and panel discussion, moderated by USA Today Managing Editor Donna Leinwand Leger, is open to credentialed media, NPC members, and the general public free of charge, but advance registration is required. Please click here to register.

Panelists include:

Norman Augustine (chair), former chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation

(chair), former chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation Jeff Bingaman , former U.S. senator, New Mexico

, former U.S. senator, Michelle Mello , professor of law and professor of health research and policy, Stanford University

, professor of law and professor of health research and policy, Eliseo Perez-Stable, director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health

Charles Phelps , university professor and provost emeritus, University of Rochester

The National Press Club is located on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building at 529 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

Contact:

Lindsay Underwood

[email protected]

(202) 662-7561

SOURCE National Press Club
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The US Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US) has organized a panel discussion on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Iran, the role of Hassan Rouhani's cabinet members in the ongoing atrocities, the involvement of senior officials in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, and the U.S. policy on Iran.

The discussion is timely as it coincides with Congressional review of policy options on Iran, and as widespread protests are erupting across the country.

The event is scheduled for Friday, December 1, 2017, at 10:00 am at the National Press Club, Combined Murrow/White/Lisagor Rooms, 529 Fourteenth Street, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.

Panelists:

The Honorable J. Kenneth "Ken" Blackwell, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission;

former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission; Linda Chavez , former Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, former U.S. Expert elected by the United Nations Human Rights Commission to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities;

former Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, former U.S. Expert elected by the United Nations Human Rights Commission to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; The Honorable Adam Ereli, former U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain and former Deputy Spokesperson for the United States Department of State;

former U.S. Ambassador to and former Deputy Spokesperson for the United States Department of State; The Honorable Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco , White House Middle East advisor; currently Global Director, Counter Extremism Project;

former U.S. Ambassador to , White House Middle East advisor; currently Global Director, Counter Extremism Project; Soona Samsami, U.S. Representative, NCRI.

RSVP required; Please click here to register

Please follow us on Twitter and Facebook

These materials are being distributed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran-U.S. Representative Office. Additional information is on file with the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

Contact: Ali Safavi, 202-747-7847

SOURCE National Council of Resistance of Iran-U.S. Representative Office

Related Links

http://www.ncrius.org


EL PASO, Texas, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Who: UTEP and All of Us Research Program What: Traveling exhibit When: Wednesday, Nov. 29, from 9am to 3pm (Media suggested times 10-11:30 a.m.) Where: UTEP outside Union East  (500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79968) Why: To provide community and campus members information on the program and precision medicine.

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health will host the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Journey on Wednesday, Nov. 29. The traveling, hands-on exhibit raises awareness about the All of Us Research Programan ambitious effort to gather data from 1 million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research and improve health.

"We are glad the National Alliance for Hispanic Health recognizes our region as an important stop on the national tour and they are taking on a national effort to focus on the Hispanic population. If you look at most biomedical, behavioral or social science research, it doesn't involve the Hispanic population," Robert A. Kirken, Ph.D., College of Science Dean and principal investigator of UTEP's Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC) explained. "If you look into clinical trials and large study groups, most of the time Hispanic participants are non-existent. It is our duty to figure out how we can better their lives through our science."

Campus and community members are invited to come learn about the program and get information on healthy living and preventing disease.

"As healthcare professionals, it is critical that we educate our community and engage them in making a difference in their health," Elias Provencio-Vasquez, Ph.D., School of Nursing Dean said. "This traveling unit provides people the opportunity to find out more about research efforts to help them, and their community, in an interactive way."

El Paso is one stop on the All of Us Journey's 37-week national tour.

"All of Us is so important to shaping the future of health in the United States," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group. "This research program will bring together communities throughout the United States to drive new discoveries, which may lead to earlier disease identification, more precise treatment solutions and better health outcomes for all in the future."

About the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (the Alliance)  The Alliance is the nation's foremost science-based source of information and trusted non-partisan advocate for the best health outcomes for all. The Alliance represents thousands of Hispanic health providers across the nation providing services to more than 15 million each year. For more information, visit https://www.healthyamericas.org or call the Alliance's Su Familia National Hispanic Family Health Helpline at 1-866-783-2645.

Precision Medicine Initiative, All of Us, the All of Us logo, and "The Future of Health Begins with You" are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

SOURCE National Alliance for Hispanic Health

Related Links

http://www.healthyamericas.org


SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- O.C. Tanner, the global leader in employee recognition and workplace culture, today revealed that it has been honored with two awards for workplace culture in Utah. O.C. Tanner was named to both the Salt Lake Tribune Top Workplaces as the #6 large company, and Utah Business' Best Companies to Work For.

The Salt Lake Tribune Top Workplaces program highlights organizations where employees feel inspired and empowered, rather than basing scores on perks like free lunches and corporate trips. Results are compiled from employee surveys.

Utah Business' Best Companies to Work For surveys participant companies with a rigorous examination of workplace elements such as benefits and pay, fairness and opportunities, corporate culture, internal communication and employee pride.

"We are thrilled to be included with great Utah companies on both of these lists, and honored that our employees have recognized us in this fashion," said Dave Petersen, president and CEO of O.C. Tanner. "The fact that a 90-year-old company is winning workplace culture awards proves that any organization can meet the changing needs of their people, and recognize great work at all levels."

This is the fourth year in a row that O.C. Tanner has been recognized as a Top Workplace by the Salt Lake Tribune. The Top Workplaces program is run nationally by Energage, an employee engagement company.

About O.C. Tanner

O.C. Tanner, the global leader in employee recognition and culture, helps thousands of top companies accomplish and appreciate great work. Twenty-five of the Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For use O.C. Tanner's cloud-based technology, tools, awards and services to engage talent, increase performance, drive goals and create great workplace cultures. For more information visit octanner.com.

Media Contacts

Lindsey Nikola

[email protected]

801-493-3055

Roger Johnson

Method Communications

(801) 461-9781

[email protected]

SOURCE O.C. Tanner

Related Links

http://www.octanner.com


KYOTO, Japan, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OMRON Corporation will introduce on November 29, 2017, and February 1, 2018, four series of condition-monitoring devices allowing workers to monitor operational status in manufacturing sites. They are: Motor condition-monitoring devices that predict a failure of three-phase induction motors; power supplies equipped with networking capability that can predict the service life and failures of a power supply installed in a control panel; flow sensors and pressure sensors that monitor hydraulic oil and cooling water used for press machines and molding machines; and a smart condition-monitoring amplifier that accelerates IoT of existing analog sensors installed in facilities or machines.

The release of condition-monitoring devices is part of OMRON's effort aiming at completing a lineup of 100,000 IoT components. The monitoring devices visualize facility and equipment conditions constantly that could not be seen before, detect status errors of facilities in advance, and maintain production lines and productivity. With i-BELT, an IoT service platform for manufacturing sites, the devices will store and analyze the collected data, reflect it on device control as a control algorithm and automate craftsmanship.

In recent years, the manufacturing industry has a serious shortage of skilled workers due to expansion of optimal production locations and aging society. By contrast, maintenance operation is getting more and more complicated and difficult along with advanced high-speed facilities. Under these circumstances, there is a growing need for visualizing production facility conditions and collecting data in operation using IoT and other technologies to enhance the operating ratio in work sites. The lineup of devices to satisfy the need, however, has not been completed yet. Visualization of data has no uniformity or synchronization since each manufacturer develops and releases different devices. This is why production sites are still in the process of trial and error.

OMRON has categorized facility configuration elements into the following three groups as a method of visualization to understand conditions of various positions in facilities and enhance the operating ratio.

1) Power: power source of facilities such as motors or pumps

2) Circulation: liquid to maintain facility performance such as cooling water or hydraulic oil

3) Mechanism: components to process products such as cylinders or actuators

We are going to release optimum condition-monitoring devices that detect changes in each configuration element to predict the service life and solve issues that lead to failures.

The condition-monitoring devices monitor changes in power and circulation systems of production facilities in real time. They inform replacement time of parts before failures through communications networks, and contribute to prevention of unexpected facility stoppages and quality abnormality of products. Anyone can easily capture signs of abnormality of facilities and failures that have relied on experience and intuition of skilled workers. This enables reduction in opportunity loss due to unexpected facility stoppages and enhance the accuracy of maintenance plans.

Based on its reservoir of advanced technologies and comprehensive range of devices, OMRON set forth a strategic concept called "innovative-Automation!" (*1) consisting of three innovations or "i's" -- "integrated" (control evolution), "intelligent" (development of intelligence by ICT), and "interactive" (new harmonization between people and machines). OMRON is now committed to bringing innovation to manufacturing sites by materializing this concept. Going forward, OMRON will strive to create an environment that facilitates easy collection, analysis, and application of information at the manufacturing floor level. This will be made possible, for example, by connecting the information of various objects read by code readers to the "i-BELT," OMRON's IoT service platform. This will allow OMRON to accelerate the creation of an "intelligent" manufacturing site -- key to the materialization of "innovative-Automation!" -- together with its client companies. By so doing, OMRON continues to pursue remarkable enhancements in quality and productivity for the manufacturing industry.

OMRON will exhibit condition-monitoring devices and other products, technologies, and solutions that contribute to IoT in manufacturing sites at the System Control Fair 2017 at Tokyo Big Sight from November 29 (Wed.) to December 1 (Fri.), 2017.

Four series of condition-monitoring devices to be sold:

https://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201711248332/_prw_PA1fl_Vr4nqOCG.pdf

(*1) "innovative-Automation!"

Recently, OMRON has developed a manufacturing innovation concept, called "innovative-Automation!" With this concept, OMRON is currently committed to bringing innovation to manufacturing sites through three key innovations, or three "i's." Through these innovations in the area of automation, OMRON aims to enable significant productivity improvements in manufacturing sites in order to achieve high-value-added manufacturing. With the first "i," "integrated" (control evolution), OMRON will seek to advance automated control technology so that virtually any operator, even inexperienced operators, can effortlessly perform work that previously required the expert skills of experienced workers. With the second "i," "intelligent" (development of intelligence by ICT), OMRON seeks to create constantly evolving equipment and production lines. By adopting a wide range of control devices and artificial intelligence (AI), machines can learn through experience and maintain themselves in optimal condition. For the third "i," "interactive" (new harmonization between people and machines), OMRON pursues the development of a new harmonious relationship between human operators and machines. Working together in the same workspace, machines will be able to assist human operators by recognizing human thoughts and behavior.

About OMRON Corporation

OMRON Corporation is a global leader in the field of automation based on its core technology of "Sensing & Control + Think." Established in 1933, OMRON has about 36,000 employees worldwide, working to provide products and services in 117 countries. The company's business fields cover a broad spectrum, ranging from industrial automation and electronic components to automotive electronics, social infrastructure systems, healthcare, and environmental solutions. In the field of industrial automation, OMRON supports manufacturing innovation by providing advanced automation technology and products, as well as through extensive customer support, in order to help create a better society. For more information, visit OMRON's website: http://www.omron.com/.

SOURCE OMRON Corporation

Related Links

http://www.omron.com


PEARL RIVER, New York, November 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Qognify, the leader in big data solutions for physical security and operations, today announced, that it has been presented with Security & Fire Excellence Award for a second consecutive year, with Qognify Extend winning Communication Product of the Year 2017.

The prestigious award was presented to Qognify's Regional Vice President Sales UK, Nordics & Southern Europe, Enrico Montagnino, at a formal ceremony attended by more than 1,000 security professionals, at the Hilton Park Lane in London on Wednesday, November 22nd. This is the second consecutive year that Qognify's product innovation has been recognised by the judges of Security & Fire Excellence Awards. Last year, VisionHub won the CCTV System of the year (excluding camera and lens) award.

During the presentation, it was explained why Qognify Extend was chosen to top the category: "The judges thought this was an interesting, innovative and forward-thinking solution, with impressive emphasis and effectiveness towards personal safety".

Launched earlier this year, Qognify Extend is a suite of integrated mobile solutions that empowers organizations to leverage field resources and responders to increase situational awareness. Powered by CloudScann, Qognify Extend is a cloud-based solution that effectively extends the reach, coverage and effectiveness of an enterprise's control room and operations, by enabling personnel - and their smartphones - to become powerful sensors.

Moti Shabtai, Qognify's CEO and President states: "Qognify Extend capitalises on the ubiquity of mobile devices, harnessing their rich feature sets including location tracking, the ability to capture and share high quality video, audio and photos, and of course communicate. In doing so, it helps to improve the safety and security of employees, citizens and infrastructure. We are proud that Qognify Extend has been recognised for this prestigious award, and that this is the second consecutive year in which Qognify has been recognised for product innovation."

Owned by UBM, organizers of IFSEC International & FIREX International the Security & Fire Excellence Awards highlight the very best people, projects and processes that the security and fire sectors have to offer.

About Qognify

Qognify helps organizations mitigate risk, maintain business continuity, and optimize operations. The Qognify portfolio includes video management, video and data analytics, and PSIM/ Situation Management solutions that are deployed in financial institutions, transportation agencies, airports, seaports, utility companies, city centers, and to secure many of the world's highest-profile public events.

www.Qognify.com

Corporate Media Contact

Hagar Lev, +1-845-201-5654, [email protected]



Regional Media Contact

Graham Thatcher, +44(0)7933-673-240, [email protected]

SOURCE Qognify
Jaitley said, "Rahul ji trivilalised the Hafiz Saaed issue. This would have embarrassed even me if I had used it in a college debate."

Nothing succeeds like failure in Congress first family: Jaitley on Rahul's elevation

By Rahul Shrivastava: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday launched a scathing attack on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who is throwing a stiff challenge to the BJP in Gujarat.

Attacking Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for taking constant jibes at PM Narendra Modi on social media, Jaitley said, "As one becomes more and more senior in politics your idiom and expression has to be mature. You can't degrade yourself to the level of wisecracks which were conventionally used in college debates".

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"I think he is getting to learn these college level wisecracks and he is excited about those phrases now", Jaitley added.

Gandhi in his tweets took a dig at Modi over US' decision to delink Pakistani military funding.

Jaitley changed that, "This is outlandish. Hafiz Saeed is a serious issue. The culprit of 26/11 is being released and the whole world is up in arms, including the United States. On a serious diplomatic issue the countries of the world are on India's side."

When asked wasn't Rahul's comment a fair criticisms.

Jaitley said, "Rahul ji trivilalised the Hafiz Saaed issue. This would have embarrassed even me if I had used it in a college debate."

When asked about comments on Gandhi's coronation as Congress President in the first week of December, Jaitley said, "Congress Party has an interesting standard for its first family. For them nothing succeeds like failure. The more the first family fails, the more it gets promoted."

Jaitley wears many hats when it comes to Gujarat. He is a Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

In the absence of Narendra Modi as the chief minister for the first time after three successive elections, the BjP is struggling and Rahul Gandhi is capitalising on it.

The congress scion has built a rainbow coalition of castes with Alpesh Thakur an OBC, Jignesh Vaghani a Dalit, and a politically potent Hardik Patel leading restless Patidars.

The BJP in the absence of a communal polarisation on paper is facing a threat of losing sizeable votes of these three castes and traders.

Jaitley said, "Today Gujarat has to choose between a stable developmental politics and alternative route of social disintegration. Congress is building a disintegration coalition and not rainbow coalition in Gujarat. Congress is creating a policy diversion in Gujarat."

With Hardik Patel ending the suspense on which way he will go, the BJP has decided to fire against him.

While commenting on the Patidar unrest Jaitley said, "Every situation with the benefit of hindsight can be always handled better. I concede that. It was a crisis which was deliberately precipitated."

He added, "Some people who lack credibility before Gujarat are on the warpath not the Patidars."

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Without naming Hardik, he said that Patidars have a great role in the socio-economic life of Gujarat and that the BJP's grassroots leadership comes from Patidars.

The BJP is banking on Patidar leaders in the party to counter Hardik Patel. Last polls, it fielded 50 Patidars, out of which 42 won. While in this poll, the onus of weaning away Patidars from Hardik lies with MLAs and leaders like Nitin Patel and Purushottam Bhai Rupala.

Brushing aside reports of loss of Patidar voters the FM said, "A large chunk of substantial Patidar votes are coming to us. I have heard that in the last three Assembly polls, the Patidars of one region or others are unhappy with the BJP. But, that isn't true."

The Congress' effort to create a diverse caste bouquet is similar to what the BJP did in UP against Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav.

Jaitley said, "I heard this in UP. But Congress won the least ever seats there. India is changing. What happened to those political parties which predominantly relied on caste? Remember BSP got zero, SP got 5 respectively, in 2014. Parties that relied predominantly on social disintegration and caste have narrowed their social base. Therefore, the ability to forge rainbow coalitions doesn't exist."

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He also said that the Congress' coalition has inherent contradictions, and some of the communities in the coalition have been on either side of the political divide or have conventionally been with the BJP.

Gujarat - BJP's bastion for 22 years, both noteban and GST have caused serious heartburn among its loyal voters - traders.

Stumped by the protests, the government has retreated on several GST conditions created earlier. On his two-day visit to Ahmedabad and Surat, the finance minister met traders and tried to convince them that their demands and grievances will be addressed.

Soaking on the political fallout Jaitley said, "Traders in Surat aren't angry. GST has ended multiple inspectors visiting businessmen. I met them today."

The industry is appreciative that we took decisions in 48 hours on hardships faced by them in the transitional phase. Most of the problems of traders have been addressed. They wanted procedural simplification. We will ensure that we address their genuine concerns."

While Rahul Gandhi has been feasting on the anger over GST ever since he called it Gabbar Singh Tax. It was receivedwith cheers and applauds from the crowd.

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In the last GST council meet, the government pushed for softer compliance rules and reduction in taxes. The Congress emerged from the meet, and alleged that the government backtracked eyeing Gujarat polls.

Jaitley rubbished the Congress claim. He said, "What can Congress do with three and half states. That's their strength in terms of state Assemblies. Rahul ji's party was in power for 55 of 70 years. Between Central Excise and VAT, basic commodities in India were being charged 31 percent in tax because of cascading impact. If a 28% slab in GST is Gabbar singh Tax, then which dacoit should I equate the Congress government with?"

He added that reduction in GST rates on commodities has nothing to do with polls.

He also countered the charges by several Congress ruled states that post GST the revenue collection has gone up.

When asked about Congress' charge of high growth claims and spiraling job losses, Jaitley said, "Don't know from where Rahul ji gets his data on unemployment. It changes every hour. Rahul Gandhi's data is fictional. I squarely blame his speech writers for errors."

Attacking the Grand Old Party he said, "We brought insolvency laws where those who were given loans - by Rahul Gandhi's government are standing in the queue of insolvents."

The Congress has been attacking the government for delaying the winter session. It claims that the delay is BJPs attempt to avoid questions during Gujarat polls on issues like Rafale fighter craft deal.

Jaitley countered, "Why didn't Rahul ji speak on Rafale deal for two and a half years. Did it take him that much time to understand the deal. Rafale was a government to government deal. It's only during Gujarat polls when he discovers something on the fighter jet deal.

In a counter attack, Jaitley played the Bofors card.

"Kickbacks were given to close family friend Quattrochi. There are no Quattrochis in Rafale deal.

However, Jaitley admitted that the delay in session has a Gujarat connection.

"Parliament sessions and elections don't overlap. Congress used to delay or reschedule sessions due to polls. Leaders have to go and campaign. Primary dialogue is between leaders and people. Why during Congress' regime sessions were postponed or advanced so as not to clash with elections? The session has been called and Rahul Gandhi can raise what ever he wants to", Jaitley said.

Taking a dig at the Congress VP, he further added, "The session has been called. Maybe this time some leaders may not be able to go for a Christmas holiday as they are used to".

Jaitley also spoke on another issue which made headlines largely because of inaction of the Rajasthan government and CMs of other BJP ruled states.

On the furore over Sanjay Leela Bhansali's movie Padmavati, he said, "Padmawati issue needs to be settled by censor board. It's the duty of the Board. I think people can voice grievance as long as they remain peaceful.

But on CMs of UP, MP and Rajasthan banning Padmavati, Jaitley defended them.

He said, "Each CM has been careful on dealing with this issue. They have said we won't release till controversy is resolved. CMs who banned Padmawati are being cautious".

WATCH: People without credibility are on war path in Gujarat, says Arun Jaitley

--- ENDS ---
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After responding to a string of historic disasters, the American Red Cross is appealing to the public to "Give Something That Means Something" this holiday season. Beginning on Giving Tuesday, November 28, and throughout the Holiday Giving Season , donors can help bring hope and relief to children, families and communities that need it most with their holiday shopping.

Beginning in late August, the Red Cross embarked on providing wide-ranging relief efforts in response to three historic back-to-back hurricanesHarvey, Irma, and Mariafollowed closely by the deadliest week of wildfires in California history. In response to these disasters, the Red Cross provided more food to those affected than in the past four years  combined.

The need for Red Cross services is constant, and the organization's Holiday Giving Campaign offers donors the opportunity to honor someone special with a unique gift. Gifts can help families who have lost everything after a disaster, support military heroes and veterans facing emergencies, and save children's lives around the world.

"This has been an historic year for natural disasters and the Red Cross has been there to help families who've lost everything," says American Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern. "It is such a wonderful feeling for both the gift-giver and the receiver to give and receive something that truly means something."

How You Can Give Back

Through the Holiday Giving Campaign, people can give gifts that uniquely give back to people in the community while supporting the organization's mission. Individuals can choose from three essential giving opportunities:



Gifts that help disaster victims. For example, a donation of $25 can provide blanketsas well as warmth and a sense of securityfor five people staying in an emergency shelter. A $30 gift can provide hot meals for three people following a disaster while a $50 donation can supply a full day of emergency shelter with urgently needed essentials, including three meals, two blankets, a cot, snacks and personal hygiene supplies for someone impacted by disaster. Gifts that help our troops. For example, a $145 contribution can show our heroes and veterans that we care by providing military hospital kits to 20 service members. Gifts that help internationally. For example, a financial contribution of $100 can educate families and vaccinate 100 children against measlesa $500 gift can vaccinate an entire village.

To give with meaning, visit redcross.org/gift. Choose from the diverse assortment of gifts, and make a tax-deductible donation online or, call 1-800 RED CROSS to support the corresponding Red Cross services. Then, send a card to the loved one, colleague, or co-worker being honored by your donation.

The Red Cross also encourages eligible individuals to give with meaning this holiday season by donating blood or platelets. Blood and platelet donations tend to decline from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day as people become busy with holiday-related activities and travel, but patients don't get a holiday from needing blood. Generous blood and platelet donations can help ensure lifesaving blood products reach those who need them including accident victims, heart surgery patients, and those receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer or sickle cell disease. Make an appointment today by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

"Whether you give time, blood, or moneyyour generous gift will help people who face tremendous need," says McGovern. "Thank you for considering donating to the Red Cross during this special time of year."

EDITORIAL NOTE:

B-roll can be downloaded here.



About our Corporate Holiday Supporters:

During this holiday season, the American Red Cross is grateful for those corporate donors that generously contribute to our Holiday Giving Campaign. They include: Circle K and American Girl. Thanks to the generosity of these and other supporters, the Red Cross is able to bring help and hope to people across the country. To learn more about our corporate holiday supporters, visit redcross.org/corporate-holiday-supporters.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.



SOURCE American Red Cross

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NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Government and industry efforts since 2003 to phase out chemicals used to make non-stick coatings, such as Teflon, have prevented more than 118,000 low-weight births and related brain damage in the United States.

This is the main finding of a new report  based on analysis of new mothers' blood samples gathered for a national health study  published Nov. 23 in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Scientists behind the research, conducted at NYU School of Medicine, say that studies have long linked the chemicals  famous for keeping food from sticking to pans  with high blood pressure, birth defects, and lower-than-normal birth weights. These damaging health effects were major factors behind a 2006 agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and American manufacturers to curtail and eventually eliminate the harmful chemicals' production in 2014.

The study authors estimate that the drop in chemically linked low-birth weight babies saved the nation at least $13.7 billion by reducing infant hospital stays and the number of children in need of long-term care after cognitive damage; and by improving the prospects of children going on to achieve higher education levels and get better-paying jobs.

"The evidence is overwhelming that the EPA-industry accord to phase out chemicals once used in nonstick coatings has been a major success in protecting children's health," says study lead investigator and health epidemiologist Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, an associate professor at NYU Langone Health. "This policy designed to lessen human exposure has spared thousands of newborns from damage to their health and saved U.S. taxpayers over a billion dollars in unnecessary health care costs."

Before 2006, the principal danger to fetuses and pregnant women, researchers say, came from chemicals used in the manufacture of the coating called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. Not occurring naturally in the environment, PFOA chemicals accumulate in the blood of marine mammals and in most humans exposed to them. Research over decades has linked even a nanogram (one-billionth of gram) increase in PFOA per milliliter of blood to an 18.9 gram reduction in birth weight.

A healthy newborn typically weighs about 8 pounds (3,600 grams), experts say, and a low birth weight  associated with potential brain damage  is considered anything less than 5.5 pounds (2,500 grams).

Trasande cautions that while the EPA-industry accord has greatly diminished blood PFOA levels, products manufactured before the phase-out are still in circulation. He also says that the health impact for chemical replacements for PFOA, related chemicals called perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) remain unknown. Both sets of chemicals are endocrine disruptors, a set of chemicals shown by recent studies to interfere with natural hormone function, says Trasande.

Senior study investigator Teresa M. Attina, MD, PhD, also of NYU Langone, says the detrimental health effects seen with the original nonstick chemical formulation warrant more thorough safety testing of PFCs before any more of them receive government approval.

For the new study, funded entirely by NYU Langone, the research team looked for PFOA levels in blood analyses kept on participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Since 1999, NHANES, as it is known, has gathered information about the prevalence of and risk factors for major diseases by annually surveying 5,000 volunteers.

Survey results showed that blood PFOA levels in women of child-bearing age, from 18 to 49, continued to rise from 2003 to 2008, when median levels peaked at 3.5 nanograms per milliliter. But the trend, investigators say, reversed in 2009, a few years after the phase-out was introduced, and hazardous blood levels began dropping from a median 2.8 nanograms per milliliter to 1.6 nanograms per milliliter by 2014.

Computer models were then used to project the percentage of low-weight births that could have been prevented from specific PFOA chemical exposure and to calculate the estimated health costs and lost income. According to the team's analysis, the number of low-birth weight babies in the United States attributable to such PFOA exposure dropped from a highpoint of 17,501 in 2008 to 1,491 in 2014.

In addition to Trasande and Attina, other members of the NYU research team are Julia Malits and Jan Blustein.

Media Inquiries:

David March

212-404-3528

[email protected]

SOURCE NYU Langone Health
TORRANCE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Residence Inn Los Angeles Torrance/Redondo Beach invites visitors to celebrate the holidays and save on comfortable accommodations while experiencing an even better extended stay.

Residence Inn Los Angeles Torrance/Redondo Beach is celebrating the completion of a multimillion-dollar guest room renovation by offering its Live the SoCal Dream Package that benefits Marriott Rewards members. Perks include 1,000 bonus Marriot Rewards points when two or more night are booked. For information, visit www.marriott.com/LAXTC or call 1-310-543-4566.

The Torrance hotel has unveiled its multimillion-dollar renovation along with the Live the SoCal Dream Package. Marriott Rewards members who book at least two nights any day of the week from now until January 2, 2018 will earn 1,000 bonus points. Visitors who book at least two nights on a Thursday through Sunday  with a Friday or Saturday stay required  will enjoy an additional 10% off on the hotel's suites that have been remodeled from floor to ceiling.

Spacious guest rooms now feature new carpet, tile, nightstands, TVs, window treatments, doors and artwork for a completely revitalized guest experience.

Bathrooms were also touched up with new tub surrounds and backlit mirrors. Travelers can now spread out more comfortably with modern amenities including complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi and fully equipped kitchens, staples of the Residence Inn brand. Other amenities such as pullout sofa beds and premium movie channels make the suites perfect for extended stays visiting loved ones for Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

"We're thrilled to offer an enhanced layout and more upscale amenities for our guests," said Frank Godoy, General Manager of the hotel. "Our visitors will enjoy making themselves right at home in our residential-style suites with new furniture, stainless-steel appliances and refreshing decor."

The exterior of the hotel also received upgrades. In addition to new paint and landscaping improvements, the property boasts new patio furniture and a pool deck as well as electric vehicle charging stations for guest use.

In the last few years, the hotel has completely redesigned its lobby, business center and fitness center. The expansion of the dining area offers plenty of natural lighting so guests can savor their complimentary daily breakfast. The lobby also offers comfortable seating areas to kick back and relax with a book in front of the fireplace or meet with colleagues at a communal table.

The fitness center doubled in size, making it easier than ever for visitors to stay on track with exercise routines. Free weights and cardio machines allow for a strenuous workout before travelers head to the sparkling outdoor pool to cool off or catch some rays.

To take advantage of the special deal, travelers should use promotional code MRP when making reservations at www.marriott.com/LAXTC or by calling 1-888-236-2427.

About Residence Inn Los Angeles Torrance/Redondo Beach

Residence Inn Los Angeles Torrance/Redondo Beach at 3701 Torrance Blvd. in Torrance, CA is across the street from the Del Amo Fashion Center, AMC Theatre and many dining options. Torrance Beach, popular breweries and Palos Verdes Peninsula offer endless adventures nearby. Close to the I-405 freeway, the hotel offers access to Los Angeles International Airport, the Torrance Refining Company, Toyota and Honda headquarters. Enjoy 31 buildings with 248 suites, a fitness center, business center, outdoor pool, whirlpool and lots of outdoor space. Daily breakfast and Wi-Fi are complimentary. For information, visit www.marriott.com/LAXTC or call 1-310-543-4566.

Join Marriott Rewards now and earn points that can be redeemed for free hotel stays and room upgrades at 3,800 hotels in over 70 countries.

Learn more about Residence Inn and Marriott International Inc.

PRESS CONTACT

Frank Godoy

1-310-543-4566

[email protected]

SOURCE Residence Inn Los Angeles Torrance/Redondo Beach

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"San Diego is home to many smart, highly successful and community focused small business owners, who happen to be women, so it is truly an honor to be selected for this award," said Ms. Toft. "I'm incredibly proud of our team at Toft Group whose dedication is critical to the success of the company, and I want to thank each of them for their tireless work that has enabled Toft Group's incredible growth and success."

Toft Group, a global executive search firm fully devoted to life sciences, has an extensive track record of quickly filling highly specialized leadership roles while ensuring a strong cultural fit. Searches are completed efficiently and effectively, translating to time and cost savings for clients. Notably, nearly 60 percent of placed candidates are identified within two weeks of search initiation -- results which are made possible by the company's commitment to dedicated timelines, strong referral network and highly experienced search consultants.

In addition to Toft Group's proven ability to help companies build strong, successful teams, Ms. Toft is committed to giving back to the San Diego community. She served on four non-profit boards in 2016, including the Go Red for Women movement of the American Heart Association, the Cancer Foundation at Scripps Mercy Hospital, the leadership organization LEAD San Diego, and the Clearity Foundation, which helps women with ovarian cancer obtain molecular profiling of their tumors and access to clinical trials. Additionally, in 2017, Ms. Toft formed the Women Executive Career Advancement Network (WE CAN) to enable leading executive women to mentor, bond, and inspire each other in their life sciences careers. She has also been a top fundraiser and dedicated walker in the San Diego Susan G. Komen 3-Day / 60 mile walk to support breast cancer research and early detection every year since Toft Group opened in San Diego in 2010.

About Toft Group

Toft Group is a global executive search firm fully devoted to life sciences and healthcare, with a focus on innovation-driven companies at the intersection of biotech and high tech. Toft Group's targeted, accurate searches translate into exceptional return-on-investment for clients nationwide, and the team's extensive networks enable the presentation of more highly qualified and diverse candidates than clients would otherwise see. The firm's extensive track record has shown its ability to quickly fill highly specialized leadership roles where talent is limited. The company has offices in the three major U.S. biotech hubs: San Diego, San Francisco and Boston. Visit thetoftgroup.com to learn more.

SOURCE Toft Group

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Company Pivots to Build Footprint in Food Production Industry with Acquisition of Pasta Romana

OAKVILLE, ON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Romana Food Brands Corp (OTC Pink: RFBC), formerly Blackbird International is pleased to announce a corporate shift in focus with the acquisition of Pasta Romana. Due to the current advantageous nature of the Canadian food processing market, management has resolved to establish a position in industry, enabling the Company to capitalize on this profitable and thriving sector.

Founded in 1996, Pasta Romana has become recognized for its classic Italian cuisine and authentic dishes derived from top quality ingredients. The Company also manufactures privately branded products, many of which are served in Montreal's most respected restaurants. Pasta Romana's product line includes fresh pasta, fresh filled pastas, tasty sauces & robust pestos.

Due to the sheer volume Romana has created over the past couple decades, the establishment of a comprehensive food quality system has been foundational in maintaining the consistent integrity of excellent product quality. As a result of management's constant pursuit of excellence, Current production capacity reaches 2000 kg. in pasta and 1,000 litres of sauce per hour, produced in facilities equating to 40,000 square feet of AAA, HACCP and C-TPAT certified property.

Pasta Romana has consistently invested in the research and evolution of premium recipes earning an outstanding reputation for its formulator's abilities to customize and deliver excellence according to distinct specification. "We have great expectations for the foreseeable future. With proven expertise in product development and retail understanding, management has effectively stayed on top of the trends, incorporating cutting-edge equipment and attentiveness to the needs of its growing client base. We are very pleased to be moving forward in this industry, and highly anticipate how we will emerge, strengthening Romana Foods as an industry contender, building corporate value for shareholders." stated John Pedder, President, Romana Food Brands Corp.

The Company currently has a spectrum of major food outlets under contract such as Aldi, Costco, Imvescor, Loblaws, Maxi, Metro, Provigo, Sobeys, Super C and Trader Joe's.

According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada statistics, the food and beverage processing industry is the second largest manufacturing industry in Canada in terms of value of production with shipments worth $105.5 billion in 2014; it accounts for 17% of total manufacturing shipments and for 2% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It's the largest manufacturing employer and provides employment for 246,000 Canadians.

The Company expects to announce additions to the new board of directors soon. Due to the former business, WERPO, not being able to obtain the required financing to execute its projects, the determination has been made that the current acquisition has much stronger growth potential, creating a more lucrative investment opportunity for the Company and its shareholders.

Safe Harbor Act: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Romana Food Brands Corp
Ms. Adams brings to Ropes & Gray a strong practice with a focus on international transactions and the U.S. government's regulation of trade and global investment. Her arrival will immediately expand the capabilities of the firm's anti-corruption and international risk practice, and clients will benefit from her deep experience navigating U.S. trade regulations, including export controls, economic sanctions, anti-corruption, foreign direct investment, and customs laws and regulations.

Ms. Adams also regularly assists clients in developing compliance programs, handling pre-and post-acquisition due diligence, conducting internal investigations relating to potential violations of trade laws, and representing clients before U.S. government agencies in connection with license requests, enforcement matters, and government inquiries. She also represents companies before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

"Ama has significant experience in the regulations and enforcement practices of the Departments of Treasury, State and Commerce," said Alex Rene, partner and co-chair of Ropes & Gray's anti-corruption and international risk practice, and managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office. "As the SEC and DOJ become more aggressive in prosecuting companies for violations of export controls and sanctions in partnership with these agencies, an increasing number of clients are seeking counseling in this space. Ama will be a tremendous resource to them, and we are thrilled to have her on board."

Ms. Adams holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served on the senior editorial board for The Virginia Journal of International Law, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She joins Ropes & Gray from Baker Botts LLP, where she was a partner in the international trade practice group.

"The attorneys in Ropes & Gray's anti-corruption and international risk practice have demonstrated an outstanding ability to handle complex enforcement, regulatory and litigation matters," said Ms. Adams. "The current international risk landscape makes it an exciting time to join this distinguished group of partners."

The arrival of Ms. Adams follows recent additions to Ropes & Gray's Washington, D.C. office, including: partner and chair of the firm's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) practice Scott McKeown; business & securities litigation counsel Jeremiah Williams, who was formerly senior counsel in the SEC's Asset Management Unit; and investment management counsel David Tittsworth, who was formerly president and CEO of the Investment Adviser Association.

"Ama is an outstanding attorney and a natural fit for our team," said Jane Willis, partner and head of Ropes & Gray's business & securities litigation practice. "Our litigators provide vital support to clients with legal issues involving a strong government component, and Ama is perfectly positioned to contribute in that regard."

About Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm with more than 1,200 lawyers and legal professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology and government. The firm has offices in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, and has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including private equity, M&A, finance, investment management, hedge funds, real estate, tax, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, business & securities litigation, government enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity and business restructuring. www.ropesgray.com

Media Contact:

Alexandra A. Meredith

T +1 617 235 4318

[email protected]

SOURCE Ropes & Gray

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TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Roxgold Inc. ("Roxgold" or the "Company") (TSX: ROXG) (OTC: ROGFF) is pleased to announce interim results from the Company's Infill and Extensional drilling program along the QV Prime structure at the Bagassi South deposit, located less than two kilometres from its flagship underground gold mine at the 55 Zone.

Highlights:

144.0 grams of gold per tonne ("g/t Au") over 0.5 metres ("m") in diamond drill hole YRM-17-DD-BGS-297;

40.7 g/t Au over 0.4 m in diamond drill hole YRM-17-DD-BGS-294;

13.2 g/t Au over 0.9 m in diamond drill hole YRM-17-DD-BGS-300A

"We are very pleased with the large number of high grade results reported as part of the infill and extensional drilling campaign at Bagassi South," commented John Dorward, President and CEO of Roxgold. "The consistency of mineralized intervals along the QV Prime structure is encouraging as we prepare an updated mineral resource estimate in the first quarter of 2018 for QV Prime with the aim of increasing life of mine production beyond that envisaged in the recently released Bagassi South feasibility study."

Bagassi South QV Prime Drilling

The initial planning for the latest drilling program at QV Prime totalled approximately 10,000 metres over 44 holes. The program has been increased by approximately 3,500 metres to account for the shallower dip of the dolerite dyke which has opened a larger portion of the mineralized shoot west of the dyke. Two drill rigs are currently drilling that portion of the shoot as illustrated on the longitudinal section in Figure 1.

The program was primarily designed to infill the QV Prime structure with sufficient additional intercepts to support the conversion of the existing inferred Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") to indicated status, ahead of its inclusion in the 2017 year-end resource and reserve disclosure exercise scheduled for the first quarter of 2018. The current MRE at Bagassi South features an inferred MRE of 51,000 tonnes at 22.0 g/t for 36,000 ounces of gold along the QV Prime structure (please see press release dated July 19, 2017).

A secondary goal of the program was to test the extent of the mineralized shoot along the QV' structure east of the dolerite dyke, but the deepest planned holes of the program intersected the shallower dipping dyke at a depth of approximately 350 metres below the topographic surface.

The interim drilling results for the first 18 drill holes of the QV Prime program confirms the continuity of mineralization from near surface to a vertical depth of approximately 300 metres with a down plunge extension of approximately 500 metres. Numerous high-grade gold results have been intercepted to date as part of the current program at QV Prime including 144.0 g/t Au over 0.5 m in diamond drill hole YRM-17-DD-BGS-297, 40.7 g/t Au over 0.4 m in diamond drill hole YRM-17-DD-BGS-294 and 13.2 g/t Au over 0.9 m in diamond drill hole YRM-17-DD-BGS-300A.

Regionally, the Bagassi South structures are located in the footwall of the Yaramoko shear zone and hosted within the Bagassi granite which are similar geological and structural settings as those observed at 55 Zone.

The longitudinal section shown below illustrates the impact of the new drilling on infilling the mineralized shoot and how the structure remains open at depth east of the dolerite dyke.

The table below is a summary of the significant drill intercepts for the program, all holes drilled along the QV prime structure as part of the current drilling program intersected the structure and will be incorporated in an updated resource model.

TABLE 1: Summary of QV Prime Drilling Results

Hole ID Azimuth Dip EOH (m) Depth

From

(m) Depth

To

(m) Over

(m) True

Width

(m) Grade

(g/t) YRM-17-DD-BGS-290A 189 -59 401.5 360.5 361.0 0.5 0.4 15.3 YRM-17-DD-BGS-293 195 -61 289.9 267.7 270.8 3.1 2.7 7.2 YRM-17-DD-BGS-294 189 -61 407.2 367.1 367.5 0.4 0.3 40.7 YRM-17-DD-BGS-295 192 -62 359.5 291.7 292.1 0.4 0.3 5.3 YRM-17-DD-BGS-296 194 -60 329.2 250.2 250.5 0.4 0.3 20.7 YRM-17-DD-BGS-297 193 -61 356.5 322.4 322.9 0.5 0.4 144.0 YRM-17-DD-BGS-298 193 -59 308.2 293.2 294.4 1.2 1.0 6.0 YRM-17-DD-BGS-299 191 -61 352.7 350.9 351.9 1.0 0.8 0.3 YRM-17-DD-BGS-

300A 195 -58.5 285.2 271.8 272.6 0.9 0.8 13.2 YRM-17-DD-BGS-302 193 -53 281.5 248.1 248.5 0.4 0.4 8.2 YRM-17-DD-BGS-303 191 -61 286.6 271.6 272.8 1.3 1.1 9.8 YRM-17-DD-BGS-304 189 -63 320.5 290.6 291.2 1.0 0.8 0.7 YRM-17-DD-BGS-305 190 -61 335.5 320.5 321.0 0.6 0.5 4.6 YRM-17-DD-BGS-

306A 195 -59 269.5 260.0 260.4 0.4 0.4 12.0 YRM-17-DD-BGS-307 196 -64 314.9 294.1 295.3 1.3 0.9 0.1 YRM-17-DD-BGS-308 196 -61 237.5 220.7 222.3 1.6 1.4 6.6 YRM-17-DD-BGS-309 195 -61 254.5 238.5 238.9 0.4 0.3 0.9 YRM-17-DD-BGS-313 194 -62 372.5 262.0 262.4 0.4 0.3 19.6

*Results are reported uncapped.

Exploration Program Outlook

The Bagassi South QV Prime drilling program is expected to be completed in early December, after which, drilling programs will shift towards a more regional focus with drilling programs planned for the Haho target and along the Boni Shear Zone. Phase one of drilling for both targets will carry on into the first quarter of 2018 with approximately 8,400 metres of planned drilling for Haho and 10,000 metres planned for the Boni Shear Zone.

Two auger programs will also be underway in early December over large areas of unexplored prospective terrains, the first auger grid will be covering a portion of the Yaramoko granite located west of the 55 Zone straddling the Yaramoko and Houko concessions, while the second auger grid is planned over the western contact of the Tarkwaian sedimentary basin.

Qualified Persons

Yan Bourassa, P.Geo, Vice President of Geology for Roxgold Inc., is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, having verified and approved the technical data disclosed in this press release. This includes the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

The holes were drilled with NQ2 sized diamond drill bits for drill holes reported in this press release. Company personnel are located at the drill site. Employees of Roxgold conducted all logging and sampling. The core was logged, marked up for sampling using standard lengths of two metres outside of the "zone" and adjusted to lithological contacts up to one metre within the "zone". Samples are then cut into equal halves using a diamond saw. One half of the core was left in the original core box and stored in a secure location at the Roxgold camp within the Yaramoko area. The other half was sampled, catalogued and placed into sealed bags and securely stored at the site until it was shipped to Activation Laboratories located in Ouagadougou (the "Lab"). The core was dried and crushed by the Lab and a 150 gram pulp was prepared from the coarse crushed material. The Lab then conducted routine gold analysis using a 50 gram charge and fire assay with an atomic absorption finish. Samples returning over 5.0 gpt were also analysed by gravimetric analysis. Quality control procedures included the systematic insertion of blanks, duplicates and sample standards into the sample stream. In addition, the Lab inserted its own quality control samples.

About Roxgold

Roxgold is a gold mining company with its key asset, the high grade Yaramoko Gold Mine, located in the Hounde greenstone region of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Roxgold trades on the TSX under the symbol ROXG and as ROGFF on OTC.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation: statements with respect to Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resource estimates, future production and life of mine estimates, future capital and operating costs and expansion and development plans. These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. In certain cases, forward-looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, the realization of resource estimates and reserve estimates, gold metal prices, the timing and amount of future exploration and development expenditures, the estimation of initial and sustaining capital requirements, the estimation of labour and operating costs, the availability of necessary financing and materials to continue to explore and develop the Yaramoko Gold Project in the short and long-term, the progress of exploration and development activities, the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect.

Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, changes in the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, inaccurate reserve and resource estimates, changes in the price of gold, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Roxgold Inc.

Related Links

www.roxgold.com


BEIJING, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RYB Education, Inc. ("RYB" or the "Company") (NYSE: RYB), a leading early childhood education service provider in China, issued an update following the local police authority's release of two reports on November 25, 2017 regarding the investigation of the case described in RYB's press release issued on November 24, 2017.

According to one police report, a 22-year-old female teacher at the RYB-operated kindergarten in question was detained as a criminal suspect for maltreatment of children in the facility, and the police investigation is continuing.

The other police report stated that an individual spread fabricated and untrue information about child abuse at the kindergarten by military personnel through social media channels, causing a significant and adverse impact on the general public. According to the police report, this individual remains in police detention and has confessed her unlawful conduct and expressed remorse for the harm she has caused. The police report does not address the individual's motive in disseminating this materially false and misleading information regarding the Company.

The Company is deeply saddened by the alleged maltreatment towards children by the RYB teacher, and extends its apologies to all of RYB's parents, children, and the public for the negative impact resulting from this incident. RYB will continue to uphold its duty as a socially responsible education service provider and is in the process of implementing the following remediation steps:

Dismiss the accused teacher and remove the facility principal from her position, effective immediately, and continue to enforce its zero-tolerance policy towards unethical or illegal behavior throughout all of its facilities;

Perform a thorough self-inspection across all RYB teaching facilities and review and inspect all practices in these facilities, through a special task force led by the independent directors of the Company;

Implement a comprehensive upgrade of security and surveillance systems and put in place a system of third-party supervision to ensure accountability and transparency;

Communicate with concerned parents and use its best efforts to prevent and minimize any harm to their children. The Company will enlist help from doctors and psychiatrists to care for any children who may have been affected by this incident and provide them with counseling and other necessary medical care;

Assign additional experienced RYB teaching staff and management team to the affected RYB kindergarten to minimize disruption to this kindergarten and the children's education; and

Offer full cooperation to the government authorities in connection with the investigation.

RYB remains fully committed to the safety and happiness of each and every child who is enrolled in RYB kindergartens and will continue to seek to implement best practices commensurate with its status as a leading early childhood education service provider in China.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the Company's growth strategies; its future business development, results of operations and financial condition; trends and competition in China's early childhood education market; changes in its revenues and certain cost or expense items; the expected growth of the Chinese early education market; Chinese governmental policies relating to the Company's industry and general economic conditions in China. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About RYB Education, Inc.

Founded on the core values of "Care" and "Responsibility," RYB Education, Inc. is a leading early childhood education service provider in China. Since opening its first play-and-learn center in 1998, the Company has grown and flourished with the mission to provide individualized age-appropriate education to stimulate and nurture children so they can realize their full potential. During its nearly two decades of operating history, the Company has built "RYB" into a well-recognized education brand and helped bring about many new educational practices in China's early childhood education industry. RYB's comprehensive early childhood education solutions meet the needs of children from infancy to six years old through structured courses at kindergartens and play-and-learn centers, as well as at-home educational products and services.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

RYB Education, Inc.

Investor Relations

Tel: 86-10-8767-5752

E-mail: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Ross Warner

Tel: +86 (10) 5730-6200

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Alan Wang

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE RYB Education, Inc.
LINCOLN, Neb., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandhills Publishing will host the final event of its 2017 dealer forum series on December 5th in Phoenix, Arizona. The forum will host dealers, auctioneers, rental and leasing companies, and other sellers in the agriculture, construction, commercial trucking, and aviation industries. It will focus primarily on strategies for effective used equipment workflow from acquisition to saleincluding key insights into print and online marketing, customer and inventory management, and the strategic utilization of retail, wholesale, and auction platforms.

Sandhills Publishing is the Nebraska-based tech company behind Machinery Trader, CraneTrader, TractorHouse, Truck Paper, AuctionTime, RentalYard, Controller, and numerous other brands serving its core industries on an international scale. It has held annual and semi-annual forum events for nearly two decades, providing attendees with opportunities to participate in one-on-one consultations with industry experts specializing in areas like inventory workflow, asset valuations, website design, marketing strategy, and more. Seminars are aimed at helping dealers gain insights into the dynamic and user-friendly apps available to them through the Sandhills Clouda suite of hosted business solutions that simplify internal operations and communications, and provide crucial access to retail, wholesale, and auction markets. Regional forums also include opportunities to network and participate in roundtable discussions about key issues affecting these unique markets.

"Our industry forums provide a collaborative environment for attendees offering unique perspectives," explains Sandhills Chief Administration Officer Nancy Paasch, noting that Sandhills has hosted industry forums for nearly two decades. "Our customers gain insights that help their businesses operate more effectively, and our teams gain valuable feedback that informs future developments."

The December 5th forum will be the last regional event of the year, following a series of hosted events that have, in total, attracted hundreds of attendees from across the United States. Equipment and parts dealers, auctioneers, rental and leasing companies, manufacturers, and other industry professionals interested in attending can contact their Sandhills rep directly to register. 2018 forums will be held in March, August, and December.

About Sandhills Publishing

Sandhills Publishing is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our products and services gather, process, and distribute information in the form of trade publications, websites, and online services that connect buyers and sellers across the trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation, and technology industries. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Publishingwe are the cloud.

Contact Sandhills:

120 West Harvest Drive

Lincoln, NE 68521

www.Sandhills.com

[email protected]

(402) 479-2181

SOURCE Sandhills Publishing
CHICAGO, Nov. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigmascreening will showcase its Sensitive Sigma Paddle, which enables personalized compression for better quality mammograms without unnecessary discomfort for patients, at the upcoming 103rd Annual Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting, November 26-December 1, 2017. (South Hall #3179).

Each year, an estimated 125 million women throughout the world are imaged using mammography. To get the best image quality during a mammogram with the least amount of radiation, the breast needs to be flattened. This is done by compressing the breast. Under-compression can lead to blurred images, more retakes and a higher average glandular dose (AGD), while over-compression causes discomfort and unnecessary pain for the patient.

Based on breast-size and tissue-stiffness the Sensitive Sigma Paddle calculates the pressure to achieve an optimal compression of 75mmHg and allows for a highly reproducible procedure. The patented Sensitive Sigma Paddle has multiple sensors that measure each breast to optimize compression for each breast. The Sensitive Sigma Paddle is the first pressure-based compression paddle in the market which provides this pressure information real-time.

Recently published studies bolster the growing body of research that demonstrates the impact of pressure in breast compression on screening performance and the ability for the Sensitive Sigma Paddle, with its intermediate target pressure, to improve detection rates and patient satisfaction.

The study "Mammographic compression in Asian women,"published recently in PLoS One, showed that a force-standardized mammographic compression practice led to widely variable compression parameters in Asian women. These force-standardized protocols have largely been optimized for Caucasian women and might not be suitable for Asian women, who generally have smaller breasts. Therefore pressure-guided mammography with the Sensitive Sigma Paddle, which takes breast size into account, may lead to improved results and less discomfort and pain.

The study, "Is breast compression associated with breast cancer detection and other early performance measures in a population-based breast cancer screening program?" was recently published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (DOI: 10.1007/s10549-017-4214-8). The study evaluated the impact of compression pressure and force on performance measures; including recall rate, rates of screen-detected and interval breast cancers, positive predictive value of recall (PPV), sensitivity, and specificity. Researchers extracted compression force information and calculated pressure from DICOM-images on 261,641 mammographic examinations. As compression force increased, the recall rate decreased, while PPV and specificity increased. The recall rate increased, while rate of screen-detected cancer, PPV, sensitivity, and specificity decreased with increasing compression pressure. Results indicate that high compression force and low compression pressure provided more favorable performance measures, compared to low compression force and high compression pressure.

Investigational in the United States, the Sensitive Sigma Paddle is CE-marked and is being used at breast screening centers and hospitals in multiple countries in Europe. Since receiving CE-mark last year, more than 20,000 women have experienced the more convenient pressure-based compression paddle.

"We have seen use and adoption of the Sigma Paddle continue to increase based on the ability to improve both the quality of mammograms, as well as the patient experience," said Ivo Aarninkhof, CEO, Sigmascreening. "Personalised compression enabled by the Sigma Paddle adapts the compression to the individual size and shape of the patient's breast, which when explained to the patient, greatly reduces concerns about pain. Not only does this make the exam protocol faster, it improves quality and compliance for repeat exams."

About Sigmascreening

Sigmascreening is a medical device company focusing on the development of new innovative products in the area of digital mammography and breast cancer screening. The Sensitive Sigma Paddle is our CE-certified product, based on our patented technology preventing over- and under-compression. We aim to introduce new products that will improve mammography and contribute to the early detection of cancer which ultimately can save lives.

Media Contact:

Chris K. Joseph

510/435-4031

[email protected]

SOURCE Sigmascreening
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system and is made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands. The Reef is currently under threat due to coral 'bleaching' and extreme climatic change.

By India Today Web Desk: The effect of climate change and rising sea temperature has drawn international focus on the Great Barrier Reef.

In a project lead by professor Peter Harrison of Southern Cross University in New South Wales, scientists have managed to artificially breed baby coral from larvae on damaged strips of Australian Great Barrier Reef.

The coral eggs and sperm off the reef's Heron Island are collected before allowing them to reproduce and grow in tanks.

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The research carried out by these scientists is not only beneficial to the Great Barrier Reef but is applicable globally.

The results have been positive since a million larvae were produced last November, then developed, with more than 100 surviving and growing successfully on settlement tiles on the reef.

"The results are very promising and our work shows that adding higher densities of coral larvae leads to higher numbers of successful coral recruits. It may be one of the answers to some of the problems in the Great Barrier Reef. It's a glimmer of hope," said Professor Harrison as reported by the Australian media.

Various methods for artificial production are being considered by the Australian government in order to increase the production.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system and is made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands. The Reef is currently under threat due to coral 'bleaching' and extreme climatic change.

UNESCO has shown serious concern and has urged the Australian government to improve water quality.

According to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation managing director Anna Marsden, "There is much more to be done, but this is definitely a great leap forward for the reef, and for the restoration and repair of reefs worldwide. It's time to be bold and take some calculated risks because that's the way we'll make a change in how we can help restore our coral reefs."

--- ENDS ---
LONDON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The industry has had to tap into a wide range of radio spectrum frequencies from sub-1GHz to 100GHz including licensed, unlicensed, and shared spectrum to address the potential of 5G. According to new findings from ABI Research, while the use of mmWave is one of the most distinguishing features of 5G, in the near term the C-Band is emerging with the most global consensus for the timely launch of commercial 5G network in 2019. Many of the lab and field 5G trials conducted by industry participants have focused on higher frequencies, but based on the recent regulatory announcements by about 20 countries, the C-band is the most common spectrum range identified for 5G.

"In the long-term the whole breadth of the sub-1GHz to 100GHz spectrum range will be critical to address the various use cases and meet enhanced speeds, latency, reliability, and other 5G metrics in different usage scenarios. In the near-term, however, use millimeter wave for 5G services in 2019-2020 is limited due to technology challenges and global spectrum availability," explains Prayerna Raina, Senior Analyst at ABI Research.

Since current cellular communication takes place below 6GHz, the use of higher frequency ranges for mobile broadband is unfamiliar territory for mobile operators. Similarly, key 5G antenna and base station technologies such as MIMO are currently deployed in the sub-6GHz range on a low order of 4 to 16 antenna elements in most cases. At higher mmWave frequencies, massive MIMO antennas are likely to feature hundreds of antenna elements, which brings its own set of challenges.

The use of higher frequencies such as 26GHz and 28GHz for fixed mobile broadband service on 5G networks is certain, but it is the C-Band with its global harmonization that is creating opportunities for large scale deployment.

"Ultimately 5G must make good business sense for operators who continue to battle stagnating ARPUs, rising network traffic, and the need to cost-effectively optimize network management and operations," says Raina. "C-band, with the support of new technologies, including Uplink Decoupling, will likely be the dominant 5G spectrum band, since it allows operators to deploy 5G on an existing network grid, rather than spend significantly on new cell cites," Raina concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research's Analysis of 5G Spectrum report. This report is part of the company's Mobile Network Infrastructure research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research stands at the forefront of technology market intelligence, providing business leaders with comprehensive research and consulting services to help them implement informed, transformative technology decisions. Founded more than 25 years ago, the company's global team of senior and long-tenured analysts delivers deep market data forecasts, analyses, and teardown services. ABI Research is an industry pioneer, proactively uncovering ground-breaking business cycles and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.

Contact Info:

Americas EMEA/APAC

Deborah Petrara Denise Duffy

Tel: +1.516.624.2558 Tel: +44.203.326.0142

[email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE ABI Research

Related Links

http://www.abiresearch.com


"We are proud to open our first Wisconsin churrascaria in the community of Wauwatosa and the dynamic Mayfair Mall location," says Salim Asrawi, Chief Operating Officer for the largest Brazilian-American steakhouse brand in the world. "It is always exciting to introduce new guests to our authentic churrasco and genuine service and we look forward to becoming an integral part of the community," he adds.

The Brazilian-American steakhouse is recognized for featuring a unique blend of Brazilian culture complemented by the generous hospitality of Texas. The new 10,000 square-foot restaurant accommodates over 300 guests in an energetic environment that features an expansive salad area, an open grill kitchen, a feature table, wine cellar, an intimate lounge, private dining for up to 60 guests, and semi-private dining space.

Guests of Texas de Brazil enjoy a lively, upscale dining experience and engaging service. Inside the colorful restaurant, guests begin dinner with a visit to the enticing salad area featuring over 50 hot and cold selections including Brazilian specialties such as Moqueca (Brazilian fish stew), freshly-prepared salads, charcuterie and imported cheeses, roasted vegetables, smoked salmon, creamy lobster bisque and much more.

Renowned for its rodizio-style dining, guests are also treated to a continuous dining experience that showcases freshly-grilled meats on skewers carved tableside by costumed gauchos. Selections range from succulent picanha (sirloin), lamb chops, leg of lamb, filet mignon, chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, to Brazilian sausages and more. At all Texas de Brazils, gauchos use the time-honored methods of grilling meats over charcoal, resulting in savory aroma and exceptional flavor. When guests are ready to begin sampling the meats, a red and green disc on the table allows each to pace service. Green indicates to the gauchos when additional servings are welcome while red indicates a break is needed. This style of service helps make the dining experience fit into a tight schedule or a relaxed and leisurely meal with friends, family, and business associates.

Decadent desserts are served a la carte for those with a sweet tooth, and an impressive wine collection features private label wines bottled exclusively for Texas de Brazil by Santa Rita Vineyards in Chile. Guests may also choose from an award-winning variety of labels from the world's top wineries or toast with signature cocktails including a traditional Caipirinha and an array of premium spirits and specialty libations.

Adult dinner costs: $42.99/Salad area only: $24.99; Children 6-12: 50% discount from dinner pricing; children 3-5: $5; 2 and under dine free. Prices do not include alcohol, featured items, desserts, beverages or applicable taxes.

The restaurant is open for dinner Mon.-Thurs. 5-9:30 p.m.; Fri. 5  10 p.m.; Sat. 4-10 p.m.; Sun. 4-9 p.m. Happy Hour is featured Mon.-Fri. 4:30  7 p.m. and features a special bar menu plus drink specials including $3 domestic beer, $5 house wine and house cocktails, and $7 martinis.

Texas de Brazil is located at 2550 N. Mayfair Road, just 20 minutes from downtown Milwaukee in Mayfair Mall, a luxury shopping destination in Wauwatosa.

For reservations, call 414-501-7100 or visit www.texasdebrazil.com.

About Texas de Brazil

Texas de Brazil is an authentic churrascaria featuring a continuous dining experience that blends the unique culture of Brazil, with the generous hospitality of Texas. The menu features a vast selection of grilled meats, a 50-item salad area, an award-winning wine list and a la carte dessert selections. Founded as a family-owned business in 1998, Texas de Brazil now has 56 domestic and international locations. Stay connected. Follow @texasdebrazil on Instagram and Twitter and Texas de Brazil on Facebook. For information, visit http://www.texasdebrazil.com.

SOURCE Texas de Brazil

Related Links

http://www.texasdebrazil.com


"This award is truly a point of pride for us as it recognizes the unique collaboration that produced such a beautiful and inspiring work of art," said Louis Martel, President and CEO of The CSL Group.

"Promoting local artists in our tribute to the anniversaries of Canada and Montreal was central to our vision for this project from the start. What better way to celebrate our cultural diversity than to involve urban artists who create artistic landscapes on the walls of our cities. Why not bring art to life on our waterways and in our ports with a mural on a ship?"

The "Corporate Art Awards" were established in 2016 and are part of Italy's "Mecenati del XXI secolo" or "21st Century Patrons" program. They were developed by pptArt in collaboration with the LUISS Business School and with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture to identify, recognize and promote excellence in corporate art patronage and collaboration at an international level.

According to Luca Desiata, Curator of the Corporate Art Awards, CSL's project impressed the judges "for the original involvement of street artists in a moment of national celebration, and for the perfect integration between the technical skills of a corporate team and the artistic creativity of the artists."

The SeaKeeper was conceived by Montreal artist Bryan Beyung and created with FONKi, Ankh One, and Benny Wilding of the A'shop art collective. Thanks to a close collaboration between the artists and CSL's technical team, the monumental mural was completed in the Port of Montreal within three weeks in early 2017.

For more information on The Seakeeper, go to https://www.cslships.com/en/our-company/sea-keeper.

The CSL Group is the largest owner and operator of self-unloading ships in the world. Headquartered in Montreal with divisions operating throughout the Americas, Australia, Europe and Asia, CSL delivers millions of tonnes of cargo annually for customers in the construction, steel, energy and agri-food sectors.

SOURCE The CSL Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cslships.com/en


VERONA, Va., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- When Richard Cordray, the departing director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau decided to leave office last week, he set off a political firestorm.

Washington is now debating who will run the Bureau: President Trump's nominee, OMB director Mick Mulvaney, or Cordray's handpicked successor, Leandra English.

Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is more powerful than the president. The CFPB is out of control, and its Director is abusing his authority. Learn more about their unAmerican practices, and what the President should do in response! "The Bureau was supposed to safeguard the public against con men, crooked banks, and shady practices. Instead, it has become a bully that harasses companies like mine, threatens our clients and browbeats our vendors. It's a shocking and incredible story that largely remains untold." - Mike Donovan, civil rights activist and president & CEO of Nexus Services, Inc.

Then late Sunday, English filed a lawsuit against both Trump and Mulvaney to block the appointment of Mulvaney as temporary director.

As dramatic as this bureaucratic fight is, the press is missing an even bigger story.

The Bureau was supposed to safeguard the public against con men, crooked banks, and shady practices. Instead, it has become a bully that harasses companies like mine, threatens our clients and browbeats our vendors. It's a shocking and incredible story that largely remains untold.

I don't want the suffering of our clients--immigrants seeking a better life among Americans--to be lost in the political shouting match. The CFPB has demanded that my company turn over the personal records of our clients (many of whom are frightened of the federal government after months in detention) and our employees (who are American citizens with constitutional rights to privacy).

We stood our constitutional ground and told the Bureau "no." When they threatened our clients, employees, and vendors, we filed suit in federal court against the CFPB. The full lawsuit and exhibits can be found here: Nexus Complaint against CFPB

Nexus, or its sister companies, have not been charged with any crime or accused of any civil wrongdoing. In fact, as far as we can tell, there is not even a single public complaint about Nexus on file with the CFPB.

Incredibly, the CFPB told us that it was investigating us... to see if we were within its jurisdiction. A total fishing expedition--at great cost to our immigrant clients (among America's most vulnerable) and our companies.

We have not been shy in fighting for the principles we believe in. Earlier this month, we produced and shared a video documenting the excesses of the CFPB, noting that its director is more powerful than the President of the United States of America (via YouTube: https://youtu.be/vKsMG6EQ7iw).

Today it appears the CFPB director is indeed more powerful than the President of the United States, or at least he believed he was. What will happen to our democracy if unelected bureaucrats can thwart the will of our elected officials? Without elections to instruct them, how will there be any accountability for those bureaucrats when they misbehave? And, if we are ruled over by people we cannot remove through elections, are we still a real democracy?

Proudly Nexus Services, Inc. is fighting the CFPB in federal court. You can read about latest rounds against the feckless bureaucracy in the pages of the Legal Advocate and other news outlets nationwide.

Whoever ends up running the CFPB, he (or she) should start by ending its pointless crusade against my company. We have saved the taxpayers more than $650 million in detention costs alone and freed more than 25,000 migrants since 2013. We employ more than 200 men and women in rural areas, where jobs are scarce. We have not been accused of any wrongdoing. The bureaucratic attack on our small business should end promptly.

If not, then we will know that the new director is more interested in "business as usual" than in real reform. Worse, we will know that corrupt bureaucrats can openly flout the will of the American people.

About Nexus Services Inc.

Nexus Services, Inc. is a privately held company, based in Verona, Virginia. Nexus Services, Inc. is the parent company of a unique family of companies, both for-profit and charitable, that deliver cutting-edge products and services to meet the needs of migrants and their families, including free legal advocacy and making financial commitments to free the undocumented from immigration detention.

CONTACT:

Nexus Services Inc.

Jen Little, Director of Public Relations

(540) 255-9492 / [email protected]

SOURCE Nexus Services, Inc.
DENVER, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vista Gold Corp. (the "Company," "we" or "our") (TSX and NYSE American: VGZ) today issued the results of its previously announced metallurgical testing program for the Mt Todd gold project located in the Northern Territory, Australia. The test work confirms that the inclusion of automated sorting and a re-designed, 2-stage grinding circuit will enable the project to achieve a finer grind size, higher gold recoveries/higher gold production, and lower processing costs with no material increase in project capital.

Automated Sorting

The Company's automated sorting program (see the Company's July 24, 2017 press release for full details) is now complete, with assays for all size fractions. The test work confirmed that the combination of x-ray transmission ("XRT") and laser sorting on the +5/8" (16mm) screened HPGR crushed material (approximately 18% of the run-of-mine feed) enables the Company to reject approximately 10% of the run-of-mine feed as below cut-off grade material (this uneconomic material is hereafter referred to as "waste"). This results in an approximate 8% improvement in estimated mill feed grade (life-of-mine average 0.91 grams gold per tonne "g Au/t" compared to the 0.84 g Au/t life-of-mine reserve grade) with an estimated gold loss of only 1.3%. With the installation of an automated sorting circuit, the Company expects to reduce total grinding, leaching and tailings handling costs by approximately 10%.

Newly Designed 2-Stage Grinding Circuit

Past metallurgical studies at Mt Todd demonstrate a strong correlation between finer grind size and higher gold recovery. To efficiently achieve a finer grind size and higher recovery, the Company has optimized the crushing and grinding circuits. Excess capacity in the HPGR crusher will now be used to produce finer feed for the grinding circuit. Each grinding module is now comprised of a primary ball mill and three, small fine-grinding mills. The combination of the reduced material volume (as a result of automated sorting), smaller mill feed size, and 2-stage grinding, lowers the total estimated project power requirements by approximately 13% and enables the Company to cost-effectively achieve a nominal P 80 grind size of 60m. Leaching tests on material ground to 60m in the 2-stage grinding tests show improved estimated gold recoveries of 86.2% (weighted average, net of solution losses) compared to previous gold recovery estimates of 81.7% calculated on the same basis.

Vista's President & CEO, Frederick H. Earnest, commented, "Mt Todd is one of the largest, advanced-stage gold development projects in Australia. Last year we initiated a comprehensive program to optimize the Mt Todd project and demonstrate its viability at a US$1,250 per ounce gold price. We have now completed test work confirming our ability to achieve a significant improvement in feed grade to the grinding circuit while reducing our grinding, leaching and tailings handling costs. Our newly designed, 2-stage grinding circuit is expected to generate a finer product (with lower power consumption), which we have confirmed results in higher gold recovery and a 4.1% increase in gold production. We intend to include these process area improvements in an updated Mt Todd preliminary feasibility study, targeted for completion in Q1 2018. We expect these improvements, along with current foreign exchange rates, and updated capital, labor and operating costs estimates to demonstrate that Mt Todd will be a long-life, low-cost, significant gold producer, with robust project economics at today's gold prices."

Metallurgical Testing Results Details

Automated Sorting

The bulk automated sorting tests were four, five-tonne composites prepared from 3.75" drill core. Three of the composites contain predominately the sulfide mineralization and one composite contains mixed oxide/sulfide material that is encountered on the periphery of the deposit. The drill core was HPGR crushed and screened at 16mm at the facilities of Thyssen Krupp Industries ("TKI") near Dusseldorf, Germany. The +16mm material was sent to the test facility of Tomra Sorting Solutions ("Tomra") near Hamburg, Germany where this material was initially sorted using XRT sorting. A total of 12 sorting tests were completed. The XRT rejects were then subjected to laser sorting to produce a final reject. All material (-16mm HPGR crushed, XRT product, laser product and sorting reject) was sent to the metallurgical laboratory of Resource Development Inc. ("RDi") in Wheatridge, Colorado for subsequent sample preparation, assaying and additional metallurgical testing.

On a material mass basis, the combined XRT and laser sorting tests confirmed the Company's expectation that it can reject 10% of the run-of-mine feed waste (test results range from 6.8% to 11.0%). The average grade of the rejected material is estimated to be 0.12 g Au/t (results range from 0.06 g Au/t to 0.23 g Au/t) compared to the mine cut-off grade of 0.4 g Au/t, resulting in a gold loss from the rejected waste of approximately 1.3%. The improvement in mill feed grade is expected to be approximately 8%, resulting in run-of-mine average mill feed grade of 0.91 g Au/t compared to the life-of-mine reserve grade of 0.84 g Au/t. We now expect grinding, leaching and tailings handling costs, which are dependent on the volume of material processed, to be approximately 10% less.

Grind Size and Leach Optimization Tests

RDi prepared samples of the individual components received from Tomra and TKI and sent splits to Florin Analytical Services ("Florin") in Reno, Nevada for assay. RDi then recombined the components (excluding the sorter reject material) to create representative samples of each composite. Single-stage grind optimization tests were completed on the representative samples from each composite. Leach optimization tests were undertaken on these samples at various grind sizes. Subsequently, 2-stage grind and leach optimization tests were undertaken on representative material from the composites ground to a nominal P 80 grind size of 60m. Additionally, 2-stage grind and leach optimization tests were undertaken on high-grade samples left over from previous Mt Todd testing undertaken at RDi. In total, 41 grind and leach tests were completed on samples representing low-grade, near deposit average grade and high-grade material from the Mt Todd deposit. The leach tests were designed and undertaken to simulate the proposed process flow sheet leach circuit. Bottle roll leach tests consisted of four hours of pretreatment with lime and air, 24 hours of cyanide leaching and six hours of carbon loading. Head and tail assays were completed by Florin. This testing program indicates that 2-stage grinding to a nominal P 80 grind size of 60m can be expected to result in gold recoveries up to 91.0%. Taking into consideration the relative proportions of the different ore types to be processed, the leach test results indicate that a recovery of 86.2% (weighted average, net of solution losses) can be achieved.

The results of the grinding/leaching tests have been transmitted to the process design team at TetraTech Proteus ("Proteus") who are completing the process area designs as part of the updated preliminary feasibility study. Proteus and Vista have worked closely with the engineers at TKI to assess the capacity of the HPGR crushing circuit. We have also consulted with the engineers at Glencore relative to our selection of IsaMills as the preferred fine grinding equipment.

The removal of waste by automated sorting is complemented by changes in the operation of the HPGR crushing circuit and the design of a new 2-stage grinding circuit. The new process flow sheet incorporates work-sharing between the HPGR and grinding circuits. Excess capacity in the HPGR circuit will now be used to produce a ball mill feed product of approximately P 80 1/8" (nominally 3.5 mm), a 42% reduction from past studies. Due to the final product size, wet screening will be incorporated and the HPGR crusher circuit product will now report to a sump and cyclone bank. In each grinding circuit module, the new 2-stage grinding circuit replaces each previously planned large, single ball mill (designed to produce a P 80 90m product) with a ball mill and three IsaMills to produce a final product with a P 80 grind size of 60m. Due to the reduction in the volume of ore to the grinding circuit and efficiencies resulting from the combination of mill type, ball charge size and feed size, the implementation of automated sorting and 2-stage grinding is expected to consume approximately 13% less power, produce a final product that is 32% finer, and produce 4.1% more gold from the same run-of-mine feed.

Updated Preliminary Feasibility Study Guidance

The Company expects to complete an updated preliminary feasibility study in the first quarter of 2018. The updated preliminary feasibility study will include the more favorable current US dollar vs. Australian dollar exchange rate, gold price of US$1,250 per ounce, automated sorting, improved gold recovery, redesigned and more efficient HPGR crushing/grinding circuit, and various other capital and operating cost improvements, all of which are expected to result in a technically improved project with higher gold production, lower operating costs, and strong project economics.

Qualified Persons

Dr. Deepak Malhotra, Metallurgist and President of RDi and John Rozelle, Senior Vice President of Vista, independent Qualified Persons as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), prepared or supervised the preparation of information that forms the basis for the scientific and technical information disclosed herein and have reviewed this press release and have consented to its release. For additional information on the Mt Todd gold project, see our technical report entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report  Mt Todd Gold Project, 50,000 tpd Preliminary Feasibility Study, Northern Territory, Australia" amended and restated July 7, 2014.

About Vista Gold Corp.

The Company is a well-funded gold project developer. Our principal asset is our flagship Mt Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia. Mt Todd is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Australia. For more information about our projects, including technical studies and resource estimates, please visit our website at www.vistagold.com.

For further information, please contact Connie Martinez at (720) 981-1185.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including such things as our plan to implement automated sorting and our belief that automated sorting and a re-designed, 2-stage grinding circuit (each module consisting of a ball mill and three IsaMills to produce a final product with a P 80 grind size of 60m) will enable the project to achieve a finer grind size, higher gold recoveries/higher gold production, and 10% lower processing costs (comprised of grinding, leaching and tailings handling) with no material increase in project capital; our plan to use excess capacity in the HPGR crusher to produce smaller grinding circuit feed of approximately P 80 1/8" (nominally 3.5 mm); our plan to include these process area improvements in an updated Mt Todd preliminary feasibility study, targeted for completion in Q1 2018; our expectation that an average recovery of 86.2% (net of solution losses) can be achieved; our plan to use wet screening with the HPGR crusher circuit product reporting to a sump and cyclone bank; our expectation that automated sorting and 2-stage grinding will consume approximately 13% less power, produce a final product that is 32% finer, and produce 4.1% more gold from the same run-of-mine feed; our expectation that all of these improvements, along with current foreign exchange rates, and updated capital, labor and operating costs estimates will demonstrate that Mt Todd will be a long-life, low-cost, significant gold producer, with robust project economics at today's gold prices and other such matters are forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information contained in this press release include the following: our approved business plans, exploration and assay results, results of our test work for process area improvements, mineral resource and reserve estimates and results of preliminary economic assessments, prefeasibility studies and feasibility studies on our projects, if any, our experience with regulators, and positive changes to current economic conditions and the price of gold. When used in this press release, the words "optimistic," "potential," "indicate," "expect,""intend," "hopes," "believe," "may," "will," "if," "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, uncertainty of resource and reserve estimates, uncertainty as to the Company's future operating costs and ability to raise capital; risks relating to cost increases for capital and operating costs; risks of shortages and fluctuating costs of equipment or supplies; risks relating to fluctuations in the price of gold; the inherently hazardous nature of mining-related activities; potential effects on our operations of environmental regulations in the countries in which it operates; risks due to legal proceedings; risks relating to political and economic instability in certain countries in which it operates; uncertainty as to the results of bulk metallurgical test work; and uncertainty as to completion of critical milestones for Mt Todd; as well as those factors discussed under the headings "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed on February 22, 2017 and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information; whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Vista Gold Corp.

Related Links

http://www.vistagold.com


HOLMDEL, N.J., Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), a leading provider of cloud communications services for business, today announced that management is scheduled to present at the UBS 45th Annual Global Media and Communications conference on Monday, December 04, 2017, at 11:00 AM ET.

A live webcast and replay of the event will be available on the Vonage Investor Relations site.

About Vonage

Vonage (NYSE: VG) is a leading provider of cloud communications services for business. Vonage transforms the way people work and businesses operate through a portfolio of cloud-based communications solutions that enable internal collaboration among employees, while also keeping companies closely connected with their customers, across any mode of communication, on any device.

Vonage's Nexmo API Platform provides tools for voice, messaging and phone verification services, allowing developers to embed contextual, programmable communications into mobile apps, websites and business systems. Nexmo enables enterprises to easily communicate relevant information to their customers in real time, anywhere in the world, through text messaging, chat, social media and voice.

The Company also provides a robust suite of feature-rich residential communication solutions. Vonage earned Frost & Sullivan's 2015 Growth Excellence Leadership Award for Hosted IP and Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) Services and the 2016 North American Cloud Communications Product Line Strategy Leadership Award. For more information, visit Vonage Business.

Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey. Vonage is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage. To become a fan on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/vonage. To subscribe on YouTube, visit www.youtube.com/vonage.

(vg-f)

SOURCE Vonage

Related Links

http://www.vonage.com


LYON, France, November 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Cegid announces the acquisition of Cylande, a leading provider of software solutions for retail, further strengthening the group's position at the forefront of the retail technology market. The combined company, which posted almost 100 million in sales last year, now supports over 70,000 stores in 70 countries globally. This acquisition underpins Cegid's ambitious growth plans as it looks to accelerate its development in the rapidly evolving retail sector.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/609089/Cegid_Logo.jpg )

The acquisition of Cylande strengthens Cegid's position as one of the major global IT solution providers for retail.

Together, Cegid and Cylande's combined offer means they are well placed to pursue the necessary investments in research, technology and human capital required in order to meet the challenges of today's retailers, and capture new markets across the globe.

"It was clear that not only were our complementary product portfolios well aligned, but the combined offer also allows us to capitalise on the diversity of our existing customer base, the industry expertise of our employees and the international presence of both companies. This, along with Cegid's leading Cloud technology, makes this newly expanded group a key player that is strategically positioned to address the challenges of the retail market today", said Pascal Houillon, Chief Executive Officer of Cegid.

Jean-Pierre Paugam, founder and current president of Cylande, will support the new group as a consultant in strategic affairs. Stephane Escriva will provide long-term support to Cegid as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Cylande.

Cegid intends to keep and develop the solutions portfolio, thereby securing the investment choices previously made by Cylande customers. Cylande products will be incorporated into the Cegid retail product portfolio.

Cegid will implement its merger and consolidation knowledge, as it had already done successfully in its previous acquisitions.

Nathalie Echinard, Managing Director of Retail at Cegid, will manage the new entity.

About Cylande:

Founded more than 30 years ago, Cylande is now a leading provider of retail software solutions. The Group helps retailers and specialty brands in France and abroad to develop their business. The United Retail portfolio offers a wide range of omnichannel solutions that handle all distribution channels, all store sizes and all types of distribution networks. Cylande has a proven value proposition and the company works with more than 180 world-renowned brands reflecting Cylande's successful strategy and high-quality solutions. Recognised international clients include Etam, Petit Bateau, Truffaut, Armand Thiery, Bio C Bon, Groupe Eram, Nocibe, Sergent Major/Natalys/DPAM, Devred etc.

The company operates directly in France, China, Portugal, Poland and the Ivory Coast.

The scope of Cylande's activity acquired by Cegid represented, in 2016, 31M of sales and 340 employees.

For more information, visit http://www.cylande.com

About CEGID :

A leader in the digital transformation, Cegid offers management systems and cloud services to help customers improve their performance.

The Cegid group offers a wide range of solutions for financial management, tax, and human resources as well as business applications aimed at the retail, manufacturing, wholesale, and services sectors, the accountancy profession, and public sector organisations.

Driven by an ambitious innovation policy, Cegid solutions integrate new uses that involve cloud services, mobile technology, data analysis, digitisation, and collaborative business platforms.

Cegid is an international group with 120,000 customers in 75 countries, 2,200 employees and generated a turnover of 307 million in 2016.

For more information, please visit: http://www.cegid.com

Follow Cegid on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/CegidWorldwide

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cegid

https://www.twitter.com/Cegidgroup

SOURCE Cegid
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, welcomes Calondra Tibbs as its new Chief Operating Officer. "Calondra brings a wealth of management and healthcare experience to our organization, and will be instrumental in helping WomenHeart advance our mission and increase awareness about heart disease, the leading cause of death in women," said Mary McGowan, Chief Executive Officer of WomenHeart. "We look forward to working with Calondra as we continue to provide education, advocacy, support and hope to millions of women."

Prior to joining WomenHeart, Tibbs served as a senior advisor of programs at the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) focusing on chronic diseases. As NACCHO's director of Maternal Child and Adolescent Health and Injury and Violence Prevention, she supported the professional development of NACCHO members with trainings, resource materials, and communications efforts.

"I am thrilled to be joining WomenHeart in its mission to improve the health and quality of life for the nearly 48 million women living with or at risk of heart disease," said Tibbs. "My management experience at the local, state and national level will help me ensure that women across the country who are living with heart disease will have access to the care and information they need to live longer healthier lives."

Tibbs has also worked with the Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public Health where she addressed community concerns related to disease clusters related to environmental exposure. She later served as the environmental epidemiologist for the Shelby County Health Department, in Tennessee, where she worked on issues such as environmental exposure, environmental justice and emergency preparedness.

WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease

As the leading voice for the nearly 48 million American women living with or at risk of heart disease, WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease is the nation's only patient-centered organization solely dedicated to advancing women's heart health through patient support, community education, and advocacy. WomenHeart is both a coalition and a community of thousands of members nationwide, including women heart patients and their families, health care professionals, and health advocates, all committed to helping women live longer, healthier lives. To join or donate, visit www.womenheart.org.

SOURCE WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease

Related Links

http://www.womenheart.org


A Clinton home has been listed by mortgagees at $185,000.

The house at 12 Resolute Street has separate living and dining areas with tiled flooring throughout.

There are three bedrooms situated down the hallway away from the living area with ceiling fans and built ins.

The selling agent is Lynda Smith of Locations Estate Agents.

It last sold for $240,000 in 2005, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
The property market downturn in Western Australia has brought in an opportunity for first home buyers, with homes in 30 entry-level suburbs cheaper today from a decade back.

First home buyers might have to shell out $150,000 less than what they would have paid in 2007 for a house in suburbs with a median price of less than $450,000, according to REIWA figures.

Analysis by The Weekend West revealed that recent and prospective first-homebuyers are the big winners from the property downturn.

The median price has also dropped in the same period in another 21 middle and top-level suburbs.

The 30 suburbs are:

1. Byford

2. Two Rocks

3. Kelmscott

4. Pearsall

5. Medina

6. Secret Harbour

7. Armadale

8. Balga

9. Camillo

10. Mount Nasura

11. Butler

12. Coolongup

13. Ridgewood

14. Ellenbrook

15. Baldivis

16. Nollamara

17. Rockingham

18. Swan View

19. Shoalwater

20. Port Kennedy

21. Gosnells

22. Sinagra

23. Merriwa

24. Waikiki

25. Spearwood

26. Leda

27. Maddington

28. Midland

29. Beechboro

30. Seville Grove

A four-bedroom house at 24 Pomera Drive, Byford sold in October 2017 for $470,000, according to RP Data.

Built in 2007, it was on the market in the range $530,000-$560,000 in April 2008.

Overall, the median price in 75 entry-level postcodes, as well as 116 mid and top-tier suburbs in the metropolitan area, have dropped since the height of the property boom in 2014.

About two-thirds of those suburbs suffered a double-digit price fall in that period.

Real Estate Institute of WA president Hayden Groves told The West Australian that there were signs prices were starting to rise.

REIWA statistics reveal that the median price in the three months to October was $520,000.

It had stayed at a low of $515,000 for several quarters.
Mount Agung has been hurling ash thousands of metres into the atmosphere. A geological agency official said no major eruption is expected.

People residing within ten kilometres of the volcano have been asked to evacuate (Photo courtesy: Associated Press)

By AP: Indonesian authorities raised an alert today for a menacing volcano on the tourist island of Bali to the highest level and ordered people within 10 kilometres to evacuate.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Bali's international airport had closed for 24 hours and authorities will consider reopening it on Tuesday after evaluating the situation.

Mount Agung has been hurling ash thousands of metres into the atmosphere, which forced the small international airport on the neighboring island of Lombok to close on Sunday as the plumes drifted east.

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Geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised at 6 am today because the volcano has shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions. However he said no major eruption is expected.

"We don't expect a big eruption but we have to stay alert and anticipate," he said.

Previously the exclusion zone around the volcano ranged between 6 and 7.5 kilometres. The volcano's last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

I received video claiming to be passengers at #Bali #DPSairport angry that their flight is cancelled due to #MtAgung / #MountAgung #VolcanicAsh. If true, perhaps these people seems to prefer being fried in a burning crash than to be delayed and frustrated. pic.twitter.com/Fa7AbtwNHn- Gerry Soejatman (@GerryS) November 27, 2017

Thousands of travelers were stranded in Bali after ash from the Mount Agung volcano on the tourist island forced the international airport to close.

Flight information boards showed rows of cancellations as tourists arrived at the busy Bali airport expecting to catch flights home.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled and authorities said seven flights were diverted to airports in Jakarta, Surabaya and Singapore.

Airport authorities say the decision to close Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport was made after tests showed ash had reached its airspace.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency spokesman said people should stay away from rivers and not enter the 10 kilometre exclusion zone around the volcano.

Authorities say seven flights were diverted to airports in Jakarta, Surabaya and Singapore when the closure was announced early Monday.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Bali's international airport had closed for 24 hours and authorities would consider reopening it Tuesday after evaluating the situation.

RAINS ADD TO PROBLEMS

Video released by Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency shows water and volcanic debris flowing down the slopes of the ash-spewing Mount Agung on Bali as rain falls on the island.

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency spokesman said lahars (a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of rocky debris, and water) could increase as it's rainy season in Bali. The mudflows can move rapidly and are a frequent killer during volcanic eruptions.

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Mount Agung has been hurling ash thousands of meters into the atmosphere since the weekend, forcing the closure of Bali's airport and stranding tens of thousands of travelers.

--- ENDS ---
We're on a mission to radically improve the quality of Urban communities being developed across Australia.

We aim to showcase every development in Australia to help you find the perfect new home!
Allianz plans to boost its real estate investment in China, announcing the launch of a $US750 million ($992 million) fund that targets malls in major cities.

The German insurer and asset manager expects outlet shopping in China will continue to grow despite threats from online stores and a slowing economy.

Allianz Real Estate, Allianz's $63.5 billion property investment arm, launched the China-focused fund in partnership with investor TH Real Estate earlier this month.

Allianz will be the anchor investor owning 30 percent of the fund.

"China will become one of the top markets for us in Asia," Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific CEO of Allianz Real Estate, told Reuters.
The Dow Chemicals chief Andrew Liveris sold his 70s-style beach house at Whale Beach at weekend auction.

It fetched $3.33 million  with whispers quickly suggesting it was snapped up by a neighbour.

The Belle selling agent Greg Griffin who had $3 million hopes given its down-at-heel presentation wouldnt be drilled on which one.

The 1100sqm Whale Beach Rd parcel sloping down to the ocean had cost $3.675 million in pre-GFC 2006.

The Michigan US-based Liveris and his wife Paula will make an $8.15 million Point Piper apartment part of their retirement plans.
A house in Melbournes outer east is on the market, and the seller is willing to accept part payment through Bitcoin, the worlds most popular cryptocurrency.

The transaction for 1411 Mountain Highway in The Basin, if settled through Bitcoin, could be the first cryptocurrency property transaction in Australia.

It comes as Bitcoin has surged past $US9,000 for the first time, less than a week after passing the $US8,000 mark, and taking its year-to-date rise to more than 850 per cent.

"The owner already has a bitcoin wallet and is fairly experienced in using the currency," said listing agent John Garnett.

The offer is part of a worldwide trend of the rise of digital currencies, and government regulators across the world are scrambling to set out clear guidelines for blockchain transactions.

Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency, is an anonymous, secure database that records digital transactions. According to experts, it could change the property industry.

The house has been built by Rob, who did not want his surname printed, Fairfax Media said. He is an experienced builder who buys, renovates and flips houses.

The listing says the owner is agreeable to accept part payment in Bitcoin.

I see cryptocurrency at the moment as like the early days of the internet dot com era, Rob told Domain.

He said declaring the property Bitcoin-friendly could be the deciding factor in someones ability to purchase the house.

If it came down to two or three people, and both had their maximum borrowing capacity at a certain amount, and one has bitcoin  because the banks dont look at Bitcoin as an asset  that could be something that could get them across the line.

The listing agent, John Garnett of Harcourts, said it was the first time he was about to handle a sale through cryptocurrency.

Weve got to be careful because the state revenue office will want the stamp duty to be paid on market revenue, he said.

Because of the dramatic fluctuations in Bitcoins value, the day of the transaction could be tricky.

The way it would be is if someone was going to offer $10,000 in Bitcoin, then that would be $10,000 in Bitcoin whenever they pay that, Rob said. So if the market goes up or down or drops, thats it.

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it was legal for the settlement amount to be paid in any asset or security agreed between the buyer and seller, including Bitcoin.

But the deposit part of the transaction cannot be paid in the form of Bitcoin due to the regulations around trust deposits.

The Australian Taxation Office treats Bitcoin as an asset, and requires a full record of Bitcoin transactions to be kept.

The state government recommends buyers, sellers and agents seek legal advice to ensure they meet the regulatory requirements for the holding of deposits in the form of Bitcoin.

While the property will not be the first to be offered in Bitcoin (that was a $1.4 million home in Perth in 2013) it is attracting huge attention.
Voyager Nabs New Series by Brown

World Fantasy Awardnominated author Christopher Brown closed a world English rights two-book deal with Harper Voyager. Mark Gottlieb at the Trident Media Group represented Brown, negotiating the agreement with David Pomerico. The two books will launch a new series, set in the world of the authors previous book Tropic of Kansas, that Gottlieb said Brown pitched as Better Call Saul meets 1984. The first book, Gottlieb continued, follows a criminal defense lawyer working to free a political prisoner who harbors explosive secrets about a totalitarian American government while being pursued by Feds and vengeful corporate mercenaries. Book one in the series is set for summer 2019 and book two for summer 2020.

Jackson Re-ups at Morrow

Joshilyn Jackson sold two new novels to her current publisher, William Morrow, in a North American rights agreement. Emily Krump at Morrow acquired the titles from Caryn Karmatz Rudy at Defiore & Co. The first book in the deal, Never Have I Ever, is, Morrow said, a work of domestic suspense that marks an exciting new direction for the author; it follows a group of friends who, while playing a drinking game at a bar, begin revealing their darkest secrets. The publisher continued: As too much wine is poured it quickly becomes clear that what started out as innocent fun has evolved into an escalating war of dark pasts. After all, no one wants to answer the question, whats the worst thing youve ever done? Jackson has written eight novels to date; she has won the SIBA Novel of the Year award and is a two-time Georgia Author of the Year winner.

Briefs

For Da Capo Press, Robert Pigeon took world rights to Sleeping with Napoleon: Resistance, Escape, Love, and Betrayal in World War II Paris by Stephen Harding (The Last Battle). The book, which is set for fall 2019, was sold by Scott Mendel at Mendel Media Group. The publisher said the title is a nail-biter wartime adventure story of courage and desperation in the shadows of the City of Light. It follows Allied pilots who, after being downed in Europe, were saved by members of the French Resistance.

Heidi Taylor Gordon at Shadow Mountains Deseret imprint bought world rights to Sarah M. Edens A Healing Heart. Bob Diforio at D4EO Literary, who struck the deal along with Pam Victorio, said the novel follows a nurse who, desperate to escape the dangers of her past... accepts a position in an isolated town in the Wyoming Territory, only to discover the position is not a job but an arranged marriage. The heroine must then fight to regain control of her life.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Christopher Brown's book Tropic of Kansas as Tropic of Cancer.
Only the best and bravest need apply for the 2018 Dakar Rally

Monday, November 27

Lima, Peru

The 2018 Dakar Rally roars into life in January and only the most intrepid offroad racers have signed up for the challenge. Among the fearless competitors taking on the worlds toughest rally are the Red Bull Desert Wings squad. Across all four categories we have a courageous mix of past champions and rally-raid rookies preparing to push themselves to the limit in South America.

Returning car race champions Team Peugeot Total will once again bring their D-ream Team of driving talent. Their fleet of four Peugeot 3008DKR Maxis will be in the hands of Stephane Peterhansel (13-time Dakar winner), Carlos Sainz (one Dakar win), Cyril Despres (five Dakar bike titles) and Sebastien Loeb (nine-time WRC winner).

Since returning to the Dakar in 2015, after an absence of 25 years, Peugeot have wasted no time in reestablishing themselves as the team to beat. Peterhansel has delivered back-to-back wins for Team Peugeot Total at the past two editions and was joined on the podium earlier this year by Loeb and Despres as the French outfit recorded a 1-2-3 result.

Among the drivers looking to breakup Peugeots dominance in the car category are two previous Dakar champions flying the flag for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team. Nasser Al-Attiyah (two-time Dakar winner) and Giniel De Villiers (one Dakar win) have been testing the Toyota Hilux in extreme conditions throughout the year in an effort to get ahead of their rivals.

Further competition in the car race will come from a pair of MINI drivers who are out to make their mark in rally-raid. Kuba Przygonski has transferred to cars from bikes in recent years while rookie Bryce Menzies arrives from American Baja racing.

Taking on the Dakars punishing two-week schedule for the first time in 2018 will be the all-new KTM 450 Rally. The hopes of the Red Bull KTM Factory Team securing their 17th consecutive Dakar win are resting on this redesigned bike and the four riders taking the saddle. Both Sam Sunderland and Toby Price already know what it takes to win the Dakar while Matthias Walkner and Antoine Meo are chasing their first titles.

Challenging this foursome will be Stefan Svitko of the Slovnaft Team who proved he has what it takes with a runners-up finish in 2016. Expect the biggest cheers in La Paz to be reserved for Bolivias Daniel and Walter Nosiglia while millions in India will be tracking the progress of CS Santosh .

Gunning for victory in the truck division will be Team Kamaz Master as the serial winners from Russia ship over to South America. The Blue Armada will be piloted by Eduard Nikolaev (two-time Dakar winner), Ayrat Mardeev (one Dakar title), Dmitry Sotnikov and Anton Shibalov as the reigning champions send four trucks into battle in 2018.

Then theres Ignacio Casale , wholl be going for his second Dakar Rally win in the quad category after reigning supreme in 2014. The Chilean came second in the quad race in 2017, so now hell be on the charge to go one better in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.

Follow our Red Bull Desert Wings in action at the 2018 Dakar Rally (January 6-20) with Action Clips, News Cuts, Interviews, Images and Articles here .

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Two years after Netflix launched in Spain, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services are used by a quarter of the countrys Internet homes.





Despite having gained access to SVOD later than many other territories, Spain seem to have embraced video streaming, according to the latest data released by the Comision Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC).Over the last six months, Netflix has doubled its subscriptions, reaching 1.16 million homes two years after it launched in the country - the first major over-the-top (OTT) service to land in Spain. HBO Espana - which arrived a year ago and relying on the success of Game of Thrones in the country - has reached 414,000 households.However, the market leader Yomvi is not a standalone platform, being bundled to Movistar+s pay-TV subscription. The Telefonica service nears two million homes, 12.6% of the countrys connected households.Along with increasing SVOD subscriptions, video-on-demand (VOD) habits are gaining ground across the country. Over 40% of homes watch on-demand content at least once a week. Among the free platforms, Atresmedias Atresplayer and RTVEs A La Carta are the favourites.As for connected devices, Spaniards mainly use their phones (85.2%) to access online services, followed by computers and tablets, with 11.6% using a smart TV to connect to VOD platforms, almost doubling since 2015.
Turners Indian childrens channel Pogo is launching a silent slapstick comedy show called Andy Pirki, which is described as having universal appeal.





The 80-episode series, created by Mangaluru-based AUM animation studios, centres on the friendship between Andy, a pink dinosaur and Pirki a caveman. Andy Pirki (which means mad cap in the Tulu language) will be aired every Sunday morning from 3 December.Since there are no dialogues, the original show is emphasised, Turner executive director and network head for kids, South Asia Krishna Desai told IndianTelevision.com. Every show has 50% audio content; here we can deliver great audio experiences as well.Andy Pirki won two 2017 FICCI Frames awards in the Best International Episodic Animation and Best Indian Episodic Animation categories, beating Nickelodeons popular animation Motu Patlu and Pogos Chota Bheem.Pogo has planned the production of the programme for two to three years, according to local reports.
He also emphasised the strategic and economic value of the Indian Ocean region, referring to the emergence of the 'Blue Economy'.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: President of Bangladesh M Abdul Hamid has stressed on building strong bridges and cooperation among the Indian Ocean littorals with a collective sense of responsibility and sharing of resources to ensure safety of sea users.

He said that while opening Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Multilateral Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise (IMMSAREX)-2017 at Inani Beach in Cox' s Bazar on Tuesday.

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M Abdul Hamid told that the safety of lives at sea is a regional responsibility. Therefore, we shall work together as a single entity and must make proper use of the existing forums to build strong bridges among the Indian Ocean littorals, an official statement of President's office said.

He also emphasised the strategic and economic value of the Indian Ocean region, referring to the emergence of the 'Blue Economy'.

Terming Bangladesh as a peace-loving country and who believes in peaceful co-existence with her neighbours and beyond, the President said, "We believe that positive mindset and approach can develop confidence and resolve bilateral disputes among the regional countries."

Referring to country's significant role in various regional and global forums and organizations, President Hamid said Bangladesh has set a bright example to the world by amicably resolving our maritime boundary disputes with both of our neighbours.

Symposium chairman and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed and Indian navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, also spoke the function.

Among others, some heads of Foreign Missions in Bangladesh, chiefs of Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force, local parliament members, chiefs of the Navies and Heads of delegations of the participating states and high civil and military officials were also present on the occasion.

The Inter Service public Relations Directorate (ISPR) of Bangladesh press release said that twenty-three countries, including the 22 members of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium or IONS, is participating in the naval exercise. Naval fleets from India, China, Bangladesh, Iran and Indonesia will participate. The exercise will end on Nov 29.

"Bangladesh Navy has organized this international sea drill in the Bay of Bengal aiming to combine territorial harmony and cooperation between navies of Indian Ocean Territory countries," the ISPR release said.

In 2008, Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) was formed with 23 countries of the Indian Ocean. After the establishment, the 1st conference was held in India, second conference in the United Arab Emirates, 3rd conference in South Africa, 4th conference 2014 in Australia and 5th conference held in Dhaka.

For the first time a military exercise of this forum (IONS) is being held in in the Bay of Bengal.

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"In this exercise on the 28th and 29th November, the firefighting exercise at the warships, the rescue operation and medical assistance from the accidental ships, the discovery of missing fishing trawlers and fishermen in the deep sea, assistance in the disappearance of the deep sea and the help of fire brigade in the commercial ship, bringing the accidental ship back to the harbor. Also various exercises including Fleet Review will be held," the ISPR release read.

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Reaction to the decision by US broadcast regulator the FCC to release a draft order eliminating most network neutrality rules has been swift  and overwhelmingly negative.





A final vote on the order will happen on 14 December, and is expected to fall 3-2 along party lines in favour of the measure.The FCC released its order on net neutrality and Title II regulation in 2015 under the Obama Administration. It prohibits ISPs from favouring or throttling traffic, or from establishing a pay-to-play scheme that requires OTT content providers to pay for the privilege of transmission. Also in that order was a decision to reclassify broadband providers as public utilities  in 2014 Verizon won a lawsuit defanging the FCC's ability to enforce net neutrality by successfully arguing that as the rules stood, the regulator had no jurisdiction over broadband. The reclassification fixed that, and brought broadband providers firmly under the FCCs oversight and therefore subject to net neutrality regulations.Threats to Internet openness remain today, the FCC said in its order at the time. The record reflects that broadband providers hold all the tools necessary to deceive consumers, degrade content or disfavour the content that they don't like.It added: As Verizon frankly told the court at oral argument, but for the 2010 rules, it would be exploring agreements to charge certain content providers for priority service.This weeks draft order abruptly reverses that opinion, and characterises Title II, which is the section that classifies broadband providers as public utilities and therefore under the FCCs purview, as an overreaction.Because of the paucity of concrete evidence of harms to the openness of the Internet, the Title II Order and its proponents have heavily relied on purely speculative threats. We do not believe hypothetical harms, unsupported by empirical data, economic theory, or even recent anecdotes, provide a basis for public-utility regulation of ISPs, the draft reads. Consequently, Title II regulation is an unduly heavy-handed approach to what at worst are relatively minor problems.FCC chairman Ajit Pai announced that the regulatory body would vote on net neutrality rules on 14 December. Its expected that the GOP-dominated court will vote to largely eliminate them.Net neutrality fans argue that to absent such regulations, ISPs, which are usually also pay-TV providers, could simply slow down content they dont like or which is competitive with their own services. In addition, they say a roll-back could have a chilling effect on over-the-top (OTT) diversity, given that not all start-ups could afford to pay for pricey carriage tiers.The Internet Association, which counts among its members Amazon, Dropbox, Ebay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Spotify, Uber and others, was damning:Chairman Pais proposal, if implemented, represents the end of net neutrality as we know it and defies the will of millions of Americans who support the 2015 Open Internet Order. This proposal undoes nearly two decades of bipartisan agreement on baseline net neutrality principles that protect Americans ability to access the entire Internet.The 2015 Order created bright-line, enforceable net neutrality protections that guarantee consumers access to the entire internet and preserve competition online. This proposal fails to achieve any of these objectives. Consumers have little choice in their ISP, and service providers should not be allowed to use this gatekeeper position at the point of connection to discriminate against websites and apps.Internet Association and our members will continue our work to ensure net neutrality protections remain the law of the land.Individual tech giants have also come forward. We are disappointed that the proposal announced today by the FCC fails to maintain the strong net neutrality protections that will ensure the internet remains open for everyone, said Facebook VP of US public policy Erin Egan, in a media statement. We will work with all stakeholders committed to this principle.Google also announced its disappointment, and on Twitter, OTT giant Netflix minced no words: Netflix supports strong #NetNeutrality. We oppose the FCC's proposal to roll back these core protections.It also tweeted: We've been supporting for years thru IA and Day to Save Net Neutrality with a banner on Netflix homepage for all users. More info in Q4 2016 earnings letter, as well. This current draft order hasn't been officially voted, so we're lodging our opposition publicly and loudly now.Reddit was more verbose in its media statement: Reddit is actively monitoring the FCC's proposed rule changes that could dismantle net neutrality as we know it. From farmers in South Dakota to musicians in Kentucky to small business owners in Utah, net neutrality is just as important to redditors as it is to Reddit and we will continue to advocate for and work constructively to maintain a free and open Internet. It is crucial to innovation and the health of our economy that small businesses have equal access to the internet, with winners and losers chosen by consumers, not ISPs.Despite such fears, Pai has long called net neutrality a mistake, and did so again last week.For almost 20 years, the Internet thrived under the light-touch regulatory approach established by President Clinton and a Republican Congress, said Pai. This bipartisan framework led the private sector to invest $1.5 trillion building communications networks throughout the United States. And it gave us an Internet economy that became the envy of the world.He added: In 2015, the prior FCC bowed to pressure from President Obama. On a party-line vote, it imposed heavy-handed, utility-style regulations upon the Internet. That decision was a mistake. Its depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks and deterred innovation.
When the Obama administration led a 2011 NATO military intervention on behalf of rebels seeking to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi, there was considerable optimism that the move would produce a much better country. Although U.S. officials and their media cheerleaders acknowledged that significant challenges remained for a post-Qaddafi Libya, they argued that the outcome could scarcely be worse than the oppressive status quo. Events over the past six years have proven their assumptions spectacularly wrong. Libya is now a cauldron of turmoil and Islamic radicalism.

As Qaddafis rule teetered, optimism in U.S. political and journalistic circles was pervasive. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant, President Obama stated in August 2011. The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham were equally gratified and positive. The end of the Gadhafi regime is a victory for the Libyan people and the broader cause of freedom in the Middle East and throughout the world, they concluded. The two senators, along with their Republican colleagues, Mark Kirk and Marco Rubio, gushed during a visit to liberated Tripoli that the rebels had inspired the world.

In his remarks regarding the dictators capture and gruesome death in October, Obama asserted that the dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted from Libya. He urged the citizens of that country to build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to the former oppressor. Ivo H. Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Adm. James Stavridis were equally enthusiastic. Describing the intervention as an extraordinary job, well done, they called it an historic victory for the people of Libya who, with NATOs help, transformed their country from an international pariah into a nation with the potential to become a productive partner with the West.

Much of the American news media chimed in about the glorious outcome of the U.S.-NATO intervention. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was euphoric about how the people he encountered in Libya loved America. Americans are not often heroes in the Arab world, but as nonstop celebrations unfold here in the Libyan capital I keep running into ordinary people who learn where Im from and then fervently repeat variants of the same phrase: Thank you, America!

There were only a few dissenting voices from the celebration. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, writing in Salon, expressed his astonishment and dismay at the lack of realism or even minimal skepticism on the part of policymakers.

Im genuinely astounded at the pervasive willingness to view what has happened in Libya as some sort of grand triumph even though virtually none of the information needed to make that assessment is known yet, including: how many civilians have died, how much more bloodshed will there be, what will be needed to stabilize that country and, most of all, what type of regime will replace (Moammar) Gadhafi?

Greenwalds apprehension proved well founded. Libya soon became the playground for both rival militias and rival governments. Writing in 2012, shortly after the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the other victims in Benghazi, Greenwald asked how much longer will it be before we hear that military intervention in Libya is (again) necessary, this time to control the anti-U.S. extremists who are now armed and empowered by virtue of the first intervention? U.S. military interventions are most adept at ensuring that future U.S. military interventions will always be necessary.

A little more than three years later, the United States conducted a new round of airstrikes to prevent the establishment of an Islamic State (ISIS) beachhead in the Mediterranean coastal city of Sirte. ISIS infiltration already was becoming evident in late 2014 and early 2015. An early sign of the terrorist groups presence was a mass beheading of twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians who had migrated to Libya to find work.

The new U.S. intervention came at the invitation of the so-called unity government, a splicing of two previously feuding regimes, which had received official UN backing. The reality is that despite its name, the unity government, also known as the Government of National Accord, or GNA, is just one of several factions jockeying to govern Libya. Indeed, at the time the United States commenced its new air campaign, there were (and remain) three rival governments seeking control. A parliament-backed faction, the Tripoli-based General National Congress, also known as Libya Dawn, is closely allied to Islamist fighters, especially the powerful Misrata militia. A key rival to both claimants is the House of Representatives (HoR)sometimes called the Council of Deputieswhich is based in Tobruk. Gen. Khalifa Hiftar, who had led one of the rebel factions that unseated Qaddafi, is the de facto leader of the HoR.

But even that tripartite feud does not capture the full extent of the chaos. An October 2017 incident illustrates just how convoluted the political and military rivalries have become. An air strike killed at least fifteen civilians in the eastern city of Derna, located about 165 miles west of the Egyptian border. At the time of the attack, Derna was controlled by a coalition of Islamist militants and rebel veterans known as the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC), one of the numerous political/religious factions in the country. The source of the airstrike was unclear. The coastal city had long been under siege by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) (General Hiftars armed wing), which previously conducted air strikes against it, as had Egypt, which backs the LNA.

However, both the LNA and the Egyptian government denied carrying out the most recent raid. Indeed, Egypts foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the strikes for killing innocent civilians. One Egyptian TV station with close ties to the Cairo government insisted that Libyan planes had conducted the attack. The LNA, though, denied that assertion and said there had been a terrorist attack in the area. The Tripoli-based, UN-backed government, which opposes the LNA and maintains very loose ties with the DMSC, denounced the air strikes and announced three days of mourning.

Even that was not the extent of the murky, multisided struggle, however. The DMSC had controlled Derna since 2015. It achieved that status by expelling ISIS, which had established a foothold there the previous year. In other words, one militant Islamic group drove out a rival militant Islamic group. Such is the nature of political and military affairs in fractured, postQaddafi Libya.

The chaos has strengthened Islamic extremism inside Libya and led to massive refugee flows across the Mediterraneana humanitarian nightmare rivaling the one taking place in Syria. Proponents of U.S.-led regime-change wars have yet another catastrophic failure on their record.

Reprinted with permission from The National Interest. Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute and a contributing editor at the National Interest, is the author of ten books, the contributing editor of ten books, and the author of more than seven hundred articles and policy studies on international affairs.
Martinsville is building a new police station. What you need to know.
Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking Chinas resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. Im RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish.

Before we get started, a few announcements: The newsletter is now biweekly, rather than going out only on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. To subscribe, click here.

And I will also be launching Talking China In Eurasia, a new podcast. Im joined by the Royal United Services Institutes Raffaello Pantucci to talk about Xi and Putin. Listen to the first episode here or below.

Xi Gets Pragmatic About Russia At The G20

It was light on optimism, but U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping injected a healthy dose of pragmatism back into the U.S.-China relationship with their meeting in Bali at a time when global anxiety is rising over Russias war against Ukraine.

Finding Perspective: The meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit was far from a breakthrough, but it did repair some damage from the recent backslide in relations between both countries and send some signals that the world isnt necessarily destined for Cold War 2.0.

The more than three-hour talks saw some blunt exchanges over contentious issues like Taiwan and North Korea, but the two leaders also pledged more frequent communications and decided that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing for follow-up talks in 2023.

Of particular note, Biden raised Russias invasion of Ukraine and threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons. Both leaders reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought, according to a White House readout.

While far from a sea change for Chinese policy, thats notable. The credibility of Beijings claims to be neutral on the Ukraine war continue to come under scrutiny, and China has shown discomfort of late with the Kremlins nuclear saber-rattling.

Xi made similar comments after a November 4 summit with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and during another G20 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the French readout.

Why It Matters: Xi is not abandoning Putin, but this marks the latest shift for Beijings balancing act over Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Four Chinese officials briefed on the February 4 meeting between Xi and Putin, where they declared a no-limits partnership, told the Financial Times that Putin didnt tell Xi the truth about the invasion and that Beijing was caught off guard by it.

What Xi knew about Putins war plans has been a topic of debate, and there is evidence to support both the idea that Xi was aware and that he was caught off guard.

Many analysts are of the opinion that Xi knew about Putin's decision to invade but expected a quick victory, which perhaps was what Putin believed at the time.

Others point to a steady stream of dismissals from Chinese officials and experts about the likelihood of an invasion in February and the fact that Beijing did not evacuate its citizens from Ukraine  like Western nations did  as evidence that China was not expecting a war.

China certainly has its own interests in keeping a distance from Moscows war and using that space to do some upkeep with the West. But perhaps the most important point here is that even if Putin did blindside Xi, China has stuck with Russia despite its battlefield failures, political isolation, and the atrocities its troops are accused of committing.

Again, this is pragmatism more than anything else. As Chinese experts often say, even if Russia is looking unattractive these days, why would Beijing abandon its main anti-Western partner as China continues to be in the crosshairs of rising American pressure?

Read More

 Want to hear more about Russia and Chinas complex relationship amid the Ukraine war? Then tune in to the debut of Talking China In Eurasia today at 2 p.m. CET/ 8 a.m. EST. You can listen live here and find the episode on RFE/RLs website and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

 Condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine and its global fallout is shaping up to be the key theme of the G20, with the Financial Times reporting that a joint communique from the summit takes aim at Moscow.

Expert Corner: The Future Of The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

Readers asked: Did Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs recent trip to Beijing breathe new life into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)? How do Islamabad and Beijing really feel about the project after all these years?

To find out more, I asked Filippo Boni, an expert on China-Pakistan relations at the Open University in Britain:

Shehbaz Sharif's visit to China was high on symbolism and relatively low on substance. While the two sides were keen to reaffirm and emphasize the strength of their strategic partnership, no significant new commitment was made. Apart from a few memorandums of understanding and attempts from the Pakistanis in the run-up to the trip to address some of CPECs issues  including payments to Chinese independent power producers  nothing major came from the visit. This is despite Sharif's attempts at revitalizing CPEC since April and the very close ties he enjoys with the Chinese leadership.

The outcome of this visit is not entirely surprising, especially if interpreted against the backdrop of Pakistan's current domestic predicaments. The security situation for Chinese nationals has deteriorated, the economy is struggling, and political instability is at one of its highest points in recent years. All these dynamics, coupled with the global scaling down of Belt and Road Initiative financing, have likely impacted Beijing's lack of commitment to new projects.

After almost 10 years and $25 billion worth of projects, there seems to be a general consensus on both sides that the first phase of CPEC  the one focused primarily on energy projects  was largely successful. The same cannot be said for the second phase, including the slow progress on the development of Special Economic Zones, and for the port of Gwadar, where little progress has been made for the ports full commercial functioning.

Do you have a question about Chinas growing footprint in Eurasia? Send it to me at StandishR@rferl.org or reply directly to this e-mail and Ill get it answered by leading experts and policymakers.

Three More Stories From Eurasia

1. 'Sweep It Under The Rug'

Recent allegations of China operating 54 overseas police stations have fueled controversy around the world and sparked investigations, but in Hungary and Serbia the new findings are being met with swift denials by authorities, despite growing evidence.

The Details: My colleagues Akos Keller-Alant from RFE/RLs Hungarian Service, Mila Durdevic from RFE/RLs Balkan Service, and I reported on the fallout from these revelations and the slew of probes launched in many European countries recently.

The stations are overseas operations of the public security bureaus from two Chinese provinces and are used to persuade citizens to return to China, including through pressure on family members at home. While most of those involved appear to be suspected of crimes such as telecommunications fraud or corruption, dissidents have also reported that the stations have been used to monitor and threaten them.

Fourteen governments have already launched investigations into the overseas police stations, and the Dutch and Irish governments have ordered China to shut down the facilities in their countries.

But in Hungary and Serbia  two countries where Beijing is said to operate such facilities and whose governments prize their warming political and economic ties with China  officials appear to be trying to sweep it under the rug, as one analyst characterized it, despite growing scrutiny from opposition lawmakers in each country.

2. Global Ripples Hit Central Asia

Political and economic shocks from Moscows war in Ukraine, coupled with added strains from tensions between Beijing and Washington, are taking their toll around the world, especially in Central Asia, where countries in the region are closely tied to both China and Russia.

What It Means: As RFE/RLs Uzbek Service reported, Vladimir Norov, the countrys foreign minister, warned about geopolitical tensions affecting stability in the region and beyond while addressing his counterparts at an Organization of Turkic States meeting in Samarkand.

The breakdown in global cooperation is felt particularly strong in Central Asia. While some economies have been able to benefit by becoming a new home for businesses and capital relocated from Russia, others are seeing investment dry up and their economies coming under strain.

World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde recently warned that Uzbekistan needs to continue with its market reforms in order to withstand the global economic shocks that are to come.

RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service also reported that the countrys government is trying to court more investment but that questions remain from investors about Kyrgyzstans stability and investment climate. According to official statistics from January to June of this year, China is the leading source of foreign investment, with $129 million during that span.

3. The Tech In Moscows Iranian Drones

A new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, looked into electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 drone, which Russia has used in its war in Ukraine, and found that theyre far from homegrown.

What You Need To Know: The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

The investigation also found drone components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm.

The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China.

The international tech in the drone not only highlights the complex ecosystem that allows firms and buyers to circumvent sanctions slapped on both Iran and Russia, but also the close networks between Chinese and Western tech companies that still exist, despite a recent push to break some of those linkages.

Across The Supercontinent

On The Mainland: The watchdog group Freedom House recently launched a new project called the China Dissent Monitor, which tracks protests and other forms of dissent inside China. Read it here.

Censored: Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pulled an opening ceremony address by European Council President Charles Michel that was set to criticize Russia's illegal war in Ukraine and call for reduced European dependency on China, Reuters reported.

Backtracking: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has softened his countrys stance toward China, moving away from his predecessor Liz Trusss decision to label it a threat.

One Thing To Watch

How long will Chinas stringent COVID policies stay in place?

New infections are rising as a winter wave hits and popular frustration continues to boil over inside the country as investor confidence stays dented over the measures. New footage also showed crowds of residents in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou escaping a compulsory lockdown and clashing with police.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you might have.

Until next time,

Reid Standish

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your in-box on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.
Reports from Iraq say at least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 others wounded in a gun and bombing attack southeast of the capital, Baghdad.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said on November 27 that two attackers shot several civilians in Nahrawan district, located 35 kilometers east of the Iraqi capital, before one blew himself up and the other was killed by security forces.

However, a police captain was quoted as saying that a total of five attackers launched the assault in a market in the Nahrawan area. Three of them were killed by security forces but the other two blew themselves up, the police officer said.

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, with its Amaq news agency saying it targeted the Iran-backed Shi'ite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

The IS group seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria in summer 2014, but it has since suffered a string of military defeats in both countries.

Last week, it lost control of the last town it had held in Iraq.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Residents are slowly returning to what is left of the Iraqi city of Mosul to dig out their homes with their own hands. Iraqi troops, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, regained control of the city in July after a bloody eight-month battle, driving out Islamic State militants, who had taken over in 2014. But signs of recovery are hard to find. (AP)
After the incident, two cases were filed in the Dhaka's Lalbagh Police Station. 846 BDR Jawans were put on trial

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Bangladesh's High Court has upheld the death penalty for 139 out of 152 convicts who were given the capital punishment by lower court in 'Bangladesh Rifles carnage' case. The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) is the former name of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

A three-member special bench of Bangladesh High Court led by Justice Md. Shawkat Hossain announced the verdict on Monday afternoon.

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Other than the convicts given the capital punishment, 185 had been given life imprisonment, While 200 accused were awarded jail sentences of varying terms.

On 25th and 26th of February 2009 a mutiny broke out at the BDR headquarters in Peelkhana in Dhaka. 74 individuals including 57 army officials lost their lives in the ensuing violence.

After the incident, two cases were filed in the Dhaka's Lalbagh Police Station. 846 BDR Jawans were put on trial

A lower court awarded death penalty to 152 accused on November 5th 2013. 161 were sentenced to life in prison while 256 accused were awarded a 10 year jail term. 278 accused were acquitted for lack of evidence. In all, 568 accused were convicted.

When the accused appealed in the high court, it upheld the death penalty for 139 convicts.

The High Court of Bangladesh has observed that there was a motive behind the carnage to destabilise Sheikh Hasina-led government.

The HC also observed that the people behind the conspiracy had designs to create a political crisis in the country.

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Pakistani Islamists were celebrating a victory over the government after the country's law minister resigned under pressure from fundamentalists who had been demanding his ouster during a three-week-long protest rally.

After Zahid Hamid's resignation, the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party said its members were dispersing peacefully from protest camps across the country on November 27 under a deal with the government.

"Our main demand has been accepted," Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesman of the Tehreek-e Labaik Ya Rasool Allah group, told the Reuters news agency early on November 27.

Protests demanding Hamid's resignation had grown increasingly violent in recent days, with six people killed and more than 200 others injured.

The Islamists claimed Hamid was behind what they called a blasphemous bill to amend the country's electoral oath because he omitted the name of the Prophet Muhammad from the parliamentary bill. Hamid apologized and blamed the omission on a clerical error.

Violence in Islamabad had prompted Pakistans Interior Ministry on November 25 to authorize the deployment of "sufficient troops" from the countrys military to "control law and order" in the city until further notice.

About 2,000 protesters had maintained the protest camp since November 6, blocking a main road into Islamabad that is used by thousands of commuters.

Early on November 26, it was clear that the protest rally had grown to even larger numbers, including several thousand members of the Tehreek-e Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party.

Protests also spread to nine other cities, including Pakistans southern port city of Karachi.

Despite the operation involving 8,500 elite police and paramilitary troops in riot gear  and the use of tear gas and batons by authorities  the security forces on November 25 were unable disperse those at the protest camp.

With reporting by RFE/RL Radio Mashaal correspondent Abdul Hai Kakar; Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, and BBC
ASTANA -- A court in Astana has sentenced Makhambet Abzhan, a local property rights activist, to 3 1/2 years in jail after finding him guilty on charges of fraud.

The Saryarqa District Court in the Kazakh capital on November 27 also ordered the confiscation of Abzhan's property.

Abzhan stated after the verdict and sentence were pronounced that the case was "most likely" politically motivated. He said he would appeal the court's ruling.

Abzhan was arrested in June and charged with fraudulent activities. His friends and supporters insist the case against him was politically motivated retaliation for his rights activities.

Abzhan has been campaigning for the rights of would-be homeowners in Astana who made full or partial house payments to construction companies but never received an apartment or refund.

In 2006, Abzhan was found guilty of financial fraud while he was running in an election as a candidate for the Astana City Council. He was sentenced to three years in jail in that case.

Since his release, Abzhan has organized public protests to support would-be homeowners.

He has also been involved in street demonstrations against the launch of Russian Proton rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and against Moscow's leasing of military test fields in Kazakhstan.

In August 2016, the Saryarqa District Court sentenced Abzhan to one year of "limited freedom," a parole-like sentence, after finding him guilty of insulting and assaulting police.
The prime minister of Kosovo has condemned a grenade attack on the homes of two Serbian members of the Kosovo Security Forces in the country's northern Mitrovica region.

Police said two explosions early on November 26 caused damage to two homes but no injuries in the town of Zubin Potok, about 55 kilometers north of the capital, Pristina. Three cars were also damaged.

Tensions often flare between the ethnic Albanian and Serbian communities of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by 115 countries, although not by Belgrade or Russia.

Mitrovica is a Serb-majority region in northern Kosovo.

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj denounced the attack and said it was "an unacceptable act that endangers the lives of citizens and seeks to prevent efforts to build a democratic society."

He urged the local the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and asked citizens to assist efforts to solve the crime.

Haradinaj is a former guerrilla commander who fought in Kosovos battle for independence from Serbia.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and AP
The Kremlin says a change of leadership for Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern region of Luhansk will not affect the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 27 that "continuity" remains, "especially on the issue of the implementation of the Minsk agreements" and on "initiatives" to exchange prisoners.

Separatist leader Igor Plotnitsky's resignation was announced by a website of the Luhansk-based separatists on November 24 in the midst of a fierce power struggle that unfolded over several days.

The website said Plotnitsky resigned for health reasons and that Leonid Pasechnik, the self-proclaimed security minister of the separatist formation, would be acting leader "until the next elections."

The website also announced on November 24 that Plotnitsky had been named as the separatists' representative to the Minsk process, which is aimed at resolving the conflict.

After occupying and illegally annexing Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, Moscow began fomenting unrest in parts of eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has provided political, military, and economic support to separatists who gained control over parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, sparking a war that has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014.

Moscow denies involvement in Ukraine's internal affairs, despite compelling evidence to the contrary.

Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, Gazeta.ru, and RIA-Novosti


Four men charged with committing violent crimes in Kyrgyzstan -- including murder and robbery -- have escaped from pretrial detention in the country's northern Chui region.

Nurbek Toktosunov, a spokesman for Chui's regional police department, told RFE/RL that the suspects include three Kyrgyz citizens and one man from Turkmenistan.

He said regional police and security forces launched a manhunt operation for the group after the four men escaped from custody at about 6 a.m. local time on November 27.

Toktosunov said that two of the escapees from Kyrgyzstan, 38-year-old Ramil Bazarkulov and 28-year-old Kairat Janbotoev, were awaiting trial on murder charges.

He said Bagtiat Achyldurdyiev, a 32-year-old citizen of Turkmenistan, and 38-year-old Kyrgyz citizen Bakyt Dildeshov both face trial on robbery charges.
Reports from Pakistan say the authorities have detained at least nine people over the killing of a couple who had contracted a marriage without permission from their elders.

Police in the southern port city of Karachi said on November 27 that the couple was killed by relatives last week on the orders of a tribal council, known as a tribal "jirga."

They said the victims, identified as 24-year-old Abdul Hadi and Hasina Bibi, 20, hailed from the northern Kohistan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, and married in Karachi about 1 1/2 months ago.

Officer Qasim Hameed said Hadi's father and other relatives were arrested after the couple's bodies were found in a Karachi graveyard on November 26.

The men confessed to murdering the couple with knives upon the orders of a jirga for dishonoring their Pashtun culture, Hameed said.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed anger over the killings, saying: "This is Karachi, not a tribal area. How was a jirga held here?"

Hundreds of "honor killings" are reported in Pakistan every year.

In September, police said they were searching for dozens of members of a tribal council who ordered a teenage couple to be electrocuted by their families after they eloped.

The couple -- a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl -- were said to be ethnic Pashtuns from Karachi.

Police said the fathers and two uncles of the couple had been arrested in the case.

And in June, a 12-year-old girl from the northwestern tribal district of Khyber was killed by her family after she eloped with a boy.

Local official Niaz Muhammad told RFE/RL that the alleged killers -- one of the girl's uncles and his son -- were detained along with two members of the boy's family.

With reporting by AP and Dawn
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Religious activists in Pakistan started returning home after more than two weeks of violent protests, after reaching an agreement with the government for the resignation of the countrys law minister. (RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal)
11 North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is seen with what Pyongyang says is a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15, in a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on November 30. North Korea said it had successfully tested the missile, which it claims can reach the entire U.S. mainland, in defiance of UN sanctions. (Reuters/KCNA)
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Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Bucharest and other Romanian cities on November 26 to condemn a judiciary overhaul planned by the Romanian government. Critics including the European Commission say the changes would impose political control over the justice system. (Reuters)
Russian, U.S., and British teams are aiding the 14-nation search for a missing Argentine Navy submarine, 11 days after the vessel lost contact following an explosion.

Aircraft from Argentina, Britain, and the United States for several days have crisscrossed the South Atlantic in search of the San Juan submarine with 44 crewmembers aboard, and a Russian Antonov transport plane has now brought equipment to aid the effort hampered by rough seas.

"The bad weather conditions really are adverse," navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told a news conference on November 26. We've been searching for 11 days, but that does not remove the chance that [the crew] could still be in an extreme survival situation."

Despite the comments, many officials and family members have lost hope of rescuing crewmembers alive.

The Russian Antonov craft brought an underwater robot that can search the ocean floor as deep as 1,000 meters.

Russia also sent an oceanographic research ship, while the U.S. Navy provided an underwater rescue capsule.

The Argentine Navy reported there had been an explosion aboard the submarine, possibly related to the vessels batteries. The submarine originally went into service in 1985.

The search zone is 400 kilometers off the Argentinian coast north of the British-ruled Falkland Islands, which are known in Argentina as the Malvinas.

"There is no precedent in history for a [recovery] deployment of this extent," naval engineer Horacio Tettamanti said.

"The United States and Russia are the most developed in this field, a legacy of the Cold War," he added.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa
By PTI: Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI) The BJP today announced its Maharashtra unit vice-president Prasad Lad as its candidate for the Legislative Council bypoll slated for December 7.

Soon after his candidature was announceed this morning, Lad, who joined BJP last year, filed his nomination papers at Vidhan Bhawan.

There was speculation till recently that BJP may field former chief minister Narayan Rane but mounting pressure from Shiv Sena to the proposal forced the party leadership to drop the plan.

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The bypoll is being held for the seat vacated by Rane who quit the Congress party in September. On October1 Rane had formed a new political party called Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, saying he would support the BJP-led NDA.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a meeting with senior party leaders, including state unit chief Raosaheb Danve, at his official residence Varsha in south Mumbai.

Fadnavis was in Gujarat today addressing BJP campaign rallies.

Congress has fielded former legislator from Solapur Dilip Mane, who filed his nomination today, to take on Lad, who was with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) earlier.

The winner will need votes of at least 145 MLAs in the 288-member Lower House.

In the Assembly, the BJP has 122 members, followed by Shiv Sena (63), Congress (42), and NCP (41).

Though the Congress-NCP alliance is behind the ruling combine in the Assembly in terms of number of members, MPCC chief Ashok Chavan told reporters here today that Mane will emerge victorious due to an invisible arrow. The bow and arrow is the symbol of Shiv Sena.

"Sena is unhappy over issues like farmers loan waiver. It recently repeated its threat to pull out of the government. Going by the political situation, the invisible arrow will help Congress win the poll," Chavan said.

On November 23, senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, ahead of the Council bypoll.

The candidature of Lad, said to be close to Fadnavis, has come as a disappointment for some in the BJP who felt the partys state unit chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari deserved the Council bypoll nomination.

Fadnavis had recently said Rane would be made a cabinet minister from the BJP quota. The cabinet expansion now looks unlikely before the winter session of state legislature, beginning in Nagpur on December 11. PTI VT BNM RDS

--- ENDS ---
Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) says a Polish historian has been expelled from Russia without explanation by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

According to the IPN, professor Henryk Glebocki was detained in Moscow on November 24 and ordered to leave Russia within 24 hours after he gave lectures in St. Petersburg about the Soviet-era purges of 1937-1938.

The IPN says Glebocki was denied access to archives in Russia that he previously had used to research Polish-Russian relations during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Russian authorities did not immediately comment on the statement.

In October, Polish authorities expelled Russian historian Dmitry Karnaukhov -- accusing him of having ties with Russian intelligence and "participating in a hybrid war against Poland."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in October that it would carry out a reciprocal response.
Google says that it will not change the way it ranks websites after Moscow expressed concerns the search engine might discriminate against Russian media.

Earlier this month, Russia's communications watchdog said it wanted the U.S. Internet giant to clarify whether it planned to lower search results for articles from Russian news websites Sputnik and RT, formerly known as Russia Today.

The request by Roskomnadzor came after Eric Schmidt, the president of Google's parent company Alphabet, was asked at a conference earlier in November about Sputnik articles. He said Google was working to give less prominence to those kinds of websites, as opposed to delisting them.

That prompted complaints from Russian authorities, with Roskomnadzor saying last week it would take action against Google if it discriminated against Russian media.

"We'd like to inform you that by speaking about ranking of web-sources, including the websites of Russia Today and Sputnik, Dr. Eric Schmidt was referring to Google's ongoing efforts to improve search quality," Google said in a letter posted on November 27 on Roskomnadzor's website.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said the websites of Russian state-funded Sputnik and RT spread misinformation.

Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS
A monitor group says air strikes by Russian jets have killed at least 53 civilians, including 21 children, in a village held by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in eastern Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack occurred early on November 26 in the Deir al-Zor Province. It earlier had said the death count was 34.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes hit "residential buildings" in the village of Al-Shafah on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, adding that at least 18 people were wounded in the attack.

The report could not immediately be independently verified.

On November 27, Russia's Defense Ministry denied that Russian war planes had targeted Al-Shafah.

The observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines what countrys planes carry out attacks based on type, location, flight patterns, and weapons used.

Russia supports the government of President Bashar al-Assad and provides air support for regime forces. Iran also backs Assad in the six-year civil war, while the United States and Turkey support differing antigovernment rebel groups.

IS also entered the war and is opposed by all other sides. It has been driven out of most of its strongholds in the country, with Deir al-Zor Province one of the last remaining areas where its fighters are holding out.

The report of the strike comes as so-far mainly fruitless efforts to end the bloody conflict in Syria have intensified.

The United Nations is holding talks in Geneva with a goal of finding a political solution to the war. The eighth round of those negotiations are due to start on November 28.

Meanwhile, talks sponsored by Russia, Iran, and Turkey are also being held in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to deal with battlefield issues, such as cease-fires and the creation of "de-escalation zones." The zones have led to reduced violence in many areas, although deadly air strikes have continued.

Russia, Iran, and Turkey have also proposed holding a "national congress" of government and opposing forces in the Russian city of Sochi, although no date has been set.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions have been driven from their homes since the conflict began in March 2011 with a crackdown on antigovernment protests.

With reporting by AFP, Interfax, TASS, Middle East Eye, and the BBC
Former Russian Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev, who is being tried on an extortion charge, has adamantly protested his innocence and accused state oil company chief Igor Sechin of lying to investigators.

Ulyukayev was speaking at a November 27 hearing that was skipped by Rosneft CEO Sechin, who has repeatedly been summoned to testify but said he was too busy to do so.

Ulyukayev is charged with extorting $2 million from Sechin in exchange for government approval of Rosneft's acquisition of Bashneft, a regional oil company.

"I never threatened Sechin that I would deliver a negative conclusion" about the acquisition deal, Ulyukayev said in court.

"And his testimony that I threatened him bears witness to deliberately false slander against me on Sechin's part," he said, referring to alleged remarks to investigators that were leaked to media last week. A lawyer for Sechin denied that he had lied.

Sting Operation

Prosecutors say Ulyukayev was caught red-handed in a sting operation in November 2016, with $2 million that Sechin had given him found in a locked bag in the trunk of his car. Ulyukayev says he was set up and believed the bag contained bottles of wine.

He has said the case against him was a provocation perpetrated by Sechin and his allies in the Federal Security Service (FSB).

"The bag had a lock on it, but its shape made it look like it contained bottles of wine. Sechin gave me the key," Ulyukayev said earlier according to testimony read out by the prosecutor in court on November 27.

"I took it as a friendly gesture on the part of Sechin, who gave me the expensive wine he had promised me" at a meeting during a BRICS summit in the Indian resort city of Goa in October 2016, he was quoted as saying.

Sechin, who has been summoned four times to testify at Ulyukayev's trial, skipped the November 27 hearing. He said through his lawyer that he would not be able to attend the trial before the New Year due to a tight business schedule.

Gaunt And Grim

Judge Larisa Semyonova read out a statement from Sechin's lawyer, Nikolai Klyon, saying that Sechin had nothing to add to the "truthful" statements he initially gave investigators and that therefore his absence at the trial can therefore be excused.

The oil company chief's failure to appear in court has attracted additional attention to a case that has already highlighted rifts between members of Russia's ruling elite.

Sechin is a longtime former deputy Kremlin chief of staff and is seen as one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies.



Ulyukayev is being held under house arrest and has looked gaunt and grim in his court appearances. He is one of the highest-ranking officials to be arrested in Russia since the Soviet era.

With reporting by Vedomosti, Rapsinews, TASS, and Interfax
The Syrian government has confirmed its delegation will attend peace talks in Geneva this week after indicating it might skip the negotiations, the United Nations says.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, received a message saying that the government delegation was "planning to arrive tomorrow," UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a news briefing in Geneva on November 28.

"At least we know that they are coming," Vellucci said as meetings got under way without the government delegation.

De Mistura said the previous day that Damascus had not yet confirmed its participation in the eighth round of UN-sponsored talks aimed at ending Syria's more-than-six-year civil war.

De Mistura said the latest round would focus on getting to an "inclusive process" to draft and ratify a new constitution, steps he said were needed before the country can hold elections.

He also said he would "not accept any preconditions by any party" to the negotiations.

Speaking after meeting in Geneva on November 28 with diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- known as the P5 -- de Mistura said, "We need the P5 support, because the two delegations [the Syrian government and opposition] obviously listen to members of the P5."

After arriving in Geneva on November 27, the head of the opposition delegation Nasr Hariri said that the group was aiming for the removal of Assad.

"Our goal in the negotiation will be the departure of Bashar al-Assad from the beginning of the transition," he said.

Hariri said that major powers, and Russia in particular, should put more pressure on Assad to engage in real negotiations on a political transition followed by a new constitution and free elections, along the lines of a UN road map to end the more-than-six-year war.

Assad's government "is using delaying tactics to obstruct progress towards a political solution at a time when the opposition comes with one unified delegation," Hariri said. "Russia...is the only entity capable of bringing the regime to the table of negotiations."

The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan earlier reported that the Damascus delegation would delay its arrival in Geneva because of the opposition's insistence Assad step down.

Meanwhile, the White House said that U.S. President Donald Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, agreed during a phone conversation on November 27 on "the importance of the United Nations-based Geneva Process as the only legitimate forum for achieving a political solution in Syria."

The two presidents also "stressed the need to confront and reverse Irans destabilizing activities in Syria," a statement said.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions have been driven from their homes since the conflict began in March 2011 with a crackdown on antigovernment protests.

Russia supports Assad's government and provides air support for government forces. Iran also backs Assad, while the United States and Turkey support differing rebel groups.

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated his call for a negotiated political settlement to end the conflict during a surprise visit by Assad in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi on November 20.

Expressing thanks for Russia's role in the Syrian conflict, Assad said, "especially since we've attained victory over the terrorists, we want the political process to progress."

Talks sponsored by Russia, Iran, and Turkey are being held in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to deal with battlefield issues, such as cease-fires and the creation of "de-escalation zones."

The zones have led to reduced violence in many areas, but deadly air strikes and fighting have continued.

Russia, Iran, and Turkey have also proposed holding a "national congress" of government and opposing forces in the Russian city of Sochi, although no date has been set.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
"Men of loose morals" is the term that Tajik prosecutors want added to the country's laws to combat prostitution.

Prostitution is illegal and considered a misdemeanor in Tajikistan.

But under current legislation, only women are liable for committing the offense.

Now the Prosecutor-General's Office has called on parliament to amend the law to introduce punishments for men engaged in prostitution.

The agency is drafting a bill for submission to parliament in early 2018, says Farrukh Raufov, a high-ranking official at the Prosecutor-General's Office.

The agency wants punishments for men to be "harsher" than for the women, Raufov said.

That could reflect the relative standing of men in Tajikistan's conservative society, but it could also stoke fears of an official crackdown targeting gay and other LGBT groups that already face public pressure in the predominantly Muslim Central Asian republic of around 8 million.

Tajikistan's Code of Administrative Offenses stipulates about a $110 fine for prostitution. Repeat offenders can face fines of up to around $120 as well as up to 15 days in detention.

However, the wording of the law is sufficiently vague and it can be argued that it applies only to female sex workers.

Prosecutors argue that in practice the wording has led to the law to be used only against women, while men have largely escaped punishment when caught by police.

The prosecutors are now proposing to add the phrase of "men of loose morals" to the Administrative Code to target men involved in prostitution either as clients or sex workers.

Punitive measures for such males would be twice as harsh as those for women, if the bill becomes law.

They would face up to a $220 fine, while repeat offenders could receive fines of up to $440 and up to 30 days in detention.

"The bill is aimed at preventing prostitution and promoting the moral well-being of society," Raufov said. "It's a supply-and-demand concept. If there are no men looking for the service of prostitutes, there won't be such women."

The bill is expected to apply to male sex workers, including among members of LGBT communities that already face official discrimination.

Tajikistan came under widespread criticism in October after drawing up a registry of more than 300 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said the move was aimed at preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases as well as protecting sexual minorities.

There are no official statistics on the exact number of female sex workers in Tajikistan.

In January, Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda said police raids had uncovered some 280 brothels across the country and registered 1,991 female prostitutes, a majority of them aged 18-30.

Earlier statistics provided by the state Women's Affairs Committee in 2013 stood at 1,641.

Many female sex workers say widespread poverty and unemployment have forced them to prostitution.

Among other measures to tackle prostitution among women, Tajik authorities have introduced so-called morality classes for sex workers to attend lectures by police officers, doctors, and community leaders.

At such sessions, police and doctors explain legal liabilities and the risks of sexually transmitted diseases, while community leaders give advice on alternative career training options.

The morality classes were first launched in southern city of Qurghon-Teppa in 2016.
WASHINGTON -- An American stockbroker who made a fortune in the Russian market in the 1990s and 2000s and later co-founded a posh Moscow nightclub before leaving the country died of blunt force injuries suffered as a result of a fall from a Washington, D.C. building.

The findings, released on November 16 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), confirm that Dan Rapoport died on August 14 after falling from a height, but do not conclusively explain the circumstances leading up to his death.



Washington police told RFE/RL that an investigation into his death had ended and declined further comment. Earlier this year, a police spokeswoman told RFE/RL that foul play was not suspected, but that final conclusions were pending the autopsy.



Washington metropolitan police found Rapoports body on August 14 on the sidewalk outside 2400 M Street, a nine-story apartment building in the northwest part of the city.



The medical examiner's report said Rapoport, 52, died of multiple blunt force injuries due to fall from height and described the death as sudden/unexplained. The report also said the manner of his death was undetermined.



The OCME said no other information would be immediately released.



A preliminary police report said officers responded to a report of a jumper on the evening of August 14, and the man, later identified as Rapoport, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.



The apartment building has an open rooftop with a pool, running track, and seating area for residents.

The police report said officers found $2,620 in cash on Rapoport when they discovered his body on the sidewalk, along with headphones, a cracked cell phone, a Florida drivers license, and other items.



He was wearing flip-flops, perhaps indicating he had been at the pool on the roof prior to falling.



Brianna Burch, a police spokesperson, told RFE/RL in August that there did not appear to be anyone with Rapoport at the time and there were no listed witnesses. In follow-up correspondences with RFE/RL through early November, the police continued to say they did not suspect foul play.



Rapoport had recently moved back to Washington after spending several years working in finance in Ukraine.



While some friends said they did not believe he would have committed suicide, others said he had appeared depressed.



Go-To Location



A native of Latvia and a fluent Russian speaker, Rapoport emigrated with his family to the United States in 1980. After graduating from a U.S. university, he moved to Russia in the early 1990s as a wave of privatizations swept across the country.



The sale of former state-owned companies created a booming stock market, minting a new generation of millionaires, Russian and foreign.



Rapoport was respected within Russian financial circles, where he worked for more than a decade at a local brokerage called CenterInvest, making his way up to managing partner. He claimed his clients included some of the nation's wealthiest tycoons.

In 2007, he opened a swanky nightclub in downtown Moscow called Soho Rooms, which became the go-to location for Moscows elite.



In 2012, he left Russia and returned to the United States, saying the stock brokerage industry that had made him a fortune "had died" as commission fees shrunk with improvements in technology.



But in a media interview prior to his departure, he also criticized the direction Russia had taken and expressed support for Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, who was jailed last year.



"Our flight to Washington is in 12 hours. It's sad to leave Russia, but for thoughtful people, living here has become unbearable and disgusting," Rapoport wrote on his Facebook page on June 13, 2012.



He moved to Washington, where he said his parents lived, and set up a company called Rapoport Capital to advise and assist technology start-ups as well as venture capital funds on fundraising options.



In 2016, four years after leaving Russia, Rapaport set up an office in Kyiv and opened a private equity fund. In social media posts, he was a vocal supporter of Ukraine, and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.



Rapoport gained a degree of publicity in January 2017, after The New York Times reported that the daughter and son-in-law of the then newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump had purchased a mansion owned by him and his first wife. The mansion was located in an exclusive neighborhood of the U.S. capital.



Later that same month, Raporport's co-founder of the Soho Rooms nightclub, Sergei Tkachenko, was found dead outside a Moscow building. Investigators said Tkachenko's body was found on a building awning with injuries typical of a fall from a great height.



In 2018, the open-source investigative organization Bellingcat reported that Rapoport had been the creator of a fictional persona named David Jewberg, who was frequently quoted in Ukrainian media as a senior Pentagon analyst.

With reporting by Todd Prince in Washington, D.C. and Mike Eckel in Prague.
KYIV -- Ukrainian officials and politicians have reacted with alarm to reports that the Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions imposed against Russia over its military intervention in Crimea out of fears that Moscow might otherwise leave the body.

"We are extremely concerned," Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's ambassador to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), told RFE/RL from Strasbourg on November 27. "The issue now goes far beyond interests of Ukraine. It's in the interests of the entire region to defend the Council of Europe from Russian blackmail and leaning toward Russia."

Kuleba's comments came after the Financial Times (FT) reported on November 26 that Moscow was demanding that its voting rights in PACE -- which were revoked in 2014 in response to Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula -- be restored, and that the secretary-general of the Council of Europe was lobbying in support of the idea.

FT said Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland had been touring European capitals warning that Moscow could withdraw from the 47-member Council of Europe, which oversees the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), unless its demands were met.

"It would really be very, very bad if Russia was to leave...because the convention and court has been so important for Russian citizens," FT quoted Jagland as saying. "It will be a negative development for Europe, because we will have a Europe without Russia. It would be a big step back for Europe."

The interview with Jagland sparked anger in Kyiv. In a Facebook post, Volodymyr Ariyev, Ukraine's PACE delegation head and a lawmaker for the ruling party of President Petro Poroshenko, accused Jagland of suffering from "Stockholm syndrome," suggesting he had become a hostage to Russian interests.

But some do agree there would be a serious downside to Russia's absence from the Council of Europe, PACE, and by extension the ECHR. Russia-related cases account for some one-third of the Strasbourg-based court's caseload.

Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch in Moscow told the FT that the court "has been the most successful international protection mechanism" for Russians' rights, adding that it was the "court of last resort in a situation when they cannot find justice in domestic courts."

Russia has tried to claw back its vote for months, and in June it canceled its payments to the Council of Europe in retaliation for its delegation there being stripped of voting rights, Reuters reported at the time.

The Independent, citing Russia's Foreign Ministry, said also that "persecution" of its delegates was another reason for the move.

Russia's reported push to restore its PACE voting rights comes as a new European commissioner on human rights is to be elected in January. Moscow has said it won't recognize the winner of the election as long as it has no vote.

There have also been suggestions that, should Russia's voting rights be restored, it could be held up as a victory by President Vladimir Putin ahead of Russia's presidential election in March. Putin has not announced his candidacy, but he is widely expected to do so soon, and to win.

Should Russia return to PACE in January, Kuleba said, "it will be an excellent gift to Putin on the eve of elections."

Kuleba, who has worked since starting his role in Strasbourg in the summer of 2016 to keep Russia from returning to PACE until all obligations are met to lift the sanctions, said the issue of allowing Moscow an unconditional return has been "evolving in shadows, as no one seems to be interested in the Council of Europe staff."

If Russia is given back its voting rights now, Kuleba said, Ukraine would remain a member of the Council of Europe, "though our parliamentarians [would] seriously consider pulling out from PACE."

"The government in its reaction will not violate our legal obligations before the council but will review all types of cooperation based on goodwill and recommendations," Kuleba said.

"Ukraine needs a strong [Council of Europe] to defend human rights in Ukraine and in the territories occupied by Russia, and to help us with reforms," Kuleba said, referring to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where government forces are still fighting Kremlin-backed militants in a war that has taken more than 10,000 lives. "If Russia is allowed to return to PACE without paying a price, [the Council of Europe] will become weak and lose credibility in Ukraine."

He added, "Make peace with Russia at the expense of Ukraine -- that's exactly what's happening."
Police in Kyiv have detained more than 60 people at an alleged gathering of organized crime bosses in the Ukrainian capital.

Authorities said the arrests were made late on November 26 during a raid by National Police and Ukrainian special forces at a restaurant in Kyiv's historic Pushcha-Vodytsia neighborhood.

A statement from Ukraine's National Police force said those gathered in Kyiv included powerful crime bosses who were able to "influence the criminal situation in Kyiv and other regions" of the country.

Andriy Kryshchenko, the head of the Kyiv branch of the National Police, said the 60 suspects were taken to police headquarters for questioning.

"It turned out that most of them have criminal records and have served sentences for committing various types of crimes in prisons," Kryshchenko said.

Kryshchenko also said knives and hand guns with "suspicious licenses" were seized from suspects during the late night raid on the restaurant.

He said several of the detained suspects had dubious identification documents.

He said investigators will decide after completing their probe what charges, if any, will be filed in the case.

With reporting by UNIAN


According to the study, children's screentime should be limited to 90 minutes a day.

By Asian News International: While there is nothing wrong with children watching the television, a new research suggests this should be capped at 90 minutes in order to reduce the risk of obesity in later years.

According to the Independent, a group of child health specialists have found "a strong link" between rising child obesity levels and frequent exposure to the social media.

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The study found there was a strong link between obesity and prolonged exposure in younger years to TVs, computers and smart devices.

In light of their findings, they are warning parents to take action by limiting their children's screentime to 90 minutes a day.

Dr Adamos Hadjipanayis, study's lead author, said, "Parents should limit TV viewing and the use of computers and similar devices to not more than 1.5 hours a day and only if the child is older than four years of age."

Meanwhile, toddlers, on an average, watch an hour of television a day, according to the research.

Also Read:Working night shifts? You are at a higher risk of obesity

The experts believed that childhood obesity has increased by an "alarming rate" and that parents should aim to understand the health impact of the social media and screen use on their children.

By the time, a child has reached the age of nine, they are watching more than seven hours daily and spending much of the rest of their time engaging in other forms of digital media.

They also found that engaging in media late at night can be hugely disruptive to young people's sleeping patterns, which can put them at higher risk of obesity.

The study's authors have advised parents to lead by example and reduce their own screentime, particularly when they're in front of their own children.

India has 14.4 million children that have excess weight.

Globally, over two billion children and adults suffer from health problems related to being overweight or obese, and an increasing percentage of people die from these health conditions.

In 2015, obesity affected 2.2 billion children and adults worldwide, or almost one in three of all people. This includes nearly 108 million children.

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Yet another incident of car set on fire inside a gated society has come to light. This time in a society in Pune. Two men on a scooter, were seen pouring a liquid (most likely petrol) over a parked Audi Q5 in a gated society of Pune. Soon after they are done throwing the liquid all over the car, fromroof to bonnet to rear and tyres, they throw the bottle away.

After that, they ignite one side of the car on fire, and within seconds the entire car is on fire. The incident took place in the middle of the night, and no human spotted it. This resulted in the fire spreading on to the two cars parked next to it  a Maruti Suzuki SX4 and a Honda City. Watch the video below.

A police case has been registered by the owner of the respective cars. Local cops are going through the CCTV footage to ascertain who it could be. As of now, no one has been arrested.

This is not a sole incident of this sort. A few weeks ago, a similar incident was reported in Mumbai. That time, the miscreants arrived in a white Mercedes ML SUV, poured a flammable liquid over the VW Vento and set it ablaze, only to drive off into the darkness leaving the burning car to be reduced to scrap.

The owner of the Vento, Rohit Mehra and his wife who reside at Palava Dombivali in Mumbais suburbs were spending the night at their friends place at Shiv Om Towers in Chandivali that night. Deep in slumber, the couple was woken at 4.00 am, with a rude shock that their parked VW Vento was set ablaze. They rushed down and with the help of the security guard and fire extinguishers managed to contain the fire, but images and a video given below reveal that the VW Vento is beyond repair.

The cops were called and CCTV footage of the area has been taken and further investigations are underway. An FIR has also been lodged with the Saki Naka Police Station and reports are awaited. The CCTV footage has revealed that the miscreants arrived in a white Mercedes ML SUV. A man is seen stepping out of the vehicle at 3.37am. He walks upto the VW Vento with a jerry can in his hand. He is noted pouring the flammable liquid over the front wheel of the car and setting it ablaze even as he rushes into the rear of his Mercedes car and is driven off.

The VW in question, CH 01 AV 3377, was a silver colored vehicle which was parked in a guest parking spot. Another silver colored Vento is usually parked at the same spot every day. This could have been a case of mistaken identity but questioning the owner has not revealed any clues as to why the car could have been targeted. Though CCTV footage is being investigated, the registration number of the Mercedes SUV has not been identified.
Discover Iran

Cheap Flights to Iran

If you are searching for cheap flights to Iran, you may be interested in exploring the country's unique and ancient history, from Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemid empire, to Imam Square, an open area built in the 17th century. For many travelers searching for flights to Iran, the main airports are located in Tehran and Mashhad.

Flights to Iran

Most flights to Iran land at the Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA), which is located just 19 miles southwest of Tehran. This airport offers banking services right inside the airport to exchange any money for local currency. The airport also contracts its own fleet of taxis and limos that are available at any time.

Mehrabad International Airport (THR) is the travel hub you will most likely use if you are flying from a nearby country or flying within Iran. This airport offers ATMs and banks for passengers to exchange or withdraw money. If you have downtime in the airport, there is a coffee shop and restaurant within the facilities. There are always taxis available at the taxi stand located outside.

Mashhad International Airport (MHD) is the second-busiest airport in Iran, located in Mashhad. This airport is packed with convenient services, including banking, a salon, restaurants, shops and a prayer room. If you need transportation, you can hire a taxi from the airport or rent your own car.

Attractions in Iran

Persepolis is one of the top destinations in Iran. These ruins, located North of Shiraz, are the remains of the ancient capital of the Achaemenid kings of Persia and were built over 2,500 years ago.

The Imam Reza Holy Shrine is an interesting and popular place to visit. Located in the city of Mashad, this shrine is a memorial to the eighth of the 12 descendants of Mohammad.

Imam Square, also called Meidan Emam, is a popular destination located in Esfahan. This square was built in the 17th century and features many activities for visitors, including mosques, fountains and a bazaar.

Travel Tips in Iran

The most important holiday in Iran is Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. This holiday starts on March 20, and festivities take place over the next 12 days. Locals also celebrate Sizdah Bedar, the Persian "festival of joy and solidarity." The event promotes the beauty of nature, so most festivities take place outdoors.

If you're looking to immerse yourself in the culture, be sure to sample the local cuisine. White rice served with a variety of meats is very common. Stews and thick soups are often filled with meats, vegetables and rice. A popular dish, one that can be found on the streets, is the kebab. In Iran, the average price of a meal for two at a restaurant is $18, but you can find street food for less.

The best time to visit Iran is between March and May when the weather is ideal. During the shoulder season of June through October, it can be easier to find cheap flights to Iran.
By PTI: Hyderabad, Nov 27 (PTI) The Congress has claimed credit for the Hyderabad metro rail project, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow, but the ruling TRS hit back at the opposition for allegedly not planning it properly.

Claiming that Hyderabad metro rail is an "achievement of Congress", Telangana Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged yesterday that the present TRS government was wrongly trying to take credit for the project.

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Congress held a power-point presentation on the Hyderabad metro project its office here yesterday.

Reddy also alleged that neither the TRS government in Telangana nor the BJP government at the Centre made any contribution to the project.

The present launch is a case of hard work for caterpillar, publicity for butterfly, he claimed.

Reddy said the then Chief Minister (of undivided Andhra Pradesh) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy secured approval for metro rail from the Centre in 2007.

The Concession Agreement was signed on September 4, 2010 and the metro rail works were launched by the then CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy on December 25, 2012, he said.

Countering the Congress comments, state Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav said the previous Congress governments could not plan the project properly.

"Could not understand what is your claim. Yesterday, you made some noise. What for? (You say) it is a project done by us. Ok. Because, you had governments then. You could not do even proper planning," he said.

The much-awaited Hyderabad Metro Rail will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister tomorrow and start commercial operations from November 29.

The 30-km-long first phase of the metro rail project between Miyapur and Nagole, having 24 stations, would be launched by the prime minister at 2.15 pm tomorrow at Miyapur station. PTI SJR NRB BAS

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What happened in Notre Dame hoops home game vs. Southern Indiana?

Home games against upset-minded non-conference opponents are coming fast and furious this time of year for Notre Dame men's basketball team
First interstellar visitor in the solar system

M. Kornmesser/ESO

Meet 'Oumuamua: 1I/2017 U1, the first known interstellar object observed within our solar system. Its name means "a messenger from afar arriving first" in Hawaiian. 'Oumuamua was first detected on Oct. 19, 2017, by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii. Here: an artist's impression of the asteroid 'Oumuamua.

Up First: A slender space rock

A strange, skinny space rock

K. Meech et al./ESO

'Oumuamua is a strange asteroid that appears to be dark-red in color and highly elongated. The metallic or rocky object measures about one-quarter of a mile (0.4 kilometers) long. Follow-up observations from observatories around the world revealed that this unique object traveled through space for millions of years before it stumbled upon our star system.

Up Next: Zipping through the stars

Zipping through the stars

K. Meech et al./ESO

The interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua (circled in blue) is pictured amid faint stars that appeared to smear as the telescopes tracked the moving asteroid. This image combines multiple views of 'Oumuamua from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Gemini South telescope in Chile.

Up Next: 'Oumuamua stumbles upon the solar system

'Oumuamua stumbles upon the solar system

K. Meech et al./ESO

This diagram shows the orbit of the interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua as it passes through the solar system. While all asteroids and comets observed before 'Oumuamua have been bound in their orbits by the sun's gravity, this weird space rock is not gravitationally bound. It will return to interstellar space after its brief encounter with our star system.

Up Next: A tiny speck in space

A tiny speck in space

K. Meech et al./ESO

This very deep combined image shows the interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua at the center of the picture. It is surrounded by trails of faint stars that are smeared as the telescopes tracked the moving asteroid. This image was created by combining multiple images from ESOs Very Large Telescope as well as the Gemini South telescope. The object appears to be a point source, with no surrounding dust.

Up Next: Seeing light from 'Oumuamua

Seeing the light

K. Meech et al./ESO

This plot of 'Oumuamua's light curve shows how the interstellar asteroid varied in brightness during three days in October. The large range of brightness  about a factor of 10 (2.5 magnitudes)  is caused by the space rock's elongated body, which rotates once every 7.3 hours, ESO officials said in a statement. The colored dots represent measurements through different filters, covering light in different parts of the visible and near-infrared spectrum.

Up Next: Sweeping around the sun

Sweeping around the sun

NASA/JPL-Caltech/IAU

The interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua), previously known as C/2017 U1 (PANSTARRS) and A/2017 U1, was closest to the sun on Sept. 9, 2017. Traveling at about 98,400 mph (158,360 km/h), 'Oumuamua is headed away from the Earth and sun, and is on its way out of the solar system.

Up Next: Watch 'Oumuamua go!

Watch 'Oumuamua go!

NASA/JPL-Caltech

This NASA animation shows the path 'Oumuamua  an object likely to be of interstellar origin  through the inner solar system. 'Oumuamua made its closest approach to the sun on Sept. 9 and is now zooming away at 97,200 mph (156,400 km/h) relative to the sun.

Up Next: An interstellar interloper

An interstellar interloper

WIYN Observatory/Ralf Kotulla

Images of 'Oumuamua were captured on Oct. 27 by the 3.5-meter WIYN Telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona. These first images confirmed that the object doesn't have a coma  the cloud of dust and gas that fizzes from a comet as it approaches the sun  and is therefore an irregularly shaped asteroid.
Astronauts' blood changes in space  but that may not stop them from getting to Mars.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk often boasts about the imminent colonization of Mars, despite major human health problems that stand between us and the Red Planet. Fortunately for Musk and other aspiring space travelers, NASA scientists may have crossed one item off that list of potential problems.

Researchers who study space health have long thought astronauts lose red blood cells during extended deployments in space, leading to anemia. The ailment causes fatigue, lightheadedness, shortness of breath and other issues. But a new study shows that astronauts might not be anemic at all while in space  instead, it's a condition that develops when they land. The finding could mean more time safely spent in space, such as a mission to Mars or colonizing the moon would require. [The Human Body in Space: 6 Weird Facts]

"If our astronauts start landing other places like on the moon, or [on] Mars, if they get off the spaceship and they don't have enough red cells, they're going to get very winded and fatigued," said Kathleen McMonigal, co-author on the new study and a pathologist and director of clinical laboratories at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "We need them to be in absolute tip-top shape to go off and explore their new surrounding terrain," she told Space.com.

In a new study published Sept. 8 in the journal BMC Hematology, McMonigal and other NASA researchers analyzed blood samples from astronauts drawn over the course of six-month missions to the International Space Station. The study authors believe this was the first time NASA researchers on the ground had analyzed the blood of astronauts still in space. Researchers based previous findings about spaceflight anemia on blood drawn before and after a mission, but not during.

The team found red blood cell counts and other factors related to anemia seemed to go up slightly and then stabilize over the course of spaceflight, rather than dip, as was assumed. Astronauts who spent more time in space actually seemed to have more stable red blood cell counts during spaceflight, not less, according to the study.

"The big thing I want to point out is that most everything looks really, really normal," McMonigal said.

The difference seen in blood drawn before and after the mission could be the result of the extreme dehydration astronauts experience during re-entry, which would affect several parameters measured in the blood, according to McMonigal. It could also be related to blood plasma volumes (the amount of liquid in the blood) fluctuating as the body readjusts to gravity, Brian Crucian, a NASA scientist and lead author on the study, told Space.com.

The scientists were not able to analyze blood plasma directly in this study due to operational constraints, Crucian said  from the space station, the blood samples flew first on a Russian craft to Kazakhstan then to the United States for analysis. This timing meant researchers had to wait 37 hours to run tests they would typically perform immediately after drawing blood.

In the past, researchers have seen the amount of plasma in the blood decline in microgravity and rise again when astronauts return to Earth, according to Jay Buckey, a former astronaut and professor of medicine at Dartmouth, who was not affiliated with the study. Blood with more plasma could measure as having fewer red blood cells, and less plasma as having more red blood cells. Buckey likened the phenomenon to boiling salty water over a stove: as some of the water boils off, the ratio of water to salt changes and the solution becomes saltier even though you haven't added more salt. This observation could explain previous results and mean astronauts might still need time to adjust when landing on planets, asteroids and moons, even if they aren't anemic during the flight.

Crucian and McMonigal found red blood cell levels and other blood measures returned to preflight levels a month after astronauts returned to Earth. However, in the study they note more research is needed to understand what's happening in astronauts' bodies during that 30-day window.

"The thing is, they're going to have a little adaptation to go through to go from being weightless to being back in a gravity field again," Buckey told Space.com.

Still, better understanding blood in space brings would-be intrepid explorers one step closer to Mars City.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Nobody knows the extent to which rocket launches and re-entering space debris affect Earth's atmosphere  but such ignorance could be remedied soon.

The issue of rocket emissions  which deliver gases and particles directly into the middle and upper atmosphere  will be included in a forthcoming United Nations 2018 Quadrennial Global Ozone Assessment that delves into the substances responsible for ozone depletion.

"The 2018 assessment is really the first one to have a substantial section on rocket emissions, not just a passing thought," said Martin Ross, a lead author of the relevant section in the upcoming report. [The World's Tallest Rockets: How They Stack Up]

"The climate impact of rockets has not really been seriously addressed as yet," Ross, a senior project engineer for civil and commercial launch projects at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, told Space.com. "But with respect to ozone, we now understand that the climate and ozone impacts of rocket exhaust are completely intertwined."

Rocket soot accumulates in the upper stratosphere, where the particles absorb sunlight, Ross said. This accumulation heats the upper stratosphere, changing chemical reaction rates and likely leading to ozone loss, he added.

In flagging the issue, Ross said he hopes the scientific community becomes interested enough to start running atmospheric models of the phenomenon  especially because the pace of rocket launches is expected to ramp up significantly in the coming decades.

"I think we're at about that point," Ross said.

No yardstick

A key study focus is the climate impact of major rocket-engine emissions: carbon dioxide, water, black carbon and alumina particles discharged by solid rocket-booster motors.

A recent finding, Ross said, is that alumina particles, previously thought to cool the Earth by scattering solar flux back to space, actually warm the planet, by absorbing outgoing terrestrial, long-wave radiation. However, fully appreciating the microphysics of alumina and other rocket emissions introduced into the atmosphere requires more research, he added.

For example, the interactions between Earth's atmosphere and exhaust from methane-fueled rocket engines have not been modeled, "so we really don't know" the effects these rockets have, Ross said.

There's no yardstick by which to assess how significant the impacts of rocket exhaust may be, he added.

"The notion of what is the metric by which rocket exhaust is to be judged  that is a completely open question," Ross said. "Then, compare that metric to the expected growth in launch rates. That really needs to be done. Just saying the ozone loss is too big  that's not an acceptable metric."

There has been a lot of buzz recently about spaceflight companies shooting for frequent "airline-like operations," but scientists, engineers and policy makers generally are not "putting two and two together with respect to the emissions that are implied by that idea," Ross said.

Researchers are investigating the extent to which rocket exhaust and falling space debris contribute to depleting Earth's ozone. (Image credit: NASA)

Re-entry smoke particles

Space hardware falling back to Earth can affect the atmosphere as well, so re-entering orbital debris should also be studied, Ross said.

"Vaporize" may mean "disappear" in most people's minds, but that's assuredly not the case with re-entering space junk, Ross said. Such debris, he said, generates "re-entry smoke particles" (RSPs) of unknown composition and reactivity. Scientific models suggest that at least 50 percent of a given debris object will end up as RSPs during re-entry.

"In that crucial 20 seconds of re-entry, you go from heating to melting to vaporization and then back into dust. How does that happen? What is that composition? We don't know at all. We need to get away from this idea that vaporization equals disappearance," Ross said. "Vaporization equals dust production. That process isn't well-understood at all. Again, we need to know the microphysics of these recondensed particles."

An Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship plunges into Earth's atmosphere in a fiery finale. Vaporization of discarded space hardware equals dust production  a process that is not well-understood. (Image credit: ESA/NASA)

Burning computers

The plunge into Earth's atmosphere of derelict satellites, rocket stages and other space flotsam is a common occurrence. For spacecraft re-entries, that process is "basically burning computers," Ross said.

During re-entry, big chunks of aluminum and other materials are subjected to intense heating. The chemical kinetics of the particles that are produced in this way have not been examined, Ross said. Some particles are very reactive, so small amounts of them could have a significant effect on atmospheric chemistry, he added.

"So far, nobody has deemed it important enough to study, and I believe it is," Ross said.

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
The list featured at least 11 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and three from Scheduled Caste communities.

By PTI, Press Trust of India: The Congress released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly election on Sunday, filing of nominations for which ends on Monday.

The party, which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

The party, however, could not finalise the names of its candidates in 20 more seats.

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Congress general secretary Oscar Fernandes released the third list to the media on Sunday night.

The list featured at least 11 candidates from Scheduled Tribes and three from Scheduled Caste communities.

The Congress has been out of power in the crucial state for over two decades.

The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat, having total 182 seats, will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18.

Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.

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Imagine what the iconic pillars of the Eagle Nebula would look like if a powerful force caused the stellar nursery to create stars at a thousand times its current rate.

New observations confirm that a bright point of light in the constellation Dorado is in fact an intense, extraordinarily bright region of star birth. It was formed by the repetitive collision of two spiral galaxies so far away that their light comes from the early universe.

Dominik Riechers, an astronomer at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and lead author on the new study, observed the colliding starburst galaxies with his team using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile. The galaxies are similar in structure to Earth's home, the Milky Way galaxy, which also hosts the star-forming Eagle Nebula..

The new findings suggest that the brightness of the two starburst galaxies isn't merely a result of their collision. The two spiral structures located 12.7 billion light-years away from Earth, known collectively as the ADFS-27 system, also have more star-making material to work with than Earth's home galaxy does. In fact, ADFS-27 has "50 times the amount of star-forming gas as the Milky Way," researchers said in a statement from ALMA.

This is a composite image of the ADFS-27 system, which shows how the galaxy pair appeared to researchers over the course of several observations. The large background image was taken by the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, and the object was then detected by the European Space Observatory's Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope, shown in the middle image. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) was able to identify two galaxies, seen in the image on the right: ADFS-27N (for north) and ADFS-27S (for south). (Image credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, B. Saxton; ESA Herschel; ESO APEX; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); D. Riechers)

Starburst galaxies are relatively rare, and the research team said they were astounded to find two of the massive galaxies near each other. These observations are also a dramatic look into the past: Because the starburst galaxies are so far away, astronomers are actually observing them as they appeared when the universe was only 1 billion years old. At that time, the universe was just becoming transparent, as the process of reionization finished.

"Considering their extreme distance from Earth and the frenetic star-forming activity inside each, it's possible we may be witnessing the most intense galaxy merger known to date," Riechers said in the statement. Their predicted course is to ultimately merge into one large elliptical galaxy. And because distance creates a long lag time between when events in those galaxies occur and when we can observe them here, that massive merger may have already occurred.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter@salazar_elin. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Mars' complex magnetic field environment is detailed in this artist's illustration. "Yellow lines represent magnetic field lines from the Sun carried by the solar wind, blue lines represent Martian surface magnetic fields, white sparks are reconnection activity, and red lines are reconnected magnetic fields that link the surface to space via the Martian magnetotail," NASA officials said.

Mars' magnetic field stands apart in the solar system because it gets twisted by interactions with solar particles, a NASA spacecraft discovered. What's more, the Red Planet also could have lost its atmosphere through the same process.

Mars today has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, and the pressure on the surface is too low for water to flow. But the planet's environment was different in the ancient past: Rovers and spacecraft have seen extensive evidence of rivers, ancient stream beds and possible oceans.

While researchers are still trying to understand why Mars lost its atmosphere, a leading theory is that particles streaming from the sun pushed the lighter molecules out from the atmosphere during the Red Planet's 4.5-billion-year-old history. That's what NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft has been tracking since it began its primary science mission in November 2014. This week, scientists announced MAVEN found a twisted magnetic tail trailing behind Mars. [How NASA's MAVEN Mars Orbiter Works (Infographic)]

"We found that Mars' magnetic tail, or magnetotail, is unique in the solar system," Gina DiBraccio, a research astrophysicist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a statement.

"Its not like the magnetotail found at Venus, a planet with no magnetic field of its own, nor is it like Earth's, which is surrounded by its own internally generated magnetic field. Instead, it is a hybrid between the two," added DiBraccio, who is also a project scientist for MAVEN.

Unlike Earth, Mars does not have a global magnetic field. Instead, the Red Planet has "fossil" magnetic fields in certain regions of its surface, which are left behind from the global magnetic field Mars lost billions of years ago.

MAVEN's measurements suggest that Mars' magnetotail occurs due to interactions with magnetic fields in the solar wind, which is the constant stream of particles emanating from the sun. If the magnetic field in the solar wind is opposite to the magnetic field in a Martian region, the two fields join in a process called magnetic reconnection and create the Martian magnetotail. The process would also twist the tail, NASA officials stated.

The connecting fields could also hurl some electrically charged particles (or ions) from Mars' upper atmosphere into empty space. Since ions flow along magnetic field lines, the magnetotail provides a pathway for them to flow out of the atmosphere. The process of magnetic reconnection also releases energy, which could give the Martian atmospheric ions a boost into space.

This process is just one example of the complexity of the Red Planet's magnetic fields. MAVEN has spent its mission tracking the changes in the field, which includes the spacecraft changing its orientation with respect to the sun. The spacecraft's different positions in space provide a more complete map of the magnetotail and how it changes after interactions with the solar wind.

"Our model predicted that magnetic reconnection will cause the Martian magnetotail to twist 45 degrees from whats expected based on the direction of the magnetic field carried by the solar wind," DiBraccio said. "When we compared those predictions to MAVEN data on the directions of the Martian and solar wind magnetic fields, they were in very good agreement."

MAVEN tracked the magnetic fields using its magnetometer instrument. The team plans to look at the data from other instruments on the spacecraft to see where escaping particles go. The aim is to confirm the escaping particles follow the connected magnetic fields, which would show that the fields contribute to the process of atmospheric loss, NASA officials said in the statement.

MAVEN scientists want to know how much atmosphere is lost through magnetic reconnection, as well as how the magnetic tail changes as Mars and its surface magnetic regions rotate. "Mars is really complicated, but really interesting at the same time," said DiBraccio.

DiBraccio will present the research Thursday (Oct. 19) at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Provo, Utah.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Particles split in the hot belly of a lightning bolt. Radioactive particles decay in the afterglow. Gamma rays rain down to Earth.

Teruaki Enoto, a physicist at Kyoto University in Japan, proved for the first time, in a paper published (opens in new tab) Nov. 23, that lightning bolts work as natural particle accelerators. Enoto and his co-authors' results confirm for the first time speculation dating back to 1925 about this phenomenon. Back then, scientists suggested that energized, radioactive particles might zip through the booms and flashes of a thunderstorm. Those particles emit energy at precise wavelengths, which Enoto and colleagues are the first to detect. [Electric Earth: Stunning Images of Lightning]

Here's what that means:

When lighting strikes, electrons shoot screamingly fast between clouds and Earth's surface (or between two clouds). But the particles don't travel through empty space. Along the way, they crash again and again into atmospheric gas molecules. All those collisions heat the gas into a state called plasma, which glows with blackbody radiation (a type of electromagnetic radiation given off by some opaque objects).

Some of that glow, people can see, in the characteristic bright flash of lightning. But some of the emission takes place at frequencies, including X-rays and gamma-rays, far above what the human eye can detect.

Enoto's results show that those beams of invisible energy  especially the gamma-rays  excite ambient nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, knocking out neutrons from the molecules the gamma rays encounter. In other words, the process results in nuclear fission. Now, things get really exciting. Nitrogen nuclei with 14 neutrons are stable. But take one of those neutrons away, and you're left with nitrogen-13, an unstable, radioactive isotope. Similarly, oxygen-16 is stable, but -15  not so much.

Soon, all of those N-13 and O-15 molecules decay. Each unstable isotope fires off an additional neutrino and positron (the antimatter partner of the electron); both are elementary particles with exotic properties. The neutrinos stream away, nearly undetectable. But the positrons, or anti-electrons, go on to collide with their twins: ambient electrons in the atmosphere. And when matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate in a signature flash of energy.

In this case, that signature is a gamma-ray with an energy of 0.511 megaelectron volts. And that's what Enoto and his colleagues detected streaming down from a lightning storm, showing that a thunderhead is a giant, natural particle accelerator drifting through the sky.

Original article on Live Science.
Algiers, Nov 26, 2017 (SPS) - Algerian Coucil of the Nation (upper house of Parliament) will send a delegation to attend the festivities commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the creation of the National Council of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), to be held Monday at the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf.

The Algerian parliamentary delegation will attend the event at the invitation of the head of the Saharawi National Council, Khatri Eddouh, the Upper House said Sunday in a statement.

Led by Mohamed Zoubiri, the leader of the Parliamentary group of the National Liberation Front (FLN) at the Council of the Nation, the Algerian delegation is made up of Senators Mohamed El Oued and Saidi Hassani, the statement added.

Algeria's participation in the Saharawi political event is part of Algerian Parliament's support to Western Sahara people's cause, the statement concluded. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS
The world rejoiced earlier today when Clarence House officially announced the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The fifth in line to the throne popped the question to his actress girlfriend in London earlier this month, after dating the Suits star for just over a year.

Following the announcement, the couple have just stepped out for their first official photo call in the grounds of Kensington Palace, where the couple will reside in Nottingham Cottage.

The newly-engaged looked happy and relaxed as they endured the brisk British breeze to face the cameras for the first time.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

Meghan, who is known for cutting a more casual figure, donned her best bride-to-be outfit, opting for an elegant white belted duster coat by independent Canadian brand Line The Label.

The luxury knitwear brand was created in 2000 by John Muscat and Jennifer Wells, however their small business seemed to be overwhelmed by the recent royal exposure with their site struggling to cope with the influx of views.

Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex - style file 1 /146 Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex - style file October 25, 2018 Meghan Markle in Nadi, Fiji on October 25, 2018 Getty Images May 8, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their baby son PA June 8, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Trooping of the Colour PA November 11, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex wore a 1,500 Stella McCartney coat at the annual Remembrance Sunday memorial Getty Images March 2021 Harpo Productions January 07, 2020 The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Canada House, where the Duchess wore a Massimo Dutti slip skirt in an all-brown outfit Getty Images November 9, 2019 Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, arrived in bespoke Erdem Getty Images November 7, 2019 Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn October 25, 2019 Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn October 22, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends the One Young World Summit Opening Ceremony at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images October 2, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits a township with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex to learn about Youth Employment Services Getty Images October 1, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visiting Action Aid, a gender based violence education club in Johannesbur PA October 1, 2019 Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives to meet academics and students during a roundtable discussion on female access to higher education with the Association of Commonwealth Universities, at the University of Johannesburg Reuters September 25, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Woodstock Exchange, a women founders/social entrepreneurs event during her royal tour of South Africa with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Getty Images September 25, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex along with their son Archie meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in Cape Town PA September 24, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Waves for Change, an NGO supporting local surf mentors to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in under resourced communities, with Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (not pictured) at Monwabisi Beach, in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters September 24, 2019 Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, attends a reception for young people, community and civil society leaders at the Residence of the British High Commissioner in Cape Town, South Afric Reuters September 23, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, visit Nyanga township, on the first day of their African tour in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters September 12, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives to launch the Smart Works capsule collection Getty Images September 07, 2019 Meghan (R), Duchess of Sussex attends the Women's Singles final match between Serena Williams of the United States and Bianca Andreescu of Canada on day thirteen of the 2019 US Open Getty Images July 7, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the christening of their son Archie Chris Allerton July 4, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex at Wimbledon Championships PA June 29, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox baseball game PA March 11, 2019 At a Commonwealth Day Youth Event Getty Images March 11, 2019 At the Commonwealth Service Getty Images March 8, 2019 Attending the Queen's Commonwealth Trust Getty Images March 5, 2019 At the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales Getty Images February 25, 2019 At a reception with King Mohammed VI of Morocco Getty Images February 24, 2019 At a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco Getty Images February 23, 2019 At Casablanca Airport in Morocco Getty Images January 30, 2019 At the National Theatre Getty Images January 16, 2019 At Cirque du Soleil Getty Images January 16, 2019 During a visit to the Mayhew Getty Images January 14, 2019 During a visit to Birkenhead Town Hall Getty Images December 25, 2018 At the Christmas Day Church service Getty Images December 10, 2018 At the British Fashion Awards Getty Images October 26, 2018 At the Australian Geographic Society Awards Getty Images October 25, 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a state dinner in Tonga Getty Images October 23, 2018 Meghan and Harry in Fiji Getty Images October 28, 2018 Meghan and Harry attending an evening reception at Government House in Wellington Getty Images October 27, 2018 At the Invictus Games Sydney Getty Images October 23, 2018 Attending a state dinner in Fiji Getty Images October 24, 2018 Meghan visits the University of the South Pacific Getty Images October 19, 2018 Meghan and Harry visit Bondi Beach Getty Images October 16, 2018 On the couple's royal tour of Sydney Getty Images October 12, 2018 At the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York to Jack Brooksbank Getty Images July 11, 2018 Visiting Croke Park, Ireland Getty Images July 10, 2018 During a royal tour of Ireland PA July 10, 2018 At the RAF centenary service PA July 9, 2018 At the christening of Prince Louis PA July 5, 2018 At Your Commonwealth Youth Challenge reception Getty Images June 26, 2018 At the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony Getty Images June 19, 2018 At day one of Royal Ascot Getty Images June 14, 2018 During her first engagement to Cheshire with Her Majesty The Queen Getty Images May 22, 2018 At The Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration wearing the Goat Flavia Dress Getty Images May 19, 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend an evening reception at their wedding Getty Images April 23, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields PA April 21, 2018 The couple attend a reception for Invictus Games at Australia House AFP/Getty Images April 21, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Royal Albert Hall to attend a star-studded concert to celebrate the Queen's 92nd birthday Getty Images April 19, 2018 At a Women's Empowerment reception at the Royal Aeronautical Society Getty Images April 18, 2018 At a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Getty Images April 6, 2018 At the team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath Sports Training Village in Bath Reuters March 23, 2018 Visiting the Titanic Belfast Getty March 23, 2018 Attending an event to mark the second year of youth-led peace-building initiative Amazing the Space PA March 12, 2018 At a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images March 8, 2018 At an International Women's Day event at Millennium Point in Birmingham PA March 8, 2018 At an International Women's Day event at Millennium Point in Birmingham PA February 13, 2018 At Edinburgh Castle, during a visit to Scotland AFP/Getty Images February 13, 2018 With Prince Harry during their visit to Scotland AFP/Getty Images February 1, 2018 Attending the Endeavour Fund Awards ceremony Getty Images January 18, 2018 At Cardiff Castle during a visit to Wales Getty Images January 9, 2018 Arriving to visit Reprezent Radio AFP/Getty Images December 25, 2017 At the royals Christmas Day Church service Getty Images December 1, 2017 On an official visit to Nottingham with Prince Harry Getty Images November 27, 2017 With Prince Harry at the official photocall to announce the engagement Getty Images September 25, 2017 With Prince Harry at a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games Getty Images September 23, 2017 At the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games PA July 14, 2016 At the 'Today' show in New York MediaPunch/Rex Features May 20, 2016 At the pARTy! - celebrating 25 years of P.S. ARTS Getty Images April 27, 2016 At Glamour's Women Of The Year awards in New York Getty Images March 17, 2016 At AOL Build Speaker Series Startraks Photo/Rex Features November 2, 2015 At the 12th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards Getty Images June 24, 2015 At NBC Universal Summer Press day MediaPunch/Rex Features May 14, 2015 At the 2015 NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Upfront Getty Images March 10, 2015 At the Step It Up For Gender Equality event Getty Images February 13, 2015 On her way to MADE Fashion Week Rex Features February 13, 2015 At the Wes Gordon runway show during MADE Fashion Week Getty Images October 28, 2014 At the Elton John AIDS Foundation gala Getty Images October 1, 2014 At RELAIS & CHATEAUX 60th Anniversary Guest Chef Dinner Launch Getty Images September 5, 2014 At an exclusive preview of the Marchesa Voyage for ShopStyle collection Getty Images February 8, 2014 At the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images January 22, 2014 At ELLE's Annual Women in Television Celebration Getty Images November 19, 2013 At the London Global Gift Gala at ME Hotel Getty Images November 11, 2013 At the world premier of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' in Leicester Square AFP/Getty Images October 2, 2013 At the Gala Tribute for Cate Blanchett during the 51st New York Film Festival Getty Images September 11, 2013 At the Annual Charity Day Hosted By Cantor Fitzgerald And BGC Getty Images September 10, 2013 At the Novak Djokovic Foundation New York dinner Getty Images September 10, 2013 At the Tory Burch fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images September 8, 2013 At the Tracy Reese show during New York Fashion Week MediaPunch/Rex Features September 7, 2013 At the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images June 16, 2013 At the 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards Getty Images May 16, 2013 At the USA Network 2013 Upfront Event Getty Images January 26, 2013 At the Entertainment Weekly Pre-SAG party Getty Images January 24, 2013 At the ELLE's Women in Television Celebration Getty Images January 13, 2013 At NBC Universal's 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards after party Getty Images September 11, 2012 At the FINCA Canada Fundraiser At TIFF 2012 during the Toronto International Film Festival Getty Images September 5, 2012 At the Rising Stars: 2012 Producers Ball during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Getty Images February 15, 2012 At the USA Network's and The Moth's Storytelling Tour Getty Images August 26, 2010 At the Some Kind-a Gorgeous Style and Beauty Lounge at the Chateau Marmont Getty Images September 18, 2009 At the DPA pre-Emmy Gift Lounge at the Peninsula Hotel Getty Images

The 36-year-old paired the coat with a chic dark green dress by P.A.R.O.S.H and accessorised with some subtle fine jewellery by Birks - another small Canadian brand.

She finished off the look with her favourite pair of nude Matilde Criss-cross heels by Aquazzura, which she's been seen wearing on several occasions.

Meanwhile, royal-watchers have been eagerly waiting to catch their first glimpse of Meghan's engagement ring. After much speculation the actress showed off a modern 3-stone ring, which Prince Harry designed himself.

The ring featured one centre stone from Botswana and two diamonds that belonged to Harry's late mother Princess Diana, continuing the sentimental gesture that Prince William also made when he got engaged to Kate Middleton in 2010.

The couple are set to marry in London next spring, but until then we're sure that we will be seeing many more stylish appearances from Miss Markle.

Get Meghan's Look

1. Crepe Belted Coat by Steffen Schraut, 143, Shop it now

2. Katie Shawl Collar Belted Duster by Boohoo, 18, Shop it now

3. Single-breasted belted coat by Tom Ford, 2,179, Shop it now

4. Cream faux fur collar belted robe coat by River Island, 90, Shop it now

5. Kate Belted Shawl Collar Coat by Boohoo, 18, Shop it now

Visit this page to read more about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's engagement.
Actress Meghan Markle is already a well-known name, however her recent engagement to Prince Harry has escalated people's interest not only in her but also her wardrobe.

Following in Kate Middleton's footsteps, 'the Meghan effect' is already in full-swing with the 36-year-old's garments flying off the shelves ever since the Suits star started publically dating the British royal over a year ago.

We first caught a glimpse of her stylish influence back in September when the actress attended her first public appearance with Prince Harry during the Invictus Games.

Over their few days in the spotlight, the majority of Meghan's stylish items sold out immediately, with one outfit proving particularly popular.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

Meghan's laid-back look hit headlines as it featured a white shirt branded the 'Husband Shirt', setting engagement rumours flying.

She paired the much talked-about item with Mother Denim jeans and a tan tote bag - both of which remain sold out.

Even her accessories did not go unnoticed.

WireImage

Markle wore a pair of shades by British brand Finlay & Co, with the high-profile exposure seeing the small West London-based company make 20,000 overnight.

The flux in interest did not stop there as the company has seen a 1000% increase in sales since Meghan wore their 'Percy' design, with their web hits increasing from 8,800 to 56,500.

The sunnies are already a firm favourite with celebrities including Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Rihanna, however they have never seen such a surge in sales.

The founders, David Lochhead and Dane Butler commented, "this spike in sales is significantly higher than we've seen when other high profile individuals have worn Finlay & Co.".

"The most surprising thing is how sustained the sales impact has been and it now looks set to continue as the sunglasses were prominent in the images used this morning to announce the engagement"

Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex - style file 1 /146 Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex - style file October 25, 2018 Meghan Markle in Nadi, Fiji on October 25, 2018 Getty Images May 8, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their baby son PA June 8, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Trooping of the Colour PA November 11, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex wore a 1,500 Stella McCartney coat at the annual Remembrance Sunday memorial Getty Images March 2021 Harpo Productions January 07, 2020 The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Canada House, where the Duchess wore a Massimo Dutti slip skirt in an all-brown outfit Getty Images November 9, 2019 Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, arrived in bespoke Erdem Getty Images November 7, 2019 Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn October 25, 2019 Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn October 22, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends the One Young World Summit Opening Ceremony at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images October 2, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits a township with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex to learn about Youth Employment Services Getty Images October 1, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visiting Action Aid, a gender based violence education club in Johannesbur PA October 1, 2019 Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives to meet academics and students during a roundtable discussion on female access to higher education with the Association of Commonwealth Universities, at the University of Johannesburg Reuters September 25, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Woodstock Exchange, a women founders/social entrepreneurs event during her royal tour of South Africa with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Getty Images September 25, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex along with their son Archie meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in Cape Town PA September 24, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Waves for Change, an NGO supporting local surf mentors to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in under resourced communities, with Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (not pictured) at Monwabisi Beach, in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters September 24, 2019 Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, attends a reception for young people, community and civil society leaders at the Residence of the British High Commissioner in Cape Town, South Afric Reuters September 23, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, visit Nyanga township, on the first day of their African tour in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters September 12, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives to launch the Smart Works capsule collection Getty Images September 07, 2019 Meghan (R), Duchess of Sussex attends the Women's Singles final match between Serena Williams of the United States and Bianca Andreescu of Canada on day thirteen of the 2019 US Open Getty Images July 7, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the christening of their son Archie Chris Allerton July 4, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex at Wimbledon Championships PA June 29, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox baseball game PA March 11, 2019 At a Commonwealth Day Youth Event Getty Images March 11, 2019 At the Commonwealth Service Getty Images March 8, 2019 Attending the Queen's Commonwealth Trust Getty Images March 5, 2019 At the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales Getty Images February 25, 2019 At a reception with King Mohammed VI of Morocco Getty Images February 24, 2019 At a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco Getty Images February 23, 2019 At Casablanca Airport in Morocco Getty Images January 30, 2019 At the National Theatre Getty Images January 16, 2019 At Cirque du Soleil Getty Images January 16, 2019 During a visit to the Mayhew Getty Images January 14, 2019 During a visit to Birkenhead Town Hall Getty Images December 25, 2018 At the Christmas Day Church service Getty Images December 10, 2018 At the British Fashion Awards Getty Images October 26, 2018 At the Australian Geographic Society Awards Getty Images October 25, 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a state dinner in Tonga Getty Images October 23, 2018 Meghan and Harry in Fiji Getty Images October 28, 2018 Meghan and Harry attending an evening reception at Government House in Wellington Getty Images October 27, 2018 At the Invictus Games Sydney Getty Images October 23, 2018 Attending a state dinner in Fiji Getty Images October 24, 2018 Meghan visits the University of the South Pacific Getty Images October 19, 2018 Meghan and Harry visit Bondi Beach Getty Images October 16, 2018 On the couple's royal tour of Sydney Getty Images October 12, 2018 At the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York to Jack Brooksbank Getty Images July 11, 2018 Visiting Croke Park, Ireland Getty Images July 10, 2018 During a royal tour of Ireland PA July 10, 2018 At the RAF centenary service PA July 9, 2018 At the christening of Prince Louis PA July 5, 2018 At Your Commonwealth Youth Challenge reception Getty Images June 26, 2018 At the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony Getty Images June 19, 2018 At day one of Royal Ascot Getty Images June 14, 2018 During her first engagement to Cheshire with Her Majesty The Queen Getty Images May 22, 2018 At The Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration wearing the Goat Flavia Dress Getty Images May 19, 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend an evening reception at their wedding Getty Images April 23, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields PA April 21, 2018 The couple attend a reception for Invictus Games at Australia House AFP/Getty Images April 21, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Royal Albert Hall to attend a star-studded concert to celebrate the Queen's 92nd birthday Getty Images April 19, 2018 At a Women's Empowerment reception at the Royal Aeronautical Society Getty Images April 18, 2018 At a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Getty Images April 6, 2018 At the team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath Sports Training Village in Bath Reuters March 23, 2018 Visiting the Titanic Belfast Getty March 23, 2018 Attending an event to mark the second year of youth-led peace-building initiative Amazing the Space PA March 12, 2018 At a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images March 8, 2018 At an International Women's Day event at Millennium Point in Birmingham PA March 8, 2018 At an International Women's Day event at Millennium Point in Birmingham PA February 13, 2018 At Edinburgh Castle, during a visit to Scotland AFP/Getty Images February 13, 2018 With Prince Harry during their visit to Scotland AFP/Getty Images February 1, 2018 Attending the Endeavour Fund Awards ceremony Getty Images January 18, 2018 At Cardiff Castle during a visit to Wales Getty Images January 9, 2018 Arriving to visit Reprezent Radio AFP/Getty Images December 25, 2017 At the royals Christmas Day Church service Getty Images December 1, 2017 On an official visit to Nottingham with Prince Harry Getty Images November 27, 2017 With Prince Harry at the official photocall to announce the engagement Getty Images September 25, 2017 With Prince Harry at a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games Getty Images September 23, 2017 At the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games PA July 14, 2016 At the 'Today' show in New York MediaPunch/Rex Features May 20, 2016 At the pARTy! - celebrating 25 years of P.S. ARTS Getty Images April 27, 2016 At Glamour's Women Of The Year awards in New York Getty Images March 17, 2016 At AOL Build Speaker Series Startraks Photo/Rex Features November 2, 2015 At the 12th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards Getty Images June 24, 2015 At NBC Universal Summer Press day MediaPunch/Rex Features May 14, 2015 At the 2015 NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Upfront Getty Images March 10, 2015 At the Step It Up For Gender Equality event Getty Images February 13, 2015 On her way to MADE Fashion Week Rex Features February 13, 2015 At the Wes Gordon runway show during MADE Fashion Week Getty Images October 28, 2014 At the Elton John AIDS Foundation gala Getty Images October 1, 2014 At RELAIS & CHATEAUX 60th Anniversary Guest Chef Dinner Launch Getty Images September 5, 2014 At an exclusive preview of the Marchesa Voyage for ShopStyle collection Getty Images February 8, 2014 At the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images January 22, 2014 At ELLE's Annual Women in Television Celebration Getty Images November 19, 2013 At the London Global Gift Gala at ME Hotel Getty Images November 11, 2013 At the world premier of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' in Leicester Square AFP/Getty Images October 2, 2013 At the Gala Tribute for Cate Blanchett during the 51st New York Film Festival Getty Images September 11, 2013 At the Annual Charity Day Hosted By Cantor Fitzgerald And BGC Getty Images September 10, 2013 At the Novak Djokovic Foundation New York dinner Getty Images September 10, 2013 At the Tory Burch fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images September 8, 2013 At the Tracy Reese show during New York Fashion Week MediaPunch/Rex Features September 7, 2013 At the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images June 16, 2013 At the 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards Getty Images May 16, 2013 At the USA Network 2013 Upfront Event Getty Images January 26, 2013 At the Entertainment Weekly Pre-SAG party Getty Images January 24, 2013 At the ELLE's Women in Television Celebration Getty Images January 13, 2013 At NBC Universal's 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards after party Getty Images September 11, 2012 At the FINCA Canada Fundraiser At TIFF 2012 during the Toronto International Film Festival Getty Images September 5, 2012 At the Rising Stars: 2012 Producers Ball during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Getty Images February 15, 2012 At the USA Network's and The Moth's Storytelling Tour Getty Images August 26, 2010 At the Some Kind-a Gorgeous Style and Beauty Lounge at the Chateau Marmont Getty Images September 18, 2009 At the DPA pre-Emmy Gift Lounge at the Peninsula Hotel Getty Images

Their statistics only prove the incredible influence the royals have, with 80% of all web sales on Finlay & Co currently coming from the Percy design that Prince Harry's fiance wore.

As for the rise in demand, the brand say that the factory is having to work much faster than normal in order to keep up with the high level of orders.

Unsurprisingly, the frames are currently sold out but are available to pre-order, with the brand noting that their customers are happy to wait however long in order to get their hands on the same frames as Meghan's.

So, she may not be married into the British royal family quite yet, but the 'Meghan effect' is most definitely already in full swing.

Get The Look

The Percy frame by Finlay & Co, 120, Shop them now

The Bowery frame by Finlay & Co, Shop them now

The Onslow frame by Finlay & Co, Shop them now

Visit this page to discover the latest news on the royal engagement.
' I was a Haggerston boy through and through before we opened, says Chris Denney, 39, the chef at 108 Garage  the Golborne Road-based restaurant that has had foodies swooning more than any other new spot in 2017.

Luca [Longobardi, his business partner] really had to talk me into coming to the area. When we opened I thought I could stay living east and have the best of both worlds.

Although the life of a chef doesnt leave much time to party, Denney has indeed found the Ladbroke Grove area a welcome change. Theres a very warm, chatty community here, he says. From the Moroccan fish guys next door to Pizza East to Galicia  they bang on the window and come in and talk. It feels a bit like the late 1990s in east London and I think you feel that on the party scene, too.

Certainly, there is plenty to suggest that this is the case. Whether its the influx of cool, party types who make their way across the capital for Mark Ronsons annual loft bash, the soon-coming Soho House at the old BBC TV Centre in White City or the opening of places like new members club, Laylow, west London feels more alive than it has in some time. I think there is definitely a bit more of a party scene, which Ive noticed spring up over the past six months, says fashion designer Charlie Casely-Hayford, 31. Theres always been an energy here, but Ive noticed a lot of friends transitioning from east to west.

The former BBC TV Centre, left, where Soho House is setting up

Having come of age on the social scene in Dalston and moving west five years ago, Casely-Hayford is familiar with what makes a party tick. Ive always been into going out and when I moved here I felt a bit deprived  but things seem to be kicking off. I think you can always judge an area by its house parties and a couple Ive been to recently have been on the level of the ones I grew up with in east London  raw and a lot of fun.

In many ways, what is happening in the area is completely logical. Where once Hackney and Dalston were all cheap but characterful warehouse spaces, now  after half a decade of luxury flat developments springing up  these areas are no more affordable than those at the opposite end of the Overground line.

Old-school westerners: The Globe

East London rents still generally mean more bang for your buck, but the differential is narrowing. Foxtons says the average rent for a one-bedroom flat in Hackney is 1,600 per month, where as in Notting Hill its 1,800  not quite as big a difference as you might expect. West is also more convenient  an Uber to Soho is just a tenner; from Hackney its nearly double that. And lets face it, the property is nicer. Whereas your one-bed flat on Mare Street is probably above a chicken shop, W11 is full of beautiful Georgian terraces that have been split into perfectly apportioned flats. W11 is safer, too. According to the Metropolitan Police website, almost twice as many violent crimes were reported in Hackney in the past year than in Kensington and Chelsea.

It is the availability of a bit of luxury and the mix of high and low which is luring thirty-something trendies to the area. Yes, already, there are long established places like the Electric (whose Saturday brunches are among the most star-studded in all of London) and Pizza East (which newly anointed British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful says he visits five or six times a week), as well as the more exclusive likes of Casa Cruz (Prince Harry, the Beckhams).

The Electric / Alamy Stock Photo

Age-old favourites in the area, meanwhile, provide the perfect foil to the influx of new openings  west Londoners love Friday-night dancing at The Globe, Sunday afternoons at The Cow and pints at the newly refurbished Cock & Bottle. You can expect to see local residents such as party planner Fiona Leahy and hip designers Molly Goddard and Shrimps Hannah Weiland around the area, plus the occasional glimpse of current Vogue cover girl, Adwoa Aboah. Even former east London girl Sharmadean Reid now lives just off Golborne Road, having been seduced by the areas community feel.

But more of interest to this crowd, it seems, are the likes of the aforementioned 108 Garage (which has a six-course tasting menu for 55). The restaurant has been such a success, in fact, that it spawned a sister restaurant on Golborne Road  Southam Street, offering a BBQ grill on the ground floor, a raw sushi bar on the first and a speakeasy serving cocktails on the second  within 12 months of opening.

West end girls: Shrimps Hannah Weiland / Nick Harvey/REX/Shutterstock

There have been a lot of openings recently that mean you can afford to go out for dinner and drinks in the area and its not going to cost you 80 a head, says Matt Paice, owner of Killer Tomato, another much talked about destination (tacos, burritos) that recently opened on Portobello Road. I think affordability and accessibility go hand in hand and its attracting a younger, cooler customer.

Paice has definitely felt the party vibe starting to drop there, too. The mezcal margarita is the best-selling item on our menu, he says. Were selling gallons of it and lots of tequila. People will come in at 6.15pm and start their evening with a round or two of shots.

East to west: Charlie Casely- Hayford / Getty Images

Ultimately, though, the vibe on this side of town is different. Im happy to admit Ive got to a stage in life where I want to go somewhere where they treat you right and you dont have to shout over people at a bar, says Casely-Hayford. If thats in Casa Cruz then so be it. There feels a shift to spending time somewhere thats perhaps a little swanky but where the lighting and the vibe are just right and it feels like youre enjoying a lock-in.

So, listen up, east London. Bored of takeaway boxes, nitrous oxide canisters and empty cans of Stella on your doorstep every Saturday morning? There is another option. Its time to hop on your fixie and hit the A501, because were heading to Notting Hill.
S TUDIO 54 FEVER

Ian Schrager and Steve Rubells iconic NYC nightspot is setting this seasons party agenda.

It was the inspo for George Clooneys recent Casamigos Halloween party on LAs Sunset Strip and closer to home, weve spied disco balls at the Annabels bash for Jimmy Choo, gold lame (yes really) on society beauties in black tie and the cool kids cutting a rug at the Mulberry (almost) Christmas bash.

If youre not already getting louche and loose 1970s-style at Notting Hills Casa Cruz, surely the HQ for Londons hedonists, you should be.

Ian Schragers sumptuous tome for Rizzoli is full of intimate snaps of Studio 54s starry regulars. Studio 54, 55 (amazon.co.uk)

COCKTAIL RESTAURANTS

Take a break from wrestling with the wine list  at the new breed of cocktail-led restaurants, its all about raising spirits from starters through to dessert. At Cub, Ryan Chetiyawardana has fused cocktails and food  the garnish becomes the munch as Douglas fir and mint resin marry with Belvedere vodka  while the genre-defying tapas menu of Flavour Bastard pairs with a hard-hitting cocktail list  The Brave (mezcal, tequila, amaro and curacao) is pure party fuel.

Cub's rare tea stem cocktail

ROYAL FLUSH

The poshest loos in London...

Albert's

Hollywood lights fit for new-gen Sloanes.

Lou Lou's

Diana Vreeland-worthy interiors. Swoon.

Annabel's

FANTASTIC FEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Add a little panache to your party game, courtesy of the Bompas & Parr boys. The duo  famous for their immersive food installations, all wobbling jelly towers and G&T clouds  are branching out into catering (everyone from David Beckham to Sadiq Khan has enlisted their services already), so now you can impress your pals with a sumptious Willy Wonka-style supper at home. (bompasandparr.com)

Well jelly! The Bompas & Parr-style pudding table

Michael Richardson first hit the street food scene in 2011, serving up humungous flatbreads filled with seasonal ingredients to hungry south Londoners. Expect the same super-seasonal and generous portions from Mike + Ollies catering operation  enormous sharing plates of whole Gloucester Old Spot pork belly with crispy cumin crackling and gooseberries, and stacks of those giant, pillowy flatbreads to soak up the booze. (mikeandollie.co.uk)

On the champagne, haute spiritmonger Clos19 has launched a new Become the Host service (left), delivering a festive range of tipples and a mixologist to your doorstep so that you can host a cocktail party for a special 15 guests. From 2,200 (clos19.com)

CHAT-UP LINES

Im writing a phone book, can I have your number?

I couldnt help but notice that you look a lot like my next girlfriend

Nice socks, can I try them on?

#MVP

Most Valuable Players

Most Valuable Players 1 /10 Most Valuable Players Nick Grimshaw Dave Benett/Getty Images Mary Charteris Dave Benett/Getty Images for War Derek Blasberg Getty Images Jaime Winstone and Rita Ora Dave Benett/Getty Images for LOV Kate Moss Getty Images Jemima Jones and Quentin Jones Dave Benett/Getty Images for Bla Cara Delevingne and Poppy Delevingne Getty Images Lady Violet Manners, Lady Eliza Manners and Lady Alice Manners Getty Images for Burberry

SCENTS OF THE NIGHT

Throw on your trench and a mist of this jasmine musk before you head out.

My Burberry Black, 50ml for 70 (uk.burberry.com)

Pop this covetable party clutch in your, er, party clutch  saffron, Bulgarian rose and amber.

Marc Jacobs Decadence, 30ml for 49, at feelunique.com

Particularly festive, with the scent of roasted chestnuts.

Bottega Veneta Parco Palladiano IV, 100ml for 190 (bottegaveneta.com)

GET A ROOM!

Cant face the Uber trek home? Check in to one of these capital crash pads instead

Best crash pads... 1 /5 Best crash pads... The Berkeley The Ned The Bloomsbury The Pilgrim

KISS ME

Come party season, its glitter, glitter everywhere, but Pat McGrath has upped the ante, launching LiquiLUST007, a lip kit that gives your pout the KiraKira treatment IRL.

(patmcgrath.com)

FIESTA AFTER HOURS

When it comes to partying, theres one maxim to follow: Be More Mexican. Luckily, the spiritual home of all wild night owls  and birthplace of tequila, the ultimate dancing till dawn drink  has influenced practically every bar worth its salt-rimmed margarita this party season. Theres the Ella Canta bar (above left) at The Intercontinental  its all about the calavera (tequila, guava marmalade, grapefruit, lime) and the gold-coated grasshoppers. Feeling more Soho? Rave across town to the second Breddos (above right) and its underground mezcal n margarita den. Up north-east in Dalston, the new Del74 has thoughtfully/perilously introduced pay as you pour sharing mezcal bottles. And for proper party-starting, Mexican drinking food, hit Tienda Roosteria for its Triple Taco Tuesdays: three tacos and a beer for a tenner, leaving you ample cash for frozitas  its deeply dangerous frozen tequila negronis. Try the recipe at home

FROZITA RECIPE

Try this from Tienda Roosteria. Multiply the ingredients by how many drinks you want and blend with plenty of crushed ice. Then, naturally, add edible glitter.

25ml tequila

15ml Aperol

10ml Campari

25ml Cocchi Rosa

10ml sugar syrup

10ml fresh lemon juice

THE KURUPT FM MIX

The People Just Do Nothing crew lay down the ultimate party playlist

Scott Garcia

Its a London Thing

The perfect way to start any party. The tune is nice and smooth, but dont be fooled  the bass will be sure to tickle ya very so slightly. We in the garage world call this a bubbler.

So Solid Crew Oh No

My all time favourite

So Solid dub. Some say MC Romeos dark side vocals took a lot of inspiration from Grindah. This tune always makes us move in perfect time to the catchy bassline.

Musical Mob

Pulse X

This one is what we in the scene call disgusting, which believe it or not is a good thing for us. This is one of the earliest forms of grime  it has stood the test of time and what an amazing stance it has.

Second Protocol

Basslick (VIP remix)

The track starts with some mad melodic s*** and makes you think its gonna be s***, then BANG, it hits you with the filthiest drop.

DJ Luck and MC Neat

A Little Bit of Luck

The ultimate singalong  this has probably got the best drop known to man, woman or child in a singing tune.

Heartless Crew

Heartless Anthem

Heartless invented the word vibes and playing this will bring exactly that to any party. If they dont react to this one then they dont deserve to be at your party. Chuck em out and delete their number  youll thank us later.

Kurupt FM

Get Out the Way

This is guaranteed to tear up any dance floor or home floor or whatever. Play it right at the end. Dont blame us if the place gets smashed up  just embrace it and be proud that you were a Kurupt FM ambassador.

THE NEW DINNER PARTY RULES

Rose Productions  aka India Langton and Amanda Sheppard  are the fairy godmothers of party planning and the duo behind some of the capitals chicest soirees. From Noel Gallaghers 50th (right) to the launch of the latest Hermes fragrance, Twilly dHermes, they school us in how to throw the ultimate bash.

India Langton and Amanda Sheppard

The dream guest list

Cover all bases  the young beauties who set the tone (Kaia Gerber), a sprinkling of old-school charm (Sir David Attenborough), a fabulous chef (Skye Gyngell) to curate the food and a party charmer who you can rely on to get everyone dancing on the tables (Poppy Delevingne). Oh, and could we have Stormzy (left) too?

The table setting

London is definitely going through a more is more phase. Look at Cabana magazines current table setting collection at Moda Operandi or head to The Cloth Shop on Portobello Road for divine suzani-inspired fabric for a table runner. Handwrite names on the plates with a dishwasher-safe Sharpie for a placement treat guests can take home  or a personalised handblown graffiti glass from Summerill & Bishop (left) makes for a beautiful name place.

The menu

Always seasonal, always warming in winter. We once created a Vietnamese pho station, where guests ate out of takeaway-style boxes with initialled chopsticks  there wasnt a scrap left.

The after-dinner entertainment

Tequila with orange slices, sprinkled with cinnamon, followed by a DJ set from The Postmen  devilishly handsome Preston Thompson and Milo Astaire, who would play late into the night.

PS

Word on the street is that the 1980s black tie dinner party at home is back in vogue.

BEAUTY FIXES

THE MANI: upgrade your standard file and polish for the Christian Louboutin Ombre nails (left) at DryBy. 85 (dryby.co.uk)

THE BLOW-DRY: the fashion sets favourite. Book a signature 15-minute blow-dry with Gio (right, with ESs Katie Service). 55 (salonsloane.com)

THE FACIAL: fact  a blast of LED light will brighten and tighten sallow skin. Get your hit at the Light Salon at Cowshed. 75 (cowshedonline.com)

CLUBBERS DELIGHT

While a third of Londons live music venues have been shut in the past 10 years, its not all grim tidings. Printworks  once home to the Evening Standard printing presses  has been transformed into a mammoth party palace (16 acres to be precise), hosting gigs by some of the world finest DJs and party-starters (printworkslondon.co.uk). Over in Mayfair, The Arts Club has enlisted Dimore Studio to design Leos. A jewel box-like music and sometime supperclub venue, the vibe here is the glamorous Fifties. (theartsclub.co.uk)

Roarsome: Leos at The Arts Club

SLOANES ARE BACK IN TOWN

Treasure chests at dawn, people: west London is swinging back a decade with an almighty Sloane party-off. In the red-trousered corner, theres Tonteria  Guy Pellys Sloane Square den of decadence, much beloved of Prince Harry, and revamped with snake dancers, paint-slathered naked dancers and Do not Disturb latex Fridays. In the blue-blooded corner is Mahiki Kensington, the second branch of the Polynesian-themed club which is Prince Harrys other fave haunt, set up with the help of Alberts founders Carlo Carello, Jake Parkinson-Smith and Fraser Carruthers. Mahiki II is more grown-up than the original (see its sushi restaurant Pufferfish, reviewed in Grace & Flavour, page 67) but never fear  the treasure chests are still going strong. Time to party like its 2007, eh?

OH, SNAP!

Those oh-so-over-Instagrammed photobooth pictures are starting to feel, well, a little passe. Say cheese instead to the new photo-phenomena

THE ARRAY

It might look a little lo-fi for our liking but the Array is actually a snazzy multi-camera system that will capture a moment in 360 degrees. If its good enough for the Met Gala...

THE GLITTER CUBE

Time to think photopods, people. First it was the flower-festooned version that popped at festivals all summer, but now its all about the glitter iteration. Be merry and channel your inner Freddie Mercury.

Say sparkle! Glitter cube photobooths

HYPNO EYE

Essentially a handheld selfie ball, which comes with myriad filters and animated overlays, Hypno Eye (left) is a bit like the millennial pass the parcel.

THE NEW CLUB NIGHTS

Alamy Stock Photo

Lets Go Swimming

The monthly party from the eponymous London label that plays the best techno in town. A roaming tune-fest, dive in for the night of your life. The next night is on 16 December at The Waiting Room. Tickets from 5 (waitingroomn16.com)

Lobster Theremin

Run by the London-based record label of the same name thats known for its nostalgic rave classics. 1 December, tickets from 5, Corsica Studios (lobstertheremin.com)

Hyperdub

British electronic-meets-Jamaican sound system, they play everything from reggae and dub to grime and jungle  and maybe a surprise set from Bjork. 30 November, tickets from 15, Fabric (fabriclondon.com)

Mirror ball. Exact date unknown. / Alamy Stock Photo

PRESENT AND CORRECT

Gifts for the host who has it all... 1 /4 Gifts for the host who has it all... Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters Bring a bottle to spice up any drink  its waaay more interesting than wine. 11.95, at masterofmalt.com Cire Trudon Ciel Candle This premium candle choice will secure a return invitation. 78, at net-a-porter.com Alex Eagle Monogrammed napkins Personal, chic and practical. From 48 (alexeagle.co.uk)

LETS GET TOTALLY TUCKED UP

Lying down is the new going out, dont you know? Beds are the ultimate party venue accessory. We say its the perfect flirting scenario. Time to practise your pillow talk.
A sk any group of people who their favourite royal is and there is a high chance youll hear them say Prince Harry in return.

The sixth-in-line to the throne has always held a soft spot in the hearts of Brits, known for both his cheeky side, reminiscent of Prince Philip and his humanitarian work, reminiscent of his mother.

Prince Harry has been in the spotlight since birth and as a nation we have watched him grow into a dashing and charitable young man who found his princess and just welcome his first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor .

Born on September 15, 1984, the 34-year-old Prince was just 12 when his mother, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in France in 1997.

Getty Images

Before joining the army in 2005, Harry spent his gap year working on a sheep farm in Australia and working with Aids orphans in Lesotho. It was around this time he met his former long-term love Chelsea Davy.

The Prince and the South African-born beauty dated on and off for seven years until 2011. The pair even attended William and Kates wedding together before breaking up for good.

Baby Sussex named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor

In May 2005 he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and went on to become a Second Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry and eventually a captain in 2011.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

His charitable work began in 2006 when he set up his Sentebale charity with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help Aids orphans.

In 2007 Harry was sent to Afghanistan for the first time where he spent 77 days as a Forward Air Controller  he had to be pulled out of the operation after an Australian magazine disclosed his whereabouts.

Seven years ago in 2012, he began his second tour of Afghanistan where he completed a four-month stint as an Apache Pilot with the Army Air Corps.

Prince Harry at Eton (REUTERS) / Reuters

That was also the year the infamous photos of Harry playing strip pool in a Las Vegas hotel room were published for the world to see, which sparked heavy public backlash.

Harrys other long-term high-profile relationship with English actress Cressida Bonas began in 2012. They were allegedly introduced by Princess Eugenie but broke up in 2014 as Bonas reportedly couldnt handle the public scrutiny of being with Harry.

In 2014, Harry launched the Invictus Games for injured members of the armed forces - three years later the 2017 Invictus games in Toronto would be where he made his first public appearance with Meghan Markle.

In November 2016, after beginning a relationship with Meghan in July, Harry released a statement asking for privacy and confirming his and Meghans relationship after she had suffered abuse from racist and sexist online trolls.

First glimpse of Prince Harry and Meghan's newborn son - In pictures 1 /28 First glimpse of Prince Harry and Meghan's newborn son - In pictures The Duke and Duchess of Sussex gave the world its first glimpse of the royal baby PA The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, as they show their new son, born Monday and named as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Chris Allerton/SussexRoyal/PA The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their baby son, who was born last month Dominic Lipinski/PA Meghan said Harry and her son were the "best two guys in the world" Dominic Lipinski/PA Their son was born in the small hours of Monday morning PA The Queen is due to be the first royal to meet the baby PA The Duchess said the birth of the child was "magic" PA Dominic Lipinski/PA The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed the name of their son on Wednesday as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor PA PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Dominic Lipinski/PA Sky News Sky News

Now, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been married since May last year and have just welcomed their first-born son, Archie on May 6 . We can't wait to see what the future brings.
A s we approach the depths of winter, heres a reminder that the temperature was once over 10 degrees and there were mornings where you couldnt see your breath.

Canadas largest online travel website, flightnetwork.com has just revealed The Worlds 50 Best Beaches, which were chosen by 632 of the worlds top travel professionals.

Condensing the list into just 50 was a two-month process and the result is a thing of beauty  think white sand beaches with the bluest of blue water.

Below are the top 10, but you can click through the gallery above to see the full list of 50:

1. Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos

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One of the most iconic stretches of sand in the world, Grace Bay has an annual average temperature of 29 degrees, so you can expect hot summer days all year round.

2. Whitehaven Beach, Australia

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Here you can find some of the whitest sand on earth  but as it is part of Queenslands Whitsunday islands, it is only accessible by helicopter or seaplane.

3. Anse Lazio, Seychelles

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Just a mention of the Seychelles makes our wanderlust hearts go into overdrive, and with soft, golden sand and an average water temperature of 27 degrees, weve moved it to the top of our bucket list.

4. Pink Sands Beach, Bahamas

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The pastel pink sand  made up of the bright red and pink shells of the microscopic Foraminifera insects  adds a dreamy element to this Bahamian island

5. Navagio Beach, Zakynthos, Greece

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One youve probably seen on your Instagram feed, Navagios cobalt blue waters surrounded by towering cliffs are picture-perfect.

6. Baia Dos Porcos, Brazil

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Also known as the Bay of Pigs, the myriad of blues meddle in perfect harmony and whats more is the beach will probably be yours alone as it requires quite a trek to get to.

7. Playa Paraiso, Mexico

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The combination of aqua blue water and pristine white sane never gets old and its shown in its full glory here.

8. Hyams Beach, Australia

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The second Australian beach to make the top ten (guess we all need to head to Australia), Hyams Beach is part of Jervis Bay which is found just two hours south of Sydney.

9. Hidden Beach, Mexico

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Another frequent lust-worthy Instagram location, the only way to reach this Mexican beach is to jump off a boat and swim or kayak through a tunnel to shore. The hole was apparently made during bombing practices for WWI.

10. Trunk Bay, US Virgin Islands

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Donated to the US National Park Service 50 years ago, Trunk Bay has a 205 metre underwater snorkelling trail and an abundance of clean and clear water.

Click through the gallery above for the full list.
When it comes to announcing candidates, and keeping the stakeholders happy, the Bharatiya Janata Party sure has an edge over the Congress.

The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) has always said that its main objective is to secure quotas for the Patel community. And to that end it was prepared to take the Congress's support. But it all seemed to unravel after the Congress announced its first list of 77 candidates late on November 19.

Political considerations evidently took over as Congress initially gave PAAS just three of the seven seats it had agreed to (a total of 20 Patel candidates have got tickets so far). And two of these went to candidates without the approval of the outfit's leadership. PAAS co-convenor Dinesh Bhambhania was livid. "We will defeat the Congress. It has stabbed us in the back," he declared. Enraged activists attacked the Congress office in Surat on Monday where local Patel businessman Praful Togadia was nominated against the leadership's wishes.

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Such was the uproar that Hardik nearly cancelled his public meetings in Rajkot the following day. The controversy, however, was brought under control after the Congress reportedly replaced four Patel candidates including Togadia at Hardik's behest. There were even murmurs of differences between Hardik and Bhambhania, his right hand man who had backed him even after the recent sex videos scandal involving the Patidar leader. Anyway, it hasn't had much impact on Hardik's charisma as crowds at his rallies have only swelled further. A cautious BJP has distanced itself from the controversy, fearing a sympathy wave in Hardik's favour.

The saffron party, meanwhile, seems to have fared better in ticket distribution. Declaring its initial list of 89 candidates three days before the Congress, the party had announced 134 nominees by the time the Congress released its first list. The party has dropped two sitting ministers, electing instead to nominate nine first-timers. The BJP too faced protests in a few constituencies but has been able to nip it in the bud.

Unwilling to take any chance, the BJP has also shifted a number of sitting MLAs from their traditional bastions. Ex-minister Saurabh Patel has been moved from Vadodara to Botad, and assembly speaker Raman Vora is to contest from Dasada in Saurashtra instead of Idar in North Gujarat. Party president Amit Shah is camping in Gujarat, to fine-tune the campaign and also quell any protests over ticket distribution.

One factor that might affect some seats is the NCP decision to go it alone after seat-sharing talks with the Congress failed. The NCP won two seats in 2012 and its tie-up with the Congress had knocked out at least three BJP candidates.

--- ENDS ---
W e slide down a steep path engulfed in clouds of kicked-up ochre dust. Pushing through the last of the palm fronds, we emerge on to a stretch of white sand. The tide has come in, swallowing the beach  and our route home.

My little horse bounces happily forward, submerged up to his stomach. We wade through the waves, roughly tracing a shoreline hemmed in by tangled mangroves. Our boots fill up with warm saltwater. A dhow glides past, its occupants waving. I find myself laughing in pure, childlike delight.

Pat and Mandy Retzlaff, owners of Mozambique Horse Safari, offer riding on an idyllic stretch of wild, dune-backed Mozambican coastline about 400 miles north of Maputo, the capital. The huge beaches gleam white in the hot sun. The water is rich in marine life, with manta rays, whale sharks and pods of dolphins.

Paradise it may be but Mandy and Pat are not here by choice. The Retzlaffs owned a farm in Zimbabwe until, in 2002, they were evicted as part of Robert Mugabes land-redistribution programme. They bolted, taking with them their horses and a few possessions.

The Retzlaffs soon found themselves collecting dozens of horses from their evicted neighbours  they became known as the horse people. In 2003, they arrived in the border town of Chimoio in Mozambique with 104 horses before settling near the coastal town of Vilanculos. Soon they began to offer riding tours on the beach  they now have 37 horses and offer day rides or a five to eight-day safari package.

Guests are housed in lodges. We stay at the self-catering Vila de Sonhos, where I have the run of a beautiful thatched chalet with a balcony looking out onto the Indian Ocean.

The day begins in the Retzlaffs neat, sandy stable yard. Pat pairs me up with my pretty white mount, called Viper. Hes an Arabian  they do what they want, Pat tells me as he adjusts my stirrups. Im not sure what to make of this so I join the others in trepidation.

Twenty minutes later, all fears are forgotten. Viper, although energetic and with a serious turn of speed, is beautifully behaved. We ride fanned out in an arc across the beach before scrambling up a cliff path and into the bush. We weave between acacia trees and wild oranges. We pass through villages where the children rush after us, the horses still enough of a novelty to induce squeals of excitement.

Mandy hires a chef for the week, so for supper we feast on enormous crayfish, tilapia and bowls of fresh salad. Although the safari package offers the same selection of rides  exploring the fishing villages; negotiating the sliding slopes of a phalanx of sand dunes; a visit to the honeymoon isle of Benguerra  the week is arranged to suit guests.

Taking a break from riding, we explore the derelict husk of a hotel on Paradise Island. In the Fifties and Sixties, it was the haunt of glamorous Rhodesians. Local legend states Bob Dylan composed his 1976 hit, Mozambique, there.

On our last morning we rise with the dawn and ride into the sea. My horse plunges in up to her neck and heads for the horizon. Later Mandy takes me to see the foundations of a building  its to be a cafe behind the stables. This is the Retzlaffs first foray into material assets. With no chance of a pension, and no home to return to, they need to think about the future. Until then, though, they have their wonderful horses.

Details: Mozambique

A four-day, five-night safari costs 2,123 including rides, lodging and meals. South African Airways flies from Heathrow to Vilanculos via Johannesburg from 942 return. Sonhos Lodge sleeps eight, approx 300 a night.
I t is almost impossible to speak to anyone in Copenhagen without them using the word cosy and you dont get much cosier than Hotel Sanders.

The second we arrive we are greeted in front of a roaring log fire by the head of guest relations (who, as my guest noted, looked as though Cate Blanchett would play her in a film). Like everything and everyone else in the hotel she is impossibly chic but not intimidating in the slightest.

The luxury boutique hotel was founded by acclaimed former royal ballet dancer Alexander Klpin and unsurprisingly, it is poised, graceful and supremely elegant.

Nothing is showy but every detail has been carefully chosen from the pristine glassware to the beautiful photographs of ballet dancers in the corridors. It is luxurious without being ostentatious and suave without being stuffy.

Where is it

In the historic heart of Copenhagens cultural district, just as you would expect for a hotel owned by a ballet dancer. Sanders neighbours the Royal Danish Theatre, contemporary art gallery Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the Opera House and Amalienborg Palace.

Its also just around the corner from Nyhavn for the obligatory Instagram shot of charming multicoloured houses against a bright blue sky.

Style

Hotel Sanders

Sanders is basically the perfect harmony of Scandi minimalism and hygge, balancing clean lines and muted olives, creams and ochres with candlelight and snuggly blankets. Every space, communal and private, plays with textures: velvet cushions, leather chairs, heavy draped curtains, marble table tops, and wooden floors.

The 1869 knocked-together townhouses were formerly the Hotel Opera and the heritage building has been gutted and refurbished from top to bottom. Its evident that a huge amount of love has gone into the renovation, designed by Londons Lind + Almond, so check out the hotels Instagram account for an idea of the transformation.

There are colonial touches like rattan cabinet doors and woven rugs, and a certain eccentricity to the collection of art and ornaments. Every room has something to discover from the sumptuous Liberty wallpaper in the dark and moody ground floor bathrooms to the extraordinary lobby chandelier.

Facilities

When youre splashing out on a luxury five star stay, the added extras are everything. Sanders provides a complimentary mini bar in the room which, although sadly booze-free, is happily stocked with really top notch dark chocolate and soft drinks. There are also free bikes to hire and in-room yoga and massages can be arranged.

Its ideal for a wintery break but the private courtyard and greenery suggests it will also be a chic spot for summer, when the cocktail bar spills out onto the pavement.

Which room

Hotel Sanders

Currently only the first two floors are open but once everything is finished, there will be five floors and 52 rooms. Our large bedroom on the first floor was both enormous and homely. Traditional hotel details like the minibar and safe are incorporated into beautiful bespoke furniture and the staffs enthusiasm about the rooms is not misplaced: we were assured that the bespoke velvet chairs in our bedroom would be the most comfortable we had ever sat in, and had they fitted in our suitcase, we would have been taking them home with us.

Hotel Sanders

When the upper floors are completed, the master suites look as though they will be something very special with freestanding bathtubs; the top level apartment will even have its own open fireplace.

Food & Drink

Breakfast is included and its refreshing to swap the usual stale continental buffets for an elegant menu of options like shakshuka, fried egg and chickpeas and french toast. Plus you might get lucky, as we did, and find that the chef is experimenting with marmalade pastries.

sanders Kitchen / Hotel Sanders

Sanders Kitchen is a streetside deli serving brasserie-style simple regional dishes. Book a fireside table in the lobby for some authentic Danish hygge on a cold evening.

The hotel bar is called TATA, after the red velvet curtain that sweeps up before performances at the Royal Danish Theatre, and it manages to nod to its inspiration without becoming too twee. Have the white tuxedo-ed bartenders knock you up something special and people watch the night away. Its much livelier than a lot of hotel bars and the really good news is that its open until 2am on Thursday-Saturday so its ideal for a nightcap on your way back to the room.

Extra-curricular

One of the big selling points of Sanders is the curated stay meaning that the staff will go above and beyond to make recommendations based on the sort of holiday you want to have, so be sure to let them know what you like before you visit. Our best meals and drinks in the city were in bars and restaurants suggested by the delightful, dapper and unfailingly polite staff.

Best for

Hotel Sanders

Winter breaks and people who think they dont like hotels. As Airbnb converts, and usually budget travellers, we were not the kind of guests who would be impressed by enormous flashy lobbies but we would happily have spent a few more hours ensconced in Sanders, despite the treats Copenhagen has to offer.

Ultimately it doesnt feel like a hotel room; it feels like an impeccably stylish friend has invited you to spend the weekend in their beautiful home.

How to get there

Ryanair fly to Copenhagen from London Stansted. The Metro takes 15 minutes to Kongens Nytorv which is a three minute walk to Hotel Sanders.

Details

Rooms from 2,970 DKK. Hotel Sanders, Tordenskjoldsgade 15, DK - 1055, Copenhagen; hotelsanders.com/.
A n office worker who spied on Starbucks customers with a hidden camera to satisfy a sexual "fetish" is facing jail today.

Antony Dines, 31, hid a spycam in an air vent at the coffee shop in Vauxhall, leaving it to film unsuspecting women for up to a month in November last year.

He had also used the matchbox-sized camera to secretly record colleagues on the toilet at the office where he worked in New Malden.

Dines accidentally filmed himself installing the camera at Starbucks, but remained on the loose until police published the image last week.

Several of his shocked colleagues then called police to say they believed Dines was the wanted man in the picture.

When he was arrested, Dines had a rucksack stashed under his desk at work containing camera equipment, electrical tape, memory cards, a screwdriver, and nine pairs of women's underwear.

Quizzed by police, he admitted "he had a fetish for watching women urinate", prosecutor George Crivelli told Camberwell Green magistrates court.

"The defendant stated he had placed the camera in his own workplace before taking it to Starbucks, he had done this to film women using the toilet."

Dines, an occasional preacher at his local church in Kingston, also admitted putting the camera in the Starbucks toilet once before, in February last year, leaving it to record while he had a cup of coffee.

Mr Crivelli said the camera was discovered on November 22 last year when a male customer, after finishing using the toilet, noticed a light in the ceiling.

He alerted staff who called in police, and officers then found the film of Dines standing on the toilet and using a screwdriver to install the camera.

"He is fiddling around with the device to put it in place", said the prosecutor.

"The defendant actually filmed himself installing the camera - there was a good image of his face on the recording.

"The defendant is then seen to wipe the toilet seat clean for foot marks where he had been standing to put it in play."

The court heard there were 24 videos of people using the toilet on the camera, which was voice-operated to only film when someone was in the room.

Mr Crivelli said when Dines was arrested at work on Friday last week, he "attempted to distance himself from the bag and told police it wasn't him".

But he later confessed he had collected up his various camera equipment and was intending to destroy it, having learned that police were hunting for him and he "knew it would look bad".

Graeme Rothwell, mitigating, said Dines had pleaded guilty to the charges "through an abundance of shame and embarrassment".

District Judge Karen Hammond set Dines, a Kingston University graduate in human resources management, free on bail until sentencing on December 6.

She ordered him to stay away from places with public toilets and not carry recording equipment.

Dines, from Kingston-upon-Thames, pleaded guilty to four counts of voyeurism.
T ransport for London is being used to promote Russian propaganda over the Brexit vote and the US election, it was claimed today.

City Hall Tories are calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to block the highly political adverts on the Tube and at bus stops by the Russian state-backed television channel RT.

The advertisements convey such messages as: Watch RT and Find Out Who We Are Planning to Hack Next; Missed the train/Stuck in traffic? Lost a vote? Blame it on us; The CIA calls us a propaganda machine. Find out what we call the CIA; and Beware! A propaganda Bullhorn is advertising here.

The network, considered by many to be the propaganda arm of the Kremlin, broadcasts globally in English and other languages.

TfL is accused of breaking its own policy regulations, which forbid the publication of material relating to any political party or political cause.

RT, formerly known as Russia Today, has run a series of adverts including some which appear to mock accusations that Russia tried to intervene in last years US presidential election and referendum on membership of the European Union.

London Assembly member Gareth Bacon said: These adverts breach TfL advertising rules and are highly political in nature, emanating from a foreign power that is often hostile to the UK and its allies.

"Allowing this organisation ... to continue advertising on our Tube network and elsewhere would be a huge mistake. It must stop now.

A City Hall Tory spokesman said: RT faces accusations of relentlessly pushing anti-American propaganda and is being forced to register as a foreign agent with the US justice department.

RT states it has the largest regional audience in Europe, with 35 million watching every week. Earlier this year a temporary ban by Facebook on RT posting images, videos or livestreams drew threats of retaliation from the Russian state censor.

In September, RT was sanctioned by the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom for a series of misleading or biased programmes relating to the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

A spokesman for the Mayor said RT was licensed to operate in the UK by Ofcom but that the Mayor had asked TfL to look again at whether the advertisements breached existing policy.

The Mayor has asked TfL to investigate whether the adverts breach existing policy which forbids advertisements of a political nature.

He continued: RT is licensed to operate in the UK by Ofcom but, in the light of the recent controversy surrounding RT, the Mayor has asked TfL to look again at whether the advertisements have breached the existing policy and if the policy should be updated to address this kind of deliberately provocative advertising in the future.

A Russia Today spokesman said: "Considering that RTs London campaign  fully approved by TfL  has already concluded, this (a ban) would be a false enterprise in every sense.

"Our ads are not political, but rather, they question the prevalent media narratives of the day; considering the purpose of advertising, we are yet to see any ad campaign anywhere that would prefer NOT to attract attention."
F ast-food takeaways will be banned from opening within 400 metres of schools in a bid to tackle the capitals child obesity epidemic.

In addition, all new chicken, fish and chip and pizza outlets will have to sign up to minimum healthy food standards before getting planning permission.

Sadiq Khan will announce the policy in his draft London Plan, the capitals planning bible, due to be published later this week.

The Mayor said the move would help deal with the ticking time bomb of childhood obesity in London, where almost 40 per cent of children are obese or overweight by the time they finish primary school, the highest proportion in England.

Several boroughs, including Barking and Dagenham, Islington and Waltham Forest, already have measures to control chicken shops, chip shops and takeaways near schools.

Mr Khans plan states that new takeaways should not be permitted within 400 metres of an existing or proposed primary or secondary school.

The Mayor is also bringing in a new health standard so new takeaways have to agree to make food healthier by grilling or baking instead of frying and adding less salt.

He said: Takeaway restaurants are a vibrant part of London life, but its important that they are not encouraging our children to make poor food choices.

I am using all of my powers through my new London Plan to prevent new takeaways from being built just down the road from schools as part of a package of measures to tackle the ticking time bomb of childhood obesity and help us all lead healthier lives.

Overweight children are more likely to miss school due to illness and to develop type 2 diabetes, heart disease and strokes as adults.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, London regional director at Public Health England, said: Our high streets are increasingly saturated with takeaways and our school children consume too much unhealthy food and drink on the high streets near schools.

This plan will encourage a healthier food environment around our schools so that junk food is no longer the option for children nearest the school gates.

Mr Khan will also use the London Plan to commit to protect the greenbelt.

His new planning policy is also expected to call 50 per cent of all new homes across London to be affordable, while private housebuilders would work towards a 35 per cent requirement.

The Mayor has also said the target for the number of homes built every year will rise from 29,000 to 66,000, although housing experts doubt whether this is achievable.
T HERE is one person who wont be fazed by the impending nuptials of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: Markles future neighbour, Princess Michael of Kent.

The Londoner ran into the Princess a fortnight ago. The minor royal is married to the Queens cousin, Prince Michael, and they live in an apartment in Kensington Palace, next to Prince William. Prince Harry, it was announced by Kensington Palace, will continue to live in KPs Nottingham Cottage.

I read that shed [Meghan Markle] left the show [Suits] but I havent met her yet, the Princess, pictured, told me at The Oldie lunch at Simpsons-in-the-Strand, where she was promoting her new book A Cheetahs Tale. Now having to pay rent in Kensington Palace  120,000 a year  she does a bit of interior design consulting along with her writing.

But what about the engagement and all the feverish excitement? Isnt Kensington Palace agog at the prospect of the most eligible bachelor finally having found his princess? Its just another dress and hat to buy, said the Princess nonchalantly, fork poised for the next course.

... and make your way to Guildhall

Meanwhile, where would the couple get hitched? A wedding at St Pauls or Westminster Abbey would be a traditional option but might this modern couple go for something less churchy?

They could follow Prince Charles and Camilla, who had a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall followed by a service at St Georges Chapel. The Londoner has been told, by a drunken member of royal staff, that a Guildhall wedding is on the cards  though in the slurring it was unclear whether he meant the one at Windsor or the grander London Guildhall.

The Windsor Guildhall has the capacity to seat about 100 people and would be a short stroll for the Queen from Windsor Castle; the medieval London Guildhall, the Citys old town hall, has a Great Hall that can seat 704. On November 22, Guildhall sent out a tweet saying it was large enough for dinner for a king.

Cue a bank holiday from Theresa May?

Will she call for a bank holiday?: Theresa May (Photo by Marco Bertorello - WPA Pool/Getty Images) / Getty Images

WILL we get another bank holiday? When Prince William married Kate Middleton in April 2011 the PM David Cameron announced the country would get the day off. Will Theresa May put a similar smile on the countrys face? Its not something Im aware is being discussed, a Downing Street spokesman told us this morning. Surely this is at least one thing the Cabinet can unite around.

Quote of the day

FGM Campaigner: Nimco Ali

The fourth in line to the crown is engaged to a black woman. The Queen is going to have black grandchildren

FGM campaigner Nimco Ali heralds the possible next generation of young royals. Though Harry is actually the fifth in line, and its great-grandkids ...

Will Meghan's pooches now take the lead?

Is Kensington Palace going to the dogs? Joining the happy couple will be Meghan Markles two rescue dogs Guy the beagle and Bogart the Labrador cross. They will surely endear Meghan to her future stepmother-in-law: the Duchess of Cornwall is patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and has adopted two Jack Russells, Beth and Bluebell from the shelter. Then theres Lupo, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges photogenic cocker spaniel. Someone should have a word in their ears to avoid Princess Annes marauding bull terriers, and just when will they be formally introduced to the Queens corgi? The Londoner wonders what the order of doggy protocol will be.

Meghan and the mouth of the wolf

Did Meghan Markle spend her last night of anonymity feasting on Italian food? Either that or she has an impressive doppelganger.Diners at Bocca di Lupo, the Soho Italian on Archer Street known for its classic  and delicious  fare, did a double take last night when a striking brunette walked in with a friend and sat at a table for two. She was a dead ringer for Meghan Markle. A hint, perhaps, of her culinary tastes and the kind of delights guests might expect at her wedding? But was it definitely her?

The Londoner reached out to a representative of Jacob Kenedy, Bocca di Lupos founder, to see if he was pleased at the endorsement. We dont discuss our guests, they said. Markle has form when it comes to the countrys offerings, though: she has said she is a sucker for Italian food and visited the country for a pizza-fuelled trip last August while on a break from filming Suits.

Bocca di Lupo is used to serving society royalty: the restaurant is frequented by actors Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley and Dominic Cooper, as well as Princess Eugenie, who calls it one of her two favourite London restaurants (The Palomar is her other choice). Perhaps she introduced her future cousin-in-law to the delectable rigatoni.

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Harry and Meghans engagement notice had a first in it. It used the prefix Ms. Meghan Markle, not Miss. When it was announced that Prince William was to marry Kate the title Miss Catherine Middleton was used. Ms has been used since the start of the 20th century but New York cab driver, civil rights organiser and feminist Sheila Michaels brought it into common parlance in the Sixties. She first saw it in a Marxist publication. Revolution!

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Inspired casting of the day: Spectator and Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle suggests Meghan Markle is a shoo-in to play herself in a forthcoming series of The Crown.

Blink and youll miss them in Bermondsey

Over to Kino Cinema in Bermondsey for the screening of two short films  Indigo Valley and The Last Birthday, both directed by Jaclyn Bethany.

Among the audience was one well-known face, the Harry Potter actress turned poet Greta Bellamacina, who plays Romanov sister Maria in The Last Birthday accompanied by her urban poet husband Robert Montgomery.

Producer Courtney Harmstone raised cash for the film, Indigo Valley, in a novel way: she appealed to people to invest via a kickstarter fund.

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Birleys Manhattan club

Private members club wars: Richard Caring, who owns Annabel's, rival to Robin Birley's 5 Hertford Street, with Sarah, Duchess of York and Tamara Beckwith (Photo by Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images

THE new Annabels is preparing to make war with rival Mayfair club 5 Hertford Street. But perhaps Hertford Streets owner Robin Birley, pictured, has bigger fish to fry: he is heading to New York.

Reports are circulating stateside that Birley is about to sign for a property near Union Square in Manhattan. He has been searching for the perfect venue for two years, and while it will not be attached to the 5 Hertford Street brand, he hopes to match its success.

Its a clubhouse along the lines of 5 Hertford Street in London, with some rooms for members above the club, an unnamed friend of Birleys tells New York publication Avenue Magazine. Its not going to be an outpost of the London club but is going to be distinctly New York. If it all goes through, Robin is going to be spending at least a week a month of his time in Manhattan.

How long before longtime rival Richard Caring responds by building an Annabels on the Upper East Side?

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Stat of the day: only 21.4 per cent of listeners finished Sir Craig Olivers audiobook Unleashing Demons. One problem may have been that he read it himself, notes The Times.

And they call it puppy love...

Yesterday the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, debuted a new member of the household, posting a picture of the new arrival on Twitter: Saadiya and I are very excited to announce a new addition to the family... meet Luna Khan!
B rits have been warned to wrap up and take care as temperatures could plunge lower than Iceland.

A day before the official start to winter on December 1, the mercury is expected to fall as low as minus 10C (14F) in some parts.

The cold snap could make the UK cooler Iceland's capital Reykjavik, which is due to have a high of 7C (44.6F) later in the week, while Helsinki in Finland will see temperatures of between 3C and 4C.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has issued ice warnings for northern parts of Scotland overnight, with snow expected to fall on higher ground.

The weather is set to get progressively colder, with Thursday and Friday likely to be the chilliest days, according to the Met Office.

Spokesman Grahame Madge said: "The weather situation is that it's likely to be getting colder as we go towards Thursday and into Friday.

"Pretty much everywhere in the UK will be within touching distance of freezing."

He added: "In Scotland air temperatures could drop down to minus 10C, but that's likely only if you are out overnight in the Scottish mountains."

In light of the temperature drop, Public Health England (PHE) warned people to look out for those most likely to be affected by the cold.

Dr Thomas Waite, of PHE's Extreme Events team, said: "As the weather is going to get colder everywhere in the coming days, this is a really good time to check on those who may be at-risk.

"People with diseases such as heart and lung conditions, older people and young children can feel the ill-effects of cold weather more than the rest of us."

Dr Waite advised people to wear lots of thin layers instead of just one or two thick items of clothing, and to maintain a home temperature of at least 18C (64.4F).

Drivers in Scotland have been urged to be cautious amid possible icy patches on some roads due to wintry showers.

Commuters have also been told to be prepared for disruption due to cold and wet weather, with South Western Railway predicting "poor rail conditions" across the network throughout this week.
M EPs today threatened to torpedo a Brexit deal in a growing row over the Irish border.

The European Parliament waded into the dispute as a senior Irish politician warned that any watch towers put up on a new hard border with Northern Ireland risked coming under attack within days.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliaments chief Brexit negotiator, demanded that Theresa May come up with fresh thinking to defuse the border stand-off, or risk stalling talks.

For us, dividing up Ireland is not an option at all, he said. The European Parliament fully backs the Irish government concerns about the negative impact of Brexit and the need to ensure the continuity and stability of the Northern Ireland peace process.

He insisted that a UK offer include a commitment to stick to European Union rules and regulations within Northern Ireland. MEPs will have a veto on the final Brexit deal, which the EU wants to wrap up by October 2018.

Mrs May has said that the Government does not want a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has suggested that technology could be used to monitor trade by multinational companies while a blind eye is turned to farmers and small firms taking goods across the border.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said agreement cannot be reached until it is known what the end state of the UK-EU trade relationship will be after Brexit in 2019, but Dublin has called for written guarantees.

Irish senator Neale Richmond, a European affairs spokesman for the Fine Gael party that leads the government, warned of violence if there is a return to a hard border.

He said: You put up one watchtower, or put out one customs patrol, and they will be a target, and I would argue they would be attacked within a week of them going up.

Brexit Secretary David Davis is seeking specific solutions to Northern Irelands unique circumstances.

EU agriculture chief Phil Hogan has argued that remaining in the single market and customs union is the only solution to preventing a new border in Ireland. Goods inspections could be carried out at ports and airports between the UK and Ireland, but the Democratic Unionist Party, whose 10 Westminster MPs are propping up the Tory government, has ruled this out.

Meanwhile the Government is understood to be due to publish its analysis of Brexit within 24 hours. The studies  known as the Brexit papers  will shine a light on how 58 key industries could be affected when Britain leaves the EU. The papers were meant to be confidential, but Labour forced their release through a Commons motion.

The Government was today warned by its own adviser that the free movement of highly skilled people after Brexit is vital to the success of London as a centre of pharmaceutical research.

Sir John Bell, Regius professor of medicine at Oxford, told the BBCs Today programme: We need the smartest people from across the world to make this work  we also need to move products back and forth across national boundaries.
P rince Harry and Meghan Markle have revealed that he proposed during a typical night in at their cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

The couple, who have enjoyed a whirlwind 16-month romance, gave their first interview to the BBC on Monday hours after announcing their engagement.

They also revealed how Prince Harry, 33, invited the US actress to holiday with him in Botswana after they enjoyed just two dates together in London.

He added that he believed his fiancee and late mother Diana would have been "best friends" and "thick as thieves".

A beaming Meghan Markle with Prince Harry as they give their first TV interview / PA

Ms Markle, 36, said that Harry got down on one knee while the pair were trying to roast a chicken at Nottingham Cottage.

She said: Just a cosy night, it was - what we were doing just roasting chicken and having

Prince Harry cut in: Roasting a chicken, trying to roast a chicken.

The US actress replied: Trying to roast a chicken and it just - just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

She added that she could barely let Prince Harry finish proposing before giving an instant yes.

Harry revealed how they had "hugs" after the proposal and he handed over the ring.

Prince Harry said: "She didn't even let me finish, she said 'can I say yes, can I say yes' and then were was hugs and I had the ring in my finger and I was like 'can I - can I give you the ring?' She goes - 'oh yes the ring'.

"So no it was - it was a really nice moment, it was just the two of us and I think managed to catch - catch her by surprise as well."

Prince Harry also added he was beautifully surprised when he met Ms Markle for the first time, adding: I was like, Ive got to up my game here and make sure Ive got good chat.

Bride-to-be Ms Markle said she does not consider the relationship to be "a whirlwind" and that they managed to spend nearly half a year in total privacy.

"I think we were able to really have so much time just to connect and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other, even though we were obviously doing a long distance relationship, she said.

"So it's - we made it work."

The Prince and Ms Markle revealed they holidayed in Botswana after just two dates in London / PA

Prince Harry recalled how he invited Ms Markle to join him in Botswana where they slept under the stars after just two dates in London.

Ms Markle called her meeting with the Queen in October at Buckingham Palace "incredible", as Prince Harry added the corgis "took to her straight away".

She said: "I think, you know, a) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first appearance following engagement

"And we've had a really - she's - she's an incredible woman."

Ms Markle said the Duchess of Cambridge had been "wonderful" to her, while Harry said both William and Kate had been "amazing".

Harry talked about how he kept the relationship secret before introducing Ms Markle to his brother and sister-in-law.

"It was exciting, I mean I've - you know, I'd been seeing her for a period of time when I literally didn't tell anybody at all.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

"And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know, being our neighbours, we managed to get that in a couple of, well, quite a few times now, and Catherine has been absolutely amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support."

Ms Markle said of Kate: "She's been wonderful."

Harry spoke of the support his family had given him.

"The family together have been absolutely, you know, a solid support, and my grandparents as well have been, have been wonderful throughout this whole process, and they've known for quite some time," he said.

Prince Harry and Ms Markle will marry in Spring next year.
D owning Street has said there are "no plans" for a Bank Holiday on the day of Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle.

The couple announced their engagement on Monday morning after a 16-month whirlwind romance.

Following the announcement, Brits speculated over whether the day of the royal wedding would be a public holiday.

But a Downing Street spokesman said there were currently no plans for one.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

The wedding will take place in Spring next year after the couple became engaged in the capital earlier this month.

It is unlikely to take place in April as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges third child is due then and it is also the Queens 92nd birthday that month.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first appearance following engagement

When Kate and William got married in April 2011, the public were treated to a one-off bank holiday.

However, this may have been because the Duke of Cambridge is much higher up the line of succession compared to Harry.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

William is second in line to the throne after Prince Charles but Harry has dropped down to fifth behind nephew and niece Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

He will drop to sixth when Kate and Williams new baby is born. It is due in April next year.

Britons have taken to social media calling for a day off for the wedding.

As soon as the news was announced hilarious tweets popped up on social media.

Broadcaster Tony Shepherd joked: Hey Prince Harry and Meghan hurry up and announce a date for the wedding. We want to know when were getting a day off!

Another person wrote: Nice to see that Prince Harry is marrying this Meghan Markle, hoping Harry can be a true lad now and set the wedding for a weekday so we all get a lovely day off!

Chris Stacey added: Very happy for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle but the real issue is do we get a day off for the wedding?

Another user wrote: "Do we get a day off for the Royal wedding and if not do we at least get a discount on commemorative plates?"
By PTI: Chennai, Nov 26 (PTI) Customs officials seized 2-kg gold bars worth Rs 59 lakh from a passenger who arrived here from Trivandrum today.

Acting on a specific input that 33-year-old K U Irshad hailing from Kerala was carrying gold, the officials at the Anna International Airport here searched him and seized gold bars that were concealed in his shoes, an official release said.

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The gold bars weighed two kilograms and were valued at Rs 59 lakh, the release said.

Initial investigations revealed that he was asked to carry the gold by a passenger who was travelling with him in the flight for which Irshad was offered Rs 15,000, the release said.

Irshad arrived in an Air India flight which was operated on international route from Sharjah to Trivandrum and domestic route from Trivandrum to Chennai.

Upon his arrival, Irshad was asked to meet a person outside to hand over the gold. PTI VIJ SMN

--- ENDS ---
B BC News presenter Simon McCoy amused fans as he again failed to summon enthusiasm as he delivered the royal engagement news.

The presenter previously praised for a fantastically lacklustre report on the due date of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges due third child.

Shortly after Clarence House confirmed Prince Harry and Meghan Markles upcoming nuptials around 10am, Mr McCoy joked on Twitter: "Breaking: traffic was rather heavy on the M40 this morning. #missanything?"

He then added: I shall have some news.. on #BBC1 on the #BBCNewsatOne Happy news. Good news. #jobs.

Despite the presenter appearing to allude to a report of two new pharmaceutical companies creating jobs across the UK, Twitter followers were quick to respond.

Many joked that he had been given the job of royal correspondent.

One person said: Jobs news? Youve been appointed special royal correspondent? Many congratulations!

Another added: I am sure you won't disappoint. #englandexpects

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

During the brief bulletin from the BBC studio, Mr McCoy announced news of the engagement and said: London will once again become the focus of a royal fairy tale.

He then simply tweeted: Rejoice.

One fan replied: Cant wait to see your energetic coverage of another royal baby and wedding.

Another joked: Got to feel sorry for @BBCSimonMcCoy, spring royal wedding and royal baby, think of all the annual leave that's going to use #royalwedding

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first appearance following engagement

Others shared the hashtag #PrayforSimon.

Last month, Mr McCoy, who is known for being underwhelmed by royal announcements, delivered the due date for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child in a characteristically deadpan manner.

When delivering a report about the due date, Mr McCoy appeared to find it hard to summon any enthusiasm.

In 2013, Mr McCoy expressed his lack of enthusiasm as he reported on the lead up to Prince George's birth outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's hospital in Paddington.
T he world has reacted with joy to the long-awaited news that Prince Harry is set to marry American actress Meghan Markle.

Politicians and high-profile figures congratulated the couple after their engagement was announced on Monday.

Prince Harry and Ms Markle have enjoyed a 16-month whirlwind romance after being introduced in London by mutual friends. They became engaged in London earlier this month.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh "were delighted for the couple and wished them every happiness".

Jeremy Corbyn Congratulates Harry and Meghan

Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

The Prince of Wales, who announced the engagement, said while visiting Poundbury in Dorset that he was "thrilled" and "very happy indeed".

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

Prime Minister Theresa May offered her congratulations to the couple.

She said: I would like to offer my very warmest congratulations to HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle upon their engagement.

This is a time of huge celebration for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future.

When Harry met Meghan - a timeline of their relationship

The Archbishop of Canterbury was also among those to congratulate them. He said: Im absolutely delighted to hear the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now engaged.

I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfilment  and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron said: Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Wonderful news and I wish them a long and happy life together.

The flurry of congratulations messages followed a statement from Ms Markles parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland.

They say: We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person.

To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to marry

The news was confirmed in an official statement: "His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle."

After the wedding the couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

Follow all the reaction and latest developments live here.
P rince Harry and Meghan Markle today ended months of fevered speculation by announcing they are to be married next Spring.

The news was confirmed this morning by a delighted Prince of Wales in a statement that also revealed the couple became engaged in London earlier this month.

Visiting Poundbury in Dorset the Prince of Wales told reporters he was thrilled and very happy indeed.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

The statement did not reveal the exact date or location of the ceremony but said further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

When Harry met Meghan - a timeline of their relationship

Confirmation of the engagement comes after an eighteen month romance between the 33 year old Prince, who is fifth in line to the throne, and the 36 year year old American actress.

A Buckingham Palace spokeman said: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness.

Meghan Markles parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland also issued a statement saying they are incredibly happy with the couples engagement, adding: We wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Rumours are flying that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will announce their engagement soon. / PA

The statement from Clarence House added: Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markles parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

The news was welcomed by Downing Street and will come as a welcome distraction to gloomy news on Brexit and the economy.

Prime Minister Theresa May went to Twitter to offer her very warmest congratulations and added: This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future.

Meghan Markle when she was a child with her father

The couples plans appear to have been finalised at a series of last-minute meetings between senior courtiers at Kensington Palace.

Divorcee Ms Markle, whose father is white and mother of African-American descent, has described herself as a strong, confident, mixed-race woman.

Details of the ceremony will follow swiftly  along with huge speculation about the guest list for what is set to be the wedding of 2018.

Meghan Markle with her mother Doria Ragland

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in a tweet: Im absolutely delighted to hear the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now engaged.

"I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfilment  and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together.

Bookies said Westminster Abbey was the favourite in betting on the location, with odds of 12/1 on followed by Windsor Castle is at 2/1, and St Pauls at 5/1.

May is the hot favourite month with odds of 5/2 with April and March both at 10/3.

The statement from Meghan Markle's parents

Katie Baylis, spokeswoman for Betfair said: Its the announcement the world has been eagerly awaiting and after some intense speculation over the last few days, the couple have now confirmed their engagement and a Spring wedding.

How Harry and Meghan's love blossomed across the Atlantic Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are believed to have first met in May last year when he launched the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto  the city where her TV show Suits is filmed. What began as a relatively low-key friendship rapidly blossomed into full-scale romance over the summer after the pair were reintroduced in London by the fashion designer Misha Nonoo. As well as being the ex-wife of one of Harrys closest Eton school-mates, she is also one of Markles best friends. Rumours of their relationship immediately set off a frenzy of media speculation and were confirmed when Kensington Palace issued an unprecedented statement in November last year condemning the wave of abuse and harassment directed at his girlfriend. After the official outing the couple were increasingly seen in public together. Following a successful tour of the Caribbean, Harry flew 1,700 miles to see Markle in Toronto in December last year. They were later spotted in London buying a Christmas tree at Pines and Needles in Battersea and photographed in the West End on their way to the Gielgud Theatre to see The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. A series of introductions to senior members of the royal family began as early as last autumn, when she met Prince Charles for the first time. They continued this year when Harry arranged for his girlfriend to get to know the Duchess of Cambridge at a private meeting in Kensington Palace. Meanwhile, the public appearances were getting more frequent and relaxed. The couple spent Valentines Day together in London and were spotted at the private members club Soho House, and the following month Markle joined Harry in Jamaica at the wedding of his friend Tom Skippy Inskip to Lara Hughes-Young. The first public kiss came in May when the couple were photographed at the Audi Polo Challenge, in which Harry competed, at Coworth Park near Ascot. The same month, Markles close friend, the actress Priyanka Chopra, fuelled the wedding rumours by saying Markle was very happy. The status of the relationship stepped up another level in September when Markle appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair and gave a remarkably candid interview in which she revealed: Were two people who are really happy and in love. A formal introduction with the Queen took place at Buckingham Palace last month. From that moment it was a matter of when, not if.

May is the favourite at 2/5, with April or May both at 10/3 but with the Duchess of Cambridge due to give birth in April you would expect they would wait until after the baby is born.

Royal insiders say there has been a growing sense of urgency in Palace corridors since the pair appeared together at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September.

In the two months which followed, there have been multiple hints that the couple are set to formalise their 18-month transatlantic relationship.

Prince Harry: The Duke of Sussex - In pictures 1 /134 Prince Harry: The Duke of Sussex - In pictures Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle on May 8, 2019 Getty Images 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor PA 2014 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales look at a mobile phone as they watch the athletics at Lee Valley Track during the Invictus Games on September 11, 2014 in London Getty Images 1990 Princes William and Harry with Diana starting a new term atWetherby School, Notting Hill Gate Daily Mail 1993 Prince Harry aged 8 years old in a tank watching a mock battle during a visit to the Light Dragoons in Hannover, Germany Jeremy Selwyn 1993 Prince Harry aged 8 years old watching a mock battle during a visit to the Light Dragoons in Hannover, Germany 1995 The Prince and Princess of Wales with sons Prince William and Prince Harry, attending the VJ Day commemorations at Buckingham Palace PA 1997 Prince Charles (R), former husband of Diana, their two sons, Harry (C) and William follow the hearse in a Limousine as the coffin of Princess of Wales, makes its way from Saint James's Palace to Kensington Palace, Diana's former home, 05 September in London on the eve of her funeral. Some 2 million people are expected to line the route of the funeral procession AFP/Getty Images 1997 The funeral of Princess Diana Jeremy Selwyn 2001 Prince Harry takes part in an exhibition Polo match July 28, 2001 at Cirencester Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire Getty Images 2002 Prince Harry walks behind the Gun Carriage bearing the coffin of the Queen Mother April 9, 2002 as it makes its way to Westminster Abbey during her state funeral April 9, 2002 in London Getty Images 2002 Prince Harry (L) and Prince William attend a service of Thanksgiving to celebrate The Queen's Golden Jubilee 04 June 2002, at St Paul's Cathedral in London AFP/Getty Images 2002 Prince Charles (C) poses for a photograph with his sons Prince William (R) and Prince Harry during their annual skiing holiday in the Swiss alps March 29, 2002 in the village of Klosters, Switzerland Getty Images 2003 Prince Harry, the younger son of the Prince of Wales, takes part in March 2003 at Eton College in the Wall Game between Dr Gailey's Old Boys against The Mixed Wall - the top school team. His brother, Prince William (right) is playing for the Old Boys AFP/Getty Images 2003 The youngest son of the Prince of Wales, Prince Harry poses next to a bronze statue of Perseus holding the Gorgon's head on May 12, 2003 in the King of Siam's Gardens at Eton College Getty Images 2003 Prince Harry at Eton College Getty Images 2003 Prince Harry and England captain Martin Johnson celebrate in the dressing rooms after England's win in the Rugby World Cup Final match between Australia and England at Telstra Stadium November 22, 2003 in Sydney, Australia Getty Images 2003 Prince William (L) and brother Prince Harry (R) wait to receive their prizes at the end of the Calcot Manor Hotel polo cup on June 22, 2003 at Tetbury, Gloucestershire Getty Images 2004 Prince Harry takes part in a command task exercise at the British Army's Regular Commissions Board (RCB) held over four days at Westbury September 24, 2004 in Sandhurst, Wiltshire, England Getty Images 2004 A very somber and reflective looking Prince William and Prince Harry at the opening of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, Hyde Park Associated Newspapers 2005 Laura Parker Bowles, Prince Harry and Prince William following the Civil Ceremony following the marriage between HRH Prince Charles and Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles, at The Guildhall, Windsor on April 9, 2005 in Berkshire, England Getty Images 2005 Prince Harry plays polo for HSBS against Virginia State polo at Cirencester Park Polo Club on July 30, 2005 in Cirencester, England Getty Images 2005 Prince Charles, Princess Camilla and Prince Harry watch poppies dropped from a Lancaster bombe as she stands next to Prince Andrew on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the celebrations marking the end of World War II in London 10 July 2005 AFP/Getty Images 2006 The Duke of Edinburgh speaks to Prince William and Prince Harry at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy after The Sovereign's Parade that marked the completion of Prince Harry's Officer training PA 2006 Prince Harry in action during his training at Sandhurst Military Academy, issued on January 25, 2006, England Getty Images 2007 Prince Harry joins Rhino Conservation Botswana on operation to tag and protect rhinos Rhino Conservation Botswana 2007 HRH Prince William and Prince Harry arrive at the Cavalry Old Comrades Association Annual Parade in Hyde Park on May 13, 2007 in London Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy laughing before the Investec Challenge international rugby match South Africa vs. England in Twickenham, west London, on November 22, 2008 AFP/Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry practices his rugby skills with members of the crew of his Spartan armoured vehicle on February 20, 2008 during a break in their duties in the desert of Helmand province in Southern Afghanistan AFP/Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry joins more than 200 sailors, soldiers and Royal Marines, and Airmen of 52 Infantry Brigade, as they parade along the Royal Mile before attending a private Memorial and Thanksgiving Service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, in Scotland, on June 18, 2008, to honour those who lost their lives in Afghanistan AFP/Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry takes part in a 'Kick for Life' program to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS on July 8, 2008 in Buthe Buthe, Lesotho Getty Images 2007 Prince Harry says goodbye to guests at the guards chapel after a thanksgiving service for the life of Diana, Princess of Wales Jeremy Selwyn 2009 Prince William and Prince Harry pose in front of a Griffin helicopter during a photocall at RAF Shawbury on June 18, 2009 in Shawbury, England Getty Images 2010 Prince Harry and Prince William (R) hold an African rock python during a visit to Mokolodi Education Centre on June 15, 2010 in Gaborone, Botswana Getty Images 2010 Prince Harry pitches the first ball before the New York Mets play the Minnesota Twins, at Citi Field on June 26, 2010 in New York, Getty Images 2010 Prince Harry struggles with his klaxon horn while attending the opening of the Royal British Legion Wootton Bassett Field of Remembrance in Lydiard Park on November 9, 2010 in Wootton Basset Getty Images 2011 Prince Harry, joining the Walking with the Wounded expedition team, tries out an immersion suit on the island of Spitsbergen, situated between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole, during the last days of preparation before setting off to the North Pole on foot, on March 30, 2011 in Spitsbergen, Norway Getty Images 2011 Prince William takes the hand of his bride Catherine Middleton, now to be known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, followed by Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton as they walk down the aisle inside Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images 2011 Best man Prince Harry and Maid of Honour Pippa Middleton on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images 2012 Prince Harry poses with Usain Bolt at the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies on March 6, 2012 in Kingston, Jamaica. Prince Harry is in Jamaica as part of a Diamond Jubilee Tour, representing Queen Elizabeth II, taking in Belize, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Brazil Getty Images 2012 Prince Harry races out from the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent to scramble his Apache with fellow pilots, during his 12 hour shift at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion on November 3, 2012 in Afghanistan Getty Images 2014 Prince Harry cooks with children during a visit to the Thuso Centre for children living with multiple disabilities on December 7, 2014 in Bute-Bute, Lesotho Getty Images 2014 Prince Harry gives a speech at the media launch for the Invictus Games 2014 at the Copper Box Arena in the Olympic Park in London Getty Images 2014 Prince Harry shows children a photograph he has taken on a Fuji X100s Camera during a visit to a herd boy night school constructed by Sentebale on December 8, 2014 in Mokhotlong, Lesotho Getty Images 2015 Prince Harry meets Daphne Dunne (wearing her husbands Victoria Cross) during a walkabout outside the Sydney Opera House on May 7, 2015 in Sydney, Australia Chris Jackson/Getty Images 2015 The moment that Prince Harry is reunited with Mutsu aged 15yrs in November 2015. Mutsu is a local teenager who the Prince met on his first visit to Lesotho, and with whom he has since remained in regular contact Big Earth Productions/ITV 2015 Prince Harry and Prince Phillip enjoy the atmosphere during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final match between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham Stadium on October 31, 2015 Getty Images 2015 Prince Harry greets members of the public outside the Australian War Memorial on April 6, 2015 in Canberra, Australia Getty Images 2015 Prince George of Cambridge is held by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II look out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour on June 13, 2015 Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry with the Invictus team at Buckingham Palace Jeremy Selwyn 2016 Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace in London at the unveiling of the UK team for the Invictus Games Jeremy Selwyn 2016 Prince Harry boxing Jeremy Selwyn 2016 Prince Harry watches as Singer Rihanna gets her blood sample taken for an live HIV test, in order to promote more widespread testing for the public at the 'Man Aware' event held by the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission on the eleventh day of an official visit on December 1, 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry helped with one of the largest elephant translocations in conservation history African Parks via PA 2016 Prince Harry is given garlands and flowers as he visits Gauda Secondary School, an earthquake-damaged school being reconstructed with assistance from the Gurkha Welfare Scheme, in the Himalayan village of Okhari on day four of his visit to Nepal on March 22, 2016 in Okhari, Nepal Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry tires a London Air Ambulance Operation Game as he joins City brokers at ICAP and celebrities from the world of sport, television and entertainment on their trading floor in the City of London for the firm's 24th charity fundraising day PA 2016 Prince Harry joins City brokers ICAP and celebrities from the world of sport, television and entertainment on their trading floor in the City of London for the firm's 24th charity fundraising day /PA 2016 Prince Harry (R) meets Chewbacca during a tour of the Star Wars sets at Pinewood studios on April 19, 2016 in Iver Heath, England Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry (L) and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge try out light sabres during a tour of the Star Wars sets at Pinewood studios on April 19, 2016 in Iver Heath, England Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry plays volleyball with local school children as he visits Gauda Secondary School, an earthquake-damaged school being reconstructed with assistance from the Gurkha Welfare Scheme, in the Himalayan village of Okhari on day four of his visit to Nepal on March 22, 2016 in Okhari, Nepa Getty Images 2016 The Fields of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey today with Prince Harry and the Duke of Edinburgh Jeremy Selwyn 2017 Prince Harry (with former US President Barack Obama following a meeting at Kensington Palace in London PA 2017 Prince Harry and his girlfriend actress Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Reuters 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Cowarth Park for the Audi Polo Challenge Rex Features 2017 The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge at the start line of the Virgin Money London Marathon PA 2017 England's Dylan Hartley (left) receives the Calcutta Cup from Prince Harry (centre) and RFU President Peter Baines (right) during the RBS Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London PA 2017 Prince Harry speaks at the Military Drumhead Service on Horse Guards Parade in London, ahead of the unveiling of a national memorial honouring the Armed Forces and civilians who served their country during the Gulf War and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan PA 2017 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry promoting Heads Together 2017 Prince Harry talks to children at a tea party at Buckingham Palace, London Reuters 2017 Prince Harry plays in the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup 2017 on June 5, 2017 in Singapore Getty Images 2017 Prince Harry visiting a mine clearance site in Angola PA 2017 Prince William, left, and his brother Prince Harry arrive for the wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St Mark's Church in Englefield AP 2017 Prince Harry speaks to competitors during the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 at the University of Bath Sports Training Village in Bath PA 2017 Prince Harry meets Daphne Dunne (97 years old), during a walk around The Rocks district of Sydney with New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian whilst promoting the 2018 Invictus games in Australia Reuters 2017 The Duke of Cambridge (right) and Prince Harry, as they lay their wreaths during the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph memorial in Whitehall, central London PA 2017 Prince Harry smiles as he speaks to veterans as he attends the official opening ceremony of The Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey AP 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together at the Prince's Invictus Games Getty Images 2017 Prince Harry and his girlfriend actress Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Reuters 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding. Reuters 2018 Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wave from the Ascot Landau Carriage during their carriage procession on Castle Hill outside Windsor Castle in Windsor Reuters 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. PA PA Archive/PA Images 2018 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Getty Images 2018 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a state dinner at the Royal Residence in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Images 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada Hous Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on Commonwealth Day AP 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) attend a reception to mark the 50th Anniversary of the investiture of The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace in London AFP/Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey for the Anzac Day Service 2019 Jeremy Selwyn 2019 Prince Harry in front of the horses, apparently named George and Sir John, as he announces the birth PA 2019 The couple during their royal tour in south Africa Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex have announced they are to step back as Senior Royals and say they want to divide their time between the UK and North America. LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 11: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey on November 11, 2018 in London Getty Images 2019 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrive for the Royal Family's traditional Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk AFP via Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry cuddles baby Archie during the family's Christmas break SussexRoyal AP Misan Harriman Apple TV+ The Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex unveiling the Diana memorial PA Wire GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2021 Dave Benett

Her role in US TV drama Suits has now come to an end, and her apartment in Toronto is standing empty.

Last week, Meghan arrived in London and was spotted looking relaxed during a shopping trip. Her beloved dogs, Bogart and Guy, are understood to be in quarantine in London

In the past few days, a senior official from Buckingham Palace has been seen at Kensington Palace, in a breach of normal protocol.

When Harry met Meghan - a timeline of their relationship

Over the summer, it became clear Meghans legal affairs were being looked after by Royal solicitor Harbottle & Lewis, while planned building works at Kensington Palace raised the possibility of a new home in one of the apartments.

It has also been suggested the couple are hunting for a country retreat in either Norfolk, close to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges home Anmer Hall, or in the West Country.

This year Meghan has spent time with Kate and William, met the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, and been introduced to the Queen who must give the marriage her blessing.

In terms of Royal protocol, it is unlikely that all of these things would have happened if Meghan was not set to marry into the House of Windsor.

Follow our live coverage of all the latest reaction here.
P rince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle have announced their engagement.

The wedding will take place in Spring 2018 after the couple became engaged in London earlier this month.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are said to be delighted for the couple and have wished them every happiness.

Their 16-month whirlwind romance blossomed when they met through mutual friends in London and the pair have been almost inseparable in recent months with Ms Markle said to have virtually moved in to Harry's home at Kensington Palace.

Two years before the couple began dating, Prince Harry told a friend on a night out that Ms Markle was his "ideal woman".

The royal couple: The pair beamed as they made their first appearance as soon-to-be bride and groom. / Getty Images

Later, the loved-up pair appeared in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace, near the cottage they will eventually call home.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

Asked by reporters when he knew Ms Markle was the one, Prince Harry replied: "From the very first time we met."

Ms Markle, 36, told the crowd of the world's media she was "so happy" when asked how she was feeling.

She was dressed in all white and beamed as she showed off her engagement ring for the first time, which is said to have been designed by Prince Harry.

The ring is said to have been designed by Harry himself with two of Diana's diamonds with a central diamond from Botswana and set with a gold band

When asked if he proposed and whether it was romantic, the Prince - who wore a navy suit - replied: "Of course it was."

The world celebrated news of upcoming royal wedding, which was announced on Monday and ends months of fevered speculation.

No date has yet been set for the wedding. / AP

Clarence House said in a statement: "His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle.

"The wedding will take place in Spring 2018.

"His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month.

Harry and Ms Markle have been dating since summer last year / Getty Images

"Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family.

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents.

When Harry met Meghan - a timeline of their relationship

"The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace."

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: "We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together." William and Kate's are currently expecting their third child which is due to April.

Ms Markle's parents wished their daughter "a lifetime of happiness".

Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said their daughter's relationship with Harry was a "source of great joy" to them.

Ms Markle is close to both her parents, who divorced when she was young, and has frequently written about the love and support they have given her.

Meghan Markle with her mother Doria Ragland

Mr Markle and Ms Ragland said: "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person.

"To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

"We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

Ms Markle with her father when she was a young child

The Queen and Prince Philip also said they were delighted for the couple and "wish them every happiness".

Prince Harry is said to have designed the engagement ring using gems from a brooch that belonged to his late mother, Princess Diana.

When will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding take place?

The band is made of gold and the ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen.

It features three diamonds - one is said the be from Botswana and two from Princess Dianas collection.

No date has yet been set for the wedding, but it is unlikely to take place in April to avoid clashing with the due date of William and Kate's third royal baby.

Meghan Markle - In pictures 1 /53 Meghan Markle - In pictures Actress/model Meghan Markle attends the pARTy! - celebrating 25 years of P.S. ARTS on May 20, 2016 in Los Angeles, California Getty Images Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Street artist Pegasus' art work which appeared in Highbury and Islington. @pegasusart Meghan Markle in Ibiza Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle attends Glamour and L'Oreal Paris Celebrate 2016 College Women Of The Year at NoMad Hotel Rooftop on 27 April 2016 in New York City Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images Actress Meghan Markle attends P.S. Arts' The pARTy at NeueHouse Hollywood on 20 May 2016 in Los Angeles, California Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Meghan Markle.. 'Today' Show, New York in 2016 MediaPunch/Rex Features Meghan Markle, Lexus-mosphere, Lexus Street Style, Day Two, MADE Fashion Week, New York in 1015 BFA/Rex Features Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle attends the NBC's 2015 New York Summer Press Day at Four Seasons Hotel New York on 24 June 2015 in New York City Robin Marchant/Getty Images Meghan Markle attends Wes Gordon runway show during MADE Fashion Week Fall 2015 at Milk Studios on 13 February 2015 in New York City Getty Images Meghan Markle attends the 12th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards at Spring Studios in 2015 Getty Images Model Meghan Markle attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 13th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street on October 28, 2014 in New York City Larry Busacca/Getty Images Meghan Markle attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 13th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street powered by CIROC Vodka on 28 October 2014 in New York City Getty Images Meghan Markle poses backstage at the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2014 at The Theatre at Lincoln Center on 08 February 2014 in New York City Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Meghan Markle arriving for the World Premiere of The Hunger Games : Catching Fire, at the Odeon Leicester Square, London in 2013 Matt Crossick/PA Meghan Markle attends the London Global Gift Gala at ME Hotel on 19 November 2013 in London Getty Images Meghan Markle attends the ELLE Women in Television Celebration presented by Hearts on Fire Diamonds and Wella Professionals held at Soho House on 24 January 2013 in West Hollywood, California Getty Images Actress Meghan Markle attends the Rising Stars: 2012 Producers Ball during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2012 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media

The highest odds are on a date being set for March or May. It is not known whether the British public will receive a bank holiday for the wedding, as happened for Prince William's marriage in 2011.

Prime Minister Theresa May has offered Prince Harry and Meghan Markle her "very warmest congratulations" and says "this is a time of huge celebration for two people in love"The romance between fifth in line to the throne Harry and the star of legal drama Suits began in summer last year when they were introduced in London by a mutual friend.

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits

Ms Markle recently quit her role as Rachel Zane in Suits after filming of season seven came to a close amid rumours she was moving to the UK to be with Harry permanently.

There were earlier reports that Harry and Ms Markle became engaged in August when they holidayed in Botswana.

Prince Harry: The Duke of Sussex - In pictures 1 /134 Prince Harry: The Duke of Sussex - In pictures Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle on May 8, 2019 Getty Images 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor PA 2014 Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales look at a mobile phone as they watch the athletics at Lee Valley Track during the Invictus Games on September 11, 2014 in London Getty Images 1990 Princes William and Harry with Diana starting a new term atWetherby School, Notting Hill Gate Daily Mail 1993 Prince Harry aged 8 years old in a tank watching a mock battle during a visit to the Light Dragoons in Hannover, Germany Jeremy Selwyn 1993 Prince Harry aged 8 years old watching a mock battle during a visit to the Light Dragoons in Hannover, Germany 1995 The Prince and Princess of Wales with sons Prince William and Prince Harry, attending the VJ Day commemorations at Buckingham Palace PA 1997 Prince Charles (R), former husband of Diana, their two sons, Harry (C) and William follow the hearse in a Limousine as the coffin of Princess of Wales, makes its way from Saint James's Palace to Kensington Palace, Diana's former home, 05 September in London on the eve of her funeral. Some 2 million people are expected to line the route of the funeral procession AFP/Getty Images 1997 The funeral of Princess Diana Jeremy Selwyn 2001 Prince Harry takes part in an exhibition Polo match July 28, 2001 at Cirencester Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire Getty Images 2002 Prince Harry walks behind the Gun Carriage bearing the coffin of the Queen Mother April 9, 2002 as it makes its way to Westminster Abbey during her state funeral April 9, 2002 in London Getty Images 2002 Prince Harry (L) and Prince William attend a service of Thanksgiving to celebrate The Queen's Golden Jubilee 04 June 2002, at St Paul's Cathedral in London AFP/Getty Images 2002 Prince Charles (C) poses for a photograph with his sons Prince William (R) and Prince Harry during their annual skiing holiday in the Swiss alps March 29, 2002 in the village of Klosters, Switzerland Getty Images 2003 Prince Harry, the younger son of the Prince of Wales, takes part in March 2003 at Eton College in the Wall Game between Dr Gailey's Old Boys against The Mixed Wall - the top school team. His brother, Prince William (right) is playing for the Old Boys AFP/Getty Images 2003 The youngest son of the Prince of Wales, Prince Harry poses next to a bronze statue of Perseus holding the Gorgon's head on May 12, 2003 in the King of Siam's Gardens at Eton College Getty Images 2003 Prince Harry at Eton College Getty Images 2003 Prince Harry and England captain Martin Johnson celebrate in the dressing rooms after England's win in the Rugby World Cup Final match between Australia and England at Telstra Stadium November 22, 2003 in Sydney, Australia Getty Images 2003 Prince William (L) and brother Prince Harry (R) wait to receive their prizes at the end of the Calcot Manor Hotel polo cup on June 22, 2003 at Tetbury, Gloucestershire Getty Images 2004 Prince Harry takes part in a command task exercise at the British Army's Regular Commissions Board (RCB) held over four days at Westbury September 24, 2004 in Sandhurst, Wiltshire, England Getty Images 2004 A very somber and reflective looking Prince William and Prince Harry at the opening of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, Hyde Park Associated Newspapers 2005 Laura Parker Bowles, Prince Harry and Prince William following the Civil Ceremony following the marriage between HRH Prince Charles and Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles, at The Guildhall, Windsor on April 9, 2005 in Berkshire, England Getty Images 2005 Prince Harry plays polo for HSBS against Virginia State polo at Cirencester Park Polo Club on July 30, 2005 in Cirencester, England Getty Images 2005 Prince Charles, Princess Camilla and Prince Harry watch poppies dropped from a Lancaster bombe as she stands next to Prince Andrew on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the celebrations marking the end of World War II in London 10 July 2005 AFP/Getty Images 2006 The Duke of Edinburgh speaks to Prince William and Prince Harry at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy after The Sovereign's Parade that marked the completion of Prince Harry's Officer training PA 2006 Prince Harry in action during his training at Sandhurst Military Academy, issued on January 25, 2006, England Getty Images 2007 Prince Harry joins Rhino Conservation Botswana on operation to tag and protect rhinos Rhino Conservation Botswana 2007 HRH Prince William and Prince Harry arrive at the Cavalry Old Comrades Association Annual Parade in Hyde Park on May 13, 2007 in London Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy laughing before the Investec Challenge international rugby match South Africa vs. England in Twickenham, west London, on November 22, 2008 AFP/Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry practices his rugby skills with members of the crew of his Spartan armoured vehicle on February 20, 2008 during a break in their duties in the desert of Helmand province in Southern Afghanistan AFP/Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry joins more than 200 sailors, soldiers and Royal Marines, and Airmen of 52 Infantry Brigade, as they parade along the Royal Mile before attending a private Memorial and Thanksgiving Service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, in Scotland, on June 18, 2008, to honour those who lost their lives in Afghanistan AFP/Getty Images 2008 Prince Harry takes part in a 'Kick for Life' program to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS on July 8, 2008 in Buthe Buthe, Lesotho Getty Images 2007 Prince Harry says goodbye to guests at the guards chapel after a thanksgiving service for the life of Diana, Princess of Wales Jeremy Selwyn 2009 Prince William and Prince Harry pose in front of a Griffin helicopter during a photocall at RAF Shawbury on June 18, 2009 in Shawbury, England Getty Images 2010 Prince Harry and Prince William (R) hold an African rock python during a visit to Mokolodi Education Centre on June 15, 2010 in Gaborone, Botswana Getty Images 2010 Prince Harry pitches the first ball before the New York Mets play the Minnesota Twins, at Citi Field on June 26, 2010 in New York, Getty Images 2010 Prince Harry struggles with his klaxon horn while attending the opening of the Royal British Legion Wootton Bassett Field of Remembrance in Lydiard Park on November 9, 2010 in Wootton Basset Getty Images 2011 Prince Harry, joining the Walking with the Wounded expedition team, tries out an immersion suit on the island of Spitsbergen, situated between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole, during the last days of preparation before setting off to the North Pole on foot, on March 30, 2011 in Spitsbergen, Norway Getty Images 2011 Prince William takes the hand of his bride Catherine Middleton, now to be known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, followed by Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton as they walk down the aisle inside Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images 2011 Best man Prince Harry and Maid of Honour Pippa Middleton on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011 in London, England Getty Images 2012 Prince Harry poses with Usain Bolt at the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies on March 6, 2012 in Kingston, Jamaica. Prince Harry is in Jamaica as part of a Diamond Jubilee Tour, representing Queen Elizabeth II, taking in Belize, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Brazil Getty Images 2012 Prince Harry races out from the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent to scramble his Apache with fellow pilots, during his 12 hour shift at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion on November 3, 2012 in Afghanistan Getty Images 2014 Prince Harry cooks with children during a visit to the Thuso Centre for children living with multiple disabilities on December 7, 2014 in Bute-Bute, Lesotho Getty Images 2014 Prince Harry gives a speech at the media launch for the Invictus Games 2014 at the Copper Box Arena in the Olympic Park in London Getty Images 2014 Prince Harry shows children a photograph he has taken on a Fuji X100s Camera during a visit to a herd boy night school constructed by Sentebale on December 8, 2014 in Mokhotlong, Lesotho Getty Images 2015 Prince Harry meets Daphne Dunne (wearing her husbands Victoria Cross) during a walkabout outside the Sydney Opera House on May 7, 2015 in Sydney, Australia Chris Jackson/Getty Images 2015 The moment that Prince Harry is reunited with Mutsu aged 15yrs in November 2015. Mutsu is a local teenager who the Prince met on his first visit to Lesotho, and with whom he has since remained in regular contact Big Earth Productions/ITV 2015 Prince Harry and Prince Phillip enjoy the atmosphere during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final match between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham Stadium on October 31, 2015 Getty Images 2015 Prince Harry greets members of the public outside the Australian War Memorial on April 6, 2015 in Canberra, Australia Getty Images 2015 Prince George of Cambridge is held by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II look out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour on June 13, 2015 Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry with the Invictus team at Buckingham Palace Jeremy Selwyn 2016 Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace in London at the unveiling of the UK team for the Invictus Games Jeremy Selwyn 2016 Prince Harry boxing Jeremy Selwyn 2016 Prince Harry watches as Singer Rihanna gets her blood sample taken for an live HIV test, in order to promote more widespread testing for the public at the 'Man Aware' event held by the Barbados National HIV/AIDS Commission on the eleventh day of an official visit on December 1, 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry helped with one of the largest elephant translocations in conservation history African Parks via PA 2016 Prince Harry is given garlands and flowers as he visits Gauda Secondary School, an earthquake-damaged school being reconstructed with assistance from the Gurkha Welfare Scheme, in the Himalayan village of Okhari on day four of his visit to Nepal on March 22, 2016 in Okhari, Nepal Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry tires a London Air Ambulance Operation Game as he joins City brokers at ICAP and celebrities from the world of sport, television and entertainment on their trading floor in the City of London for the firm's 24th charity fundraising day PA 2016 Prince Harry joins City brokers ICAP and celebrities from the world of sport, television and entertainment on their trading floor in the City of London for the firm's 24th charity fundraising day /PA 2016 Prince Harry (R) meets Chewbacca during a tour of the Star Wars sets at Pinewood studios on April 19, 2016 in Iver Heath, England Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry (L) and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge try out light sabres during a tour of the Star Wars sets at Pinewood studios on April 19, 2016 in Iver Heath, England Getty Images 2016 Prince Harry plays volleyball with local school children as he visits Gauda Secondary School, an earthquake-damaged school being reconstructed with assistance from the Gurkha Welfare Scheme, in the Himalayan village of Okhari on day four of his visit to Nepal on March 22, 2016 in Okhari, Nepa Getty Images 2016 The Fields of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey today with Prince Harry and the Duke of Edinburgh Jeremy Selwyn 2017 Prince Harry (with former US President Barack Obama following a meeting at Kensington Palace in London PA 2017 Prince Harry and his girlfriend actress Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Reuters 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Cowarth Park for the Audi Polo Challenge Rex Features 2017 The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge at the start line of the Virgin Money London Marathon PA 2017 England's Dylan Hartley (left) receives the Calcutta Cup from Prince Harry (centre) and RFU President Peter Baines (right) during the RBS Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London PA 2017 Prince Harry speaks at the Military Drumhead Service on Horse Guards Parade in London, ahead of the unveiling of a national memorial honouring the Armed Forces and civilians who served their country during the Gulf War and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan PA 2017 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry promoting Heads Together 2017 Prince Harry talks to children at a tea party at Buckingham Palace, London Reuters 2017 Prince Harry plays in the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup 2017 on June 5, 2017 in Singapore Getty Images 2017 Prince Harry visiting a mine clearance site in Angola PA 2017 Prince William, left, and his brother Prince Harry arrive for the wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St Mark's Church in Englefield AP 2017 Prince Harry speaks to competitors during the UK team trials for the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 at the University of Bath Sports Training Village in Bath PA 2017 Prince Harry meets Daphne Dunne (97 years old), during a walk around The Rocks district of Sydney with New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian whilst promoting the 2018 Invictus games in Australia Reuters 2017 The Duke of Cambridge (right) and Prince Harry, as they lay their wreaths during the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph memorial in Whitehall, central London PA 2017 Prince Harry smiles as he speaks to veterans as he attends the official opening ceremony of The Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey AP 2017 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together at the Prince's Invictus Games Getty Images 2017 Prince Harry and his girlfriend actress Meghan Markle watch the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Reuters 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding. Reuters 2018 Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wave from the Ascot Landau Carriage during their carriage procession on Castle Hill outside Windsor Castle in Windsor Reuters 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. PA PA Archive/PA Images 2018 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF Getty Images 2018 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a state dinner at the Royal Residence in Nuku'alofa, Tonga Getty Images 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada Hous Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on Commonwealth Day AP 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) attend a reception to mark the 50th Anniversary of the investiture of The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace in London AFP/Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey for the Anzac Day Service 2019 Jeremy Selwyn 2019 Prince Harry in front of the horses, apparently named George and Sir John, as he announces the birth PA 2019 The couple during their royal tour in south Africa Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex have announced they are to step back as Senior Royals and say they want to divide their time between the UK and North America. LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 11: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend a service marking the centenary of WW1 armistice at Westminster Abbey on November 11, 2018 in London Getty Images 2019 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrive for the Royal Family's traditional Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk AFP via Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Canada House on January 07, 2020 in London Getty Images 2019 Prince Harry cuddles baby Archie during the family's Christmas break SussexRoyal AP Misan Harriman Apple TV+ The Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex unveiling the Diana memorial PA Wire GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2021 Dave Benett

Rumours went into overdrive in mid-October when it was reported that Ms Markle and the Queen had met and spent an hour together in Buckingham Palace drinking tea.

Ms Markle also graced the cover of Vanity Fair's October issue, telling the magazine: "We're a couple. We're in love."

Prince Harry and Ms Markle made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in September.
M eghan Markle and Princess Diana would have been thick as thieves, Prince Harry has said in the couples first interview since becoming engaged.

Harry, 33, and American actress Ms Markle, 36, announced their engagement on Monday with the royal marriage to take place in spring 2018.

Speaking together publicly about their fairytale romance for the first time, Prince Harry said his late mother and bride-to-be Ms Markle would be best friends and Diana would be over the moon, jumping up and down with excitement.

Oh they'd be thick as thieves, without question, Prince Harry told BBC interviewer Mishal Husain.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle give their first broadcast interview / BBC News

I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me, but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends - best friends with Meghan.

You know it is days like today when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

He said: But you know with the ring and with everything else that's going on I'm sure she's- before fiancee Ms Markle added: Shes with us.

The royal couple enjoyed a 16-month relationship after being introduced by a mutual friend. They went on two back to back dates before Harry invited her to join him on holiday in Botswana.

The stunning couple in Kensington Palace on Monday afternoon. / EPA

The prince, who will be sixth in line to the throne after Kate and Williams third child is born next year, got down on one knee when the pair were trying to roast a chicken during a typical night in at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

Asked about the glittering engagement ring, Prince Harry said he used diamonds from his mother, Princess Diana's, jewellery collection "to make sure she's with us on this crazy journey together".

He joked to his fiancee to "make sure it stays on that finger".

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first appearance following engagement

Suits actress Ms Markle added: "I think everything about Harry's thoughtfulness, and the inclusion of that and obviously not being able to meet his mom, it's so important to me to know that she's a part of this with us.

And I think in being able to meet his aunts and also Julia and just different people who were so important to his mom, I'm able to know a part of her through them and of course through him.

"And it's incredibly special. And you know to be able to have this which sort of links where you come from and Botswana which is important to us and it's - it's perfect."

Meghan Markle - In pictures 1 /53 Meghan Markle - In pictures Actress/model Meghan Markle attends the pARTy! - celebrating 25 years of P.S. ARTS on May 20, 2016 in Los Angeles, California Getty Images Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Street artist Pegasus' art work which appeared in Highbury and Islington. @pegasusart Meghan Markle in Ibiza Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle attends Glamour and L'Oreal Paris Celebrate 2016 College Women Of The Year at NoMad Hotel Rooftop on 27 April 2016 in New York City Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images Actress Meghan Markle attends P.S. Arts' The pARTy at NeueHouse Hollywood on 20 May 2016 in Los Angeles, California Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Meghan Markle.. 'Today' Show, New York in 2016 MediaPunch/Rex Features Meghan Markle, Lexus-mosphere, Lexus Street Style, Day Two, MADE Fashion Week, New York in 1015 BFA/Rex Features Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle attends the NBC's 2015 New York Summer Press Day at Four Seasons Hotel New York on 24 June 2015 in New York City Robin Marchant/Getty Images Meghan Markle attends Wes Gordon runway show during MADE Fashion Week Fall 2015 at Milk Studios on 13 February 2015 in New York City Getty Images Meghan Markle attends the 12th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards at Spring Studios in 2015 Getty Images Model Meghan Markle attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 13th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street on October 28, 2014 in New York City Larry Busacca/Getty Images Meghan Markle attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 13th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street powered by CIROC Vodka on 28 October 2014 in New York City Getty Images Meghan Markle poses backstage at the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2014 at The Theatre at Lincoln Center on 08 February 2014 in New York City Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Meghan Markle arriving for the World Premiere of The Hunger Games : Catching Fire, at the Odeon Leicester Square, London in 2013 Matt Crossick/PA Meghan Markle attends the London Global Gift Gala at ME Hotel on 19 November 2013 in London Getty Images Meghan Markle attends the ELLE Women in Television Celebration presented by Hearts on Fire Diamonds and Wella Professionals held at Soho House on 24 January 2013 in West Hollywood, California Getty Images Actress Meghan Markle attends the Rising Stars: 2012 Producers Ball during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2012 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle Meghan Markle/Facebook Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle in Anti-Social: Special Edition - Trailer Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits (Season 5) NBC Universal Media

In August the UK saw a fresh outpouring of grief as mourners marked the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death following a car crash in Paris in 1997. Prince Harry was just 12 when his mother died.

Ms Markle called her meeting with the Queen in October at Buckingham Palace "incredible", as Prince Harry added the corgis "took to her straight away".

She said: "I think, you know, a) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her.

"And we've had a really - she's - she's an incredible woman."

No date has yet been set for the royal wedding, but odds are on for March or May. / PA

Prince Harry also said brother William and wife Kate, whose third child is due in April, were "longing to meet" Ms Markle.

The couple have also spent a lot of time with Ms Markle's mum, who Harry described as "amazing".

Ms Markle is close to both her parents, who divorced when she was young. In a statement her mum and dad said they were "incredibly happy" for the pair, who they described as both "kind and loving".

No date has yet been set for the wedding, but it is unlikely to take place in April to avoid clashing with the due date of William and Kate's third royal baby.

The highest odds are on a date being set for March or May. Downing Street said on Monday there were "no plans" to give the public a bank holiday, as happened for William's marriage in 2011.

Fevered speculation of an engagement went into overdrive in mid-October when it was reported Ms Markle and the Queen had spent and hour together at Buckingham Palace drinking tea.
R oyal fans and tourists have revealed their excitement after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their long-awaited engagement.

Fans outside London's royal residences said Ms Markle is princess material, while royalist town crier, Tony Appleton, claimed he had a "premonition" of the news.

Fifth in line to the throne Harry, 33, has for the past 16 months been dating the 36-year-old star who found fame when she starred in the US legal drama Suits.

After meeting through mutual friends in London, the almost inseparable pair confirmed their engagement on Monday.

Town Crier Tony Appleton said he had a 'premonition' of the engagement / Nick Ansell/PA Wire

In the wake of the news, royalist town crier, Tony Appleton - who was outside Buckingham Palace ready for the announcement, said he had arrived in the capital at 7am on Monday because he expected the news.

"I had a premonition last night," the 81-year-old from Great Baddow, Essex, told the Press Association.

Quizzed on what the engagement announcement means to him, he said: "Everybody wants Harry to get married, including me.

"I think this seals it, absolutely. I think if Diana was alive she would be so proud of him, so proud of him."

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

Mr Appleton said he thinks the "very attractive" Ms Markle is a "very good choice" of wife for Harry, adding that he thinks she will be good for him.

"I think she will do the royal family proud and Harry as well when he takes her out and about with him."

He said he will be there for the latest royal wedding, ringing his bell to congratulate the couple.

Outside Kensington Palace, where the couple will live in Nottingham Cottage, the world's media had gathered following the announcement.

Tourists film Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement / PA

American tourist, Laurie Mallen, who is visiting from Boston with her parents, said: "The transatlantic friendship's always been there, but I think this is just going to further that and really cement that.

"She's a great representative of America. She's a professional person, with all the charity work she's done, she has a huge personal interest in doing good, that's what she'll be able to bring, and will probably be able to expand upon by being part of the royal family."

Ms Mallen said she has been receiving text messages from her American friends asking if she had heard the news.

"I'm sure there will be some wedding-watching parties," she said.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first appearance following engagement

"Will and Kate's wedding was huge, there were tonnes of people getting together at four in the morning to have tea parties."

Katie Humphries, 31, who was visiting London from Worcester for the day with her friends, said she thinks Ms Markle is princess material.

She added: "Like Kate, she's made it modern. The role is modern now isn't it? I think it's bringing it up to date with what's going on in the world."

She said she will be watching the wedding at a wedding party and that she hopes there will be a Bank Holiday for the big day.

Tourist Daniel Belet, 71, from France - who was at Kensington Palace as he visited the city with his wife, said they were both excited about the engagement, and admitted they enjoy the royal family.

Agreeing there is a "fascination" in France with the British royals, he joked: "We cut the head off Louis, but we are very fond of foreign royalties."
P rince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped out in public for the first time this afternoon after the world celebrated news of their engagement.

The Prince and Ms Markle appeared in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, near the cottage which they will eventually call home, in front of the world's media jostling for the first glimpse of the happy couple.

Meghan wore all white and Prince Harry wore a navy suit as they smiled for the cameras while holding hands and briefly posing for photographs.

Ms Markle also showed off her engagement ring for the first time. Harry is said to have designed the ring using gems from a brooch that belonged to his late mother.

The happy couple: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Getty Images

The band is made of gold and the ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen.

It features three diamonds - one is said the be from Botswana and two from Princess Dianas collection.

The couple ended months of fevered speculation by announcing their wedding will take place next Spring.

A reporter shouted: "Meghan how are you feeling?

The ring is said to have been designed by Harry himself with two of Diana's diamonds with a central diamond from Botswana and set with a gold band

She replied: "I'm so happy."

The prince was asked: "When did you know she was the one?"

"From the very first time we met," came the reply.

When asked how he proposed and if it was romantic, he said: "Of course, it was."

Ms Markle then beamed as she flashed her engagement ring for the cameras.

The news was confirmed this morning by a delighted Prince of Wales in a statement that also revealed the couple became engaged in London earlier this month.

Visiting Poundbury in Dorset the Prince of Wales told reporters he was thrilled and very happy indeed.

Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle in spring next year / Jeremy Selwyn

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

The statement did not reveal the exact date or location of the ceremony but said further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

The couple are due to give their first interview for the BBC later today, hours after announcing the happy news.

Two years before the couple began dating, Prince Harry told a friend on a night out that Ms Markle was his "ideal woman".

Clarence House said in a statement: "His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle.

"The wedding will take place in Spring 2018.

"His Royal Highness and Ms Markle became engaged in London earlier this month.

"Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty The Queen and other close members of his family.

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms Markle's parents.

"The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace."

Ms Markle's parents wished their daughter "a lifetime of happiness". Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said their daughter's relationship with Harry was a "source of great joy" to them.

Ms Markle is close to both her parents, who divorced when she was young, and has frequently written about the love and support they have given her.

Mr Markle and Ms Ragland said: "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person.

"To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

"We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

The romance between fifth in line to the throne Harry and the star of legal drama Suits began in summer last year when they were introduced in London by a mutual friend.

She recently quit her role as Rachel Zane in Suits after filming of season seven came to a close amid rumours she was moving to the UK to be with Harry permanently.

Prince Harry and Ms Markle made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in September.
T he nation rejoiced as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement.

Clarence House confirmed the news on Monday after rumours the pair planned to wed reached fever pitch.

But as experts speculate on the dress, the venue and guest list, the most important question on everybody's lips is: Will Brits get a day off for the wedding?

Heres what we know about the possibility of a public holiday so far:

When will the wedding take place?

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

In a statement released by Clarence House, it said the wedding would take place in Spring 2018.

The wedding is unlikely to take place in April due to Kates pregnancy.

The highest odds are on the pair getting married in either March or May.

What has happened in the past?

Kate and William: 5 Years of Marriage 1 /26 Kate and William: 5 Years of Marriage Magical moment Prince William kisses his new wife Kate, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace on April 29, 2011 AFP/Getty Images At the altar Prince Harry, Prince William, Kate Middleton and her father Michael during the ceremony at Westminster Abbey Getty Images Sisterly love Pippa Middleton holds her sister Kate's wedding dress train as they make their way into Westminster Abbey for the wedding service Getty Images Arm in arm Kate and William walk arm in arm across Buckingham Palace the day after their wedding towards the helicopter that will whisk them away on honeymoon John Stillwell//Getty Images Canadian tour Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving at BMO Centre to watch the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on the first of five joint overseas tours during the couple's first five years of marriage. Lionel Hahn/PA Olympic fever The royal couple cheer on Great Britain in the Men's Team Sprint with Prince Harry (right) at the Velodrome during the Olympic Games in 2012 Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Dancing with locals The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge dancing with locals at Vaiaku Falekaupule during a visit to Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, during a nine-day royal tour of the Far East and South Pacific in 2012 Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA Starting a family Kate and William pose with their newborn son Prince George in the garden of the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire. Also pictured is Lupo the cocker spaniel, the couple's dog. PA Sporting couple The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge share a moment during the opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup Paul Gilham/Getty Images Royal visit The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during an event hosted by Mind at London's Harrow College to mark World Mental Health Day in October 2015 Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA Going outdoors The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the Towers Residential Outdoor Education Centre in Capel Curig Chris Jackson/PA New arrival Leaving St. Mary's hospital with Princess Charlotte, who was born on May 2, 2015 Jeremy Selwyn Cheering England on Harry, William and Kate at the Rugby World Cup match between England and Wales at Twickenham in September 2015 Mike Egerton/PA Family portrait Posing outside Kensington Palace with their two children George and Charlotte in December 2015 Chris Jelf/PA In the snow The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their children, Princess Charlotte and Princess George, enjoying a short skiing break in the French Alps earlier this year John Stillwell/PA Snowball fight Kate and William show the playful side of their marriage during their family skiing break John Stillwell/PA Good game The royal couple joke during a game drive at Kaziranga National Park in India in April 2016 Fun and games Firing an arrow at The Changlingmethang National Archery ground in Thimphu during their tour of Bhutan earlier this month AFP/Getty Images Royal tour The royal couple stop to take in the view during a hike to the Tiger's Nest Monastery, near Paro in Bhutan Joe Giddens/PA Retracing Diana's steps The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pose in front of the Taj Mahal in India, following in the footsteps of William's mother Diana

When Kate and William got married in April 2011, the public were treated to a one-off bank holiday.

However, this may have been because the Duke of Cambridge is much higher up the line of succession compared to Harry.

William is second in line to the throne after Prince Charles but Harry has dropped down to fifth behind nephew and niece Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

He will drop to sixth when Kate and Williams new baby is born. It is due in April next year.

But, do we get a day off?

When Harry met Meghan - a timeline of their relationship

It has not yet been confirmed whether or not the public will be granted a holiday for the wedding.

The Government will decide if the public will be granted a bank holiday to celebrate.

What do people think?

Britons have taken to social media calling for a day off for the wedding.

As soon as the news was announced hilarious tweets popped up on social media.

Broadcaster Tony Shepherd joked: Hey Prince Harry and Meghan hurry up and announce a date for the wedding. We want to know when were getting a day off!

Another person wrote: Nice to see that Prince Harry is marrying this Meghan Markle, hoping Harry can be a true lad now and set the wedding for a weekday so we all get a lovely day off!

Chris Stacey added: Very happy for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle but the real issue is do we get a day off for the wedding?

Another user wrote: "Do we get a day off for the Royal wedding and if not do we at least get a discount on commemorative plates?"
T hirty-one migrants were killed and 40 more are missing after being attacked by sharks while crossing from Africa to Italy, according to the Libyan navy.

The sharks set on migrants who fell from overcrowded boats as they attempted the crossing while taking advantage of good weather, the navy said on Facebook.

Libyan coastguard boats came across the horrific scenes and raised the alarm in the early hours of Friday, it added.

Hundreds were crowded on board two small boats, while others scrambled to climb aboard to escape from the sharks, the navy said in its post on social media.

'Shark attack': Some 200 people were rescued from the overcrowded dinghies, the navy said / Libyan Maritime Forces

Dozens of bodies were floating in the water when the coastguards arrived, it said.

Horrifying images posted online showed white body bags lined up on a quay and on a patrol boat.

Three children and 18 women were among the dead, according to Libyan authorities.

A further 200 people were reportedly rescued from two dinghies and detained when they returned to shore in Libya.

It emerged as the International Organisation for Migration said that about 161,000 people had crossed the sea to Europe so far this year. Almost 3,000 were known to have died, it added.

Experts were sceptical about claims of a shark attack, with one saying: Its possible [Libyan forces] wanted to cover up deaths provoked by their own violent intervention.

Ezio Amato, a marine biologist, told the Times: "White sharks and tiger sharks have been known to attack lone swimmers.

He added that there were no known reports of attacks by groups of sharks.
A n Australian senator broke down as she pleaded for colleagues to support same-sex marriage.

Greens party senator Sarah Hanson-Young broke down in tears as the debate resumed following a postal survey in which the Australian public voted "yes" to gay marriage.

Ms Hanson-Young's emotional tirade came as senators discussed a private bill introduced by Liberal Dean Smith to change the marriage laws.

The politician was unable to hold back tears as she recalled a friend in high school who had been teased for being gay.

She said: I remember thinking that I never did quite enough to have his back.

She went on to say young people in Australia deserve better than that, the yes vote that occurred two weeks ago is so important for sending a message to these young people.

Ms Hanson-Young has introduced 20 failed gay marriage bills into parliament since she was elected in 2007.

In her speech, she also referred to former Greens leaver Bob Brown who was openly gay and an LGBTIQ rights activist.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young hugs NSW Greens member Alex Greenwich after speaking on the same sex marriage bill in the senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra / EPA

She said: When Bob retired in 2012 I said to him, Bob, Im really sorry that we havent been able to reverse that awful law before your time was up.

So today today I stand here with my Greens colleagues finishing the job that Bob Brown started. Boy, this parliament has come such a long way.

Senators have just one week to debate on the bill as the government aims to make same-sex marriage legal by Christmas.

Parties Labor, Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team and Derryn Hinch supported the bill, which was also was co-signed by two Liberal senators, according to The Guardian.

The upper house has agreed to suspend all other government business in order to focus solely on the same-sex marriage bill.

There will be a late night sitting on Thursday and senators will return on Friday if the bill has not been passed.
The polluted air in the national Capital is taking a heavy toll on the health of its citizens.

By Ashutosh Mishra: The Health & Family Welfare Department of Delhi government issued an advisory for its citizens to combat air pollution in the national Capital.

AAP govt appealed people to work towards a pollution-free Delhi.

In its advisory, the government has asked people not to burn dry leaves, crop residue, wood, coal, cow dung etc.

It also asked citizens to plant more trees like neem, sheesham, keekar, gulmohar that make the air clean and healthy.

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The health department also advised people to go for carpooling and use public transport as much as possible. Walk or use nonpolluting mode of transport for short distance, the advisory says further.

The department has advised people to avoid venturing outside early morning and late evening for any sort of physical activity as the pollution levels are maximum at this time. Stay indoor as much as possible.

The state government has asked all Schools in the Capital to avoid outdoor assemblies, sports, and other physical activities early morning.

The polluted air in the national Capital is taking a heavy toll on the health of its citizens.

The advisory further says, "It is a man-made tragedy. The sources of pollution could be a direct result of burning of agricultural residue in neighboring states, motor vehicle emissions, industrial pollution, construction work, bursting of firecrackers, household combustion devices, burning of wood, coal, and cow dung".

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T he volcano rumbling on in Bali has again begun spewing out greyish-white plumes of ash, continuing a weeks-long period of activity.

Mount Agung had calmed down in recent days and was emitting jets of steam, before Friday brought a return to the ash cloud that continues today.

The ash was shot as high as 1.3 miles into the air, the Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

The volcano, which is capable of very violent eruptions, has shown a marked increase in activity in the last few weeks, stoking fears of a repeat of an eruption in 1963 that killed more than 1,000 people.

This blog is currently paused, but check back soon for the latest updates from Bali.
F amilies of six British men held in an Indian jail on weapons charges have told of their relief after they were all acquitted after four years.

The men, known as the Chennai Six, were first jailed in October 2013 while working as security guards on a ship to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean.

On hearing that the men had been cleared, their families spoke of their dreams coming true.

The family of Nick Dunn, from Ashington Northumberland, gathered together as they awaited news from the court in India.

After it was announced the men would be released, his sister Lisa said it would make all of our Christmases.

She said:"The longer it went on, as much as you still have an element of hope, it does dwindle after having so many delays and setbacks.

Yvonne McHugh (centre), the girlfriend of Billy Irving who is being held in a prison in Chennai in India, is joined by family members of other prisoners including Lisa Dunn / PA

"But that hasn't happened today and we've had the best news ever. It will make all of our Christmases, all of our dreams have come true today."

Mr Dunn's father, Jim, said: "Absolutely fantastic, the best news in the world.

"We haven't been a full family for a long time now. Nick won't fully realise it's over until his feet touch down in Newcastle."

Customs officials initially boarded the vessel and were said to have found 35 guns and almost 6000 rounds of ammunition.

Charges against the British men were dropped but they were forced to remain in India while prosecutors pursued an appeal.

The men were Billy Irving, 37, from Argyll and Bute, Mr Dunn, 31, John Armstrong, 30, of Wigton, Cumbria, Nicholas Simpson, 47, of Catterick, North Yorkshire, Ray Tindall, 42, of Chester, and Paul Towers, 54, of Pocklington, East Yorkshire.

Yvonne McHugh, partner of Billy Irving, said she was "over the moon" the men had been acquitted and also that it was a "dream come true".

She added: "We are just waiting to hear how soon they'll be home.

"That's the biggest hurdle we faced and all of them have been acquitted."

Although the men have been cleared, Ms McHugh said she would be unable to speak to Mr Irving as he is not yet out of prison and does not have a phone.

She said: "I won't be able to speak to him until he's out of prison, we just want them home as soon as possible.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic and feel proud we've managed to do this after four years."

A post on "The Chennai 6" Facebook page earlier said families were "understandably delighted" at the news.

They are now waiting to hear when they will be allowed home from India to their families.

The post said: "We now wait to hear as and when the men will be allowed home to their families.

"This may take some time whilst the authorities decide whether they agree with the outcome or wish to appeal.

"If they wish to appeal the men might be released from prison but not allowed back to the UK.

"But the families are delighted that finally common sense and justice has prevailed."

News of their acquittal reached Downing Street which said it will continue to offer consular assistance to the men.

Theresa May's official spokesman said: "The Government, from the Prime Minister down, has worked hard for over four years to support the men and their families and we share their happiness at the court's decision to give a full acquittal to each of the men.

"We are now working with the Indian authorities to discuss the next steps. We will continue to offer the men and their families consular assistance for as long as it is needed."

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "Since I became Foreign Secretary, this case has been a top priority for everybody at the Foreign Office (FCO) and today's verdict is fantastic news.

"The FCO has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families. The importance the UK Government places on their case cannot be understated.

"The men, their families and their supporters, who have campaigned unrelentingly, must be overjoyed.

"I share their delight and I hope they can return home as soon as possible."
H awaii is to reinstate a nuclear attack warning signal in preparation for a potential missile launch by North Korea.

The siren, which has not been used since the Cold War, will sound on December 1 as part of a ballistic missile preparedness program, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA).

The wavering signal will alert residents to take immediate shelter and 'Get inside. Stay inside. Stay tuned' in the event of a nuclear missile attack.

It comes in response to North Korea's increasing nuclear capabilities, HI-EMA warned.

Vern Miyagi of Hawaii Emergency Management Agency announced the plans in a series of broadcasts / Hawaii Emergency Management Agency

HI-EMA's recently preparedness plan builds upon an existing 'alert warning' steady tone siren signal, which is tested statewide on the first day of each month.

The current warning siren notifies residents of natural threats, like hurricanes and tsunamis.

Now, an 'attack warning' tone will be activated in the event that North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile at Hawaii.

This is a wavering tone that instructs the public to immediately take shelter. Alerts will also be sent to resident's phones and broadcast on television and radio.

Threat: Kim Jong-un has tested a number of missiles in recent months / EPA

Experts have warned it could take a missile around 20 minutes to reach Hawaii.

This leaves only 15 minutes or less to warn residents, so families are advised to have a designated place for shelter, Vern Miyagi, administrator of HI-EMA, told local newspaper the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Mr Miyagi said: "If the public hears the new attack warning wavering tone during a non-scheduled test, and after it is officially implemented, they should immediately take cover in the most substantial building or structure available."

He added: "We use the term 'shelter in place', however, each person should pre-identify that place ahead of time and for various times of the normal workday.

"The primary instructions are summarised as: 'Get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned.

Officials are also advising residents in Hawaii to learn more about what they can do to prepare for a nuclear strike.

Mr Miyagi confirmed the probability of a nuclear attack on Hawaii is still unlikely, but added that "increasing nuclear missile capabilities of North Korea cannot be ignored".

But he told NBC news: Hawaii is a likely target because were closer to North Korea than most of the continental United States.

"As we track the news and see tests, both missile launches and nuclear tests, its the elephant in the room. We cant ignore it. People of Hawaii need to know what Hawaii is doing in preparation for this.

Officials believe that 80 to 90 per cent of the population of Hawaii would survive a nuclear attack, according to the Independent.

The decision to make preparations for attack comes after North Korea threatened to launch a missile at US territory, while Donald Trump said he would inflict "fire and fury" in the event of an attack.
A woman was shot dead after a hunter mistook her for a deer, according to Police.

New Yorker Rosemary Billquist, 43, from Sherman was walking her two Labradors when the incident occurred, the Chautauqua County Sheriffs office revealed.

She had left her house on Wednesday evening at approximately 5.30 to go on a Thanksgiving walk.

A deer hunter called Thomas Jadlowski, 34, told officers that he mistook Mrs Billquist for a deer and fired a single shot.

Upon hearing Mrs Billquist scream, he went and investigated and found her 200 yards away.

He then called emergency services and applied pressure to the wound until help arrived.

Mrs Billquist was rushed to UPMC Harmot hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania where she was pronounced dead.

Mr Jadlowski has not been charged and has been cooperating with the investigation.

Mr Jadlowski reported the shooting at 5.24 pm, which is 40 minutes after sunset. According to New York State law it is illegal to hunt after sunset.

Jamie Billquist and his wife had been together 27 years. Speaking to the Independent he said: I thought she was a beautiful person. Something drew me to her .

He continued: We've been together ever since... We decided years ago we didn't want kids. Just free spirits, I guess, kind of enjoying life and having fun.

Friends and co-workers held a vigil for Mrs Billquist on Thursday night. They decorated a bench which she had donated to the hospital with electric tea lights, a yellow Labrador stuffed toy, and flowers.
K aren Pierce, political director general at the Foreign Office, has become the UK's first ever female ambassador to the UN.

Ms Pierce, who first joined the FCO in 1981, will take over the role in January, succeeding 18 male postwar predecessors.

She has previously represented the UK in a wide variety of capacities, attending functions hosted by organisations such as the UN and the World Trade Organisation.

On being announced as the new ambassador, she said: "The UK has long been a strong supporter of the UN and its role at the heart of the global rules-based international system at a time when it is coming under challenge.

"Through our role as a permanent member of the Security Council and position as the UNs third largest donor, the UK will continue to work with others to tackle the pressing security, stability, development and prosperity challenges of today.

"Our security and economic interests depend to a large extent on a strong and effective United Nations.

"I am honoured to be appointed as the UKs Ambassador and to head the UK cross-government effort at the UN. I undertake to ensure we are an active force in New York for progress and partnership."

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "Britain has a proud history of working for positive change through the United Nations, not least in addressing the problems in Libya and Syria.

"I know Karen has the diplomatic skills, energy and patience to continue this vital work, and I congratulate her on her appointment."
A s the royal announcement of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markles engagement circulates, there are plenty of specially crafted gifts to congratulate the couple with.

The Prince of Wales and Ms Markle, who got secretly engaged earlier this month, are set for a spring wedding next year.

From matching mugs to champagne chocolates, here are our favourite gifts to celebrate the newly-engaged couple.

Emma Bridgewater Mr & Mrs Mug Sets

His and hers mugs are a lovely token for couples moving in together, and will remind them of their exciting new title change. Designed with Emma Bridgewater's classic Black Toast pattern, this English Earthenware set will fit perfectly in both traditional and modern kitchens.

39.95, Emma Bridgewater, Buy it now

Engraved Set Of Two Swarovski Crystal Champagne Flutes

The happy couple have a lot of reasons to toast. Embellished with 3 Swarovski diamantes, these beautifully crafted champagne flutes can be personalised with an elegant script message to create a gift that will help them celebrate.

39.99, Getting Personal, Buy it now

Charbonnel et Walker Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles

Theres nothing quite like the gift of champagne-flavoured chocolates. These world renowned truffles from Charbonnel et Walker are created with a buttery Marc de Champagne centre and finished with a light dusting of icing sugar.

23, Liberty London, Buy it now



Vera Wang Love Knots Tealight Holders (Set Of 2)

Tea light holders are a classic and elegant finishing touch to any space and will bring light and warmth into any corner. Inspired by modern romance, Vera Wangs Love Knots set is created with silver details for a lustrous touch.

40, Wedgwood, Buy it now

Kate Spade I Married Adventure Notebook

A planner will help the engaged couple keep track of every little detail over the busy months ahead. We love the coordinating satin ribbon bookmark of this classy Kate Spade offering.

16, Kate Spade, Buy it now

Maison La Bougie Cactus Candle

A subtle home fragrance will make their new home together more welcoming. With a burn time of 45 hours, this sophisticated Maison La Bougie option takes inspiration from Mexico's great outdoors and provides notes of cactus sap.

35, Harvey Nichols, Buy it now

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make first appearance following engagement

Newburg 16-piece Cutlery Set

The couples dining room is about to become the chicest space in their home. This dazzling mirror-finish copper set is crafted by Newburg, one of Italy's finest manufacturers.

129, MADE, Buy it now

John Lewis Single Sheepskin Rug

Snuggly and stylish, this sheepskin piece is ideal for softening floorboards or draping over couches. Its also a great way of bringing some cosiness and texture to the happy couples interior.

35, John Lewis, Buy it now
K aty Perry proved her aim is as good as her singing after she whacked a fan in the face with a giant eyeball.

The US pop superstar, 33, was performing Roar on stage in Salt Lake City when she was inundated with the inflatable toys.

One fan decided to capture the moment on her phone  but was smacked in the face as Perry kicked one of them into the crowd.

Describing the unfortunate moment, they said: Some people were throwing them around, but one landed right by Katy and she kicked it! I didnt realise that she was kicking it right at my face until it was too late.

The ball hit me right square in the face and knocked my phone out of my hands. I was so shocked and started laughing hysterically.

Everyone around me asked me if I was okay and I was just laughing uncontrollably.

It comes weeks after Perry was forced to dive into a crowd at Nashvilles Bridgewater Arena after the giant planet she was floating on malfunctioned and left her suspended in the air.

Katy Perry - In pictures 1 /90 Katy Perry - In pictures REUTERS AP AP REUTERS Getty Images Katy Perry in Smile Capitol Records/AP Katy Perry has released the new music video for her song Daisies Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom who brought some Christmas cheer to poorly children in the Children's Hospital Los Angeles during the festive period Children's Hospital Los Angeles/PA Pregnant Katy Perry showed off her baby bump as she went nude in her latest music video @katyperry Katy Perry dressed up as Dumbo for american Idol @katyperry Katy Perry for American Idol @katyperry Katy Perry performs during a concert following the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup Final between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Getty Images Katy Perry performs during a concert following the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup Final between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Getty Images Katy Perry performs on March 11, 2020 in Bright, Australia. The free Fight On concert was held for for firefighters and communities recently affected by the devastating bushfires in Victoria Getty Images Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry arrive for the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Original Series "Carnival Row Getty Images Katy Perry has dropped a huge hint in her Newver Worn White music video that she's expecting a child with Orlando Bloom Katy Perry/YouTube Katy Perry/YouTube Puppets as Katy Perry performs on stage at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena, London PA Katy Perry attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala Invision/AP Ellie Goulding, Katy Perry and Nick Grimshaw attend the Universal Music BRIT Awards After-Party 2017 Dave Benett Katy Perry performs "Chained to the Rhythm" during the iHeartRadio Music Awards Invision/AP Katy Perry has chopped off her hair and she kind of looks like Miley Cyrus circa 2013 with the new do! Katy Perry/Instagram Katy Perry attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala Invision/AP Katy Perry attending the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena PA Katy Perry attends the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party AFP/Getty Images Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom attend the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Dave Benett Controversial: Katy Perry's booking has sparked a backlash Getty Images Katy Perry arrives at amfAR's 23rd Cinema Against AIDS Gala at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc Getty Images Katy Perry attends amfAR's 23rd Cinema Against AIDS Gala at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc Dave Benett Katy Perry poses as she arrives for the amfAR's 23rd Cinema Against AIDS Gala AFP via Getty Images Annie Clark of St. Vincent, actress Kristen Stewart, actress Emma Stone and singer Katy Perry at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Show and Tea presented by kate spade new york at Chateau Marmont Getty Images Katy Perry speaks at a rally in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, in Las Vegas AP Katy Perry attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Getty Images Katy Perry attends Capitol Records Honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce with a "Star Of Recognition" at Capitol Records Tower Getty Images Dolly Parton, left, and Katy Perry perform iCoat Of Many Colorsi at the 51st annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena AP Katy Perry arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala (Met Gala) to celebrate the opening of "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology" Reuters Katy Perry attends the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Getty Images Katy Perry speaks during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show Press Conference Getty Images Katy Perry performs onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show Getty Images Katy Perry performs onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show Getty Images Katy Perry performs at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, as part of her Prismatic World Tour AFP via Getty Images Rihanna and Katy Perry attend The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry attend The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Getty Images Katy Perry attends The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the STAPLES Center Getty Images Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour' premiere, Los Angeles Rex Features Former Queensberry singers Leonore 'Leo' Bartsch (R)and Gabriella 'Gabby' De Almeida Rinne pose next to the new wax figure of US pop star Katy Perry at Madame Tussauds in Berlin EPA Katy Perry/YouTube Katy Perry dressed as a Cheeto Rex Features Katy Perry in the winners room at the Elle Style Awards 2014 Dave Benett Katy Perry out and about in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan Rex Features Katy Perry photobombing One Direction at ARIA Awards @channelten LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 26: Singer Katy Perry attends the 56th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS) Getty Images Katy Perry attends the show for fashion house Moschino as part of the Milan's Women's fashion week Autumn/Winter 2014 collections AFP via Getty Images The wax figure of American recording artist Katy Perry is unveiled at Madame Tussauds, London Invision/AP Katy Perry arrives at the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2013 Getty Images No hard feelings: Katy Perry and actor Russell Brand split in 2011 Getty Images Kary Perry and Taylor Swift during the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Getty Images Katy Perry backstage at the MTV Movie Awards AP Katy Perry performs during the 2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Getty Images Katy Perry performs onstage during the premiere of Paramount Insurge's "Katy Perry: Part Of Me" held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood Getty Images Katy Perry performs onstage during "VH1 Divas Salute the Troops" presented by the USO at the MCAS Miramar, California Getty Images Katy Perry performing on her Prismatic World Tour at the O2 in London Rex Features Katy Perry performing on her Prismatic World Tour at the O2 in London Rex Features Katy Perry performing on her Prismatic World Tour at the O2 in London Rex Features Katy Perry eith Orlando Bloom in 2019 AFP via Getty Images Katy Perry in Daisies Capitol Records Katy Perry in Daisies Capitol Records Katy Perry in Smile Capitol Records

Perry has been performing as part of her Witness world tour which will head to the UK next year.

Fans were left fuming with Taylor Swift after she announced dates for her Reputation tour, which will take place in the same month that Perry is in the UK.

Although neither will be in the same city at the same time, fans were quick to hit out at Swift for the move while others were upset at having to choose between the two.

One user tweeted: Who else guessed that @taylorswift13 would tour the UK at the same time as @katyperry. What a snake.

Another posted: Taylor is going on tour the same day Im seeing Katy in Manchester... why you doing this to me.
P iers Morgan tried his hand at flattery in an attempt to land an invite to the biggest wedding of 2018.

The Good Morning Britain presenter is so keen to help Prince Harry and Meghan Markle celebrate their big day that he reached out to the Suits actress on Twitter following the couple's engagement announcement.

Referring to himself as Markles friend he tweeted: Congrats Meghan and Harry. My friend will make the perfect modern bride.

P.s Do I get an invite @MeghanMarkle?

Morgan was mocked for his upfront request with many calling him a beg and a parasite.

One user tweeted: That is not how you finesse an invite my friend, that's just desperate.

Another commented: If she is really your friend then text her instead of this self publicising look at me c***.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to marry

News of the engagement was announced this morning in a statement from Clarence House which read: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle.

The wedding will take place in Spring 2018, nearly two years after they first started dating.

The young couple have enjoyed a 16-month trans-Atlantic romance after being introduced in London by mutual friends.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

Several high profile names offered their congratulations to the couple including Prime Minister Theresa May who said she wishes them great happiness for the future.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron said: Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Wonderful news and I wish them a long and happy life together.

When Harry met Meghan - a timeline of their relationship

Markles parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said in a statement: We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person.

To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh announced they are delighted at the news.
M eghan Markles on-screen fiance reacted to news of her engagement to Prince Harry with a hilarious tweet, posted hours after the Royal announcement.

While the rest of the world were congratulating the couple on Twitter, Suits star Patrick J Adams decided to send a different type of message to his co-star.

Sharing Kensington Palaces official announcement, he wrote: She said she was just going out to get some milk...

Adams plays lead character Mike Ross in the US legal drama, who got engaged to Markles character Rachel Zane at the end of Season Four.

Their wedding was put on hold when Ross was sent to prison at the end of Season Five, but is expected to happen during the current Season Seven.

Markle was spotted shooting scenes in a wedding dress earlier this year, leading fans of the show to speculate that the eagerly-awaited nuptials will finally take place.

When Harry met Meghan - A timeline

Both Markle and Adams are set to leave the show at the end of this season as the actress plans to move to the UK with Prince Harry.

The Royal couple announced that their wedding will take place next Spring at their official photocall on Monday.

The news was confirmed on Monday morning by a delighted Prince of Wales in a statement that also revealed the couple became engaged in London earlier this month.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.


By PTI: London, Nov 27 (PTI) Scientists have taken an important step forward in their quest to develop an effective vaccine against tuberculosis - the worlds deadliest infectious disease.

Tuberculosis (TB) kills more people than any other infection, with an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide dying from it every year, researchers said.

The airborne disease is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, but despite 20 years of intense global efforts no effective vaccine has been developed, they said.

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Recent efforts have focused on the response of conventional human T cells - a type of white blood cell essential to fighting off infection - to protein fragments found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria that causes TB.

Now, researchers from the universities of Southampton and Bangor in the UK, have shown that certain lipids - fatty substances essential to cell structure that are found in abundance in Mtb - could trigger an immune response from other, unconventional types of T cells.

In the study published in the journal PNAS, the team showed that a group of lipids called mycolic acids - a major component of the Mtb cellular envelope - could be key to determining an immune response.

The study showed that the geometry, chemical make-up and movement of the mycolic acids long lipid tails when they are embedded in a type of human protein called CD1b determines the response of the bodys unconventional T cells.

"This is an exciting discovery with potential therapeutic implications for TB patients. We have shown that synthetic lipids related to those in the cell wall of Mtb are selectively targeted by T-cells," said Salah Mansour, from the University of Southampton.

"Our findings could help drive advances in vaccine development through the intelligent design of the lipid components of future TB vaccines," said Mansour.

"This is a very exciting result of a collaboration between organic chemists and immunologists which could provide a real opportunity for improved protection against TB," Jumaa Al Dulayymi, from Bangor University added. PTI SAR SAR

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S he may have risen to fame playing Rachel Zane in US drama Suits, but from now on Meghan Markle will be best known for her role as Prince Harrys bride-to-be, following the couples engagement announcement.

But before the actress was a royal consort, she was busy forging an acting career. From roles in CSI to her long running turn in Suits, here are some of the Princess-to-bes best TV moments.

Century City

One of Markles very first TV roles foreshadowed her later major role in legal drama Suits. In 2004 she played a small part in Century City, a series about a firm of lawyers set in 2030 starring Violda Davis, Ioan Gruffudd and Hector Elizondo.

90210

While shes known for having featured in several racy scenes in Suits, long before she was cast as Zane, she played Wendy in teen drama 90210 back in 2008.

Meghan Markle in teen drama 90210

A scene of her performing a sex act resurfaced after she and Prince Harry publicly confirmed their relationship last year.

CSI

Markle has appeared on not one but two of the different CSI editions. First she appeared as a maid who was obsessed with her playboy employer in CSI: NY in 2006, she then she played a police officer who was pulled from a burning building in CSI: Miami in 2010.

Deal or No Deal

One TV job Markle would probably rather forget was her time as a Briefcase Girl on the US version of TV game show Deal or No Deal.

It wasnt the most demanding of acting roles, as the then 25-year-old was just required to hold a briefcase and wait for contestants to choose her number.

In 2013 she told Esquire that the show was an experience shed like to 'gloss over'. I would put that in the category of things I was doing while I was auditioning to try to make ends meet, she explained.

I went from working in the U.S. Embassy in Argentina to ending up on Deal. Its run the gamut.

Definitely working on Deal or No Deal was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing. So if that's a way for me to gloss over that subject, then I will happily shift gears into something else.

Suits

The TV role that propelled Markle to fame, and if rumours are true, attracted the attention of her future husband, was hit US drama Suits.

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits

In it she played Rachel Zane, a fiercely determined paralegal, who worked her way up from researching cases for lawyers to attending Columbia law school.

According to reports it was her part as Zane that first caught Prince Harrys eye, as, a fan of show, he named Markles character as his ideal girl two years before meeting her.

Royal expert Katie Nicholl told The Sun: He had a crush on Rachel Zane two years before he met Meghan and the reason I know is because I was having drinks with one of his friends.

She told me shed been on a night out with Prince Harry. He was single at the time, so she said, Harry, whos your ideal girl? And he said Meghan Markle from Suits.
T he Cutkelvins and Lloyd Macey have become the latest hopefuls to leave The X Factor after a tough semi-finals weekend.

Despite earning praise for their performances from the judges, the acts came bottom in the public vote.

Meanwhile Rak-Su, Grace Davies and Kevin Davy White went sailing through to the final, driving off at the end of the episode in personalised coaches.

Both Macey and The Cutkelvins were gracious in defeat, thanking the crew, voters and judges for their support in their exit interviews.

Just thank you so much to everyone backstage, the crew, the researchers, to the music team, Louis, to you guys, to the judges, said Macey.

While Shereen Cutkelvin told host Dermot OLeary: Thank you everyone, this has been a bless situation. So grateful to have come this far. Well see you on the tour.

Maceys elimination means Louis Walsh is now the only judge without an act in the competition, as Rak-Su belong to Simon Cowells Groups category, Grace Davies to Sharon Osbournes Girls and Kevin Davy White to Nicole Scherzingers Overs group.

Next weeks episode will see the finalists visit their hometowns before returning to London to perform at the Excel Centre.

X Factor 2017 Finalists Makeover - In pictures 1 /16 X Factor 2017 Finalists Makeover - In pictures Holly Tandy Thames/Syco/Rex Rak-Su - Rak-Su J, Ashley Rak-Su, Mustafa Rak-Su and Myles Rak-Su Thames/Syco/Rex Tracy Leanne Jefford Thames/Syco/Rex Grace Davies Thames/Syco/Rex Sam Black Thames/Syco/Rex The Cutkelvins - Jay Cutkelvin, Sheereen Cutkelvin and Kay Cutkelvin Thames/Syco/Rex Matt Linnen Thames/Syco/Rex Rai-Elle Williams Thames/Syco/Rex Sean Price and Conor Price Thames/Syco/Rex Kevin Davy White Thames/Syco/Rex Spencer Sutherland Thames/Syco/Rex Lloyd Macey Thames/Syco/Rex

The X Factor final airs Sunday December 3 at 7.20pm on ITV.
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The picture has garnered over a million likes on Instagram in just a day.

By India Today Web Desk: Gone Girl actress Emily Ratajkowski, who is currently holidaying with her squad in Nicaragua, is making sure that her 15.7 million followers on Instagram are not missing out on the fun.

Emily, who launched her own swimwear line called Inamorata Swim earlier this month, has been sharing many pictures in which she is sporting swimsuits from the range.

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However, on Sunday, she decided to ditch the swimsuit and share a nude photo of herself. In the picture, Emily uses her hands to cover her modesty as she gazes seductively at the camera. The picture was taken by her friend, Kat. Here is the photo she shared.

The racy click is breaking the internet, and has crossed a million likes in just a day. From "absolutely beautiful" to "goddess", comments have poured in from fans.

Emily Ratajkowski shot to fame when she appeared in Robin Thicke's controversial Blurred Lines video in 2012. Since then, she has prominently featured in several 'most desirable' lists and appeared in films like Gone Girl and We Are Your Friends.

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The French built Mirage F1 fighter is rapidly being retired from active service but most of these retired Mirages are being bought by the two major American firms (ATAC and Draken) that provide adversary aircraft to train combat pilots, mainly for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The most recent Mirage F1 sale was to Draken International, which bought 22 of them from the Spanish Air Force which retired its Mirage F1M (for modernized in the 1990s) in 2013 but kept them in good condition because these aircraft have been very popular on the used-fighter market.

Earlier in 2017 France sold 63 recently retired Mirage F1s to Drakens major competitor ATAC (Airborne Tactical Advantage Company). In both cases the Mirage F1 was to be used as adversary aircraft to train combat pilots. Most recent sales of Mirage F1s have been to these commercial firms like ATAC and Draken that will modify, or even refurbish the Mirage F1s for combat training.

ATAC (a division of Textron) and Draken (independent) are American firms which pioneered the business of providing flight and combat training mainly to the American military (air force, navy and marines) as well as foreign customers. This is a rapidly growing business for the simple reason that it is cheaper and more effective than even large air forces doing it themselves. The private firms hire retired combat pilots and used much less expensive aircraft for this training. A Mirage F1, for example, are much cheaper (about one fifth the cost) to operate per flight hour than F-16s or F-18s. Using more experienced retired pilots is also cheaper and more effective because the adversary aircraft are being operated by pilots with a lot more combat flying experience.

The use of contractors for military functions proliferated after the Cold War ended in 1991, especially in the United States and Europe. This was nothing new. The CIA, and later SOCOM (Special Operations Command) have long used contractor firms for logistics and air transport, especially in parts of Asia, South America and Africa where even civilian charter airline service was not available, or simply because the missions were classified.

ATAC and Draken are the largest commercial firms providing military flight training. This is a common function for basic flight training but these two firms expanded into training for combat pilots and that included adversary training that uses Western aircraft and veteran military pilots or accurately represent potential enemy warplanes. In the past the American A-4 and F-5 were popular for this task. But potential foes are using more capable fighters and the Mirage F1, which entered service in the mid-1970s and often were upgraded. The Spanish Air Force Mirage F1Ms have radars and fire control systems that were modernized in the mid-1990s and remain competitive with those found in the most capable hostile aircraft American fighter pilots can expect to encounter.

France retired the last of its Mirage F1s in 2014 but this aircraft is still used by some countries (Gabon, Iran, Libya and Morocco) and the manufacturer long provided refurbishment and upgrade services for the 720 built through 1992. The Mirage F1 is a 16 ton interceptor that can only carry two tons of weapons. With modern electronics and missiles it is still be a formidable air defense aircraft. ATAC got the Mirage F1s for a few hundred thousand dollars each and France will have them demilitarized (all classified or strictly military equipment removed) and ATAC will then have about half of them modified to act as various types of potential enemy fighters. The rest of the Mirage F1s will be used for spares which will enable ATAC to use some of the Mirage F1s for a decade or more. Draken paid more for the Spanish Mirage F1Ms mainly because these aircraft had more modern electronics from the 1996 upgrade that cost over $4 million per aircraft.

Since the late 1990s the use of retired combat personnel as "adversary pilots" became more popular and contractors soon expanded that that to supply adversary aircraft as well. In the 1990s civilian instructors were already being used for part of military flight training. But with so many pilots getting out, the navy and air force could no longer afford to provide military pilots to play the role of the bad guys in "Top Gun" type exercises. Former military pilots were hired to play the bad guys and were very good at it became many had done that sort of thing before they retired.
In late 2017 the U.S. Navy ordered another 196 Tomahawk Block 4 Land-Attack missiles for use from VLS (Vertical Launch System) cells. These will cost about $1.1 million each. Most Tomahawks in U.S. service are fired from surface ship or nuclear submarine (SSN) VLS cells. There is also a version for use from torpedo tubes, which is all British SSNs use. The Tomahawk has quietly become the primary offensive weapon for the American fleet.

The RGM-109E Block 4 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile weighs 1.2 ton, is six meters (18 feet) long, has a range of 1,600 kilometers. It reaches its target 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 273 kg (600 pounds) of thrust. Accuracy is on a par with JDAM (10 meters/ 31 feet). The Block IV Tomahawk can be reprogrammed in flight to hit another target and carries a vidcam to allow someone to check on prospective targets.

Theres also the new JMEW (Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System) warhead for the Tomahawk. This is a 450 kg (1,000 pound) warhead designed mainly for penetrating underground bunkers, but it will also provide excellent blast effect for less robust targets. Exact penetration was not revealed. JMEW uses laser terminal guidance, enabling it to hit within a few meters (ten feet) of its aiming point. JMEW can also hit moving targets, like ships.

The Tomahawk, when it showed up in 1983, was one of the first combat UAVs but it wasn't reusable. The Tomahawk has been a primary land attack weapon for surface ships and submarines since the 1990s. 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. Tomahawk is expected to remain in service until 2040, with older ones refurbished (batteries and electronics replaced or upgraded, same with elderly mechanical components) to extend their useful lives.

The Block 3 entered service in 1994, but the 2012 Block 4 was a big upgrade with the addition of GPS and remote control in flight. The more recent upgrades added 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 if 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. One 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 regular 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 replacement will be 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.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 24, 2017) An F/A-18E Super Hornet (right), from the Argonauts of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147, refuels an EA-18G Growler, from the Gray Wolves of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142, during a flight demonstration practice, Nov. 24, 2017, in the Pacific Ocean. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is on a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific. The U.S. Navy has patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific region routinely for more than 70 years promoting peace and security. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Holly L. Herline)

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For whatever reason European media decided to revive the slavery issue in Libya again. Slavery in Africa is nothing new, has never been abolished and is regularly condemned by the UN and most UN members. What the slavery headlines did do was remind everyone that Libya remains the main source of people smuggling from Africa to Europe. For a few years this business was worth nearly a hundred million dollars a month to European and African smuggling gangs. But by late 2017 ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) had been driven away from the Libyan coast and the smuggling gangs lost access to the ports they had long used to get their customers to Europe. That was because ISIL was providing protection for smugglers in return for large cash payments. In addition to eliminating ISIL from the coast security in Libyan coastal waters improved as European nations took more control over Libyan coastal waters and blocked a lot of smuggling activity they had previously tolerated.

Most of the smuggling gangs were in western Libya, where it was easier and cheaper to bribe the local militias and government officials. Even ISIL controlled one major port in western Libya. The gangs often demand more cash from their clients before putting them on a boat. The Illegals need cash to pay for transit from their homeland (usually Nigeria other sub-Saharan countries) to the Mediterranean coast and onto a smuggler boat. The price sometimes changes along the way and those who cannot or will not pay are either killed or forced to pay in other ways. One other way is working off the debt. This is a form of indentured servitude and many illegals from Asia agree to this sort of arrangement to pay for getting to North America or other safe Western nations. The smuggling gangs have not been able to establish a network of enforcers in EU or source nations to make this work the way it does in the U.S. and Canada so they try other solutions. The one that attracted some mass media attention over the last few years was slave markets where illegal migrants in need of more cash are auctioned off to someone who will pay a lump sum and the illegal migrant will be obliged to work off the debt. That process could take years, or for life because slavery, especially of black Africans by Arabs, is still common (although technically illegal, to placate the West and the UN) throughout North Africa and parts of the Middle East. The slavery stories also brought some unwelcome scrutiny to the nations the illegal migrants come from. Officials in these nations are bribed to allow the smugglers to operate freely and that means refusing to take back illegal migrants. That attitude can be changed if enough money is offered (legally or otherwise) to the government officials down there. But a period of bad publicity from slavery and corruption stories also works. For a while anyway. The problem with slavery in Africa is that since slavery has largely disappeared from Western countries there is no support in the West to do much more than deplore the situation and make it a big issue for a little while.

Deaths among the migrants, either as they came north through Libyan deserts to the coast (where most of the people have always lived) or when the boats taking them to Europe sank, have exceeded those from fighting between various Libyan factions (usually tribal militias). The battles between the militias tends to consist of posturing and lots of noise from inaccurate (often deliberately so) machine-gun and mortar fire. The most serious threat to the few remaining Libyans is starvation. The violence since 2011 has left over 35,000 dead, but by 2015 fighting had died down and been replaced by fear of economic collapse. As a result of that Libyans continued to flee if they could and so far about a third of the 6.2 million population of Libyans has left the country, most of them to neighboring Tunisia. Most of the 2-3 million foreign workers have also fled. The people most likely to leave are the educated and talented Libyans the country needs most. This has made it difficult for the Tripoli and Tobruk governments to find qualified people to fill senior posts.

Deadlines

The EU (European Union) and most major Western donors gave the Tobruk government until December 15th to approve the July 25th peace plan. That will not solve all the problems in Libya. The UN backed GNA (Government of National Accord in Tripoli) has continued to weaken while the HoR (House of Representatives government in Tobruk) now claims to control 95 percent of the country. Actually H0R does not exercise much control but their LNA (Libyan National Army) does. The problem here is that the HoR does not really control the LNA. The July 2017 agreement provided six months to achieve a nationwide ceasefire, a date for national elections and UN recognition of the LNA. But one clause in that agreement stipulated that the head of the combined government also had the ability to select the leaders of the LNA. GNA and HoR refused to argue with the UN about Hiftar and the LNA but making it clear that this was a UN, not a Libyan, problem.

The UN admits that they ignored the complexity of local politics in Libya and the ability of many local groups to block a nation-wide deal. It turned out that the HoR and their military leader Khalifa Hiftar had a lot more nationwide support than the UN or GNA realized or wanted to admit. HoR also had the LNA which has been demonized by many Europeans for a number of reasons most Libyans and Arab nations disagree with. The LNA was created by Hiftar and is the only organized and disciplined military force in the country. The LNA was initially founded to shut down Islamic terrorist groups and Libyan militias that supported them in eastern Libya. Hiftar did that and points out that there is very little people smuggling in eastern Libya either, nor any reports of slavery. In contrast the GNA tried to build a national government with the support of militias, many of them supporting a new government using Islamic (Sharia) law and most Libyans had had enough of that because it was a tactic the former dictator Kaddafi has used to rule the country for decades until the 2011 revolution killed him and destroyed his hated government.

ISIL Seeks To Blend In

Libya is seen as the likely new ISIL base area mainly because large parts of that country are desert or semi-desert and currently controlled by no government (national, regional or even tribal). The LNA is trying to change that but it is slow going. There are a lot of negatives in Libya in that there are few foreign aid groups for ISIL to plunder or extort and most every other group with something worth having is heavily armed and dangerous. To make matters worse if there is one thing most Libyans can agree on is the need to keep ISIL out, or at least quiet. With their headquarters in Syria gone, along with most of the territory ISIL had controlled until late 2016, Libya still has to deal with more than a thousand ISIL members seeking to establish base areas (for training and planning operations worldwide). Yet the Libyan ISIL branch is doing better than any of the others, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As happened in Syria, Iraq Afghanistan and elsewhere harsh ISIL rule eventually enraged many of the locals and drove them to flee, resist or armed rebellion. ISIL still punishes or executes people for minor infractions of what ISIL considers proper Islamic lifestyle and that eventually backfires. ISIL definitely believes that if you cant be loved by your subjects than fear is an acceptable substitute. That approach works both ways and ISIL persists in this more Islamic than thou policy even though it eventually fails everywhere. One thing ISIL has going for it is a reputation as seriously badass killers and the most effective hired guns drug or smuggling gangs can get. But even ISIL cannot stand up to the Western troops, the LNA or determined local militias on a regular basis.

For that reason ISIL in Libya has learned that it is best not to carry out attacks that kill civilians. In fact ISIL appears to have decided that using as little violence inside Libya is the best way to survive and thrive there. ISIL needs a base are and at the moment Libya is one of the most likely areas to operate in. There are still restrictions. Getting across the Egyptian border (the easiest way to reach the rest of the Middle East) is difficult as long as Hiftar and his LNA operate throughout western Libya. The LNA has more problems with the Egyptian border since the collapse of ISIL control in Iraq and Syria. Many of the surviving ISIL men are seeking to reach Libya via Egypt. Some of these ISIL personnel decide to join ISIL factions already established in Sinai (near the Israeli border) or western Egypt (near the Libyan border). This is the main reason why Hiftar still has a lot of support from Egypt and other Arab nations. Hiftar is genuinely hostile to Islamic terrorism but to the West he is seen as a potential new Libyan dictator. That is important to Libyans, but not as important as personal safety and enough national unity to get the economy going again.

ISIL also needs money and with the Syrian oil income gone, working with drug smuggling gangs became more important. AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Command) knows what ISIL is trying to do here and is becoming more of a presence in Libya and they prefer to work with the LNA (which is seen as more reliable and safer to deal with). The U.S. will work with other armed groups in Libya, as happened during 2016 when the U.S. provided over 500 airstrikes to assist the GNA militias drive ISIL out of the coastal city of Sirte. Survivors fled south and there are still believed to be at least a thousand armed ISIL members in Libya and they constitute a threat and seek recruits. AFRICOM is able to provide intel (and UAV surveillance) to a force that can use this information and the LNA is the only large armed force that has demonstrated an ability to do so. In addition AFRICOM can provide airstrikes against ISIL targets, which is regularly does for anyone (including the GNA) who has proved reliable in the past.

Oil Shortage

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has managed to increase production this year to record (since 2011) levels. Since June about a million BPD (barrels per day, including natural gas equivalents) are being produced. That was up from 250,000 BPD in mid-2016, 800,000 BPD in April 2017 and 880,000 BPD in May 2017. Now production growth is stalled because of the lack of foreign firms willing to work in Libya to repair and expand Libyan oil facilities. The chaos created by all the militias and lack of a reliable central government means foreign firms rate Libya as one of the least reliable places to operate and opt for working in other areas, even though the profits are lower. Risk is a big deal in the oil industry because huge amounts (often billions of dollars) are often required to get new (or refurbished) oil facilities producing.

There are still occasional disruptions because of all the independent minded factions. Despite that the NOC still hopes to reach 1.25-1.5 million BPD by the end of 2018 and 2.1 million BPD by the early 2020s. This is far in excess of pre-2011 levels (1.6 million BPD) but is necessary because of the need to finance reconstruction and adapt to the fact that the world price for oil keeps falling, despite OPEC (the Arab dominated oil cartel) efforts to reduce overall production and drive up the price. The problem is that the United States and Canada are producing a lot more due to new technologies (like fracking) that open up huge new sources that were long known but not reachable.

OPEC had exempted Libya from production limits but this will only last until pre-2011 levels are reached and Libya hopes to get permission to exceed that limit because of hardship. That will be difficult because most of the OPEC members are suffering, politically if not economically, from the new normal for oil prices.

November 26, 2017: For the second time this month the water supply to Tripoli was cut by a militia seeking to get their leader released from a Tripoli jail controlled by a rival militia. There is less of this sort of extortion, which for years had crippled efforts to restore oil production and exports.

November 21, 2017: The HoR government in Tobruk voted to back the UN peace deal that unifies the two governments. This still leaves LNA leader Khalifa Hiftar to be negotiated with because the UN peace deal gives the united government control of the LNA but Hiftar has made it clear that he must remain the LNA leader.

November 19, 2017: In south central Libya (Jufra/Jofra province, 770 kilometers south of Tripoli) AFRICOM carried out another airstrike against an ISIL camp. This is the second such airstrike in three days. LNA forces have been fighting various Islamic terror groups in Jufra since late 2016. General Hiftar saw Jufra turning into a battle with the Misrata militias (that side with Islamic conservatives but oppose ISIL). There are some Jufra militias that will tolerate Islamic terrorist groups but are wary of exactly what the coastal militias are up to. The presence of ISIL remnants in Jufra encourages fighting down there.

November 15, 2017: Leaders from Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria met in Egypt to update their common Libya policy. All three nations continue to vigorously (loudly and repeatedly) support the July peace agreement. A major reason for this July 2017 agreement was the need to avoid mass starvation in Libya. Since 2011 Libyan oil exports had shrunk and the Libyan Central Bank cash reserves are nearly gone. If peace and unity are not achieved soon no government would be able to buy and import food and other essentials. Even by Middle Eastern standards Libya was setting new records in self-destructive behavior. By 2017 more Libyans were agreeing that the situation was indeed becoming desperate and a lot more compromise was the only solution. Even with the current national compromise the tribal (Arab, Berber and black African) and religious differences (Islamic radicals versus everyone else) plus epic levels of corruption and entitlement keep peace and prosperity out of reach. At this point most Libyans will settle for survival. The neighbors (particularly Egypt, Mali, Niger, Tunisia and Algeria) back the new peace deal as do European nations. How long it will last is another matter. So far, the deal is still on track. If achieved by the end of the year or early in 2108 it would mean the first national government in Libya since 2011 and fewer worries about smuggling and Islamic terrorism coming out of Libya. The only major disagreement the Arab countries have with the West is Arab preference for LNA commander Khalifa Hiftar, which a growing number of Western leaders want to prosecute as a war criminal.

November 13, 2017: LNA commander Khalifa Hiftar visited the UAE and attended the Dubai Air Show to meet with other Arab military and political leaders. Egypt and UAE have always been the primary supporters of the LNA and Hiftar.

November 11, 2017: In the east (Benghazi) the LNA captured the last neighborhood held by an Islamic terrorist groups. This required a four month siege. This approach was used to keep LNA casualties down and limit property damage (from large scale use of artillery and airstrikes). The resistance was led by Ansar Al Sharia a group still active in Tunisia but under attack everywhere it shows up.

November 4, 2017: The LNA has increased scrutiny on organizations controlling ports in eastern Libya and forcing them to allow audits to ensure they are not just fronts for smugglers. LNA takes a similar anti-corruption attitude in areas it has gained control of farther south.

November 3, 2017: LNA leader Khalifa Hiftar visited Egypt to report on conditions in areas he controls and discuss what can be done to improve security along the Libyan-Egyptian border.
TICKERS: NUAG; NUPMF

Source: Streetwise Reports (11/27/17)

A potentially large silver project in Bolivia has caught the attention of Pan American Silver.



New Pacific Metals Corp. (NUAG:TSX.V) announced that it closed a private placement with Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS) of 16 million units and Silvercorp Metals for 3 million units. According to the company, each unit was priced at $1.42, for gross proceeds of approximately $27 million. "The proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to further the Company's exploration and/or development program on its Silver Sand Project located in the Potosi Department of Bolivia and for general working capital purposes," New Pacific Metals stated in the release.

"Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one half of one Common Share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant is exercisable into one Common Share for a period of 18 months at an exercise price of $2.10 per Common Share," the company stated. Pan American will appoint one director to the Board of Directors.

Silvercorp is a 32% shareholder of New Pacific Metals and Pan American owns 16% on a fully diluted basis.

New Pacific Metals noted that Pan American "is one of the world's largest primary silver producers and owns and operates six mines including the San Vicente mine located in the Potosi Department of Bolivia."

Dr. Rui Feng, New Pacific's CEO, said, "To have a company with the stature and experience in Bolivia as Pan American will be invaluable as we develop our Silver Sand property 25 km northeast of Potosi."

New Pacific acquired rights to the Silver Sand project in Potosi, Bolivia in July 2017. According to the company, the property "is one of the earliest silver discoveries in the district, having been made prior to the discovery of Cerro Rico in the mid-1500s. Small-scale, historic mining is evident from scattered shafts, pits, adits, declines and dumps. The property was explored previously by intermittent surface mapping and sampling, underground sampling and surface core drilling between 2012 and 2015."

Historical drilling conducted in Silver Sand's Zone 1 showed silver grades ranging from 60 grams per tonne (60 g/t) silver to 329 g/t silver, with an average of around 250 g/t silver. New Pacific's confirmation drilling returned similar values. "Given that Silver Sand's mineralization starts at surface, these grades constitute high-grade material," Gordon Neal, president of New Pacific, told Streetwise Reports.

New Pacific received permits for drilling and has commenced a 30,000-meter drill program. The company expects the drill program to be completed mid-2018, and expects to release a preliminary economic assessment soon thereafter.

"At Silver Sand, the host rocks of the silver mineralization are Cretaceous-aged quartz-rich sandstone, which were strongly silicified and now occur in gentle, open folds, dipping shallowly to the north," the company noted in its news release.

Neal told Streetwise Reports that the Silver Sand property has seven identified mineralized zones, and only Zone 1 has seen any drilling. "Silver Sand has great potential given what we see so far. With surface mineralization more than a kilometer in strike and almost 100 meters in width and 350m down dip, this has all the hallmarks of a world-class project," Neal said.

"The biggest risk is political," Neal noted. "However, while a few miners have had difficulties in the past, Bolivia's socialist government is determined to pull its people out of poverty. Bolivia is one of the fastest growing economies in South America and the government is now working to support foreign mining investors. We applied for drill permits in July and received them by October."

New Pacific features an experienced management team. Dr. Rui Feng, chairman and CEO, is the chairman, CEO and director of Silvercorp Metals. President Gordon Neal was most recently vice president of corporate development for Silvercorp. Alex Zhang, vice president exploration, has 20 years of experience with companies including Eldorado Gold, Afcan Mining and Sino Gold.

Technical analyst Clive Maund of CliveMaund.com wrote on Nov. 13 that the chart for New Pacific "continues to look very positive. . .It has been edging higher since we went for it at the start of the month and is in position to break higher soon."

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5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of New Pacific Metals Corp., a company mentioned in this article.

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Last week saw the Federal Communications Commission's chairman, Ajit Pai, release a plan to eliminate net neutrality protections. An FCC vote is set for December 14 when the repeal is expected to pass on a 3-2 majority. This may sound depressing, but there may still be some hope: the fact Pai's proposal is so extreme and lacks evidence supporting the change means it could be shot down in court.

The Supreme Court says a federal agency must "examine the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action." But Pai's reasoning for killing off net neutrality is far from satisfactory. He argues that since the 2015 Title II rule was brought in by the Obama administration in 2015, investment in the industry has fallen, though filings and investment calls show an increase in internet investment over the last two years.

As reported by the New York Times, Pai will also have to explain to a court why he wants to remove the bans on blocking and throttling that have been in place since 2005. "A mere change in F.C.C. ideology isn't enough," writes Tim Wu, the man who came up with the term "Network Neutrality."

Additionally, as so many Americans are against the FCC's plans---76 percent of citizens support net neutrality---the courts may be more likely to oppose Pai.

Following news that the FCC intends to tell state and local governments that they cannot impose local laws regulating broadband service, lawsuits challenging the net neutrality repeal order seem inevitable.
Fear that AI may one day take over the world can take a back seat - at least, for one day - as Nvidia recently announced a partnership with GE Healthcare to improve an area of the industry that is ripe for optimization.

As it stands today, the average hospital creates around 50 petabytes of data per year (think imaging scans... lots of large imaging scans). That translates to 20 million four-drawer filing cabinets full of text or 13.3 years of HD video. Needless to say, it's a lot of data... but worse yet is that more than 97 percent of it never gets analyzed or used.

With Nvidia's help, GE Healthcare is bringing AI to 500,000 imaging devices around the globe. The Nvidia-powered Revolution Frontier CT is said to be two times faster in imaging processing compared to its predecessor.

The idea is that, with the smarts built right into the machine, image processing times will be reduced and third-party solutions won't be necessary. What's more, healthcare professionals will gain insight or perhaps even catch ailments they may have otherwise missed without the AI's recognition help.

The data will be a gold mine for the team's AI as it'll serve as additional source material to learn from. More data will allow the algorithms to be refined even further and ultimately result in a better overall tool for doctors.

Those interested in learning more can swing by Nvidia's booth at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), in Chicago, an event attended by more than 50,000 professionals. Nvidia says it will host AI demonstrations at the event as well as provide hands-on training in deep learning and even host a talk on intelligent machines in hospitals.
By Shweta Keshri: Dance India Dance is back with its sixth season. This year the three judges to mentor the contestants are choreographers Mini Pradhan, Mudassar Khan and Marzi Pestonji. In an exclusive chat with India Today Online, Marzi talked about what makes DID a hit with the viewers and what's new in this season.

Here's an excerpt.

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How has your association been with Dance India Dance?

I have been a part of DID for seven year now. It's been great. I have done DID Doubles, Li'l Masters 2, Super Moms and now I am judging DID 6. This is my fourth season with DID. I am looking forward to it. I am nervous but also excited.

How has your life changed post DID?

My life has not changed post DID. But yes, my understanding of choreography has become wider. I work with Shyamak (Davar) and we are a group dancing company, so it was a learning for me to do solo and duets. And I also learnt to add wow factors to dance to make it look interesting. I got to learn all these things due to DID. That's the only way it has changed otherwise nothing has changed for me actually.

Over the years, what difference do you see in the contestants?

The talent of dancing has gone to another level. When you compare between DID 1 and 2 and what DID 6 has, it's a world of difference. Today, kids are much more aware of dance, they have learnt more styles, they have more knowledge of other dance forms. It think they have come more prepared now then what earlier it used to be.

It must be a challenge to be bring something new because essentially the format has been the same over the year. So what is new in DID 6?

Every year I don't think they bring something new to the table. They keep the format as it is because that format has worked wonders for them and is still working. What they do is they keep adding on small-small icing to the cake. The cake is the format. This time they have kept ace challengers kind of thing, where all the biggest names of choreography and dance industry will come. We just had Saroj Khan with us and in the coming weeks we will have many more people like this on the show.

Who's the strongest contestant from your team 'Marzi Ke Mastaane'?

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One of my strongest contestant is from Delhi. Her name is Kalpita (Kachroo). I am super proud to be here in her hometown and speak about her. I fought for her actually. Two other masters also wanted her in their team but I fought for her. She is versatile and does many styles of dancing and I looking forward to training her along with the other contestants.

Long running shows like KBC, DID and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are still a hit among the viewers. What makes them so successful?

I think staying true to their work makes them a hit. You stay true to what your motive is, like DID's motive is to produce dancing superstars. And they make sure they get enough work in the future. Their focus is very clear. DID is a living example of Zee TV's motto - Aaj Likhenge Kal. Even Sa Re Ga Ma Pa will be a living example but for sure DID is, because all the other judges sitting in all the other reality shows have come from DID. On Jhalak (Dikhhla Jaa) if you see a contender dancing with a choreographer, the choreographer is from DID. So, something right DID is doing. Anything you do from your heart will be a hit.

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You've been a part of both Nach Baliye and Dance India Dance, which one is more difficult to judge?

Of courese, judging the celebrity couples. Sometime these couple are not great dancers, and also at the same time they are respectable name in the industry. So, you have to be very careful when you address them. Whereas in DID you need to tell them the truth. The second you tell the kid to work hard and come next year, they will get inspired to come back next time. With these kids, you can tell them what you want and they will learn from you. With those guys, you have to be a little more diplomatic because you don't want to disrespect them.

--- ENDS ---
Laptops are practically a necessity for college students, serving as invaluable teaching tools that assist with tasks like writing reports, taking notes in class and participating in online quizzes. They can also serve as a major distraction both for the user and those around them.

Susan Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, has banned laptops and other electronics in her classroom and at research seminars. Dynarski cites growing evidence suggesting college students learn less when using a laptop or tablet during a lecture. What's more, tech users tend to earn worse grades.

Of course, proving that is somewhat problematic due to something called selection bias. You see, not all students use laptops the same way. A distracted student may turn to their computer when they are bored or otherwise disinterested in the lecture material while a dedicated student could lean more heavily on their laptop to take notes, look up related concepts on the fly and so on.

Students participating in a study at Princeton University and the University of California, Los Angeles, were randomly assigned either a laptop or pen and paper for note-taking purposes. Those who took notes on the laptop had a substantially worse understanding of lecture material compared to those that used pen and paper to jot down notes.

Researchers believe that, because students can type faster than they can write, the flow of information goes directly from the lecturer to the students' typing fingers without really stopping to be processed by the brain. Those with pen and paper had to think about the material and condense it down in order to keep up. As a result, they had a better understanding of the material when it came time to take a standardized test.

Another study evaluated the impact of laptop use on students that weren't using them (but were in the vicinity of someone that was). What they found is that the laptop could serve as a form of "visual pollution" by distracting nearby students and impacting their learning.

More studies are probably needed before drawing any firm conclusions but the information on the table thus far is fascinating and goes against the general notion that technology in the classroom is always a good thing.

Lead image via Brett Jordan, Flickr
According to the President of the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC), twelve airlines have requested to operate with Venezuela. | Read More
By Shweta Keshri: Haryana's dancing sensation Sapna Chaudhary is the latest contestant to be evicted from Bigg Boss 11. Sapna's stay in the Bigg Boss house was full of ups and downs. There were times when she lost her cool, while there were times when she pumped up the mood of the house with her latkas and jhatkas.

In an exclusive conversation with India Today Online, Sapna talked about the housemates and her stay in the house.

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'DON'T REGRET SAVING LUV'

She said that she didn't regret saving Luv. "It was my decision to save Luv and get nominated. I really don't regret saving him. I was expecting to be evicted this week," said Sapna.

FIRST THING SHE DID AFTER GETTING OUT OF THE HOUSE

Sapna shares a strong bond with her mother and she was often seen talking about her on the show. And no points for guessing that the first person she spoke with after getting out of the house was her mother.

'PRIYANK DOESN'T DISRESPECT WOMEN'

In the past few weeks, Sapna had formed a great bond with Priyank, Hina and Luv. She was often seen talking to Priyank and sharing her stories with him. When asked about her take on Priyank, who's been criticised for not respecting women, she took his side and said that that's not the way he is. She said, "Priyank is a kid. He doesn't think before speaking and that is his fault. He is not disrespectful towards women."

Sapna Chaudhary in a still from the show.

Last week, Sapna got into a nasty fight with Puneesh, after the latter commented on her profession and shows. When asked about the fight, she refused to speak on it and said, "I don't want to talk anything about Puneesh."

During the initial weeks on the show, Sapna had shared a good bond with Puneesh and had even called him her brother, but their bond weakened after she commented on his relationship with Bandgi.

ON WHO DESERVES TO WIN

Sapna was never afraid to speak her mind and never shied away from calling a spade a spade. According to her, she sees Hina Khan, Vikas Gupta and Shilpa Shinde in top three but the contestant surprised us when she said that Akash is the most deserving contestant to win the show. "Yes, I think Akash is the most deserving contestant to win the show. He has been wronged."

'PUNEESH WRONGED AKASH'

She also spoke about Puneesh's betrayal to Akash during the captaincy task. "Puneesh should have painted Hiten's face and proven his friendship with Akash. He wronged Akash."

SHILPA DIDN'T TAKE A STAND

She was also disappointed with Shilpa, who not even once said that Puneesh was in the wrong for passing such derogatory statements about her shows. "I didn't expect her to take a stand for me but she could have at least said that 'Yes, Puneesh is wrong.' "

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ON WHY VIKAS WOULD BE A FINALIST

Sapna, who's always been at loggerheads with Vikas, feels he will make it to the top three. "Yes, Vikas is playing mind games. He has brains and he is just using it. Nothing wrong in that. He is just playing his game. "

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Municipal officials from across the Southeast will cart a new batch of resolutions to Brandon, where the Association of Manitoba Municipalities will convene its 19th annual convention starting today.

Delegates will debate which of the 41 new resolutions should be presented to provincial government departments over the coming months.

Southeast municipalities are sponsoring resolutions that address a wide variety of municipal and regional concerns.

The RM of Hanovers bylaw enforcement resolution would see Manitoba Justice reinstate special constable appointments so that RMs could enforce spring road restrictions and other aspects of the Highway Traffic Act that directly affect their road infrastructure.

The belligerence that derailed RM of Ritchot council meetings earlier this year has put a spotlight on conduct among municipal councillors and staff. To that end, a pair of resolutions aim to address gaps in existing respectful workplace and anti-harassment legislation. The Town of Morris is the lone sponsor behind the former, while the RM of Springfield joins three other municipalities in bringing forward the latter.

Citing increasingly erratic weather patterns, Springfield also wants additional funding from Manitoba Sustainable Development to ensure local drainage and retention infrastructure can handle runoff from a 100-year flood event by 2030.

Another Springfield resolution will suggest Manitoba Hydro abandon its newfound preference for license agreements and return to easement agreements when negotiating rights-of-way land deals for permanent infrastructure in municipalities. Unlike easements, licenses are often revocable after a period of time, the resolution argues.

An RM of Montcalm resolution seeks the creation of a tiered business tax rate based on assessment, which would involve amending the Municipal Act.

The RM of Reynolds wants municipalities to have the option of entering into longer lease terms without requiring a borrowing bylaw and Municipal Board approval.

If an RM of Morris resolution succeeds, the AMM will lobby Manitoba Education and Training to establish a task force to review education funding. The task force would include municipal and school board officials.

Resolutions originating outside of the Southeast may also hold implications for local RMs.

One from the Western region seeks the establishment of a cost-sharing formula for infrastructure. The model50 percent federal, 33 percent provincial, and 17 percent municipalwould require commitments not only from Manitoba Municipal Relations, but also from Infrastructure Canada.

A Parkland region resolution would ask Manitoba Infrastructure to refine the cumbersome three-zone model it currently uses when implementing spring road restrictions. Thaw rates can vary widely within the large zones, the resolutions reasons.

Rural residents may also want to watch a Northern region resolution that would see Manitoba Growth, Enterprise and Trade develop and integrate physical and electronic connectivity into long-term economic development plans.

This years resolution committee included RM of Tache councillor Jacques Trudeau, Town of Morris mayor and AMM vice-president Gavin van der Linde, and Ralph Groening, reeve of the RM of Morris reeve and an AMM vice-president.
Photo: Debrocke/ClassicStock/Getty Images

As someone whose anxiety often keeps her up at night, Ive never once thought that all that worrying could be good for me. If you tried to tell me otherwise, Id probably just roll my eyes at you, then worry about hurting your feelings.

But hear me out, fellow worriers: I was wrong. Unsettling and fearful thoughts arent always a bad thing. In a study published earlier this year in Social & Personal Psychological Compass, the authors argue that worry can be an emotional buffer by providing a desirable contrast to subsequent affective reactions. In other words, when we worry about something terrible happening, however unpleasant, it prepares us for whatever follows, making the situation seem not so bad.

People who worry a lot do feel a bit better about bad news and extra great about good news, says study co-author Kate Sweeny, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. We found this pattern in a study of law school grads awaiting news about their bar exam result. People who were more worried about their result felt better about their result either way, compared to people who sailed through the waiting period with relative ease.

Worrying can also be a great motivator, Sweeny adds. It draws our attention to bad things that might happen to us, and then it pushes us to take action to prevent those fates. People who worry more about car accidents are more likely to wear their seatbelt. And if youre worried about, say, a job interview, youre probably going to spend more time practicing and preparing.

The key to reaping the benefits of worrying, many experts believe, is to find the right middle ground. A little worry or anxiety can be motivating, too much can be counterproductive, says Sarah Kate McGowan, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles. When someone feels like their worry occurs frequently, out of their control, and interferes with their life, those are signs that they should consider meeting with a mental health provider. But when someone has their worrying under control, it can be constructive, a force for positive change. Here are some approaches to help you find that ideal balance.

Schedule worry time.

Worry is like a liquid, McGowan says. It will fill the space you provide it, so its important to set time limits and be productive with that time.

In a 2013 study, McGowan and her colleagues found evidence for the effectiveness of a technique called stimulus control training for worry, a tactic sometimes used in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

The goal is to move the worrying out of the sleep environment, McGowan explains, so that it doesnt interfere with the process of falling asleep.

How it works: Carve out a small chunk of time each day  ideally always at the same time and place  to focus on your worries. This way, McGowan explains, by the time bedtime rolls around, youve already addressed everything thats making you anxious. The key is to be productive while worrying, she adds, whether that means writing down any thoughts or concerns, creating a to-do list, or actively trying to solve the problems that the worries present. In short, stimulus control training gives you the space to entertain your worries and then either (a) shift your focus, or (b) come up with a solution that allows you to move on.

Separate productive thoughts from unproductive ones.

Worrying that your job interview might not go well because you havent prepared? Legitimate concern. Worried that the hiring manager will be that dude you cut off in traffic two weeks ago? Thats probably a waste of your mental energy.

In the Anxiety and Worry Workbook, authors David A. Clark and Aaron T. Beck ask readers to determine whether the worry is about a realistic problem or an imagined (what if) situation. If its the latter, try to just let it go. If its the former, then the next step is to ask yourself if the worry is productive: Does worrying about this lead to an action that will solve your problem or help you make progress on your goals? If so, it could be worth indulging. If not, its best to weed it out.

Given that worry is at its most useful when it motivates us to do something, my best advice is to run through a mental checklist, Sweeney suggests. Ask yourself, is there anything I could be doing to improve my chances of a good outcome, or to prepare myself for a bad outcome? If the answer is yes, then worry can motivate you to take those actions. If the answer is no, then its time to look for ways to reduce your worry.

You also want to weed out rumination, which is related to but slightly different from worrying. When you worry, youre focused on events that might happen in the past. When you ruminate, on the other hand, youre dwelling on stuff thats already happened, replaying the incidents in your head (why did I say that stupid thing at the party?). Rumination, like what if thoughts, is generally unproductive; by definition, its about things you cant change.

Find a conclusion.

Worry, as one 2002 study put it, consists largely of attempted problem solving. One possible reason for deep, ongoing worry, the authors write, may be a failure to bring problem solving to a satisfactory conclusion.

This is why stimulus-control training involves working through your worries by solving the ones that are solvable. But the amount of effort that requires can vary: Sometimes the solution is straightforward, and sometimes you have no idea where to even start, which can make you worry even more.

Journaling is one way to help with that. As Paul Glovinsky, clinical director of the St. Peters Sleep Center in Albany, New York, recently explained in the Strategist:

A good thing to do is at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., after dinner, we have somebody keep a journal. They just sit down, and for five minutes, they allow themselves to worry, to say, Whats the problem tonight? They list it on one side of the page, and on the other side, they have to come up with some rebuttal, work-around, next step, something.

If nothing else, writing down your worry allows you to file it away for later and get it out of your head. Some of these problems are going to be big, and most of these problems are not going to be solved by sitting in a chair, but you dont have to solve them, Glovinsky said. You just have to satisfy yourself that youre not going to forget them, and thats why putting them on the page is important. So even if you dont come to a solution with your worry, at least youve come to a temporary conclusion  you can set it aside, at least for a while.

Be kind to yourself.

If youre still struggling to contain your worries, try taking your mind off them, Sweeny suggests. Throw yourself into an activity you enjoy, preferably one that gets you into a flow state, where you lose yourself in what youre doing. (As much of a buzzword as its become, she adds, mindfulness meditation can be quite effective for this.)

The idea is to create distance from your worry so you arent as consumed by it. Especially if your worry presents a solvable problem, that distance may be just what you need to find a solution. So if youre ruminating over that dumb joke your boss didnt seem to get, it might be a good time to start the language lessons youve been meaning to take. It sounds kind of ridiculous, I know, but again, the goal is to give yourself an enjoyable alternative to worrying.

To put it another way: When you notice youre stuck in the worry cycle, then doing something to get out of it is both the productive and the compassionate thing to do. Beating yourself up for worrying can only make things worse. We all worry to varying degrees, McGowan says, so its important to be kind to ourselves when we notice we are worrying in an unhelpful way  and to know the difference between worrying that hurts and worrying that moves us forward.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Photo: Chris Jackson / Staff/2017 Getty Images

Just days after a spokesperson for the royal family indicated that theyd had it with constant inquiries about Prince Harrys love life, he and American actress Meghan Markle announced their engagement.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle, read a statement from Clarence House. The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.

According to the official statement, the couple, who have been dating since July 2016, got engaged in London earlier this month. After their marriage, they will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

Prince Harry asked Markles parents for their blessing, and they said in the statement that they are incredibly happy for the couple. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person, they said. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/zdaHR4mcY6  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 27, 2017

The Queen has given her blessing as well, which is required by law. The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 states that up to the sixth-in-line to the throne must receive the Queens permission to marry. Prince Harry is currently fifth-in-line and will fall one spot when Prince William and Kate Middleton welcome their third child in the spring.

Just a few decades ago, the union between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might have been forbidden by the royal family. Markle is biracial, she attended a Roman Catholic school, and shes divorced from film producer Trevor Engelson. Rules on divorce have relaxed in recent years, and Harrys father, Prince Charles, was allowed to marry another divorcee, Camilla Parker Bowles, in 2005. Before 2013, marrying a Roman Catholic disqualified a royal from the line of succession.

A few months after they started dating, Harry released a rare statement calling for an end to the wave of abuse and harassment that Markle had experienced. It condemned the racial undertones of comment pieces and outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.

The couple has mostly kept their relationship quiet, but engagement rumors intensified after they made their first public appearance together in September at the Invictus Games. Around the same time, Markle spoke about the relationship to Vanity Fair.

Were in love, she said. Im sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us. Its part of what makes it so special, that its just ours. But were happy. Personally, I love a great love story.
Twice a day in our house, we turn on a projector that casts cartoon music videos on a blank stretch of wall. The songs are catchy and bright and usually keep our toddler captivated for the amount of time we need him to hold still. There are no monsters who live in our home, goes one of my favorites. Theres only me and my family who live in our home / Cause there are no monsters that live here. Up on the wall, two healthy-looking cartoon children learn not to be scared of the dark, while my son clutches my forearm and breathes dutifully into a mask. Sometimes he spots something familiar  an animal with a noise he can make, a color he knows how to say  and rushes to point it out, only to have his voice muffled by medical equipment. Unlike the home in the song, ours does have a monster, one that doesnt hide under the bed or in the closet. Half of it lives in my husbands DNA, half in mine. Were still figuring out what the whole thing looks like, but we do know its coming for our son. In lots of ways, its already here.

In the most basic sense, this is why: Tag and I are both healthy carriers of mutations that cause the genetic disease cystic fibrosis. Noah (a pseudonym) inherited two mutations, one from each of us, and this means he has the disease, which results from the bodys mishandling of chloride and sodium. On the outside, this means CF patients have extra-salty skin. On the inside, it means they have thick, sticky mucus in their lungs, pancreas, and other organs, leading to digestive problems and low weight gain, clogged airways and trapped bacteria. The excess mucus causes persistent lung infections, severely limiting patients abilities to breathe until, eventually, they no longer can. People who have CF must treat it vigilantly, with physical therapy to clear airways, inhaled medications, and fistfuls of pills. Doing so takes lots of money and staggering amounts of time.

Time is important in describing life with cystic fibrosis: how many hours each day you spend on treatments (for my toddler son, two; for adults, up to four), how many weeks at a time you spend in the hospital (a couple, if youre having a tune-up for a lung infection), how many months since you last saw a doctor (during periods of relative health, three). How many years you can expect to live: In 2016, half of all reported deaths occurred before the age of 30. In the later stages of the disease, you might measure time between incidents of coughing up blood, keep track of how long youve been on oxygen full time, or, should you qualify for one, count the number of years youre expected to live after a double lung transplant (about five). Most patients with CF die in a hospital setting, after a long, steady decline, of overwhelming lung infections. The first time more adults than children were living with cystic fibrosis was just three years ago, in 2014.

My son has always had CF and always will. We first learned it was a possibility in April of 2016, when Noah was a week old. The hospital called to tell us that his newborn screening  a blood test that checks for various disorders not immediately apparent after birth  had come back abnormal. Noah needed something called a sweat test, the woman on the phone said, to see whether he had cystic fibrosis. I told her this had to be a mistake. If there were something wrong, I insisted, we would already know. In a tone attempting to be gentle, she explained that this was not necessarily the case.

In an educational video about newborn screenings Tag and I watched soon after that phone call, people perching on stools described what it means when a baby needs a sweat test, which is exactly what it sounds like: an examination of an infants sweat. Babies like Noah, we learned, need the test because their newborn screenings indicate they might have cystic fibrosis. A woman with long hair told the camera that only a very small number of these babies actually have CF, holding her forefinger and thumb a hairs width apart to demonstrate just how few. I was impatient for my family to be safely outside that womans fingers, but because very young babies dont make enough sweat to test, we had to wait another two weeks.

On the day of Noahs sweat test, the genetic counselor who took down our information was upbeat. We sat across from her in a dim room kept warm; already, before the test started, I could feel Noah overheating from the clothes wed been instructed to dress him in  a hat, a sweater, thick socks. The counselor repeated what our pediatrician had already explained: how his newborn screening had shown just one mutation, how there were plenty of reasons besides cystic fibrosis (a long, jagged labor, a touch of jaundice) that could be responsible for the abnormal result. Also, she pointed out, Id said I remembered having genetic tests during pregnancy. Unless I had an extremely rare genetic mutation, a prenatal test would have caught mine.

Later that day, when I called her back after a beer at our favorite bar, the genetic counselor sounded different. Shed been wrong about when the results would be ready for her to read. They wouldnt be in until the next day, she said, her voice newly hesitant. Annoying is what I think Tag called that information. We stopped by the grocery store; I probably nursed once we got home. Noah must have gone down for a nap, because my hands were free when the counselor called again and asked whether I was alone.

I put the phone on speaker, and Tag sat down next to me on the couch, our heads bent underneath a shelf I realized later Id always hated. The counselor claimed shed gone back and was now able to read the results  which must have been a lie, one I almost wish Id called her out on, if it hadnt been so hilariously and heartbreakingly kind in its intention. Ive seen the results for myself, and the numbers could not be clearer. The normal range for chloride in an infants sweat is about 29 millimoles or less per liter. The sweat on Noahs left arm came back at 68, his right at 71.

I know this is not what we were expecting, the counselor said, choking up. My own voice rose; I asked the same question once, twice, three times. Our dog trotted over and peed on the rug, as if to express his own disbelief. I repeated myself again: How could this have happened? The counselor explained her theory, which we found out later was not quite right.

All theories aside, ten years ago, when Tag and I walked toward each other in a dark bar off the side of a highway in Montana, this is what we had no idea we were walking toward: the one-in-four chance of creating a child permanently unwell. Because we both carry a CF mutation, there is a 50 percent chance any child of ours will be born a healthy carrier, like we are. Theres a 25 percent chance of a baby with no mutations at all. And theres a 25 percent chance of a baby with two disease-causing mutations, like Noah.

But if you had known, what then? a woman asked me earlier this year, shaking her head, her smile soft with pity. If I responded at all, and Im not sure I did, I cant remember what I said. But I know I did not use the word abortion, or bring up our legal situation, or explain the concept of wrongful birth. In a roomful of people I barely knew, with Noah pushing a plastic car back and forth over the carpet nearby, I did not tell her that I do know exactly what it is I would have done.

Jennifer Gann and her son, Noah, at their home in August. Photo: Elinor Carucci

During my first pregnancy appointment, at eight weeks along, it was Tag who asked the midwife whether most people did genetic testing. She told us most people did. We agreed to the tests; the midwife wrote up the order. We were laying the foundation of a plan wed discussed before Id even gotten pregnant: If something were wrong, wed decided, we wouldnt continue the pregnancy.

Before we left that appointment, the midwife reminded us of the practices policy on test results. No news is good news. Unless tests showed something negative, no one would call us. No one did. Until Noah was diagnosed, we did not know the nature of my results. Somewhere between the hospital that processed the results and the midwives who handled my care, something went awry, and the answer to the question wed asked was never delivered. I saw the midwives at least once a month for the rest of my pregnancy. At every appointment, we were told how well everything was going.

At first, we couldnt imagine suing them.

But then, we could. I could. Noah was diagnosed in May; I contacted a lawyer in June. I remember being so proud of myself for the way I did not cry when I explained everything over the phone  not even once. I cut off our lawyer, Martha McBrayer, as she led up to the question and stopped her from asking it all the way: I would have had an abortion, I told her.

You cant discuss what happened to me without discussing abortion. In whats called a wrongful-birth case, plaintiffs sue a medical practitioner for the failure to diagnose or inform them of a disease or disability possible to detect in utero; it is understood that in almost all cases, the plaintiff would have aborted the pregnancy had she been able to make an informed decision. The money awarded in wrongful-birth cases goes toward the cost  usually astronomically high  of the childs medical care. In other words, a mother desperate to help her child declares that she would not have had that child.

Tag, Noah, and I met Martha for the first time at the diner across from our apartment. Between explaining the particulars of medical malpractice, she stopped to smile at our baby. He is just so present, she exclaimed. Look at him  hes like, Im here. I grinned back at her as hard as I could, as if the strength of a smile could eclipse why we were sitting in front of pancakes: the assertion that we would not have had him be here, or anywhere, had we known.

For the pro-lifers who oppose wrongful-birth suits, this paradox  what does it mean to fight for someone when what youre fighting for is a missed chance at that persons not existing?  is reason enough to eliminate the legal pathway altogether. Anti-abortion crusaders paint wrongful birth as an attack on those living with disability or disease; they accuse mothers like me of wishing our children had never been born, of seeking flawless designer babies free of health issues. The language probably doesnt help: No birth is wrong, those against wrongful birth love to point out.

Not long after we met with Martha, I went to gather my medical records from the midwives. I told myself to wait until I got home, but instead I opened the envelope a block from my house, with Noah in the carrier and his face against my chest. I remember holding the papers above his head to see the text:

Results: Positive for one copy of F508del mutation.

Interpretation: This individual is a carrier of CF. Genetic counseling is recommended to discuss the potential clinical and/or reproductive implications of this result, as well as recommendations for testing other family members and, when applicable, this individuals partner.

Because wed been under the impression that nothing had come up on my prenatal genetic tests, the genetic counselor we saw the day of Noahs sweat test had posited that I had a mutation too rare to be detected by the newborn screening. I dont; Tag does. Mine isnt just common  its the most common cystic-fibrosis gene mutation, capable of being detected by a basic genetic screening. In the sunlight, the recommendation grew starker, the distance widening between what could have happened and what did. The reproductive implication, meanwhile, continued his nap.

Usually, people need a little bit of time to understand the conditions that created our situation in the first place. The summer after Noah was born, my sister-in-law came to visit; we were talking in the kitchen while he slept in the other room. But, she said, trying to figure out what it would mean to sue over a disease that cant be prevented or fixed, if you had known   I interrupted her, wanting to rush ahead but promptly bursting into tears when I said it: There would be no Noah. I remember the look that crossed her face, how she nodded slowly and said, twice, Thats a lot.

What does it mean to fight for someone when what youre fighting for is a missed chance at that persons not existing?

The more I discuss the abortion I didnt have, the easier that part gets to say aloud: I would have ended the pregnancy. I would have terminated. I would have had an abortion. Thats firmly in the past, and it is how I would have rearranged my actions, given all the information. Its moving a piece of furniture from one place to another before anything can go wrong, the way we got rid of our wobbly side tables once Noah learned to walk. Whats so acutely painful is what I didnt quite mean to say to my sister-in-law, what all that past rearranging would mean right now: no Noah.

Parents like me often feel betrayed by their childs cystic-fibrosis diagnosis: Maybe there was medical malpractice, maybe an inherited mutation so rare it wasnt detected prenatally. Other parents have chosen to avoid any kind of testing, believing its their destiny to embrace whatever God or fate or genetics deals them. Im horrified by the sanctimony that often accompanies this acceptance, especially when its admired, especially when its offered up by mothers who dont believe in prenatal testing or who have more than one child with cystic fibrosis. The women who willingly made choices that were never presented to me and chose a childs suffering: Sometimes I hate them.

I also hate the women who were supposed to care for me. I hate the faceless people at the lab. I hate them ferociously, the way you hate a family member or the closest of friends. I hate them the way you hate a spouse, for all the bad they caused, and how closely tied that bad is with good. I hate them for what feels like the slyest of deals: While my familys life is now shaped around a disease I would never willingly bring into the world, we are a family because of them  unwittingly, they gave me my most precious gift. I hate them for making me a mother whose biggest mistake was becoming one.

My son has blue eyes, curly blond hair, slightly crooked teeth. Hes daring, most of the time. Hes afraid of doctors and anyone in a flapping coat. I want the people I hate to know these details about him. I want them to be able to smell his soft breath in the morning, just before I strap a mask over his face so he can inhale medication. I want them to fathom telling a child no amount of treatment can make his disease go away, that people with CF are so likely to pass bacteria between each other they cant be in the same room, that most men with CF are infertile, that every drinking fountain holds the risk of a lung infection. I want them to feel all the moments in a life affected by this disease and experience what its going to be like, to be Noah. I want to take all the pain and disappointment hell have and drown them in it.

But no matter whose fault it is, giving birth to a child with a terminal disease is something I did do. This is just as obvious as it is important: I am the one who was pregnant and gave birth to Noah. That I continued my pregnancy under mistaken pretenses feels like an irreparable violation, one that I dont think any man  including the one who loves Noah as much as I do  is capable of understanding. A woman once described the grief of her miscarriage to me as a biological loneliness; thats something close to what wrongful birth feels like. A biological remorse. Logically, I know the guilt belongs elsewhere. But biologically, I feel a deep responsibility, a primal and uniquely female pain.

Noah inhaling medication through a nebulizer. Photo: Elinor Carucci

In 1975, a woman named Dortha Biggs, then Dortha Jacobs, successfully sued her doctor for not diagnosing her with rubella  known to cause a host of birth defects  while she was pregnant with her daughter Lesli. Hers was the case that established the legal concept of wrongful birth, paving the way for families like mine.

Lesli, whos now in her late 40s, lives in an assisted-living home; because of the rubella that infected her cells in utero, Lesli cannot see, hear, talk, or walk. She has severe intellectual disabilities and has had over 20 surgeries. I was afraid of what her mother might think of me, with a son like mine, who looks relatively okay between treatments. But Dortha was easy to find and readily willing to speak with me, insistent on asking about my child before talking about her own.

Dorthas voice was calm during most of our talk, but it did speed up once, after I brought up anger. Oh, yeah, she said. Oh, yeah. The last time Dortha saw the doctor she sued, the now-deceased Louis Theimer, was at a deposition more than 40 years ago. In some ways, she respects him because he didnt try to lie his way out of anything. He never denied that Dortha asked about rubella while she was pregnant.

I dont hate him, she said, taking half a pause. I dont like him. We both laughed a little before she grew serious again: I dont like what he did to me. She told me about going back to Dr. Theimer to inform him Lesli had been born with the rubella virus in her body. Ill always remember, she said, her voice full of fresh wonder even after all this time, him looking at me and saying, Im just going to have to be more careful. 

The conversation turned back to Noah, and I tried explaining our situation  the similarities, the differences  ending with a sideways apology for having a child with much more of a chance than hers ever did. But its your child, she interrupted, and when its your child, its the worst.

The more I discuss the abortion I didnt have, the easier that part gets to say aloud: I would have ended the pregnancy.

Wobblingly, I asked Dortha what she felt after the ruling and subsequent settlement agreement with Dr. Theimer (about $120,000, which was placed in a fund for Lesli), explaining Id been thinking about what might happen if we got a settlement. It didnt make her well, she said. It did not help her own pain. It helped her get out of debt. It gave her some money for her daughter.

Dorthas glad her case ended the way it did, but shes not happy about the name the action ended up with: I dont like it! she told me. I just think its horrible. If she could rename it, shed do away with the words wrongful and birth in favor of something like parental choice. For whatever reason, the language, controversial as it is, doesnt bother me. Its clumsy and raw, and I do think its horrible  just like the circumstances.

Toward the end of our talk, Dortha gently helped me with a question, reframing it to let me know I could ask her about guilt. She said she does feel guilty, sometimes. Shell go back and think about what she might have done differently. Her doctor was a general practitioner; maybe she should have seen a gynecologist. She did call one  but he was too busy to see her, she said, in the voice of someone whos told herself the same complicated, circular story many times over.

Similar decisions I made when I was pregnant continue to haunt me. A friend had recommended I see her midwife over the ones I chose; I didnt take her advice. For my sons sake, I wish Id chosen differently  the last half of that sentence swiftly yanking away the first. Dortha thinks its only natural for mothers like us to rove over the possibilities of what could have been, what we did or didnt do. Its a life sentence, she said simply, 47 years ahead of me in serving hers.

Photo: Elinor Carucci

When I first started writing about Noah, his treatments took 30 minutes in the morning, 30 more in the evening. Thats since changed. This summer, he tested positive for the bacteria Pseudomonas and was prescribed an additional treatment, the antibiotic Tobramycin, which takes 20 to 30 minutes to administer via a nebulizer, a drug-delivery device that diffuses liquid medication into a fine spray so it can be inhaled. When he sits in front of cartoons with a mask on, hes inhaling the antibiotics that work to kill the bacteria. But Pseudomonas is likely to return  its an opportunistic infection that, eventually, becomes immune to antibiotics. For cystic-fibrosis patients, its one of the factors associated with an earlier death.

Lately, Noahs favorite word is more. The meaning seems to blur at the edges  sometimes I can tell he wants more milk, other times he seems to mean something akin to again. But whatever he means, when he says the word, he stares off into the distance, repeating himself as his voice grows quieter and quieter, until its more of a plaintive murmur than a demand. Hes a toddler, and between treatments, hes a busy, capable little boy. He interacts with the world more and more each day, and he wants things from it.

Im afraid of what he might want from me someday, of the kinds of questions hell want answered. Hes not dumb: Hell figure out that his disease should have been detected before he was born, not after. The prenatal results should have been communicated to me by the midwives. A genetic counselor should have explained that being a carrier doesnt necessarily mean an unhealthy fetus. She should have recommended that my husband be tested, just in case. She should have explained that in the U.S., one in 29 Caucasians carry a CF mutation. And even if Tag were also a carrier, a counselor should have told us, there was still a 75 percent chance of the fetus being fine. I would have had an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling to know for sure.

But none of those results would have been the ones we wanted, and wed be up against the last should: I should have had an abortion. And thats where my conviction crumples, because I dont know how Im supposed to tell Noah that someday. Its one thing to watch a loved one suffer. Its another to watch and know its your fault, even if only because of the way your body is made. And its something almost beyond me to imagine, looking into Noahs eyes and saying, Im sorry I didnt save you, from your own life.

Its true that the outlook for a cystic-fibrosis patient has improved greatly, especially over the past 20 years. In the 1950s, most children with cystic fibrosis died before getting the chance to attend kindergarten. This progress was something emphasized to us, over and over again, after Noah was diagnosed. Weve got adult patients! our clinic kept saying. It took me a little while to figure out why I was supposed to feel grateful to hear about them, these full-grown strangers whose disease Id once known nothing about. These days, adulthood is a big part of what I fear most for Noah  what that must feel like, to be 25 and not sure what 30 will look like, if you might see 40. Our clinic recently added a new member to its staff: a psychologist specially trained to focus on the mental health of cystic-fibrosis patients, who suffer from depression and anxiety at alarmingly high rates.

Right now, Noah does not look ill in a way that would startle anyone. No one knows hes unwell unless we tell them. A time will come, I know, when the decision to tell others about his disease will belong to him. Young adults with CF sometimes discuss this in the context of dating, how and at what point in a new relationship to explain what Ive heard described as a long-term terminal disease.

When we moved forward with our lawyer, I first pictured the money we might obtain in a settlement like the crassest of apologies. I could give it to young-adult Noah if his health seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, and he could use it to travel the world and see places Ive never been, in a glamorous rush to fill his shortened life. But this is a silly thought  hed almost certainly be too sick to travel. And we need that money for his medical expenses.

Recently, the FDA approved Noahs particular genetic mutations for treatment with a miracle cystic-fibrosis drug called Kalydeco  the first drug to fight the diseases underlying cause. Its a stunning change, one that could potentially add years to his life. The news does not come without complications  Kalydeco costs about $300,000 a year. If everything stays the same for our family, with employment and health-care politics, insurance will pay for most of its cost. But the enormity of that burden makes me scared for us, for Noah. Its such a looming need. And not even the millions and millions of dollars wed need to purchase this drug outright can buy what I truly want for my son: the chance to look ahead and see the same bright mystery that healthy young people see, brimming in their perfect idiot youth.

Of the bond between motherhood and mortality, the novelist Samantha Hunt has written, No one has ever looked at my kids and said, Wow. You made three deaths. You must really understand life.  When I made Noah, I made a particularly brutal death, one that starts in his cells, which dont work quite right. I dont know how to be sorry, only that I am. If I had received my test results, and gotten pregnant using IVF to ensure a healthy embryo, would I still have made Noah, this exact son, only without his disease? That possibility is agonizing to think of  all the years of life I cant give him.

I love my child just the way he is is a sentiment often put forth, fiercely, by the parents of sick or disabled kids. Its not hard to understand the intention  every parent wants to make it clear that no challenge renders their love conditional. But given the choice, if one existed, I would have Noah another way: healthy. Wrongful birth doesnt grant anyone that choice; like Dortha said, no legal outcome can ever make your child well.

Having to put this kind of pain into words is, to me, the hardest part of wrongful birth. To have to specify what would make me terminate a pregnancy, to imagine my life today without a toddler. Theres no escape from knowing that the opportunity for mercy quietly slipped by and that something as idiotic as a clerical error is responsible. But the most consuming, language-defying pain is just the other side of the most overwhelming joy. There are no words for the feeling of walking down the street with the person I love most, no words to describe why I wanted to have a child in the first place. After all this pain and humiliation and anger boiled down to records and money and who did what, the love I have for my son feels like the one thing that cant be taken from me. Its what I know more than anything in this world.

*This article appears in the November 27, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has made a case for treating support measures to promote exports as investment and not subsidies, arguing that outbound shipments contribute in a big way to boosting growth.

The minister emphasised that exports can benefit the economy in a much shorter term than any other economic activity.

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"We feel very strongly that export should be considered as an investment and should not be considered as subsidy that we provide to exports. Because the large growth in exports benefits economy as a whole in a significant way," Prabhu told PTI during an interview.

Exports have both domestic and global benefits, he said, adding that on the external front, the outbound shipments create an economic footprint globally, which has its own geo- political advantages.

"Export means somebody is importing, so we become part of the supply chain. The exporter also creates a constituency in that country... so, we have a huge benefit by doing that," he added.

Citing the example of China, he said the country has created several allies by becoming the largest exporter in the world.

An official said that as part of the Budget preparation, the commerce ministry would try to impress upon the finance ministry the need to treat exports as investments and not subsidies.

On GST related concerns of exporters, Prabhu said the ministry has taken up the matter with the GST Council and exuded confidence that the issue would be resolved.

"With regard to GST refund, there are some issues. We are constantly taking that up with the finance ministry to get it addressed," he added.

Exports in October had entered the negative zone again, dropping 1.12 per cent. The fall in shipment has been attributed to the liquidity problems being faced by exporters following the transition to the Goods and Services Tax. PTI RR CS ADI ARD

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Members of staff process purchased items in the Amazon Fulfilment centre on Nov. 15, 2017 in Peterborough, England. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Amazon Staff Are Asleep on Their Feet as They Struggle to Meet Targets

Amazon staff are asleep on their feet and suffering mentally and physically as they try to meet targets, a newspaper investigation has found.

Staff at the companys newest warehouse in Essex have been pictured exhausted in the investigation for the Sunday Mirror.

They have to process up to 300 items an hour to meet demand, the newspaper alleged. Staff are so tired they cover clocks so they dont know how long there is left on their shifts.

They also have to walk up to a third of a mile to use the toilet, which was photographed looking disgusting, according to the investigation.

An undercover reporter spent five weeks in the Amazon fulfilment centre in Tilbury, Essex, about 25 miles east of London. He said that workers were so tired from their 55-hour weeks that they would sleep on their feet.

He quoted one Amazon worker as saying: At my induction, someone was asking why the staff turnover was so high. Its because theyre killing people. All my friends think Im dead. Im exhausted.

The warehouse has no natural light, so staff do not know whether it is day or night. The reporter worked from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with two 30-minute breaks.

According to the Daily Mail, an Amazon statement said: Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace with competitive pay and benefits. We are proud to have created thousands of roles in our UK fulfilment centres. As with most companies, we expect a certain level of performance.

Targets are based on previous performance achieved by our workers. Associates are evaluated over a long period of time.

The Mirror reporter wrote: Sometimes I met my targets, but I knew I couldnt keep it up much longer.

By halfway through the day I felt drained. If I grumbled I was reminded my numbers would suffer if I stopped. In my final fortnight there were at least two safety incidents that could have seen somebody seriously hurt.

One staff member told the reporter: Everybody suffers here. I pulled my hamstring but I just had to carry on. My friend spent two days off after she damaged her knee ligaments.

One worker is said to have collapsed while they worked and was taken to hospital.

Separately, it was found that ambulances were sent to Amazons main Scottish warehouse 43 times in 2016, according to the Daily Mail. Fifteen of the call-outs were in the most serious Category A classification.

Amazon said that in comparison to other warehouses, the injury rate was relatively low.

A spokesperson told the Sunday Post: We have 41 per cent fewer injuries than other companies conducting warehousing activities in the UK, based on the latest available HSE RIDDOR reporting data.

They added: The number of times this has occurred is small when compared to the hundreds of thousands of days worked in our fulfilment centres each year by more than 5,000 people at our busiest times, and the figures have declined in the past year.

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Residents carry their belongings as they evacuate the site of a fatal housing block fire in Beijing on Nov. 19, 2017. (RYAN MCMORROW/AFP/Getty Images)

Beijing Authorities Take Advantage of Deadly Fire in Poor Neighborhood to Remove Undesirables

After a massive fire broke out in a low-income neighborhood of Beijing on Nov. 18, authorities have been evicting residents in an apparent attempt to clear poor migrant workers out of the city.

The fire, which broke out in Daxing District, an area where many factory workers live in low-rent apartments, killed 19 people and injured eight, according to state media.

In the ensuing days, residents in different Beijing neighborhoods have uploaded videos and online posts documenting eviction notices by local authorities. Police are shown kicking down doors and forcing residents onto the streets with nothing but their suitcases. Eyewitnesses and Chinese media estimate that tens of thousands could be affected.

Hu Jia, a prominent human rights activist in Beijing, said that the authorities are taking advantage of the disasterwhich happened in a building without proper fire safety measuresas an excuse to clear out cheap apartments.

It doesnt matter whether you have done the legal procedures, whether or not you have the necessary fire safety measures. Even if you do, now is the time for you to move out, so you have to leave, he told The Epoch Times.

Some have their children with them. Its so cold outside. How can the children bear it? Today, there have been several who have fallen sick with a fever or cold.

Earlier this year, Beijing authorities announced plans to cap the city population at 23 million long-term residents by the year 2020, in an effort to stem the growing influx of migrant workers into the crowded city. Migrant workers are a category of people who do not possess an official residency permit in Beijing, but have traveled to the capital, typically from rural areas, in search of work.

The fire seems to be the ideal opportunity for authorities to now clear out low-income workers, street hawkers, and out-of-town petitioners who stay in the capital to file grievances. These groups often live in low-rent housing located in Beijings outer suburbs and are often referred to as the low-class population.

One netizen posted a notice from Daxing District authorities stating that beginning on Nov. 21, apartments and rented homes would be cleared out.

In nearby Fangshan District, a petitioner with the surname Ma told The Epoch Times that her rented house was slated to be demolished next March. But after the fire, her landlord called and said she had to move now.

Another resident, Ms. Zhang, told The Epoch Times that she owned a house in Shunyi District, located near the Beijing International Airport. Her family lives there, and she also rents out rooms to airport workers. Zhang said that on the evening of Nov. 20, about 20 police and other plainclothes officers entered her neighborhood and gave notice that everyone must move out with their belongings. The police violently barged into homes and sealed doors, she said.

It started at 9 p.m. and continued until about 1 or 2 a.m. It is like exterminating people, she said. The rent was Zhangs main source of income, and she is worried about her future.

On Nov. 24, students from several university campuses released an online petition asking Chinese authorities to set up temporary housing for people who have been forced out of their homes.

Chen Han, Yi Ru, and Gu Xiaohua contributed to this report.
Snow covers the hills and fields surrounding the village of Hayfield in northern England, on February 28, 2017. Forecasters are predicting a similar cold snap for the end of 2017 too. (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain Prepares for Snow as Forecasters Predict Arctic Winter

Britains government has issued the first cold weather health warning of the winter season, with freezing weather forecast for much of the country.

Over the next two days temperatures are expected to dip as low as -6C (21.2F) in the north of the UK, with the rest the country freezing or below.

This last weekend, temperatures were already as low as -2C, according to the Guardian, with icy mornings in some areas.

The Met Office has warned that it will become increasingly cold as the week progresses.

Laura Paterson, Chief Operational Meteorologist for the Met Office, said in a statement: Colder air will gradually spread south during Monday and Tuesday, with overnight frosts becoming more widespread, along with a brisk northerly breeze.

A period of more widespread cold temperatures is then expected from Wednesday onward, whilst showers down the east coast are also expected to be wintry at times with some snow and ice possible.

Winter officially starts on Friday, Dec. 1, and the cold snap is expected hold out well beyond that date. Some forecasters say it could last until January, according to the Daily Express.

Piers Corbyn, forecaster for WeatherAction, told the Express: During the last part of November we expect widespread heavy snow with thunder at times and bitter winds.

Strong northerly gales will contribute to bringing blizzard conditions with snow possible across much of the country.

The jet stream is making wild north to south swings and we are also seeing a displacement of the Polar vortex which will allow cold winds in from the Arctic.

Public Health England (PHE) urged British people to be aware of those who might be at risk from the cold, such as people with diseases such as heart and lung conditions, older people, and young children.

Dr Thomas Waite of PHEs Extreme Events team, said in a statement: When the colder weather arrives there are several things we can do to keep well: wear several thin layers instead of fewer thicker ones, keep parts of the home youre using heated to at least 18C and keep a careful eye on the weather forecasts.

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Two car thieves caught on CCTV. The footage was passed to West Midlands Police (Screenshot YouTube/West Midlands Police)

Car Thieves Using New Relay Method Caught on CCTV

Car thieves have been stealing expensive cars from driveways with a new method that uses the key, but without needing to first take it from the owners house.

The relay method has been on the rise for the last year but hadnt been caught on video until now, when UK police released CCTV footage of two men stealing a Mercedes car in 50 seconds.

This type of theft has become increasingly common over the last year, and it targets keyless cars which can be opened simply by the owner bringing the electronic key near to the car.

There are a couple of low-tech ways to safeguard against this method, which only targets high-tech security, say experts.

Video footage released on Nov. 26 taken at a home in Solihull in the west of England, shows how the method relies on two people.

The two men dressed in white overalls can be seen to pull up and get out of another car and approach the house carrying boxes.

One stands next to the rear of the car, while the other goes up to the house with a relay box, which is used to pick up the wireless signal from the key inside the house.

The signaltoo weak to open the car door at that distanceis then boosted and received by another device held by the car.

The video shows the car lights flash as it unlocks just 24 seconds after they approach the house. The man opens the Mercedes door, and 30 seconds later he makes off with the vehicle.

West Midlands Police spokesperson Mark Silvester, said in a statement: To protect against this type of theft, owners can use an additional tested and Thatcham-approved steering lock to cover the entire steering wheel.

The relay method can also be thwarted by a metal box.

The devices are capable of receiving signals through walls, doors, and windows, but not metal, said a West Midlands police statement.

Car owners with keyless security should put the electronic keys in a box overnight, recommends Admiral car insurance.

While this may seem like an extreme solution, relay theft is an extreme practice, Lorna Connelly, head of claims at Admiral said in a statement.

Unfortunately, we do see claims from customers who have had their cars stolen due to relay theft and its a problem that we would advise motorists with keyless cars to be aware of.

Despite progresses in anti-theft technology, thieves are always coming up with new ways to make off with your vehicle, she said.

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Charles Manson in March 2009. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via Getty Images)

Charles Mansons Dentures, Prison Items Heading to Las Vegas Museum: Report

Charles Mansons false teeth and other prison items are heading to a museum in Las Vegas.

Zak Bagans, star of the Travel Channels Ghost Adventures, bought some of Mansons personal items after the killer died last week. That includes a set of dentures, TMZ reported.

Bagans believes the chompers are the real deal because the seller was a close friend and pen pal of Mansons, the report stated.

He also has a photo of the teeth signed by Manson.

Charles Manson's relationship with The Beach Boys https://t.co/6FQs2b3hNF pic.twitter.com/DTJOXY2ick  Classic Rock In Pics (@crockpics) November 26, 2017

I wrote to Charles Manson and got this drawing in response. https://t.co/5N5FHXBfWR  VICE (@VICE) November 24, 2017

The teeth were reportedly stolen by an inmate in 2010, and when he was released from prison, he sent the dentures to Mansons pen pal. Then, the friend teased Manson by sending him a photo of the teeth, and Manson wrote back to him begging him to return them, but he didnt, the report stated.

The letter as well as a necklace fashioned from toilet paper and underwearalong with other art made by the killerare part of Bagans collection. Theyll be displayed at the Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.

Why do many death row inmates like Charles Manson avoid execution and die from natural causes instead? Go #BehindTheBar to find out. pic.twitter.com/ORa2rMF0rh  TMZ (@TMZ) November 26, 2017

Manson died last Sunday at the age of 83, while stating in his will that he disinherited his two known children, grandchildren, friends, as well as family and the state of California, according to the Daily Mail.

Manson died of natural causes last Sunday evening, Nov. 19, at a Kern County hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. It gave no further details of the circumstances surrounding his death, Reuters reported.

He had been serving a life sentence at the nearby Corcoran State Prison for ordering the murders of nine people, including actress Sharon Tate.

Manson long maintained his innocence, telling Rolling Stone magazine that follower Charles Tex Watson was responsible for the Tate-LaBianca killings. Watson was tried separately and is serving a life term for his role in those killings.

Still, Manson seemed resigned to a life of incarceration, ceasing to even attend his parole review hearings after 1997.

What would I want out for? he said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times. This beats an old folks home.

In April 2012, Manson was quoted by parole officials as having told a prison psychologist the previous fall, I have put five people in the grave. Ive been in prison most of my life. Im a very dangerous man.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A smartphone displays the Uber mobile application which allows users to hail private-hire cars from any location on June 2, 2014 in London, England. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Executives of Scandal-Hit Uber Travel Globe to Reassure Regulators

TOKYOUber executives are traveling the globe to reassure regulators that the company is changing the way it does business, after a string of controversies hurt the ride-hailing firms reputation, its Asian head told Reuters on Monday.

It is also still in talks with Japans SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> for an investment, said Brooks Entwistle, Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] recently appointed chief business officer for Asia Pacific.

The comments come on the heels of Ubers disclosure last week that it covered up a 2016 data breach involving 57 million customers and drivers. The revelation prompted governments in countries including Britain, the United States, Australia and the Philippines to launch probes into the breach and Ubers handling of the matter.

We have changed tacks in so many ways in dealing with regulators, dealing with governments, Entwistle said in an interview in Tokyo, where he is meeting Japanese officials and potential business partners.

This suggests the worlds largest ride-hailing firm, known for its tough stance against regulators, is taking a less disruptive and more consensual approach in the wake of scandals that have led to criticism of its corporate culture.

A stream of executives have left Uber in recent months amid controversies involving sexual harassment, data privacy and business practices in Asia. The board also removed Travis Kalanick as its chief executive in June.

Softbank Deal

The disclosure of the 2016 data breach at a time when Uber is trying to bring in Japanese firm SoftBank as an investor has spurred speculation about the price of the deal.

SoftBank and Dragoneer Investment Group agreed on Nov. 12 to lead a group that would invest as much as $10 billion in Uber, people familiar with the deal previously told Reuters.

And according to sources, Uber has plans to disclose the pricing of the SoftBank deal in formal tender offers to existing investors this week.

The transaction is still underway and its an extraordinary validation that an investor like SoftBank would look at Uber, said Entwistle.

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment.

Regional Plans

SoftBank has become a prolific investor in ride-hailing firms across Asia, including Southeast Asias Grab, Chinas DiDi Chuxing and Indias Ola, leading to expectations it could drive consolidation in the region.

While Uber sold its business in China to DiDi last year, it remains committed to operating in the broader region for years to come, said Entwistle, who joined the company in August.

The firm has not given up on the Japanese market, which has barred non-professional drivers from offering taxi services, and is working on partnering with traditional taxi firms, he said.

Uber hopes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could provide a venue to demonstrate the value of ride-sharing firms in a potentially lucrative market, he said.

We are innovating and in some markets that will take longer and we realize that, Entwistle said.
Florida Man Arrested After Man Found Dead Near 3-Foot-Long Sword

A Florida man was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed someone with a three-foot-long sword.

Police arrested George C. Livingston, 51, after a man was found dead next to the sword near railroad tracks on Saturday, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The victim was identified as 58-year-old David Beckett by the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office, and he had visible injuries consistent with a violent attack, a sheriffs office spokesman told the Palm Beach Post.

Beckett and Livingston lived at a nearby homeless encampment.

Livingston is being held without bond in the Palm Beach County jail. The charge was described as murder, dangerous depraved without premeditation, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

The office said the stabbing stemmed from a fight between the two homeless men. Its unclear what triggered it.

Detectives arrived, interviews were conducted with witnesses and a person of interest that had been detained by the responding deputies, Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the sheriffs office, said in a press release. Probable cause was developed and George C. Livingston  was arrested for 2nd Degree Murder.

Livingston has a lengthy criminal record, having served prison terms in Florida. He was convicted of aggravated stalking, according to Florida Department of Corrections records, as reported by the Sun-Sentinel.

In 2011, he was caught with a 9-inch knife near a childrens area of the Boynton Beach Mall, claiming that he needed the blade to protect himself from gangs, Fox reported. When his knife was taken by an officer, Livingston asked, Why did the other officer take my pocket knife but not my taser?

The officer then confiscated his taser at the time, Fox reported.

Livingston is currently being held in the Palm Beach County jail. No bail was set.

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A Shahab-3 long range missile is displayed during a rally marking al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in Tehran on June 23, 2017. Chants against the Saudi royal family and the so-called Islamic State mingled with the traditional cries of 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America' at the Jerusalem Day rallies across Iran. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran Warns It will Upgrade Missiles to Hit Europe if It Feels Threatened

A top Iranian general has threatened that Iran will increase the range of its missiles so that they can hit Europe if Iran is threatened.

Brigadier General Hossein Salami  second in command of the countrys Revolutionary Guards  said Iran could increase the range of its missiles by more than 1,250 miles (2,000 km). That would be far enough to strike the European continent.

If we have kept the range of our missiles to 2,000 kilometers, its not due to lack of technology  we are following a strategic doctrine, said Salami, according to the Fars news agency on Nov. 25.

So far we have felt that Europe is not a threat, so we did not increase the range of our missiles. But if Europe wants to turn into a threat, we will increase the range of our missiles, he said.

The deputy head of #Irans Revolutionary guards, Hossein Salami warns If Europe threatens us, we will increase our missile range. pic.twitter.com/IBXde6B2BG  Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) November 26, 2017

Last month, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the hard-line Revolutionary Guards, indicated why the Islamic republic did not need to extend the reach of their ballistic missiles. The countrys current 1,250 mile missile range was able to cover most of American interest and forces within the region, he said according to a Reuters report.

Jafari said the existing missile range limit was established by the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is also the head of the military.

Iran possesses the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the Middle East, with thousands of short and medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles capable of striking as far as Israel and southeast Europe, said the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think-tank.

Missiles have become a central tool of Iranian power projection and ant-access/area-denial capabilities in the face of U.S. and Gulf Cooperation Council naval and air power in the region, it says.

Iran has said its missile program is purely for defensive motives and that it is non-negotiable. France recently called for uncompromising dialogue with the Islamic republic about its program.

In July, the U.S. accused Iran of supplying Houthi rebels in Yemen with a missile that was fired at its arch rival Saudi Arabia. See some footage of that incident taken by Saudi citizens below.

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From NTD.tv
Man Shot at Arlington Mall After Pulling out Fake Gun

A shooting was reported at Parks Mall in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday evening, according to local media reports.

Arlington police confirmed with NBC5 in Dallas that there was a shooting, located on Interstate 20 and Cooper Street.

One officer was working for the Parks Mall while off-duty to investigate theft at the Sunglass Hut.

We are working an incident at Parks Mall involving an officer-involved shooting. One suspect involved. No suspects outstanding. This is NOT an active shooter incident. Its related to an offense. @ArlingtonParks Mall is being evacuated by security. Incident under control. pic.twitter.com/QHgPdQlRX6  Arlington Police, TX (@ArlingtonPD) November 26, 2017

The suspect ran away from the officer and went to top level of the food court and took out a fake gun.

The officer then fired several times and hit the suspect, officials said.

Arlington PD clarifies shooting happened on escalator btwn 1st & 2nd floors. Parks Mall video surveillance captured entirety of shooting.@wfaa pic.twitter.com/i8xbuh6kTp  David Goins (@dgoins) November 27, 2017

The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital, and his condition is not known, the NBC affiliate reported.

This happened when the mall was extremely busy, there were a lot of bystanders, Lt. Christopher Cook said. But luckily no one else was injured in this incident.

i feel so traumatized after the parks mall shooting but im glad everyone was ok. i dont even feel ok mentally but i work tomorrow again   ken (@lolkxnya) November 27, 2017

The incident took place at around 4:30 p.m. local time.

The Star-Telegram reported that the mall was evacuated.

Anyone at the Parks Mall is able to go to their vehicle. The incident is under control. The Parks Mall has closed so please avoid the area. Follow instructions from First Responders if inside the mall.  Arlington Police, TX (@ArlingtonPD) November 26, 2017

Shooting at Parks Mall in Arlington. This is a snap from someone there rn. pic.twitter.com/GAwPA3Slz3  Hector (@SifuentesX) November 26, 2017

#Breaking video from inside The Parks Mall in Arlington where police are responding to an officer involved shooting. Mall is closed. Police say scene is under control pic.twitter.com/m46VZMxwZI  J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) November 26, 2017
A fighter jet flies over the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor on September 11, 2017 as Syrian government forces continue to press forward with Russian air cover in the offensive against ISIS across the province. Syrian army reinforcements arrived in Deir Ezzor for a new push against the Islamic State. (George Ourfalian/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian Air Strikes Kill 53 Civilians in Syria, Says Report

At least 53 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in a village in east Syria, according to a Syrian monitoring group.

Twenty-one or more of those killed on Sunday, Nov. 26 were children, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) told AFP.

The air strikes reportedly hit the village of al-Shafah in Deir ez-Zur, one of the last provinces where ISIS still has territory. The terrorist group has been pushed out of its main stronghold in Raqqa.

Rami Abdel Rahman of SOHR told AFP that the death toll had increased after debris was removed when carrying out rescue operations.

He said the strikes had hit residential buildings in the village, which is on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

There have been no other reports to confirm civilian deaths.

Russias Defence Ministry said that six long-range bombers had targeted ISIS and terrorist strongholds in the area around the time of the reported civilian deaths, according to Al Jazeera.

Russia has been an ally of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad since 2015, along with Iran.

The United Nations is starting peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, Nov. 28 in an attempt to find a solution to the war, which has so far claimed more than 400,000 lives.

Russia previously vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have renewed an international inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

But President Trump and President Putin did issue a joint statement that enhanced de-conflicting efforts, such as increased communications between Russian and U.S. militaries, have proven successful and will continue until ISIS is defeated.

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By PTI: By Aditi Khanna

London, Nov 27 (PTI) The families of six formerABritish soldiers lodged in a Tamil NaduAjail expressed "sheer relief" after an Indian court acquitted them over an illegal weapons charge today.

The so-called "Chennai Six" had been arrested in October 2013 and sentenced for carrying arms on a commercial US ship.

They were held while working for an anti-piracy security company protecting commercial ships off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean and have pleaded their innocence ever since.

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"I just feel sheer relief ? finally we are getting our family back together," said Yvonne MacHugh, the fiancA of Billy Irving, one of the six men.

"Finally all the men are going to be home with their families. They have been acquitted of all charges, so they have done no wrongdoing and finally we have proven that," she said.

The Madras High Court today ruled that all charges against the six men ? and 29 others arrested with them ? be dropped with immediate effect, and the fines they were ordered to pay be refunded.

The Madurai bench directed that all crew members of MV Seaman Guard Ohio can apply to the Indian authorities to get back their passports after which they will be able to travel home to the UK.

"They still need to get police clearance before they can come home, so there are steps being taken to try to ensure that everythings in place," said Joanne Tomlinson, the sister of another British ex-soldier John Armstrong.

She was among the friends and family members who had been leading a campaign in the UK, including lobbying ministers and Downing Street, to secure the release of the men.

Besides Armstrong and Irving, the other British former soldiers who have been in a Chennai jail for four years include NickADunn, Ray Tindall, Paul Towers, and Nicholas Simpson.

In October 2013, Indian coastguards boarded their vessel and arrested them along with 29 other crew members for taking weapons into Indias territorial waters.

The charges were initially quashed when the men argued the weapons were lawfully held for anti-piracy purposes and their paperwork, issued by theAUK government, was in order.

But a lower court reinstated the prosecution and they were convicted in January last year and sentenced to five years inAjail.

Since then there have been a series of appeals, includingABritish Prime Minister Theresa May raising the matter with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during her visit to India in November 2016 as well as Britains High Commissioner in India, Dominic Asquith, visiting the men inAjailAinAChennai.

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The sailors were aboard the American-owned ship which reportedly offered armed protection to vessels sailing through an area known as "pirates alley" between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

US firm AdvanFort International, which owns the ship, has maintained that the vessel was involved in anti-piracy operations and had not strayed into Indian waters.

Customs officials and police found 35 guns, including semi-automatic weapons, and almost 6,000 rounds of ammunition on board the ship, which allegedly did not have permission to be in Indian waters.APTI AK SMJ AKJ SMJ

--- ENDS ---
Reports of Shooting at Galleria Mall in Middletown, NY; 2 Injured

Police are responding to reports of shots fired at the Galleria Mall at Crystal Run in Middletown, New York, on Sunday afternoon.

The mall has been evacuated, according to Spectrum News. The outlet reported that the American Eagle at the mall was evacuated after a report of a shooting.

A witness, Martin Lerner, who lives nearby, told The Epoch Times: We didnt hear that much, were shopping at JC Penny, that end of the mall, and I was standing on the cash register lineit was quite busy in the mall. I saw people running towards  they said we had to evacuate. His wife wasnt near him  I finally saw her, I was trying to reach her and she started walking towards me. We just kind of calmly  walked out of the store. We heard a clerk say they had to lock the cash register.

We had no problem getting out. I left all the things that I was going to shop for, I left them behind in the mall. We walked out, and once we got out of the mall, I looked left and there must have been, it seemed like over 20 or 30 or 40 police cars, and a comparable number of ambulances.

WPIX reported that at least two people were injured in the shooting.

UPDATE: NY state police say 2 people injured, no arrests made after reports of shots fired at Galleria at Crytstal Run mall  News12https://t.co/yMJSlz69ZN pic.twitter.com/qmMOwUVANV  Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 26, 2017

State Police confirm they're responding to reports of shots fired at the Galleria Mall in Middletown. The mall has been evacuated. pic.twitter.com/5EVhchvZs1  Spectrum News HV (@SPECNewsHV) November 26, 2017

State Police confirmed that theyre responding. Officials told News12 that they dont believe its an active shooter situation.

DO NOT GO to the Galleria Mall in Middletown. There is an active shooter, EVERYONE HAS BEEN EVACUATED, one person wrote on social media.

Both my sisters work at the galleria mall and said they heard gun shots my sister is locked in her store and cant leave please if anyone is in Middletown keep me updated Im panicking rn  Jonids (@jonidianoboa) November 26, 2017

A handful or staties in full assault gear told us to get the [expletive] out of the mall and we evacuated with everyone else, one man tweeted. It was crazy and chaotic.

Police and ambulances everywhere, Julia Gulia wrote on Twitter. Was just about to head in but missed it thank goodness.

No arrests have been made yet.

For Lerner, the shooting will make him think twice about going there.

We take our grandchildren to the mall. We shop there. We go to Target. So now its going to give us pause about, I mean, I dont know. This is just, were going to be cautious, he said.

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Pedestrians walk in front of a large video screen in Tokyo broadcasting a news report showing North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, following a North Korean missile test that passed over Japan on Sept. 15, 2017. (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian Diplomat Warns of Apocalyptic Scenario on Korean Peninsula

A Russian diplomat has warned of an apocalyptic scenario on the Korean Peninsula amid rising tensions between North Korea and other East Asian countries.

A scenario of the apocalyptic development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula exists and we cannot turn our blind eye to it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Monday, Nov. 27 according to the Russian state-run TASS news agency. He delivered his remarks in Seoul, South Korea.

I hope that a common sense, pragmatism and an instinct of self-preservation would prevail among our partners to exclude such negative scenario, he added.

Tensions have increased as North Korea actively tries to develop a nuclear weapon and long-range missile launching capabilities capable of striking the United States. On Sept. 3, North Korea claimed it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, and earlier this year, it launched two missiles over Japanese territory.

Russian deputy FM Morgulov: "Russian MOFA is in constant contact with US State Department over N.Korea."https://t.co/7hPVCuqqhX  Artyom Lukin (@ArtyomLukin) November 26, 2017

We have told North Korea many times that for us, [its] nuclear status is unacceptable, the diplomat added. We continue this work with the North Korean counterparts presenting to them our position.

The Trump administration has called on neighboring China to put pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear program, and in September, China agreed to United Nations sanctions against its rogue neighbor. There are signs that the sanctions are working.

Earlier this year, Trump mocked North Koreas Kim Jong Un as rocket man for his missile tests, and threatened fire and fury if he continues his provocations.

The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea, Trump told the United Nations in September. Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime.

Shortly after his speech to the U.N., the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a statement: We view the speech as portraying a firm and specific stance on the key issues regarding keeping peace and safety that the international community and the United Nations are faced with.

It clearly showed how seriously the United States government views North Koreas nuclear program as the president spent an unusual amount of time discussing the issue, the presidential Blue Houses statement said, Reuters reported.

U.S. ally Japan, which Pyongyang often threatens to destroy, has taken a consistently hard line on North Korea, pushing for increased sanctions and pressure.

We greatly appreciate President Trumps approach to changing North Koreas policy stance, denuclearizing the country and calling on the international community, including China and Russia, for their cooperation toward strengthening pressure on North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in mid-September.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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South Korean marines participate in an amphibious landing operation with U.S. troops along Pohang seashore on April 2, 2017 in Pohang, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

South Koreas Key Strategic Military Advantage Over the North

On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded the south, and its Soviet-supplied army smashed through South Koreas defense.

Seoul fell within three days, and within five days South Koreas army was shattered, losing nearly 80 percent of its 95,000 soldiers.

In early July, U.S. forces scrambled over from occupied Japan to help hold the line but also suffered defeat after defeat. Underfunded and undertrained after the demands of World War II, the United States military could not marshal the forces needed to stop the advance of North Koreas T-34 tanks and determined infantry.

Pushed back ever further towards the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, Allied forces under United Nations Command only kept a foothold on the eastern corner of the peninsula before managing to stop the North Korean advance.

South Korean and U.N. Command forces managed to hold there during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter from August to September. Turning the tide of the war came soon after. It was sudden and dramatic, the result of a bold amphibious attack on Incheon, a coastal city then deep behind enemy lines and less than 20 miles from Seoul, as the crow flies.

The Battle of Incheon was a lesson in what it takes to win a war on the Korean Peninsula and the key to understanding the crucial strategic advantage South Korea has in a war against North Koreas communist regime.

In a military contest, flanking the enemy is the ultimate counterattack. Instead of facing them head-on, where theyve got their weapons aimed, the smart strategist comes from the side or back.

And on the Korean Penninsula, where the North and South face each other over a short but intensely guarded 160-mile border, the opportunities for flanking along the thousands of miles of coastline are endless and essential.

But doing so requires the capability General MacArthur marshaled in Incheon 68 years agoamphibious assault.

Getting forces from sea to land quickly and in large numbers is critical in any war on the Korean Peninsula and its something the South Koreans have been practicing for decades.

In the Battle of Incheon, the United States put 75,000 troops on a little-guarded stretch of treacherous coastline, avoiding the spear-tip of North Korean forces pointed south towards Pusan. Once allied forces gained control of Incheon, they were within striking distance of the supply lines North Korea relied on to keep its invading army fed and fueled as it tried to push allied forces off the Korean Peninsula.

For South Korea today, amphibious assault has become a critical specialty.

The United Nations essentially liberated South Korea from invasion with a single amphibious stroke, and the country has maintained a large and powerful Marine Corps ever since, notes defense and national-security writer Kyle Mizokami in an article for Scout.com.

South Koreas Marine force is one of the largest in the world and has been training in tandem with U.S. forces for decades.

A decade after the Korean War, during the Vietnam War, South Koreas Blue Dragon brigade joined American forces to try to push the communists back there as they had in South Korea.

According to military historian Edward Marek, a U.S. Marine colonel at Hoi An, Vietnam, said some years after that war, We taught them everything we know, and now they know it better than us.

South Korea has kept its amphibious naval force well trained and reasonably well equipped, giving it offensive options critical to the kind of rapid win required in any war on the Korean Peninsula.

While a longer war would inevitably see North Koreas malnourished and less-equipped army disintegrated, the threat of nuclear weapons requires a rapid victory, according to Mizokamis analysis.

A future war on the Korean Peninsula will be a race against time, writes Mizokami.

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President Robert Mugabe listens to his wife Grace Mugabe at a rally of his ruling ZANU(PF) party in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 8, 2017. (Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo)

Treacherous Shenanigansthe Inside Story of Mugabes Downfall

HARAREInside State House in Harare, Robert Mugabe was in the tightest spot of his 37-year rule. Tanks were on the streets and troops had occupied the state broadcaster, from where the army had announced it had taken control of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, 93 years old but still alert, remained defiant. The only leader the country had known since independence was refusing to quit.

At a tense meeting with his military top brass on Nov. 16, the worlds oldest head of state put his foot down: Bring me the constitution and tell me what it says, he ordered military chief Constantino Chiwenga, according to two sources present.

An aide brought a copy of the constitution, which lays out that the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Chiwenga, dressed in camouflage fatigues, hesitated before replying that Zimbabwe was facing a national crisis that demanded military intervention.

Mugabe retorted that the army was the problem, according to the sources present. Then the beleaguered president indicated that perhaps they could find a solution together.

The meeting marked the start of an extraordinary five-day standoff between Mugabe and Zimbabwes supreme law on one side, and the military, his party and Zimbabwes people on the other.

The generals wanted Mugabe to go, but they also wanted a peaceful coup, one that would not irreparably tarnish the administration aiming to take over, according to multiple military and political sources.

The president finally accepted defeat only after he was sacked by his own ZANU-PF party and faced the ignominy of impeachment. He signed a short letter of resignation to parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda that was read out to lawmakers on Nov. 21.

Mugabe, who had run Zimbabwe since 1980 and overseen its descent into economic ruin while his wife shopped for luxury goods, was gone.

The country erupted into ecstasy. Parliamentarians danced and people poured onto the streets in their tens of thousands to celebrate a political downfall that sent shockwaves across Africa and the world.

To many, the end of Mugabe had been unthinkable only one week before.

Reuters has pieced together the events leading up to Mugabes removal, showing that the armys action was the culmination of months of planning that stretched from Harare to Johannesburg to Beijing.

Bitter Rivalry

Drawing on a trove of intelligence documents from within Mugabes feared Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), Reuters reported in September that the army was backing Emmerson Mnangagwa, then vice president, to succeed Mugabe when the time came.

The report detailed how Mnangagwa, a lifelong friend and former security chief of Mugabe, might cooperate with Mugabes political foes in order to revive the economy. It caused furore in Zimbabwes media and political circles.

Bitter rivalry intensified between Mnangagwa and Grace, Mugabes 52-year-old wife, who also hoped to take over as president and had the backing of a ZANU-PF faction known as G40.

In early October, Mnangagwa said he had been airlifted to hospital in South Africa after a poisoning attempt in August. He pointed no fingersbut he didnt need to.

Graces swift response was to deny it and accuse her rival of seeking sympathy; she belittled him as nothing but an employee of her husband, according to a report in the state-run Herald newspaper.

As the pressure built, Mugabe became increasingly paranoid about the loyalty of army chief Chiwenga, a career soldier and decorated veteran of Zimbabwes 1970s bush-war against white-minority rule.

Mugabes spies, who permeated every institution and section of society in Zimbabwe, were warning him the military would not accept Grace as president.

Mugabe is very worried of a coup, one intelligence report, dated Oct. 23, said. Mugabe was openly told by senior CIOs that the military is not going to easily accept the appointment of Grace. He was warned to be ready for civil war.

Reuters reviewed the document, and hundreds of other intelligence reports dating back to 2009, before the coup took place. The documents come from within the CIO, but Reuters could not determine for whom they were written. The CIO is split into factions, some pro- and some anti-Mugabe.

In late October, Mugabe summoned Chiwenga to a showdown, according to another of the documents, dated Oct. 30. It said Mugabe confronted the army chief about his ties to Mnangagwa and told him that going against Grace would cost him his life.

Chiwenga was warned by Mugabe that it is high time for him to start following. He mentioned to Chiwenga that those fighting his wife are bound to die a painful death, the intelligence report said.

At the same meeting, Mugabe also ordered Chiwenga to pledge allegiance to Grace. He refused.

Chiwengwa refused to be intimidated. He stood his ground over his loyalty to Mnangagwa, the report said.

Reuters put questions about this exchange and other aspects of this article to Mugabes spokesman, George Charamba. In an enigmatic text message dated Nov. 23, he replied: Enjoy Reuters copy. Goodnight.

Two spokesmen for Chiwenga declined to comment.

After another tense meeting with Mugabe on Nov. 5, Chiwenga left Harare on a pre-arranged official trip and traveled to China, which wields significant influence as a major investor in Zimbabwe.

A day later, Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa as vice president and purged him from ZANU-PF, the liberation movement that Mnangagwa had served since his youth and for which, as a young militant caught bombing a train, he had nearly been executed.

For the generals, Mugabe had gone too far. The military immediately activated a Code Red alert, its highest level of preparedness, a military source said.

Assassination Plot

Moments after Mnangagwa was ousted on Nov. 6, the security details assigned to him and his house were withdrawn, according to a statement he issued later. He was told his life was in danger.

Security personnel, who are friendly to me, warned me that plans were underfoot to eliminate me once arrested and taken to a police station, Mnangagwa said in a Nov. 21 statement. It was in my security interest to leave the country immediately.

From Harare, he managed to escape over the border into neighboring Mozambique, where he caught a plane to China, according to one source familiar with his movements. There he met up with Chiwenga, the source said.

Reuters could not confirm the account; but an intelligence report from Nov. 13 indicates that Mugabe suspected some of his generals of preparing to overthrow him from China.

A number of generals are now in China ready to plot Mugabes ouster with Mnangagwa, the report said. It was not clear which generals, and whether their travel to China was authorized.

Mugabes spies suspected old allies had turned against the aging president. An intelligence report, dated Oct. 30, said Beijing and Moscow both supported regime change out of frustration at Zimbabwes economic implosion under Mugabe.

China and Russia are after change, the report said. They are after change within ZANU-PF as they are sick and tired of Mugabes leadership.

The two countries are even ready to clandestinely supply arms of war to Mnangagwa to fight Mugabe.

Neither Chinas Defense Ministry nor Foreign Ministry responded to a request for comment. The Foreign Ministry had previously said Chiwengas visit was a normal military exchange mutually agreed upon by China and Zimbabwe.

Reuters sent written requests for comment to the Kremlin, the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian Foreign Ministry. None of them responded.

China has long taken an interest in Zimbabwe, having supported Mugabes forces during the liberation struggle. After independence it developed connections there in mining, security and construction.

Russia has also had ties to Zimbabwe since the early 1980s, and in 2014 a Russian consortium entered into a partnership to develop a $3 billion platinum mining project in the country.

Chiwengas trip to China culminated in him meeting Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan in Beijing on Nov. 10.

Two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters that Chiwenga asked if China would agree not to interfere if he took temporary control in Zimbabwe to remove Mugabe from power. Chang assured him Beijing would not get involved and the two also discussed tactics that might be employed during the de facto coup, the sources said.

Reuters could not establish whether Mnangagwa met Chang.

Having got wind of the talks in China, Mugabe summoned his still-loyal police commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, and his deputy, Innocent Matibiri, to detain Chiwenga on his return to Harare, government and security sources said.

The pair assembled a squad of 100 police and intelligence agents. But the plot leaked and Chiwenga supporters managed to pull together a counter-team of several hundred special forces soldiers and agents as their commanders plane approached.

Some were disguised as baggage handlers, their military fatigues and weapons hidden beneath high-visibility jackets and overalls, one security source said.

Realizing they were outnumbered and outgunned, Chihuris police team backed down, allowing Chiwenga to touch down without incident, the security source said.

Mugabes spokesman did not comment on the incident.

Very Alarmed

Two days later, Chiwenga and a group of military commanders demanded a meeting with Mugabeat his official State House residence in Harare, an ornate colonial villa complete with stuffed leopards and thick red carpets, according to a government source.

They said they were very alarmed at the firing of Mnangagwa and told Mugabe to rein in his wife and her G40 faction, whom they accused of trying to divide the military, according to the government official, who was present at the discussions.

What do you think should be done? Mugabe demanded of the soldiers as he sat slumped in an armchair.

The generals asked him to give assurances that they too would not be purged. Mugabes response was lukewarm, the government source said. Chiwenga told Mugabe he would be making his concerns about the G40 faction public.

Hours later, Chiwenga summoned reporters to the militarys main barracks near Harare to issue a statement.

We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that, when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in, he said, reading from a prepared text.

The following afternoon, Reuters reported six armored personnel carriers heading towards the headquarters of Mugabes Presidential Guard on the outskirts of Harare. It was unclear whose command they were under.

At the time, the citys residents were on edge but still unsure what it all meant.

The Line Went Dead

At around 6 p.m. on Nov. 14, Mugabes motorcade headed to his private Blue Roof residence, a heavily fortified compound in the capitals leafy northern suburb of Borrowdale.

Meanwhile, social media buzzed with pictures of armored vehicles driving along roads to Harare, sparking frenzied speculation about a coup.

Increasingly concerned, Grace put in a call shortly after 7 p.m. to a cabinet minister asking to get WhatsApp and Twitter shut down, according to one source familiar with a recording of the conversation.

The minister, whose identity Reuters is withholding for safety reasons, replied that such a move was the responsibility of state security minister Kembo Mohadi.

No-one will stand for a coup. It cannot happen, said Grace, commonly referred to as Amai, which means Mother, according to a source who heard the recording.

Mugabes voice is then heard on the line: As you have heard from Amai, is there anything that can be done?

The minister gave the same response, about the responsibilities of state security, and the line went dead, the source said.

Mohadi declined to comment.

Two hours later, two armored vehicles rolled into the Pockets Hill headquarters of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), according to ZBC sources.

Dozens of soldiers sealed off the site and stormed into the studios where they accosted staff, snatching their phones and halting programs. State-owned ZBC, widely seen as a mouthpiece forMugabe, switched to broadcasting pop music videos.

Mugabes inner circle, nearly all of them G40 loyalists, had no idea what was under way, according to four sources familiar with their conversations.

Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo called Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramayi to ask if he had any information about a possible coup. Sekeramayi said no, but tried to check with military chief Chiwenga.

Chiwenga told Sekeramayi he would get back to him. According to the sources, Chiwenga never did.

Moyo remains in hiding and was unavailable for comment. Sekeramayi declined to comment.

Security Detail

As ministers in the G40 faction tried frantically to work out what was going on, Chiwengas men closed in on Mugabes compound.

According to a source briefed on the situation, Albert Ngulube, a CIO director and head ofMugabes security detail, was driving home around 9.30 p.m. after visiting Mugabe. He met an armored car on Borrowdale Brooke, a side road leading to Mugabes house.

When Ngulube confronted the soldiers and threatened to shoot them, they beat him up and detained him, the source said. Ngulube was later released, but had suffered head and facial injuries, the source added.

Spokesmen for Chiwenga and Mnangagwa declined to comment. Reuters was unable to contact Ngulube.

Other G40 ministers were also picked up by soldiers. Finance minister Ignatius Chombo was found hiding in a toilet at his house and beaten before being detained at an undisclosed location for more than a week.

On his release on Nov. 24, he was hospitalized with injuries to his hands, legs and back, his lawyer told Reuters, describing the armys behavior as brutal and draconian.

Soldiers used explosives to blow the front door off the house of Jonathan Moyo, the main brains behind G40, according to video footage of the house seen by Reuters. Others burst through the front gates of the residence of local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, another key Grace supporter.

Both men managed to escape to Mugabes residence. Contacted by Reuters shortly after midnight in the early hours of Nov. 15, Kasukuwere was audibly stressed. I cant talk. Im in a meeting, he said, before hanging up.

For another week, Mugabe clung on to the presidency as Chiwenga and his forces tried to engineer a peaceful, and quasi-legal, exit for the long-serving leader.

But as parliament began impeachment proceedings on Nov. 21, Mugabe finally gave up. After 37 years in control, during which much of his country fell into poverty, his letter of resignation said he was stepping down out of concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe.
While the canines feed on the remains, the occultists allegedly use them in black magic rituals and the junkies steal the valuables.

Relatives of a two-day-old girl point to the spot on the banks of the Yamuna where the child's body was buried last month; it vanished a day later. Photo: Qamar Sibtain

By Chayyanika Nigam: Even the dead are not safe in the crime wracked national Capital.

Mail Today has found that bodies of children buried in the city often go missing soon after. The investigation revealed that tantriks, drug addicts and dogs frequently dig up the tiny corpses.

While the canines feed on the remains, the occultists allegedly use them in black magic rituals and the junkies steal the valuables.

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The body of a two-day-old girl was buried last month at the banks of the Yamuna in Geeta Colony. When the family members went to perform a religious ceremony the next day, they found the place dug up and the remains missing. The girl's clothes were lying nearby. The family said, according to Hindu customs, a child younger than five years of age is buried and not cremated. The baby's uncle, Kuldeep Vohra, 49, told Mail Today that the girl was born at Malik Radix Healthcare in Nirman Vihar on the day of Dhanteras, considered auspicious. The mother suffered a paralytic attack during delivery and caesarean surgery was performed.

"We were happy that a girl took birth in our family in the form of Goddess Lakshmi on the day of Dhanteras," Vohra said.

"But then we were informed that the newborn's condition was critical. She was then shifted to the nearby Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya where she was kept on ventilator. On the morning of Diwali, the hospital staff called us, informing about the critical condition of the child. The moment we reached there, she took her last breath."

The mother was not informed about the death for nearly a week over fears that her condition would worsen.

Around 4pm on October 19, the day of Diwali, the baby's father and family members took the body to the crematorium ground at Geeta Colony. They were told that children were buried at the back, on the riverbank.

The caretaker charged Rs 800 for the funeral. The family dressed the body in new clothes and wrapped it in a blanket. Two large stones were kept on the grave for identification.

The family returned at noon the next day to perform some rituals. While walking on the banks, they spotted the child's pants lying nearby. When they reached the grave, they found it dug up and the body missing.

The caretaker told them that dogs might have stolen the corpse. The family searched for the body, but they had to finally give up.

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"It was very shocking and painful and we could not even inform her parents about it," the child's grandfather said.

The family alleged that the pattern of the digging suggested it was the work of a tantrik. The area is notorious for black magic and occult rituals.

Mail Today visited the site in Geeta Colony, which is known as Bacchonwala Ghat, or burial ground for kids.

There are no policemen or signboards to prevent the burials, which do not have official sanction. No barricades exist to stop people from reaching the banks.

The reporter saw the remains of a body strewn around a grave. Many other spots were dug up. Dogs were roaming around and sniffing at the graves.

Sartaj Mohammad, a diver who stays in the area, told Mail Today that locals live in "perpetual fear because of the activities of tantriks".

"Also, the dogs here are wild and they often dig up the bodies and eat them," he said.

Every day, around three to four children are buried at the riverbanks.

"Recently, a few cops visited the area and found a dog feeding on a body. They then warned the crematorium ground's staff to not to allow any burial. But that did not work," Mohammad added.

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The lack of a dignified burial ground for children in the Capital underscores a shortage of civic amenities, activists say.

Speaking to Mail Today, a senior official requesting anonymity said, "We have not received any complaint about the missing body. However, it is true that bodies do disappear. The tantriks are not above suspicion. Also dogs do dig up the bodies sometimes."

Mail Today also visited a children's burial ground at Bela Road near Red Fort where drug addicts were roaming all around.

"They dig up the graves at night, take out the bodies and steal money or ornaments that had been buried with them. They then chuck the corpses on the side of the road. These then become food for the dogs," a source said.

"Our religion says that babies cannot be cremated. They have to be either submerged in the river or buried.

"People come here from all over Delhi," said Ramesh Sharma, who went to bury his eighteen-month-old child at the grounds.

A belief at the root of grave issue

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Children up to the age of five are buried after their death - without performing any ritual of the funeral, according to religious gurus.

Children are considered innocent and are not held responsible for their actions. It is believed that they they never do deeds that make them vulnerbale to karma.

The age of five is when kids start developing the sense of right and wrong and independent volition. The purpose of the ritual of cremation is to absolve the deceased from their negative Karma done in this life and to propel them into their next birth by also helping them dissolve their attachments.

A child is however, simply "returned to his or her creator Brahma and mother earth".

On the contrary, when an adult dies, he/she is cremated for the transmigration of the soul.

A properly burnt pyre is taken as a sign of the person having successfully journeyed to the afterlife. Rituals go on for 10-16 days follow the creation.

It is said that these assist the dead in severing all attachments with family, friends and things they loved.

On the final day of mourning, a purification ceremony is performed and the family of the dead takes a bath and putting an end to the array of rituals, returns to normal life.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Greece today advocated reforms in the United Nations and backed Indias bid for permanent membership in the Security Council, asserting that New Delhi "cannot be kept out" of one of the most important world bodies.

Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece Nikos Kotzias said that his country fully supports India for the membership of the UNSC as a new balance of power is emerging in the world.

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The minister noted that the old powers are declining while a new balance of power is emerging with countries such as India and China.

"We support reforms in the United Nations and Indias seat in the Security Council. We are not supporting other proposals," Kotzias said.

He was responding to a question after delivering a lecture on "Greece as a pillar of stability in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean", an event organised by the Observer Foundation Research and the Embassy of Greece.

"India is the second most populous nation. In 10-20 years, or even before, it will be the most populous state. You cannot keep such a nation-state outside the Security Council," the foreign minister added.

The minister said Greece and India could play specific role in stabilisation of the West Asia and also the eastern Mediterranean region.

He said Greece is working with the policy of five lines of stabilisation in the region, with special focus on Egypt, Israel and Jordan to achieve stability in the region.

Asked whether Greece would be able to play a leading role in the region, considering the economic slowdown it witnessed, the minister said the GDP of Greece is very small, nearly Euros 250 billion, in comparison to the world, medium in regards to European Union, but large in regards to the region.

He asserted that despite the economic slump, the country has strong democracy which is "embedded" in the Greek society. PTI PR SMN

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) India and Greece today agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in a range of key areas including trade, maritime security and energy and inked a pact for launching the first direct flight service between the two countries.

Greece also extended support to Indias bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias held extensive talks covering the entire expanse of bilateral relations besides delving into major regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.

In a statement, the external affairs ministry said the discussions between the two ministers focused on building closer cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture, maritime sector, culture and tourism.

"The two ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest," the ministry said.

Later, speaking at a think tank, Kotzias said that Greece fully supports Indias bid for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council as a "new balance of power" is emerging in the world.

Observing that the world was passing through a difficult time, he said forces of fundamentalism and terrorism are trying to destabilise the world.

After their talks, Swaraj and Kotzias inked an air services agreement and another pact on cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy.

The air services agreement will allow Indian airlines to operate to Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion. Similarly, the Greek airlines will also be able to launch flight services to major Indian cities.

At present there is no direct air connectivity between India and the southeastern European nation.

On talks between the two ministers, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the discussions covered all aspects of bilateral relationship and that the two leaders reaffirmed commitment to further expand cooperation in mutually beneficial spheres.

The volume of bilateral trade has gradually declined, primarily due to the economic recession faced by Greece. The country has been dependent on bailout packages to deal with its borrowing needs since 2011.

The size of bilateral trade between India and Greece was USD 606.93 million in 2009-10 which fell to USD 445 million in 2015-16.

Greeces exports to India include cotton, marble and granite, aluminium foils and calcium carbonate while main Indian exports are petroleum products, automobile components, electrical transformers, frozen shrimps and cashew nuts.

Indian companies have established their presence in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and steel sectors in Greece while the Greek companies are present in the fields of IT and construction in India.

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"The sectors such as agriculture, shipping and tourism also offer scope for cooperation," the ministry said.

About 10,000 Indian nationals are living in Greece and most of them are employed in factories or in construction sector.

Kotzias is on a four-day visit to India which will conclude tomorrow. PTI MPB RT

--- ENDS ---
Noem tells NYT former President Trump doesn't offer 'best chance' for GOP

In an interview with The New York Times, Gov. Kristi Noem spoke about her reservations about former President Donald Trump announcing his bid for re-election.
By PTI: Ahmedabad, Nov 27 (PTI) The BJP today released its final list of 34 candidates on the last day of filing of nominations for the second phase of the Gujarat polls, dropping five MLAs, including a minister and former chief minister Anandiben Patel.

Anandiben Patel, the legislator from Ghatlodia seat of Ahmedabad city, had earlier announced that she would not contest the polls.

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The BJP has dropped minister Rohit Patel from Anand seat. The other MLAs not given tickets are Nagarji Thakor from Radhanpur, R M Patel from Asarwa (SC) and Vinchhia Bhuria from Limkheda (ST).

Former minister and spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas will be contesting from Siddhpur, from where he had lost in the 2012 polls.

The ruling party has also given tickets to Tejashariben Patel, the former Congress MLA who joined the saffron party earlier, and Kanu Makvana, the son of former Congress MLA Karamshi Makvana, who had crossed over to the BJP during the Rajya Sabha polls.

In its sixth and final list, the party has given tickets to 12 sitting MLAs.

The BJP has fielded Bhupendra Patel from Ghatlodia, represented by Anandiben Patel, while senior leader Kaushik Patel has been given the ticket from Naranpura, which was earlier represented by party president Amit Shah.

Shah had resigned as MLA after his election to the Rajya Sabha.

The 182-member Gujarat Assembly will go to the polls in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18. PTI PJT PD GK MIN

--- ENDS ---
The clash between OPEC and Americas oil industry is reaching a day of reckoning.

The U.S. shale revolution is on course to be the greatest oil and gas boom in history, turning a nation once at the mercy of foreign imports into a global player. That seismic shift shattered the dominance of Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel, forcing them into an alliance with long-time rival Russia to keep a grip on world markets.

So far, its worked  global oil stockpiles are draining and prices are near two-year highs. But as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia prepare to meet in Vienna this week to extend production cuts, ministers have little idea how U.S. shale production will respond in 2018.

The production cuts are effective  it was absolutely the right decision, and the fact of striking a deal with Russia was crucial, said Paolo Scaroni, vice-chairman of NM Rothschild & Sons and former chief executive officer of Italian oil giant Eni SpA. Nonetheless, OPEC has not the same power. The U.S. becoming the biggest producer of oil in the world is a dramatic change.

For OPEC members, the stakes couldnt be higher. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is embarking on a radical economic transformation of the kingdom, including a partial sale of its state oil company that could be the largest public offering in history. Venezuela, reeling from years of recession and a crushing debt burden, is on the brink of political implosion.

The producers efforts to clear the oil surplus are starting to pay off. Theyve drained excess inventories in developed nations this year by 183 million barrels, or more than half of the glut, which now stands at about 154 million barrels, according to OPEC data. That has revived London-traded crude futures, which sank below $45 a barrel this summer, to a two-year high of $64.65 on Nov. 7.

That success goes some way to countering accusations that OPEC had lapsed from the dominant market force of the 1970s and 1980s into irrelevance. Although its 14 members still pump 40 per cent of the worlds oil, their share has dwindled from the days when OPEC held the global economy in thrall.

People may have thought that OPEC was dead, but Saudi Minister Khalid Al-Falih has succeeded in building agreements and alliances within OPEC and non-OPEC, such as Russia, to restrain production, said Luis Giusti, an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former CEO of state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

There are even signs that OPECs opponents, the dozens of drillers tapping shale-oil deposits in Texas and North Dakota, are losing momentum. Companies may have already squeezed costs and maximized productivity as much as possible, and their investors are finally insisting profits are returned to them rather than reinvested in more drilling.

Read more:

Fossil fuels will still account for 74% of world energy use by 2040, OPEC says

OPEC, allies to extend oil cuts for nine months to end oversupply

Mark Papa, CEO of Centennial Resource Development Inc. and considered one of the industrys founders, said in September that shale is not nearly the Big Bad Wolf that everybody thinks.

A yearlong ramp-up in drilling by American operators appeared to hit a plateau in July, data from Baker Hughes Inc. shows, and companies such as Pioneer Natural Resources Co. have lowered their output targets.

The outlook for shale is so clouded that when OPEC officials invited industry experts to brief them on the topic last week, they were disturbed by the diversity of opinions. Veteran crude trader Andy Hall, whose decision to close his main hedge fund this year was partly driven by shales unpredictability, told the organization that 2018 growth estimates vary from 500,000 barrels a day to 1.7 million a day.

Yet, the basic paradox confronting OPEC is that the more it succeeds in bolstering prices, the more it emboldens shale explorers and other competitors, said Mike Wittner, head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in New York.

Increases in U.S. oil production next year will be big enough to cancel much of the sacrifices made by OPEC and Russia, leaving the surplus more or less intact, forecasts from the International Energy Agency show. The recent rebound in prices could energize shale even further.

Instead of being able to declare victory next year and restore the production theyve halted, OPEC may find itself trapped in an open-ended struggle, Wittner said.

Now that theyre in it, I dont see how they get out of it, Wittner said. They need to continue supply management for the foreseeable future.

The need to co-operate indefinitely could strain the Saudi-Russia partnership.

While the Saudi-Russia alliance has allowed them to call a truce in the battle for market share, they may end up fighting over customers again when faced with a relentless tide of crude exports from the U.S., said Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup in New York.

With U.S. crude exports climbing from close to zero three years ago to now exceeding the combined shipments of OPECs smallest members, it increasingly looks as if the faceoff between the cartel and what was formerly its biggest customer has an endgame, Morse said.

And the endgame is theres an awful lot of shale in the world.

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Consumers in Canada and the U.S. would be among the biggest losers if North American Free Trade Agreement is terminated, according to two economic reports released Monday.

Prices for consumer goods would rise roughly 0.8 percentage points, due to the weaker exchange rate for the Canadian dollar and modestly higher tariffs, according to a report from BMO Capital Markets, The Day After NAFTA.

That would translate into an increase of roughly $400 to $500 per household, assuming a household income of between $50,000 and $60,000, according to the reports lead author, BMO chief economist Douglas Porter.

Thats not earth-shattering by any means . . . but every bit counts, every little bit does affect consumers, said Porter.

Ontario would be the most susceptible province by far to NAFTA disruption, due to its tight linkages to the U.S. economy. Consumer sectors, including clothing and textiles and food and beverages, would be affected, according to the BMO report.

At the same time, a report from global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, in partnership with the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) concluded that the end of NAFTA could cost Canadian retailers between $4 billion and $21 billion annually  some or all of which would be passed on to consumers.

From a consumer point-of-view, the breakdown of NAFTA has only downside  there is no winner among consumers, said Johan Gott, principal, Washington D.C., A.T. Kearney.

NAFTA eliminates tariffs on most goods flowing between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, according to the Kearney report, and goods originating in the United States  worth approximately $108 billion in 2015  are an important source of supply for retailers in Canada.

The Kearney report estimates that for every 1 per cent increase in tariffs if NAFTA ends, retailers would see their costs increase by at least $1 billion in direct impacts alone. Indirect effects would boost that figure.

The report looked at three different scenarios, including a reversion to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) from 1989, which is similar to the current NAFTA deal; an end to North American free trade, which would see tariffs on U.S. imports applied on other nations exports to Canada under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and a return of protectionism, which could see the U.S. break with the WTO treaty and raise tariffs to protect domestic industry.

While increases would likely be minimal under a reversion to the FTA, under the other two scenarios, the cost of goods sold could increase from $4 billion to $21 billion for the sector as a whole, according to the report.

The report points out that there is also likely to be a flywheel effect, characterized by slower growth and a reduction in consumer spending if NAFTA fails.

As the changes reverberate through the economy, household retail spending could drop from between $170 to $1,000 a year, depending on what replaces NAFTA.

The middle range of that spread dovetails with the estimated $400-$500 cost-per-household increase forecasted in the BMO report.

We also think it would be a negative for the U.S. economy and the U.S. consumer as well, said Porter.

I think that is a point that needs to be stressed here. Basically, its a lose-lose situation if NAFTA is terminated.

The combined impact of the rise in cost of goods and decline in sales will reduce profit for the retail sector by between $5 billion and $25 billion, according to the Kearney report.

When we started this, this was seen as pretty fanciful, said RCC spokesperson Karl Littler. People thought there would be some sabre-rattling . . . but that NAFTA was going to be renegotiated.

Although NAFTA is sometimes cited as a reason for the decline in manufacturing in North American, ending NAFTA would not significantly boost Canadas manufacturing sector, Porter said.

Its really automation above all else that has weakened manufacturing jobs, because the decline in manufacturing employment has really been going on since the end of the Second World War, and its really been going on across industrialized economies, said Porter.

I would say that the losses that weve seen in the last 15 years have a lot more to do with automation and the industrialization of China than anything to do with NAFTA.

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After focusing on industries such as coal and weapons, Norways $1-trillion (U.S.) sovereign wealth fund is turning its attention to fashion.

Together with UNICEF, the worlds biggest wealth fund is setting up a network with some of the top fashion companies to improve childrens rights, whether they are exploited in the production of garments and shoes or impacted by the industry in other ways.

Ten to 15 companies with a total market value of more than $244 billion have joined and will participate in the networks first event in Geneva on Monday, said Carine Smith Ihenacho, the Norwegian investors global head of ownership strategies. They include Hennes & Mauritz; Kering, the owner of luxury brands such as Gucci and Saint Laurent; and VF Corp., which owns labels such as North Face and Wrangler.

Over the next two years, the group will discuss what can be done to improve the plight of children who often work in sweatshops under appalling conditions. The initiative will also focus on areas such as education, health and nutrition, from access to school to working mothers ability to breastfeed.

Not enough is being done today, Smith Ihenacho said in an interview at the Oslo office of Norges Bank Investment Management, a unit of the central bank which manages the fund. We hope this will raise market practices for other companies as well. We hope this will have some kind of bellwether effect.

The world got a shocking glimpse of how badly some textile workers are treated following the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 people. The year before, fires at Pakistan sites also drew attention to the hardship such workers face.

With production typically subcontracted by global retailers to emerging-market nations, the complexity and the length of the supply chain make it hard to weed out practices such as child labour.

There were about 152 million child labourers in the world in 2016, or almost one in 10 children globally, according to the International Labor Organization. Just under half of those worked in hazardous conditions.

While its hard to document just how many children work for the textile industry, the UN Childrens Fund estimates that about 250 million minors worldwide are in some way impacted by the supply chain, either directly, through their families or local environments, said Camilla Viken, head of UNICEF Norway.

There are many challenges in the textile industry and its supply chain, Viken said in an interview. Its a very important place to start to improve many childrens rights and lives.

Norways wealth fund, which invests the countrys oil and gas income in stocks, bonds and real estate abroad, owns about 1.5 per cent of the worlds listed equities. It operates according to a set of ethical guidelines that span from human rights to environmental considerations, and that ban the production of tobacco and certain types of weapons. Last week it also proposed selling out of oil and gas stocks for financial reasons.

Companies may also be excluded if they contribute to the worst forms of child labour, according to those guidelines.

So far, thats only happened to one company, Indias Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd., which was excluded in 2013. The funds Council of Ethics, which advises the central banks Executive Board on potential exclusions, is scrutinizing textile production in parts of Asia, the head of the watchdog said in an interview in October.

The new network isnt meant to install new standards for the fund, Smith Ihenacho said. Our focus has been to get leading companies on board and to work with them to find practical solutions to real life issues, she said.

The fund invited 30 fashion companies to join the initiative. Of the 10 to 15 that ended up joining, only three wanted to be identified. The fund has investments totalling 44 billion kroner in those that joined, Smith Ihenacho said. She says the fund hopes to be able to name more companies as the work progresses.

This is the first initiative of its kind, a pilot and pioneering project, UNICEFs Viken said. Its natural that some companies take the lead.

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Canadas two largest print and digital media firms announced Monday they have signed a deal to buy and sell 41 newspapers, mainly in Ontario.

Torstar Corporation said that it has purchased eight weekly community publications, seven daily community newspapers and two free daily newspapers from Postmedia.

Postmedia Network Canada Corp. announced a deal with Metroland Media Group and Free Daily News Group Inc., both subsidiaries of Torstar Corp., to buy 22 of Torstars community newspapers and two free commuter daily newspapers.

Torstars Metroland Media will continue to operate four of the seven daily community papers it is purchasing from Postmedia, while ending operations at the other three. The company will also end operations at the purchased weekly publications and commuter papers.

Postmedia intends to continue operating the Exeter Times-Advocate and the Exeter Weekender, but is closing all the other properties it acquired in the deal by mid-January.

This transaction will allow us to operate more efficiently through increased geographic synergies in a number of our primary regions, said John Boynton, president and chief executive officer of Torstar Corporation.

By acquiring publications within or adjacent to our primary areas and selling publications outside our primary areas we will be able to put a greater focus on regions where we believe we can be more effective in serving both customers and clients.

Metroland Media will continue to publish the St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Peterborough Examiner.

The goal is to drive efficiencies geographically, according to the company.

Effective Monday, the daily publications that will close are the Barrie Examiner, Orillia Packet & Times and Northumberland Today.

The eight community newspapers closing are the Bradford Times, Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin, Fort Erie Times, Innisfil Examiner, Niagara Advance, Pelham News, Inport News (Port Colborne) and the Thorold Niagara News.

All the publications were bought as part of the non-cash transaction  as the properties have approximately similar fair values  between Torstar and Postmedia.

The commuter paper Metro Ottawa, which employs 12 people full-time and 13 people part-time, including three in editorial, will close, as will Metro Winnipeg, with 12 full-time and 15 part-time positions, including four in editorial.

Both 24 Hours Toronto, which under Postmedia had no staff directly employed by the paper, and 24 Hours Vancouver, which had one employee, will be closed.

In all, nearly 300 full- and part-time employees will be affected, including those working in editorial, sales, circulation and distribution. All will receive severance packages.

This transaction allows Postmedia to focus on strategic areas and core products, and allows us to continue with a suite of community-based products, in a deeply disrupted industry, said Paul Godfrey, executive chairman and CEO, Postmedia.

He said the costs of publishing dozens of small community newspapers in the regions means that most of them no longer have viable business models.

The growing strength of digital giants has caused seismic shifts in the allocation of advertising revenues  putting all media companies under massive pressure, said Andrew MacLeod, president and chief operating officer, Postmedia.

Upon news of the closures, Canadian union leader Jerry Dias urged federal Heritage Minister Melanie Joly to take action to protect print journalism.

Joly unveiled a cultural strategy in September that was criticized by industry experts for lacking expected measures that could have given a boost to Canadas struggling newspapers.

At the time, she said Ottawa had no interest in bailing out industry models that are no longer viable, and would instead focus on supporting innovation, experimentation and the transition to digital platforms.

In 2016, John Honderich, chair of the board of Torstar, told MPs on the Canadian Heritage committee who were studying the issue that Canadian media were facing a crisis as market forces continued to shrink newsrooms.

If you believe, as we do, that the quality of a democracy is a direct function of the quality of the information citizens have to make informed decisions, then this trend is very worrisome, Honderich said.

He noted that readership remained vibrant for print and digital offerings.

On Monday, Dias, the national president of Unifor, Canadas largest private-sector union, argued that helping print media out of a crisis does not have to be about propping up a failed business model.

The federal government has to step up, he said. If the government wants to have a thriving industry, if they want to have freedom of expression, if they want to have journalistic integrity, then were going to have to find a mechanism to deal with it . . . You put money into journalism. Thats what the issue is.

When asked Monday if news of the closures had encouraged her to rethink her approach, Joly said that the government will provide support in the coming months for local media as they continue to shift to web-based models.

Of course, Im sad to hear about these local closures and my thoughts are with the families affected, she said. We value the importance of journalism and thats why we invest up to $75 million per year in local media.

Joly did not specify details about the $75 million, although the federal Canadian Periodical Fund provides that amount annually to publications, including community newspapers.

After the news was announced, the Competition Bureau said it was planning a review.

The Commissioner of Competition can review transactions of all sizes and in all sectors to determine whether they will likely result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in any market in Canada, said Jayme Albert, a bureau spokesperson, adding the transaction can be challenged before the Competition Tribunal for up to a year.

With files from The Canadian Press

Properties Acquired by Postmedia from Torstar

Belleville News

Brant News

Central Hastings News

*Exeter Times-Advocate

(and the Exeter Weekender)

Frontenac Gazette

Kanata Kourier-Standard

Kingston Heritage

Meaford Express

Metro Ottawa

Metro Winnipeg

Nepean/Barrhaven News

Norfolk News

Orleans News

Ottawa East News

Ottawa South News

Ottawa West News

Our London

Quinte West News

St. Lawrence News

St. Marys Journal-Argus

(and the St. Marys Weekender)

St. Thomas/Elgin Weekly News

Stittsville News

Stratford City Gazette

West Carleton Review

Properties acquired by Torstar from Postmedia

24 Hours Toronto

24 Hours Vancouver

Barrie Examiner

Bradford Times

Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin

Fort Erie Times

Innisfil Examiner

Inport News (Port Colborne)

Niagara Advance

*Niagara Falls Review

Northumberland Today

Orillia Packet & Times

Pelham News

*Peterborough Examiner

*St. Catharines Standard

Thorold Niagara News

*Welland Tribune

(Properties with an asterisk will not be closed.)

With files from Star archives and The Canadian Press

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SAN FRANCISCOAs Twitter has tried to draw bright lines between what is acceptable and not acceptable on its platform, it has stumbled over them itself.

The company was criticized after it froze the account of actress Rose McGowan in October, when she included a phone number in one of her tweets about misconduct by movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Then, after verifying a white supremacist this month, the company paused the entire verification program and now has new rules: the company can revoke verification for behaviour both on and off the platform.

This weekend, Twitter locked The New York Times international team account. The account was blocked Saturday afternoon and unlocked about 24 hours later, on Sunday afternoon.

The social network said that a @nytimesworld tweet violated Twitters rule against hateful conduct. The tweet promoted an article about Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus apology to Indigenous people in Newfoundland and Labrador, where for much of the 20th century their children were compelled to attend boarding schools that separated them from their families and cultures.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized on Nov. 24 on behalf of the government and all Canadians to former residential school students in Newfoundland and Labrador. Survivor Toby Obed says its an important part of the healing process. (The Associated Press)

The post said, Left out of an apology a decade ago, native people in Newfoundland and Labrador get an apology from Justin Trudeau.

In a statement, shortly after the Times account was restored, Twitter said: After reviewing the account, it appears that one of our agents made an error. We have flagged this issue so that similar mistakes are not made going forward.

The company apologized for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The New York Times international reporting team uses Twitter to promote its coverage to nearly 2 million followers, usually posting 50 to 100 tweets a day.

Twitter has experienced increased public and government scrutiny over the past year. This month, U.S. President Donald Trumps personal account was disabled for 11 minutes, causing an uproar. Executives later discovered that it was a contractor who was leaving Twitter that day who had disabled the account.

Read more:

Twitter removes verification check marks for prominent white nationalists

#WomenBoycottTwitter: Suspension of Rose McGowans account spurs protest

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PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA-I found myself in the middle of a bachelor party  but its not the kind youre thinking of. After all, this isnt Vegas. Its South Africa.

I was observing a bachelor herd of male elephants at a watering hole, cooling down from the midday sun (elephants live in matriarchal groups, and young males are booted out when they become teens, left to wander alone or find other males). One of the elephants was blowing bubbles in the water, using his trunk like a straw. Im sure theres a biological explanation for this, though I like to think he was just having some fun.

I was on an excursion on Ponants new sailing itinerary in South Africa, on its newest ship. Le Lyrial, which is technically categorized as a super yacht since its smaller than a cruise ship, has room for only 200 passengers and 140 crew.

It also offers everything youd expect of a luxury French ship, including stylish rooms, piano bars, a top-notch wine collection, a killer cheese plate at every meal, and a spa with skin care products by French brand Sothy. On the eight-night trip, Le Lyrial sails from Cape Town to Durban along the Wild Coast.

One hundred years ago, I wouldnt have seen the elephants. The elephant population here, near Port Elizabeth, had been decimated by hunters, to the point where there were only 11 elephants left. Local farmers and conservationists decided to do something about it and opened a sanctuary called Addo Elephant National Park in 1931. Addo has since grown in geographic size and in elephants.

There are now more than 700 elephants here, along with zebra, cape buffalo and plenty of antelope, like kudu and hartebeest. Still, its not that easy to spot one of those 700. Five thousand kilograms of elephant can be incredibly well hidden in the thicket, said independent tour guide Peter Giddy.

The bush here is dense; theres no guarantee youll see any animals  and thats just how I like it. To me, seeing those elephants was a privilege, not a right.

The previous day, I had gone on a game drive in nearby Pumba Private Game Reserve, which, as its name implies, is a private reserve. I saw a laundry list of animals, including white lions.

In private reserves, owners can bring in any animal they want, even if theyre not native to the region. Theyre designed so tourists can see the Big Five (African lion, African elephant, African leopard, cape buffalo and rhinoceros) in a one-stop-shop environment.

Addo is completely different, said Giddy. Its a reserve that is established to look after elephants, not after clients, so it has a whole different look and feel, and is far more of a searching safari than (a private reserve).

This is the third-largest national park in South Africa, though youve likely never heard of it. Tourists come to this part of the world to see Kruger National Park  the most famous, and the largest, in the country (its basically the size of Belgium). While Addo is much smaller, each of the countrys many national parks and reserves hold their own unique charm.

Though I prefer the national parks, where sightings arent guaranteed but theres a more authentic feel, the private reserves do have their appeal. There are 12 lions in Addo; youd be lucky to see one (I didnt). In Pumba, lions are practically a guarantee.

Cest magnifique! The tourist sitting behind me in the 4x4 jeep couldnt contain himself, even though were supposed to remain silent when viewing the animals. Still, its hard not to gasp and utter exclamations (in any language) when you see a white lion.

National parks can be explored with a guide (recommended) or on your own with a rental car, while private reserves have their own jeeps and guides (and usually require a stay of at least a few nights). You can also see them as excursions with Ponant.

The excursions on the Wild Coast itinerary arent your typical city bus tours; in Cape Town, choices include a day trip to the Cape of Good Hope or a tour of the wine region, and in Port Elizabeth, you have two full days to explore both Pumba and Addo. Other stops include Richards Bay, for a chance to see the rhinos in Hluhluwe Game Reserve or hippos in Isimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before sailing to Durban with its golden beaches.

This is notoriously rough water, said independent guide Margaret Gibson, who sailed with Ponant to provide French translation services. But the coast along here is absolutely stunning  there are beaches for miles and nobody on them. Thats why they call it the Wild Coast; theres scenery that hasnt changed since before the Europeans arrived.

In Isimangaliso, youll find the second-highest vegetated sand dunes in the world, after Fraser Island in Australia. Gliding down the muddy waters of the estuary in a flat-bottomed boat, we saw a couple of hippos. Our guide laughed when everyone scrambled to get a photo. After all, there are 800 hippos here, so we were going to see a lot more.

This park, we were told, is the oldest in Africa, established in 1876. Isimangaliso means place of wonder in the Zulu language. It applies to this park, but the word could technically apply to the entire Wild Coast  its wild, and its full of wonder.

Vawn Himmelsbach was hosted by Ponant, which didnt review or approve this story.

When you go

Do this trip: Ponant (en.ponant.com) offers a range of sailing itineraries in Africa, from the Cape Verde Islands to the Seychelles. Along the South African Coastline, from Cape Town to Durban, is available for bookings in 2018; fares start from 2,740 (about $4,080 Canadian) for nine days/eight nights.

Get there: Air France (airfrance.ca) and KLM (klm.ca) fly to Cape Town from hub cities in Europe.

Do your research: en.ponant.com

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CHARLOTTETOWNThe 24-year-old Chinese man sits down at a living room table in Charlottetown, and begins to fill a page of legal-sized paper with diagrams and notes.

He is explaining life as an employee at two businesses set up under P.E.I.s controversial business immigration system.

First, there was the trading company that required he pay high-priced rent of $1,500 for a small apartment belonging to the firms owner, largely using up his $2,000 salary, he says, drawing arrows back and forth on the page.

He shows each bank transaction for the payments on his smart phone.

Then, there was the more recent job at a service firm, where the owner asked him to return about $500 monthly of his salary, he added, drawing a circle around the two hours a day, to emphasize what hed be returning in cash.

When I refused, they just fired me, he said during an interview. I felt angry about that. They promised me that I would be hired until December . . . I need the job experience to apply (for Canadian permanent residency).

Each job became a disillusioning blow for a young immigrant who couldnt rely on anyone back in China to send him cash. Without money, he ate modestly and took a graveyard shift job at a hotel to survive, he says. Recently, he says he found a job with a company that isnt asking him for money.

He is one of two international students interviewed by The Canadian Press who say the alleged abuses occurred at two different startup firms created by immigrants who came to the Island through the provincial nominee program since it was redesigned five years ago.

Read more:

Immigration pilot program aims to draw newcomers to Atlantic Canada

Help newcomers feel at home: P.E.I. plans to boost population through immigration

Trudeau targets income inequality, offshore tax evasion in P.E.I. speech

Both Chinese students spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared losing their current jobs and ostracization in P.E.I.s close-knit Asian community for speaking about a program thats brought hundreds to the Islands small but growing immigrant communities.

A third foreign student at the University of Prince Edward Island says he too gives a portion of his pay back to his employer, but does it willingly.

If I dont give the money back to them, they will hire some local better workers, better than me, then I dont get to stay in P.E.I. anymore. I really like this place, therefore I am willing to do this with my employer, he wrote in an email.

All three foreign students say the practice is not isolated, and they have friends who have felt pressure to do the same thing  or have agreed to the practice.

Lots of my classmates did this before and some are doing it now. But all for the same reason. We want our permanent residency card, to stay in Canada, have a better life and future. We can make those money back later, wrote the third student.

The Canadian Press is not naming the companies involved so as not to identify the employees.

The provincial nominee businesses are set up after the would-be immigrants commit to a minimum investment of $150,000 and annual spending of at least $75,000.

If companies operate for an agreed period of time, usually a year, the province may refund the $150,000 business escrow deposit.

The province has said the program has gradually helped attract a fresh wave of much-needed people to the Island and is resulting in some success stories, even if last year over half of all the 269 applicants forfeited their deposit and never opened a business.

However, critics have argued the system  referred to on the Island as PNP businesses  has a poor track record in retaining immigrants, and is encouraging business immigrants to use the Island as a side-door entry point to larger Canadian centres. Meanwhile, the province has collected $18 million last year in forfeitures  roughly equivalent to half of this years increase in infrastructure spending.

The two students interviewed say one dark side to the program is that some entrepreneurs may look for various methods of reducing or retaining their required expenses  such as telling young people in need of work to hand back some of their wages.

For the second student, a young woman in her 20s who asked to be driven to a restaurant so shes not spotted speaking to a reporter, the practice of being asked for about $300 of her pay to be returned in cash was identical to the first student.

She said she had initially found work in the fast-food sector after graduating from UPEI, but the money was better at a PNP company.

She said she agreed to give the owners back about $300 monthly, about an eighth of her wages, in cash, and that she felt sullied by the practice.

I dont like this but its hard for me to find another job at that time, she said.

At Robbies Store on University Avenue in Charlottetown, Dexter Liu, an international student from China who recently graduated from UPEI, sits at the counter of a shop created under the provincial nominee program.

The shop sells an array of toy tops, along with an assortment of hardware items ranging from hammers to tape. Its wares are extremely similar to goods sold at a store next door owned by another provincial nominee.

Liu said he made five sales that day, about typical for most of his shifts.

More and more Chinese people come here, and improve the economy of P.E.I. But some of provincial nominee program (candidates), to be honest, stay here for one year and then they move to another place, he said.

Asked about whether students must agree to give back their wages, he said thats not the case and that his boss gives him his full wages and pays for gas expenses for out-of-town trips.

I dont think its happening a lot. In my job, my boss gave me all of the money, he said during an interview.

Heath MacDonald, the minister of Economic Development in Prince Edward Island, said in an interview that his department wants to hear directly from any students experiencing the alleged abuses.

We do have checks and balances in place, he said in an interview at his office.

A followup email from his office said: We take these concerns very seriously and we have a number of safeguards in place. We will explore additional measures in the full knowledge that there is always room for review and improvement.

Anyone with a concern or a complaint is encouraged to contact the Office of Immigration or the employment standards division. All complaints will be investigated and the identity of the individual will be protected until such time as their testimony may be required.

The department says it provides newcomers with information about Canadian laws, so that they have a sense of what is right and what is wrong, and so they know what to do if they think they are being treated improperly.

Employment standards officers make presentations to the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada, and information brochures and posters in several languages are made available.

We will be launching a tips website with information on who to contact and what sort of information is required if a newcomer believes they are being treated improperly. Thats in addition to what we already provide, said the email.

Paul Yin, the president of the Canadian Chinese Association of Prince Edward Island, said further actions need to be taken to ensure that students dont have to give their pay back to PNP owners.

I think this is serious, said Yin, who came to the Island through the program and operated a flower shop.

Its the first time he heard of that situation. Its no good. Its bad, he added, speaking through a translator.

The Chinese P.E.I. Association can release this information . . . to our community that this is against the law and nobody should do that again.

Abbey MacPherson, director of the Office of Immigration, said she has 10 employees who can play a role in enforcement and there are both announced and unannounced checks on the companies.

But for the young man who spoke to The Canadian Press, coming forward isnt an option until he has managed to obtain enough work to gain his permanent residency and he feels safer from retribution.

In the meantime, the oversight system needs to be stricter, he said.

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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has visited over half-a-dozen temples in public view in Gujarat. But, he has not made any direct reference to Muslims during his election campaign, which is a departure from the past for the Congress party.

By Prabhash K Dutta: Of 182 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat, 20 have electorally influencing Muslim population with over 20 per cent voters from the community.

Of these 20 Muslim 'dominated' constituencies, four are in Ahmedabad district and three each in Bharuch and Kutch - from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his election campaign today.

This Gujarat election looks different from previous ones in the sense that none of the parties has directly talked about Muslims or minorities as a distinct voting unit. This is happening for the first time since Narendra Modi became chief minister of the state in 2001.

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The Gujarat election campaign has been, till now, dominated by caste groups and their leaders. Hardik Patel of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, OBC leader - now Congress member - Alpesh Thakor and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani emerged as the strong opinion leaders in Gujarat. Muslims of Gujarat are 'missing' from election narrative in the state.

THERE IS A HISTORY

The election in 2002 was held in highly polarised post-Gujarat riots environment and Congress based its campaign on protection of Muslims. Five years later, Congress president Sonia Gandhi hurled the "maut ka saudagar" (merchant of death) salvo at Narendra Modi in the run to 2007 Gujarat election.

In 2012, the Congress again spoke about protection of minority and Muslims in Gujarat. But, the pitch was not like previous two occasions. Incidentally, it was only occasion since 1995, when the gap between vote percentage of the BJP and Congress declined.

In 2014, Sonia Gandhi returned with another phrase aimed at 'protection of Muslims' theory. In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, Sonia Gandhi accused Narendra Modi (without taking his name) of doing "zehar ki kheti" (sowing seeds of poison). This again worked in BJP's favour and the party won all 26 Lok Sabha seats.

This explains why Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is more cautious this time. Rahul Gandhi has already visited more than half-a-dozen temples in full public view and offered prayer. But, he has not spoken of Congress's regular refrain about 'protection of Muslims' in Gujarat.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at Chamunda Mata temple at Chotiala in Surendranagar district of Gujarat. (Photo: PTI)

WHAT DO NUMBERS SAY?

Muslims constitute about 9-10 per cent of Gujarat's population. Proportionately, some claim that Gujarat Assembly should have around 18 Muslim MLAs. But, the best representation of Muslims, in terms of number, was seen in 1980, when 12 MLAs from the community were elected to the Gujarat Assembly.

Interestingly, Congress leader Ahmed Patel is the only Muslim MP who got elected to the Lok Sabha more than once from Gujarat. And, only once in 1977, two Muslims were elected as Lok Sabha MPs from Gujarat. Patel won from Bharuch while Ehsan Jafri got elected from Ahmedabad.

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Records show that in the first election to Gujarat Assembly - after the creation of a separate state from Bombay - in 1962, seven Muslim MLAs were elected. The same number of Muslim MLAs returned to Gujarat Assembly in 1985, when the Congress registered a record tally of 149 seats on KHAM (kshatriya-Harijan (now Dalit)-Adivasi-Muslim) formula.

In the outgoing Gujarat Assembly, two MLAs were elected in 2012. Three Muslim MLAs were elected in 2002 followed by five in 2007 Gujarat Assembly election.

Narendra Modi with a Muslim cleric at Narmada district during his Sadbhavna Mission fast as Gujarat chief minister in 2012. (Photo: PTI)

Reports quoting CSDS survey suggest that the Muslims' support to Congress has been waning since 2007. The survey said that 69 per cent Muslims voted for Congress in 2007, when 20 per cent voted for the BJP.

In 2012, Congress's share of Muslims' vote declined by five per cent to 64 per cent. The BJP's share also got reduced to about 16 per cent.

The latest CSDS survey shows that about 27 per cent Muslims may vote for the BJP in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election while 49 per cent expressed solidarity with the Congress. Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 9 and 14.

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OTTAWAThe Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal from a couple convicted in the beating death of their six-year-old daughter.

Meika Jordans father, Spencer Jordan, and stepmother, Marie Magoon, were convicted of second-degree murder in 2015. Last year, the Alberta Court of Appeal upgraded the convictions to first-degree murder.

The Calgary couple appealed that ruling.

The Supreme Court heard their arguments and dismissed them Monday with a 9-0 ruling from the bench.

The couples trial heard that Meika was severely abused over the course of a weekend in November 2011.

Court heard Jordan punched his daughter in the stomach and pushed her so hard her head smacked a tile floor. When she refused his order to run the stairs, he dragged her up and down the steps by her ankles and hair.

The trial heard Magoon shoved and kicked Meika on the stairs and the girl hit her head again and again. Magoon held the girl by her arms, shook her head on the kitchen floor and asked her why she wouldnt listen to her father.

The first of the assaults appeared to be a burn. Court was told Magoon held Meikas hand over the flame of a lighter while the girl screamed and urinated.

The couple eventually called an ambulance and paramedics found the girl unconscious and not breathing. Jordan and Magoon told them Meika had fallen down some stairs. They later admitted during an undercover police investigation that they had abused the girl

She died the next day in hospital of head trauma.

Reasons for the Supreme Courts decision will be formally released later.

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One year after the Star began asking questions about lead concentrations in drinking water at schools and daycares in Ontario, the provinces education ministry is telling boards they must inform parents when a school fails a lead test.

That new direction was given days before the Star published a story showing that more than 640 schools and daycares failed lead tests in the past two years. Many parents had been kept in the dark.

Since then, parents in some schools have been notified as a new round of annual water sampling reveals more contaminated drinking water.

More than 180 schools across five boards have failed at least one lead test this year, according to new 2017 lead data the Star requested from a handful of school boards this month.

Yasmin Klement, a Mississauga parent who was informed of high lead levels at her childrens school more than two months after they were detected, said the delayed notification left her with a little less trust in the school system.

In response to the new round of exceedance of water-quality standards, Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said in a statement that every child in a child-care centre or school in Ontario is drinking clean, safe water. Our standards are the strongest in Canada and we have strict rules in place requiring immediate action should an issue arise.

Ontario is the only province to require both schools and child-care centres to conduct annual tests for lead in drinking water. New rules established this year require every tap used for drinking water to be tested by 2020 in schools and daycares with primary divisions, or 2022 for all other schools. Previously, schools were only required to test one tap a year.

Although these are positive steps, experts say the standard for lead  10 parts per billion  remains too high.

Bruce Lanphear, an expert in the effects of toxins in children from Simon Fraser University, said a standard of five parts per billion would be more in line with the latest scientific evidence. Over the long term, he said, it should be further reduced to one part per billion, currently a voluntary target in Ontario.

Bodies like the World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics agree there is no such thing as a safe level of lead exposure.

Young children are particularly vulnerable, as they can absorb four to five times more ingested lead than adults, according to the World Health Organization. WHO also notes that lead can affect childrens brain development and result in lower IQ scores at lower levels of lead exposure that were previously considered safe.

In her October memo to boards, Hunter said, I am asking the education sector to check relevant policies so parents and guardians are informed in a timely manner of any lead exceedance detected in their school or child care centre.

Previously, the circumstances in which parents would be notified of a high lead level varied among school boards.

Some said parents were only notified in the event that an exceedance required a school to provide bottled water.

Two boards  Toronto and Peel  said their understanding before the ministers memo was that the province did not expect school boards to proactively notify parents of all lead exceedances.

In the Toronto public school district, parents were notified when an investigation into a high lead result required classes or schools to bring in bottled water, said Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the board.

Bird said the Toronto District School Board will ask for more clarity about the circumstances that should trigger parent notification under the ministrys new direction.

In the meantime, 41 schools in the board have failed at least one lead test so far this year. In each case, actions were taken to remedy the situation, Bird said.

In Peel public schools, lead testing and any required repairs were undertaken in the summer months. Parents would be notified if an exceedance wasnt resolved during the summer, said Kayla Tishcoff, a spokesperson for the Peel District School Board.

Previously, it was only required to test one fixture per school location. Lead exceedances were uncommon, and they were almost always resolved during the summer months, she said.

Peel school board took a more proactive approach this year, testing all taps in primary and elementary schools. More than 75 schools in the district failed at least one lead test.

Following the ministers memo, those schools received a letter to send home to parents in October, Tishcoff said.

Klement, whose 6- and 9-year-old sons attend Whiteoaks Public School in Mississauga, received a letter on Nov. 6 informing her that lead concentrations above the provincial standard had been detected.

Initially, I was kind of angry, she told the Star.

I was, like, wait a minute; this is not a lot of information here,  she said, adding that she was concerned for her kids health.

The letter said a lead exceedance was found in at least one drinking water or food preparation source during regular water sampling and that the school took corrective actions as directed by Peel Public Health as soon as it was made aware.

If necessary, our school made alternate arrangements to ensure staff and students had access to another water source, it added.

The letter did not provide any information about when the sampling was conducted or what lead concentrations were detected.

When Klement learned from the Star that the testing had been conducted over the summer and that lead concentrations above the provincial standard were found in samples from four of the schools 22 fixtures, it was a big concern for her that parents were notified only in November, she said.

We had a right to know there was a problem then and there, she said.

Three of the exceedances at Whiteoaks were discovered in standing samples, which are taken from taps that hadnt been used for at least six hours, and ranged from 11.8 parts per billion to 17.8 parts per billion. To address these exceedances, the school was directed to implement daily flushing, Tishcoff said.

The fourth exceedance was discovered in a fountain that had a lead concentration level above 10 parts per billion in both standing (15 parts per billion) and flushed (15.4 parts per billion) samples. It was removed after re-samples also showed lead exceedances.

Hunter indicated in a statement that lead concentrations above the standard are uncommon.

Its important for parents and kids to know that over 98 per cent of those facilities meet or are better than Health Canadas standards, she said, adding that when exceedances are discovered steps are taken immediately to address them.

Often that involves flushing the taps more frequently by letting the water run for a period of time. The province says this approach has in many cases effectively reduced concentrations

Lanphear, though, told the Star that flushing is not a long-term solution.

When asked about the results at Whiteoaks, he said the school should stop using the fountain where a lead exceedance was detected in flushed samples, which the school did. He also said the school should investigate the cause of the lead in fountains where concentrations above five parts per billion were detected and plan to repair them within a couple months.

He said he wouldnt recommend blood-lead testing for students or teachers unless they have consistently used a contaminated drinking water source  five or more times a day.

Ideally, nobody would be drinking out of lead pipes, said Krista Wylie, the co-founder of the advocacy group Fix Our Schools. But neither school boards nor principals have access to the funding needed to undertake a huge infrastructure overhaul, she said.

Hunter said the province does have a long-term plan to address lead in drinking water at schools and daycares, including an allocation of $1.4 billion for general school repairs and upgrades this year. Wylie said its not enough to address the backlog of various repairs needed at schools across the province.

That would take nearly $16 billion, she said. How is it that the buildings where two million Ontario children spend their days have been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent?

Read more:

Lowering of lead levels in Toronto water promising, but still work to be done, councilor says

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A Canadian man accused in a massive hack of Yahoo emails is set to appear in court Tuesday in San Francisco.

Court records show Karim Baratov is scheduled to attend a change of plea hearing in the afternoon.

Baratov was sent to face charges to the U.S. this summer after waiving his right to an extradition hearing in Canada.

Read more:

Alleged Yahoo hacker Karim Baratov pleads not guilty in U.S. court, lawyer says

Alleged Yahoo hacker Karim Baratov waives extradition to go straight to U.S. to face prosecution

Parents of alleged hacker in disbelief over U.S. charges

He was arrested in Hamilton in March under the Extradition Act after U.S. authorities indicted him and three others  two of them allegedly officers of Russias Federal Security Service  for computer hacking, economic espionage and other crimes.

This summer, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against two Russian intelligence officers and two hackers, accusing them of a mega data breach at Yahoo that affected at least a half billion user accounts. (The Associated Press)

He was held without bail for months because an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that he was too much of a flight risk to be released.

Yahoo said last year that information from at least 500 million user accounts had been stolen in a cyberattack two years earlier.

Baratov is accused of hacking 80 Yahoo accounts and faces 20 years in prison in the U.S. if convicted.

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Paralegal students at Torontos Centennial College will earn the required hours in time to write their accreditation exams  though things are not as clear for those at other institutions.

From career entrance testing to required hands-on training, Ontario college students have been left struggling to catch up after a five-week strike by faculty that has forced semesters to be extended to make up for lost time.

Centennial is actively working on semester recovery planning for those in the paralegal program, said Veronique Henry, who chairs the colleges centre for legal and administrative studies. She noted that the schools weeklong break in October meant students missed fewer classes because of the job action.

Depending on the length of the strike, strategies for the paralegal program may include scheduling classes in the evening and/or on weekends, as well as extending the semester end dates. These strategies will ensure that paralegal students have the opportunity to meet the instructional hour requirements for this program, and can then be permitted to apply to write the law society licensing exams.

At Queens Park, however, New Democrat MPP and education critic Peggy Sattler warned shes been hearing from frantic students who are unsure about their future after the government introduced back-to-work legislation to end the strike.

We are now learning that because of the extended semester, some students wishing to write their paralegal entrance exam with the law society wont be finished in time for the February exam sitting  putting students behind by at least six months, Sattler said Thursday at the legislature.

Given the fact that the Liberal government sat on the sidelines for five weeks and did nothing to help prevent or resolve the strike, is the premier working on a solution for these students?

Sattler also said shes worried about students in co-op programs and those with on-the-job training requirements that wont be met.

The College Student Alliance said it has reached out to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development for answers.

Minister Deb Matthews  who noted the NDP delayed passage of the legislation that forced instructors back on the job  said colleges are working very hard to make sure that students are able to successfully complete their semester.

We have been working with students throughout the strike and following the strike to make sure that we can be there to offer as much support as possible to get students back on track, she also said.

The NDP has also criticized the government for its hardship fund  from monies saved by the colleges during the strike  as being inadequate to meet student needs. In a city like Toronto, the maximum $500 would not even cover rent, said Sattler.

Matthews said the student alliance is supportive of the fund  a first in the history of post-secondary education strikes  and the governments efforts.

This has been very, very difficult for students, for faculty members, for employers in the community who were looking forward to having those students working in their organizations, Matthews said. The strike was tough. It had a big impact. Were doing everything we can to support students to get back into the classroom and back on track for their careers.

During the strike by 12,000 faculty members, classes were cancelled for as many as 500,000 students starting Oct. 16, and resumed Nov. 21.

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As Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown promotes his new Peoples Guarantee campaign platform on a barnstorming tour of Ontario this week, police are stepping up a criminal probe into fraud allegations at a Tory nomination.

Hamilton police detectives are investigating unnamed Conservative officials in connection with the partys May 7 candidate election in the riding of Hamilton WestAncasterDundas.

Sources told the Star that police were conducting interviews with potential witnesses on Saturday at the same time as Brown was unveiling his 78-page, 147-promise election manifesto to 1,500 Tories at the Toronto Congress Centre.

Rick Dykstra, the PC Party president, said officials are co-operating fully with the criminal investigation and the Tories lawyer, Peter Brauti, has emphasized that as far as I know, theyre not looking at the leader; theyre not looking at the party.

According to court documents filed by police last Wednesday, Det. Const. Adam Jefferess obtained an order of detention to keep as potential evidence a slew of material handed over at PC Party headquarters on Bay St. a month ago.

The following items were turned over to me: two brown cardboard boxes (box one  Ontario PC Party ballots; box two  Credential Referrals Forms, two binders containing emails including a selection of emails that were stapled together), and two USB drives containing digital copies of the same emails, Jefferess said in a report to a justice filed at the Hamilton courthouse.

Between Oct. 28 and Nov. 16 I searched these items for evidence of fraud and utter forged documents which relates to an ongoing criminal investigation into an allegation of fraud that took place on May 7, 2017 during an Ontario PC Party nomination meeting, the detective said.

After that riding meeting, Vikram Singh, a Hamilton lawyer and runner-up in the four-contestant nomination, launched a civil action against the Conservative party alleging wrongful insertion of false ballots.

Singh then filed a complaint with police. The criminal probe is separate from his ongoing civil suit, which names Brown, Dykstra, PC executive director Bob Stanley and senior Brown aide Logan Bugeja.

The Tories have denied any wrongdoing in the civil case and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

According to the court documents filed on Wednesday, police can keep the seized items until Dec. 27 or until the completion of all proceedings, as charges have been laid.

Criminal fraud is a serious matter. A conviction can lead to a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

This latest development comes as the Tories emerge from a triumphant weekend policy convention, where Brown promised to enact a trust, integrity, and accountability act if elected premier on June 7.

Under Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberal Party, political corruption has flourished, he told delegates.

Theyve been the subject of multiple police investigations  in some cases it even led to criminal charges.

That was a reference to the deleted documents trial of David Livingston and Laura Miller, two top aides to former premier Dalton McGuinty, which will conclude when a verdict is announced on Jan. 19.

They have pleaded not guilty to attempted mischief to a computer and unauthorized use of a computer. The charges stemmed from the Liberals cancellation of gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election.

Liberal Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, who attended the Tory meeting as an observer, said its sadly ironic and, frankly, disrespectful of the people of Ontario for the PC leader to claim to be some kind of paragon of virtue.

We know that the Ontario PC Party under Patrick Brown has been rife with internal dissension and we know specifically in Hamilton there is a very, very serious investigation underway, Del Duca said.

Patrick Brown, by his behaviour, is making it abundantly clear where he truly stands on accountability and its not on the right side of the ledger, he said.

The criminal probe cast a cloud over an otherwise successful weekend for the Tories, where they promised to reduce hydro rates by 12 per cent and invest $5 billion in the TTC subway network, which will be uploaded to the province.

Brown even theatrically signed a pledge that he would not seek a second term as premier if he failed to deliver on any of his five major commitments.

He unveiled promises to reduce middle-class provincial income tax rates by 22.5 per cent, allow parents to write off up to 75 per cent of daycare, nanny and babysitter costs, and earmark a $1.9-billion commitment over 10 years for mental-health care.

Aboard the same customized bus used by former prime minister Stephen Harper in the 2011 federal campaign  now emblazoned with Browns face and the Peoples Guarantee logo  the PC leader was in Mississauga on Sunday, his first stop on a provincewide tour.

The Peoples Guarantee is many commitments, but at its core, its very simple  its the recognition of the need for change. Its a promise of accountability to the people of Ontario, he said against the backdrop of children playing at Little Angels Christian Child Care Centre on Eglinton Ave. W.

To fund the new spending, the Tories would run a $2.8-billion deficit in 2018-19 before returning to the black in 2019-20. Thats in contrast to the Liberals, who have balanced the books and have forecast surpluses for the foreseeable future.

Del Duca warned Sunday that the PC tax reduction scheme would mean $12.275 billion in service cuts.

Ontario is seen this movie before, first with Harper and then with (former PC premier Mike) Harris, he said. And everyone knows the sequel is always worse than the original.

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Patrick Browns political rivals warn that Ontarians need to read the fine print on the Progressive Conservatives new Peoples Guarantee election platform.

The 78-page Tory manifesto boasts 147 promises, including lower middle income tax rates, 12-per-cent cut in hydro rates, write-offs for child care, and new spending on mental-health care.

Both the governing Liberals and the New Democrats said voters should take the glossy campaign magazine with a large grain of salt.

Page 76 of their plan made it very clear: over $12 billion is whats being cut across the board to the people of Ontario. So the question becomes, what are you going to cut? Finance Minister Charles Sousa said Monday.

While that side is cutting revenues and cutting across the board the very services that matter to us, we on this side of the House will always look after the people of Ontario, Sousa told the Legislature.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath argued the Tory hydro proposals arent that different from the Liberals electricity policies.

Apparently, the Conservatives think this shows good hydro policy because they plan to continue the disastrous Liberal hydro plan if they win next year, said Horwath.

The New Democrats want to buy back the majority share of the Hydro One transmission utility that the Liberals sold off. The Tories would, instead, rebate to ratepayers the dividends from the 49 per cent of shares still held in public hands.

Horwath added that there is a $6-billion hole in the PC plan.

Hes not telling people what hes going to cut. Thats very concerning. In that plan, theres an allusion to what (former Tory leader) Tim Hudak said he was going to do in terms of cutting . . . (100,000) staff from the public service, she said.

While his election platform was the talk of Queens Park, Brown was 450 kilometres away on the campaign trail, even though voters dont head to the polls until June 7.

Its not your imagination; you have less disposable income. Thanks to the Liberals you are now poorer than the average Canadian, the PC leader said at a whistle-stop in the Ottawa suburb of Nepean.

That is why an Ontario PC government would give you a raise, starting with cutting middle income tax rates by 22.5 per cent, he said.

This, along with other measures, will lower the tax burden for families earning less than $100,000 by at least 25 per cent. Thats my guarantee, the Peoples Guarantee. 

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Premier Kathleen Wynne is touting $1 billion in new contracts with China that will create more than 1,100 jobs in Ontario.

Wynne, on a two-week trade mission to China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, announced in Nanjing that some 33 separate business agreements had been reached since she arrived Friday.

The partnerships weve created today reinforce our shared commitment to collaboration, ensuring our businesses can continue to innovate and grow in a rapidly changing global economy, Wynne said in a statement Monday.

Xinyi Glass Holdings has chosen Ontario to locate its first factory in North America, a $450-million commitment that will create 400 jobs here.

International Trade Minister Michael Chan noted another 700 jobs will come from 32 other deals inked so far on the trip.

Todays signings in Jiangsu build on the success of previous missions and are a testament to the strength of our economic and cultural partnership over the past 30 years, said Chan, hailing the fact that Ontario has created the right conditions for businesses to succeed at home, while helping them start or scale up their export capacity.

Ontario firm, Ownace International Group, signed a $10-million agreement with Shanghai Golden Wing Industrial to market their Ontario-grown premium food ingredients.

As well, Hamiltons McMaster University reached a $5-million agreement with Dajiang Environmental Corporation on clean water technology.

Toronto-based Geneseeq, a health company specializing in personalized cancer care that has facilities in China, announced there that it is investing $15 million to expand its headquarters in Torontos MaRS Discovery District to create 50 jobs.

More than 100 corporate and academic delegates from Ontario are travelling with Wynne to boost trade.

Its the premiers third mission to China since she took office in February 2013. On the 2015 trip. there were $1.7 billion in contracts signed. while in 2014 there were $966 million worth of deals inked.

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CAIROElders of a village in Egypts Sinai Peninsula where militants killed 305 people in a mosque had been warned by Daesh operatives to stop collaborating with security forces and to suspend rituals associated with Islams mystical Sufi movement, security officials and residents said Sunday.

The latest warning came as recently as a week ago, telling villagers in Al-Rawdah not to hold Sufi rituals on Nov. 29-30 to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, according to residents and the officials who work for security and military intelligence agencies operating in Sinai.

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Local operatives of the Daesh (also known as the Islamic State) affiliate in Sinai consider Sufis to be heretics who should be killed. Ahmed Saqr, an expert on the Sinai insurgency, said militants had publicly identified the mosque  which also serves as a Sufi centre  as a target months ago.

He wrote Saturday in a Facebook post that the selection of the Al-Rawdah mosque as a target raises questions about those who read, analyze and prepare in our security agencies, and whether anything could have been done to prevent the untold horrors.

Mohammed Ibrahim, a university student from the village, said militants had warned residents a few days before Fridays attack not to collaborate with security forces. The warning, he told The Associated Press by telephone Sunday from the nearby town of Bir al-Abd, followed the detention three weeks ago by villagers of three suspected militants who were handed over to security forces.

More than 200 were killed when Islamist militants detonated explosives and sprayed gunfire at a crowded Sufi mosque near Egypts Sinai coast. (The New York Times)

The militants also distributed leaflets several times ordering villagers not to co-operate with security forces and to abandon Sufism, he said.

Another Al-Rawdah resident, Mohammed Darwish, 30, said militants stormed the home of village tribal leader Sheikh Hussein al-Jerirr twice this year.

They threatened him not to hold Sufi gatherings, and last week, they came on motorbikes and asked residents not to participate in Sufi rituals, Darwish said.

Egypts military and security forces have been waging a tough and costly campaign against militants in the towns, villages and desert mountains of northern Sinai. Across the country, thousands have been arrested in a crackdown on suspected Islamists and other dissenters and government critics.

In the past year, militants have bombed churches in the capital of Cairo and other cities, killing dozens of Christians. The Daesh affiliate is also believed to be behind the 2016 downing of a Russian passenger jet that killed all 224 people on board, decimating the vital tourism sector.

The bloodshed at the Al-Rawdah mosque was the first major militant attack on a Muslim congregation, and it eclipsed violence dating back to an Islamic militant insurgency in the 1990s.

The mosque is frequented by Sufis and is the local headquarters of the prominent Sufi sect, or tareeqah, founded by the local al-Jerir clan, a branch of the powerful Al-Sawarkah tribe.

The deadliest attack by Muslim extremists in Egypts modern history came less than a week before the Prophet Muhammads birthday on Thursday. Celebrations climax on Wednesday and Thursday, when millions of the Sufi movements followers are expected to gather for rituals in mosques, shrines and squares across much of this majority-Muslim country.

Militants from the Daesh affiliate have targeted Sufis before. Last year, they beheaded a leading Sufi religious figure, Sheikh Suleiman Abu Heraz, who was believed to be over 90 years old. They posted photos of the killing online.

Daesh propaganda often denounces Sufis. In the January edition of a Daesh online magazine, a figure purporting to be a high-level official in the groups Sinai affiliate vowed to target Sufis, accusing them of idolatry and heretical innovation in religion, warning that the group will not permit (their) presence in Sinai or Egypt.

Perhaps as many as 15 million Egyptians belong to Sufi orders, which hold sessions with chanting, poetry readings and ritual dancing meant to draw the faithful closer to God. Sufis also revere the tombs of holy men.

Islamic hard-liners view such practices as improper, even heretical, and militants in the region often destroy Sufi shrines, saying they encourage idolatry because people pray to those buried there.

The austere, one-storey Al-Rawdah mosque sits on a main road. Its Friday prayers routinely attract villagers, travellers and workers from a nearby salt factory. About 500 men and boys were thought to have been in the mosque and an adjacent plaza at the time of the attack.

According to official figures, 305 people, including 27 children, were killed, with 128 wounded.

Security officials say Daesh militants infiltrated the area of Bir al-Abd and Al-Rawdah several months ago, opening a new front in the mostly desert region away from the main theatre of operations in el-Arish and the towns of Rafah and Sheikh Zuwail to the east.

They have since waged deadly attacks on police and military forces, although the region has yet to attract the kind of heavy security seen elsewhere in the trouble spots of northern Sinai, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The expansion of the militants to Bir al-Abd shows that they can go anywhere, said Hassan Khalaf, a tribal leader in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, where some of the wounded from Fridays attack were taken.

There are security flaws . . . We need to wage an all-out offensive to crush them.

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OTTAWATrade and human rights are among the topics Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intends to raise during a visit to China next month.

Trudeaus office finalized details on Sunday of the trip, which will take place between Dec. 3 to Dec. 7.

A statement from the Prime Ministers Office says Trudeau will promote a progressive trade agenda and tourism initiatives.

The Trudeau government has been wrestling in recent months with whether to launch talks on a free-trade agreement with China.

Sundays statement made no mention of free trade and government officials have said no decision has been made on whether to pursue such negotiations.

The government recently consulted with businesses, academics and civil society groups and a report of the talks warned that such a deal could kill Canadian jobs and make it difficult to compete with Chinas lax labour and environmental standards.

A strong relationship with China is essential to creating jobs, strengthening the middle class, and growing the Canadian economy, Trudeau said in Sundays statement. I look forward to meeting again with Chinas leaders to strengthen our relationship and set the stage for even greater trade and investment co-operation.

The statement also said Canada intends to continue frank dialogue with China on topics such as human rights and good governance.

Trudeau is to start his visit in Beijing, where he is to meet a number of Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping. He is scheduled to move on to the city of Guangzhou, where hell give the keynote speech at a global business conference and meet with various business leaders about trade and investment.

Trudeau made his first official visit to China last year.

China is Canadas second-biggest trading partner. Canadas exports to China totalled nearly $21 billion in merchandise last year.

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NEW YORKRussian election influence, the ever-widening sexual harassment scandal, mass shootings and the opioid epidemic helped elevate the word complicit as Dictionary.coms word of the year for 2017.

Lookups of the word increased nearly 300 per cent over last year as complicit hit just about every hot button from politics to natural disasters, lexicographer Jane Solomon told The Associated Press ahead of Mondays formal announcement of the sites pick.

This year a conversation that keeps on surfacing is what exactly it means to be complicit, she said. Complicit has sprung up in conversations about those who speak out against powerful figures in institutions, and those who stay silent.

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The first of three major spikes for the word struck March 12. That was the day after Saturday Night Live aired a sketch starring Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump in a glittery gold dress peddling a fragrance called Complicit because: Shes beautiful, shes powerful, shes complicit.

The bump was followed by another April 5, also related to Ivanka, Solomon said. It was the day after she appeared on CBS This Morning and told Gayle King, among other things: I dont know what it means to be complicit.

It was unclear at the time whether Ivanka was deflecting or whether the summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business  with a degree in economics  didnt really know.

Another major spike occurred Oct. 24, the day Arizona Republican Jeff Flake announced from the Senate floor that he would not seek re-election, harshly criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump and urging other members of the party not to stand silently with the president.

I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr. President, I will not be complicit, Flake said.

Solomon noted that neither she nor Dictionary.com can know what sends people to dictionaries or dictionary sites to look up complicit or any other word. She and other lexicographers who study lookup behaviour believe its likely a combination of people who may not know a definition, are digging deeper or are seeking inspiration or emotional reinforcement of some sort.

As for complicit, she said several other major events contributed to interest in the word. They include the rise of the opioid epidemic and how it came to pass, along with the spread of sexual harassment and assault allegations against an ever-growing list of powerful men, including film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

More than 50 women have alleged they were harassed or assaulted by Harvey Weinstein, and police in New York, Los Angeles and London have launched investigations into some of the claims. (The Associated Press)

The scandal that started in Hollywood and quickly spread across industries has led to a mountain of questions over who knew what, who might have contributed and what it means to stay silent.

While Solomon shared percentage increases for complicit, the company would not disclose the number of lookups, calling that data proprietary.

The site chooses its word of the year by heading straight for data first, scouring lookups by day, month and year to date and how they correspond to noteworthy events, Solomon said. This year, a lot of high-volume trends unsurprisingly corresponded to politics. But the site also looks at lower-volume trends to see what other words resonated. Among them:

 INTERSEX: It trended on Dictionary.com in January thanks to model Hanne Gaby Odiele speaking up about being intersex to break taboos. As a noun it means an individual having reproductive organs or external sexual characteristics of both male and female. Dictionary.com traces its origins back to 1915, as the back formation of intersexual.

 SHRINKAGE: While the word has been around since 1790, a specific definition tied to a famous 1994 episode of Seinfeld led to a word lookup revival in February. Thats when a house in The Hamptons where the episode was filmed went on the market. For the record: The Jason Alexander character George Costanza emerges with shrinkage from a pool and said shrinkage is noted by Jerrys girlfriend.

 TARNATION: It had a good ride on Dictionary.com in the first few months of the year due to a round of social media fun with the What in tarnation meme that had animals and various objects wearing cowboy hats.

 HOROLOGIST: As in master clockmaker, like the one featured in the podcast S-Town, the highly anticipated This American Life followup to the popular Serial podcast. All seven episodes of murder intrigue were released at once in March. Horologist, used in the radio story, trended around that time.

 TOTALITY: There were lookup spikes in August. Thank you, solar eclipse and your narrow band of totality, meaning the strip of land where the sun was completely obscured by the moon.

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The Prime Minister sets tongues wagging as he switches to his mother tongue in a bid to connect with rural voters

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his campaign today for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly election to be held on December 9. And his language of choice was Gujarati, and not Hindi the language he has been using lately.

Is Modi trying to tap into the Gujarati asmita by switching to the vernacular?

This is a departure from Modi's earlier speeches made so far this year. Those addresses were generally in Hindi. They were only interspersed with Gujarati. Those speeches were also for national consumption.

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In contrast, BJP president Amit Shah's speeches over the past couple of months have been exclusively in Gujarati.

The PM addressed four rallies today - in Bhuj, Jasdan, Dhari and Kamrej. In all four rallies he spoke only in Gujarati.

As these areas are in remote parts of Gujarat, several voters may not fully understand Hindi. Hence, the prime minister seems to have chosen to speak only in Gujarati.

RALLYING THE FAITHFUL

Modi's first rally today was held in Bhuj in Kutch. In the entire speech in his mother tongue, the prime minister said Gujarat election was between the people's trust in BJP's development agenda and dynasty politics of the Congress.

He said Congress leaders were coming to Gujarat and spreading lies about a "son of Gujarat". "Earlier they did that with Sardar Patel also. Gujarat will never accept this. No Gujarati will accept the lies that they are spreading," he said, seeking to pitch Congress against the Patels and himself. The 42-minute speech, from the start till the end, was in chaste Gujarati, without a single sentence in Hindi.

The same was the case in Jasdan, his second destination today, and subsequently in Dhari and Kamrej. The 42-minute speech in Jasdan, 22-minute address in Dhari and also 48-minute speech in Kamrej were exclusively in Gujarati.

EXPLAINING GST

Earlier on October 16, Modi and Amit Shah addressed BJP workers at a rally in Gandhinagar to celebrate the conclusion of the party's 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' (March for Gujarat's Honour). While Shah spoke in Gujarati, Modi generally spoke in Hindi; he switched to Gujarati only when he started speaking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The switch over to Gujarati was to ensure that his message was conveyed across to the traders.

He also sought to build an emotional connect with his home state by recalling his days of struggle when he would cover long distances either by foot or on scooters and motorcycles.

--- ENDS ---
WASHINGTONThe FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlins crosshairs, The Associated Press has found.

Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up. Even senior policy-makers discovered they were targets only when The Associated Press told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.

Its utterly confounding, said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by The Associated Press that he was targeted in 2015. Youve got to tell your people. Youve got to protect your people.

The FBI declined to answer most questions from The Associated Press about how it had responded to the spying campaign. The bureau provided a statement that said in part: The FBI routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information.

Three people familiar with the matter  including a current and a former government official  said the FBI has known for more than a year the details of Fancy Bears attempts to break into Gmail inboxes. A senior FBI official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on timing but said that the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks.

Its a matter of triaging to the best of our ability the volume of the targets who are out there, he said.

The Associated Press did its own triage, dedicating two months and a small team of reporters to go through a hit list of Fancy Bear targets provided by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks.

Previous Associated Press investigations based on the list have shown how Fancy Bear worked in close alignment with the Kremlins interests to steal tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party. The hacking campaign disrupted the 2016 U.S. election and cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump, whom U.S. intelligence agencies say the hackers were trying to help. The Russian government has denied interfering in the American election.

The Secureworks list comprises 19,000 lines of targeting data. Going through it, The Associated Press identified more than 500 U.S.-based people or groups and reached out to more than 190 of them, interviewing nearly 80 about their experiences.

Many were long-retired, but about one-quarter were still in government or held security clearances at the time they were targeted. Only two told The Associated Press they learned of the hacking attempts on their personal Gmail accounts from the FBI. A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last years electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.

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Charles Sowell, who previously worked as a senior administrator in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and was targeted by Fancy Bear two years ago, said there was no reason the FBI couldnt do the same work The Associated Press did.

Its absolutely not OK for them to use an excuse that theres too much data, Sowell said. Would that hold water if there were a serial killer investigation, and people were calling in tips left and right, and they were holding up their hands and saying, Its too much? Thats ridiculous.

Its curious

The Associated Press found few traces of the bureaus inquiry as it launched its own investigation two months ago.

In October, two AP journalists visited THCServers.com, a brightly lit, family-run internet company on the former grounds of a communist-era chicken farm outside the Romanian city of Craiova. Thats where someone registered DCLeaks.com, the first of three websites to publish caches of emails belonging to Democrats and other U.S. officials in mid-2016.

DCLeaks was clearly linked to Fancy Bear. Previous AP reporting found that all but one of the sites victims had been targeted by the hacking group before their emails were dumped online.

Yet THC founder Catalin Florica said he was never approached by law enforcement.

Its curious, Florica said. You are the first ones that contact us.

THC merely registered the site, a simple process that typically takes only a few minutes. But the reaction was similar at the Kuala Lumpur offices of the Malaysian web company Shinjiru Technology, which hosted DCLeaks stolen files for the duration of the electoral campaign.

The companys chief executive, Terence Choong, said he had never heard of DCLeaks until The Associated Press contacted him.

What is the issue with it? he asked.

Questions over the FBIs handling of Fancy Bears broad hacking sweep date to March 2016, when agents arrived unannounced at Hillary Clintons headquarters in Brooklyn to warn her campaign about a surge of rogue, password-stealing emails.

The agents offered little more than generic security tips the campaign had already put into practice and refused to say who they thought was behind the attempted intrusions, according to a person who was there and spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was meant to be confidential.

Questions emerged again after it was revealed that the FBI never took custody of the Democratic National Committees computer server after it was penetrated by Fancy Bear in April 2016. Former FBI Director James Comey testified this year that the FBI worked off a copy of the server, which he described as an appropriate substitute.

Makes me sad

Retired Maj. James Phillips was one of the first people to have the contents of his inbox published by DCLeaks when the website made its June 2016 debut.

But the Army veteran said he didnt realize his personal emails were flapping in the breeze until a journalist phoned him two months later.

The fact that a reporter told me about DCLeaks kind of makes me sad, he said. I wish it had been a government source.

Phillips story would be repeated again and again as The Associated Press spoke to officials from the National Defence University in Washington to the North American Aerospace Defence Command in Colorado.

Among them: a former head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes; a former head of Air Force Intelligence, retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula; a former defence undersecretary, Eric Edelman; and a former director of cybersecurity for the Air Force, retired Lt. Gen. Mark Schissler.

Retired Maj. Gen. Brian Keller, a former director of military support at the Geospatial Intelligence Agency, was not informed, even after DCLeaks posted his emails to the internet. In a telephone call with AP, Keller said he still wasnt clear on what had happened, who had hacked him or whether his data was still at risk.

Should I be worried or alarmed or anything? said Keller, who left the spy satellite agency in 2010 and now works in private industry.

Not all the interviewees felt the FBI had a responsibility to alert them.

Perhaps optimistically, I have to conclude that a risk analysis was done and I was not considered a high enough risk to justify making contact, said a former Air Force chief of staff, retired Gen. Norton Schwartz, who was targeted by Fancy Bear in 2015.

Others argued that the FBI may have wanted to avoid tipping the hackers off or that there were too many people to notify.

The expectation that the government is going to protect everyone and go back to everyone is false, said Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior technical officer at the Defence Intelligence Agency who teaches homeland security at Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg and was himself among the targets.

But the government is supposed to try, said Michael Daniel, who served as U.S. President Barack Obamas White House cybersecurity co-ordinator.

Daniel wouldnt comment directly on why so many Fancy Bear targets werent warned in this case, but he said the issue of how and when to notify people frankly still needs more work.

Cloak-and-dagger

In the absence of any official warning, some of those contacted by AP brushed off the idea that they were taken in by a foreign powers intelligence service.

I dont open anything I dont recognize, said Joseph Barnard, who headed the personnel recovery branch of the Air Forces Air Combat Command.

That may well be true of Barnard; Secureworks data suggests he never clicked the malicious link sent to him in June 2015. But it isnt true of everyone.

An AP analysis of the data suggests that out of 312 U.S. military and government figures targeted by Fancy Bear, 131 clicked the links sent to them. That could mean that as many as 2 in 5 came perilously close to handing over their passwords.

Its not clear how many gave up their credentials in the end or what the hackers may have acquired.

Some of those accounts hold emails that go back years, when even many of the retired officials still occupied sensitive posts.

Overwhelmingly, interviewees told The Associated Press they kept classified material out of their Gmail inboxes, but intelligence experts said Russian spies could use personal correspondence as a springboard for further hacking, recruitment or even blackmail.

You start to have information you might be able to leverage against that person, said Sina Beaghley, a researcher at the RAND Corp. who served on the NSC until 2014.

In the few cases where the FBI did warn targets, they were sometimes left little wiser about what was going on or what to do.

Rob Butch Bracknell, a 20-year military veteran who works as a NATO lawyer in Norfolk, Virginia, said an FBI agent visited him about a year ago to examine his emails and warn him that a foreign actor was trying to break into his account.

He was real cloak-and-dagger about it, Bracknell said. He came here to my work, wrote in his little notebook and away he went.

Left to fend for themselves, some targets have been improvising their cybersecurity.

Retired Gen. Roger A. Brady, who was responsible for American nuclear weapons in Europe as part of his past role as commander of the U.S. air force there, turned to Apple support this year when he noticed something suspicious on his computer. Hughes, a former DIA head, said he had his hard drive replaced by the Geek Squad at a Best Buy in Florida after his machine began behaving strangely. Keller, the former senior spy satellite official, said it was his son who told him his emails had been posted to the web after getting a Google alert in June 2016.

A former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who like many others was repeatedly targeted by Fancy Bear but has yet to receive any warning from the FBI, said the lacklustre response risked something worse than last years parade of leaks.

Our government needs to be taking greater responsibility to defend its citizens in both the physical and cyber worlds, now, before a cyberattack produces an even more catastrophic outcome than we have already experienced, McFaul said.

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RANGOON, BURMAPope Francis opened a diplomatically fraught trip to Burma and Bangladesh on Monday by immediately diving into the crisis over Burmas crackdown on Rohingya Muslims: He met with the countrys military chief, even before beginning the official program of his trip.

The Vatican didnt provide details of the contents of Francis 15-minute courtesy visit with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations. It took place in the residence of the archbishop of Rangoon, Cardinal Charles Bo, who has resisted international condemnation of the militarys operations against Rohingya as ethnic cleansing.

The general is in charge of security in Rakhine state, where the militarys clearance operations against the Muslim minority have sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh. Refugees there have told of entire villages being burned and women and girls being raped.

Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke said only that They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaings office said in a statement on Facebook that he is willing to have interfaith peace, unity and justice. The general added that there was no religious or ethnic persecution or discrimination in Burma, and that the government allowed different faith groups to have freedom of worship.

Rohingya Muslims have faced state-supported discrimination in predominantly Buddhist country for decades. Though members of the ethnic minority first arrived generations ago, Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, denying them almost all rights and rendering them stateless. They cannot travel freely, practice their religion, or work as teachers or doctors, and they have little access to medical care, food or education.

Originally, the meeting was planned for Wednesday, after Francis was to have met with the countrys civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital. The Vatican didnt say why it was moved up.

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of textbook ethnic cleansing by the military in Rakhine. But Burmas Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term Rohingya, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

Francis has already prayed for our Rohingya brothers and sisters, and much of the debate in the run-up to the trip focused on whether he would do so again in expressing solidarity with the Rohingyas plight. Any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Burma military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

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Burke didnt say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat, and an ornate rice bowl.

The trip was planned before the latest spasm of violence erupted in August, when a group of Rohingya militants attacked security positions in Rakhine. Burma security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign that resulted in Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, where they are living in squalid refugee camps.

In the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, Senu Ara, 35, welcomed Francis arrival for what he might be able to do for the refugees.

He might help us get the peace that we are desperately searching for, she said. Even if we stay here he will make our situation better. If he decides to send us back, he will do so in a peaceful way.

But in Burma, the sentiment was different. The government and most of the Buddhist majority consider the Rohingya Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country, though Rohingya have been here for generations.

Being a religious leader  Catholic leader  means that he is well-regarded, but of course there is this worry if he says something, people might say, OK, he just came to meddle, said Burmese analyst Khin Zaw Win, a former political prisoner. So, I think a lot of diplomacy is needed, in addition to the public relations.

Seaman Kyaw Thu Maung said the issue is difficult because the term Rohingya carries so much political weight for all of Burmas people.

But my feeling is that if the pope is going to talk about the Rakhine issue, the people arent going to like the pope anymore, he said.

Upon his arrival in Rangoon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Burmas Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.

Children greeted him as he drove in a simple blue sedan, chanting Viva il papa! (Long live the pope) and waving small plastic Burma and Holy See flags. Posters wishing Francis a heartiest of welcome lined the route into town.

En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologized for the expected heat, which was 32 C upon his arrival and is expected to rise during his stay.

On Tuesday, Francis begins the main protocol portion of his weeklong trip, meeting with Suu Kyi and other officials. He is to deliver a speech to her and other Burma authorities and diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, in what will likely be the most closely watched speech of the trip.

Despite the criticisms of Suu Kyi, the popes allies have urged him to lend her his support  and, they hope, political strength  as the countrys best chance to prevent a backslide into absolute rule by the military.

The constitution, written by the military, puts the armed forces out of her control. And the military has enough support in Parliament to prevent any changes that could loosen the grip on power held by Min Aung Hlaing, who has ambitions to run the country.

So for Francis, his first meeting in Burma with the general, which was added at the last minute, might well be the more important one.

Its smart to meet the commander in chief first, because he is very important and the principle person to solve this challenge facing our country, said Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst.

With files from the New York Times

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GENEVAThe UNs top envoy for Syria said on Monday he hopes and expects the Syrian government to show up for serious talks with the opposition this week, despite reluctance by Damascus officials to commit.

The United Nations is to resume the peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in this Swiss city on Tuesday. The oppositions delegation arrived Monday, after publishing a communique last week that said it was ready for talks without preconditions.

The government has not yet named a delegation to the talks, and the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said Damascus would postpone its arrival to Geneva, citing the oppositions position that President Bashar Assad must leave at the start of any transitional period that will lead Syria out of nearly seven years of civil war. The paper said the demand was a hidden condition.

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But UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council via videoconference naturally we hope and indeed expect that the government will be on its way shortly.

A diplomatic official close to the negotiations said the U.N. was expecting the government could arrive late to Geneva, but meetings between the opposition and de Mistura would begin Tuesday as scheduled.

The talks follow a week of high level meetings that were expected to pave the way for a revival of the stalled diplomatic process. President Bashar Assad paid a surprise visit to Sochi, Russia, last week to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for his vital military support. Putin directed Russias air force to intervene on the side of Assad in 2015, likely saving the government from collapse when it appeared rebels would threaten the capital. Russia remains a key sponsor of the Damascus government and has shielded it against sanctions and punitive resolutions in the U.N. Security Council.

De Mistura told the Security Council he expected the governments participation particularly in light of president Assads commitment to (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin when they met in Sochi.

He stressed he would not accept any preconditions by any party to talks, and said the talks would be guided by a 2015 Security Council resolution mandating a political transition for Syria.

This latest round of Geneva talks, the eighth since 2012, will focus on getting to an inclusive process to draft and ratify a new constitution, said De Mistura.

This would put off one of the contentious issues between the government and opposition  the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Parallel talks between the two sides, in Sochi, expected for December, have been postponed until January or February, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Russias diplomats did not set a date for their conference after spiking an initial plan to hold it on Nov. 18. The Syrian government said it welcomed the Sochi talks and would attend them. The opposition has said it prefers to meet the government under the auspices of the UN.

In eastern Syria, meanwhile, opposition activists blamed Russia for an airstrike on a village held by Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, that killed at least 25 people, all of them civilians.

The DeirEzzor 24 activist group said Sundays strike on the village of Shaafa in the Deir el-Zour hit a residential compound where scores of internally displaced people were staying.

The village is near the town of Boukamal, which Syrian troops and their allies captured this month. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a higher death toll, saying 53 people were killed, including 21 children.

The Russian Defence Ministry said six Tu-22M3 long-range bombers scrambled from Russia and carried out a massed airstrike on terrorists property in Deir el-Zour. Near Damascus, government airstrikes on Monday on several areas, including the suburbs of Arbeen, killed at least six people.

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WASHINGTONFor a year and a half, President Donald Trump has been denounced by Native American leaders for calling Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas.

He just did it again  at an event honouring Native American war heroes.

Trump held a White House ceremony on Monday to celebrate Navajo code talkers, who used their language to transmit secret messages during the Second World War. After complimenting the code talkers, Trump said, You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.

Pocahontas is a famous Native American figure from the 17th century. Trump has regularly used her name to mock Warrens claim of distant Native American ancestry, for which the Massachusetts senator does not have proof; she says she learned of this heritage through family stories.

Many Native Americans and many others see Trumps disparaging use of Pocahontas as a racist slur.

Faith Spotted Eagle, a prominent Native American activist in South Dakota, described it Monday as an emotional assault that carries as much weight as a physical assault.

He can phrase it and twist it and distort it any way he wants, the fact remains: that name does not belong in his mouth, she said in an interview.

Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders, speaking to reporters soon after the ceremony, said it would be ridiculous to say Trump had uttered a slur.

The National Congress of American Indians, however, has described it as such, calling on Trump in May to refrain from using this name as a pejorative term. On Monday, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said in a statement: In this day and age, all tribal nations still battle insensitive references to our people. The prejudice that Native American people face is an unfortunate historical legacy.

Warren told MSNBC: It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honouring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur. Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he is gonna shut me up with this. It hadnt worked in the past, it is not gonna work in the future.

Trump has regularly offended minority groups with comments that have ranged from insensitive to plain bigoted.

Last week, he angered Black Americans, again, by accusing LaVar Ball, of being an ungrateful fool for declining to praise the president for his claimed role in freeing Balls son from China after a shoplifting arrest. Trump has demonstrated outright hostility to Muslims, and he has made an effort to highlight criminal offences committed by Hispanic unauthorized immigrants.

The jab at Warren was not the only part of the Monday event that was called offensive. Trump decided to make the speech in front of a portrait of president Andrew Jackson, who is notorious among Native Americans for signing the 1830 Indian Removal Act that forced Natives off of their land and produced thousands of deaths.

Trump also referred to his chief of staff John Kelly as the chief. And he suggested he was not personally familiar with the history of the code talkers.

And I have to say, I said to General Kelly, I said, general, how good  here he is, right there, the chief; hes the general and the chief  I said, how good were these code talkers? he said.

Kellys response, according to Trump: Sir, you have no idea. You have no idea how great they were.

This was not the first time Trump offended a group he was supposedly honouring.

During a Black History Month event in February, Trump appeared unfamiliar with the late Black abolitionist and intellectual Frederick Douglass, saying: Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.

And Trump angered Native Americans in 1993, when he told a Congressional hearing that the people running Foxwoods Resort Casino dont look like Indians to me.

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WASHINGTONFirst lady Melania Trump has opted for a more traditional decor for her familys first Christmas in the White House, adding a few new touches to the standards.

New this year are wreaths hanging from the exterior of every window. Another new touch are glistening wintry branches lining an East Wing hallway that leads guests to a tree decorated with the Trump familys official Christmas ornament, a gold-toned bauble featuring the presidential coat of arms surrounded by a wreath of holly.

The family Christmas card is framed and on display. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, says the card signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the first lady and Barron, their 11-year-old son.

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Among the Christmas standards is an 18-foot (about 5.5-metre) fir tree in its traditional spot in the Blue Room, decorated with ornaments bearing the seals of every state and U.S. territory.

The 350-pound (about 160-kilogram) gingerbread house this year offers a view of the White House from the south.

The decorations are up! the first lady tweeted Monday morning. @WhiteHouse is ready to celebrate! Wishing you a Merry Christmas & joyous holiday season!

Her theme is Time-Honoured Traditions, which the White House said pays respect to 200 years of holiday traditions at the executive mansion.

The first ladys office previewed the decorations for journalists on Monday after more than 150 volunteers from 29 states spent 1,600 hours during the long holiday weekend decking the White House halls. Mrs. Trump has also invited children and students from a nearby military base to come see the decorations and work on holiday arts and crafts.

The White House said she personally chose every detail of the decor. She did a final check late Sunday after returning from the familys Thanksgiving at their home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The holiday celebrating begins later Monday with a party for the volunteer decorators and will continue well into December with receptions and parties just about every day  sometimes two a day  for the next several weeks. More than 25,000 visitors are expected to tour the White House for the holidays and the kitchen is ready: a total of 31,000 cookies have been baked, including 15,000 sugar cookies.

Mrs. Trumps signature Christmas includes 71 wreaths, 53 Christmas trees, more than 18,000 lights, more than 12,000 ornaments, more than about 2,800 metres) of ribbon and more than 300 metres of garland, the White House said.

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Whenever I travel these days, the reaction is the same when people hear Im from Thunder Bay: What is going on up there?

Its a good question.

Collectively, we feel a sharp pain over the tragic deaths of young Indigenous people attending school here, far from their northern home communities. As well, social issues and racial divisions have been probed in an endless cycle of media stories and social media commentary. Its as if Thunder Bay has been put under a microscope and everyone is taking turns offering a diagnosis.

Our own, soul-searching diagnosis is that Thunder Bay  like all of Canada  has a sorry record when it comes to many aspects of respecting Indigenous peoples rights and culture.

But there is a deeper, more profound way to view what is happening in our city. Thunder Bay, built on the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation, now has the highest proportion of Indigenous to non-Indigenous people in the country. In a very real way, we are the epicentre for the most pressing issue Canadians face  reconciling our past, present and future as Indigenous and Non-Indigenous citizens.

People from scores of communities to the north come to Thunder Bay seeking education, medical treatment, jobs, family and friends, goods and services, and a welcoming refuge from natural disasters.

The sad truth is that they also experience racism and some encounter pressing social issues. As author Tanya Talaga put it speaking recently about her book, Seven Fallen Feathers, Thunder Bay reflects a nation-wide narrative of broken treaties and the destructive results of colonialism and residential schools.

The fallout of these issues overshadows the overwhelmingly positive Indigenous foundations of Thunder Bays economy, culture and sense of place.

Some of our efforts are laden with symbolic importance. In 2016, the Fort William First Nation flag was raised permanently alongside the Canadian, Ontario and Thunder Bay flags at city hall. Today, Fort William First Nation and the city are working closely to grow the economy of both communities. And dating back to 2010, the city has signed declarations of commitment to strengthen the citys relationship with First Nations and Indigenous groups.

Other plans have not come to fruition despite the Citys investment and commitment. The timing, in 2014, was not right to secure matching funding for an $8 million centrally located youth centre and new Indigenous Friendship Centre. How different might youth from the northern communities feel today if the dream of a beautiful, culturally appropriate centre, close to bus routes, trails and green space had been realized?

Some projects are practical and urgent as we work to implement the recommendations of the Seven Youth Inquest. Public safety on the watercourses and rivers is a focus with stepped up patrols, better lighting and other physical improvements. We are also strengthening programs to prepare Thunder Bay to meet the needs of youth coming here. Thunder Bay City Council also recently granted a building to Matawa First Nations for an education and care centre that will house high school students from Matawa communities.

On a municipal level, staff is deepening its collective, historical understanding through cultural awareness training programs. We are also seeking assistance from partners such as the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate, which has shown a keen interest in supporting Thunder Bays efforts.

Successful initiatives depend upon sincere collaboration  with Indigenous partners in the lead, and Canada, Ontario, and Thunder Bay citizens pulling together.

At the same time, we remain mindful of a warning by Justice Murray Sinclair not to leap at quick, patchwork solutions: We need to be able to look back at this from the perspective of where we want to be in three, four, five or seven generations from now when we talk about the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in this country.

Reconciliation has different meanings for different people. Most agree it begins with an awareness of the past, acknowledgment of the harm Indigenous peoples have suffered, and a commitment to plan for the future.

Thunder Bay embraces its role in committing to a new relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Reconciliation is a process, not a destination.

A deeper look at Thunder Bay tells a story of movement toward reconciliation, caring and an ever-intensifying effort to learn from the countrys First Peoples. We aspire to be a city in which all citizens feel  and are  safe and included.

Norm Gale is city manager of the City of Thunder Bay.

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At first glance an agreement announced last week to permit hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to return to their homes in Burma from a squalid refugee camp in Bangladesh sounds promising.

After all, about 620,000 Rohingya have been living in unspeakable conditions in a camp in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazar since they began fleeing Burma, also known as Myanmar, on Aug. 25.

Thats when the Burmese army began what it euphemistically called clearance operations, following an attack on police posts by a group of Rohingya insurgents.

What those operations actually amounted to, according to human rights organizations, were attacks on the minority Muslim Rohingya, including systematic rapes, murders and the burnings of their homes and villages.

Hence, the concerns of human rights organizations and countries such as Canada about the agreement. As it stands now, the details of the deal are as unclear as its intentions.

Human rights groups worry that the agreement might simply be camouflage to hide Burmas true intention: forcing the Rohingya back under heaven-knows-what horrific conditions to turn world attention away from their plight and the shameful role of the military leadership in it.

They should not be allowed to get away with it. Canada must consider working with other countries on imposing sanctions that are stiff enough to force Burma to stop its bloody ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and allow them to return home and live there safely.

Sensibly, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told the Stars editorial board on Friday that she is considering just that: targeted sanctions against Burmas leaders, in addition to the arms embargo Canada already has in place.

It is ethnic cleansing, she said of the Burmese actions against the Rohingya. These are bloody actions. And Canada, she says, believes in international accountability.

What that accountability would look like is this: The Burmese leadership must be held accountable for crimes against humanity, the Rohingya must be allowed to safely return home, and when they get there they must have a decent life.

Sadly, agreement or no agreement, all of that is very much up in the air.

As former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, who chairs the Canadian-based World Refugee Council, says, it sounds now as if the Rohingya would return to concentration camps.

It is not even known how the Rohingya could return. The Burmese say they will allow Rohingya back only if they have residency documents. Many will not, since they fled under fear of death with only the clothes on their backs.

Nor is it clear that the agreement between Burma and Bangladesh isnt simply a way of forcing the Rohingya to involuntarily return home so they are not Bangladeshs problem anymore.

Indeed, as Amnesty International asks, why would any Rohingya want to return voluntarily considering the ethnic cleansing in Burma is ongoing?

Myanmar and Bangladesh have clear obligations under international law, says Amnesty International, not to return individuals to a situation in which they are at risk of persecution or other serious human rights violations.

Still, even in the midst of this quagmire, Canada is working hard to help. International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau last week visited a camp housing displaced Rohingya, for example, and announced $35 million over five years to help Bangladesh address the needs of women and girls among the enormous influx of refugees.

Nor is this countrys intervention in the crisis new. Canada stepped up its involvement in October when it named Bob Rae as a special envoy to get a first-hand view of the crisis in Burma and report back on solutions.

And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed Canadas deep concerns to Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Burma, on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, earlier this month.

As Freeland told the Star on Friday, We need to speak out for the Rohingya . . . and call the military leadership to account for their crimes.

That is the right thing to do. Canada should lead the way with tougher measures.

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Canada will almost certainly join the truncated Trans-Pacific Partnership trade and investment agreement. It will do so in spite of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus coy insistence that he is in no hurry to sign the 11-nation pact.

It will do so in large part because thats what Canadian business wants.

This is not a conspiracy theory. It is just the way things work.

Canada has always based its trade policy on the needs of business. John A. Macdonalds 19th century National Policy of protective tariffs was instituted to meet businessmens demands for what they called a living profit.

In the 1970s, when Canadian businesses persuaded Ottawa that they were being overwhelmed by American corporate takeovers, Canada dabbled briefly with economic nationalism and foreign investment controls.

But by the 1980s, big business wanted something different. It told a royal commission studying the Canadian economy that it needed access to the big U.S. market.

The royal commission recommended that Canada take a leap of faith into free trade with the U.S. And it did.

Now business wants to crack the Asian market.

Last week, the Business Council of Canada, which is made up of the CEOs of 150 of the countrys largest firms, scolded the government for dragging its feet on the TPP.

Council head John Manley, a former Liberal cabinet minister, said Trudeaus delay in agreeing to the TPP put at risk Canadas participation in the scheme.

Manly, just back from a trip to Tokyo, said that there are already hints that the other 10 countries  Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand  might go ahead without Canada.

The approval of only six participating countries is needed to set the pact  now formally known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership  in motion.

The TPP began life as an attempt to forge a free-trade zone among small economies bordering the Pacific. Then the U.S. joined in and suddenly the deal became much more important.

Canada joined the talks to avoid being left out. And finally Japan joined, which made membership in the club a real prize. By 2015, the 12 had hammered out a deal.

But Donald Trump didnt like the TPP. One of his first actions as U.S. president was to have his country drop out. That left Japan trying to hold the truncated deal together. The Japanese strategy was to try and keep the deal, as written, intact in order to avoid lengthy renegotiations.

Under this strategy, the participants might agree to suspend controversial elements that had been put in specifically to appease the U.S.

But they would not reopen negotiations on anything else. In particular, Japan didnt want to renegotiate measures dealing with auto manufacturing that would allow it to source up to 70 per cent of its parts from cheap-labour countries outside the TPP zone.

That was too much for Canadas auto parts industry, which pushed for a lower figure.

All of this is background to Trudeaus decision earlier this month in Vietnam to withhold Canadas approval from a new TPP deal.

Ottawa says it is holding out for language that would allow it to better protect Canadian culture. It also wants unspecified changes related to autos.

Who will give on this? My guess is that ultimately Canada will.

The business lobby for joining this new trade deal is just too powerful for the government to ignore. The business council includes the heads of Ford Canada, General Motors Canada and the auto parts giant Magna.

As well, the spectre of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the U.S and Mexico falling apart has added a sense of urgency.

This is not to say that the TPP is a good deal. Its labour standards are weak and hard to enforce. Some of the more egregious patent and intellectual property elements have been suspended. But they are due to snap back into place if and when the U.S. changes its mind again and decides to rejoin.

But it is a deal that business wants. If history is any guide, Trudeaus government will eventually comply.

Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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While many on Wall Street have become obsessed with what Walmart (WMT) - Get Free Report has been doing digitally to wrestle share from Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report , the fact is that 4,600 Walmart stores in the U.S. are running as well as they have in quite some time. In effect, it's one of the biggest stories surrounding Walmart in 2017 that people aren't discussing.

And that store level turnaround has in large part been fueled by Walmart U.S. chief Greg Foran, a mild-mannered 56-year-old New Zealander that eats, sleeps, and breathes merchandising. Or, so it has seemed in several interactions I have had with Foran since he assumed the top U.S. job in 2014.

"Greatest retailer on the planet," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said of Foran in an interview with TheStreet.

Foran has sweated the details since arriving to the U.S. business from running Walmart China for three years. When he took over, Walmart was battling a public image that its stores were uninviting to shop, had frequent out of stock issues and the fresh food wasn't all too great. Foran moved quickly to put in procedures to ensure produce is fresh, stores aren't out of top sellers like milk and that inventory isn't sitting idle in the stockroom.

A trip down the Walmart food department today even has the surprise factor long inherent to rivals like Costco (COST) - Get Free Report . Affordable sirloin steak, Greek yogurt in glass bottles and hosts of organic offerings. A jar of almond butter, a millennial favorite that normally sells for $15, can be had at Walmart for $6.78. It's no small surprise that much of this store reinvention has materialized in the three years Foran has led the U.S. business.

Foran's efforts have yielded results, too. Walmart U.S. same-store sales have risen in more than eight straight quarters, propelled by traffic gains.

Third quarter sales of $123.2 billion were up 4.2% from the prior year. The retailer's U.S. division saw same-store sales gain 2.7%, with same-store traffic increasing 1.5%. U.S. e-commerce sales, another area of focus for the company, exploded 50%.

Who knew seeing almond butter at Walmart on Black Friday weekend could be so telling.

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Exxon Mobil (XOM) - Get Free Report is embarking on a reorganization.

The multinational oil conglomerate is working on a plan that will reorganize the company to integrate the downstream refining and fuels and lubricants divisions further, an Exxon spokeswoman told TheStreet.

The moves will not impact the organization of the chemical company.

"We are further integrating our downstream businesses to improve decision making and enhance performance in the market," the spokeswoman confirmed. "The improvements will help us to serve our customers and compete more effectively, while continuing to leverage our global scale and the benefits of being a fully integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company."

Shares of Exxon were lower during mid-morning trading on Monday.

Exxon has been in communication with its employees regarding the restructuring, and the feedback has been "supportive."



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On Sunday, after the release of candidate list, Congress party workers started a ruckus.

By Gopi Maniar Ghanghar : Dissatisfied with the third list of 76 candidates released by Congress on Sunday for the two-phase Gujarat Assembly election, party workers late last night vandalised the head office in Gandhinagar.

They strongly opposed the ticket given to Arvind Singh Chauhan from Amraiwadi seat in Ahmedabad.

The party , which has been seeking to dislodge the BJP from power in the western state, earlier announced the names of 86 candidates in two phases.

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Last night, angry activists burnt effigy outside party office in Gandhinagar and demolished the property.

Congress workers vandalised property at party office over ticket distribution issue in Gandhinagar yesterday #GujaratElections2017 pic.twitter.com/bDRNJP1Jlr- ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

WHY THE PROTEST?

The names of two legislators of Banaskantha in the third list of Congress have been removed. Both of them voted for Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha election.

All 43 MLAs who had voted for Ahmed Patel first had been given the re-election. This has also fired up the workers.

Monday is the last date for nomination for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections.

There has been a lot of fuss about sharing of tickets in BJP clan too. Whenever the party has released its list, angry workers have expressed their discontent.

The polling for the two-phase elections in Gujarat, having total 182 seats, will take place on December 9 and 14 and votes will be counted on December 18.

Eighty-nine seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, while the remaining 93 seats in central and northern region would go for polls in the second phase.

Watch: Prime Minister to address four mega rallies in Gujarat

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s (TEVA) - Get Free Report American depository receipts rose on Monday, Nov. 27, after the Petach Tikva, Israel-based drugmaker unveiled a new organizational and leadership structure and said it plans to announce a detailed restructuring plan next month.

The company's ADRs closed up nearly 8%, or $1.03, to $14.65 on Monday. Shares are down about 60% year-to-date.

The announcement came after financial news website Calcalist reported on Nov. 23 that Teva was preparing to lay off "tens of percent" of its U.S. workforce -- and as much as 25% globally -- amid slumping profits the company has previously linked to falling prices for generic drugs in key markets. Israel's Economy Minister Eli Cohen told the Reuters news agency that the job cut numbers were "not accurate", but didn't dispute that layoffs were on the way.

As part of the new structure, Teva's commercial business will no longer have two separate groups for generics and specialty medicines. The groups will now be integrated into a single organization that operates through three regions: North America, Europe and growth markets.

Monday's announcement is " good news...and the first step in additional cost cuts to come," wrote Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. analyst Louise Chen in a note.

The former generic research and development and specialty R&D groups will be combined into a single global group. A newly created marketing and portfolio function will oversee the interface between regions, R&D and operations.

The new structure "will enable stronger alignment and integration between R&D, operations and the commercial regions, allowing us to become a more agile, lean and profitable company," said Kare Schultz, who joined Teva as president and CEO on Nov. 1, in a statement.

As a result of the reorganization, Michael Hayden, who serves as president of global R&D and chief scientific officer; Rob Koremans, who serves as president and CEO of global specialty medicines, and Dipankar Bhattacharjee, president and CEO of the global generic medicines unit, will retire from the company effective Dec. 31.

Teva also announced executive appointments including Michael McClellan as permanent chief financial officer. McClellan previously served as interim CFO and as senior vice president and CFO of global specialty medicines.

Other appointments include Hafrun Fridriksdottir as executive vice president of global R&D. Fridriksdottir was previously president of global generics R&D.

"The new management team will position Teva for turnaround in the short to medium term," Schultz said. "We are already working on a detailed restructuring plan for Teva and will share it in mid-December."

Teva missed Wall Street estimates for its fiscal third-quarter earnings announced Nov. 2, sending its shares into a tailspin and triggering a move by Fitch to cut its debt rating into 'junk' status. Teva also cut the bottom end of its revenue guidance to around $22.2 billion to $23.2 billion, from prior guide of $22.8 billion to $23.2 billion.

Non-GAAP earnings expectations were cut to $3.77 to $3.87, from a prior range of $4.30 to $4.50. From the midpoint, that's a 15.8% reduction. Operating cash flow plunged, with management now looking for $3.15 billion to $3.3 billion, vs. prior expectations of $4.4 billion to $4.5 billion, a 27.5% cut.

Also on Nov. 2, Teva announced the completion of the sale of Plan B One-Step, Take Action, Aftera and Next Choice One Dose to Foundation Consumer Healthcare LLC for $675 million in cash.

On Nov. 1, Teva said it had completed the sale of its Paragard intrauterine copper contraceptive to Cooper Cos. Inc. (COO) - Get Free Report in a $1.1 billion cash transaction.

In September, Teva agreed to sell a portfolio of more than 20 products in the areas of contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis to CVC Capital Partners Group in a $703 million deal expected to close by yearend.

Teva in August 2016 wrapped up its purchase of Allergan plc's (AGN) - Get Free Report generic drug business for $33.4 billion in cash and $5.4 billion in stock.

-- Martin Baccardax contributed to this article

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A former Dera follower told the court that Gurmeet Ram Rahim had asked his followers to self immolate and commit suicide to put pressure on judiciary and the administration.

By Manjeet Sehgal: More than three dozen people were killed in Panchkula alone in the violence on August 25, when Gurmeet Ram Rahim's followers went on a rampage and indulged in bloodshed for their spiritual leader.

When quizzed by the Panchkula police, the Dera followers had claimed that Gurmeet Ram Rahim was innocent and they can go to any length to take the revenge. Some even threatened to erase the nation from the world map. Such was the blind faith for the Dera chief.

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However, the harsh reality, which most of Gurmeet Ram Rahim followers will still refuse to buy is that he treated his followers as mere animals meant for sacrifice. This has been revealed by Ram Rahim's own former follower Ram Kumar Bishnoi in a petition moved in Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The petitioner has demanded a CBI probe into the allegations citing cases of self immolation and suicides committed by Dera followers. In his complaint, the petitioner said that Gurmeet Ram Rahim had asked his followers to self immolate and commit suicide to put pressure on the court and the local administration apparently to slow down his own summons. The Dera chief was annoyed after the CBI Court started hearing the rape, castration and murder cases on a regular basis.

It is due to the dangerous pressure tactics adopted by Gurmeet Ram Rahim that he rarely made personal appearances in the courts, except for a couple of times. Most of the times, he appeared via video conferencing. Haryana Police never dared to bring him to the court citing law and order problem.

His followers, some of them females, allegedly started committing suicides on Gurmeet Ram Rahim's appeal made during the discourses delivered by him in Sirsa besides Punjab and Rajasthan.

"The suicides by several Dera Sacha Sauda Sirsa followers which are actually murders because all these and some other incidents of alleged suicides occurred due to the instigation of Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim and his associates to put pressure on the state government and under deep rooted conspiracy to put pressure on the administration of justice," said the petition filed by a former Dera follower named Ram Kumar Bishnoi.

Ram Kumar Bishnoi is not the only former Dera followers who has accused Gurmeet Ram Rahim of using his followers as sacrificial animals. Two other followers named Gurdas Singh Toor and Khatta Singh have also leveled serious allegations against Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

Khatta Singh, a former driver of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, told India Today that the Dera chief, during his discourses called as Naam Charcha, would ask his followers to come forward to sacrifice their life since their guru was in trouble.

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Another former Dera follower Gurdas Singh Toor said Gurmeet Ram Rahim would ask his devoted followers to sign a declaration that they were sacrificing their lives for the Dera.

ALLEGATIONS OF SELF-IMMOLATION AND SUICIDE

1 Followers who self immolated themselves at the behest of Gurmeet Ram Rahim include Jaswinder Singh a resident of Chak Atar Singh Wala ,Shyam Sunder Bansal of Bhatinda and Gurjeet Singh of Bangi Nihal Singh Wala.

2 Dera follower Surajbhan, who hailed from Jind in Haryana, had killed himself outside the Sirsa judicial court complex after Gurmeet Ram Rahim's appeal.

3 Vinod Kumar followed Suraj Bhan and killed himself with his gun in Sirsa court complex parking.

4 Gurdev Singh, resident of Sangrur, committed suicide inside the Dera Sacha Sauda complex after Gurmeet Ram Rahim's alleged appeal. This was followed by Satpal, another Dera follower, who had killed himself with a gun.

The new allegations against Gurmeet Ram Rahim can be an eye opener for the his loyal followers who still believe that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated.

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WATCH | Mass grave at Dera's Sirsa HQ has 600 skeletons: Ram Rahim's aide

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RLI Corp., an insurance holding company, underwrites property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. Its Casualty segment provides commercial and personal coverage products; and general liability products, such as coverage for third-party liability of commercial insureds, including manufacturers, contractors, apartments, and mercantile. It also offers coverages for security guards and in the areas of onshore energy-related businesses and environmental liability for underground storage tanks, contractors and asbestos, and environmental remediation specialists; and professional liability coverages focuses on providing errors and omission coverage to small to medium-sized design, technical, computer, and miscellaneous professionals. This segment provides commercial automobile liability and physical damage insurance to local, intermediate and long haul truckers, public transportation entities, and other types of specialty commercial automobile risks; incidental and related insurance coverages; inland marine coverages; management liability coverages, such as directors and officers liability insurance, fiduciary liability and coverages, employment practice liability, and for various classes of risks, including public and private businesses; and healthcare liability and home business insurance products. The company's Property segment offers commercial property, cargo, hull, protection and indemnity, marine liability, inland marine, homeowners' and dwelling fire, and other property insurance products. Its Surety segment offers commercial surety bonds for medium to large-sized businesses; small bonds for businesses and individuals; and bonds for small to medium-sized contractors. The company also underwrites various reinsurance coverages. It markets its products through branch offices, brokers, carrier partners, and underwriting and independent agents. RLI Corp. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.
Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company offers brokerage services covering exchange-traded and over-the-counter corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services. It also provides asset management services, including separately managed accounts, mutual fund managed accounts, discretionary portfolio management programs, non-discretionary investment advisory and consultation services, alternative investments, portfolio enhancement programs, and institutional taxable fixed income portfolio management strategies and solutions, as well as taxable and non-taxable fixed income portfolios and strategies. In addition, the company offers investment banking services, such as strategic advisory services and capital markets products; merger and acquisition, equities capital market, and debt capital market products and services; and institutional equity sales and trading, equity research, equity derivatives and index options, convertible bonds, and trading services. Further, it provides institutional fixed income sales and trading, fixed income research, public finance, and municipal trading services; repurchase agreements and securities lending services; and proprietary trading and investment activities. Additionally, the company offers underwritings, market-making, trust, and discount services. It serves high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, public and private businesses, institutions and corporations, governments, financial sponsors, and domestic and international investors. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Phase Ii Financial Inc.
The Supreme Court in its October 30 order had directed Hadiya's father KM Ashokan to present her in the court on November 27 to ascertain her views on her marriage to Muslim man, Shafin Jahan.

By India Today Web Desk: Hadiya, whose conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage with a Muslim man has turned into a case of 'love jihad' as alleged by the NIA, appeared before the Supreme Court today to tell her side of the story.

Before leaving for Delhi on Saturday, the 24-year-old woman had loudly told a large group of reporters in Kochi that she converted on her will and wants to live with her husband, Shafin Jahan.

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"I am a Muslim. I was not forced. I want to be with my husband," Hadiya, wearing a head scarf, shouted as she was being taken inside the Kochi airport on way to Delhi.

The Supreme Court in its October 30 order had directed Hadiya's father KM Ashokan to present her in the court on November 27 to ascertain her views on her marriage to Muslim man, Shafin Jahan.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud will also decide on Ashokan's application for an in-camera hearing of the proceedings.

"We will have the lady before us and ask her if she has consented voluntarily" to conversion and marriage, the bench had said last week.

The court is hearing a plea by Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya and seeking recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

The NIA claims there is a "well-oiled machinery working in Kerala" which indulged in indoctrination and radicalisation of women, and has cited 89 such cases from the state in its report.

The NIA in its earlier report has pointed to a "pattern" involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala, an extension of the right-wing 'love jihad' allegations made across the country.

Love jihad is a term used by right-wing Hindu groups to describe inter-faith marriages which they say is an Islamist conspiracy to convert Hindu women through marriage or coercion.

Watch: Kerala love jihad 'victim' Hadiya first time on camera: Forced conversion or choice?

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Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. operates as bank holding company for the Prosperity Bank that provides financial products and services to businesses and consumers. It accepts various deposit products, such as demand, savings, money market, and time accounts, as well as and certificates of deposit. The company also offers 1-4 family residential mortgage, commercial real estate and multifamily residential, commercial and industrial, agricultural, and non-real estate agricultural loans, as well as construction, land development, and other land loans; consumer loans, including automobile, recreational vehicle, boat, home improvement, personal, and deposit account collateralized loans; and consumer durables and home equity loans, as well as loans for working capital, business expansion, and purchase of equipment and machinery. In addition, it provides internet banking, mobile banking, trust and wealth management, retail brokerage, mortgage services, and treasury management, as well as debit and credit cards. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 273 full-service banking locations comprising 65 in the Houston area, including The Woodlands; 30 in the South Texas area including Corpus Christi and Victoria; 63 in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area; 22 in the East Texas area; 29 in the Central Texas area, including Austin and San Antonio; 34 in the West Texas area, including Lubbock, Midland-Odessa and Abilene; 16 in the Bryan/College Station area; 6 in the Central Oklahoma area; and 8 in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area doing business as LegacyTexas Bank. Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Houston, Texas.
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) India and Denmark today decided to ramp up cooperation in key sectors such as trade and investment, energy and shipping, during talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Danish counterpart Anders Samuelsen.

The external affairs ministry said two ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.

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"The discussions between the two ministers focused on building of cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, science and technology, environment and renewable energy, shipping, food processing, healthcare, culture and tourism," the ministry said.

Samuelsen is on a five-day India visit from November 26- 30. He is also travelling to Hyderabad to participate at the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

Todays talks between Swaraj and Samuelsen were focused on boosting bilateral trade and investment.

Indias economic ties with Denmark are on an upward trajectory.

The annual bilateral trade has increased to around USD 2.8 billion. Indian companies have established their presence in IT, renewable energy and biotechnology sectors of Denmark.

Over 125 Danish companies have invested significantly in the sectors of renewable energy, shipping, IT and food processing in India. PTI MPB ASK ASK

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Full coverage of the Delphi murders: Look back at 5 years of stories
Czech Tourist Authority (CzechTourism) in collaboration with VFS Global recently presented various tourist attractions and products to trade, tourism and business partners in the Middle East through road shows in Kuwait and the UAE.



The Czech Republic  Land of Stories, the official promotion campaign of the Czech Republic, commenced the road shows in Kuwait on November 19 and concluded in Dubai on November 23.



Alexandr Sporys, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United Arab Emirates, together with Monika Palatkova, managing director of the Czech Tourist Authority  CzechTourism, interacted with the media at the exclusive event held in Dubai.



"Im pleased that CzechTourism regularly promotes the Czech Republic as a tourism destination in the UAE and in other countries in the Middle East market, said Sporys.



For a long time I have personally supported strengthening of the Czech presence in Middle East, which is one of the world's fastest growing markets and I am glad to see the vast development of the business relations between Czech and Emirati companies in the tourism sector. VFS Global is a reliable partner in the visa area and I am convinced that the partnership of CzechTourism with this company will lead to a further increase of interest about the Czech Republic, he added.



CzechTourism has been presenting annual roadshows in the Middle East since 2009.



Czech Republic is already very well known in the Middle East as a Spa and Medical destination. However, our objective through this road show is to promote the various other leisure and MICE products of the Czech Republic, which should also greatly appeal to travellers from the Middle East. We have presented mainly a wide range of cultural programs, nature stays, all-year-round events and festivals for families, individual travellers and groups, said Palatkova.



UAE is the number one tourism source market for the Czech Republic in the Middle East followed by Saudi Arabia. In 2016 Czech Republic received 23,831 and 18,180 visitors from the UAE and Saudi Arabia respectively, amounting to more than 171,000 room nights.



By 2021, the number of travellers from the Middle East travelling to Central Europe is expected to significantly increase and CzechTourism expects a vigorous development of incoming tourists to from the Middle East market owing to the flight connections from the region, the introduction of new seasonal direct flights, more accessible visa facilitation through increasing network of visa application centres (VFS Global currently operates 10 centres in 8 countries across the Middle East) and a general increase in awareness about the range of attractions the Czech Republic has to offer.



Prague, the beautiful capital city of the Czech Republic, is popular with travellers from the Middle East; however a key objective of the promotional campaign was to shed light on the wide range of different tourism prospects the Czech Republic has to offer the discerning Middle Eastern traveller. The central promotional theme of CzechTourism in 2017 has been West and Central Bohemia, showcasing the rich cultural and historical attractions available such as spas & wellness resorts and chateaux hotels, and original Czech traditions such as glass and crystal making.



The year 2018 will be a period of celebration for the Czech Republic because it marks 100 years since the establishment of the independent country. This anniversary will be followed by a special campaign that will present original stories related to this period  stories of the Czech architecture and design, stories of lifestyle, internationally known Czech brands and numerous tourist, cultural and sport events.  TradeArabia News Service
Imports from South Africa grew by Sh11 billion in the first eight months of the year that saw Africas most industrialised economy overtake the United States in sales to Kenya.

South Africa sold goods worth Sh42.7 billion to Nairobi in the eight-month period, a 34 per cent growth from Sh31.7 billion in a similar period a year earlier.

The faster growth in sales saw Pretoria displace the US to emerge sixth biggest seller of commodities to Kenya.

South Africa is the most industrialised and diverse economy in the continent and is the top seller to Kenya among African countries.

It sells to Nairobi goods such as wines and other alcoholic drinks, cars as well as spare parts, oil lubricants and machinery.

Imports from the US grew to Sh40.2 billion in the eight-month window, from Sh34.2 billion, slipping one position behind South Africa on Nairobis import table, data from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows.

Paltry

But Kenyas exports to South Africa remain paltry, at less than Sh5 billion in the period with the country not featuring among the top 11 buyers of goods from Nairobi, the KNBS data shows.

South African companies with operations in Kenya include MultiChoice, SABMiller, and Massmart (Game brand) while thousands of Kenyans are frequent travellers to South Africa for business and leisure.

Kenya has long expressed discomfort with the many hurdles its citizens travelling to South Africa continue to face with little response from Pretoria.

Ideally, Kenya and South Africa are supposed to be dealing with each other under the principle of reciprocity  meaning that benefits extended by one country are mirrored by the other.

The KNBS data shows China remains the biggest seller of goods to Nairobi, having shipped in Sh273 billion worth of goods in the year to August, ahead of second-placed India (Sh117 billion).
Summary Report

The Arab NGO Network for Development, lEspace Associatif, Third World Network-Africa, and Regions Refocus, in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, convened a workshop from 28-29 June 2017 in Rabat, Morocco to address the context of trade and economic relationships within North Africa and its neighboring regions.

Bringing together a diverse group of approximately 30 policy-makers, representatives of regional institutions, civil society, womens networks, academics, and activists, this workshop provided an unusual opportunity to air North African perspectives on sub-regional trade relationships, in light of the forthcoming Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and its implications for the Maghreb and the broader North African region. The workshop also served as a space to explore steps towards potential heterodox and feminist approaches to the CFTA, and to strategize towards a mode of regional integration that benefits North African producers, consumers, societies, and people.

Over the two days of the workshop, participants listened to perspectives from governments, activists, trade unionists, and academics on North Africas trade arrangements internally, with Europe, and with the rest of the African continent. Aiming to raise awareness about the CFTA and stimulate understanding of its regional and sector-specific implications, the methodology encouraged both mutual learning and collective strategizing. Participants agreed on concrete follow-up at the regional level, to take forward an action plan on information-sharing, capacity-building, and advocacy surrounding the CFTA in North Africa.

Towards Transformative Regionalism, for the Maghreb and beyond

Setting a framework to guide the workshop discussions, Mohamed Said Saadi began the substance of the meeting with a keynote presentation of his forthcoming paper exploring the regional integration landscape of the Maghreb and the potential implications for North Africa of the Africa-wide CFTA. He explained the failures of the traditional approach to liberalization, which has not altered the structures of the economy or increased productive capacity in the region. Rather than continuing to push for market-led regional integration that relies on exports of raw materials to European markets, Saadi argued for a transformative regionalism that encourages structural transformation, solidarity and cooperation among African countries. The reallocation of economic activities from low productivity and added value sectors to higher productivity industrial and modern services sectors, his paper explains, can encourage economic growth and equitable development while reinforcing collective industrialization and regional collaboration.

Illustrating the context of the Maghreb, including its constraints in terms of employment, climate change, and conflict, Saadi spoke of the need for indigenous models of regional integration, rather than a copy paste of the standard Jacob Viner type model applied in Europe. As the Maghreb is the least integrated region in the world, collective political and economic action will be required to achieve structural transformation that benefits the majority of Maghrebi people. Embedded within this aim are social policies that promote gender equality, ensure labor rights, provide essential services, and guarantee democratic participation of civil society and social movements. Saadis paper underlines several key prerequisites for transformative regionalism in the Maghreb, including a political solution to the conflict between Algeria and Morocco (continually referenced during the workshop as a primary obstacle to regional integration); introduction and implementation of collective industrial development initiatives; and the full democratization of decision-making processes in terms of social and gender issues.

The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), as the Regional Economic Community that covers the Maghreb and Egypt, has a fundamental role to play in the integration of the region and its participation in the CFTA, Saadi asserted. Established in 1989 but currently mostly dormant, the AMU is intended as the building block of Maghreb accession to the CFTA. Saadi recommended (and the workshop embraced) a proposal for civil society advocacy and government engagement to strengthen and revive the AMU, including through reexamining its founding treaty as a starting point. His paper calls for implementing provisions of the AMU treaty regarding joint ventures and action around production, common resources, and improving bargaining positions. Reconstituting the AMU could also help to streamline and rationalize the multiplicity of overlapping regional and sub-regional agreements applicable to North Africa, as Saadis paper outlines.

From this starting point, participants envisioned regional integration  of the Maghreb, of broader North Africa, as well as with the Arab States and the African continent  as a process that will benefit workers, consumers, and producers, women and men, if orchestrated according to a democratic and developmental framework. Jihen Chandoul of Observatoire Tunisien de lEconomie summarized the factors contributing to the low level of integration: unstable sociopolitical contexts, an absence of regional leadership, and an integration process that does not take into account a strategic vision for the region. Shifting priorities towards horizontal, development-focused integration is key, Chandoul concluded, to benefit local enterprise and the development agendas of the Maghreb.

Achieving transformative regionalism in the Maghreb and beyond will require rebalancing governments priorities, which have so far tended to focus on vertical integration with Europe rather than horizontal integration with their neighbors. Abdeljelil Bedoui of the Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux drew attention to the flagrant contrast between the multiplicity of trade arrangements entered into by Arab states and the structural weakness of Arab integration in general. Mohammed Benayad, Secretary General of the Moroccan Ministry of Trade, made a similar point regarding the contradictions between efforts to integrate at sub-regional or continental level and the myriad of free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by North African countries with external actors such as the EU, UK, Turkey, and China. These relationships commit governments of the Maghreb to terms that pose significant challenges to regional integration.

The CFTA and its Implications for North Africa

Given the overall objective of transformative regionalism for North Africa as outlined through the workshop discussions and Saadis paper, participants turned their focus to the ongoing negotiations at the African Union to develop a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). Beginning with keynote presentations by Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei of Third World Network-Africa and Mehdi Mehamha of African Trade Policy Centre at United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the workshop examined the genesis of the CFTA as well as its current political situation and the potential implications for (North) African industry, agricultural producers, and workers. Mehamha provided an overview of the rationale for the CFTA as well as the current context of its negotiations, including the key update that AU member states have agreed on a threshold of 90% liberalization of tariffs on goods. This liberalization will be delayed for 10-15 years for goods on a sensitive goods list, though criteria for exclusion was still being developed, by UNECA and UNCTAD at governments request.

Much of the discussion around the CFTA focused on its ambitious anticipated deadline for agreement of December 2017. Participants raised the concern that this quick turnaround leaves insufficient time for democratic debate and civil society consultation, and precludes the opportunity for discussion around complementary economic policies that should be applied to ensure the CFTA does not harm producers and consumers in the less industrialized countries in Africa. Mehdi agreed that the December deadline poses a major challenge, especially since the final meeting of African Heads of State and Government (HoSG) is intended to adopt the CFTA agreement, leaving only two cycles of meetings of senior trade officials and ministers to negotiate the terms. While acknowledging the decision by HoSG to fast-track the CFTA and their commitment to agree it by the end of this year, Tetteh articulated the common understanding that this timeline raises a challenge for citizens in terms of ensuring the agreement reflects national and regional needs and concerns. Asserting that HoSG should delay the adoption of the agreement in order to ensure time to reflect the issues at stake, Tetteh explained some of the political and economic dimensions into which the CFTA would intervene.

Tetteh proposed beginning from the premise of determining what African countries require to become autonomous drivers of their own development, and then articulating the role of trade and of the proposed CFTA in achieving that scenario. Some measure of trade liberalization is necessary due to the small size of most African economies, he posited, but trade agreements including the CFTA should explicitly strive to address the constraints of African economies rather than exacerbate them. As discussed during the workshops framing of transformative regionalism, structural transformation of Africas economies requires promoting productive capacities; expanding infrastructure; and integrating markets, which in turn requires creating markets (in land, labor, etc.) where they do not exist. Tariff liberalization, as proposed by the CFTA, is just one element of market integration, itself just one element of the kind of regional integration that can lead to structural transformation, Tetteh explained. The negotiations as they have unfolded so far, with a bias towards extreme tariff liberalization and deregulation of services, do not take proper cognizance of the actual challenges that will make trade liberalization fit the needs of building productive capacity.

Ensuring the CFTA makes provisions for countries with differing levels of industrialization and productive capacity (referred to as variable geometry in the CFTA principles) is key, Tetteh continued, in preventing tariff liberalization from eradicating domestic industry in countries that cannot compete with their larger neighbors. Ugandas dairy industry, for example, cannot provide products as cheaply as Kenyas, so Kenya will be at a clear advantage in a proposed CFTA. How can Africa liberalize its dairy sectors, Tetteh asked, while still giving space for Uganda to catch up?

Another challenge posed by the CFTA for North Africa is its relationship with existing regional economic communities (RECs) currently at varying levels of integration. For example, Benayad raised the question of trade preferences. Morocco has recently requested to join the West African REC, ECOWAS, which has an FTA and a customs union. Will joining the CFTA render existing tariff levels moot? This question is further complicated by existing trade arrangements between African RECs or individual countries and the EU. If European goods have access to African markets at more or less the same preference as goods from other African countries, this potentially erodes both the advantages offered through existing agreements and the potential benefit of a CFTA. These issues of coherence, Benayad concluded, have yet to be discussed at national or regional level. Elbous added a further layer of complication, referring to North Africas position as between Africa and Europe. While serving as a conduit for European goods may benefit certain North African countries, this is likely to entrench, rather than address, infrastructure and trade deficits experienced by the rest of the continent.

Finally, the workshop continually referred to the lack of civil society engagement in the CFTA process thus far and the urgent need for the negotiations to be guided by dedicated modalities to share information with and hear perspectives from womens groups, agricultural producers, trade unions, domestic private sector actors including business associations, and civil society at large. Imbuing the negotiations with solidarity and other guiding principles, perhaps in a charter, was expressed by Redouane Benchikh as a potential way forward, while acknowledging that the HoSG may rush through to arrive at a CFTA agreement without institutionalizing civil society participation at the continental level. Sayed Elbous pointed out that consultation with various stakeholders is supposed to be undertaken at national level as part of AU member states arriving at their negotiating positions, but none of the North African participants had heard of opportunities to engage with their governments on the CFTA.

Overall, the workshop raised urgent questions of how the CFTA can contribute to industrialization and development while promoting efforts towards gender equality and improving the conditions of small producers, in North Africa and throughout the continent. Concrete recommendations, such as including a people-centered compensation mechanism within the CFTA agreement or coordinating strategic litigation on behalf of civil society, emerged from the discussions. Getting these and other important concerns of infrastructure, free movement of people, and required industrial policy into the CFTA framework will prove challenging, especially if the agreement is to be concluded by December as planned. The primary lens for civil society engagement around the CFTA and other trade relationships, Saadi asserted, is to consider who will benefit and how the needs of the majority of the population will be met. These political and economic choices can prevent or enhance developmental efforts, added Ziad Abdel Samad of Arab NGO Network for Development, emphasizing the importance of broad-coalition building, awareness-raising, and advocacy around the right to development and the trade relationships of both the Arab states and the African continent.
Featured tweet, Kenya School Of Revenue: Africa is far from integration when Kenya imports Zambian copper from China and Nigeria imports Kenyan coffee from London. We need to build value chains to facilitate trade within the continent - @UNCTADKituyi

Underway, in Niamey: Senior Trade Officials Meeting (26-30 November) in preparation for the 4th African Ministers of Trade meeting (1-2 December)

Underway, in Banjul: WCO, West and Central Africa customs experts meeting to discuss border protection from illicit trade, international terrorism

Diarise: African Entrepreneurship Policy Forum (13-14 December, Kigali); The annual Conference of Ministers of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (5-10 April 2018) will discuss trade and financing for Africas integration.

Today, in Yaounde: Central African countries to set up single regional economic community. Ahead of the meeting of the Finance and Integration ministers due to open on Monday, experts are currently working on the topic to be submitted to the Council of Ministers. The Central African region has three economic communities (CEMAC, ECCAS, CEPGL) whose quasi-autonomous way of functioning slackens the sub-regional integration. [Discours de Mme Mfoula M T Chantal: reunion des experts (23-25 November, pdf)]

North Africas trade relationships: complementarities and contradictions with the Continental Free Trade Area (Regions Refocus)

Overall, the workshop (June 2017) raised urgent questions of how the CFTA can contribute to industrialization and development while promoting efforts towards gender equality and improving the conditions of small producers, in North Africa and throughout the continent. Concrete recommendations, such as including a people-centered compensation mechanism within the CFTA agreement or coordinating strategic litigation on behalf of civil society, emerged from the discussions. Getting these and other important concerns of infrastructure, free movement of people, and required industrial policy into the CFTA framework will prove challenging, especially if the agreement is to be concluded by December as planned. The primary lens for civil society engagement around the CFTA and other trade relationships, Saadi asserted, is to consider who will benefit and how the needs of the majority of the population will be met. These political and economic choices can prevent or enhance developmental efforts, added Ziad Abdel Samad of Arab NGO Network for Development, emphasizing the importance of broad-coalition building, awareness-raising, and advocacy around the right to development and the trade relationships of both the Arab states and the African continent. [Various downloads available, including the conference backgrounder]

IGAD woos EAC 3 for a new common market (The East African)

Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan could soon become members of a new common market, further complicating the existing tensions over free movement of persons in East Africa. The three East African Community members are being targeted alongside the other five members of IGAD - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan - which is planning to have a common market by December next year, allowing for free movement of persons, goods and services in the bloc. The decision by IGAD to have a common market comes at a time when a similar initiative in the EAC is faltering, over partner states fears of losing land or jobs. So far only Uganda has agreed to the IGAD free movement of persons protocol. South Sudan, the other country that has so far been consulted, would like to get an exemption. IGADs Ms Daxbacher said that to overcome such hurdles as some countries rejecting critical clauses in the protocol, IGAD is looking to Uganda, which is a willing participant, to push the others.

South Africa overtakes US in exports to Kenya (The EastAfrican)

South Africas exports to Kenya grew by Ksh11bn ($106.4m) in the first eight months of 2017 saw it overtake the US in sales to Kenya. South Africa sold goods worth Ksh42.7bn ($413.1m)in the eight-month period, a 34% growth from Ksh31.7bn ($306.7m) in a similar period a year earlier. The faster growth in sales saw Pretoria displace the US to emerge sixth biggest seller of commodities to Kenya. [KNBS: Leading Economic Indicator September 2017  see Tables 11-15c for trade data]

ECOWAS: An increase on excise duty on tobacco products (Leadership)

ECOWAS has begun talks to increase excise duty on tobacco products, a measure that is targeted to raise revenue for member states and decrease tobacco consumption in the region. This is one of the major topics of discuss by the Financial Council of Ministers meeting held at the ECOWAS Commission aimed at harmonizing the draft ECOWAS Customs Codes. Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, Edward Singhatey, said the community is working on a draft document that will harmonize excise duties on tobacco products. The draft, he says will also embody the legislative and regulatory processes of member states in tracking and tracing tobacco products. Nigerias Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, says Nigeria is setting up policies to increase excise tax on tobacco, cigarettes, alcohol and tobacco beverages. Without putting in place an effective track-and-trace system, illicit trade will undermine trade and tax measures and will have serious adverse effects on public health in West Africa, clarified Adeosun, who was represented by the Finance Permanent Secretary, Mahmoud Dutse. [ECOWAS Finance Ministers meet on consolidation of the ECOWAS Customs Union]

Uncertain future for diabolic free trade pacts between EU and Africa (IPS)

In the run-up to the fifth EU-Africa summit in Cote dIvoire, the future of the Economic Partnership Agreements between Europe and its former colonies looks bleaker than ever. While most of Europes trade partners around the world keep refusing to sign the deals, the African Unions Commissioner for Trade will most likely announce a moratorium on all EPAs. There has always been a diabolic whiff about EPAs, former EPA chief negotiator Sandra Gallina said a few weeks ago at a meeting of trade ministers from all ACP countries in Brussels. There is nothing diabolic about them, they were just extremely badly communicated. For the last five years I have been fighting a misinformation campaign.

EAC urged to preserve investment policy space (New Times)

Conditions which host countries impose on multinational enterprises requiring them to meet specified goals with respect to their business activities are one way regional countries can preserve their investment policy space. This was at the end of a workshop Friday organised by SEATINI-Uganda, and Governance for Africa -Rwanda, a non-profit with a continental mandate on aspects such as regional integration. For three days, regional government officials responsible for investment promotion convened for a workshop meant to equip them with knowledge on historical perspectives of investment policy, among others, and how they shape current investment policy dynamics. Fred Karemera, Division Manager One Stop Center at Rwanda Development Board, told Sunday Times that the countrys investment legal framework has catered for that. Deogratius Mbarara, an EAC investment officer, said the EAC Investment Policy does not provide for the Performance Requirements. However, he explained, there are provisions on promotion of local content.

Mozambique: Import and export of fishery products only through Single Electronic Window (Club of Mozambique)

The process of importing and exporting fishery products in Mozambique will, from January 2018, be conducted through the Single Electronic Window of Customs, simplifying procedures and reducing customs clearance times. The first three-month phase will cover only the city and province of Maputo, and implementation in other parts of the country will be preceded by training for operators in the fisheries sector and customs brokers. Director of the National Fish Inspection Institute Lucia Sumbana Santos said the platform would facilitate the collection of statistical data, which remains a challenge for us, because often the information that is provided by customs does not coincide with that of the operators.

Kenya: Clearing agents blame tough KRA rules for slow port operations (Business Daily)

The logistics lobby group, Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association, claimed that nearly all goods coming to the country by sea were being subjected to stringent procedures including mandatory verification that took too long. For the first time in the history of clearing and forwarding, all cargo is attracting storage charges because it is not possible to clear the goods within the stipulated four days, Kifwa chairman, William Ojonyo said. The Kenya Ports Authority gives an allowance of four days to clear domestic cargo for free while transit goods should be cleared within nine days after which they start accruing storage charges. Mr Ojonyo said Kifwa would engage relevant government agencies to ensure that their concerns are addressed.

Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project: update (COMESA)

20 Trade Information Desk Officers that were recruited recently to facilitate small cross border trade between Eastern D R Congo and the neighboring countries of Rwanda and Uganda are participating in a two-day capacity building workshop at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka. The training is intended to enhance the capacity of the TIDOs to effectively deliver on their duties and responsibilities of serving the small scale cross border traders, majority of whom are women. In addition, it is a platform for sharing experiences by various stakeholders in the implementation of the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime at the project border posts.

Tanzania: Bagamoyo EPZ set to vitalise industrial drive (Daily News)

Plans are underway to set up 190 industries at Bagamoyo Economic Special Zone before 2020, Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Charles Mwijage said yesterday. The industries, according to the minister, will include fertiliser and fish processing plants at the 100 square kilometer Bagamoyo Economic Zone. Mr Mwijage made the revelation in Dar es Salaam yesterday while officiating at the Symposium on Belt and Road Initiative between Tanzania and China. The discussion to implement the initiative is going on between Oman, China and Tanzania, he said, adding that the setting up of the industries will go in line with the building up of modern mega port at Bagamoyo. Mr Mwijage said the government plans more economic special zones along the Standard Gauge Railway Linein order to ease and fast track the supply of finished goods in and outside the country as the nation heads and achieves its mission of making Tanzania an industrial country come 2025.

Nigeria suffers $15bn post-harvest losses in tomato value chain (Sun News)

Nigeria is Africas second largest producer of tomatoes with nearly 2 million tonnes annually, yet up to 40% of the crop never makes it to market, impacting food security and smallholder farmers incomes. However, stakeholders who spoke at the 2017 Agra Innovate West Africa in Lagos, said challenges affecting tomato value chain need a holistic effort to address post harvest losses in the country. Despite government placing a 50% import duty on tomato paste, 96% of tomato imported into Nigerian market are said to be substandard and not good for consumption. The policy, which took effect in May this year has been very slow to create any effect on the sector as no tomato paste industry is currently in operation in Nigeria and imported pastes are still finding their way into the Nigerian market. [Importers frustrating Nigerias tomato policy  experts]

Promoting the African Internet Economy (Internet Society)

Internet-based companies currently represent a single digit percentage of the economy of most African countries. The Internet Society believes efforts should be made to bring the benefits of the Internet to the rest of the economy. A virtuous circle exists  greater demand for Internet-enabled content, applications, and services leads to greater demand from users for Internet access services, which leads to greater taxation generation, greater revenues for telecom operators, greater interest from investors in Africa, and, of course, greater usage of Internet applications and services. Extract (pdf). Business use of email: Research from the World Bank reveals that just over 60% of surveyed companies in sub-Saharan Africa use email to interact with clients or suppliers. This is fairly high, but below the global average of 72%. Business with websites: The World Bank queried businesses as to whether they have a website. More than two-thirds of companies in sub-Saharan Africa do not have a website. [The author: Michael Kende]

Cameroon accounts for 49% of electronic money transactions in CEMAC

According to the Bank of Central African States, which has just published a study on mobile money at the end of 2016 (pdf), there were 32,551 points of service across Cemac (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Chad), compared with 23,867 a year earlier. The BEAC notes that this figure is below the reality because, for some operators, it is not possible to accurately determine the number of resellers (called call box in Cameroon) affiliated wholesalers. Nevertheless, the Central Bank is able to ensure that Cameroon accounts for 49% of activity and Gabon 41%.

Suresh Prabhu: India should be very realistic about Buenos Aires WTO meeting (LiveMint)

Indias new commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu will face his first big challenge of defending multilateralism and securing Indias interests at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the WTO in Buenos Aires starting 10 December. In an interview, Prabhu talks about his strategy for WTO, China and free trade agreements. Prabhu also hopes to use exports as a tool to create employment opportunities in India.
By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) India and Greece today agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in a range of key areas including trade, investment and energy and inked a pact for launching the first direct flight service between the two countries.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias held extensive talks covering the entire expanse of bilateral relations during which they resolved to take steps to further expand the ties.

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An air services agreement and another pact on cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy were signed after the talks, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

He said the discussions covered all aspects of bilateral relationship and that the two leaders reaffirmed commitment to further expand cooperation in mutually beneficial spheres.

The air services agreement will allow Indian airlines to operate to Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion. Similarly, the Greek airlines will also be able to launch flight services to major Indian cities.

At present there is no direct air connectivity between India and the southeastern European nation.

The volume of bilateral trade has gradually declined, primarily due to the economic recession faced by Greece. The country has been dependent on bailout packages to deal with its borrowing needs since 2011.

The size of bilateral trade between India and Greece was USD 606.93 million in 2009-10 which fell to USD 445 million in 2015-16.

Greeces exports to India include cotton, marble and granite, aluminium foils and calcium carbonate while main Indian exports are petroleum products, automobile components, electrical transformers, frozen shrimps and cashew nuts.

About 10,000 Indian nationals are living in Greece and most of them are employed in factories or in construction sector.

Kotzias is on a four-day visit to India which will conclude tomorrow. PTI MPB RT

--- ENDS ---
Hello!

My husband and I will be taking a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands in April. We got a great flight deal flying round trip from Brussels so we have to return to that area. My thought is to train from Brussels to Amsterdam and stay there. As we make our way back to Belgium, I would like to stay in a smaller/romantic town or city in the Netherlands for two nights. I'm viewing this as more of an opportunity chill-out/wander around a new place and experience more than just Amsterdam. We love to explore by foot taking in the scenery and eat and drink our way through a place.

I've been researching and places that I've written down are Leiden, Delft, Utrecht, Maastricht, and The Hague. We will be traveling to Bruges (most likely via Antwerp) after, so something not too terribly out of the way so that it makes sense geographically.

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

Sarah
Costa Rica - Caribbean Coast - Need some help w/ itinerary

Costa Rica - Caribbean Coast - Need some help w/ itinerary

Hello,

I have been researching online as well as via the Lonely Planet Guide (so please don't think I'm being lazy). But I need a bit of help with our itinerary as I find there's not as much information re: the Caribbean side of CR, nor is there a wealth of itinerary suggestions.

This is our proposed itinerary (we are travelling in early Jan). We are a couple in our 30s that wants a mixture of relaxation and mild adventure.

Day 1: Land in San Jose - Travel to Playa Chiquita (near Punta Uva)

Day 2 - 6: Stay in Playa Chiquita and check out Punta Uva as well as Manzanillo

Day 6-10: Need Assistance

Day 11-14: Tortuguero

Day 15: Travel back to San Jose, then fly out next day.

My questions are:

Should we move after Playa Chiquita to Cahuita for a few days? Or are they so close together/similar that it won't be worth it?

If the answer is not to stay in Cahuita, then we could either:

- extend our stay in Playa Chiquita (if it's worth staying for 10+ days); or

- go to Tortugeuro after Playa Chiquita - but then I would like a suggestion for what to do after Tortuguero (around 3 days). I have heard that 3 nights in Tortuguero is more than enough.

Is there a good place to visit between Tortuguero and San Jose?

Some of our likes are:

- relaxing by the beach/good coffee etc

- ziplining in the jungle

- visiting sloth/animal sanctuaries

- seeing wildlife/safe jungle treks etc

- getting a feel for "Costa Rica"

thanks so much in advance. Any tips welcome!
2 weeks in Kyoto in late May

2 weeks in Kyoto in late May

Hi everyone,

Could I please get some advice for my itinerary to Japan for 2 weeks next year in late May.

I will land at Kansai airport at 7pm. Should I stay at Osaka for the night I arrive for a few days to cover Osaka, Nara and Kobe?

Should I do 3 nights stay in Osaka, 2 nights in Hiroshima and the rest in Kyoto? I won't travel to Tokyo during this visit.

Could someone please advise the itinerary and places of attractions? It is my first time to Japan.

Thank you very much
Hi All

My wife and I are planning a 2 week vacation in Japan and then the plan is to add a further week somewhere relaxing on a beach before heading home to the UK. Tokyo, Kyoto and a visit to the Japanese Macaques, other than that we are quite open to where we go and what we see. Grateful for any advice and we know about the rail pass but that is about it. We would like to do some sight seeing and whilst we enjoy walking it is not a 14 day hiking holiday that we want. We want to see the sights, enjoy the culture and the food. Happy to answer any questions to get a better perspective of what we are looking for and maybe a recommended travel guide in Tokyo and Kyoto to give us a head start.

Thank you all
Hey all,

Earlier this year I went to Japan and have been itching to go back since. I visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Koyasan, and Miyajima over 2 weeks. It was such an amazing experience and I have fallen in love with this amazing country.

I am looking at going back again this time for 3 weeks and am looking to see a bit more of what Japan has to offer. A rough plan of places I would like to visit includes Tokyo, Nikko, Nagano, Hakuba, Kyoto/Osaka, Himeji, and spend some time in Hiroshima. I did find a 3 day itinerary from http://planforjapan.jnto.org.au that covers Hiroshima/Miyajima/Shimanami-Kaido/Onomichi/Fukuyama/Kurashiki spending half days in each and hiring bikes which sounds awesome.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this and possible itineraries and other places that I could include.

Thanks all
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By PTI: Tanzania

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) A team of doctors from India, in collaboration with a hospital in Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam, has performed the "first ever" kidney transplant in the African country.

According to a statement issued by the Delhi-based BLK Super Speciality hospital, the surgery was conducted at the Muhimbili National Hospital on a 30-year-old Tanzanian woman, who was suffering from an end-stage kidney disease.

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"It is a matter of great honour that the first ever kidney transplant in Tanzania was performed by a team of Indian doctors," said Naresh Kapoor, executive director of the BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

"We have established a credible linkage with African countries through a number of collaborative programmes, with an objective to build healthcare capacities locally in countries such as Tanzania. This surgery will certainly boost the Indo-Tanzanian relationships in the field of healthcare," he added.

The woman, on whom the surgery was performed, was on haemodialysis for over a year.

"The donor was her 27-year-old brother, who donated one of his kidneys to save his sisters life," said Dr H S Bhatyal, the head of the Urology and Kidney Transplantation department at the BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

Both the donor and the recipient were recuperating well and should return to normal activities soon, Dr Sunil Prakash, director and head of the Nephrology department at the BLK Super Speciality Hospital, said.

According to the statement, while announcing the historical medical achievement, the health minister of Tanzania, Ummi Mwalimu, said, "We are very thankful to the Indian doctors as such surgeries would provide cost relief and enable many Tanzanians to access world-class health services. The success of this kidney transplant has laid a noble foundation for the introduction of other organ transplantations in the country.

"This brings hope to a number of patients waiting for transplant operations in the African nation. The medical collaboration (between India and Tanzania) is set to grow stronger in the coming days." PTI PLB RC

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By PTI: Bengaluru, Nov 27 (PTI) Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, today announced a multi-year partnership with the State of Rhode Island to establish a design and innovation hub.

Infosys will also hire 500 American workers in Rhode Island over the next five years.

"We are excited to welcome Infosys to Rhode Island," said Governor Gina Raimondo.

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"Because of our investments in higher education and job training at CCRI and other institutions across the state, Rhode Islanders are well-equipped and well-prepared to compete for these good paying jobs. Infosys joins a growing local market of innovative, advanced industry companies that have chosen to plant a flag in Rhode Island," she said.

"Todays partnership with Rhode Island marks another important step forward for Infosys in the United States. The states educational institutions, design-rich environment, and economic development tools, positioned Rhode Island competitively for this type of specialist partnership," said Infosys President Ravi Kumar.

"This will enhance our ability to provide design-driven, digital technologies across the country and enable breakthrough innovations at the intersection of industry and design for our clients."

Earlier this year, the Bengaluru-headquartered company committed to hiring 10,000 American workers over the next two years. The company has been making rapid progress and is on target to hire towards that commitment, and is investing in technology and innovation hubs in Indianapolis, Indiana and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Todays announcement is a continuation of the IT majors campaign to boost innovation in the United States, a company statement said.

These new hires in Rhode Island will include experienced designers, design architects, specialists in information design and technical experts to accelerate the digital transformation of its clients in Rhode Island and beyond, it said.

This partnership also offers a unique platform to nurture specialist design talent at scale to serve the growing demand for design-driven digital skills across industries, the statement said.

The design and innovation hub, which intends to apply for qualified jobs and rebuild Rhode Island incentives, will help close the gap for design and human-centric skills in technology fields, it said.

The hub will offer early-career designers and design graduates unique training opportunities with in-demand digital skills including exposure to systems, platforms, strategy and organisation domains to make them more employable in today?s digital world, the statement said.

By studying everything from user-experience to how people interact with systems, these design-focused hires will be equipped to create fully realized, 360-degree solutions to business challenges, it said.

Built on a model of interdisciplinary collaboration, the hub will facilitate interactions between early-career designers and working professionals and technical experts in such fields as architecture, engineering, data science and business consulting, it added.

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Infosyss clients and industry partners will likewise benefit from increased access to top-tier designers and subject matter experts, the company said. PTI BDN SMN

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Ishaan Khatter, who is yet to make his Bollywood debut, won his first award at Bosphorus film festival.

By India Today Web Desk: Even before making his debut in Bollywood, Shahid Kapoor's brother Ishaan Khatter is busy grabbing eyeballs. He bagged Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's Beyond The Clouds, and has now won the Best Actor award for the film at International Bosphorus Film Festival in Turkey.

The actor dedicated the accolade to his mother and actress Neelima Azeem and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi.

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"This is an absolute honour. My mother is here in the audience. Everything I earn from my work will always, first and foremost, be dedicated to you. Thank you for giving me the gift of life and art. Firstly (for this piece of work) the award goes out to Majid Majidi - the masterful, wonderful, absolute legend of a man, who trusted me and gave me this film as my first leading performance," Ishaan told IANS after receiving the award.

"Thank you sir and I will forever be indebted to you for that. I have to thank the cast and crew of this movie, we did this together. Malavika Mohanan - you and I will always share this experience. And thank you to Shareen, our producer. Thank you all," he added.

Majidi's maiden India set project Beyond The Clouds, which celebrates the triumph and adoration of life against a Mumbai backdrop, was screened at the International Bosphorus Film Festival in Istanbul, and was competing as part of the International Feature Film Category, read a statement.

The film won Hassan Hassandoost the Best Editing award.

Karan Johar, who is launching Ishaan in Bollywood with Dhadak , took to Twitter to congratulate the whole team and wrote, "Huge congratulations to Ishaan on his very first Best Actor award! So proud of you!!! And many more to come."

Huge congratulations to ISHAAN on his very first Best Actor award! #BogaziciFilmFestivali ....so proud of you!!! And many more to come..... pic.twitter.com/L45JbsMIDu- Karan Johar (@karanjohar) November 27, 2017

Alia Bhatt, too, congratulated Ishaan.

Wow this is huge! Yayyyyy ???? https://t.co/567W5LAWvJ- Alia Bhatt (@aliaa08) November 27, 2017

Beyond The Clouds had its Indian premiere at IFFI this year.

ALSO WATCH: Star kids are B-Town's next big thing, Priyanka meets PM Modi

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By PTI: By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Nov 27 (PTI) Ivanka Trump, the advisor and daughter of US President Donald Trump, has said the Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by India and America is a testament to their growing economic and security partnership.

Ivanka will be leading a delegation of senior Trump administration officials and entrepreneurs at the three-day Summit in Hyderabad beginning tomorrow.

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To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 1200 young entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are women, from 127 countries would attend the summit.

In addition some 300 investors and ecosystem supporters are also attending the mega event.

The world?s largest gathering of young entrepreneurs is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

It is "a testament to the strong friendship between our two people and the growing economic and security partnership between our two nations," Ivanka Trump told reporters during a preview of her India visit.

Ivanka, 36, has travelled to India before, but this is her maiden trip to the country as a senior presidential advisor.

Accompanied by several top administrations official, a large number of Indian Americans are part of her delegation, which numbers 350 from 38 states.

Prime Minister Modi had personally invited Ivanka to participate in the GES, which is being held in India for the first time, when he travelled to the US in June.

This years summit theme, Women First, Prosperity for All, demonstrates the Trump administration?s commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, she told reporters last week.

Five per cent of entrepreneurs at GES are 30 years or younger. The youngest entrepreneur is 13 and the oldest entrepreneur is 84.

Ivanka said she aims for this summit to serve as an open and collaborative environment for the exchange of ideas, to broaden networks, and to empower entrepreneurs to take their ideas and passion to the next level.

"The US and India will continue to work together to increase economic opportunities and inclusive growth. I very much look forward to my visit and to seeing Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Swaraj once again," she said.

The summit would also be the first major engagement of the new American Ambassador to India, Ken Juster.

"Amazing first week in India! Thanks so much for the warm welcome. Looking forward to exploring this fascinating country. Excited to begin my journey in Hyderabad at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit!" he tweeted last week. PTI LKJ ZH AKJ ZH

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- President Uhuru held his fourth economic meeting ahead of his swearing in

- The meeting was geared toward sustaining the counry's development momentum

- The International Monetary Fund raised concern over Kenyas economic situation

- Kenya is currently staggering in debt placed at KSh4.4 trillion

President Uhuru, held his fourth economic meeting, accompanied by his deputy William Ruto, on November 24.

The meeting is the fourth of its kind aimed towards sustaining the countrys development momentum in Kenyattas second term as president of Kenya.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens.

"It forms part of the Presidents ongoing consultations before he outlines his transformation agenda for his second term in office that is geared towards sustaining the countrys development momentum for the benefit of all Kenyans," Uhuru's statement newsrooms read.

According to a recent report by the IMF, Kenyas public debt stands at KSh4.4 trillion and the fund issued a red flag.

READ ALSO: What Kenyans should expect during Uhuru's swearing in ceremony

The meeting is the fourth of its kind aimed towards sustaining the countrys development momentum. Photo:Facebook/Uhurukenyatta

The International Monetary Fund IMF raised concern over Kenyas debt, warning that checks were needed to avoid shock-waves to the economy.

Kenyatta held the meeting ahead of his inauguration slated for November 28, as formerly revealed by TUKO.co.ke.

It comes at a time when the country is stifled in debt with fears of an economic crisis emanating if the current trend of borrowing continues.

READ ALSO: TV queen Lilian Muli returns fire for fire after claims she asked top KCPE student a silly question

President Uhuru held his fourth economic meeting, accompanied by his deputy William Ruto, on November 24. Photo:Facebook/Uhurukenyatta

This was the second meeting of its nature held in the same week, amid a flurry of activities before Uhuru's second term begins.

As understood by TUKO.co.ke, Uhuru is set to be handed the instruments of power for the second time during his swearing in with more than 20 heads of state, set to be jetting in for his inauguration.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- Nairobi Police boss Japheth Koome said NASA's upcoming memorial event at the Jacaranda grounds was illegal because he wasn't notified

- NASA released a letter revealing they notified the area police boss in Embakasi East contrary to Koome's claims

- NASA also issued dire warnings to the police if they dared touch any of their supporters on Tuesday, November 28, during their memorial event

- President Uhuru Kenyatta will also be sworn in for a second term on the same day NASA will be holding their memorial event

The National Super Alliance responded to Nairobi Police boss, Japheth Koome, after he claimed the opposition's plans to hold a memorial service at Jacaranda grounds illegal.

NASA plans to hold a requiem mass for victims of police brutality following the elections on Tuesday, November 28, at the same time President Uhuru Kenyatta will be sworn in as president for a second term.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

According to reports by MediaMax on Monday, November 27, NASA officially notified the police of its Jacaranda memorial event on Sunday, November 26, after Koome said he had no knowledge of the notification by Saturday, November 25.

READ ALSO: Raila urged to attend Uhurus swearing-in ceremony

Japheth Koome branded NASA's upcoming memorial event illegal because he hadn't been notified of the same. NASA released a letter saying they'd notified Embakasi's OCPD already. Photo: Capital FM.

READ ALSO: Raila is begging for power instead of taking it from Uhuru- Miguna Miguna

In another letter released to the public, through its lawyers, Sifuna and Associates, NASA apparently wrote to the Embaskasi OCPD Matthew Mang'ira on Saturday, notifying him of the meeting contrary to Koome's claims the opposition did not notify the police 24 hours before an event takes place.

Aside from requesting for the provision of security and castigating Koome for thinking he had powers to ban any public gathering event, NASA expressed concern that Kenya police conduct left much to be desired.

READ ALSO: I do not want to be sworn in alongside Uhuru Kenyatta  Raila explains why

Raila Odinga will lead opposition supporters in remembering victims who were shot by police following the 2017 elections. Photo: NASA Coalition/Facebook.

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"NASA is concerned about the conduct of police officers who turn on peaceful protesters instead of protecting them. We shall hold you and your officers personally responsible for any harm that shall come to any of our supporters or attendees during the memorial," wrote NASA in the letter copied to Koome.

According to prior TUKO.co.ke reports, NASA raised money for families whose kin were shot dead by police as well as provided other basic needs.

READ ALSO: Cute: Senator Sakaja's PA got married and Sakaja drove the bride to church

Jubilee's Leader of Majority Aden Duale intimated that it was suspicious NASA held their event on the same day as Uhuru's swearing in instead of postponing it to another day. Photo: Ebru TV

Leader of Majority, Aden Duale, also said that NASA was up to no good by scheduling their event to coincide with President Uhuru's swearing in ceremony.

Koome also went on record saying that the priority political event on Tuesday, November 28, was Uhuru's swearing in ceremony because the opposition hadn't notified him of their event.

Have something to add to this article? Send to news@tuko.co.ke

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Time to get the drinks, popcorn and other goodies out as you prepare to support your favouri
By PTI: Chandigarh, Nov 27 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged lynching of 17-year-old Junaid Khan, who was stabbed to death on a train in June.

A single bench of Justice Rajan Gupta passed the order.

"The judge dismissed the plea on the ground that the police investigation in the case was proper," said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, the counsel for Junaids father Jalaluddin.

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"During the course of the hearing, the complainant has not been able to show that there are serious flaws in the investigation, which would lead to the conclusion that the same is shoddy or tainted.

"Besides, there is nothing to show that the incident has any national or international ramifications. It is, thus, not a fit case to exercise extraordinary power to hand over the investigation to the CBI," the judge wrote in the order.

On November 17, the high court had reserved its order on the petition after the conclusion of arguments.

Jalaluddin, through his counsel, had filed the petition on October 26, seeking a probe by an independent agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Junaid lynching case.

The petitioner had also demanded a stay on the trial in a Faridabad court in connection with the killing of Junaid.

The high court had issued notices to the CBI and Haryana government on the plea of Junaids father.

Junaid, who had boarded a Mathura-bound train from Delhi, was allegedly stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers and cousins, was returning home to Khandawali village after shopping for Eid in Delhi in June.

His body was dumped near Asaoti village in Faridabad district. PTI CHS SUN RC

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Lithuania intends to provide Ukraine with weapons which are worth EUR 1.93 million.

This is stated in the draft resolution of the Government of Lithuania, prepared by the Defence Ministry of Lithuania and published on the parliaments website, Radio Liberty reports.

"The annexes to the resolution specify that more than 7,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles, almost 2 million cartridges, more than 80 machine guns, several mortars, anti-tank weapons and other military equipment could be provided for Ukraine. The draft resolution of the Lithuanian government has been submitted to the countrys Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry for consideration," the statement reads.

As reported, Lithuania provided the first batch of weapons for Ukraine in 2014. Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis stated that the Lithuanian government had provided Ukraine with lethal weapons and, if possible, would continue such support.

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One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the past day.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO issues Andriy Lysenko said this at a press briefing on Monday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

In Dopropilskyi district, Donetsk region, unknown persons opened fire at a sentry of the missile and artillery storage depot. A reserve group immediately arrived to suppress the attack of saboteurs, he said.

The wounded soldier was taken to a hospital in Pokrovsk, Lysenko added.

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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) audit will be carried out in Ukraine in 2018. Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan wrote this on his Facebook page.

We have many things to do; Ukraine will pass an IMO audit next year. But we already have what to tell the international community, the minister noted.

As Ukrinform earlier reported, the Infrastructure Ministry fulfilled a range of measures in line with the Resolution A.1067(28) Framework and Procedures for the IMO Member State Audit Scheme. The audit will be launched in July 2018. Its schedule was approved at a session of the IMO in July 2014.

On November 27, Omelyan arrived in London for an official visit. The minister is expected to meet with Secretary General of IMO Kitack Lim, leadership of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and representatives of Hutchison Ports.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman declares the need to involve Ukrainian companies in the infrastructure projects of the New Silk Road.

Groysman said this during his meeting with Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili during a visit to Tbilisi, the Ukrainian Government portal reports.

In particular, Groysman suggested that the Georgian side should think over the possibilities of involving the Ukrainian companies in implementation of the infrastructure projects within the framework of the New Silk Road project.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed that the alliance of geographical and transport opportunities of Kyiv and Tbilisi can and should become an important component of the "New Silk Road" international initiative.

The head of the Georgian government agreed with this. "The New Silk Road is impossible without Ukraine. You have access to the European Union, and we have a duty-free trade regime with China," he said.

"We have preliminary agreements on the establishment of joint transport structures and tariff policy. We should accelerate this process, and I believe that our talks will give an additional impetus to it," Groysman stressed.

Significant attention was paid to bilateral cooperation both at the level of joint business projects and exchange of reform experience. As Groysman noted, Kyiv is interested in Tbilisi's experience in tackling corruption, formation of the land market and large-scale privatization.

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Low-cost airline Wizz Air resumes flights from the Kharkiv airport and launches five new routes from the regional airports of Lviv and Kharkiv in 2018.

"Wizz Air, the largest air carrier in Central and Eastern Europe and the leading low-cost air carrier in Ukraine, announces the resumption of its activities in Kharkov, which will be the third Ukrainian airport Wizz Air operates its flights from. In addition, five new routes will be launched from the regional airports of Lviv and Kharkiv in 2018," the company announced.

Wizz Air launches flights to Dortmund (Germany) and Katowice (Poland) from the Kharkiv International Airport, as well as to Dortmund (Germany), Katowice (Poland) and Gdansk (Poland) from the Lviv International Airport

Wizz Air explains its decision with the growing demand for the carriers services in Ukraine.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has started a two-day official visit to Georgia, the media liaisons department of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers has reported.

"The head of government will hold talks with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, and take part in the economic forum 'One Belt, One Road,'" the statement reads.

Groysman will also visit the center for the rehabilitation of the military, where Ukrainian servicemen are undergoing treatment, and will open a monument to Lesya Ukrainka in Kakheti.

Ukraine and Georgia are maintaining the relations of strategic partnership. Trade between the two states in 2016 was $456 million, but this figure could be doubled, up to $1 billion. Ukraine welcomes the Georgian government's assistance in involving Ukrainian companies in the implementation of infrastructure projects in Georgia and is ready to deepen cooperation in the area of developing the transit potential of the two states, especially as part of the New Silk Road project.

A separate item on the agenda of cooperation between Kyiv and Tbilisi is the continued policy of maintaining sovereignty and territorial integrity at the bilateral level and within international organizations, as well as rapprochement with the EU and NATO.

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The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) believes that 2017 Foreign Affairs White Paper of the Australian Government opens new directions of Ukraine-Australia cooperation.

"The AFUO is committed to working with the Australian Government in strengthening Australia-Ukraine ties and delivering the outcomes of the White Paper," the statement reads, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In particular, the AFUO states the promising cooperation in possible in the following areas: ensuring that the rule of law, democratic principles, national and human rights are adhered to internationally; continuing to oppose and condemn Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine and the strengthening of sanctions against the Russian Federation; demanding the return of Crimea to Ukraine; examining the potential for a Free Trade Agreements between the two countries; protecting cyber security and others.

The Paper gives the AFUO a framework within which to continue building strategic alliances and cooperation with the Australian Embassy in Kyiv, the Embassy of Ukraine Canberra, the Australia-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group and the Ukraine -Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Mr. Stefan Romaniw, Chairman of the AFUO said.

The AFUO believes that Australia and Ukraine can work in partnership to strengthen relations and security in the Asia Pacific region and Europe- Eastern European region.

As noted, the White Paper reinforces Australias commitment to Ukraine in fighting Russian Aggression and the annexation of Crimea.

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The statement by Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland on the need to keep Russia in the Council of Europe shows that the most powerful forces are trying to form a coalition in any possible way in support of Russia's return to the PACE.

Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba told this to Ukrinform, while commenting on an article in the Financial Times with comments by Jagland on the need to return the Russian delegation to the PACE.

"Open and clear signals by such a high-ranking official as secretary general are a game for raising the stakes. Obviously, now, by all means, they want to form a coalition in support of Russia's return to the PACE, even at the expense of destroying the values, principles and mechanisms of influence of the Council of Europe," the diplomat said.

The head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Council of Europe said he was confident that Ukraine now defends not only its own interests, but also the interests of the Council of Europe.

"For Ukraine, this means that the most powerful forces are openly involved in the struggle for Russia. However, we are ready to continue to defend our position and make difficult decisions. Ukraine now defends not only Ukrainian interests, but also the interests of the Council of Europe," Kuleba said.

The diplomat said that Jagland had lobbied for the return of the Russian delegation although Moscow had never stated the possibility of leaving the Council of Europe.

"The secretary general has really been touring in recent months, urging key European capitals to listen to Russia and keep it in the Council of Europe. At the same time, Russia itself has never voiced any opportunity to leave the organization," Kuleba said.

As reported, Jagland spoke out for Russia's return to the PACE and the lifting of sanctions against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine.

The head of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, MP Volodymyr Ariev, in turn, said that the return of the Russian Federation, which is lobbied by Jagland, significantly undermines the authority of the Council of Europe and reduces the force of resolutions that it adopted and that in this case the Ukrainian delegation "has nothing to do" in the PACE.

Russia was deprived of voting rights in the PACE in April 2014 after Crimean occupation and the beginning of hostilities in Donbas.

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Georgia firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili said this upon the meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, also thanking Ukraine for unconditional support for the Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity, Georgia Online reports.

"Unfortunately, our countries face similar problems and challenges. We firmly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, harshly condemn occupation and annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and illegal and aggressive actions of the Russian Federation in the eastern regions of Ukraine," Kvirikashvili said.

As the Georgian PM stated, "Russia's illegal actions in Ukraine are continuation of the aggression in Georgia in August 2008, which resulted in the occupation of the regions of Georgia: Abkhazia and the so-called South Ossetia / Tskhinvali Region."

Kvirikashvili also underscored the importance of mutual support and concerted actions of the two states in the international arena.

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The meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Inter-Parliamentary Council will be held in Brussels on Tuesday, November 28.

The Ukrainian parliamentary delegation will be led by First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko, a Brussels-based Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Ukraine now relies on the support of the governments and politicians of the NATO member countries to enter a new level of cooperation for special partners.

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The Supreme Court told Hadiya to resume her studies and directed her to return to Salem.

By Anusha Soni: Hadiya or Akhila Ashokan today told the Supreme Court that she wants her freedom. "I want my freedom," Hadiya said during the hearing in the Kerala 'love jihad' case.

Her deposition began after the Supreme Court in its October 30 order directed Hadiya's father to present her in the court to ascertain her views on her marriage to Muslim man, Shafin Jahan.

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The court today spoke to Hadiya via a translator for nearly 20 minutes during which it asked her about her dreams and aspirations and what she wanted to do in her life. "I want to meet my husband and I don't want any local guardian to be appointed," Hadiya told the court.

The court asked Hadiya if she wanted to continue her studies on state expenditure. "I want to (continue my studies) but not on state's expense when my husband can take care of me," Hadiya replied.

The Supreme Court told Hadiya to resume her studies and directed her to return to Salem. The court said that it is important to protect the economic interests of Hadiya and asked the state of Tamil Nadu to "provide her protection if any situation arises".

The court said that the dean of her college can apprise the court in case of any untoward situation. "I should be considered a human being. I want to be a good citizen," Hadiya told the Supreme Court.

She said that she was in unlawful custody for 11 months and wanted her freedom back. As court recorded her testimony, Hadiya repeatedly said that she wanted to meet her husband.

The court fixed third week of January as the next date of hearing in the 'love jihad' case.

HADIYA's FATHER CITES INDIA TODAY STING

Earlier, Hadiya's father cited India Today investigation that unmasked Kerala's conversion factories in the Supreme Court and said that Sathya Sarini, PFI's sister organisation, was involved in radicalisation and conversion of youths.

Hadiya's father K M Ashokan said that Shafin Jahan, Hadiya's husband, was in touch with people on Facebook and even asked them how much he would be paid for recruiting from India. Ashokan asked the court to hold in-camera proceedings in the case.

India Today's sting operation showed Zainaba A S, head of radical Islamic charity Popular Front of India's (PFI) woman wing, accepting the fact that PFI's sister organisation Sathya Sarani carried out massive conversions. Hadiya's father cited India Today expose on Sathya Sarani in the Supreme Court today.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the Supreme Court that Sathya Sarini has a well-established machinery for indoctrination. "They programmed people and radicalised them," the NIA told the court.

WILL SUCH MARRIAGES BE SCRUTINISED BY COURT?

Kapil Sabil, who was appearing on behalf of Shafin Jahan, told the court that he was saddened by the communal arguments in the case. "Will now all marriages between Hindus and Muslims be scrutinised by courts like this," Sibal asked.

"Why is the Bench not listening to Hadiya," Sibal said. Hadiya, before leaving for Delhi from the Kochi airport on Saturday, told the media that she wanted to be with her husband. "I am a Muslim. I was not forced. I want to be with my husband," Hadiya said.

The court was hearing a plea by Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage with Hadiya and seeking recall of its order asking the NIA to investigate the conversion of Hadiya to Islam and her marriage.

ALSO WATCH: I want my freedom, Hadiya tells Supreme Court during Kerala 'love jihad' case hearing

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has congratulated outstanding Ukrainian scientist and inventor Borys Paton on his 99th birthday.

In a post on his Facebook page, President Poroshenko wrote: I congratulate great Ukrainian scientist and inventor Borys Paton you his 99th birthday. The extraordinary mind, vital energy and diligence of Borys Paton are amazing. And his creative heritage will imprint his name on the history of world science. Thank you for the gift of creating for the good and in the name of the Ukrainian people. Health and inspiration to you, Borys Yevhenovych!

Borys Paton, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, is an outstanding Ukrainian scientist in the field of welding, metallurgy and metal technology.

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The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed a protest due to the groundless extension of the arrest of Ukrinform journalist Roman Sushchenko for two months on trumped-up charges and called for his release.

"Groundless extension of Sushchenko's detention in Russia on trumped-up charges. We protest, demand his release," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter on Monday.

As reported, on Nopvember 27, Moscow City Court extended the arrest of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko for two more months.

Sushchenko said in the courtroom that his lawyer, Mark Feygin, was under pressure in order to deprive him of protection in Russian courts. In addition, Sushchenko sent his regards to his family and said that he was fine.

On September 30, 2016, Russia's FSB detained Sushchenko in Moscow, calling him an employee of the Ukrainian intelligence service, who allegedly "deliberately gathered information about the activities of the armed forces and troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, which constitutes state secrets."

A criminal case against the journalist was opened on "espionage" charges. On September 25, 2017, Moscow City Court extended the term of Sushchenko's arrest until November 30. On October 21, Feygin said that the investigation into the Sushchenko case had been completed. According to the FSB, Sushchenko collected information on the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine.

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Hadiya will appear before the Supreme Court today to tell her side of the story.

By India Today Web Desk: Kerala's Hadiya, whose conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage to a Muslim man has turned into an alleged case of 'love jihad ', will appear before the Supreme Court today to tell her side of the story.

Before leaving for Delhi on Saturday, the 24-year-old woman had loudly told a large group of reporters in Kochi that she converted of her own will and wants to live with her Muslim husband Shafin Jahan.

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"I am a Muslim. I was not forced. I want to be with my husband," the 25-year-old woman, wearing a head scarf, shouted as she was being taken inside the airport.

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR The Supreme Court is hearing a plea by Shafin Jahan challenging the Kerala High Court order of May nullifying his marriage to Hadiya and seeking recall of its order asking the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate Hadiya's conversion to Islam and her subsequent marriage. Jahan had, on September 20, approached the apex court seeking recall of its August 16 order, directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him. Jahan had moved the Supreme Court after the Kerala high court annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country. The NIA in its earlier report has pointed to a "pattern" involving conversion to Islam and marriages in Kerala. The NIA has alleged there is a "well-oiled machinery" working in Kerala that was indoctrinating and radicalising society in the state. As many as 89 cases of similar nature have been reported from the southern state, it claims. It was also alleged that Hadiya was recruited by the Islamic State (ISIS) mission in Syria and that her husband Jahan was only a stooge. On November 18, an NIA team had visited Hadiya's home for the second time and had taken statements from her and her parents to present their case before the court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, counsel for Shafin Jahan, had opposed the NIA's submission and that of the woman's father. On October 30 this year, the Supreme Court had directed Hadiya's father KM Ashokan to present her in the court on November 27 to ascertain her views on her marriage to Shafin Jahan. The apex court had said that it would like to ascertain if Hadiya had voluntarily converted to Islam, and her views on her marriage. Ashokan has so far maintained that Hadiya is mentally unstable and indoctrinated into believing certain things. "She has been abusing and attacking her parents. She doesn't listen to anyone.All these informations will be put to the notice of the court," Asokan's lawyer C Rajendran said. anwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud said that it will decide today on the application for in-camera hearing of the proceedings when Hadiya appears before the court. Meanwhile, the Kerala government had on October 7 told the Supreme Court that its police conducted a "thorough investigation" into her conversion and subsequent marriage to Jahan, and did not find material warranting the transfer of probe to the National Investigation Agency.

ALSO WATCH | Anti-terror squad to probe Kerala case: Love jihad now a national security issue?

--- ENDS ---
SANAA/AMMAN/NEW YORK, 25 November 2017 - A UNICEF-chartered aircraft carrying lifesaving vaccines has landed in Sanaa airport earlier today.



The aircraft carried 1.9 million doses of vaccines. The vaccines will reach 600,000 children in a nation-wide vaccination campaign all over Yemen. The campaign aims at immunizing children against diseases including diphtheria, whooping cough, tuberculosis, pneumonia and meningitis.



The vaccines arrive at a critical time for Yemeni children as stocks were rapidly running out, increasing the risk for more children to fall sick or even die. Already, across Yemen today, a child dies already every 10 minutes of preventable causes.



Girls and boys in Yemen look forward to the arrival of more urgently needed humanitarian supplies.



###



Notes for editors:

Download photos and b-roll from: https://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AM40805FSQX



For more information about UNICEF and its work for children in Yemen visit http://uni.cf/yemencrisis

Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook

For further information, please contact



Najwa Mekki, UNICEF New York, +1917 209 1804 , nmekki@unicef.org



Juliette Touma, UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, +962 79 867 4628 , jtouma@unicef.org
Prime Minister Hun Sen has claimed that the media is a double-edged sword that could destroy the nation in a letter to a Cambodian media forum.

In the letter to the Cambodian Editors Forum, which was held on Friday, Hun Sen said that freedom of the press in Cambodia had allowed the sector to flourish.

Now there are many outlets, both national and international, that operate in Cambodia, he said.

We also know that the media is a double-edged sword. If it is used professionally and lawfully, the media can absolutely promote democracy, human rights, political stability, and development. But if it is straying beyond the lines, it will destroy everyone and the country will fall into war, he added.

The government will not allow it to be used to violate the law for a color revolution to topple the Cambodian government.

Since September, the Cambodian media have come under pressure from the government, which has handed large tax bills to several outlets, which dispute the charges, while more than a dozen independent radio stations have been shuttered.

Hun Sens government has also jailed the leader of the opposition on treason charges for his alleged involvement in a U.S.-backed plot to upend his rule, while the Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the countrys main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, should be disbanded.

Two staffers from Radio Free Asia, which closed its Phnom Penh bureau following what it said was a sustained campaign to force its closure, were detained at a guest house on November 14 and charged with supplying information to foreigners.

Oun Chhin and Yeang Sothearin could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
By PTI: Kolkata, Nov 27 (PTI) South Korean diplomat Hai Kwang Lee today heaped praise on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her "vision and strong persuasive capabilities" and said his country is scouting for investment opportunities in the state as it is an important market.

Korea has organised its first ongoing Korean Caravan, a diplomatic outreach programme as a step toward it.

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"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a charismatic politician and leader with a vision and strong persuasive capabilities," the acting Korean ambassador to India told PTI here.

Besides cultural events as part of the Korean Caravan, a 10-member business delegation is also in the city to evaluate scope and investment possibilities here, he said, adding a business meeting has been scheduled tomorrow with the states investment nodal agency WBIDC.

LG Electronics, Hyundai Construction, Toosan and chemical company Han Hwa, among others, are part of the delegation.

He said already 20 Korean companies have some presence in this part of the country and more were keen.

Lee said he will try to mobilise companies to attend the upcoming Bengal Global Business Summit scheduled to be held in the city early next year.

He indicated Korea is inclined to invest in India over China and more such Korean Caravans will be organised in this part of the country to strengthen ties.

The bilateral trade between the two countries is about USD 15.8 billion with a positive trade balance for Korea. PTI BSM KK MKJ

--- ENDS ---
The United Nations reports remarkable progress in containing the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS still kills, but in its latest report, UNAIDS said access to treatment has risen significantly. The UN's goal is to end the pandemic by 2030. VOA's Carol Pearson spoke to one of the world's leading scientists about whether this can be done.
Ships carrying badly-needed food aid have arrived in Yemen, and are expected to unload on Monday. Reuters reports that a ship carrying about 6,000 tons of flour was allowed to dock at the port of Hodeida after a nearly three-week long blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition was eased. The World Food Program said some 27,000 tons of wheat arrived Sunday at the rebel-controlled Red Sea port of Saleef. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports.
A student from western Kenya is the top performer in the countrys recent national primary school exams. Her success is made extraordinary because she is albino, a group that has experienced discrimination in Africa, particularly when it comes to access to education.



Almost one million primary school children took the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam, known as the KCPE.

Goldalyn Kakuya, a 14-year-old girl from St. Annes Junior School in Lubao, Kakamega, received top honors, with 455 marks out of 500.



I was really happy about it. I am excited a lot because it has passed a message to so many people. So what thrills me most is that it has opened the eyes of many people, she said.

Goldalyns success "opened the eyes" of many people because she has albinism, a genetic condition that results in the skin, hair, or eyes lacking color. People with albinism often face discrimination in Africa, and children struggle with educational opportunities.



"People have talent, and given the opportunity, they can do so," said Kenyan senator Isaac Mwaura, chairman of the Albinism Society of Kenya. "So I would want to really say that young children with albinism across Africa and indeed the world, because there is a lot of persecution and discrimination that is geared toward people with albinism, that they feel encouraged, that they too can reach at the top. And that families should also embrace people with albinism and also, the society at large.

Fighting discrimination



Goldalyns mother, Matilda Cherono Tanga agrees that discrimination against people with albinism is common.



And because of that attitude, people will not even imagine that these children have a perfect brain," she said. "They think they cannot learn, they cannot compete, but the performance and the achievement of Goldalyn, has proved to the society that albinism is just a condition of the skin.

Goldalyn told VOA she worked hard for her success, reviewing her many revision books, asking teachers questions in class, rarely missing her lessons, and doing quite a bit of personal study and group work.



She offers these tips to other students.



Pray hard, do your best, believe in your yourself, because if you are praying, and you are working toward your goal, what can deter you from that? So it is just a matter of being confident, yes, she said.

All students who received 400 marks or more will be given admittance into the coveted national secondary schools. This year, roughly 10,000 students reached this threshold.
Anti-terrorism analysts in Washington and New Delhi are critical of Pakistan's decision to release a man accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 160, but some say they are not surprised by the move. U.S. officials say Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist.

He was set free by Pakistani authorities after 11 months of house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday. Earlier last week, a judicial panel of Lahore High Court said there was not enough evidence to continue Saeeds detention.

While the news of Saeeds release has caught worldwide attention, some experts on South Asian affairs say Pakistan's move was bound to happen - sooner or later. I see Saeed's release as totally unsurprising. This is a story that's played out multiple times in recent history: He is put under house arrest only to be released, Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asian analyst associated with the Woodrow Wilson Center told VOA.

Pakistani legal authorities had said all along that there was not sufficient evidence to keep him detained, so it was just a matter of time before he was released, Kugelman added.

Hafiz Saeed is the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa group (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat foundation (FIF), both of which have been declared terrorist organizations by the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council. Jamaat-ud-Dawa is widely believed to be the front of Hafiz Saeeds Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) which was included into the U.N.s terrorist groups list in 2005.

US deeply concerned

U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Saeed should be arrested and charged for his crimes. The United States is deeply concerned that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed has been released from the house arrest in Pakistan. LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens, Nauert said.

India, which alleges Saeed was mastermind of Mumbai carnage in 2008, has also reacted strongly to his release. Indias Foreign Ministry spokesman said that a self-confessed and U.N.-proscribed terrorist was being allowed to walk free and continue with his evil agenda.

Some political analysts in India also seem to be agitated by Saeeds release and say it will only further complicate the already strained relations between the two rival nations.

His release only reinforces the popular belief in India that the Pakistani establishment is either not interested or its incapable of putting Saeed on trial in the Mumbai case, Vinod Sharma, Delhi based political editor of the Hindustan Times told VOA. In either case it increases the trust deficit between the two countries."

Insufficient evidence, says Pakistan

Lawmakers in Pakistan dismiss the allegations and maintain India and the U.S. provided insufficient evidence to put Hafiz Saeed behind bars or declare him a terrorist.

The criticism by the United States is wrong and Indias anger makes no sense as Pakistan is a democratic country where courts are powerful and work with full authority, Abdul Qayyum, a prominent member of the ruling party PML-N told VOA. Until and unless there is solid evidence against Hafiz Saeed, how can you arrest or punish him? We have strict rules for terrorists and we do not spare them at any cost, Qayyum added.

Some experts on South Asian affairs point out that Hafiz Saeeds release orders came out within days after the U.S. Congress removed a provision from the National Defense Authorization Act 2018 that delinks Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) from the Haqqani Network to reimburse Pakistan for its cooperation in the war on terror.



Ashley Tellis, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington called the amendment an unfortunate move." "It will give Pakistan a way to differentiate between good and bad terrorists and they will make less effort to satisfy the United States against the war on terror, Tellis told VOA.



Aman Azhar of VOA's Urdu Service contributed to this report.
An NGO founded by Cambodias jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha is set to become the latest casualty of Prime Minister Hun Sens ongoing campaign to crush critical voices in his country.

Sokhas Cambodia National Rescue Party has already been dissolved and its senior members banned from politics, but the premiers assault on critics shows no sign of abating.

A claimed foreign revolutionary conspiracy plot that has been used to jail, threaten and outlaw government critics far and wide was dragged out by Hun Sen again on Sunday.

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), which was founded by Sokha in 2002, must close because it is deemed a front for nefarious foreign meddling, Hun Sen told garments workers. In fact, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights should be shut down because it follows order from foreigners. It is because foreigners created it, not Khmer, he said.

CCHR Response

Calls to the phone of CCHR President Chak Sopheap went unanswered Monday.

In a statement released Sunday, CCHR said it was one of the very few groups in Cambodia which has faced backlash from both the ruling party and the opposition as a result of its principled criticism of their policies, actions or rhetoric. CCHR firmly believes that any independent and impartial investigation into CCHR would find no wrongdoing whatsoever on the part of the organization, the statement read.

CCHR calls upon the Royal Government of Cambodia to enter into a meaningful dialogue with CCHR representatives in relation to these allegations, in the firm belief that any misperceptions about the nature of CCHRs work and neutrality could be clarified, and the matter resolved.

The statement also pointed to the diversity of CCHRs programs, including human rights education, the empowerment of rural communities affected by land disputes and the promotion of LBGT equality.

Former CCHR president, Ou Virak, said the conspiracy plot was hard for the public to believe as most viewed the West favorably, while the governments cozy relationship with Beijing hurt its credibility when alleging foreign interference.

It looks to be desperate measures to hold onto power, but I think every time he shuts down an NGO like CCHR for example hes basically going to draw more criticism and frustration from the Cambodian public, he said.

Its interesting to see why he would want to do that now. Strategically it doesnt make any sense to shut down and organization like CCHR.

Spokesman Sok Eysan of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) told VOA concern from human rights groups over the targeting of CCHR was itself an expression of foreign support for the now dissolved opposition party.

I think that its not relevant to Cambodias independence and sovereignty, so that we cant accept what they said - meaning that Cambodia is an independent and sovereign Cambodia, he said. And as for the possibility of reviewing the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, we must clearly check the facts and legal bases. If the facts and legal bases prove that it is obviously guilty, we cant keep it, he added.

Crackdown spreads

Naly Pilorge, director of rights group Licadho, said the threat of closure was being coupled with a raft of other intimidatory measures such as an August 4 Ministry of Interior directive to provincial authorities to make sure NGOs notified them of any activities they were conducting.

You know even if were not closed, and most NGOs are not, the environment is so difficult, theres so much restrictions not just on what we say but also what we do. I mean that affects the entire society so its quite serious, she said.

Not only are NGOs being targeted, but journalists and even everyday citizens are being thrown in prison for comments they posted on Facebook, she said.

Two journalists, Yeang Sothearin and Oun Chhin, were charged this month for allegedly continuing to work for Radio Free Asia after it shut its offices in Phnom Penh in early September - actions the Cambodian courts determined amounted to espionage.

In a statement, Human Rights Watch said the Cambodian governments attacks on the opposition, independent media and human rights groups were nearing the point of no return.

The United States and the European Union have threatened action in response to the crackdown, but should do more, the statement said.

Cambodias donors and trade partners, including Australia and Japan, should also impose targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on Hun Sen and senior members of the CPP and armed forces.

Kem Sokha was jailed on September 3 for alleged treason and is still awaiting trial. He left CCHR in 2007 to pursue his political career, initially as the head of the Human Rights Party.


Counter-insurgency forces in Sudan arrested one of the top militia chiefs in North Darfur, who the United Nations accuses of committing numerous human rights violations. Musa Hilal, a former aide to President Omar al-Bashir, was taken into custody in his hometown of Mustariaha in North Darfur state, along with his son Habeeb according to officials.

The government announced a Monday press conference about Hilals arrest but later cancelled the event at the airport, offering no explanation.

State Minister of Defense Lt. General Ali Mohamed Salem told parliament on Monday that Hilal and his son were arrested after clashes in the area but the security situation there is now stable, and that Hilal and his son were being taken to Khartoum.

RSF said it lost ten members, including a commander in the clashes.

Nyamot Ahmadi, founder of the Darfur Womens Action Group, said both RSF and Hilals forces have committed human rights abuses against the people of Darfur, and RSF only arrested Hilal because of pressure from the international community.

This goes back to the original crisis in Darfur when the government of Sudan initially used the Arab indigenous against the Africans, and now that most of Darfur has been destroyed, over three million people have been in camps, the government of Sudan has come under scrutiny by the international community, there has been a lot of pressure on them, including the recent lifting of sanctions by the United States.

Ahmadi said the government wants to show the international community it is committed to improving the situation. But she said the people view it as what goes around comes around because Hilal is a criminal who committed genocide on the people of Darfur.

A Sudanese journalist who works for a English-speaking newspaper in Khartoum but prefers not to be identified for safety reasons said the government had a sense that ongoing fighting with Hilals forces had become a serious issue in Sudan and something needed to be done. Hilals fighters, who are from the Arab Mahamid tribe, have repeatedly clashed with RSF troops in recent months, even though the leader of the RSF is from the same tribe as Hilals.

He said RSF troops were sent to collect arms from Darfur and North Darfur, but Hilal refused to hand over his weapons.

Ahmadi and the journalist both said Hilal was back in Mustariaha because his mother died last week and he was in yoen yo receive condolences from friends and relatives ahead of her funeral. RSF forces moved into the town Sunday to arrest Hilal when clashes broke out between RSF forces and Hilals fighters.
Senior Turkish ministers have strongly criticized the United States and its policies toward Turkey and the region. The criticisms come after Turkish officials said the Trump administration met a key Turkish demand to end the arming of a Syrian Kurdish militia.

U.S. officials have not confirmed the Turkish government's claim and have only said that President Donald Trump informed Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to U.S. partners on the ground in Syria.

Turkey accuses the YPG militia of supporting Kurdish insurgents inside the country and officials were enraged by what they saw as U.S. support of a group Turkey considers a terrorist organization. Despite Turkish reports of a concession by Trump, Turkish ministers have continued to criticize Washington. On Sunday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu issued a thinly veiled threat.

I am talking to the Western powers who are trying to play games over Turkey. You are going to suffer a historic slap and you will be sorry; you cannot trick Turkey, Soylu said.

The angry words followed remarks by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who spoke at a rally of party supporters Sunday and said the U.S. will, in his words, be educated on how to talk to Turkey. Anti-U.S. rhetoric plays well with ruling AK Party voters ahead of elections in two years; but, international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul's Kadir Has University sees the rhetoric as a sign of the deep distrust that exists between the NATO allies.

"Overall, there is a problem specifically between the U.S. and Turkey, Ozel said. Trust is a word that has been struck out of the shared vocabulary of the two countries, neither side trusts the other. And that is not really a good way of keeping an alliance or keeping a partnership.

While several ministers have called for the U.S. leadership to honor what they interpret as Washingtons commitment to stop arming the Syrian Kurdish militia, observers say Ankara remains uneasy about what Washington has actually said, compared to Ankaras takeaway from conversations between U.S. and Turkish leaders, which was that the U.S. would end support for the Kurdish militia immediately.

A White House statement last week said that consistent with previous U.S. policy, President Trump had informed President Erdogan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria, a move the statement said was possible now that the battle of Raqqa is complete and the effort has progressed into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stepped up pressure on Washington, calling for it to take back the arms it has already given to the Kurdish group, something he said the U.S. had earlier promised.

Even if differences over Syria are resolved, other issues of tension remain.

Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag on Monday alleged that an Iranian sanction-busting trial in New York against Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab was a plot against Turkey.

They want to impose certain sanctions on Turkey through the Zarrab case, but the trade between Iran and Turkey is in line with our laws and international laws, Bozdag said.

Zarrab, along with a senior state Turkish banking official and former ministers, are accused of circumventing U.S. sanctions to avoid paying billions of dollars. Jury selection for the trial started Monday with proceedings scheduled to begin Dec. 4.

The trial comes as Ankara and Tehran are increasingly cooperating in Syria and the wider region. On Sunday, the two countries signed a deal to enhance trade with Qatar and help ease Saudi Arabias blockade of the Gulf state. Deepening Turkish-Iranian cooperation will cause unease in Washington, analysts say, especially as Turkey is seen as key to curbing Irans growing regional influence.
After meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Republican senators Monday confirmed their intention to vote on a massive tax plan later this week that would permanently cut corporate taxes, temporarily cut income taxes, and add more than $1 trillion to America's national debt.

"The current plan this week is to vote on the Senate tax bill," said Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas. "The goal is to get the economy growing again."

Cornyn and other Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee had a working lunch with Trump at the White House amid furious efforts to round up at least 50 votes for the tax plan in the 100-member chamber. Republicans have a two-seat majority, and no Senate Democrat has come out in favor of the bill. In the event of a 50-50 tie, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the deciding vote to pass the bill.

"We intend to get to 50 [votes]," said Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah.

One Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, has declared he opposes the tax plan in its current form. News reports quote aides to another, Steve Daines of Montana, as saying the legislation is weighted too heavily in favor of large corporations. Several other Republican senators have expressed grave concerns about adding to the national debt, but have not said how they will vote.

Trump himself seemed to acknowledge a need to fine-tune the tax plan, tweeting that "middle class and job producers" would benefit from "just a few changes, some mathematical."

The House of Representatives approved a different version of tax reform earlier this month. Should the Senate bill pass, the two versions would have to be reconciled into a unified bill and win passage in both chambers before the president could sign it into law.

Democrats, meanwhile, are working furiously to oppose the tax initiative.

"Republicans are trying to jam through a tax plan that would raise taxes on millions of middle-class Americans," tweeted Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. "Call your Senators and tell them you oppose this bill."

Democrat Ron Wyden noted that the Senate version of the tax plan would eliminate a key Obamacare provision requiring Americans to purchase health care insurance or pay a penalty.

"The #GOPTaxPlan is not just an awful tax plan  it's an ATTACK on your health care," the Oregon senator tweeted. "It's time we make our voices heard and STOP this bill."

On Sunday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office concluded in a new report that the Senate bill would substantially benefit those earning more than $100,000 a year, while disadvantaging the country's poorest taxpayers.
Villagers in Bir al-Abd in Egypts northern Sinai, scene of a devastating jihadist attack on a crowded Sufi mosque Friday that left more than 300 dead, have added to doubts about the competence of the countrys counterterror efforts.

They argue security forces missed the warnings signs of a pending jihadist attack. Amid the mourning for the 305 dead, villagers are expressing frustration to local media about what they say was a lack of alertness by local security forces, who should have been ready for an attack.

They say they received increasing jihadist threats prior to Fridays assault, the deadliest terrorist attack in Egyptian modern history, warning them of a possible assault on Rawda mosque, according to interviews with Al-Masry Al-Youm, a privately owned newspaper.

We received warnings about 10 days ago from the gunmen not to [perform Sufi rituals], said Abo Jarir. The militants said Sufi practices are contrary to Islam, he added.

Other villagers told local media that threats against the mosque, which was packed Friday with about 400 worshipers, first started a year ago when the Islamic State terror group singled out Rawda mosque in its weekly online newspaper.

Egypts President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi announced three days of national mourning following Fridays attack, which also left 128 wounded, and promised brutal retaliation. Hours after the assault involving about 30 gunmen, who set off explosives and sprayed worshipers with automatic gunfire in a 25-minute-long slaughter, Egyptian military launched airstrikes on the hideouts of IS-tied militants they say were behind the killing.

New style of attack

The attack was well-planned, according to public prosecutors, who say between 25 to 30 bearded gunmen dressed in black started the killing spree by opening fire through the mosques doors and windows and threw in fragmentation grenades. They chased worshipers who managed to flee the mosque and gunned them down in the streets.

No one has claimed responsibility for the assault, but it is assumed by analysts to be the work of the Islamic State affiliate, Wilayat al-Sinai (Sinai Province). Officials say the gunmen carried black IS flags.

The attack marks a change in tactics for jihadists in Egypt. Until now thy have focused their attacks on security forces and Christians, launching assaults on Coptic churches and military barracks, killing hundreds. Last year, they beheaded a Sufi cleric who they accused of witchcraft.

But Fridays assault was the first in Egypt on a mosque controlled by Sufi Muslims, who revere saints and use music and dance in their worship.

IS and other Salafi-jihadist groups accuse Sufis of mysticism and heresy and while they have not been targeted en masse before in Egypt, their shrines have been attacked in neighboring Libya and Pakistan.

Egypt launched a counterterror effort in northern Sinai, a highly marginalized and neglected area, in August 2011, but a rising death toll since and strikes beyond the peninsula by the militants have led to criticism by analysts and locals of the tactics being employed, which have focused under Sissi on brute strength with little efforts made to win hearts and minds or to tackle root causes of radicalization.

Egyptian authorities have been accused by rights groups of torturing suspects, extra-judicial killings as well as demolitions of homes, forced evacuations and destruction of property and farms as well as the use of heavy artillery and aerial bombardment of residential areas.

Roots of radicalization

U.S. and European officials have urged Egyptian authorities, mainly in private, to adopt a more sophisticated counter-terror approach. On Saturday, Alistair Burt, British foreign minister for the Middle East and North Africa, argued that confronting extremism requires a variety of approaches, including addressing the underlying causes of radicalization.

In the past two years the militant insurgency in the Sinai would appear to have gained in strength, fueled partly by local resentment with the behavior of the security forces and an influx of militants from neighboring Libya and the Levant, where the IS has collapsed.

High-handedness by the security forces has, critics say, been accompanied by blunders, too.

In a study of the Sinai insurgency published last month by the journal Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Omar Ashour, an academic at Britains University of Exeter, warned the combat capacity of the jihadists is unprecedented in Egypts history of insurgencies and that in military terms the militants have waged an unusually effective guerrilla war, while the Egyptian government has waged an unusually ineffective counterinsurgency campaign, consistently marred by gross human rights violations.

As well as pursuing the common tactics of urban terrorism with attacks on cities and towns using car bombs, suicide attacks and targeted assassinations, the jihadists have honed their guerrilla warfare tactics with small and highly mobile units launching hit-and-run attacks with a proficiency associated more with professional special force units of state governments.

The combination of tactics as well as the military proficiency of the jihadists have undermined both the morale and the capacities of the regular forces; a historically incompetent one with limited success in conventional warfare and counterinsurgency campaigns, Ashour warned.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has termed his son Tej Pratap's remark that he would get PM Narendra Modi skinned alive as mere angry outburst.

By India Today Web Desk: RJD president Lalu Prasad has defended his son Tej Pratap over his remark that he would skin Prime Minister Narendra Modi alive for downgrading his VIP security cover. Lalu Prasad said that Tej Pratap was bound to "react" after knowing about the "conspiracy."

Lalu Prasad said, "If a son comes to know that his father is being conspired against, his security is being revoked, he will react." However, Lalu Prasad added, "I don't approve of this. I have spoken to him to not speak anything like that again."

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The RJD president further said that he was not scared despite downgrading of his VIP security cover. "If Narendra Modi thinks I will be scared, I won't. All the people, even the children of Bihar will protect me," Lalu Prasad said.

Earlier, Tej Pratap, in a video posted by news agency ANI, said, "Yeh murder karane ki saazish rachi jaa rahi hai. Unko moohtod jawab hum denge. Narendra Modi ji ka khaal udhedva denge (A murder conspiracy was being hatched against Lalu Prasad. We will give them a befitting reply. We will skin Narendra Modiji alive)."

#WATCH: Lalu Yadav's son Tej Pratap responds to question on his father's security downgrade, says, 'Narendra Modi Ji ka khaal udhedva lenge' pic.twitter.com/FER7rIBjoK- ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017

Tej Pratap's comments came in response to a question over withdrawal of Lalu Prasad's Z-plus VIP security cover. Tej Pratap also said that if f anything happened to Lalu Prasad, PM Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would be held responsible.

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The FBI failed to notify scores of U.S. officials that Russian hackers were trying to break into their personal Gmail accounts despite having evidence for at least a year that the targets were in the Kremlin's crosshairs, The Associated Press has found.

Nearly 80 interviews with Americans targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian government-aligned cyberespionage group, turned up only two cases in which the FBI had provided a heads-up. Even senior policymakers discovered they were targets only when the AP told them, a situation some described as bizarre and dispiriting.

"It's utterly confounding,'' said Philip Reiner, a former senior director at the National Security Council, who was notified by the AP that he was targeted in 2015. "You've got to tell your people. You've got to protect your people.''

The FBI declined to discuss its investigation into Fancy Bear's spying campaign, but did provide a statement that said in part: "The FBI routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information.''

Three people familiar with the matter - including a current and a former government official - said the FBI has known for more than a year the details of Fancy Bear's attempts to break into Gmail inboxes. A senior FBI official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the hacking operation because of its sensitivity, declined to comment on when it received the target list, but said that the bureau was overwhelmed by the sheer number of attempted hacks.

"It's a matter of triaging to the best of our ability the volume of the targets who are out there,'' he said.

The AP did its own triage, dedicating two months and a small team of reporters to go through a hit list of Fancy Bear targets provided by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks.

Previous AP investigations based on the list have shown how Fancy Bear worked in close alignment with the Kremlin's interests to steal tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party. The hacking campaign disrupted the 2016 U.S. election and cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump, whom U.S. intelligence agencies say the hackers were trying to help. The Russian government has denied interfering in the American election.

The Secureworks list comprises 19,000 lines of targeting data. Going through it, the AP identified more than 500 U.S.-based people or groups and reached out to more than 190 of them, interviewing nearly 80 about their experiences.

Many were long-retired, but about one-quarter were still in government or held security clearances at the time they were targeted. Only two told the AP they learned of the hacking attempts on their personal Gmail accounts from the FBI. A few more were contacted by the FBI after their emails were published in the torrent of leaks that coursed through last year's electoral contest. But to this day, some leak victims have not heard from the bureau at all.

Charles Sowell, who previously worked as a senior administrator in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and was targeted by Fancy Bear two years ago, said there was no reason the FBI couldn't do the same work the AP did.

"It's absolutely not OK for them to use an excuse that there's too much data,'' Sowell said. ``Would that hold water if there were a serial killer investigation, and people were calling in tips left and right, and they were holding up their hands and saying, `It's too much'? That's ridiculous.''

"It's curious''

The AP found few traces of the bureau's inquiry as it launched its own investigation two months ago.

In October, two AP journalists visited THCServers.com, a brightly lit, family-run internet company on the former grounds of a communist-era chicken farm outside the Romanian city of Craiova. That's where someone registered DCLeaks.com, the first of three websites to publish caches of emails belonging to Democrats and other U.S. officials in mid-2016.

DCLeaks was clearly linked to Fancy Bear. Previous AP reporting found that all but one of the site's victims had been targeted by the hacking group before their emails were dumped online.

Yet THC founder Catalin Florica said he was never approached by law enforcement.

"It's curious,'' Florica said. "You are the first ones that contact us.''

THC merely registered the site, a simple process that typically takes only a few minutes. But the reaction was similar at the Kuala Lumpur offices of the Malaysian web company Shinjiru Technology , which hosted DCLeaks' stolen files for the duration of the electoral campaign.

The company's chief executive, Terence Choong, said he had never heard of DCLeaks until the AP contacted him.

"What is the issue with it?'' he asked.

Questions over the FBI's handling of Fancy Bear's broad hacking sweep date to March 2016, when agents arrived unannounced at Hillary Clinton's headquarters in Brooklyn to warn her campaign about a surge of rogue, password-stealing emails.

The agents offered little more than generic security tips the campaign had already put into practice and refused to say who they thought was behind the attempted intrusions, according to a person who was there and spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was meant to be confidential.

Questions emerged again after it was revealed that the FBI never took custody of the Democratic National Committee's computer server after it was penetrated by Fancy Bear in April 2016. Former FBI Director James Comey testified this year that the FBI worked off a copy of the server, which he described as an "appropriate substitute.''

"Makes me sad''

Retired Maj. James Phillips was one of the first people to have the contents of his inbox published by DCLeaks when the website made its June 2016 debut.

But the Army veteran said he didn't realize his personal emails were "flapping in the breeze'' until a journalist phoned him two months later.

"The fact that a reporter told me about DCLeaks kind of makes me sad,'' he said."I wish it had been a government source.''

Phillips' story would be repeated again and again as the AP spoke to officials from the National Defense University in Washington to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado.

Among them: a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes; a former head of Air Force Intelligence, retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula; a former defense undersecretary, Eric Edelman; and a former director of cybersecurity for the Air Force, retired Lt. Gen. Mark Schissler.

Retired Maj. Gen. Brian Keller, a former director of military support at the Geospatial Intelligence Agency, was not informed, even after DCLeaks posted his emails to the internet. In a telephone call with AP, Keller said he still wasn't clear on what had happened, who had hacked him or whether his data was still at risk.

"Should I be worried or alarmed or anything?'' asked Keller, who left the spy satellite agency in 2010 and now works in private industry.

Not all the interviewees felt the FBI had a responsibility to alert them.

"Perhaps optimistically, I have to conclude that a risk analysis was done and I was not considered a high enough risk to justify making contact,'' said a former Air Force chief of staff, retired Gen. Norton Schwartz, who was targeted by Fancy Bear in 2015.

Others argued that the FBI may have wanted to avoid tipping the hackers off or that there were too many people to notify.

"The expectation that the government is going to protect everyone and go back to everyone is false,'' said Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior technical officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency who teaches homeland security at Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg and was himself among the targets.

But the government is supposed to try, said Michael Daniel, who served as President Barack Obama's White House cybersecurity coordinator.

Daniel wouldn't comment directly on why so many Fancy Bear targets weren't warned in this case, but he said the issue of how and when to notify people "frankly still needs more work.''
As tensions escalate between North Korea and the United States, Hawaii finds itself on the frontlines in preparing for a nuclear attack. Whether or not North Korea has developed the capability of hitting the islands with a missile, state officials arent taking any chances.

Starting in December, Hawaii will be testing its Attack Warning siren for the first time since the Cold War. The state is adding the signal to its monthly Attention Alert test, which warns people of an incoming tsunami or hurricane.

While the wailing siren could be used to warn of a nuclear strike from North Korea, Vern Miyagi, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA), said he thinks an attack is unlikely.

"If North Korea launches against us or our allies, the retaliation would be complete and they would defeat North Koreas ambition to continue its regime. So if they did launch an attack against us, the regime would be probably end," said Miyagi.

Nevertheless, HI-EMA is ramping up efforts to educate the states 1.4 million residents and also visitors on how to prepare for a nuclear attack.

"Hawaii is a likely target, cause were in the Pacific, were closer in to North Korea than most of the continental United States, Miyagi pointed out, so its something we need to prepare for. As we track the news and we see the tests, both missile launches and nuclear tests, its the elephant in the room. We cant ignore it."

Thats why the state has posted guidelines online to prepare people for a nuclear attack. Its also getting the word out through community meetings and public service announcements.

Echoes of Dec. 7, 1941

World War II veteran Ted Tsukiyama recalled hearing the air-raid warning sirens after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

"Sirens were installed all over the city after the war started. And they would test them every now and them. I remember hearing the sirens going off. The radio would give us a warning, this is only a test, dont get alarmed and all that," said Tsukiyama.

Tsukiyama, whos now in his late 90s, said he isnt surprised the sirens are coming back because Hawaii has long been a defense outpost. Its home to the U.S. Pacific Command, the militarys headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region. "I suppose thats necessary as a precaution, but I dont think North Korea is gonna attack. Theyd be foolish to threaten South Korea, or Japan, or the U.S.," he said.

Make a plan

U.S. officials estimate a North Korean missile could reach Hawaii in about 20 minutes. It would take 5 minutes for authorities to determine its target, which would leave about 12-15 minutes to warn the public.

Despite the states public outreach and education efforts, Miyagi said there are still misconceptions.

"The first one that Ive heard is that we shouldnt prepare, we shouldnt plan because its never going to happen, so were wasting our time. But again, when you see all of the things in the news, and the tests, missile launches, I cant ignore it. So we have to continue planning as if its there and it may happen.

The second misconception, he said, is fatalistic. Theres no use preparing, no use planning because if its a nuclear attack were all going to die. But based on what the threat is right now, if there is an impact therell be many, many survivors, 80 percent, 90 percent survivors."

So Miyagi encouraged everyone to have a plan and know where to shelter in place ahead of time. Officials also recommend having enough food and water to survive for 48 hours, and supplies to last up to 14 days just in case.
Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes order this month to stop peace talks with a violent group of communist rebels may spark new clashes but eventually weaken the groups already waning influence.

Duterte announced Thursday an end to peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army, the presidential office website says.

Duterte found the communists lacked sincerity and commitment because of recent attacks on people and property, his office said.

I think Duterte knows very well and the armed forces know very well these groups are not large enough to mount a serious threat to the government, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapores public policy school.

On Saturday, the National Democratic Fronts chief political consultant, Jose Maria Sison, called Duterte a big liar. The president had vowed to form a coalition government before he was elected in May 2016 but does not want one, Sison said in a statement.

Risk of short-term violence

The break in talks, though not a first, raises the threat of new attacks by the disgruntled New Peoples Army (NPA), the armed side of Asia's oldest communist insurgency, analysts say. The rebels had hoped for a coalition with the government.

But those attacks would end quickly as the army strikes back and the communist movement is losing support anyway, experts add.

Perhaps they will be more active now in pursuing the NPA or members of the Communist Party, and that can also lead to a response on the part of the NPA to be more active in challenging the government forces, said Maria Ela Atienza, political science professor at University of the Philippines Diliman.

People who sympathize with the communist groups may be subjected to harassment as well, she said.

Five decades of rebellion

The 50-year-old insurgency traditionally draws support in rural areas where their ideology appeals to poor people facing a perceived social inequality such as a lack of land reform, said Carl Baker, director of programs with the think tank Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu.

In June a unit of the New Peoples Army attacked an army base in the Bicol region east of Manila, killing one soldier and injuring at least four. The government blamed the same forces for killing four police officers on the southern island Mindanao in June.

More force, less support

The military, increasingly supported by China as well as long-time backer the United States, has shown resolve to quash rebels since Duterte took office in June 2016.

Dutertes troops stepped up a fight against the Islamic State-backed Abu Sayyaf Group last year and this year defeated the Maute Group, also Muslim rebels, in a conflict that left more than 1,000 dead. His government declared war against the armed communist group in February after talks broke down then and said existing firepower would be enough to win.

Strikes against the communist army would create little backlash as few Filipinos support their cause or tactics, analysts say.

The group is treacherous, said Dexter Feliciano, Filipino voter and founder of a startup firm in Metro Manila. This administration is the most serious of all administrations in ending the conflict. These are all criminal elements now. These are actually terrorists.

Some Filipinos worry the communist fronts nominal leadership lacks control over its chain of cells, including some outside the capital Manila that have extorted taxes from businesses.

The communist organization's armed unit relies on 4,000 combatants, down from a peak in the 1980s, according to the local news outlet Rappler.com, citing military sources. The party claims about 70,000 members.

Talks struggled to take shape

Talks between government negotiators and the communist group in Norway have stopped three times, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines says in a statement on its website.

It has been the sad experience of the NDFPas well as the (governments) own personnel, to be subjected to the whimsical and arbitrary outbursts of President Duterte, the statement says.

Duterte probably felt slighted after he agreed last year to the release of 20 political prisoners but got nothing in return, Araral said. The government also announced a unilateral ceasefire in July.

By stopping talks, the government denies the rebels a chance to show force and prove for negotiation purposes that it's not "spent," he said.

The president had wanted the negotiations as part of a long-standing commitment to pursue peace and be known as the president who attained it, Araral added. Through the peace talks, Araral said, the president learned his lesson.

Peace anyway, or more presidential power?

The Duterte administration remains committed to achieving a secure, progressive, and peaceful nation by ensuring durable security, public order, and safety, the presidential office website said Friday, quoting a proclamation on the end of talks.

The Communists say Duterte just wants more power.

Now, he is being carried away by his obsession to establish a fascist dictatorship through charter change under the pretext of adopting a pseudo-federal system under his over-centralized despotism and terrorism, Sison said on the National Democratic Front website Saturday.
A controversial deal the government in Pakistan struck with an Islamist group Monday has forced the federal law minister out of office and eased angry demonstrations that claimed several lives and had for weeks paralyzed the national capital.

Thousands of activists of the radical Tehreek-e-Labaik party led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi earlier this month had blocked the main entrance to Islamabad and refused to disperse unless the government ousted Law Minister Zahid Hamid for allegedly committing blasphemy.

The government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party dismissed the demand and ordered a police crackdown on Saturday to clear the protest site in the face of growing public pressure against the siege.

The action resulted in clashes with demonstrators, in which seven people died and nearly 200 others were wounded.

In reaction, Rizvis supporters took to the streets in other major Pakistani cities, blocking roads and motorways, with some carrying out attacks on houses of federal ministers, including that of Hamid.

The spillover of violence to the rest of Pakistan forced authorities to suspend the police crackdown and enter into negotiations with rally leaders.

The agreement the two sides concluded early Monday called for the immediate removal of Minister Hamid and bound the government to release all detained activists and pay for any damage to public property.

Critics have denounced the government for giving in to the demands of the Islamist group, saying it will encourage extremism in the country.

One part of the controversial agreement has particularly raised many eyebrows in Pakistan as it credited army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his representative team for their special efforts to negotiate the deal.

We are thankful to him [Gen Bajwa] for saving the nation from a big catastrophe, said the document bearing signatures, among others, of the countrys interior minister and and a major-general rank officer of the countrys main spy agency, ISI, who signed the deal on behalf of Bajwa.

Criticized as appeasement

The chairman of the Pakistani Senate was outraged at the controversial deal. Raza Rabbani slammed the government for not consulting parliament on an issue of national importance.

The magnitude of the issue is such that your law minster had to resign, but the prime minister goes abroad that very day. Is the Riyadh summit more important or what has happened internally in this country more important, he inquired from the deputy interior minister during a debate on the matter.

Pakistani rights activist Tahira Abdullah denounced the deal as a cause for grave alarm and outrage. This agreement" she lamented, is an abdication of state authority, along with the abdication of the state's obligation and responsibility under the constitution.

A sad day when the state surrendered to the extremists. Now there is no stopping of those bigots, tweeted senior Pakistani journalist, Zahid Hussain, who has authored books on rise of extremism in the country.



The allegations against the Pakistani law minister stemmed from amendments in the wording of oath taken by incoming lawmakers that protesters maintained amounted to blasphemy for undermining the fundamental Muslim proclamation of Mohammad as the last prophet of Islam.

The government blamed the changes on a clerical error and promptly restored the original wording under pressure from allies and opposition parties in the parliament. But the protesters would not agree on anything less than the removal of the law minister for even tabling the controversial bill in the parliament.

The only significant concession the government received from Rizvi was an assurance the group would not issue an edict to provoke attacks against the minister after he stepped down.

While announcing Mondays deal to his supporters, Rizvi asked them to pack up soon after their detained activists are released so they could go back to the eastern city of Lahore, where the group is headquartered. He also personally thanked the Pakistan army chief for facilitating his groups agreement with the government.

The panicked PML-N government has entirely appeased and ceded ground to the militant jihadi extremist forces, and has even agreed to most of their outrageous and illegal demands, thereby losing whatever moral high ground it held, noted Abdullah.
Myanmar's military chief said he told Pope Francis that there is "no religious discrimination" in his country, where violence against Rohingya Muslims has been termed "ethnic cleansing" by the United States.

"Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all," Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said in a Facebook post by his office. "Likewise our military too... (it) performs for the peace and stability of the country."

Pope Francis met with the military chief Monday as he began his trip to the southeast Asian country to discuss violence in Rakhine state that has caused over 620,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.

After the 15 minute meeting, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the two "discussed the great responsibility of authorities of the country in this time of transition" before exchanging gifts.

The pope, the first to visit Myanmar, received the military chief at the archbishop's residence in Yangon, where he will be staying until he leaves to visit Bangladesh on Thursday.

Thousands of Myanmar's nearly 700,000 Catholics traveled to greet the Pope as he landed in Yangon Monday, and more than 150,000 have registered to attend a Mass he will say on Wednesday, according to Catholic Myanmar Church spokesman Mariano Soe Naing.

Myanmar's Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohingya,'' which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church has called the Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country his "brothers and sisters," speaking out against violence in the troubled Rakhine state.

Burke didn't say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general.

The pontiff's schedule does not include a visit to a refugee camp, but he is expected to meet with a small group of Rohingya in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.

In recent weeks, Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Rakhine state, according to officials from both countries.

But the U.N. refugee agency spokesperson said conditions in Rakhine state are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns.
The United Nations reports remarkable progress in containing HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In its latest report, released in advance of World AIDS Day, UNAIDS said access to treatment has risen significantly. The report said 21 million HIV positive people are on treatment. That's more than half of all people living with HIV. The UN's goal is to end the pandemic by 2030.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has been working to end the AIDS pandemic since the 1980s, when an HIV diagnosis was a death sentence. Now people with HIV can expect to have a normal lifespan if they are on treatment. Fauci is a world-renown doctor who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He says we have the tools right now to end AIDS.

When I say that we have the scientific, evidence-based ability to end the pandemic as we know it, what I mean is that we have extraordinarily effective drugs, but recently those drugs have been shown over the past few years, not only to save the lives of the people who take the drugs, but also to bring the level of virus in an infected person so low, below detectable levels, that it makes it virtually impossible for that person to transmit the virus to someone else."

Another tool is pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. It's a prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV when taken daily.

But there are some chinks in the armament. People on the drugs face the same challenges as anyone else who takes medications on a daily basis. Not everyone remembers to take it. Prescriptions can run out. It can be difficult to get prescriptions filled. And then, there are 16 million people infected with HIV not on therapy. Many in this group don't know they have the disease, so they continue to spread the virus. Some of them don't have access to healthcare, so they don't get tested.

UNAIDS reports that some 1.8 million people were newly-infected with HIV in 2016. That's a 39 percent decrease from the 3 million who became newly-infected at the peak of the epidemic in the late 1990's. In sub-Saharan Africa, once the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, new HIV infections have fallen by 48 percent since 2000. But in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the report says new HIV infections have risen by 60 percent since 2010, and AIDS-related deaths have increased by 27 percent.

That's why, even with the tools we now have, Fauci doesn't see an end to AIDS without an HIV vaccine. A clinical trial for an AIDS vaccine took place in Thailand several years ago. That vaccine proved to be 31 percent effective, "not enough for prime time," as Fauci puts it. Compare 31 percent efficacy to the measles vaccine, which protects up to 99 percent of those who get vaccinated. Fauci told VOA he is not sure if scientists can develop an AIDS vaccine which is that good.

"I don't think we're going to get there with an HIV vaccine, but even a vaccine that's 50, 55, at the most, 60 percent effective together with the implementation of the other advances we have, I believe we could turn around the trajectory of the epidemic and essentially end it as we know it."

Another vaccine trial is taking place in South Africa. The results won't be in until 2019 at the earliest, and there's no way of telling if it will be good enough to help end AIDS.

Meanwhile, getting more people tested, getting more people on anti-AIDS drugs, consistent use of condoms and limiting the number of sexual partners are the tools we have on hand to reduce the spread of AIDS. Both Fauci and UNAIDS say ending AIDS is up to the global community, and how much effort and money it is willing to commit toward this goal.

As we observe the 30th World AIDS Day on December 1st, there's still a lot more to do.
U.S. Senator Al Franken said he knows that he has let a lot of people down over allegations of sexual misconduct, but vowed to regain the public's trust saying "this will not happen again."

Franken, a Democratic senator from Minnesota, returned to work Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, refusing to give in to calls for him to step down from his position.

Franken told reporters outside his office that he let down "everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women." He repeated his apologies for his actions, and said he will be "a lot more sensitive, and a lot more careful" in the future.

"I've going to try to learn from my mistakes. I've been doing a lot of reflecting. I want to be someone who adds something to this conversation. I hope I can do that," he said.

One woman alleges Franken forcibly kissed her on a USO tour in 2006 and took a sexually suggestive photograph while she was sleeping. Three other women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photographs during separate campaign events.



Asked Monday if he denies the allegations of sexual misconduct, Franken said he remembers the kiss on the USO tour differently. However, he said "I feel you have to respect women's experiences. I apologized to her and I meant it, and I was grateful she accepted it." Franken said he doesn't remember the other allegations and said he takes thousands of photographs with people.

The senator said he will cooperate fully with a Senate ethics investigation into his behavior. "I've been trying to take responsibility by apologizing ... to the people I've let down. I'm going to work to regain their trust," he said.

He said the allegations against him have been a "shock" and said he is "embarrassed and ashamed."

On Sunday, the longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan Democrat John Conyers, said he is relinquishing his position as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee while allegations of sexual harassment against him are investigated.

The 88-year-old Conyers last week acknowledged he had reached a $27,000 settlement with a woman who formerly worked on his Washington staff who alleged Conyers fired her after she rebuffed a sexual advance from him. But Conyers continued to deny the allegation. He said settled the case only to avoid a long legal battle.

The House Ethics Committee is investigating whether Conyers used taxpayer money in his office funds to settle the case and whether he engaged in sexual harassment of other women.
One terrorist was killed in a targeted airstrike in Somalia conducted by U.S. forces in coordination with Somalia's government, the U.S. military said Monday.

The strike against Islamic State fighters was carried out around 3pm local time on Monday in northeastern Somalia, U.S. Africa Command said in a statement.

"U.S. forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect U.S. citizens and to disable terrorist threats. This includes partnering with AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) in combined counterterrorism operations and targeting terrorists, their training camps, and their safe havens throughout Somalia and the region," the statement read.

Monday's strike brings the total number of U.S. airstrikes in Somalia this year to 30 - most of them having been carried out against al-Shabab. It is the fourth targeted at Islamic State fighters.

Intensified airstrikes and renewed battles between government forces and militants have forced over 10,000 people to flee from their homes in Somalia, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

In a statement, the NRC said new ground fighting in the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions has displaced thousands of people

We are seeing a spike in families fleeing fighting that are arriving in overcrowded camps in Mogadishu. The camps are already overfilled with people affected by drought. Victor Mose, the NRCs country director in Somalia, said in a statement Monday.

Moses said people affected by both the conflict and drought have to endured multiple crisis at once and this can push them over the brink.

According to the United Nations, half of Somalia's population is in need of humanitarian aid as parts of the country try to cope with a severe drought.



Carla Babb and Abdulaziz Osman contributed to this report.
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, who represented South Africa, won the Miss Universe crown Sunday.

The 22-year-old, who recently earned a business management degree, was crowned at The AXIS Theater at Planet Hollywood casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The runner-up was Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez, while the second runner-up was Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett.

Ninety-two women from around the world participated in the decades-old competition. This year's edition had the most contestants ever, including the first representatives in its history of Cambodia, Laos and Nepal.

Along with the title, Nel-Peters earned a yearlong salary, a luxury apartment in New York City for the duration of her reign and more prizes. She is the second woman from her home country to earn the crown.

Fans of the pageant submitted the questions that the final five contestants were asked during the competition.

When asked to name the most important issue women face in the workplace, Nel-Peters said the lack of equal pay.

"In some places, women get paid 75 percent of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours, and I do not believe that is right,'' she said. "I think we should have equal work for equal pay for women all over the world.''

Nel-Peters is from the South African coastal community of Sedgefield in the Western Cape province. She helped develop a program to train women in self-defense in various situations after she was robbed at gunpoint a month after she was crowned as Miss South Africa.

Steve Harvey returned as the show's host despite botching the 2015 Miss Universe crowning. On Sunday, he poked fun at his mistake throughout the night. Three days after people in the U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving, Harvey told the audience he is "grateful for the Oscars,'' referring to the best-picture flub at this year's Academy Awards.

Grammy-Award winner Fergie performed her new song "A Little Work'' while the contestants walked down the stage wearing evening gowns. This year's judges included YouTube star Lele Pons, former judge of "America's Next Top Model'' Jay Manuel and Wendy Fitzwilliam, the 1998 Miss Universe winner from Trinidad and Tobago.

President Donald Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his bid for the White House in 2015. At the time, he co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties with him, refusing to air the show. Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling off the entire pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.
Police in Iraq say a suicide bombing at a popular market on the outskirts of the capital, Baghdad, has killed at least 11 people.

Officials say at least 26 others were wounded in the attack, which took place in the Nahrawan shopping area southeast of Baghdad.

A security official said two suicide bombers opened fire on civilians in the market late Monday before blowing themselves up.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on its Amaq channel.

Iraqs military is conducing its last military operations against the militant group after driving it from territory it has held in western Iraq near the Syrian border.

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the country will soon declare victory against Islamic State. However, Iraqi security forces say they expect the militants to wage an insurgency following the collapse of their self-proclaimed caliphate.
By PTI: Patna, Nov 26 (PTI) RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today sought to make light the recent remark made by his son Tej Pratap Yadav wherein he had threatened to disrupt the marriage of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modis son early next month.

"Tej Pratap had just made a hissing sound. And these people got so scared. They should go ahead with the wedding. Our best wishes are with them," Prasad told reporters here.

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Lalu was responding to a query about Sushil Modi changing the venue of the wedding citing "security reasons" a few days after a video surfaced wherein Tej Pratap said he will "expose" and even "thrash" the Deputy CM if he went to attend the function.

However, while speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Tej Pratap defended his comment by saying "I am not a criminal or a terrorist. Sushil Modi should go ahead with the wedding without worry or fear."

Meanwhile, spokesman of the ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, Sanjay Singh, made a scathing attack on Lalu, saying "it is not humans who make a hissing sound. Even tigers do not do that, they roar". "Everybody knows that snakes make hissing sounds. Both Lalu and his son Tej Pratap are known to make such sounds. So, unwittingly he has admitted his own character which he has passed on to his offsprings," Singh said. PTI NAC JM SNP

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President Bashar al-Assad's government has not confirmed its participation in peace talks with the Syrian opposition scheduled for this week in Geneva, the U.N. special envoy for Syria said Monday.

Staffan de Mistura told the U.N. Security Council the Assad government said it would not be sending representatives to Geneva on Monday. But de Mistura held out hope saying, "We know and indeed expect that the government will be on its way shortly, particularly in light of President Assad's commitment to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin when they met in Sochi."

Putin hosted Assad last week for a meeting, during which Syria's president said he was "ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement".

Russia has bolstered Assad's rule with airstrikes since late 2015 against groups trying to overthrow his regime, with Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters also supporting Damascus.

Tuesday's talks in Geneva will be the eighth on a political settlement in Syria after previous meetings achieved little progress to stop the war that has left at least 400,000 people dead and 13 million Syrians in need of humanitarian aid.
Editors note:

November is Native American Heritage Month. First proclaimed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, it is an opportunity to acknowledge the histories and cultures of Native people across the U.S., highlighting the challenges they have faced, their sacrifices and their contributions.

Native Americans have influenced every stage of America's development, noted President Donald Trump in his October 31, 2017 proclamation. They helped early European settlers survive and thrive in a new land. They contributed democratic ideas to our constitutional framers. And, for more than 200 years, they have bravely answered the call to defend our Nation, serving with distinction in every branch of the United States Armed Forces.

This month, VOA will highlight prominent Native Americans and their role in U.S. history, culture and society.

Native American women across the United States have gained prominence in the fight for peace, justice and the environment. Here are three you should know about:

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard (Lakota/Dakota)

I am nothing more than a mother and a grandmother. May 24, 2017

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard is an activist and former Standing Rock Sioux tribal historic preservation officer who emerged as a leader in the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests. When the Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) decided to re-route a segment of an oil pipeline beneath the Missouri River at the top of Lake Oahe in North Dakota, Allard feared that the tribes historic sites and water supply were at risk. In April 2016, she founded the Sacred Stone Camp, the first camp of the #NoDAPL movement, which brought in thousands of protesters from tribes across the country as well as international supporters. Before the protests were over, they would have endured attack dogs, percussion grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and fire hoses.

Authorities ultimately forced the camps to close in late 2016, and by early February 2017, ETP began constructing the pipeline beneath Lake Oahe. Allard and fellow Native activists have taken their campaign across the globe, calling on international banks to divest from fossil fuel companies that violate Indigenous peoples rights.

Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe)

I consider myself a patriot -- not to a flag -- to a land. Acceptance speech to Green Party, July 22, 2000.

Winona LaDuke was a 19-year-old Harvard University student when she attended the 1977 UN Indigenous Peoples Conference in Geneva and testified first-hand about the harmful impact of natural resources exploitation on Native Americans. She has since dedicated her life to fighting climate change and protecting the land through culturally-based sustainable development and renewable energy programs.

A member of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) Nation, she lives on the White Earth reservation in north-central Minnesota. There, in 1989, she founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project, which works to restore the Anishinaabes original land base and to preserve the Anishinaabe language, culture and traditional food systems.

As Program Director of Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on issues of climate change, alternative energy, and environmental justice with indigenous communities. She is also an author of several books and has received numerous awards. In 2007, LaDuke was inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame.

Rita Pitka-Blumenstein (Yupik)

We create our lives out of our past and out of the presentWe are our ancestors when we heal ourselves. When we heal ourselves, we also heal Mother Earth and we heal all future generations. Quoted in Carol Schaeffer, Grandmothers Counsel the World.

The first certified traditional doctor in the state of Alaska, Rita Pitka-Blumenstein was born in 1936 on a fishing boat on Nelson Island, a member of the Yupik, or Real People. Her father died shortly after she was born, and she was raised by women--grandmothers and great-grandmothers in the fishing village of Tununak. The women in her life taught her traditional healing methods which had survived, despite church and U.S. government efforts to outlaw them. She later brought these methods to work with her as a community health aide.

In 1997, Pitka-Blumenstein became the first tribal doctor at Anchorages Southcentral Foundation, a Native-owned, non-profit health care organization serving nearly 65,000 Native people. There, she worked to ensure that traditional healing complemented Western practices, both seeing patients and advising medical staff.

In 2004, Pitka-Blumenstein joined 12 other women on the International Council of 13 Grandmothers, a global alliance of indigenous elder women working to preserve traditional knowledge, heal the environment and promote global solidarity.
President Donald Trump will not campaign for Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before the Dec. 12 special election, a White House official said Monday.

Despite public statements in which he raised doubts about the accounts of women who have accused Moore of sexual misconduct, Trump will not to travel to Alabama on Moore's behalf, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the president's plans publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.



The president held the door open to campaigning for Moore last week, when he all but endorsed Moore's candidacy and attacked his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones



The announcement comes as Trump continued to wade into race over the weekend, taking to Twitter to bash Jones.



Trump said electing the Democrat as Alabama's next senator "would be a disaster," warning of damage to his legislative agenda.



"The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY," Trump wrote from Florida, referring to Democrats' congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.



Trump has declined to follow the path of other mainstream Republican leaders, who have called on Moore to step aside. Republican lawmakers are considering expelling Moore should he win the seat.



For weeks, accusations that Moore, now 70, sexually molested or assaulted two teens, ages 14 and 16 - and tried to date several others - while he was in his 30s have taken center stage in the heated Alabama race. Moore denied the allegations of misconduct and said he never dated "underage" women.



Trump's words could be a boost to the Moore camp, since Democrats' hopes in the race partly depend upon peeling away Republican support from Moore in the deeply red state.



Moore's campaign quickly touted Trump's comments on social media and in a fundraising email to supporters that lashed out at Republican leaders as much as it did Jones.



"President Trump calls them like he sees them. And, he's got my opponents in D.C. scrambling," Moore wrote in a fundraising email.



The Republican candidate has made limited public appearances since the allegations surfaced earlier this month.



Jones, speaking to reporters in Birmingham, shrugged off Trump's criticisms, saying he would not be a partisan voter. He said Alabamians are focused on issues such as the economy, education and health care.



"My record speaks for itself ... I think I am very strong on the issues that the people of Alabama care for," Jones said.



Jones, a former federal prosecutor, said he would be an independent voice in the U.S. Senate, similarly to his political mentor, the late U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin, who represented the state for nearly 20 years.



Jones' campaign issued a more biting statement saying, "Roy Moore was unfit for office even before nine Alabama women served as witnesses to all Alabamians of his disturbing conduct."



Trump's comment in the race signaled that the success of his legislative agenda outweighs widespread concerns from national Republicans, many of whom are repulsed at the prospect of seating Moore.



Top Republicans in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, have called for Moore to leave the race, and the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have pulled their support for his campaign.



GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said the Dec. 12 election has become a referendum on "the character of the country'' that transcends partisan politics.



"In my opinion, and in the opinion of many Republicans and conservatives in the Senate, it is time for us to turn the page because it is not about partisan politics. It's not about electing Republicans versus Democrats," Scott said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."



Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has also called for Moore to step down, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that Trump is "definitely trying to throw a lifeline to Roy Moore."



But when it comes to Moore, Graham said it's unclear "what winning looks like."



"If he wins, we get the baggage of him winning and it becomes a story every day about whether or not you believe the women or Roy Moore, should he stay in the Senate, should he be expelled. If you lose, you give the Senate seat to a Democrat at a time we need all the votes we can get," he said, referring to Republicans' current 52-48 majority in the Senate.



"The moral of the story is: Don't nominate somebody like Roy Moore who could actually lose a seat that any other Republican could win," Graham said.



Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said he'd like to see Trump "come out and support what many of us have said and that is that Roy Moore needs to step aside" and "allow somebody else to be a write-in candidate."



He said on "Fox News Sunday" that if Moore ends up winning and comes to Washington in January, he will be the immediate subject of an ethics investigation, "which is going to be a cloud that he'll be operating in and it's going to be a distraction for us and for our agenda."



Trump backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary but moved quickly to embrace Moore after he won. The seat opened up after Republican Jeff Sessions was tapped as U.S. attorney general.
Turkish officials say they are watching to see whether the United States will honor a promise, which they claim was made by U.S. President Donald Trump to his Turkish counterpart last week, to cut off the supply of arms to Kurdish militias that played a key role in defeating Islamic State militants in Syria.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the promise at a press conference shortly after the two presidents spoke by telephone Friday.

"Mr. Trump clearly stated that he had given clear instructions, and that the YPG won't be given arms and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago," the Associated Press quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

However, a White House statement issued after the call with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was more circumspect. It said Trump "also informed President Erdogan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria, now that the battle of Raqqa is complete and we are progressing into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return." ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State.

The lack of clarity continued Monday, threatening to exacerbate already serious tensions between the United States and its key NATO ally, or alternatively to undermine the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units or YPG, a U.S. ally which bore the brunt of the fighting to clear IS forces from their self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa, Syria.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said in a television interview Monday that Turkey needs "to see the concrete reflections of [Trump's] statement on the land. Has the PYD/YPG terror organization been given weapons by the U.S. after the statement was made? Turkey will certainly monitor this pledge."

A day earlier, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu issued a thinly veiled threat: "I am talking to the Western powers who are trying to play games over Turkey. You are going to suffer a historic slap and you will be sorry; you cannot trick Turkey."

White House statements

U.S. officials, however, continued to offer ambiguous statements Monday.

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to confirm how the U.S. is changing its relationship with rebel forces who have been a partner in the fight against the Islamic State.

"Once we started winning the campaign against ISIS, the plan and part of the process is to always wind down support for certain groups. Now that we're continuing to crush the physical caliphate,  we're in a position to stop providing military equipment to certain groups, but that doesn't mean stopping all support of those individual groups," she said.

"The United States is committed to the defeat of ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria and to ensuring that they cannot return to liberated areas," said a National Security Council statement. "We have always been clear with Turkey that the weapons provided to the Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes the Kurdish People's Protection Units [YPG], would be limited, mission specific, and provided incrementally to achieve these objectives."

A State Department official said the United States "is reviewing pending adjustments to the military support provided to the SDF in as much as the military requirements of our defeat-ISIS and stabilization efforts will allow to prevent ISIS from returning."

U.S. military officials, meanwhile, appeared to indicate that the YPG is still needed.

"We have always said we would arm the SDF in a limited, metered way," Army Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the counter-ISIS coalition in Iraq and Syria, told VOA.

"There are still areas that have to be cleared in eastern Syria," he said, adding that the U.S. is remaining "open and transparent" with Turkey.

Strained relations

U.S. relations with Turkey have long been strained over U.S. support for the YPG, as well as other issues since a coup attempt against Erdogan in July 2016.

There have been concerns about Turkey's growing ties with Russia and Iran since then, including the possibility that Washington could be cut out of peace talks on Syria and that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime could be allowed to continue its brutal rule.

Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani last week to discuss the future of Syria. Both Russia and Iran helped to drive ISIS from areas now controlled by Assad's forces, and they want U.S. forces to leave Syria.

Abdulkareen Sarokhan, president of the administrative council of Jazera, the largest of four cantons in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria, said he did not believe that the U.S. would not cut off support to all Kurdish fighters, and suggested that Turkey is pitting Washington against Moscow.

"Erdogan's message to U.S. is that if you do not stop your support to Kurdish fighters, Ankara will ally itself with Russia," Sarokhan said. "At the same time, he tells Russians that if they do not accept Ankara's conditions regarding these meetings, Ankara will take the U.S. side in its policies in Syria.

"What is important for us [Kurds] is the fight against terrorism; moreover, we do not believe that U.S. will stop its support to FSA [Free Syrian Forces] because that will create a vacuum space for Islamic militants. Americans know that ISIS has established its bases in Northern Syria. Yet, we do not know how the White House statement 'adjustment of military support' would be implemented."
A United Nations expert on child exploitation and trafficking is calling on the Laos Government to boost welfare support for child victims, and increase regional cooperation to combat child trafficking.

Maud De Boer-Buquicchio, a U.N. special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, made the calls after an official visit, as Laos takes legal steps and campaigns to address child abuse and trafficking.

De Boer-Buquicchio backed steps by Laos' Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, with the support of the UN's Childrens' Fund (UNICEF) and non-government organizations (NGOs), to develop child protection networks in villages and districts. But she said these remained scattered and volunteer-based.

She called for "much more effort" in identifying and preventing the high levels of sexual exploitation of girls and labor exploitation of boys .

"On the basis of my interviews with the victims and child protection stakeholders and those with evidence I can say there are a lot of problems in every sector of trafficking," De Boer-Buquicchio told VOA.

US watch list

Laos remains on the United States' Tier 2 Watch List in monitoring and combating trafficking in persons, and while failing to meet minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, "significant efforts" are taking place to address the issue.

The Lao government did not offer comment for this story, but a 2017 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons report on Laos highlighted the countrys "modest law enforcement efforts," the passing of an anti-trafficking law in 2015, and the arrest and conviction of several traffickers.

The report said Laos has concentrated on "prevention" by promoting anti-trafficking awareness programs through state controlled media and contacts with provincial leaders and community members on the dangers of human trafficking.

De Boer-Buquicchio said the invitation for her to travel to Laos and investigate marked "a signal of wanting to open up and develop more relationships with the international community. "I find it an extremely positive development," she said.

Child rights advocates say Laos is a key source of child trafficking, especially sending children into neighboring Thailand to work in restaurants, bars and the sex industry.

But De Boer-Buquicchio said her investigations also pointed to the abuse of children through internal trafficking in Laos, and sexual exploitation "in the big cities" and in special economic zones throughout Laos.

China



The special economic zones draw in foreign investment, especially from China, with regions near the Chinese border known for their casinos, money laundering, prostitution and gambling.

She said children are becoming a source of child brides for Chinese businessmen in Laos.

"When it comes to cross border trafficking one should also bear in mind that there is a number of cases of child enforced marriages, with or without the knowledge of the family, in particular to businessmen, Chinese businessmen, which happens in particular in the north of the country," De Boer-Buquicchio said.

Laos remains one of the poorest nations in South East Asia, with young adults often obligated to support their families through working or marrying in return for a dowry.

De Boer-Buquicchio said children as young as 11 years are falling victim to traffickers and as child brides, marking a decline in age from the past.

"Now its much younger. So even if there is less cross border [trafficking] the age of the victims is much lower than it used to be. But that's a very worrying trend," she said.

Thailand



U.S. State Department reports on trafficking in persons also warns that "child sex tourists" from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States travel to Laos targeting children.

Child trafficking from Laos has largely focused in neighboring Thailand due in part to cultural ties between the two countries.

Thailand and Laos have looked to address the issue through bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs). But De Boer-Buquicchio said these measures also fell short.

"Trafficking laws have been passed. There are MOUs but the implementation of the law and the effectiveness of prevention and particular assistance is really not sufficient, De Boer-Buquicchio said.

She said the children, expecting to work in a restaurant or home, are largely unaware of what lies ahead once across the border into Thailand.

"The traffickers know they [the children] are vulnerable in the sense they don't know what the formalities are to cross the border, and actually they didn't go to obtain identity documents, so at that point its very easy for these young children to fall victim to the traffickers - easy prey, easy prey" she said.

In Thailand, authorities detain illegal immigrants, including children, during raids on restaurants and brothels, holding them in immigration detention cells before transporting them back to Laos.

De Boer-Buquicchio said the repatriation programs are inadequate to protect and support the children.

"When it comes to repatriation, which occurs, there are big, big loopholes in terms of assistance when they are returned to Laos because, again, [the children] don't know who to turn to, they don't know their rights, sometimes there is corruption along the border, so the reunification with their families is very problematic," she said.

In bilateral talks with Thailand on human trafficking in July, Laos' Head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Khamkhane Phinsavanh, vowed to follow up with those victims who were sent back to Laos in order to help them normalize their return to society and living with their families.
Three Chinese nationals were accused of hacking computers in three corporations, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei were indicted Monday by a grand jury "for computer hacking, theft of trade secrets, conspiracy and identity theft" and intentionally causing damage to those computer systems.

The charges were brought by Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana J. Boente, Acting U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and Special Agent in Charge Robert Johnson of the FBI's Pittsburgh Division.

Three corporations, Moody's Analytics, Siemens AG, and Trimble, Inc. were the victims of the alleged attacks, which took place between 2011 and May 2017.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that is widely seen as a test of just how far the government can go to pry personal data generated by cell phones and other digital devices.

The case, known as Carpenter v. United States, pits law enforcement interests against the privacy rights of individuals.

At issue is whether law enforcement authorities need a search warrant to obtain historical cell-site records known as cell service location information (CSLI). The data are kept by phone companies to determine roaming charges and weak spots in their networks and show the cell tower a user connects with at any given time.

The facts of the Carpenter case are straightforward.



Between 2010 and March 2011, Timothy Carpenter engineered a series of robberies of several cell phone stores in Ohio and Michigan. After Carpenter and his accomplices were arrested, the FBI requested and received several months of Carpenter's cell-site records.



Such requests are routinely granted by cell phone companies when law enforcement authorities can show that there are reasonable grounds the information is relevant and material to criminal investigation.

The information showed that Carpenters cell phone had connected with cell towers near the stores during the time of the robberies, leading to his conviction on 11 counts of armed robbery.

Carpenter appealed his conviction, arguing that the government had unlawfully obtained his cell phone records without a search warrant. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District ruled against him.



The court argued that that customers who voluntarily turn over their information to third parties such as cell phone companies, banks and other institutions have no expectation of privacy.



In two previous cases in the 1970s, United States v. Miller and Smith v. Maryland, the Supreme Court upheld the so-called third party doctrine.



But privacy advocates say the third party doctrine is not suitable for the digital age, arguing that increasingly sophisticated cell phones have become repositories of data that the government should not be able to access without probable cause.



Andrew Ferguson, a professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia, joined a group of 42 criminal procedure and privacy scholars who filed a brief in support of Carpenter.

In an interview with VOA, Ferguson discussed the case and its implications for privacy rights.

What is at issue in Carpenter v. US?

There is both a narrower issue and a broader issue that is potentially at play in Carpenter. The narrower issue is whether an exception to the Fourth Amendment, called the Third Party Doctrine, should survive the digital age. And the broader issue is, what does the Court do with a Fourth Amendment that was created in an era of small data when we are in a new world of surveillance?



If the court decides the Fourth Amendment doesnt require a warrant for this data, it means police can actually, without any constitutional limitations, obtain all our personal data for really any reason they want. There are obviously legislative restrictions but as a constitutional matter it wouldnt be a Fourth Amendment requirement to get a warrant, to obtain any of this personal information, be it your smart pacemaker, your smart Fitbit data that can tell whether youre excited or not excited, and whether any of your information including where youve been via your cell phone and any other tracking technology.

What is the government's argument?

The government essentially says you the consumer have no expectation of privacy in the information you give up to the third party cell provider. In fact, you probably dont know how it works. The records that are created by these companies, theyre not your records, theyre the companies records.

Why would you have an expectation of privacy on the records that these companies did? If they were selling the data to other companies and made a profit, would you have a claim to the profit?

No. So whats the difference between getting the information to the government? The government is getting it like any other party. Why would you be able to claim any sort of expectation of privacy over that information? The governments position is that the Third Party Doctrine makes sense. It works well for law enforcement and this should just be an easy case of expanding and extending the Third Party Doctrine to the next question, which is the cell site locations.

What is the counterargument?

The counterargument is that the precedent that the government is relying on deals with a different context. So the phone information that was at issue in the original Smith v. Maryland was not very revealing; it was basically the number you called. It wasnt going to show where youd been, who youd visited, the places youd gone the last few times. It was a situation where you at the time of the old fashioned phone calls voluntarily giving up the information. You knew you were making phone calls. Here, whether or not you use your cell phone, your cell phone is giving off that information so you cant say its voluntary relinquishment of your expectation of privacy because if youre on the phone, thats the way it works. So there is something about the private nature of this data.

There is something about the Fourth Amendment controls locations and the ability to go places without the government surveillance and oversight. And these old fashioned cases should be left in the past because the new world is too invasive, too revealing of digital clues, and the fourth amendment needs to adapt.



In the brief you and a group of scholars filed in the case, you argue that an extension of the so called Third Party Doctrine could eliminate citizens privacy in the modern age. Are the stakes that high?

I think they are. If you dont require a warrant to get this kind of information, and there is not legislation protecting it, there is no constitutional barrier for police to obtain information even about the justices themselves or about individuals who they sort of suspect but don't have great reason to suspect. Its going to chill First Amendment association and the ability to get together for political activism. And it's going to reveal a whole host of intimate details that most of us would like to keep private from our government.

What if the court rules in favor of Carpenter?



If the court rules in favor of Carpenter, and says police are required to get a warrant before doing it, I think it will just settle into a status quo where police get warrants for their criminal investigation.

There may be some here they wont be able to do that, and it will be an impediment to law enforcement, but by and large theyre doing it already. Right now, most private companies say, look we follow the law. If the law requires a warrant, we require a warrant, and if the law doesnt require a warrant, we dont require a warrant.



Are there any international ramifications?

Europe is far more protective of data privacy than the U.S. has ever been and has moved there quicker and in more robust fashion. So in many cases, the U.S. has lessons to learn from Europe as opposed to if you care about data privacy and how to protect it. So it may be in a case that people around the world will see this as an American phenomenon, wrestling with what the fourth amendment means.



Generally speaking, it raises big questions because most of the tech companies are global companies, most of the issues involved privacy, which is certainly not a uniquely American concern, and the technologies are going to be used and sought after by governments in lots of repressive governments that are going to see the ability to use big data surveillance technology, big data policing technologies, to control their citizens. And one way you can see a lot of the rise of big data policing is as a measure of social control.
Innocent Kagodora should not be here.

Since he graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in 2015, he has spent 14 hours a day on a rough Harare street corner, selling phones out of a backpack. He's an example of Zimbabwes soaring youth unemployment problem -- which many critics blame on former President Robert Mugabe.

His colleagues here call him Comrade Graduate. On a good day, he said, he takes home $10 -- not enough, he says, to help his widowed father.



It hurts him to a lot to say he has a degree, my son is educated enough in Zimbabwe, but he cant even afford to send me groceries at the end of the month," Kagodora said.

Zimbabwe has no shortage of energetic, educated young people, many of them college graduates like Innocent. But what the country lacks is jobs, and the pressure is on for the new government to turn the situation around quickly.

The recent swearing-in of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has given many young Zimbabweans a shot of hope. He has promised to improve the economy, and students say they plan to hold him to that promise. On the first full day of his presidency, student leaders met in the capital to strategize on mobilizing the youth vote for elections scheduled next year.



We will basically be calling him to account in terms of the things he has promised. So every citizen, every young people awaits seeing these things getting into reality," said activist and student organizer Ostallos Siziba.

Some, like Kagodora, also want to see younger people in powerful positions.



Lets have technocrats, not just bootlickers of the regime, not bootlickers of the leadership who are being put in those positions," Kagodora said. "When we have those people, now, I think they can contribute significantly. So what we want now is to day, is we are encouraging our government now to say, Look at France now, it has one of the youngest leaders in the world.  So when you look at that what does it mean for our nation, I think its the realization that the youth are not the leaders of tomorrow, they are the leaders of today and tomorrow.



At his alma mater, psychology major Nyasha Choga says she wants leaders to change their mentality and focus on the future, not the glories of the past.



You listen to them, most of their speeches, theyre still talking about the liberation struggle," Choga noted. "I appreciate what they did, yes. But I think its time for them to move away from that now. The ideas, they are not fit for the world that we are in right now.

And they worry about the youth coming behind them. Like 16-year-old Advocate Kambeu, who really shouldnt be on a Harare street corner selling $11 shoes on a school day.



If he could afford school fees, he says, he could do big things.

I want to do politics. I think I am talented in politics," Kambeu told VOA.



Mnangagwa has laid out an ambitious program of economic reform. And millions of energetic, talented young Zimbabweans -- like Innocent, Ostallos, Nyasha, Nadene and Advocate -- are counting on him to deliver.


Zimbabwean security forces say order has been restored and they will be returning to the streets. But that announcement was met with fear from many Zimbabweans, who remain wary of men in uniform, following years of abuses.

The situation in our country is returned to normalcy.... We wish therefore to advise the nation that the Zimbabwe Republic Police is now assuming its role as stipulated in the constitution of Zimbabwe under section 219, said police spokeswoman Charity Charamba using words that under normal circumstances should calm and reassure.

Charamba announced police would return to their beats and conduct joint patrols with soldiers in central Harare, less than a week after soldiers took over security duties during the political upheaval that forced president Robert Mugabe to resign.

But in Zimbabwe, where human rights groups have accused the police of shocking brutality, arbitrary arrests and extortion, these words bring little comfort.

Police are so unpopular that the stadium of more than 60,000 people booed loudly when the nations police commissioner last week pledged loyalty to new President Emmerson Mnangagwa during his inauguration.

Activist Promise Mkwananzi says he has lost count of the number of times he has been arrested - maybe 20, he says. Many have been in the course of protesting against Mugabe, but also like many Hararians, he has run across many illegal police roadblocks. Here is his account of an incident a year ago.

Then suddenly there were just police officers who just emerged and they sort of manhandled me and took me to some secluded place where they tried to say, Can you just pay a bribe and you go?' To which I flatly refused and said, No, I do not want, you have to take me to the police station, if I am under arrest. And so they took me to the police station, to Harare central police.

There, he says, he learned he had been charged with a litany of offenses, from resisting arrest to insulting the president, which is illegal in Zimbabwe. The case was eventually dismissed.

Jacob Mafume of the Peoples Democratic Party told VOA the police forces behavior going forward could improve or undermine the legitimacy of the new government.

You say police are going to behave normally, we get alarm bells because they have been behaving outside the bounds of the law. We need a transformation, a change to the observers of the law, treating civilians with dignity, doing their duties without corruption, not asking to be paid for doing their work, and behaving like we are in a democratic society, Mafume said.



Police spokeswoman Charamba would not take questions. When VOA asked her how the police would attempt to regain the trust of Zimbabweans, she smiled but offered no answer.


HARARE, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Ousted Zimbabwe finance minister Ignatius Chombo, charged with three counts of corruption for offences that allegedly took place two decades ago, was denied bail on Monday and will be detained in custody until his case is heard on Dec. 8.

Zimbabwes new president Emmerson Mnangagwa named Patrick Chinamasa as acting finance minister to replace him.

Chombo, who faces charges including trying to defraud the central bank, was detained after the military seized power in Operation Restore Legacy, which it said was meant to remove criminals around former president Robert Mugabe.

His lawyer, Lovemore Madhuku, told reporters that he would appeal the magistrates ruling in the High Court on Tuesday.

Their decision was always made up that bail would not be granted here ... We are hopeful that the High Court will show independence, Madhuku said.

Earlier, he told a packed courtroom that Chombo, who sat impassively throughout the hearing, would deny the charges at his trial and had documentary evidence showing the allegations had no basis.

The magistrate, who detained Chombo, said the former minister could abscond, influence state witnesses or be the target of a mob attack over the allegations that he abused his position when he was minister of local government over a decade ago.

Chombo, who was appointed finance minister in October, was among members of the Generation 40 or G40 political faction allied to Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who were also expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF party. Two ousted ZANU-PF Youth League leaders, Kudzanai Chipanga and Innocent Hamandishe, who were both allied to G40, were also ordered to be detained until Dec. 8.

Some Mnangagwa supporters have called for unspecified action against G40 but the president has urged citizens not to undertake any form of vengeful retribution.

Chombo told the court on Saturday how he was abducted from his home on Nov. 15 by armed men in soldiers uniform and kept blindfolded for nine days.

He was promoted to the finance portfolio from the interior ministry by Mugabe in an October reshuffle, replacing Chinamasa, who the chief secretary to the president and cabinet said will return to the role until a new cabinet has been appointed.

Zimbabwe is struggling with a severe shortage of the U.S. dollars it uses instead of its own currency.

In his main act as finance minister, Chombo told parliament on Nov. 9 that Zimbabwes budget deficit would soar to $1.82 billion or 11.2 percent of gross domestic product this year from an initial target of $400 million.

Mnangagwa, who served Mugabe loyally for decades, was sworn in as president last Friday after the 93-year-old former leader quit under pressure from the military.

He is expected to form a new cabinet this week. Zimbabweans are watching to see if Mnangagwa will break with the past and names a broad-based government or selects other figures from the Mugabe eras old guard.
Lovebirds Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh decided to take a break from the Padmavati controversy and stepped out for a cosy and private dinner date.

By India Today Web Desk: Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone decided to take a break from the ongoing Padmavati controversy and step out for a quiet evening together. The lovebirds were spotted outside a high-end restaurant in Mumbai, after a cosy dinner date.

The actors seemed quite disinterested in posing for the shutterbugs and made a silent exit after their dinner. Fan clubs of Ranveer Singh shared the photos on Twitter.

PICs #4 Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone spotted outside Taj Colaba late night ????? pic.twitter.com/bIdnE6jDCw- RanveeriansWorldwide (@RanveeriansFC) November 27, 2017

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It was recently that Ranveer was seen singing "Ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga...," the famous track from the film 1942 A Love Story, while Deepika blushed away. Singh told Deepika in the video, "The way you have lightened up the life of your million fans, you lightened up my life. I will pray to God that the shine and light stay in your life forever. There is nobody like you, god bless you. Love you a lot."

While there was speculation that Deepika and Ranveer might have broken up, thanks to a few cryptic tweets that Singh posted a few weeks ago, seems like all of it was a false alarm. The lovebirds look very much together and they have been going out of their way to profess the same to the world.

The two actors are currently in the middle of a massive controversy because of their yet-to-be released film Padmavati. The film, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, has been in choppy waters after several Hindu groups took offence to the 'distortion of history' in it.

A dream sequence featuring a love scene between Deepika (who plays Rani Padmini of Chittor) and Ranveer (who plays Alauddin Khilji, Turkish emperor and the Sultan of Delhi in the 14th Century) has been the rallying point of all controversy around Padmavati.

While the team has taken turns to clarify that there is no such scene in the film, not even a frame that has Deepika and Ranveer together in it, fringe groups have been up in arms against Padmavati. Such is the current state of the Padmavati controversy, that a person was found hanging from Jaipur's Nahargarh fort walls on November 24, with threats scribbled on stones near the body, with no actual link to the film.

From threats to behead the director to chopping off Deepika's nose, from countrywide protests to Rajput groups demanding separate screenings of the film for them, Padmavati has been in the middle of a veritable storm ever since the crew began shooting for it.

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Since January this year, when the Hindu group Shri Rajput Karni Sena attacked Padmavati director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the film has seen innumerable protests against it.

Padmavati, that was initially scheduled to release on December 1 this year, has now been indefinitely pushed. The film is yet to receive a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Ranveer and Deepika had been lying low for quite some time, thanks to the numerous controversies around their film. In the past, the two actors have worked together in three films: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2013 film Goliyon Ki Rasleela - Ram-Leela and 2015 film Bajirao Mastani; and Homi Adajania's 2014 film Finding Fanny.

While Deepika and Ranveer have never quite spoken out loud about their exact relationship status, the general consensus among their fans is that they began dating on the sets of Ram-Leela in 2013.

ALSO WATCH | Nahargarh Fort hanging: Is it a murder linked to Padmavati protests?

--- ENDS ---
Gunung Agung volcano (Bali, Indonesia): eruption intensifies, ash to 30,000 ft, airports closed

Mon, 27 Nov 2017, 17:55 17:55 PM | BY: T 17:55 PM | BY: T

Night-time view of the eruption at Agung volcano (Magma Indonesia)

Night-time view of the eruption at Agung volcano (Telkomsel Balinusra webcam live view)

Seismogram of Agung volcano today with strong tremor episodes (image: Magma Indonesia / VSI)

Seismic activity at Agung volcano during the past weeks - note the relative absence of significant earthquakes (image: PVMBG)

The eruption has been gradually intensifying since yesterday: near continuous explosions generate an eruption column that is now rising to approx. 30,000 ft (9 km) altitude with the ash plume spreading east and south and forced the closure of Bali's and Lombok's airports today.More evacuations have been ordered in the areas around the volcano, and light to moderate ash fall is occurring in downwind areas where people are advised to wear protecting masks.PVMBG has raised the alert level of Agung to "awas" (4 on a scale of 1-4), and the exclusion zone is now 8-10 km wide.The strong incandescence visible at its base confirms that the eruption is now in its magmatic stage. No significant earthquake activity is taking place - as the conduit is now open, the erupting magma does no longer need to break its path through rock layers inside the volcano.
Africa's version of Mauna Loa, Nyamuragira (or Nyamulagira) is a massive basaltic shield volcano neighboring Nyiragongo. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and has voluminous eruptions every few years.


Visitors watch grizzly bears at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Mont. The center has seven bears, all sent there after having some sort of conflict with humans. (Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)

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Dean Peterson, a rangy fourth-generation rancher with a handlebar mustache, is used to factoring in all sorts of challenges as he works his vast spread in the Big Hole Valley. Summer wildfires that can sweep down the pine-blanketed mountains to the west, harsh winters that can endanger his thousand-plus head of cattle.

Yet in the back of his mind these days is a threat most of his forefathers never faced: grizzly bears. Settlers pushing West had all but exterminated the hulking predators by the time Petersons great-grandfather arrived here in the late 1800s.

A year ago, however, a trail camera in the nearby forest snapped a grainy photo of a grizzly crossing a stream, marking the first confirmed sighting in the valley in a century. Then in May, Peterson was stunned to see one lope across a snow-dusted road as he drove a four-wheeler a few miles from his property.

It will happen, the 51-year-old rancher says of the looming presence of grizzlies. And he is equally matter of fact about what theyll mean for both him and his neighbors. It will be more difficult to run cattle.

Biologists and their maps agree: The bears are coming to southwestern Montana. Since 1975, when this icon of the American West was listed as an endangered species, grizzlies in the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem to the south have more than quadrupled their range and population. Well to the north, grizzlies in the Glacier National Park region also are spreading out.

The bear pioneers are now migrating so far that they are viewed as the vanguard of a possible union between the two populations, a connection that could help ensure the bears' health and genetic diversity. At some point, conservationists hope, grizzlies might even set up shop in the Idaho wilderness, recolonizing a small portion of the vast territory they once occupied.

But as grizzlies fan out from the parks that have long been their refuges, they are encountering more people, roads and development  and more temptation in the form of trash and livestock. While their presence raises the risk to humans and makes activities like hunting and hiking more perilous, the reality is that bears tend to be on the losing end of interactions with humans. At least 58 died in 2016 and 51 as of mid-November this year, most killed by people who accidentally hit them with cars, crossed paths with them while hunting or shot them for harming animals or property.

Americans have spent four decades and millions of dollars to rescue grizzlies from the brink of extinction. Now, experts say, one big question is whether people can live alongside them.

Theyre big, they can be dangerous, and they compete with us for some food resources, said Steve Primm, a conservationist who has forged relationships with Peterson and other ranchers in the Big Hole Valley, trying to get them to see the animals as something with which they can coexist. If were living with grizzly bears, then thats showing that weve got quite a strong commitment to living with the natural world.

Conflicts with people helped to drive the Yellowstone grizzly population to as low as 136 in the 1970s, according to government figures. It has since officially rebounded to around 700, and federal biologists say the number could be as high as 1,000. Such progress prompted the Interior Department to delist that region's bears this summer, with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a Montana native, hailing the turnaround as proof that the Endangered Species Act works.

Lawsuits are now seeking to overturn the government's action, citing the Yellowstone population's genetic isolation and the spiritual importance of the species to Native American tribes. Some also point to the grizzlies' growing footprint and contend that climate change has caused natural food sources to dwindle, putting the bears in danger as they pursue elk gut piles that hunters leave in woods in the fall or calves born on ranches in the spring.



Dean Peterson is a fourth-generation rancher in Montanas Big Hole Valley, where grizzlies are being seen for the first time in a century. (Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)

Frank van Manen, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist who leads the government's Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, said research does not support that argument. The Yellowstone ecosystem has reached its "carrying capacity," he said  forcing male grizzlies, in particular, to seek more space. Their movement is creating new challenges.

Is it realistic to expect this population to expand beyond where it is now? van Manen asked. It becomes more of a society question. It has to do with tolerance, and it has to do with where do we want grizzly bears?

Delisting could entail a new risk, given the possibility in all three states in the Yellowstone ecosystem  Montana, Wyoming and Idaho  of allowing grizzly trophy hunting at some point. While federal scientists say limited hunts would not necessarily harm the overall population, critics decry what they see as an unnecessary additional threat.

Of prime concern to some are the far-flung bears on the ecosystems periphery in Montana, the ones that could meet up with their brethren to the north. The bear photographed ambling through the narrow lodgepole pines near Petersons ranch last year is among those that scientists think could eventually help make a historic link.

The rancher does not see it in such sweeping terms. I just look at it as another one of Gods creations, he said, sitting in his living room, where a silky charcoal wolf pelt and the heads of other animals he has bagged adorn the walls. Its just another species out there, and yeah, its had a hard time. It got hunted near extinction, because it was hard for people to live around.

That doesn't have to be the case in the 21st century, conservationists say. A project in the Blackfoot River Valley, south of Glacier, has for years used electric fencing, carcass removal and range riders  people who sweep the land, monitoring for bear activity  to reduce conflicts. Property owners have employed similar techniques in an area just north of Yellowstone. One ranch there, its fields visible from a public road, has even become a prime grizzly viewing spot.

Ive seen a lot of bears, said van Manen, smiling in the late-afternoon light as he watched a female grizzly and two cubs romp down a hill on the ranch and then stand on their hind legs to scan the horizon. But I get excited every time.

Beaverhead County, where Petersons ranch sits, is a different scenario. The local dump consists of two fly-swarmed open containers that could be an accessible bear buffet. Bear-resistant garbage cans are not the norm. Elk hunters, who try to obscure their scent and walk quietly through the woods there, arent as accustomed to carrying bear spray despite studies showing it is a powerful deterrent that can save human and bear lives.

And as the biggest beef-producing county in the state, Beaverhead has lots of cattle grazing on ranches and in nearby forests. Dead livestock is typically left to decompose or is buried; either way, the carcass can attract grizzlies.

The potential for problems worries Primm, who wants to see the bears get off on the right foot in the Big Hole Valley. He knows grizzlies that find one food source near humans will come back for more.



A grizzly sow walks with a cub in Yellowstone National Park. The regions grizzly population has rebounded enough that federal officials delisted the bears as an endangered species this summer. (Deby Dixon/For The Washington Post)

Primm, 49, is the conservation director of a small organization called People and Carnivores. Though a Missouri native, he has lived in rural Montana for two decades and fits in, with his wide-brimmed hat and dusty Ford pickup. It was wolves that first brought him to the Big Hole Valley  and into contact with Peterson.

The two men met at a gathering of an area conservation alliance. Tensions were high; the federal government had reintroduced gray wolves to Yellowstone in the mid-1990s, and within a decade they had begun thriving, spreading and sometimes killing livestock. Resentful ranchers blamed the government and conservationists for, as Primm recalls, "inflicting these wolves on them."

Peterson was one of those who had lost cattle. Even so, he agreed to approach a neighbor and ask her to let Primms group build an electric fence, hung with a line of flags called fladry, to protect her calves. The effort would have been impractical on his own spread  not that he expected much on his neighbors property.

I actually laughed about it, Peterson said. But he said the fence worked. I kind of thought, this guys someone whos trying to make a difference. . . . Hes darn sure working in my direction, so Im willing to work in his direction.

Nowadays, Primm estimates that about half the areas ranchers will hear him out when he talks about livestock guard dogs, electric fencing or other ways to deter bears. He keeps his advice gentle, mindful of the wolf era. He might mention the occasional elk hunting he does, but not his personal opposition to the idea of grizzly hunting.

Were never going to know a ranchers operation as well as that rancher, Primm said. So, you know, theyre going to be the ones figuring out what really works.

With support from People and Carnivores, that local alliance is distributing bear-resistant trash cans to area residents. It also recently set up a compost dump for livestock carcasses at the edge of a desolate state-owned property where snowplows are kept. Kim Bingen, a resident who was hired to collect carcasses, ended up with 47 dead animals from ranches this spring. Though the service was free, she said it wasnt always an easy pitch, in part because ranchers dont want others to know about the mortalities in their herds.

Peterson has started sending carcasses to the compost dump  some, anyway  and he thinks more of his neighbors will decide to do the same. Weve been leaving them to rot for years, he said. But as we get more bears, were going to change our habits.

Thats what Primm said his job is about: changing habits. Hes seen this in the forests just north of Yellowstone, where he has built hundreds of bear poles  one long log attached high up to two trees in an H-shape, where hunters can hang carcasses out of bears reach so the animals dont associate campsites with meat. In those areas, he said, bear-resistant food storage has become the norm, and more hunters, though not enough, carry bear spray.



Duane Ryckman left) of Lincoln, N.D., Scott Robarge of La Grande, Ore., and Darrin Ryckman of Burns, Ore., skin an elk and a deer they hunted in Montanas Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. (Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)

Southeast of Petersons property, in spots chosen by the U.S. Forest Service, Primm is erecting the same kind of 19-foot-tall structures. He said he hopes they will help bring hunters around. But he knows this will not happen overnight.

On a cool, overcast morning, in a quiet spot miles down an unpaved road, Primm and building partner Scott Lafevers took a break after finishing the ninth pole. They turned as a gray pickup rolled up to a small campsite of tents, campers and archery targets closer to the road.

In the truck bed lay a massive bull elk and a small deer. The camouflage-clad hunters inside, relatives whod come from Oregon and North Dakota, spilled out and soon had the elk cinched up on a shorter pole to start skinning it.

Someone asked what the new, taller poles were for.

So that bears cant reach it, Lafevers told them.

The hunters nodded. They said they were vaguely aware that grizzlies had been spotted in the area, though they werent much concerned.

As long as youre able to kill em and theyre not protected like the wolves, one quipped. Primm stood at a distance, listening silently.

Another hunter, Duane Ryckman, jumped in. Sharing space with grizzlies was about having a happy medium  one that took both the animals and peoples needs into account, he explained. The group had bear spray at camp, he said, but he shook his head when asked whether he carried it while hunting.

No, Ryckman said. We carry a pistol.



Dean Peterson, who raises cattle in southwestern Montana, looks at the grizzly bear as another one of Gods creations . . . and yeah, its had a hard time. It got hunted near extinction, because it was hard for people to live around. (Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)

Read more:

The true story of two fatal grizzly bear attacks that changed our relationship with wildlife

Heres what seeing bears at National Parks looked like 90 years ago


A block of Callebaut white chocolate. (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post)

For years, connoisseurs dismissed white chocolate  a confection made with cocoa butter, milk solids and sugar, but with none of the cocoa solids that give darker chocolate its recognizable flavor and color. "White chocolate or white lie?" one online video asks. The host opens with: "If you love white chocolate, I hate to break it to you: You're not eating chocolate."

Besides the absence of cocoa solids, the reputation stems from the fact that white chocolate products often contain such additives as palm oil and other fillers, plus an excess of sweeteners. But a growing number of specialty chocolate companies are now giving the same attention to white chocolate as dark or milk chocolate, and trying to highlight the ways it can showcase flavor.

A cocoa bean is made up of roughly equal parts cocoa butter and cacao nibs. Cocoa butter is what gives chocolate its rich mouthfeel, and the nibs hold most of the distinctive smell and taste. Absent of nibs, "white chocolate is basically just sweet fat," says Clay Gordon, creator of the Chocolate Life website, "with a melt that is unencumbered by the nonfat cocoa solids, or cocoa powder." For a chocolate to be labeled as chocolate, as opposed to candy, the Food and Drug Administration requires that the bar be made up of at least 10 percent cocoa mass (nibs plus the cocoa fat inherent to the bean) , with no specifications about cocoa butter. White chocolate, on the other hand, has to have a cocoa butter content of at least 20 percent and does not require the inclusion of nibs. The FDA established these standards in 2004 in response to petitions filed by the Hershey Company and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (now part of the National Confectioners Association).

Pastry chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz, an avowed white chocolate fan, disputes the idea that it's not really chocolate. "Bickering over the nomenclature becomes tiring," he said in an email. "We still call hamburgers by that name, even though they are not made of ham, and milkshakes actually aren't shaken these days, but blended. So I think it's okay to group white chocolate in with the rest of the variety of things made from cacao beans, since they all have the same base."



Eric Parkes of Somerville Chocolate says theres a little subversive, ironic thrill in making white chocolate at a higher level. (Eric Parkes)

The history of white chocolate is largely unclear, but "the general consensus," says Eagranie Yuh, author of "The Chocolate Tasting Kit" (Chronicle, 2014), "is that Nestle was the first to develop white chocolate commercially in 1936 in Switzerland. The story is that it was a way to use up excess milk powder that had been produced for World War I and was no longer in demand."

[How to taste chocolate, starting with locally made bars]

White chocolate is also a way to use up extra cocoa butter that is extracted from the cocoa bean when making cocoa powder. This fat is the most highly regarded byproduct of chocolate production, valued not only in chocolate but cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter is typically filtered, bleached with clay minerals that absorb color components and deodorized, through steam distillation or solvents that reduce the volatile compounds that contribute to its aroma. It remains stable at room temperature and is rich in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Because of these qualities, the cost of cocoa butter more than doubled between 2005 and 2015, and its why many large-scale manufacturers substitute a portion of their deodorized cocoa butter with fillers such as vegetable oil that significantly reduce cost.

The rise in price also led some makers to expand their efforts to produce quality white chocolate. "We started manufacturing white chocolate ourselves because there is very little white chocolate on the market that is pure and made only with cocoa butter, milk and sugar," says Denise Castronovo, founder of Florida's Castronovo Chocolate. "For us, it's a chance to educate our consumers about what real white chocolate actually is."



Denise Castronovo of Castronovo Chocolate says, White chocolate is a good medium in which you can play creatively with flavors and texture. (Kelsey Burchard)

What it is, Yuh says, is a canvas for other flavors, offering "surprising breadth and utility." That's why Castronovo and other specialty chocolate makers are embracing white chocolate as a new frontier for flavor, creating combinations that push the boundaries. This includes white chocolate made with non-deodorized cocoa butter that retains cocoa aromas (popularized by the Venezuelan company El Rey) and chocolates made with goats' milk and nondairy milks, plus a wide variety of spices and other inclusions: Thai curry shrimp from Taiwan's Fu Wan Chocolate; rosemary and sea salt from Forte in Seattle; mango, chile and lime from Toronto's Soma Chocolatemaker; turmeric and pomegranate from the Violet Chocolate Company in the Canadian province of Alberta; and white chocolate infused with Mosaic beer hops from Somerville Chocolate in Massachusetts.

The hops idea came about because of the glorious, steamy clouds of fruity hops aroma that waft over to my workspace when the brewery [next door] dumps the mash from their tanks, explains Somervilles Eric Parkes. They use my nibs in their beer, and I wanted to work with something of theirs. Parkes says theres a little subversive, ironic thrill in making white chocolate at a higher level.

This can also be said of German chocolate maker Georgia Ramon, which features such white chocolate combinations as organic kale with mustard and salted Sicilian almonds with broccoli. "Until our release of vegetable bars, there were no chocolates like them in the market," says co-founder Georg Bernardini. "We wanted to try new things." It works, he adds, because "the taste of most fruits and vegetables are too subtle to combine them with a chocolate that contains [nibs]."

Castronovo, who includes roasted strawberries, raspberries and blueberries in her white chocolate bars, agrees: White chocolate is a good medium in which you can play creatively with flavors and texture.



Georgia Ramons Georg Bernardini and Ramona Gustmann combine white chocolate with vegetables and other flavors. (Georgia Ramon)

So what should curious chocolate lovers look for in the white stuff? First, check the ingredients list, says Yuh, which should include only sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids or milk powder and, possibly, lecithin and vanilla. If you can, also check the color. If the bar is bright white, its been bleached and probably deodorized. High-quality white chocolate tends to be slightly yellow because cocoa butter is naturally yellow. Yuh also recommends purchasing chocolates from a specialty grocer or dedicated craft chocolate shop. Chances are, whoever is buying the dark and milk chocolate will be as discerning with quality when they choose white chocolate.

One such purveyor is Oregon's Cacao Portland. Co-founder Aubrey Lindley considers white chocolate more of a confection than chocolate. "I like my white chocolate to be delicate, creamy and honest  and not feel like wax or shortening in the mouth," he says. "It should have some flavor interest and complexity and balance."

And what about the absence of milk powder in these newer chocolates? Lindley says the FDA definition should evolve to mean a chocolate with no cocoa mass, but composed of cocoa butter, sugar and other ingredients. Not fillers, but flavors, he says, that bring pleasure.



WASHINGTON, DC - White chocolate bars photographed in Washington, DC. (Photo by Deb Lindsey For The Washington Post). (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post)

6 tastes that could change your mind about white chocolate

White chocolate infused with lemon oil and lemon salt

$10

Castronovo Chocolate, Stuart, Fla.

Inspired by lemon flake salt that conjured memories of Sicily, Denise Castronovo has created a bar that, she says, reminds us of a light, summery lemon mousse dessert.

Goma

$7

Cocanu, Portland, Ore.

Featuring black sesame seeds, matcha and vanilla, this nontraditional bar is gray in color and only lightly sweetened.

White Chocolate Nibble Bar

$10.50

Askinosie Chocolate, Springfield, Mo.

The cocoa butter and cocoa nibs featured in this bar are from the identical batch of Filipino cocoa. In just one bite, the company writes, you can taste the entire story.

Vanilla Bean Rice Crisp

$7.99

Charm School Chocolate, Gwynn Oak, Md.

While most white chocolate contains milk powder, this vegan treat is made with coconut and tastes like a virtuous (and delicious) Rice Krispies Treat.

Horchata Bar

$6.50

Madre Chocolate, Honolulu

This nondairy bar is inspired by horchata, the delicious Spanish/Mexican drink made from rice milk, almonds, cinnamon and vanilla.

Zaatar Pistachios

$10.95

Fruition Chocolate, Shokan, N.Y.

Former pastry chef Bryan Graham enrobes roasted pistachios in white chocolate seasoned with candied orange and zaatar, a blend of Middle Eastern spices.

Sethi is the author of "Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love" and the host/creator of "The Slow Melt" chocolate podcast.
Q: I have my grandmothers 105-year-old notebook with her beautiful calligraphy. The ink is fading, and the pages are becoming more and more brittle. What is the proper way to preserve it? And is there someone who could digitize the notebook and make high-quality copies of the pages without damaging it?

Rockville

A: A project like this, with great sentimental value, warrants the help of a professional conservator who specializes in preserving works on paper. The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works offers a "find a conservator" service on its website (conservation-us.org) that allows you to search by specialty and Zip code. To be included in the list, conservators must have been trained to use materials that are chemically stable and as reversible as possible, and their protocol always involves providing written and photographic documentation of what they do. Their goal is to stabilize and preserve, not necessarily make documents look new again.

The Washington area, with its wealth of museums, is particularly well endowed with suitable specialists  a search on the AIC website turned up 23 conservators specializing in books and paper within 20 miles of Rockville. But many have email addresses indicating they work at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution or other agencies.

One book and paper conservator who takes on individual projects is Ewa Paul in Fairfax (703-488 -8626; evaartconservation.com). Like other conservators, she typically begins a project with a free consultation, although if she has to travel she might charge for that. She'd discuss options, and if you wanted to proceed, she would draft a formal proposal with prices. Paper conservators in the Washington area generally charge $100 to $140 an hour, Paul said.

The treatment would begin by documenting the condition of the notebook via photographs. Then Paul would test the materials to determine things such as the type of paper and whether the ink is sensitive to solvents. The actual conservation might include treating the paper to combat acidity. After the treatment, she would take another round of photographs and give you a report detailing all that she did.

Paul looked at the picture you sent. Judging just from the small section visible in it, she wrote in an email, I can tell that the paper is in rather good condition, and so are the inks. But she would need to examine the whole notebook to make a recommendation about the best way to digitize it. If the pages are fragile, she suggests having a conservator do the scanning. If the pages are in good condition, you might be able to do it yourself.

For the scanning, you might want to follow standards that the Library of Congress uses when it scans documents for people who want copies of books or papers in its collection. The library scans at a finer resolution, called DPI, or dots per inch, for small pages than it does for large pages on the assumption that people may want to enlarge small pages more when making prints. For pages 4 inches by 5 inches, the DPI setting would be 1,400. But for pages 5 inches by 7 inches, or 8 inches by 10 inches, it would be only 600. Make at least one copy of your scan and store it in a different place. And, because file storage systems keep evolving, transfer the images to a current storage system every five years or so. You might also want to make a paper printout and save that.

The Library of Congress offers tips for digitizing personal documents at digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving.
A black bear searches for Kokanee salmon as it walks along Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. More than 500 black bears have made their way back into parts of their historic range in the Great Basin of central and northeast Nevada where the species had disappeared about 80 years ago, scientists say. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

More than 500 black bears have returned to parts of the range in the Great Basin of Nevada where the species disappeared about 80 years ago, scientists say.

A new study says genetic testing confirms the bears are making their way east from the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges north and south of Lake Tahoe along the California line.

In some cases, recent generations have moved hundreds of miles to sites near the Utah line, marking a rare example of large mammals recolonizing areas where theyd been wiped out.

The recovery of large carnivores is relatively rare globally, said Jon Beckmann, a conservation scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bozeman, Montana, who co-authored the new study.

It concludes that bear populations originating in western Nevada mountain ranges have the genetic diversity necessary to sustain the new subpopulations.

The findings are the result of a partnership between wildlife management and geneticists based on bear hair and blood samples taken over 20 years, said Jason Malaney, an environmental scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, who led the study.

The data provides fuel for supporters of increased protection of wildlife corridors for a number of species in the basin  a vast stretch of desert and mountain ranges that covers most of Nevada, half of Utah and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California.

The study authors say the results are timely and relevant because of projected climate change and the effects of human population growth.

Black bears were prevalent across most of Nevada during the 1800s but had been devastated in the Great Basin by the early 1900s, primarily because of unregulated hunting, conflicts with livestock ranchers, logging and overgrazing.

Over time, bears have benefited from a reduction in logging, combined with improved land management practices and an emphasis on conservation, the study said.

 Associated Press

Read more from KidsPost:

Animal numbers are shrinking, but kids can help

Keeping track of Yosemites busy bears

Yosemites black bears return to natural diet
Chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Madhya Pradesh cabinet approved death penalty to the rapist of a girl aged 12 or less.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: The Madhya Pradesh cabinet cleared a proposal on Sunday to award death sentence to those guilty of raping girls aged 12 or below in the state.

However, it may be a futile exercise because the proposal, when it becomes a law, may not pass muster in the court of law if it is challenged.

Chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the cabinet approved death penalty to the rapist of a girl aged 12 or less. "We are going to present a bill to this effect in the winter session of the assembly... ," Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya said.

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The winter session of MP Assembly started today.

"To ensure death sentence to a rape and gang rape convicts in cases of minor girls of 12 years of age or below, necessary amendments will be required in the sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). After the required amendments in IPC, the accused will be booked under section 376 AA and 376 DA of IPC," Malaiya added.

LEGISLATIVE COMPETENCE

The state government's intent may be noble but if the law is challenged in courts, it may fall flat.

Talking to India Today, former Delhi High Court judge Justice RS Sodhi said the law does not have a legislative competence to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"It will be a mindless legislation. Such an enactment does not give discretion to court to award or not to award punishment. Judiciary is the sentencing authority and not the legislature," he said.

Justice Sodhi further said the legislature can only specify the top or bottom of punishment. The quantum has to be decided by the judiciary, he added.

DESIRABILITY

Though the law may find resonance in a large section of the society, the Chouhan government may draw political mileage out of it, experts feel it may not hold water.

Justice Sodhi said a child taken advantage of by an adult is horrendous but sentence being always death penalty is repugnant.

"Rape is an act of depravity. However, every depraved person need not be eliminated from the society," he asked.

To buttress his argument, he said the depraved are a part of the society and they have been created by it. "Therefore, it must be the responsibility of the society to find out the reason why he reached that stage. We must own up the deficiencies," he said.

MP'S TRACK RECORD

The MP government's move was inspired from a spurt recently in the incidents of rape in the state.

Madhya Pradesh has topped the list in sexual offences in the country over the last decade. The BJP government is under attack from the rival parties over recent incidents of rape in the state.

A 19-year-old was recently allegedly raped when she was returning home from coaching.

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According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2015 released in August 2016, MP reported the highest number of rape cases (4,391) in the country.

As per NCRB's 2014 data, the state reported 5,076 cases, accounting for 14 per cent of the total rape cases in India.

ALSO WATCH | Vizag horror: Pedestrians ignore while drunk man rapes mentally ill woman on footpath

--- ENDS ---
Dear Readers: Today's Sound Off is about spouses who forget important occasions:

Dear Heloise: For the fifth year in a row, my husband has forgotten our wedding anniversary. A year after we were married, he stopped taking me out for my birthday. Many men, like him, work hard, dont abuse their wives and love their kids, but they alienate their wives by missing special occasions. I grew up in a house where Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries and more were to be celebrated and enjoyed. To me and many women like me, ignoring these occasions is the same as saying, You dont matter to me anymore. I wish men would remember the old saying, Happy wife means a happy life.

Betty R., Tulsa

Betty, I hope your husband reads this column, as well as all the other men who forget or ignore the things that strengthen the bonds between husband and wife.

Dear Readers: Here are some uses for leftover wallpaper:

 Use as shelf liners or to wrap around smooth canisters.

 Take to a copier store and have custom place mats made by having the desired size encased in plastic to match your kitchen decor.

 Use to make book covers.

Dear Heloise: In response to Betsy M., who said her husband refuses to eat leftovers, I said the same thing to my wife about three weeks after we were married. She handed me an apron and pointed toward the kitchen. If I wanted original meals every night, she said I should get busy and start cooking. That was 46 years ago, and Ive been a good boy ever since. By the way, I eat leftovers!

Stanley H., Leesburg, Va.

The following letter has another hint about leftovers.

Dear Heloise: To help the new bride whose hubby wont eat leftovers, I suggest she call them planned-overs. Thats what I have called them for years, and it goes over much better with my family. I enjoy reading your column in the (Martinsburg, W.Va.) Journal.

Lisa R., Cayce, S.C.

Dear Heloise: My daughter was recently hospitalized. Several nurses and support staff did an excellent job of caring for her.

Instead of buying a bouquet of fresh flowers that will eventually die, I bought a container of live plants and suggested that the staff auction it off after seven days. The proceeds went to the staffs coffee fund. I was told that it worked out very well.

Luetta S., via email

Heloises column appears six days a week at

washingtonpost.com/advice

. Send a hint to

Heloise

, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or email it to

Heloise@Heloise.com

.
The D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development has a newly established $10 million public-private fund dedicated to preserving affordable housing and is seeking a fund manager to manage the money.

The preservation fund, approved by the D.C. Council for the 2018 fiscal year, is in addition to the $100 million in taxpayer money dedicated to the Districts Housing Production Trust Fund, the citys biggest pot of money to encourage development of affordable housing.

We know the needs are great . . . we know where properties are at risk, said Polly Donaldson, the director of DHCD. We are working to identify those in need immediately and have the [fund] manager be able to start up immediately on that.

The goal of the preservation fund, Donaldson explained, is to preserve, acquire and rehabilitate the citys existing affordable housing stock.

According to the DHCD, the city lost at least 1,000 units of subsidized housing between 2006 and 2014. Another 1,750 units are at risk of being lost, according to the D.C. Preservation Network, a group of government agencies and community-based organizations working to preserve affordable housing in the city. A further 13,700 units have subsidies that will expire in 2020 and are at risk of loss.

"The fund is an important step toward saving D.C.'s disappearing low-cost housing," said Claire Zippel, a housing policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.

The new fund will help to increase the amount of public funds available, which has been the biggest constraint in the citys push to preserve affordable housing, she added.

In recent years, theres been a lot of pressure on D.C.s Housing Production Trust Fund to meet the full spectrum of affordable housing needs that the city has . . . so its great news that theres now another tool in the citys affordable housing toolbox, Zippel said.

Creating the preservation fund is one of six recommendations made by the Housing Preservation Strike Force created by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser in 2015. The strike force set the goal of preserving 100 percent of the District's existing federally- and city-assisted affordable rental homes. Establishing the preservation fund is part of a multipronged approach to that objective.

Also included in the recommendations was creating a preservation unit tasked to identify affordable housing at risk of being lost and to deploy resources to preserve them. The preservation unit would have preferential access to money from the fund, according to the strike forces final report. The DHCD is currently in the process of hiring someone to head the unit.

In researching similar funds across the country, the strike force looked at successful examples in New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle and the San Francisco area. They found the funds all started with an initial government investment, which was used to leverage private investment.

San Francisco, for example, launched a public-private fund in February to preserve and produce affordable housing in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the United States. Like the District's preservation fund, San Francisco's Housing Accelerator Fund aims to use initial city funding to leverage private investment.

The goal in the District is to use the initial $10 million to leverage an additional $30 million in private or philanthropic resources.

But the D.C. government has been faulted for mismanagement of the Housing Production Trust Fund, the city's biggest affordable housing program. In a report in March, the Office of the D.C. Auditor found that millions of dollars in loan repayments had likely gone uncollected from developers, and that many low-cost apartments in the program are occupied by tenants who may not be income-eligible. The auditor also criticized the DHCD, which oversees the fund, for "unreliable" records related to the fund.

The DHCD has laid out general guidelines regarding the new preservation funds structure and the types of projects it will finance, but details on the funds design will emerge from the competitive application process.

We want the fund manager to have strong knowledge of the District and to develop the fund in relation to some of the unique characteristics of the District, including the citys geographic limitations, its high cost of living, its growing population, and the overlapping of state, local and county functions, said Donaldson.

Donaldson said the department expects to finalize arrangements with one or more of the selected fund managers and to have the first project funded by the first quarter of 2018. The fund manager will report quarterly to DHCD.

An advantage of this kind of public-private fund is its flexibility, said Danilo Pelletiere, a senior policy adviser at DHCD.

A fund like this can move more quickly, making it an apt tool to preserve affordable housing in a fast-changing real estate market, he said.
King Mark watched in silence as a bright orange dump truck reversed toward the tent where he had made his home for months.

A homeless veteran who said he has schizophrenia, Mark watched as city workers tossed his belongings into the truck. A grill he had been given. Pairs of socks and a shoe. His partner, Tom, lost his Social Security card and birth certificate. Some of his artwork, too.

I was here, but they took it all, said Mark, 60.

Cleanups such as the one in early November at the Foggy Bottom encampment where Mark, Tom and more than a dozen other people lived have become routine in a city where the homeless population has exploded.

Twice a week, five city offices coordinate to clear encampments across the District as part of Mayor Muriel E. Bowsers comprehensive strategy to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring, said Sean Barry, spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. He said officials paused the encampment response at least once so people at the site could retrieve vital documents.



A homeless encampment seen last week near 21st and E streets NW. (Rachel Chason/The Washington Post)

The guiding principle behind the efforts, Barry said, is to protect the health and safety of anyone who frequents these public spaces.

But advocates say the citys encampment cleaning  which records show cost taxpayers more than $172,000 in a three-month span  does little more than punish residents who have nowhere else to go.

Blankets, tents  the city is sometimes throwing away these peoples means of survival, said Ann Marie Staudenmaier, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. They are coming back to the same sites less than 24 hours later. Then they have to start over.

The rapidly gentrifying District has the highest per capita rate of homelessness of any city in the country, with 124 residents per 10,000 living without a home, according to a 2016 survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The survey also found that while the number of people experiencing homelessness decreased nationally by 13 percent from 2009 to 2016, it increased by 34 percent in the District, where lack of affordable housing has pushed longtime residents out of the city or, sometimes, onto the streets.

Mark and the majority of residents at the encampment near E and 21st streets NW have returned since the Nov. 2 cleanup. Little cleaning was actually done, Mark said.

Barry said officials removed a number of trash items, but he did not provide further information when asked for details about the cleaning. At other sites where tents are set up on sidewalks, he said, workers will power-wash the area. That did not happen at the E Street camp, he said, because it is on a small plot of grass.

[Residents of D.C. homeless camp distressed as city moves to clear site]

Several George Washington University students whose dormitories are near the encampment at E and 21st said they had befriended people living in the tents. Angered about the planned cleanup in early November  which the city posted signs about two weeks in advance, as is its protocol  students showed up to protest.

Arty Lowenstein, a freshman from New York, tried to negotiate with D.C. police to give Mark and his partner more time to pack up their tent. He recorded their exchange and the cleanup on his phone.

Police said advanced notice had been given and time was up. The video shows the dump truck reversing toward the green tent, which was covered by a blue tarp for extra insulation. Soon after, workers began tossing items into the dump truck.

Im sorry, man, Lowenstein said.

I dont blame you, Mark replied.

Lowenstein, who turned 18 on Thursday, and sophomore Aaron Snyder, who is studying political science, joined homeless men who were sitting on a tent that police were trying to inspect. One of the homeless men was arrested and charged with assault on a police officer because he [smacked] her left hand, causing a cut to her thumb that began to bleed as she attempted to open the tent, according to a D.C. police incident report.

But Snyder, who in the video is pulled off the tent by police, said the officers were to blame for hitting and shoving the protesters.

Lowenstein and Snyder testified about the cleanup during an oversight hearing held by the D.C. Council. The council questioned HyeSook Chung, deputy mayor for health and human services, whose department leads the citys efforts to combat homelessness.

After listening to the students testimony, council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) said that cleanup appears to be a euphemism for demolition.

Gray served a term as mayor before Bowser (D) defeated him in the 2014 Democratic primary, and he is weighing a rematch. He said his administration treated homeless residents in a more humane way.

[The healthy D.C. economy is leaving behind longtime black residents]

The District has long conducted cleanups, but efforts escalated beginning in November 2015 when officials cleared a large encampment at 26th and K streets NW, said Staudenmaier, who joined the legal clinic in 1996. She said the ramp-up is tied to gentrification. Although the District's economy is booming, many of the city's longtime residents have been left behind, according to an October study.

Wealthy, mainly white people are moving in and saying, Why are there homeless people? and We dont want those people in our view because we paid a lot of money for our house in Logan Circle,  Staudenmaier said.

Bowser, who has announced that she will run for reelection but does not yet face a serious challenger, "is beholden to those people because they donate to her campaign," Staudenmaier said.

Barry said that cleanups are based on inspections by city workers. He said that the mayor is committed to tackling homelessness in the nation's capitol in a variety of ways and that encampment cleanups are "not reflective of our broader strategy," focused on providing housing for residents and addressing the causes of homelessness to prevent it on the front end. This week, Bowser officially launched a citywide effort, dubbed "Home for the Holidays," to place 400 of the District's "most vulnerable households in permanent housing during the holiday season."

Bowsers administration has celebrated a 10.5 percent reduction in homelessness from January 2016 to January 2017, when volunteers counted 7,473 people who were living without a home, at least 897 of whom were living on the streets

But that decrease followed a marked increase in homelessness during her first year. In January 2015, the month she took office, 7,298 people were counted as homeless, meaning the total number of people on the street has increased during her tenure, despite the decrease from 2016 to 2017.

During the three-month period between Oct. 1, 2015, and Jan. 8, 2016, the city spent $172,238.89 on cleanups, according to information provided by the city to the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless after a D.C. Council oversight hearing with Chung in February 2016. Barry said he does not have recent figures available.
At Howard University, a gleaming $70 million science building allows students a more light-filled space to do their research and learning  and testifies to the growth and opportunity in technology and engineering. At George Mason University, construction is wrapping up on a $73 million building focused on the health sciences.

Universities in the Washington region have long been recognized for churning out politicians-to-be, diplomats and lawyers. But its an unprecedented science building boom  costing hundreds of millions of dollars  that is altering the landscape of campuses, fueled by burgeoning enrollment in science, technology, engineering and math majors.

I realize we think of Washington as a place where politics is the central focus, but that doesnt exclude us from doing science and wanting that area in our school to grow, said Teresa Murphy, deputy provost for academic affairs at George Washington University.

At least eight universities in the Washington area have completed construction in the past few years or are building and renovating science facilities for their students.

D.C. really is a science town to the point that people dont recognize, said Peter Starr, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at American University, who pointed to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, biotechnology companies and defense contractors in the region.

Nearly 12 percent of workers in the Washington area were in science fields as of May 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The area is tied with Seattle and Ames, Iowa, for the eighth-highest percentage of workers in science.

Its not just schools in the Washington area that are spending millions of dollars on science facilities. Columbia University recently completed construction of a 450,000-square-foot science building, the University of Southern California opened a $185 million building in early November and the University of Washington is constructing a $110 million computer science and engineering building.

Federal and state agencies have provided more money for science research and education, which has also led to an emphasis on the sciences, said William Bentley, a professor of engineering at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Schools have taken the dark and dingy science labs of the past and remade them as open spaces with walls of glass. The buildings create areas for students and faculty members to discuss how their ideas relate to one another and can spawn collaboration between fields. And not just people enamored of particle accelerators and genetic sequencing  sometimes, political scientists are working with researchers in the hard sciences.

"The more we see dilution between the boundaries of the hard sciences and . . . social sciences, the more we see an increased interest in what is perceived as STEM, which is not necessarily your grandfather's STEM field," said Peggy Agouris, dean of the College of Science at George Mason, using the widely recognized acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. Students have begun to "visualize careers in fields which are not the very cut-and-dried STEM fields," such as game design, computer science and visualization because of the multiuse buildings.

This movement away from single-use buildings on college campuses has happened primarily over the past few decades and has occurred because students and faculty want to learn from other disciplines. The Howard master plan initially called for the construction of a couple of more discipline-specific research facilities, said Derrek Niec-Williams, Howards executive director of campus planning, architecture and development.

This would have contributed to more siloing and prevented departments from working together as much as they are able to in the new multiuse building, Niec-Williams said.

The building creates a really interesting research environment where scientists and engineers from all disciplines interact with each other on a really regular basis in the buildings office suite, said Gary Harris, associate provost for research and graduate studies at Howard.

This office suite is different from the traditional setup of research buildings, where professors offices are within or next to their laboratories, meaning interaction with their colleagues doesnt happen organically. The new design fosters those moments of serendipity.

Harris said the building was designed to allow more graduate and doctoral students to work on research with professors, not to add instructional labs for undergraduate science students.

Although the building wasnt necessarily designed with having an impact on undergraduates in research, it has, Harris said. Professors have included undergraduate students in the research being done in the building, especially in the summer, when they can work more hours in the labs.

Trinity Washington University, a small and lesser-known school, opened its first new academic building since 1963 in 2016. The structure is a first-class, modern, state-of-the-art science building to continue the universitys growth in those areas, said Ann Pauley, vice president for institutional advancement and media relations at Trinity Washington.

A planned science hall at American is a facility weve known we needed for well over a decade, said Starr, the schools arts and sciences dean, adding that plans to build the hall began before he arrived eight years ago.

Demand from students for more science space is one of the reasons university administrators give for constructing science facilities.

Increased interest in science  including recently emerged fields  has led to construction of facilities at George Mason, said Agouris, adding that the buildings are based on current needs for students, not future projections.

The combination of a need for space and a heightened interest from students in science majors, along with benefactors who wanted to promote science-based education, led to the construction of two science buildings at the University of Maryland, according to Bentley.

The demand of the undergraduate program far outpaced the university and the faculty, Bentley said.

Some universities, including George Washington, see building science facilities as a draw for students.

If were building expanded facilities and if were upgrading facilities and expanding the faculty, thats going to be a big attraction, Murphy said.

An earlier version of this article misstated the cost of a new science building at the University of Southern California as $50 million. The article has been updated.
Armando Hart  known for his shock of white hair and dark-rimmed glasses  focused on promoting the life and works of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti. (Desmond Boylan/Associated Press)

Armando Hart, a leading figure during the Cuban revolution who oversaw a literacy campaign that tried to ensure that all Cubans could read and write and spent much of his career as culture minister, died Nov. 26 in Havana. He was 87.

Cuban state media said the cause was respiratory failure.

Designated education minister shortly after the 1959 revolutionary triumph that put Fidel Castro in power, Mr. Hart was tasked with sending more than 100,000 volunteers across the island for the literacy campaign. He served six years in the post and then was organization secretary for the newly formed Communist Party. He was culture minister from 1976 to 1997.

In his later years, Mr. Hart  who was known for his shock of white hair and dark-rimmed glasses  focused on promoting the life and works of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

Mr. Hart was reelected as a member of the partys Central Committee in April 2011, although he gave up a seat on the more powerful Politburo. He also had sat on the islands supreme governing authority, the Council of State, until he was removed in February 2008 amid reports that he was in ill health.

Armando Hart Davalos was born in Havana on June 13, 1930. He studied law at the University of Havana, where he joined the youth wing of the Orthodox Party, a major political party at the time.

After Fulgencio Batista took power in a 1952 coup, Mr. Hart joined Cubas Federation of University Students in protests against the new government. That same year, he graduated with a law degree and joined the opposition.

When Castro launched his revolutionary struggle with an unsuccessful attack on a military barracks in the eastern city of Santiago on July 26, 1953, Mr. Hart became an early member of the movements urban support group. He and other July 26 Movement organizers carried on after Castro and the other survivors were imprisoned and then later traveled to Mexico to form a rebel army.

Mr. Hart was arrested numerous times for his organizing activities in eastern Cuba after the rebels returned to Cuba in late 1956 to launch their guerrilla war from the islands eastern mountains. His last arrest was in early 1958, and he remained behind bars until the revolutions triumph nearly a year later on New Years Day 1959. Castro soon named Mr. Hart education minister.

In his later years, Mr. Hart published several books on political and cultural thought, including Perfiles (Profiles), a 1995 collection of texts studying the lives and works of Cubas political and intellectual leaders.

Among Mr. Harts favorite leaders was Marti. In February 1997, he was named director of the Cuban governments Office of Marti Program, created to publish and promote Martis extensive writings. Mr. Hart also headed the Jose Marti Cultural Society.

Mr. Hart received the Order of Felix Varela, First Grade, the highest award Cubas communist government grants to Cuban and foreign intellectuals. The Cuban Foreign Ministry awarded him its Raul Roa Garcia medal, named for the first foreign minister under the revolutionary government.

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Mr. Harts wife, Haydee Santamaria, a fellow revolutionary figure who participated in the 1953 barracks assault, committed suicide in 1980. His children, Celia and Abel, were killed in a traffic accident in Havana in September 2008. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
Columnist

This has been a wrenching year for America. We've seen epic natural disasters, marches by

neo-Nazis, hard-working immigrant families torn apart, innocent lives lost to deadly mass shootings and everyday gun violence, and the public exposure of years of sexual harassment and assault by powerful men.

And that was just last month.

This is a perfect time to make a difference, to help make our country great again in the best sense of that slogan. On Giving Tuesday, donate to the groups working to improve the lives of others. It's easy, and it's important.

Here are some nonprofits worthy of your consideration:

Women

The year began with the presidential inauguration of a man who bragged about groping women and getting away with it. The next day, hundreds of thousands of women filled Washington and the streets, plazas and squares of other U.S. cities, expressing their anger, empowerment and inspiration.

That momentum didnt end there. Months later, women began telling stories of sexual harassment and assaults they have survived, exposing some of the nations powerful and prominent men. This added fuel to a #MeToo movement that began years ago but took off as women both famous and unfamous went public with their experiences.

The Joyful Heart Foundation has been quietly working for years to help women who have been sexually abused. And its campaign to press cities and states to test long-forgotten rape kits has been the low-profile, crime lab version of the #MeToo movement. Its entire effort  from the grants it receives for states to test the rape kits to the help and support it gives women who finally escape their abusers  is funded by private donations from people like us.

You can help support this life-changing work by giving at JoyfulHeartFoundation.org.

Gun violence

Gun ownership is growing in our violence-drenched nation. On Black Friday, the FBI reported a record 203,086 requests for background checks. That translates into a huge burst of gun sales on that major shopping day , which has become a growing tradition. Eight kids die every day from a gunshot wound in our country.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a group working toward one goal: children's safety. Whether it's stricter gun laws or safety classes for responsible gun owners, this answer to the National Rifle Association is a growing presence that can use your support.

Puerto Rico

As Christmastime nears, this is the time of year when extended families in Puerto Rico gather at Abuelas house for warm and festive celebrations. But the islands abuelas, abuelos and most other seniors are in grave danger this year, with 50 percent of the island still without power.

The folks at Volunteers of America Project Esperanza have sent counselors, social workers and medical personnel to care for more than 3,000 seniors in low-income housing in Puerto Rico. Amid food and water shortages, many live in buildings with elevators that are now inoperable. And too many cant navigate stairs. They have become shut-ins with little access to food, medicine and routine medical care.

The Volunteers of America website, VOA.org, explains Project Esperanza and how to help.

Immigrants

This has been a challenging year for some of our nations hardest workers, as so many have watched their friends and families be ripped apart by deportations.

We featured La Clinica del Pueblo here last time, but the organization is worth another shout-out because its story has changed, a little. Its caseloads have increased, as folks are stressed and ill, and the clinic is often the only refuge they have. But beyond basic care of body and mind, La Clinica also provides language translation services for critical documents that even native English speakers have trouble understanding.

The group is helping folks navigate their lives in other ways during these uncertain times. You can help support this mission by making a donation at lcdp.org.

Education

I wanted to be a dentist when I grew up. It didnt work out  that whole math and science thing. But the only reason I was so interested in dentistry was because our friendly dentist  who patiently explained everything he was doing when I asked him to  was one of the few educated professionals I had the chance to interact with while growing up in a blue-collar home. Those early connections are powerful and could be life-changing.

This final charity is special because you can send cash to help it grow, but its bread and butter is your time. It is looking for D.C. professionals whod like to do a bit more than just open a wallet.

Community ONE pairs at-risk kids with mentors in fun ways that range from guest-speaking spots to lunch dates to work-based mentorships. The organization has doctors, engineers, press secretaries, federal agents, lawyers and others (including dentists) meet with kids who've had little exposure to a world that is close but often feels far away. The folks at this group understand you  your time is valuable and limited, no matter how big your heart is. They can work with you to help make a big difference in minutes, hours or even days.

Happy giving!

Twitter: @petulad
THE DISTRICT

Teen is fatally shot, and another is injured

A teenager was fatally shot and another wounded Saturday night in the 300 block of P Street SW Saturday night, police said.

They said Khyre Amar Ledbetter, 18, of Northeast was killed about 9:20 p.m. About 9:20 p.m. Saturday, police were called about the sound of gunshots in the area, which is several blocks west of Nationals Park, near the Washington Channel. Officers found the victims, who were taken to hospitals. Ledbetter died of his injuries. The other victim of the shooting is expected to survive, police said Sunday.

Officials did not have any suspect descriptions to release.

 Dan Morse

Passenger shot in eye near Dupont Circle

A man was shot in the eye while in a car just south of Dupont Circle early Sunday, according to a D.C. police report. A police spokesman said he was in serious but stable condition.

About 1 a.m., the car was in the 1300 block of Connecticut Avenue NW, when the passenger began arguing with a man who was standing nearby, police said. After a brief argument, the man outside fired one round into the cars windshield and struck the passenger in the left eye, according to the incident report.

The driver sped off and called 911. Police called the incident an assault with intent to kill, according to the police report.

 Dan Morse

MARYLAND

2 dead in apparent murder-suicide

A 34-year-old Glen Burnie woman killed her 2-year-old son Saturday and then herself, Prince Georges County police said.

They said officers were asked to check at a home in the 1700 block of Countrywood Court in Landover about 10 p.m. and found Yu Song and her son, Joseph Wang, dead in a townhouse.

A preliminary investigation concluded that Song killed her son and then herself, police said. Both died of asphyxiation, police said.

Police did not explain the specifics of how they died.

 Ashley Halsey III

Virginia

Couple and daughter found dead in home

Three members of a Spotsylvania County family were found fatally shot Saturday in their home on Waterford Drive in what the sheriffs office called an apparent murder-suicide.

The dead were identified as Robert Scully, 69, Mary Scully, 68, and their daughter, Meghan Scully, 38.

The sequence of events leading to their deaths was not disclosed.
Authorities in Maryland are searching for a bear poacher after a 400-pound black bear was found fatally shot on Sunday, officials said.

The male bear, about 7 years old, was found in the morning by someone riding a bike in the Frederick City watershed near Cold Deer Road, Maryland Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson wrote in an email.

Maryland made it legal to hunt black bears in 2004 "to slow the growth of western Maryland's growing black bear population," according to the state's Department of Natural Resources. Permits to hunt the animals are awarded each year, and the 2017 season ran from Oct. 23 to Oct. 26 in Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties.

The slain bear weighed more than 400 pounds and had been dead less than 24 hours, according to Thomson. She said 131 bears were killed during this years hunt, and the average weight was 152 pounds.

The illegally killed bear was quite large, she wrote in an email.

A person who kills a black bear illegally could face charges of failure to report the wounding or killing of a black bear and might be charged restitution fees of $1,500.

Anyone with information about the bear should contact police at 800-635-6124.
This bobcat was struck by a car on Thanksgiving and lodged in the grille. It was sedated, removed and brought to the Wildlife Center of Virginia to be treated and released. (Wildlife Center of Virginia)

While driving to work in Virginia on Thanksgiving, a woman struck something with her car, and when she parked in Richmond, according to animal control officials there, she found something stuck in the grille: a bobcat.

Richmond Animal Care and Control said its staff members sedated and then freed the beautiful cat. It was then taken to a wildlife center to be treated and released, animal care said.

The bobcat was encountered during the motorists 60-mile drive from Gloucester, Va., to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, authorities said.

Apparently the impact was enough to lodge the cat in the front of the car. But on the other hand, it seemed not strong enough to injure the animal.

None of us can believe that this happened and that the bobcat only suffered from a small scrape on his back, the animal care agency said on Facebook.
The surgery was performed on an urgent basis since the nails had pierced the stomach of the patient and he had undergone severe internal bleeding.

By India Today Web Desk: A rare surgery was performed in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district.

According to a PTI report, 35-year old Maksud Khan underwent a very complex surgery after he complained of severe abdominal pain. The doctors initially thought it to be a case of acute food poisoning and performed an endoscopy .

The doctors however were baffled to find 263 coins, dozens of shaving blades, 6-inch piece of rusted iron shackle, four big needles along with a few glass pieces and 100 nails in the man's stomach.

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Mohammed Maqsood, who hails from Sohaval was immediately rushed to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Satna, Madhya Pradesh after his condition got worse. A surgery was performed on an urgent basis since the nails had pierced the stomach of the patient and he had undergone severe internal bleeding.

Dr Priyank Sharma, who led the surgical team said,"The patient was complaining of stomach pain, so we thought of getting an endoscopy done. We were shocked to discover that coins, nails and nut-bolts in his stomach. We come across such a case for the first in our career. This man looks mentally unstable as no sane person would do something like this."

Maksud's relatives said that he was suffering from depression and had got into a habit of swallowing coins.

"Whenever he felt the urge to ingest a coin, he ingested it with water," said one of the family members.

The surgery however, is not first of its kind. A surgery took place to remove 150kg of hair from a woman's body in Madhya Pradesh recently. Kolkata witnessed a similar surgery, where doctors had removed more than 600 nails from man's stomach.

--- ENDS ---
It was apparently not enough, according to an account from police, that a robber TOOK money from a business on Black Friday. He also showed the wrong slant on Small Business Saturday.

On Friday, police said, he went into a business in the 900 block of Bladensburg Road NE, and displayed a pistol. In an action that ran counter to the Black Friday principle of paying money in stores, he instead, according to police, demanded money. He got it, and fled, the police said.

The very next day, police said, Saturday, he was back in business again, according to police. Just before 9 p.m., the said, he went into a business in the 4000 block of Georgia Avenue NW. Again, police said, a gun was shown. Again, according to the account, instead of putting money in cash registeres, he took money from them.

In between, they said, he went into a business in the 1900 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE, about 7:20 p.m. and pointed a gun at someone in there, apparently an employee.

The employee fled to the back, police said, and the gun-pointer left. However, police said that what he did constituted an assault with a dangerous weapon.

They described him this way: black and male, with a light complexion. He was about 5 feet 7 inches, and slim. When last seen, he wore black pants, a gray hooded sweater, and black gloves.

In addition, they said, he did something that most of those who enter businesses on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, do not do. When last seen, police said, he wore a black ski mask.
Prince Georges County authorities identified the two people who died in a house fire earlier this month as a mother and son from Temple Hills.

Firefighters pulled Louvenia Goldson, 83, and Eugene Goldson, 62, out of their home on the 5200 block Lorraine Drive on Nov. 15 after responding to a house fire at around 12:30 p.m., according to the Prince Georges County Fire Department.

The Goldsons were taken to a hospital where they were later pronounced dead.

Investigators believe a malfunctioning electrical outlet in the single-story brick rambler caused an accidental blaze, the fire department said in a statement.

Authorities said there were no working fire alarms in the home.
Calvert County

These were among reports received by the Calvert County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Division at 410-535-2800 or 301-855-1194, the Crime Solvers line at 410-535-2880 or the state police Prince Frederick Barrack at 410-535-1400.

CHESAPEAKE BEACH AREA

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Calvert Dr., Nov. 10. A collection of shark teeth and fossils were stolen from a residence.

DAMAGED PROPERTY

30th St., Nov. 6. A window screen had been slashed at a residence.

HUNTINGTOWN AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Greenhill Ct., 9:30 p.m. Nov. 7 to 7:15 a.m. Nov. 8. A satchel and a graphing calculator were stolen from a vehicle.

Hollow Way, 7 p.m. Nov. 7 to 8 a.m. Nov. 8. A purse, a Maryland driver's license, a bank card and a key fob were stolen from an unlocked vehicle.

LUSBY AREA

ARREST

Hg Trueman Rd., Nov. 11. A 28-year-old Lusby man was arrested and charged with possession of a concealed dangerous weapon and possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Gunsmoke Cir., Nov. 10. An attempt was made to enter a residence by force through a bay kitchen window.

OWINGS AREA

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Busters Lane, 7 a.m. Nov. 1 to noon Nov. 3. A trash can was stolen from the end of a residential driveway.

PRINCE FREDERICK AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Dares Beach Rd., Nov. 7. A ratchet set, a pocket knife, a cap, an aluminum flashlight and cash were among items stolen from three vehicles at a residence.

Dares Beach Rd. W., 100 block, Nov. 8. A man took a container of a hairstyling product.

Deane Ave., 2-4 a.m. Nov. 10. A wallet and a sterling silver ring were stolen from a vehicle entered by force.

Charles County

No reports were received from the Charles County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-932-2222 or 301-870-3232. The website ccso.us has crime statistics and information on crime prevention programs.

REWARDS FOR INFORMATION

Crime Solvers will pay a reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment. The 24-hour hotline is 866-411-8477. Callers may remain anonymous.

St. Marys County

These w

ere among reports received by the St. Marys County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-475-8008.

To submit a tip, call Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. The Leonardtown Barrack of the state police has an anonymous tip line at 301-475-2936.

LEXINGTON PARK AREA

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Great Mills Rd., 21000 block, Nov. 7. A 27-year-old Lexington Park woman was arrested and charged with theft.

MECHANICSVILLE AREA

ASSAULT

Yowaiski Mill Rd., 27000 block, Nov. 9. A 25-year-old Mechanicsville man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Flora Corner Rd., 28000 block, Nov. 7. Two Mechanicsville men were arrested. The 30-year-old was charged with third-degree burglary and theft. The other was charged with third-degree burglary, theft, and possession of heroin and paraphernalia.
Control of Virginias House of Delegates, pictured during a January 2016 address by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), is in doubt as Democrats challenge voting irregularities. (Steve Helber/AP)

It has all the elements of a political whodunit, even if the "who" part is no mystery. Nearly everyone agrees: The registrar did it.

But why she moved 83 voters from one Virginia House of Delegates district to another, no one seems to know. Former Fredericksburg registrar Juanita Pitchford cannot say. She died in April.

But the adjustments she made in the 28th and 88th districts live on, throwing two House seats and control of the entire chamber into highly litigated limbo nearly three weeks after Election Day.

[Federal judge rejects Democrats request to block certification of Va. races, but leaves door open for new election]

Adding to the drama are a few uncanny twists. Precisely 83 voters were initially said to have been moved out of a district won by a margin of 82 votes, although after a few days investigation, election officials said they had uncovered hundreds of misassigned voters between the two districts. They say 147 of them voted in the wrong district.

Perhaps adding to the confusion: The 28th and the 88th races each had a candidate with the last name Cole, one a Democrat, the other a Republican.

Its like a Wes Anderson movie about elections, said Brian Cannon, executive director of the nonpartisan redistricting group OneVirginia2021. The whole thing is just crazy coincidences.

Said Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax): This whole election reminds me of the old Abbott and Costello routine: Whos on first? Nobody knows whats going on.

It would all be one big knee-slapper if the stakes werent so high. Control of the states lower chamber hangs in the balance.

Republicans boasted a 66-to-34 majority going into this months elections. Now the count is 49 Democrats and 51 Republicans, including the two uncertified races. If those two delegates are not seated, the parties would be tied at 49 apiece.

Voter confidence could be especially tested if a losing candidate files a challenge with the state legislature, with the winner decided by a House vote, observers say.

[Va. holds off certifying tight House race amid new claims of ballot mix-ups]

View Graphic The latest stories and details on the 2017 Virginia general election and race for governor.

Voters who turned out in historic numbers for an off-year election could be turned off if contests end up decided by the House of Delegates, now controlled by Republicans, or a judge, said Cameron Glenn Sasnett, Fairfax Countys general registrar.

We have this election with phenomenal turnout. And we have people that participated for the first time in a gubernatorial election that are going to now have whatever decision was made by the voters potentially being overturned or challenged or questioned, Sasnett said. I think that will impact voter psyches when they go to vote again.

An election challenge in the legislature would be a rare but not unprecedented means of settling a Virginia General Assembly race.

Democrats and their allies have filed three lawsuits to try to block the State Board of Elections from certifying the 28th and 88th District races. Two of the suits were promptly dismissed. In the third case, a federal judge rejected Democrats request for a temporary restraining order to block the state board from certifying the 28th District election when it meets Monday. But he left open the possibility of a special election.

At that hearing in federal court, state officials said, they had discovered a total of 384 misassigned voters between the two House districts. But over the weekend, state elections officials indicated that 147 of the misassigned voters cast ballots.

Elections officials said the trouble began on Charles Street, in a heavily Democratic precinct where in 2016, 68 percent voters went for Hillary Clinton and 27 percent went for President Trump.

The whole street should be in the 28th District. But for some reason, voters living in odd-

numbered houses were reassigned to the 88th  an error affecting 83 registered voters. Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes disclosed the problem at a public meeting last Monday, saying Pitchford reassigned them in April 2016. He was at a loss to explain why.

There has been some pushback on the rogue registrar theory, with several people suggesting Pitchford could not have acted alone. Her daughter, Aliya Wong, said the registrar had plenty of supervision.

Blaming my mother seems entirely based on the word of Commissioner Edgardo Cortes, she wrote in a letter to the editor submitted to The Washington Post. Why are these errors just coming to light now? We know that dead (wo)men tell no tales, but apparently, they make great scapegoats.

[Opinion: Dont make her a scapegoat for this election drama]

Sasnett, the Fairfax registrar, vouched for Pitchfords professionalism at last weeks State Board of Elections meeting, saying he found it too convenient to lay the problem at the feet of someone who cannot speak for herself.

The assignment errors would affect both races, but the focus has been on the 28th because it is a squeaker  one of three tight races that are likely headed for recounts and could tip the balance of power in the House after a wave of Democratic wins.

[Democrats make historic gains in House]

In the 28th, Republican Robert Thomas leads Democrat Joshua Cole by 82 votes in the contest to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford).

In the 88th District, Del. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg)  no relation to Joshua Cole  beat Democrat Steve Aycock by more than 4,000 votes. But if Mark Coles race remains uncertified, and he is not seated when the legislature convenes in January, Democrats could use the vacancy to help them gain control of a chamber that the GOP has long dominated.

Democrats could take power if recounts produce a win in two other close races. Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax) has a 106-vote lead over Democrat Donte Tanner, while Del. David E. Yancey (R-Newport News) is up just 10 votes over Democrat Shelly Simonds.

A losing candidate could contest the results in the House, something Saslaw, one of Virginias longest-serving legislators, recalls happening just once before.

In 1979, Republican Meyera Oberndorf challenged her loss in a Senate race, which she blamed on malfunctioning voting machines. With the Senate under Democratic control, she got nowhere.

Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.
CALIFORNIA

Lawmaker quits over misconduct allegations

California Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra resigned Monday following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, making him the first lawmaker to leave office amid a spate of reports rocking the state Capitol.

The Los Angeles Democrat had said he wouldnt seek reelection and would leave office at the end of the next legislative session. But on Monday, Bocanegra said that he has decided to leave immediately after reflection over the Thanksgiving weekend and conversations with family, friends and supporters. Multiple women have accused him of kissing or groping them without consent.

In a statement released by his office, Bocanegra said he had hoped he could clear his name.

Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee voted Monday to remove state Sen. Tony Mendoza, another Los Angeles-area Democrat, as chair of the Insurance, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee. He is accused of inviting one woman over to his home, offering another alcohol when she was 19, and repeatedly holding one-on-one meetings with a woman over dinner or drinks.

His behavior with two of the women was formally reported. Mendoza has denied offering a staff member alcohol and said he wouldnt knowingly abuse his authority.

 Associated Press

MISSISSIPPI

Justices reject lawsuit over Confederate flag

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from an African American attorney who called the Confederate battle emblem on the Mississippi flag an official endorsement of white supremacy.

The justices did not comment as they ended a lawsuit by lawyer Carlos Moore that sought to have the flag declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery.

Mississippi has used the same flag since 1894. It is the last state banner featuring the Confederate symbol, a red field topped by a blue tilted cross dotted by 13 white stars. Critics say the symbol is racist. Supporters say it represents history.

Moore said Monday that he has received five death threats because of the lawsuit and three death threats because he removed the Mississippi flag from his courtroom after he became a Clarksdale city judge. He said hes disappointed but not surprised that justices chose not to consider the case.

Gov. Phil Bryant (R), who has called Moores lawsuit frivolous, has said repeatedly that if the flag design is to be reconsidered, it should be done by a statewide vote as it was more than 16 years ago. In an April 2001 referendum, Mississippi residents voted to keep the flag.

 Associated Press

COLORADO

Shooting threat targets ski towns high school

One student has been taken into custody and at least five others are being questioned as authorities investigate what they called a Columbine-style threat against a high school in a Colorado ski resort town.

Telluride High School was closed Monday as various law enforcement agencies searched the building in the Rocky Mountain town of fewer than 3,000 residents.

The Telluride Marshals Department said a student notified school staff about a possible threat Sunday afternoon. It says investigators learned about a threat being discussed on Snapchat to shoot students at the school Monday.

They later discovered another threat to detonate explosives around the school.

The department says a rifle and handgun were found in the home of the Telluride High student taken into custody. But police said they didnt find any guns or explosives on the schools grounds during the search.

 Associated Press

Mysterious vault found in N.H. statehouse: Civil War bonds, travel posters and other paperwork spanning a century of New Hampshire history were among the long-forgotten artifacts found Monday in a mysterious statehouse vault. The 6-by-10-foot space is at the top of a narrow spiral staircase in a room that served as the state treasury in the 1800s and later as the Department of Motor Vehicles. The room is assigned to the Senate Finance Committee.

 Associated Press
Festively clad kids meet Santa as their parents photograph the encounter Sunday at the Childrens Extravaganza, an annual holiday event at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Mass. The event with St. Nick, to which the missis also stopped by, sold out. (Gillian Jones/The Berkshire Eagle via AP)

Illinois

Woman who killed daughter is found dead

Authorities say a suburban Chicago mother who was scheduled to return to prison for the 2015 killing of her daughter, who had severe disabilities, has been found dead in an apparent suicide.

The Cook County Medical Examiners Office said Bonnie Liltz, 57, was pronounced dead Saturday. A county judge had ordered her to return to prison Monday.

Liltz was sentenced in 2016 after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her adult daughter. Liltz has had cancer and said she feared for her daughters future as her own health declined.

Liltz was released on bond while appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court, which declined to hear her case.

 Associated Press

New York

Pot for PTSD moves closer to availability

Against the backdrop of the nations largest Veterans Day parade, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced this month he would sign legislation making New York the latest in a fast-rising tide of states to approve therapeutic marijuana as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder despite the fact that is illegal under federal law and doesnt have extensive medical research to confirm its effectiveness.

Twenty-eight states plus the District now include PTSD in their medical marijuana programs, a tally that has more than doubled in the past two years, according to data compiled by the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. A 29th state, Alaska, doesnt incorporate PTSD in its medical marijuana program but allows people 21 and older to buy pot legally.

The increase has come amid increasingly visible advocacy from veterans groups.

Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Mark DiPasquale says the drug freed him from the 17 opioids, anti-anxiety pills and other medications that were prescribed to him for migraines, PTSD and other injuries.

I just felt like a zombie, and I wanted to hurt somebody, said DiPasquale, a co-founder of the Rochester-based Veterans Cannabis Collective Foundation.

DiPasquale pushed to extend New Yorks nearly two-year-old medical marijuana program to include post-traumatic stress.

Do I still have PTSD? Absolutely, said DiPasquale, 42. But Im back to my old self. I love people again.

 Associated Press

New Jersey

Church vandalism could be hate crime

Prosecutors say several acts of vandalism committed at five predominantly black churches in northern New Jersey are being investigated as possible hate crimes.

Broken windows and damaged exterior signs were discovered Saturday at the Morristown Church of Christ in Morris Township and at four churches in nearby Morristown: Church of God in Christ for All Saints, Bethel A.M.E. Church, Calvary Baptist Church and Union Baptist Church.

The vandalism occurred late Friday or early Saturday, authorities said.

 Associated Press

Las Vegas survivor dead in hit-and-run: A Las Vegas man who survived the Oct. 1 mass shooting at an outdoor concert in his home town was killed this month by a hit-and-run driver while hitchhiking on a Nevada highway, a local television station reported. Roy McClellan, 52, was killed Nov. 17 while walking on a highway in Pahrump, about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, KSNV reported. McClellan and his wife, Denise McClellan, survived the attack along the Las Vegas Strip by a gunman firing from a 32nd floor Mandalay Bay hotel room onto the crowd at a country music concert. Denise McClellan told KSNV that the massacre had a profound effect on her husband, saying, "It was really messing with his head, and he was going to therapy." The car that struck McClellan has been found, and charges against the driver are pending, KSNV said.

Man arrested in deadly pileup: Authorities arrested a Northern California man they say was behind a multicar pileup Saturday that killed four people and injured six others. Fred Lowe of Sacramento was arrested on suspicion of felony vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run and felony DUI, California Highway Patrol Officer Matthew Hamer said. He said Lowe, 47, left the scene at Interstate 80 in the San Francisco area and was apprehended later.

 From news services
These days, were awash in friendship. Apps such as Facebook and Instagram allow us to keep up with third-grade pals, colleagues from old jobs and vast numbers of other people. But many friends on social media represent superficial connections, lacking the support and strength of closer bonds. You might be comfortable sharing photos of parties and vacations with your broader network, but you probably hesitate to post during more trying times  the breakup, the tough month at work or the death of a loved one. During hard times, you might instead turn to a few trusted friends to weather stress and sadness.

Strong friendships are a precious resource, but scientists know surprisingly little about them. In particular, it's difficult to predict what about a person makes it likely that they will attract close friends or be viewed as a close friend by others. In a new study, we explored this question by mapping the ties between community members and measuring the personalities within those communities.

We surveyed college freshmen who had moved into dorms a few weeks before: brand-new adults building brand-new social circles.

We first gathered information about each dorm members personality. How happy are they? How extroverted? How empathic? We then asked students to nominate other dorm members whom they sought out in different circumstances. Whom do they hang out with, ask for advice or turn to during difficult times?

These nominations allowed us to visualize dorms social networks  dense webs of young relationships  and to test who ended up in the middle of these networks: central, connected and popular.

We found that different types of freshmen became popular in different ways. When choosing whom they enjoyed spending time with, people gravitated toward happy dorm-mates. But when indicating whom they confide in, people selected dorm-mates high in empathy, the ability to share and understand others emotions. Especially when things got tough, freshmen turned to their most empathic neighbors first. They trusted them with intimacy and vulnerability, the ingredients of deep friendship.

The transition to college is not an easy one for freshmen. They face new academic and social challenges, typically while separated from their family for the first time. Freshmen too often fall prey to stress, mood disorders and substance abuse. Our work suggests that connecting with empathic friends can buoy them amid difficult times.

It also offers a message about how to best cultivate close friendships.

On social media, people tend to advertise how well things are going for them. We post pictures of vacations with friends or joyous times with smiling children, not grinding days at work or toddler tantrums. By projecting happiness, we might make ourselves more likable and enjoyable to be around, and attract lots of acquaintances.

But our research suggests that if you want to build closer, more-sustaining bonds, empathy is a better place to start. By sharing others experiences and showing that you care, you can connect more deeply and create a circle of close and trusted friends.

Importantly, people can build their empathy and learn to connect with others through practice. This suggests that we can work to become the type of friend other people choose to trust.

It also provides a potential avenue for generating more-meaningful connections in our lives and combating loneliness. More people live by themselves now than ever, and loneliness has risen steadily across the decades.

Our work suggests that if individuals focus on feeling and showing empathy, they might be able to combat isolation by building deep, lasting friendships. And if communities focus on cultivating empathy together, they might create networks of trust that can sustain them during good times and protect them during lifes storms.

Zaki is a Stanford University professor of psychology and director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Morelli is a University of Illinois at Chicago professor of psychology and director of the Empathy and Social Connection Lab.

Read more

Not all empathy is alike. Compassionate empathy may be best for your health.

Loneliness can be depressing, but it may have helped humans survive

Three ways loneliness affects your health
Go back to California, the physician at a minor emergency center in a suburb of Tulsa told me. The words were flung  practically vomited  at me. I had gone to the center, a relatively new building that was beautifully decorated, on a Sunday morning in 2010 in terrible pain because of complications from surgery. The receptionist was pleasant, and the physician had entered the exam room smiling. He was about 50 years old and seemed friendly. But when I explained why I was there, the friendly smile quickly disappeared, and his face contorted into an expression of disgust and revulsion.

Two days earlier, I had returned to Tulsa from a week-long stay in California, where I had undergone a secondary labiaplasty  a procedure that refines the shape of the inner labia of the vagina. For this procedure, I had returned to the surgeon who performed my original genital reassignment surgery in 2005, confident that she could make some minor improvements. She was one of the leading specialists in the world, a gynecologist who had traveled the same medical journey as I had, from male sex assigned at birth to female. After returning home from this second surgery, I had developed a minor abscess around one suture. It was extremely painful and terribly frightening. I lived more than 1,000 miles from where the surgeon practiced, and my family-practice physician was not available on the weekend. Hence, the demoralizing and disastrous weekend visit to the minor emergency center.

The doctors words reverberated in my head: Go back to California. He fled the exam room soon after hed uttered them, without examining me or obtaining any further history.

I was devastated, angry, scared, embarrassed . . . and ashamed. It wasnt the first time a physician had made me  also a physician  feel this way. And its a problem in health care that simply must change.

Living like a girl

I am a transgender woman, meaning that I was identified at birth as male but I have known since my earliest memories that I am a woman. When I was growing up in small-town Kansas during the 1950s and 1960s, there was no Internet and there were no books, television shows or other media that could have affirmed for me that I was not the only person who felt this way.

For many Americans, life was easier, simpler and less cluttered during the decades of my childhood. For me, that was not the case. My only sibling, a younger sister, was my main playmate before my school years began. We played with dolls  dress-up and paper  during the day when my father wasnt around. I learned quickly that in the evenings when he was home, it had to be trucks and toy guns, cowboys and Indians. He was the gender police for me.

You walk like a girl, he would tell me. Or you throw a ball like a girl. You stand like a girl. You get dressed like a girl. You blow your nose like a girl. (Yes, he even said that.) These were behaviors that were to be eliminated. I quickly learned to be ashamed of the woman inside me and became fearful of showing any suggestion of femininity lest I be punished. At night, I would pray for God to let me wake up as a girl, but I intuitively knew that I could share my true feelings with no one else. My father was never physically abusive, but he was an intimidating presence not to be crossed or disappointed.

Suppression and denial became my daily ritual. I spent decades living as society expected me to do, and hid her (my true self) behind a veneer of masculinity. I went to college and medical school to become an osteopathic physician. I got married and helped raise four children.

Yet in moments when I found myself alone, I would put on womens clothing. It just felt so right. I would look at myself in a mirror and be so disappointed in the reflection. Sometimes I borrowed a few items of my wifes clothing. When I could, I purchased my own feminine clothes, carefully hidden to put on in private moments. Eventually, I would promise myself I would never dress up that way again. I would discard my treasured clothing in some place where it would never be discovered. This cycle repeated itself endlessly.

This emotional turmoil is common and is known as gender dysphoria. In some trans people, the disorder may be accompanied by substance abuse, self-harm or eating disorders as a means of coping with the tremendous pain that is experienced. Forty percent will attempt suicide.

By the time I was in my 50s, my gender dysphoria  which previously would strike me for a period of unbearable hours, days or even weeks but then would pass  had become constant. The condition was there when I awoke and lasted until I fell asleep. It was like a car alarm I was powerless to silence.

One afternoon, I parked my truck in a lot next to a busy four-lane street. I got out of the truck and watched as a large red semi headed my way. I walked in front of it, hoping my death might be viewed as an accident. The driver managed to swerve away from me, somehow, and I was unharmed. The next thing I remember, I was walking back to my truck. I sat inside and cried and cried. It was then I knew that I had to find help. Soon.

By then, with the advent of the Internet, I was able to learn more about what I was feeling.

In time, I found websites with credible information. One of the first things I learned was that there was a word for people like me: transgender. Soon I found other websites that provided information that probably saved my life: lists of mental-health therapists who provided therapeutic support for transgender people, and information about successful hormonal and surgical treatments that could enable me to become my true self. Finally, I had hope.

I found an online support group of transgender women at various stages in their journeys: They were happy, beautiful and alive. Over the next few months, I was able to connect with some of them by telephone and in person. Finally I knew that there was a path to becoming who I felt myself to be. I ran down that path and never looked back.

Gender identity is hard-wired

Gender identity  that internal sense of knowing oneself to be a man, woman or other  is understood to typically be fully developed by around the age of 4, sometimes earlier. Gender identity is unchanging and unchangeable, hard-wired into our brains. All of us inherently know our gender identity: It is not a conscious decision, but rather one aspect of everything that makes each of us an individual. Transgender people are simply born with a gender identity that does not match their body.

Research has shown that being transgender is most likely due to a hormonal imbalance in utero that happens when the fetal brain is differentiating into a male or female brain. Autopsy studies, functional MRI scans and SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) scans suggest that some people are born with a male brain and a female body, or vice versa. (Male and female brains have been shown to be slightly different in structure.) These studies suggest that transgender people have the brains that match their gender identity even before taking any cross-sex hormones.

It should be noted that not all of the people who identify as transgender feel themselves to be of the opposite sex. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Discrimination Survey of approximately 28,000 trans people showed that many respondents identified themselves variously as gender nonbinary, androgynous, gender nonconforming, gender queer, gender fluid or agender. Younger generations are moving beyond the idea that one must live in the world with a strictly binary (male or female) gender identity.

A lot has changed. During my childhood, teen and even adult years, transgender people were viewed as defective. Attempts to cure what was viewed as deviant behavior or mental illness included electroshock therapy, massive hormone doses, intense psychotherapy and psychiatric hospitalization. Aversion therapy, which attempted to replace maladaptive with normal behavior through a system of negative stimuli and rewards, was advocated. None of these treatments were effective in treating transgender children, teens and adults. Research and clinical experience gradually demonstrated that it is not efficacious to attempt to fix the brain; rather, it is effective to provide medical and surgical treatment (if desired) to change the body to conform with and affirm a persons gender identity.

When I began my journey to become my authentic self, my family-practice physician of many years refused to see me. She said that I had lied to her about who I was. This was a shock  but then, I guess I had lied to myself for decades, too. On numerous other occasions I have been refused care by physicians, sometimes because of discrimination and bigotry but at other times because of an expressed concern that we have no idea how to care for a transgender patient.

Because so few physicians will treat this population, many transgender people have given up trying to find medical care or are afraid to seek routine and emergency care. A 2014 Williams Institute study on transgender suicidality showed that 60 percent of transgender patients who are unable to find physicians have attempted suicide.

Fortunately, after several years I found a family-practice physician who is accepting and open-minded. I was the first transgender patient she had treated, so I have had to educate her about our treatment, follow-up care and culture. She has proved to be a wonderful learner.

It should be noted, however, that most transgender people do not choose gender-affirming surgeries. One common reason is a lack of insurance coverage. Many patients have no financial ability to pay for any medical care. Such treatment also may be contraindicated because of a co-occurring medical issue. Still others choose not to transition out of fear of loss of employment, family, extended family or friends.

Unfortunately, information about the appropriate treatment for transgender patients has not been taught in medical schools or postgraduate programs until recently, and even now it is only infrequently included in the basic few hours of LGBT education that the schools and programs provide. Most physicians now in practice have no training in how to care for transgender people.

Not uncommon

After being refused medical care for my acute abscess at the minor emergency center, I was able to tolerate the pain until my family-practice physician could drain the abscess and provide antibiotics. I healed physically without further difficulty, but the emotional scars from this event and countless others remain. When I meet a new physician for the first time, I automatically anticipate rejection or discrimination  or, at the very least, the need to educate the physician about the transgender population, the proper terminology to use and what constitutes appropriate care.

During medical school, my peers and I were taught about obscure medical diseases, conditions that I never saw during my 30-plus years of medical practice. Many of these were covered multiple times, in different classes. Transgender patients, in contrast, are not uncommon. Every practicing physician will encounter transgender patients in his or her practice. Yet medical education in the United States is failing to teach medical students and residents how to care for this population.

This has to change. No patient meeting a physician for the first time should fear being denied care or given incorrect treatment. The expression on a caring professionals face should be one of concern and interest, not a snarl of angry disgust.

Arrowsmith is a physician, educator and advocate for the transgender community. This article is adapted from the September issue of Health Affairs.

Read more

Truth and transgender at age 70

A small-town doctor wanted to perform surgeries for transgender women. He faced an uphill battle.

They were born identical twin boys, but one always felt he was a girl
By PTI: Madurai, Nov 27 (PTI) The Madras High Court today acquitted 35 crew members of a private US ship, who were convicted by a trial court last year, for illegally entering Indian waters with weapons in 2013.

Allowing their appeal, Justice M Basheer Ahamed set aside the lower courts January 11, 2016 order which sentenced the crew to five years rigorous imprisonment. The high court held that the charges against them had not been proved. The arrested included 10 Indians. The lower court in Tuticorin had found the crew of US company owned ship Seaman Guard Ohio guilty of violating Indian laws by possessing weapons. It had also slapped a fine of Rs 3,000 on each of them. Justice Ahamed also directed that the fine amount paid by the crew members be returned. Q branch police had filed the case against the crew members for illegally entering Indian waters with weapons. The crew, arrested on October 18, 2013, after their ship was intercepted by the Coast Guard off Tuticorin port, were granted conditional bail by the High court Bench here in March 2014. They were arrested after the Coast Guard found the ship carrying arms illegally in Indian waters off Tuticorin. They faced charges under the Arms Act and the Essential Commodities Act which was invoked as the ship had allegedly bought diesel from a local agent in violation of law.

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US firm AdvanFort International, which owns the ship, has maintained that the vessel was involved in anti-piracy operations and had not strayed into Indian waters. PTI SSN APR SRY

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SYRIA

Dozens reported killed ahead of U.N. talks

Government airstrikes and shelling outside the Syrian capital killed at least 23 civilians, activists reported Sunday, as fighting in the area showed no signs of letting up ahead of the resumption of U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva.

The governments jets and artillery launched attacks on residential areas in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported 25 fatalities. The Ghouta Media Center said 23 civilians were killed.

Rebels in Eastern Ghouta have held out against government forces throughout the nearly seven years of the Syrian conflict. Conditions are dire in the region, which is suffering from shortages of food and medicine because of a government-enforced blockade.

Also Sunday, at least 10 people were killed in an airstrike on an Islamic State-held village in eastern Syria, the activist-run DeirEzzor 24 group reported. The Observatory said at least 34 civilians were killed by a Russian airstrike. The numbers could not be reconciled. The Justice for Life group also reported the attack on al-Shaafa and said civilians were killed.

The United Nations is set to resume peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in Geneva on Tuesday.

 Associated Press

CUBA

Local elections mark step in Castro eras end

Cuba took another step on Sunday toward the end of the Castro era, with millions of residents placing paper ballots in cardboard boxes for ward delegates to municipal assemblies.

The vote comes the day after the first anniversary of revolutionary leader Fidel Castros death and precedes another election next year for provincial and national assembly deputies.

The new national assembly, where 50 percent of the deputies must be ward delegates elected Sunday, is expected on Feb. 24 to select a new president to replace Raul Castro, Fidels 86-year-old brother, who has said that he will step down.

Raul Castro will remain head of the Communist Party, the only legal party in Cuba, until 2021.

Nearly 27,000 candidates are running for 12,515 ward positions in Sundays election, the only part of the electoral process that is contested publicly and with direct participation by ordinary Cubans. The results will be announced Monday.

The electoral cycle comes at a tricky time for the nation as the revolutionary generation passes, an economic reform program appears stalled, aid from key ally Venezuela shrinks, and the Trump administration threatens.

Campaigning is prohibited in Cuba, and candidates for the ward posts were nominated at neighborhood meetings based on their personal merits, not policy positions.

 Reuters

UNICEF delivers 1.9 million vaccine doses to Yemen: The U.N. child agency said it has flown 1.9 million doses of vaccines to war-torn Yemen, its first aid delivery since a Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels tightened a sea and air blockade this month. The coalition had promised to reopen Yemen's main airport in the capital as well as the port of Hodeida to humanitarian traffic by late last week. However, two UNICEF vessels carrying food, water purification tablets and medicines heading to Hodeida have not yet received clearance to dock, regional UNICEF director Geert Cappelaere said. More than 11 million children in Yemen are in dire need of aid, he said.

Thousands protest Romania's tax, justice laws: Thousands protested in Romania's capital and other major cities against planned changes to the justice system that they say will allow high-level corruption to go unpunished, and a tax overhaul that could lead to lower wages. In Bucharest, the capital, protesters briefly scuffled with mounted police and thousands marched to Parliament. It was the biggest such protest since massive anti-corruption rallies at the beginning of the year.

Israeli minister resigns over railway Sabbath 'desecration': Israel's health minister, who heads a powerful ultra-Orthodox party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, has resigned, saying he opposed continued maintenance work on the country's railways on the Sabbath, when all labor is strictly prohibited by Jewish law. Ultra-Orthodox parties have provided Netanyahu with support to stabilize his coalition, while the government carves out large budgets for the minority community. These parties have in the past threatened to topple coalition governments by robbing them of their majority.

 From news services
The Virginia House of Delegates made a progressive decision to use the gender-neutral "delegate" to refer to all lawmakers ["Virginia House tosses gendered titles," Metro, Nov. 22]. However, ending the tradition of referring to delegates as "gentlewoman" and "gentleman" to avoid referring to "gentlewoman Roem" for Del.-elect Danica Roem (D) stinks. Let's be clear: Virginia House of Delegates, you made a progressive move for an oppressive reason, and that's lousy governance.

Cathy Roberts, Rockville
Centre County, Pa., District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller, left, announces findings in an investigation into the death of Penn State University fraternity pledge Timothy Piazza, seen in photo at right, as his parents, Jim and Evelyn Piazza, second and third from left, stand nearby during a news conference in Bellefonte, Pa., in May. (Abby Drey/Associated Press)

FOR MOST parents with children away at college, Thanksgiving is an eagerly anticipated holiday  the first visit home since the start of classes. Tragically, though, there was no return home for Andrew Coffey, 20, Matthew Ellis, 20, and Maxwell Gruver, 18, young men who were pledges at fraternities and died this semester after parties or initiation events. These needless deaths at three different university campuses  along with the horrific death earlier this year of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza at Pennsylvania State University  have again focused attention on the heavy drinking and brainless hazing rituals too often associated with Greek campus life. Whether universities this time will succeed in changing harmful behaviors remains to be seen.

"We've got a serious problem," said Florida State University President John Thrasher in suspending all activities at the school's fraternities and sororities following the Nov. 3 death of Mr. Coffey in which alcohol may have been a factor. Texas State University followed suit after Mr. Ellis died Nov. 13 in an incident also believed to be alcohol-related. Ohio State University (thankfully) didn't have anyone die but, citing allegations of widespread hazing and alcohol abuse, took aggressive action in banning its fraternities from social and recruitment activities.

In addition to the deaths, there have been a string of reports of other troubling incidents, including suspected cocaine trafficking, racist hazing of sorority women and anti-Semitic jokes. That has fueled the debate about whether the organizations should even be allowed to exist. There are positive sides to the organizations: community service, charitable work, the social support for students and the lifelong friendships that result. But at what cost? Not only does there continue to be a troubling emphasis on partying and heavy drinking with its harmful outcomes (including sexual assault), but also the ability of these groups to discriminate and reward privilege is  or should be  antithetical to the mission of universities.

"If we could create higher education from scratch, would we have organizations that divide people by race, class and gender at institutions that are supposed to be encouraging diversity?" John Hechinger, author of a book about fraternities, asked in the New York Times. The answer is no, but banning these organizations is unlikely. Not only would there be constitutional freedom-of-assembly concerns, but also the Greek system is central at many institutions to campus housing, social life and alumni. That leaves universities searching for what Mr. Thrasher called a "new normal." That would mean students committing to changes in behavior and university officials not looking away until someone dies.
I read Molly Roberts's Nov. 22 PostPartisan blog excerpt, "A faulty defense of Franken" [op-ed], with growing alarm. Ever since the Democratic wins in the Nov. 7 elections, I've been wondering how Democrats were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. (It does seem to be our special gift.) Now I know. It will be this toxic outbreak of little-old-ladyism. Amid this momentary craze of outing every instance of sex-related misbehavior, some perspective is urgently needed. Not to diminish what Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) did for one minute, but to say "the number of women a man didn't assault does not matter if there are others he did" is juvenile. Ms. Roberts apparently would have everyone's whole lives judged by their few worst and weakest moments. Worse, to talk about Mr. Franken, journalist Charlie Rose, former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in the same context, as if their alleged or real offenses were similarly egregious, is a slap in the face to the several women I know who have been violently raped. Their trauma is on a scale that is unimaginable by someone who was offended because some creepy jerk grabbed her behind.

Willis Turner, Richmond
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By PTI: to probe Panaji, Nov 26 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today asked state DGP to inquire into an incident wherein a man tried to evade police action for not wearing helmet by flaunting his "contacts" in the Chief Ministers Office (CMO).

The video of the incident, occurred in south Goa, went viral last week.

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In the video, a middle-aged man is purportedly seen bragging about his "contacts" in the CMO when a traffic police constable asked him to pay fine for riding a two-wheeler without wearing helmet.

"Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has directed DGP Muktesh Chandar to inquire into the incident wherein an unknown person was seen using the name of the CMO in the video," a CMO spokesman said in a statement.

He said the chief minister has reacted after the video has been widely circulated on social media. PTI RPS NSK SRE

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Columnist

After playing into Russia's hands on Syria, the Trump administration now risks repeating the error in Ukraine, where diplomatic discussions over a Russian initiative are heating up. Moscow's plan is to legitimize its invasion and control over parts of two eastern provinces by drawing President Trump into another bad deal.

Vladimir Putins pattern is familiar. He uses his military to escalate fighting on the ground and then approaches the West with a proposal sold as de-escalation. Appealing to European and U.S. desires for peace without Western intervention, the Russian president puts forward an alleged compromise. But in the details, Putins proposals are really designed to divide his adversaries and cement his gains.

Such was the case in September, when Putin introduced a proposal for "peacekeepers" inside eastern Ukraine, where Russia continues to fuel a violent separatist uprising that has resulted in more than 10,000 deaths and displaced more than 1.5 million people since 2014. Ukraine, European powers and the United States all decided to engage Moscow on the idea.

But as Ukraines foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, told me at the recent Halifax International Security Forum, Putins plan really isnt for peacekeepers at all. He is proposing that international troops deploy only to protect the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes special monitoring mission members in eastern Ukraine.

The idea of a peacekeeping mission is a serious one, Klimkin said. But the Russian proposal of a protection mission doesnt make any sense at all.

For one thing, the original Russian proposal was to deploy these forces along the line of contact between the Ukraine military and separatist forces. As the Ukrainian government sees it, that is simply Putins way of fortifying the reality that Russia created on the ground.

Nevertheless, Ukraine's international supporters are taking the proposal seriously. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Putin in September and persuaded him to yield on one point; Putin agreed the international force could be deployed not just along the contact line. That gave Western governments confidence a genuine negotiation with Moscow was possible.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke about the idea with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on Nov. 4. Kurt Volker, the Trump administration's part-time special envoy for Ukraine, met with his Russian counterpart Vladislav Surkov on Nov. 13 and proposed a counterplan.

The U.S. idea, Volker told me, is to create a true U.N. peacekeeping force that would have not only free rein but also security authority throughout contested areas. The force must have access to the Ukraine-Russia border and not have any Russian personnel in it, he said.

Moscow rejected 26 out of 29 of the paragraphs in Volker's proposal. But Volker said he intends to keep negotiating. He said the peacekeeping plan represents the best hope to return to Minsk II, a peace agreement that both Ukraine and Russia pledged to follow.

That process is stalled primarily because Russia wont honor provisions mandating a cease-fire, the removal of its heavy weapons from eastern Ukraine and access to the border. Russia still wont even acknowledge that it has forces on the ground in eastern Ukraine, much less remove them.

But the U.S. strategy is based on the assumption that Putin is looking for  or at least considering  a way out of his financial and military commitments in eastern Ukraine. If Putins long-term goal is to create a pro-Moscow Ukraine, his continued interference is having the opposite effect, Volker said.

What we are trying to do is clarify the options, Volker said. If they want to dig in, they can, but its going to cost a lot. If they want to move on, it can be something we all agree on and we can find a way to make that work out.

Ukraine has responsibilities under Minsk as well, including holding local elections in eastern Ukraine, giving the region special status and granting amnesty for the separatists. That can happen only if Putin holds up his end.

But if Putins goal is to stay in Ukraine and keep the country destabilized, prevent it from joining European institutions and maintain control over a buffer zone, he will never agree to a peacekeeping mission that meets Ukraine or Western conditions.

Most likely Putin is repeating his strategy in Syria, which was to engage in Kabuki diplomacy with the United States to buy time to consolidate battlefield gains he has no intention of giving up. Trump  and before him, President Barack Obama  went along with it, ensuring that the next phase of the conflict plays out on Russias terms.

Trump and Putin spoke Nov. 21 and discussed how to implement a lasting peace in Ukraine, according to the White House. Trump should pursue that peace, but not on Putins terms.

Read more from Josh Rogin's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
AS CONGRESS dithers, the fates of some 700,000 "dreamers," undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children, hang in the balance. Legions of chief executives, university presidents, advocacy groups and others have pleaded for lawmakers to lift the veil of uncertainty under which these immigrants, American in all but the legal sense, have lived since September, when the Trump administration announced it planned to end the protection from deportation they have enjoyed since 2012. Despite those pleas, Congress, facing a March deadline, has provided no legal means for dreamers to remain in the country where they've grown up, gone to school, worked and, in most cases, paid taxes.

Instead, the dreamers have become a bargaining chip, held in reserve by politicians seeking political advantage in Washington's unending partisan battles. Large majorities of Americans favor allowing dreamers to stay in this country legally, as do top executives across the technology, retail, financial and other sectors. Still, an eminently solvable problem remains unsolved.

The haggling over dreamers is Washington at its dysfunctional worst. President Trump pledged publicly to back a straightforward deal with the Democrats under which the immigrants are granted legal status, in return for some simple concessions on border security. Then, under pressure from hard-liners in the Republican base, he pivoted to a set of maximalist demands, including funding to build a border wall and reductions in legal immigration. Some Republican lawmakers sponsored a bill to put dreamers on a path to citizenship but attached conditions  for instance, barring them for at least 15 years from sponsoring relatives for green cards  more onerous than those faced by previous immigrant groups.

Democrats, having failed for more than 15 years to enact legislation to allow dreamers to stay in the country, now threaten to block a must-pass spending bill, potentially shutting down the government, unless the measure is amended to resolve the impasse. Republicans say that's unacceptable.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on dreamers, most of them in their teens, 20s and early 30s. Owing to the administration's decision to terminate Obama-era protections for them, about 30,000 will lose their protected status each month starting in March unless Congress acts. That means that in addition to becoming eligible for deportation, they will also lose permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump administration axed, that enable many of them to enroll in college with in-state tuition subsidies, work legally and obtain valid state driver's licenses.

Last month, tech giants such as Intel, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others joined a lobbying coalition organized to urge Congress to act to protect dreamers. Not to worry, said House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.): A fix is in the works. But in the next breath, Mr. Ryan said any fix would require "a lot of other things" in the way of border enforcement. That suggests Republicans are more interested in exacting concessions than in protecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have built lives in this country. Not exactly a recipe for hope.
Stephen H. Sachs was Maryland attorney general from 1979 to 1987.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments this Wednesday in Carpenter v. United States, a criminal case testing the scope of the Fourth Amendment's right to privacy in the digital age. The government seeks to uphold Timothy Carpenter's conviction and will rely, as did the lower court, on the court's 1979 decision in Smith v. Maryland, a case I know well.

I argued and won Smith v. Maryland when I was Maryland's attorney general. I believe it was correctly decided. But I also believe it has long since outlived its suitability as precedent.

Smith began as a run-of-the-mill purse snatching. Unsatisfied with the just-purloined purse, the defendant stalked the victim with threatening and obscene telephone calls. The telephone company  at police request, but without a judicial warrant based on probable cause  attached a "pen register" at its central office that recorded numbers dialed from Smith's home. Within three days, the device revealed a call to the victim that led to additional incriminating evidence and Michael Smith's conviction.

The court, dividing 5 to 3, ruled that the warrantless use of the pen register didnt constitute a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. It held that Smith had no legitimate expectation of privacy in the dialed numbers he voluntarily conveyed to a third party, the phone company. The court reasoned that the defendant knew or should have known that the phone company maintained such records in the normal course of its business. He therefore assumed the risk that the phone company could do with the records what it wished.

The facts in Carpenter are markedly different  and so is the technology. The defendant was convicted of leading a gang of robbers. The prosecution produced cellphone-tower data that tracked the whereabouts of Carpenter's cellphone for more than four months and placed him at or near the sites of a string of armed robberies. The police acquired the data from Carpenter's wireless carriers without a warrant showing probable cause.

A majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held that the phone-based logic of Smith was also applicable to cell-tower communications and affirmed Carpenter's convictions. Carpenter had voluntarily conveyed data revealing his location to wireless carriers  the third-party operators of the cell towers. He knew, or should have known, that the wireless carriers were free to track his locations and furnish the information to the police.

This is taking the Smith precedent way too far, in a vastly different technological age. When the Supreme Court decided Smith, in the pre-dawn of the digital age, we didn't know about the Internet, smartphones, cloud computing, Facebook or Twitter. No one involved in the case could foresee the digital revolution that was to come.

That new world is defined by the rapid increase in sophisticated  and invasive  technology. It is also defined by a relentless and pervasive assault on privacy. As journalist Julia Angwin has shown in her book "Dragnet Nation," the new digital world can track our movements, seize our secrets, manipulate our finances and much more.

In such a world, the very notion of a legitimate expectation of privacy seems antique.

There is evidence that the courts are catching on. Most predictive, perhaps, are the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, concurring in a 2012 case holding that the clandestine and warrantless attachment of a GPS tracking device to a defendant's car was an unconstitutional search. Sotomayor suggested that "the premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to third parties" is "ill suited to the digital age, in which people reveal a great deal of information about themselves to third parties in the course of carrying out mundane tasks." As Sotomayor noted, "People disclose the phone numbers that they dial or text to their cellular providers; the URLs that they visit and the email addresses with which they correspond to their internet service providers; and the books, groceries and medications they purchase to online retailers."

Sotomayor is right. The Supreme Court should develop a modern Fourth Amendment doctrine. Such a test would recognize the legitimate claims of law enforcement but set objective boundaries  such as the duration of an intrusion or the nature of the data seized  that constrain those claims. The Carpenter case is the court's opportunity to do so.

The world has changed profoundly since I argued Smith v. Maryland. And as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. taught us long ago: "The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience."
Lagranda Jeune, 7, talks about her family's immigration status at a news conference in Miami on Nov. 21. Most of Jeunes family has temporary protected status, and she was born in the United States. (Marta Lavandier/AP)

The Nov. 22 editorial "Kicking Haiti while it's still down" cast the return of nearly 60,000 Haitians living in the United States under temporary protected status as a lack of charity. It is, rather, an act of stupidity. U.S. taxpayers have invested in educating these Haitians' 27,000 U.S.-born children and in health and social benefits for the parents. Now we propose to spend more money repatriating people who on the whole have become taxpayers and contributors to our society.

The editorial correctly pointed out that Haiti suffers from chronic corruption and inept economic management. The Miami Herald reported that Haiti's government and elites embezzled large amounts of the $2 billion in discounted loans provided by Venezuela. Such corruption and other crimes started under the Duvalier regimes, backed by our government.

It is past time for the United States to come clean and for it to release all classified communications it had during the Duvalier regimes to enable the prosecution of these criminals. The assets of all Duvaliers in the United States should be frozen and entry to those who embezzled the aid denied.

And U.S. taxpayers need an accounting for their laundered tax dollars used to oppress Haitians.

J.P. Villedrouin, Sterling

The writer is president of Heros-4JAL, a Haiti-focused nonprofit social justice group.
I disagree with the assumption that as the "U.S. begins bombing Taliban drug labs in new strategy" [news, Nov. 21], it "could become a long, expanded air war there under President Trump." The Taliban has only to apply the extremists' human-shield tactic of forcing children and mothers into and around its estimated 400 to 500 opium laboratories and the U.S. bombing campaign would likely come to a screeching halt. The estimated $200 million a year the insurgents earn in drug money would continue to fund their war. Militant extremists know we are suckers for scruples and will not kill innocent, captive civilians, especially children. Drug shipments to Europe would resume, and Westerners would die.

Annemarie Brown, Falls Church
Congress will return to Washington this week to confront a series of highly charged partisan issues as a deadline for extending government funding approaches, raising the specter of a December government shutdown.

Leaders of both parties have publicly played down the possibility of a showdown next month. Funding expires on Dec. 8, and both sides have floated the possibility of a short-term stopgap to push negotiations until just before Christmas.

There shouldnt be any discussion about shutting down the government. We can make this thing work. We just need to get people at the table, negotiate it, Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the third-ranking Republican senator, said on Fox News Sunday.

But informal talks have been abortive, and bitter partisan divides over spending, health care and immigration threaten to set up an impasse.

The tone could be set quickly. Congressional leaders of both parties are set to meet Tuesday with President Trump at the White House in a summit that could smooth the path for the month ahead  or inflame simmering fights.



President Trump meets with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan R-Wis.) at the White House in March. Democratic leaders will join the three for a summit Tuesday. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

The last time Trump met with those top leaders  House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)  he sided with the Democrats ahead of a September deadline, averting a standoff over spending and the federal debt limit.

Trump has not indicated whether this time he will be as amenable. Multiple aides in both parties cautioned that the meeting might not yield an agreement  partly because key issues bedeviling the leaders remain unresolved and also because Republicans want to keep the focus this week on their sweeping tax bill.

While Republicans try to wrap up their tax effort, they must negotiate with Democrats on the litany of other governing items. The first step toward a resolution will be reaching an agreement on government spending levels for 2018 and perhaps beyond, lifting caps imposed under a bipartisan 2011 budget deal.

I just say, be ready for a potentially wild month in December, said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee who for months has pushed GOP leaders to reach a spending accord with Democrats. This is going to get a bit complicated.

Under current law, Congress may appropriate no more than $549 billion for defense programs and $516 billion for nondefense programs next year, a cut from current levels.

But the Trump administration and defense hawks want to boost defense spending to more than $600 billion, and Democrats are demanding a dollar-for-dollar increase in nondefense spending. Because House Republicans have needed Democrats to help pass spending bills in recent years amid opposition from fiscal conservatives and because Senate Democrats can filibuster any spending bill, party leaders have leverage to force a deal.

[House passes nearly $700 billion defense authorization bill]

Were going to need their help, Dent said of Democrats. And the question for the Democrats is: Are they going to play ball with us?

Talks before the Thanksgiving holiday focused on raising spending levels somewhere between $180 billion and $200 billion over the next two fiscal years combined but went nowhere, according to multiple people familiar with the negotiations. Aides from both parties warned that if a spending accord is not reached this week, hopes for the passage of a broad appropriations bill before Christmas would be dim.

The GOP tax bill, which is being considered under special procedures that do not require bipartisan cooperation, has made some Democrats increasingly resistant to collaborating with Republicans in any sense.

The decisions made during the next month will affect Americans economic well-being for the next decade, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday. Our job is to break through all the tweets and the noise and focus on the economics at hand.

Aside from the basic task of keeping the government open, lawmakers also are pushing to deliver tens of billions of dollars in additional federal aid to disaster victims across the country before the year ends, including those affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as by Western wildfires. The White House requested another $44 billion in aid this month and asked that the increased spending be offset by unrelated spending cuts, a proposal that quickly earned bipartisan criticism.

Complicating the passage of any spending deal are the highly charged politics of health care and immigration.

Democrats have pushed for the passage of bipartisan legislation drafted in the Senate that would help stabilize the market for individual insurance coverage established under the 2009 Affordable Care Act by appropriating funds that allow insurers to reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income Americans. Trump canceled the payments, which had previously been made absent congressional appropriation, in October.

But conservative Republicans have opposed any attempt to shore up the ACA, and the GOP tax bill could eliminate a core provision of the law: the tax penalty meant to compel Americans to secure insurance coverage. Moderate Republican senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have said they would like to see the stabilization bill pass alongside any repeal of the ACA mandate, but Schumer has said Democrats would not support passing the stabilization bill under those circumstances.

[Senate GOP changes tax bill to add Obamacare mandate repeal, make individual income cuts expire]

In a declaration that could put Democrats on edge, Trump said in a Thanksgiving Day tweet that he would continue pushing to repeal the law entirely in the new year: "Even though the Dems want to Obstruct, we will Repeal & Replace right after Tax Cuts!"

Immigration could be an even more emotionally charged issue for Democrats. Dozens of liberal lawmakers have vowed to withhold their votes for any spending bill if Trump and Republicans refuse to use the must-pass legislation up for consideration this month as a way to provide legal protections to hundreds of thousands of dreamers, the young children of undocumented immigrants.

Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in September, giving Congress until March to codify protections for the young immigrants the program protects or risk their eventual deportation. Given the leverage Democrats have in the House and Senate, some of their most liberal members  including Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.)  are calling on Schumer and Pelosi to force the issue this month in talks with Trump, McConnell and Ryan.

Trump, meanwhile, continues to push for funding for a Mexican border wall  a request Democratic leaders have so far rejected outright. It remains on the administrations wish list for a year-end spending deal.

While dozens of Republican lawmakers have joined Democrats in calling for a resolution to the dreamer issue, senior GOP aides continue to dismiss the idea that an immigration agreement can be included alongside complex fiscal concerns.

There is no immediate deadline for DACA, one senior Republican aide said, dismissing Democrats vows to withhold support. Another senior aide called the push for a resolution this month nonsense, given the March deadline.

Ryan told reporters earlier this month that he wants to complete a 2018 spending bill before lawmakers break for Christmas. But a key conservative leader said Sunday that he considered such a schedule highly unlikely, given the amount of unfinished business on the GOP agenda.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, suggested that a stopgap should instead extend spending talks into January. That would give Republicans time to complete the tax bill and focus on preserving GOP priorities in any deal with Democrats.

To suggest that the Democrats are driving the narrative under a Republican administration and can demand whatever they want for an end-of-the-year spending bill would beg the question: Whats different from this administration to prior administrations? he said. It would be very problematic for most of the voters that turned out to vote for a change in last years presidential election.

Looming over everything is the Dec. 12 special election in Alabama, which could narrow the already tight Republican majority in the Senate. Republican nominee Roy Moore, running to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has been fighting allegations of sexual misconduct. Democratic nominee Doug Jones leads in some polls.

[Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32]

A Jones victory could spell doom for the GOP tax bill if it is not passed into law by the time he would be seated, probably in late December or early January. A Moore victory would carry its own risks, given his enmity for McConnell and GOP establishment leaders.

If Roy Moore wins and he comes into the Senate in January, theres going to immediately be an ethics investigation, which is going to be a cloud . . . and is going to be a distraction for us and our agenda, Thune said Sunday.

Besides the spending battle, other major deadlines are approaching.

The Children's Health Insurance Program expired Sept. 30, and Congress has yet to come to a bipartisan agreement to reauthorize it, leaving health coverage for nearly 9 million in limbo. While states have been able to continue their programs using surplus funds, at least five states say they will inform families that their coverage is in jeopardy and begin winding down their programs if Congress does not act in coming weeks.

[States prepare to shut down childrens health programs if Congress doesnt act]

A federal law that allows intelligence agencies to gather foreign electronic communications on U.S. soil will expire Dec. 31, potentially taking away what the National Security Agency has called "the single most important operational statute" at its disposal unless Congress acts to renew it. Several lawmakers want to constrain the government's authority to search intelligence gathered under the program for information about Americans. While there are bipartisan bills to revise and extend the law, no agreement has been reached to advance them.

Congress also is under pressure to decide whether it wishes to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, following Trump's October declaration that Tehran was not in compliance with the pact's terms.

The 60-day window for Congress to decide expires in December, but leading Republican senators have already indicated a preference to maintain the deal while passing new legislation to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon once the deal expires. That still sets up a potential January deadline for action on Iran, as Trump must continue to waive certain sanctions at that point to keep the nuclear pact intact.

Damian Paletta and Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.

Read more at PowerPost
U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017. The Court, which has avoided major gun cases for seven years, on Monday declined to hear a challenge backed by the National Rifle Association to Maryland's 2013 state ban on assault weapons enacted after a Connecticut school massacre. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Maryland law banning the sale of semiautomatic guns with certain military-style features, similar to weapons used in recent mass shootings.

The justices in the past have passed up the chance to hear challenges to similar laws in a handful of other states. But attorneys general in 21 states had asked the court to hear the Maryland case, and the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups had joined the effort.

Marylands ban on assault weapons was passed after the 2012 mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

A district judge had cast doubt on the constitutionality of the law. But the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond upheld the ban in a 10-to-4 vote.

That court went further than other appellate courts that have reviewed similar laws, stating that assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are not protected by the Second Amendment.

The majority opinion, written by Judge Robert B. King, refers to the banned firearms as weapons of war that the court says are most useful in the military.

In a strongly worded dissent, Judge William B. Traxler Jr. said his colleagues have gone to greater lengths than any other court to eviscerate the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) on Monday said there was no reason for the Supreme Court to review the lower-court ruling.

The Maryland Firearm Safety Act is a common-sense law, Frosh said in a statement. The Supreme Courts denial of certiorari confirms the principle that states may protect their citizens and communities from the devastation of these weapons of war. . . . Assault weapons, which have resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of people in recent months, are not protected by the Second Amendment.

Gun rights groups contend that the term assault weapon is propaganda and that Marylands ban outlaws some of the countrys most widely owned weapons.

In its friend-of-the-court brief, the NRA urged the justices to clarify the reach of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which found a constitutional right to gun ownership for self-defense.

The 4th Circuit, the group wrote, "held that the Second Amendment provides absolutely zero protection to the most popular long guns in the country and standard-capacity ammunition magazines that number in the tens of millions."

It added, In no other context would such a widespread, overt, and severe entrenchment upon constitutional rights be tolerated.

Despite the push from other states and the groups, Mondays decision could not be termed a surprise. The justices have previously declined to review other lower-court decisions that uphold bans passed by cities and states. Maryland, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey, as well as many cities and towns, have similar laws.

In 2015, Justice Clarence Thomas criticized his colleagues for not accepting such a challenge. The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting, Thomas wrote. Under our precedents, that is all that is needed for citizens to have a right under the Second Amendment to keep such weapons.

No member of the court wrote to explain the court's decision not to hear the Maryland case, Kolbe v. Hogan.
Manushi Chhillar speaks to the media in India, for the first time since her victory.

By India Today Web Desk: Miss World Manushi Chhillar is finally back to her homeland, India and has been the cynosure of all eyes ever since.

After being spotted by the paparazzi at Siddhivinayak Temple, the diva addressed the Indian media for the first time since her victory.

Manushi spoke at length on her future plans, especially with regard to her campaign to promote menstrual hygiene in the country.

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When asked if she had Bollywood one her mind, she said, ''When I entered medical college, my father told me that the work of a doctor translates into actor because he or she also has to take care of he patient and his family. So, I am kind of doing both. This one year, I will be travelling across the world. We will be spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene. Bollywood, as of now is not on my mind.''

Manushi was also asked to comment on the life threats being issued against Deepika Padukone, who is also internationally recognised Bollywood actress. There's one thing all India women have in common-we face our challenges head on. As women, we should set an example and make others feel confident that they can do amazing things as well.''

Talking about the idea of beauty, she added, ''This is not just about outer beauty. It is not just a beautiful face that wins the competition. It is one beautiful heart that is selected to represent beautiful faces.''

Addressing other women in the country chasing their dreams, Manushi advised, ''Never give up on your dreams. I feel fortunate that my parents supported me. To other women I want to say, don't give up.''

''I would like to work in an Amir Khan movie because these movies have a message in them. My personal favourite actress in Priyanka Chopra, '' added Miss World 2017.

How would she carry out her responsibilities as Miss World? '' I love what I am doing. I am not taking any pressure. I am actually enjoying it, '' said Manushi.

Recalling people's response on finally seeing her at the airport, she said, ''It was very overwhelming, I was counting every minute on my flight back to India. I felt so loved. It is a great feeling when you bring pride back to your country.''

Julia Morley, chairman of the Miss World Organisation was also present at the press conference along with Manushi.

Talking about the pageant, Morley added, '' When I came in, I liked the idea of people being free to do what they like. Women were not comfortable in the idea of walking on ramps in bikini. So, we moved to the beach. Realising that we work with people from around the world, we need to be considerate. There are things not everyone is comfortable with.''

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Commenting on what took India 17 long years to bring back the prestigious crown to the country, Julia said, ''India has to know that while they have waited for 17 years, some countries have also waited for more than 60 years. India should know that you have to take it as it comes. It is very much the jury that makes decisions.There are many different people around the world, and the jury chooses when it chooses.''

When asked about how Indians are perceived abroad, Manushi said, ''They thought I was a Bollywood actress. They are all very similar, we don't have pre-conceived notions. I went with a suitcase full of food. People knew me because they came asking food. People come with fresh minds. They are curious and they want to know.''

How has her victory inspired women in Haryana? ''When I won the pageant in my State, I had girls coming and asking me. They wanted to know, and its good to see people trying,'' added Manushi.

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Talking about the contributions she wants to make to her State, she said, ''I am very excited to go to Haryana and meet people, because they have been very kind. I would love to contribute to Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao Andolan.''

On being trolled on social media, Manushi said, ''It's okay to have an opinion, and that's all right. I'll focus on the positive side.''

Finally, on the idea of Beauty With A Purpose round of the pageant, Julia Morley shared an incident with the media, and said, "In 1962, I was watching an old lady, she was washing children on the street, children who couldn't move. She washed them daily. One day, I went to her and asked her if she ever got tired, and she responded, "Isn't it better to light a candle in the darkness than to have no light at all?" And that day, Beauty With A Purpose came into the world."

--- ENDS ---
Sen. Al Franken, facing an ethics investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, returned to work at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, vowing to focus on his official duties as he seeks to regain the trust of his supporters.

After 10 days of seclusion in Washington, Franken reemerged Sunday to answer questions from Minnesota news outlets about multiple accusations of inappropriate contact with women before and after he became a senator. On Monday, he faced the Capitol Hill reporters he sees most often, saying, I know that Ive let a lot of people down.

I know there are no magic words I can say to regain your trust and that its going to take time, he said at a news conference.

Franken, a former comedic actor, reiterated points he made in the weekend news interviews  that he is deeply apologetic for his actions and hopes to regain peoples trust. In reference to accusations that he inappropriately touched women at public events, he said he needs to be much more careful, much more sensitive in the future.

[He put his hand full-fledged on my rear: Why Franken could be in a lot more trouble now]



Sen. Al Franken D-Minn.), far left, speaks to the media outside his office in the Hart Senate Office Building on Monday. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Franken said that he is open to making the findings of the ethics investigation public if the typically opaque panel allows it.

Ive not worked with the ethics committee before, and I dont know how that works, but Im certainly open to it, he said in response to a question.

As to why he is unable to say whether more women might accuse him of improper conduct, Franken said that is because the accusations aired so far took him by surprise: If you had asked me two weeks ago will any woman come out with an allegation like this, Id have said no.

Frankens return signaled that he intends to be an active if muted participant in the coming days as Congress resumes its work. The body has a daunting to-do list that includes the Republican push to overhaul the tax code and addressing a Dec. 8 spending deadline.

Since the accusations surfaced, a handful of Minnesota Democrats and two national liberal groups have called on Franken to step down. But a network of supporters, led by former staffers, has circulated statements of support from former employees, dozens of female Democratic officials in Minnesota and even former cast mates and production crew members on Saturday Night Live, where the senator first earned national acclaim.

On Sunday, however, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) suggested that Franken should consider resigning.

The things hes already admitted to I find to be outrageous and offensive  and I do think on that alone he should consider resigning, Rubio told WFOR-TV in Miami.

In the weekend interviews, Franken faced multiple questions about his decision to stay in office despite allegations that he groped several women during photo opportunities and that he forcibly kissed an entertainer while on a USO tour in 2006 before he was elected to the Senate.

[Did he or didnt he? Franken keeps apologizing for groping he says he cant remember doing.]

In one interview, he called a photo of him appearing to fondle Los Angeles radio anchor and model Leeann Tweeden inexcusable.

"I am ashamed of that photo," he told Minnesota Public Radio. "You know she didn't have any ability to consent. She had every right to feel violated by that photo."

But he disputed Tweedens accusation that he forcibly kissed her, saying he didnt recall the moment that way.

Regarding accusations that he intentionally grabbed womens backsides during photos, he said that he did not remember the particular pictures in question.

Im someone who, you know, hugs people, he told MPR. Ive learned from these stories that in some of these encounters I have crossed the line for some women.

Sensitive to his celebrity status, Franken has been mostly seen and not heard from on Capitol Hill until this year. But he has emerged as a lead Democratic foil to the Trump administration, especially in his aggressive questioning of Attorney General Jeff Sessions at Senate Judiciary Committee hearings  exchanges that earned wide play on television news programs.

On Monday, however, Franken appeared dour and uncomfortable as he addressed reporters in front of his office in the Hart Senate Office Building. Dozens of onlookers watched from higher floors, peering over as reporters lobbed questions at the senator.

Im going to go back to work, and work as hard as I can for the people of Minnesota, Franken said as he concluded his news conference, and Im going to start that right now.

David Weigel contributed to this report.
In June 2015, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn took a little-noticed trip to Egypt and Israel, paid for by a U.S. company he was advising. The company hoped to build more than two dozen nuclear plants in the region, in partnership with Russian interests.

Flynns quiet involvement in that project  and his failure to disclose his ties to the effort  could complicate the legal issues facing President Trumps former national security adviser, who has signaled that he may be willing to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

[Flynns lawyer shuts down communications with Trumps team, a sign he may be cooperating with Mueller probe]

Congressional Democrats say Flynn may have violated federal law by failing to disclose the Middle Eastern trip in his security clearance renewal application in 2016. A top House Republican declined the Democrats request for a congressional inquiry but referred the allegations to the special counsel.

Last month, Mueller revealed that his wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election had led to charges against three former Trump campaign officials. One of them, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, has been cooperating, according to court filings.

There are now signs that Flynn  whose international dealings have been the subject of intense interest by the special counsel  may also be willing to share information with prosecutors. Last week, his attorney shut down communications with Trump's legal team, a development many interpreted as suggesting possible cooperation with Mueller.

Investigators for the special counsel have been examining whether Flynn hid foreign business dealings, particularly work he did for Turkish interests during the campaign, according to people familiar with the probe.

The nuclear venture is yet another instance in which Flynn appeared to have a personal stake in an international project while he was advising Trump in 2016, giving prosecutors one more potential avenue to pressure him to cooperate.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. An attorney for Flynn declined to comment.

Flynn remained involved in the Middle Eastern nuclear project from the spring of 2015 to the end of 2016, according to recent financial disclosure filings, a period that partially overlapped with his role as a prominent adviser to Trumps campaign and transition.

General Flynns actions are part of a broader pattern of concealing his foreign contacts, payments, travel and work on behalf of foreign interests, said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The bigger question is this: What did President Trump know, and why did he disregard all the red flags?

The White House declined to comment.

Flynn served as an adviser to two Washington-based companies pursuing efforts to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East: ACU Strategic Partners, which proposed a partnership with Russian interests, and IP3/IronBridge, which later launched a separate endeavor that initially proposed working with China to build the infrastructure, according to federal documents and company officials.

In various filings in 2016 and 2017, Flynn did not initially disclose his connection to ACU and foreign contacts he made while advising the firm.

Flynn said he served as an "advisor" to ACU from April 2015 through June 2016, according to an amended financial disclosure he filed this August. But he made no mention of the company in a "Truth in Testimony" form he signed for a congressional appearance in June 2015, shortly before he traveled to the Middle East on the trip paid for by ACU. Flynn wrote that he was representing his company, Flynn Intel Group, at the hearing.

He also did not reveal his ties to ACU on the personal financial disclosure form he completed in February after entering the White House, according to federal filings. It was not until August  six months after he was forced to resign as national security adviser  that he disclosed a relationship with the firm on the amended form.

But perhaps his most serious omission, House Democrats contend, came on his security clearance renewal application in January 2016 and in his interview with background check investigators the following month, according to an Oct. 18 letter signed by Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee.

It appears that General Flynn violated federal law by omitting this trip and these foreign contacts from his security clearance renewal application and concealing them from security clearance investigators who interview as part of that background check, according to the letter.

It is a criminal offense to knowingly omit material information requested by federal officials conducting such a review.

An attorney for Flynns company told the committee that it would not provide documents about the Middle Eastern nuclear project unless it was subpoenaed, according to the letter.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, declined to issue a subpoena and instead referred the Democrats concerns to Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.

"Much of what is sought by my Democratic colleagues  if properly investigated, charged and proven beyond a reasonable doubt  would carry criminal penalties," Gowdy wrote in his Oct. 18 letter, posted by the committee. "Congress does not, and cannot, prosecute crimes."

Gowdy, a former prosecutor, did not offer his opinion on whether the allegations had merit, but he wrote that he did not want to risk interfering with any ongoing criminal probes.

[Lobbying activities of Michael Flynns son being examined by special counsel on Russia]

Flynn, who was fired by President Barack Obama from his post as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, became involved in ACU's project in 2015, as part of a group of former top military and diplomatic officials and nuclear experts the company assembled to help push its plan.

The idea: to build several dozen proliferation-proof nuclear power plants across Persian Gulf states. The plan relied heavily on Russian interests, which would help build the plants, as well as possibly take possession of spent fuel that could be used to build a nuclear weapon, according to people familiar with the project.

ACU's managing director, Alex Copson, had been promoting variations of building nuclear facilities with Russian help for more than two decades, according to news reports. Copson did not respond to requests for comment, and ACU's counsel, Don Gross, declined to comment.

ACU officials declined to identify its investors. The company said in a statement Monday night that it has never used or accepted investment funds from any foreign government or any company or individual affiliated with any foreign government.

Around the time he began advising the company, Flynn was warning publicly that Americas national security would be at risk if the United States allowed Russia and other countries to spearhead nuclear energy projects in the Middle East.

"I don't want Russia to be talking to Jordan about building nuclear plants," Flynn testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on June 10, 2015. "I don't want the Chinese or Pakistan to be talking to the Saudis about building potentially 10 to 15 plants. I don't want the Russians to go over to Egypt and talk to them about building nuclear plants."

I want the United States of America to be in the drivers seat, he added.

Two weeks later, Flynn traveled to the region. There, he urged Egyptian officials not to sign a deal with Russia to build nuclear plants and assured Israeli officials that ACU's plan could prevent Israel's enemies from obtaining material for nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with his conversations. The trip was first reported by Newsweek.

Thomas Cochran, an expert on nuclear nonproliferation issues who worked as ACUs senior scientist, joined Flynn on the Israel portion of the trip. Because General Flynn firmly believed in the necessity of the project from a US national security perspective, he traveled to Egypt and Israel to explain the ACU projects importance, he wrote in a June letter to congressional investigators.

Flynn did not have a contract with ACU, but the company paid more than $5,000 toward his expenses for the trip, according to the firm and federal filings.

ACU also wrote Flynn a $25,000 check for what it described in a letter to the House Oversight Committee as the loss of income and business opportunities resulting from this trip. But the company said Flynn never cashed the check, mystifying congressional investigators who have examined the matter.

Around June 2016, according to his financial disclosure, Flynn ended his association with ACU and began advising a company called IP3/IronBridge, co-founded by retired Rear Adm. Michael Hewitt, a former ACU adviser.

IP3 initially proposed partnering with China and other nations, rather than Russia, to build nuclear power plants, according to a company spokesman, who said the China component has since been dropped.

In August 2016, the company produced a PowerPoint presentation that included Flynns photo and former government title on a page titled IP3/IronBridge: Formidable US Leadership. The document was labeled as a Presentation to His Majesty King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and displayed the seals of Saudi Arabia and the United States. The presentation was obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who made it public.

IP3 officials said in a statement to The Washington Post that the document was never presented to the Saudis. The company also said that while it had offered Flynn a role as an advisor in June 2016 with no pay, Flynn responded that he wanted to hold off. In December, the company said, he sent a letter to IP3 terminating the offer.

Asked why Flynn reported on various financial disclosure forms that he had been a "consultant," "board member" and "advisor" to IP3, the company said it appeared that Flynn disclosed a "potential" role "out of an abundance of caution."

Cummings said his committee was not informed that Flynn had an offer from IP3 that he deferred until after the election.

Flynn continued to support the idea of the nuclear project during the presidential transition. He encouraged Tom Barrack, one of Trump's closest friends, to pursue a related plan and endorsed a colleague's suggestion that Barrack meet with IP3 officials, according to a person familiar with their conversation.

Barrack was interested in developing a Middle East Marshall Plan to provide aid to poor regions of the Persian Gulf as a way to combat terrorism. At Flynns urging, he had a lunch with IP3 officials but did not know that Flynn had served as an adviser to the firm, according to the person with knowledge of the episode.

Barrack declined to comment.

Both the ACU and IP3 proposals remain in flux and would require numerous governmental approvals to proceed.

Meanwhile, other nations have moved to secure their own nuclear power projects in the Middle East.

In May, two years after Flynn visited Egypt to urge that nation not to sign a deal with Russia and to work with a U.S. firm instead, Egypt finalized a deal with Moscow to build its first nuclear power plant. The arrangement was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
A retired Marine colonel who once served as a top aide to White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly plans to launch a long-shot write-in campaign Monday afternoon to become Alabamas next senator, with just 15 days left in the campaign.

Lee Busby, 60, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., said he thinks that the allegations of sexual impropriety against Republican nominee Roy Moore have created an opportunity for a centrist candidate to win more than a third of the states votes in the Dec. 12 special election.

I think you can flip this thing. If this were a military operation, the left flank and the right flank are heavily guarded, Busby said. I think that gives you an opportunity to run straight up the middle.

[Trump continues to boost Roy Moores Senate bid as other Republicans keep distance]

Busby, who was lacking any formal campaign structure or even a working website as of Monday morning, said he is counting on social media to spread the word about his campaign. He said he plans to run as an independent on his record as an investment banker, military leader and defense contractor and entrepreneur. He spent the weekend working on a logo and said he is just starting to explore the legal requirements for raising money for a campaign.

Busby retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 and has focused on his most recent passion, as a sculptor in clay of U.S. military veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars. His artistic work was recently featured in Southern Living.

I just dont believe that either one of them are qualified to be in the U.S. Senate, Busby said of Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones, noting that both mens professional experience was in the law. He said he attended a fundraiser for Jones this year but did not donate.

[The scene in Alabama as Roy Moore and Doug Jones compete for the Senate seat]

As for the allegations of Moore having inappropriate contact with teenage girls, which Moore has denied, Busby said he was not certain of the truth.

It has created enough distaste in my mind, he said. As a voter, I dont need to get to the bottom of it.

Republican leaders in Washington and Alabama have effectively ruled out running a write-in campaign against Moore because they think it would split the Republican vote, all but ensuring a victory for Jones. Busby, who is divorced with four grown children, argued that his campaign could attract voters from Jones as well as Moore supporters.

The people of Alabama are not going to be represented by someone who supports a liberal abortion policy, Busby said. Im extremely concerned about the Democratic Party in Alabama. I dont think they reflect Alabamas views.

[Allegations against Roy Moore create awkward choice for suburban women in Alabama]

Polls suggest that the race has tightened in recent weeks as Republican leaders in Washington have cut ties with Moore after the allegations against him were circulated. A Nov. 21 survey for the Raycom News Network found that about 3 percent of the states voters planned to write in a candidates name on Election Day. Under state law, write-in candidates will be counted as long as they are for a living person otherwise eligible for the office.

Busby said he voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and Donald Trump in the general election. He said he supports Republican efforts to lower taxes, though he has not examined the House and Senate tax reform proposals. He said that he wants to repeal Obamacare and that life begins at conception, though there should be exceptions in antiabortion laws for cases of rape, incest or threats to the life of the mother.

At some point, it becomes a human life, he said of an unborn fetus. And you have to protect those who cant protect themselves.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Busby served as an officer in Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq, and later worked as a defense contractor training soldiers in Afghanistan. He served as the vice chief of staff to Kelly when the current White House chief of staff was a three-star lieutenant general commanding the Marine Forces Reserve.

Busby said he had not spoken to Kelly about his plans, but he foresees talking with him if his last-minute campaign gains traction.

It may make an interesting phone call, he said.
A Women For Moore rally is staged in support of Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore in front of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery on Nov. 17. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Andrea McCafferty pulled into the parking lot of Sugar Belle, curious why the coffee shop would be so crowded on a Tuesday. The big draw was Louise Jones, whose husband, Doug Jones, is the Democratic Senate nominee. After grabbing some tea, McCafferty took a seat near the front of the room and gave Jones some advice.

Make sure the Republicans understand that they can vote in this election if they dont like Roy Moore, she told Louise Jones. There are a lot of people who want to vote for Jones, but dont want to cross the party.

In the closing days of Alabamas unexpectedly close race ahead of a special election, a battle is emerging for voters like McCafferty: white suburban women who typically support GOP candidates but who, unlike many of their male counterparts, have become uneasy about Moore.

Each side, relying at times on the candidates wives to make their case, is presenting female voters with an awkward choice regarding their vote Dec. 12: Stand by a man accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward teenage girls when he was in his 30s, or vote for a Democrat with liberal views on abortion and other issues and whose victory could imperil the Senates Republican majority.

Both campaigns consider these women potentially critical, particularly for Jones, whose high-wire strategy in this deeply conservative state depends on peeling away a segment of Republican voters from Moore in addition to mobilizing a massive turnout of African Americans and other core Democratic voters.

In Huntsville, a fast-growing and highly educated rocket city, Doug Jones signs have sprung up in cul-de-sacs where President Trump and other Republicans have won easily.

In interviews, suburban Republican women who back Jones said they did not want to face this choice. Suzanne Turner, the chair of the English Department at Calhoun Community College in Huntsville, stressed that she went to church every Sunday and helped raise money for Republican Jeff Sessions when he ran for Senate.

Id like to see someone in there whod support Trump, but I believe the women who have accused Moore, said Turner, 67. I put a Doug Jones sign in my yard. I felt a little sick doing that. But I had to.

The Jones campaign has stepped up its outreach to suburban women, with events such as Louise Joness coffee visits, designed for undecided voters. A television ad that began running last week portrays eight of Moores accusers and asks if voters will make their abuser a U.S. senator. A digital ad, also running heavily, lingers on each photo, and accuses Moore of immoral behavior.

Moore has denied the allegations. His campaign, which was massively outspent on the air even before national Republicans abandoned it, has begun to fight back. In its latest ad, Republican women defend Moore, saying that the establishment is trying to stop him.

Recent polling suggests that, among women, Jones is making gains. In a Fox News Channel survey released after most of the accusers went public, Jones had an eight-point lead over Moore, based largely on a surge with female voters. The percentage of women in the state who had a favorable view of Moore dropped 11 points between mid-October and mid-November, from 47 percent to 36 percent; among men, Moore dropped by just two points.

Moores campaign still sees a path to victory  one that starts with voters choosing to ignore Moores accusers. The states highest-ranking female Republicans, Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama GOP Chairman Terry Lathan, have reaffirmed their support for Moore. Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.), the sole female member of the congressional delegation, withdrew her 2016 Trump endorsement after the Access Hollywood tape was revealed, but has remained quiet about Moore.

Part of the argument to GOP voters, including suburban women who are skeptical of Moore personally, is that a Jones victory could put at risk the party's control of the Senate and make it harder for Trump to win confirmation of federal judges who oppose abortion. If Jones wins, the GOP's already tenuous majority in the Senate would narrow to 51 to 49.

On Sunday, Trump continued his largely solo campaign to help Moore by taking to Twitter to denounce the candidates Democratic opponent as other GOP lawmakers continued to oppose their partys nominee over the sexual misconduct allegations.

The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military, Trump tweeted Sunday morning, suggesting that Jones would side with the Senate and House Democratic leaders. Jones would be a disaster!

The president later suggested that Republicans cant let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. He did not mention Moore by name in either tweet but each time criticized Jones in a way that made clear he supports the Republican nominee.

Most white, female and conservative Alabamians have no recent experience voting for a Democrat in a federal election. In 2012, the last year an Election Day exit poll was conducted in Alabama, just 16 percent of white women voted to reelect President Barack Obama, who performed nearly four points better overall in the state than Hillary Clinton would in 2016.

In rural Alabama, few female voters say theyre ready to bolt from the GOP. Some have started to describe the election as a tricky, but solvable, moral problem  a choice between an alleged sexual predator and a supporter of abortion on demand. Teresa Ferguson, a Moore supporter from a town 50 miles southeast of Huntsville, said she had been advising her peers to think of the Supreme Court and other Republican legislative priorities.

Im not calling anybody a liar. You just dont know. Thats a private thing. There is just a bigger picture here, she said. There is a goal greater, which is we will have to have another Supreme Court justice before too long, and we cant afford to lose a United States Senate seat.

Theres less hand-wringing among white male conservatives, who have powered Alabamas Republicans toward their current dominance. On talk radio, the debates taking place among suburban voters have largely been settled, with predominantly male hosts and callers asking whether Moore has been treated unfairly.

It was very defiant when the story first broke, said Dale Jackson, an influential morning host in the Huntsville area. It shifted a little after one accuser produced the yearbook [bearing an inscription she said is Moores]  like, oh man, maybe theres something to this. And as times passed, its kind of shifted back.

As Jones and his wife made their way to Huntsville for the womens event last Tuesday, Jacksons callers took turns defending Moore from the onslaught. Ed Henry, a Republican state representative who had stood by Moore from the beginning, said that the candidate was getting past the story by training his guns on the media.

Hes in hiding, Jackson said.

Hes trying to stay on point, Henry said.

Over three hours, callers questioned the timing of the accusers revelations and pointed to the hypocrisy of Democrats who seemed happy to defend their allies from sex scandals. Anger at the media, Jackson said, was allowing plenty of conservative voters to compartmentalize the story.

Democrats dont expect to win any votes for Jones on talk radio. The election will be won or lost with suburban women  some who declare their support in public, and plenty who cant. Parker Griffith, the last Democratic congressman from the Huntsville area, said that countless Republican women would stay quiet through Election Day, then end up voting for Jones.

Women are not so brand-oriented, Griffith said. They look at these things from a survival standpoint: Whos going to be best for my children? A man doesnt seem to have that problem.

Yet for every outspoken female voter, both parties wonder how many are staying quiet  or being urged, at home, to come back to the Republican.

Democrats, who say that Moore can still win the race, are gripped with a kind of deja vu.

Weeks before the 2016 election, they speculated that a tape of Trump bragging about sexual assault, accompanied by a wave of accusations of harassment, would turn off millions of female independents and conservatives. Trump went on to win key states, and win landslides across the Deep South, even among white female voters, helped by the last-minute news that the FBI would investigate more of Clintons emails.

It surprised me, said Tina Brown, 49, a social worker who saw Jones speak in Huntsville. I knew people who had real concerns about Trump, but they went for him anyway because they were so against the alternative.

Paul Kane and Michael Scherer in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more at PowerPost
A Muslim protest movement that paralyzed the capital and convulsed the country for days disbanded peacefully Monday after the government accepted the demonstrators' main demands, including the resignation of the embattled federal law minister.

But the role of Pakistans powerful military in brokering the agreement raised sharp criticism from Pakistans judiciary, which accused army officials of an alarming reach into politics. Some analysts suggested the army was the real winner in the confrontation because it embarrassed the weak civilian government and enhanced the image of the armed forces.

The protesters were enraged over an apparent attempt to change a federal election law in a way that they believed insulted the prophet Muhammad and paved the way for a religious minority group, the Ahmedis, to fully enter the political arena in a country that is 95 percent Muslim.

The protest movement's leader, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, said he would call off its three-week occupation of a highway interchange outside the capital. A botched operation to break up the protesters on Saturday ended in violence and triggered nationwide sympathy protests, with hundreds injured and at least six people killed over two days.

Rizvi also asked protesters across the country to disperse and called for businesses to reopen. Most major cities were shut down for the past two days, with demonstrators flooding the streets and religious rallies held around the clock in scores of towns and communities.

[How a clerical error spiraled into nationwide protests]

The confrontation was ended after late-night negotiations Sunday. Rizvi publicly praised Pakistans army chief and his aides for acting as guarantors of the agreement, which prevented the situation from possibly spiraling into a national religious uprising.

A long list of demands by Rizvi and his group, the Movement in Service to the Messenger of God, was accepted by the government. The demands included the removal of the law minister, Zahid Hamid, the release of all detained protesters, an official inquiry into Saturdays police assault, and a public accounting of who was behind the attempted law change that provoked the protests.

The agreement signed by Rizvi and top civilian officials specifically thanked Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the army chief of staff, for saving the nation from a big catastrophe.

But even as a sense of normalcy began to return and traffic flowed in streets that had been blocked by stones and club-wielding demonstrators, the judiciarys criticism of the armys role mostly eclipsed discussion of the religious controversy.

The military is the most powerful institution in Pakistan, and it has often intervened in civilian rule. The current military leadership is believed to dislike the ruling party and its leader, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Some Pakistani observers suggested  without offering evidence  that the army orchestrated the religious protests to weaken the party before elections next year.

[On key Pakistani road, protests replaced vehicles]

In a court hearing Monday in Islamabad on the protests, a senior judge demanded: Who is the army to adopt a mediators role? The judge, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, said that went beyond the constitution.

In a ruling, the Islamabad High Court called it alarming that a senior army official had signed the agreement with the protesters and very strange that the document had acknowledged Bajwas team as playing the main role in the pact.

Rizvi and his followers objected to new language in the election law that weakened an oath required of all candidates, who must swear they believe that Muhammad was the final prophet in Islam. Officials apologized for the clerical error and restored the original oath, but Rizvis group seized on the issue to rouse the ire of millions of Pakistani Muslims.

The Messenger of God movement is based on reverence for Muhammad and support for Pakistans strict laws against blasphemy. It claims to be peaceful and has recently fielded candidates for Parliament. But the group also idolized Mumtaz Qadri, a man who assassinated a provincial governor for defending a woman accused of blasphemy.

Some government officials and others have accused Rizvi of using religion for political gain. Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal further charged that foreign anti-state actors who want chaos in Pakistan were behind the protests.

There was a conspiracy to show that a nuclear state was failing. The agreement was reached to bring the country out of those circumstances, Iqbal told the court hearing. Judge Siddiqui, indirectly chiding both civilian and military leaders, said, You are destroying the state in your bid to make each other look bad.

Read more:

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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He got down on one knee and popped the question at Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace grounds, during a cozy dinner of roast chicken at his two-bedroom bachelor pad.

She didnt let him finish his proposal before saying yes.

The royal family on Monday announced that Britains Prince Harry is engaged to marry American actress Meghan Markle, ending days of feverish speculation in the tabloids over when their nuptial plans would be revealed.

The 33-year-old redheaded prince is fifth in line to the throne. The 36-year-old Markle was born and raised in California.

The prince said he tried to warn Markle what she was getting into.

She said she thought she understood.

I know Im in love with this girl, and I hope shes in love with me, the prince said in a television interview after the engagement was announced. But we still have to sit down on the sofa  I still have to have some pretty frank conversations with her to say, Look, this is what youre letting yourself in for. Its a big deal. Its not easy for anybody.

I know that at the end of the day, she chooses me, I choose her, and, therefore, whatever we have to tackle together or individually, we will always be us together as a team.

Markle leaned into Harry: Thats so nicely said, isnt it?

The two sat for a 20-minute chat with the BBC on Monday evening. The couple were poised but natural. They held hands. They finished each others sentences  in a good way.

It was the first time they have spoken as a couple, the first venture into this new role of a royal pair. They addressed tabloid culture, race, the legacy of Princess Diana, the ring, meeting the queen and her corgis, and Markle being a foreigner.

Markle was assertive but gushed a little.





The prince appeared a little nervous and cracked a few jokes.

Children? asked the BBC journalist.

Not currently, no Harry said, grinning. No, of course, you know, one step at a time. Hopefully, we will start a family in the near future.

The couple will wed in the spring of next year, date and location not yet revealed.

The last time an American married into the royal family, Britain and the monarchy were plunged into crisis. In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a Baltimore socialite and divorcee.

[The last time a British royal married an American, it didnt go well]

Harry confirmed he was dating the actress in November 2016, when he blasted the tabloid press for subjecting Markle to a "wave of abuse and harassment."

The palace condemned the smear on the front page of a national newspaper, the racial undertones of comment pieces, and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.

Markles mother is African American, and her father is white. She is divorced, without children from her previous marriage.

Markle said the scrutiny back then of being Prince Harrys girlfriend was hard, especially the initial reports and comments that focused on race.

Of course its disheartening, she said. You know its a shame that that is the climate in this world, to focus that much on that. She added, Im proud of who I am and where I come from.

Britains black queen: Will Meghan Markle really be the first mixed-race royal?

The couple were set up by a mutual friend and met for a drink on what they described as a blind date.

Both professed they were a little clueless.

Markle said: Because Im from the States, you dont grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. And so, while I now understand very clearly theres a global interest there, I didnt know much about him.

Markle said she asked her friend only one question: Was he nice? Because if he wasnt kind, it didnt seem like it would make sense.

The prince confessed, I never even heard of her.

In her career, Markle is best known for playing the character Rachel Zane in the New York City legal drama "Suits," which is filmed in Toronto, where Markle has been living.

Harry said: Id never watched Suits. I never heard of Meghan before. And I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her, and there she was sitting there, and I was like, Okay, Im going to have to up my game here. 

On their third date, they flew away to Botswana to sleep in a tent under African stars.

Markle dutifully showed the cameras her diamond engagement ring. The sparkler was designed by Harry. He said he picked yellow gold because its Markles favorite. The main stone was from Botswana, and the small diamonds were from Princess Dianas collection, to make sure that shes with us on this  on this crazy journey together, Harry said.

When asked what Diana would have made of Markle, Harry said his mother and his fiancee would have been thick as thieves.

He said: Its days like  days like today when  when I really miss having her around and miss being able to share the happy news. But you know with the ring and with everything else thats going on I'm sure shes 

Shes with us, Markle said, finishing Harrys sentence.

What the British will make of Markle is unknown. The tabloids here can be fickle and cruel.

On Monday, the British media quickly raised the issue of Markles race, marital status and nationality.

A BBC News alert read: American, divorced, an actress and mixed race  Meghan Markle will bring something different to the Royal Family.

The Daily Mail's headline said that "the Queen says she is 'delighted' the divorced American actress is to join the royal family."

The Guardians website started one of its live blogs with the tease: Joy or disdain? Follow the reactions to the royal engagement.

The media seemed unsure of the British publics gut reaction to the engagement news, even as most articles asserted that the bride-to-bes race and nationality were either a good thing or irrelevant.

What has obviously changed from previous eras was the public expression of welcome offered by the royal family, with full-throated wishes for happiness, from Queen Elizabeth II and down through the ranks.

Not too long ago, the couple revealed, they went for tea with the 91-year-old monarch, who technically could veto the marriage.

Apparently, it went just fine.

The corgis took to you straight away, Harry said. Ive spent the last 33 years being barked at. This one walks in, absolutely nothing.

Just laying on my feet during tea, it was very sweet, Markle said.

Just wagging tails, Harry said, moving his hand back and forth. And I was just like, Argh! 

Jennifer Hassan contributed to this report.

Read more:

Much ado in Britain about Prince Harry and (maybe) his American bride

Britains royal family announces third pregnancy for William and Kate

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
By India Today Web Desk: Hold your breath, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters from South Africa, has won the coveted title of Miss Universe 2017.

This is the 66th edition of the world-renown beauty pageant, where India was represented by Miss Diva Shraddha Shashidhar, who didn't make it to the list of top 15 finalists.

Also Read: Here's the final question that decided the winner of Miss Universe 2017

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Crowned by Iris Mittenaere of France, at an event held at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters rose to glory, after being skimmed through 92 participants.

Congratulations to Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, the winner of the 2017 #MissUniverse competition! pic.twitter.com/JYuQYc3Lvo

- Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) November 27, 2017

Contenders from Jamaica, Venezuela, Thailand and Colombia made it to top five, but the South African beauty beat the others, and bagged the crown. Jamaican beauty Davina Bennett was the second runner-up, while Colombian beauty Laura Gonzalez was the first runner-up.

Photo: Reuters

Also Read: All you need to know about Shraddha Shashidhar, the Indian contender for Miss Universe

The show was hosted by American comedian Steve Harvey and supermodel Ashley Graham, while Fergie, and Rachel Platten, who performed "broken glass", brightened up the night with their terrific performances.

Also Read: Miss World Manushi Chhillar receives grand welcome in Mumbai

This is the second major beauty pageant of the year, after Miss World 2017, which was bagged by Haryana girl Manushi Chhillar.

--- ENDS ---
Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan has taken a leave of absence from Oxford University as the Paris prosecutors office investigates allegations of rape and sexual assault against him. (Michel Spingler/AP)

In many respects, the subject of France's biggest abuse scandal is similar to several of the men named in assault allegations on the other side of the Atlantic.

He's a prominent figure and operates in the progressive worlds of academia and journalism. But in one significant way, the "Ramadan affair" is different.

Tariq Ramadan  accused of raping two women here  is among the most controversial Muslim personalities in a France still struggling to define the role of religion, and especially Islam, in public life. As an added twist, Ramadans accusers in France are also Muslims.

The case has moved beyond the claims  and is now fixated instead on Ramadans defenses of Islam. Some see them as important contributions to Western multiculturalism, and others dismiss them as incompatible with French ideals of secularism and assimilation.

The sexual assault allegations  which Ramadan has denied and labeled a "campaign of slander"  have prompted responses from nearly every corner of France's political and intellectual ecosystem.



French writer and feminist activist Henda Ayari, accused Ramadan of raping her in 2012. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

To many of his detractors, there is irony in someone who has backed the virtues of Islamic law now defending himself in the Western legal system. Feminists say the focus on Ramadans opinions takes away from the wider debate over abuse and gender politics. Some leftist intellectuals claim the case has exposed Frances deep-seated Islamophobia.

Its not about the victims, nor even about Ramadan as a sexual predator anymore, but about two clashing views on secularism and the place of Islam in the political debate, said Cecile Alduy, a political analyst and professor at Stanford University.

What was originally about womens rights, she said, has turned into a debate about political Islam.

The allegations against Ramadan surfaced in late October during the height of Frances #BalanceTonPorc (squeal on your pig) social media campaign, a version of #MeToo.

Henda Ayari, once an ultra-conservative Salafist and now a secular feminist, accused Ramadan of raping her in a Paris hotel in 2012. "He literally pounced on me like a wild animal," Ayari said on French television. "For a few seconds, [Ramadan] choked me. I really thought I was going to die."

She could not be reached for further comment.

Days later, a second  and similar  allegation surfaced, this time from a 45-year-old convert to Islam, who alleged that Ramadan raped her in a hotel room in Lyon in 2009. After the second allegation, the Paris prosecutor opened an investigation into the two cases. The University of Oxford eventually placed Ramadan on leave.

Ayari has reported receiving death threats on social media and has been placed under police protection, according to her attorney.

Ramadan  the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood  has vigorously defended Muslim communal life in ways that have alienated French intellectuals on the political left and right.

In the country that has borne the brunt of Europes struggle with terrorist violence in recent years, Ramadan is sometimes seen as attempting to explain  and even condone  the actions of the attackers, many of whom have been young men from Muslim backgrounds.

As he wrote in 2012: The young people who join extremist groups are clearly suffering from massive deficiencies in religious knowledge, and are often politically gullible (when they are not attempting to salve pangs of conscience by cutting themselves off from a life of delinquency).

There is also the lingering memory of a 2003 article he wrote in which he attacked a number of prominent "French Jewish intellectuals" for abandoning universal values to defend Israel.

As it turned out, one of the intellectuals he cited, Pierre-Andre Taguieff, was not Jewish but had a name Ramadan assumed to be.

In France, this earned Ramadan a reputation for anti-Semitism, a charge he has struggled to sidestep.

In the current controversy, Ramadans most prominent critic is Manuel Valls, the former Socialist prime minister and current parliamentary deputy who, last year, led the crusade against the swimsuit known as the burkini.

I have denounced for a long time the duplicity of Tariq Ramadan, Valls said on French radio this month, calling Ramadan a so-called intellectual and promoter of sharia who has done a terrible evil to our youth, with his cassettes, with his preaching in our mosques, his invitations on platforms, his friendships, his complicities.

French Muslim leaders have attacked what they see as a double standard: intense public outrage over abuses alleged against a prominent Muslim but nothing comparable in other cases, such as the rape allegation against the former presidential hopeful and International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011. Although Strauss-Kahn was ultimately banished from public life, a number of prominent politicians in France  including Valls  defended him as the victim of a political conspiracy.

But Muslim leaders say they most object to the way Ramadan has been attacked.

We have Islamized a question of law and ethics, if you will. Instead of focusing on the crimes at hand, the trial of one man has become the trial of the entire Muslim community, said Yasser Louati, a prominent French civil liberties advocate. Unfortunately, this debate has overshadowed the debate over sexual harassment, which is a scourge and which women have suffered for decades.

The satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo quickly echoed Valls, publishing a cover that depicted Ramadan with a massive erection. "I am the sixth pillar of Islam," the caption read.

A number of journalists and intellectuals decried what they saw as an attempt to find any pretext, any calumny, to return to their obsession: war on Muslims, and the demonization of everything concerning Islam and Muslims, in the words of Edwy Plenel, the publisher of Mediapart, a popular investigative outlet.

Charlie Hebdo  whose offices were ransacked by Islamist terrorists in January 2015 in an attack that killed 12  invoked that memory. Journalists at the newspaper reported that they received death threats after the Ramadan cover, and the police opened a formal investigation.

The newspaper's editor in chief, Laurent Sourisseau, then published a blistering op-ed accusing Plenel of "condemning Charlie Hebdo to death a second time." That issue also featured a cover image that presented Plenel's face in the variations of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

Feminists have joined the chorus to hammer one question: Why are there so few women  and especially so few Muslim women  included in this debate?

There is a part of the media that only talks about Tariq Ramadan, and incessantly. It effaces everything else, all the other cases, said Raphaelle Remy-Leleu, a spokeswoman for Osez le Feminisme (Dare to be feminist), a leading advocacy organization. This is a debate about sexual assault, and yet there is mostly a debate over one particular case of aggression.

Likewise, Muslim feminists say they have been invited to participate in the debate only as Muslims.

"As if we were Muslim women before being women. As if we were only legitimate to denounce the violence by Muslims. As if the violence we suffer only comes from Muslims," said Lallab, a Muslim feminist organization, in a statement on the Ramadan scandal.

News flash: This is not the case!

Weinstein scandal sparks an uproar in France

British defense secretary resigns after allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior

Frances Charlie Hebdo blames ordinary Muslims for terrorism

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Indonesian authorities ordered 100,000 people to evacuate after the volcano erupted.

Nov. 30, 2017 The Mount Agung volcano erupts pre-dawn in Bali, Indonesia. Tens of thousands have already fled their homes around the volcano  which last erupted in 1963, killing around 1,600 people  but as many as 100,000 will probably be forced to leave in case of a full eruption, disaster agency officials have said. Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP/Getty Images


The wife of a suspected member of the Islamic State group waits on the western front line to be questioned last month after fleeing the center of Raqqa, Syria. (Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

The womans secret flight from the caliphate took place more than six months ago, aided by a smuggler who helped her sneak across the Syria-Turkey border one spring night. But in spirit, this red-haired exile from the Islamic State never truly left.

She covered herself in black from head to toe to greet a recent visitor to the small Moroccan house where she stays and removed her veil only when assured that her guest, also a woman, was alone. Over sips of mint tea, she spoke admiringly of her militant husband and the comrades she met in the Islamic State's all-

female brigade. Calling herself Zarah  she declined to give her family name because she had traveled to Syria in secret  she vowed that her children would someday reclaim the Islamist paradise she believes was stolen from her family.

We will bring up strong sons and daughters and tell them about the life in the caliphate, she said, fingering her teacup through black gloves. Even if we hadnt been able to keep it, our children will one day get it back.

Zarahs blunt-spoken fealty to the Islamic State was remarkable, given the physical and legal perils facing Islamic State residents who seek to return to former homes. But counterterrorism officials fear that the sentiments expressed by the Moroccan woman may not be so unusual.

In recent months, female immigrants to the Islamic State have been fleeing the caliphate by the hundreds, eventually returning to their native countries or finding sanctuary in detention centers or refugee camps along the way. Some are mothers with young children who say they were pressured into traveling to Iraq or Syria to be with their husbands. But a disturbing number appear to have embraced the groups ideology and remain committed to its goals, according to interviews with former residents of the caliphate as well as intelligence officials and analysts who are closely tracking the returnees.

[For the children of ISIS, target practice starts at age 6. By their teens, theyre ready to be suicide bombers.]

From North Africa to Western Europe, the new arrivals are presenting an unexpected challenge to law enforcement officials, who were bracing for an influx of male returnees but instead have found themselves deciding the fate of scores of women and children. Few of the women fought in battle, yet governments are beginning to regard all as potential threats, both in the near term and well into the future. Indeed, as the loss of the caliphate has appeared ever more certain, Islamic State leaders in recent weeks have issued explicit directions to female returnees to prepare for new missions that include carrying out suicide attacks and training offspring to become future terrorists.



A photo posted on Twitter on March 18, 2015, by Zehra Duman, a.k.a. Umm Abdullatif, a self-professed Australian female ISIS member. (SITE Intelligence Group)

"There were definitely cases of women being dragged off to ISIS, but there are others who have been radicalized, including some who went on to assume important roles," said Anne Speckhard, director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, a nonprofit organization that conducts field research on Islamic State deserters and defectors.

A Syrian woman interviewed in Turkey by the center wanted both her kids to grow up to be martyrs, Speckhard said.

On the move

For months, terrorism officials have been expecting a wave of returnees from the caliphate. But not this one.

In Morocco, the North African kingdom whose coastline faces continental Europe from across the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, just over 1,600 male fighters have traveled to Iraq or Syria since 2012 to join the Islamic State, along with a nearly equal number of women and children, according to figures compiled by the Soufan Group, a private firm that advises governments and corporations on security matters.

The flow of recruits from North Africa and Europe slowed to a trickle last year as U.S.-backed forces cut off the groups supply lines and closed in on its final strongholds, and relatively few of the male fighters have come home, despite fears of a mass exodus as the caliphate neared collapse. Instead, foreign consulates in Turkey have been besieged by hundreds of women and children  the wives, mothers and offspring of Islamic State fighters  seeking permission to return home.

Scores of Moroccan women have successfully returned  including some, like Zarah, who slipped in and out of the country unnoticed  and dozens more are waiting in detention centers in Turkey while their cases are reviewed. Moroccan officials acknowledge that the women pose a dilemma for policymakers and law enforcement: The country is obliged to accept custody of its citizens, but there is no set policy on how to deal with them. Returnees who committed crimes will go to jail, but the law is less clear on how to treat wives and mothers with no record of violence or history of direct participation in extremist causes.

[A battered ISIS grows ever more dependent on lone wolves, simple plans]

All the women tell us the same story: Their husbands went because of the financial benefits and they followed them because they had no choice, a senior Moroccan official said in an interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the countrys security challenges.

Most of the women who have returned so far appear intent on resuming their old lives and putting the Islamic State behind them, officials say. But the fear among security experts is that some of the returnees continue to hold radical views and will seek to indoctrinate family members.

There are, first and foremost, their children, who they are supposed to bring up the way ISIS would want them to, the senior official said.

Several recent Moroccan returnees interviewed by The Washington Post all seemed relieved to be home, describing an increasingly harrowing existence inside a caliphate strained by shortages and daily airstrikes and bombardments. Each agreed to talk about their experiences on the condition that their family names or locations not be revealed, citing fears of reprisal by Islamic State sympathizers in Morocco or arrest by the authorities.

We were afraid of the rockets and bombings  my children would run into the corner and cry, said Umm Zaid, who fled from Syria with her four children in July. The family had immigrated to the Islamic States eastern al-Khayr province in 2015 thinking that life might be better there, she said. But once inside the caliphate, she found herself mostly confined to her house and feeling suffocated by the Islamic States strict codes. Her husband, an employee in the local alms department, decided that the family would return to Morocco, but someone learned of his escape plan and betrayed him. The husband was arrested, while Umm Zaid and her children joined with other Moroccan families in fleeing north toward the Turkish border.

We had to cross with our kids by foot, she said.

Yet, months later, signs of the Islamic States influence persist. Most of the women interviewed continue to wear the conservative garb mandated by the Islamist militant group, including the niqab, a heavy veil that covers everything but the eyes.

Thats my right; I can wear whatever I like, snapped Umm Khaled, another recent returnee who brought three children home to Morocco, including one that was born in the Islamic State. Allah gave the niqab to the women.

Zarah was more candid in describing her initial attraction to Islamic State. She acknowledged that it had been her idea to move to Syria and that she had persuaded her first husband to join the terrorist group soon after the caliphate was officially declared in 2014.

I actually pushed my husband that we should travel, she said. After arriving in Syria, her husband trained as a fighter and soon became a martyr for the caliphate, thanks to God, said Zarah, a woman in her late 20s with pale skin and long, henna-tinged tresses. I loved him. But we all must make sacrifices for our beliefs, she said.

Zarah eventually remarried and obtained a job in the Islamic State's media service, where women who were generally barred from combat duty could serve a useful role in shaping the group's propaganda. She described being particularly inspired by Fatiha Mejjati, the 56-year-old widow of a Moroccan terrorist who rose to become the leader of the Islamic State's al-Khansaa brigade, an all-female detachment that polices the group's strictures against wearing makeup or showing bare skin. Mejjati's reputation as a harsh enforcer of the group's legal codes is supported by multiple witnesses and court documents that describe floggings of women suspected of breaking the rules. Reached by The Post through an intermediary, Mejjati said her "current situation" did not allow her to answer questions.

Zarah would soon join the brigade. She recalled how, in meetings, Mejjati would lecture other members about the obligations of serving as a woman in the Islamic State, including the duty to marry an Islamist militant and raise children to be soldiers of the caliphate.

It was  and still is  our duty to have children and bring them up the right way, Zarah said. She was unsure about the fate of her second husband, who had stayed in Syria to help defend an enclave that they both knew was probably doomed, at least in its current form. We thought that even if they would try to destroy the caliphate, it will live on, she said, as long as we spread the idea of the Islamic State.

A mandate to kill

For many of the women returnees, the obligations appear to extend beyond the nurturing of future terrorists. In recent months, a growing number of women have been tapped to carry out military operations, both inside the caliphate and in their home countries.

Since the founding of the caliphate, Islamic State leaders have traditionally discouraged women from serving as warriors or suicide bombers. But as the losses have mounted, the group has given female followers a broader mandate to kill.

In the most prominent recent example, commanders ordered dozens of female suicide bombers to throw themselves against advancing government troops in a last-ditch effort to defend Mosul, the Islamic States Iraqi capital. In September 2016, the groups Syrian leaders guided a cell of five French women in a foiled attempt to carry out a terrorist bombing in central Paris.



A vehicle allegedly belonging to one of the arrested women is towed away in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, south of Paris, in September 2016. (Geoffrey Van Der Hasselt/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

An essay last month in the Islamic States official propaganda organ, al-Naba, sought to rally more women to the fight by invoking a famous female warrior from Islams early history: Nusaybah bit Kaab, a 7th-century tribeswoman who took up a sword to assist the prophet Muhammad when he was surrounded by enemies in battle.

"It is not strange to the Muslim women today to have the sense of honesty and sacrifice and love for the faith, just like their predecessors of the mujahid women who supported Islam," said the essay, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, a private organization that monitors Islamist militant media.

[He says he went to Syria to rescue his wife from ISIS. Now he sits in prison.]

Although the Islamic State never disallowed attacks by women, the group now appears to be openly encouraging them, said Rita Katz, a terrorism analyst and founder of SITE.

"The new call from ISIS will even allow husbands and fathers to push their wives and daughters to carry out attacks," Katz said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see an increase of women in ISIS-

inspired or coordinated attacks in the West and elsewhere."

Anticipating such a turn, several European governments have begun toughening their laws for dealing with female returnees. In Belgium, France and the Netherlands, prosecution and imprisonment are all but guaranteed for men and women who joined the caliphate and now wish to return home.

The Belgian government, after initially allowing some women and children to resettle in their former neighborhoods, is now preparing criminal proceedings against 29 female citizens who are seeking repatriation from Turkey, Iraq or Syria. The prevailing perception of such women as victims has mostly vanished because of the political backlash over the March 2016 terrorist attack in Brussels and recent well-publicized cases in which the children of returning families sought to radicalize classmates at school, Belgian counterterrorism officials say.

The worry among European security experts is that some returnees will retain their radical views, even after spending time in prison. Such fears are bolstered by years of research that shows the difficulty of reversing the effects of extremist indoctrination, said Thomas Renard, a Belgian terrorism expert and senior fellow at the EGMONT Royal Institute for International Relations, a Brussels think tank. The studies also confirm that mothers have proportionately greater influence when it comes to instilling radical views in children, Renard said.

Since the returnees are mostly young women, theres a possibility of still more children in the coming years, he said, and so theres also a real possibility that these women will raise their children to accept a very radical version of Islam.

Even with the imposition of stricter laws and mandatory prison sentences, some returnees could remain under the Islamic States sway for years to come, he said.

We can safely say that when they come out of prison, a majority will not have de-radicalized, Renard said. And some will not have abandoned their allegiance to violent jihad.

This story has been updated to correct the identity of a a woman who hoped that her offspring would grow up to be martyrs. The woman is a Syrian national, not a native of Kosovo.

Read more:

The rise and fall of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

A file on Islamic States problem foreign fighters shows some are refusing to fight

Many have suffered under ISIS. But the misery inflicted on Sunnis will resonate for generations.
Opinion

The Last Verse Trampled by Turtles embody the spirit of Americana on the album Alpenglow
By PTI: Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI) Four workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were seriously injured in a clash with shopkeepers in suburban Vikhroli over not displaying Marathi signboards, the police said today.

Six persons, including two workers of the Congress and four activists of MNS, were arrested in connection with the incident today.

The incident occurred in Kannamwar area of the suburb last night when the MNS workers were distributing pamphlets for installing Marathi signboards at their shops when a scuffle broke out between them and some shopkeepers, a police official said.

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"Shopkeepers assaulted the MNS workers in which three of them were grievously injured, while one worker sustained a skull fracture," the official said.

A case of rioting and attempt to murder has been registered against 20-25 persons, the official said, adding that further investigation is on. PTI AVI NSK

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canadian newspaper industry has a new Black Monday.

Postmedia Inc. and Torstar Inc. announced a deal on Monday in which the two companies have swapped ownership of 41 community and commuter papers with plans to close 36 of them, including Metro Winnipeg.

Postmedia said the publications it is acquiring would close by mid-January, but Mondays edition of Metro Winnipeg was the last for the six-year-old publication.

Boris Minkevich / Winnipeg Free Press Monday's edition of the free Metro Winnipeg newspaper was its last.

We are packing up our office right now, Metro Winnipeg managing editor Lucy Scholey said Monday morning.

Postmedia to close: Belleville News Brant News Central Hastings News Frontenac Gazette Kanata Kourier-Standard Kingston Heritage Meaford Express Metro Ottawa Metro Winnipeg Nepean/Barrhaven News Norfolk News Orleans News Ottawa East News Ottawa South News Ottawa West News Our London Quinte West News St. Lawrence News St. Marys Journal-Argus (and the St. Marys Weekender) St. Thomas/Elgin Weekly News Stittsville News Stratford City Gazette West Carleton Review Torstar to close: 24 Hours Toronto 24 Hours Vancouver Barrie Examiner Bradford Times Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin Fort Erie Times Innisfil Examiner Inport News (Port Colborne) Niagara Advance Northumberland Today Orillia Packet & Times Pelham News Thorold Niagara News

In addition to Scholey, the paper had two reporters up until last week, when one of them resigned, and a sales staff of seven, as well as other support staff.

Its a sad day, said James Turner, journalism instructor at Red River College. I was the first reporter hired there when it opened in 2011. Im shocked. I dont know how the economies worked, but it seemed like they were running an efficient ship. There were always ads in it, so it must have been making some money.

The closures will mean the loss of close to 300 direct jobs across the country, but there will likely be more spin-off job losses.

For instance, Derksen Printers in Steinbach (owned by FP Newspapers Inc., the company that also owns the Winnipeg Free Press) printed Metro Winnipeg, with an average daily press run of 32,000 papers. Bob Cox, publisher of the Free Press, said the loss of that contract will mean some job losses at Derksen.

Postmedia said in a news release that the transaction was not subject to merger notification provisions of the Competition Act, but Competition Bureau spokesman Jayme Albert said in an email that a review is planned.

Under the Competition Act, transactions of all sizes and in all sectors of the economy are subject to review by the commissioner of competition to determine whether they will likely result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in any market in Canada, he said, adding the transaction can be challenged before the Competition Tribunal for up to a year.

The deal announced Monday was roundly criticized by observers and unions who said it will lessen competition and hurt local news coverage in the affected communities, but defended by the companies as necessary to reduce costs as advertising revenues shrink.

Postmedia announced it will cut 244 jobs as it plans to shutter 21 of the 22 community newspaper properties it is acquiring from Torstar, including the Metro Winnipeg and Metro Ottawa free dailies. The only paper in the group that Postmedia will continue operating is the Exeter Times-Advocate (including the Exeter Weekender).

Torstars Metroland Media Group Ltd., meanwhile, said it will close three of the seven daily newspapers in Ontario its buying from Postmedia, including all eight community newspapers its purchased, resulting in the loss of 46 jobs. The company said only one job will disappear as it buys and closes the free dailies 24 Hours Toronto and 24 Hours Vancouver.

Torstar will continue to operate St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Peterborough Examiner through its Metroland Media division.

Media experts decried the loss of diversity in the information and news that communities will have access to about their own communities, but it was also acknowledged that many of the businesses were likely struggling.

It is beyond print, said Phyllise Gelfand, a spokeswoman for Postmedia. It is print, it is online I dont think there has ever been more access to more diverse voices with the options that are available today. What gets difficult is the business model for a legacy publication.

Cox said that three daily papers was a lot for the city the size of Winnipeg.

That was a lot, he said. From a market rationalization point of view it made sense.

But Cox, the chairman of News Media Canada, the 800-member national association for the Canadian news media industry, said its disturbing.

Its the biggest single closure of newspapers we have seen in Canada that I can remember, he said.

April Lindgren, an associate professor at the Ryerson School of Journalism, said, The scale of it, I think, is stunning and will be stunning for people who live in these communities who are going to lose access to, really, their local news.

More than 200 local news sources  newspapers, online publications and others  have closed for various reasons in Canada since 2008, she said, citing data shes helped compile for the Local News Research Project.

What theyre doing is shutting down newspapers in their immediate environs so the circulation can be taken over and the news coverage can be expanded by their existing papers in the area, she said.

She said Postmedia, for instance, is shutting down Torstar newspapers in the coverage area of its Ottawa Citizen and Torstar is buying and closing Postmedia products in southern Ontario that might compete with its Toronto Star.

In Winnipeg, Postmedia already owns the Winnipeg Sun. Gelfand said, Our local advertising team at the Winnipeg Sun will absolutely be reaching out to Metro customers to talk about what offerings we have, for sure.

Even though the Winnipeg market might have been crowded with three dailies, industry officials said the free distribution model of the Metro allowed papers to penetrate markets that might not otherwise have read papers.

The loss of local news titles will likely get worse, not better, as advertising dollars continue to migrate to the internet, said Mitch Diamantopoulos, an associate journalism professor in the University of Regina.

An attempt to cut costs by eliminating competition is bad news for Canadians, he said.

He said the closing of free daily newspapers isnt surprising because some of them were created to block competitors, not make money. The closings suggest their publishers no longer think thats a necessary or affordable strategy, he said.

 with files from The Canadian Press

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Criminal justice advocates say the federal and provincial governments have failed to honour a Supreme Court ruling aimed at stemming the disproportionately high rate of incarceration among Indigenous Peoples.

In a 1999 case called Gladue, the Supreme Court forced judges to consider intergeneration trauma when doling out sentences to Indigenous offenders, as well as any community-led rehabilitation tied to their community.

Defence lawyers often invoke these rights by asking for a Gladue report. Specially trained people interview the offender and research their background to detail family history, often including residential schools, foster care and substance abuse.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Lawyer Scott Newman

John Hutton, Manitoba head of the John Howard Society, said Gladue rights are intended to help a judge consider Indigenous offenders upbringings, and how much time behind bars would help rehabilitate someone.

Often, the Gladue reports still result in jail time, but a lower sentence that is split with community work or probation. Yet, the way Manitoba assembles Gladue reports means offenders are instead spending years in jails, surrounded by criminals and increasing their chances of reoffending once they get out.

Jails have almost become the new residential schools because people are taken out of their community to serve elsewhere  and they dont necessarily go back, Hutton said.

Scott Newman, a spokesman for the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba, said invoking Gladue rights can often backfire because of a provincial policy in which Manitoba probation officers write both the Gladue report and the pre-sentence report, which includes an assessment of the offenders risk of committing another crime.

A lot of the factors that we see affecting Aboriginal people, like addictions, like poverty, like homelessness, are the same factors that keep them locked up in jail, Newman said. A lot of people dont understand the costs of incarceration.

The only way to get a Gladue report completed without being tied to a pre-sentence report is to pay a private Gladue writer, which generally costs $500 to $1,000. Legal Aid Manitoba generally only pays for private reports if the judge or defence lawyer find serious faults, such as key facts that are incorrect or omitted.

In 2014, Probation Services submitted 1,094 Gladue reports, up from 288 in 2011.

But the province no longer tracks how often Gladue rights are invoked, how many Gladue reports the Manitoba government has paid for, or how often those reports have been rejected. The federal government also doesnt track these data.

After Manitoba appeal judges caught probation officers lifting excerpts from Wikipedia pages, the province ordered a review of how its staff create a Gladue report. An October 2013 guide now outlines how to properly write reports, and lets offenders suggest alternatives to jail or programs that may help them behind bars.

The judiciary and other justice stakeholders have shared with us that they are generally very satisfied with these reports, wrote a spokeswoman for Manitoba Justice.

Newman says the quality of Gladue reports has improved, and he cited a handful of Manitoba court cases in which judges have ignored the risk-assessment component of a pre-sentence report when it conflicts with Gladue principles.

However, Winnipeg defence lawyer Zilla Jones said thats not enough. She unsuccessfully tried this year to get the Supreme Court to clarify rules around Gladue rights. This month, the court rejected her application.

Jones cited the long delays in getting reports  the provincial timelines are five weeks for individuals in custody, and nine to 12 weeks for those out on bail, but theyre not always followed.

She has come across judges who dont realize defence lawyers can introduce Gladue factors by reading a family history to the court, thus avoiding a pre-sentence report. Often times, lawyers will simply toss out the Gladue report out of fear the accompanying risk assessment will lead to a longer sentence.

There are some holes in how Gladue is applied, Jones said. Often times this Gladue report, which is supposed to help a person, is now hurting a person.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES John Hutton, executive director of the John Howard Society of Manitoba

She pointed to a 2012 Supreme Court ruling, expressing alarm the 1999 Gladue case has not had a discernible impact on the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system.

A month ago, the federal jails investigator Ivan Zinger said Ottawa hasnt made any concrete progress in bridging that gap.

It is extraordinary, and for me the No. 1 human-rights issue in Canada, that the incarceration rate for Indigenous people keeps climbing, year after year, unrelentlessly.

In an email, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the federal government was working very hard to address the over-representation of Indigenous people in jails, with Gladue reports being one tool to use.

There are no national standards on the preparation of Gladue reports. Different jurisdictions are using different approaches, she wrote, acknowledging some provinces bundled them with pre-sentence reports.

She noted two federal programs have funded culturally competent services in various provinces, including training judges and lawyers about Gladue principles and reports. She also provided a 2013 department report which assessed all provinces and territories except Manitoba and Quebec.

Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette, who represents Winnipeg Centre, said his government is trying to reform the justice system, but said it could take years.

He recalls a visit last winter to Stony Mountain Institution, the federal jail north of Winnipeg. The maximum-security section seemed almost entirely full of Indigenous people. Almost no programming is offered to prisoners in that section, where guards frequently yell at inmates to stop acting up.

Once theyve learned how to control themselves theyre moved out into a more medium-security situation, where theres more training.

Ouellette sees a parallel in how slowly the 1999 Gladue ruling has been applied.

Youre stuck in a larger structure, that has a great difficulty of changing or evolving, he said. People dont like change too much.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Groups of Indigenous and newcomers who ride city buses are protesting the proposed 25-cent Winnipeg Transit fare hike outlined in the 2018 civic budget.

The fare increase will disproportionately affect low-income people whose monthly budgets are already stretched thin with rent and food costs, said Seid Oumar of the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations.

To them, its dollars and cents, said Joseph Kornelson, chair of Functional Transit Winnipeg, referring to the city and provincial governments.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The 2018 proposed municipal budget inclues bus fare hikes.

But route cuts mean parts of the city become inaccessible for transit riders.

The advocacy groups are calling on the city to make an affordable fare option available for low-income families who rely on the bus.

The 25-cent fare hike introduced in the preliminary 2018 budget released last week is 20 cents higher than the customary annual hike of five cents.

Transit also identified up to 23 routes that could see a reduction in bus services effective June. Details of the service reductions will be disclosed before council votes on the city budget Dec. 12.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

With files from Aldo Santin
Raj Thackeray's party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers had a scuffle with the local shopkeepers late last night in Mumbai's Vikhroli area.

By India Today Web Desk, Saurabh Vaktania: Raj Thackeray's party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers had a scuffle with the local shopkeepers late last night in Mumbai's Vikhroli area. The reason? The shopkeepers did not write the sign board of their shop in Marathi.

The shopkeepers were fiercely beaten up and their shops were sabotaged. Five people were reportedly injured in this incident of assault, police is investigating the matter.

One of the victim shopkeeper.

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After the Elphiston accident, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's movement against illegal hawkers is becoming more common .

All the injured MNS workers were sent to Fortis Hospital for treatment, while the shopkeeper has been admitted to Sion Hospital for treatment.

MNS workers openly dare shopkeepers to change the signages into Marathi in Maharashtra.More videos https://t.co/NounxnP7mg#ITVideo pic.twitter.com/MKw07Tkvtd- India Today (@IndiaToday) November 27, 2017

Late last night, MNS leader Nitin Sardesai and Amit Thakare visited the Fortis Hospital. Nitin Sardesai has alleged that this incident has been done at the behest of the Congress.

Since the incident, heavy police forces have been deployed throughout the area. They are planning to take action against the instigators of the violence and have appealed people to maintain peace.

--- ENDS ---
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It wasnt the screaming headline of the week. But take a close look at the news over the past seven days, and you will find an unusually large number of stories which have, at their core, concerns about Canadas chronic inability to address poverty.

It all started with the release last Monday of the Campaign 2000 anti-poverty coalition report card on how each of the provinces, and the federal government, are faring in delivering policies to reduce poverty. More than 1.2 million children and families remained mired in poverty.

In Manitoba, the report was prepared by a coalition of local academics and social-service agencies. There was a slight decrease in the child poverty rate, but Manitoba still has the highest rate of children living in poverty of any province.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files MLA Bernadette Smith says food programs at schools in her riding are turning to food banks.

The Manitoba edition of the Campaign 2000 report also contained a challenge to the current Progressive Conservative government to follow through on a pledge contained in its 2017-18 budget. It was back in the spring that the Tories promised to review the Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion Strategy and launch a new initiative by the end of 2017.

Which brings us to our second major news event: the day after the Campaign 2000 report card, Premier Brian Pallisters government delivered a Speech from the Throne to kick off a new sitting of the Manitoba Legislature. There was only one reference to poverty, and then only to acknowledge that it was a complex social problem connected to issues of health and mental health, addiction, crime and homelessness.

Government sources said the speech was focused on better outcomes for kids and families to break the cycle of crime and poverty using innovative approaches. To that end, there were pledges to help foster children, a new affordable and social housing strategy, new child-care spaces and a new co-ordinated strategy to improve the quality and quantity of mental health and addiction services.

These are all positive initiatives that would help improve life for the poor. Unfortunately, they mostly respond to the symptoms of poverty, not the root cause  income inequality.

This inability to get to the root of the problem outlined by the Campaign 2000 coalition is hardly a shortcoming of the Pallister government. Previous governments share in the blame here. As does the federal government, which has taken positive steps of its own, but with much less impact than estimated.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has lived large on the enhanced Canada Child Benefit that was supposed to reduce child poverty rates by up to 40 per cent. Has he been successful? Campaign 2000 noted that the rate of child poverty across the country is still higher now than it was in 1989.

And that dovetails nicely into our third major story of the week: the federal governments pledge to introduce a new $40-billion affordable and social housing initiative.

Although there are elements of the strategy that would definitely mark a step forward in dealing with one of the most-pressing needs of lower-income Canadians  a lack of decent and affordable housing  it is scheduled to unfold at a glacial pace, with most of the major parts coming after 2020. It also hinges on provincial cost sharing, a difficult sell after Ottawa unilaterally slowed the rate of growth in health care transfers.

The gap between what Trudeau says he wants to do, and when he wants to do it, is a good example of exactly why poverty is so stubborn. Government is always promising to find a fix for poverty, but never quite gets there.

Perhaps it would help lawmakers to simplify the issue. When you do that, you arrive at this harsh reality: poor means being unable to afford basic necessities, and largely being unable to earn enough money to pay for those things through minimum-wage employment. You can slice and dice the issue any which way you choose, but the fact is that poor people cant afford basic things, and society is very bad at providing solutions that improve their overall economic capacity.

All of that brings us to our last story of the week, a tale that in its simplicity tells us all we need to know about all of the huffing and puffing that governments do about addressing chronic poverty. Late in the week, NDP MLA Bernadette Smith revealed that several schools in her Point Douglas riding  thought to be the poorest in the province  had to rely on donations from food banks to supply breakfast and lunch programs, despite government support, private donations and fundraising by the schools.

Smith said it costs about $7,000 to provide breakfast for one year to 250 students. Lunch is about $17,500.

It is hard to believe that with all of the wealth in this country, and the billions upon billions of dollars we spend on the social safety net, and that as a society we could somehow fail to provide something that is so simple and can do so much good.

Our failure has no explanation. And thats the real story here.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  A Manitoba senator whos an expert in human rights says the Canadian Museum for Human Rights should resist calls to remove images of Aung San Suu Kyi from its displays because of the ongoing massacre of members of a minority group in her country.

Instead, Marilou McPhedran says the museum should teach visitors about the persecution of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. They are being subjected to a textbook example of ethnic cleansing, as explained by a United Nations human rights official. Suu Kyi is the de facto leader of the Myanmar government.

She was lauded for her decades of peaceful activism and for seeking democracy in Myanmar (also known as Burma) at a heavy personal cost. She is among six Nobel Peace Prize winners who have been awarded honorary Canadian citizenship. Various groups have asked for both honours to be rescinded because of the slayings of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in the Buddist-majority country.

Suu Kyi has come under heavy criticism for ignoring and dismissing claims of systematic, military-led killings of Rohingya for several months.

In an interview last week, McPhedran said the museum should use the scrutiny to better educate Canadians.

I dont like erasing history. Add to it.

Human rights groups have reported on the military, which is mostly Buddhist, razing Rohingya villages and killing people. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Suu Kyi has repeatedly dismissed that as misinformation that ignores armed rebel groups among the Rohingya.

Suu Kyis image is prominently displayed on the fourth floor of the museum, in the Turning Points for Humanity pavilion between Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai. Activists in Winnipeg and other cities have asked the museum to remove her story from its displays.

As a former human rights lawyer, McPhedran said the museum should pull from the media reports and drone footage of the refugee exodus, to explain the persecution of the Rohingya.

I dont think its a question of obliterating information; I think its a question of adding to it and letting people gather the information and draw their own conclusions.

Last week, the museum said it wouldnt remove the picture of Suu Kyi, but would use it as a chance to discuss the crisis in Myanmar, although a museum spokeswoman didnt elaborate.

McPhedran was in Bangladesh earlier this month at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting.

Before travelling, she had arranged to visit the countrys border with Myanmar, where more than 600,000 refugees have arrived in just three months.

Despite a British delegation of parliamentarians visiting the area, McPhedran said Canadas high commissioner to Bangladesh denied her permission to visit, which was required by the UN.

McPhedran believes this is because the Liberals special envoy, Bob Rae, was visiting at the time, or possibly due to a change in the leadership at the Canadian Embassy.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/11/2017 (1816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You can now add internet neutrality to the growing list of stark differences of opinion between the governments of Canada and the United States.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced it plans to repeal net-neutrality regulations enacted in 2015 during the Obama presidency, opening up a new era of competition among internet service providers and raising the prospect that Americans access to the world wide web will be significantly altered. The FCCs announcement is widely seen as the latest in a series of pro-business policy changes that have become prevalent during the Trump administration.

Net neutrality is the principle by which governments ensure that no individual corporate entity can limit access to any content based on commercial imperatives.

Ron Sachs / CNP / Zuma Press FILES U.S. Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai

In other words, it ensures that everyone gets access to the same websites and content in the same way, and prevents big companies from limiting what we see or do on the net unless we pay them more.

Although Canada is one of the worlds foremost proponents of net neutrality, it is not a universally accepted regulatory principle; some countries around the world, particularly in Europe, do not have rules in place to ensure equal access for consumers. As a result, ISP pricing is similar to cable television: if you want access to everything the web has to offer, you have to pay more.

In this country, the federal government has been unambiguous in its support for net neutrality. Earlier this fall, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly stated bluntly that the internet must remain an open space without barriers. Further, she said her government continues to stand by the principle of net neutrality.

If Canada continues to support the notion of net neutrality, why should Canadians worry that the U.S. is threatening to go in another direction? Lamentably, as is the case with so many other areas of trade and commerce, a gross majority of Canadian internet traffic spends some time rebounding through U.S. channels. There are significant concerns that Canadian consumers may find their access to certain sites and content hampered because it is being refracted through non-neutral channels.

The FCCs plans are not, however, a fait accompli. Even the suggestion of abandoning net neutrality has pitted the largest internet service providers (companies such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T) against the worlds biggest digital companies (Google, Netflix and Twitter). The former dismiss concerns that the end of net neutrality would significantly alter access; the latter point out that they would never have been able to become what they are today if ISPs had implemented a variable cost structure on access to their services.

Canada could, and should, make it abundantly clear to the U.S. that it does not support an abandonment of net neutrality. Beyond that, its time Canada enshrined its support for net neutrality in law.

Net-neutrality advocates in this country have asked Ottawa to create legislation to formalize decisions made by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in support of a free and open internet.

In and of itself, this will not influence the FCC process.

However, there is no better way for this country to show others, including the U.S., where we stand on an issue of such critical importance than a strong vote in our federal legislature.
On November 18, armed thugs of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the largest union in Mexico, reportedly killed two striking mineworkers in the southern state of Guerrero. The mineworkers have been on strike to demand the right to join the National Union of Mining and Metal Workers (SNTMMSSRM) and cease being a part of the CTM.

About 800 mineworkers have been on strike since the beginning of November against La Media Luna mine, operated by Canadian firm Torex Gold Resources, arguing that their right to join the union of their choice was not being respected. The mineworkers refused to be a part of the CTM, arguing that the CTM does not defend our rights and betrays us, offends us, assaults us, and threatens us.

The workers were also striking against the fact that the company had artificially divided its workforce into locals and foreigners, with foreign workers coming from other states in Mexico, such as Zacatecas, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Durango. In an effort to sow divisions among the mineworkers, local workers were given more difficult jobs and worse salaries than their counterparts.

The striking workers report that on the night of November 18, armed groups of thugs from the CTM assaulted workers at a barricade they had installed near the mine, killing two people and injuring many others. Far from being punished by authorities, the mineworkers claim that although a group from the Army was able to detain the aggressors, they were released immediately, due to the action of some authority that was not made known. The Army patrol that intervened in the assault corresponds to the area of Iguala, Guerrero, where 43 teaching students disappeared in the hands of state forces in 2014.

An eyewitness told the newspaper La Jornada that They [the police and the thugs] arrived with their faces covered. They started shooting into the air and yelling at us. The mineworkers allege that the attack took place even though the companys leading negotiator had agreed to work to resolve the labor conflict.

In a press release to clarify media disinformation, Torex Gold denied that the workers who had been killed were employed by the company or that a strike was even taking place, instead calling the refusal to work an illegal blockade.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo Flores, said that the situation was very delicate because the mineworkers struggle might make Guerrero a less appealing low-wage platform for corporations. Of course, this scares away investment. These facts undoubtedly chase away any investor that has come to Guerrero or that wishes to come here, said Astudillo Flores. He also made it clear that his administration is firmly on the side of the multinational corporations and that the mineworkers can expect no governmental assistance in their dispute: I understand that this is an issue of an occupational nature, which escapes our state influence.

The mineworkers at La Media Luna work under what is known as a protection union, which has supposedly been banned in the United States and Canada but are still legal in Mexico. Under such contracts, a union is imposed upon the workers and is automatically authorized to negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions without any democratic input or representation from workers. A company can then, in one fell swoop, null previous contracts and eliminate concessions won by workers over decades of struggle. Workers who question or refuse to accept the new conditions are fired and blacklisted by the mine owners.

At the Cananea mine in the northern state of Sonora, for example, one of the oldest labor contracts in the country was eliminated in 2007. Four years later, the CTM was imposed upon the workers under a new contract. More than 2,000 striking mineworkers were fired by the mines owner, Grupo Mexico, after their strike was declared illegal. Workers rights were reduced to a bare minimum, with the resulting contract removing 197 of the standing 253 contract provisions. Mineworkers vacation days were reduced from 12 to 7, holidays were lowered from 35 to 18 days, and contract workers were introduced into the labor force. Grupo Mexico is the third largest copper producer in the world and is owned by German Larrea, the second richest person in the country.

The CTM is rightfully hated by workers as a stooge of their exploitative bosses. However, by joining the SNTMMSSRM, the workers are tying themselves to another nationalist organization that, by its very nature cannot defend, let alone guarantee, their social rights.

The SNTMMSSRM is affiliated with the United Steelworkers union (USW) and global union IndustriALL. Just like the CTM, the USW serves as an enforcer for the corporations and has betrayed countless struggles by US and Canadian workers. After the election of Donald Trump, USW President Leo Gerard pledged to work with his administration based on their common agenda of trade protectionism and economic nationalism.

IndustriALL was formed in 2012 from a merger of other global unions, including the International Metalworkers Federation and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation. These organizations trace their lineage to the CIA-funded International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which was founded at the onset of the Cold War as an explicitly anti-communist organization to combat the influence of socialism in the labor movement.

There can be no global union under a capitalist market if nationsand unions themselvescan pit workers against each other to see who can offer the lowest wages and the tamest labor force. Workers can only be genuinely united on an international basis if they are armed with a program to consciously link their struggles across national boundaries for the socialist transformation of the world economy.
With thousands of votes still to be counted, the results of Saturdays election in Queensland remain unclear. Widespread hostility to the two traditional ruling parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal National Party (LNP), which has intensified over decades, may prevent either from forming a majority government.

It could be days before the shape of the next government is decided, possibly involving backroom negotiations to cobble together a coalition. As of yesterday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation projected that Labor was likely to win 43 to 46 seats in the 93-member legislative assembly, with the LNP on 38 or 39 seats. Other parties have 2 seats, with the rest undecided. Majority government requires 47 seats.

More than 30 years of attacks on working class jobs, living conditions and basic services, mainly by state Labor governments, with two interludes of one-term LNP governments, have led to deep political disaffection. In polling booth interviews conducted by the WSWS, voters voiced disgust and distrust toward the political system, and a readiness to consider a socialist alternative.

The result in Australias third-most populous state points to an ongoing breakdown of the two-party system, which has seen no federal government survive a full term since 2007.

Despite the ever-more evident disintegration of the federal Liberal-National Coalition government, which the Labor Party hoped to exploit by calling a snap early state election, Labors vote fell by about 1.5 percentage points to 36 percent. In working-class electorates, Labors vote dropped by up to 9 points.

Most significantly, the LNPs vote crashed by some 8.3 percent, on top of 7 percent fall in the previous state election in 2015, reducing it to 33 percent. Yet Labors vote still went backward. In numerous seats, Labor is relying on second preference votes from the LNP or Senator Pauline Hansons rabidly xenophobic One Nation to get across the line. The combined vote for the two major parties was the lowest in a Queensland state election since 1906.

On election night, Labor Party Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk declared she was confident of a majority victory, but immediately backtracked on her election campaign pledge not to strike deals with other parties and independents to retain office. She performed a similar manoeuvre following the 2015 election. After three weeks of horse-trading, she eventually formed a minority government with the support of the right-wing rural-based protectionist Katters Australian Party (KAP).

This election has demonstrated an even more volatile situation. Nearly one-third of the electorate voted for other parties and independents that falsely claimed to provide an anti-elite alternative to the two big business parties. The backlash against the major parties took unpredicted forms across the large state, with several locally-based independents poised to win seats, pointing to a further fracturing of the parliamentary establishment.

For now, reflecting global trends, the main beneficiaries have been nationalist, protectionist and anti-immigrant formations. They are preying upon the economic and social devastation in many working-class and regional areas. With unemployment officially near 20 percent in some electorates and youth unemployment closer to 50 percent, these parties are trying to divert the disaffection away from the root causes, which lie in the capitalist profit system itself.

Hansons One Nation picked up almost 14 percent of the vote statewide, but it was concentratedas high as 35 percentin electorates hit hardest by the collapse of the mining boom and related employment that once underpinned much of the Queensland economy. However, One Nation may fail to win a single seat, dashing its hopes of being the kingmaker in the formation of the next government. One Nations state leader, Steve Dickson, lost his seat, as did its highest-profile candidate, ex-senator Malcolm Roberts. This was a far cry from Hansons boast that One Nation would reprise its peak 1998 result, when it secured 11 seats.

Bob Katters KAP vied with One Nation in several northern seats, as well as retaining its two western outback seats, largely exploiting the financial ruin facing smaller farmers to pick up votes ranging from around 20 to 65 percent, but only 2 percent statewide.

The Greens marginally increased its vote share by 1.4 points to 9.9 percent, but its vote was heavily concentrated in affluent suburbs of the state capital Brisbane, ranging as high as 35 percent in gentrified South Brisbane. The Greens may gain its first-ever seat, in an inner-western suburb long dominated by the LNP. This reflects a calculated political orientation by the Greens to upper middle-class professionals and business entrepreneurs.

No statistics are yet available on the rate of abstention from the poll. Enrolment and voting is compulsory and non-participation can lead to fines of $126. In working-class Brisbane electorates, up to 8 percent of voters cast informal ballots. That is, they voted but refused to support any of the candidates.

The disastrous result for the LNP has ominous implications for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls federal Coalition government. Increasingly, it has been wracked by divisions, particularly involving its most right-wing elements, and cancelled next weeks parliamentary session for fear of a defeat on the floor of the House of Representatives. The government also has been destabilised by the reactionary nationalist campaign to disqualify members of parliament accused of holding or being entitled to foreign citizenship, and therefore lacking undivided loyalty to the Australian nation state.

The poor outcome is likely to exacerbate the rifts tearing apart the Coalition, which has been represented in Queensland by a single party, the LNP, since an acrimonious merger in 2008. In middle-class suburbs of Brisbane, once the base of the Liberals, the LNP vote evidently haemorrhaged because of its decision to allocate second preferences to One Nation, and leave open the option of forming a government with One Nations support.

This prospect cut across the interests of more globally-dependent professionals and businesses. Turnbull, as federal Liberal Party leader, refused to intervene to veto the unprecedented preference deal with Hansons party.

At the same time, in rural and regional areas in the states north and centre, formerly dominated by the National Party, One Nation gained swings of around 30 percent, almost exclusively at the LNPs expense, reflecting anger toward Turnbulls government. Leading Liberals and Nationals within the federal Coalition are already blaming the Turnbull governments dysfunction for the outcome.

Regardless of who forms the next Queensland government, the offensive against the working class will escalate. The financial elite is demanding deep cuts to social spending because of the economic slump, which is being aggravated by signs of tumbling apartment prices, threatening to burst a five-year housing bubble.

In her election night speech, Palaszczuk gave a clear indication of Labors rightward, pro-business trajectory. She thanked former Liberal voters for deserting the LNP to vote Labor for the first time.

Labors main pitch in the election, backed trenchantly by the trade unions, was entirely deceitful. It campaigned almost entirely on a negative basis, warning of cuts and chaos under an LNP-One Nation coalition government. It traded on the fact that LNP leader Tim Nicholls was the treasurer in the last LNP state government, headed by Campbell Newman, which sacked 14,000 public sector workers and decimated health, education and other basic services.

The Labor and union leaders suppressed any discussion about the previous Labor government of Anna Bligh, in which Palaszczuk was the key transport minister. Blighs administration was defeated in a landslide in 2012 after privatising services and destroying thousands of jobs.

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Queensland election highlights political crisis across Australia

[24 November 2017]
Under the close supervision of the Australian government, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) police force has violently terminated a month-long standoff with starving asylum seekers imprisoned on PNGs remote Manus Island. Despite ongoing protests in Australia by many thousands of outraged people, police forcibly removed the remaining 348 men from the now defunct Australian-controlled detention camp last Friday.

The assault began last Thursday, when police officers targeted 50 detainees, including those who had sought to expose the ongoing attacks on their basic democratic rights, including to seek asylum. Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian-born journalist who had reported extensively from the camp, said he was handcuffed for hours and had his belongings destroyed.

On Friday, baton-wielding PNG police beat asylum seekers and smashed up their possessions. Australias Special Services Broadcasting (SBS) television screened damaging images of men with lacerations and welts across their bodies. In one brief video clip, three PNG policemen were shown yelling and threatening an asylum seeker with metal poles, as he desperately tried to protect himself on the ground. In the background, one could hear the frantic cries of other men, fearing for their safety.

Samad Abdul, a Pakistani refugee, said he was hit during the raid. The police are so aggressive, he said. They are telling us, you should go back to your country. They are swearing at us. Everyone is scared, everyone is just terrified. Abdul commented: We dont have any option to stay here. All of us, we all are going.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that 12 buses left the camp. Boochani told the ABC: The refugees are saying that they are leaving the prison camp because police are using violence and very angry. He said the PNG police attacked the detainees. They beat some of the refugees, so that was not peaceful.

In a statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) described the footage as both shocking and disturbing. Thomas Albrecht, a UNHCR representative, said: The situation still unfolding on Manus Island presents a grave risk of further deterioration, and of further damage to extremely vulnerable human beings.

PNG Police Commissioner Gari Baki had claimed that the relocations were conducted peacefully and without the use of force. At the same time, he cynically remarked: Manus is a peaceful island and I am sure it is a walk in the park compared to what they left behind in their respective countries.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls Australian government openly backed the violent eviction as part of its brutal message to asylum seekers globally, including the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled Burma. As far as the government is concerned, the assault on the Manus detainees is essential to its punitive military operations aimed at barring any refugees from reaching Australia.

Turnbull personally hailed the detainees forced removal and insisted that they had to leave. That is precisely what you should do if youre in a foreign country: you should comply with the laws of that other country.

Peter Dutton, Australias extreme-right immigration minister, said he welcomed what had happened. At the same time, he denied that the incriminating footage was genuine. There are lots of claims, he declared, but a lot of this doesnt add up to the facts on the ground. At the same time, he accused refugee advocates of compounding their [the asylum seekers] problems by offering false hope.

The prison camp was slated for official closure on October 31, in a belated response to a PNG Supreme Court ruling that the centre violated the PNG constitution, because it deprived the detainees of liberty without charge or trial. In effect, the Australian government used the opportunity to send an ever harsher message to any aspiring asylum seekers.

In June, it began shutting down essential facilities, including eliminating power to some of the compounds, serving rotten food, shutting down the gym and threatening police violence. This month it attempted to starve the refugees by stopping food supplies, cutting water pipes and tanks, and even blocking food shipments from charity organisations. There were several reports of PNG police destroying make-shift wells, which the men had constructed in a desperate bid to stay alive.

The Turnbull governments demand was that the asylum seekers move to new camps in Lorengau, the islands main town. These are still under construction, despite the fact that Duttons department has insisted that their food services, cleaning, security and the medical clinic have all been operational since October 31.

The UNHCR, however, said the camps were unfit for human habitation. After visiting the facilities, World Visions Tim Costello said: I can tell you this is a construction site, this is not finished There is earth-moving equipment, there are open drains.

Video footage, taken by Ezathullah Kalar, a refugee, showed unfinished buildings, partially cemented paths and no access to electricity. People are still homeless and looking for rooms, Kalar said Everyone is upset about their future.

While the Labor Party and the Greens have criticised the Turnbull governments inhuman treatment of the detainees, they are equally responsible. The last Labor government, which was backed by the Greens, reopened the Manus Island camp, and another on Nauru, in a deliberately punitive move to stop asylum seekers reaching Australia.

The bipartisan character of this policy was underscored yesterday when Labor Party leader Bill Shorten insisted that Kristina Keneally, Labors candidate for a December 16 Sydney by-election in Bennelong, agreed with her partys determination to ensure that none of the Manus Island detainees would ever be allowed to live in Australia.

Earlier, Prime Minister Turnbull had denounced Keneally for having once written a newspaper article advocating that the Manus Island refugees be settled in Australia. Turnbull accused her of wanting to throw out the welcome mat for asylum seekers, something to which Shorten quickly provided a response, insisting that the candidates position was now in unison with Labor Party policy.

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Australian government oversees police attacks on Manus Island refugees

[24 November 2017]
Even before Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated as president Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a list of demands post-Mugabe Zimbabwe must meet before being reconsidered for financial aid packages.

The demands make a nonsense of Mnangagwas platitudes and bromides about renewed democracy, his promise to serve our country as the president of all citizens and to provide jobs, jobs, jobs, delivered in a packed stadium in the capital Harare.

On Thursday, Reuters was told by IMF mission chief for Zimbabwe Gene Leon, While growth in 2017 will be boosted by the bumper harvest due to the exceptional rainfall, the challenge is to sustain growth going forward in a context where macroeconomic stability is threatened by high government spending, the foreign exchange regime is untenable, and the pace of reform inadequate.

The first task was to address Excessive government spending and the central bank creating money that was potentially jeopardising the financial sector.

This meant deficit reduction (through cuts), accelerated structural reforms to restore fiscal and debt sustainability (more cuts) and to rebalance the economy towards one where growth is driven by the private sector (more cuts to the public sector as well as privatisations).

Before re-engaging with the international community to access much needed financial support, Zimbabwe, which has already paid its arrears to the IMF, must also pay off arrears to the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank accrued since international aid was cut off in 1999.

This amounts to US$1.4 billion to the World Bank and US$600 million to the AfDB. But Zimbabwes total debts as of October to the IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank stand at $9 billionso it faces being bled dry in celebration of the brave new world heralded by last weeks deposing of Mugabe.

The replacement of Mugabe with the equally corrupt billionaire Mnangagwa, installed by the billionaire leadership of the armed forces, was prepared for months during which Mnangagwa and his backers reassured the US, Britain and other imperialist powers, as well as key trading partners China and Russia, that he would meet all demands placed on him.

Prior to the palace coup against Mugabe, the November 7 Zimbabwe Mail wrote mourning Mnangagwas deposing as deputy prime minister in the factional struggle between the ZANU-PF old guard and the Generation 40 faction led by Grace Mugabe.

The article, With Mnangagwa gone, back to square one for the economy!, explained that while in charge of economic ministries, he began a gamut of reforms. Channels were opened with international financiers that had shunned Zimbabwe, among them the IMF, World Bank and the AfDB, as well as the European Union.

In China, Mnangagwa met entrepreneurs and the China Development Bank Corporation, setting up Special Economic Zones and the Industrial Park Project in Zimbabwe. In a 2015 interview with Chinese TV channel, CCTV, he was asked which areas of the economy needed urgent attention. Mnangagwa replied: You cannot say there are areas of our economy which we are happy with We have to see how we can create an investment environment which will attract the flow of capital. We must know that investment can only go where it makes a return so we must make sure we create an environment where investors are happy to put their money because there is a return.

Mugabe responded to the interview by warning, This is where we are beginning to differ with some of our people; theyre going to the extent of approaching the Chinese, saying we want a new leader).

With Mnangagwas key ally and former finance minister Patrick Chinamasa declaring during international negotiations that he had fallen in love with the IMF and World Bank, Mnangagwa was praised by Eddie Cross, economic secretary of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai, as a business man who understands business.

Cross now anticipates that the MDC and other oppositional groups will end up in some form of power-sharing with ZANU-PFpossibly even prior to the general election scheduled for next year. In a November 22 interview with The Zimbabwean, Cross, a political puppet of the imperialist powers and financial institutions, put flesh on the bones of what is expected of ZANU-PF under Mnangagwa. The very tough issues on the table for the new regime include:

 Shaping the upcoming national budget to reduce the huge fiscal deficit this year after the US$1.4 billion deficit in 2016.

 Free and fair elections as a precondition for an IMF guided stabilization and recovery plan.

 The reduction of the fiscal deficit from 15 percent of GDP to just 3 percent by both reducing recurrent costs and increasing State revenues. Both are going to be difficult to achieve as Zimbabweans are already heavily taxed and any cuts in employment costs are going to be very unpopular.

 Amending or removing the Indigenisation Act providing for 51 percent local ownership of corporations, complete autonomy for the Reserve Bank and revisiting land reform by paying compensation to the [wealthy white] farm owners who had their land taken from them without compensation. Then what to do with the millions of hectares of farm land that is affected by this exercise.

 Finally, the government is going to have to deal with the national debt which now stands at over US$30 billion [a trebling] if farm compensation is included as a contingent liability.

Another opposition politician with a story to tell is Tendai Biti, the former Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2013 during the period of cooperation between ZANU-PF and the MDC, who fell out with Tsvangirai and now heads the MDC-Renewal party. Biti told Deutsche Welle during an economic forum in Johannesburg, South Africa Thursday that Zimbabwe must mend relations with foreign donors. We have to make peace with London, Brussels and Washington. We have to find the boys and girls with money, he said.

Biti stated, We have removed the baobab [tree] that is Robert Mugabe. We are not going to allow a little mopane tree, a little acacia tree, to be another Mugabe. People will go back on the streets again. But to make absolutely clear that he was not advocating any popular action against Mnangagwa or the army, he added, The minister himself will also go back to the streets again with the tanks.

These are the participants in the political and social conspiracy being prepared against the workers and rural poor behind the official celebration of Mugabes fall.

NKC African Economics, an Oxford company dealing in sovereign risk in 30 African states, insisted in Business Week, The task facing Mnangagwa, Zanu PF, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions, Joice Mujuru [formerly of ZANU-PF and now Zimbabwe People First] and several others is to put aside party-political issues and begin to implement economic and social policies that will encourage the wider international community to take Zimbabwe seriously and send the resources it needs to rebuild.

Everyone concerned knows full well that the policies that will be taken seriously are those which facilitate an international looting operation, hiked up debt repayments and fat compensation packages for Zimbabwes former masters and the continued impoverishment of working people.

This explains why Zimbabwes former colonial master is now busy seeking restored relations with Zimbabwe. UK Minister for Africa Rory Stewart made the first ministerial visit to Harare since 1998 on Thursday, where he met and was photographed with Mnangagwa prior to his inauguration. Stewart also met with Tsvangirai and Majuro. The Conservative government announced that Britain is putting together a package of support for Zimbabwe that is made conditional on political and economic reform.
"I am satisfied by the collective efforts of the Army and railways. We will learn from the expertise of Indian Army," said Goyal.

By Mustafa Shaikh: Union Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal visited the Elphistone Road Station on Monday, where the disastrous stampede took place on September 29.

Goyal travelled from Parel to CST Station in local trains inspecting its services. He also went through the designs made by the Army for footover bridge.

"Firstly, I want to thank the Indian Army officials who took up this work on emergency basis. The Central and Western Railway officials are also a part of the construction of footover bridge. We will build it before time," said Goyal.

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He said, in total two new bridges will be built on Elphistone Road Station.

"I am satisfied by the collective efforts of the Army and railways. We will learn from the expertise of Indian Army," said Goyal.

He said that audits of various stations were carried out after which 8-10 station directors have been appointed in Mumbai. He announced that 3000 new escalators will be put up all over India.

Realising the limitations, Goyal said, "We can't solve problems faced by commuters for decades in few days, and that's the reason we sought help of another agency (Army) to begin the work," Goyal concluded.

--- ENDS ---
Will NBC News redeem itself, after getting scooped on its own big stories  twice  with a definitive report on the authenticity of NBCUs Access Hollywood tape that President Donald Trump now suggests is fake?

Will Fox News be the first to book Billy Bush, to ask, for the record whether Trump did in fact tell him while riding the shows bus that he was so famous he could grab women by the p*ssy with impunity?

Oh, the headlines to be had with news report President Donald Trump has been telling people that Access Hollywood tape, revealed during the presidential campaign, is fake.

Though word of Trumps stout-denial campaign broke Saturday in the New York Times, Monday mornings coverage on TV news outlets was disappointingly confined to WTF-ing by various talent. CNNs Chris Cuomo, for instance, wondered what Trump is thinking, having cut a damage-control video during the campaign in which he admitted to, apologized for, and then dismissed as locker room talk, his remarks caught on a hot mic while on an Access Hollywood bus with that shows host Bush.

Anyone who knows me, knows these words dont reflect who I am. I said it. I was wrong and I apologize, then-candidate Trump damage-controlled in a video statement that aired internationally on October 7, 2016.

I think it is way more troubling than it is getting credit for, Cuomo said of NYTs report on Trumps so-far private denials of the tapes authenticity.

I dont think this is an offhand comment. I think he believes this will work with people, Cuomo marveled.

In its report, NYT stated the obvious: Trump is stuck between a rock and a hard place in trying to respond to the Roy Moore scandal, because of the obvious parallel to the multitude of women who claimed Trump groped them in the wake of his bus boast. Trump thinks hes found his way out of the mess, NYT wrote: He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently.

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Despite Access Hollywood falling under the same corporate umbrella as NBC News, and Bush by then having become an NBC News employee, Washington Post broke the news of the tape, for which NBC News came under fire. The news operations reputation took another hit more recently when it passed on Ronan Farrows reporting about women alleging they had been sexually harassed and abused by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Farrow took his reporting to New Yorker magazine.

Others joined Cuomo, in sentiment, via Twitter:

Right. Now were going to hear that the @accesshollywood tape is #fakenews  and the sadder part is that tons of people will believe it. crazy. https://t.co/ZWY2XkC481  Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) November 26, 2017

With Trump claiming TIME was probably going to name him person of the year, and that the Access Hollywood tape is fake, its time to speculate on what his next lie/hallucination might be. My guess: he believes he wrote Like A Rolling Stone & Stairway to Heaven in one night.  Ken Olin (@kenolin1) November 26, 2017

Trump now says it wasnt him on the Access Hollywood tape. This is gaslighting.  Toure (@Toure) November 26, 2017

Is Trump getting worse? Is he now believing his fantasies and lies? Does he really think the Access Hollywood tape was faked? Is he being driven over the edge by the lack of love he so desperately craves from a world that sees him for what he is? https://t.co/HpGiRS2Fxq  Anne Rice (@AnneRiceAuthor) November 26, 2017

Bad day for @nytimes. Nazi normalization in that one, buried the lede in this one: Trump suggested to a senator earlier this year that (his Access Hollywood Tape) was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently https://t.co/JaDoWTaYINpic.twitter.com/Kkl89I4brv  Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 26, 2017

Greg Evans contributed to this report.

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If youve seen Pixars latest offering, Coco, in the theater, you were likely greeted by a new short featuring Olaf from Frozen that is meant to bridge the gap between Frozen and its sequel that is set for release in 2019. While it seems like it was a good idea to place Frozen in front of Pixars latest film to maximize the audience, the response to this decision has been negative at best. There are few rare slices of praise for Olafs Frozen Adventure, but most are having none of its 21-minute runtime or its musical view of the holidays.

According to most of the critic responses online, the short was not screened ahead of time and almost came as a surprise for some after Coco was released. Some are even trying to determine how late you can show up to see the film and miss the short entirely.

PSA to everyone about that FROZEN short in front of COCO: they didnt show it to critics so we couldnt warn you  Alissa Wilkinson (@alissamarie) November 24, 2017

Didnt hate it, but was supremely annoyed. My Mom and I looked at each other with a Really? expression several times. Halfway through she even asked, How long does this last? We just wanted to see COCO.  Ethan Anderton (@Ethan_Anderton) November 25, 2017

Tonight a friend could not stop talking about how much he hated it. He wants me to see it so I can hate it too.  Eric D. Snider (@EricDSnider) November 25, 2017

Someone in our audience involuntarily exclaiming "oh my GODDDDD" when Elsa started to sing again was the hardest I've laughed at the theater in 2017 https://t.co/pBVngdwnfg  Ross Kroeber (@RossKroeber) November 24, 2017

But it shouldnt have been a surprise if they had listened to audiences in Mexico who had similar complaints about the short. Several reports indicate that fan reactions in Mexico to the short led to its removal ahead of Coco, with Cinemex confirming theaters were now showing a version of the film without the short included.

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Twitter

According to animator/artist Julieta Colas, she waited until the short was removed from the film in Mexican cinemas before seeing the film and had heard many complained about the length of the featurette compared to the shorts attached to Pixar films in the past.

Overall dislike in Mexico was big and loud enough that it's no longer screening in some theatres.  Julieta Colas (@jujujulieta) November 4, 2017

Imagine the most obvious of capitalist ploys to sell toys failing to the point of an entire country asking it to not be shown anymore  Julieta Colas (@jujujulieta) November 4, 2017

Some reports seem to note that it might be a limited engagement in theaters alongside Coco, but that is unconfirmed. What is sure is Olafs Frozen Adventure was meant to be a television special for ABC before the decision was made to include it with the Pixar film, due to the popularity of Frozen and the apparent connection it will have to Frozen 2. No matter what the intentions are, audiences who went to see Coco didnt seem to pleased by its inclusion.

It was *at least* twice as long as anyone in my theater wanted. Did they make it as a TV special, then someone said eh, just put it in front of COCO?  David McGinnis (@dav_mcg) November 25, 2017

I CAME TO THE MOVIES TO SEE COCO WHY AM I WATCHING A WHOLE ENTIRE FROZEN FILM pic.twitter.com/HzpqvnGO3V  wikipedia brown (@eveewing) November 24, 2017

My 8-year old nephew, after the excruciating 20 minute Frozen short in front of Coco: Nobody asked for that  Nicholas Gurewitch (@PerryFellow) November 25, 2017

Everyone in the movie theater when the Frozen Disney short played before Coco pic.twitter.com/nfDqr5vbzF  Abel DFO (@itsAbel_dfo) November 26, 2017

Okay, Coco was fantastic, but that 25 min Frozen Short was excruciating. Why wasnt that jut a special on TV?  Jack Ninivaggi (@jackninivaggi) November 26, 2017

And others expressed their desire to see more separation between Disney efforts and Pixar efforts, something that seems like a longshot considering Disney is in charge here.

I also prefer there to be a high wall of separation between Disney and Pixar. Yes, I know they're bedfellows. But Pixar shorts should remain in Pixarland rather than become a canvas for B-Rate Disney sequels.  Zach Dickson (@zachdicks0n) November 25, 2017

It is safe to say that nobody would be complaining if they got a 21-minute Avengers: Infinity War prologue here instead of Frozen, so maybe it is just Frozen exhaustion. Well see when the sequel is released in 2019.

(Via Indiewire / Slate)
Taking a swipe at the Congress for its chaiwala jibe, Narendra Modi said, "Yes, I sold tea, but (I) did not sell the nation".

Narendra Modi took the Congress head-on over the chaiwala jibe at the election rally in Rajkot, Gujarat. Photo: @BJP4India

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today trained guns on the Congress as well as Rahul Gandhi ahead of Gujarat Assembly election and said the Opposition lacks niti, niyat and neta (policy, intention and a leader) to ensure Gujarat's development.

Taking a swipe at the Congress and its extensive campaign in poll-bound Gujarat, the BJP's star campaigner said he doesn't mind the muck thrown at him as it has helped the lotus bloom amid chants of Modi from the crowd at his rally in Bhuj, Kutch. Modi said it is battle of dynasty versus development in Gujarat and said the state "will never accept Congress rule".

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At his next stop in Jasdan in Rajkot, the Prime Minister took on the Congress for its chaiwala jibe and said, "Yes, I sold tea, but (I) did not sell the nation".

As the Congress tries to reach out to Patels in this election with support of Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Narendra Modi accused the Congress of trying to disrupt the governments of many Patel chief ministers in the past. "Pitting one caste against the other is the Congress' tendency," Narendra Modi said.

The Prime Minister also drew comparisons between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress and said, "A new party came up in Delhi, whose style is to keep abusing and running away. I thought Congress, being an older party, would not indulge in such politics but they have also taken this short cut in the past two months".

Narendra Modi also addressed election rallies at Dhari in Amreli district and Kamrej in Surat district of Gujarat.

Narendra Modi's Gujarat election rally schedule. Source: @BJP4India Narendra Modi's Gujarat election rally schedule. Source: @BJP4India

WHAT NARENDRA MODI SAID AT THE ELECTION RALLY AT KAMREJ, SURAT:

I think these leaders haven't slept since November 8 last year. This govt will not leave its path of honesty. Those who have looted the poor, they will have to pay them back.

They ask me what have we done in 22 years? The ones who have never been to temples have started going to temples. In Uttar Pradesh, they called Gujaratis donkeys, but today they are forced to come and touch the feet of donkeys. This is what we have done in 22 years.

Overnight, Indira Ji removed Morarji Bhai from the Cabinet. She didn't open doors of the bank for the poor. When we got the opportunity to serve, the first thing we did was to start Jan Dhan Yojana and focus on financial inclusion

Arrogance of the Congress is at a record high. They don't realise that times have changed. Things are very different in Gujarat from the time they ruled here 22 years ago. Society is no longer divided, there is progress now

I see that the Congress is scared of defeat and is unable to match the BJP's focus on development and good governance

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WHAT NARENDRA MODI SAID AT THE ELECTION RALLY AT DHARI, AMRELI:

Amreli district is on the coast and it is the BJP government in Gujarat that worked on harnessing the coastal strengths of this district and focused on the blue economy.

The BJP government in Gujarat got dairies to Saurashtra, Amreli is emerging as a hub for dairy and cooperative sectors over the last two decades.

Our efforts against corruption have naturally troubled the Congress, says the Prime Minister

There has been no development work under the Congress regime.

WHAT NARENDRA MODI SAID AT THE ELECTION RALLY IN JASDAN, RAJKOT:

Pitting one caste against the other is Congress' tendency, make sure that you do not let them destroy the composite culture of Gujarat.

The solution to all problems is development and it has to be continuous, says Narendra Modi and adds that the BJP wants to work for the people of Gujarat.

It was with the support of the Jan Sangh that a person from the Patel Community, Babubhai Patel, became the chief minister. The Congress did not like this and ensured that Babubhai Jashbhai's government did not last. When Keshubhai Patel became the CM, the Congress tried everything to dislodge him. They repeated the same disruptive tactic with Anandiben Patel, a daughter of the Patel community.

Yes, I sold tea but did not sell the nation. The Congress dislikes me because of my humble origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person from a poor family has become the Prime Minister. I request the Congress not to mock the poor, and my origins.

A new party came up in Delhi, whose style is to keep abusing and running away. I thought Congress, being an older party, would not indulge in such politics but they have also taken this short cut in the past two months and only hurled abuses and lies. advertisement

How did the Congress treat Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai? That is for everyone to see. Which was the party that made the entire nation a prison during the Emergency? That also everyone knows.

WHAT NARENDRA MODI SAID AT THE ELECTION RALLY IN BHUJ:

Congress is unhappy about demonetisation and keeps attacking me but I want to tell them that I have grown up in the same land as Sardar Patel, and will ensure that poor get their due. We will not allow this nation to be looted.

India was attacked on 26/11 and in Uri... You can see how India responded in the wake of both attacks and this explains the difference between their government and ours.

When our soldiers were standing eye-to-eye in Doklam for 70 days, why were were hugging Chinese ambassador?

I was asked why don't you name Nehru in your speeches, so I asked Congress leaders to give me in writing the names of their own party presidents, but they don't remember the ones like Bose and Kamraj; when they don't remember names of their own how will they understand Gujarat.

When big earthquakes take place, people say this building fell, but in Kutch people say this school, this hospital, these buildings were made after the earthquake. All this was done on war footing by the army of Kutch which consists of its people.

Congress has no niti, niyat or neta (Congress has no policy, no intention and no leader). The party is only interested in bickering.

They are coming to Gujarat and spreading lies about a son of Gujarat, this happened with Sardar Patel too. Gujarat will never accept this.

Officers never wanted postings in Kutch as the water here was black in colour. The Congress did not allow Narmada water to come to Kutch. Had Narmada water come to Kutch 30 years ago, it would have made such a big difference.

I am grateful for all the muck being thrown at me, after all, a lotus blooms only in muck so I don't mind if more is thrown at me.

The Congress has never pushed for Gujarat's growth, it is battle of development versus dynasty.

Narendra Modi interacts with locals outside Ashapura Mata temple in Kutch. Photo: @BJP4India

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ALSO WATCH: Gujarat Assembly polls: BJP's Chai pe charcha makes comeback, party bigwigs attend event

--- ENDS ---
World, we have a new Miss Universe.

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters has been crowned the winner of the 66th Miss Universe competition, beating out women from around the world to take the title at this years competition, held live Sunday in Las Vegas.

Nel-Peters, 22, recently earned her degree in Business Management at North West University.

Miss South Africa

She will take over for last years winner, Iris Mittenaere, who became the first beauty queen from France to take the crown in over 60 years.

Steve Harvey once again hosted the live show, which ran smoothy. Two years prior, the comedian, 61, infamously announced the wrong winner, naming Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez as Miss Universe when it was actually Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

The pageant, which used to be co-owned by Donald Trump, also featured Ashley Graham as a backstage host for the second year in a row, and Fergie and Rachel Platten as musical performers.
Former 2016 GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is speaking out against the politicalization of sexual misconduct allegations currently spreading through Washington.

Former 2016 GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is speaking out against the politicalization of sexual misconduct allegations currently spreading through Washington.

Fiorina suggested President Donald Trumps implicit support for Judge Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race amid a series of child molestation allegations was the unfortunate result of politics.

This is all about politics and thats why when politicians talk about this it doesnt have a lot of credibility, Fiorina told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

Its a little bit like George Washington warned us 200 years ago: The problem with politics and political parties is they care about winning above all else, she continued. Donald Trump cares about a vote in the Senate  no more, no less.

.@CarlyFiorina on President Trump siding with @MooreSenate : Well thats politics isnt it Christhats why when politicians talk about this it doesnt have a lot of credibilityDonald Trump cares about a vote in the Senate, no more no less. @FoxNewsSunday pic.twitter.com/ZeU3QrxlNo  Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) November 26, 2017

Despite several high-ranking Republican lawmakers calling on Moore to drop out of the race, Trump has stood by the embattled candidate. Trump remained mum in the days since news first broke of the allegations against Moore. But on Monday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway hinted at Trumps support of Moore, claiming that the Alabama judge could help pass the GOP tax bill if elected.

Im telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through, Conway said during an appearance Monday on Fox & Friends.

Story continues

By Tuesday, Trump broke his silence on the matter. He told reporters that Moore had denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him, and he criticized Doug Jones, Moores Democratic opponent.

We dont need a liberal person in there, Trump said, referring to Jones.

Trump addressed the race again on Sunday, but continued to remain tight-lipped about the sexual misconduct allegations against Moore. Instead, he tweeted that Jones would be BAD and a disaster if elected.

The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017

I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary. He shot way up in the polls but it wasnt enough. Cant let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. Liberal Jones would be BAD!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017

Fiorina, who penned an essay for Medium last week calling on men to take a stand against unspeakable behavior toward women, noted that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have politicized the recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) were recently accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. Democratic lawmakers, many of whom have been outspoken in their condemnation of Hollywood personalities recently accused of sexual misconduct, havent taken as hard of a stance against their colleagues.

On Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to say whether she believed the women accusing Conyers of sexual harassment.

Republicans and Democrats alike are guilty of it, Fiorina said Sunday, adding that Congress should reevaluate its internal process for reviewing sexual harassment allegations.

That whole process is designed to protect politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, to protect the institution and to make it next to impossible for a woman, or in some cases a young boy page, to come forward, she said.

Fiorina acknowledged Sunday that she had of course been a victim of sexual harassment throughout her career.

Every woman I know was, Fiorina told Wallace. I dont mean Ive been raped or assaulted in some of the ways these women have. But what was I groped by a friend of my family? Of course. Was I propositioned? Of course. Was I introduced as a bimbo? Of course. Did I have on occasion men banging on my hotel room door and then lying about it the next morning? Of course.

All women are not victims, she continued. But the perennial abuse of power by men over women has been with us for a long time. And everyone knows it. Women know it, and men know it.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Her mother Doria is the only family member who has met her future husband, Prince Harry.

Footage of Meghan Markle as an 11-year-old with pigtails entertaining her nephew has emerged, a glimpse into the early years of the woman now engaged to Prince Harry.

The Suits actress grew up in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her mother, Doria, is black, a descendant of American slaves. Her father, Thomas, is white.

The couple divorced when Markle was 6.

Her mom is the only member of her family who has met Prince Harry.

Growing up in L.A., Markle attended an all-girls Catholic high school where she was crowned homecoming queen.

Her father worked as a TV lighting director for shows like Married With Children.

I grew up on the set of Married with Children, she told Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show in 2013. Every day after school for 10 years I was there.

Markle recalled mingling with the quirky cast and its guest stars.

It's a very perverse place for a girl to grow up, she said. I went to Catholic school. I'm there in my school uniform and the guests would be Traci Lords.

Markle has a half-sister, Suzanne, from her father's first marriage. Suzanne suffers from multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair-bound.

She also has an older half-brother, Tom Markle. He lives in Oregon, where he works as a window installer.

He told Inside Edition earlier this year that Harry was a lucky guy, adding his sister is 110 percent one of a kind."

He added: "You could not ask for a better woman.

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Director James Cameron, who claims he fought with disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein at the 1998 Oscars

James Cameron has revealed he nearly hit Harvey Weinstein over the head with an Oscar statuette, after an altercation at the 1998 Academy Awards.

Speaking to Vanity Fair about the forthcoming 20th anniversary of Titanic, Cameron expressed that he wished he would have gone through with the attack in hindsight.

"I remember almost getting in a fight with Harvey Weinstein and hitting him with my Oscar," he recalled. "[People] would've preferred I had played through on that one.

"It was happening on the main floor at the [theatre]... And the music had started to play to get back in our seats. The people around us were saying, 'Not here! Not here!' Like it was OK to fight in the parking lot, you know, but it was not OK there when the music was playing, and they were about to go live."

Cameron explained that the cause of the fight was the director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy), who had clashed with Weinstein and his brother Bob several months prior.

Cameron claimed he was defending the honour of revered Mexican director Guillermo del Toro Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images for Museum of Modern Art, Department of Film

"It's kind of a long story, but it has to do with Guillermo del Toro and how badly he was dealt with by Miramax on [the 1997 cockroach horror picture] Mimic," Cameron remembered.

"Harvey came up glad-handing me, talking about how great they were for the artist, and I just read him chapter and verse about how great I thought he was for the artist based on my friend's experience, and that led to an altercation."

Del Toro's chequered history with the Weinsteins is well-documented, with the Mexican director clashing with the pair on the set of Mimic, which was his first American film. The feud escalated to such an extent that Bob Weinstein, then head of Miramax's sister studio Dimension Films, attempted to get him fired.

Mira Sorvino in Guillermo del Toro's Mimic

When Weinstein saw early footage from the film in 1997, he complained that the scenes weren't scary enough, and that the tone was all wrong. He eventually barged onto the Toronto set, attempting to instruct del Toro how to direct a movie. Eventually he decided that he had to fire him.

"Maybe we're making two different movies," del Toro said, as published in Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. "No, you're not making a good movie," was Weinstein's reply. "You're going home tonight, we're gonna pick up the pieces tomorrow with somebody else."

It was only an intervention from Mimic's leading lady Mira Sorvino that led to del Toro staying put. The actress, who had just won an Oscar for her role in the Miramax film Mighty Aphrodite, threatened to pull out of the film if del Toros vision wasn't respected, and even roped her then-boyfriend Quentin Tarantino, Miramax's former golden child, into defending her director. Eventually the Weinsteins backed down, but still insisted on getting final cut on the film.
Photo credit: Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved

From Town & Country

Before Meghan Markle was in a seriously relationship with Prince Harry, she was married to a film producer and talent manager in Los Angeles. Now that the royal couple is engaged to be married, here's some background on Markle's former spouse, Trevor Engelson.



He and Markle were married for two years.



They reportedly started dating back in 2004, and after seven years together, Markle and Engelson tied the knot in a casual ceremony on September 10, 2011 at the Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios. However, just two years after getting married, Markle and Engelson quietly separated in August of 2013.



It's unclear why they get divorced.



Their marriage dissolved in a no-fault divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.



Engelson is also currently working on a "divorce comedy" centered around the royal family.



It's "fictional," but certainly draws from his personal experiences. Here's the official pitch for the show, which Fox is developing: "Divorce is hard. Sharing custody is harder. Sharing custody with the British Royal family when your wife marries a prince, in the unforgiving spotlight of Londons tabloid media, is next level."



Engelson is a Trojan.



He was born in New York, but attended the prestigious University of California's school of communications for college.



He's a few years older than Markle.



Engelson will turn 41 next month. He was born in Great Neck, New York on October 23, 1976.



He's produced several films.



Engelson's titles include the 9/11 film Remember Me, License to Wed, starring Robin Williams, and 2009's All About Steve. Recently, he's been taking on television projects such as the upcoming Heathers remake and Snowfall.



Will Markle's divorce impact her ability to marry Harry?



While marrying an American divorcee used to warrant abdications, the British royal family is now much more relaxed about the prospect. The happy couple could even be married in Westminster Abbey. Following the General Synod Ruling of 2002, divorced people are allowed to be married in the Church of England; however, they will have to receive permission from the Queen, and possibly a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Story continues

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Melania Trump is a vision in white!

The first lady unveiled the White House's Christmas decorations -- simple, yet elegant, with elements of Americana and nature -- on Monday. Melania invited young children from nearby Joint Base Andrews to view the decorations and do crafts, and they showered her with compliments.

"She's beautiful like an angel!" one child said as the first lady, dressed in a gorgeous cream Dior dress with bell sleeves and a fluid skirt that hit below her knees, walked into the East Room to help a group of kids make a garland.

"Are you the first lady?" asked another.

When FLOTUS walked into the room, all the children adorably went in for a group hug. Melania looked absolutely ecstatic! The cream-colored number is the same silhouette as the navy blue Dior look she recently wore during her tour of Asia. For Monday's occasion, she opted to accessorize the classic look with a skinny gold belt and stilettos of the same hue.

Melania began her tour by emerging from the Grand Staircase into the Grand Foyer where a trio ballerinas were performing the "Nutcracker Suite." The decorations in the foyer consisted of a forest of Christmas trees that looked like they had just been covered with a layer of snow.

In the Blue Room, an 18-foot, Wisconsin-grown pine tree decorated in ornaments representing every state and territory filled the room. Melania even had the chance to make gum drop trees with children in the Red Room, decorated in a candy theme, while warning them about the dangers of sugar.

This year's theme of "Time-Honored Traditions" paid homage to the different traditions in American history, with each room representing a different tradition. For more on Melania's look, click through the slideshow above.
For more news videos visit Yahoo View.

Massage Envy, a the US's biggest massage-therapy franchise with over

1,200 locations nationwide, has been accused ofsexual assaultby more than 180

women. AsBuzzFeedreports, female customers have accused massage therapists of

groping and penetrating them during their massages, but because Massage Envy

management does not require its franchises to notify law enforcement when a

sexual assault allegation has been made, these women have been blockaded when

attempting to file reports.

As one former manager explained toBuzzFeed, [The internal

review policy is] in place to protect the company. Its centered around

defusing the situation so the client doesnt call the police. You dont want

cop cars showing up at your location the next day. However, some women didnt

stop once they were stonewalled at the front deskthey kept fighting.

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The Buzzfeed report highlights the story of a Pennsylvania-based customer, Susan Ingram, who said she was sexually assaulted in May 2015 by a massage therapist named James Deiter. An hour

after her assault, Ingram called the Massage Envy location where it occurred.

The manager of the franchise, Nicole, answered the phone and declined to

interrupt Deiters ongoing massage of a different client. I begged her to stop the massage and get him away from the

woman, Ingram said in court documents. She said she could not do that, and

she invited me in to talk about my services...I said to her, Nicole, he stuck

his fingers in my vagina less than an hour ago.

Once Ingram called the cops on her own, Deiter fessed up and eventually

pled guilty to molesting nine women. When arrested, he reportedly confessed

that he needed help. Deiter was sentenced to prison for 6.5 to 13 years.

Story continues

According to court documents, Ingram was not the first to be assaulted by Deiterhowever, when two previous clients also tried reporting their experiences, the spa ignored their allegations, saying they weren't credible because the women refused to return to the spa to discuss their experiences.

I was following the policy of Massage Envy, the owner later said to a judge. and therefore I thought it was appropriate.

Massage Envy said in a statement: We hold franchise owners accountable to our policies and,

when we say nothing is more important to us than treating clients with respect

and giving them a safe, professional experience, we mean it."



Stay tuned to NewBeauty for any updates.


Photo credit: Getty Images / Getty

From Cosmopolitan

Former Glee star Naya Rivera has been arrested and charged with domestic battery.

People magazine reported that the arrest came after an alleged incident involving Naya and her husband Ryan Dorsey in Chesapeake, West Virginia.

According to police, a deputy responded to a domestic violence complaint on Saturday night. Dorsey claimed that Rivera struck him in the head and face while they were taking their child on a walk. He had minor injuries consistent with his claims. He also showed the police video taken during the alleged incident.

Local news station WSAZ reported that Rivera was released on a $1,000 bond and picked up by her father in law. They also posted a video showing her arraignment.

Rivera and Dorsey began in her early 20s, but broke up when she starred on Glee. They rekindled their romance in 2014 and were married the same year. They have a young son, Josey, together. Rivera filed for divorce in 2016, but the couple later reconciled and have since been living together ever since.

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are engaged! While Kensington Palace confirmed that the pair are set to wed in Spring 2018, there are a few complexities when it comes to the big day.

Not since Edward VIII famously abdicated the throne to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson in 1936 has an heir to the throne wed an American  and like Simpson, Markle is divorced. But a lot has changed in the decades since then, and Harry and Meghan are facing a far more relaxed monarchy. Whats more, their wedding wont be a carbon copy of Prince William and Kate Middletons elaborate 2011 nuptials. Heres what to expect  and answers to your burning questions.

Will Markles divorce pose any problems?

Markle, 36, married director Trevor Engelson in 2011, and they split less than two years later, in 2013. For centuries, divorce was frowned upon by the Church of England and members of the British royal family were forbidden  or at the very least, strongly discouraged  from marrying someone who was divorced.

The history-shaking controversy surrounding Edwards abdication, as fans of The Crown will attest, has never been forgotten by Queen Elizabeth, who was just 10 when her uncle stepped aside  paving the way for her own ascension to the throne. Edward married Simpson in 1937 in exile in France.

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson on their wedding day in France in 1937.

Meanwhile, the Queens younger sister, Princess Margaret, faced her own difficulties: She was strongly discouraged from marrying the divorced Peter Townsend, which eventually helped end their relationship in the early 1950s.

Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend in 1947.

But times have changed.

In 2002, the General Synod  the governing body of the Church of England  voted to recognize that some marriages regrettably do fail. They added, there are exceptional circumstances in which a divorced person may be married in church during the lifetime of a former spouse. Any decision as to whether or not to solemnize such a marriage in church after divorce rests with the minister.

Story continues

Although the Queen and Prince Philip will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on November 20, three of their four children have been divorced. (All but Prince Edward.) In 2005 when Prince Charleswed his now-wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall  who has also been divorced  they married in a civil ceremony, because having a religious ceremony was too controversial at the time, says Scot Peterson, a research fellow in Constitutional Studies at the University of Oxford. After the first ceremony, they had a service of blessing at nearby St. Georges Chapel in Windsor in April 2005.

Charles and Camilla on their wedding day in 2005.

We dont know what the legal advice was when Charles and Camilla were married  the file has never been released, Peterson tells PEOPLE. The government has generally objected in the past to marriages between royals and divorces. But at some point in the last 10 years, there was legal advice and people have asked for that file and it has not been released.

What about religion?

In order to remain in the line of succession, members of the royal family cannot be Catholic. The vast majority are members of the Church of England, with the Queen serving as the head of the church. And until 2013, laws forbade members of the family from marrying someone who is Catholic. It was a restriction couples could work around: Peter Phillipss wife, Autumn, converted from Catholicism before their May 2008 wedding. If she hadnt, Phillips  the Queens eldest grandchild, who is 13th in line to the throne  would have lost his place in the line of succession.

Bride Autumn Phillips at St. George's Chapel in 2008.

However, in 2013, Britain modernized their laws. Now, those in the immediate line of succession can marry anyone they like, regardless of religion (provided they have permission from the monarch if theyre one of the first six in line to the throne). The rules regarding gender were also changed, so that a first-born daughter would inherit the throne, irrespective of whether a boy followed. Under the previous primogeniture rule, any boy would take priority over an older sister.

Markles religious affiliation is not known, though she did attend a private Catholic school growing up. (Markles first wedding was reportedly a Jewish ceremony due to Engelsons faith.) But regardless of what she practices, it wont affect her ability to marry Harry or threaten his place in the line of succession.

Who could conduct the ceremony?

Unlike with Charles and Camilla, PEOPLE understands that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has no issue with conducting the ceremony for Harry and Markle  if hes asked.

Following the guidelines of the Church of England, the Archbishop wouldnt have any problem with officiating with their wedding if it got to that point, says a source close to the Archbishop.

Insiders tell PEOPLE that it was felt that the previous Archbishop, Dr. Rowan Williams, was not able to marry Charles and Camilla because their relationship was a factor in the end of both of their first marriages.

Where could they get married?

Experts tell PEOPLE its likely Meghan and Harry could decide to mirror Prince Charless understated second wedding, rather than Williams lavish affair, by going for a more low-key ceremony outside of London.

Historian Hugo Vickers, who is close to senior members of the royal family, says, Meghan Markle has already been married, so I believe they would have a service of blessing.

You wouldnt necessarily have a big grand ceremony, and it would be more like Charles and Camilla, says Peterson, who is the author of Legally Married: Love and Law in the UK and the US.

If Harry and Markle choose this more relaxed option, then they are likely to opt for somewhere like St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. The royal family certainly likes the setting: Besides Charles and Camilla, its where Charless brother Prince Edward married Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Peter Phillips wed wife Autumn. William is a fan of the spot, too.

Although William and Kate married in the grandeur of Westminster Abbey, he would have liked to have married at St. Georges Chapel, Vickers says. The only reason was that it didnt have a balcony [for the newlyweds big kiss]. He would have liked to have done it at Windsor too.

No matter what, though, Harry and Markle will blaze their own path  as they have already done.

I dont imagine that Prince Harry will go for a big grand wedding, Vickers says. He would want to do it his own way.
Libyan Red Crescent workers carry a bag containing a body of a migrant who died when a boat sank off Libya's western coast - REUTERS

More than 30 migrants died and 200 were rescued on Saturday after their boats foundered off Libya's western coast, the Libyan navy said.

The coastguard conducted two rescue operations off the city of Garabulli, 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of Tripoli, spokesman Colonel Abu Ajila Abdelbarri said.

He added that patrols had found 31 bodies and 60 survivors from one boat, while all 140 passengers had survived in a second boat.

"When we arrived at the spot, we found an inflatable dinghy with several people clinging to part of it," he said.

African migrants arrive at a naval base in Tripoli on November 25, 2017, after their rubber boat was rescued off the coast of Garabulli Credit: MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP

Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem told AFP that 18 women and three children were among the dead recovered from the sea, while 40 people were missing.

Migrants from Somalia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and four from Pakistan were among those rescued.

Libyan patrol boat commander Nasser al-Ghammoudi said one of the vessels was three-quarters under water when the coastguard arrived.

"We looked for other survivors for more than five hours," he said. "We were able to rescue one woman after we heard her shouts."

Migrants arrive at a naval base after they were rescued by Libyan coastal guards in Tripoli, Libya Credit: ISMAIL ZITOUNY/Reuters

A French NGO, SOS Mediterranee, said later Saturday that it had rescued more than 400 people from a stricken wooden boat in international waters further from the Libyan coast.

Other rescue operations were ongoing on Saturday evening, the Italian coastguard told AFP.

Italy's coastguard, which coordinates the rescue effort in international waters, reported that a total of 1,500 people had been saved on Thursday and Friday.
Originally set to speak at his alma mater Tufts University on Monday, one-time White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci is instead spending the early hours of the day defending himself on Twitter after his alma mater postponed the engagement.

Tufts said it would postpone the event after Scaramucci threatened to sue a Tufts graduate student and the schools student newspaper for defamation. The graduate student, Camilo A. Caballero, penned several op-eds in The Tufts Daily earlier this month criticizing Scaramucci and questioning his seat on Tufts Board of Advisors. Scaramucci was set to talk about his board seat at the Monday event.

In response, Scaramucci, through his lawyer, sent a letter seeking a retraction and public apology from the Daily. The same letter warned that Scaramucci may seek a lawsuit if his demands were not met.

Before Sacarmucci pursues such claims, we urge Mr. Caballero and The Tufts Daily to issue an apology, the letter stated.

Scaramuccis lawyers cited segments from Caballeros op-eds, including statements that Scaramucci is irresponsible, inconsistent, an unethical opportunistwho exuded the highest degree of disreputability.

The university noted that it would postpone the event until the legal matters between Scaramucci and the Daily were resolved.

Were disappointed that Mr. Scaramucci has taken this action. The university has been working to facilitate a conversation that had been scheduled for Monday evening between Fletcher School students and Mr. Scaramucci about his background, experience and the petition calling for his removal from the Fletcher School Board of Advisors. In light of recent developments, we are postponing the event until these pending legal matters are resolved, Patrick Collins, a spokesman for Tufts University said in an emailed statement to TIME.

Scaramucci took to Twitter to defend his letter to Caballero, and also downplayed the lawsuit threats.

Daniel, I was ready to come to school, thats an open debate. Nobody is going to call my ethics into question without a fight, Scaramucci wrote in response to Tufts professor Daniel Drezner late Sunday. An apology will suffice.

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Daniel I was ready to come to the school, thats an open debate. Nobody is going to call my ethics into question without a fight. An apology will suffice. https://t.co/XWx0Q8XP6r  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

I didnt back out of speaking at Tufts. The provost cancelled my invitation. Invite me and I will come out at anytime. https://t.co/QRAuXwvN0u  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

I asked for an apology for defamatory statements. That is a teachable moment professor. The student is an adult, let his actions stand without any coddling. You cant defame people in America because you dont like their political views. https://t.co/q5fi8wszqn  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

Cant write defamatory statements. People are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. Read the case law on this. It is well grounded. Sorry you dont like our @POTUS but he still is president. https://t.co/7Bz4CcJG4s  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

That is what I did. All I need is an apology and correction. Get the facts right. Defamation is not unflattering coverage. Its defamation. https://t.co/EKLLAecTKh  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

This is a dishonest tweet. I asked for an apology. Plain and simple. In our country defamation comes with its consequences. https://t.co/Cs64CtrV86  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) November 27, 2017

Scaramucci was originally set to openly discuss his board seat Monday after over 240 students and administrators called for his removal.
Nick Dunn and Billy Irving are among six Britons to have been freed

Six former British soldiers working as part of a private security team protecting ships from piracy have been released from prison in India after serving four years for possessing weapons.

The "Chennai Six", who had all previously served in either the Parachute or Yorkshire Regiments, were acquitted on Monday and told by a judge to apply to get their passports returned, ending a long wait for them and their families in the UK.

Billy Irving, 37, Nick Dunn, 31, John Armstrong, 30, Nicholas Simpson, 47, Ray Tindall, 42, and Paul Towers, 54, were among 35 imprisoned in October 2013 while working as security on commercial ships to protect against pirates in the Indian Ocean.

They were jailed in 2013 along with 14 Estonian, 12 Indian and three Ukrainian colleagues when their vessel, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio, was boarded by the Indian Navy for entering its waters without permission. All the men worked for AdvanFort, a maritime security company.

Indian authorities found weapons and ammunition on board and the men were charged with possession of illegal firearms. Following an initial conviction the charges were quashed when the men argued they had the right permits and clearance for them as they were an anti-piracy unit.

Yvonne McHugh, centre, the girlfriend of Billy Irving who is being held in a prison in Chennai in India, is joined by family members of other prisoners of the so-called Chennai Six ahead of the verdict in their appeal Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

But they they were later reconvicted when a lower court reinstated the charges, as the Indian justice system, both in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and nationally, moved their case between courts and judges.

Mondays decision by the Madurai bench of the High Court in Chennai said the 35 crew members could now apply to get back their passports. Money spent on fines would also be reimbursed, the court ruled.

David McMullen, Coordinator for the 'Chennai6' Campaign, said: Absolutely fantastic news. It was a bit of a blur for a second when I first heard. Having campaigned for so long and seen what the families have gone through its amazing weve finally got them free.

On hearing the news at their family home in Britain, Yvonne McHugh, partner of Billy Irving said she was over the moon. Theyve all been acquitted, all 35 of them, she said. We are just waiting to hear how soon theyll be home. Thats the biggest hurdle we faced and all of them have been acquitted.

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Lisa Dunn, the sister of Nick Dunn, said: "The longer it went on, as much as you still have an element of hope, it does dwindle after having so many delays and setbacks. It will make all of our Christmases. All of our dreams have come true today."

Downing Street welcomed the decision. Theresa May's official spokesman said: "The Government, from the Prime Minister down, has worked hard for over four years to support the men and their families and we share their happiness at the court's decision to give a full acquittal to each of the men.

"We are now working with the Indian authorities to discuss the next steps. We will continue to offer the men and their families consular assistance for as long as it is needed."
Minnesota Sen. Al Franken spoke publicly about the sexual harassment allegations against him Sunday, expressing shame and embarrassment, but remaining committed to his work in Congress.

I know I have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of the people Ive let down, the people of Minnesota, my friends and colleagues, everyone who counts on me to be a champion for women, Franken told Minnesota newspaper the Star Tribune Sunday, describing himself as embarrassed and ashamed.

He told the Tribune he will return to work on Monday, and that he was looking forward to it.

He also spoke on Minnesota Public Radio, saying that he had no intention of resigning from his role in the Senate. Im committed to working as hard as I can here in the Senate for the people of Minnesota. The ethics committee will be looking into all of this and I will work with them in any way I can, he said.

These were the first media interviews Franken has given since he has found himself ensconced in a wave of sexual harassment allegations from four different women. Leeann Tweeden, a model, sportscaster and radio host wrote in a Nov. 16 blog post that she and Franken were on a USO tour in the Middle East in 2006 when he forced her to kiss him, and then groped her while she was asleep. Franken was not yet a senator at the time.

Four days later, another woman, Lindsay Menz, told CNN in an interview that Franken put his hand on her rear while taking a photograph with her at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.

Franken apologized to both Tweeden and Menz for the photographs, but said he recalled the incident with Tweeden differently, and does not remember taking the photograph with Menz, sentiments he conveyed again on Sunday. Franken has also joined his colleagues in calling for a Senate investigation into his conduct.

On Nov. 22, HuffPost cited accounts from two more women who said Franken touched their butts during campaign events in 2007 and 2008. Its difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I dont remember those campaign events, Franken told HuffPost in a statement.

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Franken reiterated in his interview with the Tribune that he did not remember the photographs and would never intentionally act like that. I just recognize that I need to be more careful and a lot more sensitive in these situations, he told the Tribune.

Franken said he didnt know if more women would come forward with allegations against him, adding that this entire experience has been a shock to him, and he has no recollection of women ever telling him he made them uncomfortable.

Im someone who hugs people and Ive learned from these stories that in some of these encounters Ive crossed the line; I know that any number is too many, Franken told MPR. If they feel that this encounter  my embrace or something has been inappropriate, I respect their feelings about that. I think women need to be heard.
Dubai (AFP) - Bahrain's jailed Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman refused to appear in court Monday to face charges of contacts with Qatar to "overthrow the regime", the attorney general said.

Salman and two members of his banned Al-Wefaq movement, Hassan Sultan and Ali al-Aswad, are charged with "communicating with a foreign state to commit acts hostile to the state of Bahrain with the intent to harm its political, economic and national interests in order to overthrow the regime", Osama al-Awfi said.

The jailed leader of the Shiite movement "refused to attend the hearing", which has been deferred to Wednesday, the attorney general said in a statement.

Ali Salman has been behind bars since 2014 serving a nine-year sentence for allegedly inciting hatred, while Sultan and Aswad are on the run.

In August, Bahraini authorities accused Salman of having collaborated with Qatar in 2011 to encourage protesters to take to the streets.

The accusations came after Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar in June over alleged support for Islamist extremism and ties with Shiite-dominated Iran. Doha denies the allegations.

Ruled for more than 200 years by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, Bahrain is home to a Shiite majority that for years has complained of political marginalisation.

The archipelago, which is located between regional arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, has been rocked by protests demanding an elected government since 2011.

Bahraini authorities have also accused Iran of backing the protests and of aiming to overthrow the government. Tehran has denied any involvement.

Over the past six years, Bahraini authorities have tightened their grip on all dissent, jailing dozens of high-profile clerics and activists and disbanding both religious and secular opposition groups.

Also on Monday, relatives of Bahrain's leading Shiite cleric, who has been under de facto house arrest since 2016, said he was facing serious health issues and had been seen by a team of doctors not linked to the government.

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London-based rights group the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said Qassim was in "continuous pain" and had been diagnosed with a groin hernia that required urgent surgery.

Qassim also has high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, according to the rights group.

The cleric was stripped of Bahraini citizenship last year over charges of "serving foreign interests", money laundering and illegal fundraising.

Salman's Al-Wefaq movement was once the largest bloc in Bahrain's elected lower house of parliament.

Its members of parliament resigned en masse in 2011 in protest against the state's crackdown on demonstrators, before a 2016 court order dissolved Al-Wefaq for "harbouring terrorism".
Narendra Modi reached out to the Patidar community by reminding Gujarat of four Patel CMs of the state who were allegedly brought down by the Congress.

By Jumana Shah: Kicking off a high-octane campaign of the BJP in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today alleged the Congress of constantly mocking him for being a chaiwala (tea seller) and repeatedly threatening him to reduce him to sell tea again.

Upping the rhetoric of dynastic politics targeting Rahul Gandhi, victimisation and terrorism, Modi during his four rallies in the state said, "I am the son of soil. How dare Congress insult your son? I am a poor man who has taken the seat of power from the Congress. And they are very angry with me. They believe it is theirs as if they have inherited it. I am a chaiwala, I sell only tea. I will never commit the sin of selling the country."

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His repeated reference to his humble beginnings and calling himself a poor man can be seen as a subtle retaliation to the Congress's repeated attack on his policies being pro-elite and anti-poor. Modi has struck back saying that not only he is himself a poor man, but also that he is in fact being targeted by the Congress, who thinks of the country's government as an inheritance.

Modi addressed four rallies in Gujarat today beginning with Bhuj. He then proceeded to Jasdan near Rajkot and Amreli, followed by Kadodara near Surat.

In another unusual outreach directly to the Patidar community, Modi recalled four Patel chief ministers of Gujarat - Babu Jashbhai Patel, Chimanbhai Patel, Keshubhai Patel and Anandiben Patel. "Indira Gandhi's Congress unseated Babu Patel from power and handed over the reins of power to Madhavsinh Solanki. The BJP also extended support to Chimanbhai Patel (Janata Dal) government. After that, when Keshubhai Patel and Anandiben Patel were CMs, the Congress played several games to throw them out of power as well."

Modi's mention of the former Patel CMs of Gujarat can be seen as an attempt to reach out to the Patidars and also underscores the BJP's concerns over the Patidar reservation movement led by Hardik Patel that is supporting the Congress now. These are the two big takeaways from Modi's maiden visit to the state.

Modi spoke in Gujarati in all the rallies. He spoke about a few local issues and the work done by him for the particular region when he was the chief minister of the state. But his main narrative remained the criticism of Congress, the Nehru-Gandhi family, and that the party 'hated Gujarat'.

Prime minister Narendra Modi being garlanded by the BJP workers during a public meeting in Bhuj. (Photo: PTI)

He repeated at all rallies that 'Gujarat will not forgive Congress' for the injustice meted out to the state by the party when it was in power. "Congress has never had a liking for Gujarat. First and foremost it sidelined Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. One only needs to read the diaries of Maniben (Patel's daughter) to understand the pain Sardar had experienced. Then another son of Gujarat's soil who was insulted by Indira Gandhi was Morarji Desai, who also made us proud by becoming the prime minister of India," he said, invoking the Gujarati asmita as well.

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As he spoke in Gujarati and especially when he targeted Rahul Gandhi for expecting the seat of power as an inheritance, making a reference to the impending announcement of his election as the Congress's president, Modi received cheers from the crowd.

"Congress has neither a neta (leader) nor any Niti (policy / strategy)," he mocked.

Raking up some international issues, Modi said the Congress does not even have the decency to respect the Indian Army. "When our Army was in a tight logjam with China over Doklam, he (Rahul Gandhi) went and hugged the Chinese ambassador. When Indian Army conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan, they doubted it," he said.

This is Modi's first political visit to Gujarat after elections were announced. He is scheduled to address four more rallies on Wednesday.

WATCH | PM Modi says chaiwallah sold tea, not India: Will Modi magic win Gujarat?

--- ENDS ---
A billboard in Times Square, funded by Tom Steyer, calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump on 20 November 2017 in New York City: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Billionaire Tom Steyer has defended his campaign $20m campaign to impeach President Donald Trump, saying he is an urgent threat to the American people.

Mr Steyer, a former hedge fund manager and longtime Democratic contributor, said on CNN that he felt he had no option to sit and do nothing, having paid for a number of television advertisements and billboards in Times Square..

He said the President has performed in a lawless manner throughout his campaign and time in office, referring to the ongoing FBI and Congressional investigations into possible collusion between Mr Trumps campaign team and Russian officials during the 2016 election.

The fact of the matter is this President has performed in a lawless way throughout the campaign and throughout his presidency and he is an urgent threat to the American people, Mr Steyer said on CNN's State of the Union. So to sit here and wait doing absolutely nothing is the wrong thing to do. The American people want this man impeached.

He added that he does not feel he is feeding into the narrative put out by Mr Trump, who has labelled the investigations a witch hunt.

Mr Steyer noted that his repeated call for impeachment does not necessarily mean Mr Trump will immediately leave office.

Impeachment is actually a process, he noted, adding that it just means that the House puts him up for a trial with the Senate[which] goes through all the evidence in front of the American public.

Mr Steyer, worth an estimated $1.6bn, contributed more than $91m on Democratic candidates in 2016.

He has spent at least $20m on his Need to Impeach campaign, including prominent billboards in one of the busiest intersections in the world: New Yorks Times Square.

The billboards show the count of signatures Mr Steyers impeachment petition has gotten - up to 2.5m at this point. It features the phrase "Impeach!" over a picture of the president.

The electronic billboard ads appear in various places throughout the area for 10 minutes every hour and will run through to 1 January 2018, including during television coverage of the famous New Years Eve ball drop.

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In accompanying television spots, Mr Steyer said: Its up to all of us to stand up to this president, not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed.

The intended audience of the billboards may not be actual New Yorkers, who did not vote for former resident Mr Trump and have not given him a warm reception when he has returned for visits.

Of 356,000 people who walked through the square on average each day in October were Americans not living in New York City. Another third were international visitors.

There is some speculation that Mr Steyer may run for fellow Democrat Senator Dianne Feinsteins seat in the upcoming election, but he only said on CNN that he has not ruled out the possibility.

I dont need to rule it out and I can have time to think about it, Mr Steyer said.
Oprah Winfrey attends The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks premiere on April 18 in New York City. (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Most of us are happy if we leave Thanksgiving dinner with a plate of leftovers. Oprahs daughters, alumnae of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, spent the weekend enjoying much chicer gifts: hundreds of dollars worth of Anastasia Beverly Hills beauty products.

Oprah showed off her girls excitement in a video posted to her Instagram. She has them close their eyes until the big reveal  Open your eyes, open your bag! she yells. The video is pure joy, as they all scramble to unwrap their goodies. The bags look to contain the cult favorites ABH brow kit, contour kit, and glow kit, plus blush and makeup brushes.

What happens when there are @anastasiabeverlyhills gifts at breakfast. #browkits #glowkits #blushesandbrushes #contourkit A post shared by Oprah (@oprah) on Nov 24, 2017 at 10:56am PST

As PopSugar reports, Oprah has been a longtime fan of Anastasia Beverly Hills. She had Anastasia Soare herself on her show in 2006. Anastasia is the eyebrow queen in this country. You will not find anybody better than her in the planet doing brows; I havent, she gushed at the time.

Oprah Favorite Things Winfrey is known (and beloved) for her love of gift giving. (We all remember the time she gave everyone in her studio audience free cars and chose the $699 Juicero as a wrap gift.) For the women she calls her daughters, Oprah has already presented them with a lifetime of education at her leadership academy. Last year, when the schools first class graduated college, she made sure to attend their commencement ceremonies  even going as far to attend three graduations across the country on the same day.

But little gifts, like beauty baskets? Those are what help get us all through the holidays.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.




Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will travel to China next week to bolster trade ties as North American continental trade talks fizzle.

During the December 3-7 official visit, Trudeau "will promote a progressive trade agenda and tourism initiatives," said his office.

He will meet with government and business leaders as part of Canada's concerted push to diversify its trade, most of which is currently with its neighbor the United States.

"A strong relationship with China is essential to creating jobs, strengthening the middle class, and growing the Canadian economy," Trudeau said in a statement.

He said he also plans to have full and frank discussions on "issues like good governance, human rights, and the rule of law."

The visit to China will be Trudeau's second since he came to power two years ago, and comes as trilateral talks with the United States and Mexico to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement appear to be headed toward a deadlock.

Canada and Mexico are staunchly opposed to US proposals for a NAFTA sunset clause, minimum US content in car parts and nixing of the pact's trade dispute mechanism.

The US has adopted a more protectionist tone under President Donald Trump and his "America First" policy.

Beijing, meanwhile, has openly courted increased trade with Canada, including calling for a free trade deal.

China is currently Canada's second-largest trading partner, far behind the United States, with bilateral trade of more than Can$85 billion (US$67 billion).

Last year Canada's merchandise exports to China rose four percent over 2015, topped by agriculture and forest products, copper and iron ores, and motor vehicles.

During the visit to Beijing and Guangzhou, Trudeau will meet with his counterpart Li Keqiang, Chairman Zhang Dejiang of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and President Xi Jinping.

Chinese Premier Li travelled to Canada in September last year, when the two sides agreed to double bilateral commerce by 2025.
Cyntoia Brown was just 16 years old she killed a Tennessee real estate agent who solicited her for sex, for which she was sentenced to life in prison. Though there havent been significant changes to her cases basic details since her first trial in 2006, celebrities and advocates are turning a light on Browns story and sex trafficking with the viral social media campaign, #FreeCyntoiaBrown.

After running away from home, Brown lived with her 24-year-old boyfriend who, she has said, abused her, raped her, threatened to kill her and forced her into a life of drug use and sex work.

He would explain to me that some people were born whores, and that I was one, and I was a slut, and nobodyd want me but him, and the best thing I could do was just learn to be a good whore, Brown testified at a 2012 hearing that sought a new trial for her.

A post shared by Jana Augustin (@te_hana_art)on Nov 22, 2017 at 10:57am PST

In August 2004, Brown killed Johnny Mitchell Allen, 43, after he paid her for sex. Her lawyers at her first trial argued that Brown was a victim of sex trafficking and she acted in self-defense. According todefense version of what transpired, Allen took Brown to his house where he showed her a collection of firearms. When they were in bed, Allen grabbed her between her legs and reached for something that Brown believed to be a gun. Fearing for her life, Brown reached into her purse and shot Allen in the back of the head.

Prosecutors, however, charged that Browns motive was robbery, given that she took money and two of his guns after she shot him. Brown, according to her lawyers, took the cash and firearms because she feared returning to her pimp empty-handed.

She was tried as an adult and convicted of first-degree murder. Brown, who was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome disorder in 2012, is currently being held at Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. Shell be up for parole at age 69, TheTennessean reports.

Cyntoia Brown, 16, listens during a 2004 transfer hearing to determine if she should be tried as an adult, as seen in the documentary "Me Facing Life: Cyntoias Story."

In 2011, Browns case gained some national attention after filmmaker Dan Birmans documentary, Me Facing Life: Cyntoias Story, aired on PBS.

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This is a young girl whos at the tail end of three generations of violence against women, Birman told Nashvilles Fox 17 earlier this month, referring to the rapes of Brown, her mother and her grandmother. She had no chance.

Now, celebrities including Rihanna, LeBron James, Snoop Dogg, and Kim Kardashian West are advocating for Brown in an effort to win her clemency.

Did we somehow change the definition of #JUSTICE along the way?? Rihanna wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. Something is horribly wrong when the system enables these rapists and the victim is thrown away for life! To each of you responsible for this childs sentence I hope to God you dont have children, because this could be your daughter being punished for punishing already!

Kardashian West has called on her own lawyers to help free Brown.

The system has failed, she tweeted on Tuesday. Its heartbreaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do whats right. Ive called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this. #FreeCyntoiaBrown

The system has failed. Its heart breaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do whats right. Ive called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this.#FreeCyntoiaBrownpic.twitter.com/73y26mLp7u  Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian)November 21, 2017

Apetitionwas started to urge Governor Bill Haslam (R) to grant Brown clemency. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 379,000 people have signed it.

Attorney Charles Bone, who began working for Brown pro bono after watching Birmans film, toldNBCthat the young woman is shocked and surprised that celebrities are rallying behind her, and is appreciative of their support.

This is meaningful not to Cyntoia, but to the cause of sex trafficking and sex slavery and juvenile justice, Bone said. He said that he and a team of lawyers are still fighting for another trial, in which Bone believes Brown would be charged with second-degree murder at the most.

He said that the lesser charge would put her in a situation now where she would be qualified to be considered for parole.

She was sentenced as a child, and the fact that she was a sex slave and the pimp she was living with was trafficking her is worthy of not just celebrities but all of us,Bone told BuzzFeed News.To be aware of the gravity of whats going on, not just in Tennessee but the entire world, needs a lot of attention and a lot support.

Since being locked up, Brown has been described as a model prisoner, according to The Tennessean. She received her G.E.D. and went on to receive an associates degree from Lipscomb Universitys in-jail program in December. Kathy Sinback, Browns previous lawyer and continued advocate, told BuzzFeed News that Brown is working on a project about human trafficking for her bachelors degree program.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Democrats have criticized the Republican response to allegations of sexual misconduct by Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, but faced with their own scandals, theyve resorted to a similar playbook.

Like Republicans, some Democrats have said they are unsure what to believe about credible allegations that were thoroughly reported, hesitated to call for lawmakers to resign and changed the subject to positive things the accused has also done.

On Sunday morning, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was pressed by NBCs Chuck Todd on what a zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment meant for Democratic Rep. John Conyers, who was accused by a former staffer.

The California Democrat responded by saying that the system is strengthened by due process and that ultimately she believed Conyers would do the right thing. She then turned to praise him.

John Conyers is an icon in our country, Pelosi told Todd. He has done a great deal to protect women  Violence Against Women Act, which the left  right-wing  is now quoting me as praising him for his work on that, and he did great work on that. But the fact is, as John reviews his case, which he knows, which I dont, I believe he will do the right thing.

Backlash to the statement was fierce online, with many arguing that Pelosi was letting Conyers off the hook for behavior that included showing up to a meeting in his underwear. But it was quickly overshadowed by Conyers announcement that he was temporarily stepping down from his position as ranking Democrat on the powerful House Judiciary Committee.

Nancy Pelosi's interview with Chuck Todd this morning is a devastating showpiece of our era's bipartisan moral blindness.



Dems had an opportunity to lead on sexual assault and are completely blowing it. https://t.co/pu2OcaWKvQ  Elise Jordan (@Elise_Jordan) November 26, 2017

Even then, Conyers statement borrowed from the playbook that has been used by Republican politicians accused of sexual misconduct, attempting to cast doubt on the accusations against him by attacking the media.

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I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger, Conyers said in the statement. I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics.

Its true that BuzzFeed originally acquired the documents from pro-Trump online activist Mike Cernovich that showed Conyers had settled a sexual harassment claim with $27,000 from a taxpayer-funded office budget. But the publication independently confirmed the documents authenticity, and well-known Washington attorney Melanie Sloan later told the Detroit Free-Press that Conyers once showed up to a meeting in his underwear and verbally abused her and criticized her appearance when she was on his staff.

Conyers has argued that the settlement did not amount to an admission of wrongdoing and maintained his innocence.

When the allegations first surfaced, Pelosi and other Democrats called for an ethics investigation. Only a few Democrats went further. On Wednesday, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York called for Conyers to step down from his post on the Judiciary committee, while Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York became the first in her party to call for Conyers to resign.

Rep. John Conyers should resign. Ive reviewed the allegations against him, and theyre as credible as they are repulsive, Rice said in a statement. Whether it happened 40 years ago or last week, settlement or no settlement, Democrat or Republican  harassment is harassment, assault is assault.

Lawmakers response to accounts of sexual misconduct among their own has been much more muted than in similar cases in Hollywood, the media and corporate America. After Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual abuse by multiple women, he was fired from his own company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Veteran broadcaster Charlie Rose was fired by CBS and PBS the day after allegations he had sexually harassed employees for years surfaced and two journalism schools swiftly rescinded awards. The head of Uber was forced out in part over problems with sexual harassment and discrimination at the company.

Congress is moving to police itself better. The House of Representatives is expected to soon mandate that all members and staff undergo anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training. Rep. Jackie Speier and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York have also introduced bipartisan legislation to overhaul the Congressional Office of Compliance, which handles workplace complaints in the body.

But so far only a handful of lawmakers in either party have called for strong actions against their own.

A number of Republicans withdrew their endorsement from Moore or said he should step aside if allegations are true that he pursued relationships with teens when he was in his 30s, but only a handful said Alabamans should vote for someone else or called for the Senate to expel him if hes elected. And after issuing statements denouncing Frankens actions and calling for the Ethics committee to investigate Franken, Democratic lawmakers were content to leave it at that.

Even Pelosi seemed to realize her comments had missed the mark, clarifying them later in a statement released after Conyers said he would step down from the committee post.

As a woman and mother of four daughters, I particularly take any accusation of sexual harassment very seriously, the statement reads in part. Any credible accusation should be reviewed by the Ethics Committee expeditiously. We are at a watershed moment on this issue, and no matter how great a persons legacy, it is not a license for harassment. I commend the brave women coming forward.
US President Donald Trump signs an executive order on ethics commitments by the executive branch appointees in the Oval Office on 28 January 2017: Getty

An ethics lawyer in President Donald Trumps White House has resigned after spending nearly a year working on financial disclosure issues.

James Schultz said he had discussed the matter of his departure with Don McGahn, lead White House counsel, very early on.

I was interested in continuing with private practice and saw this as a tremendous opportunity to go serve and get things up and running and the plan was to move on about this time, Mr Schultz said.

He is moving to law firm Cozen OConnor in Philadelphia, where he previously worked prior to the White House position.

Mr Schultz said his resignation late last week was not related to the ongoing alleged ethics violations of members of the Trump administration, including advisors Kellyanne Conway and Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump.

These are typically year to about 18-months type positions, Mr Schultz told Politico.

Mr Schultz also took a shot at members of the news media, saying they unfairly criticise this administration... even when theyre not justified.

The lawyer said the White House counsels office has been more onerous and gone beyond legal requirements for staff divestments and recusals.

He also said he would be among the host of former administration officials available for comment on the ongoing controversies.

I will be out, but I dont plan to make a career out of being a pundit on TV, he said, but that it would be something Id be willing to do.

Mr Schultz noted he would not take the path of Office of Government Ethics former director Walter Shaub, who is someone out there trying to make a name for themselves in that space by being critics in order to set themselves up for other positions down the road.

Mr Shaub recently filed a complaint against Ms Conways comments made on television regarding who to vote for in the 12 December special election in Alabama, pitting Republican Roy Moore against Democrat Doug Jones.

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Nobody knew who Walter Shaub was before [Mr Trump] became president ... He immediately thrust himself into the limelight instead of being helpful on the issues where he could have been. It was more about him than about ethics, Mr Schultz said.

In response, Mr Shaub said: I wish Jim well. I hope hes better at his next job, or at least lasts a full year in it.

Mr Schultz is not prohibited from contacting federal agencies on behalf of others within a year of his departure because his salary of $140,000 (105,000) does not fall within the applicable federal rule. He has also taken a pledge from becoming a registered lobbyist for at least five years and never becoming a registered foreign lobbyist.

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The Presidents backing for Roy Moore puts him at odds with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has called for Mr Moore to remove himself from the Alabama Senate race: AP

President Donald Trump has come out fighting for Republican candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of child sex abuse.

Mr Moore, currently running for Alabamas Senate seat in a special election against Democrat Doug Jones, has vehemently denied all the allegations against him.

Mr Trump tweeted: The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!

Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer are the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively.

Mr Trump has appeared to back Mr Moore, putting him at odds with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has called for Mr Moore to remove himself from the Alabama Senate race.

The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017

In another tweet on Sunday, the President said: I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary. He shot way up in the polls but it wasnt enough. Cant let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. Liberal Jones would be BAD!

Mr Jones is a former US Attorney who spearheaded the prosecution of two Ku Klux Klansmen involved in the deadly 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Mr Moore is alleged to have pursued underage girls while he was in his 30s and an assistant district attorney in Alabama.

Last Tuesday, after weeks of silence regarding the claims against Mr Moore, the President finally weighed in on the issue: I can tell you one thing for sure: we dont need a liberal person in there, a Democrat  [Doug] Jones, Mr Trump told reporters, referring to the Alabama Senate seat.

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[Mr Moore] denies it. Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it.

Mr Moore and Mr Jones are competing to fill the seat left vacant when Mr Sessions was appointed to be Attorney General. Republican Luther Strange was chosen to temporarily hold the position until a special election could be held.

Mr Strange - who had the backing of the Republican establishment - ran against Mr Moore in the primary but ultimately lost.

Allegations against Mr Moore first surfaced earlier this month when four women told The Washington Post that he had pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One of the women was just 14 at the time.

Multiple other women between the ages of 16 and 22 have since come forward and accused him of unwanted sexual contact.

Much of the alleged sexual misconduct is said to have occurred in the late 1970s, while one alleged instance of him groping a 28-year-old woman is said to have taken place in 1991.

Mr Moore has ardently denied all allegations against him, saying he has not been guilty of sexual misconduct with anyone.
By PTI: Karachi, Nov 27 (PTI) A newly-wed Pakistani couple who married without the consent of their elders have been killed allegedly on the orders of a jirga, police said today, in the latest honour killing incident in the country.

Abdul Hadi and Hussaini Bibi, who hailed from Kohistan in Sindh province married without permission from their elders about a month and a half ago, Dawn news quoted Mominabad police as saying.

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They had rented a house within the jurisdiction of the Mominabad police station earlier this month.

The murders took place some three days back, but the incident did not come to light earlier as family members of the couple kept the incident a secret.

On November 24, some residents of the area spotted blood around the house that had been rented by the couple and reported it to the police.

The victims bodies were recovered by police from the Qaimkhani graveyard in Ittehad Town and sent to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Senior Superintendent of Police Orangi Abid Baloch said nine people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder and subsequent burial of a newly wed couple in Karachi on the directives of a jirga, an informal council of elders.

Baloch said the two families as well as the girls fiancee were involved in the murder, the Express Tribune reported.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah expressed anger over the couples murder.

"This is Karachi, not a tribal area. How was a jirga held here?" he asked.

Shah directed Inspector General (IG) of Police A D Khawaja to conduct a thorough investigation and present a detailed report of the incident as soon as possible.

He also ordered the IGP to find out how a jirga was able to operate in the city, the report said.

In September, police had exhumed bodies of a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, who had reportedly been electrocuted by their families on the orders of a jirga in Karachi.

Activists say around a thousand Pakistani women fall victims to so-called honour killings every year in which the victims, mostly a woman, are usually killed by a relative for bringing dishonour to the family. PTI AKJ AKJ

--- ENDS ---
Donald Trump will not campaign for Alabama Senate cadidate Roy Moore, seen here in Vestavia Hills, Alabama on November 11, 2017: REUTERS/Marvin Gentry

Donald Trump will not campaign for the controversial Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, multiple outlets have cited White House officials saying.

The decision to stay away from a race that is key to maintaining Republicans' Senate majority  an already-narrow margin that is crucial for the Republican effort to pass a sweeping tax overhaul bill  demonstrates how politically risky Mr Moore has become, even for a President who has not joined other Republicans in calling on Mr Moore to exit the race.

A swirl of sexual misconduct allegations, including multiple women who have accused Mr Moore of having made advances when they were teenagers, has imperiled the former judges election prospects and forced the Republican Party into a difficult political situation.

Mr Moore has denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that I have never engaged in sexual misconduct and saying allegations against him are politically motivated. His campaign doubled down on that line with a new advertisement dismissing false allegations as part of a scheme by liberal elites and the Republican establishment to protect their big government trough.

Despite those disavowals, Republican senators who would be Mr Moores colleagues have distanced themselves and called upon him to leave the race.

But Mr Trump has not done so, and this weekend he weighed in on the race with a series of tweets warning against electing Mr Moores Democratic opponent  effectively giving his backing to the embattled Republican.

While Senate Republicans have said they believe Mr Moore's accusers to be credible, Mr Trump has been reluctant to do the same. He has noted that Mr Moore has been consistent in denying misconduct.

He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And you know, you have to listen to him also, Trump told reporters last week, adding that He's run eight races and this has never come up, so 40 years is a long time.

The Alabama race has also exposed wider fissures among Republican voters. Mr Moore prevailed in the primary over a more centrist Republican, Sen Luther Strange, whom Mr Trump had endorsed.
Donald Trump has been criticised for using a racial slur during an event honouring Native American veterans.

The US president was welcoming three Navajo code talkers from the Second World War to the Oval Office on Monday afternoon when he referred to Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator, as "Pocahontas".

President Trump Honors Native American Code Talkers At White House Credit: Getty

During remarks praising their service, he said: "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. But you know what, I like you."

Two Second World War Navajo "code talkers" stood at the podium, with a third seated in a wheelchair as Mr Trump made the remarks, which were greeted with awkward silence.

They were among 29 young volunteers from the Navajo tribe who joined the Marines in 1942 and created a secret code for the military using the Navajo language as a code.

The president has repeatedly mocked the Massachusetts senator for claims she made about being part Native American.

World War II Navajo Code Talker and Iwo Jima survivor Thomas Begay (L) poses for photographs after he arrives at the White House Credit: Getty

In response, Ms Warren said on MSNBC: "It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honouring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur."

Elizabeth Warren Credit: Reuters

Defending Mr Trump's remarks, the White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: "I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage.

"The president finds an extreme amount of value and respect in these individuals."

Mr Trump first used the phrase during the 2016 presidential election, in which Ms Warren was running as a candidate for the Democratic nomination.

President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a meeting with Navajo Code Talkers including Fleming Begaye Sr., seated left, Thomas Begay, second from left, and Peter MacDonald, second from right, in the Oval Office Credit: AP

In 2012 Ms Warren claimed she had Native American heritage, citing "family stories" passed down through generations as evidence.

"I am very proud of my heritage," she told NPR in 2012. "These are my family stories. This is what my brothers and I were told by my mom and my dad...This is our lives. And I'm very proud of it."
A newly engaged couple with their first child on the way was killed in a wrong-way car crash while they were reportedly on their way home from Thanksgiving dinner in Florida.

Lashay D. Waiters, 24, and 21-year-old Yvette R. Alexandre were hit head-on after Justin Lakin, 21, reportedly drove north in the southbound center lane of Interstate 75.

All three were transferred to local hospitals where they were later pronounced dead. Police said they do not know why Lakin was driving the wrong way on the highway and do not believe alcohol played a role in the tragedy. The investigation is continuing.

Florida Highway Patrol

Florida Highway Patrol

Alexandre had announced two weeks ago that she and Waiters were expecting their first child. The couple was also set to marry after getting engaged last month.

The pair met while attending the University of Central Florida in Orlando, according to reports.

Alexandres family took to social media to express their despair at the loss.

I am overwhelmed with grief at the sudden passing of my only daughter Yvette Alexandre and her fiance Lashay Waiters," Robert Alexandre, Alexandres father, said. "Conversely, I am equally overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from my church family, relatives, and friends amidst the greatest tragedy I've ever had to face. It goes without saying that the pain my wife and I in particular are experiencing is immeasurable."

Alexandres mother also took to social media to remember how much Waiters cared for her daughter.

While going through Lashays [Instagram], reminiscing about our time together, he never went without letting Yvette Alexandre and the world know how he felt about her. I love them so much. We will truly miss them.

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By Padraic Halpin and Elizabeth Piper

DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) - Ireland and Britain remained at odds on Monday on how to progress talks on the Irish border with a week to go before London could face failure in persuading European Union leaders to open trade talks at a December Brexit summit.

The EU handed Prime Minister Theresa May a 10-day "absolute deadline" on Friday to improve her divorce terms and meet three key conditions, including on the border between EU-member Ireland and Britain's province of Northern Ireland.

Before it can sign off on the first phase of talks, the Irish government wants Britain to spell out in writing how it intends to make good on its commitment that the 500-km (300-mile) border will remain as seamless post-Brexit as it is today.

Dublin and EU officials say the best way to avoid a "hard border" is to keep regulations the same north and south and that this needs to be agreed in phase one, but a spokesman for May reiterated on Monday that a solution can only be concluded in the second phase of talks.

"We remain firmly committed to avoiding any physical infrastructure but the secretary of state (Brexit minister David Davis) was also clear that we will only be able to conclude them finally in the context of the future relationship," he told reporters.

May's spokesman repeated that the whole of the United Kingdom will leave the EU's single market and customs union but Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said it seemed impossible to Dublin that some form of hard border could be avoided if there are diverging regulatory regimes north and south.

"It's simply not credible to say on the one hand that we are going to have a frictionless border and at the same time that all of Britain, including Northern Ireland, is going to leave the customs union, the single market without giving any reassurance on the avoidance of regulatory divergence," he told national broadcaster RTE.

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With the possibility of Ireland vetoing progress on the talks dominating some newspaper front pages in Britain, Coveney added that Dublin would not need to use its veto if it remained dissatisfied since it has the backing of all other EU states.

"We don't need to use a veto because we have complete solidarity on this issue. It is clear to us that if there is not progress on the Irish border, we will not be moving onto phase two in December and that was reinforced to me as late as last Friday by very senior EU leaders," he said.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
The Hague (AFP) - UN judges on Wednesday deliver their last ever verdict for war crimes committed in the 1990s Bosnian conflict, in the appeal case of six former Bosnian Croat political and military leaders.

The appeals verdict comes a week after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) jailed top Bosnian Serb ex-commander Ratko Mladic for life on 10 charges of genocide and war crimes, and will draw the curtain on more than two decades of work.

On Wednesday, the judges sitting in The Hague will rule in the appeal brought by ex-prime minister of the breakaway statelet of Herceg-Bosna, Jadranko Prlic, and five others against their 2013 conviction and sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years in jail.

All six guilty were found guilty of taking part in a scheme to remove Bosnian Muslims "permanently and create a Croatian territory", which included the southern city of Mostar besieged for nine months.

The bloody 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, in which 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were displaced, mainly pitted Bosnian Muslims against Bosnian Serbs, but also saw some brutal fighting between Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats.

- 'Massive crimes' -

Prlic, 58, was sentenced to 25 years on 26 charges of aiding and abetting the murder, deportation and harsh detention of Muslims in eight municipalities and a network of detention centres.

He has vehemently denied the charges, telling five appeals judges in March he "was not part of the chain of command" of the main Bosnian-Croat army in Bosnia, the HVO.

But Croatian communities needed to organise themselves, militarily as well, as the Bosnian Republic had not defended them, he said.

The prosecution has also appealed, urging judges to impose 40-year terms on Prlic and three co-defendants, saying the "crimes were massive in scale."

"Tens of thousands of Muslims were evicted from their homes... thousands were arrested and detained in awful conditions," said prosecutor Barbara Goy.

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"Muslims were killed during attacks or when forced to work on the front-lines. They were raped, they were sexually assaulted. Muslim houses and mosques were destroyed," she said.

Prlic has been on trial since 2006, along with his co-defendants former defence minister Bruno Stojic, 62, and four other military officials: Slobodan Praljak, 72, Milivoj Petkovic, 68, Valentin Coric, 61, and Berislav Pusic, 65.

Praljak was specifically charged with ordering the destruction of Mostar's 16th-century bridge in November 1993, which judges said "caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population". The bridge was rebuilt in 2004.

Wednesday's verdict is the last at the ICTY set up in 1993 by the UN to prosecute those behind the Balkans conflicts.

Chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz told AFP it was "an important judgement ... there is a lot of attention coming from the Croatian community in relation to this case, also from Zagreb."

The Prlic case was one of the court's most complex. A total of 326 witnesses testified and almost 10,000 exhibits were presented.

- 'Reunification plan' -

In the 2,629-page judgement, judges said the six men were part of a plan to ultimately reunify with or have very close ties with Croatia.

"The crimes committed were not the random acts of a few unruly soldiers" but aimed "to permanently remove the Muslim population from Herceg-Bosna," they said.

This was achieved "by conducting mass arrests of Bosnian Muslims who were then either murdered, beaten, sexually assaulted, robbed of their property and otherwise abused".

In one example, Bosnian Croat soldiers forced a detained Muslim to lick his own blood from the floor so it would "not remain in Herceg-Bosna."

Then ICTY prosecutor Kenneth Scott told AFP in 2013 the ruling had been "the first time the court was very clear on the significant role played" in the conflict by Croatia's first president, the late Franjo Tudjman.

Tudjman died in 1999 and was never indicted.

Herceg-Bosna was proclaimed in August 1993, but dissolved in 1995 just before the Dayton peace accords that ended the war, and integrated with the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska to become Bosnia-Hercegovina.

The defendants all surrendered in 2004, with Croatia under pressure to cooperate with the ICTY as a condition for joining the European Union.
A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday slammed John Kelly for backing Donald Trump no matter what.

Retired Adm. Michael Mullen said on ABCs This Week that he was particularly disappointed that Kelly, the White House chief of staff, backed Trump after the presidents ugly confrontation over his controversial condolence call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four soldiers killed in Niger.

Kelly defended Trump at a press briefing in October after Myeshia Johnson and Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) complained that the president apparently couldnt remember the fallen soldiers name on the phone, and told his widow that her dead husband knew what he signed up for.

Besides taking a position against a Gold Star family, Mullen said, John [also] ends up politicizing the death of his own son. After the Johnson controversy, Trump complained that Kelly didnt get a phone call from former President Barack Obama after Kellys son, a Marine, was killed in Afghanistan.

Kellys actions indicated that he clearly is very supportive of the president no matter what, Mullen said. That was really a sad moment for me.

Mullen said he has concerns about retired or active generals serving in the highly charged political atmosphere of Trumps White House. Men like Kelly, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster (a lieutenant general still on active duty) and Defense Secretary James Mattis bring stability and tend to reassure people during a chaotic year, said Mullen. But politics is a foreign and difficult atmosphere for them, he added, and their presence threatens to politicize the military.

That doesnt mean generals and admirals cant serve in the White House, Mullen said. They certainly have in the past. But its particularly difficult right now because of the politics of the town. And theres nothing that seemingly is not able to be politicized in the current environment.

Despite his criticism, Mullen called Kelly, McMaster and Mattis great Americans and ... great citizens, and I know that each of them are serving to try to do their best for the country.

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Mullen also said he believes the use of nuclear weapons seems more probable than it used to be  and it scares me to death.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
A former Donald Trump adviser broke with the commander-in-chief by denouncing embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Lobbyist David Urban, who worked on the Trumps presidential campaign and was floated as a potential replacement for former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, told CNN on Sunday that Moores candidacy is a loser for the Republican Party. Referring to Moores Democratic opponent, Urban said that the only thing worse than Doug Jones is Roy Moore.

Urban is only the latest in a chorus of Republicans who refuse to stand by Moore, a former judge who has been accused of sexual harassing and assaulting multiple women, including minors.

Trump meanwhile reaffirmed his backing of Moore in a series of Sunday tweets lambasting Jones, a former U.S. Attorney best known for prosecuting Ku Klu Klan members.

The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2017

I would break with the president on this, Urban told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. I think the only thing worse than Doug Jones is Roy Moore.

Urban dubbed Moore an anchor around the Republican brand and a disaster for the midterms.

Republicans will have to distance themselves, he added. When youre explaining, youre losing. So I think this is a loser for the Republican Party.

Urban said he thinks the issue could have been solved by postponing the election altogether, but reiterated that he would prefer to see Jones elected over Moore.

In the long run, Democrat Doug Jones will become Republican Doug Jones, he said, adding that the candidate could easily become a likely vote for Republicans on various issues.

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Both Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) were the latest in their party to call upon Moore to step aside over the weekend. Others include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Todd Young (Ind.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
PARIS, Nov 26 (Reuters) - France will vote against a five-year extension of the licence for weed-killer glyphosate that the European Commission will propose on Monday, a junior French environment minister said.

The decision makes renewal more difficult for the product, which the U.N. health agency (WHO) has said causes cancer. Glyphosate is a key ingredient in Monsanto Co's top-selling weed-killer Roundup.

"The Commission will put one single proposition on the table on Monday: renewing glyphosate (licence) for five years. In view of the risks, France will oppose this proposition and vote against it," Brune Poirson said in an editorial in French Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

Fourteen out of 28 countries voted in favour of extending the licence when the EU voted on the issue on Nov. 9 with nine against and five abstentions. Under EU rules, 16 favourable votes are needed as a "qualified majority" for renewal before authorization expires on Dec. 15.

The Commission said after the Nov. 9 vote it would resubmit the proposal at the end of the month.

Glyphosate has been used by farmers for more than 40 years but its use was cast in doubt when WHO's cancer agency said in 2015 it probably causes cancer. The European Chemical Agency said in March this year, however, there was no evidence linking it to cancer in humans. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., returned to work Monday to face reporters in Washington for the first time since allegations by multiple women of sexual harassment were made against him.

I know that Ive let a lot of people down, the people of Minnesota, my colleagues, my staff, my supporters, and everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women, Franken said in prepared remarks outside his Capitol Hill office before fielding a few questions. To all of you, I just want to again say I am sorry. I know that there are no magic words that I can say to regain your trust. I know that is going to take time. Im ready to start that process, and it starts with going back to work today.

The comments are the first Franken has made in an open setting since the initial allegations were made against him. Earlier this month, radio host Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing her during a 2006 holiday USO war zone tour and having a picture taken of himself with his hands over her chest while she was asleep on a military transport plane.

Franken said he does not remember the rehearsal in the way Tweeden described it but you have to respect womens experience. Franken said he apologized to Tweeden and was very grateful she accepted his apology.

Three other women came forward with accusations that Franken groped them as they posed with him for photographs on three separate occasions between 2007 and 2010.

Franken said that he has taken thousands of photos with tens of thousands of people since first running for office and doesnt recall the alleged encounters, but from these stories its been clear some women felt he acted inappropriately.

One is too many, Franken said. And for that I am tremendously sorry. And I know that I am going to have to be much more conscious in these circumstances.

Sen. Al Franken speaks to the media outside his office on Capitol Hill on Monday. (Photo: Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

In a series of interviews with Minnesota news outlets on Sunday, the 66-year-old senator and Saturday Night Live alum said he was embarrassed and ashamed about his alleged actions, but that he is looking forward to getting back to work.

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Ive let a lot of people down, and Im hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust, Franken told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The newspaper also asked Franken if he expects more women to come forward.

If you had asked me two weeks ago, Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect? I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise, Franken said. I certainly hope not.

Shortly after Tweedens initial allegation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called for the Senate Ethics Committee to look into the allegations. Franken agreed, and said he would cooperate.

On Sunday, one of Frankens Senate colleagues, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the Minnesota Democrat should consider stepping down.

But Franken told Minnesota Public Radio that he has no such plans.

Im going to do my job, and Im going to go forward, he said. Im going to take responsibility. Im going to be held accountable, and Im going to try to be productive in the way I speak about this.

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By PTI: New Delhi, Nov 26 (PTI) A 26-year-old Nigerian national was arrested and 260-gram heroin worth Rs 26 lakh was seized from him, police said today.

The accused, Justin, used to conceal the drugs in audio speakers to avoid detection by the police.

He was arrested on November 24 from near Dada Dev Khel Parisar, Palam, Dabri Road, here when he had come to supply heroin to someone, they added.

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He was earlier arrested by Punjab Police for drug smuggling. After completing his sentence, he moved to Delhi and started supplying heroin here.

During interrogation, Justin revealed that he had come to India on business visa in 2011.

He started exporting clothes to Nigeria from Ludhiana, but he suffered losses, the police said.

During this period, he came in contact of locals who introduced him to drugs, and he also started consuming heroin.

Gradually, he started supplying narcotic substance as his friends from Nigeria were also involved in drug trafficking, the police said. He was arrested by Mohali Police in 2015. He was convicted by a court there.

He came out of jail in May, 2017 and came to Delhi. Since he was unemployed and addicted to heroin, he again started supplying heroin to earn quick money. PTI SLB SMN

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Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - A Gambian military court on Monday charged 10 soldiers with treason and mutiny for plotting to overthrow the country's newly elected government in July, and two more with helping a sergeant evade arrest.

Elements of The Gambia's armed forces are known to have maintained support for former president Yahya Jammeh following his ouster from power after 22 years in January, but detailed evidence of a rumoured coup plot is only just emerging.

The 10 soldiers "prepared or endeavoured to overthrow the democratically elected government of The Gambia by unlawful means and thereby committed an offence," a court document seen by AFP showed.

The men were arrested in July, army officials had previously told AFP, and have been held without trial, long beyond the three-day limit of the Gambian constitution.

The two soldiers charged with lesser offences are accused of "negligent interference" and "negligent interference with lawful custody" after helping a soldier escape and not informing their superiors.

Jammeh's iron grip on the army and the intelligence services led to the deployment of West African troops in the tiny nation in order to ensure security for President Adama Barrow, who beat him in elections in December.

A Senegalese contingent remains in place, and its commander Colonel Magatte Ndiaye said in July that rebel elements were intent on destabilising the country and working with exiled Jammeh-era top brass, though President Barrow dismissed those reports are "hugely exaggerated".

Former president Jammeh came to power himself via a military coup in 1994, and survived several attempts to remove him with the same method during his long tenure, only to lose democratically and be forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea after refusing to leave his position.

The soldiers' case is running alongside the civilian trial of the so-called "NIA Nine" -- feared former spy chief Yankuba Badjie, who ran the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and eight of his subordinates.

Badjie stands accused of the murder of opposition activist Solo Sandeng, whose death in custody in April 2016 sparked rare protests uniting The Gambia's once weak opposition.

Badjie's lawyers rejoined his defence team on Monday after failing to appear for the previous two hearings and thereby facing a threat of being found in contempt of court.
Former President George H.W. Bush smiles as he listens to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speak in Houston, Texas - Reuters

George H W Bush has become the longest living president in US history at the age of 93 years and 166 days.

He reached the milestone on Saturday, surpassing Gerald Ford who was 93 years and 165 days old when he died in December 2006 and Ronald Reagan who lived until he was 93 years and 120 days old.

Jimmy Carter, who is still alive, is currently in fourth place at 93 years and 56 days.

Mr Bush, who served two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president, was elected to the Oval Office in 1988, serving one term before being defeated by Bill Clinton.

The 41st president, Mr Bush divides his time between Houston, Texas and the family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Profile | George H W Bush

Over the last few weeks, Mr Bush has been accused by four women of groping them during photoshoots. The former president's spokesman issued an apology following the first allegations

, explaining that being wheelchair bound, his arm often drops below the waist of people alongside him.

Earlier this year it emerged that Mr Bush voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, having dismissed Donald Trump as a "blowhard".

He also joined his son George W Bush in releasing a joint statement condemning racial bigotry and anti-Semitism following the violence in Charlottesville.

It was a move which was seen as criticism of Mr Trump's response to the riot in which one person died after being mowed down in a car driven by a white nationalist demonstrator.

Mr Bush remains politically active, has a Twitter account and has joined other living former presidents on a number of occasions, most recently at a concert in Texas to raise money for victims of Hurricane Harvey.
By Riham Alkousaa BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Christmas markets opened on Monday at the start of the holiday season, with security staff on hand and concrete barriers to protect shoppers, nearly a year after an Islamist militant killed 12 people by driving a truck into crowds. Some 2,600 markets, known for their sparkling Christmas trees and wooden stalls serving candied nuts, sausages, mulled wine and handicrafts, opened across Germany under tighter than usual security. The markets are beloved by Germans and a major tourist attraction for visitors this time of year. In the city of Bochum in Western Germany, organizers decorate concrete bollards, wrapping them up as Christmas presents with bows to make them appear festive. In Berlin, Petra Henne, who had been at the market in December last year just half an hour before Tunisian militant Anis Amri drove a hijacked truck into the crowd, came out for the opening this year to enjoy the festivities. The extra security was "a bit oppressive", she said. "And it is awful, this violence that you can't do anything about. But Berliners are on good form and they carry on anyway. What else can one do?" An interior ministry spokesman said the risk of an attack in Europe and Germany is "continuously high". Organizers and business owners had complained that the government was reluctant to share the cost of extra security measures. "What could be done was done," said Berlin's Mayor, Michael Mueller on Monday, noting that those measures still could not guarantee absolute security. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) far-right party asked members of the public to share pictures showing extra security measures at their local markets and post them on social media in protest against Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to more than a million asylum seekers. The AfD blames Merkel's immigration policy for what it says is a rise in crime and Islamist attacks. Klaus Schultheis, an expert in German Christmas markets who collects annual national data on the subject, said he knew of only two markets that were canceled over security concerns. "Christmas markets are a piece of the German culture that shouldn't disappear no matter what," he said. "It goes on." (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Peter Graff)
German Chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Angela Merkel - AFP

Hopes were raised for an end to Germanys political impasse on Sunday, as Horst Seehofer, leader of Angela Merkel's sister CSU party, said a renewed grand coalition is "the best option for the country.

In a difficult week, chancellor Angela Merkel fought to save her political career and avoid snap elections, after negotiations between her Christian Democrats (CDU) and smaller parties broke down more than four weeks after they began, following Germanys federal election.

The Social Democrats (SPD) had previously ruled out entering into another grand coalition with Mrs Merkel, after it suffered its worst ever result in the elections in September. However Martin Schulz, leader of SPD, back-pedalled and offered Mrs Merkel talks on Friday.

Mr Seehofer has said he welcomes the U-turn. "An alliance between the conservatives and the SPD is the best option for Germany, better in any case than Jamaica', new elections, or a minority government," Mr Seehofer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.

Chairman of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) party Horst Seehofer Credit: TOBIAS SCHWARZ

Speaking about the previous grand coalition, Mrs Merkel said at a party conference on Saturday: We did a good job. We worked well together. Talks with the SPD, which will begin on Sunday evening, will be based on "mutual respect" and "compromise", Mrs Merkel said.

The Young Union (JU), the joint youth organisation of the two conservative Union parties, has said Mrs Merkel, Mr Seehofer and Mr Schulz have until Christmas to form a grand coalition. "If there is no agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD by this time, the negotiations are to be regarded as failed," it decided on Saturday, according to Bild am Sonntag.

The head of the youth organization  which wields clout over the parties and claims to be the largest youth political organisation in Europe, with around 120,000 members  Paul Ziemiak, told the Bild newspaper: "If the SPD does not agree, the Union must seek a minority government." A grand coalition should not exist at any price, he said.

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The German public are also apparently in favour of such a coalition, with 52 percent saying they would like a repeat, according to an Emnid survey for the Bild newspaper.

Failed talks between the conservative Union parties, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the left-leaning Greens  dubbed the Jamaica coalition because the party colours match those of the Jamaican flag  broke down when the FDP stormed out of discussions last week, citing irreconcilable differences.

German election results: Potential ways to coalition government

But Mrs Merkel said on Saturday that she is determined to get a new government in place as soon as possible to avoid fresh elections, which she fears could strengthen the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

AfD has claimed credit for the political turmoil, which has left Mrs Merkels authority diminished and created instability in Europes largest economy. The anti-immigration party has said it is proof of its growing power to upend the political order, after it entered parliament for the first time in the September elections, to become the third largest party.

"It's all downhill for Merkel now and that is partly our achievement," Alexander Gauland, AfD top candidate, told Agence France Presse (AFP). "Her time is up  we want her to leave the political stage," he said.

The far-right politician, known for his trademark tweed jackets and reading glasses, styled in the manner of an English gentleman, confidently added that in the event of a new election AfD would probably make gains."

But Mrs Merkel doesnt want to give him the chance. Successful negotiations for a new coalition government would stave off the threat of elections. Europe needs a strong Germany... that's why it is important to form a government very soon," she said.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier will host the first round of talks between Merkel, Seehofer and Schulz on Thursday. Mrs Merkel will hope the new coalition discussions will return stability to Germany and end the country's political turmoil.
Jakarta (AFP) - `Greenpeace slammed Indonesia's palm oil industry Monday for failing to live up to a pledge to halt deforestation, as the lucrative sector faces possible restrictions in Europe over environmental concerns.

Palm oil is used in everything from soap to frozen pizza, but a consumer backlash has forced dozens of the worlds largest food and drink manufacturers to address its ecological impact.

Vast swathes of rainforest are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, threatening endangered species and pushing indigenous people off their lands.

International corporations, including Unilever, Kellogg and Mondelez, have pledged to adopt environmentally friendly supply chains by 2020.

But Greenpeace said in a report published on Monday that large palm oil traders are failing on that commitment.

The environmental group found that most of the 11 major traders operating in Indonesia did not have strict systems to monitor the origin of their goods and were not calling out non-compliant producers.

"Broadly, the palm oil industry has agreed to end deforestation. The issue -- and it is a critical one -- is only two of the 11 (traders) we looked at was actually able to say when they are going to end deforestation," Richard George, a UK-based forest campaigner at Greenpeace, told AFP.

None of the firms contacted by AFP replied to requests for comment on the report.

The Greenpeace report comes against the backdrop of mounting concerns about palm oil's environmental impact.

The European Union, the world's second largest consumer after India, passed a resolution in April calling for tougher environmental standards for palm oil linked to deforestation.

Indonesia and Malaysia -- the worlds two largest producers -- have been lobbying against the resolution.

Both countries have slammed possible EU import restrictions as unfair, and a move that would harm millions of mostly small-scale farmers.
Roy McClellan, 52, was killed by a hit and run driver just weeks after surviving October's mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas. (Photo: GoFundMe)

Just weeks after a Las Vegas man survived the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, authorities say he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Nevada.

Roy McClellan, 52, was walking along a roadway in Pahrump, about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, on Nov. 17 when he was hit by a Chevrolet Camaro, CNN reported citing the Nevada Highway Patrol.

McClellans wife, Denise, said she and her husband had attended the Route 91 Harvest music festival on Oct. 1 and witnessed a gunman fatally shoot 58 people and wound more than 500 others.

Instead of running like the driver that killed him did, Denise McClellan said her husband helped transport victims of the shooting to a hospital, an act that left him needing therapy to recover from.

I dont understand why he wasnt taken at the shooting, but a month later he was taken this way, she told local station KSNV, while sharing suspicions that the driver that hit him was under the influence.

He bailed and left my husband laying there in the street. [My husband] doesnt deserve that, Denise McClellan added. I hope my husband found peace and hes safe now.

A car believed to be involved in the incident has been located and criminal charges against its driver are pending, KSNV reported.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Roy McClellans funeral expenses. The Nevada Highway Patrol did not immediately return a request for comment.

Roy McClellans untimely death follows the death of two other survivors of the Las Vegas massacre.

Two weeks after the shooting, Dennis Carver and his wife, Lorraine, were killed in a car crash in Riverside, California, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The couple had been attending the festival when gunfire broke out, prompting Dennis Carver to jump on top of his wife to protect her, their daughter recalled.

Thats just the kind of love they had for each other, Brooke Carver, the couples oldest daughter, told the local news outlet. Their love was selfless.

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Johnny Bobbitt Jr., left, Kate McClure, right, and McClure's boyfriend Mark D'Amico. The homeless veteran spent his last 15 to help the stranded motorist - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A homeless man who helped a stranded motorist with his last $20 (15) has revealed plans to give away a portion of the $370,000 (280k) he has received in donations so far.

Johnny Bobbitt Jr, 34, came to the aid of Kate McClure when she ran out of petrol on the side of a motorway in Philadelphia.

He told the 27-year-old to wait in her car and lock the doors before walking two miles to the nearest petrol station to bring her back some fuel.

Ms McClure set up a GoFundMe page to help the Good Samaritan get back on his feet and it quickly surpassed the initial $10,000 (7,500) target.

The former paramedic, who became homeless 18 months ago, says he wants to use some of the donations to pay it forward and help others by returning the favour.

I want to change my life, I want to give a lot of it away, he told Good Morning America.

Thats how I got the money to start with, from other people. I cant constantly take and not give back.

I just want to do the right thing. Give money to organisations that help people in need.

Kate McClure and Johnny Bobbitt Jr. Credit: GoFundMe

This money was given to help me. Why not help other people in similar situations or people that are actively helping other people in different situations?

Everybody out there is facing some kind of struggle, so if I can touch their life, the way mine was touched, [itd be] an amazing feeling. I want to feel the feeling on the opposite end.

He added: Its like winning the lottery  Im definitely going to get a place to live  there won't be a brand new car.

Instead, Bobbitt Jr plans to use some of the money to buy a second-hand truck. He also plans to meet with a lawyer and financial planner in the next few days.
Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Honduras' six million voters are to cast ballots in a controversial election Sunday in which President Juan Orlando Hernandez is seeking a second mandate despite a constitutional one-term limit.

His conservative National Party -- which controls the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government -- contends that a 2015 Supreme Court ruling allows Hernandez's re-election.

The opposition, though, has denounced his bid, saying the court does not have the power to overrule the 1982 constitution.

This small country, in the heart of the "Northern Triangle" of Central America where gangs and poverty reign, has one of the highest murder rates in the world, though that metric has fallen under Hernandez's last four years in office.

What credit he claims from that progress is counterbalanced by tensions from a 2009 coup.

That year, then-president Manuel Zelaya was deposed by the armed forces, with backing from the right and from powerful businessmen, for nudging closer to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Zelaya was notably accused of wanting to change the constitution to vie for a second term.

- Three main candidates -

Hernandez, 49, who came to power in 2013, is seen as the frontrunner going into Sunday's election, out of a field of nine candidates.

His closest rivals are Salvador Nasralla, a 64-year-old TV anchor-turned-politician who represents the leftwing Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship coalition, and Luis Zelaya (not related to Manuel Zelaya), 50, who is the candidate of the right-leaning Liberal Party.

The streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa, were festooned with the main parties' colors on the weekend, and campaign booths were dotted around to inform voters on the ballots.

But some analysts warned the calm was deceptive, and tensions could boil over because of the president's desire to hold on to power.

"For the first time, it's not a race between conservatives and liberals, but between a dictatorship and democracy," said Victor Meza, a political analyst at the Honduras Documentation Center.

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Alexander Main, an analyst at the US-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, questioned Honduras law-and-order achievements in an opinion piece written for The Hill, an online political news outlet.

"Honduras remains among the most dangerous countries for those who dare to challenge power," he said. "In the years since the coup, hundreds of activists have been murdered while police and judicial authorities have largely failed to take action."

- 16,000 poll observers -

Hernandez's top principal rivals in the race accuse the electoral board of preparing poll fraud to declare the incumbent president the victor. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal denies that.

"I hope you won't get discouraged when false information starts going around. We need to stay vigilant," Nasralla told his supporters on Friday.

One of the judges on the electoral tribunal, Marco Ramiro Lobo, told AFP that "our obligation is to guarantee a transparent electoral process which has verification mechanisms."

He noted that there were 16,000 poll observers, 600 of them from abroad.

But Marvin Barahona, a political science researcher, said the elections posed the risk of a "new crisis" because of the Supreme Court decision opening the way for Hernandez's bid.

Apart from the presidential election, Sunday balloting will also be to decide the country's three vice-presidency posts, the 128-seat congress, 20 representatives in the Central American Parliament, and the mayors of 298 municipalities.

Initial results were expected around two hours after polling closes, which is scheduled at 4:00pm (2200 GMT) but can be extended by an hour.
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Cold lava flows, also known as lahar, are expected to increase amid an eruption of Mount Agung on Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali, a disaster agency said on Monday, after sounding its highest-level warning over the volanco's activity. "Watch out for lahar floods (cold lava) around Mt Agung," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on social network Twitter. "Lahar floods have already occurred in several places on the slopes," he added, referring to expectations of increased rain in the current wet season. He urged people to avoid nearby river areas. (Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters won the crown at this years Miss Universe pageant, and while the 22-year-old is being celebrated worldwide, there are many people who feel Miss Jamaica, Davina Bennett, really deserved the title.

Seeing women of color compete in pageants while rocking their natural hair is an empowering deviation from seeing the blown-out, straighter hairstyles contestants traditionally wear. Bennett, the second runner-up for Miss Universe, not only showed off her crowning Afro glory, but did so with grace, intelligence, and confidence  and people are beyond here for it.

Miss Jamaica 2017, Davina Bennett, competes during the 2017 Miss Universe Pageant at The Axis at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on Nov. 26, 2017 in Las Vegas. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

One Twitter user shared, Davina represented not only #Jamaica in the #MissUniverse but the black race. I wish shes the one who should have won. She displayed her Afro with pride redefining the competition. Young black girls out there can feel confidence in their natural hair without whitening it. The post has since gotten more than 1,000 hearts and more than 300 retweets, with one person going so far as to comment, Miss Jamaica was robbed.

Davina represented not only #Jamaica in the #MissUniverse but the black race. I wish she's the one who should have won. She displayed her Afro with pride redefining the competition. Young black girls out there can feel confidence in their natural hair without whitening it. pic.twitter.com/8SCqF3o6Je  Not Adv Ngcukaitobi (@AdvNgcukaitobi) November 27, 2017

NOPE! YOU KNOW JAMAICA DESERVED THAT CROWN STOP IT  WHAT HOT GARBAGE #MissUniverse2017 #MissUniverse #MissJamaica  Angie Curo (@a_curo) November 27, 2017

Shout to that HR consultant who said my hair was inappropriate for work. Hope yuh tv turn on goodie #MissUniverse #Jamaica  wahala (@vanessamoiya) November 27, 2017

Bennett glowed as she competed against 91 other contestants and steadily climbed her way to the top three. During the pageant, she was asked, What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe? Bennett responded, The quality I am most proud of is my drive, my determination. I am the founder of a foundation that spreads awareness for the deaf community, and this platform is such a great platform to just let persons know that these persons need opportunities and need equal opportunities and goals in our society. So Miss Universe competition will be the platform for me to use this foundation to spread awareness for all the deaf people around.

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After the competition, the 23-year-old took to Instagram to express gratitude for all the support she received. I did not win but I got what I was seeking. I won the hearts of many, I got to highlight Deaf awareness, I stand as the first afro queen to have made it thus far, I represented my little island and I received allll the love one could possible wish for.

Among her many fans is Beyonces go-to hairstylist, Neal Farinah, who also rooted for Bennett. After sharing his admiration for the beauty queen in a series of Instagram stories, he wrote a final post that read, Such a shame @missuniverse Dark skin women will continue to work harder to prove themselves. Miss Jamaica, u are truly a miss universe.

SUCH A SHAME. @missuniverse DARK SKIN WOMEN WILL CONTINUE TO WORK HARDER TO PROVE THEMSELVES. MISS JAMAICA U ARE TRULY A MISS UNIVERSE. #nealfarinahsaloninc #nealfarinahsalon #nealfarinahinc A post shared by Neal Farinah (@nealfarinah) on Nov 26, 2017 at 7:05pm PST

While many are still in awe of Bennetts bold choice to wear her signature Afro, natural hair has been having a major moment in the pageant world lately. Back in May, Miss USA Kara McCullough received an outpouring of love for sporting a full head of voluminous curls, and prior to that, 2016s Miss USA, Deshauna Barber, made waves for competing with beautiful, tightly coiled hair.

People are taking notice, and its apparent there is a need for more of this kind of strand showmanship.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.




By PTI: By K J M Varma

Beijing, Nov 27 (PTI) A day after a powerful blast hit Chinas port city of Ningbo, police has ruled out the possibility of a human error behind the incident in which two people were killed and many injured.

The explosion occurred early morning at a demolished factory in Jiangbei district of Ningbo City in Zhejiang province and also left two persons missing.

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It was countrys worst industrial explosion in three years which also damaged nearby buildings and vehicles.

The Chinese police today ruled out the possibility of a human error behind it and said further investigation was required into the cause of the blast, state-run Peoples Daily reported.

Ningbo is one of Chinas major international cargo and container shipping ports.

China had a number of industrial accidents in the course of its massive economic growth.

Todays explosion resembled a series of explosions in 2015 in Tianjin port city which ripped through a warehouse, leaving 165 people dead, eight missing and 798 injured.

The majority of those killed were firefighting crews who had gone to douse the flames. PTI KJV DPB DPB

--- ENDS ---
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is detained in Iran - PA

Iran has levelled further allegations at imprisoned British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, including what it claims is proof that she was training Iranian journalists.

The allegations, complete with a close-up of an April 2010 pay stub from Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes former employer, the BBC World Service Trust, appeared on Iranian state television last week, it emerged on Sunday.

Along with the old pay stub, the report featured a June 2010 email where Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe referred to the "ZigZag Academy," a BBC World Service Trust project where she had a role allegedly training young aspiring journalists from Iran and Afghanistan through a secure online platform."

But BBC Media Action, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes former employer (then known as the World Service Trust), said she was never employed in this capacity.

According to a statement sent to the Telegraph, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was never a journalism trainer but undertook administrative duties such as travel bookings, typing, and filing.

It is factually wrong to state that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ever worked for BBC Persian. She did not. The statement notes that BBC World Trust did deliver an online journalism development project aimed at young people in Iran which ended in 2012, and briefed the Iranian Ministry of the Interior on this project some years ago.

Richard Ratcliffe talks to demonstrators after following a march in support of his wife Credit: REUTERS

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe left the BBC in 2011 and then joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency. Both her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and Thomson Reuters repeatedly have stressed she was not training journalists or involved in any work regarding Iran while there.

Mr Ratcliffe said on Sunday that the timing of the broadcast was designed to put further pressure on London as it considers making a 400 million payment to Tehran.

He said the material appeared to have been sourced from his wifes email, which was accessed by the Revolutionary Guards after her arrest.

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"It's trying to justify the new charges," Mr Ratcliffe said.

Condemning the show for putting her next trial at risk, he told the Press Association: "I think it is spectacularly unlikely she will have a fair trial.

Supporters take part in a march for imprisoned Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to the Shia Islamic Centre of England in Maida Vale, north London Credit: PA

"Everything about my experience to date with the Iranian court system has been that it has had little regard for due process, it has been illegal at every stage.

"It is illegal to be prejudicing a trial in Iran this way, but they are still doing it."

A picture of a group of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's fellow mothers in London was "packaged as though they're sort of a network of spies", he added.

Upon seeing the news while in jail, he told the Press Association how Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe collapsed, had a panic attack, and had to be injected with a vitamin B complex and a sedative to calm her down.

Mr Ratcliffe, whose daughter Gabriella remains in Iran with her grandparents, said: "There are grains of truth...and there's stuff that's just plain fantasy" in the show.

In recent weeks, the case of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gathered new momentum in the UK, with a support rally taking place in London on Saturday and growing pressure on Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to resolve the matter.

Mr Johnson has come under fierce criticism for erroneously stating to a parliamentary committee that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching people journalism at the time of her arrest.

Despite having walked back from the statement at a later date, Mr Johnsons words have been held up by the Iranians as damning evidence of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffes guilt. The misstatement was again highlighted in yesterday/SUNDAY's seven-minute special report.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is already serving a five-year sentence in Tehrans Evin prison, but new charges could draw out her prison term by 16 years.

The 38-year-old travelled to Tehran with her toddler daughter on 17 March 2016 for a family visit.

Sixteen days later, as mother and child were about to board a flight back to the UK, members of Irans Revolutionary Guard arrested Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Her daughter, now three years old, remains in Iran in the care of relatives.

In September 2016, Iran sentenced Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe to five years in prison for planning to topple the Iranian regime.

It alleges she was providing training to Iranian journalists  something she, her husband and her employer, the Thompson Reuters Foundation, deny.

The report comes as Britain and Iran discuss the release of some 400 million held by London, a payment Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered. The shah abandoned the throne in 1979 and the Islamic Revolution soon installed the clerically overseen system that endures today.

Though the payment is historical in its origins and has no formal link to this case, the return of these funds could serve to generate goodwill on the Iranian side, to the end of securing an early release for Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The practice is not unheard of. In January 2016, Tehran released four Iranian-Americans including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian after the US handed Iran $400 million in cash.

In September, a UN panel cautioned of "an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals" in Iran.

One Iranian-Canadian, at least one Iranian-American, and one Chinese-American are currently known to be imprisoned in Iran on espionage and crimes against the Iranian state.
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin LONDON (Reuters) - The deputy head of Irans Revolutionary Guards warned Europe that if it threatens Tehran, the Guards will increase the range of missiles to above 2,000 kilometers, the Fars news agency reported on Saturday. France has called for an uncompromising dialogue with Iran about its ballistic missile program and a possible negotiation over the issue separate from Tehrans 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has repeatedly said its missile program is defensive and not negotiable. "If we have kept the range of our missiles to 2,000 kilometers, its not due to lack of technology. ... We are following a strategic doctrine," Brigadier General Hossein Salami said, according to Fars. "So far we have felt that Europe is not a threat, so we did not increase the range of our missiles. But if Europe wants to turn into a threat, we will increase the range of our missiles," he added. The head of Irans Revolutionary Guards military force, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said last month that Irans 2,000-kilometre missile range could cover "most of American interest and forces" within the region, so Iran did not need to extend it. Jafari said the ballistic missile range was based on the limits set by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the head of armed forces. Iran has one of the Middle Easts largest missile programs and some of its precision-guided missiles have the range to strike Israel. "POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL" SUPPORT The United States accused Iran this month of supplying Yemens Houthi rebels with a missile that was fired into Saudi Arabia in July and called for the United Nations to hold Tehran accountable for violating two U.N. Security Council resolutions. Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with missiles and weapons. Yemen is in total blockade. How could we have given them any missile?" Salami said, according to the Fars report on Saturday. "If Iran can send a missile to Yemen, it shows the incapability of (the Saudi coalition). But we have not given them missiles. Salami said the Houthis managed to increase the range and precision of their missiles in a "scientific breakthrough." Jafari, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, said on Thursday that Iran only provides advisory and spiritual assistances to the Houthis. Iran long denied sending fighters to Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad in the fight against the rebels, and said the Revolutionary Guards' presence on the ground was advisory In what seemed to be a correction of Jafari's comments, Salami said on Saturday that Irans support for the Houthis was "political and spiritual." The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, saying its missile tests violate a U.N. resolution that calls on Tehran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The United States says Irans missile program is a breach of international law because the missiles could carry nuclear warheads in the future. Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for civilian uses only. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Yusri Mohamed and Mahmoud Mourad ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - The mosque was packed with hundreds of worshippers for Friday prayers in Egypt's North Sinai when gunmen in military-style uniforms and masks appeared in a doorway and at windows. The ease with which they mounted an attack - killing more than 300 people in the worst bloodshed of its kind in Egypt's modern history - highlighted the threat militant groups pose in the most populous Arab country. After four years of battling Islamic State in the Sinai, where the group has killed hundreds of soldiers and police, authorities still face an enemy with growing ambitions in Egypt, despite its defeats in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Carrying the black flag of Islamic State, the assailants arrived in off-road vehicles before opening fire on the cream-colored Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, leaving its carpets stained with blood, officials and witnesses said. People scrambled to escape as gunmen opened fire at worshippers, including dozens of children. By the time the shooting stopped, many of the village's men were lifeless. No group has claimed responsibility. ATTACK RATTLES EGYPTIANS Egyptians were stunned because the attack was directed at a mosque - a rarity in the country's history of Islamist insurgencies. The possibility that ultra-hardline Islamists are shifting tactics and picking new targets is worrying for Egypt, where governments have struggled to contain groups far less brazen than Islamic State. Egyptian leaders have adopted a zero-tolerance policy, with air strikes, raids on militant hideouts and long prison sentences. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has once again threatened to crush the militants. "The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force in the coming period," he said after Friday's carnage. Sisi has called for a comprehensive campaign to counter what he describes as the existential threat of radical jihadism, deploying moderate clerics to promote moderate Islam, for instance. He is expected to run for a second term early next year. Even with a convincing win, he will face pressure to deliver on promises of stability, especially if attacks like that on Al Rawdah persist. For Islamic State, the village was a target because of its ties to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam that hardline Islamist groups consider heretical. Some villagers recalled how these threats were made about a year ago in an Islamic State internet publication. In a December 2016 issue of al-Nabaa, one of the group's religious leaders left little doubt that Sufis would be targeted. It mentioned Al Rawdah directly. "Our primary focus lies in the war against polytheism and apostasy, and of those, Sufism, sorcery and divination," he said. More threats were made in early 2017. SUFIS CONDEMNED FOR BELIEFS In March, Islamic State's branch in the Sinai posted a video of its religious police forcing a group of Sufis to renounce their beliefs under threat of death. It showed what it said were militants beheading two elderly Sufi men in the desert after they were found guilty of witchcraft and sorcery. Egypt has about 15 million Sufis, and their shrines and saints appear in villages across the country. Ultra-conservative Salafists abhor Sufi practices and some have in the past threatened to smash their symbols with hammers and iron bars. Five police and army sources said there was no recent specific threat against Sufis in Al Rawdah. Friday's attack began in the early afternoon. The mosque's imam said he had just stepped onto the podium for his sermon when gunfire erupted and worshippers struggled to escape. "I found people piled on top of each other and they kept firing at anyone," imam Mohamed Abdel Fattah told Reuters from his hospital bed in Sharqiya city. "They fired at anyone who breathed." Ramadan Salama, 26, said all he remembers before ending up in hospital was gunmen entering the mosque during the sermon and spraying worshippers with gunfire. As Egyptian security forces try to reassure an anxious public, they face yet another dangerous enemy. A new group with military training is already posing a more complex threat. In October it mounted a sophisticated attack, not far from Cairo. The little-known Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack on police in the Western desert, far from northern Sinai. Security sources said dozens of police officers and conscripts were killed. The government said 16 police and conscripts died. Security sources said the heavy weapons and tactics employed indicated ties to Islamic State or more likely an al Qaeda brigade led by Hesham al-Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer turned jihadist. For now, security and intelligence officials will continue to hunt Ashmawy, described as the country's most wanted man. Egypt's prosecutor's office, citing its investigation and interviews with wounded survivors, says gunmen carried an Islamic State flag as they stormed the Al Rawdah mosque. Authorities say 305 people, including 27 children, died as gunmen even attacked ambulances arriving on the scene. Another 128 were wounded. "They entered the mosque from outside, almost 10 to 20 people with weapons, and they destroyed everything," said resident Magdy Rezk from hospital. It was a huge toll for a tiny village. Tribal leader Ibrahim el-Menaie, told Reuters via social media that it has a population of only 800. "The whole village is black with mourning," said resident Haj Ahmed Swailam. (Additional reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Eric Knecht; writing by Patrick Markey; editing by Michael Georgy and Giles Elgood)
Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan's law minister resigned Monday after the embattled government bowed to demands from a small Islamist group, striking a deal with the help of the military to end a weeks-long anti-blasphemy protest.

At the site of the sit-in which had blocked a major road into Islamabad, demonstrators were slowly packing up tents and walking to bus stops as shops and markets reopened for the first time since the protest began.

Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his supporters from the once-obscure Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY) group had paralysed the capital since November 6 with just 2,000 demonstrators, enraging millions of commuters and the judiciary who blasted the government for hesitating to act against them.

Analysts said the capitulation to him and his supporters was an unsettling sign of the influence even marginal religious groups wield in Pakistan and an embarrassment for the government before elections due in 2018.

The demonstrators demanded the resignation of law minister Zahid Hamid over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the wording of an oath which election candidates must swear.

The change was small and quickly reversed, but the TLY linked it to blasphemy, a hugely charged issue in the conservative Muslim country.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) remained silent Monday, with no official comment on the report by state media that Hamid had resigned.

But a triumphant Rizvi called off the sit-in in a statement to supporters, saying the army had guaranteed their demands would be met and thanking the powerful military chief for "playing his role".

"Respected army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had sent his representatives and we signed the agreement with them," he claimed.

The declaration, as well as a widely-circulated text of the agreement signed by Rizvi, the interior minister and Major General Faiz Hameed, among others, spurred the Islamabad High Court to demand the government give a full accounting of the army's role in the deal.

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The government had called on the military to intervene to restore law after police and paramilitaries bungled an attempt on Saturday to dislodge the protesters.

The move sparked clashes that left at least seven people dead and ignited protests across the nuclear-armed nation of 207 million people.

But the army had still not publicly responded to the government's call by Monday, fuelling rampant speculation about what was going on behind the scenes.

Hameed's signature on the text agreement was "most alarming" and Rizvi's gratitude to army chief Bajwa was "strange", Judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui said in an order that was made public as the official silence continued Monday.

Analysts said the government had been so undermined it had been left with no option but to seek the help of the army, widely seen as the most powerful institution in Pakistan.

"They wanted to put the army against the protesters, and when the military refused... the government was left with no way out," analyst Rasul Bukhsh Rais told AFP.

"The government's capacity is eroded," he said. "Nobody was willing to listen to them."

- 'Major embarrassment' -

"It was our goal to be martyred for the honour of the Prophet," one protester, 19-year-old Mehboob Ahmed, told AFP at the protest site in Islamabad.

"We fought fearlessly but I feel sad and regret that I could not get martyrdom."

Authorities had initially hesitated to act over the sit-in.

Pakistan's civilian government has long pulled its punches in such situations, fearing that a crackdown on a religious group would incite blowback, as it has in the past.

Minister Hamid's ousting is the latest in a series of heavy blows to the ruling party.

In July Nawaz Sharif was deposed as prime minister by the courts over graft allegations, while finance minister Ishaq Dar -- also accused of corruption -- has taken indefinite medical leave.

Observers had previously warned that capitulation would set a dangerous precedent.

"Politically, this is a major embarrassment for the PML-N," analyst Hasan Askari told AFP, adding that it would undermine their credibility and predicting more defections.

He also warned it had strengthened the position of hardline groups like TLY.

TLY comes from the Barelvi sect of Islam that has strong ties to Sufism, a mystical branch of the religion seen as moderate. It emphasises personal devotion to the Prophet Mohammed.

However the execution in 2016 of Barelvi follower Mumtaz Qadri -- who assassinated liberal Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his stance on the blasphemy laws -- appears to have galvanised Rizvi and his followers.

Askari warned that the decision by TLY and other Islamist parties to contest the upcoming elections could further weaken the PML-N. The party has previously benefited from the right-wing religious vote.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel mounted a battery of its Iron Dome anti-missile system on a warship Monday, as the vaunted rocket interceptor went operational at sea for the first time, senior officers said.

Israel Air Force Brigadier General Zvika Haimovitch said the battery fitted to the corvette Lahav underwent a successful "live-fire test" and would be a valuable asset in securing offshore natural gas fields.

"Today the IAF put another operational layer to defend and protect Israel's energy assets in the Mediterranean Sea," he told journalists in English.

"This is a significant milestone," he added.

The air force is responsible for Israel's ground-based anti-missile defences.

Israel has major gas fields off its northern coast and is building valuable infrastructure to get the fuel out of the ground and onto land, all within range of rockets from its deadly foe Hezbollah's Lebanon bases.

The Tamar field, discovered in 2009 and which began production in 2013, has estimated reserves of up to 238 billion cubic metres (8.4 trillion cubic feet).

Leviathan, discovered in 2010 and set to begin production in 2019, is estimated to hold 18.9 trillion cubic feet (535 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, along with 34.1 million barrels of condensate.

Israel has invited bids for another 24 offshore oil-and-gas exploration licences it hopes will bring more big finds in the Mediterranean as it strives to become an energy exporter.

In 2006, Israel fought a 34-day war against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in which more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 120 Israelis, the majority soldiers, died.

Israeli authorities said that in the course of the fighting Hezbollah fired 3,970 rockets into Israel.

In recent weeks cross-border tensions have risen again as part of a row between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which saw Hezbollah accuse the Saudis and Israelis colluding to launch a fresh offensive into Lebanon.

Haimovitch however said that the seaborne Iron Dome process was set up more than 18 months ago.

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He added that the Lahav and other ships which would be fitted with Iron Dome in future would not be confined to Israel's northern coast.

"We don't develop specific solutions for a specific threat or direction," he said. "It could be a threat from Lebanon or from Gaza."

He said military planners learned from the 2014 war in Gaza, codenamed Operation Protective Edge.

In that conflict, the army says, the Islamist Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups fired more than 4,500 rockets at Israel, of which Iron Dome intercepted 735.

"It was an operational scenario we saw during Protective Edge that Hamas and other Islamic groups fired missiles at our assets."
Kuwait City (AFP) - A Kuwaiti court on Monday sentenced to jail 67 people, including an opposition leader and Islamist deputies, over a 2011 raid on parliament, a defence lawyer said.

Nationalist opposition leader Musallam al-Barrak, three Islamist MPs and 63 other dissidents were convicted of violence against police during the takeover of the parliament building, Youssef al-Harbash said.

The lawyer said he planned to file for a mistrial over what he said was the absence of a full defence team.

Barrak and MPs Walid Tabtabai and Jamaan al-Harbash were sentenced to seven years, while Mohammed al-Mater, the third Islamist MP, received a one-year jail term.

The remaining defendants were handed sentences ranging from one to seven years.

The 2011 raid on parliament was aimed at forcing the resignation of Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Sabah, then the emirate's prime minister.

Sheikh Nasser eventually resigned amid a corruption scandal.

Barrak has previously served a two-year sentence for insulting Kuwait's emir. He was released in April.

All 67 of those convicted are members of or sympathise with Kuwait's opposition, which includes both nationalists and Islamists.

While the opposition has called for political reform, including a crackdown on corruption, it has stopped short of targeting the Al-Sabah dynasty which has ruled Kuwait for 250 years.

Kuwait's parliament has been dissolved seven times since 2006 due to frequent feuds between the government and opposition.
High-profile attorney Lisa Bloom announced Sunday that shes representing a woman who filed a sexual harassment complaint against Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 2014.

Bloom called on the embattled congressman, as well as the Office of Compliance, to release the woman from the confidentiality agreement she was forced to sign so she may have a voice to tell her own story. The woman hasnt yet been publicly identified.

Mr. Conyers and his attorney have spoken to the press and said that Mr. Conyers never sexually harassed anyone, Bloom wrote in a press release issued Sunday. My client was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement at the time the matter was resolved, which bars her from telling her side of the story.

Basic fairness and decency dictate that if Mr. Conyers can speak publicly about the matter, the woman should be free to do so as well, she continued.

BREAKING: I represent the woman who filed a sexual harassment complaint against Congressman John Conyers. Here is my statement. pic.twitter.com/75wlx1AT9c  Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) November 26, 2017

Buzzfeed News broke the news Monday about a 2014 complaint against Conyers, in which the unnamed woman claimed he fired her because she rejected his sexual advances. The report also included testimony from several other female former staffers who made similar accusations throughout the years.

Conyers, who has denied all of the allegations, announced Sunday that was stepping down from his role as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee while the House Ethics Committee investigates the allegations.

In her statement Sunday, Bloom said she and her client would fully cooperate with any investigation into the matter.

Regardless of confidentiality agreements, victims may speak if they are lawfully subpoenaed, Bloom wrote, adding that she would be happy to help provide her clients testimony to the ethics committee if subpoenaed.

Story continues

A representative for Conyers did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The crush of unfinished business facing lawmakers when they return to the Capitol would be daunting even if Washington were functioning at peak efficiency.

It's an agenda whose core items  tax cuts, a potential government shutdown, lots of leftover spending bills  could unravel just as easily as advance amid factionalism, gamesmanship, and a toxic political environment.

There's only a four-week window until a Christmas deadline, barely enough time for complicated negotiations even if December stays on the rails. And that's hardly a sure bet in President Donald Trump's capital.

Trump and congressional leaders plan a meeting Tuesday to discuss how to sidestep a shutdown and work though the legislative to-do list.

For the optimistic, it's plain that Democrats and Republicans have reasons to cooperate, particularly on spending increases for the Pentagon and domestic agencies whose budgets otherwise would be frozen. An additional round of hurricane aid should be bipartisan, and efforts to reauthorize a popular health care program for children seem to be on track.

Republicans are advancing their cherished tax cut measure under special rules that mean Senate Democrats cannot use delaying tactics. The measure passed the House just before the Thanksgiving break and moves to the Senate floor this coming week.

After the Senate GOP's failure on health care this summer, the majority party is under enormous pressure to produce a victory on taxes. Still, GOP deficit hawks such as Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona remain uneasy about the overhaul.

While Democrats are largely sidelined on taxes, they hold leverage over a mix of budget-related issues.

First, there's the need to avert a government shutdown after a temporary spending bill expires on Dec. 8. The most likely scenario, congressional aides say, is for an additional extension until Christmas. On a parallel track are talks to raise spending limits that are keeping agency budgets essentially frozen unless those caps are raised. If that happens, then negotiations could begin in earnest on a massive catchall spending measure in hopes of having it signed into law by year's end.

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Taxes have gotten all the attention so far, but the showdown over a potential shutdown right before Christmas could soon take center stage. Democrats are counting on GOP fears of a holiday season closure to ensure Republican concessions during December talks.

Both sides would have to make concessions that may upset partisans in either party. Just as House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., fears a revolt on the right, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California risks an uprising on her left. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., round out the quartet of top negotiators.

"Everybody's got complicated politics. The chance of short-term failure is pretty high  short-term failure being a shutdown," said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist. "But the four of them, assuming they don't want to shut the government down for a long time, are going to have to come to an accommodation."

Talks on the spending caps are stuck, however, aides say. A GOP offer to lift the Pentagon budget by more than $54 billion next year and nondefense limits by $37 billion was rejected by Democrats demanding balance between the two sides of the ledger.

Long-delayed battles over immigration and Trump's promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border are huge obstacles. Many Democrats whose votes are needed on the spending bills insist they won't vote for any legislation that includes the wall. Trump remains dead set on his $1.6 billion request for a down payment on the project.

Those same Democrats also insist that Congress must act by year's end to protect immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and whose protected status is set to lapse next year. Trump backs the idea despite issuing an executive order reversing the Obama administration protections, starting next spring. Conservatives oppose drawing in the immigration issue to legislation to keep the government running.

Hurricane relief is adding one more wrinkle.

Congress has approved more than $50 billion in aid in response to a series of devastating hurricanes. The most recent request by the White House is the largest yet at $44 billion, but it's not nearly enough to satisfy the powerful Texas delegation, which is pressing behind the scenes for more.

"Completely inadequate," said Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas. "We must do far more to rebuild, repair and allow Texans to return to normal as quickly as possible."

Trump is a huge wild card. He warmed to the idea of cutting deals with Democrats after a September pact with Schumer and Pelosi to lift the government's debt ceiling. He promised the Democratic leaders that he would sign legislation to give the young immigrants legal status  provided border security is addressed as well.

But Trump has not really engaged on the year-end agenda and his impulsiveness could be a liability. He almost disowned an omnibus spending bill in May after media accounts portrayed the measure as a win for Democrats.
By PTI: By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Nov 26 (PTI) Pakistans powerful military establishment is using religious zealots to end democratic rule in the country, Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain has said.

London-based Hussain in a letter to the international community including the US sought "urgent action" and send the Pakistani military establishment a clear message to refrain from meddling into politics.

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"This is the only way forward to restore peace in Pakistan as well as worldwide," Hussain said.

He alleged that the military establishment of Pakistan, the spy agency ISI in particular, is "now using religious zealots to end democratic rule in Pakistan once again".

"Islamabad, the capital city, has been held hostage once again by religious zealots who seem to be enjoying total impunity from Pakistan?s military establishment," he said.

The Pakistan government yesterday called in the army after clashes broke out in Islamabad when police and paramilitary forces cracked down on protesters from hardline religious groups who were blocking a key highway to the capital, leaving over 200 people injured.

"The civilian government has banned electronic media from coverage of these so-called protests. The country seems be falling into chaos, setting up a perfect stage for the Army to seize power and derail democracy once more," he claimed.

The MQM emerged as a largely ethnic party in the 1980s. It has political dominance in the southern Sindh provinces urban areas - notably in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur where a large number of Urdu-speaking people who migrated from India during partition reside. PTI LKJ ZH

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: (Eds: Updating with more details)

By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Nov 27 (PTI) Pakistans law minister Zahid Hamid today resigned to quell violent protests by Islamists across the country as the embattled government "surrendered" to hardline groups, who were baying for his sacking for alleged blasphemy.

Hamids resignation comes in the aftermath of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters during the weekend, that killed six people and injured hundreds. The sit-in had paralysed the national capital for three weeks.

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An official of the Prime Minister House confirmed that the law minister last night sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who accepted it today.

Hamid was accused by the protesters of blasphemy after a reference to the Prophet Muhammad was left out of a revised version of the electoral oath. He called it a clerical error.

Hamids resignation cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the capital by protesters.

Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) religious groups started protests three weeks ago.

Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters with the help of the powerful Army to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.

Following the agreement and the subsequent resignation of Hamid, TLY chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home.

"We have decided to end the protest after assurance by the army chief and an agreement with government," he said at Faizabad interchange, where he was camping with over 2,000 supporters for last three weeks.

The civilian government is being criticised for backing down in the crisis, which raises new questions about the militarys role in politics in this country.

The right wing cleric, who parlayed life in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi, said his party was not in favour of violence. He said all of his supporters arrested during crackdown would be released by the government.

He also expressed anger at media for not showing his announcement live and threatened that media persons would not be allowed to leave the venue until his announcement was shown on channels. But he later allowed reporters to go.

Meanwhile, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court lashed out at the government and the powerful military for the role assigned to the Army as the "mediator" in striking the deal with the protesters to end their sit-in.

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"The court had asked the government to clear the roads and not for an agreement with protestors. What you have done is surrender," the judge told Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

He also used strong words against armys role to mediate the agreement, when the minister said the agreement with the protesters was reached with the help of the Army.

"Who is the Army to play the role of mediator?...Where does the law assign this role to a Major General?" he asked.

In more scathing words, the judge said the protesters could not sit at Faizabad if it were located closer to the Armys headquarters.

Justice Siddiqui told Iqbal that the government had constitutional right to call in Army to help civil administration in any emergency situation.

He also said the "Army chief is an officer in an institution that comes under the state" and rhetorically asked "Is he above the law?"

Later in the day, the government opened the Islamabad Expressway linking the capital with its only airport and thickly populated suburban areas along the highway.

Radio Pakistan said that Hamid, the minister for law and parliamentary affairs, "voluntarily" presented his resignation to Abbasi to bring the country "out of a state of crisis".

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The protesters were demanding Hamids ouster over his alleged role for changes in the oath about finality of prophethood in the recently passed elections laws.

They had linked the action to blasphemy -- a highly contentious issue in the Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Hamid said in resignation that the Election Act was formulated by a parliamentary committee comprising members belonging to all political parties.

According to the agreement, government would take back all cases against protesters and make public the probe regarding the changes in the oath and also punish those who were responsible for crackdown on protesters.

The agreement lauded efforts of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for playing key role in peacefully ending the stand-off, which became possible after an important meeting between Bajwa and Abassi yesterday.

Citing military sources, Dawn reported that the army chief had opposed use of force against its own people since the populations trust in the institution of the army "cant be compromised for little gains". PTI SH ZH AKJ AKJ

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Nov 27 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa today left for Riyadh to attend a counter-terror conference hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar are also accompanying the prime minister and the Chief of Army Staff on a day-long tour, Radio Pakistan reported.

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opened the maiden meeting of defense ministers of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition in Riyadh yesterday.

The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) is a coalition of 41 Muslims countries and currently led by former Pakistan Army Chief General (retd) Raheel Shareef.

The Saudi Crown Prince had announced about the formation of IMCTC in 2015 but it took more than two years to take it a shape.

Since IMCTC only includes Sunni Muslim countries and so far excluded Iran, Iraq and Syria, it was feared that it could be considered as anti-Shiite grouping.

Shareef, in his address to IMCTC defence ministers yesterday, had said that it was a counter-terrorism alliance and not against any country or any sect.

The delegation, led by the prime minister, is expected to hold meetings with the Crown Prince and other officials.

During the meetings, bilateral relations, regional and international situation would be reviewed, it said. PTI SH SMJ AKJ SMJ

--- ENDS ---
An uncommon fungal infection appears to have lingered in one man's body for 30 years before making itself known in his brain  and a heart transplant may have played a role in making him sick, a new report of the man's case reveals.

The 70-year-old man was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, an infection caused by inhaling the spores of a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum.

Histoplasma is common in some parts of the U.S.  namely, around the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys  but not in the Southwest. Indeed, the case is unusual because the man lives in Arizona and he did not spend much time outside of the state. He likely picked up the infection during a brief visit to North Carolina three decades earlier, according to the case report, which was published Nov. 8 in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

Histoplasmas spores live in soil that may contain bird or bat droppings, and people can inhale these spores after dirt or dust containing the droppings gets disturbed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This can happen during activities, such as cleaning chicken coops, exploring caves, and landscaping or demolishing old buildings, the CDC says. [10 Bizarre Diseases You Can Get Outdoors]

Histoplasmosis usually affects a person's lungs and causes flu-like symptoms, such as a fever, cough and fatigue, the CDC says, but the fungus can also spread to other organs.

But not everyone who inhales the spores gets sick, according to the CDC. In this man's case, he may have been more vulnerable to the infection because he was a heart-transplant recipient who received a donated organ in 1986.

Reactivating an infection

The man's heart transplant wasn't the source of the infection, but it may have been the reason the histoplasmosis infection was reactivated, said Dr. Carol Kauffman, an infectious-disease expert at the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan. Kauffman was not involved in the man's case, but has written extensively about histoplasmosis.

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After an organ transplant, people must take drugs to suppress the immune system so that the body doesn't attack the new organ. These medications lowered the man's immunity and allowed the fungal spores that lay dormant in his body to grow again, Kauffman told Live Science.

The man learned of his infection when he went to see infectious-disease experts at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson because he had been feeling confused for four days, according to the case report.

Brain scans of the man's head revealed abnormal brain tissue, leading doctors to think that he might have had a tumor. Additional tests revealed that the man also had abnormal growths on his adrenal glands, which produce a variety of important hormones.

The doctors then performed a biopsy of the adrenal glands  which are located on top of a person's kidneys  and found areas of inflamed, dead tissue, which can be a symptom of histoplasmosis, according to the case report.

Lab tests and a fungal culture confirmed the man's diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis, the more severe and rarer form of the disease. ("Disseminated" means that the disease spread beyond the initial location of the infection, in this case, the lungs.)

Indeed, the man's initial symptoms  confusion and an "altered mental status"  were likely the result of the infection spreading to his brain, Kauffman said.

The case report authors said that histoplasmosis was an unusual diagnosis, considering that the man could recall only a short visit, more than 30 years earlier, to North Carolina, which is an endemic area, meaning an area where the disease is seen more regularly.

Kauffman noted that the report doesn't provide all of the details needed to know how the man first picked up the infection. For example, he might not remember all of his travels; and if he drove to North Carolina, he could have stopped along the way in endemic areas, she said.

The fungus can be in the soil in many places, and a person can be exposed to it without having a history of being in contact with birds, bats or caves, Kauffman said.

The man was given an antifungal medication to treat the infection, according to the case report.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Meghan Markle, soon to be Duchess of Sussex, and the Duke of Clarence

Meghan Markle, the American actress who will marry Prince Harry in the spring, will likely be known as Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex, it has emerged.

Although Ms Markle may informally be known as Princess Meghan, this will not be her official title due to Royal protocol.

The couple announced their engagement this morning via Clarence House's Twitter feed, sparking congratulations from around the world.

According to tradition, the Queen, on the morning of their wedding, will bestow a title on Prince Harry and Ms Markle, as was the case in 2011 when Kate Middleton became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married Prince William.

The title of Duke and Duchess of Sussex is the most likely choice for the newlyweds according to Royal watchers with other names being dogged by bad luck.

George Plantagenet became the Duke of Clarence in 1449, and was convicted of treason against his brother, Edward IV. He was then imprisoned and sentenced to death.

Another Duke of Clarence was the eldest son of Edward VII, and was dogged throughout his life by rumours about his intellect, sexuality and mental health. He was also suspected of being Jack the Ripper.

If Harry turns down this dukedom, he will remain Prince Henry of Wales, which would in this case make Meghan Markle HRH Princess Henry of Wales. Princess Michael of Kent also takes her husband's first name.

Genealogist Charles Kidd, editor of Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage, told the Press Association that it is likely the Duke of Sussex would be given to Harry.

"They're quite limited in the titles that are available. The Duke of Sussex is the front-runner without any doubt," he said.

"I think the others are highly unlikely. Clarence hasn't been used for a long time and it's been sort of tainted by bad luck.

"One Duke of Clarence was the eldest son of Edward VII and there have been a lot of fairly salacious stories surrounding him.

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"Another Duke of Clarence was executed for treason and allegedly drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

"Connaught, with its links to the Republic of Ireland, might not be suitable at the moment.

"The dukedoms of Cumberland, Albany and Teviotdale are all suspended, meaning there could be claims to those titles."

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Melania and Donald Trump on the steps of Air Force One: AP

Melania Trump reportedly did not want to become First Lady come hell or high water and thought it was unlikely she would ever do so.

The First Lady, who married Donald Trump in 2005, is said to have always been reluctant for her husband to become president but assumed it would never actually happen.

This isnt something she wanted and it isnt something [Donald Trump] ever thought hed win. She didnt want this come hell or high water, a longtime friend of the Trumps told Vanity Fair.

I dont think she thought it was going to happen, they added.

However, it was apparently the 47-year-old who initially pushed Mr Trump to run for president after becoming impatient with his dawdling and hesitancy.

Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign advisor, said: He always wanted to run. She is the one who pushed him to run just by saying run or do not run. I dont think she was ever too crazy about it.

According to Stone, Ms Trump urged her husband to either run or dont run.

She said, Its not my thing. It's Donalds thing. And I think she understood he was going to be unhappy if he didnt run, he said.

Since President Trumps presidential nomination, rumours have abounded claiming Ms Trump is reluctant to take on the role of First Lady. This was further augmented by Ms Trump, who is the US presidents third wife, breaking precedent by not moving to the White House until five months after Mr Trumps inauguration.

Furthermore, lack of information about her daily activities has generated speculation she spends less time in the White House than is usual for a First Lady.

Ms Trump, who is almost a quarter century younger than her husband, is known for being reclusive and media shy.

Born in Slovenia when it was part of Yugoslavia, Ms Trump is the first ever First Lady to be born in a communist nation. She is also the first First Lady to be born abroad since Louisa Adams who moved into the White House in 1825.

The then-small-town girl, who friends say has always been a private person, began her modelling career when she was just 16 and signed with a modelling agency in Milan at the age of 18. She went on to graduate from a design high school and attend the University of Ljubljana before relocating to Italy and later Paris for modelling.

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Ms Trump has had a fraught relationship with her husbands first wife Ivana Trump. Last month, the pair had an explosive exchange after Ivana jokingly referred to herself as First Lady.

Ivana, the wife whose high-profile divorce from Trump allowed the president to become a mainstay in tabloid headlines, said she had a direct number to the White House and called the president every two weeks. Im basically first Trump wife, she said on Good Morning America with a laugh. Im First Lady, OK.

The joke did not go down well with the current First Lady and resulted in Stephanie Grisham, Melanias communications director, unleashing a scathing rebuttal.

Mrs Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, DC, and is honoured by her role as first lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books, Ms Grisham said.

She added: There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise.

But Ivana has weighed in on the furore again over the weekend, saying Ms Trump went bananas when she branded herself the first Trump lady.

I said Im first Trump lady. And first lady went bananas over it. I have no idea how it sparkled. I have no idea why, but I am definitely first Trump lady, she told The Ray DArchy Show.

I was married to Donald. I have three kids with him, and I have no idea why she resents it.

She added: Let's leave it at that. Who cares.

Ivana married the President in 1977 and divorced in 1992 after he had an affair with his second wife, Marla Maples
The office of Melania Trump blasted "the liberal media" on Monday in responding to a report claiming the first lady had no interest in taking on her White House role.

A new feature in Vanity Fair includes a quote from a source described as a "longtime friend of the Trumps" who says the first lady had no desire to be America's first lady.

"This isnt something she wanted and it isnt something he ever thought hed win," the source reportedly told Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison. "She didnt want this come hell or high water. I dont think she thought it was going to happen."

The quote quickly spread like wildfire, leading many to turn to the first lady's office for a response. According to CNN's Kate Bennett, a spokeswoman for the former Slovenian model has provided just that.

"Once again part of the liberal media, this time Vanity Fair, has written a story riddled with unnamed sources and false assertions," the response from Melania Trump's spokeswoman reads. "As a magazine tailored to women it is shameful that they continue to write salacious and false stories meant to demean Mrs. Trump, rather than focus on her positive work as First Lady and a supportive wife and mother. As has been stated on the record many times before, she is honored by her role."

. @FLOTUS spokeswoman responds to me re @VanityFair @Sarahlellison piece reporting come hell or high water Melania Trump didnt want to become First Lady: pic.twitter.com/9PUR310QF5  Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) November 27, 2017

The first lady has had a busy fall season, with domestic trips to hurricane-battered Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida and a lengthy foreign trip to Asia. Just last week she appeared with President Trump and son, Barron, as they took part in the pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey.

RELATED: A look at Melania Trump in her White House role


Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - Chancellor Angela Merkel faced growing calls Sunday to clinch a repeat coalition deal with the Social Democrats after they dropped their initial resistance to help end Germany's political deadlock.

Merkel has been scrambling to avert snap elections after arduous talks to form a new government with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the left-leaning Greens broke down a week ago.

Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz had vowed to go into opposition after a disappointing showing in September's general election, but in a U-turn Friday said he was ready for talks with Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc.

Bavaria's powerful state premier Horst Seehofer, a key Merkel ally, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that a repeat left-right "grand coalition" was the right way forward.

"An alliance between the conservatives and the SPD is the best option for Germany, better in any case than 'Jamaica', new elections or a minority government," said Seehofer, who heads Merkel's Bavarian CSU sister party.

The failed three-way tie-up between the CDU/CSU, the Greens and the FDP had been dubbed "Jamaica" because the parties' colours match those of the Caribbean country's flag.

Seehofer warned the SPD however that there would not be a deal at any cost.

"I can only advise the SPD not to enter into talks with the conservatives with exaggerated demands, but to stay realistic," he told the daily.

"There shouldn't be a grand coalition at any price."

Merkel, who has baulked at the idea of a repeat election, on Saturday said she wanted to form a government "very soon".

Talks with the SPD should be based on "mutual respect" and "compromise", she added.

Piling on the pressure, the youth wing of Merkel's CDU party called for a deal on another "GroKo", as the grand coalition is known in Germany, to be in place by Christmas.

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If the two sides can't reach an agreement by then, "the conservatives should aim for a minority government", Paul Ziemiak, head of the CDU youth, was quoted as saying by Bild.

He too warned against making too many concessions to the SPD, urging the CDU to stand firm on stricter migration policies and its commitment to a balanced budget.

- Muscle flexing -

Leading SPD politicians however signalled they were ready to flex their muscles.

"Ms Merkel is in no position to dictate terms," said the SPD's Malu Dreyer, premier of Rhineland-Palatinate state.

The Social Democrats centred their campaign on building a more socially just Germany, pledging more investment in education and infrastructure.

Merkel, who is eyeing a fourth term, will meet with top brass from her CDU party on Sunday evening to discuss the next steps.

A breakthrough could come Thursday, when President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosts talks between Merkel, Seehofer and Schulz.

An Emnid survey for the Bild newspaper on Sunday showed that 52 percent of Germans were in favour of a repeat grand coalition.

- 'Smells like GroKo' -

Schulz had categorically ruled out another stint as junior coalition partner after four years of governing in Merkel's shadow led the SPD to its worst result in decades in the September 24 poll.

But with Europe's top economy facing prolonged political uncertainty after the collapse of the Jamaica talks, and with fears that snap polls would mainly benefit the far-right AfD, Schulz caved to demands to soften his stance.

Leading Greens MP Claudia Roth told Deutschlandfunk radio she doubted whether another GroKo was the best outcome, given its "anaesthetising" effect on the country last time.

"But it smells like it (another grand coalition)," she said.

FDP leader Christian Lindner, who triggered the crisis when he pulled out of the Jamaica talks last Sunday, also said he expected to see the SPD agree to another stint in government.

"The hurdles are lower for them than for us," Lindner told Bild.

A "Jamaica" coalition would have "shattered into a thousand pieces within months", he added, given the parties' differing views on everything from migration to climate protection to eurozone reforms.
Angela Gordon has been released after serving half her sentence for starving daughter Khyra Ishaq to death (Caters)

A mother who was jailed for starving her young daughter to death has been freed from jail after serving just half of her original sentence.

Angela Gordon, 42, was sentenced fo 15 years in February 2010 following the death of daughter Khyra Ishaq, 7, in May 2008.

The child was found dead and skeletal, weighing just 2st 9lb, losing 40% of her body weight after catching a chest infection.

Gordon, who is mentally ill, forced Khyra to stand outside in freezing weather in just her underwear and was beaten with a bamboo cane along with five other children.

Birmingham Crown Court heard how Khyras stepdad, Junaid Abuhamza, made the children eat out of bowls in their bedroom  if they were fed at all.

Gordon made the youngsters follow the strict code so they would learn about being dutiful to your parents.

Khyras father Ishaq Abu-Zaire has blasted the decision to release Gordon after seven years (Caters)

Gordon admitted manslaughter while Abuhamza pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was also jailed over Khyras death, and for subjecting five other children to horrific cruelty.

Khyras father, Ishaq Abu-Zaire, from Birmingham, has lashed out at the decision to release Gordon after seven years.

He said: I got a letter from the NSPCC to say she had been released around April time, but no one from the authorities has been in touch. It is ridiculous.

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Angela has got out after seven years, only serving half her sentence  but Im still suffering.

He added that he has no idea where Gordon is now.

Paying tribute to his daughter, Ishaq said: Khyra was a very bright child, bouncy and full of life. Thats the only memory I have of her, apart from when I had to identify her in the hospital.

Khyra was just seven years old when she died (Caters)

Seeing her go from one to the other was heartbreaking. There were so many emotions. You have to keep calm and in control  but its hard to fight your anger.

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Ishaq successfully sued Birmingham Council for negligence after Gordon and Abuhamza were jailed.

He added: I saw the children seven days before Khyras death. They looked odd, but I hadnt seen them for such a long time before that.

I knew they had changed, but I had never seen signs of malnutrition before. They had no fat on their cheeks and they looked slim.

I was frustrated that my lack of knowledge meant I didnt pick up the signs. My problem was the number of opportunities the council had to step in  and they did nothing.
On Sunday, officials in Indonesia moved 24,000 people on the vacation island of Bali away from the smoking Mount Agung volcano, as it sent thick plumes of grayish-black smoke into the blue sky above the tropical island.

Indonesias National Disaster Management Agency reported that the ashy smoke erupted more than 2.5 miles into the sky when the eruptions began and the smoke eventually rose to nearly 5 miles high.

The eruption began a little after 5 p.m. local time on Saturday (4:30 a.m. Eastern time in the U.S.) and kept going through Sunday.

Mount Agung is 9,944 feet high and last erupted in 1963, when on February 18 of that year it began a 20-day eruption and lava flows destroyed villages around it, killing an estimated 1,500 people.

Then, in September, predictions based on tremors in the area signaled that it may erupt again.
By PTI: Jammu, Nov 27 (PTI) Pakistani troops opened fire at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district tonight in violation of the ceasefire, police said.

"Pakistani troops resorted to firing in Jhangar forward area from 1845 hours to 1900 hours," a senior police officer said, adding that further details were awaited.

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Todays violation of the ceasefire came after a lull of over a week in firing by Pakistani troops at Indian posts.

Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire for three consecutive days between November 15 and November 17 in Jammu and Poonch districts. An Army jawan was injured in the exchange of fire in Poonch.

On November 2, a BSF jawan was killed when Pakistan Rangers attacked a patrol party along the International Border in Samba district.

A girl was injured when Pakistani troops opened fire from small arms along the LoC in Karmara belt of Poonch district on October 31.

On October 18, eight civilians, including a two-year-old child, were injured in heavy Pakistani shelling in Poonch. PTI AB SMN

--- ENDS ---
The volcano alert for Bali's Mount Agung has been raised to its the highest level, prompting the closure of the tourist island's main airport amid fears of an imminent major eruption.

At least 445 flights were disrupted after the Indonesian volcano belched columns of ash into the sky, leaving 59,000 tourists stranded.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Bali's international airport had closed for 24 hours and authorities would consider reopening it on Tuesday after evaluating the situation. The small international airport on the neighbouring island of Lombok had already been closed on Sunday after the plumes of ash had drifted east.

"Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions accompanied by a weak sound of boom which sounds up to 12 km from thethe summit," the National Board for Disaster Management wrote on Facebook.

"The rays of fire are increasingly observed in at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent."

Mount Agung eruption in Bali causes travel chaos, in pictures

It said the status of the volcano had consequently been raised from Alert Level 3 to Awas (level 4) and urged people within 10km of the volcano to evacuate. Previously the exclusion zone around the volcano ranged between 6 and 7.5 kilometers.

Geological agency head, Kasbani, who goes by one name, said the alert level was raised at 6 am on Monday because the volcano has shifted from steam-based eruptions to magmatic eruptions. However he said he was still not expecting a major eruption.

"We don't expect a big eruption but we have to stay alert and anticipate," he says.

Indonesian and regional authorities had already heightened flight warnings around Mount Agung on Sunday as the volcano's eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam more than 6,000 metres into the skies above the popular holiday island.

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A view of the Mount Agung volcano erupting in Karangasem, Bali, on Monday Credit: AP

Ash covered roads, cars and buildings near the volcano in the northeast of the island, while scores of flights were cancelled and overnight a red glow of what appeared to be magma could be seen in photographs by Antara, the state news agency.

Video released by the national disaster agency showed a mudflow of volcanic debris and water known as a lahar moving down the volcano's slopes.

"Watch out for lahar floods (cold lava) around Mt Agung," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said network Twitter.

Waspadai banjir lahar hujan (lahar dingin) di sekitar Gunung Agung. Banjir lahar hujan sudah terjadi di beberapa tempat di lereng Gunung Agung. Jangan melakukan aktivitas di sekitar sungai. via @Sutopo_BNPB#ElshintaNewsAndTalkpic.twitter.com/upJWyRRIjp  Radio Elshinta (@RadioElshinta) November 27, 2017

"Lahar floods have already occurred in several places on the slopes," he added, referring to expectations of increased rain in the current wet season. He urged people to avoid nearby river areas.

"I'm very concerned because I left my house behind and I'm also worried about family," said 36-year-old farmer Putu Suyasa, who fled with some of his relatives from a village eight kilometres away from the volcano.

National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho called for people to stay calm.

"As we have widened the exclusion zone, so the number of people evacuating will increase but we don't have the latest data yet," he told AFP.

"Most important is always to follow our instructions and keep calm," he added.

Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency said as many as 100,000 villagers needed to leave the expanded danger zone, but that less than half that number had left.

Balinese people ride on an open car past Mount Agung erupting seeb from Kubu sub-district in Karangasem Credit: AFP

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said about 40,000 people had evacuated but others have not left because they feel safe or don't want to abandon their livestock. He said that "authorities will comb the area to persuade them. If needed, we will forcibly evacuate them."

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly 5 million visitors last year but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung's volcanic tremors began to increase.

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali at a height of just over 3,000 metres. When it last erupted in 1963 it killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages.

The airport in Bali's capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, was closed after the threat level was raised on Monday morning.

Volcano Agung's eruption hazards

"Bali's airport has indeed been closed. We're still coordinating the next steps," airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim told AFP.

The closure was set to affect tens of thousands of passengers, he added.

"We now have to find a hotel and spend more of our money that they're not going to cover us for when we get home unfortunately," said Canadian tourist Brandon Olsen who was stranded at Bali's airport with his girlfriend.

"It is a little bit frustrating because I checked the internet..everything was on schedule, now I am standing here everything was closed," said Jan Nicolai from Germany at Bali's airport.

Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using mobile telephones.

Hasn't sunk in for passengers that Bali airport will be closed until at least 7am tomorrow pic.twitter.com/VxzcXOOAEb  Adam Harvey (@adharves) November 27, 2017

"We have been here (in Bali) for three days we are about to leave today, but just found out our flights have been cancelled. We have got no information because the gates, the check-ins have been closed indefinitely," said Carlo Oben from Los Angeles.

Pictures on social media showed crowds of tourists at the airport, with some passengers on the tarmac at Bali's airport checking their phones and chatting.

Bandara Internasional I Gusti Ngurah Rai di Denpasar Bali ditutup mulai 27/11/2017 pukul 07:00 WITA hingga 28/11/2017 pukul 07:00 WITA. Bandara akan dibuka kembali setelah dilakukan evaluasi per 6 jam.Penutupan bandara terkait letusan G.Agung. #Bali#BaliTetapAman#GunungAgungpic.twitter.com/ogZCtHzVdf  Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_BNPB) November 26, 2017

According to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in nearby Darwin, Australia, there is "ash confirmed on the ground at Denpasar Airport" as well as ash at FL300 (which refers to flight level at 30,000 feet) in the vicinity of the volcano.

The airport on Lombok island - also a popular tourist destination east of Bali - had been closed since Sunday afternoon as the ash from Mount Agung headed into that direction, but it reopened early on Monday.

Jetstar Airways announced early on Monday that all Bali flights had been cancelled and a decision would be taken later on Tuesday schedule

At a glance | Deadliest volcanos

After resuming flights on Sunday morning, Virgin Australia again cancelled flights on Sunday afternoon following a change in the aviation colour code from orange to red.

"Due to the significant volcanic ash and current weather conditions, Denpasar Airport is now closed and we have cancelled todays flights to and from Bali," it said on Monday.
With the FCC set to vote on a proposal to dramatically overturn current net neutrality regulations next month, the contentious debate over how internet content should be regulated, if at all, has been all the rage in recent weeks.

As FCC chairman Ajit Pai would have you believe, the proposed regulations will be a net positive for the industry.

Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet, Pai said in a statement last week. Instead, the F.C.C. would simply require internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan thats best for them.

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Indeed, Pai, along with an array of telecom executives, are in favor of repealing current net neutrality rules on the somewhat vague promise that it will help foster innovation and encourage more private investment. On the flip side, the arguments in favor of keeping current net neutrality regulations are far more persuasive.

With no net neutrality regulations in place, telecom companies will have the power to prioritize traffic from favored websites and theoretically charge consumers more money to access websites deemed to be competitive.

A contentious debate, to be sure, even members of the FCC have come out and voiced strong opposition to Pais proposal. Just a few days ago, former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler came out guns ablazin and completely thrashed what Pai is trying to do:

The Trump FCCs proposal to eliminate the over-two-year-old Open Internet Rule is a shameful sham and sellout. A fair and open internet is the backbone of the digital economy. The FCC has sold out to the wishes of the companies it is supposed to regulate over the consumers it is supposed to protect. For more than a decade, previous Republican and Democratic FCCs have tried to bring fairness and balance to the delivery of the internet to consumers. Every one of those efforts has been opposed by the corporations that consumers rely on to deliver the internet. Now the Trump FCC has simply cut to the chase, there is no need for the big companies to suetheyll just be given everything they want.

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Even more damning, though, are allegations that some folks, or perhaps entities, are trying to make it seem as if support for Pais net neutrality overhaul is far more popular than it really is. Indeed, New York AG Eric Schneiderman recently wrote an open letter to the FCC with some harrowing accusations:

Yet the process the FCC has employed to consider potentially sweeping alterations to current net neutrality rules has been corrupted by the fraudulent use of Americans identities  and the FCC has been unwilling to assist my office in our efforts to investigate this unlawful activity. Specifically, for six months my office has been investigating who perpetrated a massive scheme to corrupt the FCCs notice and comment process through the misuse of enormous numbers of real New Yorkers and other Americans identities. Such conduct likely violates state law  yet the FCC has refused multiple requests for crucial evidence in its sole possession that is vital to permit that law enforcement investigation to proceed.

The vote on overhauling current net neutrality regulations is set for December 14.

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By John L. Smith LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Weeks before Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff of militia supporters against federal agents in 2014, his son vowed to do "whatever it takes" to keep the family's cattle out of government hands, according to a recording played in court by prosecutors on Monday. The conversation between Ryan Bundy and federal Bureau of Land Management agents occurred on March 27, 2014, ahead of a confrontation that galvanized right-wing militia groups challenging federal authority over vast tracts of public land in the American West. The revolt against the Bureau of Land Management by Cliven Bundy and armed followers was sparked by the court-ordered roundup of his cattle in April of that year after he had refused for two decades to pay fees required to graze his herds on federal property. Bundy, 71, his two sons, Ammon and Ryan, and co-defendant Ryan Payne are charged with 15 criminal counts, the most serious of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In 2014, hundreds of supporters, responding to Cliven Bundy's pleas for help, descended on his ranch near Bunkerville, Nevada, about 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas, in a show of force to demand that his impounded livestock be returned. Police and government agents, vastly outgunned, ultimately retreated rather than risk bloodshed, and no shots were fired. "We are going to stop your gathering. We will do whatever it takes," Ryan Bundy told Bureau of Land Management agents in the recorded phone call after he was reached on his cell phone. Bureau of Land Management agents Michael Johnson and Robert Shilaikis, who were assigned to inform the Bundy family of government plans to impound the cattle, asked Ryan Bundy whether the family would interfere. Shilaikis testified on Monday that Bundy warned the agents not to show up. Bundy also said on the call that he did not recognize the jurisdiction of the federal government in this incident and a state court should handle the matter. Johnson responded that was not an option and repeatedly asked for a way to avoid conflict. "You will not take one single cow that belongs to us, do you understand that?" Bundy responded. "If you want a peaceful resolve of this, you will not show up," he said. During testimony on Monday, Shilaikis said he concluded from the call that "Mr. Bundy was going to stop this at all costs." After defense attorneys questioned the secretive nature of the recording, the full phone conversation was played for the jury in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. Much of the conversation involved Bundy and Johnson discussing their Mormon faith, with Bundy arguing that it showed the federal government had no standing in the issue. Defendants have cast the uprising as an act of patriotic civil disobedience against government excess. Prosecutors contend that Bundy and his followers were defying the rule of law by threat of violence, rather than engaging in an act of legal protest. The trial is expected to run through February. (Reporting by John L. Smith, Editing by Ben Klayman)
By Gabriel Stargardter and Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - A TV host took a surprise lead in the Honduran presidential election, initial results on Monday showed, upsetting forecasts of a win for the country's U.S.-friendly incumbent and raising concerns about instability as both parties claimed victory.

Flamboyant entertainer Salvador Nasralla was ahead with an almost 5 point margin at 45 percent, with more than half the ballot boxes counted, according to the first official results, released nearly 10 hours after Sunday's voting ended.

"I am the new president-elect of Honduras," Nasralla, 64, wrote on Twitter after the results were announced. Earlier, during the long wait for results, he and President Juan Orlando Hernandez had held competing events claiming victory.

Further results were expected later on Monday, and Nasralla called on his followers to march to the election tribunal, in an apparent effort to apply pressure on authorities to reveal the final outcome.

Nasralla, who heads the left-right Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship coalition and has the backing of ousted former President Manuel Zelaya, had 45.17 percent of the vote. The National Party's Hernandez had 40.21 percent, according to the country's election tribunal, with 57 percent of votes counted.

With Hernandez not yet conceding defeat, a close result could lead to tensions in a poor Central American country that has suffered years of brutal gang crime and drug wars.

After the results were announced, Hernandez reiterated that he had won, and urged supporters to wait for fresh vote counts to come in from rural areas, where he enjoys greater support.

The tribunal did not give a time for when it expected the vote count to be concluded.

On Monday afternoon, Luis Zelaya, the third-placed candidate, said Nasralla was the country's new leader and urged Hernandez to accept defeat. Luis Zelaya is not related to former president Manuel Zelaya.

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Hernandez, 49, was the longtime favourite to win the election. He has been credited with lowering the murder rate and accelerating economic growth. But he has also been hurt by accusations of ties to drug and graft-stained financing and claims by opponents he is plotting a power grab.

RISK FOR UNITED STATES?

Washington sees Hernandez as a reliable ally in tackling drug trafficking and gangs, and helping control the flow of migrants to the United States. A victory for newcomer Nasralla would take the United States into unfamiliar territory.

"Now he can back up his anti-corruption positions. Or not," a U.S. official said, noting the U.S. government expects to work "cooperatively in a number of ways" with Nasralla.

The United States has longstanding military ties to Honduras and few ideological allies among the current crop of Central American presidents. In Mexico, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador leads opinion polls ahead of next year's presidential election.

Nasralla describes himself as a centrist, who nonetheless "takes the best of the socialist ideology, and not the extremes." He says he supports free markets and views private enterprise as the best way of creating jobs and slowing migration.

"We are going to have good relations with the United States and all countries," he said before the election, adding he was happy to work with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Many believe coalition coordinator Zelaya, who was ousted in 2009 amid concerns he was plotting to adopt socialist policies in Honduras, is the true force behind Nasralla. Although Zelaya is often viewed as a traditional Latin American leftist, Honduras business figures say he is a political opportunist who often reneges on his word.

The United States wrestled with how to handle the coup eight years ago, and Zelaya remains a bogeyman for U.S. officials and many of Honduras' elite.

"We won," Zelaya wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. official said he did not think Hernandez would be able to catch Nasralla in the vote count. He called this "a real stress test for Honduras' democratic institutions and the leadership and character of its political figures."

"This could drag on for weeks," he said.

The official likened the potential upset to the 2016 election of Trump, another entertainer whose campaign resonated with voters disillusioned by establishment politics.

Hernandez's attempt to clinch a second term, which was made possible by a contentious 2015 Supreme Court decision, divided opinion in Honduras. The country is still dealing with the fallout from the 2009 coup, which came about after Zelaya, an ally of late Venezuelan leftist leader Hugo Chavez, proposed a referendum on re-election.

The son of a wealthy landowner, Zelaya nearly returned to political prominence in the 2013 election, when his wife, Xiomara Castro, lost out to Hernandez. Zelaya, who wears a big black moustache and cowboy hats, is a larger than life personality whose supporters fete him for having boosted minimum wages.

Nasralla is one of the country's best known faces as the host of game shows that feature scantily-clad women by his side. With his booming voice and finely coiffed hair, he looked poised to be the latest entertainment star in the Americas to breach the upper echelons of political power.

In Guatemala, former TV comedian Jimmy Morales won the presidency in 2015, but his support has eroded after he clashed with a U.S.-backed anti-graft body probing his family.

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Frances Kerry)
Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid has resigned, state media reported Monday, meeting a key demand of Islamist protesters who have clashed violently with security forces and blockaded the capital Islamabad for weeks.

Hamid "has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to steer the country out of crisis," the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report citing unnamed official sources, without giving further details.

State television station PTV also reported the minister's resignation, without citing any sources.

There was no immediate confirmation or comment from government officials.

Hamid's resignation was a key demand of the little known Islamist group that has virtually paralysed Islamabad since it began a sit-in on a major highway into the capital on November 6.

The Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY) have been calling for Hamid's ousting for weeks over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath that election candidates must swear.

The protesters have linked it to blasphemy -- a highly contentious issue in Muslim Pakistan that has often fuelled violence.

On Saturday security forces attempted to clear the roughly 2,000 demonstrators at the sit-in in a botched operation that devolved into violence, with at least seven people killed and hundreds wounded before they were ordered to retreat.

The clashes fuelled more protests in other cities, including Pakistan's two largest Karachi and Lahore, and saw thousands more demonstrators arrive on the streets of Islamabad.

The government called on the army to intervene to restore order late Saturday. By Monday morning there still had been no official response from the military.

The reports of Hamid's resignation raised hopes that the protest leaders would end the sit-in, which has enraged commuters with hours-long traffic snarls, caused the death of at least one child whose ambulance could not reach hospital in time, and infuriated the judiciary.

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Numbers were dwindling at the Islamabad protest site early Monday, with AFP reporters saying around 2,500 demonstrators remained. Leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi had not yet arrived as Hamid's resignation was reported.

The minister's ousting is the latest in a series of heavy blows to the beleaguered Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government as general elections approach in 2018.

In July, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was deposed by the courts over graft allegations, while finance minister Ishaq Dar -- also accused of corruption -- has taken indefinite medical leave.

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Pope Francis arrived Monday in Myanmars largest city, Yangon, to begin a highly anticipated mission during which he is expected to try to ease tensions over persecution of the countrys Rohingya Muslim minority in the predominantly Buddhist nation.

Francis, who was greeted by adoring crowds and a billboard reading Bienvenido, alluding to the pontiffs Argentine origins, will travel Tuesday to the capital Naypyidaw, where he will meet with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the countrys de facto civilian leader, and President Htin Kyaw. In a late addition to his itinerary, Francis will also meet with Myanmars Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has overseen an anti-insurgency campaign that has driven the crisis.

The pope will then visit neighboring Bangladesh, where about one million Rohingya have sought refuge after several waves of violence committed by state security forces and Buddhist vigilantes. The crisis has created a dire humanitarian emergency in eastern Bangladesh and drawn accusations of ethnic cleansing. Francis is also expected to meet with a small delegation of Rohingya refugees in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Heres what to know:

The Worlds Fastest-Growing Refugee Crisis

More than 624,000 Rohingya have fled across the border into Bangladesh since Aug.25, when insurgents fatally attacked Myanmar security officials and triggered a brutal anti-terror crackdown. Many arrived with stories of atrocities, including extrajudicial killings, mass rape and arson amid the mass cross-border movement has been dubbed the worlds fastest growing refugee crisis by the U.N. Myanmars military claims it is carrying out clearance operations in response to terror attacks, but the U.N. and the U.S. say the military is pursuing a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a pact to begin repatriating Rohingya who can prove residency in Myanmar, but the vague agreement has been met with skepticism by human rights advocates and humanitarian workers who say it is still unsafe for them to return. Francis visit is significant for a number of reasons, one being his standing as a leading voice for the rights of refugees throughout the world. The Pope is widely expected to speak out on behalf of the stateless minority, which is deeply loathed within Buddhist Myanmar.

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Read more: Myanmars Crisis, Bangladeshs Burden: Among the Rohingya Refugees Waiting for a Miracle

Will He Say the Name?

Speculation is rife over how Pope Francis will address the crisis, and whether he will use the word Rohingya to refer to the group. Though this is their preferred self-identifying term, many in Myanmar refer to them as Bengali to imply they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The mere use of the word has often been enough to incite protests led by Buddhist hardliners who claim the Rohingya are dangerous interlopers. Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, the top Catholic figure in Myanmar and a vocal advocate for the oppressed, has recently dialed back his own rhetoric; he also reportedly urged the Pope earlier this month to avoid using the term. But rights advocates have expressed hope that Francis will set a moral example by addressing the Rohingyas plight head-on rather than opting for a diplomatic work-around.

The Pope should forthrightly address the Rohingya crisis and respect the Rohingyas right to self identify by publicly calling them by their preferred name, Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, told TIME. The Pope should remind those he meets that its critical that non-discrimination and building religious harmony be the rule in dealing with all religions in the country.

A strong statement from Francis would not be unprecedented. In August, following an initial wave of violence that displaced 87,000 Rohingya, Francis released a statement decrying the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and calling for the restitution of their full rights. Francis issued a similar statement in February, referring to the Rohingya as good people, peaceful people and our brothers and sisters.

A Delicate Balance

Analysts warned, however, that focusing on the Rohingyas suffering could risk further stoking tensions by upsetting Myanmars military establishment, which is seen as crucial to resolving the crisis, or the wider public, which often bears little sympathy for the Rohingya, having suffered decades of deprivation under Myanmars successive military regimes.

It would be extremely important for the Pope to address the current crisis in Rakhine State, says Benedict Rogers, the East Asia director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, given the urgency and severity of the crisis and the Popes enormous influence. Rogers added, however, that failing to recognizing Myanmars myriad other ethnic clashes could jeopardize the success of the peace-building mission. All the peoples of Myanmar face a range of challenges, including conflict, repression and poverty, and religious intolerance and hate speech, and so the Pope needs to speak to the whole nation and bring a message of peace, justice and reconciliation for all, Rogers said That must definitely include the Rohingyas, but his message must address the whole country.

Religious and communal conflict are particularly concerning in Myanmar, which is predominantly Buddhist but is also home to Christian, Muslim, and Hindu communities. Christians made up 6.2% of the population, or some 3.1 million people, according to the countrys 2014 census, mostly among the ethnic minority Kachin, Chin, and Karen communities. There are also nearly 700,000 Catholics; as many as 150,000 of them are expected to travel to Yangon in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Pontiff, according to the Guardian.
Prince Harry andMeghan Markle are engaged, Clarence House announced on Monday.

The 33-year-old royal and the 36-year-old American actor, whohave been datingsince 2016, got engaged earlier this month, Clarence House said. The wedding is set to take place in Spring 2018. After the nuptials, the couple plan to reside in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace.

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle.pic.twitter.com/zdaHR4mcY6  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse)November 27, 2017

Harrys brother and sister-in-law the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were among the first to congratulate the couple on their engagement.

We are very excited for Harry and Meghan, Prince William and the former Kate Middleton saidin a statement.It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.

Harrys father Charles, the Prince of Wales, said he was thrilled. Markles parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said in a statementthat they were incredibly happy for the pair. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. British Prime Minister Theresa May called the news a time of huge celebration for two people in love.

Their relationship has beenclosely watchedbyroyalenthusiasts and tabloids alike. Harry first confirmed the two were dating in November 2016 when he delivered a statementregarding alleged press and paparazzi harassment and online abuseMarkle was subjected to as a result of the relationship.

At the time, Harry was worried about Ms. Markles safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her, the statement said.

After that public confirmation, the twoattended weddings together and reportedlyshacked up in Canada, where Markles television show Suitsis filmed, and have been able to maintain some level of privacy.

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WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Prince Harry has been photographed with Meghan Markle for the first timehttps://t.co/XurKUPYtxJpic.twitter.com/D8rXXOVO4d  The Sun (@TheSun)December 15, 2016

Aside from her work as an actor, Markle is known for her activism and charitable work. She has served as an advocate for UN Women and an international ambassador for World Vision, a relief, development and advocacy organization that helps provide access to clean water inover 50 countries. In March, she penned a powerful essay about thestigma surrounding menstruationaround the world.

A post shared by Meghan Markle (@meghanmarkle)on Jan 30, 2016 at 3:03am PST

Born and raised in California, Markle attended Northwestern University and earned a double major in drama and international relations. She has spokenopenly about finding her confidence being biracial(her mother is African-American and her dad is Caucasian), writing that although her mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where Im from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.

Markle has appeared on other television series including Castle, and in movies like Horrible Bosses and Get Him to the Greek. She was previously married to American producer Trevor Engelson, a union thatended in 2013, and will be the first American to marry into the British royal family sinceWallis Simpson, a twice-divorced socialite whose relationship with King Edward VIII prompted him to abdicate the throne. They married in 1937.

Harry, whoretired from the militaryin 2015 and currently livesin an apartment in Kensington Palace, has devoted much of his time to charity work. He founded theInvictus Games, a Paralympics-style sporting event forwounded, injured and ill servicemen and womenin 2014, works alongside Will and Kateon mental health initiativesand works tode-stigmatize HIV testing, too.

Can you say power couple? If you need us, well be right here counting down the days until their big royal wedding.

CORRECTION:A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the nonprofit for which Meghan Markle is an ambassador as Global Vision. It is called World Vision.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
The PM also alleged that the nationalisation of banks was a move to cover up the injustice meted to Morarji Desai.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Launching his campaign for Gujarat elections, PM Narendra Modi evoked strong feelings of Gujarati pride while addressing a rally in Kadodara near Surat.

The hub of textile and diamond industry has witnessed strong protests for last one year against demonetisation and GST.

Surat has also witnessed massive agitation during the Patidar reservation issue. All eyes were therefore on Modi's rally in the area.

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Calling himself the son of Gujarat, the PM alleged that the Congress has always meted out humiliation to the sons of Gujarat, citing examples of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Morarji Desai.

"If you read Sardar Patel's daughter's (Maniben) diary, you will release what Congress made him go through. They always insulted him. What did they do to Morarji Desai? He was unceremoniously removed for referring to Indira Gandhi's regime as Hitlershahi." Modi said.

The PM also alleged that the nationalisation of banks was a move to cover up the injustice meted to Morarji.

"Till you change anti-Gujarat mentality, people here will not accept you", Modi taunted at Congress to a thunderous applause.

Attacking the Grand Old Party, Modi also alleged that the grand old party was indulging in divisive politics.

"25 years ago, you used the policy of divide an rule. Congress may have got benefit of the divisive politics, but people are still suffering because of that", he said.

Modi also reminded that even some minister of Congress was jailed for bomb blast in Surat.

The PM strongly defended his move of demonetisation, saying it's only traders with several bank accounts and unaccounted money who suffered.

"They burnt my effigies during demonetization. But, it was only companies which had several banks accounts that suffered. All this was exposed after demonetization". Modi said.

--- ENDS ---
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle couldn't hide their delight as they posed for the engagement photos on Monday afternoon. Just a few short hours after their betrothal was announced, the couple appeared in front of waiting press in the Sunken Garderns at Kensington Palace. Dressed in white LINE coat, 36-year-old beamed as she stood hand-in-hand with Harry, her diamond ring on display as they spoke to reporters. The couple, who started dating last summer, looked head-over-heels in love as they posed for their first official photographs together, following their public debut in September at the Invictus Games. When asked if it had been a romantic proposal, Meghan smiled knowingly at Harry, before replying: "Very!" while the Prince added: "Of course!" The royal also sweetly said that he had known Meghan was the One "since the very first time we met."

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Meghan and Harry couldn't contain their excitement at the photocall Photo: Getty Images

Aside from their beaming smiles, the sparkler on the Suits actress' hand also caught the attention of royal watchers. The trilogy ring features a large central diamond, flanked on either side by two smaller jewels set on a gold band. The stones were specially selected by the Prince; the central dimaond is from Botswana, where the couple recently vacationed together, and the other two diamonds are from his late mother Princess Diana's personal collection. The band is made of gold and the ring was made by Cleave and Company, Court Jewellers and Medallists to Her Majesty The Queen.

RELATED: Meghan says 'I do' on Suits

Speaking about the exquisite design, 77 Diamonds' David Allen told HOLA!'s sister brand HELLO!: "With two round diamonds supporting what appears to be a 2.5ct cushion cut diamond, the stones are set in white gold with the main band of the ring in yellow gold. A ring of this size and quality would start at around 50,000 ($66,800) but with the use of the late Princess Diana's diamonds as side stones, this ring, like Kate's before it, is of inestimable worth. The last Royal engagement that came with a Trilogy engagement ring was Sophie Wessex in 1999 to Prince Edward which features a round centre stone and heart shape side stones."

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Prince Harry used diamonds that belonged to his late mother Princess Diana for a part of the ring Photo: Getty Images

MORE: HARRY AND MEGHAN'S RELATIONSHIP TIMELINE

Harry, 33, and Meghan's engagement was announced on the morning of November, 27 with an official confirmation from Kensington Palace. It read: "His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course. His Royal Highness and Ms. Markle became engaged in London earlier this month. Prince Harry has informed Her Majesty the Queen and other close members of his family. Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Ms. Markle's parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace."
Paris (AFP) - A rights organisation has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of war crimes in Yemen by the United Arab Emirates, the group's lawyer told AFP on Monday.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK accuses the UAE government, part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen, of "indiscriminate attacks against civilians", lawyer Joseph Breham said.

The London-based AOHR further charges that the UAE has used banned cluster bombs and hired mercenaries to carry out torture and executions.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will have to decide whether or not to open a preliminary probe.

Yemen and the UAE are not signatories to the Rome Statute which underpins the court in The Hague, so Bensouda would only have jurisdiction if nationals from another country were involved.

"Our complaint targets acts perpetrated on Yemeni territory by the United Arab Emirates which does not recognise the ICC," said Paris-based Breham.

But he added: "The perpetrators of these crimes are mercenaries employed by the Emirates and coming from Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, South Africa or Australia -- countries that recognise the ICC."

It would therefore be possible for the court to launch an investigation, Breham said, accusing Emirati forces of "air strikes targeting civilian homes, hospitals and schools".

Since the court opened in 2002, the prosecutor's office has received about 10,000 requests from individuals, groups or countries to investigate alleged crimes.

This year alone, activists from Mexico, Venezuela, the Philippines and the Palestinian territories have all sought to secure or broaden ICC probes.

There are currently 10 preliminary ICC examinations and 11 full investigations under way. Most existing probes have so far focused on African nations.

- Torture claims -

The AOHR accuses Emirati forces of using mercenaries to torture prisoners in Yemeni government-held jails and carrying out executions.

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In June, Human Rights Watch accused the UAE of running at least two "informal detention facilities" in Yemen and said it had reportedly transferred detainees to a base in Eritrea.

The UAE rejected the allegations as "totally unfounded", saying its forces "respect international conventions on armed conflicts".

The UAE has been supporting Riyadh-backed Yemeni government forces since March 2015 in their conflict against the rebels, who are backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran.

The UN's Human Rights Council agreed in September to send war crimes investigators to Yemen, overcoming resistance from Saudi Arabia, which fought to head off an independent international probe.

The UAE has played a key role in the Saudi-led campaign, which was launched in March 2015 to roll back gains by Huthi rebels, who had taken the capital Sanaa and other northern and central areas of one of the Arab world's poorest nations.

UN officials say Yemen could face the world's largest famine in decades unless the Saudi-led coalition's crippling blockade on ports and airports is lifted.

UN children's fund UNICEF warned Sunday that more than 11 million Yemeni children are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

The devastating war has since killed some 8,600 people, while a further 2,000 have died of cholera.

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Beirut (AFP) - Russian air strikes on Sunday killed 34 civilians, among them 15 children, in a village held by the Islamic State group in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit the village of Al-Shafah, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

Russia is a close ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and in September 2015 began a military intervention in support of his government that has gradually helped Damascus regain territory.

Syria's Deir Ezzor is one of the last places IS jihadists hold territory in the country, after being driven from their major strongholds including their one-time de facto Syrian capital Raqa city.

The oil-rich eastern province that borders Iraq was once almost completely under IS control, but the jihadists now hold just nine percent of Deir Ezzor, according to the Observatory.

They have faced two separate offensives there, one led by the regime with Russian backing and the other by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
Abuja (AFP) - Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma unlawfully dismissed his vice president after he was expelled from the ruling party, a West African regional court said on Monday.

Samuel Sam-Sumana was kicked out of the All People's Congress (APC) in March 2015 on suspicion of fomenting violence, deceit, fraud and threatening party officials.

He went into hiding and applied for asylum in the United States, later losing an appeal against his expulsion at Sierra Leone's Supreme Court in September 2015.

But on Monday regional judge Chijioke Nwoke, and two others at the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said due process had not been followed.

The APC constitution includes a 30-day appeals period. The party expelled Sam-Sumana on March 6, 2015 and he filed his appeal 20 days later.

"On this ground alone, it is sufficient to void the applicant's removal from office," Nwoke said in a written judgement read to the court in Abuja on Monday.

"In all circumstances, it is always required that the law should be allowed to run its course.

"The exercise of power... should be circumscribed with the requirements of due process and this has not been satisfied in this particular case."

The judges said his right to participate in government and right to a fair hearing under the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights had therefore been breached.

The court's rulings are binding on all member states, final and not subject to appeal, but Sierra Leone's justice ministry swiftly reacted in a statement which said it "lacks competence and jurisdiction" over the case.

"The Supreme Court of Sierra Leone did rule on the above matter and therefore, no other court is competent to overrule it except itself," the statement said, adding the government "therefore does not accept nor recognise the decision of the ECOWAS Court."

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- $10 million in costs -

The regional court ordered Sierra Leone to back-date Sam-Sumana's salary and benefits from the day of his removal and pay court costs.

He had applied for costs of some $10 million (8.4 million euros) but his lawyer, Raymond Atuguba, said it was not immediately clear how much would be paid.

"This case was not just about cost," he told reporters outside court.

"It's about the integrity of the Sierra Leonean state and the rule of law, which says that a president cannot just get up one fine morning and just dismiss his vice-president."

Sam-Sumana hailed the ruling as "a message to our Sierra Leone and Africa as a whole" to use the courts, rather than violence, to resolve disputes.

Sierra Leone holds elections next year and Sam-Sumana said the ruling paved the way for him to run for president, though the country's two major political parties have already chosen their candidates.

"I'm sure by March 7, you will be talking to the next president of Sierra Leone," he told reporters.

Koroma named Foreign Minister Samura Kamara as the APC candidate for the presidency in October, while the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) elected former military leader Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, 53, as its candidate.
London (AFP) - Sailors from Britain's Royal Navy performed the changing of the guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday for the first time in the famous drill's 357-year history.

They have temporarily taken over the role -- which dates back to the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660 -- as part of "year of the navy" celebrations in 2017.

A favourite of tourists from around the world, the changing of the guard is normally carried out between Foot Guards from the Army's Household Division regiments, wearing their signature red tunics.

The 48 sailors selected for this first naval ceremonial handover, dressed in the Royal Navy's traditional blue uniforms, are among 86 seamen set to serve as guards at Windsor Castle, The Tower of London and St James's Palace over the next few weeks.

They will next mount guard for the first time at Windsor on Monday.

They have spent a month at the navy's headquarters learning the intricate routines required for their new roles from drill instructors.

It is the first time in more than 400 years that sailors instead of soldiers are standing guard at Buckingham Palace.

They marched through its famous gates to the theme tune of Game Of Thrones, watched by thousands of people, many of them tourists.

The celebration of the navy coincides with the arrival of several new ships to its fleet, including a long-awaited aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

But it also comes amid ongoing funding cuts which critics have said could leave the country's armed forces perilously depleted.

The most senior officer in the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, struck an optimistic tone in welcoming the deployment.

"The sight of sailors undertaking public duties in our capital city is a sign that the Royal Navy is back where it belongs, at the very heart of national life," he said.
DeWanda Wise in Shes Gotta Have It. (Photo: Netflix)

The TV version of Spike Lees 1986 feature-film debut, Shes Gotta Have It, premiered over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend on Netflix. Its 10 episodes follow the life and career of Nola Darling, a painter, teacher, and well-rounded woman living in Brooklyn and played by DeWanda Wise. The role is a huge one for Wise, since Lee directed all of the first seasons episodes and he places Nola at the center of his story, and as often as not, in the center of his camera frame, making her the constant focus of our attention.

We watch Nola at home at her easel, painting large canvases, most often portraits of people she asks to pose for her. We watch Nola with the men in her life, her three primary boyfriends: photographer Greer (Cleo Anthony), businessman Jamie (Lyriq Bent), and bike messenger Mars (Anthony Ramos)  that last an update of the character Lee himself played in the original film. Spike Lee makes a great effort to assure his audience that Nolas work is as important as the men  that shes an independent 21st-century woman in every way. When the proceedings are moving along at a brisk pace, that effort is exhilarating. When the show stops to teach us lessons  about feminism, about civil rights, about the history of cinema, art, literature, or music  that effort can feel laborious.

The new Shes Gotta Have It is much more progressive in its sexual politics than the 1986 original was, and Lees feature-film visual style feels like a sumptuous treat when viewing Netflix on your laptop or TV screen. The rich colors, the gorgeous shots of New York City, the meticulously balanced compositions in nearly every frame  its always a pleasure to watch a Spike Lee joint, and the director has spared no effort in his move to a streaming service. But in moving to a different medium, Lee is also open to new comparisons. For example, Shes Gottas portrayal of a talented but struggling young black woman raises inevitable comparisons to Insecure, Issa Raes HBO series about a woman in similar circumstances, and Lees show isnt nearly as funny as Raes show is. Lee and his writers have a tendency to cram the dialogue with cultural references that give some conversations a stilted sensation. Nola educates her boyfriends  and by extension, us  about creators she admires. (In the first episode, she has a monologue about how Denzel Washington was robbed of an Oscar for his portrayal of Malcolm X over Al Pacinos performance in Scent of a Woman; it feels more like score-settling than natural speech.)

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Shes Gotta Have It has a number of continuing storylines, but each episode also feels like a self-contained presentation. As such, its both binge-able yet also easy to consume one bite at a time. How involved you become in the show depends on how much youre beguiled by Wises charming performance and her characters informative dialogue.

Shes Gotta Have It is streaming now on Netflix.

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By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley

Trump makes surprise deal. Turkish leaders said Monday they fully expect the United States to follow through on president Donald Trumps surprise pledge last week to stop sending weapons to Syrian Kurdish fighters.

American support might not matter all that much to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, as some of the groups leaders say they would be willing to join forces with the Syrian government if their demands for a federal state in the north are granted by Damascus. Its unclear what Syrias allies in Iran or Russia think of that plan, as theyre working with Turkey to forge some sort of settlement to the fighting.

Either way, trouble lies ahead. In a region awash in weapons, the Kurds will likely find ways to keep the flow of weapons coming. FPs Paul McLeary visited a U.S.-run training camp for the SDF in northern Syria earlier this year, where the Kurds said they fully expected to have to fight the Turks once they expelled the Islamic State from their country.

Open ended presence in Syria. American defense officials are expected to announce in the coming days that there are 2,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Syria, as opposed to the official line that there are only about 500.

Nation building? The Washington Post: The Trump administration is expanding its goals in Syria beyond routing the Islamic State to include a political settlement of the countrys civil war, a daunting and potentially open-ended commitment that could draw the United States into conflict with both Syria and IranU.S. officials say they plan to maintain a U.S. troop presence in northern Syria  where the Americans have trained and assisted the SDF against the Islamic State  and establish new local governance, apart from the Assad government, in those areas.

Mike Mullen comes out swinging. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen (ret.) says White House chief of staff John Kellys attack on Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson was really a sad moment for me.

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Mullen, who has been staunchly critical of retired generals and admirals taking on senior roles in domestic politics, says the incident shows that Kelly is clearly is very supportive of the president no matter what, and he was in a position to both defend the president in terms of what happened with the Gold Star family and then he ends up  and John ends up politicizing the death of his own son in the wars, Mullen said.

White House looks to Iran. The Trump administration is pressing to declassify intelligence allegedly linking Iran to short-range ballistic missile attacks by Yemeni insurgents against Saudi Arabia, part of a public relations blitz aimed at persuading Americas U.N. counterparts that Tehran is helping to fuel the countrys conflict, FPs Colum Lynch and Dan De Luce report in an exclusive story.

The effort to cast blame on Iran comes at a time when the U.S.-backed Saudi military coalition in Yemen is facing mounting international condemnation for enforcing a blockade on vital ports that threatens to plunge the country into a massive famine.

Locals near coming U.S. drone base in Niger are worried. There are hundreds of American troops in Agadez, Niger, furiously working to get a $100 million drone base up and running in 2018. But locals living near the base fear it could mean their city is now a target for militants. prowling the countryside.

Child sexual abuse in Afghanistan. Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) says the Defense Department quietly pushed aside a damning report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) on child rape by Afghan officials in favor of a relatively lighter-touch report put out by the Pentagons Inspector General. Aides to Leahy say the Pentagon initially bristled at the requirement for a SIGAR report into child sexual abuse by Afghan security forces, claiming that the organization lacked jurisdiction on the issue.

Welcome to SitRep. As always, please send any tips, thoughts or national security events to paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or via Twitter: @paulmcleary.

No heads up. The federal government didnt bother to tip off dozens of U.S. officials it knew were being targeted by hackers working for Russian intelligence, according to a scoop from the AP. Only two out of 80 U.S. officials whose email addresses turned up in a list of Russian hacking targets said they were warned by the government.

South Korea blares its siren song. In the wake of a dramatic defection by a North Korean soldier across the Military Demarcation Line, South Korea is ratcheting up the pressure on the North by using loudspeakers to blast the news of the soldiers escape at his former comrades. The latest broadcasts include details of the defecting soldiers newfound comfortable lifestyle in the South.

You wont have Ramzan to kick around anymore. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlins hand-picked strongman in Chechnya, is saying that his bosses in Moscow need to find a new leader to run the place. Kadyrov has attracted international condemnation for human rights abuses in Chechnya, including the persecution of gays and the torture and murder of dissidents.

Austerity Britain. Britains deep cuts in defense spending are threatening to send the ruling Tory partys defense wing into revolt as a senior British defense minister Tobias Ellwood hints he may resign over a proposed 12,000-troop cut to the British army. The defense ministry has been searching for ways to maintain its current force structure as the cost of upgrading the Trident nuclear missile eats up more of the defense budget.

Israel warns Iran. Israeli media is reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conveyed a back-channel threat to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, warning him that Israel will get involved in the Syrian civil war if Assad allows Iran to establish a permanent military bases in Syria. Israeli TV reports that Iran has been looking to build arms factories and naval and air bases in Syria.

Iran threatens Europe. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the leader of Irans powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, threatened to extend the range of Iranian ballistic missiles beyond 2,000 kilometers if Europe wants to turn into a threat. The threat follows a push by France to engage Iran in an uncompromising dialog about its ballistic missile capabilities, floating the possibility of a separate arms control agreement with Tehran which would cover its missile programs.

Attack in Egypt. The death toll in a weekend terrorist attack against a Sufi mosque in Egypts Sinai peninsula has reached a horrifying 300. Egyptian authorities say police found Islamic State flags found among the attackers, who detonated explosives and shot worshippers and first responders in the aftermath.
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar sent a plea to the Vatican urging Pope Francis to not say the term "Rohingya" during his visit to the Buddhist nation.The local Catholic Church urged the pope to avoid using this word as Rohingyas are not a recognised minority in the country.

By India Today Web Desk: Pope Francis is a on a six-day trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh to encourage the small Catholic communities.

Many Christians hope that pope's visit will highlight the plight of the poor and of minority religious groups, including their own. But the ongoing debate is about "will he or won't he" utter the term Rohingya.

Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term, which is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognised minority in the country. Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar sent a plea to the Vatican urging Pope Francis to not say the term "Rohingya" during his visit to the Buddhist nation.

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"It is a very contested term, and the military and government and the public would not like him to express it," Cardinal Bo said as reported by NYT.

Francis, though, has already prayed for "our Rohingya brothers and sisters," and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar's military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.

His trip was planned before the latest occurrence of violence in August 2017.

There have been mixed signals from the Vatican. The Vatican spokesman used the term "Rohingya" in a pre-trip briefing and said "It's not a prohibited word" as far as the Vatican was concerned. But the Holy See's top diplomat, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, avoided it in an interview with Vatican media on the eve of the trip.

Pope Francis' trip will begin from Yangon, where his Alitalia charter flight will land, and end with a yourh rally in Dhaka on December 2.

Pope will also meet separately with Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, its powerful military chief and Buddhist monks. He'll greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladesh's political and religious leadership in Dhaka. Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.

(With inputs from AP)

--- ENDS ---
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House's plan to appoint an interim leader for the top U.S. regulator for consumer finance came under further scrutiny on Sunday as a senior Democratic senator said the move would violate the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Richard Cordray, a Democrat, stepped down on Friday as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created after the financial crisis to protect consumers from abusive lending practices. He named Leandra English, the agency's chief of staff, as deputy director and said she would take over as acting director. President Donald Trump then named White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, one of the CFPB's fiercest critics, to the position. On Saturday, the Justice Department said in a memo that the White House was right to name an interim CFPB director. Dick Durbin, the U.S. Senate's No. 2 Democrat, told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that he did not believe the Trump administration had the authority to appoint Mulvaney under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which created the agency. "I read the provision," Durbin said. "It says that when the director steps aside, the deputy director shall be in charge of the agency - not may - shall be in charge, and so now there's an effort by Mick Mulvaney and the attorney general to really push him into this position so he can take away their power." Both sides agree that Trump may nominate a permanent CFPB director, but that appointment might not happen for months because it requires Senate approval. The CFPB, the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, has long been in the crosshairs of Republicans, who say it has had too much unchecked power. According to the Department of Justice memo, the Dodd-Frank language about changing CFPB directors is "unusual" but the White House may name an interim chief. Such advice is open to legal challenge. Administration officials say the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act gives the president the power to temporarily fill agency positions, except for those with multimember boards - an exemption they said did not apply to the CFPB. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, also on "State of the Union," disputed the notion that the White House lacked authority. "I think the president's on good ground here to appoint somebody under the vacancy statute," Graham said. (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir and Joel Schectman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Steve Harvey returned to the scene of the crime Sunday night to host the 66th Miss Universe Competition in Las Vegas. In case you somehow forgot, two years ago on that stage one of the most memorable TV moments of all time took place. Steve accidentally announced Miss Colombia as the winner then had to come back onstage to tell everyone he was wrong and that Miss Philippines was, in fact, the winner.

Even though its been a couple years since that debacle, it clearly still haunts Steve, who was grateful that another awards show mistake took the spotlight off him. Im grateful for the Oscars cause it let me off the hook, Steve said before adding, Moonlight dont sound nothing like La la land. Nothing. It wasnt but two movies to pick from and they got it wrong. My mistake, at least, involved 80 other countries.

Steve wasnt the only one bringing up old stuff. This years Miss Colombia made sure to remind Steve of his epic fail from 2015. After the host called Miss Colombia up for the Top 16, the contestant asked Steve, You wanted to see me, right? When Miss Colombia got called to be in the Top 10 over Miss Philippines, there were plenty of people hoping lightning had struck twice. Twitter lit up with people begging for Steve to announce another error, but he remained mistake-free. Even in the end when Miss Colombia landed in the final two again, Steve made sure to get it right this time, announcing Miss South Africa as the winner.

To get all the behind-the-scenes action, head to MissUniverse.com.

See why Steve Harvey publicly thanked his penis on Family Feud:

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Mesraba (Syria) (AFP) - Syrian regime air strikes and artillery fire killed 23 civilians on Sunday across the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region outside the capital Damascus, a monitor said.

The deaths come despite the area falling within a so-called "de-escalation zone" put in place under a deal between government allies Russia and Iran and rebel backer Turkey.

Eastern Ghouta is already in the grip of a humanitarian crisis caused by a crushing regime siege of the area since 2013 that has caused severe food and medical shortages.

Sunday's air strikes on the towns of Mesraba and Madira killed 21 civilians, while artillery fire on the town of Douma killed two others, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Several people were also wounded in the air strikes, and an AFP reporter who visited a hospital in Mesraba saw doctors and nurses treating those injured.

Among them was a baby whose head was wrapped in a blood-stained bandage, as well as men and children who sat on the floor as they received first aid.

A small girl cried as a doctor bandaged her head while nearby a man sat against a wall, sobbing silently with his face pressed against his folded arms, the reporter said.

In a room of the hospital a morgue staff is placing identity tags on bodies wrapped in white sheets, victims of the air strikes, the reporter added.

"The toll could rise further because of the number of wounded people in a serious condition," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Among the dead were four children, the Observatory said.

Regime bombardment of Eastern Ghouta in the last two weeks has killed more than 100 people, according to the Observatory.

Rebels have also fired from the region into Damascus, killing several people.

Humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta has remained limited despite the implementation of the truce zone, and a United Nations official referred to the region as the "epicentre of suffering" in Syria.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
London (AFP) - Turkey's Prime Minister said Monday that the "Astana process" to revive the Syrian peace process, led by Russia, Turkey and Iran, is working alongside the UN's long-running Geneva discussions rather than competing with them.

"This process is not competing with the Geneva process," Binali Yildirim said during an address at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

"Astana peace talks, trilateral meetings, (are) not an alternative to Geneva, what we try to do is prepare infrastructure for solution(s)... in Geneva," he said

Russian President Vladimir Putin, alongside Iran and Turkey, has stepped up diplomatic and military initiatives focused on Syria in recent months, including holding seven meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan.

He also hosted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week for three hours of talks aimed at laying the groundwork for progress in the long-dormant peace process.

The flurry of activity has resulted in the establishment of four "de-escalation" zones inside Syria.

This small measure of success contrasts with THE stalled efforts at ending the war in Geneva.

The UN said Monday the Syrian government had not yet confirmed that it would attend talks with the opposition due to restart there on Tuesday.

"We have achieved certain progress in terms of de-escalation and reducing the tensions in the country and moving toward a cease fire," Yildirim added at his IISS talk.

But the Turkish prime minister reiterated his country's determination to see Bashar al-Assad leave power.

"Look how things evolved in Syria, who caused Syria to be in the situation that it is today -- it all happened because of the regime, because of Assad," he said.

He added in the long-term, "Assad cannot possibly survive in Syria, we have to accept this".

Yildrim also took the opportunity to reaffirm Turkey's commitment to NATO, but noted the tensions over American alliances in the fight against Islamic State (IS).

He reiterated that Ankara views the Kurdish PYD group, and its armed wing the YPG -- part of the US-led coalition fighting IS -- as "terrorist organisations".

"We have to protect our territory, and we would ideally want to do it together with NATO, and we work hard for that, but unfortunately, our voice was not heard," Yildrim said.
Earlier today, November 26 2017, I was turned away from immigration at Shanghais Hongqiao airport by Chinese officials.

Alongside a number of other visitors, I had been waiting in line to take advantage of the citys 144-hour transit visa, which allows travelers with an onward flight to stay in Shanghai without needing to secure a visa before they travel.

The transit visa is issued on arrival if a visitor is not returning to the destination from which they arrived. For example, someone arriving from Hong Kong qualifies for the visa so long as their onward destination is outside of China but not Hong Kong. I flew in from Hong Kong and my exit ticket to Bangkok was booked for early afternoon on November 29, putting me comfortably inside the 144-hour limit.

As someone who has lived in Asia for nearly a decade, Ive become accustomed to visas and the fact that, even when theres another option, getting one before you travel is the best approach. In the case of China, however, Ive long given up on the prospects of doing so.

Even though TechCrunchs reporting aims to highlight promising startups and the role of tech in this modern and connected world, my status as a journalist in Thailand  where I live and hold an annual visa as a registered member of the media  has made getting a legitimate pre-travel visa for China impossible. The fact that I am from the UK  which doesnt have 10-year visa options like the U.S.  means that one route taken by some reporters, who are able to get decade-long business visas, is not open to me.

Last summer, for example, I visited the Chinese embassy in Bangkok to start the process for a visa for our next TechCrunch China event in Beijing that November. Ultimately, I was told I was welcome to apply but that I would require a range of paperwork in addition to the usual documents, including approval from the municipal government of Shanghai and the mayor of Shanghai.

In order to make progress, I had a member of the embassy staff explain the requirements in Mandarin over the phone to an employee at TechCrunchs partner company in China. I was later told by our partner that what was required was unclear and likely impossible to deliver on.

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China, you see, will never reject your visa. Instead, an insurmountable wall is erected to prevent you from ever applying in the first place.

Thats where the appeal of the transit visa comes in. You simply book your flights to ensure you wont overstay, then turn up.

Since 2015, I have used the transit visa system on six occasions. Even then, I've been nervous. Each time, I watched other travelers processed quickly after showing their documents, while I was kept waiting  one time for more than an hour as my bag ended up in lost property  as immigration officials looked over a computer screen (presumably showing my details) and summoned their seniors. Eventually, after waiting on the sidelines and watching travelers flow through with success, Id be told I had been let in.

Travelers pass through immigration in Shanghai while I wait

Not this time

This time however, starting at around 5:30 pm, the wait was noticeably longer than usual. A senior official returned after around 45 minutes, telling me I was to board a plane to return to Hong Kong.

I was permitted to stay for 24 hours under the shorter transit visa option, but my request to stay for three days  and not utilize the full 144-hour visa  would not be allowed.

The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time  and something that was not communicated by Airbnb  foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this.

Therefore anyone using Airbnb, or staying with friends, must voluntarily visit the citys police station and register. As anyone who has ever spent time in China and doesnt speak the language will know, thats challenging. But it is the law.

Even still, I was surprised. I used the very same transit visa on my last trip to Shanghai in June, and again in November of last year when I visited Beijing. This year, I was granted a visa on arrival (which is not a transit visa) to visit Shenzhen in June without trouble.

The immigration officers explained to me that a new law that had come into effect in recent months meant I was unable to exercise the longer transit visa. My previous visits were not subject to that, I was told. The officials denied my request for details about this new law.

The two incidents that they cited  from the first half 2015  did indeed happen. However, it wasnt until I was leaving Beijing Airport on the second trip that I was made aware of my crime. Two burly immigration officials pulled me to the side of the immigration queue and took my passport. They then berated me in Mandarin and summoned an English-speaking officer.

After some delay and an explanation of the police registration requirement, I was instructed to give information about my host. I provided her telephone number and name as requested. The officers made me sign a piece of paper that was written in Mandarin and, after I expressed concern that I would miss my flight, I was allowed to leave and get an exit stamp in my passport.

I made my flight, just, but the incident made an impact. Aware that Airbnb operated in a legal grey area in China at the time and concerned I might have put my host in hot water, I decided to stop using the service in China and contact her to ensure all was okay.

My host, who is Chinese, told me that she did indeed receive a call from the police who asked to know the nature of our relationship, including how long had she known me. She told them I had booked the room online.

I spoke to her after I left Shanghai yesterday and she recalled that her experience with me was super weird. As an Airbnb host for four years who has welcomed more than 100 guests, she said she had never had any problem like it with anyone else. She repeated her belief that I didnt actually need a visa for short stay.

Back to Hong Kong

Back to the situation in Shanghai this weekend, faced with the prospect of being denied entry, I tried my best to calmly explain that I was only made aware of my rule-breaking the second time. Since then, I explained, I had made a point of only staying in hotels as I didnt want to break rules. Plus, most importantly, I had since returned to China, been permitted entry, and complied with the requirement each time.

My plea fell on deaf ears, however. Perhaps angry at my efforts to argue my cause, I was informed that the senior officer had decided to remove my option for a 24-hour visa. I was told to travel immediately, I would not be admitted -- period. I need to leave now, they said. The plane I had taken in from Hong Kong had been turned around and was ready to leave; this was the flight I was to be on.

The reason I was in Shanghai was our latest TechCrunch China event which runs for two days. This meant I would miss all of it.

Compounding my misery, Hong Kong Airlines, which I used to fly into Shanghai, then informed me Id need to buy a ticket to leave, although I later struck a deal to go back for free.

Exit agreed, I was then accompanied by a very tall security officer, who took my passport and escorted me and the airline representatives to collect my luggage and arrange my seat on the next flight at the Hong Kong Airlines desk.

I asked if I could take a photo with my chaperone to mark the occasion, but was told no.

"Have a happy journey" -- ground staff, airline staff and the immigration officer arrange my ticket back to Hong Kong

Ticket secured, I was escorted back through checkin and onto the plane  it was truly whirlwind  all while my passport was in the possession of my large minder. At the plane, it was briefly returned to me, but I was told that I had been given a seat on the condition that my passport was turned over to the Hong Kong Airlines crew, who would return it to me when we landed.

Options exhausted, I reluctantly agreed and, after holding the flight up significantly through my situation, I walked through a plane of disgruntled passengers glaring at me  the cause of their 90-minute delay  to take my seat in the corner at the rear of the plane.

One airline attendant had apparently heard what had happened to me and offered an apology.

This is the Mainland, sir.

Why the trouble?

Ive heard stories of senior people at major global media companies being given transit visas on the condition that they remain inside the airport, and other such restrictions on political reporters, but I didnt ever think I  a technology blogger  would join the club.

Its hard to speculate on Chinese policy with any certainty. One thing I do know is that Chinese immigration have been aware that I am a journalist since I was given a tourist visa in 2015.

At the time, the official who granted me the visa told me that, even though I had applied for a three-month, multiple-entry visa, he would only give me a one-week visa. These are 'special' since they are not even among the options for travelers. His main concern was that I might write stories while on Chinese soil and, since he didnt entirely understand what TechCrunch did, he wanted to err on the side of caution.

My experience this week shows that the level of caution has been raised significantly. I neither write investigative stories about the Chinese government, nor do I cover politics. But I am someone who is viewed as a member of the media. While in the past, there was some tolerance to us passing through, China has decided to get tighter still.

The fact that the 19th Congress has just taken place, thus making politics more intense right now, may be a factor.

Some might suggest that stories Ive written on censorship in China may be a reason, but Ive been covering thorny topics for some time, and it hasnt ever prevented my entry into China.

Its hugely disappointing for me because I always enjoy my (short) trips to China. Its a great chance to see a different kind of innovation to the U.S., one that isnt as well-understood or even reported on as the U.S.. Then theres the opportunity to talk to young startups, huge $500 billion giants like Tencent, and those with designs on influencing Asia and other parts of the world. I've lost count of the number of events, company launches, and other story opportunities that I've had to pass on due to visa concerns.

Our objective is to shine light on these topics for our readers, but unfortunately the Chinese government is making that hard to do.
The deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the Trump administration on Sunday to block the presidents appointment of Mick Mulvaney as interim director of the agency.

Leandra English filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against President Donald Trump and Mulvaney, who currently serves as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. English was appointed deputy director of the CFPB on Friday after the agencys director, Richard Cordray, stepped down, and says her role mandates she serve as acting director until Congress appoints Cordrays replacement.

As the rightful acting director of the Bureau, Ms. English brings this action against President Trump and Mr. Mulvaney seeking a declaratory judgment and, on an emergency basis, a temporary restraining order to prevent the defendants from appointing, causing the appointment of, recognizing the appointment of, or acting on the appointment of an acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau via any mechanism other than that provided for [by the law], the suit reads.

The White House has asserted it has the authority to name its own interim director, all but assuring a tussle at the Wall Street watchdog on Monday with two separate factions contending they run the agency.

The Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion on Saturday supporting Mulvaneys appointment.

We think the clear legal authority is that the president does have this authority, an administration official said in a call with reporters on Saturday. Well find out based on how Ms. English decides to act at the appropriate time.

The top lawyer at the CFPB reportedly plans to issue a memo in support of Trumps appointment, Reuters reported on Sunday night, citing three people familiar with the document.

It is my legal opinion that the president possesses the authority to designate an acting director for the bureau, CFPB general counsel Mary McLeod writes in a draft of the memo, obtained by Politico.

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Cordray, the agencys first director and an Obama appointee, disagreed with the White House in an interview with The Washington Post on Saturday. He said the law gave him the authority to appoint a deputy director to lead the agency following his departure.

My understanding of the law is that the deputy director serves as the acting director upon my resignation, he told the outlet. If there are disagreements about these issues, the appropriate place to settle them would be in the courts.

The law establishing the CFPB stipulates the director of the agency shall appoint a deputy director who will serve as acting director in the absence or unavailability of the director. Such an individual will serve until the president appoints and the Senate confirms a new director.

Trump called leadership at the agency a total disaster in a tweet on Saturday, saying financial institutions had been devastated and unable to properly serve the public.

We will bring it back to life! he said.

Former Rep. Barney Frank, who helped craft the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform act to rein in big banks following the 2008 financial crisis, slammed Mulvaneys appointment this weekend. He pushed back against Trumps assertions that the White House had the authority to appoint an interim director without Congressional approval, saying the CFPB was formed with an eye towards autonomy.

We gave a lot of attention to how to structure the CFPB and how to protect its independence because its job is to go after some very powerful forces in the economy, Frank told CNN on Saturday.

Other critics of big banks have also lambasted the White House, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who said on Twitter that Trump was causing chaos with his decision.

I agree with Rich Cordray: This needs to be decided in the courts, Warren wrote. If [Trump] believes he is acting legally by ignoring Dodd-Frank, he should go to court and seek a judgment right away to settle this CFPB dispute.

Some members of the GOP disagreed. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, called the CFPB a rogue, unconstitutional agency in a statement, and said English should be ousted for filing her lawsuit.

The president should fire her immediately and anyone who disobeys Director Mulvaneys orders should also be fired, Cotton wrote.

This article has been updated to include the CFPB general counsels opinion.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp has asked the Nebraska Public Service Commission to reconsider its order approving an alternate route for the Canada-U.S. Keystone XL pipeline, according to a filing posted on the commission's website on Monday.

The Canadian pipeline company is seeking a "clarification" on the PSC's Nov. 20 decision, a TransCanada spokesman said.

The approved line was not TransCanada's preferred route for the Keystone XL pipeline, but for a more costly alternative that would add 5 miles (8 km) of pipeline.

"Keystone requests the Commission reconsider its order dated November 20, 2017, in accordance with this motion," said the order, which was submitted on Friday.

The PSC voted 3-2 to approve a route for TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska, removing a big regulatory obstacle for the long-delayed project backed by President Donald Trump, but leaving its future shrouded in legal and market uncertainty.

In addition to the alternate route for the pipeline, the commissions approval covered an additional pumping station and related transmission lines. State and federal officials said it was unclear if the route required any permits in addition to those already secured for the preferred route.

TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said in a statement last week that the company would review the commissions decision to assess the impact on the projects cost and schedule.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler)
Washington (AFP) - Thousands of students who ran up unpayable debts at for-profit schools are anxiously waiting to see if US President Donald Trump's administration does away with anti-fraud protections put in place by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Some 95,000 cases of former students seeking forgiveness of their debt have been put on hold by the Department of Education, now led by Betsy DeVos, an ardent advocate of for-profit, post-secondary schools.

Most of the cases now on hold involve former students at two giants of the for-profit college industry -- Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech, which closed in 2015 and 2016.

Students claim they were lured into enrolling in training programs by promises of jobs and diplomas that later proved worthless.

"They laughed at my diploma," said Danielle Adorno, describing the reaction of prospective employers.

The 30-year-old New Yorker's case is fairly typical.

She wanted to become a baker so she borrowed $25,000 to pursue "culinary studies" at the Art Institute, a private group that ran several schools in the United States, including the one in New York that she attended.

As she tells it, admissions officers used "deflection tactics" to persuade her to enroll, withholding information about graduation rates and how many graduates went on to find jobs.

After nine months of training, Adorno is disillusioned, and has asked the Education Department to forgive her debt.

- Naivete -

Adorno admits to a certain naivete in not having looked into the institute's reputation before enrolling.

But she feels she was lied to about the quality of the school and its program, and points to the fact that it went out of business as evidence of its shoddy quality.

Adorno, like others in her situation, cannot sue the for-profits under the terms of contracts they signed with the schools. Instead, she has asked the Education Department to forgive her debt.

A rule change made in 2016 under former president Barack Obama allows the Education Department to forgive a student's debt, and then sue the for-profit to recover the money.

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The situation came to a head in 2015, when Corinthian Colleges filed for bankruptcy, after receiving a fine from California of $1.1 billion, and a federal one of $30 million for making false and deceptive statements.

At issue now is whether the rule change will be reversed or modified under DeVos, who has ordered a review and frozen the loan forgiveness process.

No requests for student loan forgiveness has been approved since January. The Education Department says it is overloaded with a backlog.

Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU), an association of for-profit post-secondary schools, contends its members were the target of an ideological, agenda driven campaign during the administration of Barack Obama.

"The Department of Education was a prosecutor, a judge and a jury, it was unfair," CECU's president Steve Gunderson told AFP.

"We provide a very good niche in the sector of post-secondary education."

- Unmet promises -

Democratic Senator Richard Durbin disputes that criticism.

"The sad reality is the education is not good in most of these schools so students who mistakenly sign up for these schools go deeply in debt and find themselves unable to finish school or if they finish, unable to get a good job," Durbin said.

"If the school promised you would have a job, and you did not get a job, they defrauded you, they misled you."

Clare McCann, an expert on higher education at New America, a public policy think tank, says the for-profit schools have a built-in incentive to maximize their profits at their students' expense.

And yet, she said, "many for-profit colleges get almost 90 percent of their money from federal grants and loans."

"Taxpayers spend $130 billion every year on these schools," she said.

McCann, who was involved in the 2016 rule changes, believes the revised rules will be ready in November 2018.

Adorno has found a job as a secretary and obtained a temporary suspension of her payments. But she no longer has access to credit.

Related:

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President Donald Trump made a joke about his nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Pocahontas, during an event honoring Native Americans Monday at the White House.

Trump was recognizing Native American Code Talkers who served during World War II when he made the remark about Warren.

You were here long before any of us were here, Trump told Code Talkers during the event. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.

Here's the video: Trump calls Elizabeth Warren 'Pocahontas' while honoring Native American code talkers: "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas." pic.twitter.com/hjZ5MInDDf  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 27, 2017

Native American Code Talkers were largely Navajo Marines who transmitted commands over the radio to soldiers overseas in their native language during World War II, after both sides became more adept at decoding encrypted messages. Native American code became more reliable than Morse code in the war, notably aiding U.S. efforts in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Trump made his comments Monday while standing in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the former president who signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that resulted in the tragic Trail of Tears. Thousands of Native Americans died of cold, starvation and disease during the harrowing trek to the undeveloped Western territories.

Warren responded on MSNBC shortly after Trump made the comments.

This was supposed to be an event to honor heroes, people who put it all on the line for our country, and people who because of their incredible work saved the lives of countless Americans and our allies, Warren told host Ali Veshi.

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It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur, but Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow hes going to shut me up with it, Warren continued. It hasnt worked in the past. It is not going to work in the future.

The National Congress of American Indians asked Trump on Monday to refrain from using her name in a way that denigrates her legacy.

Trump has used Pocahontas name to refer to Warren on multiple occasions, including in a tweet earlier this month.

WATCH: Elizabeth Warren responds to Trump's "Pocahontas" remark on @MSNBC:



"It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur." pic.twitter.com/au1QntxDzR  NBC News (@NBCNews) November 27, 2017

Ed Markey, the junior senator from Massachusetts, also referred to the remarks as a slur. Markey tweeted a statement Monday in defense of Warren just after Trump made his joke.

What @realDonaldTrump said about my partner @SenWarren is a slur, the Democrat wrote. It disparages the Native American war heroes, standing right beside the President, who risked their lives to protect his right to make such a disgusting comment.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed the presidents comment during a press briefing Monday. Sanders said Warrens condemnation of the Pocahontas comment as a racial slur was a ridiculous response.

I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career, Sanders told reporters.

Trump began using the term for the senator because during Warrens 2012 Senate race she made unverified claims that she had Native American heritage

Former Marine Michael Smith, whose father, Samuel Jesse Smith Sr., was a WWII code talker, said he was disappointed by the presidents remarks during a rare White House recognition of the Navajo veterans. Smiths father served in the 4th Marine Division and fought in the battles of Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.

Smith, who watched video of the ceremony, told HuffPost that he felt the event began on a positive note but that it had been eclipsed by the incident. Before Trumps speech, Peter MacDonald, president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association, recognized the importance of the group during WWII and called for a national museum to honor the code talkers.

Isnt that unfortunate that the legacy of these men cant be paramount over the statement  a derogatory statement, I felt  that Mr. Trump made about a senator, Smith told HuffPost.

Appearances by the code talkers are rare due to their age and an association bylaw that asks code talkers to disassociate themselves from politics, Smith says.

I thought the whole press conference was going well up to that point. And its unfortunate that hes so focused on attacking this person [rather] than honoring these men, Smith told HuffPost.

Jefferson Keel, president of The National Congress of American Indians, agreed with Smith, responding in a statement Monday:

We regret that the Presidents use of the name Pocahontas as a slur to insult a political adversary is overshadowing the true purpose of todays White House ceremony, stated NCAI President Jefferson Keel, a decorated U.S. Army officer and Vietnam War combat veteran. Today was about recognizing the remarkable courage and invaluable contributions of our Native code talkers. Thats who we honor today and everyday  the three code talkers present at the White House representing the 10 other elderly living code talkers who were unable to join them, and the hundreds of other code talkers from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Lakota, Meskwaki, Mohawk, Navajo, Tlingit, and other tribes who served during World Wars I and II. We also honor the service and bravery of all of our veterans and those currently serving from Indian Country. Native people serve in the Armed Forces at a higher rate than any other group in the country, and have served in every war in this nations history. And we honor the contributions of Pocahontas, a hero to her people, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe in Virginia, who reached across uncertain boundaries and brought people together. Once again, we call upon the President to refrain from using her name in a way that denigrates her legacy.

This story has been updated with a response from The National Congress of American Indians.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding will be held in Spring 2018, read a statement by Clarence House.

By India Today Web Desk: Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle's romance has been one of the hot topics of discussion across the world for a while now.

For those who had been eagerly waiting to see the couple get married, your wish has finally come true. For, the 33-year-old Prince has now announced his engagement to the actress.

"His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle,'' read a statement by Clarence House.

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The couple got engaged in London, earlier this month. According to the statement, the wedding will take place in Spring 2018, the details about which will be announced in due course. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, as mentioned in the statement.

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle. pic.twitter.com/zdaHR4mcY6- Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 27, 2017

In a statement issued by Kensington Palace, Markle's parents said, "We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person.''

Also Read: Did Prince Harry have a premonition about himself and Meghan Markle 2 years before they met?

Queen Elizabeth II has also given her blessing to the union, reported The Telegraph.

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Fresh off Thanksgiving weekend, President Trump referred to himself as your favorite President while returning to one of his favorite pastimes  upbraiding the news media.

On Monday morning, the president called for an undefined contest to determine which TV network covers him most unfairly. He tweeted that the winner of this hypothetical contest could be awarded a trophy for fake news. He said CNN, the cable-news channel he complains the most about, should be included in the mix.

We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2017

Trump is only 10 months into his tenure and is unlikely to be most Americans favorite president at this point. And polls indicate that more Americans disapprove than approve of his job performance.

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm based in Raleigh, N.C., responded to his your favorite president tweet with its own data showing that ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post are trusted more than Trump.

Who do trust more, Donald Trump or: ABC. ABC, 54/36

CBS. CBS, 54/36

NBC. NBC, 54/36

New York Times. New York Times, 54/37

CNN. CNN, 52/37

Washington Post. Washington Post, 52/37 https://t.co/XIY6vnb1i7  PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) November 27, 2017

Gallup, the Washington-based opinion poll company, found that 57 percent of Americans disapprove and 37 percent approve of Trumps job performance as of Nov. 25.

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FiveThirtyEight, a website dedicated to analyzing opinion polls, aggregated a trove of such surveys and reported similar numbers for Nov. 27  55.5 percent disapprove and 38.4 percent approve.

Nevertheless, any negative news or poll numbers are unlikely to stop Trump from projecting an aura of success and accomplishment, as hes done since the peak years of his real estate career.

On the campaign trail, Trump demonstrated a penchant for touting positive polls while deriding negative polls as inaccurate.

In his Monday-morning tweets attacking the press, Trump also declared that nobody cares about the mainstream media, a topic he regularly tweets about. To make his case, he linked to an article by far-right Breitbart News attacking Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe for allegedly prerecording holiday banter for their post-Thanksgiving show.

You care, Scarborough replied. Oh, how you care so much.

Trump wrapped up his morning tweets with a few comments about the Republican tax reform bill on Capitol Hill.

The Tax Cut Bill is coming along very well, great support. With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings and the pass through provision becomes simpler and really works well!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2017

Trump is scheduled to have lunch with members of the Senate Finance Committee at 12:30 p.m. Monday. If Congress passes the tax legislation and Trump signs it, the bill would be Trumps only major legislative victory since taking office.

Read more from Yahoo News:
By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Turkish gold trader will not go on trial this week on charges of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran in a case that has strained Turkish-U.S. ties, a U.S. judge in New York said Monday.

Reza Zarrab, 34, stopped appearing in court in the two months leading up to his scheduled trial, prompting Turkey's prime minister to suggest he has reached a plea deal with U.S. authorities.

Zarrab and eight other people, including Turkey's former economy minister and three executives of Turkish state-owned Halkbank, have been charged with engaging in transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran's government and Iranian entities from 2010 to 2015 in a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions.

The prosecutors said the defendants worked to supply gold and currency to Iran and Iranian entities, in violation of the sanctions, sometimes disguising transactions as purchases of food.

Only Zarrab and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, one of the Halkbank executives, have been arrested by U.S. authorities. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan told potential jurors on Monday morning that Atilla, 47, will be the only person on trial.

The trial will begin as soon as a jury is chosen, and is expected to last three to four weeks.

Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Zarrab, declined to comment on Zarrab's absence at the trial. A spokesman for the prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is acutely sensitive in Turkey in part because the prosecutors say Turkey's former economy minister, Zafer Caglayan, was involved in the alleged conspiracy. Caglayan has denied the charges.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's government has said the case has been fabricated for political motives. This has exacerbated tensions between Ankara and Washington, NATO allies. Investor sentiment toward Turkey has cooled, and traders said the situation was a factor in the lira's fall to record lows.

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Prosecutors said in a court filing four weeks ago that Zarrab once told another defendant he had spoken with Erdogan directly about the alleged scheme.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said he sees in this case the hand of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan accuses Gulen of masterminding last year's failed military coup in Turkey and also of driving an earlier legal case involving Zarrab.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim last week called the claim that Gulen was behind the U.S. case "ridiculous."

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
By Chris Kenning

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Nebraska law that prohibits picketing near funerals after it was challenged by a Kansas church known for anti-gay protests.

Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church had filed suit against the 2006 Nebraska measure prohibiting protests within 500 feet of a cemetery or church before and after a funeral.

The Supreme Court said it would not take up the church's challenge to the state law.

Westboro members are known for protesting at military funerals, including soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, which they believe are result of God's wrath over the United States' tolerance of gay, lesbian and transgender people and adultery.

"We're going to keep going," Westboro lawyer Margie Phelps said in an interview with Reuters on Monday. "We've got to warn the nation."

The church has protested at hundreds of funerals over the last decade, Phelps said. That has continued after the 2014 death of Fred Phelps, the pastor who led the vitriolic "God Hates Fags" anti-gay campaign across the United States.

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson could not immediately be reached for comment.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that the state law appropriately balanced free-speech rights and the privacy right of mourners to grieve without intrusions.

The Nebraska law had been challenged by Phelps' sister Shirley Phelps-Roper, a Westboro member involved in picketing the October 2011 funeral of Caleb Nelson, a 26-year-old Navy SEAL from Omaha.

Protesters held signs with messages that said "no peace for the wicked" and "thank God for dead soldiers."

The 8th Circuit upheld a similar ordinance in 2012 from the city of Manchester, Missouri, involving a 300-foot buffer. Phelps said many states have similar laws.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that the church's picketing at a private funeral and even hurtful protest messages were protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

(Reporting by Chris Kenning, Editing by Ben Klayman and Dan Grebler)
Amman (AFP) - More than 11 million children in war-torn Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations children's fund warned on Sunday.

"Today it is fair to say that Yemen is one of the worst places on earth to be a child," said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Two million children today in Yemen suffer acute malnutrition (and) almost every single Yemeni boy and girl" is in acute need of humanitarian assistance, he told a press conference in Jordan's capital Amman.

"Today we estimate that every 10 minutes a child in Yemen is dying from preventable diseases."

UN officials have warned that Yemen could face the world's largest famine in decades unless a crippling blockade by a Saudi-led coalition battling Huthi rebels is lifted.

The blockade, put in place after Saudi forces intercepted a missile fired by Huthi forces at Riyadh's international airport early this month, has further tightened the coalition's stranglehold on the rebel-held port of Hodeida, the main conduit for UN-supervised deliveries of food and medicine.

A UN plane carrying desperately needed vaccines landed in the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa on Saturday after coalition forces partly lifted the blockade, after warnings that thousands of people could die.

But UN officials have said desperately needed shipments of food and medicines to Hodeida remain blocked.

Cappelaere welcomed the reopening of Sanaa airport but said much more aid was needed.

"The war in Yemen is sadly a war on children," Cappelaere said, adding that close to 5,000 children had been killed or seriously injured since the start of a Saudi-led campaign in support of the government in March 2015.

"Thousands of schools and health facilities have been damaged or completely destroyed," he said, calling for all parties in Yemen to take responsibility for the situation there.

Story continues

The coalition intervened to prop up Yemen's government after the Iran-backed Huthis drove it from Sanaa.

The devastating war has since killed some 8,600 people, while a further 2,000 have died of cholera.

Yemen is highly dependent on imported wheat for its basic needs, and aid groups have warned that humanitarian deliveries cover only a small portion of what is required.
Hanoi (AFP) - A Vietnamese court on Monday jailed a blogger for seven years for disseminating anti-state "propaganda" including articles which supported protests against a Taiwanese firm responsible for a toxic leak.

Space for free expression is shrinking in the Communist country, with at least 15 activists and dissidents having been arrested and several others jailed so far this year.

Nguyen Van Hoa, 22, an environmental activist, was accused of instigating protests against authorities via his Facebook account, mainly following the 2016 toxic leak at a steel factory operated by Taiwan's Formosa.

Formosa was fined $500 million after being blamed for dumping waste along Vietnam's central coast, which poisoned fish and decimated the incomes of fishing communities.

The plant became the focal point for anger at environmental damage wrought by big business.

Protests against the Taiwanese company were met with crackdowns by authorities.

Hoa was also accused of taking part in the protest, according to a state media report quoting the indictment, which said he had "posted articles, videos and images with negative content on his Facebook (page)" while spreading "spreading reactionary propaganda against the party and state's policies".

Some of the posts in question date back to 2013.

He was convicted after a speedy trial in Ha Tinh province, a clerk told AFP without giving details.

The conviction comes more than one month after authorities detained Tran Thi Xuan, another Vietnamese activist demonstrating against Formosa.

She was charged under a separate part of the criminal code that carries a possible death sentence for attempting to overthrow the government.

Vietnam routinely imprisons activists, bloggers and lawyers, but its poor rights record worsened further after a new conservative leadership assumed power last year.

Authorities have come under fire for a spate of arrests this year and in the lead-up to US President Donald Trump's visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang earlier in the month.

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During the trip artist Mai Khoi was locked inside her house after holding up a sign that said "Piss on you Trump" as the president's motorcade passed through town in Hanoi.

Observers say Trump's hands-off approach to human rights has freed authoritarian leaders across Southeast Asia and beyond to launch crackdowns without fear of censure.

In Vietnam's most infamous recent case, 37-year-old Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, better known by her pen name "Mother Mushroom", was sentenced to 10 years in June under the same charge as Hoa.

US First Lady Melania Trump bestowed a "Woman of Courage Award" on Quynh in March.
Actress Meghan Markles engagement to trophy boyfriend Prince Harry on Monday marks a major shift in British royal pairings.

Though the 36-year-old television stars engagement is much less unusual than it would have been in previous generations as traditions become more progressive, Markles upcoming ascension to the royal family is still groundbreaking in several ways.

Actress Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on Monday, after announcing their engagement. (Photo: Chris Jackson via Getty Images)

Shes a woman of color.

When Markle first began dating Prince Harry in 2016, British tabloids ran stories making racist comments about the actress, whose father is white and mother is black.

One columnist from The Daily Mail wrote that if the new couple had children, the Windsors will thicken their watery, thin blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA, and described Markles mother as a dreadlocked African-American lady from the wrong side of the tracks.

Another Daily Mail story about the actress hometown of Los Angeles contained the headline, Harrys girl is (almost) straight outta Compton, referring to the LA suburb where the rap group N.W.A. formed. The writer also wondered if Harry would visit the gang-scarred home of her mother.

In a rare public statement last November, Prince Harry condemned the pieces racial undertones and the ongoing abuse and harassment Markle and her family experienced.

In 2015, Markle wrote in Elle Magazine about racism she and her parents have faced  and how her father advised her to draw your own box when needing to identify her race.

There was a mandatory census I had to complete in my English class  you had to check one of the boxes to indicate your ethnicity: white, black, Hispanic or Asian. There I was (my curly hair, my freckled face, my pale skin, my mixed race) looking down at these boxes, not wanting to mess up, but not knowing what to do. You could only choose one, but that would be to choose one parent over the other  and one half of myself over the other. My teacher told me to check the box for Caucasian. Because thats how you look, Meghan, she said. I put down my pen. Not as an act of defiance, but rather a symptom of my confusion. I couldnt bring myself to do that, to picture the pit-in-her-belly sadness my mother would feel if she were to find out. So, I didnt tick a box. I left my identity blank  a question mark, an absolute incomplete  much like how I felt. When I went home that night, I told my dad what had happened. He said the words that have always stayed with me: If that happens again, you draw your own box.

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Shell be the first American to officially marry a British royal.

The Los Angeles native is not the first American to marry a British royal, but is the first whose relationship has been officially accepted by the royal family.

In 1936, King Edward VIII famously abdicated the throne to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson after their relationship caused a royal scandal.

She breaks some other traditional royal rules.

Markle, like Simpson, is divorced, which traditionally excluded someone from marrying into the royal family. But the acceptance of the former shows more tolerant social conventions over time. Prince Harrys father Prince Charles divorced his mother, Princess Diana, and in 2005, married the divorced Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall  though their wedding was a civil ceremony.

Until 2015, British rules barred members of the line of royal succession from marrying Catholics, as Queen Elizabeth II serves as the head of the Anglican Church. Though Markle, who attended a Catholic high school, wasnt raised Catholic, she will be baptized into the Church of England before the wedding.

The British Parliaments changes to the law on royal succession also included the removal of biases toward male heirs  which now allows, for example, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridges daughter, Charlotte, to join the line of succession directly after her older brother, George, even if she ends up having other male siblings.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the Duchess of Cambridge, formerly known as Kate Middleton, as a princess, and incorrectly stated that the Duchess of Cornwall has been divorced twice. It also incorrectly stated that Markle was Catholic. Language in this story has also been amended to clarify the new laws for male heirs and royal succession.



Related...

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Are Engaged

Meghan Markle Aces Her First Official Appearance With Prince Harry

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's First Photos As An Engaged Couple Are Here

Also on HuffPost

CUDDLE ALERT.

Too cute.

<3 <3 <3

Why so serious?

MORE cuddles.

Meghan's mom was there, too!

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By PTI: (Eds: Updating with reactions)

By Aditi Khanna

London, Nov 27 (PTI) Britains Prince Harry, one of the worlds most eligible bachelors, is getting married to outspoken American actress Meghan Markle next year after they announced today that they got engaged earlier this month.

The wedding is scheduled for Spring of 2018 and the couple will make Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London their marital home.

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"The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle," Clarence House said in a statement on behalf of Harrys father Prince Charles.

"The wedding will take place in Spring 2018. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course," it adds.

The announcement confirms that the couple had got engaged in London earlier this month and thatAthe 33-year-old fifth in line to Britains throne had informed Queen Elizabeth II of his intention to marry Markle.

Markle a mixed-race American raised in California, an outspoken full-time actress, and a divorcee makes a surprising addition to Britains monarchy.

Markle, besides being an actress and model, is a blogger who has written about her heritage on her website, describing herself as biracial, and has been a United Nations (UN) womens advocate.

She has campaigned with the United Nations on gender equality, written in Time magazine about girls education and the stigma surrounding menstruation, and has travelled to Rwanda as global ambassador for the charity World Vision Canada.

In January, Markle visited India with World Vision to meet girls and women who directly bear the brunt of social stigma associated with periods and how it costs them their right to education.

"Prince Harry has also sought and received the blessing of Markles parents. The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace," Clarence House said.

Harry has been dating 36-year-old Markle since July 2016 and there has been increasing speculation of a wedding in the New Year ever since the actress moved her dogs to the UK from her Canadian home in Toronto recently.

Best known for her role in the US legal drama Suits, Markle has virtually moved into Kensington Palace andAhad been photographed shopping in Chelsea in London last week.

It is unclear if the wedding will be a full church wedding, given that Markle is a divorcee.

Historically, Britains royals have frowned upon such weddings but that changed as the Queen gave her consent in 2005 for Prince Charles to marry Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who was also a divorcee.

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The UK bookmaker Ladbrokes had stopped taking bets on the engagement last week and some press reports over the weekend indicated that British Prime Minister Theresa May had "cleared her diary" in expectation of an announcement.

May offered her "very warmest congratulations" to the royal couple.

"This is a time of huge celebration and excitement for two people in love and, on behalf of myself, the Government and the country, I wish them great happiness for the future," she said in a statement.

It had been reported last month that the couple went for tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, which was seen as a meeting to seek the monarch?s blessing for an engagement.

"The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted for the couple and wish them every happiness," the Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

Harrys older brother, William, and sister-in-law Kate Middleton said they were "very excited" by the announcement.

"We are very excited for Harry and Meghan. It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together," the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said soon after the announcement today.

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Harry and Meghans spring wedding is widely expected to take place some time in May 2018, soon after William and Kate?s third child is born in April 2018.

According to royal observers in Britain, Markle, who has an African-American mother and a white father and was brought up a Catholic, is unlikely to continue with her acting career once she becomes a part of the countrys royal family.

The couple had met through mutual friends in London and have been seen in public together with greater frequency in recent months.

In September 2017, Markle spoke publicly about their relationship for the first time in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine and said they were "really happy and in love".

Markles parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said they were "incredibly happy" with the couples engagement, adding: "We wish them a lifetime of happiness."

"Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents," they said.

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"We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together."

She is also a global ambassador for World Vision Canada and owns her own clothes line ? Meghan Markle Collection.

In 2015, Prince Harry was named as the worlds most eligible bachelor after he ousted George Clooney from that slot, British media reported. PTI AK AMS AKJ AMS

--- ENDS ---




Meghan Markle marrying Prince Harry is basically a modern fairy tale in which the American actress becomes a British princess. But will she actually get to call herself that?

According to the Press Association, while Markles official ranking will be that of a princess, she wont be allowed to be known as Princess Meghan, as she is not a royal by birth.

On the morning of their wedding, which will take place in the spring, the couple will be given their new official titles by the queen. If Harry chooses to remain as a prince, Markle will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Wales. If he is made a duke, which is more likely, Markle will become a duchess just like the Duchess of Cambridge.

Meghan Markle will most likely become a duchess. (Photo: Getty Images)

Royal experts believe that Harry may take on the role of the Duke of Sussex, as this is one of the few vacant names left. Theyre quite limited in the titles that are available. The Duke of Sussex is the front-runner without any doubt, genealogist Charles Kidd told PA. I think the others are highly unlikely. Clarence hasnt been used for a long time and its been sort of tainted by bad luck. Connaught, with its links to the Republic of Ireland, might not be suitable at the moment.

However, Markle might not be known as Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as it turns out thats not even her given name. The actress uses her middle name as her stage moniker. She was actually born Rachel Markle.

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A Bible belonging to an American soldier serving in World War II has found its way back home after more than 70 years.

The pocket-sized government issue copy of the New Testament belonged to Johnie J. Duncan, of Westminster, S.C. It was contemporaneously found by another vet, Joe Bob Sparks, on a battlefield in Europe.

Sparks kept the Bible and brought it back to his home in Fort Worth, Texas, after the war. Sparks passed away in 2003 and the book was found by his nephew, Patrick Ickes, a Navy veteran himself, among his collection of memorabilia.

Im a Christian and I love Bibles, I really love old Bibles, Ickes told the Florida Times Union in an interview. I asked my aunt about it and she said, Oh, your Uncle Joe found it on a battlefield in World War II. She might have said France, but Im not sure.

Ickes found this written on the inside cover: Sunday Nov, 19, 1944. Westminster RFD 3, South Carolina. Next of kin: Mrs. J.M. Duncan. Despite having no other clues, Ickes was determined to track down the books owner.

After an internet search went nowhere, Ickes sought out a his more tech-savvy sister. She got on Facebook and was able to connect with a Westminster resident with the same last name as the Bibles owner. It turned out to be a different Duncan, but Westminster is a small town so they soon figured out the correct connection. A month after making contact, Duncans son, Danny Duncan, held his fathers Bible in his hands.

Finally, details about what happened to Duncan during the war were revealed. Duncan had survived and went on to stay in the army for 26 years, retiring as a first sergeant.

Hed been wounded in the war when a grenade exploded near his head, severing one of his ears. Doctors were able to reattach it but he suffered chronic pain later in life due to the more than 50 pieces of shrapnel embedded in his neck.

The younger Duncan describes his father as a quiet, humble man who didnt recall his war experience often. The two would fish together and occasionally the senior Duncan would open up about his time in the war.

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He did tell me once, When you smell the smell of death every day, and you see no relief from it  well, thats got to be pretty traumatic to an individual, Danny told the Florida Times Union.

The senior Duncan was not a particularly religious man and never mentioned his missing book. He read the Bible through several times and he did his own type of worship. He was a very humane person, always did the right thing as far as I know of, says Danny.

Since receiving the Bible, Danny carries it with him in his car, It does make me feel closer to him, he says, I can only imagine, when I first held it in my hands, I wondered, what has this Bible seen? It was six years before he married my mother. He was 22 years old. I know he was scared to death.

There is one other inscription in the Bible, on the last page, that reads Let us pray for peace.

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe's military action leading to Robert Mugabe's resignation was legal, a High Court judge has ruled, as the military seeks to show its moves were not a coup. Experts said it sets a dangerous precedent for future interventions.

Meanwhile, the finance minister and other Mugabe allies were in court on Saturday alleging sometimes violent retaliation after the military stepped in.

High Court Judge George Chiweshe, a retired general, on Friday ruled that the military's actions "in intervening to stop the takeover" of Mugabe's functions "by those around him" were legal.

The military swept in almost two weeks ago after Mugabe's firing of deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa amid fears that the 93-year-old president's unpopular wife was positioning herself to take power.

The judge said the military's actions ensured that non-elected individuals did not exercise executive functions, an apparent reference to Grace Mugabe.

Separately, the judge said Mnangagwa's firing as vice president was illegal. Mnangagwa was sworn in as president on Friday in a whirlwind reversal of fortunes, becoming just the second leader of Zimbabwe after Mugabe's 37-year-rule.

The judge's decisions were quickly criticized both by legal and rights experts and by close Mugabe allies.

"If these breathtaking High Court Orders granted in Harare yesterday represent what is being peddled as a 'new path,' then please pray for Zimbabwe," tweeted minister of higher education Jonathan Moyo.

The southern Africa director for Human Rights Watch, Dewa Mavhinga, called the rulings "incredible" and said on Twitter: "Strange, captured judiciary?"

Zimbabwe's military sent tanks into the streets overnight on Nov. 14, taking control of the state broadcaster and announcing that Robert Mugabe had been put under house arrest. It said it was pursuing "criminals" close to him accused of harming the economy.

The military's move led the ruling party to turn against Mugabe, launching impeachment proceedings before he announced his resignation Tuesday, while tens of thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets in a military-backed demonstration urging him to step aside.

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Mnangagwa, who fled the country after his firing, said upon his return he had been in "constant contact" with the military during his absence.

Many in the international community have avoided calling the military's actions a coup, instead urging Zimbabwe's authorities to respect the rule of law. Some Zimbabweans have congratulated the military, taking selfies with soldiers and cheering for army commander Constantino Chiwenga at Friday's inauguration.

Zimbabwean lawyer Alex Magaisa said the judge's rulings "may come to haunt Mnangagwa's government" by setting a precedent in "effectively legalizing military intervention in the affairs of government."

He also wrote Saturday that "it is interesting to note that the order was granted by 'consent' which suggests that Mugabe agreed to it. If he did, it could be that it was part of Mugabe's exit deal."

Mugabe has not been seen in public since his speech on Sunday defying calls to resign. He will remain in Zimbabwe, and Mnangagwa met him on Thursday and assured him of "maximum security," the state-run Zimbabwe Herald reported.

Mnangagwa, a 75-year-old former defense and justice minister, is blamed for a number of crackdowns under Mugabe, whom he continues to praise.

In his first speech as president, Mnangagwa spoke of reuniting the country and reaching out to the world after years of international condemnation over rights abuses and allegedly rigged elections. Let "bygones be bygones," he said. He has warned against "vengeful retribution."

The legality of the military takeover is also under scrutiny in new cases against several officials linked to the ruling party faction of Mugabe's wife.

Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo told a court that masked men in military uniforms burst into his home and pointed assault rifles at him and his wife as the military moved in.

Chombo said he was handcuffed and blindfolded in the early-morning Nov. 15 raid and driven to an unidentified location, where for days interrogators told him he had performed badly as a government official. He was then handed over to police for arrest.

The minister questioned the corruption allegations he now faces, saying some date back two decades. "I found it a little bit odd that it would come up now," he said.

Innocent Hamandishe, a member of the ruling ZANU-PF party's youth league who has been accused of "causing disaffection" in the security forces during the military's intervention, was "abducted" on Nov. 16 and only handed over to police on Wednesday, said his lawyer, Emmanuel Samudombe.

"It's a serious breach of the constitution," Samudombe said.

The lawyer for Kudzanai Chipanga, another youth league member, said he was removed from a police station by "armed people" on Nov. 15 and tortured before being arrested by police on Thursday.

"The military must know that there is a constitution in this country," Lovemore Madhuku said. "There's no such thing as a military arrest."

Whatever one might think of coups in principle, "one would have to concede that this one was artfully contrived and executed," showing a "smiling face" to the world to avoid regional sanctions, wrote Peter Fabricius, a consultant with the Institute for Security Studies.

Mugabe had the chance to protest to South African envoys who met with him shortly after the military stepped in, Fabricius added. "Mugabe could have screamed 'Help!'"

But he didn't, South Africa's defense minister later told local Radio 702: "Well, according to Mugabe, nothing; he's happy," she said.
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa three days after his inauguration has dissolved the cabinet of his predecessor Robert Mugabe, who resigned after the military took control of the country, a senior government official said Monday.

Mnangagwa "is in the process of putting together a new team of cabinet ministers, Misheck Sibanda, the chief secretary to the president and cabinet said in a statement.

Sibanda added that Mnangagwa has appointed Patrick Chinamasa as acting finance minister and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as acting top diplomat to allow uninterrupted services in critical ministries of government.

The statement did not indicate when Mnangagwa will announce his new cabinet.

Mnangagwa, 75, was sworn in on Friday following dramatic events in the southern African country after the military took over saying they wanted to arrest criminals in government around 93-year-old Mugabe.

His tenure withstood repeated claims of hanging on to power through brutal repression of dissent, election rigging and corruption, until concerted pressure from the military finally forced to quit.

Parliament had begun proceedings to impeach Mugabe for allowing his wife and a coterie of followers to "capture" the ruling party.

Now the new president has vowed sweeping changes in government and new policies to attract investment and revive the ailing economy.

At the same time, Zimbabwe has bestowed a new honour on Mugabe, who had ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980, by declaring his birthday, February 21, a public holiday, a state newspaper reported Monday.
Some public lands are too important to lose to drilling rights, and those lands just so happen to be in Montana  the home state of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Montana wont lose any acres or protections for its current national monuments, and the state may also get a brand-new 200-square-mile national monument. That could happen even as the ink dries on Zinkes recommendation to open millions of acres of public land in other states to oil and gas interests.

Zinke recommended the massive Badger-Two Medicine area in northwest Montana be designated as a national monument over the summer. The designation would protect the federal lands from any oil and gas development.

President Donald Trump has called public lands monuments across the nation a massive land grab. And Zinke has advised Trump to shrink or reduce protections for millions of acres in 10 monuments in other states.

Thats why a new monument in Montana has locals scratching their heads, notes NPR.

As youre attacking the seminal accomplishments of [President Theodore] Roosevelt [who first established national monuments] and at the same time talking about adding a monument, it didnt make much sense, Land Tawney, head of the Montana-based Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, told the Missoulian.

Zinke, a former Montana congressman, grew up a couple of hours west of the area he has recommended protecting from drilling rights. But many speculate that his public-lands strategy is less about familiarity and more about political strategy. Tawney and others believe Zinke will run for governor of the state when hes done serving Trump.

I think the people of Montana hold our special places very near and dear, Tawney told NPR. If you do not protect those places I think its a political nightmare for you in this state.

Other states hold their special places near and dear as well. The White House hasnt revealed Zinkes recommendations for those sites. But in a memorandum obtained by The Washington Post in September, Zinke advised Trump to modify 10 national monuments, including shrinking at least four in Western states and dropping drilling protections for others.

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Zinke advised shrinking Utahs Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Nevadas Gold Butte, and Oregons Cascade-Siskiyou. The Utah sites alone comprise some 3.2 million acres. Zinkes memorandum doesnt specify how many acres might be cut. Reducing protections could also open up remaining land to commercial fishing, grazing, logging and coal mining.

In Zinkes memo, he notes that the 130,000-acre Two Badger-Medicine site is sacred to the Blackfeet Nation. Bears Ears in Utah is sacred to the Navajo Nation, yet thats on the chopping block. The other site in Utah, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, includes some of the most important dinosaur fossil sites in the world.

Trump is expected to announce his decision concerning the national monuments in December.

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By Press Trust of India: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was hospitalised today after he complained of uneasiness but was doing "fine" now, a senior railway official said.

Before hospitalisation, Goyal visited suburban Elphinstone Road and Currey Road stations to take stock of ongoing construction of the Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) by the Army.

Goyal complained of uneasiness after addressing a review meeting of senior Central and Western Railway officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus this evening.

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"After holding a review meeting with the officials, the minister complained of uneasiness due to acidity. An ambulance was called as part of protocol though he was fit enough to walk and preferred to travel in his own vehicle," the official.

"He (Goyal) has been admitted to Breach Candy hospital and is fine now," he added.

Goyal did not attend a scheduled press conference due to ill health.

"Visited Elphinstone Road railway station and reviewed the progress of foot overbridges construction. The Army has been working tirelessly to build the infrastructure within the given timeline," Goyal said in a tweet tonight.

--- ENDS ---
US President Donald Trump will soon present his initiative for solving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Meanwhile, alarming agreements are taking shape in Syria between the United States, Russia and Iran concerning the deployment of forces near Israels northern border.

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The Israeli response to the Trump initiative should be a demand for an international recognition of Israels sovereignty in the Golan Heights and a demand for a comprehensive agreement, which wont allow the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah forces in the Syrian Golan Heights, west of the Damascus-Suwayda road and south of the Damascus-Beirut road. Israel, in return, would pledge that a fulfillment of these two demands would pave the way for practical negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights (Photo: EPA)

Israel has good reason to demand a stabilization of the northern border as part of a preliminary diplomatic move. This is more urgent and important than reaching agreements with and making concessions to the Palestinian Authority.

In the Oslo Agreements and later on, Israel made significant concessions and offered even more significant concessions, while the PA didnt offer and didnt provide a thing in return, and even committed terrorism against Israel. The little that was achieved was the security cooperation, and that only happened after Yasser Arafats death.

Now, with a proposal for renewed negotiations as part of the comprehensive regional agreement with the moderate Arab states on the table, its time to demand something in return before offering further compromises.

This return could be a recognition of Israels sovereignty in the Golan Heights and security arrangements on our northern border. It will make it much easier for the Israeli government and the Israeli society to move towards another agreement with the PA, and it isnt an obstacle to negotiations with the Palestinians.

A rare opportunity

The major changes the Middle East is going through and the results of the brutal civil war in Syria have changed the states borders, and these borders wont go back to what they were since the SykesPicot Agreement. Now is the time to set the line established in the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement as the international border between Israel and Syria.

With a diplomatic effort and proper PR activities, we will succeed in enlisting the support of the moderate Arab states, which see terror-spreading Iran as the threat to stability in the Middle East.

Trumps sympathy towards Israel and his desire to reach a foreign policy achievement in the Middle East, while Syrian President Assad is weak and dependent on Russia and on President Vladimir Putin, create a rare opportunity to make good out of a bad situation.

Instead of keeping up with the negative reactions, instead of constantly being dragged, Israel should see Trumps proposal as an opportunity to start initiating again. We have a chance to demand and gain international recognition of Israels sovereignty in the Golan Heights, and its an opportunity we must not waste.
Last week, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) hosted Stephen Bannon, US President Donald Trumps senior advisor until recently, for a festive dinner.

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The invitation was met with harsh criticism. Many US Jews see Bannon as a radical right-wing ideologist and as an anti-Semite. But ZOA President Morton Klein claimed Bannon was a great friend of Israel and the Jews. Thats what he was told by Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, he said.

For a long time now, official Israel and the American liberal Jewry have been on a course of collision on issues of state and religion, on matters related to the quality of Israeli democracy and on the occupation issue.

Stephen Bannon, President Trumps former chief strategist. A great friend of Israel and the Jews? (Photo: AP)

Former US President Barack Obama, who was perceived as representing the liberal Jewish stance, said that in the battle against anti-Semitism we are all Jews. But the Jewish American right and the Israeli government want to erase the Obama legacy. For them, saying we are all Jews is essentially different from saying we are all Israelis. This statement focuses on anti-Semitism and on the memory of the Holocaust as universal lessons, and indirectly indicates that right-wing Israel is on the problematic site in the battle on universal values.

Jerusalem is no longer preoccupied with the Jewish weaknesses of the Diaspora and with the past. State officials are talking about reinforcing a strong State of Israel, and any attempt to restrain the Judea and Samaria settlements is perceived as betrayal.

When the alliance between the Jewish American right and the pro-Israel Evangelical Christians was born in the 1980s, liberal Jews raised an eyebrow: They had always thought the Evangelicals were dangerous, as they seek to convert the Jews after the resurrection of Jesus. But the Jewish right in America and in Israel is no longer afraid of the old anti-Semitism. Abraham (Abe) Foxman, the former leader of the Anti-Defamation League, said to me during the second intifada: We have an alliance with the Evangelical Christians, and when Jesus the messiah arrives well discuss religious conversion.

ZOAs praise for Bannon expands the pro-Israel circle in the American right, while driving the American center away from Israel. Many Jews, including conservatives, harshly condemn what they see as the Israeli alliance with Zionist anti-Semites. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Bret Stephens wrote in the New York Times that the alliance between the Jewish right and Bannon was a disgrace on a historical level.

The relationship between the American right and the Israeli right is throwing the liberal Jewry into a state of anxiety, and the American Jews affiliated with the center feel they are being pushed by Israel beyond the boundaries of the Zionist consensus, while at the same time being exposed to the threats of the US nationalistic right. As a result of the fact that there are people in Israel who define progressive Jews as accomplices of Israels haters, the relations with Americas Jews have become quite explosive.

The Israeli government is indeed focusing exclusively on the new anti-Semitism, the one affiliated with those who support the BDS movement and refer to Israel as an apartheid state. All the old anti-Semitism issues are being pushed aside. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no sympathy for liberal Jews, who have become in his mind a foreign element among the Jewish people.

Its interesting that the greatest fear of right-wing Israelis is President Trump and his plan to lead a two-states-for-two-people solution. In their battle against Trump, elements in the Israeli right are enlisting the moderate Bannon, who is fighting for the Greater Land of Israel, which he binds with the vision of bringing the Judeo-Christian forces together with the national (white) elements in the United States. Bannon fits like a glove to Jerusalem's right-wing hand, and the authorization it gives the right-wing ideologist as a lover of Jews and Israel strengthens him in the US.

Is it possible that liberal Jews will eventually see President Trump as the person who will execute a peace plan in the Middle East that could bring them back to the Jewish-Israeli consensus? Is it possible that Trump, who is perceived by progressive Jews as an anti-Semite himself, will become their last barrier against the Zionist anti-Semites? Who knows, the Messiah may arrive after all.
Minister of Welfare and Social Services Haim Katz (Likud) formulated an outline for the first stage of the increase to disability pensions, set to take effect at the beginning of January 2018, at a cost of NIS 1.98 billion.

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The new outline, to be distributed on Monday at a Likud ministerial forum as a memorandum of government law, will include an addition of NIS 680 million beyond what was agreed in the negotiations with disability organizations on September 29, and will be transferred to demographics that were not originally part of the agreement.

The new outline will benefit, among others, 75,000 disabled people who are entitled to a senior disability pension, 129,000 disabled people with mental or intellectual disabilities, 7,300 blind people and 2,800 severely handicapped people.

Minister of Welfare and Social Services Haim Katz (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The pensions, as agreed, will be indexed according to fluctuations in the average Israeli wage.

As part of the desire to integrate the handicapped population into employment, the amount that they will be able to earn without their pensions being reduced will be raised to NIS 4,000. According to the proposed outline, the disability benefit for an individual will rise in January 2018 by NIS 340-640 up to a monthly amount of NIS 3,133.

"The agreements reached did not provide a response to tens of thousands of citizens whose voices were silenced during the just struggle of the disabled to raise the pensions," Katz said. "Nothing addressed the natural increase in the number of recipients of disability pensions, and the massive transition from income support or work-injured benefits to disability pension was not taken into account.

"The proposal that I formulated prevents discrimination against the most vulnerable disability groups and a transition to financial assistance for the disabled people in Israel.

The negotiating teams after the agreement was reached, on Sep. 29, 2017 (Photo: Histadrut spokesperson's department)

Alex Friedman, Chairman of the organization "Disabled, not half a person" and the initiator of the struggle for increased disability pensions, who was a partner in the agreements reached with the government two months ago, hailed Katz's new outline.

"We congratulate Minister Haim Katz on submitting the outline," he said. "Nonetheless, we are behind the agreement and its main clauses, such as anchoring future increases of disability pensions into laws and linking them to the average wage in Israel, which will ensure an increase in the pensions in the coming years."

MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz), who formulated the bill to equalize disability pensions to the minimum wage, welcomed Katz's outline, saying that "this is a worthy proposal that includes most of the components of the last agreement and in some respects even adds to it.

"The Labor and Social Affairs Committee will have to amend the law so that it will relate to future years and not just to the first year."

Disabled blocking road in protest of low disability pensions, Jerusalem (Photo: TPS)

However, some do not welcome the plan, since it presents an outline for only one increase to the funding for disability pensions, and the fear is that if the government disbands next year, there will be no additional increases and the raise to the funding for the pensions will amount to only NIS 2 billion.

The main objection against the outline stems from the fact that the bill proposes a solution only for next year, and only for the first increase to the disability pensions.

This is in contrast to the agreement reached with disability organizations, according to which pensions will increase to NIS 4,000 in four stages until January 2021.

In addition, according to the agreement, the pension will be linked to the average wage, but this is not mentioned in the bill.

This was one of the most significant achievements of the agreement, which ensures that the pensions will continue to rise in line with the rise in the standard of living, and will not be eroded as is the case today, when it is linked to the consumer price index, which is rising at a slower pace.

The welfare minister's office said that the pension will indeed be linked to the average wage, but through a separate government decision.

Another drawback is the fact that the bill states that the maximum amount that a disabled person can earn without deducting his pension will only be up to NIS 4,000NIS 300 less than what was agreed upon to months ago.

Finally, the outline states that the first payment will be made only six months after the legislation takes effect, retroactively.

Disabled protesters blocking main road in Jerusalem (Photo: Amit Shabi)

The Disabled, Not Half a Person organization, which took part in the agreements reached two months ago, set a three-week ultimatum for the government to include the aforementioned parts of the agreement in the outline and threatened that if it did not, the organization would "significantly renew and intensify the protest activities with unprecedented steps in full coordination with Histadrut Chairman Avi Nissenkorn."

"It is not clear why the cardinal understandings and agreements that were reached in blood and sweat in lengthy negotiations and approved by the prime minister by phonedisappeared as if they were not," stated the Disabled Struggle Campaign, an organization that also participated in the agreements.

"Therefore, we view this memorandum as a challenge to the agreement and will act to the best of our understandingincluding an active return to the struggle in full force," they added.

"Until the end of the legislative process aimed at solving the distress of the disabled, we will continue the struggle without any change in the nature and frequency of our actions," said the Disabled Panthers group, which opposed the plan agreed upon two months ago.

Oren Helman, founder of "Sicuy Shaveh" (Equal Chance), promoting integration of people with disabilities into the workplace and society, claimed that "unfortunately, raising the amount which the disabled are able to earn without their pensions being reduced to only NIS 4,000 is insufficient and too low.

"This is a critical barrier to the massive entry of tens of thousands of people with disabilities into the labor force, as well as to their full integration into society."
A security officer of one of the Israeli embassies in Asia was forced to resign after locking the consul in the building to "teach her a lesson," after she ignored his requests to leave the area on time.

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The incident, which took place about a month ago, occurred when the officer instructed embassy employees to prepare to exit the facility about 15 minutes before the end of working hours at 5 pm.

All the embassy staff responded to the request of the security officer, but the consul ignored his instructions.

Foreign ministry building in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

In an attempt to discipline the consul, who he claimed had ignored his request several times before, he locked her inside the embassy building.

At 5:12pm, upon attempting to leave the building, the consul found that the embassy doors were locked and telephoned the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem in a panic to report that she had been locked inside the facility against her will.

Taking the incident seriously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported directly to the ministry's director-general, Yuval Rotem, who instructed the ministry's director of the Department for Israelis Abroad, Amnon Kalmar, to clarify matters and resolve the incident immediately.

Due to routine communication difficulties in the country where the embassy is located, contact with the security officer was delayed until he reached his home. An hour and a half passed before the security officer returned to the embassy and opened the security doors, claiming that he intended to do so anyway.

It is not the first incident between the officer and the consul, and according to sources in the Foreign Ministry relations between the two were already tense.

The ministry reached the conclusion that the security officer had deviated from standard protocol, and he later asked on his own volition to resign from his post in the foreign country and return to Israel.

Sources in the ministry who know the security officer said that he was an outstanding worker who had contributed a great deal in the past and helped manage rescue operations of Israeli backpackers in Nepal.

According to the sources, the consul's conduct had not been exemplary, claiming that she had conducted matters in an unacceptable and improper manner.

The embassy employees and the security officers often coordinate delays in leaving, and in such cases it is customary to lock them in the building and return after a certain time, but in the case of the security officer and the consul, the incident was not coordinated.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said in response that "the case was handled by the relevant officials in the ministry in light of the worker's conduct at the mission. We will not share any further details due to their right to privacy."
A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested on Monday by Border Police at the Cave of the Patriarchs for hiding gun on his person, this according to the Border Police Spokesperson's Unit.

The boy has been taken in for questioning regarding his motives.
At least 53 civilians, including 21 children, perished early Sunday morning when Russian air strikes hit "residential buildings" in a village held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, a monitor said.

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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes hit the village of Al-Shafah in Deir Ezzor province, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

The monitor had initially given a death toll of 34 civilians but the number spiked after more bodies were recovered.

Russian fighter jets in action ()

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"The toll increased after removing the debris in a long day of rescue operation," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP, adding the strikes hit "residential buildings."

At least 18 people were also wounded in the air raids, he added.

Russian fighter jets (Photo: Reuters)

The Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

Russia is a close ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and in September 2015 began a military intervention in support of his government that has gradually helped Damascus regain territory.

Syria's Deir Ezzor is one of the last places Islamic State jihadists hold territory in the country, after being driven from their major strongholds including their one-time de facto Syrian capital Raqa city.

The oil-rich eastern province that borders Iraq was once almost completely under Islamic State control, but the jihadists now hold just nine percent of Deir Ezzor, according to the Observatory.

They have faced two separate offensives there, one led by the regime with Russian backing and the other by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebel fighters.

However, recent reports claim that the US has agreed to Turkey's request to stop supporting the Kurdish Democratic Forces (SDF). Despite this, a senior official among the rebels refuted this, and told the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that they consider the US a true partner that would not go back on its promise.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Netanyahu 'insists on Israel's security' with Putin

As part of a round of talks that Russian President Vladimir Putin conducted with world leaders last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with him on the phone on Tuesday for half an hour. The Prime Minister's Office said that the phone conversation dealt with Syria and Iran's attempts to establish itself in Syrian territory, with the PMO stating that "Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted on Israel's security principles."

Netanyahu has long since accused Iran of trying to gain a foothold in Syria, in an effort to position itself along the Israel-Syria bordersomething that Netanyahu has vowed to prevent.

Putin (L) and Netanyahu (Photo: AFP)

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House announced that US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart talked for an hour on the phone, discussing events in Syria, Ukraine, Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan. Putin also spoke with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Russia in the driving seat

Assad arriving at Putin's residence in Sochi

The latest strikes come as the United Nations tries to revitalise its flagging efforts to end a six-year civil war that has left Syria devastated and huge swathes of its population refugees.

On Tuesday, the eighth round of UN-brokered talks will kick off.

They have achieved little so far, but may be bolstered by the opposition's decision to bring a unified delegation to Geneva for the first time.

For progress to happen rival sides will need to overcome the hurdle that has derailed past discussions: the fate of Syrian President Assad.

He retains Moscow's support and had even dropped by Russian President Vladimir Putin's Black Sea resort in Sochi, where the two were photographed embracing one another.

Within Syria, however, Assad is loathed by much of the rebel opposition, who want him gone.

Backed by Russia's decisive military support, Assad's government has regained control of 55 percent of the country, including major cities Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, and around two-thirds of the population lives in regime-held areas.

The rest is carved up between rebel factions, jihadists and Kurdish forces.

Some experts believe that Russia has clearly put itself in the driver's seat in recent months, especially as US President Donald Trump's administration has pulled back from Syrian diplomatic front.

An axis of non-western power

Russia, fellow regime ally Iran and rebel-backer Turkey have hosted negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that led to the creation of four "de-escalation zones" which produced a drop in violence, though deadly air strikes and battles continue in some areas.

L to R: Rouhani, Putin and Erdogan (Photo: Reuters)

Last week, Putin called for a "congress" of Syrian regime and opposition figures, a move backed by Ankara and Tehran during Putin's summit meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Putin told Ruohani and Erdogan that ISIS's occupation of Syria had been thwarted by Iran and Turkey, noting that thanks to their three countries, "Syria's collapse was prevented."

Following the Putin-Ruohani-Erdogan summit leaders' meeting, Putin announced that 98 percent of Syrian territory has returned to Assad's control.

At the end of the month, all in the Syrian conflict are set to meet in Geneva to begin a series of talks that will determine Syria's future: these include consolidating its territory, rebuilding its ruins after six years of civil war and policing its affairs in the near future.
Anyone who ever studied Talmud in his life knows the value of quibbling about nothing. Arguments on one side, contradictions on the other side, and in the end, the result isnt all that important. Sometimes, its irrelevant. Seinfeld for religious Jews.

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This applies to the recent Shabbat crisis too. Its a crisis over nothing, neither over the sanctity of Shabbat nor over the sanctity of the coalition. Theres just one noticeable difference: While Talmudic quibbling helps sharpen ones brains, political quibbling helps in its deterioration.

The crisis ended Sunday evening without any results. The short summary is filled with words but practically empty of meaning. The Haredim found out they live in a secular state where governmental bodies desecrate Shabbat on a regular basis, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud members read polls and remembered the limitations of political power. And what about Shabbat? Its already used to having people talk on its behalf.

The Haredim found out they live in a secular state where Shabbat is desecrated on a regular basis, and Likud read polls and remembered the limitations of political power (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky and Ofer Meir)

The essence of nothing in the crisis that just ended is the announcement of a law that will allow the labor minister to take a series of important considerations into account. The list is impressive: Considerations pertaining to the workers safety and welfare, considerations that have to do with the extent of damage to the public space, including Jewish tradition considerations. Its as if, until now, the labor minister was forbidden to consider any of these components. Here comes the law and helps a minister who has been busy negotiating with Shabbat. In other words, its a there was nothing because there is nothing kind of law.

If the coalition componentsincluding those who speak so eloquently on Shabbats behalfcared about the day of rest, they would have decided to create agreements on its actual nature in our public space. They would have sat down, discussed the issue and finally made decisions. This is a very strange process in political language. A debate they are so afraid of, they wont even touch it with a stick.

The most serious document that has been written so far is the Gavison-Medan Covenant. The secular law professor and the Gush Etzion rabbi teamed up in 2000 and issued a pivotal document about state-religion relations in Israel. Had this been a real Shabbat crisis, this would have been its solution.

What the covenants authors realized almost two decades ago is that the status quo that was redeclared in Sunday evenings compromise between the prime minister and the ultra-Orthodox parties is fiction. There is no such this and there is no such status. Shopping malls are opened, and supermarkets and governmental institutions work on Shabbat (Israel Railways is the smallest one of them all).

What does exist as an alternative is civil independence. Everything related to state and religion, which isnt decided on due to fear, happens miraculously on its own, and usually without any control. There isnt a single person in the coalition, among the Haredi Knesset members or the Haredi journalists who doesnt understand what I just wrote here, yet the show must go on.

Yaakov Litzman will be demoted to deputy minister in the capacity of minister, the halachic state as a rhetorical ideal has been demoted to a halachic state minus, the seculars have been demoted from empty wagons to unconcerned wagons, and Shabbat has been demoted to a theatrical play for public activists.
The Tel Aviv District Court issued an injunction against Uber, ordering it to suspend its UberDAY and UberNIGHT services.

The services will be suspended starting Wednesday.

The Court issued the injunction during a hearing on the request of the Union of Taxi Drivers and Taxi company Gett on the matter.
Mail Today speaks to immigrants near Gurugram who say they won't return to Myanmar despite Centre's deportation plan.

By Ajay Kumar: Mohamad Tahir, a 24-year-old Rohingya Muslim man who left Myanmar's violence-wrecked Rakhine province in 2012, considers himself lucky to be living in the backyard of Delhi.

Tahir, his wife and their daughter are in a special camp at Siddiq Nagar in Haryana's Nuh town, about 100km from Delhi.

They, like hundreds of refugees from the community settled in the National Capital Region, do not want to return to their native country. The Supreme Court would next month hear the plea of two Rohingya refugees who have approached it against the Centre's decision to deport Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar.

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"We would not even dream of going back to Myanmar. We are not treated as human in a state ruled by Buddhist people. We did not know what freedom is since childhood. We have experienced it only after reaching the soil of India," Tahir said.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar following a military crackdown, which the UN has described as ethnic cleansing, with many taking refuge in Bangladesh and some then crossing a porous border into India.

Myanmar says its forces are carrying out their legitimate duty to restore order after guerrilla attacks in August on security posts and an army camp in which about a dozen people were killed. There are 63 families at the Siddiq Nagar camp and all of them echo the same view.

Mohamad Shadik, head of the shelter, said the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar has been simmering for years but it boiled over in 2010 and later.

"The number of people from our community in Bangladesh went up to over 10 lakhs, and many crossed the border to reach Kolkata," Shadik said.

The Centre sees the Rohingya refugees as a security threat, arguing that the illegal migrants are vulnerable to getting recruited by terrorist organisations and are also a burden on the country's limited resources.

According to government data, there are 1,360 Rohingya Muslims, or 400 families, living in Mewat, which is a cultural region that spans Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The Siddiq Nagar area has two camps: the second one called Nangli 2 or Siddiq Nagar 2 where 100 families live in hutments. Besides, 55 families live in Ferozepur Namak, 60 in Chandni village and 23 families in Punhana area.

"Buddhist people along with local police and military (in Myanmar) gang-rape our women and girls, behead youths, torch our houses and madrasas, and throw our children in the fire," Shadik said.

"The laws of human rights do not apply there, so how can we live in such a situation?" Shadik told Mail Today that members of the community living in Delhi's Uttam Nagar, Faridabad in Haryana and Rajasthan's Jaipur city have also contacted him.

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The refugees in Mewat claimed that 15,500 Rohingyas are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India and have obtained smart cards. Sources say over 40,000 Rohingyas are living in various parts of India.

Taiyab Mohammad, who owns a small grocery shop at the Siddiq Nagar camp, said the Buddhists do not consider the Rohingyas Myanmar nationals.

"I crossed the border (into Bangladesh) alone and sent a message to my family members to come over due to the threat to their lives," he said.

"My wife, three sons and two daughters crossed the border a day later to reach Chittagong. After living there for four months and earning some money, we were forced by local police to leave Bangladesh too.

"We finally decided to cross into India. Crossing India-Bangladesh border is not easy in daylight and therefore we did it in the night as there is hardly any patrolling of border security personnel then." His daughter, Rashida, said they do not have any passport or other documents to be identified as Myanmar nationals.

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"We just have the UNHCR card issued from New Delhi," she said.

Experts say India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and is therefore not bound by the principle of "nonrefoulment". Non-refoulment, a principle in international law, stops a country from returning refugees to a place where they could be at risk of persecution.

"We are continuously monitoring activities of Rohingyas in the camps of Nuh," Vipin Kumar, the SHO of Nuh police station, told Mail Today.

"The police personnel along with CID visit camps every 10 to 15 days and check with the camp heads about who left the place and if any new people came in. We cannot allow any Rohingyas to live in the camp without having a UNHCR card."

--- ENDS ---
Members of the Manufacturers Association of Israel are mobilizing to transfer NIS 1.5 billion annually to the National Insurance Institute (NII) "so that no elderly person will remain poor in Israel," MAI President Shraga Brosh announced Sunday morning at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

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The MAI is the representative body of all industrial sectors in Israel, with a membership of over 2,000 organizations and plants responsible for more than 95% of the industrial production in Israel.

The move is part of a plan called "Aging with Dignity," formulated by a committee of expert professors headed by Prof. Eytan Sheshinski.

Sheshinski (L) and Brosh, presenting their plan (Photo: Assaf Shilo, Yisrael Sun)

Today, the elderly in Israel receive an old-age pension of NIS 1,531 per person and NIS 2,301 per couple. However, according to the committee's findings, the amount required for a "dignified living" is estimated at NIS 4,668 per person per month and NIS 7,780 per couple, beyond housing assistance to those entitled to it.

The committee, established at the initiative of the social-democratic Meretz party's socio-economic forumwhich the MAI alongside other social organizations in Israel are members ofcalculated that the total number of additional resources required for the "dignified existence" of all elderly people in Israel is estimated at NIS 2.6 billion annually.

According to their plan, MAI members will allocate half of this sum and the state will allocate the second half. The proposed funding method is a distribution between an increase of 0.36% in NII taxes paid by employers at all wage levels and the state budget.

Brosh noted at the press conference that he had met with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and presented the plan to him.

"He is worried about the issue of the elderly, and he saw what we want to do in a positive light," Brosh said, adding that Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz supports the plan.

Katz (L) and Kahlon (Photo: George Ginsberg, Alex Kolomoisky)

In addition, Brosh pledged that if necessary, employers would waive their ongoing demand to reduce corporate tax.

"If we have to choose between reducing corporate tax and the elderly, we choose the elderly," he stressed, saying that they will do so as long as the state agrees to invest the same amount as employers, as per their plan.

According to the committee's findings, the total cost of implementation of the proposal is expected to reach NIS 4 billion within a decade due to an increase in the number of elderly. The committee determined that in the next 20 years the cost is expected to increase to an average of NIS 50 million a year.

"Our old-age pensions are lower than the OECD standard," Prof. Sheshinski said, adding that "the average taxes on employers in the OECD are over 20%. Even after the increase proposed in the plan, we do not deviate from what is customary in the leading countries in the world."

Sheshinski said that the plan also "proposes linking pensions to the average wage and not to the current price index, because wages reflect the cost of living, which is rising faster than the index."

The plan anounced at a press conference, Nov. 26, 2017 (Photo: Assaf Shilo, Yisrael Sun)

"This aims to fix one of the most serious injustices in Israeli society, which is the welfare of poor elderly people," Brosh noted. "An elderly person has to decide whether to buy food or medicine, whether to heat his house or cover himself with blankets. This is a disgrace, and we decided to do something about it.

"I am convinced that we will work together with the government to rid the elderly and needy of this disgrace. By implementing the plan, 200,000 elderly people living below the poverty line would be able to live with dignity."
A delegation of Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate officials arrived to the Gaza Strip Monday in an attempt to salvage the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement. Since the last round of talks in Cairo last week, the two parties have been suffering through a crisis stemming from their mistrust of each other, with both sides slinging accusations.

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The Egyptian delegation is expected to shuttle back and forth between Gaza and Ramallah until the crisis is averted.

Early warning signs of the impending crisis appeared with the release of the two-day talks' concluding announcement. The message lacked any specific reference to progress in the reconciliation process, preferring instead to hone in on general, vague slogans about the desire to hold new presidential, parliamentary and National Council elections without setting any dates for such elections.

Hamas and Fatah were all smiles initially (Photo: EPA)

Immediately thereafter leaks started appearing saying Egypt had just barely prevented the collapse of the agreement during said talks, which concluded without the parties agreeing on anything.

Senior Fatah official Hussein Al-Sheikh went on the offensive over the weekend, saying Hamas was trying to hinder reconciliation. "The Palestinian government did not receive control (from the hands of Hamas) over even five percent of its areas of responsibility in Gaza: not administratively, not financially and not as it pertains to security matters," al-Sheikh said.

Al-Sheikh also attacked Hamas for its insistence to not disarm its military wing, saying "Arms are not an organizational issue or an issue relating to a certain faction. We will not abide by them. There will be only a single law with a single weapon."

The senior Fatah official's statements infuriated Hamas, as al-Sheikh is also a member of the Fatah delegation to the reconciliation talks. Hamas officials said his statements were patronizing and insolent, reflecting disregard for the people of the Gaza Strip. In addition, al-Sheikh was blamed by Hamas for trumpeting the demands of Israel and the United States, rather than his Palestinian constituents.

Disarmament was off the table, Hamas said (Photo: AP)

Hamas held a special press conference Monday to address heightening tensions, in which Khalil al-Hayyadeputy to Hamas's leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwarspoke. "Some elements would like to overthrow the reconciliation process. We must resume the correct path. Hamas is still serious regarding reconciliation," al-Hayya vowed.

Following these moderate statements, however, al-Hayya once again broached the most complex topic on the reconciliation agenda. "The weapons of the resistance are our dignity and we will permit no discussion on this point," he stated.

"The weapons of the resistance will be moved to the West Bank to carry on the fight against Israel. We want to fight Israel in the West Bank. It is our right to resist the occupation until it is no more," al-Hayya said, but avoided going into detail as to how weapons will be transferred to the West Bank.

In response to the combative Hamas statements, holder of the reconciliation portfolio with Fatah Azzam al-Ahmad said the issue of weapons was not at all broached during the Cairo talks, adding it constituted a red line his movement was not willing to debate.

Hamas militants march (Photo: AFP)

According to the reconciliation agreement, the Palestinian government must receive all responsibility pertaining to the strip by December 1, but it seems the parties are thus far distant from bringing the stipulation to fruition.

Palestinian Security Forces, meanwhile, have been continuing to arrest Hamas operatives in the West Bank with dozens of them arrested in October. Ynet also published the Security Forces foiled seven attacks on Israeli West Bank targets during the same month. The foiled attacks were to include shooting, lobbing explosive charges and stabbing, a Security Forces source said.

The same source also noted 46 Hamas operatives were arrested, with dozens of operatives belonging to other factions also arrested.

Gaza-based terrorist group turned political party Hamas has vowed to expand its militant activities, despite demands by rival Fatah movement that it disarm as part of a historic reconciliation agreement.

Hamas sources had previously told pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that one of the conditions of the agreement is that Fatah and Hamas will make decisions on important issues together, such as signing a peace agreement or launching a war against Israel.

Celebrations of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement in Gaza (Photo: Reuters)

Israel criticized the reconciliation agreement, saying, "Any reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas must include honoring international agreements and the Quartet conditions, first and foremost among them recognizing Israel and disarming Hamas."

Israel set a series of additional conditions that must be met before it would recognize the agreement, including a halt in the digging of tunnels and manufacturing of missiles, an end to terror attacks against Israel, the immediate release of Israeli citizens Avera Mengistu and Hisham a-Said and the return of the remains of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.
A 23-year-old woman from Eilat was arrested on suspicion of attempting to throw her baby son out of her window.

The Eilat Magistrate's Court extended her detention by three days.

The police learned from their investigation that the woman told her husband that she wanted to kill one of her children.

In her interrogation, the woman said that she and her husband frequently beat their children.
Iraq is preparing to divert most future output from Kirkuk oilfield to local refineries as a conflict with Kurdish regional authorities over the use of an export pipeline to Turkey continues, an Iraqi official said on Monday.

Kirkuk's production stopped in mid-October after Iraqi forces dislodged Kurdish fighters from Kirkuk and took over the northern region's oilfields.

Diverting Kirkuk's crude to Dora, a refinery near Baghdad, and to another one in Baiji, north of the capital, would help free up more oil for exports from the southern region, the official told Reuters.
Israeli actress Gal Gadot was depicted as the "Mossad Agent" who turned Lebanese actor and director Ziad Itani into an Israeli spy in a story published Monday by the Lebanese daily newspaper Al Liwaa.

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Gadot's photo was displayed on the paper's front page with the caption: "The officer of the Israeli Mossad, Collette Vianfi, who recruited Ziad Itani."

Other Lebanese news websites questioned the authenticity of the picture published by the newspaper, with some claiming they made a mistake as Gadot was not the "Mossad agent" Itani was accused of cooperating with.

Gal Gadot (Photo: Getty Images)

Lebanon's security services revealed Friday night that Itani was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of spying for Israel.

He is suspected of following a series of senior political figures in Lebanon and trying to get close to their aides in an effort to obtain information about their movements.

He also stands accused of providing information to his Israeli handlers about two senior, well-known political figures in LebanonInterior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and former defense minister Abdul Rahim Mrad.

His Israeli handlers allegedly asked him to provide them with information on the reactions on the Lebanese street to the unexpected resignation of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri.

Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, reported on Saturday that Itani's involvement with Israel began when he was contacted on Facebook in 2014 by an "attractive woman," 30 years old with black hair, white skin and green eyes, who introduced herself as "Collette Vianfi."

The two reportedly exchanged messages, with Itani believing the woman to be Swedish. Their Facebook relationship continued until 2015, when Itani gave the woman his phone number and email address.

Al Liwaa's front page on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017

At first, according to Al Akhbar, the two talked mostly about the economic situation in Lebanon and in the world, but their topics of conversation soon changed.

In early 2016, the "Swedish woman," who according to Al Akhbar was an Israeli intelligence officer, managed to recruit Itani to work for her. Security officials quoted by the paper claimed he knew at that point she was Israeli, as she revealed her true identity to him.

Itani reportedly met with his Israeli handler face-to-face for the first time in Turkey in August 2016.

"Collette" reportedly asked the actor to work to make himself an influential public figure and make special connections. Among other things, he was told to look after his appearance so he could blend into certain crowds, where he could cultivate his connections. To that end, he was sent a monthly sum of $500-$1,000.

Ziad Itani

The Israeli handler also reportedly asked Itani about the security situation in southern Lebanon and in the Palestinian refugee camps in the country, and asked questions to ascertain whether Hariri's resignation was genuine or merely a political ploy.

Their last contact was recently, when the Israeli handler told Itani she intends to visit Lebanon on December 2 of this year and even booked a hotel room. Itani tried to postpone the meeting, but "Collette" insisted and said she will be joined by someone who could help train him.
The recommendations bill, barring police from making recommendations on indictments, passed its first reading Monday evening, garnering 46 votes for, and 37 against, following hours of fiery debates in the Knesset plenum.

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The vote came just hours after the bill's passage through the Internal Affairs Committee, with MK Benny Begin (Likud) being deposed and replaced by Coalition Chairman MK David Bitan (Likud), thus ensuring it received enough votes to make it to the Knesset vote.

During the plenum discussion, MK Amsalem said he was "observing from the human rights angle with this bill," before preempting accusations that the bill was being pushed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal behest.

"It has nothing to do with the prime minister, I never even consulted him," Amsalem said.

Amsalem, the chief architect of the controversial bill, then set out his primary justifications for the bill, insisting that it had nothing to do with cushioning Netanyahu from a string of corruption investigations.

Likud MK Amsalem (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

"In the State of Israel, some 30,000 cases ever reach the State Attorney's Office (SAO) out of 350,000. Of those 30,000, and this isn't my data but data presented by (State Attorney) Shay Nitzan, police recommend the SAO close 12,000 of them," he said.

"That leaves 18,000. Police tell the State Attorney's Office there's 'sufficient evidence to indict' and of those the SAO closes 14,000 and takes the remaining 4,000 to trial. In other words, 80 percent of the cases police recommend indicting is later closed by the SAO. What happens along the way? The lives of the people involved are completely ruined," Amsalem bemoaned.

Taking to the podium to deliver his remarks on the bill, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid rebuffed Amsalem's claims, insisting that he was concealing its true raison d'etre under the guise of human rights.

"People can stand up here and lie for only so long. Is this about the 30,000 cases? This law pertains to several dozen cases, the only cases to have an accompanying attorney, and that doesn't even matter. This law was meant for one man and for his investigations. "The public's benefit'as if, 'not a personal law'as if," Lapid chided.

"The prime minister's Chief of Staff Yoav Horowitz sat with them the entire time to ensure the law was completely up to the prime minister's specs. (Netanyahu was hoping) for someone to please save him from all of the investigations because he's scared to death," the Yesh Atid chairman mocked.

"What truly frightens (Prime Minister Netanyahu) is that there are so many more details pertaining to the investigations the public is not yet familiar with and that he doesn't want the public to know. When his replies are made public, when investigators sit in front of him and ask, 'Mr. Prime Minister, why did you approve the sale of submarines to Egypt without notifying the Ministry of Defense?' and 'Why did you send (former chief negotiator and confidant Yitzhak) Molcho to Germany without anyone's approval?' He doesn't want you to know the answers," Lapid continued, firing off a salvo of reasons for why the bill is directly linked to the prime minister.

"That's what this bill is for, before investigators have a chance to get to him and before recommendations are made public," he said at the peroration of his address.

"It was born of sweaty, petrified anxiety of his investigations and what the public will find out. It's an attempt to silence the attorney general, the police and the entirety of Israel's free press," Lapid said.

Yesh Atid Chairman Lapid (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) joined the onslaught against the bill's proponents. "There's a corrupt man who brings another piece of legislation each day to obscure that fact, and we'll fight for Israel's image," she vowed.

"The true debate on issues of paramount importance will be held with honest people, with clean hands, people who do not cover up corruption and don't collude with a corrupt, prime minister who also corrupts others, because the face of this country is beautiful," Livni said.

"This country has outstanding people and they deserve a prime minister who thinks about what will benefit them, and not him personally, and does not live off others but rather is concerned for others. Someone who does not seek to paralyze the police but strengthens it," Livni added.
Yesh Atid Chairman, MK Yair Lapid, and Zionist Union Chairman, Avi Gabbay panned Monday the Recommendations Bill which was passed earlier by the Knesset Interior Committee, according to which the police will not be able to recommend an indictment in cases involving an accompanying attorney, meaning that the law would be applicable to investigations of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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"It is a great disappointment that the coalition parties, which have decent people who claim to defend the rule of law, have reached a state where they approve this," Lapid said. "After all, they were pressured, and ended up reaching a situation that confirmed that the bill was only for Netanyahu's investigations."

According to Lapid, "After Netanyahu said that it was important that the law should not be connected to him personally, they fought like crazy so that the law would be connected to him personally. They made sure the law also applies to Netanyahu's investigations."

Avi Gabbay (L) and Yair Lapid (Photo: Abigail Uzi and Alex Kolomoisky)

Lapid also said that Netanyahu "used to be statesmanlike," but that he has relegated the importance of public interests to make way for his personal priorities.

"He knew how to put the country's consideration before his personal interests, but something bad happened," Lapid claimed, addressing Netanyahu directly: "You are not a victim and you are not persecuted. You are the prime minister of Israel, and there are important things on the agenda. It is impossible to take this wonderful country and turn it into the private business of one person with everything aimed to save him from his interrogators."

Gabbay then chimed in, supporting Lapid's point.

"We are very close to (becominged) Turkey," Gabbay said, referring to Turkey's recent trend to centralize power in the hands of its president.

"Netanyahu said there would be nothing. Maybe so, but there would be nothing because there is a weak coalition here and parts of it are seriously corrupt and they share the crime. They share the crime of torpedoing the investigations and the crime of concealing the truth from the public eye."

Turning to the members of the coalition directly, Gabbay asked: "Where is your honor, coalition members? Like gang members sent to disrupt procedures and clean up crime scenesthat's what they turned you into."

Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon, who was slammed by the two for agreeing to the bill's current draft, rejected the criticism against him as "baseless and ridiculous."

Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Emil Salman)

"I said that we would support the bill and said at the same time that it would not apply to the prime minister's investigations, and starting today we support the bill," he said, adding that "as far as ongoing investigations are concerned, including those against Netanyahu, the attorney general will decide (on whether the police should recommend an indictment or noted)," stressing that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is a "clean, honest and professional person and we trust him."

According to the bill's new draft, the attorney general can request the police's recommendation even if the case has an accompanying attorney.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a list of MKs in signing a letter appealing to President Reuven Rivlin to reconsider pardoning former soldier Elor Azaria, convicted of manslaughter for shooting a neutralized terrorist and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

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In addition to the prime minister, Ministers Avigdor Lieberman , Ayelet Shaked, Ze'ev Elkin and Haim Katz signed the letter as well.

Sources within the President's Residence responded they had yet to receive the letter and vowed it would be given the appropriate reply once reviewed. However, the sources said, "Requests for pardons are only accepted from the person in question, their attorneys or first degree relatives."

PM Netanyahu signed a letter requesting Elor Azaria be pardoned (Photo: Emil Salman)

President Rivlin rejected Azaria's pardon request last week. "The President concluded that taking all considerations into account ... an additional lightening of your sentence would harm the resilience to the Israel Defense Forces and the State of Israel," Rivlin wrote in a letter to Azaria explaining his decision.

"The values of the Israel Defense Forces, and among them the Purity of Arms, are the core foundation of the strength of the Israel Defense Forces, and have always stood strong for us in the just struggle for our right to a safe, national home, and in the building a robust society," the letter continued.

Azaria filed his request a month ago, telling the president: "I unfortunately did not receive a just trial. This is how I feel, and nothing can change it. In any case, I ask for a measure of justice and mercy, the essence of the presidential pardon, from His Excellency the President in this request."

Azaria asked President Rivlin to pardon him, saying he had not received a fair trial (Photo: Yair Sagi)

Azaria also referred to claims he had never expressed remorse for his actions. "I've read and heard reactions to my decision to not express remorse for shooting the terrorist. That is not accurate: were I to know with certainty, during those tense second on the scene, that the terrorist was not boobytrapped, I would absolutely not have shot him. Therefore, and in hindsight alone, shooting the terrorist was an operational mistake," Azaria's letter to Rivlin said.

Netanyahu agreeing to sign the letter was not the prime minister's first show of public support for Azaria. After the soldier's appeal was denied, Netanyahu said, "My stance, as I expressed it after the verdict, has remained unchanged regarding pardoning Azaria. When the matter becomes practical, I will forward my recommendation to pardon to the relevant parties."

The prime minister also spoke with Azaria's parents on the phone before he was sentenced.

Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid commented on Netanyahu's signing of the letter, saying his signature constituted a "direct attack on the president of Israel, the chief of staff and the IDF."
The Teachers' Association announced high schools in Kafr Qara will be striking Tuesday in protest of violence students perpetrated on teachers in one of the area's high schools when the latter tried breaking up a fight between students.

In addition, high schools in Jisr az-Zarqa will also be striking due to violence visited on one of the schools' adviser.
BEIRUT  Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday that he will resign if the Hezbollah terrorist group refuses to accept a new power-sharing arrangement for Lebanon, speaking as consultations got underway in Beirut between political leaders over the government's future.

Hariri made his threat in an interview with the French broadcaster CNews.

The Iran-sponsored Hezbollah, which has representatives in Lebanon's parliament, is the focus of talks between the country's political parties on reaching an accord over representation and on limiting foreign interference in domestic politics. Hezbollah is an opponent of Hariri's Saudi Arabia-backed Future Movement, though it's also a member of Hariri's coalition government.

Hariri said Hezbollah appeared receptive to dialogue, but said he would resign if the group and Iran did not agree to rebalance Lebanon's political configuration. He did not elaborate on the new arrangement he was proposing.
Delhi-based designer David Abraham, one half of the Abraham & Thakore label, says he remembers his Syrian Christian grandmother changing out of her white chatta munda into richly coloured Kanjeevarams on special occasions. "I remember in particular a beautiful sapphire blue sari with a self border that she would wear," he says. It was the question of identity that made him experiment with the sari-cut it, style it, reinvent it. For Abraham & Thakore, who have made both stitched and unstitched versions of the sari, it is a long piece of untouched fabric, which could represent a regional culture, could be a uniform for work, or even a metaphor for steamy sex.

And as the fashion weeks enter another Autumn/ Winter cycle, more saris, draped in unconventional ways, are expected on the runways. Identity is an important question in today's age where high-street fashion brands like Zara and H&M are making the world a place of homogenised identities. So a culturally significant clothing like the sari is back in the urban closet with a bang.

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Recently, the sari's emergence as the new fashion statement was unfairly described as nationalistic promotion in a piece by Asgar Qadri in The New York Times: "...the Banarasi sari, the traditional garment known for its fine silk and opulent embroidery, and primarily worn by Hindu women." The article, 'In India, Fashion Has Become a Nationalist Cause', took a myopic view of a garment that represents cultures criss-crossing many religions and identities.

(Bomber shirt and a denim pant-style sari; Designer: Arjun Saluja; Model: Artist and writer Mithu Sen; Photo: M Zhaho)

Yet, in the sari's revival as an aspirational garment, the force of nostalgia is perhaps often underestimated. The past, with the possibilities it contains for the future, is what has made many designers turn to the sari. They have experimented with drapes, styles and even the blouse, which is a parallel narrative and a statement piece in itself, one that can become a game changer for the sari-like a bomber jacket, a cape or a cropped shirt.

The sari has a global parallel. In 2015, Japanese musician Yoshiki, internationally recognised as the leader and co-founder of heavy metal group X Japan, announced his kimono brand, Yoshikimono. The first collection featured a range of 'rock star kimonos', featuring unorthodox prints and unusual obi wraps on body-hugging kimonos, slashed to miniskirt length and paired with stilettos, leather collars and high-heeled boots.A?A

Perhaps that's the trajectory the Indian sari, a garment that never followed the normative sartorial choice, is now following. Draupadi's 'unending fabric of time', as Rta Kapur Chishti described it in her 2010 book Saris of India-Tradition and Beyond, has made a comeback on the runways. It is competing effortlessly with high-street fashion and haute couture, with designers trying to channel nostalgia and futuristic vision simultaneously. Like Japan, which rediscovered the kimono through stalwarts like Yohji Yamamato and Rei Kawakubo, who defied western fashion's stereotypical forecasts by evolving the kimono, India seems to be going through an interesting fashion churn. These days, designers are turning the sari into an aspirational, almost revolutionary choice of garment.

(Gold foillaminated khadi sari and gold calligraphy applique on khadi coat, styled with a white handwoven shirt. Designer: Abraham and Thakore; Model: Artist and teacher Manmeet Devgun)

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Since 2006, there has been a revival of the quintessential sari, which is still the most-worn garment in India but which has lost its appeal among the 'smart set'. In 2009, Kolkata-based Sabyasachi Mukherjee, one of the most successful designers out of India, launched a 'Save the Sari' project. In 2011, French couture designer Hermes entered the Indian market with 28 handcrafted saris, priced at about Rs 4.5 lakh each-proving the tenacity of the sari as a muse. In 2017, there are more designers than ever who are experimenting with the garment.

Social media is abuzz with talk of the iconic sari-Twitter features the #100saripact, while Facebook has any number of groups devoted to it, like Kaithari, For the Love of Sari, Sadee Sari and The Magic of Saris. The sari is now also a digital revolution and remains the only garment in India that still retains heirloom value. Fashion weeks in the past few years have proved this, with designers either presenting collections that include saris, or presenting only saris. Like Anavila Sidhu Mishra, who is now pushing the envelope in terms of making the sari contemporary with different kinds of drapes and styling.

(Anavila gold zari border linen sari paired with a raw silk top and necklace; Designer: Sari by Anavila, top by Payal Khandwala, necklace by Cult curator; Model: Journalist and writer Smita Nair; Photo: Mandar Deodhar)

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From veterans like Abraham and Thakore to the new bunch of designers passionate about traditional weaves and crafts-a prime example being Gunjan Jain of Vriksh, a label that specialises in Odisha weaves like bomkai and ikat-designers are trying to understand and present the sari in ways that can compete with other silhouettes like the gown. "The return of the sari is part of a much larger conversation on identity," says Abraham. And that identity is of a defiant Draupadi in the face of the male gaze, in a world increasingly experiencing polarisation between masculine and feminine with the great churning of cultural ethos and other socio-economic changes.

"The deep involvement and sense of identity Indian women associate with the sari has made them resist the pressure to change their style of dress, inadvertently providing continuity in the weaving tradition in every part of the country," says Chishti. It is that possibility of the future that made her travel across the country documenting the sari a few years ago. There was much folklore and many myths about the sari that made it a lived garment with motifs like bitter gourd and fish woven into the bomkai, which depicted living memory via design directories of weavers. And today, in its evolution, the sari has become more aggressive, with the Google Culture Institute and Border & Fall, an online fashion portal, documenting at least 80 drapes.

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(Banarasi silk sari paired with a sequinned jacket; Designer: Sari by Sanjay Garg, jacket by Peachoo; Model: Celebrity hair stylist Sapna Bhavnani; Photo: Mandar Deodhar)

Chishti, who runs the Sari School in Delhi-which teaches participants about the history and the roughly 108 ways of draping a sari-says that it is more than just a personal garment. "In the 1970s, if one went to college wearing a sari, it was a statement of having 'come of age'... just as the wearing of jeans is today. The urban wearing style is a post-1870s phenomenon. The sari went through various stages of resembling the hobble skirt and the gown."

Paromita Banerjee Sarkar, 33, remembers her mother picking her up from kindergarten when she was a child-Sarkar would hold her mother's hand, and also the end of her sari pallu, while walking alongside. Her earliest memories of the sari were therefore those of assurance and security-if she held on to the end of her mother's pallu, it seemed, her mother would always be there to protect her. Today, Sarkar, a graduate of the National Institute of Design (NID), is a Kolkata-based designer who works with crafts and textiles. She is currently trying to stake a claim to the sari on her own terms.

Sarkar says that years ago, while she was still at NID, she began to wonder about the changes the sari was going through. The future of the sari, she believes, will be one in which it stops being a statement and returns to being a natural and everyday garment without trying too hard. More so, Sarkar says, because it is one of the oldest unstitched drapes known to us. "We work on classics and not on trends or colour forecasts, so you can wear our saris again and again over the years," she says. "The saris can be styled to suit a particular occasion and can be dressed up or down with the right accessories. Most of the times, the urban woman is not buying a sari keeping in mind any specific occasion."

(Handwoven silk sari from Odisha; Designer: Gunjan Jain; Model: Poet and artist Astha Mittal; Photo: Rajwant Rawat)

In 2006, Abraham and Thakore presented their first version of the sari-a black jamdaani catering to the western notions of minimalism. They had woven everyday motifs like cyclerickshaws-and the particular outfit that opened the runway show in Delhi wound up being acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Ten years later, the Houndstooth sari by the designer duo, paired with a long-sleeved shirt and belts, was part of a curated show called The Fabric of India. Held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2015-2016, curators Rosemary Crill and Divia Patel brought together the rich textile history of the sari and its contemporary collection. The show featured the Abraham and Thakore sari in black and white checks, contrasted with bright lemon yellow. The curators say the show intended an exploration into how "textile traditions are being included within the dynamic industry" and how the sari is being updated. "I remember when the handloom sari was representative of the old traditional mindset-aunties wore saris. Then, to my mind, it represented a mindset that was arty, somewhat left of centre and was often teamed with Kolhapuri chappals and a jhola. Now, suddenly the sari has become 'fashion'. It can be 'fashion', it can be something an edgy young woman wears belted with a corset, or a man-style shirt. This is wonderful," says Abraham.

And it isn't just the handloom enthusiasts who have taken up the sari. Others too, like Arjun Saluja-who owns the label Rishta and is a master of pattern cutting, forever experimenting with drapes and structures-have done their own versions of the stitched sari as urban street wear, avant garde or even a performance-costume like garment. Saluja is perhaps the most experimental when it comes to channeling the potential of the sari-his stitched garments take the form of Hakama pant style or even dhoti-wraps, which are paired with bomber and leather jackets. In many ways, this marks a crossover point for the sari.

When Sanjay Garg, who is known for his handwoven saris (under his label, Raw Mango), first arrived on the scene with his bright-bordered Chanderi saris, nobody could predict he would become the man behind the "coming of age" of the sari in urban India, with his revival of traditional saris. His play with what he calls Indian minimalism is what makes his vision grand. Using colours like rani pink, sharbati, lime green, reds and yellows, he says he had always wanted to write a story nobody had written before. The sari, dismissed as 'occasion wear' until a few years ago, was his muse. And Garg was part of the brave new world.

A disruptive force in fashion, Garg was soon followed by others, such as Anavila Sidhu Mishra, who says she wore her first sari on Diwali when she was in Class IX-and felt that she had been transformed from a tomboy into a lady. Born and brought up in Karnal, Haryana, Mishra completed her graduation from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Delhi in 2000, with a specialisation in knitwear design. She was working in the corporate sector when she was asked by the ministry of rural development to undertake a three-year project with NIFT in Madhya Pradesh. "This was in 2004. I was dealing with real human beings. It changed my perception on sustaining them. I couldn't move back to the corporate world after that," she says. That was when she ventured into making saris. Her story echoes the story of how the sari is becoming a part of the modern women's wardrobe.

"The sari was never so important to me. I was always dressed in trousers and shirts. I looked at women who did everything in a sari. I was no longer an outsider and I tried to be accepted by them and started wearing saris," she says.

Before her first show at the 2014 Lakme Fashion Week, she spent two nights draping 30 saris for the show. "Young women today don't want to wear a sari. It is up to us designers to make it look beautiful. For me, it has to pass my test of me wanting to wear it," she says.

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From fancy schools to international degrees; from living like a princess to becoming their own success story, these daughters of the some of the wealthiest families in Ghana live life on the high street.

As daughters of Ghanas media moguls, businessmen and real estate supremos, they started out as daddys little girls but they have certainly broken out on their own to be sought-after brands like their parents.

In a report by Pulse.com.gh, these women from some of Ghanas most influential families are making a name for themselves too:

1. Boatemaa Kakra Duffour-Nyarko. The daughter of Dr. Kwabena Duffour, Boatemaa is currently the Chief Actuary and Executive Director of StarLife Assurance Company. Her father, Dr. Duffour is the founder of HODA Holdings, a business empire with subsidiaries covering real estate, insurance, banking and the media group EIB network.

Boatemaa Duffour-Nyarko

2. Agata Taricone. Agata is the daughter of Italian-born Ernesto Taricone, who came to Ghana in 1968 with his brothers. Ernesto is probably widely known for his real estate business, especially the Trasacco estate developments, Casa Trasaco and the luxurious Villagio apartments enterprise.

Agata Taricone

READ ALSO: 17 Nollywood actors you many not know are dead

3. Dr. Zanetor Rawlings. Zanetor is the daughter of the former president of Ghana, who has also followed her father down the political road, and is now the Member of Parliament for Korle Klottey constituency. Former President Rawlings is said to be the richest former president of Ghana.

Zanetor Rawlings

READ ALSO: Anas jabs Kennedy Agyapong with a cocaine video?

4. Tamara Jonah-Goka. Tamara is the founder of Lionheart events, a full-service event planning agency that caters to mostly the high society. She is the daughter of businessman and former president of AngloGold Ashanti, Sir Samuel Esson Jonah.

Tamara Jonah-Goka

5. Henrietta Adwoa Osei. Henrietta is the daughter of media mogul, Osei Kwame Despite, the owner of Despite Group of Companies with its subsidiaries including UTV and Peace FM. In 2017, Henrietta obtained her Master's Degree from the University of Warwick.

Henrietta Adwoa Osei

READ ALSO: Here are 10 famous lies Ghanaian men tell when they like a lady

YEN is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident? Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook page

Source: YEN.com.gh
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's arrest of nearly 200 powerful princes, government officials and businessmen on anti-corruption charges has sent shockwaves throughout the kingdom and the Gulf region. The arrests are just the latest though the most daring move by 32-year-old bin Salman, known widely by his media acronym MbS, in his meteoric rise to power since his father King Salman ascended the throne in January 2015. In April of that year, MbS was made deputy crown prince, and then further promoted to crown prince in June 2017, replacing the incumbent Mohammed bin Nayef. Bin Nayef was reportedly coerced to resign, placed under house arrest and later left the country, ostensibly for medical treatment.

The scope of the most recent purge is unprecedented, massive and risky. It concentrates almost all power in a single individual and destroys the careful system of checks and balances within the royal family that has ensured the stability of the regime for decades. Tremendously powerful princes, such as multi-billionaire investor Alwaleed bin Talal, and the heads of the navy and the powerful National Guard have been removed. Given King Salman's advanced age and ill-health, nothing now stands in the way of the ascension of MbS to the Saudi throne as the most powerful Saudi monarch in modern history. Indeed, there are already rumours that King Salman will abdicate soon and formalise his son's takeover.

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But barely had the neighbourhood absorbed the news of the Saudi purge when Riyadh unleashed another bombshell by inducing Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a close Saudi ally, to resign in a televised speech from Riyadh that squarely targeted Iran and its close ally in Lebanon, the Hezbollah militia. Prior to his shock resignation, Hariri was prime minister of a coalition government that included Hezbollah. This was followed by tough Saudi rhetoric about treating Lebanon "as a government declaring war on Saudi Arabia" and demanding that Lebanon "must choose between peace or aligning with Hezbollah".

The Lebanon gambit marks an upping of the ante in the highly tense Saudi-Iran relationship, which has involved major proxy wars in Syria and Yemen. In Syria, Saudi Arabia has supported Sunni Islamist rebels trying to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad government, in turn backed by Russia, Iran and Iran-sponsored Shia militias. In Yemen, Riyadh has waged a destructive air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi insurgents. Most unusually, Saudi Arabia also came down hard on fellow Gulf state Qatar in June of this year, accusing it of pro-Iranian and pro-terrorist sympathies and putting in place an economic blockade along with fellow Gulf states United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as well as Egypt.

These activist Saudi moves are likely a response to several adverse developments for Riyadh this year in the wider region. In Syria, Sunni Islamist rebels have decisively failed to overthrow the Assad government in spite of support from a number of states, apart from the Saudis, such as Turkey, Jordan and the United States. What is left of the Sunni Islamist rebel movement is concentrated in the northwestern province of Idlib and pockets near the city of Hama and east and south of capital Damascus. A mostly secular Kurdish rebel force also occupies a significant swath of northern Syria, but it has primarily targeted Daesh, also known as ISIS.

Daesh has been comprehensively defeated as a territorial entity, largely removing the potent anti-Iranian force from the scene. Turkey has essentially abandoned the anti-Assad coalition and is focused on safeguarding its own interests by participating in the Astana dialogue with Russia and Iran. In Yemen, sustained Saudi firepower has failed to dislodge the Houthis from capital Sana'a and the war is now effectively a stalemate. The economic blockade has failed to achieve Qatar's capitulation, and pushed it closer to Iran and Turkey.

Viewed from this perspective, the Saudi ratcheting up of tensions with Lebanon appears to be a desperate rather than a bold move in the wake of setback after setback to Riyadh's interests in the region. Perhaps Saudi Arabia is looking for a win-any win-to score against a Persian rival that has been the one big gainer in all of West Asia's wars over the past two decades. It may believe that manipulating the domestic politics of tiny, fragile Lebanon offers that opportunity.

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Click here to Enlarge Graphic by Tanmoy Chakraborty

A Saudi military option against Hezbollah is practically in the realm of fantasy. Geography militates against it, and the Saudi military is already bogged down in Yemen. Saudi Arabia may try to persuade Israel to do the job, but Israel, though a bitter foe of Hezbollah, would not like to attack Hezbollah at a time of Riyadh's choosing. Given Hezbollah's formidable and growing strength, including its arsenal of 100,000-plus deadly rockets and missiles, Israel would in any case have to think very hard before launching a military offensive, with its risk of major Israeli losses. Israel's current priority is to work with Russia and ensure there is no permanent Iranian military presence in Syria.

Saudi Arabia could also try and bring about an anti-Hezbollah government in Beirut that will seek to curb the militia's activities. However, Hezbollah's tentacles in Lebanon run deep and no Lebanese government that confronts it can survive long. The third option for Riyadh would be to deploy the weapon of economic sanctions. Lebanon is considerably more vulnerable than gas-rich Qatar. It imports nearly all its energy, runs a large trade deficit, and is crucially dependent for its balance of payments on the billions of dollars of annual remittances from close to half a million Lebanese expatriates in the Gulf.

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If Riyadh manages to replicate the anti-Qatar coalition against Lebanon, a sanctions regime could hit Beirut hard. However, it would not really damage Hezbollah- the militant group is its own quasi-state and relies on off-book funding sources and direct Iranian weapons transfers through Syria. If anything, the weakening of the Lebanese government could make Hezbollah even more powerful in the country's politics and security dispensation. Finally, whereas Egypt has participated in the anti-Qatar sanctions and operations in Yemen, it has explicitly rejected any action against its much closer neighbour Lebanon.

The core strategic rivalry in the region centres over Iran, and here Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States are on the same side. Riyadh and Tel Aviv, nominally bitter foes with no diplomatic relations, have in fact been converging for many years on the Iran question. Their security relationship is now no longer a secret with the open offer of cooperation by Israeli army chief Gadi Eizenkot in an interview with Saudi media. This is aided by the Trump administration's reversal of the Obama-era rapprochement, albeit limited, with Iran. Riyadh strongly opposed the international nuclear deal with Iran, but the Trump administration's decertification of the agreement has reassured Saudi Arabia that the United States remains committed to the containment of Iran.

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West Asian conflicts are typically viewed through the lens of identity politics- Muslim vs Jew, Sunni vs Shia, Arab vs Kurd and so forth. These factors do play a role. However, the Israel-Saudi convergence is a repudiation of the theory of predestined cultural or religious conflicts in the region, and a validation of drivers such as geography, the balance of power dynamic, and the role of great powers.

The one major complication in any US-Saudi-Israeli strategy of containing Iran is Russia. A late entrant to West Asia's wars, the Russia-Iran alliance in Syria has created major new facts on the ground in a short time period. So significant have been its gains that the alliance has even begun to attempt a post-conflict settlement in the political dialogue being conducted at Sochi in Russia. Though prospects for the success of the Sochi process are dim, all these developments represent a major setback to US, Saudi and Israeli goals in the region.

Though the US has a deeply adversarial relationship with Russia, this is not true for the other two parties looking to contain Iran. Israeli-Russian ties have remained strong throughout the Syria conflict (though a rift has recently emerged over alleged Iranian bases close to the Israeli-Syrian border.) The Saudis have firmed up energy cooperation with Moscow, and are looking to acquire sophisticated Russian arms. Like everything in West Asia, complexity rules, and friends and foes are not always absolute or permanent.

An intriguing signal of this was provided a few weeks back by the visit of Iraqi Shia firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to Saudi Arabia, which has alienated Shias in the region with its doctrinaire version of Sunni Islam and crackdown on its own Shia minority. Sadr's Mehdi Army, which Tehran has backed in the past, was one of the biggest adversaries of the United States during its occupation of Iraq. The most likely explanation is that Sadr, an Iraqi nationalist wary of Tehran, is responding to Iranian attempts to undercut him as it gains power in the region. There is, however, an outside chance that Saudi Arabia is quietly signalling its readiness for a dialogue with Tehran even as its public rhetoric remains hostile.

Such a dialogue is not illogical given the current power dispensation in the region and the uncertainty of US support in the event of a Saudi conflict with Iran. After all, Saudi Arabia and Iran have also recently taken the first steps toward restoring diplomatic relations, broken off since Riyadh executed a prominent Shia cleric last year. Could Riyadh's harsh rhetoric against Beirut and Tehran simply be a policy of mass distraction during the risky phase of consolidation of MbS's rule, even as he is slowly coming to terms with Iranian power? In West Asia, some strategies may be unlikely, but almost all things are possible.

As far as India is concerned, its interests in West Asia are clear-energy security centred on the Gulf states and Iran, developing the Iranian port of Chabahar, defence and technology partnership with Israel, the well-being of Indian expatriate workers, and wider regional stability. With no favourites in the Saudi-Israel-Iran fight, New Delhi would be well-advised to maintain equidistance between Tehran, Tel Aviv and Riyadh while diversifying energy imports, to the extent possible, away from a volatile and conflict-prone region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is greeted by Saudi King Salman in Riyadh during his 2016 visit to the kingdom

The latter is easier said than done, but the recent initiation of US oil and gas imports is a welcome step in the direction of diversification. A serious follow-through on the ambitious policy of electric vehicles announced by the central government should be among the highest priorities in order to curb oil consumption. Having a sound contingency plan ready for the evacuation of Indian citizens in the extreme case of a strategic shock (such as the fall of the Saudi regime or a regional war with Iran) is essential. New Delhi should also strongly support any international or regional moves that seek to lessen tensions in the region.

India does not have much influence on the incredibly complex power plays in West Asia, but it can take greater measures to weather the storms that may lie ahead. India also needs to maintain its historically omnidirectional foreign policy in order to emerge a net gainer no matter which side prevails in a region that promises to be in flux for many years to come.

(The writer is a senior global analyst with geopolitical forecasting firm Stratfor and a visiting scholar at the University of Texas. The views expressed are personal.)

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By PTI: (Eds: With additional details)

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court today permitted the Centre to withdraw four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll- bound Gujarat.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to the Centres plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the states strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state after being told that the situation in countrys eastern part was returning to normal.

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"We will leave it to the government," the bench said after Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench that the matter should be decided by the government.

"We (government) have elections in Gujarat. These matters are to be decided by the government and the court should not venture here," Venugopal said.

He said the Union of India was alive to the situation prevailing in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts and now "the situation there is returning to normalcy".

The apex court considered the statement and permitted the Centre to withdraw maximum four out of eight CAPF companies.

The court had on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll- bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

Observing that law and order was a "state subject", the court had stayed the Calcutta High Court order restraining the Centre from relocating the paramilitary forces from the state and had asked the state government to respond to the Centres appeal within a week.

The High Court had asked the Centre to allow all 15 companies of paramilitary forces to remain in the state.

The apex court on October 25 had agreed to hear the Centres plea challenging the High Court order on withdrawal of security forces.

The Calcutta High Court had stayed the withdrawal of paramilitary forces from Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till October 27 after the state government approached it opposing the Centres decision.

The Centre had said it needed to deploy the forces in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, besides the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states. PTI SJK UK ABA MNL ARC

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By PTI: (Eds: With additional details)

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court today refused to entertain the plea of a woman who claimed to be the biological daughter of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta refused to allow her prayer for DNA test to know her parentage as she claimed to have been given in adoption to Jayas sister and her husband.

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Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the woman, also sought cremation of Jayalalithaa as per Hindu rites on the grounds that she was an Iyengar Brahmin.

She said there were two witnesses when the child was given for adoption and the petitioner had come to know about her real parentage only when her adopted father was on his death bed.

"There is a politically charged-up atmosphere in Tamil Nadu and this case should be transferred outside the state as infighting is going on in the ruling political party," she said.

Jaising said in order to establish her real parentage, DNA test should be allowed to be conducted on the woman as she has the right to know about her biological parents.

"In this society, it is very difficult for an unwed mother to keep the child. Therefore (she) was given to Jayas sister who resided in Bangalore and there were two eyewitnesses to the incident," the senior lawyer said.

The court, however, said the petitioner is at liberty to approach the high court. PTI MNL ABA SJK ARC

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By PTI: (Eds: With additional inputs)

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court today said it may consider setting up a constitution bench to hear pleas challenging the Centres move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing various services and benefits of welfare schemes after it concludes hearing the Delhi-Centre dispute.

The Centre apprised the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that it was willing to extend up to March 31 next year, the deadline fixed for mandatory linking of Aadhaar numbers with various schemes on the terms envisaged earlier.

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The bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, did not agree with the contention of senior lawyer Shyam Divan, representing one of the petitioners opposing the move of making Aadhaar mandatory, that an interim stay on the scheme be granted till a five-judge bench commences hearing the petitions.

Attorney General K K Venugopal opposed the submission, saying that such an interim order cannot be passed in a matter of "national importance".

"Even an interlocutory order can only be passed by the constitution bench," the top court said and asked the lawyers to mention the matters once the five-judge bench concludes hearing on appeals of Delhi government challenging a High Court order that Lieutenant Governor is administrative head.

The court said that the constitution bench would first consider the aspect whether an interim order can be passed.

The apex court on October 30 had said that a constitution bench would commence hearing on the clutch of petitions against Aadhaar scheme from last week of November.

Recently, a nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.

The Centre had on October 25 told the top court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enrol for it.

The Attorney General had told the court that no coercive action would be taken against those who do not have the Aadhaar card but are willing to enrol for. He had said such people would not be denied the benefits of social welfare schemes till March 31.

In a note to the court, the government had said that "those who have Aadhaar are required to seed/link their Aadhaar with SIM card, with bank account, PAN card and other schemes where section 7 notifications have been issued".

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"The government will be open for the deadline for linking Aadhaar to various programmes being extended for another three months till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have Aadhaar," the note had said.

Some petitioners in the top court have termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as "illegal and unconstitutional".

They had also objected to the CBSEs alleged move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for students appearing for examinations, a contention denied by the Centre.

One of the counsel representing the petitioners had earlier said that final hearing in the main Aadhaar matter, which is pending before the apex court, was necessary as the government "cannot compel" citizens to link their Aadhaar with either bank accounts or cell phone numbers. PTI SJK ABA MNL ARC

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Secretary of state legislative assembly S Murthy has rejected the allegations and called them baseless. "I am a Dalit and some upper caste community people are creating this news and its false", he said.

By Nagarjun Dwarakanath: Bengaluru's secretary of state legislative assembly S Murthy has been accused of sexual harassment by his female colleagues in the secretariat.

Advocate Sudha Katwa who is the complainant said she heard about the harassment case through the media and got in touch with the victims who narrated the incidents.

Katwa has alleged that police had not filed a FIR even after 24 hours of receiving the complaint. The police received a complaint which stated that Murthy has sexually harassed his female colleagues in the secretariat.

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"S Murthy is an influential person and police have not filed an FIR yet, police want to seek legal opinion on the matter," said Katwa.

Expressing her solidarity with the female employees, IAS officer Pallavi Akruthi, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (Vigilance wing), wrote a detail memorandum to the chief secretary of Karnataka. The memorandum noted the series of allegations against Murthy.

However, Murthy has rejected the allegations and called them baseless. "I am a Dalit and some upper caste community people are creating this news and its false. We have more than 500 women employees in Vidhan Soudha and nobody have complained against me. Some miscreants are working against me," added Murthy.

He also said that he is ready for an inquiry. "If anyone has any records, they can easily go file a complaint and I will face the investigation," said Murthy.

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By PTI: Las Vegas, Nov 27 (PTI) South Africas Demi-Leigh Nel- Peters was today crowned Miss Universe for 2017.

Indias Shraddha Shashidhar could not make a mark at the worlds biggest beauty pageant, failing to make it even to the top 16.

The country was hoping for a double win with Manushi Chhillar bagging the Miss World 2017 crown on November 18.

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Nel-Peters, 22, was presented the crown by her predecessor Iris Mittenaere of France, according to the Twitter account of the Miss Universe pageant.

Colombia Laura Gonzalez and Jamaicas Davina Bennett were announced as first runner-up and second runner-up respectively.

In the competitions Q&A section, Nel-Peters was asked, "What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe?"

She responded by saying, "As Miss Universe you have to be confident in who you are as an individual. And Miss Universe is a woman that has overcome many fears and by that she is able to help other women to overcome their fears.

"She is a woman that nothing is ever too much to ask for and I think that is exactly who I am."

Miss Venezuela and Miss Thailand were the other contestants who made it to top five at the pageant.

The event, which was held in Las Vegas, was hosted by comedian Steve Harvey. A total of 92 contestants participated in the pageant.

Harvey is known for his infamous gaffe during the Miss Universe 2015 pageant when he mistakenly named the first runner-up as the winner.

Harvey referred to his blunder and said he was grateful to the Oscars.

"Ill tell you what Im grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend. Im grateful for the Oscars. Cause it let me off the hook. So, you can sit here and act like you didnt see what Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway did, but it got me off the hook," Harvey was quoted as saying by E Online.

He was referring to the Oscar awards ceremony earlier this year when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced "La La Land" as the best picture. It was only after the entire cast and crew were on the stage that the mistake was realised -- the award had actually gone to "Moonlight". PTI RB MIN

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The West Bengal government opposed the move saying the situation at the border was critical.

By Anusha Soni: The Supreme Court permitted the Centre to withdraw up to four companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) from Darjeeling and other sensitive areas of West Bengal today for deployment in poll-bound Gujarat.

Eight companies are currently stationed in these areas to keep the volatile law and order situation under control following the Gorkhaland agitation.

The West Bengal government opposed the order, saying the situation on the border was very critical.

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A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to the Centre's plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state.

KAPIL SIBAL APPEARS FOR WEST BENGAL

The Congress's Kapil Sibal told the court that the situation at the border was very tense and the Centre could not afford to ignore this. He added that the Doklam stand-off happened because forces could not get to the area in time.

The Centre wants to withdraw troops citing the wants of the upcoming elections

The apex court had earlier on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for deployment along the borders of

Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states and to the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.The Calcutta High Court had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till October 27 after the state government approached it opposing the Centre's decision.

(With PTI inputs)

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By India Today Web Desk: He may be just eleven months old, but Taimur Ali Khan is quite the celebrity. In fact, he gives his parents, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan, a run for their money when it comes to popularity.

Taimur is set to turn one on December 20, and there has been a lot of conjecture surrounding his birthday plans. While some reports suggested that Kareena was keen on a lavish Peppa Pig-themed party for her li'l one, she refuted the rumours.

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Talking to the media after designer Manish Malhotra's fashion show in Kenya, Kareena reportedly said, "Well, it's going to be a family affair. It's not going to be a big Bollywood party like how everyone sees it. It's his first birthday and he should be with his family - his parents and his grandparents. It's going to be a small intimate thing."

Earlier, Taimur's aunt Karisma Kapoor had also revealed that there will be no big celebration for the toddler's first birthday, but a low-key family get-together.

Meanwhile, Kareena is busy shooting for her upcoming film, Veere Di Wedding. The film, which also stars Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania, is slated to release on May 18, 2018.

ALSO WATCH: Saif-Kareena become proud parents to a baby boy, Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi

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Raj Chakraborty wants to remake Titanic in Bengali with Dev and Rukmini Maitra as Jack and Rose respectively.

By India Today Web Desk: Two decades ago, James Cameron's Titanic sailed into theatres and anchored itself to the hearts of the audience. From Jack and Rose's doomed romance to Celine Dion's heart-rending rendition of the theme song, My Heart Will Go On, the film is still fresh in our minds.

It is hard to imagine anyone but Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack and Kate Winslet as Rose. But if Bengali filmmaker Raj Chakraborty has his way, we might just see Bengali actor Dev stepping into Leonardo's shoes.

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According to a report in Kolkata Feed, Raj Chakraborty has expressed interest in helming the Bengali remake of Titanic, and he wants Dev to play Jack. As for Rose, he thinks that Rukmini Maitra, who made her debut with his film Chaamp, will be the "perfect choice" for the role.

The news did not take long to go viral. It looks like fans of the classic are in no mood to see Dev as Jack, and began trolling the actor as well as Raj Chakraborty. The comments on the story range from mild amusement to outright shock. (We cannot reproduce the comments. You can read them here.)

If their reaction is anything to go by, the Bengali remake of Titanic will sink faster than the ill-fated ship itself!

Meanwhile, here, have a look at Dev and Rukmini in the trailer of Chaamp (with subtitles!):

ALSO WATCH: Titanic victim served in India

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By PTI: say experts

(Eds: Recasts throughout to raise focus)

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Legal experts today cautioned that public sparring between the judiciary and the executive could be detrimental to democracy, a day after the Chief Justice of India and the Law Minister openly disagreed over judicial powers in the presence of the prime minister.

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At a function to mark the Constitution Day yesterday, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had wondered why the judiciary doesnt trust him and the prime minister to appoint "fair judges," in a reference to the National Judicial Appointments Commission judgement reviving the Supreme Court Collegium.

In response, Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that "there should be mutual respect and there cannot be any claim for supremacy by any of the wings". Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the function in the national capital.

A day before, at another event on Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also said the courts cannot perform the functions of the executive and the independence of the two will have to strictly maintained.

Responding to questions on the debate, senior advocate Dushyant Dave told PTI it would be good for democracy if both judiciary and executive do not spar in public, as both have their own respective rights.

"The government must realise that the judiciary has a role and they certainly can ask questions from the executive and the latter should not shy away from answering," Dave said.

"The judiciary also needs to introspect and try not to interfere in the arena exclusively meant for the executive," he added.

Another senior advocate Raj Panjwani termed the scenario of tussle as unfortunate and said proper caution should be maintained by both the wings.

"This is unfortunate that basic principles of law have become a bone of contention. However, judiciary needs to refrain from stepping into the shoes of the executive. One of the modes which the executive could have resorted to is by filing appropriate application before the court instead of chest thumping in public," Panjwani said.

Senior advocate Aman Lekhi said he will not prefer to call the public sparring a "tussle".

"I will not call it a tussle," he told PTI. "The judiciary and the executive both are doing their work. The role of courts is absolutely different and they have a role to enforce the law. No government can claim immunity from scrutiny. The role of the court requires intervention if the situation demands," Lekhi added.

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This is not the first time that the two branches have had disagreements.

Some months ago, then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had asserted that the judiciary intervened only when the executive failed in its constitutional duties.

In 2016, Justice Thakur had also cautioned that no organ of government should cross the "lakshman rekha" and stressed that the judiciary has been given the duty to watch that everything remained within the limit.

Speaking at a function to celebrate Constitution Day last year, Thakur had also said the judiciary had every right to set aside any law made by Parliament, if it was against the Constitution or beyond the limits granted by the statute book.

Recently, the apex court in a detailed judgement had held that privacy was a "fundamental right" when the government had argued that the citizens have a right to privacy but that was not absolute.

In 2015, the top court and the government had been at loggerheads over the manner in which the appointment of judges was to be carried out.

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The apex court had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and asked the government to draft a new Memorandum of Procedure to lay down guidelines for appointments to the higher judiciary in consultation with the CJI and the collegium.

This was followed by the subsequent embarrassments for the Union government in the Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh cases. The apex court had quashed Presidents rule in Arunachal Pradesh while in Uttarakhand it ordered floor test in the state Assembly which subsequently led to reinstatement of the Congress government. PTI PKS UK RRT ARC VJ GSN GSN

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A herd of donkeys spent four days behind bars in Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun district. They had ignored authorities' warning over eating expensive plants near Urai jail.

By India Today Web Desk: In a bizarre development, a herd of donkeys in Uttar Pradesh was detained at a jail in the state's Jalaun district last week. The donkeys were apprehended near the Urai district jail.

Jail officials said that the donkeys were detained for destroying plants outside jail. The donkeys were released today after four days of detention. Donkeys apparently ate and destroyed plants recently bought for Rs 5 lakh.

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"These donkeys had destroyed some very expensive plants which our senior officer had arranged for planting inside jail and despite warnings the owner let loose his animals here so we detained the donkeys," Urai jail head constable RK Mishra was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.

The eight donkeys were detained on November 24, following which the owners made frantic search for the animals. Someone informed the owner, identified as Kamlesh, about the donkeys having been detained by police.

Kamlesh, then, approached the jail authorities with his request to let the animals go free but the authorities refused to release the donkeys for four days. He rushed to local BJP leader Shakti Gahoi for help. The BJP leader accompanied Kamlesh to the prison and secured release of the donkeys.

Jalaun(UP): Police release a herd of donkeys from Urai district jail. They had been detained for destroying plants outside jail and were released after four days pic.twitter.com/Wl5UJrU2tT

- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 27, 2017

Watch: Donkeys arrested for eating expensive plant come out of the jail premises in UP

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Varun has always been critical of any missteps taken by the Modi government and this may also be the reason why Varun is not being given any priority in the BJP.

By Siraj Qureshi: With Rahul Gandhi more or less set to take over the party president's post in Congress, rumours are rife that he would welcome estranged cousin and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi to join India's Grand Old Party.

Varun is former youth icon the late Sanjay Gandhi's son and represents Sultanpur in the Lok Sabha.

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Local Congress leaders in Agra believe that Varun is not getting his due in the BJP and is being completely ignored despite his potential to become a major contender for the chief minister's post in the state.

Talking to India Today, senior Muslim leader Haji Jameeluddin said that Varun was being ignored in the saffron party and that no other leader other than Narendra Modi is allowed to say his or her 'Mann Ki Baat' on public forums; Varun was one of the few people in the BJP who dares to have his own opinion in Modi's regime and he is paying the price for it by being sidelined in the party.

Jameeluddin said that a number of BJP supporters had raised Varun's name as a prospective chief minister candidate in UP after the BJP won a record number of seats in the Assembly elections, but he was ignored in favour of Yogi Adityanath.

Senior Congress leader Haji Manzoor Ahmed said that ahead of 2019 parliamentary elections, Varun could be inducted into the Congress Working Committee as a member or an office-bearer and together, Rahul and Varun could become a major force to be reckoned with, supported by Priyanka Vadra, who has always maintained cordial relations with Varun.

In fact, he said, Priyanka could become the catalyst for Varun's departure from the BJP and entry in Congress.

Agra city Congress ex-president and UPCC member Ram Tandon told India Today that Varun has never made any direct attacks on Rahul in his public meetings and with Rahul becoming the president of the party, it is likely that Varun may join the Congress.

If that happens, this would also unify the Nehru-Gandhi family after almost 35 years.

Already, he said, Varun has not been participating in any party meetings or rallies called by the BJP and has been sidelined ever since he was elected MP from Sultanpur in UP.

Perhaps he has now understood that his political future is not secure in a party which was formed to destroy the Congress and its Nehru-Gandhi heritage.

Varun has always been critical of any missteps taken by the Modi government and this may also be the reason why Varun is not being given any priority in the BJP.

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Notably, Varun has a significant following in Pilibhit-Sultanpur-Lakhimpur Khiri and its surrounding areas and if he joins the Congress, this could be a big boost to both Rahul and Congress who are struggling to get a toehold in UP beyond the family boroughs of Amethi and Raebareli.

However, some political analysts believe that Varun will not join the Congress as his mother Maneka Gandhi is a prominent BJP leader and a member of the Modi cabinet.

Also, there's no love lost between Maneka and sister-in-law Sonia Gandhi. Maneka may not allow Varun to leave the BJP and join the Congress.

Similarly, Sonia may also not like members of Maneka's family joining Congress and she may prove to a difficult hurdle to overcome.

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With ED confident of bringing embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya back to India in handcuffs, Mumbai's Arthur Jail prepares for his welcome.

By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: In an exclusive chat with India Today, a Mumbai jail official today confirmed that fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya if extradited will be lodged in city's Arthur prison with complete security cover.

Elucidating further on the probable abode for the beleaguered businessman, Arthur Jail Deputy Superintendent said, "Mallya would share a room with two-three other cellmates."

"Moreover, he would be allotted barrack number 12. His neighbouring cells would most likely house Peter Mukerjea, accused in the Sheena Bora murder case and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, accused in the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

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The Westminster Magistrates Court in London, which is hearing the extradition case of Vijay Mallya will be told in the next hearing that Mallya's apprehension about threat to his life is "misleading".

The move comes after Mallya's lawyers said that the former United Spirits Chairman's life may be in danger if he is extradited to India and there were alleged incidents of human rights violations in Indian jails.

Earlier reports of Mallya to be kept in solitary confinement in Arthur Jail- cells called Anda cell (Small, dark rooms reserved for hardcore criminals) was quashed by the DySp today.

A senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) official visited London last week to make 'preparations' for Mallya's return. The Westminster Magistrates Court will re-start hearing the proceedings from December 4.

ED officials are hopeful of a punitive sentencing for the Rs 9,000 crore loan defaulter.

With inputs from PTI

ALSO WATCH | PM Modi meets British PM Theresa May, raises issue of fugitive Vijay Mallya

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By PTI: Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI) Miss World Manushi Chillar says she would love to work in an Aamir Khan film as the superstar is known to make socially-relevant movies.

Manushi was recently crowned Miss World 2017 at a grand event held in Sanya, China.

The medical studen from Haryana said she finds all the actors in Bollywood beautiful but Aamir and former Miss World Priyanka Chopra are her favourites.

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"Ill definitely want to work in an Aamir Khan film. I think he has some really challenging roles that he gives you. At the same time, his movies have a message and a connect to the society. So itll be very interesting to do. In the actresses, my favourite is Priyanka Chopra," she told reporters here.

Interestingly, the coveted title was last won by Priyanka for India in 2000, just a year after Yukta Mookhey brought the crown home.

Manushi, a 20-year-old medical student from Haryana, had won Femina Miss India World 2017 in May this year.

When asked if she has Bollywood plans up next, she said the film industry was not on her mind right now.

"I am very excited how this year will turn out. Ill be travelling, visiting continents. We will be spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene where Ill be joined by my other Miss World sisters. Thats what I am excited about right now.

"Bollywood is something which isnt on my mind as of now. I really cant say anything about it," she added.

Manushi said in the initial weeks of the beauty pageant, several contestants thought her to be an actor.

"In the first week of the pageant they thought I was a Bollywood actress. But jokes apart, we all are very similar. We didnt have any pre conceived notions about each other. We go there with a fresh mind, theres a lot of curiosity to know each other," she said. PTI JUR RSY BK

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By PTI: Beijing, Nov 27 (PTI) As part of nationawide "toilet revolution", Chinese President Xi Jinping today asked officials across the vast country to upgrade the toilets to boost tourism infrastructure.

The construction of clean toilets is an important part of pushing urban and rural civilisation, and more efforts should be made in both cities and rural areas to upgrade toilets, Xi was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news.

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According to World Tourism Organisation, China is among the top four countries receiving international tourists in 2016. China received 59.3 million international tourists last year.

By the end of October this year, China had installed or upgraded 68,000 toilets at tourist destinations, 19.3 per cent more than the target number.

The toilet revolution has been expanding gradually from tourist sites to cover the whole country, from cities to rural areas, the report said.

The country planned to install or upgrade another 64,000 toilets at tourist destinations from 2018 to 2020, according to an action plan released by the China National Tourism Administration.

Along with toilet revolution, China should construct better public facilities and services to boost the tourism industry, Xi added.

Xi has long stressed on the importance of the toilet revolution in enhancing the quality of the tourism industry. Officials have been urged to make consistent efforts and take tailored measures to tackle long-standing issues and correct bad habits in tourism, the report said.

Local authorities are now more aware of the important role toilets play, believing better toilets are not only beneficial for tourism, but can also improve the environment that people work and live in, and enhance the overall level of civilisation of society.

While visiting rural areas, Xi used to ask local residents about the conditions of the toilets they use, and stressed many times that clean toilets for rural residents are important for the building of a "new countryside".

China launched a toilet revolution across the country in 2015 with an aim to make such facilities cleaner and more regulated.

Toilets in the countryside and at tourist sites previously had a bad reputation.

In rural areas, some toilets were little more than makeshift shelters surrounded by bunches of cornstalks, and some were open pits next to pigsties. At tourist sites, visitors were angered by insufficient toilets, unhygienic conditions and lack of sanitation workers. PTI UZM AKJ UZM

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* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020.

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018.

* IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

* Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013.

* Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011.

2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100.

* Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010.

* Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010.

* Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010.

* Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll.

Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008.
The Library and Reading Journal of Jennifer, Librarian
MATTOON (JG-TC) -- A Mighty Cahokia: Americas First City presentation is scheduled to be given on Wednesday at Lake Land College.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Sites Assistant Site Manager William Issminger will give this presentation on what is referred to as the "most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico." Cahokia Mounds, located on a 2,200 acre tract west of Collinsville, is home to the archeological remnants of an ancient settlement that was larger than London in 1250.

The Mississippians who lived in Cahokia were accomplished builders who erected a wide variety of structures, ranging from practical homes for everyday living to monumental public works that have endured for centuries.

Lake Land is hosting this presentation at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Luther Student Center theater to help celebrate the ongoing Native American Heritage Month. The event is sponsored by the colleges Inclusion and Diversity Education Committee, and is free and open to the public.

For more information on Native American Heritage Month, visit the poster display in the Luther Student Center lobby. Books and other materials about Cahokia Mounds and Native American heritage are available for check-out at the Lake Land library. For more information on Cahokia Mounds, visit https://cahokiamounds.org.
MATTOON -- From a legal standpoint and to those with service dogs, distinctions between their animals and other support animals and pets are important.

By Americans with Disabilities Act standards, a service animal is a dog or miniature horse that is trained to perform a task or tasks to help mitigate a persons disabilities. These disabilities can range anywhere from diabetes to post-traumatic stress disorder and beyond.

The main distinction between service animals and other support animals stems largely from where the animal is allowed to be. Service dogs are allowed in local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally, according to the ADA. Other support animals do not have that much freedom.

For instances, emotional support animals are only allowed to live in no-pet housing and go on airplanes.

So when an owner is claiming pet as a service animal in a place they are not allowed, the distinctions become even more imperative and dangerous to Abby Miller with her service dog Ava, an Australian Kelpie mix, and Marilda Eadie of Mattoon with her Doberman Pinscher.

Miller recently of Savoy said she has had run-ins with the dangers that can come from bringing an untrained dog in business.

Miller had worked at Goodwill recently when she noticed a woman bring a dog in a shopping cart into the store.

She asked the woman if it was a service dog and what its tasks were, the only questions that should be asked of these owners about the dog, she said.

I asked if it was a service dog. She said yes. Then I asked her what task it performs. She said comfort, Miller said. Comfort is not a task by the definition of the ADA. That would be an emotional support animal that does not have public access rights.

She then proceeded to pick up bring it closer and the dog tried to bite me, she continued.

After more than a year with her service animal and research into how to train them, Miller said she has learned to spot a pet from service dogs and noticed the service dog system get abused by people with untrained animals.

I have probably seen about eight fake (service dogs), Miller said. I have seen a dog at a restaurant sitting and trying to get on the table, climbing on the table and eating food off the table, which is completely unacceptable.

Eadie noted she has seen dogs as well that sport service dog gear that don't seem to really serve the functions they claim.

By the time, the dog is in public, it largely should have a good grasp on remaining well behaved and undistracted. Miller said service dogs, even those in training, should not be aggressive and should be largely docile in public settings.

Miller said the dangers of having a fake service dog go beyond the harm to other people but also other service animals.

Not only does that put the general population in danger, it puts (Ava) and I in danger, Miller said.

If Ava was attacked, that could permanently affect her ability to perform her tasks. Miller said it is a real worry as she heads out to the public. Outside of the common struggles service animal owners face in public like when others are distracting the dog by trying to get its attention or petting it, she also has to worry about other animals.

It is not technically illegal in Illinois to misrepresent a pet or an emotional support animal as a service animal, but it is just deplorable because you are faking having a disability just to bring fluffy into a store, she said. It is just disrespectful to people who are generally disabilities.

For Miller and Eadie, the service animal is a vital tool for them to function and those that fake it are doing a disservice. Eadie has had an in-training Doberman Pinscher, Jack, for approximately five months.

Eadie said Jack has finally allowed her the ability to deal with her disabilities, which including being blind on one side. Jack directs her when she walks and has become an integral part of her life. She said he also allowed her to handle more crowds than she had previously been able to deal with.

Miller suggested people, specifically management at a business, simply come up and ask if it is a service dog and what its tasks are if a service animal seems to act outside of what should be expected of these dogs. Miller noted that it is really only the business owners' business because they legally have the right to know.
During the National Association of Realtors (NAR) national convention in Chicago on November 4, 2017, Pat Ohmberger, associate broker at HOME Real Estate, was elected as the 2020 Region 8 vice president. As regional vice president, Ohmberger will act as a representative of the NAR and oversee their work in the region. Region 8 encompasses Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Nebraska Realtors Association President Gene Brake said, "We are very fortunate to have Pat as our region 8 vice president. She brings many years of experience and great leadership experience to the position."

In her 25 years of experience in real estate, Ohmberger has held many positions locally, statewide and nationally. A few are regional vice president (2010) Women's Council of Realtors, president (2008) Realtors Association of Lincoln, Realtor of the Year (2013) Nebraska Realtors Association, national director (2015-17) National Association of Realtors. Ohmberger says she has strived to serve in national leadership roles since becoming part of a Leadership Academy class in 2011.

Pat Ohmberger has been opening doors for people since 1992 and as part of HOME Real Estate, has access to a whole team of professionals to help Lincoln homebuyers and sellers. Find her online at www.patohmberger.homerealestate.com
Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston has been chosen as one of 25 leaders on opioid addiction and overdose issues to participate in the National Conference of State Legislatures' inaugural opioid policy fellowship.

Riepe, chairman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, has had more than 30 years of professional experience as a hospital administrator.

"While the opioid crisis has not afflicted Nebraska as severely as other states," Riepe said, "it is important to collaborate nationally to develop and implement new policies and strengthen existing policies that will help prevent the crisis from impacting our state further."

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Nebraska has been a leader in proactively combating opioid addiction, with the Legislature playing a key role in abuse prevention.
A county judge has bound over criminal charges against Lancaster County Treasurer Andy Stebbing to district court, finding that the state met its burden to prove that crimes were committed and probable cause to believe Stebbing committed them.

Seward County Judge C. Jo Petersen gave no further elaboration in her two-paragraph order dated Wednesday.

Stebbing hasnt yet been set for arraignment.

At a preliminary hearing earlier this month, the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office said evidence shows Stebbing was selling vehicles as a business without a dealer's license. He used Craigslist and Facebook to sell 12 vehicles within a 12-month period and tried to sell a 13th.

Under state law, anyone who sells more than eight vehicles must register with the state as a dealer. Stebbing didnt.

Stebbings attorney, Sean Brennan, contended several of the vehicle sales were "bonafide consumer transactions that shouldnt have counted toward the 12.

By law, vehicle owners can sell their car or truck even if they aren't a dealer if they have titled and registered it and had it for a period of time.

Brennan argued that prosecutors had overcharged Stebbing and that investigators should have notified him of deficiencies on his tax returns before they charged him with felonies.

Stebbing is charged with two counts of falsifying bills of sale, two counts of filing fraudulent state income taxes and one count of selling cars without a license, each a Class IV felony.
Lancaster County could become the first Nebraska county with a policy allowing roadside memorial signs in lieu of private remembrances with stuffed animals, flowers, crosses, etc.

The Lancaster County Board is expected to consider a roadside memorial policy, drafted by County Engineer Pam Dingman, and conduct a public hearing on the policy at its 9 a.m. Dec. 5 meeting.

Four different message signs will be available for purchase by a relative of a person who died in a crash or by friends, with the written permission of a relative.

* Please Drive Safely

* Seat Belts Save Lives

* Please Watch For Bicyclists

* Don't Drink and Drive.

The blue, rectangular signs will include the name or names of crash victims, except for drunk drivers.

Signs memorializing an intoxicated driver will not include the name of the deceased, according to the policy. Instead it will read "sponsored by," with the family name or applicant.

A sign, available for a $100 application fee, will be installed on a county road in close proximity to where the accident occurred, for at least three years and up to six years.

Dingman asked for the roadside memorial policy to allow families to honor crash victims without creating a hazard for drivers and others.

County roads, unlike city streets, do not have shoulders or sidewalks or safe ways for people to pull over, she has said.

The signs will also help educate and remind drivers to drive safely, said Commissioner Roma Amundson.

After the sign policy goes into effect, county engineering staff will remove private memorials on county road rights-of-way when they are a hazard.

"What we are really trying to do is to keep people out of the right-of-way where they are not safe," said Dingman.

Dingman said she worries about people on high-speed county roads, stopping to drop things off or look at a memorial.

"My concern is safety. We are trying to offer a very respectful alternative."

The program is modeled after memorial sign programs in Colorado and other states.

Commissioner Jennifer Brinkman cautioned Dingman about removing spontaneous roadside memorials too quickly.

"We don't want to be the ones scooping it up off the road in a day or two," she said.
TransCanada is asking Nebraska regulators to clarify their approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, including whether the company should file an amended application for the project in light of the state's decision to alter the pipeline route.

The company is asking the Nebraska Public Service Commission to let it address technical questions that were raised by the state's Nov. 20 decision, said Robynn Tysver, a spokeswoman for Calgary-based TransCanada.

"We are not asking for the route to be reconsidered," she said.

The company still hasn't said whether it plans to build along the approved route, and its unclear how long that decision will take.

The commission ruled in favor of TransCanada's project on a 3-2 vote last week, but the approval was for a different route through the state than the company had sought. While the decision seemed to remove a key hurdle to construction of the $8 billion, 1,179-mile conduit, foes have said they believe it will let them challenge the project because the new route wasn't vetted at the same level as the original.

The change will also require TransCanada to deal with new landowners, plan and build more pumping stations and receive new approval from the Nebraska Public Power District. That process could add months, even years, to the project timeline.

Landowners opposed to the pipeline, which has been on the drawing boards since 2008, followed TransCanada's filing with their own request for oral arguments on the company's motion. The Public Service Commission had no mechanism for approving the alternate route, according to the landowners' filing.

The line would send oil sands from Hardisty, Alberta, through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect to pipelines leading to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.
Gov. Pete Ricketts on Monday unveiled Nebraska's newly created specialized "Choose Life" license plates that feature the design of a woman leading a child by the hand into a grassy field to view a Nebraska sunrise.

The new plates were commissioned by the Legislature earlier this year over the objections of some senators, who argued the plates represent a political statement and place the state in the position of indirectly taking sides in the ongoing argument over abortion rights.

"Life is precious and public officials have a duty to stand up and be a voice for the unborn and most vulnerable," Ricketts said during an unveiling ceremony at Bethlehem House, a pregnancy center in Omaha.

"As governor, I have worked to support initiatives that protect and strengthen the culture of life that Nebraskans embody," Ricketts said.

Twenty-nine states already offer "Choose Life" license plates, the governor said.

The legislation (LB46), introduced by Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, encountered strong opposition from senators who opposed a state-sanctioned expression of support for "pro-life" advocates in the abortion rights struggle with "pro-choice" advocates, but was easily approved by the Legislature on a final 35-5 vote.

Watermeier and representatives from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Students for Life joined the governor and Lt. Gov. Mike Foley at the event in Omaha on Monday.

"Every community has a responsibility to guard, protect and cherish human life," Watermeier said.

"Today, Nebraska takes another important step in showing our deep value and respect for human life through the beautiful Choose Life plates you see today," he said.

Sandy Danek, president of Nebraska Right to Life, said "Nebraskans are pro-life and will now have another venue with which to show their support for children and their mothers and to hopefully further inculcate a pro-life message among those who might be considering abortion."

Lincoln graphic designer Shelley Novosad was the artist who designed the license plate.

Legislative opponents argued the plates represent state-sponsored political speech and subjected the bill to a filibuster before its eventual enactment.

Information about ordering the specialized plates will be made available by the Department of Motor Vehicles online.
Two former corporals from the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution are accused of conspiring to smuggle K2 inside for an inmate for $300 in October, according to court documents.

Richard Fries, 53, and Ryan Tokar, 32, were arrested Oct. 21 by Nebraska State Patrol troopers following an investigation by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Both have since resigned.

Prosecutors charged the Lincoln residents last week with conspiring to convey an article to a prisoner. Fries faces an additional felony charge of delivery or distribution of a synthetic cannabinoid, according to Johnson County court documents.

Tokar brought the K2 to the prison and tried to deliver it to a convicted murderer but no longer had access to that unit of the prison, investigators said in an affidavit for his arrest.

Fries learned of the planned delivery after an inmate asked him when Tokar, Fries' son-in-law, was going to bring his "stuff," the affidavit said.

Tokar and Fries talked about the delivery, and Fries put the K2 in his coat, went into the prison and left it for the inmate in a trashcan in his housing unit, investigators said.

Fries resigned on Oct. 25, and Tokar resigned Nov. 6, said prison spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith.

Department officials have no information to suggest this case is related to other K2 smuggling attempts at state prisons, she said.

Both had been employed by the department less than a year.

Fries and Tokar have since been released on bond.

Neither has an attorney with the courthouse, and they couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the allegations against them.
Nebraska regulators have approved TransCanadas controversial Keystone XL pipeline, but not its preferred route through this state  raising questions about whether the company will continue to pursue the project.

Monday's decision by the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which came on a 3-2 vote, adds another twist to a debate that has made headlines for nearly a decade.

The commission  instead of signing off on TransCanada's 275-mile preferred route, which was the main focus of a court-style hearing in August  opted for a second, slightly longer route known as the "mainline alternative."

That route cuts further east then runs parallel with the existing Keystone pipeline for about 95 miles, with a 30-mile detour in Seward County.

It would impact about 40 new landowners, many of them in Madison and Seward counties, who aren't along the preferred route and don't have the original Keystone pipe cutting through their land already.

TransCanada didn't immediately say whether it will pursue Keystone XL construction along the alternate route. The commission's decision was met with stunned silence on the part of opponents and apparent confusion by TransCanada representatives.

"As a result of today's decision, we will conduct a careful review of the Public Service Commission's ruling while assessing how the decision would impact the cost and schedule of the project," said Russ Girling, the company's president and CEO, in a statement.

Attorney Brian Jorde of Omaha, who represents landowners who oppose the pipeline, compared the commission's move with a "choose your own adventure" book.

State Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, who backs the pipeline and helped outline the process followed by the Public Service Commission, tweeted that Monday's decision "creates unnecessary uncertainty, too bad."

In dismissing TransCanada's preferred route, the commission majority said that option "fails to take advantage of any opportunity to co-locate" with the existing pipeline, "and therefore we are unable to conclude that the Preferred Route is in the public interest."

However, the mainline alternative route maximizes co-location with the original Keystone pipeline and is in the public interest, the commission wrote.

The alternative route diverts from the preferred route in Antelope County, then cuts through Madison County on its way into Stanton County. From there, it runs mostly parallel with the original Keystone pipeline  with a 30-mile detour around a wellhead protection area in Seward County  on its way to a pumping station in Steele City, along the Kansas state line.

It wasn't immediately clear if TransCanada has notified the 40 landowners who might now have a pipeline developer interested in their land.

Mike Flood, former speaker of the Legislature and a TransCanada backer, lives in Madison County and said he hopes the pipeline still gets built, citing its potential to contribute property tax revenue to counties along the route.

"I support the pipeline," Flood said.

Attorneys for pipeline opponents cautiously celebrated the rejection of the preferred route, promising to continue their fight but not revealing plans for their next step should TransCanada still desire to build.

Ken Winston of Lincoln, attorney for the Sierra Club, said the commission's move "opens up a whole new bag of issues."

Commissioner Crystal Rhoades of Omaha, who voted against the pipeline, said approving the mainline alternative instead of merely weighing in on TransCanada's preferred route raises due process questions, because many landowners along the alternate route weren't included in the commission proceedings.

Neligh-area farmer Art Tanderup's land would be impacted by either route. He said the mainline alternative still crosses fragile soils and the Ogallala Aquifer.

"What just happened is not protecting that resource," Tanderup told reporters after the decision.

Jane Kleeb, founder of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska and chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said the fight will go on: "We are resolute in stopping this pipeline."

Nebraska's approval was one of the final necessary steps before TransCanada could begin turning dirt on the 1,179-mile project, which would move Canadian oil sands from Hardisty, Alberta, to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The Keystone XL appeared dead after former President Barack Obama stopped it in 2015, but the project received a jump start from President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Why approve the pipeline?

The commission majority summarized its reasons for approving the pipeline in its order:

"The Commission is very cognizant of the fact that opening a trench that entirely bisects the State of Nebraska from North to South to insert a 36-inch pipe will have impacts to the natural resources of the state, including soil, water, and wildlife," the majority wrote. "It is impossible to complete such a project without impacts.

"There is no utopian option where we reap the benefits of an infrastructure project without some effects. We are tasked with weighing those impacts against the potential benefits.

"We do not take lightly the concerns of the landowners, other Nebraskans, and our fellow Commissioners. We share many of the concerns expressed regarding the soils in Keya Paha, Holt, Boyd, and Antelope Counties.

"However, we also are very cognizant of the benefits to Nebraska, especially to the counties along the route. With economic concerns abounding, tax revenues from a project such as this can help ease burdened landowners, counties, school districts, and subdivisions by raising the potential of future property tax relief via expansion of the local tax base."

Commissioners also outlined why pipeline leaks  including last week's 210,000-gallon spill from a section of the original Keystone pipeline in South Dakota  could not be considered in their decision.

The Major Oil Pipeline Siting Act, adopted by the Nebraska Legislature in 2011, specifically prohibits the commission from considering pipeline safety, spills or leaks.

Why this route?

Opponents have argued that the Keystone XL should at least run adjacent to the original Keystone pipeline through Nebraska. That route cuts through Cedar, Wayne, Stanton, Platte, Colfax, Butler, Seward, Saline and Jefferson counties.

But TransCanada didn't include that option  also known as the "I-90" route  in its application. The company argues that Keya Paha County is the "fixed" entry point in northern Nebraska for the Keystone XL, because of a construction permit issued by South Dakota in 2010.

Commissioners dismissed the I-90 route for two reasons: deference to South Dakota's decision and because it wasn't part of TransCanada's application and therefore outside the commission's authority.

"While we understand that our primary focus is clearly the interests of Nebraska, we do not believe it to be in Nebraska's best interest to demand an approach that would result in direct conflict with our northern neighbor," the commission majority wrote.

Further, "The idea of the I-90 Route may sound good in theory, but we do not have the authority to approve it."

The mainline alternative route was included in TransCanada's application. And Meera Kothari, lead engineer for the Keystone XL, acknowledged at a hearing in August that the alternative route is viable.
YORK  The sister of a man facing the death penalty for four Omaha killings has been transferred to an Iowa prison to serve her life sentence.

A Nebraska Correctional Services Department spokeswoman confirmed last week that 27-year-old Erica Jenkins had left the Nebraska women's prison in York. An Iowa official said she's been moved to the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, in Mitchellville.

Nebraska spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith said such moves are made at inmates' requests. The two states have an agreement that the receiving state bears the cost of such transfer prisoners.

Erica Jenkins was convicted of murder in January 2015, accused by authorities of helping her brother, Nikko Jenkins, kill Curtis Bradford in Omaha in 2013. Nikko Jenkins pleaded no contest to murder charges in the Bradford case and three others.
It doesnt matter if you are in the heart of Lincoln or a small town in Cherry County, families are the building blocks of Nebraska. At the core of every community are parents, grandparents and caregivers working hard to provide for their loved ones and raise the next generation.

Policies that will lead Nebraska families to success and prosperity are a top priority for me in the U.S. Senate. As Congress moves closer to passing comprehensive tax reform, Im optimistic about several opportunities to provide relief for middle-class families.

The workforce of today looks different from the last time Congress updated the tax code in 1986. This is partly because womens participation in the workforce has been steadily increasing over the years. In fact, its almost doubled since World War II.

Because of this shift, 21st-century workers face unique challenges as they care for children and elderly relatives. The life of someone doing double duty as a breadwinner and a caregiver is often hectic and stressful.

For four years, Ive been working to address this problem, and Im pleased to report we are finally making headway.

Included in the tax reform bill recently approved by the Senate Finance Committee is my paid family leave plan, the Strong Families Act. If enacted, this proposal would be the first national paid family leave policy in U.S. history.

Workers could take an hour, a day or up to 12 weeks off to care for a sick child, check on an elderly parent or take maternity or paternity leave. Businesses offering the leave would receive a tax credit as big as 25 percent of the wages paid to those employees. Theres also a cap on the yearly pay one can make to qualify, targeting access to those who really need it. Typically, thats lower-to-middle income and hourly employees.

At the same time, I wanted my plan to respect the growth of small businesses. Startups of Silicon Prairie and shops of Main Street are run by families, too. Owners of these businesses care about their employees, and they want to be able to offer paid leave. But, for many of them, success starts with keeping the lights on.

My approach would give businesses a practical alternative and avoid government mandates. It incentivizes businesses to make changes that will provide employees with more options when they are under the stress of family worries.

Other family-focused plans are underway as well.

Raising a child is one of lifes gifts, but its also a major expense. According to the Department of Agriculture, parents of a child born in 2015 are projected to spend more than $233,000 raising a child through age 17 -- and that doesnt even include college tuition.

To ease the burden of climbing costs, the Senate tax reform proposal doubles the current child tax credit. With this change, families would be able to keep up to an additional $4,000 every year if they have two or more children. Having that extra money on hand to cover expenses makes a real difference.

Doubling the standard deduction, as Congress is aiming to do through pro-growth tax reform, would also lighten the load for families. Married couples would be able to hold on to the first $24,000 they earn, tax-free. They can use these savings to invest in their familys future, fix things around the house, save to send their kids to college or plan for retirement.

During a listening session I held in Holdrege earlier this year, a young woman was familiar with my paid leave plan and thanked me for my work on it. She talked about the difficulties of raising kids and working full-time. She thought my approach was something that could help make her life easier.

The American people agree with her. A Pew Research study found 87 percent of participants favor my solution for paid leave. An American Action Forum analysis of that same study noted Americans are extremely supportive of this approach.

For the woman in Holdrege, and other families across the country, Im going to keep pushing to move these family-friendly proposals over the finish line.
Three months ago, University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Kaitlyn Mullen set up a booth outside the Nebraska Union to promote a conservative political organization.

Missteps in addressing that situation thrust Nebraskas flagship public university into the spotlight regarding free speech on college campuses. Since then, a graduate student who berated Mullen was barred from teaching, three state senators accused university leaders of discriminatory actions toward conservative students and UNL has begun a close examination of First Amendment concerns.

It appears the campus and capitol are still not done with that fiasco. By now, though, they should be.

One incident does not prove the epidemic Sens. Tom Brewer, Steve Erdman and Steve Halloran alleged. In fact, UNL officials have gone above and beyond what was needed to demonstrate they were legitimately concerned about claims of prejudice against conservative students. The outline Chancellor Ronnie Green laid out in Tuesdays Local View shows a commitment to examining and quashing any potential intolerance.

Theres not been an iota of proof to demonstrate that Mullens situation is somehow indicative of institutional bias against conservatives. Nothing has proved that UNL did anything beyond compounding some of its own errors in its initial handling of an isolated incident.

The Journal Star spoke to conservative students and faculty, none of whom felt discrimination for their beliefs. Longtime UNL professor Gerard Harbison, whos sponsored many conservative groups on campus, called the furor around the situation a witch hunt after condemning the actions of Turning Point USA in a Local View in September.

Yes, its safe to say UNL  or any college campus, for that matter  skews more liberal than the population at large. But UNL bestows degrees on Nebraskans of all political ideologies, meaning it must produce plenty of conservatives, too, in a state this red.

First Amendment debates on campus have quickened in recent years, with conservative speech no doubt being under attack in certain situations.

This is a discussion that needs more prominent voices to realize that the best answer isnt to shut down unpopular viewpoints; the marketplace of ideas is infinitely more vibrant and productive when speech isnt shouted down. Yet, the senators used accusatory tones that argued UNL favored liberal students over conservative ones.

So, maybe it should come as no surprise that members of the Legislature, whose officially nonpartisan designation is being strained, tried to manufacture yet another partisan us-vs.-them, conservative-vs.-liberal fight. Besides, action regarding the universitys governance must be taken by 49 senators, not three.

Until and unless more proof surfaces of some stealth conspiracy to discriminate and discredit conservatives, its time to bury the hatchet. Nebraskas largest university and its senators need to stop squabbling and instead work together toward meaningful advances to benefit the state.
On Saturday, Oct. 14, hundreds came out to support the American Heart Association at the Racine-Kenosha Heart & Stroke Walk/5K Fun Run at Gateway Technical College. Walkers and runners braved the rain and cold to help raise nearly $100,000 that will be used to fund local educational programs, groundbreaking research, advocacy efforts and so much more. Attendees walked/ran either a three-mile route or a one-mile route, and were able to learn hands-only CPR, take healthy selfies with Miss Wisconsin, grab a few new heart-healthy recipes, and many other fun activities. Abigail Burnett was honored as the Heart Walk Hero, and her parents, Ed and Lisa Burnett, shared her story. When Abigail was just 6 weeks old, she lost the use of her left arm and hand. After a number of tests, it was revealed that Abigail had a tumor inside her spinal cord at the base of her neck, as well as various aneurysms in her circulatory system, including one located near her aortic arch.

Doctors performed open heart surgery to prevent death when Abigail was only 14 weeks old. She is now 6 years old, and doctors still have not been able to diagnose her disease. The American Heart Association highlights stories like Abigails to emphasize the importance of fundraising and to bring awareness to heart disease and stroke, our nations No. 1 and No. 5 killers.

There were a number of business leaders in Racine and Kenosha who helped to lead the charge at the Heart Walk this year. This group of business leaders personally raised more than $1,000: Patrick Booth of CCB Technology; Dominic Cariello of Badger Meter; Dave Brown of Carpetland USA; Bryan Albrecht of Gateway Technical College; and Matt Montemurro of RAMAC. There were also a few individuals who personally raised more than $500. This list includes: John Daniels, Jenny Larsen, Chuck Swetland and Sandy Carlson.

The 2017 Racine-Kenosha Heart & Stroke Walk/5K Fun Run was sponsored by Badger Meter, Burlington Graphic Systems Inc., CCB Technology, CNH, David Insurance, Educators Credit Union, Equity Creative, Gateway Technical College, InSinkErator, Kane Communications, Marlo Inc., Meijer, Ocean Spray, Racine Dental Group, SC Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Wisconsin Beef Council. To learn more about the American Heart Association and its local efforts, visit www.heart.org. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, @AHAWisconsin.
MILWAUKEE  COP Houses, a community policing model that has brought Racine international recognition, are on their way to Milwaukee after years of prompting by both Racine and Milwaukee leaders.

Last September, the Milwaukee City Council gave its approval and Milwaukee leaders hope to see the first COP House up and running in Milwaukee by early 2018.

COP Houses, or Community Oriented Policing Houses, first began in Racine in 1993 under the guidance of former Racine Police Chief Richard Polzin. The model focuses on buying vacant homes in high-crime areas and rehabbing the homes to become a base from which police officers perform their daily routines. The main goal is to build long-lasting relationships with community members in order to reduce crime numbers within a particular neighborhood or area.

The outcome has been positive for Racine. Perhaps there is no better example than the COP House located at 2437 Anthony Lane, the former Jacato Drive. The number of aggravated assaults dropped by 94 percent after just four years of the house being placed in that neighborhood in 2010.

There are currently six COP Houses that operate across Racine, and each house has had a significant impact on crime numbers in their respective neighborhoods, police officials said. The concept has been so successful that Mount Pleasant police followed suit and opened their own COP House in 2015 on Mead Street in the villages Lakeside neighborhood.

Racine Police Chief Art Howell is happy that the COP Houses are receiving more attention.

It is indeed a pleasure to witness the growing interest in the COP model as applied locally, said Howell.

Milwaukee takes note

Former Racine Police Chief Kurt Wahlen originally wrote a letter to Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn in 2010 endorsing the COP House model. In it he spoke of the bonds that were built between the community and the police.

This partnership goes a long way in building confidence in citys government commitment to the community and is a discernible means of addressing neighborhood issues and working towards a resolution, said Wahlen.

State Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, spoke on behalf of the model at a Milwaukee civilian oversight commission meeting last month. Taylor has been a vocal proponent of bringing the model to Milwaukee for years.

Its a proven method, said Taylor. Its been successful, its a proven hub and it works.

It took some time for the City of Racine to see the benefits of the model. Originally, Racine officials were weary about purchasing a vacant home for this purpose. However, after the Racine Police Department received grant money from a variety of sources including local businesses, a Racine community organization was formed and it bought the house, and then leased it to the Racine Police Department for a dollar a year. The City of Racine then forgave the propertys taxes and the department renovated and equipped the house using the grant money.

The City of Milwaukee has approved the model for its 2018 budget, but the exact amount of funding the houses will receive is not yet known.

Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski, who brought forth the COP House proposal to the Milwaukee City Council in September, noted the ways the Racine officlas successfully worked with local businesses to improve upon the idea, including SC Johnson.

This model is very attractive to local business and big corporations, said Zielinski. Although it does cost money, it also allows us to leverage money and to work with local businesses to fund the houses.

The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, a civilian oversight commission, has also been briefed on the new initiative. Commission Chairman Steven DeVougas noted the significance of those houses coming to Milwaukee.

This is a special moment in the citys history that doesnt come along often, said DeVougas. We can make a lasting impact.
TWIN LAKES  The suspect who is in custody after reportedly shooting and killing two men Friday in Twin Lakes has been named.

Nathan A. Kivi, 25, of the Trevor area of the Village of Salem Lakes, was named as the suspect in the shooting of Richard Samuel, 28, and Kenneth Samuel III, 31, both of Twin Lakes. The two died Friday after a shooting near Beach Bar, 402 S. Lake St.

Twin Lakes police were called to the bar in southwestern Kenosha County at about 2 a.m. for a shooting that occurred outdoors, behind the establishment, according to a news release. Officers found Richard Samuel dead in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds.

Kenneth Samuel III was found in the same location, also with gunshot wounds. He was taken to Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington, where he later died, the release states.

Kivi reportedly fled the scene before police arrived, according to the release. He was later located by the Monroe County Sheriffs Department and Wisconsin State Patrol near Tomah and taken into custody.

Witnesses at the scene told police there was an altercation between the victims and suspect before the shooting occurred. The shooting appears to be an isolated incident, police said.
RACINE  It had been several decades since Racine resident Frank Felix visited Puerto Rico, the birthplace of his parents. But when he arrived on the island on Nov. 17, it looked like a bomb went off.

Felix, along with family member Frances Torres and her father, Reinaldo Torres, traveled to Puerto Rico to deliver aid to those who needed it more than 50 days after Hurricane Maria struck the island. The group came back to Racine on Tuesday.

They were part of a group of Racine residents who had been fundraising to buy supplies and take money to the island.

Frances Torres, who was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, said it was emotional seeing all the distress.

My cousin, she lost everything, she said.

On Oct. 14, the group Racine Helps Puerto Rico held a fundraiser at Fountain Hall in Sturtevant with live bands and deejays. In total, the group was able to raise about $8,000. With that money, the group bought plane tickets and a rental car for their travel to Puerto Rico.

We put it together in two weeks  thats how fast we did this, said Art Felix, one of the organizers.

The money also helped pay for water filters, transistor radios, batteries, bug spray, flashlights, battery-operated fans and duct tape.

They couldnt find that (duct tape) anywhere, Frank Felix said of the residents who were happy to receive the tape. When we gave them stuff, they were really grateful. And they cried and we cried.

List of about 15 names

The group took the remaining $3,000 to give to family, friends and strangers in need. That money had been put into money orders of $50 increments.

Frank Felix said he remembers he told the person he was staying with to take me to places where you think they really need (help)  the poor and old.

So we spent the morning and went around and gave them aid and checks also, he said. We randomly gave money to people that we saw (in most need).

The group also took with them a list of about 15 people with names they gathered from the fundraiser at Fountain Hall from individuals asking them to check on their family members.

We saw everybody on the list from people who said Can you make sure theyre OK?  Frances Torres said.

Oftentimes when they would hand out supplies or money, in return, the people would hug and kiss them.

We got a lot of that, Frances Torres said.

She took hundreds of photos on her phone and would try to upload them at night so people in Racine could get a view from ground zero.

I slept at my uncles house; he had just gotten power two days before (I got there), Frances said. Id try to get service and upload pictures nightly  the service was in and out. There were days we didnt have any power at all.

Art Felix said that while they were in Puerto Rico, on Saturday, the Racine Helps Puerto Rico group held another event that raised $2,200 and plans to have another event in January.

We dont plan on stopping this for a while, Art Felix said. People need the help and as long as people are willing to help and we got the interest from the public to support us, well keep doing it.

For those interested in helping, checks made out to Racine Helps Puerto Rico can be sent to any Johnson Bank or donations can be made at paypal.me/racine4puertorico.
STURTEVANT  A new program focused on training students to service marine engines and recreational vehicles is planned for Gateway Technical College.

The proposed program, called Motorcycle, Marine and Outdoor Power Products, responds to labor market projections that show an increased demand for workers in the field. The program would last two semesters, and students would earn a technical diploma, said Zina Haywood, Gateways executive vice president and provost.

The courses would prepare students to troubleshoot, service and repair marine-related equipment, as well as recreational equipment, according to the proposal. They also would receive training in areas including fuel systems, ignition systems, cooling systems, lubrication systems and gear cases.

Some decisions remain to be made, such as how many students the program will accommodate and at which campus it will be based, Haywood said. She said the college wants to start offering the program next fall.

Were just excited to start this new program, she said.

Haywood said businesses in the industry showed interest in the college developing a program with training in this field.

Occupations in installation, maintenance and repair fields were projected to increase more than 7 percent between 2014 and 2024, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Jobs for motorboat mechanics and service technicians, specifically, were projected to grow by almost 8 percent in the same time frame, amounting to 48 new jobs. For recreational vehicle service technicians, the increase was projected at nearly 12 percent, or 34 jobs, the data show.

This month, the Gateway Technical College Board approved sending the proposal to the Wisconsin Technical College System Board for approval. The system board is not scheduled to meet again until next year.
RACINE  Local leaders say Racine is a welcoming and inclusive place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, despite the low rating the city received in a recent report.

The Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights organization focused on advocating for the LGBT community, annually compiles a Municipal Equality Index in conjunction with the Equality Federation Institute. In this years index, the sixth edition, Racine earned a score of 29 points out of a possible 100. City leaders say the report did not account for some of the work Racine does to promote diversity and inclusion, and local LGBT community leaders said they didnt think the report accurately reflected Racine.

The index awards municipalities points for community attributes in five main categories: non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement and the municipalitys relationship with the LGBT community. Municipalities can earn points based on services and policies that address sexual orientation and gender identity.

Local policies

City and community leaders said the report, although educational, does not paint a complete or fully accurate picture of Racine. Tim Thompkins, Racines human resources director, said the report is not mandatory for cities to complete, and the city did not turn in responses. Some of the information is correct, he said, such as the 15 points the city earned for having rules that prohibit discrimination based on sexual-orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations.

Thompkins said the city did not receive points in some areas it should have. The report did not award the city points for prohibiting discrimination when it contracts with outside vendors. But Thompkins said policies that govern the Racine First Program, aimed at tackling local unemployment, do address that matter. In another example, he said the city provides services related to HIV and AIDS. The report did not award points in that area.

Thompkins said Racine also makes a conscious effort to recruit a diverse workforce. The city is asking for the report to be updated, he said.

Mayor Cory Mason said he was concerned by the low score and investigated the citys efforts with staff after seeing the report. As an advocate for LGBT equality, Mason said he has always thought of Racine as welcoming to the community. The report can help guide the city and hold it accountable to that commitment, he said.

Its important that the citys unequivocal about its principles of Racine being a place where everyone is welcome, regardless of their race or their gender or their sexual orientation or their religion, he said.

Local center surprised

Leaders from the LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin, based in Racine, said they were surprised by the score Racine received. The report is not the only way to evaluate how inclusive the city is, the leaders said. Programs Coordinator Dale Estes said he would have liked for the center to have the chance to contribute to the report to highlight some of the communitys work.

Estes said he finds the community welcoming, and that the center at 1456 Junction Ave., has many allies. The organization hasnt run into hate, bigotry or threats to their building, he said.

Ive become good friends with a lot of people on the block, he said. They protect us and look out for us. Thats a positive thing.

Steve Kovacik, the president of the centers Board of Directors, said there is room for improvement, such as providing more training on sensitivity around Racine. Overall, he said, the center has always had a good rapport with the city and police department.

Kovacik said he is concerned some businesses that identify as LGBT-friendly may see the citys low score and second-guess whether its a good place to locate. With Foxconn developing a manufacturing plant nearby and potentially spurring further development, now is an important time to address that matter, he said. Kovacik said he looks forward to the city and center working together to show how welcoming Racine is.

Theyre going to be taking a look at this (and asking) Is this a good place for me to put my business?  he said. Were positive that we can really push this through, and that this is a good place to be.
RACINE COUNTY  When the state Department of Public Instruction released report card results for Racine Unified School District last week, those eager to see the agencys findings included representatives from villages within the district.

While those representatives  among them state lawmakers  are largely encouraged by the districts passing score, many said they want to see more improvement.

Unified received an overall score of 59.3 for the 2016-17 school year, removing the specter, at least for now, of suburban villages breaking away from the district through the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program. That is up from a score of 48.1 for the 2015-2016 school year.

State gives Racine Unified a passing score RACINE  The Racine Unified School District has received a passing grade from the state Depa

The passing grade also stopped in its tracks a potential state takeover of some failing schools through the OSPP  at least for the next two years.

Watching and waiting

Had Unified received a failing score, they would have had the option of holding binding referendums asking voters if they wanted to form their own districts. DPI would have also received $75,000 to conduct a study on the effectiveness of reorganizing a school district.

We want Unified to improve, and we are going to want to keep the fire under them to keep improving, Caledonia Village President Jim Dobbs said.

Voters in Caledonia and Sturtevant approved non-binding referendums on separating from the district in 2015.

Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot said village leaders there are hopeful that Unified is reforming itself, but remained concerned with poor achievement scores and failing schools. Unified earned an achievement score of 39.2 out of 100 for the 2016-17 school year  about 35 points below the state average of 66.7. Six of its 33 schools received scores of fails to meet expectations, including Park and Horlick high schools.

By the ratings: How did your Racine school rank? RACINE COUNTY  Here is a look at how individual schools within the Racine Unified School Di

Were still in kind of a wait-and-see mode here, DeGroot said.

In Sturtevant, where village leaders have openly said they could not afford to form a new district on their own, Village President Jayme Hoffman agreed that Unified has more work to do.

Apparently we have had some progress, so that is good. But there is always room for improvement, he said.

Unified Superintendent Lolli Haws on Wednesday acknowledged that work lies ahead.

We are pleased with the results of this report card, because they confirm that were doing the right things, she said. Now, weve got to keep our foot on the gas. Theres much more work to do. I believe weve turned a corner and well continue to move the district forward.

Lawmakers weigh in

Republican lawmakers from Racine County, including state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, took a slightly tougher line on the report card results.

If the scores are accurate, and the report cards are accurate, it is a positive sign for Racine (Unified) but its still pointing to the fact that far too many kids are failing as are far too many schools, said Vos, R-Rochester.

Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said he was encouraged that the districts reforms appear to be pointing the school district in the right direction, but added that a one-year improvement in test scores does not make a successful school district.

Just as I wouldnt accept a less than a 60 percent score from my children when they were in school, parents and taxpayers shouldnt accept a 60 percent score from their school district, said Wanggaard in a statement. All children deserve a great education regardless of geography. I hope Racine Unified will continue their upward trajectory until they are once again one of the best districts in the state and country.

State Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, said he was glad to see that reforms were yielding results, but remained cautious.

They need to keep it up. Now is not the time to relax. Now is the time to keep moving forward, Weatherston said.

OSPP and beyond

Passed as part of the 2015 biennial budget, the OSPP was designed to kick in after a public school district received failing report cards two years in a row. Under the law, low-performing schools would be pulled from a school district and placed in the charge of a commissioner  one appointed by the mayor, governor and county executive  and villages within the district would be required to hold binding referendums on whether to leave the district.

A budget amendment passed this fall, however, was designed to give Unified a one-year reprieve that would have halted parts of the OSPP had the district indeed received another failing score for the 2016-17 school year.

If the district had gotten a failing score for 2016-17, and that score was followed next fall by yet another failing score (for the 2017-18 school year), the full provisions of OSPP would would have kicked in.

With a passing grade for the 2016-17 school year, the OSPP clock has essentially been reset.

As things sit today, the district would need to receive two back-to-back failing report cards for OSPP to kick in going forward.

Villages could attempt a breakaway from the district outside of OSPP provisions, but under state law, any such effort would require a costly study and the approval of Unified itself.

For Racine Mayor and outgoing Democratic state Rep. Cory Mason, the fact that Unified has avoided an imminent state takeover or dissolution is good news.

As somebody who talked about this a lot and was really worried about what that would have potentially meant for us, (Im) really happy that were not going to trigger school segregation, said Mason, who was sworn in as mayor on Nov. 7.

But, like everyone else reached for this story, he spoke of the need for continued improvement.

Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas in terms of working on student improvement and disparities that exist in our school system, he said, adding that a breakup of the district would only hurt potential collaboration efforts between the district and other local governments.

Were certainly stronger together as a community in a unified school district than we would be trying to balkanize into separate school districts and going our own way.

An initial version of this story contained incorrect information about what villages held nonbinding referendums in 2015. The error has been corrected.
The standard deal offered to graduate students is a simple one: In exchange for their labor, either as a student instructor or a research assistant, graduate-school tuition is waived.

One of the provisions of the House of Representatives tax reform bill  the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, approved Nov. 16  would regard the value of that graduate-school tuition as income. Meaning it would be taxed, even though that dollar amount does not appear on the grad students final payroll statement of the calendar year.

More than 145,000 graduate students are attending college for free, according to an estimate by the American Council on Education, which represents 1,800 college and university presidents across the country. For these students, who are often living on minimum-wage stipends, working long hours, studying and attending classes, repealing the tuition tax break could have dire financial consequences.

For Dacen Waters, 26, who is in his fourth year of pursuing a doctorate in physics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the House bill would impose about a $7,000 tax increase, the New York Times reported Nov. 15.

The Mellon College of Science grants students an annual stipend of $29,400 and a $43,000 tuition waiver. Under the current proposal, their taxable income would rise to $61,000 from $19,000. That would effectively cut students net stipend by nearly $10,000 a year.

I already feel like Im less of a student and more of an employee, said Waters, who says that his day mostly consists of research. And that includes living paycheck to paycheck. If I had to absorb this, I definitely wouldnt be able to continue pursuing a degree.

He said such an increase would force him out of school, and possibly out of a career. Its pretty unheard-of to do anything in physics and not have a doctoral degree, Waters said.

Not every graduate-school program is as expensive as Carnegie Mellons, of course, and private-school tuition is consistently higher than tuition at public universities. But the graduate-school premise  tuition is waived in exchange for your labor  remains the same, public or private. The House bill would take the grad student, a minimum-wage employee in terms or real income, and tax him or her at the rate of someone with considerably higher take-home pay.

Doesnt seem like fair tax policy, does it?

According to the ACE, more than 60 percent of the students who would be affected are in science, technology, engineering or mathematics  research fields that have drawn the praise of Republicans, including President Donald Trump, in recent months.

The Association of American Universities, which represents 60 research universities, including Carnegie Mellon, said the tax plan threatened the viability of their doctoral programs. The universities award nearly one-half of all American doctoral degrees and 55 percent of those in the sciences and engineering.

The AAU president, Mary Sue Coleman, said the tax proposals will have dire consequences for Americans who rely on research universities for undergraduate and graduate education.

The stated objective of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is to bolster the middle class. When it comes to middle-class students looking to improve their job and income prospects by attending graduate school, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act denies middle-class students  especially those who attended public school for kindergarten through 12th grade, as opposed to private school  that opportunity by pricing them out of the market.

This would be a simple supply-and-demand question if we were talking about a Rolls-Royce or a Cartier watch. But were not.

Should graduate school be, in effect, restricted to American students whose parents can afford to pay all of their college expenses or, in this case, pay the steep tax bill that would result in this provision staying in the final version of the tax legislation?

Are we willing to accept the brain drain that would result from access to grad school becoming even more restricted to foreign students, their education subsidized by their home governments, studying at American universities but taking that new knowledge back home instead of putting it to work here?

The Senate tax bill, up for a vote this week, leaves out most of the higher-education provisions of the House bill.

When the two bills reach the reconciliation stage, we urge House Speaker Paul Ryan and his colleagues to drop the higher-ed provisions from consideration in the final bill sent to President Trump for his signature.

Lets make sure aptitude and achievement remain the only requirements for students who wish to pursue post-graduate degrees.
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Women voters turn out in force

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